Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

aquavita and honey.” 92 And meetings at Ancient Lodge No. 49 in Dundee
concluded “in the usual harmony agreeable to the Principles of the Craft” after
having “drunk the ordinary Tostes” and ending with a “chearful glass and
song.” 93
Toasts were an important part of the meeting, as at other gatherings of
clubs and societies, attesting to the unity of the members. Although Cockburn
brands healths and toasts as “special torments” and “prandial nuisance[s],” 94
they nevertheless constituted a principal part of masonic meetings, customarily
signifying the closing of the lodge. Recipients and the order of toasts varied,
acknowledging the Master of the Lodge and his officers, members in attendance,
visiting lodges, the Grand Lodges of Scotland and England, and the King.
Mary’s Chapel No. 1 in Edinburgh, upon settling sundry lodge matters, toasted
“the common and ordinary healths…such as ‘The King and the Craft,’ The
Grand Master, and his deputy, Grand Wardens and other officers of the Grand
Lodge, The Grand Master of England and several others suitable to the
occasion.” 95 Some Lodges, such as St Luke’s No. 44 in Edinburgh, observed a
toasting protocol: “every Master Mason should sitt still in their seats during a
Toast, except when their own Lodges are drank to, but the Entered Apprentices
and fellow Crafts must rise up and stand at every Toast.” 96
Davis McElroy writes that the Scottish desire for national improvement
resulted in the proliferation of societies which promoted cultural and social
92 No. 3 Scoon & Perth Lodge Minutes, 27 December 1766.
93 No. 49 Antient Lodge of Dundee Lodge Minutes, 6 February 1789.
94 Henry Cockburn, Memorials of His Time (Edinburgh, 1971).
95 No. 1 Mary’s Chapel Lodge Minutes, 26 June 1740.
96 Lindsay, Holyrood House, 69.
107