Mother Kilwinning.

gate Kilwinning Lodge held at William Clerk ' s there , with complements , —which the lodge thankfully received , and recommend it to the Eight Worshipful Master to write a letter of Thanks to the said Lodge . " It was thereafter enacted that the Festival of Saint John the Baptist should " for ever " be held by the

Mother Lodge : the appointment of a " Secretary , " a couple of " Stewarts , " and the naming of a committee " to revise the rules ancl report" finishing the business of this meeting .

The changes Ave have noted as occurring in the Mother Lodge during the year 1735 Avere but the precursors of events in the Masonic world destined ultimately to lead to still greater innovations upon the constitution of the ancient fraternity of Kihvinning Masons . Circumstances having led William St . Clair , of Eoslinto relinquish the high Masonic office

, which had fallen to him by inheritance in virtue of royal grants made to certain of his predecessors , it behoved the Craft to assemble formally to receive the demission of the hereditary Grand Master Mason of Scotland , and elect his successor . The subject is thus introduced to the notice of the Lodge of Kilwinning

at their meeting of 3 rd NoA'ember , 1736 : — " The Et . Worshi pful the Master produced a letter from the ifour Lodges in and about Edinburgh , A'iz ., Scots Arms Lodge , Lord Hume Master ; Cannongate Kilwinning Lodge , George Fraser M ; Leith Kilwinning Lodge , William Montgomerie M ; and Saint Maries Chappel

Lodge , M — Bearing jiroposals and regulations anent a Grand Master for Scotland , ancl desiring our Concurrence in the said affair and our Eemarks upon the said proposal and Eegulations , which being Eead in prcesentia , It Avas Unanimously Agreed to have such a master;—And a Committee , viz ., the Et . Wor . the Master , the 2 Wardens , Sir David Cunninghame , Mr . Fergusson , and Mr . Pinkerton , Avere appointed to meet any convenient time betAvixt and

St . Andrew ' s Day next—the time appointed for electing of the said Grand Master , —to make out their Observations upon the said proposals and regulations , and send up their Proxy . " The result of this Committee ' s deliberations Avas the issuing of a " Proxy in favour of . . . Sinclair of Eossland , Esquire , for Grand Master" whichAvith their " Eemarks" Avas

, , , transmitted to the " Et . Worshipful George ffraser of Cannongate Kilwinning , " to vote in behalf of , and as representing Mother Kilwinning . Of the tenour of the Committee ' s " Eemarks , " the Kilwinning records are silent ; but from the vidimus of the proceedings at the first Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge ,

gi * en in Laurie ' s "History of Freemasonry , " Mother Kilwinning appears as petitioning in favour of exempting Operative members of the Order from jiayment of the fee ordained by Grand Lodge to be exacted from intrants to aid in the formation of a " Charity Fund for the relief of indigent and

distressed brethren . " The rejection of their petition did not seemingly disconcert the Lodge of KilAvinning , who in the spring of the folloAving year appoint the Master and others to " draw a Prox } - to George Fraser , M of Cannongate Kilwinning , " authorising and empowering him to represent the lodge at all

meetings of the Grand Lodge , " in terms of the ftbrm of Commission" transmitted from Edinburgh ; by which act was formally ratified the union of Mother Kilwinning with the Grand Lodge of Scotland .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

ATHEISM AND FREEMASONRY . A letter of " Artium Baccalaureus , " a member of the Apollo Lodge , has reached me . It Avas an old French cobbler Avho , almost half a century ago , told me that , in his youth , having avowed himself au Atheist , he was in . consequence refused admission into Masonry . The copy of Baron d'Holbach ' s notorious Systems de la

Nature , which a brother ' s late grandfather mentioned to have seen in my rooms at Oxford , when we were both undergraduates , is still in my possession . The ensuing is the memorandum , inscribed by me on the fly-leaf ab the time of the purchase . " Paris , May , 1814 . Bought of an old savetier , who has his boutiqiie in a cellar in the Hue Saint Denis . He said ( as the state of the

volumesshoAvs ) he had studied the work many years . He doesnot believe in a G-od . The soul perishes with the body-The man seems very miserable . " The Masonic anecdote Avas related from my memory . I made no note of ib in writing . There ivere some other particulars gleaned from the cobbler's talk—horrors of the Revolutionrather political aud social than Masonic , which I used torecount in days long gone by ; but I have ceased to have any sufficient recollection of them . —CHARLES BURTON : COOPER .

DERYICII MASONRY . I remark that this system appears to consist of but two classes , and that tho higher conveys the symbolismof our third . I note this because I feel convinced that the F . C . degree has been very recently foisted into thes system . —A . THE WORKING TOOLS .

Passing by an old bookseller ' s the other day , I was surprised to see a very elaborate frontispiece to a book , very old , I should think , containing a representation of theworking tools . The book is called Sacrum Sanctarium , and has a name which I made out to be " Bievero " as its author . It is all Latin , which I can't read ; but I desire to knoAV what it is about , and if it is Masonic , and not sold , I will buy ib . Who will tell me AA'hat it treats , of?—PLAIN ENGLISH .

3 IAS 0 NIC GLEANINGS . I send you a few more Masonic Gleanings , under appropriate headings . —Ex . Ex . A Grand Treasurer ' s Bond . I have also to announce to you that shortly after the last annual meeting , I prepared the necessary bond

required by the constitution to be taken from j ^ our Grand . Treasurer , Avhich Avas duly executed by that officer and his sureties ; with whose sufficiency 1 was Avell assured . I haA e also much pleasure in stating , for the information of the Grand Lodge , that the manner inAvhich the Grand Treasurer has discharged his duty during the past yearmerits your approval . Finding that a certain sum of

money in his hands would not , in all probability , be required , immediately for Grand Lodge purposes , I advised that it should be deposited in a bank , so as to draAv interest ; on examining his accounts , I believe you will find that this additional sum has been placed to the credit of the Grand Lodge .

The Cedars of Lebanon . A modern traveller , who spent much time in exploring the mountain ranges of Judea and Syria , estimates the ancient cedars still remaining on Mount Lebanon at about four hundred in number . They are found in a single group of about three-quarters of a mile in circumference . Some of them are very large , as much as one hundred feet high and forty in circumference , while all bear tokens of great age . Considering the slowness of the cedar ' s growth , and the indestructibility of its