Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

that of lodges of Mason Craft . As connected with this branch of the subject , it is worthy of notice that whereas the Hereditary Protectorate of the' Craft Avas in 1628 confirmed by deed under the hand of officials of lodges and incorporations

alike , the erection of the Grand Lodge of Scotland appears to have been effected at the instance of lodges alone . LODGE SEALS . The furniture and Avorking tools of a lodge are

pretty fully shown in this the seal of " Ayr and Renfrew Militia St . Paul , " —the introduction of the gavel and setting-maul bearing testimony to the distinctive character of each as a symbol of the Craft , in contradistinction to the custom which identifies them as one and the same hieroglyphic .

The symbol of virtue , it will be observed , occupies a position different from that assigned to it in either of our former illustrations . The constellation forming the astronomical emblem is composed of a number which , although perfect , is not in St .

John ' s Masonry recognised as a mystic one ; and three candlesticks would , in the seal , have harmonised better with our tracing-board than two . Jachin and Boaz are but imperfectly depictedthe absence of the oval-shaped chapiters alluded to

in the lecture of the second degree , preventing their recognition as pillars of the porch . The pastes , delineated in contiguity to the emblem of youth , manhood , and age , is most appropriate to the seal of a lodge .

Ayr St . Paul was erected as a military lodge , February 4 , 1799 , when the regiment , to which it was attached , lay encamped at Linlithgow ; ib was consecrated by the Masters of the "Ancient Stirling , No . 31 , " and " Royal Arch , No . 93 , " in the

Guildhall , Stirling , Feb . 30 , 1800 ; and became a resident lodge in Ayr on the disembodiment of the Militia in 1802 . At au early period of its existence

it was governed by Joseph Train , the antiquarian friend and contemporary of Sir Walter Scott , and tyled by the prototype of Burns ' s Souter Johnny . The great novelist , in his Introduction to Old Mortality , says : " The remarkable figure and

occupation of this ancient pilgrim Avas recalled to my memory by an account transmitted by my friend , Mr . Joseph Train , supervisor of excise at Dumfries , to Avhom I owe many obligations of a similar nature . " Souter Johnny ( Bro . John

Lauchland ) was in July , 1819 , buried with Masonic honours by the Lodge St . Paul : pilgrims to the Land of Burns will find his grave within a few feetof the north corner of Alloway Kirk . The degrees of Royal Arch and Knight Templar

were Avont to be conferred on Ayr St . Paul ; and however close the connection that might , in the middle of the last century , have subsisted between the Stirling lodges and these so-called Masonic degrees , the brethi-en of that ancient seat of Craft

Masonry appear from the following minute to have subsequently been indebted to this Avest-country lodge for re-disseminating amongst them a knoAVledge of the degrees in question : — " Stirling , 22 nd May , 1800 : At an emergent meeting of the Ayr

and Renfrew St . Paul ' s Lodge , the R . W . M . in the chair . The lodge being opened in due form , the lodge was visited by the folloAving brethren : Bros . John Mulbrie , G . M . ; John Frazer , S . W . ; Robert Samuel , J . W . ; Robert Benny , Capt .-General ;

Robert Smart ; John Gentles , High Priest ; William Paterson , Conductor—composing the Chapter of Knight Templars in Stirling who received their degrees from the Ayr and Renfrew St . Paul ' s , and holds under the Stirling Royal Arch Lodge , No .

93 . Said Chapter of Knights being sensible of the R . W . M . 's kindness in particular , and the lodge in general , in instructing them in these Orders of Masonry , presented him Avith a medal expressive of the benefit they had received . Mutual compliments having passed , the lodge adjourned . "

St . Paul has for half a century been one of the leading lodges in the province of Ayr ; and that it still maintains its prestige and possesses considerable influence , is amply borne out by the fact that , according to the latest jDublished statistics of

the Grand Lodge of Scotland , in point of enrolment of intrants it stands second of the 32 Ayrshire , and eighth of the 350 Scottish lodges—50 being the number of the intrants during the year ending 30 th April , ' 67 . ( To be continued . )