The Canongate Kilwinning,

I am aware that , when I place the date of the coming of the Kilwinning branch to Edinburgh in the twelfth century , I may be called to task ; but my answer is this : —The Knights Templars introduced Masonry into Scotland for the purpose

of building preceptories and chapels . The headquarters of the Fraternity Avas placed at Kihvinning . The Templars became great favourites with King David , Avho bestowed many marks of his favour upon them . Their principal places of

residence were at the Temple ( Mid-Lothian ) and Temple-Liston . A branch of KilAvinning would be sent through to raise the necessasy buildings ; and finding this " branch constantly employed , both by the Templars and the great landoAvners , the Mother Lodge Avould permanently station it in Edinburgh , in all probability built the Chapel of

the Hol y Rood , founded by David , and this branch subsequentl y became the Canongate Kilwinning . It may be said that this story is improbable . It may appear so ; but one thing is clear , if Mother Kilwinning was the fountain of Scotch Masonry ,

one of her first branches must have been sent to Edinburgh , and that at a very early period . Various little circumstances substantiate this , not the least the fact of the hereditary Grand Masters , the St Clairs of Rosslyn , being initiated in the

Canongate Kilwinning . But , putting this question aside , the Canongate Kilwinning can fall back for its origin to the date of the Mother Lodge ; for , as she was acknowledged as apart of the Mother Lodge , not as a Daughter or separate lod ge , like other lodges , the date of

The Canongate Kilwinning,

the Mother Lodge is undoubtedly the date of the Canono-ate Kilwinning . Some I have heard dispute the fact of the Canongate Kilwinning ever having been an Operative Lodge . This is a question I shall discuss at another time ; although ,

if she AA as not au Operative Lodge , it Avould be a puzzle for these doubters to establish her beingeven in existence in the year 1677 ; and the foregoing minute sufficiently proves that she had been in existence many years before that date . [ To be continued . )

Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia,

EARS OF WHEAT FROM A CORNUCOPIA ,

By Bro . D . Uxmui * LYOX , K . T ., & c , one of the Grand Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland , ( Continued from page 64 . ) PRIVILEGED " COAVANS . " Looked at from a modern stand-point , the

admission of Cowans to a share in the labour of the Craft ivould , in Masonic jurisprudence , present an anomaly ruinous to the existence of the brotherhood as a secret society . No emergency can now arise by which Cowans may in any degree be

brought into Masonic contact with the initiated . It was otherwise with Freemasonry in the olden time ; for , notwithstanding the contempt in which the Ishmaelites of the Craft were wont to be held , and the stringency of the statutes by which they were excluded from participation in the privileges enjoyed by legitimate Craftsmen , the reception of

Cowans , Avhether as Fellows or as Masters , Ave find to have obtained in at least one of the Masonic Courts existing in Scotland three centuries a ^ o—¦ the occupation to which their skill Avas directed , and for which they were duly licensed , being

designated "Cowand work . " As may be gathered from the subjoined extracts from the minutes of the Ayr Scmaremen Incorporation , this description , of handicraft seems to have been followed hy wrights Avho also undertook certain kinds of

mason work , as well as encroached upon the thatchers' calling . The first minute Avhich we have been able to discover as bearing upon the subject in hand , has reference to the admission of a Fellow-Craft Cowan—the others , with one exception , record the reception of Master Cowans : —

"Feb . xxm . 1593 . . . . Qlk day George Gibsoun , indwaller of this burgh , meanit Mmsel £ to the deakin and the Craft conscerning his weaknes and povertie , declairing to thame he