Old Records Of The Lodge Of Peebles.

It was from this wood or plantation that the Masons of old Kilwinning-Lodge , Peebles , commissioned their brother to buy timber for repairing the house recently purchased . The district is still thickly wooded , but about this time it seems to have been still more so , as about the close of last century and the beginning of the present , it is recorded that the last of the Dukes of Qiieensberry , who had no male issue to inherit the entailed estate , caused

many of the valuable trees to be cut down and removed before the estate passed to the descendants of the family in the female line . The poet Wordsworth refers to this in the following

lines—Degenerate Douglas ! oh , the unworthy lord , Whom mere despite of heart could so far please , And love of havock ( for with such disease Fame taxes him ) , that he could send forth word To level with the dust a noble horde , A brotherhood of venerable trees , Leaving an ancient dome , and towers like these ,

Beggared and outraged ! Many hearts deplored The fate of those old trees ; and oft with pain The traveller , at this day , will stop and gaze On wrongs which Nature scarcely seems to heed .

The next four pages of the book is filled up with lengthy minutes still in connection with this old house , its repair , and its lease to a tenant for nine years , for the yearly rent of £ 6 , and finishes up the records of what seems to be a bad bargain by borrowing another sum of £ 65 to pay said repairs . Although the " Operative Masons " agreed to do the mason work gratis , still the accounts for repairs amounted to the sum of £ 72 19 s . Ofd . During 1794

and 1795 the following entrants were initiated , viz : Andrew Ritchie , Mason in Peebles ; Mr . James Ingles , in Edinburgh ; William Ker , of Peebles ; John Ballantyne , of Peebles ; and Wm . Thomson , Stocking Maker there ( Jas . Ker , Master ) . Upon St . John ' s Day , 27 th December , 1796 , a motion was made by the R . W . M , that the Lodge should be turned into a Mason ' s friendl y Society , and

the Lodge agreed that their should be a Comitie appointed to make out proper regulations to be laid before a general meeting . The Comitie is the officebearers for the time : Brother Oman , Brother James Donaldson , Brother Bartram , and Brother John Hislope , and to meet when convenient . At this meeting thirty-four members are marked paid on list , and seven not paid . All the entrants this year seem to have been initiated in the month of

December , viz : Peebles , 2 nd Deer , 1796 . Simon Brown , son of Mr . Brown , was duly and legally admitted a member of the Lodge ; also Robert Oman , son of Mr . William Oman , rector of the Gramer School of Peebles .

Deer . 20 th , 1796 . William Grant , of Smithfield , Esquire , and Walter Laidlaw , tenant in Hundhillshope , were admitted Apprentices . Deer . 26 th , 1796 . James Lawson , Robert Elphinstone , Merchant ; and William Hunter were admitted Apprentices ; also same day , William Brown , son of Mr . Brown , a member

of the lodge , and John Hislope , son of John Hislope , also a member of the lodge , were admitted Apprentices . Deer . 27 th , 1796 . James Ker , Barber , in Peebles , was admitted Apprentice Deer . 27 th , 1797 . Anniversary of St . John held—37 members are marked present , and paid their dues , and 2 unpaid . James Gray is elected Master .