Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
one of Germany ’ s lesser known libraries , does not contain vital information missing in Büsching ’ s publications , at least not with regard to Freemasonry . It does however help to reconstruct the chronology of the encounters and conversations that Ramsay had with Geusau and Count Henry . As it turns out , he immediately started talking about the subject of Freemasonry and did so with a considerable degree of enthusiasm . Ultimately though , Ramsay did not succeed in winning the Germans over . They were concerned — and this is one little detail that Büsching did in fact leave out — of the adverse repercussions that joining the ranks of the
Freemasons might entail . Once Count Henry XI , who was not yet 19 years old at the time , and his tutor Anton von Geusau had respectfully declined his offer to initiate them into the craft , Ramsay dropped the subject altogether . The two travelling Germans , too , would not pursue the matter any further . That is particularly unfortunate since they actually got to meet the pretender , James III , and his two sons while staying in Rome in December of 1741 . While Geusau did refer to James as a king in his diary , he most certainly did not believe him to be the unknown superior of high-degree Freemasonry .
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