Freemasonry In England.

FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND .

Continued from page 156 . On the appointment , by King Henry VI ., of William Wanefleet , Bishop of Winchester , to be Grand Master , he was employed in building Eton College , near Windsor , and King ' s College , in Cambridge . The latter is a masterpiece of rich Gothic art , that can hardly be matched in

the kingdom . The King also founded Christ ' s College , Cambridge , afterwards finished by Margaret Beaufort , Countess of Eichmond ; and his Queen , Margaret of Anjou , founded Queen ' s College Cambridge . Waneileet , also , at his own cost , built Magdalen College , Oxford , and other persons about twelve religious houses ; so that Masons at this time were much employed and held in great esteem ; for the before-mentioned record

further says , that " the charges and laws of the Freemasons have been seen and pei-usecl by our late sovereign , Henry VI ., and by the lords of his most honourable council , who have allowed them ; and declared that they be right , good , and reasonable to be holden , as they have been drawn out , and collected from the records of ancient tymes , " & c , & c . Diiriim- the civil wars which ensued between the houses of York and

Lancaster , Masonry was much neglected , out on the election of Edward IV . to the throne , he employed the Grand Master , Eichard Beauehamp , Bishop of Sarum , to repair the royal palaces aud castles , and to make the castle and chapel at Windsor more magnificent , for which service the bishop was made Chancellor of the Garter . At the conclusion of the wars , great men also repaired and built extensively . Seven religious houses were

raised , ancl the Londoners rebuilt their walls and gates . During the short reign of Edward V ., who was proclaimed but not crowned , A . D . 1483 , ancl of his uncle , Eichard III ., who succeeded him in the same year , we have no records of Masonry—the people of England having for a considerable time been more employed , during the wars of the roses , in beating down than in building . Many magnificent castles

were destroyed , and their noble proprietors , who might have rebuilt them , were either killed or ruined . So many artificers were killed in these ancl other wars that they became exceedingly scarce , and tlie price of their labour was very high , ancl all the laws made to remedy this evil proved ineffectual . The taste for founding and building monasteries and churches began to decline , partly from the unhappy state of the country , and partly

from the doubts raised in the minds of many persons of all ranks b y Wickliffe and his followers , concerning the efficacy of those pious but expensive works . Doubtless , however , the style of sacred architecture , commonly called Gothic , continued to be gradually improved , and arrived at its greatest perfection , with regard to loftiness and boldness of design and excellence of constructionabout this period

, . When Eichard III . was slain on Bosworfh field , A . D . 1485 , Henry , Earl of Eichmond , was proclaimed Henry VII ., and was afterwards married to Elizabeth , daughter of Edward IV ., thereby putting an end to the unhappy civil wars by the union of the houses oi York and Lancaater . L 2