Mother Kilwinning.

MOTHER KILWINNING .

LONDON , SATURDAY , NOVFILBBS . 7 , 1863 .

BY BRO . D . MURRAY Lro ? r , K . T ., PEOY . J . G . W . 01 ? AYRSHIRE . No . YI . We now proceed to quote from tiie Kilwinning minutes of date 27 th October , 1779 : — " This day a regular meeting of the MOTHER LODGE

having met to consider a Petition , presented by certain Masons in the Kingdom of Ireland , praying for a Charter of Constitution from our Ancient Mother Lodge of Kilwinning , that they may meet with Authority and Erect themselves into a regular Lodge and Society , under the designation of The High Knight

Templars' Lodge of Ireland ; and the Brethren present , representing the Mother Lodge , grant the request upon paying the usual fee , and half-a-guinea for the seal as a precedent in future , and subjecting themselves to the rules and regulations of the MOTHER LODGE . —Tenor and Copy of the Charter as follows : —

" We , Archibald Earl of E glintoune , Most Worshipful Grand Master of the MOTHER LODGE OF KID WISHING , having taken into consideration the request of certain Masons in the City of Dublin , in Ireland , praying our authority to be formed into a regular Lodge or Society , —being Avell assured of their

moral character and of their inclination to piomote the good of Masonry , —we , with the consent of our Warden and other Brethren , do Constitute and Erect them into a regular Lodge by the name of the HIGH KNIGHT TEMPLARS OE IRELAND KILAVIJS S - " G LODGEand we grant them all powers and privileges

, which now are , or for any time past may have been legally enjoyed by any other Lodge of our Creating ; the same to be ahvays holden of the Most Worshipful Grand Master ot the MOTHER LODGE OE KTL

wrsj-Ex- © , and his successors in office , upon the yearly payment of One Merk , Scots' money , at the Anniversary Meeting of the MOTHER LODGE in December , and upon the attendance of one of their members if required at said meeting . " Given at Kilwinning the Sth of October , 1779 .

** ( Signed ) ROBERT LATJGHDEH " , Secretary . " Whatever the designs of the petitioners in thus soliciting a charter from Mother KilAvinning , or however far they or their successors departed from or added to the privileges conferred by the warrant prayed forcertain it is that the three Craft Degrees

, were the only ones they were empoAvered by the Mother Lodge to practise . As to Avhether or not any arrangement was made in regard to the erection of the newly-constituted daughter into " a Provincial or Depute , " we have no means of knowing—the Kil-Avinning records are silent upon this point : but

considerable anxiety was manifested on the part of the Kilwinning brethren to have the Hi gh Kni ghts Templars' charter executed in a superior st yle—an anxiety increased no doubt by the prospect of the handsome donation the Irish brethren had promised to send in addition to the payment of the charter fees and in

order to give greater eclat to the introduction of Kil-Avinning charters into Ireland , the Committee appointed two years previously to procure a suitable seal for the mother lodge were urged ! to have it finished in

time to alloAV of its first impression being affixed to the Dublin charter . The following letter to Dr . Cunninghame accompanied the transmission to Ireland of the Hi gh Knight Templars' charter : —• " Dear Sir and Brother—I have industriously

ob-, tained the Charter for the Society of Gentlemen you recommended , and as we have extinguished all the money in our funds , besides large donations raised by subscription , I am obliged to exert every laudable means to raise more money . I beg you will obtain the charter duesand five guineas promised . I have

, ordered the bearer to deliver this and the charter ( enclosed first in a tin box and lastly into brown paper ) to you , and to receive from you the money . . . . " The Charter Avas Avritten in the Herald Office in

Edinburgh , under Bro . Hadow's inspection . The seal has cost me much pains , having ransacked many curious antiques , which lay buried in obscurity for many years . It has been costl y too , for which we haA * e been obliged to raise the Charter fees . . . . " That you may be prepared to speak upon and

explain the Seal , —which I prefer to laying down in writing , —to our new created Daughter , and that you may satisfy your good O pinion of each of our Members ' capacity in antiquity . " The general field is charged with the Masons ' Arms , viz . 3 Castles ( only ours are near rectangular )

placed angular—with the Square ancl Compass . Betwixt the legs of the Compass , and near the top of them , is the Arms of the Monastery attached to it , at that remote period when a third son of Robert the 2 nd ( Earl of Buchan ) married a daughter of the L yle family , ancl were principal contributors to building the

Monastery and towers ; and the Earl of Buchan was then Master of the Mother Lodge , at that time in some repute . In the middle is an Eye , looking to the Eglintoune Coat—they being patrons in every ffira to the Society ; and from the present Earl bestowing so generous donationshe is appointed Grand Master for

, Life . I make no doubt but you'll blazon these things to good purpose . ... "Yours , & c , " ROB . LATJGHIAS - , Sec . "

Some years ago , while sustaining on behalf of the Priory of Ayr , No . 4 , a controversy with the representatives of an unrecognised body of Knight Templars , we were led , on the authority of a venerable ancl distinguished brother , to remark , in connection with the conferring of the R . \ A . - . anclK . - . T . \ degrees

under the charter granted to the H . K . T . of Ireland Lodge , that " when the petitioners got the said charter they deleted the word Lodge , surreptitiously inserting Uncampment , and under the Blue Avarrant soaltered began to practise Black Masonry . " Desirous of learning upon the highest authority whether

thischarter had in reality been tampered in the nianner indicated , Ave lately addressed a note to the Grand Recorder to the High Knight Templars of Ireland Encampment , requesting to be informed upon the point ; and having through the courtesy of that brother received the desiredinformation—which is adverse

, to Avhat we were formerl y led to believe in regard to the manipulatory process by which the said Charter was said to haA'e been metamorphosed into a K . T . warrant , a sense of duty we owe to the cause of truth prompts to the publication of the following excerpt