CHAPTER IV.

Tell ■IIS then yio more, that our Lodges are the receptacles of sacrilegious and revohdionary miscreants, — / see them frequented hy men of unaffected piety, and undaunted }mtriotism. Tell us no more that our brethren of the Order are traitors, or indifff-rent to the welfare of their country, — / see them in the form of heroes, at the head of our fleets and our armies ; and the day will arrive lohen a Freemason shall sway the sceptre of these Kinqdoms, and fill, with honour and with dignity, the British throne.
— Sir David Brewster.
Although the Lodges heM on board ships of war Avere few in number, the Craft has alwa3'S been hirgely supported by members of the sea service. Anything Hke an exhaustive list, however, even of the British Admirals alone (withoxit noticing the other ranks), who are or were Freemasons, would take up too much space, and a selection must be made. The names I am about to present are mainly derived from the actual records of the Grand Lodge of England, but there are thi'ee important exceptions, to which I shall assign priority in my list.
Sir George Brydges (afterwards Lord) Rodney, at an interval of his career (a political contest having ruined his estate) found it necessary to retire to the continent, where he became a member of the Secret Society and Masonic Club in the Rue Saint Nicaise, at the French Capital. He was elected under an assumed name, but on disclosing his real one, at the instance of the Due de Biron, Marshal of France, his debts were paid, a banquet was given in his honour, the street was illuminated, and couplets were chanted to celebrate his departure for his native shores. Generals Dumouriez, and Paoli (the Corsican Patriot), were also members of the Club.
On his return to England, Rodney was again placed in
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command of a squadron, and achieved a series of victories "which culminated in his defeat of the French fleet under the Count de Grasse, in A^^ril, 17S2, whicli saved Jamaica and ended the war at a blow.
The evidence relating to Nelson's connection with the Craft is as follows : — Among the furniture in possession of the Lodge of Friendship. No. 100, at Yarmouth, is an oblong block of white marble. On each of the long sides is an incised inscrijition. That on one side commemorates the foundation of the Lodge of United Friends, No. 564 ; while on the opposite side of the stone thei'e appears : —
r
]n Memory o{ Bro'* V NEL50N of ihe Nile, & of Bur/ihaTQ Thoxptf, in Korfollc, who lost hife life in ihearmc oP Victory, in an engogcrnent wiih y^^CpJubiio'd Fleets of Ft-once8i Spain, of Cape TTafalgar, Oct. ii, I'So^. Proposed "by BroT John Cuilove.
ITnfortunately, the min\ite books covering this period have all disappeared, but it can l)e proved aliunde that John Ciitlove was initiated in the Lodge of United Friends, on April 12th, 1799. Yet as Mr. Hamon Le Strange, from whijse interesting work {Freemasonry in KorUAl-) the fore- going is derived, well observes : " It is extremely unlikely that, in a place where Nelson was so well known as he was at Yarmouth, the members of the Lodge would have Tdared to place on the stone, commemorative of their own constitution, an inscription claiming him as a brother, which, if untrue, would have exposed them to ridicule and contradiction from many Avho knew the facts." From the same writer, we learn (and all the details of the story are Avell authenticated) tliat there is still in existence a masouic snufF-box, which was given by Lord Nelson to a friend, when they dined together at Yarmouth.
It is also on record that in March, 1801, the Admiral came into Yarmouth Eoads Avith seven sail of the line, and that
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before leaving the station an event oecuiTed to which he refers in a letter, addressed from Yarmouth Roads to Mr. I^illans, " Grand Master of the Ancient Order of Gregorians," which then flourished greatly at Norwich, thanking him for liis election into that Society. Mr. Le Strange, whose words I reproduce, goes on to say, — " After the battle of Copenhagen, Nelson returned to Yarmouth, and landing there from the Kite, remained in the town for a time. He was also there when he returned to England after the battle of the Xile, so that there ware ample opportunities for him to have been initiated at Yai'mouth.
The terms " Gregorian " and " Gormogon," which occur in the fourth book of the Dunciad, are explained by Pope and Warburton, as meaning " A sort of Lay bi'others, slips from the Root of Freemasons." The "Gregorians" are also mentioned by Crabbe in the Borough, as "a convivial sect," and " a kind of Masons, but without their sign."
It is at any rate abundantly clear that Nelson was admitted a member of one of the many festive societies which then existed, and are now forgotten rivals of the Freemasons. Hence, as it seems to me, the probability is enhanced — if we carefully bear in mind the lapidary evidence supplied by the Lodge of United Friends — that he also joined our own Fraternity, of which, his old friends. Sir Peter Parker, Admiral of the Fleet, was Deputy Grand Master ; and the Duke of Clarence, Admiral of the White, (honorary) Past Grand Master, at the time he was received into the Order of the Gregorians.
As these sheets are passing through the press, I have been favoured with the following extract from the minutes of the Union Lodge, York (still existing, as the "York Lodge," No. 236) :—
December 16th, 1805. — "Brother W. Master proposed that a public jDrocession should take place on the interment of our departed Brother and Hero, Lord Nelson, Seed, by Br. P.M., k Thirded by the S. Warden. The W.M. then expressed his wish that a uniformity of dress should be observed on the occasion. And that the Rev. J. Parker be requested to preach a sermon on the occasion at the Parish Church of St. Helen's."
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There is also an interesting banner in the possession of the Lodge, a sketch of which, snpplied by the courtesy of Mr. Alfred Proctor, has been reproduced in the present work.
Allusions to the great seaman being a Freemason, were of frequent occurrence in the earliest Masonic journals which appeared after his decease, and it is to the same source of authority that I must now turn, for the sole evidence upon which the third Admiral on the list I am proceeding with, can be included in the ranks of the Fraternity.
The Freemasons' Jfar/azi7ie of November 17th, 1860, in recording the death of Sir Charles Napier, mentions that he was a constant visitor at the Lodge of Friendship. There are a large number of Lodges, however, distinguished by this title, and an exhaustive inquiry into the matter has been impossible. The story therefore, is one of those relations, which, to adopt the words of Bede (in the preface to his Ecclesiastical History),
•' I will not warrant, but deliver purely on common report."
Admiral Sir Charles Napier (passing over the long series of brilliant services preceding his promotion to flag-rank), in command of Dom Pedro's fleet, defeated that of Dom Miguel ■^ff Cape St. Vincent, in 1833. As second in command he assisted at the capture of Acre, in 1840. In 1847 he received the command of the Channel Fleet, and, on the outbreak of the Piussian War in 1854, that of the Baltic.
The next names are chiefly taken from those which have
been registered in the books of the (^rand Lodge, and to a
lesser extent from the lists of membei's which are given in
the histories of certain private Lodges, and other authentic
ources.
Many officers of the United Service figure, as may be expected, on the roll of the Phoenix Lodge, Portsmouth, the annals of which have been recorded with a loving hand by Mr. Howell. Among the Admirals who were initiated in or joined this Lodge, may be named Sir Charles Morice Pole (1787), first captain of the grand fleet under Lord Bridport, and who commanded in the Baltic, 1801. Sir Roger Curtis (1787), signalised by his bravery when commanding the
95
Brilliant, frigate, at the siege of Gibraltar. Amidst the blaze of a burning flotilla, the explosion of magazines, and the presence of death in every frightful form, he boarded a Spanish ship and brought off a portion of its crew in his boat, which had not moved many lengths from the vessel before the latter went into the air. To this heroic act the poet laureate of the day referred, when (speaking of Britain) :
■■ She snatch'd in victorj-'s moment, prompt to save, Iberia's sinking sous from Calpe's glowing wave."
Sir Roger was flag-captain in Lord Howe's great battle of June the 1st, 179i. On telling the Admiral that the line was complete, Howe replied, "then up with the helm in the name of God," and the Queen Charlotte, dashing through the French line, fired from both sides with her guns double- shotted, when 700 Frenchmen fell in the Montague alone. Curtis, afterwards Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet (1799), and still later at the Cape, was at one time sent on an embassy to Morocco, and in spite of his position found it impossible to proceed with his task. But on making himself known as a Mason all difliculties were removed, and he was allowed to pass freely through the country.
Sir Hugh C. Christian (1788) commanded, with Sir Ralph Abercrombie, at the reduction of St. Lucia, and died when in chief command at the Cape.
Robert Winthrop (1791), commanded a small squadron on the coast of Holland in 1799, and the Stag frigate in the expedition against Ferrol the next year.
Sir Thomas Byam Martin (1792), in command of a frigate, Q-A^twvQA La Tamise, 1796, and U Imvtortalite, 1798. Present in the action with the Russian fleet, 1808 ; Commander-in- Chief, Mediterranean and Portsmouth ; Admiral of the Fleet, 1849.
Sir Lucius (son of Sir Roger) Curtis (1827), served at the reduction of the Isle of Bourbon, 1810. Admiral Superin- tendent at Malta, 1843 ; Admiral of the Fleet, 1864. This gallant officer, wlio was twice Master of the Phoenix Lodge (1833-34) and Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire from 1840 to 1869, often spoke with much eloquence as an
96
expositor of Masonic principles, of which some exam]iles will be laid before the reader. At a meeting of the Craft in an adjoining Province, August 23rd, 1850, he said: —
"Let them go to any part of the world they pleased, they would be sure to find Freemasons, and by making themselves known, as everywhere the same signs and signals were used, they I'eceived as much assistance as would be accorded to them even in their own country. On this matter he spoke from experience, and had himself been placed in situations to prove the value of l)eing a Mason, and the exercise of true Masonic iirinciples. He would give one instance of this being shown wliere it was little expected. A General in the Army. Avell-known to him some years since, left Giln-altar with his family as passengers in a small vessel for Sicily, and on their passage the vessel was taken ])risoner bj'^ an Algerine pirate. Entreaty and intercession failed to induce the pirates to grant them their lives, and the order was given for all the hands to ^valk the plank, or in other words to be thrown overl)oard. when as a last resoui'ce Cxeneral Gardiner, who was a Freemason, thought he would try what effect the sign of unity might have upon the pirate captain. He made the sign, it was acknowledged, and the result was that their lives were spared and the Algerine landed them all safely in Sicily. As regards himself he was taken prisoner during the war, and. while a captive, being without shoes or stockings, and but half clothed, he had made himself known, and was acknowledged by a Mason, and fi'om that time he was clothed and fed by Brethren so long as he remained a prisoner."
Six years later, at a meeting of his own Provincial Grand Lodge, Sir Lucius Curtis expressed himself as follows: — ■
■• On one occasion (during the late war) an officer of a French ship, in the heat of battle, showed the sign and his life was saved. Also, in the Peninsular campaigns, a sergeant's knapsack, which had been captured, on being opened and his Masonic certificate Ijeing seen, it was again repacked and returned perfect. When he (Sir Lucius) w^as in command at Malta, the Poiie's Bull against Freemasonry was promulgated ; it excommunicated all wlio joined the Order. Many of his subordinates were members of the Romish Church, and they applied to him, as their superior. to absolve them from their allegiance to a faith, the head of which condemned an institution so well deserving the support of all good men. He knew an English naval officer whose vessel WHS captured by the Algerines. and he. as well as his crew, was oidered to walk the plank. Some females on board were to be otherwise disposed of. In his exti-emity he showed his sign, and the vessel and all were given up to him."
Hyde Parker (1832) commanded the Promethe^is sloop in the expedition to Copenhagen, 1807, and served gallantly
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Sir James Whitley Deans Duudas (who was initiated at the same time as his brother, Genei-al C. W. D. Dundas, in 1837) accompanied Sir K. Abercrombie to Egypt in 1800, and lip to 1815 not a year passed without his distingaishing himself in some encounter. In 1854 he commanded the Fleet which operated against Russia in the Bhick Sea. He was Junior Grand Warden of England, in 18-39.
Sir John Ackworth Ommaney (1843, Senior Warden 1844) was in command of the Albion at the Battle of Navarino, and of the Mediterranean station, 1837-41.
The Hon. Augustus Hobart (1847), who became famous as Hobart Pasha, Admiral in the Turkish Navy. Sir J. C. Dalrymple Hay (Provincial Grand Master of Wigtonshire, joined the Lodge in 1851) ; Controller of the Navy.
Albert Hastings Markham (1886 ; Master, 1B89 ; District Grand Master of Malta, 1893), was piresented by the Iloyal (Jeographical Society with a gold watch, May 1877, for having planted the Union Jack in the highest latitude ever reached by man. Commodore of the Training Squad- ron, 1886-89, and second-in command, Mediterranean, 1892. (China and Arctic medals). Author of the " Life of Sir John Franklin," and other works.
Of other flag officers who are known to have been Free- masons, the highest in naval rank was the Duke of Clarence, Admiral of the Fleet, 1811, and Lord High Admiral, 1827. He was initiated at Plymouth in 1786, and subsequently occupied the chair of the Prince of Wales's Lodge from 1827, until he was called to the throne as William IV., in 1830.
The following Admirals were also members of the fraternity : — Sir W. G. Fairfax (joined the Pioyal Navy Lodge, Deal, 1762), Captain of the Venerable (Admiral Duncan's flag-ship) in the glorious fight off Camperdown, in 1797.
Joseph Bullen (a founder of the Lodge of Honour, Bath, 1820), during his distinguished career, had more than 60 encounters with the enemy. Sir George Cockburn (Lodge of Anticiuity, 1812), commanded a squadron during the last x\merican war, which co-operated with the military
E
force under Major-General Ross, who fell by his side at Baltimore, 1814. In the following year he hoisted his flag on board the N orthumherland, and took Napoleon to St. Helena, where he remained Governor and C/ommander-in- Chief until 1816 ; Admiral of the Fleet, 1851. Sir Thomas Fellowes (Cumberland Lodge, Bath), commanded the Dartmouth at the battle of Navarino. Sir E. A. Inglefield (Junior (Jrand Warden, 1887, a member of St. John's, Haliftix, Nova Scotia, and many other Lodges), was Com- mander-in-Chief on the North American station, 1878, and retired from the navy with six medals, in 1885. Sir David Milne (Provincial Grand Master of Berwickshire, 1836; Senior Grand Warden of Scotland, 1838), was present in Lord Rodney's actions, 1779 and 1782, and as 2nd lieutenant of the Blanche, in 1795, when she effected the capture of the French frigate La Pique. The boats of both ships at the end of the conflict were either destroyed or unable to float, so Lieutenant Milne, followed by ten seamen, swam to the conquered vessel and took possession of her. Second- in-Command at the battle of Algiers, 1816, Commander-in- Chief North America, 1817, and at Devonport, 1842. Died (being at the time Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Scotland) 1845.
Sir Pulteney (brother of General Sir John) Malcolm, after distinguishing himself in numerous engagements, became Commander in-Chief on the St. Helena station, 1816-17 ; in the Mediterranean, 1828-31, and again in 1833-4. Sir Edward Nagle (Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship, Guernsey, 1807), a brave and esteemed officer. Sir John Ross, the famous Arctic navigator. Sir Michael Seymour (Grand Master's Lodge, 1796), lost an arm in Lord Howe's great battle, 1794. He captm-ed in the Amethyst, frigate, the French frigates Theth (1808), and Le Niemen (1809), and for his valour and heroic conduct was created a baronet. From 1833 until his death in 1834, he was in command on the Pacific station. Sir William Sidney Smith, of whom it has been truly said, that a more chivalric character is not to be found among the heroes of modern times, was Chancellor of the Chapitre des Trinosophes, at Paris, in 1818, and became a joining member of the Grand Master's Lodge in
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1829. The exploits of this remarkable man, whose name, like that of Nelson, was long a terror to our enemies, would fill a volume, and it will be sufficient to refer to his gallant defence of St. Jean d'Acro, 1799, when he frustrated the repeated attempts of the French to carry the place by storm. It was of this feat of arms, and of the victorious Commodore (as Sir Sidney then was) that Reginald Heber wrote :
'• Britannia's champion 1 bath'd in hostile blood, High oti the breach the dauntless Skaman stood."
Shortly after he was made a vice-admiral he received the distinction of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford, and on this occasion it was remarked, " Now that Sir Sidney Smith is made a doctor of Civil law, we hope that he will not abandon the practice of the cannon law, in which he has hitherto been so eminent." Sir -Sidney, who vainly endeavoured to effect a re-union of the knights of all the European Orders, particularly those of St. John of Jerusalem and Malta, succeeded to the Regency of the Knights Templar of France in 1 838, and held the office at his death, which took place at Paris, in 1840.
Sir Houston Stewart, who, in early life served in the Iin2:>erieuse, under Lord Cochrane, commanded the Benhow at the reduction of St. Jean d'Acre, in 1840, and the British squadron at the capture of Kinbourn, in 1855. In 1856-60, he was Commander-in-Chief on the North American station, and while holding that appointment became a member of a Lodge — St John's, Halifax, Nova Scotia — which is renowned for the number of illustrious names connected with the Army and Navy, which have been inscribed on its roll ; Admiral of the Fleet, 1872.
Sir William Hewitt, from 1847 until the premature close of his career in 1888, participated in almost every war in which England was engaged, and received the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery with the Naval Brigade before Sebastopol. He was Commander-in-Chief, successively, in the East Indies, and of the Channel Fleet. During the interval between these appointments, he was present with Sir Henry Keppel at the annual festival of the Moira Lodge, London, held (on the birthday of the 2nd
e2
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Earl of Moira) December the 7th, 1885. Each of the two Admirals wislied the other to return thanks for the visitors, but ia the end there were speeches from both. The Admiral of the Fleet was able, curiously enough, to refer to a third guest at the table — Mr. W. H. Head — as having made him a Mason "just forty years ago," at Singapore; and the Vice-Admiral (Hewitt), in the course of a spirited address, expressed the great benefit he had personally derived from having been admitted a member of the fraternity.
James Walker served in the battles of Camperdown and Copenhagen, and in the Vangiiard fought and captured, near St. Domingo, in 18u3, the Du([uesiie, a French ship of the line, which he afterwards commanded. This officer, when a lieutenant (during the peace of 1783) was a passenger with several others in a diligence. The carriage was attacked by robbers, near AschafFenbourg, and the lieu- tenant rushed into the midst of them, but being un- supported by his fellow-travellers, he was overpowered and left for dead. He was afterwards found and conveyed to a place of safety at Frankfort, where he was supplied with assistance and money by the Freemasons. Sir Adolphus Slade (St. John and St. Paul, Malta, 1827) commanded the Turkish Navy, and was the author of " Turkey and tlie Crimean War." Lord Alcester served in the Burmese and New Zealand wars, and in the expedition to the Baltic, 1854; Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1880, and at the bombardment of tlie forts of Alexandria ; Senior Grand Warden of England, 1890.
Of living British Admirals,and excluding royal personages, the veteran Sir Henry Keppel, G.C.B., who entered the Navy in 1822, is entitled to the first place, as Senior Admiral of the Fleet. He was made a Mason in Lodge Zetland in the East, Singapore, in 1846, and that he has retained a lively interest in the Craft throughoiit his long life, may be inferred from the circumstance that I am indebted to him (in conjunction with Admiral ]\Iarkham) for some of the professional details which are given in this portion of the book. He also fulh^ authorizes my placing on record in these pages, " that in his opinion Freemasonry did a great deal of good in the Navy, that it was a useful
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and va'ualjle link between the officer and the man, and that he had never known an instance where one of the latter class presumed on his fraternity with one of the formei'." In these sentiments Admiral Markham heartily concurs. The autobiography of Sir Henry Keppel has recently appeared, under the title of "A Sailor's Life under four Sovereig-ns," and the pages are full of adventure, from his experience as a midshipman in the AVest Indies, to the time when he commanded at the great boat-action, and destruction of the Chinese fleet, at Fatshan, in 1857.
The naval brethren on tlie active list include Admiral of the Fleet, Sir F. W. Richards, G.C.B., 1st Sea Lord of the Admiralty ; Admirals K. Duckworth King, superintendent of Malta dockyard ; A. H. Markham (of whom previously) ; Sir Harry H. Rawson, K.C B., in command of the Channel squadron, and who in 1897 commanded the expedition to Benin : W. H. C. St. Clair (a present Senior Grand Deacon) ; F. S. Vander-Meulen ; G. H. U. Xoel, 2nd-in-command on the Mediterranean station ; and Lord Charles Beresford, a Grand Warden of 1 887.
The Admirals on the retired list who are Freemasons, comprise Henry Boys, 2nd-in-command Channel squadron, 1878 ; Sir William Graham, a former Lord of the Admiralty and Controller of the Navy ; and P. H. Colomb, a great student and exponent of naval history, author of many learned works, and the inventor of the present s^'stem of night signalling in the navy.
Passing from the naval to the military heroes who have thrown a lusti'e on our Society, I shall begin with the Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, who fought at Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Culloden ; and serving in the Seven Years' War, was left in command of the Lnglish Army on the return to England of the Marquis of Granby, in 1761. Appointed Commander-in-Chief, with a seat in the Cabinet, in 1782. No man was more generally liked. He died in 1795, being then the oldest general officer in the Army, and the premier Field-Marshal.
Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote — whose name appears on the roll of the " Antient Boyne Lodge " at Bandon, in the sister kingdom — the preserver of our Indian Empire,.
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in 1759 gained the decisive victory of Wandewasb over the French under Lally and Bussj. It led to the capture of Pondicherrj, and was the decisive battle which established the supremacy of the British in the Carnatic.
The Duke of York — initiated in the Britannic Lodj-e by his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, Grand Master, Admiral of the White, in 1787 — was placed at the head of the British Army in Flanders in 1793, and again in 1799. During his earlier command he was powerfully reinforced by an expedi- tion under the Earl cf Moira (1794), and to the name of the Bayard of the English Craft may be added those of a\any other victorious British Generals who were Freemasons.
Sir Ralph Abercrombie, mortally wounded at the battle of Aboukir Bay, 1801, was admitted a member of Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, in 17o.3. Of his former aide-de- camp, General Hutchinson (afterwards Earl of Donoughmore), who succeeded to the command in Egypt, a notice has been given on a previous page.
Lord Lake — Prince of Wales's Lodge, 1787 — overthrew the Mahratta Army and the French General, Perron, in 1803, and captured Delhi; after which, in a sei'ies of brilliant actions, he triumphed over Scindiah and Holkar.
About the same period the future Duke of Wellington first exercised an independent command, and his miUtary genius was fully established by the battle of Assaye, after which achievement he became the hero of India. The Dvike was made a Mason in early life, in Lodge No. 494 on the Irish roll, held at Trim, in the county of Meath. His signature, " A. Wesley," is still preserved among the most vakied records of the Lodge, the chair of which his grand- father, father, and bi'other each filled in turn.
Lord Cathcart, to whose position as Master of tlie Alloa Lodge 1 have already referred, commanded the expeditions to the North of Germany in 1805-6, and the Baltic in 1807, also in the latter year at the siege and capture of Copenhagen.
Sir John Stuart, the hero of Maida (1806), unquestion- ably the most glorious battle of the eventful period at which it occurred, was Master of St. Luke's Lodge, Edinburgh, in the following vear.
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Sir John Moore, who fell at Coruuna, received the light of Masonry in St. John's Lodge, Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1780, when a captain in the 82nd Foot. On Moore's death the command devolved on Sir David Baird, who served in the East Indies, Egypt, the Cape of Good Hope (where he held the chief command), at Copenhagen (where he was wounded), and, finallv, at Corunna, where he lost an arm.
Like Sir Ralph Abercrombie, Baird was an initiate of Canongate Kilwinning, and his interest in the Craft con- tinued, after arriving in the East Indies with the regiment to which he then belonged. A large portion of the Coast army was at that time concentrated at Arcot, and many of the officers were Masons. They determined to open a Lodge to be called " Carnatic Military," which was accordingly done, in November, 1784, and among the founders and first members were " Matw. Home, brigadier-general, late Grand Master of the Coast of (Joromandel ; " and " D. Baird, captain. 73rd Regiment, M.M.S." — the concluding letters signifying, no doubt, " Master Mason, Scotland." After Sir David's death, a monument to his memory was erected by Lady Baird, the foundation stone of which was laid with Masonic honours in 1832. The 4th of May was selected for the purpose, because on ihat day General Baird took Seringapatam by storm.
Lord Lynedoch, who raised three regiments and founded tlie LTnited Service Club, served throughout most of the campaigns in the Peninsula, and commanded at the battle of Barrosa.
" Barrosa's heights for splendid deeds,
May boast Trafalgar's fame : Where British troops, like Xeptune"s sons.
A glorious conquest claim. "
Viscount Combermere commanded the allied cavalry under Wellington in the Peninsular War, and in 1825 was appointed to the military command in India, where he won fresh honour by the capture of Bhui'tpore, in 1826. His admission into Masonry took place at an early age, and in later life he was for a long period Provincial Grand Master of Cheshire. In the latter capacity he delivered many interesting addresses, declaring in 1839 that " in all his
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services as a military man he had never met with a bad soldier who was a Brother Mason;" and in 1852 he said, " Another year has rolled over, and many changes have taken place. Among the foremost to be regretted was the death to the nation of his commander, the Great Wellington. He liad been associated with him since 1793. Perhaps it was not generally known that the Duke was a Alason. He was made in Ireland, and often when in Spain, where Masonry was prohibited, in conversation with himself, he regretted how sorry he was that his military duties had prevented him from taking the active part which his feelings dictated ; for it was his (the Duke's) opinion that Masonry was a great and royal art, beneficial to the individual and the community."
Sir Robert Sale (whose father and brother, Colonels in the Madras service, were also Freemasons) was nicknamed ^' Fighting Bob," for wherever there was fighting he was always in the thick of it. He was present at the battle of Mallavelly, the storm of Seringapatam, the capture of the Mauritius, and of Rangoon. He also served in the AfFghan •campaigns of 1838 and 1841, and commanded the storming party at Ghuznee, but is best remembered by his country- men as the " hero of Jellalabad." Killed at the battle of Moodkee in December, 1845.
After Sir Charles Napier, the conqiieror of Scinde (who will again be referred to), come the Brethren who held independent commands during the Indian Mutiny.
General the Hon. George Anson (a Waterloo officer), the Commander-in-Chief when the outbreak occurred, and who died shortly afterwards, was Provincial Grand Master of Staffordshire. Sir Archdale Wilson, of Delhi, when a lieutenant in the Bengal Artillery, saw the light of Masonry in St. .John's Lodge, Sangor, Central India.
Sir John Inglis, the defender of Lucknow, received (as lieutenant) the 1st and 2nd degrees in St. Andrew's Lodge, Toronto ; (as captain) the 3rd in the Phcenix, Portsmouth ; and (as lientenant-colonel in the same corps, 32nd Foot) joined the Kyber Lodge, Peshawur, in 1852.
Among the other members of this Indian Lodge at the same date was Lieutenant-Colonel William Rose Mansfield,
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53rd Foot, afterwards Lord Sandhurjst ; and a little later, Lieutenant Fretlerick S. Roberts, Bengal Artillery (a subse- quent Master), an officer of great distinction (though not holding a separate command) during the Mutiny, and whose name has since been inscribed on the roll of fame, as Field- Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar.
Sir James Hope Grant, who filled many responsible positions in India, but is still better known as having commanded with conspicuous success the expedition to the North of China in 1860, was admitted into Masonry (when Lietitenant-Colonel, 9th Lancers) in Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship, Guernsey, in 1851.
John George Neil, after a succession of gallant services at Benares, Allahabad, and Cawnpore, fell at the relief of Lucknow, when moistening from his own flask the lips of a private soldier who had sunk wounded or exhausted by his side.
Long prior to the Mutiny, however, the names of dis- tinguished military brethren serving in India, who were earnest and devoted members of the Fraternity, might be numerously quoted. For example, that of the Hon. Sir Charles Colville, commander of the Army of Bombay, who laid the foundation-stone of a Masonic temple at Pt)ona in 1825, appears on the roll of the Benevolent Lodge, city of Bombay, in the same year. This gallant officer, who was one of Wellington's favourite brigadiers, commanded a brigade and afterwards a division in the Peninsular War. He was also present, in command of the 4th division, at Waterloo, and the task was subsequently confided to him of storming Cambray, the only French fortress wdiich did not immediately surrender. Sir John Malcolm, equally distinguished as a military officer, author, and diplomatist, joined the same Lodge on taking up the government of the Presidency in 1827; and a little later it received as an initiate the brightest ornament of the Bombay Army, Lieutenant (afterwards Sir) Alexander Burnes.
The following Commanders-in-Chief in AVesteru India, were also Freemasons: — Sir Thomas McMahon (1839), who, after serving under Abercrombie and Wellington, accom- panied Lord Moira to India, where for twelve years he held
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the office of Adjutant-General, and was actively engaged in the Alahratta War of 1817-18; Sir Willoughby Cotton (1847), who, after serving on the staff at Copenhagen and in the Peninsula, commanded a division in the first Burmese War, and also under Lord Keane in AfFghanistan ; Lord Frederick FitzClarence (a former Grand Master of Scotland), (1852); Sir W. R. Mansfield (18G0) ; and the Duke of Connaught ( 1 886).
Sir Thomas Hislop, commanding the Madras Army, was a member of the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity in that Presidency in 1816 ; and the Marquis of Tweeddale was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Eastern India, while filling the same military Office, in 1842-48. The former commanded the Army of the Deccan in the Mahratta War, and signally defeated the combined forces of the enemy at the battle of Maheidpore, in 1817 ; the latter, who served in the Penin- sula, was wounded at Vittoria and Busaco, and again in the American War.
The name of Sir John Doveton, a very distinguished officer of the Coast Ai-my, who served in all the campaigns against Tippoo Sultan, and commanded the Hyderabad Contingent, under the Marquis of Hastings, in the Pindari War, appears on the roll of " Perfect Unanimity " for 1807 ; and that of Major William (elder brother of Sir Henry) Havelock, under the year 1838. The latter served through- out the Peninsular War, and was present at most of the actions in which the Light Division was engaged. At the combat of Vera in October, 1813, a Spanish force was held in check by a formidable abattis, defended by two French regiments. Havelock, who had been sent to ascertain their progress, called on the Spanish to follow him, and putting spurs to his horse, cleared the abattis at a bound, and went headlong among the enemy. Then the Spaniards, cheering for " el chico bianco " (" the fair boy," for he was very young and had very light hair), with one shock broke through the French, and this just as their centre was flying under the fire of Kempt's skirmishers. The gallant youth also fought at Waterloo, and as Lieutenant-Colonel, 14th Light Dragoons, fell mortally wounded at the head of his regiment in the des- perate charge on the Sikhs at Pvamnugger, in November, 1848.
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With a solitary exception all the militai-y brethren at any time in command of the entire Indian army have been incidentally referred to. Sir Eyre Coote, Lords Lake, Moira, Combermere, and Dalhousie, head the list. Then follow Sir Charles Napier, General Anson, Sir William Mansfield, and Lord Roberts. A glorious l)ead-roll of soldier Freemasons, to which I shall now add the name of Sir William Lockhart, the presoit Commander-in-Chief in India, whose services are too fresh in the public recollection to require any recapitu- lation in these pages.
Examples of successful British Genei-als in other portions of the globe are afforded by Sir Benjamin Durban, who in 1794, while a subaltern in the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was initiated in the TTnion Lodge, Norwich. He served under Sir R. Abercrombie, Lord Cathcart, Sir David Baird, and Sir Robert Wilson (all of whom were Freemasons), and was present at most of the battles of the Peninsular War. He was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief at the Cape in 1842, and the principal event in his tenure of ofhce was the occupation of Natal.
General George D'Aguilar, who was admitted into the Craft in the Rodney Lodge, Jamaica, in 1811, when a captain in the 81st Foot — after serving in numerous campaigns, and for 26 years on the General Staff, commanded the expedition which, in 1847, assaulted and took the forts of the Bocca Tigris in the Canton river, together with those of the Staked Barrier, and of the City of Canton.
Lord Chelmsford, who commanded at the battle of IJhmdi, which terminated the late Kaffir War, was received into Masonry in St. John's Lodge, Halifax, while serving at that station in 1845, as 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade.
Sir Charles Warren was selected in 1884 as first Master of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge — now regarded by students of all nationalities as the centre of Masonic light — and in the same year as commander of the Bechuanaland Expedition, returning with an increased military reputation, and at once entering upon his lodge duties, in 1885.
Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, upon whose exploits as a soldier it will be wholly unnecessary to dilate, is a Past Grand Warden of England, and (either himself or a name-
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sake) to We numbered with Sir John Doyle, Sir C. J. Napier, and Sir James Hope Grant, in the list of eminent military commanders, to whom Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship has afforded a Masonic home.
The roll of British Freemasons who have conmianded armies in the field, will be brought to n close with the name of Field Marshal Viscoxmt Wolseley, the present commander of the forces, who was initiated in the " Military Lodge," No. 728, Dublin, in 1851, and served as its Master (while holding the chief command in Ireland) in 1893 and 189-1. He is also a Past Grand Warden of England, a distinction which he shares with his illustrious compeers. Lord Roberts of Kandahar, and Lord Kitchener of Khartoinn.
Among the military brethren, however, who have greatly distinguished themselves, though in the lesser roles of Divisional Commanders, or Brigadiers, may be named William King.sley, colonel of the 'lOth Foot, who was pro- moted Major-General, 1758, and greatly distinguished him- self at the battle of Miuden, where his regiment, from its gallant conduct, acquired the highly honoiu-able appellation of Kingsley's Stand. It was directed by the Grand Lodge of England that the sum of fifty pounds should be sent to Germany to be distributed among the soldiers in the army of the Duke of Brunswick, who were Masons, and other recommendations of the Deputy Grand Master. The money was sent to Major-General Kingsley (being a brother) for that purpose.
Sir Simon Eraser, who died a lieutenant-general in 1782, was the son of Lord Lovat, beheaded at Tower Hill for his participation in the Scottish rising of 1745. He had him- self also been an adherent of the Pretender, biit was pardoned, and when the 78th Regiment, or Fi'aser's Highlanders, was raised in 1757, he joined it as lieutenant-colonel, bringing with him 700 of his clan. It served at Louisburg and Quebec, after which latter victory, in the winter of 1759, the Masters and Wardens of the Regimental Lodges in the garrison (to the number of eight or nine), agreed to choose an acting Grand Master. Their choice fell on Lieutenant Guinnett, 47th Foot ( undoubted] v the first subaltern who
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ever occupied a Masonic throne) ; and in the second instance on " Brother Simon Fraser, colonel of the Highland Regi- ment," who was duly installed in his high office by " Brother Dunckerley, of his Majesty's ship the Vanguard."
Thomas Desaguliers (Lieutenant-General, 1777), served in the Royal Artillery for a period of fiftj'-seven years, and was present as a captain at Fontenoy, and as a Brigadier at Louisbiirg and Belle Isle. " The brave, the learned Desaguliers," was a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as a practical soldier, and the only son of the "Grand Master" of that name, whom we know to have been a Freemason. It is possible that the extraordinary prevalence of Masonic Lodges in the Royal Artillery, during the last half of the eighteenth century, may have been due, in some degree, to the influence and example of Desaguliers, whose memory is still fondly cherished in the regiment as that of one of its brightest ornaments.
Sir John Byng, afterwards Earl of Strafford and a Field Marshal, was initiated at Frome in 1797, when a captain in the 33rd Foot, the colonel at the time being the Hon. Arthur Wellesley (also a Freemason), under whom he sub- sequently commanded a brigade in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.
Sir James Kempt, Provincial Grand Master of Nova Scotia, 1819, commanded a brigade in seven battles, and a division at Waterloo.
Sir Joseph Thackwell (initiated in the Lodge of Harmony, Richmond, 1811), after serving in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, commanded the Cavalry in the Aftghan cam- paign of 1839, and also at Maharajpore, Sobraon, and thi'oughout the Punjaub War of 1849.
Sir William Kier Grant joined the Russian and Austrian armies in Italy in 1799, and was present in a long series of battles and campaigns. He afterwards served fifteen years in the East Indies, the first six as Adjutant-General under the Earl of Moira, and was the first Master of the Moira Lodge, Freedom and Fidelity, constituted by and named after that nobleman, on his arrival in Calcutta as Governor- General and Connnander-in-Chief in 1813.
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Sir Alexander Leitli, who received the Gold Cross -with one clasp for his services in the Peninsular War, and on the reduction of the army in 1815, was presented by the officers of the 31st Foot with a silver cup, may have been a member of the Scottish Lodge which then existed in the corps. But of his being at least a Scottish Mason there is no doubt, as in August, 1827, when Master of the Glen Kindie Lodge, Aberdeenshire, a special meeting took place at his own house, and the late John Hill Burton, Historio- grapher Royal of Scotland, together with the late Colouel W. J. B. MacLeod Moore (who, at the time of his death, in 1890, was Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada), received in one night all three degrees appertaining to the Fraternity.
Sir John Lysaght Pennefather was initiated in the Sussex Lodge, Jamaica, in 1828, when a captain in the 22nd Foot. This regiment he accompanied to India in 1841, and com- manded the Infantry Brigade (of which it formed a part) at the battle of Meeanee, where he was shot through the body. He also served throughout the Eastern Campaign of 1854, in command of a brigade at Alma, and of a division at Inkerman.
Sir Charles Staveley — a member successively' of Lodges at Montreal and Hong Kong — commanded the 44th Foot in the latter part of the Crimean Campaign, and a brigade in the North China Expedition of 1860. He also served (as second-in-command) throughout the Abyssinian War. Con- siderations of space forbid my proceeding with all the names I had marked for quotation, but there is one more for which room must be found — Major-General A. G. Yeatman-Biggs, of the Royal Artillery, who after distinguishing himself -greatly in China, Egypt, and the Cape, was appointed to the command of the 2nd division of the Tirah Field Force, which bore the brunt of the arduous campaign in the North West Frontier of India, so recently brought to a successful termi- nation, under the personal direction of Sir William Lockhart.
At the time of his death, which resulted from disease contracted while on active service, General Yeatman-Biggs was District Grand Master of Bengal, and Grand Superin- tendent of the Royal Arch.
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That many members of the Royal Family were received into the Society chiring the last half of the eighteenth century, has been mentioned in a previous chapter, and to the names already given may now be added those of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales — Admiral of the Fleet and Field Marshal — Most Worshipful Giand Master of England ; the Duke of Connaught — General in the Army — Provincial Grand Master of Sussex ; and two Past Grand Wardens who, alas, have passed over to the silent shore, the Dukes of Albany and Clarence, Colonels in the regular forces.
Three sons of William IV. were also members of the fraternity. Major-General the Earl of Munster ; Lieutenant- General Lord Frederick Fitz-Clarence ; and Captain Lord Adolphus Fitz-Clarence, R.N. Lord Frederick, who was elected Grand Master of Scotland in 1841, and again in 1842, made a Grand Visitation to the Lodge of Edinburgh in the latter year, and witnessed the initiation of his brother, Lord Adolphus, "commanding H.M. Y-Acht Royal George, \\\\o was afterwards passed and raised at the same sederunt."
A formidable difficulty has next to be encountered. The names of naval and military worthies to whom the oppor- tunity of exercising high command against an enemy has been denied, but which, nevertheless, deserve honourable mention as being those of cotewortby Freemasons, is very numerous — a few of these, however, can alone be found ro(jm for in this volume. To begin with the sea service, whether (Japtain James Cook was a brother I cannot say, though Sir Joseph Banks (afterwards president of the Royal Society) had undoubtedly become one before he accompanied the former (as naturalist) on his first voyage, 1768-1771. But the reason why the name of the great navigator has been brought into the narrative will appear from the following : —
In some interesting 2fevioirs " by a Midshipman of the Bellerophon,'' the writer speaks of his father as an old naval officer who was serving under Cook when he was killed at Owhyhee. The old sailor was full of narrative, and the story he told of Cook's death will next be related. Before going on shore the day he was killed, he ordered the second lieutenant of his own ship (Williamson) to take the command of the boats of both vessels — Besohition and Discovery —
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and pull in shore, there to await events, and if he observed any commotion after the caj^tain's landing, to at once join him with his whole force. Under this an'angement Cook, with a small party of Marines, went on shore, where a quarrel took place with the natives, the English were over- whelmed by the savages, and the captain and two Marines were slain. " But while all this was going on " (to use the words of the actual narrator), ' Wliere, you will ask, was Williamson and the armed boats ' 1 Why, pulling as hard as they could off to the ships, instead of landing to support their captain. It was the intention of the whole of us to bring him to a court-martial upon our arrival in England ; but after Captain Cock's death, he came to be first lieutenant of the Resolution, and on our arrival at Kamschatka, he very knowingly established a Mason's Lodge, got all the men to become free-masons by bribing them with brandy, and got them to promise, a.s brothers, that they would say nothing of his cowardice when he came to England. So by this trick (concluded the aged reminiscent) ' he saved his bacon.' "
Paul Jones, might well have been referred to on an earlier page as a successful commander, but, though a British subject, his naval operations were not of a character to endear him to his fellow-countrjanen, or to justify his name being placed in juxtaposition with those of the national heroes whose fidelity to the Craft has proceeded hand in hand with their loyalty to the throne. Jones attained the rank of Commodore in the American, and that of Rear- Admiral in the Russian service. He was greatly admired in the polished circles of Paris, especially by the ladies, " who were all wild for love of him, as he for them," but the special object of his adoration was the Countess Lavendal, to whom (enclosing a lock of his hair) he wrote from Russia in 17 honour of seeing you, I wished to comply with the invitation of my Lodge, and I need not add that I have since found stroiKier reasons that have compelled me to seek the means of returning to France again as soon as possible." The Lodge mentioned, without a doubt, was that of the Nine Muses {Xeuf Soeurs), founded by the philosopher, Helvetius, and the celebrated astronomer, de Lalande, which absorbed
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much of the literary, artistic and scientiHc talent of Paris. Voltaire was initiated in this Lodge^ April 7th, 1778. Among the other famous members were Claude Joseph Verney, Jean Baptiste Greuze, and Benjamin Franklin.
Captain Nicholas Lockyer (at one time flag-lieutenant to Sir John Duckworth in the ^^'est Indies) had many good stories of his own adventures, and among them how his life was saved on becoming a prisoner to the South American Spaniards on the main, where he and his comrades were considered to be spies, and expected to be hanged the next day The officer of the guard over him was a Mason, so was he, and the former winked at his escape in the night.
Douglas Jerrold, author of " I^lack-eyed Susan," "The Chronicles of Clovernook," and "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" (one of which was delivered on the evening of Mr. Caudle's admission into the Craft, and another on his return from a Masonic dinner), was a member of the Bank of England Lodge, No. '26.3. This great humourist served for two years as a midshipman on board the Namm\ when he had for a mess-mate Clarkson Stanfield (also in later years a Freemason).
They both left the Navy in 1818, and, as all the world knows, while .Stanfield took high rank as a painter, especially in pictures connected with the sea, the success of Jerrold was equally great as a man-of-letters, and particularly as an author of nautical dramas which have never been excelled.
Masonry found a very ready acceptance among the members of the East India Company's maritime service, and one of the lieutenants (in 1849) said "that it was always a matter of vexation and regret to him on his voyages that he was not a Brother, he being the only individual who was so circumstanced of all the officers of his ship." The Indian Navy is now defunct, but perhaps there has been no finer representative of it in recent years than Captain Sir Henry Morland, Grand Master (until his death) of All Scottish Freemasonry in India.
Passing from the sea to the land service, Captain George Smith, Inspector of the Royal Military Academy at Wool- wich, and Provincial Grand Master for Kent, Avas the author of " The Use and Abuse of Freemasonry," which appeared
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in 1783. In the same year he was charged (with another) for " making Masons in a clandestine manner in the King's Bench Prison." It was pleaded in defence that " there being several Masons in the prison, they had assembled as such for the benefit of instruction, and had also advanced some of them to the 3rd degree. But a doubt arising whether it could be done with propriety, the Royal Military Lodge, No. 371, at Woolwich, adjourned with their Constitution for that purpose to the King's Bench Prison (Captain Smith being Master thereof), being one of those itinerant Lodges which move with the Regiment, the Master of which, wherever he is, having the Constitution of the Lodge, was, by Captain Smith, judged to have a right to hold a Lodge, make Masons," &c. Whereupon it was resolved : " That in the opinion of the Grand Lodge, it is inconsistent with the principles of Masonry that any Free Masons' Lodge can be regularly held for the purposes of making, passing, or raising Masons in any prison or place of confinement." The Royal Military Lodge was erased from the list, and in 1785 Captain Smith, who had committed a still graver misdemeanour, was expelled the Society.
General William Augustus Bowles, an American adven- turer, joined the British Army in Philadelphia (1776) and received a commission, but was dismissed for a breach of discipline. He soon after became connected with the Creek Indians, whom he commanded when they assisted the British at Pensacola in 1780. Subsequently he led a roving life ; at one time an actor, at another a portrait painter, visiting England in 1790. The following year he joined the Prince of Wales's Lodge, and on his return to America again became Commander-in-Chief of the Creeks. After disturbing the peace of the neighbouring States for some time, he was taken prisoner by the Spaniards and sent to Madrid, and subsequently to ^lanilla, whence he escaped and returned to his old life. He was finally captured in 1804, and imprisoned in Havana until his death. This remarkable character was appointed Provincial Grand Master of the Creek, Cherokee, Chicasaw and Choctaw Indians, under the Grand Lodge of England, and his name appears as such in the official calendars of the period.
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John Shipp, a man who well deserves to be numbered among the "bravest of the brave," enlisted m the 22nd Foot, which he accompanied to India, and served against the Mahrattas under Lord Lake. He was one of the stormers at the capture of Deig, 1 804, and thrice led the forlorn hope of the storming column in the unsuccessful assaults on Bhurtpore, 1 805. His daring was rewarded by Lord Lake with an ensigncy in the 65th Foot, from which he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the 76th Regiment during the same year. He then went home, but found it necessary to sell out in order to pay his debts, so he once more enlisted, and returned to India as a private in the 24th Light Dragoons. In 181 2 he was regimental sergeant-major, and three years later the Earl of Moira appointed him to an ensigncy in the 87th Foot. John Shipp had thus performed the unique feat of twice winning a commission from the ranks before he was 30.
He afterwards distinguished himself in the Ghoorka war, and on the staff of the " Grand Army '^ under the Marquis of Hastings, in the operations against the Mahrattas and the Pindarees (1817-18). In 1820, he was a member of the Lodge of Sincerity, Cawnpore, and in the following year he attained his former rank of lieutenant. In 1823 he was dismissed the service for insubordination, but allowed to sell out, and the East India Company granted him a pension of £50.
He next became an author, and his earliest work, " Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp," which appeared in 1829, has since passed through many editions. He also wrote " The Military Bijoii, or the Contents of a Soldier's KnapsacK," "The Eastern Story- teller," and " The Soldier's Friend."
Memoirs of the brothers (James and Alexander) Burnes will be found in a later chapter, and with the names of three more officers of the regular Army, and an equal number from the auxiliary forces, the present one will be brought to a close.
I shall first of all refer to Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, who in consequence of a wound received in the Burmese w^ar, quitted the Madras Army, and entered upon
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the adventurous career which resulted in his becoming the hero of the Indian Archipelago ; Captain Sir Richard Burton, of the Bombay establishment, the great writer and traveller ; and Major-General Sir Francis Worgan Festing, who com- manded the regular troops during the earlier stages of the Ashanti war, and afterwards the Marines, during the sub- sequent operations under Sir Garnet Wolseley.
Sir James Brooke was a member of the " Zetland " Lodge at Singapore ; Sir Kichard Burton, of " Hope," in Kur- rachee, Scinde ; and Sir Francis Festing, of the " Phoenix," Portsmouth, the membership of which he retained from his initiation in 1859 until his death in 1886.
John AVilkes, distinguished for the violence of his political conduct, was a colonel in the Buckinghamshire Militia. On his return to England, after having been out- lawed, in 1768, he was committed to the King's Bench Prison, where he was made a Mason by the members of the Lodge at the Jerusalem Tavern, St. John's Gate, in March, 1769. The following year he was elected a "General" of the Hon. Artillery Company of London. Edward Gibbon, the celebrated historian, was appointed a captain in the South Battalion of the Hampshire Militia, in 1759. He relates in his Autt)biography, " I always exercised the battalion in the field. The discipline and evolutions of a modern battalion gave me a clearer notion of the Phalanx and the Legions, and the captain of the Hampshire Grenadiers (the reader may smile) has not been iiseless to the historian of the Roman Empire." Gibbon, who was afterwards successively promoted to the rank of major and lieutenant-colonel commandant, does not, however, always speak in equally high terms of the value of his Militia training, as he permits himself to say with respect to the habits of his brother officers : —
" Of seemms; arms they make a short essay : Then hasten to get drunk — the business of the day."
The famous author of the " Decline and Fall " was initiated in the Lodge of Friendship, present No. 6, in December, 1774, and became a Master Mason in March, 1775.
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Sir Walter Scott, tlie Wizard of the ■ North, obtained a commission in the Hoyal Mid-Lothian Cavalry, in 1797. If the French had been actnally off the coast, adjutant Scott could not have shown more alertness than he did, in drilling both horses and men. He was a most pleasing companion in the mess room, where his unaffected cheerfulness and boundless store of anecdotes often set the table in a roar. Sir Walter was made a Mason in the Lodge of St. David, Edinburgh, on the 2nd of March, 1801, and the Lodge of St. John, Selkirk, elected him an honorary member on the occasion of his laying the foundation stone of the Free- masons' Hall, Selkirk, on the -Ith of June, 1816. After his death a monument was erected to his memory at Edin- burgh, the first stone of which was laid with Masonic honours by the Grand Master of Scotland, in 1840.
" It is to the honour of Freemasonry that a man of Sir Walter Scott's talents and genius had such an affection for the Craft, that he spent, as he himself often testified, many of his most delightful hours within the walls of the Lodge — - and it is equally to the honour of the Masonic body, that its members were among the foremost to confer posthumous honours on the memory of a Great Light which gladdens mankind by its appearance, only at long and distant intervals."