least side have spoken according to their places, any of them as they please, among themselves, may reply to the remaining members of the opposite side; when both sides have spoken, the President shall give his decision, after which they may go over it a second or more times, and so continue the question.

4th. The Club shall then proceed to the choice of a question for the subject of the next night's meeting. The President shall first propose one, and any other member who chooses may propose more questions; and whatever one of them is most agreeable to the majority of members, shall be the subject of debate next Club night.

5th. The Club shall, lastly, elect a new President; the President shall first name one, then any of the Club may name another, and who ever of them has the majority of votes shall be duly elected; allowing the President the first vote and the casting vote upon a tie, but none other. Then after a general toast to the sweethearts of the Club, the meeting shall be adjourned.

6th. There shall be no private conversation carried on during the time of debate, nor shall any member interrupt another while he is speaking, under the penalty of a reprimand from the President for the first fault, doubling his share of the ale house reckoning for the second, trebling it for the third, and so on in proportion for every fault, provided always, however, that any member may speak at any time after leave asked, and given by the President. All swearing and profane language and particularly obscene and indecent conversation, is strictly prohibited, under the same penalty, as aforesaid, in the first clause of this article.

7th. No member, on any pretence whatever, shall mention any of the Club's affairs to any other person but a brother member, under the pain of being excluded; and

particularly if any member shall reveal any of the speeches or affairs of the Club, with a view to ridicule, or laugh at any of the rest of the members, he shall be forever excommunicated from the Society; and the rest of the members are desired, as much as possible, to avoid, and have no communication with him as a friend or comrade.

8th. Every member shall attend at the meetings, without he can give a proper excuse for not attending; and it is desired that every one who cannot attend, will send his excuse with some other member; and he who shall be absent three meetings without sending such excuse, shall be summoned to the Club night, when if he fail to appear or send an excuse, shall be dismissed.

9th. The Club shall not consist of more than sixteen members, all bachelors, belonging to the parish of Tarbolton; except a brother member marry, and in that case he may be continued, if the majority of the Club think proper. No person shall be admitted a member of this Society, without a unanimous consent of the Club, and any member may withdraw from the Club altogether, by giving a notice to the President of his departure.

10th. Every man proper for a member of this Society must have a frank, honest, open heart, above anything dirty or mean, and must be a professed lover of one or more of the female sex!

No haughty, self-conceited person, who looks upon himself as superior to the rest of the Club, and especially no meanspirited, worldly mortal, whose only will is to keep up money, shall upon any pretence whatever be admitted. In short, the proper person for this Society is a cheerful, honesthearted lad, who, if he has a friend that is true, and a mistress that is kind, and as much wealth as genteelly to make both ends meet is just as happy as this world can make him!

The foregoing constitution and by-laws of the Bachelors' Club of Tarbolton are most remarkable in their moral teaching, parliamentary rules and personal qualifications of members.

When we candidly compare the design of this country association, composed of peasant lads and mechanics, with the celebrated Literary Club of London, nearly contemporaneous, led by Dr. Samuel Johnson, Boswell, Burke, Reynolds, Garrick, Beauclerk, Lockhart, Cumberland and Oliver Goldsmith, we need not blush for the rustic philosophy of the debating Society originated and promulgated by Robert Burns.

The fascination and allurements of wine and women were not forgotten by the members of either Club, and while the muses and gods were courted in detail, I can hear exultingly the loud and brazen

BOAST OF BACCHUS.

I reign over land, I reign over sea,
The proudest of earth I bring to my knee

As weak as a child in the midnight of care:

The prince and the peasant I strip bleak and bare.

A taste of my blood sends a thrill to the heart
And speeds through the soul like a poisonous dart,
While I leave it a wreck of trouble and pain
That never on earth can be perfect again.

The youth in his bloom and the man in his might
I capture by day and I conquer by night,
The maid and the matron respond to my call;
I rule like a tyrant and ride over all.

In the gilded saloon and glittering crowd

I deaden the senses and humble the proud,

And tear from the noble, the good and the great,
The love and devotion of home, church and state.

I blast all the honor that manhood holds dear,
I smile with delight at the sight of a tear,
And laugh in the revel and rout of a night;
My mission on earth is to blur and to blight.

I ruin the homes of the high and the low,
I blast every hope of the friend and the foe,
The world I sear with my blistering breath,
And millions I lead to the portals of death.

In the parlor and dance house I sparkle and roar
Like billows that break on a wild, rocky shore.
I crush every virtue, destroy every truth
That blossoms in beauty or blushes in youth.

My power is mighty for sin and despair;

I crouch like a lion that waits in his lair

To mangle the life of the pure and the brave,
And drag them in sorrow to shame and the grave.

THE MASONIC RECORD OF ROBERT BURNS.

The generic love that Burns bore for fellowship with humanity did not cease with his organization of the Bachelors' Club, but through his own social desire and the suggestive solicitations of prominent Masons at Tarbolton, he made application for the three degrees in the order of Free and Accepted Masons.

On the 4th of July, 1781, he was made an Entered Apprentice, and on the 1st of October following, he became a

Fellow Craft Member, and the same night was raised to the Third or Sublime Degree of a Master Mason in St. David's Lodge, Tarbolton, Scotland.

Burns entered at once into the spirit and philosophy of mystic. Masonry, based on truth, love and charity, and particularly the consolidation of the Brotherhood of Man, with pure, divine principles and absolute belief in one eternal God!

No contention about nativity, race, religion, creed, politics, wealth or power ever enters the lodge room of Masonry, and in every civilized land and clime on the globe, Master Masons meet upon the level, act upon the plumb, and part upon the square!

There is no secret body in the world that teaches such beautiful lessons of truth and fidelity in its eloquent and impressive ritual at the altar; and the solemn, mystical obligations, sworn to voluntarily by each and every Brother Mason on bended knees, remain deeply engraved on the heart and soul of the candidate to the last moment of his life!

Burns attended the meetings of the St. David Lodge with great punctuality, offering various resolutions and often acting as secretary, making the minutes of several meetings in his own handwriting yet preserved, and signed his name several times to the official record as Robert Burness.

In the years 1783-4, he was elected Deputy Master of the Lodge, and when the Grand Master was not there, Burns always acted in his place, to the great satisfaction of the Brothers present.

When one or more candidates took the Master's Degree, St. David's Lodge gave a supper in his honor, where cakes, ale, wine, whiskey, song, wit and oratory prevailed until midnight; and "Robbie" Burns was the pride and toast of