In Scotland the masons, when they were a real company of artificers, were, like other handicrafts, governed by wardens of districts appointed by the king. In 1598 a re-organization of the mason lodges was effected under William Schaw, principal war den and chief master of masons, who in the following year confirmed the three "heid lodges" in their ancient order of priority—Edinburgh first, Kilwinning second, and Stir ling third. In 1736 the operative element in mason lodges having become absorbed in speculative masonry, the grand lodge of Scotland AVM instituted by the representatives of 34 lodges, by whom also William St. Clair of Roslin was elected grand master, on account of his ancestors' alleged ancient connection with the mason craft, as patrons and protectors. Priority was assigned to the lodges according to the antiquity of their writ ten records. The lodge of Edinburgh (15lary's chapel) was placed first, and Kilwinning second. The lodge of Kilwinning did not formally object to this 1744, when it with drew from the grand lodge and resumed its independence. On :elinquishing this position in 1807, it WaS re-admitted into the grand lodge by the title of Mother Kilwin ning, with precedence over the other lodges, and the provincial grand mastership of Ayrshire rendered hereditary in its master. For the foregoing information, we are indebted to Lyon's Freemasonry In Scotland, published by Messrs. Blackwood & Sons ,(1873)—a work of acknowledged historical value on the subject of which it treats.
Besides gTanting charters of affiliation, the chief use of the grand lodge, whether of England or Scotland, consists in its acknowledged authority to enforce uniformity of ceremonial and other observances, and to settle all disputes that may arise within the lodges under its charge. The officers of the grand lodge are to a large extent delegates
from the respective lodges; the delegation being in the form of proxy masters and war dens. As a source of revenue, for each member made hy a lodge, a fee must be remitted to the grand lodge, whereupon a diploma of brotherhood will be issued.
Modern freemasonry spread from Britain to the continent. to America, and to India. It was introduced into France in 17'25, Russia in 1731, and Germany in 1740. gTand lodges now exist in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Prussia, Saxony, Hamburg, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, in Central and South America, and in British Columbia. Lodges in connection 'with European grand bodies exist in India, Africa, China, Polynesia, Turkey, Palestine, West Indies, Australia, and New Zealand. There are about forty grand lodges in the -United States. Freemasonry is prohibited in Austria, Poland, Russia, and Spain, and by the pope.
The deep symbolical meaning supposed to be couched under the jargon of the rnasonic fraternity is probably as apocryphal as the dangers of masonry to government and order. A set of pass-words and a peculiar grip of the hand enable the initiated to recognize each other, and give a zest to their convivial meetings; aud if the institution possesses any- practical utility, it is in its enabling a mason, in a place where he is a .stranger, to make himself known to his brother-masons, and claim their protection and assistance.