by A. Phoenix
The Shakespeare actor and Freemason David Garrick and the Rosicrucian-Freemasonic 1769 Shakespeare Stratford Jubilee
In 1767 David Garrick was at epicentre of the Shakespeare world. His circle of friends covered the social and literary spectrum, among them, the Bacon editor Thomas Birch, Secretary of the Baconian-Rosicrucian-Freemasonic Royal Society, Freemason Shakespeare editors Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson, famous men of letters including the Freemason James Boswell, the philosopher Edmund Burke, Richard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington, Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, all Freemasons, and Benjamin Franklin, the most important American Freemason of his age.
The great Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 organised by Shakespeare actor and Freemason David Garrick was the first Shakespeare Festival. It shone a light on the obscure borough of Stratford and set it on the road to fame and glory. The three-day festival was the key centre of interest of all England and marked the true beginning of the popularisation of Shakespeare throughout the whole world.
