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Depuis trois siècles la Franc-maçonnerie a été présente à de nombreuses reprises dans la littérature mondiale ; or cette réalité est mal connue. Désireux d'approcher ce domaine oublié, François Cavaignac s'est attaché à montrer la place occupée par les loges et les francs-maçons tant en matière théâtrale que dans le cadre du roman : se côtoient ainsi des grands auteurs, Alexandre Dumas, Tolstoï, Maupassant, Anatole France, André Gide, Thomas Mann, Jules Romains, Italo Calvino, Aléjo...

This essay focuses upon one of those points of intersection: Masonic rituals both appropriated and informed sentimental dramaturgy in mid-century France. The performative speech and actions, elaborate mise-enscene, choreographed movements, and codified touching that were part of Masonic rituals all constitute significant and understudied theatrical aspects of the Freemasonry phenomenon. These aspects of Masonic \"craft\" helped stimulate sympathetic terror, pity, remorse, bereavement, and other strong feelings among brothers. Ceremonial performances promoted passionate homosocial affection that was vital to fraternal cohesion. These feelings were a central focus of lodge activity because they were vital to the perpetuation of the order and its goals of promoting civic harmony across the world through the ideals of self-discipline, charity, and reason. In the first part of what follows, the author examines the evidence that Masonic rituals were elaborately staged performances that drew from dramaturgical trends prevalent in France in the middle decades of the eighteenth century.

On June 27, 1777, the Reverend William Dodd, “the Macaroni Parson,” Master of Arts and Doctor of Laws in the University of Cambridge; first Grand Chaplain of Modern English Freemasonry and sometime Chaplain-in-Ordinary to His Majesty; Chaplain of Magdalen House, a “Public Place of Reception for Penitent Prostitutes”; proprietor of the Charlotte Street Chapel, and a principal instigator of such other charities as the Society for the Release of Debtors and the Humane Society for the Resuscitation of the Apparently Drowned, was hanged at Tyburn for forging the signature of his patron and former pupil, Philip Stanhope, fifth earl of Chesterfield, on a bond for £4,200. Dodd's story, culminating in his trial, condemnation, and execution, despite massive efforts to procure a mitigation of the law's severity, survives best in the literary history and biography of the period. On the other hand, historians, whether political, social, or cultural, have had little or nothing to say about his predicament and suffering except as either the deserved nemesis of a swindler or an early cause celebre in the raising of public concern about the state of the criminal law. The probable reason for this neglect is that, for all the sentimental frisson which it aroused, Dodd's case was a middle-class melodrama which lacked plebeian dimension and appeal.

The reputed importance of the Freemasonry movement in the American Revolution is based on unsubstantiated claims by Bernard Fay and Sidney Morse. Their claims that the majority of important revolutionary leaders were Freemasons has not been supported by later research. The division between Ancient and Modern Freemasonry existed in colonial Boston, with many of the Modern adherents being Loyalists. Where Freemasonry's influence is certain to be seen is in the moral education and belief in brotherhood and liberty.