In a neat volume, called _The Freemasons' Pocket Companion_, of size to fit
the waistcoat pocket, we find the following brief sketch of the History of
Freemasonry in England. This little Manual is "By a Brother of the Apollo
Lodge, 711, Oxford," who acknowledges his obligation to Oliver and Preston,
an article on Masonry, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, &c.:--
In Britain, we are informed that St. Alban, the first martyr for
Christianity in this country, was a great patron of the masons, and
procured leave from the King or Emperor Carausius for a general meeting or
assembly to be held by them, and higher wages to be given them. But we have
no good reason, I think, to believe that these masons had much connexion
with our fraternity, nor that freemasonry was introduced into Britain
before the time of St. Austin, who, with forty more monks, among whom the
sciences were preserved, was commissioned by Pope Gregory to baptize
Ethelbert, King of Kent. About this time appeared those trading
associations of architects who travelled over Europe, patronised by the See
of Rome. The difficulty of obtaining expert workmen for the many pious
works raised at that time in honour of religion, made it prudent to
encourage, by peculiar privileges, those bodies of men, who had devoted
themselves to the study and practice of architecture. Accordingly they were
allowed to have their own government without opposition, and no others were
permitted to work on any building with which they were concerned. They were
under regular command, divided into lodges, with a master and wardens in
each, and dwelt in an encampment near the building they were employed to
erect.
It is not in my power to trace the progress of these lodges of masons in
any connected history, but I will proceed with the accounts we have of the
masons in England from the time of St. Austin. By them the old cathedral of
Canterbury was built, in 600; St. Paul's, London, 604; and St. Peter's,
Westminster, 605; with many others. In the year 680 some more expert
brethren from France were formed into a lodge, under the direction of
Bennet, Abbot of Wirral, who was appointed superintendent of the masons by
Kinred, King of Mercia. From this time, however, little is known of the
fraternity, until the year 856, when St. Swithin was the superintendent,
appointed by Ethelwolf; from which time it gradually improved till the year
872, when King Alfred took the command of it. Upon his death, in 900, when
Edward succeeded to the throne, and Ethred, Prince of Mercia, patronised
the society, Edward was succeeded, in 924, by his son, Athelstan, whose
brother, Edwin, procured from the king a charter for the masons, by which
they were empowered to meet annually in a general assembly, and to have
power to regulate their own order. And, according to this charter, the
first grand lodge of England met at York, in 926. But here it is to be
remarked that the grand lodge is not to be understood as the same in those
times that it is now; it was not then restricted to the masters and wardens
of private lodges, but was open to as many of the fraternity as could
attend: for, until late years, the grand lodge as now constituted did not
exist, but there was but one family of masons; and any sufficient number of
masons met together, with the consent of the civil magistrate, to practise
the rites of masonry, without warrant of constitution as a lodge.
On the death of Prince Edwin, Athelstan himself presided over the lodges;
but after his decease, we know little of the state of the masons in
Britain, except that they were governed by Dunstan, Archbishop of
Canterbury, in 960, and Edward the Confessor in 1041. But in 1066, William
the Conqueror appointed Gondulph, Bishop of Rochester, to preside over the
society. In 1100, Henry the First patronised them; and in 1135, during the
reign of Stephen, the society was under the command of Gilbert de Clare,
Marquess of Pembroke.
From the year 1155 to 1199, the fraternity was under the command of the
grand master of the knights templars.
In 1199, Peter de Colechurch was appointed grand master; and the society
continued to increase and flourish in the successive reigns of Henry III.,
Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III. This last prince revised the
constitutions of the order, and appointed deputies to superintend the
fraternity, one of whom was William à Wykeham, afterwards Bishop of
Winchester. He continued grand master under the reign of Richard II.; was
succeeded by Thomas Fitz Allen, Earl of Surrey, in Henry IV.'s reign; and
on Henry V.'s accession, Chichely, Archbishop of Canterbury, presided over
the society. We have records of a lodge held at Canterbury, under his
patronage, where Thos. Stapylton was master, and the names of the wardens
and other brethren are given. This was in 1429, four years after an act of
parliament, passed early in the reign of Henry VI., against the meetings of
the society, which was caused by the enmity of Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of
Winchester, towards Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle, a great
patron of the craft. But this act was never enforced, and in 1442 the king
was himself initiated, and he patronised the society.
In the meantime, under the auspices of James I. of Scotland, masonry
flourished in that country. It had been nursed, during the wars which
ravaged Europe, in the humble village of Kilwinning, in the west of the
country; from whence it at length burst forth, and communicated its light
to the lodges in the south. The records of this lodge actually go back to
the beginning of the fifteenth century, as also do those of a lodge in or
near Edinburgh. And about this time the Scottish king appointed a fee to be
paid by every master to the grand master, who was chosen by the grand
lodge. James II. of Scotland made the grand mastership hereditary, and
conferred it on the St. Clairs of Roslin, in which family it continued till
1736, when the then representative of the family, being old and childless,
resigned it into the hands of the grand lodge, then first established on
its present footing, by whom he was re-elected grand master for life.
During the civil wars in England masonry declined; but on the accession of
Henry VII., in 1485, it revived again, under the patronage of the grand
master of the order of St. John, at Rhodes, who, in 1500, chose King Henry
their protector. In 1502 this king presided in person in a lodge of master
masons, and proceeded in ample form to lay the foundation of the chapel, at
the east end of Westminster Abbey, which bears his name.
The fraternity continued to flourish in the next reigns; and in the reign
of Elizabeth, about 1550, Sir Thos. Sackville, then grand master, assembled
the general lodge at York, which is said to have roused the jealousy of the
queen; and she intended to break up the meeting, but being informed that
they did not meddle with politics, she withdrew her orders, and permitted
them to meet unmolested. Sackville was succeeded by Sir Thomas Gresham, in
the south, who built the Royal Exchange, and by Francis Russell, Earl of
Bedford, in the north.
Masonry continued to flourish in the next reign, under Inigo Jones, as
grand master, till 1618, when the Earl of Pembroke succeeded him; and after
some more changes, Jones again was elected, and continued to preside till
his death, in 1646. But the civil war again obstructed the progress of the
order, until the Restoration, when it revived under the auspices of Charles
II.
In 1663, the Earl of St. Alban's was elected grand master, who appointed
Mr. (afterwards Sir Christopher) Wren his deputy; which office he held
until 1685, when he was himself appointed to the grand chair. During his
deputy-ship he erected many noble buildings, particularly the cathedral of
St. Paul's.
The short reign of James II. was not favourable to the order of masons; nor
did it begin again to revive for many years. King William III. was
initiated privately in 1695, and approved the choice of Sir Christopher
Wren as grand master; but shortly after, and during the whole reign of
Queen Anne, the society decreased gradually, for the grand master's age
prevented his attending regularly, and the annual feasts were neglected.
On the accession, therefore, of Geo. I. the masons in London determined to
revive, if possible, the grand lodge and the communications of the society
under a new grand master, Sir Christopher Wren being dead. In February,
1717, accordingly, the only four lodges then existing in London met, and
voting the oldest master mason, constituted themselves a grand lodge; and
on St. John Baptist's day, meeting again, they elected Anthony Sayer, Esq.,
grand master, and he was regularly installed by the grand master who had
before been voted into the chair.
Mr. Sayer was succeeded by George Payne, Esq., in 1718, who collected all
the records of the society--by which means some copies of the old Gothic
constitutions were produced and arranged. In 1719, Dr. Desaguliers was
grand master, and by his activity the order made great progress; and at the
feast of his installation, the custom of drinking healths was first
introduced. In the next, year, under Mr. Payne again, the fraternity
sustained a great loss by the burning of some valuable manuscripts, by some
too scrupulous brethren; and next year, the Duke of Montague was proposed
for, and accepted the chair of grand master.
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In 1726, the masons of Wales attached themselves to the grand lodge of
England, and the office of provincial master was instituted soon after. The
Society was introduced into India in 1728, and the grand lodge of America
constituted, by warrant from London, in 1735; and that of Holland, at
Hamburgh, in the same year. In 1738, the Book of Constitutions was
published; the grand lodge of Prussia constituted under the Scotch
constitution, and has ever since flourished in that country; and in 1774,
the grand lodge of Antigua was established, by warrant from the grand lodge
of England.
Correspondence was opened with the grand lodge of France in 1768; with that
of Holland in 1770; and that of Berlin in 1776. On the 1st of May, 1775,
the foundation-stone of the Freemasons' Hall was laid; and the building was
opened and dedicated in solemn form on the 23rd of May, 1776, Lord Petre
being then grand master.
In 1779, a correspondence was established with the grand lodge of Germany;
and in 1782 an attempt was made to open one with those of Scotland and
Ireland. This was not then effected; but in 1803 explanations were made to
the grand lodge of Scotland regarding the schism in England; in consequence
of which, two years after, the wished for union was accomplished; and in
1808 the same gratifying proposals were made from Ireland, and accepted
with cordiality. Meantime, the same brotherly communication had been
instituted with Sweden in 1799, and Prussia in 1805.
While these friendly communications with foreign brethren were going on,
masonic benevolence, ever privately exercised, had made a public exertion
in favour of the children of deceased brethren at home, in the
establishment of the charity for female children, in 1788; of the masonic
society for the relief of sick, lame, or distressed brethren, and their
widows, children, or orphans, in 1799. In the year 1816 freemasonry was
revived in Russia, under the patronage of the emperor, and communications
forwarded from the grand lodge at St. Petersburgh to that in London.
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