Mother Kilwinning.

After the applause Avith Avhich these stanzas were received had subsided , Bro . BosAvell gave another of his original songs—a Masonic one . " TO ANACREON IN IIEAA'EN . " Tbe lories of Masonry who shall disclose ?

g Its pillars on earth , but its arch the blue skies ; The sun , moon , and ev ' ry bright star as it glows , Are emblems to us , as they set aud arise . Though Neutrals may stare ^ At the compass and square , To Masons they rectitude plainly declare ; And though in our lodge like true brothers confin'd ,

Our souls know no-limits in love to mankind . Tbe pure word of Him who gave life to us all , Bade one erring mortal another to aid ; But Avhile holy Masonry rests on our ball . The three hallow'd maxims , here , never shall fade The union hoAv blest Which through trial and test

, Makes brotherly love in each bosom a guest ! And the vile selfish dross , by the flame that is giv ' n Purged clean from our hearts brings us nearer to heav ' n .

Ye sons of St . Andrew , our tutelar saint , In proud emulation your duty pursue ; The cross ye can bear neither weary nor faint ; For what a man should do , a Scotsman can do . Then true to each other , Let each loyal brother Tbe first germ of wrath in benevolence smother . And blending philanthropy , mirth , song , and wine , Accepted and Free be your banquet diA'ine !

Never in the annals of Mother Kilwinning' AA-as the Widow ' s Son surrounded by such an array of literary talent as that which graced the Masonic festivities held in honour of placing the comerstone of " the monumental pile" UOAV standing near "the thatched shed" of the poet ' s birth ; neA'er Avas the Ionic column in this UOAV someAvhat

modernised old centre of the Craft , raised under more auspicious circumstances . On the retirement in 1820 of Hamilton of Grange from the chair of the Mother Lodge , by the unanimous voice of the Kilwinning brethren ,

Sir Alexander BosAvell was called to rule in the Provincial Grand East , —a post to which he was re-elected in ' 21—a year which found the country in the throes of great political agitation . One of the most prominent local actors in the stirring

events of that period was the distinguished brother who had so gracefully presided at the meeting Ave have so full y noticed ; but within four months of the date of his re-election as R . W . M . of Mother Kilwinning , Sir Alexander BosAvell hadto the

, great grief of the Craft , fallen by the hand of a political opponent . Sir Alexander , Avho Avas created a baronet in 1821 , was the eldest son of the friend and biograp her of Dr . Johnson , James Boswell of

Mother Kilwinning.

Auchinleck , whose portrait appears in Bro . Stewart Watson's painting of the Inauguration of Robert Burns as Poet-Laureate of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge , and whose ancestor , Thomas BosAvell of Auchinleck , " appears by the' minutes

of the Edinburgh St . Mary ' s Chapel Lodge , to have been Master in 1598 , . . . and Warden of that lodge in 1600 . " < l

What Is Masonry?

WHAT IS MASONRY ?

( From Hie Indian Freemasons' Friend . ) . It is not seldom that this question is addressed by those not Masons , equally often in a sarcastic as in an inquiring light . Having already made up their minds , they do not desire the question to be ansAvercdand we think perhapsas a rule ,

, , reticence on the part of Masons , even as to the virtues of the Order , is the best . It is strange , hoAvever , that although Avith other mundane questions , disputants are ready to Aveigh the good and the bad together to ascertain the proportion of the one in relation to the other

, in Masonry alone are its demerits singly placed iu the scale ; and it may on this ground rank as one of the best-abused Institutions by its nonprofessors . There is , however , one argument Avhich always presents itself in favour of Masonry to confound

its detractors—that of its permanence . Granting oven that its derivation from the time of King Solomon be not pro \ ed , no one has yet been able to prove either that it took its rise in a less remote or obscure manner . Its origin , its pastand its presentare shrouded in mystery ,

, , as doubtless also will be its future . It lives , survives , and will ever survive , notAvithstanding the ridicule with which it has been or may be assailed .

But although Ave may not be prepared to argue the case with the outside world , it will perhaps not be inapt if Ave put to ourselves the question with Avhich Ave have headed this article—What is Masonry ? Masons know full well Avhat Masonry should be , but do not they know also that in our OAvn times it is not Avhat Ave all would desire to

see it . It cannot , we think , be denied that in this province the pure tenets and right principles of the Order have retrograded in practice , and that the outside world have perhaps some cause to exclaim . —lis this Masonry ? Whenever the sacred name and obligations of

the Order are taken to cover purely worldly and selfish designs , there must , and does , ensue a lowering of that standard which all true brethren earnestly desire to see maintained . That in our OAvn times such a retrogression has taken place , Ave affirm . There is not now that unselfishness , that bond of harmony , that love of the Craft for its OAvn sake , which once this province could