Antonin Esmonin de Dampierre, magistrat et franc-maçon dijonnais (1744-1824)

Patrick Guyon : Antoine Esmonin de Dampierre, a Dijon magistrate and Freemason (1744-1824). The study of Dampierre, a Dijon «noble de robe », takes us into a very different 18th Century from that of the Encyclopaedists. He had no time for his contemporaries' perpetual doubt and vague deism. In the tradition of quietism, he sought a personal contact with God. After being introduced to Freemasonry by a friend, he took an active part in the establishment of the Rectified Scottish Rule in Burgundy, becoming a fervent follower of Willermoz, whom he later joined in Lyons as the Dijon Masons were lukewarm about the new rite. He later dabbled in magnetism and somnanbulism. After the Revolution had taken away his goods and titles, he became a pillar of the Ultra party during the Restoration. Finally the birth of Romanticism found him teaching Madame de Staël in the Coppet circle.Guyon Patrick. Antonin Esmonin de Dampierre, magistrat et franc-maçon dijonnais (1744-1824). In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°19, 1987. La franc-maçonnerie. pp. 179-187