The epithet "free" was applied to the craft of masons in consequence of their being exempted by several papal bulls from the laws which regulated common laborers, and exonerated from various burdens thrown on the worldng-classes at large both in England and on the continent. Like all the other g-uilds, the masons were bound by their rules to the performance of specific religious duties; but a craft one of whose principal functions was church-building, was naturally under the more especial protection of the clergy. Yet a considerable time before the reformation, we find the jealousy of the church_ excited from time to time by the masonic brethren, partly in consequence of their assum ing other functions besides. those,.of rnere builders. In England, an act, passed in the ramority of Henry VI., at the instigatiOn:of Henry of Iteaufort, cardinal of Winchester, prohibited the masons from holding their wonted chapters and sssemblies_ But this act was never enforced; and Henry VI., on coming of age, himsclf countenanced the masons, and was a member of the fraternity. Henry VII. became their grand master in England.
The history of freemasonry has been overlaid with fiction and absurdity, partly from an exaggerated estimate of its importance in the development of architecture, and partly from a wish to connect medimval masonry with the institution that passes under the same name in the present day. 3lodern (or so called " speculative") freemasonry is an inno cent mystification unconnected either with the building craft or with architecture. It is of British origin, and dates from the 17th century. According to the peculiar phrase ology of the masonic brethren, it is founded in the " practice of moral and social virtue;" its distinguishing characteristic is charity, in its most extended sense; and brotherly love, relief, and truth are inculcated by its precepts. Its real founders were Elias Asia mole and some of his literary friends, who amused themselves by devising a set of sym bols, borrowed in part from the knignts templar, between whom and the old masons an intimate relation is said to have subsisted, and in part from the Rosicruciaus These symbols, which have since been adopted as the distinguishing b6dge of the brotherhood of " free and accepted masons," include the sun, the moon, the compasses, square, and triangle. A number of so-called degrees or grades of masonry with fantastie names were established and conferred on the members.* Climies II. and William III. were masons; and the appearance of a connection with operative masonry was kept up by the appointment of sir Christopher Wren to the office of grand master. The
" lodges" of Scotland profess to trace their origin to the foreign masons who came to Scotland in 1150 to build Kilwinning abbey; tho3e of England go still furthca. back, to an assemblage of masons held by St. Alban, the proto-martyr, at York in 926; and the mother-lodges of York and Kilwinning were, with insignificant exceptions, the parents of all the several lodges erected in different parts of Great Britain. Toward the close of last century, it wa.s in some quarters made a charge against freemasonry, that undei its symbolism was concealed a dangerous conspiracy against all government and religion. The accusation was probably groundless enough as regards British freemasonry, and so little effect was produced by it, that, in an act passed in 1799 for the suppression of secret societies, an exception was made in favor of freemasons. On the continent, polit ical intriguers may sometimes have availed themselves of the secrecy afforded by-free masonry to further their schemes. In 1717 a grand lodge was formed in London, with power to grant charters to other lodges. Under its sanction, the first edition of the con stitutions of the fraternity was published. The grand lodge was for a length of time on an unfriendly footing with the lodge of York, in consequence of having introduced various innovations not approved of by the older lodge, and of having granted charters within the district which York claimed as its own. In 1742 the duke of Cumberland was elected grand master of the grand lodge; and on his death, George IV., then prince of Wales, succeeded to the office, which he continued to hold till he was appointed regent, when, it being considered unsuitable that he should longer exercise any personal superintendence, he took the title of grand patron. In 1813 an understanding and a union was brought about between the two rival lodges by their respective grand masters, the dukes of Kent and Sussex. The fraternity has since been managed by the "united grand lodge of ancient free and accepted masons of England," consisting of the grand master. with his deputy, grand wardens, and other officers, the provincial grand mas ters, and the masters and wardens of all regular lodges, with a certain number of stew ards annually elected, who meet four times a year for the dispatch of business, besides which there is an annual masonic festival, at which every mason is entitled to attend. The grand lodge of England has at present above a thousand lodges under its protection, and has H.R.H. the prince of Wales as its grand master.