[f. FREE a. + MASON.
The precise import with which the adj. was originally used in this designation has been much disputed. Three views have been propounded. (1) The suggestion that free mason stands for free-stone mason would appear unworthy of attention, but for the curious fact that the earliest known instances of any similar appellation are mestre mason de franche peer, ‘master mason of free stone’ (Act 25 Edw. III., st. II. c. 3, A.D. 1350), and sculptores lapidum liberorum, ‘carvers of free stones,’ alleged to occur in a document of 1217 (tr. Findel’s Hist. Mas., 51, citing Wyatt Papworth); the coincidence, however, seems to be merely accidental. (2) The view most generally held is that free masons were those who were ‘free’ of the masons’ guild (see FREE a. 29). Against this explanation many forcible objections have been brought by Mr. G. W. Speth, who suggests (3) that the itinerant masons were called ‘free’ because they claimed exemption from the control of the local guilds of the towns in which they temporarily settled. (4) Perhaps the best hypothesis is that the term refers to the mediæval practice of emancipating skilled artisans, in order that they might be able to travel and render their services wherever any great building was in process of construction.]
† 1. A member of a certain class of skilled workers in stone, in the 14th and following centuries often mentioned in contradistinction to ‘rough masons,’ ‘ligiers,’ etc. They traveled from place to place, finding employment wherever important buildings were being erected, and had a system of secret signs and passwords by which a craftsman who had been admitted on giving evidence of competent skill could be recognized. In later use (16–18th c.) the term seems often to be used merely as a more complimentary synonym of ‘mason,’ implying that the workman so designated belonged to a superior grade. Obs.
1376. in Conder, Hole Craft, 51. [A list of the city companies with the number of their representatives on the Council has: Free masons 2, Masons 4. But in the original handwriting the figure for the Masons is altered to 6, and the entry Free masons is expunged].
1396. Charter Rich. II. (Sloane, 4595), in Masonic Mag. (1882), 341. Concessimus … archiepiscopo Cantuar. quod … viginti et quatuor lathomos vocatos ffre Maceons et viginti et quatuor lathomos vocatos ligiers … capere … possit.
[1444. Act 23 Hen. VI., c. 12. Les gagez ascun frank mason ou maister Carpenter nexcede pas par le jour iiij d. ovesqe mangier & boier … un rough mason & mesne Carpenter … iii d. par le jour.].
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., Proem., in Ashm. (1652), 7. Free Masons and Tanners.
1484. Churchw. Acc. Wigtoft, Linc. (Nichols, 1797), 80. Paide to Will’m Whelpdale fremason for makyng of the crosse in ye chirchrth.
1495. Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 22 § 1. A Freemason maister Carpenter Rough mason Brickleyer [etc.].
1504. Bury Wills (Camden), 104. To John Dealtry, fremason, xs.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 142. The free mason setteth his prentyse first longe tyme to lerne to hewe stones.
1548. Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI., c. 15 § 3. No Person … shall … lett or disturbe any Fre mason, rough mason, carpenter, bricklayer.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., Cont. (ed. 7), A. iv. To the great commoditie and profite of all those that desire to bee perfect in Architecture, in the Arte of Painting, in free Masons craft, in Ioyners craft, in Carvers craft, or anie such like Arte commodious and serviceable in any common Wealth.
1608. Topsell, Serpents (1658), 650. Who seeth not that it were far better the master work-men, free masons, and carpenters, might be spared, then the true labouring husbandman?
1662. Evelyn, Chalcogr. (1769), 90. Encountring the difficulties of the freemason.
1720. Lond. Gaz., No. 5907/4. Anthony Ashley … Free Mason. Ibid. (1723), No. 6195/6. John Lane … FreeMason.
2. A member of the fraternity called more fully, Free and Accepted Masons.
Early in the 17th c., the societies of freemasons (in sense 1) began to admit honorary members, not connected with the building trades, but supposed to be eminent for architectural or antiquarian learning. These were called accepted masons, though the term free masons was often loosely applied to them; and they were admitted to a knowledge of the secret signs, and instructed in the legendary history of the craft, which had already begun to be developed. The distinction of being an ‘accepted mason’ became a fashionable, object of ambition, and before the end of the 17th c. the object of the societies of freemasons seems to have been chiefly social and convivial. In 1717, under the guidance of the physicist J. T. Desaguliers, four of these societies or ‘lodges’ in London united to form a ‘grand lodge,’ with a new constitution and ritual, and a system of secret signs; the object of the society as reconstituted being mutual help and the promotion of brotherly feeling among its members. The London ‘grand lodge’ became the parent of other ‘lodges’ in Great Britain and abroad, and there are now powerful bodies of ‘freemasons,’ more or less recognizing each other, in most countries of the world.
1646. Ashmole, Mem. (1717), 15 Oct. [At] 4 Hor. 30 Minutes post merid., I was made a Free-Mason at Warrington in Lancashire, with Colonel Henry Mainwaring.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 316. Admitting Men into the Society of Free-masons, that in the moorelands of this County seems to be of greater request, than any where else. Ibid. If any man appear though altogether unknown that can shew any of these signes to a Fellow of the Society, whom they otherwise call an accepted mason, he is obliged presently to come to him.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 393/2. I Cannot but Honor the Felloship of the Masons because of it Antiquity; and the more, as being a Member of that Society, called Free-Masons.
1691. Audrey, Memorandums, 18 May, in Conder, Hole Crafte (1894), 5. This day … is a great convention at St Pauls church of the fraternity of the free [erased, and accepted written above] Masons; where Sir Christopher Wren is to be adopted a Brother.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 26, 7 June, ¶ 3. You see them [Pretty Fellows] accost each other with effeminate Airs: They have their Signs and Tokens like Free-Masons: They rail at Womenkind; receive Visits on their Beds in Gowns, and do a Thousand other unintelligible Prettinesses that I cannot tell what to make of.
1723. (title) The Constitutions of the Free-masons … for the Use of the Lodges.
1753. Scots Mag., XV. Sept., 425/1. The society of free and accepted masons caused a magnificent triumphal arch, in the true Augustan style, to be erected at the entry leading to the place where the stone was to be laid.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, VII. 174. ‘I’d turn a Turk, or Methodist—Christian, Freemason, even Jew!’
3. attrib. (of or pertaining to freemasons), as freemason knock, secret, work.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmagundi (1824), 220. I distinguished his *free-mason knock at my door.
1785. Burke, Sp. Nabob of Arcot, 33. The true *free-mason secret of the profession of soucaring.
a. 1490. Botoner, Itin. (Nasmith, 1778), 268. De *fremason-work operata.
Hence Freemasonic a., of or pertaining to freemasons; Freemasonism (Stand. Dict.) = FREEMASONRY.
1831. Westm. Rev., XIV. Jan., 156. The dialect of English spoken by the wayfaring individuals who have the guidance of the public carriages: a free-masonic order who converse by signs, innuendos, and slang.
1859. Thackeray, Virgin., II. xxxviii. 317. Performs that mysterious undefinable freemasonic signal, which passes between women, by which each knows that the other hates her.
1861. Sala, Dutch Pictures, vi. 85. There she is at her post, with a wonderful freemasonic understanding with the doctor, [etc.].
