Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland
Lodge the Grand Master said that he heartily approved of the choice which the members ha ^ l made last St . John ' s-day , so far as the personal merits of the Brother elected to the chair were concerned , but as the Lodge was the most ancient on the roll of the Grand Lodge , and appeared from its records to have been originally and constitutionally an operative Lodge , strictly connected with the operative Brethren of the Craft , he was of opinion \ that it was most agreeable to the
spirit and constitution of the Lodge that it should be presided over and managed by operative Brethren , and he hoped that strict attention Would be paid to this matter at future elections . These statements of the Grand Master , we are told , were received ' with the highest applause and approbation . ' Some attention was perhaps paid to the recommendation which they contain for a year or two
afterwards , but it was gradually lost sight of , and , in process of time , the Lodge of Edinburgh ceased altogether to be a society of operative Masons . I have thought it proper to give these few particulars regarding the Lodge of Edinburgh , because they are interesting and tend to throw some light on the management ^ character , and condition of that Lodge at the time the journeymen thought fit to leave it , and to set up for themselves .
" After these references to Mary ' s Chapel , I now come to speak more particularly regarding the Lodge Journeymen . And I may first of all state that the transactions of this Lodge are contained in five folio volumes . They embrace a very considerable number of interesting particulars , though in many points they are remarkably meagre and unsatisfactory ; while not a few events , in which the journeymen took a prominent part , are passed over altogether . This is especially the case in regard to the early part of the Lodge ' s career . Most of its
records have evidently been lost , and there is now too much reason to fear that they will never be recovered . We have no minutes in the original handwriting prior to the year 1740 . The first minute-book that we now possess was purchased in 1739 , for we find in the entry of the sums disbursed that year , the following item , viz ., ' By ditto paid for this book , 16 $ ., ' and the next year we have this entry , ' By consent of the whole company , allowed opposite bill for transcribing and putting this book in the order it now is , 16 s . Sd ^ The original minute-book , whatever it may have contained , has disappeared , and all the record which we have of the first thirty-three years of our existence as a Lodge , consists principally of occasional notices of the payment of subscriptions , of the election of office-bearers , and of several laws passed at different times for the government
of the body . The first entry is a series of four acts passed in 1709 , empowering the Master to give out first a leet of three Fellow Crafts , from whom his successor , and secondly , a leet of fourteen Fellow Crafts , from whom seven managers were to be elected , and providing that all members should pay 5 s . of a donation , and 6 d . per quarter , with the exception of the sons of members , who were to pay no donation .
11 JVow , notwithstanding this poverty of record , we know that all the time a most keen , important , and deeply interesting struggle was going on between the journeymen and the masters of the Lodge of Mary ' s Chapel , and also with the members of the United Incorporation of Wrights and Masons , yet scarcely a word is recorded to show that the smallest movement of the kind was made ; and we can only infer , from our own records , that the Journeymen Society existed at all during the years 1711 , 1712 , and 1713 , by the entry of the quarterly payments
of 6 d . For ' ten year ft , that is , from l / lo * to 1723 , there appears to have been either no payments made , or no record of them kept , so that during these years there is a complete blank in our records . Now , it certainly would have been most interesting had the Brethren , in 1740 ( when transcribing the fragments of laws and transactions which they have handed down to us ) , at the same time drawn up and inserted an account of the designs and operations of the founders of the society . This not being done , we must just content ourselves with such scanty information as we can pick up from other quarters . [ We are unable to give the whole of this interesting communication this week . The remainder in our next . —Mi > . ]
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland
Lodge the Grand Master said that he heartily approved of the choice which the members ha ^ l made last St . John ' s-day , so far as the personal merits of the Brother elected to the chair were concerned , but as the Lodge was the most ancient on the roll of the Grand Lodge , and appeared from its records to have been originally and constitutionally an operative Lodge , strictly connected with the operative Brethren of the Craft , he was of opinion \ that it was most agreeable to the
spirit and constitution of the Lodge that it should be presided over and managed by operative Brethren , and he hoped that strict attention Would be paid to this matter at future elections . These statements of the Grand Master , we are told , were received ' with the highest applause and approbation . ' Some attention was perhaps paid to the recommendation which they contain for a year or two
afterwards , but it was gradually lost sight of , and , in process of time , the Lodge of Edinburgh ceased altogether to be a society of operative Masons . I have thought it proper to give these few particulars regarding the Lodge of Edinburgh , because they are interesting and tend to throw some light on the management ^ character , and condition of that Lodge at the time the journeymen thought fit to leave it , and to set up for themselves .
" After these references to Mary ' s Chapel , I now come to speak more particularly regarding the Lodge Journeymen . And I may first of all state that the transactions of this Lodge are contained in five folio volumes . They embrace a very considerable number of interesting particulars , though in many points they are remarkably meagre and unsatisfactory ; while not a few events , in which the journeymen took a prominent part , are passed over altogether . This is especially the case in regard to the early part of the Lodge ' s career . Most of its
records have evidently been lost , and there is now too much reason to fear that they will never be recovered . We have no minutes in the original handwriting prior to the year 1740 . The first minute-book that we now possess was purchased in 1739 , for we find in the entry of the sums disbursed that year , the following item , viz ., ' By ditto paid for this book , 16 $ ., ' and the next year we have this entry , ' By consent of the whole company , allowed opposite bill for transcribing and putting this book in the order it now is , 16 s . Sd ^ The original minute-book , whatever it may have contained , has disappeared , and all the record which we have of the first thirty-three years of our existence as a Lodge , consists principally of occasional notices of the payment of subscriptions , of the election of office-bearers , and of several laws passed at different times for the government
of the body . The first entry is a series of four acts passed in 1709 , empowering the Master to give out first a leet of three Fellow Crafts , from whom his successor , and secondly , a leet of fourteen Fellow Crafts , from whom seven managers were to be elected , and providing that all members should pay 5 s . of a donation , and 6 d . per quarter , with the exception of the sons of members , who were to pay no donation .
11 JVow , notwithstanding this poverty of record , we know that all the time a most keen , important , and deeply interesting struggle was going on between the journeymen and the masters of the Lodge of Mary ' s Chapel , and also with the members of the United Incorporation of Wrights and Masons , yet scarcely a word is recorded to show that the smallest movement of the kind was made ; and we can only infer , from our own records , that the Journeymen Society existed at all during the years 1711 , 1712 , and 1713 , by the entry of the quarterly payments
of 6 d . For ' ten year ft , that is , from l / lo * to 1723 , there appears to have been either no payments made , or no record of them kept , so that during these years there is a complete blank in our records . Now , it certainly would have been most interesting had the Brethren , in 1740 ( when transcribing the fragments of laws and transactions which they have handed down to us ) , at the same time drawn up and inserted an account of the designs and operations of the founders of the society . This not being done , we must just content ourselves with such scanty information as we can pick up from other quarters . [ We are unable to give the whole of this interesting communication this week . The remainder in our next . —Mi > . ]