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HISTORY
THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH
n
XI
Cornell University
Library
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030291813
HISTORY
OF
THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH
{MAJ^Y'S CHAPEL) No. I.
EMBRACING AN ACCOUNT OF
THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF FREEMASONRY
IN SCOTLAND
BY
DAVID MURRAY LYON
ONE OF THE GRAND STEWARDS OF THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND ; SENIOR
PROVINCIAL GRAND WARDEN OF AYRSHIRE ; HONORARY CORRESPONDING
iMEMBER OF THE " VEREIN DEUTSCHER FREIMAURER," ETC.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF
^JSl.^. tSe i^rina of S^aUg, E.C&.
PATRON OF THE ORDER
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCLXXIII
A. 1».o IS.3,
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
K. T. G. C. B.
PAST GRAND MASTER MASON OF SCOTLAND
PAST DEPUTY GRAND MASTER OF THE UNITED GRAND LODGE
OF ENGLAND
ETC. ETC. ETC.
IN ADMIRATION OF HIS GREAT PUBLIC AND
MASONIC SERVICES
THIS WORK IS BY PERMISSION
MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
PREFACE.
LTHOUGH Scotland possesses the oldest authentic
Masonic Records that are known to exist, great mis-
conception prevails as to the condition of the Frater-
nity prior to the institution of the first Grand Lodge
of Free and Accepted Masons. This may be ascribed to the fact
that the minutes of the more ancient of the Scotch Lodges have
been almost totally neglected, and to a tendency on the part of
early Masonic authors to represent the traditions of the Craft as
historical facts, or so to embellish facts as to distort if not alto-
gether to obliterate them. Historical sketches of several Scotch
Lodges have appeared of late years in the pages of Masonic
periodicals, but with the exception of my own ' Notes on Mother
Kilwinning,' none of them are based on documents dating farther
back than the beginning of last century.
Writers who have preceded me in the examination of the
minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) state that
they extend as far back as 1598, but contain no particular informa-
tion respecting the customs and condition of the Fraternity. This
is not in accordance with fact, for no other Lodge records are of
equal importance in such respects. It is chiefly upon these, the
oldest Lodge records in existence, that the History of Freemasonry
now submitted to the Brethren is based. I have endeavoured to
VIU PREFACE.
increase the value of the Work by giving the results of my
researches among the old manuscripts preserved in the archives
of Grand Lodge, and in those of Mother Kilwinning and other
pre-eighteenth century Lodges ; and have drawn from authentic
sources information regarding events in the history of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland which has never before been published in any
Masonic Work. Interesting facts relating to some of the Higher
Degrees have also been introduced which are not generally known.
Short Biographical notices of some of the more eminent Craftsmen
of the past and present time have been embraced in the Work ;
and this department has been enriched by Portraits of many of
these Brethren.
I desire to express my grateful sense of the distinguished
honour conferred on this Work, by the permission given by His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, through the Right Hon-
ourable the Earl of Rosslyn, present Grand Master, to publish it
under his illustrious patronage.
I have only further to add that the task of writing this History
was undertaken on the suggestion of Brother William Officer,
late Master of The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), to whose
unwearied co-operation I am largely indebted for any measure
of success that may have attended my labours.
Dalhousie Cottage,
Newton-on-Ayr, June 1873.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
EARL OF DALHOUSIE, K.T. G.C.B., Engraved by Jeens from a
Photograph, . Frontispiece
Henry Inglis of Torsonce, Substitute Grand Master Mason of Scotland, Page i
Colonel A. C. Campbell, of Blythswood, Senior Grand Warden of
Scotland, . . . ... 6
Earl of Kellie, Junior Grand Warden of Scotland, . . . 15
William Alexander Laurie, Grand Secretary, . . . 22
David Bryce, Architect of Grand Lodge, . , . 30
Alexander Hay, Grand Jeweller, . . . . 38
James Ballantine, Grand Bard, ... . 50
Lord Rosehill, Depute Master of The Lodge of Edinburgh, No. i, . 57
Lord James Mitrray, Representative to Grand Lodge of England, 67
Lord Lindsay, Provincial Grand Master Aberdeenshire West, , 72
Duke of Leinster, Grand Master of Ireland, ... 78
John Mylln, Master Mason to Charles L . . . . 85
Colonel William Mure of Caldwell, . . .96
Captain A. A. Speirs, of Elderslie, M.P. , . .107
Walter Montgomerie Neilson, of Queenshill, . , . 124
Duke of Athole, K.T. ... .... 128 .
Hector Frederick M'Lean, Provincial Grand Master Upper Lanarkshire, 130
Dr Desaguliers, sometime Grand Master of England, . . . 149
Major Henry Walter Hope of Luffness, . . . 157
John Whyte Melville, of Bennochy and Strathkinness, 160
Charles W. R. Ramsay of Barnton, , . . . 165
William St Clair of Roselin, . . . . . . . 180
Captain Charles Hunter, Provincial Grand Master Aberdeenshire East, 184
Earl of Rosslyn, Grand Master Mason of Scotland, . . 192
Captain Henry Morland, Provincial Grand Master Western India, . 200
John Baird, Architect, Glasgow, 209
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
George Drummond, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, . . 2'°
Francis D. M'Cowan, M.D., Representative of the Grand Orient of France, 220
Sir Michael Robert Shaw Stewart, Bart., of Greenock and Blackhall, 224
Adolph Robinow, Representative of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg, . 230
Sir John Ogilvy, Bart., of Inverquharity, M.P. . . ■ 241
William Inglis of Middleton, . . • • 254
James Wolfe Murray of Cringletie, .... 256
Frederick Augustus Barrow, Junior Grand Deacon, 264
James Graham, late of Leitchtown, . . 282
Alexander Deuchar, sometime Grand Master of Knight Templars," . 284
William James Hughan, Masonic Author, .... 286
Earl of Haddington, Past Depute Grand Master of Scotland, . . 290
James Hay Erskine Wemyss of Wemyss, M.P. .... 292
John James Muirhead, Master of The Lodge of Edinburgh, No. i, 297
Alexander Henry, Rifle Manufacturer, , . . 306
John Laurie, Grand Secretary, 3^5
George F. R. Colt of Gartsherrie, . . . 323
Sir William Forbes, Bart, of Pitsligo, . . . 329
Sir James Fergusson, Bart, of Kilkerran, Governor of New Zealand, . 336
William Hay, Architect, Representative of Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, 349
•David Kinnear, Master of the Lodge Celtic, No. 291, . . : 354
Joseph K. Wattley, Chief Justice of Tobago, . . . 359
Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Senior Grand Warden of England, 366
John Watt MacCulloch, of Mount- Vernon, . . 373
Earl of Zetland, K.G., Grand Master of England, . . 374
Sir James Gibson-Craig, Bart, of Riccarton, . . 378
Patrick J. F. Gr^me of Inchbrakie, ..... 385
The Prince of Wales, K.G. K.T. K.P. . . .390
Group :— William Mann, S.S.C. ; F. S. Melville, A.C.S. ; T. Swinton ;
W. G. Roy, S.S.C; A. N. Clarke; G. Dickson, M.D. . . 394
William Officer, S.S.C, Senior Grand Deacon, . . 395
Anthony Sayer, First Grand Master of England, . 399
Charles M. Donaldson, Merchant, Shanghai, . . . 407
David Murray Lyon, The Author, . . 429
The Author cannot refrain from here expressing his obligations to the Artist, Bro. Robert
Paterson, to whose fine taste and most careful engraving this series of Portraits owes attractions
that, it is believed, ivill give general satisfaction. With four exceptions, these Portraits are all
from his hand.
ILLUSTRATIONS. xi
FAC-SIMILES, &c.
PACK
Statutes to be observed by the Master Masons in Scotland, issued in 1598 by
William Schaw, Master of Work to James VI. . 9
The Oldest Minute of the Lodge of Edinburgh (July 1599), . 25
Minute of Election of Warden of the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1599, 39
Minute of Meeting of Lodge of Edinburgh, held at Holyrood in June 1600, . 51
Monogram of William Schaw, 55
Letter of Jurisdiction granted by the Freemen Masons in Scotland to William
St Clair of Roslin (probable date, 1600), .... 58
Letter of Jurisdiction granted by the Freemen Masons and Hammermen in
Scotland to Sir William St Clair of Roslin (probable date, May i, 1628), . 59
Marks from Minute-Books of the Lodge of Edinburgh (1599-1700), . . 67
Marks from the Interior of St Giles' Cathedral, . . . ib.
Marks from the Laigh Parliament Hall, Edinburgh, erected in 1636, . ib.
Marks from Minute-Book of Mother Kilwinning (1642-80), . ib.
Marks from Kilwinning Abbey, . . . ib.
Minute of the Admission to the Lodge of Edinburgh of Lord Alexander, and
Sir Anthonie Alexander, Master of Work to Charles L (July 1634), . 79
Minute of General Alexander Hamilton's Reception in the Lodge of Edinburgh
(1640), . . .... . 80
Minute of Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth's (afterwards Lord Polwarth, and
first Earl of Marchmont) Admission into the Lodge of Edinburgh, (1677), 81
Minute of the Admission of Quarter-Master-General Sir Robert Moray, by a
Quorum of the Lodge of Edinburgh at Newcastle, in 1641, . 96
Commission to " Enter and Pass Masons '' granted by the Lodge of Kilwinning
to Masons in Canongate, Edinburgh (1677), . . loi
Portion of Edinburgh- Kilwinning MS. Charges, . 115
Portion of MS. Charges used by the Lodge Atcheson's Haven in 1666, . 1 16
Autograph of William last Earl of Kilmarnock, Grand Master of Scotland
in 1742-43, . . ... .183"
View of Mary's Chapel, Niddry's Wynd, Edinburgh, taken from Maitland's
History of Edinburgh (1753), ....... 237
The Deuchar Knight Templar Seal, . . 288
Seal of Grand Conclave of the Temple, . . 289
Seal of Royal Order of Scotland, at London, 1750, . . 309
Seal of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, . 401
Seal of Lodge Mother Kilwinning, • 410
T
CHAPTER I.
HE Scotch are less ambitious than the EngHsh in their
ascription of remote antiquity to the introduction of the
Masonic Fraternity into their country. While their Southern
neighbours hold it to have been organised at York in the
time of Athelstan, A.D. 926, Scottish Freemasons are content to trace their
descent from the builders of the Abbeys of Holyrood, Kelso, Melrose,
and Kilwinning, the Cathedral of Glasgow, and other ecclesiastical fabrics
of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Not the slightest vestige of
authentic evidence, however, has ever been adduced in support of the
legends in regard to the time and place of the institution of the first
Scotch Masonic Lodge. And if it has to be acknowledged that the data
regarding the introduction of the Mediaeval Masonic Society into Scotland
A
2 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
is somewhat apocryphal, the same is, we fear, true of much that has been
written of the Brotherhood as it existed at any time prior to the close of
the sixteenth century. History and tradition are alike silent regarding the
Fraternity during the troublous times which intervened between the death
of David I. and the accession of James I. The historian of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland points to the reign of James as a period pre-eminently
halcyon and prosperous for Scottish Masons, and particularly so to the
"Grand Master," whose appointment to that dignity by the Brethren
brought with it, by Royal authority, " an annual revenue of four pounds
Scots from each Master Mason, and likewise a fee at the initiation of every
new member." In return for this, it is said, he was empowered to use his
good offices in the adjustment of differences, and otherwise, in person or
by his " Wardens," to a;dminister the laws of the Fraternity.
The time was when statements of this kind would have been accepted,
without challenge, as truthful representations of historical fact ; but it is
nowadays pretty generally believed that by such applications of the rose-
tint of fiction the real features of -the ancient Fraternity are concealed.
The story, as related by Laurie, is evidently an elaboration of the imagin-
ative historical sketch of Masonry given by Dr Anderson in his ' Con-
stitutions of the Freemasons,' published in 1723.* This writer brings
forward no historical proof whatever, but contents himself with the general
statement that '•'the great respect of the Scottish Kings to this honourable
Fraternity " appears from " the records and traditions of the Lodges there
kept up without interruption many hundred years." We need scarcely
say there are no such records. Those of Mary's Chapel are the oldest
Masonic records extant, and they contain nothing upon which such a
statement could be founded, except the evidence they give of the exist-
ence in the end of the sixteenth century of the office of " Principall
Warden & Cheif Maister of Maissonis," for the purpose of regulating the
affairs of Lodges.
In the absence, then, of a knowledge of the grounds on which certain
writers have depicted the condition of the Fraternity in the time of James,
we betake ourselves to the Acts of the Scottish Parliament, and from these
we obtain such a glimpse of the position of the crafts as to strengthen the
presumption that the Grand Master Mason of James the First is a purely
fabulous personage. Returning to his kingdom in 1424 from an eighteen
* A copy of this edition, which seems formerly to have belonged to Mother Kilwinning, is
preserved in Grand Lodge library. This work was in its earlier years regarded by the Grand
Lodge of Scotland as an authority on the subjects treated of. Seven unbound copies of Smith's
small edition of the ' Constitutions ' were in 1 740 ordered for the use of Grand Lodge : "the same
to be stitched only, and clean paper interleaved therein, and when purchased to be given in to the
Secretary or Clerk, to be by them communicated to the Committee."
TRADITIONAL ANTIQUITY OF THE CRAFT. 3
years' captivity in England, the suppression of all "leagues or bands"
(trades' unions and suchlike) that had sprung up in the country, and the
institution of the office of " Deakon or Maister-man " for the protection of
the community against the frauds of craftsmen, were among the first of
James's public acts. By enactment of the Parliament which sat at Perth
in March 1424 the nomination of their Deacons was vested in the craftsmen
themselves. To "govern and assay all warkis that beis made be the
craftismen of his craft " was the special duty of this newly-created function-
ary. The punishment by deacons of transgressors of the law in matters
of trade having been found either to be oppressive to their constitvents, or
to be trenching upon the magisterial rights of the municipal authorities,
was prohibited by Act of Parliament, September 1426, and the powers of
Deacons restricted to a testing of the craftsmen's professional competency
and the sufficiency of their work — the fixing of the wages of masons and
Wrights being by the same statute vested in the town-council of each burgh.
This body was by statute of the following year authorised to delegate its
powers in this respect to a new class of officials called Wardens, one such
being chosen from each trade. Fines imposed under this arrangement were
" to be applyed the ane half to the wardaine of that craft, and th'other
halfe to the commoun wark of that burgh, quhair it beis seene maist ex-
pedient." It was farther ordained that in sheriffdoms " ilk Barroune sail
garr prise in their barrounies and punish the trespassoures, as the Wardene
dois in the burrowes." It would seem, however, that although shorn of
their powers, the Deacons continued holding meetings of their respective
crafts, for the purpose doubtless of keeping alive the embers of discontent
at their degraded position, and organising the means for carrying on the
struggle not only to regain independence of action in trade affairs, but also
to acquire a political status in the country. These assemblies having been
found to be subversive of the powers of the Warden courts, a statute was
passed in July 1427, "prohibiting that Deacons be chosen out from among
the craftsmen in any burghs of the kingdom, or that those formerly elected
henceforth exercise the office of Deacons, or hold their wonted meetings, in
which conspiracies are designedly (or often) hatched."
According to Laurie, King James II. invested the Earl of Orkney and
Caithness with the dignity of " Grand Master," and subsequently made the
office hereditary in his heirs and successors in the barony of Roslin. We
regard this statement as altogether apocryphal. Our reasons for this
opinion will be found stated in a subsequent chapter. * Indeed, previous
to the institution of' the Grand Lodge, the designation of Grand Master
was, in a general or national sense, unknown to any Masonic body in Scot-
* Chapter VIII.—" St Clair Charters."
4 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
land. The election of a " Grand Master" by the Lodge of Edinburgh in
December 1731, is the earliest instance of the title being used at all in
connection with Scotch Masonry, and it was then employed in a strictly
local sense. The second of William Schaw's Masonic titles, " Chief Master
of Masons," is the nearest approach to that of Grand Master which we
have met with in any Scotch Masonic MS. prior to 1736. None of the
Acts of the Scottish Parliament of the reigns of James II. and III., which
have been preserved, have any special relation to the Mason Craft. And
from municipal records of the time it appears to have enjoyed no pre-emi-
nence of position over other trades. James II. died in 1460. His succes-
sor is reported to have had a " passionate attachment for magnificent build-
ings ;" but beyond this the name of James III. cannot in any special degree
be associated with Masons. James IV., who succeeded to the throne in
1488, was in the fifth year of his reign brought into collision with the trade
combinations of his time. The masons and wrights had through their con-
ventions ordained " that they sail have fee alsweill for the halie-day as for
the warke-day," and " that quair ony beginnis ane mannis warke ane uther
sail not end it." Public tumults arose through the resistance that was
offered by the community to these demands. The Legislature interposed,
and in 1493 passed an Act, in which the "makers and users" of the statutes
in question were ordered to be punished as " oppressors of the kingis
lieges." The powers of Deacons were by the same Act restricted to a test-
ing of the quality of the work done by their respective crafts. An Act
of the Parliament which sat at Edinburgh in March 1 540 represents the
Masons in James V.'s time to have been not a whit more favourably cir-
cumstanced with regard to the legal sanction of the rules relating to the
disposal of their labour. The Legislature overrode their statutes, author-
ised the employment of unfreemen equally with burgesses, and anew
armed magistrates with power to enforce obedience. Sixteen years after-
wards, and while Queen Mary was yet under age. Parliament again found
it necessary in the public interest to interpose its authority in repressing
the extortionate charges of tradesmen, made at the instigation of the
Deacons. This hitherto irrepressible class of trades' officials were, June
15SS. again attempted to be got rid of by Act of Parliament. Visitors
chosen by the burghal authorities, and having duties similar to those that
had formerly devolved upon Wardens, were appointed in their stead
care being taken to render illegal the " private conventions" of craftsmen,
or their framing of statutes apart from those that from time to time might
be authorised by town-councils for the regulation of trade affairs. On
attaining her majority, Mary, so far from homologating the act of the
Regency suppressing the Deaconry of Craft, condemned the measure
JAMES VI. AND MASONIC WARDENS. 5
(which she declared had originated in "certain pretended causes") as not
only useless but positively injurious to the common weal, and in remedy
thereof granted letters under the "Great Seal," restoring the office of
Deacon and confirming the Trades in the privileges of self-government,
the observance of the customs that were peculiar to each, and the unre-
stricted exercise of all other rights which they had enjoyed under former
monarchs.
It is not till the accession of James VI. that we have any authentic
evidence of the Sovereign's direct control over the Mason Craft. The
Privy Seal Book of Scotland contains a record of James's ratification of
Patrick Copland of Udaught's election in 1590 to the office of " Wardane
and Justice" over the Masons within the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and
Kincardine. This Royal missive sets forth that the newly-appointed War-
den's predecessors had been ancient possessors of the office, but that in the
present instance the King, in anew granting right to the fees and privileges
of the office, had given effect to the choice of a majority of the Master
Masons of the district in which the Warden was to minister justice in con-
nection with matters affecting the art and craft of Masonry. That this
appointment was, like that of the Barons to the Wardenrie of the Crafts in
1427, a strictly civil one, is to our mind quite apparent; but in Laurie's
History it is held as " proving beyond dispute that the Kings nominated
the office-bearers of the Order, . . . and completely overturns the asser-
tion of Dr Robison, who maintains that Elias Ashmole is the only distinct
and unequivocal instance of a person being admitted into the Fraternity
who was not an architect by profession." We demur to the attempted
identification of this Royal letter with Freemasonry. The document is
simply what it purports to be, the authority for the Laird of Udaught's
administration of a civil office — that of a Judge — in connection with the
Mason handicraft, and can in no respect be held as affording evidence of
the antiquity of Speculative Masonry, of the early admission into Lodges
of persons unconnected with the Building Fraternity, or of the Sovereign's
interference with craftsmen in their choice of office-bearers either in Lodees
or in Incorporations. The fact of Copland's appointment to the office in
question does not prove that he was a member of a Mason Lodge, and can-
not therefore be cited in opposition to the assertion of Robison, whose
error on that point is demonstrated by the minutes of the Lodge of Edin-
burgh, upon the consideration of which we shall now enter.
CHAPTER II.
T is a well-known fact that the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's
Chapel) has minutes of its transactions dating back into the
sixteenth century. No other Scotch Lodge occupies so
favoured a position in respect to its records ; and in this
distinction it also possesses an advantage over the most ancient Lodges
in England and Ireland. These records extend to six volumes, all
of which are in excellent preservation — a feature upon which the Lodge
has been complimented by the Grand Masters and other distinguished
brethren to whose inspection its books have from time to time been sub-
mitted. The first of them, a thin folio volume of seventy-two leaves of
paper (ii inches by 7 inches), of which three at different places have been
OLDEST LODGE RECORDS. 7
left blank, derives much importance from the circumstance that it contains
the earliest Lodge MSS. extant. It is formed of fragmentary sheets, ex-
hibiting in their chronological arrangement a capriciousness on the part of
those by whom the several minutes were penned that shows how little im-
portance was then attached to the preservation of a regular narrative or
journal of the Lodge's proceedings. The peculiarity to which we refer
will best be understood by an example or two. One leaf contains minutes
of meetings in 1599, 1621, 1624, and i64i,each in the handwriting of a differ-
ent scribe; upon another leaf are engrossed minutes of date 1601, i6iS,and
1616; and on a third sheet are notes dated 1602, 1606, 1609, and 1619 ;
and so on. This volume, called in 1646 "our Vardene booke," is encased
in modern binding, in which process, however, several of the leaves have
been misplaced ; and it embraces records extending over a period of eighty-
eight years— viz., from 28th December 1598 to 2Sth December 1686, both
inclusive. The continuity of these minutes is broken by an occasional
hiatus, in consequence of which there are no records for the year 1604, '08
'10, '14, '17,. '25, '27, '30, '44, 'so, '5 1, '56, or 1668. This may be accounted
for by the supposition that the disturbed state of Scotland during the
period referred to prevented the Brethren from holding regular meetings ;
or they may be partially the result of the careless system that then pre-
vailed of keeping detached minutes. Several of them are carefully deleted,
but with two exceptions they can still be read : a few others are incom-
plete, space being left for the scribe to fill up at his' convenience. The
margins of a few of the leaves at the beginning of this volume, being much
decayed, have been patched by the binder, so as to prevent the text from
being encroached upon.
Vol. II., which begins with the minute of 27th December 1687, and ends
with that of 25th December 1761, is also of folio size, a little larger than
the first, and is bound in vellum. A " List of Members entered in Mary
Chapel" between December 1687 and December 1761, appears at the end
of the volume, and contains 426 names. Vol. III. contains minutes from
28th December 1761 to 26th December 178 1, both inclusive — the names
of members, with dates of admission from December 1687 to December
1781, being written in the first part of it, which list is continued in Vol.
IV., where are also recorded the transactions of the Lodge from 27th
December 1781 to 24th December 1814. In Vol. V. are embraced minutes
from 27th December 1814 to 17th December 1844. These show a, hiatus
in the years 1816-18, 1832-33, and 1834-35, which will be accounted for
in a subsequent chapter. Vol. VI., which begins with the minute of
December 27, 1844, and ends with that of November 29, 1869, contains
blank leaves upon which the minutes from April to December 1846 have
8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
been omitted to be engrossed. The current transactions of the Lodge are
recorded in the seventh volume.
It is creditable to the Lodge of Edinburgh, and in marked contrast to
the remissness which has characterised the custodiers of other Masonic
records — not excepting those of Grand Lodge itself, the fourth volume of
whose minutes, extending from 1799 to 1803, has been amissing for about
eleven years— that it should have succeeded in preserving the several
minute-books used by it since the revivification of the Scottish Lodges in
1598. Still, however, the existence of the more ancient of its records has
more than once been imperilled by being allowed to fall into the hands of
irresponsible parties. It was so in October 1797, when the Lodge, ignorant
of the whereabouts of its old minute-books, instituted an inquiry which
resulted in their recovery. They were forthwith ordered to be entered in
an inventory of the Lodge's writings, and deposited in " the strong box
kept by the Secretary." This arrangement seems in the course of the next
half-century to have been departed from; for in November 1853 the "col-
lecting and inventoring of the property and effects of the Lodge " was
referred to a committee, who in the course of their investigation discovered
that the two oldest minute-books were amissing, and had been so for several
years. These the committee succeeded in recovering, under circumstances
which were thus reported to the Lodge : " One of the minute-books was
found in the possession of Brother Woodman [a Past Master of the Lodge,
and then Grand Clerk], in whose custody the committee are satisfied it
would have been protected with religious scrupulosity. The other minute-
book was found in the possession of Brother Brown, St James Square, in
whose custody also it would no doubt have been safely protected for the
Lodge had he recollected that such valuable property had been in his pos-
session ; but this he did not, — and it was only after a search among old
books and papers supposed to be useless that the minute-book was discovered.
Brother Brown had done a service to the Lodge in taking possession of
several of the minute-books at a time when its affairs were not so prosper-
ous as they now are, and from time to time several of these books had been
got from him, so that he was entirely ignorant of now having any of them
in his possession."* The oldest minute-book was again, in March i860,
reported to have been amissing since the St John's-day festival of the
previous year. It was soon after restored to the Lodge by one of the
stewards, who had found it in a closet in the Ship Hotel. In June 1855,
* In November 1839, a committee was appointed for the purpose of revising the bye-Iavirs, the
appointment being accompanied by the suggestion "that a history of the Lodge might be prefixed
to the revised laws." J. L. Woodman and Thomas Brown were members of this committee, and
the probability is, that the old records had come into their possession while engaged on the revision
of the laws, and been retained by them after the committee was discharged.
FAC-81MILE OF A PORTION OF THE 8CHAW STATUTES, 1598.
Vj tt ^<^^?^ o^'^<^ l-^)/*^ iS^^S^^z^viAytpteryy^
SCHAW STATUTES OF 1598. 9
five guineas were unanimously voted for the purpose of having a copy-
made of the " ancient or oldest minute-book of the Lodge." Considering
the altogether inadequate remuneration that was fixed for this work, it is
not surprising that it still remains undone.
Turning to Volume I. of the Records of the Lodge of Edinburgh, we
find the following scrap placed first in order by the collater of these MSS.
It is engrossed on a single leaf in the same handwriting as the minute of
date November 27, 1599, and may be read in connection with it : —
"Item, ordanis all wardenis to be chosen upoun Sanct Johneis day
yeirlie.
" It., ordanis Comissionaris to be chosen at the chesing of the War-
den. To conuene quhair the Generall Warden pleasis to comand to con-
uene ; qlk day and plac salbe keepit preciselie. The Conuensioun day to
be at Sanct "
Beginning on page three, the principal copy of the Schaw Statutes occu-
pies five pages. This MS. is in a plain, open hand, and bears the auto-
graph of the official at whose instance it was penned. It proceeds thus : —
" At Edinburgh the xxviij day of December, The zeir of God
Im Vc four scoir awchtene zeiris.
" The Statutis and ordinanceis to be obseruit be all the maister maissounis
within this realme, Sett doun be Williame Schaw, Maister of Wark to
his maiestie And generall Wardene of the said craft, with the consent of
the maisteris efter specifeit.
" Item, first that thay obserue and keip all the gude ordinanceis sett doun of befoir
concernyng the priviligeis of thair Craft be thair predicesso's of gude memorie, And
specialie
" That thay be trew ane to ane vther and leve cheritablie togidder as becumis sworne
brether and companzeounis of Craft.
" Item, that thay be obedient to thair wardenis, dekynis, and maisteris in all .thingis,
concernyng thair waft.
" Itetn, that thay be honest, faithfull, and diligent in thair calling, and deill uprichtlie
w' the maisteris or awnaris of the warkis that thay sail tak vpoun hand, be it in task,
meit, & fie, or owlklie wage.
" Item, that nane tak vpoun hand ony wark gritt or small quhilk he is no' abill to per-
forme qualifeitlie vnder the pane of fourtie pundis money or ellis'the fourt pairt of the
worth and valo^ of the said wark, and that by and atto"^ ane condigne amendis and satis-
factioun to be maid to the awnaris of the wark at the sycht and discretioun of the gene-
rall Wardene, or in his absence at the sycht of the wardeneis, dekynis, and maisteris of
the schirefdome quhair the said wark is interprisit and wrocht.
■• Item, thafna maister sail tak ane vther maisteris wark over his heid, efter that the
first maister hes aggreit w' the awnar of the wark ather be contract, arlis, or verball con-
ditioun, vnder the paine of fourtie punds.
lO HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
" Item, that na maister sail tak the wirking of ony wark that vther maisteris hes
wrocht at.of befoir, vnto the tyme that the first wirkaris be satisfeit for the wark quhilk
thay half wrocht, vnder the pane foirsaid.
" Item, that thair be ane wardene chosin and electit Ilk zeir to half the charge over
everie ludge, as thay are devidit particularlie, and that be the voitis of the maisteris of
the saids ludgeis, and consent of thair Wardene generall gif he happynis to be present,
And vtherwyis that he be aduerteist that sic ane wardene is chosin for sic ane zeir, to
the effect that the Wardene generall may send sic directionis to that wardene electit, as
effeiris.'
" Item, that na maister sail tak ony ma prenteissis nor thre during his lyfetyme v/'out
ane speciall consent of the haill wardeneis, dekynis, and maisteris of the schirefdome
quhair the said prenteiss that is to be ressauit dwellis and remanis.
" Item, that na maister ressaue ony prenteiss bund for fewar zeiris nor sevin at the
leist, and siclyke it sail no' be lesum to mak the said prenteiss brother and fallow in
craft vnto the tyme that he half seruit the space of vther sevin zeiris efter the ische of his
said prenteischip w'out ane speciall licenc granttit be the wardeneis, dekynis, and mais-
teris assemblit for that caus, and that sufficient tryall be tane of thair worthynes, qualifi-
catioun, and skill of the persone that desyirs to be maid fallow in craft, and that vnder
the pane of fourtie punds to be upliftit as ane pecuniall penaltie fra the persone that is
maid fallow in craft aganis this ord>^. besyde the penalteis to be set doun aganis his per-
sone, accordyng to the ord' of the ludge quhair he remanis.
" Item, it sail no' be lesum to na maister to sell his prenteiss to ony vther maister nor
zit to dispens w' the zeiris of his prenteischip be selling y'^of to the prenteisses self,
vnder the pane of fourtie punds.
" Item, that na maister ressaue ony prenteiss w'out he signifie the samyn to the war-
dene of the ludge quhair he dwellis, to the effect that the said prenteissis name and the
day of his ressauyng may be ord^lie buikit
" Item, that na prenteiss be enterit bot be the samyn ord"". that the day of thair enteres
may be buikit
" Item, that na maister or fallow of craft be ressauit nor admittit w'out the numer of
sex maisteris and twa enterit prenteissis, the wardene of that ludge being ane of the said
sex, and that the day of the ressauyng of the said fallow of craft or maister be ordi^lie
buikit and his name and mark insert in the said bulk w' the names of his sex admitteris
and enterit prenteissis, and the names of the intendaris that salbe chosin to everie per-
sone to be alsua insert in thair bulk. Providing alwayis that na man be admittit w'out
ane assay and sufficient tryall of his skill and worthynes in his vocatioun and craft.
" Item, that na maister wirk ony maissoun wark vnder charge OK command of ony
vther craftisman that takis vpoun hand or vpoun him the wirking of ony maissoun
wark.
" Item, that na maister or fallow of craft ressaue ony cowanis to wirk in his societie
or cumpanye, nor send nane of his servands to wirk w' cowanis, under the pane of
twentie punds sa oft as ony persone ofFendis heirintill.
" Item, it sail no' be lesum to na enterit prenteiss to tak ony gritter task or wark vpon
hand fra a awnar nor will extend to the soume of ten punds vnder the pane foirsaid, to
wit XK libs, and that task being done they sail Interpryiss na mair w'out licence of the
maisteris or warden q"" thay dwell.
" Item, gif ony questioun, stryfe, or varianc sail fall out amang ony of the maisteris,
servands, or entert prenteissis. That the parteis that fallis in questioun or debait, sail
signifie the causis of thair querrell to he perticular wardeneis or dekynis of thair ludge
SCHAW STATUTES OF 1599. II
Wtin the space of xxiiij ho"^ vnder the pane of ten pnds, to the effect that thay may be
reconcilit and aggreit and their variance removit be thair said wardeneis, delcynis, and
maisteris ; and gif ony of the saids parteis salhappin to remane wilfull or obstinat that
thay salbe deprivit of the privilege of thair ludge and no' permittit to wirk yat vnto the
tyme that thay submit thame selfBs to ressoun at the sycht of thair wardenis, dekynis,
and maisteris, as said is.
" Item, that all maisteris, Interpriseris of warkis, be verray cairfull to sie thair skaffel-
lis and futegangis surelie sett and placeit, to the effect that throw thair negligence and
slewth na hurt or skaith cum vnto ony personis that wirkis at the said wark, vnder the
pain of dischargeing of thaim y''efter to wirk as maisteris havand charge of ane wark,
bot sail ever be subiect all the rest 01 thair dayis to wirk vnder or w' ane other princi-
pall maister havand charge of the wark.
" Item, that na maister ressaue or ressett ane vther maisteris prenteiss or servand that
salhappin to ryn away fra his maisteris seruice, nor interteine him in his cumpanye efter
that he hes gottin knawledge y^of, vnder the paine of fourtie punds.
" Item, that all personis of the maissoun craft conuene in tyme and place being lawch-
fullie warnit, vnder the pane of ten punds.
" Item, that all the maisteris that salhappin to be send for to ony assemblie or meit-
ting sail be sworne be thair grit aith that thay sail hyde nor conceill na fawltis nor
wrangis done be ane to ane vther, nor zit the faultis or wrangis that ony man hes done
to the awnaris of the warkis that thay half had in hand sa fer as they knaw, and that
vnder the pane of ten punds to be takin vp frae the conceillairs of the saidis faultis.
" Item, it is ordanit that all thir foirsaids penalteis salbe liftit and tane vp fra the
offendaris and brekaris of thir ordinances be the wardeneis, dekynis, and maisteris of
the ludgeis quhair the offendaris dwellis, and to be distributit adpios vsus according to
gud conscience be the advyis of the foirsaidis.
" And for fulfilling and observing of thir ordinances, sett doun as said is, The haill
maisteris conuenit the foirsaid day binds and oblisses thaim heirto faithfullie. And
thairfore hes requeistit thair said Wardene generall to subscriue thir presentis w' his
awn hand, to the effect that ane autentik copy heirof may be send to euerie particular
ludge wMn this realme.
" William Schaw,
" Maistir of Wark."
What may be designated a supplementary code of Statutes appears to
have been promulgated by the same authority in the following year ; but
although touching upon matters closely affecting the Fraternity of Kil-
winning and Mary's Chapel respectively, the records of neither of these
Lodges bear any trace of this document, nor for a great many years prior
to its discovery do the Craft seem to have had the remotest idea of its
existence. The MS. embraces both codes of the Schaw Ordinances, and
must have been in possession of the Lodge of Kilwinning in 1734, in which
year it constituted the Lodge of Kilmarnock under a charter containing
the major part of the Statutes of 1598. In 1861 the late Earl of Eglinton
and Winton, through the then Depute Grand Master (Brother John Whyte-
Melville), presented the Grand Lodge of Scotland with a copy of " Memo-
12 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
rials of the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton " — a work in the preparation
of which the contents of the charter-chest at Eglinton Castle were largely-
drawn upon ; and it is to his lordship's munificent encouragement of
archaeological research that the present generation of Freemasons owe
their acquaintance with one of the very few now existing Scotch Masonic
documents of the sixteenth century. There cannot be a doubt of the
authenticity of this MS., and its preservation in the repositories of the
noble house of Montgomerie was in all probability owing to that family's
former connection with the Masonic Court of Kilwinning. The following
is a copy of the document : —
" xxviii December, 1599.
" First, It is ordanit that the wardene within the boundis of Kilwynning, and vtheris
places subject to thair ludge, salbe chosen and electit zeirlie be mony of the maisteris
voites of the said ludge, vpon the twentie day of December, and that within the kirlc at
Kilwynning as the heid and secund ludge of Scotland, and therefter that the generall
warden be advertysit zeirlie quha is chosin warden of the ludge, immediatelie efter his
electioun.
" Item, it is thocht neidfull and expedient be my lord warden generall, that every ludge
within Scotland sail have in tyme cuming the auld and antient liberteis therof vsit and
wont of befoir ; and in speciall, that the ludge of Kilwynning, secund lodge of Scot-
land, sail half thair warden present at the election of the wardenis within the boundis
of the Nether Waird of Cliddisdaill, Glasgow, Air, and boundis of Carrik ; with power
to the said warden and dekyn of Kilwynning to convene the remanent wardenis and
dekynis within the boundis foirsaid quhan thay half ony neid of importance ado, and
thay to be judgit be the warden and dekyn of Kilv^fynning quhen it sail pleis thame to
convene for the tyme, aither in Kilwynning, or within ony vther part of the west of
Scotland and boundis foirsaid.
"Item, it is thocht neidfull and expedient be my lord warden generall, that Edinburgh
salbe in all tyme cuming, as of befoir, the first and principal lodge in Scotland ; and
that Kilwynning be the secund ludge, as of befoir is notourlie manifest in our awld
antient writtis ; and that Stirueling salbe the thrid ludge, conforme to the auld privi-
leges tbairof.
" Item, it is thocht expedient that the wardenis of everie ilk ludge salbe answerable to
the presbyteryes within thair schirefdomes for the maissounis subject to the lugeis
anent all offensis ony of thame sail committ ; and the third part of the vnlawis salbe em-
ployit to the godlie vsis of the ludge quhair ony offens salhappin to be committit.
"Item, that ther be tryall takin zeirlie be the wardenis and maist antient maisteris of
the ludge, extending to sex personis, quha sail tak tryall of the offensis, that punishment
may be execut conforme to equitie and iustice and guid conscience and the antient
ordour.
" Item,\\."\s ordanit be my lord warden generall, that the warden of Kilwynning, as
secund in Scotland, elect and chuis sex of the maist perfyte and worthiest of memorie
within [thair boundis,] to tak tryall of the qualificatioun of the haill masonis within the
boundis foirsaid, of thair art, craft, scyance and antient memorie ; to the effect the war-
den deakin may be answerable heiraftir for sic personis as is committit to him, and
within his boundis and jurisdictioun.
" Item, commissioun is gewin to the warden and deakon of Kilwynning, as secund
LODGE STATUTES REQUIRE ROYAL SANCTION. 1 3
ludge, to secluid and away put furth of their societie and cumpanie all personis disobed-
ient to fulfil and obey the hail actis and antient statutis sett doun of befoir of guid
memorie ; and all personis disobedient ather to kirk, craft, counsall, and otheris statutis
and acts to be maid heireftir for ane guid ordour..
" Item, it is ordainit be the warden generall, that the warden and deacon to be present
of [with ?] his quarter maisteris, elect cheis and constitut ane famous notar as ordinar
dark and scryb ; and that the said notar to be chosinge sail occupye the office, and that
all indentouris discharges and vtheris wrytis quhatsumever, perteining to the craft, sal-
be onlie wrytin be the dark ; and that na maner of wryt, neyther tityll nor other evid-
ent, to be admit be the said warden and deacon befoir thame, except it be maid be the
said dark, and subscryuit with his hand.
" Item, it is ordainit be my lord generall, that the hale auld antient actis and statutis
maid of befoir be the predecessouris of the masounis of Kilwynning, be observit faith-
fullie and kepit be the crafts in all tymes cuminge ; and that na prenteis nor craftis man,
in ony tymes heireftir, be admittit nor enterit bot onlie within the kirk of Kilwynning,
as his paroche and secund ludge ; and that all bankattis for entrie of prenteis or fallow
of craftis to be maid within the said ludge of Kilwynning.
"Item, it is ordainit that all fallows of craft at his entrie pay to the commoun bokis ot
the ludge the soume of ten pundis mone, with x s. worthe of gluffis, or euir he be ad-
mittit, and that for the bankatt ; and that he be not admittit without ane sufficient
essay and pruife of memorie and art of craft, be the warden, deacon, and quarter mais-
teris of the ludge, conforme to the foirmer; and quhairthrow thai may be the mair
answerable to the generall warden.
"Item, that all prenteissis to be admittit be not admittit quhill thai first pay to the
commoun bankat foiresaid the sowme of sex pundis money ; utherwyes to pay to the
bankat for the haill members of craft within the said ludge and prenteissis thairof.
"Item, it is ordainit that the warden and deaconis of the secund ludge of Scotland,
present of Kilwynning, sail tak the aythe, fidelitie and trewthe of all maisteris and fal-
lowis of craft within the haill boundis commit to thair chairge, zeirlie, that thai sail not
accumpanie with cowanis, nor work with thame, nor any of their servandis or prenteisses
undir the pain of the penaltie contenit in the foirmer acts, and paying thairof.
" Item, it is ordainit be the generall warden, that the luge of Kilwynning, being the
second luge in Scotland, tak tryall of the art of memorie and science thairof, of everie
fallow of craft and everie prenteiss according to ather of their vocationis ; and in cais
that thai have lost onie point thairof, eurie of thame to pay the penaltie as followis,
for their slewthfulness, viz., ilk fallow of craft, xx s., ilk prenteiss, xi s., and'that to be
payit to the box for the commoun weill zeirlie ; and that conforme to the commoun vse
and pratik of the commoun lugis of this realm.
" And for the fulfilling, observinge and keeping of thir statutis, and all thair actis and
stattutis maid of befoir, and to be maid be the warden, deaconis, and quarter maisteris
of the lugis foirsaidis, for guid ordour keeping, conforme to equitie, justice, and antient
ordour ; to the making and setting doun quhairof, the generall warden hes gevin his
power and commission to the said warden and others abvnevritten, to set doun and mak
actis conforme as acconlis to the office and law. And in signe and taking thairof, I,
the generall warden of Scotland, hes sett doun and causit pen thir actis and statutis,
and hes subscryuit the samynis with my hand efter the testimoniale.
"Be it kend to the warden, dekyn, and to the maisteris of the ludge of Kilwynning,
that Archibald Barklay, being directit commissioner fra the said ludge, comperit in
Edinburgh, the twentie seven and twenty awcht of December instant, quhair the said
14
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Archibald, in presens of the warden general], and the maisteris of the ludge of Edin-
burgh, producit his commissioun, and behaifit himself verie honestlie and cairfullie for
the discharge ofsikthingis as was committit into him ; bot be ressone of the abscence of
his Maiestie out of the toun, and that thair was na maisteris but the ludge of Edinburgh
convenit of this tyme, we culd nocht get sik ane satlat ordour (as the privileges of the
craft requyris) tane at this time ; bot heirefter, quhan occasion sail be offerit, we sail get
his Maiesties warrand, baith for the authorizing of the ludgeis privileges, and ane pen-
altie sett downe for the dissobedient personis and perturberis of all guid ordour ; Thus
far I thocht guid to signifie vnto the haill brether of the ludge, vnto the neist commodi-
tie : In witness heirof, I have subscriuit thir presents with my hand, at Halyrudhous,
the twentie awcht day of December, the zeir of God I™- Vi^- fourscoir nynetene zeirs.
"William Schaw,
" Maistir of Wark, Warden of the Maisonis."
CHAPTER III.
HAT the preceding codes of rules were applicable to Oper-
ative Masons alone is evident alike from their title and the
topics of which they treat. When read in connection with
the Masonic deed drawn in 1600 in favour of St Clair of
Roslin, they convey an impression that at or about the time of their
being written, the Mason trade — at least that section of it which acknow-
ledged the authority of Lodges — was involved in troubles that were
felt to be prejudicial not only to its own welfare but to the interests
also of those requiring its professional services. The framing of these and
the other document adverted to appears to have been the result of the
commotion into which the Craft had been thrown through the then exist-
ing irregularities, and of a desire to re-establish order and guard against
l6 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
future backsliding. Although ostensibly addressed to the Master Masons
within the Scottish realm, the statutes have special reference to the business
of Lodges — a feature in their composition suggestive of the probability
that the Warden-General's Masonic jurisdiction did not extend to the less
ancient organisations of the Craft known as Incorporations, holding their
privileges direct from the Crown, or under Seals of Cause granted by
burghal authorities.
Opening with a recommendation to respect the ancient ordinances of
the Craft, and the fraternal compact by which Master Masons were bound
to each other, the Statutes of 1 598 enforce the duty of obedience in matters
of trade to the Lodge officials, and faithfulness in the discharge of their
obligations to their employers ; they protect the public against imposition
by unskilful contractors, and guard the Masters' interests in the matter of
payment for work done ; they provide for the personal safety of craftsmen
engaged upon works necessitating the erection of scaffolding, and for the
settlement of disputes by arbitration ; they limit the number of apprentices,
fix their period of servitude, prevent their transference (either voluntarily
or compulsorily) from one master to another, recognise them as constituent
members of the Lodge, and permit them to undertake a limited quantity
of work on their own account, when in circumstances to do so. These
Ordinances also authorise the annual election of Wardens,* regulate in
general terms the procedure to be observed at admissions and at the
constitution of conventions of the Craft, and point to the ultimate destina-
tion of the fines that are to be exacted from defaulters.
Considering that the code of 1599 treats of matters both of local and
general importance to the Mason trade of the time, and that Mary's
Chapel has preserved minutes of its meetings held ten days previous to
the convocation noticed in Schaw's "testimonial" to the commissioner
from Kilwinning, the absence of that code from its records can only be
ascribed to the remissness which has already been referred to as charac-
terising the ancient conservators of Lodge muniments. Reserving for a
subsequent section of these sketches consideration of the Warden- General's
settlement of the question of precedency as between the Lodges of Edin-
burgh, Kilwinning, and Stirling, and passing over those items that are of
a recapitulatory character, we turn to those which introduce the reader to
usages of the Craft that are not referred to in the former code. Fixing
the 20th of December as the day on which the election of Warden should
take place in the west-country lodges, the Warden- General announces the
* An exception to the rule anent the annual election of Warden is furnished by the Lodge of
Dunblane, whose office-bearers during the twenty -three years ending in 1760 were elected
biennially.
RECEPTION OF MASTER MASONS. 17
Craft's responsibility to the Church for the behaviour of its members — a
responsibility similar to that which in Popish times was imposed on
religious brotherhoods ; he limits the choice of Lodges to notaries in the
appointment of their clerk, and defines that non-operative's masonic
duties ; he fixes the dues exigible from fellows and apprentices, and in
doing so gives prominence to the banquet as a necessary adjunct to
admissions, and to the fellows' presentation of gloves over and above
their money contributions to these fraternal reunions ; he introduces a
class of office-bearers (Quartermasters) which, though for a- century holding
a place among the Kilwinning Fraternity, were never introduced into the
Lodge of Edinburgh ; and in his anxiety for the loyalty of master masons
and fellows, and the perfecting of the professional skill of journeymen and
apprentices, the Warden-General provides in the case of the former for
their annual renewal of the oath of fidelity, and in that of the latter for
their periodical examination in practical masonry, and for the punishment
of the wilfully ignorant. And, in conclusion, the Warden-General assigns
the King's absence from town, and other circumstances, as the cause of
delay in confirming the Lodge of Kilwinning in its ancient privileges, on
the subject of which a commissioner from Kilwinning had been sent to
Edinburgh.
Beyond providing for the " orderlie bulking '' of apprentices, the Schaw
Statutes are silent as to the constitution of the Lodge at entries. On the
other hand, care is taken to fix the number and quality of brethren
necessary to the reception of masters or fellows of craft — viz., six masters
and two entered apprentices. The presence of so many masters was
doubtless intended as a barrier to the advancement of incompetent crafts-
men,— and not for the communication of secrets with which entered
apprentices were unacquainted ; for the arrangement referred to proves
beyond question that whatever secrets were imparted in and by the Lodge
were, as a means of mutual recognition, patent to the intrant. The "trial
of skill in his craft," the production of an " essay-piece," and the insertion
of his name and mark in the Lodge book, with the names of his "six
admitters " and " intendaris," as specified in the act, were merely practical
tests and confirmations of the applicant's qualifications as an apprentice,
and his fitness to undertake the duties of journeyman or master in
Operative Masonry ; and the apprentice's attendance at such examina-
tions could not be otherwise than beneficial to him because of the oppor-
tunity it afforded for increasing his professional knowledge.
No traces of an annual " tryall of the art and memorie and science thair-
of of everie fallow of craft and everie prenteiss '' are to be found in the
recorded transactions of Mary's Chapel or in those of the Lodge of Kil-
B
l8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
winning. But the custom was observed with the utmost regularity by the
Lodge of Peebles, from its institution in 1716 till the latter part of the
century. Fragmentary and dilapidated as they are, the records of the
Lodge of Atcheson's Haven contain the following minute anent the
periodical testing of apprentice masons : " The which day (December 27,
1722) the Companie being convened, felnding a great loss of the Enterd
Prentises not being tryed every St John's-day, thinks it fitt for the futter
that he who is Warden (or any in the Company who he shall call to assist
him) shall every St John's-day, in the morning, try every Entered Prentis
that was entered the St John's-day before, under the penalty of on croun
to the box."
It is only in a few of the earlier minutes of Mary's Chapel (1600-9) that
we find evidence of intrants in the seventeenth century having had tutors
provided for them. But it would seem from an enactment passed in 17 14 by
the Lodge of Edinburgh prohibiting its journeymen from acting as deacon,
warden, or " intendents " in any separate Lodge, that the ancient office of
"intendar" was then in existence, — and a relic of it is recognisable in the
custom which prevailed in the Lodge till^the middle of the last century, of
its operative apprentices imparting certain instructions to the non-operative
section of its intrants. The statutes of the Lodge of Aberdeen, made in
1670, ordain "that none of our lodge teach or instruct ane entered prentise
untill such tyme as he be perfjrted be his intender under the faylzie of being
fyned as the company thinks fit, but when his intender and his mate gives
him over as being taught, then any person hath libertie to teach him any-
thing he forgetes, but if the entered prentise when he is interrogat at our
public meetings forgate anything that has been taught him in that case he
must pay for it as the company thinks fit, except he can prove that he was
never taught such a thing and then his intender most pay for him." The
minutes of the Lodge of Dunblane (1725) define the duty of intender to
be " the perfecting of apprentices so that they might be fitt for their future
tryalls.'' The appointment of instructors has for a century and a half
obtained in the Lodge of Peebles.
Although in the foregoing Ordinances special attention is given to the
Essay as an important feature in the passing of brethren into the upper
grade of craftsmen, only once is that trial specimen referred to in the
records of the Lodge of Edinburgh. Making every allowance for the
reticence of those framing the minutes of the proceedings of the Mason
Courts of former times — a silence which did not arise, we believe, from a
desire for concealment, but from an impression of the unimportance of
recording more than a mere note of what was done, — and taking into
consideration the fact that descriptions of Masonic Essays are frequently
MINORS INELIGIBLE TO PASS. 19
given in the seventeenth century registry of the Incorporation of Mary's
Chapel, it is more than probable that, whatever may have been the practice
in former times, the testing of a fellow craft's competency to undertake the
duties of a master mason had in the period over which these old records
extend been placed beyond the province of Lodges and invested in those
Incorporations, whose charters secured to their members the monopoly, as
masters in their several vocations, of undertaking work lying within their
prescribed jurisdictions. Had the business before St Mary's Chapel on
the 30th of January 1683, been confined to the subject of passing, the pro-
bability is that there would have been no extended record of the circum-
stance ; but the question of " non-age " being involved in an apprentice's
petition for advancenient to the grade of fellow with a view to his suppli-
cating another court for the privileges of a master, and as the Lodge's
decision on the point would be held as a precedent, care was taken to have
a lengthened minute of the meeting engrossed on the records. We shall
give it entire: "Mare's Chapall, the 30th off Janeuar, 1683. Whilk day in
presance off Thomas Hamilton, dickin off the masones for the [time] baing,
and Robart Wylie, John Wilson, and Androu Shirar, old dickins, and
James Erode and John Fultin, John Harauay and Filep Aleson, mastares
(wharoff John Harauay wardin), it being urged by the sun off John Broun,
let dickin, off the age off naintin [19] yeares, to be past falow craft, and
tharaftar desayard that he micht be admitet to oukile to the whole House
to be admitet to on Asie, that tharbey he micht be found qualefied ; —
Which busenase the dickin and aid dickines and mastares tacking it to
thar considarashone off his non age, and that thay jug the qualefikashones
off non undar twonte on [21] yeares, is but off young age to be so qualefied
to be admited a faloue craft and far mor to be admitet to on asaie by which
all mastares ar obliged to be qualefied to sarue his Magastayes Liges,
Tharfor wit you ous and we be thos presantes pases this ack wat on voise,
that non undar the yeares off twonte on yeares shall be admitet to anay
off thes stashanes."
The absence from the Kilwinning and Mary's Chapel archives of any
certification of a craftsman's ability to serve the lieges in the station of
a master mason, strengthens the supposition that Lodges did not, in the
seventeenth century, possess the power of raising fellow-crafts to the position
of masters in Operative Masonry. Not only so, but the above minute, read
in connection with that of the Incorporation given below, may after all be
held as establishing the fact that the prescription of a master mason's essay
really lay with the " House "^-i.e., the Incorporation, and that applications
from parties desirous of being admitted to the privileges of master masons
within the burghs of Edinburgh and Leith required to be accompanied by
20 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
evidence of their having been passed as fellow-crafts by the Lodge of
Mary's Chapel. In the present instance the aspirant's youth was a bar to
his recognition as a fellow. The lineal representatives of these Operative
Lodges are less scrupulous as to the age of candidates for advancement ;
hence (with questionable propriety, some may think) the ready admission of
lads of eighteen to the highest degree that can be conferred in aScotch Lodge
of Freemasons. The following description of a Masonic Essay prescribed
by the Incorporation to a fellow of the Lodge of Mary's Chapel, will serve
as an illustration of the nature of the tests to which candidates for the rank
and privileges of master masons were subjected under the Operative re-
gime:— "At Marie's Chappell, 9th Jan., 1686 : The qlk day the deacones,
masters, and brethren convened, having taken to their consideration a bill
given in to them be John Hamilton, mason, craveing to be admitted to an
Essy, and being fand qualified, that he might he admitted freeman amongst
the rest of the brethren masons' freemen of this burgh, be right of serving
his prenticshippe with John Wilson, mason, burgesse of Ednr., and for
payment of the ordinary dues therfor, — wherefore the sds deacones, mas-
ters, and brethren have admitted and hereby admitts the sd supplicant to
make for his Essy ane house of ane hundred and twentie footes of length
and twentie four footes over the walls, with ane large scaill stair for ane
entrie, with ane turnpyke in the back syd. The house is to consist in three
story hight, ten footes betwixt floor and floore, with doores, windowes, and
chimneys conform conveniently placed, with a stay rooffe. The essy mas-
ters to be Patrick Hunter and William Whyte. The same to be per-
fected betwixt and Lambes next. David Callender, clerk." It was the
custom to present these Essays in court for the inspection of the brethren,
who by open vote passed or rejected them — it being a sine qua non to his
admission to the freedom of the trade that the candidate should also have
satisfied the municipal authorities by the purchase of a burgess's ticket.
Essay masters were appointed to attend the novice during the progress of
his specimen, in order to certify to its having been executed by himself
the subject being prescribed by the deacon or by a quorum of the freemen.
Reference to this mode of testing a craftsman's competency appears in
' Rob Roy,' where Diana Vernon thus ironically reproaches Francis Os-
baldistone for his rudeness to herself and the fit of dissipation into which
he was betrayed by groundless jealousy : " Your character improves upon
us, sir — I could not have thought it was in you. Yesterday might be con-
sidered as your assay-piece, to prove yourself entitled to be free of the
corporation of Osbaldistone Hall. But it was a masterpiece." The Essay
was not an institution peculiar to masons. Coopers, weavers and other
trades followed the same practice; and in their formal admissions of
LODGE ESSAY. 21
masters they, like the masons, made it a requisite that a certain number of
masters should be present.
From a peculiarity in respect to the choice of its Master, the usage ob-
taining in the Lodge Journeymen of Edinburgh furnishes an illustration of
the connection that in a few instances still exists between Symbolical and
Operative Masonry, and of the trials of skill to which in the olden time
apprentices were subjected preparatory to their- reception as fellow-crafts
— the Essay in such cases being, however, less elaborate than those exacted
from fellows passing as masters. On the nomination in 1842 of a Brother
to the chair of Lodge No. 8, it was objected that he was ineligible on
account of not being an operative mason ; and although it was argued
that his being an architect covered the objection, he was required to work
an essay-piece before he could be accepted as an operative or be elected
to the office of Master. A window-sill was in this instance the prescribed
task, in the execution of which the probationer was bound to wear the
ordinary operative mason's apron, and perform his work in a masons' shed.
In doing so he was visited several times in the course of the day by two
Wardens appointed by the Lodge ; and at the meeting for election the sill
was produced in the Lodge, and the Wardens having reported that in the
performance of his task the essayist had complied with the prescribed con-
ditions, he was declared eligible for election, and was forthwith called to
preside in the orient. A parallel to the Essay-Pieces of Operative Crafts-
men is presented in the examinations for advancement in Lodges of Free-
masons— tests which, in the inflated language of the Masonic diplomas of
the last century. Were characterised as the " wonderfull tryalls" which
the neophyte had had the " fortitude to sustain " before attaining to the
" sublime degree of master mason."
CHAPTER IV.
HAT Masonic Initiation was formerly a ceremony of great
simplicity may be inferred from the curtness of the Warden-
General's "item" on the subject (1598), and also from the
fact that a century after the promulgation of the Schaw
Statutes the MASON Word was wont occasionally to be imparted by
individual brethren in a ceremony extemporised according to the abil-
ity of the initiator. The Word is the only secret that is ever alluded
to in the minutes of Mary's Chapel, or in those of Kilwinning, Atche-
son's Haven, or Dunblane, or any other that we have examined of a
date prior to the erection of the Grand Lodge. Liberty to " give the
THE MASON WORD. 2^
Mason Word" was the principal point in dispute between Mary's Chapel
and the Journeymen Lodge, which was settled by "decreet arbitral" in
1715. But that this talisman consisted of something more than a word is
evident from "the secrets of the Mason Word" being referred to in the
minute-book of the Lodge of Dunblane, and from the further information
drawn from that of Haughfoot — viz., that in 1707 the Word was accom-
panied by a Grip. In Brother J. G. Findel's admirable History of Free-
masonry, grip, word, and sign are shown to have been used as forms of
recognition among the German Masons in the twelfth century. Secret
modes of recognition among other than Ma.sonic craftsmen are traceable
through several generations. The " Squaremen Word," was given in con-
claves of journeyman and apprentice wrights, slaters, etc., in a ceremony
in which the aspirant was blindfolded and otherwise " prepared : " he was
sworn to secrecy, had word, grip, and sign communicated to him, and was
afterwards invested with a leather apron. The entrance to the apartment,
usually a public-house, in which the "brithering" was performed, was
guarded, and all who passed had to give the grip. The fees were spent in
the entertainment of brethren present. Like the Masons, the Squaremen
admitted non-operatives. Squaremen were represented in the St Clair
Charter of 1628.
It is upon Schaw's regulation anent the reception of fellows or masters
that we found our opinion that in primitive times there were no secrets
communicated by Lodges to either fellows of craft or masters that were
not known to apprentices, seeing that members of the latter grade were
necessary to the legal constitution of communications for the admission of
masters or fellows. Confirmation of this opinion is found in the fact, as
shall afterwards be shown, that about the middle of the seventeenth century
apprentices were not only eligible for, but actually filled, the offices of
Deacon and Warden in the Lodge of Kilwinning ; and that about the close
of the same century (1693) the Lodge recognised "passing" — i.e., a promo-
tion to the fellowship — simply as an " honour and dignity."
Further: — if the communication by Mason Lodges of secret words or
signs constituted a degree — a term of modern application to the esoteric
observances of the Masonic body — then there was, under the purely Opera-
tive regime, only one known to Scotch Lodges — viz., that in which, under an
oath, apprentices obtained a knowledge of the Mason Word and all that was
implied in the expression ; and that this was the germ whence has sprung
Symbolical Masonry, is rendered more than probable by the traces which
have been left upon the more ancient of our Lodge records (especially those
of Mary's Chapel) of the gradual introduction, during the seventeenth and
the first quarter of the eighteenth century, of that element in Lodge
24 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
membership which at first modified and afterwards annihilated the original
constitution of these ancient courts of Operative Masonry.
Of all the technicalities of Operative Masons that have been preserved
in the nomenclature of their speculative successors, that of " Cowan,"
which is a purely Scotch term, has lost least of its original meaning. In
reiterating in 1707 its ordinance against the employment of Cowans, the
Lodge of Kilwinning describes a Cowan to be a Mason " without the Word"
— an uninitiated person, an outsider. And in this sense the term -was
retained by the same Lodge on relinquishing its connection with Operative
Masonry. In the ritual which has been in use in Scotch Lodges of Specu-
lative Masons beyond the memory of any now living, we have the term
" Cowans and Eavesdroppers." Cowans here means uninitiated persons,
who might attempt to gain admission ; Eavesdroppers, listeners outside the
lodge. The employment of Cowans by master masons, when no regular
craftsman could be found within fifteen miles, was allowed by the Lodge
of Kilwinning in the early part of the last century ; and it was the custom of
Scotch Incorporations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to license
Cowans, masters and journeymen, who were at once thatchers, wrights, and
masons, — liberty to execute hewn work, however, being invariably withheld.
Though the employment of "Kowans"was prohibited in 1600 bytheGlasgow
Incorporation of Masons, a minute of the same court, February 1623, con-
tains the record of a person booked and received as a Cowan being author-
ised " to work stone and mortar, and to build mortar walls, but not above
an ell in height, and without power to work or lay hewn work, nor to build
with sand and lime." "Maister Cowands" were, under restrictions,
admitted to membership in some Masonic Incorporations, but their recep-
tion in Lodges was strictly prohibited. Besides, as is shown by the records
of the Lodge of Haddington (1697), apprentices indentured to Lodges were
taken bound " not to work with nor in company nor fellowship of any
Cowan at any manner of building nor mason work.''
Nothing can, we fear, be said with certainty as to the etymology of
Cowan. Some Masonic students assign to it a Greek origin — from azouw, I
listen ; others from xuwv, a dog. It is worthy of notice that cu is the Gaelic
word for dog. May the epithet, as one of contempt towards craftsmen
'' without the word," not have been derived from the Celtic word cu ? A
Gael would so express himself by the term, a chain, " You dog." And may
it not be in this sense that we find it employed in ' Rob Roy' by the
great novelist, who in the dispute between the Baihe and Major Galbraith
in the clachan of Aberfoyle, makes the Highlander, whose broadsword had
in a previous brawl the same night been opposed by Nicol Jarvie's " red-
het culter," speak thus superciliously of the Duke of Argyle : — " She'll
speak her mind and fear naebody — she doesna value a Cawmil mare as a
FA0-8IM1LE OF THE OLDEST MINUTE OF THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH (MARyS CHAPEL)
■/^
Lithographed for Murray Lyon's History of Freemasonry
A; Hltohia-Uth Edln^
COWANS. 25
cowan, and ye may tell MacCallum More that Allan Inverach said sae."
' Rob Roy' was. written in 1817, — Sir Walter Scott was made in the Lodge
St David, Edinburgh, March 2, 1801, and to his acquaintance with Masonic
technicalities his use of Cowan as an epithet of contempt may be ascribed.
Certain writers, in their attempts to throw discredit on the claims to
antiquity that have been made in behalf of the Fraternity, point to the
"chouans" of the French Revolution as the source whence "Cowan" is
derived. The epithet was applied to the " Insurgent Bretons " chiefly, as
is supposed, from the circumstance of their movements being generally
made, like those of owls, in the night. The proof that has been given of its
use by Lodges in the sixteenth century, coupled with the fact that at that
period the craft held their meetings in broad daylight, demolishes that
anti-masonic theory.
The earliest minute of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) records
its deliverance on a breach of the statute against the employment of
Cowans: "Vltimo July 1599. The qlk day Gfeorge Patoun maissoun
grenttit & confessit that he had ofifendit agane the dekin & mrs for
placeing of ane cowane to wirk at ane chymnay held for tua dayis and
ane half day, for the qlk offenss he submittit him self in the dekin &
mrs guds willis for qt vnlaw they pless to lay to his charge, and thay
having respect to the said Georges humill submissioun & of his estait,
they remittit him the said offenss. Providing alwayis that gif ather he
[or] ony vther brother comitt the lyke offenss heirefter that the law sail
stryke vpoun thame indiscreta wtout exceptioun of personis. This wes
done in prcs of PauU Maissoun dekin, Thoas Weir warden, Thoas Watt,
Johne Broun, Henrie Tailzefeir, the said George Patoun, & Adam
Walkar. Ita est Adamus Gibsone norius. Paull Maissoun, dekin." [The
Warden's mark is also appended.]
Though the offence of employing uninitiated craftsmen seems occasion-
ally to have formed the subject of complaint to the Lodge, a hundred
years had nearly elapsed before the epithet " Cowan " again occurs in
these records. Under date Dec. 27, 1693, we find — "It is also condes-
ended that if aney Master imploy a Couan or Couans he shall pay twelve
pound Scotts for each breach of this our actt to the warden : for the uss
of the poor." The pen appears, in correction, to have been drawn through
the last clause of this minute, as if the ultimate destination of such fines
had been changed. That the " pious uses " to which Schaw in his Statutes
directs Lodge fines to be applied referred less to acts of piety in the strict-
est sense than to almsgiving, appears from subsequent minutes, where
consideration for its own poor is shown in the devoting of a portion of its
funds to their relief — a virtue which still more or less characterises the
Lodges of the present day.
26 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
But it was not only against the inroads of Cowans that the Lodge of
Edinburgh had to contend. Aspirations after free trade in Masonry, even
so early as the sixteenth century, began to manifest themselves amongst
initiated craftsmen — a spirit which, although crushed for a time, ultimately
gained sufficient strength to break down the monopoly alike of Lodges
and Incorporations. A few excerpts from minutes bearing upon this
point will suffice as examples of the jealousy with which the mason bur-
gesses, the then ruling power in the Lodge, guarded their interests against
the competition of those members of the Fraternity who attempted to
exercise their handicraft independently, thus ignoring the monopoly in the
profession that could be secured only through the town and trade incor-
porations that existed in the Scottish metropolis. The earliest minute of
the kind referred to may, from its being in the same hand as others of
1599) be placed in that year, and is as follows : — " Anent vnfremen. The
qlk day in presenc of Andro Symsone, presnt dekin of the maissonis,
Thomas Weir, warden, Paull Maissoun, Johne Brown, George Patoun,
Johne Watt, and Adame Walkar, maissonis, Alexr. Stheill, presentlie ser-
vand to the said Adam Walkar, being accusit be thame anent the taking
of certain warks from the ground to the compleiting yrof within Edr.
over fre maisteris heidis as he confessit be takin of arlis theirupon ; and the
said Alexr. Stheill refusing to be subordinat to the saids dekin and mrs
lawis than in thair presens desyring to be rather removit furth of thair
servic within Edr. wt the quhilk proud answer the saids dekin, warden,
and mrs. being weill & rypelie advisit, Ordanis na maister in Edr. to
gaif the said Alexr. Stheill wark wtin this said hurt, during thair haill
willis under the pain of fourtie pundis ; qrupoun the said Andro Sym-
son askit and tuke instrumentis. Adamus Gibson, notarius publicus.
Andro Symson Paull Maissoun George Patoun. . . . Janvari xxiij. 1607.
The qlk day, in presence of the decon of the maissounis and the haill
Loudge, Wm. Sim compleint upon Ro. Achiesoun for takin his work over
his heid, he being bot ane entrit prenteis haveand no lebertie at all to tak
ony work — yrfoir it is ordaneit that no mr. wtin this Loudge gaif him
work qll he compeir befoir thame and mak satesfaceon, under the paine of
x poundis testes coses so oft as he faills and all heirto everie ane hes set
to his merk ells his handwrit. Jno. Watt, Johnne Symsoune, Jhone Robes-
oune, W. Portious, &c. . . . Edr. the 21 of June, 1680. The qch day ye
deacone and masters conveened for ye tyme hes considered the great
abuse committed by Robert Whyte, one of our servants, not only infrin-
ging upon our liberties and taking of worke at his own hand, but also hes
tysted and seduced severall of our servants from there masters worke to
worke wt him in those workes qch he has sinisterously taken, to great
JOURNEYMEN WORKING AS MASTERS. 2/
prejudice of the qhole masters yrfore wee unanimously consent yt he be
enacted not to be employed by any of the masters neither wtin our privi-
ledge of ye toune, subburbs, or country qre it shall be leisome for yem to
have employment for ye space of two years after ye date of thir presents,
under ye penaltie of twenty pounds Scots to be payd by any master for
each tyme they shall happen to employ him during the foresd act. In
witness whereof wee have subscribed yr presents wt our hands day and
dait forsd."
Two of the above minutes refer to cases in which journeymen had pre-
sumed to take work on their own account ; the other is directed against
an apprentice, who, without even submitting himself to the formality of
passing, had exhibited an enterprise not quite in unison with the exclus-
ive notions of the masters of the Lodge of Edinburgh, although, according
to the Schaw Statutes, it was competent in certain circumstances for appren-
tices to work for their own hand. But even in the case of Mary's Chapel
apprentices passing for the freedom, the liberty to work as master masons
was in some instances withheld for periods of from two to ten years. Here
is a case in point: — "The secund of December 1607: The qlk day
Andro Hamiltoun, prenteis to Johne Watt eldest, maissoun & burges of
Edr., is admittit and ressaveit in fallow of ye maissoun craft amang the
friemen & bourge.sses of yis hurt of Edr., & hes done his deutie in all
poynts as effeirs to the satesfacteoun & contentment of the decone wairdin
and maisters of ye haill craft vndersubscryuing & marking, and vpon the
haill premisses the said Andro Hamiltoun askeit teuk instruments fra the
notr. publik and subscryvit be the admitters & ressauers as fallowes, & the
said Andro Hamiltoun sail bind and obleiss him yt he sail no persew hes
lebertie of fredome qll twa years & ane half expyre fra the day of his
exceptenc, qlk is the secund day of December, the yeir of god 1607 yeirs.
And the said Andro Hamiltoun binds and obleisses him that he sail not
wirk wtout this toune of Edr. dureing the said twa yeirs and ane half"
Crossing the path of the masters in their transactions with the public —
probably undertaking the completion of work regarding which some dis-
pute between the builders and their employers was pending — another
journeyman is subjected to a seven years' suspension of his masonic
privileges, his misdeed being aggravated by the " base speeches " he had
delivered to the prejudice of his judges:— "At Marie Chappell the xxvii
day of December j m vi c and fiftie twa yeires. The qlk day we the
brethreine fremen of the masones of Edr., being convened, finding by
severall certain relations that Alexr. Patersone, maisone jorneyman, hes
wronged vs by going betwixt vs and our awneres, and lykwyes by bas
speaches and sewerall other wronges of that kind, a cairag not becoming
28 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ane servant to his masteres, we all wt one consent dois ordaine vnder the
paine of fourtie pounds that non of vs shall admit or receiue the said Alexr.
Patersone to work within our liberties for the spac of sevin yeires, nor yet
att the expyring of the forsaid yeires untill the sd Alexr. shall suplicat and
giv satisfactione to vs all in generall and particulare."
The exercise of the Masters' power was not, however, confined to cases
in which their legally-constituted rights were assailed : they were the con-
servators also of the privileges conferred by the Lodge upon those whom
it had entered and passed, or had accepted by affiliation — privileges which
consisted chiefly in eligibility for employment by freemen, and eleemosy-
nary aid in seasons of personal or relative distress. This care for their
servants' interests (which in some measure were also their own) led to the
adoption of resolutions against employing any others than those possessing
the Lodge's seal of approval ; or, where this was impracticable or impolitic,
imposing a tax upon those outsiders who chanced to be employed within
the liberties of the Incorporation, or elsewhere, by mason burgesses of
Edinburgh. In 1672-3 a Masonic immigration from Corstorphine, a town
about three miles distant from Edinburgh, excited serious apprehensions
in the minds of the brethren of Mary's Chapel. The intruders were
denounced, and masters were reminded of their Masonic covenant, and
forbidden, under the pain of fine, to employ any of them. For seven years
the Corstorphine " men " were as a thorn in the side of the Lodge of Edin-
burgh ; and this of itself is an evidence that at the period in question
facilities existed for the evasion of the Trades' statutes, notwithstanding
that these were enforcible by law. With the submission to the Lodge in
1680 of two of the three intruders then remaining in Edinburgh, this
encroachment upon the rights of Mary's Chapel seems to have terminated.
It was not unusual for entered apprentices, on the expiry of their
apprenticeship, to seek employment as journeymen without having passed
an examination and been certificated by the Lodge as fellow -crafts.
Through the prevalence of this practice the funds of the Lodge were some-
times insufficient to meet claims for relief, and it was partly from a desire
to increase its stock, and partly with a view to preserve and perpetuate its
influence in the regulation of matters touching the Mason Craft, that the
Lodge of Edinburgh placed its unpassed journeymen on a level with others
of the same grade not belonging to it, in respect to their forced contribu-
tion to its charity fund. " Maries Chappel, 27 December 1681. The which
day John Broune, present dakon, and Philip Alisone, warden, and the
remanent masters, having taken to their consideratione that wheras there
are several entered prentises continues in ther imployment as jurneymen
without passing of themselves, and therfor the deakon and masters makes
TAX UPON UNPASSED JOURNEYMEN. 29
ane act from the date heirefter, that no masters shall imploy ane of the
forsd. persones, they being two years after the date of their dischairge
unpast ; the master that imploys shall pay into our warden for each day
they imploy them 20 sh. Scots." "27th Desambar, 1682. Whilk day, in
presancs of Thomas Hamilton dickin and John Harauy wardin and
remandar mastares, having tackin it to ther sereas considarashon the great
nesetay of thar pour, in ordar to which suplie the dickin and mastares woth
on consant dou impose upon ilk journeman that dous not belong to our
Lodg for thar yarly libartay of thar working woth ilk friman the sum of
twall shiling scotes, to be payed be thar mastar out of thar furst munthes
pay, which if thar mastar neglack to pay in to the wardin for the taim that
the sad jurneman shall be discharged from working wothin the privliges,
and the master obliged to be sansard for his neglack of discharging his
deutay ; as witness our hands day and plase forsd."
A disinclination to pass, on the part of the apprentices of Atcheson's
Haven, may be traced in the records of that lodge, which in 17 19 made it
imperative on entered apprentices — those "who take work," and those
"who do not take work" — to "make themselves fellow-crafts" not later
than the third St John's-day after the expiry of their apprenticeship.
Compliance with this order was urged on the ground of the Lodge's poverty,
a condition into which it had been brought through the increase of unpassed
journeymen. The discrepancy between the usage of the Lodge of Edin-
burgh in the end of the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth cen-
tury and the Schaw Statutes of 1598, in regard to the period of probation
(seven years, in ordinary circumstances) that had been assigned to freed
apprentices, is indicative of the changes to which the laws and usages of the
Mason Lodges were then being subjected. The contemporary transactions
of the Lodge of Kilwinning do not furnish any parallel cases of backward-
ness to pass on the part of its apprentices.
CHAPTER V.
E have already seen that it was a practice of craftsmen of
the rank of entered apprentice to work as masters : and in
order that they might not have to compete on unequal
terms with legally-constituted master masons, they would
necessarily have their staff of apprentices. This, as well as the custom
of fellow-crafts training apprentices for their own profit, were also sub-
jects of Lodge legislation at intervals during the seventeenth century : —
" Upon the xxv day of November, 1613 : The qlkday, in presens of the de-
cone of the maissouns and the haill rest of his brethren being convenit in the
Maries Chapill in Nidries wynd, thocht it geud and expedient to expell
out of this bruc of Ednr. all kynd of servands, whidder thay be follows of
APPRENTICES PROHIBITED FROM MARRYING. 3 1
craft or enterit prenteisses, that hes prenteisses ather workand wtin this
toun of Ednr. or wtin the toun of Leith, presentlie or to be feit to work in
ony tyme heirefter ; and gif ane follow of craft qlk is ane servand desyre
to fie himself and nocht his prenteis, it is lesum to ony maister to fie him,
— and gif the said follow of craft desyre to fie his prenteis and no himself
wt ony maister for ane haill yeir or half ane yeir, it shall be lesum to ony
maister to fie the said prenteis, but no to the follow and his prenteis baith
to wirk wtin this bruch. And gif ane servand that is enterit and no ane
follov/ desyre to fie his prenteis wt ony Mr it shall not be lesum to fie
him. Heirto we faithfullie obleisses us all to keip this act, and everie
maister sa aft as he sail brek this act shall pay x lib toithis tosech. Heirto
we haif set to our mark or ells our hand writ."
"Marrie Chappel, November 23, 1671. The same day the deacon and
masters abovesubscrivand ordered that in tyme coming every master shall
pay for the entrie of his prenteis, if he be for the libertie, the soume of ten
pounds Scotts, and for his prenteis that is not for the liberty the soume of
twelv pounds Scotts money, which is the rates of the abovwritten entered
prenteisses upon which the brethern hes agreed amongst themselves ; and
for any other journaymen's prenteisses it is refered to the discretion of the
deacon and warden present to agree theranent, providing allwayes that
they pay somwhat mor than the brethren payes : as witnes," &c.
In the Incorporation's books, 1685, an entry occurs which shows that that
body did not scruple to increase its revenue by the recognition of a custom
which the Masonic portion of its members had in the Lodge condemned
as being prejudicial to its interests: "It is statut and ordained that all
journeymen masons who have prentices for whom they drawe actuall
wages, that they shall pay and be lyable for booking moneys as well as other
servants or journeymen, and no more to be exacted from them thereafter
upon that accompt." In the same year, apprentices were prohibited from
marrying during their apprenticeship — a law the propriety of which will be
readily acknowledged when it is considered that the class of craftsmen
who were thus condemned to temporary celibacy were to a large extent
boarded and lodged in the family of their masters.
The term of apprenticeship to the mason trade seems to have varied
according to circumstances. It was fixed by Schaw at seven years ; but
the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh, as also those of Kilwinning, give
instances of indentures being entered into for a much shorter period. Few
would think of referring to the transactions of a Grand Lodge of Specula-
tive Masonry for information respecting the length of an operative mason's
apprenticeship ; but on turning to the early records of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland, we find an instance of an apprentice being bound for a period
32 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
of eight years: "Nov. 1739. Moved by the Deputy Master, that since
part of the poor's money belonging to the Grand Lodge may be employed
in binding a son of some poor Operative Mason of honest reputation, be-
longing to some Mason Lodge who own and acknowledge the Grand
Lodge, to some of the Freemen Masons of Edinburgh, for the freedom of
the city and incorporation, as an example and encouragement to other
Lodges of Operative Masons in the country to join and contribute to the
Grand Lodge." "May 21, 1740. The same day there was produced
before Grand Lodge a missive letter from the Rt. Won the Deputy Grand
Master concerning the binding of some poor Operative Mason an apprentice
for the freedom of the city of Edinburgh and incorporation of Mary's
Chappel ; — and there being one A. R., lawful son of the deceasit A. R.,
journeyman mason in Edinburgh, presented to them for that purpose, it
was proposed to Thomas Mylne, the Grand Treasurer, that he should bind
the saidjDoy for the freedom of the city and incorporation, and (he) agreed
to accept of him as an apprentice for eight years from the date of the
indenture to be entered into betwixt them ; for which the Grand Lodge
agreed to pay him 300 merks of apprentice fee, besides the expenses of
binding and booking him in the Guild Court books of Edinburgh, and put
in the said Thomas Myln's hands as shall defray the expenses of his cloth-
ing during his apprenticeship ; and they appointed the indentures accord-
ingly to be made out and signed and reported to next Quarterly Com-
munication ; — And it was further enjoined upon to Grand Lodge, that in
regard their poor's funds are but small, therefore they resolve to bind ane
apprentice once only in three years."
The reader will readily discover in the Grand Lodge's resolution anent
the extension of its charity to the orphan sons of operative masons, a
selfishness similar to that which marred also the displays of generosity on
the part of Operative Lodges — a spirit which is rendered still more appar-
ent in the Grand Lodge's subsequent efforts to shake itself clear of what it
had very soon come to regard as a burden : " Whereby the Grand Lodge
is obliged to find the apprentice with clothes during the time of his
apprenticeship, and that their stock may be relieved of that burthen, it is
now therefore proposed that the Masters of the particular Lodges on the
roll, especially those in and about Edinburgh, do send a contribution for
proper clothing to the Charity Apprentice." In response to this appeal,
the Lodge of Edinburgh agreed to contribute half a guinea per annum.
The first charity apprentice having from misconduct had his indenture
cancelled, the terms of the second one's agreement were made so as to
lighten Grand Lodge's responsibility in the matter: "August 3, 1743.
The Treasurer represented that A. R., the Grand Lodge apprentice, bound
MASONS WAGES IN THE OLDEN TIME. 33
to hirn for the freedom, etc., upon the expenses of the Grand Lodge, had
turned altogether vicious, and had been guilty of several discommendable
practices, for which he was obliged to extrude him from his service, and
declared that he should never have the freedom of the city by his indentures,
which he was willing at the sight of the members of the Grand Lodge to
cancel. But proposed, if Grand Lodge inclined, to bind any other respect-
able honest man's son in his place ; he would take him yet for the freedom-
of the city, and for the ordinary term of years, upon a responsible man's
being cautioner for his good behaviour, and that without any apprentice
fee at all, being free of his clothing and washing during his apprentice-
ship." In 1754, Grand Lodge agreed to give forty shillings a-year to
provide clothes for an apprentice to Mr Adam, architect, the " son of a
decent operative mason, a member of Journeymen Lodge ; " but with the
termination of this lad's indenture the custom of the Grand Lodge adopt-
ing a charity apprentice seems to have ceased.
In the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh we are incidentally informed
that the system of monthly pays obtained in the mason trade two hundred
years ago. The master mason who was employed on the kirk work under
special agreement with the town council of Aberdeen in 1484 was paid
quarterly, at the rate of £24, i6s. 8d. Scots, and his journeymen twenty
marks per annum. In 1500 the masons engaged in rebuilding the steeple
of the old Tolbooth of Edinburgh were paid weekly — the master receiv-
ing ten shillings (lod. sterling), and his journeymen each nine shillings (gd.
sterling) Scots. In 1 536 the master mason employed by the town of Dundee
was paid every six weeks, at the rate of ;^24 Scots per annum for himself, and
£ 10 Scots for his apprentice. For mason-work executed at Lundie, Fife,
in 1661, the master had tenpence a-day and the journeymen ninepence,
" and all their diet in the house." Towards the close of the seventeenth cen-
tury the value of skilled labour had considerably increased ; for in 1691 it was
enacted by the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel, " That no mason here-
after take upon him to work on day's wages under eighteen shillings Scots
by day in summer, and sixteen shillings Scots by day in winter." There
was a masons' strike in Edinburgh in 1764. From an account of the com-
bination, we learn that the wages then paid to journeymen masons were a
markScots(i3>^d.)a-dayinsummer,and lod. a-day in winter. The journey-
men wished their rates raised to I5d. a-day in summer, and I2d. in winter.
The master masons successfully resisted their demand; and on isth
August the Lord Provost and Magistrates found that the journeymen
were bound to work to the freemen master masons for such wages as the
master should think reasonable, agreeable to use and wont. In the mas-
ters' representation to the Lord Provost and Magistrates it is stated,,
c
34 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
" That within memory, masons' wages were 76. to a mark a-day, accord-
ing as they deserved ; and that they then began work at five o'clock in
the morning, whereas now they do not begin till six — their stated hours
being from six to six, of which time one hour is allowed to breakfast and
another for dinner ; but that several other trades work much later." The
present (August 1872) rate of wages paid at Edinburgh to a journeyman
mason is five shillings (three pounds Scots) per day of eight hours.
The following minute of the freemen of the Lodge of Edinburgh refers
to the regulation of wages on piece-work: — " 1621. At the Marie Schappill in
Nidrieis Wynd, upon the xxv day of December, the fremen of the mas-
souns of Edr. being convenit and finding grit abuse anent the hewing of
task stanes, therfoir thay half thocht it gaud all wt ane consent to set
doune ane pryce- on the hundreth pece of stanes that sail be hewin
in task, to wit for the hundreth pece of schort stanes, that is to say,
rabits and stanes of chimlays and conthers wt thame gif ony be, the soume
of twentie four pounds ; and gif ther be of the hundreth pece of stanes
twentie lang stanes the pryce sail be threttie pounds ; — And this to be
keipit in all tymes cuming amang the haill fremen baith present and to
cum, under the pane of twentie pounds tosthes tosthes [toties quotis] to be
payit be the contrevener to the craft. Be this our hand writ scubcryvit wt
our hands or ells our marks." In 161 1 the Glasgow Incorporation of
Masons fixed four shillings per foot as the minimum price of " hewn rigging
stones.'' In April 1665, Robert Milne (then Warden of the Lodge of
Edinburgh) undertook to erect an hospital at the Kirktown of Largo, and
as we get some idea of the expense of building at this time from the sum
which he received under the contract, we may mention it. The house
was to consist of fourteen fire-rooms and a public hall, each room contain-
ing a bed, a closet, and a loom ; besides which there was a stone bridge at
the entry, and a gardener's house two storeys high. Lamont in his diary
• remarks, " some say Milne was to have for the work being complete 9000
merks (£s,o6), and if it was found well done, 500 merks more."
The existence of excessive competition in the mason trade is apparent
from the following resolution of the Lodge of Atcheson's Haven : — " 27th
Deer. 173s : The Company of Atchison's Haven being mett together, have
found Andrew Kinghorn guilty of a most atrocious crime against the whole
Trade of Masonry, and he not submitting himself to the Company for
taking his work so cheap that no man can have his bread of it ; Therefor
in not submitting he has excluded himself from the said Company ; And
therefor the Company doth hereby enact that no man, neither ffellow craft
nor enter'd prentice, after this shall work as journeyman under the said
Andrew Kinghorn, under the penalty of being cut off as well as he. Like-
MASTER MASON OF THE KIRK OF ST GILES. 35
wise, if any man shall follow the example of the said Andrew Kinghorn
in taking work at eight pounds Scots per rood, the walls being 20 foot
high, and rebates at eighteen pennies Scots per foot, that they shall be cut
off in the same manner. And likewise that none of this Incorporation
shall work where the said Andrew Kinghorn hath the management of the
work, whether it be wrought by task or by day's wages ; neither shall any
of the Incorporation employ the said Andrew Kinghorn as journeyman,
coequall or assistant to them any manner of way ; and as often as they
shall do to the contrarie of this act, they hereby oblige themselves to pay
into the box, viz., fellow crafts, the sum of twelve pounds' Scotts, and en-
tered prentices the sum of nine pounds Scotts. In witness whereof we
have subscribed thir presents day, month, and year of God above written."
[Signed by deacon, warden, '37 fellow crafts, and 22 entered prentices.]
Intimately related to the matter of masons' wages is that of the hours
of labour in the olden time, and on this point some light is thrown by the
following " Statute anent the government of the Maister Masoun of the
College Kirk of St Giles, 149 1," extracted from the Burgh Records of
Edinburgh : — " The quhilk day the prouest, dene of gild, baillies, and coun-
• sale of the burgh of Edinburgh, thinkis expedient and also ordanis that
their maister masoun and the laif of his collegis and seruandis of thair
kirk wark that now ar and sail happin to be for the tyme sail diligentlie
fulfill and kaip thair seruice at all tymes and houris as follows : — That is
to say, the said maister and his seruandis sail begyn to thair werk ilk day
in somer at the straik of v houris in the morning, and to continew besylie
into thair lawbour quhill viij houris thairafter, and than to pas to thair
disione and to remane thairat half ane hour, and till enter agane to thair
lawbouris at half hour to ix houris before none and swa to wirk thairat
quhill that xj houris be strikken, and afternone to forgather agane to thair
wark at the hour of ane, and than to remayne quhill iiij houris, and than
to gett a recreatioun in the commoun luge be the space of half ane hour,
and fra thine furth to abyde at thair lawbour continually quhill the hour
of vij be strikin : And in winter to begyn with day licht in the morning,
kepand the houris aboue written, and to haif bot thair none shanks allan-
erly afternone, and to remayne quhill day licht be gane. And gif the
said maister quhatsumeuir or his collegis and seruandis faiUis in ony
poyntis abouewritten, or remainis fra his seid seruice ony tyme, he to be
correctit and pvnist in his wages at the plesour of the dene of gild
that sail happin to be for the tyme, as the said dene sail ansuer to
God and to the guid towne thairvpoun. ][Lowse leifi"dattit 1491.)" This
excerpt contains the earliest use of the word " Luge " that we have met
with in connection with the Masons of Edinburgh. As here employed, the
36 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
expression, in harmony with its acknowledged derivation, denotes a shed
or other temporary structure erected for purposes of shelter to the work-
men, and common to all as a place of resort during meal hours and other
short intervals of rest. The term came also to be applied to meetings of
Masons, and to the body of craftsmen constituting such assemblies. To
trace the derivation of Lodge, therefore, from the Sanscrit " loga, the
world," is one of the hallucinations under which those writers labour who
attribute to the technicalities of ancient Operative Masonry an original
signification corresponding with that which has been arbitrarily assigned
to them in the ritual of Speculative Masonry.
The " Indenture betwix Dunde and its Masoun," A.D. 1536, as given in
the " Registrum Episcopus Brechinensis," is more elaborate than the Edin-
burgh statute of 1491, and is interesting as containing the earliest authentic
instance of a Scotch Lodge following the name of a saint, viz., " Our Lady
[i.e. St Mary's] Luge of Dunde:"*—
" This indentit charter party maid at Dunde the xxiii day of Merch in the zeir of God
ane thowsand fif hundredth and thretty-sex zeris proportis . . . that it is appoyntit . . .
and aggreit betuix honorable men the preuost bailzies counsall and communite of the
burgh of Dunde and Andro Barry kirkmaister for the time of the paroche kirk of our
lady of the samyn on that ane part, and George Boiss masoun on that uther part, in
maner ... as followis, that is to say the sadis preuost bailzies counsall and communite
of the said burgh with the said kirk maister for the tyme has with the consent ... of
the said George Boiss feit and infeft hym for all the . . . termis of his liftyme for his
daily werk and lawbour of masoun craft, the best craftiast and of maist ingyne that he
can or ma at the kirk werk forsaid or commone werkis of the said burgh or at ony uther
werkis within the said burgh that the said toun plesis best to command hym thairto ony
tyme quhen neid beis to wirk or lawbour at the command of the masteris of werkis the
town forsaid commandand hym thairto for the tyme, and that quheneuir he beis requirit
. . . to . . . exerceiss the best and maist ingenouss poyntis and prackis of his craft . . .
And he to keip his Interes daily and hourly to his lawbour forsaid at the samyn tymis
and houris as the aid vss and consuetud of our lady luge of Dunde had and usit befor,
That is to say in somer to inter at fif houris in mornyng and wirk quhill aucht houris
befor none, and thane to haf ane half hour to his disiune, and thairefter to wirk quhill
half hour to twelf houris, and to inter at ane hour efter none and wirk quhill four houris
efter none, and than to haf ane half hour to his none schankis and syne to work quhill
sevin houris at ewyn, and quhen the day beis schort that he ma nocht se at fif houris in
the mornyng and at sevin houris at ewyn than he sail inter ilk day als sone as he ma
se and wirk als long as he ma se at ewyn, and to keap tyme of dennar none and none
schankis as is forsaid ilk zer quhill al hallowday, and fra that day to the purificatione of
our lady day next tharefter to haf na tyme of licence of dennar nor none schankis be-
causs of the schortnes of the dais,— and the said George sail wirk nane uther wirkis nor
* "The Ludge of Dundie," which was a party to the St Clair Charter of 1628, was in all pro-
bability the representative of "Our Lady Luge of Dunde" of the sixteenth century. .
OUR LADY LODGE OF DUNDEE. 37
lawbouris in tymis of werk dayis but licence of tlie maister of werkis he beis vnder for
the tyme, and the said George sail werk all festual ewinnis that beis fastryn dais quhill
four houris efter none except Zule ewyn Pasch ewyn Witsoun ewyn and the Assumpcione
ewen of our lady, and at thir four evinnis to leiff at xii houris, and all utheris ewinnes
to werk quhill ewyn at the tymis for expremit. The said George sail haf zerly for . . .
his liftyme ... to his zerly fee the sowm of twenty four pundis usuale money of Scot-
land to be . . . pait be us or our maisteris of werkis of our kirk guidis and commoun
gudis without fraud or gile ilk half quarter payment befor hand efter the aid vss of our
lady lug-e . . . Alsua gif it happinis the said George be chargit or the toun acquestit
for hym to the kyngis werkis or to any uther lordis or gentilmenis werkis, in that cace
the said George in his absence fra the toune werkis forsaidis sail haf na fee of the toun
. . . Alsua gif it happinnis the said George to tak infirmite or seiknes and lyis thairintill
our the space of fourty dais continualy, in that cace his fee sail be pait to hym tha fourty
dais in tyme of his seiknes and na mair quhill he be at the werk againe. And the said
George sail haf ane prenteiss fra vii zeris to vii zeris, and as the tyme of ane rinnis furth
to tak ane uther, and the said preinteiss to be ressavit at the sicht of the maisteris of
werkis that he be nocht ane small child, and he sail mak thaim fre without any fee the
first zer of thair interes and ilk zer thareftar of the said vi zeris his prentess sail haf ten
pundis of fee pait to the said George in the sammyn maner as his awyn fee beis pait
. . . And gif it happinnis his prentess to tak seikness in that cace his prentess sail be
ausuerit of his fee ashis maister in his seiknes ... In witness of the quhilkis to the
pairt of this indentit charter party to remane with the said preuost bailzeis consall com-
munitie and maister of werk the said George has affixit his seill subscriwit with his
hand led at the pen, and to the peirt of the sammyn to remane with the said George the
commone seill of the said burgh is appensit zeir day and place forsad befor thir witnes
Maister Jhone Barry George Rollock Dauid RoUok bailze -James Weddirburn zonger
Maister Jhone Gledstanis Gilbert Rolland Andro Buchan with utheris diverss. George
Boiss with my hand led at the pen."
CHAPTER VI.
?tIONG the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh belonging
to the sixteenth century, there is what we take to be a
memorandum of an order emanating from the Warden-
General fixing the particular day in each year to be ob-
served by Lodges in their election of Warden, and summoning a convoca-
tion of the Craft upon business relating specially to the Lodges of St
Andrews, Dundee, and Perth, the entry having in all probability been
made by the Clerk as a record of the Lodge's authority for compliance
with the order. Though purporting to be so, the rule fixing St John's-
day as the date at which Lodge Wardens were to be elected, was not of
Hi
vN'
«^1
^(It '^
MASONIC CONVENTION AT ST ANDREWS. 39
universal application ; for the 20th of December was the statutory date
for the election of Wardens of Lodges within the bounds of Kilwinning, the
Nether Ward of Clydesdale, Glasgow, Ayr, and Carrick. The following
is the jotting referred to : — " xxvij Novembris, 1 599. First, it is ordanit
that the haill Wardenis salbe chosen ilk yeir preciselie at Sanct Jhpneis
day, to wit the xxvij day of december ; and thairefter the said Generall
Warden be advertesit quha are chosen wardenis. Item, it is ordanit that
thair be ane generall meitting in Sanct Androis for setling and taking order
wt the effairis of the ludge yrof, quhair everie perticular Ludge salbe oblist
to send twa Comissionaris ; and ferther, That the haill Maisteris and
vtheris within the jurisdictione of the said ludge of Sanct Androis be warnit
to compeir in the said toun vpoun the threttene day of Januair next to
cum befoir none, qlk is the appoyntit day for the said meitting. And gif
ony persone that salbe lawchfuUie wairnit to compeir the sd day sail hap-
pin to dissobey he sail incur the paine conteinit in the act, to witt ten
pundis ; — -And that the Maisteris of Dindie and Perth be alsua warnit to
convene in Sanct Androis the said day and the said plaice." No record
has been preserved of the Masonic Convention at St Andrews in January
1600. The "others"' who were summoned to the meeting in question,
would in all probability be the journeymen and apprentices belonging to
Lodges within the prescribed jurisdiction, supplemented by persons having
an honorary connection with the Craft.
" xviij Decembris, 1 599. The qlk day the dekin & maisteris of the ludge
of Edr. electit & chesit Jhone Broun in thair Warden be monyest of
thair voitis for ane zeir to cum."
"xviij Decembris, 1599. The qlk day the dekin & maisteris of the
ludge of the brut, of Edr. promittit to enter Thomas Tailzefeir prenteiss to
Thomas Weir, betwix and Candilmes next to cum ; q''vpoun the sd Thos.
Weir tuke Instrumentis. Ita est Adamus Gibsone, notarius. Itevi, the
samyn day the dekin & maisteris of the ludge of Edinr. ordanit Johne
Watt, sone to Thomas Watt, to pay to the commoun effairis of the craft
ten pundis money befoir he be enterit prenteiss ; and the sd prenteiss to
be enterit to the warden becaus the said Thomas Watt hes his full numer
of prenteisses (to wit thrie) enterit of befoir ; qi'vpoun the sd Thoas a.skit
Instrumentis. Ita est Adamus Gibsone, notarius. And ordanis the sd
Jhone Watt to be enterit prenteiss, and to mak his bancat wtin xviij dayis
nexttocum. Ita est Adamus Gibsone, norius."
"xviij Decembris, 1599. -The qlk day the dekin & maisteris of the
ludge of Edr. promittis libertie & licenc to John Robesone, youngar, and
to Patrik Smyt to tak ilk ane of thame ane prenteis qhan thay pleiss ;
bot the sds prenteisses sail not be enterit qll thair be sevin zeiris outns.
40 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
sin thay war 'maid maisteris ; qrvpoun thay tuke instrumentis. Ita est
Adamus Gibsone, notarius publicus."
" xviij Decembris, 1599. The warden & maisteris, with the consent of
the ludge of Edr., decernis Paull Maisson to pay to Jhone Watt xl shel-
lingis for his servand wagis, and alsua to deliver to the said Johne ane
mell and ane haimer ; and alsua ordanis Wa. Abill srvand foirsaid not
to haif wark in Edr. qll he satisffie the said Paull in thair presenc and
mak him amendis for hurting of him vpon the bak of his hand to the
effuscion of his blud."
The foregoing minute contains the earliest record that has been pre-
served of an election by the Lodge of Edinburgh. Though confining him-
self to a strictly legal record of the event, the chronicler of the next elec-
tion of Warden is more communicative than his immediate predecessor in
office: — " Vigesimo septimo decembris 1601. The qlk day, in presens of
the dekyn and maisteris of the Ludge of Edinburt, Thomas Weir, maissoun
burges of the said hurt, is electit and chosin in warden of the said ludge be
monyest of thair voits, as use is, for ane yeir to cum ; upon the qlk all and
sundrie premissis the said Thomas Weir askit and tuik instruments fra me
notar publico undersubscriming, and therfoir in signe and taikin of thair
ferdar ratificatioun and approbation of this former act the dekynis and
maisteris present has subscrimit the samyn and merkit this present wt
thair hands as foUowis. Ita est Magister Archibaldus Gibsone, no'rius
publicus at scriba dictze artis ad praemiss. rogatus."
The employment of notaries in the framing of its records appears from
the earliest of its, minutes to have been at first carefully observed by the
Lodge of Edinburgh ; but within a very few years after Schaw's reorgani-
sation of the Lodges, its remissness in this respect becomes apparent, and
ultimately the duty of recording its transactions seems for the most part
to have devolved on such of its members as could write. As the result of
this irregularity, in no instance during the seventeenth century has an
election of Warden been recorded. Changes in this office, therefore, can
only be discovered through the sederunts that happen to have been en-
grossed in the minutes. The systematic and continuous entry by the
Lodge of Edinburgh of its appointments to the office of Warden begins
with the following: "At Maryes Chapell the 27 December 170.1. The
qlk day Pa. Carfrae, present deacon of the measons, and his breathering,
did elect and choyse James Thomsone wardin."
The minutes of December 1 599-1601 show that whatever may have
been the original constitution of the Lodge, its government at the period in
question was vested in craftsmen -of the highest grade — a position which
they held up till 1706, when, to prevent a second secession from the Lodge,
the journeymen were admitted to a voice in the administration of its
FEES OF HONOUR. 41
affairs. For half a century before this, however, it had been the custom
of the Lodge on special occasions — particularly in cases involving inroads
upon the masters' privileges — to take both fellow-crafts and apprentices
into its counsels, and the more effectually to secure their co-operation, to
cause them to sign the minutes as acquiescing in the Lodge's decisions.
Notwithstanding this politic display of liberality on the part of the
governing power, the Lodge seems for 120 years from the revivification of
the Scotch Lodges in Schaw's time to have existed chiefly as an auxiliary
to the Masonic section of the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel. Though
like others in 1598 the Lodge of Edinburgh was placed under the direction
of its Warden, who was the recognised medium of the Warden-General's
communication with it, the Deacon or head of the Masons in their incor-
porate capacity was in reality also the ex-officio head of the Lodge, and,
like the Warden, held his appointment by the suffrages of those of its
members whom the municipal authorities recognised as master masons.
Sometimes indeed both offices were united in the same person, designated
in the Lodge minutes as " deacon of the masons and warden of the lodge."
So far as can be drawn from the minutes, the Warden of the Sixteenth,
seventeenth, and early part of the eighteenth centuries was custodier of
its funds, and the dispenser of its charities — the corresponding duties in
the Incorporation being discharged by the box-master. In its minute
anent the state of its financial affairs at St John's-day 1704, the Lodge both
imposes a fine upon, and administers a rebuke to, the Warden for his lavish
expenditure of its funds, and ordains " that it shall not be in the power of
any wardin in tyme coming to dispose upon any part of the coumone purse
wtout the consent of the deacone and a quorum of his breatherin."
In recording the early elections of Warden, the Lodge of Edinburgh
simply gives the result ; but the mode of conducting elections at Kilwin-
ning (1643-80) may be taken as an index of the custom that would also
obtain in Mary's Chapel. A leet of candidates being agreed upon, it
was engrossed in the minute-book, — the roll was then called, each vote
was indicated by a stroke placed opposite the nanie of the candidate for
whom it was given, and the person having the majority was declared to
be elected by a "pluralitie of vottis." * Fellows and apprentices were
alike eligible for election to the office of Warden, — whereas in the choice of
that official the masters of the Lodge of .Mary's Chapel were restricted to
their own class. There is another difference observable between the con-
stitutions of the Edinburgh and the Kilwinning Lodges. The exaction of
fees from brethren on their first election to office was an ancient custom of
* The connection of the ballot, with Scotch Masonry is coeval with the erection of the Grand
Lodge — the system of electing its officers by ballot having been adopted on the recommendation of
the Lodges who took the initiative in bringing about that event.
42 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the Kilwinning Fraternity to which the records of Mary's Chapel do not
furnish a parallel : — ■" The Lodge of Kilwyning, xx day of December,
1643. . . . Item, we Wardane and Deacone above written grents us
to be awand to the Boxe for our entrie to the said offices, every ane of us
iij lb. money, to be peyt befoir the choosing the nixt ; and ordanes that
every Wardane and Deacone the furst tyme they sail be chosen sail pey
ilk ane of thame to the Boxe iij lb. ; and the foirsaid Wardane and
Deacone are oblisit to cation ilk ane of thame for ane uther for the
foirsaid soume." This tax having fallen into desuetude was subsequently
resumed, and by fresh enactment inade to apply also to retirement from
office: — "At Killwinning, Dec. 21 day, 1724. Here is an acte past and
acted among the members of this lodge of Killwinning, that the Deacon is
to pay when newly entred to the sd members of this Lodge eight pence
[shillings] Scots monney, and new Wardanes four shillings Scots monney,
and the Officer that day two shillings Scots money, and the Fisckell that
day is to pay as much as the Officer." "Deer. 20, 1728. . . . It is
further enacted that the new elected Dickon shall pay eight pence, the
Wardane four pence, the Fiscell and Officer each of them two pence ; and
at ther off goeing each of them is to pay the half." An entry in the
records of the Lodge of Haddington (1723), to the effect that ten shillings
Scots had been paid by a brother on his election as Warden, shows that
the levying of fees of honour was not peculiar to one Masonic court.
Again, while the Warden and Clerk were the only office-bearers that the
Lodge of Mary's Chapel was entitled to appoint, the Kilwinning Lodge
had besides these the appointment of a Deacon and two or more Quarter-
masters, officials that in Edinburgh belonged to and were elected by the
Incorporation — a difference in custom which may have arisen from the
Kilwinning Lodge having existed independent of any body possessing the
right to elect Deacons, whereas the Lodge of Edinburgh was connected
with an organised body of Masons within the burghs of Edinburgh and
Leith, whose right to choose Deacons had been confirmed under the letter
that Queen Mary issued in favour of the Crafts in 1 564. In the choice of
its Clerk the Lodge was limited to notaries-public, and to this official was
confided the drawing and attesting of all documents relating to its busi-
ness.. They appear to have held the office during the pleasure of their
constituents ; but though the records contained in the first volume of Mary's
Chapel minute-books have been written by at least half-a-dozen different
notaries, not a single appointment to the clerkship is there recorded.
In the earliest records of the Lodge of Kilwinning (Dec. 1643) the election
of a Clerk is thus notified : — " The wardane and deacone, with consent of
the brethren, hes creattit James Ross, notar, clerk to thair courtis. Qha
NOTARIES AS LODGE CLERKS. 43
hes gevin his aithe in officio." And from subsequent minutes of the same
body we learn that certain fines, besides a portion of the entry-money, fell
to the Clerk as part of his fees, and that he "was not in use to pay
quarterly or other dues, on account of his service."
There is no provision in the Schaw Statutes for the initiation of the
Clerk-elect into the " mysteries " of the Fraternity ; nor do any of the
sixteenth or seventeenth century records of Mary's Chapel or of Kil-
winning .show traces of such a custom. But that the notary selected
for the office of Lodge Clerk had, in addition to his oath of fidelity, to
pass through the ceremony of "making," prior to entering upon his
duties, may with some degree of certainty be inferred from the fact of
the Clerk-elect of Atcheson's Haven in 1636 being designated a "brother
of craft." This will be seen fropi the following quaintly-expressed note
appended to the Falkland Statutes : — " We, Sir Anthony Alexr., general
wardin and Mr of work to his Ma'tie, and meassouns of the Ludge of
Achieson's Havin undersubscrybeand, haveing experience of the literatour
and understanding of George Aytoun, notar publick, and ane brother of craft,
Thairfor witt ye us to have acceptit and admitit, lykeas we be the termes
heirof accept and admitt the said George Aytoun and na other, dureing
our pleassour, our onlie clerk for discharging of all writt, indentures, and
others."
The custom of initiating notaries with a view to their acting as Lodge
Clerks is traceable, however, in the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh,
early in the eighteenth century. Under date Deer. 23,1 706, it is recorded that
" the Brethren conveened for the tyme, did admitt Mr William Marshall,
Clerk to Mary's Chapel, as an entered apprentice and fellow craft and clerk
to the Brethren Masons, whom he is freely to serve for. the honour con-
ferred on him." And on St John's-day, 1709, "the brethren conveened
for the tyme, did admitt Robert Alison, writer in Ednr. and clerk to
Maries Chappell, as ane entered apprentice and ffellow craft and clerk to
the brethren masons, whom he is freely to serve for the honour conferred
upon him." This was the last election of a Clerk to the Lodge of Edin-
burgh under the Operative rule. Mr Ahson held the office during what
may be called the transition period of the Lodge's history, and by the
guarded style in which he recorded its transactions has contributed to veil
in a hitherto impenetrable secrecy details of the most important epoch in
the history of Scottish Freemasonry, of which from his position he must
have been cognisant. His election a,s Clerk to the Grand Lodge of Scot-
land in 1736 did not interrupt his official connection with the Lodge of
Edinburgh, for he continued to discharge the duties of both posts till his
death in 1752. He was succeeded as Lodge Clerk by his son, who also for
44 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
several years held the office of Clerk to the Grand Lodge, and whose initia-
tion in Mary's Chapel is thus recorded :—..." The same day (Dec. 27,
1737), upon application to the Lodge by James Alison, Edr., laufull sone
to Robert Alison, their clerk, he was admitted and receaved ane entered
apprentice in the useuall forme, for which he payed six shillings and six-
. pence sterling money for the use of the entered apprentices, in terms of
the new regulations, with two shillings and sixpence sterling for the use of
the .Grand Lodge, but nothing to this Lodge, who allowed him to be entered
gratis on account of his father's services." An enlarged membership and
the frequency of the Lodge's communications during the five years im-
mediately succeeding the institution of the Grand Lodge seemed to have
entailed upon the Clerk more work that in the capacity of an .unpaid official
he was willing to render. This was remedied by the Lodge transferring
to the Officer the duty of addressing the " printed billets " of its meetings,
which letters were at first delivered by the Officer, but a " running stationer "
was afterwards engaged for the duty.
Through the third item of the minute of December 18, 1599, we are
introduced to the convivialities of the Lodge at that early period of its
recorded history. That the Masonic Fraternity, whether in Lodge or Incor-
poration, gave due attention to the festive element in their gatherings, is
evident from the few incidental notices of these social amenities that are
preserved in their records. When the era of Protestant ascendancy in
this country was yet young, the " speekin plack " as a guarantee of good
faith on the part of applicants for admission into the fraternal circle, the
" dener " as an adjunct to initiation, and the " pitcher of ale " as a forfeit,
were scrupulously exacted by the incorporated masons and the other crafts
with whom they were joined for trade purposes. The usage of Lodges in
this respect does not seem to have diffisred from that of the sister associa-
tion. The banquet is recognised as an institution of the Mason Craft by
the ordinance of 1 599 ; and in the same year it is referred to in a minute
of the Lodge of Edinburgh as a thing of common occurrence in connec-
tion with the entry of apprentices ; yet, strange to say, it is never again
mentioned by name in any minute of the Lodge of the sixteenth or
seventeenth centuries. It is possible that by subsequent arrangement the
intrants' banquet may have been compounded for by a money payment.
Referring to the bye-laws of the "Journeymen Free Operative Masons in
Glasgow" (1788), we find that of the 15s. paid by intrants, 3s. 6d. was
authorised to be "disposed of as a treat to the brethern of the lodge
present at the admission.'' From the scraps of information with which the
seventeenth century records of Mary's Chapel Incorporation are occasionally
interspersed, we learn that the Masons in their incorporate capacity followed
LODGE DISCIPLINE. 45
the example of their Southern brethren in the good old custom, if not of
dining together, at least of partaking of a refection at the annual election
of office-bearers. The St John's-day dinners of the brethren of Atcheson's
Haven and Peebles were in the beginning of last century provided from the
common fund of the Lodge; and it would seem that the like custom obtained
in the Lodge of Edinburgh previous to 17 34, in which year it was resolved that
each member should pay "half a crown towards their entertainment on St
John's-day yearly." We shall not further advert to the subject of " Refresh-
ment " till we come to notice the regulations consequent upon the Lodge
of Edinburgh's adoption of the customs of purely Symbolical Masonry.
The fifth item of the minute under consideration is an embodiment of
the Lodge's decision in a dispute between the then Deacon and one of his
unbound apprentices, who in transferring his services to another in the
capacity of an entered apprentice, appears to have had some difficulty in
getting a settlement with his former master — the worthy Deacon having,
besides withholding certain wages due to the complainant, kept possession
of a portion of his working tools. The pursuer, who was passed as a
fellow-craft in November 1609, afterwards became a leading member of
the Lodge, and, as one of its representatives, signed the charter granted by
the Masons and Hammermen' to St Clair of Roslin in 1628. The second
case is one of assault to the effusion of blood committed upon the late
Deacon by one of his servants. The punishment of this crime was regulated
by civil statute "anent blood unlaw" passed in 1596 ; but, taking the law
into its own hand, the Lodge imposed upon the offender a penalty better
calculated perhaps to preserve its members against such attacks than any
judgment the civil court was likely to pronounce. Disrespect to the
Deacon, disobedience, defamation of character, and the like, were regarded
as legitimate cases for the interference of the Lodge, whose authority in
this respect would in all probability be based on the seventeenth item of
the 1598 code of Masonic Statutes.
The proscription of offenders in the rank of fellow-craft (which in most
cases involved banishment from the city), and absolving journeymen from
their engagements with erring masters, were favourite modes of enforc-
ing obedience to the Lodge's enactments. The following extracts are
in a slight degree illustrative of the social condition of the Mason Craft at
the time: — "xxviij Januarij, 1600. The qlk day Jhone Gourball and
Jhone Fairholme submittit thame in yer bretheris willis for dissobedienc
to Jone Robeson, thair dekin & oversman in Leith, and for all vther
offensis comittit be ather of tham preceding the dait heirof againis. vtheris ;
and the saids brethern being advisit with the offensis comittit be Jhone
Gourball foirsaid againis his said dekin decernis him to half na libertie w'in
46 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ye ludg gif he comittis sic lyke offensis in tyme cuming as he has done of
befoir." . . . "At Merie Chapell the twentie seven day off Desember
1636 yeires, being Sant Johnes daey, befor the heall generall compenie off
mesteres, Thomas Gowdie is abslothe forsaken be the compenie and his
bouking canselled, and ordein that no mester' shall imploy heim at anie
work under the pen off fyve pound toties coties;" . . . "The 25 of
Desember, 1646. The whilk day at a more frequent miting on Sant
Johneis day ther did com befor ous a sertin wrongful beas onwurthie
aspersion upon our decon Alexander Meyines by Henrie Portous, masion
freeman in Leith, the mener of it not worthie to be expresit hir, it being
such as it behoved no craftsman so to do, for the which hie creaves God
and the decan and heall Compinie pardon, and promisis herby good
beheaver ta all this companie, and that onder the forfature off his libertie
and benafit off this Loudg, quheirto he hes oblegid himselif by his sub-
scrip. Henrie Porteous." . . . " Edr. the 9 day of November 1666.
The whilk day John Hamilton deacon, Androw Hemilton warden, Robt
Miln, Androw Sherer, James King, Thomas Scot, John Thomson, and
John Broun, being conveind for the tym anent the complant against Alexr.
Mein, masson and journeyman, for his bas cariadg in goeing and seducing
ouners and makeing them believ tlut ther is non in this cittie can do such
(pretended) peaces of work as he himself can doe, and be this meins not
only wrongs the freemen and masters in ther imployments, but alsoe in-
damages them in ther credits and reputations as qualified workmen ; ther-
for the brethren present abov written hes taken to consideration the
abovmentioned greivances does ordain that noe freeman within this Lodg
shall imploy the sd Alexr. Mein, journeyman, in ther servic for the peeces
of imployment that he pretends, especially of the building, soiling, and re-
pairing of ovenes, under the paine of ten rix dollers ilk fault." The means
by which the masters of the Lodge thus sought to vindicate their pro-
fessional reputation has a touch of humour about it that must have
been peculiarly mortifying to the self-styled expert in oven-building. The
minute of January 8, 1672, bears that one of the masters having "utered
sutch appropreous and contumatious clamorous speches which cannot be
past," and withdrawn from the Lodge in a " scandalous manner," had his
journeymen and apprentices discharged from serving him until he should
'< give satisfaction to the brethren." Other occurrences in the Lodge about
this time are described as being a scandal to the Fraternity.
The mode of conducting the business of the Incorporation, it would
appear, was not more orderly than that which prevailed in the Lodge ; for
in the records of the former body there occur more than one such minute
as the following : — " Mary's Chapel, Dec. 167 1. The deacons, maisters, and
GLOVES AND FIRELOCKS. 47
brethren present perceeving the great abuse and disorder caused by sum
of the brethren through their unmannerhe carige in the face of the deacons
and brethren, therfor they ordain that noe person shall speak but one at
once, and he to come and stand before the deacons at the ordinary place,
and also that none speak without let and license asked and obtained.
Also that none may stryke upon the table before the deacons within the
conveening house, under the paine and penaltie of fourtie shillings Scots
ilk failzie, that thereby good peace and manners may be kepit amongst all
and every one of the brethren." . . . "Dec. 1690. The House in like-
manner considering the great disorders which frequentlie aryses at ther
meetings, and that it is also inconsistant with humanitie as with Christianity
amongst brethren who ought to live in love and unitie, and not walk con-
trarie thereunto, especiallie in such a settled community as this is. For
the avoyding of which for the future it is hereby unanimouslie statut and
ordained that at every meeting every member take his seat as he comes in,
and that no person or persoiis walk or discourse togither in the tyme of
the meeting, nor stand up unless they be called upon or spoken unto ; and
that only one person at once shall stand up and speak in the house, and
when speaking that he shall direct his discourse to the preses for the tyme
only, and that under the penalty of four shillings Scotts toties quoties to
be instantlie payed be the contraveners to the boxmaster for the tyme for
the use of the poor ; — and that no person offer to goe out of the house after
he is once come in without leave of the preses for the tyme, with certifica-
tion that he shall be marked as absent and pay the penalty thereby in-
curred accordingly.''
We have suggested the probability of the intrants' banquet having been
compounded for. Early in the seventeenth century it was a rule of the Lodge
of Kilwinning that intrants should present so many pairs of gloves on their
admission ; but as the membership increased there was such an inconveni-
ent accumulation of this article of dress that " glove-money " came to be
accepted in its stead. A similar arrangement was made, temporarily at
least, with regard to an offering of a totally different kind that was wont
to be presented to the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel by Masonic and
other brethren on their reception as masters. The Craftsmen of Edinburgh
are known in the olden time to have been prominent actors in many of the
armed encounters between opposing factions of which the metropolis was
the scene. The readiness with which the Operative Fraternities could sup-
port by force of arms the cause they might for the time espouse, may find
an explanation in the following minute of the Incorporation of Maty's
Chapel of September 6, 1683 : — "The same day the deacons, masters, and
bretheren taking to their consideration not only the unprofitablenesse of
48 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
heaping up a magazine of arms, at the admission of each freeman to this
house, which are of no use to the house, arid at considerable expense
yearhe to dight and keep clean. Bot even the dangerous consequences
and bad effects that may arise thereby ; — and which if they should be
seazed upon either by forraigne invasion or intestine commotion whatso-
ever, that this Incorporation would be made answerable therfore, which
after some debate made theranent the same was stated to a vote, whether
arms or money should be hereafter paid in. Whereupon it was carried by
a pluralitie of votes that money only should be paid in, in respect that if
they wanted armes and had money they could easily buy them (if they
stood in need), and besides that money would be otherwise useful! in the
meantyme ; and therefore the House ordained and hereby ordains that
hereafter in all tyme coming no arms be given in by any freeman of what-
soever art belonging to this Incorporation at his admission. Bot that they
pay in to the boxmaster twelve pounds Scots in lieu thereof, and of all
other extravagant expenses they used to be*at at the time of their essays
making, which is hereby discharged. As lykewise all acts whatsoever made
heretofore anent giving in of arms contrarie hereunto are hereby utterly
abolished and cancelled."
The boxmaster's accounts contain several entries of money being paid
by intrants in lieu of firelocks, which are noted as costing £2,, los. each.
This arrangement was but of short duration ; for at a meeting held in
Mary's Chapel on the 23d of March 1684, it was decided by a majority
that the old custom of receiving arms be restored : — " The same day the
House taking to their consideration that by the act of the date the sixt
day of September last bypast, armes were discharged thereafter to have
been given in by freemen at their entrie, bot money in lieu thereof, and
that upon the considerations mentioned in the said act, as the samen in it-
self more fully bears. And also considering that armes are no less useful!
defensively than offensively, and that they have now fortified their house
(which was formerly exposed to open hazard) by bestowing a vast and
great expense upon stanchelling the windows thereof both high and laigh
with great iron barrs, for the preservation of the armes .already therein or
hereafter to be put therein ; and that the samen are hereby secured, and
are allenarly keeped and reserved for the defence of the true Protestant
Religion, King, and Country, and for the defence of the ancient C.ittie, and
their own privileges therein ; and that they will not only use and appro-
priate these armes for these uses, of the highest importance, bot that they
will lykewise adventure their lives and fortunes in defence of one and all of
them. And after some debate, whether armes or money should yet be
given in, the same was stated to a vote, and the roll being called it was
FORTIFICATION OF MARYS CHAPEL. 49
carried by a pluralitie of votes that amies should still be given in as formerly,
for defence and upon the considerations foresaid. Therefore the deacons,
maisters, and brethren have enacted and ordained, and hereby enact and
ordain, that hereafter in all tyme coming armes be given in to the House
as formerly, and no money in lieu thereof, and have declared and hereby
declares all acts heretofore made to the contrarie to be from henceforth
void and null."
There is little doubt that the fortification of the Trades' Convening-
House, and the resumption of the custom of levying a donation of fire-
arms from newly-admitted brethren, was the result of the civil discord
that had been engendered by Charles II.'s interference with the religious
liberties of his Scottish subjects. At the period to which these excerpts
refer, the great body of Presbyterians, besides many Episcopalians, were
dissatisfied with the Test Act of 1681, because of the utter prostration of
liberty which it involved — a state of feeling which may account for the
Incorporation's somewhat sudden change of opinion anent the storage of
its arms. The presence of members of the Lodge of Edinburgh with the
Scotch army at Newcastle in 1641, was a proof of their devotion to the
principles of the Covenant ; and that their successors in the Craft had
espoused a cause in some respects similar, is apparent from the manner
in which they allude to the religious system in defence of which their
arms were to be employed and their lives hazarded. That a majority
of the Incorporation believed the Presbyterians to represent the "true"
Protestant religion, further appears from their having in 1687 granted the
use of their House as a place of worship for the Presbyterians, and from
their agreeing to the erection in the succeeding year of " a loft in the easter
gable " of the building for their better accommodation — a step which was
rendered unnecessary by the advent of the Revolution of i688.
aJ^
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(yo /!t££ivtZtt-cu^
CHAPTER VII.
ONTINENTAL traditions, identifying Freemasonry with
the Knight Templars and the Crusades, condescend upon
the name of a noble " Grand Master " of Scotch Masons at
a date nearly two centuries anterior to that of the St Clair
Legend, — and they are equally precise in furnishing an instance of the
admission of Speculative Masons earlier by about three hundred years
than any that are particularised in Scottish tradition. Cases in point
were thus adduced by the Duke of Antin, in an oration which as
Grand Master he made to the Freemasons of France in Grand Lodge
"assembled solemnly" at Paris in the year 1740: — "James, Lord
Steward of Scotland, was Grand Master of a Lodge established at Kilwin-
ning, in the west of Scotland, in the year 1286, shortly after the death of
Alexander III., King of Scotland, and one year before John Baliol
FAC-8IMILE OF MINUTE OF MEETING OF THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH HELD AT HOiYROOD IN JUNE 1600.
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Lithographed for Murray Lyons History of Freemasonry
NON-OPERATIVES IN THE LODGE. 51
mounted the throne. This Lord received as Freemasons, into his Lodge,
the Counts of Glocester and Ulster, the one Enghsh and the other Irish." *
Tytler, in his ' History of Scotland,' records the fact that the above-
named noblemen were parties to an agreement to support Bruce's
claims to the Scottish throne, signed at Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire,
in 1286. But the statement as to their reception in the Lodge of Kil-
winning cannot be traced to any credible source. It is an echo of Che-
valier Ramsay's fabrications in support of the antiquity of " les haut
grades " and their connection with Kilwinning, and is inadmissible as a
historical fact.
The earliest authentic record of a non-operative being a member of a
Mason Lodge is contained in the following minute of the Lodge of Edin-
burgh, a fac-simile of which is prefixed : — " The aucht day of Junij the
zeir of God 1600 zeirs, ye prencipall warden and cheiff maister of maissonis
Wm. Schaw, maister of werk to ye Kingis ma'stie, comperit at Halerud-
hous ye day forsaid wt ye haill maissonis of ye Ludge of Edr. and ye
Laird of Aichinleck, and fand Jhone Broune, warden of ye Ludge of Edr.
for ye tyme, hes contraveinit ane actt qrthrow he hes incurit ye danger of
ye penultie of xl. lb. ; bot ye breyn. assembillit hes modefeit ye said penultie
of ye soume of ten libs., & yt vpone serten consideratiouns moving yame
yrto ye qlk soume of ten lib. ye haill breyn., wt ye consent of ye warden
fonsaid, decernis & ordenis to be payit wtin ye terme of fyftein dayis, to
be imployit at ye sicht of ye said maisters ad pios vsus : jn witnes heireof
ye saidis maisteris hes affixit yr markis. Thomas Veir, Jhone Robison,
Jhone Wat, Henrie Telfer, Patrik Smyht, Adame .Walkar, Jhone Gourlay,
Jhone Robisone youngar, Jhone Fernie, Jhone Telfer, George Paton,
Thomas Wat, Jhone Boiswell of Achinflek."
This minute has been quoted in refutation of the assertion that the
admission of Elias Ashmole, a learned antiquarian, into the Lodge at War-
rington, Lancashire, in 1646, is the first distinct and unequivocal instance
of a person being admitted into the Masonic Fraternity who was not an
architect or builder by profession ; but while conclusive on this point, it con-
tains nothing to justify the statement that in the year 1600 the office of
Warden of the Lodge of Edinburgh was held by Boswell of Auchinleck.
That gentleman, whose name was John, not Thomas, as has been
erroneously stated, held no such office : he is simply recorded as being at
* tt
"Jacques, Lord Steward d'Ecosse, etoit Grand- Maitre d'une Loge etablie a Kilwin dans
rOuest d'Ecosse en I'an MCCLXXXVI, peu apres la mort d' Alexandre III. Roi d'Ecosse, & un
an avant que Jean Baliol montat sur le throne. Ce Seigneur re9ut Frans-Ma9ons dans sa Loge les
Comtes de Glocester & d'Ulster, I'un Anglois and I'autre Irlandois." — Histoire Obligations et
Statuts de la tres Venerable Confraternite des Francs-Ma9ons, etc. A Francfort-sur le Meyn, Chez
Francois \'arrentrapp. 1742.
52 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the meeting in question, taking part in its deliberations and acquiescing in
its decision ; and it is from this circumstance alone that his connection
with the Mason Craft can be traced. Like the operative members present,
he attested the minute by his mark.
It is not till 1727 that these records furnish an instance of a brother who
was not a practical master mason being called to the Wardenship of Mary's
Chapel. Non-professionals were at a much earlier period allowed to rule
in the courts of its ancient contemporaries in the north and west. Harry
Elphingston, Tutor of Airth and Collector of the King's Customs, was
Master, or one of the ex-Masters, of the Lodge of Aberdeen in 1670. It
was in 1672 that John Earl of Cassillis, while yet only an "apprentice,"
was chosen to be Deacon or head of the Lodge of Kilwinning — his two
immediate successors in that office being Sir Alexander Cunninghame of
Corsehill and Alexander Earl of Eglintoune (also an apprentice) ; and in
1678 LordWilliam Cochrane (son of the Earl of Dundonald) was appointed
to be Warden in the same Lodge. But that these appointments were
merely honorary may be inferred from the fact that when a nobleman or a
laird was chosen to fill any of the offices named, deputes were elected from
the operative members of the Kilwinning Lodge. The Masonic distinction
that was conferred on the above-named noblemen is indicative of the views
of the Fraternity upon the great religious and political questions of that
exciting time. Cassilli^ was one of the Commissioners from the Kirk of
Scotland to the#Assembly of Divines whose deliberations at Westminster
resulted in the adoption of the " Solemn League and Covenant, for refor-
mation and defence of ifeligion, the honour and happiness of the king, and
the peace and safety of the three kingdoms of England, Ireland, and Scot-
land." Eglintoune espoused the principles which led to the Revolution,
and enjoyed the confidence of William the Third. Lord William Cochrane
was in 1678 associated with his relative the Earl of Cassillis and others in
refusing to co-operate with the Government of the time in its endeavours
by armed force to suppress the religious conventicles of non-conforming
Presbyterians. His Lordship's daughter. Lady Jean Cochrane, was in
1684 married to Colonel John Graham of Claverhouse (afterwards Viscount
Dundee). Her ladyship subsequently married, as her second husband.
Viscount Kilsyth, who was attainted for his concern in the Rebellion of
17 1 5. Claverhouse was in 1685 excluded from the Privy Council on the
ground " that having married in my Lord Dundonald's phanatique family,
it was not safe to commit the king's secrets to him." In January 1696,
William second Viscount of Strathallan was chosen " Master Mason " or
President of the Lodge of Dunblane, with Alexander Drummond of Bal-
hadie, another theoretical mason, as Warden.
THE BOSWELLS OF AUCHINLECK. S3
The Laird of Auchinleck,* whose connection with the Craft has so pre-
eminently identified the Lodge of Edinburgh with the early admission of
non-operatives to Masonic fellowship, is not the only member of his family
whose name has a place on the roll of Mary's Chapel. James. Boswell of
Auchinleck, son and heir of the celebrated Scottish Judge, Lord Auchin-
leck, and himself the well-known author of ' Corsica,' and the biographer
of Dr Johnson, was made a member by honorary affiliation in February
1777. Previous to this he had been elected Senior Grand Warden in the
Grand Lodge of Scotland, and was subsequently raised to the dais as
Depute Grand Master, which post he held during the years 1776-77 and
1777-7^. Canongate Kilwinning was his mother lodge, of which he
became Master. His uncle, John Bpswell, M.D., Censor of the Royal
College of Physicians in Edinburgh, was Senior Grand Warden in 1753-54,
and was one of a committee appointed by Grand Lodge in November
1759 " to inquire into and inspect the condition and situation of the
French prisoners presently in the Castle of Edinburgh, particularly such
of them as they shall find to be Freemasons, and to report as to their
necessities and number." James's son, Alexander (afterwards Sir Alex-
ander) Boswell, was also a member of the Craft, and at the time of his
death by the hand of a duellist, was Master of Mother Kilwinning and ex-
officio Provincial Grand Master of Ayrshire. This duel was the result of
a challenge sent to Sir Alexander Boswell by James Stuart younger of
Dunearn, who felt insulted by being accused of cowardice in a political
pasquinade of which Boswell was the author. The parties met at Auchter-
tool, in Fifeshire, on the morning of the 2Sth of March 1822. On facing
each other Sir Alexander fired in the air, but his opponent's shot taking
effect, the unfortunate baronet fell mortally wounded, and died on the
following day. -Mr Stuart afterwards surrendered himself to the authorities,
and after trial was honourably acquitted. Sir Alexander was the author
of" Jenny's Bawbee," " Jenny dang the Weaver," " Guid-nicht an' joy be wi'
ye a'," and other once popular songs ; and gratified his taste for our early
literature by reprinting several rare works at his private printing press at
Auchinleck. He was the originator of the scheme for the erection of a
monument on the banks of the Doon to the memory of Burns, and in
1820 presided at the Masonic ceremony with which its corner-stone was
planted.
The prominent part that was assigned to William Schaw in the re-or-
ganisation of the Scotch Lodges at the close of the sixteenth century, and
* Richard Graham, who was tried and condemned at Edinburgh in 1592 for witchcraft, was
among other acts accused of having raised the devil at the Laird of Auchinleck's dwelling-place,
and in Sir Lewis Bellenden the Lord Justice-Clerk's yard in the Canongate.
54 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
his intimate association with the Lodge of Edinburgh, will justify our giv-
ing an excerpt from the biography of that ancient Masonic official which
appears in the appendix to the edition of the ' Laws and Constitutions of
the Grand Lodge' published in 1848 : —
"... He was born in the year 1550, and was probably a younger son of Schaw of
Sauchie. He appears from an early period of life to have been connected with the
Royal Household. In proof of this we may refer to his signature attached to the orig-
inal parchment- deed of the National Covenant, which was signed by King James the
Sixth and his household at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, 28th January 1580-81. In
1583, Schaw became successor to Sir Robert Drummond of Carnock as Master of
Works. This high ofiScial appointment placed under his superintendence all the royal
buildings and palaces in Scotland ; and in the Treasurer's accounts of a subsequent
period, various sums are entered as having been paid to him in connection with these
buildings, for improvements, repairs, and additions. Thus in September 1 585 the sum
of ;^3i5 was paid 'to Williame Schaw, his Majestie's Maister of Wark, for the repara-
tion and mending of the Castell of Striueling;' and in May 1590, £4°°, by his Majes-
ty's precept, was ' delyverit to William Schaw, Maister of Wark, for reparation of the
hous of Dumfermling, befoir the Queenis Majesties passing thairto.' Sir James
Melville, in his Memoirs, mentions that, being appointed to receive the three Danish
Ambassadors who came to the country in 1585 (with overtures for an alliance with one
of the daughters of Frederick the Second), he requested the King that two other per-
sons might be joined with him, and for this purpose he named Schaw and James Mel-
drum of Seggie, one of the Lords of Session. It further appears that Schaw had been
employed in various missions to France. We know also that he accompanied James
the Sixth to Denmark in the winter of 1589, previous to the King's marriage with the
Princess Anna of Denmark. The marriage was celebrated by David Lindesay, Minis-
ter of Leith at Upslow, in Norway, on the 23d November; and on the following morn-
ing, the King, as ' a morrov\iing gift,' granted to the Queen's Grace the Lordship of
Dunfermline, and other lands in Scotland. The King and his attendants remained
during the winter season in Denmark. Schaw returned to this country on the i6th
March 1589-90, for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements for the recep-
tion of the Royal party. This we learn from David Moysie, one of the Clerks of Privy
Council, whose memoirs furnish some minute and interesting particulars of occurrences
at that time. He says, "About the 16th day of March, William Schaw, Maister of
Wark, came from the King out of Denmark, with direction to cause the schipis the
Burrowis had appoynted mak out for bringing his Majestic homeward, to outred (pre-
pare) the Abbey (of Holyroodhouse), and have all things in readiness for his Majestie's
hamecuming quhilk suld be in Apryle nixt ; schewing also that the Queue was with
bairne, and that the King and his company had beenweill entertained.' . . . The in-
scription on Schaw's monument states that, in addition to his office of Master of Works,
he was 'Sacris Ceremoniis Prsepositus ' and 'Reginae Quastor;' which Monteith has
translated ' Sacrist, and the Queen's Chamberlain.' This appointment of Chamberlain
to the Queen evinces the high regard she entertained for him;. but there can be no
doubt that the former words relate to his holding the distinguished office of General
Warden of the Ceremonies of the Masonic Craft, an office analogous to that of Substi-
tute Grand Master, as now existing. . . . Schaw died at the age of 52, in April 1602,
and was buried in the Abbey Church of Dunfermline, where a handsome monument
WILLIAM SCHAW'S MASONIC POSITION.
55
was erected to his memory by Queen Anna. His name and monogram, cut in a marble
slab, is inserted : according to tradition, this was executed with his own hand, and it
contains" his mason mark, as represented in the annexed wood-cut."
We demur to the mean-
ing which the compiler of
this sketch (the late Sir
David Brewster*) attaches
to the words " Sacris Cere-
moniis Praepositus." He
says they " relate to his
holding the distinguished
office of General Warden of
the Ceremonies of the Ma-
sonic Craft, an office analo-
gous to that of Substitute
Grand Master, as now exist-
ing." This seems to us to
be an attempt to draw a
parallel between the offices
in the Operative Masonic
Lodges of the sixteenth and those in Lodges of Symbolical Masonry
of the nineteenth century, quite unwarranted by a literal translation
* It is on the authority of the late Grand Secretary that we ascrihe to Sir David Brewster the
authorship of the biographical sketch of Wilham Schaw. Sir David was the author of the
'History of Free Masonry and the Grand Lodge of Scotland,' published in the year 1804. Our
authority for this statement is the following note which appeared in ' Notes and Queries,' May 9,
1863, by 'T. G. S.' (understood to be Thomas George Stevenson, the well-known antiquarian
and historical bookseller, Edinburgh): — "Lawrie's 'History of Freemasonry,' 1804. In the
sale of the library of the late Dr David Irving, Librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh,
there was a copy of this work, which sold for £1, on Saturday, March 28, 1862. In this copy
there was a very singular and curious notice in the handwriting of Dr Irving relative to its
authorship. As this is one of those literary curiosities which is worthy of being recorded in
' Notes and Queries,' I subjoin a copy of it for preservation. Dr Irving remarks that ' the his-
tory of this book is somewhat curious, and perhaps there are only two individuals now living
by whom it could be divulged. The late Alexander Lawrie, Grand Stationer, wished to recom-
mend himself to the Fraternity by the pubhcation of such a work. Through Dr Anderson, he
requested me to undertake its compilation, and offered a suitable remuneration. As I did not
relish the task, he made a similar offer to my old acquaintance, David Brewster, by whom it was
readily undertaken ; and I can say, was executed to the entire satisfaction of his employers. The
title-page does not exhibit the name of the author, but the dedication bears the signature, Alexander
Lawrie, and the volume is commonly described as ' Lawrie's History of Freemasonry." Alexander
Lawrie, originally bred a stocking weaver, became a bookseller and stationer in Parliament Square,
Edinburgh; and thereafter printer of the ' Edinburgh Gazette,' the patent for which had been
granted by the Government of the day to Dugald Stewart, the celebrated Professor of Moral Philo-
sophy, Edinburgh. Dr Anderson was the author of the ' Life of Smollett,' and editor of various
S6 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
of the words in question, or by what is known of the statutes by which
Masonic Lodges of Schaw's time were regulated. The literal rendering
of the sentence in which the words occur is as follows : " William Schaw,
Master (or Prefect) of the King's Works, placed over {i.e.. Manager of )
Sacred Ceremonies, Chamberlain to the .Queen." So that the words
" Sacris Ceremoniis Praepositus" do not "relate to his holding the distin-
guished office of General Warden of the Ceremonies of the Masonic
Craft," but only to the office he held in connection with ritualistic observ-
ances in the religious exercises of the royal family. The entire sentence
refers to Schaw's position in the State, and not to any Masonic dignity
whatsoever. His Masonic position is clearly defined in the minute which
records the trial of the Warden of the Lodge of Edinburgh at Holyrood
in 1600 : he was " Principal Warden and Chief Master of Masons," and it
was in that capacity alone that he could preside in a Masonic Lodge. The
office of '' Master of Work to the King's Majesty" would bring him into
official contact with several handicrafts, but it conferred no powers of
interference in the affairs of Masonic courts any more than in the internal
arrangements of incorporations of upholsterers.
We have also to take exception to the " tradition " which seeks to
identify Schaw with the cutting of the monogram shown on the marble
slab which graces the monument erected to his memory at Dunfermline.
The fact that Schaw's immediate predecessor in the office of Master of
Work was a noblenian, and that the Wardenship over the Masons in
Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine was in his own time held by a country
gentleman (the Laird of Udaught), shows that it was not necessary that
either appointment should be held by a Craftsman ; and nothing has been
advanced to prove that he was qualified for the piece of work for which
this story gives him credit. That Schaw was an honorary member of the
Fraternity there can be little doubt, and, like the Laird of Auchinleck, he
would so far imitate the custom of the Operative portion of it as to adopt
a mark ; but it is noteworthy that in the only purely Masonic documents
attested by his own hand, his signature is unaccompanied by any such
pendicle. The mark which appears on the face of the slab we believe to
•be that of the operative who cut the monogram.
works, including that of tlie ' British Poets,' whose daughter was married to Dr Irving. David
Brewster is now ' Sir David," and Principal of the University of Edinburgh.'' Sir David Brewster
died in 1868.
^-^Sc^
CHAPTER VIII.
NT our opening chapter we referred briefly to the statement
made by Laurie regarding the office of Grand Master hav-
ing been made hereditary by James II. in the Barons of
Rosslyn, a statement which in our opinion is fabulous, and
unsupported by any trustworthy evidence. We now come to notice the
important documents which in Masonic history are known as the St
Clair Charters. The first purports to be drawn by the Deacons, Masters,
S8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
and Freemen of the Scotch Masons, with the object of effecting a reform
of the abuses then existing in the trade. The second is a confirmation
of the first, and has the peculiarity of being the joint production of the
" Masons and Hammermen within the kingdom of Scotland."
These MSS. were several years ago purchased at the sale of the effects
of the late Alexander Deuchar* by David Laing, LL.D., of the Signet
Library, who gave them to the late Brother Aytoun, Professor of Belles
Lettres in the University of Edinburgh, in exchange for some antique
documents in his possession. The Professor presented them to the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, in whose repositories they now are. There can be no
doubt of their genuineness. We have compared several of the signatures
in the originals with autographs in other MSS. of the time. The Advo-
cates' Library at Edinburgh contains a small manuscript volume known
as the Hay MSS., in which are preserved copies of the St Clair Charters.
We have examined this manuscript, and find that the transcript of the
documents in question differs considerably from the originals in ortho-
graphy, abbreviations, and in the arrangement and rendering of some of
the signatures. The Charters are in scrolls of paper, the one 15 by 11^
inches, the other 26 by 1 1 J^ inches, and for their better preservation have
been affixed to cloth. The caligraphy is beautiful, and though the edges
of the paper have been frayed and holes worn in one or two places
where the sheets had been folded, there is no difficulty in supplying the
words that have been obliterated. About three inches in depth at the
bottom of No. I in the right-hand corner is entirely awanting, which may
have contained signatures in addition to those that are given. The left-
hand bottom corner of No. 2 has been similarly torn away, and the same
remark with regard to signatures may apply to it. For the benefit of
readers unable to decipher the caligraphy of the originals, of which we give
fac-similes, we embody a copy of each of these Charters : —
Be jt kend till all men be thir present Iris. Ws deacones maisteris and frie men of
the Maissones w'in the realme of Scotland with expres consent & assent of Wm Schaw
Maister of Wark to our souanc lord ffor sa mekle as from aige to aige it hes bene obsei-vit
amangs ws that the Lairds of rosling hes ever bene patrones and ptectors of ws and
our previleges lyckas our predecessors hes obeyit and acknawlegeit thame as patrones
and ptectors Quhill that wtin thir few yiers throwch negligence and slewthfulnes the
samyn hes past furth of vse Quhairby nocht onely hes the Laird of Rosling lyne owt of
his just vrycht bot also our haill craft hes bene destitute of ane patrone ptectour and
oversear qik hes genderit manyfald corruptiones & jmperfectiones baith amangis our-
Selfis and jn our craft and hes gevin occasioun to mony persones to consave evill opin-
* At Mr Deuchar's death, his valuable Masonic books and MSS. were offered to Mary'5 Chapel
at a price to be agreed upon ; but the Lodge did not avail itself of the offer.
FA0-8IMILE OF "LETTER OF JURISDICTION" GRANTED BY THE FREEMEN MASONS IN SCOTLAND TO WILLIAM ST. CLAIR OF BOSLIN.
Probable Date, iBOOI.
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liiMoaRAPHto FOR Murray LTors Histoht of Freemasonry
Lithoj* by X.PuAi*. iim/
ST CLAIR CHARTERS. 59
ioun of ws and our craft and to leLve of great jnterpryses of pollecie Be ressone of our
great misbehaviour wtout correction Quhairby not onelie the comittaires of the faultes hot
also the honest men ar disapoyntit of thair craft and pffeit As lyckwayes quhen dyvers
and sindrie contraverses fallis out amangis ourselfis thair followis great & manyfald jn-
conveniencis throw want of [ane patrone and protector] We nocht being abill to await
vpoun the ordiner judges & judgement of [this] realme throw the occasioun of our
powertie & langsumnes of proces ffor remeid q^of and for keping of guid ordour
amangis ws in all tymes cumyng and for advancement of our [craft] and vocatioun
w'in yis realme and furtherens of policie w'in the samin We for our selffis & in name
of our haill bretherene & craftismen wt consent foirsaid aggreis and consentis that
W™ Sinclar now of rosling for him self & his airis purches and obteine at ye hands of
our souans Lord libertie fredome and jurisdictioun vpone ws and our successoures in
all tymes cumyng as patrones & juges to ws and the haill pfessoris of our craft w'in
this realme quhom of we have power and comissoun, Swa that heirefter we may
acknawlege him and his airis as our patrone and judge vnder our sou=">= Lord
w'hout ony kynd of appellatioun or declynyng from his judgement, with power to the
said Williame and his airis to depute judges ane or mae vnder him and to vse sik
ampill and lairge jurisdictione vpoun ws & our successors als weill as burghe as land as
jt sail pleis our sou^n<= lord to grant to him & his airis.
WILLIAM SCHAW,
Maistir of Wark.
Edinburgh.
Andro Symsone
Jhone Robesoune Thomas Weir masoun in Edr. Thomas Robertsoun war-
dane of the Ludge of Dumfermling and Sanct Androis and
_y jifid^Q^ takand the burding vpoun him for his bretheren of ye masoun
craft within they Lwdges and for the Comissionars efter
mentionat viz. Dauid Skowgall Alexander Gilbert &
Dauid Spens for ye Lwdge of Sanct Androis, Andro
P. Campbell takand ye Alesoun and Archibald Angous Commissionars for the
burdyng for Jon. Saw Lwdge of Dwmfermling & Rot. Balze & Johne Saw for
J. Vallance the Lwdge of Heddingtoun with o"^ hands led on the pen be
WiLLiM Aittoun the Notaries vnderwritten at o"" comands becaus we can
nocht write.
Achiesones Heavi7i. ^'^ ^^^ Laurentius Robesoun Notarius publicus ad
premissa requisitus de specialibus mandatis diet, persona-
Georg Aittoun rum scribere nescien. vt aseruerunt testan. manu mea pro-
Jo. Fwsetter pria.
Thomas Petticrwf [Ita est] Henricus Banna[tyne] connotarius ad premissa
[de mandatis] antedictarum personarum [scribere nescien-
Dumfermling. tium ut aseruerunt teste manu mea propria].
Robert Pest.
Hadingtoun.
Be it kend till all men be thir pnt Lres. We the Deacones maisteris and friemen
of the maissones and hammermen within the kingdome of Scotland That forsamekill as
from aidge to aidge jt hes bene ybservet amangis ws and our predicessoris that the
Lairds of Rosling hes ever bene patrones & protectoris of ws & o' priviledgis Lykeas our
predicessores hes obeyit reverencet & acknawledget thame as patrones & protectoris q''of
6o HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
they had [letters] of protectioun & vtheris richtis grantit be his ma'ies most no" progeni-
tors of worthie memorie qikis with sindrie vtheris of the Laird of rosling hiswrittis being
consumet & brunt jn ane flame of fyre within the castle of Roslingjn an .. . .
The consumatioun & burneing qi'of being clerlie knawin to ws and owr predices-
soris deacones maisters and [friemen] of the saidis vocatiounis, and our protectioun
[of the samyn] and priviledgis thereof [be negligence] and slouthfulnes being liklie to
pass furth of vse qnhrow not only wald the Lairds of Rosling lyin out of thair just richt
bot also our haill craftis wald haif bene destitute of ane patrone protector & oversear
quhilk wald jngenner monyfald jmperfectiounes & corruptiounes baith amangis our
selfis and jn our craft and give occasioune to mony persones to conceave evill opinioun
of ws & our craft and to leive af many and grit jnterpryces of policie q'^is wald be
vndertakin if our grit misbehaveour wer suffert to go on wtout correctioun. For
remeid q>^of and for keiping of guid ordour amangis ws jn all tyme cuming and for
advancement of our craft and vocatioun within [his] hienes kingdome of Scotland & ,
furdering of policie yairintill The maist pairt of our predicessoris for thamselfis & jn
name and behalfe of our bretherene and craftismen w' expres avyse and consent of
Williame Schaw maistir of wark to hienes vmqi^ darrest father of worthie memorie All
jn ane voce agreit consentit and subscryvet that Williame Sinclar of Rosling father to
Sr Williame Sinclar now of Rosling for him self and his airis sould purches & obteane
at the handis of his ma"e libertie friedome & jurisdictioun vpon ws & our predicessoris
deacones maisteris & friemen of the saids vocatiounes as patrones & judges to ws
& the haill professors y^of within the said Kingdom qi'of they had power & com-
issioun Sua that they and we micht yairefter [acknawjledge him and his airis as o^
patrone & judge vnder our soverane lord without ony kynd of appellation or declinatoure
frome thair judgement forevir, As the said agriement subscryvet be the said mr of wark
[and our] predicessors at maire [length proportis] In the quhilk [office priviledge & juris-
dictioun] over ws and our said [vocajtioun the said Williame Sinclar of Rosling ever
continewit to his going to Ireland q"' he pntly reamanes sen the quhilk [time] of his
departure furth of this realme thair ar very mony corruptiounes & jmperfectiounes rysin
and jngennerit baith amangis ourselfis & jn our saids vocatiounes jn defect of ane
patrone & oversear over ws and the samyn Sua that [our] saidis vocatiounes ar altogieter
liklie to decay And now for saiftie thairof we haifing full experience of the efauld
guid skill [and] judgement quhilk the said S'^ Williame Sinclar now of Rosling hes jn our
said craft and vocatioun and for reparatioun of [the] ruines & monyfald corruptiounes
and enormities done be vnskilfull persones thairintill We all jn [ane] voce haif ratifiet
and approven and be thir pntis ratifies & approves the forsaid former Ire of juris-
dictioun & libertie [made and sub'] be our bretherene and his hienes vmqie M' of wark
for the tyme to the said Williame Sinclar of rosling father to the said S' William
quhairby he and his airis ar acknowledget as our patrone & judge under o' soverane
lord over ws & the haill professors of our said [vocatioun] w'in this his hienes kingdom
of Scotlande without any appellation or declinator from thair judgements in ony [time
hereafter] forever And farder we all in ane voce as said is of new haif maid constitute
& ordainit and thir pntis makis constitutes & ordanes the said S^ Williame Sinclar
now of Rosling & his airis mail lour only patrones protectoris & oversearis vnder our
soverane lord to ws & our successores deacones maisteris and friemen of our saids
vocatiounes of maissones hammermen w'in the haill Kingdome of Scotland & of o^ haill
priviledgis & jurisdictiounes belonging thairto qnn he his father & yair predicessoris
Lairds of Rosling haif bene in vse of possessioun thir mony aidges bygane With full
ST CLAIR CHARTERS.
6l
power to him and thame be thameselfis thair waurdenis and deputtis to be constitute be
thame to affix and appoynt places of meting for keiping of guid ord^ jn the said craft
als oft and sua oft as neid sail requyre All and sindrie persones that may be knawin to
be subiect to the said vocatioun to be callit absentis to amerciat transgressoris to punish
vnlawis casualities and vtheris Dewties quhatsomevir perteining & belonging or that
may fall to] be pait be quhatsomever persone or persones subiect to the said craft to
aske crave ressave jntromet with and vplift and the samyn to thair awn propper vse to
apply Deputtis vnder thame jn the said office with clerkis seruandis assisteris and all
vtheris officiaris & memberis of court neidfull to mak creat substitut and ordene for
quhome they sail be haldin to answer All & sindrie plaintis actiounes & causes preteining
to the said craft & vocatioun and againes quhatsumevir persone or persones professors
yof to heir discuss decerne & decyde actis decreitis & sentencis yairvpoun to pro-
nounce and the samyn to dew executioun to caus be put And gnallie all and sindrie
vyeris priviledges liberties and immunities quhatsumevir concerneing the said craft to do
vse & exerce and caus be done exercet and keipit siclyke and als friely in all respectis as
ony vyeris thair predecessors hes done or micht haif done thameselfis jn ony'yme by-
gane friely quietlie weill and jn peac but ony revocatioun obstacle jmpediment or
againe calling quhatsumevir In witnes of the q"< thing to thir pnttis w"in be Alex^
Aikinheid servitor to Andro Hay wrytter we haif subt thir pnttis wt our handis at
The Ludge of Edinburgh
William Wallace decon
JOHNE Watt
Thomas Patersone
The Licdge of Glasgow
Thomas Fleming Wardane
jn Ed'' and Hew Forrest
w' or handis at the pen led
be the noter vnder sub for
\ ws at c command becaus
we can not wryt
Adow. Hay norius assruit
/ Robert Caldwell in
Glasgow with my hand at ye
I pen led be ye noter vnder
' subscrywand for me becaus
I can not writ myselff
J. Henrysone norius assrit
The Ludge cf Dundie
Robert Strachowne
maister
Andrew Wast and
Dauid Quhyit maisteris
in Dundie wt o"' hands
at the pen led be the
notr vnder subscryveand
at 01" comands becaus we
can not writt
Thomas Robertsone
norius assruit
Robert Jhonstone
Mais . . .
D awid M es one
Mais . . .
Johne Boyd deakin
Rot. Boyd ane of the mestres
I Jn. Serveice, m' of ye craftis in Stirlinge
1 with my hand at ye pen led be ye notar vnder
\ subscryvand for me becaus I can not writt
J. Henrysone norius assruit
I Jon Burne ane of the m's of Dumfermlinge
Hev Duok dekan of ye measounes I™' ""^ ^^"'^ ^' ^^ P^" •^'^ be ye notar vnder sub-
and vrichtis off Ayr ( scrywand for me at my comand becaus I can
not writ myselff
J. Henrysone noxious assruit
62 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
/ Dauad Ferhersone aneof ye mesters Androw
George [LiDDELLjdeakin of squar-L^^^^^^^ ^^^^^, ^^^ ^^^^^^ [WJelsone
men and nov quartermaistir | ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ Lug of Sant Androis
T/ie Ludge of Stirlinge
JOHNE ThOMSONE
James Rone
\The\ Ludge of Dumfermlinge
. ne of .
The first of these Letters of Jurisdiction has hitherto been regarded as
having been written shortly after the union of the Crowns. It was issued
with the consent of, and is signed by William Schaw, Master of Work,
who died in April 1602. The Crowns of England and Scotland were not
united till the accession of James the Sixth of Scotland as James the First
of England, March 24, 1603, consequently the date of the Charter in ques-
tion must have been before that event. In addition to Schaw's signature,
the Charter bears those of "Andro Symsone, Jhone Robesoun, and Thomas
Weir," as representing the Freemen Masons in Edinburgh. On referring
to the official list of " Deacons of Craft " of the time, and to the contempor-
ary minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh, we find these persons occupying
in the same year positions that would entitle them to be parties to the
deed in question. Andro Symsone was Deacon of the Masons, and Jhone
Robesoun dean of guild in the year ending 3d November 1601, while
Thomas Weir was Warden of the Lodge during the year ending 28th
December 1601. These facts would of themselves justify our assertion
that the first of the St Clair Charters is of a date earlier than that gene-
rally ascribed to it ; and when taken in connection with the date of
Schaw's death, they favour the presumption that it was written between
December 1600 and November .1601.
1630 has hitherto been supposed to be the year in which the Second
Charter was executed, but there is good ground for believing it to be two
years older. Among the signatures attached to it are those of " William
Wallace decon, Johne Watt, Thomas Patersone, Thomas Fleming wardane
in Edinburgh, and Hew Forrest." A reference to the records of the
Lodge of Edinburgh shows that in 1628 William Wallace* was its Deacon
and Thomas Fleming its Warden, and that John Watt and Thomas Pater-
sone (late Deacons), and Hew Forrest, were closely identified with its
management. There are no minutes of the Lodge for 1627; but from
* Dr Laing stated in a paper read before the Scottish Arclutectural Institute several years ago,
that William Wallace, master mason to Charles I. , was the modeller and original builder of Heriot's
Hospital, the foundation-stone of which was laid in July 1628. He died in 1631, and was
succeeded by William Aytoune, master mason in the Canongate, who also died before the edifice
was completed. '
RELATION OF THE ST CLAIRS TO THE CRAFT. 63
those of 1629 we learn that William Wallace was succeeded in the deacon-
ship by Thomas Patersone. These facts do not of themselves furnish
conclusive proof on the point ; but when taken in conjunction with colla-
teral evidence gathered from other sources, viz., that John Boyd and Hew
Duok, whose names appear as parties to the deed, were in 1628 Deacons
of the incorporated Masons in Glasgow and Ayr respectively, they seem
to establish with tolerable certainty that the Charter to Sir William St
Clair was executed in the year 1628 — a conclusion to which the following
unfinished minute in the records of the Lodge of Edinburgh may without
overstraining be held to contribute: — "At rosling the first of may 1628;
The quhilk day Sir Williame Sinkler " It occurs to us that this frag-
mentary item has reference to a meeting that had been convened at Ros-
lin for the purpose of presenting to Sir William the deed that had been
executed in his favour, and of endeavouring by force of argument or by per-
sonal explanations to obtain his acceptance of it. Assuming the correctness
of this hypothesis, the question of date is still farther narrowed, and the
Charter maybe presumed to have been signed at Edinburgh in April 1628.
The historian of the Grand Lodge of Scotland attaches some importance
to these documents as affording corroboration of his statement in regard
to the appointment by James II. of William St Clair, Earl of Orkney and
Caithness, to the office of hereditary Grand Master. We hold, on the con-
trary, that instead of corroborating, they furnish a pretty conclusive re-
futation of the statement. Our views on the subject of these Charters are
so well stated by the learned editor * of the ' Genealogie of the Saint-
claires of Rosslyn, including the Chartulary of Rosslyn, by Father Rich-
ard Augustus Hay, Prior of St Pieremont,' published at Edinburgh in
1835, in his introduction to that work, that we cannot do better than
reproduce his remarks on the subject : —
"The high antiquity assigned to the alleged heritable conveyance of the office of
Grand Mason in favour of the ancestor of the last Rosslyn appears somewhat question-
able, and there is certainly nothing like legal or even moral evidence to warrant a be-
lief that any grant ever was conferred by King James II. . . . If such an heritable
office had ever been created by James II., it must, according to the ordinary rules of
succession, have descended to the elder branch of the Saint-Clair family. To give this
legend, therefore, the appearance of truth, the writer t ought to have stated that the
Earl of Orkney (the representative of the elder branch of the Family of Saint-Clair, and
on whom the office of Grand Master is said to have been conferred by James II.) con-
veyed the office to the younger branch. Had any deed of this description existed, it
must have been carefully preserved amongst the Roslin charters ; and there can be
little hesitation in saying that Father Hay, in his anxiety to blazon forth all the honours
* James Maidment, advocate.
t Reference is made to the article"" Masonry," Brewster^s Encyclopaedia.
64 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
of the Saint-Clairs, would not have omitted a document so interesting and important.
If he deemed the two charters by the Masons to William Saint-Clair and his son of
sufficient interest to be admitted into his compilation, although of a date so very recent,
it is impossible to suppose that he would have excluded a grant of such high antiquity.
" In a History of Freemasonry published at Edinburgh, * the author, in noticing
these two Charters, says ' It deserves also to be remarked that in both these deeds the
appointment of William St Clair, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, to the office of Grand
Master by James II., is spoken of as a fact well known and universally admitted.' This
remark is a pretty bold one, for in neither of the Charters is there the slightest allusion
to any heritable conveyance in favour of the Earl of Orkney by James II. The first
Charter merely recognises the Lairds of Roslin as patrons and protectors ' from adge to
adge,' but it is utterly silent as to any Crown grant of such office of patron. The second
grant, although more pointed, still leaves matters as they were ; for although it contains
a statement which, if true, was very unaccountably omitted in the preceding Charter,
still there is not a syllable as to James the Second's Charter. After mentioning the
patronage of the Roslin family to the Masons, it goes on" to state, ' they had letters of
protectioun & vtheris richtis grantit be his maties most noil progenitors of worthie
memorie qlkis with sindrie vtheris of the Lairds of Rosling his writtis being consumet
& brunt in ane flame of fyre within the castle Rosling anno t. . . the consummatioun
and burneing qrof being clearlie knawin to ws and owr predecessors,' etc.
" Various reflections naturally occur upon considering this statement. In the first
place, it may be asked, why was the burning of these alleged grants omitted in the
first charter? In the second place, how comes it that there is no certainty as to the
year when the 'flame of fyre' consumed 'the writtis'.' And thirdly, by what strange
fatality were these particular writings consumed, when all the remaining charters, form-
ing a complete chartulary of Rosslyn, escaped ? Even if all these questions could be
satisfactorily answered, still the existence of a grant by James II. remains to be proved,
and how that is to be done appears somewhat questionable.
" But thisis not all. The last Rosslyn, who as before noticed resigned hisoffice of patron,
was entirely ignorant of the existence of any Crown grant in favour of his ancestor the Earl
of Orkney; for his deed of resignation proceeds on the narrative, 'that the Massons in Scot-
land did, by several deeds, constitute and appoint William and Sir William St Clairs of
Rossline, my ancestors, and their heirs, to be their patrons, protectors, judges, or masters,'
etc. ; and he therefore resigns all right or claim 'to be patron, protector, judge, or master
of the Massons in Scotland, in virtue of any deed or deeds made and granted by the said
Massons, or of any grant or charter made by any of the Kings of Scotland to and in
favours of the said William and Sir William St Clairs of Rossline, my predecessors.'
Thus the granter of the deed, who it must be presumed was better acquainted with the
nature of his rights than any one else could be, derives his title from the very persons
to whom the two modern charters were granted by the Masons ; and in the resignation
of his claim as patron, etc., exclusively refers to these two deeds or ' any grant or char-
ter made by the Crown,' not in favour of William Earl of Orkney, but of William and
Sir William St Clair, the identical individuals in whose persons the Masons had created
the office of patron.
* Laurie. Edinburgh, 1804, 8vo, p. 103.
I This fact, if true, must have been as well known to the granters of the first charter as to those
who subscribed the second one.
THE KILWINNING LEGEND. 65
"The author of the work just alluded to remarks that an 'inconsistency' arises from
the terms of this deed, because it is at variance with the alleged grant by James II.
No doubt there is an ' inconsistency,' and a great one too, but it has arisen in conse-
quence of the later writers choosing to found upon a charter which, for anything yet
seen, never existed, and disregarding the plain and explicit terms in which the resigna-
tion by the Patron in 1736 is conceived.
" Indeed, had there been even probable grounds for believing in the existence of such
a Crown grant, the character of the last Patron affords pretty strong proof that it would
not have been overlooked. He had too high an opinion of the antiquity of his family,
and the reputation of his ancestors, to have disregarded so honourable a distinction as
that said to have been conferred by James II. ; but he was a person of too much gentle-
manly feeling and integrity to found upon a document the existence of which was so
very problematical. His silence, therefore, is the best proof that he considered the whole
legend (if indeed it existed at the date of the resignation) as fabulous.''
An attempt has been made to explain the anomaly of the Masons
investing with the Protectorate of the Craft a family which already had
a Royal appointment to the office, by suggesting that " James VI., by
neglecting to exercise his power, virtually transferred to the Craft the
right of electing their office-bearers." But if the Crown in the fifteenth
century constituted the St Clairs of Roslin hereditary Patrons, Protectors,
and Judges of the Scotch Masons, and did not at any subsequent period
recall the grant, which there is no evidence that it did, it was no business
of James VI. to appoint another to the Protectorate, so long as the line of
the hereditary Patrons remained unbroken ; neither under the grant in
question was it necessary that the Patron should at any time purchase a
right which he already possessed, or be elected to an office that was his by
inheritance. Had the St Clairs become extinct, or had they failed to dis-
charge, or resigned, the office, the right of appointment would have reverted
to the Crown and not to the Craft. If the traditions that are rehearsed in
the second deed be correct, we must conclude that the Masons enjoyed no
special preference as objects of James II. 's care: for his favourite, the
Baron of Roslin, must also have been "Grand Master" of blacksmiths
and other sections of the Hammermen handicraft, as well as of coopers and
other branches of Squaremen crafts, represented by those Deacons from
Ayr who are parties to the deed.
Laurie, having introduced to his readers the so-called " Hereditary
Grand Masters of Scotland," must needs find for them a Grand Centre, in
which they held " their principal annual meetings," for the settlement of
differences which might have arisen in connection with the building art ; —
and accepting as he does the legend pointing to Ayrshire as the birth-
place of Scotch Masonry, he fixes on the isolated village of Kilwinning as
the locality in which " were always held " the Head Masonic Courts of the
E
66 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
St Clairs. He does not seem to have been staggered in his belief by the
consideration that the St Clairs had no territorial or other connection with
Kilwinning or its neighbourhood, or by reflecting on the improbability of
masons from Aberdeen, Perth, St Andrews, Dundee, Edinburgh, and
other places, in an age when long journeys were attended with both diffi-
culties and dangers, travelling to a distant obscure hamlet to adjust differ-
ences in connection with their handicraft. Altogether, the story of the
" Hereditary Grand Master" and his "Annual Assemblies at Kilwinning,"
is so myth-like, that we decline to accept it as a historical fact.
MARKS RECORDED IN THE MINUTE-BOOK OF THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH, 1599-1680.
^ §1 $ $ ^ ^
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Lithographed for Murray Lyon's History of Freemasonry
MARKS RECORDED IN THE MINUTE-BOOK OF THE LODQE OF EDINBUR6H, 1599-1660.
Lithoghapheo for Murray Lvon's Historv of Freem
ASOBRV
MARKS FROM INTERIOR OF ST. GILES' CATHEDRAL, EDINBURGH,
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Lithographed for Murray Lyon's History of Freemasonry
MARKS FROM THE LAIGH PARLIAMENT HALL, EDINBURGH, ERECTED IN 1636.
FROM MINUTE-BOOK OF MOTHER KILWINNING, 16 + 2-80.
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Lithographed for Murray Lyon's History of Freemasonry
CHAPTER IX.
HE registration of craftsmen's marks, provided for in those
laws that are known to have been promulgated in the six-
teenth century for the regulation of the then existing Scotch
Lodges, was the perpetuation of a custom that had pre-
vailed in the building fraternity for ages. Masonic Marks having been
discovered on the Pyramids of Egypt, on the ruined buildings in Her-
culaneum, Pompeii, Greece, and Rome, and on the ancient cathedrals,
castles, &c., that are to be found in almost every country in Europe. The
reference made by Schaw in his Statutes to the booking of fellow-crafts' or
masters' marks (see Chapter II.) has hitherto been held as proving that
68 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY,
the conferring of a mark formed an essential part of the ceremony of
" passing." The language of the Statutes, however, does not bear this
out : it only means that the fellow-craft or master shall have a mark,
which he may have adopted on his being made an entered apprentice; for
the ancient records of Mary's Chapel, and of the Lodge of Kilwinning,
show that the possession of these devices was common alike to all appren-
tices and fellows or masters who chose to pay for them. They were also
adopted by the Theoretical portion of the Fraternity, in imitation of their
Operative brethren. In registering the marks of its members, in the
seventeenth century, the Lodge of Edinburgh makes a note of such an
one having " taken ane mark and payed therefor," that " thir lads [appren-
tices] paid for their marks," or that " thir marks was given on St Johnis
Day," but nothing is said of the amount of fee that was paid for them.
The Lodges of Kilwinning and Peebles charged 13s. 4d. Scots (about
IS. id. sterling) for each mark.
Whatever may have been their original signification as exponents of a
secret language — a position which is assigned to them by some writers —
there is no ground for believing that in the choice of their marks the six-
teenth century Masons were guided by any consideration of their symbolical
quality, or of their relation to the propositions of Euclid. The first of the pre-
fixed illustrations is formed of selections from the Marks that are recorded
in the books of Mary's Chapel. A large proportion of them represent the
initials of their owners' names, and they are nearly all of a sufficiently
simple character to permit of their being cut upon the tools of operative
masons and the productions of their handicraft, or used as signatures by
such as had not been taught to write — these being the only purposes to
which they are known ever to have been applied by the Mason Craft in
Scotland. One of the marks booked on St John's Day 1667 deserves
special notice from its singular expressiveness of the name it represents.
It is the mark of David Salmond, and is composed of lines so arranged as.
to form the figure of a fish, presumably a salmon, symbolising the owner's
surname, the initial letter of his Christian name being represented by the
^,?/^rt-shaped head of the fish. The minute-book of the Lodge of Peebles
contains a unique specimen of a mark " taken out " in 1745 by a wig-maker,
which may rightly be termed a trade-mark. It is a human head with a wig,
and an ample beard flowing from the lower part of the chin. In 1 7 1 8, a cap-
tain of the King's Foot Guards, on his admission, chose for his mark a V-
shaped shield bearing on each half a small cross, the whole being surmounted
by a cross of larger size. A slater's hammer and a leather-cutter's knife
are among the other marks that are registered in the Peebles records.
Our second illustration of Marks is a selection from those discovered by
MASON MARKS. 69
Brother William Hay, architect, in the course of his examination of the
interior of St Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh, preparatory to its restoration,
upon which work he is at present (1872) engaged. These Marks are
incised on large stone slabs which formed part of the pavement of the
ancient choir. Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 15, have the usual characteristics
of Mason Marks. The symbols of the Fleshers are evident in .Nos. 9 and
II, and of the Tailors or Glovers in No. 10. As several of the trades of
Edinburgh maintained altars in the church, those marks may have indi-
cated their sites. The Marks No. 12 are on one slab in the relative posi-
tion shown in the diagram, and appear- at one time to have been covered
by a brass. No. 13 bears a rude resemblance to the Cross of Constantine,
but is imperfect, a portion of the stone having been broken off. No. 19,
a triple Cross Crosslet, was the badge of the Grand Masters of the Knights
Templar. This mark was found on a very large slab which bore traces of
a brass plate having been at one time attached to the stone. Under the
stone were found the larger bones of a human skeleton in a cavity of the
ground, the smaller bones having apparently crumbled to dust.
In regard to the arrangement of Marks into distinctive classes, one for
apprentices, another for fellow-crafts or " mark men," and a third for foremen
or " mark masters " — the practice of the Lodge of Edinburgh, or of that of
Kilwinning, as far as can be learned from their records, was never in har-
mony with the teachings of tradition on that point. On the question as
to whether or not marks were heritable by descent from father to son, we
have been able to discover in the Mary's Chapel records only one instance
of a craftsman having adopted his deceased father's mark. This was on
the occasion of John Watt, yr., being made fellow-craft on the 14th No-
vember 1609, when he signed an addenda to the minute with the mark of
his father, Thomas Watt. As the absorption of the Operative element by
the Theoretical became more complete, the custom of adopting marks fell
into desuetude in Mary's Chapel, and no trace of the " booking " of such
is to be found in its records of a date subsequent to the i6th of February
1713: ". . . The which day (at Maries Chappell) David Thomson,
late deacon of the masons of Edr., preses, Henry Wilson, warden, and
several! of the freemen master masons conveened for the tyme, did pass
and receave Andrew Miller, mason, a fellow-craft, who promised to be faith-
ful in that station, and took his mark and payed therfor accordingly.''
The conferring of marks had no place in the Symbolical Degrees for
the dissemination of which the Grand Lodge of Scotland was instituted ;
and so recently as 1838, in its deliverance upon an application from a
daughter Lodge for permission to work the Mark Degree, that Grand
Body held this step to belong to another Order of Masonry than that
^0 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
of St John. This once repudiated degree has, however, through the elas-
ticity of the Scotch Constitution, since become grafted upon the second
degree practised under Grand Lodge charters, although a widespread feeling
of repugnance to the multiplying of oaths, already held to be needlessly
numerous, has prevented the step being adopted to any considerable extent.
Its reintroduction to Mary's Chapel — if " reintroduction " it can be called —
after an absence of a century and a half, was inaugurated in December 1869.
At the Conference " on the subject of the Mark Degree in England,"
held in London in 1871, under the presidency of Earl Percy, M.P.,* one of
the delegates from the Grand Lodge of Scotland stated, in support of the
antiquity of the degrees of "Mark Master" and " Master Mason," — First,
That by a judgment of the Supreme Courts in a dispute between Mary's
Chapel and the Lodge Journeymen (171 5), the Journeymen were not only
empowered to " give the Masonic Word," but also to " sue " the Lodge of
Edinburgh, from which they had separated, " for such further portions
of Masonry which they had not then possession of," — and that twenty
years after, the Journeymen " received the Third Degree from the parent
Lodge." Secondly, That long anterior to the institution of the Grand
Lodge two classes of Lodges existed in Scotland ; viz., those " which only
worked the First and Second Degrees," and of which "the Mark Master
or Overseer was Master," — and those which " worked the First, Second,
and Third Degrees," over which " the Master Mason presided."
The statements under the first head are not borne out by the facts bear-
ing upon the subject which are recorded in the archives of the Lodges con-
cerned, nor can the remarks under the second head be held as giving other
than a mythical account of the constitution of Scotch Lodges of the period
to which they refer. The dispute which in the early part of the last century
existed between Mary's Chapel and the Journeymen, and which is treated
of in another chapter of the present work, was settled not by the Supreme
Courts, but by " Decreet Arbitral." This document empowered the Journey-
men " to give the Mason Word," but contained no allusion whatever to
" further portions of Masonry." On being entered and passed, the Journey-
men were in possession of all the secrets of which as a Mason Lodge Mary '3
Chapel was cognisant. But in 1750, thirty-five years subsequent to the date
of the decreet, and twelve years after the adoption by the Lodge of Edin-
burgh of the Third Degree, the Journeymen made a respectful application
to Mary's Chapel to raise three of their brethren to the " dignity of Master
Masons," which the parent Lodge did, " only as a brotherly favour."
In reference to the second statement, we have only to reiterate that no
* Lord Percy is eldest son of the Duke of Northumberland, and son-in-law of the Duke of Argyll.
THE MARK DEGREE. 71
authentic Masonic document exists to show that there were in ancient
times two distinct kinds of Lodges, — one under the direction of " Mark
Master or Overseer," confining itself to the entering of apprentices and the
passing of fellows of craft — and another and superior sort having,' under the
presidency of a " Master Mason," " the power of working the Entered
Apprentice, Fellow-craft, and Master Mason Degrees.'' The statements
in regard to an organisation for conferring the mark under Mark Masters
or Overseers are equally unsupported by any existing records. Mary's
Chapel, and the other Lodges of a pre-eighteenth century period, entered
apprentices, passed fellow-crafts, and were each governed by a president
(denominated " Deacon," " Master," or " Master Mason," as the case might
be) and a Warden ; but they knew nothing of the degrees of " Mark Man,"
" Mark Master," or " Master Mason."
The Schaw Statutes of 1 598 ordain that the " name and mark " of each
newly-admitted " fallow of craft or maister " be inserted in the Lodge-book.
The minutes of Mary's Chapel and Kilwinning give evidence of a partial
compliance with this rule, and also that the marks of entered apprentices
were booked, and that a price was charged for the registration of each.
" Given," " given out," " chosen," " taken," " taken out," " received,"
" booked," and " paid for," is the phraseology employed in the registration
of these signs; but in none of the records we have named is there anything
pointing to a special ceremonial in connection with their adoption. The
Atcheson's Haven and Dunblane minutes, dating from 1637 and 1696
respectively, never once refer to the subject of Mason Marks. The former
contains .some half-dozen attached to, or in place of, signatures, but none
appear in the latter.
The Mark Degree was introduced into Scotland at an advanced period
of the last century, as a prerequisite to the reception of other steps, so-
called " high degrees," that in some Lodges had been surreptitiously dove-
tailed into the Masonic curriculum. It appears not to have been worked
by the Lodge Journeymen till about 1789; by Mary's Chapel, not till
1869; by Kilwinning, never. William James Hughan of Truro has in the
following excerpt from the minutes of Lodge Operative, Banff, of date
January 7, 1778, produced the earliest authentic record yet made known
of the existence of the Mark Degree in Scotland : " That in time coming
all members that shall hereafter raise to the Degree of Mark Mason shall
pay one merk Scots, but not to obtain the Degree of Mark Mason before
they are passed Fellow-craft. And those that shall take the Degree of
Mark Master Masons shall pay one shilling and sixpence sterling into the
Treasurer for behoofe of the Lodge. None to attain to the Degree of
Mark Master Masons untill they are raised Master."
CHAPTER X.
ROM the 8th of June 1600 — the date at which we find the first
indication of a Speculative or Theoretical element in its mem-
bership— till midsummer of 1634, the records of the Lodge of
Edinburgh do not furnish an instance of the actual admission
of a person who was not a practical worker in Operative Masonry. Al-
though uninteresting in themselves, a few selections from the minutes of
meetings ranging over the interval we have named, may not be without a
certain value, as affording ground for comparison of the forms and usages
RECEPTION OF OPERATIVES. Jl
and phraseology of the Craft at that period with those that now exist in
Masonic Lodges.
" xvij Januarij i6cx3. The qlk day Johne Tailzefeir, prenteiss to Thomas Weir,
maissoun, frieman and burgess of Edinbruch, is admittit in fallow of craft, and has done
his dewtie as effeiris to the contentment of the dekin, warden, and maisteris undersub-
scriuing and marking ; and upon the premises the said John Tailzefeir askit and tuke
instrumentis. Ita est Adamus Gibsone, notarius publicus."
" xviij Januarij 1600. Item. The samyn day the deckin and M'rs decernis and ordanis
Jhone Aytoun, prenteiss to John Watt, not to serve ony maister in Edinr. during his
prentieship except the said Johne Watt allanlie, nor yet efter his prentieship in time
to cum without the said John Wattis gude will and libertie. And the said dekin and
maisteris hes relevit Wa. Aytoun of his cautionschip for his said sone in all tyme cum-
ing ; quairupoun the said Wa. tuke instrumentis.
"Item. The samyn day the dekin, warden, and maisteris of the Ludge of Edinr. pro-
mittis to enter Wa. Bikcartoun, prenteisse to Thos. Smyth, maisson in Leith, betwixand
Mechalmes next to cum. And ordanis the said Thomas Smyth to pay to the present
warden quhan he salbe enterit twenty pundis becaus the said Thomasis numer of pren-
teisses is past of befoir ; quhairupoun Thomas Smyth tuke instrumentis. Ita est
Adamus Gibson, notarius."
" Apud Edr. tertio die mensis Februarj i6oj. The quhilk day the deacone, wardane,
and maist part of the maisteris of the maissone craft w'thin Edr. being convenit,
consented to the buking and entring of Andro Hamiltoun, prenteiss to Johnne
Watt, and hes presentlie at the wrytting heiroff enterit the said Andro Hamiltoun
a past prenteiss to the said Johnne Wat his Mr. W'vpoun followis the subscry-
varis names in sign of the admissoun, be this prsnt. writtin be John Zallowleyis,
seruitor to the generall wardin and dark generall of the said offi'al. J. Zallowleyis,
clrk heirto."
" Tertio Martij 1601. The qlk day Blais Hamiltoun, prenteis sum tyme to Thomas
Weir, present warden and frieman and burges of Edinbruch, is admittit and ressavit
in fallow of craft of the maissoun craft, and hes done his dewitie in all poyntts as effeirs,
to the satisfaction and contentment of the dekyn, warden, and haill Mrs of the said craft
undersubscriving and marking; and upoun the haill premisses the said Blais Hamil-
toun askitand tuik instruments fra me notar publico underwrittin the scribe. Ita est
Mr Gibsone no'rius."
" Primo die Decembris 1601 yrs. The quhilk day Williame Tumour, prenteiss to
Henrie Tailzefeir, maissoun burges of Ednr., is admittit and ressavit in enterit prenteiss
to the said Henrie; and the names of the admittars and ressaveris ar thir, Thomas
Weir, warden and presentlie dekyn of the said crafts, Andro Symsone, Jon Broun,
George Patoun, Johne Wat, Jn. Tailzefeir, and Blais Hamiltoun, Mrs maissounes bur-
gesses of the said craft, wt consent and assent of Alexr. Watt, Thos. Forest, Thoas.
Vilsoun, and the remanents. And therfoir in syne and taikin of heirto concar, consent,
and assent to the premisses thay have suyscrivit and merkit thir presents wt ther hands
as follows, day and yeir foirsaids, in presence of Jon Robesoun, maissoun in Leith.
Upoun the qulks all and sindrie premisses the said Wa. Tumour askit and tuik
instruments fra me not. publico underwrittin. Ita est Mr Archus. Gibsone, no'rius
publicus.''
" The XV day of November 1602 yeirs. Winfre Allasoun and Waltie Hay wes ex-
ceppit fallowis of craft before the Ludgc of Ednr., to wit, Hendrie Telfure, wardin.
74 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
J hone Browne, deacone, wt the rest of the maisters bayt of Ednr. and Leith. To
witnes we haif pit to our marks wt our awin hands."
" xxviij day of Merche 1603 yrs. The quhilk day Jn. Robesone, sone to umqlle
AUane Robesone, burges of Edr. and massoun wtin the samyn, is enterit prenties to Jn.
Broun, massoun burges of Edr., and the names of the admittars ar thais, viz. Henrie
Tailzefeir warden, Andro Symsone, Thoas Weir, George Patoun, Jn. Watt, Adame
Walker, Jhone Tailzefeir, Blais Hamiltoun, Alexr. Watt, Mr maissones wtin this hurt,
with consent and assent of certane others alswell of the said ludge, and alsua of enterit
prenteisses ; and therfoir in signe and taiken of their voluntar consent and assent to
the premisses thay have subscriuit and merkit this thair admissioun and entrie of the
said Jn. Robesone with thair awn proper hand as followis."
The decision of Mary's Chapel anent the prospective services of an
apprentice, as recorded in the second of the preceding minutes, is irrecon-
cilable with the principles of equity by which at the period Lodges are
known to have been guided in their arbitration between conflicting inter-
ests ; while its settlement of a point involving a breach of the law restric-
tive of the supply of apprentices is but one of many illustrations of the
spirit of self-aggrandisement by which the rulers of the Lodge were actuated
in their decisions — this .spirit being further displayed in the vexatious con-
ditions with which passing for the freedom of the trade is often found to
have been burdened.
The presence of apprentices at the admission of fellows of craft was, as
has already been shown, provided for by the Statutes of 1 598, " That na
maister or fallow of craft be ressauit nor admittit w'out the numer of sex
maisteris and twa enterit prenteissis, the wardene of that ludge being ane
of the said sex;" and the practice of the Lodge appears in this respect to
have harmonised with that arrangement — the custom of apprentices giv-
ing br withholding their consent to any proposed accession to their own
ranks being also recognised. It does not appear whether it was by right
or by concession that the latter prerogative was exercised. The first in-
stance that these records furnish of the recognition of apprentices as active
members of the Lodge occurs in the minute of June 12, 1600, where the
names of at least four of that class of craftsmen are inserted as attesting
the entry of William Haistie;* and in those dated December i, 1601,
March 28, 1603, August 28, 1603, in which certain entered prentices are
represented as "consenting and assenting" to the entries to which they
refer. The attendance of apprentices in the lodge during the making
of fellow-crafts is confirmed by the minutes of November 26, i6oi,'f
November 10, 1606, February 24, 1637, and June 23, 1637. This fact
* Blais Hamilton, Thos. Coustoun, Thos. 'J'ailzefeir, and Cristill Miller, who were made fellows
of craft in March 1601, November i6o6, December 1607, and December 1609 respectively.
t Thos. Coustoun, Andro Hamiltoun, Jon. Symsone, Thos. Tailzefeir, Thos. Paterson, and
Cristill Miller.
THE ELDEST ENTERED APPRENTICE. 75
demolishes the theory propounded by the representatives of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland at the Conference on the Mark Degree, held at London
in April 1871 — viz., that apprentices "were merely present at the consti-
tution of the Lodge " for the reception of fellows of craft or masters, but
" were not present during the time the business was going on."
Other instances of the Lodge's observance of Schaw's Statute on the
point could be adduced, but these may suffice. In our examination
of the minutes of a subsequent date, however, we lose trace of the
custom ; but this may be due to our inability to recognise the individ-
uality of those who in attesting minutes only adhibit their marks, the
difficulty being increased by the want of a register indicating the owner-
ship of these symbols. It is noticeable that the apprentices whose names
appear in sederunts of the Lodge's meetings for entering or passing, after-
wards become mason burgesses and members of the Incorporation. This
strengthens the supposition that it was because of their position as being
" bound for the freedom," that these embryo master masons were named
in the minutes in preference to those whose apprenticeship had been
undertaken with no higher aim than qualification for employment as
journeymen.
What may be regarded as a recognition of the apprentices' ancient posi-
tion in Lodges of Operative Masons — a position which has an important
bearing upon the alleged antiquity of the Craft Degrees — may be discern-
ible in the subsequent annual election by Mary's Chapel of an official
styled the " Eldest Entered Apprentice." * This Masonic functionary
of the first half of the eighteenth century, who was in every case an
operative apprentice mason, is first introduced in the minute of December
27, 172 1 : " Alexr. Smely was admitted and received eldest entered
apprentice for the ensuing year, who accepted of the office and pro-
mised to be faithful therein." That in the exercise of his duties the
Eldest Apprentice was not confined to entries, is evident from the terms
of the minute of March 2, 1732, recording the passing as fellow -craft
of Andrew Syme, apprentice mason : "... Att passing of him, Daniel
Mack [an operative apprentice] officiat as eldest entered apprentice,
in place of the deceasit James Smelie, formerly eldest entered appren-
tice." On the appointment of John Cochran, on 27th Dec. 175 1, the
Lodge " declared that in the nomination of Eldest Entered Prentice
in time coming, they will have regard to such as are best qualified masons,
and declared that the Eldest Prentice is to preside and have the casting
vote in the meeting of prentices." The gatherings of apprentices here re-
* In the Lodge of Dunblane, 1697, the "oldest fellow-ciaft " ranked next to the Warden, and
was elected with the other office-bearers.
76 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ferred to were not likely to be in any way connected with business proper to
the Lodge, but in all probability had reference merely to matters affecting
themselves. For several years after the Lodge's adoption of the Specula-
tive system of Masonic Degrees, very few aspired to more than the first
step ; but as meetings for passing and raising became more frequent, the
" Eldest Apprentice " fell into desuetude, through the Lodge ceasing to
nominate any one to the office. The minute of Nov. 22, 1759, records the
fact that on the brethren " resolving themselves into a Fellow-craft's Lodge,
and then into a Master's Lodge," the entered apprentices were " put out,"
— an act indicative of the formal obliteration of an ancient landmark, and
the rupture of one of the few remaining links uniting Operative with Sym-
bolical Masonry. During the period in which the apprentices were repre-
sented as above described, it was a custom of the Lodge of Edinburgh to
levy from non-operatives at their entry a fee of two shillings (subsequently
reduced to sixpence), as a gratuity to its operative entered apprentices,
whose names were occasionally entered on the sederunt. They were
exempt from payment of the quarterly dues, and were, at the Lodge's
expense, provided with an allowance of " punch" at the St John's Day
festivals. In the Lodge's disbursements for the year ending December 27,
1734, an honorary member is credited with having paid his entry-money
" by a suit of cloathes furnished by him to ane entered apprentice who
attended the new members that were entered by Deacon Mack." The
" Eldest Entered Apprentice " was until very recently elected in the
Lodge Journeymen, No. 8, and occupied the position of the modern Senior
Deacon.
In ringing the changes upon Lodge nomenclature of the olden time, the
words " made " and " accepted " are frequently introduced, as, indicating
the admission of fellow-crafts. The former expression, which is also, though
rarely, used to denote the entry of apprentices, is not, as is held by some,
peculiar to Masonic phraseology ; for it is to be met with in old Acts of the
Scottish Parliament as expressive of admission to membership in any of
the burghal guilds. Towards the end of the seventeenth century it was
less frequently employed, and eventually gave place to " passed," the old
statutory term indicative of reception as a fellow of craft. As now used
by Freemasons, " made " is synonymous with entered or initiated. The
word " accepted " was wont to be employed by the Mary's Chapel scribes
as an equivalent to the terms made ox passed ; but though sometimes used
by them to denote the affiliation of a brother belonging to another Lodge,
in no instance is it ever associated with the adoption of non-operatives into
Masonic fellowship.
In the minutes of the Lodge of Dunblane between the years 1720 and
SQUARE, TOW, AND COMPASS. 71
1726, we find a peculiarity of expression in recording the advancement of
entered apprentices that we have never met with in any other Masonic
MS. It first occurs in the minute of December 27, 1720, in which a writer
(lawyer), who had formerly been entered, is mentioned as having after
examination been " duely passed from, the Sqtiair to the Compass and from
ane Entered Prentise to a Fellow of Craft." It would appear from this
that what under the modern ritual of the Fraternity is a symbol peculiar
to the Second Degree, was, under the system which obtained in Scotland
prior to the introduction of the Third Degree, the distinctive emblem of
the Entered Apprentice step, — and that what is now a leading symbol in
the degree of Master Mason, was then indicative of the Fellow-craft, or
highest grade of Lodge membership. To some this will appear to favour
the theory which attributes the existence of the Third Degree to a disjunc-
tion and rearrangement of the parts of which the Second was originally
composed. It is also worthy of notice that a square and a compass were
the only implements that were in use in the Lodge of Dunblane up till
1753, the date of the last inventory of its property prior to its joining the
Grand Lodge in I76i,when batons and other paraphernalia were procured.
The thorough assimilation of this old Operative Lodge to the Speculative
Order was effected in the following year, when it adopted the Third De-
gree. In the list of property shown in the minutes of the Lodge of
Peebles to have been given in charge of the Box-master or Treasurer at
17th December 1726 appears : " Ane Bible, The Constitutions of the Laws
of the haill Lodges in London, The Square, and a piece of small tow!'
Next year the paraphernalia comprised " square, tow, and compass." No'
Master's Degree was then known to the Peebles brethren.
CHAPTER XI.
ILLIAM SCH AW, in his ordinance for the reconstruction and
government of the Scotch Lodges, made no provision for the
admission of Theoretical Masons ; yet in 1600, eighteen
months subsequent to the issuing of his famous Statutes, we
find him with one such (the Laird of Auchinleck) at his elbow, engaged
like himself in investigating and giving judgment in a case of breach of
Masonic law on the part of the Warden of the Lodge of Edinburgh — a cir-
cumstance which establishes the fact that in the sixteenth century the
membership of Mason Lodges was not exclusively Operative. The graft-
ing, so to speak, of the non-professional element on to the stem of the
Operative system of Masonry, had its commencement in Scotland proba-
^i
5
ADMISSION OF GENTLEMEN MASONS. 79
bly about the period of the Reformation, — when men's minds were eman-
cipated from thraldom, and a broader sympathy was engendered between
different classes ; and it is with the object chiefly of tracing the gradual
development of this exotic branch of Masonry, which in progress of time
expanded till it absorbed all the other parts of the system in itself, that
we now select from these records a group of minutes belonging to the
seventeenth century. They are not without value as aids to the elucida-
tion of other points of interest to the Masonic student.
" The 3 day off Joulay 1634. The quhilk day the Right honirabell my Lord Alex-
ander is admitet folowe off the craft be Hewe Forest diken, and Alexander Nesbet
warden ; and the hell rest off the mesteres off mesones off Edenbroch ; and therto eurie
mester heath supscriuet with ther handes or set to ther markes. [Deacon and Warden's
marks], Jn. Watt, Thomas Patersone, Alexander, John Mylln."
" The 3 day of Joulie 1634. The quhilk day Antonie Alexander, Right honirabell
Mester off Work to hes Magestie be admisione off Hewe Forest deken, and Alexander
Ne.sbet warden, and the hell rest off the Mesteres off mesones off Edenbroch ; and therto
euerie mester heath supscriuet with ther handes or eles pet to ther markes. Thomes
Ainslie, Thomas Patersone, Robert Gray [Deacon and Warden's marks], Jn. Watt,
Alexander, An. Alexander, Johne Mylln."
"At Edinburghe, the 3 of July 1634. The quhilk day Sr. Alexander Strachan of
Thorntoun is admitted fellow craft be Hew Forrest deaken, and Alexr. Nisbet warden,
and the haile rest of the Masters measons of Edinburghe ; and in token thereoff the
mesters underscryband haue sett to there hands and marks to thir prsnts. [Deacon and
Warden's marks] Jon. Watt, Robert Gray, Thomas Ainslie, Thomas Patersoh, Johne
Mylln, Alexander, An. Alexander, A. Strachan."
"The Joulie 1635 : The quhilk day Archibald Steuaret is mad falowe off
craft be Alexander Nesbet deken and James Waker warden, and in preseanc off the heall
mesteres off mesones off Eder., and therto they heave hrto supcriuet or pout to ther
markes. [Deacon's mark] Jn. Watt, Thomas Patersone, James Walker, Thomas Ainslie
[Thomas Tailzefeir's and three other marks], Alexander, An. Alexander, A. Strachan,
Johne Mylln."
" The 27 day of Desember 1636 ; The quhilk day Johne Myllne dekene and warden,
with the heall consent of the heall mesters, frie mesones of Ednr., Dauied Dellap,
prentes to Pareck Breuch is med an entert prentes, and quherto wie heave supscrivit
and set to our marke."
The last of these minutes contains the earliest instance yet discovered
of " Free Mason " being in Scotland applied to designate members of the
Mason Craft. It is evidently used as an abbreviation of the term " Free-
men Masons " — master masons possessing the legal right to exercise their
vocation as such within the liberties or boundaries of the town or burgh
of which they were burgesses, and cannot in any sense be held as equiva-
lent to " Freemason," as now understood. We do not again meet with the
expression in these minutes for a period of about ninety years— the next
occasion on which it is employed being in the minute of January 29, 1725,
So HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
where it is used in designating the Lodge as a " Society of Free Masons.
From and after St John's Day 1729,- the appellation becomes common to
the members generally. The adoption in January 1735 by the Lodge of
Kilwinning, of the distinguishing title of Freemasons, and its reception of
Symbolical Masonry, were of simultaneous occurrence. The same may
be said of Canongate Kilwinning.
" The twentie-fyue day of Agust 1637. The quilk day in preseanc of the honerable
Loug and M'rs off the friemen off edenbroch, Johne Myllne being deken and Robert
Preston warden, Daued Ramsay, on off hes Mag'sties speciall seruands is admitet ane
folowe and brother off craft ; and ther to wie heaue supscriuet or set to our marks.
Alexander, Dauid Ramsay, An. Alexander, A. Strachan, Johne Mylln, Jn. Watt."
" The twentie seuen day off Desember bing Sant Johnes day (1637) : The qwhilk day
in presanc off the hell me'rs off mesones and frieman off mesones off Edr., Johne Mylln
bing deken and Thomas Aeneslie warden that yeir, Alexander Alerdis is admitet
ane fellow off craft in arid amongst the M'rs off thes Loudg, qwherunto wie heaue sup-
scrivet or eles ower markes. Johne Mylln, Jn. Watt, Thomas Patersone, Thomas
Ainslie, Georg Sterling, James Gotherell, Johne Gairdner, Johne Murray, James Hamil-
toun, Johne Pace, Wm. Porteous [the marks of ten other brethren]."
"The saxtein day off Februarie 1638. The quich day, in presance off the honiraball
companie off the antient Loudg of edenbroch, Johne Mylln being dekin and Thomas
Aeneslie warden, the Right Worthie and honiraball Mr off Work to his Mag'stie, Herie
Alexander, is admittet ane falowe and brother amongst us, in presance off the heall
friemen and mesteris off the broch off Edenr. ; and ther to wie heave set to our names
or markes. Henrie Alexander, Johne Mylln."
"The 20 day off May 1640. The quhilk day, James Hamiltone bing deken off the
Craft and Johne Meyenes warden, and the rest off M'rs off meson off edenbr. conuened,
doeth admit in amoght them the right honerabell Alexander Hamiltone, general!
of the artelerie of thes kindom, to be felow and Mr off the forsed Craft ; and therto wie
heaue set to our handes or markes. A. Hamilton, James Hamilton, John Mylln.''
"27 day off Jouly 1647. The quhilk day the heall Mrs being convined, Johne Myllne
being decan and Bartellnou Filming wardene off the Ludg off Edenbr., with consent off
the forseds, William Maxwell, doctor off Fisek ordinare to hes Maj'stie hines ; and
to the quhich wie heave set to our hands or markes. Bartholomew Flemming, Thomes
Patersone,, Robert Allisone, Quenteine Thomsone, Robert Patersone, A. Hamilton, R.
Moray, Johne Mylln, Will. Maxwell."
" Upon the second day of March 1653 yeires. The qlk day, in presenc of Johne Milln
deacon, Quentein Thomsone wardeine, and remnant brethrene of maisones of the Lodge
of Ednr., compeired James Neilsone, master sklaitter to his majestie, being entered and
past in the Lodge of Linlithgow, the said James Neilsone humblie desyring to be
receiued in to be a member of our Lodg off Edr, which desire the wholl companie did
grant and received him as brother and fellow of our companie ; in witness qrof we the
wholl freemen hav set to our hands or marks.''
The fact of an operative slater having been " entered and passed " in
the Lodge of Linlithgow affords evidence that in the first half of the
seventeenth century the membership of the Lodge in question was not
purely Masonic.
C71 Ic^
■| s^'ilv!
S^-^ 1 C -t
^
wtf i
h
HONORARY AND OPERATIVE MASONS. 8l
" Edr. the 27 Deer. 1667. The whilk day, in presenc of Andrew Hamilton deacon,
John Corse warden, and remnant of the lodge, the Right Honorble Sr. Patrick Hume
. of Polwart, Barronet, was admited in as fellow of craft {and Master) of this lodg. In
witnes wherof the deacon, warden, and bretheren hes subscrived thir presents or set to
ther marks day and place abovesd. Andro Hamilton, Rot. Allisone, Alex. Nisbett,
James King, P. Hume, John Hamilton, John Corse, Thomas Scott, John Broun, Alex.
Allisone, Thomas Wilkie."
"Edr. the 24 Junii 1670. The whilk day John Corse decon, Thomas Scott warden,
and the remanent Masters conveened for the tym, doth admit and receav the Right
Honerble Mr William Morray, His Mai'ties Justic Deput, and Mr Walter Pringle,
Advocat, in brothers and fellow crafts of this lodg. In witnes wherof the deacone,
warden, and brethren present hes subscrived thir presents day and place abovsd.
John Corse, Will. Murray, Wa. Pringle, Rot. Allisone, Andro Hamilton, John Hamilton,
Thomas Scott, John Broun, Thomas Wilkie.''
" Edr. the 24 Junii 1670. The whilk day John Corse deacon, Thomas Scott warden,
and the remanent masters conveened for the tyme, doth admit and receave the Right
Honorble Sr. John Harper of Cambusnethen in brother and fellow of craft in this
Lodg. In witness wherof the deacone, warden, and brethren present hes subscrived
thir pntes. day and place abovsd. John Corse, J. Harper, Rot. Allisone, John Hamilton,
Andro Hamilton,- Will. Murray, Wa. Pringle, John Brown, Thomas Wilkie, Thomas
Scott, John Fulten."
The earliest date at which non-professionals are known to have been
received into an English Lodge is 1646. The evidence of this is derived
from the diary of one of the persons so admitted ; but the preceding
minutes afford authentic instances of Speculative Masons having been
admitted to the fellowship of the Lodge of Edinburgh twelve years prior
to the reception of Colonel Manwaring and Elias Ashmole in the Lodge
of Warrington, and thirty-eight years before the date at which the presence
of Gentlem.en Masons is first discernible in the Lodge of Kilwinning by the
election of Lord Cassillis to the deaconship. It is worthy of remark that,
with singularly few exceptions, the non-operatives who were admitted to
Masonic fellowship in the Lodges of Edinburgh and Kilwinning during the
seventeenth century were persons of quality, the most distinguished of
whom, as the natural result of its metropolitan position, being made in the
former Lodge. Their admission to fellowship in an institution composed
of operative masons associated together for purposes of their craft would
in all probability originate in a desire to elevate its position and increase
its influence, and once adopted, the system would further recommend
itself to the Fraternity by the opportunities it presented for cultivating
the friendship and enjoying the society of gentlemen to whom in ordi-
nary circumstances there w^s little chance of their ever being personally
known. On the other hand, non-professionals connecting themselves with
the Lodge by the ties of membership would, we believe, be actuated partly
F
82 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
by a disposition to reciprocate the feelings that had prompted the bestowal
of the fellowship, partly by curiosity to penetrate the arcana of the
Craft, and partly by the novelty of the situation as members of a secret
society and participants in its ceremonies and festivities. But whatever
may have been the motives which animated the parties on either side,
the tie which united them was a purely honorary one. This is apparent
from a consideration of the constitution of the Scotch Lodges, as given in
a previous chapter, — and also from the designation by which the class of
members referred to subsequently became known — to wit, " Gentlemen
Masons," " Theorical Masons," " Geomatic Masons," "Architect Masons,"
" Honorary members," — as well as from their not having been chargeable
with admission fees by the Lodge of Edinburgh till the year 1727, when
in a dispute that took place, this fact of non-payment was urged as a
plea for their future exclusion from the Lodge, in which they were gradually
becoming the preponderating element. The attempt to exclude them was
unsuccessful, but after this time a fee of one guinea was exacted as entry-
money. A strong proof of the jealousy with which the Operative or
" Domatic " * element in the Lodge guarded itself against being subordi-
nated to the Speculative element, may be perceived in the tenacity with
which it clung to the distinctive appellation of the two classes into which
its intrants were wont to be divided — viz., Honorary members, those who
were not Operative masons, and Operative members, those who were handi-
craft masons by profession — a classification which continued to be observed
from the year 1728 till 1761. It cannot now be ascertained in what respect
the ceremonial preceding the admission of theoretical differed from that
observed in the reception of practical masons ; but that there was some
difference is certain, from the inability of non-professionals to comply with
the tests to which operatives were subjected ere they could be passed as
fellows of craft. The former class of intrants would in all likelihood be
initiated into a knowledge of the legendary history of the Mason Craft, and
have the Word and such other secrets communicated to them as was neces-
sary to their recognition as brethren in the very limited Masonic circle in
which they were ever likely to move — limited, because there was nothing
of a cosmopolitan character in the bond which united "the members of
* Domatic is derived from the Latin word "domus," which signifies a house; it therefore
means of or belonging to a house. Its Masonic meaning is transparent from its usage in former
times. On the other hand, members of Lodges who were not Operative Masons (nobles, lairds,
&c.) were styled "Geomatic" Masons — a term derived from the Greek word yea, the land or soil,
and therefore intended to show that they were landed proprietors, or men in some way or other
connected with agriculture. This was evidently the idea the word was meant to express at first ;
but it by-and-by was applied to all Freemasons who were not practical Masons.
FREE INITIATION OF MILITARY RECRUITS. 83
Lodges in the times to which we refer, nor had the Lodge of Edinburgh as
yet become acquainted with the dramatic degrees of Speculative Masonry.
Honorary membership, in the sense in which that distinction is now un-
derstood, did not come into vogue in Mary's Chapel till an advanced
period of the last century. Honorary affiliation is of much older standing
in the Lodge of Edinburgh. We shall revert to this when we come to
notice the brilliant line of members by adoption whose names are to be
found on its roll.
In admitting honorary members the Masonic Fraternity followed a cus-
tom which seems to have obtained in other bodies ; for by an order in coun-
cil in 1685 "honorary freemen" were recognised in connection with voting
at municipal elections in Scotland. When in 1715 the ChevaUer St George
attempted to regain for his dynasty the throne from which its misrule had
hurled it, the Scottish Crafts showed their attachment to the House of
Hanover by the facilities to become masters that were offered to journey-
men who volunteered to defend the king and constitution. These master-
ships carried the right to set up in business in parts over which the bodies
granting them had jurisdiction, but gave no right to vote in the election of
deacons, or other matters falling under the trade's consideration.
A parallel to this is presented in a custom that was prevalent to a con-
siderable extent in Lodges of Symbolical Masonry on the occasion of an
extraordinary levy of British soldiers being called for to crush the American
rebellion of 1777. The bent which the Fraternity's patriotism took may
be gathered from the rebuke that was conveyed through the following
Grand Lodge circular: — "Edinburgh, February 12, 1778. At a Quarterly
meeting of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, held here the 2d instant, I
received a charge to acquaint all the Lodges in Scotland, holding of the
Grand Lodge, that the Grand Lodge has seen, with concern, advertise-
ments in the public newspapers from different Lodges in Scotland, not
only ofifering a bounty to recruits who may enlist in the new levies, but
with the addition, that all such recruits shall be admitted to the freedom
of Masonry. The first of these they consider as an improper alienation
of the funds of the Lodge from the support of their poor and distressed
Brethren ; and the second they regard as a prostitution of our Order,
which demands the reprehension of the Grand Lodge. Whatever share
the Brethren may take, as individuals, in aiding these levies, out of zeal to
serve their private friends, or to promote the public service, the Grand
Lodge considered it to be repugnant to the spirit of our Craft that any
Lodge should take a part in such a business, as a collective body. For
Masonry is an Order of Peace, and it looks on all mankind to be Brethren
84 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
as Masons, whether they be at peace or war with each other as subjects
of contending countries. The Grand Lodge, therefore, strongly enjoin
that the practice may be forthwith discontinued. By order of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, W. MASON, Gr. Sec." The threatened invasion by
revolutionary France in 1794 was the cause of another and somewhat
similar expression of patriotism on the part of the Scotch Lodges, many
of which passed resolutions to reduce by one-half the fees for initiation
of such of the Volunteers as were inclined to become Freemasons, and
as were approved.
CHAPTER XII.
OT a few of the Theoretical Masons of the seventeenth century
were men whose names are preserved in history, and whose
admission was calculated to enhance the position and influ-
ence of the Fraternity. The reproduction of some facts con-
nected with the lives of certain craftsmen of this class belonging to the
Lodge of Edinburgh may not be unacceptable, as relieving the monotony
inseparable from an examination of minutes which are chiefly a bare
record of admissions into the society. As a rule we find it to have been
the practice of the Lodge so to designate its gentlemen members as to
lead easily to their identification ; but there are instances in which some
86 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
of them have only been entered by name, thereby causing their recogni-
tion to be a matter of uncertainty. In this class may be ranked Alex-
ander Alerdis, admitted 27th December 1637, and Mr Eduart
Tesine, received on St John's Day 1652. Of the latter we have failed to
discover any trace. The name itself is peculiar, and does not belong to
any English or Scotch family of position ; nor can we find any reference
to such a name in the numerous municipal and other records consulted by
us. Some uncertainty also attaches to Alexander Alerdis, but we are
satisfied, after careful inquiry, that Mr Alerdis was a member of the old
Scotch family of Allardice in Kincardineshire, whose representative is now
claiming the titles of the Earldoms of Strathern, Menteith, and Airth.
We find in the records of the Scottish Parliament, that AUardis of AUardis
was one of the two representatives of the county of Kincardine at the
period in question. The probability is that Mr Allardice was introduced
to the Lodge by Sir Alexander Strachan, his near neighbour, with whose
family and that of Sir Anthony Alexander he appears to have had
familiar intercourse. We have been unsuccessful in tracing the connec-
tion of Dr Maxwell, who was admitted 27th July 1647, with any parti-
cular family of that name. Having with this object examined the- pedi-
grees of the various known families of Maxwell, and consulted eminent
genealogists on the subject, we are of opinion that he had by his profes-
sional merits alone raised himself to the distinguished position of Physi-
cian in Ordinary to the King, and was not, at least, nearly connected with
any of the more prominent Scotch families of Maxwell. Lord Alexander,
and his two brothers, were sons of Sir William Alexander of Menstrie,
afterwards Earl of Stirling — sometime Secretary of State of Scotland, and
the Royal Commissioner in 1625 for the formation of a British colony in
Nova Scotia, of which he was the projector, — and were educated in philo-
sophy at Glasgow College.
Lord Alexander, Viscount Canada, was admitted into the Lodge of
Edinburgh, in the capacity of fellow of craft, in company with his brother.
Sir Anthony, and Sir Alexander Strachan, July 3, 1634. These brethren
seem from their subsequent attendance in the Lodge to have felt an inter-
est in its proceedings. In the month immediately succeeding their initia-
tion, they were present and attested the admission of three Operative
apprentices and one fellow of craft. They attended three meetings of the
Lodge in 1635, one in 1636, and one in 1637. In signing the minute of
their own reception (fac-simile of which is given) each appends a mark to
his name, but only on this occasion is it used. The relative position of
the signatures of these brethren and that of John Mylln, suggests the pro-
bability of their having in their visits to the Lodge been accompanied by
EARLY SPECULATIVE MASONS. 8/
that Brother. Lord Alexander was elected an extraordinary Lord of
Session in room of his (ather in January 1635. -His lordship was a young
man of great expectations, but he dissipated a fortune and endured great
personal hardships in establishing a colony on the River St Lawrence.
Returning from America with a shattered constitution, he died in 1638.
Sir Anthony Alexander was the second son of the first Earl of
Stirling, and at the date of his admission into the Lodge of Edinburgh,
was Master of Work to Charles I. James Murray of Kilbaberton was
appointed to that office on 26th December 1607 ; and, on ist April 1629,
Sir Anthony Alexander was conjoined with him in it. Sir Anthony's
name is associated with a convocation of master tradesmen held at Falk-
land, October 26, 1636, and over which he presided in the double capacity
of General Warden and Master of Work to his Majesty. The original
minute of this meeting is engrossed on the first seven pages of the oldest
minute-book of the Lodge of Atcheson's Haven. The object of the con-
ference appears from this MS. to have been to concert measures
for the repression of certain so-called abuses then existing in the " airtis
and craftis" of masons, wrights, shipwrights, coopers, glaziers, painters,
plumbers, slater.s, plasterers, &c. The establishment of "companies" of
not less than twenty persons, in those parts of Scotland where no similar
trade society already existed, was recommended as a means of putting an
end to the grievances of which the convocationists complained, and rules
were laid down for their guidance. The only interest that these Statutes
possess in a Masonic point of view, lies in their having been *" accepted "
by the Lodge of Atcheson's Haven, at a meeting held January 14, 1637
and presided over by Sir Anthony Alexander, whose signature is attached
to the mkiute. The oversight of the proposed companies was not intended
to be a post of honour merely ; for by a clause in their constitution, one-
half of the intrants' fees as well as a portion of fines were secured to the
Warden-General. The books of Atcheson's Haven do not give evidence
of this, or indeed of any other portion of the Alexander Statutes having
ever been in operation among the members of the Lodge. Sir Anthony
died in 1637.
Sir Alexander Strachan, Baronet of Thornton, Kincardineshire —
the last in order of the three gentlemen who were made brethren of the
Lodge of Edinburgh in July 1634 — was a well-known public man in his
time. He married as his second wife Lady Margaret Ogilvy, daughter of
James sixth Lord Ogilvy of Airly, the second wife and relict of George
Keith, fifth Earl Marischal, the founder of Marischal College, Aberdeen.
Sir Alexander had, prior to the Earl's death, formed an equivocal connec-
tion with the Countess. The Earl died in 'April 1623, and in March of
88 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the following year his widow, with her husband, Sir Alexander Strachan,
and Dr Robert Strachan, were indicted to appear before the High Court
of Justiciary on a charge of " maisterfuU thift and southereifif, furth of the
place of Benholme pertaining to vmqle George Erie Marshell, of certane
of his lordschipis jouellis, siluer-plait, houshald stuff, gold, siluer, eudentis,
writtis, and vtheris guidis . . . committit in October 1622, a littill befoir
the said Erles deceise." The case was adjourned under several warrants,
and was eventually allowed to drop. James Keith, the Earl's eldest son
by. his second wife, was deeply implicated in the charge preferred against
his mother, and was served with a separate indictment. Failing to appear
he was outlawed. From the specification of the stolen articles given in
his indictment, it would seem that they consisted of — " Portugal ducat.s,
and other species of foreign gold, to the avail of 26,000 pounds or thereby ;
thirty-six dozen gold buttons ; a rich jewel set with diamonds, which the
deceased Earl received as a gift when he was ambassador in Denmark,
worth 6000 merks ; the Queen of Denmark's picture in gold, set about
with rich diamonds, estimated at 5000 merks ; ane jasp stone for steming
of bluid,* estimated at 500 French crowns ; a chain of ' equall perle,'
wherein were 400 pearls great and small ; two chains of gold, of 24 ounce
weight ; another jewel of diamonds set in gold, worth 3000 merks ; a great
pair of bracelets, all set with diamond.s, price therof 500 crowns ; the other
pair of gold bracelets at 600 pounds the pair ; a turquois ring worth ten
French crowns ; a diamond set in a ring, worth twenty-eight French
crowns, witfi a number of other small rings set with diamonds and other
rich stones in gold, worth 300 French crowns ; also 16,000 merks of silver
and gold ready coined, which was within a green coffer ; together with the
whole tapestry, silver-work, bedding, goods, gear, and plenishiflg within
the said place, together with ' an grit clothe bag,' with the title-deeds of
the lands and living of Benholme, and 'vtheris his landis and barronies
being thairntilL' " Sir Alexander Strachan was in 1625 created third baronet
of Nova Scotia, in which colony he obtained a grant of 16,000 acres of land
from the Crown. He was one of the Commissioners of Exchequer in
1630, and a Commissioner for auditing the Treasury Accounts. In 1631
he was allowed ;^3000 for surrendering some of his commissions to the
King, with whom he enjoyed great favour. In June 1633, the Earl of
Angus granted a deed resigning the right of " the first sitting and voting
in Parliament." This deed, which was executed at Dalkeith Palace, bears
* The following curious entry occurs in the books of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland,
Feb. 9, 1504 : — "Item to the said Williame (Foular. potingary) for ane Bludstane, of thre vnce
vthir stuf. for the Queen for bleding of 'the nese : eftir ane R. (recipe) of Maister Robert Schaw,
xxij f."
EARLY SPECULATIVE MASONS. 89
the signatures of Viscount Stirling, William Alexander Master of Stirling,
and Sir Alexander Strachan.
Archibald Stewart [of Hissilheyd] is recorded to have been received
in the Lodge of Edinburgh in July 1635. The autograph of this intrant
shews him to have been a man of education, from which circumstance,
coupled with the fact of his reception being attested by Lord Alexander, Sir
Anthony Alexander, and Sir Alexander Strachan, in whose company he
subsequently visited the Lodge and took part in its proceedings, we are dis-
posed to recognise in him a friend and companion of the gentlemen named.
David Ramsay, whose admission into the Lodge of Edinburgh is
recorded in the minute of August 1637, is described by Bishop Burnett,
in his 'Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton,' as "a gentleman of the Privy
Chamber," and adds — " This Ramsay was one in whom he (the Marquis
of Hamilton) had no interest at all, neither can any account be given
what he was, save that there is a letter from the King of Bohemia in my
hands wherein he recommends him to the King as one who had served
him faithfully in Germany." Taken in connection with the entries in the
minutes of the Lodge, this accounts for the intimate friendship which
existed between him and the members of the noble family of Stirling, and
indicates his social position at the time of his Masonic reception. Ramsay
figures in Sir Walter Scott's description of the last trial which took place
in the old Court of Chivalry.
Henrie Alexander, made fellow of the Lodge of Edinburgh Febru-
ary 16, 1638, succeeded his brother as General Warden and Master of
Work to the King. There is no record of his appearance in the Lodge
after his admission ; but from a minute-book of Atcheson's Haven we
learn that he held a conference with the members of the Lodge at Mussel-
burgh, March 27, 1638, in regard to its readoption of the new companies'
acts, to which we have already referred. He was the third son of the first
Earl of Stirling, and became third Earl on the death of his nephew in
1640 ; but his paternal estates in Scotland were in the following year carried
off by the creditors of his father and eldest brother. He died in 1650.
Alexander Hamilton was another of the courtiers of the period
whose connection with the Lodge of Edinburgh may with some deo-ree of
certainty be attributed to his personal intimacy with King Charles's
Master Mason. At the date of his admission as " fellow and Mr" of the
Mason Craft, May 20, 1640, he was General of the Artillery and Master of
the Ordnance and Ammunition. In signing the minute of his reception
he adhibits a Delta as his Mason's Mark ; and his attestation of the min-
ute of the emergent meeting which certain representatives of the Lodge of
Edinburgh held in the Scottish camp at Newcastle in May 1641, makes
90 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
it obvious that he had 1?een present at the admission of his comrade in
arms, Quartermaster-General Moray. General Hamilton was the fifth
son of Thomas Hamilton of Priestfield, and brother of Sir Thomas Ham-
ilton, the distinguished lawyer and statesman, who was in 1613 elevated
to the peerage by the title of Lord Binning and Byres, and in i6ig created
Earl of Haddington. The General was a well-known man of his time, and
held a high command in the Scotch troops sent in 163 1 under the first
Duke of Hamilton, to aid Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, in his
struggle with the Roman Catholic powers of Europe. Chambers, in his
' Traditions of Edinburgh,' speaking of Hamilton, says he "was a person of
much ingenuity, and was popularly known, for what reason I cannot tell,
by the nickname of ' Dear Sandy Hamilton.' He had a foundry in the Pot-
terow; where he fabricated the cannon employed in the first Covenanting
war in 1639. This artillery, be it remarked, was not formed exclusively of
metal. The greater part of the composition was leather; and yet, we are
informed, they did some considerable execution at the battle of Newburn-
ford, above Newcastle (August 28, 1640), where the Scots drove a large
advanced party of Charles I.'s troops before them, thereby causing the King
to enter into a new treaty. The cannon, which were commonly called
' Dear Sandy's Stoups,' were carried in swivel fashion between two horses."
In 1641 the General memorialised the Scottish Parliament on the subject of
his military appointment and the arrears of pay that were due for his ser-
vices. His petition was favourably received by the King and Estates, who
ratified the petitioner's commission as " General of his Majesties artilliary
and Master of his ordnance and ammunition," and authorised the payment
of his annual pension of •.£'800 out of the wine tax, " dureing all the dayes of
his lyftyme, togidder with the bygane arrerages thairof." He died in De-
cember 1649.
Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, afterwards Earl of Marchmount, was
made a fellow and master in the Lodge of Edinburgh on St John's Day,
1667. He was born in 1641, succeeded his father 1648, and became one
of the most conspicuous and vigorous characters of the age. He was pos-
sessed of large fortune, and was trained to the profession of the law. He
was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates, and to judge from
the frequent occurrence of his name in the law reports, he appears to have
at one time enjoyed considerable practice. Sir Patrick, however, devoted
himself almost exclusively ±0 the politics of the day, both secular and reli-
gious. He was the intimate friend of Baillie of Jerviswoode, and other
eminent Presbyterians. He was chosen Member of Parliament for the
County of Berwick, 1665, took a decided part against the Administration,
and went up to London in 1674, with the Duke of Hamilton and others,
EARLY SPECULATIVE MASONS. 91
to lay the grievances the nation suffered from tjie Duke of Lauderdale
before the King. Sir Patrick was implicated in the Ryehouse Plot, 1683,
and escaped the scaffold by flying to Holland. Joining the Earl of
Argyll's unfortunate expedition to Scotland in support of Monmouth's
rebellion in 1685, his estates were confiscated and his titles forfeited, and
he again became an exile. The Revolution of 1688 restored him to his
honours and estates, and he was subsequently raised to the peerage. He
was William HI.'s Commissioner to the Session of Parliament that sat. at
Edinburgh in 1696, and was High Commissioner to the General Assembly
of the Kirk of Scotland in 1702. He died in 1724, and was buried in the
Canongate Churchyard.
The Right Hon. WILLIAM MURRAY was made a fellow-craft in the
Lodge of Edinburgh, June 24, 1670. He was the fifth son of Andrew
Murray, first Lord Balvaird, and uncle to David Murray, fifth Viscount
Stormont, who was the father of the celebrated lawyer and statesman, the
great Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of England. Mr Murray was
a member of the Faculty of Advocates, and rose to considerable eminence
at the Bar. He was in 1665 appointed by the Earl of Athole, then
Lord Justice-General, Justice-Depute of Scotland. By special commission
he presided at the trial of the celebrated Major Weir for witchcraft, April
9, 1670, and sentenced him to be strangled and burnt between Edinburgh
and Leith two days afterwards.
Walter Pringle, who was admitted into the Lodge of Edinburgh
along with Mr Murray, was a member of the Scotch Bar, and enjoyed
extensive practice in criminal cases. He was the second son of John
Pringle of Stitchel, by his wife Lady Margaret Scott, daughter of the
Earl of Buccleuch, and brother of Sir Robert Pringle, the first baronet of
Stitchel.
Sir John Harper was another of those who joined the Lodge of Edin-
burgh on the 24th of June 1670. He was a member of the Scotch Bar ;
and we find from 'Lament's Diary' that in 1654 he was one of seven
Trustees nominated by the Government of Cromwell for settling all
matters connected with the then forfeited estates. He became Sheriff-
Depute of the County of Lanark, and while holding that office he bought
the estate of Cambusnethan in 1661 from Somerville of Drum, near Edin-
burgh, who had twelve years before purchased it from his relative Lord
Somerville. Wodrow states that Harper, suspected of corresponding with
the Covenanters rather than concussing them, was imprisoned in Edin-
burgh Castle, and only liberated on granting a bond for ten thousand
pounds sterling to answer when called for.
Through the signature of John Mylne, attached to certain minutes in
92 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the preceding chapter, ^the reader is introduced to a family of famous
masons and architects, whose connection with the Lodge of Edinburgh
extended over two hundred years. According to an ancient manuscript
possessed by the Lodge Scone and Perth, No. 3, a John Mylne, mason,
came to Perth from the "north countrie," and "in process of tyme, by
reason of his skill and airt, wes preferred to be the Kings Ma'ties Mr
Measone, and Mr of the said Lodge at Scone." On his death he was
succeeded in the office of King's Master Mason by his son, John, who is
represented in the Perth Charter as having in the capacity of Master of
the Lodge of Scone, and at his Majesty's own desire, entered James
VI. as "frieman meason and fellow craft." His son, a third John
Mylne, mason, was called in 1616 to the Scottish capital to undertake the
erection of the King's statue. His signature appears twice in the records
of Mary's Chapel. On the death of William Wallace in 163 1, he was
appointed Master Mason to Charles L, which office he in 1636 resigned
in favour of his eldest son, " Johne Mylne, younger," who had in October
1633 been made fellow of craft in the Lodge of Edinburgh.
This John Mylne, whose portrait is prefixed, was " Deacon of the Lodge
and Warden" in 1636, to the former of which offices he was ten times re-
elected during a period of twenty-seven years. In 1640-41 he was with
the Scotch Army at Newcastle; in 1646 he received the appointment
from the King of Captain of Pioneers and Principal Master Gunner of all
Scotland; and in 1652 he was elected by the Crafts as a Commissioner
for the formation of a Treaty of Union with England. As Convener of
the Trades he had a seat in the Town Council * for six years ending in
* Nicoll, in his Diary of Transactions in Scotland, while animadverting on the " instabilitie that
was in particular churches and congregatiounes in Edinburgh" about the middle of the seventeenth
century, and which he regarded as " a prognostick of a havy judgement, " refers to John Mylne, as
having by his advice in matters relating to certain alterations that were about this time effected
upon the ecclesiastical buildings of the metropolis, brought the town of Edinburgh to the verge of
bankruptcy: "The ministrie not content with the statioun of thair pulpites as they stuid, thay
causit chaynge thame in sindry of the churches of Edinburgh, viz. thrie severall tymes in the kirk
callit the Tolbuith Kirk, quhilk wes so callit becaus it wes laitlie the pairt and place quhair the
Criminall court did sitt, and quhair the gallons and the maydin did ly of old ; lykewyse, this kirk
alterit and chayngit, and of this kirk thai did mak two. Farder, in the new kirk, callit the Eist
Kirk of Edinburgh, the pulpite was twyse transpoirtit, anes fra the north to the south, quhair of
befoir it stuid on the north syde. By these divisiounes of the kirk and pulpites, the loftis on all
sydes, quhich war verrie costlie, war alterit and chayngit to the havy expensis and charges of the
Toun of Edinburgh, and the moir grieff it was to the Toun, in respect of the havy burdinges con-
tracted and lyand thairon, in these dangerous and evill tymes. The rest of the churches, viz. the
Gray Freir Kirk and the College Kirk is now resolvit, by the Toun Counsel], ather of thame to be
devydif in twa kirkis. This work wes affermit to be projectit by ane maisoun callit Johnne
Mylne, and by a wricht callit Johnne Scott, quhilk maissoun and wricht being persones of the
commoun Toun Counsel!, did misleid the rest, and did hold the Toun in continuall alteratioun
and chaynges, to the havy chairges, wrak, and expensis of the inhabitantes ; quha, notwithstanding
THE MYLNE FAMILY. 93
1664, and on several occasions represented the metropolis in the Scotch
Parliament. To Mr Mylne's professional position, and intimacy with
gentlemen frequenting the Scottish Court at the time, may be at-
tributed the admission into the Lodge of Edinburgh of the many
distinguished persons whose reception as Theoretical Craftsmen marks
an important era in the history of the Scotch Masonic Lodges. He died
in 1667 ; and in 1668 the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel placed the
following inscription in his honour over the entrance door of their Hall : —
Upon the Memory of John Mylne, Master Mason to his Majesty, who carried
THE charge for TWELVE YEARS DeACON IN THIS PLACE, WHEREOF FOUR HE
PRECEDED AS THE CONVENER.
JOHN MYLNE
Who maketh the Fourth John
And by descent from Father unto Son
Sixth Master Mason to a Royal Race
Of seven successive Kings, sat in this place.
Rare man he was, who could unite in one
Highest and lowest occupation :
To sit with Statesmen, Councillors to Kings;
To work with Tradesmen in mechanick things.
May all Brethren Myln's steps strive to trace
Till one, withall, this house may fill his place.
Alexander Mylne, the next of the family who belonged to the
Lodge of Edinburgh, was passed fellow of craft, June 2, 1635, in presence
of his brother, John Mylne, Lord Alexander, Sir Anthony Alexander,
and Sir Alexander Strachan. As a sculptor he was engaged in the
embellishment of the Parliament House and other public buildings in
Edinburgh. He died in 1643, and was buried at the Abbey of Holyrood.
Robert Mylne, mason, who acquired the estate of Balfarge in the
county of Fife, was entered prentice to his uncle, John Mylne, in the
Lodge of Edinburgh, December 27, 1653 ; and was made a fellow-craft
on 23d September 1660. He was chosen Warden of the Lodge in 1663,
and was re-elected in 1664. He filled the Deacon's chair during the years
1681, '82, '83, '?>'/, and '88, and took a leading part in the business of the
Lodge till 1707. He appears to have succeeded to the post of Master
Mason to Charles H. on the death of his uncle : at least he is so
designated in an agreement entered into between him and the magistrates
of Perth (1668), for rebuilding the Cross that had been removed from the
of the plak of every pynt of aill and beir allowit to thame by the Proteclor, within Edinburgh,
Leith, Cannongait, West Poirt, Potteiraw, and uther suburbes ; yit nevirtheles, and of many uther
caswaliteis allotit to the Toun of Edinburgh, they wer abave ellevin hundreth thowsand markis in
dett, and quhilk at this tyme thai wer not able to pay.''
94 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
High Street through the operations which followed upon Cromwell's
possession of the place. In 1671 Mylne was employed to rebuild the
Palace of Holyrood. He was the builder also of Mylne's Court and
Mylne's Square. He died in 1710.
William Mylne, mason, eldest son of Robert Mylne, was admitted and
entered in the Lodge of Edinburgh, at Mary's Chapel, December 27, 1681.
William Murray, the King's Justice Depute (an office analogous to that of
the present Lords of Justiciary), was present on the occasion. He was
passed as fellow-craft, November 9, 1685. His signature appears along with
that of other apprentices at occasional minutes of a date previous to his
passing, and is attached to almost every minute between 1692 and 1723.
He was Warden of the Lodge in 1695, '96, and '97. He died in 1728.
Thomas Mylne, mason, eldest son of William Mylne, and subsequently
proprietor of Powderhall, a small but now valuable property near Edin-
burgh, was entered and admitted as apprentice December 27, 172 1 ;
" elected and chosen Eldest Prentice for ensuing year," December 27,
1722; admitted and received fellow-craft December 27, 1729. He was
chosen "Master of the Society," December 27, 173S, and in that capacity
represented the Lodge at the erection of the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
November 30, 1736, as he had also done in the meetings which preceded
that event ; was re-elected Master December 27, 1736, at which date he
presented a report of the proceedings at the election of the first Grand
Master, and was reappointed to represent the Lodge in the Grand Lodge.
In 1737-38 he was Depute Master, and again in 1743-44 — having in the
interim, and while holding the post of deacon of the Incorporation (Decem-
ber 28, 1741), been recalled to the chair of the Lodge as " Worshipful
Master," to which he was re-elected in December of the following year.
Elected in November 1737^ he discharged the office of Grand Treasurer
to the Grand Lodge during eighteen consecutive years, retiring from that
post in December 1755. He died March 5, 1763. What renders this
brother's connection with the Lodge of Edinburgh distinguishable from
that of any other member of his family, 4s the fact of his having been
e7itered in what may emphatically be termed the transition period of its
existence, — of his having been advanced during the Masonic twilight which
preceded the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, in the accelera-
tion of which event, and adoption of that system of Freemasonry of which
the English Grand Lodge was the expositor, he bore a conspicuous part, —
and of his having maintained a connection with the Lodge until every
vestige of its Operative character had disappeared.
William Mylne, mason, second son of Thomas Mylne, was " admitted
and receaved ane entred apprentice in the ordinary forme, for which he
THE MYLNE FAMILY. 95
paid nyne pounds Scots to the theasurer," December 27, 1750 ; was present
in the Lodge as eldest apprentice, November 25, 1751; and, on giving
" proof of his qualification as entered apprentice and fellow of craft, was
passed and raised operative master, and paid in to the treasurer two pounds
sterling for the use of the Lodge," December 20, 1758. He does not seem
ever to have held office in the Lodge ; but he was deacon of the masons
in 1765, in which year he was also a member of town-council. The largest
undertaking with which his name is associated was the construction of the
North Bridge of Edinburgh, described in the language of the period as
" a stone bridge across the North Loch, from the High street, where the
Cap-and-Feather Tavern now stands, to the opposite bank at Multrees
Hill," — the contract price being ;^io,i40. The foundation-stone of the
North Bridge was laid with Masonic honours on the 21st October, 1763.
Mr Mylne removed to Dublin, where he died in 1790.
Robert Mylne (eldest son of Thomas Mylne) was, at a meeting of the
Lodge of Edinburgh, January 14, 1754, "admitted entered prentice as
honorary member, and paid to the Lodge one pound one shilling sterling,
with the ordinary dues to the Grand Lodge and entered prentices."
Having, on the 24th of the month, "been examined in presence of the Lodge,
and given satisfaction as to his proficiency in the duty of apprentice, he
[in company with a brewer and others] was past to the degree of fellow-
craft as honorary member;" and, upon "giving satisfaction to the Lodge
of his proficiency as fellow-craft, was (April 8, 1754) raised to the degree of
master mason." The fact that, though an architect by profession, he was
admitted as a gentleman mason, marks the progress the Lodge had at that
time made in the practice of Symbolical Masonry. His name last appears
in the sederunt of the meeting on St John's day, 17S9. Mr Mylne in
pursuit of his profession went to Rome, where he studied. On returning
to London, a frien'dless competitor, the superiority of a plan which he
presented, among those of sixty-nine other candidates, for the contem-
plated Blackfriars Bridge, gained him the prize for the design, and the
execution of that great public work, which was commenced in 1761. He
died in 181 1, and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, having been Surveyor
to that edifice for fifty years.
With the death of Mr Robert Mylne terminated this family's connection
with the ancient Lodge of Edinburgh — a connection that had been main-
tained through five successive generations. We are indebted to the kind-
ness of Mr Robert W. Mylne, F.R.S., architect and engineer, London, the
representative of the family, for the portrait which heads this chapter.
CHAPTER XIII.
HE minutes of Mary's Chapel record two notable instances of
making Masons outside of the Lodge. While both cases
afford an illustration of the custom of admitting non-opera-
tivei to Masonic fellowship, one of them, if not authorised,
was at least homologated, — the other was regarded as a breach of privilege.
The following is the minute bearing on the first of the cases referred to : —
" At Neucastell the 20 day off May 1641. The qwilk day ane serten nom-
ber off Mester and others being lafule conveined, doeth admit Mr the
Right Honerabell Mr Robert Moray, General quarter Mr to the Armie off
Scotlan, and the same bing aproven be the hell Mester off the Mesone of
the Log off Edenbroth, quherto they heaue set to ther handes or markes.
A. Hamilton, R. Moray, Johne Mylln, James Hamilton."
01 i 't^
i-¥. .H-.
RECEPTION OF GENERAL ROBERT MORAY. 97
It is somewhat singular that the fact of Moray's admission having taken
place in a town in England, should have escaped the attention of those
who have preceded the writer in scrutinising the ancient records of Mary's
Chapel ; and this is all the more surprising from the prominence that
Masonic historians have hitherto given to this very entry, as illustrative
of the early admission of Gentlemen Masons. But as these records contain
prior proofs of the prevalence of the custom, further reference need not at
this stage be made to it.
The reader will have no difficulty in recalling to mind the circumstances
which led to the occupation of Newcastle by the Scotch army in 1641.
The King had kept firmly in view his father's favourite project of bringing
the Church of Scotland, in regard to its government and ceremonial, to the
same model as that of England. Prelacy had been already established ;
but there was not complete uniformity in ritual and doctrine, — and on
Charles visiting Scotland in 1633 for the purpose of being crowned, he
pressed upon the bishops, who had hitherto only worn plain black gowns,
the use of the more splendid vestments of the English Church. This
alteration gave grievous offisnce to the Presbyterians, who recognised in it
a farther approximation to the Romish ritual ; while the nobility, who had
been partly deprived of their tithes, and feared that their possession of the
Church lapds was in danger, saw with pleasure the obnoxious prelates incur
the odium of the people at large. This slumbering discontent was at
length brought into action by the attempt to introduce into the divine
service of the Church of Scotland, a form of common prayer and liturgy
similar to that of England. The resistance to this measure gave rise to
the engagement called the National Covenant, as resembling those cov-
enants which in the Old Testament God is said to. have made with the
people of Israel. This bond had for its object the abrogation of the
prelatic innovations that James VI. and Charles had been able to intro-
duce into the Scotch Church. In November 1638, a General Assembly
of the Church was held at Glasgow, at which all the measures pointed at
by the Covenant were carried out ; and the Covenanters took up arms to
support them. When the Scotch army lay at Dunse a treaty was entered
into between them and the King, which, however, was not implemented,
and both parties reassembled their forces. The troops of the Parliament
of Scotland boldly crossed the Tweed, and entered England. Having met
and defeated the Royalists at Newburn, August 28, 1640, the Scottish
army advanced to and took possession of Newcastle, where, according to
treaty, it remained while the state of affairs was being deliberated upon by
the English and Scotch Commissioners.
That there were members of the Lodge of Edinburgh taking an active
G
98 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
part with the army in the stirring events of the period, is evident from the
foregoing minute ; and it was at the hands of these mihtant craftsmen
that the then Quartermaster-General of the Army of Scotland was made
a Mason. It was in July 1641 that Newcastle was evacuated by the
Scotch army ; and on returning to Edinburgh, those who had entered
Moray appear to have reported the proceeding, which being approved was
recorded in the minute-bobk and ratified by the signatures of three
brethren as representing the Lodge, together with the signature of the
newly-admitted brother. Thus was consummated an admission to Lodge
membership under circumstances unparalleled in Scotch Masonic annals of
the period to which it refers.
It has been suggested that the minute was written and signed at New-
castle of the date it bears. The phrase " lafule conveined " may war-
rant the assumption that permission to admit Moray had been previously
obtained ; but that the minute, as now standing in the minute-book, was
written at the date of his entry, is highly improbable. The country being
then involved in civil war, the difficulties of transit — numerous even in
ordinary circumstances at that period — ^would, it may well be conceived,
be such as to prevent any public body sending its books to a distance,
much less to intrust its records to the keeping of brethren engaged in
active military service in another kingdom. The Lodge of Edinburgh,
not then precise to a degree in the chronological arrangement of its
minutes, was not at all likely to have placed its records in jeopardy from
the chances of war, merely that the minute of the admission of an hon-
orary member, however distinguished, should be inserted at the time of
entry. The minute in question is in the hand of the notary acting as
clerk to the Lodge ; and we think there is little ground for believing that
that functionary would be present with the army at Newcastle in 1641,
with the minute-book of the Lodge in his possession.
Moray — whose name is spelt by historians Murray, and it so appears in
judicial registers — was again present in the Lodge of Edinburgh on the
27th of July 1647, on the occasion of the admission of "William Maxwell,
doctor off Fisick ordinare to his Maj'stie hines," and signed the minute of
that meeting — the doctor having in all probability been introduced to the
Lodge by Moray.
Whatever may have been the motives which animated the citizen sol-
diers belonging to Mary's Chapel in their admission of their distinguished
comrade in arms, Moray's subsequent public career, not less than his char-
acter as a private gentleman, was such as to reflect honour upon" the
Fraternity. In Burnet's estimation, he was "the wisest and worthiest
man of the age." He was the son of Sir Robert Murray of Craigie, by a
daughter, of Halket of Pitferran. He served in the French army under
IRREGULAR ADMISSIONS IN AYRSHIRE. 99
Richelieu, prior to his appointment to the post which he held when
admitted to the Lodge of Edinburgh. He was with the Scotch army to
which Charles in 1646 delivered himself, and designed a scheme for the
King's escape, which failed through his Majesty's irresolution. He took a
prominent part in the negotiations in Church matters between Charles H.
and his Presbyterian subjects. Possessing the Royal confidence, he was
made a Privy Councillor, Justice-Clerk, and a Lord of Session, and was
subsequently associated with the Duke of Lauderdale in the direction of
Scotch affairs. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society, and
promoted its objects by delivering lectures and exhibiting experiments —
the geology of Scotland being a favourite branch of his studies. H e died
in June 1673, and was buried in the Canongate churchyard.
The other case bearing upon the admission of Gentlemen Masons else-
where than in the Lodge had a very different issue. " December the 27,
1679: Maries Chappell. The which day Thomas Wilkie, deacon, and
Thomas King, warden, and the rest of the brethren convened at that
tyme, being represented unto them the great abuse and usurpation com-
mitted be John Fulltoun, mason, on of the friemen of this place, by
seducing two entered prentises belonging to our Lodge, to witt, Ro. Alison
and John CoUaer, and other omngadrums, in the moneth of august last,
within the sheraffdome of Air ; Has taken upon him to passe and enter
sevrall gentlemen without licence or commission from this place : Therfore
for his abuse committed, the deacon and maisters hes forthwith enacted
that he shall receave no benefit from this place nor no converse with any
brother ; and lykwayes his servants to be discharged from serving him in
his imployment ; and this act to stand in force, ay and whill [until] he
give the deacon and masters satisfaction."
That a sentence of the Lodge of Edinburgh and the results flowing
from it must have partaken more of a practical than of a merely formal
character, may be inferred from the alacrity which we find to have been
displayed by delinquents in taking steps to procure the removal of the
disabilities under which their contempt of masonic law had placed them.
Ir> the present instance little more than three months intervened between
the culprit's expulsion and his reponal: — "Maries Chappell, Aprill 12 day
1680. The whilke day Thomas Wilkie, deacon, and Thomas King, war-,
den, and the rest of the brethren conveined for the tyme, upon the humble
supplication of John Fultoun, does admitt and repone the said John
Fultoun amongest the bretheren upon the acknowlegment of his former
fault committed be him, as the act daited the 27 of December 1679, at
mor beireth [length] ; And for the which cause he hes payed to the war-
den fourtie punds Scotts, by and attour the acknowledgement forsaid, and
promised to behave as a brother and never to committ such a fault again
100 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
in all tyme comming." In giving judgment in this case the Lodge of
Edinburgh does not condemn the custom of making masons by brethren
living at a distance from the Lodge : it was the doing so without due
permission that constituted the offence. Not the least remarkable feature
of the crime is that it should have been committed in Ayrshire — a district
in which as regarded Lodge matters the Kilwinning Fraternity held
undisputed sway. This circumstance, however, is not recognised as an
element in the offence which had been committed. But perhaps the
planting by the Lodge of Kilwinning of a branch in Canongate of
Edinburgh in 1677 had rendered Mary's Chapel less punctilious than
it would otherwise have been on the point of jurisdiction. Whether this
particular instance of encroachment upon its domain was formally brought
before the Mason Court of Kilwinning, or whether the omnium gatherum
who aided the invaders of its territory embraced craftsmen owing it
allegiance, cannot now be ascertained ; but that at the period in question
the province of Ayr was the scene of great Masonic irregularities, is
evident from the Lodge of Kilwinning having, in January 1680, ordered
the consultation by lawyers of the " old warden books, whereby the former
abuses and disorders may be in tymes comeing put to execution and the
falters corrected and punished."
The following minute of Mary's Chapel, recording the confirmation of
acts that had been done in its name at a prior date, may possibly refer to
passings that had by permission been effected at such a distance from
Edinburgh as would justify a temporary suspension of the statute by
which the presence of the Warden and others was held to be indispensable
to the due performance of the ceremony common to such occasions : —
" Edinr., the 27 Deer. 1667 : The whilk day, in presenc of Androw
Hamilton, deacon, John Cors, warden, and the haill Breathren, doth admite
and allow <?/"John Wilson as fellow craft, past upon the 6th day of Jully
last, and of Alexr. Alison, who was past fellow craft upon the sixt day of
Novr. last, and of Thomas. Wilkie, who was past as fellow craft upon the
26 day of Novr. last. In witnes wherof the deacon, warden, and breathren
has subscrived thir presents or sett to ther marks day and place abovsd."
Traces of the custom of granting written licences to enter masons at a
distance from the Lodge are found in the minutes of the Lodges of Kil-
winning, Dunblane, and the now extinct village of Haughfoot (Peebles-
shire). Those of Kilwinning contain the earliest commission of the kind
extant. In December 1677, a number of operative masons from the Can-
ongate of Edinburgh, following up a petition which they had previously
presented, appeared before the Lodge of Kilwinning, were enrolled as
COMMISSION TO CANONGATE KILWINNING. lOI
members, and in that capacity were authorised to enter and pass persons
in its name and behalf. The record of this transaction, as furnished by
the Lodge of Kilwinning to Canongate Kilwinning in 1736, contains
expressions that were not used in Scotch Masonic documents of the seven-
teenth century — their introduction no doubt being designed to give colour
to the claims to antiquity then put forward by the votaries of Free-
masonry. We therefore present a fac-simile of the original minute, as
borne on the books of the parent Lodge, in order to show that the expres-
sions we have referred to were not contained in that document : —
I02 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
[At the ludge of Killwining the twentie day of december 1677 yeares,
deacons and wardanes and the rest of the brethren considering the love
and favour showne to us be the rest of the brethren of the cannigate in
edinbroughe ane part of our number being willing to be boked &. inroled
the qch day gives power & liberty to them to enter receave and pase ony
qualified persons that they think fitt in name and behalf of the ludge of
Killwinning.& to pay ther entry and booking moneys due to the sd ludge
as we do our selves they sending on of ther number to us yearly and we
to do the lyke to them if need be The qlk day ther names ar insert into
this book. . . .]
The earliest documentary proof of Canongate Kilwinning's existence as
a separate Lodge is derived from its own minute-book, February 16, 1736,
where it is represented as having a Master and other office-bearers. But
there is reason to believe that its-assumption of the prerogatives of an inde-
pendent body would be almost contemporaneous with its erection as a
branch ; for it does not appear ever to have made any return of its intrants
to Kilwinning.
The commissions that were issued by the Lodge of Haughfoot in the
early part of the eighteenth century, empowered " any fyve of their num-
ber to admit and enter such quahfied persons as should apply to them,
into the society of this lodge, either as apprentice or fellow craft ;" and in
virtue of such licence meetings for initiation were held at Edinburgh,
Galashiels, Selkirk, and other distant places. The Dunblane commissions
authorised the entry, elsewhere than in the Lodge, of " gentlemen or other
persons of entire credit and reputation living at a distance from the town"
— brethren holding such licences being instructed to " have present with
them such members of this lodge as can be conveniently got, or in case of
necessity to borrow from another lodge as many as shall make a quorum
without any more.'' It was usnal for brethren who had been entered by
commission to be passed in the Lodge, though by enactment of the Mason
Court of Dunblane, September 17 16, prohibiting the conferring of the two
steps " at one and the same tyme," an exception was made in favour of
"gentlemen who cannot be present at a second diet." So early as 1707,
it had been enacted by the Lodge of Haughfoot that, " except on special
considerations, ane year at least should intervene betwixt any being
admitted apprentice and his being entered fellow craft."*
Becoming less exact on the point of jurisdiction than its "subordinate
position demanded, the Lodge of Dunblane, fifteen years after it had
joined Grand Lodge, constituted a number of affiliated brethren into a
branch lodge, much in the same way that Canongate Kilwinning had been
* Notes on the Haughfoot Lodge, by Brother Robert Sanderson, in the ' Freemasons' Magazine.'
EDINBURGH BRANCH OF DUNBLANE LODGE. 103
raised to that position. In August 1756, several legal gentlemen, resident
in Edinburgh and belonging to a metropolitan lodge, visited the Lodge of
Dunblane, and were assumed as members, those of them who were appren-
tices being also passed to the grade of fellow-craft. At the same diet the
following commission was drawn in their favour : — " We, Thomas Duthie,
Master, and Patrick Henderson and John Anderson, Wardens of the Free
and Accepted Masons of Dunblane, considering that the following brethren
of this Lodge, viz., Colin M'Kenzie, Peter Low, and Robert Auld, fellows
of craft, and William Stewart, Samuel Falconer, and Patrick Gall, appren-
tices, all from the Thistle Lodge of Edinburgh, and writers there, do for
the most part reside at Edinburgh, so that they have no opportunity of
meeting with us at Dunblane at our stated meetings, and at the same time
are desirous to meet together frequently as brethren of this Lodge, in
order to cultivate among one another that friendship and harmony which
becometh Masons and particularly the brethren of one Lodge, and by
repeated expressions of their regard and benevolence towards this Lodge
and to its brethren, to keep alive that sense of subjection, reverence, and
goodwill which the Lodge expects from all its brethren. Therefore, we,
the said Master and Wardens, with the unanimous advice and approba-
tion, and in presence of the whole, met in due form, do by these presents
authorize and empower our said brethren above-named to meet together at
Edinburgh in what place and at what time they shall think proper as mem-
bers and a part of our said Lodge of Dunblane, with power to them for
preserving order and answering the other good purposes of their meeting,
to elect from among their number persons properly qualified to act as
Depute-Master, Wardens, Treasurer, and other officers of our said Lodge
of Dunblane ; and to agree to such regulations and bye-laws as they shall
see convenient, but consistent always with the regulations of our said
Lodge. As also with power to them to admit and enter prentices such
persons as shall be properly qualified and recommended, and who shall be
held and are hereby declared to be members and brethren of the Lodge of
Dunblane, and entitled to all the privileges thereof; to pass fellow crafts
and raise masters, the brethren so entered past and raised being always
duly reported to us in order to be recorded in our books, for which record-
ing the following fees shall be paid to our Treasurer for the time being,
viz., for recording the said entered prentices a fee of five shillings stg., and
our said Lodge oblige themselves to cause the said member so entered
and reported to us be duly recorded in the books of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, and to pay the fees for such recording, and for recording the
brethren past fellow crafts and raised masters a fee of one shilling each ;
as also with power to them to collect and raise among themselves, in such
104 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
manner as they shall see fit, a fund for defraying the necessary charges of
their meetings, and for answering as a fund of charity for relief of poor
and distressed brethren, the brethren of our Lodge of Dunblane being
always according to their circumstances to be first preferred ; and we
hereby recommend and give charge to our said brethren to observe and
keep up the ancient usages and doctrine of Masons, and to cultivate
among themselves and among the brethren of other Lodges that harmony,
friendship, and brotherly love which are the distinguishing characteristics
of Masons and Masonry. Given at our said Lodge of Dunblane, the
twenty-first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six
years, and of the 57S6th year of Masonry. James MusHET, Tho.
DuTHiE, Patrick Henderson, John Anderson, John Rob, Henry
Christy." This document, which is in a handwriting different from that
of the minutes of the time, was in all probability engrossed in the minute-
book by one of the brethren in whose favour it was granted. It contains
phraseology peculiar to the Third Degree, a step which was not then
practised by the Lodge of Dunblane, and of which it must have been
utterly ignorant, otherwise it would not have delegated to fellow-crafts
the work of raising masters. In none of the records of Edinburgh Lodges
which we have seen, nor in those of Grand Lodge, do we find reference to
this commission or the working in the metropolis of brethren representing
the Lodge granting it. The Thistle being an offshoot of the Canongate
and Leith, was a granddaughter of the Lodge of Edinburgh.
The issuing by private Lodges of commissions, or " dispensations " as
they were afterwards termed, encouraged a system of proselytising foreign
to the principles of the Order, and subversive of the regulation under which
the jurisdiction of Lodges was defined. In dealing with such infractions of
Masonic usage. Grand Lodge exhibited a capriciousness quite unworthy of
its position. Two instances will suffice to show this. In November 1779,
the Lodges Montrose Kilwinning, and Montrose St Peter, presented a
petition to Grand Lodge, " complaining of some undue practises of Wil-
liam Smith of Forret, Master of St Luke's Lodge, Edinburgh, for presum-
ing to convocate brethren and admit apprentices in the town of Montrose
for his Lodge, St Luke at Edinburgh, so contrary to the spirit of the
Craft, that were such practises allowed there would be no more occasion for
charters from Grand Lodge, as it might be in the power of any brother
from Edinburgh to traverse the country and pick up what members he
could for his own Lodge, and thereby deprive Lodges locally situated in
that part of the country of the entry of so many members." For the
defence it was urged, " that the Master of St Luke's had transgressed no
standing law of Grand Lodge, but on the contrary such proceedings had
DISSIMILARITY IN MASONIC RITES. lOS
been justified in practice, and more particularly he had in this case acquired
to Masonry the names of respectable gentlemen who would otherwise
have been lost to the Craft." The complaint was dismissed. A few years
later, in restraining the Lodges of Dunblane and Lesmahago from making
masons in Glasgow, complained of by the Lodge St Mungo, October 1794,
Grand Lodge condemned the practice, as inconsistent with the conditions
on which Lodges held their charter. Notwithstanding this deliverance, the
system to which it refers continued in active operation, chiefly among west
country Lodges, up till the second decade of the present century. In 1804,
a member of the Lodge Royal Arch, Maybole, having gone to reside in
the county of Meath, Ireland, was licensed "to enter such as he might
consider worthy," and acknowledgment of his intrants only ceased with
his withholding from the Lodge the fees he had received. In 18 14, a
parallel case occurred in Greenock, where a member of Ayr Operative
made a great many masons, at first in name and by authority of his
mother Lodge, but latterly on his own account and for his own pecuniary
benefit. But it is needless to give further instances of a custom which now
no longer exists.
The practice of authorising individual brethren to make masons out of
the Lodge, has probably contributed in no small degree to bring about that
want of uniformity in the secret ceremonial of the Craft which has long
prevailed among Scottish Lodges. This incongruity had manifested itself
to such an extent about the middle of last century, that a movement was
then inaugurated at Edinburgh to secure " uniformity in the manners of
the brethren with respect to certain particular forms in lodge working."
This object, though periodically engaging the attention of the Fraternity,
has not yet been attained. Indeed, through the supineness of Grand
Lodge, and the patronage bestowed upon rival rituals, the production of
unauthorised and irresponsible parties, dissimilarity in Masonic rites is
still perpetuated, the desire for novelty is unduly encouraged, and the
vaunted " universality " of the Masonic formula is rendered in a great
measure illusory. In the earlier years of the present century, Mary's
Chapel presented a perfect medley of work and lectures. It subse-
quently adopted, out and out, the Prestonian ritual, which was succeeded
by other systems whose chief recommendation was their novelty. More
recently Mary's Chapel, like other leading Lodges in this country, has
been worked on a system which obtains to a large extent under the English
Constitution.
In former times, as now, the purity of the Order has suffered from an
abuse of the privilege of " emergent " meetings. The practice of private
I06 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
members making masons at sight, without advising with or acquainting
the Master or other office-bearers, having led to the admission to Mary's
Chapel of " some persons of low character, bad morals, and under age,"
the Lodge, January 1767, prohibited the initiation of candidates, except
in the case of gentlemen going abroad, sooner than seven days from the
date of the presentation of their petition for initiation. Subsequent viola-
tions of this rule brought the Lodge of Edinburgh into trouble : its ex-
chequer was impoverished, its roll of members rendered imperfect, and its
credit with Grand Lodge impaired. But as regards Mary's Chapel, this
state of matters has long since passed away.
CHAPTER XIV.
N glancing at the minutes of the Lodge of Eclinburgli, dating
from December 27, 1675, till March 12, 1678, both inclusive,
we were struck with the similarity which the handwriting
bore to that in which the Kilwinning copy of the ' Narration
of the Founding of the Craft of Masonry ' is written ; and upon closer
examination wc are convinced that in both cases the caligraphy is the
I08 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
same. This is important as fixing the probable date at which the written
History and Articles of Masonry were introduced to the Lodge of Kilwin-
ning, and the channel through which they came. In the early part of the
last century it was a custom of the Lodge of Kilwinning to sell to Lodges
receiving its charters, written copies of this document, which was termed
" the old buik." And this is not a little remarkable, seeing that the manu-
script so circulated contained no allusion to the Kilwinning or any other
legend connecting the Fraternity with Scotland. That it was a produc-
tion of the sister kingdom is evident from its containing a charge in which
" every man that is a mason " is taken bound to " be liedgeman to the
King of England," and also from that part of the legend which refers to
the introduction and spread of Masonry in Britain being confined to the
rehearsal of the patronage extended to the Craft by English' Kings.
Its being in the handwriting of the Clerk of the Lodge of Edinburgh,
affords prima facie evidence that it must have been a transcript of that
which was at the time in use in that Lodge. No copy of the Edinburgh
Kilwinning MS. has been preserved by Mary's Chapel ; but there is one
of the same version, slightly varied, in the old minute-book of Atcheson's .
Haven, bearing to have been engrossed therein "the 29th May "1666,
by Jo. Auchinleck, clerk to the maisones of Achisones Lodge," a fac-
simile of which is appended ; — and from the circumstance of this MS.
being at the time indicated in possession of the freemen masons of an
unimportant village in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, it may reasonably
be inferred that it was also known to the Lodge of the metropolis at an
equally early date. For the reasons mentioned, therefore, we here present
what we believe to be a transcript of the Masonic Legend and Charges
which, with certain modifications, would in all probability be used by the
Lodge of Edinburgh in the initiation of its intrants in the middle of the
seventeenth century. The influence which England exercised in the
further assimilation of the ceremonial in lodges of both countries will
afterwards appear.
" The might of the Father of Heavin, and the wisedom of the Glorious
Sonne, through the grace and goodness of the Holy Ghost : that been
Three persons and One God, be with us at our beginning, and give us
grace for to govern us here in our living, that wee may come to his bliss
that never shall have ending. Amen.
" Good Brethren and Fellows : Our purposse is to tell yow how and in
what manner wise this worthy CRAFT OF Massonrie was begun, and
how it was keepet by worthy Kings and Princes, and by many other
Worshipful Men. And also to those that be here wee will charge by the
THE EDJNBURGH-KILWINNING MS. CHARGES. 109
Charges that belongeth to every free * Masson to keepe, ffor in good
faith, and they take heed to it, it is worthy to be weell keeped, for it is a
worthy Craft and a curious Science. For there be sevin Liberal Sciences
of which sevin it is one of them, and the names of the sevin sciences be
these : ,
" The first is Grammar, and that teacheth a man to speake truely. The
second is Rhetoricke, and that teaches a man to speake truely and fair in
soft terms. The third is Dialecticke or Logicke, and that teacheth a man
to discern or know trueth from falshoode. And the fourth is Arithme-
ticke, which teaches a man to rekon and to count all manner of numbers.
The fifth is Geometry, and that teacheth a man the mett and measure of
earth and all other things. The which science is called Massonrie. And
the sixth science is called Musicke, and that teacheth a man the craft of
song and voyce of tongue and organ, harpe and trump. And the sevinth
science is called Astronomic, and that teacheth a man to know the course
of the Sun, of the Moon, and of the Stars.
" These be the sevin Liberal Sciences, the which sevin be all found by
one science, that is to say Geometry. And this may a man prove that all
the sciences of the world is found out by Geometry, fibr Geometry teaches
a man to measure, ponderation, or weight of all manner of things on earth,
ffor there is no man that worketh any craft but he works by some mea-
sure. Nor no man buyes or selles but by some measure or by some
weight, and all this is Geometry. And all these merchands, craftsmen,
and all others of the Sevin Sciences, and especially the plowmen and the
tillers of all manner of grain and seeds, vineplanters, and setters of other
fruits are hereby directed ; ffor by Grammar, nor Arithmeticke, nor Astro-
nomy, or any of all the other Sevin Sciences no man finds mett and mea-
sure without Geometric. Wherefore me thinks that the science is most
worthy that finds all other.
" How this worthy science of Geometric was first begun I shall tell you.
Before Noah's flood, -there was a man named Lamech, as it is written in
the Bible in the fourth chapter of Genesis ; and this Lamech had two
wifes, the one wife heght Ada, and the other ScELA. By his wife Ada
he got two sonnes, and the one heght Jabell and the other JuBELL ; and
by the other wife Scela he got a son and a daughter ; — and these four
children found the beginning of all the Crafts of the world. And this
elder sonne Jabell found the Craft of Geometric ; and he had flocks of
* The term " free Mason '' does not, so far as we have been able to discover, occur in any other
MS. of the seventeenth, nor in those of the two immediately preceding centuries, although it appears
in at least one of the MSS. belonging to the eighteenth century. "Trew Mason" is the expres-
sion employed in the Musselburgh and other old versions.
no HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
sheep and land in the field, and first wrought houses of stone and tree (as
it is noted in the chapter abouesaide). And his brother Juball found the
Craft of Musick, Song of tongue, harpe, and organ. And the third brother
TUBALL Cayne found Smith's Craft of gold, silver, copper, iron, and
steel. And the daughter found the Craft of 'V^eaving. And these chil-
dren knew weell that God would doe vengance for sin either by fire or
water ; wherefore they wrote their Sciences that they had found in two
pillars of stone, that they might be found after Noah's flood ;^and the one
was marble, for that will not burn with any fire ; and the other stone was
called latrones, for that will not drown in any water.
" Our intent is to tell you truely how and in what manner these stones
were found wherein these Sciences were written. The great Hermarius
that was Cube's son, the which Cube was [Shem's] son that was Noah's
son — this same Hermarinis was afterwards called Herms, the father of
wisedom, — he found one of the pillars of wisedom, and found the
Sciences written ; and he taught to other men. And at the makeing of
the tower of Babilon there was Massonrie made much of And the King
of Babilon that heght NiMRODE was a Masson himselfe, as it was said
with masters of histories. And when the city of Nineve and other cities
should be made, Nimrode the King of Babilon sent thither Massons at
the request of the King of Ninevie his cussin ; — And when he sent them
forth he gave them a Charge in this manner, That they should be true
one to another ; and that they should live truely together ; and that they
should serue their lord truely for their pay, so that Master may have
worshipe and all that belong to him. And other moe Charges he gave
them ; — and this was the first time that euer any Masson had any Charge
of his Craft.
" Moreouer, when ABRAHAM and Sarah his wife went into Egypt and
there taught the Sevin Sciences to the Egyptians, he had a scholler that
heght EUCLIDE,* and he learned right weel, and was a Master of the
Sevin Sciences. And in his dayes it befell that the Lords and the Estats
of the realme had so many sonnes that they had gotten, some by their wifes
and some by other ladyes of the realme, for that land is a hole land and
plenteous of generation. And they had no competent livelyhood to find
their children, wherefore they took much care. And then the king of the
* The Atcheson Haven copy perpetuates the same chronological blunder that makes Abraham
and Euclid contemporaries ; and both MSB. are equally explicit on the incontinency of the
Egyptian lords— a point which is omitted in some versions. In both documents Aymon, son of
the Tyrean monarch, is made to take the place which in other versions is assigned to Hiram
Abiff, so that the east and west country brethren must have acquired through another channel any
information they may have possessed in regard to the " Widow's Son" as a leading character in
the Masonic legend.
THE EDINBURGH-KILWINNING MS. CHARGES. Ill
land made a Great Councill and a Parliament, viz., how they might finde
their children honestly as gentlemen : and they could finde no manner of
good way ; and then did they proclaime through all the realme that if
there were any man that could informe them that he should come unto
them, and he should be so rewarded for his travell that he should hold
him weell pleased. After that this cry was made then came this worthy
Gierke Euclide and said to the King and to all his great Lords, if yow
will take me' your children to governe I will teach them one of the Seven
Sciences wherewith they may live honestly as gentlemen should, under a
condition that you will grant me them that I rnay have power to ruUe
them after the manner that the Science ought to be rulled. And that
the King and all liis Councill granted annone and sealled the commis-
sion ; — and then this worthy Gierke tooke to himselfe these Lords' sonnes
and taught them the Science of Geometric in praticke, for to worke in
stone of all manner of worthy works that belongeth to churche.s, temples,
castles, towers, and mannors, and all the other manner building ; and he
gave them a Charge in this manner : — To the ffellowshipe qrof they are
admited. The first is that they should be true to the King and to the lord
that they serve ; and that they should live weell together, and be true to
each other ; and that they should call each other his Fellow or else his
Brother, and not his servant nor his knave nor none other foull name ; and
that they should truly deserve their pay of the lord or the master of the
worke that they serve ; and that they should ordain the wisest of them to
be master of the worke, and neither for love nor linage, riches nor favour,
to get another that hath little cunning to be master of the lord's work,
whereby the lord should be evil served and they ashamed ; and also that
they should call the governor of the worke Master in the time that they
worke with him ;— and other many moe Charges that are too long to tell.
And to all these Charges he made them swear a great oath that men used
in that time, and ordained for them reasonable pay whereby they might
live honestlie; and also that they should come and assemble together
every year once, how they might worke best to serve their lord for his
profit and to their own worshipe, and to correct within themselves him
that had trespassed against the Craft. And thus was the Craft governed
there ; and that worthie Clarke Euclide gave it the name of Geometric ;
and now it is called through all this land Maissonrie.
" Sithen long after when the Children of Israel were come into the Land
of Behest, that is now called amongst us the Countrey of Jerusalem, King
David began the Temple that is called Templum Domini, and is named
with us the Temple of Jerusalem. And this same King David loved weel
Massons, and cherished them much and gave them good pay ; and he
112 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
gave the Charges and the Manners as he had learned, in Egypt given by
Euclide, and other Charges moe, which ye shall hear hereafterward. And
after the deceass of King David, SOLOMON, that was King David's son,
performed out the Temple which his father had begun. And he sent for
Massons into diverss countreyes and lands and gathered them together,
so that he had fourscore thousand workmen that were workers of stones,
and were all named Massons ; and he chose of them three thousand that
were ordained to be Masters and Governours of his worke.
" And furthermore, there was a King of another region that men called
Iram, and he loved weel King Soloinon, and he gave him timber to his
worke. And he had a son what heght Aynon, and he was a Master of
Geometrie ; and he was Chiefe Master of all his Massons, and was Master
of his Graveing and Carveing, and all other manner of Massonrie that
belongeth to the Temple. And this is witnessed in the Bible in the
fourth of Kings and third chapter. And this same Solomon confirmed
both Charges and Manners that his father had given to Massons ; and
thus was that Craft of Massonrie confirmed in the Country of Jerusalem
and many other Kingdoms.
" Curious craftsmen walked about full wyde in diverss countries, some to
learn more craft and cunning, and some to teach them that had but litle
cunning; and so it befell that there was a curious Masson that heght
Grecus that had been at the working of Solomon's Temple ; and he
came into France, and there he taught the science of Massonrie to men of
France. And there was one of the Royal line of France that heght
Charles Martle,* and he was a man that loved weell such a Craft, and
drew to this Grecus and learned of him the Craft, and tooke upon him the
Charges and the Manners ; and afterwards by the grace of God he was
elect to be King of France. And when he was in his estate he took Mas-
sons and did help to make men Massons that were none, and set them a
worke, and gave them Statutes and Lawes, as also ordaind them com-
petent wages, how they might live as gentlemen and not be burdensome
to their friends, as he had learnd of other Massons, and confirmed them
a Charter, from year to year, to hold their Assemblie where they would,
and cherished them right much ; and thus came the Craft into France.
" England in all this season was voyd of any Charge of Massonrie untill
Sainct Alban's time ; and in his dayes the King of England that was
a paginne did wall the town about that was called St. Albans, and St.
* The Scriptures can no longer be regarded as containing the record of the "oldest man."
Methuselah must have been a mere child compared with this Grecus, who it appears took part in
the building of Solomon's Temple, and lived to teach Masonry to Charles Martel, a King of
France who flourished in the eighth century of the Christian era !
EDINBURGH KILWINNING MS. I13
Albans was a worthy knight and stelwart to the King, and had the
government of the realme and also town walls, and loved Massons weell,
and cherished them much, and made their pay right good standingby as
the realme did, for he gave them iis. a weeke and 3d. to their cheer — for
befor that time through all the land a Masson had but a peny a day
and his meat until St. Albon ammended it ; and he gave them a Char-
ter of the King a-nd Council for to enact lawes and punish transgressours,
as they had recaved them from their predecessors, and gave it the name
of ane Assembly, and was thereat himselfe ; and he helped for to make
Massons, and gave them Charges, as ye shall hear afterwards right soone.
"After the death of St. Alban there came into England of divers s
nations, so that the good rule of Massonrie was destroyed untill the time
of King Athelstoune that was a worthy King of England, and brought
all the land into rest and peace, and builded many great works of ab-
bacyes and other building ; and he loved weel Massons, and had a son
that heght EDWIN, and loved Massons much more than his father did,
and he was a great practiser of Geometric ; and he drew him much to
commune and talk with Massons to learn of them the Craft, and after-
wards for love that he had to Massons and to the Craft he was made a
Masson. And he got of the King his father a Charter of Commission to
hold ane Assembly where they would within the realm once a year, and
to correct within themselves faults and trespasses that within the Craft
were done. And he held ane Assembly himselfe at YORKE ; and there
he made Massons and gave charges and taught them, and commanded
that rule to be kept for ever after, and gave them the Charter and the
Commission to keep, and made ane ordinance that it should be renewed
from King to King. And when the Assembly was gathered together he
made a cry, that all old Massons or young that had any writting or vnder-
standing of the Charges and Manners that were made before in this land
or in any other, that theiy should bring and shew them further. And when
it was proved there was founde some in France, some in Greece, some in
English, and some in other languages, and they were all to one intent, and
he made a booke thereof, how the Craft was founded, and he himselfe
bade and commanded that it should be read and told when any Masson
should be made, and for to give him his Charges. And from that day
untill this time Manners of Massons have been kept in that forme as weell as
men might govern it. Furtharmore, at diverss Assembleys certain Charges
have been made and ordained by the best advice of Masters and Fellowes.
" Tunc unus ex senioribus tenet librum, et ille vel illi opponunt manus
sup. librum, et tunc precepta debent legi.*
* Then one fiom the elders holds the booli, and this one or they place hands upon the book,
H
114 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
" Every man that is a Masson take right good heed to those Charges,
and if any finde himselfe guiltie in any of these Charges, that he amend
himselfe against God; and especiallie yee that are to be charged, take
good heed that yee may keep these Charges right weell : for it is a great
perill a man to forswear himselfe upon a booke. The first Charge is, that
yee shall be true men to God and Holy Church ; and that yee use no
error nor heresie by your understanding or discretion, be. yee discret men,
or wise men, in each thing. And also, that yee should be leidgemen to
the King of England, without treason or any other falshoode ; and that
yee know not treason or treacherie ; but you amend it if you may ; or
also warne the King or his Council thereof. ^ And also, you shall be true,
each one to other : that is to say, to euery Masson of the Craft of Mas-
sonrie that be Massons allowed, ye shall doe unto them as you would that
they should doe unto you. And also, that you keep all the councells of
your Fellowes truely, be it in Lodge or in Chamber, and all other coun-
cells that ought to be keept by the way of Brotherhoode.. And also, that
no Masson shall be a thiefe or manslayer, so far forth as he may witt or
know. And also that you shall be true each unto other, and to the Lord
or Master that yee serue ; and truely to see too his profits and his advan-
tage. And also, yow shall call Massons your Fellowes and Brethren, and
no other fouU names. And also, you shall not take your Fellowe's wife
in vilanye, nor desire ungodly his daughter, nor his servant, nor put him
to no disworship. And also, that yee pay truely for your meat and drink
there where yow goe to board, whereby the Craft might not be slandred.
These be the Charges in generall that belongeth to euery Masson to keep,
both Masters and Fellowes.
" Rehearse I will other Charges in singular for Masters and Fellowes.
" First, that no Master or Fellow shall take upon him any Lord's worke,
nor any other man's work, unless he know himselfe able and sufficient
of cunning to perform the same, so that the Craft haue no slaunder or
disworshipe thereby ; that the Lord may be weell and truly serued. Also,
that no Master take no worke, but that he take it reasonablie, so that the
Lord may be weell served with his owne goods, and the Master to live
honestlie, and to pay his Fellowes their pay, as the manner is. Also, that
no Master nor Fellowes shall not suplant any of their worke : that is to
say, if he has taken a worke in hand, or else stand Master of the Lord's
work, he shall not put him out, except he be unable of cunning to end
and then the rules should be read. This passage is differently given inihe Atcheson Haven MS :
" Vnus ex suis membris teneat librum, et ille vel illi ponant manum super librum et jurent vno
pr^cepto and oath. Let one of there number hold the book, and let one or more lay his hand on
the book and swear by one comand & oath. '
yto
m
(f) • n ^ U^
a ^.
Lithographed for Murray Lyon's History of Freemasonry
■ B.Khi^ IJth. Eiir'
EDINBURGH KILWINNING MS. US
the worke. And also, that no Master or Fellow take no prentice but for
the term of sevin years. And that the prentice be able of birth: that
is to say, free-born, and whose limb as a man ought to. be. And also,
that no Master or Fellowes take no allowance from one to be made
Masson, without the Assembly and Council of his Fellowes, and that he
take him for no less time then sevin years ; and that he which shall be
made a Masson be able in all manner of degrees : that is to say, free-
born, come of good kindred, true, and no bond man. And also, that he
have his right limbs, as a man ought to have.
" Also, that no Masson take any prentice unless he have sufficient occu-
pation for to set him on, or to set three of his Fellowes, or two at the least,
on worke. And also that no Master or Fellowe shall take no man's worke
to taske that was wont to goe to journey. Also, that euery Master shall
giue pay to his Fellow but as they deserve, so that he be not deceived
with false workmen. Also, that no Masson slaunder any other behind his
backe, to make him lose his good name or his worldly goods. Also, that
no Fellow within the Lodge or without misanswer another ungodly or
reproachfuUie, without some reasonable cause. Also, that every Masson
shall reverence his elder, and put him to worshipe. And also that no
Masson shall be common players at hazard or at dyce, nor at any other
unlawful playes, whereby the Craft might be slaundered. And also, that
no Masson shall vse no lecherie or be baud, whereby the Craft might be
slaundered. And also, that no Fellow goe into the town in night times
without two or three witnesses with him, lest the trade be charged of vil-
lanie by him, to the grief of his Fellows, without that he haue a Fellow
with him, that may bear him witness that he was in honest places.
" Also, that euery Master and Fellow shall come to the Assembly, if
that it be within fiftie* miles about him, if he haue any warning. And if
he haue trespassed against the Craft, then to abyde the award of the
Masters and Fellowes. Also, that euery Master and Fellow that have
trespassed against the Craft shall stand to the award of the Mastersand
Fellows, to make them accorded if they can ; and, if they may not accord
them, then to goe to the common law as usuallie is. Also, that no Master
or Fellow make no mould, nor square, nor rule to no layer, nor set no
layer within the Lodge nor without to hew no mould stons. And also,
that euery Masson receive and cherish strange Fellows when they come
over the countreys, and set them a worke, if they will, as the manner is :
that is to say, if they have mould stons in his place, or else he shall refresh
him with money into the next lodging. Also, that euery Masson shall
truely serue the Lord for his pay, and euery Master truly to make ane
* " Seven miles" in the Musselburgh copy, and " ten" in other versions.
Il6 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
end of his worke, be it taske or journey, if he haue his demands and all
that he ought to haue.
" These Charges that wee have now rehearsed unto yow, and all- others
that belongeth to Massons, yow shall keep; so help you God and your
Halydoome."
The following is a transcript of the History and Charges of Masonry,
to which we have referred as being engrossed in the old minute-book of
the Lodge Atcheson Haven in 1666 : —
" Ane Narratione of the finding out of the craft oj Masonrie, and by whom it
heth been cherished.
" O Lord God, the father of heaven, with the power of his glorious Sone and the
holy Ghost, qch is three persones in one godheid, Be with ws at our beginning, and give
ws grace so to govern ws iii our living, that wee may win to the blisse that never sail
have ane ending. Amen : so be it.
" Good brethren and fellowes, my purpose is to tell yow in what sort and maner this
worthie craft of Masonrie was first founded, and afterward how it was mentained and
wphalden by worthie kings and princes and many other worshipful! men. And also to
them that are here wee will declare then the charges that belongs to everie true Mason
to keip, for it is ane worthie craft & a verteous science, it being one of the seven liberal!
sciences, and these be the names of them :
" The first is Grammar, qch teacheth a man to speak truly and wryte truly. The
second is Rethorick, qch teacheth a man to styll tearmes. The thrid is Dialectria, qch
teacheth a man to discern and know truth from falsehood. The fourth is Arithmelick,
that teacheth to reckon and count al! maner of numbers. The fyft is Geometrie, and it
teacheth the mett and measure of the earth ; of qch is Masonrie. The sixt science is
Musick, qch teacheth to sing, and the voyce of the- tongue, organ, and harp. The
seventh is Astronomic, qch teacheth the course of the sun, moon, and Starrs.
" These be the seven liberal! sciences, the qch be founded by ane science qch is called
Geometric. Thus may yow prove that al! the sciences in the world wer grounded on
this science of Geometrie, for it teacheth mett and measure, ponderation and weight in
all maner of kynd on earth, and there is no man that worketh any craft but worketh it
by measure, nor is there any man that buyes or selles but vseth measure or weight, all
qch belonges to Geometrie, and by this craftsmen and merchant doe find al! other of
the seven sciences, and especially the plowmen and tillers of all maner of grains, both
corn seeds, vynes, plants, & sett[er]s of other fruits cannot plow, till, plant, sett, or sow
without Geometrie, for Astronomic and all the rest of the liberal! sciences cannot find a
man out measure or mett without Geometrie. Therefore that science may be called
most worthie of all sciences which can find both mett and measure to al! the rest.
" If yow ask how this worthie science was begun I sal! tel! yow. Before the flood of
Noah yr was a man called Lamech. Lamech killed his great grandfather with ane
arrow as the Scripture testifieth in the fourth chapter of Genesis. And this Lamech
had two wyfes, the name of the one Adah & the name of the other Zillah. By his first
wyfe Adah he begat. two sones, the name of first was Jaball, and the name of the other
/uball. And by the other wyfe Zillah he had a son called Tubal! & a daughter named
Naamah. And these four children found the beginning of all crafts in ye world. This
eldest sone Jaball found the craft of Geometrie, and departed wt flocks of sheep, and in
FAC-8IMILE OF A PORTION OF THE ATCHE80N HAVEN M.S. CHARGES, 1666.
l~^ S- ^T-v-^g v^ 'V1r> ^x^rM^-g^ ^H»-^S-^ -«r-y?or»^
i*-«^ *./f— UtWJ J^-&^r^^^3r(i3^r-^^9~t*^ ^-'T'^-^-^J^ f-tr —
Lithographed for Murray Lvon's History of Freemasonry
A-Rliclno Lift Efttrf
ATCHESON HAVEN MS. II7
tlie fields he first wrought a house of stone & timber. Cain builded a citie before Jaball
was born, as witnesseth the chapter above said. And his brother Juball found the craft
or arte of Musick. The third brother Tuball found out the craft of the Smith to work
on gold, silver, copper, jron, & steell. And the sister Naamah found the craft of Weav-
ing. And these children knew that god wold take vengeance for sin either by fyre or
by water, Wherfore they did wryte their Sciences qch they had found wpon two pillars
of stone, that they might be found efter god had taken veangeance. And the one stone
was Marble that would not burn with fyre. And the other ston was Lettresse that wold
not drown jn water.
" Now here reqrs to tell yow how these two stons were found that the crafts were
written on, efter the destructione of the world by Noahs flood.
" The great Hermarines that was Casses his sone that was the sone of Shem the sone
of Noah. That sone Hermarines efterward called Hermes the father of the wiseman,
he found out the two pillars of stone, and found the science therone written, and taught
them to all other men.
" And at the building of the tower of Babilon the king who height Nimrod was ane
mason himself and loved well the craft, as witnesseth the Misterie of Stories. And
when the citie Niniveh and other cities of East Asia sould be built this Nimrod king of
Babilon sent thither thrie scoir masones at the desyre of the king of Niniveh his cosen.
And when they went forth he gave them a chairge on this maner, that they sould be
trew each on of them to other, and that they sould live truly together, by that they might
have worship from his cousen the king of Niniveh. And further he gave two charges
as concerning their science. And the first was that everie Master Masone sould have
charge of his work & craft : Moreover when Abraham & Sarah his wife went into
Egypt they wer taught and had a worthie scholler whose name was Euclide who learned
very well and became master of the seven liberall sciences : And it befell jn his dayes
that the Lords & great Estates of these quarters & dominions had so many sones,
some by their wyfes & some by other women (for these quarters be very hott of nature
& generatione), and they had not competentcie of Lands & yeards to find there chil-
dren ; for qch they made much care.
" And the King of the Land considering there povertie called a counsell together &
caused a parliament to be halden. The greatest of his intent was to Know how their
children sould be mentained. And they could find no way wnles it wer by good science
or cunning ; wherewpun he let mak a proclamation thrugh his realm that if any man
could inform them in good art or cunning he sould come wnto them and sould be well
contented for his paines. Efter this proclamation was made this worthie Euclide came
& said to the King & Lords, If yow will jntrust yowr children to my government I sail
teach them ye seven sciences whereby they may live honestly and lyk gentlemen.
Wpon this condition that yow will grant me a commissione to have power and rule over
them according as the science ought to be ruled. And wpon this covenant I will take
charge over them. The King & his Counsell granted the same and sealed their con-
ditione : And this worthie Doctor took to him these Lords sones and did teach them
the science of Geometrie jn practise to work jn all maner of worthie works that sould
belong to building of castles, mannours, churches, & all other maner of buildings.
And he gave them their charge, first that they sould be trew to the King & Lords or
maisters that they served and sould love everie ane ane other and be true on to other
and sould call each or other fellow & not servant or knave or such lyk baise name, and
sould truly serve for their wages of their masters that they serve, and that they sould ordain
the wysest of them to be masters of the. Lords & Masters work, and that neather Lord
Il8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
or any great man or of great living or riches sould make or ordain any such a man to
bear rule qch heth but small cunning whereby the owner of the wark sould be evill
served and themselfs ashamed of their workmanship, and to call the governar of the
work maister whill they work with him, And many other charges which is to long to
tell. Arid to all the charges he made them sweare the great oath that men used at that
tyme, and ordaind them reasonaible wages that there wpon they might live honestlie,
and also that they sould meit & assemble together once jn ane year that they might tak
counsell in the craft how they might best work to serve the Lord & Master whom they
serve for his profeit & their own honestie, and correct themselfs if they had trespassed.
And this was the craft of Geometrie which now is called Masonrie.
" Sithence when the children of Israel were comeing into the land of promises that
is now called Emones in the countrey of Jerusalem King David began the temple, that
is Templum Dominj, & is named the temple of Jerusalem. King David loved masones
& cherished them and gave them good payment and gave charges jn maner as they had
jn Egypt given by Euclide, and other charges more that yow sail efterward heare.
And efter the death of King David, Solomon his sone finished the forsd temple that his
father had begun, and he sent for Masons from divers lands & countreys and gathered
them together, so that he had twentie four thowsand Masons, and made four thowsand
of them Maisters & Governours of his work.
" And there was another King jn ane other land called Hiram. And he loved King
Solomon and gave him timber for his work. And he had a sone called Aymon, and he
was maister of Geometrie, and he was the cheif Maister of all his Masones & governor
of all the graving & carving work and of all maner of masonrie that belonged to the
Temple. All this witnesseth the first book of the Kings and fyfth chapter.
" And this Solomon confirmed both charges & maners that his father had given to
Masones, and this was this worthie craft of Masonrie confirmed jn the Countrey of
Jerusalem and many other glorious kingdomes, by famous Craftsmen walking about full
wyde in diverse countreys, some becaus of learning more craft and som to teach others.
And so there was a curiouse mason, Mamon Greives, that was at the working of Solo-
mons temple that came into France, and so there was ane of the Kings Linage of France
Hight hight Carolus Martill and was ane man that loved well such a craft, and joyned
to this Mamon Greaves and learned of him the craft and took wpon him the charges,
and efterward by the grace of god was made King of France. And when he was jn
that estate he took many masones and gave them charges and maners & good payment
for their work as he had learned of other Masones, and confirmed them ane Charter
year to year to hold their assemblie, & cherished them much. And so cam the craft of
Masonrie into France. And Ingland stood at that tyme voyde of any charge of Masonrie
wntill the tyme of St Albon. And at this tym the King of England walled the town
that is now called St Albons. And St Albon was ane worthie knight and was cheif
Stewart to the King and had the governance of the wholle realm, and also of making of
towns & walls. And he loved well masones and cherished them very much, paying
them their wages right well as the realm stood at that tyme, for they gave them but
thrie shillings a week and found themselfs. And before that tyme ane Masone had six
pence a day and meit & drink, untill St Albon amended it and gave them ane Charter
of the King & his Counsell to hold ane generall counsel!, and gave it the name of ane
Assemblie, where he mett himself. And he made masones and gave them charges, as
yow sail hear right soon.
" Efter the death of St Albon there cam diverse men of warre within the realm of
England of diverse nationes, so that the rule of good Masonry was much abused wntill
ATCHESON HAVEN MS. "9
the tyme of King Athelstone, that was a worthie King jn England. And he brought •
the land to good rest and builded many great buildings. And he loved much more
masones then his father did, for he was a practiser himself of Geometrie, wherfor he
drew himself to comune with Masones to learn of them craft, and.efterward for the love
he had to Masones and craft was made a mason himself, and he gate of his father the
king a Charter with a Commission to hold everie year ane assemblie where it pleased
themselves within the realm & to Correct within therselfs faults & trepasses that wer
done within the craft And he himself held ane assemblie at York, and there he made
Masones and comanded that rule to be kept ever efter, and gave the Chartour & Comis-
sion to keep and made ordinances that it sould be ruled from King to King : where this
assemblie was gathered togeether he made ane cry that all old masones & young that had
ony writing or understanding of the charges that were before jn his land or jn any other
they sould shew them furth. And there was found some jn Frensche, some jn English,
some jn Latine & some in other languages, and the meaning of all was found to be all
one ; and he caused a book to be made thereof and how the craft was found, and
comanded that it sould be read & told when any Mason was made and to give him his
charge. And from that day to this day Masonrie heth been preserved and keeped, and
efter that from tyme to tyme jt was as well as men could govern it. And further more at
diverse tymes and assemblies there heth been put to and added certaine charges more
by the best advysed of Masters and fellows.
" Vnus ex suis membris teneat librum, et ille veil illi ponant manum super librum et
jurent vno ' prascepto & oath. Let one of there number hold the book, and let one or
more lay his hand on the book and swear by one comand & oath.
" Everie mason take held right wyslie to these charges. If that yow find yowrselves
guilty of these against God that yow may amend them, and principallie they that ar
charged must tak good held that yow may keep these charges, for it is great perill to
forsweare yowrselfs wpOn ane book.
" JO- The first charge is that yow sail be ane true map to god and the holy church,
and that yow vse no heresie nor error to yowr understanding, or discredit mans teach-
ing. 2°- That yow sail be true to the king without treason or falshood, and that yow
sould know no treason or falshood but jn tyme amend it or els wairn the king or his
counsell. 30' And also yow sail be true each ane to ane other, that is to say to everie
maister and fellow of the craft of Masonrie that be Masones allowed, and doe yee to
them as yow wold have them doe to yow. 4°- And that everie Masone keep truly coun-
sell of Lodge & craft & other counsells that ought to be kept by way of Masonrie. 50-
And also that na Masone be ane theif nor accessorie to ane theif as far as he sail know.
6"- And that yow sail be true men to the Lord and Maisters that yow serve and truly
sie to their profeit and advantage. 7°- And also that yow sail call Masones yowr fel-
lows or brethren and not any other foule name, and sail not tak yowr fellows wyfe
villainouslie, nor desyre his daughter ungodlily, nor his servant in villanie. 8°- And
also that yow pay dewlie & trulie for yowr table for meit & drink when yow goe to table.
90- And also that yow doe no villanie jn the house where yow have yowr table & dyett
wherby the craft may be slandred. These be the charges jn generall for baith Maisters
& Fellows to hold.
" These be the charges singularlie and particularlie for Maisters & Fellows : i"- That
no mason sail tak wpon him any Lords work or other mans work wnles he know him-
self able g.nd cunning to perform it, so that the craft have no slander. 2°- As also that
no maister take any work but take it reasonablie, so that the Lord may be truly served
of his own good, and that the Maister may live honestlie and pay his fellows truly, as
I20 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
mailer asketh the craft. 30- And that no Maister or Fellow sail supplant ane other of his
work, that is to say if he heth taken a work of ane Lord or ane Master, and that he put
him not out wnles he be wnable jn cunning to finish that work. 4°- And also that no
Maister or Fellow take any prenteis to be allowed his prenteis any longer then seven
yeares, and that prenteis be able of birth and linage as he ought to be. 50- And also
that no Maister nor Fellow take allowance to be made Masones without the assent of
six or fyve at lest of his fellows. And they that sail be masones be frie born, not a bond-
man, but of good kinred, and have his right Lyne as a man ought to have. 6°- _And
that no maister nor fellow put no Lords work to task that was wont to goe jn journey.
7°- And that no maister sail give or pay his fellows but as he may deserve, so that he be
not deceaved by fals workmen. 8°- And that no fellow slander ane other behind his
back wherby he may lose his good name or worldly goods, g"- And that no fellow
within the Lodge or wtout the Lodge censure another ungodlily without reasonable
cause. 10. And also that every one sail reverence his fellow elder & put him at wor-
ship. II. And also that no Mason sould play at cards or dyce or any game wherby
they may be slandred. 12. And that no mason be ane comon ribald jn leacharie to
make the craft to be slandred. 13. And that no fellow sail goe in to the town jn the
night when there is a Lodge of fellows without, except some fellow bear him witness
that he was jn ane honest place. 14. And also that everie Maister and Fellow sail come
to the aSsemblie if it be within seven mylls about him if he have warneing, and so stand
the award of maisters and fellows. 15. And also that everie Maister & Fellow if he
have trespassed sail stand at the award of masters & fellows ta make them accord if
they may, and if they may not accord them then to go to the common law. 16. And
also that no Masons sail mak moulds or square or rule to any Layer within the Lodge
or wtout, nor make moulds to mould there own stons of his own making. 17. And also
that every Mason sail receave & cherish ane stranger masone when they come to the
countrey. And sail sett them to work as the maner is, that is to say if he have ony
mould stones jn piece he sail sett hini a fortnight at the lest in work and give him his
pay. And if he have no mould stone for him he sail refresh him with moneys to the
next Lodge. 18. And also everie mason sail serve yowr Lord truly for his pay and truly
finish his work, be it task or journey, if yow may have yowr pay as yow ought to have.
" These are the charges that yow have receaved & all others that belong to Masones
jn this book yow sail truly keep. So help yow God and holy Dome to yowr power.
Amen. So be it.
" Insert by me undersuband the 19th of May 1666, Jo. Auchinleck, clerk to the
Masones of Achisones Lodge."
Interest in the legendary history of Operative Masonry was excited in
1 86 1 by the publication by Bro. Matthevir Cooke of a fac-simile of the MS.
' History and Articles of Masonry' (a.D. 1490), preserved in the British
Museum. This interest was subsequently revived by the reproduction by
Bro. William James Hughan of the Cole edition of the ' Constitutions of
the Freemasons,' with an admirable epitome, chronologically arranged, of
the MS. Constitutions. In his recent exhumation of unpublished records of
the Craft,* the same eminent Masonic authority has fallen upon a copy of
* ' Masonic Sketches and Reprints, i. History of Freemasonry in York. 2. Unpublished
Records of the Craft. By William James Hughan, P.M., No. 131, Truro, &c. With Valuable
WOMEN ADMITTED INTO MASON GUILDS. 121
the MS. Constitutions that had been preserved by the York Lodge, bear-
ing date 1693, and possessing pecuharities the chief of which he thus de-
scribes and dilates upon : " . . . Before the Special Charges are delivered,
' The one of the elders takeing the Booke, and that he or shee that is to bee
made a Mason shall lay their hands thereon, and the Charge shall be given.
This reference is unquestionably to a female being admitted, and has
caused no little surprise in some quarters : we do not, however, see any-
thing to excite astonishment, because, as we have before stated, this
Manuscript must not be judged simply by the date when the copy was
written. It is likely enough a transcript of a much older document, and
in former times the Guilds, from which the Crafts evidently sprung, ad-
mitted both sexes. . . . We are not prepared to advocate the opinion that
the women, as with the men, were admitted into the Mysteries of Masonry.
. . . There is [in the MS. in question] more than one reference to the
' Dame,' as well as the Master, especially in the ' Apprentice Charge,' the
like of which we have not read before, and is a strong support of our views
that women really did at times employ Masons as the Masters did. We
believe then, under certain conditions, in early times, women were admit-
ted into the Masons' Guilds as well as into others, and were generally the
' wives or daughters of Gild Brothers,' who did not, however, take part in
its administrations or councils. Bearing this in mind, the clause in the
MS. of York, 1693, is fully explained, and is at once an evidence of its
antiquity, as the custom to admit women into the Guilds appears gradually
to have been discontinued as years rolled on. It is the only Masonic MS.
we know of that mentions such a clause for women."
In other than Brother Hughan's hands the appearance in the Manu-
script of the noun " shee " might have been held as evidence that in the
olden time it had been a custom of the Masonic Fraternity to initiate
females. But the grounds are here too slender upon which to build such
a theory, and Brother Hughan, it will be seen, does not adopt it. The
introduction of "shee" into this particular copy of the Constitutions
appears to us to have been either through an error in the transcription of
the pronoun " they," or from a desire to make the directions anent the
manner in which the charges were to be given and the oath administered
harmonise with what we conceive to be an interpolation of the word
" dame " in conjunction with that of master. Taken in connection with
Appendices, containing MSS. from the British Museum, &c., -never before pubHshed. New York :
Masonic Publishing Company, 626 Broadway. 1871.' An English edition of the same work had
been published in 1870 by George Kenning, Little Britain, London. ' The Old Charges of British
Free Masons.' By William James Hughan. London : Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1872.
122 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the context, the substitution of the article " the " for the adverb " then," is
unquestionably the fault of the copyist. We are of opinion that the intro-
duction of "shee" proceeded from the same cause ; for even had "dame"
been in the original, there would have been no necessity for converting
they into she in the sentence referred to, seeing that the injunction given
to apprentices as to their duty to the " dames " in whose employment they
might be, in no way implies that it was the practice for these dames them-
selves to be initiated. The variations of expression and orthography that
are to be found in existing copies of the ancient Constitutions, are due in
great measure to the mistranscription, ignorance, or whim of copyists.
The reference that is made in certain clauses of the Manuscript of 1693
to an entered apprentice's obligation to protect the interests of his " master
or dame," i.e. mistress, clearly indicates that at that time it was lawful for-
females in the capacity of employers to execute mason-work. A similar
custom obtained in Scotland, where widows, and, failing sons, daughters of
freemen masons, were, under restrictions which varied in different locali-
ties, allowed to exercise the privileges of burgesses in the execution of
mason-work. In ratifying their ancient statutes in 1660, the Ayr Square-
men Incorporation, whose deacon had been a party to the St Clair Charter
of 1628, " enacted that every freman's doghter shall pay in all tyme come-
ing to the deacone and this tred for hir fredome the soume of aught pound
scotts with ane sufficient dinner, and this ordinance to stand in force in all
tyme to come. The stranger quho maries hir to have the benefit of this
allenerly." In the case of female members of Scottish Incorporations the
" freedom of craft " carried with it no right to a voice in the administra-
tion of affairs. Neither was their presence required at enrolment, although
their entry-rnoney was double that of members' sons.
The records of Mary's Chapel, so far as we are aware, afford the only
instance of a Scotch Lodge acknowledging the lawfulness of a female
occupying the position of " dame " or mistress, in a Masonic sense ; and
from the following minute of the Lodge of Edinburgh it will be observed
that it was only to a very limited extent that the widows of master
masons could do so : — " Edr., 17 of Apryle, 1683. The whilk day, in pre-
sence of Thomas Hamiltone deakone and John Harrvy warden, and
remanant masters of the masone craft, in corroboratione of the former
practise quhich was of use and wont amongst them, it is statute and
ordained that it shall be in no tyme or in no wayes leithsome for a widow
to undertake workes or to imploy jurneymen in any maner or way, but if
such work as ancient customers of the deceased husbands or any other
ouner who may out of kyndnesse offer the benefite of their work to the sd
widoes be ofered unto them, then and that caice it shall be leithsome to
WIDOWS OF MASTER MASONS. 123
them to have the benefite of the work providing alwayes that they be-
speake some freeman by whose advyse and concurrance the worke shall
be undertaken and the jurneymen agreed with, quhich freeman is hereby
charged to be altogether inhibited to participate of the benefite arriessihg
from the sd work, under the paine of doubling the soume reaped and
arriessing to them by the sd work unjustly and to the prejudice of the sd
widoues and contrare to the intent of the masters mette for this tyme ;
and lykeways to underly the censure of the deakon and masters in all
tyme coming, if they shall think it expedient to punish them for their
malversatione and circumventione of the sd widoues. Written and sub-
scrived by order and with consent of the deakon, warden, and masters, by
Ar. Smith, Clerk."
*^^^pC^O<^
(hi/iM^
CHAPTER XV.
P till the year of the Revolution in favour of William, Prince of
Orange, the Lodge of Edinburgh seems to have been in un-
disturbed possession of the metropolis and its seaport as the
field of its labours, and, as its minutes show, it had also been
in the custom of extending its operations to the Canongate. In 1677, as
we have seen, a number of Masons in that burgh, ministering to the vanity
SECESSION FROM THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH. 125
of the Kilwinning Fraternity by representing themselves to be " ane part "
of their society, though in reality they had no connection with it, obtained
leave to receive members on behalf of the Lodge of Kilwinning. Though
doubtless affecting the relations that had hitherto subsisted between the
Lodge of Edinburgh and the craftsmen of Canongate and North Leith,
the repudiation of Mary's Chapel by the promoters of this upstart branch
of its western rival was not regarded as of such importance as to merit any
special notice. As far as the minutes of its proceedings indicate, all
seemed to have gone well with the Lodge till 1688 ; but on St John's-day
of that memorable year it was formally announced that its territory had
been invaded and its authority disowned by the act of a number of its
members, master masons in Leith and Canongate, who with their adher-
ents had formed themselves into an independent Lodge. No record has
been preserved of the immediate cause of this rupture. Judging from the
Lodge's antecedents there can be little doubt that the secessionists had
grounds for complaint ; but the probability is that the success which had
attended the introduction of a branch-lodge into the Canongate would
contribute to make the craftsmen of that and the neighbouring burgh
dissatisfied with their position in the Lodge of Edinburgh, more exacting
in their demands, and less inclined for concession than they would have
been had not the monopoly of making masons by the metropolitan Lodge
been broken.
The secession which resulted in the erection of the first-established
independent suburban rival to the Lodge of Edinburgh is thus referred to
in these minutes : — " Edr., 27 off Desambar, 1688. Which day the dickin
and mastares hauing considered the conteinshous deserting and schisem
rased by Alexr. Barr aldar, Georg Rankin, Daued Aleson, James Walkar,
John Broke, masones in Lithe; John Hutcheson, Robart Thomson, James
Bigar, Alex. Barr youngar, masones in the Chanongate and North Lithe,
with thar adheranse, who, contrare to all coustam, lawe, and rason, and
contrere to the masone law itsalefe, having presumtuslay used the libartay
to mite amonge thamsalues and antar and pase wothin our presink, and
hauing eraked a loge amonge tham salues, to the great contamp of our
societay, without any Roiall or Generall Wardones athoretay, — Tharfore
we stats and ordaine that from hanseforthe nather off the aboue parsones
or thar adhiranse, or that haue bin antared or shall antar or pase amonge
tham, be admited to work wothin our fridum as Jurneman : woth sartefi-
kashon, that if anay Master shall presum to imploie anay off thes parsones
abuewretin or thes desanding from tham untall the dickin and most part
off the masteres be satesfied tharwith, thay shall be unlawed in the sum off
tane pund Scotes besade -what punishment the hous shall be plised to
126 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
inflick by anatouar. And wharas thar is on aid ackte to be off neue
reueiued anant the Jurneman and uthares beloing[ing] to thus loge con-
trare to the masons laue haue mad thar aplekashon and complant to the
siual magestrat for what shoulde be rasting tham for redrase, wharoff it is
statatud and ordined that no Jurneman wothin this priuelig shall hiraftar
parshu no mastar before onse he wat upon the dickin and kliar accoumptes
on woth anothar, and the same ajusted be him and his mastares sail be
sofishan for both ; and if anay shall prosid in the contrare he shall be
coumpted on anemie off thes plase and debared from being imploied
wothin our priuelige. Alexr. Nisbett, Thomas Hamilton, Androw Sherer,
Ro. Myln."
In giving expression to its indignation at the conduct of the seces-
sionists, the Lodge held it to be an aggravation of their crime that they
should have formed a new Lodge without authority from the King or his
Warden-General. The obtaining of such permission being pointed to as
an understood principle of the Craft, suggests a reason why the petition
sent from the Canongate to Kilwinning in 1677 should have prayed, not
for a charter of constitution as a new Lodge, but simply for recognition
as* a branch or pendicle of the Lodge to which it was addressed ; for the
influence of the Lodge of Edinburgh was at that period sufficiently strong
to have endangered the success of any attempt to obtain the Royal sanc-
tion to a step that might be viewed as prejudicial to its interests. What-
ever might in previous times have been the law on the subject, the erection
and continuance of a Lodge by those seceding from the Lodge of Edin-
burgh in 1688 proves it to have at that time become obsolete. The una-
nimity and tenacity of purpose on the part of the seceding brethren is
shown by the circumstance of only one of their adherents having been
induced to return to the parent Lodge and subject himself to its discipline :
— "Edr., the 27th off Desambar, 1689. The which day James Thomson
upon his humball petishon represanted to the dickin and mastares that he
was sansabale off his fait in going from this Coumpany and passing him-
salefe in Chanongat loge ; the bridaring hauing exsaped off his subcraiue-
bile hes aloued his repasin upon the payment off tane pund Scotes in to
the wardin. Androw Sherer."
" Re-passing " would seem to imply a repetition of the ceremony ob-
served in advancement to the rank of fellow-craft — a further protest on
the part of Mary's Chapel against the inroad that had been made upon its
rights. Instances of brethren occupying for a second time the position of
candidate in any step of Masonry are of rare occurrence in modern Lodges.
A writer in the ' Freemasons' Magazine' some years ago gave an instance
of a brother who, from utter obliviousness of what had been communicated
THE LODGE CANONGATE AND LEITH. 127
to him at his initiation in a Scotch Lodge, was at his own request re-made
in an English Lodge; — and in December 1870 a similar occurrence took
place in Mary's Chapel, in the case of a brother who had been admitted
to the first degree in a Continental Lodge. In 1821, a brother hailing from
a neighbouring though then dormant Lodge applied for " liberty to adopt
Ayr St Paul's as his mother lodge, and receive certification accordingly."
The Lodge, though satisfied that the applicant had been regulady ad-
vanced to the third degree, was of opinion " that in order to preserve the
ancient landmarks he could only be an adopted son on condition of being
entered, passed, and raised in the usual form,'' which was accordingly done
a second time.
The following minute, while containing a judgment of Mary's Chapel
in a case of breach of the act prohibiting the employment of journeymen
belonging to the new Lodge, betrays also a disposition on the part of some
of the leading master masons of Edinburgh to modify if not to repeal the
statute to which it refers : — " Edr. the 27th off Desambar, 1690. Which
day the dickin and mastares taking to thar considarashon that Thomas
Hamalton presant dickin and Alexr. Goudelokes hes imploied sum off
the parsones in the preuelig off Lith and Chanong [ate] contrar to on
ackte. mad aganst tham as desartares, the mastares doth [with] on con-
sant, thay being but litall taim woth tham, thay fain'd Dickin Hamalton
in fouar pund Scotes, and Alex. Goudelokes in six pund Scotes."
The generation of craftsmen who had played a part in the events to
which the foregoing minutes refer had passed away, and the inauguration
of a new Masonic constitution had been decided upon, ere the Lodge
of Edinburgh and its Leith offshoot were again brought into collision.
Though the records of Mary's Chapel are silent on the subject, there can
be little doubt that its representatives in the meeting at which the Grand
Lodge of Scotland was instituted were instructed to resist the recognition
of the " Canongate and Leith, Leith and Canongate "—a. designation
which its promoters had subsequently assumed ; for upon the commis-
sioners from that Lodge presenting themselves for enrolment it was ob-
jected in name-of the Lodge of Edinburgh that the brethren in question
could not be recognised as members of Grand Lodge in respect that they
did not represent a regularly constituted Lodge. It might have been ex-
pected that the asperities which had been engendered by the disruption of
1688 would not,- after the lapse of half a century, have been revived by an
ungenerous attempt to ignore a Lodge whose claim to be recognised as a
unit in the Masonic Confederacy was at least as good as those of other
Lodges which had been accepted without challenge. To the credit of
Grand Lodge, however, the objections to the Canongate and Leith were
128 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
repelled, — and thu? the Lodge of Edinburgh had forced upon her the odd
distinction of involuntary maternity.
The following is an excerpt from the minute of Grand Lodge of date
November 30, 1736: — "Thereafter there being a proxie offered in name
of a Lodge intitled ' Leith and Canongate and Canongate and Leith,' said
to be dessended of their own accord from the Lodge of Mary's Chappell,
and regularly kept from the year 1688 and ever since, and craved that the
said lodge might be enrolled and have a vote with their other brethren
in the Grand Lodge. Against which it was objected by Thomas Miln,
present Master of the Lodge of Mary's Chapel, that he disowned their
dessending from the said lodge, and if they had formed any lodge among
themselves on such pretence the same was scismatick and unwarrantable,
and as such had no circular letter inviting them to this election, and there-
fore protested against theyr having any vote therein, and thereupon takes
instruments in the clerk's hands. To which it was answered by James
White, master of that lodge, that he offered instantly to instruct by their
books and minutes therein that they had been regularly dessended and
had separated themselves from the said Lodge of Mary's Chappell for
good reasons, and had always keept a formall lodge since the said year
1688, and offered to produce the books keept by them for instructing
thereof ; and that the neglect of inviting them to the said Grand Lodge
could not prejudice them of their jast right, and therefore protested that
they might be inroUed and have their vote in the election as other lodges
in the like cases, and thereupon also took instruments. Whereupon the
brethren of the Grand Lodge allowed them a voice in this election,
reserving the import of the objection to be discussed at any subsequent
Grand Lodge or quarterly communication." This subject is never again
referred to in Grand Lodge records. A redeeming feature in the Lodge of
Edinburgh's treatment of its eldest daughter is presented in the welcome
that the Canongate and Leith received on its visit to Mary's Chapel on
St John's eve 1740. The following paragraph appears in the minute of
that date : — " The lodge was afterwards honoured by a visit by Hugh
Hunter, present worshipfuU master of the Lodge of Canongate and Leith,
Leith and Canongate, with his wardens and severall other members of the
said lodge, who made their compliments to this lodge in acknowlegment
of their being derived from them."
Like some other of our old Scotch Lodges, the Canongate and Leith,
which is at present one of the most numerous and powerful Lodges under
the Scottish Constitution, has to regret the loss of its more ancient records.
The earliest of those now in its possession begin at the comparatively
recent date of 1830. In its charter of confirmation granted February 8,
OFFSHOOTS FROM CANONGATE AND LEITH. 129
1738, it is acknowledged "as descending from the Mason Lodge of Mary's
Chapel in Edinr.," precedency being given from 29th May 1688, "in
respect its book was produced which contains a minute of that date, and
which was openly read in presence of the Grand Lodge." It seems to
have had an ample share of the Theoretical Masons who swelled the
membership of the old Operative Lodges in the early part of the eighteenth
century: for of the 52 names on its roll at 30th November 1736, only
18 are masons. The names of one under-clerk of session, one writer to
the signet, eight writers, one minister of the gospel, one schoolmaster, one
shipmaster, and several merchants, appear in the list of its non-operative
members.
From the Canongate and Leith sprang " Vernon Kilwinning," chartered
in 1 74 1 at the instance of several writers in Edinburgh, who held a warrant
of disjunction from the parent Lodge, which also recommended the erection
of the petitioners into a new Lodge. A memorial of its consecration is
preserved in an Edinburgh edition (1765) of the ' Freemasons' Pocket
Companion,' in the form of an address in " Vindication of Masonry " by
Charles Leslie, writer, one of its original members. The designation of
this Lodge was afterwards changed to " Edinburgh St Giles." It was
dissolved in 1779 by a vote of its members, who in a body joined the
Canongate Kilwinning, and this step being approved of by Grand Lodge,
the name of St Giles's Lodge was forthwith expunged from the roll of
daughter Lodges. Another disjunction from the Canongate and Leith was
with consent of parties confirmed by the Grand Lodge in August 1751.
The new Lodge was called the " Thistle," and, as in the case of Vernon
Kilwinning, the major part of its original members was composed of
Edinburgh lawyers. Great jealousy and disputes for years existed be-
tween the Thistle and No. 5 — the former endeavouring on one occasion to
trip up the parent Lodge on a charge of taking " bills from candidates for
their fees." This system of payment by intrants, though subsequently
discountenanced by the Grand Lodge, had been practised by the Lodges
of Kilwinning, Atcheson's Haven, Haddington, Dunblane, and, there is
reason to believe, also by the Lodge of Edinburgh, a century before the
Thistle had come into existence. The Thistle, which in its_ time was a
very influential Lodge, became extinct in 1823.
CHAPTER XVI.
NOUGH has been brought out in the preceding pages to show
that up to the beginning of the eighteenth century the masters
were the dominant power in the Lodge of Edinburgh, and
that it was only on rare and special occasions that they con-
descended to admit to their counsels craftsmen below the rank of an
employer. The enactments that were at intervals between the years 1681
and 1705 directed by the Lodge against encroachments of the journey-
men, clearly indicate that the latter had begun to claim greater profes-
sional liberty than they possessed, and to seek exemption from "passing"
in the Lodge, and thereby contributing to a fund in the administration of
which they had no voice. Though there can be no doubt that all who
belonged to the Lodge were, when necessity required, participants in its
DISAFFECTION OF FELLOW-CRAFTS. 13'
benefits, the journeymen appear to haye "had the feeling that it was not
right that they should be entirely dependent even for fair treatment on
the good-will of the masters. It was not, however, till St John's-day 1708
— a month after they had agreed to " contribute and collect a small penny
for the use and behoof of their distressed poor" — that they made any
formal representation of their disabilities. They did not enter into a
general statement of these, but confined themselves to one particular sec-
tion of them ; — and in making the selection they did, they approached the
Lodge on its most vulnerable side. By the act of incorporation which
united them with the trade guild of Mary's Chapel, the mason burgesses
of Edinburgh possessed the power of regulating the practice of operative
masonry within the city, and were not likely to forego their rights in this
respect, particularly when these had been confirmed by royal letter ; , but
there was a possibility that a sense of equity might move them to concede
the point against which the journeymen's remonstrance was directed.
The following minute is explicit on the subject of complaint preferred
by the inferior fellows of the Lodge, and shows the success that attended
their demand : it is also illustrative of the caution with which the freemen
guarded themselves against the democratic element which in deference to
the petitioners they had introduced into their hitherto exclusive circle —
exclusive, in respect that journeymen fellow-crafts had no deliberative
voice there unless by sufferance : — " At Mary's Chappell, 27 Deer. 1708. —
Prayers said, rolls called. ^ — The which day Alexander Goldilock, elder,
deacon of the massons, preses for the tyme, William Smellie, warden, and
remanent bretheren massons, having considered a petition given in by
some of the fellow crafts, complaining that they had no inspection of the
warden's accompts ; for remead whereof, it is agreed upon and conde-
scended to that in all tyme coming there shall be six of the soberest and
discreetest fellow-craftsmen, whereof two entered for the freedom and four
journeymen, appointed by the deacon for inspecting and overseeing the
warden's accompts ; in persuance whereof, the deacon has nominat and
appointed William Brodie and Thomas Hamilton (who are entered for
the freedom), John Webster, Robert Cuming, Andrew Williamson, and
Michael Nasmyth (journeymen), to be inspectors and auditors for this
insuing year ; which order of naming the auditors and inspectors of the
warden's accompts is constantlie to be observed."
The peculiarity of the opening sentence in the above minute justifies a
digression. Though prayer to God and the purging by oath of the
brethren from all undue partiality in the consideration of matters coming
before them formed part of the ancient ceremony of " fencing" the Lodge
132 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
preparatory to proceeding to business * the subject of prayer is never
once alluded to in any of the seventeenth-century minutes of the Lodge of
Edinburgh ; and only in one solitary instance — that given in the minute
just quoted — do those belonging to the eighteenth century of a date prior
to the erection of Grand Lodge represent it as having engaged in that
exercise. It is, however, mentioned in so incidental a manner that the
custom may be held to have become so much a matter of course as to
render unnecessary any special record of its observance. The public
mind in Scotland at this time was so thoroughly permeated with the reli-
gious spirit fanned by the struggles of the Covenanters, that there would
be a natural disposition in all associated bodies to invoke the Divine guid-
ance on their proceedings. In offering prayer to the Deity as a prelimi-
nary to its business, the Lodge of Edinburgh not only followed an example
that had been set in the ancient Constitutions of English Masons, which,
as we have seen, open and close with prayer, but imitated its twin institu-
tion, the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel. It cannot now be known whether
prayer by the Lodge was an extempore exercise, or according to a fixed
form ; but that it was by the latter mode may be inferred from the fact
that the prayers of the Incorporation were engrossed in its books, — and it
may further be presumed that they would be very much alike if not
entirely similar. The oldest MS. prayers of Mary's Chapel Incorporation
extant bear date 1669, and are as follow : —
" A Prayer to be said at the Conveening : — O Lord, we most humblie
beseech thee to.be present with us in mercy, and to bless our meeting
and haill exercise which wee now have in hand. O Lord, enlighten our
understandings, and direct our hearts and mynds so with thy good Spirit,
that wee may frame all our purposes and conclusions to the glory of thy
name and the welfare of our Brethren ; and therefore, O Lord, let no
partiall respect, neither of ffeed nor favour, draw us out of the right way.
Bot grant that wee may ever so frame all our purposes and conclusions as
they may tend to- the glory of thy name and the welfare of our Brethren.
Grant these things, O Lord, unto us, and what else thou sees more neces-
sarie for us, and that only for the love of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, our
alone Lord and Saviour : To whom, with thee, O Father, and the blessed
Spirit of Grace, wee render all praise, honour, and glorie, for ever and
ever. Amen."
" A Prayer to be said before dismissing : — " O Lord, wee most humbly
acknowledge thy goodnesse in meeting with us together at this tyme, to
* This custom was regularly observed by the Lodge of Peebles from the date of its erection in
1716 down to the end of the century. Prayer and praise are still engaged in by the Lodge on St
John's-day.
THE THEOLOGY OF FREEMASONRY. 133
conferr upon a present condition of this world. O Lord, make us also
study heaven and heavenly myndedness, that we may get our souls for a
prey. And, Lord, be with us and accompany us the rest of this day, now
and for ever, Amen."
Although theoretically the religion of Freemasonry, Theism is not
always a characteristic feature of the devotional services of Scotch Lodges.
Speaking from personal observation of the example of the highest Masonic
authority in Scotland, and the practice of provincial Lodges, the prayers
of the Craft do not seem to be framed upon any fixed principle ; for while
at one time these are of a thoroughly Christian character, at another they
practically ignore the Cross. The position that is assigned to the Bible
in Scotch Lodges is a standing proof that the universality of faith so
ostentatiously claimed for Masonry does not exist. The clause in the
Schaw Statutes of 1599 which rendered the Kilwinning Fraternity amen-
able to the Kirk of Scotland for offences against religion and morality,
and their making the " sound divinity " of a presbyterian minister the
ground of his admission in 1766 as an honorary member, show the Masonic
Institution to have been equally Christian in its theology under an Oper-
ative constitution as whea it had become a society of Theoretical Masons.
Further confirmatory evidence of this is afforded by the bye-laws of the
Lodge of Aberdeen (1670), which enjoin the "keeping holy of the Sabbath."
The arrangement under which the Journeymen were represented at the
inspection and auditing of the Warden's accounts was scrupulously ob-
served by the Lodge of Edinburgh for three successive years, during
which time too these journeymen auditors were permitted to attest by
their signatures the minutes of its ordinary communications ; and as if
still farther to propitiate them in the matter of its charity fund, the Lodge
(August 29, 171 2) unanimously agreed to remit to the deacon, warden,
and two of the representative fellows of craft, " to call together the poor
widdows belonging to this Society, and to inspect and inquere into their
severall necessities, and to bestow such charitie upon them as they shall
think fitt and as their circumstances requers." The concessions that had
thus been made by the Lodge do not seem to have met the views of the
malcontents, who in the interval must have been guilty of some very de-
cided demonstration of their schismatic intentions, as at their St John's-
day meeting of 1712 a majority of the Lodge saw fit to revoke the con-
ciliatory measure of 1708: — "Att Maries Chappell the twenty-sevinth of
December, 17 12 years. The which day James Watson, present deacon of
the mesons, preses for the time, and remnant brethren of the mason
craft convened for the time, by plurality of voices did resind and
134 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
annul! the act of this Society dated 27th Decer. 1708, appointing six
Jurneymen fellow craft annually for auditing and inspecting the warden's
accompts, and declares the same void and null in all tyme coming, as if
the same had never been made."
In the interval of the proceedings between the taking of this retrograde
step and the election of a Warden, an incident occurred that had in all
probability been arranged in anticipation of the event which preceded it :
for no sooner had their exclusion from any further oversight of the Lodge
accounts been determined upon, than the fellow-crafts, with two excep-
tions, rose in a body and left the meeting. This contempt of constituted
authority was instantly met in the spirit of retaliation by the masters,
whose apprentices were, under threat of being for ever disowned by the
society, warned against aiding the disruptionists in Masonic initiation — an
enactment which recognises the presence of apprentices as indispensable
in making Masons: — "Att Maries Chappell the 27th December 17 12.
The which day James Watson, present deacon of the masons, preses for
the tyme, and remanent brethren of the mason craft conveened, by plur-
ality of voices continowed Henery Wilson, former warden, to continow
warden for the ensuing year, who compeared, accepted, and promised to
be faithfuU in that statione. Likeas, the heall Jurneymen, except James
Mack elder and Alex. Baxter, haveing deserted the deacon and masters
att their metting this day, William Smelley protested that hereafter none
of them shall be readmitted to this Society till such tyme as they give
satisfactione for their contempt, to which protestation severall other of the
brethren adhered ; as also, they made intimation to the whoU entered
apprentices that none of them assist any of the Jurneymen who have de-
serted this house in entering apprentices, with certification to them if they
doe in the contrare that the contraveeners shall for ever be disouned by
this Society in tyme coming."
The exodus above referred to must have been succeeded by the journey-
men constituting themselves into a separate Lodge ; for this secession from
the parent Lodge was little more than a month old when the masters were
again convened for the purpose of appointing a president of the society in
room of Deacon Watson, who it would seem had after presiding at the
election of Warden, but without waiting to sign the minute, followed the
journeymen to their rendezvous, and been elected preses of the new
society. It would doubtless be in this capacity that he was associated
with the secession in its earlier meetings, and to this circumstance may be
attributed much of the eclat that attended it. Hitherto the institution of
the Lodge Journeymen has been held to date from 1709 — it is so entered
on the Grand Lodge Roll. It possesses no minutes in the original hand-
SECOND SECESSION FROM MARYS CHAPEL. 13S
writing prior to 1740. From certain entries that are borne upon its oldest
minute-book, made doubtless from detached MSS. of the period to which
they refer, it appears that at November 1709 the journeymen had fol-
lowed up their resolution of the previous year in regard to the relief of
their poor by forming themselves into a society. That this Benefit
Society was the nucleus of the Journeymen Lodge there can be no doubt ;
but that it had not at that date assumed the form of a Masonic Lodge for
entering apprentices and passing fellow-crafts is apparent from the de-
scription of office-bearers that were appointed to direct its affairs ; viz., a
Preses and three Managers, one of the latter being an entered apprentice,
who were to be elected annually. The election of a Warden was neces-
sary to the existence of a Lodge : the Journeymen's Society of 1709 had
no such official. There being no evidence extant to show that the
journeymen had in a corporate capacity performed any of the functions
specially belonging to a Lodge till after their formal withdrawal from
Mary's Chapel on St John's-day, 17 12, we do not think any wrong would
be done to this the second direct offshot from the Lodge of Edinburgh by
fixing on the latter date as that of its institution. " Att Maries Chappell
the nynth day of Febry. 17 13. The which day the freemen master
masons undersubscribing having met and takeing to there serious con-
sideratione that James Watson, deacon of the masons of Edr., their former
preses, had at St John's-day last and ever since deserted his brethren the
freemen masons, and joyned himselfe to the Jurneymen, in conjunctione
with whom, they are informed, he hath both entered apprentices and past
fellow craft in a public change house ; — Therefor the saids masters, in
conjunction with James Mack elder, freeman mason in Portsburgh, and
Alex. Baxter, freeman mason in Canongate, who were the only two who
adhered to the masters, did unanimously elect and make choice of David
Thomson, late deacon of the masons, to presid in all their meettings anent
the mason craft in place of the said James Watson, their former preses,
who hath deserted them in maner forsaid, untill their next election, who
being present accepted of that statione, and promised to discharge the
same accordingly."
Filled with alarm at the increasing influence of the journeymen, a
special meeting of the mother Lodge was held in December 17 13 on the
subject of the secession ; and in subsequently sounding the tocsin, the
masters gave a clear indication of the policy that had been determined
upon for the suppression of its juvenile though provokingly prosperous
rival: — "Att Maries Chappell the 21st of December 1713. The which
day William Smellie, present deacon of the masons of Edr., preses, Henry
Wilson warden, and severall of the freemen master masons conveened for
136 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the tyme, taking to their serious consideratione that the jurnaymen masons
belonging to this Societie, since St John's-day last that they deserted this
house, have presumed at their own hand to enter severall apprentices and
past fellow crafts in publick change houses within this citie with [out] own-
ing or authority from the deacon, warden, or master masons, in manifest
contempt and to the great discredit of this Societie, — The deacon, warden,
and masters present doe therefore unanimously statut and ordaine that
whatever apprentice or fellow craft that have either been entered or past
at or since St John's-day last, or who ever shall be entered or past by the
saids jurneymen in tyme coming, the saids apprentices or fellow crafts so
past or entered shall in no tyme coming be imployed by any master
mason within this city, either within or without the same, untill they first
give in a suplication to^this house and give satisfaction to this society for
their contempt, under the penalty of twelve pounds .Scots money, to be
payed by the master that imployes them, toties quoties he shall happen
. to contraveen this act ; and further statuts and ordanes that no fellow craft
shall be past in this house in tyme coming except they previously apply to
the deacon, warden, and masters by a petitione for that effect."
The Lodge of Edinburgh was again convened on the 27th December
1713, but the anniversary of the journeymen's desertion brought no hope
of a reconciliation. The disadvantages to the freemen's Lodge that were
likely to arise from the bold action of the journeymen loomed largely in
the eyes of the masters, whose organised opposition to the head of the
new Lodge had at the immediately preceding election of Incorporation
officials caused his ejectment from the deaconship ; and the Lodge's
reiteration of its abhorrence of his schismatic proclivities, 'as contained in
the subjoined minute, still farther indicates the measure of blame which
his colleagues in trade attached to his having so defiantly espoused the
cause of the seceders. It was only through his " accomplices," present
and prospective, however, that the masters sought by coercive measures
to deal a death-blow to the infant Lodge : — " Att Maries Chappell the
27th of December 1713- The which day William Smelly, present deacon
of the masons of Edr., preses for the tyme, Henry Wilson warden, with
the other freemen master masons and severall other fellow crafts conveened
for the tyme, taking into their serious consideration that the most part of
the jurneyman masons, in conjunction with James Watson, late deacon of
the masons of Edr., did at St John's-day last, in open and manifest con-
tempt of this Society; not only desert this house and disown their brethren,
but also at their own hand have presumed both to enter apprentices and
pass fellow crafts in public ale houses within this city without the advice
of the deacon, warden, and master masons, — Therefor the said deacons.
DENUNCIATION OF THE SECESSIONISTS. 137
warden, and brethren forsaid herby statut and ordaine that for preventing
the like abuse in tyme coming no mason that hath any right to the free-
dom of Maries Chappell, either as freeman's son, sone in law, or apprentice
for the freedom, or hereafter who shall have right as such, that hath either
been or shall be entered prentice or fellow craft with the said James
Watson and the jurnaymen combined with him, or who hath joyned with
them at any af their meeftings, shall be herafter addmitted to the free-
dom of Maries Chappell till such tyme as they apply to the saids deacon,
warden, and their brethren, and not only give satisfaction for their con-
tempt, but also pay to the warden twenty-four pounds Scots money ; As
also, they statut and ordaine that no jurneymen whatsoever or entered
apprentice belonging to this house, and who have joyned themselves or
hereafter shall joyn themselves to the said James Watson and his accom-
plices, shall hereafter be addmitted to this Society till they give satisfac-
tion to deacon, warden, and masters, and pay twelve pounds Scots of
fyne and unlaw for their contempt."
At a subsequent meeting, in noting the progress which the secessionists
were making in the matter of entering apprentices and passing fellow-
crafts, the Lodge of Edinburgh exhibits considerable uneasiness at the
prospect of what had virtually been accomplished, viz., the setting up of a
separate Lodge within the royalty. Two years of attempted coercion, it
had to be acknowledged, had proved ineffectual either in bringing the
journeymen back to the parent Lodge, or in crippling the new society in
any of its resources : hence the necessity for the adoption of more strin-
gent measures, and with dogged determination they resolved upon prohi-
biting the employment of the non-conforming brethren, in the hope, no
doubt, that by this " lock-out " the recusants would be starved into sub-
mission : — " Att Maries Chappell the twentie second day of December,
jm.viic. and ffourteen years. The which day William Smelly, present deacon
of the masons of Edr., preses for the tyme, John Thomson, present warden,
and severall vther of the freemen masons conveened for the tym, takeing
to their serious consideration that the most part of the jurnaymen masons
within this city have presumed for some years past to conveen amongst
themselves and to enter and receave apprentices and pass ifellow crafts in
publicke ale houses, in manifest contempt of this Societie, notwithstanding
of severall acts of this Societie made to the contrary which hath hitherto
proven ineffectual!, — Therefore it is hereby statut and ordained that if any
jurnayman masons who shall presume and take upon them the representa-
tion of any separat Societie of Masons distinct from this Societie, or offer
to sett up a separat Lodge within this city, and to take upon them the
office of either deacon or warden, or who shall presume to enter apprentices
138 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
or pass ffellow crafts, then and in that case such jurnaymen takeing upon
them any such office either of deacon, warden, or intendents [instructors],
shall be discharged worke within this city or priviledges. And any mem-
ber of this Societie who shall hereafter imploy them shall ffijrfeit twenty
shillings sterling to the poor of this Society toties quoties they shall hap-
pen to contra veen this act by imploying such jurnaymen contraveeners."
Though careful to note the accession of the House of Hanover to the
British Throne, the Lodge of Edinburgh, so far from commemorating that
event by an amnesty to those whom by its despotic rule it had driven
from its courts, kept alive the embers of Masonic discord by searching for
precedents that would justify measures of a more aggressive character
even than those that had hitherto been directed against the members of
the Journeymen Lodge. It is evident that by the resuscitation and re-
adoption of the act of 1679, an attempt was made to prevent any waver-
ing freemen from swerving from their allegiance, and to punish Deacon
. Watson for his complicity with the seceding fellow-crafts, just as in the
year mentioned John Fulton, another master mason, had been excom-
municated for having made masons without authority from the Lodge. At
the same sederunt another old act was revived with the view of inducing
apprentices to pass themselves in the Lodge within two years" from the dis-
charge of their indentures,, and thereby strengthen the society both as to
funds and members: — "At Maries Chappell the 27th December 1714,
and of King Georges his reigne the first year. The which day William
Smellie, present deacon of the masons of Edr., preses for the tyme, John
Thomson, present warden, and severall of the freemen masons conveened,
did unanimously revive a former act of this Society of the date the 27 of
December 1693, quherby all entered apprentices is ordained to pay in to
the warden twelve shillings Scots yearly after the expyring of the first
two years after there being entered apprentices, for supplying poor
widdowes and orphanes, ay and whill they be addmitted and receaved ,
fellow crafts, in the same case with other jurnaymen not belonging to this
society, — which act they unamously ratifie and approve of, and appoynts
there warden to make the said exaction in all tyme coming. . . . And
further, the Society unanimously ratifie and approve of a former act of
thir Society of the date the 27 of Deer. 1679, made against John Fulton,
mason, whereby it is thereby enacted that for his contempt and abuse
therein mentioned he is thereby debarred from all benefit or converse with
his brethren, and likewayes his servants discharged to serve him in liis im-
ployment, ay and whill he give the deacon and masters satisfaction, which
was accordingly done by him, and he fyned in 40 lb. Scots, which he also
payed. And therefor they unanimously statut and ordain that whatever
APPEAL TO THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE. 139
member of this Societie shall be found guilty and convict of such practases
shall undergoe the same punishment."
The next minute introduces a new, and to the freemen of the Lodge of
Edinburgh most perplexing, phase of the subject that had for so long en-
grossed their attention and disturbed their equanimity. From the terms
of this minute we learn that a hiatus occurs in the record of what had
taken place during the previous six months in regard to the settlement of
the differences that existed between the masters and those of the journey-
men who belonged to the new Lodge : — " Att Maries Chappell the 27 day
of July 171 5 The present deacon of the masons and other brethren of
that airt haveing mett, Deacon Smelly represented to them that Robert
Winram and Williaro Brody, jurneymen masons, had charged Deacon
Brownhill * and him with horning to implement a Decret Arbitrall be-
twixt the saids jurnaymen and them, by makeing ane act and recording
the sam in the books of this Societie, allowing the Jurnaymen Masons to
meet as a Societie amongst themselves within the toun of Edr., for giving
the Mason Word and receaving dues therefor ; and to pay one hundreth
pounds of penaltie, in terms of that decreet. And the deacon desired to
know whether they would make the said act and thereby satisfie the
charge of horning, or if they would relive Deacon Brownhill and him by
concurring to suspend the said charge, the Brethren undersubscribing un-
animously resolved not to comply with the said charge, bot that they will
concurr unanimously in suspending thereof"
The inference to be drawn from this minute is that influences had been
successfully brought to bear to induce the parties to leave to arbitrars the
settlement of the differences that existed betwixt the masters and the
journeymen, and that the arbitration had resulted in a decision to which
the former declined to give effect. Additional light, however, was a few
years ago thrown on the subject by the accidental discovery by Mr David
Laing of the Signet Library of the charge of horning referred to in the
minute, which document is now preserved by the Lodge Journeymen.
* James Brovrahill, wright, was entered and passed in the Lodge of Edinburgh, as an honorary
member of course, August 9, 17U. He was the builder of James Court, a well-known pile of
building of great altitude at the head of the Earthen Mound. It was erected about 1725-27, as a
speculation, and was for some years regarded as the quartier of greatest dignity and importance in
Edinburgh. The inhabitants, who were all persons of consequence in society, kept a clerk to re-
cord their names and proceedings, and had a scavenger of their own, clubbed in many public
measures, and had balls and parties among themselves exclusively. Among the many notables
who have harboured here were David Hume, the Historian of England, and James Boswell,
already noticed, the Biographer of Dr Johnson, who lived with Boswell in his house in this Court,
and received the homage of the trembling literati of Edinburgh ; here, after handling them in a
rough manner, did he relax in play with little Miss Veronica, whom Boswell promised to consider
peculiarly in his will for showing a liking to so estimable a man.
140 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Presuming upon its position as the pendicle of a legally-constituted body-
exercising control over operative masonry within the royalty of Edinburgh,
the Freemen's Lodge seems to have followed up its arbitrary measure of
St John's-day 17 14 by the abstraction of the books of the Journeymen's
Society, and the apprehension and imprisonment of two fellow-crafts for
alleged insolence towards the deacons at whose instance the spoliation of
their property had been effected. Resenting this despotic act, and espous-
ing the cause of the fellow-crafts who had been the objects of the deacon's
fury, the Journeymen's Society brought an action in the Court of Session
for wrongous imprisonment and the illegal seizure of its books. While
the case was yet in dependence before the Lords of Council and Session,
however, the dispute was referred to arbitrators, whose appointment, ac-
ceptance, and decision are thus recorded : —
"Att Edinburgh, 29 Nov. 1714, the parties underwritten, that are to say, Robert
Winram and William Brodie, both journeymen masons, burgesses of the said burgh, on
the one part, and James Brownhill, present deacon of the wrights, and William Smellie,
present deacon of the masons of Edr., for themselves and in name and behalf and as
taking burden on them for the hail brethren of their respective Incorporations, on the
other part, have submitted and referred and hereby submitts and refers to Eobt. Inglis,
late deacon of the goldsmiths of Edinburgh, as judge arbitrator and amicable compositor
chosen for the parts of the saids Robert Winram and William Brodie, and to Alexander
Nisbet, late deacon of the incorporation of surgeons of the said burgh, as judge arbi-
trator and amicable compositor chosen for the parts of the said James Brownhill and
William Smellie, and in case of variance betwixt the said arbitrators to John Dunbar,
present deacon of the glovers of Edinburgh, and convener of the said burgh, as overs-
man, to cognosce, determine, and decide' anent the affair of wrongous imprisonment
pursued to the said Robert Winram and William Brodie before the Lords of Councill
and Session against the said James Brownhill and William Smellie, as the samen lys at
present in dependence before the saids Lords conform to a special claim to be given in by
them theranent against the said deacons, which is holden as herein repeated brevitaltis
causa, or anent any other clagg, claim, or righteous demand wherewith either parties can
charge on another any manner of way, conform to mutuall claims to be given in by
them thereanent, which are holden as herein repeated for brevities sake ; with full
power to the said judges, arbitrators, and oversman in case of variance, to nominate and
appoint their own clerk and to take oath of party upon the said mutual claims and ob-
jections made against the same as they shall think fit, and if need bes to ishow furth
precepts for summoning of the witnesses to depone upon and proving the hail points of
the said process and claims, defences, objections, and answers made by either party
thereto, and for proving the reasons contained therein as they shall find cause, with
power to them to apply to the Lords of Councill and Session by bill or otherways for
their authority adhibited for compelling the said witnesses by first or second diligence
to compear before the said arbitrators in case they do not obtemper and obey without it.
" Likeas the said judges, arbitrators, and oversman in case of variance, have accepted
and hereby accepts in and upon them the foresaid submission, and promises to give
furth and pronounce their final sentence and Decreet Arbitral thereintill, and insert the
DECREET-ARBITRAL. 14I
same in the on the back hereof betwixt and the loth day of January
next to come 1715 years, without any further prorogation ; and for that effect appoints
the first meeting of all the said parties to attend them at the house of
ori the day of next to come, to give their claims hinc inde
against others with their instructions for verifying thereof, and to produce all writs and
papers either party has against others, that the said arbitrators may consider the same.
" And the hail foresaid persons submitters binds and obliges them to attend the said
judges at such other times and dyots as they shall appoint until they pronounce their
said Decreet Arbitral ; and all the said parties binds and obliges them hinc inde to
others their heirs their heirs and executors to stand to, abide at, and fulfil whatever the
said judges, arbitrators, or oversman in case of variance, shall find, declare, or decern
in the premises to be done, fulfil, and perform by either party to others, and that they
shall do the same without any contradiction or again calling whatsomever, under the
penalty of one hundred pounds Scots money, which the party failing obliges them to
pay to the party observing or willing to observe, by and attour performance.
" And it is hereby declared that in case the said arbitrators or oversman in case of
varianc does not pronounce decree in the premises between and the day above prefixed
and appointed for that effect, that then and in that case this present submission is to be
void and null as if never been granted, but prejudice to other parties rights and in-
terests, all processes and complaints ; — And both the said parties consent to the regis-
tration hereof and Decreet Arbitral to follow hereon in the books of Council and
Session or others competent to have the strength of a decreet interponed thereto, that
horning on six days and others needful pass hereon and on the said Decreet Arbitral ;
and constitutes Mr Samuel Gray their procurators. In witness whereof (written by
George Dennistoun, writer in Edinburgh) both the said parties, and also the said arbi-
trators and oversman, in token of their acceptation hereof, have subscribed these pre-
sents, and the said parties have subscribed the on the back hereof, place,
day, month, and year foresaid, before these witnesses : Robert Alison, writer in Edinr.,
and the said George Dennistoun, writer hereof, and Robert Cunningham, servitor to
Adam Blackadator, merchant in Edinburgh.
" Signed : Robert Winram, William Brodie, Ja. Brownhill, William Smellie, Robert
Inglis, accepts. Alexander Nisbet, accepts, Robert Alison, witnesses ; Geo. Dennis-
toun, witness, Ro. Cunningham, witness.
" Follows Decreet Arbitral.
" We, Robert Inglis and Mr Alexander Nisbet, judges arbitrators, and John Dunbar,
oversman, within elected and designed, having jointly considered the submission within
written made to us by the parties within designed, and carefully perused the complaints,
claims, and demands made and given into us by the several parties, with their answers
and defences kinc inde, and have also fully examined and heard both parties upon their
several complaints, claims, and demands, and deliberately considered and weighed the
reasons and allegations of each party, and being well and ripely advised in the whole,
having God and a good conscience before our eyes, do unanimously and in one voice
give and pronounce our final sentence and amicable Decreet and Decision in manner
following.
" In the first place, we have found and hereby find that the within named Deacons
James Brownhill and William Smellie did justly upon the provocations given to them
by the within named Robert Winram and William Brodie, commit them to custody in
the town guard until they should be examined and tried by the magistrates of the city
142 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
upon the insolent and rude language uttered by them, and the indignity alleged offered
by them against the said deacons. But find that the said deacons did wrongously put
the said Robert Winram and William Brodie under greater restraint than their crime
did deserve ; and therefore we unanimously decern and ordain the said Deacons James
Brownhill and William Smellie to refund, content, and pay to the said Robert Winram
and William Brodie the sum of one hundred pounds Scots in full compensation and
satisfaction to them of the whole damages, costs, skaith, and expenses paid, paid out
and sustained by the said Journeymen through their commitment aforesaid, and the
process of wrongous imprisonment raised and pursued by them thereupon, and to de-
liver up to the said Journeymen their books now in the custody of the said deacons.
And we decern and ordain the said Robert Winram and William Brodie (upon pay-
ment to them of the foresaid sum of one hundred pounds and delivery to them of their
books as aforesaid) to grant, subscribe, and deliver to the said James Brownhill and
William Smellie a valid and sufficient receipt and discharge of the said sum and books,
and of the foresaid process of wrongous imprisonment, and of all they can ask, claim,
or crave from the said deacons upon account of the said commitment.
" Next, we the said judges arbitrators and oversman do unanimously absolve and
assoilzie the said Deacans and whole Freemen Masters of the said Incorporation of
Masons from all compting and reckoning to the journeymen of the said Incorporation
for the money received by the said Incorporation for giving the Mason Word, as it is
called, either to Freemen or Journeymen preceding the date of this our Decreet ; and
hereby find that the Freemen Masters of the said Incorporation could and can dispose
thereupon at their pleasure without consent or concurrence of the Journeymen, and de-
cern and ordain the said Corporation of Freemen Masters to be free from such account-
ing to the Journeymen in all time coming.
" And for putting ari end to the contraversies arising between the said Freemen and
Journeymen of the said Incorporation of Masons anent the giving of the Mason Word,
and the dues paid therefor, we unanimously decern and ordain the said Deacons James
Brownhill and William Smellie to procure from the Incorporation of the said Freemen
Masons an Act and Allowance, to be recorded in. their books, in favour of the said
Journeymen Masons, allowing them to meet together by themselves as a Society for
giving the Mason Word, and to receive dues therefor and such other voluntary con-
tributions and donations as shall happen to be given in by any person to their common
stock and purse for the uses following — the meetings of the said Journeymen being
always regulate agreeably to the laws of the kingdom and the constitution, government,
and privileges of the good town of Edinburgh and Incorporations thereof ; and that the
said Society meetings of the Journeymen Masons be under and with the express restric-
tions, rules, and conditions following, to be interpreted in the strictest sense, viz'.-^ist.
That the said Journeymen shall not make any acts, rules, or regulations of their wages
and fees, nor any act or rules prejudicial to the leiges in general, or to the rights and
privileges of the good town or of the Incorporation of the Freemen Masons, but that
their whole meetings, actings, and writings therein be only concerning their collecting
the monies for giving the Mason Word, and voluntary contributions, and the disposing
thereof, allowed by this Decreet. 2d. That the whole monies to be received by the
said Journeymen either for giving the Mason's Word or of voluntar contributions shall
be put in a common purse and be allenarly employed and bestowed for supplying the
poor and sick, and burying the dead poor of the said Journeymen, and no part thereof
to be bestowed or disposed of any other way. 3d. That they keep a book in which
DECREET-ARBITRAL. 143
shall be entered all monies received for giving the Mason "Word or of voluntar dona-
tions, and an account how the same is expended and bestowed yearly, engrossing the
names of such from whom money is received, and the names of such to or for whom
money is paid out. 4th. That they provide and keep a chest with two different locks
and different keys for holding their books and money one of which keys to be kept by a
Freemen Mason to be elected yearly by the Deacons and Incorporation of Freemen
Masons out of a leet of three freemen to be proposed yearly by the said Journeymen to
the Deacon and Incorporation upon the annual meeting at St John's Day ; and the
other key to be kept by one of the Journeymen annually to be elected by themselves.
5th. That the said Freemen keeper of the key for the time shall attend the meetings of
the said Journeymen, but shall have no vote therein, but only to see that their money be
rightly disposed of, and their rules duly observed ; and in case of failure therein to re-
port to the Deacon and Incorporation, under the penalty of ten pounds Scots for each
absence of the said freeman (if required to attend under form of instrument), to be put
into the common stock and purse of the Journeymen. 6th. That the said Journey-
men shall exhibit and produce their books and accounts fo the Deacon and Incorpora-
tion of Masons or such of their number as they shall appoint, to be revised and ex-
amined by them each half year, and that under the penalty of ten pounds Scots totics
quoties (if required under form of instrument and refusing so to do), to be put into the
Freemen their common box and stock, and that by and attour performance. 7th
That five Journeymen make a quorum for a meeting — their purse keeper for the time
being a sine qua non. And, Lastly. We decern and ordain both parties to obtemper
and fulfil this our Decreet, and to exoner and discharge each other of all preceding
claggs, claims, and demands, upon whatever cause or occasion, and that under the with-
in penalty of one hundred pounds Scots by and attour performance. And we decern
and ordain this our Decreet to be inserted and registered in the Books of Councill and
Session or others competent, in manner and to the effect within mentioned.
" In witness whereof we have subscribed these presents written by David Spence,
Secretary to the Bank of Scotland, at Edinburgh the 8th day of January 1715, before
these witnesses: George Dennistoun, writer in Edinburgh; Robert Alison, also writer
there ; and the said David Spence, witnesses also to the marginal note.
" Signed : Robert Winram, William Brodie, Ja. Brownhill, William Smellie, Robert
Inglis, Alexander Nisbet, Ja. Dunbar. Geo. Dennistoun, witness ; Da. Spence, wit-
ness ; Ro. Alison, witness."
" Recorded in the Burgh Court Books of Ednr., 17 Jany. 1715."
We shall not burden this work with any criticism of this elaborate
judgment : it is explicit enough upon all the points embraced in the con-
descendence, and going a step farther, ordains the establishment of a new
Masonic Society, or, more properly speaking, the formal recognition and
confirmation of one which already existed, and ventures to fix the condi-
tions upon which its warrant should be held. While professing to hold
the balance evenly between the contending parties, the arbitrators, in more
than one clause of their decision, betray a leaning towards the conservation
of the hereditary influence of the stronger party not much to be wondered
at in those times when trade incorporations possessed such a potential
power in burghal matters. Of the judges, only one — Alexander Nisbet,
144 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
surgeon-apothecary — was a member of the Craft, and that in an honorary-
capacity. The composition of the Court of Arbitration was therefore not
quite in unison with ancient Masonic usage in cases of dispute between
brethren ; neither did it accord with the existence of a hereditary Protec-
torate of the Craft, such as was alleged to have been vested in the Lairds
of RosHn.
For reasons now unknown, the Lodge of Edinburgh saw fit to ignore
the Decreet-Arbitral, and six months from the date of its being issued
legal steps were taken by the Journeymen to compel obedience to its de-
cision. Letters of horning and poinding were forthwith granted against
Deacons Brownhill and Smellie on the 14th of July, and served on the
1 6th July 17 1 5 by James Clelland, messenger-at-arms. It was when its
representatives in the case were about to be put to the horn that the
Lodge decided to apply for suspension of the charge, as shown in the
minute of July 27. At this point another hiatus occurs, and when next
adverted to the dispute is represented as having been amicably arranged :
"Att Maries Chappell the twentie seaventh day of December, j m..vii c.
and eighteen years, Gilbert Smith, present deacon of the masons of Edr.,
preses for the tyme. . . . The same day the Societie by pluralitie of
voices rescinded the act formerly made by them secluding the entered
jurnaymen masons from their Societie and readmitted them thereto upon
certain conditiones mentioned in a paper apart signed and approven of
by both Masters and Jurnaymen, who also unanimously made choice of
the following, jurnaymen who are authorised to meet with the deacon,
warden, and masters, and joyntly with them oversee the affairs of the
Societie, viz. William Brodie, Michaell Naesymth, George Johnstoun,
and William Fultoun, who being present accepted of their offices, gave
their oathes to be faithful! therin, and were authorised accordingly. The
same day Thomas Brownlie, jurnayman mason, was receaved and add-
mitted a fellow craft and payed the ordinary dues ; and George Gierke,
apprentice to Deacon Watson, was receaved ane entered apprentice, as
also unanimously approved of James Gumming, Patrick Mitchell, Matthew
Moffat, Peter Stewart, and David Lesly, jurnaymen, who had all been
receaved and addmitted ffellow crafts by the Societie of Jurnaymen since
they left the deacons, warden, and masters, and authorised them to be
members of the Societie equally with the. other jurnaymen."
The compromise above referred to was succeeded by the return of the
seceding Deacon to the ex-officio presidency of the Lodge of Edinburgh ;
but even amid this apparent obliviousness of former differences the mother
Lodge's jealousy for its position and a lurking desire to regain its former
ascendancy are discernible in the reimposition of a tax upon all journey-
CONTINUATION OF THE DISPUTE. 145
men working within the city of Edinburgh who had not been entered and
passed fellow-crafts in the masters' lodge, and the prohibition of its
members to make or advance masons except in presence of the deacon of
the Incorporation : " Att Maries Chappell the 28th of Deer., 1719, James
Wattson, present deacon of the masons of Edr., preses. The same day
the deacon, masters, and remanent members of the Society of Masons of
Edr., .... out of the leit of ten persons given in by the Jurnaymen they
elected and made choise of Michael Nasmith, William Fultoun, George
Johnstoun, and George Ramsay, masons, to be joynt overseers with the
deacon, warden, and masters, of the affairs and concerns of the Society for
the ensuing year, who being all present accepted of their respective offices,
promised to be faithfuU therein, and were authorised accordingly. . . .
Likeas the same day it was statut and appointed for the benefite and
advantage of the Societie that each jurnayman meason that hereafter shall
be allowed to work within the city of Edr. and priviledges therof who is
not entered and past fellow-craft in this house shall pay twelve shilling
Scots money quarterly to this Society, otherwayes not to be imployed by
the masters therof or allowed to worke therin. As also, it is statut and
ordained that none of the Society shall presume or take upon them to
enter apprentices or pass and receave fellow-crafts without the present
deacon for the tyme be present, under the penalty of twelve pounds Scots
money, to be payed by the contraveeners toties quoties they shall trans-
gress this act, for the use of the poor of this Society."
Evidence of the subsequent upliftment of the impost above referred to
is contained in the following fragmentary record (holograph of the then
deacon), which is still preserved in the archives of the Journeymen Lodge :
— "Edinburgh, 7th August, 1721. I, James Watson, mason, present
Deacon of Mary's Chapell, ordains and commands Michael Nasmith,
William Fulton, George Johnson, and George Ramsay, Masons, who are
command and ordained to oversee the Warden's money, to see the same
money uplifted and disposed upon, and that two of those four commanded
should go this week to both Water of Leith, the town walls, and the
King's Park ; and all those Masons that works to the freemen in Edin-
burgh to take up their names of Masons thats not commanded to the
Lodge in Edinburgh to pay their shilling each, and ask either their
masters or themselves. JA. Watson." This is followed by a list of
names purporting to be " an account of the men that is paid on the roll."
The enactment under which the tax upon unpassed journeymen was levied
was inconsistent with the independent existence of the Journeymen Lodge,
and its observance by the new Lodge must have been of short duration ;
for on December 7, 1723, that body is found to be in active operation, and
K
146 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
through the medium of one John Braid, a notary, calling on the Incorpor-
ation to make choice of one of three freemen, in terms of Decreet-Arbi-
tral, to keep the key of their box in conjunction with one of the journey-
men— " all which the said Incorporation refused to doo ; and thereupon
the Journeymen Masons, &c., protested that the said Incorporation of
Freemen might be liable to them for the penalty contained in the said
decreet."
Following on this Notarial Requisition, there were three proposals
(holograph of R. Alison) made by the Freemen Masons of Edinburgh to
the " Journeymen Masons and Fellow-Crafts belonging to Marie's Chapell."
" 1st, That there shall be a box with three locks and keys, which box is
to contain all money received from Entered Apprentices and F. C." " 2d,
As to Journeymen's box and keys for containing their quarterly payments
or donations among themselves, keys to be kept by themselves and free-
men to be chosen by the Master Masons, ' so that there may be peace and
goodwill to one another.' And none of the money that is collected to
be spent on St John's Day. But the Masters to pay for their own drinks,
and the Journeymen also to pay for theirs, not exceeding one_ shilling
sterling each man. 3d, That the Apprentices have a certain allowance
for spending on St John's Day at the discretion of the Masters. This
signed by order of the Society, day foresaid, by R. Alison, Clerk."
The second proposal, which plainly indicates a disinclination on the
part of the Freemen to recognise the Journeymen's independence, does
not seem ever to have been acted upon by the party making it. In the
subsequent course of events Lodges and Incorporations parted company,
free-trade in mason-making became popular, and the bone of contention
that had long existed between the Lodge of Edinburgh and its youngest
daughter having thus been removed, the Journeymen Lodge was left in
full and undisturbed possession of its privileges. In the course of time
the enmities that had existed between the Lodges were forgotten, and
only the old ties that united them v/ere remembered. Many years after
the termination of its protracted struggle for independence, and when the
old Operative ritual had disappeared before the fascinating influences of
Speculative Masonry, the Journeymen Lodge sought and obtained at
the hand of the Lodge of Edinburgh the ne plus ultra of Masonic rites
as then practised in Scotland : — " 27th December 1750. The Lodge
being regularly opened by the right worshipful master, . . . upon
application from the Lodge of Journeymen Masons in Edr. to the effect
after mentioned, the following brethren belonging to that lodge, viz'.,
James Dick, Gilbert Duncan, and William M'Lean, all journeymen
masons in Edr, were raised and admitted to the dignity of Master
WIDENING OF THE BASIS OF MEMBERSHIP. 147
Masons without any payment of composition to this lodge, but only as a
brotherly favour."
In several minutes of the Lodge. of Edinburgh at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, there is a substitution of the word " Society '' for
Lodge, and of " Preses" for Deacon as the title of its head official. This
change of expression cannot, however, be said to have been a novelty to
the Craft ; for, fifty years before its adoption by the metropolitan Lodge, the
Musselburgh Lodge, while retaining the ancient title of Deacon as that
of its president, called itself the " Company of Atcheson's Haven Lodge."
But in neither case was the new appellation intended to convey any idea
of a change of constitution. The admission of its journeymen members
to a review of its disbursements doubtless involved a partial modification
of an established usage of the Lodge of Edinburgh, and the fact of its
having had to share with a rival the privilege of making masons within the
royalty would also materially affect its status ; but notwithstanding its
altered circumstances, the Lodge continued, during the first twenty years
of the eighteenth century, under the control of the mason-burgesses of the
city, whose Deacon was its ex officio head, having as a Warden one of his
fellow-freemen. Its membership was of the same mixed character and
classification as it was in the immediately preceding century, — with this
difference, that whereas in former times its Theoretical members were
drawn from the upper ranks of society, and embraced names distinguished
in the senate, on the bench, at the bar, in the army, and in the field of
scientific research, those admitted to honorary Masonic fellowship within
the period referred to were with rare exceptions guild brethren or trade
burgesses — the reception of the latter class being facilitated by the
union in 1 703 of glaziers, plumbers, bowmakers, and upholsterers with the
Incorporation of Masons. Such then was the position of the Society or
Lodge of the Freemen Masons of Edinburgh at the close of the second
decade of the eighteenth century.
Two of the non-operative members admitted in the early part of the
eighteenth century merit special notice :—
Sir Samuel M'Clellan was the first on the roll of the Lodge who
was entered while holding the post of Lord Provost of Edinburgh. He
was initiated in 1706, and was Chief Magistrate in that and the following
year. In 1708 he was elected to represent the City of Edinburgh in Par-
liament.
Sir John Clerk, second Baronet of Pennicuik, was entered and passed,
"and that gratis," in January 1710. He was a man of great learning and
14^ HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
fine accomplishments, in days when sucli quaHties were not common, and
was particularly remarkable for his knowledge of belles-lettres and of the
liberal arts and sciences. In 1707 he was appointed one of the Barons of
Exchequer for Scotland, which office he enjoyed till his death in 1755-
He was also one of the Commissioners for the Union, when during his
father's lifetime he sat in the Scottish Parliament for the burgh of Whit-
horn. He married, first. Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of Alexander,
third Earl of Galloway ; and secondly, Janet, daughter of Sir John Inglis
of Crammond. Chambers, in his 'Traditions of Edinburgh,' mentions that
Sir John Clerk was one of the swains of the celebrated Miss Kennedy,
afterwards the well-known Susanna, Countess of Eglinton, daughter of
Sir Archibald Kennedy of Culzean — the rough old cavalier who made
himself so conspicuous in the Persecution, and in Dundee's wars — by one
of the three co-heiresses of the Covenanting General, David Leslie (Lord
Newark), whom Cromwell overthrew at Dunbar. Miss Kennedy was a
lady six feet high, extremely handsome, elegant in her carriage, and had
a face and complexion of the most_ bewitching loveliness. Her appearance
in Edinburgh, which took place about the time of the Union, gained her a
vast accession of lovers among the nobility and gentry, and set all the
rhyming fancies of the period agog. As Miss Kennedy was understood to
be fond of music. Sir John sent her a flute as a love-gift ; from which it
may be surmised that this instrument was played by females in that age,
while as yet the pianoforte was not. When the young lady attempted to
blow the instrument something was found to interrupt the sound, which
turned out to be a copy of verses in her praise.
"Harmonious pipe, I languish for thy bliss,
When pressed to Silvia's lips with gentle kiss !
And when her tender fingers round thee move
In soft embrace, I listen, and approve
Those melting notes which soothe my soul in love.
Embalmed with odours from her breath that flow,
You yield your music when she's pleased to blow ;
And thus at once the charming lovely fair
Delights with sounds, with sweets perfumes the air.
Go, happy pipe, and ever mindful be
To court bewitching Silvia for me !
Tell all I feel — you cannot tell too much —
Repeat my love at each soft melting touch —
Since I to her my liberty resign.
Take thou the care to tune her heart to mine."
Lord Eglinton's second wife happened about this very time to die, and
his lordship's suit for the hand of Miss Kennedy was preferred to that of
Sir John.
'^yTL- J n£v
u
e^CL^-'UyCU^'y
CHAPTER XVII.
HE first quarter of the eighteenth centuiy is interesting to the
Masonic student from its being the epoch in which was insti-
tuted the first Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons,
and from being that also in which the principles, rites, and
ceremonies of this new English Masonic organisation are supposed to have
been partially introduced into the few then existing Scotch Lodges, a stej)
which was followed at no great distance of time by the thorough transfor-
mation of these old Operative associations into schools of Speculative
Masonry. The erection of the Grand Lodge of England and subsequent
arrangement of the ritual of Freemasonr)' are ascribed to the influence and
150 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ingenuity of eight gentlemen having an honorary connection with the
Fraternity of Operative Masons. The most prominent member of this
learned Masonic cabal was Dr Theophilus Desaguliers, who was then in
the zenith of his fame as a mathematician and experimental philosopher.
He was born at Rochelle in 1683, and while yet an infant was brought to
England by his father, a Protestant clergyman, who on the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes fled from France in search of an asylum where
he could enjoy the free exercise of his religion. Desaguliers' education,
begun in London, was finished at Oxford, where also he inaugurated his
career as a philosophical lecturer. His fame having reached the English
Court, he received the appointment of Chaplain to His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales (whom he initiated into the Craft), and was honoured
with the private friendship of his Sovereign. His success as a scientific
writer was rewarded by the bestowal of the Fellowship of the Royal
Society; whilst his enrolment as a Corresponding Member of the Royal
Academy at Paris and his public appearances in Holland, were proofs
that his celebrity was not confined to the country of his adoption. His
ingenuity was displayed in the heating and ventilating of the House of
Commons after a plan which he devised under a commission which was
issued by Parliament in 1723, and his name has been handed down as
" the first who popularised natural philosophy."
It would appear froni the following lines which occur in Cawthorn's
poem, ' The Vanity of Human Enjoyment,' that Desaguliers had expe-
rienced a sad reverse of fortune ; but the picture is of a darker shade
perhaps than the circumstances justify. He died at the Bedford Coff"ee-
house, Covent Garden, London, and was buried in the adjacent ground
belonging to the Savoy. General Desaguliers and another son survived
him.
" Can Britain, in her fits of madness, pour
One-half her Indies on a Roman .
And still permit the weeping muse to tell
How poor neglected Desaguliers fell !
How he who taught two gracious kings to view.
All Boyle ennobled, and all Bacon knew,
Died in a cell, without a friend to save,
Without a guinea, and without a grave ! "
Desaguliers' connection with the Masonic Fraternity was formed in
1712 through his admission into the Lodge Antiquity, the oldest of the
few Operative Lodges then existing in London. " His love of mechanics
(says a writer in the ' Masonic Eclectic'), and the prominent part which
that science plays in Operative Masonry, no doubt induced him to become
VISIT OF DR DESAGULIERS. IS I
a member of the Fraternity. He soon, however, found that the Brethren
could teach him nothing. On the other hand, the spirit of toleration
which he found prevailing among the members of the Fraternity, pecu-
liarly grateful to one who had himself suffered from religious intolerance,
inspired him with the idea of reconstructing the Society on a basis which
should unite together in harmony those who were divided by religious and
political schisms. In carrying out his plan, he was materially aided by
the high position he occupied in society, and by the widespread acquaint-
ance he enjoyed." Such was the distinguished person of whom it is
recorded in the first of the three following minutes, that having sought a
conference with the Master Masons of Edinburgh, that body granted his
request and received him as a brother into their Lodge : —
"Att Maries Chapell the 24 of August 1721 years — James Wattson,
present deacon of the Masons of Edinr., Preses. The which day Doctor
John Theophilus Desauguliers, fellow of the Royall Societie, and Chaplain
in Ordinary to his Grace James Duke of Chandois, late Generall Master
of the Mason Lodges in England, being in town and desirous to have a
conference with the Deacon, Warden, and Master Masons of Edinr., which
was accordingly granted, and finding him duly qualified in all points of
Masonry, they received him as a Brother into their Societie." " Likeas,
upon the 25th day of the sd moneth, the Deacons, Warden, Masters, and
several other members of the Societie, together with the sd Doctor Desa-
guliers, haveing mett att Maries Chapell, there was a supplication pre-
sented to them by John Campbell, Esqr., Lord Provost of Edinbr., George
Preston and Hugh Hathorn, Baillies ; James Nimo, Thesaurer ; William
Livingston, Deacon-convener of the Trades thereof; and George Irving,
Clerk to the Dean of Guild Court, — and humbly craving to be admitted
members of the, sd Societie; which being considered by them, they granted
the desire thereof, and the saids honourable persons were admitted and
receaved Entered Apprentices and Fellow-Crafts accordingly." " And
sicklike upon the 28th day of the said moneth there was another petition
given in by Sr. Duncan Campbell of Lochnell, Barronet ; Robert Wight-
man, Esq., present Dean of Gild of Edr. ; George Drummond, Esq., late
Theasurer therof ; Archibald M'Aulay, late Bailly there ; and Patrick
Lindsay, merchant there, craveing the like benefit, which was also granted,
and they receaved as members of the societie as the other persons above
mentioned. The same day James Key and Thomas Aikman, servants to
James Wattson, deacon of the masons, were admitted and receaved
entered apprentices, and payed to James Mack, warden, the ordinary dues
as such. Ro. Alison, Clerk."
There can be but one opinion as to the nature and object of Dr Desa-
152 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
guliers' visit to the Lodge of Edinburgh. In the interval between his ini-
tiation in London and his affihation as a member of the Scottish Fraternity,
he had been the prime mover in instituting the English Grand Lodge ; and
had in conjunction with other learned craftsmen been engaged in the
fabrication of a "Masters' part," in the preparation of a constitution for
the newly-formed body, and in the catechetical arrangement of its lectures.
He had also been called by the unanimous voice of his brethren to the
office of Grand Master, which he held for a year, and was the first to
introduce at feasts of the Fraternity the toasts and other customs that had
hitherto been a peculiarity of Masonic meetings under the old regime. At
the time of his visit to Scotland a revision of the English Masonic Consti-
tutions * was in contemplation ; and the better to facilitate this, he, along
with Dr James Anderson, the minister of a Presbyterian Church in London,
was engaged in the examination of such ancient Masonic records as could
be consulted. Embracing the opportunity which his sojourn in the Scot-
tish capital offered for comparing what he knew of the pre-symbolic con-
stitutions and customs of English Masons with those that obtained in
Scotch Lodges, and animated, no doubt, by a desire for the spread of the
new system, he held a conference with the office-bearers and members of
the Lodge of Edinburgh. That he and his brethren in Mary's Chapel
should have so thoroughly understood each other on all the points of
Masonry, shows either that in their main features the secrets of the old
Operative Lodges of the two countries were somewhat similar, or that an
inkling of the novelty had already been conveyed into Scotland. The
fact that English versions of the Masonic Legend and Charges were in
circulation among the Scotch in the middle of the seventeenth century
favours the former supposition ; and if this be correct, there is strong
ground for the presumption that the conference in question had relation to
Speculative Masonry and its introduction into Scotland. Indeed the pro-
ceedings of the Lodge on the day after its interview with the late Grand
Master of England render it probable that, taking advantage of his social
* In subsequently dedicating the Book of Constitutions to the then EngUsh Past Grand Master, the
Duke of Montagu, Desaguliers recommends it as having been " compiled and digested from the old
records,'' and as being "agreeable to history and chronology." The extent of the Doctor's faith
may be estimated from the fact that the author gravely represents Moses as presiding as ' ' Grand
Master Mason " in the Israelitish Lodges which vifere held in the Wilderness, — Nebuchadnezzar
as having attained the same Masonic rank, — and Samson as "never having had the honour to be
number'd among Masons," because of his "weakness in revealing his secrets to his wife." The
modern mind is generally supposed to have got pretty well rid of superstition ; but brethren having
pretensions to Masonic authorship continue in this advanced period of the nineteenth century to
make the assertion in all soberness, that St John the Evangelist was Grand Master of the
Lodge at Jerusalem !
DESAGULIERS' INFLUENCE ON " SCOTCH FREEMASONRY. 153
position, he had influenced the attendance of the Provost and Magistrates
of Edinburgh, and the other city magnates who accompanied them, as
applicants for Masonic fellowship, in order to give a practical illustration of
the system with which his name was so closely associated, with a view to
its commending itself for adoption by the Lodges of Scotland. This, in a
Masonic point of view, historically-interesting communication of the Lodge
of Edinburgh, was at an interval of two days followed by another ; and it
is more than probable that on both occasions the ceremony of entering
and passing would, as far as the circumstances of the Lodge would per-
mit, be conducted by Desaguliers himself in accordance with the ritual he
was anxious to introduce. It was not till 1722-23 that the English regu-
lation restricting the conferring of the Third Degree to Grand Lodge was
repealed. This may account for the Doctor confining himself to the two
lesser degrees.
Some years ago, and when unaware of Desaguliers' visit to Mary's
Chapel, we publicly expressed our opinion that the system of Masonic
Degrees which for nearly a century and a half has been known in Scot-
land as Freemasonry, was an importation from England, seeing that in the
processes of initiation and advancement conformity to the new ceremonial
required the adoption of genuflections, postures, &c., which in the manner
of their use — the country being then purely Presbyterian — were regarded
by our forefathers with abhorrence as relics of Popery and Prelacy. We
adhere to that opinion ; and have now no hesitation in ascribing Scot-
land's acquaintance with, and subsequent adoption of, English Symboli-
cal Masonry, to the conference which the co-fabricator and pioneer of the
system held with the Lodge of Edinburgh in August 1721.
Our portrait of Dr Desaguliers is taken from a photograph kindly fur-
nished by Bro. Robert Macoy of New York, the eminent Masonic author
and publisher. For his autograph we are indebted to the courtesy of
Bro. John Hervey, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of England.
During the time that elapsed between the interesting event just noticed
and the St John's-day communication, a Master Glazier (Andrew Ward-
rope) had been chosen Deacon of the Masonic section of the Incorpora-
tion of Mary's Chapel. Not being a brother in the Masonic sense of the
term, his appointment to the office in question did not carry with it the
privilege of presiding or even sitting in the Lodge, which was thus, for the
first time in the regular course of events since its reorganisation in 1 598,
left without its ex officio head in the person of the Deacon of the Masons.
By a vote of its members a mason-burgess and ex-deacon of the trade
(Gilbert Smith) was appointed to the presidency of the Lodge. After
154 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
electing a Warden it proceeded to initiate the Deacon, under protest taken
by William Smelly, a past occupant of the same office. On the immedi-
ately succeeding St John's-day, Andrew Wardrope, though now a member
of the Lodge and still holding the Deacon's chair, was not, as had hitherto
been the case with brethren in like circumstances, accepted as acknow-
leged head of the Lodge in virtue of his official position in the Incorpora-
tion, but was elected Preses of the Society by a majority of votes. The
annual election of its office-bearers now became an established principle of
the Craft, and with its adoption may be said to have terminated the Incor-
poration's connection with the Lodge ; for though out of deference to
their own class the freemen of the Lodge, so long as they were in the
majority, secured the presidency to one of their number, their choice did
not always fall upon the Deacon of the Masons.
John Campbell, one of the four gentlemen who it may be assumed
were initiated by Dr Desaguliers on the occasion of his visit to Mary's
Chapel, was Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1715 to 1720, and again
during 1723-24. Sir Walter Scott, in his ' Tales of a Grandfather,'
attributes to Provost Campbell's arrangements the preservation of Edin-
burgh to the Government during the Rebellion of 1715, when threatened
by Brigadier M'Intosh and the rebels under his command. Mr Campbell
was one of the founders of the Society for Improving the Knowledge of
Agriculture in Scotland, to the funds of which the Lodge of Edinburgh, in
response to a recommendation by Grand Lodge in 1752, contributed five
guineas.
Archibald M'Aulay was also admitted in 172 1. He was several
times Lord Provost between 1727 and 1749 — his election in 1737 having
followed upon the disqualification by Act of Parliament of Provost Alex-
ander Wilson, on account of the Porteous Mob disturbances. He afterwards
held the post of Lord Conservator of the Scots privileges at Campvere.
This town of the Netherlands, now called Vere or Veere, is chiefly interest-
ing for the trading relations subsisting between it and Scotland for nearly
four centuries. Wolfaard van Borssela, Lord of Vere, having married
Mary, sister of James I. of Scotland, the staple trade was transferred from
Bruges to Campvere in 1444. The Scotch staple right at Vere consisted
in the privilege of having all goods destined from Scotland to the Nether-
lands brought to that city ; and they could not be transferred to another
place without being brought there. The numerous Scotchmen living at
Vere were under the rule of a " Conservator of the Scotch nation," and
had many privileges conceded to them, including the right of being
governed by the law of Scotland. The conservatorship was held as a
GENTLEMEN MASONS. IJS
sinecure long after the necessity for the office had ceased. The office was
abolished after 1847.
Patrick Lindsay, another of the gentlemen members received in the
Lodge of Edinburgh in 1721, was on four occasions elected Lord Provost
of Edinburgh, and represented that city in Parliament from 1734 to 1741.
He was afterwards Governor of the Isle of Man. Chambers says that Mr
Lindsay was heir-male of the grand old House of Lindsay of the Byres,
and that he turned his attention to the promotion of the arts of industry,
from a knowledge of the hopelessness of public employment for young
scions of the aristocracy in any but favoured Whig circles. He was an
upholsterer in Parliament Close. He married a daughter of the sixteenth
Earl of Crawfurd.
Sir Duncan Campbell was a direct descendant from Colin, third Earl
of Argyll. At the time of his initiation he was the personal friend and
one of the confidential advisers of Queen Anne. On her death, his sym-
pathies appear, lik6 those of many other eminent Scotsmen, to have been
enlisted in the Jacobite cause. It is stated of him in Chambers's Annals of
Scotland, that on the death of his father, January 10, 17 14, he kept "the
corpse unburied till the 28th, in order that the burial might be turned to
account, or made use of for political purposes. It was customary for the
obsequies of a Highland chief or gentleman to be attended by a vast
multitude of people, who usually received some entertainment on the oc-
casion. It seems to have been understood that those who came to Loch-
nell's funeral were making a masked demonstration in favour of the exiled
Stuart. Those of the opposite inclination deemed it necessary to attend
also, in order to be a check upon the Jacobites. Hence it came to pass that
the inhumation of Lochnell was attended by two thousand five hundred
men, well armed and appointed, five hundred being of Lochnell's own lands,
commanded by the famous Rob Roy, carrying with them a pair of colours
belonging to the Earl of Breadalbane, and accompanied by the screams of
thirteen bagpipes.'' Sir Duncan was captain of one of the six independent
companies of Highlanders that were in 1729 embodied by Government
for military service in the mountainous districts of the country, and which
were known by the appellation of the Black Watch (now the 42d Royal
Highlanders), of which John, Earl of Crawfurd, a member of the Lodge of
Edinburgh, was the first colonel. It appears from the Chevalier John-
stone's Memoirs that, notwithstanding his apparent loyalty to the House
of Hanover, Sir Duncan was in concert with Prince Charles Edward
Stuart in 174S, and was the person who first made known his arrival in
Scotland to his partisans in Edinburgh. Sir Duncan was one of the
petitioners in 1747 for a charter to the Lodge of Inverary (now St John
IS6
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
No. so). His sister, Isabel Campbell, was married to~John Cameron of
Lochiel, who served with the Earl of Mar in the Rebellion of 171 5, and
whose eldest son, Donald Cameron, was one of the most celebrated and
influential chiefs who joined Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and was the
first to obtain possession of the City of Edinburgh when the Highland
army invested that place in 1745. John Cameron of Lochiel was a
member of the Lodge of Dunblane in 1696.
CHAPTER XVIII.
P till the period of the protest recorded in the previous chapter
as having been taken by ex-Deacon Smelly to the initiation
of Andrew Wardrope, master glazier and then deacon of the
Masons' Incorporation, the unconditional admission of per-
sons who were not Masons by profession was an unchallenged practice of
the Lodge of Edinburgh, — not certainly to such an extent as could of
itself exercise an appreciable influence in changing the original character
of the society, but largely enough to establish a principle which, lay-
ing the arcana of the Craft open to non-professionals, endangered its
position as a purely Operative institution. Fears for such a result, sharp-
158 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ened no doubt by the recollection of the proselytising mission of Desa-
guliers and its attendant circumstances, seem to have precipitated the
struggle for supremacy of which Mary's Chapel was the arena in the
years 1726-28 : — " Att Maries Chapell the twentie-seavinth day of Decem-
ber, jm. viic. and twentie-six years. . . . James Mack represented to the
Societie that there were severall creditable tradesmen in the city who
were desirous to be admitted honorary members thereof, for which each
of them was willing to give a guinea for the use of the poor, — which
proposall being fully argued amongst the members and being putt to
a vote, admitt or not, it carried by a pluralitie of voices in the nega-
tive ; whereupon the said James Mack protested againsj: the procedure
of the Societie, and he and Andrew Miller went away and left the said
Society."
Foiled in the attempt to effect by a dehberate vote of the Lodge a
deeper infusion of the Theoretical element into its membership, the pro-
moters of the movement seem to have matured measures secretly for the
accomplishment of their design, which, after all, was but a natural devel-
opment of an acknowledged principle in the constitution of the Lodge.
Ignoring the Preses' prerogative of convoking the brethren, the anti-
Operative party called a meeting within three weeks from that at which
their proposal was negatived — an irregularity which was formally protested
against by the Preses as a bar to any business being entered upon. A dis-
cussion thereupon arose, in which the real matter in dispute naturally
cropped up. The gratuitous admission of other than handicraft masons
was made the ostensible ground of objection to their having a voice in the
business; but the argument by which this objection was met was, that the
entry of honorary members (Speculative Masons), not hampered by any
restrictions, coincided with an established usage of the Lodge of Edin-
burgh,— and the present is the only instance on record of an attempt hav-
ing been made to set it aside. By urging this objection the advocates of
a purely Operative ascendancy in the Lodge hoped to have silenced their
opponents, whose leader was also attempted to be got rid of by what
appears, judging from a subsequent minute, to have been an ungenerous
insinuation as to his disinclination to account for the money he had
received on behalf of the Society while holding the office of Warden.
Failing by dint of argument or protest to avert what they regarded as
an obliteration of the line of separation between the practical members
of the Lodge and those who were merely accepted Masons, the ex-
clusionists adopted the then favourite mode of giving effisct to protests by
retiring from the meeting — a course which, as subsequent events show,
proved most disastrous to the cause it was meant to serve. The residue,
ASCENDANCY OF THE SPECULATIVE ELEMENT. 1 59
taking advantage of the interregnum caused by the desertion of the
Preses and Warden, chose others in their stead, and added to the roll
of honorary members several " creditable citizens," whose reception was
conditional on payment of one guinea each to the funds. More than
half a century before its adoption by the Lodge of Edinburgh the
custom of exacting entry-money from this class of intrants prevailed
among the Kilwinning Fraternity, " fortie pounds Scots besides gloves
and booking-money " being the statutory payment that was required in
such cases.
The bold attitude thus taken by the non- Operative party seems to
have disconcerted their opponents, and the meagre attendance of Opera-
tives at the next St John's-day communication affords further evidence
that the mason-burgesses had in their incorporate capacity ceased to
interest themselves with Lodge affairs. Of the sixteen brethren present,
three only were masons. Throwing down his glove as the champion of
Operative supremacy. Deacon Smelly protested against the recognition as
members of the Society of those who had been initiated subsequent to the
previous annual meeting. The Speculative section of the Lodge found
an advocate of their rights in William Brown, writer, who for himself and
the other recently-admitted honorary members, "protested that their
admissions might be recorded in the books alse weall as others, in regard
William Smelie could instruct no law in the contrair, and that it was his
own fault that he did not preceed [preside] att their admissions — he and
Henry Wilson, with some others, haveing wilfully absented and withdrawn
from the meetting, — and their admissions were regularly done, conform to
the knowen lawes of this and all other weall governed Lodges in Brittain."
This protest was answered by the retreat of the opposition. Having
through this decampment again become masters of the situation, the anti-
Operatives signalised the occasion by choosing a lawyer for their Warden,
thereby setting up another landmark to show the progress that had been
made in the onward march of Symbolical Masonry. Prior to William
Brown being placed in the Warden's chair, December 27, 1727, the post
had never in the history of the Lodge of Edinburgh been held by a non-
operative. It was in the same year that " Master " was first used to de-
signate its head official — a form of expression which, though used in the
Perth charter of 1658, was not adopted by the Lodge of Kilwinning till
1735. Most unaccountably, the party that had so signally obtained the
ascendancy in the recent dispute were absent from the only meeting of
the Lodge that was held in 1728 — the sederunt being wholly composed of
their opponents, to the number of four master masons (designated Free
Masons) and an adherent in the person of an apprentice, who restored the
l6o HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Deacon and Warden of 1726 to their former position. In the face of this
unopposed triumph, however, the Operative party gave palpable proof of
their impotency to withstand the movement against which thfeir obstruc-
tive policy had formerly been directed, by admitting a non-operative
mason to full membership. The restoration of harmony among the
brethren and the amicable adjustment of their differences seem to have
preceded the next communication of the Lodge ; for its St John's-day
meeting of 1729 was characterised by a singular unanimity in choosing an
Honorary Member as Preses and in the reception of others of the same
class. These proceedings, when taken in connection with the fact that
they had been carried through by a body who, irrespective of the nature of
their individual callings — whether vintners or lawyers, masons or mathe-
maticians— had for the first time adopted the title of FREE MASONS, may
be regarded as crowning events in the struggle for supremacy between the
Operative and Speculative elements in Mary's Chapel. By its own show-
ing the Lodge's recent admissions had been conducted in conformity with
the laws of all '' weall governed Lodges in Brittain." From this it may be
inferred that, departing from the simplicity of its primitive ritual, and seiz-
ing upon the more elaborate one of its Southern contemporaries and adapt-
ing it to its circumstances, the ancient Lodge of the Operative Masons of
Edinburgh had, in a transition that was neither rapid nor violent, yielded
up its dominion to Symbolical Masonry, and become a unit in the great
Mystic Brotherhood that had .started into existence in 17 17. The fixing
of St John the Baptist's day for one of the two principal meetings of the
Lodge was another step in the assimilation of the Scotch and English
systems.
The Lodge met twice during 1730 — in March, for the discharge of the
former Wardens' accounts, and in December, when the Master and Warden
were re-elected and a number of candidates admitted. In the minute of
December 27, 173 1, the Master is honoured with the epithet of "Grand."
The then occupant of the chair was Andrew Wardrope, who was re-elected
in 1732, and whose term of ofiSce was signalised by the Lodge receiving as
a visitor the Earl of Strathmore, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
England. His lordship being in Scotland at the time of his election as
successor to Lord Montague, was installed by proxy at a Grand Assembly
of the English Craft on the 7th of June 1733, two months prior to his
visit to Mary's. Chapel. He was head of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
during the year ending November 30, 1741. The initiation of the
Earls of Crawfurd and Kintore, and the Lord Garlics, seems to have
been the immediate cause of Lord Strathmore's attendance and tem-
porary occupancy of the chair in the Lodge of Edinburgh, — the occasion
>^j^*ii^^^=?:^i_.
GENTLEMEN MASONS. i6l
being graced also by the presence of two ex-Lord Provosts of Edinburgh,
who being only apprentices were at the same communication made fellows
of craft. "Att Maries Chapell the 7th day of August 1733. Present:
the Right Honourable James Earle of Strathmore, present Grand Master
of all the Lodges in England, and also chosen Grand Master for this pre-
sent meetting. The which day the Right Honourable JOHN Earle
of Crawfurd, John Earle of Kintore, and Alexander Lord
Garles, upon application to the Societie, were admitted entered appren-
tices and also receaved fellow crafts as honorary members. The same
day Patrick Lindsay and Archibald M'Aulay, Esqueirs, late Lord
Provosts of Edr., haveing both formerly been admitted entered appren-
tices in this Society, were likewayes admitted and receaved fellow crafts
therein as honorary members thereof." No group of intrants associated
together in receiving the fellowship of the Lodge of Edinburgh ever con-
tained so many embryo Masonic magnates. Two of them (Lords Craw-
furd and Kintore) became Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Eng-
land— the latter also filled that post in the Grand Lodge of Scotland ;
another (Lord Garlies) presided in the same grand body ; and the remain-
ing two (ex-Provosts Lindsay and M'Aulay) were afterwards Grand
Wardens under the Scottish constitution. From December 1733 till
December 1735 the Lodge was again ruled by an honorary member.
During the same period quarterly meetings, quarterly contributions to the
charity fund, and the payment by each brother of a fixed sum for his St
John's-day dinner, were resolved upon, — the prefix " Grand," as applied to
the Master and Warden of the Lodge, was discarded as quietly as it had
been adopted, — and an Officer was permanently added to the staff of
officials, which at the last election of the Lodge as an independent body
consisted of Master, Warden, Eldest Apprentice, and Officer. At this
epoch it had ceased to be an essential qualification to a member holding
the office of Master or Warden that he should be an operative mason —
payment by theoretical craftsmen of a higher entrance-fee than that exi-
gible from handicrafts being the only distinctive feature in their reception.
In the matter of DEGREES the Lodge's practice, unlike that of its Canon-
gate contemporary, had not extended beyond those of Entered Appren-
tice and Fellow Craft.
The Earl of Crawfurd — the first named and most distinguished of
the three noblemen who were made in the Lodge of Edinburgh, August
7, 1733, under the temporary presidency of the then Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of England — was born in 1702, and succeeded his father in
17 1 3. Five months after his initiation he was introduced to the English
L
l62 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Fraternity by the Earl of Strathmore, whom he succeeded in the office of
Grand Master in 1734. His public engagements interfering with his
Masonic duties, only two Grand Communications were held during his
term of office, which, however, was rendered famous by the secession of
the York Masons, whose existence as an independent body continued till
the union in 1813 of the Grand Lodges of Ancient and Modern Free-
masons. It was from the Earl of Crawfurd, when Grand Master, that Dr
Anderson received permission to lay before the Grand Officers the
rnaterials which he had prepared for the formation of a new Book of Con-
stitutions, and which was afterwards authoritatively published for the use
of the Lodges of the Free and Accepted Masons. His Lordship was pre-
sent at the installation of his successor, Lord Weymouth, in April 1735,
and at that of the Earl of Loudon in 1736, and of the Earl of Darnley in
1737. He was an assumed member of the Lodge Kilwinning Scots
Arms, Edinburgh. His Lordship, after distinguishing himself as a student,
chose a military career. He served with the Germans against France, and
with the Russians against the Turks ; and afterwards, when Britain was
involved in a war with France, he fought with great gallantry .in the
battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy. He got the command of the Royal
Scots Greys * on the death of the Earl of Stair, in 1747. His Lordship
was possessed of very superior personal qualities, and was one of the
finest gentlemen of his age. Dying without issue, the titles of Craw-
furd and Lindsay devolved on George, Viscount of Garnock. This
nobleman was made in the Lodge of Kilwinning in February 1784. In
March of the same year he was, on the motion of Robert Aitken — the
* There was a Lodge in the "Greys" at this period, worlcing under a charter which, through
the interest of the Earl of Eglinton, Iiad been procured from Kilwinning. The ' Scots Greys
Kilwinning ' having through the perils of war become dispossessed of its wan-ant of constitution,
Colonel the Hon. William, Master of Napier (afterwards 6th Lord Napier), and other officers— the
"Greys" being then (1770) quartered in Edinburgh — petitioned for a charter from the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, compliance with their prayer being urged on these grounds; viz., "that
through the many hazardous enterprises in which they had been engaged in the service of their
king and country, they had not only lost their charter but their whole records, and they were still
willing to associate together for the true end of Masonry in a regular lodge," to be held in the
regiment. The efforts to resuscitate under new auspices this old Military Lodge were rewarded by
the grant of a charter, in which the Lodge was designated "The St Andrew's Royal Arch in the
Scots Greys or Royal North British Dragoons." The new Lodge was consecrated by the Grand
Master, General Oughton, at a communication held in Canongate Kilwinning, 12th March 1770.
Ceasing in subsequent years to make returns to Grand Lodge, it was cut off the roll in 1816.. Of
the distinguished brethren who have recently commanded the Scots Greys, may be mentioned Major-
General Henry Darby Griffith, for several years Grand Sword-Bearer in the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, and Colonel George Calvert Clarke, brother of the late Grand Secretary of the Grand
Lodge of England. Brothers Griffith and Clarke were wounded in the Heavy Cavaliy Charge at
Balaklava, a brilliant episode of the Crimean War.
. GENTLEMEN MASONS. 163
"Orator, Bob "of "The Kirk's Alarm," and the brother to whom Burns
inscribed " The Cottar's Saturday Night " — constituted a mertiber of Ayr
Kilwinning by honorary affiliation. He was Depute Grand Master in the
Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1796,7 and 1797,8. At the time of His death,
which occurred in January 1808, he was Lord-Lieutenant of Fifeshire.
Bro. Aitken was a writer in Edinburgh, and belonged to the Lodge Canon-
gate and Leith and Leith and Canongate. He afterwards removed to
Ayr, where, associated with other intimate friends and patrons of Scotia's
Bard, he continued to take a lively interest in Masonic affairs.
The Earl OF Kintork, who was received in Mary's Chapel along with
Lord Crawfurd, was born in 1699, and in 1718 succeeded his father, who
was out in the Rebellion of 1715. In April 1738 his Lordship was a
guest of the Marquis of Carnarvon (afterwards Duke of Chandos), at the
assembly and feast held on the occasion of • his in.stallation as Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of England. In November of the same year
he was called to the chair in the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and was thus
the first member of Mary's Chapel who filled this post, as he was also th"e
first Grand Master who made an official Visitation to that lodge [vide
Chapter xxxiii]. Retiring from the presidency of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland in November 1739, Lord Kintore was in April 1740 elected
successor to Lord Raymond in the chair of the Grand Lodge of England;
which he held for one year, and was succeeded by the Earl of Morton,
who had also followed him in the same post in the Scottish Grand Lodge.
Lord Kintore was Master of the Lodge of Aberdeen in 1736. In Decem-
ber of the same year, as Acting Junior Grand Warden, he accompanied
William St Clair on a Grand Visitation to Canongate Kilwinning. He
died in 1758. His lordship married a daughter of the Hon. James Erskine
of Grange, Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland, and brother of the celebrated
John Earl of Mar, who was leader of the Rebellion of 17 15, and Secretary
of State during the reign of Queen Anne.
Lord Garlies was another of the gentlemen who were initiated in
Mary's Chapel on 7th August 1733, and, like Lord Cravyfurd, was an affi-
liated member of the Scots Arms. Prior to his election as Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1757 he had succeeded to the Earldom
of Galloway. He was re-elected in 1758, in which year the Grand Chap-
lain was first constituted an ex-officio member of the Grand Lodge.
Charles Mack, builder in Bristo, was a leading member of Mary's
Chapel at the time of Lord Strathmore's visit. He was made an entered
apprentice of the Lodge in April 17 12. That he should have been
a " freeman mason and burgess of Edinburgh " prior to his admission as a
fellow craft is another evidence that the Lodge ceremonial of '' passing "
l64 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
had ceased to be a sine qua non to an operative's recognition as a master
mason by the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel, of which body he was
deacon during the years 1743, 1744, 1746, and 1747. Between the years
1733 and 1758,. at which date his name disappears from the minute-book,
he was four times elected to the post of Warden, eleven times to that of
Master, and was four times Deputy Master. He was the junior of the
three office-bearers who represented Mary's Chapel at the first Grand Lodge
Election ; but though acquiescing in the erection of a Supreme Court of
Speculative Masonry, and though he had held office in it — first as Junior
Grand Warden in 1749, and Senior Grand Warden in 1750 — he with
others made the attempt in 1754 permanently to restore an ancient usage
of the Lodge of Edinburgh by providing that in future elections operatives
only should be chosen as Master. He took a very active interest in the
improvement and extension of the city.
Henry- Walter Hope of Luffhess, whose portrait heads the present
chapter, is Lord Haddington's successor in the Provincial Grand Master-
ship of East Lothian. On the occasion of his installation by the Earl of
Rosslyn, Mr Hope sumptuously entertained at a banquet the whole
brethren of his province, besides the visitors. He was initiated in the
Lodge of Haddington. He is great-grandson of John, secorid Earl of
Hopetoun, and nephew of James Robert Hope Scott of Abbotsford. Mr
Hope was a Major in the Army, and is a Deputy-Lieutenant of the
county of Haddington.
CHAPTER XIX.
HOUGH the minute of November 25 is the first belonging
to the year 1736, it contains evidence of there having been at
least one other communication of Mary's Chapel in the inter-
val betwixt this date and the 27th December 1735. Con-
sidering the importance of the subject it refers to, the purely incidental
notice that it had occupied the attention of a previous meeting conveys
the impression that the Lodge had not at first approached the scheme to
which it relates with any great zeal for its success. The earliest notice
that these records give of the contemplated election of a Grand Master
for Scotland is conveyed in the following terms : — " Att Maries Chapell the
2Sth day of November 1736. Thomas Mylne, master ; Samwell Neilson,
warden. . . . The which day the brethren took to their serious considera-
l66 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
tion a printed circular letter with printed coppies of proposalls and
regulationes sent to them by the Masters and Wardens of this and the
other three Lodges in and about Edr., viz., Kilwinning Scots Armes,
Canongate Kilwinning, and Leith Kilwinning (with whom the present
Master and Warden of this Lodge had been formerly appointed to con-
curr), signifieing their intention, for the promoting of Masonry in generall,
to make choise of a Grand Master with two Grand Wardens over all the
regular Mason Lodges in Scotland, and inviting the brethren of this Lodge
to concurr with them in' so good and great designe, — which papers being
publickly read and considered by the brethren of this Lodge then present,
they unanimously agreed thereto, and nominated and appointed Thomas
Mylne, mason burges of Edr., their present WorshipfuU Master, Samwell
Neilson, mason, their present Senior Warden, and Charles Mack, mason
their, to be their Junior Warden, to represent the Lodge of Maries Cha-
pell att the said Grand EUectioh upon Tewsday the thretty day of
November instant. And appointed them to vote or ballot for the Right
Honourable the Earle of Home, their honourable and worshipfull brother,
to be Grand Master in Scotland for the ensuing year ; and to vote or
ballot for such other worshipfull brethren for Deputy Master, Grand War-
dens, Theasurer, and other office bearers as they should judge most
deserving of these honble. offices ; and appointed the Clerk to make out
their commission accordingly. Tho. Mylne, Saml. Neilson. Ro. Alison."
In treating of the erection of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, historians
have hitherto represented William St Clair of Roslin as having prior to
that event personally expressed to an assembly of the Edinburgh
Lodges his intention to resign the office of hereditary " Grand Master
of Scotland ;" and that in consequence of this determination — a step
that is alleged to have been prompted by embarrassed circumstances,
the want of children, and a regard for the interests of the Craft — the
metropolitan Lodges resolved upon inviting the aid of their provincial
brethren in instituting a Grand Lodge and electing a Grand Master.
October 15, 1736, is given by some writers as the date of this conference
between St Clair and the metropolitan Lodges. A convocation of four of
the Lodges then existing in and around the city was, indeed, held on the
day in question ; but though the business of the meeting had special
reference to the election of a Grand Master, it is a notable circumstance
that the minutes of the proceedings, neither on that nor on any other
occasion on which the subject was considered by these delegates, ever
make the slightest allusion to St Clair, his Protectorate of the Mason Craft,
or his contemplated resignation of that office. Authentic documents still
INSTITUTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. 167
extant show, however, that more than a year before the date at which St
Clair is alleged to have formally intimated his intention of resigning the
Masonic Protectorate, and several months prior to his admission into the
Order, the creation of a Grand Mastership for Scotland had been mooted
among the brethren. The- proposal cannot, therefore, be said to have
resulted from the communication to the Lodges that is attributed to the
Laird of Roslin. It appears to us that the union and incorporation of the
Scotch Lodges into one organised body was due rather to the influence
which the erection and successful career of a kindred institution in Eng-
land would naturally have upon its northern neighbours — that influence
being rendered all the more potent by the fact that more than one Scottish
noble had been called to preside in the Grand Lodge of England.
The minutes of the Lodge Canongate Kilwinning furnish the earliest
record of the election of a Grand Master having formed the subject of
consideration by a Scotch Lodge. They likewise contain the only data
from which may be traced St Clair's connection with Freemasonry. On
September 29, 173S, the duty of "framing proposals to be laid before the
several lodges, in order to the chusing of a Grand Master for Scotland,"
was remitted to a committee of the brethren, who were again, October 15,
instructed to " take under consideration proposals for a Grand ]\/[aster."
In the interval between this and the next mention of the Grand Master-
ship, William St Clair was (May 18, 1736), on payment of the usual fee,
made a " brother of the Antient and Honble. Fraternity of Free and Ac-
cepted Masons," and on the 2d of tfie following month was " advanced to
the degree of fellow craft," he " paying into the box as usual." On the
4th of August 1736, John Douglas, surgeon, a member of the Lodge of
Kirkcaldy, was, in consideration of " proofs done and to be done," affiliated
into the Canongate Kilwinning, and was at the same sederunt appointed
" Secretary for the time, with power to appoint his own deputy, in order to
his making out a scheme for bringing about a Grandmaster for Scotland."
On the 20th of the next month the Lodge was visited by brethren " from
the lodge kept at Wm. Gray's, Edinburgh (Kilwinning Scots Arms), who
made some proposals anent a Grandmaster for Scotland." Again, the
Lodge having (October 6, '36) met in " order to the concerting proper
measures for electing a Grandmaster for Scotland, being duly formed,
heard proposals for that purpose, which were agreed to, and gave it as an
instruction to their representatives, at the first meeting of the four lodges
in and about Edinburgh, in the first place to insist that a proper Secretary
should be appointed to the meetings of the said lodges, who should be
invested with the powers mentioned in said proposals, or such as then
should be agreed on, which Secretary was then named." Eight days pre-
l68 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
viouff to the Grand Election, St Clair was advanced to "the degree of
Master Mason.'' Two days afterwards he signed the document that was
to facilitate the election of a Grand Master, which was written and attested
by three of the more prominent of the brethren belonging to St Clair's
mother, or, to use the phraseology of the time, " original," Lodge — a circum-
stance which adds to the presumptive evidence upon which we feel disposed
to fix on Canongate Kilwinning as the originator of the scheme for his
advancement to the Grand Orient.
The delegates from the four Lodges — Mary's Chapel, Canongate Kil-
winning, Kilwinning Scots Arms, and Leith Kilwinning — met at Edinburgh
on the isth of October 1736, upon the business for which they were
appointed, and the following is the minute of their proceedings : —
"The which day the masters and wardens of the said four lodges having met, they
unanimously condescended and agreed upon the Methods underwritten for electing of a
grand master for Scotland, and upon certain Regulations to be observed thereanent for
the good and prosperity of Masonrie in general, in the terms following: —
" I. That the masters and wardens of the four lodges in and about Edinburgh do
meet in some convenient place, and that there be no precedency insisted upon by either
of them, but that they take place according as they enter the room.
" 2. That the clerk of Mary's Chapel shall act as clerk to their meetings, who is to
write out the following proposals, or such as shall be agreed upon.
" 3. That upon the above lodges' agreement to the proposals, circular letters be wrote
in name of the whole four lodges and signed by the masters of the particular lodges by
turns, to be sent to the respective lodges in Scotland, with a copy of the proposals
enclosed, in order to have their approbation.-
" 4. That the above four lodges upon the day of election of grand master be repre-
sented by their respective masters and wardens, and such masters and wardens of the
other lodges either by themselves or by proxies to master masons.
" 5. That Mary's Chapel be the place of election of a grand master, where such Master
is to name his Deputy and Wardens of the Grand Lodge, and the Clerk of Mary's
Chapel to be Clerk to the first election.
" Regulations for the Grand Lodge.
" I. That each grand master give towards general fund a sum not under
"2. That the grand master shall name the new Grand Wardens, Treasurer, and
Secretary ; and if unanimously approved of by the Grand Lodge, that he shall be
declared, saluted, and congratulated in the usual method. But if not, they shall be
chosen by ballot, provided that they be fellow crafts or master masons, which treasurer
and secretary may have a clerk each, if approven of by the grand master, who shall
always be with their books at his command or his deputy, to see how matters go on and
know what 's expedient to be done upon any emergent occasion.
" 3. That such Treasurer and Secretary, his or their Clerks, shall not presume to speak
or vote without liberty asked and given.
•• 4. That the grand master shall have power to name his own deputy, provided such
deputy, grand wardens, treasurer, or secretary be not members of his original lodge.
INSTITUTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. 169
'■ S. That the Quarterly Communications of all the masters and wardens of the parti-
cular lodges, with the grand master at their head, or his deputy in his absence, and the
grand wardens in their proper places, be held in some convenient place, as the grand
master shall appoint, providing always the same be in Edinburgh or the privileges
thereof, where no brother shall be present who is not at the time a member thereof,
without a dispensation, and while he stays cannot be allowed to vote or speak without
leave from the Grand Lodge— in order to concert the business of Masonry in general,
make new regulations, settle and determine all differences and disputes, if any such
arise in Masonry.
" 6. That the grand master, with his deputy and wardens, shall at least once a-year go
round and visit all the lodges about the town during his mastership, upon which visita-
tion he is to take the chair, with the master of that lodge upon his left hand— providing
always no grand master, deputy, warden, treasurer, secretary, or whoever acts for them
in their stead pro tem., can at the same time be master or warden of a particular lodge.
But as soon as any of these has honourably discharged his grand office, he returns to
that post or station in his particular lodge from which he was called to officiate.
"7. That the first elected grand master and grand wardens shall each of them fur-
nish a proper jewel for their respective offices, which are to belong to the said lodge,
and are to be delivered to their successors in office, and always to be worn at a green
ribbon.
" 8. The grand master to appoint such number of stewards as he shall think fit out of
a committee consisting of one appointed from each lodge, who are to have the charge
from the grand master or his deputy in all things relating to the feast upon St John's-
day.
" 9. That the grand master be named upon the quarterly communication preceding
St John's-day, that there may be no delay upon the day of election. And in case it shall
be provided by the majority of the masters and wardens, with the grand master or his
deputy and wardens, that there shall be a feast and general communication of all the
brethren, where each member shall pay as the Grand Lodge shall think fit to agree
upon, and all other brethren that shall incline to attend may be furnished with tickets
from the stewards of the Grand Lodge sealed with the grand master's seal, on their pay-
ing not under five shillings sterling.
" 10. That each brother upon his entrance into the hall or place where the feast is
held shall have a ticket given him by the stewards, who shall attend the door, which
shall entitle the brother to such a quantity of liquour, and if he calls for more he shall
pay for it to the stewards, who are- accomptable to their successors next quarterly com-
munication.
"II. And for the better support of the dignity of the Grand Lodge and raising a fund
for that effect, that there be paid two shillings and sixpence for each intrant in each
lodge from the day of ane election of a grand master, which is to be accompted for by
the masters and wardens of the respective lodges, and a list transmitted of each intrant
every quarterly communication in order to their being recorded in a book keept by the
Grand Lodge for that purpose, where the present members of all the regular lodges
are recorded.
" Resolved also, that these Methods and Regulations be printed, and copies thereof
transmitted to the masters of all the known regular lodges in Scotland. Agreed also to
the draft of a letter to be sent with the said Proposals and Regulations, with a copy of
the proxies to be returned from the said other lodges, — both which they appoint to be
printed upon fine paper, to be sent to the said several lodges ; and which letter so to
170 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
be sent as agreed to be of the tenor following : — Brethren, — The four lodges in and
about Edinburgh having taken to their serious consideration the great loss that Masonry-
has sustained throw the want of a grand master, authorised us to signify to you, our
good and worthy brethren, our hearty desire and firm intention to chuse a grand master
for Scotland ; and in order that the same may be done with the greatest harmony, we
hereby invite you (as we have done all the other regular lodges known by us) to concur
in such a great and good work, whereby it's hoped Masonry may be restored to its
antient lustre in this kingdome ; — and for effectuating this laudable designe, we humbly
desire that betwixt and Martinmass-day next you will be pleased to give us a brotherly
answer in relation to the election of a grand master, which we propose to be on St
Andrew's-day for the first time, and ever thereafter to be upon St John the Baptist's
day,* or as the Grand Lodge shall appoint by the majority of voices, which- are to be
collected from the masters and wardens of all the regular lodges then present, or by
proxy to any master mason or fellow craft in any lodge in Scotland ; and the election is
to be in St Mary's Chappell. All that is hereby proposed is for the advancement and
prosperity of Masonrie in its greatest and most charitable perfection. We hope and
expect a suitable return ; wherein if any lodges are defective, they have themselves only
to blame. We heartily wish you all manner of success and prosperity, and we are, with
great respect, your affectionate and loving brethren," &c.
It was in response to this letter that the Lodge of Edinburgh appointed
representatives, who were instructed to support the nomination of Lord
Home for the Grand Mastership, as shown in the minute given at the
beginning of the present chapter. The Canongate Kilwinning, which was
three weeks in advance of Mary's Chapel in issuing its deliverance upon
the " Method and Regulations anent the election of Grand Master," was
" unanimously of opinion that Br. William Sinclair of Rosline was the most
.worthy person, and recommended to the Brotherhood his interest in a
very earnest mgjiner, and likewise were of opinion that in case Br. Sinclair
should not succeed in the election of Grand Master, that the following
persons were proper officers to be named for the Grand Lodge, and hereby
recommend their interest to the several brethren ; viz., Mr Hew Murray
* This was changed to St Andrew's Day by resolution of the Grand Lodge, April 13, 1737. In
the minute in which this is recorded it is taken for granted that the 24 th of June was originally fixed
as the date of the Grand Annual Communication and Election, because "it had long been cus-
tomary among the Fraternity to hold their principal assemblies on St John the Baptist's Day ; " —
and upon this assumption the fabulous story of the Craft's ancient connection with St John the
Baptist has ever since been perpetuated. The raising of the 24th of June to the rank of a red-
letter day in the Scotch Masonic Calendar is more likely to have been done after the example of
the English Grand Lodge ; for, taking the records of Mary's Chapel and Kilwinning as conclusive
evidence on the point, the holding of Lodge assemblies on St John the Baptist's Day was never a
custom of the Scottish Fraternity until after the erection of the Grand Lodge. Of all the meetings
of the Lodge of Edinburgh that were held between the years 1599 and 1756, only some half-dozen
happened to fall on the 24th of June ; and the first mention of the Lodge celebrating the Festival
of St John the Baptist is in 1757. The custom was afterwards observed with more or less regu-
larity for about sixty years.
INSTITUTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. 171
(of Canongate Kilwinning), S.W. ; John Douglas (of Canongate Kilwin-
ning), J.W. ; Thomas Trotter (of Canongate Kilwinning), Treasurer ; Da.
Maule (of Canongate Kilwinning), Secretary." This shows that the Lodge
had a keen eye to its own advantage in the appointments to be made. If
it got St Clair, it would be content ; but if they failed in this, then its
representatives were to use their endeavour to secure certain of the minor
offices. The Lodge " thereafter appointed a committee to meet on the
iSth of the month (November 1736), in order to their concerting any
further matters anent said election of Grand Master."
The following " Observations on the proposals for electing the Grand
Master and regulating the Grand Lodge," were, with a commission to
represent the Lodge, sent from Kilwinning to the Master of Canongate
Kilwinning ; but though taking advantage of the proxy, Mr George Fraser
(who had influenced the Kilwinning Lodge to recommend St Clair for
election), probably for reasons of policy, delayed presentation of the docu-
ment till the first Grand Quarterly Communication, when the suggestions
it contained were negatived. Disapproval of distinctions among Lodges
on the ground of real or supposed priority of existence, and of the meet-
ings of the Masonic Executive being confined to the metropolis, is the
chief feature of these suggestions : — " i™- That the first rule in the method
be not confined to the masters and wardens of the four lodges mentioned,
but be extended to the masters and wardens who may come from other
lodges. 2^°- That it be added to the third rule in the method, ' without
which approbation such proposal is not binding on the lodges that dissent
from it.' 3''°- That the clause in the fifth regulation for the Grand Lodge,
' providing always the same be in Edinburgh or the privileges thereof,'
ought to be dropt, for it limits the grand master, will create jealousies,
destroy harmony, and too much consult the ease of the lodges in and
about Edinburgh, whose masters and wardens may go or send their proxies
to other places, as well as the masters and wardens of other lodges may
go or send their proxies to Edinburgh. 4'°- That the half-crown proposed
for the support of the Grand Lodge should not extend to working masons
any further than they please at entry; for in country places they are
generally unable to afford it, considering the dues they pay to their respec-
tive lodges."
After several meetings of the four Lodges, it was on 25th November
1736 appointed that the election of Grand Master should take place in
Mary's Chapel on Tuesday, 30th of November, at half-past two P.M. ; and
it was further " Resolved that the clerk provide himself with ane assistant
at the said grand election, providing he be ane entered mason and fellow
craft, — and recommends it to any of the masters or wardens present to
172
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
take tryall of such assistant accordingly. Resolved also that the whole
members at the said grand election do provide themselves with proper
clothing, and that the members of the four lodges supply their country
brethren so far as they conveniently can. Resolved likeways that the said
four lodges do prepare proper stewards of their own number to attend at
the inside of the door of Mary's Chapel time of the election, and that the
officers of the said four lodges do attend at the outside thereof, in order to
prevent confusion. And that no person be allowed to be present but the
proper members, in terms of the regulations."
According to this arrangement, then, the first General Assembly of
Scotch Symbolical Masons was convened at Edinburgh November 30,
1736. On completing the sederunt, thirty-three of the hundred Lodges or
so that had been invited were found to be represented, each by a master
and two wardens ; and to prevent jealousies in the matter of precedency,
always a rallying-point for Masonic asperities, each Lodge was placed on
the roll in the order in which it entered the hall. These were —
Mary's Chappell.
Kilwining.
Canongate Killwining.
Killwining Scots Arms.
Killwining Leith.
Killwining Glasgow.
Coupar of Fyfe.
Linlithgow.
Dumfermling.
Dundee.
Dalkeith.
Aitcheson's Haven.
Selkirg.
Innverness.
Lessmahaggow.
Saint Brides at Douglass.
Lanark.
Strathaven.
Hamilton.
Dunse.
Kirkcaldie.
Journeymen Massons of
Edinburgh.
Kirkintilloch.
Biggar.
Sanquhar.
Peebles.
Glasgow St Mungo's.
Greenock.
Fallkirk.
Aberdeen.
Mariaburgh.
Canongate and Leith
et e contra.
Monross.
Upon the final adjustment of the roll, and no amendments having been
offered to the form of procedure, or to the draft of the constitution of
Grand Lodge that had been submitted to the several Lodges, the following
document was tendered by the Laird of Roslin and read to the meeting —
" I, William St Clair of Rossline, Esquire, taking into my consideration
that the Massons in Scotland did, by several deeds, constitute and appoint
William and Sir William St Clairs of Rossline, my ancestors, and their
heirs, to be their patrons, protectors, judges, or masters ; and that my
holding or claiming any such jurisdiction, right, or privilege, might be pre-
judiciall to the craft and vocation of Massonrie, whereof I am a member,
and I being desireous to advance and promote the good and utility of the
said craft of Massonrie. to the utmost of my power, doe therefore hereby,
for me and my heirs, renounce, quit, claim, overgive, and discharge, all
INSTITUTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. 173
right, claim, or pretence that I or my heirs had, have, or any ways may
have, pretend to, or claim, to be patron, protector, judge, or master of the
Massons in Scotland, in virtue of any deed or deeds made and granted by
the said Massons, or of any grant or charter made by any of the Kings of
Scotland to and in favours of the said William and Sir William St Clairs
of Rossline, or any others of my predecessors, or any other manner of way
whatsomever, for now and ever : And I bind and oblige me, and my heirs,
to warrand this present renounciation and discharge at all hands ; and I
consent to the registration hereof in the books of Councill and Session, or
any other judges's books competent, therin to remain for preservation ;
and thereto I constitute . . . my procurators, etc. In witness whereof I
have subscribed these presents (written by David Maul, writer to the
signet), at Edinburgh, the twenty-fourth day of November one thousand
seven hundred and thirty-six years, before these witnesses, George Fraser,
deputy-auditor of the Excise in Scotland, Master of the Canongate Lodge,
and William Montgomerie, merchant in Leith, Master of the Leith Lodge.
Sic Subscribitur, Wm. St Clair. — Geo. Frazer, Canongate Kilwinning,
witness. Wm. Montgomerie, Leith Kilwinning, witness."
Though some of the representatives present had been instructed to vote
for another than Mr St Clair, so fascinated do the brethren seem to have
been with the apparent magnanimity, disinterestedness, and zeal for the
Order displayed in his " Resignation," that the success of the scheme for
his election was complete, — the Deed was accepted, and with a unanimity
that must have been grateful to the Lodge at whose instance it had been
drawn, the abdication of an obsolete office in Operative Masonry was made
the ground of St Clair's being chosen to fill the post of first Grand Master
in the Scottish Grand Lodge of Speculative Masons. This was followed
by the election of Capt. John Young, of the Kilwinning. Scots Arms, as
Depute Grand Master; Sir William Baillie of Lamington, Canongate
Kilwinning, Senior Grand Warden ; Sir Alexander Hope of Kerse, Scots
Arms, Junior Grand Warden ; Dr John Moncrief, of Kilwinning Leith,
Grand Treasurer ; John Macdougall of the Exchequer, Scots Arms, Grand
Secretary ; and -Robert Alison, writer, of Mary's Chapel, Grand Clerk. A
notarial attestation by the last-named officer having confirmed this elec-
tion, the Grand Master, his Depute, and Wardens, were ''saluted and
congratulated in the usual method," and after fixing the date of the first
quarterly communication, the Grand Lodge was closed.
A report by the Master of the proceedings of the Grand Lodge was
presented to Mary's Chapel at its communication on St John's-day, 1736,
— " of which proceedings the brethren of the Lodge unanimously approved,
and of new nominated and appointed the said Thomas Mylne to represent
174 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
their lodge as their master, the said Samwell Neilson as their senior
warden, and the said Charles Mack as their junior warden, in all the
meetings of the said Grand Lodge untill the twenty-seaventh day of
December jm. viic. and threttie-seaven years ; and appointed the clerk
to exped and signe their commission for that purpose." The recom-
mendation by Mary's Chapel of the Earl of Home for the Grand Master-
ship, and its subsequent approval of the conduct of its representatives in
unanimously supporting the nomination of St Clair, would seem to
imply that up till the election that Lodge had been ignorant of the
grounds upon which the latter gentleman's claims to the honour were
to be urged — a circumstance which affords presumptive proof that the
leading Scotch Masons of the time were entirely oblivious of any consti-
tuted authority in trade matters apart from Lodges and Incorporations.
St Clair was a member of neither when the question of a Grand Mastership
was first propounded, — nor in his subsequent admission and advancement
as an Accepted Mason was he introduced to the brethren in any other
character than that of a private gentleman.
The whole facts seem to show that the Lodge Canongate Kilwinning
had taken the initiative in the agitation for a Grand Lodge for Scotland,
and the circumstances connected with the affiliation of Dr Douglas, before
referred to, render it probable that he had been introduced for the purpose
of perfecting a previously-concocted plan whereby the election of a Grand
Master might be made to contribute to the aggrandisement of the Lodge
receiving him. His subsequent advancement and frequent re-election to
the chair of Substitute Grand Master would indicate the possession of high
Masonic qualifications, and to these the Craft may have been indebted for
the resuscitation of the St Clair Charters and the dramatic effect which
their identification ^vith the successful aspirant to the Grand Mastership
gave to the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Whatever may
have been the immediate motive of the originators of the scheme, the set-
ting up a Grand Lodge ostensibly upon the ruins of an institution that had
ceased to be of practical benefit, but which in former times had been
closely allied to the guilds of the mason craft, gave to the new organisa-
tion an air of antiquity as the lineal representative of the ancient courts of
Operative Masonry ; while the so-called resignation of St Clair was, if not
too closely criticised, calculated to give to the whole affair a sort of legal
aspect that was awanting at the institution of the Grand Lodge of England.
It will have been observed that in all the negotiations respecting the
contemplated election of Grand Master, proceedings are represented as
having been taken by "the four lodges in and about Edinburgh." Six
INSTITUTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. 175
Lodges existed in the district at the date of this Masonic quartet's first
meeting ; but a desire to humour each other's prejudices, or motives of
policy, may have led to their unanimity in ignoring the Lodges Canongate
and Leith and Leith and Canongate, and the Journeymen. Each of these
Lodges owed its origin to secessions from Mary's Chapel, and the objections
which the parent Lodge offered in 1736 to the Grand Lodge's recognition
of the former is suggestive of the means by which both the Canongate and
Leith and the Journeymen were excluded from participating in the move-
ment which was inaugurated by " the four." The unfriendly relations
which the following excerpt from minute of first grand quarterly com-
munication shows to have subsisted between the eldest daughter of Mary's
Chapel and another of the league in question would also contribute to the
exclusion of the former Lodge : " Petition presented by the Lodge intituled
Canongate and Leith and Leith and Canongate, complaining of several of
their brethren who had given bills for their entry-money, and which they
refused to pay ; and when pursued before the Sheriff of Edinburgh they
advocated their cause to the Lords, and since that time severals of them
have deserted their said lodge and joined themselves with the Lodge of
Kilwinning Scots Arms, — and craved justice might be adhibit thereanent."
The slight that was thrown upon the Canongate and Leith and the Journey-
men would be all the more offensive to them from the fact that in point
of seniority they were both superior to two of the associated Lodges.
The formation of the Lodge Kilwinning Scots Arms, February 14,
1729, would in all probability be a result of the Masonic communication
that had been opened up between the southern and northern capitals by
Desaguliers. Its original members were all Theoretical Masons, chiefly
writers and merchant-burgesses ; and at 30th November 1736, its roll —
largely augmented by accessions of the same class from other Lodges,
including the Earls of Crawfurd and Kilmarnock, and Lord Garlics —
contained the name of only one practical mason, ex-deacon James Mack,
the leader of the anti-operative party in Mary's Chapel in the dispute
regarding the admission of honorary members, as already noticed. The
Earls of Cromarty and Home, the Lords Erskine and Colville, and Sir
Alexander Hope of Kerse, were also on the roll at the date mentioned.
Leith Kilwinning, which was an offshoot from Canongate Kilwinning,
had only been five months in existence when the Grand Lodge was formed.
Originally composed of handicraft masons, the Canongate Kilwinning had
at this period become entirely divested of that characteristic ; three-fourths
of the members of the Canongate and Leith were theorists in regard to the
mason craft ; Mary's Chapel was pre-eminently the Lodge of the trade-
burgesses ; while the Journeymen was as at first exclusively composed of
176 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
working masons. It was in recognition of the two last-named Lodges
having retained most of their original character that in 1740 their Masters
were created the hereditary examiners of visitors to the Grand Lodge.
The appointment is thus recorded : " It was ordered that in all time com-
ing three Examinators be appointed for the Grand Lodge, whereof the
Master of Mary's Chapel for the time be one, and the Master of the Lodge
Journeymen another ; and in their absence the Senior and Junior Warden
in order, — and these unalterably ; and that the other examinator be named
at each Quarterly Communication from the Chair, with consent of the
Brethren present, for trying and examining such visiting members as are
strangers to the Grand Lodge, and who are desirous to attend the meet-
ings thereof" Further, " That the Treasurer purchase a full set of mason
tools for the use of the Lodge : that the present Masters of Mary's
Chapel and the Journeymen Lodge be the proper persons to choose the
same."
As far as can be learned from the entries, it appears that of about twelve
hundred brethren returned to the Grand Lodge as members of the several
lodges represented at the first Grand Election, one-half were persons not
engaged in mechanical pursuits. These lists contain the names of one
duke, five earls, five lords, three sons of lords, one lord of session, thirteen
baronets and knights, one baron of exchequer, two clerks of session, the
lyon clerk, three clerks of chancery, seven advocates, five writers to the
signet, the keeper of the signet, twenty-four writers, six ministers of the
gospel, twelve surgeons, eighteen officers of customs and excise, seventy-
five merchants, and a long array of lairds and other gentlemen of position.
The Duke of Perth, Earls of Glasgow and Kintore, Lords Drumore,
Cardross, and Gray, the Hons. John Master of Gray, Alexander and George
Colville, Sir David Cunninghame of Corsehill, Sir William Maxwell of
Monreith, Sir William Murray of Auchtertyre, Sir James Cunninghame of
Milncraig, Sir Michael Bruce of Stenhouse, Sir James Hamilton of Rose-
hall, Sir James Carnegie, Sir William Nicholson, Sir William Baillie of
Lamington, Sir Arthur Forbes of Kingswells, Sir William Gordon of Park,
and Sir Alexander Watson, remain to be added to the titled brethren
already noted in connection with the Edinburgh Lodges. The Dukes of
Athole and Buccleuch, the Earls of Abercorn, Balcarres, Loudon, and
Wemyss, Lord Cathcart, and others of the Scottish nobility, are known at
the period in question to have been members of the Fraternity, though
their names do not appear on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
It does not properly fall within the scope of this work to follow further
the history of the Grand Lodge, but we cannot conclude our narrative of
DISORDER IN LODGES. 177
its erection without noticing two incidental matters relating to this branch
of our subject.
■ The disorganisation that was prevalent in the Craft at the date of the
erection of the Grand Lodge, and the indistinct notions that were then
held by Lodges in regard to the functions of that institution, are indicated .
by the queries that were presented to the Grand Lodge by the Lodge of
Maybole on the occasion of its enrolment, January 12, 1737, but which
,were never reported upon by the committee to whom they were remitted: —
; " Primo. What benefit they shall reap upon the payment of the 2s. 6d.
sterling for each future intrant. Secundo. What course shall be taken
with such irregular brethren as belong to no particular Lodge, yet meet in
private and enter Masons at such low rates and in such irregular methods
as is a scandal to be mentioned among Masons. Tertio. What method
shall be taken with those brethren who being joined with regular Societies
use freedom to leave them without any just cause. Quarto. That several
Brethren do make and enter Apprentices, and continue them as such, some
for 6, 8, 10, 13 years, without advancing them any farder or making them
pellow Crafts ; and that even some of these Apprentices do enter other
Apprentices with them, and that several of them through want of due
direction both act and speak unmannerly in public and private meetings.
And Quinto. That it's the common practice that where one Mason on
agreeing with a piece of work, if his employer and he have any difference
another Mason comes and takes it over that Mason's head, and engages in
the work without the first agreeing brother being cleared for what he has
done or caused be done."
. A question was also raised at the first Grand Quarterly Communication
with respect to the representatives from Atcheson's Haven, on production
of a commission in favour of David Home, writer in Edinburgh, signed by
three of the four "managers" of the said Lodge. The Master having
claimed the right to continue to represent his Lodge, as he had done on St
Andrew's Day, it was remitted by Grand Lodge to the Master of Mary's
Chapel and others to investigate and report. It seemed that by the con-
stitution of the Lodge the " deacon or master had no power to act but by
the direction of the four superintendants, who manage for the whole lodge."
The Grand Lodge's refusal to sanction this peculiarity in the constitution
of the Lodge at Musselburgh resulted in the' brethren resolving " not to
trouble the Grand Lodge nor themselves farther, they choosing to stand
on their old footing and rights as they had done these many years and
ages past." On this being communicated to Grand Committee, it was
(May 1737) "agreed that Atcheson's Haven be deleted out of the books
&f -Gra-nd Lodge, and no more called on the rolls upon the Clerk's highest
M
17? HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY,
peril." It was restored to the roll in 1814, but becoming dormant, it was
finally cut off in 1866.
As it was one of the oldest of the Operative Lodges consenting to the
formation of the Grand Lodge, we present an excerpt from its records, illus-
trative of the condition of the Craft at the end of the seventeenth century: —
"At Musleburgh the 27th Deer. 1700, the Company of Atchisone's haven
being mett together, hath taken under consideration the several disorders of
the said Lodge, which disorders being contrary to the most ancient, orderly,
and. well constitute laws in all the Lodges of the said kingdom, and when
they are contemned and violated by any of the members of any Lodge, it
is surely, to the dishonour and disadventage of the comely order of that
Lodge, and when observed (as we are all bound to by our voluntary obli-
gations), they contribute very much to the honour and great advantage of
the said Lodge, and when not observed it is a ready way to bring that
Lodge to nothing, and consequently to bring an great disgrace on our
Craft of Masonry, which has been so much honoured in all ages for its
excellent and well-ordered laws. And we hope there will be none of us that
will continue to be guilty of bringing this our Craft into contempt ; and,
therefor, considering that the first planters of Lodges has so well considered
the good and advantage of all Lodges in instituting of the said law^s, which
are so well founded on reason, and that none in all ages of an honest and
ingenious mind has ever objected against them, therefore we conclude it to be
an note of dishonesty and discredit to any that would break all these laws,
and so break the unity and peace of their Lodge, which we wish may
never be amongst us ; but we rather hope all will do their utmost to the
preserving of the unity, peace, and advantage of this Lodge : — i. Now,
these disorders in our Lodge, which are so very common, are first : such as
do not keep the orderly meetings of the said Lodge.' 2. Such as are
Entered Prentices, who take all works without ever qualifying themselves,
which if they did (why should they not), which was never so practised in
former times as now. 3. Such Fellow Crafts as encourage them in this
practise in working to them as Journeymen, which abuse, if continued in,
then none will seek to be past, seeing they have all benefits without il, and
at last by degrees will bring all law and order, and consequently the
Mason Word to contempt. 4. Such as take on them to enter without
the advice and consent of the whole Lodge by chusing whom they please,
and at what time and season they please, which practice has ever been the
cause of keeping our Box so low and an effectuall way to destroy it, —
passing and entring being one of the great means whereby it is strength-
ened and made up ; and if this shall be allowed, how shall we either be
able to help our poor or do other things needful! and necessary for the
ANCIENT DISPOSITION OF LODGE OFFICIALS. 179
honour and advantage of the company ? Now, after all matured delibera-
tions and considerations, we all, as one man, asents and consents to thir
presents as follows : — As first, all the laws of the said Lodge (namely,
these against the disorders named above) be read, revised, and renewed,
that these disorders may be prevented in all times coming, seeing it is the
concernment of all the members of the Lodge and the commendation of
the whole that good order be kept. Moreover, as to the first disorder, we
all agree that every one shall keep duely our meetings and pay their quar-
ter counts, except an necessary hindrances ; yet, notwithstanding, they
either send or pay at next meeting their quarter counts, the neglect of
which is like to bring our Lodge to nothing. As to the 2nd disorder, we
all agree to former laws anent entered apprentices, that none take work as
masters till they be past, which will be most for their own credit and com-
mendation in keeping good order ; and if they shall not pass (as we pre-
sume none will refuse), then we all consent that no Fellow . Crafts, no
Entered Prentices within this Lodge shall work with them, and, if they get
Masons of other Lodges, that application be made to them for a redress —
for if this be allowed, then others may follow the same practice, — seeing
they may have the same privileges without being past. As for the third
disorder, we all agree that none pass or enter but on the day of our general
meeting, or if they do, that the whole be owned and their consents sought,
and likewise that the Deacon and Warden be present, and that the whole
money of passing and entering be kept whole and intire and given into our
box at the day of our meeting, and that no charges nor expences be taken
off the said money, that so our Box be not kept low and impoverished by
such practices. Lastly, we all agree that those who will not keep good
order in the Lodge, but will continue and break all laws and these formerly
mentioned, that they shall be excluded from all benefits and privileges of
the said Lodge for the time to come ; whereas, as we are all Brethren
incorporated in one Corporation, we all wish and desire that we may live in
love, peace, concord, and agreement one with another, which will always
be to the great credit and advantage of our Company in Atchison's Haven."
Another minute of this Lodge contains a record of what may be held to
have been the disposition of the chief officials of Scotch Lodges prior to
their adoption of the English system of Freemasonry and consequent ob-
literation of their Operative constitution — a presumption which is strength-
ened by the fact that it was the Lodge's tenacious adherence to old customs
which led to its withdrawal from the newly formed Grand Lodge : — " .
It was ordained (1758) that the way of sitting in each meeting and
assembly should also be here inserted, which is as follows : That the deacon
and warden for the time being shall sitt in the most conspicuous place of
i8o
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the room and table where the said meeting is held, and that the late dea-
con and the four managers shall have their seats next or nearest to the
said deacon and warden, and that none of the rest of the brethren shall
offer to take place of them, but to take their places as they come, always
leaving room for the above-mentioned brethren, so that no interruption
may happen in discussing the business belonging to the lodge."
William St Clair, the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, was the last of the family of Rosslin, which was generally sup-
posed to be the elder branch of the noble race of St Clair, of which the
Earl of Caithness is now the lineal representative. He was proprietor and
occupant of a house near the bottom of Liberton Wynd, Edinburgh. It
was a small self-contained edifice, adjoining the east side of the alley and
having a southerly exposure to the Cowgate, from which street the front
was visible.
WILLIAM ST CLAIR OF ROSSLIN. l8l
Although he only filled the Grand Throne during the first year of
Grand Lodge's existence, he continued to take an active interest in its
affairs ; and through his influence with the nobility and gentry of Scot-
land, secured as his successors in the Throne craftsmen of high repute.
Forty-two years elapsed between his retirement from the chair and his
death : during that long period he was almost always present at the
annual festival of St Andrew, arid was so at the one immediately preced-
ing his death, which occurred in January 1778, in the 78th year of his age.
He was buried in Rosshn Chapel. A Funeral Grand Lodge was held in
honour of his memory. Sir Walter Scott describes St Clair as being " a
man considerably above six feet, with dark -grey locks, a form upright, but
gracefully so, thin-flanked and broad shouldered, built it would seem for
the business of war or the chase, a noble eye of chastened pride and
undoubted authority, and features handsome and striking in their general
effect, though somewhat harsh and exaggerated when considered in detail.
His complexion was dark and grizzled, and we as schoolboys, who
crowded to see him perform feats of strength and skill in the old Scottish
games of golf and archery, used to think and say amongst ourselves the
whole figure resembled the famous founder of the Douglas race pointed
out, it is pretended, to the Scottish monarch on the conquered field of
battle as the man whose arm had achieved the victory, by the expressive
words Sholto Dhicglas, — ' behold the dark-grey man.' " He married Cor-
delia, daughter of Sir George Wishart of Cliftonhall, by whom he had
three sons and five daughters, who all died young except one daughter.
He sold what remained of the family estates to General Saint-Clair, second
son of Henry Lord Sinclair, the heir of line of William Earl of Orkney by
his first marriage. The estates so acquired, together with others, were
settled by a deed of entail, dated 31st October 173S, failing issue of the
granter, upon the heirs-male of his sisters, and under the distinction
therein contained, James Paterson, afterward Saintclair, succeeded as only
son of the marriage between the Honourable Grisel Saintclair, the eldest
sister of the granter, and John Paterson of Prestonhall. This gentleman,
dying unmarried in 1789, was succeeded by Sir James Saintclair Erskine,
Baronet, afterwards second Earl of Rosslyn (Grand Master in 18 10- 12),
whose mother was a sister of Alexander Wedderburn, first Earl of Ross-
lyn, and grandfather of the present Grand Master Mason, the Earl of
Rosslyn.
Our engraving of Mr St Clair's likeness is taken from an original por-
trait of him, some time the property of the Golf Club of Leith, but now
belonging to the Royal Archers of Scotland, and which hangs on the walls
of their hall at Edinburgh. Of both these bodies Mr St Clair was a dis-
1 82 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
tinguished member. The painter is supposed to have been Martin, a well-
known Scottish artist. The genuineness of this portrait is unquestioned.
There is another portrait of Mr St Clair in the Lodge Room of Canongate
Kilwinning, in Masonic costume, and a copy of this picture stands in Free-
masons' Hall, and a lithographed copy of it is in Laurie's History. There
is, however, no trace of its origin. It is known to have been in possession
of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge from about the year 1793 ; but it
bears slight resemblance to the one in the Archers' Hall. We are of
opinion that it is neither genuine nor a correct likeness of its subject. In
the portrait from which our likeness is taken, Mr St Clair is in the
costume of a golfer, with a round blue Scotch bonnet, and stands in the
act of driving a ball from the tee.-
William, eighth Earl of Home, was, at the institution of the Grand
Lodge, Master of the Kilwinning Scots Arms. His Lordship succeeded
his father in 1720. He had a Cornet's commission in the 2d regiment of
Dragoon Guards, in 1735, and got a troop of Churchhill's dragoons, in
1740. He rose to the rank of Lieut. -General in the army. He served on
the Continent ; was in Scotland, 174S, when the Rebellion broke out ;
joined Sir John Cope at Dunbar in September, and was at the battle of
Prestonpans, where he endeavoured, but in vain, to rally the dragoons. He
took the command of the Glasgow regiment of 600 men, and with it joined
the Royal army at Stirling, 12th December 1745. In 1757 he was con-
stituted governor of the important fortress of Gibraltar, where he died in
1761.
William, fourth Earl of Kilmarnock, was one of the original
members and first Master of Kilmarnock Kilwinning (now No. 22), char-
tered in 1734, — was called to the chair of the Lodge of Kilwinning, and
while holding that office, was in November 1742 elected Grand Master
Mason of Scotland. It was on his Lordship's recommendation that, in
1743, the first Military Lodge, under Grand Lodge, was erected — the peti-
tioners being " some sergeants and sentinals belonging to Colonel Lees'
regiment of foot." About the year 1764, the rite of "Strict Observance,"
a conglomeration of masonry, magic, and chivalry, was introduced into
Germany. The founder of this branch of the " high degrees " was Baron
von Hund, who professed to have been made a Knight Templar by Lord
Kilmarnock in Paris in 1743, and to have been introduced through the
same medium to Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Grand Master of the
Order. Evidence from a Scottish source has never been produced of Lord
Kilmarnock's connection with other than Craft Masonry, or of the Pre-
tender being a Freemason. Lord Kilmarnock fought on the Stuart side .
at the battle of Culloden, while his eldest son, Lord Boyd, who bore a
GENTLEMEN MASONS. 183
commission in the Royal army, fought on the other side. After the battle
he voluntarily surrendered himself, and was afterwards tried and con-
demned for high treason. He was executed in 1746. Lord Boyd, who
succeeded to the Earldom of Errol, was Grand Master in 1751-52. We
present a fac-simile of Lord Kilmarnock's autograph, as found in the
records of Mother Kilwinning.
////U// y?/JMy mx,^
James Drummond, third Duke of Perth, was initiated in the Lodge
Kilwinning, Dundee. He and his uncle, Lord John Drummond, were two
of seven persons of position and influence who, in 1 740, signed a bond,
engaging themselves to take arms and to venture their lives and fortunes
to restore the Stuart family, provided the King of France would send over
to Scotland a body of troops to their assistance. His Grace, on joining
Prince Charles Edward's standard in 174S, was created Lieut.-General
in the Highland Army, and as such was at the battle of Prestonpans,
and commanded at the sieges of Carlisle and Stirling. After the battle of
Culloden, he escaped to the coast of Moidart, where he embarked for
France ; but his constitution being quite exhausted by fatigue and
anxiety, he died on the passage. His Grace's younger and only brother,
Lord John Drummond, was a member of the Lodge of Dunblane. James,
fifth Earl of Balcarres, was well known in English Masonic circles.
He joined the army of the Pretender in 1715, but was afterwards par-
doned, and served with distinction in the British army at Dettingen and
Fontenoy. John, fourth Earl of Loudoun, a Past Grand Master of
the Grand Lodge of England, took a prominent part on the side of the
Government in suppressing the Rebellion of 1745. He subsequently held
the chief military command in America.
d!^/l£^^ jrj^^^ct^^
CHAPTER XX.
T was the business of the first General Communication of the
Lodge of Edinburgh under the new regime (December 23,
1736), to " concert regulations with respect to its ellections
and other affairs on St John's Day." Its deliberations on
this occasion were chiefly directed to the subject of Lodge festivities and
their accessories — the third of the resolutions then adopted being note-
worthy as containing the first allusion that is to be met with in these
records concerning the conventional dress of the Craft: — " 1™°- That the
brethren's private business may meet with alse litle interruption as possi-
ble, resolved that their publick meetting be att Maries Chapell att three
of the clock in the afternoon. 2'^°- That for defraying the expences of
their intertainment, each member and brother present shall take a ticket
LODGE VESTMENTS. l8S
from Salriwell Neilson the warden, who is to officiate as Stewart; and pay
three pounds Scots therefor,— and if they spend any more it shall be upon
their own charges ; and that none be present at the intertainment but
those who have tickets, except by permission of the Society. S^^^' That
the brethren of the Lodge be all suitably cloathed, and for that end that
the Warden provid gloves and aprons, for which each brother shall pay^
eighteen shillings Scots, or otherways furnish cloathing to themselves, to
be left with the Officer att dissmissing of the Lodge with their names
marked thereon, to serve the next occasion."
: These regulations were readopted by the Lodge when arranging for the
next St John's-day Festival ; and as showing the importance which Mary's-.
Chapel thus early attached to the vestments and trappings of SpeculaJ;ive
Masonry, the minute states "that, on taking their places in the lodge, the
master, deputy, and wardens were saluted and dignified with the proper
cloathing and jewalls belonging to their honourable offices," all of which
had been furnished by the office-bearers themselves, at a cost of five
shillings each, and were to become the property of the Lodge on the
following terms : " The present Thesaurer shall out of the public money
belonging to the Lodge that may come to his hand purchase these Jewalls
from the saids foure officers at ffiDure shillings sterling per peace, and
furnish suitable ribbans thereto, in order to be delivered to the persons
chosen to. these offices for the ensuing year, each of them paying to him
for the use of the Lodge two shillings and sixpence sterling money for the
Use of them during their respective offices, and to be delivered back at the
expyring thereof to the Thesaurer for the tyme, so as to remain the
undoubted property of the Lodge, and their successors to pay the like sum
in for the use thereof in tyme coming." It was afterwards adopted as a
standing rule of the Lodge that at the St John's-day Festivals " all the
brethren be suitably cloathed, and that other things, as directed by their
sederunt the 226 of December 1737, be performed in a decent and orderly
forme." What may be termed the sumptuary law of this code of regula-
tions was occasionally the subject of revision, the-first instance of the kind
being given in the minute of December 1738, when it was resolved, " that
it being probable this Lodge is to have the honour of a visit from the
Right Honourable and Most Worshipful the Earle of Kintore, Grand
Master of Scotland, att their annwall meetting on St John the Evangelist's
Day next, therefor each brother pay six shillings sterling for his ticket at
the intertainment on that day, in place of the fyve shillings payed last
year."
■ Previous to the introduction into Scotland of Symbolical Masonrj^,
advancement to the chief office in Lodges was unmarked by any ceremonial
l86 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
further than the exaction of an oath of fealty from the newly-elected
brother. Even after the Operative element had been eliminated from
Lodges, the form of installation or " chairing " that was at first adopted was
exceedingly simple. On his election the Master was shown to the chair
by the old Master, who invested him with the jewel of office, and gave the
salute, in which the brethren joined. With the introduction of "high
masonry " came the dogma that no brother could legally preside in a
Lodge until his reception of the Chair Degree. This step originally bore
some resemblance to the chairing which is clandestinely practised in many
Scotch Lodges of the present day — a ceremony in which order and misrule
are made alternately to predominate, in order the more impressively to
inspire the novitiate with a sense of the dignity and responsibility that
pertain to the president of a Lodge of Freemasons. This mock installation
will now disappear before the Installed Master's ritual recently adopted
by Grand Lodge.
While gloves are known to have been worn in the Lodge of Kilwinning
as the livery of the Craft at the middle of the seventeenth century, about
eighty years intervene before the Kilwinning records afford any trace of
aprons or jewels (compass, square, plummet, and level) being recognised
as Masonic regalia. The minutes of the Lodge of Dunblane, January 8,
1724, contain a record of the presentation of aprons and gloves to three
non-operative intrants. The Lodge had only a short time previously been
presented with " The Constitutions of the Freemasons," issued under the
auspices of the Grand Lodge of England. Liveries are not again men-
tioned in the Dunblane records till December i, 1730, when "the mem-
bers, taking into their consideration that it were very decent the Lodge
were suitably cloathed every Saint John's-day, and did frankly wear the
badges of a free and accepted Mason, conform to the order observed in
many rightly constituted Lodges in Scotland and England, do therefore
enact and ordain that each member of the Lodge shall on every Saint
John's-day following put on and wear an white apron and a pair of white
gloves as the badge . . . which gloves and aprons are to be kept by
the treasurer in a chest to be made for the purpose, to be given out to
each member in due time each St John's-day, or any other .time which
shall be thought necessary to put on the same." The sash, as part of the
office-bearers' livery, was adopted in 1744; and jewels began to be worn
in 1760, the year in which the Dunblane Fraternity joined the Grand
Lodge, and in which also the custom of providing " the young brethren "
with gloves and aprons was abolished. Besides the ordinary jewels, " St
Andrew's Crosses " were at this period worn by the principal officers of the
Lodge of Dunblane, crosses of smaller size being procured for the adorn-
CONVIVIALITIES OF THE LODGE. 187
merit of the other brethren. A St Andrew's Cross, in gold, was the de-
scription of jewel that was issued by Grand Lodge" in 1836 in commemora-
tion of its First Centenary. White aprons and gloves were common to the
Lodge of Dundee in 1733. The minute which records the order for the
purchase of a fifth jewel (December 27, 1739), shows that blue was origi-
nally chosen by the Lodge of Edinburgh as its distinguishing colour : —
" The Thesaurer..was also appointed to furnish himself with a propper
Jewall suitable to his office on the same conditions upon the expences
of the Lodge, with new blew ribband for the -whole fyve jewalls." The
Grand Lodge had adopted green ribbon ; and ever since that time variety
in the colour of their livery has been a mark of distinctiveness among the
Scottish Fraternity.
The convivial element of Masonic communications had now become so
popular with the brethren that at the same sederunt they unanimously
agreed to keep, " with due decency and frugality," four quarterly meetings
in the year, besides those anent their private affairs. The inconvenience
of frequent sittings on refreshment in the Chapel gave rise to the custom
of the brethren retiring to a tavern after initiation, and there holding their
convivialities. March 21, 1740: — "Likeas, the brethren present unanimT
ously agree4 that their first quarterly meeting shall be on Thursday next
the 27th of March current in Brother Biggar's house at fyve of the clock
in the afternoon, where they are to be decently cloathed, and each brother
. is only to pay for what he thinks fitt to call for ... . and if any
applications shall be made for admitting and receaving new brethren, the
same shall be done in Maries Chapel before the meeting in Brother
Biggar's house." Twelve members of the Lodge (including the office-
bearers and Provost M'Aulay), besides visiting brethren, attended the first
quarterly meeting of the Lodge under the purely Speculative system,
which is thus reported by the Clerk : — " The which day, the Lodge being
duly opened, they- were visited by members from the following lodges,
viz., Edinburgh Kilwinning keept at Scots Armes, Canongate and Leith,
Leith and Canongate, Canongate Kilwinning, Drummond Kilwinning
from Greenock, Torphichen, Canongate from Leith, Journeymen Masons
in Edr., Maybole, the Virgin Lodge at Drumsheugh [a suburb of Edin-
burgh], the Dales Coffee House att London, and Lodge of Linlithgow,
where the common and ordinary healths were tost, viz., The King and
the Craft, the Most Worshipfull the Grand Master and other officers of
the Grand Lodge, Prosperity to the severall Lodges whose members were
present, the Royal Infirmary, Prosperity and Harmony amongst all honest
true-hearted Masons, and other suitable to the occasion — being assisted by
severall instruments of musick. No private business being done att this
1.88 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
meetting, the Lodge was afterwards closed and the members dismissed in-
due forme. But before tlosing of the lodge the Right Worshipfull Master
appointed the next quarterly meeting to be held at Brother Patrick
Grant's house in the Advocate's Close, Edr., the last Thursday of June
next at six of the clock in the afternoon."
The paucity of numbers at the second quarterly communication, nine
only being present, was the immediate cause of the adoption of extra-
ordinary measures to insure a better attendance. Hitherto it had been
the custom to have the brethren summoned verbally by the officer, some-
times by an operative apprentice : this was now ordered to be done by
printed circular, and a penalty attached to absenteeism, — written invita-
tions were to be sent to the neighbouring Lodges, aprons were to be
provided for the guests, the Lodge was to enjoy a monopoly in the matter
of supplying clothing to its members, and harmonising in Mary's Chapel
was to be resumed : — " The which day (June 26, 1740) . . . the next
quarterly meeting appointed to be at Maries Chapell the last Thursday of
September nixt to come att fyve of the o'clock in the afternoon precisely,
and in regaird a great many members of the Lodge have neglected to
attend the same, both on this and the preceeding quarter dayes, allbeit
they were verbally warned by the officer for that purpose, to the great loss
and prejudice of the said Lodge : for preventing of the like inconsistency
for the future, and least their being warned by the officer might not per-
haps have come to the knowledge of severall of the members, it was un-
animously resolved and agreed upon that the clerk shall cause print circu-
lar letters to be signed by him and sent by the Officer to all the membersj
intimating to them the day, place, and hour of their meettings in tyme
coniing, and requeering their punctuall attendance, each brother, under the
penalty of sixpence sterling, to be payed for the benefits of the poor ; as
also that he write letters to the Masters of the severall Lodges within the
City of Edr. and the suburbs, att least eight days preceeding their next
quarterly meetting, intimating to them the day, hour, and place thereof,
in case any of them think fitt to favour this Lodge with a visit, and for the
more certain notification thereof to the saids Lodges, that the severall
members of this Lodge afternamed do attend and visit the several Lodges
aftersaid att their severall monthly meettings in Septr. next . . . and
that these visitants do intimate the day, houre, and place of the said next
quarterly meetting of this Lodge. The which day it was also unanimously
resolved and agreed upon that the Thesaurer to this Lodge do provide
and purchase new clothing or leather approns to the extent of twelve
pounds Scots money upon the publick expences, betwixt and the next
quarterly meetting, for accomodating of visiting brethren from other
CONVIVIALITIES OF THE LODGE. 189
Lodges, and even for the members of this Lodge as they shall have
occasion, and that the members of this Lodge do purchase no new clothing
anywhere else but from the Thesaurer at the common price, and that
hereafter no clothing be taken out of the chapell, but left with the Officer,
who is to keep the same safely in some propper repository. And in
regaird Brother -Patrick Grant hath been att a considerable trouble and
expgnce in providing liquors and other necessaries for this meetting, of
which a very small part hath been disposed of, by reason of the small
company that have attended the same, it was therefore likewise unanim-
ously resolyed upon that he have the benefite of furnishing liquors and
other necessaries to their next quarterly meetting, preferable to any other
persons whatsoever. The above matters being finished and settled upon,
the common and ordinary healths were toast such as the King and the
Craft, the Grand Master and his Deputy, Grand Wardens and other
officers of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Master of England, and severall
others suitable the occasion." Through a minute of the Lodge St David
(then designed Canongate Kilwinning from Leith), April 9, 1740, we are
made acquainted with the form in toast-drinking which obtained in the
metropolitan Lodges of the period : " . . . It was moved by Brother
Aitkine, junior warden pro tempore, that Brother David Buchanan his
health should be drunk, whom wee had in the last Munday's news to have
been the man who first gott in at the iron port of Portobello* when taken,
and did place the British collours there, which was unanimously agreed to
by the Lodge, and his health drank with three claps and three hussas.''
It- was while the Lodge of Edinburgh was engaged in "drinking the
common and ordinary healths " on Summer St John's-day 1741, that a
member of the Society of Friends was thus pointedly referred to as a
disturbing element in the festivities that were being observed in a sister
Lodge : " It being reported by a visiting brother that one Thomas Cuming,
teacher of stenography and a Quaker, had been guilty of ane indignity to
the Lodge of Canongate Kilwinning, it was resolved not to ad mitt him in
this Lodge, either as a member or visiting brother, untill he give satisfac-
tion for his offence." It is difficult to account for the presence in a
Mason Lodge of a member of the Society of Friends — one of whose
distinguishing characteristics is a religious objection to taking oaths of
any kind.
The free initiation of musicians— at custom which, notwithstanding its
subsequent prohibition by Grand Lodge, still lingers among the Crafts-
had its origin in the desire to make Masonic conviviality as attractive as
* Porto-Bello, on the Isthmus of Darien, taken by the British, with six ships under Admiral
Vernon, from the vSpaniards. The news arrived in England on 13th March 1740.
igo HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
possible. One John Palma was the first of this class admitted into the
Lodge of Edinburgh. September 23, 1740: "he \^as admitted and
receaved ane Entered Apprentice gratis, for the benefit of his music to the
lodge, which he engaged to performe att all their meettings in tyme
coming during his residence in this city, without either fee or reward, and
also to pay the ordinary dues for the use of the Entered Apprentices and
Grand Lodge." At first this semi-gratuitous admission carried with it right
to a " voice in all the affairs of the lodge ; " but in December 1741 this was
put a stop to by the adoption of the following resolution : " Whereas some
tyme ago there were severall musicians, members of other lodges in and
about Edr., admitted and receaved members of this lodge gratis for the bene-
fit of their musick att their severall meettings, who now pretend to a voice
in their affairs. After reasoning the matter, it was statuted and ordained
that none of these gentlemen, or others entering in their circumstances,
shall have any voice in the affairs of this lodge ; nor are they to be lyable
for quarter accompts or other public expences with the other constituent
members of the lodge in tyme coming." Subsequent resolutions of the
Lodge anent the " ill service and abrupt leaving of the musick " serve to
show that it was not without its troubles in its intercourse with this section
of its membership. Towards the end of the last century the musical
department of the Lodge's " harmony '' began to be enriched by the fre-
quent attendance at its meetings of the bands of the several regiments
that from time to time were quartered in the Castle. Traces of this
custom are met with in these records up till 1805. The roll of the Lodge
contains lists of bandsmen of various regiments, who were initiated at
different periods without payment of fees. Soon after the formation of
the Grand Lodge, the performance of "tunes proper to the occasion"
became a stereotyped phrase in recording the proceedings at Masonic
festivities, — a charm being lent to these gatherings by the introduction of
songs embodying extravagant allusions to the symbolism, secrecy,
sociality, and antiquity of the Order. In 1742 the Lodge of Peebles
remitted the fees of an intrant " in respect he hath made a furnished chist
to hold the aprons, and aff'ords them music at St John's day." But the
minutes of the Lodge of Dunblane contain an earlier instance of the pre-
sence of musicians in meetings of the Craft. The name of John Camp-
bell, " violer," afterwards designated " lodge violer," first appears in "the
sederunt of St John's-day 1730, and is mentioned in the same capacity
at intervals during the next thirty years. The "lodge fiddler'' continued
to be an institution of the Craft up till a comparatively recent period.
An organ, the gift of Brother Clelland, a musician, was introduced into
the Lodge St David, Edinburgh, in 1744.
CONVIVIALITIES OF THE LODGE. IQI
It was probably to prevent a too liberal after-dinner indulgence at the
common expense that the Lodge of Edinburgh, in arranging for the
annual festival of 174 1, resolved "that in place of tickets each brother at
his entry to the Chapell shall pay one shilling sterling for eating and ale
Dr small beer, and to pay for what wyne or punch they think fitt to call
for ; and that the thesaurer furnish coall and candle on the public expenses
of the lodge." As appears from occasional scraps of the treasurer's
accounts, one shilling per bottle was the price of the punch that was used
in the Lodge ; and the quantity named was no unusual allowance on festive
occasions to each attending operative apprentice, to the officer, to the
stewards "when making punch to the meeting," and to each visiting
brother. " Cold toddy " seems at a much later period to have been the
favourite Lodge drink ; and one of the minutes of the year 1 809 is made to
record the surreptitious removal of " forty-one bottles " of this beverage,
the property of the Lodge.
A predilection for " Mason Glasses " was characteristic of the Craft in
the latter half of the eighteenth century. The peculiarity of these glasses
lay in having soles of extraordinary thickness — an essential requisite to
the then form of Masonic toast-drinking, — and not unfrequently they bore
emblems of the craft, along with the name of the Lodge owning them.
Long-stalked ones, capable of holding an English quart, and called " con-
stables," were wont to be used by the master and wardens on high festive
occasions. It was a custom of Kirk-Sessions in the last century to lend
their Communion Cups to neighbouring parishes not in possession of such
articles, on payment of a stipulated sum for the use of the poor. The
lending of Mason Glasses to meet the exigencies of anniversary communi-
cations was a common practice among the Fraternity ; and the charges
that were made in respect of broken glasses was one of the curiosities of
Lodge disbursements a century ago, as it was also in those of Mason Incor-
porations at and long prior to that period. The following, selected at
random, is one of many similar entries in the books of the Mary Chapel
Incorporation : " Item, paid for sack,* bread, and two glasses which came
to the Chappell and were breken, at the election of the Deacons at
Michalmes 1685, seven pound six shillings." Articles of a more enduring
texture than crystal were exposed to the risk of deterioration from the
* Sack is equivalent to Sherry, and both words are a corruption of Xeres, the district from
which the wine of this particular quality was originally imported. The following couplet from a
Masonic song, published in the beginning of the eighteenth century, shows the gradual progress of
the corruption of the word : —
" We'll be free and merry,
Drinking port and zerry."
192 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
hilarity of the brethren. October 1756: "The Lodge recommended^ to
the Treasurer to get Br. Hutton's ffiddle mended, which was broken by-
accident in the lodge, and to take credit in his accompts for what he should
pay in getting it rectified." Apropos of fiddles, the following curious
entry appears in the minutes of the Lodge of Peebles : " 5th May 1727 !
This day the Honbl. Company of Masons conveened considering the sevrl
petitions given in by Marion Blackie, relict of John Wood, a brother of
this lodge, that she had ane fiddle to raffle, and craved that the honbl.
company would give in what they thought proper thereto, — doe hereby
ordain their boxmaster to give in five shillings ster. to the sd. raffle, and
ordains the Deacon to raffle himself or any other he pleases appoint for
five throwes, and what is won to come into the box." In a more disinter-
ested spirit the Lodge, in 1747, instructed its Master to attend the raffle
of two pistols belonging to a member, and " to give in a croun out of the
box, providing it be laid out for meall to the wife and children." ;
It is singular that the only reference which these records make to thd
civil commotion in which the country was involved by the pretensions of
Prince Charles Edward should have been in connection with the convivi-
alities of the Lodge : " There was no quarterly meeting in September last;
occasioned by the troubles in the place occasioned by the-Highland Army.
Ro. Alison, Clerk." And in appointing the St John's-day Festival to be
held in the " laigh hall of Maries Chapell on Friday the 27th December 1745;
att foure of the clock in the afternoon precisely," the Lodge, "in respect
of the present troubles, resolved to have no feast further than is furnished
at their ordinary quarterly meettings." Again, " There was no quarterly
meeting on the last Thursday of June 1746, being a public thanksgiving
day. Ro. Alison, Clerk." The Rebellion seems also to have interfered
with the business of Grand Lodge : " It being represented from the Chair
that, by former regulations the Grand Master for the ensuing year is
always appointed to be named by the quarterly communication imme-
diately preceding the Grand Election, and so falls of course to be done
this day (Nov. 13, 174S); and in regard by reason of the late troubles and
disturbances within this city and the country, the Most WorshipfuU and
Right Honourable James Earl of Moi-ay, the present Grand Master, hath
not had the opportunity of signifying his pleasure to the Lodge who should
be his successor in that office, therefor the Substitute Grand Master named
the Earl of Buchan." It ought to be mentioned in connection with the
foregoing allusions to the Rebellion, that in no respect do thfese records
show that the Lodge of Edinburgh had ever been used as a rendezvous for
the promotion of the Jacobite cause. The same remark may be made
LODGE FURNITURE. 193
regarding Mason Lodges generally. The fact that their membership
embraced zealous partisans on both sides, would prevent Lodges being
made the arena of plotting and intrigue.
The metropolitan Lodges do not appear at once to have recovered from
the disturbing influences of the Rebellion, for Mary's Chapel and the
Journeymen were the only Lodges in Edinburgh that sent out and
received deputations on St John's-day of 1746. The Scots Arms and
Canongate Kilwinning did not meet that night ; but they had represen-
tatives present in Mary's Chapel, where they passed the night "in great
harmony and friendship." At the immediately succeeding St John's-day
celebration in Mary's Chapel, which, including visitors from Aberdeen,
Scots Arms, and Journeymen, was attended by sixteen brethren, it was
intimated that the deficiency of " leather aprons and drinking-glasses for
serving all the members of the Lodge " had been supplied, the expense of
which the treasurer was instructed to pay, as also "one shilling for punch
to the visiting brethren." With the introduction in 1752 of "a dozen of
Mason Glasses for the use of the Lodge," shortly afterwards augmented by
a stock of porter-mugs, plates, and mustard-pots, came the practice of pro-
viding the St John's-day entertainment from the common fund— a custom
which, however, appears to have been of short duration; for in 1768 it
was resolved that arrangements " should be made with the Stewards with
regard to their furnishings, so as the Lodge might reap some advantage
thereby." Coach-hires to deputations had at this period become a charge
upon the Lodge, and its funds were more frequently drawn upon for
" charity to indigent widows of brethren." A deputation of three brethren
of Leith Kilwinning were " hindred by a misfortun of breaking their coach "
from joining Mary's Chapel in its St John's-day festivities of 1740.
Though among the first of the old Operative Lodges to bedeck its office-
bearers with the insignia of the new Masonic Institution, Mary's Chapel
seems in other matters of a kindred description to have fallen behind its
contemporaries. It was in April 1754 that "the Lodge, taking to its con-
sideration that sundry necessarys were a wanting in this Lodge which were
usual in all regular Lodges even of inferior rank," appointed a committee to
report their opinion thereon. On the recommendation of this committee,
it was resolved " That the old jewals of the Lodge should continue as they
are ; but that two new ones .should be purchased for the Treasurer and
Clerk, neither of whom have any at present, and that new bends should be
purchased for the whole. . . . That two new tables should be got for the
Wardens, one five-branched candlestick for the Master, and two three-
branched candlesticks for the Wardens — the Lodge having none of these at
present." The old candelabra were afterwards replaced, under circumstances
N
194 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
that are thus explained in the minute dated nth February 1783 : "The
R.W.M., William M'Killop, Esq., as a testimony of the regard and esteem
he entertained for the brethren of the Antient Lodge of St Mary's Chapel,
Edinburgh, presented them with an handsome gilt Candlestick, consisting
of five branches, for the Master's Table, finished in a most elegant and
superb manner. . . . And the Brethren, in order to shew their readi-
ness to concur in every measure necessary for the aggrandizement of their
Lodge, have judged it proper that two gilt Candlesticks, with three
branches each, for the Wardens' Tables, finished in the same manner with
that the R.W. presented to the Lodge, should be ordered to be made, and
presented at the Festival of St John the Baptist then next."
The furnishing of the Lodge was rather a protracted business, for it was
not till 1837 that a "Throne" was ordered for the Master; nor were the
" three Pillars of the Corinthian, Ionic, and Doric Orders " set up in Mary's
Chapel till 1839. Brethren in whose mind Solomon's Chair and its
belongings are associated with the commonplace furniture of a " public-
house," may, from a perusal of the following "Estimate for a Master
Mason's Seat and Canopy after the model of those in use (1778) in some
of the most respectable Lodges in Edinburgh and Glasgow," form some
idea of the taste displayed by the Craft in the ornamentation of the Orient
a hundred years ago : — " A Platform with Three Steps to the front and
two on each side, and Indian Canopy with a gilded bell and gilded mould-
ings on each corner to the top, and back to carry the canopy from the
platform. The pannels of the canopy painted white, and the bottom of
the canopy covered with cloth that the inside may not be seen. Will cost
£^ los sterling. It would be more elegant not to cover the bottom of the
Canopy, but to paint the inside of the same colour of the cloth, with a
gold goloss running up each corner on the inside to the top, and a piece
ornament hanging down in the middle ; the outside pannels painted green,
with a festoon hanging from the top in each hollow pannel ; with gold
mouldings and gilded bells on each corner as above. Will cost £8 ster-
ling. An elegant Chair in the modern taste, finished in white and gold,
and covered with crimson damask. Will cost £4 4s."
In 1842 the Lodge of Edinburgh, "in consideration of the great expense
to which it was exposed from the borrowing of furniture on particular
occasions, and the great necessity of its being provided with every requisite
for its convenience and comfort," ordered the " necessary furnishing " to
be procured at a cost not exceeding ^15. A "beautiful Tracing Board"
had the previous year been presented to the Lodge by its R.W.M.,
James Dunlop, though, from an inventory of its property taken thirty
years prior to this date, the Lodge would seem in the eighteenth century
MASONIC FLOOR-CLOTHS. IQS
to have possessed a " Painted Floor Cloth." It would appear from the
records of Grand Lodge for the year 1759, that the use of such aids to
Masonic instruction had been prohibited : " It having been represented to '
Grand Lodge that a Painted Cloth containing the Flooring of a Master's
Lodge was hanging publicly exposed in a painter's shop, and they, con-
sidering that the same might be of pernicious consequences to Masonry,
ordered the same to be sent for ; and, in regard that the use of such
painted Floorings was expressly forbid, instruct the Lodge St Andrew's
(to whom it belonged) not in the future to use any such Floors." In
earlier times the giving permanency to the " Carpet" of a Lodge was
scrupulously avoided, and when employed to illustrate the Lectures, the
symbols peculiar to each degree were usually drawn on the floor of the
lodge-room, the same being obliterated before the brethren were dismissed.
Embroidered aprons, bearing emblems of the several offices, were intro-
duced in 1760. In ordering the repair of its clothing (January 1767) the
Lodge directs special attention to the dilapidated condition of its office-
bearers' "garters,'' and suggests that these, with the "ribbonds for the
. Jewells," should be renewed. It would seem that in the days of breeches,
garters formed a part of the livery of the Lodge. " Very elegant Jewells
suitable to their respective offices" were procured by the Master and his
Deputy in 1768. Apropos of "clothing;" it was once the fashion for
Lodges to have grotesquely-clad doorkeepers. In November 1770, Mary's.
Chapel decided that its tyler " should get a suit of light blew cloathes
suitable to the coUour of the lodge ribbons, with a silver lace round the
neck and cuffs, also a hatt, with a silver lace, button, and loop." The re-
newal of the officer's dress was considered by the Lodge on November 26,
1 813, when it was "agreed that a blue coat and a cocked hat, richly
trimmed with gold lace, should be purchased for the tyler, to be worn at
the procession on St Andrew's Day."
The attractions of the social gatherings of Mary's Chapel led to their
being held with more frequency :— May 21, 1756: "the Lodge taking to
their consideration the great loss they sustain by meeting so seldom in a
lodge way, have resolved that for the future they will meet regularly once
a month, and that the said monthly meetings be held the third Monday of
each month." The day of meeting was subsequently altered to the " last
Thursday;" and this again was, December 28, 1767, changed to the
" second Tuesday of every month in place of the last Thursday, as being
a day most convenient for the members of the lodge, and more centrically
removed from the meetings of any of the other lodges in town." This
arrangement is still observed. The proceedings at these stated communi-
cations were occasionally diversified by the delivery of lectures, one of
196 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
which is thus referred to in these records : "November 15, 1762. . .
The Master having commanded order, Brother WilHam Smellie dehvered
before the Lodge a discourse on the great virtue of Charity, recommend-
ing its practice to the Brethren, and enforcing his doctrine with many
arguments drawn from the constitution of human nature, and concluding
with an address to the Brethren of this antient and honourable Lodge.
The whole Brethren were so highly pleased with this discourse, that they
recommended it to the Master to consult with gentlemen of taste and
learning whether it would not do honour to the Fraternity, and to this
Lodge in particular, to have it printed. ... It was this night (Nov. 29)
represented by the Master that he had shown it to several gentlemen
whom he had good reason to regard as men of learning, all of whom were
highly pleased with it, and approved of the proposition to print it. By his
orders it was now in the press, and would soon be finished ; and that he
had taken upon him, in name of the Brethren, to dedicate it to the Right
Honourable and Most Worshipful the Earl of Elgin, present Grand
Master." Approving of this, the Brethren "ordain it to be particularly
mentioned that the- Discourse is printed and published by desire of the .
Master and Brethren of the Lodge of Mary's Chapel."
Bro. Smellie, who was entered December 25, 1759, was "passed and
raised " December 23, 1762 — the brethren, " in consideration of the honour
he had done the Lodge by the Oration on Charity, lately delivered in this
lodge and since printed, resolved that no fees should be taken from him
for their advancing him to the Degree of being a Master Mason." As
Acting Secretary, he signed the minute of the communication which the
Lodge held on the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the Canon-
gate Poor-House, April 21, 1760 ; and was Junior Warden in 1762, 63, and
64. This eminent member of Mary's Chapel was the son of Alexander
Smellie, a prominent brother of the same Lodge, and builder of the
Martyrs' Monument in the Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh. He
commenced his career as an operative printer, and continued through life
his connection with the Press, both in a literary capacity and as partner
for many years in a printing firm. Li his youth he devoted himself to
classical studies, and, his distinguished acquirements in that walk, as well
as in the region of natural philosophy, brought him into immediate con-
tact with the most distinguished literary Scotchmen of his day. He com-
piled the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica ; and printed the
first Edinburgh edition of Burns's Poems — forming through this medium
an intimate and permanent acquaintance with the poet. He died in June
1795, in his 5Sth year.
The custom, now so common, of removing to summer quarters, led a
LODGES OF INSTRUCTION. 197
century ago to the temporary suspension of the monthly meetings of the
Lodge of Edinburgh. August 13, 1776 : " From a consideration that this
season of the year induced the genteelest inhabitants of this city, and
many of the brethren of this lodge, to enjoy the pleasures of the country,
it was unanimously resolved that the meetings of the Lodge should be
adjourned from this evening to that of Tuesday the I2th day of Novem-
ber next." These reunions continued to be observed with varied success
till 1822, when (January 23), in order to facilitate the delivery of " lectures
of instruction upon the mysteries of the Order," it was unanimously resolved,
" That the regular monthly meetings should be continued to be held on
specified days, but that they should alternatly, — the one as a convivial
meeting, the other as an instruction meeting." This arrangement does not
seem to have been very strictly adhered to, judging from the blending of
the convivial with the instructive element that is shown in subsequent
minutes. Sometimes the instruction given at these communications took
the form of a general catechising of the brethren, — at others, the lecturer
confined himself to the recital of the ritual, which he interspersed with
notes illustrative of his subject. In January 1825 a series of lectures on
the " Practice and Principles of the Craft '' was inaugurated by the then
Master, Bro. Alexander Deuchar, who is represented as having " deduced
with great clearness and precision the existence of the sublime Order from
the most remote ages,' connecting it with the Elysian and other celebrated
mysteries, which were in these unenlightened times the only medium of
preserving the knowledge of truth.'' Leaving the Elysian fields of Masonic
speculation for the more practical but not less genial duties of the chair,
the right worshipful lecturer presided over a " convivial meeting of the
lodge, at which the brethren enjoyed themselves with their accustomed
zest.''
Drinking to the health of " Visiting Brethren " was, as it still is, accom-
panied with much ceremony, and to fail in showing due respect for one's
Mother Lodge on such occasions was in former times held to be highly
censurable. This is brought out in the following fracas, as recorded in the
minute of date December 24, 1767, which also contains a decision of
Mary's Chapel as to how far a brother's relationship to his Mother Lodge
was affected by his affiliation into another : " Bro. Anderson, an original
member of this lodge, being drunk to upon the motion of Bro. Thomas
Law as a member of St Luke, he accordingly returned the compliment in
name of that lodge, the impropriety of which occasioned a warm dispute,
after which was subsided the R. W. Master desired it as a favour of the
visiting brethren that they would withdraw, as the Lodge had private
business upon hands. This was complied with by all the visiting brethren
igS HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
except Bro. Anderson, who being desired to withdraw, Bro. Law insisted
that he should be allowed to stay as he was entitled being an original
member of this lodge, and that his being ordered to withdraw was an
incroachment upon the priviledges of this lodge. This occasioned a further
debate, which ended upon Bro. Anderson withdrawing out of the lodge.
The R. W. M. then gave the reason why he ordered Bro. Anderson to
retire, to witt, that he had discarded this and joined another lodge, and
that he had drawn off numbers of the members of this lodge with an
intention to ruin it, and had refused to stand up for its honour when drunk
to. These reasons being satisfactory to the lodge, they being known to
be true for the most part, the lodge approved of the R. W. M.'s procedure
as being quite proper and necessary."
The publication in 1797 of an anti-masonic work by the then Professor
of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, in which it was
attempted to be shown that the teachings of Freemasonry were subver-
sive of the principles of religion and social order, was regarded by Mary's
Chapel as likely to prove prejudicial to the attendance of the brethren at
its communications. It was with a view to neutralise the influence of Dr
Robison's book that the " Office-bearers of the Lodge — actuated by an
ardent wish to promote the interests of true Masonry, and to prove to the
world that the Lodges of Scots Masons were unjustly implicated in the
guilt ascribed to those on the Continent of Europe" — thought proper to
issue the following card : — " Edinburgh, November lOth, 1797. Brother,
— A considerable degree of discredit having been attempted to be thrown
on the Society of Free Masons by the author of a late publication, the
Right Worshipful Master and the other Office-bearers of the Ancient
Lodge of Edinburgh Mary's Chapel are solicitous that the meetings of
that respectable Lodge should be more numerously attended, both by
their own Members and by the Brethren of their Sister Lodges in Edin-
burgh, than has been the case for some time past, in order to evince, by
the propriety of their behaviour and conduct, that the imputations thrown
out against the Craft are without foundation : They, therefore, particularly
request the favour of your attendance at their monthly meeting on Tues-
day next at seven o'clock in the evening, and at any subsequent meeting
when your conveniency will permit. — I am, Brother, yours truly, J.M.,
Secretary. Burnet's Close, High Street." The brethren did not, however, _
display any great alacrity in adopting the course suggested in this card as
a mean of vindicating the character of the Order from the aspersions that
had been cast upon it ; for the Lodge was so thinly attended during 1798
and 1799, that in December of the latter year it agreed to "adjourn its
meeting from St John's Day in December current to St John's Day in
RECEPTION OF DEPUTATIONS. 199
June next, and thereafter until St Andrew's Day in November next."
The exemption of Mason Lodges from the operation of the Act that in
1799 was passed for the suppression of secret societies having been suc-
ceeded by the collapse of the anti-masonic agitation, the monthly meet-
ings were resumed in October 1801. In noting the fluctuations in the
attendance at these re-unions, the respective scribes, from an impression
seemingly that the prosperity of a Lodge was to be estimated by the num-
ber encircling its social board, made it a point to offer excuses for small
meetings. The " first appearance in Edinburgh of the celebrated Mr
Kean " is assigned as a reason for the absence of " deputations " from the
monthly meeting in October 18 16. The formal reception of "deputa-
tions,"' from the frequency of the occurrence, came in course of time to be
regarded as burdensome, so much so as to induce Mary's Chapel, in
conjunction with the other Lodges in the district (November 1839), to
" resolve that only one public convivial meeting for receiving deputations,
exclusive of St John's Festival, should in future be held during the season,
and that the second Tuesday in February had been set apart for the
Lodge of Edinburgh."
Captain Charles Hunter, F.S.A. Scot, and F.R.S. Edinr., Provin-
cial Grand Master of Aberdeenshire (East), affiliated into the Lodge of
Edinburgh in 1870. He Was initiated in the Lodge StTudno, Llandudno,
Carnarvonshire, of which he is a Past Master. He is the only son of the
late Brother Captain James Hunter of Glencarse, and is Captain in the
Royal Aberdeenshire Highlanders. His portrait appears at the head of
this chapter.
CHAPTER XXI.
HATEVER may have been the primitive constitution of the
Scotch Mason Lodges in regard to the composition of their
membership or the direction of their affairs, it is certain that
in their reorganisation at the close of the sixteenth century
(and documentary evidence on the point does not extend beyond that
period), the only constituent members recognised were warden, deacons,
and masters. Fellow-crafts who were not masters, and entered appren-
tices, enjoyed a sort of nominal membership. The elective power was
placed in the hands of the masters, who were restricted to their own class
in the choice of a president. This functionary was designated by the title
of Warden. He was elected annually, and was responsible for the admini-
stration of his office to an official deriving his authority from the Crown
PLURALITY. OF WARDENS. 201
under the denomination of Warden-General or Chief Master of Masons.
Though from the character of the Institution it was necessary to the full
realisation of its designs that its members should be handicraft masons,
the admission of non-operatives nominally in the station of masters was a
recognised custom of the Fraternity at the period referred to. In all pro-
bability it was from this then very limited and select class of Theoretical
Craftsmen that Wardens-General of Lodges were wont to be chosen,
— and Masonic initiation may have been a pre-requisite to holding such
an office. Notaries public were alone qualified to discharge the duties of
Clerk. The kindred, but in respect to civil status and privilege superior,
Masonic organisation was ruled by a Deacon. The administrative Masonic
power in the Incorporation of Marys Chapel, which was exclusively an
association of employers in their several crafts, was predominant also in
the Lodge of Edinburgh, and to this circumstance may be attributed the
Lodge's early assignment of a secondary position to its legally-constituted
head — an arrangement which, beginning with its earliest recorded meeting
and in direct violation of the Statutes of 1 598, has obtained in each suc-
ceeding phase of its existence.
With the exception of the few instances in which both offices were
united in one individual, the Deacon of the Incorporated Masons during
the whole of the seventeenth and the first and second decades of the
eighteenth century usurped the directorate of the Lodge of Edinburgh.
This assumed ex-officio presidency — under the name, first of Deacon,
afterwards of Preses, and subsequently of Master — was at length abolished,
under circumstances which have already been detailed, and annual election
of president became the rule of the Lodge. For a time the occupancy of
the chair alternated between the two grand classes into which its member-
ship was divided — though to Speculative concurrence the Operative sec-
tion owed the more frequent possession of the coveted honour. The
Deacon of the Incorporation was also Master of the Lodge in 1736, and as
such took part in the institution of the Grand Lodge. This event was
succeeded in the following year by the adoption of regulations, which
. among other things provided for the annual election of Stewards, the dis-
junction of the office of Warden and Treasurer, the permanent addition of
a second Warden, the nomination of Master on a day prior to his election,
and the increase of entry-money chargeable from Theoretical Masons : —
" December 5, 1737. ... It was resolved, that there be two of their
brethren chosen annually as Stewarts upon the meeting of the lodge
immediately preceeding the Feast of St John the Evangelist, for over-
seeing and taking care of their intertainment on that and other occasions
untill the meeting immediately preceeding the said Feast of St John the
202 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Evangelist the succeeding year. . . . That office of Senior Warden and
Theasurer was overmuch trouble for one single person and detrimentall to
the poor, therefor it was agreed that some fitt brother be chosen for
Thesaurer yearly, distinct from the Senior Warden, who is to take the
charge of the stock and moneys belonging to the Lodge and be account-
able therefor to them when demanded. . . . That whereas formerly there
was only one person annwally chosen for Warden, which is contrair to the
practice both of the Grand Lodge and many other regular weall governed
lodges in the kingdom, who are in use to choise two persons as Wardens ;
and therefor it was agreed upon that both a Senior and Junior Warden be
chosen anwally for the Lodge of Maries Chapell. . . . That agreeable to
the laudable practice both of the Grand Lodge and severall weall governed
Mason Lodges in the kingdom the Master is in use to be named and con-
descended upon att their meettings immediately before the said Feast of
St John the Evangelist. . . . That in all tyme herafter each Honorary
members who are not handycrafts masons shall pay at their admission as
Entered Apprentice the sumen of one pound ten shillings sterling, in place
of one guinea formerly payed, and that in full of all dues either to the
Grand Lodge or to Apprentices who instructs them, which is to be
defrayed by the Lodge, who is to take care that the saids intrants be
duely instructed, bot prejudice of the dues payable by handycraft masons
who are to pay conforme to the former regulations att their admissions."
At the first election under this revised constitution, five out of the six
vacant offices fell to mason burgesses, the Master of the Lodge being also
Deacon of the Incorporated Masons of Edinburgh. A somewhat similar
distribution of the honours of the Lodge continued to be observed till
1753, in which year the Incorporation for the second time in its history
elected to the Deaconship a brother who had never received Masonic
initiation. This was very embarrassing to the Operative section of the
Lodge, and on account of it the statutory nomination of a Master was
deferred, probably with a view to the Deacon's admission before the day
of election ; but this was not effected for ten days subsequent to the
annual meeting. The Lodge having met on St John's-day, 1753, the
Speculatives, taking advantage of the Deacon's disqualification, elected a
writer (James Reoch*) to the office of Master. Out of courtesy to the
Operatives the post of Senior Warden was offered to a mason, who
accepted but afterwards resigned, and was succeeded by a silk-draper. A
* Mr Reoch was admitted a Solicitor-at-Law in 1729, and was subsequently Depute Town Clerk
of the Canongate. He was entered in the Lodge December 27, 1736, was passed as fellow-craft
January II, 1737, and had filled the offices of Junior Warden and Treasurer prior to his election as
Master.
Mary's chapel originally an operative lodge. 203
baxter (baker) was made Junior Warden, and two writers were appointed
to the offices of Treasurer and Clerk. Against the Master's election, his
immediate predecessor in the chair and five other brethren " prote.sted for
themselves and all who should adhere to them, in regard, as they appre-
hended, this Lodge being constitutionally an Operative Lodge, and uni-
formly in use to be represented by an Operative Brother, they judg'd it
departing from their constitution to elect a Honorary Member however
worthy into that office, and thereupon they left the meeting and declined
to concurr in any further proceedings under the said James Reoch as
Master, who was saluted and received by the other Brethren present."
The protestors were right in characterising Reoch's election as an
innovation upon a use-and-wont custom which had hitherto given the
chair of the Lodge to a mechanic ; but although the present was the first
occasion on which the Mastership had been bestowed on a brother uncon-
nected with the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel, or with any mechanical
pursuit, it was in strict conformity with the clause in the revised constitu-
tion of the Lodge which conferred the rights of" full membership" upon
"honorary members," i.e. brethren not being handicraft masons. Obtain-
ing the ear of Grand Lodge officials on the subject of their defeat, the
minority succeeded in enlisting the sympathy of the Grand Master (Charles
Hamilton Gordon), who on the occasion of a Grand Visitation to Mary's
Chapel, January 17, 1754, pled their cause in his address from the chair.
His remarks are thus epitomised in the minute : — " Addressing the Wor-
shipfull the Master and other Brethren, he told them that he did heartily
approve of the choice they had made at last St John's Day, of the worthy
Brother then chosen Master, in so far as relates to the personal merit of
the gentleman elected ; but, at the same time, was pleased to signify his
sentiments, that as this Lodge is the most ancient Lodge upon the rolls of
the Grand Lodge, and by their records appears to be originally and con-
stitutionally an Operative Lodge strictly connected with the Operative
Brethren of the Craft, he thought it was most agreeable to the spirit and
constitution of this Lodge to have all due regard in electing their Master
and Officers to the worthy Operative Brethren, and recommended to them
to study such regard in all future elections." " Which declaration of the
Grand Master's sentiments was received by the whole members present
with the highest applause and approbation, and the Rt. Worshipfull Master
declared his readiness to be regulated by the judgment of the Grand Lodge
in every thing wherein he was concerned."
The brethren's unanimity in applauding the speech of their august visi-
tor may be regarded as an empty compliment paid to the Grand Master,
rather than the expression of a.n unqualified assent to his remarks ; for the
204 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
semi-official suggestion which they conveyed was as much at variance
with the spirit and letter of the then existing Constitution of the Lodge of
Edinburgh, as it was with that under which he held his own Masonic ap-
pointment. Operatives and non-operatives were alike eligible for office in
the Grand Lodge, and, as a matter of course, also in Lodges subordinate
to it. The Grand Master's sentiments on the point were, however, in sym-
pathy with a practice which to some extent prevailed in certain Lodges of
providing for the occasional election of a working mason to the chair ; but
the only distinction which was at this period authorised by the Lodge of
Edinburgh lay in exacting from "honorary members" a higher rate of
entry-money than was paid by intrants who belonged to the mason trade.
A similar arrangement obtained in the Lodge of Kilwinning, where the
eligibility of " Gentlemen" or Theoretical Masons for election to its highest
office had been conceded more than half a century before any attempt was
made to obtain for Speculatives a like position in the metropolitan
Lodge. The Glasgow Journeymen Lodge, which was originally com-
posed of speculative and practical masons, was less liberal in this respect
— " theoretical and incorporate masons being debarred from all kind of
office-bearing in said lodge, excepting the office of secretary or clerk only."
The Lodge of Glasgow (No. 3 bis) was even more stringent — membership
in the Incorporation being a sine qua non to admission into membership
with the Lodge. To the existence of such a law in the constitution of the
Freemen St John's Lodge may be attributed the Glasgow Journeymen's
exclusion of Master Masons from participation in the honours of the Lodge.
On the termination of Mr Reoch's year of office it was proposed by the
Operatives that Mary's Chapel should give immediate practical effect to
the Past Grand Master's recommendation. To this the Speculatives de-
clined to accede, lest the act might be interpreted as disrespectful to the
retiring Master. Thirty-three brethren attended the St John's-day com-
munication in 1754. After disposing of other business, they " proceeded to
the election of a Master for the ensuing year, and the question being put,
continue the present Master for the ensuing year or not, the rolls were
called and votes marked, whereupon it carried by a considerable majority
continue, accordingly the Lodge re-elected and continued the Right Wor-
shipfuU James Reoch, Master of this Lodge for the ensuing year, and as
such he was dignifyd with the jewels and cloathing suitable to the office,
and received and., saluted by the Lodge as Master in the usual form.
Whereupon Brother Charles Mack for himself, and in name of such as
should adhere to him, protested against the said election as not being
agreeable to the recommendation given by the Grand Master at his visita-
tion of this Lodge upon the 17th day of January last, when he declared as
THE OPERATIVE ELEMENT IGNORED. 205
his opinion that it was most agreeable to the spirit and constitution of this
Lodge to have all due regard to the Operative Brethren in the election of
a Master. To which it was answered by Mr David Jobson [writer] for
himself, and those who should adhere to him, that he was most willing to
pay all due regard to the recommendation of the Grand Master, but was
humbly of opinion that it was no way contrary to it to continue the pre-
sent Master for the ensuing year, as it has always been the custom of this
Lodge to continue the Master for two years, and the Grand Master's
recommendation could only respect such time as we should have occasion
by the practice of the Lodge to change our Master, but could not be
understood to intend any personal indignity to the present Most Worship-
full Master, and such it would in his apprehension be, if we should not
allow him to continue for the usual time in the chair, which he had filled
so much to the honour and advantage of the Lodge, and to the satisfac-
tion of the generality of the Brethren, and thereupon both partys took
instruments."
The anti-Operatives followed up their advantage by a distribution of
offices similar to that of the previous year — a teacher of mathematics being
appointed Junior Warden in room of an operative who declined to serve.
On St John's-day, 1755, a mason-burgess and ex-deacon of the Incorpora-
tion was unanimously placed in the chair, and his re-election on two suc-
cessive occasions was characterised by the same unanimity. A like
deference to the wishes of their Speculative brethren did not at this period
characterise the practical masons belonging to the Lodge, who were in
1758 only prevented by the vote of a " great majority" in favour of George
Syme, slater, from again securing the presidency to a master mason. In
the election, however, and five consecutive re-elections of this brother, who
was merely a member by affiliation, and whose three immediate successors
were a baxter, a merchant, and a lawyer, the monopoly of the chair by the
small remaining Operative element in Mary's Chapel was entirely swept
away ; and so great an alteration has time wrought in the composition of
its membership that now the roll of the' Lodge of Edinburgh is largely
composed of brethren belonging to the learned professions.
Special reference having been made to the three Masters who succeeded
George Syme, the following particulars regarding them may not be out
of place : The first, Walter Colville, baxter, was entered in December
1747. Being an active opponent of the Operative party fn its last struggle
to regain its ancient ascendancy, he was in 1754 appointed a Warden, to
which post he was frequently re-elected. He was called to the Orient in
1764, where he presided for three years. The second, Joseph Gavin,
merchant in Portsburgh (the West Port), was initiated in 1756, and after
206 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY,
filling several offices in the Lodge was in 1767 elected to the chair. It was
at his suggestion that the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1768 adopted the
practice of issuing Diplomas. The third, Bain Whyt, was initiated in
Mary's Chapel, June 25, 1766. On the occasion of his election as Secre-
tary, December 1767, he "produced a certificate of his being passed fellow
craft and regularly raised to the high degree of master mason in the
Lodge of Falkirk, whereof the Right Worshipfull Br. Robert Whyt, his
brother german, was at the time Master." After two years' service as
Secretary, he was promoted to the office of Senior Warden, which he held
for one year, and in 1770 was elevated to the Throne, which he held till St
John's-day 1775. On the retirement of James Neilson in 1780, he was
re-elected, and held the office of Master for another year. While in office he
was constantly in his place, both in Mary's Chapel and in Grand Lodge and
Grand Committee. In September 1772 he was present in the capacity of
Acting Substitute Grand Master at the laying of thefoundation-stone of Ayr
Harbour by the Earl of Dumfries. He qualified himself as a Solicitor in
the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and held the office of clerk to that body
in 1772. In 1789 he qualified as a Writer to the Signet, and became a
well-known and much-respected public man, his memory being yet green
in Edinburgh. In 1775 he founded the Wagering Club, which has still an
existence in the metropolis. It has an annual meeting, at which the mem-
bers dine together ; and the wagers are limited to four, and the stakes to one
shilling for each bet. The subject of the various bets is of a very harm-
less character. Mr Whyt was a lieutenant in the " Edinburgh Defensive
Band," a volunteer corps raised towards the end of the American War of
Independence ; and he was afterwards major of the Edinburgh Volunteers,
of which regiment the Right Honble. Charles Hope of Granton was colonel.
He died in 1818. James Neilson succeeded Mr Whyt as R.W.M. in 1775,
and held that office for five years. He was admitted a member of the Lodge
in August 1765, and was by profession a writer in Edinburgh, and Clerk to
the Rev. Sir Henry Moncrieff' Wellwood, Bart., and his predecessors, Mr
Stewart and Dr Webster, as collectors of the Ministers' Widows' Fund. He
lived in Turk's Close, a little to the west of the Luckenbooths, and died a
bachelor in 1797. He was a particular friend of Vincent Lanardi, the
celebrated aeronaut, who visited Edinburgh in Sept. 1785. He belonged to
the Defensive Band (Volunteers), and in 1782, in anticipation of that corps
being disbanded on the termination of the war, he, along with about fifty
of his comrades in arms, formed the Lodge Defensive Band, under the
mastership of the colonel of the regiment, Andrew Crosbie.* Of the
■ * Andrew Crosbie for many years held the position of the leading member of the Scotch Bar,
and was a person of great local consequence. He has been rendered famous by the pen of Sir
FINE FOR LEAVING A MOTHER LODGE. 207
intrants in Mary's Chapel during Mr Neilson's reign, JOHN Clark^ glazier
to the king, became the most distinguished craftsman. He was initiated
in December 1776, and in 1780 had risen to the position of Substitute-
Master, in which capacity, and in absence of the Master, he took a leading
part in the initiation of candidates. Philip Macdonald, whose alleged
identity as the French Marshal Macdonald is elsewhere referred to, received
the three degrees at the hand of Mr Clark. Being a lieutenant' in the
Edinburgh Volunteers, he aided in forming the Lodge Defensive Band,
the chair of which he subsequently occupied for three consecutive years.
He resumed his connection with Mary's Chapel in 1789, and was the
same year elected Master, which post he held till St John's-day 1796 — the
longest period which any Master has yet held that position in the Lodge.
His first nomination to the presidency was made in the face of the then
retiring Master's desire to continue in office, which he had held for one year.
It was urged as an objection to Mr Clark's election that, having left the
Lodge and been Master of another, he was incapacitated by its bye-laws
either from electing or being elected to any office in Mary's Chapel. It
appeared, however, that the law upon which the objection was founded
provided for reponement to full membership on payment of such fine as
to the brethren might seem fit. On the motion of his nominator, Clark
was fined in half-a-guinea, which he paid, and was by a great majority
elected Master. It was at his instance that in 1797 instructions were
given by the Lodge for the collection of its records, some of which had
disappeared, but on inquiry were found in the hands of various old
members. To the arrangements that were then made for their safe
custody and preservation, the existence of the more ancient of the Lodge
of Edinburgh's records at the present time may be chiefly ascribed. In
1796 he became Senior Grand Warden, and 1798 was elected Substitute
Grand Master. The duties of the latter office he discharged till 1805,
when on account of failing health he was compelled to retire. His services
to the Fraternity were acknowledged by a resolution of Grand Lodge con-
Walter Scott, as being the prototype of Plydell, the advocate of Bertram in ' ' Guy Mannering. "
He amassed by his profession a considerable fortune, which he subsequently lost through the fail-
ure of Douglas, Heron, & Co., bankers, Edinburgh, of which firm he was a partner. He was one
of the original feuars of St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, and built the large mansion lying to the
north of the building in that Square now occupied by the Royal Bank, and which now forms the
chief portion of "The Douglas Hotel." Its inmates were himself and his housekeeper, whom
he ultimately married. With his marriage and loss of fortune, he lost his business and his friends.
He removed from his residence in St Andrew Square to a mean dwelling-house in one of the large
tenements in the High Street, where he died in penury and in want. Mr Crosbie was the first
Provincial Grand Master of the Dumfries district. He received the appointment in 1756, and
was succeeded in 1 785 by Fergussou of Craigdarroch.
208 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
stituting him a life member* of Grand Committee, with the privilege on
all public Masonic occasions of wearing a green ribbon. He died in
February 1813, and two months afterwards Mary's Chapel held a Funeral
Lodge in honour of his memory. The ceremony on such occasions at
that period differed in some respects from that which is now observed by
the Craft. The Lodge having been opened in the third degree, deputations
from sister Lodges were received, the brethren (the Lodge being still on
labour) were served with bread and wine, and the presiding officer pro-
posed certain toasts, which were followed by appropriate music by a band
of instrumentalists, who also played accompaniments to the songs and
anthems that were sung. At an early part of the proceedings the Master,
sometimes the Chaplain, pronounced the funeral oration, in which he
eulogised the subject of it, reminded the brethren of their masonic, social,
and religious duties, and urged the necessity for a preparedness for death.
On the termination of the more solemn services of the communication,
the brethren were called to refreshment, and the Lodge being reduced to
the first degree, to afford the Master an opportunity of paying his respects
to the visitors, harmony common to ordinary occasions was engaged in.
Captain Henry Morland, Provincial Grand Master of Western India,
is the representative of an old Yorkshire and Cumberland family. He
was initiated in the Lodge Felix, Aden, Arabia, No. 355, in 1857, — is a
Past Master of Perseverance, Bombay, No. 351, and a member by honorary
affiliation of the Lodge of Edinburgh. He is Provincial Grand Master of
the Royal Order of Scotland in Western India, Past Commander of the
Mount Zion Encampment of Knights Templar (English Constitution) at
Bombay, and a member of the Thirtieth Degree or Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite. He was educated for the Indian Navy, which he entered
in 1852. On the abolition of this establishment he continued in the service
of the Bombay Government, in which he now holds several naval appoint-
ments of considerable importance. He is a Justice of the Peace for
Bombay, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and Secretary of
the Bombay Geographical Society. His portrait appears at the head of
this chapter.
* The Grand Secretary on his resignation in 1774 was constituted a "member of the Grand
Lodge for life. "
'^" '^h. . i •
^^^>n^
CHAPTER XXII.
|Y its pre-speculative constitution (1598), the Lodge of Edin-
burgh could receive Masters, but it was never, under Oper-
ative rule, known to have exercised the privilege except
in a purely honorary sense, the recipients in every such case
— and there arc only some half-dozen instances on record — being Specu-
lative Masons. The connection that more or less subsisted between
the Scottish Lodges and Societies of Incorporated Masons (whose pro-
vince it was, as by law established, to admit to the privileges of Master-
ship within their several jurisdictions), accounts for the former confining
o
210 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
themselves to entering apprentices and passing fellow-crafts. Intrants in
the latter station only lacked compliance with some legal obligations to
qualify for recognition as master masons ; so that the reception of a " fellow
or master " would in all probability be one and the same step, as far at least
as- Lodges were concerned. Indeed, the conjunction of the two appellations
in the matter of fee, and constitution of. the Lodge during the ceremony,
favours this supposition. The increase of Theoretical Craftsmen neutralised
Operative influence in the Lodge of Edinburgh, and eventually led it to
discard its ancient formula for that which had been concocted by the
English Speculatives in 17 17. The institution of the Third Degree was
an expansion of this system of Freemasonry.
Advocates of the antiquity of this step are accustomed to quote in
support of their theory the instances that the records of the Lodge of
Edinburgh afford of Gentlemen Masons having about the middle of the
seventeenth century been denominated master masons. General Hamil-
ton's entry is a case in point. Though enrolled as a " fellow and masterl'
the General's Masonic status did not differ from that of Lord Alexander
and his brother Henry, who were enrolled, the one as a " fellow of craft,"
and the other as a "fellow and brother." Possibly the word "master"
may have been appended by the scribe by way of more fully expressing
the sense in which the phrase " fellow " was meant to be read — viz., that
the recipient of the honour was a fellow and brother, i.e., nominally equal
in rank with those fellows in the Lodge, who from their position as em-
ployers belonged to the upper grade of its membership ; that they were,
in fact, members of the Lodge in the highest sense that persons not handi-
craft masons could be said to possess such a privilege. This view is
favoured by the absence of any indication of a desire on the part of the
Lodge to honour one gentleman mason more highly than another, as well
as by the fact that the relative position of the Incorporation and the
Lodge placed the making of a master mason beyond the province of the
latter. Only in four of the minutes of the period betwe-en 28th December
1598 and 27th December 1700 is the word "master" employed to denote
the Masonic rank in which intrants were admitted in the Lodge of Edin-
burgh ; and it is only so used in connection with the making of Theoretical
Masons, of whom three were gentlemen by birth, and two master wrights.
It is worthy of observation also, that all who attest the proceedings of the
Lodge, practical and theoretical masons alike, are in the earliest of its
records in general terms designated Masters — a form of expression which
occurs even when one or more of those to whom it is applied happen to
be apprentices. On the whole, therefore, it is clear that the title of
Master Mason, as given to certain of those non-operatives who in the
THE THIRD DEGREE. 211
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were received into Lodge fellowship,
was one of courtesy merely, and differed in no material respect from that
of fellow or brother as bestowed on members of the same class. With
such a meagre staff of officials as are shown to have then existed in the
Lodge of Edinburgh, how by any possibility could the dramatis personce
of the Master Degree have been sustained \ The fact that this step
abounds with archaisms is also pointed to as a proof of its antiquity. But
it is no breach of charity to suppose that its fabricators knew their mission
too well to frame the ritual in language that would point to' its modern
origin : hence the antique garb in which it is masked. The Third Degree
could hardly have been present to the mind of Dr Anderson when in
1723 he superintended the printing of his 'Book of Constitutions,' for it
is therein stated that the "key of a fellow-craft" is that by which the
secrets communicated in the ancient Lodges could be unravelled.
Bro. William James Hughan of Truro, the highest living authority on
matters relating to the history of English Freemasonry, thus disposes of
the alleged antiquity of the Master Degree : — " I have carefully perused all
the known Masonic MSS. from the fourteenth century down to A.D. 17 1?
(of which I have either seen the originals, or have certified copies), and
have not been able to find any reference to three degrees. The fact is, no
records mention the degree of a Master Mason before the second decade
of the last century. The antiquity of the Third Degree is, to say the least
of it, unsupported by documentary evidence, as there are sufficient facts
already accumulated to prove its English origin in all probability about the
year 1720. The first unequivocal mention of the Third Degree occurs in
the Laws of the Grand Lodge of England of date the 17th January 1722-3,
and at the Grand Lodge held on November 22, 1725, on 'a motion being
made that such part of the 13th article of the General Regulations relat-
ing to the making of Masters only at quarterly communications may be
repealed, and that the Master of each Lodge, with the consent of his War-
dens, and the majority of the brethren being masters, may make Masters
at their discretion,' it was carried nem. con. There exists printed evidence
so early as A.D. l686 that several 'signs' were communicated to the ini-
tiates, and manuscripts of about the same period also refer to more than
the mere ' mason word ' as respects England ; but none of these mention
' degrees,' and the laws then in force prove these secrets were known to
all the members. An examination of the York Records proves that the
Three Degrees were not worked by the Lodge of York until the third
decade of the last century It seems to me clear that modern
Freemasonry of Three Degrees not only is of English origin, and a con-
tinuation of ancient Operative Masonry, but that its introduction under
212 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the new arrangement took place in London certainly not before A.D.
17 17." These statements are supported by the distinguished German
Masonic historian, Br. J. G. Findel, who remarks, — " Originally, it seems,
there was but one degree of initiation in the year 17 17. . . . The in-
troduction of the degrees of Fellow Craft and Master Mason took place in
so imperceptible a manner, that we don't know the accurate date. No
mention is made of them before 1720, even not yet in the Book of the
Constitutions of 1722. It is very probable that the degree of Master
Mason originated first as a reward for masonic merits, especially for all
the brethren who had passed the. chair from 1717-20. It is not derived
from the Pagan Mysteries, but from the legend of the guilds, and by every
intelligent Mason easily recognised as a fabrication of modern time. The
Second Degree has then been intercalated afterwards to complete the
three steps of the Operatives." *
The Third Degree is thus for the first time referred to in these records :
— "At Maries Chapel the first day of November 1738. The which day
Samwell Neilson Master, the Wardens, and severall other brethren belong-
ing to the Lodge, with severall visiting brethren belonging to other lodges,
being mett in a formed Lodge, which being duely opened by the Worship-
full Master, George Drummond, Esq., one of the Commissioners of His
Majesties Board of Excyse in Scotland, after due tryall of his qualifica-
tions as ane Entered Apprentice, was past a Fellow Craft and also raised
as a Master Mason in due forme, — for which he payed one pound one
shining sterling to Andrew Syme, the present Thesaurer. After which the
Lodge was duely closed, and the members dismissed. Saml. Neilson,
Charles Mack, Ja. Reoch. Ro. AHson, Clerk."
The office-bearers, and several other brethren belonging to Mary's
Chapel, represented as having been present at the " raising " of Mr
Drummond, must have been indebted for their knowledge of the Master
Degree to the courtesy of some of their city contemporaries, just as at a
subsequent date the Journeymen were recipients of the like favour at the
hand of the Lodge of Edinburgh ; for had the step in question been pre-
viously added to those that were then ordinarily given in the Lodge,
the records would have borne evidence of the fact. The presence of
" severall visiting brethren " at this extraordinary communication, taken
in connection with the collateral testimony on the point which is furnished
by the records of the Canongate Kilwinning, is a proof that the novelty
was then popular with metropolitan craftsmen. Another communication
on the Third Degree was held in Mary's Chapel, December 26, 1738, when
* History of Freemasonry from its Origin down to tlie present day. By J. G. Findel, editor of
the German Masonic Journal 'die Bauhutte.' London : Asher & Co. 1869.
THE THIRD DEGREE. 213
freemen masons, i. e. masters in Operative Masonry, in common with
merchants, tailors, and apothecaries, to the number of twelve, were, " after
due tryall of their qualifications as entered apprentices an'd fellow crafts
by a competent number of master masons, all severally raised and ad-
mitted Master Masons in due forme."
Possession of the Third Degree was not at this period a necessary quali-
fication to a seat in the Grand Lodge. For thirty years after its intro-
duction into Mary's Chapel it conferred no rights in the management of
the Lodge that were not possessed by fellow-crafts. But in the year 1765,
when new bye-laws were adopted, brethren under the rank of master
mason were disqualified from holding office. It was afterwards designated
"the sublime and mysterious. degree," and was associated with the en-
durance of "awful and amazing trials" — an extravagance of expression
that has long since fallen into desuetude.
Though distinguished by having been chosen by Desaguliers as the
medium for conveying to the Scottish Fraternity a practical illustration of
the First and Second Steps of the Masonic Order of which he was one of
the original promoters, the Lodge of Edinburgh was not the first of the
old Operative Lodges to introduce the working of the Third Degree. The
minutes of Canongate Kilwinning contain the earliest Scottish record
extant of the admission of a Master Mascn under the modern Masonic
Constitution. This occurred on the 3 1st of March 173S — the year in which,
under non-operative auspices, the Lodge was reorganised." We are of
opinion, however, that the degree in question was first practised north of
the Tweed by the Edinburgh Kilwinning Scots Arms. This the first
purely Speculative Scotch Lodge was constituted February 14, 1729. In
the interval between this date and Desaguliers' visit to Mary's Chapel in
172 1, a knowledge of the Third Degree would probably be obtained by
individual brethren through the Masonic communication that had previ-
ously been opened between the northern and southern capitals. The
designation by which it was known would in all probability cause the
Master Mason Degree to be regarded with suspicion by Operative
brethren, whose prejudices may have led the Lodge to hesitate about
adopting it, and under some such circumstances greater Masonic freedom
may have been sought in the institution of a Lodge on purely Speculative
principles. With the erection of the Scots Arms, then, would come the
formal introduction of the Third Degree, with its Jewish Legend and
dramatic ceremonial. Writing on this subject, the late Rev. Dr Oliver,
an eminent Masonic author, says : — " The name of the individual who
attached the aphanism of H'.' A.-. B.-. to Freemasonry has never been
clearly ascertained ; although it may be fairly presumed that Brotherg
214^ HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Desaguliers and Anderson were prominent parties to it, as the legend was
evidently borrowed from certain idle tales taken out of the Jewish Tar-
gums, which were published in London A.D. 1715, froma manuscript in
the University Library at Cambridge, — and these two brothers were
publicly accused by their seceding contemporaries of manufacturing the
degree, which they never denied. . . The legend of the Third Degree was
intended by its fabricators to be nothing more than an allegory, although
when given as a naked and unexplained fact, and recited with all the
solemnity of truth, ninety-nine out of every hundred candidates believe it
implicitly. . . M. Ragon thus refers to it : ' All the fables which are intro-
duced into the Third Degree to excite the wonder and astonishment of
the neophyte, and repeated as undoubted facts, preserved by ancient and
accredited tradition, may be termed fanciful, because the Holy Scriptures
tacitly disprove them ; for they contain no reference whatever to the cir-
cumstances which constitute the legend of initiation.' It is, indeed, inde-
fensible as a sober matter of history." * The peculiar phraseology indi-
cative of admission to this step is first met with in the records of the Lodge
of Kilwinning, where, under date June 24, 1736, " it is enacted that such as
are found duely qualified after their entry as ane apprentice and passing as
a fellow of craft, shall be RAS'D to ye dignity of MASTER gratis." Notwith-
standing this enactment, however, there is no record of any fellow of the
Lodge having before 1741 been dignified with the title of Master Mason.
Another proof that about the period of the institution of the Grand Lodge
the Third Degree was only partially practised in Scotland, is to be found
in the fact that in March 1738 a fellow-craft was elected and installed into
office as Senior Warden of " Canongate Kilwinning from Leith " (now
St David, Edinburgh), and was in that capacity present at its consecra-
tion. The Lodges of Atcheson's Haven, Dunblane, Haughfoot,-!- and
Peebles were unacquainted with the Third Degree in 1760; and the step
in question cannot be said to have become common to Scotch Lodges
till the seventh decade of the last century.
More than one of the Lodges applying for charters of confirmation
from Grand Lodge in the first decade of its existence fix the date
of their original constitution at a very remote 'period ; and in drawing
these charters it is as a rule taken for granted that the petitioning
* The Freemason's Treasury. By the Rev, George Oliver, O. D. London : R. Spencer.
1863.
+ It has been shown by excerpts of minutes published in the ' Freemasons' Magazine and Masonic
Mirror,' by Bro. Robert Sanderson, Provincial Grand Secretavy of Peebles and Selkirk, that during
the vifhole period over which the Haughfoot records extend (1702-63) the Lodge, though possess-
ing "stronger claims to the Speculative than the Operative theories," never recognised more than
two degi-ees, viz.. Apprentice and Fellow-Craft.
EXPANSION OF THE LIST OF LODGE OFFICIALS. 215
Lodges had from the alleged date of their erection, or other distant era,
"been in use to enter apprentices, pass fellow crafts, and raise master
masons." But this gratuitous use of the language of Speculative Ma-
sonry is worthless as evidence of the antiquity of the " Master's Part."
An excerpt from the charter which was granted to the "Antient Lodge
of Dundee," May 2, 1745, may serve as an illustration not only of the
custom to which we have referred, but of the equally objectionable one of
employing the expression " Free and Accepted " in designating pre-
eighteenth century Masons. After the usual preamble, the petitioners are
represented as " setting forth that their ancestors. Free and Accepted
Masons in the town of Dundee, had upwards of one thousand years ago
practised Masonry therein, as appeared by severall antient pieces of
Masonry, as St Nicholas Fort and the Steeple. That they in prosecution
of the Art had probably charters, and were erected in a Lodge of a more
antient date than the petitioners knew of, but under the reign of David
the First of Scotland, and Malcolm the Fourth, and William the Lyon,
his sons. Kings of Scotland. About the year one thousand one hundred
and sixty, David Earl of Huntingdon, a younger son of King David, did
arrive in Dundee from the Holy Warrs, erected a Lodge there, procured
them charters, and was himself their Master, and at sametime built the
Churches there adjoined to the Steeple and a Chappie to the eastward of
the town. That this Lodge was in virtue of their rights continued down
till the fatal storming of the town by General Monk in September 165 1,
when all the rights and charters of this Lodge, with many other valuable
things, were lost and destroyed ; and that ever since that time they had
been in use of continuing the said Lodge, and to enter apprentices, pass
fellows of craft, and raise master masons therein. . . ." The " Old Inver-
ness Kilwinning," according to an apocryphal statement which is contained
in its charter of date November 30, 1737, had practised the raising of
master masons as far back as 1678 ; while with a somewhat similar misap-
plication of terms the charter given in October 1737 to "The Lodge of
Freemasons kept at Coltness, in the shire of Lanark," makes it appear
that for more than thirty years previously the Third Degree had formed
.part of its ceremonial. It also represented itself as having " been consti-
tute and created in a Freemason Lodge by the name and designation
aforesaid, as depending from the Mason Lodge of Maries Chappell in
Edinburgh."
Apropos of this branch of our subject, the order in which the office-
bearers were severally introduced into the Lodge of Edinburgh is as
follows : —
Warden (who was president and treasurer) and Clerk, 1558.
2l6 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Deacon, as ex-officio president, with the Warden as treasurer, 1599.
Chairman first called Preses in 1710, Grand Master in 1731, and
Master in 1735.
Officer, 17 1 2 — designated Tyler in 1763.
Depute-Master, 1736.
Senior and Junior Wardens, Treasurer, and two Stewards, I737-
Old Master, 1739 — changed to Past Master in 1798.
Substitute Master, 1759.
Master of Ceremonies, 1771.
Chaplain, 1798.
Deacons, 1809.
Standard-Bearers, and Indoor and Outdoor Tylers, 18:4.
Architect, 1836.
Jeweller, 1840.
Trustees, 1848.
Director of Music, 1865.
As was the case in the Incorporation, the Clerkship of the Lodge of
Mary's Chapel was originally a life appointment — an arrangement that
was observed by the Lodge up till 1752, when on the death of the then
Clerk annual election was resorted to* Prior to 1771 it fell .to the Junior
Warden to usher in Deputations, but in order to relieve him of this duty
the Lodge introduced a " Master of Ceremonies," or, as he is termed in
subsequent minutes, " Usher of the White Rod :" " The Rt. Worshipful
observed with great propriety that altho' it had been the practice of intro-
ducing the deputations by the Junior Warden, it not only broke the
uniformity of the officers, but left a blank in the place of Junior Warden :
proposed for the honour of this Antient Lodge that there should be a
Master of Ceremonies to introduce the Visiters, and that the Master of
Stewards was the proper person for that office," — who was accordingly
" invested with the white rod." The first Chaplain was a layman, who
held the office for nine years. The gratuitous initiation of preachers of
the gospel and students of divinity was a custom of the Lodge dating
from the middle of the last century, and it was one of these members who
in 1807 became its first Reverend Chaplain. The creation of the office of
' In 1690, William Livingstone, writer in Edinburgh, presented a petition to Parliament pray-
ing to~be reponed in office as Clerk to the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel, to which he had been
appointed ad vitam aut culpam, and from which he had been deposed because he refused to take
the Test Acl, 1681. Petitioner ordered to be reponed. The Clerkship of Atcheson's Haven
(1638) was held "durEctj vita veil ad culpam." In November 1737 the Grand Lodge resolved
that Grand Secretary and Grand Clerk " should not be annually named and chosen with the other
Grand Officers, but continued in these offices during their good behaviour so long as they shall in-
cline to officiate therein,''
PROVOST DRUMMOND. 21/
" Trustee " was " to prevent improper application of the funds of the
Lodge, and at the same time to lay a foundation for a capital sum to be
laid out hereafter in providing a suitable place of meeting for the Lodge,
or for such other laudable purpose as the Brethren shall determine."
George Drummond, the first who was raised in Mary's Chapel, had
been initiated at one of the communications that were held in connection
with Desaguliers' Masonic mission iti 1721. He subsequently affiliated
into Canongate Kilwinning. He was elected Junior Grand Warden in
1738, and Grand Master in 1752, and served one year in each of these
offices. He made a Grand Visitation to his mother lodge in December
1752. It was Mr Drummond who as Grand Master laid the foundation-
stone of the Royal Exchange,* September 13, 1753. The proceedings on
that occasion were of a most imposing character, and were witnessed by
the greatest concourse of people that had ever been seen in the Scottish
metropolis. It was chiefly through Mr Drummond's energy that the
North Bridge was formed, and the: municipality extended over the fields
on which the new town of Edinburgh has since been erected. His town-
house was in Anchor Close, High Street. He was Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh when the foundation-stone of the North Bridge was laid, October
21, 1763, and as Acting Grand Master presided at that ceremony. He
had many years previously, October 1738, as chairman of the managers,
taken part with the Grand Master in placing the corner-stone of the Royal
Infirmary, to which Institution the Lodge of Edinburgh was one of the
original contributors to the amount of fifty pounds. A portrait of Mr
Drummond was placed in the Council-room of the Infirmary, and a marble
' bust by Nollekins in the Hall — the latter having on its pedestal this
inscription, dictated by Principal Robertson : " George Drummond, to
whom this country is indebted for all the benefit which it derives from the
Royal Infirmary." A firm friend of the Hanoverian Succession, he did
much, by raising volunteers and serving with them, to defeat the designs
of the Pretender in 1715, and of Prince Charles Edward in 1745. He was
connected with the Excise, first as General Accountant and then as a
Commissioner.
* Patrick Jamieson, Alexander Poter, George Stevenson, and John Moiibray, wrights, John
Fergus, architect, all burgesses, freemen and members of Mary's Chapel, were contractors for the
erection of the Royal Exchange. In the contract the sum to be laid out in purchasing houses and
gi-ounds whereon to erect the Exchange is stated at ;^i 1,749, 6s. 8d., and the cost of erection
£l9,T^T, l6s. 4d-, amounting in all to ;^3I,457, 3s. Patrick Jamieson was father of William
Jamieson, mason and architect, who contracted for making the public drains of the city at an
estimate of not less than ;^ioo,ooo. He married Christian Nicholson, a sister of Sir William
Nicholson of Jarvieswood.
2l8
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Mr Drummond died in December 1766, in the eightieth year of his age,
and his remains, which were interred in Canongate Churchyard, were
honoured with a public funeral. The Musical Society of Edinburgh, of
which he was deputy-governor, gave a grand funeral concert, and the
Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, of which he was a Past Master, held a
^l^tL-tlLllLcni.^
funeral communication in honour of his memory. In announcing his
death, the newspapers of the day paid the highest tribute to his worth as
an active, zealous, disinterested, and public-spirited citizen, whose services
had in an eminent degree contributed to the material prosperity not only
of the city of Edinburgh, but of the country at large.
John Bah<d, architect, Provincial Grand Senior Warden of Glasgow,
THE PROVINCIAL GRAND SENIOR WARDEN OF GLASGOW. 219
and a member by honorary affiliation of the Lodge of Edinburgh, is Past
Master of St John, Glasgow, the Lodge in which he was initiated. He
is a member of Grand Lodge, has been constant in his attendance there,
and has taken a leading part in its deliberations, much to the benefit of
the Order. The restriction to the metropolitan district of the Journey-
men's privilege of carrying the working tools of Grand Lodge was the
result of Bro. Baird's protest against the claim set up by the Journey-
men, No. 8, at laying the foundation-stone of the Albert Bridge, Glasgow.
On retiring from a three years' tenure of office, he was in recognition
of his services presented by the brethren with an elegant service of silver-
plate. He is senior Captain of the First Lanarkshire Engineer Volun-
teers, and is Vice-President of the Glasgow Institute for the Advance-
ment of Architecture. His portrait heads this chapter.
CHAPTER XXIII.
jlHOUGH in Scotland the status of Lodges does not depend
on the name, the Lodge of Edinburgh has on several occa-
sions during the last hundred years displayed much fas-
tidiousness in regard to its patronymic. Like the Lodge
of Kilwinning, and others of the more ancient of our Operative Mason
Lodges, the Lodge of Edinburgh derived its name from the locality in
which it was at first permanently planted. It was not till after the insti-
tution of the Grand Lodge that the names of saints began to be used to
any great extent in Lodge nomenclature. Of the thirty-three Lodges
represented in the first Grand Communication, two only were so designated
APPELLATIONS ADOPTED BY MARYS CHAPEL. 221
—viz., Douglas St Bride, and Glasgow St Mungo ; Mary's Chapel and
Scots Arms followed the name of the hall and tavern where they were
respectively held ; the others bore the names of the towns in which they
were severally situated. In its minutes belonging to the sixteenth cen-
tury, in the Masonic Statutes of 1599, as also in the Letters of Jurisdiction
granted to the St Clairs in 1 600-1 and 1628, the metropolitan Lodge is
designated The Lodge of Edinburgh, which title it continued to hold until
1688, when it began to designate itself by a variety of appellations, such
as "The Lodge of the Masons of Edinburgh," "The Society of Freemen
Masons in Edinburgh,'' " The Lodge of Mary's Chapel," " The Antient
Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Mary's Chapel, Edinburgh,"
"The Antient Lodge of St Mary's Chapel, Edinburgh." The latter
was the title of the Lodge, as borne on its Seal, when towards the
end of 1768 it assumed that of "The Antient Lodge of Edinburgh."
This proceeding having in February 1770 been challenged by certain
brethren of the Lodge, who were also members of the Incorporation of
Mary's Chapel, the matter was rer.iitted to a committee to investigate
and report. This committe reported that " they having desired that the
old books of the lodge where it is called The Lodge of Edinburgh should
be brought to the committee and shown, they were so accordingly, and
the minutes in which the said name appeared were publickly read, and
thereupon the committee agreed that a petition should be made out and
presented by the presiding officers of the Lodge to the Grand Lodge at
their next Quarterly Communication, requiring their interposition to the
proper name of this Lodge for having it ordained to be put in its place
the First on their Roll by the name of The Antient Lodge of Edinburgh."
On receipt of the petition to which this report refers, the Grand Lodge
ordered the '' Records of the Lodge of Mary's Chapel to be lodged in the
hands of the Grand Secretary for the inspection of all concerned, and that
the opponents to the petition be prepared to answer the same against
next. Quarterly Communication."
While the petition was pending in Grand Lodge, overtures for the
amicable settlement of the question were made by the opposing party,
who moved, " That if this Lodge would style themselves by the name of
' The Antient Lodge of Edinburgh held in Mary's Chapel,' it would tend
to cement matters 'twixt this Lodge and the Brethren thereof belonging
to the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel, who in name of the Incorporation
opposed this Lodge's reassuming the name of ' Antient Lodge of Edin-
burgh.'" This proposal having been rejected, the representatives of the
Incorporation, who as such had no right to any voice in the matter,
pressed their objections so successfully in Grand Committee as to induce
222 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Grand Lodge, May 21, 1770, to request the Master of Mary's Chapel "to
withdraw his petition, as it was found detrimental to that harmony which
was incumbent in all Masons." On this recommendation being submitted
to Mary's Chapel, it was " agreed that, in order the opinion of the Brethren
might be fully known, that this matter should be moved in every meeting
of the Lodge betwixt and the nixt Quarterly Communication of the
Grand Lodge." Consideration of the subject was resumed on the 2Sth of
June, when the Past Master moved, " That in order to conciliate the differ-
ence which had unhappily taken place in this Lodge about its name, he
thought that it might be styled by the name of ' The Antient Lodge of
Edinburgh Mary's Chapel,' with which he thought the opposers of the
application presentlie before the Grand Lodge would be satisfied." The
question, which had become one of embittered controversy, came up at
the next monthly meeting, when, " for the sake of peace and harmony, it
was agreed that an application should be made to the Grand Lodge, at
next Quarterly Communication, for having this lodge called ' The Ancient
Edinburgh Mary's Chapel,' and a petition to that purpose being read, was
signed by the R.W. Master and most of the Brethren present."
In finally disposing of the matter, August 13, 1770, the Grand Lodge
authorised Mary's Chapel to adopt the title of " The Lodge OF Edin-
burgh, Mary's Chapel," and the same having been accepted, it was
forthwith ratified by the following " Charter of Confirmation : " —
"®o fill awt) Sbvmttts
" To whose knowledge these presents shall come. Greeting;
" In God Everlasting.
"WHEREAS upon application to the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons
for the Kingdom of Scotland, by Joseph Gavin, Esqr., Master; John Neal, Esqr.,
Depute-Master; David Skae, Esqr., Substitute-Master; Bain Whyt, Senior Warden;
John Strachan, Junior Warden ; Alexander Zeigler, Treasurer ; Joseph Stockell, Secre-
tary ; and several of the Brethren, for themselves, and as representing the whole other
Brethren of the Lodge, commonly called ' The Ancient Lodge of Mary's. Chapel,' setting
forth that the said Lodge had for some time past been stiled Saint Mary's or Mary's
Chapel, and stood the First upon the Roll of the Grand Lodge by that name, that
though it stood on the roll by. that name, it was originally called ' The Lodge of
Edinburgh,' a name arising from its being of old the only Lodge in the city, and
which name appears on the Minutes of the said Lodge down to the end of the last
century ; that they had formerly applied to the Grand Lodge for having the said
Lodge stiled ' The Ancient Lodge of Edinburgh,' which measure had been opposed
by some of their own Brethren ; and that for the sake of peace and harmony they
had now agreed, with the permission of the Grand Lodge, to stile their Lodge by the
name of ' The Lodge of Edinburgh, Mary's Chapel ; ' and therefore praying the
Grand Lodge to interpone their authority to the name required by the petitioners
and to ordain, That the said Lodge, for some time past called ' Mary's Chapel,' be
CHARTER TO MARY S CHAPEL. 223
henceforth stiled and named, ' The Lodge of Edinburgh, Mary's Chapel,' and to grant a
Patent or Charter of Confirmation accordingly, and to give directions for their being
put the First on the Roll by that name. Know ye therefore that the most Worshipful
the Grand Master Mason of Scotland, and the Grand Lodge thereof, have ratified,
approved, and confirmed, and hereby ratify, approve, and confirm the Constitution of
the said Lodge of Edinburgh, or Saint Mary's Chapel. And, further, have of new con-
stituted, erected, and appointed, and hereby constitute, erect, and appoint the Master,
Wardens, and other Brethren present, constituent Members of the said Lodge, and
their successors, to be now and in all time coming a true and regular Lodge of Free
and Accepted Masons, under the title and designation of ' The Lodge of Edinburgh,
Mary's Chapel,' and appoint and ordain all regular Lodges to hold, own, and respect
them as such. Giving, granting, and committing to them and their successors full
power and authority to meet, assemble, and conveen, as a Regular Lodge ; and to admit
and receive Apprentices, pass Fellow Crafts, and raise Master Masons, upon payment
of such composition for support of the Lodge as they shall see convenient; and to elect
and chuse Masters, Wardens, and other Officers annually or otherwise as they shall
have occasion. Recommending to the Brethren aforesaid to reverence and obey their
superiors in all things lawful and honest, as becomes the honour and harmony of
Masonry. The said Brethren by accepting of this present Charter, becoiriing faithfully
bound, not to desert their said Lodge so constituted and confirmed, nor upon any pre-
text whatsoever to make any separate or schismatical meetings, without the consent of
their Master and Wardens for the time being, nor to collect money or other funds separ-
ate from the common stock of their Lodge to the prejudice of the Poor thereof. They
and their successors iri all time coming being obliged to obey and pay due regard to
all acts, statutes, and regulations of the Grand Lodge already made, or hereafter to be
made, for the utility and welfare and prosperity of Masonry in general ; and to pay and
perform whatever is stipulated or demanded of them for the support of the dignity of
the Grand Lodge ; and to record in their books (which they are hereby authorised to
keep) this present Charter of Confirmation, with their own regulations and bye-laws,
and their whole procedure from time to time, as that shall occur, to the end the same
may be more easily seen and observed by their Brethren ; subject always to the review
of the Grand Lodge who hereby approve of what bye-laws or. other regulations they
may have already made, or procedure which the said Lodge may have hitherto had ;
and also, the Brethren aforesaid and their successors in office are hereby required punc-
tually to attend the whole General Meetings and Communications of the Grand Lodge
by their representatives, being their Master and Wardens for ye time, or by lawful
Proxies, in their name, providing such Proxies be Master Masons or Fellow Crafts of
some established Lodge holding of the Grand Lodge, and be duly certiorated of the
proceedings thereof. Declaring always their precedency in the Grand Lodge to be no
ways altered or infringed, but to continue and abide the First on the Roll thereof as
heretofore, notwithstanding this present Charter. And to the end these presents may
be the more effectually kept and preserved, the same are hereby appointed to be re-
corded in the books of the Grand Lodge. Given at the Grand Lodge held in the City
of Edinburgh, upon the thirteenth day of August, One Thousand Seven Hundred and
Seventy years, by the Most Worshipful His Excellency Lieutenant-General James
Adolphus Oughton, Grand Master Mason of Scotland; the Right Worshipful Sir
William Erskine, Deputy Grand Master; the Right Worshipful Andrew Alison,
Esquire, Substitute Grand Master ; The Right Worshipful Dr James Lind and William
Baillie, Esq., Grand Wardens ; James Hunter, Treasurer ; and the Seal of the Grand
224
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Lodge is appended hereunto in presence of Alexander M'Dougall, Esqr., Grand
Secretary, and David Bolt, Grand Clerk. The words Grand Master Mason of Scotland
being addenda before signing.
" Received, Edinburgh 23d Nov. 1770, the fees of one half-guinea.
" (Signed^ James Hunter, Gd. Tr.
" Sealed and Registered in the books of the Grand Lodge of Scotland by David
Bolt, G. Clk."
In course of time the Lodge of Edinburgh came to be designated by
the abbreviated title of ' Mary's Chapel ; ' and in 1840 it set about the
resuscitation of its original appellation. With a haste not justified by the
circumstances, and an apparent obliviousness or disregard of the compact
under which the Lodge held its distinctive title, a Seal designed in har-
mony with this step was procured, and the Lodge's letters and other
official documents were issued as from " The Lodge of Edinburgh." The
unauthorised readoption of this designation was the subject of discussion
between Mary's Chapel and Canongate Kilwinning, which is thus referred
to in the minutes of the former Lodge, December 8, 1840 : " An invitation
from the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge for the 9th instant, together with
the Master's correspondence with Bro. Aytoun * relative thereto, was read.
* William Edmondstoune Aytoun, Advocate, Sheriffof Orkney and Shetland, Professor of Rhe-
toric and Belles-Lettres in the University of Edinburgh, author of the ' Lays of the Scottish
OBJECTIONS TO TITLE CLAIMED BY MARY'S CHAPEL. 225
As Br. Aytouti maintained that the designation ' The Lodge of Edin-
burgh ' was generic, and applicable to all lodges within the city bounds,
the Brethren not agreeing to this reasoning, but, on the other hand, being
decidedly of opinion that, however numerous the lodges in Edinburgh
may be, this Lodge alone is entitled to be called ' The Lodge of Edin-
burgh,' from having been so designated in its ancient records long before
the formation of the Grand Lodge, and indeed for upwards of a century
before the existence of any other Lodge in the metropolis, declined sending
a Deputation to the Canongate to-morrow, as Bro. Aytoun had declared
his intention of not acknowledging the Lodge as it was entitled to be
received." Canongate Kilwinning's sentiments in this matter were en-
dorsed by the Lodges St James and Defensive Band. In order, therefore,
to bring to a termination " the misunderstanding that had arisen among
the sister lodges in Edinburgh as to the correct designation of the Lodge,"
Mary's Chapel resolved " that a Memorial to the Grand Lodge be pre-
pared, setting forth the grounds on which the appellation of ' The Lodge
of Edinburgh ' truly belonged to it." The following is a copy of the
Memorial : —
To the Grand Lodge of Scotland : The Memorial of the Master, Office-Bearers, and
Brethren of the Lodge of Edinburgh, holding No. i of the Grand Lodge of Scot-
land ;
.Sheweth, — That so far back as the year 1598, when the records of this Lodge, which
are believed to be the oldest Scottish Masonic Minutes in existence, commence, it is
universally styled " The Lodge of Edinburgh," the Masons belonging to which were for
long the only recognised members in the city belonging to our ancient Fraternity. By the
Minute-Books of the Lodge it further appears that from 1670 to 1673, meetings of the
Brethren were occasionally held within Mary's Chapel, a hall off the High Street, Edin-
burgh, belonging to the different trades, known as the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel.
From 1673 down to the end of last century, the meetings of this Lodge were generally
held within the aforesaid Hall of Mary's Chapel. Indeed, the Free Masons for a con-
siderable period, it is believed, formed one of the Incorporated Trades belonging to the
Chapel. The circumstance of the Brethren holding their meetings as above set forth,
added to the institution at subsequent periods of other Masonic Bodies in the city,
caused the Lodge to be not unfrequently and vulgarly known, in addition to a great
variety of other appellations which it would be tedious to enumerate, by the name of its
place of meeting, viz., Mary's Chapel, or St. Mary's Chapel. To this appellation, so long
as the Lodge-room was in Mary's Chapel and the Brethren were connected in other
ways with the Incorporated Trades, few objections appear to have been urged ; but
between thirty and forty years after the formation of the Grand Lodge, discussions pre-
vailed among the Brethren of this Lodge as to its true and proper appellation, and on
the 13th February, 1770, it was resolved to present an application to the Grand Lodge,
Cavaliers, and other Poems.' He repeatedly declined being put in nomination for the Substitute
Grand Mastership.
P'
226 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
" requiring their interposition to the proper name of this Lodge, for having it ordained
to be put in its place, the first on their Roll, by the name of the Antient Lodge of Edin-
burgh." Differences, however, then unhappily arose among the members of this body
as to the above designation — the Brethren belonging to the Incorporation being desirous
of retaining the words " Mary's Chapel." In order to cement these differences and
unite the various disputants, it was ultimately agreed to apply for a charter of Confir-
mation in favour of the Lodge as " The Lodge of Edinburgh, Mary's Chapel." A
Charter was accordingly issued by the Grand Lodge in these terms on the 13th of
August 1770. Notwithstanding the above distinct recognition by the Grand Lodge of
the antient appellation of this Lodge, its being brought prominently forward as the
primary designation has not only caused its accuracy to be altogether impugned, but
has led to heartburnings which had ilo existence so long as the secondary and now
inappropriate term " Mary's Chapel" was most frequently made use of. The link
between the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel and the Free Masons of the Lodge
of Edinburgh having long since been severed — the meetings of the Lodge being no
longer held in the Chapel — in fact, all communication with it having ceased, the
Brethren of this Lodge have for a considerable time made use of what they considei- to
be their proper title, and have discarded an appellation which blends them with a
society different from their own — a society, indeed, established for purposes totally
unconnected with Free Masonry. And at a meeting on the 9th March last, the
Brethren of the Lodge resolved unanimously to memorialise the Grand Lodge in the
above terms, and to apply for the sanction of the Grand Lodge to be hereafter known
only as " The Lodge of Edinburgh,'' and to hold as formerly No. i upon the Roll of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland. So far as the memorialists are cognisant of Masonic
matters, they know of no instance in which the title of a Lodge, as fixed upon by its
founders, has been withheld by the Grand Lodge of Scotland ; and they aver that the
title of " The Lodge of Edinburgh" has not been, and could not with propriety have
been, bestowed upon any Lodge in this district other than to that to which the memorial-
ists have the honour of belonging. Its recognition de novo, therefore, it is presumed,
cannot interfere with any of the Sister Establishments in the province — certainly with
none beyond these bounds. The memorialists, in conclusion, trust that, as the style
claimed is neither new nor recently assumed, but is the original and only proper one,
its recognition by the Grand Lodge may be the means of restoring that harmony among
the Brethren in the city, which has in a degree, however slight, suffered an interruption.
The documents required for establishing the statements herein set forth will be laid
before the Grand Lodge, or a Committee of its Members, as the Grand Lodge in its
wisdom may think proper.
Signed and Sealed in name and by appointment of the Brethren of the Lodge in
full Lodge assembled, at .Free Masons' Hall, in the city of Edinburgh, the 27th
day of April 1841.
(Signed) J. L'inning Woodman, Master.
On this memorial being brought forward for presentation at the Grand
Quarterly Communication in May 1840, Grand Lodge by a majority
refused to receive it, on the ground that it was not acquainted with " The
Lodge of Edinburgh," and could not receive a memorial from any Lodge
Mary's chapel resumes its chartered title. 227
not named as on its Roll. This was communicated to Mary's Chapel by-
its Master, who characterised the proceeding on the part of the Grand
Lodge as both " captious and erroneous," — erroneous in so far as it could
be clearly shown that nrany of the Lodges holding under the Scottish
Constitution were improperly designated on the Roll. He stated, how-
ever, that the Memorial fell to be withdrawn. He could not recommend
any further concession or application to the Grand Lodge, but would
impress upon the Lodge the propriety of retaining its original designation
under every circumstance,^ — a suggestion which was unanimously adopted
by the Brethren. The matter having assumed an importance that Grand
Lodge did not at first attach to it, that body at length ordered a report of
the whole circumstances to be made by Grand Committee. After several
meetings in prosecution of this remit, the Committee, November 8, 1841,
came to the conclusion to report the name of the Lodge as " Edinburgh
Mary's Chapel;" but the then Secretary of the Lodge of Edinburgh, who
was also a member of Grand Committee, not being able to view the matter
in the same light, dissented, and lodged the following Protest : — " I dissent
from the Minutes of the Grand Lodge Committee, upon which their
Report is to be founded, as to the style and title of the Lodge No. i, for
the following reasons : — i. Because the Report of the Grand Committee
is at variance with the evidence adduced to them in the Minute-Books and
Charter of the Lodge No. i, which clearly establish its appellation to be
' The Lodge of Edinburgh.' In other respects, the said report is founded
upon erroneous data. 2. Because it is beyond the power of the Grand
Committee, or of the Grand Lodge, to alter the name of any Masonic
establishment without consent of the members belonging to that establish-
ment;— in particular, it is tiltra vires of the Grand Lodge to infringe upon
the title of the Lodge of Edinburgh, which existed long before the forma-
tion of the Grand Lodge. 3. The dissentient therefore claims for the Lodge
holding No. i of the Grand Lodge its ancient and characteristick appellation
of ' The Lodge of Edinburgh,' and avers that as such it shall only recog-
nise itself hereafter. F. S. Melville, P.M. for Lodge St James, Brechin."
Approving what its Secretary had done, the Lodge, at its Communication
on the following day, determined to maintain the ground which it had
previously taken. Efforts were made at the next monthly Communication
to obtain by a vote of the Lodge the repudiation of this resolution, but
these were defeated by a motion for " the previous question," which was
carried by the casting-vote of the president. Without any further deliber-
ation or deliverance on the subject, the Lodge resumed its chartered
title,
228 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
All things considered, the Lodge" of Edinburgh's resumption of its
original title, and subsequent determination at all hazards to abide by that
resolution, was a virtual repudiation on its part of the inviolability of the
charter under which it held of the Grand Lodge, the conditions of which
could only in any essential point be deviated from with the deliberate
consent of the contracting parties. The act of the Lodge was also incon-
sistent with the attitude it had previously assumed in its vigorous but
ineffectual resistance of an equally unconstitutional act of the Grand
Lodge itself in 1808, which placed The Lodge of Edinburgh in a secondary
position on the Grand Lodge Roll.
Francis Suther Melville, Clerk of Session, the author of the
protest above given, is President of the Board of Grand Stewards. He
was initiated in the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1836, and was its Secretary
during the three years ending December 1841. For his services in that
capacity the Lodge in January 1842 entertained him at dinner at New-
haven, near Edinburgh, and presented him with a testimonial subscribed
for by the members. He was Depute Master when- the Prince of Wales
was affiliated into Mary's Chapel, and his portrait appears in the group of
office-bearers who represented the Lodge at the admission of His Royal
Highness. On Brother Officer's retirement from the chair, Mr Melville
was unanimously requested to act as his successor ; but indifferent health
precluded him complying with the request. He represents in Grand
Lodge, Ayr St James, the mother Lodge of Tam o' Shanter's boon com-
panion, Souter Johnny. He had previously, and for about a quarter of a
century, been the representative of Forfar and Kincardine, Dundee, which
Lodge presented Mr Melville with several addresses in vellum expressive
of its appreciation of his services.
Francis DaCruz M'Cowan, doctor of medicine, whose portrait heads
this chapter, was initiated in the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1844 ; and was
elected Master on St Johh's-day, December 1854. He held that office for
five years, and did much to increase and economise the funds of the
Lodge. He was deputed by the Brethren to represent them in the
Masonic Congress held in Paris in 1855, and in the Masonic reception by
the Grand Orient on the occasion of the great French Exhibition in 1867.
For these services he received the thanks of the Lodge.. In 1856 he was
presented by Prince Murat, then Grand Master, with the decorations of
the Grand Orient, in recognition of services rendered to the Masons of
France and their families during the great inundations of that year.
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE. 229
During Dr M'Cowan's mastership, two swarms of Brethren left the Lodge
— one of whom formed the Lodge Caledonian, No. 392 ; the other con-
nected themselves with members of the then dormant St Andrew, No. 48,
and aided in its resuscitation. He represented the Grand Orient of France
in the Grand Lodge of Scotland from 1855 till his death, which occurred
in October 1872. He bequeathed ;^ioo to the charity fund of the Grand
Orient, and a like sum to the fund of Scottish Masonic Benevolence.
CHAPTER XXIV.
^
i
i
^^M
^
s^SSSSt
a
iREOUENT reference has been made in the preceding chapter
to the " Incorporation of Mary's Chapel." This, though of
ancient date, is not its original designation. The Freemen
Masons and Wrights of Edinburgh were in 1475 incorporated
by a Seal of Cause under the hand of the Magistrates and Town Council,
who supplemented this deed by another, granting to the infant guild the
aisle and chapel of St John in St Giles's Kirk. This act of incorporation
was ratified at several subsequent periods, — by the Archbishop of St
Andrews in 1517, by royal charter in 1527, by the Common Council of
INCORPORATION OF MASONS AND WRIGHTS. 23 1
Edinburgh in 1633, by royal charter in 1635, and by decree of the Court
of Session in 1703. Embracing at first only the masons and wrichts of
Edinburgh, the scope of the Incorporation was gradually extended till in
the beginning of the eighteenth century it included glaziers, plumbers,
slaters, painters, coopers, sievewrights, bow-makers, and upholsterers.
We present a copy of the Seal, of Cause and deed of grant above
referred to, extracted from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh, in the hope
that they may prove interesting as throwing light upon some of the
usages of the Scottish Crafts four centuries ago : — ■" Till all and syndry
quhom it efferis quhais knawledge thir present lettres sail cum ; — The
prowest, bailies, counsall, and the dekynnis of the hale craftismen of the
burgh of Edinburgh, greting in God, euirlestand. Wit your vniuersiteis
that our comburgessis and nychtbouris, all the craftsmen of the Masonis
and the Wrichtis within the said burgh, quhilkis presentit to ws in juge-
ment thair bill of supplicatioun, desyring of ws our licence, consent, and
assent of certane statutis and reullis, maid amangis tham self, for the
honour and worschip of Sanct Jhone, in augmentatioun of devyrie seruice,
and richt sa for reuling, governyng of the saidis twa craftis; and honour
and worschip of the towne, and for treuth and lawte of the saidis craftis,
proffitable baith for the wirkaris and to all biggaris — the quhilk bill,
togidder with thair statutis and reullis before ws red and thairwith we
beand wele awysit, considerit and fand that thai war gud and loveable,
baith to God and man, and consonand to ressoun, and thairto we assentit
and grantit tham thair desyris, togidder with the He of Sanct Jhone in
the college kirk of Sanct Gele, to beild and put to polesy in honour of the
said Sanct, and for the sufiferage of devyne seruice, and thir ar the arti-
kallis and statutis at we haf approvit and for ws, in sa fer as we haf power ;
— In the first it is thocht expedient that thair be chosin four personis, of
the best and worthiest of the twa craftis, that is to say twa masonis and
twa wrychtis, that sail be sworne, quhilkis sail serche and se all wirkis at
the craftismen wirkis, and that it be lelely and treuly done to all biggaris ;
Item, gif ony man beis plentuous of ony wirk, or of ony wirkman of the
saidis craftis thai to complenye to the dekin and the four men, or ony twa
of tham, and thai persons sail caus the scaith and wrang to be amendit,
and gif thai can nocht, the prowest and bailies to gar it be amendit as
efferis. Item, gif ony persoun or persouns of the saidis craftis cummis of
newe after this act to the guid towne and schapis to wirk, or to tak wirk
apoun hand, he sail first cum to the said four men, and thai sail examyn
him gif he be sufficient or nocht, and gif he beis admittit he sail lay downe
to the reparatioun of the altar a merk. Item, that na master nor persone
of ony of the craftis tak ony prentis for les termis than sevin yeirs, and jlk
232 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
prentis to pay at his entre to the said altar half a merk, and gif ony
prentis of quhatsumeuir of the saidis craftismen, or yit his feit man, pasis
away or the ische of his termes but leif of his master, and quha that
resauis the prentis or feit man, thai sail pay to the altar ane pund of walx
the first fait, the secund fait twa pundis of walx, the third fait to be pvnist
be the provest and bailies of the towne as efferis ; and allswa, quhen ony
prentisses has completit his termis and is worne out, he sail be examined
be the four men gif he be sufficient or nocht to be a fallow of the craft, and
gif he be worthy to be a fallow he sail pay half a merk to the altar and
brouke the priuilege of the craft, and gif he be nocht sufficient he sail serf
a master quhill he haf lirit to be worthy to be a master, and than to be
maid freman and fallow. Item, gif thar be ony of the craft that disobeyis
or makis discord amangis the craftismen of ony of the craftis, or that ony
of them plenyeis apoun them sail be brocht befor the dekynnis and ouer-
men of the craftis, and thai to gar amend it be trety amangis thamself,
and gif thai can nocht be faltouris to be brocht and pvnist be the prowest
and bailies of the towne for thair trespas as efferis. Alswa, the saidis twa
craftismen sail caus and haue thair placis and rowmes in all generale pro-
cessiouns lyk as thai haf in the towne of Bruges, or siclyk gud townes, and
gif ony of the craftismen of outher of the craftis decesis and has na guds
sufficient to bring him furth honestly, the saidis craftis sail, vpon thair
costes and expensis, bring him furth and gar bery him honestlie, as thai
aucht to do of det to thair brother of the craft ; and alswa, it sail be lefuU
to the saidis twa craftis and craftismen of Wrichtis and Masounis to haue
power of quhatsumeuir vtheris actis, statutis, or ordinancis that thai think
mast convenient for the vtilite and profifet of the gud towne, and for tham
to statut and ordane with awys of the hale craftis and of our sucessouris,
thai to be ratifiit and apprufitsiclik as thir actis, and to be actit and trans-
sumpt in the common buke of Edinburgh, hafand the samyn forme, force,
and effect as this present writ has. The quhilkis actis, ordinance, and
devys shewin to ws and considerit we appruf, ratifyes, and for ws and our
successouris confirmis and admittis, in so far as we haf power. In witnes
of the quhilk thing to thir present lettres we haf to affixt our commoun
sele of caus, togidder with the seles of the ballis of the said burgh for the
tyme, in takynyng of appreving of all the thingis aboue writtin, the xv
day of October, the yeir of God jm iiijc seventy and five yeirs."
This charter shows how closely the performance of specific religious
duties was associated with the burghal privileges enjoyed by guilds of
Scottish craftsmen in the fifteenth century. The Church's influence upon
the operative institutions of the period is also shown by the practice of
other sections of the building trade. The unlaws that were imposed upon
THE crafts' support OF RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. 233
defaulting masons employed by the magistrates of Aberdeen in the year
1483 were given to the "Sanct Nicholas Kirk-wark." Contributions of
money and wax to the altar of St Thomas, -erected in the Kirk of Glas-
gow, were exigible under the charter granted by the magistrates of that
burgh to the Incorporation of Masons in 1551 ; while the Ayr Squaremen
(masons and wrichts) were in 1555 placed under similar obligations for
the uphold of St Ninian's altar, in the parish kirk of the burgh. At the
Reformation, and consequent demolition of the Popish altars, the Kirk of
Scotland, recognising the existing obligation of associated bodies to aid
in upholding the outward fabric of religion, recommended that "craftsmen
in burgh should contribute to the support of the Kirk." Long after -the
introduction of the Protestant faith this principle seems to have been
acknowledged by the crafts ; for by a clause in the Masonic ordinances
issued by Schaw in 1598 and 1599, all fines exacted by Lodges under
these statutes were directed to be applied to " pious uses." Notwithstand-
ing this provision, however, the minute of the last meeting which was held
by the Lodge of Edinburgh in the sixteenth century (June 8, 1600)
furnishes the only recorded instance of its having directed the fines which
it inflicted to be specially devoted to pious purposes. The probability is
that unlaws would soon come to be regarded by Lodges as part of their
ordinary revenue. This was the case in Glasgow, where during the first
decade of the seventeenth century the Masons' Incorporation are found
applying to secular purposes various items of income which under the
sway of Roman Catholicism had originally been dedicated to the service
of the Church. The presence of wrichts equally with masons at the pass-
ing of their apprentices to the rank of fellow, as provided for by the
charter of 1475, favours the opinion which we have elsewhere expressed —
viz., that " the Word " and other secrets peculiar to masons were communi-
cated to apprentices on their admission to the Lodge, and that the cere-
mony of passing was simply a testing of the candidate's fitness for
employment as a journeyman. From minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh
we find that the Incorporation had in the early part of the seventeenth
century ceased to examine apprentice masons for advancement to the
rank of fellow, and that this ceremony, then within the special province of
the Lodge, was participated in by entered apprentices — probably on
account of the beneficial effect such examinations were calculated to pro-
duce upon their professional character.
The reference which is made to Bruges* in the fourth item of the pre-
* Bruges, so named because of the numerous bridges by which its canals are crossed, was in the
middle ages the great emporium of the world's commerce. Its importance in this respect was
such that in the fourteenth century ambassadors from twenty foreign courts resided within its walls.
234 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ceding seal of cause is significant, as indicating one of the channels through
which the Scottish Crafts became acquainted with customs obtaining
among their brethren in foreign countries. If in the matter of precedency
in public processions Continental usage was held to regulate the mason craft
in this country, it is quite a legitimate inference that in other points they
would be guided by the same authority, and that the secret ceremonies
observed by the representatives of the builders of the mediaeval edifices of
which Bruges could boast, may have to some extent been adopted by the
Lodges of Scotch Operative Masons in the fifteenth centufy. It was a cus-
tom of the period at which the above statutes were adopted for the craft
guilds to take part in civic processions, as well as in those appointed by the
Church in honour of the saints and at high religious festivals — the members
of each handicraft appearing in those pageants being bound to wear upon
their breasts the insignia of their respective trades, each trade under its
distinctive banner. The observance of this custom seems in after years
to have led to an extravagant expenditure of the Mary's Chapel Incor-
poration funds ; for in November 1685 we find that court enacting, "that
hereafter the deacons do not call any company to their attendance upon
horseback bot on solemn occaisons, at meeting of great personages or
burialls of such, except the old deacons, present quarter-masters, not
exceeding the number of six horses to each deacon." At a previous date
(October 161 8) the incorporated masons of Glasgow ordained "that all
who ride to burials or other common raids hereafter shall ride upon their
own charges, and shall not be allowed out of the common purse." The
burial of indigent brethren — one of the conditions upon which the masons
of Edinburgh held their charter — was by legislative enactment in the
thirteenth century made imperative upon incorporated bodies : " Gif ony
breder of gilde hapyn to disses and has not to bring him to the erde as
effeirs, or to ger sing for his saule, the breder sal tak up the faculties of
the gild and ger his bodye be honestly layd in erde." According to the
Constitutions of the German Masons of Strasburg, A.D. 1459, given in
Findel's ' History of Freemasonry,' all the masters and fellows of the
lodge were, on the death of one of their number, bound to assist at and
contribute to " a mass to be said for the repose of the soul of him who had
departed." Apropos of burials, we may mention that it was a custom in
the sixteenth century for Scottish tradesmen to wear their aprons at the
Its citizens were famous for their skill in manufactures. In 1587 a colony of Flemish weavers
found their way to Edinburgh, where certain privileges of trade were guaranteed to them by Act
of Parliament. This Act so far ignored the monopoly which Mary's Chapel Incorporation enjoyed
with respect to wricht-work within the royalty, as to permit the Flemings to employ a master-
wricht, a -countryman of their own, in the erection of their looms. ,
THE AISLE OF .ST GlLES'S KIRK. 235
funerals of brethren, but to do so at burials of non-craftsmen subjected
them to an unlaw of the value of six pounds Scots. The Masonic Funeral
of modern times appears to be a relic of this custom. On the ground that
"this species of charity is very becoming a society of Freemasons," the
interment of poor brethren prevailed to a considerable extent among
Lodges a century ago. The items of expenses usually incurred on such
occasions embraced " coffin, crape for the officebearers' rods, drink, bread,
grave-maker, and bellman."
A gift of the aisle of the church of St Giles for their special use was the
recompense which the magistrates of Edinburgh made to the masons and
wrichts in return for the responsibilities the infant incorporation had
undertaken in regard to the uphold of the altar which had been erected
therein in honour of St John the Evangelist and St John the Baptist :
" Till all and syndry quhom it efferis quhais knawlege thir present lettres
sail cum ;— The prouest, bailies, counsall, dene of gild, and dekynnis of the
hale craftismen within the burgh of Edinburgh, greting in the Sone of the
glorious Virgine. Wit ye ws in the honour, worschipe, and glore of
Almychte God and of the glorious virgine Sanct Mary, and of our patrone
Sanct Gele, and for the furthering, helping, eiking, and suppleing of divine
seruice daily to be done at the altar of Sanct Jhone the Ewangelist foundit
in the College Kirk of Sanct Geile of Edinburgh, and for reparatioun^
beilding, and polecy to be maid in honour of the said sanct of Sanct
Jhone, and of the glorius Sanct Jhone the Baptist, to have consentit and
assignit, and be thir our present lettres consentis and assignis to our lovit
nychtbouris the hale craftismen of the Masonis and of the Wrichtis within
the said burgh the ile and chapell of Sanct Jhone fra the aid hers of irne
inwarts als frely as it is ouris, with all the fredomis, proffittis, and esementis
thairto pertenand as we haf or may haf richt to, nocht doand nor com-
mittand ony preiudice or skaith to Sir Jhone Scaithmure or his succes-
souris in his first feftment or priuilegis that he has broukit or joisit of
befor. To be haldin and to be had the said ile and chapell of Sanct
Jhone fra the irne hers inwart with the pertinentis to the saidis craftismen
the Masonis and Wrichtis of the said burgh and to their successouris for
euir, with power to edify, big, reparell, and put it ony pairt thairof to
polesy or honour of the saidis Sanctis outher in werk or diuine seruice
quhatsumeuir at the altar or vther wayes, nocht hurtand the auld feft-
ment. And the said craftismen to vse, occupy, and aduoruy the said ile
as thair awin proper ile, siclyk as vtheris craftismen occupiis within the said
College Kirk, nocht doand ony prejudice to our patronage or to the auld
feftment or to the auld laus in the said lie. And at the said craftismen
sail adoury and haf the day of Sanct Jhone the Baptist and to thig to the
236 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
licht of the said altar as vtheris dois in the kirk yerliei And this till all
thame quhom it efferis we mak it knawin be thir our present lettres.
And in witnessing hereof our commoun sele of caus of the said burgh,
togidder with the selis of Alexander Turing, David Quhytehed, Bartillmo
Carnis, balyeis for the tyme, and Alexander Richerdsons sele dene of the
gild, in token of gevin consent and assignatioun to the saidis craftismen of
the said ile, be the handis of the dekin for them all, are to hungin at Edin-
burgh the XV day of the moneth of October the yeir of God jm. four hun-
dreth sevinty-and five yeris." It seems to have been because of its
neglected condition that this altarage was assigned by the magistrates to
the care of the masons, and not from any preference they or their colleagues
in the guild entertained for the Saints John over St Ninian, St Thomas, or
any other of the saints in whose honour altars were sustained by their
fellow-craftsmen in other parts of Scotland. St Thomas, who in pictorial
art is represented holding a builder's square, is regarded as the patron
saint of architects and builders.
From municipal records belonging to the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-
turies we learn that public bodies were accustomed to hold their meetings
in the kirks within their respective bounds. This custom survived the
Reformation, and was recognised by the Masonic Statutes of 1599, which
confirmed the Lodge of Kilwinning's right to hold its courts within the
parish kirk. There are no records of the Edinburgh Incorporation of
Masons extant to show where its meetings were held during the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, — in all probability it would for that purpose use
its own aisle in the High Church. An extraordinary communication
of the Lodge of Edinburgh was held -in Holyrood House in June 1600.
But the earliest indication of the ordinary meeting-place of the Incorpor-
ation, or of that of its Masonic pendicle, is contained in the oldest existing
minute-book of the Lodge, where, under date November 25, 1613, "the
decone of the maissouns and the haill rest of his brethren" are represented
as being '" convenit in the Maries Chapill in Nidries wynd." This place
is with more or less regularity mentioned as that in which the Lodge of
Edinburgh met during the next hundred and seventy years.
Mary's Chapel, built and endowed by Elizabeth Countess of Ross in
1 504, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, stood on the east side of Niddry's
Wynd, and was with the wynd itself swept away in 1787, to make room
for the South Bridge. This wynd was formerly the most aristocratic
quarter of the city. It was to a house in Niddry's Wynd that James VI.
brought his Danish bride, on his return to Scotland after his marriage
(1590), and where they resided for a week, until certain repairs on Holy-
rood Palace had been completed. After passing through the hands of
ST MARYS CHAPEL, EDINBURGH.
237
Colvil of Easter Wemyss and Richardson of Smeaton, who as proprietors
were also patrons of the religious foundation, Mary's Chapel about the year
1600 became the property of one James Chalmers, a macer before the
Court of Session, of whom the Incorporation of Masons and Wrights pur-
chased it in 1 61 8, and converted the building into a Convening-House.
From the circumstance of its proprietors meeting there, they came in
course of time to be designated the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel. During-
the civil war in which the country was involved in the time of Charles
II. and his successor, St Mary's Chapel was used by the Incorporation as
an armoury, and for better security of the arms it was, in 1684, as else-
where noticed, ordered to be "fortified." When the Revolution of 1688
occurred, the Chapel, by arrangement with its proprietors, was being used
by the non-conforming Presbyterians as a place of worship. It subse-
quently underwent considerable alterations, and had early in the last
238 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
century become the leading public hall in Edinburgh. Grand Lodge was
inaugurated within its walls. Our engraving of Mary's Chapel is taken
from Maitland's 'History of Edinburgh,' 1753.
Notwithstanding the thorough disjunction of the Masons' Incorporation
and the Lodge which was effected by the introduction of modern Free-
masonry, the Lodge of Edinburgh continued till 1769 in unchallenged
.possession of the privilege of holding its communications in Mary's Chapel.
In February of that year it was informed of the Incorporation's resolution
" to demand a rent for the use of the hall which they have possess'd past
memory of man, and that it should not be under £$ sterling yearly."
This demand was referred to the consideration of a committee, who in
their conference with the treasurer of the Incorporation submitted that the
" considerable sum of money which was annually paid by the Lodge to
indigent widows of members of the Incorporation was always understood
as a gratuity for the use 'the Lodge enjoyed of the large hall for its meet-
ings;" but that, as the "Incorporation were more proper judges how to
distribute charities to the persons upon their poors-roll," the Lodge had
agreed, upon the Incorporation granting the use of the Chapel for its
meetings, fitting up a preparation-room on the stair-head, allowing the use
of the room at the back of the master's seat for the stewards, and levelling
the tops of the desks, to give five pounds annually for the use of the poor
belonging to the Incorporation. An arrangement upon these terms being
concluded, the Lodge continued to meet in St Mary's Chapel till within a
few days of its demolition. In view of this event a farewell communica-
tion, attended by all the Lodges in Edinburgh, was held on May 8, 1787.
The Past Master, Bain Whyt, presided — a lecture on the Three Degrees
was delivered by Thomas Sommers,* who also " addressed the brethren in
a speech of considerable length suited to the nature of the meeting," — and
after many appropriate toasts, the Lodge was " closed with great solemnity,
and the brethren dismissed in due time, never again to meet in Saint
Mary's Chapel."
* Thomas Sommers, burgess and freeman glazier, was initiated in 1766. He was Deacon of the
Masons in 1770-71, and again in 1776-77 ; and held the office of Grand Clerk to the Grand Lodge
during the four years ending November 1799. He was the friend and biographer of Fergusson the
poet, — was the author of a pamphlet on the nature of the "Burgess Oath," — and at his death,
September 181 7, was engaged on a work entitled " Retrospect of the Public Buildings and other
external Improvements of the City of Edinburgh." Fergusson passing Sommers's shop on one
occasion, left the following lines on the counter : —
" Thom Sommers is a gloomy man,
His mind is dark within;
O ! holy ! glaze his soul,
That light may enter in."
MEETING-PLACES OF THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH. 239
During the next three years the Lodge of Edinburgh was temporarily
accommodated, first in St David's lodge-room, and latterly in that of St
Andrew. In October 1790 the Lodge removed to a large room in The
Mint, which it had previously fitted up for masonic purposes. This build-
ing is situated in the Cowgate, and was erected in 1574. It was in the
council-room of the Mint that the Danish courtiers who accompanied
James'VI. and his queen to Scotland were entertained at a public banquet
by the town of Edinburgh. The Lodge continued to meet in The Mint till
May 1795, when in virtue of an agreement with the Incorporation of Mary's
Chapel, by which an annual rent of five pounds was to be paid, it removed
to the Convening-House in Bell's Wynd. Here its communications were,
with slight interruptions in 1799 and following year, held till 1807. Owing
to the troubles in which it was involved during the five years ending March
181 3, Mary's Chapel had no fixed place of meeting — its communications
being for the most part held in one or other of the lodge-rooms belonging
to Canongate Kilwinning, St David, and Defensive Band. On the termi-
nation of its differences with Grand Lodge it resumed meeting in Bell's
Wynd, but in February 18 14 went to Freemasons' Hall (St Cecilia's),*
Niddry Street, which it occupied for four years. In December 18 18 it
transferred its sittings to St David's, in Hyndford's Close, and was the
joint occupant of that lodge-room till February 1836, when it took apart-
ments in Paxton's Royal Exchange Rooms, from which it removed in
November of the same year to the Regent's Rooms, 14 Waterloo Place.
Here the Lodge sat till its removal, in June 1839, to the Caledonian Hotel,
3 Waterloo Place. Another removal was necessitated in June 1840, when,
from the impossibility of procuring a suitable place in " the new town," and
in the hope that " greater respectability would arise from assembling in the
Grand Lodge premises than could be gained from meeting in a tavern," -f-
* St Cecilia Hall was built in 1762 at the bottom of Niddry Wynd, from a design by Mr Robert
Mylne, after a model of the great opera theatre of Parma. The concerts in this Hall, says Cham-
bers in his ' Traditions of Edinburgh,' did honour to the city : it was here where the patrons of song
were wont to listen to the strains of Signor and Signora Domenico Corri from Rome, and other dis-
tinguished artistes of the time, — and where too the Grand Lodge of Scotland was for thirty-five years
(1809-44) accustomed to hold its meetings, having in 1809 purchased the building for ;£'l400 and
converted it into a Freemasons' Hall. Some alterations and additions were made on it, and it was
sold in 1843 to the Town Council for ;^i8oo, for the purposes of a School under the trust-settle-
ment of the late Dr Bell, the founder of the Madras system of education. St Cecilia Hall as a
concert-room Is now represented by the Music Hall in George Street.
t The earliest notice we have of an Edinburgh Lodge meetifig in a public-house is given in a
previous chapter, in a way which seems to imply that a tavern is an improper place for Masonic
meetings being held. Brethren who kept public-houses were by resolution of Grand Lodge in
1739 declared incapable of being elected Grand Stewards. In 1725 the Lodge of York enacted
that "no more persons shall be admitted a brother of this Society that shall keep a public-house."
240 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Mary's Chapel returned a second time to Freemasons' Hall. In February
1 843 it migrated to the Waterloo Rooms, where it remained till December
1845, when it removed to the St James Hotel, St James's Square. This
property having immediately afterwards been let to private families, Mary's
Chapel was again without a lodge-room. The Star Hotel, the Cafe Royal,
and the Turf Hotel were the places in which the Lodge held its communi-
cations during the next twelve months. In January 1847 it settled dovvn
in the Turf, whence it removed in December 1853 to the Ship Hotel,
Register Street. Another change was effected by its removal in December
1869 to its present lodge-room in the Waterloo Hotel, Waterloo Place.
It is about a quarter of a century since Mary's Chapel laid the " founda-
tion for a capital sum to be laid out hereafter in providing a suitable place
of meeting for the Lodge," — an object which has not hitherto been
attained, but which is now likely to be realised through the careful manage-
ment of the Lodge's funds, which at St John's-day 1870 amounted to the
sum of ;^4S0. St David's parted with its lodge-room in Hyndford's Close
a few years ago, the locality having become unsuitable. The Journeymen's
old Hall, which formed a portion of the east side of the quadrangle of
Cardinal Beaton's Palace, situated at the foot of Blackfriars Wynd, and
which was acquired by the Lodge in 1743, was embraced in the city im-
provements presently in progress, and has been removed. In its place, on
the same site, and facing the new street called Blackfriars Street, the
Lodge has erected a handsome building, the foundation-stone of which
was laid by the Earl of Dalhousie in November 1870. The only other
Lodges in Edinburgh which possess halls of their own are, Canongate
Kilwinning, in St John's Street, and St James, in Writers' Court, High
Street.
Adolphus Robinow, Representative in Grand Lodge from the Grand
Lodge of Hamburg, whose portrait heads this chapter, is a member of
Mary's Chapel. He is the senior partner of the well-known mercantile
firm of Robinow and Marjoribanks, carrying on business at Leith and
Glasgow, and is the Consul of the German Empire at Leith.
CHAPTER XXV.
HE traditionary claims for precedency that have come most
prominently before the Craft are those which have been
advanced in favour of the Lodges of Edinburgh (Mary's
Chapel) and Kilwinning respectively. Though from its an-
cient political importance Edinburgh is more likely to have been the
centre of an Association of Builders than an obscure village in the pro-
vinces, the legend which points to Kilwinning as the original seat of
Q
242 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Scotch Masonry is more wide-spread, and has hitherto been more gene-
rally accepted, than that which accords the palm of priority to the ancient
metropolitan Lodge on account of its alleged descent from the artisans
whom, in 1128, King David imported from Strasburg to build Holyrood
Abbey. The position thus claimed for Kilwinning does not necessarily
imply that it was the source whence all other Scotch Lodges have sprung.
Nevertheless, this traditional distinction, published as it has been through
the medium of gazetteers, encyclopedias, and the like, will not easily be
dissociated from the Lodge of Kilwinning ; though, after all, its perpe-
tuation cannot affect the acknowledged aiitiquity of its old metropolitan
rival, Mary's Chapel, or raise Kilwinning to a higher position in the annals
of Freemasonry than that to which it has already attained. The probabi-
lity is that the erection of the earliest Scotch Lodges was of nearly simul-
taneous occurrence, as wherever a body of the mediaeval masons were
employed, there also were the elements to constitute a Lodge. The pre-
tensions of the Lodge of Kilwinning to priority of existence, based as they
are upon the story which makes its institution and the erection of Kilwin-
ning Abbey (i 140) coeval, are weakened by the fact that the Abbey in
question was neither the first nor second Gothic structure erected in Scot-
land. The Crown had been all but beggared by the prodigality of David
I. in raising religious edifices, long before the foundation of Kilwinning
was laid. Besides, a minute inspection of its ruins proves its erection to
have been ante-dated by some eighty or ninety years.* Similar miscon-
ception may exist also in regard to the age of other Scotch ecclesiastical
buildings that are associated with the origin of particular sections of the
Craft. In the discussion, therefore, of disputed points under this branch
* Brother John Baird, Past Master of the Lodge Glasgow St John, No. 3 bis, has supplied us
with the following notes on this point : — "In a county so rich in historical incidents as that of
Ayr, it seems strange that scarcely any record remains of what must have been a large and wealthy
ecclesiastical community — if we are to judge by the extent and beauty of this church and its sur-
rounding buildings. That it has seen scenes of violence, like so many structures of a similar kind
throughout the countiy, in the unsettled state of the kingdom during the English and Scotch wars,
is plainly attested by the fact that in the gable of the south transept, which is still entire, there are
three different kinds of masonry, and as many different kinds of stone used — showing that the work
of destruction and restoration had been carried on here as elsewhere. Enough of the buildings
remain to show us that they were erected during the thirteenth century, if we adopt the English
chronology ; and as Scotland was both a smaller country and a poorer, it is not at all likely she
would be in advance of her sister state, but rather be somewhat behind, however much her church
dignitaries might wish to emulate their richer brethren in the south. Adopting this theory, the
earliest date, even were it in England, that could be fixed for the erection of a structure like Kil-
winning Abbey would be A.D. 1220. Great numbers of English examples, with the same char-
acter of details both in base, shaft, and capital of pillar, arch mouldings with the dog-tooth enrich-
ment, form of arch, &c., might be pointed out with authenticated dates ranging from the year
stated to 1250."
RIVAL CLAIMS TO PRECEDENCY. 243
of Masonic archaeology, it should be borne in mind that there may be a
material difference between the date of the founding of a religious institu-
tion and that at which the fabric in connection with it was built. In
advocating the Lodge of Edinburgh's claims to priority, it has never been ■
the custom to connect with it the names of persons of rank as directing
the Lodge at a date prior to its earliest records. On the other hand, the
claims of Kilwinning are supported by associating with its government in
ancient times the names of historical personages, of whose connection with
the Mason Craft and their customs there is neither direct nor collateral
evidence. That the Lodge of Kilwinning was presided over about the
year 1286 by James, Lord Steward of Scotland, about 13 13 by the hero of
Bannockburn, and afterwards by " a third son of Robert the 2nd (Earl of
Buchan)," are among the statements which were propagated during the last
century in support of the great antiquity of the Kilwinning Fraternity.
Leaving the fables of the Order for reliable data, we find in the opening
paragraph of the supplementary Statutes for the regulation of Lodges
issued by the Warden of the Masons in December 1599, the designation
of "heid and secund ludge of Scotland" applied to the Lodge of Kilwin-
ning. It is afterwards in the same document called " secund ludge of
Scotland," " secund ludge," " secund in Scotland," '' paroche [parish] and
secund ludge." Only two other Lodges are therein mentioned by name,
the one being " first and principall ludge in Scotland," and the other
" third." The ■ ordinance having special reference to the precedency of
these three centres of Masonic jurisdiction is as follows: — "Item, it is
thocht neidfull and expedient be my lord warden generall, that Edin-
burgh salbe in all tyme cuming, as of befoir, the first and principall ludge
in Scotland ; and that Kilwynning be the secund ludge as of befoire is
notourlie manifest in our awld antient writtis, and that S[triue]linge
salbe the thrid ludge, conforme to the auld privileges thairof." There is,
it must be admitted, an apparent ambiguity in the Warden-General's defini-
tion of the " use and wont " position of the two leading Scottish Lodges.
But while the terms " principal " as applied to the Lodge of Edinburgh,
and "heid" as used to designate that of -Kilwinning, convey precisely the
-same meaning, the prefixes " first " and " secund " may be held as con-
clusive of the fact that though both were head lodges over their respective
bounds and independent of each other, the precedency was assigned to
one of them: There is no inconsistency in this supposition ; for might
there not have been a plurality of head lodges as well as of head pilgrim-
ages.. These latter are referred to in an Act of the Lords of Council,
-1490, which, in a case of manslaughter, ordains the parties to repair
to the market cross of Edinburgh, with their swords in their hands.
244 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
and ask forgiveness of the friends. of the slain man, and to seek "the
four head pilgrimages of Scotland, and there say mass for his soul."
Whether it was on the ground of priority of existence or of geogra-
phical position that the Lodge of Edinburgh was at first preferred to
the chief post among its contemporaries, will probably never be known,
unless indeed archaeological research may yet bring to light data for the
settlement of the question. The second code of the Schaw Statutes places
it beyond doubt that in the year 1599 the Lodges of Edinburgh and Kil-
winning were respectively confirmed in the position they had "of befoir"
held. It should be borne in mind that these Ordinances were not of a
revolutionary character, introducing new arrangements into the Craft ;
but were simply declaratory of what was acknowledged at the time to be
the usage of the then existing Lodges.
Hitherto, while endeavouring to divest the Kilwinning Legend of its
more extravagant proportions, we have been disposed on the whole to
accept that portion of it which represents Kilwinning as being the seat of
the first-established Scotch Lodge. This was the result of an impression
that a first perusal of the Schaw Statutes had left upon our mind, viz., that
the ordinance which commands obedience to " the hale auld antient actis
and statutis maid of befoir be the predecessouris of the maisounis of Kil-
wynning" was applicable to the Craft in general. But upon a closer
examination of the context we find that the enactment in question refers
specially to the crafts belonging to, or under the control of, the Lodge of
Kilwinning, and cannot therefore in any respect be held as corroborative
of Kilwinning's original supremacy as a lawgiver to all other Lodges in
Scotland. Its supremacy as a head lodge was by the same Statutes
limited to "the boundis of the Nether Waird of Cliddisdaill, Glasgow,
Air, and boundis of Carrick ;"-^and in respect of such arrangement, which
was but the reiteration of one that had been of long standing, the Lodge
of Kilwinning would occupy a position analogous to that of a modern pro-
vincial grand lodge. Never again under the Operative regime does the
question of masonic precedency appear to have been made the subject of
legislation. The abuses that are referred to in the St Clair. Charters as
prevailing among the Mason Craft during the first quarter of the seven-
teenth century, and the method that was adopted to get rid of them, prove
that supreme power had not been vested in any one Lodge. Nor can the
Lodge of Kilwinning's appropriation in 1643 of the title of " The Antient
Ludge of Scotland " be held to imply more than a claim of priority.
Although the adjustment of place on its Roll early attracted the atten-
tion of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the minutes of the Lodge of Edin-
burgh of the time are silent on the point. In November 1737, Grand
THE PRECEDENCY GIVEN TO MARY S CHAPEL. 245
Lodge "resolved that the Lodges who have produced documents be en-
rolled according to their dates, and those who had not produced be post-
poned on the roll. But if those who are postponed shall afterwards
produce instruction of their being elder, then they shall have their place
in the Rolls according to the dates of their erection and constitution."
The earliest Records that were brought forward under this arrangement
were those of the Lodge of Edinburgh. The oldest of the minutes which
they contained bore date " Ultimo Julij 1 599," and was thus 43 years
older than those produced by the Lodge of Kilwinning, which did not
extend beyond December 20, 1642. In accordance, therefore, with the
principle which had been laid down for the guidance of Grand Lodge in
the matter of precedency, the first place on the Roll was assigned to
Mary's Chapel, and the second to Kilwinning. If not acquiesced in, this
arrangement was at least not formally objected to by the Lodge of Kil-
winning, which was then and for several years afterwards represented at
Edinburgh by proxy. It was when replying to a " dutyfull and affection-
ate letter from its daughter of the Canongate," December 1743, that Kil-
winning first gave official expression to its dissatisfaction with its position
among the subordinate lodges. The matter was in February 1744 brought
before Grand Lodge, with the following result : " The Substitute Grand
Master produced a letter from the Lodge of Kilwinning, addressed to the
Right WorshipfuU Master, Wardens, and other members of the Lodge of
Canongate assembled att St John's Chapell, compleaning that in the
Rules of the Grand Lodge they are only called second in order and another
Lodge prseferred befor them. The Grand Lodge considering that the
Lodge of Kilwinning having never hitherto shown them any document for
vouching and instructing them to be the First and Mother Lodge in Scot-
land, and that the Lodge of Maries Chapell, from the records and docu-
ments showen to the Grand Lodge, appear (for aught yet seen) to be the
Oldest Lodge in Scotland. — Therefore, as the letter is only adressed to
the Master of the Lodge of Canongate St John, they recomend to the
Right Worshipful the Substitute Grand Master to return a proper answer
thereto, being present Master of that Lodge."
Finding itself thus permanently placed in. a secondary rank, the Lodge
of Kilwinning, without entering upon any disputation, or formal vindica-
tion of its claims, resumed its independence, which in the matter of grant-
ing charters it had in reality never renounced. It had in 1738 issued a
charter to a lodge at East Kilbride. The election in 1750 of a Past
Master of Kilwinning (Alexander tenth Earl of Eglinton,*) to the office of
* His Lordship was mortally wounded in an encounter with a poacher whom he attempted to
disarm, and died a few hours afterwards (October 1769).
246 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Grand Master Mason of Scotland shows that the Kilwinning Secession
had not at that period been viewed with any very strong feeling of jealousy
by the Grand Lodge. In subsequent years, however, this body, animated
by a different spirit, directed its daughters to hold no intercourse with any
of the Kilwinning Lodges. This had the effect of circumscribing its rival's
influence, and ultimately of disposing it to listen to proposals for reunion
with the Grand Lodge. In the year 1806 an authoritative contradiction
by Kilwinning of a report that it had " sold to Mary's Chapel its right of
granting charters " also hinted the " near probability of a settlement of all
disputes and differences betwixt the Grand Lodge and the Lodge of Kil-
winning, on terms which would secure the interest and rank in Masonry of
the Mother Lodge and of all the daughters holding of her." Negotiations
for the amalgamation of the Grand Lodge and Kilwinning had at the
period in question been secretly opened between certain officials of the
two bodies, and with so much unity of sentiment as to justify the note on
the subject which the Lodge of Kilwinning had addressed to its daughters.
Out of respect for the susceptibilities of its less exalted contemporary.
Grand Lodge was the first to propose a conference on the subject of the
desired Union. Addressing the Secretary of the Kilwinning Lodge,
under date February 21, 1807, the Grand Secretary wrote : " It has been
the subject of much regret that the misunderstanding so long subsisting
between the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Kilwinning Lodge should
not ere now have been accommodated. It does not from our Records
appear very clearly what was the reason which induced your Lodge to
leave the bosom and protection of the Grand Lodge. But whatever was
the reason, it must now be obvious that it will tend greatly to the interest,
honour, and respectability of the Craft in general, were Masonry in
Scotland to be practised only in the bosom of, and under the protection of,
the Grand Lodge, whereby she, as the only head of the Masonic Body in
Scotland, would feel herself responsible for the regularity and good con-
duct of every Lodge enjoying the privilege of meeting as a Masonic Body
under her Charters. In order to bring about this most desirable object,
the matter has. been confidentially mentioned by some of the members of
the Grand Lodge to some of your members, and in consequence of what
passed on these occasions, the subject was brought before the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, when a committee were appointed, who, agreeably to
the powers vested in them, have submitted this business to the following
Brethren, viz. :— William Inglis, Esq., Sub. G. M. ; Sir John Stuart of
Allanbank, Bart. ; Mr Alex. Laurie ; Mr William Guthrie, Grand
Secretary; and Mr James Bartram, Grand Clerk, with full and ample
powers to meet with a Committee of Kilwinning Lodge at Edinburgh, or
NEGOTIATIONS WITH MOTHER KILWINNING. 247
any place to be mutually agreed upon, and finally to arrange and settle
all disputes presently subsisting between the Grand Lodge and the Kil-
winning Lodge, in the way and manner their respective Committees may
judge meet for the honour, interest, and advantage of both Lodges.
Should this measure meet the approbation of your Lodge, which I have
no doubt it will, I shall be glad to hear that your Lodge has named a
Committee of your members, with similar powers, and when and where
it will be agreeable to the Committee to meet."
This letter was submitted to the Lodge of Kilwinning at a special com-
munication held at Kilwinning on the 6th April 1 807, when, " after the
most deliberate consideration," Brs. Colonel Blair of Blair, R.W.M., Mont-
gomerie of Craighouse, M'Gown of Smithston, Davidson of Drumley,
Boyle of Shewalton, Cuningham of Auchinharvie, and James Crichton
of His Majesty's Customs at Irvine, were appointed a Committee,
armed with powers in every respect similar to those that were possessed
by Grand Lodge Committee. Thus commissioned, the representatives of
the negotiating bodies met at Glasgow on the morning of the 14th October
1807, the delegates from Kilwinning being entertained at breakfast in the
Star Inn by the brethren from Edinburgh. After a lengthened conference,
in course of which the Records of the Lodge of Kilwinning and a copy of
the Charter * of the Lodge of Perth and Scoon were produced in support
of the " great antiquity of Kilwinning," the joint Committee adopted a
Minute of Agreement, the chief points of which were — " That the Mother
Lodge Kilwinning shall renounce all right of granting Charters, and come
in, along with all the Lodges holding under her, to the bosom of the
Grand Lodge. . . . That the Mother Kilwinning shall be placed at the
head of the Roll of the Grand Lodge, under the denomination of Mother
* This MS., which is preserved by the Lodge No. 3, purports to be a mutual Contract and
Agreement between the Brethren of the Lodge of Perth and Scoon, on the occasion of their election
of a Master in room of the deceased ' ' Mr Mylne, " in whose family the office had for several gener-
ations been hereditary. It is dated December 24, 1657, and contains the earliest documentary
evidence of the existence of the Kilwinning Legend : "In the name of God, Amen. To all and
sundrie persones whome thir prittis doe belong. Witt ye ws the persones undersubcr3rvers, maisters,
ffriemen, and fellow crafts, measones resident within the burgh off Perth, That whair iforsameikle
as We and our predecessores have and haid, fFrom the Temple of temples building on this earth
(ane vniform communitie and vmione throughout the whole world), ffrom which temple proceided
one in Kilwinning, in this our nation of Scotland, And from that of Killwinning many moe within
this Kingdome, Off which ther proceided the Abbacie and Lodge of Scoon, built by Men of Art
and Architectorie, Wher they placed that Lodge as the second Lodge within this nation, which is
now pass memorie of many generationes, And wes wpheld be the Kings of Scotland for the tyme,
both at Scoon and the decayed citie of Bertha when it stood, and now at Perth, heid brugh of the
shirefdome therof to this verie day, which is now ffour hundreth thriescoir and fyve yeires since, or
therby. . . ."
248 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Kilwinning, and that the Master of the Mother Lodge Kilwinning
for the time shall be ipso facto Provincial Grand Master for the Ayrshire
district."
Matters had proceeded thus far, when an attempt was made to reconcile
the Lodge of Edinburgh to the change in its position which a confirmation
of the proposed agreement between Grand Lodge and Mother Kilwinning
would involve. Sir John Stuart, Bart, P.G.M. of the Lower Ward of
Lanarkshire, was the medium through which this was sought to be
effected, and with the insertion in its minute-book of a copy of note sent
by that gentleman to Bro. Alexander Deuchar, begins Mary's Chapel's
record of the intended encroachment on its rights: — "Sir John Stuart
would be much obliged to Mr Deuchar, jr., if convenient to take the
trouble to come over to him for a quarter of an hour this forenoon.
Excise Office, Tuesday (October 26, 1807)." What transpired at the in-
terview to which this note refers is thus recorded in the minute of the
" Committee upon the Privileges of Mary's Chapel Lodge, met in Mr
Martin's, High Street, 29 October 1807. ... Br. Deuchar stated that he
immediately went over to the Excise Office, when Sir John Stuart in-
formed him that he wished to converse with him upon sundry Masonic
affairs, whereof the chief was the present junction between the Grand
Lodge and Mother Kilwinning Lodge, Ayrshire, and stated that the
Committees of the two respective Lodges had met in Glasgow and drawn
up Articles of Agreement, whereby Mother Kilwinning was to be placed
at the top of the Roll of the Lodges holding of the Grand Lodge of Scot-
land (to the exclusion of Mary's Chapel ranking as No. i at the head of
the roll, and in direct violation of sundry resolutions of the Grand Lodge
in favour of the said Mary's Chapel Lodge) ; as also, that the Lodges
holding of Kilwinning should rank upon the roll of the Grand Lodge
according to the dates of their original charters. In opposition to which
Br. Deuchar urged the injustice of proceeding so far without allowing
Mary's Chapel at least the satisfaction of proving her claims to seniority,
or seeing the vouchers upon authority of which her seniority was to be
thus forcibly wrested from her ; that Mary's Chapel had already received
various decisions of the Grand Lodge in her favour seventy years ago, as
also having in her possession a charter from the Grand Lodge, wherein
her right to stand first on the roll is expressly set forth. The above
being the substance of the conversation wherein many arguments were
used on both sides, the Committee took it into their serious consideration,
and unanimously resolved to oppose Mary's Chapel being deprived of her
right to stand at the top of the Roll of the Grand Lodge, and instructed
Br, Cunningham, Senior Warden, in the absence of the Right Worshipful
Mary's chapel reasserts its rights. 249
Master, to take a solemn protest, in name of Mary's Chapel Lodge, against
the proceedings of the Grand Lodge."
With this decision of the Lodge of Edinburgh Sir John Stuart would
appear to have been made acquainted, for on the following day he thus
addressed Mr Deuchar:— " Friday, 30 October 1807. " Sir and Brother,
— Since we last came upon Masonry, whilst on business widely different
from it, I have turned over in my mind the Union with Kilwinning. The
general utility no man can question, I think ; and that being settled, I
cannot see what Mary's Chapel is called upon to do more than the other
Lodges in point of Masonic principle ; and, as the whole is founded on
equality, I cannot perceive that there is any difference between No. i and
No. 10. But I am rather inclined we should all keep our Numbers as
they are, and assent to what every one of us, Mary's Chapel and others,
know, that the Kilwinning is the most ancient in Scotland, notwithstand-
ing that Mary's Chapel shewed the eldest written records, these of the
other being burnt, like the charter of the Archers, and many Societies.
This is the more urgent, as it is not for the sake of being at the head of
the Roll, but to enable them to receive a plume of feathers in exchange
for a crown, much for our general advantage. I really am at a loss to
know how the Brethren of Mary's Chapel can adopt a different line on
true Masonic principles. — Yours cordially, JO. Stuart."
The assertion as to the burning of the. Kilwinning Records is founded
on a sentence in the preamble of the second of the St Clair Charters which
refers to the destruction by fire of certain documents connected with the
hereditary protectorate of the Craft. There is no ground for supposing
that the Records of the Lodge of Kilwinning, any more than those of the
Lodge of Edinburgh, were ever kept at Roslin Castle. And even were it
so, Mary's Chapel could with as much propriety have made the assertion
that its more ancient Records had also perished in the conflagration in
which the Laird of Roslin's " auld writtis " are alleged to have been con-
sumed. To Sir John Stuart's communication Mr Deuchar made the
following reply :—" Edinburgh, 31st October 1807. R. W. Brother, — I
this morning received your favour of yesterday. I fully agree with you
on the importance of the union of Kilwinning with the Grand Lodge, and
most sincerely wish it could be accomplished without injuring the right or
interest of any Lodge : indeed, the only bar is the right of Mary's Chapel
to No. I. ... I took it upon me to call together the office-bearers of
the Lodge, and lay before them the substance of the conversation I had
with you. They were unanimously of opinion that the rights of their
Lodge were not to be given up upon slight grounds, and therefore in-
structed the Senior Warden, jn absence of the Master, to oppose any final
2SO HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
settlement of the business being made upon Monday, and to demand, in
name of Mary's Chapel, that the vouchers and settlements of the Com-
mittee, as also the minutes of the Grand Lodge respecting the original
settlement of the business anent seniority, be laid before the office-bearers
for their inspection and consideration, that they may be able fully to ex-
plain to their Brethren, in a Lodge to be called for that purpose, the whole
circumstances of the case ; and if that is refused, to protest in the most
solemn manner, in name of Mary's Chapel, against the proceedings ; after
which a Lodge is to be called with the greatest possible despatch. At the
same time, with a candour which does them honour, they agree that if the
Mother Kilwinning Lodge can produce any additional satisfactory proof
of their being the identical Lodge of Kilwinning by whom Masonry was
originally introduced into Scotland, they will not only (though not obliged
to do it) consent to the Kilwinning standing first on the roll without a
number, as you propose, but also to endeavour to persuade their Brethren
to agree to it, yea, even to take No. 2 ; and if they (Mary's Chapel) thus
consent to sacrifice their rights for the good of the Craft, they may with
confidence expect the same honourable spirit in Kilwinning; and numbers,
as you mention, being no very material distinction, they hope Mother
Kilwinning will consent to stand second on the roll without a number, to
which Mary's Chapel will not in the least object, and thus in granting her
diplomas by the name "of Mother Kilwinning on the register of Scotland,
she will appear as great in the world as if she stood first on the roll and
Mary's- Chapel still held No. i, as it will be only in the Grand Lodge
where the difference will be known. I therefore hope you will duly
weigh all the above circumstances, and approve of a plan thus laid down
between two Ancient Lodges equally respectable arid numerous, and
where both are making sacrifices for the good of the Craft. Much may be
done by mildness, but nothing by compulsion, as Mary's Chapel is deter-
mined neither to be sold nor compelled to resign their seniority, to
attempt either of which will undoubtedly lead to a secession, in reality
much to be dreaded, under the nose of the Grand Lodge, and which may
ultimately lead to the fatal consequences which have taken place in Eng-
land— namely, the formation of a new Grand Lodge. In your last
favour you mention that you do not see how Mary's Chapel can act other-
wise than resign her seniority to Kilwinning upon true Masonic principles.
We, in return, answer that, after the fair and candid manner in which we
have come forward with offers for accommodation, we do not see that
Mother Kilwinning can expect Mary's Chapel to resign the exalted
station she holds upon mere slight presumptive proof, or act otherwise
upon true Masonic principles than consent to come down a httle in her
FIRST PLACE ASSIGNED TO MOTHER KILWINNING. 251
demands as well as Mary's Chapel. Trusting the above will meet your
approbation, I am, R. W. Brother, yours affectionately, Alex. Deuchar,
Treasurer of Mary's Chapel."
The proposal of Mary's Chapel, as conveyed through the letter of its
Treasurer, elicited no reciprocal response from the opposite side, and the
Treaty and Settlement betwixt the Grand Lodge and Mother Kilwinning
was forthwith approved of, under protest by the Acting Master of Mary's
Chapel, who threatened " to call a meeting of the Lodge to consider
whether they should not secede." The Agreement was subsequently con-
firmed by Mother Kilwinning, and a Committee appointed to proceed to
Edinburgh to represent the Lodge at the St Andrew Festival. The Lodge
of Edinburgh followed up its protest by constituting its Office-bearers a
Committee to defend its privileges. This body inaugurated its proceed-
ings by declining to join the next St Andrew's-day procession, as being
" inconsistent with the dignity of Mary's Chapel Lodge after their late
protest to fall in second in a procession where they usually walked first."
The subsequent procedure of the Committee was reported as follows to
the Lodge, April 12, 1808 : — "In consequence of a remit from the Lodge
to a Committee of the office-bearers to inquire as to what evidence had
been produced to the Grand Lodge, whereby they were induced to give
the Lodge Kilwinning the preference, and to place her on the roll of the
Grand Lodge before this Lodge, which has been, and acknowledged to be,
the Senior Lodge of Scotland for upwards of seventy years on the roll of
the said Grand Lodge. The Committee accordingly met, and they
directed their Secretary to write a letter to the Grand Clerk of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, requesting that he would furnish a note of what evi-
dence had been produced by Kilwinning to the said Committee of the
Grand Lodge at Glasgow relative to the matter. An answer to this letter
has been returned, and along therewith an extract of the agreement
entered into between the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Lodge Kil-
winning, together with an extract of a charter of the Perth and Scone
Lodge, which papers are herewith produced for the inspection of the
members of the Lodge. After the production of these papers, a meeting
of the foresaid office-bearers was called upon the 5th curt, to take the
same into consideration, which Committee did accordingly meet, and,
after considering the said production, they are unanimously of opinion,
and do accordingly report, that it does not appear that the Lodge Kilwin-
ning has instructed any title whereby they can claim precedence of this
Lodge in the Grand Lodge. The Committee, therefore, having so far dis-
charged their duty, do now report accordingly, and request the opinimi of
the .Lodge -what further procedure should be held relative to the said
252 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
matter.'' This report was unanimously approved, and it was remitted to
the Committee to act further in the business as they should see fit.
At this point the question of precedency becomes mixed up with the
still more complicated case of Dr Mitchell, which affected the interests of
several Lodges in Edinburgh, and cannot well be further treated of separ-
ately. The disputes extended over a period of five years, but the result
was fruitless of any advantage to Mary's Chapel so far as related to its
altered position on Grand Lodge Roll. Another attempt to regain its
original place was made by the Lodge in 1 8 1 5, in view of a contemplated
re-adjustment of the roll of daughter lodges ; and in pursuance of a unani-
mous resolution of the brethren a petition was framed for presentation to
Grand Lodge. This document, which contained statements substantially
the same as those upon which the Lodge had formerly based its claim to
stand at the head of the roll, was in due course brought under the notice
of Grand Lodge, which delayed consideration of it for three months. The
interval was occupied by the opposing parties in procuring proxies jn
support of their respective positions. As showing the importance which
was attached to the subject, we give an extract of a letter addressed to
the Lodge of Kilwinning by the Grand Clerk : — " . . . Should Mary's
Chapel persist in her groundless and urgent demands, it will be necessary
for the Grand Lodge to make Mother Kilwinning a party to the question,
in order that she may defend her own just rights and privileges. ... In
order that the Grand Lodge may be enabled completely to defeat the
intentions of Mary's Chapel and her adherents, it may and will be neces-
sary that the friends of the Grand Lodge should come readily forward,
especially as we understand the other party is moving in every quarter,
endeavouring to procure what proxies they can lay their hands upon from
country lodges. . . . Now that Mother Kilwinning's rights are about to
be challenged, it is indispensably necessary that she should have some one
in Edinburgh to watch over and protect her privileges, . . . and it is
equally necessary that all those lodges who formerly held from Kilwinning,
but who have since got charters from the Grand Lodge, should likewise be
represented, it being now not only their interest but their bounden duty
to support and maintain the contract and agreement entered into between
the Grand Lodge and Mother Kilwinning." On this letter coming before
the Mother Lodge, the following resolution was submitted : — " That
Mother Kilwinning considers herself to have nothing whatever to do with,
nor will she be any party in, the disputes or differences that may subsist
betwixt the Grand Lodge and Mary's Chapel. Mother Kilwinning Lodge
further declares she will have nothing to do with any third party, but the
Grand Lodge alone, whom she looks to, and expects will cordially fulfil
PROTEST OF MARY'S CHAPEL. 253
the treaty so solemnly entered into, ratified, and approved of by both
lodges for their rule of conduct in all time coming." This was successfully
met by a counter motion for the appointment of the Substitute-Grand
Master (William Inglis) to represent Kilwinning in the Grand Lodge. In
the nomination of Brother Inglis to this post, he was spoken of as being
" a most warm and strenuous advocate for the rights and privileges of
Mother Kilwinning. His abilities and extensive knowledge of Masonry,
his high respectability as the first efficient officer in the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, and his character as a gentleman, every way renders him a fit
and proper person to be the representative of so ancient and honourable a
lodge as Mother Kilwinning." That this distinguished brother's accept-
ance of this proxy commission was complimentary to the Lodge of Kil-
winning, is evident from his hitherto and repeated refusals to accept com-
missions from country lodges.
The petition, the presentation of which had caused such uneasiness to
Grand Lodge, came up for consideration at the quarterly communication,
May 8, 181 5, when "it seemed to be the general sense of the Grand
Lodge, that after the solemn agreement entered into with Mother Kil-
winning in 1807, and ratified, approved of, and acted upon by all parties
ever since that period, that such petition and remonstrance by Mary's
Chapel Lodge could not now be received and entertained, and ought,
therefore, to be dismissed as incompetent and inadmissible, upon which
the Right Worshipful Brother Robertson, Master of Mary's Chapel
Lodge, agreed to withdraw the same, and the petition was accordingly
withdrawn."
It is not necessary that we should recapitulate the grounds upon which
the Lodge of Edinburgh based its protest against the clause in the Agree-
ment between Grand Lodge and Mother Kilwinning by which it was
removed from the head of the Roll : these are made sufficiently clear in
the preceding pages. While it must be admitted that it was highly
desirable that Grand Lodge should secure the abdication of the only rival
Institution in Scotland, it was surely no less important that it should pre-
serve the inviolability of its own charters. An amalgamation of the two
bodies that would have preserved the integrity of Grand Lodge's prior
obligations, and have satisfied Kilwinning for the sacrifice of its independ-
ence, may have been beset with difficulties ; but of all mundane institu-
tions, a Head Court of Freemasonry should have been the last to sacrifice
principle to expediency in any of its transactions. Time has now effaced
from Mary's Chapel the recollection of its wrongs in the matter of prece-
dency, and through the discretion and good feeling of its rulers, their
^54
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
resuscitation has never during the past fifty years been allowed to break
the harmony of the Craft.
William I NGLIS of Middleton, referred to in the foregoing narrative,
was Substitute Grand Master Mason of Scotland from 1805 until 1827.
•\4^'^!^y^
-^^s*- ^
~-^«^^^
He was by profession a writer to the signet, or law agent in Scotland, and
had a large and influential professional connection. He devoted much
time to the discharge of his Masonic duties, and exercised more control
and influence over the deliberations of Grand Lodge than any other crafts-
man of his time. His services were highly appreciated by the dominant
party in Grand Lodge. In December 1808, they presented him with a
WILLIAM INGLIS OF MIDDLETON AND SIR JOHN OGILVY. 2$$
piece of plate of the value of lOO guineas. It bore the following inscrip-
tion : — " Presented to William Inglis, Esq. of Middleton, the Rt. Won Sub-
stitute Grand Master Mason of Scotland, expressive of the esteem in which
he is held by the Brethren for the propriety, ability, and integrity with which
he has upon all occasions promoted the true interests of the Craft, and his
uniform manly and independent conduct in supporting the dignity of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland." In May 1816 the Grand Lodge requested
him to sit for his portrait to be placed, when finished, in Freemasons'
Hall. This request Mr Inglis acceded to, and a beautiful and valuable
portrait was painted of him by Sir Henry Raeburn. This portrait is in
possession of Grand Lodge, and at present hangs in the Grand Committee
Room.
It was Sir John Stuart of Allanbank who in 1805 presented to Grand
Lodge the jewel which is at present worn by the Grand Master. It con-
sists of a beautiful enamel painting of St Andrew on the Cross, upon a
blue ground, surrounded in an elliptical form with radiated or many pointed
stars in brilliants, to which is appended the compass, square, and segment,
in silver gilt. Sir John, as Acting Grand Master, laid the foundation-stone
of the Nelson Monument at Glasgow, August 1806.
Sir John Ogilvy of Innerquharity, Baronet, whose portrait heads this
chapter, was admitted to Mary's Chapel by honorary affiliation in 1842, on
the occasion of the initiation of his brother, Capt. George Keith Ogilvy, R.N.
He was then Senior Grand Deacon, and subsequently held the posts of
Junior and Senior Grand Warden respectively. He was Chairman of the
Directors of the Royal Infirmary of Dundee, when the foundation-stone
of that Institution was laid by the Duke of Athole in July 1852. He is,
under the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter, Provincial Grand Super-
intendent of Forfar and Angus. Sir John is Vice-Lieutenant and Con-
vener of the County of Forfar. He is the representative of a family of
great antiquity and distinction, and is the ninth Baronet. He has repre-
sented the town of Dundee in Parliament since 1857.
-^
^-^♦x-*^
/Ur^^ X%*t^/i-,
CHAPTER XXVI.
N March 1807 the British Cabinet, of which Earl Grenville was
the head, introduced into Parliament a Bill allowing all per-
sons who professed the Roman Catholic faith to serve in the
army and navy, with the free exercise of their religion. It
was afterwards withdrawn at the suggestion of the King, who desired of
his ministers a pledge that they should no more trouble him with applica-
tions for concessions in favour of Roman Catholics. This was refused, and
the formation of a new Administration under the Duke of Portland was
the consequence. The King's opposition to the removal of Roman
Catholic disabilities called forth from various public bodies throughout
POLITICS IN THE GRAND LODGE. 257
the kingdom addresses, in which the Act was characterised as a " signal
instance of his Majesty's attachment to the principles of the Constitution,
in Church and State." Probably it was with the view of contributing to
the aggrandisement of the political party to which he belonged that Dr
John Mitchell, a medical practitioner in Edinburgh, and Master of the
Lodge Caledonian, sought to identify the Grand Lodge of Scotland with
this agitation, by moving, at the Grand Quarterly Communication of 4th
May 1807 — "That a humble address be presented to his Majesty, ex-
pressive of their thankfulness and gratitude for the paternal solicitude he
has been graciously pleased to evince for the happiness of his people, in
supporting the established religion of the country, and the principles of
the British Constitution." Impressed, avowedly at least, with the impro-
priety of introducing or discussing religious or political questions in any
Masonic meeting, the Grand Lodge negatived this motion by a majority
of 28 to 27. Encouraged by the narrowness of the majority, the minority
demanded a scrutiny. Several members who had voted and who believed
the matter settled, having left the meeting, the request was refused. Grand
Lodge holding the demand to be irregular and contrary to all precedent, and
that the Grand Clerk, as a sworn official, was alone entitled to take down
and report the state of the votes, which in the present instance appeared
to the chair to have been done by him with every accuracy. Various
members being dissatisfied with this ruling, at their request a special
meeting of Grand Lodge was held on 19th June 1807. A vote was then
taken, on the motion of James Gibson, W.S. (afterwards Sir James Gibson-
Craig, Bart.), whether there should be a " scrutiny " or " no scrutiny," when
"95 voted no scrutiny,'' and "47 voted scrutiny."
The discord that had been engendered by these discussions was soon
after intensified by the Caledonian Lodge holding its monthly meetings
on the evenings that had by mutual arrangement been set apart for those
of the Roman Eagle,* and Grand Lodge stepping in and interdicting the
Caledonian Lodge from doing so. Dr Mitchell not only refused to give
effect to this interdict, but took advantage of his position as Master of the
Lodge to sow the seeds of dissension among the brethren. This was
brought before an extraordinary meeting of the Grand Lodge, January 5,
1808, when James Gibson, W.S., preferred a complaint against Dr Mitchell
for — " I. Having endeavoured to prevail on Caledonian Lodge to dis-
regard the prohibition of Grand Lodge. 2. Having at one of the Cale-
donian Lodge communications proposed that it should secede from Grand
Lodge, and hold meetings altogether independent of that body. 3. Hav-
ing prevailed on the Caledonian Lodge not to attend divine service on St
* The earlier minutes of this Lodge were, by one of its rules, written in Latin.
R
2S8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Andrew's Day, along with Grand Master and all the other Brethren who
joined procession, but after walking to Tron Church, retired from the
ranks and made a separate procession to Oman's Tavern, thereby showing
disrespect to the Grand Master-Elect, disregard to orders of Grand Lodge,
and contempt of the religious services, and holding out to the world that
there was a schism in the Craft ; and further, that although informed that
Grand Master expected deputations in the evening, Dr Mitchell neither
attended nor made apology. Further, that he refused to receive in Cale-
donian Lodge a deputation from St David's on St John's-day." In his
answers, Dr Mitchell denied the charges, and gave explanations of the facts
to which they referred. He stated with regard to the alleged slight to the
Grand Master-Elect (the Hon. William Ramsay Maule of Panmure, M.P.),
that in declining to wait upon that gentleman he had not been actuated
by political motives. Subsequent revelations, however, showed that his
absence on the occasion in question was in accordance with an arrange-
ment agreed upon at a meeting in Mary's Chapel, whereby he and other
members of Grand Lodge were to absent themselves " in order to mark
their disapprobation of Mr Maule's politics." The Lodge of Edinburgh's
attendance on the Grand Master-Elect was resolved upon by a majority
of twenty to twelve. It does not appear from Grand Lodge minutes that
Canongate Kilwinning, Journeymen, Leith and Canongate, or Royal Arch
were present. The complaint, with the answers thereto, were considered
at an adjourned communication of Grand Lodge, January 21, 1808, when
the strong terms used in the answers were unanimously condemned, and
the competency of the complaint sustained by a majority. Proof was
afterwards led at a series of committee meetings, which were abruptly
terminated at an early stage of the exculpatory evidence, by the respon-
dent refusing to proceed further in the matter. This resolution followed
an unseemly personal altercation between the principals in the case, which
resulted in the respondent challenging the complainer to a duel — a mode
of adjusting differences which was very properly declined. The whole
question, including complaint, answers, and proof, was reviewed by Grand
Lodge, March 7, 1808, when, by a majority of 159 to 91, the second charge
was declared to have been established, and Dr Mitchell suspended, sine
die, from all Masonic privileges. Three days after his suspension, Dr
Mitchell was reinstalled in the chair at a special communication of the
Caledonian Lodge, at which also it was resolved, by a majority of 98 to 5,
" That this Lodge having risen to its present state of prosperity under the
auspices of the R.W.M., Doctor John Mitchell, and having concurred with
him in the whole of his conduct in this affair, do feel themselves impli-
cated in the sentence against him, and involved in the disgrace intended
SECESSION OF LODGE CALEDONIAN. 259
thereby to be put upon him. . . . And with a view to avoid further per-
secution, they discontinue their connection with the present Grand Lodge
of Scotland ; — declaring that when the sentence against their Right Wor-
shipful Master is reversed, and when better times arise, in which the pure
and peaceable principles of Freemasonry are again recognised, they shall
most cheerfully return to the bosom of the Grand Lodge, and co-operate
in every exertion towards Masonic harmony and dignity." This and
subsequent communications of the Seceders were attended by the Senior
Warden and Treasurer of Mary's Chapel, and by members of other Edin-
burgh Lodges. The section of the Lodge Caledonian which adhered to
Grand Lodge met on the 28th of March, and filled the offices that had
become vacant through the disruption. On the same night the seceding
lodge voted a political address to the King, which was transmitted to
Lord Hawkesbury, Secretary of State for the Home Department, who,
however, refused to receive it.
Dr Mitchell's suspension and subsequent secession having been com-
municated to the Grand Lodge of England, that body passed a series of
resolutions expressing its entire concurrence in the course taken by the
sister Grand Lodge, and its opinion that it was contrary to the principles
of Masonry for Lodges to interfere in political matters. The Earl of Moira,
who was Acting Grand Master under the Heir- Apparent in both Grand
Lodges, expressed his own and the Prince of Wales's sentiments on the
subject in the following letter to the Substitute Grand Master : — " London,
April 25, 1808. Dear Sir, — You will long before this time have received
the resolutions passed in the Grand Lodge of England, in consequence of
the communication from the Grand Lodge of Scotland respecting the con-
duct of Dr Mitchell and his adherents. I have lately laid the subject
before the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness is of opinion that the
authority of the Grand Lodge should be strictly maintained, not only with
the view of preserving Masonry from all those irregularities which would
take place without the control of that body, but because on no other terms
will the Government now permit the existence of Lodges. General prin-
ciple, which is of course to be applied by you only according to local
expediency, would recommend that the Grand Lodge should consider of a
sentence of expulsion from Masonry against Dr Mitchell for his contumacy,
to be followed by a similar sentence against every individual attending
what is called a Lodge under him, in case they persevere in maintaining
that, illegal meeting. It will be for. the Civil Magistrate to determine
whether he can, consonantly to the laws of the country, permit a Society
not recognised by any Grand Lodge to assemble" under a professed oath of
secrecy. I have to say that the procedure of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
26o HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
throughout this unpleasant business has the fullest approbation and con-
currence of the Prince of Wales. I have the honour, Dear Sir, to be your
very obedient and humble servant, MoiRA, A.G.M. To Wm. Inglis, Esq.,
S.G.M." Following up the Grand Master's suggestion, the Grand Lodge,
May 2, 1808, expelled Dr Mitchell and those of his lodge who had con-
curred in his secession. Sentence of suspension was at the same time
pronounced against certain members of Mary's Chapel and other alleged
abettors of the schism.
This proceeding was made the occasion of an extraordinary meeting of
the Lodge of Edinburgh, at which nearly one hundred brethren attended : —
" Mary's Chapel, 24th May, 1808, . . . After the minutes of the Grand
Lodge were read, the Senior Warden said that, as sentence of suspension
had been pronounced against him by the Grand Lodge, and was now
formally intimated to this Lodge, he did not conceive it proper for him
to continue in his chair, till such time as the Lodge came to a determina-
tion upon the subject. Immediately thereafter, the Senior Warden, the
Treasurer, and every brother present under suspension left the room. The
Depute Master then rose and stated, that he could not with indifference
see the Senior Warden of this Lodge leave his chair in consequence of a
sentence, which was not only impolitic, but, in his opinion, in the highest
degree unwarrantable and illegal, as it could not be pretended the Senior
Warden had transgressed any law of the Grand Lodge ; and no instance
could be shown of any brother having been suspended for attending
meetings of the Kilwinning Lodge, though it was notorious they had on a
previous occasion seceded from the Grand Lodge ; but he believed if the
Senior Warden could have been prevailed upon to vote as some of the
office-bearers of the Grand Lodge wished, no such sentence would have
been pronounced : That he held in his hand several resolutions, which he
intended to submit to the consideration of the Lodge, but could not bear
the idea of doing so in the absence of the Senior Warden. He therefore
moved, that the Junior Warden should be directed immediately to call in
the Senior Warden, the Treasurer, and any other brother that might be
in waiting who had been suspended under the unjust sentence of the Grand
Lodge, lately read by the Right Worshipful Master ; — which motion, hav-
ing been seconded, was carried by a very large majority." The Junior
Warden then introduced the suspended Brethren, who were received with
repeated acclamations. Whereupon the Deputy Master, after referring to
the injustice and breach of faith of. which the Grand Lodge was guilty in
removing Mary's Chapel from the head of the Roll, moved a series of
resolutions, expressing "surprise, astonishment, and regret" at the pro-
ceedings in Dr Mitchell's case, which, though avowedly taken to preserve
SECESSION OF MARY'S CHAPEL AND ST ANDREW. 261
order and peace, had ■" degenerated into outrage, division, and persecution ;''
remonstrating against the sentence of suspension against the Senior
Warden and Treasurer being put in execution ; pointing out the "glaring
partiaHty'' of Grand Lodge in suspending these brethren, whilst it was
notorious that Proxy Masters and Wardens of other Edinburgh and
country Lodges had attended Dr Mitchell's meetings, and yet had not
been suspended ; declaring that these violent measures instead of diminish-
ing would increase the ferment existing in the Craft, and create schism
and division among the brethren ; maintaining that the sentences of
suspension in question struck at the very root of freedom among Masons,
the Lodges of which should be open to all who were Masons, whether Jew
or Gentile ; and winding up with the old grievance of the Lodge regarding
its place on Grand Lodge roll.
These resolutions were unanimously carried, and having been transmitted
to the Grand Secretary, were, in conjunction with a remonstrance of
similar import from the Lodge St Andrew, soon thereafter taken into con-
sideration by the Grand Lodge. By the unanimous decision of this body,
the greater part of the office-bearers of Mary's Chapel and St Andrew
were suspended for contempt of its authority, the brethren of these Lodges
were appointed to choose other office-bearers, and it was remitted to certain
members of Grand Lodge to preside at such elections. Disregarding
these injunctions, the Lodge of Edinburgh held a communication in the
Canongate Kilwinning Lodge-room on the 21st of June i8o8j to concert
such measures as in the circumstances the brethren should deem most for
the advantage of the Lodge. The minutes of the Grand Lodge having
been read, it was proposed and unanimously carried — (i) that as Grand
Lodge, in violation of its charter to Mary's Chapel, had placed the Kil-
winning Lodge first on the roll, and in place of paying attention to a
remonstrance sent to them had suspended the greater part of the office-
bearers, and refused the Master of the Lodge his proper place in the Grand
Lodge, they therefore resolve to discontinue connection with the Grand
Lodge, until the Lodge shall be again put in its proper place on the roll,
and the sentence on its office-bearers be recalled : (2) that it should be
made known to the Craft in general that as the sentences of suspension
were pronounced without any petition as directed by the laws of Grand
Lodge, and without any form of trial, they were as unjust as they were
oppressive : (3) that the conduct of the Grand Lodge, in attempting to
send the Masters and Wardens of another Lodge to preside at the election
of office-bearers in this Lodge, showed an utter disregard of right, and was
a stretch of authority that they would not submit to ; and that if such
Master and Wardens presented themselves, unless for Masonic fellowship,
262 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
they should be refused admittance : (4) that after the present Grand Lodge
had involved the Craft in discord and division, this Lodge was surprised
to find that their proceedings were totally illegal, they' not having been
qualified in the terms of the Act of Parliament.
Similar resolutions were adopted by the Lodges Canongate Kilwinning,
St David, and St Andrew ; while counter-resolutions were passed by those
Lodges in Edinburgh which remained firm in their allegiance to Grand
Lodge, and by the remanent members of the seceding Lodges, in some of
which the secession was attributed solely to political motives. This ground
was taken notably by the minority of Lodge St David, whose reasons of
dissent and protest from the resolutions of the majority contained the follow-
ing passage : — •" Although the sentences pronounced by the Grand Lodge
are made the pretext for the resolutions now brought "forward, they are not
the real cause of them. 'Long before any of these sentences were pro-
nounced, a conspiracy was formed to secede from the Grand Lodge. It
was proved in the complaint against Dr Mitchell, that when he wished the
Caledonian Lodge to secede he asserted that some others of the Edinburgh
Lodges [particularly naming Mary's Chapel and Canongate Kilwinning]
had determined to do so. Subsequent events have proved the truth of the
assertion. The real cause of secession is, that the Grand Lodge refused to
lend itself to the political views of certain individuals, by steadily adhering
to one of the fundamental principles of the Craft, to exclude politics from
their meeting."
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of James Wolfe
Murray of Cringletie, Deputy Provincial Grand Master of the counties of
Peebles and Selkirk. His Mother Lodge is the Canongate Kilwinning,
and he has been a member of Grand Lodge for the last twenty years. He
was Junior Grand Deacon in 1854-55, and acted as Substitute Grand
Master at laying the foundation-stone of the Wallace Monument at Stir-
ling in 1861. Mr Wolfe Murray is a Deputy-Lieutenant of the.county of
Peebles. He is a son of the late Lord Cringletie, a Senator of the College
of Justice. His Lordship was born during General Wolfe's Campaign, and
was godson of that distinguished General, who, after the christening,
expressed a wish to Colonel Alexander Murray of Cringletie, his Lord-
ship's father, that the name " Wolfe " might ever remain in the family.
Colonel Murray commanded the Grenadiers at the landing at Louisbourg,
where they greatly distinguished themselves. Lord Cringletie, in 1788-89,
held office in Grand Lodge as Junior Grand Deacon. He was a distin-
guished Judge, and introduced the custom of the Bench giving reasons in
support of their decisions in copious notes. The Murrays of Cringletie
THE HURRAYS OF CRINGLETIE. 263
have long been associated with the Craft. It is recorded in the books
of the Lodge of Dunblane that Alex. Murray, yr. of Cringletie, was
"admitted and received a member" in 1737; John Murray, son to the
Laird of Cringletie, was "entered prentice" in 1744; and that Alexander
Murray of Cringletie was one of the originators of Cumberland Kilwinning
(Peebles^, raised in 1746. John Murray, keeper of the minute-book of the
Court of Session, held the office of Provincial Grand Master of Peebles-
shire during the nine years ending in 1756.
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CHAPTER XXVII.
HE dispute had hitherto been confined to the Masonic courts.
Encouraged, however, by Lord Moira's reference to the sup-
posed potency of the civil power to quell what he regarded as
a Masonic rebellion, Grand Lodge, through its adherents in
the Lodge Caledonian, now put forth a claim of arbitrary Headship over
all Lodges of Freemasons in Scotland ; and in virtue of this assumption,
proceedings were instituted to crush the seceding Lodge. The time
selected by Grand Lodge for the execution of its plans was June 24, 1808,
ACTIONS IN THE CIVIL COURT. 265
within a few hours of the Lodge Caledonian's proposed celebration of the
Festival of St John the Baptist. An application was made to the magis-
trates of Edinburgh, in name of Walter Moir, designing himself Master
of the Caledonian Lodge, praying that they would prohibit and interdict
Dr Mitchell and his friends from holding their meeting that evening, and
also from meeting in all time coming in any other place. The grounds
upon which the petitioner based his application were, " that he and his
friends were the legitimate office-bearers and members of the Caledonian
Lodge, — that Dr Mitchell and his associates were not, and of course fell
under the prohibition of the Act of Parliament (1799) for suppressing
societies who administrate secret oaths." The magistrates ordered both
the petitioner and respondent to attend in the Council Chambers, and after-
wards pronounced an interlocutor prohibiting and discharging either of the
parties, or' those acting in office with them, from holding a meeting that
evening, or at any other time, until it should be determined by the proper
court which of them was legally entitled to hold such meetings. The
interdict of the magistrates was brought under review in the Supreme
Court by a bill of advocation. It came in the first instance before Lord
Glenlee, who adhered to the magistrates' judgment ; but ultimately the
cause came to depend before Lord Cullen, who sustained the reasons of
advocation, and recalled the interdict. The case was eventually decided
by the judgment of the Court in the actions to which the other seceding
Lodges were parties.
In defiance of the extreme measures which had been instituted by the
Grand Lodge party, the Seceders opened a correspondence with the Sister
Lodges throughout Scotland in reference to the secession, and the steps to
be adopted for the welfare of the Craft. This led to an extraordinary
Grand communication, which was held on the 4th of July 1808, at which
sentence of " expulsion from all Masonic privileges " was passed against the
seceding brethren. In publishing this sentence. Grand Lodge denounced
the Seceders, and warned " all the Lodges throughout Scotland that their
meetings are only permitted so long as they are held under the authority
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland." On the other hand, the Secessionists,
following up the resolutions under which they had left Grand Lodge,
met in the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge room on the i8th of July, and
organised themselves into a separate body, under the designation of " The
Associated Lodges seceding from the present Grand Lodge of Scotland."
The Master of Mary's Chapel was appointed " Grand Master."
Grand Lodge's sentence having been officially communicated to the
Earl of Moira, his Lordship addressed the following letter to the Sheriff-
Depute of Edinburgh : — " Donington, August 1 1, 1808. Sir, — The proceed-
266 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ings of the Grand Lodge of Free Masons of Scotland, held on the 4th of
July last, have been sent to me. It appears that the Grand Lodge, with
a due exertion of its authority, has expelled from the Society of Masons a
number of individuals guilty of contumacious conduct. The justice and
effect of this sentence cannot admit of doubt ; for the principle upon which
the Grand Lodge of Scotland has acted' in this case, has been deliberated
upon by the Grand Lodges of England and of Ireland, as coupled with
the special circumstances ; and the fullest concurrence in the nature of the
proceeding has been signified by those bodies, who cannot have been
swayed by any partialities. On this ground, I have felt it my duty, as
Acting Grand Master, to desire that the Substitute Grand Master shall lay
before you. Sir, a list of the persons to be expelled : and I certify to you
that those persons are no longer Free Masons, according to the under-
standing in which the Legislature had permitted their meeting ; and that
any assembly of these persons, under the pretext of Masonry, is not a
Lodge within the intent and meaning of the Act. I speak to this with
decisive confidence, because the exemption in favour of Masonic meetings
was admitted into the Act in consequence of my assurance to Mr Pitt that
nothing could be deemed a Lodge which did not sit by precise authorisa-
tion from the Grand Lodge, and under its direct superintendence. I then
pledged myself to his Majesty's Ministers, that should any set of men
attempt to meet as a Lodge, without such sanction, the Grand Master, or
Acting Grand Master (whosoever he might be), would apprise the civil
government ; an engagement which I now fulfil. I have the honour. Sir,
to be, with much respect, your very obedient Servant, MoiRA, Act. Grand
Master Mason for N. Britain. James Clerk, Esq., Sheriff-Depute, Edin-
burgh."
Two head Masonic bodies existed in Scotland when the Secret
Societies Bill of 1799 was under discussion in Parliament, viz., "The Grand
Lodge," and " Mother Kilwinning." The Lodge Glasgow Freemen St John
(No. 3 bis) had not at that time given up its independence ; nor did the
Lodge Melrose St John then, any more than now, acknowledge a Masonic
superior. In the negotiations which preceded the introduction of the
clauses exempting Mason Lodges from the operations of the Act, an attempt
was made to obtain the recognition of the Grand Lodge as supreme and
responsible head of Freemasonry in Scotland, by the insertion of its name
in the Bill. It would appear, from a letter of remonstrance addressed by
the Lodge of Kilwinning to Colonel William FuUarton, M.P. for Ayrshire,
that at one stage in its progress the Bill recognised " two Grand Lodges "
[those at London and Edinburgh] ; while " another, more ancient and
equally respectable, and remarkable for its attachment to the laws and
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECEDING LODGES. 267
constitution of the country (the Lodge of Kilwinning) was taken no notice
of." Presuming that the omission "had proceeded from Mr Pitt's not
knowing that there was such a Lodge in Scotland," the office-bearers of
Mother Kilwinning requested the Member for the County " to make the
necessary application, and through the proper channel, to have that Lodge,
and those holding charters from her, likewise exempted from the operations
of this Bill." The Act was ultimately framed so as to embrace as partici-
pants in its immunities ALL Lodges of Freemasons complying with its
requirements, irrespective of. any Grand Lodge control. Lord Moira's
letter to the Sheriff-Depute of Edinburgh, therefore, was based upon wrong
premises, and suggested to the civil authorities a course not in keeping with
the principle of the statute to which it referred.
Elated by their temporary success against the Caledonian Lodge, and
encouraged also by the confident attitude which had been assumed by
Lord Moira, the Grand Lodge party resolved upon a farther application
to the civil power, with the view of suppressing the other seceding lodges
also. The appearance in the public newspapers of an advertisement inti-
mating that the Associated Lodges would celebrate the Festival of St
Andrew on the 30th of November 1808, was the signal for renewed action
on the part of Grand Lodge. Applications, in the form of bills of suspen-
sion drawn in name of the brethren whom Grand Lodge recognised as the
office-bearers of the Lodges Mary's Chapel, Canongate Kilwinning, St
Andrew, and St David, praying for an interdict against the Seceders hold-
ing Masonic ineetings, were made to the Court of Session. The com-
plainers had previously applied to the Procurator-Fiscal to concur in their
application ; but that public officer refused to interfere, being satisfied that
the Seceders' meetings were not contrary to the Act 1799, and that any
pretence of the public peace being in danger was groundless. Interdicts
having in the first instance been unanimously refused by the Judges, the
contemplated festivities of the Confederate Lodges were proceeded with.
The Seceders, numbering about four hundred, met in a hall in Thistle
Street, and were presided over by the Master of Mary's Chapel. The Past
Master of the Lodge St David, who was the principal spokesman on the
occasion, after impressing on the brethren the necessity of unanimity and
firmness in the support of their rights and of the rights of Masonry in
general, stated it to be the sentiments of the General Committee that,
"so soon as the Grand Lodge of Scotland should come to a due sense of the
impropriety and irregularity of their conduct, and should, by rescinding
their resolutions of expulsion, suspension, &c., so obnoxious and contrary
of the true principles of Masonry, that then the Associated Lodges should
return and attach themselves again to the Grand Lodge ; but that should
268 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
they refuse this, that the associated brethren should proceed to the con-
stitution of a Grand Lodge for themselves." The refusal of the
Court to grant interdict against the Seceders was accompanied by an
order that the bills of suspension should be answered. Answers were
lodged ; and, on hearing counsel, interdict in the several cases was (De-
cember 1808) granted by Lords Newton, Glenlee, and Cullen. Steps were
forthwith taken for the recall of the interdicts, and on the nth of February
1809, their Lordships' judgments were considered by the Court. The
Lords of the Second Division of the Court of Session, on advising the
petitions, with answers, removed the interdicts, but passed the bills, in
order that the rights of parties might be farther inquired into. The follow-
ing episode in the history of this singular case is thus recorded in the
periodicals of the day : — " Before proceeding to hear the counsel for the
parties, the Lord Justice Clerk (the Right Hon. Charles Hope of Granton),
stated to the Court that a paper was appended to the answers for the sus-
penders, derogatory to the dignity of the Court. He alluded to a letter
from Lord Moira to the Substitute Grand Master, Mr Inglis, and which
not only stated in forcible terms the private opinion of that nobleman, but
contained also the opinion of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
upon the merits of this question. This production his Lordship conceived
to be highly indecent and improper, as it seemed to be brought forward
with no other view than to influence unduly the decision of the Judges.
That upon a former occasion of this kind, where an attempt had been made
to influence the opinions of the Judges, it was upon record that the Court
had interfered in a very decided manner ; and could he imagine or suppose
for a moment (what he well knew to be impossible) that his Royal High-
ness or Lord Moira hadgiven their authority for the pretended production,
it would be incumbent on 'the Court to act as their predecessors on that
occasion, by ordering the documents in question to be burnt by the hands
of the common executioner, and by granting warrant of commitment ; but
he was well aware that no such proceedings were or could be sanctioned
by H.R.H. or that distinguished nobleman: on the contrary, the letter in
question seemed to be a confidential letter from Lord Moira to Mr Inglis.
Blame, therefore, could only attach to the agent in the case; and his Lord-
ship concluded by moving that he be ordered to attend at the bar on
Tuesday next. . . . The agent for the suspenders, Mr David Murray,
W.S., attended at the bar of the Court ; but before farther procedure, Mr
Inglis, Substitute Grand Master, begged to be heard. He stated that no
blame could at all attach to Mr Murray, on account of the production in
question. He was ready and willing, if blame attached to any person, to
take the whole responsibility upon himself He had received the letter in
EARL OF MOIRA. 2.69
question from the noble Lord, in his official capacity of Grand Master, and
had accordingly laid it before the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Forming
therefore, as it did, a part of the record of the Grand Lodge, he submitted
that it was a proper production in this question. A minute was then given
in and read for Mr Murray; and Messrs John Clerk of Eldin, John Green-
shields, and the Hon. Henry Erskine (who were counsel for the com-
plainers), were severally heard, each of whom acknowledged their advice
had been given to produce the letter complained of. It was stated from
the bench that certainly every idea of an improper motive upon the part of
the gentleman at the bar was done away by the explanation that had been
given ; but still the Court were of opinion that if parties were allowed to
make such productions in a court of justice, containing the opinions of
private persons, far less that of the greatest subject of the State, and Heir-
Apparent to the crown, it might tend to very dangerous consequences
indeed. The Court therefore ordered the letter in question to be with-
drawn from the process, and all statements from it to be expunged from
the record."
The Earl of Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings, was one of the most
distinguished soldiers and statesmen of his time, and held also an exalted
position as a member of the Craft. His Lordship entered the army in
1771, and attained the rank of General in 1803. He greatly distinguished
himself in the American war, and in Flanders. On his return from
America he was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Rawdon, and
on the death of his father succeeded to the Earldom of Moira. His Lord-
ship, who was on the most intimate terms of friendship with the Royal
family, was second to the Duke of York in a duel* with Colonel Lennox,
afterwards Duke of Richmond. In 1813, he -was appointed Governor-
General of India, and, for his sound judgment and brilliant services in the
Nepaul and Pindaree wars, was in 18 16 rewarded with a marquisate.
After an unusually long tenure of office in India, he was made Governor of
Malta, and enjoyed that appointment till his death, which occurred in
November 1826, on board a man-of-war in which he had embarked for
Naples. Lord Moira was acting Grand Master under George Prince of
Wales, for nearly a quarter of a century, and on his departure for India
was presented by the Duke of Sussex, in name of the Grand Lodge of
England, with a Masonic jewel of the value of 500 guineas, as a tribute of
* This duel was the result of an "unhappy difference" between the Duke of York and Colonel
Lennox of the Coldstream Guards. The parties met on Wimbledon Common, Colonel Lennox,
the challenger, being accompanied by Lord Winchelsea. Facing each other at twelve paces,
Lennox fired, the ball grazing his opponent's curl : the Duke did not fire. Lennox pressed his
Royal Highness to fire, but he declined to do so, with the remark that if Lennox was not satisfied
he might fire again. The seconds interposed and the parties left the ground.
270 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
gratitude and esteem for his services. In acknowledging the gift, his
Lordship said he would wear it as a monitor sensible of his actions, to in-
vite him to spread the philanthropic and benevolent principles of Masonry-
over the vast country to which he was going ; and concluded by relating
a beautiful Asiatic apologue, in which a piece of perfumed earth, on being
complimented, replies, " Alas ! I am but common earth, but, coming in
contact with a rose, I have borrowed its sweetness." Even so, he said, he
had borrowed the odours of the virtues with the possession of which they
had been pleased to compliment him, from his coming in contact with their
society. Lord Moira was acting Grand Master Mason of Scotland, under
the Prince of Wales, during the two years ending November 1808, and in
the following year he presided at a Grand Communication in St Cecilia's
Hall, on the occasion of the consecration of that building as the Free-
masons' Hall. His Lordship had in 1805 been the medium through which
the Grand Lodge of Scotland and that of England were brought into fra-
ternal union. Grand Lodge's previous Masonic intercourse with England
had been confined to communications with the Grand Lodge of Ancient
Masons, the seceders from the Grand Lodge of England in 1739.
The removal of the interdicts by the Court of Session was celebrated
by the Associated Lodges in a General Communication held on February
17, 1809, at which upwards of three hundred brethren were present. The
R.W.M. of the Lodge St David presided as " Grand Master." The speeches
on the occasion were exultant to a degree. The " Grand Secretary" spoke
to the following effect : — " Brethren, it has fallen to our lot to live in event-
ful times — times as eventful in the annals of Masonry as they are in the
history of modern Europe. We have lived to see a despotism, nearly akin
to the system of a neighbouring tyrant, attempted to be established among
British Masons. But we have resisted the odious usurpation with a spirit
which the Masons of future ages will commemorate. In a glorious and
successful struggle against the whole weight of a political party, increased
by all the talent of which they so -loudly boasted, we have sustained a
remnant of the constitution of Scottish Masonry. . . . You are aware of the
ground upon which we have dissented from the rulers of the Grand Lodge.
They sought to enslave us by debarring individual Masons from the privi-
lege of going where they pleased — a privilege which, generally speaking,
is the birthright of every free-born Briton. We spurned the ignoble
bondage, and the Grand Lodge then went to law ! But what law could
justify the laws they wished to impose .' The result is known to you all.
After a scene of litigation the most obstinate perhaps, and the most diver-
sified, that ever occurred in the courts of this country — a dispute ramified
SECEDING LODGES CHARGED WITH SEDITION. 27 1
in every complexion before the Magistrates of this city, the Sheriff Court,
the Commissary Court, the Bill-Chamber, and the two divisions of the
Court of Session— the efforts of our persecutors have been baffled through-
out ; and the funds of the Grand Lodge, collected by our fathers for
charitable purposes, have dwindled into nothing when employed to extend
the reign of oppression. . . . Our funds have suffered comparatively little
in the glorious conflict. Still, however, brethren, it behoves us to place
within the reach of our Grand Treasurer a fund that will not only defray
• what extra costs have been incurred, but that will place the Association
on a basis to which the Masons of other countries will look up with aston-
ishment and wonder."
The most strenuous efforts were now put forth by Grand Lodge in the
prosecution of its plans to crush the secession ; while the Associated
Lodges strengthened their position by making common cause against the
complainers, and arranging a general measure of defence for the whole.
In its pleadings the Lodge of Edinburgh adopted the statement of the
case made by the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, as it stood precisely in
the same position. It would be beyond the scope of the present work to
give other than a brief outline of the arguments in this prolonged litigation.
The bills of suspension narrated that the complainers were under the
necessity of applying to the Court in consequence of certain proceedings
in which they conceived not only the interest of Freemasonry, but the
" public policy and peace " were in some measure concerned. That the
persons complained of were seditious and treasonable persons, and fell
under the provisions of the Act of Parliament passed in July 1799 " for the
more effectual suppression of societies established for seditious and treason-
able purposes," and that they had subjected themselves to the penalties of
that statute, viz., imprisonment and transportation. The proceedings in the
case of " Dr John Mitchell and his associates'' are then detailed, — their "re-
bellion against Grand Lodge" because of its enforcement of what had always
been a fundamental rule of the Craft against the discussion in Masonic meet-
ings of political questions or public affairs, — their holding Masonic meet-
ings independent of its authority, — and their subsequent expulsion from all
Masonic privileges. The schism of the Associated Lodges, their sympathy
with and participation in the " rebellion " of Dr Mitchell, and the expulsion
of the respondents from the Order, and the fact of their continuing to
meet in defiance of the Grand Lodge's authority, are also dilated upon.
The complainers then ask that these " pretended Lodges " be prohibited
from " meeting or holding pretended Masonic meetings either now or in
future, and that for the following among other reasons." We select those
given in the petition presented to the Court at the instance of William
2/2 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Wilkie, tailor, Master ; David Pitcairn, writer, Deputy Master ; and James
Thomson, merchant, and Joseph Deas, bookseller, " Wardens of .the Free
Masons' Lodge called Edinburgh Mary's Chapel ; " against John Brown,
writer, Samuel Cunningham, writer, John Weir, merchant, and John
Murray, writ-er, " pretended office-bearers of the said Lodge." " Primo
{vide Resolutions of the Grand Lodge of England), ' It is absolutely
necessary for the welfare of Masonry, and for the preservation of the
ancient landmarks, that there be a superintending power competent to
control the proceedings of every acknowledged lodge, and that the Grand
Lodge, representing by regular delegation the will of the whole Craft, is
the proper and unquestionable depository of such power.' Secundo, Both
the law of the country and the special laws of the Grand Lodge, as well
as the charters issued by it, expressly prohibit all separate and schismatical
Mason meetings by any persons whatever, except such as were authorised
by and conform to the regulations of the Grand Lodge. Tertio, The
saids John Brown, Samuel Cunningham, John Weir, and John Murray,
are expelled by the Grand Lodge from all Masonic privileges within
Scotland. Quarto, It was therefore submitted as manifest that all such
meetings as are here attempted are a direct violation of the statute law of
the nation, as well as a gross infringement of the laws and regulations of
the Grand Lodge ; and are further injurious to the regular Lodge of
Mary's Chapel, of which the complainers are the only legal office-bearers
holding of and, acknowledged by the Grand Lodge." In the discussions
which followed, Grand Lodge's pretensions to supremacy over all Free-
masons in Scotland were based upon the grounds, partly fabulous and
partly veracious, of the Scottish Sovereigns having from the earliest ages
been the acknowledged Grand Masters of the Fraternity of Freemasons
in Scotland, — of James I. having made the office of Grand Master elective
by the suffrages of the Brethren, the person so chosen to be " empowered
to regulate all matters concerning the Craft," — of William St Clair, Earl
of Orkney and Caithness, Baron of Rosslin, &c., having "obtained a grant
of this office from James II.," who by another deed made the office " hered-
itary in the said Earl and his heirs and successors in the Barony of
Rosslin, which grant was sanctioned and confirmed by subsequent acts of
the Masons themselves," — of William St Clair having in November 1736
resigned into the hands of the Grand Lodge " all right, claim, or title
whatever, which he or his successors had to preside as Grand Master over
the Masons in Scotland," — and of "the usage of Freemasons for a peqod
of more than seventy years." It was therefore maintained that Masonic
meetings could not legally be held in Scotland unless with the sanction
and under the authority of the Grand Lodge ; that on their expulsion by
REASONS AND ANSWERS. 273
the Grand Lodge the defenders ceased to be Freemasons ; that their pre-
tended Masonic meetings endangered the public peace, were a "common
nuisance," and ought to be suppressed. That were the right of Lodges -to
secede from Grand Lodge estabhshed, there might soon be many Grand
Lodges in the country — a result which would be subversive of the true
principles of the Craft, and be a source of embarrassment to magistrates,
who, in all questions "whether a set of individuals are entitled to meet as
Freemasons, were bound to regard the declaration of the Grand Lodge as
the only admissible evidence on the point." It was further maintained
that Grand Lodge, being a representative body, composed of other Lodges
which were duly qualified, did not require to obtain a certificate of quali-
fication. And further, that the assumption by the schismatic Lodges of
the designations which exclusively belonged to the Lodges of which the
complainers were the legitimate office-bearers, was an invasion of their
rights, an injury to their persons and characters, and might involve them
in " patrimonial loss."
In their answer to the suspension the Seceding Lodges repudiated the
charge of unqualified sympathy with the proceedings in which the dis-
pute originated : they did not approve of Dr Mitchell's bringing forward
any political discussion in Grand Lodge, but still less did they approve of
the severe and oppressive measures that were carried on against him.
They concurred, perhaps more heartily than was done by some of the
parties in this dispute, in deprecating all discussions of a political nature
in Mason Lodges, whether in the form of addresses or otherwise ; but they
could not concur with them, " that it has been all along a fundamental and
fixed principle among Freemasons, to enter at no time upon any political
discussion." This remark the Seceders said was extremely unfortunate on
the part of the complainers and their friends, the members of the Grand
Lodge, and was still more unfortunately illustrated by the communication
they referred to in their bill, from the noble Acting Grand Master to the
Substitute Grand Master here. The annals of the Grand Lodge of Scot-
land, the seceding brethren said, within a few years, furnished no less than
five addresses to the Throne on public events of the day ; and further,
the noble Acting Grand Master of Scotland, a few years ago, presented,
in name of the Grand Lodge of England, an address to his Majesty,
wherein " permission is requested to approach the Throne, with this public
declaration of their political principles." The defenders challenged the
pursuers' title, either as private individuals or as members of a Mason
Lodge, to insist in the complaint. In cases of sedition and treason the
right of complaint was left in the hands of public officers, and of them
only. As members of a Mason Lodge, the complainers were not persons
s
274 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
in the eye of the law, and ahhough tolerated, and allowed to hold meet-
ings, were not recognised as parties who had right to come into a court of
justice, and to seek redress for anything done to them in their capacity of
Freemasons. Again, in preferring their complaint the pursuers had failed
to do so upon oath, as required by the statute upon which the action was
founded ; and their appearance in the Court of Session was also incom-
petent, inasmuch as cognisance of the offence of holding unlawful Masonic
meetings was by statute confined to Justices of the Peace, to the Court of
Justiciary, or the Circuit Courts. It was also urged in the answers to the
suspension that the suppression of the seditious and treasonable societies
that were known to be in existence at the end of the last century" was the
sole object of the Act under which the defenders were arraigned. And it
was with a view to prevent any body of men from holding meetings of
this description under the pretext of Masonry, that the exemption in
favour of Lodges of Freemasons was made to embrace " all meetings that
before the passing of the Act were usually held under the denomination,
and in conformity to the rules obtaining among the societies of Free-
masons." The respondents maintained that the Lodges of which they were
members were societies of Freerriasons, whose meetings were held purely
for Masonic purposes, and in accordance with the rules and ceremonies of
the Craft. Some of these Lodges existed long before the Grand Lodge,
and had taken part in the institution of that body in 1736: all of them
existed before the passing of the Act, and had complied with its require-
ments. To hold, therefore, that the statute was meant to denounce those
as traitors and stirrers up of sedition, and consign them to infamy and
punishment, who did not conform to the mandates of the Grand Lodge,
was maintained to be a gross perversion of the object and meaning of
the clause upon which the complainers rested their application. The pre-
tensions assumed by the Grand Lqdge of superintending and controlling
all the other Scotch Lodges, and depriving of Masonic privileges those of
their members who did not recognise its supremacy, were wholly without
foundation, and being the chief subject discussed in the bill, was sufficient
to satisfy their Lordships "that the whole of this business was, in its form
and merits, a mere Masonic dispute, which never should have been made
the subject of any application to a court of law." It was urged that the
plea of nuisance was a " feeble though somewhat ingenious attempt to get
over the obvious objection to the complainers' title ;" to which the further
objection was offered, that the complainers in this case had' avowedly
acted under the authority of the Grand Lodge ; that this' body had
not complied with the requirements of the law so as to entitle it
to act as a Mason Lodge and to hold meetings in that character, and
LIMITATION OF THE ACTION. 275
therefore was itself an unauthorised and illegal meeting, and persons
acting under it could have no title to insist in the complaint ; whereas the
Seceding Lodges possessed certificates under the hand of the clerk of the
peace entitling them to the benefit of the legal exemptions in favour of
Lodges of Freemasons, and had the right to assume what name or
designation they thought fit, and to hold meetings as often as they chose,
independent of the Grand Lodge, even although that body had been a
legal association in the meaning of the Act 1799 — a statute which from
beginning to end never once makes mention of Grand Lodge, and therefore
_ does not recognise its supremacy or accord to it privileges that were not
common to all Lodges registered according to law. The respondents also
set forth that the novelty of the claim advanced by Grand Lodge appeared
in its never having ventured to exercise discipline upon brethren attending
Masonic meetings which were formerly held in Scotland under authority
of the Lodge of Kilwinning, or that were still held by Lodges who
recognised no Masonic head whatever.*
In the course of the discussion by counsel in the later stages of the action,
the complainers relinq^uished their original position, but without formally
withdrawing the charge of contravention of the Act of 1799, modified their
tone, and limited their claim to a prohibition against the defenders' using
the names and designations of the Lodges of which they were members.
The Seceders of new challenged this alleged claim as being unrecognisable
in a court of law in the case of a Mason Lodge or any other unincorporated
society — especially when, as in the present case, the designations had not
been assumed for purposes of fraud and imposition, but were those of
regularly-constituted Lodges of Freemasons, acknowledged as such by law,
* In commending Paisley St James for having refused to receive a deputation from Paisley Kil-
vi'inning St Andrew, the Grand Secretary, writing in name of Grand Lodge, under date February
7, 1792, states that " the Lodge of Kilwinning's right to grant charters ceased at the period (1736)
when William St Clair, Esq. of Roslin, surrendered to the Lodges of Scotland his hereditary right
of Grand Master. . . . Therefore charters from the Kilwinning Lodge are altogether unconsti-
tutional, and Lodges holding such charters are by no means countenanced. They may indeed be
admitted as brethren of these Lodges as individuals, but not as part of a regular body." Again in
1802, acting under instractions of Grand Lodge, certain Provincial Grand Masters threatened "to
have the Kilwinning Lodges dissolved as illegal meetings." As a defence against the ^.ction of its
rival, letters were issued by the Lodge of Kilwinning in 1792 and in 1802, asserting the validity of
its charters, as well as its right of grantiiig them — " a right which hath never ceased, but remains
unshaken as their origin — coeval with the Craft here, and cannot be impaired by the pretensions of
modem institutions. . . . They are not ignorant of the resignation of the hereditaiy right of Grand
Master, and the circumstance of that event being the basis and erection of the Grand Lodge, but
without affecting the ancient and independent privileges of the Mother Lodge. . . . The Mother
Lodge stands upon the same footing as the Grand Lodge of Edinburgh, or any other Lodge in the
kingdom, respecting the operation of the Act to restrain seditious meetings. . . . The Grand
Lodge has long had in view to make all the Lodges of Scotland subordinate to her : she has no
business whatever to interfere with any Lodge holding of the Mother Lodge of Kilwinning. "
276 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
and existing independently of the body from which the complainers
derived their Masonic functions.
In July 1 8 10 a check was given to the Grand Lodge party by the
following judgment of the Second Division of the Court in the case of the
Canongate Kilwinning : — " Edinburgh, 7th July 18 10. The Lords having
resumed consideration of this process, and advised the mutual memorials
for the parties, in respect the suspenders insist in the character of office-
bearers of a self-constituted society which is not entitled to the privileges
of a corporation, repel the reasons of suspension, refuse the interdict,
and decern. C. HOPE, I P.D." This judgment was formally pronounced
in the other cases before the Court. The Associated Lodges continued to
celebrate the several festivals of the Craft with the same regularity as
Grand Lodge, but no record, so far as known to the writer, has been
preserved of their proceedings in the more important business upon which
they were united. The Masters of the Seceding Lodges occupied the
chair by rotation at the annual festivals celebrated by them, and the
minutes of the meeting were engrossed in the books of the Lodge whose
Master presided on the occasion.
There is no record of the progress of the litigation in the action of
declarator in the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh, nor in the books of
the other Associated Lodges to which we have had access, beyond what
we have already mentioned. But the termination of the plea is abruptly
announced in the minute of Mary's Chapel of 4th November 181 1. " . . ."
The Master stated that he held in his hand a copy of an interlocutor
by the Lord Ordinary [Robertson] of the Court of Session which is as
follows, being the decision to be pronounced on the 12th current : — ' 12th
November 181 1. The Lord Ordinary having considered the memorials
for the parties and writings produced, finds it is asserted by the defenders,
and not denied by the pursuers, that the Lodge of Free Masons called
Edinburgh St David's existed long before the Grand Lodge was formed.*
Finds that the pursuers have not produced any evidence to show that the
Hereditary Grand Master had any power of expelling the office-bearers or
members of any existing Lodge from the body or fraternity of Free
Masons. ., Finds that supposing the Grand Master to have possessed such
powers, there is no evidence that when William St Clair of Roslyn resigned
the office of Hereditary Grand Master, he either actually did or could
lawfully transfer to any other body of men any of the rights, powers, or
privileges which belonged to him as Grand Master. Finds no evidence
* This Lodge was an offshoot from Leith Kilwinning, composed chiefly of brethren residing in
Edinburgh. It was constituted in March 1738, under the designation of " Canongate Kilwinning
from Leith," and afterwards assumed the title of St David.
DECISION AGAINST GRAND LODGE. 277
that when the Grand Lodge was formed the then existing Lodges in
general, or the Edinburgh St David's Lodge in particular, conferred upon
it any power to expel the office-bearers or members of such Lodges from
the body or fraternity of Free Masons, or that such powers have been de
facto exercised by the Grand Lodge till the commencement of the present
disputes. And, lastly, finds that the account which has been given by the
pursuers of the connection between the Grand Lodge and those ancient
Lodges which existed before the Grand Lodge was formed, is not sup-
ported by sufficient evidence, and is in itself too vague and unsatisfactory
to warrant those claims of control and paramount power on which the
present action is founded. Therefore, and on the whole matter, sustains
the defences, assoilzies the defenders, and decerns.' " The Grand Lodge
party were found liable in the costs of the suits. No notice of this
litigation nor of this judgment is to be found in the minutes of the Lodge
St David. Through the kindness of Brother Francis Suther Melville, Past
Depute-Master of the Lodge of Edinburgh, we have had access to the
various processes of suspension and interdict in question, and have perused
the whole original proceedings. Actions of declarator were instituted
against all the Seceding Lodges. That against St David's was selected to
try the question, and the decision in that case regulated the others. Un-
fortunately, the proceedings in that action are not now to be found. They
were taken out by one of the agents in the action in 1814, and have not
been returned to the Record Office.
In thus rejecting the pretensions of Grand Lodge, the interlocutor does
not evolve any new point of law relative to the civil privileges of Mason
Lodges ; for by the Act of 1799 anent Secret Societies, all Lodges declar-
ing upon oath before a justice of peace that they were Freemasons, were
entitled to meet as such, irrespective of any Grand Lodge. It did not
affect the right of Grand Lodge to expel from its communion those
infringing its laws ; but it clearly established that it had no power to
exclude from the Order itself In addition to this, the interlocutor very
forcibly shows what value the highest judicatory in the country a'ttached
to a claim of supremacy which was based chiefly upon Masonic fables, the
perpetuation of which as alleged historical facts is a libel upon the intelli-
gence of the Craft. Whatever may have been the feelings with which the
judgment of the Court of Session was received by the Associated Lodges,
the event does not seem to have been signahsed by any demonstrative
communication such as took place on the removal of the interdict whereby
at an early stage of the dispute the Seceding Lodges were prevented from
meeting. Nor was any lengthened period allowed to intervene between
the termination of the action and the introduction into Grand Lodge of
278 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
overtures for reconciliation in name of a majority of the Seceders. The Proxy
Master for Operative Lodge, Dunk eld, brought forward the matter at the
meeting of Grand Lodge on 3d February 18 12, and proposed a solution of
the existing difficulty by the Grand Lodge rescinding its resolutions, or
appointing a committee to meet with the committee of the Seceding
Lodges. The Master of St Luke, on the other hand, while approving of
the object aimed at, held tliat the solution proposed would be derogatory
to the dignity of Grand Lodge, and that it was necessary first of all that
the Seceders should come forward with some expression of contrition for
the offence they had committed. The Substitute Grand Master moved
that propositions towards a reconciliation must come first from the other
side ; and, in order to show that Grand Lodge was not averse to receiving
such a proposition, that a special committee be appointed to receive the
same, and report upon it. This was unanimously agreed to.
The favourable reception given to this overture was followed by the
appointment of a Committee of the Associated Lodges to negotiate terms
upon which they should return to the Grand Lodge. The labours of this
Committee were somewhat protracted, and suffered occasional interruption,
on account of a want of unanimity on the part of the Secession, and the
desire of the majority to win over their less sanguine brethren. This was
at length effected, and it was remitted to a Sub-Committee to draw up a
letter to the Grand Committee, expressive of a wish on the part of the
Associated Lodges to be readmitted to communion with Grand Lodge.
The Past Master of St David's was chosen to be the medium of communi-
cation in this matter, and on 19th March 1813 addressed a letter to the
Grand Committee, expressing briefly the regret of those separated from
Grand Lodge for what had passed, and their wish to rejoin that body. In
a postscript he added that he had no authority from Dr Mitchell to make
any application on his part. The Grand Committee having (March 22d)
considered this letter, resolved unanimously to recommend Grand Lodge
to accede to the wishes of the separated brethren. The report was given
in at an extraordinary communication of Grand Lodge on 31st March, at
which Substitute Grand Master Inglis presided, and James (afterwards
Lord) Ivory acted as Grand Clerk. After some conciliatory speeches had
been made, the meeting unanimously approved of the Committee's report,
and passed resolutions removing the sentences of suspension and expul-
sion (excepting in the case of Dr Mitchell), and appointing new elections
of office-bearers to take place in the different Lodges. On the recom-
mendation of their General Committee, the Associated Lodges gave
their adhesion to Grand Lodge on the terms off"ered, and in proof
of their sincerity rescinded all sentences of suspension that had been
SECEDERS RETURN TO GRAND LODGE. 279
pronounced by them against members of the residuary portion of the
Lodges. With the production of the minutes of the minorities, and the
enrolment of their intrants, the reunion of the estranged brethren was
consummated.
We have thus, with as much brevity as is consistent with a proper under-
standing of the question, traced one of the most interesting and important
passages in the history of Scotch Freemasonry, but of which, for obvious
reasons, the official records of the Craft are only partially illustrative. The
studied omission of any allusion in Grand Lodge minutes to the Lord
Ordinary's interlocutor, or to the judicial proceedings of which it was the
conclusion, shows that at the time Grand Lodge was not a full and faithful
recorder of Masonic events ;■ — and it suggests doubt of the impartiality of
the acknowledged historian of the Grand Lodge that he should, besides
ignoring the existence of the Associated Lodges, have put upon record
that "no event of importance occurred" in 181 1, the year in which was
dissipated Grand Lodge's delusion on the subject of a hereditary or
acquired supremacy in Masonic matters beyond the pale of its own Con-
stitution. The Secession, though precipitated by Grand Lodge's uncon-
stitutional interference in a petty quarrel between the Lodges Caledonian
and Roman Eagle, was doubtless the result of several combined motives,
in which politics and personal antipathies had a share. Politics in the
beginning of the present century ran high in all parts of the country, and
nowhere more than in Edinburgh. Never was there a more brilliant dis-
play of intellectual activity in the Scottish metropolis than at this period,
and the most gifted minds were drawn by the spirit of the times into the
arena of politics. The ' Edinburgh Review' had been started in the year
1802, and its influence in the advocacy of Whig principles was soon felt
throughout the country. In Edinburgh especially, its famous originators
drew around them many sympathetic followers. Men of eminent ability
ranged themselves on the opposite side, and with the many exciting
questions then engaging public notice, there is little wonder that political
feeling .should have burned with an intensity that people have little com-
prehension of nowadays. This feeling seems to have intruded itself into
the province of Masonry. It undoubtedly had something to do with the
quarrel between Grand Lodge and the Sece.ssionists ; but there were other
motives working in the same direction. Chief of those actuating Mary's
Chapel in its contendings with Grand Lodge was a deep conviction of the
wrong that was done to it in assigning its former place on the roll to the
Lodge of Kilwinning. There were, however, common grounds upon
which the Secessionists were united — viz., First, a resistance of the aggres-
sion upon their rights that was involved in Grand Lodge passing sentences
28o HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
of suspension and expulsion without affording to the brethren implicated the
opportunity of defending themselves in the way provided by its Constitu-
tion : second, the vindication of the right to meet as Freemasons, and as
such to be recognised by law, independent of Grand Lodge, and in defiance
of its alleged authority over them.
Had the Associated Lodges departed from their original intention of
returning to Grand Lodge so soon as it should rescind those resolutions of
expulsion and suspension which they held to be contrary to the principles
of Masonry, the Secession might have resulted in the erection of a multi-
plicity of rival Grand Lodges. The following letter, which was addressed
to the editor of the 'Glasgow Courier' in February 1813, indicates the
feeling that the Lord Ordinary's interlocutor had excited in regard to the
right of any one body to assume the exclusive privilege of erecting and
controlling Masonic Lodges : — " Sir, If I may be allowed to address you
on the subject of Masonry, I think that the following information, through
the channel of your paper, may not be unworthy of consideration for the
whole Brethren of the Mystic tie, as relating to the original purity and
authority for that system in Scotland, and which I trust you will be pleased
to insert. A number of intelligent and well-disposed Brethren having for
some time past examined maturely into the facts after stated have unani-
mously been convinced, from documents shown and considered, that the
Glasgow Freemen St John's, as holding a charter from Malcolm III., King
of Scots, so far back as the year 105 1, is the Mother Lodge of the whole
others in Scotland, in so far as it even declares 'that no other persons
shall presume to erect Lodges in my domains, until first they have made
application unto my Free Masons, the Glasgow Freemen St John,' and
have paid the dues as therein described. In consequence of which, appli-
cations have been niade by several Lodges in Glasgow for charters to be
holden of them ; and at a meeting of the St John's, held on the 13th ult.
for the purpose of considering the applications made to them, they agreed,
not only from their own conviction of the antiquity of their charter, but
from the late ideas and decision of an enlightened and learned Judge (on
a Masonic question) to grant the desire of the applicants, deeming it no
encroachment whatever in ranking with those who may have assumed the
exclusive privilege in granting of charters. And it is by the St John's ex-
pected that all Brethren and Masonic Bodies will have the consideration of
supporting the dignity and respect of antiquity which' may add to the lustre
of a city, though not the metropolis, yet admitted by all parties, for popu-
lation and industry, to be the first in the kingdom.— Yours, J. C." St John's
efforts to widen the circle of disaffection to the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
ANTIQUITY OF GLASGOW ST JOHN. 281
then to a limited extent prevalent in Edinburgh, and to secure for itself the
position of a Grand Lodge, were neutrahsed by the return of the Seceding
Lodges to their former allegiance. The clause in the Schaw Statutes of
I S99 confirming the right of the Warden of the Lodge of Kilwinning to
be present at the election of wardens of all Lodges in a district embracing
Glasgow, and to be convener of and president at all conventions of the
Craft in the west of Scotland, shows that the Malcolm Canmore Charter
and the pretensions founded upon it by the Lodge of Glasgow were alike
unknown to the highest Scottish Masonic authority of the period. The
document in question was, in 1868, submitted to the inspection of Mr
Cosmo Innes, and that eminent archaeologist gave it as his opinion that
it had been written within the last two hundred years. We think he
might safely have limited the period by a good deal more than one-half
But apart altogether from this apocryphal charter, the proof of the Lodge
St John's existence in 161 3, contained in the records of the Masons' In-
corporation, and the fact of its identification as a party in 1628 to the
Craft's deed in favour of St Clair of Roslin, entitle it to a high position
on the roll of old Scotch Lodges.
Frederick Augustus Barrow, of View Park Villa, Partick, whose
portrait heads the present chapter, is Junior Grand Deacon of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, and Depute Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow. He
is a Past Master of St Mark, Glasgow, to which Lodge he was affiliated
in 1857, and has for many years borne a prominent part in the adminis-
tration of Masonic affairs in the western metropolis. He was the acting
head of the province when the Earl of Dalhousie laid the foundation-stone
of the Albert Bridge in 1870, and presided at the Masonic banquet held
in honour of that event. Mr Barrow is Provincial Grand Superintendent
of Lanarkshire, under the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland ;
Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow and the west country, under the
Royal Order of Scotland ; and holds other appointments in the so-called
higher degrees. He is a Prince of the Chapter of Rose Croix, a Knight
Commander of the Religious and Military Order of the Temple, and has
attained to the 30th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OTWITHSTANDING its readmission to Grand Lodge, a
feeling of dissatisfaction and lukewarmness continued to pre
vail in Mary's Chapel on account of its treatment in connec-
tion with the union with Kilwinning. Its unsuccessful attempt
in 1S15 to regain its position at the head of the roll was at no great interval
followed by a charge of irregularity in connection with its recognition of
Knight Templars. It was afterwards involved in a series of troubles
through the negligence or malversation of some of its officers, and in 1824,
VICISSITUDES OF MARY'S CHAPEL. 283
by a vote of Grand Lodge, was suspended from all Masonic privileges. It
protested against this sentence as being " inconsistent with the principles of
Masonry, and contrary to the express decision of the Supreme Court of this
country, pronounced in November 181 1, upon a former attempt of the
Grand Lodge to deprive Freemasons of their just rights." But the more
pacific of the brethren, dissatisfied with the isolation to which the Lodge
was subjected through the irascibility of its leading officials, adopted
measures of a conciliatory character, which were accepted by Grand
Lodge. An examination of the Lodge's books revealed the names of
nearly two hundred intrants whose registration had been neglected. These,
which included Brs. George Dundas (the late Lord Manor), and Ben-
jamin Bell, advocate (the present Sheriff of Elgin and Banffshire), were
forthwith recorded by Grand Lodge. Such irregularities were unfavour-
able to the prosperity of Mary's Chapel. No minutes of its transactions
were kept for the two years ending December 1833 ; and at the St John's-
day communication of that year, at which only five brethren attended,
Alexander Deuchar accepted the mastership, in order "to prevent the
Lodge from becoming dormant." James Graham of Leitchtown became
Master in 1835. Under this brother's reign, which extended overtwo years,
a new generation of members had sprung up, who, being no parties to former
disputes, worked harmoniously with Grand Lodge. After eight years of
comparative prosperity, Mary's Chapel was involved in fresh troubles
through the culpability of its then Master, who was afterwards expelled.
Exertions corresponding to the gravity of the situation were now put forth
by the brethren, — Mr Graham was recalled to the chair, and ere his retire-
ment in 1849, the Lodge had regained both strength and influence.
Mr Graham's portrait will be found at the head of this chapter.
Stirling Royal Arch is his mother Lodge, but he affiliated into Mary's
Chapel in 1834. He was Senior Grand Deacon from 1838 to 1841, and
took an active part in organising the Fund of Scottish Masonic Benevo-
lence, and was one of its first trustees. He is a Knight Grand Commander
of the Temple, and a member of the 32d degree of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite. He went to Canada in 1854, and has held the
office of Master of an English Lodge in Montreal. He is now a citizen of
Toronto, and continues to take an active interest in the Fraternity. Mr
Graham's family is descended from the noble house of Graham, Eai'l of
Monteith, through the Garteer family, being the oldest cadets of the Gra-
hams of Garteer, by direct descent from George Graham the second Laird
of Garteer.
Alexander Deuchar played a prominent part in the Masonic events
of the early part of the present century. He was the eldest son of David
2 84
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Deuchar of Morningside, the head of the old Scotch family of Deuchar.
David Deuchar had a family of six sons, who were all members of the
Craft. Alexander was initiated in the Lodge St David in May 1801, and
was passed and raised in the Lodge of Edinburgh in November 1802.
After filling several minor offices in Mary's Chapel, he was elected to the
(^^'4^'A:d e^U-c^ cc^
Mastership, which he held till 1 8 14, when he retired. The prosperity of
the Lodge having been affected by adverse circumstances, he was recalled
to the chair in 1823. Shortly after his resumption of office, a demand by
Grand Lodge for the production of its books was resisted by Mary's
Chapel. Subsequently, however, on the Lodge being threatened with sus-
pension for its contumacy, a majority of the brethren succeeded in passing
ALEXANDER DEUCHAR. 285
resolutions of submission to Grand Lodge. Regarding these resolutions
as having been improperly arrived at, and as compromising the dignity of
the Lodge, Mr Deuchar returned to St David's, and for three years took
an active part in its affairs. He afterwards resumed his connection with
Mary's Chapel, and filled its chair for a short period, under circumstances
which have been already adverted to. He died in 1844. While it can
truly be said that in matters connected with the rituals, ceremonies, laws,
and usages of Freemasonry, Mr Deuchar was one of the best-informed
men of the day ; it is equally true, that having derived his historical
knowledge of the Craft chiefly through the oral and written traditions that
were current in the previous- century, his sympathies and teachings were
deeply tinged with the fabulous. It was to his association with the " High
Degrees" that he owed his widespread fame. He became a Knight
Templar in 1803, and was in 1806 elected Commander of the Edinburgh
Encampment. He was chiefly instrumental in instituting the Grand Con-
clave of Knight Templars, and of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter
of Scotland — events which are more particularly referred to in the next
chapter, — and in 1825 he inaugurated a movement for the resuscita-
tion of the Royal Order of Scotland. It was in the course of his corre-
spondence with Continental Masons on the antiquity of the Mut £-rades that
he obtained a copy of the Charter of Cologne, a translation of which he
presented to the Lodge of Edinburgh. This document will be found at
length in another chapter. Mr Deuchar, who followed the business of
seal-engraver, was an eminent genealogist, and had a thorough knowledge
of Heraldry, upon which subject he published a work in three volumes,
entitled, 'The British Herald,' which was by permission dedicated to Sir
Walter Scott. The annexed portrait of Mr Deuchar is copied from a
medallion by Heniiing.
(l/}'^Xyi.^^A~u.-t,ty\^
CHAPTER XXIX.
N their ardent desire to associate ideas of antiquity with the
" High Degrees," some writers have not hesitated to identify
the Masonic Templars now existing as the I'ightful represen-
tatives of the Knight Templars of the middle ages. In this
they are altogether mistaken. Masonic Templarism does not in any
respect bear relationship to the Templars of the Crusades, but is a
branch of the system of Masonic Knighthood which had its origin on
the Continent some hundred and thirty years ago. It was to their inter-
course with brethren belonging to regiments serving in Ireland towards
the end of the last century that Scotch Lodges owed their acquaintance
with Knight Templarism. And it is a curious fact that this Order, then
KNIGHT TEMPLARISM. 287
known as "Black Masonry," was propagated to a large. extent through
charters issued by the " High Knight Templars of Ireland Kilwinning
Lodge," — a body of Freemasons in Dublin, who were constituted by
Mother Kilwinning in 1779, for the practice of the Craft Degrees. This
encouraged the belief in Kilwinning being a centre of the haut grades ; —
and in 18 13 application was made to the mother Lodge to authorise the
transference of one of these Black warrants from Knights of the Temple
and of Malta, in the Westmeath Militia, to brethren of the same degree
serving in the Shropshire Militia. Mother Kilwinning had previously
been solicited to constitute a Provincial Grand High Knight Templar
Encampment for Ireland— and so recently as 1827 had been interrogated
by the Grand Conclave of Scotland as to the date at which it began to
practise Knight Templary, and the number of Lodges " holding of her she
had empowered to make Templars." An extensive importation into Scot-
land of Irish Knight Templar warrants, under which the Royal Arch was
also conferred, followed upon an edict of the Grand Lodge in 1800, forbidding
daughter Lodges to work degrees other than those of St John's Masonry.
Through the incidental notice of a visit of Knight Templars to Mary's
Chapel, contained in the minute of a communication of the Lodge held in
January 1807, we become acquainted with the fact that the now defunct
Early Grand Encampment of Ireland had in the early part of the present
century succeeded in establishing an Assembly of that Order in the Scot-
tish metropolis, and that the chief promoter at a subsequent period of the
Grand Conclave of Knight Templars of Scotland, was a Grand Master
under the " Early Grand " Constitution : " . . . The Lodge was this even-
ing honoured by a deputation from the Grand Assembly of High Knight
Templars in Edinburgh, No. 31 of the Early Grand Encampment of
Ireland, headed by the Most Worshipful Grand Master, Alex. Deuchar, —
being the first time, it is believed, a deputation of Knight Templars visited
this Lodge — at least it is the first time for some hundred years that any
Lodge of Freemasons in Edinburgh has been visited by an Assembly of
Knight Templars, headed by their Grand Master. ..." This minute is in
the handwriting of Mr Deuchar, to whose credulity in regard to the alleged
antiquity of the " High Grades " may be attributed the assumption that a
century before his own time the Mason Lodges in Edinburgh were accus-
tomed to receive the visits of Encampments of Knight Templars.
The Order was introduced into Edinburgh in 1798 by brethren serving in
a regiment of English Militia, then quartered in that city, under a warrant
emanating from Dublin. In all probability it was in virtue of a dispensa-
tion from this Military Encampment that the first Grand Assembly of
Knight Templars was set up in the Scottish metropolis. It was constituted
in i8c6 under an Irish charter, and in 18 10 it originated a scheme for
288 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
instituting a Supreme Court of the Order in this country. This was accom-
plished in i8ii ; and by the charter erecting the Templars of Scotland
into a Conclave of the "Knights of the Holy Temple and Sepulchre, and
of St John of Jerusalem, H. R, D. M. fK. D. S. H." under the hand of the
GRAND PRIORY OF SCOTLAND.
Duke of Kent, then head of the Masonic Templars in England, Mr Alex-
ander Deuchar was appointed Grand Master for life. This circumstance
led to the warrants that were issued by the Grand Conclave being desig-
nated " Deuchar Charters." His life appointment, which was somewhat
ostentatiously displayed on the seal that was attached to these charters,
ultimately occasioned jealousy and disunion, as it shut out men of position
and influence from aspiring to the highest office in the Order. Mr Deuchar
at last yielded to the feeling which had been evoked on this subject, and in
1835 resigned the Grand Mastership in favour of Admiral Sir David Milne,
K.C.B. We present fac-similes of the Deuchar Seal and of the one which
was subsequently adopted by the Grand Conclave. The Deuchar seal bears
at least one emblem with which Brethren who have been knighted under
the modern system are unacquainted. Indeed, so radical have been the
changes effected in the Scotch ritual, ceremonies, and dress, that those now
prevailing bear little or no resemblance to those in use forty years ago.
The Deuchar Charters authorised Encampments to " instal Knights
Templars and Knights of St John of Jerusalem," one condition on which
these warrants were held being " that no communion or intercourse shall
be maintained with any Chapter or Encampment, or body assuming that
name, holding meetings of Knight Templars under a Master Mason
T
290 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Charter." In 1837 the most of these warrants were forfeited, and the
Encampments erased from the roll of the Grand Conclave, on account of
not making the required returns. In 1843 Priories were empowered to
admit as Chivalric Knights persons who were not Freemasons. This
arrangement was abandoned in 1856, when it was re-enacted that "every
one admitted into the Order must be previously a Royal Arch Mason."
By the Charters which, in 1856, replaced those held by the few Scotch
Encampments which were then reconstituted by the Grand Priory of
Scotland, Priories are empowered " to create Esquires of the Order, and
instal Knight Templars. To confer the Masonic degrees, first, of Knight
of St John of Jerusalem, now usually called Knight of Malta, with the
preceding step known by the name of the Mediterranean Pass or Knight
of St Paul ; secondly, of Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine ; and
thirdly, of the Priestly Order of the Temple." Although neither of the
degrees mentioned have been eliminated from the work of Priories under
the Scotch Constitution, the Red Cross of Constantine is now being con-
ferred in Scotland under English auspices. The Chapter-General, sitting
at Edinburgh, and claiming to be the supreme power of the Order of the
Temple " for the whole world," grants the honorary titles of Knight Grand
Cross, Knight Commander, and Knight Companion, with the right to sit
and vote in Grand Priories. Some fifty or sixty Encampments of Masonic
Knight Templars were existing in Scotland about the year 18 17. Now
(1873) there are only four Encampments working in this country under
the Grand Priory, and about twelve or fifteen " Early Grand " Encamp-
ments. This fact shows in how little esteem Knight Templarism is held
by the present generation of Scottish Craftsmen.
The Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland was instituted by
the representatives of thirty-four Chapters, at a General Convocation of the
Order held in St John's Chapel, Edinburgh, August 28, 18 17. The Charter
of Constitution which was then adopted proceeds upon the assumption
that the " Royal Arch " had existed in Scotland prior to the erection of
the Grand Lodge, — and that it was embraced in the " Degrees of Free-
masons," the jurisdiction of which had from time immemorial been vested
in the Barons of Roslin. This is an erroneous statement. The Arch was
fabricated on the Continent about the year 1735-40, whence it was im-
ported into Britain, and was first adopted in England as a Masonic degree by
brethren professing to be the representatives of the Grand Lodge of York,
in retaliation for the alterations made in the ritual by the London Grand
Lodge in order to exclude from its communion brethren who refused to
recognise its authority. It was a boast of the York or " Ancient " Masons
that they worked degrees of which Lodges under the London Grand
Lodge were ignorant. The earliest allusion to the Royal Arch Degree
WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN. 29I
extant is contained in a work of Dr D'Assigney, printed at Dublin in 1744,
of the existence of which there were doubts until the recent discovery of a
copy by Brother William James Hughan, of Truro. The Arch obtained
a footing in Scotland about the middle of last century, through the
medium of Military Lodges which had themselves become acquainted with
the degree in their intercourse with Irish Masons ; and though in some
instances regarded by Lodges as the ne plus ultra of Freemasonry, it was
generally worked in connection with the Order of the Temple. It is
alleged that the Ancient Lodge of Stirling was, in 1743, the first in this
country to practise the degree, but of this there is no authentic evidence.
The portrait which heads this chapter is that of WILLIAM jAMES
HuGHAN, of Truro, Cornwall, who is a member by honorary affiliation of
the Lodge of Edinburgh. He occupies a high place among the Masonic
celebrities of the nineteenth century. Ever since 1863, the year of his initi-
ation in the St Aubyn Lodge, Devonport, he has prosecuted his studies in
connection with the literature of the Order with a conscientiousness and an
energy rarely evinced. In his writings he has ever been careful to mark
the distinction between matters that are purely historical and those that
are merely legendary, and in this respect has done much to dissipate the
superstition which has so long enveloped Masonic history. Free from the
jealousies of rivalry, he accords the fullest credit to the researches of other
brethren. He is the author of ' Constitutions of the Freemasons,' ' His-
tory of Freemasonry at York,' ' Unpublished Records of the Craft,' and
' Old Charges of British Freemasons,' is editor of a local Masonic Calen-
dar, and is a diligent and disinterested contributor to the leading Masonic
periodicals in this and other countries. In short, his fame as a Masonic
author extends to every place in which Freemasonry has a footing and is
practised by an intelligent brotherhood. He has an honorary connection
with many English and Scotch Lodges, and with Royal Arch Chapters in
this country and in America. The Lafayette Chapter, City of Washing-
ton, elected him an honorary member at the time they conferred a similar
distinction on the Marquis of Ripon (Grand Master of England), Lord
Tenterden, and Sir John Ma.cdonald, who were in that city respecting the
Treaty of Washington ; and he has since been appointed representative in
England of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania. Brother Hughan is Past
Master of the Lodge Fortitude, Truro, and ex-Provincial Grand Secretary
of Cornwall. He also holds an honourable position in the High Degrees.
Like ourselves, he recognises their excellence, but considers them Masonic
only by adoption, and all dating their institution at periods subsequent to
the erection of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717.
CHAPTER XXX.
HE custom of Knight Templar Encampments fraternising with
Lodges prevailed to a considerable extent in Scotland, par-
ticularly in the western provinces, at the end of last and
beginning of the present centuries, and the distinction of
honorary membership was frequently conferred on Knight Templars as an
expression of the Brethren's admiration of the High Degrees. The
Encampments, on their part, reciprocated the compliment by initiating
the office-bearers of Lodges in which they were received into the
several degrees worked by them. This exchange of courtesies tended
to a wider dissemination in Lodges of a taste for the Arch and Templar
degrees — so much so, that possession of these was in some instances made
SCOTCH LODGES AND KNIGHT TEMPLARISM. 293
a sine qua non to office-holding under charters of the Grand Lodge. It
was to the Mihtary Lodge Ayr and Renfrew MiUtia St Paul, into which the
Royal Arch had been introduced by the Lodge St James, Newton-on-Ayr,
that in 1799 the Lodges in Stirling were indebted for their knowledge of
that Order. The connection which then subsisted between Scotch Lodges
and the Orders of which we have been speaking cannot, as a rule, be
traced in the minute-books of the Craft ; but in some such records that we
have seen, the nature and extent of the union referred to are clearly
enough defined. In this respect the records of Ayr St Paul are unique,
and go far to show the chaotic condition in which the Royal Arch and
Knight Templar degrees existed at the close of the last century. The
following extracts will suffice as illustrations : — " Linlithgow, February 15,
1799. At a meeting of emergency of Ayr and Renfrew St Paul's Lodge,
the R.W.M. in the chair — the Lodge being opened in due form, when the
following brethren . . . Master Masons, were admitted to the degree of
Excellent and Super-Excellent Royal Arch Masons, when the above and
following brethren . . . were admitted to the Illustrious Order of Night
Templars and duly dubbed Nights of the same." [The cash-book of the
Lodge shows 6s. 6d. to have been paid by each of the brethren who had
received the Arch and Temple degrees — 2s. being paid by those who, at
the meeting in question, had been " nighted."] " Stirling, November 22,
1799. At an emergent meeting of the Ayr and Renfrew St Paul's Lodge,
the following brethren, Master Masons, after having regularly passed the
chair of this Lodge, were admitted to that of Excellent and Super-Excel-
lent Royal Arch Masons, and likewise duly dubt Night Templars, viz., the
R.W. Master of Stirling Royal Arch . . ." "Stirling, December 5, 1799.
At a monthly meeting of the Ayr and Renfrew St Paul's Lodge, the
R.W.M. in the chair, it was unanimously agreed that no brother, unless he
had attained the degree of Night Templar, should bear any office' in the
Lodge.'' To such an extent had the work of Lodges at this period
become associated with that of the Royal Arch and Templar degrees, that
in October 1800 the Grand Lodge of Scotland issued a circular, "prohibit-
ing and discharging its daughters to hold any meetings above the degree
of Master Mason, under penalty of the forfeiture of their charter." Though
putting an end to the practice against which it was directed, this enact-
ment did not prevent the votaries of the High Grades from securing for
their representatives admission not only to convivial meetings of the Craft,
but aLso to their public gatherings ; and this had the result in the case of
Mary's Chapel of bringing it into collision with Grand Lodge.
Presuming upon its frequent reception in communications of the Lodge
of Edinburgh, and emboldened by the impunity with which it was thus
294 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
allowed to identify itself with Craft Masonry, the Metropolitan Encamp-
ment chose the demonstration at the laying of the foundation-stones of the
Regent's Bridge and New Jail as a fitting occasion for the public display
of its insignia in conjunction with that of St John's Masonry. This was
afterwards made the subject of animadversion in Grand Lodge, and led to
Mary's Chapel and its Past Master being proceeded against as parties to
the alleged irregularity. Complaint in the case was made at the instance
of the Proxy Master of the Caledonian Lodge, Dundee, who, at the Grand
Quarterly Communication in November 1815, moved the following resolu-
tions : — " I. That at the Grand Lodge procession, on the 19th September
last, consisting of Apprentices, Fellow-craft, and Master Masons, being
St John's Masonry, the only Order of Masonry known and sanctioned by
the Grand Lodge of Scotland, both by constant practice and by express
statute. Brother Alexander Deuchar, Past Master of Mary's Chapel Lodge
and Proxy for the Lodge of Peebles, did introduce himself, accompanied
by upwards of thirty other persons, into the Lodge of Mary's Chapel,
clothed and decorated with emblems, medals, and insignia, unconnected
with the Order of St John, and styling themselves, as it is said. Knights
Templars, Knights of Jerusalem, Knights of the Holy Cross, &c. &c. &c.,
and under the apparent sanction of the Master and office-bearers of Mary's
Chapel Lodge, walked with the above procession along with that Lodge,
thereby also taking precedence of all the other regular Lodges and Brethren
of Lodges holding of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. 2. That Brother
Alexander Deuchar has, by this conduct, contravened the standin'g law of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and that the Master and other office-bearers
of Mary's Chapel Lodge, have subjected themselves to censure for having
allowed the above description of persons to join, and thereby become part
of, their Lodge on the above occasion." Consideration of the case was
resumed at next quarterly communication, when Grand Lodge, satisfied
with the answers which had been tendered by Mary's Chapel^ unanimously
dismissed the complaint as to the Lodge collectively, but by a majority
entertained the charge against Mr Deuchar. In the discussion which
preceded this decision, reference was made to the trial before the Justiciary
Court at Ayr, which had followed upon the "disgraceful and scandalous
conduct of persons calling themselves Royal Arch Masons and Knight
Templars " {vide Chapter XXXI.) The committee to whom it was
remitted to expiscate the facts of the case, having found that the charge
against Mr Deuchar had not been substantiated by his declaration, and
declining to examine any witnesses, recommended that all further proceed-
ings in the matter should be abandoned, but that Grand Lodge should at
a future communication " adopt some strong resolutions for the protection
GRAND LODGE REPUDIATES THE HIGH DEGREES. 29S
of our ancient and established Order of St John's Masonry, the only order
and description of Masonry recognised by the Grand Lodge ; and that these
resolutions should strictly prohibit all Lodges holding of the Grand Lodge
from admitting, receiving, or in anyway acknowledging, any description of
Masons, either individually or collectively, other than those of St John's
Masonry, or from allowing them to join or assist at any of their private
meetings, public Masonic processions, or any other Masonic meetings
whatever ; and that these resolutions be printed and sent to every Lodge in
Scotland, as well as to all the Provincial Grand Masters, with instructions
that this law shall be strictly enforced and carried into effect by every Lodge
in their respective provinces." The adoption of this report (August 1817)
was followed by Grand Lodge passing resolutions to the effect that it
only recognised the three degrees of Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master
Mason of St John's Masonry ; and that any Lodges admitting persons to
their meetings or processions belonging to other Orders, with regalia, insig-
nia, badges, or crosses, other than those belonging to St John's Masonry,
would be proceeded against for infringement of the regulations.
Grand Lodge, at its quarterly communication in November of the same
year, gave further evidence of its hostility to ^the High degrees, in
resolving, by a majority of 155 to'27, "That from and after the 27th of.
December next (1818), no person holding an official situation in any
Masonic body which sanctions higher degrees than those of St John's
Masonry, shall be entitled to sit, act, or vote in the Grand Lodge of Scot-
land." At the date of this enactment the Prince Regent was at once
Grand Patron of the Grand Lodge of England and Grand Master and
Patron of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, in virtue of which offices he was
entitled to preside in either Grand Lodge. The Grand Lodge of England
sanctioned the practice of the Holy Royal Arch ; yet the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, while debarring from its membership Master Masons who were
also officials in Royal Arch Chapters, continued to elect as its Grand
Master the Grand Patron of English Freemasonry, which then as now
included the Royal Arch Degree. An impartial application of the pro-
visions of the act in question would have prevented His Royal Highness's
re-election by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 18 18 and subsequent years,
and would have precluded Grand Lodge from continuing ■ fraternal inter-
course with the Grand Lodge of England. It was an unnecessary piece
of legislation, levelled against a few brethren whose persistent opposition
to the general policy of Grand Lodge had made their presence distasteful
to its office-bearers, and whose known connection with the High Degrees
rendered their exclusion from Grand Lodge almost a matter of certainty.
About this time the recently-erected Supreme Grand Royal Arch
296 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Chapter of Scotland resolved to attempt to bring about a union between
itself and the Grand Lodge of Scotland, upon principles similar to those
that had in 1813 been established in England. In pursuance of a resolu-
tion of the Grand Chapter, a communication, in which the Royal Arch was
characterised as " a real and intrinsic part of Master Masonry," was trans-
mitted to the Grand Secretary, with a request that it might be laid before
Grand Lodge. Notwithstanding that it was couched in courteous terms
and bore the signatures of two Past Grand Masters — the Earls of Moray
and Aboyne — Grand Lodge, on the motion of the Proxy Master of
Mother Kilwinning, refused to allow the letter to be read. Though thus
summarily rejecting the overtures from without for a recognition of the
High Degrees, the spread of the latter throughout the country, and their
espousal by brethren of rank and influence, would appear to have impressed
some of its own adherents with the impolicy of the position taken up by
Grand Lodge. We therefore find that in 1820 efforts were made within
its own pale to induce Grand Lodge to recede from the attitude it had
assumed ; and at the Grand Communication in' August of that year the
Master of Mary's Chapel moved, " That the law passed at the quarterly
communication in November 18 17, prohibiting brethren who hold official
situations in any Order of Masonry other than that of the Order of St
John, from being members of the Grand Lodge, be rescinded." This
motion was negatived by a majority of 52 to 22. Though still withholding
its recognition of other than Craft Masonry, the Grand Lodge has long
since set aside its prohibitory enactments against wearing in Lodge com-
munications the insignia of, or holding office under, the High Degrees.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of James Hay Erskine
Wemyss of Wemyss and Torry, one of the brethren who accompanied the
Duke of Athole on his visit to Mary's Chapel in 1859. He was then M.P!
for the county of Fife, to which position he had been elected after a severe
contest with his cousin the present Grand Master, then Lord Loughborough.
Mr Wemyss belonged to the Lodge of Kirkcaldy, and filled the offices of
Junior and Senior Grand Deacon, and Senior Grand Warden, in the Grand
Lodge of Scotland. For three years prior to his death, which occurred in
1864, he held the Lord Lieutenancy of Fifeshire. As son of Admiral
James Wemyss he was the representative of one of the most ancient
families in Fifeshire, and through his mother, Lady Emma Hay, was
related to the noble house of Errol, the i6th Earl being his maternal
grandfather. His widow is a daughter of the late Hon. John Kennedy
Erskine of Dun, a direct descendant of the famous reformer of that name.
"?^' lil
CHAPTER XXXI.
N the discussion in Grand Lodge regarding the admission of
Knight Templars into the procession at the laying of the
foundation-stone of the Prince Regent's Bridge, September
1815, pointed reference was made by the Master of the
Lodge of Edinburgh to the recent prosecution of Knight Templars before
the Circuit Court of Justiciary at Ayr. This case and the circumstances
out of which it arose are of interest to the Masonic reader, as showing the
nature and extent of the opposition which was offered to the introduction
of the Royal Arch and Knight Templar degrees into at least one district
of Scotland.
298 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
The "Arch" was introduced into Ayrshire between the years 1771 and
1778, through the medium of the Hibernian element which then permeated
the Lodge St James, Newton-upon-Ayr. Whether during the period
mentioned this bgdy also dubbed Masonic Knights cannot now be ascer-
tained ; but its pretensions to the knowledge and practice of degrees other
than those of Craft Masonry were supported by its assumption of the title
of "Super-Excellent Royal- Arch Lodge of Ayr," — a designation under
which it received partial acknowledgment at the hands of some of the
sister Lodges, but which it subsequently saw reason to abandon. With
the resumption of its proper title, the Lodge St James not only continued
to work the Royal Arch degree, but conferred also that of Knight Tem-
plar, and was through its members the means of creating within its own
province a taste for these Orders. Up till 1797, the Lodge of Maybole —
an old branch of the Kilwinning Fraternity, which joined Grand Lodge
shortly after its erection — was the only Lodge in the Carrick division of the
county of Ayr. In the course of the year 1796, a few members of this
Lodge, together with one or two Irish brethren (members of the society of
"United Irishmen,")* who were in possession of the higher degrees, con-
stituted themselves into an Assembly of Knight Templars, and surrep-
titiously began to practise Royal Arch Masonry and Knight Templary.
The leading members of the Lodge of Maybole discouraged the spread of
these novel Orders, on the ground of their being mediums through which,
under a pretended connection, with Freemasonry, it was Sought to propa-
gate the infidelity and political principles of the French Revolutionists,
and to evoke sympathy for the democrats of Ireland in their endeavours
to effect their national independence. Under these circumstances the
Maybole Encampment resolved upon the erection of a new Lodge ; and
with that object a petition was, February 6, 1797, presented to Grand
Lodge by John Andrew and others for a charter of constitution, under the
style and title of the Lodge Royal Arch, Maybole. This petition was
favourably received, and Grand Lodge authorised the petitioners to meet
for Masonic purposes under a working warrant until the charter could be
prepared. Under this arrangement the new Lodge held its first communi-
* This political association was instituted in 1 79 1 by a notorious Irish republican named "Wolfe Tone,
a barrister. Starting with the avowed object of effecting the reform of the Irish Parliament, it sub-
sequently advocated the establishment of an Irish republic. Its originator was in 1797 one of the
mediums of communication between the French Directory and the Irish republican agent at Ham-
burg, relative to preparations for a second attempted invasion of Ireland. The Dutch fleet, which
was to have borne an important part in this revolutionary expedition, was annihilated by the British
fleet under Bro. Lord Duncan in the battle of Camperdown, fought in October 1797. Paine's ' Age of
Reason ' was a text-book of the United Irishmen, who used every means to increase its circulation
among their countrymen. This was one of the secret societies against which the Act 1799 was
directed ; but from the operation of which Masonic Lodges were excepted.
CHARGES AGAINST AN AYRSHIRE LODGE. 299
cation on the 15th of February 1797. The Grand Committee met on the
19th of the month, when the Substitute. Grand Master produced for con-
sideration two letters lately sent to him — one of fhem from the Rev. James
Wright,* minister of Maybole — remonstrating against the erection of the
Royal Arch. The letter of the rev. objector contained the following
clause : " I understand that those brethren of the new Lodge have behaved
very superciliously ",- — they also give out that their Lodge is of a different
Order of Masonry from that of other mother Lodges ; — they say that they
have higher mysteries in which they instruct their intrants, and that they
have new and much more numerous ceremonies." Grand Committee in-
structed the Royal Arch to give in answers, which, with the complaint,
was subsequently ordered " to be laid before James Fergusson, Esq., advo-
cate, to have his opinion thereon." At his suggestion, it was remitted to
the Provincial Grand Master of the Southern District " to inquire into the
merits of the business and report." This official's recommendation, " that
Grand Lodge should grant the charter required," was given effect to in
November 1798. Dissatisfied with this decision, the question was re-
opened in Grand Lodge by Macadam of Turnberry, Master of the older
Lodge, who complained " that Maybole Royal Arch was contravening the
articles of its constitution by the practice of other than the degrees of St
John's Masonry, — that its pretended meetings for the study of the so-called
higher mysteries were really held for the purpose of instilling into the
minds of its intrants the principles of infidelity, — that the Bible had in the
Lodge been replaced by Paine's ' Age of Reason,' — and that its teachings
were altogether of a revolutionary character, prejudicial alike to the
* James Wright, D.D., w4s known in Masonic circles by the nickname of "Brotherly Love."
This epithet was given to him in consequence of the earnestness and frequency with v/hich he urged
the brethren to the practice of the virtue referred to — a theme which also forms the leading feature
of a now very rare work of his, entitled ' A Recommendation to Brotherly Love, upon the prin-
ciples of Christianity ; to which is subjoined an Enquiry into the true design of the Institution of
Masonry, in Four Books.' This book was strongly recommended to the Fraternity by the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, whose Chaplain he was during 1786-87. He was initiated in the Lodge St
David, Edinburgh, on St Andrew's-day 1786. Dr Wright delivered a discourse before Grand
Lodge in advocacy of the claims of its Charity Fund. In his ministerial capacity he was a promi-
nent actor in a case of rather a singular character. The unpropitious weather during the harvest of
1807 had endangered the crops, and led to a distressing advance in the price of victual. It so
happened that the weather at the end of a week had brightened up, and a drying wind prepared the
corn for being housed on the Sabbath. At the conclusion of the forenoon's service of the day in
question, Mr Wright— probably regarding the example of his Master's disciples plucking ears of
standing com from a field on the Sabbath as justifying the suggestion he was about to offer— stated
to his congregation that he conceived the favourable temporary change of weather might, withcrut
violating the sanctity of the Sabbath, be taken advantage of to save the crops. For this advice,
which was adopted by several of his parishioners, he was denounced as a violator of the Fourth
Commandment. The case was brought into the ecclesiastical coitrts, but was eventually dis-
missed by the Synod of the district.
300 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
interests of Church and State." At this time and during the " Radical "
agitation at a subsequent period, the circulation of Paine's ' Age of
Reason' was held by the' Government to be subversive alike of the Con-
stitution of the country and of the Christian religion ; and in addresses
from the bench, magistrates were frequently called upon to make every
effort to arrest the circulation of all unlawful writings, whether directed
against religion or the State. The criminal records of England present
several instances of persons having been punished for promulgating the
'Age of Reason' and other infamous and blasphemous works of which
Paine was the author. It was no doubt to strengthen the case against the
Royal Arch Lodge that the use at its meetings of the ' Age of Reason '
was made the subject of complaint.
Grand Lodge entered upon the consideration of these charges at a
quarterly communication held in the Inner Parliament House in May
1799, under the presidency of the Grand Master, the Right Hon. Sir James
Stirling, Bart, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. On the case being called, a
debate took place as to the relevancy of the libel, — whereupon it was de-
cided " that none of the charges brought against the members of the Royal
Arch Lodge prior to the 6th of February 1797 — the date of the letter from
Grand Lodge authorising them to hold Masonic meetings — were compe-
tent to be the subject of investigation before the Grand Lodge, because till
that date they were in no shape under their jurisdiction." Witnesses having
been brought forward in support of the charges, a discussion upon " the
propriety of examining them regarding Royal Arch Masonry or Knight
Templars,'' resulted in Grand Lodge ruling that as it did not acknowledge
these degrees, no question anent them should be put. The first witness,
William Hamilton, v/as thereupon brought to the bar, and being at his
own request put upon oath, deponed " that he was a member of the Lodge
of Maybole, and was two or three months also a member of the Royal
Arch ; that he never saw in the Royal Arch Lodge anything practised in
the Apprentice, Fellow-craft, or Master Mason Orders different from other
Lodges ; that he never saw Paine's ' Age of Reason ' in the Lodge ; and
that he never saw in the Royal Arch anything profane or immoral, or any-
thing inimical to the Church or State." The other witness, Quintin Stewart,
deponed to the same effect. The accused then produced certificates from
several Lodges " testifying to their good conduct as Masons ; from the
minister and elders of the parish, testifying to their good conduct as men
and Christians ; and from the commander of the Maybole Volunteers, testi-
fying that eighteen of their number were members of his corps." After
some discussion on the question whether the complainer should not be
"censured for bringing such a groundless and vexatious charge," the Grand
CRIMINAL CHARGE AGAINST KNIGHT TEMPLARS. 301
Lodge decided as follows : " Find that no proof has been advanced tending
to establish improper or unmasonic conduct on the part of the members
of the said Royal Arch Lodge, posterior to the day on which Grand Lodge
authorised their meetings, to which period complainer's proof was limited,
and therefore acquit the members of the said Lodge therefrom, — hereby at
the same time testify their approbation of the Masonic zeal of the said Bro.
Macadam, whose information the Grand Lodge was sensible warranted
him to make his complaint the subject of discussion, — and recommend to
the members of Royal Arch Lodge to practise only the simple Masonic
conduct sanctioned by Grand Lodge, — and further recommend to both
Lodges to bury their differences in oblivion, and in future communicate
together in harmony and brotherly love."
The accusation in this case would seem to have been only a partial de-
velopment of a plan which had been devised to effect the ruin of the chief
promoters of the Royal Arch ; for, contemporaneous with his complaint to
Grand Lodge, the Laird of Turnberry lodged with the Lord Lieutenant of
Ayrshire (Hugh, Earl of Eglinton), a criminal information against John
Andrew, the Master of the new Lodge, and Robert Ramsay, accusing
them of having, in conjunction with others associated with them as mem-
bers of the Maybole Encampment of Knight Templars, been guilty of
sedition and the administration of unlawful oaths. His lordship, who for-
warded this information to the Lord Advocate, instituted inquiries which
resulted in the apprehension and judicial examination of the accused.
' Their declarations bore that in 1796, some years after they had joined the
Maybole Lodge, No. 14, understanding that they could be "further in-
structed in Masonry' by the Lodge St James, Newton-upon-Ayr, they
repaired thither and were initiated in the " parts of Chair, Arch, Royal
Arch, and Knight Templar ; '' and that they had conferred these degrees
upon members of No. 14, both before and after No. 264 was constituted
by Grand Lodge — not in connection with any Lodge, but by authority of
" The Grand Assembly of Knight Templars held at Maybole." They and
other brethren of the new Lodge had also gone to Tarbolton, at the desire
of certain members of St David's [Burns's mother Lodge], and there ini-
tiated eight or ten persons into " these higher Orders of Masonry." Being
asked, " What are the particular ceremonies or forms that are followed out
in making Masons Arch, Royal Arch, and Knights Templars .' " declarants
stated that they used the ceremonies by which they themselves were ad-
mitted into these Orders, but that they were bound by an oath, which they
had never seen committed to writing, and which they had administered
from memory, not to reveal any of these ceremonies unless to those whom
they initiated. Interrogated further: "If they could now repeat that
oath, or the substance of it ; " declarants thought they could, but declined
302 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
until they had an opportunity of consulting the brethren by whom it was
administered to them, whether they were at liberty to divulge it or not.
And in reply to the question, " Whether in these higher Orders of Masonry
there may be signs, symbols, or materials used of any kind in the com-
pleting of their instruction .' " declarants stated that they had the same
objections to exhibit and dfvulge these as they had to condescend upon
the words of their obligation.
The accused were, at an interval of two months from the date of their
examination, summoned to stand their trial upon the charge of sedition and
the administration of unlawful oaths, — " in so far they did, under the show
and pretence of a meeting for Masonry, sometime in the course of the
year 1796, at Maybole, along with others their associates, most of them
from Ireland, form themselves into an illegal club or association, styling
itself ' The Grand Assembly of Knight Templars,' or bearing some such
name ; which club or association, under the pretence of initiating into the
ceremonies of Masonry, did admit various persons as members, and did
at said admission perform various ceremonies partly with a view to vilify
and undermine the established religion, and partly to represent the Con-
stitution and Government of the country as oppressive and tyrannical ; and
did, with this view, oblige those who were admitted members to take, and
did administer to them, an oath, binding them, among other things, ' to
conceal the secrets of the Order of Knight. Templars, murder and treason
not excepted,' or an oath of some such import and tendency. More par-
ticularly the said John Andrew and Robert Ramsay above complained on,
or one or other of them, being members of the said association, did at May-
bole aforesaid, on the 22d of August 1796, at a meeting held by the said
illegal association, and at which the said John Andrew acted as Master or
Preses, wickedly and feloniously administer or cause to be administered to
Quintin Stewart, tailor in Maybole aforesaid, an oath or engagement bind-
ing him ' to conceal and not to reveal or discover the secrets of the Order
of Knight Templars, murder and treason not excepted,' or an oath or en-
gagement of a similar import. Further, the said John Andrew and Robert
Ramsay above complained on, or one or other of them, did at Maybole
aforesaid, on the 17th of December 1796, or upon one or other of
the days of that month, or of the month of November immediately pre-
ceding, or of January in the year 1797 immediately following, at a
meeting held by the said illegal association, at which the said John Andrew
above complained on acted as Master or Preses, wickedly and feloniously
administer or cause to be administered to William Hamilton, mason in
Maybole aforesaid, an oath or engagement binding him ' to conceal and
not to reveal or discover the secrets of the Order of the Knights
TRIAL BEFORE THE JUSTICIARY COURT. 303
Templars, murder and treason not excepted ; ' or an oath or engagement
of a similar import."
The Court before which this extraordinary case was tried sat at Ayr,
on the 17th of September 1800, under the presidency of the Lord Justice-
Clerk (Sir David Rae of Eskgrove, Bart.) On the indictment being read,
the panels pled Not Guilty, — whereupon the Advocate-Depute appeared
on behalf of the prosecutor, and John Clerk,* advocate, as procurator for
the panels. The presiding judge having found the libel against the prison-
ers " relevant to infer the pains of law," and allowed the panels " a proof
of all facts and circumstances that might tend to exculpate them or allevi-
ate their guilt," a jury was impannelled, and the case went to trial. There
were three witnesses adduced for the prosecution — viz., Quintin Macadam,
of Waterside, the brother at whose instance the case was raised ; William
Hamilton and Quintin Stew-art, both in Maybole. The two last-named
brethren were the only witnesses in the recent Masonic trial that had
ended in the acquittal of the panels. Not being bound in the present case
by the restrictions under which their evidence was taken by the Grand
Lodge, they made a sweeping disclosure of what were alleged to be the
secret ceremonies connected with admission into the Orders of Royal
Arch Masonry and Knights Templar. Hamilton said, " When he was ad-
mitted a member of the Lodge Maybole Royal Arch, No. 264, a pistol
was fired and some person called out, ' Put him to death.' He was blind-
folded at first when brought into the room, and the covering being after-
wards taken from his eyes, he was shown a stone jug in the corner of the
room, and a candle burning in it. He was told by the panel Andrew that
it was the representation of God Almighty in the midst of the burning
bush. Andrew was Master of the Lodge, and was reading the third chap-
ter of Exodus. The witness was desired to put off his shoes, as it was
holy ground he stood on ; the covering was put down again on the wit-
ness's face, and he was led under an arch, and, passing imder the arch, he
was desired to' find the Book of the Law ; it was taken up by some other
person in the Lodge, who was called High Priest, and who said he would
* John Clerk was eldest son of John Clerk of Eldin, near Lasswade, author of the well-known
Essay on Naval Tactics. He passed Advocate in 1785, was appointed Solicitor-General in 1806,
and was elevated to the Bench in 1823, when he assumed the title of Lord Eldin. He resigned in
1828, and died at Edinburgh, May 30, 1832. Mr Clerk was, in 1807, elected Senior Grand War-
den of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, to which post he was thrice re-elected. He was one of the
counsel for the complainers in the action for interdict, &c., raised against the Lodges seeking to
secede from Grand Lodge in 1808. He was very popular as an advocate, and a favourite in pri-
vate life. He was celebrated for his wit. Many of his sayings are still current in Edinburgh
society. Mr Clerk suffered from lameness in his limbs. On one occasion, while passing certain
persons in the street, he overheard one of them remark, " There is John Clerk, the lame lawyer:"
turning sharply round, he said good-humouredly, " I am lame John Clerk, but not a lame lawyer."
304
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
explain it. The witness was desired to put money on the book to pay for
explaining it to him ; the book, he was told, was the Bible. The witness
put money on the book as desired, and John Andrew made obser-
vations on the chapter as he read it, but the witness does not positively
remember any of them. Recollects that part of the chapter where the
children of Israel are said to be in bondage. The passport for a Royal
Arch Mason was, ' I Am that I Am.' After the above ceremonies, the
witness being taken out of the room had his coat taken off and tied on
his shoulders in a bundle, and was then brought in ; a carpet with a rent
in it was called the veil of the temple. He was led through it, and round
the room. A sword was put into his hand, and he was ordered to use it
against all who opposed him as a Knight Templar. John Andrew read
the fourth chapter of Exodus ; the witness was desired to throw down the
sword, and was told it was become a serpent — after which he was desired
to take it up again, and was told it was become a rod. Andrew poured
ale and porter on the floor, and called it blood. Witness was shown thir-
teen burning candles. One in the middle he was told represented Jesus
Christ ; the others the Twelve Apostles. Andrew blew out one of the
candles, which he called Judas, who betrayed his Master ; one of them
was dim, and was called Peter, who denied his Master. Something on a
table under a white cloth being uncovered, was perceived to be a human
skull, which the witness was desired to take up, and view it, and was told
it was a real skull of a brother called Simon Magus. Porter was poured
into the skull, which the witness was desired to drink ; he did so, and it
was handed round the whole Knights. Andrew put the point of the
sword into it, and then touched witness's head, saying, ' I dub thee in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' He took an oath to ' keep
the secrets of the Knights Templars, murder and treason not excepted : ' the
penalty for revealing was that ' his body would be rooted up like a fir deal'
John Andrew was Master at his admission, and at two others at which he
was present. The witness's impression was that the ceremonies used were
a scoffing at religion, and, though he cannot say positively, he thought they
had a tendency to overturn the Government." Stewart gave similar evi-
dence. Thirteen witnesses, for the greater part Freemasons, were adduced
in exculpation. Those of them who had taken the Templars' oath swore
that it bound them to secrecy, " murder and treason excepted." Parties'
procurators having been heard, the Lord Justice-Clerk, as reported in the
public prints of the day, " summed up the whole evidence with great per-
spicuity and candour. His lordship observed that he wished that this
prosecution had been brought sooner, but this could not be imputed to the
prosecutor, for it did not appear that he had delayed bringing the action
ACQUITTAL OF THE ACCUSED. 305
after he got the information. Though this species of crime may not have
occurred in our law before, still the law may be applied to remedy it when
it does occur. The special law enacted in regard to it does not infringe
on the law as it stood before. The oath is not innocent even as limited
by the witnesses for the panels ; though there is no proof that the panels
had entered into a design of leading the persons they admitted into their
society to seditious practices, yet the oath may be employed for that pur-
pose. His lordship said he could not believe that any such ceremonies
were employed in Mason Lodges,* because they are so abominable and
impious ; it rather appeared that this was a new oath introduced by the
panels, and not in use before in admitting Masons." Having concluded
his charge to the jury, and afterwards ordained them " instantly to en-
close," and to return their verdict next morning, his lordship directed the
panels in the mean time to be committed to prison. The first business of
the Court, on resuming its sitting, was to receive the verdict of the jury,
which was, " That we all in one voice find the facts libelled not proven ;" in
respect of which the panels were dismissed from the bar.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of John James MuiR-
HEAD, sole partner of the eminent firm of Mackay, Cunningham, and
Company, goldsmiths and jewellers at Edinburgh to Her Majesty the
Queen and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. He was admitted
to the Lodge Mary's Chapel in 1869, and was elected to the office of
Master in 1872. He is also a Grand Steward in the Grand Lodge of
Scotland. Mr Muirhead is a member of the Town Council of Edinburgh,
and has for some years taken a prominent interest in the municipal, edu-
cational, and other affairs of the city.
* His lordship was right ; the ceremonies described by the witnesses formed no part of, nor
were in any way connected with. Freemasonry.
U
CHAPTER XXXII.
HE Royal Order, referred to in a previous chapter, is
composed of two degrees — viz., that of " Heredom of Kil-
winning," alleged to have originated in the reign of David I.,
King of Scotland ; and the " Rosy Cross," affirmed to have
been instituted by Robert the Bruce, which monarch is also represented
as having in 13 14 revived the former and incorporated it with the latter
ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND. 307
under the title of The Royal Order of Scotland. The ritual of this rite
embraces what may be termed a spiritualisation of the supposed symbols
and ceremonies of the Christian architects and builders of primitive times,
and so closely associates the sword with the trowel as to lead to the second
degree being denominated an order of Masonic knighthood, which its
recipients are asked to believe was first conferred on the field of Bannock-
burn as a reward for the valour that had been displayed by a body of
Templars who aided Bruce in that memorable victory ; and that afterwards
a Grand Lodge of the Order was established by the king at Kilwinning,
with reservation of the office of Grand Master to him and his successors
on the Scottish throne. It is further asserted that the Royal Order and
the Masonic Fraternity of Kilwinning were governed by the same head.
As regards the claims to antiquity and a royal origin that are set up in
favour of this rite, it is proper to say that modern inquiries have shown
these to be purely fabulous. The credence that is given to that part of
the legend which associates the Order with the ancient Lodge of Kilwin-
ning is based on the assumed certainty that that Lodge possessed in
former times a knowledge of other degrees of Masonry than those of St
John. But such is not the case. The Fraternity of Kilwinning never at
any period practised or acknowledged other than the Craft degrees ; neither
does there exist any tradition worthy of the name, local or national, nor
has any authentic document yet been discovered, that can in the remotest
degree be held to identify Robert Bruce with the holding of Masonic
courts, or the institution of a secret society, at Kilwinning. The paternity
of the Royal Order is now pretty generally attributed to a Jacobite knight,
named Andrew Ramsay,* a devoted follower of the Pretender, and famous
as the fabricator of certain rites, inaugurated in France about 1735-40, and
through the propagation of which it was hoped the fallen fortunes of the
Stuarts would be retrieved. The place of Ramsay's nativity was within a
short distance of Kilwinning, and to this circumstance may be attributed
his knowledge of the traditionary fame of that village as an ancient centre
of the Masonic fraternity, and his subsequent use of its name in the pro-
motion of his cabalistic inventions ; although at the time of his birth, and
* Michael Andrew Ramsay, a, Scotch knight, born at Ayr in 1686, died in 1743 at St Germain-
en-Laye. He resided chiefly in France, where he was known as a historian, and obtained some
reputation for his 'Travels of Cyrus.' In 1709, the celebrated Archbishop Fenelon converted
him to the Roman Catholic faith ; and in 1724 he was tutor to the two sons of the Pretender
Charles Edward Stuart, accompanying them to Rome, where he probably conceived the idea of
enriching Freemasonry with his new system of " les hauts grades.'' It has been stated more than
once that he was in London in 1728 to lay the foundation of this new Masonic system but
Kloss contradicts this : he was only once in England, and that in 1730, to receive the degree of
Doctor of Law.— History of Freemasonry, by J. G. Findel. London : Asher & Co. 1869.
308 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
even during the period in which he was engaged in the preparation of what
has been termed " the corner-stone of the hauts grades" the Lodge of
Kilwinning was a purely operative institution, and its members for the
most part were composed of masons and wrights, whose education was not
such as could have fitted them for the study or understanding of those
ineffable rites of which they were the alleged conservators. It is certain
that Ramsay was not a member of the Kilwinning Lodge ; nor is it likely
that he ever had any communication with it.
Certain advocates of the " high antiquity '' of the Royal Order assert
that its existence long before the first quarter of the eighteenth century
can be proved from " documents in possession of the Order, more than two
hundred years old." * The Grand Lodge of the Royal Order of Scotland,
having its seat in Edinburgh, possesses no such documents ; and it is a
curious fact that the more ancient of the records which it does possess,
and which were inherited frorh the head of an Anglo-Dutch Provincial
Grand Chapter, state that it was instituted in the middle of last cen-
tury. Of the existence in Scotland of any branch of the Order prior to
1754, there is not a particle of evidence. In July 1750, William Mitchell,
a native of Scotland, and a teacher of languages at the Hague, and Jonas
Kluck, a merchant there, presented a petition to the Provincial Grand
Master in " South Britain," in which they stated that they and other resi-
dents at the Hague were members of the Order, and craved power to erect
a Provincial Grand Lodge there. In compliance with this petition, the
Provincial Grand Master, whose official seat was in London, gave a deliver-
ance that " one brother who has signed the same do attend me at the
house of Brother Lowis, S.N.C.R.T.Y., on Monday" the 22d July 1750, at
four o'clock precisely. On that date, a " Patent " (intituled within " In-
structions "), a Diploma, and a Charter or document of larger size and
more formal shape, but in reality the same in substance as the diploma,
were granted to Mr Mitchell, as head of the Order at the Hague. The
larger MS., like other so-called masonic documents of the period, contains
a somewhat vague and pretentious allusion to the source whence the
" President" derived his jurisdiction : " By virtue of the authority to me by
the Right Honourable and Right Worshipful Prince and Supreme Ruler
and Governor of the Great S.N.D.R.M., and Grand Master of the H.R.D.M.
of K.L.W;N.N.," — an ambiguity of expression which, taken in connection
with other circumstances narrated in this chapter, justifies the opinion that
the Grand Lodge of London was a self-constituted body. The Diploma
runs thus :— " To our truly well-beloved and right worshipful and highly
honoured brother Sir William R. L. R, Knight of the R.Y.C.S., Provincial
'' The Freemason. ' London: Geo. Kenning. 1871.
• ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND.
3C9
Grand Master of the Seven United Provinces.* Know ye that out of the
great esteem and brotherly love I bear to you, and being well assured of
your fidelity, I do hereby empower you (with proper assistance) to advance
to the Order of the R.Y.C.S. at your Grand Lodge at the Hague, or at any
other Grand Chapter to which you may grant constitution in any part of
the Seven United Provinces. And be it further known unto you, that if
you are found guilty of acting contrary to my will and pleasure, making
breach of any of your constitutional laws, rules, ordinances, and regulations
appended for your observance by authority of the Grand Lodge where I
preside and govern, you will be rendered for the future incapable of hold-
ing any said office or authority in the H.R.D.M., and also be liable to be
excluded the Society for contempt and disobedience. R. L. F., President.
(Seal.) Given at London, under my hand and Priory Seal, this 22d day
of July 1750, A.D. 1750, AMH. 5758, and in the ninth year of my autho-
rity." The seal on the diploma has been destroyed ; but the following is a
fac-simile of the President's signature and seal on the Charter or larger
MS. above referred to : —
O^f^i-^^
Certification of Mr Mitchell's installation was made in the following
terms :— " London, 22d July A.D. 1750, amh. 5758. I did this day attend
at the house of Brother Lowis, S.N.C.R.T.Y., the sign of The Golden
Horse Shoe in Cannon Street, Southwark, and did then and there consti-
stitute the petitioning brethren residing at the Hague into a regular
Chapter in full form, and did constitute and appoint our right worshipful
and highly honoured brother, William Mitchell, known and distinguished
among the brothers of the Order by the sublime title and characteristick
* The Seven United Provinces now constitute the Kingdom of Holland.
310 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. '
of F.D.L.T.Y., and Knight of the R.Y.C.S., to be T.R.S.I., by delivering
the pattent and in due form as usual for the constitution of Chapters in
foreign parts, and did by virtue of my authority exchange his character-
istick and invest him with that of R.L.Y. (Signed) R.L.F." It appears
from the record of these proceedings that the condition on which the
newly-constituted body was " empowered to act as a Grand Lodge," was
that it should make " an acknowledgment once a-year to the Grand
Lodge from whom it derived its title, at a Quarterly Grand Lodge
meeting, which is held always at London on the fifth Sunday in the
months having so many." It occurs to us here to remark that the fact
of constitutional meetings of the Order being held on "Sundays" mili-
tates against the idea of its having, as asserted by its first promoters in
France, had a Scotch origin, as it is well known that from the time of the
Reformation, the Sunday in Scotland has been carefully guarded against
all secular business. The idea that the Royal Order or any other of the
" High degrees" existed prior to the Reformation, may be dismissed from
consideration in a work dealing with authentic history.
The laws, regulations, constitutional charge, prayers, form of proces-
sion at the funeral of a brother, characteristics, &c., and lists of the lodges
or chapters holding of the Provincial Grand Lodge, and of the names of
ten members who had been expelled for divulging its secrets, ridiculing
the order, intemperance, &c., are contained in the book recording the in-
stallation of Mr Mitchell. This MS. is entituled, " Records of the Christian
and Surnames of the Brethren of H.R.D.M. belonging to the Hague, &c.,
alphabetically digested, together with their places of abode, degrees of
advancement, and house list to which each brother's characteristic belongs,
and all the Petty Chapters of the Orders of the Seven United Provinces."
This title, however, only describes an intention, as no such entries were
ever made at the Hague — a fact which strengthens the supposition that
the Chapter had never been opened there. The minute of installation was
written into the Record Book, which was delivered to Mr Mitchell, who
was directed to give to all Provincial Grand Lodges he might form " a
Book of Records of the Laws and Rules, &c., the same as delivered here-
with ;" and it contains this instruction, "You are not to enter any minutes,
or other laws or rules, in the book herewith delivered, but such as you
shall from time to time receive from the Grand Lodge in London." This
book, with the documents above alluded to, are now in possession of the
Lodge at Edinburgh, and upon one of the leaves in the middle of the
volume it is described as belonging to " The Grand Chapter, termed the
Grand Lodge of the Royal Order at Edinburgh, constituted on 22d July,
1750."
ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND. 31 1
From the documents we have had the privilege to examine we have
been unable to form any estimate of the probable antiquity of the Order.
In one of the MSS. the Grand Master at London sets forth that he had
held office since 1741 ; and in July 1750 there were in London five Royal
Order Chapters, and one at Deptford. Next in order comes the seventh,
being the one then constituted at the Hague, and which is now represented
by the Grand Lodge of the Order at Edinburgh. The senior or first four
chapters on the list — (i) " The Grand Lodge at the Thistle and Crown, in
Chandos Street," (2) "Grand Chapter at Thistle and Crown as above," (3)
"Coach and Horses, in Welbock Street," (4) "Blue-boar's Head, Exeter
Street" — are said in the " Records" to have existed from time immemorial,
and as having been constituted on a "fifth Sunday." No reason is assigned
for the day of the week being ascertained and the year of constitution un-
known. The fifth chapter, the "Golden Horse Shoe," is stated to have
been constituted on the nth December 1743, and that of " The Griffen "
at Deptford on 20th December 1744. In 1752 a chapter was formed in
Virginia, North America; and we find, in July 1782, that there were
eighteen in the list of chapters contained in the "Records" of the Grand
Lodge (Mitchell's) of the Hague. The oldest book of records extant con-
tains, in the handwriting of Mr Mitchell, a list of the " Members of the
Royal Chapter at Edinburgh," and from this list we find that at Edinburgh
one was admitted to the Order in 17S4, two in 1755, one in 1760, and ten
in 1763 — all residents there, and several of them members of the Scotch
Bar. Of their admission, beyond the enrolment of their names and
characteristics, there are no minutes or other record. The only other name
included in the list is that of Mr Mitchell himself, who is represented as
having been admitted in France in 1749, and in England in 1750. From
a report which in 1843 was prepared at the instance of the Grand Lodge
of the Order at Edinburgh, we find that Mr Mitchell sat at various meet-
ings of the Chapter there between 1766 and 1777, both years inclusive,*
and that it is reported as "doubtful" if he ever returned to Holland after
obtaining his patent in 1750. That he did not do so, and that he settled
in Scotland, is also evident from the fact that he continued to act as Grand
Master until July 1767. He was succeeded by James Kerr, a writer in
Edinburgh, and in the same year the office of Deputy Grand Master was
filled for the first time by the election of William Mason, writer, the brother
admitted in 1754. Mr Kerr retired in 1776, and was succeeded by
William Baillie, an advocate in Edinburgh, who became one of the Judges
* The minutes of the Order between 1754 and 1766 not having been preserved, if they ever
existed, it does not appear whether Mr Mitchell attended any earlier meetings ; but there is every
probability that he did so, and admitted the earlier brethren.
312 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
of the Supreme Courts of Scotland, under the title of Lord Polkemmet.
In 1778 William Charles Little of Liberton, advocate, became Grand
Master of the Order. General Oughton succeeded Mr Mason as Depute
Grand Master of the Order in 1770, Mr Little held that office in 1777 (in
which year Sir William Forbes was admitted), the Earl of Leven held it
in 1778, and David Dalrymple, Lord Westhall, in 1780.
The regularly-kept minutes of the Royal Order at Edinburgh date from
31st October 1766. In the minute dated 28th July 1769, a petition to the
Town Council of Edinburgh is engrossed, in which the members of the
Order set forth that " after much trouble and a great deal of expense they
had been able to revive and establish the Ancient Order of Scots Masonry
in the metropolis of their native country, which would be attested by
several members of the Honourable Council:" that the members of the
Order there had never had any fixed place of meeting ; that they had first
met in the room of the Lodge St Andrew, and afterwards in that of the
Lodge St David, but that " that Lodge was by no means centrical," and
as the petitioners' '" own funds were yet far from being sufficient to procure
a place for themselves to meet in, which they hoped might be the case
soon," and as thq " Council were proprietors of the place where the Lodge
St Giles met, and which is most centrical," the petitioners prayed for leave
to fit up at their own charges a room on the same flat as that in which that
Lodge met. This request was acceded to. These facts all tend, we
think, to show that from about 1754 at least a Lodge of the Order had
been located at Edinburgh, and in the absence of any recorded admission
of an intrant elsewhere we conclude that it had not been worked in any
other place in Scotland. "Knight of the Eagle," and other orders of
" Masonry" professing to have originated in Scotland, were in vogue in the
Netherlands in 1757. Bro. Findel states that this formed the subject of
inquiries which were addressed to the then Deputy Grand Master of Eng-
land (T. Manningham), who in his reply characterised the so-called "Scotch
Masonry" as an "irregularity" and "innovation" which had been unheard
of ten years previously. He quoted authorities in support of his state-
ment : amongst others. Lord Aberdour, a Past Master of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland, who was represented as being " entirely unacquainted" with
any Masonic degree above that of Master Mason. His Lordship's unac-
quaintance with the high degrees need not be wondered at, seeing that at
the period at which he so expressed himself (1757) the Royal Order was
known only to some half-dozen brethren belonging to the metropolis of
the country in which it was alleged to have been instituted. In one of the
Edinburgh minutes written in 1768 reference is made to the then existence
of a Grand Lodge of the Order in Holland. This Lodge, however, is not
ALEXANDER HENRY. 313
included in the list of Lodges and Chapters embraced in the Book of Re-
cords, which appears to have been throughout regularly continued. The
Laws and Constitution of the Order remained as originally given by the
Provincial Grand Lodge at London until 5th January 1767, when a fresh
code was adopted and approved of This code is substantially the same
as that which now regulates the Royal Order of Scotland, and in it, for the
first time, appear on the surface some of the so-called historical stateriients
of this interesting branch of what are known as the High Degrees — a
Deputy Grand Master and Governor being recognised, and reference made
to the institution of the Order by King Robert Bruce. Another edition
of the laws was issued in 1843, in which the King of Scotland is declared
to be the hereditary and permanent Grand Master ; and in that year the
statement is made in the minutes that the Grand Lodge of the Order had
always existed in Scotland.
The Order may be said to have taken root in Scotland in 1763, when it
\vas composed of about 14 members. Between that date and 1766, 52
members were admitted. The signatures of Mr Mason (then Secretary of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland) and Mr Little appear in the charters under
which a Provincial Grand Lodge and Chapter of the Order were in 1786
erected in France. The minutes of the Order are lost between 1805 and
1813 ; and between 1819 and 1839 the Order fell into abeyance in Scot-
land. In this latter year, Houston Rigg Brown, coachbuilder in Edin-
burgh, and John Osborne Brown, Writer to the Signet there, two dis-
tinguished Freemasons, members of the Lodge St David, held a meeting,
at which they represented themselves as being the only two members of
the Order whose attendance could be procured, and they then admitted a
number of brethren, among whom were George Murray, the present
Treasurer of the Order, and John Brown Douglas, Writer to the Signet, its
present Secretary. To these two brethren the Order, perhaps, owes its
present existence ; and to the latter we are indebted for much of the infor-
mation we have obtained regarding it.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of ALEXANDER Henry,
whose scientific genius applied to the improvement of small-arms has
gained for him a world-wide reputation. He matriculated with the Lodge of
Edinburgh in 1869. He is at present Master of his mother lodge, St Clair,
Edinburgh, and had previously been its Substitute Master for nine years.
In the early part of 1852, the year in which he began business as a gun-
maker, Mr Henry produced the first three-grooved shallow segmental butt
rifle with six and a half feet spiral, which was afterwards adopted as the
British Service arm, and known as the Henry-Martini rifle. He con-
314 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
tinued, amidst the cares and toils of business, to make experiments, the
results of which are now well-known. The rifle which he invented and
patented in i860, and which has become so celebrated both at home and
abroad, has recently been selected by Government for the British Army.
Mr Henry was the first to sign the list for the formation of Volunteer
Corps in Edinburgh in 1859. He represented his company at Wimbledon
in i860, and was one of the guard of honour in attendance on Her Majesty
when she inaugurated the proceedings of the first meeting of the National
Rifle Association. At that time he made the highest score in the first
stage in the competition for the Queen's Prize. Mr Henry is by royal
warrant gun and rifle manufacturer to his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
E have, in a preceding chapter, referred to the Charter of
Cologne. In December 1825 Mr Alexander Deuchar, in the
course of his correspondence with Continental Masons, ob-
tained from M. De Marchot, an advocate in Nivelles, a copy
of this document, and he afterwards presented the Lodge of Edinburgh
with a literal translation of it, a transcript of which was, in January
1826, inserted under the attestation of a notary public in the fifth volume
of its Records. It is there characterised "as a document of great import-
ance to the interests of the Craft in general, and particularly to the Lodge
in Edinburgh, inasmuch as it recognises the existence of the Lodge at a
3l6 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
period thirty years further back than any document already in its
possession, and far beyond the date to which any other Lodge in Scotland
can trace evidence of its existence as a Lodge." This is incorrect. The
date of the Cologne MS. is sixty-three years earlier than that of the oldest
of the Mary's Chapel documents, and sixty-four years anterior to that of
the Schaw Ordinance of 1599, the oldest authentic MS. extant in which
the Lodges of Edinburgh and Kilwinning are mentioned by name. The
copy of this deed, as now preserved in the archives of Mary's Chapel, is
as follows: —
S. M. G. D. O.*
We the elect Masters of the Venerable Society, sacred to John, or of the social order
of Free Masons, Rulers of the Lodges or Tabernacles, constituted at London, Edin-
burgh, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Lyons, Frankfort, Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam,
Madrid, Venice, Ghent, Konigsburg, Brussels, Dantzic, and Middleburg, Bremen, and
in the City of Cologne in Chapter assembled in the said City of Cologne, in the year,
month, and day aftermentioned, our Treses being the Master of the Lodge established
in this city — a venerable Brother and most learned, prudent, and judicious man, called
to preside over these deliberations, by our unanimous vote — do by these letters addressed
to all the above-mentioned Lodges, to our Brethren, present and future, declare, that
forasmuch as we have been considering the designs which in these calamitous times,
embroiled by civil dissensions and discord, have been imputed to our foresaid Society and
to all the Brethren belonging to this order of Free Masons, or of John, opinions, machi-
nations, secret as well as openly detected, all which are utterly foreign to us, and to the
spirit, design, and precepts of the Association, It moreover appears that we the mem-
bers of this Order (chiefly because we are bound by those inscrutable secrets of our
connection and covenant, which are most secretly kept by us all), in order that we may be
more effectually vilified among the uninitiated and profane, and that we may be devoted
to .public execration, are accused of the crime of reviving the Order of Templars, and
commonly designated by that appellation, as if we had combined and conspired for the
purpose of recovering, as members of that Order, its property and possessions, and
avenging the death of the last Grand Master who presided over that Order, on the
posterity of the kings and princes who were guilty of the crime, and who were the
authors of the extinction of said order — as if with that view we were exciting schisms in
the churches, and disturbance and sedition in the temporal government and dominions
— as if we were influenced by hatred and enmity against the Pope, the Chief Pontiff,
the Emperor, and all kings — as if obeying no external power, but only the superiors and
elected of our own Association which is spread throughout the whole world, we executed
their secret mandates and clandestine designs by the private intercourse of correspon-
dents and emissaries, — as if in fine we admitted none into our Mysteries but those who,
after being scrutinised and tried by bodily tortures, became bound and devoted to our
Conclaves. Therefore, having all these considerations in view, it hath seemed to us
expedient, and even absolutely necessary, to expowid the true state and origin of our
* In some versions the initials are " 'A.,' M.G.D.O." Ad Majorem Gloriam Dei Optimi-
To the greater glory of the Supreme God.
CHARTER OF COLOGNE. 31/
Order, and to what it tends as an institute of charity itself, according as these principles
are recognised and approved by those who are most versant in the Highest Craft, and
by Masters enlightened in the genuine sciences of the Institution, and to give forth to
the Lodges or Conclaves of our Society, the principles thus expounded, digested, and
organised, as an exemplar, authenticated by our signatures, whereby a perpetual record
may remain of this our renewed covenant and the unshaken integrity of our purpose ;
and also in case, through the daily increasing propensity of the people to animosity,
enmity, intolerance, and wars, this, our Society, should hereafter be more and more
oppressed, inasmuch as to be unable to maintain its standing and consolidation, and
thus be dispersed to some distant regions of the earth, and in case, through lapse of
time, the Society itself should become less observant of its integrity, purity, and incor-
ruptibility, nevertheless, in better times and more convenient circumstances, there may
remain, if not the whole, yet perhaps one or other of the duplicates of these presents,
by which standard, the Order, if subverted, may be restored, and if corrupted or
estranged from its purpose and designs, may be reformed. For these causes by these our
universal letters, compiled according to the context of the most ancient monuments
which are extant concerning the objects of the institution, the rites and customs of our
most ancient and most secret Order, We, Elect Masters, influenced by the love of the
true light, do by the most solemn sanctions, adjure all fellow labourers, to whom
these presents now or in time hereafter may come, that they withdraw not themselves
from the truth contained in this document.
Moreover, to the enlightened, as well as to the darker world, whose common safety
concerns and strongly interests us, we announce and proclaim :
A. That the Society of Free Masons, or Order of Brethren attached to the solemnities
of St John, derive not their origin from the Knights Templars, nor from any other order
of Knights, ecclesiastic or secular, detached or connected with one or more, neither have
any or the least communication with them, directly or through any manner of intermediate
tie, that they are more ancient than any order of Knights of this description, and existed
in Palestine and Greece, as well as in every part of the Roman Empire, long before the
Holy Wars and the times of the expedition of the above mentioned Knights into Pales-
tine.
That from various monuments of approved authenticity, the fact is to us quite notor-
ious, that this, our Association, took its origin from the time when first, on account of the
various sects of the Christian World, a few adepts, distinguished by their life, their
moral doctrine, and their sacred interpretation of the Arcanic Truths, withdrew them-
selves from the multitude, for the learned and enlightened men who lived in these times
(the true Christians who were least infected with the errors of Paganism), when they
considered that through a corrupt religion, schisms, and not peace, and neither tolera-
tion nor charity, but atrocious wars, were promulgated, bound themselves by a most
solemn oath, in order more effectually to preserve uncontaminated the moral principles
of this religion which are implanted in the mind of man ; that to these they would devote
themselves, that the True Light rising gradually from darkness might proceed to the
subduing of superstitions, by the cultivation of every human virtue, and to the establish-
ment of peace and comfort among men ; that under these benign auspices, the masters
of this community are called Brethren dedicated to John, following the example and
imitation of John the Baptist, precursor of the Rising Light, first among the Martyr
Stars of the Morning.
That these Doctors and Scribes who were also, according to the customs of those
times, called Masters, did from the most experienced and best of the disciples (z.^..
3l8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Apprentices), collect and choose fellow labourers, whence arose the name of Socius
(Fellow Craft). When others were elected but not chosen, they were designed after the
manner of the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman Philosophers by the appellation of Disciple
{recti non vera cooptati) — i.e., Apprentices.
B. That our Association now, as formerly, consists of Three Degrees of Disciple,
Fellow, and Master — the last, or Masters, admitting of Elect Masters and Superior Elect
Masters (/.<?., Masters of Lodges, and Provincial Grand Masters or rulers of Districts).
But that all Associations or Fraternities so called who admit of more or other denomi-
tions or subdivisions, and who ascribe to themselves another origin, and intermeddling
with political and ecclesiastical affairs, make promises and protestations, under whatever
titles they may assume of Free Masons and Brethren attached to the solemnities of
John, or others which belong not to our Order, but are to be expelled and ejected from
it as schismatics.
r. That among the Doctors, Masters of this Order cultivating the sciences of mathe-
matics, astronomy, and other studies, a mutual interchange of doctrine and light was
maintained, which led to the practice of electing out of those who were already Elect
Masters. One in particular, who, as excelling the rest, should be venerated as Supreme
Elect Master or Patriarch; being known only to the Elect Master, he was regarded both
as the Visible and Invisible Head and Chief of our whole Association, so that according
to this ordinance the Supreme Master and Patriarch, though known to very few, yet
still exists. The premises being compiled from the mass of parchments and charter of
the Order itself committed by authority of our Patriarchs, and the sacred documents, in
future to the charge of our Preses and his successors, and being therewith diligently
compared, We, sanctioned by authority of the same illustrious Patriarch, ordain and
command as follows : —
A. The Government of our Society, the mode and rule according to which the
Flaming Light may be imparted and diffused among the Illuminated Brethren as well
as the profane world, rest entirely with the highest Elect Masters. To them belongs the
charge of watching and taking care lest the members (Socii) of whatever rank or order
should attempt any thing contrary to the true principles of our Society. Upon the same
Chiefs of the Society are incumbent the defence of the Order, the preservation and safe-
guard of its welfare, which, should occasion require, they are to protect at the expense
of their fortunes and the risk of their lives, against all who attack our Institution —
whatsoever and wheresoever this may be done.
E. To us it is by no means clear that this Association of Brethren, prior to the year
one thousand four hundred and forty, were known by any other denomination than that
of Joannite Brethren ; but at that time we are informed, the Fraternity, especially in
Valence in Flanders, began to be called by the name of Free Masons, from which period,
in some parts of Hanover, liospitals began to be built by the aid and pecuniary assistance
of the Brethren for those who laboured under the sacred fire called St Anthony's Evil.
Z. Although in works of Benevolence we pay no regard to religion or country, we,
however, consider it safe and necessary hithferto to receive none into our Order but
those who, in the Society of the profane and unenlightened, are professedly Christians.
In conducting the inquisition and trial of those who apply for the initiation of the First
Degree, which is that of Disciple (Apprentices), no bodily tortures are employed, but
only those trials which tend to develop the nature, inclinations, and dispositions of the
candidates.
H. To those duties which are commanded and undertaken by a solemn oath, are
added those of fidelity and obedience to the secular rulers lawfully placed over us.
CHARTER OF COLOGNE. 3^9
e. The principle on which we act, and all these, our efforts, to whatever purpose and
direction they may tend, are expressed in these two precepts — " Love and regard all
men as Brethren and Relations ; " " Render to God what is God's, and to Cffisar what is
Caesar's."
I. The secrets and mysteries which veil our undertakings conduce to this end : that
without ostentation we may do good, and without disunion of action prosecute our
designs to the uttermost.
K. We celebrate annually the memory of St John, the forerunner of Christ, and
Patron of our community.
A. These and the rest of the corresponding ceremonies of the Institution, though
conducted in the meetings of the Brethren by signs or speech, or otherwise, do, never-
theless, differ totally from the rites of the Churches.
M. He alone is considered a Brother of the Joannite Society, or a Free Mason, who,
in a lawful manner, by the help and under the direction of some Elect Master, with the
assistance of at least seven Brethren, is initiated into our Mysteries, and who is ready to
prove his adoption by the signs and tokens which are used by other Brethren, but in
which signs and words are included those which are in use in The Edinburgh Lodge or
Tabernacle, and its affiliated Lodges ; as also, in the Hamburg, Rotterdam, and Mid-
dleburg Tabernacles, and in that which is found erected at Venice, whose ministrations
and labours, though they be ordained after the manner of the Scots, differ not from those
which are used by us in so far as they respect the origin, design, and institution.
N. This, our Society, being superintended by One General Prince, while the
different Governments of which it consists are ruled by various Superior Masters,
adapted to various regions and kingdoms as requires, nothing is more necessary than a
certain conformity among all those who are dispersed throughout the whole world, as
members of one aggregate body ; and likewise an intercourse of missionaries and corres-
pondence harmonising with them and with their doctrines in all places. Wherefore these
present letters, testifying the nature and spirit of our Society, shall be sent to all [and]
sundry Colleges of the Order, as yet existing. For these reasons above mentioned,
nineteen uniform duplicates of letters, composed in this form, exactly of the same tenor,
confirmed and corroborated by our subscriptions and signatures, are given at Cologne
on the Rhine in the year One thousand five hundred and thirty-five, on the twenty-fourth
day of the month of June, according to the Era designated Christian.
Harmanusf. Carlton. Jo. Bruce. Fr. Von Upna. Cornells Banning. De Colligne.
Virieux. Johani Schroder. Hofman, 1535 Jacobus Praepositus. A. Nobel.
Ignatius de la Terre. Doira. Jacob Uttenhove. Falck Nicolaes Va. Noot.
Phillippus Melanthon. Hugssen. Wormer Abel.
Certified in form to the printed exemplar deposited into the Archives of the Gr. and
Sublime Chap, of the Temples Interior Sitting in the East of Namur.
The Gr. Chancellor of that Chief Chap.,
t De Marchot.
The Charter of Cologne is described as being written in medieval Latin,
abounding in grammatical solecisms and errors of orthography. Its history,
as given by Br. J. G. Findel of Leipsic, the famous historian of Free-
masonry, is as follows : — " In 1816, Prince Frederick [Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of the Netherlands] received a packet of papers, and amongst
320 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY,
them a letter written in a woman's hand and signed C. nee von T., in
which it was announced that the enclosed papers had been found amongst
the manuscripts left by her father on his demise, and which had been
always most carefully preserved by him : she believed he had received
them from Mr Van Boetzelaar. Another tradition maintains that these
papers had been long in the possession of the family von Wassenaar. In
the packet there were, together with some few unimportant writings, the
following : i. The so-called charter of Cologne, i.e., a document signed by
nineteen Master-Masons in Cologne, June 24, 1535, in cipher, on parch-
ment. 2. The minutes of a Lodge supposed to have existed in the Hague
from 1519 — 1638, het Vrededall or Frederick's Vredendall, and written in
Dutch. . . . The Grand Master of the Netherlands had copies of these
documents made, sent the Latin text [of the charter] with a Dutch trans-
lation to all the Netherlandic Lodges in 1818, and had likewise the docu-
ments closely investigated by competent judges, who immediately raised
doubts as to their genuineness. Notwithstanding this, some of the Lodges
in the Netherlands believed in them.* The first German translation
appeared in Br. Heldmann's 'The Three Most Ancient Memorials of the
German Freemason Fraternity' (Aarau, 1819). In Germany, Stieglitz,
Prof. Heeren at Gottingen, Krause, and Mossdorf (Lenning's Encycl.) im-
mediately pronounced against them, which was confirmed by more recent
investigation. . . . Writing in 1840, Br. Bobrik brings the following
remarks to bear upon the genuineness of the deed : i. The motive for the
supposed meeting does not exist. 2. The purpose of the document and the
form in which it is carried out do not agree together ; for, in order to refute
a thing publicly, writing in cipher is resorted to, and to conceal a matter the
signatures are written in common italics. Neither can we conceive any
document legal without a seal. 3. The signatures are suspicious in the
highest degree. 4. The assembly of the nineteen individuals cited is ex-
tremely doubtful ; for Herman would have preferred the town of Bonn to
that of Cologne, where he had many enemies. 5. Melancthon's participa-
tion is especially problematical, as well as that of the other subscribers.
6. The records of 1637, which are cited, cannot suffice as proofs, as there is
nothing to show that there existed a Lodge Vredendall at the period. Br.
Bobrik is of opinion that ' Patriarch ' is a hint at the General of the Jesuits,
especially if we transfer the forgery to the year 18 16, when the Jesuits,
after their restoration in 18 14, began to exert their influence anew, which in
Holland could only be by indirect means. The title- and the expressions
' congregati institutum,' &c., he considers as evidences of its having had a
* The three hundredth anniversary of the alleged original promulgation of the Charter was cele-
brated by a Lodge at Amsterdam in 1835.
CHARTER OF COLOGNE. 321
Jesuit for its author." Br. DrGustav Schwetschke remarks, "that after a
careful comparison of the signature of Jacobus Praepositus at the end of the
document, and the handwriting existing of his and proved to be genuine, the
most glaring discrepancy is apparent, as also the signatures of the Arch-
bishop Hermann, and that here pointed out as his, are most dissimilar."
Kloss, G. H. M. Delprat, J. P. Vaillant, and other equally eminent con-
tinental authorities, also regard the document- as spurious. Herr Findel
maintains that it was " put together " about the end of the last century.
Of American writers, Bro. Dr A. G. Mackey betrays a strong leaning
towards a belief in its authenticity. He professes to discover in the
reference that is made in the Charter to the Masonic patronage of St John
the Baptist ''one of the evidences of its antiquity."* It seems to us that
this evidence is even more fabulous than the story it is adduced to support.
The same writer also remarks, " The assertion of the Charter that the
Brethren of the Joannite Society adopted the Scots ritual practised in
the Edinburgh Lodge has led Rhigellini very appropriately to remark that
they should then have recognised the Templar Order and the Degrees of
Chivalry, since these were, at that time, practised by the Scotch Lodges."
Statements of this kind, as to the Mason Craft having three centuries
ago been the conservators of chivalric rites, are not now received as
historical facts, except by the more superstitious of the Brotherhood. Of
British Masonic writers, while Dr Oliver quotes the Cologne Charter as a
historical document worthy of credence, Dr James Burnes, in his ' Sketch
of the History of the Knights Templars,' unhesitatingly and in the most
unqualified terms condemns it as an imposture.
It is well known that neither the written history nor the most generally-
received traditions of the Scottish Craft assign to Freemasonry an origin
and design such as that which is claimed for it by the authors of the so-
called Charter of Cologne. Nor do the records of the Lodge of Edinburgh
of the sixteenth century, or the contemporaneous official MSS. of the then
legally-constituted Head of the Lodges in Scotland, afford the slightest
ground for supposing that Masons were ever associated together in Lodges
for other than trade purposes. Their bond of union was not of a cosmo-
politan character ; neither was the maintenance and propagation of the
fundamental doctrines of Christianity the object of their incorporation or
of their secret ceremonial. As to the alleged annual celebration by
Lodges of the memory of St John the Baptist, Mary's Chapel had not at
the date of its oldest minutes (1599) made any pretensions to special
admiration of " the Forerunner of Christ," either by dedicating itself to
* 'The American Freemason,' 1856. Edited by Bro. Rob. Morris, LL.D.
X
322 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
him, or by any formal commemoration of his nativity. In another part
of this work we have shown that the festival of John the Baptist was not
observed in any respect by Mary's Chapel, any more than by the Lodge
of Kilwinning, until about the time the Grand Lodge of Scotland was
instituted.
Had the Lodge of Edinburgh ever formed a part of an Institution such
as that from which the Charter of Cologne professes to have emanated — a
mystical, semi-religious, semi-philosophical society — some traces of its
distinguishing features would have been discernible in the laws, customs,
and ceremonies that are known to have obtained in it, in common with the
other Scotch Lodges, at the close of the sixteenth century. The Schaw
Statutes, issued in 1598, were not newly invented ordinances, but professed
to be based on laws and customs of the Craft which had existed previously ;
and yet they contain not a single trace of the peculiar principles or
organisation delineated in the Cologne Charter. Is it possible to believe
that in the interval of sixty-three years from the date of that charter to
the date of the Schaw Statutes, the distinguishing features that so strongly
mark the constitution shadowed forth in the Cologne MS. should have
entirely disappeared .' We hold it is not possible ; and therefore, on the
grounds we have stated relating to its reference to the Lodge of Edinburgh,
we reject the Charter as a genuine Masonic document.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of JOHN LAURIE, (30°),
Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland — a post to which he
was promoted on the abolition of the office of Grand Clerk in February
1873.- He was while serving as an officer in the Royal Artillery initiated
in the Lodge Union Waterloo, Woolwich, and afterwards joined the
Canongate Kilwinning, the Celtic, and other Edinburgh Lodges. He is a
member by honorary affiliation of Mary's Chapel. He has filled the
offices of Grand Marshal and Grand Clerk, and possesses a thorough
knowledge of Grand Lodge affairs, and of the Masonic Order throughout
the world. By the ready access to Grand Lodge records given to the
author, and by information on various matters afforded by him, Mr Laurie
has greatly facilitated the progress of this work.
in '
CHAPTER XXXIV.
T was an article in the original Constitution of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, " that the Grand Master, with his Deputy
and Wardens, shall at least once a year go round and visit
all the Lodges about Edinburgh during his Mastership." By
a similar regulation which was adopted by the Grand Lodge of England
in 172 1, the head of that body was bound to visit the Lodges in and about
London once during his term of office. Of the Grand Visitations that have
been made to the Lodge of Edinburgh, twenty-three occurred during the
324 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
eighteenth, and seven in what has elapsed of the present century. The Earl
of Kintore, the third occupant of the Throne, was the first to give effect to
the regulation, so far at least as Mary's Chapel was concerned ; and his
Lordship's visit to his Masonic alma mater was also the first occasion on
which it is represented as sitting on refreshment in open Lodge, and
receiving visits of ceremony from sister Lodges : — " Edr., the 27th Decem-
ber, 1738. . . . The Right Honourable and Most WorshipfuU John Earle
of Kintore, present Grand Master of all the Free and Accepted Masons
for the Kingdom of Scotland, was pleased to honour the Lodge with a
visit, attended by the Right Honourable the Deputy Grand Master, Grand
Wardens, Theasurer, Secretary, and other officers of the Grand Lodge.
As also this Lodge was visited by brethren from the following Lodges,
viz., by the Lodge of Kilwinning Scots Arms keept at Edr., the Journey-
men Masons in Edr., the Lodge of Leith Kilwinning, the Lodge of Canon-
gate Kilwinning, the Lodge of Canongate Kilwinning from Leith [now
known by the name of St David, Edinburgh], and the Lodge intituled
Canongate and Leith, Leith and Canongate, which visits were all returned
in due order ; — and amongst other toasts, that antient and laudable one
amongst Freemasons, The King and the Craft, with the health to the
Right Honourable and Most WorshipfuU our Grand Master, and his pre-
decessors, and severall others suitable to the occasion, were drank. The
Right WorshipfuU the Grand Master was also pleased to approve of the
conduct and manadgement of this Lodge, — after which he closed the
Lodge and dismissed the Brethren in due forme. . . ."
It was during Lord Kintore's Grand Mastership that the office of
Provincial Grand Master was created, the first appointment of the kind
being that of Alexander Drummond, Master of Greenock Kilwinning, to
the supervision of the West Country Lodges. Mr Drummond having
afterwards removed to Turkey, was commissioned by Grand Lodge to
constitute Lodges in any part of Europe or Asia bordering on the Medi-
terranean Sea, and to superintend the same or any others erected in those
parts. The year in which Lord Kintore was called to the " Grand East "
is notable as that also in which the Pope anathematised Freemasonry. A
similar spirit of intolerance towards Freemasonry was displayed by the
Associate Synod of Seceders from the Church of Scotland, who in 1757
passed an Act excommunicating persons who adhered to the Mason Oath.
The subject was introduced to the Synod by an overture, presented in
174s. bearing "That there were very strong presumptions that among
Masons an oath of secrecy is administered to entrants into their society,
even under a capital penalty, and before any of those things which they
swear to keep secret be revealed to them ; and that they pretend to take
FREEMASONS EXCOMMUNICATED. 32S
some of these secrets from the Bible ; beside other things, which are
ground of scruple, in the manner of swearing the said oath." Finding by-
confessions subsequently made to them that others than Masons were
admitted into Lodges, the Synod ordered " all persons in their congrega-
tions who are of the Mason Craft, and others whom they have a particular
suspicion of," to be interrogated anent the nature of the Mason Oath and
the "superstitious ceremonies" accompanying its administration. The
Synod further ordained that confession of being involved in the Mason
Oath, and a profession of sorrow for the same, should be followed by " a
sessional rebuke and admonition, with a strict charge to abstain from all
concern afterwards in administering the said oath to any, or enticing any
into that snare, and from all practises of amusing people about the pre-
tended mysteries of their signs and secrets." The being " involved in the
said oath with special aggravation, as taking or relapsing into the same, in
opposition to warnings against doing so," was punished by excommunica-
tion. Repudiation of Freemasonry is still held by the Original Seceders
as a sine qua non to church membership. Religionists in the last century
differed widely in their estimation of Freemasonry. In some pulpits it
was hailed as the handmaid of religion : in others it was denounced in the
most extravagant terms. In 1768 a pamphlet -(vas published in London,
entitled " Free Masonry the Highway to Hell : a Sermon, wherein is
clearly proved, both from Reason and Scripture, that all who profess these
Mysteries are in a state of Eternal Damnation."
With few exceptions, the minutes of subsequent Grand Visitations
present no features of special interest. We notice the visitations made by
Grand Masters under whose reign events of interest to the Craft took place.
1756 : January 6. Sholto Charles Lord Aberdour, 20th Grand Master.
It was in Lord Aberdour's reign that the Grand Master was ordained to
be an ex-officio member of every daughter Lodge in Scotland.
1760 : January 21. David Earl of Leven, 22d Grand Master. His
Lordship was the first Grand Master who in his official capacity patronised
the drama. Grand Lodge's first attendance at the Theatre was the con-
cluding event in the proceedings in connection with the planting of the
corner-stone of the Canongate Poor-house, April 24, 1760, the performances
on the occasion being for behoof of that institution. A much earlier, and
probably the first, instance of any section of the Scottish Craft publicly
extending its patronage to theatricals is referred to in Chambers's Annals.
In the course of the year 1733 a body called the Edinburgh Company of
Players performed in the Tailors' Hall in the Cowgate. About December
of that year we hear of the Freemasons patronising the play of Henry IV.,
marching to the house " in procession, with aprons and white gloves.
326 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
attended with flambeaux." Contemporaneous evidence of a public pro-
cession of the Fraternity is furnished by the ' Caledonian Mercury ' of
January 3, 1734 : " Dundee, December 28, 1733. Yesterday being the
anniversary of St John, the Society of Free Masons here met the Right
Hon. the Lord Colvil, being Master of the Lodge, who, with a numerous
appearance of gentlemen, marched in a regular body with white aprons
and gloves, to the Lodge, and as they passed the Guard the military gave
them the compliment of rested fire locks."
It was shortly after Lord Leven's visit to the Lodge of Edinburgh that
the Grand Lodge, following the example of other public bodies,* exerted
its influence to bring about the discontinuance of a pernicious social cus-
tom which had sprung up, viz., that of guests giving vails (farewell gifts)
to the servants of their host. The following resolution on the subject was
published in the 'Edinburgh Evening Courant' of nth March 1760: — "A
Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, lately held in
Mary's Chapel, having taken into consideration the prevailing practice of
giving vails or drink money to servants, did unanimously resolve to do
everything in their power to remove the same. The zeal of Free Masons
for the welfare of the public, and their readiness to promote every laud-
able purpose, will easily prevail on them to endeavour to discourage this
practice, as by it the virtues of many servants have been destroyed, and
their pride and licentiousness increased ; and besides as it has a tendency
to obstruct that kind hospitality and disinterested friendship which the
Fraternity always wish to diffuse. The Grand Lodge reckon themselves
obliged to declare to all under their jurisdiction their dislike to any custom
prejudicial to the principles of Masons, and require the officers of every
Lodge in Scotland to intimate and recommend the above resolution, in
the first meeting after it comes to their hands."
1769: December 12. Major-General James Adolphus Oughtbn, 27th
Grand Master. He occupied the Masonic Throne during the years
1769-1770, 1770-1771. He had previously held the office of Provincial
Grand Master over the English Lodges in the Island of Minorca, &c. We
find him designed in Grand Lodge minutes as " His Excellency.'' We
have been unable to ascertain how this title was conferred upon General
Oughton, or what his connection with Scotland was when elected Grand
Master. It appears, however, from Grand Lodge minutes that he was
resident in Edinburgh when nominated Grand Master Elect. The minute
* In Februaiy 1760 the Faculty of Advocates resolved "That after the temi of Whitsunday
next they will not suffer their servants to receive any vails or drink money from such company as
dine, sup, or visit their houses ; and in general will do everything in their power to abolish the
pernicious practice of giving vails.''
GENERAL OUGHTON. 32/
of a communication which was held by Mary's Chapel, 9th March 1774,
contains the following tribute to his worth : " This night the Lodge was
visited by His Excellency Sir James Adolphus Oughton, late Most Wor-
shipfull Grand Master over all Scotland, to whom the brethren paid the
greatest respect. And in consideration of his extraordinary merite, and
in return for the many singular services done the Craft, and unwearied at-
tention to its interest, the Lodge were pleased, as a mark of their real
esteem and sincere regard, to admit his Excellency an honorary member
and brother of this Lodge, — whereupon he was saluted accordingly amidst
the chearfull plaudits of all the brethren." He was the son of Sir Adol-
phus Oughton, a general officer in the British army. Having entered the
same service, he fought in Flanders, under the Duke of Cumberland, whom
he accompanied to Scotland in the memorable year 1746. Immediately
after the battle of Culloden, the Royal soldiers plundered the house of
Glengarry, and appropriated the Chief's silver plate. It was afterwards
melted and converted into a large punch bowl, which became the property
of General Oughton. In the Seven Years' War he served in Germany
under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, and distinguished himself at the
battle of Minden. He became a Major-General in the British army in
1765, and was subsequently raised to the rank of Lieutenant-General. In
1772 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Antigua. In February
1773 he was created a Knight of the Bath, and was invested with the
badge of the Order by the King, to whom he had the honour of being
personally known, at St James's Palace on the 22d of the same month.
In 1778 he was promoted to the chief command of the forces in North
'Britain, in room of John Duke of Argyll, — an appointment which, along
with the colonelcy of the 31st Regiment, he held at the time of his death,
which occurred at Bath, April 14, 1780, in the 60th year of his age.
General Oughton was a connoisseur in the fine arts. His talent for
the acquisition of languages is said to have been extraordinary. Even
at an advanced period of life, after he had settled in Edinburgh, he applied
himself successfully to the study of Gaelic.
1771 : December 2. Patrick Earl of Dumfries, 28th Grand Master. It
was during his Lordship's presidency that " a brotherly connection and
correspondence " was established between the Grand Lodge of Scotland
and the Grand Lodge of England (according to the old Institution). This
body of English Masons originated with a number of brethren who, dis-
approving of certain alterations in the Craft's ceremonies that had been
sanctioned by the Grand Lodge of England, seceded from it and consti-
tuted themselves into a separate society under the designation of the
" Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons of England." Lord Dumfries laid the
328 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
foundation-stone of certain new works at the harbour of Ayr, September
1772. In this he was assisted by Major William Logan, and Revs.
WiUiam M'Gill and William Dalrymple, Brethren whose names were sub-
sequently immortalised by Burns.*
1774: November 13. David Dalrymple, advocate, 30th Grand Master.
It was during his reign that a precedent was formed for the conferring of
life membership in Grand Lodge ; and that that body, from motives of
delicacy, declined to arbitrate in the quarrel between the two Grand
Lodges of England. Mr Dalrymple was appointed Sheriff-Depute of
Aberdeen in 1748, and was elevated to the Bench and took his seat as
Lord Westhall in 1777. He occupied a house on the west side of Advo-
cates' Close. His Lordship's father. Hew Dalrymple, Lord Drumore,
second son of Sir Hew Dalrymple of North Berwick, Bart, was a member
of the Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, and the only Lord of Council and
Session enrolled as a member of the Craft on the formation of Grand
Lodge.
1776: December 10. Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Bart. The
Grand Master, who was accompanied by his Depute, James Boswell, the
biographer of Johnson, was made " an honorary brother of the Lodge, as
a mark of the sense the Brethren had of his high and distinguished merit
in every department of life." Sir William was initiated in Canongate
Kilwinning in 1759. He held the post of Junior Grand Warden from
1765 to 1769, and, as 31st Grand Master, presided in the Grand Orient
during the two years ending November 1778. In June 1777 he laid the
foundation-stone of the High School of Edinburgh ; and in February of
the following year he presided, and delivered the oration, at the Funeral "
Grand Lodge which was held in honour of St Clair of Roslin. He con-
tinued, for many years after vacating the Throne, to be a constant atten-
* Major Logan, " thainn-inspiving rattlin Willie,'' and the Rev. Drs M'Gill and Dalrymple,
ministers of the parish of Ayr, were members of the Lodge Ayr Kilwinning. In 1 786 Dr M 'Gill
published an ' Essay on the Death of Christ,' which was afterwards denounced by some of his
co-presbyters as heretical. The acrimonious and uncharitable spirit displayed in the subsequent
prosecution of Dr M'Gill provoked the Poet's keenest satire, to which he gave expression in "The
Kirk's Alarm,'' where the reverend essayist is thus introduced :
" Dr Mack, Dr Mack, you should stretch on a rack.
To strike evil-doers wi' terror ;
To join faith and sense upon ony pretence,
Is heretic, damnable error. "
Of the Doctor's colleague, who was suspected of holding similar views, the Poet says, —
" D'rymple mild, D'rymple mild, though your heart's like a child,
And your life's like the new driven snaw,
Yet that winna save ye, auld Satan must have ye,
For preaching that three 's ane and twa. "
SIR WILLIAAI FORBES.
329
der at all important Masonic communications ; and was chiefly instrumental
in the selection of the Grand Masters of his time, and whom he very
frequently represented. Sir William -was son of Sir William Forbes,
Baronet, Advocate in Edinburgh. He succeeded his father when only
four years old, — in his fifteenth year was introduced into the Bank at
Edinburgh of Messrs John Coutts and Co., and in 1761 was admitted a
partner. The Coutts having settled in London, a new company was
formed, which ultimately assumed the name of Sir W, Forbes, J. Hunter,
and Co. His town house was in Chambers Close, High Street, and on
the formation of the new town he built and lived in the south-west corner
330 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
house of St Andrew's Street, facing Princes Street. He was a member
with Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Reynolds, and other notables, of the cele-
brated Literary Club of London. He took an active interest in the pro-
motion of the leading public charitable, educational, literary, and commer-
cial institutions of Edinburgh, and maintained an intimacy with the distin-
guished personages of the day, both in London and Scotland. He was a
liberal patron of the poet Burns. Sir William is described in the Notes
to Scott's Marmion as " unequalled, perhaps, in the degree of individual
affection entertained for him by his friends, as well in the general respect
and esteem of Scotland at large." He published a ' Life of Beattie,'
poet, and Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen, —
a work embracing interesting descriptions and correspondence of the first
literary and otherwise distinguished characters of the last century. This
work was not long published before the benevolent and affectionate
biographer was called to follow the subject of his narrative. This melan-
choly event, which happened in November 1806, shortly followed the •
mari'iage of Sir William's daughter to James Skene of Rublislaw, Aber-
deenshire, a friend of Sir Walter Scott, and to whom the great novelist
dedicates the fourth canto of Marmion. Sir Walter there thus touchingly
refers to Sir William's death : —
"Just on thy bride her Sire had smiled,
And blessed the union of his child,
When love must change its joyous cheer
And wipe affection's filial tear.
Nor did the actions next his end.
Speak more the father than the friend :
Scarce had lamented Forbe^ paid
The tribute to his Minstrel's shade,
The tale of friendship scarce was told.
Ere the Narrator's heart was cold —
Far may we search before we find
A heart so manly and so kind !
But not around his honoured urn,
Shall friends alone and kindred mourn ;
The thousand eyes his care had dried.
Pour at his name a bitter tide ;
And frequent falls the grateful dew.
For benefits the world ne'er knew.
If mortal charity dare claim
The Almighty's attributed name.
Inscribe above his mouldering clay,
, ' The widow's shield, the orphan's stay.'
Nor, though it wake thy sorrow, deem
BURNS IN THE EDINBURGH LODGES. 331
My verse intrudes on this sad tlieme ;
For sacred was the pen which wrote,
' Thy father's friend forget thou not : '
And grateful title may I plead,
For many a Icindly word and deed,
To bring my tribute to his grave : —
'Tis little — but 'tis all I have.''
1778 : December 5. John Duke of Athole, 32d Grand Master. Some
six or eight months before his visit to Mary's Chapel, his Grace yi^as
elected Grand Master of Ancient Masons of England, and was installed
in a Grand Communication which was held in London, at which the Duke
of Leinster and General Oughton were present as representing the Grand
Lodges of Ireland and Scotland.
1782 : December 10. David Earl of Buchan, 34th Grand Master. It
was during his Lordship's presidency that the privilege of carrying the
mallet in all processions of Grand Lodge was vested in the senior mem-
ber (out of office) of the Lodge Journeymen, Edinburgh — a privilege
which, by suffrance, came to be extended to carrying the other working
tools. By subsequent enactments of Grand Lodge the exercise of this
privilege was restricted to Edinburgh and its neighbourhood. Notwith-
standing this limitation, it was for many years the custom of the Lodge
Journeymen to carry Grand Lodge working tools in other than the metro-
politan district. This having been protested against by the Lodge St
John, No. 3 bis, on the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the
Albert Bridge, at Glasgow, in June 1870, the matter was brought before
Grand Lodge ; but proceedings in the case terminated with the Lodge
Journeymen's formal withdrawal of its claim to the privilege in question
at processions of Grand Lodge beyond the metropolitan district.
1784: December 15. George Lord Haddo, 3Sth Grand Master. His
Lordship laid the foundation-stone of the South Bridge, Edinburgh,
•August 1785 ; and it was during his second tenure of office that the title
" Grand Master " was by resolution of the Grand Lodge forbidden to be
given to any but the Grand Master of Scotland.
1786: December 12. Francis Charteris, younger of Amisfield (after-
wards Lord Elcho). The Grand Master, 36th in succession, was accom-
panied by Alexander Fergusson, of Craigdarroch, Provincial Grand Master
of the Southern District. This was one of a series of Grand Visitations
that were being made at the time of Burns's visit to Edinburgh. Through
his attendance at some of these, and other Masonic meetings, the Poet
made the acquaintance of the Earls of Glencairn, Buchan, Balcarres, and
Eglinton ; Lords Elcho, Napier, Torphichen, and Monboddo ; Sir William
332 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Forbes, Sir James Hunter Blair, Professor Dugald Stewart, Henry Erskine
(the celebrated lawyer), Henry Mackenzie ("The Man of Feeling"),
William Smellie (the printer of the second edition of Burns's Poems),
William Creech, and other luminaries in that galaxy of Scottish Crafts-
men, of which he for a tin)e formed the centre of attraction. Writing to
his friend and patron, John Ballantine,* the brother to whom he inscribed
the beautiful allegory of 'The Twa Brigs,' Burns gives the following
graphic account of his reception at one of these Communications, held in
the Lodge St Andrew on the I2th of January 1787 : — " I went to a Mason
Lodge yesternight, where the Most Worshipful Grand Master Charteris,
and all the Grand Lodge of Scotland, visited. The meeting was numer-
ous and elegant ; the different Lodges about town were present in all their
pomp. The Grand Master, who presided with great solerhnity and hon-
our to himself, as a gentleman and a Mason, among other general toasts,
gave ' Caledonia, and Caledonia's Bard, Brother Burns,' which rang through
the whole assembly with multiplied honours and repeated acclamations.
As I had no idea such a thing would happen, I was downright thunder-
struck, and trembling in every nerve, made the best return in my power.
Just as I had finished, some of the Grand Officers said, so loud that I
could hear, with a most comforting accent, ' Very well indeed ! ' which set
me something to rights again." Mr Charteris, during his Grand Mastership,
succeeded to the title of Lord Elcho — his father having inherited the earl-
dom of Wemyss. He belonged to the Lodge Haddington St John, and
was also an affiliated member of Canongate Kilwinning.
Mr Fergusson of Craigdarroch was Master of Canongate Kilwinning at
the date of Burns's appointment to the Laureateship of that Lodge. The
inauguration of the Poet to this office is the subject of a painting well
known to Scottish Freemasons, executed by a member of the Lodge, the
late Bro. Stewart Watson ; it also forms the subject of a small volume
entitled ' A Winter with Robert Burns,'f containing biographical sketches
* John Ballantine of Castlehill, Provost of Ayr, was initiated in the Lodge Edinburgh St David,
and afterwards became Master of Ayr Kilwinning. This Lodge was erected by Mother Kilwin-
.ning in 1765, at the instance of certain "domatique" Masons, members of the Ayr Squaremen
Incorporation, whose deacon was a party to the St Clair Charter of 1628. Ayr Kilwinning was
at several periods governed by Brethren whose names are embalmed in the writings of Coila's
Bard ; and Macadam, the celebrated roadmaker, appears in its list of Past Masters. Lord AUo-
way, whose sarcophagus, placed in the interior of "AUoway's auld haunted Kirk,'' attracts the
attention of visitors to that classic spot, belonged to Ayr Kilwinning, and was its representative in
Grand Lodge prior to his elevation to the Bench.
+ The author of this work, Bro. James Marshall, was a Solicitor in the Supreme Courts of Scot-
land, but afterwards emigrated to Australia, and carried on the business of ail attorney in the city
of Melbourne, Victoria, where he died in 1870.
LAUREATESHIP OF CANONGATE KILWINNING. 333
of the Brethren whose portraits appear in the painting. The minute of
the communication held by Canongate Kilwinning in St John's Chapel,
on the 1st of February 1787, contains a record of Burns's assumption as a
member of that Lodge in the following terms : — " The Right Worshipful
Master, having observed that Brother Burns was at present in the Lodge,
who is well known as a great Poetic Writer, and for a late publication of
his Works, which have been universally commended, and submitted that
he should be assumed a Member of this Lodge, which was unanimously
agreed to, and he was assumed accordingly." The ist of March 1787 is
mentioned by Masonic writers as the date of the scene which has been
portrayed by the artist. But neither the minute of that date, nor of any
other during Burns's lifetime, contains any record whatever of the existence
of such an office as Laureate of the Lodge, or of that distinction being
conferred on Burns. The first mention in Canongate Kilwinning minutes
of this office having been held by the poet is found under date February
9, 181 5, when the Lodge resolved to open a subscription among its mem-
bers to aid in the erection of a " Mausoleum to the memory of Robert
Burns, who was a member and Poet Laureate of this lodge, . . . and who
had on many occasions contributed so generally to the harmony of the
Masonic Order, and to that of the Lodge Canongate Kilwinning in par-
ticular." The Laureateship is again referred to in the minute of 9th June
1815, and also in that of i6th January 1835, which records the restoration,
in the person of James Hogg, the " Ettrick Shepherd," of the " honorary
office of Poet Laureate of the Lodge, which had been in abeyance since
the death of the immortal Brother, Robert Burns."
Our statement regarding what appears in the minutes on the subject of
the Laureateship is founded upon a personal examination of the minute-
book. But while deeming it proper to give the result of that examination
it is equally right that we should state that the commonly received report
of the circumstances connected with the Inauguration has never been dis-
credited. The Lodge Canongate Kilwinning is not singular in the
omission from its records of facts which have come to be regarded as in-
teresting features in its history. Its minutes at and for many years prior
to the period of Burns's attendance at its communications are brief to a
degree ; and this may account for the infrequency of their allusions to
Burns, who was not then the distinguished poet he afterwards became. It
was only after his death that Robert Burns and his works were esteemed
at their proper value, and only after many years that his memory was re-
garded with anything like the veneration accorded to it now. Commend-
ably proud of its traditionary association with genius, the Lodge has
collected and preserved from oral testimony of an unquestionable charac-
334 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ter — the testimony obtained by gentlemen of unimpeachable veracity from
Brethren who were personally known to Burns, who were present at his
inauguration and saw him wear the jewel of his office — evidence of the
event under notice.* In addition to Burns, the Canongate Lodge has the
honour of being associated with some of the most eminent names in
Scottish literature, amongst whom may be mentioned — John Wilson
(" Christopher North"), James Hogg, William Edmondstoune Aytoun,D. M.
Moir (Delta), J. Gibson Lockhart (the biographer of Scott), Dr Hugh
Blair (the eminent preacher and lecturer on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres),
who were all members of the Lodge. To these may be added the dis-
tinguished name of Henry Lord Brougham. His Lordship was initiated
in the Lodge Fortrose, Stornoway. " Craigdarroch " was the successful
competitor for the relic of the drunken courtier of Anne of Denmark,
contended for at Friars Carse in 1790, as celebrated in Burns's ballad of
" The Whistle."
1789: January 13. Francis Lord Napier, 37th Grand Master. Lord
Napier laid the foundation-stone of the University of Edinburgh in
November of the same year. His Lordship served in the army, and was
present with Burgoyne at Saratoga in 1777, when that General, with a
force of about seven thousand men, after a severe engagement, being sur-
rounded, surrendered to the American.s.
1799 : January 8. Sir James Stirling, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 42d
Grand Master. His Lordship filled the Grand Orient in the year in which
an Act for the suppression of seditious and treasonable societies was
passed, from the operation of which, however. Mason Lodges were specially
exempted. Lodges were, during the same reign, forbidden to work other
than the Three Degrees of St John's Masonry.
1805 : January 23. George Earl of Dalhousie, 45th Grand Master.
The opening of fraternal communications with the Grand Lodge of Eng-
land, the election of the Prince of Wales as Patron of the Craft, and the
laying of the foundation-stone of the monument at Glasgow in memory of
Lord Nelson, were the chief Masonic events of Lord Dalhousie's reign.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of George Frederick
Russell Colt of Gartsherrie, 32°. He supported the Earl of Dalhousie
as Acting Senior Grand Deacon at the laying of the foundation-stone of
the Albert Bridge at Glasgow, and was Acting Grand Sword Bearer on
the occasion of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales planting the
* Charles More, wlio, as Depute-Mastar, signed the mmute of Burns's affiUation in 1787, was
present in Canongate Kilwinning in June 1815, and seconded the resolution anent the Lodge's
subscription towards the Mausoleum.
RUSSELL COLT OF GARTSHERRIE. 335
corner-stone of the new Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh. Entered in the
Lodge Phcenix, Portsmouth, he was raised in the Morning Star, Lucknow,
and is a member by affiliation of Light of Adjoohia, Fyzabad, Oude ; St
Luke, and Naval and Military, Edinburgh ; and St James, Old Monkland,
of which latter Lodge he is a Past Master. He is a member of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland ; an ex-officebearer of the Provincial Grand Lodge of
the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire ; and holds office in the Supreme Grand
Royal Arch Chapter, the Chapter-General of the Religious and Military
Order of the Temple, and the Consistory of K.H., or Thirtieth Degree.
Captain Colt served with the 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers throughout the'
Indian Mutiny, was present at the siege and capture of Lucknow, and
afterwards received command of a regiment of Oude Military Police. He
subsequently obtained a captaincy in the Fusiliers, and retired from the
service on succeeding to the family estates, parts of which have been in their
uninterrupted possession from father to son for upwards of three centuries.
He is representative in the elder line of the ancient family of Colt of Colt
(supposed to be of noble French origin), who possessed lands in the counties
of Perth, Aberdeen, and Fife in the twelfth century, and took a prominent
part in the political affairs of the country at that early period. Several of
his ancestors also held important public offices immediately anterior to
and succeeding the Reformation. Through the female line he is descen-
ded from the noble family of Blantyre, a branch of the Royal Stuarts.
^^^^^T'^z.-'^L^ vC<.-jpC^t>;^<f^er^~
CHAPTER XXXV.
HE attempted identification of Freemasonry with Revolutionary
principles, which was made at a period when the attention of
the Legislature was directed to the suppression of secret
societies, had for a time a prejudicial effect upon the attendance
of brethren moving in the upper walks of society. From this and kindred
causes the public demonstrations- by the Grand Lodge of Scotland on St
Andrew's-day were suspended. In like manner also the Grand Visitations
ceased to be observed. But while the annual procession of Grand Lodge
was afterwards resumed and observed for several years, its official visitation
MARQUIS OF DALHOUSIE. 337
of the metropolitan Lodges was for a long period allowed to remain in
abeyance. Taking the initiative in an attempt to restore the Grand
Visitations, Mary's Chapel, January 1837, addressed the Grand Master on
the subject. Lord Ramsay replied by letter, in which he stated that it
was his intention to have officially visited during the winter as many
Lodges as possible, but the political contest in which he was engaged had
hitherto prevented him from doing so — not only by entirely occupying his
time and attention, but by rendering it advisable for him to discontinue
his attendance at Masonic meetings during the continuance of the contest,
lest the motives of his visit might be, as they had already been, misrepre-
sented. Upon concluding his canvass, his Lordship visited the Lodge of
Edinburgh on the 14th of February, accompanied by Sir Reginald Mac-
dougald Stewart Sefton of Staffa, Bart ; Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot,
Bart. ; Sir Patrick Walker of Coates ; William Forbes Mackenzie of Port-
more ; G. L. Douglas, Sheriff of Kincardineshire ; Dr James Burnes ; Wm.
A. Laurie, David Bryce, etc. Deputations were present from Canongate
Kilwinning, St David, St Luke, St Andrew, St James, Defensive Band,
Roman Eagle, and Celtic. The Grand Master having examined the
minute-books of the Lodge, and approved of their accuracy, adverted to
the singular fact that it wanted only a few hours to complete the three
score years and ten which had elapsed since his grandfather, the late Earl
of Dalhousie, then Grand Master Mason of Scotland, had paid a visit to
this ancient Lodge, and subscribed the books in testimony of his approba-
tion. His Lordship availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the
meeting of impressing upon the assembled brethren " the propriety and
expediency of practising the Masonry of St John in their Lodges with
that strictness which had raised Scottish Masonry to so high a pitch, and
caused it to be esteemed amongst Continental nations in a manner as
had scarcely been accorded to brethren initiated in any other country."
The principal Masonic occurrences of the period between the Earl of
Dalhousie's visit to Mary's Chapel and that of his son are noticed elsewhere.
Lord Ramsay" was the son of George ninth Earl of Dalhousie (Grand
Master in 1804-6). During his unsuccessful candidature for the repre-
sentation of the City of Edinburgh, January 1835, his Lordship was,
along with Henry Glassford Bell, Advocate (now Sheriff of the county of
Lanark), initiated in Canongate Kilwinning. He was elected Depute
Grand Master in November following, — was in February 1836 appointed
Provincial Grand Master of East Lothian, — and was called to preside in
the Grand Orient during the two years ending St Andrew' s-day 1838. As
sixty-second Grand Master, he presided at the Grand Banquet which was
held in the Waterloo Hotel on St Andrew's-day 1836, in celebration of
Y
338 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the First Centenary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. At the date of his
letter to the Master of Mary's Chapel, in which he explained the cause of his
recent non-attendance at meetings of the Craft, his Lordship was a candidate
in the Conservative interest for the representation of the county of Hadding-
ton, but was defeated. In the general election which ensued in September
of the same year upon the death of William IV., Lord Ramsay was elected
member for Haddingtonshire. He succeeded to the Earldom of Dalhousie
on the death of his father in 1838. After having served first as Vice-
President and subsequently as President of the Board of Trade, under
the Peel Administration, he was in 1847 appointed Governor-General
of India, and took possession of his office at Calcutta in January 1848.
His Lordship's career in India is a matter of history : he conquered Pegu
and the Punjaub, for which service he received a marquisate and the
thanks of the British Parliament; he annexed Nagpore and Oude, and
acquired other provinces.; he. planned and commenced railways and canals,
covered India with four thousand miles of electric telegraph, established
cheap postage, and opened two thousand miles of road. Failing health
having necessitated his return to Britain, the Marquis of Dalhousie left
India in March 1856. The following touching sentence occurs in his reply
to an address which was presented to him by the inhabitants of Calcutta,
the day before his departure :— " Nearly thirteen years have passed
away since I first entered the service of the Crown. Through all these
years, with but one short interval, public employment of the heaviest
responsibility and labour has been imposed upon me. I am wearied and
worn, and have no other thought or wish than to seek the retirement of
which I stand in need, and which is all I am now fit for." Lord Dalhousie
died at Dalhousie Castle in December i860, in the forty-ninth year of his
age — lamented by the nation, to which he rendered such eminent service,
and in devotion to whose interests he may be said to have sacrificed his life.
His Lordship, who was succeeded in the Earldom of Dalhousie by his
cousin, Lord Panmure (of whom more hereafter), left two daughters, the
elder of whom. Lady Susan, is married to the Hon. R. Bourke, M.P.,
brother of the late Earl of Mayo, Governor-General of India. Lord Mayo
was for several years representative from the Grand Lodge of Ireland at
the Grand Lodge of England. The Marquis of Dalhousie's younger
daughter, Lady Edith, was in 1859 married to Sir James Fergusson of
Kilkerran, Bart., then ex-M.P. for the county of Ayr: she died in 187 1. Sir
Jameswas initiated in theLodge Apollo University, Oxford — was for several
years Master of Mother Kilwinning and ex-officio Provincial Grand Ma.ster
of Ayrshire, and was afterwards Master of the English Lodge Marquis of
Dalhousie. He was Acting Senior Grand Warden at the consecration of
SIR JAMES FERGUSSON OF KILKERRAN. 339
Freemasons' Hall, Edinburgh, February 1859, and in the same year
inaugurated a statue erected at Ayr in memory of Brother Brigadier-
General James George Smith Neil, C.B., who was the first to stem the tide
of the Indian Mutiny in 1856, and who fell at the relief of Lucknow. Sir
James is a Knight Templar under the English Constitution. He served
with the Grenadier Guards in the Crimea, and was wounded at the battle
of Inkerman. Returned in 1859 for the second time to Parliament as
representative for Ayrshire, he became in 1866 Under Secretary of State
for India under Lord Derby's Administration, —was transferred to the
Home Department in 1867, and retained the same office under Mr Disraeli's
Administration. In 1868 he was appointed Governor of South Australia
and a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council, and in 1872 was transferred
to the Governorship of New Zealand. During His Excellency's term of
office the telegraphic communication with Europe was conceived, and the
line across the continent of Australia was cctostructed by his government.
His portrait will be found at the head of this chapter. The Fergussons
of Kilkerran have possessed lands in Ayrshire since the time of Robert I-
Sir John Fergusson of Kilkerran suffered greatly for his adhesion to the
cause of Charles I., but the estate was retrieved by his grandson of the
younger branch, to whom the elder made over their rights. The Kilkerran
family have given to the Scottish Bench two Judges of high reputation,
viz.. Lords Kilkerran and Herman ; and the late Lord Justice- General
Boyle * was the present baronet's maternal grandfather : his maternal
grandmother was a daughter of the celebrated Lord Hailes. Sir Adam
Fergusson — the " aith-detesting, . chaste Kilkerran," of Burns's ' Earnest
Prayer and Cry' — was long a member of Parliament, and as cousin and
guardian of the Countess of Sutherland promoted the cause, the result of
which secured the Earldom and estates of Sutherland to that lady, who
married the Marquis of Stafford, afterwards created Duke of Sutherland.
Of the brethren who were present at Lord Ramsay's visit to Mary's
Chapel some are worthy of more than simple mention. WiLLIAM
Alexander Laurie, writer to the signet, succeeded to the Grand
Secretaryship in 1831, on the death of his father, with whom for several
years previously he had been associated in the joint discharge of that
office. He was the author of a new edition of 'The History of Free
Masonry and the Grand Lodge of Scotland,' published at Edinburgh in
* His Lordship, before his elevation to the Bench, was requested by the Grand Master, Lord
Moira, to become one of the Wardens of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, but declined the honour.
His father, the Hon. Patrick Boyle, was third son of the second Earl of Glasgow. His elder
brother, Colonel John Boyle of Shewalton, was Grand Master of Mother Kilwinning in 1803-6.
340 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
1859. While in many respects a highly meritorious contribution to
Masonic literature, the value of the work is somewhat impaired by the
credit it gives to the fabulous in tracing the early history of the Craft.
Though St Luke, Edinburgh (formerly known as the Lodge of Holyrood-
house), was Mr Laurie's mother lodge, he rendered many services to
Mary's Chapel, of which he was an honorary member, and it was chiefly
through his influence that Baron Gififord* and the Earl of Rothes selected
the Lodge of Edinburgh as the medium through which they sought
admission into the Craft. Brother Laurie was by special appointrheht of
His Majesty the King of Sweden the representative of the Graijid Lodge
of Sweden at the Grand Lodge of Scotland, his commission dating from
1853. He had previously been the representative from the Grand Orient
of France. Mr Laurie was Keeper and Superintendent of the Royal
Gazette for Scotland — an office too in which he was the successor of his
father. He was a member of the Antiquarian and other kindred societies,
and was greatly esteemed for his amiable and gentlemanly qualities. He
died in October 1870. His portrait will be found at page 22.
Mr Forbes Mackenzie was celebrated afterwards as the introducer
into the House of Commons of the statute regulating the sale of excisable
liquors in Scotland, and known as the " Forbes Mackenzie Act." He was
a member of the Scotch Bar, but devoted himself to political life, and
ultimately became Secretary of the Treasury in one of Lord Derby's Ad-
ministrations. He for some time represented the city of Liverpool. He
was Provincial Grand Master of Peebles and Selkirk shires. In August
1857 he planted the corner-stone of the Chambers Institution, founded,
arid presented to the community of the town of Peebles, by WILLIAM
Chambers of Glenormiston, and comprehending a public library and read-
ing-room, a gallery of art and museum for the reception of objects illus-
trative of science and the fine arts, and a public hall. The donor of this
magnificent gift was the projector, and for nearly forty years joint editor,
of 'Chambers' Edinburgh Journal,' and has otherwise been eminently suc-
cessful in disseminating a cheap and wholesome species of hterature. He
is a member of Grand Lodge, as one of the representatives of Peebles Kil-
winning, and Past P.G. Senior Warden of Peebles and Selkirk. Mr Cham-
bers was Lord Provost of Edinburgh during the four years ending in 1869.
Sir Patrick Walker died a few months after his visit to Mary's
Chapel. He was then Master of his mother lodge, St David, Edinburgh,
an office which he had also held fourteen years previously. The Grand
* Lord Gifford's father was Sir Robert Gifford, Knight, a celebrated English lawyer and judge.
DAVID BRYCE, GRAND ARCHITECT. 341
Lodge, headed by Lord Ramsay, attended the funeral lodge which St
David's held in honour of his memory. In the oration which was delivered
on the occasion, Sir Patrick was characterised as a bright example of a
patriotic and public-spirited citizen, an accomplished scholar, a dis-
tinguished antiquarian, and one whose Masonic zeal was confirmed and
increased with the growing stability of his habits and the increase of his
years.
Chevalier BuRNES was a native of Montrose, and brother of the dis-
tinguished traveller and civil servant of the Crown, Sir Alexander Burnes,
who perished in the outbreak at Cabul in 1861. On the occasion of his
visit to Mary's Chapel, December 13, 1836, Brother Burnes was, amidst
the acclamations of the brethren, and while they were on refreshment,
made " an honorary and full member of the Lodge (without payment of
the usual fee)." In February 1837 he was deputed by Lord Ramsay to
present to each of the Grand Masters of England and Ireland (the Dukes
of Sussex and Leinster) one of the gold medals that were struck in honour
of the Centenary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Having for ten years
served as Provincial Grand Master of Western India, the Chevalier was in
1846 appointed Grand Master of Scottish Freemasons in India. After a
brilliant career in the Indian Medical Service, extending over a period of
nearly thirty years, Dr Burnes returned to his native country in 1849,
and died in 1862.
David Bryce, Royal Scottish Academician, whose portrait will be
found at page 30, is one of the most distinguished architects of his time.
He at one period took an active interest in the Lodge affairs. To him it
is indebted for the beautiful artistic designs of the Master and Warden's
pillars, and the Lodge diploma now in disuse. Mr Bryce was the archi-
tect of the Fettes College, new Sheriff Court Buildings, Free Church
Assembly Hall, Bank of Scotland, British Linen Coy., and Western Banks,
and of other buildings erected at great expense. He is also the architect
of the new Royal Infirmary, in course of erection on the site of George
Watson's Hospital. He has held the post of Grand Architect in Grand
Lodge since 1850: during the six immediately preceding years he was
associated in this office with the late Mr William Burn, also an architect
of high eminence.
Fettes College was erected by the Trustees of Sir WiLLIAM Fettes,
Baronet, who left the residue of his estate, amounting to about ;^400,000,
for an endowment for the education, maintenance, and outfit of young
persons whose parents have died without leaving sufficient funds for that
342 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
purpose, or who from ianocent misfortune during their own lives are un-
able to give suitable education to their children. Sir William was initiated
in the Lodge of Edinburgh- in 1767. He was then a merchant, and carried
on his business in a shop at the top of Paisley's Close, High Street. He
was Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1800 and 1801, and in 1804 and 1805.
He received a baronetcy in 1801, and died in 1836. A melancholy interest
attaches to the building in which Sir William Fettes made his fortune.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday November 10, 1861, the massive pile,
that had stood for nearly two hundred and fifty years, suddenly fell into
the street, burying twenty-three persons in the ruins. A few of the
inmates miraculously escaped destruction from the way in which the ma-
terial fell upon them, and amongst these was a youth, whose sculptured
effigy, as a memorial of this, is placed on the new building, with a scroll
inscribed with the words he was heard uttering by those who were digging
in the ruins for bodies — " Heave awa', chaps [lads], I'm no deid yet."
The next Grand Visitation to Mary's Chapel took place on the 8th of
January 1839, under the auspices of one of its own sons, the Right Hon.
Sir James Forrest of Comiston, Bart., Lord Provost of the City of Edin-
burgh' (the 63d Grand Master), who was accompanied by Admiral Sir
David Milne, K.C.B., and Sir Charles Gordon (some time Secretary to the
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland). Sir James Forrest was
in 1839 elected Grand Master, and held the office two years. On the
death of his successor, the Earl of Rothes, in March 1841, he was again
placed at the head of Masonic affairs until the Grand Election in Novem-
ber. The principal Masonic act of Sir James's life was the laying of the
foundation-stone of the Scott Monument, August 15, 1840. On that
occasion, the Master and Wardens of Mary's Chapel waited upon Sir
James, and in presence of the Grand Officers presented him with an
elegant silver trowel to be ysed at the ceremonial. Alexander M'Neill,
advocate. Past Master of Canongate Kilwinning, moved, seconded by the
Earl of Stair, Acting Past Grand Master, that ijiention be made of the
above gift in the records of the Grand Lodge, which was unanimously
agreed to. Though passing as an advocate in 1803, Sir James Forrest
never practised. He was Lord Provost of Edinburgh for six consecutive
years from 1837, and was made a Baronet on the occasion of Her Majesty's
Coronation in 1838. He was a man of great worth and public spirit and
benevolence, and had much of the cardinal qualities of courage, honesty
and fidelity. He died in his eightieth year at Plymouth, April 5, i860.
The circumstances under which the Lodge of Edinburgh was next
visited by Grand Lodge were novel, inasmuch as while as a rule the pro-
LORD FREDERICK FITZCLARENCE. 343
ceedings at such visitations were confined to a formal inspection of the
Lodge records and participation in its convivialities, those at the commu-
nication in question embraced the conferring of degrees. The Lodge was
on this occasion opened in Freemasons' Hall on the afternoon of 13th
September 1842, by the Master, assisted by five Past Masters and about
ninety members of Mary's Chapel, besides masters and brethren of a few
sister Lodges specially invited by the R.W.M.. A petition was presented
from Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence, Cr.C.H., Captain . R.N. , commanding
Her Majesty's Yacht ' Royal George,' praying to be initiated into Masonic
mysteries in the Lodge of Edinburgh. At this stage of the business, the
Grand Lodge was received with the accustomed ceremony. The Grand
Master (the 65th in succession), who was attended by Sir James Forrest,
feart, and Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall, Bart, having declined
to occupy the chair of the Lodge, was conducted to a throne placed in the
north of the hall, where, surrounded by the Grand Officers, he remained
during the initiation of the noble candidate, who was also passed and
raised at the same sederunt. After congratulating his brother upon his
admission into the Fraternity, the Grand Master gave a charge to the
Brethren in terms consonant with the principles of the Order. By a happy
coincidence, the cannons of the Castle boomed forth the announcement of
Her Majesty's progress through Edinburgh on her return from the High-
lands, just as the toast, 'The Queen and the Craft,' was being given by the
Grand Master in the conviviality which followed the delivery of his official
address.
The Brothers Fitzclarence were sons of William IV., by the celebrated
Mrs Jordan. Lord Frederick was initiated in a French Lodge, the Thetis
of Cambrai. On St Andrew' s-day 1840 he was elected Depute Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and was in the following week
made a member by honorary affiliation of the Lodge of Edinburgh.
He was elevated to the Grand Mastership in 1841, and was re-
elected in 1842, in which year he laid the foundation-stone of the Hall
for the accommodation of the General. Assembly of the Church of Scot-
land. His Lordship, while Governor of the Bombay Presidency, died in
October 1854, in the fifty-fifth year of his age; and in February 1855 the
Grand Lodge of Scotland held a Funeral Lodge in honour of his memory.
From the oration which was pronounced on this occasion by the Grand
Chaplain, the Rev. Dr Arnot, we learn that His Excellency was com-
mander of the garrison at Portsmouth at the time of receiving his Indian
appointment. " It was there that he devoted himself with such earnest-
ness to the moral and intellectual improvement of the troops, — he himself
delivering lectures for their instruction, as an example to the officers under
344 HISJORY OF FREEMASONRY.
him. He was a man of much kindness of heart and integrity of purpose,
. . . was highly esteemed in all the relations of life, and was, in an especial
manner, an honour to Masonry — by his conduct reflecting back the honour
it had conferred on him in his elevation to the supreme dignity of Grand
Master of Scotland."
Little more than two months intervened between this and' the imme-
diately succeeding Grand Visitation, which was made on 29th November
1842. The Grand Lodge was represented by the Rt. Hon. Lord Glenlyon
(afterwards Duke of Athole), Sir John Ogilvy of Inverquharity, Bart, and
Captain John MurrayDrummond of Megginch Castle, Perthshire, then of the
Grenadier Guards. The initiation of Captain George Keith Ogilvy, R.N.,
a brother of Sir John Ogilvy, was the occasion chosen by Lord Glenlyon
for his first visit to Mary's Chapel, and the three degrees were conferred in
his presence. Thereafter his Lordship, with Sir John Ogilvy and Captain
Murray Drummond, were affiliated as honorary members. The next
Grand Visitation to the Lodge of Edinburgh was famous for having been
made in the presence of a number of Ladies, who had been surreptitiously
introduced in open lodge before the Grand Officers arrived. This circum-
stance formed the subject of subsequent investigation, particulars of which
have been given in another chapter. Mary's Chapel was again visited by
Grand Lodge on 30th December 1846. The Grand Master, His Grace the
Duke of Athole, was attended by the Hon. Captain Augustus G. F. Jocelyn,
Substitute Grand Master (presently Representative of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland in the Grand Lodge of Ireland).
The Duke of Athole succeeded his father, James ist Lord Glenlyon, in
1837, and his uncle, John Sth Duke, in 1846. Initiated in the Lodge St
John, Dunkeld, in November 1841, His Grace was on St Andrew's-day of
the same year called to a seat on the dais of the Grand Lodge, and for two
years held the post of Depute Grand Master. He was elected Grand
Master (the sixty-sixth in succession) in November 1843, and this high
office he held with much acceptability until his death in January 1864. No
Craftsman has ever presided in the Grand Orient for such a lengthened
period, and none was more beloved and respected. He on several
occasions came long distances to attend the Grand Quarterly Com-
munications. As an instance of his punctuality in this respect, it may
be mentioned that, being on a visit in November 1861 to the Emperor of
the French,* he was not expected to preside at the Grand Lodge Festival of
that year. Arrangements were made for his Depute filling the throne, but
* On the occasion of the visit by the Empress Eugenie to Scotland in i860, the Duke of Athole
showed her marked attention, and he was afterwards invited to the Tuileries as the guest of the
Emperor.
DUKE OF ATHOLE. _ 345
he surprised Grand Lodge by appearing at his post on the night of the
Festival. His Grace performed many public masonic acts ; but the chief of
these were the laying of the foundation-stones of the Victoria Bridge at Glas-
gow, April 9, 1851 ; the Freemasons' Hall, Edinburgh, June 24, 1858 ; and
the Wallace Monument, near Stirling, June 24, 1861. Twice did his jealousy
of the honour of the Craft bring him into collision with Royalty itself,
although the claims which he then put forth, being based entirely upon
tradition, were quite untenable. When in 1851 Prince Albert was invited
to lay the foundation-stone of the Fine Arts Gallery in Edinburgh, his
Grace failing to persuade His Royal Highness to join the Order, declined
under protest to countenance the proceedings. Again in 1 861, when made
aware of the Prince Consort's intention to plant the corner-stones of the new
Post Office and Industrial Museum at Edinburgh, his Grace addressed a
letter to His Royal Highness, in which he said, " I consider it my duty, as
Grand Master Mason of Scotland, again respectfully to protest against the
infringement of the ancient privilege of the Masonic Bodies to lay the
foundation stones of public buildings in Scotland." The Prince replied
that he had made inquiry, and found that Freemasons possessed no such
exclusive right as had been claimed by his Grace.
The Duke of Athole was a member of all the High Degrees. A large-
sized painting, by the late Mr Stewart Watson, commemorative of his Grace's
installation as the head of the Order of Knights Templar, hangs in the Rob-
ing Room of the Grand Lodge. Her Majesty Queen Victoria manifested
her personal regard for his Grace by paying him a special visit during his
last illness, the details of which were of an interesting character. A
Funeral Grand Lodge was held in honour of his Grace. A similar mark
of respect was paid by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Glasgow under the
presidency of Br. Sir Archibald Alison, Bart. And in 1865 his Grace's
friends and admirers, at a cost of about ;^iSOO, erected a Celtic cross to
his memory, on a picturesque site on Logierait Hill, overlooking the
Vale of Athole. The foundation-stone of the monument was laid by Mr
Whyte-Melville, Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason, supported by
very large deputations of the Craft from all the districts of Scotland.
The following Dirge was composed by the Grand Bard, James Ballan-
tine, for the Funeral Grand Lodge held in honour of the Duke of
Athole's memory : —
O wild wails the wind o'er the green hills of Athole,
While deep in the valleys the dark waters flow ;
The caverns are moaning, the forests are groaning,
The grey cliffs are shrouded in dense wreaths of woe.
Through glen and through corrie the coronach's stealing.
Round sheiling and cottage sad sounds thrill the air ;
346 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
In castle and palace, lorn hearts are revealing
Their soul-stricken anguish, in tones of despair.
O'er the dark night of grief there arose a bright morrow,
And love's morning-star shone with warm genial ray.
When oiir dear widowed Queen and her sister in sorrow,
With pure angel tears washed death's terrors away.
O heavenly the feeling, that links hearts for ever.
When Royal Humanity points out the way
To life and to love ! where no future can sever
Souls blent in harmony, ever and aye.
Well may the Clansmen lament their brave Chieftain !
Well may we Brothers our loved Master wail !
He who maintained in their pure pristine glory
The Light of the Craft, and the fame of the Gael !
And now though he sleeps mid his own native mountains,
While Lowlands and Highlands one sad sorrow share ;
Watered and nourished by love's swelling fountains.
His name in our bosoms shall bloom ever fair.'
The Dowager-Duchess of Athole was formerly Mistress of the Robes in
Her Majesty's Household, and is now one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber.
The present Duke was initiated in the Lodge of Dunkeld on the morning
of November 30, 1858, and was introduced by his father to Grand Lodge
on the evening of the same day.
A Grand Visitation was made to the Lodge of Edinburgh, April 9,
1867, by John Whyte-Melville, of Bennochy and Strathkinness, 67th
Grand Master. Mr Whyte-Melville was initiated in the Lodge St Luke,
Edinburgh, jn 1817, — was made a member of the Royal Clarence Lodge,
Brighton, in 18 19, — received the appointment of Provincial Grand Master
of Fife and Kinross in 1842, — and was, in 1859, made a member by hon-
orary affiliation of the Lodge of Edinburgh. He became Junior Grand
Warden in 1840'; Senior Grand Warden in 1841 ; Substitute Grand Mas-
ter in 1842, which. post he held until 1846, when he was elected Depute
Grand Master. This office was filled by him for the long period of
eighteen years, under the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Athole ;
and, in consideration of the invaluable services rendered by him, he was
elevated to the Throne in 1864, which he filled with great ability for three
years. While Grand Master, the singular coincidence existed of Mr
Whyte-Melville being at the head of all the various Masonic bodies in
Scotland. On his retirement, the members of Grand Lodge manifested
their respect for him by presenting Lady Catherine Whyte-Melville with
a bust of her husband, a duplicate of which was also presented to Grand
JOHN WHYTE-MELVILLE. 347
Lodge, to perpetuate Mr Whyte-Melville's connection with tlie Craft. The
execution of this work of art was intrusted to Mr John Hutchison, Royal
Scottish Academician, a member of the Lodge of Edinburgh. The
chief public Masonic acts performed by Mr Whyte-Melville were, lay-
ing the foundation-stones of the monument erected near Dunkeld to the
memory of his friend the late Duke of Athole ; and of the City Poorhouse,
at Craiglockhart. To. him, while Substitute Grand Master, is also due the
high honour of originating the Fund of Scotch Masonic Benevolence in 1 846.
Mr Whyte-Melville is the descendant and representative of the Whytes of
Scotland, said to derive their origin from the noble family of Les Blancs
in France, and who were free barons in Fife, Perth, and other counties in
North Britain. Certain ancestors of the family were eminent merchants
in Kirkcaldy. One of them, Robert Whyte, was the first provost of that
royal burgh, in 1664. He purchased Bennochy, whence his descendants
have been chiefly designated. Provost Whyte's great-granddaughter
married Andrew Melville, of the family of Carnbeck, and was mother
of General Robert Melville, of Strathkinness. Through this connection
the latter estate devolved on the Whytes. Mr Whyte-Melville married
Lady Catherine-Anne-Sarah Osborne, younger daughter of Francis Go-
dolphus, fifth Duke of Leeds. Lady Catherine was a friend and com-
panion of the lamented Princess Charlotte of Wales, daughter of George
IV. G. J. Whyte-Melville, younger of Bennochy and Strathkinness, was
initiated in the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1843. ^^ entered the army in
1839, ^nd became Captain in the Coldstream Guards in 1846, but retired
in 1849. Captain Melville served in the Turkish Contingent during the
Crimean war, as aide-de-camp to General Shirley. He is well known as a
popular writer of fiction, being the author of ' Digby Grand,' an autobi-
ography ; ' General Bounce ' ; Tilbury Nogo ' ; ' Kate Coventry ' ; ' The
Interpreter' ; ' Holmly House' ; ' Good for Nothing, or All Down Hill' ;
'The Queen's Maries, a Romance of Holyrood ' ; 'The Gladiators'; etc.
He has produced a translation of the Odes of Horace, which was well received
by the critics, and is also a frequent contributor to the pages of Eraser's
Magazine, and other periodical literature. On the last official visit to
Mary's Chapel, Mr Whyte-Melville was accompanied by one of its most
distinguished Past Masters, viz., William Mann, the present representative
from the Grand Lodge of Sweden. Mr Mann is a partner of the firm of
Messrs Hope and Mackay, W.S., Edinburgh. He was initiated in the
Lodge of Edinburgh in 1854 ; and held the office of Master for five years
from 1859 to 1864. On his retirement from the chair, the Brethren pre-
sented Mr Mann with a handsome solid silver tea and coffee service,
in testimony of their respect and in acknowledgment of his valuable
348 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
services as Master of the Lodge. Ever since he joined the Craft he has
taken a great and prominent interest in its affairs ; and- particularly in
the financial business of Grand Lodge. He has been a member of
Grand Committee since February i860; and has held the offices of Junior
and Senior Grand Deacon, and Junior and Senior Grand Warden. His
portrait will be found in the group of office-bearers of Mary's Chapel
who were present at the affiliation of the Prince of Wales.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
HE last Grand Visitation to the Lodge of Edinburgh that re-
mains to be noticed was that made by the Right Honourable
Francis Robert St Clair-Erskine, Earl of Rosslvn,
69th Grand Master Mason of Scotland, January 14, 1871.
The Past Grand Master and other brethren of distinction accompanied his
Lordship on the occasion. Lord Rosslyn.who is a member by honorary
affiliation of Mary's Chapel, was initiated in 185 1 at a communication of
the Lodge Kirkcaldy, held at the residence of its Master, J. T. Oswald of
Dunniker. His Lordship was advanced to the chair of this Lodge, and
afterwards attained the same rank in an English Lodge at Malta, which
recognised his services by the presentation of an elegant collar and jewel.
Called to office in the Grand Lodge of Scotland, first as Senior Grand
3SO HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Deacon in 1853, and in the following year as Junior Grand Warden, his
Lordship, then Lord Loughborough, was in 1855 elected Substitute Grand
Master, and held that post during eleven consecutive -years. In 1869 he
became Deputy Grand Master, in which capacity he in August of the follow-
ing year entertained with sumptuous hospitality about six hundred Free-
masons, together with their wives, daughters, and sweethearts, within his
beautiful domains at Roslin, near Edinburgh. The fete was honoured by
the presence of the Countess of Rosslyn and other ladies of distinction ;
the Grand Master, the Past Grand Master, and other dignitaries.
His Lordship succeeded to the MasonicThrone on the retirement of the
Earl of Dalhousie in 1870. Lord Rosslyn has always evinced a lively
interest in Masonic affairs. In 1855 he presented a magnificent camel's
hair altar-cloth to Grand Lodge. This beautiful and interesting gift was
brought by the donor from the Temple at Mecca, and bears several
Mohammedan devices. His Lordship visited the Lodge St Andrew, Kil-
marnock, at the celebration of its centenary, May 1871. He was supported
on the occasion by the Earl of Dalhousie ; Colonel Mure of Caldwell,
Provincial Grand Master of Ayrshire; Robert Wylie, J. P., Past Provincial
Grand Master (to whose courtesy we are indebted for access to the Kil-
winning records) ; and by the Depute Provincial Grand Master, Captain
Smith Neill of Swinridgemuir. In May 1871 his Lordship made a visita-
tion to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Haddington, and installed Major
Hope of Luffness as head of the province. The Jubilee Communication
of the Lodge Celtic, Edinburgh, held in November of the same year, was
also honoured with Lord Rosslyn's presence. The annual festival of the
Lodges in the Province of Glasgow, held in 187 1, was presided over by his
Lordship, attended by Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, Bart, Depute Grand
Master : Walter Montgomerie Neilson of Queenshill, Provincial Grand
Master of Glasgow ; the Hon. William Rae Arthur, Lord Provost of Glas-
gow ; Henry Glassford Bell, LL.D., Sheriff of Lanark, &c. The Grand
Master was, during his visit, admitted a member by honorary affiliation of
the Lodge St Mark. In October 1872 he laid the foundation stone of the
Watt Institute, Edinburgh, and, in honour of the event, was entertained at
a public banquet, presided over by Lord Ardmillan. In the summer of
1872 Lord Rosslyn expressed a wish that he should not be nominated for
re-election as Grand Master, but in deference to the wishes of the Brethren,
conveyed in a requisition bearing between six and seven thousand signa-
tures, he agreed to serve if re-elected. He was accordingly re-elected on
St Andrew's-day. During his Grand Mastership, and at the February
Communication of 1872, Grand Lodge for the first time recognised the
Past Master's ceremonial of Installation. This was sanctioned, not with
EARL OF ROSSLYN. 35 I
the view of inaugurating a higher or other degree of Masonry, but of autho-
rising the use of the ritual of Installed Masters as used in England, so
as to remove the disqualification which hitherto prevented Scotch Past
Masters being present at the installation of Masters in English Lodges.
Ever since the institution of the Grand Lodge, "making masons," con-
viviality in open lodge (technically called " refreshment "), and participa-
tion in public demonstrations, have with rare exceptions been the chief
characteristics of Scottish Freemasonry. To this cause may be attributed
the very partial development in individual lodges of the virtue of charity,
and the unsatisfactory position in this respect of Grand Lodge itself We
have, it is true, our " Fund of Scottish Masonic Benevolence;" but it falls far
short of its object, and its dwarfish proportions become all the more visible
when contrasted with the munificently supported Masonic Asylums and
Orphanages of England and Ireland. In assuming the Grand Mastership,
Lord Rosslyn intimated his intention to devote his best energies to pro-
moting charitable institutions. in connection with the Scottish Craft. His
leading object was in the first instance to reduce and pay ofi" the debt,
amounting at the date of the last published account to ;^i3,i88, 4s. 2d., on
the Grand Lodge Buildings;* and thereafter to apply the proceeds of the
property in instituting Charities for the benefit of members of the Order.
With the view of carrying out this project he brought forward certain pro-
posals, the principle of which Grand Lodge recognised. These proposals
resulted in a resolution whereby about a thousand pounds a-year will be
raised by an increase on the diploma fee, and by the payment of one pound
annually by each Lodge ; while by the abolition of the office of Grand
Clerk a considerable saving will be effected. It is only by an energetic
and liberal following up of the measures which have been inaugurated by
Lord Rosslyn, and the exercise of economy in the management of its busi-
ness, that Grand Lodge can expect to wipe out the reproach to which we
have referred. The Earl of Rosslyn has devoted attention to other Degrees
which in this country have come to be regarded by many as Masonic. He
is at the head of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland,
and is a member of the Royal Order, the Religious and Military Order of
the Temple, and the Supreme Grand Council of the Thirty-third and last
Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
His Lordship, whose grandfather, General Sir James St Clair Erskine,
Bart., G.C.B., was nephew and successor of the first Earl, inherited the
* The Buildings are valued at £l6,goo. The interest payable yearly on this debt is ;^6ii, 19s. 6d.,
and with the other charges incident to the Buildings considerably exceeds the sums realised from
them. The number of intrants to the Order, under the Scottish Constitution, during the year
ending 30th April 1872, the date of the last published return, was 2557.
3S2 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
titles on the death of his father in 1866. The 2d Earl of Rosslyn was
Depute-Grand Master in 1808, Grand Master in 1810-11, and was Pro-
vincial Grand Master of Fifeshire for the period of thirty-six years ending
in 1837. The Rosslyn family is a branch of the noble house of Erskine,
springing from the Hon. Charles Erskine, fourth son of John seventh Earl
of Mar. The patronymic of the ancient lairds of Rosslyn comes through
the female line. The honours of Rosslyn and Loughborough were originally
conferred on Alexander Wedderburn, an eminent Scotch lawyer, who,
offended at a rebuke from the Bench for an attack on the Dean of Faculty,
left the Scotch Bar and went to that of England, where he rose to the
highest eminence, and ultimately became Lord High Chancellor. The
circumstances under which Mr Wedderburn was reproved are graphically
described by Lord Campbell in his Lives of the Chancellors. After a
passionate altercation between Wedderburn and the Lord President, " all
of a sudden Wedderburn seemed to have subdued his passion, and put on
an air of deliberate coolness ; when, instead of the expected retractation
and apology, he stripped off his gown, and holding it in his hands before
the Judge, he said, 'My Lords, I neither retract nor apologise, but I will
save you the trouble of deprivation ; there is my gown, and I will never
wear it more ; virtute me involve' He then coolly laid his gown upon the
bar, made a low bow to the Judges, and before they had recovered from
their amazement he laft the Court, which he never again entered. That
very night he set off for London."
Colonel William Mure of Caldwell, who is referred to in the foregoing
notice, and whose portrait will be found at page 96, was initiated in the
Lodge Houston St Johnstone, Johnstone. He afterwards joined Mother Kil-
winning, and has been its Master, and ex-officio Grand Master of Ayrshire,
since 1868. He has evinced the earnestness of his Masonic profession and
care for the reputation of the Order by originating a scheme for raising a
fund in the province of Ayr to defray the expenses of the sons of poor
brethren at the University of Glasgow. Colonel Mure served in the 60th
Rifles through the last Caffir War, also with the 79th Highlanders in the
Crimea. Subsequently he was transferred to the Scots Fusilier Guards,
and retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in i860. He is Lieutenant-
Colonel of the Second Administrative Battalion of the Renfrewshire Rifle
Volunteers. He is son of the late Colonel Mure of Caldwell, the accom-
plished historian of the ' Literature of Ancient Greece.' The Mures of
Caldwell trace their descent from Sir Reginald Mure of Abercorn and
Cowdams, Chamberlain of Scotland in 1329, whose youngest son acquired
the estates of Caldwell in the counties of Ayr and Renfrew by marriage
MASON MARKS. 353
with the heiress of Caldwell of that Ilk, a family which had given a Chan-
cellor to Scotland in 1349. The Laird of Caldwell attached himself to the
cause of the Covenanters in the time of Charles II., and suffered the for-
feiture of his estates, which were restored to the family at the Revolution
of 1688.
The portrait of WiLLlAM Hay of Rabbit Hall (30°), architect in Edin-
burgh, will be found at the head of this chapter. He was initiated in the
Lodge St Andrew, Toronto, Canada West, and was admitted an honorary
member of Mary's Chapel in 1865. He is a Past Master of the Lodges St
John, Toronto, and St Andrew, Edinburgh, and has been long an influen-
tial member of Grand Committee, and by delegation of Grand Lodge con-
secrated the Lodge of Bo'ness in 1870. In May 1 871 he was unanimously
nominated the first representative of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia in
the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and in the same year represented Grand
Lodge at the Conference on the Mark Degree held in London between
the Supreme Grand Chapters of Scotland, England, and Ireland, and
Mark Master Lodge. Mr Hay has been architect of several important
buildings both at home and in the colonies, and among the latter the
Cathedrals of Newfoundland and Bermuda. He is presently (1873)
engaged as architect in the restoration of St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.
In addition to the fac-similes of Marks copied by Brother Hay from the
interior of this ancient edifice, which are given at page 68, we have while this
work was passing through the press been favoured by Brother William L.
Mair, advocate, Edinburgh, with copies of Marks cut on the pillars in that
portion of the Laigh Parliament House which was formerly used as the
Secret Chamber of the Privy Council of Scotland, and where persons
brought before them were tortured. These Mason Marks, together with
others selected from the oldest minute-book of Mother Kilwinning and
from the ruins of Kilwinning Abbey, we have embraced in the illustrations
facing pages 68-69.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
P till the celebration of its annual festival, February 7, 1843^
it had been a settled principle of Mary's Chapel that the law
which excluded " cowans and eavesdroppers " from a close-
tyled lodge was applicable to the fair sex. On the occasion
referred to, however, from an anxiety at once to gratify the curiosity of
ladies feeling an interest in the Lodge, and by securing their presence to
give eclat to the proceedings, some of the brethren seem to have been
surprised into a breach of the law on this point ; and so adroitly had the
affair been managed, that the accustomed formality which places the head
of a Grand Lodge Deputation in the chair of the Lodge visited was gone
LADIES IN OPEN LODGE. 355
through, and a number of toasts masonically given, before objections were
offered to the presence of females in the gallery. By an ambiguity of
expression in the minute of the proceedings, it is made to appeaj- that the
Lodge was closed. previous to the admission of the ladies, but perhaps the
facts of the case will best appear from the uncontroverted statement
embraced in the Resolutions which Past Master Woodman proposed for the
adoption of the Lodge at its monthly meeting, February 14, 1843 : — " It
having been brought under the notice of the members of this Lodge, that
at the late Festival thereof, held in the Waterloo Rooms on the 7th inst.,
ladies were introduced into the gallery to witness the proceedings, and that,
in the first instance, while the Lodge was open, and consequently un-
approachable by cowans, or parties disqualified from belonging to the
Craft ; and next, after the Lodge had been temporarily closed, with the
view of removing those difficulties and scruples which were entertained by
most of the Brethren then present. The above facts having come to the
knowledge of the Brethren of this Lodge, they, in full Lodge assembled,
deem it but due to themselves collectively to express not only their
disapprobation, but their non-participation therein, as a Masonic Lodge.
However much the Brethren assembled may be, and have always shown
themselves disposed, to yield due obedience to their superiors in office —
to afford them every proper support, and to homologate their actings —
they canjaot upon this occasion, when the interest of the Lodge might be
made to suffer by the unauthorised proceedings of a few of its members,
remain silent, and allow that silence to be interpreted into an assent or
approval of these proceedings. The Brethren, therefore, throw the respon-
sibility thereof entirely upon the individual parties pressing and carrying
objectionable measures. Although the Brethren are quite ready to believe
that the admfssion of Ladies into the gallery of an open Lodge proceeded
in the first instance entirely from inadvertence, yet they do not in the
circumstances approve of their subsequent admission even after the Lodge
had been closed. Such practices, though not without precedent in the
sister kingdom, or even in Scotland, are yet, especially in this country,
dangerous innovations into Masonry, neither to be propagated nor com-
mended. They tend not only to remove, but to overthrow the established
bulwarks and well-known safeguards of the Craft. Previous, therefore, to
the Public Festival of this Lodge, at which other Lodges were expected to
be in attendance, it would not only have been a piece of courtesy, but an
act of duty on the part of those in authority, to have communicated and
consulted with the Brethren of this Lodge and with the heads of the sister
Lodges, in order to have ascertained how far such an innovation as the
one referred to was likely to prove agreeable. No such communication
3S6 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. . .
having been made, the Brethren of this Lodge generally, as well as, it is
understood, those belonging to other Lodges assembled, were taken by-
surprise when a party of Ladies was announced as in attendance, an
announcement speedily followed by an order for their reception. Had the
meeting been purely a private one, limited to members of this Lodge, the
Brethren would nevertheless have considered that they should have been
apprised by circular of the wish of such of their office-bearers or members
as might have desired the attendance of Ladies thereat, and have thereby
been afforded an opportunity at a regular Lodge meeting either of
approving or condemning a step so novel. After Ladies had been admit-
ted into the gallery at the Public Festival in question, it appeared to the
Brethren of this Lodge that by continuing, as many of them did, to sit at
the festival board, along with members of other Lodges assembled, and by
remaining silent on the subject of the innovations then introduced, all
parties thereby testified their earnest desire to show courtesy towards their
superiors, to maintain harmony in a Masonic meeting, and hot to expose
to the world at large and in a mixed assembly any symptons of disunion
in a society whose badge is ' Peace : ' the non-manifestation of decided
disapprobation at the Festival cannot therefore be viewed as homologating
the proceedings of that evening. Painful as it is to bring under review or
to impugn the actings of any members of this Lodge, and more especially
the actings of those who have been, and now are, distinguished by great
zeal and activity in promoting its prosperity, the Brethren, nevertheless,
from a sense of duty to the Lodge, cannot refrain from declaring that the
proceedings referred to were the private acts of individuals only, and were
not authorised or sanctioned by the Brethren of this Lodge, collectively.
They therefore, as a Lodge, disapprove thereof, and disclaim all participa-
tion therein. And they instruct that a copy of these resolutions be imme-
diately transmitted to the Grand Secretary, in order to be communicated
to the Grand Lodge or the Grand Committee."
Past Master Dunlop then moved the following as an amendment : —
" That whereas it is supposed on the part of some of the Brethren that the
proceedings which took place at the recent Festival of this Lodge, in con-
nection with the introduction of Ladies thereto, were irregular, and whereas
great variety of opinion was expressed on that subject by the Masters and
other members of the different Lodges then assembled, which has rendered
it a matter of difficulty to ascertain under what circumstances Ladies ought
to be admitted ; and as this Lodge views the determination of this subject
by the authority and decision of the Grand Lodge of Scotland as of the
greatest importance, so as to establish uniformity of practice, that there-
fore a memorial be presentSd to the Grand Lodge on this subject, calling
LADIES IN OPEN LODGE. 357
their attention thereto, and requesting their opinion on the whole matter."
On the vote being taken, the amendment was carried by a majority of
forty-seven to ten, — whereupon Bro. Woodman protested and took instru-
ments in the Secretary's hands.
In accordance with this decision of the Lodge, a memorial on the subject
was presented to the Grand Committee at its meeting on the i6th of
February, and at the sanje time there was laid on the table a requisition
by the Masters and Wardens of the Edinburgh Lodges for Grand Lodge
to investigate the case. The Master of Mary's Chapel being present,
made explanation of the circumstances, which was confirmed by the Past
Master. " He acknowledged that Ladies had been admitted into that
Lodge while an open Lodge, upon the occasion referred to ; and he stated
that if any irregularity had been committed by the admission of ladies into
the Lodge, the blame lay solely with him. Keeping in view the practice
of Lodges being opened before going to the Theatre, and before going to
processions, without being closed until their return to their own Lodges,
and keeping in view also that it was the practice to admit Ladies into
Lodges in England and Ireland, he had concluded that it would not be
objectionable to admit Ladies during a Festival of a Lodge in Scotland.
Accordingly, he had started such a proposal to some of the members of
the Lodge of Edinburgh Mary's Chapel, when the late Festival was fixed,
and when they expected a visit from the Most Worshipful Grand Master
Lord Frederick Fitzclarence ; but on learning that his Lordship could not
attend, the idea had been abandoned. He, however, again revived it on
the afternoon of the Festival, and having mentioned the matter to the
R.W.M., the latter disapproved of the introduction of ladies, but gave up
his opinion in deference to him ; but the subject was not submitted to the
Lodge, and not above two or three of the members were aware of what
was intended. . . . He threw himself upon the Committee and Grand
Lodge to deal with him as their feelings as Brethren should dictate."
The matter was remitted to a Committee, which afterwards referred the
whole question to Grand Lodge, which met on the 1st of March 1843, and
having resumed consideration of the case, " a motion was made to suspend
the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) for twelve months," to which an
amendment was moved by Mr Hamilton Pyper, a member of No. i, and
an eminent member of the Scotch Bar, as follows : " Resolved, that it is
proved that an irregularity was committed at the Festival of the Lodge of
Edinburgh Mary's Chapel, held on 7th July last, by the admission of Ladies
while the Lodge was open, deserving the highest censure and reprobation
by the Grand Lodge ; but in respect that this is proved to have been the act
only of Bros. Dunlop and Wilson individually, and not that of the Lodge
3S8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
as a body, — and in respect that the irregularity was not persisted in when
complained of, and also that these Brethren acted from inadvertency
merely, and have expressed great contrition for their conduct, — find that it
is sufficient to visit the same with a severe reprimand, and direct the Acting
Grand Master to reprimand them accordingly." The amendment was
carried by a majority of 54 to 48, — "whereupon the offending brethren
were called in front of the Acting Grand Master, and were by him repri-
manded, in accordance with the finding of Grand Lodge."
David Kinnear, accountant, Edinburgh,, whose portrait appears at the
head of this chapter, is Master of the Lodge Edinburgh and Leith Celtic,
and was elected an honorary member of Mary's Chapel in 1871. The Celtic
in November last celebrated its half centenary under Mr Kinnear's presi-
dency, on which occasion he was supported by the Grand Master the Earl
of Rosslyn, John Whyte-Melville, Past Grand Master, the Lord James
Murray, Major-General Darby Griffith, C.B., and other brethren of dis-
tinction. In noticing the progress of Scotch Freemasonry since the
erection of the Celtic, Lord Rosslyn stated that in 1 82 1 the number of
intrants reported to Grand Lodge was 823, and in 1870 3000. Since 1821,
226 charters had been granted, and during the past ten years one hundred
new lodges had been opened. In 1821 there were 297 lodges at home
and 14 abroad : in 1871, 399 at home and 108 abroad, There were 21
Provincial Grand Masters at home and abroad in 1821 ; 45 in 1871. Mr
Kinnear is a Past Master of the Lodge St Andrew, Edinburgh, and has
been a leading member of Grand Committee for many years.
CHAPTER XXXYIII.
HE admission of Honorary Members had towards the end of
the last and during the first quarter of the present century
become very common in Scotch Lodges. The presentation
of a few yards of ribbon, a song-book, or a number of drink-
ng glasses, — the expression by a wine-inspired brother of attachment to
360 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the Lodge of which perchance he was a visitor, and such Hke triviahties,
were regarded as sufficient grounds for the bestowal of honorary member-
ships. The early recognition by the Lodge Kilmarnock Kilwinning St
John of the genius of " Bro. Robert Burns, a poet from Mauchline," and
his assumption as a member of Canongate Kilwinning, stand out as a
redeeming feature in the indiscriminate conferring of honorary member-
ships which was then characteristic of the period. Mary's Chapel was
no exception to this abuse. In course of time greater discrimination
came to be observed by the Lodge of Edinburgh in the distribution of its
honours, and what its roll of honorary intrants lacked in numerical strength
was compensated by the high social and Masonic standing of many
of those whose names were added to it. To give a complete list of the
honorary any more than the ordinary members of the Lodge is beyond the
scope of the present work. We shall therefore select for notice a few
of the more distinguished of the brethren whose affiliation into Mary's
Chapel proceeded from the Lodge's desire to do honour to the recipi-
ents of the distinction, several of whom have already been incidentally
noticed.
Sir William Hamilton of Preston, Bart., the distinguished Professor
of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh, was a member
by honorary affiliation of Mary's Chapel. Initiated in St Luke's, he was
elected Junior Grand Warden in 18 17, and in the following year was
promoted to the Senior Grand Wardenship, from which he retired in
November 18 19. As lineal representative of the Hamiltons of Preston, a
Scottish family of territorial importance in the thirteenth century, he in
1 8 17 assumed the Baronetcy of Preston and Fingalton, which had lain
dormant for a hundred years. He became a member of the Scotch Bar,
but, abandoning the profession of the law, he in 1821 accepted the Chair
of Civil History in the University of Edinburgh, which he held till his
appointment in 1836 to the Professorship of Logic and Metaphysics. He
died in May 1856. The "Hamilton Philosophical Fellowship)" was
founded in honour of his memory, and a bust of Sir William graces the
Senate Hall of the College. We may here note the name of another
celebrated member of the Senatus Academicus of Edinburgh University,
who was also a member of the Craft, viz., the late Sir James Young
Simpson, Bart, Professor of Midwifery. Sir James's discovery of chloro-
form and other means of alleviating human suffering, and extraordinary
success in practice, gained him a world-wide reputation. He died in May
1870.
LORD JAMES MURRAY. 361
Andrew Kerr, 30=", of Her Majesty's Office of Works, Edinburgh, is a
Past Master of the Lodge Journeymen, and was made an honorary member
of Mary's Chapel in 1842. He possesses an extensive knowledge of the oral
traditions of the Craft, and is the author of the chapter on Mark Masonry
in Laurie's History of Freemasonry. He was one of the representatives of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland at the conference on the Mark Degree held
in London in 1871.
The Right Hon, Lord James Charles Plantagenet Murray, whose
reception as an honorary member took place in 1856, is a brother of the
late Duke of Athole. His Lordship is representative of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland in the Grand Lodge of England, with the rank of Past
Senior Grand Warden. He has also held the office of Senior Grand
Deacon in the Grand Lodge of Scotland. St John,- Dunkeld, is his Lord-
ship's mother lodge, and of which he is a Past Master. He is a Past First
Grand Principal of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland,
and holds office in the Chapter-General of the Religious and Military
Order of the Temple, and in the Supreme Grand Council of the 33d and
last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. His portrait will
be found at head of Chapter IX.
Alexander Hay, jeweller, Edinburgh, 30°, was admitted to Mary's
Chapel by honorary affiliation in 1863. He is the son of Alexander Hay,
vintner, an ex-treasurer, and one of the oldest living members of the
Lodge of Edinburgh, his initiation having taken place in 1822. Br. Hay,
senior, held office at a critical time in the Lodge's history, and so efficiently
as to place its financial affairs on a healthy basis. Bro. Hay, junior, has
long occupied one of the most prominent and influential positions in the
Craft in Scotland. He has filled the chair of the Celtic Lodge, Edin-
burgh, and has been a member of Grand Committee since 1856, and Grand
Jeweller .of the Grand Lodge since 1864. His portrait appears at page 38.
Apropos of the Ancients of Mary's Chapel, it may be mentioned that
Maurice Lothian, solicitor at law, author of the well-known work on
Scotch Consistorial Law and Practice, was initiated in 1820. He held
the office of Procurator-Fiscal of Edinburgh from 1847 to 1869 ; and he is
now, next to William Russell, Upper Grove Place, Edinburgh, who was
admitted in 18 17, the oldest original member of the Lodge.
John Stewart of Nateby Hall, Lancaster, was a member by honoraiy
affiliation of Mary's Chapel. Initiated in the Lodge St John, New Abbey,
362 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Kirkcudbright, he affiliated into St Clair, Edinburgh, and St John, Thorn-
hill, and in 1852 was appointed to the Provincial Grand Mastership of
D.umfriesshire, which he held till his death in 1867. In the course of his
administration of this office, and the better to promote the correct working
of the Lodges under his charge, he instituted an " Order of Masonic Merit,"
and presented a gold medal to the recipients of the distinction. He was
one of the most accomplished Masons of his time, and had passed through
the high degrees up to and inclusive of the 30th.
The Right Hon. Thomas Bowes Lyon, 12th Earl of Strathmore
(of the Lodge of Glammis), and Colonel John KiNLOCH of Kilrie (of Canon-
gate Kilwinning), were elected honorary members on visiting Mary's Chapel
in January 1864. Lord Strathmore was at the time of his death, which
occurred in 1865, Junior Grand Warden, and Past Master of the Lodge
Canongate Kilwinning. Two of his lordship's ancestors were eminent
members of the Craft. In August 1733, James Earl of Strathmore, then
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, presided in Mary's Chapel
at the initiation of John Earl of Crawfurd, John Earl of Kintore, and
Alexander Lord Garlies. Thomas Earl of Strathmore was Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1740-41. Colonel Kinloch has held
office in Grand Lodge — first as Junior Grand Deacon in 1844-45, Senior
Grand Deacon in 1845-46, Junior Grand Warden in 1846-47, Senior Grand
Warden in 1847-48, and Substitute Grand Master for the two years ending
St Andrew's-day 1850. In 1872 he retired from the Inspector-Generalship
of Police in Scotland, which he held for about fourteen years.
It was in recognition of his long-continued and invaluable services in
the Grand Committee and to the Craft generally, that in March 1866
Mary's Chapel enrolled the name of HENRY INGLIS of Torsonce, 30°,
among the honorary members of that Lodge. Mr Inglis not only person-
ally rperits the high honours of the Craft, but possesses hereditary claims
from being the son of William Inglis of Middleton, W.S., a brother of the
highest distinction in Masonic circles during the first thirty years of the
present century, and whose career as a craftsman has already been noticed.
The subject of the present sketch was initiated in the Lodge St Luke,
Edinburgh. He held the offices of Senior Grand Deacon in 1855, Junior
Grand Warden in 1856, Senior Grand Warden in 1857-58. In 1862 he
was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Peebles and Selkirk, on the
demise of Mr Forbes Mackenzie, and in 1867, in succession to the Earl of
Rosslyn, Substitute Grand Master Mason of Scotland, an office which he
HENRY INGLIS OF TORSONCE. 363
still discharges. In consideration of his knowledge of German literature
and of his high Masonic qualifications, he was in 1867 recommended by
the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the Grand Lodge " The Three Globes,"
Prussia, and afterwards to the Grand Lodge " The Royal York," Prussia,
as their representative to the Grand Lodge of Scotland ; and was appointed
accordingly. He presided and delivered an eloquent oration at the
Provincial Grand Funeral Lodge which was held at Glasgow in March
1869 in honour of Captain Spiers of Elderslie, M.P., who had only some
twelve months previously succeeded Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., in the
Provincial Grand Mastership of the Glasgow (City) Province. Mr Inglis,
whose portrait will be found at the head of Chapter L, is a Deputy-
Lieutenant of the county of Elgin ; and is on the Commissions of the
Peace of that county, and of Aberdeen, Banff, and Mid-Lothian. He is by
profession a Writer to the Signet, and is the senior partner of the firm of
H. and A. Inglis, W.S., Edinburgh. Mr Inglis has for many years taken
a warm and leading interest in many public municipal acts, and in
promoting the celebration of the Burns and Scott Centenaries. He is a
powerful and eloquent public speaker, and is possessed of high antiquarian
and literary accomplishments. He has displayed no small measure of
poetic talent, his poems being distinguished for felicity of diction, graphic
power of description, appreciation of character, and delicacy of sentiment.
His chief works are ' Marican,' ' The Briar of Threave and the Lily of
Barholm,' ' Death Scenes of Scottish Martyrs,' and ' Translations from the
German Ballads.' These productions have given him a high place in
public estimation as a poet, and associated him with Scott as a masterly
illustrator of the Romance of the Borders. Mr Inglis is surviving great-
grandson of the celebrated Christian and martial hero. Colonel Gardner,
who was killed at the battle of Prestonpans in 1745. Mr Inglis's grand-
mother was the Colonel's eldest daughter. Colonel Gardner's two sur-
viving great-great-grandsons, by younger daughters, are Sir John Don
Wauchope of Edmonstone, Baronet (a member of Grand Lodge) ; and Sir
James Gardner Baird of Saughton, Baronet. Mr Inglis is believed to be
the direct representative of the old Border family of Branksome, .acquired
from them by the Scotts of Buccleuch, and of Sir Thomas de Inglis, who
was killed at Flodden in 1513.
James Ballantine, one of the most successful of living Scottish song-
writers, hails the Lodge Roman Eagle, Edinburgh, as his Masonic alma
mater, and he is an honorary member of Mary's Chapel. Since his
election some ten years ago as Grand Bard, he has, on St Andrew's-days
364 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
and other festive occasions, contributed largely to the stock of our Masonic
lyrics. In Grand Lodge he represents St John Kilwinning, Kilmarnock —
a Lodge of which the unfortunate Earl of Kilmarnock was the first Master.
Mr Ballantine was born in 1808, in the West Port of Edinburgh. He is to
a large 'extent a self-taught man. Apprenticed in early life to a house-
painter, he subsequently turned his attention to the art of painting on
glass, and has long been well known as one of the most distinguished
British artists in that department. ' His designs were selected from
amongst those of a number of competitors for the windows of the House
of Lords, and the execution of the work was intrusted to him. Mr
Ballantine began at a very early age to woo the Muses, and several
volumes of his works have appeared. Many of his poems and songs are
likely to take a permanent place in Scottish literature. He is the poet of
the affections, a lover of the beautiful and tender in the humbler walks of
life, and of the lessons to be drawn from familiar customs, common sayings,
and simple character. His portrait will be found at page 50.
Colonel Archibald Campbell Campbell of Blythswood, Renfrew-
shire, Senior Grand Warden in the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and
Provincial Grand Master of East Renfrewshire, is a member by honorary
affiliation of the Lodge of Edinburgh. In November 1869 he was present
in an official capacity at the opening of the Suez Canal. He served in the
Crimea with the Scots Fusilier Guards, and retired with the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel. He is Vice-Lieutenant of Renfrewshire, and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel of the 31st Regiment of Glasgow Rifle Volunteers. His
portrait will be found at page 6. The Campbells of Blythswood are
descended from the Campbells of Ardteny and the noble family of Strath-
more, who were among the earliest promoters of trade in Glasgow.
General Sir John Moore was among the notables of a former generation
who as Freemasons hailed from the province over which Colonel Campbell
presides. The illustrious General, then a Lieutenant in the 15 th Foot, was
initiated in the Lodge Renfrew County Kilwinning in November 1798.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of the Hon. Joseph King
Wattley, Provincial Grand Master of the West India Islands. Initiated
in the Lodge Mount Olive, St Kitts, in 1846, he for ten consecutive years
filled the office of Secretary. In 1857 he became R.W.M., to which post
he was annually re-elected till 1868, when he removed to the island of
Tobago. His father, the Hon. J. K. Wattley, Chief Justice of St Christo-
pher's, was a Past Master of the same Lodge. In May 1869, in virtue of a
HON. JOSEPH KING WATTLEY. 365
warrant from the Provincial Grand Master of Trinidad, he consecrated the
Lodge Scarborough, Tobago, No. 488, and installed its first office-bearers,
and in the same year was elected to the Mastership, which he still holds.
The services which he has rendered to Freemasonry during his twenty-five
years' connection with it amply justify the confidence which Grand Lodge
reposed in him by appointing him, February 3, 1873, to a Provincial Grand
Mastership in the West Indies. In the exercise of his functions as R.W.M.,
he has conferred Masonic degrees upon upwards of one hundred brethren.
He is a Past First Principal in Royal Arch Masonry. Mr Wattley was
called to the Bar in 1842 ; was Clerk to the Legislative Assembly, St Kitts
(his native town), for fourteen years ending in 1866 ; has filled the offices of
Acting Attorney-General, St Kitts, Provisional Chief Justice, St Kitts,
Nevis, and Anguilla; and in 1868 received the appointment of Chief
Justice of Tobago, the duties of which office he still discharges.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
HE honorary affiliation of the Right Hon.Fox Maule Ramsay,
eleventh Earl of Dalhousie, 20th December 1866, is one
of those events in the Lodge's history to which, its sons will
ever point with the highest gratification ; for to his Lordship's
influence Mary's Chapel is indebted for the distinction of bearing upon its
roll the name of the Heir Apparent to the British Crown. Lord Dalhousie —
then Fox Maule, captain in the 79th (Cameron) Highlanders, and serving
on the staff of his uncle the Earl of Dalhousie — was initiated at Quebec in
April 1824, in the Lodge Merchans et Freres, No. j"], E.C. On his return
to Scotland he was in 1828 affiliated in the Lodge St John, Haddington,
EARL OF DALHOUSIE. 367
and afterwards joined Perth St Andrew. On St John's-day 1834 he
visited the Lodge of Dunblane, then presided over by his Lordship's
brother-in-law, the Hon. George Ralph Abercromby (afterwards Baron
Abercromby),* and was received as a matriculated member. Lord Dal-
housie, who is the oldest Past Master of the Lodge Friendship, and a
member of the Alpha, London, was in 1837 appointed Senior Grand
Warden, under His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex. He has long
acted'in the Grand Lodge of Scotland as the Representative of the Grand
Lodge of England, of which for three years he was Depute Grand
Master, and amid the labours and responsibilities of statesmanship found
time to discharge his Masonic duties. His Lordship retired from the
Depute Grand Mastership of England in i860, and was succeeded by Earl
De Grey and Ripon, who on the resignation of the Earl of Zetland was
elected Grand Master. Lord Dalhousie was at one time Provincial Grand
Master of Elgin and Moray ; but on the death of his father in 1852 became
Provincial Grand Master of Forfarshire, an office which he still holds. On
the elevation of Mr Whyte-Melville to the Scottish Masonic Throne, Lord
Dalhousie was chosen Depute Grand Master, and filled the office for one year.
In July 1867 his Lordship by appointment of Grand Lodge presided at the
Provincial Grand Funeral Lodge in honour of the memory of Sir Archibald
Alison, Bart., Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow — the largest communi-
cation of the kind ever held in Scotland. In November 1867 Lord Dal-
housie was unanimously elected Grand Master Mason of Scotland, the 68th
in succession. His Lordship determined from the first not to hold this
office for more than two years : the members of Grand Lodge therefore
during his second year of office presented a memorial to him expressing
their high sense of the manner in which he had discharged the duties of
the chair, and praying that under existing circumstances they might have
the benefit of his able, dignified, and impartial guidance for another year.
With this request his Lordship complied, and in his letter ex'pressed his
decided determination to retire at the end of the ensuing year ; stating
that in his opinion the Scotch practice of a two years' tenure of office should
be adhered to, and that the Grand Master should be alternately selected
from the different districts of Scotland.
We entirely concur in the views of his Lordship in regard to the impro-
priety of frequent re-election to the Grand Mastership. Such a system,
which, prior to the reign of the late Duke of Athole, had never been
,* Lord Abercromby was Provincial Grand Master of Stirlingshire for fourteen years ending in
1850, when he resigned. His Lordship was grandson of Sir Ralph Abercromby, who was mortally
wounded at the battle of Alexandria, March 1801, and who^e widow was created a peeress the same
year.
368 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
adopted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, debars from filling the highest
position in the Craft brethren of exalted rank both able and willing to
discharge the duties, and whose services in a minor capacity entitle them
to the distinction. An occasional change is also desirable, inasmuch as
each occupant of the Grand Chair possesses an influence different from
that of his predecessor, which he may legitimately exercise in introducing
into the Order persons of the social rank from which the Scottish Grand
Masters have been chiefly drawn. While, however, in favour of short
tenures of the Grand Mastership, we are of opinion that there should be no
absolute or compulsory rule to prevent re-election to the Masonic Throne,
when the interests of the Craft render an extension of the practice of one
re-election not only desirable but necessary. The difficulties which at
various periods of its existence Grand Lodge has experienced in securing
noblemen and gentlemen for the Grand Chair must not be overlooked.
In more than one instance the Craft have had to travel beyond their own
pale, and noblemen were selected for the office before their initiation.
Some attended a few Grand Lodge Communications, — others attended
only the St Andrew's Festival on which they were installed, — and several
never entered Grand Lodge at all. But that brethren like the Earl of
Haddington, Lord Panmure, Lord Loughborough, Lord James Murray,
Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, Bart., Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart, and Sir
Archibald Alison, Bart,, any of whom would have filled the office with
dignity and efficiency, should have been overlooked in the oft-repeated
election of the late Duke of Athole, is a strong proof of the soundness of
the principle by which the Past Grand Master was guided in declining to
occupy the Chair for a longer period than three years.
At the end of the third year of office Lord Dalhousie carried out his de-
termination by abdicating the chair of Grand Lodge. As Grand Master
his Lordship brought his great abilities and admirable business habits to
bear upon the administration of his office. Among the most prominent of
his official acts were the laying the foundation-stones of the Glasgow
Industrial Schools, at Mossbank, August 1868, — the Free Library and
Museum, presented to the town of Paisley by Sir Peter (then Mr) Coats,
April 1869, — the County Buildings and the Reid Institution at Forfar,
August 1869, — and the Albert Bridge over the Clyde, June 1870. Lord
Dalhousie's last public act as Grand Master was laying the foundation-
stone of the new Lodge-room of the Lodge Journeymen, Edinburgh, 30th
November 1870. Singularly enough, this was the only one of the Edin-
burgh lodges to which his Lordship ever made a Grand Visitation. To
the Earl of Dalhousie the Fraternity are indebted for the patronage of His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and his installation as head of the
EARL OF DALHOUSIE. 369
Grand Lodge. The City of Edinburgh is also under obligations to his
Lordship for the Prince's appearance as Royal Patron in planting the
corner-stone of the new Royal Infirmary. On his Lordship becoming Past
Grand Master, an influential committee was formed to secure a testimonial
to be presented to him in acknowledgment of the high respect in which
his character was held, and of the distinguished services he had rendered
to Masonry. The result of this movement has in the first place been the
execution of a marble bust of his Lordship by Brother John Hutchison;
Royal Scottish Academician, which is placed in Freemasons' Hall. His
Lordship specially requested the balance of the money subscribed to be
devoted to some charitable purpose ; and the subscribers have, with his
concurrence, given it to the Trustees of the Fund of Scottish Masonic
Benevolence to be held by them in trust as a separate fund under
the title of the " Dalhousie Fund," and its annual proceeds applied in
pensioning aged Freemasons or the aged widows of Freemasons. Initi-
ated under a Constitution which recognises the Arch as the perfection of
the Third Degree, Lord Dalhousie is a Royal Arch Companion, but on
Masonic principle refuses to countenance the so-called " High Degrees" as
being in any respect Masonic. He is a Past First Principal of the Supreme
Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland, and has held the chair of Grand
H. in the Grand Chapter of England.
It is not only in Freemasonry that Lord Dalhousie has taken a com-
manding position. Entering the arena of politics in 1835, his Lordship
defeated Sir George Murray in the contest for the county of Perth : he
was unseated by Viscount Stormont in 1837, but in the following year was
returned for the Elgin Burghs. He resigned the representation of that
constituency in 1841, and was chosen M.P. for Perth, which he continued
to represent till called to the House of Lords. During his Parliamentary
career he filled several important offices of State. He has been Under
Secretary for the Home Department, twice Secretary at War, Vice-Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade, and President of the Board of Control. On
the overthrow of the Aberdeen Ministry in January 185 5,. on account of their
alleged mismanagement of the Crimean War, Viscount Palmerston was
called to the helm of affairs, and Lord Dalhousie, then Lord Panmure,
was selected to extricate the War Department from the difficulties in
which it had become involved. His Lordship fully justified the trust re-
posed in him, and by his good management the British Army was at the
close of the war in a more effective state than when the war began. He
instituted the system of competitive examination for army commissions,
which has so much tended to raise the standard of military education.
2 A
.370 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
-One of the things for which his reign at the War Office will ever be honour-
ably distinguished, was the limitation he introduced in the use of the lash,
which paved the way for its total abolition. Taking a prominent part
in ecclesiastical affairs during the struggle in the Church of Scotland which
resulted in the disruption of 1843, his Lordship has continued to be one
of the most distinguished leaders of the Free Church. His election in
1842 to the Lord Rectorship of the University of Glasgow, though opposed
by the Marquis of Bute and the Duke of Wellington, was a testimony of
the admiration in which he was held for his scholarly attainments. His
appointment as Lord - Lieutenant of Forfarshire, and his having been
created a Knight of the Thistle and a Knight of the Grand Cross of the
Bath, are honours which his Lordship received as marks of his Sovereign's
favour ; the high place which he holds in the esteem of his countrymen is
the reward of his eminent public services ; while the expressions of regret
which followed his retirement from the exalted Masonic position which he
had so gracefully filled, testify to the respect which the Craft entertain for
his worth and ability.
His Lordship's family have for upwards of a century been closely
associated with the government of the Craft. His grandfather, George
8th Earl of Dalhousie, was Grand Master Mason of Scotand in
1767-69, and subscribed ;^ioo towards the purchase of the St Cecilia
Hall in Niddry Street as a Freemasons' Hall ; — his uncle, George
9th Earl, held the same office during 1804-6 ; — his uncle, Lieutenant-
General the Hon. John Ramsay (father of the present heir-presumptive
to the title and family estates), was Junior Grand Warden in 1807-to ; —
his father, the Hon. William Ramsay Maule of Panmure (afterwards
Baron Panmure), was acting Grand Master under His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales, in 1808-10, and was Provincial Grand Master of For-
farshire for the period of fifty-one years ; — his cousin. Lord Ramsay, after-
wards 1 0th Earl and 1st Marquis of Dalhousie, was Grand Master in
1836-38. He was born at Brechin Castle in 1801, and succeeded on the
death of his father in 1852 to the title of Lord Panmure, and the estates
thereunto belonging. On the death of his cousin the late Governor-
General of India, in December i860, of whom we have already spoken, he
succeeded to the Earldom of Dalhousie. His Lordship is descended on
one side from Sir Alexander Ramsay, celebrated in medieval chronicles
as " The Flower of Knighthood," and on the other side from the ancient
Norman family of Maule of Panmure. The Earldom of Panmure, subse-
quently acquired by this family,- was attainted in the person of the fourth
Earl, who espoused the cause of the Stuarts in the Rebellion of 17 15.
SIR MICHAEL SHAW STEWART. 371
Upon the retirement of the Earl of Dalhousie from the Grand Throne
in 1870, his Lordship, on account of his well-known interest in the Craft
and business abilities, recommended Sir Michael Robert Shaw
Stewart of Greenock and Blackball, Baronet, Provincial Grand Master
of West Renfrewshire, for the office of Depute Grand Master, with the
ultimate view of Sir Michael succeeding the Earl of Rosslyn in the Grand
Mastership. Lord Dalhousie's recommendation was unanimously given
effect to by Grand Lodge. Sir Michael is 17th in direct male descent
from Sir John Stewart, son of Robert III., King of Scotland. In the
archives of the family are three charters of Robert III. to Sir John Stewart
of the lands of Ardgowan, Blackball, and Auchingoun, in the county of
Renfrew, dated 1390, 1396, and 1403. These several lands have lineally
descended in an uninterrupted course of male succession from the said Sir
John Stewart to Sir Michael, the present Baronet. He represented the
county of Renfrew in Parliament, in the Conservative interest, for a
number of years ; and was appointed Lord Lieutenant of that county in
1868. He is Honorary Colonel of the Renfrewshire Rifle Volunteers.
Sir Michael is a member by honorary affiliation of Mary's Chapel, and was
appointed to the Provincial Grand Mastership of Renfrew West in 1848 —
a post which has been held by members of the Stewart family since the
erection of the province in 1826. In 1852 Sir Michael presented a public
park to the town of Greenock, and was entertained at a public banquet
in acknowledgment of the munificent gift.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of the Right Hon.
Alexander Hugh Bruce, Baron Balfour of Burleigh, Proxy
Provincial Grand Master of Western India. His Lordship was initiated
in the Apollo University Lodge, Oxford, and is presently Master of
the Lodge Churchill, of the same city. He is a member of Mary's
Chapel, Edinburgh, and of the Alpha Lodge, London, over which His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales presides, and the membership of
which is limited to fifty. He has filled the office of Secretary of the
Provincial Grand Lodge of Oxfordshire, and is a Royal Arch Mason.
The Barony of Balfour was attainted through the fifth Lord having joined
the Rebellion in 1715. His Lordship is the representative of two of the
oldest famiHes in Scotland — the Bruces, descended from Sir Robert de Brus,
who came to Britain with William the Conqueror in 1066, and who was
also the ancestor of King Robert the Bruce, — and the Balfours, who trace
their descent from the time of Duncan, King of Scotland (1094). Balfour
of Burleigh is a prominent figure in Sir Walter Scott's 'Old Mortality.'*
•Sir Walter, in his introduction to 'Old Mortality,' acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr
372 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
He took a leading part against the establishment of Episcopacy in Scot-
land, a foremost place in the rising of the Covenanting Cameronians, and
fought at Drumclog and Bothwell Brig. Lord Burleigh is a Deputy
Lieutenant of the county of Clackmannan. He was declared heir to the
Barony by the House of Lords in 1868 ; and by Act of Parliament in 1869
he was relieved from the effects of the attainder of the title. The estate
of Kennet has been in his Lordship's family since the time of James I. of
Scotland (1406). Lord Burleigh is cousin by his mother's side to His
Excellency Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran, Bart.,. Governor of New
Zealand, whose portrait appears at page 336.
Joseph Train, supervisor of excise at Dumfries, for an account of the wandering Cameronian whose
devotion to the work of restoring the martyrs' monuments earned for him the sobriquet of Old
MortaUty. Mr Train, who was otherwise helpful to Scott in his antiquarian researches, was a
Past Master of the Lodge Ayr and Renfrew Militia St Paul.
if ^ '
^.^^^.f^L^
CHAPTER XL.
EVERAL Scotch families of distinction have during many
generations preserved their connection with the Masonic
Fraternity. Amongst these are the noble houses of Eglinton,
Strathallan, Torphichen, Athole, Dalhousie, Dundonald,
Hamilton, Rosslyn, Strathmore, Crawfurd, Bakarres, Buchan, Kellie,
Haddington, and others. The present Grand Master's immediate predeces-
sor in the Depute Grand Mastership — the late Right Hon. George Baillie-
Hamilton, tenth Earl of Haddington — was the descendant in the
sixth generation of the celebrated lawyer and statesman, Sir Patrick Hume
of Polwarth, first Earl of Marchmont, whom we have already noticed as
374 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
having been admitted a fellow craft in the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1667.
He was also a collateral descendant of General Alexander Hamilton,
admitted to Mary's Chapel in 1640, and of Walter Pringle of the -Stichell
family, who was made a fellow of the Lodge in 1670. Lord Haddington
was initiated in the Lodge St John Kilwinning, Haddington, and was a
member by honorary affiliation of Mary's Chapel. He was elected Depute
Grand Master in 1865, and in 1866 received the appointment of Provincial
Grand Master of East Lothian. In order to give place to the Earl of
Rosslyn, who it was then understood was to succeed the Earl of Dalhousie
in the Grand Mastership, Lord Haddington vacated the Grand Deputy's
chair in 1869, on the understanding that he was to resume it in the follow-
ing year, preparatory to his election as Grand Master. But his Lordship
died within a few months of his retirement. He had the misfortune while
pruning a mulberry tree in his garden at Tyningham to cut his finger, which
ultimately caused his death at London (June 1870), whither he had gone
to discharge his duties as a lord-in-waiting to Her Majesty. Grand Lodge
on the sad occasion sent an address of condolence and sympathy to the
Countess-Dowager of Haddington. His Lordship, who was probably one
of the most popular and universally beloved craftsmen of his time, was
Second Grand Principal in the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of
Scotland, and also held office in the Royal Order, the Order of the Temple,
and in other degrees. He was Lord High Commissioner to the General
Assemblies of the Church of Scotland in 1867 and 1868. Soon after his
accession to the peerage, he obtained a royal license to add Hamilton,
the original surname of his family, to that of Baillie, assumed by his grand-
father, who, marrying the daughter of Baillie of Jerviswood, succeeded to
the estates of that family. Lord Haddington's portrait will be found in
another part of this work.
The retirement of the Right Honourable Thomas Dundas, Earl of
Zetland, from the Throne of the Grand Lodge of England, having been
deemed by the Lodge of Edinburgh a fitting occasion for marking its high
estimate of the Masonic services of his Lordship during his twenty-'six
years' tenure of office as head of the English Craft, the brethren authorised
the Master to offer to Lord Zetland the distinction of honorary affiliation.
In accepting the proffered honour, his Lordship fixed the 2d of August
1870 for his matriculation. At the Grand Quarterly Communication on
the previous day, the Grand Master exercised his privilege of nominating
his Lordship an honorary member * of Grand Lodge — the proposition
' Honorary Members were introduced into Grand Lodge in 1851, on the motion of the then
Grand Master, the Duke of Athole, who inaugurated the admission of this class of members by
EARL OF ZETLAND. 375
being unanimously confirmed by the brethren. Hitherto the distinction
had been bestowed only on Sovereigns ; but it is in the power of the Grand
Master to nominate other distinguished brethren. In conferring it upon
the Past Grand Master of England, Lord Dalhousie has formed a pre-
cedent for the recognition of eminent Masonic services apart from the
accidents of birth or royal position.
On the evening of the day fixed for Lord Zetland's reception in Mary's
Chapel, the Lodge held a special communication within the Waterloo
Operetta House, which was elegantly fitted up for the occasion. No more
brilliant meeting had previously been held under the auspices of Mary's
Chapel — the interest attached to it being greatly increased from its being
that also which Lord Dalhousie had selected for conferring upon Lord
Zetland the honorary membership of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. There
were about two hundred brethren present, among whom were the Earls of
Dalhousie and Rosslyn ; Lords Lindsay and Rosehill ; John White-Mel-
ville, Past Grand Master ; Henry Inglis, Substitute Grand Master ; Henry
Morland, Provincial Grand Master of Western India ; Dr Robert Beve-
ridge, Provincial Grand Master of Aberdeen (City) Province ; George H.
Thoms, Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney, and Shetland ; James Wolfe Murray
of Cringletie, &c.
The formalities attending the Grand Master's reception having been
gone through, Lord Dalhousie stated that he embraced the present oppor-
tunity—the first which had occurred — to confer on the Past Grand Master
of England affiliation as an Honorary Member of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland — the highest dignity in the power of the Grand Lodge to confer.
His Lordship pointed out the great services Lord Zetland had rendered to
the English Craft and its Charities, and his high appreciation of his friend-
ship, which had extended over many years, and concluded his address by
investing his Lordship with the jewel of honorary membership. Lord
Zetland in his reply referred to the fact that Mary's Chapel was the only
Scotch Lodge he had ever attended with the exception of a visit made
many years before to the Morton Lodge at Lerwick in Shetland, and stated
it had always been his anxious wish and earnest desire to make Free-
masonry what it is and what it professes to be — -a. charitable society — and
that the Charities in connection with Freemasonry in England set an
example worthy of the imitation of all. The Master of the Lodge thereafter
proceeded with the affiliation of Lord Zetland as a member of Mary's
confering the rank upon Charles XV., King of Sweden, and Prince Frederick of the Netherlands,
and afterwards upon George V., King of Hanover, and William I., King of Prussia (nojv Emperor
of Germany). Honorary Members of Grand Lodge take precedence immediately after the Depute
Grand Master, and a badge worn as a medal on the breast is their distinctive decoration.
376 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Chapel, and in doing so referred to the fact that the number of Lodges
under his jurisdiction had increased from 1844 to 1870 by upwards of 720 ;
and that while in 1844 the number of certificates issued was under 1600,
during the year 1869 the number had increased to 7000. He further re-
marked that the Scottish Craft had a peculiar gratification in a countryman
of their own for a quarter of a century having occupied the position of
Grand Master of the Fraternity in England, and having so long guided and
controlled that great body.
On Lord Zetland's retirement in 1870 from the Grand Chair, to which he
had succeeded on the death of the Duke of Sussex, the English Craft, in
token of their appreciation of his Lordship's long service as Grand Master,
presented him with a testimonial for which the large sum of upwards
of ;£'27oo was collected. With characteristic magnanimity, his Lordship
declined to allow this money to be invested in plate or otherwise, and
dedicated it, under the title of the " Zetland Fund," to Masonic Charity,
taking only a silver inkstand as a souvenir for himself. Earl de Grey and
Ripon (now Marquis of Ripon) in returning thanks for the honour conferred
upon him by his election as successor to Lord Zetland, characterised his
Lordship as " a man of high and noble nature, one in whose mind every
mean or personal consideration was ever absent ; a man who reflected upon
the rule of the Craft he governed the stamp of integrity and of honour."
Lord Zetland was initiated in the Prince of Wales Lodge in 1 830, and after-
wards became its Master. Prior to his elevation to the English Masonic
Throne, his Lordship had filled the offices of Senior Grand Warden and Dep-
uty Grand Master. In 1835, he was appointed to the Provincial Grand Mas-
tership of the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, which he still holds.
His Lordship is a Knight of the Thistle and Lord-Lieutenant of the North
Riding of Yorkshire. He was one of three who contributed ;^5000 each to
enable the Duke and Duchess of Kent to come to England from Germany
for the Duchess's confinement, and in consequence Queen Victoria was
born an Englishwoman. Her Majesty, previous to her marriage, returned
the money to Lord Zetland, along with a gold salver and an autograph.
To mark its appreciation also of the eminent services of His Grace
Augustus Frederick Fitzgerald, Duke of LEiNSTER,as Grand Master
of Ireland, Mary's Chapel, in May 1870, instructed its Master to'off"er to
His Grace the compliment of honorary affiliation. His Grace wrote a
courteous letter in reply, and said he was much flattered by the Lodge
conferring honorary affiliation on him, which he accepted, and expressed
his regret that from advanced age he was unable to attend in person to
take the obligation. In these circumstances the Lodge dispensed with his
DUKE OF LEINSTER. 377
attendance, and formally assumed His Grace as a member. The Duke of
Leinster was initiated in the Grand Master's Lodge, Dublin, on the 13th
June 1 813. He was installed as Grand Master of the Freemasons of Ire-
land on the 24th of the same month, and has been unanimously re-elected
every year since. His father filled the same office in 1771-76, and again
in 1778, when he succeeded the Earl of Mornington, father of the first
Duke of Wellington. His Grace is President of the Masonic Orphan Boys'
School for Ireland, and is head of the Supreme Grand Council of the
Thirty-Third Degree. He is Lord Lieutenant of the county of Kerry.
He is third Duke of Leinster and twenty-second Earl of Kildare, and is
descended from a race of Irish barons of the time of Henry II. His Grace's
portrait will be found in another part of this work.
John Watt M'Culloch of Lasswade Hill, Mid-Lothian, and Mount
Vernon, Wigtonshire, held for three consecutive years the office of Substi-
tute Master of Mary's Chapel, into which Lodge he was affiliated from the
Celtic. He is one of the Grand Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
a Knight Commander of the Order of the Temple, a member of the Royal
Order, and of other kindred bodies in Scotland. Mr M'Culloch was the
last person admitted to the 30th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scot-
tish Rite in its Supreme Chapter by its Most Illustrious Sovereign. No
such admission can now be made, that Supreme Body having delegated its
powers in this respect to its daughter Chapters. Although a Scotchman
by birth and ancestry, Mr M'Culloch is a naturalised American citizen.
He has recently returned to Buffalo, New York State. His portrait
appears at the head of this chapter.
CHAPTER XLl.
AVING noticed some of the more distinguished of the members
by honorary affihation of Mary's Chapel, we shall now make
a selection from the list of its members by matriculation.
The reception by affiliation of brethren who had been initiated
in other Lodges was recognised as a source of revenue by the Scottish
Craft prior to the erection of the Grand Lodge ; but the custom did not
prevail to any great extent till the middle of the last century. In 1758 we
find two Edinburgh brethren accompanying their application for admission
MARSHAL MACDONALD. 379
into the " Venerable Grayhair'd Mother Kilwinning " by a promise to
present a " set of new ribbons" to the Lodge. In 1741 the matriculation
fee was fixed by Mary's Chapel at half a guinea.
William MacKillop, Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, was among
the earliest of the affiliates into the Lodge of Edinburgh. He belonged to
the Royal Arch, Stirling, and possessed considerable social influence. He
held the chair of No. i during the six years ending St John's-day 1787,
and was Junior Grand Warden in 1784-5. His Mastership has hitherto
been believed to have been signalised by the admission of Marshal Mac-
donald, one of the most distinguished generals of the French Empire
under Napoleon L The initiation in question took place in Mary's Chapel,
August 16, 1782, the initiate being described as " Philip Macdonald from
Italy." Under this name, as it appears on the margin of the page con-
taining the minute to which it refers, is the following holograph notandum
by the late Alexander Deuchar, Past Master : " Now Duke of Tarentum.
A-D.'" Brother Deuchar makes a similar entry in the roll of members
prefixed to the same minute-book in these terms : " 1805. General in
French Army." As the matter presently stands, there is no evidence of
the intrant's identity with Marshal Macdonald, beyond the fact of Mr
Deuchar's statements, made in 1805, and repeated after the Marshal was
created Duke of Taranto, in 1809. The Marshal was connected by family
with Scotland. His grandfather left the kingdom with the Stuarts in 1688,
and his father accompanied Prince Charles Edward to Scotland in 1745,
and on his landing in the Hebrides acted as his amanuensis. He settled
in Italy along with his unfortunate master. It is probable, therefore, that
Marshal Macdonald when a young man may have visited Scotland and
become a Freemason. On the other hand, the Marshal's Christian names,
in so far as known to history, were " Etienne Jacques Joseph Alexander,"
and at the date of the minute he would be a youth of less than eighteen
years of age. But in judging of the matter it must be borne in mind that
Mr Deuchar was a careful and well-known professional heraldist and
genealogist. He joined Mary's Chapel only twenty years later than Mac-
donald, and remained an active member of it for forty-two years, thirty-eight
of these being during Marshal Macdonald's life. He made many marginal
notes in the minutes, and did not delete those in regard to Macdonald,
which we may assume he would not have repeated if he believed them to
be incorrect. We have endeavoured, through the Secretary of the Grand
Orient de France, to discover whether there is any French record of
Marshal Macdonald's initiation, but find that owing to the hurried conceal-
ment in confusion of the Grand Lodge archives during the reign of the
38o HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Commune, it is impossible to institute a search for the desired information
until the records 'shall have been rearranged. The Marshal was Grand
Master of France in 1830-32. Mass^na, Kellermann, Murat, Soult, and
other of Buonaparte's generals were leading members of the Craft. The
name of Marshal Soult is associated with one of our north country Lodges.
After Wellington's victory over the French army at Vittoria in June J813, a
party while searching Soult's tent discovered and took possession of his
Masonic diploma. Ten years afterwards this document was presented to
the Lodge St Nathalan, Tulloch-in-Mar, where it was preserved till 185 1,
when it was transmitted to Grand Lodge for restoration to its legitimate
owner. It reached the Marshal through the British Ambassador at Paris,
a few days before his death.
James Linning Woodman, clerk to the signet, and a landed proprietor
in Lanarkshire, was initiated in the Lodge Clydesdale, Lanark, and joined
the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1836, in which year he was elected Senior
Warden. In the following year he was called to the chair, which he held
till December 1840. He was Grand Clerk from 1846 till his death, which
occurred suddenly in February 1856. The Right Hon. George William
Evelyn Leslie, eleventh Earl of Rothes, was initiated by Mr Woodman in
1838. His Lordship was elected Grand Master Mason of Scotland in
November 1840, and died in March 1841. He was the last of the six
Grand Masters which Mary's Chapel has given to Scotland, he having been
preceded in that office by the following sons of his mother lodge, namely,
the Earls of Kintore, Crawfurd, and Galloway, Right Hon. George Drum-
mond. Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and the Right Hon. Sir James Forrest,
Bart., Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Lord Rothes was the head of the
Leslies, a noble Hungarian family which settled in Scotland in the time of
William the Lion. One of his Lordship's ancestors was Lord Treasurer
and Chancellor of Scotland in the reign of Charles II.
William Hamilton Ramsay of the Thistle Lodge, Glasgow, became
a member of Mary's Chapel in 1844, and in 1847 was elected Secretary,
from which office he was in 1849 promoted to that of Master. He retired
from the chair in 1852. Mr Ramsay is a nephew of the late Lord Belhaven,
and is now Major in the Lanarkshire Militia, and Master of Ceremonies in
Grand Lodge, the duties of which office he discharges with great success-
He is also an influential member of Grand Committee. He held the office
of Master of the Rifle Lodge on its institution. But his fame in Masonic
circles chiefly rests on his services to the body of Knight Templars, in
which for many years he has taken the leading place. He is presently
SIR ALEXANDER GIBSON MAITLAND. 381
the Prior of the Lothians, and Registrar of the Chapter-General of the
Order ; — and through his instrumentality H.R.H. the Prince of Wales,
on his visit to Edinburgh in October 1870, became connected with that
body.
Sir Alexander Gibson Maitland of Cliftonhall, Bart., a member of
Canongate Kilwinning, was affiliated in the Lodge of Edinburgh in
November 1848, and elected Master on St John's-day of the same year.
He retired in 1849. His father served as Junior Grand Warden during
the years 1798-1800. Sir Alexander is Provincial Grand Master of Stirling-
shire. He is descended from the Hon. General Alexander Maitland (fifth
son of the sixth Earl of Lauderdale), a distinguished military officer. On
the death in 1866 of Mr Ramsay of Barnton, Sir Alexander inherited his
large estates, and thereupon assumed the surname of Ramsay before that
of Gibson. He is M.P. for the county of Edinburgh.
Charles William Ramsay Ramsay, of Barnton, in the county
- of Edinburgh — son of William Ramsay Ramsay, of Barnton, and
sometime M.P. for Midlothian, by his wife, the Hon. Mary Sandilands,
daughter of James tenth Lord Torphichen — was affiliated into Mary's
Chapel in 1863, his mother lodge being the Apollo University, Oxford.
He was chosen Junior Grand Deacon in 1863, and was appointed to the
Provincial Grand Mastership of Linlithgowshire in 1 864, in which year he
died from the effects of an accident at the early age of twenty-one,
universally lamented. His portrait will be found at page 165. His
grandfather, George Ramsay of Barnton, was Depute Grand Master in
1798-99. His maternal uncle, Robert eleventh Baron Torphichen, was
Substitute Grand Master in 1840, and was an enthusiastic member of the
Craft. He was long Master of the Mid-Calder Lodge, and when unable
from infirmity to attend its communications at. its usual place of meeting,
he obtained special permission from Grand Lodge to open that Lodge in
Calder House, his private residence. James ninth Lord Torphichen was
Depute Grand Master in 1786-87. The Honourable Walter Sandilands,
advocate, another of the Torphichen family, was Master of Torphichen
Kilwinning in 1737.
Archibald Alexander Speirs was initiated in the Prince of Wales
Lodge, London, No. 259, in May 1864, and was Junior Grand Warden of
the Grand Lodge of England in 1867:68. In April 1866 he affiliated into
Mary's Chapel for his Scotch qualification, and in July of the following
year was, along with Lord Dalhousie, made a member by honorary affilia-
382 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
tion of the Lodge St Mungo, Glasgow, No. 27. In August 1867 he suc-
ceeded the late Sir Archibald Alison, Bart, in the Provincial Grand Mas-
tership of the Glasgow (City) Province. He died in December 1868, at
the early age of twenty-eight ; and in March 1869 his memory was
honoured by a Provincial Funeral Grand Lodge held in the City Hall,
Glasgow, at which fifteen hundred brethren were present. The oration
was delivered by Henry Inglis of Torsonce, Substitute Grand Master, who
touchingly referred to the personal qualities and brief career of the
deceased. Entering the army in 1858, Br. Speirs had in 1862 attained to
a captaincy in the Scots Fusilier Guards, from which he retired^ in 1 865 on
being sent to Parliament in the Liberal interest as representative of the
county of Renfrew. His portrait will be found at page 107. Captain
Speirs was the great-grandson of Alexander Speirs, one of four young
men whose separate capital did not exceed ;^ 10,000 in all, and who
started business as American merchants in Glasgow, and contributed
largely to the rise of that city. The estate of Elderslie, once the property
of the family of the renowned Sir William Wallace, was purchased in 1769
by Mr Speirs. His son and successor, Alexander Speirs, father of the
subject of this notice, was at the time of his death in 1848 at once Lord-
Lieutenant and Member of Parliament for Renfrewshire. Sir ARCHIBALD
Alison was initiated in Glasgow Kilwinning, and in 1 847 was placed at
the head of the province of Glasgow, which position he retained till his
death in 1867. He was always ready to give his services in promoting the
interests of the Order. In 1834 he was appointed Sheriff of Lanarkshire.
He was Lord Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1845, was in 1851
elected to the same position in the University of Glasgow, and in the fol-
lowing year was created a Baronet. He has left an imperishable fame ^s
the author of ' The History of Europe.' WALTER MONTGOMERIE Neilson
of Queenshill, Kirkcudbrightshire, is Captain Speirs' successor in the office
of Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow — Grand Lodge having in the ap-
pointment given effect to the unanimous recommendation of the Provincial
Grand Lodge, of which he was then Depute Master. Caledonian Rail-
way, Glasgow, is his mother lodge. He is a Justice of Peace for Lanark-
shire, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the 25th Glasgow Rifle Volunteers. His
portrait appears at the head of Chapter XV. Mr Neilson's father was the
inventor of the " Hot-blast," one of the most important discoveries ever
made in connection with the manufacture of iron.
Hector Frederick M'Lean, 30°, of Carnwath House, Provincial
Grand Master of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, was initiated in the
Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, and affiliated into Mary's Chapel in 1869.
EARL OF KELLIE. 383
The Earl of Dalhousie, Grand Master, complimented Mr M'Lean by in-
stalling him into office as Provincial Grand Master, at Lanark in May
1868. He is a Writer to Her Majesty's Signet, and head of a large legal
firm in Edinburgh : is a Deputy- Lieutenant of the county of Lanark, and
holds a captaincy in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry.
His portrait appears at page 130. Mr M'Lean is maternal uncle of Sir
Simon M'Donald-Lockhart of Lee and Carnwath, Baronet, representative
of the old Scotch family of Lockhart.
The Right Hon. Walter Henry Erskine, 13th Earl of Kellie, 30°,
was initiated under the English Constitution, and is an ex-officebearer of
the Lodge Marquis of Dalhousie, London. His Lordship had not at the
time of his election to the Junior Grand Deaconship (1868) joined any
Scotch Lodge. In these circumstances his appointment was irregular,
though precedents for its adoption are not awanting in the practice of
Grand Lodge. His Lordship's disqualification was subsequently removed
by his affiliation into Mary's Chapel. He is now Junior Grand Warden of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland. His portrait will be found at page 15.
His Lordship's ancestor, Thomas Lord Erskine, was Grand Master Mason
of Scotland in 1749-50: another, John Earl of Kellie, presided over the
Grand Lodge of England (Ancients) from 1761 till 1766, and was Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1763-65.
The Right Hon. Lord Rosehill, 30°, who is the eldest son of the
Earl of Northesk, and presently (1873) in Edinburgh as aide-de-camp to
the Commander of the Forces, was initiated in the English Lodge
Harmony, No. 255. His Lordship joined the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1869,
and at present holds the office of Depute Master. He is also Grand S-word
Bearer in the Grand Lodge of Scotland. His portrait appears at page 57.
His Lordship devotes his leisure to prehistoric investigation, and has
obtained an eminence in that line of study. His grandfather, the seventh
Earl of Esk, was third in 'command at Trafalgar, and the family shield has
" Trafalgar " placed on its breast in acknowledgment of his services.
The Right Hon. Lord Lindsay, 31", son of the Earl of Crawfurd and
Balcarres, was initiated in the Lodge Isaac Newton, Cambridge. His
Lordship joined the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1870. He is Senior Grand
Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England, and Provincial Grand
Master of West Aberdeenshire. His portrait appears at page 72. His
Lordship has a very extensive knowledge of the Craft, and has made him-
self acquainted with its workings throughout the world. Lord Lindsay
384 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
some years ago travelled through Russia, and while on his way down the
Volga exhausted his supply of the coin of the country. The master of the
steamboat refused to recognise English gold, and put his Lordship and his
servant on the desert bank of the river. His Lordship had a revolver with
which he shot a partridge, and having a few fishing-hooks he took some
worsted from his socks with which he caught some fish, on which he and
his servant maintained themselves for ten days. During that time more
than one steamer passed them, but would not take them on board. At
last another steamer came, and a Jew, who was a passenger, observed his
Lordship make the sign of distress. Through him his Lordship and servant
were taken on board, and their charges advanced to the end of their
journey. A similar incident occurred to General James Lindsay of Bal-
carres, his Lordship's grandfather. While a prisoner in the hands of the
Turks in the north of Africa, he made a Masonic sign to an old man who
was about the fortress in which he was detained. This man. thereupon put
him on a way to escape, and on his leaving the fortress met him and placed
him in a boat in which he escaped to Gibraltar.
The Right Hon. James Cowan, Lord Provost of the^city of Edinburgh,
is a member by affiliation of the Lodge of Edinburgh. His Lordship
was initiated in Canongate Kilwinning.
Sir James Gibson-Craig of Riccarton, Mid-Lothian, whose portrait
appears at the head of this chapter, belonged originally to the Military
Lodge St Andrew. He was in 1784 admitted to Mary's Chapel by affilia-
tion in the apprentice degree, and in 1787 became its Master, which post
he held for one year. He subsequently affiliated into Editiburgh St David.
He was one of the leaders of the dominant party in Grand "Lodge in the
questions in connection with Dr Mitchell and the Masonic Secession of
1809. He was a cadet of the Davie family. In 1830 he received a
Baronetcy as a reward for political services rendered to the Whig party.
He assumed the additional surname and arms of Craig in virtue of the
provisions of the entail made by Robert Craig of Riccarton. He died in
1850. His eldest son, the present Baronet, is Lord Clerk-Register of
Scotland, and has been one of the representatives of Edinburgh in Parlia-
ment. Sir James's third daughter was mother of the present Duchess of
Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes.
CHAPTER XLII.
HE apocryphal and purely fabulous portions of Scottish
Masonic history alike associate Roj^alty with the patronage
and government of Mason Lodges in medicTeval times. But it
is not till the end of the sixteenth century that we obtain
direct evidence to identify the Scottish Sovereign with Lodge matters.
This is furnished by a postscript to the Warden-General's Ordinance of
1599 anent the precedency of Lodges, in which the King's absence from
Edinburgh is assigned as a reason for delay in the confirmation of certain
privileges claimed by the Lodge of Kilwinning. Bringing His Majesty
2 1:
386 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
into closer relationship to the Fraternity, the Perth MS. (1658) asserts that
James VI. was initiated in the Lodge of Scone. While this statement
may be in accordance with fact — seeing that the Mary's Chapel records
afford proof that in the sixteenth century lodge membership comprised
theoretical as well as practical masons — still, in the absence of direct evi-
dence on the point, and considering the leaning towards the fabulous
which the manuscript in question betrays, the story of James's admission
as a fellow craft must be received with hesitation. From no authentic
document can it be shown that any of His Majesty's predecessors on the
Scotti.sh throne, or any of his successors in the double sovereignty up till
the accession of the House of Hanover, were ever members of a Mason
Lodge.
The initiation of Frederick Lewis Prince of Wales (father of George
HL), by Dr Desaguliers, the learned brother who in 1721 instructed
the Lodge of Edinburgh in the secret ceremonial of English Freemasonry,
is the first undoubted instance of the admission to lodge membership of a
Prince of the Blood Royal. His Royal Highness was entered in 1737, at
an " occasional lodge " convened for the purpose at the palace of Kew, and
was passed and raised at two subsequent communications. Two of His
Royal Highness's sons, William Henry Duke of Gloucester, and Henry
Frederick Duke of Cumberland, were initiated in 1766 — the former in a
lodge at the Horn Tavern, Westminster : the latter at the Thatched
House Tavern. The Prince's second son, Edward Augustus Duke of
York, was initiated about the same time during a Continental tour.
Shortly after their reception into the Fraternity, the rank of Past Grand
Master was conferred upon their Royal Highnesses by the Grand Lodge
of England ; and in 1782 the Duke of Cumberland was elected Grand
Master. Frederick Lewis Prince of Wales, died in 175 1, and was suc-
ceeded in the Princedom by his eldest son, George, who, on the death of
his grandfather in 1760, ascended the throne as George HL His Majesty
had eight sons, and of the seven who reached manhood, six became Free-
masons. The third son, William Henry Duke of Clarence (afterwards
William IV.), was the first to join the Craft — his initiation taking place in
the Lodge Fortitude, Plymouth, in 1786. The eldest son, George Prince
of Wales (afterwards George IV.), was entered in February 1787, at a
special communication of a Lodge held at the Star and Garter, Pall Mall,
and presided over by his uncle the Duke of Cumberland. His Majesty's
second son, Frederick Duke of York, was also initiated at the Star and
Garter in November of the same year. The fourth son, Edward Duke of
Kent, father of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, was the next to join the
Fraternity, which he did in 1789, through the Union Lodge, Geneva.
ROYAL BRETHREN. 387
Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son, joined the Craft in
1796. The sixth son, Augustus Frederick Duke of Sussex, was initiated
at Berlin in 1798.
On the death of his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, in 1790, the Prince
of Wales was elected to the Grand Mastership of the Grand Lodge of
England, which he held till 1813, when he retired in favour of the Duke of
Sussex. The Prince Regent thereupon became Patron of the Order in
England, which title he retained while Sovereign, and at his death it was
assumed by his successor, William IV. In 1813 the Dukes of Sussex and
Kent were at the head of the Grand Lodge of England and the Athole
Grand Lodge respectively, and were associated together in the negotiations
between these two bodies, which resulted in the amalgamation of the
" Ancients " and " Moderns " under the designation of the " United Grand
Lodge of England," of which the Duke of Sussex was the first Grand
Master. This office His Royal Highness discharged until his death, which
occurred in 1843. He was succeeded by his Deputy, the Earl of Zetland,
whose retirement from the post in 1870 has been already noticed. On com-
pleting twenty-five years' service as Grand Master, His Royal Highness was
presented by the Craft with a piece of valuable plate — of which his widow,
the Duchess of Inverness (Cecilia, daughter of the second Earl of Arran),
made a gift to the Grand Lodge of England in 1 844. It is stated on good
authority that prior to his last illness the Duke of Sussex had arranged
to hold a special Masonic communication for the purpose of initiating
the Prince Consort, but the death of His Royal Highness interfered with
the arrangement, and Prince Albert never joined the Fraternity.* The
Duke of Sussex held several Masonic meetings at Kensington Palace, in
which he was supported by brethren of the most exalted rank. The late
Duke of Wellington, on some such occasions, acted as His Royal High-
ness's Senior Warden. f His Grace was initiated in 1790, in a Lodge
under the Irish Constitution, of which his brother, the Earl of Mornington,
was the then Master. The Duke of Kent formed a semi-masonic connec-
tion with Scotland by becoming Patron Protector of the Knight Templars in
North Britain. It was bya charter under His Royal Highness's hand that the
Grand Conclave of Scottish Masonic Knight Templars was constituted at
Edinburgh in 181 1. The Grand Lodge of Hanover was instituted under
the auspices of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, afterwards
* ' Freemasons' Magazine. ' London: W. Smith. 1861.
t Bro. Robert Wentworth Little, in ' Freemasons' Magazine.' London. 1868. Bro. Little is
editor of ' The Freemason ' (weekly), and of ' The Masonic Magazine ' (monthly), published by
Bro. George Kenning, London. He holds an honourable position in the High Degrees, to the
30th of which he has attained, and is Secretary of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls.
388 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
King of Hanover, who was its first Grand Master, in which office he was
succeeded by his son, the present Duke of Cumberland, ex-King of
Hanover. He was initiated in 1857, and is an honorary member of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Prior to 1805 the Grand Lodge of Scotland had not aspired to the
patronage of Royalty. On St Andrew's-day of that year, however, His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was elected Grand Master and Patron.
This title — for in reality it was nothing more, the Prince being ineligible
for election to the Grand Mastership from not being a member of a Scotch
Lodge — was conferred upon him annually by Grand Lodge until his suc-
cession to the Crown in 1820, when the title was changed to that of " Patron
of the Most Ancient Order of St John's Masonry for Scotland." His Majesty
never appeared in Grand Lodge, although he visited Edinburgh in 1822.
The laying of the foundation-stone of the National Monument of Scotland
was fixed to take place during the King's stay in the Scottish capital in
the hope of the ceremony being dignified by the presence of the Royal
Patron. His Majesty, however, preferred to be represented on the occa-
sion by Commissioners, and the stone was laid by the Grand Master,
his Grace the Duke of Hamilton.* On this occasion the constitution of
Grand Lodge was to some extent encroached upon by the exaction from
members of a charge for admission. This was protested against by the
Lodge of Edinburgh, who unanimously resolved, " That the Officebearers
of the Grand Lodge were guilty of an attack upon the liberty and privileges
of the Fraternity in levying a tax of three shillings from each brother
who honoured them with his attendance at laying the foundation-stone of
the National Monument." A similar infringement of the constitution was
made by Grand Committee in 1870, on the occasion of the installation of
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales as Patron of the Order in Scot-
land. The impost was protested against by the Master of St John, 3 bis,
and other brethren connected with the province of Glasgow. The proposal
for the erection of a National Monument, in commemoration of the
victories of the war ending with the battle of Waterloo, originated at the
anniversary meeting of the Highland Society of Scotland in January 1816.
The project was entered into with great spirit. The Calton Hill of Edin-
burgh was selected as the site of the edifice, which was to be after the
model of the Parthenon of Athens, and the foundation-stone was laid under
the most auspicious circumstances. Subsequently public interest in the
undertaking died out, and after twelve pillars had been erected at a cost
of about ;^i2,ooo, the work was abandoned. The columns still stand,
* His Grace's brother, Lord Archibald Hamilton (afterwards the first Provincial Grand Master
of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire), was initiated in the Lodge of Edinburgh in 1801.
PRINCE OF WALES. 389
solitary and incomplete, the costly reproductions of a Greek ruin rather
than of a Greek edifice — testifying to the grandeur of our forefathers'
ideas, but also, alas, to the instability of human purpose, and the futility
of human intentions. On the death of George IV. in 1830, William IV.
was elected Royal Patron ; but his relationship to the Scottish Craft was,
like that of his royal predecessor, purely nominal.
We have now reached a point when the connection of a British Prince
with Scottish Freemasonry has become real, through the ceremonies of
affiliation and installation. Like his grandfather the Duke of Kent, His
Royal Highness Albert-Edward Prince of Wales was admitted into
the Fraternity under a foreign Constitution. Initiated by His Majesty the
King of Sweden while on a visit to Stockholm in December 1868, His
Royal Highness in September of the following year had the rank of Past
Grand Master conferred upon him by the Grand Lodge of England. Two
months afterwards. His Royal Highness was invested at a Grand Quarterly
Communication, by the Grand Master, the Right Hon. the Earl of Zet-
land, with the insignia of his Masonic rank. In November 1869 His Royal
Highness had, on the motion of the Grand Master, his Grace the Duke of
Leinster, the title of Patron of the Order in Ireland conferred on him by
the Grand Lodge of Ireland ; and his investiture took place at a Grand
Communication held at Dublin, August 14, 1871. His Royal Highness
has, for the second time, been elected Worshipful Master of the Royal
Alpha Lodge, No. 16, Willis's Rooms, London (warranted A.D. 1722). He
is also Master of the Lodge Apollo University, Oxford, No. 357. His
Royal Highness is the Eminent Commander of Faith and Fidelity En-
campment of Knight Templars, London, and is also a member of the
Scotch Priory of the Lothians. The union of the Grand Conclave of
Masonic Knights Templar of England and the Grand Conclave of High
Knight Templars of Ireland was consummated in April 1873, by the in-
stallation of His Royal Highness as Grand Master of the Order in Eng-
land, Ireland, and Wales, and Dependencies of the British Crown. The
installation was succeeded by a banquet, held in Willis's Rooms, and pre-
sided over by the Prince of Wales, who at an early stage of the proceed-
ings said, " they were all aware that the Queen was the Patroness of Craft
Masonry, and he had Her Majesty's permission to state, now, that she
would be the Patroness of their Order."
A suggestion made by the Earl of Dalhousie that the Prince of Wales
should be requested to become the Patron of the Order in Scotland having
been adopted by the Committee of Grand Lodge, his Lordship waited on
His Royal Highness in London, when he was graciously pleased readily
39° HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
to comply with the request. The result of his Lordship's interview was
made known to Grand Lodge at the Quarterly Communication in May
1870; and at a subsequent meeting the Grand Master intimated that the
Prince had expressed his readiness to attend in Grand Lodge and be formally
installed into office in October. Hearing of His Royal Highness's inten-
tion to be then in Edinburgh, the Managers of the Royal Infirmary applied
to the Grand Master for the Royal Patron to lay the foundation-stone of
the New Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh, which His Royal Highness agreed
to do — the day .preceding that ceremony being selected by him as that
on which he would present himself in Grand Lodge for installation. A
Special Grand Communication was accordingly held on 12th October
1870, when His Royal Highness was installed as Patron of the Order in
Scotland. Freemasons' Hall on no former occasion presented a more
brilliant appearance, and the interest felt by the brethren in the proceed-
ings was manifested by the largeness of their attendance. The Grand
Master, accompanied by the Grand Officebearers, entered the hall at five
o'clock. The following dignitaries were present :— John Whyte-Melville
of Bennochy, Past Grand Master ; Henry Inglis of Torsonce, Substitute
Grand Master ; William Mann, solicitor, Edinburgh, Senior Grand Warden;
Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell Campbell of Blythswood, Junior
Grand Warden ; the Lord Erskine, Senior Grand Deacon ; William
Officer, solicitor in the Supreme Courts, Junior Grand Deacon ; the Rev.
David Arnot, D.D., of the High Church, Edinburgh, and the Rev. Valen-
tine Grantham Faithfull, M.A., of Trinity Episcopal Church, Edinburgh,
Grand Chaplains ; Alexander James Stewart, W.S , Grand Clerk ; David
Bryce, jun.. Acting Grand Architect; Alexander Hay, Grand Jeweller;
Daniel Robertson, Deacon of Mary's Chapel Incorporation, and Convener
of the Trades of Edinburgh, Grand Bible-Bearer ; Major William Hamilton
Ramsay, Grand Director of Ceremonies, and representative of the Grand
Lodge of Tennessee ; James Ballantine, Grand Bard ; G. F. Russell Colt
of Gartsherrie, Acting Grand Sword Bearer, in room of Lord Rosehill, on
duty as aide-de-camp to Major-General Sir John Douglas, Commander of
the Forces, and an ex-officebearer in Grand Lodge ; Charles W. M. MuUer,
I Grand Director of Music, and representative of the Grand Lodge of
Saxony ; Robert Davidson, Grand Organist ; Murdoch M'Kenzie of The
Stand, Musselburgh, Chief Grand Marshal ; John Laurie, Grand Marshal ;
Colonel John Kinloch of Kilrie, Past Substitute Grand Master ; Patrick
Small Keir of Kindrogan, Past Grand Senior Warden ; Sir Michael Shaw
Stewart of Ardgowan, Bart., Provincial Grand Master of West Renfrew-
shire ; Alexander Smollett of Bonhill, Provincial Grand Master of Dum-
bartonshire ; Sir Alexander Charles Ramsay Gibson-Maitland of Clif-
■ • J.
•</.2%^^^5^I7
PRINCE OF WALES. 391
tonhall, Bart., M.P. for the county of' Edinburgh, Provincial Grand
Master of Stirlingshire ; Hector F. Maclean of Carnwath House, Writer to
the Signet, Provincial Grand Master of Upper Ward of Lanarkshire ;
Robert Beveridge, M.D., Provincial Grand Master of the City of Aberdeen ;
Lauderdale Maitland of Eccles, Provincial Grand Master of Dumfriesshire ;
Lord James Murray, representative of Grand Lodge at the Grand Lodge
of England ; Samuel Somerville of Ampherlaw, M.D., representative of the
Grand Lodge of Ireland ; Francis Da Cruz M'Cowan, M.D., representative
of the Grand Orient of France ; Adolphus Robinow, representative of the
Grand Lodge of Hamburg ; Lindsay Mackersy, W.S., representative of the
Grand Lodge of Canada, and Grand Scribe E of the Supreme Grand Royal
Arch Chapter of Scotland ; William M. Bryce, Grand Tyler ; and the follow-
ing members of the Board of Grand Stewards— John Cunningham, of the
Writers to the Signet Library, president ; Francis Suther Melville, Assistant
Clerk of Session ; Colonel David Guthrie, commissioner on the Forfarshire
estates of the Earl of Dalhousie ; Thomas Cairns, M D. ; Henry Y. D. Cop-
land, Master of Lodge St Luke, Edinburgh; Captain Gerald George Aylmer,
eldest son of Sir George Aylmer, of Donadea Castle, Kildare ; John George
Sinclair Coghill, M.D., Past Master of the Lodges Cosmopolitan and St
Andrew in the Far East, Shanghai ; John Coghill, his father, the Past Chief
Grand Marshal ; John Whyte, Provost of Forfar ; Alexander Nicholson,
Provost of Cupar-Fife ; Andrew Jervise, author of the ' History of Angus
and Mearns ; ' and upwards of five hundred other brethren.
On the Communication being constituted in the third degree, a deputa-
tion, consisting of the Past Grand Master, Substitute Grand Master, the
Grand Wardens, and twelve Grand Stewards according to seniority, was
appointed to wait upon His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and
request his attendance in the hall. After an interval of a few minutes, the
Prince, who was accompanied from his residence at the Douglas Hotel by
the Right Hon. the Earl of Rosslyn, Depute Grand Master, was amidst
enthusiastic acclamation ushered in, preceded by the Grand Director of
Ceremonies and three Grand Stewards ; after them came the Grand
Wardens and three other Grand Stewards, and next His Royal Highness
wearing over evening costume the apron, sash, and gauntlets which had
been specially prepared for his use by order of the Grand Lodge, sup-
ported on his right and left respectively by the Past and Depute Grand
Masters, followed by four Grand Stewards. As the procession directed
its steps towards the Orient, the brethren, upstanding, cheered their
Patron— the Grand Organist meanwhile performing a voluntary.
On taking his seat on the right of the Throne His Royal Highness was
greeted with the grand honours, after which the Grand Master addressed
392 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
the brethren as follows : — " It is my duty to announce to you, and I do it
with the highest satisfaction, that His Royal Highness, our Brother, the
Prince of Wales, Duke of Rothesay, and Grand Steward of Scotland, has
condescended to accept the offer which we laid before him, and to become
the Patron of the Scottish Craft. Our Royal Brother has done us the
honour to attend here to-day, in order to be installed into that dignified
position ; and I have, Sir (addressing the Prince), to request you to permit
me to conduct you to the altar, where I shall administer to you the obliga-
tion." Leaving the Throne with the Grand Master, and standing with the
Past Grand Master on his right, and the Depute Grand Master on his left.
His Royal Highness took the obligation in due form, and was thereafter
invested by the Grand Master with the jewel of his office.* On returning
to the Orient, the Grand Master made the following address : " Most
Illustrious Sir and Brother, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, through the
unworthy hands of me as their Grand Master, have now obligated you as
the Patron, not only of Masonry in Scotland, but of Scottish Masons
throughout the world. In the name of that ancient and distinguished
body, I have to thank your Royal Highness for the honour you have done
us. The office of Patron is the highest honour which we have it in our
power to offer to a brother, and as your Royal Highness is aware, it has
already been held by your Royal Highness's illustrious predecessors, George
IV. and William IV. That office, Royal Sir, has now descended upon you,
and it is not only my own earnest wish, but it is the prayer of every good
Mason here and throughout the bounds of Scotland, that you may be long
spared to fill the high position in which this day we have installed you,
and that when in the course of events you shall come to occupy the same
high station in this country as your predecessors in this office have occupied,
we may hail in the Grand Lodge of Scotland another Sovereign of the
country as Patron of our Craft. Permit me, most Royal Patron, to tender
you, on the part of the Grand Lodge and of the Masons of Scotland, the
right hand of fellowship."
The applause which followed the Grand Master's remarks was renewed
when the Royal Patron rose to reply, which he did as follows : " Most
Worshipful Grand Master, Depute Grand Master, Senior and Junior Grand
Wardens, and Brethren, I cannot tell you how deeply the ceremony of to-
day has touched me, how thankful I am to you for the great honour you
have conferred upon me in making me Patron of the Craft in Scotland —
* The jewel consists of a gold star surmounted by a Prince of Wales feather in silver, studded
with small gems, and having the square, compass, and segment attached underneath. In the
centre of the star is the figure of St Andrew on a dark-blue enamelled ground, surrounded with a
wreath of thistles.
PRINCE OF WALES. 393
and how deeply touched I have been by the excessively kind manner in
which, as Most Worshipful Grand Master, you have addressed me.
Brethren, I have not been long a member of the Craft : still I hope that I
may be considered a worthy member of it. If so, you may be all con-
vinced that I shall always and on every occasion endeavour to do my
utmost to fulfil such duties as may be imposed upon me as a Brother
Mason. Allow me once more to thank you for the honour you have con-
ferred upon me — an honour which I shall never forget. I assure you.
Brethren, I felt it a high honour when I was last year made Past Grand
Master of the Freemasons of England. Now an additional honour has, I
consider, been conferred upon me — an honour which alone was wanting to
complete my satisfaction as a member of your Craft, and that is, the honour
of being Patron of this illustrious Order in Scotland."
The installation ceremony being over, the Prince was presented by the
Grand Master with a copy of Grand Lodge Laws and a copy of Laurie's
' History of Freemasonry in Scotland,' and the Communication terminated.
The Royal Patron thereafter retired to the Grand Committee Room,
where, according to previous arrangement, he received a deputation from
Mary's Chapel for the purpose of affiliating His Royal Highness to that
ancient Lodge. The Prince was surrounded by the Grand Master, Past
Grand Master, Depute and Substitute Grand Masters, and other Grand
Office-bearers. The deputation was headed by the Master, William Officer,
and comprised William Mann, Sir Alexander Charles Ramsay-Gibson-
Maitland, and Dr Francis Da Cruz M'Cowan, Past Masters ; Francis
Suther Melville, Depute Master ; W. J. Cranfield Abbott, merchant, Leith,
Substitute Master ; Thomas Swinton, wine merchant, Edinburgh, Senior
Warden ; William Gilchrist Roy, solicitor Supreme Courts, Junior
Warden ; Alexander Nicol Clarke, writer, Edinburgh, Treasurer ; and
George Dickson, physician in Edinburgh, Secretary.
The Grand Master having introduced the deputation to His Royal
Highness, the Right Worshipful Master said — " Most Illustrious Patron,
your Royal Highness has been graciously pleased to comply with a
request made through our valued Grand Master, that you should affiliate
into the ancient Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), No. i. In com-
pliance with your Royal Highness's commands, I am here with this
deputation from the Lodge to administer the rite of affiliation. Most
Illustrious Patron, the Lodge which I represent is one of great antiquity.
It is probably the oldest Masonic body in Scotland, and it certainly pos-
sesses the oldest Masonic records of any Masonic body in the world. Our
records open in December 1598, and since that time they have been
continuously and well kept. During that long period many men eminent
;>^._<«^^^4%'^--> .<^^ ,
^^^^
J^.
^«<rrst<J?r<j}^tf^^f, -i^ec^
PRINCE OF WALES.
395
for their social rank, their scientific attainments, and their warHke achieve-
ments, have joined the Lodge. Among those presently living, we have
the Grand Master of Scotland, the Earl of Dalhousie ; the Grand Master
'^V'^?||/
^^^^^>-^
of Ireland, the Duke of Lcinster ; the Past Grand Master of England, the
Earl of Zetland. Illustrious as these names are in the annals of Masonry,
the most illustrious of all is that of your Ro)'al Highness, who has so
396 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
graciously agreed to become an affiliated member of the Lodge — an honour
which will ever be most deeply cherished by the present and future
generations of its members. I have now respectfully to request your
Royal Highness to take the obligation of affiliation." *
The Prince having taken the obligation, the certificate of membership —
beautifully illuminated in vellum, and enclosed in a gold casket bearing
among other devices the arms and monogram of the Prince of Wales and
those of Mary's Chapel — was presented to His Royal Highness. He there-
upon thanked the deputation for the honour Mary's Chapel had conferred
on him, and signed the minute of his admission and the bye-laws of the
Lodge, and the Master, by request of the Grand Master, brought under
the Prince's notice the oldest minute-book of the Lodge, which His Royal
Highness examined with much interest. Among other minutes singled
out for especial notice was that of William Schaw, Maister of Wark,.iS98,
and those relating to the earliest non-operative members of a Masonic
Lodge of whom there is any authentic record, viz., John BosweU of
Auchinleck, who was a member of Mary's Chapel in 1600 ; Lord Alexan-
der and Anthony Alexander (sons of Sir William Alexander, first Earl of
Stirling, celebrated as the founder of the Nova Scotian Colonies), and Sir
Alexander Strachan, who were initiated in 1634; Henry Alexander, the
King's Maister of Wark (afterwards third Earl of Stirling), made fellow of
craft in 1638 ; the Right Hon. Alexander Hamilton, General of Artillery
in the Covenanting army of Scotland, admitted in 1640 ; the Right Hon.
Sir Robert Murray, General Quarter-Master of the Scotch Army (founder
and first President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the friend of
Charles I.), who was initiated at Newcastle-on-Tyne while the Scottish
forces were in possession of that town in 1641 ; and of Sir Patrick Hume
of Polwart, Bart., first Earl of Marchmont, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, of
all of whom we have already spoken. His Royal Highness was pleased
to express his gratification with the whole proceedings, and, on the deputa-
tion retiring, stepped forward and cordially shook hands with the Master
of the Lodge.
* The Bible in ordinary use in the Lodge — a finely-preserved copy of the " Breeches " edition,
presented to Mary's Chapel several years ago — was that on vi'hich the Prince was obligated. This
version is thus referred to in' Chambers' Encyclopaedia' : — " In 1557 appeared the famous Geneva
Bible, so called because the translation was executed there by several English divines, who had
fled from the persecutions of the bloody Mary. Among these may be mentioned Gilby and Whit-
tingham. This edition — the first printed in Roman letter and divided into verses — was accom-
panied by notes, which showed a strong leaning to the views of Calvin and Beza. It was, in con-
sequence, long the favourite version of the English Puritans and the Scotch Presbyterians. It is,
however, best known as the Breeches Bible, on account of the rendering of Genesis iii. 7 : ' Then
the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig-leaves
together, and made themselves breeches.^ "
GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. 397
On the following day the Royal Patron laid the foundation-stone of the
new Royal Infirmary — His Royal Highness being supported on the
occasion by upwards of four thousand brethren, representing about two
hundred Lodges. The Lord Provost and Magistrates of Edinburgh, and
the various public bodies of the metropolis, were also present. The
Princess of Wales, accompanied by the Countess of Rosslyn and Lady
Walden, witnessed the ceremony from a pavilion which had been erected
for Her Royal Highness's accommodation. The 13th Hussars formed the
van and rear guards of the procession, and the 90th (Perthshire) Light
Infantry a guard of honour to the Grand Lodge. In the evening, a mag-
nificent banquet was held in " The Caf6 Royal," which was presided over
by the Depute Grand Master, Lord Rosslyn.
As it was the greatest, so also was the affiliation of the Prince of Wales
among the last of the official acts of Brother William Officer previous to
his retirement from the chair of Mary's Chapel in December 1870. This
was made the occasion of the brethren presenting him with a magnificent
Silver Epergne, after an original design, and three other pieces of silver
plate, " in token of their respect for him and their high appreciation of
the distinguished services he had rendered to the Lodge of Edinburgh and
to the Craft during his six years' discharge of the office of Master, ... a
reign which has been fruitful of results tending to the honour and pros-
perity of the Lodge in a measure which had excited the surprise as well as
the high gratification of its sons." Mr Officer was initiated in April 1857.
After having filled the offices of Bible Bearer, Junior and Senior Warden,
and Substitute Master, he was on St John's-day 1864 promoted to the
chair by the unanimous voice of the brethren — the re-appointment at five
consecutive elections being characterised by the same unanimity. The
important services he has rendered in the administration of the affairs of
Grand Lodge were recognised by his elevation to the Junior Grand
Deaconship in November 1869, as successor to Lord Erskine (now Earl of
Kellie), his re-election to the same office in the following year, and his
appointment to the Senior Grand Deaconship in 1871. He is a member
of the Consistory of K.H. or 30th degree. Freemasons' Hall has recently
been decorated with ornamental panels. These panels are the gifts of the
late Duke of Athole, Mr Whyte-Melville, the Earl of Dalhousie, Mr Inglis
of Torsonce, and several Lodges. The one contributed by Mary's Chapel
gives a view of the High Street of Edinburgh, opposite St Giles', in olden
times, and, in terms of the unanimous resolution of the Lodge, is surmounted
by a portrait of Mr Officer.
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of PATRICK James
Frederick Gr^me of Inchbrakie and Aberuthven, in the county of
398 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Perth, son of the late George Drummond Graeme, K.H., of Inchbrakie, and
of his wife the Honourable Marianne Jane Drummond, daughter of the
last and sister of the present Viscount Strathallan — a family which for
many generations has held a leading place in Scotch Freemasonry, and
which has suffered much for its loyalty to the Royal House of Stuart. Mr
Graeme was initiated in Mary's Chapel in October 1870, immediately
before going to India to join the 7gth Highlanders, in which regiment he
holds a commission. He is the representative of the ancient family of
Graeme, which derives its descent from the second son of the first Earl of
Montrose, who was killed at Flodden in 1513. The Graemes of Inchbrakie
have long occupied a prominent place in Scottish history. One of them,
known as " Black Pate," a noted loyalist, at whose house Montrose raised
his meteor-like standard in 1644, gave much trouble to the Lords of the
Covenant and to Cromwell, and his services to the Crown were rewarded
at the Restoration with the office of Post-Master General of Scotland, the
first appointment to such a post. The family received a new crest and
motto, and the offer of a Baronetcy from Charles II., but were so
impoverished by fines that they could not take it up. On the first
formation in 1682 of the Town Guard of Edinburgh, Black Pate's son —
Patrick Graeme, younger of Inchbrakie — ^was appointed its Captain or
Chief Officer, on the recommendation of the Duke of York, afterwards
James VII. of Scotland. He figured with his Guards on various occasions
during the remainder of the Stuart reigns, particularly at the bringing in
of the Earl of Argyle to be executed in 1685, when he and the hangman
received the unhappy nobleman at the Watergate and conducted him
along the street to prison. Black Pate's younger son John succeeded his
father as Post-Master General of Scotland in 1674, with a salary of ;^iooo
Scots, equal to ;£'83, 6s. 8d. sterling. He impoverished himself by the
liberal and zealous manner in which he discharged the duties of his office.
[Anthony Sayei;, ist Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England/
CHAPTER XLIII.
E have in another part of this work given a detailed account
of the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and have
also noticed several important events in its subsequent
history. The following facts regarding its constitution and
present position may farther interest the reader. Grand Lodge is composed
of the Master and Wardens of each Lodge, or their proxies, together with
Past and Provincial Grand Masters, or in the case of those attached to
colonial provinces, their proxies. No fees were at first exigible from
members of Grand Lodge, but for a long time back a money test of
membership and a contribution to the Fund of Benevolence ha\'e been
400 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
compulsory. Members who rank as Masters pay los. annually, as
Wardens 7s. 6d. — and in the case of proxies each commission is in addition
taxed at 2s. 6d. in the higher grade, and is. in the lower. The Grand
Master contributes ;£'io, los. annually ; Depute Grand Master, £^, 5s. ;
Substitute Grand Master, £s> Ss- '> Provincial Grand Masters, £2, 2s.,
besides £10, los. as fees of their commission ; Grand Wardens and other
office-bearers, £^, 3s. and under in a graduated scale ; Grand Stewards,
I2S. 6d. The Grand Secretary, Tyler, Marshals, and Outer Guard are paid
officials. Daughter Lodges pay ten guineas for a charter. They con-
tribute annually 5s. for a certificate bearing that they have complied with
the requirements of the Act of Parliament anent secret societies ; £1
annually towards the liquidation of Grand Lodge debt ; and for the regis-
tration and diploma of each intrant, lOs. 6d.
The system of appointing proxies, which has existed since the formation
of Grand Lodge, was probably resorted to in consequence of the impos-
sibility of getting members of Lodges living at distances to attend
meetings of the Order. With facilities of locomotion such as we now
enjoy in Scotland, there is less reason for the continuance of this practice,
and Lodges in various districts are now appointing their own Masters and
Wardens their representatives in Grand Lodge. The proxy system has
thrown the management of Grand Lodge affairs chiefly into the hands of
Brethren resident in Edinburgh. This is objectionable not so much on
account of the influence which it gives to the metropolitan Lodges as
because of the apathy it promotes in provincial Lodges, and the discontent
it engenders when laws are enacted not quite in consonance with their
ideas. Indeed it is too much the case that country Lodges, from their
neglect to take part in its deliberations, have come to look upon Grand
Lodge as an independent body with interests different from their own. It
is worthy of notice that proxies are inadmissible in Provincial Grand
Lodges ; though it is a peculiarity of their constitution that the principal
offices are in the gift of Provincial Grand Masters, who in their choice are
restricted to Master Masons resident in the province. These commissioned
office-bearers, with the Masters and Wardens of Lodges within the province,
form the Provincial Grand Lodge.
The nomination of Grand Office-bearers is virtually an election, for those .
agreed upon at the quarterly communication in November are elected and
installed on St Andrew's-day, after which Grand Lodge proceeds to
celebrate the festival of its patron saint by a banquet. Re-election to the
Grand Mastership commenced in 1756 — Lord Aberdour being the first who
was so honoured — and with few exceptions continued to be observed until
1845, when the Duke of Athole was elected for the third time, and was
GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND.
40 1
afterwards honoured with seventeen consecutive re-elections. Each of the
last three Grand Masters have had a three years' tenure of office. Our
remarks on a too frequent re-election to the Grand Mastership will be found
at page },6y. Grand Lodge delegates the management of its business to a
Committee, whose decisions are subject to confirmation at the Grand
Quarterly Communications held in February, May, August, and November.
The Grand Committee, which is composed of the Masters of Lodges in the
Metropolitan District and eighteen Proxy Masters, is elected in February
of each year. The Grand Stewards, to v/hom are left the arrangement of
the Grand Festival, and who are ex-officio members of Committee of the
Fund of Masonic Benevolence, are elected in November ; they are placed
under the direction of a President and a Vice-President.
There are 416 Lodges working under authority of Grand Lodge, 295 of
which are in Scotland and 121 scattered over different parts of the world — •
in Africa, Arabia, and Syria ; in India, China, and Japan ; in Australia and
New Zealand ; in Canada and Newfoundland ; in South America and the
West India Islands ; in Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. At an earlier period
in its history the Grand Lodge had daughter Lodges in Denmark, Sweden,
and the Netherlands ; in Russia, Prussia, France, and Spain ; in North
America (the United States) ; and in England— Carlisle being the only
point in the sister kingdom into which a Scotch charter was introduced.
The Union Carlisle, erected in 1784, joined the Grand Lodge of England
in 1816. The Grand Lodges of Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia ("The
Three Globes "), derived their origin from Scotland.
There are 39 Provincial Grand Lodges existing under the Scottish
Constitution, and having jurisdiction over the Lodges within their respec-
tive bounds. Scotland is divided into twenty-five districts, viz., Edinburgh
(erected in 1736), Ayrshire (1792), Perthshire, East (1827), Glasgow (1739),
Inverness (1747), Lanarkshire, Middle Ward (18 16), Perthshire, West
2 C
402
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
(1827), East Lothian (1836), Renfrewshire, West (1826), Linlithgowshire
(1827), Forfar and Angus (1747), Dumbarton (1837), Fifeshire (174S).
Lanarkshire, Upper Ward (1801, Berwick and Roxburghshires (1827),
Peebles and Selkirkshires (1747), Stirlingshire (1745), Aberdeen (1827),
Elgin and Moray (1827), Orkney and Zetland (1747), Wigton and
Kircudbright (1747), Argyleshire and the Isles (1801), Dumfriesshire
(1756), Aberdeenshire, East (1827), Ross and Cromarty (1847), Renfrew-
shire, East (1826), Banffshire (i 801), Aberdeenshire, West (1827). Then
there are the Provincial Grand Lodges of Western India, Trinidad,
Bahamas, Bermuda Isles, Jamaica, Australia Felix or Victoria, Guiana in
Venezuela, South Australia, New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland,
West Indies, Newfoundland. Grand Lodge exchanges Representatives
with the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands,
Hamburg, Prussia (" The Three Globes," and " The Royal York "), France,
Saxony, Hanover, Canada, Denmark, Tennessee, Nova Scotia, Hungary,
New Brunswick, and Greece. Representatives, who are chosen from among
the members of Grand Lodge, take precedence next to Proxy Provincial
Grand Masters, but enjoy no other privilege.
The totally blind and the deaf and dumb are the only persons who are
physically disqualified for admission under the Scottish Masonic Constitu-
tion. Belief in God, personal freedom, mature age, and respectability of
moral character are essential in initiates. The following is a comparative
view of the number of intrants who have been recorded in Grand Lodge
books during twenty-three years ending in April 1872 : —
No. of intrants in 1850, 11 69
do.
1851,
1418
do.
1852,
1429
do.
1853.
1429
do.
I8S4,
1712
do.
185s,
1827
do.
1856,
2080
do.
i8S7,
2413
do.
1858,
2314
do.
1859.
2715
do.
i860,
2765
do.
1861,
2531
No.
intran
s m 1862,
2333
do.
1863,
2515
do.
1864,
2552
do.
1865,
2537
do.
1866,
3993
do.
1867,
3838
do.
1868,
4319
do.
1869,
2619
do.
1870,
2598
do.
1871,
3787
do.
1872,
2546
Devoting itself almost entirely to legislation and to the administration
of its laws, to the settlement of differences between brethren on Masonic
points, and the management of its finances, Grand Lodge does little or
nothing to instruct the Brethren in the practice and history of Masonry.
It was to supply this want that " The Honest Mason Club " was formed in
GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. 403
Edinburgh about the middle of last century ; but not meeting with
support beyond the sphere of its projectors, it had a brief existence. The
idea was revived some twenty-five years ago, and a number of Masonic
Clubs were formed in different parts of the country. They could boast of
a numerous membership, but their unfavourable criticism of the transac-
tions of Grand Lodge led to their being suppressed. But while prohibiting
these Clubs, Grand Lodge, in order to promote the objects which they
professed to have in view, resolved to issue " temporary warrants, without
fee, for holding Lodges of Listruction in any district or province when a
majority of the Masters of the Lodges in the province should petition for it."
The privilege conferred by this resolution has not to any appreciable extent
been taken advantage of, and the Fraternity are still left to the uncontrolled
indulgence of their own fancy in the matter of Lodge instruction.
Grand Lodge possesses a Library, formed of books and manuscripts that
have from time to time been presented to it. The largest individual donation
of this kind was that made in 1849 t>y the widow of Bro. Charles Morison,
M.D., a retired military surgeon long resident in Paris. This collection
embraces about two thousand volumes,brochures, and pamphlets on Masonry
and the hauts grades, many of them, however, being of little or no value. The
oldest manuscripts in Grand Lodge Library are the St Clair Charters* and
the earliest existing minute-book of the Lodge Atcheson's Haven, con-
taining a copy of the History and Charges of Masonry. In August 1763,
Grand Lodge was presented by Edinburgh St David's with a " copy of a
very ancient record or grant in favour of Masons," but no document
answering to this description is now to be found in Grand Lodge reposi-
tories. Attempts have at intervals during the last twenty years been
made to render the Grand Library accessible to the Craft, but that
desirable object has not yet been attained. The matter is, however, at
present before Grand Committee, and a catalogue is in course of prepara-
tion. In 1837, funds were raised, chiefly in Edinburgh, for educating the
* In noticing the St Clair Charters at page 58 of this work, we omitted to mention that the first
edition of Laurie's ' History of Freemasomy ' (1804), and the ' Genealogie of the Saint-claires of
Rosslyn' (1835), contain copies of these documents professing to be transcripts of those found in
the Hay MSS. But though Uke the originals the Hay copies are without date; "Ed. 1630" is
interpolated into the copies of the second charter given in these works. The Hay MS. is a l2mo,
book of about ninety leaves, written in a small cramp uniform hand, — the writing being in some
instances slightly encroached upon in the course of binding. Besides copies of charters and other
documents relating to the St Clairs of Roslin, it contains several jottings on religious subjects, that
on the first page being as follows : "Christ is the Mossias— i By God's eternall decree; 2 by
promises and preidictions ; 3 by his descent : 4 by Jacobs prophesy, Gen. 49., 10 ; 5 Daniels 70
weekes ; 6 by agreement of types ; 7 by testimony of John Baptist ; 8 by Gods authorising him ; 9
by the testimony of Father, Son, H G."
404
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
daughters of deceased and indigent Freemasons. This scheme was
subsequently merged in the " Fund of Scottish Masonic Benevolence,"
founded by Grand Lodge in 1846. The object of this Charity cannot be
fully developed until Grand Lodge is relieved of the enormous debt by
which it is weighed down. The efforts that are being made to liquidate
this debt are noticed at page 351.
Patrons of Freemasonry in Scotland.
George, Prince of Wales (George IV.),
William IV.,
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
1804-29
1830-36
1871
Grand Master Masons of Scotland.
1 William St Clair of Roslin, 1736
2 George, 3d and last Earl of Cromarty, . . . 1737
3 John, 3d Earl of Kintore, 1738
4 James, I sth Earl of Morton, 1739
5 Thomas, 7tii Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorn, . . 1740
6 Alexander, 5th Earl of Leven, .... 1741
7 William, 4th and last Earl of Kilmarnock, . . . 1742
8 James, sth Earl of Wemyss, 1743
9 James, 7th Earl of Moray, 1744
10 Henry David, 6th Earl of Buchan, .... 1745
11 William NiSBET of Dirleton, 1746
12 The Hon. Francis Charteris of Amisfield, afterwards
6th Earl of Wemyss, 1747
13 Hugh Seton of Touch, 1748
14 Thomas, Lord Erskine, only surviving son of John, nth
I; Earl of Marr, attainted in 1 7 15, .... i749
15 Alexander, I oth Earl of Eglinton,* . . . . 1750
16 James, Lord Boyd,t 1751
17 George Drummond, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, . . 1752
18 Charles Hamilton Gordon, Advocate, . . . 1753
* Lord Eg'inton was asked to allow himself to be nominated for the Grand Mastership of the
Grand Lodge of England, but declined the honour.
t Lord Boyd was eldest son of the last Earl of Kilmarnock ; and on the death of his aunt, Maiy
Countess of Enroll, became 13th Earl of ErroU. This nobleman officiated as Constable of Scotland
at the Coronation of George III. in 1761 ; and, neglecting by accident to pull off his cap when the
King entered, he apologised for his negligence in the most respectful manner ; but His Majesty
entreated him to be covered, for he looked on his presence at the solemnity as a very particular
honour.
GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND.
405
19 James, Master of Forbes, afterwards i6th Baron Forbes,
20 Sholto Charles, Lord Aberdour, afterwards 16th Earl
of Morton,
21 Alexander, 6th Earl of Galloway,
22 David, 6th Earl of Leven,
23 Charles, 5th Earl of Elgin and 14th of Kincardine,
24 John, 7th Earl of Kellie,
25 James Stewart, Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
26 George, 8th Earl of Dalhousie,
27 Lieutenant-General James Adolphus Oughton,
28 Patrick, 5th Earl of Dumfries, ....
29 John, 3d Duke of Athole,
30 David Dalrymple, afterwards Lord Westhall,
31 Sir William Forbes of Pitshgo, Bart, .
32 John, 4th Duke of Athole,
33 Alexander, 6th Earl of Balcarres,
34 David, 6th Earl of Buchan,
35 George, Lord Haddo,
36 Francis Charteris, younger ofAmisfield, Lord Elcho,
37 Francis, 7 th Lord Napier,
38 George, 17th Earl of Morton, ....
39 George, Marquis of Huntly, afterwards 4th Duke
Gordon,
40 William, Earl of Ancrum, afterwards 6th Marquis of
Lothian, .......
41 Francis, Lord Doune, afterwards 9th Earl of Moray,
42 Sir James Stirling, Bart., Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
43 Charles William, Earl of Dalkeith, afterwards 4th Duke
of Buccleuch, .......
44 George, 5th Earl of Aboyne,
45 George, 9th Earl, of Dalhousie
46 Francis, Earl of Moira, afterwards ist Marquis of
Hastings, .
47 The Hon. William Ramsay Maule of Panmure, M.P.
afterwards ist Lord Panmure,
48 James, 2d Earl of Rosslyn, ....
49 Robert, Viscount Duncan, afterwards 2d Earl of
Camperdown, ......
50 James, 4th Earl of Fife,
51 Sir John Marjoribanks of Lees, Bart, M.P.,
52 George, 8th Marquis of Tweeddale,
53 Alexander, loth Duke of Hamilton and Brandon,
54 George William, 7th Duke of Argyle,
of
I7S4
1755-56
1757-58
1759-60
1761-62
1763-64
1765-66
1767-68
1769-70
1771-72
1773
1774-75
1776-77
1778-79
1780-81
1782-83
1784-85
1786-87
1788-89
1790-91
1792-93
1794-95
1796-97
1798-99
1800-01
1802-03
1804-05
1806-07
1808-09
1810-11
1812-13
1814-15
1816-17
1818-19
1820-21
1822-23
406 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
55 John, Viscount Glenorchy, afterwards ad Marquis of
Breadalbane, ....... 1824-25
56 Thomas Robert, loth Earl of Kinnoul, . . 1826
57 Francis, Lord Elcho, now 8th Earl of Wemyss and
March, 1827-29
58 George William, 9th Baron Kinnaird and Rossie, . 1830-31
59 Henry David, 1 2th Earl of Buchan, .... 1832
60 William Alexander, Marquis of Douglas and Clydes-
dale, afterwards nth Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, 1833-34
61 Alexander Edward, Viscount Fincastle, afterwards 6th
Earl of Dunmore, 1835
62 James Andrew, Lord Ramsay, afterwards loth Earl and
ist Marquis of Dalhousie, 1836-37
63 Sir James Forrest of Comiston, Bart., Lord Provost of
Edinburgh, 1838-39
64 George William, nth Earl of Rothes, . 1840
65 Lord Frederick Fitz-Clarence, .... 1841-42
66 George Augustus Frederick John, Lord Glenlyon,
afterwards 6th Duke of Athole, .... 1843-63
' 67 John Whyte-Melville of Bennochy and Strathkinness, 1864
68 Fox-Maule, nth Earl of Dalhousie, . 1867
69 Francis Robert, 4th Earl of Rosslyn, 1870
The portrait at the head of this chapter is that of ANTHONY Sayer, a
name familiar to Masonic students from the fact that he w^as the first
Grand Master Mason ever elected. The premier Grand Lodge of the
Craft was constituted at London on St John the Baptist's Day 17 17, when
" the Brethren by a majority of hands elected Mr Anthony Sayer, Grand
Master of Masons, Captain Joseph Elliot, and Mr Jacob Lamball, carpenter.
Grand Wardens." Subsequently, under the Grand Mastership of Dr
•Desaguliers, Bro. Sayer, described as 3i £-en(/e7nanhy theRev. Dr Anderson
in second edition of Book of Constitutions, was invested as one of the
Grand Wardens : and in the first edition of the Constitutions his signature
occurs, with others, to the " Approbation," in the capacity of Senior Warden
of No. 3 Lodge. His after career, however, was an unfortunate one, for
owing to distressed circumstances he obtained relief from the Charity
Fund of Grand Lodge, and a few years later he was severely reprimanded
for taking part in the proceedings of one of the clandestine Lodges which
were the bane of English Freemasonry during the fourth decade of last
century. For the photograph from which our portrait of Mr Sayer is
taken we are indebted to Bro. Robert Macoy of New York.
te^*^
CHAPTER XLIV.
N the preparation of this work, we have had occasion to examine
ancient Scotch Masonic MSS. other than those possessed
by the Lodge of Edinburgh. The Atcheson's Haven
records in point of antiquity rank next to those of Mary's
Chapel. The minute of the meeting of craftsmen held at Falkland in
1636, referred to at page 87, forms the first entry in its oldest existing
minute-book. The Lodge met alternately at Musselburgh, Prestonpans,
Morrison's Haven, Atchison's Haven, and Pinkie, and in conjunction with
the Incorporation regulated the affairs of the mason trade within the
bounds up till the middle of the last century. A benefit society, into
408 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
which Protestants only were admissible, existed in connection with the
Lodge till 1852, in which year it was dissolved, and its funds, amounting
to about ;£'400, divided among its members. There is no trace of the
Third Degree being practised by the Lodge before 1769. The following,
in addition to those already given, are excerpts from its earlier minutes : —
" Apud Musselburt decimo septimo die mensis Martij ano do. millesimo sextentesimo
trigesimo octavo. The qlk day compeirit personallie Mr Harie Alexr., generall wardin and
mr of work to his matiewtin this kingdome of Scotland, and ane competent number of meas-
sons of the ludge of aitchiesones heivin, and efter conference betwixt the said mr of work
and meassons foirsaids, both, the saids pairties, mr and ludge, did approve the haill acts
preceiding [the Falkland Statutes, a.d. 1636] conteined in this book ; And also the saids
prties did and doe admitt be thir puts. George Aytoun clerk, James Witherspoone
deacone burgess of Musselburt, and James Pettiecruif wardin deput, indweller in Pres-
tonn Panns, clerk, deacone, and wairdin deputt, wntill the ordinarie tyme of exchange of
the saids deacone and wairdin vsit and wont of befoir and no wtherways, Provyding
allways that the said George Aytoun clerk abouedescrywit be naways dischairgit of his
foirsaid office of clerkschipe to the said ludge of aitchiesons-heavin duraetj vita veil ad
culpam. Quhairwpoun the foirsaids thrie pensones, clerk, deacoun, and wairdin deput
did give thair aithe de fidelj administ'ne. Henrie Alexander, master of work."
" A.t Musselbrught the sixth day of febry. Jaj. vie. & thriescoir six yeares. The which
day the masones of the Ludge of Achisones haven frequentlie convened, and having
taken to theire considerat'ne the dammadge & jnconvenience they and the remanent
brethren of their companie sustaine through want of ane mortcloath. Therefore they with
wnariimous consent & voyce bought from the seamen of fisherrow, Robert Gardner and
William Hempferd portioners jn fisherraw, the sellers, ane velvett mortcloath with ane
pock for the vse of the sds Masons and their successors, fFor which they payd out of the
box ane hundreth twentie twa pound aughteen shilling scots, and wer of expenses thrie
pound twelf shil. four pennies, and rested jn the bpx ffour pound sixteen shilling ten
pennies scots, besyde ane piece .of gold. And ordaines that no outstander or revolter
•from the companie sail have right to the forsd Mortcloath or benefit thereof wntill first
they acknowledge their error and give satisfaction to the companie. And voted that
Patrick Witherspoon sould keep the new mortcloath for this year. And if it be let out
to ony frame or stranger, the pryce sould be to the box thrie merk & ane half. And this
they ordained to be jnacted. Subt. by me, Jo. Auchinleck, clerk."
The oldest minute-book possessed by the Lodge of Kilwinning is a
small quarto, bound in vellum, containing records of its transactions from
20th December 1642 to 5th December 1758. There are no minutes for
the years 1650, 1684, '90, '91, '92, '93, '94, '96, '97, '98, '99, 1700, '01, '02,
'03, '15. These breaks in its records are not conclusive as to the suspen-
sion of the Lodge's meetings, for detached scrolls referring to some of the
years in which a hiatus occurs are preserved. At the time of the reorgani-
sation of the Scotch Lodges by the Warden-General in 1S98-99, the Lodge
of Kilwinning was confirmed in its position as one of the HEAD Lodges.
No documents exist from which information can be derived regarding it
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 409
in the interval between Schaw's Ordinances of 1599 ^"d the date of its
earUest existing minute. But the import of its first two minutes suggests
the idea of a resuscitation of the Lodge, which seems to have been effected
by certain mason burgesses of Irvine and Ayr, and master masons in
Kilwinning and surrounding districts. In some of the earlier of the Kil-
winning minutes it is recorded that the Lodge met in the "vpper'' or
" heich chamber " of the dwelling-house of one or other of the brethren.
This is a clear indication of the existence of a secret ceremonial in com-
munications of the Mason Fraternity of the period. Though designating
itself "The Ancient Ludge of Scotland,"* it does not from its records appear
in the seventeenth century to have exercised any influence beyond the
counties of Ayr, Renfrew, and Dumbarton. This influence, which at the
best was little more than nominal, became more circumscribed towards
the close of the century, the Lodge's statutes were openly infringed and
its penalties disregarded, the absentees from its communications formed
the major part of its members, and its meetings were suspended. In 1704
the Lodge was, " with consent of the Tread," restored from a seven years'
dormancy — its operations, however, being chiefly confined to Kilwinning
and the northern parts of Ayrshire. Still its claims to the premiership of
Scotch Lodges met with acknowledgment through other sections of the
Craft seeking charters of erection at its hands. Upwards of thirty such
charters, including two to America (Essex and Falmouth, Virginia), one
to the West Indies (St John's, Antigua), and one to Ireland, -f- are known
to have been issued between the years 1729 and 1803. From the fact that
Lodges professing to be pendicles of Kilwinning existed in various parts
of the country at an early period of the eighteenth century, it may be
inferred that commissions similar to that granted to Canongate of Edin-
burgh preceded the issuing of charters to independent Lodges. Mother
Kilwinning's withdrawal from, and subsequent adhesion to the Grand
Lodge, and other points in its history, have been already noticed. The
following are excerpts from its earliest records : —
* On examining in 1863 the oldest existing minute-book of Mother Kilwinning, we directed the
attention of the Secretary to the fact that the word "Ancient," at the end of the eleventh and
beginning of the twelfth line of the minute of December 20, 1643 (folio 7), had been tampered with
— an attempt having been made to erase the word, and thereby to destroy the evidence of the
Lodge having styled itself " The Ancient Ludge of Scotland."
+ This charter of constitution was granted to " The High Knight Templar of Ireland Kilwin-
ning Lodge," meeting in Dublin in 1779. Upon this charter the "Kilwinning Chapter of High
Knight Templars of Ireland and S.-. C. •. R. ■. C. •." subsequently founded its right to work the
Royal Arch, Knight templar, and other degrees. It is now preserved in the archives of the
Grand Conclave of High Knights Templar of Ireland.
4IO
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
" XX december 1642. In the ludge of Kilwyning convenit of the massoun craft the per-
sones following and jnrollit thame selffis in the said ludge and submittit thame selflfis
thairvnto and to the actis and statuts throf. Presentes : Johne barclay Johne allasone
Jon cauldwell hew craufurd Robert welsche Mathow Allasone Patrik greir Johne Smithe
Andro boyd Williame cauldwell Johne meler Wm craufurd in braidstane Rot cauldwell
Johne Massoune Robertt Quhytt . W Mitchell Rot fultoun in monktounheid Jon
fultoun in craigend Rot fultoun in auld mynes Allane leek in frierland John lyndsay
in Cunnyngesland Williame fultoun in Craigend George wilsoun in bowsaill Hew
miller in paisley Hew mure Williame weir." [A mark is adhibited to each name. Of
the names three are holograph of the parties, viz., John Meier, deacon, and John Mas-
soune and Robert Quhytt, freemen of the Ayr Squaremen Incorporation.]
" XX day of december 1643. The Court of the Ludge of Kilwyning holdin in the vpper
chamber of the duellinghous of Hew Smithe at the croce of Kilwyning Be Johnne
Barcklay, maissone burges of Irwin, deacone of the maissounes wtin the haill bounds,
and remanent brethrein mrs. of wark vyrs following. Suittis callitt. Court laully. affirmit.
Item Comissioun is gevin and allowit be ws the fornamit subscryveris as wardane,
deacones, and followis of craft of the ludge of Kilwyning, the ancient ludge of Scot-
land, To seclude and away put furthe of thair ancient companie all dissobedient persones
that is not willing to keip and fulfill the ancient statutis sett doun of befor be or worthie
forfatheris of worthie memorie. Item that na follow of craft nor maister be ressauit
nor admittit wtout the number of sex maisteris and twa enterit prenteisses, the wardane
of the said ludge being ane of the sex, and that the day of the ressaving of the said follow
craft or maister be orderly buikit and his name and mark be insert in the said buik wt
the names of the sex admitteris and enterit prenteisses, and the names of the intenderis
that schall be chosen to every persone to be also insert thairinto ; provyding alwayes
that no man be admittit wtout ane essay and sufficient tryall of his skill and worthieness
in his vocatioun and craft. Item vpoun the said tuenty day of the monthe of december
jm. vjc. fourtie thrie yeris they have electit and chosen Johnne barclay wardane of the
ancient ludge of Kilwynning, and Hew Craufurd electit deacone for thenixt yeir jm. vie.
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 41 I
fourtie four yeirs. Item we wardane and deacone abovnemeit grants ws to be awand
to ye boxe for or entry to the saids offices every ane of ws iij lbs money to be peyit befor
the choosing the nixt, and ordanes that every wardane and deacone the fyrst tyme to yr
entry yt sail be chosen sail pey also ilk ane of thame to the box iij lbs, and the forsaids
wardane and deacone ar obleist cautn ilk ane of them for ane vther for ye forsaid soume.
Item. The company haue electit Rot. Fultoun in Mountheid, Rot. Fultoun in Auld-
mynes, for thequartars of Inscheschennan and Dumbartane. Item. Rot. Welsche and
William Cauldwell for the quarteris of the heiche of Baronthrow wt Paislay. Item.
Mathow Allasoune and Patrick Greir for the pairtes of Cunynghame as Quarter
maisteris, quha hes gevin yr aithis. Item the wardane and deacone, wt consent of the
brethrein has creatt James Ross notr. clerk to thair courtis. Quha hes gevin his aithe in
office. Item it is concordit and aggrelt be the forsaids maisteris, that ilk ane of the mais-
teris sail pey quarterly twa schillingis scottis. Item the enter prenteisses sail pey tuell
pennies scottis for yr quarter comptis, and gif it sail remane vnepeyit they sail duble it,
and the quarter mrs chesen for yt effect sail tak paines for ye collecting of it, and
ordanes thame to be anserable for it at the generall meeting. Item it is concordit and
aggreit that all thir maisteris sail convein peremptorlie at Kilwyning the forsaid day
yeirly, vnder ye penaltie of fourtie schillingis money, and entert prenteissis tuentie schil-
lingis money, wtin Cunynghame, and lykways in Barronnthrow sail pey tuentie schil-
lingis, and enter prenteisses sail pey ten schillingis money toties quoties. Item it is
concordit and aggreit that the said maisteris of the whole ludge and quartar maisteris
sail convein, wt the enter prenteisses at Kilbarchane the thursday befor Lambes yeirly,
and the mrs of the barronnthrow sail pey fourtie schillingis for not compearance, and
the enter prenteisses yr tuentie sch money ; and lykwys, the mrs wtin Cunyngham sail
pey twentie sch. money, and the enter prenteisses yr sail pey ten schillings toties quoties,
and ordanes every ane of them at yr boking to pey xld to the clerk.''
" xix of deer., 1646. The court of the Maissoun tred of the loudge of Kilwyning,
hold in in the vpper chamber of Hew Smythe, at the croce of Kilwyning, be Jon. Alla-
soune wardane, and Johnne Cauldwell deacone, and remanent brethrein prnt. Suittis
callit. Court lauUy affirmit. Absentes callit at ii hors ye said day. . . The qlk day the
wardane and deacone and remanent brethrein of the Maisstiun tred wtin the foresaid
loudge prnts and ressauit and acceptit Hew Miller, maissoun in Paislay, William Crau-
furd in Bradstane, Jn. Miller in Air, Rot. Cauldwell, fellow brethren to ye said tred,
quha hes sworne to ye standart of the said ludge ad vitem. As also hes ressauit ye
persones following as prenteisses to ye said craft : Ro. Corraithe, Jon. Cauldwell, Allane
Cauldwell, Jon. Craufurd, and Andro Hart. The qlk day Hew Mure in Kilmarnok wes
decernit to pay to the box ten pnds mony of vnlaw for working wt Cowanes contrair to
the actis & ordinances of the said ludge, and for peyt qrof the said Hew Mure as princll.
and Jon. Allasoune, massoune, as caut. for him, binds and obleisses thame conjuclly &
severlly yr aires and exrs. to pay ye forsaid soume betwix & lambeis nixt 1647, &ye said
Hew Mr obleist him to relieff his cautr vnder ye pane of dubling. . . . Off the qlk vnlaw
yr is peyit prntly be Hew Mure xx sch. money. . . . Ja. Ross, notaris."
" At Air the twentie aucht day of Januar, the zeir of god Jaj. vie. & fourtiesevin zeiris.
The court of the Masounes of the Ludg Killwining haldin be Johne Allasoune wardane,
Mathow Allasoune deacoune, and remanent brethreine present. Suites called : the
court lawfullie affirmit. Conveined Mathow Allasoun deacoun, Johne Allasoun wardan,
Johne Smyt in Kilmaris,* Jon Corruth in Kyle, Patrik Greir in Killmarnok, Johne Miller
* One of the contractors in 1653 for building a church in Ayr in place of the Kirk of St John,
412 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
in Air, Johne Masoune in Air, Robert Quhyt ; William Weir in Laichmyln prenteis ;
Andro Hart in Irwing prenteis, officer. Absentis vnlawit [here follow the names of
twelve brethren from Mayboill, Machline, Killwining, etc]. Quhilk day Robert Quhyt,
massoune in Air, vpoune oath declyned all working with the cowains at any tyme heir-
efter, and oblieged him to yis Ludg and to observe the auncient rewlis maid tbairanent
vnder the paine of fourtie pund, conforme to ye act. Robertt Quhytt. Thair is givein to
Johne Corruth, Johne Massoune, Johne Millar, Patrik Greir, Robert Cauldwell, and
Johne Hunter, to tak order woth James Naper eldar and youngar, Androw Walker, &
Hew Gibsoune, for yr disobedience, and to met vpone the 22 of febvrar vndar the paine
of 24s at Johne Wassones in Machline at nyne hors befoir none. And to report yr dili-
gence to ye nixt meitting."
Little is known of the LODGE OF GLASGOW during the seventeenth, and
nothing whatever of an authentic nature as to its existence in the sixteenth
or preceding centuries. Its pretensions to an antiquity of the time of
Malcolm IIL of Scotland (1057) '^re noticed in page 280, in connection
with its resolution to exercise the functions of a Grand Lodge. There can
be no doubt as to the existence of a Lodge among the Operative Masons
who built the Cathedral of Glasgow, but the fact cannot be substantiated
by documentary evidence, any more than the Lodges of Edinburgh and
Kilwinning can by written testimony be proved to have been established
by the Masons who built the Abbeys of Holyrood and Kilwinning. It is
unfortunate for the claims to priority and supremacy that in modern times
have been advanced by the Lodge of Glasgow, that the Warden-General
of the Scotch Lodges in 1599 should have assigned to Kilwinning the
Masonic oversight of a district which included Glasgow. The earhest
authentic notice of the Lodge of Glasgow is contained in the oldest minute-
book of the Masons' Incorporation, under date September 22, 1620, and is
to the following effect : " Entry of Apprentices to the Lodge of Glasgow. —
The last day December, 1613 years — Compeared John Stewart, Deacon
of Masons, and signified to David Slater, Warden of the Lodge of Glas-
gow, and to the remnant Brethren of that Lodge, that he was to enter John
Stewart, his apprentice, in the said Lodge. Lykas upon the morn, being
the first day of January sixteen hundred and fourteen years, the said
Warden and Brethren of the said Lodge entered the said John Stewart,
younger, apprentice to the said John Stewart, elder, conform to the acts
and liberty of the Lodge." The only other instance where " Lodge" is
mentioned is in the minute of May i, 1622, to the effect that James Ritchie
being accused of feeing a Kowan in contravention of the Acts of Craft
alleged that "he was entered with a Lodge, and had a discharge of a
which had been turned into an armoury by Cromwell on taking possession of the town after the
defeat of the Scotch forces at Dunbar.
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 413
Master in Paisley with whom he is entered, and therefore the Deacons and
Masters have assigned to him Friday next to produce the discharge." *
The Lodge of Glasgow was a party to the St Clair Charter of 1628. But
it took no part in the institution of the Grand Lodge, nor did it join that
body till 1850, when it was enrolled under the designation of "The Lodge
of Glasgow St John, No. 3 bis." Unlike other pre-eighteenth century
Lodges, its membership was exclusively Operative, and although doubtless
giving the Mason Word to entered apprentices, none were recognised as
members till they had joined the Incorporation, which was composed of
Mason burgesses. The erection of St Mungo's in 1729 was the result of
an unsuccessful attempt to introduce non-operatives into the Lodge of
Glasgow — an object which was not attained till about the year 1842. It
was their exclusion from the Freemen's Lodge which led the Journeymen
Masons of Glasgow, in 1741, to set up the " St Andrew's Lodge at Glas-
gow," under a charter from Kilwinning, — its designation being afterwards
changed to " The Glasgow Journeymen Free-Operatives." It was reor-
ganised in 1788, when " incorporate," equally with "theorical masons who
do not practise and work as journeymen," were declared to be "only pen-
dicles of the Lodge" and therefore ineligible to hold office except that of
secretary. The officebearers then consisted of" Grand-master, four Masters,
two Wardens, two Box-mastei-s, Secretary or Clerk." The two brethren
next in rank to the " Grand-master" were also respectively designated
" High-steward" and " Cornet." Each paid a fee of honour on his election.
There was an annual parade on St John's-day, in which "musick and
flambeaus" bore a conspicuous part. Persons under fifteen or above forty
years of age were inadmissible for membership.
Like its contemporaries, the Kilwinning, No. 4, and St Mark, No. 102,
the Lodge of Glasgow St John possesses a hall of its own, which is
devoted exclusively to Masonic purposes.
Haddington St John Kilwinning claims to have been an offshoot
from the Lodge of Wark in Northumberland as far back as 1599 ; but this
cannot be supported by documentary evidence. It was a party to the St
Clair Charter of 1600-01. December 26, 1713, is the date of its earhest
minute extant, and contains the record of the passing of a fellow-craft,
and of the election of a Deacon and Warden. In 1726 certain Masons in
Tranent became bound under a penalty of ^^40 Scots to attend the yearly
meeting of the Lodge at Haddington. The oldest Masonic MSS. pos-
* MS. Notes on the History of the Lodge of Glasgow St John, kindly shown to us by the author,
Bro. James Cruickshank, builder, a Past Master of the Lodge, and ex-Substitute Provincial Grand
Master of Glasgow.
414 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
sessed by the Lodge, are — a "band" in security for the sum of ;^6 Scots
granted by John Anderson, mason burgess, to the Mason Lodge of Had-
dington, of date February 2, 1682 ; and the following paper illustrative of
the custom of binding apprentice masons to particular Lodges : —
" Contract and Agriement betwixt the Masson Lodge of Hadingtoun and John Crum-
bie {idqp). Att Hadingtoun the twentie ninth day of May Jaj vii c. nintie and seven
years, the following agreement contract and conditions are made and condecended to
betwixt the parties underwriten. They are to say, Archbald Dauson masson in Nun-
gate, present Decon of the Mason Lodge of Hadingtoun, with and in name of the rem-
nant Massons of the sd Masson Lodg one the ane part and John Crumbie masson in
Stenton one the uther part. That is to say the forsd John Crumbie binds and oblidges
him to keep and observe these conditions, viz., that he shall not work with nor in com-
pany nor fellowship of any Cowan at any maner of building nor masson work. Likwise
the sd John Crumbie oblidge him not to contract nor agree with any person nor persons
for any masson work but for dayes wages, at least not to transact nor agree with any
work for above six pound Scots for perfecting & compleating the samine during the
time he is ane entered prentice. And the said John Crumbie oblidges him if he faillie
in any of the sd conditions or any other manner of way contrary to the rights and
privileedges of the sd Masson Lodge to pay the forsd Deacon and remnant brethren of
the sd Lodge the soume of ffourtie pound Scots money for each faillie totis quotities.
And the said Archbald Dauson decon and remnant brethren of the sd Lodge, oblidges
them to accept of [and] receive the forsd John Crumbie as ane entered prentice, he
keeping and observing the forsd conditions and agreements and paying the ordiner dews
which is use and wont. And both parties condesends to the registration hereof in any
Judges books competent within this kingdom, that all execution needfull may pase
hereupon on six days only and for that effect constituts there prors. in witness qrof,
writen be John Carfrae indweller in Hadingtoun, both parties hes subt thir prnts day
place and year of God above writen befor thir witnesses, Charles Paterson, servitor to
George Cockburn, writer in Edr., and the forsd John Carfrae, writer hereof John
Crumbie ; Cha. Patersone, Witness ; Jo. Carfrae, Witness."
There is a jotting on one of the fly-leaves of the oldest minute-book of
the Lodge Dunblane St John of payments made to its funds in April
169S, but January 1696 is the date of its earliest minute. Of the brethren
in office and otherwise aiding in the business of this Masonic Society at
the period mentioned, the majority were non-operatives, several of them
being noted Jacobites. Cameron of Locheil (brother-in-law to Sir Dun-
can Campbell, already noticed as belonging to Mary's Chapel), Strathallan,
Lord John Drummond, and other leading members of the Lodge of Dun-
blane, were prominent actors on the Stewart side in the Rebellions of
1715 and 1745. Lord John was Master in 1743-45. The following are
selections from the earliest records of the Lodge, and from others of more
recent date of an interesting character :
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 415
"Meassones Court holden att Dunblane the twentie eight day of January laj. vi c.
nyntie six years, [when] the Societie of the Meassones after named h[ave mett] and con-
veined to the effect afterspecd., viz. William Viscount of Strathalane ; Johne Camerone
of [Lochyiell], younger ; Johne Pearsone of Kippenross ; Alexander Dru[mmond] of Bal-
hadies ; AUane Camerone, brother german to the sd laird of Lochyiell ; Johne Grahame,
younger, in Dunblane ; William Ca[ddell] of Fo'ssoqwhey ; Jas. Grahame, lorimer in
Dunblane; Thomas Muschett & Robert Duthie, measones in Dunblane; John Duthie,
measone in Kippenross ; William Baxter, measone in Kilbryde ; and James Turner,
wryter in Dunblane. The sd day the sd persones all in one voice have elected and
chosen the persones afternamed to be members of the sd Court and Societie of the
Lodge of Meassones in Dunblane for this present year 1696 years, as after foUowes, viz..
The sd Viscount of Strathalane Master Meassone, and in his absence the sd Alexr.
Drummond of Balhadie, who is appoynted Warden, and in case of Balhadies absence
and the sd Viscount being present Johne Pearsone of Kippenross is to ofificiat as War-
den ; the sd Thomas Muschett, Eldest Fellow of Craft, and in case of his absence Johne
Duthie is to ofificiat for him, and the sd James Grahame as deput ; the sd James Turner
Clerk ; William Caddell Theasurer; the sd Robert Duthie Officer, and William Baxter
in his absence ; and the sd Johne Grahame Pror.-Fiscall. And incase it shall happen
the first thrie members to be absent all at one tyme, and that there be necessitie for hold-
ing of a Court, the fourth member is heirby impoured to keep court and nominat mem-
bers in the roume of the sd who shall be absent. The fornamed members of Court doe
heirby appoynt all Meassones who are members of this Court to meitt and convein att
Dunblane the first laull. day of the begining of each quarter of ane year under the
penaltie of ffour pounds Scots, or els instruct ane reasonable cause vvhy. And that all
Meassones & members of this Lodge meitt and convein upon St Johns daye, being the
twentie sevent day of December 1696, att this place, under the penaltie of twelve punds
Scots for each absent persona, or els give ane laull. excuse — it being a laull. day, and
fealyeng thereof the next laull. day thereafter. The sd members doe heirby ordaine
that each workman who shall heirafter be entered pay at their entrey six punds, and att
their passing thrie punds Scots, with the ordinar dues. And farder, they ordaine that
aney meassone who shall be desyrous to enter themselves with this Lodge, the samen
shall be referred to the modificatione of aney one of the members of this Court as to
their entrey money. And sicklyke the sd members, with consent of the remanent per-
sones befor named, doe heirby statute and ordaine that no persone heir present, or aney
other persones who shall be heirafter admitted to this Lodge, shall divulge or make
knowne aney of the acts passt in this court, or of the acts heirafter to be past during this
year, to aney meassone qtsomever who is not entered to this Lodge, excepting only these
two acts made in relatione to entrey and passing, and of nieassones already past and
entred and desyrous to joyne in this Lodge. And that under the breach of breaking of
their oath and former engadgements and being thereafter declared incapable. In testi-
mony whereof the sds members and former persones, meassones abovenamed, have subd.
thir prnts. at Dunblane the sd twentie eight day of Janry. 1696 years forsd. Strathalan,
A. Drummond, Jo. Pearson, Thomas mwshiet, John Duthie, Jas. Turner, John Gra-
hame, Wm. Caddell, Robert Duthie, William Baxter, J. Cameron, Allan Cameron, Ja.
Grahame."
" Dunblane, the thrid day of August 1696 years, at. Wm. Caddells house. The which
day mett and conveined the Viscount .Strathalane, Master Mason, Alexr. Drummond
warden. . . . The members of Court, with consent of the master meassone, haveing taken
4l6 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
into consideratione that the fyne imposed upon tradsemen for yer absence at the court
the begining of each quarter being ffour punds Scots is over much for them to pay,
Therefore they doe statute & ordaine that in all tyme comeing the sd fyne shall be re-
stricted to threttie shilling Scots, to be punctuallie payed in to the box be each tradse-
man who shall not convein the first laull. day of each quarter, conforme to the former
act made thereanent ; — and those who are not tradsemen ther fyne to continow as for-
merlie. And lykewise the absents are to be lyable in the lyke fynes if they doe not ap-
pear when they are lauUie warned to aney court, or els give ane relivant excuse therefor.
. . . The sd day the sd master meassone & remanent members appoynts the secund
Munday of November next, being the nynt day, to be the next court day, in respect the
fair of Dunblane holds the first week of Novr., and ordains the officer to summand all
persones concernd (who are not here present) again that day. Strathalan." '
"December 27, 1763 : It is statute and ordained that each meassone of this court who
takes ane prentise to the meassone trade shall be oblidged to pay in twentie shillin
Scots money for each prentises entrey and booking money to the sd trades box herafter.
And that they shall be oblidged to cause the clerk of this court to write ther indentars,
and pay him therefor, under the penaltie of ffourtie shilling Scots for ilk transgressione
attour payment." "September i, 1716 : It is enacted that in tyme comeing there be
no meassons or vthers entered and past by the members of this Lodge at one and the
same time (except such gentlemen who cannot be present at a second diet). But that
they be first reported prentises and their passing ordered by the Lodge therafter accord-
ing to qualificationes. And in case of contraventione, the members accessory to such
unlaufull passing shall be lyable to a fyne by the Court as they shall see fitt." " Dun-
blane, the twenty seventh day of December 1720 years. Sederunt : Robert Duthy dea-
con, Wm. Wright warden, Wm. Muschet eldest fellow of craft. . . . Compeared John
Gillespie, writer in Dunblane, who was entered on the 24 instant, and after examination
was duely passt from the Square to the Compass, and from an Entered Prentice to a
Fellow of Craft of this Lodge, who present as said is bound, obliged, and enacted him-
self to stand by, obey, obtemper, and subject himself unto the heall acts and ordinances
of this Lodge and Compan)^ and in testimony qrof has subd. thir prnts." " Dunblane,
November 28, 172 1. . . . Compeared James Eason, who was formerly entered as a
prentise in our Lodge upon the 29th of March, laj. vii c & twentie and one years, and
being examined was duely past from the Square to the Compass, and from an enterd
prentise to a fellow of craft of this Lodge ; and hereby binds and oblidges himself to
stand true to all the laws & statuts of this Lodge, and subject himself therto, and in tes-
timoney, etc." " Dunblane, the sixth day of Septemr., laj. vii c. and twenty three years.
Sederunt : Alex. Moir Master Mason pro tempore ; Charles Stirling of Kippendavie
and Pat. Linton of Pendriech, Wardens ; William Caddell of Fossothy, Wm. Ker, Robt.
Finlaysone, Alexr. Broun, Follows of Craft. The same day compeared CoUonell James
Ruthven of Graitney, Hugh Pearson of Kippenross, Peter Stirling, yr. of Kippendavie,
and James Longlands of Mountfir, and at their earnest desire were duely and orderly
admitted entered prentices of this Lodge, being, orderly & decently introduced yrto as
use is, and who by thir presents become entered prentices bound, obliged, and enacted
to all the laws, acts, and statutes of this Lodge accordingly. As also, they haveing in a
short time yrafter applyed to be past, and given satisfieing answers of their knowledge
as entered prentices, were accordingly past from prentices to fellows of craft in due
form, and have all subscribed thir puts. Therafter the sd Mr Caddell made a present
to this Lodge of a Book intituled The Constitutions of the Free Masons, containing the
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 417
History, Charges, Regulations, &c. : which was gratefully received from him, and or-
dained to be keept by the Theasurer for the use of the members of this Lodge in time
comeing. Which Constitutions are written for the use of the Lodges by Mr James
Andersone, Minister of the Gospell, and printed at London in the year of Masonry vaj
vii & xxiii. Anno Domini 1723. . . . The which day (January 4, 1724) Alexander
Moir payed in to the Theasurer half a guinie, being six pounds six shill. Scots, which
he received from Collonell Ruthven for entering and passing him ; and thre pounds
money forsd which he received from James Longlands for the same cause, — out of
which the Theasurer, with consent of the Society and by their allowance, payed to
William Ker the soume of six shillings sterling for aprons and gloves furnished to
these two brethren, and to Kippenross and Kippendavie who were entered with them."
. . "Dunblane, twentie seventh of December, 1729. . . . Compeared William Rankine,
yor., mercht. in Dunblane, and Andrew Wright at Mill of Fintry, who declared that
they were entered apprentices to the Lodge of Kilwinning, compeared, desiring this
lodge might enter them apprentices to their said lodge and pass them therefrom to be
fellows of craft, which being considered by the members of Court, they ordain James
Muschet to examine them as to their qualifications and knowledge, who having reported
to the Lodge that they had a competent knowledge of the secrets of the Mason Word,
they the said Lodge after entering them apprentices pass them to be fellows of craft of
this Lodge." "Dunblane, 13 March, 1740. John StirlingofKeir.Esqr., master, Alexander
Drummond of Balhaldies, George Robertson of Craigarnhall, Hugh Pearson of Kippen-
ross, Patrick Stirling of Kippendavie, John Drummond, writer in Edinburgh. . . .
Thereafter the Right Honourable Lord John Drummond, brother to his Grace the
Duke of Perth, gave in a petition craving to be admitted a member of the Mason Lodge
of Dunblane, which being considered by the master and other members of the present,
they doe unanimously admitt his Lordship to be an apprentice of the forsd lodge. And
thereafter he, having been found duely qualified, was pa_st from an apprentice to be a
ffellow of craft. And having paid in to the theasurer a guinea after his admission, his
Lordship oblidges himself to obey the whole acts and statutes of court. J. Drummond.
John Stirling, Master. The same day Alexander Stuart, servant of the above Lord
John Drummond, gave in a petition craving to be admitted a member of the sd Mason
Lodge, which being considered by the Master and the other Masons present, they
unanimously admit the sd Alexr. Steuart to be ane apprentice of the said Lodge who
hereby obliges himself to obey the whole acts and statutes of Court. Alexander Stuart.
John Stirling, Master."
Peebles Kilwinning from the commencement of its career admitted
non-operatives, and observed many of the ancient customs of the Craft
long after they had disappeared from other Lodges, i.e. constitution of its
meetings by prayer, the periodical examination of its members, and the
appointment of instructors to each newly-admitted brother. The annual
testing of apprentices and fellows was conducted privately by brethren
appointed for the purpose, who openly reported the result to the Lodge.
No Third Degree is referred to in the minutes as practised by the Lodge
at or prior to 1764, the date at which the first volume of its records ends.
" Kilwinning" was first appended to its name in 1750.
2 D
4l8 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
" Peebles, October i8th, J7i6. The which day the Honurable company of Masons be-
longing to the Toun of Peebles, head Burgh of the shire, taking into their consideration
the great loss they-have hitherto sustain'd by the want of a Lodge, and finding a suffi-
cient number of Brethreen in this Burgh, did this day erect a lodge amongst themselves
within the said Burgh, for the benefite thereof and the shire, making choise of a Deacon
and Warden, Boxmaster, Key-keeper, and Clark in manner follouing, viz., John Hys-
lope, James Stiel, and David Whyte, three of that Honourable company being put in the
lite for Deacon, and the same putt to the vote, John Hyslope was unanimously chosen
Deacon of the said lodge. As also James Stiel, David Whyte, Mr John Taitt being in
the lite for Warden, and the same putt to the vote David Whyte was chosen. John Ker,
William Nickol, and Richard Whyte being in the lite for boxmaster, and put to the vote,
William Nickol was chosen for that effect. As also Richard Whyte, John Ker, and
Robert Scott being putt in the lite for Key-keeper, the same was carried by vote in
favours of Richard Whyte, when Mr John Taitt was also unanimously chosen Clark to
the said Lodge and Honourable company. All which things were done decently and
orderly by the Honourable Company of Masons belonging to the lodge att Peebles here-
to subscribing. Sic Subscribitur. John Hislop, David White, Jo. Taitt, John Ker,
William NiccoU, Robert Scott, Adam Saltone, John Frier, Frncs. Gibsone, Alxander
Veaitch, William brotherstons, James Stiel." [Each signature is preceded by a mark.]
" Peebles, December 27th, J7i6. The which day being St Johns day, the Masons of the
lodge of Peebles, that honourable company, mett and proceeded as folloues. After
prayer, the Deacon and Warden with the Clark were present att the examination of the
severall members of the rest of the honourabl company, which was approven with
respect to each of them. After which the saids company proceeded to the entrie of
William Brotherstains, which was decently and orderly done, and he received as a mem-
ber of the said company, he choosing for his intenders David & Richard Whyts, being
ordered to pay in three pound scotts to the box master as his composition. This day
was enacted that each member of the said Society shall in all time comming pay in to
the box half a marke scotts, and this to commence att St Johns day next. Alexr. Veitch,
enter'd prentise, made application to this lodge & was received, who choose for his in-
tenders David & Richard Whyts. The honourable company this day did elect and
choose Richard White as their box master for this year and John Ker key keeper there-
of. .. . As also was decently and orderly entred and addmitted Andrew Gray, and was
ordered to pay to the box-master upon demand one pound tenn shilling scotts money as
his composition, he having made choise of John Hyslope and Adam Salton for his in-
tenders."
" Peebles, December 27, J7i7. This day being St John's day, the right honourable com-
pany of Masons belonging to the Lodge of Peebles mett and proceeded thus. John
Wood merchant in Peebles having made application to this honourable company was
gravely and decently entred a member of the said Ludge, any complement to be given
being referr'd to himself. As also Andrew Gray, a member of the Society, was this day
convict of a gross misdemanner, and accordingly came in the companies will, where-
upon he was fin'd in half an croun, to be immediately payd or his bill therefor. John
Wood chose for his intenders Mr Jo. Taitt and William BrothersJ;ons, chosing for his
mark this [ ]. Andrew Veitch chose this [ ], William Duguid chose this [ ], who all
payd for the same. . . . The several members payd in their half marks to the box, and
the severall pices of examination were diligently undergone to satisfaction. Expended
for dinner six pound eighteen shilling six pence scotts money."
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 419
"Peebles, Deer. 19th, J7i8. The which day Mr John Douglass, brother German to
the R. H. ye Earle of March, was by the Honourable Society of Masons in the Ludge of
Peebles received and admitted member of the said society, and payd in to the box ane
Guiny in Gold as composition, choose for his Intenders John Hyslope and Francis Gib-
son, he choose for his mark [ ]. As also Captain George Weir of his Majesty's Troop
of foot guards was by the said Society received and admitted member thereof, and pay'd
into the box thereof 10 sh. and six pence. Received for his intenders Mr John Taitt and
John Friar, choose for his mark [ ], upon which the Honourable Societie having re-
ceived ane handsome treat, thought fitt to give in complement to the forsd's Gentlemen
04 lib. io sh. 00 d., being that which was due to their Carecter."
" Deer. 27, 1723. This day Robert Patersone was laufully entered a member of this
lodge, composition gratis upon the account he is a mechanick and of a good behaviour,
choose for his mark [ ]."
"Peebles, 27th December, 1725. . . . There being proposed to thehonbl. company by
some of the brethren thereof, that the yearly dues, being half a mark scots being but
small, and there was each year taken off the box for helping to pay the dinner, that
thereby the box would in a short time come to nothing, which being considered by the
honbl. company, it was voted nemini contra dicente that for ever hereafter each entred
Mason shall pay yearly six pence, and three halfpence quarterly, which in all amounts
to twelve shilling scots yearly. And they doe hereby appoint the present warden and
his successors in office to order the officer for the time to ingather the sd quarter dues
and to give into him. . . . This day John Ramadge, present provost of Peebles and one
of the brethren of the honbl. company of masons there [entered September 1717], did
complement the lodge thereof with ane Book of the Constitutions of the Free-masons,
containing the history, charges, regulations, &c., of that most ancient and right worship-
full fraternitie, for the use of all the lodges in Scotland, &c., which was received by the.
honbl. lodge and heartie thanks returned to him therefore by the honbl. company. And
which book is ordained to ly in the box, not to be given out to any person save a
brother residing within this burgh, upon his giving a receipt therefore to redeliver back
the same within the space of twenty four hours after receipt yrof under the pain of half
a crown." "Peebles, 13th January, 1725. . . . Thereafter David Whyte being accused
by severall of the honbl. company for breach of some of the laws and for the fourth
article in particular ; and he being examined thereanent owned and confessed that he
had said he would enter some persons in Traqeaur parish, contrair to the sd law, and
would set up ane lodge there. And which being considered by the honbl. company,
they found him guiltie of the breach of the laws, for which they only ordained him to
beg God and the honbl. company pardon, and promise not to doe the like in time com-
ing, which he accordingly did." "27th Deer. 1726. . . . The honbl. company taking to their
serious considerationes the reflections putt by the members of the Lodge who were no
workmen anent the paymt. of one shilling ster. yearly, doe therefore in all time coming
restrict the sd shilling to eight pence."
The Lodge of Aberdeen, although alleged to have been instituted
in 1541, possesses no record of its transactions prior to 1670. Like Mother
Kilwinning, it ascribes the loss of its more ancient minutes to their acci-
dental destruction by fire, at a date and under circumstances of which there
is no authentic record. Like Kilwinning, too, Aberdeen was recognised
420 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
as an ancient centre of the " High Degrees" by Continental Masonic fabu-
lists of last century, much to the surprise of the Aberdonians them-
selves.* A code of laws was adopted by the Lodge of Aberdeen at the
formation of its benefit society, A.D. 1670. The original manuscript of
these laws, and other portions of an old folio called " the account book,''
are pasted on the leaves of another book, which opens with a copy of the
charter received from the Grand Lodge in 1748. Prefixed to the statutes
is a list of the "authoires and subscryuers" of the book of which it origin-
ally formed a part, engrossed by the clerk, a glazier named Anderson, in
what may be termed a species of pen-printing. To such a degree does
the Lodge seem at the period to have been leavened with the Speculative
element, that of these brethren, forty-nine in number, more than one-half
are recognisable as having no professional connection with Operative
Masonry. This roll contains the names of three earls and one lord, two
parish ministers, one preacher, a professor of mathematics, an advocate,
two surgeons, two lairds, a collector of customs, nine merchants, two wig-
makers, and other theoretical masons — all holding the rank of fellow-craft
and, as we learn from a note appended to the list, arranged according to
seniority, " persones of a meane degree insert before greate persones of
qualitie," as illustrative of the principles of equality and fraternity which
should characterise associations of the Mason trade. Two of these fellows
of craft are designated " maister," three " warden," and three " theasurer of
our lodge ;" but there is nothing to distinguish the past from the then present
holders of these offices. By an original rule of the Lodge entered appren-
tices were incapacitated for being placed on the roll of members, but their
names were inserted in a separate list.
The statutes of 1670 show the Lodge to have been composed of Master
Masons and Entered Apprentices, governed by a Master and a Warden,
who, with a clerk, boxmaster, and officer, composed its staff of officials.
They make provision for the entertainment of " Noblemen and Gentlemen
Masons" on visiting the Lodge, as if their admission into the Fraternity gave
eclat to its meetings and dignity to its proceedings. Eldest sons, and
husbands of eldest daughters of members, as such, were, as now, admissible
at reduced charges, as were also handicraft apprentices. " Ane linen apron
and a pair of good gloves" fell to be presented by intrants to each of the
brethren. Marks were adopted by apprentices. Pointed reference is made
to the benefit of the Mason Word, and special care shown for insuring
secrecy in communicating it. The Lodge of Kilwinning chose the seclu-
sion of an " upper chamber" of an ordinary dwelling-house for its meetings,
* Masonic Knight Templarism and the Royal Arch Degrees are known to have been worked
in Aberdeen about the year 1780.
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 421
but the Aberdeen Fraternity preferred to hold their lodge in " the open
fields" rather than in inhabited tenements — "the Mearnes in the parish of
Negg,.at the stonnies at the poynt of the Ness" [near the Girdleness
Point], being the specified place for entering in the "outfield lodge." Par-
ticular to a degree in upholding the drinking customs which obtained in
ancient associations of the crafts — the speaking pint, the pint of wine at
entry and passing, and the prolonged festivities on St John's-day — the
Lodge pointedly condemned drunkenness, and was otherwise watchful of
the moral and religious bearing of its members. Obedience to its laws
was enjoined from a regard to "the oathes" made at entry. It was the
custom to read the " Mason Charter," i.e. the Old English Charges, and the
Laws of the Lodge, at the entering of apprentices. The " entertainment
money" still exacted from intrants is a relic of the entering pint of the
seventeenth century.
Following the statutes is a copy of the MS. Constitutions, in the same
handwriting as the Laws, without date, and entitled "A Discourse hade
before a meeting of Measones, commonly caled the Measson Charter" —
the opening paragraph being designated, "A Prayer before the meeting :"
"The might of the Father of heaven, with the wisdom of the glorious Son,
and the grace and goodness of the Holy Ghost the three persones in one
Godhead, be with us in our beginning and give us grace so to govern our-
selves that we may live in that bliss which shall never have ane ending.
Amen." The Aberdeen MS. is described by Bro. Hughan, in the second
edition of his ' Old Charges of British Freemasons,' as being " intermediate
to the York and Kilwinning MSS." Its source is apparent from its con-
taining, like that of Kilwinning, the clause, "true lydgemen to the King of
England." Towards the end it is shorter than in most other transcripts of
the same document. It is followed by the "Lawes and Statutes for
Meassones, gathered out of their old wreattings." These consist of some
twelve or fourteen items of the Falkland Ordinances, for " airtieficeris of
buildingies," which we have referred to at page 87.
A hiatus in the Lodge's records occurs between 1670 and 1696, in which
year the election of officials is minuted. A plurality of Wardens exists
till 1700, at which date the name of "the first warden of our lodge" had
disappeared from the list. It is not to be supposed that the brother
referred to was the first warden the Lodge ever had. The expression would
in all probability be used to denote that the warden named was the first to
fill the office at the re-organisation of the Lodge which may have been
effected a few years prior to the institution of its charity fund. The ap-
pointment of a second warden would proceed from a disposition to render
the elder brother's occupancy of the post an honorary distinction. The
422 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
Lodge of Aberdeen retained its position as a court of Operative Masonry-
till about the period of the institution of the Grand Lodge. It permitted
apprentices and journeymen, under certain restrictions, to execute mason
work on their own account, and visited with penalties those who abused
their privilege in this respect. It took part in the erection of the Grand
Lodge, the Earl of Kintore being its Master ; but by some mismanage-
ment failed to obtain the position on the roll to which it was entitled. Its
constitution was remodelled in 1793, when out of deference, it may be
supposed, to its Operative origin it was resolved that the office of senior
warden should always be filled by a domatic mason — an arrangement which
is still observed. Persons above fifty years of age, and " menial servants,"
were inadmissible, and " fraudulent bankruptcy" rendered brethren liable to
expulsion. The Lodge is now rich in funds, and its intrants are chiefly of
the professional and mercantile classes.
The noblemen who were enrolled as fellow-crafts of the Lodge of Aber-
deen in the seventeenth century were the Earl of Findlator, the Lord
Pitsligo, and the Earls of Dunfermhne and Errolle. The two last mentioned
were old men in 1670, and must have joined the Fraternity at a much
earlier date. GILBERT, tenth Earl OF Errol, succeeded to the title in
1638,— was colonel of horse in the "unhappie engagement" for the rescue
of Charles I. from the hands of the Parliamentary party, — and subsequently
raised a regiment for the service of Charles II. CHARLES, second Earl
OF Dunfermline, succeeded his father in 1622. His Lordship was Lord
High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
which met at St Andrews in 1642 ; and took an active part in the subse-
quent transactions of that important period. He was at Newcastle with
Charles I. in 1646. After the execution of the King he went abroad, and
returned with Charles II. in 1650. At the Restoration he was appointed
an extraordinary Lord of Session, and Keeper of the Privy Seal. Alex-
ander, third Lord Forbes of Pitsligo, died in 169 1. He was great-
grandfather of Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Grand Master Mason of
Scotland in 1776-77. James, third Earl OF FlNDLATOR, died in 171 1.
He steadily supported the Treaty of Union in Parliament.
We have to acknowledge the courtesy of Bros. Dr Beveridge, Provincial
Grand Master of the City of Aberdeen, and W. P. Buchan of Glasgow, in
facilitating our inquiries regarding the old records of the Lodge of Aber-
deen. Bro. Buchan is well-known as an earnest Masonic student, and one
who has done much by his criticisms to place the history of Freemasonry
upon an authentic basis.
OLD MASONIC RECORDS.
423
Lawes and Statutes Ordained be the Honourable Lodge
OF Aberdein, 27TH December 1670*
First Statute— Article for the Maister.— Wee Master Masons and Entered
Prentises, all of us under subscryuers, doe here protest and vowe as hitherto wee have
done at our entrie when we received the benefit of the Mason Word, that wee shall owne
this honourable lodge at all occationes except those who can give ane lawfull excuse, or
of sickness, or of being out of Towne.
Second Statute — Maister Continued.— And lykewayes wee protest to own the
Maister of the foresaid Lodge as a sufficient judge to decide quarrels and all faults that
shall be committed in our Lodge, and to exact all fynes according to the cryme com-
mitted, and to pardon faults, he always taking the voice of the honourable company, and
if any person be contimatious and will not pay the fyne imposed upon him, he being found
guilty, in that case the foresaid Maister and his brethren has full power to cause his
officer to poynd his work loomes t especially, or anything else belonging to him, att all
occasions, and the officer to have one or two of our number, given him for assistance for
that effect if necessity require, and if the foresaid massone that is rebellious shall goe to
another judge and compleane and will not refer himselfe to the will of the honourable
company being sworne to that Lodge, in that case the Maister of our Lodge and his
brethren will go to that judge he complaines to, and will make him a perjured man, and
never any more heirafter to be receaved in our Lodge nor have any pairt nor portion in
charitie, nor mortified means, nor none of his ofspring although they be needful, nor gate
any more employment with any of our number, nor from any other far nor near in so far
as we can hinder, excepting alwayes such actiones of law as debts, sowmes of money,
houses, mealies, cloathes, prentise fies, dyets, selling or buying of houses or ridges (or
rigs), or yardes, or workmanship to one another, if the Maister of our Lodge and his
brethren cannot decyed it, in that case they have libertie to go before the common judge
of the land, or towne they live intill, and free of this their oath.
Third Statute — Wardens.' — And lykewayes wee all protest by the oath we have made
at our entrie to own the Warden of our Lodge as the next man in power to the Maister,
and in the Maisters absence he is full Maister, he allwayes choysing a Warden to supply
his place for that tyme, and he has power to fyne and exact fynes and to pardon faults
allwayes with consent of the willes of the company, and the forsaid Warden is to con-
tinue in his office and cannot be changed without a great fault, or his owne will to
demitt his charge, or incapacity to go about it, or the willes of the company to take it
from him. But the Maister of our Lodge is only to continue a yeire from Saint John's
day to Saint John's day, but to continue any longer is the willes of the company. But
alwayes every yeir a new choysing of a Maister. A Box Master is to be chosen everie
yeir, and to continue no longer as the will of the company thinks fit, and Maisters for
the Box to be chosen only from among the company because the Maister keeps one key
and. the Warden another. A Clerk is to be chosen everie yeire because wee allow no
sallarie to him, it is only a piece of preferment. Our Officer is to be continued till
another be entered in our Lodge. Wee ordaine lykwayes that no Lodge be holden
* 'The Freemason.' London: George Kenning. 1871. 'The Masonic News.' Glasgow
Bassett & Co. 1873.
+ The word "loomes,'' generally pronounced in the broad Aberdeenshire dialect as if spelled
leems, is still in use, meaning tools or implements of any kind.
424 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
within a dwelling house where there is people living in it, but in the open fields except
it be ill weather, and then let a house be chosen that no person shall heir or sie us. Wee
ordaine lykwayes that no measson shall begin to discourse on any affairs belonging to
our Lodge or calling in table talk without libertie asked and given. Wee ordaine lyk-
wayes that none of our number shall whisper or round together in company with us
without leave asked and given, all under the faylzie of the law of the Lodge or will of
the company.
Fourth Statute — Lawes for the Box for our Poor, never practised heir-
TOFORE IN Aberdeine. — Wee under subscrybers doe protest be all the oathes wee
received at our entrie to the benefit off the Measson Word, that wee shall own and men-
tain the Measson Box of Aberdeine and of this our Lodge, according as wee have begun
as the authoires of it, and shall employ any money therein or shall be put therein to no
other end but for the use and mentenance of our distressed brethren, especiallie those of
our own Lodge, if by accident they are maimed of leg, or arme, or blind, or aged and
cannot work, or suffered stress by fire ; in that case those being of our own Lodge wee
are ingadged be oath to supply them according to our abilitie, and according as this
our mortified stock growes greater wee obleidge ourselves, and all our successors, to
enlarge our charitie towards all such persones as shall be found needful belonging to
our own Lodge. But never to break the stock. But such persones as doe lavish their
tyme in drunkenness, and other debaushries, and can and will not work, thoughe old
age draw on them and they reduced to poverty, by reasson of ther debaushries, in this
case although they belong to our Lodge yet wee are not obleidged to mentaine them in
ther poverty, but in so far as can honestly burrie them. As for ther children belonging
to our Lodge, if thirr parents have lived honestly and virtuously, or have been Maisters
of our Lodge in ther tyme, and if those children be virtuously inclyned, out of Christian-
ity and for the respect wee bear to ther deceased parents, wee are obleidged to see them
educat and put to schooles and trades according to ther inclinationes, and to bestow
upon them for that effect such a competent supply as wee are able to give on breaking
our stock allwayes reffered to the will of the company. As for the Meassons who are
strangers to us, and are reduced to poverty, or lame, or blind, wee are obleidged to sup-
ply them at the present tyme according as wee are able and as the willes of the company
think fit, but not to mentain them allwayes though they live among us and not to wrong
our own poor. But if necessity requyre wee the members of the Honourable Lodge
hath power and all our successors and after comers in the Measson Crafte to take out of
the Box as much money as will give a treat to any nobleman or gentleman that is a
Measson, or for any other affaires of the Lodge. The stock allwayes to be kept wholl
but only the annual rents to be disposed upon as the will of the company thinks fit for
the wellfare of the Lodge, and if wee have no use for spending money wee are obleidged
to make up the stock with it, and all wee can add to it, and give out the stock to ane
sufficient debtor with ane sufficient cautioner. And seeing wee who are the authoires
of this so charitable a deed, and have vowed to mentaine the forsaid Meassone Box of
Aberdeine, according as wee have begun for such a good end, Wee therfor strickly
command all our after comers and successors in the Meassone Crafte that they shall
never enter any man in our Lodge, but shall be tyed be oath for the wellfair of the Box,
as he is tyed for the benefit he receaves at his entrie, and if any man of this our Lodge,
or our after comers and successors in the Meassone Craft shall break any of this our
Statuts and lawes, or employ any of the aforsaid money wee mortifie for pious uses, for
self interest, he is to be accounted a perjured man not keeping covenant, a breaker of
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 425
all just lawes and the malediction of our poor to light upon him till he restore twofold,
being once sworne and tyed to the aforesaid Box.
All these statutes wee command all our successors in the Measson Craft to observe
and keep and to employ the money in the foresaid Box for no other end but for the uses
above mentioned, and so the Lord will bless you and the works of your hands which is
the heart wish and desire of us all who are the authoires and subscrybers of this Book.
Fifth Statute. — To those who are to be Entered Prenteses. — Wee the
Maister Meassones, and Entered Prenteises of the Honourable Lodge of Aberdeine,
Ordaine that no Entering prenteise shall be reciaved in this our Honourable Lodge, but
shall pay, four rex dollars of composition, ane linen aprone, ane pair of good gloves to
everie person concerned in the forsaid Lodge, or if the Entering Prenteise have not
whereupon to furnish aprones and gloves, he must pay two rex dollares for them which
makes up six in all with ane dinner, ane speacking pynt and his controbution to the Box
as wee have payed before him, with ane merk peice for his meassone merk, ane merk
piece to our Officer for calling a Lodge, this is the least wee take for Entered Printieses,
and when he gets his fellowship he is to pay a dinner, ane pynt of wine, or what the
will of the company plesses, but if he be a stranger and hath beein entered in another
Lodge, and is desyrous to be made a master measson in our Lodge, he is to pay two
dollars, ane speaking pynt with his controbution to our Box, allwayes referred to the
will of the company — this much for a gentleman measson. For handie craftes prentieses
t:hat is to be entered they are to pay for theirr entrie only fiftie merks and all dewes as
is foresaid, allwayes referred to the will of the company, and if they have not money
they are to serve ther maister for it three yeirs without any fie or wages, and ther Maister
is to satisfie the Honourable Lodge for ther entrie, and at the three yeires end they are
to receave the fellowship but not sooner, and according to ther good behaviour, and if
ther maister thinks them qualified for it, they allwayes payind their controbutiones to
the Box at ther entrie, and ther fellowship to be referred to the will of the company.
And all the money that is to be gotten for entered prentieses, and fellow crafts, is to be
employed, the one halfe of all to the Box, the other halfe is to be spent as the will of the
company think fit, and what they shall leave of that halfe unspent is to be cast into the
Box, according as they shall think fit. Wee ordaine lykwayes that our eldest sones who
are the authoires of this Book, and all our after comers shall have the benefit of the
Measson Word, free of all dewes. Only ane speaking pynt, ane dinner, and a pynt of
wyne, with ther controbutions' to the Box, and ane merk piece for ther merk, and
lykwayes those who shall marrie our eldest daughters shall have the lyke benefit granted
them if they be found qualified for it, only paying two dollares of controbution, ane
speaking pynt, and dinner, with ane merk piece for their merk, and for calling of the
lodge, but to pay neyther aprones nor gloves, allwayes referred to the will of the
company. Wee ordaine lykwayes that all entering prentieses be entered in our antient
outfield Lodge, in the mearnes in the Parish of Negg, at the stonnies at the poynt of the
Ness.
Sixth Statute— For the Box-Maister.— Wee Maister Meassones and Entered
Printises of the Honourable Lodge of Aberdeine, ordaines, that no Box-maister shall
receave any of our money in his own custodie to keep, but all to be cast into the Bbx
with the oversight of the three maisters of the keys, and so to be locked up till it be
given out upon userie.
Seventh Statute— St Johne's Day.— Wee ordaine lykwayes that everie entered
printise, and Fellow Craft within this our Lodge, and all oursuccessores, in the measson
426 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
craft, that they shall pay in everie yeir at St John's day twelve shillings Scots, to
the Maister measson or his Warden, or to any they please to appoynt for collecting of
it, and those who will not pay wee ordaine, his work loomes to be poynded, and to be
laid in pledge for the forsaid sowme, untill he redeeme them, and all this money is to be
spent and disposed upon as the company shall think fit for the honour of that day, and
ordaines all our successores in the measson trade, to observe and keep that-day as a day
of rejoysing and feasting with one another, only those who are meassones, and if any of
our number be absent that day from our public meeting place, he is to be fyned, as the
will of the company thinks fit, and ordaines these our lawes to be read at the entering
of everie printise that none declare ignorance.
Intender. — Wee ordaine lykwayes that none of our Lodge teach or instruct ane
entered printise untill such tyme as he be perfyted be his intender under the faylzie
of being fyned as the company thinks fit, but when his intender and his mate gives him
over as being taught that any person hath libertie to teach him anything he forgetes,
but if the entered printise when he is interrogat at our public meetings forgate anything
that has been taught him in that case he must pay for it as the company thinks fit,
except he can prove that he was never taught such a thing and then his intender most
pay for him. Wee ordaine lykewayes that none of our number presume to taunt or mock
ane another at our meetings especiallie, under the faylzie of amerciment, but everie one
to love ane another as brothers born, and allwayes to have a good report behynd his
neyghboures back as his oath tyes him. Wee ordaine lykwayes that all our number
shall keep holy the sabbath as due is, and if any of the measson trade be found to be
willfull contemners of the Lordes day by unnecessarie walks or visits, wee ordaine the
law of the Lodge to be inflicted upon them by and attour a great fyne, all customarie
swearers, all unclean persons, and drunkards, to be severely punished by us and
attour the punishment of the common Judge of the land.
Eighth Statute — For this Book. — Wee : Maister Meassones and Entered printises
of the Honourable Lodge of Aberdeine ordaines this Book of Lawes, to be keeped in
our Box fast locked, except at such tymes it is to be taken out and carreyed to the place
appoynted when ther is an entered printise to be receaved. And wee ordaine all our
aftercomers and successores in the measson craft, to have a speciall care of this Book,
and to own it as ther ruU to walk by, and not to let it decay, neyther let the clerk keep
it any longer nor he is a wreating on it, neyther let him wreat upon it but when the three
maisters of the keys shall be present. And wee command all our successores in this
meason trade be the oath that they make at ther entrie that they shall never bloat out any
of our names who are the authoires and subscrybers of this Book, nor let them decay,
but uphold them to all generations as your pattrones. It is to be remembered that
ther was never a poores Box amongst the meassones of Aberdeine since the memorie of
man till such tyme as wee who are the authoires both of this Book and the Box did
begin it.
In ane Honourable Lodge holden at Aberdeine the twentie seaventhof December one
thousand six hundreth and seventhtie years, being St Johne's Day, wee the Maisters and
entered prentises of the forsaid Lodge being orderly conviened for the effect to settle
ane Box for our poor and to contribute for that effect, and after wee had seriously con-
sidered what good it might tend to and especially for the blessing of God to accompany
all our endeavours and undertakings, we all who are the authoires and subscrybers of
this Book did unanimously and cordially consent thereto, and every one of us, gave in
immediately our voluntar controbutions for to make up what was ane rex dollar the
OLD MASONIC RECORDS. 427
hand [head ?] at least, and tyed ourselves never to make use of the money which should
be gathered thereto but for the effect befor mentionat, therfor let all you who are or
shall be our successores in the measson craft to follow our example, and let not your
poor have occasion to curse you, and in the due performance of the above written will
occasion the blessing of God to accompany all your endeavours, which is the hearty
wish of us all who are the authoires thereof. — Fareweell.
Charles Melville Donaldson, merchant, Shanghai, whose portrait
appears at the head of this chapter, was the founder of the first Scottish
Lodges in China and Japan, viz., the CosmopoHtan, Shanghai, and the
Hiogo and Osaka at Kibo. He erected the first Scottish Royal Arch
Chapter in China, and is its First Principal. He is Provincial Grand
Master of the Royal Order of Scotland for China, is a Knight Commander
of the Religious and Military Order of the Temple for Scotland, and is a
member of the Scotch Consistory of K.H., or 30th Degree. He was
initiated in St Mark's, has held the office of Grand Marshal of the province
of Glasgow, is a member of Mother Kilwinning, and a Past Master of the
Lodge Cosmopolitan, Shanghai. The Craft in China, in recognition of his
Masonic services, presented him with a valuable gift of plate, &c. The
presentation took place during his visit to Scotland in November 1872,
and was made by the Grand Master in Grand Lodge assembled, in name
of the donors. This was done by request of Grand Lodge, in order to
mark its estimation of his character and appreciation of his services.
428 HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.
ADDENDA
Since the sheet in which we have adverted to the evils arising from the abuse of
representation by proxy in Grand Lodge passed through the press, it has been resolved
by a majority of Grand Lodge (May 5, 1873), that that body, "from and after the
beginning of the next Masonic year, be composed entirely of Masters and actual
Wardens and Past Masters." While professing to remedy, one evil, this resolution
inflicts an injustice upon the one hundred and twenty Lodges abroad, who through the
abolition of the proxy system are to be excluded from representation in a body of which
they form more than a fourth part, and at whose several communications it is impossible
for them to appear by their Masters or Wardens. This resolution will also, if confirmed,
greatly circumscribe the Craft in their choice of Grand Office-bearers, and introduce
into Grand Lodge an illiterate element that must detract from its dignity as the Head
Court of the Order in Scotland.
In a note at the bottom of page 403, we refer to the interpolation of a date (Edinburgh
1630) into the copy of the second St Clair Charter published in Laurie's ' History of
Freemasonry,' and the ' Genealogies of the Saintclairs of Rosslyn.' Since that note was
printed we have received a communication from James Maidment, Esq., advocate,
editor of the ' Genealogies,' in which he states his impression that he copied the date
from Laurie's ' History.' This seems to fix on Laurie the onus of interpolating a date
into the second charter.
The Earl of Zetland, whose admission as an honorary member of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland is noticed at page 374, died 6th May 1873, aged' 78.
INDEX.
AbercrOiMBV, Sir Ralph, 367— Lord, ih.
Aberdeen and the High Degrees, 420.
Acts of the Scottish Parhament anent the crafts ;
the office of deacon instituted, 3 — nominaiion
of deacons vested in the craftsmen, ib. — duties
of tlie office, ib. — deacons' powers restricted, ib.
— the fixing of masons' wages vested in town-
councils, who are authorised to delegate their
powers to wardens, /(^. — fines imposed by warden
courts divided equally between the warden and
the burgh appointing him, /i^.— barons act as
wardens in landward parts, /A — deacons' meet-
ings declared illegal, ib. — their election pro-
hibited, ib. — trades' unionists denounced as op-
pressors of the king's lieges, 4— their statutes
ignored, ib. — unfreemen equally with burgesses
eligible for employment, ib. — office of deacon
abolished, //'. —visitors set up, ib. — private con-
ventions of craftsmen forbidden, ib. — the trades
restored to their ancient privileges, 5.
43°
INDEX.
Advancing operatives to the rank of master mason
beyond tlie province of lodges, 210.
Affiliation, Honorary, 359 — Ordinary, 378.
' Age of Reason, ' Paine's, 299.
Aitken, Robert, "Orator Bob," 162.
Aisle of St Giles' Kirk granted to the masons and
Wrights of Edinburgh, 235.
Albert Bridge at Glasgow, 368.
Ale, pitcher of, 44.
Alerdisof Alerdis, 86.
Alexander, Lord, Viscount Canada, 86.
Alexander, Sir Anthony, general vifarden and
master of work to Charles I. , 87.
Alison, Robert, first Grand Clerk, 43.
Ahson, Sir Archibald, Bart., 382.
Altarages supported by the Crafts, 231.
America, Kilwinning Charters in, 409.
Ancient Statutes of the Lodge of Aberdeen, 423.
Anderson, James, D.D., compiler of the Constitu-
tions of the Free- Masons published in 1723, z —
his imaginative historical sketch of the patronage
bestowed on the Mason Craft by the ancient
Kings of Scotland, ib. — his work regarded as an
authority by Grand Lodge of Scotland, z'*.— his
fabulous statements, 152.
Antin, Duke of, Grand Master of France, 50.
Antiquity of Masonic Fraternitji, i.
Apprentices, Entered, allowed to work on their
own account, 16 — their presence necessary at
reception of masters or fellows of craft, 17 — com-
pelled to pass, 29^ourneymen's, 31 — appren-
tices', ib — prohibited from marrying, ib, — in-
dentures, ib. — bound by Grand Lodge of Scot-
land, 32 — ancient position in lodges, 74.
Aprons and Gloves, 186, 417.
Army Commissions, competitive examination for,
369-
Arnot, Rev. Dr, 343.
Arrestment of masons' tools, 423.
Ashmole, Elias, 5, 51, 81.
Associate Synod of Seceders, the, 324.
Atcheson's Haven Lodge, peculiarity in constitu-
tion of, 177.
Athelstan, i.
Athole, Dowager- Duchess of, 346.
Athole, George Augustus Frederick John, Duke of,
344-
Athole, John, Duke of. Grand Master of Grand
Lodge of Scotland and of the Ancient Masons
of England, 331.
Ayr and Renfrew Militia St Paul practises the
Royal Arch and Knight Templar Degrees, 293
— re-introduces the Royal Arch into Stirling, the
alleged original seat of the Order in Scotland, ib.
Ayr, Kirk of St John at, 411.
Aytoun, Professor WiUiam Edmondstoune, 58, 224,
334-
Badges of a Free and Accepted Mason, i86.
Baird, John, architect, Glasgow, 209, 218, 242.
Balcarres, James, fifth Earl of, 183.
Ballantine, James, Grand Bard, S0i 3^3-
Ballot, vote by, 41.
Banff, Operative Lodgeof, and the Mark Degree, 71.
Bankruptcy, Edinburgh on the eve of, 92.
Bankrupts, fraudulent, liable to Masonic expulsion,
422.
Banquet, Intrants', 13, 17, 39, 44, 47.
Barrow, Frederick Augustus, merchant, Glasgow,
264, 281.
Belief in God essential to candidates for Masonic
initiation, 402.
Biennial election of lodge office-bearers, 16.
Bills, payment of initiation fees by, 129, 175.
Black Watch (42d Highlanders), 155.
Blood Unlaw, 45.
Boastful craftsman humbled, 46.
Book of the Law, 303.
Booking of entered apprentices, 10, 17.
Boswells of Auchinleck, the ; John, a speculative
Mason of the sixteenth century, 51 — James, bio-
grapher of Johnson, 53— John, M.D., ib. — Sir
Alexander, ib.
Boyd, Lord, at the Coronation of George HI., 404.
Boyle, Lord Justice-General, 339.
Breeches Bible, 395.
Bretons, insurgent, 25.
Brewster, Sir David, author of ' Laurie's History
of Free Masonry,' SS-
Brithering of Squaremen, 23.
British Kings and Princes members of the Craft,
38s.
Brother fined for deserting his mother lodge, 207.
Bruce, King Robert, and Masonic Knighthood,
306.
Bruges, 233.
Bryce, David, Grand Architect, 30, 341.
Buchan, David, Earl of, 331.
Buchan, W. P., Glasgow, 422.
Burial of Craftsmen, 234.
Burleigh, Baron Balfour of. Proxy Provincial Grand
Master of Western India, 366, 371.
Burnes, Chevalier James, 341.
Burning Bush, the, 303.
Burns and the Lameatesbip of Canongate Kilwin-
ning, 333.
Burns in the Edinburgh Lodges, 331.
Bums's Masonic Contemporaries, 328, 331.
Burns's Mother Lodge, 301.
Business of Lodge not to be divulged, 415.
Bust of John Whyte-Melville, 346— of Lord Dal-
housie, 369.
Caledonian of Edinburgh secedes from Grand
Lodge, 239.
Camerons of Lochiel, 156.
Campbell, John, Loitl Provost of Edinburgh, 154.
Campbell, Sir Duncan, of Lochnell, 155.
INDEX.
431
Campbell, Colonel A. C, of Blythswood, 6, 364.
Canongate Masons authorised to enter and pass in
name of the Lodge of Kilwinning, loi.
Canongate and Leith Lodge an offshoot from
Mary's Chapel, 125.
Canongate Kilwinning secedes from Grand Lodge,
262 — distinguished members of, 334.
Canongate Kilwinning from Leith, now St David's,
an offshoot from Leith, 286.
Cassillis, John, seventh Earl of, 52.
Centenary Jewel of Grand Lodge of Scotland, 187.
Centenary meeting of Kilmarnock St Andrew, 350.
Chairing and the Chair Degree, 186.
Chambers, William, of Glenormiston, 340.
Chapter-General of Scotland, 289.
Charity-Apprentices bound by Grand Lodge, 32.
Charles I. crowned in Scotland, 97 — provokes the
active enmity of the Scottish Covenanters, ib.
Charles II., Mary's Chapel Incorporation favours
the cause of the Presbyterians against, 49.
Charter of the Lodge of Perth and Scoon, 247,
Charteris, Francis (Lord Elcho), and Robert Burns
in the Lodge St Andrew, Edinburgh, 332.
Chief Master of Masons, 51.
Chronological blunders in the History and Articles
of Masonry, no, 112.
Church, lodges responsible to the, for behaviour of
their members, 13, 17.
Churches, Craft meetings held in, 13.
City Poorhouse at Craiglockhart, 347.
Civil Court, Freemasons in the, 130, 175.
Clarence, William Henry Duke of, afterwards
William IV., made a freemason, 386— elected
Royal Patron of the Scottish Craft, 389.
Clark, John, glazier to the King, 207.
Clarke, Colonel George Calvert, 162.
Clergymen, free initiation of, 216.
Clerk, Sir John, of Pennicuick, r47.
Clerk, John (Lord Eldin), 303.
Clerks, Lodge, appointed for life, 408.
Clothing and Jewels, Lodge, 185.
Clubs, Masonic, 400.
Cochrane, Lord WiUiam, 52.
Cologne, Charter of, 315.
Colt, George Frederick Russell, of Gartsherrie,
323. 334-
Communion Cups, lending, 191,
Compass, the, a symbol of the Second Degree, 77.
Conference at London on the Mark Degree, 70.
Confirrnation, Charters of, 214.
Constitution of Lodges in the sixteenth century,
200.
Constitution of Grand Lodge of Scotland, 399, 428.
Constitutions of the Freemasons, Anderson's, 2, 152.
Continental Customs observed by the Scottish
Crafts, 232.
Convivialities of the Ma;on Craft, 44— of the
Lodge, 187.
Convocation of Royal Arch Masons, General, 290.
Cooke, Matthew, masonic author, T20.
Copland, Patrick, of Udaught, Si S6-
Corstorphine masons and the Lodge of Edinburgh,
28.
County Buildings and Reid Institution at Forfar,
36S.
Court of Session, Masonic litigation in the, 265.
Court, Masonic, at Dunblane, 415.
Covenanters, Scotch, oppose Charles II., 97.
Cowan, Right Hon. James, Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh, 384.
Cowans, 10, 24— licensed, ib. — derivation of the
term, ib. — fines for employing, 25.
Craig, Sir James Gibson, Bart., 378, 384.
Crawfurd, John, Earl of, 161.
Criminal charge against Scotch Knight Templars,
3or.
Crosbie, Andrew, the prototype of Pleydell, in Guy
Mannering, 206.
Crowns, Union of the English and Scotch, 62.
Cruickshank, James, author of Notes on the Lodge
of Glasgow, 413.
Crusades, the, 50.
Cumberland, Henry Frederick, Duke of, initiated,
386 ; raised to the rank of Past Grand Master,
ib. — elected Grand Master of Grand Lodge of
England, ill.
Cumberland, Ernest Augustus, Duke of, afterwards
King of Hanover, promotes the erection of the
Grand Lodge of Hanover, 387— is its first Grand
Master, 388.
Cumberland, George, Duke of, ex-King of Hano-
ver, succeeds his father as Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Hanover, 388— is an honorary
member of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, ib. '
Cunninghame, Sir Alexander, of Corsehill, 52.
Dalhousie, George, Earl of, 334.
Dalhousie, James Andrew, Marquis of, 337.
Dalhousie, Fox Maule, Earl of. Past Grand Mas-
ter, 366.
Dalhousie Masonic Charity Fund, 369.
Dalrymple, David (Lord Westhall), Grand Master,
328.
Dames, Masonic, i2r.
D'Assigney, Dr, Masonic author, 290.
David I. brings masons from the continent to build
Holyrood Abbey, 242.
Deaconship of the Freemen Masons and Warden-
ship of the Lodge of Edinburgh united in the
same person, 153.
Debt of Grand Lodge of Scotland, 351.
Decreet Arbitral empowering the Journeymen of
the Edinburgh Incorporation of Masons to meet
as a separate Society for giving the Mason Word,
141.
Denmark, Princess Anna of, 54.
Deputations, reception of, 199.
Desaguliers, Dr Theophilus, one of the originators,
432
INDEX.
iind a Past Cirand Master, of the Grand Lodge
of England, 150 — visits the Lodge of Edinburgh,
151 — his influence on Scotch Freemasonry, 153.
Despotism, Masonic, 140.
Deuchar, Alexander, iirst Grand Master of the
Scotch Grand Conclave of Knight Templars,
284.
Diplomas first used by Grand Lodge, 206.
Dinners, St John's-day, 45.
Dirge on the late Duke of Athole, 355-
Discipline, Lodge, in the olden time, 40, 45.
Disorganisation of the Craft prior to institution of
Grand Lodge, 177, 178.
Dispensations, Lodge, 104.
Disposition of lodge officials, ancient, 179.
Dissimilarity in Masonic Rites, 105.
Distress, Masonic sign of, recognised, 384.
Domatic and Geomatic Masons, 82.
Donaldson, Charles Melville, pioneer of Scotch
Freemasonry in China and Japan, 427.
Douglas, Dr John, originator of the scheme for the
institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 167.
Drama, the, patronised by the Craft, 326.
Drink-money to servants, 326.
Drumraond, Sir Robert, 54.
Druromond, Alexander, of Balhadie, 52.
Drummond, George, Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
lays foundation-stone of North Bridge, 217, 218.
Drummond, Lord John, 414.
Dubbing Knights, 304.
Duel between Sir Alexander Boswell and Mr
Stewart of Dunearn, 53 — the Duke of York and
Colonel Lennox, 269.
Dumfries, Patrick, Earl of, lays foundation-stone
'of harbour works at Ayr, 327.
Dunblane, Edinburgh Branch of the Lodge of, 103.
Dundee and its Mason, indenture betwixt, 36.
Dunfermline, Charles, second Earl of, 422.
Eagle, Knight of the, 312.
Earliest English Theoretical Masons, 51.
Early Grand Encampment of Ireland, 287.
Early Speculative Masters of Mary's Chapel, 202.
Eavesdroppers, 24.
Education of Masons' Orphans, 424.
Eglinton, Alexander, eighth Earl of, 52.
Eglinton, Alexander, tenth Earl of, 245, 404.
Eglinton and Winton, Archibald, Earl of, 11.
Eglinton, Susanna, Countess of, 148.
Elcho, Lord, 332.
Eldest Entered Apprentice in Operative Lodges,
75 — fellow-craft, ib.
Eldin, Lord, 303.
Elphingston, Harry, Collector of the King's Cus-
. tom at Aberdeen, 52.
Elysian Mysteries, 197.
Embroidered aprons, 195.
Emergent Meetings, abuse of, 105.
England, Grand Lodge of, constituted, 406.
English Symbolic Masonry imported into Scotland,
iS3v
Entering and Passing at same meeting prohibited,
416 — exceptions to this rule, ib.
Entertainment of Gentlemen Masons, 420, 424.
Equality and Fraternity, 47, 420.
Errol, Gilbert, tenth Earl of, 422.
Essay, Masonic, 18 — specimens of, 20 — lodge, 21.
Falkland Statutes, 43, 87, 421.
Farewell Communication in St Mary's Chapel, 238.
Fees of Honour, 41, 411.
Fellows and Apprentices, examination of, 10, 17,
417.
Fellows and Entered Apprentices eligible as war-
dens, 41.
Fencing the Lodge, 131.
Fergusson, Alexander, of Craigdarroch, proposes
Rums as a member of Canongate Kilwinning,
333-
Fergusson, Sir James, of Kilkerran, Bart., Gover-
nor and Commander-in-Chief of New Zealand,
336. 338.
Fergusson, Sir Adam, 339.
Fettes, Sir William, founder of Fettes College, 341.
Fiddlers or violers. Lodge, 190.
Findel, J. G. , author of ' History of Freemasonry,
23, 212, 319.
Findlator, James, third Earl of, 422.
Fine Arts Gallery at Edinburgh, foundation-stone
of, laid by the Prince Consort, 345.
Firelocks presented by Freemen, 47.
First Head Lodge of Scotland, 12, 243.
First Scotch Masonic Lodge, the date and place of
erection unknown, i.
Fitzclarence, Lords Frederick and Adolphus,
343-
Five Edinburgh Lodges secede from Grand Lodge,
261 — are charged with sedition, 271 — defend
themselves in Court of Session, 264, 265.
Flemish Weavers in Edinburgh, 234.
Floorcloths, Masonic, 'prohibited, 195.
Forbes, Sir William, of Pitsligo, Bart., 328.
Forrest, Sirjames, of Comiston, Bart., 342.
Fortification of St Mary's Chapel, 48.
France, Grand Masters of, 50, 379.
Fraternity, mixed character of the, 147, 176, 420.
Free Initiation, 43, 83, i8g.
Free Library and Museum at Paisley, 368.
Free Mason, i.e. freeman mason, yg—i.e. specula-
tive mason, 80.
Freemasonry and the Crusades, 50.
Freemasonry denounced, 198, 324.
Freemasons' Hall at Edinburgh, 345.
French prisoners in Edinburgh Castle, 53.
Frequent re-election of Grand Master, 367.
Funeral Lodge, ceremony at, 208.
Funeral, Masonic, 235.
Furniture, Lodge, 193.
INDEX.
433
Garlies, Alexander, Lord, afterwards Earl of
Galloway, 163.
Garters included in lodge livery, 195.
Genealogy of the St Clairs, Hay's, 63, 403, 428.
Gentlemen Masons preside in Operative Lodges,
52-
Germany, William, Emperor of, 375.
Gifford, Baron, 340.
Glasgow St John resolves to erect new lodges, 280
— its claims to priority, 281 — earliest record of,
412.
Glasses, Mason, 191.
Glenlyon, Lord, 344.
Gloucester, Count of, his alleged reception in the
Lodge of Kilwinning in the thirteenth century, 51.
Gloucester, William Henry, Duke of, initiated, 386.
Gloves presented by intrants, 13, 17, 47 — gloves
and aprons given to intrants, 417.
Grasme, Patrick, of Inchbrakie, 385, 397.
Graham, James, of Leitchtown, 282.
Graham, John, ofClaverhouse .Viscount Dundee, 25.
Grand Assembly of Knight Templars, Maybole,
298.
Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons of England and
the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 327.
Grand Lodge of England condemns the introduc-
tion of politics into Masonic meetings, 259.
Grand Lodge of Scotland instituted, 173 — its'con-
stitution and present position, 399.
Grand Master, alleged appointment of, by Scotch
Masons in James I. 's time, 2 — endowment of the
office and its duties, ib. — fictitious story regarding
the office, 3 — title unknown in a general sense in
Scotland prior to institution of Grand Lodge, 4
— earliest instance of its use in connection with
Scotch Masonry, ib. — objections to the state-
ment that the office was hereditary in the St
Clairs of Roslin, 63 — title restricted to the Grand
Master of Grand Lodge, 331.
Grand Master Masons of Scotland, 404.
Grand Secretaryship held during good behaviour,
216,
Grand Visitations, 323.
Griffith, Major-General Henry Darby, 162.
Grip, Word, and Sign, Mason, 23.
Guilds, Mason, female members of, 122.
Guy Mannering, Pleydell in, 206.
Haddington, George, tenth Earl of, 373.
Haddo, George, Lord, lays foundation-stone of
the South Bridge, Edinburgh, 331.
Hague, Grand Chapter, and Grand Lodge of, 309.
Halls, Masonic, 240, 413.
Hamilton, Alexander, General of Artillery in the
Scotch army, 89.
Hamilton, Sir William, Bart., 360.
Hamilton, Alexander, tenth Duke of, lays founda-
tion stone of the National Monument at Edin-
burgh, 388.
Hamilton, Lord Archibald, first Provincial Grand
Master of Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, 388.
Hammermen parties to one of the St Clair Char-
ters, 45.
Handmaid of Religion, Fremasonry the, 325.
Hanover, Grand Lodge of, 387.
. Harper, Sir John, advocate, 91.
Harvesting on Sunday, 299.
Hastings, first Marquis of, 269.
Hawkesbury, Lord, refuses to receive a political
address voted to the King by a Mason Lodge,
259-
Hay MSS. in Advocates' Library, 58, 403.
Hay, William, representative fiom the Grand
Lodge of Nova Scotia, 349, 353.
Hay, Alexander, Grand Jeweller, 38, 261.
Henry, Alexander, famous for his inventions in
rifles, 306, 3r3.
Heredom of Kilwinning instituted by David L, 306.
Hereditary Grand Mastership, 3, 63.
Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh, 62.
Hervey, John, Grand Secretary Grand Lodge of
England, 153.
High Degrees repudiated by Grand I^odge, 293.
High School of Edinburgh, 328.
Highland Chief's Burial, 155.
Highway to Hell, Freemasonry the, 325.
History and Articles of Masonry, 107 — Edinburgh-
Kilwinning MS., 108 — Atcheson Haven MS., 116
— York MS., r2i — Aberdeen MS., 421.
Holland, Royal Order in, 3r2.
Holy Cross, Knight of, 294.
Holyrood Abbey, 242.
Holy Temple and Sepulchre, Knight of, 288.
Home, William, eighth Earl of, 182.
Honest Mason Club, 402.
Honorary and Operative Masons, 81.
Honorary Freemen, 83.
Honorary Membership in Lodges, 359.
Honorary Members of Grand Lodge, 374.
Hope, Hon. Charles, of Granton, Lord Justice-
Clerk, rebukes counsel in the Masonic secession
case in Court of Session, 268.
Hope, Major Henry Walter, of Luffness, Provin-
cial Grand Master of East Lothian, 157, 164.
Hughan, William James, Masonic historian, 7r,
211, 286, 290.
Hume, Sir Patrick, of Polwarth, afterwards Earl
of Marchmont, 90.
Hunter, Captain Charles, Provincial Grand Master
of Aberdeenshire (East), 184, 199.
Hutchison, John, sculptor, 347, 369.
Immorality punished by Lodge, 426.
Incorporation of Mary's Chapel fortifies its con-
vening-room, 48 — allows the Presbyterians to
use it as a place of worship, 49 — Seal of Cause
granted by the magistrates of Edinburgh, 230—
grant of the aisle of St Giles' Kirk, 235.
434
INDEX.
Indenture betwixt Dundee and its Mason, 36.
Indenture betwixt an Apprentice and the Lodge of
Haddington, 414.
Industrial School at Mossbank, 368.
Industrial Museum at Edinburgh, foundation-stone
of the, laid by Prince Albert, 345.
Infringement of Grand Lodge constitution, 388.
Inglis, William, of Middleton, 254.
Inglis, Henry, of Torsonce, i, 362.
Initiation of non-operatives, earliest record of the,
51-
Initiation in the olden time, 22— in public-houses,
135-
Initiation fees, 13, 44, 103, 159, 411, 415, 418, 425.
Innes, Professor Cosmo, 281.
Installed Master Degree, 350.
Institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 165 —
its constitution and present position, 399.
Instruction, Lodges of, 197, 403,
Intendars (instructors), 10, 18, 410, 417.
Interdicts against holding Masonic meetings, 265.
Interlocutor pronounced by the Court of Session
in the case against Lodges seceding from Grand
Lodge of Scotland, 276.
Interpolation of date into copies of the second of
the St Clair Charters, 403, 428.
Intrants recorded under Scotch Constitution, 402.
Inverness, Duchess of, makes a gift to Grand
Lodge of England of a piece of plate presented
by the Craft to her late husband, the Duke of
Sussex, on completing twenty-five years' service
as Grand Master, 387.
Ireland, Kilwinning Charter sent to, 409.
Irishmen, United Society of, 298.
Irregular admissions of gentlemen masons in Ayr-
shire, 99.
Jacobites in Lodge of Dunblane, 414.
James, Lord Steward of Scotland, his alleged con-
nection with the Lodge of Kilwinning, 50.
James I. returns to Scotland from an eighteen
years' captivity in England, 2 — suppresses trades
unions, 3.
James IV. is brought into collision with the trade
combinations, 4.
James V. . and his legislature ignore the craft's
statutes and break down the monopoly in trade
enjoyed by freemen, 4.
James VI., the first Scottish sovereign of whose
direct control over the Mason Craft there is
authentic evidence, 5 — his alleged reception as
a fellow craft in the Lodge of Scone, 92.
Joannite Society, 321.
Journeymen Masons of Ediiiburgh secede from
■ Mary's Chapel, 134.
Jubilee of Celtic Lodge, Edinburgh, 350.
Kellie, Walter, thirteenth Earl of, 15, 383.
Kent, Edward Duke of, father of Queen Victoria,
. made a Freemason, 386 — is Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of England according to the old
constitution, 387 — aids in effecting the union of the
two rival English Grand Lodges, ih. — becomes
Patron Protector of the Knights Templar in North
Britain, ib. — grants a charter to the Grand Con-
clave of Scottish Masonic Knights Templar, ih.
Kerr, Andrew, author of chapter on Mark Masonry
in Laurie's History, 361.
Kilmarnock Kilwinning St John admits Burns as
an honorary member, 360.
Kilmarnock, William, fourth Earl of, 182.
Kilwinning Abbey, 242.
Kilwinning Legend, the, 65, 241.
Kilwinning Lodges repudiated by Grand Lodge,
27S-
Kilwinning Scots Arms originally a purely Specu-
lative Lodge, 175.
Kinloch, Colonel John, 362.
Kinnear, David, accountant, 354, 358.
Kintore, John, Earl of, 163.
Kirks, secular meetings held in, 13, 236.
Knight Grand Cross, 290 — Commander and Com-
panion, ib.
Knight Templarism (Masonic) originated on the
Continent, 286 —introduced into Scotland from
Ireland, ib. — High Knight Templars of Ireland
Kilwinning Lodge, 287 — Early Grand Encamp-
ment of Ireland, ib. —Grand Conclave of Knight
Templars of Scotland, instituted by H.R.H. the
Duke of Kent, 288 — Deuchar Charters, ib. —
Grand Priory, 290 — Early Grand Encampments,
ib. — Templar Degrees worked by Lodges, 293
— repudiated by Grand Lodge, 295 — an Ayr-
shire Lodge charged with making Knight Tem-
plars, 299— its Master tried before the Circuit
Court of Justiciary, 301.
Ladies in open lodge, 354.
Lafayette Chapter at Washington, 29r.
Laing, David, LL.D., 58, 62.
Latin, Lodge minutes written in, 257.
Laurie, John, Grand Secretary, 315, 322.
Laurie, William Alexander, 22, 339.
Laurie's History of Freemasonry, 55, 339.
Lectures, Lodge, 195.
Legend of the Third Degree, 2r3.
Leinster, Duke of. Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Ireland, 78, 376.
Leith Kilwinning an offshoot from Canongate Kil-
winning, 175.
Lesmahago, Lodge of, restrained from working in
Glasgow, 105.
Library of Grand Lodge of Scotland, 403.
Licences to enter masons, 100.
Life Membership of Grand Lodge, 208.
Lindsay, Patrick, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 155.
Lindsay, Lord, Provincial Grand Master of West
Aberdeenshire, 72, 383.
INDEX.
435
Linen aprons worn in Lodges in the seventeenth
century, 420, 425.
Livery, Lodge, 186.
Lochiel, Cameron of, 414.
Lodge, early use of the word, 35.
I-ogierait, Athole Monument at, 345.
Loudoun, John, fourth Earl of, 183.
Macdonald, Sir John, of Dalchosnie, 291.
Macdonald, Marshal, Duke of Taranto, 379.
Mack, Charles, 163.
Mackenzie, Forbes, 340.
Mackey, Dr A. G., Masonic author, 321.
MacKillop, William, 379.
Macoy, Robert, Masonic author, 153, 406.
Made and accepted, 76.
Maidment, James, advocate, editor of the ' Gen-
ealogies of the Saintclaires of Rosslyn,' 63, 428.
Mair, William L., advocate, 353.
Maitland, Sir Alexander C. R. Gibson, Bart.,
M.P., 381.
Malcolm III., King of Scots, and the Lodge
Glasgow St John, 281.
Malta, Knight of, 289.
Mann, William, Representative from Grand Lodge
of Sweden, 347, 393.
Manningham, T., and Scotch Masonry, 312.
Manwaring, Colonel, 81.
Marchmont, Patrick, Earl of, 90.
Marischal, Earl, founder of Marischal College,
Aberdeen, 87 — criminal charge against the
Countess, 88.
Mark Degree, 6g.
Marks, Mason, 67, 353.
Marriage of James VI., 54.
Marry, Apprentice Masons forbidden to, 31.
Mary Queen of Scots issues letters under the great
seal, restoring the deaconry of craft and confirm-
ing the trades in their ancient rights, 4.
Mary's Chapel regulates the employment of ap-
prentices kept by journeymen and entered ap-
prentice masons, 31.
Mason Marks common alike to apprentices and
fellows of craft, 68, 418.
Masonic initiation in inhabited dwelling-houses
forbidden, 423.
Masonic Twilight, 94.
Masons under twenty-one ineligible for passing, 19.
Masons and Wrights of Edinburgh incorporated
by Seal of Cause, 230.
Masons' wages, 33 — hours of labour, 35.
Master Mason of Kirk of St Giles, Edinburgh, 35.
Master Masonry, Royal Arch Degree apart of, 296.
Mass for the souls of craftsmen, 234.
Maule, Hon. William Ramsay, M.P., 258.
Mausoleum to the memory of Burns, 333.
Maxwell, William, physician to Charles I., 86.
Mayo, Earl of, 338.
Mediterranean Pass, 289.
Melrose St John, 266.
Melville, Francis Suther, President of the Board of
Grand Stewards, 228.
Melville, John White, of Bennochy and Strathkin-
ness, 346.
Melville, Lady Catherine Whyte, presentation bust
to, 346.
Melville, G. J. Whyte, 347.
Menial servants ineligible for lodge membership,
422.
Military recruits, free initiation of, 83.
Military section of the Lodge of Edinburgh, 97.
Militia, West Meath, 287 — Shropshire, it.
Milne, Sir David, 288.
Mint, the Scotch, 239.
Mitchell, Dr John, expulsion of, 257.
Mitchell, William, and the Royal Order, 308.
Moira, Earl of, afterwards Marquis of Hastings,
Acting Grand Master of the Grand Lodges of
England and Scotland, 269.
Moore, General Sir John, 364.
Moray, Robert, Quarter-Master General of the
army of Scotland, admitted to the Lodge of
Edinburgh at Newcastle, 96. ,
Morison, Dr Charles, leaves his Library to Grand
Lodge, 403.
Morland, Captain Henry, Provincial Grand Master
of Western India, 200, 208.
Mortcloth, Lodge, 408.
Mother Kilwinning, sends a Commissioner to the
Warden-General, x6 — the King's absence from
Edinburgh prevents confirmation of its ancient
privileges, 17 — grants a Commission to the
Masons of Cationgate of Edinburgh to enter
and pass m its name, loi — sells to daughter
Lodges MS. copies of the English History and
Charges of Masonry, loB — represented at the
erection of Grand Lodge, 171 — suggests that
Grand Lodge meetings be not restricted to Edin-
burgh, id. — its claims to priority, 241 — its an-
cient jurisdiction defined, 244 — is placed second
on Grand Lodge Roll, 245 — resumes its inde-
pendence, a. — invited by Grand Lodge to a
Conference on the subject of Union, 246— adopts
minute of Agreement, 247 — placed at the head
of Roll, 251 — applies to be exempted from the
operations of the Secret Societies Act, 266 — ex-
cerpts from its oldest minutes, 408.
Muirhead, John James, Master of Mary's Chapel,
297. SOS-
Mure, Colonel William, of Caldwell, Provincial
Grand Master of Ayrshire, 96, 352.
Murray, James, of Kilbaberton, Master of Work to
James VI., 87.
Murray, Right Hon. William, 91.
Murray, Lord James, Representative of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland in Grand Lodge of England,
67, 361.
Murray, James Wolfe, of Cringletie, 256, 262.
436
INDEX.
Murrays of Cringletie, 262.
Musicians, free initiation of, 189.
Musselburgh, Masonic Conference at, 408.
Mylne Family, the : John, first, Master Mason to
James VI., 92— John, second, king's Master
Mason, his alleged admission of James Vt., as
fellow craft, ib. — John, third, Master Mason to
Charles I., 2*.— John, fourth. Master Mason to
Charles I., 85, 92 — Alexander, sculptor, 93 —
Robert, Master Mason to Charles II., ib. —
William, 94 — Thomas, Grand Treasurer, ib. —
William, builder of the North Bridge, Edinburgh,
94 — Robert, architect of Blackfriars Bridge, Lon-
don, 95.
M'Aulay, Archibald, Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
154-
M'Clellan, Sir Samuel, Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
147.
M 'Cowan, Dr F. D., 220, 228.
M'CuUoch, John Watt, 373, 377.
M'Lean, Hector Frederick, Provincial Grand Mas-
ter of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, 130, 382.
Napier, Francis, Lord, lays foundation-stone of
Edinburgh University, 334.
National Covenant, the, 97.
National Monument, foundation-stone of, laid by
the Duke of Hamilton, 388.
Negotiations for Union between Grand Lodge and
Mother Kilwinning, 246.
Neil, Brigadier-General, 339.
Neilson, Walter Montgomerie, of Queenshill, Pro-
vincial Grand Master of Glasgow, 124, 382.
Nelson's Monument at Glasgow, 255.
Netherlands, Prince Frederick of the, 320, 375.
Newcastle, occupation of, by Scotch army, 97.
Newcastle, a quorum of the Lodge of Edinburgh
make Masons at, 96.
Newton-on-Ayr St James Lodge works the Royal
Arch Degrees, 293.
New Lodges, the King's authority necessary to
erection of, 126.
New Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh, foundation-
stone laid by the Prince of Wales, 396.
Non-attendance at Lodge meetings, fines forr 1S8,
411.
Non-operatives in Lodge of Edinburgh in six-
teenth century, 51.
Non-uniformity in Lodge working, 105.
North Bridge at Edinburgh, 217.
Notaries-public as Lodge Clerks, 42 — their free
initiation, 43.
Oaths, unlawful, administration of, 301.
Objectionable use of the language of Speculative
Masonry as bearing on the antiquity of the Third
Degree, 215.
Objections to the communications of Grand Lodge
being confined to Edinburgh, 171,
Officer, William, solicitor, Edinburgh, 396.
Ogilvy, Sir John, 241, 255.
Old Testament Characters and Freemasonry :
Moses, Nebuchadnezzar, and Samson, 152.
Old Charges, Aberdeen MS. of the, 421.
Old Masonic Records : Atcheson's Haven, 407 —
Kilwinning, 409— Glasgow, 412 — Haddington,
413 — Dunblane, 414 — Peebles, 417 — Aberdeen,
419-
Oldest Fellow-craft, 75.
Oldest Lodge Records, 6.
Oliver, Rev. Dr George,' Masonic author, 213.
Open. fields. Masons entered in the, 421.
Operative Apprentice Masons assist in making
Speculative Masons, 75.
Operative element in Lodge of Edinburgh ignored,
205.
Ordinances of Kilwinning Lodge, 410.
Organ in Lodges, early use of, 190.
Original Seceders repudiate Freemasonry, 325.
Originals of the St Clair Charters bought at a pub-
lic sale, 58 — presented to Grand Lodge, ib.
Orphan Fund, Masonic, 403.
Oughton, General James Adolphus, 326.
Our Lady Lodge of Dundee, 36.
Outfield Lodge of Aberdeen, 425.
Parade, annual Masonic, 413.
Passed from the Square to the Compass, "^j, 416.
Passing regarded as an honour and dignity, 23.
Patronof the Scottish Craft, the, installation of, 391.
Patrons of Freemasonry in Scotland, 404.
Peebles, Chambers Institute at, 340,
Pennsylvania, Grand Chapter of, ^91.
Percy, Earl, 70.
Perth, James, third Duke of, 183.
Perth and Scoon Lodge, Charter of, 247.
Physical disqualifications to initiation, 402.
Pilgrimages of Scotland, 243.
Pious uses. Lodge fines applied to, 11, 12, 25, 233.
Pitsligo, Alexander, 3d Lord, 422.
Plurality of Wardens, 201.
Poets Laureate of Canongate Kilwinning, 333.
Politics introduced into Grand Lodge of Scotland,
257 — is succeeded by discord, lb. — five Edin-
burgh Lodges secede, 259 — Grand Lodge party
apply to the Court of Session for interdict against
the seceding Lodges, 267 — conflicting decisions,
268— arguments of parties before the Court, 271
— interlocutor in favour of the seceding Lodges,
276 — their return to Grand Lodge, 278.
Pope, the, excommunicates Freemasons, 324.
Possession of Third Degree not essential to mem-
bership in Grand Lodge, 2r3.
Post-Office at Edinburgh, foundation-stone of the,
laid by the Prince Consort, 345.
Prayer, constitution of Lodge meetings by, 417.
Prayers of the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel, 132.
Precedency of Lodges, rival claims of Kilwinning
INDEX.
437
and Edinburgh, 243 -the precedency given to
Mary's Chapel, 245— Kilwinning placed at head
of Roll, 251.
Priestly order of the Temple, 289.
Prince Albert proposed for initiation as a Free-
niason, 387.
Pringle, Walter, advocate, 91.
Processions, Civic and Religious, Crafts take part
in, 234.
Protectorate of JVIasons and Hammermen, 59.
Protest against the Lodge Journeymen carrying
Grand Lodge working tools in processions out
of the Edinburgh district, 331— against Prince
Albert laying the foundation-stones of public
buildings in Scotland, 345.
Provincial Grand IVIastership created, 324.
ProvinciaJ Grand Lodges under the Scottish Con-
stitution, 401,
Proxy System in Grand Lodge, the, 400, 428.
Publicans, old IMasonic statutes affecting, 239.
QuAKEE,'Masonic suspension of a, 189.
Quartermasters, Lodge, 17, 411.
Queen Victoria the Patroness of Craft IVIasonry,
and of the United Order of Knight Templars of
England and Ireland, 389.
Raffles, Masonic, 192.
Ramsay, David, a courtier of Charles I., 89.
Ramsay, Lord, 337.
Ramsay, Chevalier, 307.
Ramsay, William Hamilton, 380.
Ramsay, Charles William R. , of Barnton, 165, 381.
Rebellion of 1745 interferes with Masonic meetings,
192.
Reception of Operatives, 73 — Gentlemen, 79.
Records, Grand Lodge, fourth volume of, amissing,
8.
Records of Lodge of Kilwinning, alleged burning
of ancient, 249.
Red Cross of Constantine, 289.
Refreshment, Lodge, 351.
Religious Ordinances supported by the Crafts,
232.
Reorganisation of Scotch Lodges, 408.
Restrictions on liberty of speech, 27.
Resuscitation of the Lodge of Kilwinning, 409.
Ripon, Marquis of. Grand Master of England, 291,
376.
Rob Roy, 20, 24, 155.
Robinow, Adolph, representative from Grand
Lodge of Hamburg, 230, 240.
Robison, Dr, author of an attack on Freemasonry,
5, 198.
Rod and Serpent, 304.
Roman Catholit disabilities, 256.
Roschill, Lord, 57, 383.
Roslin Castle, fire at, 60, 64, 249.
Ross, Countess of, builds St Mary's Chapel, 236.
Rosslyn, Earl of. Grand Master Mason of Scotland,
349-
Rosslyn, Earl of. Lord High Chancellor of Eng-
land, 352.
Rosy Cross, instituted by King Robert Bruce, 306.
Rothes, Earl of, 340.
Royal Arch Masonry fabricated on the Continent,
290 — introduced into Britain, it. — SupremeGrand
Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland instituted, ib.—
Royal Arch Degrees worked by Lodges, 293 —
Supreme Grand Chapter's proposals for union
rejected by Grand Lodge of Scotland, 296.
Royal Brethren, 386.
Royal Exchange, Edinburgh, 217.
Royal Order of Scotland, tradition of the, 306 —
instituted by Chevalier Ramsay, 307 — introduced
from England into Scotland, 308— Grand Lodges
of the Order in London, and at the Hague, ib.
— at Edinburgh, 310.
Sabbath, Masons punished for unnecessary walk-
ing on, 426.
Sanderson, Robert, 102, 214.
Sash, Masonic, 186.
Sayer, Anthony, first Grand Master Mason of Eng-
land, 399, 406,
Schaw, William, Principal Warden and Chief
Master of Masons, 54.
Schaw Statutes of 1598, 9 — of 1599, 12.
Scheme for liquidating Grand Lodge debt pro-
posed by Lord Rosslyn, 351.
Scotch Constitution, Lodges under the, 401.
Scotch Lodges and Knight Templarism, 293.
Scots Greys, Mason Lodge in the, 162.
Scott, Sir Walter, made a Freemason, 25.
Scott Monument at Edinburgh, 342.
Scottish Masonic Benevolence, Fund of, 347, 351,
404.
Secret Ceremonies practised by Knight Templars,
disclosure of the, 304.
Secret modes of recognition not confined to
Masons, 23.
Secret Societies Bill, clauses of, in favour of Free-
masons, 266, 275.
Secession from the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 259.
Secession of Masons of Canongate and Leith from
the Lodge of Edinburgh, 124 — Journeymen
Masons of Edinburgh, 134.
Second Head Lodge of Scotland, 12, 243.
Sheriff-Depute of Edinburgh recommended by
Lord Moira to suppress Masonic meetings not
authorised by Grand I^odge, 265.
Simon Magus, skull of, 304.
Simpson, Sir James Young, Bart., 360.
Sketches and Reprints, Hughan's Masonic, 120.
Smellie, William, compiler of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, 196.
Solemn League and Covenant, 52.
Somners, Thomas, and the poet Fergusson, 238.
438
INDEX.
Sons-in-law of Master Masons, 425.
Soult, Marshal, 380.
South Bridge, Edinburgh, 331.
Speaking Plack, 44 — Pint, 425.
Speirs, Archibald Alexander-, of Elderslie, 107, 381.
Square, the, a symbol of the First Degree, 77.
Square, Tow, and Compass, 77.
Squaremen Word, the, 23.
Strasburg, German Masons of, 234.
Statistics of Scotch Masonry, 358, 401.
Statutes of the magistrates of Edinburgh anent the
Master Mason of the College Kirk of St Giles,
.35-
Stewart of Dunearn, 53.
Stewart, Archibald, of Hissilheyd, 89.
Stewart, John, of Nateby Hall, 361.
Stewart, Sir Michael Robert Shaw, Bart,, Depute
Grand Master, 371.
Stirling, Henry, third earl of, 89.
Stirling, Sir James, Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
334-
Strachan, Sir Alexander, 87.
Strathallan, Viscount, 52, 414.
Strathmore, Earl of, (irand Master of the Grand
Lodge of England, presides in the Lodge of
Edinburgh, 160.
Strathmore, Earl of, 362.
Struggle between the Operative and Speculative
elements in the Lodge of Edinburgh, 158 — as-
cendancy of the Speculatives, 159.
Stuart, Sir John, of AUanbank, presents Grand
Master's Jewel to Grand Lodge, 255 — lays
foundation - stone of the Monument to Lord
Nelson at Glasgow, ib.
St Andrew of Edinburgh secedes from Grand
Lodge, 262.
St Andrews, Masonic Convention at, in the six-
teenth century, 39,
St Andrew's Cross worn in Lodges, 186.
St CeciKa's Hall, Edinburgh, converted into Free-
masons' Hall, 239.
St Clair Charters, 57— their relation to the craft, 63.
St Clair, 'William of RosUn, made a Freemason, 167.
— resigns the Protectorate of the Mason Craft,
172 — elected first Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, 73 — portrait of, 180.
St David of Edinburgh secedes from Grand Lodge,
262.
St Giles Cathedral, Restoration of, 353.
St John the Baptist's Day, Masonic observance of,
a modern custom, 170.
St John the Evangelist's Day, 'Wardens elected on,
9.39-
St John of Jerusalem, Knight of, 289.
St Luke, Edinburgh, makes Masons in Montrose,
104.
St Mary's Chapel, Edinburgh, 237.
St Paul, Knight of, 289.
Sundays, Meetings of the Royal Order held on, 310.
Sussex, Augustus Frederick, Duke of, initiated,
387 — is Grand Master of Grand Lodge of
England, ib. — negotiates for the union of the
Ancient and Modern Masons, ib. — is first Grand
Master of the United Grand Lodge of England,
ib. — arranges to hold a Lodge for the initiation
of the Prince Consort, ib.
Sutherland, earldom and estates of, 339.
Sweden, King of, initiates the Prince of Wales,
389.
Symbolism of Mason Marks, 68.
Tampering with Kilwinning Records, 409.
Tax upon unpassed journeymen, 29.
Templars, Scotch Knight, 286, 288, 290, 293, 295,
299. 30I) 307. 387-
Tenterden, Lord, 291.
Testing of Entered Apprentices, 18.
The Ancient Lodge of Scotland, 244,' 409.
The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) is desig-
nated by James VI. 's Warden-general ' ' First
and Principall Ludge in Scotland," ^2 — takes
part in instituting the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
165 — producing the oldest minutes is placed first
on the roll, 245 —on Mother Kilwinning joining
Grand Lodge is reduced to a secondary position,
251 — itssubsequent secession and return to Grand
Lodge, 26r, 278.
Theatricals patronised by Grand Lodge, 325.
Theology, the, of Freemasonry, 133.
Theoretical Masons in the sixteenth century, 78 —
earliest records of their actual reception, 81.
Theoretical Apprentice Masons eligible for the
highest office in Lodges, 52.
Third Degree, 209— legend of the, 213.
Third Head Lodge of Scotland, 12, 243.
Thistle, Edinburgh, an offshoot from Canongate
and Leith, 129.
Throne, Masonic, description of, 194.
Toast-drinking, Masonic, 189.
Torchlight, Masonic processions by, 325, 413.
Torture Chamber, Laigh Parliament House, Edin-
burgh, 353.
Tow, the, 77.
Traditional antiquity of the Mason Fraternity, i.
Train, Joseph, antiquarian, 372.
Tranent, Masons of, 413.
Trial, Masonic, in Parliament House, Edinburgh,
300.
Trial of the Warden of the Lodge of Edinburgh at
Holyrood-house, 51.
Trial of Freemasons on a charge of administering
unlawful oaths, 301.
Twice Made, 126.
Tylers, grotesquely-dressed, 195.
Ulster, Count of, his alleged reception in the
Lodge of Kilwinning in the thirteenth century,
51-
INDEX.
439
Unfreemen, statutes of Mary's Chapel against, 26.
Uniformity in Lodge work, want of, 105.
United Irishmen, Society of, 298.
University of Edinburgh, 334.
Upper chambers, Kilwinning Lodge meets in,
409, 420.
Vails or gifts to servants, resolution of Grand
Lodge of Scotland against^ 326.
Vernon Kilwinning, afterwards St Giles, an offshoot
from Canongate and I^eith, 129.
Vestments, Lodge, 185.
Vicissitudes of the Lodge of Edinburgh, 282.
Victoria Bridge, Glasgow, 345.
Visitations, Grand, to Mary's Chapel, 323.
Visiting Brethren, 197.
Visitors to Grand Lodge, examiners of, 176.
Volunteers initiated at reduced fees, 84.
Voltmteers, Edinburgh, 206.
Wales, Frederick Lewis, Prince of, made a Free-
mason, 386 — first undoubted instance of the in-
itiation of a British Prince, ib.
Wales, George, Prince of, afterwards George IV.,
initiated, 386 — elected Grand Master of Grand
Ijodge of England, 387 — retires in favour of the
Duke of Sussex, ib. — becomes Patron of the
Order in England, ib. — elected Grand Master
and Patron of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 388.
Wales, Albert Edward, Prince of, initiated at
Stockholm by the King of Sweden, 389 — rank of
Past Grand Master conferred by Grand Lodge of
England, zi.— becomes Patron of the Order in
Ireland, ib. — installed as Grand Master of the
Knight Templars of England and Ireland, ib. —
attends a special Grand Communication in Free-
masons' Hall, Edinburgh, and is installed Patron
of the Scottish Craft, 390- affiliates into the
Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), 393— lays
the foundation-stone of the new Royal Infirmary
of Edinburgh, 396.
Walker, Sir Patrick, 340.
Wallace Monument at Stirlmg, 345.
Warden of Masons appointed by James VI., 5.
Wardens, election of, 9, 13, 16, 39, 4T.
Warden-General of Masons, 9, 16.
Watson, Stewart, artist, 332.
Watt Institution at Edinburgh, Lord Rosslyn lays
foundation-stone of the, 350.
Wattley, Hon. Joseph King, Provincial Grand
Master of the West India Islands, 359, 364.
Wemyss, James Hay Ergkine, of Wemyss, 292,
296.
Westhall, Lord, 328.
Whispering in Lodge forbidden, 424.
Whyt, Bain, 206.
Widows of Master Masons, 122.
Wilham IV., 389.
Witchcraft, burned for, 53.
Women admitted into Mason Guilds, 121.
Woodman, James Linning, 380.
Word, the Mason, 22 — secrets of, 23 — the germ of
Speculative Masonry, z'^.— journeymen masons
of Edinburgh authorised to give, 142 — brought
into contempt, 178.
Word, Squaremen, 23.
Wright, James, D.D., 299.
York, supposed organisation of the Masonic Fra-
ternity at, i.
York, Edward Augustus, Duke of made a Free-
mason, 386 — raised to the rank of Past Grand
Master, ib.
York, Frederick, Duke of, made a Freemason, ^386.
Zetland, Thomas, Earl of, 374, 428.
THE END.
TRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
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