Historical Notice Of The St. Clairs Of Rosslyn, Grand Master Masons Of Scotland.

send out a contingent to help the actual combatants . The Barony of Rosslyn was then in the possession of the family of St . Clair , in the hands of whose descendants and representatives it still remains . The beautiful chapel , one of the most perfect gems of ecclesiastical

architecture in Scotland , did not then exist . It Avas erected in the following century by William St . Clair , Earl of Orkney , and of Caithness , and Baron of Rosslyn , one of the greatest Scottish nobles of his age , and a liberal patron of the arts ,

and especially ot Masonry . Ihe old castle of Rosslyn , however , the antiquity of which is unknown , occupied a commanding site on the left bank of the Esk , and was a place of such strength that it could be maintained for a long time by a

resolute , although not very numerous garrison , even against a large army , Avell supplied with all the implements and engines of Avar which were th : n in use . Sir William St . Clair Avas succeeded bv his son , Sir Henry , Avhose name appears among the

Barons of Scotland , in a letter written by them to the Pope , and dated from Aberbrothe ( Arbroath ) on the 6 th April , 1320 . In the letter he is styled Panetarius Scolice . ( Baker of Scotland ) . It appears that this office , like other such offices connected with the Court , was bestowed on

a person of high rank—as was the case in all courts at that time—the hig hest dignities being those which were connected with the supply ol the wants of the king , or with personal attendance upon him . Thus we have the name Butler , long of high p lace in the British nobility , the name oi

Chalmers or Chambers ( Cameranus ) and many others , all of such origin . And it appears from ancient charters , that Sir William St . Clair of Rosslyn obtained a grant of the baretrr ( baker ) lands of lnnerleith , from

Alexander 11 ., these lands having previously been in thc possession of Nicolaus Pislor ( i . e . Baker ) , and formerly , in the time of AVilliam the Lion , of Ailif . thc King ' s barter ( baker . ) Copies of the charters by Avhich these lands Avere in-anted are to be seen

in the Hay MSS . in the Advocates' library at Edinburgh . King Robert I . ( Bruce ) granted to Sit Henry St . Clair and his heirs a pension of forty merks from the national treasury , in compensation ofthe losses which he had sustained in the recent Avars . This pension was confirmed bv

David II . to his son and heir , AVilliam St . Clair . King David also granted to William St . Clair the lands of Merton and Merchaniston . This AVilliam St . Clair appears to be the same Sir William St . Clair of Rosslyn , who , in the fourteenth century , married one of the daughters

and co-heiresses of Malise , Earl ol Strathearn Caithness , and Orkney . His eldest son Henry had his claim to the earldom of Orkney admitted by Hako VI ., King of Norway , in 1379 ; lnc islands of Orkney belonging at that time to Norway , and not to Scotland . Conditions , however ,

Avere imposed by the Norwegian King , of such a nature that if war had arisen between Scotland and Norway , Sir AVilliam St . Clair would havc been unable to retain his possessions in both countries , military service being due by him to the kings of both . No war broke out , and the

double allegiance does not seem to have ever been the cause of any difficulty . AVilliam St . Clair was succeeded in the Earldom of Orkney , the Baronry of Rosslyn , and all his possessions , by his son Henry St . Clair , who was sent as Ambassador from Scotland to

Denmark in 1363 , on occasion of the marriage oi Hako , King of Norway , with Margaret , daughtei of AValdermar , King of Denmark . AVhilst at Copenhagen he married a sister of the King oi Norway . He appears to be the same Henry St . Clair of Rosslyn AVIIO afterwards married Azidia

Douglas , daughter of Lord Nithsdale , and by that marriage acquired the lands of Nithsdale , and the offices of Justice , Warden , Chamberlain , kc . He was a person of such consequence in his time , that in A . D . 1 404 , the care of the infant prince , afterAvards James I ., was entrusted to hirn .

"A few months ago I was suffering from inflammation of the throat , brought on hy a seveie cold , to that I could scarcely speak , and only with great difficulty swallow any food . I could get no permanent relief from any source until a friend induced me to try your Vegetable I ' ain Killer a . few doses of which completely cured inc . —J . MACK ' u Gordon St ., Liverpool . —To ferry Davis ec Son , London ' AV . C 7 .

Bro. Lessing And His Masonic Conversations.

BRO . LESSING AND HIS MASONIC CONVERSATIONS .

BY WAY OF COMMENTARY . —PART THE THIRD BY BRO . CRATTONYMUS . HOW long Ernest had been absent it is hardly possible to judge , save by inference , from the text of Conversation Four , but those who are aware of the strictness with Avhich Masonic rites

were enforced on the Continent during the middle and the latter half of the hist century , Avill , I think , agree Avith me that , considering the circumstances , Ernest could scarcely have obtained more than the lowest degree of Johannite Masonry .

Indeed having regard to things as they are now—when less latitude is allowed in so many ceremonial observances of various kinds , it is the most probable of all assumptions , if indeed thc petulance of Ernest does not evince the fact . Falk

calm , cool , collected , logical as before , meets his friend—now his brother . I have known men , and in that consists the charm of Lessing ' s honest setting down Avhat he found , who have acted , and could not act otherwise , than did F . ruest . It is hard to ' come back from a beautiful dream to

a dull and leaden reality . If distance lends enchantment to the view , the mind of an enthusiastic generaliser recoils before the ugly and common-place , but necessary details . It is one thing to imagine , another to seek with fervour , and a third to work out the problem .

At this last task , the initiate , not finding everything within his grasp , in most cases , recoilsand at such times the advice of a judicious and experienced friend , "a cool hand , " is invaluable . Such a cool hand Ave find in Falk . He

commences by welcoming his friend , but lirnest abruptly replies to him— " I am angry , anil little is wanting to make me angrv with you . " On his making himself know as a Brother , Falk shrugs his shoulders ; this excites the susceptibilities of Ernest vet more . He avers that he has been

misled . To this Falk replies in a tone of unaffected surprise , anil Ernest in reply urges his case I le speaks ol the d < sert wilderness into whicli lit has been led—he complains of being stifled by the smoke— -and Falk wisely counsels endurance

objects to being held responsible for Ernest ' s entrance into Masonry , calls him unjust , and p lainl y tells him how dangerous it is for some persons to become Freemasons , unless lhey have not onl y the letter but the spirit at heart . No brother of

the . Mystic Tie will be loath to admit that at times such a faltering of mind takes place , even among the best , l'he highest duties of Masonry may indeed be fulfilled without the mere name of Freemason . To this Ernest urges in answer

that his friend knew how imaginative he was , how alluring the bait , however miserable the attainment , and reward . Falk , with his accustomed composure , answers him by retort , that he has soon become too tired to attain the bait , and justly adds that he had not been made aware ol

his friend ' s intentions , and further says thai he would have dissuaded him , had he known anything about it . " Who would counsel the great goeurl to 11 headlong boy because now and then lu stumbles . " And yet he comfortingly adds " by this road all have to pass . "

I have a striking instance of the Jiind within my own experience , in which the initiate acted precisel y in the impatient and unreasoning man ner in which Ernest is here represented to have acted . How often we find that people will shudder back from certain states of thought

because their imagination is not satisfied ? 1 remember well , on the occasion of my own entrance into the order that I had to summon up much courage and self-possession , but still I feel that 1 need not fear to tread Avhere the footsteps

of so many good and great men had preceeded me . 1 cou'd faithfull y follow the guidance of my friend , whom I afterwards found to be a brother . AVithsome natures this may be difficult , but , in my case , as I expected no marvels ,

nothing m the supernatural or magical way , l can honestly confess I was not disappointed . It is not so much what Freemasonry is , as Avhat the candidate , initiate , or companion can make of it . However impressive our ceremonies , and no brother will deny that they exercise a pecu-

Bro. Lessing And His Masonic Conversations.

liar influence on the mind , if must not be forgotten that they are of human institution , and hence fallible . They represent , truly interpreted , the aspiration man naturall y has beyond other animals for the Unseen and Unknown .

But to return to our conversation . Ernest describes the aspirations of his fellow noviciates . One is an alchymist , another a necromancer , and a third' —receding into the dim past- —Avould rehabilitate the Knights Templar . But this being - stated , Falk smiles—a tolerant smile—knowing

well , that even 111 such ideas there exists a healthy kernel . The art of making gold—an unsolved problem in chemistry—may or may not exist . The power of invoking spirits is a question hotly- agitated in our own times , as any reader of the spiritualistic newspapers and

magazines can see . The Philosopher ' s Stone , in a Masonic sense , is by no means a myth . And hence F ' alk is justified in saying that , " the very first—whosoever he be—who attains the Philosopher ' s Stone , becomes in the same moment a Freemason . " And again he says , " spirits could never hearken to the voice of any , not a Freemason . "

AVhen Ernest objects to these serious utterances— Falk reassures him . The age of mystery has passed away , the secret of Freemasonryis unalterable from its magnitude . But its spirit is abroad everywhere , we can see it at work in a thousand forms—refining , humanising , and enlightening the world .

All secret societies , it may be safely taken for granted , have for their common object the desire , by certain means known to the founders , to benefit mankind . Even the Jesuit body , it is just to say , according to the views of Ignatius Loyola , had a benevolent object . AVarped and

destroyed , it stands out at the present day in its effect upon society . Thus it is with all societies , thus it was with the Templars ; to attempt any re-establishment of that Order in our own time , upon the old basis , would be a retrogade movement , as restrictous now as it was in the days of

Lessmg . Ernest objects , and with some show of truth , that the Freemasons with whom he mingles will hear nothing of the glorious ideas F ' alk had pictured to him . The very principle of equality seems to be w-arped and lost , he urges , and social distinctions are ri gidly kept up , and religious dilferences to a great degree maintained .

F ' alk , however , reminds him , that the lodge stands in that relation to Freemasonry as the Church does to Faith . Falk had himself , though still ; i Mason , ceased to have any formal connection with the lodges , butat the same moment his mind remained instructed with the precepts he n-id imbibed at the time when he was in the

same position that Ernest had HOAV assumed . Falk in his replies to Ernest shows a singular appreciation of the Spirit of F ' reemasonry , bidding the noviciate to wait , and look beyond the letter of the ceremonies . Those who have passed through the grades of the Johannite

Masonry well know how grandly symbolical they are , and when , as I have witnessed them , they are performed with due solemnity , they cannot fail to make an enduring impression on the mind . As Freemasons , however , are not ascetics , as they do not segregate themselves

irom the general mass of mankind , but live and act and work in the midst of society , there is no reason for the non-affiliate to attach such awful mystery to that which is rumoured to pass in the sacred bosom of the lodge . One side of the subject it seems to me has

been little touched upon until of late years , and that is , its literary and arelv . eological value . The works of Findel and Rebold , and some of the essays of more recent date , are bringing this most interesting aspect of Masonic History into broad view . Some years ago , Ration likewise published

some eloquent and philosophic works on the more occult portions of the subject , still his speculations were not of the practical and concrete kind . At some future time , should an opportunity present itself , I propose to introduce the English reader to a large body of Masonic

literature , the existence of Avhich is hardl y known in Fmgland . The literature of France and Germany is full of learned and admirable treatises on Masonry , and it is owing to the fact of their being often clothed in a kind of allegorical language , intelligible for the most part