Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

Bro . A . F . A . Woodford is greatly obliged to the . Library Committee of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for the large supply of papers and interesting documents they have so kindly forwarded to him . Bro . Woodford would be glad

to be put into communication with a member of the committee . 10 , Upper Porchester-street , Hyde-park-square , Oct . 29 , 1873 . London , W .

Bro . Emra Holmes desires ns to convey his thankSjthrough the medium of The Freemason , to HI . Bro . Goodall , 33 , for his courtesy ia forwarding to him a copy of the Proceedings of the Supreme Council S . J . U . S ., and to the V . E . Sir Knight Col . McLeod Moore , Grand Prior of

Canada , for kindly sending , through the Grand Vice Chancellor , an interesting address , delivered before the Grand Priory of Canada , on the 14 th Aug . last , and which Bro . Holmes forwards to us for publication , in justice to Bro . Lupus , whose views as to the * Knights of St . John , Col . Moore adopts .

Historical Notes On Scotch Lodges.

HISTORICAL NOTES ON SCOTCH LODGES .

BY D . MURRAY LYON . I .

GLASGOW KILWINNING , NO . 4 . ( Continued from page 684 . ) Tlie second volume of minutes opens with the record of a joint communication of the Glasgow and J ohnston Kilwinning Lodges , January 1753 ,

" to receive and consider the report of a committee which had been appointed to conclude on articles for the happy union of both lodges . " The following terms of agreement were adopted , and the union was consummated amid "great harmony and jollity . "

" 1 . That all the members of both Lodges are to be members of one united lodge , under tbe name of the Glasgow Kilwinning Lodge , and are to be received members of this lodge in the ordinary forms . " 2 . That the stocks , Jewells , books , organs ,

charters , etc ., belonging to either lodge , shall henceforth be in common . " 3 . That the masters of each lodge shall preside alternately with their respective officebearers , till next St . John ' s-day , —and that the meetings of the lodge shall be alternately in the

New Inn and Old Coffee-house . " 4 . That the two masters shall both agree who they shall nominate for their successor . " 5 . That in commemoration of this happy union , as the ribbons of the Glasgow Kilwinning are straw colours , ancl the ribbons and aprons of

the Johnston Kilwinning Lodge arc * r < : d , after next St John ' s-day the ribbons and mountings of thc aprons shall be chequered straw ancl red . " 6 . That the two masters shall appoint a committee to make up a body of laws agreeable to this , out of the by-laws of the two lodges .

" 7 . That the articles now agreed upon and signed are not to be altered by any future meeting of the lodge . " The bye-laws adopted in conformity with the terms of agreement were as follow : " 1 . The master is to congregate the lodge

when and where he pleases . " 2 . That the lodge meet oi . ee every mouth . * and after the lodge is duly opened no member is to leave it without liberty asked from and g iven by the master . " 3 . That the lodge beside tbeir monthly

meetings meet quarterly , viz ., oa St . John the Evangelist ' s day , being the 27 th of December ; on Lady day , the 2 *; th of Alarch ; on St . John the Baptist ' s day , the 24 th of June ; and upon St . Michaelmas day , the 29 th of Sept .

" 4 . Thatateaclioftlie . se quarterly meetings every member pay one shilling sterling for the use of the poor , and this the members are to pay tho' absent from the meeting . And no cause save a whole year ' s absence from the place can excuse any member from this quarterly

payment . " 5 . That the present master nominate his

Historical Notes On Scotch Lodges.

successor at the meeting immediately preceding St . J ohn the Evangelist day . And on that day the member so nominate , if approved of by the lodge , is to be installed by the late master , and saluted and congratulated by the lodge . But if not approven of , the lodge shall proceed to a

general ballott , and the member having the majority of votes shall be received for master with the usual solemnity . " 6 . That the new master shall nominate his two wardens , secretary , ancl treasurer , who if approven of by the lodge are to be installed by

the master ; but if not approven of they are to be chosen by a general ballott in like maimer as the master . " 7 . That none can be made members of this lodge but in virtue of a written petition presented by a member at a meeting to which

the whole members have been duely warned . And 110 petition to be ' received on any occasion nut by balloting . And that if there is one single NO , such petitioner cannot be received . And this article of balloting not to be subject to any alteration

" 8 . That the members admitted pay live shillings sterling to the poor of the lodge , two shillings and six pence to the poor of the grand lodge , and twenty shilings sterling to the common expence of this lodge .

" 9 . That the stock of the lodge when arisen to any sum is to be lent out at interest in the prndentest manner . And notwithstanding a brother is to be . preferred before a stranger , yet it must not be lent him without two sufficient

security's . " 10 . That every brother who eniittelh an oath is to pay one shilling sterling for each failure .

" 11 . That at the meeting before St . John the Evangelist ' s day , which is our annual feast day , the master and lodge appoint stewards to provide a propvr entertainment for that day , and to continue in that ofiice for a year .

" 12 . That if the master so far misbehave as to render himself unworthy the subjection of the lodge , he is to be treated by a new regulationno master haveing in this antient society ever misbehaved so far as to occasion such regulation . " 1 5 . That if the master be absent the senior

warden is to congregate and form the lodge , alter which the last master take the chair . But it neither he nor any other brother who has been master formerly be present , then the senior warden continues in the chair and acts as master . " 14 . That every member who enters this

lotlge shall pay to the Stewart one shilling sterling every nig ht , for which he shall have a bottle of punch or what other liquor he chooses to the value of that sum . And whatever any brother or member calls for above the value of that sum , he shall upon getting of the liquor pay the overplus to the Stewart .

" 1 5 . That the rules and regulations be read every night . "

No explanation of the circumstances under which the Johnston l . odge came to sit in Glasgow is given iu the records , neither do ihey indicate the length of time during which ( he union between the two lodges subsisted . I hat it was subsequently dissolved is tvrlain . A he

minute of September 28 , 1829 , records the admission of n brother of the St . Patrick's l . odge as an honorary member , for having presented to Glasgow Kilwinning a " minute book that had been formerly used by it when in conjunction wilh the Johnston Lodge . "

The following peculiarity occurs in the designation of one of the visiting lodges attending the lirst St . John ' s-day feast of the united lodge ( A " > ')) ' ¦ "St . M Hugo ' s Lodge , founder of the Cathedral ! , Glasgow . " 'This pretentious claim could not have been made on the part of St . Aluugo , had the story of Malcolm Can-note and the Lodge Glasgow St . John been then in

existence . A new code of bye-laws was adopted in 1830 , in which " soundness of body and mind , good moral character , above the age . of eig hteen and

under lhat of dotage , " are made essential requisites to admission : Entering , passing , raising , and " chairing" were the steps then given ia „ he lodge . Provision was made for excluding brethren " ' tlie worae of liquor , or known or re-

Historical Notes On Scotch Lodges.

puted to be quarelsome or dissorderl y" ; and " to curse and swear , or use any profane or obscene expression , " subjected offenders to fine or expulsion . A law for the excommunication of Freemasons was passed by the Associate Synod of Scotch

Presbyterians ia 1 ^^ . Ia March , 1764 , Glasgow Kilwinning was visited b y a brother " who represented that he had been persecuted by the ceceding part of the Church for being a mason , which obliged him to publish a pamphlet-in defence of the Royal Art of Masonry , of which

he produced some coppies , which were bought by all the brethren , and a dozen of them were laid by for ihe use of the members who were not present . " In 1 740 the lodge had subscribed for six copies of Oswald ' s " Collections of Scots Tunes . "

Robert Mollisoa , noticed in a former paper as the first warden of the lodge , was an entered apprentice of Alother Kilwinning . Ia April 1 765 the Secretary was authorised to order a "publick seal" bearing " the ordinary device of masonry on the lower part of the shield ,

with this motto below , ' Amor , honor , et justitia , ' and ia the upper part of the shield the top of tlie tree of the Glasgow anus , coup ' tl with the bird and the bell , and round the whole , ' Glasgow Kilwinning . ' " Twelve dozen glasses of " the

bell kind , " with the iiriine of the lodge engraved thereon , were at the saniejtime ordered tojbe procured from Englr . nd . Purveyors of masonic feasts in those clays supplied the " mugs" from which the brethren quailed their ale , but glasses for punch fell to be provided by the lodge .

The foundation-stone of Jamaica Street Bridge was laid with masonic honours in September 1768 bv a "Grand Lodge , " elected by the Glasgow lodges , and composed of a Grand Alaster , Depute and Substitute Grand Masters , Grand Wardens , Grand Secretary and Treasurer ,

and nine Grand Stewards—George Murdoch , then Lord Provost of Glasgow , and a past master of Glasgow Kilwinning , being Grand Alaster , aad Lord Gleacaira one of the Grand Stewards . Alter the ceremony Grand Lodge and Glasgow Kilwinning held a joint communication ia the

Assembly Hall , and exchanged uepuuin \ ,. i ; j nMi the city lodges , who met in their respective lodge-rooms . This Grand Lodge subsequently determined to retain the position that had been temporarily assigned to it , and to " preside over all the bulges of Glasgow whenever it thought

proper . " Although resisting this usurpation , Glasgow Kilwinning afterwards agreed to accord to this body the honours clue to 11 grand visitation . The city lodges were afterwards called to account by the Grand Lodge of Scotland , and made to apologise for their irregularity in

electing a Grand Lodge . Tlie fact of Sir Daniel K . Sandford and Dr J . P . Nichol , professor of astronomy , being 011 its roll of past masters , is often lelerred to with pride at festivals of the lodge Glasgow Kilwinning . Sir Daniel was affiliated from St .

Luke ' s , Kdinburgh , in December 1832 , and was in the same month elected Master . The minutes of two meetings lu Id within a fortnight of his eleclion are all that have been recorded in the book during his three years' tenure of oilice . Xo minutes have been entered to the lodges proceedings between Janury , 1833 , and

November , 1842 , the year of Professor Nicholl's relmniciil from a three years' occupancy of the chair . Another master ol the lodge , Professor Ramsay , had his reign signalised by the initiation ofthe Historian of Europe , the late Sir Archibald Alison . A most eccentric devotion to the craft was

some years ago shewn by a member who bequeathed bis skull to \' o . 4 . After passing through periods of vicissitude , the lodge has rallied , and is one of the few Scotch lodges possessing a hall of its own , used for purely masonic purposes . Its "harmonic meetings " have , been revived , and , as they were

a century and a half ago , are an attractive feature of tlie lodge . To Bro . James Steel , Substitute Provincial Grand Master of Glasgow , and one of its past masters , Glasgow Kilwinning is indebted for much of its prosperity in recent years . It is at present presided over by Bro . A . B . Thorburn .