Lodge St. David, No. 36, Edinburgh.

green for the Grand Officers . Bro . F . J . W . Crowe , who is an authority on this point , considers that the colour was selected because of the Thistle ; England choosing a special shade of blue to represent the Garter . There is much to favour this view of the matter .

BY-LAWS OF THE LODGE . The earliest " Regulations and Bye-Laws " of the lodge were agreed to 16 th May , 173 8 , which are reproduced in the latest cop } - of the by-laws ( 1902 . ) They have a pleasant flavour of antiquity and provided for unanimous election of

candidates . Only such Fellow Crafts could be raised to the degree of Master Mason " as ye Right Worshipfull thinks proper , " and any brother who was heard to swear , on testimony of two witnesses , was liable to a line , " besides a rebuke from the chair . " The jewels and furniture were

not to be exposed to strangers " without a dispensation from the lodge . " The " officer" of the lodge was required to attend " precisely at the stroke of ye hour appointed by the Master , and there shall set up an half-hour glass , and when the glass is run then the roll shall be called . " This was to discover

the " absents " or unpunctual members , who were lined in due course . I was fortunate to purchase and present to the members , through the R . W . M ., a copy of the lodge by-laws of 1757 , believed to be the earliest preserved printed code in Scotland . The rules are very like those of 1738 , and

were referred in the minutes of the lodge so late as 18 3 8 , concerning a printed copy and report of a committee of 1758 , which are in the " Signet Library . " The roll of members of the Lodge St . David is of a remarkable character , and so likewise is the " List of Right Worshipful Masters" from the year 173 8 , the latter being

given in the " Scottish Masonic Historical Directory" for 1904 . The crowning distinction , however , of the lodge , is that SIR WALTER SCOTT , the great novelist , selected " St . David , " No . 3 6 , in which to be initiated ; other poets also first seeing the " light" under its auspices , such as Hector McNeil , in 176 9 ( Author of " My Boy , Tammy , " ) and Henry Scott Riddell , in 1827 ( Author of "Scotland Yet . " )

NOBLE BRETHREN- . Of several distinguished members may be cited the Rt . Hon . the Earl of Leven and Melville , M . W . Grand Master of Scotland , 1759-60 ( R . W . M . 1758 ) ; the Rt . Hon . Lord Forbes , the R . W . M . in 177 8 , and M . W . Grand Master ,

A . D . 1754 ; Sir James Stirling , Bart ., Lord Provost of Edinburgh , M . W . Grand Master , 1798-9 ; the Rt . Hon . Earl of Dalkeith ( afterwards Duke of Buccleuch ) , M . W . Grand Master , iSoo-r ; the Rt . Hon . the Earl of Strathmore , and others . Lord Frederick Fit / . Clarence , M . W . Grand Master , 1841-2 , was elected an honorary member on 30 th November , 1841 .

On the 9 th January , 1760 , the Rt . Hon . Lord Aberdour , who was then the M . W . Grand Master of England , was present

as a visitor . His lordship occupied the thrones of the Grand Lodges of England and Scotland , A . D . i 757 " 6 r aild 1755-6

respectively , and later on became the Earl of Morton .

From June 24 th , 1745 , THE SEAL OF THE LODGE . to 27 th December , 1746 , " no meetings were held upon account of the Forty-five Rebellion , " but that slack period was soon made up by an inilux of candidates . In 1754 alone , over one hundred names were accepted , of whom 92 were initiated , including MR . WALTER

SCOTT , W . S ., the father of the " Wizard of the North , " and DR . ERASMUS DARWI . V , " physician , physiologist , and poet , the grandfather of CHARLES DARWIX , the naturalist . "

Bro . Walter Scott , W . S ., was an enthusiastic Craftsman and as S . W . of the lodge , was one of a "leet" of three in the ballot for R . W . M ., but not elected . He occasionally presided in the absence of the R . W . M ., and signed the minutes so late as 1785 .

THE LODGE CERTIFICATE . Naturally the " mother lodge" and her vigorous offspring were on the most intimate terms , and on 12 th May , 1756 , an " act of union" was proposed of an elaborate character , which meant , briefly , that the brethren of " Lodge

Canongate from Leith" were to be assumed members of " St . David , " and rice versa , which was agreed to before the expiration of that year . It was believed by some that the senior was actually united to the junior organization . This was an error , for so late as 1778 the parent lodge was

represented by a visitor . An entry , however , of 1799 is misleading , which states that a Bro . Fyfee was assumed an lion , member , who belonged originally to the lodge at Leith , " incorporated with St . David ' s many years ago . " The references in the minutes to the " Royal Order of

Scotland" are numerous and interesting , especially so considering the early period at which they begin . On the 19 th June , 1764 , it is recorded" We were visited on this occr . sion by the Rt . Worshipfull Br . Mitchell and a number of

brethren of the Royal Order /// plain chilling . " Doubtless this was the Bro . William Mitchell , to whom a charter was granted in 1750 as the head of the Order at the Hague , and whilst the headquarters were in London ; the constitution of the new organization for the " seven united

provinces" talcing place at the " Golden Horse-Shoe " in Cannon Street , Southwark , on the 22 nd July of that year , accordingly .

It is not likely that Bro . Mitchell returned to the Hague , as he presided at several meetings convened clown to 1777 as D . G . M . and Governor . His successor was Bro . James Kerr , a writer of Edinburgh , who joined the Lodge St . David in 1754 by petition , in which it is declared " he was admitted a Mason in the Lodge of Lanark in the year 1734 . " The members agreed to the affiliation , but considered that as it