Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
The ninth letter is a letter of anger , protest , and warning against a backbiting and boastful layman 35 : “ You can also tell him that I find it somewhat presumptuous to boast of being received whenever he likes . We should be honored to admit him among us if he seemed to have any care as to being received here , but he takes on a tone which I can only answer , without excluding him forever , by responding that if he cares little , we are as one […] Meanwhile , I feel bound to explain to him more fully about the society , which deserves his respect for the sake of its members .
The 10th letter announces that the Longué lodge is to create a lodge at Beaufort . It can thereby be dated July 1765 , 36 since the Saint Jean des Arts Lodge was founded by the Grand Lodge on August 5 or 12 , 1765 : “[…] It was brought up at the lodge of his reception whether it was appropriate to establish one at Beaufort where you have received a number of good subjects , which would enable you to sustain yet more brilliant ones . This truth determined us to take the step of procuring you this satisfaction […] If it is convenient to you all , we shall go a week on Monday , the tenth of this month , to Beaufort to found your lodge […] Salutations to all our Brothers and Sisters .”
The 12th letter hopes for a reunion of the two lodges for the Longué lodge ’ s feast : “ I have the honour of addressing , my Dearest Brother , to yourself and to the other Brothers and Sisters of our Society residing in your town , letters of invitation for you to join us on Monday , July 8 , to celebrate our feast […] A swift response is solicited so as to be sure of the number of guests and so that the caterer may give us a meal proportionate to how many of us there may be , so as not to go to pointless expense .”
These different letters allow us to observe that certain everyday preoccupations of Freemasons have changed very little over the centuries : the “ good acquisitions ” in which one rejoices , and which one hopes will lead to Emulations for the lodge , the number of guests to the agapes , which must correspond to the number of places set , the creation of lodges in towns where the number of members has become sufficient and of good enough quality . And the same things are deplored in them that are deplored today : Talkers and braggarts who claim to have been approached and to be able to enter whenever they want into the Order , and detractors frustrated with not having been so approached …
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which mortified me . I have also written to M . de Morux and charged him , as Secretary , with notifying the others that I am displeased that my orders have not been observed , all the more so that [ illegible ] the trouble we went to , he nevertheless remained . M . de Cordaiz has said my Dearest Brother that you were keen to propose M . Bourgeois . Since everything that interests you touches me , and since moreover I know by reputation the subject in question , I asked yesterday for a vote on him and it was agreed ; thus , upon my return to Angers , where I go on Monday and where I may perhaps be [ a fortnight ?] […] [ We might ?] hold a lodge in order to carry out this reception .” Letter 6 , of November 18 , 1762 . 35 “ Would you please , my Dearest Brother , say on my behalf to M . the King ’ s Procurer
that I pray him to please moderate his jokes about our society . I would have believed myself flattered to merit such attention on his part if he had pleased himself , on my account , to have been a little more circumspect about something in which he knows I have a great interest .” Letter 9 , undated . 36 This lodge is reactivated by the GO on July 8 , 1774 , to take up its place August 5 or 8 ,
1765 and September 4 , 1777 under the name Saint Jean du Secret . See Alain le Bihan , Loges et Chapitres de la Grande Loge et du Grand Orient de France ( 2ème moitié du XVIIIème siècle ) ( Paris : Bibliothèque Nationale , 1976 ), 32 .
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