and is there said to have been 'pronounced' by 'Monsieur de R--Grand Orateur de l'Ordre.' It was again printed in 1742 by Bro. De la Tierce in his Histoire, Obligations et Statuts, etc.,... and De la Tierce says that it was 'prononcé par le Grand Maître des Francs-Maçons de France' in the year 1740.... A. G. Jouast (Histoire du G.O., 1865) says the Oration was delivered at the Installation of the Duc d'Antin as G.M. on 24th June, 1738, and the same authority states that it was first printed at the Hague in 1738, bound up with some poems attributed to Voltaire, and some licentious tales by Piron.... Bro. Gould remarks: 'If such a work really existed at that date, it was probably the original of the "Lettre philosophique par M. de V----, avec plusieurs piéces galantes," London, 1757.'" Mr. Gould has, however, provided very good evidence that Ramsay was the author of the oration by Daruty's discovery of the letter to Cardinal Fleury, which together with the oration itself (translated from De la Tierce's version) he reproduces in his History of Freemasonry, Vol. III. p. 84.
- A.Q.C., XXII. Part I. p. 10.
- Les plus secrets mystères des Hants Grades de la Maçonnerie dévoilés, ou le vrai Rose-Croix. A Jerusalem. M.DCC.LXVII. (A.Q.C., Vol. XXXII. Part I. p. 13, refers, however, to an edition of 1747).
- As Godefroi de Bouillon died in 1100, I conclude his name to have been introduced here in error by de Bérage or