,,devil-,,worship ,,in ,,france ,demy #hvo1 about #dej pages1 cloth ,,the ,,doctrine ,,and ,,ritual ,,of ,,transcendent ,,magic ,,by ,,eliphas ,,levi ,a ,,complete ,,translation ,,of ,,dogme ,,et ,,rituel ,,de ,,la ,,haute ,,magie ,,by ,,arthur ,,edward ,,waite ,with all the original engravings and a portrait of the ,author4 ,,george ,,redway #i ,,hart ,,street1 ,,bloomsbury ,,london ,,devil-,,worship ,,in ,,france ,,or ,,the ,,question ,,of ,,lucifer ,a ,,record ,,of ,,things ,,seen ,,and ,,heard ,,in ,,the ,,secret ,,societies ,,according ,,to ,,the ,,evidence ,,of ,,initiates ,,by ,,arthur ,,edward ,,waite ,the first in this plot was ,lucifer4--,,thomas ,,vaughan ,,london ,,george ,,redway #ahif ,,preface ,the term ,modern ,satanism is not intended to signify the development of some new aspect of old doctrine concerning demonology1 or some new argument for the personification of the evil principle in universal nature4 ,it is intended to signify the alleged revival1 or1 at least1 the reappearance to some extent in public1 of a cultus diabolicus1 or formal religion of the devil1 the existence of which1 in the middle ages1 is registered by the known facts of the ,black ,sabbath1 a department1 however1 of historical research1 to which full justice yet remains to be done4 ,by the hypothesis1 such a religion may assume one of two forms2 it may be a worship of the evil principle as such1 namely1 a conscious attempt on the part of human minds to identify themselves with that principle1 or it may be the worship of a power which is regarded as evil by other religions1 from which view the worshippers in question dissent4 ,the necessity for this distinction ,i shall make apparent in the first chapter of this book4 ,a religion of the darkness1 subsisting under each of these distinctive forms1 is said to be in practice at the present moment1 and to be characterised1 as it was in the past1 by the strong evidence of miracles1--in other words1 by transcendental phenomena of a very extraordinary kind1 connecting in a direct manner with what is generically termed ,black ,magic4 ,now1 ,black ,magic in the past may have been imposture reinforced by delusion1 and to state that it is recurring at the present day does not commit anyone to an opinion upon its veridical origin4 ,to say1 also1 that the existence of modern diabolism has passed from the region of rumour into that of exhaustive and detailed statement1 is to record a matter of fact1 and ,i must add that the evidence in hand1 whatever its ultimate value1 can be regarded lightly by those only who are unacquainted with its extent and character4 ,this evidence is1 broadly1 of three kinds3--7a7 ,the testimony of independent men of letters1 who would seem to have come in contact therewith2 7b7 the testimony volunteered by former initiates of such secret associations as are dedicated to a cultus diabolicus2 7c7 the testimony of certain writers1 claiming special sources of information1 and defending some affected interests of the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,my purpose in this book is to distinguish1 so far as may be possible1 what is true from what is false in the evidence1 and ,i have undertaken the task1 firstly1 because modern mystics are accused1 en masse1 of being concerned in this cultus2 secondly1 because the existence of modern ,satanism has given opportunity to a conspiracy of falsehood which is wide in its ramifications1 and serious on account of its source2 thirdly1 because the question itself has awakened considerable interest both within and without transcendental circles1 and it is desirable to replace hazy and exaggerated notions by a clear and formal statement4 ,i have connected the new diabolism with ,france in my title1 because the evidence in each of its kinds has been filed by ,french writers1 and we have no other source of information4 ,so far as that evidence is sound1 we have to thank ,france for producing it2 but1 on the other hand1 should it prove that a whole city of invention has been constructed1 with all its spires and gateways1 upon a meagre basis of fact1 it is just that ,french imagination should have full credit for the decorative art which has adorned this ,question of ,lucifer4 ,the plan of my work had been sketched1 and a number of chapters written1 when ,i found myself to some extent preceded by a writer well known to occultists under the pseudonym of ,papus1 who has quite recently published a small brochure1 entitled ,le ,diable et ,l',occultisme1 which is a brief defence of transcendentalists against the accusations in connection with ,satanism4 ,i gladly yield to ,m4 ,papus the priority in time1 which was possible to a well-informed gentleman1 at the centre of the conspiracy4 ,his little work1 however1 does not claim to be either a review or a criticism1 and does not therefore1 in any sense1 cover the ground which ,i have travelled4 ,it is an exposition and exoneration of his own school of mystic thought1 which is that of the ,martinists1 and ,i have mentioned it in this connection in its proper place4 ,,contents ,,page ,,preface v ,,chapter ,i ,,satanism ,,in ,,the ,,nineteenth ,,century #a ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,mask ,,of ,,masonry #bb ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,first ,,witnesses ,,of ,,lucifer #db ,,chapter ,,iv ,,ex ,,ore ,,leonis #ec ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,discovery ,,of ,m4 ,,ricoux #gd ,,chapter ,,vi ,,art ,,sacerdotal #hb ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,devil ,,and ,,the ,,doctor #ig ,,chapter ,,viii ,,dealings ,,with ,,diana #afb ,,chapter ,,ix ,,how ,,lucifer ,,is ,,unmasked #ahb ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,vendetta ,,of ,,signor ,,margiotta #bja ,,chapter ,,xi ,,female ,,freemasonry #bbe ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,doctor ,,bataille #bcc ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,diana ,,unveiled #bee ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,the ,,radix ,,of ,,modern ,,diabolism #bij ,,chapter ,,xv ,,conclusion #bii ,,devil-,,worship ,,in ,,france ,,chapter ,i ,,satanism ,,in ,,the ,,nineteenth ,,century ,if a short time ago that ultimate and universal source of reference1 the person of average intelligence1 had been asked concerning ,modern ,diabolism1 or the ,question of ,lucifer1--,what it is8 ,who are its disciples8 ,where is it practised8 ,and why8--he would have replied1 possibly with some asperity3--,the question of ,lucifer6 ,there is no question of ,lucifer4 ,modern ,diabolism6 ,there is no modern ,diabolism4 ,and all the advanced people and all the strong minds would have extolled the average intelligence1 whereupon the matter would have been closed hermetically1 without disquieting and unwelcome investigations like the present4 ,the ,great ,teacher of ,christianity beheld ,lucifer fall from heaven like lightning1 and1 in a different sense1 the modern world has witnessed a similar spectacle4 ,assuredly the demon of ,milton has been cast down from the sky of theology1 and1 except in a few centres of extreme doctrinal concentration1 there is no place found for him4 ,the apostles of material philosophy have in a manner searched the universe1 and have produced--well1 the material philosophy1 and therein is no question of ,lucifer4 ,at the opposite pole of thought there is1 let us say1 the spiritualist1 in possession of many instruments superior1 at least by the hypothesis1 to the search-lights of science1 through which he receives the messages of the spheres and establishes a partial acquaintance with an order which is not of this world2 but in that order also there appears to be no question of ,lucifer1 though vexed questions there are without number concerning unprogressed spirits1 to say nothing of the elementary4 ,between these poles there is the flux and reflux of multitudinous opinions2 but1 except at the centres mentioned1 there is still no question of ,lucifer2 it has been shelved or dropped4 ,the revival of mystical philosophy1 and1 moreover1 of transcendental experiment1 which is prosecuted in secret to a far greater extent than the public can possibly be aware1 has1 however1 set many old oracles chattering1 and they are more voluble at the present moment than the great ,dodonian grove4 ,as might be expected1 they whisper occasionally of deeds done in the darkness which look weird when exposed to the day4 ,the terms ,satanism1 ,luciferianism1 ,diabolism1 and their equivalents1 have been buzzed frequently1 though with some indistinctness1 of late1 and in accents that indicate the existence of a living terror--people do not quite know of what kind--rather than an exploded superstition4 ,to be plain1 the ,question of ,lucifer has reappeared1 and in a manner which must be eminently disconcerting to the average intelligence and the advanced and strong in mind4 ,it has reappeared not as a speculative inquiry into the possibility of a personal embodiment of evil operating mysteriously1 but after a wholly spiritual manner1 for the propagation of the second death2 we are asked to acknowledge that there is a visible and tangible manifestation of the descending hierarchy taking place at the close of a century which has denied that there is any prince of darkness4 ,now there are some subjects which impress one at first sight as unserious1 but we come to regard them differently when we find that they are being taken seriously4 ,we have been accustomed1 with some show of reason1 to connect the idea of devil-worship with barbarous rites obtaining among savage nations1 to regard it1 in fact1 as a suitable complement of the fetish4 ,it seems hypothetically quite impossible that there can be any person1 much less any society or class of persons1 who1 at this day1 and in ,london1 ,paris1 or ,new ,york1 adore the evil principle4 ,hence1 to say that there is ,black ,magic actively in function at the present moment2 that there is a living cultus of ,lucifer2 that ,black ,masses are celebrated1 and involve revolting profanations of the ,catholic ,eucharist2 that the devil appears personally2 that he possesses his church1 his ritual1 his sacraments2 that men1 women1 and children dedicate themselves to his service1 or are so devoted by their sponsors2 that there are people1 assumed to be sane1 who would die in the peace of ,lucifer2 that there are those also who regard his region of eternal fire--a variety unknown to the late ,mr ,charles ,marvin--as the true abode of beatitude--to say all this will not enhance the credibility or establish the intelligence of the speaker4 ,but this improbable development of ,satanism is just what is being earnestly asserted1 and the affirmations made are being taken in some quarters au grand srieux4 ,they are not a growth of to-day or precisely of yesterday2 they have been more or less heard for some years1 but their prominence at the moment is due to increasing insistence1 pretension to scrupulous exactitude1 abundant detail1 and demonstrative evidence4 ,reports1 furthermore1 have quite recently come to hand from two exceedingly circumstantial and exhaustive witnesses1 and these have created distinctly a fresh departure4 ,books have multiplied1 periodicals have been founded1 the ,church is taking action1 even a legal process has been instituted4 ,the centre of this literature is at ,paris1 but the report of it has crossed the ,channel1 and has passed into the ,english press4 ,as it is affirmed1 therefore1 that a cultus of ,lucifer exists1 and that the men and women who are engaged in it are neither ignorant nor especially mad1 nor yet belonging to the lowest strata of society1 it is worth while to investigate the matter1 and some profit is possible1 whatever the issue4 ,if the devil be actually among us1 then for the sake of much which has seemed crass in orthodox religion1 thus completely exonerated2 for the sake of the fantastic in fiction and the lurid in legend1 thus unexpectedly actualised2 and1 further1 as it may be1 for the sake of our own souls1 we shall do well to know of it4 ,if ,abaddon1 ,apollyon1 and the ,lord of ,flies are to be understood literally2 above all1 if they are liable to confront us in propria persona between ,free ,mason's ,hall and ,duke ,street1 or between ,duke ,street and ,avenue ,road1 then the sooner we can arrange our reconciliation with the one ,church which has consistently and invariably taught the one full-grown1 virile doctrine of devils1 and has the bon-fide recipes for knowing1 avoiding1 and at need of exorcising them1 why the better will it be1 more especially if we have had previously any leanings towards the conception of an universal order not pivoting on perdition4 ,if1 on the other hand1 what is said be of the category of ,ananias1 as distinguished from what alchemists call the ,code of ,truth1 it will be well also to know that some portions of the old orthodoxies still wait for their deliverance from the bonds of scepticism1 that the actual is to be discriminated from the fantastic by the old test1 namely1 its comparative stupidity1 and that we may still create our universe about any pivot that may please us4 ,i am writing ostensibly for transcendentalists1 of whom ,i am one2 it is as a student of transcendentalism that ,i have been led to examine this modern mystery1 equipped as it is with such portentous phenomena4 ,diabolism is1 of course1 a transcendental question1 and black magic is connected with white by the same antinomy that connects light and darkness4 ,moreover1 we mystics are all to some extent accused by the accusations which are preferred in the matter of modern diabolism1 and this is another reason for investigating and making known the result4 ,at the same time1 the general question has many aspects of interest for that large class which would demur to be termed transcendental1 but confesses to being curious4 ,the earliest rumour which ,i have been able to recall in ,england concerning existing occult practices to which a questionable purpose might be attributed1 appeared in a well-known psychological journal some few years since1 and was derived from a continental source1 being an account of a certain society then existing in ,paris1 which was devoted to magical practices and in possession of a secret ritual for the evocation of planetary angels2 it was an association of well-placed persons1 denying any connection with spiritualism1 and pretending to an acquaintance with more effectual thaumaturgic processes than those which obtain at sances4 ,the account passed unchallenged1 for in the absence of more explicit information1 it seemed scarcely worth while to draw attention to the true character of the claim4 ,the secret ritual in question could not have been unknown to specialists in magical literature1 and was certainly to myself among these2 as a fact1 it was one of those numerous clavicles of the gotic art which used to circulate surreptitiously in manuscript some two centuries ago4 ,there is no doubt that the planetary spirits with which the document was concerned were devils in the intention of its author1 and must have been evoked as such1 supposing that the process was practised4 ,the ,french association was not therefore in possession of a secret source of knowledge1 but as impositions of this kind are to be priori expected in such cases by transcendentalists of any experience1 ,i for one refrained from entering any protest at the time4 ,much about the same period it became evident that a marked change had passed over certain aspects of thought in the most enlightened city of the world1 and that among the jeunesse dore1 in particular1 there was a strong revulsion against paramount material philosophy2 an epoch of transcendental and mystic feeling was1 in fact1 beginning4 ,old associations1 having transcendental objects1 were in course of revival1 or were coming into renewed prominence4 ,martinists1 ,gnostics1 ,kabbalists1 and a score of orders or fraternities of which we vaguely hear about the period of the ,french ,revolution1 began to manifest great activity2 periodicals of a mystical tendency--not spiritualistic1 not neo-theosophical1 but ,hermetic1 ,kabbalistic1 and theurgic--were established1 and met with success2 books which had grievously weighted the shelves of their publishers for something like a quarter of a century were suddenly in demand1 and students of distinction on this side of the channel were attracted towards the new centre4 ,the interest was intelligible to professed mystics2 the doctrine of transcendentalism has never had but one adversary1 which is the density of the intellectual subject1 and wherever the subject clarifies1 there is idealism in philosophy and mysticism in religion4 ,moreover1 on the part of mystics1 especially here in ,england1 the way of that revival had been prepared carefully1 and there could be no astonishment that it came1 and none1 too1 that it was accompanied1 as it is accompanied almost invariably1 by much that does not belong to it in the way of transcendental phenomena4 ,when1 therefore1 the rumours of ,black ,magic1 diabolism1 and the abuse of occult forces began to circulate1 there was little difficulty in attributing some foundation to the report4 ,a distinguished man of letters1 ,m4 ,huysman1 who has passed out of ,zolaism in the direction of transcendental religion1 is1 in a certain sense1 the discoverer of modern ,satanism4 ,under the thinnest disguise of fiction1 he gives in his romance of ,la ,bas1 an incredible and untranslatable picture of sorcery1 sacrilege1 black magic1 and nameless abominations1 secretly practised in ,paris4 ,possessing a brilliant reputation1 commanding a wide audience1 and with a psychological interest attaching to his own personality1 which more than literary excellence infuses a contagious element into private views and impressions1 he has given currency to the ,question of ,lucifer1 has promoted it from obscurity into prominence1 and has made it the vogue of the moment4 ,it is true that1 by his vocation of novelist1 he is suspected of inventing his facts1 and ,dr ,papus1 president of the influential ,martinist group in ,french occultism1 states quite plainly that the doors of the mystic fraternities have been closed in his face1 so that he can know nothing1 and his opinions are consequently indifferent4 ,i have weighed these points carefully1 but unless the mystic fraternities are connected with diabolism1 which ,papus would most rightly deny1 the exclusion does not remove the opportunity of first-hand knowledge concerning the practice of ,satanism1 and1 brilliant imagination apart1 ,m4 ,huysman has proved quite recently that he is in mortal earnest by his preface to a historical treatise on ,satanism and ,magic1 the work of a literary disciple1 ,jules ,bois4 ,in a criticism1 which for general soberness and lucidity does not leave much to be desired1 he there affirms that a number of persons1 not specially distinguished from the rest of the world by the mark of the beast in their foreheads1 are devoted in secret to the operations of ,black ,magic1 communicate or seek to communicate with ,spirits of ,darkness1 for the attainment of ambition1 the accomplishment of revenge1 the satisfaction of their passions1 or some other form of ill-doing4 ,he affirms also that there are facts which cannot be concealed and from which only one deduction can be made1 namely1 that the existence of ,satanism is undeniable4 ,to understand the first of these facts ,i must explain that the attempt to form a partnership with the lost angels of orthodox theology1 which attempt constitutes ,black ,magic1 has1 in ,europe at least1 been invariably connected with sacrilege4 ,by the hypothesis of demonology1 ,satan is the enemy of ,christ1 and to please ,satan the sorcerer must outrage ,christ1 especially in his sacraments4 ,the facts are as follow3--7a7 continuous1 systematic1 and wholesale robberies of consecrated hosts from ,catholic ,churches1 and this not as a consequence of importing the vessels of the sanctuary1 which are often of trifling value and often left behind4 ,the intention of the robbery is therefore to possess the hosts1 and their future profanation is the only possible object4 ,now1 before it can be worth while to profane the ,eucharist1 one must believe in the ,real ,presence1 and this is acknowledged by only two classes1 the many who love ,christ and some few who hate ,him4 ,but ,he is not profaned1 at least not intentionally1 by ,his lovers2 hence the sacrilege is committed by ,his enemies in chief1 namely1 practisers of ,black ,magic4 ,it is difficult1 ,i think1 to escape from that position2 and ,i should add that sacramental outrages of this astonishing kind1 however deeply they may be deplored by the ,church1 are concealed rather than paraded1 and as it is difficult to get at the facts1 it may be inferred that they are not exaggerated1 at least by the ,church2 7b7 ,the occasional perpetration of certain outrageous crimes1 including murder and other abominations1 in which an element of ,black ,magic has been elicited by legal tribunals4 ,but these are too isolated in place and too infrequent in time to be evidence for ,satanic associations or indications of a prevalent practice4 ,they may therefore be released from the custody of the present inquiry to come up for judgment when called on2 7c7 ,the existence of a society of ,palladists1 or professors of certain doctrines termed ,palladism1 as demonstrated1 inter alia1 by the publication of a periodical review in its interests4 ,m4 ,huysman's facts1 therefore1 resolve into acts of sacrilege1 indicating associations existing for the purpose of sacrilege1 which purpose must1 however1 be regarded as a means and not an end1 and the end in question is to enter into communication with devils4 ,independently of ,m4 ,huysman1 ,i believe there is no doubt about the sacrilege4 ,it is a matter of notoriety that in #ahid two ciboria1 containing one hundred consecrated hosts1 were carried off by an old woman from the cathedral of ,notre ,dame under circumstances which indicate that the vessels were not the objects of the larceny4 ,similar depredations are said to have increased in an extraordinary manner during recent years1 and have occurred in all parts of ,france4 ,no less than thirteen churches belonging to the one diocese of ,orleans were despoiled in the space of twelve months1 and in the diocese of ,lyons the archbishop recommended his clergy to transform the tabernacles into strong boxes4 ,the departments of ,aude1 ,isre1 ,tarn1 ,gard1 ,nivre1 ,loiret1 ,yonne1 ,haute-,garonne1 ,somme1 ,le ,nord1 and the ,dauphiny have been in turn the scene of outrage4 ,nor are the abominations in question confined to ,france3 ,rome1 ,liguria1 ,salerno have also suffered1 while so far off as the ,island of ,mauritius a peculiarly revolting instance occurred in #ahie4 ,i am not able to say that the personal researches of the ,french novelist have proceeded beyond the statistics of sacrilege1 which1 however1 he has collected carefully1 and these in themselves constitute a strong presumption4 ,m4 ,huysman is exhaustive in fiction and reticent in essay-writing1 yet he gives us to understand explicitly that the infamous ,canon ,docre of ,la ,bas is actually living in ,belgium1 that he is the leader of a demoniac clan1 and1 like the ,count de ,st ,germain1 is in frequent terror of the possibilities of the life to come4 ,an interviewer has represented ,m4 ,huysman as stating that his information was derived from a person who was himself a ,satanist1 but the revelations disturbed the sect1 and the communication ceased1 though the author had originally been welcomed as one of their own4 ,but it is clear to my own mind that for his descriptions of the orgies which take place at the assemblies of modern black magicians1 ,m4 ,huysman is mainly indebted to documents which have been placed in his hands by existing disciples of the illumin ,eugene ,vintras1 and the ,dr ,johannes of ,la ,bas4 ,vintras was the founder of a singular thaumaturgic sect1 incorporating the aspirations of the ,saviours of ,louis ,,xvii42 he obtained some notoriety about the year #ahfj1 and an account of his claims and miracles will be found in liphas ,lvi's ,histoire de la ,magie1 in the same writer's ,clef des ,grands ,mystres1 and in ,jules ,bois' ,petites ,religions de ,paris4 ,he left a number of manuscripts behind him1 recounting his life-long combats with the priests of black magic--a series of fervid narratives which savour strongly of hallucination1 but highly picturesque1 and in some quarters accepted quite seriously4 ,in like manner1 concerning the existence of ,satanic associations1 and especially the ,palladium1 ,m4 ,huysman admittedly derives his knowledge from published sources4 ,we may take it1 therefore1 that he speaks from an accidental and extrinsic acquaintance1 and he is therefore insufficient in himself to create a question of ,satanism2 he indicates rather than establishes that there is a question1 and to learn its scope and nature we must have recourse to the witnesses who claim to have seen for themselves4 ,these are of two kinds1 namely1 the spy and the seceder--the witness who claims to have investigated the subject at first hand with a view to its exposure1 and those who have come forward to say that they once were worshippers of ,lucifer1 worshippers of ,satan1 operators of ,black ,magic1 or were at least connected with associations which exist for these purposes1 who have now1 however1 suspended communication1 and are stating what they know4 ,in the first class we find only ,doctor ,bataille2 in the second1 ,diana ,vaughan1 ,jean ,kostka1 ,domenico ,margiotta1 and ,leo ,taxil4 ,finally1 we have1 as stated in the preface1 some testimony from writers representing the interests of the ,latin ,church1 in a special manner1 and speaking with the authority of that ,church4 ,the most important of these is the late ,archbishop ,meurin4 ,at the same time1 ,m4 ,huysman apart--who occupies much the same quasi-religious position as that which attached a fleeting interest to the personality of ,mr ,w4 ,h4 ,mallock--all writers and all witnesses are1 or assume to be1 at the present time1 convinced and zealous ,roman ,catholics4 ,i have already stated that the purpose of ,black ,magic is simply and obviously to communicate with devils1 and if we interrogate our sources of knowledge as to the object of such communication1 it must be admitted that the response is vague4 ,perhaps the object will best be defined as the reinforcement of human ability by diabolical power and intelligence for the operation of evil along the lines of individual desire and ambition4 ,for the fulfilment of what is good man aspires towards ,god1 and to fulfil evil he attempts to conspire with ,satan4 ,it must1 however1 be observed that modern devil-worship1 as exposed by its ,french experts1 has two aspects1 corresponding to the distinction already laid down in my preface4 ,there is 7a7 devil-worship pure and simple1 being an attempt to communicate with evil spirits1 admitting that they are evil2 7b7 the cultus of ,lucifer1 star of the morning1 as distinguished from ,satan1 on the hypothesis that he is a good spirit4 ,it will be seen very readily that the essence of diabolism is wanting in the second division1 namely1 the ,satanic intention1 so that it belongs really to another category1 though the classification may be accepted for the moment to prevent dispute at the beginning of a somewhat complex inquiry4 ,the first division is1 in any case1 ,satanism proper1 and its adepts are termed ,satanists2 those of the second division are1 on the other hand1 ,luciferians1 ,palladists1 c4 ,the two orders are further distinguished as unorganised and as organised diabolism4 ,the cultus of ,satan is supposed to be mainly practised by isolated persons or small and obscure groups2 that of ,lucifer is centralised in at least one great and widespread institution--in other words1 the first is rare and sporadic1 the second a prevalent practice4 ,we accordingly hear little of the one1 while the testimonies which have been collected are concerned exclusively with the other4 ,it is possible1 in fact1 to dismiss ,satanism of the primary division in a few words1 because materials are wanting for its history4 ,it is founded on orthodox ,christianity2 it acknowledges that the devil is a lost angel1 but it affirms that the ,god of the ,christians has deceived ,his believers1 has betrayed the cause of humanity1 has exacted the suppression of the nature with which ,he ,himself has endowed it2 they have therefore abandoned a cruel and tyrannical ,master1 and have gone over in despair to ,his enemy4 ,satanism of the second division1 its principles and its origin1 will be described in the second chapter4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,mask ,,of ,,masonry ,the identification of the cultus of ,lucifer with devil-worship pure and simple is not1 as we have seen1 at first sight an entirely just proceeding1 but at the same time it is inevitable4 ,as already observed1 the source of all our knowledge concerning ,modern ,diabolism exists within the pale of the ,catholic ,church2 the entire literature is written from the standpoint of that church1 and has been created solely in its interests4 ,some of that literature has been put forth with the special marks of high ecclesiastical approbation1 and to some this guarantee is wanting1 but the same spirit informs the whole4 ,to insist on this point is important for many reasons which will become apparent at the close of our enquiry1 and for one which concerns us now4 ,it is impossible for the ,catholic ,church to do otherwise than brand the cultus of ,lucifer as identical with that of ,satan1 because1 according to her unswerving instruction1 the name ,lucifer is an equivalent of ,satan1 and1 moreover1 the ,luciferian cultus is so admittedly anti-,christian that no form of ,christianity could do otherwise than regard it as a worship of darkness and evil4 ,while1 therefore1 the adoration of a good principle under this discredited name may in one of its aspects be merely an error of judgment1 and not the worship of a devil1 apart from other facts which destroy this consideration1 we must all agree that from the standpoint of ,christian and ,latin orthodoxy the ,luciferian is a diabolist1 though not in the sense of the ,satanist4 ,the doctrine of ,lucifer has been tersely described by ,huysman as a kind of reversed ,christianity--a ,catholicism rebours4 ,it is1 in fact1 the revival of an old heresy founded on what we have most of us been accustomed to regard as a philosophical blunder2 in a word1 it is a ,manichan system having a special anti-,christian application1 for while affirming the existence of two equal first principles1 ,adona and ,lucifer1 it regards the latter as the god of light and goodness1 while the ,christian ,adona is the prince of darkness and the veritable ,satan4 ,it is inferred from the condition of the world at the present time that the mastery of the moment resides with the evil principle1 and that the beneficent ,deity is at a disadvantage4 ,adona reigns surely1 as the ,christian believes1 but he is the author of human misery1 and ,jesus is the ,christ of ,adona1 but he is the messenger of misfortune1 suffering1 and false renunciation1 leading ultimately to destruction when the ,deus maledictus shall cease to triumph4 ,the worshippers of ,lucifer have taken sides in the cause of humanity1 and in their own cause1 with the baffled principle of goodness2 they co-operate with him in order to insure his triumph1 and he communicates with them to encourage and strengthen them2 they work to prepare his kingdom1 and he promises to raise up a ,saviour among them1 who is ,antichrist1 their leader and king to come4 ,such is the doctrine of ,lucifer according to the testimony of witnesses who have come out from his cultus2 it is not an instruction which priori would seem likely to commend itself to a numerically powerful following1 but the society which is concerned with its propagation is affirmed to have spread over the whole world1 and to be represented in all its chief cities4 ,it is that which we have already found mentioned by ,m4 ,huysman as possessing a demonstrated existence and being a proof positive of modern ,satanism1 namely1 the ,palladian ,order4 ,having broadly ascertained its principles1 our next course is to discover its alleged history1 and here it is necessary to admit that it is a matter of some difficulty to place the position in such an aspect that it will be a tolerable subject for inquiry among readers in ,england4 ,the mystery of modern ,diabolism and the ,cultus of ,lucifer is a part of the mystery of ,masonry as interpreted by an ,anti-,masonic movement now at work in ,france4 ,the black magic1 of which we hear so much1 involves a new aspect of the old ,catholic ,crusade against the ,fraternity of the ,square and ,compass1 and by the question of ,lucifer is signified an alleged discovery that ,masons diabolise4 ,now1 we are all well acquainted with the historical fact that the ,latin ,church has long been hostile to ,masonry1 that popes have condemned the order1 and have excommunicated its initiates4 ,having regard to the position of the brotherhood here in ,england1 most of us have been content to infer in this respect that the ripe old age of the ,church is passing into a second childhood2 some1 however1 have concluded that there may be more in ,continental ,freemasonry than meets the ,english eye1 and here the ,church herself comes forward to assure them that the fraternity abroad is a hotbed of political propaganda1 and is responsible for the most disastrous revolutions which have perplexed the modern world2 that it is actually1 as the exploded ,robison described it1 a conspiracy against crowned heads2 and that it is at the present time the most potent1 most secret enemy which checkmates and hinders herself4 ,it is now further affirmed that behind the ,masonry of to-day--here in ,england posing as a benefit society1 and political or not upon the ,continent1 but everywhere disclaiming any connection with a religious propaganda--there is affirmed to be another ,masonry1 of which the ordinary ,mason knows nothing1 secretly directing the order1 and devoted to the cultus of ,lucifer4 ,this organisation1 which has sprung up within recent years1 is largely1 though not exclusively1 recruited from ,masonry2 it works through the powerful ,masonic apparatus1 and1 according to the evidence which has been put in1 it has obtained a substantial and masterful control over the entire ,fraternity4 ,it has focussed the raw material of ,masonic hostility towards the ,catholic ,church2 as it is anti-,christian in religion1 so is it revolutionary in politics2 and once more1 it is called the ,palladian ,order4 ,this exceedingly grave and important accusation1 together with its side issues1 has perhaps all the more claim on our consideration because1 apart from actual diabolism1 which is in itself so paralysing as almost to arrest discussion1 it conflicts with all that we know or believe concerning the ,masonic constitution4 ,let me briefly collect the points4 7a7 ,masonry possesses a secret directing centre--which has been strenuously denied by the ,fraternity4 7b7 ,it has a religious mission and a doctrinal propaganda--which has also been invariably denied4 7c7 ,it is concerned with political objects--which1 for the most part1 is denied4 7d7 ,it has a transcendental teaching--which is generally denied1 and 7e7 is concerned largely with transcendental practices and phenomena--which would be denied absolutely1 had the question been seriously raised till this day4 7f7 ,it initiates women--which1 except in a very secondary1 occasional1 and insignificant manner1 is in toto and at all times denied4 ,the last point is brought within the scope of our inquiry because the ,palladium is an androgyne order4 ,now1 it will be fairly well known to many who are not within the ranks of the fraternity that the ,grand ,lodges of every country are supposed to be autonomous1 and that there has been no previous impeachment of this fact2 that1 ostensibly at least1 there is no central institution to which they are answerable in ,masonry4 ,individual lodges derive from a single ,grand ,lodge and are responsible thereto1 but ,grand ,lodges themselves are supreme and irresponsible4 ,it will be known also that the ,masonic system in ,england differs from that of ,france1 that the ,french rite has always occupied a somewhat heterodox position1 and that since the ,grand ,orient expunged the ,grand ,architect of the ,universe1 so to speak1 from its symbolism1 official communication has been suspended by the ,grand ,lodge of ,england4 ,it will be known further that outside recognised ,masonic systems many rites have arisen which are only ,masonic to the extent that their point of departure is from the ,master-grade4 ,as a special instance may be cited the ,supreme ,oriental ,rite of ,memphis and ,misram4 ,in ,england the ,lodge meetings of these rites are never suffered to take place in the great central institution of ,freemasons ,hall2 in ,france1 the ,grand ,orient has consistently forbidden its members to participate in the ,memphis system4 ,to hold ,masonry responsible for irregularities or abuses which from time to time may obtain in these fantastic developments from the parent institution1 would be about as just and reasonable as to impeach the ,latin ,church on the score of corruptions now existing in the heresies which have separated from her4 ,having established these points in view of the result of our inquiry1 let us now trace the manner in which a supreme authority1 frequently termed by the accusers ,universal ,masonry1 is alleged to have grown up4 ,upon this subject not only the most complete information but the only formal narratives are provided by the later witnesses1 so that the following account1 while in no sense translation1 is based exclusively upon the works of ,domenico ,margiotta and ,dr ,bataille4 ,on the #bjth of ,may1 #agcg1 there was constituted in ,france the ,order of the ,palladium1 or ,sovereign ,council of ,wisdom1 which1 after the manner of the androgyne lodges then springing into existence1 initiated women under the title of ,companions of ,penelope4 ,the ritual of this order was published by the ,masonic archologist ,ragon1 so that there can be no doubt of its existence4 ,at the same time1 so far as ,i am aware1 there are few materials forthcoming for its history4 ,in some way which remains wholly untraceable this order is inferred to have been connected by more than its name with the legendary ,palladium of the ,knights ,templars1 well known under the title of ,baphomet4 ,in any case it failed to spread1 and it is uncertain whether the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 also an androgyne order1 with which we shall presently be concerned1 is a metamorphosis or reconstruction of the original institution1 but a connection of some kind is affirmed4 ,for a period exceeding sixty years we hear little of the legendary ,palladium2 but in #ahja the ,israelite ,isaac ,long is said to have carried the original ,baphomet and the skull of the ,templar ,grand ,master ,jacques de ,molay from ,paris to ,charleston in the ,united ,states1 and was afterwards concerned in the reconstruction of the ,scotch ,rite of ,perfection and of ,herodom under the name of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 which subsequently became widely diffused1 and it is stated that the lodge of the thirty-third degree of the ,supreme ,council of ,charleston has been the parent of all others1 and is therefore1 in this rite1 the first supreme council of the entire globe4 ,eight years later1 on the #bith of ,december #ahji1 a man of great importance to the history of ,freemasonry was born in the city of ,boston4 ,albert ,pike came of parents in a humble position1 who1 however1 struggled with their difficulties and sent him to ,harvard ,college1 where he duly graduated1 taking his degree as ,m4,a4 in the year #ahbi4 ,he began his career as a schoolmaster1 but subsequently led a romantic and wandering life1 his love of untrodden ground leading him to explore the ,rocky ,mountains1 then very imperfectly known4 ,in #ahcc he settled in ,arkansas1 and1 drifting into journalism1 founded the ,arkansas ,advocate1 wherein his contributions1 both prose and verse1 but the latter especially1 obtained him a reputation in literature4 ,the admission of ,arkansas into the confederation of the ,united ,states was in part his work1 and from this period he began to figure in politics1 becoming also the recorder of the ,supreme ,court in that state4 ,one year after the civil war1 in which he took active part1 ,pike removed to ,memphis in ,tennessee1 where he again followed law and literature1 establishing the ,memphis ,appeal1 which he sold in #ahfh1 and migrated to ,washington4 ,his subsequent history is exclusively concerned with unwearying ,masonic labours4 ,now1 it was at ,little ,rock in ,arkansas that ,albert ,pike was first initiated1 and ten years later1 that is1 in #ahei1 he was elected ,sovereign ,commander ,grand ,master of the ,supreme ,council of ,charleston4 ,having extraordinary powers of organisation1 he became a person of wide influence in the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 and a high authority also on the ritual1 antiquities1 history1 and literature of ,masonry4 ,under his guidance1 the ,scotch ,rite extended and became dominant4 ,hence1 when the ,italian patriot ,mazzini is said to have projected the centralization of high grade ,masonry1 he could find no person in the whole fraternity more suited by his position and influence to collaborate with him4 ,out of this secret partnership there was begotten on ,september #bj1 #ahgj--that is to say1 on the very day when the ,italian troops entered the ,eternal ,city--a ,supreme ,rite and ,central ,organisation of ,universal ,high ,grade ,masonry1 the act of creation being signed by the ,american ,grand ,master and the ,italian liberator1 the two founders also sharing the power between them4 ,a ,supreme ,dogmatic ,directory was created at ,charleston1 with ,pike at its head1 under the title of ,sovereign ,pontiff of ,universal ,freemasonry4 ,mazzini took over the ,supreme ,executive1 having ,rome as its centre1 under the title of ,sovereign ,chief of ,political ,action4 ,if we now recur to the statements that the genuine ,templar ,baphomet and the skull of ,jacques de ,molay had been deposited at ,charleston for the space of seventy years1 and that ,albert ,pike was ,grand ,master of the ,supreme ,council of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite in that city1 we shall understand why it was that the new institution was termed the ,new ,reformed ,palladian ,rite1 or the ,reformed ,palladium4 ,subsequently1 five ,central ,grand ,directories were established--at ,washington for ,north ,america1 ,monte ,video for ,south ,america1 ,naples for ,europe1 ,calcutta for the ,eastern ,world1 and ,port ,louis in ,mauritius for ,africa4 ,a ,sovereign ,universal ,administrative ,directory was fixed at ,berlin subsequently to the death of ,mazzini4 ,as a result of this astute organisation1 ,albert ,pike is said to have held all ,masonry in the hollow of his hand1 by means of a twofold apparatus--the ,palladium and the ,scotch ,rite4 ,during all his remaining days1 and he lived to a great age1 he laboured indefatigably in both causes1 and the world at the present moment is filled with the organisation that he administered4 ,four persons are cited as having been coadjutors in his own country--his old friend ,gallatin ,mackey1 in honourable memory among ,masons2 a ,scotchman named ,longfellow1 whom some ,french writers have ludicrously confused with the poet2 one ,holbrook1 about whom there are few particulars2 and1 finally1 ,phileas ,walder1 a native of ,switzerland1 originally a ,lutheran ,minister1 afterwards said to have been a ,mormon1 but1 in any case1 at the period in question1 a well-known spiritualist1 an earnest student of occultism1 as were also ,holbrook and ,longfellow1 and1 what is more to the purpose1 a personal friend and disciple of the great ,french magus liphas ,lvi4 ,albert ,pike was himself an occultist1 whether upon his independent initiative1 or through the influence of these friends ,i am unable to say4 ,miss ,diana ,vaughan1 who is one of the seceding witnesses1 affirms that it was an early and absorbing passion4 ,however this may be1 the ,new ,reformed ,palladium was kept most rigidly separate from all other ,masonry1 the ,scotch ,rite included2 that is to say1 no initiate of even the highest grade had1 as such1 the right or opportunity of entrance into the occult order1 which1 at the same time1 was chiefly recruited1 as already stated1 from the higher ordinary grades1 but the recipients of the new light became silent from the moment that it was imparted4 ,now1 it was exclusively in the ,palladian order that ,albert ,pike and his confidants propagated transcendental religion1 as it is said to have been understood by them4 ,in other words1 while the ,scotch ,rite continued to speculate1 the ,palladium betook itself to magic and succeeded so well that there was a perpetuity of communication between ,charleston and the unseen world4 ,it does not appear from the evidence either when or why ,albert ,pike and his collaborators transferred their allegiance from the ,god of the sages to ,lucifer4 ,the ,catholic ,church regards all magic as diabolism1 and makes or tolerates no mystic distinction between the black and white departments of transcendental practice1 but the specific character of the ,palladian cultus is so clearly defined in the depositions that it cannot pass as a presentation of magical doctrine distorted by prejudice4 ,it is almost stripped of correspondence with any existing school of occult teaching1 and it is either the true statement of a system founded by ,pike1 or the deliberate invention of malice4 ,the thaumaturgic phenomena tabulated in connection therewith are of an extremely advanced kind1 including the real and bodily presence of ,lucifer at frequent and regular intervals4 ,when ,mazzini died he indicated to ,albert ,pike a possible successor in ,adriano ,lemmi1 who became in due course the chief of the ,executive ,department1 and when in the fulness of years the pontiff of ,luciferian ,freemasonry himself passed on to the higher life of fire1 which is the ,palladian notion of beatitude1 and in the peace and joy of ,lucifer1 the sovereign pontificate itself1 after resting for a short period upon incompetent shoulders in the person of ,albert ,george ,mackey1 was transferred to the ,italian2 the seat of the ,dogmatic ,directory was removed to ,rome2 a split in the camp ensued1 inspired by a lady initiate1 since famous under the name of ,diana ,vaughan1 and to this we owe most of the revelations4 ,furthermore1 with the death of ,albert ,pike the cultus of ,lucifer is said to have undergone a significant transfiguration4 ,for him the conception of ,satan was a blasphemous fiction1 devised by ,adonate priestcraft to obscure the veridic lustre which inheres in the angel of the morning-star2 but this view represented1 as it is said1 rather the private opinion of the ,masonic pontiff1 impressed by his strong personality on the lodges he controlled1 and propagated by the instruction of his rituals4 ,the more discerning among his disciples regarded it as the besetting weakness of their grand old man1 and surreptitiously during his life-time the cultus of ,satan pure and simple1 that is1 of devil-worship1 the adoration of the evil principle as evil1 was practised at numerous ,palladian centres4 ,after his death1 it is said to have unmasked altogether1 and ,adriano ,lemmi himself is depicted as an avowed ,satanist4 ,now1 ,i believe it will fairly interpret the feeling of all readers to admit that when the authority of a great church has been brought into operation to crush a great institution by charges which most seriously discredit it--which represent it as diametrically and in all respects opposite in its internal nature to its ostensible appearance--we must by no means make light of the impeachment2 we must remember the high position and the many opportunities of knowledge which are possessed by such an accuser2 we must extend to that accuser at least the common justice of an impartial and full hearing2 priori considerations of probability and inferences from our previous knowledge1 much less from opinions obtained at second-hand1 must not be permitted to prejudge a case of so great importance2 we must be prepared1 if necessary1 to admit that we have been egregiously deceived2 and if the existence of ,palladian ,masonry can be proved an undoubted fact1 we must assuredly do full honour to the demonstration1 and must acknowledge with gratitude that the ,church has performed a service to humanity by unveiling the true character of an institution which is imposing on a vast number of well-intentioned persons within its own ranks1 who are admittedly unaware of the evil to which they are lending countenance and support4 ,on the other hand1 the same spirit of liberality and justice will require that the demonstration in question shall be complete2 in support of such terrible accusations1 only the first quality of evidence can obviously be admitted4 ,in the chapters which follow immediately1 ,i shall produce in succession the evidence of every witness who has anything to tell us about ,palladism1 including those whose experience is of a personal kind and those whose knowledge is derived4 ,where possible1 the testimony of each witness will be weighed as we proceed2 what is unconvincing or irrelevant will be dismissed1 while that which is important will be carried over to the final summary4 ,in two cases only will it be found necessary to reserve examination for special and separate treatment4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,first ,,witnesses ,,of ,,lucifer ,that the witnesses of ,lucifer are in all cases attached to the ,latin ,church1 whether as priests or laymen1 is no matter for astonishment when it is once realised that outside this ,church there is no hostility to ,masonry4 ,for example1 ,robison's ,proofs of a ,conspiracy is almost the only work possessing1 deservedly or not1 any aspect of importance1 which has ever been penned by a ,protestant or independent writer in direct hostility to the ,fraternity4 ,moreover1 ,catholic hostility varies in a vanishing direction with distance from the ecclesiastical centre4 ,thus1 in ,england1 it exists chiefly in a latent condition1 finding little or no expression unless pressure is exercised from the centre1 while in ,america the enforced promulgation of the ,humanum ,genus encyclical has been one of the serious blunders of the present pontificate as regards that country4 ,the bibliography of ,catholic ,anti-,masonic literature is now1 however1 very large1 nor is it confined to one land1 or to a special epoch2 it has an antiquity of nearly #aej years1 and represents most of the ,european continent4 ,that of ,france1 which is nearest to our own doors1 is naturally most familiar to us2 it is also one of the most productive1 and may be assumed to represent the whole4 ,we are concerned with it in this place only during the period which is subsequent to the alleged foundation of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium4 ,during this period it falls obviously into two groups1 that which preceded any knowledge of the institution in question and that which is posterior to the first promulgation of such knowledge4 ,in the first we find mainly the old accusations which have long ceased to exert any conspicuous influence1 namely1 ,atheism1 ,materialism1 and revolutionary plotting4 ,without disappearing entirely1 these have been largely replaced in the second group by charges of magic and diabolism1 concerning which the denunciations have been loud and fierce4 ,one supplementary impeachment may be said in a certain sense to connect both1 because it is common to both2 it is that of unbridled licence fostered by the asserted existence of adoptive lodges4 ,we shall find during the first period that ,masonry was freely described as a diabolical and ,satanic institution1 and it is necessary to insist on this point because it is liable to confuse the issues4 ,before the year #ahia the diabolism identified with ,masonry was almost exclusively intellectual4 ,that is to say1 its alleged atheism1 from the standpoint of the ,catholic ,church1 was a diabolical opinion in matters of religion2 its alleged materialism was a diabolical philosophy in matters of science2 its alleged revolutionary plottings1 being especially directed against the ,catholic ,church1 constituted diabolical politics4 ,such descriptions will seem arbitrary enough to most persons who do not look forth upon the world from the windows of the ,vatican1 but they are undeniably consistent at ,rome4 ,of actual diabolism prior to the date ,i have named1 there is1 ,i believe1 only the solitary accusation made by ,mgr4 de ,sgur1 and having reference to a long anterior period4 ,he states that in the year #ahdh there was a ,masonic lodge at ,rome1 where the mass of the devil was celebrated in the presence of men and women4 ,a ciborium was placed on an altar between six black candles2 each person1 after spitting and trampling on a crucifix1 deposited in this ciborium a consecrated host which had been purchased or received in church4 ,the sacred elements were stabbed by the whole assembly1 the candles were extinguished at the termination of the mass1 and an orgie followed1 similar1 says ,mgr4 de ,sgur1 to those of ,pagan mysteries and ,manichan re-unions4 ,such abominations were1 however1 admittedly rare1 and the story just recited rests on nothing that can be called evidence4 ,during the years intervening between #ahgj and #ahia we may search the literature of ,french ,anti-,masonry in vain for any hint of the ,palladium4 ,in #ahhd the collaboration of ,louis ,d',estampes and ,claudio ,jannet produced a work entitled ,freemasonry and the ,revolution1 which affirms that the immense majority of ,masons1 including those who have received the highest grades1 do not enjoy the confidence of the true secrets1 but the establishment of atheism in religion and socialism in politics as designs of the ,fraternity are the only secrets intended4 ,the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium connects with the ,order of the ,temple by its supposed possession of the original ,baphomet idol1 but in #ahhb this was entirely unknown to ,mgr4 ,fava1 who denies all the reputed connection between ,templars and ,masons1 and traces the latter to ,faustus ,socinus as founder1 following ,abb ,lefranc in his ,veil raised for the ,curious4 ,a mystic and diabolic aspect of the ,fraternity is so remote from his mind that in his ,secret of ,freemasonry the ,bishop of ,grenoble affirms that its sole project is to replace ,christianity by rationalism4 ,the third and concluding volume of ,pre ,deschamps' great compilation on ,society and the ,secret ,societies1 supports1 on the contrary1 the hypothesis rejected by ,fava4 ,it recites much old knowledge concerning adoptive lodges1 the ,illumins1 the ,orders of ,philalethes1 of ,martinez ,pasquales1 and of ,saint-,martin1 on which subjects few writers indeed can say anything that is new2 but while specially devoted to the political activity of the ,fraternity all over ,europe1 ,deschamps tells us nothing of the conspiracy which produced the ,new ,palladium1 though the alleged collaboration of ,mazzini gave it a strong political complexion2 of ,pike nothing2 of ,diabolism still nothing4 ,i may add that his work claims to be verified at all points4 ,in the year #ahhf another ecclesiastic1 ,dom4 ,benoit1 published two formidable volumes on ,freemasonry and the ,secret ,societies1 forming part of a vaster work1 entitled ,the ,city of anti-,christ in the ,nineteenth ,century4 ,like ,d',estampes and ,jannet1 he distinguishes between a small number of initiates and a vast crowd of dupes who swell the ranks of the ,fraternity4 ,many ,masons ascend the ladder of the grades without receiving the revelation of the mysteries4 ,the highest functions of most lodges are said to be given to the dupes1 while the ruling chiefs are concealed behind humble titles4 ,it is further represented that in certain countries there are secret rites above the ordinary rites1 and these are imparted only to the true initiates1 which sounds like a vague and formless hint concerning a directing centre2 but so far from supposing that such an institution may exist in ,masonry1 the author affirms that unity is impossible therein3--,image of hell and hell anticipated1 ,masonry is the realm of hatred1 and consequently of division4 ,the leaders mutually despise and detest one another1 and universally endeavour to deceive and supplant each other4 ,a common hatred of the ,church and her regular institutions alone unites them1 and scarcely have they scored a victory than they fall out and destroy each other4 ,the first seeds of the ,manichan accusation are found in the second volume1 but the term is not used in the sense of ,albert ,pike's ,luciferian transcendentalism1 but merely as an equivalent of ,protestantism coloured by the idea of its connection with the ,socinian heresy4 ,in conformity with this view1 ,dom ,benoit attaches himself to the ,templar hypothesis1 saying that the ,albigenses and the ,knights of the ,temple are the immediate ancestors of ,masonry4 ,but the point which is of most interest in connection with our inquiry is where ,dom ,benoit asserts that ,satan is the god of ,freemasonry1 citing an obscure grade in which the ritual is connected with serpent-worship1 and another in which the recipient is adjured in the sacred name of ,lucifer1 to uproot obscurantism4 ,it is1 however1 only a loose and general accusation1 for he says also that the ,masonic deity is the creature1 that is1 humanity1 the mind of man1 human reason2 it is also the infamous ,venus1 or the flesh2 finally1 all divinities of ,rome1 ,greece1 ,persia1 ,india1 and every pagan people1 are the gods of ,masonry4 ,this is merely indiscriminate defamation which is without force or application1 and the writer evidently knows nothing of a defined cultus of ,lucifer existing in the ,lodges of the ,fraternity4 ,so also when he elsewhere states that sexual excesses are sometimes accompanied in ,masonry by ,eucharistic profanations1 he has only ,mgr4 de ,sgur's out-of-date narrative to support him1 and when he hints at magical practices1 it is only in a general way1 and apparently referring to acts of individual ,masons4 ,in one more significant passage he records1 as a matter of report1 that apparitions of the demon have occurred recently in ,masonic assemblies1 where he is said even to have presided under a human form4 ,while there is no mention of ,palladism and none of ,pike in his treatise1 we may regard ,dom ,benoit as a herald of the coming accusation1 speaking vaguely of things half heard4 ,some time previous to #ahhh1 ,paul ,rosen1 a ,sovereign ,grand ,inspector-,general of the #ccrd and last degree of the ,french rite1 had come to the conclusion that the mysteries of ,freemasonry are abominable1 and in that year he published a work1 entitled ,satan and ,co41 suggesting that in this case a witness to the desired point had at last come forward1 and1 as a matter of fact1 the writer does take us a few paces beyond the point reached by ,benoit4 ,so far as ,i am aware1 he is the first ,french anti-,mason who mentions ,albert ,pike1 with one exception1 to be considered separately in the next chapter4 ,he describes him as the ,sovereign ,grand ,commander of the ,supreme ,mother ,council of every ,supreme ,council of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 and he tells the story of the foundation of that ,rite1 but he knows nothing of ,isaac ,long1 the ,palladium1 or the skull4 ,he cites also certain works which ,pike wrote for the exclusive use of initiates1 apparently of the higher grades of these rites1 namely1 ,the ,sephar ,h',debarim1 ,ethics and ,dogmas of ,freemasonry1 and ,legenda ,magistralia4 ,but so far from accrediting the order with a supernatural aspect1 he affirms that its war-cry is annihilation and anathema thereto4 ,the end of ,freemasonry is1 in fact1 social anarchy1 the overthrowal of monarchical government1 and the destruction of the ,catholic religion4 ,the ,satanism imputed to ,freemasonry by ,paul ,rosen is therefore of an arbitrary and fantastic order1 having no real connection with this inquiry4 ,two years later the same author published a smaller volume1 ,the ,social ,enemy1 which contains no material of importance to our purpose1 but is preceded by a ,pontifical ,brief1 conveying the benediction of ,leo ,,xiii4 to the writer of ,satan and ,co4 ,we pass now to the year of revelation #ahia4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,ex ,,ore ,,leonis ,for over ten years past ,leo ,taxil1 that is to say1 ,m4 ,gabriel ,jogand-,pages1 has been the great accuser of ,masonry1 and he possesses an indistinct reputation in ,england as a man whose hostility is formidable1 having strong points in his brief4 ,during the entire period of his impeachment1 which is represented by many volumes1 he has uniformly sought to identify the ,fraternity with the general purposes of ,lucifer1 but until the year #ahia1 it was merely along the broad and general lines mentioned in the last chapter4 ,now1 in presence of such attributions as1 for example1 the ,satanic character of tolerance in matters of religion1 ,i1 for one1 would unconditionally lay down my pen1 as there is no common ground upon which a discussion could take place4 ,from the vague imputation ,leo ,taxil passed1 however1 to an exceedingly definite charge--and it is beyond all dispute that by his work entitled ,are there ,women in ,freemasonry8--he has created the ,question of ,lucifer in its connection with the ,palladian ,order4 ,he is the original source of information as to the existence of that association2 no one had heard of it previously1 and it is therefore of the first importance that we should know something of the discoverer himself1 and everything as to the particulars of his discovery1 including the date thereof4 ,previously to the year #ahia ,leo ,taxil knew nothing of the ,reformed ,palladium4 ,he is the one ,anti-,masonic writer named in the last chapter as preceding ,paul ,rosen with information about ,albert ,pike4 ,this was in the year #ahhe1 and in a work entitled1 ,the ,brethren of the ,three ,points1 which began the complete revelations concerning ,freemasonry undertaken by this witness4 ,like ,paul ,rosen1 he represents ,pike merely as a high dignitary of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 but he does so under the incorrect title of ,sovereign ,commander ,grand ,master of the ,supreme ,council of the ,united ,states4 ,he states further that the ,grand ,orient of ,france1 as also the ,supreme ,council of the ,scotch ,rite of ,france1 send their correspondence to the ,grand ,master of ,washington4 ,i conceive that no importance1 as indeed no definite meaning1 can be attached to this statement beyond the general and not very significant fact that there was some kind of communication between the three centres4 ,in the year #ahhh ,pike was so little in harmonious relation with the ,french ,grand ,orient that by the depositions of later witnesses he placed it under the ban of his formal excommunication in virtue of his sovereign pontificate4 ,for the rest1 the ,brethren of the ,three ,points contains no information concerning the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 and this is proof positive that it was unknown at the time to the writer1 for it would have been valuable in view of his purpose4 ,the same observation applies to a second work published shortly after1 ,the ,cultus of the ,grand ,architect4 ,had ,leo ,taxil been acquainted with a worship of ,lucifer subsisting in ,palladian ,masonry he could not have failed to make use of it in a volume so entitled4 ,the work in question is concerned1 however1 with the solemnities which obtain in ,masonic temples1 with the names and addresses of all ,french lodges1 so that it is a directory as much as a revelation1 with the political organisation of the ,carbonari1 with the ,judge-,philosophers1 and with certain official documents of ,masonry4 ,but it may occur to those of my readers who are acquainted at first hand with the revelations of ,leo ,taxil that his knowledge was held over in view of his plan of publication1 and that the ,palladium would be disclosed in due course when he came to treat of androgyne or adoptive ,masonry4 ,let us pass1 therefore1 to his next work1 entitled1 ,sister ,masons1 or ,ladies' ,freemasonry1 which appeared in #ahhh1 and in which we certainly meet with diabolism and also with ,palladism1 but not in connection with ,albert ,pike or the ,charleston ,central ,directory4 ,the reference in the first case is to practices which are alleged to obtain in the ,egyptian ,rite of ,adoption1 called the ,rite of ,cagliostro1 and in the second to the ,order of the ,palladium as it was originally instituted in the year #agcj4 ,at the same time the information given is of serious importance1 because it enables us to gauge the writer's method and credibility in the one case1 and his knowledge at the period in the other4 ,once more1 in the year #ahhf1 ,leo ,taxil did not know of the ,palladium as a reformed or revived institution2 had he known he could not have failed to tell us4 ,i have not been able to trace all the sources of his information concerning the older ,palladian ,rite1 but it comes chiefly from ,ragon2 he divides it into two systems3--7a7 ,the ,order of the ,seven ,sages1 which was for men only1 and appears as a banal invention with a ritual mainly derived from the ,travels of ,anacharsis2 7b7 ,the ,order of the ,palladium1 composed of two masculine grades and one feminine grade1 respectively1 ,adelphos and ,companion of ,ulysses for men1 and ,companion of ,penelope for women4 ,it pretends to have been founded by ,fenelon1 but at the same time claims an antiquity previous to the birth of the great ,archbishop of ,cambrai4 ,leo ,taxil accuses it of gallantry1 but the flirtations described in the ritual impress an impartial reader as a species of childish theatricals1 a criticism practically exhausting the entire motive of the order1 which1 as ,i have already stated1 lapsed into obscurity1 and1 so far as can be traced1 into desuetude1 though our witness uniformly refers to it in the present tense1 and as if it were in active operation4 ,however this may be1 the description and summary of the ritual given by ,leo ,taxil place it outside the possibility of a connection with ,templar ,masonry1 and also with the ,baphomet ,palladium in spite of what is alleged to the contrary4 ,accepting the worst construction which is placed on its intention1 it could have offered no point of contact with the alleged project of ,albert ,pike4 ,so far1 therefore1 the information contained in ,les ,soeurs ,maonnes conflicts with the history of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium as given in my second chapter4 ,it has been said1 however1 that ,leo ,taxil charges another ,masonic order of the androgyne type with satanic practices4 ,he divides the ,egyptian ,rite of ,adoption into three grades2 in that of apprentice1 the discourse represents ,adona as the ,genius of ,pride1 and the serpent-tempter of ,genesis as the eternal principle of goodness2 in that of ,companion1 the symbolism of the ritual enforces the necessity of rehabilitating the character of the mystic serpent2 in that of ,egyptian ,mistress1 there is a pretended evocation of planetary spirits by means of a clairvoyante1 and ,leo ,taxil affirms on his own authority that the ,supreme ,being referred to in the discourse at initiation is ,satan4 ,according to the doctrine of the sect1 the divinity is formed of two opposite principles1 the genius of ,being1 who is ,lucifer1 and the genius of ,destruction1 who is ,adona4 ,this is so obviously the doctrine of the ,luciferian ,palladians that it is difficult to understand why the institution of ,charleston is not connected1 as to purpose1 if not as to origin1 with the ,egyptian ,adoptive ,rite of ,misramite ,masonry4 ,at this point1 however1 it becomes my duty to state that there are some very curious facts in connection with the ,catechism of the ,officiating ,mistress1 which is the source of information for the alleged ,manichan character of the third degree4 ,the more considerable and essential portion of that document1 so far from being referable to the supposed founder of the ,rite1 namely1 ,count ,cagliostro1 is a series of mutilated passages taken from liphas ,lvi's ,dogme et ,rituel de la ,haute ,magie1 and pieced clumsily together4 ,that is to say1 ,leo ,taxil1 while claiming to make public for the first time an instruction forming an essential part of a rite belonging to the last century1 presents to us in that instruction the original philosophical reflections of a writer in the year #ahef1 and1 moreover1 he distorts palpably the fundamental principle of that writer1 who1 so far from establishing dualism and antagonism in ,god1 exhibits most clearly the essential oneness in connection with a threefold manifestation of the divine principle4 ,i conceive that there is only one construction to be placed upon this fact1 and although it is severe upon the documents it cannot be said that it is unjust4 ,when1 therefore1 ,leo ,taxil terminates his study of the ,egyptian ,rite by divulging some essentially diabolical practices of the ,misram ,lodges1 namely1 evocations of the elementary spirits1 we shall not be surprised to find that the ritual of the proceedings is taken bodily from the same author who has been previously taxed for contributions4 ,the reader need only compare ,les ,soeurs ,maonnes1 pp4 #cbc to #ccj1 with the ,conjuration of the ,four in the fourth chapter of the ,rituel de la ,haute ,magie4 ,it will be objected that this conjuration is derived by ,lvi himself from a source which he does not name1 and as a fact part of it is found in the ,comte de ,gabalis4 ,quite so1 but my point is1 that it has come to the ,taxil documents through liphas ,lvi4 ,the proof is that part of the exorcisms are given in ,latin and part in ,french1 by the author of the ,rituel1 for arbitrary and unassignable reasons1 and that ,les ,soeurs ,maonnes reproduces them in the same way4 ,it is evident1 therefore1 that we must receive ,leo ,taxil's divulgations with severe caution4 ,i may add that the proceedings of the ,holy ,inquisition in the trial of ,count ,cagliostro were published at ,rome by order of the ,apostolic ,chamber1 and they include some particulars concerning the ,egyptian ,rite1 of which ,cagliostro was the author4 ,these particulars in part correspond with the documents of the ,sister-,masons1 but offer also significant variations even along the lines of correspondence4 ,having established1 in any case1 that ,leo ,taxil knew nothing of the ,reformed ,palladium in the year #ahhf1 we may pass over his next work1 which reproduces a considerable though selected proportion of some of his previous volumes1 because precisely the same observation applies to ,the ,mysteries of ,freemasonry1 and we may come at once to the year #ahia4 ,some time subsequently to the third of ,august1 our witness published a volume entitled ,are there ,women in ,freemasonry8 which1 so far as one can see1 bears the marks of hurried production4 ,it is1 in fact1 ,the ,sister ,masons almost in extenso--that work being still in circulation--with the addition of important fresh material4 ,the bulk of the new matter is concerned with the rituals of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 consisting of five degrees1 conformable1 as regards the first three1 with the somewhat banal but innocent grades of the ,modern ,rite of ,adoption1 and passing1 as regards the two final1 into pure ,luciferian doctrine4 ,how did ,leo ,taxil become possessed of these rituals8 ,he informs us quite frankly that by means of arguments sonnants et trbuchants1 that is to say1 by a bribe1 he persuaded an officer of a certain ,palladian ,grand ,council located at ,paris to forget his pledges for the time required in transcribing them4 ,that was not a very creditable proceeding1 but in exposing ,freemasonry ordinary ethical considerations seem to be ruled out of court1 and it is idle to examine methods when we are in need of documents4 ,by these documents1 and by the editorial matter which introduces and follows them1 ,leo ,taxil1 as already observed1 created the ,question of ,lucifer4 ,premising that a dual object governed the institution of androgyne lodges1 namely1 the opportunity for forbidden enjoyments1 and the creation of powerful unsuspected auxiliaries for political purposes1 he states that the latter part of this programme was specially surrendered to the old ,palladian ,masonry4 ,now it is clear that the rituals of the order which he published in #ahhf bear no such construction as he here1 and for the first time1 imputes2 they connect with part one of the programme1 and he was content at the time with their impeachment on the ground of sexual disorder4 ,why has he changed the impeachment8 ,no assignable reason appears from his subsequent remarks1 but he goes on to allege that1 under the auspices of ,albert ,pike and his group1 the original order developed the ,new and ,reformed ,palladian ,rite1 in which the political purpose was itself subordinated to ,satanism pure and simple4 ,originating in the ,united ,states1 it has invaded ,europe1 where it propagates with truly unheard of rapidity1 so that in ,paris alone there are three active lodges--that of the ,lotus1 founded in #ahha1 and situated in the ,faubourg ,saint-,germain1 which has in turn created the lodges of ,st ,james1 #ahhd1 and of ,st ,julian1 #ahhi4 ,the ,lotus itself was preceded by the organisation of some ,areopagites of the ,kadosch ,grade of the ,french ,rite and of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 who practised theurgy under the direction of ,ragon and liphas ,lvi1 both of whom are represented as given over1 body and soul1 to all the practices of lawless diabolism1 the latter being apparently the leader1 after whose death the association met only infrequently1 until it was revived by ,phileas ,walder1 the friend1 as we have already seen1 of ,albert ,pike4 ,it was he who imported the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium from ,america into ,france1 and1 assembling the disciples of ,lvi1 founded the ,mother-,lodge of the ,lotus4 ,the ritual obtained by ,leo ,taxil was printed in ,latin and ,english1 with an interleaved ,french version in manuscript4 ,as presented by its discoverer1 there is no doubt that it is an execrable production1 involving the practice in open lodge of obscenity1 diabolism1 and sacrilege4 ,passing over the first three grades1 and beginning at the point of bifurcation1 we find it stated in the ritual of the fourth degree of ,elect that the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium has been instituted to impart a new force to the traditions of high-grade ,masonry1 that the ,palladium which gives its name to the order was presented to the fathers of the order by ,eblis himself1 that it is now at ,charleston1 and that ,charleston is the first supreme ,council of the globe4 ,thus it will be seen that the ,palladian ritual confuses the ,palladium ,order with the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite4 ,for the rest1 the legend of the fourth degree is the first part of what is termed a blasphemous life of ,jesus1 representing ,baal-,zeboub as his ancestor1 ,joseph as his father1 according to physical generation1 and ,mirzam as his mother1 who is highly honoured as the parent of many other children4 ,adona is the principle of evil1 and ,eblis1 otherwise ,lucifer1 the good ,god4 ,but the ritual of the fourth grade is innocent in its character when compared with the abominations of the fifth degree of ,templar-,mistress4 ,the central point of the ceremonial is the resurrection of ,lazarus1 which is symbolically accomplished by the postulant suffering what is termed the ordeal of the ,pastos1 that is to say1 by means of public fornication4 ,the purpose of this ordeal is to show that the sacred act of physical generation is the key to the mystery of being4 ,the life of ,jesus begun in the previous grade is completed in the present1 and it will be sufficient for my purpose to indicate that it represents the ,saviour of ,christianity1 who originally began well1 passing over from the service of the good god ,lucifer1 and making a pact with the evil ,adona1 in sign of which he ceased indiscriminate commerce with the women who followed him and pledged himself to live in chastity1 for which he was abandoned by ,baal-,zeboub1 and is cursed by ,palladists4 ,the duty of a ,templar-,mistress is to execrate ,jesus1 anathematise ,adona1 and adore ,lucifer4 ,the rite concludes by the recipient spitting on a consecrated host and the whole assembly piercing it in turn with stilettos4 ,so far the sole testimony to the actual operation1 as indeed to the existence1 of these infamous ceremonies1 is ,leo ,taxil1 and it is once more my duty to state that the documents are in no sense above the suspicion of having been fraudulently produced by some one4 ,it seems scarcely credible1 but the instruction of the ,elect ,grade incorporates ,masonic references literatim from the scandalous memoirs of ,cassanova4 ,that is a fact which sets open a wide door to scepticism4 ,again1 the instruction of the fifth degree contains more plagiarisms from ,lvi1 and in a section entitled ,evocations1 ,leo ,taxil again reproduces the ,conjuration of the ,four which he has previously fathered on the ,rite of ,memphis and ,misram1 and now states to be in use among ,palladists4 ,once more1 he prints a long list of the spirits of light which ,palladians recommend for evocation1 and this list is a haphazard gleaning among the eighty-four genii of the twelve hours given in ,lvi's interpretation of the ,nuctemeron according to ,apollonius4 ,but these latter points are not arguments which necessarily reflect upon ,leo ,taxil1 for1 seeing that the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium was constituted in #ahgj1 it is obvious that the author of the rituals may have drawn from the ,french magus1 and ,leo ,taxil does connect the ,palladium1 as others have connected it1 with ,alphonse ,louis ,constant1 partly through ,phileas ,walder his disciple1 and partly by representing ,constant as the leader of an occult association of ,knights ,kadosch4 ,but when he represents ,constant as himself a ,mason we have to remember that liphas ,lvi explicitly denied his initiation in his ,histoire de la ,magie4 ,i should add that ,leo ,taxil in one of the illustrations represents a lodge of the ,templar-,mistress ,rite1 wherein the altar is over-shadowed by a ,baphomet which is a reduction in facsimile of the frontispiece to ,lvi's ,rituel1 and all reasonable limits seem to be transgressed when he quotes from ,albert ,pike's ,collection of ,secret ,instructions1 an extended passage which swarms with thefts from the same source1 everyone of which ,i can identify when required1 showing them page by page in the originals4 ,leo ,taxil tells us that the ,collection was communicated to him1 but by whom he does not say4 ,we are evidently dealing with an exceedingly complex question1 and many points must be made clear before we can definitely accept evidenced which is so mixed and uncertain in character4 ,if we ask the author of these disclosures what opportunities he has had to become personally acquainted with ,masonry1 we shall find that they are exceedingly few1 for he was expelled from the order after receiving only the first degree4 ,i do not say that this expulsion reflects in any sense discreditably upon him as a man of honour1 but it closed his ,masonic career almost as soon as it had begun1 so that his title to speak rests only on his literary researches and other forms of derived knowledge1 good enough1 no doubt1 in their way1 but not so exhaustive as could be wished in view of the position he has assumed4 ,it was shortly after this episode that ,leo ,taxil returned to the ,catholic ,church and attached himself to the interests of the clerical party4 ,previously to this his literary history must be for him a painful memory4 ,he was a writer of anti-clerical romances and the editor of an anti-clerical newspaper--legitimate occupations in one sense1 but in this instance too frequently connected with literary methods of a gravely discreditable kind4 ,a catalogue of the defunct ,libraire ,anti-,clricale is added to one of the romances1 and advertises1 among other productions from the same pen1 the following contributions made by ,leo ,taxil to the literature of sacrilege and scandal3--#ast1 a ,life of ,jesus1 being an instructive and satirical parody of the ,gospels1 with #ejj comic designs2 #bnd1 ,the ,comic ,bible 7,bible ,amusante72 #crd1 ,the ,debaucheries of a ,confessor1 a romance founded on the affair of the ,jesuit ,girarde and ,catherine ,cadire2 #dth1 a ,female ,pope1 being the adventures and crimes of ,pope ,joan1 written in collaboration with ,f4 ,laffont2 #eth1 ,the ,pope's ,mistress1 a grand historical romance1 written in collaboration with ,karl ,milo2 #fth1 ,pius the ,ninth before history1 his life political and pontifical1 his debaucheries1 follies1 and crimes1 #c vols42 #gth1 ,the ,poisoner ,leo ,thirteenth1 an account of thefts and poisoning committed with the complicity of the present pontiff2 #hth1 ,contemporary ,prostitution1 a collection of revolting statistics upon1 inter alia1 the methods1 habits1 and physical peculiarities of persons who practice pderasty4 ,it will be seen that since his conversion our author has changed his objects without altering his methods4 ,as in the past he unveiled the supposed ill-doings of popes and priests1 as he exposed the corrupt practices of the ,parisian police in the matter of crying social evils1 so now he divulges the infamies of ,masonic gatherings in the present4 ,he claimed then to be actuated by a high motive and he claims it now4 ,we must not deny the motive1 but we certainly abhor the proceeding4 ,in some very curious memoirs which have obtained wide circulation ,leo ,taxil acknowledges that he was gravely mistaken then1 and he may be mistaken now4 ,it must also be respectfully stated in conclusion that few persons who have contributed to lubricity in literature have ever failed to speak otherwise than from an exalted standpoint4 ,when a short time ago ,m4 ,huysman went in search of a type to which he could refer ,luciferian blasphemies and outrages1 he could find nothing more suitable to his purpose than ,leo ,taxil's ,bouffe ,jesus4 ,we do not refuse to accept him as a witness against ,masonry because of these facts1 but we must ask him as an honourable gentleman not to insist that we should do so on trust1 and at the present moment the only opportunities which he has given us to check his statements do not wholly encourage us to accept them4 ,it will be seen therefore that the knowledge of ,palladian ,masonry was first brought to light under circumstances of a debatable kind4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,discovery ,,of ,m4 ,,ricoux ,by the year #ahia ,masonic revelations in ,paris had become too numerous for one more or less to fix the volatile quality of public interest unless a new horror were attached to it4 ,passwords and signs and catechisms1 all the purposes and the better half of the secrets--everyone outside the ,fraternity who concerned themselves with ,masonry and cared for theoretical initiation knew these1 or was satisfied by the belief that he did4 ,the literature of ,anti-,masonry became a drug in the market1 failing some novelty in revelation4 ,the last work of ,leo ,taxil was eminently a contribution towards this missing quantity4 ,he was already in a certain sense the discoverer of ,female ,freemasonry1 that is to say1 he was the only equipped person who seriously maintained that the exploded androgyne system was worked in modern ,france1 and when he added the development of the ,palladium as the climax to the mystery of iniquity1 it is small wonder that his book achieved notoriety to the extent of five thousand copies4 ,he was assailed as a venal pamphleteer and his past achievements in literature were freely disinterred for his own benefit and for public instruction1 but he was more than compensated by the approbation of ,mgr4 ,fava1 bishop of ,grenoble1 with whose opinions upon ,satanism in ,masonry we have previously made acquaintance4 ,the ,church indeed had all round agreed to overlook ,leo ,taxil's early enormities2 she forgot that she had attempted to prosecute him and to fine him a round sum of #fj1jjj francs2 the supreme pontiff forgave him the accusation of poisoning1 and transmitted his apostolical benediction2 he was complimented by the cardinal-vicar of ,rome2 and he is in the proud position of a man who has received felicitations and high approval from eighteen ecclesiastical dignitaries1 whether cardinals1 archbishops1 or bishops4 ,with his back against the turris fortitudinis1 he faced his accusers stoutly and returned them blow for blow4 ,nor did he lack his lay defenders1 one of whom1 by the mode which he adopted1 became himself1 somewhat unexpectedly1 a witness of ,lucifer4 ,to those who disbelieve in the existence of ,female ,freemasonry1 ,leo ,taxil had offered two pieces of wise advice3 ,go to the ,bibliothque ,nationale1 search the files of the ,masonic organ ,la ,chaine d',union1 and you will find proof positive of your mistake4 ,next proceed to the ,maison ,t----1 there is no need to reproduce the address1 but it is given by ,leo ,taxil in full1 and obtain their current price-list of lodge furniture1 insignia1 and other accessories1 and you will find particulars of aprons for sisters1 diplomas for sisters1 garters for sisters1 jewels for sisters4 ,except upon the signs of initiation1 the catalogue is not surrendered1 but in view of the literature of revelation the signs are no longer secret1 c4 ,all this is clearly outside the subject of ,satanism1 but it leads up1 notwithstanding1 to the discovery of ,m4 ,ricoux4 ,as to this gentleman himself there are no particulars forthcoming2 he has promised an account of his adventures during four years as an emigrant in ,chili2 and he has promised a patriotic epic in twelve cantos1 but so far as my information goes they remain in the womb of time4 ,but he has a claim on our consideration because it occurred to him that he would put in practice the advice of ,leo ,taxil1 which he did accordingly in the autumn of #ahia1 and demonstrated to his own satisfaction that ,are there ,women in ,freemasonry8 is a book of true disclosure1 and a question that must be answered in the affirmative4 ,he performed thereupon a very creditable action2 he wrote a pamphlet entitled ,the ,existence of ,lodges for ,women3 ,researches on this subject1 c41 in which he stated the result of his investigation1 collected the controversy on the subject which had been scattered through the press of the period1 and defended ,leo ,taxil with the warmth of an alter ,ego4 ,but he had not limited his researches to the directions indicated in his author4 ,encouraged by the success which had attended his initial efforts1 he determined upon an independent experiment in bribery1 and after the same manner that ,leo ,taxil procured the ,ritual of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 so he succeeded in obtaining the ,collection of ,secret ,instructions to ,supreme ,councils1 ,grand ,lodges1 and ,grand ,orients1 printed at ,charleston in the year #ahia4 ,this collection1 he tells us1 is certainly a document of the first order2 for it emanates from ,general ,albert ,pike1 that is to say1 from the ',pope of the ,freemasons4' ,on this document he bases the following statements3--7a7 ,universal ,freemasonry possesses a ,supreme ,directory as the apex of its international organisation1 and it is located at ,berlin4 7b7 ,four subsidiary ,central ,directories exist at ,naples1 ,calcutta1 ,washington1 and ,monte ,video4 7c7 ,furthermore1 a ,chief of ,political ,action resides at ,rome1 commissioned to watch over the ,vatican and to precipitate events against the ,papacy4 7d7 ,a ,grand ,depositary of ,sacred ,traditions1 under the title of ,sovereign ,pontiff of ,universal ,freemasonry1 is located at ,charleston1 and at the time of the discovery was ,albert ,pike4 ,some of these statements1 it will be observed1 require rectification1 in the light of fuller disclosures made by ,palladian initiates1 from whom the material of my second chapter has been chiefly derived1 but it will be seen that it is substantially correct4 ,m4 ,ricoux further states that ,albert ,pike reformed the ancient ,palladian ,rite1 and imparted thereto the ,luciferian character in all its brutality4 ,palladism1 for him1 is a selection2 he surrenders to the ordinary lodges the adepts who confine themselves to materialism1 or invoke the ,grand ,architect without daring to apply to him his true name1 and under the title of ,knights ,templars and ,mistress ,templars1 he groups the fanatics who do not shrink from the direct patronage of ,lucifer4 ,the most serious mistake which has been made in the use of the material is an unconscious attempt to read into the encyclicals of ,albert ,pike a proportion of ,leo ,taxil's material1 for which the long citations given by ,m4 ,ricoux do not afford a warrant4 ,what he really appears to have obtained is the instructions of ,pike as ,supreme ,commander ,grand ,master of the ,supreme ,council of the ,mother-,lodge of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite of ,charleston to the ,twenty-three ,supreme ,confederated ,councils of the ,globe4 ,and the ,scotch ,rite is1 by the hypothesis1 apart from the ,palladium4 ,in other respects1 the information comes to much the same thing4 ,the long document which the pamphlet prints in extenso exhibits ,albert ,pike preaching ,palladism in the full foulness of its doctrine and practice--the resolution of the problem of the flesh by indiscriminate satisfaction of the passions2 the multiplication of androgyne lodges for this purpose2 the dual nature of the ,divine ,principle2 and the cultus of ,lucifer as the good ,god4 ,the most curious feature of the performance is that here again it is from end to end a travesty of liphas ,lvi1 slice after slice from his chief writings1 combined with interlineal additions1 which give them a sense diametrically opposed to that of the great magus4 ,now1 it is impossible that two persons1 working independently for the production of bogus documents1 should both borrow from the same source2 hence ,leo ,taxil and ,m4 ,ricoux1 if they have been guilty of imposition1 must certainly have collaborated4 ,it is unreasonable1 however1 to advance such an accusation in the absence of any evidence1 and if we accept the contribution of ,m4 ,ricoux as made in perfect good faith1 we must acknowledge that it exonerates ,leo ,taxil from the possible suspicion of himself adapting ,lvi2 and then the existence of a theurgic society1 based on ,manichan principles1 instituted by ,albert ,pike1 and possessing a magical ritual taken in part from ,lvi1 wears a more serious aspect than when it rested on the unsupported assurance of one witness4 ,the discovery of ,m4 ,ricoux is obviously of the first importance1 and it is certainly to be regretted that he has not substantiated it by depositing the ,collection of ,instructions in the ,national ,library1 supposing it to be in his possession1 or by photographing instead of transcribing1 supposing he was pledged to its return4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,art ,,sacerdotal ,some few months after the first testimonies to ,palladism appeared1 under the signatures of the witnesses whom we have already examined1 a fresh contribution was made to the literature of ,diabolism in its connection with ,masonry1 by a work entitled ,freemasonry1 the ,synagogue of ,satan4 ,the exalted ecclesiastical position of the author1 ,mgr4 ,lon ,meurin1 ,s4,j41 ,archbishop of ,port ,louis in ,mauritius1 gave new impetus and an aspect of increased importance to accusations preferred at the beginning1 as we have seen1 by comparatively obscure or directly suspected writers4 ,the performance1 moreover1 was apparently so learned1 in some respects so unlooked for1 and withal so methodical1 that it became subsequently a source of universal reference in anti-,masonic literature4 ,to this day ,m4 ,huysman remains dazzled1 and to those in search of reliable information on the subject1 he says3--,if you would be saved from the excesses of unseated reason1 and from narratives of ,dunciad dulness1 try ,mgr4 ,meurin2 read the ,archbishop on ,palladism4 ,within certain limits the advice is well-grounded2 the art sacerdotal in its application to ,anti-,masonry may leave much to be desired1 but as a specimen of the superior criticism obtaining upon this subject in higher circles1 it offers a strong contrast to the general tone and touch among the rank and file of the accusers4 ,we are1 in fact1 warranted upon every consideration1 in expecting a valuable contribution to our knowledge2 but1 ,i may say at once1 that this expectation is unfortunately not realised4 ,with a keen philosophical anticipation one turns the pages of ,freemasonry1 the ,synagogue of ,satan1 admires their beautiful typography1 lingers with delight over the elaborate appendix of allegorical engravings1 and experiences a brief sense of intellectual inferiority in the presence of such formidable sections1 and so portentous a table of contents4 ,it should be impossible to speak of the ,archbishop without a mental genuflexion1 but it remains true that our expectation is not realised4 ,it will become us1 at the same time1 to speak as tenderly as possible of a pious and learned prelate who has now passed where ,masons cease from ,satanising and the thirty-three degrees are at rest4 ,but it must be said plainly that the contents of his very large volume offer little to our purpose4 ,by the nature of his episcopal charge ,mgr4 ,meurin had special facilities for ascertaining how men diabolise2 the island of ,mauritius has enjoyed many privileges of ,infernus4 ,there we lose sight of the ,rosicrucians on the road to ,india2 there the ,comte de ,chazal initiated ,dr ,bacstrom1 and all this1 of course1 is diabolical from the standpoint of ,anti-,masonry4 ,moreover1 it must not be forgotten that ,mgr4 ,meurin1 in a series of wonderful conferences1 has exhibited the superstitions of ,mauritius1 and1 accepting the test of ,m4 ,huysman1 the existence of ,black ,magic in this ,french colony is proved to hilt and handle by wholesale ,eucharistic depredations1 the sacrifice of cats at midnight upon the altars of rifled churches1 and the discovery of the blood of the victims in the chalices used for the elements4 ,the ,church does not stir in the matter2 it deplores and prays1 which seems1 in some respects1 an ineffectual method of protecting the latens ,deitas4 ,if the ,eucharist be liable to profanation1 why reserve the ,eucharist8 ,surely the negligence which makes such profanations possible is the offer of opportunity to ,deicide1 and great carelessness is cousin to condonation4 ,however this may be1 ,mgr4 ,meurin seems to have been quite the authority to whom one would naturally refer for specific information upon devil-worship as it obtains within his own diocese1 even if apart from ,masonry4 ,but he is too erudite to concern himself with individual facts1 and he so far transcends diocesan limitations as to forget ,mauritius completely4 ,another witness1 who perhaps never visited ,port ,louis1 affirms that the ,central ,directory of the ,palladium for ,africa is established in that place1 but the prelate of ,port ,louis1 from whom the information would have been precious1 seems acquainted with nothing of the kind4 ,the weapon of the mitred warrior is1 at the same time1 a sufficiently portentous thesis1 as follows3--that ,freemasonry is connected with ,satanism by the fact that it has the ,jews for its true authors1 and the ,jewish ,kabbalah for the key of its mysteries2 that the ,kabbalah is magical1 idolatrous1 and essentially diabolical2 that ,freemasonry1 considered as a religion1 is therefore a judaized devil-worship1 and considered as a political institution1 it is an engine designed for the attainment of universal empire1 which has been the dream of the ,jews for centuries4 ,my readers will be inclined to consider that such a hypothesis1 though it may square with the ,satanism of ,adriano ,lemmi1 who1 as we shall see1 is accused of circumcision1 can hardly be brought into harmony with the universal ,masonry of ,albert ,pike1 as the latter was neither ,jew nor ,judaiser4 ,but common hatred of the ,catholic ,church is1 in the opinion of ,mgr4 ,meurin1 a sufficient bond to identify the interests of both parties4 ,let us start1 therefore1 with the archbishop's own hypothesis1 which he compresses into a single sentence3 ,to encircle the brow of the ,jew with the royal diadem1 and to place the kingdom of the world at his feet--such is the true end of ,freemasonry4 ,and again3 ,the ,jewish ,kabbalah is the philosophical basis and ,key of ,freemasonry4 ,once more3 ,the end of ,freemasonry is universal dominion1 and ,freemasonry is a ,jewish institution4 ,accepting these statements as points that admit of being argued with deference to the rules of right reason1 let us establish in turn two positions which do not admit of being argued because they are evident in themselves3 7a7 ,where the significance of symbols is uncertain1 it is easy to interpret falsely2 7b7 ,when a subject is obscure and difficult1 no person is qualified to speak positively if his knowledge be obtained at second-hand4 ,now1 have we good reason to suppose that ,mgr4 ,meurin is possessed of first-hand knowledge1 and is consequently in a position to interpret truly upon the difficult subject he has undertaken1 namely1 the esoteric doctrines of the ,kabbalah8 ,if not1 we are entitled to dismiss him without further examination4 ,as a fact1 in this preliminary and essential matter the archbishop can stand no test4 ,the antiquity of the ,kabbalah is necessary to work his hypothesis1 and he assumes it as if unaware that its antiquity had ever been impugned4 ,there may be much to be said upon both sides of this hotly-debated question1 but there is nothing to be said for a writer who seems ignorant that there is a question4 ,and hence my readers will in no way be astonished to learn that his information is obtained at second-hand1 or that his one authority is ,franck4 ,this fact is the key to his entire work1 and the sole credit that is due to him is the skilful appearance of erudition which he has given to a shallow performance1 and the natural mental elegance which has prevented him from being noisy and violent4 ,our inquiry into modern devil-worship does not warrant us in discussing the position of writers who choose to assume that the ,kabbalah1 ,gnosticism1 and other systems are priori diabolical1 because assumptions of this kind are unreasonable4 ,there are writers at this moment in ,france who argue that the ,english word ,god is the equivalent of ,lucifer1 but one does not dispute with these4 ,for the satisfaction of my readers1 it may1 however1 be as well to state that the voluminous treatise of ,mgr4 ,meurin has come into existence because he has discovered1 as one might say1 accidentally1 that the number #cc1 which is that of the degrees in ,french ,freemasonry1 is the number of the divinities in the ,vedas1 thus creating a presumption that the mysteries of ,freemasonry connect with those of antiquity4 ,of course they connect with antiquity1 for the simple reason that there is a solidarity between all symbolisms1 and1 moreover1 it is perfectly clear that ,masonry has either inherited from the past by a perpetuated tradition1 or has borrowed therefrom4 ,mgr4 ,meurin had therefore as little reason to be astonished at the correctness of his presumption when he came to work it out as he had to be delighted with the inference which prevails throughout his inquiry1 namely1 that the mysteries of pagan antiquity were delusions of the devil1 and that modern mysteries which connect with those are also diabolical delusions4 ,indeed he is so continually making discoveries which are fresh to himself1 and to no one acquainted with the subject1 that one would be pleasantly diverted by his simplicity if it were not for the bad faith which underlies his assumptions4 ,for example1 every one who knows anything of ,gotic literature is aware that the rituals of black magic incorporate heterogeneous elements from ,kabbalistic sources1 but to ,mgr4 ,meurin this fact comes with the force of a surprise4 ,his ,masonic erudition is about as great and as little as his proficiency in ,kabbalah2 he quotes ,carlyle as an authority1 applies the term orthodox to ,french ,freemasonry exclusively1 whereas the developments of the ,fraternity in ,france have always had a heterodox complexion1 while his tripartite classification of the #cc degrees of that rite and of the ,ancient ,accepted ,scotch ,rite is made in an arbitrary manner to suit a preconceived theory1 and entirely effaces the importance inherent in the first three grades1 which are themselves the sum of ,masonry4 ,moreover1 the classification in question is presented as a most secret instruction imparted in some fastness of ,masonry outside the #cc degrees1 but no authority is named4 ,such being the qualifications and such the methods of the archbishop1 ,i do not propose to accompany him through the long course of his interpretations1 but will supply instead1 for the economy of labour on the part of those who may wish to follow in his footsteps1 a skeleton plan of procedure by which they will be able to prove learnedly anything they please in ,freemasonry4 ,it is well known that the ,fraternity makes use of mystic numbers and other symbols4 ,take1 therefore1 any mystic number1 or combination of numbers1 as e4g41 #c #c #i4 ,you will probably be unacquainted with the meaning which attaches to the figure of the product1 but it will occur to you that the #i of spades is regarded as the disappointment in cartomancy4 ,begin1 therefore1 by confidently expecting something bad4 ,reflect upon the fact that cards have been occasionally denominated the ,devil's ,books4 ,conclude thence that ,freemasonry is the ,devil's ,institution4 ,do not be misled by the objection that there is no traceable connection between cards and ,masonry2 anticipate an occult connection or secret liaison4 ,the term last used has probably occurred to you by the will of ,god2 do not forget that it describes a questionable sexual relationship4 ,be sure1 therefore1 that ,freemasonry is a veil of the worst species of moral licence4 ,you have now reached an important stage in the unmasking of ,masonry1 and you can sum it as follows3--,freemasonry is the cultus of the ,phallus4 ,if you know anything of ecclesiastical ,latin1 the words noctium phantasmata may perhaps occur to you1 and the whole field of demonology in connection with the ,fraternity will open before you4 ,but if you would confine yourself to the region of lubricity1 recollect that our first parents went naked till the serpent tempted them1 and then they wore aprons4 ,hence the apron1 which is a ,masonic emblem1 has from time immemorial been the covering of shame4 ,should it occur to you--vide ,genesis--that ,god made the aprons1 dismiss it as a temptation of the devil1 who would1 if possible1 prevent you from unveiling him4 ,by this time it will be well to recur to the number #i2 your chain of reasoning has established that it possesses a horrible significance4 ,now take the number and follow it through the history of religions by means of some theological ready-reckoner1 such as a cheap dictionary by ,migne4 ,you will be sure to find something to your purpose--i4e41 something sufficiently bad4 ,place that significance against the use of that number in ,masonry4 ,repeat this process1 picking up anything serviceable by the way1 and continue so doing till your volume has attained its required dimensions4 ,you will never want for materials1 and this is how ,masonry is unveiled4 ,there is no exaggeration in this sketch2 ,mgr4 ,meurin is indeed by far more fatuous4 ,on the #bfth of ,may #ahgf the ,supreme ,council of ,sovereign ,grand ,inspectors ,general of the #ccrd ,degree of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite are said to have issued a circular1 dated from #cc ,golden ,square1 ,london4 ,will my readers believe their own eyes or my sincerity when ,i say that the most illustrious of the ,french ,anti-,masonic interpreters1 member of the ,society of ,jesus1 and ,archbishop of ,port ,louis1 solemnly enjoins us to remark the ,no4 #cc and the square of gold1 which signify the supreme place in the world assigned to the liberty of gold8 ,by thus commenting on a significant number attaching to a real address1 situated1 as everyone knows1 in the most central district of this city1 ,archbishop ,meurin believes that he is not descending from pleasant comedy into screaming farce of interpretation1 but that he is acting seriously and judiciously1 has a right to look wise1 and to believe that he has hit hard6 ,no person who is acquainted with the ,kabbalah1 even in its historical aspects1 much less the ripe scholar1 ,m4 ,a4 ,franck1 from whom the materials are derived1 will tolerate for a moment the theory that this mystical literature of the ,jewish nation is capable of a diabolical interpretation4 ,in particular it lends itself to the crude ,manichan system attributed to ,albert ,pike about as much and as little as it does to atheistic materialism4 ,the reading of ,mgr4 ,meurin may be compared with that of ,mirandola1 who discovered1 not dualism1 but the ,christian mystery of the ,trinity contained indubitably therein1 who regarded it with more reason as the bridge by which the ,jew might ultimately pass over to ,christ1 who infected a pontiff with his enthusiasm1 and it will be seen that the ,catholic ,archbishop looks ridiculous in the lustre of his derived erudition4 ,to insist further on this point is1 however1 scarcely to our purpose4 ,the ,kabbalah does not possess that integral connection with ,masonry which is argued by ,mgr4 ,meurin1 and if it did1 does not bear the interpretation which he assigns it1 while his anti-,semitic thesis is demolished with the other hypothesis4 ,but these things are largely outside the question which concerns us most directly4 ,over and above these points1 does the witness whom we are examining contribute anything to our knowledge on the subject of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 otherwise ,universal ,masonry8 ,the reply is perfectly clear4 ,his one source of knowledge is ,adolphe ,ricoux2 by some oversight he has not even the advantage of the rituals published by ,leo ,taxil4 ,he may1 therefore1 be dismissed out of hand4 ,the ,satanism which he exhibits in ,masonry is an imputed ,satanism1 and as to any actual ,devil-,worship he reproduces as true the clever story of ,aut ,diabolus aut ,nihil1 which appeared originally in ,blackwood's ,magazine1 and has since been reprinted by its author1 who states1 what most people know already1 that it is entirely fictitious4 ,in parting with the writer of ,freemasonry1 the ,synagogue of ,satan1 as with a witness whose evidence has broken down1 it must be repeated that he has1 by his exalted position1 elegance of method1 and show of learning1 been a chief pillar of the ,satanic hypothesis4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,devil ,,and ,,the ,,doctor #a4 ,le ,diable au ,,xixe ,sicle ,although the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium is said to have been founded so far back as the year #ahgj1 it will be seen that at the close of the year #ahia very little had become public concerning it4 ,it is difficult to conceive that an institution diffused so widely should have remained so profound a secret1 when the many enemies of the ,fraternity1 who in their way are sleepless1 would have seized eagerly upon the slightest hint of a directing centre of ,masonry4 ,moreover1 an association which initiates ladies is perhaps the last which one would expect to be unknown1 for while the essential matter of a secret is undeniably safe with women1 it is on condition that they are known to possess it4 ,when the first hint was provided in #ahia1 ,leo ,taxil certainly lost no time1 and ,mgr4 ,meurin must have written his large treatise almost at fever speed4 ,on the #bjth of ,november in the same year1 another witness came forward in the person of ,dr ,bataille1 who speedily made it apparent that he was in a position to reveal everything about ,universal ,masonry and diabolism in connection therewith1 because1 unlike those who had preceded him1 he possessed first-hand knowledge4 ,if he had not himself beheld ,lucifer in all his lurid glory1 he had at least seen his messengers2 he was an initiate of most secret societies which remotely or approximately are supposed to connect with ,masonry2 he had visited ,charleston2 he had examined the genuine ,baphomet and the skull of ,jacques de ,molay2 he was personally acquainted with ,albert ,pike1 ,phileas ,walder1 and ,gallatin ,mackey2 he was1 moreover1 an initiate of the ,palladium4 ,he was evidently the missing witness who could unveil the whole mystery1 and it would be difficult to escape from his conclusions4 ,finally1 he was not a person who had come out of ,masonry by a suspicious and sudden conversion2 believing it to be evil1 he had entered it with the intention of exposing it1 had spent ten years in his researches1 and now stepped forward with his results4 ,the office of a spy is not usually clean or wholesome1 but occasionally such services are valuable1 and in some cases there may be certain ends which justify the use of means which would in other cases be questionable1 so that until we can prove the contrary1 it will be reasonable to accept the solemn declaration of this witness that he acted with a good intention1 and that what he did was in the interests of the church and the world4 ,but1 unfortunately1 ,dr ,bataille has seen fit to publish his testimony in precisely that form which was most calculated to challenge the motive2 it is a perfervid narrative issued in penny numbers with absurd illustrations of a highly sensational type2 in a word1 ,le ,diable au ,,xixe ,sicle1 which is the title given to his memoirs by the present witness1 connects in manner and appearance with that class of literature which is known as the penny dreadful4 ,some years ago the slums of ,london and ,paris were inundated with romances published in this fashion and continued so long as they maintained a remunerative circulation2 in many cases1 they ended abruptly1 in others they extended1 like ,le ,diable au ,,xixe ,sicle to hundreds of issues2 they possess special characteristics which are known to experts in the by-ways of periodical literature1 and all these are to be found in the narrative of ,dr ,bataille4 ,no one in ,england would dream of publishing in this form a work which was to be taken seriously1 nor am ,i acquainted with any precedent for it abroad4 ,it is therefore a discreditable and unfortunate choice1 but seeing that a section of the clerical press in ,france has agreed to pass over this point1 and to accept ,dr ,bataille as a credible witness1 and seeing also that he has been followed by other writers who must be taken into account and stand or fall with him1 we must not regard his method as an excuse for refusing to hear him4 ,apart from him and his adherents there is indeed no first-hand evidence for ,palladian ,masonry4 ,the present chapter will therefore contain a summary of what was seen and heard by ,dr ,bataille in the course of his researches4 #b4 ,why ,signor ,carbuccia was ,damned4 ,in the year #ahhj1 ,dr ,hacks1 who makes1 ,i believe1 no attempt to conceal himself under the vesture of ,dr ,bataille1 was a ship's surgeon on board the steam-boat ,anadyr1 belonging to the ,compagnie des ,messageries ,maritimes1 and then returning from ,china with passengers and merchandise4 ,on a certain day in the ,june of the year mentioned1 he was to the fore at his post of duty--that is to say1 he was extended idly over the extreme length of a comfortable deck-chair1 and the hotel flottant was anchored at ,point-de-,galle1 a port at the southern extremity of ,ceylon1 and one of the reputed regions of the terrestrial paradise4 ,while the doctor1 like a good ,catholic1 put a polish on the tropical moment by a little gloss of speculation over the mystery of ,eden1 some passengers presently came on board for the homeward voyage1 and among them was ,gatano ,carbuccia1 an ,italian1 who was originally a silk-merchant1 but owing to ,japanese competition1 had been forced to change his mtier1 and was now a dealer in curiosities4 ,his numerous commercial voyages had made them well acquainted with each other1 but on the present occasion ,carbuccia presented an appearance which alarmed his friend2 a gaillard grand et solide had been metamorphosed suddenly into an emaciated and feeble old man4 ,there was a mystery somewhere1 and the ship's doctor was destined to diagnose its character4 ,after wearing for a certain period the aspect of a man who has something to tell1 and cannot summons courage to tell it--a position which is common in novels--the ,italian at length unbosomed himself1 beginning dramatically enough by a burst of tears1 and the terrific information that he was damned4 ,but the ,carbuccia of old was a riotous1 joyful1 foul-tongued1 pleasure-loving atheist1 a typical commercial traveller1 with a strain of ,alsatia and the mountain-brigand4 ,how came this red-tied scoffer so far on the road of religion as to be damned8 ,some foolish fancy had made the ribald ,gatano turn a ,mason4 ,when one of his boon companions had suggested the evil course1 he had refused blankly1 apparently because he was asked1 rather than because it was evil2 but he had scarcely regained his home in ,naples than he became irreparably initiated4 ,the ceremony was accomplished in a street of that city by a certain ,giambattista ,pessina1 who was a ,most ,illustrious ,sovereign ,grand ,commander1 ,past ,grand ,master1 and ,grand ,hierophant of the ,antique and ,oriental ,rite of ,memphis and ,misram1 who1 for some reason which escapes analysis1 recognised ,carbuccia as a person who deserved to be acquainted with the whole physiology and anatomy of ,masonry4 ,it would cost #bjj francs to enter the #ccrd grade of the sublime mystery4 ,carbuccia closed with this offer1 and was initiated there and then across the table1 becoming a ,grand ,commander of the ,temple1 and was affiliated1 for a further subscription of #ae francs annually1 to the ,areopagite of ,naples1 receiving the passwords regularly4 ,impelled by an enthusiasm for which he himself was unable to account1 he now lent a ready ear to all dispensers of degrees2 ,memphis initiates of ,manchester allured him into ,kabbalistic rites2 he fell among occult ,masons like the ,samaritan among thieves2 he became a ,sublime ,hermetic ,philosopher2 overwhelmed with solicitations1 he fraternised with the ,brethren of the ,new ,reformed ,palladium1 and optimated with the ,society of ,re-,theurgists1 from whom he ultimately received the veritable initiation of the ,magi4 ,everywhere lodges opened to him1 everywhere mysteries unveiled2 everywhere in the higher grades he found spiritism1 magic1 evocation2 his atheism became impossible1 and his conscience troubled4 ,ultimately his business led him to revisit ,calcutta1 where his last unheard-of experience had overwhelmed his whole being1 just eight days previously to his encounter with ,doctor ,bataille4 ,he had found the ,palladists of that city in a flutter of feverish excitement because they had succeeded in obtaining from ,china the skulls of three martyred missionaries4 ,these treasures were indispensable to the successful operation of a new magical rite composed by the ,supreme ,pontiff of ,universal ,freemasonry and ,vicegerent of ,lucifer1 ,general ,albert ,pike4 ,a sance was about to be held2 ,brother ,george ,shekleton of immortal memory1 the hero who had obtained the skulls1 was present with those trophies2 and the petrified quondam atheist took part1 not because he wished to remain1 but because he did not dare to go4 ,the proceedings began1 the skulls were placed on the tables2 ,adona and his ,christ were cursed impressively1 ,lucifer as solemnly blessed and invoked at the altar of ,baphomet4 ,nothing could be possibly more successful--result1 shocks of earthquake1 threatened immediate demolishment of the whole place1 confident expectation of being entombed alive1 terrific burst of thunder1 a brilliant light1 an impressive silence of some seconds1 and then the sudden manifestation of a being in human form seated in the chair of the ,grand ,master4 ,it was an instantaneous apparition of absolute bodily substance1 which carried its own warrant of complete bona fides4 ,everyone fell on their knees2 everyone was invited to rise2 everyone rose accordingly2 and ,carbuccia found that he had to do with a male personage not exceeding eight and thirty years1 naked as a drawn sword1 with a faint flush of ,infernus suffusing his skin1 a species of light inherent which illuminated the darkness of the salon--in a word1 a beardless ,apollo1 tall1 distinguished1 infinitely melancholy1 and yet with a nervous smile playing at the corners of his mouth1 the apparition of ,aut ,diabolus aut ,nihil divested of evening dress4 ,this ,unashamed ,nakedness1 who was accepted as the manifestation of ,lucifer1 discoursed pleasantly to his children1 electing to use excellent ,english1 and foretold his ultimate victory over his eternal enemy2 he assured them of continued protection1 alluded in passing to the innumerable hosts which surrounded him in his eternal domain1 and incited his hearers to work without ceasing for the emancipation of humanity from superstition4 ,the discourse ended1 he quitted the das1 approached the ,grand ,master1 and eye to eye fixed him in deep silence4 ,after a pause he passed on1 without committing himself to any definite observation2 yet there seems to have been a meaning in the ceremony1 for he successively repeated it in the case of every dignitary congregated at the eastern side1 and finally of the ordinary members4 ,when it came to the turn of ,carbuccia1 he would have given ten years of his life to have been at the ,galleys rather than ,calcutta1 but he contrived to pull through1 without1 however1 creating a favourable impression1 for adversarius noster diabolus passed on with contracted brow1 and when the disconcerting inquiry was over1 returned to the centre of the circle1 gave a final glance around1 approached ,shekleton1 and civilly requested him to shake hands4 ,the importer of missionary skulls complied with a horrible yell2 there was an electric shock1 sudden darkness1 and general coup-de-thtre4 ,when the torches were rekindled1 the apparition had vanished1 ,shekleton was discovered to be dead1 and the initiates crowding round him1 sang3 ,glory immortal to ,shekleton6 ,he has been chosen by our omnipotent ,god4 ,it was too much for the galliard merchant1 and he swooned4 ,now1 this is why ,signor ,carbuccia concluded that he was damned1 which appears to have been precipitate4 ,he has contrived1 by the good offices of his lay confessor1 to square matters with the hierarchy of ,adona1 who belongs to the ,latin persuasion2 he has changed his name1 adopted a third profession1 and is so safe in retreat that his friends are as unlikely to find him as are the enemies who thirst for his blood4 ,doctor ,bataille1 faithful to his rle of good ,catholic1 perceived at once that the ,merchant's ,story of these new ,arabian ,nights was characterised by extreme frankness1 was devoid of a sinister motive1 and was not the narrative of a maniac4 ,a physician1 he adds sententiously1 is not to be deceived4 ,he determined thereupon that he himself would descend into the abyss1 taking with him a mental reservation in all he said and did as a kind of discharge in full4 ,the ,church and humanity required it4 ,behold him then presently at ,naples1 making acquaintance with ,signor ,pessina1 and outdoing ,carbuccia by expending #ejj francs in the purchase of the #ijth ,misram grade1 thus becoming a ,sovereign ,grand ,master for life6 ,i will be the exploiter and not the accomplice of modern ,satanism1 said the pious ,doctor ,bataille4 #c4 ,a ,priestess of ,lucifer4 ,fortified with the purchase of his ,memphis sovereignty1 and the possession of various signs and passwords communicated by ,carbuccia1 which1 by some interposition of ,providence1 must be assumed to have remained unchanged in the intervening period1 ,dr ,bataille entered on his adventurous mission1 bedewed with many tears1 and sanctified by many blessings of an old spiritual adviser1 who1 needless to say1 was at first hostile to the enterprise1 and was afterwards as inevitably disarmed by the eloquence and enthusiasm of his disciple4 ,having regard to the fact that ,masonry and ,diabolism abound everywhere1 according to the hypothesis1 it obviously mattered little at what point he began the prosecution of his design2 all roads lead to ,rome1 and the statement is equally true of the ,rome of ,masonry and the ,vatican of ,lucifer4 ,as a fact1 he started where ,carbuccia may be said to have left off1 namely1 at ,point-de-,galle in ,southern ,ceylon4 ,there he determined to acquaint himself with ,cingalese ,kabbalism1 a department of transcendental philosophy1 about as likely to be met with in that reputed region of the ,terrestrial ,paradise as a cultus from the great south sea in the back parts of ,notting ,hill4 ,signor ,pessina1 however1 had provided him with the address of a society which operated something that the doctor agrees to term ,kabbalah1 after the same manner that he misnames most subjects4 ,but he was not destined to ,kabbalize4 ,repairing to the principal hotel1 he there witnessed1 through one of those fortuitous occurrences which are sometimes the mask of fate1 a sufficiently indifferent performance by native jugglers1 the chief of whom was exceedingly lean and so dirty as to suggest that he was remote from godliness4 ,during the course of the conjuring this personage held the doctor by a certain meaning glance of his glittering eye1 and when all was over the latter had a private information that ,sata desired to speak with him4 ,the nave mind of the doctor regarded the name as significant in view of his mission2 ,sata was assuredly a ,satanist4 ,he consented incontinently1 and was greeted by the juggler with certain mysterious signs which showed that he was a ,luciferian of the sect of ,carbuccia1 though1 by what device of the devil he divined the doctor's adeptship1 the devil and not the doctor could alone explain at the moment4 ,a miscellaneous language is apparently spoken by the ,cingalese jugglers--,tamil1 including a little bad ,french1 not less convenient than needful in the present case4 ,it was made clear by some brief explanations that the medical services of ,dr ,bataille were solicited at the death-bed of a personage named ,mahmah1 for which purpose the two entered a hired conveyance1 while the rank and file of the jugglers followed at a brisk trot4 ,in this manner they traversed a frightful desert1 plunged into a forest of brushwood1 finally forded a stream1 and after two hours arrived at an open clearing1 in the centre of which was a hut4 ,an ape occupied the threshold1 a vampire bat hung from a convenient beam1 a cobra was curled underneath1 and a black cat welcomed them with arched back4 ,the ape spoke ,tamil freely and then marched off1 reflecting upon which circumstance1 the doctor thought that it was quite the strangest thing in the world4 ,the hut was the covering of a species of well1 down which1 with some quakings for the safety of limbs and body1 our adventurer was persuaded to follow his guides1 and they reached1 at the end of a long flight of steps1 an immense mortuary chamber4 ,there1 on a bed of cocoa-nut fibre1 he found his patient1 from whose mummified and hideous appearance he at once concluded that she was entirely given over to ,satan and had long been a lost soul4 ,as spiritually1 so also physically1 she was past all human aid2 indeed she seemed dead already1 and he gave his medical opinion to that effect4 ,the countenance of this opinion was apparently the warrant required for the proceedings which immediately followed1 and it is difficult to understand why fakirs in league with ,satan--for such we are told they were--and possessed1 no doubt1 both of ordinary native and occult methods of diagnosis1 could not have discovered this for themselves1 more especially as the lady1 who seems to have been a pythoness by profession1 and commerced with a familiar spirit1 had already reached the ripe age of #aeb years4 ,to shorten a long and peculiarly noisome story1 the astounded doctor ultimately beheld the dying woman revive suddenly1 and crawl to the end of the chamber1 where there was an elaborate altar surmounted by a figure of ,baphomet2 the fakirs crowded round her2 the ape1 the bat1 the snake1 the cat1 all appeared on the scene2 a brilliant illumination was produced by means of eleven lamps suspended from the ceiling2 the woman drew herself into an erect position2 the fakirs piled resinous branches round her2 amidst invocations1 mysterious chants1 and yells1 she permitted herself to be burned to death1 her body slowly blackening1 her face turning scarlet in the flames1 her eyes starting from her head1 and so she passed into ashes4 ,why was the doctor privileged to be present at these proceedings8 ,because an agent of the fakirs had previously investigated his portmanteau on the hotel premises1 and had discovered his ,memphis insignia1 which they returned to him in the mortuary chamber4 ,as to the ,baphomet1 it is very fully described1 and is identified with similar images of ,masonic lodges in ,america1 ,india1 ,paris1 ,rome1 ,shanghai1 and ,monte ,video4 ,the doctor says that it is the god of the occultists4 ,the venerable ,sata quoted ,latin as intelligently as the ape spoke ,tamil2 he overwhelmed his benefactor with acknowledgments1 and instead of a fee presented him with a winged lingam1 by means of which he would be received among all worshippers of ,lucifer in ,india1 ,china1--in fact1 as ,sata said1 partout1 partout4 ,so did ,dr ,bataille make his first acquaintance with practical occultism1 and these things being done1 he returned to his hotel and departed thankfully to bed4 #d4 ,a ,house of ,rottenness4 ,who would possess a lingam which was an ,open ,sesame to devildom and not make use thereof8 ,by effecting an exchange with another ship's doctor1 the exploiter of ,lucifer found himself presently at ,pondicherry1 with three months of comparative freedom before him to explore the mysteries of the oriental peninsula4 ,need ,i say that he had scarcely landed at the ,french seaboard town when he at once made acquaintance with the very person who of all others was most suitable to his scheme8 ,this was ,ramassamiponnotamly-pal-dobachi--quite a short name1 he assures us1 for the natives of this part4 ,all ,pondicherry more or less abounded in lingams and ,lucifer1 but as he carried his right hand clenched1 the doctor at once suspected the half-naked ,ramassam to be more than commonly devoted to the persuasion of perdition2 nor was he mistaken1 for the latter promptly inquired3 ,what is your age8 ,eleven years1 said the doctor4 ,whence do you come8 ,from the eternal flame4 ,whither do you go8 ,to the flame eternal4 ,and to their mutual satisfaction they agreed the sacred name of ,baal-,zeboub1 the doctor producing his winged lingam1 at which the other fell down in the open streets and adored him4 ,the exhibition of the patent of a ,sovereign ,grand ,master ad ,vitam of the ,rite of ,memphis inspired further respect2 it was evidently a document with which ,ramassam had long been familiar2 and he began to talk glibly of tyling4 ,like the horrors of ,udolpho1 the explanation was of course very simple3 ,mr ,john ,campbell1 an ,american1 had instituted a lodge of the ,york ,rite at ,pondicherry which1 in the most natural manner1 admitted the ,luciferian ,fakirs as visitors1 the ,luciferian ,fakirs admitted the members of the ,york ,rite to their conventions1 and they all bedevilled one another4 ,it would be idle to suppose that ,f44 ,campbell was not at ,pondicherry on business when the doctor chanced to arrive1 and in the course of the afternoon the latter was taken by ,ramassam to a house of ordinary appearance1 into which they were admitted by another ,indian1 who1 of course1 like the guide1 spoke good ,french4 ,through the greenery of a garden1 the gloom of a well1 and the entanglement of certain stairways1 they entered a great dismantled temple devoted to the service of ,brahma1 under the unimpressive diminutive of ,lucif4 ,the infernal sanctuary had a statue of ,baphomet1 identical with that in ,ceylon1 and the ill-ventilated place reeked with horrible putrescence4 ,its noisome condition was mainly owing to the presence of various fakirs1 who1 though still alive1 were in advanced stages of putrefaction4 ,most people are supposed to go easily and pleasantly to the devil1 but these elected to do so by way of a charnel-house asceticism1 and an elaborate system of self-torture4 ,some were suspended from the ceiling by a rope tied to their arms1 some embedded in plaster1 some stiffened in a circle1 some permanently distorted into the shape of the letter ,s2 some were head downwards1 some in a cruciform position4 ,it was really quite monstrous1 says the doctor1 but a native grand master explained1 that they had postured for years in this manner1 and one of them for a quarter of a century4 ,fr44 ,john ,campbell proceeded to harangue the assembly in ourdou-zaban1 but the doctor comprehended completely1 and reports the substance of his speech1 which was violently anti-,catholic in its nature1 and especially directed against missionaries4 ,this finished1 they proceeded to the evocation of ,baal-,zeboub1 at first by the ,conjuration of the ,four1 but no fiend appeared4 ,the operation was repeated ineffectually a second time1 and ,john ,campbell determined upon the ,grand ,rite1 which began by each person spinning on his own axis1 and in this manner circumambulating the temple in procession4 ,whenever they passed an embedded fakir1 they obtained an incantation from his lips1 but still ,baal-,zeboub failed4 ,thereupon the native ,grand ,master suggested that the evocation should be performed by the holiest of all the fakirs1 who was produced from a cupboard more fetid than the temple itself1 and proved to be in the following condition3--7a7 ,face eaten by rats2 7b7 one bleeding eye hanging down by his mouth2 7c7 legs covered with gangrene1 ulcers1 and rottenness2 7d7 expression peaceful and happy4 ,entreated to call on ,baal-,zeboub1 each time he opened his mouth his eye fell into it2 however1 he continued the invocation1 but no ,baal-,zeboub manifested4 ,a tripod of burning coals was next obtained1 and a woman1 summoned for this purpose1 plunged her arm into the flames1 inhaling with great delight the odour of her roasting flesh4 ,result1 nil4 ,then a white goat was produced1 placed upon the altar of ,baphomet1 set alight1 hideously tortured1 cut open1 and its entrails torn out by the native ,grand ,master1 who spread them on the steps1 uttering abominable blasphemies against ,adona4 ,this having also failed1 great stones were raised from the floor1 a nameless stench ascended1 and a large consignment of living fakirs1 eaten to the bone by worms and falling to pieces in every direction1 were dragged out from among a number of skeletons1 while serpents1 giant spiders1 and toads swarmed from all parts4 ,the ,grand ,master seized one of the fakirs and cut his throat upon the altar1 chanting the satanic liturgy amidst imprecations1 curses1 a chaos of voices1 and the last agonies of the goat4 ,the blood spirted forth upon the assistants1 and the ,grand ,master sprinkled the ,baphomet4 ,a final howl of invocation resulted in complete failure1 whereupon it was decided that ,baal-,zeboub had business elsewhere4 ,the doctor departed from the ceremony1 fraternising with ,campbell1 and kept his bed for eight-and-forty hours4 #e4 ,the seven ,temples and a ,sabbath in ,sheol4 ,it was in the month of ,october #ahhj that1 in the course of his enterprise1 ,doctor ,bataille reached ,calcutta4 ,freemasonry1 he informs us1 invariably affects the horrible1 and as he invests ,calcutta with the sombre hues of living death and universal putrefaction1 it naturally follows that the ,indian city is one of the four great directing centres of ,universal ,freemasonry4 ,everywhere the pious ,doctor discovered the hand of ,lucifer2 everywhere he beheld the consequences of superstition and ,satanism2 cataclysms1 floods1 tornados1 typhoons1 plagues1 cholera1 representing the normal state of health and habit1 and the consequences of universal persuasion in favour of the fiend4 ,a corpse1 he testifies1 is met with at every step1 the smoke of burning widows ascends to heaven1 and the plain of ,dappah1 in immediate contiguity to the city1 is a vast charnel-house where innumerable multitudes of dead bodies are flung naked to the vultures4 ,the ,english ,mason will at once recognise that of all places in the world ,calcutta is most suited to be a ,mecca of the ,fraternity and the capital of ,english ,india4 ,the ,kadosch of the ,scotch ,rite1 the ,sublime ,chosen ,master of the ,royal ,arch1 the ,commander of the ,white and ,black ,eagle of the rite of ,herodom1 the perfectly initiated ,grand ,inspector of the ,scotch ,philosophical ,rite1 the ,elect ,brother of the ,johannite ,rite of ,zinnendorf1 and the ,brother of the ,red ,cross of ,swedenborg1 a thousand other dignitaries of a thousand illuminations1 gather in the ,grand ,masonic ,temple1 and1 as the ,doctor gravely tells us1 are employed in cursing ,catholicity4 ,by a special conjunction of the planets1 the ,doctor1 on reaching head-quarters1 had immediate intelligence that the great ,phileas ,walder had himself recently arrived on a secret mission from ,charleston4 ,there also he made acquaintance with another luminary of devildom1 by name ,hobbs1 who presided at the important proceedings which resulted in the damnation of ,carbuccia4 ,brother ,hobbs1 possessed of much experience in ,lucifer1 gave many assurances concerning the incessant apparitions of ,the ,master of ,evil to all worthy persons4 ,now the ,doctor1 by virtue of his ,misram patent1 was as much a priest for ever according to the ,melchisedeck of ,masonry1 as if he had been born without father or mother1 but at the moment he had not received the perfect initiation of the ,palladium2 technically1 therefore1 he had no right to participate in the ,supreme ,mysteries4 ,however1 it is needless to say that he had arrived in the nick of time to be present at a ceremony which takes place only once in ten years1 provided that he was willing to undergo the trifle of a preliminary ordeal4 ,on the same evening a select company of initiates proceeded in hired carriages through the desolation of ,dappah1 under the convoy of initiated coachmen1 for the operation of a great satanic solemnity4 ,at an easy distance from the city is the ,sheol of the native ,indians1 and hard by the latter place there is a mountain #ejj feet high and #bjjj long1 on the summit of which seven temples are erected1 communicating one with another by subterranean passages in the rock4 ,the total absence of pagodas make it evident that these temples are devoted to the worship of ,satan2 they form a gigantic triangle superposed on the vast plateau1 at the base of which the party descended from their conveyances1 and were met by a native with an accommodating knowledge of ,french4 ,upon exchanging the ,sign of ,lucifer he conducted them to a hole in the rock1 which gave upon a narrow passage guarded by a line of ,sikhs with drawn swords1 prepared to massacre anybody1 and leading to the vestibule of the first temple1 which was filled with a miscellaneous concourse of ,adepts1 from officers and tea-merchants even to tanners and dentists4 ,in the first temple1 which was provided with the inevitable statue of ,baphomet1 but was withal bare and meagrely illuminated1 the doctor was destined to pass through his promised ordeal1 for which he was stripped to the skin1 placed in the centre of the assembly1 and at a given signal one thousand odd venomous cobra de capellos were produced from holes in the wall and encouraged to fold him in their embraces1 while the music of flute-playing fakirs alone intervened to prevent his instant death4 ,he passed through this trying encounter with a valour which amazed himself1 persisted in prolonging the ceremony1 and otherwise proved himself a man of such extraordinary metal that he earned universal respect and received the most flattering testimonials even from ,phileas ,walder4 ,that the serpents were undoubtedly venomous was afterwards proved upon the person of one of the natives present1 who1 delivered to their fury1 fell1 covered with apparently mortal bites1 but was subsequently treated by native remedies and carried before the altar of ,baphomet to be cured by the special intervention of the good ,god ,lucifer4 ,this ceremony was accomplished by the intervention of a lovely ,indian ,vestal1 by the prayers of the ,grand ,master1 a silk-mercer by commercial persuasion1 and by the mock baptism of a serpent1 after which the sufferer rose to his feet and the inconvenient venom spurted of itself out of his wounds4 ,from the ,sanctuary of the ,serpents the company then proceeded1 with becoming recollection1 into the second temple or ,sanctuary of the ,phoenix4 ,the second temple was brilliantly illuminated and ablaze with millions of precious stones wrested by the wicked ,english from innumerable conquered ,rajahs2 it had garlands of diamonds1 festoons of rubies1 vast images of solid silver1 and a gigantic ,phoenix in red gold more solid than the silver4 ,there was an altar beneath the ,phoenix1 and a male and female ape were composed at the altar steps1 while the ,grand ,master proceeded to the celebration of a black mass1 which was followed by an amazing marriage of the two engaging animals1 and the sacrifice of a lamb brought alive into the temple1 bleating piteously1 with nails driven through its feet4 ,this was intended to symbolize an illuminated reprobation of celibacy and an approval of the married state1 or its less expensive substitutes4 ,the third temple was consecrated to the ,mother of fallen women1 who1 in memory of the adventure of the apple1 has a place in the calendar of ,lucifer2 the proceedings consisted of a dialogue between the ,grand ,master and the ,vestal which the becoming modesty of the doctor prevents him from describing even in the ,latin tongue4 ,the fourth temple was a ,rosicrucian ,sanctuary1 having an open sepulchre1 from which blue flames continually emanated2 there was a platform in the midst of the temple designed for the accommodation of more ,indian ,vestals1 one of whom it was proposed should evaporate into thin air1 after which a ,fakir would be transformed before the whole company into a living mummy and be interred for a space of three years4 ,these were among the events of the evening1 and were accomplished with great success without much disturbing the mental equilibrium of the doctor1 though he confessed to a certain impression when the ,fakir introduced his performance by suspension in mid-air4 ,the fifth temple was consecrated to the ,pelican and was used by an ,english officer to deliver a short discourse on ,masonic charity1 which the doctor regarded as vulnerable from a moral point of view and suggestive of easy virtue4 ,the sixth temple was that of the ,future and was devoted to divinations1 the oracles being given by a ,vestal in a hypnotic condition1 seated over a burning brazier4 ,the doctor was accommodated with a test1 but another inquirer who had the temerity to be curious as to what was being done in the ,vatican received a severe rebuff2 in vain did the spirit of the ,clairvoyante strive to penetrate the draughty and malarious palace of the ,roman ,pontiff1 and ,phileas ,walder1 mortified and maddened1 began to curse and to swear like the first ,pope4 ,the experiment disillusionized the assembly and they thoughtfully repaired to the seventh temple1 which1 being sacred to ,fire1 was equipped with a vast central furnace surmounted by a chimney and containing a gigantic figure of ,baphomet2 in spite of the intolerable heat pervading the entire chamber this idol contrived to preserve its outlines and to glow without pulverising4 ,a ceremony of an impressive nature occurred in this apartment2 a wild cat1 which strayed in through an open window1 was regarded as the appearance of a soul in transmigration1 and1 in spite of its piteous protests1 was passed through the fire to ,baal4 ,and now the crowning function1 the ,magnum ,opus of the mystery1 must take place in the ,sheol of ,dappah2 a long procession filed from the mountain temples to the charnel-house of the open plain2 the night was dark1 the moon had vanished in dismay1 black clouds scudded across the heavens1 a feverish rain fell slowly at intervals1 and the ground was dimly lighted by the phosphorescence of the general putrefaction4 ,the ,adepts went stumbling over dead bodies1 disturbing ,rats and ,vultures1 and proceeded to the formation of the magic chain1 which consisted in high-grade ,masons1 provided with silk hats1 sitting down in a vast circle1 every ,adept embracing his particular corpse4 ,the ceremony included the recitation of certain passages borrowed from popular grimoires1 the object in view being the wholesale liberation of ,spirits wandering in the immediate neighbourhood of their bodies4 ,this closed the proceedings and the doctor confesses that the distractions of the evening occasioned him a disturbed sleep accompanied by nightmares4 #f4 ,a ,palladian ,initiation4 ,before leaving ,calcutta our adventurer purchased from ,phileas ,walder1 for the sum of two hundred francs1 the serviceable dignity of a ,palladian ,hierarch1 fortified with which he would be enabled to penetrate everywhere4 ,regarding all ,english possessions as peculiarly productive in the ,dead ,sea fruit of diabolism1 ,singapore was the next scene of his curious researches4 ,the ,english as a nation are criminal1 but ,singapore is the yeast-house of ,british wickedness1 where vice ferments continually2 there man masonifies naturally and most ,masons palladise4 ,the doctor states plainly that one thing only has preserved the place from the doom of the cities of the plain1 and that is the presence of certain good ,christians1 otherwise ,catholics1 in what he terms the accursed city4 ,for himself he tarried only to witness the initiation of a ,mistress-,templar according to the ,palladian rite1 which took place in a ,presbyterian ,chapel1 the ,presbyterian persuasion1 as he tells us1 being one of the broad roads leading to avowed ,satanism4 ,the password was appropriately the name of the first murderer1 and the doctor was greeted to his great astonishment by an old acquaintance1 an ,english pastor1 whom he had frequently seen upon his own magnificent steam-boat1 who also rejoiced in the nick-name of the ,reverend ,alcohol1 being1 like the majority of ,englishmen1 almost invariably drunk4 ,the ceremony of initiation1 which is described at great length in the narrative1 is a variation from that of ,leo ,taxil2 the doctor1 in mercy to his readers1 suppressing a part of the performance4 ,speaking generally1 it was concerned1 as we have previously seen1 with an anti-,christian version of ,gospel history and some commonplace outrages of the ,eucharistic elements1 during which proceedings our witness perspired freely4 ,so1 as he tells us1 did one more ,protestant pass over to the worship of ,lucifer4 ,the operations of the ritual were followed by a divine solemnity1 which had something of the character of an ordinary spiritual sance1 supposing it to have been held in a mad-house4 ,i need only say that when the lights were turned up at the end1 every article of furniture1 including a large organ1 was discovered hanging from the ceiling4 ,as a final phenomenon1 the ,master of the ,ceremonies detached his shadow from his substance1 arranged it against the wall in the shape of a demon1 and it responded to various questions by signs4 ,there was a burst of loud applause1 the proceedings terminated1 and the ,masonic ,temple became once more a ,presbyterian ,chapel4 #g4 ,the ,san-,ho-,hei4 ,the doctor informs us that ,china is the gate of ,hell1 and that all its inhabitants are born damned2 child-like and bland in appearance1 the ,chinaman is invariably by disposition a ,satanist1 having tastes wholly diabolical4 ,as to the religion of ,buddha1 it is simply ,satanism outrance4 ,chinese occultism is centralised in the ,san-,ho-,hei1 an association parallel to high grade ,masonry1 having its head-quarters at ,pekin1 and welcoming all ,freemasons who are affiliated to the ,palladium4 ,it does not1 however1 admit women1 and has only one degree4 ,its chief occupation is to murder ,catholic missionaries4 ,when a ,palladian ,mason seeks admission for the first time to one of its assemblies1 he betakes himself to the nearest opium den1 carrying on his person the documents which prove his initiation2 he places his umbrella head downwards on his left side1 and stupefies himself with the divine drug4 ,he is then quite sure that he will be transported in a comatose condition to the occult reunion4 ,when the doctor reached ,shanghai1 he experienced some hesitation before he attempted an adventure so uncertain in its issue4 ,he remembered1 however1 that he was possessed of a miraculous medal of ,st4 ,benedict1 which he regarded as his trump card1 a species of passport or return ticket1 available at any date and by any line of ,devildom4 ,he determined to get drunk accordingly2 but even as he entered ,masonry with a becoming reservation of conscience1 so he entered the drug-shop with a reservation as to the degree of his drunkenness1 in spite of which he fell1 however1 into a deep sleep1 and awoke in the assembly of ,the ,secret ,avengers1 one of whom1 to facilitate proceedings1 had a good knowledge of ,english1 and a perfect familiarity with all ,charleston passwords4 ,the ,baphomet1 of course1 presided1 but it appears that the ,chinese have certain conscientious scruples on the subject of ,goats1 and hence a ,dragon's head was substituted for that of the ordinary image4 ,the doctor was not the only ,european present at the proceedings of the celestial assembly2 but while he was the sole representative of his own nation1 it goes without saying that there was a fair sprinkling of the abominable ,british4 ,so complete is the unanimity which obtains between the initiates of ,china and ,charleston that the bulk of the proceedings takes place in the ,english language2 but for this disposition of ,providence1 the doctor would have been at a serious disadvantage4 ,the first object of the company was to encompass the destruction of missionaries1 and for this purpose a coffin was presently brought in1 containing the skeleton of a deceased brother1 who had so far diverged from duty that he had entered in league with the ,jesuits1 and had dared to act as a spy upon the august proceedings of the ,sublime ,society of ,avengers4 ,the first act may be regarded as somewhat bizarre in character2 it consisted in evoking an evil spirit to animate the skeleton1 and to answer certain questions4 ,this was accomplished with absolute success4 ,the bones of the departed brother had1 however1 been so consecrated by his ,jesuitical proclivities that1 even when animated by a devil1 they discovered extreme reluctance in disclosing the number and quality of certain ,franciscan zealots who had just started from ,paris to convert the ,empire4 ,ultimately1 however1 it was admitted that they were now on the high seas1 which information given1 the bony oracle could no longer contain its rage1 but pursued an ,english ,mason of the #ccrd degree from end to end of the assembly1 and succeeded in inflicting some furious bites and blows4 ,the second act commenced by uncovering a species of exaggerated baptismal font1 filled to the brim with water1 and representing the great ocean over which the missionaries were passing4 ,the assembly crowded round it1 and by means of magic rods and other devices1 succeeded in evoking a minute figure of a steam-ship containing the adventurers4 ,their magic also raised up a perfect tempest of wind in the closed apartment1 but by no device could they effect the slightest disturbance upon the placid bosom of the water4 ,the ceremony had1 in fact1 to be abandoned as a failure in its desired intention4 ,too well did the ,spirit ,yesu protect ,his missionaries4 ,the assembly accordingly repaired into a second apartment4 ,there the officiating dignitaries assumed the vestments of ,catholic priests4 ,they produced a wax figure1 designed to represent a missionary1 amused themselves with a mock trial1 inflicted imaginary tortures1 and returned the dummy to a cupboard1 after which they proceeded to the crucifixion of a living pig4 ,the third act was an agonising experience for the doctor1 being nothing less than the sacrifice of one of the brethren1 the selection being determined by lot4 ,the doctor1 in his quality of visitor1 was1 it is true1 spared the chance of being himself the victim1 but he nearly became executioner4 ,one of the ,chinese adepts having been chosen1 to his intense satisfaction1 and approved by some mechanical movements on the part of the dragon-headed ,baphomet1 permitted his limbs to be removed1 and then earnestly invoked the assistance of the ,charleston brother for the purpose of severing his head4 ,it was an honour invariably accorded to the visitor of the highest grade4 ,the doctor1 who could not bring himself to the point1 was saved at the last moment by the miraculous levitation of ,phileas ,walder from an immense distance1 this occult personage having become transcendently cognisant of what was going forward in ,china1 and being anxious to interrogate the severed head as to the possible recovery of his daughter1 who was then seriously ill4 ,in virtue of his superior dignity1 he claimed the privilege of the execution1 and the doctor modestly retired4 ,such were the adventures of our witness in the assembly of ,holy ,avengers4 ,he enumerates at great length the evidence against hallucination as a result of his excess in opium1 but ,i suggest to observing readers that there is a more obvious line of criticism4 #h4 ,the ,great ,city of ,lucifer4 ,it was in ,march of the year #ahha that ,doctor ,bataille proceeded for the first time to ,charleston1 to make acquaintance at head-quarters with the universal ,masonry of ,lucifer and its ,pontiff ,albert ,pike4 ,charleston is the ,venice of ,america1 the ,rome of ,satan1 and the great ,city of ,lucifer4 ,always enormously prolix1 and adoring the details which swell the flimsy issues of cheap periodical narratives1 our witness describes at great length the city and its ,masonic temple1 with the temple which is within the temple and is consecrated to the good ,god4 ,my second chapter has already provided the reader with sufficient information upon the persons alleged to be concerned in the foundation of ,universal ,freemasonry and in the elaboration of its cultus4 ,nor need ,i dwell at any length upon the personal communication which passed between ,doctor ,bataille1 ,albert ,pike1 ,gallatin ,mackey1 ,sophia ,walder1 ,chambers1 ,webber1 and the rest of the ,charleston luminaries4 ,miss ,walder explained to him the great hope of the ,order concerning the speedy advent of anti-,christ1 the abolition of the papacy1 and the destruction of the ,christian religion4 ,she also related many of her private experiences with the infernal monarchy1 being acquainted with the exact number of demons in the descending hierarchy1 and with all their classes and legions4 ,she confidently expected to be the great grandmother of anti-,christ1 and in the meantime possessed the transcendental faculty of becoming fluidic at will4 ,mr ,gallatin ,mackey exhibited his ,arcula ,mystica1 one of seven similar instruments existing at ,charleston1 ,rome1 ,berlin1 ,washington1 ,monte ,video1 ,naples1 and ,calcutta4 ,to all appearance it resembled a liqueur-stand1 but it was really a diabolical telephone worked like the ,urimm and ,thummimm1 and enabling those who possessed it to communicate with each other1 whatever the intervening distance4 ,the ,doctor1 in his quality of initiate1 was1 of course1 taken over the entire premises2 he examined the head of the great templar ,molay1 deciding by his anthropological knowledge that the relic was not genuine1 and that it was not the skull of a ,european4 ,as to the templar ,baphomet1 situated in the ,sanctum ,regnum1 and before which ,lucifer is supposed to appear1 it is sufficient to say that ,doctor ,bataille1 who invariably treads cautiously where it is easy for other steps to follow him1 has no personal testimony to furnish upon the subject of the apparition1 and the relations of other persons do not concern us at the moment4 #i4 ,transcendental ,toxicology4 ,the memorials of ,charleston are not entirely favourable to the true strength of our witness2 it was requisite to lie low in ,america1 but the ,doctor bristles in ,gibraltar2 he is once more upon ,british soil4 ,does not the ,englishman1 consciously or otherwise1 put a curse on everything he touches8 ,doctor ,bataille affirms it2 indeed this quality of malediction has been specially dispensed to the nation of heretics by ,god himself2 so says ,doctor ,bataille4 ,since the ,british braggart began to embattle ,gibraltar1 having thieved it from ,catholic ,spain1 a wind of desolation breathes over the whole country4 ,an inscrutable providence1 of which our witness is the mouthpiece1 has elected to set apart this rock in order that the devil and the ,english1 who1 he says1 are a pair1 may continue their work of protestantising and filling the world with malefice4 ,to sum the whole matter1 the ,britisher is an odious usurper who has always got one eye open4 ,now1 having regard to the fact that out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation a proportion to be numbered by millions is given over to devil-worship and ,masonry1 and that consequently there is an enormous demand for ,baphomets and other idols1 for innumerable instruments of black ,magic1 and for poisons to exterminate enemies1 it is obviously needful that there should be a secret central department for the working of woods and metals and for ,transcendental ,toxicology4 ,to ,charleston the dogmatic directory1 to ,gibraltar the universal factory4 ,but so colossal an output focussed at a single point could scarcely proceed unknown to ,government at a given place1 and any nation save ,england might object to this class of exports4 ,the cause of ,masonry and the devil being1 however1 dear to the ,english heart1 it would1 of course1 pass unchallenged at ,gibraltar1 and at this point an anglo-phobe with a remnant of reason would have remained satisfied4 ,not so our ,french physician1 who affirms that the exports in question do not merely escape inquisition at the hands of civil authority but are in fact a government industry4 ,bluish 'mid the burning water1 full in face ,trafalgar lay2 ,in the dimmest north-east distance dawned ,gibraltar1 grand and gray-- ,here and here did ,england help me1 how can ,i help ,england1 say8 ,these are the words of ,browning1 and his question has well been answered by the institution of the secret workshops and the secret laboratory2 as in most other cases ,england has helped herself1 unless1 indeed1 it should occur to the doctor that the poet was a ,satanist1 like ,pike1 who himself was a poet1 and had a chief finger in the pie4 ,now the great historic rock is tunnelled by innumerable caverns1 which1 our deponent witnesses1 have never been explored by the tourist1 and in the most impracticable portions of the great subterranean maze1 whosoever has the audacity to penetrate will discover for himself the existence of the industrial department of diabolism1 but he must not expect to come back unless he be a ,sovereign ,grand ,master ad vitam1 and an initiate of ,lucifer4 ,the doctor has explored these caverns1 has seen the factory in full working order1 has exhaustively described the way in1 has returned from the gulf like ,dante1 and has given away the whole mystery4 ,possessed of his key to the labyrinth the wayfaring man shall not err therein1 and it will1 no doubt1 be a new curiosity for the more daring among ,cook's tourists4 ,the workshops are supplied with mechanics by a simple expedient2 hopeless specimens of ,english malefactors1 condemned to penal servitude for the term of their natural life1 are relegated to this region1 a kind of grim humour characterising the selection4 ,the most hideous convicts are chosen1 and those most corresponding in outward appearance to the favourite devils of the hierarchy1 under whose names they pass in the workshops1 where they commonly communicate with each other in the language of ,volapuk4 ,the reason given is that this language has been adopted by the ,spoeleic ,rite1 which ,i confess that ,i had not heard of previously1 but ,i venture to think that the doctor has concealed the true reason1 and that ,volapuk has been thus chosen because it is a diabolical invention2 a universal language prevailed previously to the confusion of ,babel1 and the new language is an irreligious attempt to produce ordo ab chao by a return to unity of speech4 ,the ,toxicological ,department is worked by a higher class of criminals1 as for example1 absconding trustees1 who are there comfortably settled in life1 enjoying many modern conveniences4 ,it produces poisons which usually cause death by cerebral hemorrhage2 but each has its special antidote1 possessed of which the initiated poisoner can eat and drink with his victim2 on this subject the doctor pursues1 however1 a policy of masterly reticence4 ,but such1 in brief1 is the deep mystery of ,gibraltar1 such is the ,toxicological department of universal ,freemasonry4 #aj4 ,the ,doctor and ,diana4 ,it would be impossible to follow the doctor through the entire course of his memoirs1 not that they are wholly biographical1 exclusively concerned with modern diabolism1 or with the great conspiracy of ,masons against ,god1 ,man1 and the universe2 one of his subsidiary and yet most important objects is to fill space1 in which respect he has almost eclipsed the great classics of the penny dreadful in ,england4 ,i must pass with a mere reference over his dealings in spiritualism2 it is needless to say that in this branch of transcendental investigation he witnessed more astounding phenomena than falls commonly to the lot of even veteran students4 ,his star prevailed everywhere1 and the world unseen deployed its strongest forces4 ,at ,monte ,video1 for example1 falling casually into a circle of spiritualists1 he was seated1 surrounded by a family of these unconscious and amateur diabolists1 before an open window at night time2 across the broad mouth of the river a great shaft of soft light from the lamp of the lighthouse opposite shone in mid-air1 over the bosom of the water1 and as it fell upon their faces he discerned1 floating within the beam itself1 the solid figure of a man4 ,it was not the first time that the apparition1 under similar circumstances1 had been seen by the rest of the household1 but for him it bore a message of deeper mystery than for these uninitiated spiritualists2 although in man's clothes1 his observant eye recognised the face of the spirit2 terrible and suggestive truth1 it was the face of the vestal ,virgin1 who1 far off in ,calcutta1 had fluidified in the third temple1 and he uttered a great cry6 ,he has now decided to void the virginity of the vestal1 and to assume that she was in reality a demon1 and not a being of earth4 ,at the same time1 my readers must thoroughly understand that the doctor1 when he meddles in spiritualism1 is a man who is governed in his narratives by an intelligent faculty of criticism which borders on the purely sceptic2 he delights in the display of instances where an element of trickery may be detected2 no one better than himself can distinguish between bogus and bogey1 and he takes pleasure in directing special attention to his extraordinary good judgment and sound common-sense in each and all these matters4 ,hence no one will be surprised to hear that at the house of a lady in ,london1 an ordinary table1 after a preliminary performance in tilting1 transformed suddenly into a full-grown crocodile1 and played touchingly on the piano1 after which it again changed into a table1 but the gin1 the whisky1 the pale ale1 and the other intoxicants which are indispensable at sances in ,england1 had been entirely consumed by the transcendental reptile to fortify him on his return journey to the mud-banks of the ,nile4 ,nor has the spontaneous apparition been wanting to complete the experiences of ,dr ,bataille4 ,he was seated in his cabin at midnight pondering over the theories formulated in natural history by ,cuvier and ,darwin1 who diabolised the entire creation1 when he was touched lightly on the shoulder1 and discovered standing over him1 in his picturesque ,oriental costume1 like another ,mohini1 the ,arabian poisoner-in-chief of the ,gibraltar ,toxicological ,department1 who1 after some honourable assurances that the ,bible was not true1 departed transcendentally as he came4 ,this personage subsequently proved to be the demon ,hermes4 ,even when he merely masonified1 the doctor had unheard-of experiences in magic4 ,for example1 at ,golden ,square1 in the west central district of this wicked city1 an address which we have heard of before1 at the conclusion of an ordinary ,lodge meeting1 there was an evocation of the demon ,zaren1 who appeared under the form of a monstrous three-headed dragon completely cased in steel1 and1 endeavouring to devour his evoker1 was restrained by the magical pentagram1 ultimately vanishing with the peculiar odour of ,infernus4 ,in connection with various marvels the doctor has much to tell us concerning two sisters in ,lucifer who have long been at daggers drawn1 and considering their supernatural attributes1 it is incomprehensible in a high degree that they have not destroyed one another like the ,magician and the ,princess of a more credible narrative of wonders in the ,arabian ,nights4 ,diana ,vaughan1 much heard and little seen1 has since become famous by her conversion to the ,catholic faith4 ,honoured with her acquaintance for a considerable period1 the doctor invariably testifies the utmost respect for this wealthy1 beautiful1 and high-placed ,palladian lady1 so long protected by a demon1 of the superior hierarchy1 and enjoying what he somewhat obscurely terms an obsessional guardianship4 ,on the #bhth of ,february1 #ahhd1 at a theurgic sance of ,templar ,mistresses and ,elect ,magi of ,louisville1 the ceiling of the temple was riven suddenly1 and ,asmodeus1 genius of ,fire1 descended to slow music1 having in one hand a sword1 and in the other the long tail of a lion4 ,he informed the company that there had just been a great battle between the leaders of ,lucifer and ,adona1 and that it had been his personal felicity to lop the ,lion's tail of ,st ,mark2 he directed the members of the eleven plus seven triangle to preserve the trophy carefully1 and1 that it might not be a lifeless relic1 he had thoughtfully informed it with one of his minor devils until such time as he himself should intervene to mark his omnipotent favour towards a certain predestined virgin4 ,the vestal in question was ,diana of the ,charlestonians1 elect sister in ,asmodeus1 who at that time was not affiliated to ,palladism4 ,when the doctor subsequently drew her on the subject of this history1 she replied1 after the manner of the walrus1 ,do you admire the view8 ,for himself1 the good doctor dislikes the narrative1 not because it does violence to possibility1 but because it did violence to ,st ,mark2 there is evidently an incomplete dignity about a tailless evangelist4 ,as to the tail itself1 he has no personal doubt that it was the property of an ordinary lion1 and that it has since become possessed of a devil4 ,at the risk of offending ,miss ,vaughan1 the doctor expatiates on her case1 and learnedly demonstrates that her possession is of so uninterrupted a kind that it has become a second nature1 and belongs to the #eth degree2 however this may be1 he establishes at great length one important point in her favour1 which has occasioned all ,french ,catholics to earnestly desire her conversion4 ,i have stated already that the grade of ,templar-,mistress is concerned partly with profanations of the ,eucharist4 ,for example1 the aspirant to this initiation is required to drive a stiletto into the consecrated ,host with a becoming expression of fury4 ,when ,miss ,vaughan visited ,paris in the year #ahhe1 where ,miss ,walder had sometime previously established herself1 she was invited to enter this grade1 and accepted the offer4 ,a sance for initiation was held accordingly1 but ,miss ,vaughan would have none of profanation1 and refused blankly to stultify her liberal intelligence by the stabbing of a wheaten wafer4 ,she did not believe in the ,real ,presence1 and she did not wish to be childish4 ,a great sensation followed2 her initiation was postponed2 appeal was made to ,charleston2 and the formality was dispensed with in her case by the intervention1 as it was supposed at the moment1 of ,albert ,pike's authority1 even as her ,father's intervention had excused her beforehand from another ordeal which could not be suffered with propriety4 ,this episode implanted in the breast of ,sophia ,walder an extreme form of ,palladian hatred for the ,diana of ,philalethes4 ,now1 ,sophia was in high favour with all the hosts of perdition1 yet her rancorous relations with her sister ,adept did not make ,diana less a persona grata to the peculiar intelligence which governs the descending hierarchy4 ,in the ,mammoth ,cave of ,kentucky the ,palladian ,magi and the ,mistress ,templars decided one day to have a little experiment with the ,undines1 so they shouldered their magical instruments2 but the eager elementaries1 habiting the dark abysses1 did not wait to be evoked2 the water bubbled in the ,lake1 the roof was constellated with stars1 and who should appear but ,asmodeus1 on the bank opposite1 in all his infernal glory6 ,with open arms he loudly called on ,diana1 and that lady1 suddenly transfigured1 walked calmly over the water1 and kissed the feet of her demon1 who incontinently vanished4 ,inspired by a sense of deficiency1 the doctor says that the visit to the ,mammoth ,cave terminated without any further incident4 ,he was not an ocular witness of what he relates in this instance1 but he received it from the lips of ,diana1 and the lips of ,diana1 in the opinion of all honourable men1 would be preferable to the eyes of the doctor4 ,but the doctor had the testimony of his eyes upon another occasion2 it is known that ,miss ,vaughan's celebrity began with her hostility to the ,italian ,grand ,master1 ,adriano ,lemmi4 ,when the seat of the ,sovereign ,pontificate1 as deponents testify1 was removed from ,charleston1 the great city of ,lucifer1 even unto the ,eternal ,city1 and many adepts demissioned1 there was a doubt in the rebel camp as to the continued protection of ,lucifer4 ,if ,diabolus had gone over to ,lemmi1 they were indeed bereft4 ,miss ,vaughan1 however1 remained calm and sanguine3--,i am certain of the celestial protection of the ,genii of ,light1 said ,diana1 and1 producing her talisman1 she bent her right knee to the ground1 turned a complete somersault without falling1 flung her tambourine into the air1 which descended gently and remained suspended a yard from the ground1 while she herself1 passing into a condition of ecstasy1 also rose into the air in a recumbent posture4 ,she remained in this state for the space of fifteen minutes1 the silence being only broken by the distant rumbling of thunder4 ,many of the spectators could not believe their eyes4 ,at length very gently her body assumed a vertical position1 head downwards1 but as a concession to polite feeling the remaining laws of gravity were suspended1 like herself1 and her skirts were not correspondingly inverted4 ,slowly the ecstatic lady continued to circulate1 the assembly stood at gaze like ,joshua's moon in ,ajalon1 and presently she was in the vertical position of a swimmer1 the phenomenon concluding by her restoration to terra firma4 ,this wonder was accomplished by the magic power of a diabolical ,rose which the lady carried in her bodice4 ,on yet another occasion the doctor witnessed the prodigy of the bilocation of ,diana by the assistance of a simple magical process1 when to his most certain knowledge she was hundreds of leagues away2 but the recitations of ,doctor ,bataille have reduced bilocation to a banality1 and a mere reference will suffice4 ,a monograph of ,miss ,vaughan's miracles would1 however1 be incomplete if it failed to exhibit her in her capacity as a breaker of spells2 whatsoever has been bound by devildom can be loosed by ,diana4 ,at the height of the commotion occasioned by her persistent refusal to participate in sham sacrilege1 there was one member of the ,paris ,triangle who manifested peculiar acrimony in demanding the expulsion of a delinquent who had dared to impeach the ritual4 ,as a punishment for his own presumption1 and in the presence of the assembled adepts1 his head was suddenly reversed by an unseen power1 and for the space of one and twenty days he was obliged to review the situation face backwards4 ,this severe judgment dismayed all present2 ,miss ,walder had recourse to an evocation and discovered that it had been inflicted by ,asmodeus1 the protector of her rival1 who furthermore would not scruple to visit with violent disaster any person who discovered an evil design against so elect a sister as ,diana4 ,if the present culprit desired to be set free from his grotesque position1 he must humbly have recourse to her4 ,miss ,vaughan was in ,america at the moment1 but she generously came to his rescue as soon as steam could carry her1 and restored him his lost front view by a jocose imposition of hands4 ,i should add that on the very day when this misadventure took place at ,paris1 ,miss ,vaughan was defending her standpoint in person before the ,triangle of ,louisville2 opinion was divided about her1 and the result appeared uncertain1 when the demoniac tail of ,st ,mark1 evacuating the minor devil1 who had hired it on a repairing lease1 accepted ,asmodeus as a tenant1 and violently circumambulating the apartment belaboured all those whose voices had been raised against his ,vestal4 ,finally the tassel of the tail turned into the head of the demon and vowed his devotion to ,diana so long as she remained unmarried2 did she dare1 however1 to desert him for an earthly consort1 he was commander of fourteen legions1 and he would strangle the man of clay4 ,it would be unkind to ,miss ,sophia ,walder if ,i let it be supposed for a moment that the palm of prestige is borne away by her rival4 ,i have already noted that this lady occasionally fluidifies to the satisfaction of a select audience1 but1 like the materialising medium1 she finds it a depleting performance which usually confines her to her room1 and her price1 therefore1 is five thousand francs4 ,she is first ,sovereign in ,bitru1 and is defined by the doctor to be in a state of latent possession1 having a semi-diabolical nature and the gift of substitution4 ,it was possibly at ,milan that he witnessed the most persuasive test of her occult powers4 ,she took him confidentially apart and explained to him that she had been in a condition of penetration for about three hours4 ,at dinner the food of which ,i partake becomes volatile in my mouth2 wine evaporates invisibly the moment it makes contact with my lips2 ,i eat and drink in appearance1 but my teeth masticate the air4 ,now this was due1 not to the voracity of ,bitru1 but to the keen appetite of ,baal-,zeboub2 the magnetic lady did not1 however1 explain this point after the common method of speech2 she fixed her blazing orbs upon the doctor1 and he saw flames everywhere2 a moment more and her feet were free from earth2 she stretched out her left hand1 and on the open palm he beheld the successive apparitions in characters of flame of the ten letters which constitute the great name4 ,with a touch of internal collapse he commended himself to the ,virgin ,mary1 the ecstatic paroxysm passed1 and they wandered down another lane1 for they were in the midst of leafy umbrage4 ,presently a tree gracefully arranged a portion of its branches in the form of a fan1 and bowed with profound reverence4 ,still more fantastic1 a paralysed branch produced a living human hand1 which in the accompanying engraving is ornamented with an immaculate cuff1 and that hand presented a bouquet to ,sophia4 ,by reason of these matters the doctor became pensive4 ,a ,palladian sance followed4 ,the litany of ,lucifer was chanted1 and the prodigy of substitution was effected4 ,the ceremony took place in a grotto with a stalactite roof2 ,miss ,walder produced from a basket the serpent which was an inseparable companion of all her travels2 it immediately genuflected in front of her1 swarmed the wall1 and assumed a pendant position attached to one of the stalactites4 ,it was a reptile of no ordinary kind1 for it began to develop an interminable length of coils till it had spread itself circlewise over the entire ceiling1 and its head was joined to its tail4 ,the doctor says that he was now prepared for anything4 ,the serpent gave forth seven horrible hisses1 and in the dim light1 for the torches which illuminated the place were successively giving out of themselves1 each person became conscious of an unseen entity blowing with burning breath in their faces4 ,when at length there was complete darkness1 ,sophia herself became radiant1 and brilliantly illuminated the grotto with an intense white light2 five enormous hands could then be seen floating in space1 also intensely luminous1 but emitting a green lustre2 each hand went wandering in search of its prey1 ultimately seizing a brother1 whom it drew irresistibly forward in the direction of ,sophia4 ,moved by a mysterious influence1 two of them grasped her arms1 two clutched her by the shoulders1 one placed his hand on her head4 ,the serpent again hissed seven significant times1 and in place of the solid ,sophia the third ,alexander of ,macedon was substituted in phantom guise4 ,when he faded ,sophia reappeared and continued going and coming with a phantom between each of her appearances1 so that she was in turn replaced by ,luther1 ,cleopatra1 ,robespierre1 and others1 concluding with the ,italian patriot ,garibaldi1 who eclipsed all the others1 for his bust was converted into a bronze urn from which red flames burst forth4 ,the flames took a human form1 and gave back ,sophia to the assembly4 ,such is the gift of substitution1 which follows penetration1 and such is the substance of the memoirs of ,m4 ,bataille1 ship's doctor1 who1 in the year #ahhj1 undertook to exploit ,freemasonry and has come forth unsinged from ,diabolism4 ,there is one maxim of the ,psalmist which the experience of most transcendentalists has taught them to lay to heart1 and to repeat without the qualifications of ,david when certain aspects of supernatural narrative are introduced--,omnis homo mendax6 ,but lest ,i should appear to be discourteous1 ,i should like to add a brief dictum from the ,magus liphas ,lvi4 ,the wise man cannot lie1 because nature accommodates herself to his statement4 ,in a polite investigation like the present1 there is1 therefore1 no question whether ,doctor ,bataille is defined by the term mendax1 which is forbidden to literary elegance2 it is simply a question whether he is a wise man1 or whether nature blundered and did not conform to his statement4 ,the credibility1 in whole or in part1 of ,dr ,bataille's narrative will involve some extended criticism1 and ,i purpose to postpone it till the remaining witnesses have been examined4 ,we shall then be in a position to appreciate how far later revelations support his statements4 ,setting aside the miraculous element1 which is tolerably separate from what most concerns our inquiry1 namely1 the existence of ,palladian ,masonry attached to the cultus of ,lucifer1 it may be stated that the most sober part of ,dr ,bataille's memoirs is the account of his visit to ,charleston2 here the miraculous element is entirely absent4 ,he confirms by alleged personal investigations the existence of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium2 he is the first witness who distinguishes clearly between the ,luciferian ,order and the ,supreme ,council of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite of ,charleston4 ,that distinction is made1 however1 at one expense2 it assumes that the ,supreme ,council preserved the ,baphomet idol as well as the reputed skull of ,molay for nearly seventy years1 and then surrendered it to another order with which it had no official acquaintance4 ,under what circumstances and why did it do that8 ,the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite is connected by its legend with the ,templars1 and for the ,charleston ,supreme ,council to part with the trophies of the tradition seems no less unlikely than for a regiment to surrender its colours4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,dealings ,,with ,,diana ,the philosophy of ,horatius is supposed to represent incompletely the content of heaven and earth1 but neither earth nor heaven1 as at present constituted1 would be capable of enclosing the entire content of ,dr ,bataille's memoirs4 ,miss ,diana ,vaughan1 with whose history we are next concerned1 comes before us under a different aspect4 ,i have failed to ascertain under what circumstances she first became known in ,france4 ,le ,diable au ,,xixe ,sicle may have constituted her earliest introduction2 she was certainly unknown to ,leo ,taxil when he published the ,palladian rituals1 or she would not have escaped mention in the account he there gives of ,miss ,sophia ,walder4 ,however this may be1 we have made her acquaintance in the course of the previous chapter1 but ,i am constrained to state that she has1 up to the present1 shown herself exceedingly circumspect in substantiating the evidence of her precursor4 ,the whole world is aware1 and ,i need not again repeat1 that ,miss ,diana ,vaughan was converted to the ,catholic ,church some time after ,dr ,bataille completed his astounding narrative4 ,a ,palladist of perfect initiation1 comprehending the mysteries of the number #gg1 and doing reverence to the higher mystery of #fff1 ,grand ,mistress of the ,temple1 ,grand ,inspectress of the ,palladium1 and according to him who1 in a sense1 has prepared her way and made straight her paths1 a sorceress and thaumaturge before whose daily performances the ,black ,sabbath turns white1 ,miss ,vaughan quarrelled1 as we have seen1 with a sister initiate1 ,sophia ,walder1 and conceived for the ,italian ,grand ,master1 ,adriano ,lemmi1 the charity of the evil angels1 which is hatred4 ,when the ,supreme ,dogmatic ,directory of ,universal ,freemasonry was removed from ,charleston to ,rome and the pontificate passed over to ,lemmi1 as the revelations allege1 ,miss ,vaughan closed her connection with the ,triangles1 carrying her colours to a vessel equipped by herself1 and founded a new society under the title of the ,free and ,regenerated ,palladium1 incorporating the ,anti-,lemmist groups1 and soon after began a public propaganda by the issue of a monthly review1 devoted to the elucidation of the doctrines of the ,lucifer cultus and to the exposure of the ,italian ,grand ,master4 ,to hoist the black flag of diabolism1 as ,miss ,vaughan would now term it1 thus in the open day1 naturally elicited a strong protestation from the ,palladist ,federation1 so that she was in embroilment not only with ,lemmi but also with the source of the initiation which she still appeared to prize4 ,at the same time she exhibited no indications of going over to the cause of the ,adonates4 ,becoming known to the ,anti-,masonic centres of the ,roman ,catholic ,church only through her hostility to ,lemmi1 she was always a persona grata whose conversion was ardently desired1 but on several public occasions she advised them that their cause and hers were in radical opposition1 and that1 in fact1 she would have none of them1 being outside any need of their support1 sympathy1 or interest4 ,she would cleave to the good ,god ,lucifer1 and she aspired to be the bride of ,asmodeus4 ,at length the long-suffering editor of the ,revue ,mensuelle1 weary of his refractory protg1 would also have none of her1 though he surrendered her with evident regret to be dealt with by the prayers of the faithful4 ,one month after1 ,m4 ,leo ,taxil1 through the medium of the same organ1 announced the conversion of ,miss ,vaughan1 and in less than another month1 namely1 in ,july1 #ahie1 she began the publication of her ,memoirs of an ex-,palladist1 which are still in progress1 so that1 limitations of space apart1 my account of this lady will be unavoidably incomplete4 ,her memoirs are1 unfortunately1 not a literary performance2 and their method1 if such it can be called1 is not chronological4 ,beginning with an account of her first introduction to ,lucifer1 vis--vis in the ,sanctum ,regnum of ,charleston1 on ,april #hth #ahhi1 they leap1 in the second chapter1 over all the years intervening to a minute analysis of the sentiments which led to her conversion1 and of the raptures which followed it1 above all on the occasion of her first communion4 ,it is not till the third chapter that we get an account of her ,luciferian education1 or1 more correctly1 an introduction thereto1 for the better part of five monthly numbers has not brought us nearer to her personality than the history of an ancestor in the seventeenth century4 ,as the publisher is still soliciting annual subscriptions to the enterprise1 and offering a variety of advantages after methods not unknown in ,england among the by-ways of periodical literature1 the completion of the work is probably a distant satisfaction for those who take interest therein4 ,now1 having regard to the narrative of ,dr ,bataille1 and having regard to the statements set forth in my second chapter1 it is obvious that ,miss ,vaughan is a witness of the first importance as to whether there is a ,masonry behind ,masonry1 which1 more or less1 manages1 or attempts to manage1 the entire society1 unknown to the rank and file of its initiates1 however high in grade2 as to whether its seat is at ,charleston1 with ,albert ,pike for its founder1 and as to whether its doctrine is anti-,christian1 and its cultus that of ,lucifer1 supported by magical wonders1 concerned with sacrilegious observances1 and either a disguised ,satanism1 or drifting in that direction4 ,as already hinted1 the mythical and miraculous element1--in a word1 that portion of ,doctor ,bataille's narrative which does violence to sense and reason1--,miss ,vaughan has not at present imperilled her position by substantiating1 but as to the points ,i have enumerated1 she has most distinctly come forth out of ,palladism to tell us that these things are so1 and to reinforce what was previously stated by unveiling her private life4 ,it is therefore my duty and desire to do her full justice1 and with this purpose in view1 ,i propose to recite briefly the chief heads of her memoir1 so far as it has been published up to date4 ,i must1 however1 premise at the beginning that she does not come before us with one trace of the uncertainty of accent which might have been expected to characterise the newly-acquired language1 not merely of ,christian faith1 but of its ,roman dialect4 ,we find her speaking at once1 and to the manner born4 ,could anything1 by possibility1 be narrower than certain perished sections of evangelical religion in ,england1 it would be certain sections of ultramontane religion in ,france2 but ,miss ,vaughan has acquired all the terminology of the latter1 all the intellectual bitterness1 all the fatuities1 as one might say1 in the space of five minutes4 ,when she has wearied of her memoirs at the moment1 or has reached1 after the manner of the novelist1 some crucial point in her narrative1 she breaks off abruptly1 brackets suivre1 and proceeds to an account of the latest wonder-working image1 or a diatribe against spirit manifestations in the typical manner of the ,french clerical press4 ,to be brief1 ,miss ,vaughan has adopted1 body and soul1 precisely those abuses which ,catholics of intelligence earnestly desire to see expunged from their great religion4 ,she has probably never heard of the ,forged ,decretals1 but she would defend their authenticity if she had2 she has probably never heard of the corrupted1 or any version of the ,epistles of ,st ,ignatius1 but she would accept the corruptions bodily upon the smallest hint that they savoured better with the hierarchy1 and she would do all this apparently in good faith on the authority of a purblind party within the ,church1 which exists to keep open its wounds4 ,now1 ,i submit that a volte face is possible1 especially in religious opinions1 but that a pronounced habit of religious thought cannot be acquired in a day1 so that1 in the history of ,miss ,vaughan's conversion1 there is more than can be discerned on the surface4 ,the precise nature of the element which eludes must be left to the judgment of my readers1 but1 personally1 ,i reserve my own1 out of fairness to an unfinished deposition4 ,there is a generic difference between ,doctor ,bataille and ,miss ,vaughan4 ,he is an ordinary human being1 and if we may trust the many pictures which represent him in his narrative1 exceedingly unpretending at that4 ,we have also some portraits of ,miss ,vaughan1 who is aggressive and good to look at2 but this is not the generic distinction4 ,doctor ,bataille1 poor man1 is the scion of an ordinary ancestry within the narrow limits of flesh and blood4 ,miss ,vaughan1 on the contrary--,i hope my readers will bear with me--has been taught from her childhood to believe that she was of the blood royal of the descending hierarchy1 and ,i cannot gather from her vague mode of expression whether she has altogether rejected the legend of her descent1 which is otherwise sufficiently startling4 ,the position of authority and influence occupied by ,miss ,vaughan in what she terms high ,masonry is to be explained1 as she modestly informs us1 not by her personal qualities1 but by a traditional secret concerning her family1 which is known only to the ,elect ,magi4 ,miss ,vaughan and her paternal uncle are the last descendants of the alchemist ,thomas ,vaughan1 whom she terms a ,rosicrucian1 and identifies with ,eirenus ,philalethes1 author of ,the ,open ,entrance to the ,closed ,palace of the ,king4 ,on the #beth of ,march #afde1 she tells us1 on the authority of her family history1 ,thomas ,vaughan1 having previously obtained from ,cromwell the privilege of beheading the noble martyr ,laud1 ,archbishop of ,canterbury--the title to nobility1 in her opinion1 seems to rest in the probability of his secret connection with ,rome--steeped a linen cloth in his blood1 burnt the said cloth in sacrifice to ,satan1 who appeared in response to an evocation1 and with whom he concluded a pact1 receiving the philosophical stone1 and a guaranteed period of life extending over thirty-three years from that date1 after which he was to be transported without dying into the eternal kingdom of ,lucifer1 to live with a glorified body in the pure flames of the heaven of fire4 ,after this compact1 he wrote the ,open ,entrance1 the original ,,ms4 of which1 together with its autograph ,luciferian interpretation on the broad margins1 is a precious heirloom in the family4 ,some two years later1 in the course of his travels1 he reached ,new ,england1 where he dwelt for a month among the ,lenni-,lennaps1 and there in an open desert1 on a clear night of summer1 while the moon was shining in splendour1 he was wandering in solitary meditation when the luminary in question1 which was in the crescent phase1 came down out of heaven1 and proved to be an arched bed1 very luminous and wonderful1 containing a vision of sleeping female beauty4 ,this was the nuptial couch of ,thomas ,vaughan and its occupant was ,venus-,astarte1 surrounded by a host of flower-bearing child-spirits1 who conveniently provided a tent1 and provided also delicious meals during a period of eleven days4 ,several curious particulars differentiated these ,hermetic nuptials1 undreamed of by ,christian ,rosencreutz1 from those which govern more ordinary proceedings below the latitude of the ,lenni-,lennaps4 ,in the first place1 goddess succubus1 ,astarte provided the ring1 which was of red gold enriched with a diamond1 and placed it on the finger of her lover2 in the second place1 transcendental gestation1 celestial or otherwise1 fulfils the mystery of generation with exceeding despatch1 for ,astarte was delivered of an infant on the eleventh day independently of medical assistance1 whereupon she demanded the return of the nuptial ring1 and vanished with tent and sprites astride of the crescent couch4 ,the fruit of their union was left in the arms of ,thomas1 who was directed to trample on all sentiments of paternal affection1 and to deliver the child into the charge of a tribe of fire-worshipping ,indians4 ,he does not appear to have sued for the restitution of conjugal rights1 and cheerfully surrendered the human hybrid to a family of ,lenni-,lennaps1 together with his medallion portrait drawn by an artist from devildom1 so that the daughter might recognise her father after the method which obtains among novelists4 ,thomas ,vaughan placed the broad ocean between himself and the scene of his marriage1 and he never re-visited his daughter1 who1 in spite of her miraculous origin1 does not appear to have distinguished herself in any way1 at least up to the point at present reached by the history4 ,miss ,vaughan says that all the ,elect ,magi do not accept this legend of the blood royal1 and she admits her own doubts subsequent to her conversion4 ,as an article of intellectual faith ,i should prefer the birth-story of ,gargantua1 but it satisfied ,miss ,vaughan till the age of thirty years1 and her father and grandfather before her1 even supposing that it was fabrique par mon bisaeul ,james1 de ,boston1 as hazarded by elect ,magi whom a remnant of reason hinders4 ,the ,memoirs of an ,ex-,palladist have not at present proceeded further than the translation of ,thomas ,vaughan into the paradise of ,lucifer1 but from the ,free and ,regenerated ,palladium and from other sources the chief incidents of ,miss ,vaughan's early life may be collected and summarised briefly4 ,we learn that she is the daughter of an ,american ,protestant of ,kentucky and of a ,french lady1 also of that persuasion4 ,she was born in ,paris1 and a part of her education seems to have been received in that city2 her mother died in ,kentucky when ,diana was in her fourteenth year1 and ,i infer that subsequently to this event she must have lived with her father1 who had considerable property in the immediate vicinity of ,louisville4 ,when the ,sovereign ,rite of ,palladism was created by ,albert ,pike1 ,vaughan became affiliated therewith1 and was one of the founders of the ,louisville triangle #aa #g2 he presided at the initiation of his daughter as apprentice1 according to the ,rite of ,adoption1 in #ahhc4 ,she was raised to the grade of ,companion1 and subsequently to that of ,mistress1 and at the age of #bj years1 says ,dr ,bataille1 she crossed the threshold of the ,triangles1 as the ,palladian lodges are termed4 ,three issues were published of ,the ,free and ,regenerated ,palladium1 but since the conversion of ,miss ,vaughan1 they have been withdrawn from circulation1 except among ecclesiastics of the ,roman ,church1 and up to the present ,i have failed to obtain copies4 ,for the autobiographical portions of this organ1 ,i am indebted to the notices which have appeared in the ,revue ,mensuelle4 ,they contain an account of two apparitions on the part of the demon ,asmodeus1 accompanied by phenomena of levitation and fortified by arguments against the theory of hallucination4 ,these early experiences are1 however1 of minor importance1 nor need ,i again refer to the sensational incidents which accompanied her initiation as ,templar-,mistress at the ,paris ,triangle of ,saint-,jacques2 but it appears from her memoirs that the intervention of ,albert ,pike was not in virtue of the supremacy of his personal authority1 and that the ordeal of sacrilege was spared her by the clemency of ,lucifer himself1 who is supposed to appear in person at the ,sanctum ,regnum of ,charleston and to instruct his chiefs1 ,deo volente or otherwise1 every ,friday1 the supreme dogmatic director1 who had made his home in ,washington1 having the gift of instantaneous transportation1 whensoever he thought fit to be present in the divine board-room4 ,on the #eth of ,april #ahhi1 the good ,god assembled his ,ancients and ,emerites for a friendly conversation upon the case of ,diana ,vaughan1 and ended by requesting an introduction in three days' time4 ,after the best manner of the grimoires1 ,miss ,vaughan began her preparations by a triduum1 taking one meal daily of black bread1 fritters of high-spiced blood1 a salad of milky herbs1 and the drink of rare old ,rabelais4 ,the preparations in detail are scarcely worth recording as they merely vary the directions in the popular chap-books of magic which abound in foolish ,france4 ,at the appointed time she passed through the iron doors of the ,sanctum ,regnum4 ,fear not6 said ,albert ,pike1 and she advanced remplie d'une ardente allegresse1 was greeted by the eleven prime chiefs1 who presently retired1 possibly for prayer or refreshments1 possibly for operations in wire-pulling4 ,diana ,vaughan remained alone1 in the presence of the ,palladium1 namely1 our poor old friend ,baphomet1 whom his admirers persist in representing with a goat's head1 whereas he is the archetype of the ass4 ,the ,sanctum ,regnum is described as triangular in shape2 there was no torch1 no lamp1 no fire2 the floor and the ceiling were therefore not unnaturally dark1 but an inexplicable veil of strange phosphorescent light was diffused over the three walls1 the source of which proved on examination to be innumerable particles of greenish flames each no larger than a pin's head4 ,seated in front of the ,baphomet1 ,miss ,vaughan apostrophised ,lucifer sympathetically on the subject of the unpleasing form in which he was represented by his worshippers1 and as she did so the little flames intensified1 while floor and ceiling caught fire after the same ghostly incandescent fashion2 a great dry heat filled the vast apartment1 and1 still spreading1 the flames covered her chair1 her garments1 her entire person4 ,at this point the inevitable thunder began to roll2 three and one and two great thunders1 after which came five breathings upon her face1 and after those breathings five radiant spirits appeared1 the first act closing impressively with a final salvo of artillery4 ,the unhappy ,baphomet1 dismayed by these extreme proceedings1 vanished entirely1 and1 no expense being spared through the whole of the costly tableaux1 ,lucifer manifested on a throne of diamonds1 but whether the gems were furnished from the treasury of ,avernus or from the pockets of bamboozled ,freemasons through the wide world1 les renseignements do not state4 ,need ,i say that ,miss ,vaughan's first impulse was to fall in worship at his feet8 ,but the sordid apparition1 instead of accepting the homage with the grace which is native to empire1 had recourse to the method of the novelist1 and stayed her intention by a gesture4 ,even at this late date1 and with the millstone of her conversion placed in the opposite scale1 ,miss ,vaughan's description of her quondam deity would tempt sentimental young women to forgive all his devildom to a being so superb in masculine beauty4 ,i will refrain from spoiling the picture by much of her own minuteness1 or by the exclamatory parentheses of her fury against the magnificent gentleman who deceived her4 ,i should like also to omit all reference to the conversation which ensued between them1 but for the sake of true art ,i am constrained to state that ,lucifer descended to commonplace4 ,m4 ,renan tells us that since he left ,saint ,sulpice he did nothing but degenerate1 and the inference is obvious1 that he ought to have gone back to ,saint ,sulpice1 despite the literary splendours of the ,vie de ,jsus4 ,since he last broke a lance with ,michael1 the devil has debilitated mentally1 and the substance of his causerie with ,diana reminds one of ,robert ,montgomery and even worse exemplars4 ,in the unexplored regions of penny periodical romance ,i have met with many better specimens of supernatural dialogue4 ,as to the sum of his observations1 it goes without saying that ,diana was chosen out of thousands1 and this is what justifies my opinion that his proceedings on this occasion were more fatuous than any of his undertakings since he tried conclusions with divinity4 ,very silently during the course of this interview the eleven prime chiefs had returned like conspirators as they were1 of course in the nick of time1 to hear that ,miss ,vaughan was appointed as the grand-priestess of ,lucifer1 at which moment there was a fresh burst of circumambient flame and the young lady was transported by her divinity to take part in a grand spectacular drama1 divided into two acts4--,i4 ,appearance of ,asmodeus with fourteen legions4 ,exchange of endearing expressions between this personage and ,diana4 ,manifestation of the signature of ,baal-,zeboub1 generalissimo of the armies of ,lucifer1 written in fire upon the void4 ,spiritualisation of the sweetheart of ,asmodeus4 ,diana hungers for the fray4 ,great pitched battle between the genii of ,lucifer and the genii of ,adona1 termed ,maleakhs1 without the gates of ,eden4 ,the ,terrestrial ,paradise carried by storm after severe fighting4 ,grand panorama of ,paradise4 ,explanatory dialogue between ,diana and her future husband4 ,appearance of a snow white gigantic eagle on which ,diana is to be transported to ,oolis1 a solar world unknown to the profane1 wherein ,lucifer reigns and is adored4 ,,ii4 ,miss ,vaughan having been transported on another occasion to this mystic planet in the arms of ,lucifer himself1 the episodes of the second act are held over4 ,she was1 however1 ultimately returned1 safe and sound1 to the ,sanctum ,regnum at ,charleston1 on the back of the white eagle4 ,such is ,miss ,vaughan's statement1 and once more she proceeds to give reasons why she could not have been hypnotised or hallucinated4 ,as in the case of ,doctor ,bataille ,i propose to postpone criticism until other witnesses have filed their depositions4 ,at the moment it is sufficient to recognise that1 apart from the supernatural element which admits of a simple explanation1 if ,miss ,vaughan be a credible witness1 then the central fact of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium must be admitted with all it involves4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,how ,,lucifer ,,is ,,unmasked4 ,m4 le ,docteur ,bataille is a mighty hunter before the face of the ,lord in the land of ,masonry1 and through the whole country of ,hiram2 great also is ,diana of the ,palladians4 ,after their monumental revelations and confessions1 those of all other seceders and penitents who have come out of the mystery of iniquity1 are as moonlight unto sunlight1 and as water unto wine4 ,my readers in the two previous chapters have drunk raw spirit1 and must now qualify it after the ,scotch fashion4 ,the aqueous intellectuality and quiet stream of unpretending deposition peculiar to ,m4 ,jean ,kostka1 will be well adapted to modify undue exaltations and restore order to a universe which has been intoxicated by sorcerers4 ,he will show us how ,lucifer is unmasked in an undemonstrative and gentlemanly fashion by a late ,gnostic and initiate of the #ccrd degree4 ,he writes1 as he frankly tells us1 in a spirit of reparation and gratitude1 having commerced freely with devils during a long series of unholy years4 ,blessed be the omnipotent ,lord1 and blessed the loving kindness which drew me out of the abyss4444 ,to glorify these ,i unmask the fallen angel4 ,the delicacy of the motive and its setting of chivalrous sentiment will be appreciated even by the victim1 and the tenderness of the treatment will prompt ,lucifer to pardon his reviler1 who has been already pardoned by ,m4 ,papus for betraying the order of the ,martinists4 ,and to do justice towards an amiable writer1 who has scarcely the requisite qualities for seriously damaging or advancing any cause1 it may be kind to add that he has considerably exaggerated his own case4 ,after a careful examination of his statement1 which is exceedingly nave1 ,i am tempted to conclude that he has never been near an abyss2 he is innocent of either height or depth1 and so far from having ever plunged into the infernal void1 he has scarcely so much as paddled in a purgatorial puddle4 ,his guilty transcendental experiences are in reality the most infantile afternoon occultism1 and his drawing-room diablerie might be appropriately symbolised by the paper speaking-tube of our old friend ,john ,king2 there is nothing in it when the voice is not speaking1 and there is nothing in it when it is4 ,since his conversion1 ,m4 ,jean ,kostka has exhibited much harmless devotion towards ,joan of ,arc1 an enthusiasm which originated among occultists1 and he has pious memories of ,st ,stanislaus ,kostka1 for which dispositions ,i trust that all my readers will have the complaisance to commend him4 ,he writes1 furthermore1 in the decline of maturity1 on the threshold of age1 in the late autumn of life1 which is his dropsical method of saying that he is past sixty1 and he veils a futile name under the patronymic of his favourite saint4 ,jean ,kostka is not ,jean ,kostka1 but it is without intent to deceive that he evades any possible responsibility in connection with his concealed identity2 it is a kind of pious self-effacement1 ,i hope everyone will believe what he says1 and give him all credit for having turned towards the outraged ,church4 ,in matters of evidence1 pseudonymous statements are1 however1 objectionable1 and ,i therefore identify our witness as ,jules ,doinel1 who was chiefly concerned in the restoration of the ,gnosis and the establishment of a ,gnostic church in ,paris about the year #ahij1 and is moreover not unknown as a ,masonic orator1 and in the world of belles-lettres4 ,m4 ,papus1 with the generosity of a mystic1 can only speak well of the pious enthusiast who has betrayed his cause and scandalised the school he represents2 he explains that ,jules ,doinel is a marvellous poet deficient in the scientific culture which might have enabled him to explain in a peaceable fashion the phenomena squandered upon him by the world invisible1 so that there were only two courses open for him--renunciation of the transcendental path1 or madness4 ,let us bless heaven that the patriarch of the ,gnosis has selected the former4 ,it is possibly showing gratitude for small mercies1 because our friend has saved his reason1 but is blood-guilty in the matter of common sense4 ,meanwhile1 the widowed ,gnosis illuminates its ,ichabod in the cryptic quartiers of ,paris1 ,lyons1 and so forth4 ,every one may agree with ,m4 ,papus that ,jean ,kostka is a very pretty writer in a quiet and shallow way1 but1 with possibly one exception1 he must have withheld the flower of his phenomena in the order of the spirit1 for his book is full of sentimental and vapid experiences of the school-miss order1 while over the light and spongy soil he has now set the ponderous paving-stones of his new explanation1 and toils forward on the road of unreason4 ,this apart1 ,jean ,kostka1 was evidently for many years familiar with the centres and workings of all the cross lights of esoteric thought which meet and interlace in the night of ,french common thought4 ,he has dwelt among ,gnostics1 ,martinists1 ,modern ,albigenses1 and ,spiritualists2 he appears to have been identified with all1 and though he does not accuse himself of the capital offence of conscious ,satanism1 he has been quite well acquainted with ,satanism1 and1 next best to seeing the devil one's self1 he has known many who have4 ,in those days1 he tells us1 that ,lucifer could be visited chez lui in an earthly tabernacle1 situated in an unfrequented street1 from whence the lointain bruissement du ,paris nocturne might be heard by the pensive traveller if he were not too intent on diabolising4 ,now1 he has found out that ,lucifer was chez lui everywhere4 ,je vise ,satan et ses dogmes4 ,all his psychic faculties have concentrated into a transcendental apparatus for scenting devildom1 and he mournfully comes forward to tell us1 with a variation of ,fludd's utterance2 ,diabolus1 in quam1 diabolus ubique repertus est1 et omnia diabolus et diabolus4 ,let it suffice to say that the demonologists have invented nothing and have exaggerated nothing4 ,to the spiritualists ,lucifer is ,john ,king and ,allan ,kardec2 to the ,gnostics1 he is the ,gnosis1 ,simon ,magus1 ,helen ,ennoia1 and anything that comes handy from the ,nile valley in the fourth century2 to the ,martinists1 he is the philosophe inconnu2 to the ,albigenses1 if there are ,parisian ,albigenses1 he is whatever ,albigenses invoke1 if they invoke anything2 to ,madame ,x41 he is ,mary ,stuart2 to his own adepts1 within sound of the lointain bruissement1 he is a jeune homme blond aux yeux bleus1 whom ,i understand to have worn a dalmatic1 and to have been curiously indebted to the author of ,aut ,diabolus aut ,nihil2 for the ,theosophists1 he is that illustrious demoniac1 ,madame ,blawatsky--his innate delicacy leads him to the permutation of the ,typhon ,v42 and then ,freemasonry--it goes without saying that the little horn of ,lucifer has displaced all other horns in all the grades and lodges1 that the fraternity is his throne and his footstool1 and the city of the great king4 ,if we button-hole ,jean ,kostka1 and ask him to tell us confidentially and upon honour what it is that has changed his views1 making him discover the leer of ,baal-,zeboub where he once saw the smile of the spiritual ,eos1 he turns ,trappist at once1 and goes into retreat with ,m4 ,huysman2 there is not a syllable of information in all his beau volume as to any intellectual process through which he passed on the way1 and ,i suspect that his conversion partook of the nature of a penetration1 to speak his own language1 and was not an intellectual operation1 but a sudden volte face4 ,jean ,kostka has changed his pinces-nez1 and that is the whole secret3-- ,the reason why ,i cannot tell1 ,but now ,i hold it comes from hell4 ,here is the proof positive2 he has nothing in the shape of an accusation2 he gets his ,lucifer-interpretation out of everything with which he has cut off correspondence by a very simple and civil process of instillation4 ,i sense it2 je vise ,lucifer4 ,thus1 the ,order of the ,knights of ,perfect ,silence invite their initiates to become architects of the ,holy ,city4 ,jean ,kostka1 in possession of the latest tip1 says1 read ,hell4 ,the ,martinists are concerned with the creation of ,adam ,kadmon1 the ideal humanity4 ,jean ,kostka tells you that they are concerned with nothing of the sort1 and that ,satan is the only person who can really put us up to the secret1 which is curious because he immediately advises us himself that the exercise of the three cardinal virtues to the profit of ,lucifer is the sum of the whole mystery and the real sous-entendu of ,martinism4 ,the ,masonic grades from ,apprentice1 ,companion1 ,master1 through ,knight ,rose-,cross to ,knight ,kadosch1 and so forward1 are exploited after the same manner by the baldest of processes1 that of inverting everything4 ,for example1 the sacred word of the #ccrd degree in the ,french ,rite1 namely1 ,sovereign ,grand ,inspector ,general1 is ,deus meumque ,jus4 ,that signifies1 says ,jean ,kostka1 that ,lucifer is the sole ,god and that the material1 like the spiritual1 world of right belongs to him4 ,if you inquire the process of extraction by which he gets that result1 he answers3 ,i must admit that ,i have had only a general intuition1 but ,i assure you that it is immense1 and he will immediately cite you a password1 invite you to take every letter individually1 and fit to it just that word which1 by another intuition1 he perceives belongs to it1 when you will see for yourself4 ,thus1 the ,kadosch term ,nekam1 which signifies vengeance1 having been duly anatomised1 will come out as follows3--,n 7ex7 ,e 7xterminatio7 ,k 7risti7 ,a 7dversarii7 ,m 7agni71 to wit3 ,death1 ,extermination of ,christ1 the ,great ,enemy4 ,wicked and wily ,jean ,kostka to outrage the decencies of orthography and against all reason write the name of the ,liberator with a ,k1 thereby concealing the true meaning1 which revealed for the first time is as follows3--,n 7equaquam7 ,e 7ritis7 ,k 7ostka7 ,a 7rtium7 ,m 7agister71 which being interpreted still further1 signifies that there was never such a clumsy device6 ,now1 it goes without saying that a writer with these methods is not to be taken seriously1 but it is worth while to appreciate the quality of intelligence which is received with acclamation by the ,catholic ,church in ,france as soon as it comes over from the enemy4 ,lucifer ,unmasked appeared originally in the pages of the newspaper ,la ,vrit4 ,it was immediately reproduced in ,spanish by the ,union ,catolica2 the clerical press boomed full-mouthed salvos in its honour1 and his ,eminence ,cardinal ,parocchi has blessed book or author1 or both1 and believes that it will make a great impression1 undoubtedly contributing to enlighten minds and lead them back to ,god4 ,jean ,kostka1 as already indicated1 is a spiritual sentimentalist2 he has passed by a rapid transition common to such natures from the ,gnostic transcendental initiate to the pious ,catholic devotee1 and he will make an excellent ,lourdes pilgrim4 ,as there will be no need to recur to him again1 it will be permissible to justify my criticism by some account of his personal experiences4 ,m4 ,papus speaks of him as the founder and patriarch of the ,gnostic ,church4 ,of this same patriarch and primate ,jean ,kostka also speaks as of another person1 recites the facts of his conversion1 and hopes he will do better work for the ,church of ,god than he has done for ,lucifer4 ,which is ,dr ,jekyll and which ,mr ,hyde in this duadic personality is not of serious consequence1 as they have both got into a better way of thinking and acting4 ,now1 since his demission from these high functions1 ,jean ,kostka has found that the chief piece of ,gnostic devilry is in denying that the lost angels are eternally damned4 ,on this point he has attained what is rare in him1 a touch of personal animosity4 ,to supply the antipodes of heaven1 let us say1 with a lethal chamber1 as a meaner order than that of theological charity does here1 in the interests of homeless and snappy dogs1 would1 in his present state of grace1 seem a very wicked proposition4 ,well1 in #ahij ,jean ,kostka was invited1 as ,i understand1 by the chief of the ,gnostic ,church1 that is1 by himself1 to a chapel in the palace of a lady who figures frequently in his pages under the name of ,madame ,x42 the author takes great credit for concealing her real titles1 but he has failed to conceal her identity1 and there can be no harm in saying that the reference is to ,lady ,caithness4 ,he was present upon serious business1 in fact1 nothing short of assisting at a sance4 ,a medium had been secured1 the proceedings began1 rappings became audible1 an intelligence desired to communicate1 and1 finally1 there was a message1 with a name given4 ,it was ,luciabel1 whom you know as ,lucifer4 ,to this day ,jean ,kostka does not seem conscious of any element of idiocy in the variation of the old-fashioned name4 ,in the revelation which followed1 the intelligence1 who seemed amiably disposed despite his sinister connections1 informed the circle that1 like ,jesus1 he was engendered eternally from ,god1 that he was exiled from the pleroma1 and that he was the ,sophia-,achamoth of ,valentine1 the ,helena-,ennoia of ,simon ,magus1 the thought of ,god which had become anathema1 and that he was now in search of love and consolation1 both of which might take shape in a ,gnostic church1 and would be highly acceptable4 ,there is1 so to speak1 a commercial element in the overtures which dries up the feeling of pity1 or one might be exceedingly sorry for this lost chord of eternal thought1 hoping charitably that we should still somehow hear it in heaven4 ,since his conversion the unpretentious marvel of this sance has been a dire trouble to ,jean ,kostka1 partly on account of its eschatology1 but still more because the sitters were conscious at its close of a breath passing over their faces1 while he himself felt the presence of lips against his own4 ,poor ,jean ,kostka6 ,they were all abased on their knees1 which happens occasionally1 even at sances1 to pious people in ,paris1 and he concludes that he was kissed by ,helena-,ennoia1 alias ,lucifer1 alias ,luciabel1 who is also described on the charge-sheet of orthodox theology by other and more objectionable titles4 ,the shameful memory causes him to exclaim fervently3--,may he who purged the lips of ,isaiah with a burning coal deign to purify mine by the sacred kiss of penitence and pardon3 in osculo sancto4 ,there is a touch of sublimity in that1 and the basia of ,baal-,zeboub may well enough be more demoralising than those of ,secundus4 ,at the time1 however1 he founded the ,gnostic ,church4 ,we become acquainted with ghosts after various manners1 according to our psychic condition4 ,there is the spontaneous and accidental ghost who is seldom caught in the act2 there is the able-bodied materialised ghost whom we catch in the act occasionally1 and preserve our mental balance by clinging to his watch-chain and seals2 they may be distinguished as the timeless ghost and the ghost who occasionally does time4 ,over and above these two generic specimens there is the ghost that throws1 who is separable from the ghost that hurls1 as our ,french friends put it4 ,to hurl is to utter objectionable and unreasonable yells1 preferably in the dead of night and in lonely places4 ,this ghost is much sought after by specialists4 ,it would be tedious to name all the varieties1 but ,i can guarantee the unequipped that all known specimens have been carefully labelled1 except possibly the odorous ghost1 the ghost1 that is to say1 who manifests exclusively to the olfactory organ4 ,this is an exceedingly withdrawn inappreciable kind1 but it is familiar to ,jean ,kostka1 who is a connoisseur in the smell supernatural1 and has a trained psychic nose4 ,he can distinguish between the spiritual perfume which characterises1 let us say1 ,st ,stanislaus and the odorem suavitatis of ,lucifer4 ,he is also an authority on conditions1 and gives a ravishing description of the voluptuous enervation diffused over all his limbs when he had a private memorandum from ,isis by means of raps during the reception of a master in a blue lodge4 ,on this occasion he tells us that he was inspired to pronounce one of his most wicked and dangerous ,masonic discourses4 ,dear ,m4 ,kostka6 ,dynamite would lose its destroying power in his harmless hands4 ,at another function--but this was in a red lodge--he was overwhelmed by the presence of ,lucifer1 who elected and commissioned him to fight in his cause4 ,it was a moment of unwonted intelligence--these are his own words--and he agreed1 so incompetence chose its minister1 and ,frater ,diabolus again showed himself a short-sighted rogue1 because has not his emissary converted and passed over to the makers of pilgrimages8 ,m4 ,kostka also at this time was so wicked as to be guilty of a pact1 but he reserved two points1 the person of ,christ and ,his mother4 ,the reservation of these sacraments is not specialised as to its kind1 but1 mon ,dieu1 how distraught was ,lucifer to be so palpably tricked by a trente-troisime6 ,both these matters were1 however1 personal to the seer1 and the lodges1 whether red or blue1 seem to have been quite unconscious that they had been entertaining divinity and demon unawares4 ,m4 ,kostka has1 in fact1 been distinguished from the common herd of ,masons by many favours of ,lucifer1 and he has naturally been ungrateful1 for which ,i admire ,m4 ,kostka4 ,in succeeding chapters he details at considerable length a variety of hallucinations which he experienced on the subject of ,helena-,ennoia1 and he has also had visions of ,jansen1 of a false ,francis ,xavier1 a false ,christ1 c41 but his most important experience was that which he terms ,penetration1 commonly experienced in autumn seasons and during the mists and mildness of ,october nights4 ,on these occasions he was conscious of a curious extension of personality by which he seemed to enter into all ,nature1 and all ,nature took voice and interpreted herself intelligibly to him4 ,after music came verbal communications1 and then the apparition of forms1 chiefly of classical mythology4 ,most people would have termed this poetic rapture passing into lucidity1 but our friend avers that it is the ,enemy4 ,such have been the experiences and adventures of ,jean ,kostka in the psychic world1 and they are of precisely the same calibre as his critical method4 ,i may say1 in conclusion1 that1 if spared1 he will do better in his next book1 for he promises another1 which is to exhibit in a convincing manner how ,lucifer has been vanquished by ,joan of ,arc4 ,in the meantime we may part from him with due recognition of his absolute good faith and extreme amiability2 we may congratulate him on his conversion1 and still more upon the very pleasant reading he provides2 he does not appear to have unmasked ,lucifer1 but he has let us into the secret of the best that can be done in that way4 ,lastly1 the point to be marked in connection with the memoirs and revelations of ,jean ,kostka is this1 that neither in ,paris nor elsewhere1 neither in ,masonry nor in other secret associations1 concerning which he has had every opportunity to judge1 has he come personally into contact with a cultus of ,satan or ,lucifer2 that he chooses to term certain mystical opinions and practices diabolical1 because they are condemned by the ,latin ,church1 is a matter which is perfectly indifferent and exhibits only the forlorn position of a case which resorts to the expedient4 ,but it is highly significant that a man who has mixed among mystics of all grades for probably thirty years1 who is affiliated to innumerable orders1 and in his present mood would be glad to expose everything1 has nothing to tell us of the ,palladium1 though he dwelt at its gates1 and the circles he frequented were at a stone's cast from the alleged ,mother-,lodge ,lotus of ,paris4 ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,vendetta ,,of ,,signor ,,margiotta ,to ,signor ,domenico ,margiotta we owe the most explicit account of the great compact between ,mazzini and ,albert ,pike which produced the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium4 ,with this institution he does not attempt to connect the anterior order founded in #agcj2 for him the possession of the ,templar ,baphomet explains the name which it received1 and the passage of that idol from its original custodians he leaves in the same uncertainty as ,dr ,bataille4 ,this difficulty apart1 in ,signor ,margiotta the question of ,lucifer has received a most important witness2 he is the most recent1 the most illustrious1 and ,masonically the most decorated of all4 ,if ,i add that he is in one respect to be included among the most virulent1 ,i do not necessarily detract from his value4 ,so far as one can possibly be aware1 he is a man of unimpeachable integrity1 who gives us every opportunity to identify him1 heraldically by his arms and emblazonments1 historically by an account of his family1 personally by extracts from the ,dizionario ,biografico1 ,masonically by a full enumeration of all his dignities1 including photographs of his most brilliant diplomas and printed correspondence from ,grand ,masters and other exalted potentates of the great ,fraternity4 ,it would be difficult1 however1 in the last respect1 to discover many more exalted than himself1 for before his demission he was ,secretary of the ,lodge ,savonarola of ,florence2 ,venerable of the ,lodge ,giordano ,bruno of ,palmi2 ,sovereign ,grand ,inspector ,general1 #ccrd degree1 of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite2 ,sovereign ,prince of the ,order 7#ccrd 441 #ijth 441 #ieth 4417 of the ,rite of ,memphis and ,misram2 ,acting ,member of the ,sovereign ,sanctuary of the ,oriental ,order of ,memphis and ,misram of ,naples2 ,inspector of the ,misram ,lodges of the ,calabrias and of ,sicily2 ,honorary ,member of the ,national ,grand ,orient of ,haiti2 ,acting ,member of the ,supreme ,federal ,council of ,naples2 ,inspector-,general of all the ,masonic ,lodges of the three ,calabrias2 ,grand ,master1 ad vitam1 of the ,oriental ,masonic ,order of ,misram or ,egypt 7#ijth degree7 of ,paris2 ,commander of the ,order of ,knights-,defenders of ,universal ,masonry2 ,honorary ,member1 ad vitam1 of the ,supreme ,general ,council of the ,italian ,federation of ,palermo2 ,permanent ,inspector and ,sovereign ,delegate of the ,grand ,central ,directory of ,naples for ,europe 7,universal ,high-grade ,masonry71 and1 according to his latest portrait1 ,member of the ,new ,reformed ,palladium4 ,that such a luminary could withdraw from the firmament of the ,fraternity and not take after him the third part of the stars of heaven1 above all that the ,italian ,grand ,master could have the effrontery to affirm that he had never heard of him and had only discovered who he was after some investigation1 are matters for astonishment to the simple4 ,professor ,margiotta returned to the church of his childhood in the autumn of #ahid1 and the news of his conversion is said to have so overwhelmed the head-quarters of ,italian ,freemasonry at ,rome that the annual rejoicings upon the #bjth of ,september1 when ,rome became the ,capital of ,united ,italy and when ,universal ,freemasonry was instituted in #ahgj1 were incontinently suspended4 ,my readers will not attach a high degree of accuracy to this statement1 for there does not appear in reality to have been any convulsion of the ,order2 there was indeed more rejoicing in ,jerusalem than lamentation in the tents of ,kedron4 ,signor ,margiotta was the recipient of flattering congratulations from eminent prelates2 the bishop of ,grenoble salutes him as my dear friend2 the patriarch of ,jerusalem invites him to take courage1 for he is doing high service to humanity1 labouring under the scourge of the ,masonic plague2 the bishop of ,montauban expresses his lively sentiment and entire devotion2 the archbishop of ,aix regards the revelations as of great importance to the ,church2 the bishop of ,limoges praises and blesses the books of ,m4 ,margiotta2 the bishop of ,mende does likewise1 his enthusiasm taking shape in superlatives2 the ,cardinal-,archbishop of ,bordeaux applauds the intention and the effort2 the bishops of ,tarentaise1 of ,oran1 of ,pamiers1 of ,annecy1 take up the chant in turn1 and his ,holiness the ,pope himself sends his ,apostolic ,benediction over the seal of ,peter4 ,why did ,signor ,margiotta abandon ,palladism and ,masonry8 ,it was not because these institutions were devoted to the cultus of ,lucifer1 for ,i do not gather that he was scandalised by that fact at the time when it appears to have become known to him4 ,it was not because sacrilege and public indecency characterised the rituals of initiation in the case of the ,palladian ,order1 for he does not zealously press this charge4 ,it was not1 so far as can be traced1 because he trembled for the safety of his soul2 he does not provide us with a sickly and suspicious narrative of the sentiments which led to his conversion or the interior raptures which followed it2 he does not mention that he was the recipient of a special grace or a sudden illustration2 he ceased to believe in ,lucifer as the good ,god because that being had permitted his favoured ,freemasonry to pass under the supreme direction of a despised personage who is the last of rogues4 ,in other words1 ,signor ,domenico ,margiotta has a strong loathing for ,signor ,adriano ,lemmi2 he has long and earnestly desired that ,freemasonry should vomit him from her breast1 but as this has not come to pass1 ,signor ,margiotta decided to vomit himself4 ,now1 when a man embraces religion1 he is supposed to forgive his enemies1 to do good to them that hate him1 to avoid the propagation of scandals1 and when he cannot speak well to say nothing2 but this is not the special quality of grace which attaches to the second trente-troisime1 who has come out of ,freemasonry to expose and revile the order4 ,the two narratives which comprise the exposure in question are respectively entitled1 ,adriano ,lemmi3 ,supreme ,chief of ,freemasonry1 and ,palladism1 the ,cultus of ,satan-,lucifer4 ,both these books contain a violent impeachment of the ,italian ,grand ,master1 which1 if it concerned us1 would not convince us4 ,its main points go to show that in the days of his boyhood1 ,lemmi was guilty of an embezzlement at ,marseilles1 for which he is said to have suffered at the hands of justice2 that he led the life of a ,guzman d',alfarache1 in itself sufficiently romantic to condone an offence which should have been effaced with its penalty1 supposing the allegation to be true2 that he subsequently found himself at ,constantinople1 where he was thrown among ,jews1 and is there charged by his accuser with the commission of a still more terrible crime2 he1 in fact1 became a proselyte of the gate1 and suffered the rite of circumcision4 ,later on he is depicted as a political conspirator1 an agent and friend of ,mazzini1 ,kossuth1 and the patriots of the ,revolution1 in connection with whom he is made responsible for innumerable villainies which connect him with the apostleship of dynamite4 ,we may pass lightly over these matters1 nor need we delay to inquire after what manner ,adriano ,lemmi may have amassed the wealth which he possesses1 nor what questions on the subject of a monopoly in tobacco may have been raised or dropped in the ,italian ,parliament4 ,all these points1 including ,signor ,lemmi himself1 are as little known as they are of little moment in ,england1 and they are wholly outside our subject1 except in so far as they exhibit the methods of his accuser1 which1 indeed1 are so objectionable in their nature as to go far towards exonerating their object4 ,signor ,margiotta1 at any rate1 puts himself so clearly in the wrong1 and is altogether so virulent1 as to place the inference of personal animosity almost in the region of certitude2 one is therefore tempted to accept the explanation offered by the victim1 that the ,marseilles scandal turns upon a mistaken identity1 and his explicit denial that he ever underwent the rite of ,jewish initiation4 ,furthermore1 ,i believe that ,i shall represent the opinion of tolerant ,englishmen when ,i say that to insult and abuse a man for adopting another faith1 however opposed to our own1 and even ridiculous in itself1 is an odious method in controversy1 and for myself ,i see little to choose between a proselyte of the gate1 a renegade ,mason1 and a demitted ,roman ,catholic4 ,the true secret of the ,margiotta-cum-,lemmi embroilment does not1 ,i think1 transpire in the narratives with which we are concerned2 ,i mean to say that there is an eluding element which must1 however1 be assumed1 if we are to account reasonably for the display of such extreme rancour4 ,an honourable man may object to the jurisdiction of a person whom he regards as a convicted thief1 but he does not usually pursue him with the violence of personal hatred4 ,now1 in #ahhh ,signor ,margiotta became a candidate for the ,italian ,parliament1 and he attributes his failure to the hostility of ,lemmi1 who1 prompted by ,gallophobe tendencies1 brought his influence to bear against a person who was friendly to the ,french nation4 ,i submit that this assists us to understand the animus of the converted ,mason and the lengths to which it has taken him4 ,in all other respects ,signor ,margiotta displays the most perfect frankness1 and does his best upon every occasion to substantiate his statements by formidable documentary evidence4 ,i repeat therefore1 that1 much as we may regret his acrimony1 he remains a most important witness to the existence of ,universal ,masonry1 the existence of the ,reformed ,palladium1 the transfer of the ,masonic ,supremacy at the death of ,albert ,pike to the ,italian ,grand ,master1 and the split in the camp which followed4 ,he claims also that he is personally acquainted with ,miss ,diana ,vaughan2 he extols her innumerable virtues in pages of eloquent writing2 he even goes so far as to photograph the envelope of a registered letter which he posted at ,palmi1 in ,calabria1 addressed to that lady in ,london4 ,he indirectly substantiates the narrative of ,carbuccia by a long account of his personal dealings with ,giambattista ,pessina1 descending into the most curious particulars2 he publishes the secret alphabet of the ,palladium1 specimens of litanies addressed to the good god ,lucifer1 and hymns of equivocal tendency attributed to ,albert ,pike4 ,finally1 he fully admits the ,satanic character of perfect ,masonic initiation1 and contributes a long chapter to swell our recent knowledge upon the subject of ,apparitions of ,satan4 ,as regards ,universal ,masonry1 when announcing his demission and conversion to an officer of the ,lodge1 ,giordano ,bruno1 at ,palmi1 ,signor ,margiotta reveals to him that he and his brethren are ruled1 without knowing it1 by a supreme rite1 and that he1 ,margiotta himself1 ,venerable of the ,lodge referred to1 being a true elect and perfect initiate1 constituted the link of connection between the ordinary ,masonry of ,palmi and this central and unsuspected power4 ,on the same occasion he addressed a long communication to ,miss ,vaughan1 in which he claims that he has ever acted as an honest ,mason1 faithful to the orthodoxy thereof1 and having the cause of ,charleston at heart4 ,now1 the circumstances which occasioned these statements1 and the good faith which seems to characterise them1 are presumptive testimony to their truth2 in the absence of any evidence1 and merely on priori considerations1 it would be intolerable to suggest that their author1 while advertising his changed views upon a solemn subject1 was guilty of wilful deception4 ,the centralisation of ,universal ,masonry in an order known as the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 with ,albert ,pike at its head1 is supported by the citation of a document dated the #abth of ,september #ahgd1 and being an authority from ,charleston for the constitution of a secret federation of ,jewish ,freemasons1 with a centre at ,hamburg1 under the title of ,sovereign ,patriarchal ,council4 ,it is not the only document emanating from the ,dogmatic ,directory which is printed by ,signor ,margiotta1 but the others are not entirely new1 having some of them previously appeared in the memoirs of ,dr ,bataille4 ,the ,luciferian opinions of ,albert ,pike are exhibited plainly in a letter addressed by him to ,signor ,rapisardi1 famous in all ,italy for his poem of ,lucifer1 which ,signor ,margiotta affirms to have been written at the suggestion of the ,american ,grand ,master4 ,but possibly the strongest evidence is less of a documentary kind2 the minute account of the warfare waged by ,signor ,margiotta and other ,italian ,masons1 in which they were helped by ,miss ,vaughan1 to prevent the accession of ,lemmi to the sovereign pontificate upon the death of ,albert ,pike and the transfer of the centre to ,rome1 seems to bear upon its surface every reasonable sign that it cannot be an invented narrative4 ,indeed1 the first impulse upon reading the testimony of this witness leaps irresistibly to conclude that the denial of the main allegations is no longer possible4 ,a searching analysis does1 however1 reveal sufficient grounds to warrant a different judgment4 ,in the first place1 whereas ,signor ,margiotta proclaims the supreme power of the ,reformed ,palladium1 the documents which he cites in his support are1 for the most part1 documents of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 about the immense jurisdiction of which there is no question4 ,in the second place1 the authority of ,albert ,pike1 as it is seen in most of the documents1 is in virtue1 not of the ,palladium1 but of his position as ,supreme ,chief of the ,supreme ,mother-,council of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite4 ,what ,signor ,margiotta terms ,universal ,freemasonry is not the ,palladium at all1 but simply the ,scotch ,rite2 one of his own diplomas1 reproduced at page #abj of ,adriano ,lemmi1 is proof positive of this2 and in view of the universal diffusion of this rite1 no one would deny it the name4 ,in the third place1 the documents of ,signor ,margiotta as regards the ,palladium are not to be trusted1 because in one instance a gross imposition has been practised provably upon him1 and he may have been deceived in others4 ,hence1 although he may be a member of a society termed the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 it may not possess the jurisdiction or the history to which it pretends4 ,in the fourth place ,i deny that the ,grand ,central ,directories of which ,i have given particulars1 derived from ,signor ,margiotta1 in my second chapter1 are in any sense ,palladian directories4 ,that of ,naples for ,europe is said to have twenty-seven triangular provinces1 one of which is ,manchester1 and ,mr ,john ,yarker is said to be ,provincial ,grand ,master4 ,now1 ,i have ,mr ,yarker's own written testimony that he never heard of the ,palladium until the report of it came over from ,france4 ,mr ,yarker is a member of the #ccrd degree of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 and he is also the ,grand ,master of the only legitimate body of the ,supreme ,oriental ,rite of ,memphis and ,misram in ,england1 ,scotland1 and ,ireland4 ,moreover1 in most ,masonic countries of the world he is either ,honorary ,grand ,master1 or ,honorary ,member in the #ie of ,memphis1 #ij of ,misram1 and #cc ,scottish ,rite1 the last honorary membership including bodies under the ,pike rgime as well as its opponents4 ,he is perfectly well acquainted with the claim of the ,charleston ,supreme ,council to supreme power in ,masonry1 and that it is a usurpation founded on a forgery4 ,in a letter which he had occasion to address some time since to a ,catholic priest on this very subject1 he remarks3--,the late ,albert ,pike of ,charleston1 as an able ,mason1 was undoubtedly a ,masonic ,pope1 who kept in leading strings all the ,supreme ,grand ,councils of the world1 including the ,supreme ,grand ,councils of ,england1 ,ireland1 and ,scotland1 the first of which includes the ,prince of ,wales1 ,lord ,lathom1 and other peers1 who were in alliance with him1 and in actual submission4 ,its introduction into ,america arose from a temporary schism in ,france in #agfb1 when ,lacorne1 a disreputable panderer to the ,prince of ,clermont1 issued a patent to a ,jew named ,stephen ,morin4 ,some time after #ahjb1 a pretended ,constitution was forged and attributed to ,frederick the ,great of ,prussia4 ,this constitution gives power to members of the #ccrd degree to elect themselves to rule all ,masonry1 and this custom is followed4444 ,the good feeling of ,masonry has been perpetually destroyed in every country where the ,ancient and ,accepted ,rite exists1 and it must be so in the very nature of its claims and its laws4 ,mr ,yarker has no connection with a supreme dogmatic directorate in any other form than this disputed but perfectly well-known assumption of the ,charleston ,supreme ,council4 ,the term ,supreme ,dogmatic ,directorate was not used by ,pike1 and the confidence enjoyed by the ,american was never extended to ,lemmi1 though he may have desired it4 ,instead1 therefore1 of all ,masonry being ruled by a central authority unknown to the majority of ,masons1 we have simply a bogus claim which has no effect outside the ,scottish ,rite1 and of which all ,masons may know if they will be at the pains to ascertain4 ,when ,signor ,margiotta informed the officer of the ,giordano ,bruno ,lodge that he secretly represented a central and unknown authority1 it is in this sense that we must understand him--that is to say1 he represented the interests of the ,charleston ,supreme ,council4 ,hence the revelations concerning ,universal ,masonry are an exaggeration founded upon a fact1 and the ,palladian ,order1 of which ,signor ,margiotta tells us that he is a member1 is at any rate not what it pretends4 ,it has doubtless imposed on him by means of forged documents1 as also upon ,leo ,taxil1 and ,m4 ,adolphe ,ricoux4 ,the writings which it fathers upon ,albert ,pike1 and quoted by ,signor ,margiotta1 as in other cases1 are stolen from liphas ,lvi1 the so-called alphabet of the ,palladium included4 ,the documentary pice de rsistance upon which our author relies as evidence for the existence of an international ,masonic organisation is a certain vote de ,protestation1 on the part of a so-called ,mother-,lodge ,lotus of ,england1 secret ,temple of ,oxford ,street1 against the transfer of the ,dogmatic ,directory from ,charleston to ,rome1 the ,standing ,committee of ,protestation being ,alexander ,graveson1 ,provincial ,delegate of ,philadelphia1 ,u4,s4,a41 ,v4 ,f4 ,palacios1 ,provincial ,delegate of ,mexico1 and ,diana ,vaughan1 ,provincial ,delegate of ,new ,york and ,brooklyn4 ,signor ,domenico ,margiotta has been grossly deceived over this document4 ,what he prints as the ,english original in guarantee of good faith1 side by side with a ,french translation1 is a clumsy and ridiculous specimen of ,english as she is wrote1 and the ,french is really the original4 ,i append some choice specimens3--,to the ,most ,illustrious1 ,most ,puissant1 ,most ,lightened ,brothers 444 composing1 by right of ,ancient and ,members for life1 the ,most ,serene ,grand ,college of ,emerited ,masons4 ,here the underlined passages are a ,frenchman's method of interpreting into ,english ,trs ,eclairs ,frres1 titre d',anciens et de membres vie1 and ,maons ,emrites4 ,again3 ,the protesters numbered six-and-twenty1 including twenty-five sovereing delegates present at the deed1 and one sovereign delegate1 who could not stand by 7ne peut tre prsent71 but the substitute of which wisely and prudently abstained from the vote at the first turn 7au premier scrutin7 and threw a blank ticket at the second1 expound 7verb governed by protesters7 the acts and situation thence disastrously resulting for our holy cause4 ,once more3 ,the present protesting vault aims at the two ballots 7vise les deux scrutins71 and requests to be proceeded urgently to their annulment4 ,again3 ,the ,charleston's ,brothers 444 have not acted in such a manner as to forfeit the whole ,masonry's esteem4444 ,the direction 444 has not discontinued to prove foresight4444 ,it was injust to transfer1 c41 and so on for sixteen printed pages which certainly deserve to rank among the curiosities of literature4 ,this is the precious document which appears over the signatures of ,alexander ,graveson and ,diana ,vaughan1 after which ,i submit to my readers that ,signor ,domenico ,margiotta may be dismissed with all his file of papers1 not as himself deceiving1 but as singularly liable to deception1 of which he has otherwise given us several signal instances4 ,for example he believes himself to have enjoyed the high privilege of beholding the ,prince of ,darkness upon two separate occasions4 ,the first was in #ahhe at ,castelnuovo-,garfagnana in a beautiful old walled garden1 belonging to a high-grade ,mason named ,orestes ,cecchi1 a fast friend of ,margiotta4 ,the time was the forenoon1 and the two ,masons were smoking under the shade of green trees surrounded by floral delights4 ,margiotta was a spiritualist and a follower of ,allan ,kardec2 ,cecchi had a turn for the ,vedas and the occultism of the ,eastern world2 they were chatting upon the possibility of transmigration2 the one doubted1 the other affirmed2 ,cecchi1 to convince his companion1 informed him that he possessed a familiar who invariably appeared to him under the form of a goat1 but he had a look in his eye which proved positively that he was the ,grand ,architect of the ,universe6 ,that there might be no doubt about the matter ,cecchi called his familiar1 who appeared suddenly1 and joyfully caressed his master1 at whose command he subsequently licked the hand of the overwhelmed ,signor ,margiotta1 and it became red and painful4 ,cecchi playfully chided the apparition for not assuming human form1 and hinted at the propriety of doing so1 but the animal knowingly nodded and incontinently scurried away4 ,now1 ,i put it to my readers1 that ,cecchi was exploiting his friend1 that a domesticated animal appeared at the summons of his owner in a wooded garden1 and that ,signor ,margiotta is fooling when he pretends to believe that it was the devil4 ,the second experience was at ,naples under the roof of ,pessina1 about half-past ten in the evening1 after a ,lodge meeting of the ,misram rite4 ,then and there1 as a matter of cordial good fellowship1 the accommodating ,imperial ,grand ,master evoked a devil to give evidence of his actuality to ,margiotta1 who1 in spite of the episode of the goat1 still posed as a doubting ,thomas4 ,it was managed by means of a whisky-bottle1 out of which1 after certain invocations and magical ceremonies1 a vapour rose mysteriously1 and resolved itself into a human figure1 wearing a golden crown1 with a brilliant star in the middle4 ,according to the picture which accompanies this delicious narrative1 the apparition had the wings of a bat and a tail of the bovine class4 ,it was ,beffabuc1 the familiar of the magician1 who begged him to enlighten the sceptic1 but the latter1 according to the apparition1 was protected by a higher power and would never be persuaded to believe in him4 ,signor ,margiotta gives the names of all who were present at the evocation--twelve members of the #ccrd degree1 to say nothing of ,misram dignities4 ,i submit1 however1 that the episode of the bottle would split the rock of ,peter1 that the absence of ,signor ,pessina for twenty minutes previous to the performance1 eked out with a little ventriloquism1 and some ,pepper accessories would explain much1 and that there is also another hypothesis which ,i will leave to the discernment of my readers1 and to which ,i lean personally4 ,our witness1 in any case1 would not be a persona grata to the ,society for ,psychical ,research4 ,as he is violent in his enmities1 so is he gullible in marvels4 ,his impeachment of ,adriano ,lemmi must be ruled completely out of court2 his thaumaturgic experiences are paltry trickeries2 his account of ,albert ,pike is largely borrowed matter2 the magical practices which he attributes to ,pessina are derived from the ,little ,albert and other well known grimoires2 the most that follows from his narrative is that certain ,italian ,masons1 probably atheists at heart1 pose as partisans of ,satan simply to accentuate their derisions of all religious ideas1 much after the manner of ,voltaire in some of his cynical correspondence4 ,it is a continental form of pleasantry1 and an artistic experiment in blasphemy which is taken seriously by the unwise4 ,i need hardly add that the story of ,aut ,diabolus aut ,nihil1 which is accepted literally by ,doctor ,bataille1 is also the subject of reverential belief on the part of ,signor ,margiotta1 and as an illustration of his classifying talent1 he terms ,adriano ,lemmi a ,mormon because1 having obtained a divorce1 he1 in the course of time1 contracted another marriage4 ,furthermore1 the very strong testimony which ,signor ,margiotta gives to ,dr ,bataille1 directly by eulogium and indirectly by citation1 as also the intimate relations which he maintained with ,diana ,vaughan1 make his value as a witness of ,lucifer dependent1 to a large extent1 upon the credibility of these persons1 with consequences which will shortly appear4 ,lastly1 his own personal credibility seems seriously at stake when he talks of triangular provinces4 ,he1 and those connected with him1 can alone explain what that means2 they have never existed in ,masonry4 ,mr ,yarker1 who1 he says1 is ,grand ,master of such a province1 has never heard the expression4 ,mr ,r4 ,s4 ,brown1 ,grand ,secretary of the ,supreme ,grand ,royal ,arch ,chapter of ,scotland1 also denies all knowledge of the one which1 according to ,signor ,margiotta1 is located at ,edinburgh4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,female ,,freemasonry ,last on the list of our recent witnesses who have had a hand in creating the ,question of ,lucifer--not actually last in the order of time but the least in importance to our purpose--is ,m4 ,a4 ,c4 de la ,rive1 author of ,child and ,woman in ,universal ,freemasonry4 ,he very fairly fulfils the presumption which is warranted by his name2 he does not pretend to have come forth from the turbid torrent of ,satanism and ,masonry which is carrying multitudes into the abyss and effacing temples and thrones in its furious course4 ,he has been content1 like a sensible person1 to stand on bank or brink and watch the rage and flow4 ,he does not tell us anywhere in his narrative that he is himself a ,mason2 he has no personal acquaintance with ,satan2 he has not been guilty of magic1 nor has he assisted at a ,black ,mass4 ,he belongs to a wholly different order of witnesses1 and he has produced what is in its way a genuine book1 which does not pretend to be more than a careful compilation from rare but published sources1 while we can all of us defer to the erudition of a ,frenchman who has actually spent on collecting his materials the almost unheard-of space of twelve months4 ,the result is correctly described as grand in octavo1 #gdf pages1 and is really an inflated piece of ,masonic chronology1 exceedingly ill-balanced1 but1 at the same time1 undeniably useful4 ,beginning with the year #agcj it is brought down to #ahid1 and it is designed to demonstrate the existence at the present day of adoptive lodges wherein ,french gallantry once provided an inexpensive substitute for ,masonry in which ladies had the privilege of participating4 ,one of the most learned and illustrious of ,french ,masonic writers1 ,jean-,marie ,ragon1 describes such androgyne or female lodges as amiable institutions invented by an unknown person some time previously to the year #agcj1 under the name of mysterious amusements1 which appears to describe them exactly1 and one cannot be otherwise than astonished at the extraordinary gravity of nervous and well-intentioned persons who ascribe them such tremendous importance4 ,whereas they are the fringe of ,freemasonry1 writers like ,m4 de la ,rive persist in regarding them as its heart and centre1 while it is also in such institutions that he and others of his calibre expect to discover ,satanism4 ,a celibate religion ever suspects the serpent in the neighbourhood of the woman4 ,he discovers ,satanism accordingly by reading it into handy passages and bracketing interpretations of his own when the text cannot otherwise be worked4 ,thus he gets oracles everywhere1 and to compel ,satan he finds the parenthesis quite as useful as the circle of black magic2 it is a juggler's method1 but among ,french anti-,masons it passes with high credit4 ,the question of ,female ,freemasonry1 apart from the ,palladian ,order1 is quite outside our subject2 its existence in ,spain is a matter of public knowledge1 and ,i have ,mr ,yarker's authority for stating that in certain countries1 one of which is ,south ,america1 the ,rite of ,memphis and ,misram and the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite have both initiated women1 the latter up to and including the #ccrd degree4 ,no adoptive lodges exist or would be tolerated in ,england within the jurisdiction of the ,grand ,lodge1 and if it can be shown that the ,palladian order initiates ,english women into ,masonic secrets1 that is performed surreptitiously and in defiance of our ,masonic constitutions4 ,as to the schismatic ,grand ,orient of ,france1 whatever may be done in secret or devised in public upon this point1 is of no importance here1 but ,i should add that little credit1 and deservedly1 is attached in ,england to any of the so-called revelations which from time to time come over from ,paris4 ,as regards ,m4 de la ,rive1 apart from this subject1 we are unable to extract from his pages anything that is fresh or informing on the subject of our inquiry4 ,despite the sensational picture which emblazons the title-page1 where a full-length ,baphomet is directing a dcollete ,templar-,mistress through the pillars ,jakin and ,bohaz1 there is not a single page in the whole vast compilation which shows any connection between ,satanism and ,masonry until towards the close1 when an adroit tax is levied on the still vaster storehouse of ,doctor ,bataille4 ,the author tells us clearly enough how adoptive ,masonry arose1 what rites were instituted1 what rituals published1 what is contained in these1 and it is all solid and instructive4 ,his facts1 as already indicated1 are borrowed facts1 but they come from a variety of sources1 and original research was scarcely to be expected from a writer against whom the avenues of knowledge are sealed by his lack of initiation4 ,he concludes1 however1 that ,adoptive ,masonry is ,satanic by intention1 and that even the orphanages of the ,fraternity are part of a profound and infamous design to ruin the children of humanity and to perfect proselytes for perdition4 ,the appearance of ,child and ,woman in ,universal ,freemasonry was hailed with acclamation in the columns of the ,revue ,mensuelle2 it reviewed it by dreary instalments1 and when reviewing was no longer possible1 had recourse to tremendous citations2 as a last effort1 it supplied an exhaustive index to the whole work--a charitable and necessary action1 for the twelve months' toil of the author had expired without the accomplishment of this serviceable means of reference4 ,and still1 as occasion offers1 it gives it bold advertisement4 ,the quaint methods of previous witnesses are amplified by ,m4 de la ,rive4 ,like ,dr ,bataille1 he tells us that the ,order of ,oddfellows1 though quite distinct from ,palladism1 is essentially ,luciferian1 but he does not say why or how--instance of demonstrative method4 ,he regards the ,jews with holy hatred as chief ministers of ,anti ,christ1 and characterises them as that nation of which ,judas was one of the most celebrated personages--specimen recipe for the production of cheap odium in large quantities2 but what about ,jesus the ,christ1 whom men called ,king of the ,jews8 ,fie1 ,m4 de la ,rive6 ,he informs us that ,miss ,alice ,booth1 daughter of ,general ,booth1 the founder of the ,salvation ,army1 is one of the foremost ,palladists of ,england--instance of absurd slander which refutes itself4 ,m4 de la ,rive must therefore on all counts of his evidence be ruled out of court as a witness4 ,no one denies the existence of ,adoptive ,lodges in a few countries and under special circumstances1 and no sensible person attributes them any importance4 ,freemasonry as an institution is not suited to women any more than is cricket as a sport1 but they have occasionally wished to play at it as they have wished to play at cricket2 the opportunity has been offered them1 but1 except as the vogue of a moment1 it has come to nothing4 ,it is1 moreover1 of no importance to our inquiry if it can be proved that the true head of the ,grand ,lodge in ,england is the ,princess of ,wales and not her royal husband2 while concerning the existence of ,devil-,worship ,m4 de la ,rive has nothing new to tell us1 and nothing at first-hand4 ,i therefore ask leave to dismiss him1 hoping that he will devote another laborious year to the reissue of ,masonic rituals1 authentic or not1 at the extremely moderate price which he asks for his first volume2 originals are scarce and costly1 and invention is a pleasant faculty4 ,the interpretation which he chooses to put on them is an interpretation of no consequence1 and can never have misled any one who is in any sense worth misleading4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,doctor ,,bataille ,the most obvious line of criticism in connection with the memoirs entitled ,le ,diable au ,,xixe ,sicle would be the preposterous and impossible nature of its supernatural narratives4 ,to attribute a historical veracity to the adventures of ,baron ,munchausen might scarcely appear more unserious than to accept this rcit d'un tmoin as evidence for transcendental phenomena4 ,i need scarcely say that ,i regard this reasoning as so altogether sound and applicable that it is almost unnecessary to develop it4 ,the personal adventures of ,doctor ,bataille as regards their supernatural element are so transparently fabulous that it would be intolerable to regard them from any other point of view4 ,that an ape should speak ,tamil is beyond the bounds of possibility2 it is impossible also that a female fakir or pythoness1 aged #aeb years1 should allow herself to be consumed in a leisurely manner by fire2 it is impossible that any ascetics could have maintained life in their organisms under the loathsome conditions prevailing within the alleged temple at ,pondicherry2 it is impossible that any person could have survived the ordeal which ,dr ,bataille pretends to have suffered at ,calcutta1--to have relished and even prolonged2 it is impossible that tables and organs should be found suspended from a ceiling at the close of a spiritual sance2 it is impossible that the serpent of ,sophia ,walder should have been elongated in the manner described4 ,when ,i say that these things are impossible ,i am speaking with due regard to the claims of transcendental phenomena1 and it is from the transcendental standpoint that ,i judge them4 ,genuine transcendental phenomena may extend the accepted limits of probability1 but when alleged transcendental phenomena do violence to all probability1 that is the unfailing test of hallucination or untruth on the part of those who depose to them4 ,these things could not have occurred as they are narrated1 and ,dr ,bataille is exploiting the ignorance of that class of readers to whom his mode of publication appealed4 ,as products of imagination his marvels are crude and illiterate2 in other words1 they belong to precisely that type which is characteristic of romances published in penny numbers1 and when he pledges his rectitude regarding them he does not enlist our confidence but indicates the slight value which he sets on his stake4 ,at the same time1 two reasons debar me from laying further stress upon this line of argument4 ,in the first place we must remember that his unlettered readers have been taught by their religious instructors to believe in the unlimited power of the devil1 and they have probably found in the outrageous nature of the narratives a real incentive to accept them4 ,in the second place my own position as a transcendentalist connects me less or more with the acknowledgment of transcendental phenomena1 and to distinguish the limits of possibility in these matters would involve a technical discussion for which there is no opportunity here4 ,it is understood1 however1 that in the interests of transcendental science ,i reject the miraculous element in ,dr ,bataille's memoirs4 ,another line of criticism also open and leading to convincing results would dwell upon the glaring improbability of the entire story outside that miraculous element4 ,there is no colourable pretence of likelihood1 for example1 in the connection instituted between fakirs and ,freemasons1 or between secret societies in ,china and a sect of ,luciferians in ,charleston4 ,but the partisans of ,dr ,bataille are prepared to believe anything of ,masonry1 and to dismiss likelihood as they would dismiss impossibility4 ,some arguments are unassailable on account of their stupidity1 and of such shelter ,i intend to deprive my witness4 ,i shall therefore merely register my recognition that this criticism does obtain completely4 ,for much the same reason ,i shall only refer in passing to another matter which in itself is sufficient to remove these memoirs from the region of actuality2 they bristle with the kind of coincidences which are the common convenience of bad novelists to create or escape situations1 and are rejected even by legitimate fiction1 because they are untrue to life4 ,at the present time the device of coincidence is left to its true monopolists1 the ,society for ,psychical ,research and the manufacturers of the penny dreadful4 ,unreasonable demands are1 however1 made upon it by ,dr ,bataille2 never in an awkward predicament does the coincidence fail to help him2 wheresoever he goes it times his arrival rightly to witness some occasional and rare event1 and it places him at once in communication with the indispensable person whose presence was antecedently unlikely4 ,the very existence of his memoirs would have been jeopardised had the ,anadyr reached ,point-de-,galle immediately before instead of immediately after the catastrophe which converted ,carbuccia4 ,at the beginning of his mission against ,masonry1 coincidence arranged the last illness of the ,cingalese pythoness to the exigencies of his date of arrival2 it brought ,john ,campbell to ,pondicherry and ,phileas ,walder to ,calcutta2 at ,singapore it fixed a ,palladic institution in the grade of ,templar-,mistress to correspond with his flying visit on the road to ,shanghai4 ,now1 all these coincidences are of the class which come off in fiction and miss in the combinations of real life1 but to insist on this point would not disillusionise the believers in ,dr ,bataille1 who will say that he was assisted by ,providence4 ,we must show that he has deceived them in matters which admit of verification1 over certain points of ordinary fact1 which can be placed beyond the region of dispute1 and by which the truth of his narrative may be held to stand or fall4 ,i shall confine myself for this purpose to what he states at first hand in his capacity as an eyewitness1 and to two salient cases which may be taken to represent the whole4 ,among the rest some are in course of investigation1 and so far as they have gone are promising similar results2 the locality of others has been so chosen as to baffle inquiry2 and in one or two instances ,i have failed to obtain results4 ,it is obviously impossible to prove that there is not a native hut in a thick and impassable forest at an unindicated distance from ,point-de-,galle1 or that this hut does not possess a vast subterranean chamber4 ,when we cannot check our witness we must regard what he tells us in the light of those instances which it is possible to fix firmly4 ,among negative results ,i may mention an inquiry into the alleged death of a person named ,george ,shekleton in a ,masonic lodge at ,calcutta4 ,sir ,john ,lambert1 ,k4,c4,s4,i4,e41 the commissioner of police at that place1 very courteously made investigations at my suggestion1 first at the coroner's court1 but the records for the year #ahhj are not now in existence1 and1 secondly1 among the oldest police officers1 but also without result4 ,i applied thereupon to ,mr ,robert ,william ,shekleton1 ,q4,c41 ,j4,p41 inquiring whether any relative of his family had died under curious circumstances at ,calcutta about the year #ahhj4 ,his answer is this3--,i never heard anything about the death of a ,george ,shekleton in ,calcutta4 ,my elder and younger brother were both living in ,calcutta1 and if any person of the same name had been living there ,i should have heard it from them4 ,my younger brother ,alexander ,shekleton died at ,madras on his way home with his wife and children of confluent small-pox2 my eldest brother ,joseph is still alive4 ,the presumption1 therefore1 is that ,carbuccia's story of the strange fatality which occurred in his presence at a ,masonic lodge is without any foundation in fact1 but ,i regard the result as negative because it falls short of demonstration4 ,i am now setting other channels in operation1 but as it is not a test case1 and not an event which ,dr ,bataille claims to have witnessed himself1 it is unnecessary to await the issue4 ,if the reader will now glance at the several sections of the sixth chapter1 he will find that one of the most important is that entitled ,the ,seven ,temples and a ,sabbath in ,sheol1 where ,dr ,bataille tells us that he witnessed unheard of operations in black magic on the part of ,palladian ,masons and diabolising fakirs4 ,the locality was a plain called ,dappah1 two hours drive from ,calcutta4 ,the particulars which are given concerning the edifices on the mountain of granite1 but more especially concerning an open charnel where the dead bodies of innumerable human beings1 mixed indiscriminately with those of animals and with the town refuse1 are left to rot under the eye of heaven1 will not impress any one1 however unacquainted with ,india1 and with the vicinity of the ,english capital and seat of government1 as wearing many of the features of probability4 ,the facts are as follows3--,a place called ,dhappamanpour1 and for brevity ,dhappa1 does exist in the neighbourhood of ,calcutta1 and thereto the town refuse is actually carried by a special line of railway2 there is no granite mountain and there are no temples1 while so far from it being a charnel into which human bodies are flung1 or a place where the adepts of the ,palladium could celebrate a black ,sabbath and form a magic chain with putrid corpses1 it is a great lake covering an area of thirty square miles1 and is known by ,anglo-,indians as the ,saltwater ,lake4 ,in the year #ahhf it was in course of reclamation1 but all that ,dr ,bataille tells us is specifically untrue1 and he could never have witnessed there the things which he describes as taking place in the year #ahhj4 ,the rcit d'un tmoin is in this matter an invented history4 ,as a consequence of this bogus experience in ,calcutta1 ,dr ,bataille pretends to have been admitted within the charmed circle of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 and was therefore qualified to be present at the initiation of a ,templar-,mistress which took place not long after at ,singapore4 ,his account of this initiation turns upon two or three points which do not appear in the synopsis of the sixth chapter4 ,one of these is the existence of a ,kadosch ,areopagite of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite4 ,but at least1 at the period in question1 there was no such ,areopagite1 and the ,scotch ,rite did not exist at ,singapore4 ,the sole ,masonic institution was a ,district ,grand ,lodge of ,ancient ,free and ,accepted ,masons of ,england in the ,eastern ,archipelago1 working under the warrant of the ,english ,grand ,lodge1 holding half-yearly communications1 and special meetings when the ,district ,grand ,master deemed necessary4 ,its patent dates from ,march #c1 #ahgh1 and the ,district ,grand ,master at the time was the ,hon4 ,william ,h4 ,macleod ,read4 ,three lodges worked under its jurisdiction1 two of which were at ,singapore and one at ,penang1 and to one of the former a ,royal ,arch ,chapter was attached4 ,it is needless to say that our author's ,misram diploma would have obtained his admission to none1 and there is no person here in ,england who would have the effrontery to affirm that he might have fared better by reason of his ,palladian degree4 ,it is sufficient1 however1 to state that there was no ,lodge of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite in ,singapore at the time of his visit4 ,but the imposition does not end here2 ,dr ,bataille does not merely describe what took place at a lodge which was not in existence--he gives particulars of an address delivered by a certain ,dr ,murray at a meeting attended by himself4 ,now1 at the date in question1 there was no such person either in the town1 in its vicinity1 or in ,penang4 ,there is fortunately an institution among us which is termed the ,british ,museum1 and it enables us to verify questions of this kind4 ,furthermore1 when describing the ,palladian meeting at the ,presbyterian chapel--there was such a chapel by the way--he tells us that the ,grand ,master was named ,spencer1 and that he was a ngociant of ,singapore1 but there was again no such person in the town or its vicinity at the time1 and so his entire narrative1 with its ritual reproduced from ,leo ,taxil1 is demolished completely4 ,i submit that these two instances are sufficient to indicate the kind of man with whom we are dealing4 ,it may be a matter of astonishment to my readers that a work even of imposition should be performed so clumsily as to betray itself at once to a little easy research1 but it must be remembered that the class of ,french readers to whom ,dr ,bataille made appeal are so ignorant of all which concerns the ,english that skill is not required to exploit them2 it is enough that the ,english are abused4 ,of our author's qualifications in this respect ,i have already given some specimens1 but they convey no idea of his actual resources in the matter of abuse and calumny4 ,a direct quotation will not be beside the purpose in this place3--,wheresoever religious influence can make itself felt1 there the wife and maid are the purest1 the most ingenuous expression of the creation and the divinely touching idea synthetised by the immaculate ,mother of ,christ1 the ,virgin ,mary2 but1 on the contrary1 in ,england1 and still more especially in the ,english colonies1 under the pernicious influence of the ,protestant heresy engendered by revolts of truly diabolical inspiration1 the wife and maid are in some sort the opprobrium of humanity4 ,the example1 moreover1 comes from an exalted place1 as is known4 ,the whole world is acquainted with that which ,john ,bull does not himself confess1 namely1 the private history of her whom ,indians term 'the old lady of ,london1' given over to vice and drunkenness from her youth--,her ,majesty ,wisky the #ast4 ,i have made this quotation1 because it gives the opportunity to dispense with the civility of discussion which is exercised by one gentleman towards another1 but would be out of place on the part of a gentleman who is giving a deserved castigation to a disgusting and foul-mouthed rascal4 ,this is the nameless refuse which flings itself to bespatter ,masonry4 ,down1 unclean dog1 and back1 scavenger1 to your offal6 ,the scullion in the ,queen's kitchen would1 ,i think1 disdain to whip you4 ,setting aside these scandalous slanders1 and returning to the subject in hand1 it is clear that when a writer who comes forward with a budget of surprising revelations is shown to have invented his materials in certain signal instances1 it becomes superfluous to subject his entire testimony to a laborious sifting1 and there is really no excuse to delay much longer over the memoirs of ,dr ,bataille4 ,it will be needless to state that my researches have failed to discover any such dismantled temple as that described at ,pondicherry1 and affirmed to be on the ,english soil adjacent to the ,french town4 ,it is equally unnecessary to say that the story of the caves of ,gibraltar is a gross and absurd imposture1 for1 in fact1 it betrays itself4 ,parisian literature of the by-ways has its own methods1 and its purveyors are shrewd enough to know what will be tolerated and what enjoyed by their peculiar class of patrons2 transcendental toxicology and an industry in idols worked by criminals intercommunicating by means of ,volapuk may be left to them4 ,nor is it needful to do more than touch lightly upon a pleasant process in piracy by which ,dr ,bataille lightens the toils of authorship4 ,he has done better than any other among the witnesses of ,lucifer in his gleanings from liphas ,lvi4 ,on p4 #cb of his first volume there is a brazen theft concerning the chemistry of black magic1 and there is another1 little less daring1 on p4 #fg1 being a description of a ,baphometic idol4 ,it goes without saying that the ,conjuration of the ,four is imported1 as others have imported it1 from the ,rituel de la ,haute ,magie4 ,the vesture of the master of ceremonies who officiated in the ,sanctuary of the ,phoenix1 one of the mythical temples of ,dhappa1 is a property derived from the same quarter4 ,so in like manner is part of a magical adjuration in the account of a ,sabbath in ,sheol4 ,finally1 a method of divination described in a later place 7vol4 i41 pp4 #cdc1 #cdd7 will be found in ,christian's ,histoire de la ,magie4 ,the artist who has illustrated the memoirs has acted after the same manner4 ,the two ,baphometic figures 7vol4 i41 pp4 #i and #hi71 are reproductions from ,lvi's plates4 ,the ,sabbatic figure 7,ib41 p4 #aec7 is a modification from ,christian4 ,the original idea of the shadow-demon on p4 #bja will be found in ,lvi's sacerdotal hand making the sign of esotericism4 ,the four figures of the ,palladian urn on p4 #cac are plagiarised in a similar way4 ,the illustration on p4 #ccg1 which purports to be a gnostic symbol of the dual divinity1 is actually the frontispiece to ,lvi's ,dogme de la ,haute ,magie4 ,the magical urn on p4 #dji is the facsimile of a similar object in another of ,lvi's drawings2 and if it were worth while to continue1 the material for a further enumeration is not wanting4 ,but these matters1 after all1 are of inferior moment1 and to complete the exposure of this witness1 ,i pass to the final points of my criticism4 ,dr ,bataille publishes an alleged ,table of ,high-grade ,masonry as it existed on ,march #a1 #ahia1 and this document1 which is similar in many respects to another of a slightly anterior date1 produced by ,signor ,margiotta1 is said to have been prepared by ,albert ,pike himself2 it includes a long list of the persons then in correspondence with the ,supreme ,dogmatic ,directory as ,inspectors ,general in permanent mission4 ,it is a bizarre medley which includes the ,orders of the ,druids1 ,mopses1 ,oddfellows1 and ,mormon ,moabites in the same connection as the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite1 the ,rites of ,memphis and ,misram1 and the ,san-,ho-,hei4 ,as such1 it would be1 in any case1 a large tax upon the gullibility of readers outside the back streets of ,paris4 ,but ,i determined to make some inquiries among the ,english names mentioned4 ,for example1 ,mr ,r4 ,w4 ,shekleton1 to whom ,i have already referred1 is said1 at the period in question1 to have been in official correspondence with the ,dogmatic ,directory1 representing the special relations of ,ireland1 and1 having drawn his attention to the point1 he has furnished me with the following contradiction3--,the statement in your letter1 taken from the book you refer to1 that ,i was in the year '#ia in direct correspondence with the ,supreme ,dogmatic ,directory of ,charleston is utterly false4 ,i never even heard of any such ,body as the ,supreme ,directory1 or of what is called the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium4 ,the only communication ,i ever had with ,general ,albert ,pike 7whom ,i had never seen7 was in reference to a question of ,masonic procedure in ,america4 ,so far as ,i am aware the existence of either of the ,bodies you refer to is unknown to any of the ,masonic ,body in ,ireland1 and ,i can1 with almost certainty1 make the same statement in reference to the ,english and ,scotch ,masons4 ,having been for nearly twenty-seven years the ,acting ,head of the ,order in ,ireland1 ,i can speak with authority1 and you are at liberty in my name to give the most emphatic contradiction to the statements quoted from the book4 ,so far as ,i am aware1 ,general ,pike was never anything more than ,sovereign ,grand ,commander of the ,supreme ,council of the #ccrd ,southern ,jurisdiction of ,america4 ,the case of ,mr ,john ,yarker1 ,grand ,master of the ,memphis ,rite in ,england1 ,i have already had occasion to mention1 and have cited his explicit denial of any acquaintance with the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium1 but he is included by ,dr ,bataille in his wonderful enumeration4 ,upon the general question1 ,mr ,yarker observes3 7a7 that the ,scottish or ,ancient and ,accepted ,rite has nothing occult about it1 but the ,memphis and ,misram ,rites are wholly occultism4 7b7 ,that ,pike has1 however1 in his lectures added occult matters from these occult ,rites4 7c7 ,that ,pike1 as a very able man1 ruled the whole of the ,supreme ,grand ,councils of the #cc 7,ancient and ,accepted71 which almost all originated from ,charleston4 7d7 ,that this is the only form in which there can be said to have been a ,dogmatic ,directorate4 ,in like manner1 ,mr ,william ,officer of ,edinburgh1 an initiate of the ,scotch ,rite1 ,inspector-,general of the ,supreme ,council of the ,french ,grand ,orient1 and ,hon4 ,member of its ,grand ,college of ,rites1 denies his alleged connection with any ,central ,directory1 and has heard nothing of such an institution4 ,i do not conceive that there is any call to fill space by the multiplication of these denials1 and ,i need therefore only add that ,i have others equally explicit in my possession4 ,the obvious conclusion is that the alleged ,table of ,high-,grade ,masonry is a bogus document founded on some official lists of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite4 ,lastly1 there are certain statements made by ,dr ,bataille which warrant the presumption that he could have had little1 if any1 active acquaintance with the ,memphis ,rite4 ,that he may have purchased a diploma from ,pessina is probable enough2 what ,i learn of the ,grand ,master of the ,neapolitan ,sovereign ,sanctuary1 through sources not tainted like those of the witnesses of ,lucifer1 does not place him wholly above financial considerations1 but ,pessina was1 and is1 totally unrecognised by any ,masonic power in the world of ,craft ,masonry4 ,so far1 therefore1 from such a diploma acting as an ,open ,sesame1 it would have sealed all doors against its owner1 and this statement is true not only for ordinary ,craft ,masonry1 but for the great majority of lodges under the ,misram obedience4 ,dr ,bataille would not1 therefore1 have much opportunity for participating in that ,rite to which he had purchased entrance1 and1 as a fact1 he is wholly ignorant concerning it4 ,for example1 he seems to represent the ,memphis and ,misram ,rites as enjoying recognition from the ,scotch ,rite1 and the latter as consciously subordinate and inferior1 whereas the position is this4 ,memphis recognises the #cc of the ,ancient and ,accepted as its first steps1 and places #fb degrees upon them1 which are not recognised in return4 ,misram also includes the #cc of the ,scotch ,rite1 but in a more irregular arrangement1 other degrees being interspersed among them4 ,pessina's ,misram ,rite has been reduced by him from #ij to #cc1 which are virtually those of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,rite approximated to ,misram teaching4 ,so also he states that ,general ,garibaldi was in #ahfj1 and had been so for many previous years1 the ,grand ,master and ,grand ,hierophant of the ,rite of ,memphis for all countries of the globe4 ,this is completely untrue1 for1 as a matter of fact1 ,garibaldi succeeded ,jacques ,etienne ,marconis of ,paris1 becoming president of a confederation of the ,rites which was brought about by ,mr ,john ,yarker in the year #ahha4 ,before this period he was simply an ,hon4 ,grand ,master of ,pessina's body4 ,the articles of this treaty1 with a true copy of all the signatures attached to it1 and with the seals of the ,sovereign ,sanctuaries against them1 is before me as ,i write4 ,i may state1 in conclusion1 that ,dr ,bataille also falsely represents himself to have met with ,mr ,yarker1 who told him that he had personally aspired to the succession at the death of ,garibaldi1 which ,mr ,yarker characterises as an infamous concoction4 ,i am in possession of ample materials for illustrating more fully the marvellous inventions produced by this witness of ,lucifer1 but the instalment here given is sufficient for the present purpose4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,diana ,,unveiled ,the discovery of ,leo ,taxil and of ,m4 ,ricoux has one remaining witness in the person of ,miss ,diana ,vaughan4 ,she also1 as we have seen1 is a writer of memoirs1 and in giving some account of her narrative ,i have already indicated in substance certain lines of criticism which might be applied with success thereto4 ,we must obviously know more about this lady1 and have some opportunity of verifying the particulars of her past life before we can accept her statement that she has written while fresh from conversion1 and is speaking for the first time the language of a ,christian and a ,catholic4 ,the supernatural element of her memoirs it is not worth while to discuss4 ,were she otherwise worthy of credit1 we might exonerate her personal veracity by assuming that she was tricked over the apparition and hallucinated in the vision that followed it1 but ,i propose submitting to my readers sufficient evidence to justify a conclusion that she does not deserve our credit1 and though out of deference to her sex it is desirable1 so far as may be possible1 to speak with moderation1 ,i must establish most firmly that the motive she betrays in her memoirs is not in many respects preferable to that of the previous witness4 ,it will be advisable1 however1 to distinguish that part of the narrative for which ,miss ,vaughan is admittedly and personally responsible from that which she claims to be derived from her family history4 ,i must distinguish between them1 not that ,i am prepared to admit as a legitimate consequence of her statement that there is any real difference or that ,i unquestionably regard ,miss ,vaughan as having created a strong presumption that she is in possession of the documents which she claims to have4 ,i am simply recognising the classification which she may herself be held to make4 ,if in this respect it can be shown that ,i have mistaken the actual position1 ,i will make such reparation as may be due from a man of letters1 whose reasonable indignation in the midst of much imposture will1 in such case1 have misled him4 ,but there is only one course which is open to ,miss ,vaughan in the matter1 and that is to produce the original documents on which she has based her narrative for the opinion of competent ,english investigators1 in which case ,miss ,vaughan may be held to have established not the truth of her family history1 which is essentially beyond establishment1 but her bona fides in connection with its relation4 ,after this the portion for which she is personally responsible1 and from which there is no escape1 will still fasten the charge of falsehood ineffaceably upon her narrative4 ,in addition1 then1 to her personal history1 ,miss ,vaughan's memoirs contain3--,i4 ,a mendacious biography of the ,english mystic1 ,thomas ,vaughan4 ,,ii4 ,a secret history of the ,english ,rosicrucian ,fraternity1 and of its connection with ,masonry1 which is also an impudent fraud4 ,the two constitute one of the most curious literary forgeries which are to be met with in the whole range of ,hermetic literature2 and ,hermetic literature1 it is known1 has been enriched by many triumphs of invention4 ,i shall deal with the narratives plainly on the provisional assumption that ,miss ,vaughan has been herself deceived in regard to them4 ,they are based upon family papers said to be now in possession of the ,charleston ,dogmatic ,directory4 ,the central facts which are sought to be established by means of these papers have been mentioned already in my eighth chapter1 namely1 that ,miss ,vaughan is one of the two last descendants of the alchemist ,thomas ,vaughan2 that this personage made a compact with ,satan in the year #afde1 that under the name of ,eirenus ,philalethes1 he wrote the well-known alchemical work entitled ,an ,open ,entrance to the ,closed ,palace of the ,king1 and that he consummated a mystical marriage with ,venus-,astarte1 of which the ,palladian ,templar-,mistress is the last development4 ,for the purposes of these narratives the birth of ,thomas ,vaughan is placed in the year #afab1 and his death1 or rather translation1 in the year #afgh4 ,at the age of twenty-four years1 that is to say1 in #afcf1 he proceeded to ,london1 and there connected himself with the mystic ,robert ,fludd1 by whom he was initiated into a lower grade of the ,rosicrucian ,fraternity1 and received a letter of introduction to the ,grand ,master1 ,johann ,valentin ,andre1 which he took over to ,stuttgart and presented4 ,in #afcg1 having returned to ,london1 he was present at the death of ,robert ,fludd1 which occurred in that year4 ,in #afch he made his first voyage to ,america1 where he was hospitably entertained by a ,protestant minister1 named ,john ,cotton1 but his visit was not characterised by any remarkable occurrence4 ,at this period the alchemist is represented by his descendant as a ,puritan impregnated with the secret doctrine of ,robert ,fludd4 ,in #afci ,vaughan returned to ,england1 but was immediately attracted to ,denmark by the discovery of a golden horn adorned with mysterious figures1 which he and his colleagues in alchemy supposed to typify the search for the philosophical stone4 ,at the age of twenty-eight1 ,vaughan made further progress in the ,rosicrucian ,fraternity1 being advanced to the grade of ,adeptus ,minor by ,amos ,komenski1 in which year also ,elias ,ashmole entered the order4 ,accompanied by ,komenski1 ,vaughan proceeded to ,hamburg1 thence by himself to ,sweden1 and subsequently to the ,hague1 where he initiated ,martin de ,vris4 ,a year later he visited ,italy1 and made acquaintance with ,berigard de ,pisa4 ,this was a pious pilgrimage which testified his devotion to ,faustus ,socinus1 for ,miss ,vaughan1 on the authority of her documents1 regards the ,italian heretic1 not only as a conscious ,satanist1 but as the founder of the ,rosicrucian ,society1 and the initiator of ,johann ,valentin ,andre1 whom he also won over to ,lucifer4 ,on his return ,thomas ,vaughan tarried a short time in ,france1 where he conceived the project of organising ,freemasonry as it exists at the present day1 and there also it occurred to him that the guilds of the ,compagnage might serve him for raw material4 ,when1 however1 he returned to ,england1 he concluded that the honorary or ,accepted ,masons1 received by the ,masonic guilds of ,england1 were better suited to his purpose4 ,some of these were already ,rosicrucians1 and among them he set to work4 ,in the year #afdd he presided over a ,rosicrucian assembly at which ,ashmole was present4 ,at this time also ,oliver ,cromwell is said to have been an accepted ,mason1 and it was by his intervention that1 a year later1 ,thomas ,vaughan was substituted for the headsman at the execution of ,archbishop ,laud1 for the object already described4 ,it was after his compact with ,lucifer that the alchemist wrote the ,open ,entrance4 ,his activity in the ,rosicrucian cause then became prodigious1 and the followers of ,socinus1 apparently all implicated in the ,satanism of their master1 began to swell the ranks of the ,accepted ,masons4 ,at this time also he began his collaborations with ,ashmole for the composition of the ,apprentice1 ,companion1 and ,master grades1 that is to say1 for the institution of symbolical ,masonry4 ,in #afdf he again visited ,america1 and consummated his mystic marriage1 as narrated in the eighth chapter4 ,in #afdh he returned to ,england1 and one year later completed the ,master grade1 that of ,companion having been produced during his absence1 but following the indications he had given1 by ,elias ,ashmole4 ,in #afej he began to issue his ,rosicrucian and alchemical writings1 namely1 ,anthroposophia ,theomagica and ,anima ,magica ,abscondita1 followed by ,lumen de ,lumine and ,aula ,lucis in #afea4 ,the ,rosicrucian ,grand ,master ,andre died in #afed1 and was succeeded by ,thomas ,vaughan1 whose next step was the publication of his work1 entitled ,euphrates1 or the ,waters of the ,east4 ,in #afef he is said to have published the complete works of ,socinus1 two folio volumes in the collection1 entitled ,bibliotheca ,fratrum ,polonorum4 ,three years later appeared his ,fraternity of ,r4,c41 and in #affd the ,medulla ,alchymi4 ,in #affg he decided to publish the ,open ,entrance1 the ,,ms4 of which was returned to him by the editor ,langius after printing1 and was subsequently annotated in the way ,i have previously mentioned4 ,during the early days of the same year ,vaughan converted ,helvetius1 the celebrated physician of the ,hague1 who in his turn became ,grand ,master of the ,rosicrucian ,fraternity4 ,in #affh he published his ,experiments with ,sophic ,mercury and ,tractatus ,tres1 while ten years later1 or in #afgh1 the year of his infernal translation1 he produced his edition of ,ripley ,revived and the ,enarratio ,trium ,gebri4 ,from beginning to end1 generally and particularly1 the narrative ,i have summarised above is a gross and planned imposture1 nor would any epithets be so severe as to be undeserved by the person who has concocted it1 because it does outrage to the sacred dead1 in particular to the greatest of the ,english spiritual mystics1 ,thomas ,vaughan1 and to the greatest of the ,english physical mystics1 ,eirenus ,philalethes4 ,for the mendacious history confuses two entirely distinct persons--,eugenius and ,eirenus ,philalethes4 ,it is true that this confusion has been made frequently1 and it is true also that at the beginning of my researches into the archology of ,hermetic literature ,i was one of its victims1 for which ,i was sharply brought to book by those who knew better4 ,but a young and unassisted investigator1 imperfectly equipped1 has an excuse which will exonerate him at least from a malicious intention4 ,it is otherwise with a pretended family history4 ,when documents of this kind reproduce blunders which are pardonable to ignorance alone1 and upon a subject about which two opinions are no longer possible1 it is certain that such documents are not what they claim2 in other words1 they have been fabricated1 and the fabrication of historical papers is essentially a work of malice4 ,furthermore1 when such forgeries impeach persons long since passed to their account1 on the score of unheard of crimes1 they are the work of diabolical malice1 and this is a moderately worded judgment on the case now in hand4 ,thomas ,vaughan1 otherwise ,eugenius ,philalethes1 was born in the year #afba at ,newton1 in ,brecknockshire4 ,the accepted and perfectly correct authority for this statement is the ,athen ,oxonienses of ,anthony ,wood1 but he is not the only authority1 and if he be not good enough for ,miss ,vaughan1 she can take in his place the exhaustive researches of the ,rev4 ,a4 ,b4 ,grosart1 whose edition of the works of the ,silurist ,henry ,vaughan have probably been neither seen nor heard of by this unwise woman1 in the same way that she is ignorant of most essential elements in the matters which she presumes to treat4 ,the authority of a laborious scholar like ,dr ,grosart will probably be of greater weight than the foul narrative of a ,palladian memoir-maker1 who has not produced her documents4 ,from this date it follows that in the year #afcf ,thomas ,vaughan was still in the schoolboy period1 not even of sufficient age to begin a college career4 ,he could not1 as alleged1 have visited ,fludd1 the illustrious ,kentish mystic1 in ,london1 nor would he have been ripe for initiation1 supposing that ,fludd could have dispensed it4 ,in like manner1 ,andre1 assuming that he was ,grand ,master of the ,rosicrucians1 would not have welcomed a youngster of fifteen years1 supposing that in those days he was likely to travel from ,london to ,stuttgart1 but would have recommended him to return to his lesson-books4 ,the first voyage to ,america and all the earlier incidents of the narrative are untrue for the same reason4 ,in place of wandering through ,denmark1 the ,hague1 and ,sweden1 initiating and being initiated1 he was drumming through a course at ,oxford2 in place of pious pilgrimages to the shrine of ,socinus1 he was preparing to take orders in the ,english ,church1 and the narrative which is untrue to his early is untrue also to his later life4 ,after receiving ,holy ,orders he returned to his native village and took over the care of its souls4 ,he was never a ,puritan2 he was never a friend of ,cromwell2 he was a high-churchman and a ,royalist1 and he was ejected from his living because he was accused by political enemies of carrying arms for the king4 ,he never travelled2 on the contrary1 he married1 at what period is unknown1 but his tender devotion to his wife is commemorated on the reverse pages of an autograph alchemical ,,ms4 now in the ,british ,museum1 which belies furthermore1 in every line and word1 the ,luciferian imposture of the ,paris-cum-,yankee documents1 by its passionate religious aspiration and its adoring love of ,christ4 ,when ,vaughan came up to ,london1 it was as a man who was somewhat out of joint with ,english1 in spite of his ,oxford career1 because he was a ,welsh speaking man1 and when he took to writing books1 he apologises for his awkward diction4 ,he accentuates also his youth1 which would be warrantable at the age of twenty-eight1 but would be absurd in a writer approaching forty years4 ,this point may be verified by any one who will refer to my edition of ,vaughan's ,anthroposophia ,theomagica4 ,the works of ,thomas ,vaughan1 besides ,anthroposophia ,theomagica1 are ,anima ,magica ,abscondita1 published in #afej2 ,magia ,adamica #afej1 apparently forgotten by the authentic documents of ,miss ,vaughan1 as are also ,the ,man-,mouse and ,the ,second ,wash1 or the ,moore scoured once ,more--satires on ,henry ,more1 written in reply to that ,platonist1 who had attacked the previous books4 ,these belong to the year #afea1 as also does ,lumen de ,lumine2 ,the ,fame and ,confession of the ,fraternity ,r4,c4 appeared in #afeb1 not #afei1 as the family history affirms2 ,aula ,lucis1 #afeb 7not #afea72 and ,euphrates1 #afee4 ,what is obvious everywhere in these priceless little books is the devotion of a true mystic to ,jesus ,christ1 and to gift them with the sordid interpretation of a ,french-born cultus of ,lucifer is about as possible as to attribute a ,christian intention to the calumnies of ,miss ,vaughan's documents4 ,in the year #affe1 at the house of the rector of ,albury1 a chemical experiment with mercury cost the ,welsh alchemist his life1 and he was buried in the churchyard of that village in ,oxfordshire4 ,it is clear1 therefore1 that the wonderful archives in the possession of ,miss ,vaughan give a bogus history of ,eugenius ,philalethes1 but they are also untrue of ,eirenus4 ,it is untrue that this mysterious adept1 whose identity has never been disclosed1 was born in #afab2 he was born some ten years later4 ,the source of both dates is ,the ,open ,entrance to the ,closed ,palace of the ,king2 but that which ,miss ,vaughan champions is based upon a corrupt reading in a bad version1 and she has evidently never seen the original and best of the ,latin impressions1 that of ,langius1 though she has the presumption to cite it4 ,that edition establishes that he wrote the treatise in the year #afde1 he being then in the twenty-third year of his age--whence it follows that the date of his birth was most probably #afbb1 and the history with which he is invested by ,miss ,vaughan is again a misfit2 it is putting man's garments on a boy4 ,furthermore1 there is not one item in her statements concerning the ,open ,entrance which is not directly and provably false4 ,it was not printed1 as she indicates1 under the supervision of the author2 it was not printed from the original ,,ms41 nor was that ,,ms4 returned to ,philalethes after it had passed through the press4 ,it is shameful for any person1 male or female1 however little they may consider their own fair fame1 to so far violate the canons of literary honour as to make dogmatic statements concerning a work which they cannot have seen4 ,the preface prefixed to this edition by ,langius completely refutes ,miss ,vaughan4 ,here is a passage in point3--,truly who or what kind of person was author of this sweet1 must-like work1 ,i know no more than he who is most ignorant1 nor1 since he himself would conceal his name1 do ,i think fit to enquire so far1 lest ,i get his displeasure4 ,again--,to pick out the roses from the most thorny bushes of writings1 and to make the elixir of philosophers by his own industry1 without any tutor1 and at twenty-three years of age1 this perchance hath been granted to none1 or to most few hitherto4 ,langius1 moreover1 laments explicitly the fact that he did not print from an original ,,ms4 ,he printed from a ,latin translation1 the work of an unknown hand1 which had come into his possession1 as he tells us1 from a man who was learned in such matters4 ,miss ,vaughan's pretended autograph1 with its despicable marginal readings1 is obviously a ,latin copy1 whatever be its history otherwise4 ,the original was in ,english1 and when ,langius was regretting its loss1 a transcript1 probably written from the author's copy1 or very little corrupted1 was in possession of the bookseller ,william ,cooper1 of ,little ,saint ,bartholomews1 near ,little ,britain1 in the city of ,london1 who published it in the year #affi1 to correct the imperfections in the edition of ,amsterdam4 ,this transcript also establishes that the ,open ,entrance was penned when the author was in his twenty-third year4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,philalethes does not appear to have superintended the publication of any of his writings1 and here ,miss ,vaughan again exhibits her unpardonable ignorance concerning the works with which she is dealing4 ,to prove that her reputed ancestor was alive after the accepted date of ,thomas ,vaughan's death1 she triumphantly observes that in the year #affh he published his experiments on the preparation of ,sophic ,mercury and ,tractatus ,tres4 ,but the latter volume was a piracy1 for in his preface to ,ripley ,revived the author expressly laments that two of its three treatises had passed out of his hands1 and he feared lest they should get into print1 because they were imperfect works preceding the period of solid knowledge which produced the ,open ,entrance4 ,again1 so little was he consulted over the appearance of the ,sophic ,mercury that the printer represents it as the work of an ,american philosopher1 whence it has been fathered upon ,george ,starkey4 ,eirenus ,philalethes was undoubtedly a great traveller and he visited ,america1 but there is no ground for supposing that he was ever in ,italy1 and that either he or ,thomas ,vaughan edited the works of ,socinus is an ignorant fiction1 for which even ,miss ,vaughan can find no better warrant than the evasive place of publication which figures on the title-page of the ,bibliotheca ,fratrum ,polonorum1 namely1 ,eirenopolis4 ,in like manner she erroneously credits him with the authorship of the ,medulla ,alchemi1 which is the work of ,eirenus ,philoponos ,philalethes1 otherwise ,george ,starkey4 ,these facts fully establish the fraudulent nature of ,miss ,vaughan's family history1 by whomsoever it has been devised1 and seeing that where it is possible to check it1 it breaks down at every point1 we need have no hesitation in rejecting the information which it provides in those cases where it cannot be brought to book4 ,the connection of ,faustus ,socinus with the ,rosicrucian ,fraternity1 as founder1 is one instance2 this is merely an extension of the imposture of ,abb ,lefranc in his ,veil ,raised for the ,curious1 and it rests1 like its original1 on no evidence which can be traced4 ,another is the ,rosicrucian ,imperatorship of ,andre1 and yet another the initiation of ,robert ,fludd4 ,again1 the connection of ,philalethes with ,john ,frederick ,helvetius is based on speculation only1 and that of ,ashmole with the institution of symbolical ,masonry has never been more than hypothesis1 and not very deserving at that4 ,i regret to add that1 on the authority of her bogus documents1 ,miss ,vaughan has given currency to a rumour that the founder of the ,ashmolean ,museum poisoned his first wife4 ,she deserves the most severe reprobation for having failed to test her materials before she made public this foul slander4 ,furthermore1 in that portion of her materials which is concerned with her family history1 she is not above tampering with the sense of printed books4 ,the worshippers of ,lucifer are represented as invariably terming their divinity the good ,god--,dieu bon1--or our ,god--notre ,dieu--to distinguish him from the ,god of the ,adonates1 and the references made to the ,deity by ,philalethes in the ,open ,entrance she falsely translates by these ,luciferian equivalents1 thus creating an impression in the minds of the ignorant that he is not speaking of the true ,divinity4 ,after this it will hardly surprise my readers that a pretended translation from a ,,ms4 of ,gillermet de ,beauregard1 which she states to be preserved in the archives of the ,sovereign ,patriarchal ,council of ,hamburg1 is simply stolen from an ,instruction la ,france sur la vrit de l',histoire des ,frres de la ,roze-,croix1 by ,gabriel ,naud1 who ridiculed and reviled the ,order4 ,i submit in conclusion that1 in view of the facts already elicited1 it is not worth while to inquire into the value of the episode concerned with the judicial murder of ,archbishop ,laud1 and to elaborately argue that ,oliver ,cromwell was the last person in ,england to be implicated in such a transaction1 he1 at the period in question1 being briskly employed in checkmating his ,king1 who was at ,oxford in winter quarters1 and having neither the power nor opportunity to meddle with the details of an execution4 ,the incident1 in a word1 is worth as much and as little as the abominable story of the subsequent pact with ,lucifer or the foolery of the mystic marriage4 ,the critical investigation of ,miss ,vaughan's alleged documents having led to these results1 it remains to be seen how far the other portions of her narrative will bear analysis4 ,so long as she confined the more responsible part of her memoirs to personal experiences in the science of conversion and to the relation of her ,eucharistic raptures1 the lovers of ardent reading in this order of sensation were the only persons who could lay a complaint against her if she failed to fulfil their requirements4 ,so long also as she fixed the scene of her history in a comparatively remote place1 and among men now dead1 she was partially protected from exposure1 but when she transfers her revelations to ,england she is treading on dangerous ground1 and she has in fact fallen into the pit4 ,she has had the temerity to meddle with the modern history of ,rosicrucian societies1 and has undertaken to inform her readers after what manner she has come into possession of the rituals of the revived ,rosicrucian ,order1 and her account is specifically untrue4 ,she is undoubtedly acquainted with the grades of the order1 but she could have obtained these from more than one published source--as1 for example1 the late ,kenneth ,mc,kenzie's ,cyclopdia of ,freemasonry1 or from my own ,real ,history of the ,rosicrucians4 ,but even if she possess the rituals1 she has not come by them in the manner she describes4 ,her account is as follows3--,the ,fraternity of the ,rose-,cross comprises nine degrees of initiation--#a4 ,zelator2 #b4 ,theoricus2 #c4 ,practicus 7,miss ,vaughan writes ,praticus1 which would be the error of a ,french person who does not read ,latin and not the error of an ,english or ,american person as she claims to be72 #d4 ,philosophus2 #e4 ,adeptus ,minor1 according to the variants of ,valentin ,andre1 or ,adeptus ,junior1 according to the variants of ,nick ,stone 7those were the variants of ,nick ,stone which were ostensibly burned in #agbj by the ,grand ,master ,theophilus ,desaguliers1 but were not in reality destroyed2 transmitted to trusty ,english brethren1 after the death of ,desaguliers1 they passed from reliable hands to others also reliable1 until the reconstitution of the ,rose-,cross2 for the reconstituted association exists actually in ,england1 ,scotland1 the ,united ,states1 and ,canada1 and those variants of the grades which were made by ,nick ,stone1 are at the present day deposited with ,doctor ,w4 ,w4 ,w41 living at ,cambden 7sic7 ,road1 ,london1 ,supreme ,magus of the ,rose-,cross for ,england1 ,,at ,,whose ,,house ,i ,,have ,,transcribed ,,them72 #f4 ,adeptus ,major2 #g4 ,adeptus ,exemptus2 #h4 ,magister ,templi2 #i4 ,magus4 ,miss ,vaughan's literary methods are not exactly captivating1 and the enormous parenthesis is hers1 but the capitals which close it are mine4 ,the ,english doctor mentioned is well known to transcendentalists1 and he is actually a high-grade ,mason2 he is also personally well-known to myself4 ,to the best of his recollection he has never at any time met any person terming herself ,diana ,vaughan4 ,more especially1 no such individual has ever called at his house1 much less copied any rituals of which he may be in possession4 ,there is therefore only one term by which it is possible to qualify ,miss ,vaughan in her account of this matter1 and if ,i refrain from applying it1 it is more out of literary grace than from considerations of gallantry1 for when persons of the opposite sex elect to make themselves odious by gross imposition1 they cannot expect to escape the legitimate consequences at the hands of criticism any more than another class of female malefactors will escape on the plea of their sex at the hand of justice4 ,the subject of ,luciferian ,freemasonry has been under discussion in the columns of ,light long before the appearance of this volume1 and a number of transcendentalists1 including one of great eminence--,mr ,charles ,carleton ,massey--a few high-grade ,masons1 and myself1 have exposed the pretensions of the ,french conspiracy4 ,in most cases1 and by more than one person1 copies of the various issues were sent to ,miss ,vaughan through her publisher1 and if she be not1 as ,i hinted in that journal1 the ,mrs ,harris of ,freemasonry1 there is little doubt that they reached her like other friendly offerings which she acknowledges in odd corners of her memoirs4 ,it is probably in consequence of the exposures made in ,light in connection with others said to have been made recently in ,canada that in the eighth number of her memoirs she threatens to turn somewhat desperately on her critics4 ,i understand that the ,australian boomerang is a weapon that comes back to its caster1 and the vindictive feeling which has prompted ,miss ,vaughan to a fresh burst of revelation has returned upon herself in a very overwhelming manner4 ,i am driven1 and ,i will do it1 is her position4 ,i will reveal the ,english ,palladists such as they actually and personally are4 ,and she does so to her own destruction as follows3-- ,the actual chief of the ,english ,luciferians is ,doctor ,william ,wynn ,westcott1 living at #cif ,cambden ,road1 ,london1 whom on a previous occasion ,i mentioned only by his initials4 ,it is he who is the actual custodian of the diabolical rituals of ,nick ,stone2 it is he who is the ,supreme ,magus of the ,socinian ,rose-,cross for ,england4 ,she proceeds to give the names of the ,senior and ,junior ,sub-,magi1 the members of the ,grand ,council1 the chiefs of what she terms the ,third ,luciferian ,order1 and the ,masters of the ,temple1 otherwise the ,metropolitan ,college4 ,similar particulars follow concerning the ,york ,college1 the ,college of ,newcastle-on-,tyne1 and that of ,edinburgh4 ,now1 ,dr ,wynn ,westcott is a high-grade ,mason1 as ,i have said1 and he occupies a professional position of influence and importance2 it is clear that a gratuitous attempt to fasten upon him charges of an odious character is an exceedingly evil proceeding and places the person who does so outside all limits of tender consideration4 ,when ,miss ,vaughan states that ,dr ,westcott is a ,palladist1 a diabolist1 a worshipper of ,lucifer1 or however she may elect to distinguish it1 ,i reply that she is guilty of a gross libel1 which is at the same time an abominable and cruel falsehood4 ,when she says that she has been received at his house1 ,i reply that she has not been received there1 and that ,dr ,westcott is likely to require better credentials from female visitors than are supplied by the infamous inventions in the ,memoirs of an ,ex-,palladist4 ,when ,miss ,vaughan affirms that she has transcribed ,dr ,westcott's rituals at the house of ,dr ,westcott1 ,i reply that this would be an untrue statement if the lady who made it were an intimate friend1 and it is doubly untrue when affirmed by a perfect stranger4 ,when ,miss ,vaughan states that ,dr ,westcott is the head of a ,society which worships ,lucifer1 ,i reply that she is speaking falsely of a body concerning which she is in complete ignorance1 and when an ignorant person thus attributes evil she or he does not only act foolishly but with exceeding malice4 ,miss ,vaughan is henceforth upon all accounts outside that category of literary honour which makes it possible for criticism to be concerned with her and still preserve its dignity4 ,lastly1 ,miss ,vaughan alleges that the official appointments made by ,dr ,westcott as ,supreme ,magus of the ,society in question for the year #ahif were submitted to ,adriano ,lemmi and approved by him4 ,this allegation is false in toto4 ,neither in a general nor a special sense is ,dr ,westcott responsible to ,lemmi or to any ,italian ,freemason2 what is more1 no personal or written communication has at any time passed between them1 and save as a past ,grand ,master ,dr ,westcott has never heard of the person to whose commands he is thus supposed to be subject4 ,it will be seen that the baseless nature of this absurd statement involves all others of its kind1 and there is no reason to attach the slightest credibility to anything which has been advanced concerning the supreme position of ,adriano ,lemmi1 who1 further1 himself denies it1 and1 whatever his past history1 is as much entitled to belief as accusers who betray their true character in this unenviable manner4 ,the ,society which has thus been attacked in the person of its ,supreme ,magus is of singularly unpretending nature1 simple as regards its history1 and making no claim either to ,masonic or ,mystical importance4 ,it does not claim or possess a connection with the original ,rosicrucian ,fraternity4 ,it does not attribute antiquity to the rituals which it uses4 ,it was founded by ,robert ,wentworth ,little1 who died in #ahgh1 and has been in existence somewhat less than forty years4 ,its sole connection with ,masonry is that it only initiates ,masons4 ,it neither enjoys nor expects recognition from the ,grand ,lodge of ,england4 ,it is literary and antiquarian in its object1 and came into existence chiefly for the study of the history of ,freemasonry and of other secret societies4 ,its members are required to believe in the fundamental principles of ,christian doctrine4 ,the ,metropolitan ,college has only four convocations and one banquet annually2 the number of ,fratres upon the ,roll of ,subscribers is fifty-four4 ,it has attracted ,masons interested in the antiquities of their craft and has no other sphere of influence4 ,it publishes occasional transactions1 the dimensions of which are regulated by an exceedingly modest income4 ,i mention many of these particulars merely to place a check upon exaggerated notions4 ,some of the provincial ,colleges have a larger membership1 but they are of precisely the same character4 ,it is not a society of occultists1 though1 like innumerable other bodies1 it counts occultists among its brethren4 ,finally1 no religious cultus of any kind is performed at its meetings1 and no woman has ever passed its threshold4 ,the ,societas ,rosicruciana in ,anglia is ,rosicrucian only in its name1 as it is ,masonic only in its name1 and its members are not ,miss ,vaughan's ex-,frres d',angleterre4 ,it is certainly and in all respects necessary that something effectual should be done to curb a slanderous and evil tongue which has the audacity to impress the most sacred feelings of religion into the service of wilful lying4 ,dr ,westcott is not the only ,english ,mason who has suffered the undeserved indignity of gross aspersion from this unclean pen4 ,another victim is ,mr ,robert ,s4 ,brown1 ,grand ,secretary of the ,supreme ,grand ,royal ,arch ,chapter of ,scotland1 who is also a member of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,rite1 and of nearly all ,masonic ,orders1 the ,societas ,rosicruciana in ,anglia included4 ,this honourable gentleman is especially recommended by ,miss ,vaughan to the attention of ,catholics in ,edinburgh1 being the city in which he resides4 ,she describes him as a dangerous sectarian1 a veritable sorcerer1 and the evil genius of one of her own relatives4 ,she states further that he is an ,elect ,magus of the ,palladium1 that he protects ,sophia ,walder when she visits ,scotland1 and that he was a great admirer of ,phileas ,walder1 at whose instance he consecrated himself to the demon anti-,christ4 ,in each and all these statements this malicious woman has lied foully4 ,i communicated with ,mr ,brown on the subject1 and hold his written denials1 which are at the service of any person who desires to see them4 ,mr ,brown says3--,i am not an ,elect ,magus of the ,palladium4 ,i never to my knowledge saw ,miss ,walder1 and never knew ,miss ,vaughan1 or anyone of the name1 man1 woman1 or child4 ,i never heard ,miss ,walder named till ,i received your letter1 and never knew of the existence of the ,palladian ,order1 if it does exist1 till ,i saw it mentioned in articles in ',light' and the ',freemason's ,chronicle' 7,london74444 ,with reference to the particular statements in this copy of the ,mmoires1 no doubt the writer has succeeded in getting hold of the facts in most cases as to the official positions of the parties named1 which of course are easily obtained2 the little details regarding some of us would indicate the presence of an agent in our midst or near at hand4 ,the 'inventions' and most slanderous statements regarding most of us are1 however1 outrageously false and wicked4 ,my house has never had the honour76667 of entertaining ,miss ,walder or any other lady of like character2 it is not a chemical laboratory1 and ,i have never exercised myself in these mysterious experiences either there or elsewhere4 ,i am a humble member of the ,episcopal ,church of ,scotland1 and1 ,i trust1 a sincere follower of the ,master4444 ,i count nearly all the gentlemen named in this vile proclamation among my friends1 they are all good men and true1 and ,i hope to associate with them for many years to come4 ,i most emphatically deny the vile aspersions cast on their characters and my own1 and you have my full authority to do so as far as the same may serve your purpose4 ,my readers will agree that the clear and temperate statement of ,mr ,r4 ,s4 ,brown brands ,diana ,vaughan with indelible disgrace in the eyes of the civilised world4 ,there is a limit to the necessity of exposure1 but should ,miss ,vaughan manifest any desire to have further instances of her mis-statements ,i will undertake to supply them4 ,i will only add here in conclusion my personal opinion that ,miss ,vaughan has not been for any length of time a resident in an ,english-speaking country1 much less can she have received1 as it is alleged by some of her friends1 an ,american education4 ,the proof is that she makes characteristic ,french blunders over ,english names4 ,thus1 we have ,cambden on each occasion for ,camden1 ,wescott for ,westcott2 we have baronnet for baronet1 ,cantorbry for ,canterbury1 ,kirkud-,bright for ,kirkcudbright2 we have hybrid combinations like ,georges ,dickson1 impossibilities like ,tiers-,ordre ,luciferien d',honoris ,causa1 and numerous similar instances4 ,to behold ,diana unveiled was equivalent in alchemical terminology to attaining the magnum opus4 ,the reputed author of the ,new ,light of ,alchemy testifies that some persons had in his own day and to his certain knowledge attained this supreme privilege4 ,it is not of my own seeking if in another sense ,i have made public the same spectacle1 and thus broken with the traditions of secret science4 ,it would have been preferable from one point of view to have discovered ,lucifer behind the mask of ,masonry than to have found the conspiracy against it another ,tableau des ,inconstances des ,dmons in which the infidelit et mcreance connected with the old false witness1 abound after a manner undreamed of by ,bodin and ,wierus1 for it is distinctly disconcerting to think that a great church is so little honoured by her combatants and converts4 ,it only remains to state1 and ,i do so with extreme reluctance1 that the evidence of ,signor ,domenico ,margiotta1 which seems so strong in itself1 can only be accepted1 as we have seen1 in connection with the credibility of ,miss ,vaughan1 and as this has completely broken down1 we cannot do otherwise than regard that part of his evidence which is concerned with ,palladism as the narrative of a person who has been very seriously misled4 ,and ,i think he has otherwise shown us that he is not a judicious critic of the materials which have come into his hands4 ,he should never1 for example1 have printed his list of ,palladian ,lotus ,lodges--so far as regards ,great ,britain1 it is undeniably a false list4 ,take that of ,edinburgh as a typical instance4 ,mr ,brown1 who has every opportunity of knowing1 tells me there is absolutely no truth in the statement that there is in ,edinburgh a ,mother1 or any1 ,lodge of the ,palladian ,order4 ,neither is there a ,triangular ,province--whatever that may mean--such as is described4 ,all is absolutely false4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,the ,,radix ,,of ,,modern ,,diabolism ,we have finished with the witnesses of ,lucifer1 and ,i think that the search-light of a drastic criticism has left them in considerable disarray4 ,we approach the limit of the present inquiry1 but before summing up and presenting such a general statement or conclusion as may be warranted by the facts1 there is one point1 left over hereunto1 and designed for final consideration1 because it appeals more exclusively to professed transcendentalists1 which it will be necessary to treat briefly4 ,i have already indicated that sporadic revivals of black magic have occasionally been heard of by mystics here in ,england1 and from time to time we have also heard vaguely of obscure assemblies of ,luciferians4 ,quite recently an interview with ,papus1 the ,french occultist1 published in ,light1 mentions a society which was devoted to the cultus of ,lucifer1 star of the morning1 quite distinct from ,masonry1 quite unimportant1 and since very naturally dead4 ,now1 a large proportion of mystics here in ,england are ,high-,grade ,masons1 and if a society of the ,palladium had extended to anything remotely approaching the proportions alleged1 they could not have failed to know of it4 ,i will go further and affirm that our non-,masonic transcendental associations have abundant opportunities to become acquainted with institutions similar to their own1 and it is preposterous to suppose that there could be several ,palladian triangles working their degrees in this country without our being aware of the fact4 ,but we have not been aware of it1 and our only informations concerning ,palladism have come to us from ,france4 ,we do not accept these informations2 we know that the persons here in ,england who are alleged by ,french false witnesses to be connected with the ,palladium are not so connected1 and are now learning of it for the first time4 ,the statements concerning ,mr ,john ,yarker are categorically untrue2 the gross calumny published by the converted ,diana ,vaughan about ,dr ,wynn ,westcott1 who happens to be a ,high-,grade ,mason1 she will never dare to come forth from her retreat and re-affirm within the jurisdiction of these islands1 because she knows well that a ,british jury would make a large demand upon her reputed ,american dollars4 ,let us1 however1 put aside for the moment the mendacities and forgeries which complicate the question of ,lucifer1 and let us approach ,palladism from an altogether different side4 ,i believe that ,i may speak with a certain accent of authority upon any question which connects with the ,french magus liphas ,lvi4 ,i am an old student of his works1 and of the aspects of occult science and magical history which arise out of them2 in the year #ahhf ,i published a digest of his writings which has been the only attempt to present them to ,english readers until the present year when ,i have undertaken a translation in extenso of the ,dogme et ,rituel de la ,haute ,magie1 which is actually in the hands of the printer4 ,now1 it has not been alleged in so many words that the radix of ,modern ,diabolism and the ,masonic cultus of ,lucifer is to be found in liphas ,lvi1 but that is the substance of the charge4 ,most1 or all1 of the witnesses agree in representing him as an atrocious ,satanist1 an invoker of ,lucifer1 a celebrater of black masses1 and an adept in the practical blasphemies of ,eucharistic sacrilege2 all of them father either upon the ,palladium or upon ,pike a variety of documents containing gross thefts from ,lvi2 some of them1 directly and upon their own responsibility1 cite passages from his works1 always with conspicuous bad faith4 ,finally1 they agree in connecting him with the foundation of the ,new and ,reformed ,palladium through his alleged disciple ,phileas ,walder2 and one of them goes so far as to say that ,palladism was a further development or restoration of a ,satanic society directed by liphas ,lvi and operating his theurgic system1 which he in turn1 if ,i rightly understand the mixed hypothesis of ,m4 de la ,rive1 may have derived from the ,palladic rite of #agcj4 ,if we accept for the moment this origin of the reformed order1 it will follow that if the occult doctrines of liphas ,lvi have been seriously misunderstood or grossly defamed by the witnesses1 the diabolical or ,luciferian connection of ,palladism does not wear the complexion which has been ascribed to it4 ,it is represented as3 7a7 outwardly ,masonic1 and 7b7 actually theurgic4 7c7 ,it is ,manichan in doctrine4 7d7 ,it regards ,lucifer as an eternal principle co-existent1 but in a hostile sense1 with ,adona4 7e7 ,it holds that the beneficent deity is ,lucifer1 while ,adona is malevolent2 7f7 ,certain sections of ,palladists1 however1 recognise that ,lucifer is identical with ,satan1 and is the evil principle4 7g7 ,this section adores the evil principle as such4 ,now1 in each and all these matters the ,palladian system conflicts with that of ,lvi4 ,to give a colourable aspect to their hypothesis1 the witnesses affirm that ,lvi was a high-grade ,mason4 ,he was nothing of the kind2 he affirms most distinctly in his ,history of ,magic1 that for any knowledge which he possessed about the mysteries of the fraternity1 he owed his initiation only to ,god and to his individual studies4 ,secondly1 the practice of ceremonial magic1 which is what the witnesses understand by theurgy1 is a practice condemned by ,lvi1 except as an isolated experiment to fortify intellectual conviction as to the truth of magical theorems4 ,he attempted it for this purpose in the spring of the year #ahed1 and having satisfied himself as to the fact1 he did not renew it4 ,thirdly1 the philosophy of liphas ,lvi is in direct contrast to ,manichan doctrine2 it cannot be explained by dualism1 but must be explained by its opposite1 namely1 triplicity in unity4 ,he shows that the unintelligent disciples of ,zoroaster have divided the duad without referring it to unity1 thus separating the pillars of the temple1 and seeking to halve ,god 7,dogme1 p4 #abi1 #bnd edition74 ,is that a ,manichan doctrine8 ,again3 ,if you conceive the ,absolute as two1 you must immediately conceive it as three to recover the unity principle 7,ibid474 ,once more3 ,divinity1 one in its essence1 has two fundamental conditions of being--necessity and liberty 7,ibid41 p4 #abg74 ,and yet again3 ,if ,god were one only1 ,he would never be ,creator nor ,father4 ,if ,he were two1 there would be antagonism or division in the infinite1 and this would be severance or death for every possible existence2 ,he is therefore three for the creation by ,himself1 and in ,his image of the infinite multitude of beings and numbers4 ,thus ,he is really one in ,himself and triple in our conception1 by which we also behold ,him triple in ,himself and one in our intelligence and in our love4 ,this is a mystery for the faithful and a logical necessity for the initiate of the absolute and true sciences 7,ibid41 p4 #ach74 ,and the witnesses of ,lucifer have the effrontery to represent ,lvi as a dualist6 ,i will not discredit their understanding by supposing that they could misread so plain a principle1 nor dissemble my full conviction that they acted with intentional bad faith4 ,fourthly1 liphas ,lvi regarded ,lucifer as a conception of transcendental mythology1 and the devil as an impossible fiction1 or an inverted and blasphemous conception of ,god--divinity rebours4 ,he describes the ,ophite heresy which offered adoration to the serpent and the ,canite heresy which justified the revolt of the first angel and the first murderer as errors fit for classification with the monstrous idols of the anarchic symbolism of ,india 7,rituel1 pp4 #ac1 #ad74 ,is that diabolism8 ,is that the cultus of ,lucifer8 ,true1 ,lvi did not believe in the personal existence of a father of lies1 and if it be ,satanism not to do so1 let us be content to diabolise with ,lvi while the false witnesses illustrate the methods of their father4 ,it is unnecessary to multiply quotations1 but here is one more3 ,the author of this book is a ,christian like you2 his faith is that of a ,catholic deeply and strongly convinced2 therefore his mission is not to deny dogmas1 but to combat impiety under one of its most dangerous forms1 that of erroneous belief and superstition4444 ,away with the idol which hides our ,saviour6 ,down with the tyrant of falsehood6 ,down with the black god of the ,manichans6 ,down with the ,ahriman of the old idolaters6 ,live ,god alone and ,his incarnate ,logos1 ,jesus the ,christ1 ,saviour of the world1 who beheld ,satan precipitated from heaven6 ,go to1 ,m4 le ,docteur ,bataille6 bas1 ,signor ,margiotta6 ,phi1 diabolus and ,leo ,taxil6 ,seeing then that liphas ,lvi has been calumniously represented1 and that he was not a ,satanist1 he could not have founded a ,satanic society1 nor could a ,manichan order have been developed out of his doctrines4 ,hence if a ,palladian ,society do exist at ,charleston1 it either owes nothing to ,lvi1 or its cultus has been falsely described4 ,in other words1 from whatever point we approach the witnesses of ,lucifer1 they are subjected to a rough unveiling4 ,in the words of the motto on my title1 the first in this plot was ,lucifer--videlicet1 the ,father of ,lies6 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,conclusion ,it remains for us now to appreciate the exact position in which the existence of the ,palladian ,order is left after all suspicious information has been subtracted4 ,we have examined in succession the testimony of every witness to the discovery of ,leo ,taxil and ,m4 ,adolphe ,ricoux1 and it has been made entirely evident that they are of a most unsatisfactory kind4 ,i make no pretence to pass a precise judgment upon ,leo ,taxil1 for ,i am not in a position to prove that the ,palladian rituals which appear in ,are there ,women in ,freemasonry8 can be characterised as invented matter4 ,granting his personal good faith1 there are still many obvious questions1 one of which is the connection between the ,palladians and ,masonry4 ,as regards the so-called ,paris triangle1 from which the information was obtained1 as regards the ritual itself1 there is obviously no such connection1 except the fantastic and arbitrary rule that initiation is imparted exclusively to persons possessed of ,masonic degrees4 ,it is patent that such an institution is not ,masonic1 though it possesses some secrets of ,masonry4 ,the ,societas ,rosicruciana in ,anglia1 as we have seen1 is an association based upon precisely the same regulation1 but it has no official position4 ,should a circle of ,catholic priests conspire for the formation of a society dedicated to black magic and the celebration of the ,satanic mass1 that would not be the ,church diabolising4 ,no institution1 and no society1 is responsible for the unauthorised acts of individual members4 ,at the same time1 if it should be advanced by hostile criticism that the invention of rituals is easy1 and that the literary antecedents of ,leo ,taxil are not precisely of that kind which would lead any cautious person to place blind confidence in his unchecked statements1 ,i am compelled to say that ,i should find considerable difficulty in challenging such a position4 ,mgr4 ,meurin1 the next witness1 deserves1 by his position and ability1 our very sincere respect2 compared with the octogenarian sentimentalism of ,jean ,kostka1 the violence of ,signor ,margiotta1 and the paste-pot of ,m4 de la ,rive1 one breathes pleine poitrine in the altitudes of ecclesiastical erudition1 artificial as their eminence turns out2 the art sacerdotal does not concern itself with preposterous narratives1 so that it disputes nothing with the art of ,bataille2 it has never stood in need of conversion1 and hence is exempt from the hysterical ardours and languors of ,diana ,vaughan4 ,but the archbishop's interpretation of ,masonry is based upon another interpretation of ,kabbalistic literature1 which can be accepted by no person who is acquainted therewith1 and would have scarcely been attempted by himself if he had known it at first hand4 ,in the matter of ,palladian ,masonry1 he can tell us only what he has learned from ,ricoux4 ,it is agreed upon all sides that we dismiss ,dr ,bataille4 ,he does not disclose the name and nation which he adopted during his ,masonic career1 and hence the persons whom he states that he met are1 with one exception1 not in a position to contradict him1 because they are not in a position to identify him4 ,the personality of the one exception is not particularised1 but may be guessed without the exercise of much skill in divination1 and here ,i must leave the point1 not because ,i am disinclined to speak plainly and thus risk the possibility of being mistaken1 but because ,dr ,bataille informs us that this one confidant is in his power1 and that he could procure for him or her a term of penal servitude4 ,lastly1 he is not in a position to exhibit his ,palladian diplomas1 which were demanded by the dispensing authorities when he first fell under their suspicion and have not been returned to him4 ,while we are therefore prevented from checking his affirmations in what most concerns our inquiry1 we see that at all points where it is possible to control him he has completely broken down2 the miraculous element of his narrative transcends credit1 and his statements upon a multitude of ordinary matters of fact are beneath it4 ,when we connect these points with the mode of publication he has seen fit to adopt1 and remember the kind of motive which usually attaches to that mode1 we have no other course but to set him entirely outside consideration4 ,his book is evidentially valuable only to close the question4 ,he may have visited ,charleston2 he may have made the personal acquaintance of ,albert ,pike1 ,gallatin ,mackey1 ,phileas ,walder1 and his daughter ,sophia2 three of these persons are dead and cannot testify2 the fourth acknowledges that he attended her medically at ,naples2 she protests against his betrayal1 but she does not betray in return his ,masonic identity1 though ,i need scarcely add that she does not substantiate his statements4 ,on these points my readers may be reasonably left to form their own judgments4 ,miss ,diana ,vaughan is a lady who1 in spite of much notoriety1 is not in evidence2 with one exception no credible person has ever said that he has seen her2 that exception is ,signor ,margiotta4 ,it would not1 however1 be the strongest line of criticism to dispute her existence2 we may accept very gladly all that her ,italian friend is good enough to say in regard to her personal characteristics1 but we know that she has tried to deceive us1 with conspicuous ill-success it is true1 yet in a gross and most wicked manner4 ,as to ,signor ,margiotta himself1 with all his imperfections1 he is the strongest witness to the discovery of ,leo ,taxil4 ,i have admitted the great apparent force which belongs to his enormous array of documentary evidence1 and ,i have established the nature of the complications which make that evidence extremely difficult to accept4 ,lastly1 ,jean ,kostka and ,m4 ,a4 ,c4 de la ,rive1 though they came within the scope of our inquiry1 are not ,palladian witnesses4 ,it would appear1 therefore1 that ,leo ,taxil and ,m4 ,adolphe ,ricoux are1 for the most part1 neither honoured in their witnesses nor in a position to stand alone4 ,the evidence which has grown out of their discovery is in an exceedingly corrupt state1 and in summing the ,question of ,lucifer1 as an impartial critic1 ,i shall therefore simply propose to my readers the following general statement3--,in the year #ahia1 ,leo ,taxil and ,m4 ,adolphe ,ricoux state that they have discovered certain documents which show the existence of a ,palladian ,society1 claimed to be at the head of ,masonry1 and in the year #ahie ,signor ,domenico ,margiotta states that he belonged to that society and gives further particulars concerning it4 ,a number of other witnesses have also come forward whose evidence must1 for various reasons1 be completely rejected4 ,it is in all respects much to be deplored that ,signor ,margiotta has largely and approvingly cited the testimony of two of these witnesses who are most open to condemnation1 and that he has himself exercised an imperfect and uncritical censorship over papers which have come into his hands4 ,from first to last all documents are open to strong suspicion4 ,such is the slender residue which results from this sifting of ,lucifer2 if ,i have made my final statement thus indeterminate in its character1 it is because ,i wish my readers to form their own conclusions as to ,leo ,taxil and ,domenico ,margiotta1 and because ,i believe that1 before long1 further evidence will be forthcoming4 ,i have little personal doubt as to the ultimate nature of the verdict1 but at the present stage of the inquiry1 with all the exposures which ,i have had the satisfaction of making fresh and clear in my mind1 ,i would dissuade any one from saying that there is nothing in the ,question of ,lucifer2 it is at least obvious that there is no end to its impostures1 in which respect ,i do not claim to have done more than trim the fringes of the question4 ,it is not therefore closed1 and1 if ,i may so venture to affirm1 it assumes a fresh interest with the appearance of this book4 ,it deserves to rank among the most extraordinary literary swindles of the present1 perhaps of any1 century4 ,the field which it covers is enormous1 and there is room1 and more than room1 for a score of other investigators who will none fail of their reward4 ,within the limits of a moderate volume1 it is impossible to take into account the whole of the issues involved1 while the importance which is to be attributed to the subject should not be lightly regarded1 seeing that in ,france1 at the time of writing1 it provides an apparently remunerative circulation to two monthly reviews1 and that its literature is otherwise still growing4 ,at the present moment1 and for the purposes of this criticism1 a few concluding statements alone remain to be made2 they concern the position of ,italy in connection with the so-called ,universal ,masonry1 some aspects of the history of the ,scotch ,rite in connection with the recent revelations1 and the interference of the ,catholic ,church1 wisely or not1 in the question4 ,the one ,mason whose rank corresponds in ,italy to that of ,albert ,pike in ,america is not ,adriano ,lemmi1 but ,signor ,timoteo ,riboli1 ,sovereign ,grand ,commander of the #ccrd and last degree of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,scotch ,rite4 ,adriano ,lemmi is1 or was1 ,grand ,master of the ,craft ,section of ,italy and ,deputy ,grand ,commander only of the ,supreme ,council of ,italy of the #cc4 ,the pretended ,grand ,central ,directory of ,naples1 which governs all ,europe in the interests of ,charleston1 with ,giovanni ,bovio for ,sovereign ,director1 is a ,masonic myth--pace ,signor ,margiotta4 ,signor ,bovio is a ,member of the ,grand ,master's ,council and a #cc at ,rome4 ,there is a ,neapolitan ,section of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,rite1 but it has powers only up to the #cj1 and as such has no authority in general government1 nor does ,bovio appear to be a member of the ,neapolitan section1 though as a member of ,lemmi's ,council1 and a #cc1 he no doubt has his share in the government of the ,neapolitans4 ,the history of the ,ancient and ,accepted ,rite as given by ,signor ,margiotta and sketched in my second chapter is an incorrect history4 ,the facts are as follows3--,a person named ,isaac ,long was engaged in propagating the ,french ,rite of ,perfection of #be in ,america before #agif2 in that year he gave the degrees to one de ,grasse and also to de la ,hogue1 who established a ,consistory of the #be at ,charleston4 ,in #ahjb this ,consistory had blossomed into a ,supreme ,grand ,council1 #cc1 and at a little later period they forged the name of ,voltaire's friend1 ,frederick the ,great of ,prussia1 to what ,mr ,yarker terms one of the most stupidly concocted documents ever palmed upon an ignorant public4 ,however this may be1 ,long does not seem to have been at any time a member of this body4 ,this is how the ,mother ,council of the ,world is said to have come into existence1 and ,charleston has established ,supreme ,councils #cc1 between #ahaa and #ahdf1 in ,france1 ,ireland1 ,scotland1 ,england1 and elsewhere4 ,there is no foundation for the legend of the ,charleston ,templar relics1 namely1 the skull of ,jacques de ,molay and the ,baphomet1 beyond the fact that one of the grades1 the #bc of the old ,rite of ,perfection and the #cj of the modern ,rite1 uses a representation of the ,papal tiara in its ceremonies and also of the crown of ,france1 in allusion to ,pope ,clement ,v4 and ,philip le ,bel4 ,i can find no ,mason1 of what grade or rite soever1 who has ever heard of ,pike's ,sepher d',hebarim1 his book called ,apadno1 or lectures in which he imparted extracts unacknowledged from liphas ,lvi2 they may rank with triangular provinces1 ,lucifer chez lui1 the skull of ,molay1 and the ,palladium2 in other words1 they are lying myths4 ,nothing which ,pike has or is known to have written has any ,luciferian complexion4 ,he has collected into his lectures a mass of mystical material from rites like ,memphis and ,misram1 but it is alchemical1 theosophical1 or dealing with ancient symbolism1 the mysteries1 pre-christian theology1 c4 ,as to ,pike himself1 a ,mason of high authority observes in a private letter3--,he was one of the greatest men who ever adorned our ,order4 ,he was a giant among men1 his learning was most profound1 his eloquence great1 and his wisdom comprehensive2 he was a scholar in many languages1 and a most voluminous writer4 ,he was an ornament to the profession to which he belonged1 namely1 ,law2 he fought the cause of the red man against the ,american government many years ago1 and prevailed in a large degree4 ,i believe he was a true and humble servant of the ,one ,true and ,living ,god1 and a lover of humanity4 ,having regard to all these facts1 it is much to be regretted that the ,catholic ,church should have warmly approved and welcomed the extremely unsatisfactory testimony which connects ,masonry with ,diabolism4 ,when the report of ,diabolism first reached the ears of ,english mystics1 and it was understood that the ,church had concerned herself very seriously in the matter1 ,i must confess that a hidden motive was immediately suspected4 ,a recrudescence of medival ,black ,magic was in no sense likely to attain such proportions as to warrant the august interference2 it seemed much as if ,her ,majesty's government should think it worth while to suppress the ,league of the ,white ,rose4 ,but when it transpired that the ,question of ,lucifer was a new aspect of the old question of ,catholic hostility to ,masonry1 the astonishment evaporated2 it was at once seen that ,modern ,diabolism had acquired an extrinsic importance because it was alleged to be connected with that ,fraternity which the ,church has long regarded as her implacable enemy4 ,i must be permitted to register clearly the general conviction that if black magic1 sorcery1 and the ,sabbath up to date had been merely revived demonomania1 had been merely concerned with the black paternoster1 the black mass1 or even with transcendental sensualism and the ordeal of the pastos1 the ,roman hierarchy would not have taken action as it has1 nor would the witnesses concerning these things have been welcomed with open arms2 as a fact1 no interest whatsoever is manifested in the doings of diabolists who operate apart from ,masonry4 ,now1 the hostility of ,continental ,masons towards ,catholicism1 in so far as it provably exists1 has been largely or exclusively created by the hostility of the ,church1 and we know that he hates most who hates the first4 ,in so far1 therefore1 as the ,church has concerned herself by encouragement1 which has something of the aspect of incitement1 in the recent revelations1 we shall have to bear in mind her attitude1 while the history of forged decretals and bogus apostolic epistles will reveal to us that she does not invariably exercise a searching criticism upon documents which serve her purpose4 ,the sorcery of the nineteenth century is under no circumstances likely to justify the faggots of the fifteenth2 it might be easier to justify the sorcery4 ,as much by mystics as by the ,church ,catholic1 modern black magic may be left to perish of its own corruption4 ,but an attempt on the part of the ,church to fasten the charge of diabolism on the ,masonic ,fraternity has credibly another motive than that of political hostility1 which seems held to justify almost any weapon that comes to hand4 ,at the bottom of her hatred of ,masonry there is also her dread of the mystic4 ,transcendental science claims to have the key of her doctrines1 and there is evidence that she fears that claim4 ,black magic1 which1 by the hypothesis1 is the use of the most evil forces for the most evil purposes1 she does not fear1 for it wears its condemnation on its forehead2 but mysticism1 which accepts her own dogmas and interprets them in a sense which is not her own1 which claims a certitude in matters of religion that transcends the certitude of faith1 seems to hint that at one point it is possible to undermine her foundations4 ,hence she has ever suspected the mystic1 and a part of her suspicion of ,masonry has been by reason of its connection with the mystic2 she has intuitively divined that connection1 which by ,masons themselves1 for the most part1 is not dreamed at this day1 and when suggested is generally somewhat lightly cast aside4 ,it would be quite out of place at the close of the present inquiry1 which1 from a wholly independent standpoint1 has sought to justify a great fraternity from a singularly foul aspersion1 to attempt enforcing upon ,masons a special view of their institution1 but it is desirable1 at the same time1 to be just towards the ,catholic ,church1 and to affirm that we1 as mystics1 are on this point substantially in agreement with her4 ,the connection in question was for a time visible1 and remains in historical remembrance2 from the beginning of its public appearance till the close of the eighteenth century1 the history of ,masonry is part of transcendental history4 ,that connection has now ceased to manifest1 but there is another which is integral and permanent1 and is a matter of common principles and common objects4 ,let it be remembered1 however1 that connection is not identity2 it is not intended to say that the threshold of ,masonry is a gate of ,mysticism1 but that there is a community of purpose1 of symbolism1 of history1 and indirectly of origin1 between the two systems4 ,all true religion1 all true morality1 all true mysticism have but one object1 and that is to act on humanity1 collective and individual1 in such a manner that it shall correspond efficiently with the great law of development1 and co-operate consciously therewith to achieve the end of development4 ,under all the mysteries of its symbolism1 behind the impressive parables of its ritual1 and as equally1 but if possible more effectually concealed1 beneath the commonplace insistences of its moral maxims1 this end is also proposed by the occult initiations of ,masonry2 and if it be defined more explicitly as the perfection of man both here and hereafter1 and his union with what is highest in the universe1 we shall see more clearly not only that it is the sole fundamental principle of all religion1 its very essence1 divested of creed and dogma1 but also inherent in the nature of symbolical ,masonry1 and inwrought in the whole system of ,masonic ceremonies4 ,as mystics1 however1 we consider that the ethical standard of ,masonry will produce good citizens to society and good brethren to the ,fraternity1 but it will not produce saints to ,christ4 ,there is an excellence which is other than the moral1 and stands to morality in precisely the same relation that genius bears to talent4 ,the moral virtues are not the summum bonum1 nor the totality of all forces at work in the development of man1 nor actually the perfect way1 though they are the gate of the way of perfection4 ,now1 the mystic claims to be in possession of the higher law which transcends the ethical1 from which the ethical derives1 and to which it must be referred for its reason4 ,that the lost secret of ,freemasonry is concerned with special applications of this higher law which connect with mysticism1 we1 as mystics1 do hold and can make evident in its proper time and place4 ,here1 and personally1 ,i am concerned only with a comprehensive statement4 ,in addition to its body of moral law1 which is founded in the general conscience1 or in the light of nature1 ,masonry has a body of symbolism1 of which the source is not generally known1 and by which it is identified with movements and modes of thought1 and with evolutionary processes1 having reference to regions already described as transcending the ethical world and concerned with the spiritual man4 ,from every ,masonic candidate1 ignoring the schismatic and excommunicated sections1 there is required a distinct attitude of mind towards the world without and the world within4 ,he is required to believe in the existence of a ,supreme ,intelligence1 with which his essential nature corresponds in the possession of an indestructible principle of conscious or understanding life4 ,beyond these doctrines1 ,masonry is wholly unsectarian2 it recognises no other dogmas2 it accredits no form of faith4 ,now1 ,mysticism is a body of spiritual methods and processes1 based1 like the ,masonic body of ethical methods and processes1 on these same doctrines4 ,every man who believes in ,god and immortality is the raw material of a mystic2 every man who believes that there is a discoverable way to ,god is on the path of conscious mysticism4 ,as this path has been pursued in all ages and nations by persons of widely divergent creeds1 it is clear that however much mysticism has been identified with special spheres of religious thought and activity1 it is independent of all4 ,but while ,masonry would appear to regard the evolution of our physical1 intellectual1 and moral nature as the best preparation for that larger existence which is included in its central doctrine1 and would thus work inward from without1 mysticism deems that the evolution of the spiritual man and the production of a human spirit at one with the divine1 constitute the missing condition requisite for the reconstruction of humanity1 and would thus work outward from within4 ,neither ,mason nor ,mystic1 however1 can ignore either method4 ,the one supplements the other2 and seeing that the processes of mysticism are distinct from what is still a subject of derision under the name of transcendental phenomena1 as they are wholly philosophical and interior1 not to be appreciated by the senses1 a secret experience within the depths and heights of our spiritual being1 an institution which believes in ,god and immortality1 and by the fact of immortality in the subsistence of an intimate relation between the spirit and ,god1 will not look suspiciously on mysticism when it comes to understand it better4 ,i have spoken of ,masonic symbolism1 and the method of instruction in ,masonry is identical with that of mysticism2 both systems are veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbolism4 ,the significance of this correspondence would not be measurably weakened were there no similarity in the typology1 no trace of mystic influence in ,masonic rite and legend4 ,but there is a resemblance1 and the types are often identical1 though the accredited interpretation varies4 ,masonry1 as a fact1 interprets the types which belong to our own science according to the criterion of ethics1 and thus provides a prolegomena to ,mysticism1 as ethics are a necessary introduction to the inner science of the soul4 ,there is naturally a minor body of conventional typology which is tolerably exclusive to the craft1 but the grand and universal emblems1 characteristic of symbolical ,masonry as distinct from the operative art--these are our own emblems4 ,the ,all-,seeing ,eye1 the ,burning ,star1 the ,rough and ,perfect ,ashlar1 the ,point within a ,circle1 the ,pentalpha1 the ,seal of ,solomon1 the ,cubic ,stone--all these belong to the most lofty and arcane order of occult symbolism1 but in mystic science they illumine more exalted zones of the heaven of mind4 ,the rites1 legends1 and mysteries of the great ,fraternity are also full of mystical allusions1 and admit of mystical interpretation in the same manner1 but their evidential force is weaker1 because ceremonial and legend in the hands of a skilful commentator can be made to take any shape and any complexion2 it is otherwise with the symbols of the ,brotherhood which were possessed by us before the historical appearance of ,masonry4 ,so also the ,masonic reverence for certain numbers which are apparently arbitrary in themselves is in reality connected with a most recondite and curious system of mystic methodical philosophy1 while in the high titles of ,masonic dignity there is frequently a direct reference to ,mysticism4 ,if we turn from these considerations and approach the historical connection through those still undetermined problems which concern the origin of ,masonry1 we shall discern not unfortunately a way clear to their solution1 but a significant characteristic pervading every ,masonic hypothesis almost without exception--namely1 an instinctive desire to refer ,masonry in its original form to sources that are provably mystic4 ,in the fanciful and extravagant period1 when archology and comparative mythology were as yet in their childhood1 this tendency was not less strong because it was mostly quite unconscious4 ,to pass in review before us the chief institutions of antiquity with which ,masonry was then said to be connected1 would be to sweep the whole field of transcendental history1 and when we come to a more sober period which recognised the better claim of the building guilds to explain the beginnings of the ,fraternity1 the link with ,mysticism was not even then abandoned1 and a splendid variant of the ,dionysian dream took back the medival architects to the portals of ,eleusis and of ,thebes4 ,when the history of ,freemasonry becomes possible by the possession of materials1 its chief philosophical interest centres in one country of ,europe2 there is no doubt that it exercised an immense influence upon ,france during that century of quakings and quickenings which gave birth to the great revolution1 transformed civilisation in the ,west1 and inaugurated the modern era4 ,without being a political society1 it was an instrument eminently adaptable to the sub-surface determination of political movements4 ,at a later date it may have contributed to the formation of ,germany1 as it did certainly to the creation of ,italy1 but the point and centre of ,masonic history is ,france in the eighteenth century4 ,to that country also is mainly confined the historical connection between ,masonry and mystic science1 for the revival of ,mysticism which originated in ,germany at the close of the eighteenth century1 and thence passed over to ,england1 found its final field in ,france at the period in question4 ,there ,rosicrucianism reappeared1 there ,anton ,mesmer recovered the initial process of transcendental practice1 there the ,marquis de ,puysgur discovered clairvoyance1 there ,martines de ,pasqually instructed his disciples in the mysteries of ceremonial magic2 there the illustrious ,saint-,martin1 le philosophe inconnu1 developed a special system of spiritual reconstruction2 there alchemy flourished2 there spiritual and political princes betook themselves to extravagant researches after an elixir of life2 there also1 as a consequence1 rose up a line of magnificent impostors who posed as initiates of the occult sciences1 as possessors of the grand secret and the grand mastery2 there1 finally1 under the influences of transcendental philosophy1 emblematic ,freemasonry took root and grew and flourished1 developing ten thousand splendours of symbolic grades1 of romantic legends1 of sonorous names and titles4 ,in a word1 the ,mysticism of ,europe concentrated its forces at ,paris and ,lyons1 and all ,french ,mysticism gathered under the shadow of the square and compass4 ,to that1 as to a centre1 the whole movement gravitated1 and thence it worked4 ,there is nothing to show that it endeavoured to revolutionise ,masonry in its own interest4 ,the ,fraternity naturally attracted all ,mystics to its ranks1 and the development of the mystic degrees took place as the result of that attraction4 ,by the year #ahbe a variety of circumstances had combined to suspend transcendental activity1 and the connection with ,masonry ended1 but the present revival of mystic thought is rapidly picking up the links of the broken chain2 secretly or unobtrusively the spirit of transcendentalism is working within the ,fraternity1 and the bogus question of ,lucifer is simply a hostile and unscrupulous method of recognising that fact4 ,if ,masonry and ,mysticism could be shown in the historical world to be separated by the great sea1 the consanguinity of their intention would remain1 which is more important than external affinity1 and they are sisters by that bond4 ,but they have not been so separated1 and on either side there is no need to be ashamed of the connection4 ,with all brethren of the ,fraternity1 we also do believe in the resurrection of ,hiram1 and we regard the ,temple as an edifice immediately realisable1 for we rebuild it in our hearts4 ,we also adore the ,grand ,architect1 and offer our intellectual homage to the divine cipher which is in the centre of the symbolic star2 and we believe that some day the ,mason will recognise the ,mystic4 ,he is the heir of the great names of antiquity1 the philosophers and hierarchs1 and the spiritual kings of old2 he is of the line of ,orpheus and ,hermes1 of the ,essenes and the ,magi4 ,and all those illustrious systems and all those splendid names with which ,masonry has ever claimed kindred belong absolutely to the history of ,mysticism4 ,,the ,,end ,,turnbull ,,and ,,spears1 ,,printers1 ,,edinburgh4