Notes For Masonic Students.

Notes For Masonic Students .

THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY . AS we often hear of this olden brother , a distinguished maa in many ways in his day , it seems well to collect together what w positively know of him , as much that is incorrect has been attributed to him , and there are certain points in his life and works which require close attention , especially in his connection with Freemasonry . Andrew Michael Eamsay , the son of a younger branch of

the distinguished Scottish family of Eamsay , seems to have been born in Ayr , N . B ., in 1686 , and to have been partly educated at Edinburgh , and partly at St . Andrew ' s Universities . He is also said to have studied at Leyden , in Holland , at that time much frequented by students , and there to have come under the influence of a certain

mystic divine and teacher , Pierre Poiret , who is held to have affected much his views and his career . In 1710 , Fenelon , the well known Archbishop of Cambrai , in France , is said to have converted him to Roman Catholicism , and to him Eamsay seems to have been much devoted .

Eamsay then became tntor to several of the highest nobility , and in 1724 he was for a short time also at Eome as tntor in the family of the exiled Stuarts . For some reason he seems to have left Eome in 1725 , and is

said to have returned to Scotland , and to have been sheltered in the family of the Dnke of Argyle . Bro . Gould suggests , perhaps in a house near Twickenham , where the Duke then lived , but if he went to Scotland a very curious question would arise as to where he waa made a Freemason .

Up to date that is not known for certain . Some have suggested Paris . Undoubtedly is it that he was a member of our Order , as it will be seen later that he so distinctly avers himself to be . It would seem doubtful at first sight if Ramsay , a well-known adherent of the Stuarts , could have been received into the family of

the Duke of Argyle at that special date , but Rose s " New General Biographical Dictionary " is very carefully written . A Lodge was formed at Inverary , close to the Duke ' s Castle , 1747 , and in the petition it is said to have existed for " some time past , " as Bro . D . M . Lyon kindly informs me .

Thia period , therefore , of his life requires close attention , as a good deal may turn upon it which would explain several matters in the history of Freemasonry now in complete obscurity . In 1730 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Law , at

Oxford , and he was then alleged to have returned to France . He was appointed soon after this intendant of his large estates , by his former pupil the Prince of Turenne , Duke of Bouillon , and is said to have lived at one of the Prince's seats , Pontoise , until he retired to St . Germains , where he died in 1743 .

Beyond this very little else , so far , seems known for certain concerning him—not even , as I said before , where he was made a Mason , and how far he was really mixed up in what is termed the High Grade movement . This is still a subject of the greatest uncertainty and much debate .

He was certainly in Paris in 1737 , and he was then a member of our Fraternity and an apparently active one . One biography of him ( un-Masonic ) calls him "Grand Chancellor of the Order , ' and declares he wrote a " Dissertation on Freemasonry . " Daruty gives us , in his useful work , two letters from him to Cardinal Floury—respectively dated 20 th and 22 nd March 1737 .

They are found in the " History of the Regency and Monarchy of Louis XV ., " & c , a work published by P . G . Lemontey , Paris , 1832 , and are probably still in the French State Paper Office . The print runs thus : — 20 th March 1737 .

Be good enough , your Excellency , to support the Society of Freemasons in the great views which they propose to themselves , and your Excellency will render your name much more glorious by such a tradition than even Cardinal Richelieu did by the foundation of the French Academy . The object of the one is more extended than that of the other .

To encourage a Society which only aims at uniting all nations , by a love of the truth , and the fine arts , is au action worthy of a great minister , —of a father of the Church , —of a holy Bishop . As I must read my discourse to-morrow , at a general assembly of

the Order , ancl give it on Hominy morning to tho Examiner of the 4 Chancellerie , " I would beg your Excellency to send it back to me to-morrow before noon by an express messenger . You will infinitely obli ge a person who is heartily devoted to you .

March 22 . I learn that the assemblies of the Freemasons displease your Excellency . I have never frequented them but with the view of spreading there the maxims which , little by little , would have rendered

incredulity ridiculous , vice odious , and ignorance shameful . 1 am persuaded that if wise persons , chosen by your Excellency , were judiciously placed at the head of thoso assemblies , they n-ould become very Useful to lleligi'in , the State , and to Letters . This is a matter o ! ^ hiuh I think 1 could convince your Excellency if you would deign to grant me a brief interview , at Issoy .

Awaiting this happy moment 1 b -g yonr Excellency to inform me "I ought to return to these assemblies , and 1 will conform to tho Wishes of the King with illimitable docility .

As Daruty remarks on these letters , if Earnsny , whose views on freemasonry we know by these letters , kept the pnmiise by which be > ends his second letter ( which is qnite admissible ) , as lie disappeared as quickly from the Masonic scene , he was hound from that Period to cease to participate in the Masonic labours , as Lemontey in

Notes For Masonic Students.

a note enables ns to learn the reply of the Cardinal . The Cardinal Flenry , he says , has written on the margin some words with a pencil , of which the sense ia , " The King does not wish ( ne vent pas ) that they should assemble . " Several important points arise ont of these letters . The address alluded to is no doubt that famons address said to

have been delivered in 1740 , by which Eamsay is alleged to have given to French Freemasonry a desire for a Crusading or Knightly Origin , and to have paved the way for the High Grade movement . But all this is now rendered very doubtful . First of all , if he delivered the address at all , he delivered it in

1737 , and a grave question comes on , —did he deliver it at all ? It is just possible that this very address is still in the French State Paper Office , with Cardinal Flenry's correspondence , a fact which some day may be ascertained . There seems to be evidence that , so early as 1740 , an address to

the effect above mentioned was published in France , professedly delivered at the election of a Grand Master , by Ramsay , the Grand Frater . Ramsay , it is said by a French writer , was a very vain man , and one French biography says he was " much laughed at in society

for his pedantry and his affectation of learning before men , and of gallantry before ladies . It ia possible that he therefore published , or allowed to be published in his lifetime , what he bad been forbidden to deliver in pnblic to the Order .

The Dissertation on Freemasonry alluded to herewith is either that well known oration , or the Dissertation burnt at Rome , published at Dublin , which formerly was held to be his , and now ia not so generally believed to be his . Beyond this we know of nothing Masonic else published by him ,

though he issued many non-Masonio works , the best known being the " Voyages of Cyrus" and the " Life of Marshal Turenne . " If he really was in Scotland between 1725 and 1730 he may have been made a Freemason in a Scottish Lodge after all , and much light

wonld be thrown on that strange nae of the word " Ecoasaia in France , which up to the present has never been satisfactorily explained . If the Lodge at Inverary was really in existence in 1730 , seventeen years before , Ramsay may have been made there . But it is very doubtful .

That Ramsay , ashas been alleged , was the " Fauta of a Jacobite Freemasonry is a very dubious suggestion indeed ; and we want n good deal more light on his life , and Masonie proceedings especially ,

before we can safely speak one way or the other . If Pierre Poiret was a Rosiorusian as well as a Mystic Theosophist ' he may have introdnced Ramsay into Freemasonry . SPKIO .

Notices Of Meetings.

NOTICES OF MEETINGS .

— : o : — ST . MICHAEL'S LODGE , No . 211 . EMERGENCY Meetings in connection with this good old-fashioned I Lodgo are not tho listless " off nights" usually undeistood by the term , for the brethren invariably meet in goodly numbers , and the work of the various degrees is gone through with the utmost spirit . Such was the case on Tuesday last , when an Emergency was called for the parposo of raising Bro . Joseph Withers , previous to his

departure for abroad . Thore was a very patisfactory attendance , nnder the presidency of Bro . F . T . Bennett W . M ., who was supported by Bros . Alfred Withers P . M ., Usher Back P . M ., A . Green P . M . Treasurer , W . llndcline P . M . Secretary , Heutsch P . M ., King J . D ., Orlton Cooper I . G ., Banks Tyler ; VV . VV . Morgan P . M ., T . H . Lave s

P . M ., Joseph Withers , Dyer , Nash , & c . The visitors included Bro . Geo . Kin * P . M . and Sec . 174 , Spiegel P . M . 188 , Slaughter 176 , Everett 1507 , Wyuman 188 , and others . Lodge was opened iu due form , when the Worshipful Master announced the object of the Emergency Meeting ; and , having advanced to the second , Bro .

Joseph Withers , the candidate to be raised , answered the usual questions , and was entrusted . After the candidate had retired , Lodge was opened in the third , and Bro . Withers was re-admitted and raised to the sublime degree , the ceremony being most ably performed by the Worshipful Master , who gave the traditional history and the

explanation of the tracing board . Resuming in the first degree , at the invitation of the Worshipful Master Bro . Usher B < -k P . M . proposed , in a few wll-chosen sentenc- " * , that this , beiutr t ie tir t time the banner voted by t * ie brethren h d '" -en noised in the L « U « tothe memory of their d » -patied Bro . Ohirl » Greenwood , th >¦ in .-H . Tn

be duly recorded on the minuus . This was s » 'i > o ., d -u bv Bn 'V Radcliffe P . M . Secretary , and carried unanimously . Tho bacner i i very elegant though neat one , bearing me name of th Lodge , the Square and Compasses , and "Bro . Charles Gieenwoii P . M . In Momoriam 1886 , " with the crn-. t of tho cl . Cf-H .-o * .

Some matters of a formal nature were disponed of , Mint t ten there was the nanal interchange of hemty fraternal greeting * . Business concluded , the brethren and Visitors partook of au excellent supper , nnder the genial presidency of Bro . Kern ett , and the proceedings were throughout of the most harmonious and agrt-eable

description . The Worshipfnl Master , with commendable brevity , gave the prefatory toasts , associating with the Queen and the Craft the names of the Grand Officers . He would simply add that till Masons were actuated by one sentiment , which waa Loyalty to the Throne and Devotion to the Craft . This having been cordially

received , Bro . W . W . Morgan P . M . rose and said , in consequent of their I . P . M . Bro . Pearce having taken to himself a wife , with whom he was at present in the countrv , it devolved upon h m < o p opose the health of their Worshipful Master , which he did w t rar . sincere pleasure . The St . Michael ' s was well k . n >« n as a old-fashioned good old Lodge , aud the past year had been J .