A.A.O.N.M.S.
These letters are the initials of the words Ancient Arabic Order Noblea Mystia Shrine (see Shrine). They may be rearranged to spell out the words A Mason. The claim has been made in all sincerity that this peculiarity was prearranged and is not at all accidental. Such a probability is not as rare as in type as may at first be imagined.
For instance the York Roll No. 1, about 1600 A.D., starts out quaintly with such an endeavor in the form of an anagram, the letters of words or phrases transposed to make different words or phrases, thus:
An Anagraimee upon the name of Masonrie
William Kay to his friend Robert Preston
upon his Artt of Masonrie as Followeth:
Much might be said of the O noble Artt
A Craft that'a worth estieming in each part
Sundry Nations Noobles & their Kings also
Oh how they fought its worth to know
Nimrod & Solomon the wisest of all men
Reason saw to love this Science then
Ile say noe more lest by my shallow verses I
Endeavoring to praise should blemish Masonrie.
Based on Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry And Its Kindred Sciences by Albert C. Mackey M. D.
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