is, in any respects, well founded. Whether the steeple was not built, or whether the application of the brethren of the Lodge was unsuccessful, I have not been able to ascertain; but, at all events, it does not appear that the Lodge ever assembled in such a place. It is not apparent that Burns, during the four or five years that he attended the Lodge St. James, Tarbolton, was ever raised to the dignified office of R.W. Master. It cannot be doubted that from his wit, his intelligence, his zeal, and his capability of expressing his ideas with elegance and propriety, he would have made an admirable Master of a Lodge. We are far from supposing that his brethren failed to appreciate his merits; but the likelihood is that some one of the local gentry was preferred as the ostensible head of the Lodge, while its principal duties were performed by Burns, or some other office-bearer. It is evident from the minutes that he frequently presided at the meetings of the brethren, and he himself says that heOft, honoured with supreme command, Presided o'er the Sons of light." The following anecdote is told of his occupation of the Master's chair:-"A gentleman, an acquaintance of Dr John Mackenzie, of Mauchline, was very anxious to be introduced to Burns. One day these two gentlemen, taking a walk along the road, chanced to meet with the Poet, who, in the course of conversation, stated that he intended to be in the Lodge that same evening. Mackenzie and his friend resolved to be present also-so they set out, but did not arrive till after the Lodge had been opened. After sitting for some time, the stranger whispered in the doctor's ear:-'What has become of Burns?' 'Become of him,' said Mackenzie; 'No,' said his friend; saw in the forenoon.' under new circumstances." of Professor Dugald Stewart in favour of the excellent manner in which he discharged the duties of the chair. don't you see him in the chair?' that is certainly not the man we It was the Poet, nevertheless, We have also the testimony He The professor says, "In the course of the same season (1787), I was led by curiosity to attend for an hour or two a Mason Lodge in Mauchline, where Burns presided. had occasion to make some short unpremeditated compliments to different individuals, from whom he had no reason to expect a visit, and everything he said was happily conceived, and forcibly as well as fluently expressed." The professor says that his visit was to a Lodge in Mauchline; but this, perhaps, should rather be Tarbolton, as it does not appear that the present lodge St. Mungo, Mauchline, No. 179, was formed; at least it was not recognised by the Grand Lodge till 1791-that is, four years after the above event is said to have taken place. Burns seems early to have qualified himself to discharge the duties incumbent on a Mason. Not only was he able to preside over the brethren, and in this capacity call forth the approbation of such qualified and fastidious critics as Dugald Stewart, but he took the chief part in the initiation of candidates, and the instruction of the brethren in the principles of Masonry. For this purpose, he was not content with the meetings of the brethren in the Lodge room of Tarbolton, but he held meetings for Masonic instruction at Mossgiel; and there many of the more zealous and enlightened brethren repaired to hold converse with the Bard on the sublime mysteries and noble virtues of our ancient Order. The first person that Burns initiated as a Mason was Matthew Hall, a musician, who was wont to accompany James M'Lauchlan, "thairm inspiring sage," in his excursions over the county of Ayr, to play at gentlemen's houses, and who was lately living, in extreme old age, at Newton-on-Ayr. This person was no doubt proud, in after times, to state that he was the brother on whom Robert Burns first tried his "prentice han' as an instructor in the art and mystery of Freemasonry. The annual meeting and procession of the St. James's Lodge, Tarbolton, took place on the 24th of June, the anniversary of St. John the Baptist. desire to get a full attendance of the Burns felt a strong members on these occasions, and he was in the habit of making personal exertions to draw out the brethren. We have an instance of this in the rhyming epistle which he sent to his friend Dr Mackenzie, of Mauchline. It is as follows: "Friday first's the day appointed : For me, Mossgiel, An. M. 5790." It is to a circumstance that took place in the St. James's Lodge, Tarbolton, that we are indebted for the excellent and most amusing poem called "Death and Dr Hornbook." One of the members, who attended a meeting of the Lodge in the spring of 1785, was Mr John Wilson, schoolmaster of the parish, a worthy but somewhat vain-glorious individual. In order to eke out the scanty income which he derived from his office of schoolmaster, he had opened a grocery shop in the village, and among other commodities which he sold were a few of the commonest kinds of medicine. Having perused Buchan's Domestic Medicine, and other books of the same sort, he fancied that he had acquired no inconsiderable amount of medical knowledge. This fanned his self-conceit, and induced him to set forth in an advertisement, that "advice would be given in common disorders, at the shop, gratis." On the occasion referred to, and after the Lodge had been closed, Burns and Wilson had a dispute on some subject or another, in the course of which the "sovereign knight of the ferula" made a rather ostentatious display of his medical attainments. This appears to have greatly tickled the fancy of Burns, more especially after he left the Lodge, and was wending his way homewards. He was in fine rhyming condition. "The clachan yill had made him canty," and the beauty of the night was inspiring, the rising moon beginning to glower o'er the distant hills of Cumnock, and to shed "its silver light on tower and tree." In such a mood, and amid such scenes as presented themselves between Tarbolton and Mossgiel, he composed the greater part of that famous colloquy between himself and Death, regarding the doings of Dr Hornbook, which has been read by all ranks with laughter and delight ever since, and has conferred on the dominie of Tarbolton a sort of ignoble immortality. Wilson, as shewn by the minutes, occupied some of the principal offices of the Lodge, and, no doubt, from his self-consequence and acquirements, formed one of the most conspicuous members. Some time after, in consequence of a dispute with the heritors of the parish regarding his salary, he left Tarbolton, and set up his staff as a teacher in Glasgow. He ultimately became. session-clerk of the Gorbals, a situation of some emolument, and died at an advanced age in 1838; but whether he frequented any of the Glasgow Lodges, or ever again paid a visit to his mother Lodge of Tarbolton, history saith not. There is good ground for believing that Burns visited & number of the Mason Lodges then existing in the province of Ayrshire. We know that on one occasion, at least, he paid a visit to the Lodge Kilmarnock Kilwinning, presided over, at the time, by Mr William Parker, one of his principal friends, and a subscriber for several copies of the Kilmarnock edition of his poems. Burns, whose muse was ever ready, composed a song for this occasion, which was, no doubt, sung in the Kilmarnock Lodge for the first time. It is entitled "The Sons of Old Killie "a contraction for Kilmarnock-and is as follows: "Ye Sons of Old Killie, assembled by Willie, To follow the noble vocation; Your thrifty old mother has scarce such another I've little to say, but only to pray, As praying's the ton of your fashion; A prayer from the Muse, you well may excuse— Ye powers who preside o'er the wind and the tide, Who formed this frame, with beneficent aim, Within this dear mansion may wayward Contention May Secrecy round be the mystical bound, After Burns found that his farming speculation at Mossgiel would not be successful, and particularly after his rupture with Jean Armour, he resolved to leave Scotland altogether. He, therefore, entered into an engagement with a Dr Douglas, to act as a book-keeper on his estate in Jamaica. In these circumstances, he took farewell of the St. James's Lodge, in a lyric destined to a noble immortality. It is one of the best Masonic songs that ever was composed. Although it is well known, I cannot forbear quoting it : "Adieu! a heart-warm, fond adieu ! Dear brothers of the mystic tie! Oft have I met your social band, And spent the cheerful, festive night; Which none but craftsmen ever saw ! Those happy scenes, when far awa'. |