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GOULD'S HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

 

VOLUME III 

 

CONTENTS

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD

‑ THE RISE OF ADDITIONAL RITES‑ THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY I

 

CHAPTER TWO

FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE

 

CHAPTER THREE

FREEMASONRY IN THE GERMAN EMPIRE

 

CHAPTER FOUR

FREEMASONRY IN AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY 161

 

CHAPTER FIVE

 FREEMASONRY IN RUSSIA

 

CHAPTER SIX

 FREEMASONRY IN DENMARK AND HOLLAND

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

FREEMASONRY IN SWEDEN,

 NORWAY AND FINLAND - FREEMASONRY IN ITALY -

 FREEMASONRY IN BELGIUM - FREEMASONRY IN SPAIN

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

FREEMASONRY IN SWITZERLAND

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 FREEMASONRY IN PORTUGAL

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 FREEMASONRY IN MALTA PAGE - FREEMASONRY

 IN POLAND

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

 FREEMASONRY IN BOHEMIA AND CZECHO‑SLOVAKIA

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

FREEMASONRY IN RUMANIA AND JUGO‑SLAVIA

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 FREEMASONRY IN TURKEY, GREECE AND CYPRUS

 

ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME III

 

King Gustav of Sweden Frontispiece PACING PADS A Masonic Lodge in Paris, 1740 16 Comte de Clermont 26 Regalia of the Grand Orient of France (Colour) 40 Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orleans 42 Joseph Bonaparte 54 Napoleon Bonaparte, at the Lodge of Faubourg St. Marcel 56 A Masonic Banquet ‑ A Toast 66 The Reception of an Apprentice 84 A Freemason's Lodge, Frederick the Great Presiding 9o F. L. Schroeder, Ritual Reformer, 1744‑1816 92 Freemason's Sword of Frederick the Great 94 A Representative Selection of German Lodge Jewels (Colour) io8 J. G. Fichte, Masonic Historian and German Philosopher, 1762‑1814 132 Altar in the Little Temple, Berlin 144 A Master with Apron 158 Headquarters of the Grand East of the Netherlands, at The Hague 204 Lodge Room at Copenhagen, Denmark 206 Masonic Temple, Amsterdam 214 Masonic Temple, Amsterdam ‑ West End 218 Freemasons' Hall, Oslo, Norway 222 A Rare Swiss Jewel of the Second Degree 234 is ILLUSTRATIONS Heinrich Zschokke Grand Master Giuseppe Garibaldi The Duke of Cumberland Prominent Churchmen, Members of the Masonic Fraternity PAQNO PAOH 2‑4o zso 2.5 6 Hosea Ballou, Edward Bass, Gregory T. Bedell, Sr., Thomas C. Brownell, Thomas Chalmers, Philander Chase, Leighton Coleman, James E. Freeman, Alexander V. Griswold, Thomas Starr King, William H. Odenheimer, Henry C. Potter, Samuel Seabury At end of volume GOULD'S HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD VOLUME III A HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD VOL. III CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY IT has been regarded as a matter for astonishment that, in the short space of from ten to twenty years after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England, Freemasonry should have obtained a firm footing in the remotest parts of the continent of Europe. The circumstance, however, seems to be a natural result. England at that time was, without doubt, the centre of all eyes and any important movement in this country was bound to attract especial attention from the world at large. Marlborough's brilliant achievements abroad had made her weight felt on the Continent ; the States of Europe were distracted and impoverished by constant wars, whilst England was at least undisturbed within her own frontiers and had become exceedingly wealthy. Her possession of Hanover brought her into close contact with Germany, but her alliance and, above all, her large subsidies, were desired by each of the contending States in turn and, as a consequence, her capital was the rendezvous of thousands of foreigners. In these circumstances the formation of the Grand Lodge could barely have escaped notice ; but, when noblemen of high position and men celebrated for their learning began to frequent the assemblies, to accept office, to take part in public processions, proudly wearing the jewels and aprons, no foreigner resident in the City of London could fail to be struck with the phenomenon. For in those days London was not a province of vast extent. It was a city of ordinary dimensions and each citizen might fairly be expected to be acquainted with every part of it, as well as with the personal appearance of its chief notabilities. A duke or earl was not lost amongst the millions of people who now throng the thoroughfares. His person, equipages and liveries were familiar to the majority of residents, his words and actions the talk of every club and coffee‑house. The Fraternity, so suddenly brought into prominence, must have attracted everyone's attention and many visitors to the metropolis must have been introduced into its circle. Returning to their own country, what more natural than a wish to enjoy there also those charming meetings 2 INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF where kindliness and charity prevailed, where the strife of parties was unknown, where the slightest allusion to political or religious controversy was forbidden. What more natural than that those debarred from visiting its shores should desire to benefit by the new whim of " those eccentric islanders" and that, given a sufficient number of the initiated in any one town, Lodges should be formed ? Even before regular Lodges were constituted, it cannot be doubted that informal receptions into the Fraternity took place whenever a few Freemasons met together. Wherever the earliest Lodges existed, there are found traces of previous meetings and, in no other way, can the presence in the first stated Lodges, of undoubted Freemasons initiated elsewhere, be accounted for. There seems little doubt that, within five years of 1717, Freemasons were by no means scarce on the Continent. But little doubt can exist that no single Freemason ever lived on the Continent or elsewhere, whose Masonic pedigree did not begin in Great Britain. No former association, guild or otherwise, ever grew into a Fraternity of Freemasons outside these islands, nor was any connexion with the building trades of the Continent ever claimed by the first Freemasons of Europe. The Craft there is a direct importation from England and, in its infancy and for many subsequent years, was confined entirely to the upper classes without the least admixture of the artisan. Even in Germany the language of the Fraternity was French, being that of the court and of diplomacy. All the earlier Minutes are recorded in that tongue and all the names of the first Lodges are French. For a few years the references are invariably to England and to English usages but, about 1740, a change took place. In contradistinction to English Masonry, a Scottish Masonry, supposed to hail from Scotland, but having no real connexion with the sister kingdom, arose, which was presumed to be superior to the hitherto known Craft and possessed of more recondite knowledge and extensive privileges.

 

Fertile imaginations soon invented fresh Degrees based upon and overlapping the English ritual. These Scottish Degrees were supplemented by additions of Chivalric Degrees, claiming connexion with and descent from all the various extinct orders of knighthood, till finally we meet with systems of 7, 10, 25, 3 3, go and, eventually, 95 Degrees! The example was no doubt set in France and the fashion spread throughout Europe, till the Craft's stated origin in the societies of English builders was utterly lost sight of. It has been maintained that the impulse was given by the partisans of the Stuarts‑refugees in France at the court of St. Germain ‑and that it was the result of intrigues to win the Craft to their political purposes. Colour is lent to this view by the fact that the earliest names mentioned in connexion with French Freemasonry are those of well‑known adherents of the Pretender. That Scotsmen and Englishmen residing in Paris should take the lead in an essentially English institution, does not appear sufficiently remarkable to warrant such a conclusion and, in the absence of anything like proof, cannot be entertained. In a solitary instance‑the Strict Observance‑it is possible that some such political design may have been cherished but, if so, it was dropped as useless almost before it was conceived and, certainly, the Stuarts themselves, on their own showing, never ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY 3 were Freemasons at all. Contemporary records are so scarce, that little argument can be adduced on either side, whereas any amount of assertion has been freely indulged in. As the inducement to change possibly arose from the unlucky speech of a Scotsman‑the Chevalier Ramsay‑every arbitrary innovation was at first foisted on Scotland, as the most likely birthplace‑in contradistinction to England, the land of the original Rite. How could a new Rite be fathered on France, Spain, Germany or Italy, where twenty years previously, as could at once be demonstrated, no Freemasonry had ever been heard of ? There was absolutely no choice but Scotland, or peradventure Ireland, so Scotland obtained the credit of every new invention. The alleged connexion with the Jacobites was clearly an afterthought. What is designated as Scots Masonry was unknown before the date of Ramsay's speech, but it appeared shortly afterwards. There is, therefore, a certain plausibility in representing the two as cause and effect ; but the man and the discourse will now be considered and an endeavour made to present the facts in what seems to be their true light, for probably never was any character in Masonic annals with, perhaps, the single exception of the Baron von Hund, more unjustly held up to opprobrium and the scorn of posterity. Yet von Hund has always had a few upholders of his probity, whereas until quite recently no name has been too bad for Ramsay. Every petty author of the merest tract on Freemasonry has concurred in reviling a dead man on whose public or private life no slur can be cast, who was highly esteemed by great and good men of his own generation‑whilst even writers of weight and authority have not disdained to heap obloquy upon him without one thought of his possible innocence. The general accusation against Ramsay is, that he was a devoted partisan of the exiled Royal Family of England; that he delivered or wrote a speech; that, in this speech, he wilfully and knowingly, oś malice prepense, fouled the pure stream of Masonic history ; and that he so acted in the interests and to further the intrigues of a political faction. In view of acknowledged principles, no impeachment of a Freemason could be more serious, no action more reprehensible. Therefore, such a charge should only be brought on the clearest possible proof. Now the only particle of truth is, that Ramsay certainly did write the speech. As for the other statements, if it can be shown that Ramsay was not a partisan of the Stuarts the whole libel loses the little consistency it ever possessed.

 

Rebold (Histoire des trois grander‑loges, Paris, 1864, p. 44) says : " Ramsay was a partisan of the Stuarts and introduced a system of Masonry, created at Edinbro' by a chapter of Canongate‑Kilwinning Lodge, in the political interests of the Stuarts and with the intention of enslaving Freemasonry to Roman Catholicism." The statement respecting the Edinbro' Chapter is too absurd to require refutation. Even the usually critical and judicious Kloss (Geschichte der Frehnaurerei in Frankreich, Darmstadt, 18 52, vol. i, p. 46) declares " that it is clear that Ramsay purposely introduced higher Degrees in order to make a selection from the ranks of the brotherhood in the interests of the Stuarts and to collect funds for the Pretender " ; whilst Findel does not scruple to call him " infamous." Two 4 INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF writers only have attempted to clear Ramsay's good name. Pinkerton (Notes and ,Queries, 4th series, December 18, 1869), the first of these, unfortunately takes up wrong ground. He argues that the speech is evidently a skit on Freemasonry and, therefore, not Ramsay's at all ; further, that in view of Pope Clement's Bull‑In Eminenti‑Ramsay, who was a sincere convert to Romanism, could not by any possibility have been a Freemason. But facts have since come to light which render it probable that the speech was delivered on March 21, 1737, whilst the Bull is dated 1738 ; while it is well known that, in spite of repeated Bulls, many conscientious members of the Roman Church have been at all times, are even now, members of the Craft. A few years ago, however, the Rev. G. A. Schiffmann, who, on other occasions, has shown that he possesses an unprejudiced mind and the courage of his convictions, published a pamphlet study of Ramsay (Andreas Michael Ramsay, Eine Studie, etc., Leipzig, 1878) and, although a few trifling details in his work may be subject to correction, his viewsin spite of Findel having done his best to prove their fallacy‑are in the main those which merit the adoption of every critical reader. Had Masonic history always been studied in the same spirit of fearless, candid inquiry, there would be fewer fables and errors to correct. Although Schiffmann held an official appointment in Zinnendorff's Grand [National] Lodge, he, in 1870‑6, gave expression to his opinion of the duplicity and deceit on which the whole Rite was based, supporting the Crown Prince's demand for inquiry and reform. He was consequently expelled in 1876, but received with high honour by all the more enlightened Lodges of Germany.

 

One of the most romantic figures in the history of Freemasonry is the Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay. He was born in Ayr on June 9, 1686, his father being a baker and, apparently, a strict Calvinist. The dates ascribed to his birth vary considerably. Rees' Cyclopadia states he died in 1743, aged 5 7, which would place his birth in 1686, as stated. Chambers' Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen gives the date as June 9, 1688. Findel also has 1686 and that date has been accepted by D. Murray Lyon. But, according to his own account (if correctly reported), he must have been born in 168o‑i, because in 1741 he told Heir von Geusau that he was then sixty years old. This would make him sixty‑two at the time of his death in 1743. Herr von Geusau was tutor to the son of the sovereign prince of Reuss, whom he accompanied in his travels through Germany, France and Italy. In Paris they met Ramsay, then tutor to the Prince of Turenne. Geusau kept a careful diary, anecdotal, personal, historical and geographical of the whole tour. This diary came into the possession of Dr. Anton Friedrich Buesching, who made extensive use of it for his Geography. He further gave copious extracts from it in Beitrdge Zu der Lebensgeschichte denkavurdiger Personen, Halle, 1783‑9, 5 vols. In vol. iii some fifty pages are devoted to Ramsay's conversations with Geusau, respecting himself in general and his Masonic proceedings in particular, together with Geusau's reflections thereon. The Diary has unfortunately never been published in extenso, all allusions therefore by Masonic writers to Geusau's Diary are really to this collection ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY S of anecdotes of celebrated men. The value of the work consists in the fact that we have here a contemporary account of Ramsay, written with no ulterior object and, although at second‑hand, Ramsay's own words concerning his Masonic career. Geusau was not a Freemason‑a fact which enhances the value of his testimony.

 

After a brief period of tuition in a school at Ayr, Andrew entered Edinburgh University at the age of fourteen and, for three years, studied classics, mathematics and theology. He attained some fame in classical research and, throughout his life, the great Greek thinkers were his constant study and delight. Eventually he broke with Calvinism and was attracted to the mystical writings of Antoinette Bourignon, who was at that time enjoying a considerable following in Aberdeen. It was at one time believed that the famous Quietist travelled through Scotland in the dress of a hermit. She became famous at a time when both Scottish Episcopalianism and Scottish Catholicism had lost nearly all their spiritual vigour. As the outcome of her teachings, Ramsay got into touch with Poiret and the Quietist Movement in France, although he had become known as a Deist.

 

On leaving the University he took up the work of a tutor and was engaged to teach the two sons of the Earl of Wemyss. About 17o6, however, he left Britain, only to return to it for short periods. He went first to Flanders, where he entered the army under the Duke of Marlborough, who was then engaged in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 171o he obtained an introduction to Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambrai and, as the outcome of an interview with him, Ramsay left the army and took up his abode with Fenelon, to study religion and to endeavour to gain peace of mind. He entered the Catholic Church in order to come directly under the Quietist Movement and he remained with Fenelon until the death of that dignitary in January 1715. Ramsay afterwards wrote the life of Fenelon, which was published at The Hague in 1723, in which there are vivid sketches of Madame Guyon and the violent Bishop Bossuet, the bitter opponent of Fenelon.

 

There is no need to wonder that Ramsay was attracted by the beautiful life, words and actions of the celebrated Archbishop, whose all‑embracing Christianity never shone more conspicuously than during the Flemish campaigns and by whom he was converted to the Roman faith. There is no proof or symptom of proof that Ramsay became such a fervid Ultramontanist as has been stated. The character of his master would almost forbid it. Fenelon was one of the pillars of the Gallican Church, which was by no means in servile submission to that of Rome, although in communion with it; and the liberal breadth of his views was so widely spread as to incur the enmity of the great Bossuet and the open hostility of the Jesuits. Ramsay's printed works breathe a spirit of toleration worthy of his master. To Geusau we are indebted for an anecdote which goes far to prove that he was no bigot. During his short residence at Rome an English lord lived at James's Court who was married to a Protestant lady. A little girl was born to the couple and, the parents being in doubt as to their proceedings, Ramsay advised that she should be christened by one of the two Protestant chaplains of the household and exerted himself to such good effect in the cause as to win the consent of the Cardinal Chief of the G INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF Inquisition. And Geusau, himself a Protestant, declares that Ramsay was a learned man, especially well informed in both ancient and modern history. He praises his upright and genial nature, his aversion to bigotry and sectarianism of all kinds and avers that he never once made the least attempt to shake his faith. Was this the kind of man to pervert Freemasonry in the interest and at the bidding of the Jesuits ? After Fenelon's death Ramsay went to Paris and became tutor to the young Duc de Chateau‑Thierry and gained the friendship of the Regent, Philippe d'Orleans. The Regent was the Grand Master of the Order of St. Lazarus, into which he admitted Ramsay, who thus became known as the Chevalier Ramsay. This Order was founded in the fourth century in Palestine and erected hospitals for lepers, which were known as Lazarettes. It was founded as a military and religious community, at the time of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. Popes, princes and nobles endowed it with estates and privileges, but the knights were driven from the Holy Land by the Saracens and, in i2gi, migrated to France and to Naples in 1311. It is now combined with the Order of St. Maurice and is conferred by the King of Italy, who is Grand Master, on persons distinguished in the public service, science, art, letters and charitable works, to which last‑named its income is devoted.

 

Ramsay remained in Paris until 1724, when he accepted the post of tutor to Charles Edward and Henry (afterwards Cardinal of York), the two young Princes of the exiled House of Stuart, sons of the Pretender, James Francis Edward (James III), who had been on terms of friendship with Fenelon. He found the strange, though interesting, Court of St. James at Rome an uncomfortable abode and, after about a year, he resigned his position, in consequence of the constant intrigues and petty jealousies that surrounded the unfortunate James. Ramsay was an ardent Jacobite and he described the Pretender as " a very clever, fine, jovial, free‑thinking man." In 1725, Ramsay was offered the post of tutor to the Duke of Cumberland, the second son of George II, but refused because of his adoption of the Roman Catholic faith and because he had no liking for that reigning monarch. He was, however, given a safe conduct to Britain and, towards the end of 1728, he arrived in London and immediately proceeded to Scotland, where he became the guest of the Duke of Argyll at Inverary. The Duke possessed one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom, was a man of culture and a friend to higher education.

 

Ramsay made his way quickly into literary circles. He was in Oxford in 1728 as the guest of the Marquis d'Abais. On March 12, 1729, he was made a member of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, the membership of which was composed largely of Freemasons and, in the same year, he was elected F.R.S. , whilst, in the following year, Oxford conferred upon him the degree of D.C.L., he having previously been admitted a member of St. Mary's Hall. There was a strong minority opposed to him, which showed itself after the Earl of Arran, then Chancellor of the University, had proposed him for the honour. The opposition was on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic, a ‑Jacobite and had been in the service of the Pretender. Dr. King, the principal of St. Mary's Hall, spoke in Ramsay's defence and concluded ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY 7 his speech by saying: Quod instar omnium est. Fenelonii magni archi prasulis Camara censis alumnum prasento vohis. Thefe were 85 votes in favour of his receiving the degree and 17 against. He was the first Roman Catholic to receive a degree at Oxford since the Reformation.

 

Hearne's Diary, under date of April 2o, 173o, has the following entry Last night Mr. Joyce and I (and nobody else) spending the evening together in Oxford, he told me that the Chevalier Ramsay (who is gone out of town) gave (before he went) in consideration of Dr. William King's Civilities to him in Oxford, the perpetual right of printing his Travells of Cyrus in French (wch is) original, (the English being a translation and the Right given to another) provided the profits be turned to the benefit of St. Mary Hall. Inquirie more of this. Mr. Joye was one of the witnesses to the deed of gift.

 

Chambers (Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, 1835, vol. iv, p. 137) is under a mistake in stating that the degree was conferred upon him by Dr. King, principal of St. Mary's Hall. Dr. King not being Vice‑Chancellor, could not have conferred the degree, though he might have been instrumental in procuring it for him. The only record of members of St. Mary's Hall is the buttery‑book and Ramsay's name first appears there as charged for battels on the same date but, although his name is kept on the books for some years afterwards, he is never again charged, so that it is to be presumed he never went into residence. Curiously enough the usual entry of his admission to the Hall cannot be found, while another peculiarity is, that he is always described in the buttery‑book as " Chevalier Ramsay, LL.D.," probably in error, this being the Cambridge degree, whereas the Oxford degree was D.C.L. Evidently this man, taking such a prominent position in London life, could not have been a notorious Jacobite intriguant.

 

Ramsay's work, the Travels of Cyrus, had been published in Paris in 1727 and immediately attained world‑wide popularity, although the author was denounced by the critics as a " deistical, freethinking, socinian, latitudinarian, despiser of external ordinances." The work was widely translated and editions published at London, Glasgow, Breslau, Lisbon, Madrid, Naples and Leyden ; the last British edition being published at London in 1816. It had, as an appendix, A Discourse upon the Theology and Mythology of the Pagans, the design of which was to show that " the most celebrated philosophers of all ages and of all countries have had the notion of a Supreme Deity, who produced the world by his power and governed it by his wisdom." That Ramsay was no Freethinker is proved by the opening lines of his poem on " Divine Friendship " O sovereign beauty, boundless source of love, From Thee I'm sprung, to Thee again I move 1 Like some small gleam of light, some feeble ray That lost itself by wandering from the day.

 

Or some eclips'd, some faint and struggling beam That fain would wrestle back from whence it came. So I, poor banished I, oft strive to flee Through the dark maze of nothing up to Thee 1 8 INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF When Ramsay returned to France, he accepted the post of tutor to the Vicomte de Turenne, son of the Duc de Bouillon. He became actively associated with Freemasonry and it is claimed that he instituted new Degrees, the funds of which were devoted to the assistance of the exiled Stuarts. In 1737 he was Chancellor or Orator of the Grand Lodge of France, during the Grand Mastership of Lord Harnouster, when he delivered an oration, which has made his name famous in the annals of the Craft. This was published afterwards as the Relation apologique du FrancMafonnerie which, Kloss says, was the first thorough and circumstantial defence of the Craft. It was publicly burned at Rome by command of the Pope, on the ground that it was a work which tended to weaken the loyalty of the people. The incident is referred to in the Gentleman's Magazine for 173 8, in the following words There was lately burnt at Rome, with great solemnity, by order of the Inquisition, a piece in French, written by the Chevalier Ramsay, author of the Travels of Cyrus, entitled An Apologetical and Historical Relation of the Secrets of Freemasonry, printed at Dublin, by Patric Odonoko. This was published at Paris in answer to a pretended catechism, printed there by order of the Lieutenant of Police.

 

That Ramsay was a Freemason and Grand Chancellor of the Paris Grand Lodge is known from his conversations with Geusau, but he never stated when and where he was initiated. Inasmuch as he was in Flanders in 1709 and did not return to England till 172.5 at the earliest, he could scarcely at that time have been a member of the Craft, unless " entered " at Kilwinning previous to the era of Grand Lodges. Lyon (History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, p. 308), however, vouches for the fact that he was not a member of Kilwinning. It would appear probable that he was initiated in London circa 1728‑c9. Among his fellow members of the Gentlemen's Society of Spalding, were no fewer than seven very prominent Freemasons and among his brother Fellows of the Royal Society, from '1730 to 1736 (the probable limit of his stay in England), were Martin Folkes, Rawlinson, Desaguliers, Lord Paisley, Stukeley, the Duke of Montagu, Richard Manningham, the Earl of Dalkeith, Lord Coleraine, the Duke of Lorraine (afterwards Emperor of Germany), the Earls Strathmore, Crawford and Aberdour, Martin Clare and Francis Drake. In such a company of distinguished Freemasons, it can scarcely be doubted that Ramsay soon became a prey to the fashion of the hour and solicited admission to the Fraternity, also that the Lodge to which he is most likely to have applied was that of the " Old Horn," of which Desaguliers and Richard Manningham were members. This supposition cannot be verified, because that Lodge (unlike some of the rest) has preserved no list of its members for 1730. If he left the Continent circa 1726, he could scarcely have been initiated there, except perhaps by individual Brethren, in an irregular manner, because the first Lodge heard of‑out of Britain‑was held at Paris in '1725. The facts, however, are by no means as clear as might be desired.

 

The Almanac, des Cocus was published in Paris from 1741‑3. Pinkerton states it was a vile and obscene publication. If so, it merely reflected the lascivious ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY 9 tendencies of the age and country and there is no reason on that account to declare that Ramsay could be the author of no part of its contents. It naturally treated the subjects of the day and,might have published his Oration without previously consulting the writer. In the edition for 1741 appeared " Discourse pronounced the new articles Of 1738, with various introductions by the author. He claims to at the reception of Freemasons by Monsieur de R‑, Grand Orator of the Order." The next publication of the same Oration was in 174z by De la Tierce (Histoire, Obligations etStatuts delatr. ven. ConfraternWdesF.M., etc., 1742, 1745), who describes himself as a former member of the Duke of Lorraine's Lodge, London, whose book is in substance a translation of the Constitutions of 17zI, supplemented by i have produced facts omitted by Anderson ; indeed gives a very detailed account of the Grand Masters, from Noah onwards, reserving a disti‑n‑gui‑s‑he‑d‑place to Mistaim. The introduction preceding the " Obligations of a Freemason " consists of " the following discourse pronounced by the Grand Master of the Freemasons of France, in the Grand Lodge, assembled solemnly at Paris, in the year of Freemasonry, five thousand seven hundred and forty." It reappeared in other publicapublica tions, London, 1757 and 1795 (in French) ; the Hague, 1773 (also French); in the appendix to the second (1743) and third (176z) editions of the first translation into German of Anderson's Constitutions (Frankfort, 1741) ; and elsewhere. It will be observed that the Almanac, attributes,the speech to a Mr. R. and gives no date; Tierce, to the Grand Master in 1740; whilst, according to Kloss (Gescbicbte, etc., op. cit., vol. i, p. 44), the German translations merely state that the Grand Orator delivered it. That the speech was Ramsay's is known from his confession to Geusau and the only remaining matter of doubt is the exact date of its delivery. Jouast (Histoire du Grand Orient de France, Paris, 1865, p. 63) maintains that it was delivered on June 24, 1738, on the occasion of the installation of the Duc D'Antin as Grand Master, referring to the Duke some expressions therein which probably applied to Cardinal Fleury ; states that the speech was first printed at the Hague in 1738, bound up with some poems attributed to Voltaire and some licentious tales of Piron. If such a work really existed at that date, it was probably the original of the Lettre pbilosopbique par M. de V‑, avec plusieurs pieces galantes, London, 175 7 and, again, in 1795 ; but Kloss, in his Bibliograpbie, knows nothing of it.

 

Thory dates the appearance of Ramsay as Orator, December 24, 1736 (Acta Latomorum, Paris, 1815, vol. i, p. 3z). But J. Emile Daruty would appear to have settled the matter almost beyond doubt, by the discovery, in a very rare work (P. E. Lemontey, Histoire de la Regence et de la Minorite de Louis XV, jusq'au Ministere du Cardinal de Fleury, Paris, vol. vii, pp. z9z et seq.) of the two following letters (Recbercbes sur le rite Ecossais, etc., Mauritius and Paris, 1879, pp. z87, 288), addressed by Ramsay to Cardinal Fleury, the all‑powerful prime minister of France.

 

March zo, 1737.

 

Deign, Monseigneur, to support the Society of Freemasons [Ramsay used the English spelling] in the large views which they entertain and your Excellency will render your name more illustrious by this protection than Richelieu did his by 1o INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF founding the French Academy. The object of the one is much vaster than that of the other. To encourage a society which tends only to reunite all nations by a love of truth and of the fine arts, is an action worthy of a great minister, of a Father of the Church and of a holy Pontiff.

 

As I am to read my discourse to‑morrow in a general assembly of the Order and to hand it on Monday to the examiners of the Chancellerie [the censors of the Press‑prior to publication], I pray your Excellency to return it to me to‑morrow before mid‑day by express messenger. You will infinitely oblige a man whose heart is devoted to you.

 

March zz, 1737 I learn that the assemblies of Freemasons displease your Excellency. I have never frequented them except with a view of spreading maxims which would render by degrees incredulity ridiculous, vice odious and ignorance shameful. I am persuaded that if wise men of your Excellency's choice were introduced to head these assemblies, they would become very useful to religion, the state and literature. Of this I hope to convince your Excellency if you will accord me a short interview at Issy. Awaiting that happy moment, I pray you to inform me whether I should return to these assemblies and I will conform to your Excellency's wishes with a boundless docility.

 

Cardinal Fleury wrote on the margin of this letter in pencil, Le roi ne le vent pas. This probably explains Ramsay's meteor‑like appearance in Masonic annals; for the only sign we have of his activity in Lodge is connected with this speech. Thory's assertions that he promulgated a new Rite was made sixty years afterwards without a shadow of proof. His speech may possibly have given rise to new Degrees, but what grounds are there for ascribing their invention and propagation to him ? But precisely because Ramsay is only known by this one speech, does it appear probable, that in the above letters he is alluding to this one and no other ; if so, it was beyond doubt delivered on March s.i, 1737.

 

The speech itself‑in its entirety‑is unknown in an English garb and, as the various versions differ slightly, the translation chosen is that of De la Tierce, which is generally accepted as the most correct.

 

RAmsAY's ORATION The noble ardour which you, gentlemen, evince to enter into the most noble and very illustrious Order of Freemasons, is a certain proof that you already possess all the qualities necessary to become members, that is, humanity, pure morals, inviolable secrecy and a taste for the fine arts.

 

Lycurgus, Solon, Numa and all political legislators have failed to make their institutions lasting. However wise their laws may have been, they have not been able to spread through all countries and ages. As they only kept in view victories and conquests, military violence and the elevation of one people at the expense of another, they have not had the power to become universal, nor to make themselves acceptable to the taste, spirit and interest of all nations. Philanthropy was not their basis. Patriotism badly understood and pushed to excess, often destroyed in these warrior republics love and humanity in general. Mankind is not essentially ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY II distinguished by the tongues spoken, the clothes worn, the lands occupied or the dignities with which it is invested. The world is nothing but a huge republic, of which every nation is a family, every individual a child. Our Society was at the outset established to revive and spread these essential maxims borrowed from the nature of man. We desire to reunite all men of enlightened minds, gentle manners and agreeable wit, not only by a love for the fine arts but, much more, by the grand principles of virtue, science and religion, where the interests of the Fraternity shall become those of the whole human race, whence all nations shall be enabled to draw useful knowledge and where the subjects of all kingdoms shall learn to cherish one another without renouncing their own country. Our ancestors, the Crusaders, gathered together from all parts of Christendom in the Holy Land, desired thus to reunite into one sole Fraternity the individuals of all nations. What obligations do we not owe to these superior men who, without gross selfish interests, without even listening to the inborn tendency to dominate, imagined such an institution, the sole aim of which is to unite minds and hearts in order to make them better, to form in the course of ages a spiritual empire where, without derogating from the various duties which different States exact, a new people shall be created, which, composed of many nations, shall in some sort cement them all into one by the tie of virtue and science.

 

The second requisite of our Society is sound morals. The religious orders were established to make perfect Christians, military orders to inspire a love of true glory and the Order of Freemasons to make men lovable men, good citizens, good subjects, inviolable in their promises, faithful adorers of the God of Love, lovers rather of virtue than of reward.

 

Polliciti servare fidem, sanctumque vereri Numen amicitir?, mores, non munera amare.

 

Nevertheless, we do not confine ourselves to purely civic virtues. We have amongst us three kinds of brothers : Novices or Apprentices, Fellows or Professed Brothers, Masters or Perfected Brothers. To the first are explained the moral virtues ; to the second the heroic virtues ; to the last the Christian virtues ; so that our Institution embraces the whole philosophy of sentiment and the complete theology of the heart. This is why one of our Brothers has said Freemason, illustrious Grand Master, Receive my first transports, In my heart the Order has given them birth, Happy I, if noble efforts Cause me to merit your esteem By elevating me to the sublime, The primeval Truth, To the Essence pure and divine, The celestial Origin of the soul, The Source of life and love.

 

Because a sad, savage and misanthropic philosophy disgusts virtuous men, our ancestors, the Crusaders, wished to render it lovable by the attractions of innocent pleasures, agreeable music, pure joy and moderate gaiety. Our festivals are not what the profane world and the ignorant vulgar imagine. All the vices of heart and soul are banished there and irreligion, libertinage, incredulity and debauch I2 INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF are proscribed. Our banquets resemble those virtuous symposia of Horace, where the conversation only touched what could enlighten the soul, discipline the heart and inspire a taste for the true, the good and the beautiful.

 

O noctes ccznaque Deum . . .

 

Sermo oritur, non de regnis domibusve alienis . .red quad magis ad nos Pertinet, et nescire malum est, agitamus ; utrumne Divitiis homines, an lint virtute beati ; Quidve ad amicitias usus rectumve trahat nos, Et qua sit natura boni, summumque quid ius.

 

Thus the obligations imposed upon you by the Order, are to protect your Brothers by your authority, to enlighten them by your knowledge, to edify them by your virtues, to succour them in their necessities, to sacrifice all personal resentment, to strive after all that may contribute to the peace and unity of society.

 

We have secrets ; they are figurative signs and sacred words, composing a language sometimes mute, sometimes very eloquent, in order to communicate with one another at the greatest distance, to recognize our Brothers of whatsoever tongue. These were words of war which the Crusaders gave each other in order to guarantee them from the surprises of the Saracens, who often crept in amongst them to kill them. These signs and words recall the remembrance either of some part of our science, of some moral virtue or of some mystery of the faith. That has happened to us which never befell any former Society. Our Lodges have been established, are spread in all civilized nations and, nevertheless, among this numerous multitude of men never has a Brother betrayed our secrets. Those natures most trivial, most indiscreet, least schooled to silence, learn this great art on entering our Society. Such is the power over all natures of the idea of a fraternal bond 1 This inviolable secret contributes powerfully to unite the subjects of all nations, to render the communication of benefits easy and mutual between us. We have many examples in the annals of our Order. Our Brothers, travelling in divers lands, have only needed to make themselves known in our Lodges in order to be there immediately overwhelmed by all kinds of succour, even in time of the most bloody wars, while illustrious prisoners have found Brothers where they only expected to meet enemies.

 

Should any fail in the solemn promises which bind us, you know, gentlemen, that the penalties which we impose upon him are remorse of conscience, shame at his perfidy and exclusion from our Society, according to those beautiful lines of Horace Est et fideli tuta silencio Merces ; vetabo qui Cereris sacrum Vulgarit arcanum, sub iisdem Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum Salvat phaselum.. . .

 

Yes, sirs, the famous festivals of Ceres at Eleusis, of Isis in Egypt, of Minerva at Athens, of Urania amongst the Phcenicians, of Diana in Scythia were connected with ours. In those places mysteries were celebrated which concealed many vestiges of the ancient religion of Noah and the Patriarchs. They concluded with banquets and libations when neither that intemperance nor excess were known into which the heathen gradually fell. The source of these infamies was the admission ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY 13 to the nocturnal assemblies of persons of both sexes in contravention of the primitive usages. It is in order to prevent similar abuses that women are excluded from our Order. We are not so unjust as to regard the fair sex as incapable of keeping a secret. But their presence might insensibly corrupt the purity of our maxims and manners.

 

The fourth quality required in our Order is the taste for useful sciences and the liberal arts. Thus, the Order exacts of each of you to contribute, by his protection, liberality or labour, to a vast work for which no academy can suffice, because all these societies being composed of a very small number of men, their work cannot embrace an object so extended. All the Grand Masters in Germany, England, Italy and elsewhere, exhort all the learned men and all the artisans of the Fraternity to unite to furnish the materials for a Universal Dictionary of the liberal arts and useful sciences, excepting only theology and politics. [This proposed Dictionary is a curious crux‑it is possible that the Royal Society may have formed some such idea ? But at least Ramsay's express exclusion of theology and politics should have shielded him from the accusation of wishing to employ Freemasonry for Jesuitical and Jacobite purposes. With the exception of the constant harping on the Crusades, there is so far nothing in the speech of which to complain.] The work has already been commenced in London and, by means of the union of our Brothers, it may be carried to a conclusion in a few years. Not only are technical words and their etymology explained, but the history of each art and science, its principles and operations, are described. By this means the lights of all nations will be united in one single work, which will be a universal library of all that is beautiful, great, luminous, solid and useful in all the sciences and in all noble arts. This work will augment in each century, according to the increase of knowledge, it will spread everywhere emulation and the taste for things of beauty and utility.

 

The word Freemason must therefore not be taken in a literal, gross and material sense, as if our founders had been simple workers in stone, or merely curious geniuses who wished to perfect the arts. They were not only skilful architects, desirous of consecrating their talents and goods to the construction of material temples ; but also religious and warrior princes who designed to enlighten, edify and protect the living Temples of the Most High. This I will demonstrate by developing the history or rather the renewal of the Order.

 

Every family, every Republic, every Empire, of which the origin is lost in obscure antiquity, has its fable and its truth, its legend and its history. Some ascribe our institution to Solomon, some to Moses, some to Abraham, some to Noah, some to Enoch, who built the first city, or even to Adam. Without any pretence of denying these origins, I pass on to matters less ancient. This, then, is a part of what I have gathered in the annals of Great Britain, in the Acts of Parliament, which speak often of our privileges and in the living traditions of the English people, which has been the centre of our Society since the eleventh century.

 

At the time of the Crusades in Palestine many princes, lords and citizens associated themselves and vowed to restore the Temple of the Christians in the Holy Land, to employ themselves in bringing back their architecture to its first institution. They agreed upon several ancient signs and symbolic words drawn from the well of religion in order to recognize themselves amongst the heathen and Saracens. These signs and words were only communicated to those who 14 INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF promised solemnly, even sometimes at the foot of the altar, never to reveal them. This sacred promise was therefore not an execrable oath, as it has been called, but a respectable bond to unite Christians of all nationalities in one confraternity. Some time afterwards our Order formed an intimate union with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. From that time our Lodges took the name of Lodges of St. John. This union was made after the example set by the Israelites when they erected the second Temple who, whilst they handled the trowel and mortar with one hand, in the other held the sword and buckler. [This idea forms the groundwork of all subsequent Scots grades : Knightly Scotch Masons who, in the old Temple, rediscovered the Sacred Name, the trowel in one hand, the sword in the other. Ramsay's allusion, it will be observed, is not to any existing Degree of his day, but an innocent allegory in illustration of his thesis.] Our Order, therefore, must not be considered a revival of the Bacchanals, but as an Order founded in remote antiquity, renewed in the Holy Land by our ancestors in order to recall the memory of the most sublime truths amidst the pleasures of society. The kings, princes and lords returned from Palestine to their own lands and there established divers Lodges. At the time of the last Crusades many Lodges were already erected in Germany, Italy, Spain, France and, from thence, in Scotland, because of the close alliance between the French and the Scotch. James, Lord Steward of Scotland, was Grand Master of a Lodge established at Kilwinning, in the West of Scotland, MCCLXXXVI [this passage has been seized upon by the inventors of Scots rites, all pretending to hail from Heredom Kilwinning, asserting the superiority in point of antiquity and pure tenets of the Grand Lodge held therewhich body, it is almost unnecessary to say, never existed], shortly after the death of Alexander III, King of Scotland, and one year before John Baliol mounted the throne. This lord received as Freemasons into his Lodge the Earls of Gloucester and Ulster, the one English, the other Irish.

 

By degrees our Lodges and our Rites were neglected in most places. This is why of so many historians only those of Great Britain speak of our Order. Nevertheless it preserved its splendour among those Scotsmen of whom the Kings of France confided during many centuries the safeguard of their royal persons.

 

After the deplorable mishaps in the Crusades, the perishing of the Christian armies and the triumph of Bendocdar, Sultan of Egypt, during the eighth and last Crusade, that great Prince Edward, son of Henry III, King of England, seeing there was no longer any safety for his Brethren in the Holy Land, whence the Christian troops were retiring, brought them all back and this colony of Brothers was established in England. As this prince was endowed with all heroic qualities, he loved the fine arts, declared himself protector of our Order, conceded to it new privileges and then the members of this Fraternity took the name of Freemasons after the example set by their ancestors.

 

Since that time Great Britain became the seat of our Order, the conservator of our laws and the depository of our secrets. The fatal religious discords which embarrassed and tore Europe in the sixteenth century caused our Order to degenerate from the nobility of its origin. Many of our Rites and usages which were contrary to the prejudices of the times were changed, disguised, suppressed. Thus it was that many of our Brothers forgot, like the ancient Jews, the spirit of our laws and retained only the letter and shell. The beginnings of a remedy have already been made. It is necessary only to continue and, at last, to bring everything back to ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY 15 its original institution. This work cannot be difficult in a State where religion and the Government can only be favourable to our laws.

 

From the British Isles the Royal Art is now repassing into France, under the reign of the most amiable of Kings, whose humanity animates all his virtues and under the ministry of a Mentor [evidently Cardinal Fleury], who has realized all that could be imagined most fabulous. In this happy age when love of peace has become the virtue of heroes, this nation [France] one of the most spiritual of Europe, will become the centre of the Order. She will clothe our work, our statutes, our customs with grace, delicacy and good taste, essential qualities of the Order, of which the basis is the wisdom, strength and beauty of genius. It is in future in our Lodges, as it were in public schools, that Frenchmen shall learn, without travelling, the characters of all nations and that strangers shall experience that France is the home of all peoples. Patria gentis human&,.

 

Now to what does this speech amount? a mere embellishment of Anderson! Builders and princes had united in Palestine for a humane purpose; the Society had been introduced into Europe, especially Scotland ; had perished and been reintro duced into England by Prince Edward. From that time they had continued a privileged class of builders‑Ramsay no longer claims for them knightly attributes ‑and had lost their moral tenets during the Reformation, becoming mere operative artisans ; they had lately recovered or revived their old doctrines ; and France was destined to be the centre of the reformed Fraternity. The introduction of the legend of the Crusades may be taken to be a natural consequence of Ramsay's position in life, of the high nobility and gentry he was addressing, to whom the purely mechanical ancestry may have wanted toning down. But surely the Oration is not such a very heinous one ? More dangerous and absurd speeches are still made in the Craft. That inventive minds, for their own purposes, may have seized upon and falsely interpreted certain passages, is no fault of Ramsay. It was looked upon with approbation by his contemporaries; it is simply impossible to find in it any indication of a desire to pervert Masonic ceremonies. One or two points may be further inquired into. The cause of the allusion to Kilwinning may simply be that Ramsay was from Ayr and, probably, as an antiquary acquainted with its very ancient history, brought in the Lodge merely as an ornament. His choice of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem may easily be accounted for. It was not the St. John of Malta, nor was he ever known to allude to the Templars. The fact is, he was himself a Knight of St. John of Jerusalem and thus paid a tribute to his own Order. In 1714‑19 Helyot's great work on the spiritual and temporal orders was published at Paris (Hilt. des Ordres Monastiques, Religieux et Militaires). The third volume contains the history of the Order of St. Lazarus, of which Ramsay was a knight. Who can doubt that he read it ? This states that in the fourth century an Order of St. Lazarus was established in Palestine and erected everywhere hospitals for lepers, which were called Lazarettes. Later on the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem were established. The two associations united and worked under the same master, called the Master of the Hospital. When the Order of St. John added the vow of celibacy, these two separated. One retook the name of St.

 

16 INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF Lazarus, the other changed theirs to St. John the Baptist. At the time that the Hospitallers were in the service of the King of Jerusalem, they consisted of three Orders‑knights to fight, servitors to nurse and clerics or chaplains. King Henry of England increased considerably their income, but France did most for the Order and it ultimately took refuge in that country. The Grand Master of that day was styled Grand Master of the Holy Order of Lazarus cis et translvare. In 1354 the Grand Master empowered John Halliday, a Scot, to rule over the temporal and spiritual affairs of the Order in Great Britain. In some sort, then, Ramsay was a descendant of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which, however, as such, was extinct and thus may be understood the very natural selection made of that Order on which to found his romance.

 

Following the Oration we have a copy of Statutes in usage [at that time] in France. These are a paraphrase, more or less, of Anderson's Old Regulations. One in particular must be quoted, because they are all attributed to Ramsay‑though without rhyme or reason‑and because this especial one has been used to prove that he intended to employ Freemasonry for the propagation of the Roman Catholic religion.

 

Every incredulous brawler who shall have spoken or written against the holy dogmas of the ancient faith of the Crusaders shall be for ever excluded from the Order; etc., etc.

 

But who would think that this was meant to exclude Protestants ? The ancient faith of the Crusaders was Christianity. At a time when the Protestants were not thought of, no distinction could possibly be made between them and the then Universal Church. It would be absurd to call the Crusaders Roman Catholics in contradistinction to Protestants. The article simply means that Masons must be Christians ; must be of the Catholic Church: whether Roman, Anglican, Greek or any other variety, was not even thought of. Therefore, even should these articles owe their inspiration to Ramsay‑owing to want of evidence‑they are quite powerless to strengthen the odious calumny under which he has so long lain.

 

One other matter must be referred to, although of no great importance. In 1736, the Lieutenant‑General of Police in Paris, Herault, is said to have obtained, through an opera dancer, Madame Carton, a Masonic examination, mainly a trans ation of Pritchard's Masonry Dissected, which he caused to be published as an exposure of Freemasonry. In reply to this appeared Relation apologique et historique de la Socidtd des F.M., par J. G. D. M. F. M., Dublin, Chez Patrice Odonoko, 1738, 8░‑2nd edition, in London, 1749. It was burned at Rome, as mentioned already, by, the Public Executioner, on February 1, 17 Many ingenious attempts have been made to prove the truth of this statement and to show the community of style and ideas between Ramsay's Oration and the Relation. As long as there was reason to suppose that the Oration was delivered in 1740, it was difficult to decide why Ramsay should have been selected to father this production and the very audacity of the assertion carried conviction with it. It could only be assumed that the ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY 17 correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine was possessed of certain private information. But if the Oration was delivered in 1737, it is easy to conceive that the Relation might well have been attributed to the same hand in 1738. A mere guess at the hidden authorship. This fact tends to corroborate the Oration's date of 1737, for it may safely be affirmed that Ramsay did not write the Relation. Its style is far less pure than his, the orthography is totally distinct. Ramsay doubles all his consonants in such words as apprendre, combattre, dffcile ; the author of the Relation writes aprendre, combatre, dificile, etc. The initials of the author, J. G. D. M. F. M., might perhaps be read as J. G., Dr. Med., Free Mason.

 

A word must, however, be said as to the case for the plaintiff.

 

Dr. George Oliver paid the Chevalier a high tribute for inventive genius, when he said If I had not found certain unmistakeable inventions of a Master's part at an earlier date than the period when the Chevalier Ramsay flourished, I should have assigned the invention of this legend to him, as he was possibly the fabricator of the Degrees called Ineffable, which exemplify and complete the allegory of Hiram Abiff and, if judiciously managed, might, together, have formed a pleasing fiction.

 

Prince Charles Edward Stuart is said to have established the Rite de la VielleBrethren at Toulouse, which he denominated 1~cossais Fideles, in honour of the kind reception his aide‑de‑camp, Sir Samuel Lockhart, had received from the Free masons in Scotland. The Degrees of Ramsay were blended in this Rite. Ramsay issued a manifesto to the town of Arras, giving to the Lodge there the power to confer his Degree of the Eagle and Pelican. This thus formed the first authorized Chapter for the working of the higher grades.

 

There were nine Degrees in Ramsay's system, the first four of which comprehended Symbolical Masonry and formed the first Chapter. The second Chapter was composed of four further Degrees and comprehended what was called the Masonry of the Crusaders. The third Chapter was formed of those who had been admitted to the ninth or last Degree or into the secrets of Scientific Masonry. The three Chapters were united into a Consistory.

 

It would appear indisputable that Freemasonry was used as a tie to cement the adherents of James more closely to each other, notwithstanding the Papal denunciations of the Craft. Ladislas de Malezovich, in his Sketch of the Earlier History of Masonry in Austria and Hungary (A.Q.C., vol. v) claims that Ramsay must be regarded as the father of the Higher Degrees, for, in his famous oration, he first connected ‑without historical foundation‑Masonry with the Crusades and the great historical orders of knighthood. He asserts that Ramsay established three Degrees, viz. Ecossais, Novice and Knight Templar and that out of this system sprang up, with a number of others, the so‑called Rite de Clermont, which was founded at Paris, in 1754, by the Chevalier de Bonneville, although some claim that this was of Jesuit origin and that the Jesuits introduced several new Degrees, founded on Ramsay's system, which they used for the extension of their order. Ramsay, he says, added four other Degrees, making seven in all, viz. Maitre Ecossais, Maitre Elu or F. Iv‑2 18 INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY ABROAD‑THE RISE OF Chevalier de 1'Aigle, Chevalier illustre de Templier, also called Knight of the Most Holy Sepulchre; and Chevalier Sublime or Knight of God.

 

Baron Hunde, then a Protestant (though he afterwards became a Roman Catholic at the importunity of his wife), contrived to obtain admission to the Order. The lessons he learned there formed the nucleus in his mind for a new system of the Degrees, seven in all, which he introduced into Germany, under the imposing title of Templeorden or Orden des Stricten Observantz.

 

Oliver, in his Historical Landmarks, asserts that Ramsay changed the names of the Degrees from Irlandais to Ecossais, as he was a Scot by birth and made use of the existing machinery for the purpose of excluding all Masons who were not pre pared for partisanship. In inventing the new Degrees, Ramsay claimed that they dated their origin from the Crusades and that Godfrey de Bouillon was the Grand Master. He began, says Oliver, like all other innovators, by exacting the most inviolable secrecy from his novices. He told them that silence and secrecy are the very soul of the Order and you will carefully observe this silence, as well with those whom you may have reason to suppose are already initiated as with those whom you may hereafter know really belong to the Order. You will never reveal to any person, at present or hereafter, the slightest circumstances relative to your admission, the Degree you have received; nor the time when admitted. In a word, you will never speak of any object relating to the Order, even before Brethren, without the strongest necessity.

 

Oliver also asserts that, stimulated by the success which attended the promulgation of his manufactured Degrees in France, Ramsay brought his system of pretended Scottish Freemasonry into England, with the intention, it is supposed, of extending it indefinitely, if he found it acceptable to the English Fraternity, being commissioned by the Pretender, as an agent, to convert his interest with the Freemasons to the advantage of his employer. The attempt, however, failed and the overtures of Ramsay were unceremoniously rejected.

 

Ramsay, continues Oliver, returned to Paris, where he was received with enthusiasm and his system became the root and stem of so many additional Degrees of Scottish Masonry (so called) that their number cannot accurately be ascertained.

 

According to Burnes's History of the Knights Templar, Ramsay appeared in Germany under the sanction of a patent with the sign‑manual of Edward Stuart appointing him Grand Master of the seventh province; but, although he had invented a plausible tale in support of his title and authority‑both of which he affirmed had been made over to him bythe Earl Marischal on his death‑bed‑and of the antiquity of his Order, which he derived, of course, from Scotland, where the chief seat of the Templars was at Aberdeen, the imposture was soon detected; it was even discovered that he had himself enticed and initiated the ill‑fated Pretender into his fabulous order of chivalry. The delusions on this subject, however, had taken such a hold in Germany that they were not altogether dispelled until a deputation had actually visited and found, among the worthy and astonished Brethren there, no trace, either of very ancient Templars or Freemasonry.

 

ADDITIONAL RITES‑THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY 19 But if Ramsay stands acquitted of wilfully perverting Freemasonry, can he be brought in guilty of unintentionally being the cause of the numerous inventions ,which so soon followed his discourse ? Given a nation such as we know the French to be, volatile, imaginative, decidedly not conservative in their instincts, suddenly introduced to mysterious ceremonies unconnected with their past history ‑given a ritual which appeals in no way to their peculiar love of glory and distinction‑which fails to harmonize with their bent of mind‑it was almost inevitable that some " improvements " should have been attempted. Add to this a certain number of more or less clever men, ambitious to rise at once to an elevated position in the Craft, perhaps to replenish their purses by the sale of their own inventions. All these elements existed, as events have proved and thus France was ready for the crop of high grades which so soon sprang up. Finding in Ramsay's speech indications which they could twist to their own purpose, they cleverly made use of them as a sort of guarantee of the genuineness of their goods. But they soon went far beyond any allusions contained in the Oration, for not a word can there be found pointing to the various degrees of vengeance, Elus, Kadosch, etc., or to the Templars. Although this speech did not suggest additional Degrees, it is probable that it aided intending inventors in their previously conceived designs. The distinction is a fine one and not worth arguing. It will suffice to have proved that Ramsay did write the speech, that his intentions were quite compatible with the most absolute innocence, that he was neither a Stuart intriguer nor a Jesuit missionary in disguise. As already remarked, he immediately disappeared from the Masonic stage, although he lived for seven years afterwards. His name had not previously been mentioned in connexion with Freemasonry, therefore, if any persons assert that he was the concocter of a new rite of seven Degrees, the onus of proving anything so wildly improbable rests entirely upon themselves.

 

Ramsay's great and final secret was that " every Mason is a Knight Templar." His monumental work was published posthumously at Glasgow in 1749 and was entitled The Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion. It created con siderable stir in Roman Catholic circles, as the author enunciated views at variance with the doctrines of that Church. It was highly praised by Jonathan Edwards and Dr. A. V. G. Allen, in his Biography of that Calvinistic divine, describes the book as one of the most remarkable works of the eighteenth century.

 

Always a great linguist, Ramsay, towards .the end of his life, studied Chinese and became able to read that difficult language. His intimate friends were few in number, his chief confidant in Edinburgh being Dr. John Stevenson. He was also acquainted with Dean Swift and on friendly terms with J. B. Rousseau and Racine. Ramsay passed away on May 6, 1743, at St. Germain‑en‑Laye, where he was buried and, at his own request, on his tomb was engraved Universitv Religionis vindex et Martyr. His heart was removed from his body and transferred to the nunnery of St. Sacrament at Paris. He was survived by his wife, who was a daughter of Sir David Nairn.

 

CHAPTER H FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE A NATIVE historian of French Freemasonry would, naturally, turn first of all to the archives of the Grand Orient of France. These have been utilized to their full extent, but unfortunately they contain little to aid research before the commencement of the nineteenth century.

 

The Grand Librarian thus describes them in an official report (Rebold, Histoire des trois Grandes Loges, p. 173) The library consists only of some few profane [i.e. non‑Masonic] volumes, about forty volumes in German, some English works and a bundle of pamphlets. The minutes of the Grand Orient from 1789 onwards are in a tolerably satisfactory state. In a portfolio are to be found the minutes of the Grande Loge de Conseil from 1773 to 1778 ; those from 1788‑18oo are very incomplete. There is no collection of its circulars to subordinate Lodges and it would be impossible to form a complete series of printed calendars. The earliest is that of 1807 and numerous intervals occur in subsequent times.

 

Kloss (Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Frankreich, vol i, p. 193) adds that no complete list of French Lodges is anywhere in existence of a date preceding the end of the last century.

 

French Freemasonry is supposed to date from about the year 1721 and, as no Minutes whatever, relating to any earlier period than 1773, are to be found, it is obvious that, failing contemporaneous writings, the history of its first half century must be open to much doubt. The first comprehensive account of the French Craft appeared in 1773 as a five‑page article, s.v. " Franche‑Macgonnerie," by De Lalande, in the Encyclopedie Yverdon. Joseph Jerome Lefrangais de Lalande, the celebrated astronomer and director of the Paris Observatory, was born July ii, 1732 and died April 4, 1807. He could, therefore, have scarcely been initiated before circa 1750, so that his account of early French Masonry resolves itself into hearsay. He was Master of the famous Lodge of the Nine Sisters (or Muses) at Paris, of which Benjamin Franklin, John Paul Jones, together with the French leaders of the arts and sciences, were members. Subsequent writers have been enabled to make use of some few pamphlets, circulars, or exposures and none had more opportunities in this respect, or availed himself of them to greater advantage, than Kloss. Another historical contribution is that of De‑la‑Chaussee in his Memoire Justifzcatif, a printed defence of his official conduct, which had been impugned by Labady, published in 1772.

 

20 FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE 2i The first real historian of French Freemasonry was Thory (18 I2‑15, Annales Originis Magni Galliaruna Orientis and Arta Lato)vorum) and his principal successors in chronological order have been Von Nettlebladt (circa 1836,Gescbicbte Freimaurischer Systeme, published 1879), Kloss (1852, op. cit.), Rebold (1864, op. cit.), Jouast (1865, Histoire du Grand Orient de France) and Daruty (1879, Recherches sur le Rite Ecossais). De‑la‑Chaussee's work is a defence of his own particular conduct and, therefore, not always to be trusted implicitly. Thory wrote nearly ninety years after the first beginnings of Freemasonry in France. His early facts are taken from Lalande and, in the total absence of any other authority, every later historian has been more or less obliged to follow him. It may also further be remarked that Thory was an uncompromising partisan of the High Degrees and can be proved to have distorted historical facts and misquoted documents to suit his own views. Nettlebladt was as strong a partisan of Zinnendorff's system and equally guilty of historical perversion. Kloss was painstaking, though sometimes blinded by his hatred of the High Degrees. Rebold suffered under the same defect, combined with a prejudice against the Grand Orient, of which his party became a rival. Jouast, on the contrary, wrote as the avowed advocate of that body and errs in the opposite direction; whilst Daruty, a member of the rival Ancient and Accepted Rite, with a personal grievance against the Grand Orient, is very one‑sided in his views and not sufficiently critical in his acceptance of alleged facts. In these circumstances it will be seen that the history of the first fifty years of French Freemasonry cannot be otherwise than a series of possibilities, probabilities, surmises and traditions ; whereas, in recording that of the following hundred and fifty years one must steer very carefully between contending opinions‑with a leaning towards those of Kloss in doubtful matters.

 

According to De Lalande, or tradition, which, in this case, amounts to much the same thing, the first Lodge in France was founded in Paris by the Earl of Derwentwater in 17 z5 on a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of England. It is true that a Lodge at Dunkirk (Amitie et Fraternite), which affiliated with the Grand Orient in 1756, then claimed to have been constituted from England in 1721 ; that claim was allowed; but, as it certainly never was constituted by the Grand Lodge of England at all, its alleged early origin may be ascribed to the ambition of its members. Anderson, in his Book. of Constitutions, mentions the 1725, but not the 17z1, Lodge. The colleagues of Lord Derwentwater are stated to have been a Chevalier Maskelyne, a Squire Henquelty, with others, all partisans of the Stuarts. The Lodge assembled at the restaurant of an Englishman called Hurre, in the Rue des Boucheries. A second Lodge was established in 1726 by an English lapidary, Goustand. Neither of these names has the sound of being English. A circular of the Grand Orient‑September 4, 1788‑mentions as existing in 1725‑3o five Lodges, Louis d'Argent, Bussy, Aumont, Parfaite Union and Bernouville. Lalande ascribes no name to Derwentwater's Lodge and calls the Louis d'Argent the third Lodge in Paris. Clavel (who was an active Freemason and Master of the Lodge Emeth) makes the Lodge of 1726 the third in Paris, says it was called St. Thomas and was zz FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE identical with the Louis d'Argent. Ragon agrees, but gives the date as 1729. Rebold looks upon these names as those of two distinct Lodges under the dates 1726 and 1729 respectively and thinks the first one identical with Derwentwater's Lodge. Speaking of the latter Lalande says (Daruty, Recherches, etc., p. 84, note 4z) In less than ten years the reputation of this Lodge attracted five to six hundred Brethren within the circle of the Craft and caused other Lodges to be established.

 

Nothing, however, can positively be said of these early Lodges for want of contemporary evidence. If we turn to the English Engraved Lists we find that whatever Lodge (or Lodges) may have existed in Paris in 1725 must have been unchartered, for the first French Lodge on the roll is on the list for 1730‑2, No. go, the King's Head, Paris (see Gould's Four Old Lodges, p. 5o). King's Head is identical with Louis d'Argent‑a silver coin bearing the effigy of King Louis. In 1736‑9, No. go is shown at the Hotel de Bussy, Rue de Bussy and the date of constitution as April 3, 173z. This was known afterwards as Loge d'Aumont, because le Duc d'Aumont was initiated therein. The first two of the five Lodges cited by the Grand Orient in 1788 were, therefore, in reality one and the same. In 1740 it became No. 78 and met at the Ville de Tonnerre, Rue des Boucheriesin 1756 it received the number 49 and was erased in 1768. It would appear probable ‑more cannot be said‑that Derwentwater's Lodge is identical with this Lodge; that it was an informal Lodge and did not petition for a Warrant till ‑173z. Further proof of irregularity is afforded by extracts from the daily papers (reprinted in Masonic Magazine, vol. iv, 1876, p. 419).

 

St. James's Evening Post, September 7, 1734.‑We hear from Paris that a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was lately held there at her Grace the Duchesse of Portsmouth's house, where his Grace the Duke of Richmond, assisted by another English nobleman of distinction there, President Montesquieu, Brigadier Churchill, Ed. Yonge and Walter Strickland, Esq., admitted several persons of distinction, into that most Ancient and Honourable Society.

 

St. James's Evening Post, September 20, 173 5.‑They write from Paris that his Grace the Duke of Richmond and the Rev. Dr. Desaguliers .‑. .‑. now authorized by the present Grand Master (under his hand and seal and the seal of the Order), having called a Lodge at the Hotel Bussy in the Rue Bussy, [several] noblemen and gentlemen‑were admitted to the Order. . . .

 

It is noteworthy that this assembly was held in the premises of the only Lodge then warranted in France, but was evidently not a meeting of that Lodge, as it was " called " or convoked by the Duke of Richmond and Dr. Desaguliers. On May 12, 1737‑the same journal informs us‑on the authority of a private letter from Paris, that " five Lodges are already established." Of these one only is known to have been warranted. The second in France was constituted at Valenciennes as No. 127 (Four Old Lodges, p. 52), but dropped off the English roll (as No. 40) in 1813. The third on August 22, 1735, as No. 133, by the Duke of Richmond and FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE 23 Aubigny, at his castle of Aubigny (see Anderson's Constitutions, 1738), and was erased in 1768. It is also known that, at that time the English Lodge at Bordeaux (Loge 1'Anglaise, No. zoo) was working, though not yet warranted by the Grand Lodge of England and it seems certain that no other French Lodge received an English Charter until 1766. It is, therefore, clear that of these five Paris Lodges, four were either self‑constituted or derived their authority irregularly from the first, Au Louis d'Argent, No. go.

 

The earliest publication which fixes a date for the introduction of Freemasonry into France is the Sceau Rompu of 1745 (Le Sceau Romp, ou la Loge ouverte aux profanes, par un francmafon, Cosmopolis), twenty‑eight years before Lalande. It states As regards Freemasonry, its introduction may be placed at eighteen years ago [consequently in 1727], but at first it was worked under the deepest secrecy.

 

Lalande says Lord Derwentwater was looked upon as Grand Master of the Masons ; he afterwards went to England and was beheaded. My Lord Harnouester was elected in 1736 by the four [Clavel says six, the St. James's Evening Post mentions five] Lodges which then existed in Paris ; he is the first regularly elected Grand Master. In 173 8 the Duc d'Antin was elected General Grand Master ad vitam for France. . . . In 1742 twenty‑one Lodges existed in Paris.

 

On the other hand, a Frankfort publication (Grundlicbe Nacbricbt) of 1738 declares that nothing was heard of the French Craft before 1736 ; whilst another Frankfort publication of 1744 (Der sicb selbst vertbeidigende Freimaurerei) affirms that at the end of 1736, there were six Lodges in France and more than sixty Masons [one‑tenth of the number cited by Lalande], who at that date [which is usually assigned to Lord Harnouester] elected the Earl of Derwentwater to succeed James Hector Maclean, who had served some years previously. How is it possible to reconcile all these conflicting statements ? Putting aside the above solitary reference to an alleged Grand Master Maclean anterior to Derwentwater, as a question impossible of solution with our present knowledge, it may well be asked how came Derwentwater to be a Mason at all ? Charles Radcliffe was the brother of James Radcliffe, third and last Earl of Derwentwater. They were arrested for rebellion in 1715 and James was beheaded. Charles escaped to France and assumed the title‑which had been forfeited for high treason ‑became concerned in the rebellion of 1745 and was beheaded on Tower Hill December 8, 1746 (Collins, Peerage of England, 1812, vol. ix, p. 407), meeting his fate as became a brave gentleman (General Advertiser, December 9, 1746). Having left England before the revival, where was he initiated ? Not in Paris apparently, because he opened the first Lodge there. Also, why does the St. James's Evening Post, which mentions many men of lesser note in its Masonic news, never say a word about Charles Radcliffe, who was then at the head of the Craft in France ? Moreover, who were the Chevalier Maskelyne and Squire Henquelty, his colleagues ? Their identity cannot be traced. Maskelyne is an English name, that of a Wiltshire 24 FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE family, from which Nevil Maskelyne, the distinguished Astronomer‑Royal, born in 1734, was descended, but there is no identification of this Chevalier Maskelyne with that family. The name Henquelty has been spelt in various ways‑Heguetty, Heguetty, Heguelly, etc. Above all, who was Lord Harnouester ? It must be admitted that Frenchmen‑indeed, Continental writers generallyare not renowned for orthographical accuracy. By them Charles Radcliffe is invariably styled " Dervent‑Waters," even M. de St. Simon continually calls the eldest son of John Dalrymple, created Viscount Stair by William III, " Mi‑lord Flairs." The editor of the private reprint of Heutzner, on that writer's tradition respecting " the Kings of Denmark who reigned in England," buried in the Temple Church, metamorphosed the two Inns of Court, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn, into the names of the Danish Kings, Gresin and Lyconin. Erroneous proper names of places occur continually in early writers, particularly French ones. There are some in Froissart that cannot be at all understood. Bassompierre is equally erroneous. Jorchaux is intended by him for York House; and, more wonderful still, Inhimthort proves by the context to be Kensington ! " (Disraeli, Curiosities of Literature, ed. 1859, vol. i, p. 327). But can the utmost ingenuity convert Harnouester into the similitude of any name known to the English peerage ? The only satisfactory hypothesis is that, previously to 1738, there existed in Paris one and, in the Departments, two regularly constituted Lodges, besides several others more or less irregular and that the fashion had, probably, been set in the first instance by refugees at the court of the Pretender and by other English visitors to the capital. Whether these Scottish names were not an afterthought, consequent on the rage for what is termed Scots Masonry which arose in 1740, or whether they really played an important part in the early days of the Craft in France must be left undecided.

 

We first appear to touch really solid ground in 173 8, when the Duc d'Antin, a. peer of France, said to have been initiated by the Duke of Richmond at Aubigny in 1737, was elected Grand Master ad vitarri of French Freemasonry. That, from this moment, French Freemasonry, as such, distinct from the English Lodges. warranted in France, was recognized as existing, may be gathered from Anderson's. Constitutions of 1738 (p. 196).

 

All these foreign Lodges are under the patronage of our Grand Master of England, but the old Lodge at York City and the Lodges of Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy affecting independency, are under their own Grand Masters; though they have the same Constitutions, Charges, Regulations, etc., for substance, with their brethren of England.

 

This also tends incidentally to prove that up to this date French innovations on the rite of Masonry had not made themselves known. There is no authentic record that the Grand Lodge of England or any Grand Master of England ever granted a Warrant, Deputation, Dispensation, or Authority for the establishment of a Provincial Grand Master or Grand Lodge of France. Mackey in his Revised History of Freemasonry (Clegg's edition, p. i z66), says FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE 25 It has been very plausibly urged that the granting of such a Deputation to the titular Earl of Derwentwater would have been a political impossibility. He was a convicted disloyalist to the English Government and his execution had only been averted in 1715 by his escape from prison.

 

In opposition to this Rebold (Histoire des trois Grander Loges, p. 44) says Lord Derwentwater, who, in 1725, received from the Grand Lodge at London full power to constitute Lodges in France, was, in 1735, invested by the same Grand Lodge with the functions of Provincial Grand Master. When he quitted France to return to England, where soon after he perished on the scaffold, a victim to his attachment to the Stuarts, he transferred the full power which he possessed to his friend, Lord Harnouester, whom he appointed as the representative during his absence, of his office of Provincial Grand Master.

 

Thory says that Derwentwater was chosen Grand Master by the Brethren at the time of the introduction of Freemasonry into Paris, whilst Lalande (Encyclopedie) says that, as the first Paris Lodge had been opened by Lord Derwentwater, he was regarded as the Grand Master and so continued until his return to England, without any formal recognition on the part of the Brethren.

 

In 1743 d'Antin died and, on December 11, 1743, sixteen Masters of Paris Lodges elected as his successor Prince Louis de Bourbon, Count de Clermont. The country Lodges accepted the nomination. Of the chief fact‑Clermont's election‑there can be no doubt ; the other statements are on the authority of a Grand Orient publication of 1777. Admitting them, we arrive at the probable number of Lodges in Paris and at the conclusion that Grand Lodge consisted only of the Paris Masters and that the Provinces were not represented in the governing body. But, whilst the Grand Orient in 1777 thus lays claim to only sixteen Lodges, Lalande in 1773 had referred to twenty‑one. Perhaps five were not represented ? Meanwhile the new Society had awakened the suspicions of the police under Louis XV who, in 1737, ordered his courtiers, under threat of the Bastille, to abstain from joining it. The meetings of English Masons resident in Paris appear to have been tolerated, but the police sought to prevent Frenchmen from joining. The same year Chapelot‑an innkeeper‑was severely fined for receiving a Lodge on his premises. On December 27, 1738, the Lieutenant‑General of Police, Herault, dispersed an assembly in the Rue des Deux Ecus (Acta Latomorum, vol. i, p. 38) and really did imprison some of the members for a time. His machinations with the opera danseuse Carton in the same year and the consequent issue of the Relation Apologique, are well known. All this did not prevent the Count de Clermont from accepting the Grand Mastership ; nor did his acceptance prevent the police interdicting Masonry once more in 1744 and, in 1745, descending on the Hotel de Soissons, seizing the Lodge furniture and fining the proprietor, Leroy, heavily. This seems to have been the last act of the French authorities against Freemasonry. Findel, quoting Lalande, says that 26 FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE at first only the nobles solicited and obtained admittance into the Lodges and, as long as this was the case, Freemasonry remained unmolested; but, when the middle classes began to take an interest in it and the Lodges were gradually formed of less immaculate materials, the expediency of suppressing them altogether began to be debated. Louis XV, urged thereto, it is alleged, by his Father Confessor and his mistress, published an edict in 1737, in which he declared that, as the inviolable secrets of the Masons might cover some dreadful design, he prohibited all his loyal subjects from holding any intercourse with them. All Freemasons belonging to the nobility were forbidden to appear at Court. But, instead of being discouraged by this prohibition, curiosity was only the more awakened. Lodges were assembled in secret and the number of candidates for initiation increased daily. The wealthy Englishmen resident in Paris warmly defended the cause, nor could they easily be intimidated. One of them had the temerity boldly to announce publicly that a Lodge would meet for the purpose of electing a Grand Master.

 

Findel also says that Herault published the Ritual which was found among the confiscated papers.

 

The Bull issued by Pope Clement XII in 1738 was non‑effective in France, it not being published in that country; nor was that issued a few years later by Pope Benedict XIV. One of the results of the Bull, however, was the formation of the Society known as the Mopses, whose customs are described in L'Ordre des Francsnaafons trahi. This Society is said to have originated in Germany in order to take the place of the Masonic Order among Catholics, who composed the membership. Instead of an oath, the word of honour was taken and several of the Princes of the German Empire became Grand Masters of the Society, into which women were admitted as members.

 

During the period just sketched, it has always been maintained that Ramsay introduced a Rite of five Degrees between 1736‑8, called the Rite de Ramsay or de Bouillon. Beyond mere assertions, echoes of Thory, there is not the slightest evidence that a Rite de Ramsay ever existed. The appellation is a comparatively modern one, not being heard of until Thory invented it. Nevertheless, about 1740, various Rites or Degrees of what has been called Scots Masonry did spring into existence, followed shortly afterwards by Scots Mother‑Lodges controlling systems of subordinate Scots Lodges. At first all these had reference to the recovery of the lost word, but before long additions were made. In 1743 the Masons of Lyons invented the Kadosh Degree, comprising the vengeance of the Templars and thus laid the foundation for all the Templar rites. It was at first called junior Elect; but developed into Elect of 9 or of Perignan, Elect of 15, Illustrious Master, Knight of Aurora, Grand Inquisitor, Grand Elect, Commander of the Temple, etc. 1751 is given as the date of the Lodge St. John of Scotland, subsequently Mother‑Lodge of Marseilles and Mother Scots Lodge of France; 1754 as that of the establishment of the Chapter of Clermont ; 1754 of Martinez Paschalis's Elect Coens, etc. These dates may not be altogether accurate, but that they are sufficiently so is probable. Three works (Le Secret des Francsmafons, Perau, Geneva, 1742 ; L'Ordre de Francsmafons trahi, Amsterdam, 1745 ; and Catechisme des Francsmafons, Leonard Gabanon FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE 27 (Travenol, Paris) a Jerusalem, 1744. Cf. Kloss, Bibliog., Nos. 1848, 1850, and 1851) Of 1742‑5 make no mention of anything beyond the Master's Degree, but the Sceau Rompu of 1745 alludes to the connexion with the Knightly orders, as do Travenol's further editions of his Catdcbisme in 1747 and 1749. Le parfait Mason ou les veritables Secrets des quatre grades d'Aprentis, Compagnons, Maitres ordinaires et Ecossais, etc., of 1744 professes to expose a Scots Degree, speaks of there being six or seven such and says that " this variation of Freemasonry is beginning to find favour in France " ; and the Franc Mafonne of 1744 reproaches the majority of the Paris Masters with not knowing that Freemasonry consists of seven Degrees. Article zo of the Rules and Regulations of the Grand Lodge, dated December 11, 1743, reads As it appears that lately some Brothers announce themselves as Scots Masters, claiming prerogatives in private Lodges and asserting privileges of which no traces are to be found in the archives and usages of the Lodges spread over the globe, the Grand Lodge, in order to cement the unity and harmony which should reign amongst Freemasons, has decreed that these Scots Masters, unless they are Officers of Grand Lodge or of a private Lodge, shall not be more highly considered by the Brothers than the other apprentices and fellows and shall wear no sign of distinction whatever.