Time Immemorial Lodges

. John , Selkirk ( Nos . i 2 , 24 , and 32 , above ) , and of the work as a whole , I wrote in 1893 : " An equally suggestive book it has never been my fortune to review , and I shall state without any

fear of contradiction , that more Masonic facts of primary importance to all true students of Freemasonry , have never been presented to their notice in a volume of the same size . " ( A . Q . C VI , 77 ) -

A minute of the lodge of Kelso , dated June 2 nd , 1702 , records the election as Master of Sir John Pringle of Stitchel , the 2 nd baronet , a nephew of Walter Pringle , Advocate , who , together with the Rig ht Hon . William Murray and Sir John Harper , was received as a Fellow Craft in the Lodge of

Edinburgh , No . 1 , on June 24 th , id 70 . A later minute of No . 5 8 , records the presence 011 St . John ' s Day , 1705 , of 41 brethren , and among them were the lairds of " Greenhead , Thirlestane , Stodrig , Grubbet , Clifton , Cherrietries , and Smailholmc , " who are designated not by their own names , but by those of their

estates . St . Ninian , Brechin , No . d 6 , has records from I 714 , and St . John , Jedburgh , from I 730 . The latter was " cutoff" in 18 43 , but restored to the roll in , or before , 1859 . A Kilwinning Charter was granted to the Sanquhar Lodge ,

No . 194 , in 173 8 , but among the Masons' marks preserved in the records , there is one of a brother admitted in I 7 I 9 . A sketch of this lodge ' s career—which was " cut off " in iSlfi , and readmitted in 1897—has been written ( though not yet published )

by Bro . James Smith , the Historian of Nos . 53 , d 3 , 79 , and 140 . My list of the old Scottish lodges which are of greater antiquity than their Grand Lodge is , I fear , very far from being a complete one . But it must be taken into consideration that the attempt to produce a roll of the kind is a pioneer effort .

"You are probing a new and interesting lielel of ine | tiiry—a new view of Masonry , " writes my friend Bro . William Officer , to whom , among other valuable assistance rendered during the preparation of the present article , I am indebted for the suggestion that there was a Lesmahagow ( Lanarkshire ) St . Andrew ' s , which

may have been the lodge bearing the name of Scotland s Patron Saint ( and not existing No . 25 ) , that was a party to the St . Clair Charter of 1601 ? An extinct Lesmahagow Lodge—orig .

No . 153 , but without any distinctive title , is mentioned by Laurie ( 185 c )) , and the Scottish "Constitutions" of 1852 , inform us that it was chartered ( or instituted ) in 1769 , and " cut off" in 1 S 09 .

This , or St . John , present No . 22 , must have been the body referred to in the Scottish law case , " Masons of the Lodge of Lanark , contra Hamilton , " reported in 1730 , but , 1 believe ,

heard in 1729 , in which the Lodge at Lanark sought lo interdict the Masons at Lesmahagow from giving the Mason Word lo persons resident there ( Lord Karnes , " Remarkable Decisions of the Court of Session , " Edinburgh , ii . 4 ) .

1 have also to thank Bro . Officer for the information that Mary burgh was the original name of Fort William , and as the lodge there is of earlier elate than the Grand Lodge , though only

holding a nominal prca : dency from 1 743 , there is every probability that the lodge which under the name of " Mariaburgh " was present at the Convention of November 30 th , 173 d , is now represented by the Fort William Lodge , existing No . 43 .

The only other pre-173 d lodges with regard to which any details have come lo my knowledge since the tabular statement above first . appeared in type , arc ( to begin with ) , St . John Operative , Forres , No . 37 , anel Kirkwall Kilwinning , Ne > . 3 8-

( both of which are shown at the year 1739 on the Grand Lodge roll ) . To the former ( on what purports to be the authority of the Grand Loelgc Records ) is assigned J 7 od as the date of its " Constitution , " in the " Laws of the Aberdeen Mason Lotlge , " 1852 ( Appendix I . ) .

The latter was founded on October ist , 173 d , by two brethren from the Lodge of Stirling and Dunfermline respectively . These having admitted four others , the ; six formed themselves " into a proper court , " of which a merchant in Kirkwall was the first Master . The lodge obtained a charter from the Grand Lodge in 1740 ( A . Q . C , X . 79 ) .

Secondly , —Nos . 18 7 , St . John , Carluke ; isej , St . John , Castle Douglas ( off the : roll in 1 S 52 ); anel 190 , St . George , Abe ; releen ( all three of which apparently hold Charters of Confirmation granting precedence from 1704 ) . I shall also interpolate by way of Addenda , lhat besides the

lodges already named which have sustained a break of continuity in their existence , should be mentioned Nos . 11 , Maybole ; anel 3 > St . Mary Cottness , Wishaw , the former having been " cut off" in 1848 , and the latter in 1843 , but with regard to their respective periods of dormancy I have no information .

The narrative clauses ( or recitals ) which are to be lounel . in the various Charters of Confirmation , would doubtless supply much valuable information respecting the antiquity ( legendary

Time Immemorial Lodges

or otherwise ) of the old Scottish lodges . But the task of examining all these documents would be a trul y herculean one . The idea , however , has occurred to me that it mi ght be possible to unite all the Time Immeitnorial Lodges now existing

in a League or Association , with the special object of placing on permanent record whatever may be found to exist in their several archives , that would be of interest to the Craft universal .

It is not a little strange that for the earliest information regarding the existence of our oldest English lodges , to wit , the surviving Three who took part in the formation of the Mother of Grand Lodges , we must refer to a printed book—Dr . Anderson ' s "Constitutions" of 1738—as no minutes of any

living English lodge extend back to the , date of the famous Convention of the ! Four London Lodges in 1716 . Nor do we possess , in South Britain , more than the actual records of a

solitary representative of the numerous lodges which at one time or another must have been at work , during the dim and uncertain period of Masonic history antedating the erection of the first Grand Lodge .

I he records of the Alnwick Lodge comprise a good copy of the Manuscript Constitution , certain Rules of the lodge , enacted in 1701 , and the ordinary minutes , which commence in 1703 and terminate on June 24 th , 1757 . The last-named , however , between i 7 ioand 1 74 S , while not wholly wanting , contain at best

very trivial entries . This lodge , which never surrendered its independence , was still in existence until at least the year 1763 , and trom first to last , was an operative rather than a speculative

fraternity . Indei ; d , that it was speculative at all , in the sense of possessing members who were not operative Masons , or of discarding its ancient formulary for the tri-gradal ceremonial of the Grand Lodge , is very problematical .

North of the Tweed , however , a far greater body of evidence relating to the early history of the Craft has happily been preserved .

f reemasonry has come down lo us in two distinct channels , an English and a Scottish one . Ultimately , the two streams became united , and this " meeting of the waters " occurred in 1736 . From that date a feature is added to Freemasonry , its universality , upon which I desire to lay great stress .

A system of Scottish Masonry , differing from that of England , might have continued to exist , side by side with the latter , and that it did not , is a matter of much importance , which has been almost totall y overlooked . For example , it has been the habit—especiall y in America—to assume that Masonry was Scottish before 1717 , and English afterwards .

'Ihe year 1717 is , indeed , an important one . We are supposed to pass from the domain of Ancient to that of Modern Masonry . But the change was not carried out in a clay or a year . Modern Masonry , it is true , had its beginning at the

formation of the Grand Lodge of England ( ijij ) , but Ancient Masonry still existed by its side , nor was if until the example set in London had been followed in Edinburgh ( 1736 ) that the Old System may be saiel to have been practically supplanted by the New .

hor this reason the early records of the old Scottish Lodges become of surpassing interest to all true students of Freemasonry , anel the first e ; art : of any such Society as the one whose formation 1 have ventured to recommend , would ( or should ) be

to take- the necessary steps to perpetuate , by the aid of the printing press , the ancient documentary evidence still existingbut entombed in the archives of private lodges—which relates to the Scottish Craft .

Other objects that would profitably engage the attention of the ; southern wing ( or branch ) eif the proposed League or Society , consisting of the three Time Immemorial Lodges of English origin , might be freely cited ; but here I bring my present remarks to a close , though ( with the editorial sanction ) I

shall resume them , should either the task which has been begun of idenlilying tin ; ( at one time ) Independent Lodges of Scotland , or the suggestion thrown out with regard to a League of Time Immemorial Lodges , be taken up by other readers of the Freemason .

1 must not omit to say , though it involves more " last words , " that besides Bro . William Office-r—whose name worthil y heads the list—1 have received valuable assistance during the preparation of this article from the Grand Secretary of Scotland , Bro . W . J , Hughan , and Bro . James Smith , of Sholts . N . B .

M . Koth . Ronay , the Hungarian violinist , has returned to town , after a most successful tour in ({ astern litirope . He lias hatl the honour of playing at the Courts of the King of Servia and the Sultan of Turkey , who have made him an officer of the Order of St . Sava and a commander of the Mejidie .