It was to have been at the Grand Lodge Meeting of 1737 that the Knight of Ramsay (1693-1743) should have delivered his speech, had it not been forbidden by political authority, in this case Cardinal Fleury, the Prime Minister.

He had presented a first version of this speech in 1736 probably in St Thomas' Lodge No. 1, the Lodge of the then Grand Master, Lord Derwentwater. Both were Jacobites (supporters of the Stuart dynasty) exiled in France.

Michel de Ramsay, a Scottish nobleman, was close to Fénelon, tutor of the eldest son of James III, and the successful author of a novel, Les voyages de Cyrus, but is best known for his address.

Probably in order to make Freemasonry more acceptable in Old Regime France and to attract Grand Seigneurs who were certainly not tempted to "play at being a Mason", he linked, in his speech, the origin of Freemasonry to the time of the Crusades and to the Orders of Chivalry, one of the major themes of Scottishism.

(Text in french)