Mother Kilwinning.

MOTHER KILWINNING .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JANUAJtgtyi

BY BKO . D . MUKRAT LTOX - , KW . S ^ M ^^ . Cf ^ . OF A . TKSIIIRE . VwN ^_ J ^ . / No . IX . ^ £ & $ & The Craftsmen iu the ancient burgh of Irvine seem to have for upwards of a hundred years exercised considerable influence in the councils of The Mother

Lodge , many of whose stated meetings were held within the royalty referred to ; and although tlie constitution by Grand Loclge iu 1762 of" Irvine Navigation , " ancl of "Irvine St . Andrew" in 177-1 , must have alienated from Mother Kilwinning many of their sonsib was not till 1807 that that locl

, ge discontinued the practise of periodically meeting in the town of Irvine . Anxiousl y have we scanned the Kilwinning records of the period of Burns' nine months' sojourn in Irvine , in the hope of discovering some trace of tlie Poet ' s footprints upon the floor of the Lodge of Kilwinning ; but although in this respect

unsuccessful , our search has been rewarded by a discovery of the fact that ou more than one occasion the Kilwinning brethren had received as a visiting brotliei , Dr . Mackenzie , of Mauchline , the intimate friend of Burns and of Dugald Stewart , and whoso good services were bestowed in introducing to each other the learned Professor and the rustic Bard of Coila ,

The embodiment and consolidation of our army of volunteers has materially aft ' ectecl the attendance at many of our lodge meetings : so it was in the clays of that great disturber of the public peace , Brother Napoleon Buonaparte ; for in 1801 the Lodge Mother Kilwinning are found abandoning their quarterly

meetings from the paucity of attendance induced b y the calls to arms which tlie threatened invasion of our shores had evoked : — "The reason of tlie adjournment [ of the quarterly meetings ] was in consequence of our Mo . Wor . Grand Master , some of the other officebearersand many of the brethren being engaged

, ou permanent dut y in His Majesty ' s Volunteer . Forces : " A . reason for the suspension of Masonic business most satisfactory in itself and highly complimentary to the patriotism of the Lodge of Kilwinning . The brother who at this period ( Dec , 1801 ) ruled tho Mother Lodge was Colonel John Boyle , of

bhewalton , brother to the late Lord Justice-General ( Bro . David Boj'le ) . Like many other eminent brethren , members of the Scottish bench aud bar , Lord Boyle seems to have abstained from active participation in tlie affairs of the Order ; for in 1813 , we find him thus addressing the Secretary of Mother

Kilwinning , in reply to a letter announcing his appointment as Representative of that lodge in the Grand Loclge of Scotland : — " .... I am sorry to be obliged , through yon , to intimate that I cannot comply with the wishes of the gentlemen who have been so kind as to remember me upon this occasion . Before coining

to the bench , I was requested by the Grand Master , Lord Moira to become one of the Wardens of the Grand Lodge , which I then felt myself obliged to decline ; aud it will not appear surprising that I am now influenced by thesame considerations in declining the distinction that has been proposed to me . " Prior to 1779 , when Mother Kilwinning laid with

Masonic solemnity , the foundation-stone of the Freemasons' Hall at Kilwinning , there is no record of their officiating in a similar capacity at any other public undertakings ; nor even after that date do Ave find them so employed , until in planting the cornerstone of the harbour of A rdrossan ( July , 1806 ) they conducted what proved to be the last act of a similar

kind ever performed by that venerable lodge in the capacity of an independent body . How meet was it that the lodge , whose existence was coeval with that of the once splendid Abbey of Kilwinning , should , at a spot overlooked by the dilapidated fragments of an equally ancient baronial stronghold of the founders

of that abbey , thus , as a Grand body , terminate their public connection with practical Masonry . The concluding years of the past century were marked , by the admission into Mother Kilwinning of many distinguished brethren—the Earl of Crawfurd , Sir Walter Montgomerie CunninghamBart , ( of

Glas-, gow Kilwinning ) , the Earl of Cassillis , Lord Lyle , & c . ; aud as showing the desire , at the period to which we refer , manifested by the denizens of the N . - . W . \ for admission within the pale of Freemasonry , through the portals of the Mother Lodge , it was no unusual circumstances for intrants to be so

admitted by the dozen : on one such occasion , " ten operative aud four gentlemen Masons" are recorded as having in one night received at Kilwinning the first degree ; and these were not , as is too much the case in our own da } r , hastily aud indiscrimately

admitted , but after tho lodge had been " well assured of their moral character , their loyalty and attachment to the constitution cf the country . " But in proportion to their prosperity in respect to tlie numbers seeking through their lodge initiation into the mysteries of the Orderthe sphere of

Mo-, ther Kilwinning ' s influence as a Grand Lodge was every year becoming more circumscribed—their isolated geographical position , as contrasted with the favourable circumstances under which their more powerful rival held its high court in the Scottish metropoliscoupled with the extraordinary efforts made

, by Grand Lodge to seduce from their allegiance thoseof the few Kilwinning daughters remaining firm in their adherence to their Mother Grand Lodge , tending materially to accomplish thfsresult;—the annual meetings of the Fraternity at Kilwinning had long ceased to create any interest in Masonic circles beyond the

sphere of there own membership ; and when , in 1799 , a clause was introduced into the bill for the suppression of all secret societies for the purpose of exempting from its operations the Grand Lodges of England and Scotland , and all the other lodges holding certificates from those Grand Bodiesthe dissolution of

, Kilwinning Grand Lodge appearing imminent , a further secession from their standard contributed to swell the ranks ancl increase the importance of the Edinburgh Grand . Taking alarm at the questionable position into which they were placed by the insertion in the Secret Societies Act of Pitt ' s clause in favour of

Sister Grand Lodges , the Kilwinning Fraternity endeavoured to procure from the Legislature their recognition also as an independent Grand Body aud consequent exemption from the operation of the bill referred to ; ancl it is with this object that , in May , 1709 , they are found in terms thus addressing Bro . Colonel "William Fullarton , the then M . P . for tho