Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

freemasons is ambiguous. 88 And finally, although much more vulgar and ribald
than the masons, the Beggar’s Benison was supported by Edinburgh Kilwinning
associate Chambre Lewis, who was the Benison’s Grand Master and a Scottish
Customs Officer. 89
These examples illustrate that, at least for some members, drinking,
merriment, and general fellowship were leading reasons for joining a masonic
lodge as well as other societies. The drinking and socializing that characterized
other clubs and English lodges during the early decades of the eighteenth
century do materialize in Scottish lodges. 90 Underutilized as historical sources,
minutes and records from masonic lodges throughout the eighteenth century
provide frequent and sometimes candid allusions to the geniality and gaiety of
their meetings. After the conclusion of business, such as the examination of
candidates for initiation into the fraternity, petitions for charity, and purchases
for the lodge, meetings regularly ended with a blend of music, drinking, and
singing, as was often found at non-masonic societies. For example, a treasurer’s
report for No. 25 St Andrew on 27 December 1769 listed numerous
expenditures, including “coals for the lodge, candles, payment for the fiddlers,
the flambeau carriers, for rum, brandy, sugar, drink for the fiddlers, a pair of
compasses, 8 bottles of punch, and 13 bottles port.” 91 No. 3 Scoon & Perth
recorded similar payments “totaling £9 6 shillings to make up the dinner and
88 See Michael Fry, The Dundas Despotism (Edinburgh, 1992), 168.
89 Grand Master of Beggar’s Benison 1755-1761; Customs Officer, Assistant Comptroller of the
Customs in Scotland, 1736-46, then Collector of Customs at Leith until 1770; See David
Stevenson, Beggar’s Benison (Edinburgh, 2001), 153. The Beggar’s Benison was a well-known
sex club during the Enlightenment. See also McElroy, Age of Improvement, 153.
90 Mark Wallace, “Music, Song and Spirits: The Lighter Side of Scottish Freemasonry,” History
Scotland, Vol. 4 No. 1 January/February 2004, 38-44.
91 No. 25 St Andrew Lodge Minutes, 27 December 1769.
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