May Freedom, Harmony, and Love, And you, farewell! whose merits claim, To him, the Bard, that's far awa'." So touching a farewell, couched in such noble Masonic language, and recited by Burns with all the energy and pathos of his impassioned nature, could scarcely fail to make a strong impression, and it is, in fact, stated, in some editions of his works, that, by the time he got to the last stanza, the tears were rolling down the cheeks of many of the brethren; but, unfortunately, the records of the Lodge take no notice of the circumstance of its delivery. The brethren, most likely, did not perceive the immortality which the muse of their associate was conferring on the Lodge to which they belonged. Had they foreseen that this parting tribute of Burns's respect would be scattered in innumerable publications to the uttermost parts of the earth, and would, from age to age, be quoted and sung in Mason Lodges with unbounded approbation, it can scarcely be doubted that they would have honoured it with a very special notice. The person referred to in the last stanza, as being entitled by his merits to wear the highest badge of Masonry, is said, by Robert Chambers, to have been Major-General James Montgomery, a younger brother of Hugh Montgomery of Coilsfield, and, at the time, Right Worshipful Master of the Lodge St. James, Tarbolton. It has been asserted by others, and with some degree of plausibility, that the person referred to was William had often met Burns in the Mason Lodges of the district, and was one of his most zealous patrons. It is well known that Burns had an enthusiastic veneration for the memory of the sheriff's illustrious namesake, "Scotland's great Patriot Hero, ill requited chief," Sir William Wallace, and that he gave vent to this veneration on several occasions, both in his poems and letters. The idea of Sheriff Wallace being the person alluded to, certainly best coincides with. the explication given of the Sheriff's name : "Heav'n bless your honoured, noble name, The name of Montgomery might be dear to Scotland, but that of Wallace was ten times more so. The circumstance, however, which principally militates against the notion that the reference was intended to apply to the Sheriff, is, that Burns, in composing his farewell, would have in his eye the brother who held the highest office in his own Lodge, and whom he would expect to be present at the time it was first sung or recited. One of the most interesting episodes in the life of Burns is his attachment to Mary Campbell, or "Highland Mary," as it was to her memory that he composed some of his most tender and inspired effusions. This maiden was born near Dunoon, in Argyleshire, and, at the time Burns became acquainted with her, she was a servant in the family of his Masonic friend, Mr Gavin Hamilton, writer, Mauchline, to whom he dedicated his poems. She is described as "a sweet, sprightly, blue-eyed creature, of a firmer modesty and self-respect than too many of the other maidens whom he addressed." Immediately after he had been deserted by his Jean, and at the time when he was seriously contemplating the idea of leaving "Auld Scotia for a foreign shore, he turned his regards once more towards Mary, and proposed to make her his wife. Some dubiety still rests on the exact nature of the engagement into which he entered with this girl; but, at all events, it is a fact that she gave up her situation at the term of Whitsunday, 1786, and went home to her father's house at Campbelton. On the second Sunday of May, a few days previous to her departure, Burns and Mary had a farewell meeting, at a sequestered spot, on the banks of the Ayr, to which he thus touchingly alludes, in his "Address to Mary in Heaven": "That sacred hour can I forget Can I forget the hallowed grove, To live one day of parting love!" Cromek, a contemporary of Burns, and one of his. biographers, states that "their adieu was performed with all the simple and striking ceremonials which rustic sentiment has devised to prolong tender emotions, and to impose awe. The lovers stood on each side of a small purling brook, they laved their hands in the limpid stream, and holding a Bible between them, pronounced their vows to be faithful to each other." On this occasion, they exchanged love gifts. Mary's gift was a small Bible in one volume, while that of Burns was a Bible in two volumes. On each of these volumes Burns had written his name, and a passage of Scripture calculated to keep them in remembrance of the sacred and binding nature of the vows which they had made to each other. Mary was not destined to be the bride of the Bard. She died in the end of the same year, while on a visit to a relative at Greenock; and the Bible presented to her by Burns, some time after fell into the hands of her nephew, William Anderson, mason, Renton, Dunbartonshire, who took it along with him when he left Scotland to settle in Canada. A number of the admirers of Burns, in that country, purchased the volumes from Mr Anderson for L.25, and sent them to the Provost of Ayr, to be deposited in the monument erected to the memory of Burns on the banks of the Doon. In that edifice they are now to be seen; and, to a Freemason, they possess additional interest on account of containing the Mason's mark of Burns, written with his own hand. The use of this mark appears to indicate that Burns had been made a mark Mason previous to his elevation to the rank of a Royal Arch Companion, and that he attached a peculiar sacredness to the inscription of his mark, regarding it, without doubt, as an additional pledge of truth and fidelity. Burns's Mason Mark (enlarge to three times the original). Burns, in the autumn of 1786, printed a collection of his poems, in order to raise a sufficient sum of money to enable him to pay his passage to Jamaica. This publication met with splendid success. The whole impression, consisting of six hundred copies, was sold in the course of a few weeks; and Ayrshire, throughout its entire bounds, rang with the fame of Burns. This success changed the destination of the Bard. Instead of proceeding to Jamaica, as he at one time intended, he was induced to visit Edinburgh in order to publish a second edition of his poems. He paid a visit to his Mother Lodge previous to his departure. His prospects had now greatly brightened; the vengeance of the law no longer inspired him with terror; he had appealed to his countrymen, and they had given him a ready and hearty response; his reputation as a poet had been established; and instead of the extremity of poverty, he had now a very handsome sum in his pocket. According to the testimony of Brother John Lees, who was present on this occasion, and who long survived the Bard, Burns came dressed in his Sunday suit of clothes, consisting of a blue coat and buckskin breeches, and being in the highest spirits, entertained the brethren till near five o'clock next morning with the recital of his poetical effusions and his flashes of wit and merriment. Burns arrived in Edinburgh on Tuesday, the 28th of November, 1786, and took up his residence with John Richmond, a law student, from Mauchline, in the house of Mrs Carfrae, Baxter's Close, Lawnmarket. Two days after his arrival, viz., on St. Andrew's Day, 30th November, the Grand Lodge of Scotland assembled in the aisle of the High Church, to elect the Office-bearers for the ensuing year, when the Hon. Francis Charteris, younger of Amisfield, was chosen to fill the dignified post of Most Worshipful Grand Master. After the election was over, the brethren walked in procession to St. Andrew's Church, to hear a sermon preached by the Rev. James Wright, minister of Maybole, then well known by the name of "Brotherly Love," in consequence of the publication of a sermon, on that subject, which he had preached before the Lodge of Kilwinning, in the Abbey Church of that place, in 1766. As brethren from the country were invited to join in the procession, the likelihood is that Burns was present, and trod the streets of "Auld Reekie," for the first time, in the garb of a Mason. At that time, Masonry was in high repute in the Scottish metropolis. Although it did not contain one-half of the population which it does at present, it yet possessed no fewer than sixteen Lodges, all in active operation. During the winter, Mason meetings took place almost nightly, and were numerously attended. ancient metropolis had not then been so entirely deserted by the nobility as it now is. Many of them continued to reside in it during a part of the year, and, of course, were the life and soul of its public movements and private entertainments. Besides, Edinburgh, at that time, was favoured and honoured by the presence of a considerable number of men distinguished for their talents and literary acquirements, as well as for their social qualities. Among the nobility and gentry then sojourning in "Edina, Scotia's darling seat," and belonging to the Masonic Order, may be mentioned, the Duke of Athole, the Earl of Balcarras, the Earl of Morton, the Earl of Buchan, Lord Napier, Lord Binning, Lord Haddo, Sir James Hunter Blair, Sir William Forbes, Lord Cringletie, the Hon. Colonel James Murray, Sir John Whitefoord of Ballochmyle, James Dalrymple of Orangefield, Thomas Hay of Hayston, J. Stewart of Our |