Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

Scotland, and from this institution Scottish freemasonry reached a level of
prominence previously unseen. Such was the case with Scottish culture,
especially in academics and arts. With David Hume, Adam Smith, Robert
Burns, and Robert Adam among the nation’s best and brightest minds, a new era
of cultural and intellectual advancement was ushered in. Indeed, as moral
reform societies and organizations diminished in importance, new elements of
continuity in associational activity appeared and developed. Drawing upon “this
concentration of intellectual greatness in so many different fields,” 190 the age of
improvement gradually gave way to the age of advancement.
The academic and intellectual vigour produced new forums for
discussion and debate, and Enlightenment sociability in the form of clubs,
societies, and organizations became extremely popular. Among these societies
were literary groups which, according to McElroy, existed as “organizations of
learned men who combined for the purpose of exchanging ideas on any subject
which was of interest to themselves, to the other members, or to mankind at
large.” 191 Other variations included scientific societies, philosophical and
convivial clubs, and organizations concerned with horticulture and fishing.
Whatever the interest, eighteenth-century clubs were composed of men from
varying backgrounds, and an underlying and common consideration of form
allowed men of the eighteenth century to meet “with mutual benefit, irrespective
of their primary interests.” 192 Many of the members of prominent and selective
organizations, for example the Select Society, Society of Belles Lettres, and the
190 Smout, History, 470.
191 McElroy, “Clubs and Societies,” 1.
192 Ibid, 6.
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