The Festival Of Tuesday Next.

THE FESTIVAL OF TUESDAY NEXT .

AVTE feel assured we need add nothing more to what has already been written in respect of the Festival in aid of the Funds of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , which will take place at Freemasons' Tavern , on

Tuesday next . Brother Terry ' s band of Stewards fully realise the importance of the duties they have undertaken , and we sincerely trust their labours will be crowned by as grand a success as the most earnest of them could desire .

The History Of Freemasonry.

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY .

( Continued from page 99 . ) IN his chapter on "Early British Freemasonry , " Bro . Gould necessarily travels over much of the same ground that had been traversed previously by Bro . Murray Lvon in his well-known History . Thus Masonic students

are no doubt acquainted with much thafc appears in elucidation of this branch of his subject . The author first directs his attention to the " St . Clair Charters , " the originals of which are in the custody of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , and his firsfc aim is to set afc rest the dates of

the two documents . To the elder of the two he assigns the year 1601-2 , " the names of the deacons of the masons at Edinburgh affording some assistance in identifying this period , " while , "the second , long assigned to 1630 , ancl so dated in many of tbe transcripts , was evidently

promulgated in 1628 , according to the internal evidence which lias been so well marshalled by Mr . Lyon . " He then notes that both deeds " are altogether silent as to the Grand Mastership of the Craft being hereditary in the St . Clairs of Roslin . " The statement in what is commonly known as

Lavrrie ' s " History of Freemasonry "— " It deserves to be remarked that in both these deeds the appointment of William Sinclair , Earl of Orkney and Caithness , to the office of Grand Master by James II . of Scotland , is

spoken of as a fact well known and universally admitted " —says Bro . Gould , " is simply untrue . " The consent of the " Friemen Maissones " of Scotland is acknowledged as well as that of the " master of work " to William St Clair

purchasing from the King for himself and his heirs the position of patron and judge , and as far as possible the successors of these masons are pledged to support the appointment . But " the office of ' master of work ' was not superseded thereby . " And again it is Bro . Gould ' s belief that

" Maidment has demonstrated the utter groundlessness of the claims put forward by the Lawrics , that there ever was such an appointment made either by royal authority , or the vote of the Masonic Craft , to secure the office of hereditary

'Grand Master to the St . Clairs . " He notes further , " that there are no deeds known , which confer such a posi . tion as that claimed , on the Earl of Orkney in the fifteenth century ( the representative of the elder branch of the St .

The History Of Freemasonry.

Clairs ) , neither is there any record of that nobleman or his successors having conveyed such hereditary privileges to the younger branch of the family . " Having enumerated the several Lodges which were parties to the respective charters , these several bodies , he says , " united for the

purpose of obtaining a patron for their Craft , " those " afc Edinburgh , St . Andrews , Haddington , Atcheson Haven , and Dunfermline" signing , by their representatives , the first deed , while those at Edinburgh , Glasgow , Dundee , Stirling , Dunfermline , St . Andrews , " and also " the masons

and other crafts at Ayr" were parties to the second . Hence , as other districts , such as Kilwinning and Aberdeen , which are supposed to have then had Lodges were not included in these bodies , " it seems likely that the office of patron was more sought with the object of settling

whatever local disputes might occur among the Freemasons li - the exercise of their trade , than intended in any way to set aside the king ' s master of work , who , as we have seen , supported the petition of the lodges ; " and he argues thence that it is reasonable to suppose " that similar powers were

obtained in other countries , " as , indeed , is shown to have happened on 25 th September 1590 , " on which day James VI . granted to Patrick Coipland of Udaucht the office of ' Wardene and Justice ' over the ' airt and craft of masonrie' within the counties of Aberdeen , Banff , and

Kincardine , with the fullest liberty to act in such a capacity within the district named . " The appointment was made in response to the vote in his favour , " by the

maist pairt of the master masounes within the sheriffdomes , ' and likewise because the nominee ' s ' predecessoris hes bene ancient possessoris of the said office of Wardenrie over all the boundis . ' " From this he concludes with

Lyon thafc the appointment was a civil one , and that , as the Schaw statutes of 1598 were , as pointed out by Hughan , " in force in Aberdeen , Banff , and Kincardine , just as in all other parts of 'Scotland , " the Grand Mastership was not hereditary or even in existence .

The author passes on to a consideration of the Schaw Statutes of 1598 and 1599 , and having briefly summarised the chief provisions of the former , clause by clause , and explained how the latter came to be discovered , he gives an outline of the several " items " of the second body of

Statutes , because it determines the seniority of the leading Lodges in Scotland . Thus the first " item" or clause provides for the election of the Warden of what is now known as " Mother Kilwinning " on the 20 th December , the Lodge being described as " Jieid and secund Lodge of

Scotland . " In clause 2 it is again spoken of as the second Lodge , while in clause 3 , the Warden General , for reasons of expediency , confirms the rank : of Edinburgh as ' the first and principal lodge in Scotland' that of Kilwinning being the second , ' as of befoir is notourlie manifest in our awl d

antient writtis ; ' and the Lodge of Stirling to be third , according to their ancient privileges . " On this last-cited clause Bro . Gould remarks of the three Lodges in a footnote that " accordingly either of the three might be termed

' Head Lodge , ' there thus being a trio of head lodges , only of these precedence was given to Edinburgh over Kilwinning , and to both these Lodges over Stilling , and at the head of fchem all , was the Warden General by royal appointment . The usage of existing Provincial Grand

Ar00102

JL _ - _ L X O IS ( COMFORTMG ) COCOA .