Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

"No more the geese shall cackle on the poop,
No more the bagpipe through the orlop sound,
No more the midshipmen, a jovial group,
Shall toast the girls, and push the bottle round.
In death's dark road at anchor fast they stay,
Till Heaven's loud signal shall in thunder roar,
Then starting up, all hands shall quick obey,
Sheet home the topsail, and with speed unmoor."
Robert sang agreeably — (a virtue which was never seen in me) —understood the mechanical arts, and when in good humour could
regale us with many a tale of bold adventure and narrow escapes, When in bad humour, however, he gave us a practical taste of
what was then man-of-war's discipline, and kicked and cuffed without mercy. I have often thought how he might have distinguishd
himself had he continued in the navy until the present times, so glorious for nautical exploit. But the peace of Paris cut off all hopes
of promotion for those who had not great interest ; and some disgust, which his proud spirit had taken at harsh usage from a
superior officer, combined to throw poor Robert into the East India Company's service, for which his habits were ill adapted. He
made two voyages to the East, and died a victim to the climate...."
Subsequent to 7th December, 1785, there is no further reference in the lodge minutes to Sir Walter Scott's father.
"The death of this worthy man, in his 70th year, after a long series of feeble health and suffering, was an event which could could be
regarded as a great deliverance to himself. He had had a succession of paralytic attacks, under which mind as well as body had by
degrees been laid quite prostrate. 3
He died on the 12th of April, 1799, and was buried in the Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh. At the left hand entrance to the iron
door immediately to the west of New Greyfriar's Church there is a granite memorial, interesting from its unique brevity and national
importance :
In front of this Tablet
Lie the Remains of
WALTER, SCOTT, Esquire, W.S.
FATHER of
SIR WALTER SCOTT
with those of Several Members of the same Family.
Chapter II.
Sir Walter Scott. Earl of Dalkeith, Grand Master.
James and John Ballantyne. Joseph Gillon. Initiation of Sir Walter.
He recommends a candidate. His attendance at the meetings.
Sir Walter Scott when initiated into Freemasonry was thirty years of age. He was born in the College Wynd, Edinburgh, on the
15th of August, 1771, and was educated at the High School. Previous to entering the University, in November, 1783, he spent some
weeks in Kelso, where he attended daily the public school. It was there that he became acquainted with the brothers James and
John Ballantyne, with whom he subsequently entered into partnership in the printing and publishing business of Ballantyne and Co.
In his fifteenth year he was indentured as an apprentice to his father. On the expiry of his apprenticeship, in 1790, he resolved to
follow another branch of the legal profession; and having passed through the usual studies, was admitted, in 1792, a member of the
Faculty of Advocates. On 16th December, 1799 he was appointed to the Sheriffdom of Selkirkshire, and in the same month married
Charlotte Margaret Carpenter, daughter of John Carpenter of Lyons.
At an Emergency Meeting, held on Monday, the 2nd of March, 1801, Walter Scott was initiated, passed, and raised in Lodge St.
David. The minute of this meeting does not give the name of his proposer, but doubtless the fact of his father having been long and
intimately connected with the lodge was an inducement to him to join it. There were also other reasons which may have influenced
him. The M.W. Grand Master in 1801, The Earl of Dalkeith, afterwards Duke Charles of Buccleuch, who claimed "St. David's" as his
mother lodge, "had been participating in the military patriotism of the period, and had been thrown into Scott's society under
circumstances well qualified to ripen acquantance into confidence." 4 The Bros. James and John Ballantyne also were frequent
attenders at the lodge, and Scott had been brought much into contact with them in connection with the publishing of the "Minstrelsy
of the Scottish Border," the first two volumes of which were issued from the Kelso Press, in January, 1802. The following extract
from a minute of meeting held on 18th March, is interesting.
"...It ought not to be passed over how much, was contributed to the entertainment of the Lodge by brethren Ballantyne of the Kelso
Lodge to whose social dispositions, elegant manners and musical powers the Lodge of St. David's are no strangers. The R.W.
Master called on the brethren to drink to the health of these two respectable visitors, particularly to that of Brother James Ballantyne
who had formerly been . . . of this Lodge and who now held the office of . . . in the Kelso Lodge. . . . The toast was drunk with the
greatest possible applause and was returned in a handsome and appropriate address from Mr. James Ballentyne."
There is no reference in the records to the office held by Bro. James Ballantyne in the lodge. He was R.W. Master of Lodge
"Kelso," Kelso, now No. 58, in 1802, and in August, 1814, was appointed representative of that lodge at the meetings of the Grand
Lodge in Edinburgh. He has been described as a kind-hearted and talented man, a good critic, and a friend highly esteemed by
Scott. His brother John's aptitude for business has been seriously questioned, he was manager of the printing establishment. In the
jovial, literary and artistic society which he frequented, his racy humour and endless stories never failed to be appreciated.
It was on Scott's suggestion that the Ballantynes settled in Edinburgh to engage in the printing business. A letter sent by Scott
to James Ballantyne refers to that matter. It is also interesting from the fact that it makes reference to another acqaintance of Scott's,
Bro. Joseph Gillon, a member of Lodge St. David, and R.W. Master in 1805-6 and 7.
To Mr. J. Ballantine. Kelso Mail Office, Kelso
Castle Street. 22nd April, 1800.
98