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CONTENTS . L EADERThe Recent Tercentenary of the Lodge of Edinburgh , No . i ... 381 Provincial Grand Rank ... ... ... ... ... ... 382 Provincial Grand Lodge of Surrey ... ... ... ... 3 S 3 Supreme Grand Chapter of England ( Agenda Paper ) ... ... ... 384 Summer Outing of the Beaconsfield Lodge , No . 1662 ... ... ... 384

Summer Outing of the Mount Calvary Preceptory ( D . ) ... ... 384 Masonry in Devonshire ... ... ... ... •¦• "" 385 The Craft Abroad ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 § 5 Provincial Grand Chapter of Surrey ... ... ... ... 3 S 5 Knights Templar ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 S 5 MASONIC NOTESAgenda Paper of Supreme Grand Chapter ... _ ... ... 3 S 7 Special Meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge of Devonshire ... ... 3 S 8

Annual Meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hertfordshire ... 3 S 8 Consecration of the Harringay Lodge , No . 2763 ... ... 388 Annual Meetings of the Provincial Grand Lodge and Chapter of Durham ... 3 SS The Recent Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys ... ... 3 S 9 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Sg Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 390 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... 39 c Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 302

The Recent Tercentenary Of The Lodge Of Edinburgh No. 1.

THE RECENT TERCENTENARY OF THE LODGE OF EDINBURGH No . 1 .

No such event as that which was celebrated in the Music Hall , Edinburgh , on Wednesday , the 5 th instant , has ever previously been known in Masonry . We hear much about the antiquity of the Craft , its existence in pre-histcric times , the derivation of its system from the religions and philosophies of ancient Egypt , or from other sources belonging to a more or less

remote past . lo those who have studied the question , there appears to be nothing unreasonable in this . But the general public , which is apt to become weary when it has travelled back n . century or two in its researches , is . we fear , inclined to be

somewhat sceptical as to the justice of these claims on the part of I ' reemasonry to a remote antiquity . They open a history of the Craft , and having glanced through its early pages , they learn

that the Grand Lodge of England—the parent Grand Lodge of the whole world—dates from no further back than the year 1717 , fiat is , from the second decade of the 18 th century ; that the < irand Lod ge of Ireland was in existence in the third decade :

The Recent Tercentenary Of The Lodge Of Edinburgh No. 1.

and the Grand Lodge of Scotland was established , in the fourth decade of the same century ; and they not unnaturally inquire where this very remote antiquity comes in , when the bodies from which all other Grand Lodges

derive their origin are not yet two centuries old . Here , they argue , are your admitted historical facts , but where does the antiquity come in by comparison ( say ) with the kingdom of England which has existed for over a thousand

years ; with the fabled Kings of Scotland whose counterfeit presentments may be seen even at the present day in the palaces of the modern Athens ; or the Kings who reigned in Ireland when that country was at its . zenith as the home of letters and religion . Well , it would not be much good

attempting to satisfy the curiosity o ( these increduluus people , nor have we the time or space-to devote to the long series of articles which it would be necessary for us to compile in order to overcome their incredulity . But . here , at all

events , we as Masons can point with pride to a lodge in Edinburgh which can boast of possessing an almost unbroken chain of records , the earliest entry in which bears date " ultimo July , l 599 > " and tlie event therein recorded is the employment of a

cowan b y a Mason contrary to the statute law of Masonry . The volume of Records , which begins with this minute , also contains the Schaw Statutes of 1598 , one of the articles of which was , according to the minute , set at naught by the Mason

complained of , but how long prior to the date in question the lodge had been in existence is hidden in obscurity . There is also a supplementary code of the year 1599 , the existence of which was not discovered till a date comparatively recent , from

one of the articles of which it is evident that this lodge of Edinburgh must have existed for some time prior to the close of the 16 th century , the article laying it down that " Edinburgh

salbe in all tyme cuming , as of befoir , the first and principal lodge in Scotland . " In quoting this passage we have no intention of trenching upon a question which has long been , and in all