254 FROM THE ART OF BUILDING TO THE ART OF THINKING
France, daughter of Henri IV and Marie de Medici, accepted a royal
refuge in the chateau of Saint Germain en Laye from King Louis XIV. She
was soon joined there by numerous members of the Scottish nobility.
Without delay, they organized anti-Cromwellian activity with an
eye to promoting the restoration of the heir, Prince Charles II. To pro-
tect themselves from English strangers or those hostile to their side and
to lead Cromwell's police astray, they acted under the cover of the
masonic lodges, of which they were honorary members. Under the pro-
tection of so-called trade secrecy and without too much risk of com-
miting an indiscretion, they could thereby communicate with their
brothers who had remained in Great Britain to plot the overthrow of
the "dictator."^9
In 1661, on the eve of ascending the throne of England, Charles II
formed a regiment in Saint Germain called the Royal Irish, whose name
was soon changed to the Irish Guard. Under the orders of Lord Colonel
William Dorrington, this regiment, which outlived the Stuarts, landed
in Brest on October 8, 1689, as part of the surrender terms of Limerick.
Until 1698, it maintained a garrison in Saint Germain but remained
independent of any French units, although it was maintained by Louis
XIV On February 27, 1698, it was incorporated into the French Army
under the name of its colonel, still Lord Dorrington. This regiment of
the Irish Guard seems to have had the oldest lodge recognized by the
Grand Orient of France. In fact, on March 13, 1777, the Grand Orient
acknowledged that the original constitution of the Guard dated from
March 25, 1688.*
It is likely that this Scottish lodge in Saint Germain had no distinc-
tive title originally and bore only the name of its colonel. After 1752,
the name Perfect Equality appears, but it is possible that it existed under
this name earlier. It is the sole French lodge of the seventeenth century
that has left any sign of its existence, but it is conceivable that the Scots
and Irish founded other lodges in France, notably inside a second regi-
- Ibid., 491. See also Loucelles, Notices historiques sur la R. L.: La Bonne Foi a L'Orient
de Saint Germaine en Laye, (1874). F. Chevalier, Les Dycs sons l'Acacia cites a 1737 let-
ter of Bortin du Rocheret that, when speaking of Freemasons, states: "Ancient society of
England... introduced into France following King James II in 1689."