DEVIL-WORSHIP IN FRANCE

 _Demy 8vo, about 450 pages, 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 Author. _

 GEORGE REDWAY 9 HART STREET, BLOOMSBURY LONDON

DEVIL-WORSHIP IN FRANCE

OR

THE QUESTION OF LUCIFER

_A RECORD OF THINGS SEEN AND HEARD IN THESECRET SOCIETIES ACCORDING TO THEEVIDENCE OF INITIATES_

BY

ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE

"The first in this plot was Lucifer. "--THOMAS VAUGHAN

LONDONGEORGE REDWAY1896

PREFACE

The term Modern Satanism is not intended to signify the development ofsome new aspect of old doctrine concerning demonology, or some newargument for the personification of the evil principle in universalnature. It is intended to signify the alleged revival, or, at least, thereappearance to some extent in public, of a _cultus diabolicus_, orformal religion of the devil, the existence of which, in the middleages, is registered by the known facts of the Black Sabbath, adepartment, however, of historical research, to which full justice yetremains to be done. By the hypothesis, such a religion may assume one oftwo forms; it may be a worship of the evil principle as such, namely, aconscious attempt on the part of human minds to identify themselves withthat principle, or it may be the worship of a power which is regarded asevil by other religions, from which view the worshippers in questiondissent. The necessity for this distinction I shall make apparent in thefirst chapter of this book. A religion of the darkness, subsisting undereach of these distinctive forms, is said to be in practice at thepresent moment, and to be characterised, as it was in the past, by thestrong evidence of miracles, --in other words, by transcendentalphenomena of a very extraordinary kind, connecting in a direct mannerwith what is generically termed Black Magic. Now, Black Magic in thepast may have been imposture reinforced by delusion, and to state thatit is recurring at the present day does not commit anyone to an opinionupon its veridical origin. To say, also, that the existence of moderndiabolism has passed from the region of rumour into that of exhaustiveand detailed statement, is to record a matter of fact, and I must addthat the evidence in hand, whatever its ultimate value, can be regardedlightly by those only who are unacquainted with its extent andcharacter. This evidence is, broadly, of three kinds:--(a) The testimonyof independent men of letters, who would seem to have come in contacttherewith; (b) the testimony volunteered by former initiates of suchsecret associations as are dedicated to a _cultus diabolicus_; (c) thetestimony of certain writers, claiming special sources of information, and defending some affected interests of the Roman Catholic Church. 

My purpose in this book is to distinguish, so far as may be possible, what is true from what is false in the evidence, and I have undertakenthe task, firstly, because modern mystics are accused, _en masse_, ofbeing concerned in this cultus; secondly, because the existence ofmodern Satanism has given opportunity to a conspiracy of falsehood whichis wide in its ramifications, and serious on account of its source;thirdly, because the question itself has awakened considerable interestboth within and without transcendental circles, and it is desirable toreplace hazy and exaggerated notions by a clear and formal statement. 

I have connected the new diabolism with France in my title, because theevidence in each of its kinds has been filed by French writers, and wehave no other source of information. So far as that evidence is sound, we have to thank France for producing it; but, on the other hand, shouldit prove that a whole city of invention has been constructed, "with allits spires and gateways, " upon a meagre basis of fact, it is just thatFrench imagination should have full credit for the decorative art whichhas adorned this Question of Lucifer. 

The plan of my work had been sketched, and a number of chapters written, when I found myself to some extent preceded by a writer well known tooccultists under the pseudonym of Papus, who has quite recentlypublished a small brochure, entitled _Le Diable et L'Occultisme_, whichis a brief defence of transcendentalists against the accusations inconnection with Satanism. I gladly yield to M. Papus the priority intime, which was possible to a well-informed gentleman, at the centre ofthe conspiracy. His little work, however, does not claim to be either areview or a criticism, and does not therefore, in any sense, cover theground which I have travelled. It is an exposition and exoneration ofhis own school of mystic thought, which is that of the Martinists, and Ihave mentioned it in this connection in its proper place. 

CONTENTS

 PAGE

PREFACE v

CHAPTER I

SATANISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 1

CHAPTER II

THE MASK OF MASONRY 22

CHAPTER III

THE FIRST WITNESSES OF LUCIFER 42

CHAPTER IV

EX ORE LEONIS 53

CHAPTER V

THE DISCOVERY OF M. RICOUX 74

CHAPTER VI

ART SACERDOTAL 82

CHAPTER VII

THE DEVIL AND THE DOCTOR 97

CHAPTER VIII

DEALINGS WITH DIANA 162

CHAPTER IX

HOW LUCIFER IS UNMASKED 182

CHAPTER X

THE VENDETTA OF SIGNOR MARGIOTTA 201

CHAPTER XI

FEMALE FREEMASONRY 225

CHAPTER XII

THE PASSING OF DOCTOR BATAILLE 233

CHAPTER XIII

DIANA UNVEILED 255

CHAPTER XIV

THE RADIX OF MODERN DIABOLISM 290

CHAPTER XV

CONCLUSION 299

DEVIL-WORSHIP IN FRANCE

CHAPTER I

SATANISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

If a short time ago that ultimate and universal source of reference, theperson of average intelligence, had been asked concerning ModernDiabolism, or the Question of Lucifer, --What it is? Who are itsdisciples? Where is it practised? And why?--he would have replied, possibly with some asperity:--"The question of Lucifer! There is noquestion of Lucifer. Modern Diabolism! There is no modern Diabolism. "And all the advanced people and all the strong minds would have extolledthe average intelligence, whereupon the matter would have been closedhermetically, without disquieting and unwelcome investigations like thepresent. 

The Great Teacher of Christianity beheld Lucifer fall from heaven likelightning, and, in a different sense, the modern world has witnessed asimilar spectacle. Assuredly the demon of Milton has been cast down fromthe sky of theology, and, except in a few centres of extreme doctrinalconcentration, there is no place found for him. The apostles of materialphilosophy have in a manner searched the universe, and haveproduced--well, the material philosophy, and therein is no question ofLucifer. At the opposite pole of thought there is, let us say, thespiritualist, in possession of many instruments superior, at least bythe hypothesis, to the search-lights of science, through which hereceives the messages of the spheres and establishes a partialacquaintance with an order which is not of this world; but in that orderalso there appears to be no question of Lucifer, though vexed questionsthere are without number concerning "unprogressed spirits, " to saynothing of the elementary. Between these poles there is the flux andreflux of multitudinous opinions; but, except at the centres mentioned, there is still no question of Lucifer; it has been shelved or dropped. 

The revival of mystical philosophy, and, moreover, of transcendentalexperiment, which is prosecuted in secret to a far greater extent thanthe public can possibly be aware, has, however, set many old oracleschattering, and they are more voluble at the present moment than thegreat Dodonian grove. As might be expected, they whisper occasionally ofdeeds done in the darkness which look weird when exposed to the day. Theterms Satanism, Luciferianism, Diabolism, and their equivalents, havebeen buzzed frequently, though with some indistinctness, of late, and inaccents that indicate the existence of a living terror--people do notquite know of what kind--rather than an exploded superstition. To beplain, the Question of Lucifer has reappeared, and in a manner whichmust be eminently disconcerting to the average intelligence and theadvanced and strong in mind. It has reappeared not as a speculativeinquiry into the possibility of a personal embodiment of evil operatingmysteriously, but after a wholly spiritual manner, for the propagationof the second death; we are asked to acknowledge that there is a visibleand tangible manifestation of the descending hierarchy taking place atthe close of a century which has denied that there is any prince ofdarkness. 

Now there are some subjects which impress one at first sight asunserious, but we come to regard them differently when we find that theyare being taken seriously. We have been accustomed, with some show ofreason, to connect the idea of devil-worship with barbarous ritesobtaining among savage nations, to regard it, in fact, as a suitablecomplement of the fetish. It seems hypothetically quite impossible thatthere can be any person, much less any society or class of persons, who, at this day, and in London, Paris, or New York, adore the evilprinciple. Hence, to say that there is Black Magic actively in functionat the present moment; that there is a living cultus of Lucifer; thatBlack Masses are celebrated, and involve revolting profanations of theCatholic Eucharist; that the devil appears personally; that he possesseshis church, his ritual, his sacraments; that men, women, and childrendedicate themselves to his service, or are so devoted by their sponsors;that there are people, assumed to be sane, who would die in the peace ofLucifer; that there are those also who regard his region of eternalfire--a variety unknown to the late Mr Charles Marvin--as the true abodeof beatitude--to say all this will not enhance the credibility orestablish the intelligence of the speaker. 

But this improbable development of Satanism is just what is beingearnestly asserted, and the affirmations made are being taken in somequarters _au grand sérieux_. They are not a growth of to-day orprecisely of yesterday; they have been more or less heard for someyears, but their prominence at the moment is due to increasinginsistence, pretension to scrupulous exactitude, abundant detail, anddemonstrative evidence. Reports, furthermore, have quite recently cometo hand from two exceedingly circumstantial and exhaustive witnesses, and these have created distinctly a fresh departure. Books havemultiplied, periodicals have been founded, the Church is taking action, even a legal process has been instituted. The centre of this literatureis at Paris, but the report of it has crossed the Channel, and haspassed into the English press. As it is affirmed, therefore, that acultus of Lucifer exists, and that the men and women who are engaged init are neither ignorant nor especially mad, nor yet belonging to thelowest strata of society, it is worth while to investigate the matter, and some profit is possible, whatever the issue. 

If the devil be actually among us, then for the sake of much which hasseemed crass in orthodox religion, thus completely exonerated; for thesake of the fantastic in fiction and the lurid in legend, thusunexpectedly actualised; and, further, as it may be, for the sake of ourown souls, we shall do well to know of it. If Abaddon, Apollyon, and theLord of Flies are to be understood literally; above all, if they areliable to confront us _in propria persona_ between Free Mason's Hall andDuke Street, or between Duke Street and Avenue Road, then the sooner wecan arrange our reconciliation with the one Church which hasconsistently and invariably taught the one full-grown, virile doctrineof devils, and has the _bonâ-fide_ recipes for knowing, avoiding, and atneed of exorcising them, why the better will it be, more especially ifwe have had previously any leanings towards the conception of anuniversal order not pivoting on perdition. 

If, on the other hand, what is said be of the category of Ananias, asdistinguished from what alchemists call the Code of Truth, it will bewell also to know that some portions of the old orthodoxies still waitfor their deliverance from the bonds of scepticism, that the actual isto be discriminated from the fantastic by the old test, namely, itscomparative stupidity, and that we may still create our universe aboutany pivot that may please us. 

I am writing ostensibly for transcendentalists, of whom I am one; it isas a student of transcendentalism that I have been led to examine thismodern mystery, equipped as it is with such portentous phenomena. Diabolism is, of course, a transcendental question, and black magic isconnected with white by the same antinomy that connects light anddarkness. Moreover, we mystics are all to some extent accused by theaccusations which are preferred in the matter of modern diabolism, andthis is another reason for investigating and making known the result. Atthe same time, the general question has many aspects of interest forthat large class which would demur to be termed transcendental, butconfesses to being curious. 

The earliest rumour which I have been able to recall in Englandconcerning existing occult practices to which a questionable purposemight be attributed, appeared in a well-known psychological journal somefew years since, and was derived from a continental source, being anaccount of a certain society then existing in Paris, which was devotedto magical practices and in possession of a secret ritual for theevocation of planetary angels; it was an association of well-placedpersons, denying any connection with spiritualism, and pretending to anacquaintance with more effectual thaumaturgic processes than thosewhich obtain at séances. The account passed unchallenged, for in theabsence of more explicit information, it seemed scarcely worth while todraw attention to the true character of the claim. The secret ritual inquestion could not have been unknown to specialists in magicalliterature, and was certainly to myself among these; as a fact, it wasone of those numerous clavicles of the goëtic art which used tocirculate surreptitiously in manuscript some two centuries ago. There isno doubt that the planetary spirits with which the document wasconcerned were devils in the intention of its author, and must have beenevoked as such, supposing that the process was practised. The Frenchassociation was not therefore in possession of a secret source ofknowledge, but as impositions of this kind are to be _à priori_ expectedin such cases by transcendentalists of any experience, I for onerefrained from entering any protest at the time. 

Much about the same period it became evident that a marked change hadpassed over certain aspects of thought in "the most enlightened city ofthe world, " and that among the _jeunesse dorée_, in particular, therewas a strong revulsion against paramount material philosophy; an epochof transcendental and mystic feeling was, in fact, beginning. Oldassociations, having transcendental objects, were in course of revival, or were coming into renewed prominence. Martinists, Gnostics, Kabbalists, and a score of orders or fraternities of which we vaguelyhear about the period of the French Revolution, began to manifest greatactivity; periodicals of a mystical tendency--not spiritualistic, notneo-theosophical, but Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and theurgic--wereestablished, and met with success; books which had grievously weightedthe shelves of their publishers for something like a quarter of acentury were suddenly in demand, and students of distinction on thisside of the channel were attracted towards the new centre. The interestwas intelligible to professed mystics; the doctrine of transcendentalismhas never had but one adversary, which is the density of theintellectual subject, and wherever the subject clarifies, there isidealism in philosophy and mysticism in religion. Moreover, on the partof mystics, especially here in England, the way of that revival had beenprepared carefully, and there could be no astonishment that it came, andnone, too, that it was accompanied, as it is accompanied almostinvariably, by much that does not belong to it in the way oftranscendental phenomena. When, therefore, the rumours of Black Magic, diabolism, and the abuse of occult forces began to circulate, there waslittle difficulty in attributing some foundation to the report. 

A distinguished man of letters, M. Huysman, who has passed out ofZolaism in the direction of transcendental religion, is, in a certainsense, the discoverer of modern Satanism. Under the thinnest disguise offiction, he gives in his romance of _La Bas_, an incredible anduntranslatable picture of sorcery, sacrilege, black magic, and namelessabominations, secretly practised in Paris. Possessing a brilliantreputation, commanding a wide audience, and with a psychologicalinterest attaching to his own personality, which more than literaryexcellence infuses a contagious element into private views andimpressions, he has given currency to the Question of Lucifer, haspromoted it from obscurity into prominence, and has made it the vogue ofthe moment. It is true that, by his vocation of novelist, he issuspected of inventing his facts, and Dr "Papus, " president of theinfluential Martinist group in French occultism, states quite plainlythat the doors of the mystic fraternities have been closed in his face, so that he can know nothing, and his opinions are consequentlyindifferent. I have weighed these points carefully, but unless themystic fraternities are connected with diabolism, which Papus would mostrightly deny, the exclusion does not remove the opportunity offirst-hand knowledge concerning the practice of Satanism, and, "brilliant imagination" apart, M. Huysman has proved quite recently thathe is in mortal earnest by his preface to a historical treatise on"Satanism and Magic, " the work of a literary disciple, Jules Bois. In acriticism, which for general soberness and lucidity does not leave muchto be desired, he there affirms that a number of persons, not speciallydistinguished from the rest of the world by the mark of the beast intheir foreheads, are "devoted in secret to the operations of BlackMagic, communicate or seek to communicate with Spirits of Darkness, forthe attainment of ambition, the accomplishment of revenge, thesatisfaction of their passions, or some other form of ill-doing. " Heaffirms also that there are facts which cannot be concealed and fromwhich only one deduction can be made, namely, that the existence ofSatanism is undeniable. 

To understand the first of these facts I must explain that the attemptto form a partnership with the lost angels of orthodox theology, whichattempt constitutes Black Magic, has, in Europe at least, beeninvariably connected with sacrilege. By the hypothesis of demonology, Satan is the enemy of Christ, and to please Satan the sorcerer mustoutrage Christ, especially in his sacraments. The facts are asfollow:--(a) continuous, systematic, and wholesale robberies ofconsecrated hosts from Catholic Churches, and this not as a consequenceof importing the vessels of the sanctuary, which are often of triflingvalue and often left behind. The intention of the robbery is thereforeto possess the hosts, and their future profanation is the only possibleobject. Now, before it can be worth while to profane the Eucharist, onemust believe in the Real Presence, and this is acknowledged by only twoclasses, the many who love Christ and some few who hate Him. But He isnot profaned, at least not intentionally, by His lovers; hence thesacrilege is committed by His enemies in chief, namely, practisers ofBlack Magic. It is difficult, I think, to escape from that position; andI should add that sacramental outrages of this astonishing kind, howeverdeeply they may be deplored by the Church, are concealed rather thanparaded, and as it is difficult to get at the facts, it may be inferredthat they are not exaggerated, at least by the Church; (b) Theoccasional perpetration of certain outrageous crimes, including murderand other abominations, in which an element of Black Magic has beenelicited by legal tribunals. But these are too isolated in place andtoo infrequent in time to be evidence for Satanic associations orindications of a prevalent practice. They may therefore be released fromthe custody of the present inquiry to come up for judgment when calledon; (c) The existence of a society of Palladists, or professors ofcertain doctrines termed Palladism, as demonstrated, _inter alia_, bythe publication of a periodical review in its interests. 

M. Huysman's facts, therefore, resolve into acts of sacrilege, indicating associations existing for the purpose of sacrilege, whichpurpose must, however, be regarded as a means and not an end, and theend in question is to enter into communication with devils. Independently of M. Huysman, I believe there is no doubt about thesacrilege. It is a matter of notoriety that in 1894 two ciboria, containing one hundred consecrated hosts, were carried off by an oldwoman from the cathedral of Notre Dame under circumstances whichindicate that the vessels were not the objects of the larceny. Similardepredations are said to have increased in an extraordinary mannerduring recent years, and have occurred in all parts of France. No lessthan thirteen churches belonging to the one diocese of Orleans weredespoiled in the space of twelve months, and in the diocese of Lyons thearchbishop recommended his clergy to transform the tabernacles intostrong boxes. The departments of Aude, Isère, Tarn, Gard, Nièvre, Loiret, Yonne, Haute-Garonne, Somme, Le Nord, and the Dauphiny have beenin turn the scene of outrage. Nor are the abominations in questionconfined to France: Rome, Liguria, Salerno have also suffered, while sofar off as the Island of Mauritius a peculiarly revolting instanceoccurred in 1895. 

I am not able to say that the personal researches of the French novelisthave proceeded beyond the statistics of sacrilege, which, however, hehas collected carefully, and these in themselves constitute a strongpresumption. M. Huysman is exhaustive in fiction and reticent inessay-writing, yet he gives us to understand explicitly that theinfamous Canon Docre of _La Bas_ is actually living in Belgium, that heis the leader of a "demoniac clan, " and, like the Count de St Germain, is in frequent terror of the possibilities of the life to come. Aninterviewer has represented M. Huysman as stating that his informationwas derived from a person who was himself a Satanist, but therevelations disturbed the sect, and the communication ceased, though theauthor had originally been welcomed "as one of their own. " But it isclear to my own mind that for his descriptions of the orgies which takeplace at the assemblies of modern black magicians, M. Huysman is mainlyindebted to documents which have been placed in his hands by existingdisciples of the illuminé Eugene Vintras, and the "Dr Johannes" of _LaBas_. Vintras was the founder of a singular thaumaturgic sect, incorporating the aspirations of the Saviours of Louis XVII. ; heobtained some notoriety about the year 1860, and an account of hisclaims and miracles will be found in Éliphas Lévi's _Histoire de laMagie_, in the same writer's _Clef des Grands Mystères_, and in JulesBois' _Petites Religions de Paris_. He left a number of manuscriptsbehind him, recounting his life-long combats with the priests of blackmagic--a series of fervid narratives which savour strongly ofhallucination, but highly picturesque, and in some quarters acceptedquite seriously. 

In like manner, concerning the existence of Satanic associations, andespecially the Palladium, M. Huysman admittedly derives his knowledgefrom published sources. We may take it, therefore, that he speaks froman accidental and extrinsic acquaintance, and he is thereforeinsufficient in himself to create a question of Satanism; he indicatesrather than establishes that there is a question, and to learn its scopeand nature we must have recourse to the witnesses who claim to have seenfor themselves. These are of two kinds, namely, the spy and theseceder--the witness who claims to have investigated the subject atfirst hand with a view to its exposure, and those who have come forwardto say that they once were worshippers of Lucifer, worshippers of Satan, operators of Black Magic, or were at least connected with associationswhich exist for these purposes, who have now, however, suspendedcommunication, and are stating what they know. In the first class wefind only Doctor Bataille; in the second, Diana Vaughan, Jean Kostka, Domenico Margiotta, and Leo Taxil. 

Finally, we have, as stated in the preface, some testimony from writersrepresenting the interests of the Latin Church, in a special manner, andspeaking with the authority of that Church. The most important of theseis the late Archbishop Meurin. At the same time, M. Huysman apart--whooccupies much the same quasi-religious position as that which attached afleeting interest to the personality of Mr W. H. Mallock--all writersand all witnesses are, or assume to be, at the present time, convincedand zealous Roman Catholics. 

I have already stated that the purpose of Black Magic is simply andobviously to communicate with devils, and if we interrogate our sourcesof knowledge as to the object of such communication, it must be admittedthat the response is vague. Perhaps the object will best be defined asthe reinforcement of human ability by diabolical power and intelligencefor the operation of evil along the lines of individual desire andambition. For the fulfilment of what is good man aspires towards God, and to fulfil evil he attempts to conspire with Satan. 

It must, however, be observed that modern devil-worship, as exposed byits French experts, has two aspects, corresponding to the distinctionalready laid down in my preface. There is (a) devil-worship pure andsimple, being an attempt to communicate with evil spirits, admittingthat they are evil; (b) the cultus of Lucifer, star of the morning, asdistinguished from Satan, on the hypothesis that he is a good spirit. Itwill be seen very readily that the essence of diabolism is wanting inthe second division, namely, the Satanic intention, so that it belongsreally to another category, though the classification may be acceptedfor the moment to prevent dispute at the beginning of a somewhat complexinquiry. The first division is, in any case, Satanism proper, and itsadepts are termed Satanists; those of the second division are, on theother hand, Luciferians, Palladists, &c. The two orders are furtherdistinguished as unorganised and as organised diabolism. The cultus ofSatan is supposed to be mainly practised by isolated persons or smalland obscure groups; that of Lucifer is centralised in at least one greatand widespread institution--in other words, the first is rare andsporadic, the second a prevalent practice. We accordingly hear little ofthe one, while the testimonies which have been collected are concernedexclusively with the other. It is possible, in fact, to dismiss Satanismof the primary division in a few words, because materials are wantingfor its history. It is founded on orthodox Christianity; it acknowledgesthat the devil is a lost angel, but it affirms that the God of theChristians has deceived His believers, has betrayed the cause ofhumanity, has exacted the suppression of the nature with which HeHimself has endowed it; they have therefore abandoned a cruel andtyrannical Master, and have gone over in despair to His enemy. 

Satanism of the second division, its principles and its origin, will bedescribed in the second chapter. 

CHAPTER II

THE MASK OF MASONRY

The identification of the cultus of Lucifer with devil-worship pure andsimple is not, as we have seen, at first sight an entirely justproceeding, but at the same time it is inevitable. As already observed, the source of all our knowledge concerning Modern Diabolism existswithin the pale of the Catholic Church; the entire literature is writtenfrom the standpoint of that church, and has been created solely in itsinterests. Some of that literature has been put forth with the specialmarks of high ecclesiastical approbation, and to some this guarantee iswanting, but the same spirit informs the whole. To insist on this pointis important for many reasons which will become apparent at the close ofour enquiry, and for one which concerns us now. It is impossible forthe Catholic Church to do otherwise than brand the cultus of Lucifer asidentical with that of Satan, because, according to her unswervinginstruction, the name Lucifer is an equivalent of Satan, and, moreover, the Luciferian cultus is so admittedly anti-Christian that no form ofChristianity could do otherwise than regard it as a worship of darknessand evil. While, therefore, the adoration of a good principle under thisdiscredited name may in one of its aspects be merely an error ofjudgment, and not the worship of a devil, apart from other facts whichdestroy this consideration, we must all agree that from the standpointof Christian and Latin orthodoxy the Luciferian is a diabolist, thoughnot in the sense of the Satanist. 

The doctrine of Lucifer has been tersely described by Huysman as a kindof reversed Christianity--a Catholicism _à rebours_. It is, in fact, therevival of an old heresy founded on what we have most of us beenaccustomed to regard as a philosophical blunder; in a word, it is aManichæan system having a special anti-Christian application, for whileaffirming the existence of two equal first principles, Adonaï andLucifer, it regards the latter as the god of light and goodness, whilethe Christian Adonaï is the prince of darkness and the veritable Satan. It is inferred from the condition of the world at the present time thatthe mastery of the moment resides with the evil principle, and that thebeneficent Deity is at a disadvantage. Adonaï reigns surely, as theChristian believes, but he is the author of human misery, and Jesus isthe Christ of Adonaï, but he is the messenger of misfortune, suffering, and false renunciation, leading ultimately to destruction when the _Deusmaledictus_ shall cease to triumph. The worshippers of Lucifer havetaken sides in the cause of humanity, and in their own cause, with thebaffled principle of goodness; they co-operate with him in order toinsure his triumph, and he communicates with them to encourage andstrengthen them; they work to prepare his kingdom, and he promises toraise up a Saviour among them, who is Antichrist, their leader and kingto come. 

Such is the doctrine of Lucifer according to the testimony of witnesseswho have come out from his cultus; it is not an instruction which _àpriori_ would seem likely to commend itself to a numerically powerfulfollowing, but the society which is concerned with its propagation isaffirmed to have spread over the whole world, and to be represented inall its chief cities. It is that which we have already found mentionedby M. Huysman as possessing a demonstrated existence and being a proofpositive of modern Satanism, namely, the Palladian Order. Having broadlyascertained its principles, our next course is to discover its allegedhistory, and here it is necessary to admit that it is a matter of somedifficulty to place the position in such an aspect that it will be atolerable subject for inquiry among readers in England. The mystery ofmodern Diabolism and the Cultus of Lucifer is a part of the mystery ofMasonry as interpreted by an Anti-Masonic movement now at work inFrance. The black magic, of which we hear so much, involves a new aspectof the old Catholic Crusade against the Fraternity of the Square andCompass, and by the question of Lucifer is signified an allegeddiscovery that Masons diabolise. 

Now, we are all well acquainted with the historical fact that the LatinChurch has long been hostile to Masonry, that popes have condemned theorder, and have excommunicated its initiates. Having regard to theposition of the brotherhood here in England, most of us have beencontent to infer in this respect that the ripe old age of the Church ispassing into a second childhood; some, however, have concluded thatthere may be more in Continental Freemasonry than meets the English eye, and here the Church herself comes forward to assure them that thefraternity abroad is a hotbed of political propaganda, and isresponsible for the most disastrous revolutions which have perplexed themodern world; that it is actually, as the exploded Robison described it, a conspiracy against crowned heads; and that it is at the present timethe most potent, most secret enemy which checkmates and hinders herself. 

It is now further affirmed that behind the Masonry of to-day--here inEngland posing as a benefit society, and political or not upon theContinent, but everywhere disclaiming any connection with a religiouspropaganda--there is affirmed to be another Masonry, of which theordinary Mason knows nothing, secretly directing the order, and devotedto the cultus of Lucifer. This organisation, which has sprung up withinrecent years, is largely, though not exclusively, recruited fromMasonry; it works through the powerful Masonic apparatus, and, accordingto the evidence which has been put in, it has obtained a substantial andmasterful control over the entire Fraternity. It has focussed the rawmaterial of Masonic hostility towards the Catholic Church; as it isanti-Christian in religion, so is it revolutionary in politics; and oncemore, it is called the Palladian Order. 

This exceedingly grave and important accusation, together with its sideissues, has perhaps all the more claim on our consideration because, apart from actual diabolism, which is in itself so paralysing as almostto arrest discussion, it conflicts with all that we know or believeconcerning the Masonic constitution. Let me briefly collect the points. (a) Masonry possesses a secret directing centre--which has beenstrenuously denied by the Fraternity. (b) It has a religious mission anda doctrinal propaganda--which has also been invariably denied. (c) It isconcerned with political objects--which, for the most part, is denied. (d) It has a transcendental teaching--which is generally denied, and (e)is concerned largely with transcendental practices and phenomena--whichwould be denied absolutely, had the question been seriously raised tillthis day. (f) It initiates women--which, except in a very secondary, occasional, and insignificant manner, is _in toto_ and at all timesdenied. The last point is brought within the scope of our inquirybecause the Palladium is an androgyne order. 

Now, it will be fairly well known to many who are not within the ranksof the fraternity that the Grand Lodges of every country are supposed tobe autonomous, and that there has been no previous impeachment of thisfact; that, ostensibly at least, there is no central institution towhich they are answerable in Masonry. Individual lodges derive from asingle Grand Lodge and are responsible thereto, but Grand Lodgesthemselves are supreme and irresponsible. It will be known also that theMasonic system in England differs from that of France, that the Frenchrite has always occupied a somewhat heterodox position, and that sincethe Grand Orient expunged the Grand Architect of the Universe, so tospeak, from its symbolism, official communication has been suspended bythe Grand Lodge of England. It will be known further that outsiderecognised Masonic systems many rites have arisen which are only Masonicto the extent that their point of departure is from the Master-grade. Asa special instance may be cited the Supreme Oriental Rite of Memphis andMisraïm. In England the Lodge meetings of these rites are never sufferedto take place in the great central institution of Freemasons Hall; inFrance, the Grand Orient has consistently forbidden its members toparticipate in the Memphis system. To hold Masonry responsible forirregularities or abuses which from time to time may obtain in thesefantastic developments from the parent institution, would be about asjust and reasonable as to impeach the Latin Church on the score ofcorruptions now existing in the heresies which have separated from her. 

Having established these points in view of the result of our inquiry, let us now trace the manner in which a supreme authority, frequentlytermed by the accusers Universal Masonry, is alleged to have grown up. Upon this subject not only the most complete information but the onlyformal narratives are provided by the later witnesses, so that thefollowing account, while in no sense translation, is based exclusivelyupon the works of Domenico Margiotta and Dr Bataille. 

On the 20th of May, 1737, there was constituted in France the Order ofthe Palladium, or Sovereign Council of Wisdom, which, after the mannerof the androgyne lodges then springing into existence, initiated womenunder the title of Companions of Penelope. The ritual of this order waspublished by the Masonic archæologist Ragon, so that there can be nodoubt of its existence. At the same time, so far as I am aware, thereare few materials forthcoming for its history. In some way whichremains wholly untraceable this order is inferred to have been connectedby more than its name with the legendary Palladium of the KnightsTemplars, well known under the title of Baphomet. In any case it failedto spread, and it is uncertain whether the New and Reformed Palladium, also an androgyne order, with which we shall presently be concerned, isa metamorphosis or reconstruction of the original institution, but aconnection of some kind is affirmed. For a period exceeding sixty yearswe hear little of the legendary Palladium; but in 1801 the IsraeliteIsaac Long is said to have carried the original Baphomet and the skullof the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay from Paris to Charleston inthe United States, and was afterwards concerned in the reconstruction ofthe Scotch Rite of Perfection and of Herodom under the name of theAncient and Accepted Scotch Rite, which subsequently became widelydiffused, and it is stated that the lodge of the thirty-third degree ofthe Supreme Council of Charleston has been the parent of all others, andis therefore, in this rite, the first supreme council of the entireglobe. 

Eight years later, on the 29th of December 1809, a man of greatimportance to the history of Freemasonry was born in the city of Boston. Albert Pike came of parents in a humble position, who, however, struggled with their difficulties and sent him to Harvard College, wherehe duly graduated, taking his degree as M. A. In the year 1829. He beganhis career as a schoolmaster, but subsequently led a romantic andwandering life, his love of untrodden ground leading him to explore theRocky Mountains, then very imperfectly known. In 1833 he settled inArkansas, and, drifting into journalism, founded the _ArkansasAdvocate_, wherein his contributions, both prose and verse, but thelatter especially, obtained him a reputation in literature. Theadmission of Arkansas into the confederation of the United States was inpart his work, and from this period he began to figure in politics, becoming also the recorder of the Supreme Court in that state. One yearafter the civil war, in which he took active part, Pike removed toMemphis in Tennessee, where he again followed law and literature, establishing the _Memphis Appeal_, which he sold in 1868, and migratedto Washington. His subsequent history is exclusively concerned withunwearying Masonic labours. 

Now, it was at Little Rock in Arkansas that Albert Pike was firstinitiated, and ten years later, that is, in 1859, he was electedSovereign Commander Grand Master of the Supreme Council of Charleston. Having extraordinary powers of organisation, he became a person of wideinfluence in the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, and a high authorityalso on the ritual, antiquities, history, and literature of Masonry. Under his guidance, the Scotch Rite extended and became dominant. Hence, when the Italian patriot Mazzini is said to have projected thecentralization of high grade Masonry, he could find no person in thewhole fraternity more suited by his position and influence tocollaborate with him. Out of this secret partnership there was begottenon September 20, 1870--that is to say, on the very day when the Italiantroops entered the Eternal City--a Supreme Rite and Central Organisationof Universal High Grade Masonry, the act of creation being signed by theAmerican Grand Master and the Italian liberator, the two founders alsosharing the power between them. A Supreme Dogmatic Directory was createdat Charleston, with Pike at its head, under the title of SovereignPontiff of Universal Freemasonry. Mazzini took over the SupremeExecutive, having Rome as its centre, under the title of Sovereign Chiefof Political Action. 

If we now recur to the statements that the genuine Templar Baphomet andthe skull of Jacques de Molay had been deposited at Charleston for thespace of seventy years, and that Albert Pike was Grand Master of theSupreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite in that city, weshall understand why it was that the new institution was termed the NewReformed Palladian Rite, or the Reformed Palladium. Subsequently, fiveCentral Grand Directories were established--at Washington for NorthAmerica, Monte Video for South America, Naples for Europe, Calcutta forthe Eastern World, and Port Louis in Mauritius for Africa. A SovereignUniversal Administrative Directory was fixed at Berlin subsequently tothe death of Mazzini. As a result of this astute organisation, AlbertPike is said to have held all Masonry in the hollow of his hand, bymeans of a twofold apparatus--the Palladium and the Scotch Rite. Duringall his remaining days, and he lived to a great age, he labouredindefatigably in both causes, and the world at the present moment isfilled with the organisation that he administered. 

Four persons are cited as having been coadjutors in his own country--hisold friend Gallatin Mackey, in honourable memory among Masons; aScotchman named Longfellow, whom some French writers have ludicrouslyconfused with the poet; one Holbrook, about whom there are fewparticulars; and, finally, Phileas Walder, a native of Switzerland, originally a Lutheran Minister, afterwards said to have been a Mormon, but, in any case, at the period in question, a well-known spiritualist, an earnest student of occultism, as were also Holbrook and Longfellow, and, what is more to the purpose, a personal friend and disciple of thegreat French magus Éliphas Lévi. Albert Pike was himself an occultist, whether upon his independent initiative, or through the influence ofthese friends I am unable to say. Miss Diana Vaughan, who is one of theseceding witnesses, affirms that it was an early and absorbing passion. However this may be, the New Reformed Palladium was kept most rigidlyseparate from all other Masonry, the Scotch Rite included; that is tosay, no initiate of even the highest grade had, as such, the right oropportunity of entrance into the occult order, which, at the same time, was chiefly recruited, as already stated, from the higher ordinarygrades, but the recipients of the new light became silent from themoment that it was imparted. Now, it was exclusively in the Palladianorder that Albert Pike and his confidants propagated transcendentalreligion, as it is said to have been understood by them. In other words, while the Scotch Rite continued to speculate, the Palladium betookitself to magic and succeeded so well that there was a perpetuity ofcommunication between Charleston and the unseen world. It does notappear from the evidence either when or why Albert Pike and hiscollaborators transferred their allegiance from the God of the sages toLucifer. The Catholic Church regards all magic as diabolism, and makesor tolerates no mystic distinction between the black and whitedepartments of transcendental practice, but the specific character ofthe Palladian cultus is so clearly defined in the depositions that itcannot pass as a presentation of magical doctrine distorted byprejudice. It is almost stripped of correspondence with any existingschool of occult teaching, and it is either the true statement of asystem founded by Pike, or the deliberate invention of malice. Thethaumaturgic phenomena tabulated in connection therewith are of anextremely advanced kind, including the real and bodily presence ofLucifer at frequent and regular intervals. 

When Mazzini died he indicated to Albert Pike a possible successor inAdriano Lemmi, who became in due course the chief of the ExecutiveDepartment, and when in the fulness of years the pontiff of LuciferianFreemasonry himself passed on to the higher life of fire, which is thePalladian notion of beatitude, and in the peace and joy of Lucifer, thesovereign pontificate itself, after resting for a short period uponincompetent shoulders in the person of Albert George Mackey, wastransferred to the Italian; the seat of the Dogmatic Directory wasremoved to Rome; a split in the camp ensued, inspired by a ladyinitiate, since famous under the name of Diana Vaughan, and to this weowe most of the revelations. Furthermore, with the death of Albert Pikethe cultus of Lucifer is said to have undergone a significanttransfiguration. For him the conception of Satan was a blasphemousfiction, devised by Adonaïte priestcraft to obscure the veridic lustrewhich inheres in the angel of the morning-star; but this viewrepresented, as it is said, rather the private opinion of the Masonicpontiff, impressed by his strong personality on the lodges hecontrolled, and propagated by the instruction of his rituals. The morediscerning among his disciples regarded it as the besetting weakness oftheir grand old man, and surreptitiously during his life-time the cultusof Satan pure and simple, that is, of devil-worship, the adoration ofthe evil principle as evil, was practised at numerous Palladian centres. After his death, it is said to have unmasked altogether, and AdrianoLemmi himself is depicted as an avowed Satanist. 

Now, I believe it will fairly interpret the feeling of all readers toadmit that when the authority of a great church has been brought intooperation to crush a great institution by charges which most seriouslydiscredit it--which represent it as diametrically and in all respectsopposite in its internal nature to its ostensible appearance--we must byno means make light of the impeachment; we must remember the highposition and the many opportunities of knowledge which are possessed bysuch an accuser; we must extend to that accuser at least the commonjustice of an impartial and full hearing; _à priori_ considerations ofprobability and inferences from our previous knowledge, much less fromopinions obtained at second-hand, must not be permitted to prejudge acase of so great importance; we must be prepared, if necessary, to admitthat we have been egregiously deceived; and if the existence ofPalladian Masonry can be proved an undoubted fact, we must assuredly dofull honour to the demonstration, and must acknowledge with gratitudethat the Church has performed a service to humanity by unveiling thetrue character of an institution which is imposing on a vast number ofwell-intentioned persons within its own ranks, who are admittedlyunaware of the evil to which they are lending countenance and support. On the other hand, the same spirit of liberality and justice willrequire that the demonstration in question shall be complete; in supportof such terrible accusations, only the first quality of evidence canobviously be admitted. 

In the chapters which follow immediately, I shall produce in successionthe evidence of every witness who has anything to tell us aboutPalladism, including those whose experience is of a personal kind andthose whose knowledge is derived. Where possible, the testimony of eachwitness will be weighed as we proceed; what is unconvincing orirrelevant will be dismissed, while that which is important will becarried over to the final summary. In two cases only will it be foundnecessary to reserve examination for special and separate treatment. 

CHAPTER III

THE FIRST WITNESSES OF LUCIFER

That the witnesses of Lucifer are in all cases attached to the LatinChurch, whether as priests or laymen, is no matter for astonishment whenit is once realised that outside this Church there is no hostility toMasonry. For example, Robison's "Proofs of a Conspiracy" is almost theonly work possessing, deservedly or not, any aspect of importance, whichhas ever been penned by a Protestant or independent writer in directhostility to the Fraternity. Moreover, Catholic hostility varies in avanishing direction with distance from the ecclesiastical centre. Thus, in England, it exists chiefly in a latent condition, finding little orno expression unless pressure is exercised from the centre, while inAmerica the enforced promulgation of the _Humanum Genus_ encyclical hasbeen one of the serious blunders of the present pontificate as regardsthat country. The bibliography of Catholic Anti-Masonic literature isnow, however, very large, nor is it confined to one land, or to aspecial epoch; it has an antiquity of nearly 150 years, and representsmost of the European continent. That of France, which is nearest to ourown doors, is naturally most familiar to us; it is also one of the mostproductive, and may be assumed to represent the whole. We are concernedwith it in this place only during the period which is subsequent to thealleged foundation of the New and Reformed Palladium. During this periodit falls obviously into two groups, that which preceded any knowledge ofthe institution in question and that which is posterior to the firstpromulgation of such knowledge. In the first we find mainly the oldaccusations which have long ceased to exert any conspicuous influence, namely, Atheism, Materialism, and revolutionary plotting. Withoutdisappearing entirely, these have been largely replaced in the secondgroup by charges of magic and diabolism, concerning which thedenunciations have been loud and fierce. One supplementary impeachmentmay be said in a certain sense to connect both, because it is common toboth; it is that of unbridled licence fostered by the asserted existenceof adoptive lodges. We shall find during the first period that Masonrywas freely described as a diabolical and Satanic institution, and it isnecessary to insist on this point because it is liable to confuse theissues. Before the year 1891 the diabolism identified with Masonry wasalmost exclusively intellectual. That is to say, its alleged atheism, from the standpoint of the Catholic Church, was a diabolical opinion inmatters of religion; its alleged materialism was a diabolical philosophyin matters of science; its alleged revolutionary plottings, beingespecially directed against the Catholic Church, constituted diabolicalpolitics. Such descriptions will seem arbitrary enough to most personswho do not look forth upon the world from the windows of the Vatican, but they are undeniably consistent at Rome. 

Of actual diabolism prior to the date I have named, there is, I believe, only the solitary accusation made by Mgr. De Ségur, and havingreference to a long anterior period. He states that in the year 1848there was a Masonic lodge at Rome, where the mass of the devil wascelebrated in the presence of men and women. A ciborium was placed on analtar between six black candles; each person, after spitting andtrampling on a crucifix, deposited in this ciborium a consecrated hostwhich had been purchased or received in church. The sacred elements werestabbed by the whole assembly, the candles were extinguished at thetermination of the mass, and an orgie followed, similar, says Mgr. DeSégur, to those of "Pagan mysteries and Manichæan re-unions. " Suchabominations were, however, admittedly rare, and the story just recitedrests on nothing that can be called evidence. 

During the years intervening between 1870 and 1891 we may search theliterature of French Anti-Masonry in vain for any hint of the Palladium. In 1884 the collaboration of Louis D'Estampes and Claudio Jannetproduced a work entitled "Freemasonry and the Revolution, " whichaffirms that the immense majority of Masons, including those who havereceived the highest grades, do not enjoy the confidence of the truesecrets, but the establishment of atheism in religion and socialism inpolitics as designs of the Fraternity are the only secrets intended. 

The New and Reformed Palladium connects with the Order of the Temple byits supposed possession of the original Baphomet idol, but in 1882 thiswas entirely unknown to Mgr. Fava, who denies all the reputed connectionbetween Templars and Masons, and traces the latter to Faustus Socinus asfounder, following Abbé Lefranc in his "Veil raised for the Curious. " Amystic and diabolic aspect of the Fraternity is so remote from his mindthat in his "Secret of Freemasonry" the Bishop of Grenoble affirms thatits sole project is to replace Christianity by rationalism. 

The third and concluding volume of Père Deschamps' great compilation on"Society and the Secret Societies, " supports, on the contrary, thehypothesis rejected by Fava. It recites much old knowledge concerningadoptive lodges, the Illuminés, the Orders of Philalethes, of MartinezPasquales, and of Saint-Martin, on which subjects few writers indeed cansay anything that is new; but while specially devoted to the politicalactivity of the Fraternity all over Europe, Deschamps tells us nothingof the conspiracy which produced the New Palladium, though the allegedcollaboration of Mazzini gave it a strong political complexion; of Pikenothing; of Diabolism still nothing. I may add that his work claims tobe verified at all points. 

In the year 1886 another ecclesiastic, Dom. Benoit, published twoformidable volumes on "Freemasonry and the Secret Societies, " formingpart of a vaster work, entitled "The City of anti-Christ in theNineteenth Century. " Like D'Estampes and Jannet, he distinguishesbetween a small number of initiates and a vast crowd of dupes who swellthe ranks of the Fraternity. "Many Masons ascend the ladder of thegrades without receiving the revelation of the mysteries. " The highestfunctions of most lodges are said to be given to the dupes, while theruling chiefs are concealed behind humble titles. It is furtherrepresented that in certain countries there are secret rites above theordinary rites, and these are imparted only to the true initiates, whichsounds like a vague and formless hint concerning a directing centre; butso far from supposing that such an institution may exist in Masonry, theauthor affirms that unity is impossible therein:--"Image of hell andhell anticipated, Masonry is the realm of hatred, and consequently ofdivision. The leaders mutually despise and detest one another, anduniversally endeavour to deceive and supplant each other. A commonhatred of the Church and her regular institutions alone unites them, andscarcely have they scored a victory than they fall out and destroy eachother. " The first seeds of the Manichæan accusation are found in thesecond volume, but the term is not used in the sense of Albert Pike'sLuciferian transcendentalism, but merely as an equivalent ofProtestantism coloured by the idea of its connection with the Socinianheresy. In conformity with this view, Dom Benoit attaches himself tothe Templar hypothesis, saying that the Albigenses and the Knights ofthe Temple are the immediate ancestors of Masonry. But the point whichis of most interest in connection with our inquiry is where Dom Benoitasserts that Satan is the god of Freemasonry, citing an obscure grade inwhich the ritual is connected with serpent-worship, and another in whichthe recipient is adjured "in the sacred name of Lucifer, " to "uprootobscurantism. " It is, however, only a loose and general accusation, forhe says also that the Masonic deity is "the creature, " that is, humanity, the mind of man, human reason; it is also "the infamousVenus, " or the flesh; finally, "all divinities of Rome, Greece, Persia, India, and every pagan people, are the gods of Masonry. " This is merelyindiscriminate defamation which is without force or application, and thewriter evidently knows nothing of a defined cultus of Lucifer existingin the Lodges of the Fraternity. So also when he elsewhere states thatsexual excesses are sometimes accompanied in Masonry by Eucharisticprofanations, he has only Mgr. De Ségur's out-of-date narrative tosupport him, and when he hints at magical practices, it is only in ageneral way, and apparently referring to acts of individual Masons. Inone more significant passage he records, as a matter of report, thatapparitions of the demon have occurred "recently" in Masonic assemblies, "where he is said even to have presided under a human form. " While thereis no mention of Palladism and none of Pike in his treatise, we mayregard Dom Benoit as a herald of the coming accusation, speaking vaguelyof things half heard. 

Some time previous to 1888, Paul Rosen, a Sovereign GrandInspector-General of the 33rd and last degree of the French rite, hadcome to the conclusion that the mysteries of Freemasonry are abominable, and in that year he published a work, entitled "Satan and Co. , "suggesting that in this case a witness to the desired point had at lastcome forward, and, as a matter of fact, the writer does take us a fewpaces beyond the point reached by Benoit. So far as I am aware, he isthe first French anti-Mason who mentions Albert Pike, with oneexception, to be considered separately in the next chapter. He describeshim as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Mother Council ofevery Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, and hetells the story of the foundation of that Rite, but he knows nothing ofIsaac Long, the Palladium, or the skull. He cites also certain workswhich Pike wrote for the exclusive use of initiates, apparently of thehigher grades of these rites, namely, "The Sephar H'Debarim, " "Ethicsand Dogmas of Freemasonry, " and "Legenda Magistralia. " But so far fromaccrediting the order with a supernatural aspect, he affirms that itswar-cry is annihilation and anathema thereto. The end of Freemasonry is, in fact, social anarchy, the overthrowal of monarchical government, andthe destruction of the Catholic religion. The Satanism imputed toFreemasonry by Paul Rosen is therefore of an arbitrary and fantasticorder, having no real connection with this inquiry. Two years later thesame author published a smaller volume, "The Social Enemy, " whichcontains no material of importance to our purpose, but is preceded by aPontifical Brief, conveying the benediction of Leo XIII. To the writerof "Satan and Co. "

We pass now to the year of revelation 1891. 

CHAPTER IV

EX ORE LEONIS

For over ten years past Leo Taxil, that is to say, M. GabrielJogand-Pages, has been the great accuser of Masonry, and he possesses anindistinct reputation in England as a man whose hostility is formidable, having strong points in his brief. During the entire period of hisimpeachment, which is represented by many volumes, he has uniformlysought to identify the Fraternity with the general purposes of Lucifer, but until the year 1891, it was merely along the broad and general linesmentioned in the last chapter. Now, in presence of such attributions as, for example, the Satanic character of tolerance in matters of religion, I, for one, would unconditionally lay down my pen, as there is no commonground upon which a discussion could take place. 

From the vague imputation Leo Taxil passed, however, to an exceedinglydefinite charge--and it is beyond all dispute that by his work entitled"Are there Women in Freemasonry?"--he has created the Question ofLucifer in its connection with the Palladian Order. He is the originalsource of information as to the existence of that association; no onehad heard of it previously, and it is therefore of the first importancethat we should know something of the discoverer himself, and everythingas to the particulars of his discovery, including the date thereof. 

Previously to the year 1891 Leo Taxil knew nothing of the ReformedPalladium. He is the one Anti-Masonic writer named in the last chapteras preceding Paul Rosen with information about Albert Pike. This was inthe year 1885, and in a work entitled, "The Brethren of the ThreePoints, " which began the "complete revelations concerning Freemasonry"undertaken by this witness. Like Paul Rosen, he represents Pike merelyas a high dignitary of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, but he doesso under the incorrect title of Sovereign Commander Grand Master of theSupreme Council of the United States. He states further that the GrandOrient of France, as also the Supreme Council of the Scotch Rite ofFrance, "send their correspondence" to the Grand Master of Washington. Iconceive that no importance, as indeed no definite meaning, can beattached to this statement beyond the general and not very significantfact that there was some kind of communication between the threecentres. In the year 1888 Pike was so little in harmonious relation withthe French Grand Orient that by the depositions of later witnesses heplaced it under the ban of his formal excommunication in virtue of hissovereign pontificate. For the rest, the "Brethren of the Three Points"contains no information concerning the New and Reformed Palladium, andthis is proof positive that it was unknown at the time to the writer, for it would have been valuable in view of his purpose. The sameobservation applies to a second work published shortly after, "TheCultus of the Grand Architect. " Had Leo Taxil been acquainted with aworship of Lucifer subsisting in Palladian Masonry he could not havefailed to make use of it in a volume so entitled. The work in questionis concerned, however, with the solemnities which obtain in Masonictemples, with the names and addresses of all French lodges, so that itis a directory as much as a revelation, with the political organisationof the Carbonari, with the Judge-Philosophers, and with certain officialdocuments of Masonry. 

But it may occur to those of my readers who are acquainted at first handwith the revelations of Leo Taxil that his knowledge was held over inview of his plan of publication, and that the Palladium would bedisclosed in due course when he came to treat of androgyne or adoptiveMasonry. Let us pass, therefore, to his next work, entitled, "SisterMasons, or Ladies' Freemasonry, " which appeared in 1888, and in which wecertainly meet with diabolism and also with Palladism, but not inconnection with Albert Pike or the Charleston Central Directory. Thereference in the first case is to practices which are alleged to obtainin the Egyptian Rite of Adoption, called the Rite of Cagliostro, and inthe second to the Order of the Palladium as it was originally institutedin the year 1730. At the same time the information given is of seriousimportance, because it enables us to gauge the writer's method andcredibility in the one case, and his knowledge at the period in theother. Once more, in the year 1886, Leo Taxil did not know of thePalladium as a reformed or revived institution; had he known he couldnot have failed to tell us. 

I have not been able to trace all the sources of his informationconcerning the older Palladian Rite, but it comes chiefly from Ragon; hedivides it into two systems:--(a) The Order of the Seven Sages, whichwas for men only, and appears as a banal invention with a ritual mainlyderived from the "Travels of Anacharsis"; (b) The Order of thePalladium, composed of two masculine grades and one feminine grade, respectively, Adelphos and Companion of Ulysses for men, and Companionof Penelope for women. It pretends to have been founded by Fenelon, butat the same time claims an antiquity previous to the birth of the greatArchbishop of Cambrai. Leo Taxil accuses it of gallantry, but theflirtations described in the ritual impress an impartial reader as aspecies of childish theatricals, a criticism practically exhausting theentire motive of the order, which, as I have already stated, lapsed intoobscurity, and, so far as can be traced, into desuetude, though ourwitness uniformly refers to it in the present tense, and as if it werein active operation. However this may be, the description and summary ofthe ritual given by Leo Taxil place it outside the possibility of aconnection with Templar Masonry, and also with the Baphomet Palladium inspite of what is alleged to the contrary. Accepting the worstconstruction which is placed on its intention, it could have offered nopoint of contact with the alleged project of Albert Pike. So far, therefore, the information contained in _Les Soeurs Maçonnes_ conflictswith the history of the New and Reformed Palladium as given in my secondchapter. 

It has been said, however, that Leo Taxil charges another Masonic orderof the androgyne type with satanic practices. He divides the EgyptianRite of Adoption into three grades; in that of apprentice, the discourserepresents Adonaï as the Genius of Pride, and the serpent-tempter ofGenesis as the eternal principle of goodness; in that of Companion, thesymbolism of the ritual enforces the necessity of rehabilitating thecharacter of the mystic serpent; in that of Egyptian Mistress, there isa pretended evocation of planetary spirits by means of a clairvoyante, and Leo Taxil affirms on his own authority that the Supreme Beingreferred to in the discourse at initiation is Satan. "According to thedoctrine of the sect, the divinity is formed of two opposite principles, the genius of Being, who is Lucifer, and the genius of Destruction, whois Adonaï. " This is so obviously the doctrine of the LuciferianPalladians that it is difficult to understand why the institution ofCharleston is not connected, as to purpose, if not as to origin, withthe Egyptian Adoptive Rite of Misraïmite Masonry. 

At this point, however, it becomes my duty to state that there are somevery curious facts in connection with the "Catechism of the OfficiatingMistress, " which is the source of information for the alleged Manichæancharacter of the third degree. The more considerable and essentialportion of that document, so far from being referable to the supposedfounder of the Rite, namely, Count Cagliostro, is a series of mutilatedpassages taken from Éliphas Lévi's _Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie_, and pieced clumsily together. That is to say, Leo Taxil, while claimingto make public for the first time an instruction forming an essentialpart of a rite belonging to the last century, presents to us in thatinstruction the original philosophical reflections of a writer in theyear 1856, and, moreover, he distorts palpably the fundamental principleof that writer, who, so far from establishing dualism and antagonism inGod, exhibits most clearly the essential oneness in connection with athreefold manifestation of the divine principle. I conceive that thereis only one construction to be placed upon this fact, and although it issevere upon the documents it cannot be said that it is unjust. When, therefore, Leo Taxil terminates his study of the Egyptian Rite by"divulging some essentially diabolical practices of the Misraïm Lodges, "namely, evocations of the elementary spirits, we shall not be surprisedto find that the ritual of the proceedings is taken bodily from the sameauthor who has been previously taxed for contributions. The reader needonly compare _Les Soeurs Maçonnes_, pp. 323 to 330, with the"Conjuration of the Four" in the fourth chapter of the _Rituel de laHaute Magie_. It will be objected that this conjuration is derived byLévi himself from a source which he does not name, and as a fact part ofit is found in the _Comte de Gabalis_. Quite so, but my point is, thatit has come to the Taxil documents through Éliphas Lévi. The proof isthat part of the exorcisms are given in Latin and part in French, by theauthor of the _Rituel_, for arbitrary and unassignable reasons, and that_Les Soeurs Maçonnes_ reproduces them in the same way. It is evident, therefore, that we must receive Leo Taxil's "divulgations" with severecaution. I may add that the proceedings of the Holy Inquisition in thetrial of Count Cagliostro were published at Rome by order of theApostolic Chamber, and they include some particulars concerning theEgyptian Rite, of which Cagliostro was the author. These particulars inpart correspond with the documents of the "Sister-Masons, " but offeralso significant variations even along the lines of correspondence. 

Having established, in any case, that Leo Taxil knew nothing of theReformed Palladium in the year 1886, we may pass over his next work, which reproduces a considerable though selected proportion of some ofhis previous volumes, because precisely the same observation applies to"The Mysteries of Freemasonry, " and we may come at once to the year1891. Some time subsequently to the third of August, our witnesspublished a volume entitled "Are there Women in Freemasonry?" which, sofar as one can see, bears the marks of hurried production. It is, infact, "The Sister Masons" almost _in extenso_--that work being still incirculation--with the addition of important fresh material. The bulk ofthe new matter is concerned with the rituals of the New and ReformedPalladium, consisting of five degrees, conformable, as regards the firstthree, with the somewhat banal but innocent grades of the Modern Rite ofAdoption, and passing, as regards the two final, into pure Luciferiandoctrine. How did Leo Taxil become possessed of these rituals? Heinforms us quite frankly that by means of arguments _sonnants ettrébuchants_, that is to say, by a bribe, he persuaded an officer of acertain Palladian Grand Council located at Paris to forget his pledgesfor the time required in transcribing them. That was not a verycreditable proceeding, but in exposing Freemasonry ordinary ethicalconsiderations seem to be ruled out of court, and it is idle to examinemethods when we are in need of documents. By these documents, and by theeditorial matter which introduces and follows them, Leo Taxil, asalready observed, created the Question of Lucifer. Premising that a dualobject governed the institution of androgyne lodges, namely, theopportunity for forbidden enjoyments, and the creation of powerfulunsuspected auxiliaries for political purposes, he states that thelatter part of this programme was specially surrendered to the oldPalladian Masonry. Now it is clear that the rituals of the order whichhe published in 1886 bear no such construction as he here, and for thefirst time, imputes; they connect with part one of the programme, and hewas content at the time with their impeachment on the ground of sexualdisorder. Why has he changed the impeachment? No assignable reasonappears from his subsequent remarks, but he goes on to allege that, under the auspices of Albert Pike and his group, the original orderdeveloped the New and Reformed Palladian Rite, in which the politicalpurpose was itself subordinated to "Satanism pure and simple. "Originating in the United States, it has invaded Europe, where itpropagates with truly unheard of rapidity, so that in Paris alone thereare three active lodges--that of the Lotus, founded in 1881, andsituated in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, which has in turn created thelodges of St James, 1884, and of St Julian, 1889. The Lotus itself waspreceded "by the organisation of some Areopagites of the Kadosch Gradeof the French Rite and of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, " whopractised theurgy under the direction of Ragon and Éliphas Lévi, both ofwhom are represented as given over, body and soul, to all the practicesof lawless diabolism, the latter being apparently the leader, afterwhose death the association met only infrequently, until it was revivedby Phileas Walder, the friend, as we have already seen, of Albert Pike. It was he who imported the New and Reformed Palladium from America intoFrance, and, assembling the disciples of Lévi, founded the Mother-Lodgeof the Lotus. 

The ritual obtained by Leo Taxil was printed in Latin and English, withan interleaved French version in manuscript. As presented by itsdiscoverer, there is no doubt that it is an execrable production, involving the practice in open lodge of obscenity, diabolism, andsacrilege. Passing over the first three grades, and beginning "at thepoint of bifurcation, " we find it stated in the ritual of the fourthdegree of Elect that the New and Reformed Palladium has been instituted"to impart a new force to the traditions of high-grade Masonry, " thatthe Palladium which gives its name to the order was presented to thefathers of the order by Eblis himself, that it is now at Charleston, andthat Charleston is the first supreme Council of the globe. Thus it willbe seen that the Palladian ritual confuses the Palladium Order with theAncient and Accepted Scotch Rite. For the rest, the legend of the fourthdegree is the first part of what is termed a blasphemous life of Jesus, representing Baal-Zeboub as his ancestor, Joseph as his father, according to physical generation, and Mirzam as his mother, who ishighly honoured as the parent of many other children. Adonaï is theprinciple of evil, and Eblis, otherwise Lucifer, the good God. But theritual of the fourth grade is innocent in its character when comparedwith the abominations of the fifth degree of Templar-Mistress. Thecentral point of the ceremonial is the resurrection of Lazarus, which issymbolically accomplished by the postulant suffering what is termed theordeal of the Pastos, that is to say, by means of public fornication. The purpose of this ordeal is to show that the sacred act of physicalgeneration is the key to the mystery of being. The life of Jesus begunin the previous grade is completed in the present, and it will besufficient for my purpose to indicate that it represents the Saviour ofChristianity, who originally "began well, " passing over from the serviceof the good god Lucifer, and making a pact with the evil Adonaï, in signof which he ceased indiscriminate commerce with the women who followedhim and pledged himself to live in chastity, for which he was abandonedby Baal-Zeboub, and is cursed by Palladists. "The duty of aTemplar-Mistress is to execrate Jesus, anathematise Adonaï, and adoreLucifer. " The rite concludes by the recipient spitting on a consecratedhost and the whole assembly piercing it in turn with stilettos. 

So far the sole testimony to the actual operation, as indeed to theexistence, of these infamous ceremonies, is Leo Taxil, and it is oncemore my duty to state that the documents are in no sense above thesuspicion of having been fraudulently produced by some one. It seemsscarcely credible, but the instruction of the Elect Grade incorporatesMasonic references _literatim_ from the scandalous memoirs of Cassanova. That is a fact which sets open a wide door to scepticism. Again, theinstruction of the fifth degree contains more plagiarisms from Lévi, andin a section entitled "Evocations, " Leo Taxil again reproduces the"Conjuration of the Four" which he has previously fathered on the Riteof Memphis and Misraïm, and now states to be in use among Palladists. Once more, he prints a long list of the spirits of light whichPalladians recommend for evocation, and this list is a haphazardgleaning among the eighty-four genii of the twelve hours given in Lévi'sinterpretation of the "Nuctemeron according to Apollonius. " But theselatter points are not arguments which necessarily reflect upon LeoTaxil, for, seeing that the New and Reformed Palladium was constitutedin 1870, it is obvious that the author of the rituals may have drawnfrom the French magus, and Leo Taxil does connect the Palladium, asothers have connected it, with Alphonse Louis Constant, partly throughPhileas Walder his disciple, and partly by representing Constant as theleader of an occult association of Knights Kadosch. But when herepresents Constant as himself a Mason we have to remember that ÉliphasLévi explicitly denied his initiation in his _Histoire de la Magie_. 

I should add that Leo Taxil in one of the illustrations represents alodge of the Templar-Mistress Rite, wherein the altar is over-shadowedby a Baphomet which is a reduction in facsimile of the frontispiece toLévi's _Rituel_, and all reasonable limits seem to be transgressed whenhe quotes from Albert Pike's "Collection of Secret Instructions, " anextended passage which swarms with thefts from the same source, everyoneof which I can identify when required, showing them page by page in theoriginals. Leo Taxil tells us that the "Collection" was communicated tohim, but by whom he does not say. We are evidently dealing with anexceedingly complex question, and many points must be made clear beforewe can definitely accept evidenced which is so mixed and uncertain incharacter. 

If we ask the author of these disclosures what opportunities he has hadto become personally acquainted with Masonry, we shall find that theyare exceedingly few, for he was expelled from the order after receivingonly the first degree. I do not say that this expulsion reflects in anysense discreditably upon him as a man of honour, but it closed hisMasonic career almost as soon as it had begun, so that his title tospeak rests only on his literary researches and other forms of derivedknowledge, good enough, no doubt, in their way, but not so exhaustive ascould be wished in view of the position he has assumed. It was shortlyafter this episode that Leo Taxil returned to the Catholic Church andattached himself to the interests of the clerical party. Previously tothis his literary history must be for him a painful memory. He was awriter of anti-clerical romances and the editor of an anti-clericalnewspaper--legitimate occupations in one sense, but in this instance toofrequently connected with literary methods of a gravely discreditablekind. A catalogue of the defunct _Libraire Anti-Cléricale_ is added toone of the romances, and advertises, among other productions from thesame pen, the following contributions made by Leo Taxil to theliterature of sacrilege and scandal:--1st, a Life of Jesus, being aninstructive and satirical parody of the Gospels, with 500 comic designs;2nd, The Comic Bible (_Bible Amusante_); 3rd, The Debaucheries of aConfessor, a romance founded on the affair of the Jesuit Girarde andCatherine Cadière; 4th, a Female Pope, being the adventures and crimesof Pope Joan, written in collaboration with F. Laffont; 5th, The Pope'sMistress, a "grand historical romance, " written in collaboration withKarl Milo; 6th, Pius the Ninth before history, his life political andpontifical, his debaucheries, follies, and crimes, 3 vols. ; 7th, ThePoisoner Leo Thirteenth, an account of thefts and poisoning committedwith the complicity of the present pontiff; 8th, ContemporaryProstitution, a collection of revolting statistics upon, _inter alia_, the methods, habits, and physical peculiarities of persons who practicepæderasty. 

It will be seen that since his conversion our author has changed hisobjects without altering his methods. As in the past he unveiled thesupposed ill-doings of popes and priests, as he exposed the corruptpractices of the Parisian police in the matter of crying social evils, so now he divulges the infamies of Masonic gatherings in the present. Heclaimed then to be actuated by a high motive and he claims it now. Wemust not deny the motive, but we certainly abhor the proceeding. In somevery curious memoirs which have obtained wide circulation Leo Taxilacknowledges that he was gravely mistaken then, and he may be mistakennow. It must also be respectfully stated in conclusion that few personswho have contributed to lubricity in literature have ever failed tospeak otherwise than from an exalted standpoint. When a short time agoM. Huysman went in search of a type to which he could refer Luciferian"blasphemies" and outrages, he could find nothing more suitable to hispurpose than Leo Taxil's "Bouffe Jesus. " We do not refuse to accept himas a witness against Masonry because of these facts, but we must askhim as an honourable gentleman not to insist that we should do so ontrust, and at the present moment the only opportunities which he hasgiven us to check his statements do not wholly encourage us to acceptthem. It will be seen therefore that the knowledge of Palladian Masonrywas first brought to light under circumstances of a debatable kind. 

CHAPTER V

THE DISCOVERY OF M. RICOUX

By the year 1891 Masonic revelations in Paris had become too numerousfor one more or less to fix the volatile quality of public interestunless a new horror were attached to it. Passwords and signs andcatechisms, all the purposes and the better half of thesecrets--everyone outside the Fraternity who concerned themselves withMasonry and cared for theoretical initiation knew these, or wassatisfied by the belief that he did. The literature of Anti-Masonrybecame a drug in the market, failing some novelty in revelation. Thelast work of Leo Taxil was eminently a contribution towards this missingquantity. He was already in a certain sense the discoverer of "FemaleFreemasonry, " that is to say, he was the only equipped person whoseriously maintained that the exploded androgyne system was worked inmodern France, and when he added the development of the Palladium as theclimax to the mystery of iniquity, it is small wonder that his bookachieved notoriety to the extent of five thousand copies. He wasassailed as a venal pamphleteer and his past achievements in literaturewere freely disinterred for his own benefit and for public instruction, but he was more than compensated by the approbation of Mgr. Fava, bishopof Grenoble, with whose opinions upon Satanism in Masonry we havepreviously made acquaintance. The Church indeed had all round agreed tooverlook Leo Taxil's early enormities; she forgot that she had attemptedto prosecute him and to fine him a round sum of 60, 000 francs; thesupreme pontiff forgave him the accusation of poisoning, and transmittedhis apostolical benediction; he was complimented by the cardinal-vicarof Rome; and he is in the proud position of a man who has receivedfelicitations and high approval from eighteen ecclesiasticaldignitaries, whether cardinals, archbishops, or bishops. With his backagainst the _turris fortitudinis_, he faced his accusers stoutly andreturned them blow for blow. Nor did he lack his lay defenders, one ofwhom, by the mode which he adopted, became himself, somewhatunexpectedly, a witness of Lucifer. 

To those who disbelieve in the existence of Female Freemasonry, LeoTaxil had offered two pieces of wise advice: Go to the BibliothèqueNationale, search the files of the Masonic organ _La Chaine d'Union_, and you will find proof positive of your mistake. Next proceed to theMaison T----, there is no need to reproduce the address, but it is givenby Leo Taxil in full, and obtain their current price-list of lodgefurniture, insignia, and other accessories, and you will findparticulars of aprons for sisters, diplomas for sisters, garters forsisters, jewels for sisters. Except upon the signs of initiation, thecatalogue is not surrendered, but in view of the literature ofrevelation the signs are no longer secret, &c. 

All this is clearly outside the subject of Satanism, but it leads up, notwithstanding, to the discovery of M. Ricoux. As to this gentlemanhimself there are no particulars forthcoming; he has promised an accountof his adventures during four years as an emigrant in Chili; and he haspromised a patriotic epic in twelve cantos, but so far as my informationgoes they remain in the womb of time. But he has a claim on ourconsideration because it occurred to him that he would put in practicethe advice of Leo Taxil, which he did accordingly in the autumn of 1891, and demonstrated to his own satisfaction that "Are there Women inFreemasonry?" is a book of true disclosure, and a question that must beanswered in the affirmative. He performed thereupon a very creditableaction; he wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Existence of Lodges for Women:Researches on this subject, " &c. , in which he stated the result of hisinvestigation, collected the controversy on the subject which had beenscattered through the press of the period, and defended Leo Taxil withthe warmth of an _alter Ego_. But he had not limited his researches tothe directions indicated in his author. Encouraged by the success whichhad attended his initial efforts, he determined upon an independentexperiment in bribery, and after the same manner that Leo Taxil procuredthe "Ritual of the New and Reformed Palladium, " so he succeeded inobtaining the "Collection of Secret Instructions to Supreme Councils, Grand Lodges, and Grand Orients, " printed at Charleston in the year1891. "This collection, " he tells us, "is certainly a document of thefirst order; for it emanates from General Albert Pike, that is to say, from the 'Pope of the Freemasons. '" On this document he bases thefollowing statements:--(a) Universal Freemasonry possesses a SupremeDirectory as the apex of its international organisation, and it islocated at Berlin. (b) Four subsidiary Central Directories exist atNaples, Calcutta, Washington, and Monte Video. (c) Furthermore, a Chiefof Political Action resides at Rome, commissioned to watch over theVatican and to precipitate events against the Papacy. (d) A GrandDepositary of Sacred Traditions, under the title of Sovereign Pontiff ofUniversal Freemasonry, is located at Charleston, and at the time of thediscovery was Albert Pike. 

Some of these statements, it will be observed, require rectification, inthe light of fuller disclosures made by Palladian initiates, from whomthe material of my second chapter has been chiefly derived, but it willbe seen that it is substantially correct. M. Ricoux further states that"Albert Pike reformed the ancient Palladian Rite, and imparted theretothe Luciferian character in all its brutality. Palladism, for him, is aselection; he surrenders to the ordinary lodges the adepts who confinethemselves to materialism, or invoke the Grand Architect without daringto apply to him his true name, and under the title of Knights Templarsand Mistress Templars, he groups the fanatics who do not shrink from thedirect patronage of Lucifer. "

The most serious mistake which has been made in the use of the materialis an unconscious attempt to read into the "encyclicals" of Albert Pikea proportion of Leo Taxil's material, for which the long citations givenby M. Ricoux do not afford a warrant. What he really appears to haveobtained is the instructions of Pike as Supreme Commander Grand Masterof the Supreme Council of the Mother-Lodge of the Ancient and AcceptedScotch Rite of Charleston to the Twenty-three Supreme ConfederatedCouncils of the Globe. And the Scotch Rite is, by the hypothesis, apartfrom the Palladium. In other respects, the information comes to much thesame thing. The long document which the pamphlet prints _in extenso_exhibits Albert Pike preaching Palladism in the full foulness of itsdoctrine and practice--the "resolution of the problem of the flesh" byindiscriminate satisfaction of the passions; the multiplication ofandrogyne lodges for this purpose; the dual nature of the DivinePrinciple; and the cultus of Lucifer as the good God. The most curiousfeature of the performance is that here again it is from end to end atravesty of Éliphas Lévi, slice after slice from his chief writings, combined with interlineal additions, which give them a sensediametrically opposed to that of the great magus. Now, it is impossiblethat two persons, working independently for the production of bogusdocuments, should both borrow from the same source; hence Leo Taxil andM. Ricoux, if they have been guilty of imposition, must certainly havecollaborated. It is unreasonable, however, to advance such an accusationin the absence of any evidence, and if we accept the contribution of M. Ricoux as made in perfect good faith, we must acknowledge that itexonerates Leo Taxil from the possible suspicion of himself adaptingLévi; and then the existence of a theurgic society, based on Manichæanprinciples, instituted by Albert Pike, and possessing a magical ritualtaken in part from Lévi, wears a more serious aspect than when it restedon the unsupported assurance of one witness. The discovery of M. Ricouxis obviously of the first importance, and it is certainly to beregretted that he has not substantiated it by depositing the "Collectionof Instructions" in the National Library, supposing it to be in hispossession, or by photographing instead of transcribing, supposing hewas pledged to its return. 

CHAPTER VI

ART SACERDOTAL

Some few months after the first testimonies to Palladism appeared, underthe signatures of the witnesses whom we have already examined, a freshcontribution was made to the literature of Diabolism in its connectionwith Masonry, by a work entitled "Freemasonry, the Synagogue of Satan. "The exalted ecclesiastical position of the author, Mgr. Léon Meurin, S. J. , Archbishop of Port Louis in Mauritius, gave new impetus and anaspect of increased importance to accusations preferred at thebeginning, as we have seen, by comparatively obscure or directlysuspected writers. The performance, moreover, was apparently so learned, in some respects so unlooked for, and withal so methodical, that itbecame subsequently a source of universal reference in anti-Masonicliterature. To this day M. Huysman remains dazzled, and to those insearch of reliable information on the subject, he says:--"If you wouldbe saved from the excesses of unseated reason, and from narratives ofDunciad dulness, try Mgr. Meurin; read the Archbishop on Palladism. "Within certain limits the advice is well-grounded; the art sacerdotal inits application to Anti-Masonry may leave much to be desired, but as aspecimen of the superior criticism obtaining upon this subject in highercircles, it offers a strong contrast to the general tone and touch amongthe rank and file of the accusers. We are, in fact, warranted upon everyconsideration, in expecting a valuable contribution to our knowledge;but, I may say at once, that this expectation is unfortunately notrealised. With a keen philosophical anticipation one turns the pages of"Freemasonry, the Synagogue of Satan, " admires their beautifultypography, lingers with delight over the elaborate appendix ofallegorical engravings, and experiences a brief sense of intellectualinferiority in the presence of such formidable sections, and soportentous a table of contents. It should be impossible to speak of theArchbishop without a mental genuflexion, but it remains true that ourexpectation is not realised. It will become us, at the same time, tospeak as tenderly as possible of a pious and learned prelate who has nowpassed where Masons cease from Satanising and the thirty-three degreesare at rest. But it must be said plainly that the contents of his verylarge volume offer little to our purpose. 

By the nature of his episcopal charge Mgr. Meurin had special facilitiesfor ascertaining how men diabolise; the island of Mauritius has enjoyedmany privileges of Infernus. There we lose sight of the Rosicrucians onthe road to India; there the Comte de Chazal initiated Dr Bacstrom, andall this, of course, is diabolical from the standpoint of Anti-Masonry. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that Mgr. Meurin, in a series ofwonderful conferences, has exhibited the superstitions of Mauritius, and, accepting the test of M. Huysman, the existence of Black Magic inthis French colony is proved to hilt and handle by wholesaleEucharistic depredations, the sacrifice of cats at midnight upon thealtars of rifled churches, and the discovery of the blood of the victimsin the chalices used for the elements. The Church does not stir in thematter; it deplores and prays, which seems, in some respects, anineffectual method of protecting the _latens Deitas_. If the Eucharistbe liable to profanation, why reserve the Eucharist? Surely thenegligence which makes such profanations possible is the offer ofopportunity to Deicide, and great carelessness is cousin to condonation. However this may be, Mgr. Meurin seems to have been quite the authorityto whom one would naturally refer for specific information upondevil-worship as it obtains within his own diocese, even if apart fromMasonry. But he is too erudite to concern himself with individual facts, and he so far transcends diocesan limitations as to forget Mauritiuscompletely. Another witness, who perhaps never visited Port Louis, affirms that the Central Directory of the Palladium for Africa isestablished in that place, but the prelate of Port Louis, from whom theinformation would have been precious, seems acquainted with nothing ofthe kind. The weapon of the mitred warrior is, at the same time, asufficiently portentous thesis, as follows:--that Freemasonry isconnected with Satanism by the fact that it has the Jews for its trueauthors, and the Jewish Kabbalah for the key of its mysteries; that theKabbalah is magical, idolatrous, and essentially diabolical; thatFreemasonry, considered as a religion, is therefore a judaizeddevil-worship, and considered as a political institution, it is anengine designed for the attainment of universal empire, which has beenthe dream of the Jews for centuries. 

My readers will be inclined to consider that such a hypothesis, thoughit may square with the Satanism of Adriano Lemmi, who, as we shall see, is accused of circumcision, can hardly be brought into harmony with theuniversal Masonry of Albert Pike, as the latter was neither Jew norJudaiser. But common hatred of the Catholic Church is, in the opinion ofMgr. Meurin, a sufficient bond to identify the interests of bothparties. Let us start, therefore, with the archbishop's own hypothesis, which he compresses into a single sentence: "To encircle the brow of theJew with the royal diadem, and to place the kingdom of the world at hisfeet--such is the true end of Freemasonry. " And again: "The JewishKabbalah is the philosophical basis and Key of Freemasonry. " Once more:"The end of Freemasonry is universal dominion, and Freemasonry is aJewish institution. "

Accepting these statements as points that admit of being argued withdeference to the rules of right reason, let us establish in turn twopositions which do not admit of being argued because they are evident inthemselves: (a) Where the significance of symbols is uncertain, it iseasy to interpret falsely; (b) When a subject is obscure and difficult, no person is qualified to speak positively if his knowledge be obtainedat second-hand. Now, have we good reason to suppose that Mgr. Meurin ispossessed of first-hand knowledge, and is consequently in a position tointerpret truly upon the difficult subject he has undertaken, namely, the esoteric doctrines of the Kabbalah? If not, we are entitled todismiss him without further examination. As a fact, in this preliminaryand essential matter the archbishop can stand no test. The antiquity ofthe Kabbalah is necessary to work his hypothesis, and he assumes it asif unaware that its antiquity had ever been impugned. There may be muchto be said upon both sides of this hotly-debated question, but there isnothing to be said for a writer who seems ignorant that there is aquestion. And hence my readers will in no way be astonished to learnthat his information is obtained at second-hand, or that his oneauthority is Franck. This fact is the key to his entire work, and thesole credit that is due to him is the skilful appearance of eruditionwhich he has given to a shallow performance, and the natural mentalelegance which has prevented him from being noisy and violent. 

Our inquiry into modern devil-worship does not warrant us in discussingthe position of writers who choose to assume that the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and other systems are _à priori_ diabolical, becauseassumptions of this kind are unreasonable. There are writers at thismoment in France who argue that the English word God is the equivalentof Lucifer, but one does not dispute with these. For the satisfaction ofmy readers, it may, however, be as well to state that the voluminoustreatise of Mgr. Meurin has come into existence because he hasdiscovered, as one might say, accidentally, that the number 33, which isthat of the degrees in French Freemasonry, is the number of thedivinities in the Vedas, thus creating a presumption that the mysteriesof Freemasonry connect with those of antiquity. Of course they connectwith antiquity, for the simple reason that there is a solidarity betweenall symbolisms, and, moreover, it is perfectly clear that Masonry haseither inherited from the past by a perpetuated tradition, or hasborrowed therefrom. Mgr. Meurin had therefore as little reason to beastonished at the correctness of his presumption when he came to work itout as he had to be delighted with the inference which prevailsthroughout his inquiry, namely, that the mysteries of pagan antiquitywere delusions of the devil, and that modern mysteries which connectwith those are also diabolical delusions. Indeed he is so continuallymaking discoveries which are fresh to himself, and to no one acquaintedwith the subject, that one would be pleasantly diverted by hissimplicity if it were not for the bad faith which underlies hisassumptions. For example, every one who knows anything of Goëticliterature is aware that the rituals of black magic incorporateheterogeneous elements from Kabbalistic sources, but to Mgr. Meurin thisfact comes with the force of a surprise. 

His Masonic erudition is about as great and as little as his proficiencyin Kabbalah; he quotes Carlyle as "an authority, " applies the termorthodox to French Freemasonry exclusively, whereas the developments ofthe Fraternity in France have always had a heterodox complexion, whilehis tripartite classification of the 33 degrees of that rite and of theAncient Accepted Scotch Rite is made in an arbitrary manner to suit apreconceived theory, and entirely effaces the importance inherent inthe first three grades, which are themselves the sum of Masonry. Moreover, the classification in question is presented as a most secretinstruction imparted in some fastness of Masonry outside the 33 degrees, but no authority is named. 

Such being the qualifications and such the methods of the archbishop, Ido not propose to accompany him through the long course of hisinterpretations, but will supply instead, for the economy of labour onthe part of those who may wish to follow in his footsteps, a skeletonplan of procedure by which they will be able to prove learnedly anythingthey please in Freemasonry. 

It is well known that the Fraternity makes use of mystic numbers andother symbols. Take, therefore, any mystic number, or combination ofnumbers, as _e. G. _, 3 × 3 = 9. You will probably be unacquainted withthe meaning which attaches to the figure of the product, but it willoccur to you that the 9 of spades is regarded as the disappointment incartomancy. Begin, therefore, by confidently expecting something bad. Reflect upon the fact that cards have been occasionally denominated theDevil's Books. Conclude thence that Freemasonry is the Devil'sInstitution. Do not be misled by the objection that there is notraceable connection between cards and Masonry; anticipate an occultconnection or secret _liaison_. The term last used has probably occurredto you by the will of God; do not forget that it describes aquestionable sexual relationship. Be sure, therefore, that Freemasonryis a veil of the worst species of moral licence. You have now reached animportant stage in the unmasking of Masonry, and you can sum it asfollows:--Freemasonry is the cultus of the Phallus. If you know anythingof ecclesiastical Latin, the words _noctium phantasmata_ may perhapsoccur to you, and the whole field of demonology in connection with theFraternity will open before you. But if you would confine yourself tothe region of lubricity, recollect that our first parents went nakedtill the serpent tempted them, and then they wore aprons. Hence theapron, which is a Masonic emblem, has from time immemorial been thecovering of shame. Should it occur to you--vide _Genesis_--that God madethe aprons, dismiss it as a temptation of the devil, who would, ifpossible, prevent you from unveiling him. By this time it will be wellto recur to the number 9; your chain of reasoning has established thatit possesses a horrible significance. Now take the number and follow itthrough the history of religions by means of some theologicalready-reckoner, such as a cheap dictionary by Migne. You will be sure tofind something to your purpose--_i. E. _, something sufficiently bad. Place that significance against the use of that number in Masonry. Repeat this process, picking up anything serviceable by the way, andcontinue so doing till your volume has attained its required dimensions. You will never want for materials, and this is how Masonry is unveiled. 

There is no exaggeration in this sketch; Mgr. Meurin is indeed by farmore fatuous. On the 26th of May 1876 the Supreme Council of SovereignGrand Inspectors General of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and AcceptedScotch Rite are said to have issued a circular, dated from 33 GoldenSquare, London. Will my readers believe their own eyes or my sinceritywhen I say that the most illustrious of the French Anti-Masonicinterpreters, member of the Society of Jesus, and Archbishop of PortLouis, solemnly enjoins us to "remark the No. 33 and the square of gold, which signify the supreme place in the world assigned to the liberty ofgold"? By thus commenting on a significant number attaching to a realaddress, situated, as everyone knows, in the most central district ofthis city, Archbishop Meurin believes that he is not descending frompleasant comedy into screaming farce of interpretation, but that he isacting seriously and judiciously, has a right to look wise, and tobelieve that he has hit hard!

No person who is acquainted with the Kabbalah, even in its historicalaspects, much less the ripe scholar, M. A. Franck, from whom thematerials are derived, will tolerate for a moment the theory that thismystical literature of the Jewish nation is capable of a diabolicalinterpretation. In particular it lends itself to the crude Manichæansystem attributed to Albert Pike about as much and as little as it doesto atheistic materialism. The reading of Mgr. Meurin may be comparedwith that of Mirandola, who discovered, not dualism, but the Christianmystery of the Trinity contained indubitably therein, who regarded itwith more reason as the bridge by which the Jew might ultimately passover to Christ, who infected a pontiff with his enthusiasm, and it willbe seen that the Catholic Archbishop looks ridiculous in the lustre ofhis derived erudition. To insist further on this point is, however, scarcely to our purpose. The Kabbalah does not possess that integralconnection with Masonry which is argued by Mgr. Meurin, and if it did, does not bear the interpretation which he assigns it, while hisanti-Semitic thesis is demolished with the other hypothesis. But thesethings are largely outside the question which concerns us most directly. Over and above these points, does the witness whom we are examiningcontribute anything to our knowledge on the subject of the New andReformed Palladium, otherwise Universal Masonry? The reply is perfectlyclear. His one source of knowledge is Adolphe Ricoux; by some oversighthe has not even the advantage of the rituals published by Leo Taxil. Hemay, therefore, be dismissed out of hand. The Satanism which he exhibitsin Masonry is an imputed Satanism, and as to any actual Devil-Worship hereproduces as true the clever story of _Aut Diabolus aut Nihil_, whichappeared originally in "Blackwood's Magazine, " and has since beenreprinted by its author, who states, what most people know already, thatit is entirely fictitious. 

In parting with the writer of "Freemasonry, the Synagogue of Satan, " aswith a witness whose evidence has broken down, it must be repeated thathe has, by his exalted position, elegance of method, and show oflearning, been a chief pillar of the Satanic hypothesis. 

CHAPTER VII

THE DEVIL AND THE DOCTOR

§ 1. _Le Diable au XIX^e Siècle_

Although the New and Reformed Palladium is said to have been founded sofar back as the year 1870, it will be seen that at the close of the year1891 very little had become public concerning it. It is difficult toconceive that an institution diffused so widely should have remained soprofound a secret, when the many enemies of the Fraternity, who in theirway are sleepless, would have seized eagerly upon the slightest hint ofa directing centre of Masonry. Moreover, an association which initiatesladies is perhaps the last which one would expect to be unknown, forwhile the essential matter of a secret is undeniably safe with women, itis on condition that they are known to possess it. When the first hintwas provided in 1891, Leo Taxil certainly lost no time, and Mgr. Meurinmust have written his large treatise almost at fever speed. On the 20thof November in the same year, another witness came forward in the personof Dr Bataille, who speedily made it apparent that he was in a positionto reveal everything about Universal Masonry and diabolism in connectiontherewith, because, unlike those who had preceded him, he possessedfirst-hand knowledge. If he had not himself beheld Lucifer in all hislurid glory, he had at least seen his messengers; he was an initiate ofmost secret societies which remotely or approximately are supposed toconnect with Masonry; he had visited Charleston; he had examined thegenuine Baphomet and the skull of Jacques de Molay; he was personallyacquainted with Albert Pike, Phileas Walder, and Gallatin Mackey; hewas, moreover, an initiate of the Palladium. He was evidently themissing witness who could unveil the whole mystery, and it would bedifficult to escape from his conclusions. Finally, he was not a personwho had come out of Masonry by a suspicious and sudden conversion;believing it to be evil, he had entered it with the intention ofexposing it, had spent ten years in his researches, and now steppedforward with his results. The office of a spy is not usually clean orwholesome, but occasionally such services are valuable, and in somecases there may be certain ends which justify the use of means whichwould in other cases be questionable, so that until we can prove thecontrary, it will be reasonable to accept the solemn declaration of thiswitness that he acted with a good intention, and that what he did was inthe interests of the church and the world. 

But, unfortunately, Dr Bataille has seen fit to publish his testimony inprecisely that form which was most calculated to challenge the motive;it is a perfervid narrative issued in penny numbers with absurdillustrations of a highly sensational type; in a word, _Le Diable auXIX^e Siècle_, which is the title given to his memoirs by the presentwitness, connects in manner and appearance with that class of literaturewhich is known as the "penny dreadful. " Some years ago the slums ofLondon and Paris were inundated with romances published in this fashionand continued so long as they maintained a remunerative circulation; inmany cases, they ended abruptly, in others they extended, like _LeDiable au XIX^e Siècle_ to hundreds of issues; they possess specialcharacteristics which are known to experts in the by-ways of periodicalliterature, and all these are to be found in the narrative of DrBataille. No one in England would dream of publishing in this form awork which was to be taken seriously, nor am I acquainted with anyprecedent for it abroad. It is therefore a discreditable and unfortunatechoice, but seeing that a section of the clerical press in France hasagreed to pass over this point, and to accept Dr Bataille as a crediblewitness, and seeing also that he has been followed by other writers whomust be taken into account and stand or fall with him, we must notregard his method as an excuse for refusing to hear him. Apart from himand his adherents there is indeed no first-hand evidence for PalladianMasonry. The present chapter will therefore contain a summary of whatwas seen and heard by Dr Bataille in the course of his researches. 

§ 2. _Why Signor Carbuccia was Damned. _

In the year 1880, Dr Hacks, who makes, I believe, no attempt to concealhimself under the vesture of Dr Bataille, was a ship's surgeon on boardthe steam-boat _Anadyr_, belonging to the _Compagnie des MessageriesMaritimes_, and then returning from China with passengers andmerchandise. On a certain day in the June of the year mentioned, he wasto the fore at his post of duty--that is to say, he was extended idlyover the extreme length of a comfortable deck-chair, and the _hotelflottant_ was anchored at Point-de-Galle, a port at the southernextremity of Ceylon, and one of the reputed regions of the terrestrialparadise. While the doctor, like a good Catholic, put a polish on thetropical moment by a little gloss of speculation over the mystery ofEden, some passengers presently came on board for the homeward voyage, and among them was Gaëtano Carbuccia, an Italian, who was originally asilk-merchant, but owing to Japanese competition, had been forced tochange his _métier_, and was now a dealer in curiosities. His numerouscommercial voyages had made them well acquainted with each other, but onthe present occasion Carbuccia presented an appearance which alarmed hisfriend; a _gaillard grand et solide_ had been metamorphosed suddenlyinto an emaciated and feeble old man. There was a mystery somewhere, andthe ship's doctor was destined to diagnose its character. After wearingfor a certain period the aspect of a man who has something to tell, andcannot summons courage to tell it--a position which is common innovels--the Italian at length unbosomed himself, beginning dramaticallyenough by a burst of tears, and the terrific information that he wasdamned. But the Carbuccia of old was a riotous, joyful, foul-tongued, pleasure-loving atheist, a typical commercial traveller, with a strainof Alsatia and the mountain-brigand. How came this red-tied scoffer sofar on the road of religion as to be damned? Some foolish fancy had madethe ribald Gaëtano turn a Mason. When one of his boon companions hadsuggested the evil course, he had refused blankly, apparently because hewas asked, rather than because it was evil; but he had scarcely regainedhis home in Naples than he became irreparably initiated. The ceremonywas accomplished in a street of that city by a certain GiambattistaPessina, who was a Most Illustrious Sovereign Grand Commander, PastGrand Master, and Grand Hierophant of the Antique and Oriental Rite ofMemphis and Misraïm, who, for some reason which escapes analysis, recognised Carbuccia as a person who deserved to be acquainted with thewhole physiology and anatomy of Masonry. It would cost 200 francs toenter the 33rd grade of the sublime mystery. Carbuccia closed with thisoffer, and was initiated there and then across the table, becoming aGrand Commander of the Temple, and was affiliated, for a furthersubscription of 15 francs annually, to the Areopagite of Naples, receiving the passwords regularly. 

Impelled by an enthusiasm for which he himself was unable to account, henow lent a ready ear to all dispensers of degrees; Memphis initiates ofManchester allured him into Kabbalistic rites; he fell among occultMasons like the Samaritan among thieves; he became a Sublime HermeticPhilosopher; overwhelmed with solicitations, he fraternised with theBrethren of the New Reformed Palladium, and optimated with the Societyof Re-Theurgists, from whom he ultimately received the veritableinitiation of the Magi. Everywhere lodges opened to him, everywheremysteries unveiled; everywhere in the higher grades he found spiritism, magic, evocation; his atheism became impossible, and his consciencetroubled. 

Ultimately his business led him to revisit Calcutta, where his lastunheard-of experience had overwhelmed his whole being, just eight dayspreviously to his encounter with Doctor Bataille. He had found thePalladists of that city in a flutter of feverish excitement because theyhad succeeded in obtaining from China the skulls of three martyredmissionaries. These treasures were indispensable to the successfuloperation of a new magical rite composed by the Supreme Pontiff ofUniversal Freemasonry and Vicegerent of Lucifer, General Albert Pike. Aséance was about to be held; Brother George Shekleton of immortalmemory, the hero who had obtained the skulls, was present with thosetrophies; and the petrified quondam atheist took part, not because hewished to remain, but because he did not dare to go. The proceedingsbegan, the skulls were placed on the tables; Adonaï and his Christ werecursed impressively, Lucifer as solemnly blessed and invoked at thealtar of Baphomet. Nothing could be possibly more successful--result, shocks of earthquake, threatened immediate demolishment of the wholeplace, confident expectation of being entombed alive, terrific burst ofthunder, a brilliant light, an impressive silence of some seconds, andthen the sudden manifestation of a being in human form seated in thechair of the Grand Master. It was an instantaneous apparition ofabsolute bodily substance, which carried its own warrant of complete_bona fides_. Everyone fell on their knees; everyone was invited torise; everyone rose accordingly; and Carbuccia found that he had to dowith a male personage not exceeding eight and thirty years, naked as adrawn sword, with a faint flush of Infernus suffusing his skin, aspecies of light inherent which illuminated the darkness of thesalon--in a word, a beardless Apollo, tall, distinguished, infinitelymelancholy, and yet with a nervous smile playing at the corners of hismouth, the apparition of _Aut Diabolus aut Nihil_ divested of eveningdress. This Unashamed Nakedness, who was accepted as the manifestationof Lucifer, discoursed pleasantly to his children, electing to useexcellent English, and foretold his ultimate victory over his eternalenemy; he assured them of continued protection, alluded in passing tothe innumerable hosts which surrounded him in his eternal domain, andincited his hearers to work without ceasing for the emancipation ofhumanity from superstition. 

The discourse ended, he quitted the daïs, approached the Grand Master, and eye to eye fixed him in deep silence. After a pause he passed on, without committing himself to any definite observation; yet there seemsto have been a meaning in the ceremony, for he successively repeated itin the case of every dignitary congregated at the eastern side, andfinally of the ordinary members. When it came to the turn of Carbuccia, he would have given ten years of his life to have been at the Galleysrather than Calcutta, but he contrived to pull through, without, however, creating a favourable impression, for _adversarius nosterdiabolus_ passed on with contracted brow, and when the disconcertinginquiry was over, returned to the centre of the circle, gave a finalglance around, approached Shekleton, and civilly requested him to shakehands. The importer of missionary skulls complied with a horrible yell;there was an electric shock, sudden darkness, and general_coup-de-théâtre_. When the torches were rekindled, the apparition hadvanished, Shekleton was discovered to be dead, and the initiatescrowding round him, sang: "Glory immortal to Shekleton! He has beenchosen by our omnipotent God. " It was too much for the galliardmerchant, and he swooned. 

Now, this is why Signor Carbuccia concluded that he was damned, whichappears to have been precipitate. He has contrived, by the good officesof his lay confessor, to square matters with the hierarchy of Adonaï, who belongs to the Latin persuasion; he has changed his name, adopted athird profession, and is so safe in retreat that his friends are asunlikely to find him as are the enemies who thirst for his blood. 

Doctor Bataille, faithful to his rôle of good Catholic, perceived atonce that the Merchant's Story of these new Arabian Nights wascharacterised by extreme frankness, was devoid of a sinister motive, andwas not the narrative of a maniac. A physician, he adds sententiously, is not to be deceived. He determined thereupon that he himself woulddescend into the abyss, taking with him a mental reservation in all hesaid and did as a kind of discharge in full. The Church and humanityrequired it. Behold him then presently at Naples, making acquaintancewith Signor Pessina, and outdoing Carbuccia by expending 500 francs inthe purchase of the 90th Misraïm grade, thus becoming a Sovereign GrandMaster for life! "I will be the exploiter and not the accomplice ofmodern Satanism, " said the pious Doctor Bataille. 

§ 3. _A Priestess of Lucifer. _

Fortified with the purchase of his Memphis sovereignty, and thepossession of various signs and passwords communicated by Carbuccia, which, by some interposition of Providence, must be assumed to haveremained unchanged in the intervening period, Dr Bataille entered on hisadventurous mission, bedewed with many tears, and sanctified by manyblessings of an old spiritual adviser, who, needless to say, was atfirst hostile to the enterprise, and was afterwards as inevitablydisarmed by the eloquence and enthusiasm of his disciple. Having regardto the fact that Masonry and Diabolism abound everywhere, according tothe hypothesis, it obviously mattered little at what point he began theprosecution of his design; all roads lead to Rome, and the statement isequally true of the Rome of Masonry and the Vatican of Lucifer. As afact, he started where Carbuccia may be said to have left off, namely, at Point-de-Galle in Southern Ceylon. There he determined to acquainthimself with Cingalese Kabbalism, a department of transcendentalphilosophy, about as likely to be met with in that reputed region of theTerrestrial Paradise as a cultus from the great south sea in the backparts of Notting Hill. Signor Pessina, however, had provided him withthe address of a society which operated something that the doctor agreesto term Kabbalah, after the same manner that he misnames most subjects. But he was not destined to Kabbalize. 

Repairing to the principal hotel, he there witnessed, through one ofthose fortuitous occurrences which are sometimes the mask of fate, asufficiently indifferent performance by native jugglers, the chief ofwhom was exceedingly lean and so dirty as to suggest that he was remotefrom godliness. During the course of the conjuring this personage heldthe doctor by a certain meaning glance of his glittering eye, and whenall was over the latter had a private information that Sata desired tospeak with him. The naïve mind of the doctor regarded the name assignificant in view of his mission; Sata was assuredly a Satanist. Heconsented incontinently, and was greeted by the juggler with certainmysterious signs which showed that he was a Luciferian of the sect ofCarbuccia, though, by what device of the devil he divined the doctor'sadeptship, the devil and not the doctor could alone explain at themoment. 

A miscellaneous language is apparently spoken by the Cingalesejugglers--Tamil, including a little bad French, not less convenient thanneedful in the present case. It was made clear by some briefexplanations that the medical services of Dr Bataille were solicited atthe death-bed of a personage named Mahmah, for which purpose the twoentered a hired conveyance, while the rank and file of the jugglersfollowed at a brisk trot. In this manner they traversed a frightfuldesert, plunged into a forest of brushwood, finally forded a stream, andafter two hours arrived at an open clearing, in the centre of which wasa hut. An ape occupied the threshold, a vampire bat hung from aconvenient beam, a cobra was curled underneath, and a black cat welcomedthem with arched back. The ape spoke Tamil freely and then marched off, reflecting upon which circumstance, the doctor thought that it was quitethe strangest thing in the world. 

The hut was the covering of a species of well, down which, with somequakings for the safety of limbs and body, our adventurer was persuadedto follow his guides, and they reached, at the end of a long flight ofsteps, an immense mortuary chamber. There, on a bed of cocoa-nut fibre, he found his patient, from whose mummified and hideous appearance he atonce concluded that she was entirely given over to Satan and had longbeen a lost soul. As spiritually, so also physically, she was past allhuman aid; indeed she seemed dead already, and he gave his medicalopinion to that effect. The countenance of this opinion was apparentlythe warrant required for the proceedings which immediately followed, andit is difficult to understand why fakirs in league with Satan--for suchwe are told they were--and possessed, no doubt, both of ordinary nativeand occult methods of diagnosis, could not have discovered this forthemselves, more especially as the lady, who seems to have been apythoness by profession, and commerced with a familiar spirit, hadalready reached the ripe age of 152 years. 

To shorten a long and peculiarly noisome story, the astounded doctorultimately beheld the dying woman revive suddenly, and crawl to the endof the chamber, where there was an elaborate altar surmounted by afigure of Baphomet; the fakirs crowded round her; the ape, the bat, thesnake, the cat, all appeared on the scene; a brilliant illumination wasproduced by means of eleven lamps suspended from the ceiling; the womandrew herself into an erect position; the fakirs piled resinous branchesround her; amidst invocations, mysterious chants, and yells, shepermitted herself to be burned to death, her body slowly blackening, herface turning scarlet in the flames, her eyes starting from her head, and so she passed into ashes. 

Why was the doctor privileged to be present at these proceedings?Because an agent of the fakirs had previously investigated hisportmanteau on the hotel premises, and had discovered his Memphisinsignia, which they returned to him in the mortuary chamber. As to theBaphomet, it is very fully described, and is identified with similarimages of Masonic lodges in America, India, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, andMonte Video. The doctor says that it is the god of the occultists. Thevenerable Sata quoted Latin as intelligently as the ape spoke Tamil; heoverwhelmed his benefactor with acknowledgments, and instead of a feepresented him with a winged lingam, by means of which he would bereceived among all worshippers of Lucifer in India, China, --in fact, asSata said, _partout, partout_. 

So did Dr Bataille make his first acquaintance with practical occultism, and these things being done, he returned to his hotel and departedthankfully to bed. 

§ 4. _A House of Rottenness. _

Who would possess a lingam which was an _Open Sesame_ to devildom andnot make use thereof? By effecting an exchange with another ship'sdoctor, the exploiter of Lucifer found himself presently at Pondicherry, with three months of comparative freedom before him to explore themysteries of the oriental peninsula. Need I say that he had scarcelylanded at the French seaboard town when he at once made acquaintancewith the very person who of all others was most suitable to his scheme?This was Ramassamiponnotamly-palé-dobachi--quite a short name, heassures us, for the natives of this part. All Pondicherry more or lessabounded in lingams and Lucifer, but as he carried his right handclenched, the doctor at once suspected the half-naked Ramassam to bemore than commonly devoted to the persuasion of perdition; nor was hemistaken, for the latter promptly inquired: "What is your age?" "Elevenyears, " said the doctor. "Whence do you come?" "From the eternal flame. ""Whither do you go?" "To the flame eternal. " And to their mutualsatisfaction they agreed the sacred name of Baal-Zeboub, the doctorproducing his winged lingam, at which the other fell down in the openstreets and adored him. The exhibition of the patent of a SovereignGrand Master _ad Vitam_ of the Rite of Memphis inspired further respect;it was evidently a document with which Ramassam had long been familiar;and he began to talk glibly of tyling. Like the horrors of Udolpho, theexplanation was of course very simple: Mr John Campbell, an American, had instituted a lodge of the York Rite at Pondicherry which, in themost natural manner, admitted the Luciferian Fakirs as visitors, theLuciferian Fakirs admitted the members of the York Rite to theirconventions, and they all bedevilled one another. 

It would be idle to suppose that F. ·. Campbell was not at Pondicherry onbusiness when the doctor chanced to arrive, and in the course of theafternoon the latter was taken by Ramassam to a house of ordinaryappearance, into which they were admitted by another Indian, who, ofcourse, like the guide, spoke good French. Through the greenery of agarden, the gloom of a well, and the entanglement of certain stairways, they entered a great dismantled temple devoted to the service of Brahma, under the unimpressive diminutive of Lucif. The infernal sanctuary had astatue of Baphomet, identical with that in Ceylon, and theill-ventilated place reeked with horrible putrescence. Its noisomecondition was mainly owing to the presence of various fakirs, who, though still alive, were in advanced stages of putrefaction. Most peopleare supposed to go easily and pleasantly to the devil, but these electedto do so by way of a charnel-house asceticism, and an elaborate systemof self-torture. Some were suspended from the ceiling by a rope tied totheir arms, some embedded in plaster, some stiffened in a circle, somepermanently distorted into the shape of the letter S; some were headdownwards, some in a cruciform position. It was really quite monstrous, says the doctor, but a native grand master explained, that they hadpostured for years in this manner, and one of them for a quarter of acentury. 

Fr. ·. John Campbell proceeded to harangue the assembly in ourdou-zaban, but the doctor comprehended completely, and reports the substance of hisspeech, which was violently anti-Catholic in its nature, and especiallydirected against missionaries. This finished, they proceeded to theevocation of Baal-Zeboub, at first by the Conjuration of the Four, butno fiend appeared. The operation was repeated ineffectually a secondtime, and John Campbell determined upon the Grand Rite, which began byeach person spinning on his own axis, and in this mannercircumambulating the temple in procession. Whenever they passed anembedded fakir, they obtained an incantation from his lips, but stillBaal-Zeboub failed. Thereupon the native Grand Master suggested that theevocation should be performed by the holiest of all the fakirs, who wasproduced from a cupboard more fetid than the temple itself, and provedto be in the following condition:--(a) Face eaten by rats; (b) onebleeding eye hanging down by his mouth; (c) legs covered with gangrene, ulcers, and rottenness; (d) expression peaceful and happy. 

Entreated to call on Baal-Zeboub, each time he opened his mouth his eyefell into it; however, he continued the invocation, but no Baal-Zeboubmanifested. A tripod of burning coals was next obtained, and a woman, summoned for this purpose, plunged her arm into the flames, inhalingwith great delight the odour of her roasting flesh. Result, _nil_. Thena white goat was produced, placed upon the altar of Baphomet, setalight, hideously tortured, cut open, and its entrails torn out by thenative Grand Master, who spread them on the steps, uttering abominableblasphemies against Adonaï. This having also failed, great stones wereraised from the floor, a nameless stench ascended, and a largeconsignment of living fakirs, eaten to the bone by worms and falling topieces in every direction, were dragged out from among a number ofskeletons, while serpents, giant spiders, and toads swarmed from allparts. The Grand Master seized one of the fakirs and cut his throat uponthe altar, chanting the satanic liturgy amidst imprecations, curses, achaos of voices, and the last agonies of the goat. The blood spirtedforth upon the assistants, and the Grand Master sprinkled the Baphomet. A final howl of invocation resulted in complete failure, whereupon itwas decided that Baal-Zeboub had business elsewhere. The doctor departedfrom the ceremony, fraternising with Campbell, and kept his bed foreight-and-forty hours. 

§ 5. _The seven Temples and a Sabbath in Sheol. _

It was in the month of October 1880 that, in the course of hisenterprise, Doctor Bataille reached Calcutta. Freemasonry, he informsus, invariably affects the horrible, and as he invests Calcutta with thesombre hues of living death and universal putrefaction, it naturallyfollows that the Indian city is one of the four great directing centresof Universal Freemasonry. Everywhere the pious Doctor discovered thehand of Lucifer; everywhere he beheld the consequences of superstitionand Satanism; cataclysms, floods, tornados, typhoons, plagues, cholera, representing the normal state of health and habit, and the consequencesof universal persuasion in favour of the fiend. A corpse, he testifies, is met with at every step, the smoke of burning widows ascends toheaven, and the plain of Dappah, in immediate contiguity to the city, isa vast charnel-house where innumerable multitudes of dead bodies areflung naked to the vultures. The English Mason will at once recognisethat of all places in the world Calcutta is most suited to be a Mecca ofthe Fraternity and the capital of English India. The Kadosch of theScotch Rite, the Sublime Chosen Master of the Royal Arch, the Commanderof the White and Black Eagle of the rite of Herodom, the perfectlyinitiated Grand Inspector of the Scotch Philosophical Rite, the ElectBrother of the Johannite Rite of Zinnendorf, and the Brother of the RedCross of Swedenborg, a thousand other dignitaries of a thousandilluminations, gather in the Grand Masonic Temple, and, as the Doctorgravely tells us, are employed in cursing Catholicity. By a specialconjunction of the planets, the Doctor, on reaching head-quarters, hadimmediate intelligence that the great Phileas Walder had himselfrecently arrived on a secret mission from Charleston. There also he madeacquaintance with another luminary of devildom, by name Hobbs, whopresided at the important proceedings which resulted in the damnation ofCarbuccia. Brother Hobbs, possessed of much experience in Lucifer, gavemany assurances concerning the incessant apparitions of The Master ofEvil to all worthy persons. Now the Doctor, by virtue of his Misraïmpatent, was as much a priest for ever according to the Melchisedeck ofMasonry, as if he had been born without father or mother, but at themoment he had not received the perfect initiation of the Palladium;technically, therefore, he had no right to participate in the SupremeMysteries. However, it is needless to say that he had arrived in thenick of time to be present at a ceremony which takes place only once inten years, provided that he was willing to undergo the trifle of apreliminary ordeal. 

On the same evening a select company of initiates proceeded in hiredcarriages through the desolation of Dappah, under the convoy ofinitiated coachmen, for the operation of a great satanic solemnity. Atan easy distance from the city is the Sheol of the native Indians, andhard by the latter place there is a mountain 500 feet high and 2000long, on the summit of which seven temples are erected, communicatingone with another by subterranean passages in the rock. The total absenceof pagodas make it evident that these temples are devoted to the worshipof Satan; they form a gigantic triangle superposed on the vast plateau, at the base of which the party descended from their conveyances, andwere met by a native with an accommodating knowledge of French. Uponexchanging the Sign of Lucifer he conducted them to a hole in the rock, which gave upon a narrow passage guarded by a line of Sikhs with drawnswords, prepared to massacre anybody, and leading to the vestibule ofthe first temple, which was filled with a miscellaneous concourse ofAdepts, from officers and tea-merchants even to tanners and dentists. Inthe first temple, which was provided with the inevitable statue ofBaphomet, but was withal bare and meagrely illuminated, the doctor wasdestined to pass through his promised ordeal, for which he was strippedto the skin, placed in the centre of the assembly, and at a given signalone thousand odd venomous cobra de capellos were produced from holes inthe wall and encouraged to fold him in their embraces, while the musicof flute-playing fakirs alone intervened to prevent his instant death. He passed through this trying encounter with a valour which amazedhimself, persisted in prolonging the ceremony, and otherwise provedhimself a man of such extraordinary metal that he earned universalrespect and received the most flattering testimonials even from PhileasWalder. That the serpents were undoubtedly venomous was afterwardsproved upon the person of one of the natives present, who, delivered totheir fury, fell, covered with apparently mortal bites, but wassubsequently treated by native remedies and carried before the altar ofBaphomet to be cured by the special intervention of the good GodLucifer. This ceremony was accomplished by the intervention of a lovelyIndian Vestal, by the prayers of the Grand Master, a silk-mercer bycommercial persuasion, and by the mock baptism of a serpent, after whichthe sufferer rose to his feet and the inconvenient venom spurted ofitself out of his wounds. From the Sanctuary of the Serpents the companythen proceeded, with becoming recollection, into the second temple orSanctuary of the Phoenix. 

The second temple was brilliantly illuminated and ablaze with millionsof precious stones wrested by the wicked English from innumerableconquered Rajahs; it had garlands of diamonds, festoons of rubies, vastimages of solid silver, and a gigantic Phoenix in red gold more solidthan the silver. There was an altar beneath the Phoenix, and a male andfemale ape were composed at the altar steps, while the Grand Masterproceeded to the celebration of a black mass, which was followed by anamazing marriage of the two engaging animals, and the sacrifice of alamb brought alive into the temple, bleating piteously, with nailsdriven through its feet. This was intended to symbolize an illuminatedreprobation of celibacy and an approval of the married state, or itsless expensive substitutes. 

The third temple was consecrated to the Mother of fallen women, who, inmemory of the adventure of the apple, has a place in the calendar ofLucifer; the proceedings consisted of a dialogue between the GrandMaster and the Vestal which the becoming modesty of the doctor preventshim from describing even in the Latin tongue. 

The fourth temple was a Rosicrucian Sanctuary, having an open sepulchre, from which blue flames continually emanated; there was a platform in themidst of the temple designed for the accommodation of more IndianVestals, one of whom it was proposed should evaporate into thin air, after which a Fakir would be transformed before the whole company into aliving mummy and be interred for a space of three years. These wereamong the events of the evening, and were accomplished with greatsuccess without much disturbing the mental equilibrium of the doctor, though he confessed to a certain impression when the Fakir introducedhis performance by suspension in mid-air. 

The fifth temple was consecrated to the Pelican and was used by anEnglish officer to deliver a short discourse on Masonic charity, whichthe doctor regarded as vulnerable from a moral point of view andsuggestive of easy virtue. 

The sixth temple was that of the Future and was devoted to divinations, the oracles being given by a Vestal in a hypnotic condition, seated overa burning brazier. The doctor was accommodated with a test, but anotherinquirer who had the temerity to be curious as to what was being done inthe Vatican received a severe rebuff; in vain did the spirit of theClairvoyante strive to penetrate the "draughty and malarious" palace ofthe Roman Pontiff, and Phileas Walder, mortified and maddened, began tocurse and to swear like the first Pope. The experiment disillusionizedthe assembly and they thoughtfully repaired to the seventh temple, which, being sacred to Fire, was equipped with a vast central furnacesurmounted by a chimney and containing a gigantic figure of Baphomet;in spite of the intolerable heat pervading the entire chamber this idolcontrived to preserve its outlines and to glow without pulverising. Aceremony of an impressive nature occurred in this apartment; a wild cat, which strayed in through an open window, was regarded as the appearanceof a soul in transmigration, and, in spite of its piteous protests, waspassed through the fire to Baal. 

And now the crowning function, the Magnum Opus of the mystery, must takeplace in the Sheol of Dappah; a long procession filed from the mountaintemples to the charnel-house of the open plain; the night was dark, themoon had vanished in dismay, black clouds scudded across the heavens, afeverish rain fell slowly at intervals, and the ground was dimly lightedby the phosphorescence of the general putrefaction. The Adepts wentstumbling over dead bodies, disturbing Rats and Vultures, and proceededto the formation of the magic chain, which consisted in high-gradeMasons, provided with silk hats, sitting down in a vast circle, everyAdept embracing his particular corpse. The ceremony included therecitation of certain passages borrowed from popular grimoires, theobject in view being the wholesale liberation of Spirits wandering inthe immediate neighbourhood of their bodies. This closed the proceedingsand the doctor confesses that the distractions of the evening occasionedhim a disturbed sleep accompanied by nightmares. 

§ 6. _A Palladian Initiation. _

Before leaving Calcutta our adventurer purchased from Phileas Walder, for the sum of two hundred francs, the serviceable dignity of aPalladian Hierarch, "fortified with which he would be enabled topenetrate everywhere. " Regarding all English possessions as peculiarlyproductive in the Dead Sea fruit of diabolism, Singapore was the nextscene of his curious researches. The English as a nation are criminal, but Singapore is the yeast-house of British wickedness, where viceferments continually; there man masonifies naturally and most Masonspalladise. The doctor states plainly that one thing only has preservedthe place from the doom of the cities of the plain, and that is thepresence of certain good Christians, otherwise Catholics, in what heterms the accursed city. For himself he tarried only to witness theinitiation of a Mistress-Templar according to the Palladian rite, whichtook place in a Presbyterian Chapel, the Presbyterian persuasion, as hetells us, being one of the broad roads leading to avowed Satanism. Thepassword was appropriately the name of the first murderer, and thedoctor was greeted to his great astonishment by an old acquaintance, anEnglish pastor, whom he had frequently seen upon his own magnificentsteam-boat, who also rejoiced in the nick-name of the Reverend Alcohol, being, like the majority of Englishmen, almost invariably drunk. Theceremony of initiation, which is described at great length in thenarrative, is a variation from that of Leo Taxil; the doctor, in mercyto his readers, suppressing a part of the performance. Speakinggenerally, it was concerned, as we have previously seen, with ananti-Christian version of Gospel history and some commonplace outragesof the Eucharistic elements, during which proceedings our witnessperspired freely. So, as he tells us, did one more Protestant pass overto the worship of Lucifer. 

The operations of the ritual were followed by a "divine solemnity, "which had something of the character of an ordinary spiritual séance, supposing it to have been held in a mad-house. I need only say that whenthe lights were turned up at the end, every article of furniture, including a large organ, was discovered hanging from the ceiling. As afinal phenomenon, the Master of the Ceremonies detached his shadow fromhis substance, arranged it against the wall in the shape of a demon, andit responded to various questions by signs. There was a burst of loudapplause, the proceedings terminated, and the Masonic Temple became oncemore a Presbyterian Chapel. 

§ 7. _The San-Ho-Hei. _

The doctor informs us that China is the gate of Hell, and that all itsinhabitants are born damned; child-like and bland in appearance, theChinaman is invariably by disposition a Satanist, having tastes whollydiabolical. As to the religion of Buddha, it is simply Satanism _àoutrance_. Chinese occultism is centralised in the San-Ho-Hei, anassociation "parallel to high grade Masonry, " having its head-quartersat Pekin, and welcoming all Freemasons who are affiliated to thePalladium. It does not, however, admit women, and has only one degree. Its chief occupation is to murder Catholic missionaries. When aPalladian Mason seeks admission for the first time to one of itsassemblies, he betakes himself to the nearest opium den, carrying on hisperson the documents which prove his initiation; he places his umbrellahead downwards on his left side, and stupefies himself with the divinedrug. He is then quite sure that he will be transported in a comatosecondition to the occult reunion. When the doctor reached Shanghai, heexperienced some hesitation before he attempted an adventure souncertain in its issue. He remembered, however, that he was possessed ofa miraculous medal of St. Benedict, which he regarded as his trumpcard, a species of passport or return ticket, available at any date andby any line of Devildom. He determined to get drunk accordingly; buteven as he entered Masonry with a becoming reservation of conscience, sohe entered the drug-shop with a reservation as to the degree of hisdrunkenness, in spite of which he fell, however, into a deep sleep, andawoke in the assembly of The Secret Avengers, one of whom, to facilitateproceedings, had a good knowledge of English, and a perfect familiaritywith all Charleston passwords. The Baphomet, of course, presided, but itappears that the Chinese have certain conscientious scruples on thesubject of Goats, and hence a Dragon's head was substituted for that ofthe ordinary image. The doctor was not the only European present at theproceedings of the celestial assembly; but while he was the solerepresentative of his own nation, it goes without saying that there wasa fair sprinkling of the abominable British. 

So complete is the unanimity which obtains between the initiates ofChina and Charleston that the bulk of the proceedings takes place inthe English language; but for this disposition of Providence, the doctorwould have been at a serious disadvantage. The first object of thecompany was to encompass the destruction of missionaries, and for thispurpose a coffin was presently brought in, containing the skeleton of adeceased brother, who had so far diverged from duty that he had enteredin league with the Jesuits, and had dared to act as a spy upon theaugust proceedings of the Sublime Society of Avengers. The first act maybe regarded as somewhat bizarre in character; it consisted in evoking anevil spirit to animate the skeleton, and to answer certain questions. This was accomplished with absolute success. The bones of the departedbrother had, however, been so consecrated by his Jesuitical proclivitiesthat, even when animated by a devil, they discovered extreme reluctancein disclosing the number and quality of certain Franciscan zealots whohad just started from Paris to convert the Empire. Ultimately, however, it was admitted that they were now on the high seas, which informationgiven, the bony oracle could no longer contain its rage, but pursued anEnglish Mason of the 33rd degree from end to end of the assembly, andsucceeded in inflicting some furious bites and blows. The second actcommenced by uncovering a species of exaggerated baptismal font, filledto the brim with water, and representing the great ocean over which themissionaries were passing. The assembly crowded round it, and by meansof magic rods and other devices, succeeded in evoking a minute figure ofa steam-ship containing the adventurers. Their magic also raised up aperfect tempest of wind in the closed apartment, but by no device couldthey effect the slightest disturbance upon the placid bosom of thewater. The ceremony had, in fact, to be abandoned as a failure in itsdesired intention. Too well did the Spirit Yesu protect Hismissionaries. The assembly accordingly repaired into a second apartment. There the officiating dignitaries assumed the vestments of Catholicpriests. They produced a wax figure, designed to represent a missionary, amused themselves with a mock trial, inflicted imaginary tortures, andreturned the dummy to a cupboard, after which they proceeded to thecrucifixion of a living pig. The third act was an agonising experiencefor the doctor, being nothing less than the sacrifice of one of thebrethren, the selection being determined by lot. The doctor, in hisquality of visitor, was, it is true, spared the chance of being himselfthe victim, but he nearly became executioner. One of the Chinese adeptshaving been chosen, to his intense satisfaction, and approved by somemechanical movements on the part of the dragon-headed Baphomet, permitted his limbs to be removed, and then earnestly invoked theassistance of the "Charleston brother" for the purpose of severing hishead. It was an honour invariably accorded to the visitor of the highestgrade. The doctor, who could not bring himself to the point, was savedat the last moment by the miraculous levitation of Phileas Walder froman immense distance, this occult personage having become transcendentlycognisant of what was going forward in China, and being anxious tointerrogate the severed head as to the possible recovery of hisdaughter, who was then seriously ill. In virtue of his superior dignity, he claimed the privilege of the execution, and the doctor modestlyretired. 

Such were the adventures of our witness in the assembly of HolyAvengers. He enumerates at great length the evidence againsthallucination as a result of his excess in opium, but I suggest toobserving readers that there is a more obvious line of criticism. 

§ 8. _The Great City of Lucifer. _

It was in March of the year 1881 that Doctor Bataille proceeded for thefirst time to Charleston, to make acquaintance at head-quarters with theuniversal Masonry of Lucifer and its Pontiff Albert Pike. Charleston isthe Venice of America, the Rome of Satan, and the great City of Lucifer. Always enormously prolix, and adoring the details which swell the flimsyissues of cheap periodical narratives, our witness describes at greatlength the city and its Masonic temple, with the temple which is withinthe temple and is consecrated to the good God. My second chapter hasalready provided the reader with sufficient information upon the personsalleged to be concerned in the foundation of Universal Freemasonry andin the elaboration of its cultus. Nor need I dwell at any length uponthe personal communication which passed between Doctor Bataille, AlbertPike, Gallatin Mackey, Sophia Walder, Chambers, Webber, and the rest ofthe Charleston luminaries. Miss Walder explained to him the great hopeof the Order concerning the speedy advent of anti-Christ, the abolitionof the papacy, and the destruction of the Christian religion. She alsorelated many of her private experiences with the infernal monarchy, being acquainted with the exact number of demons in the descendinghierarchy, and with all their classes and legions. She confidentlyexpected to be the great grandmother of anti-Christ, and in the meantimepossessed the transcendental faculty of becoming fluidic at will. MrGallatin Mackey exhibited his _Arcula Mystica_, one of seven similarinstruments existing at Charleston, Rome, Berlin, Washington, MonteVideo, Naples, and Calcutta. To all appearance it resembled aliqueur-stand, but it was really a diabolical telephone worked like theUrimm and Thummimm, and enabling those who possessed it to communicatewith each other, whatever the intervening distance. The Doctor, in hisquality of initiate, was, of course, taken over the entire premises; heexamined the head of the great templar Molay, deciding by hisanthropological knowledge that the relic was not genuine, and that itwas not the skull of a European. As to the templar Baphomet, situated inthe Sanctum Regnum, and before which Lucifer is supposed to appear, itis sufficient to say that Doctor Bataille, who invariably treadscautiously where it is easy for other steps to follow him, has nopersonal testimony to furnish upon the subject of the apparition, andthe relations of other persons do not concern us at the moment. 

§ 9. _Transcendental Toxicology. _

The memorials of Charleston are not entirely favourable to the truestrength of our witness; it was requisite to "lie low" in America, butthe Doctor bristles in Gibraltar; he is once more upon British soil. Does not the Englishman, consciously or otherwise, put a curse oneverything he touches? Doctor Bataille affirms it; indeed this qualityof malediction has been specially dispensed to the nation of heretics byGod himself; so says Doctor Bataille. Since the British braggart beganto embattle Gibraltar, having thieved it from Catholic Spain, a wind ofdesolation breathes over the whole country. An inscrutable providence, of which our witness is the mouthpiece, has elected to set apart thisrock in order that the devil and the English, who, he says, are a pair, may continue their work of protestantising and filling the world withmalefice. To sum the whole matter, the Britisher is an odious usurper"who has always got one eye open. " Now, having regard to the fact thatout of every tribe and tongue and people and nation a proportion to benumbered by millions is given over to devil-worship and Masonry, andthat consequently there is an enormous demand for Baphomets and otheridols, for innumerable instruments of black Magic, and for poisons toexterminate enemies, it is obviously needful that there should be asecret central department for the working of woods and metals and forTranscendental Toxicology. To Charleston the dogmatic directory, toGibraltar the universal factory. But so colossal an output focussed at asingle point could scarcely proceed unknown to Government at a givenplace, and any nation save England might object to this class ofexports. The cause of Masonry and the devil being, however, dear to theEnglish heart, it would, of course, pass unchallenged at Gibraltar, andat this point an anglo-phobe with a remnant of reason would haveremained satisfied. Not so our French physician, who affirms that theexports in question do not merely escape inquisition at the hands ofcivil authority but are in fact a government industry. 

 "Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay; In the dimmest north-east distance dawned Gibraltar, grand and gray-- Here and here did England help me, how can I help England, say?"

These are the words of Browning, and his question has well beenanswered by the institution of the secret workshops and the secretlaboratory; as in most other cases England has helped herself, unless, indeed, it should occur to the doctor that the poet was a Satanist, likePike, who himself was a poet, and had a chief finger in the pie. 

Now the great historic rock is tunnelled by innumerable caverns, which, our deponent witnesses, have never been explored by the tourist, and inthe most impracticable portions of the great subterranean maze, whosoever has the audacity to penetrate will discover for himself theexistence of the industrial department of diabolism, but he must notexpect to come back unless he be a Sovereign Grand Master _ad vitam_, and an initiate of Lucifer. The doctor has explored these caverns, hasseen the factory in full working order, has exhaustively described theway in, has returned from the gulf like Dante, and has given away thewhole mystery. Possessed of his key to the labyrinth the wayfaring manshall not err therein, and it will, no doubt, be a new curiosity for themore daring among Cook's tourists. The workshops are supplied withmechanics by a simple expedient; hopeless specimens of Englishmalefactors, condemned to penal servitude for the term of their naturallife, are relegated to this region, a kind of grim humour characterisingthe selection. The most hideous convicts are chosen, and those mostcorresponding in outward appearance to the favourite devils of thehierarchy, under whose names they pass in the workshops, where theycommonly communicate with each other in the language of Volapuk. Thereason given is that this language has been adopted by the SpoeleicRite, which I confess that I had not heard of previously, but I ventureto think that the doctor has concealed the true reason, and that Volapukhas been thus chosen because it is a diabolical invention; a universallanguage prevailed previously to the confusion of Babel, and the newlanguage is an irreligious attempt to produce _ordo ab chao_ by a returnto unity of speech. 

The Toxicological Department is worked by a higher class of criminals, as for example, absconding trustees, who are there comfortably settledin life, enjoying many modern conveniences. It produces poisons whichusually cause death by cerebral hemorrhage; but each has its specialantidote, possessed of which the initiated poisoner can eat and drinkwith his victim; on this subject the doctor pursues, however, a policyof masterly reticence. But such, in brief, is the deep mystery ofGibraltar, such is the Toxicological department of universalFreemasonry. 

§ 10. _The Doctor and Diana. _

It would be impossible to follow the doctor through the entire course ofhis memoirs, not that they are wholly biographical, exclusivelyconcerned with modern diabolism, or with the great conspiracy of Masonsagainst God, Man, and the universe; one of his subsidiary and yet mostimportant objects is to fill space, in which respect he has almosteclipsed the great classics of the penny dreadful in England. I mustpass with a mere reference over his dealings in spiritualism; it isneedless to say that in this branch of transcendental investigation hewitnessed more astounding phenomena than falls commonly to the lot ofeven veteran students. His star prevailed everywhere, and the worldunseen deployed its strongest forces. At Monte Video, for example, falling casually into a circle of spiritualists, he was seated, surrounded by a family of these unconscious and amateur diabolists, before an open window at night time; across the broad mouth of the rivera great shaft of soft light from the lamp of the lighthouse oppositeshone in mid-air, over the bosom of the water, and as it fell upon theirfaces he discerned, floating within the beam itself, the solid figure ofa man. It was not the first time that the apparition, under similarcircumstances, had been seen by the rest of the household, but for himit bore a message of deeper mystery than for these uninitiatedspiritualists; although in man's clothes, his observant eye recognisedthe face of the spirit; terrible and suggestive truth, it was the faceof the vestal Virgin, who, far off in Calcutta, had fluidified in thethird temple, and he uttered a great cry! He has now decided to voidthe virginity of the vestal, and to assume that she was in reality ademon, and not a being of earth. At the same time, my readers mustthoroughly understand that the doctor, when he meddles in spiritualism, is a man who is governed in his narratives by an intelligent faculty ofcriticism which borders on the purely sceptic; he delights in thedisplay of instances where an element of trickery may be detected; noone better than himself can distinguish between bogus and bogey, and hetakes pleasure in directing special attention to his extraordinary goodjudgment and sound common-sense in each and all these matters. Hence noone will be surprised to hear that at the house of a lady in London, anordinary table, after a preliminary performance in tilting, transformedsuddenly into a full-grown crocodile, and played touchingly on thepiano, after which it again changed into a table, but the gin, thewhisky, the pale ale, and the other intoxicants which are indispensableat séances in England, had been entirely consumed by the transcendentalreptile to fortify him on his return journey to the mud-banks of theNile. Nor has the spontaneous apparition been wanting to complete theexperiences of Dr Bataille. He was seated in his cabin at midnightpondering over the theories formulated in natural history by Cuvier andDarwin, who diabolised the entire creation, when he was touched lightlyon the shoulder, and discovered standing over him, in his picturesqueOriental costume, like another Mohini, the Arabian poisoner-in-chief ofthe Gibraltar Toxicological Department, who, after some honourableassurances that the Bible was not true, departed transcendentally as hecame. This personage subsequently proved to be the demon Hermes. Evenwhen he merely masonified, the doctor had unheard-of experiences inmagic. For example, at Golden Square, in the west central district ofthis wicked city, an address which we have heard of before, at theconclusion of an ordinary Lodge meeting, there was an evocation of thedemon Zaren, who appeared under the form of a monstrous three-headeddragon completely cased in steel, and, endeavouring to devour hisevoker, was restrained by the magical pentagram, ultimately vanishingwith the peculiar odour of Infernus. 

In connection with various marvels the doctor has much to tell usconcerning two sisters in Lucifer who have long been at daggers drawn, and considering their supernatural attributes, it is incomprehensible ina high degree that they have not destroyed one another like the Magicianand the Princess of a more credible narrative of wonders in the "ArabianNights. " Diana Vaughan, much heard and little seen, has since becomefamous by her conversion to the Catholic faith. Honoured with heracquaintance for a considerable period, the doctor invariably testifiesthe utmost respect for this wealthy, beautiful, and high-placedPalladian lady, so long protected by a demon, of the superior hierarchy, and enjoying what he somewhat obscurely terms an obsessionalguardianship. On the 28th of February, 1884, at a theurgic séance ofTemplar Mistresses and Elect Magi of Louisville, the ceiling of thetemple was riven suddenly, and Asmodeus, genius of Fire, descended toslow music, having in one hand a sword, and in the other the long tailof a lion. He informed the company that there had just been a greatbattle between the leaders of Lucifer and Adonaï, and that it had beenhis personal felicity to lop the Lion's tail of St Mark; he directed themembers of the eleven plus seven triangle to preserve the trophycarefully, and, that it might not be a lifeless relic, he hadthoughtfully informed it with one of his minor devils until such time ashe himself should intervene to mark his omnipotent favour towards acertain predestined virgin. The vestal in question was Diana of theCharlestonians, elect sister in Asmodeus, who at that time was notaffiliated to Palladism. When the doctor subsequently drew her on thesubject of this history, she replied, after the manner of the walrus, "Do you admire the view?" For himself, the good doctor dislikes thenarrative, not because it does violence to possibility, but because itdid violence to St Mark; there is evidently an incomplete dignity abouta tailless evangelist. As to the tail itself, he has no personal doubtthat it was the property of an ordinary lion, and that it has sincebecome possessed of a devil. 

At the risk of offending Miss Vaughan, the doctor expatiates on hercase, and learnedly demonstrates that her possession is of souninterrupted a kind that it has become a second nature, and belongs tothe 5th degree; however this may be, he establishes at great length oneimportant point in her favour, which has occasioned all French Catholicsto earnestly desire her conversion. I have stated already that the gradeof Templar-Mistress is concerned partly with profanations of theEucharist. For example, the aspirant to this initiation is required todrive a stiletto into the consecrated Host with a becoming expression offury. When Miss Vaughan visited Paris in the year 1885, where MissWalder had sometime previously established herself, she was invited toenter this grade, and accepted the offer. A séance for initiation washeld accordingly, but Miss Vaughan would have none of profanation, andrefused blankly to stultify her liberal intelligence by the stabbing ofa wheaten wafer. She did not believe in the Real Presence, and she didnot wish to be childish. A great sensation followed; her initiation waspostponed; appeal was made to Charleston; and the formality wasdispensed with in her case by the intervention, as it was supposed atthe moment, of Albert Pike's authority, even as her Father'sintervention had excused her beforehand from another ordeal which couldnot be suffered with propriety. This episode implanted in the breast ofSophia Walder an extreme form of Palladian hatred for the Diana ofPhilalethes. Now, Sophia was in high favour with all the hosts ofperdition, yet her rancorous relations with her sister Adept did notmake Diana less a _persona grata_ to the peculiar intelligence whichgoverns the descending hierarchy. In the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky thePalladian Magi and the Mistress Templars decided one day to have alittle experiment with the Undines, so they shouldered their magicalinstruments; but the eager elementaries, habiting the dark abysses, didnot wait to be evoked; the water bubbled in the Lake, the roof wasconstellated with stars, and who should appear but Asmodeus, on the bankopposite, in all his infernal glory! With open arms he loudly called onDiana, and that lady, suddenly transfigured, walked calmly over thewater, and kissed the feet of her demon, who incontinently vanished. Inspired by a sense of deficiency, the doctor says that the visit to theMammoth Cave terminated without any further incident. He was not anocular witness of what he relates in this instance, but he received itfrom the lips of Diana, and the lips of Diana, in the opinion of allhonourable men, would be preferable to the eyes of the doctor. 

But the doctor had the testimony of his eyes upon another occasion; itis known that Miss Vaughan's celebrity began with her hostility to theItalian Grand Master, Adriano Lemmi. When the seat of the SovereignPontificate, as deponents testify, was removed from Charleston, thegreat city of Lucifer, even unto the Eternal City, and many adeptsdemissioned, there was a doubt in the rebel camp as to the continuedprotection of Lucifer. If Diabolus had gone over to Lemmi, they wereindeed bereft. Miss Vaughan, however, remained calm and sanguine:--"I amcertain of the celestial protection of the Genii of Light, " said Diana, and, producing her talisman, she bent her right knee to the ground, turned a complete somersault without falling, flung her tambourine intothe air, which descended gently and remained suspended a yard from theground, while she herself, passing into a condition of ecstasy, alsorose into the air in a recumbent posture. She remained in this state forthe space of fifteen minutes, the silence being only broken by thedistant rumbling of thunder. Many of the spectators could not believetheir eyes. At length very gently her body assumed a vertical position, head downwards, but as a concession to polite feeling the remaining lawsof gravity were suspended, like herself, and her skirts were notcorrespondingly inverted. Slowly the ecstatic lady continued tocirculate, the assembly stood at gaze "like Joshua's moon in Ajalon, "and presently she was in the vertical position of a swimmer, thephenomenon concluding by her restoration to _terra firma_. This wonderwas accomplished by the magic power of a diabolical Rose which the ladycarried in her bodice. 

On yet another occasion the doctor witnessed the prodigy of thebilocation of Diana by the assistance of a simple magical process, whento his most certain knowledge she was hundreds of leagues away; but therecitations of Doctor Bataille have reduced bilocation to a banality, and a mere reference will suffice. 

A monograph of Miss Vaughan's miracles would, however, be incomplete ifit failed to exhibit her in her capacity as a breaker of spells;whatsoever has been bound by devildom can be loosed by Diana. At theheight of the commotion occasioned by her persistent refusal toparticipate in sham sacrilege, there was one member of the ParisTriangle who manifested peculiar acrimony in demanding the expulsion ofa delinquent who had dared to impeach the ritual. As a punishment forhis own presumption, and in the presence of the assembled adepts, hishead was suddenly reversed by an unseen power, and for the space of oneand twenty days he was obliged to review the situation face backwards. This severe judgment dismayed all present; Miss Walder had recourse toan evocation and discovered that it had been inflicted by Asmodeus, theprotector of her rival, who furthermore would not scruple to visit withviolent disaster any person who discovered an evil design against soelect a sister as Diana. If the present culprit desired to be set freefrom his grotesque position, he must humbly have recourse to her. MissVaughan was in America at the moment, but she generously came to hisrescue as soon as steam could carry her, and restored him his lost frontview by a jocose imposition of hands. I should add that on the very daywhen this misadventure took place at Paris, Miss Vaughan was defendingher standpoint in person before the Triangle of Louisville; opinion wasdivided about her, and the result appeared uncertain, when the demoniactail of St Mark, evacuating the minor devil, who had hired it on arepairing lease, accepted Asmodeus as a tenant, and violentlycircumambulating the apartment belaboured all those whose voices hadbeen raised against his Vestal. Finally the tassel of the tail turnedinto the head of the demon and vowed his devotion to Diana so long asshe remained unmarried; did she dare, however, to desert him for anearthly consort, he was commander of fourteen legions, and he wouldstrangle the man of clay. 

It would be unkind to Miss Sophia Walder if I let it be supposed for amoment that the palm of prestige is borne away by her rival. I havealready noted that this lady occasionally fluidifies to the satisfactionof a select audience, but, like the materialising medium, she finds it adepleting performance which usually confines her to her room, and herprice, therefore, is five thousand francs. She is first Sovereign inBitru, and is defined by the doctor to be in a state of latentpossession, having a semi-diabolical nature and the gift ofsubstitution. It was possibly at Milan that he witnessed the mostpersuasive test of her occult powers. She took him confidentially apartand explained to him that she had been in a condition of "penetration"for about three hours. "At dinner the food of which I partake becomesvolatile in my mouth; wine evaporates invisibly the moment it makescontact with my lips; I eat and drink in appearance, but my teethmasticate the air. " Now this was due, not to the voracity of Bitru, butto the keen appetite of Baal-Zeboub; the magnetic lady did not, however, explain this point after the common method of speech; she fixed herblazing orbs upon the doctor, and he saw flames everywhere; a momentmore and her feet were free from earth; she stretched out her left hand, and on the open palm he beheld the successive apparitions in charactersof flame of the ten letters which constitute the great name. With atouch of internal collapse he commended himself to the Virgin Mary, theecstatic paroxysm passed, and they wandered down another lane, for theywere in the midst of leafy umbrage. Presently a tree gracefully arrangeda portion of its branches in the form of a fan, and bowed with profoundreverence. Still more fantastic, a paralysed branch produced a livinghuman hand, which in the accompanying engraving is ornamented with animmaculate cuff, and that hand presented a bouquet to Sophia. By reasonof these matters the doctor became pensive. 

A Palladian séance followed. The litany of Lucifer was chanted, and theprodigy of "substitution" was effected. The ceremony took place in agrotto with a stalactite roof; Miss Walder produced from a basket theserpent which was an inseparable companion of all her travels; itimmediately genuflected in front of her, swarmed the wall, and assumed apendant position attached to one of the stalactites. It was a reptile ofno ordinary kind, for it began to develop an interminable length ofcoils till it had spread itself circlewise over the entire ceiling, andits head was joined to its tail. The doctor says that he was nowprepared for anything. The serpent gave forth seven horrible hisses, andin the dim light, for the torches which illuminated the place weresuccessively giving out of themselves, each person became conscious ofan unseen entity blowing with burning breath in their faces. When atlength there was complete darkness, Sophia herself became radiant, andbrilliantly illuminated the grotto with an intense white light; fiveenormous hands could then be seen floating in space, also intenselyluminous, but emitting a green lustre; each hand went wandering insearch of its prey, ultimately seizing a brother, whom it drewirresistibly forward in the direction of Sophia. Moved by a mysteriousinfluence, two of them grasped her arms, two clutched her by theshoulders, one placed his hand on her head. The serpent again hissedseven significant times, and in place of the solid Sophia the thirdAlexander of Macedon was substituted in phantom guise. When he fadedSophia reappeared and continued going and coming with a phantom betweeneach of her appearances, so that she was in turn replaced by Luther, Cleopatra, Robespierre, and others, concluding with the Italian patriotGaribaldi, who eclipsed all the others, for his bust was converted intoa bronze urn from which red flames burst forth. The flames took a humanform, and gave back Sophia to the assembly. 

Such is the gift of substitution, which follows penetration, and such isthe substance of the memoirs of M. Bataille, ship's doctor, who, in theyear 1880, undertook to exploit Freemasonry and has come forth unsingedfrom Diabolism. There is one maxim of the Psalmist which the experienceof most transcendentalists has taught them to lay to heart, and torepeat without the qualifications of David when certain aspects ofsupernatural narrative are introduced--_Omnis homo mendax!_ But lest Ishould appear to be discourteous, I should like to add a brief dictumfrom the Magus Éliphas Lévi. "The wise man cannot lie, " because natureaccommodates herself to his statement. In a polite investigation likethe present, there is, therefore, no question whether Doctor Bataille isdefined by the term _mendax_, which is forbidden to literary elegance;it is simply a question whether he is a wise man, or whether natureblundered and did not conform to his statement. 

The credibility, in whole or in part, of Dr Bataille's narrative willinvolve some extended criticism, and I purpose to postpone it till theremaining witnesses have been examined. We shall then be in a positionto appreciate how far later revelations support his statements. Settingaside the miraculous element, which is tolerably separate from whatmost concerns our inquiry, namely, the existence of Palladian Masonryattached to the cultus of Lucifer, it may be stated that the most soberpart of Dr Bataille's memoirs is the account of his visit to Charleston;here the miraculous element is entirely absent. He confirms by allegedpersonal investigations the existence of the New and Reformed Palladium;he is the first witness who distinguishes clearly between the LuciferianOrder and the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite ofCharleston. That distinction is made, however, at one expense; itassumes that the Supreme Council preserved the Baphomet idol as well asthe reputed skull of Molay for nearly seventy years, and thensurrendered it to another order with which it had no officialacquaintance. Under what circumstances and why did it do that? TheAncient and Accepted Scotch Rite is connected by its legend with theTemplars, and for the Charleston Supreme Council to part with thetrophies of the tradition seems no less unlikely than for a regiment tosurrender its colours. 

CHAPTER VIII

DEALINGS WITH DIANA

The philosophy of Horatius is supposed to represent incompletely thecontent of heaven and earth, but neither earth nor heaven, as at presentconstituted, would be capable of enclosing the entire content of DrBataille's memoirs. Miss Diana Vaughan, with whose history we are nextconcerned, comes before us under a different aspect. I have failed toascertain under what circumstances she first became known in France. _LeDiable au XIX^e Siècle_ may have constituted her earliest introduction;she was certainly unknown to Leo Taxil when he published the Palladianrituals, or she would not have escaped mention in the account he theregives of Miss Sophia Walder. However this may be, we have made heracquaintance in the course of the previous chapter, but I am constrainedto state that she has, up to the present, shown herself exceedinglycircumspect in substantiating the evidence of her precursor. 

The whole world is aware, and I need not again repeat, that Miss DianaVaughan was converted to the Catholic Church some time after Dr Bataillecompleted his astounding narrative. A Palladist of perfect initiation, comprehending the mysteries of the number 77, and doing reverence to thehigher mystery of 666, Grand Mistress of the Temple, Grand Inspectressof the Palladium, and according to him who, in a sense, has prepared herway and made straight her paths, a sorceress and thaumaturge beforewhose daily performances the Black Sabbath turns white, Miss Vaughanquarrelled, as we have seen, with a sister initiate, Sophia Walder, andconceived for the Italian Grand Master, Adriano Lemmi, the charity ofthe evil angels, which is hatred. When the Supreme Dogmatic Directory ofUniversal Freemasonry was removed from Charleston to Rome and thepontificate passed over to Lemmi, as the revelations allege, MissVaughan closed her connection with the Triangles, carrying her coloursto a vessel equipped by herself, and founded a new society under thetitle of the Free and Regenerated Palladium, incorporating theAnti-Lemmist groups, and soon after began a public propaganda by theissue of a monthly review, devoted to the elucidation of the doctrinesof the Lucifer cultus and to the exposure of the Italian Grand Master. To hoist the black flag of diabolism, as Miss Vaughan would now term it, thus in the open day, naturally elicited a strong protestation from thePalladist Federation, so that she was in embroilment not only with Lemmibut also with the source of the initiation which she still appeared toprize. At the same time she exhibited no indications of going over tothe cause of the Adonaïtes. Becoming known to the Anti-Masonic centresof the Roman Catholic Church only through her hostility to Lemmi, shewas always a _persona grata_ whose conversion was ardently desired, buton several public occasions she advised them that their cause and herswere in radical opposition, and that, in fact, she would have none ofthem, being outside any need of their support, sympathy, or interest. She would cleave to the good God Lucifer, and she aspired to be thebride of Asmodeus. At length the long-suffering editor of the _RevueMensuelle_, weary of his refractory protégé, would also have none ofher, though he surrendered her with evident regret to be dealt with bythe prayers of the faithful. One month after, M. Leo Taxil, through themedium of the same organ, announced the conversion of Miss Vaughan, andin less than another month, namely, in July, 1895, she began thepublication of her "Memoirs of an ex-Palladist, " which are still inprogress, so that, limitations of space apart, my account of this ladywill be unavoidably incomplete. 

Her memoirs are, unfortunately, not a literary performance; and theirmethod, if such it can be called, is not chronological. Beginning withan account of her first introduction to Lucifer, _vis-à-vis_ in the_Sanctum Regnum_ of Charleston, on April 8th 1889, they leap, in thesecond chapter, over all the years intervening to a minute analysis ofthe sentiments which led to her conversion, and of the raptures whichfollowed it, above all on the occasion of her first communion. It is nottill the third chapter that we get an account of her Luciferianeducation, or, more correctly, an introduction thereto, for the betterpart of five monthly numbers has not brought us nearer to herpersonality than the history of an ancestor in the seventeenth century. As the publisher is still soliciting annual subscriptions to theenterprise, and offering a variety of advantages after methods notunknown in England among the by-ways of periodical literature, thecompletion of the work is probably a distant satisfaction for those whotake interest therein. 

Now, having regard to the narrative of Dr Bataille, and having regard tothe statements set forth in my second chapter, it is obvious that MissVaughan is a witness of the first importance as to whether there is aMasonry behind Masonry, which, more or less, manages, or attempts tomanage, the entire society, unknown to the rank and file of itsinitiates, however high in grade; as to whether its seat is atCharleston, with Albert Pike for its founder, and as to whether itsdoctrine is anti-Christian, and its cultus that of Lucifer, supported bymagical wonders, concerned with sacrilegious observances, and either adisguised Satanism, or drifting in that direction. As already hinted, the mythical and miraculous element, --in a word, that portion of DoctorBataille's narrative which does violence to sense and reason, --MissVaughan has not at present imperilled her position by substantiating, but as to the points I have enumerated, she has most distinctly comeforth out of Palladism to tell us that these things are so, and toreinforce what was previously stated by unveiling her private life. 

It is therefore my duty and desire to do her full justice, and with thispurpose in view, I propose to recite briefly the chief heads of hermemoir, so far as it has been published up to date. I must, however, premise at the beginning that she does not come before us with one traceof the uncertainty of accent which might have been expected tocharacterise the newly-acquired language, not merely of Christianfaith, but of its Roman dialect. We find her speaking at once, and tothe manner born. Could anything, by possibility, be narrower thancertain perished sections of evangelical religion in England, it wouldbe certain sections of ultramontane religion in France; but Miss Vaughanhas acquired all the terminology of the latter, all the intellectualbitterness, all the fatuities, as one might say, in the space of fiveminutes. When she has wearied of her memoirs at the moment, or hasreached, after the manner of the novelist, some crucial point in hernarrative, she breaks off abruptly, brackets _à suivre_, and proceeds toan account of the latest wonder-working image, or a diatribe againstspirit manifestations in the typical manner of the French clericalpress. To be brief, Miss Vaughan has adopted, body and soul, preciselythose abuses which Catholics of intelligence earnestly desire to seeexpunged from their great religion. She has probably never heard of theForged Decretals, but she would defend their authenticity if she had;she has probably never heard of the corrupted, or any version of theEpistles of St Ignatius, but she would accept the corruptions bodilyupon the smallest hint that they savoured better with the hierarchy, andshe would do all this apparently in good faith on the authority of apurblind party within the Church, which exists to keep open its wounds. Now, I submit that a _volte face_ is possible, especially in religiousopinions, but that a pronounced habit of religious thought cannot beacquired in a day, so that, in the history of Miss Vaughan's conversion, there is more than can be discerned on the surface. The precise natureof the element which eludes must be left to the judgment of my readers, but, personally, I reserve my own, out of fairness to an unfinisheddeposition. 

There is a generic difference between Doctor Bataille and Miss Vaughan. He is an ordinary human being, and if we may trust the many pictureswhich represent him in his narrative, exceedingly unpretending at that. We have also some portraits of Miss Vaughan, who is aggressive and goodto look at; but this is not the generic distinction. Doctor Bataille, poor man, is the scion of an ordinary ancestry within the narrow limitsof flesh and blood. Miss Vaughan, on the contrary--I hope my readerswill bear with me--has been taught from her childhood to believe thatshe was of the blood royal of the descending hierarchy, and I cannotgather from her vague mode of expression whether she has altogetherrejected the legend of her descent, which is otherwise sufficientlystartling. 

The position of authority and influence occupied by Miss Vaughan in whatshe terms high Masonry is to be explained, as she modestly informs us, not by her personal qualities, but by a traditional secret concerningher family, which is known only to the Elect Magi. Miss Vaughan and herpaternal uncle are the last descendants of the alchemist Thomas Vaughan, whom she terms a Rosicrucian, and identifies with Eirenæus Philalethes, author of "The Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King. " On the25th of March 1645, she tells us, on the authority of her familyhistory, Thomas Vaughan, having previously obtained from Cromwell theprivilege of beheading the "noble martyr" Laud, Archbishop ofCanterbury--the title to nobility, in her opinion, seems to rest in theprobability of his secret connection with Rome--steeped a linen cloth inhis blood, burnt the said cloth in sacrifice to Satan, who appeared inresponse to an evocation, and with whom he concluded a pact, receivingthe philosophical stone, and a guaranteed period of life extending overthirty-three years from that date, after which he was to be transportedwithout dying into the eternal kingdom of Lucifer, to live with aglorified body in the pure flames of the heaven of fire. 

After this compact, he wrote the "Open Entrance, " the original MS. Ofwhich, together with its autograph Luciferian interpretation on thebroad margins, is a precious heirloom in the family. Some two yearslater, in the course of his travels, he reached New England, where hedwelt for a month among the Lenni-Lennaps, and there in an open desert, on a clear night of summer, while the moon was shining in splendour, hewas wandering in solitary meditation when the luminary in question, which was in the crescent phase, came down out of heaven, and proved tobe an arched bed, very luminous and wonderful, containing a vision ofsleeping female beauty. This was the nuptial couch of Thomas Vaughan andits occupant was Venus-Astarte, surrounded by a host of flower-bearingchild-spirits, who conveniently provided a tent, and provided alsodelicious meals during a period of eleven days. Several curiousparticulars differentiated these Hermetic nuptials, undreamed of byChristian Rosencreutz, from those which govern more ordinary proceedingsbelow the latitude of the Lenni-Lennaps. In the first place, goddesssuccubus, Astarte provided the ring, which was of red gold enriched witha diamond, and placed it on the finger of her lover; in the secondplace, transcendental gestation, celestial or otherwise, fulfils themystery of generation with exceeding despatch, for Astarte was deliveredof an infant on the eleventh day independently of medical assistance, whereupon she demanded the return of the nuptial ring, and vanished withtent and sprites astride of the crescent couch. The fruit of their unionwas left in the arms of Thomas, who was directed to trample on allsentiments of paternal affection, and to deliver the child into thecharge of a tribe of fire-worshipping Indians. He does not appear tohave sued for the restitution of conjugal rights, and cheerfullysurrendered the human hybrid to a family of Lenni-Lennaps, together withhis medallion portrait drawn by an artist from devildom, so that thedaughter might recognise her father after the method which obtains amongnovelists. Thomas Vaughan placed the broad ocean between himself and thescene of his marriage, and he never re-visited his daughter, who, inspite of her miraculous origin, does not appear to have distinguishedherself in any way, at least up to the point at present reached by thehistory. 

Miss Vaughan says that all the Elect Magi do not accept this legend ofthe blood royal, and she admits her own doubts subsequent to herconversion. As an article of intellectual faith I should prefer thebirth-story of Gargantua, but it satisfied Miss Vaughan till the age ofthirty years, and her father and grandfather before her, even supposingthat it was _fabriquée par mon bisaïeul James, de Boston_, as hazardedby elect Magi whom a remnant of reason hinders. 

The "Memoirs of an Ex-Palladist" have not at present proceeded furtherthan the translation of Thomas Vaughan into the paradise of Lucifer, butfrom the "Free and Regenerated Palladium" and from other sources thechief incidents of Miss Vaughan's early life may be collected andsummarised briefly. We learn that she is the daughter of an AmericanProtestant of Kentucky and of a French lady, also of that persuasion. She was born in Paris, and a part of her education seems to have beenreceived in that city; her mother died in Kentucky when Diana was in herfourteenth year, and I infer that subsequently to this event she musthave lived with her father, who had considerable property in theimmediate vicinity of Louisville. When the Sovereign Rite of Palladismwas created by Albert Pike, Vaughan became affiliated therewith, and wasone of the founders of the Louisville triangle 11 + 7; he presided atthe initiation of his daughter as apprentice, according to the Rite ofAdoption, in 1883. She was raised to the grade of Companion, andsubsequently to that of Mistress, and at the age of 20 years, says DrBataille, she crossed the threshold of the Triangles, as the Palladianlodges are termed. 

Three issues were published of "The Free and Regenerated Palladium, " butsince the conversion of Miss Vaughan, they have been withdrawn fromcirculation, except among ecclesiastics of the Roman Church, and up tothe present I have failed to obtain copies. For the autobiographicalportions of this organ, I am indebted to the notices which have appearedin the _Revue Mensuelle_. They contain an account of two apparitions onthe part of the demon Asmodeus, accompanied by phenomena of levitationand fortified by arguments against the theory of hallucination. Theseearly experiences are, however, of minor importance, nor need I againrefer to the sensational incidents which accompanied her initiation asTemplar-Mistress at the Paris Triangle of Saint-Jacques; but it appearsfrom her memoirs that the intervention of Albert Pike was not in virtueof the supremacy of his personal authority, and that the ordeal ofsacrilege was spared her by the clemency of Lucifer himself, who issupposed to appear in person at the Sanctum Regnum of Charleston and toinstruct his chiefs, _Deo volente_ or otherwise, every Friday, thesupreme dogmatic director, who had made his home in Washington, havingthe gift of "instantaneous transportation, " whensoever he thought fit tobe present in the "divine" board-room. 

On the 5th of April 1889, the "good God" assembled his Ancients andEmerites for a friendly conversation upon the "case" of Diana Vaughan, and ended by requesting an introduction in three days' time. After thebest manner of the grimoires, Miss Vaughan began her preparations by atriduum, taking one meal daily of black bread, fritters of high-spicedblood, a salad of milky herbs, and the drink of rare old Rabelais. Thepreparations in detail are scarcely worth recording as they merely varythe directions in the popular chap-books of magic which abound infoolish France. At the appointed time she passed through the iron doorsof the Sanctum Regnum. "Fear not!" said Albert Pike, and she advanced_remplie d'une ardente allegresse_, was greeted by the eleven primechiefs, who presently retired, possibly for prayer or refreshments, possibly for operations in wire-pulling. Diana Vaughan remained alone, in the presence of the Palladium, namely, our poor old friend Baphomet, whom his admirers persist in representing with a goat's head, whereas heis the archetype of the ass. 

The Sanctum Regnum is described as triangular in shape; there was notorch, no lamp, no fire; the floor and the ceiling were therefore notunnaturally dark, but an inexplicable veil of strange phosphorescentlight was diffused over the three walls, the source of which proved onexamination to be innumerable particles of greenish flames each nolarger than a pin's head. Seated in front of the Baphomet, Miss Vaughanapostrophised Lucifer sympathetically on the subject of the unpleasingform in which he was represented by his worshippers, and as she did sothe little flames intensified, while floor and ceiling caught fire afterthe same ghostly incandescent fashion; a great dry heat filled the vastapartment, and, still spreading, the flames covered her chair, hergarments, her entire person. At this point the inevitable thunder beganto roll; three and one and two great thunders, after which came fivebreathings upon her face, and after those breathings five radiantspirits appeared, the first act closing impressively with a final salvoof artillery. 

The unhappy Baphomet, dismayed by these extreme proceedings, vanishedentirely, and, no expense being spared through the whole of the costlytableaux, Lucifer manifested on a throne of diamonds, but whether thegems were furnished from the treasury of Avernus or from the pockets ofbamboozled Freemasons through the wide world, _les renseignements_ donot state. Need I say that Miss Vaughan's first impulse was to fall inworship at his feet? But the sordid apparition, instead of accepting thehomage with the grace which is native to empire, had recourse to themethod of the novelist, and stayed her intention by a gesture. Even atthis late date, and with the millstone of her conversion placed in theopposite scale, Miss Vaughan's description of her quondam deity wouldtempt sentimental young women to forgive all his devildom to a being so"superb" in "masculine beauty. " I will refrain from spoiling the pictureby much of her own minuteness, or by the exclamatory parentheses of herfury against the magnificent gentleman who deceived her. I should likealso to omit all reference to the conversation which ensued betweenthem, but for the sake of true art I am constrained to state thatLucifer descended to commonplace. M. Renan tells us that since he leftSaint Sulpice he did nothing but degenerate, and the inference isobvious, that he ought to have gone back to Saint Sulpice, despite theliterary splendours of the _Vie de Jésus_. Since he last broke a lancewith Michael, the devil has debilitated mentally, and the substance ofhis _causerie_ with Diana reminds one of Robert Montgomery and evenworse exemplars. In the unexplored regions of penny periodical romance Ihave met with many better specimens of supernatural dialogue. As to thesum of his observations, it goes without saying that Diana was chosenout of thousands, and this is what justifies my opinion that hisproceedings on this occasion were more fatuous than any of hisundertakings since he tried conclusions with divinity. 

Very silently during the course of this interview the eleven primechiefs had returned like conspirators as they were, of course in thenick of time, to hear that Miss Vaughan was appointed as thegrand-priestess of Lucifer, at which moment there was a fresh burst ofcircumambient flame and the young lady was transported by her divinityto take part in a grand spectacular drama, divided into two acts. --I. Appearance of Asmodeus with fourteen legions. Exchange of endearingexpressions between this personage and Diana. Manifestation of thesignature of Baal-Zeboub, generalissimo of the armies of Lucifer, written in fire upon the void. Spiritualisation of the sweetheart ofAsmodeus. Diana hungers for the fray. Great pitched battle between thegenii of Lucifer and the genii of Adonaï, termed Maleakhs, without thegates of Eden. The Terrestrial Paradise carried by storm after severefighting. Grand panorama of Paradise. Explanatory dialogue between Dianaand her future husband. Appearance of a snow white gigantic eagle onwhich Diana is to be transported to Oolis, "a solar world unknown to theprofane, wherein Lucifer reigns and is adored. " II. Miss Vaughan havingbeen transported on another occasion to this mystic planet in the armsof Lucifer himself, the episodes of the second act are held over. Shewas, however, ultimately returned, safe and sound, to the Sanctum Regnumat Charleston, on the back of the white eagle. 

Such is Miss Vaughan's statement, and once more she proceeds to givereasons why she could not have been hypnotised or hallucinated. As inthe case of Doctor Bataille I propose to postpone criticism until otherwitnesses have filed their depositions. At the moment it is sufficientto recognise that, apart from the supernatural element which admits of asimple explanation, if Miss Vaughan be a credible witness, then thecentral fact of the New and Reformed Palladium must be admitted with allit involves. 

CHAPTER IX. 

HOW LUCIFER IS UNMASKED. 

M. Le Docteur Bataille is a mighty hunter before the face of the Lord inthe land of Masonry, and through the whole country of Hiram; great alsois Diana of the Palladians. After their monumental revelations andconfessions, those of all other seceders and penitents who have come outof the mystery of iniquity, "are as moonlight unto sunlight, and aswater unto wine. " My readers in the two previous chapters have drunk rawspirit, and must now qualify it after the Scotch fashion. The aqueousintellectuality and quiet stream of unpretending deposition peculiar toM. Jean Kostka, will be well adapted to modify undue exaltations andrestore order to a universe which has been intoxicated by sorcerers. Hewill show us how Lucifer is unmasked in an undemonstrative andgentlemanly fashion by a late Gnostic and initiate of the 33rd degree. He writes, as he frankly tells us, in a spirit of reparation andgratitude, having commerced freely with devils during a long series ofunholy years. "Blessed be the omnipotent Lord, and blessed the lovingkindness which drew me out of the abyss.... To glorify these I unmaskthe fallen angel. " The delicacy of the motive and its setting ofchivalrous sentiment will be appreciated even by the victim, and thetenderness of the treatment will prompt Lucifer to pardon his reviler, who has been already pardoned by M. Papus for betraying the order of theMartinists. And to do justice towards an amiable writer, who hasscarcely the requisite qualities for seriously damaging or advancing anycause, it may be kind to add that he has considerably exaggerated hisown case. After a careful examination of his statement, which isexceedingly naïve, I am tempted to conclude that he has never been nearan abyss; he is innocent of either height or depth, and so far fromhaving ever plunged into the infernal void, he has scarcely so much aspaddled in a purgatorial puddle. His guilty transcendental experiencesare in reality the most infantile afternoon occultism, and hisdrawing-room diablerie might be appropriately symbolised by the paperspeaking-tube of our old friend John King; there is nothing in it whenthe voice is not speaking, and there is nothing in it when it is. 

Since his conversion, M. Jean Kostka has exhibited much harmlessdevotion towards Joan of Arc, an enthusiasm which originated amongoccultists, and he has pious memories of St Stanislaus Kostka, for whichdispositions I trust that all my readers will have the complaisance tocommend him. He writes, furthermore, "in the decline of maturity, on thethreshold of age, in the late autumn of life, " which is his dropsicalmethod of saying that he is past sixty, and he veils a "futile name"under the patronymic of his favourite saint. Jean Kostka is not JeanKostka, but it is without intent to deceive that he evades any possibleresponsibility in connection with his concealed identity; it is a kindof pious self-effacement, I hope everyone will believe what he says, and give him all credit for having "turned towards the outraged Church. "In matters of evidence, pseudonymous statements are, however, objectionable, and I therefore identify our witness as Jules Doinel, whowas chiefly concerned in the restoration of the Gnosis and theestablishment of a "Gnostic church" in Paris about the year 1890, and ismoreover not unknown as a Masonic orator, and in the world ofbelles-lettres. M. Papus, with the generosity of a mystic, can onlyspeak well of the pious enthusiast who has betrayed his cause andscandalised the school he represents; he explains that Jules Doinel is amarvellous poet deficient in the scientific culture which might haveenabled him to explain in a peaceable fashion the phenomena squanderedupon him by the world invisible, so that there were only two coursesopen for him--renunciation of the transcendental path, or madness. "Letus bless heaven that the patriarch of the Gnosis has selected theformer. " It is possibly showing gratitude for small mercies, because ourfriend has saved his reason, but is blood-guilty in the matter ofcommon sense. Meanwhile, the widowed Gnosis illuminates its Ichabod inthe cryptic _quartiers_ of Paris, Lyons, and so forth. 

Every one may agree with M. Papus that Jean Kostka is a very prettywriter in a quiet and shallow way, but, with possibly one exception, hemust have withheld the flower of his phenomena in the order of thespirit, for his book is full of sentimental and vapid experiences of theschool-miss order, while over the light and spongy soil he has now setthe ponderous paving-stones of his new explanation, and toils forward onthe road of unreason. 

This apart, Jean Kostka, was evidently for many years familiar with thecentres and workings of all the cross lights of esoteric thought whichmeet and interlace in the night of French common thought. He has dweltamong Gnostics, Martinists, Modern Albigenses, and Spiritualists; heappears to have been identified with all, and though he does not accusehimself of the capital offence of conscious Satanism, he has been quitewell acquainted with Satanism, and, next best to seeing the devil one'sself, he has known many who have. In those days, he tells us, thatLucifer could be visited _chez lui_ in an earthly tabernacle, situatedin an unfrequented street, from whence the _lointain bruissement duParis nocturne_ might be heard by the pensive traveller if he were nottoo intent on diabolising. Now, he has found out that Lucifer was _chezlui_ everywhere. _Je vise Satan et ses dogmes. _ All his psychicfaculties have concentrated into a transcendental apparatus for scentingdevildom, and he mournfully comes forward to tell us, with a variationof Fludd's utterance; _Diabolus, in quam, diabolus ubique repertus est, et omnia diabolus et diabolus. _ "Let it suffice to say that thedemonologists have invented nothing and have exaggerated nothing. " Tothe spiritualists Lucifer is John King and Allan Kardec; to theGnostics, he is the Gnosis, Simon Magus, Helen Ennoia, and anything thatcomes handy from the Nile valley in the fourth century; to theMartinists, he is the _philosophe inconnu_; to the Albigenses, if thereare Parisian Albigenses, he is whatever Albigenses invoke, if theyinvoke anything; to Madame X. , he is Mary Stuart; to his own adepts, within sound of the _lointain bruissement_, he is a _jeune homme blondaux yeux bleus_, whom I understand to have worn a dalmatic, and to havebeen curiously indebted to the author of _Aut Diabolus aut Nihil_; forthe Theosophists, he is that "illustrious demoniac, " MadameBlawatsky--his innate delicacy leads him to the permutation of theTyphon V. ; and then Freemasonry--it goes without saying that the littlehorn of Lucifer has displaced all other horns in all the grades andlodges, that the fraternity is his throne and his footstool, and thecity of the great king. 

If we button-hole Jean Kostka, and ask him to tell us confidentially andupon honour what it is that has changed his views, making him discoverthe leer of Baal-Zeboub where he once saw the smile of the spiritualEos, he turns Trappist at once, and goes into retreat with M. Huysman;there is not a syllable of information in all his _beau volume_ as toany intellectual process through which he passed on the way, and Isuspect that his conversion partook of the nature of a "penetration, " tospeak his own language, and was not an intellectual operation, but asudden _volte face_. Jean Kostka has changed his _pinces-nez_, and thatis the whole secret:--

 "The reason why I cannot tell, But now I hold it comes from hell. "

Here is the proof positive; he has nothing in the shape of anaccusation; he gets his Lucifer-interpretation out of everything withwhich he has cut off correspondence by a very simple and civil processof instillation. "I sense it"; _je vise Lucifer. _ Thus, the Order of theKnights of Perfect Silence invite their initiates to become architectsof the Holy City. Jean Kostka, in possession of the latest tip, says, "read Hell. " The Martinists are concerned with the creation of AdamKadmon, the ideal humanity. Jean Kostka tells you that they areconcerned with nothing of the sort, and that Satan is the only personwho can really put us up to the secret, which is curious because heimmediately advises us himself that the exercise of the three cardinalvirtues to the profit of Lucifer is the sum of the whole mystery and thereal _sous-entendu_ of Martinism. The Masonic grades from Apprentice, Companion, Master, through Knight Rose-Cross to Knight Kadosch, and soforward, are exploited after the same manner by the baldest ofprocesses, that of inverting everything. For example, the sacred word ofthe 33rd degree in the French Rite, namely, Sovereign Grand InspectorGeneral, is _Deus meumque Jus_. That signifies, says Jean Kostka, that"Lucifer is the sole God and that the material, like the spiritual, world of right belongs to him. " If you inquire the process of extractionby which he gets that result, he answers: "I must admit that I have hadonly a general intuition, but I assure you that it is immense, " and hewill immediately cite you a password, invite you to take every letterindividually, and fit to it just that word which, by another intuition, he perceives belongs to it, when you will see for yourself. Thus, theKadosch term _Nekam_, which signifies vengeance, having been dulyanatomised, will come out as follows:--N (ex) E (xterminatio) K (risti)A (dversarii) M (agni), to wit: "Death, Extermination of Christ, theGreat Enemy. " Wicked and wily Jean Kostka to outrage the decencies oforthography and against all reason write the name of the Liberator witha K, thereby concealing the true meaning, which revealed for the firsttime is as follows:--N (equaquam) E (ritis) K (ostka) A (rtium)M (agister), which being interpreted still further, signifies thatthere was never such a clumsy device!

Now, it goes without saying that a writer with these methods is not tobe taken seriously, but it is worth while to appreciate the quality ofintelligence which is received with acclamation by the Catholic Churchin France as soon as it comes over from the enemy. "Lucifer Unmasked"appeared originally in the pages of the newspaper _La Vérité_. It wasimmediately reproduced in Spanish by the _Union Catolica_; the clericalpress boomed full-mouthed salvos in its honour, and his EminenceCardinal Parocchi has blessed book or author, or both, and believes thatit will make a great impression, "undoubtedly contributing to enlightenminds and lead them back to God. "

Jean Kostka, as already indicated, is a spiritual sentimentalist; hehas passed by a rapid transition common to such natures from the Gnostictranscendental initiate to the pious Catholic devotee, and he will makean excellent Lourdes pilgrim. As there will be no need to recur to himagain, it will be permissible to justify my criticism by some account ofhis personal experiences. M. Papus speaks of him as the founder andpatriarch of the Gnostic Church. Of this same patriarch and primate JeanKostka also speaks as of another person, recites the facts of hisconversion, and hopes he will do better work for the Church of God thanhe has done for Lucifer. Which is Dr Jekyll and which Mr Hyde in thisduadic personality is not of serious consequence, as they have both gotinto a better way of thinking and acting. Now, since his demission fromthese high functions, Jean Kostka has found that the chief piece ofGnostic devilry is in denying that the lost angels are eternally damned. On this point he has attained what is rare in him, a touch of personalanimosity. To supply the antipodes of heaven, let us say, with a lethalchamber, as a meaner order than that of theological charity does here, in the interests of homeless and snappy dogs, would, in his presentstate of grace, seem a very wicked proposition. Well, in 1890 JeanKostka was invited, as I understand, by the chief of the Gnostic Church, that is, by himself, to a chapel in the palace of a lady who figuresfrequently in his pages under the name of Madame X. ; the author takesgreat credit for concealing her real titles, but he has failed toconceal her identity, and there can be no harm in saying that thereference is to Lady Caithness. He was present upon serious business, infact, nothing short of assisting at a séance. A medium had been secured, the proceedings began, rappings became audible, an intelligence desiredto communicate, and, finally, there was a message, with a name given. Itwas Luciabel, "whom you know as Lucifer. " To this day Jean Kostka doesnot seem conscious of any element of idiocy in the variation of theold-fashioned name. In the revelation which followed, the intelligence, who seemed amiably disposed despite his sinister connections, informedthe circle that, like Jesus, he was engendered eternally from God, thathe was exiled from the pleroma, and that he was the Sophia-Achamoth ofValentine, the Helena-Ennoia of Simon Magus, the thought of God whichhad become anathema, and that he was now in search of love andconsolation, both of which might take shape in a Gnostic church, andwould be highly acceptable. There is, so to speak, a commercial elementin the overtures which dries up the feeling of pity, or one might beexceedingly sorry for this lost chord of eternal thought, hopingcharitably that we should still somehow hear it in heaven. 

Since his conversion the unpretentious marvel of this séance has been adire trouble to Jean Kostka, partly on account of its eschatology, butstill more because the sitters were conscious at its close of a breathpassing over their faces, while he himself felt the presence of lipsagainst his own. Poor Jean Kostka! They were all abased on their knees, which happens occasionally, even at séances, to pious people in Paris, and he concludes that he was kissed by Helena-Ennoia, _alias_ Lucifer, _alias_ Luciabel, who is also described on the charge-sheet of orthodoxtheology by other and more objectionable titles. The shameful memorycauses him to exclaim fervently:--"May he who purged the lips of Isaiahwith a burning coal deign to purify mine by the sacred kiss of penitenceand pardon: _in osculo sancto_. " There is a touch of sublimity in that, and the _basia_ of Baal-Zeboub may well enough be more demoralising thanthose of Secundus. At the time, however, he founded the Gnostic Church. 

We become acquainted with ghosts after various manners, according toour psychic condition. There is the spontaneous and accidental ghost whois seldom caught in the act; there is the able-bodied materialised ghostwhom we catch in the act occasionally, and preserve our mental balanceby clinging to his watch-chain and seals; they may be distinguished asthe timeless ghost and the ghost who occasionally does time. Over andabove these two generic specimens there is the ghost that throws, who isseparable from the ghost that _hurls_, as our French friends put it. Tohurl is to utter objectionable and unreasonable yells, preferably in thedead of night and in lonely places. This ghost is much sought after byspecialists. It would be tedious to name all the varieties, but I canguarantee the unequipped that all known specimens have been carefullylabelled, except possibly the odorous ghost, the ghost, that is to say, who manifests exclusively to the olfactory organ. This is an exceedinglywithdrawn inappreciable kind, but it is familiar to Jean Kostka, who isa connoisseur in the smell supernatural, and has a trained psychic nose. He can distinguish between the spiritual perfume which characterises, let us say, St Stanislaus and the _odorem suavitatis_ of Lucifer. He isalso an authority on conditions, and gives a ravishing description ofthe voluptuous enervation diffused over all his limbs when he had aprivate memorandum from Isis by means of raps during the reception of amaster in a blue lodge. On this occasion he tells us that he wasinspired to pronounce one of his most wicked and dangerous Masonicdiscourses. Dear M. Kostka! Dynamite would lose its destroying power inhis harmless hands. 

At another function--but this was in a red lodge--he was overwhelmed bythe presence of Lucifer, who elected and commissioned him to fight inhis cause. It was a moment of unwonted intelligence--these are his ownwords--and he agreed, so incompetence chose its minister, and FraterDiabolus again showed himself a short-sighted rogue, because has not hisemissary converted and passed over to the makers of pilgrimages? M. Kostka also at this time was so wicked as to be guilty of a pact, but hereserved two points, "the person of Christ and His mother. " Thereservation of these sacraments is not specialised as to its kind, but, _mon Dieu_, how distraught was Lucifer to be so palpably tricked by a_trente-troisième_! Both these matters were, however, personal to theseer, and the lodges, whether red or blue, seem to have been quiteunconscious that they had been entertaining divinity and demon unawares. M. Kostka has, in fact, been distinguished from the common herd ofMasons by many favours of Lucifer, and he has naturally been ungrateful, for which I admire M. Kostka. 

In succeeding chapters he details at considerable length a variety ofhallucinations which he experienced on the subject of Helena-Ennoia, andhe has also had visions of Jansen, of a false Francis Xavier, a falseChrist, &c. , but his most important experience was that which he termsPenetration, commonly experienced in autumn seasons and during the mistsand mildness of October nights. On these occasions he was conscious of acurious extension of personality by which he seemed to enter into allNature, and all Nature took voice and interpreted herself intelligiblyto him. After music came verbal communications, and then the apparitionof forms, chiefly of classical mythology. Most people would have termedthis poetic rapture passing into lucidity, but our friend avers that itis the Enemy. 

Such have been the experiences and adventures of Jean Kostka in thepsychic world, and they are of precisely the same calibre as hiscritical method. I may say, in conclusion, that, if spared, he will dobetter in his next book, for he promises another, which is to exhibit ina convincing manner how Lucifer has been vanquished by Joan of Arc. Inthe meantime we may part from him with due recognition of his absolutegood faith and extreme amiability; we may congratulate him on hisconversion, and still more upon the very pleasant reading he provides;he does not appear to have unmasked Lucifer, but he has let us into thesecret of the best that can be done in that way. 

Lastly, the point to be marked in connection with the memoirs andrevelations of Jean Kostka is this, that neither in Paris nor elsewhere, neither in Masonry nor in other secret associations, concerning which hehas had every opportunity to judge, has he come personally into contactwith a cultus of Satan or Lucifer; that he chooses to term certainmystical opinions and practices diabolical, because they are condemnedby the Latin Church, is a matter which is perfectly indifferent andexhibits only the forlorn position of a case which resorts to theexpedient. But it is highly significant that a man who has mixed amongmystics of all grades for probably thirty years, who is affiliated toinnumerable orders, and in his present mood would be glad to exposeeverything, has nothing to tell us of the Palladium, though he dwelt atits gates, and the circles he frequented were at a stone's cast from thealleged Mother-Lodge Lotus of Paris. 

CHAPTER X

THE VENDETTA OF SIGNOR MARGIOTTA

To Signor Domenico Margiotta we owe the most explicit account of thegreat compact between Mazzini and Albert Pike which produced the New andReformed Palladium. With this institution he does not attempt to connectthe anterior order founded in 1730; for him the possession of theTemplar Baphomet explains the name which it received, and the passage ofthat idol from its original custodians he leaves in the same uncertaintyas Dr Bataille. This difficulty apart, in Signor Margiotta the questionof Lucifer has received a most important witness; he is the most recent, the most illustrious, and Masonically the most decorated of all. If Iadd that he is in one respect to be included among the most virulent, Ido not necessarily detract from his value. So far as one can possiblybe aware, he is a man of unimpeachable integrity, who gives us everyopportunity to identify him, heraldically by his arms and emblazonments, historically by an account of his family, personally by extracts fromthe _Dizionario Biografico_, Masonically by a full enumeration of allhis dignities, including photographs of his most brilliant diplomas andprinted correspondence from Grand Masters and other exalted potentatesof the great Fraternity. It would be difficult, however, in the lastrespect, to discover many more exalted than himself, for before hisdemission he was Secretary of the Lodge Savonarola of Florence;Venerable of the Lodge Giordano Bruno of Palmi; Sovereign GrandInspector General, 33rd degree, of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite;Sovereign Prince of the Order (33rd . ·. , 90th . ·. , 95th . ·. , ) of theRite of Memphis and Misraïm; Acting Member of the Sovereign Sanctuary ofthe Oriental Order of Memphis and Misraïm of Naples; Inspector of theMisraïm Lodges of the Calabrias and of Sicily; Honorary Member of theNational Grand Orient of Haiti; Acting Member of the Supreme FederalCouncil of Naples; Inspector-General of all the Masonic Lodges of thethree Calabrias; Grand Master, _ad vitam_, of the Oriental Masonic Orderof Misraïm or Egypt (90th degree) of Paris; Commander of the Order ofKnights-Defenders of Universal Masonry; Honorary Member, _ad vitam_, ofthe Supreme General Council of the Italian Federation of Palermo;Permanent Inspector and Sovereign Delegate of the Grand CentralDirectory of Naples for Europe (Universal High-grade Masonry), and, according to his latest portrait, Member of the New Reformed Palladium. That such a luminary could withdraw from the firmament of the Fraternityand not take after him the third part of the stars of heaven, above allthat the Italian Grand Master could have the effrontery to affirm thathe had never heard of him and had only discovered who he was after someinvestigation, are matters for astonishment to the simple. 

Professor Margiotta returned to the church of his childhood in theautumn of 1894, and the news of his conversion is said to have sooverwhelmed the head-quarters of Italian Freemasonry at Rome that theannual rejoicings upon the 20th of September, when Rome became theCapital of United Italy and when Universal Freemasonry was instituted in1870, were incontinently suspended. My readers will not attach a highdegree of accuracy to this statement, for there does not appear inreality to have been any convulsion of the Order; there was indeed morerejoicing in Jerusalem than lamentation in the tents of Kedron. SignorMargiotta was the recipient of flattering congratulations from eminentprelates; the bishop of Grenoble salutes him as "my dear friend"; thepatriarch of Jerusalem invites him to take courage, for he is doing highservice to humanity, labouring under the scourge of the Masonic plague;the bishop of Montauban expresses his lively sentiment and entiredevotion; the archbishop of Aix regards the revelations as of greatimportance to the Church; the bishop of Limoges praises and blesses thebooks of M. Margiotta; the bishop of Mende does likewise, hisenthusiasm taking shape in superlatives; the Cardinal-Archbishop ofBordeaux applauds the intention and the effort; the bishops ofTarentaise, of Oran, of Pamiers, of Annecy, take up the chant in turn, and his Holiness the Pope himself sends his Apostolic Benediction overthe seal of Peter. 

Why did Signor Margiotta abandon Palladism and Masonry? It was notbecause these institutions were devoted to the cultus of Lucifer, for Ido not gather that he was scandalised by that fact at the time when itappears to have become known to him. It was not because sacrilege andpublic indecency characterised the rituals of initiation in the case ofthe Palladian Order, for he does not zealously press this charge. It wasnot, so far as can be traced, because he trembled for the safety of hissoul; he does not provide us with a sickly and suspicious narrative ofthe sentiments which led to his conversion or the interior raptureswhich followed it; he does not mention that he was the recipient of aspecial grace or a sudden illustration; he ceased to believe in Luciferas the good God because that being had permitted his favouredFreemasonry to pass under the "supreme direction of a despised personagewho is the last of rogues. " In other words, Signor Domenico Margiottahas a strong loathing for Signor Adriano Lemmi; he has long andearnestly desired that Freemasonry should "vomit him" from her breast, but as this has not come to pass, Signor Margiotta decided to vomithimself. Now, when a man embraces religion, he is supposed to forgivehis enemies, to do good to them that hate him, to avoid the propagationof scandals, and when he cannot speak well to say nothing; but this isnot the special quality of grace which attaches to the second_trente-troisième_, who has come out of Freemasonry to expose and revilethe order. 

The two narratives which comprise the exposure in question arerespectively entitled, "Adriano Lemmi: Supreme Chief of Freemasonry, "and "Palladism, the Cultus of Satan-Lucifer. " Both these books contain aviolent impeachment of the Italian Grand Master, which, if it concernedus, would not convince us. Its main points go to show that in the daysof his boyhood, Lemmi was guilty of an embezzlement at Marseilles, forwhich he is said to have suffered at the hands of justice; that he ledthe life of a Guzman d'Alfarache, in itself sufficiently romantic tocondone an offence which should have been effaced with its penalty, supposing the allegation to be true; that he subsequently found himselfat Constantinople, where he was thrown among Jews, and is there chargedby his accuser with the commission of a still more terrible crime; he, in fact, became a proselyte of the gate, and suffered the rite ofcircumcision. Later on he is depicted as a political conspirator, anagent and friend of Mazzini, Kossuth, and the patriots of theRevolution, in connection with whom he is made responsible forinnumerable villainies which connect him with the apostleship ofdynamite. We may pass lightly over these matters, nor need we delay toinquire after what manner Adriano Lemmi may have amassed the wealthwhich he possesses, nor what questions on the subject of a monopoly intobacco may have been raised or dropped in the Italian Parliament. Allthese points, including Signor Lemmi himself, are as little known asthey are of little moment in England, and they are wholly outside oursubject, except in so far as they exhibit the methods of his accuser, which, indeed, are so objectionable in their nature as to go far towardsexonerating their object. Signor Margiotta, at any rate, puts himself soclearly in the wrong, and is altogether so virulent, as to place theinference of personal animosity almost in the region of certitude; oneis therefore tempted to accept the explanation offered by the victim, that the Marseilles scandal turns upon a mistaken identity, and hisexplicit denial that he ever underwent the rite of Jewish initiation. Furthermore, I believe that I shall represent the opinion of tolerantEnglishmen when I say that to insult and abuse a man for adoptinganother faith, however opposed to our own, and even ridiculous initself, is an odious method in controversy, and for myself I see littleto choose between a proselyte of the gate, a renegade Mason, and ademitted Roman Catholic. 

The true secret of the Margiotta-cum-Lemmi embroilment does not, Ithink, transpire in the narratives with which we are concerned; I meanto say that there is an eluding element which must, however, be assumed, if we are to account reasonably for the display of such extreme rancour. An honourable man may object to the jurisdiction of a person whom heregards as a convicted thief, but he does not usually pursue him withthe violence of personal hatred. Now, in 1888 Signor Margiotta became acandidate for the Italian Parliament, and he attributes his failure tothe hostility of Lemmi, who, prompted by Gallophobe tendencies, broughthis influence to bear against a person who was friendly to the Frenchnation. I submit that this assists us to understand the animus of theconverted Mason and the lengths to which it has taken him. In all otherrespects Signor Margiotta displays the most perfect frankness, and doeshis best upon every occasion to substantiate his statements byformidable documentary evidence. I repeat therefore, that, much as wemay regret his acrimony, he remains a most important witness to theexistence of Universal Masonry, the existence of the Reformed Palladium, the transfer of the Masonic Supremacy at the death of Albert Pike to theItalian Grand Master, and the split in the camp which followed. Heclaims also that he is personally acquainted with Miss Diana Vaughan; heextols her innumerable virtues in pages of eloquent writing; he evengoes so far as to photograph the envelope of a registered letter whichhe posted at Palmi, in Calabria, addressed to that lady in London. Heindirectly substantiates the narrative of Carbuccia by a long account ofhis personal dealings with Giambattista Pessina, descending into themost curious particulars; he publishes the secret alphabet of thePalladium, specimens of litanies addressed to the good god Lucifer, andhymns of equivocal tendency attributed to Albert Pike. Finally, he fullyadmits the Satanic character of perfect Masonic initiation, andcontributes a long chapter to swell our recent knowledge upon thesubject of "Apparitions of Satan. "

As regards Universal Masonry, when announcing his demission andconversion to an officer of the Lodge, Giordano Bruno, at Palmi, SignorMargiotta reveals to him that he and his brethren are ruled, withoutknowing it, by a supreme rite, and that he, Margiotta himself, Venerableof the Lodge referred to, being a true elect and perfect initiate, constituted the link of connection between the ordinary Masonry of Palmiand this central and unsuspected power. On the same occasion headdressed a long communication to Miss Vaughan, in which he claims thathe has ever acted as an honest Mason, faithful to the orthodoxy thereof, and having the cause of Charleston at heart. Now, the circumstanceswhich occasioned these statements, and the good faith which seems tocharacterise them, are presumptive testimony to their truth; in theabsence of any evidence, and merely on _à priori_ considerations, itwould be intolerable to suggest that their author, while advertising hischanged views upon a solemn subject, was guilty of wilful deception. 

The centralisation of Universal Masonry in an order known as the Newand Reformed Palladium, with Albert Pike at its head, is supported bythe citation of a document dated the 12th of September 1874, and beingan authority from Charleston for the constitution of a secret federationof Jewish Freemasons, with a centre at Hamburg, under the title ofSovereign Patriarchal Council. It is not the only document emanatingfrom the "Dogmatic Directory" which is printed by Signor Margiotta, butthe others are not entirely new, having some of them previously appearedin the memoirs of Dr Bataille. The Luciferian opinions of Albert Pikeare exhibited plainly in a letter addressed by him to Signor Rapisardi, famous in all Italy for his poem of "Lucifer, " which Signor Margiottaaffirms to have been written at the suggestion of the American GrandMaster. 

But possibly the strongest evidence is less of a documentary kind; theminute account of the warfare waged by Signor Margiotta and otherItalian Masons, in which they were helped by Miss Vaughan, to preventthe accession of Lemmi to the sovereign pontificate upon the death ofAlbert Pike and the transfer of the centre to Rome, seems to bear uponits surface every reasonable sign that it cannot be an inventednarrative. Indeed, the first impulse upon reading the testimony of thiswitness leaps irresistibly to conclude that the denial of the mainallegations is no longer possible. A searching analysis does, however, reveal sufficient grounds to warrant a different judgment. In the firstplace, whereas Signor Margiotta proclaims the supreme power of theReformed Palladium, the documents which he cites in his support are, forthe most part, documents of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, aboutthe immense jurisdiction of which there is no question. In the secondplace, the authority of Albert Pike, as it is seen in most of thedocuments, is in virtue, not of the Palladium, but of his position asSupreme Chief of the Supreme Mother-Council of the Ancient and AcceptedScotch Rite. What Signor Margiotta terms Universal Freemasonry is notthe Palladium at all, but simply the Scotch Rite; one of his owndiplomas, reproduced at page 120 of "Adriano Lemmi, " is proof positiveof this; and in view of the universal diffusion of this rite, no onewould deny it the name. In the third place, the documents of SignorMargiotta as regards the Palladium are not to be trusted, because in oneinstance a gross imposition has been practised provably upon him, and hemay have been deceived in others. Hence, although he may be a member ofa society termed the New and Reformed Palladium, it may not possess thejurisdiction or the history to which it pretends. In the fourth place Ideny that the Grand Central Directories of which I have givenparticulars, derived from Signor Margiotta, in my second chapter, are inany sense Palladian directories. That of Naples for Europe is said tohave twenty-seven triangular provinces, one of which is Manchester, andMr John Yarker is said to be Provincial Grand Master. Now, I have MrYarker's own written testimony that he never heard of the Palladiumuntil the report of it came over from France. Mr Yarker is a member ofthe 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite, and he is alsothe Grand Master of the only legitimate body of the Supreme OrientalRite of Memphis and Misraïm in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Moreover, in most Masonic countries of the world he is either Honorary GrandMaster, or Honorary Member in the 95° of Memphis, 90° of Misraïm, and33° Scottish Rite, the last honorary membership including bodies underthe Pike _régime_ as well as its opponents. He is perfectly wellacquainted with the claim of the Charleston Supreme Council to supremepower in Masonry, and that it is a usurpation founded on a forgery. In aletter which he had occasion to address some time since to a Catholicpriest on this very subject, he remarks:--"The late Albert Pike ofCharleston, as an able Mason, was undoubtedly a Masonic Pope, who keptin leading strings all the Supreme Grand Councils of the world, including the Supreme Grand Councils of England, Ireland, and Scotland, the first of which includes the Prince of Wales, Lord Lathom, and otherpeers, who were in alliance with him, and in actual submission. Itsintroduction into America arose from a temporary schism in France in1762, when Lacorne, a disreputable panderer to the Prince of Clermont, issued a patent to a Jew named Stephen Morin. Some time after 1802, apretended Constitution was forged and attributed to Frederick the Greatof Prussia. This constitution gives power to members of the 33rd degreeto _elect themselves_ to rule all Masonry, and this custom isfollowed.... The good feeling of Masonry has been perpetually destroyedin every country where the Ancient and Accepted Rite exists, and it mustbe so in the very nature of its claims and its laws. " Mr Yarker has noconnection with a supreme dogmatic directorate in any other form thanthis disputed but perfectly well-known assumption of the CharlestonSupreme Council. The term "Supreme Dogmatic Directorate" was not used byPike, and the confidence enjoyed by the American was never extended toLemmi, though he may have desired it. Instead, therefore, of all Masonrybeing ruled by a central authority unknown to the majority of Masons, wehave simply a bogus claim which has no effect outside the ScottishRite, and of which all Masons may know if they will be at the pains toascertain. When Signor Margiotta informed the officer of the GiordanoBruno Lodge that he secretly represented a central and unknownauthority, it is in this sense that we must understand him--that is tosay, he represented the interests of the Charleston Supreme Council. Hence the revelations concerning "Universal Masonry" are an exaggerationfounded upon a fact, and the Palladian Order, of which Signor Margiottatells us that he is a member, is at any rate not what it pretends. Ithas doubtless imposed on him by means of forged documents, as also uponLeo Taxil, and M. Adolphe Ricoux. The writings which it fathers uponAlbert Pike, and quoted by Signor Margiotta, as in other cases, arestolen from Éliphas Lévi, the so-called alphabet of the Palladiumincluded. The documentary _pièce de résistance_ upon which our authorrelies as evidence for the existence of an international Masonicorganisation is a certain _voûte de Protestation_, on the part of aso-called Mother-Lodge Lotus of England, secret Temple of OxfordStreet, against the transfer of the Dogmatic Directory from Charlestonto Rome, the "Standing Committee of Protestation" being AlexanderGraveson, Provincial Delegate of Philadelphia, U. S. A. , V. F. Palacios, Provincial Delegate of Mexico, and Diana Vaughan, Provincial Delegate ofNew York and Brooklyn. Signor Domenico Margiotta has been grosslydeceived over this document. What he prints as the English original inguarantee of good faith, side by side with a French translation, is aclumsy and ridiculous specimen of "English as she is wrote, " and theFrench is really the original. I append some choice specimens:--"To theMost Illustrious, Most Puissant, Most _Lightened_ Brothers ... Composing, by right of _Ancient and Members for life_, the Most SereneGrand College of _Emerited Masons_. " Here the underlined passages are aFrenchman's method of interpreting into English _Très Eclairés Frères, àtitre d'Anciens et de membres à vie_, and _Maçons Emérites_. Again: "Theprotesters numbered six-and-twenty, including twenty-five _sovereing_delegates present at the deed, and one sovereign delegate, who couldnot _stand by_ (_ne peut être présent_), but the substitute of _which_wisely and prudently abstained from the vote _at the first turn_ (_aupremier scrutin_) and threw a blank ticket at the second, _expound_(verb governed by _protesters_) the _acts and situation thencedisastrously resulting_ for our holy cause. "

Once more: "The present protesting vault _aims at the two ballots_(_vise les deux scrutins_), and _requests to be proceeded_ urgently totheir annulment. " Again: "_The Charleston's Brothers_ ... Have not actedin such a manner as to forfeit _the whole Masonry's esteem_.... Thedirection ... Has _not discontinued to prove foresight_.... It was_injust_ to transfer, " &c. , and so on for sixteen printed pages whichcertainly deserve to rank among the curiosities of literature. This isthe precious document which appears over the signatures of AlexanderGraveson and Diana Vaughan, after which I submit to my readers thatSignor Domenico Margiotta may be dismissed with all his file of papers, not as himself deceiving, but as singularly liable to deception, ofwhich he has otherwise given us several signal instances. For example hebelieves himself to have enjoyed the high privilege of beholding thePrince of Darkness upon two separate occasions. The first was in 1885 atCastelnuovo-Garfagnana in a beautiful old walled garden, belonging to ahigh-grade Mason named Orestes Cecchi, a fast friend of Margiotta. Thetime was the forenoon, and the two Masons were smoking under the shadeof green trees surrounded by floral delights. Margiotta was aspiritualist and a follower of Allan Kardec; Cecchi had a turn for theVedas and the occultism of the Eastern world; they were chatting uponthe possibility of transmigration; the one doubted, the other affirmed;Cecchi, to convince his companion, informed him that he possessed afamiliar who invariably appeared to him under the form of a goat, but hehad a look in his eye which proved positively that he was the GrandArchitect of the Universe! That there might be no doubt about the matterCecchi called his familiar, who appeared suddenly, and joyfully caressedhis master, at whose command he subsequently licked the hand of theoverwhelmed Signor Margiotta, and it became red and painful. Cecchiplayfully chided the apparition for not assuming human form, and hintedat the propriety of doing so, but the animal knowingly nodded andincontinently scurried away. Now, I put it to my readers, that Cecchiwas exploiting his friend, that a domesticated animal appeared at thesummons of his owner in a wooded garden, and that Signor Margiotta isfooling when he pretends to believe that it was the devil. 

The second experience was at Naples under the roof of Pessina, abouthalf-past ten in the evening, after a Lodge meeting of the Misraïm rite. Then and there, as a matter of cordial good fellowship, theaccommodating Imperial Grand Master evoked a devil to give evidence ofhis actuality to Margiotta, who, in spite of the episode of the goat, still posed as a doubting Thomas. It was managed by means of awhisky-bottle, out of which, after certain invocations and magicalceremonies, a vapour rose mysteriously, and resolved itself into ahuman figure, wearing a golden crown, with a brilliant star in themiddle. According to the picture which accompanies this deliciousnarrative, the apparition had the wings of a bat and a tail of thebovine class. It was Beffabuc, the familiar of the magician, who beggedhim to enlighten the sceptic, but the latter, according to theapparition, was protected by a higher power and would never be persuadedto believe in him. Signor Margiotta gives the names of all who werepresent at the evocation--twelve members of the 33rd degree, to saynothing of Misraïm dignities. I submit, however, that the episode of thebottle would split the rock of Peter, that the absence of Signor Pessinafor twenty minutes previous to the performance, eked out with a littleventriloquism, and some Pepper accessories would explain much, and thatthere is also another hypothesis which I will leave to the discernmentof my readers, and to which I lean personally. 

Our witness, in any case, would not be a _persona grata_ to the Societyfor Psychical Research. As he is violent in his enmities, so is hegullible in marvels. His impeachment of Adriano Lemmi must be ruledcompletely out of court; his thaumaturgic experiences are paltrytrickeries; his account of Albert Pike is largely borrowed matter; themagical practices which he attributes to Pessina are derived from theLittle Albert and other well known grimoires; the most that follows fromhis narrative is that certain Italian Masons, probably atheists atheart, pose as partisans of Satan simply to accentuate their derisionsof all religious ideas, much after the manner of Voltaire in some of hiscynical correspondence. It is a continental form of pleasantry, and anartistic experiment in blasphemy which is taken seriously by the unwise. 

I need hardly add that the story of _Aut Diabolus aut Nihil_, which isaccepted literally by Doctor Bataille, is also the subject ofreverential belief on the part of Signor Margiotta, and as anillustration of his classifying talent, he terms Adriano Lemmi a Mormonbecause, having obtained a divorce, he, in the course of time, contracted another marriage. Furthermore, the very strong testimonywhich Signor Margiotta gives to Dr Bataille, directly by eulogium andindirectly by citation, as also the intimate relations which hemaintained with Diana Vaughan, make his value as a witness of Luciferdependent, to a large extent, upon the credibility of these persons, with consequences which will shortly appear. Lastly, his own personalcredibility seems seriously at stake when he talks of "triangularprovinces. " He, and those connected with him, can alone explain whatthat means; they have never existed in Masonry. Mr Yarker, who, he says, is Grand Master of such a province, has never heard the expression. MrR. S. Brown, Grand Secretary of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter ofScotland, also denies all knowledge of the one which, according toSignor Margiotta, is located at Edinburgh. 

CHAPTER XI

FEMALE FREEMASONRY

Last on the list of our recent witnesses who have had a hand in creatingthe Question of Lucifer--not actually last in the order of time but theleast in importance to our purpose--is M. A. C. De la Rive, author of"Child and Woman in Universal Freemasonry. " He very fairly fulfils thepresumption which is warranted by his name; he does not pretend to havecome forth from the turbid torrent of Satanism and Masonry which iscarrying multitudes into the abyss and effacing temples and thrones inits furious course. He has been content, like a sensible person, tostand on bank or brink and watch the rage and flow. He does not tell usanywhere in his narrative that he is himself a Mason; he has no personalacquaintance with Satan; he has not been guilty of magic, nor has heassisted at a Black Mass. He belongs to a wholly different order ofwitnesses, and he has produced what is in its way a genuine book, whichdoes not pretend to be more than a careful compilation from rare butpublished sources, while we can all of us defer to the erudition of aFrenchman who has actually spent on collecting his materials the almostunheard-of space of twelve months. The result is correctly described as"grand in octavo, 746 pages, " and is really an inflated piece of Masonicchronology, exceedingly ill-balanced, but, at the same time, undeniablyuseful. Beginning with the year 1730 it is brought down to 1894, and itis designed to demonstrate the existence at the present day of "adoptivelodges" wherein French gallantry once provided an inexpensive substitutefor Masonry in which ladies had the privilege of participating. One ofthe most learned and illustrious of French Masonic writers, Jean-MarieRagon, describes such androgyne or female lodges as "amiableinstitutions" invented by an unknown person some time previously to theyear 1730, under the name of "mysterious amusements, " which appears todescribe them exactly, and one cannot be otherwise than astonished atthe extraordinary gravity of nervous and well-intentioned persons whoascribe them such tremendous importance. Whereas they are the fringe ofFreemasonry, writers like M. De la Rive persist in regarding them as itsheart and centre, while it is also in such institutions that he andothers of his calibre expect to discover Satanism. A celibate religionever suspects the serpent in the neighbourhood of the woman. Hediscovers Satanism accordingly by reading it into handy passages andbracketing interpretations of his own when the text cannot otherwise beworked. Thus he gets oracles everywhere, and to compel Satan he findsthe parenthesis quite as useful as the circle of black magic; it is ajuggler's method, but among French anti-Masons it passes with highcredit. The question of Female Freemasonry, apart from the PalladianOrder, is quite outside our subject; its existence in Spain is a matterof public knowledge, and I have Mr Yarker's authority for stating thatin certain countries, one of which is South America, the Rite ofMemphis and Misraïm and the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite have bothinitiated women, the latter up to and including the 33rd degree. Noadoptive lodges exist or would be tolerated in England within thejurisdiction of the Grand Lodge, and if it can be shown that thePalladian order initiates English women into Masonic secrets, that isperformed surreptitiously and in defiance of our Masonic constitutions. As to the schismatic Grand Orient of France, whatever may be done insecret or devised in public upon this point, is of no importance here, but I should add that little credit, and deservedly, is attached inEngland to any of the so-called revelations which from time to time comeover from Paris. 

As regards M. De la Rive, apart from this subject, we are unable toextract from his pages anything that is fresh or informing on thesubject of our inquiry. Despite the sensational picture which emblazonsthe title-page, where a full-length Baphomet is directing a _décolletée_Templar-Mistress through the pillars Jakin and Bohaz, there is not asingle page in the whole vast compilation which shows any connectionbetween Satanism and Masonry until towards the close, when an adroit taxis levied on the still vaster storehouse of Doctor Bataille. The authortells us clearly enough how adoptive Masonry arose, what rites wereinstituted, what rituals published, what is contained in these, and itis all solid and instructive. His facts, as already indicated, areborrowed facts, but they come from a variety of sources, and originalresearch was scarcely to be expected from a writer against whom theavenues of knowledge are sealed by his lack of initiation. He concludes, however, that Adoptive Masonry is Satanic by intention, and that eventhe orphanages of the Fraternity are part of a profound and infamousdesign to ruin the children of humanity and to perfect proselytes forperdition. 

The appearance of "Child and Woman in Universal Freemasonry" was hailedwith acclamation in the columns of the _Revue Mensuelle_; it reviewed itby dreary instalments, and when reviewing was no longer possible, hadrecourse to tremendous citations; as a last effort, it supplied anexhaustive index to the whole work--a charitable and necessary action, for the twelve months' toil of the author had expired without theaccomplishment of this serviceable means of reference. And still, asoccasion offers, it gives it bold advertisement. 

The quaint methods of previous witnesses are amplified by M. De la Rive. Like Dr Bataille, he tells us that the Order of Oddfellows, though quitedistinct from Palladism, is "essentially Luciferian, " but he does notsay why or how--instance of demonstrative method. He regards the Jewswith holy hatred as chief ministers of Anti Christ, and characterisesthem as that nation of which Judas was "one of the most celebratedpersonages"--specimen recipe for the production of cheap odium in largequantities; but what about Jesus the Christ, whom men called King of theJews? Fie, M. De la Rive! He informs us that Miss Alice Booth, daughterof General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, is one of theforemost Palladists of England--instance of absurd slander which refutesitself. 

M. De la Rive must therefore on all counts of his evidence be ruled outof court as a witness. No one denies the existence of Adoptive Lodges ina few countries and under special circumstances, and no sensible personattributes them any importance. Freemasonry as an institution is notsuited to women any more than is cricket as a sport, but they haveoccasionally wished to play at it as they have wished to play atcricket; the opportunity has been offered them, but, except as the vogueof a moment, it has come to nothing. It is, moreover, of no importanceto our inquiry if it can be proved that the true head of the Grand Lodgein England is the Princess of Wales and not her royal husband; whileconcerning the existence of Devil-Worship M. De la Rive has nothing newto tell us, and nothing at first-hand. I therefore ask leave to dismisshim, hoping that he will devote another laborious year to the reissue ofMasonic rituals, authentic or not, at the extremely moderate price whichhe asks for his first volume; originals are scarce and costly, andinvention is a pleasant faculty. The interpretation which he chooses toput on them is an interpretation of no consequence, and can never havemisled any one who is in any sense worth misleading. 

CHAPTER XII

THE PASSING OF DOCTOR BATAILLE

The most obvious line of criticism in connection with the memoirsentitled _Le Diable au XIX^e Siècle_ would be the preposterous andimpossible nature of its supernatural narratives. To attribute ahistorical veracity to the adventures of Baron Munchausen might scarcelyappear more unserious than to accept this _récit d'un témoin_ asevidence for transcendental phenomena. I need scarcely say that I regardthis reasoning as so altogether sound and applicable that it is almostunnecessary to develop it. The personal adventures of Doctor Bataille asregards their supernatural element are so transparently fabulous that itwould be intolerable to regard them from any other point of view. Thatan ape should speak Tamil is beyond the bounds of possibility; it isimpossible also that a female fakir or pythoness, aged 152 years, should allow herself to be consumed in a leisurely manner by fire; it isimpossible that any ascetics could have maintained life in theirorganisms under the loathsome conditions prevailing within the allegedtemple at Pondicherry; it is impossible that any person could havesurvived the ordeal which Dr Bataille pretends to have suffered atCalcutta, --to have relished and even prolonged; it is impossible thattables and organs should be found suspended from a ceiling at the closeof a spiritual séance; it is impossible that the serpent of SophiaWalder should have been elongated in the manner described. When I saythat these things are impossible I am speaking with due regard to theclaims of transcendental phenomena, and it is from the transcendentalstandpoint that I judge them. Genuine transcendental phenomena mayextend the accepted limits of probability, but when allegedtranscendental phenomena do violence to all probability, that is theunfailing test of hallucination or untruth on the part of those whodepose to them. These things could not have occurred as they arenarrated, and Dr Bataille is exploiting the ignorance of that class ofreaders to whom his mode of publication appealed. As products ofimagination his marvels are crude and illiterate; in other words, theybelong to precisely that type which is characteristic of romancespublished in penny numbers, and when he pledges his rectitude regardingthem he does not enlist our confidence but indicates the slight valuewhich he sets on his stake. 

At the same time, two reasons debar me from laying further stress uponthis line of argument. In the first place we must remember that hisunlettered readers have been taught by their religious instructors tobelieve in the unlimited power of the devil, and they have probablyfound in the outrageous nature of the narratives a real incentive toaccept them. In the second place my own position as a transcendentalistconnects me less or more with the acknowledgment of transcendentalphenomena, and to distinguish the limits of possibility in these matterswould involve a technical discussion for which there is no opportunityhere. It is understood, however, that in the interests oftranscendental science I reject the miraculous element in Dr Bataille'smemoirs. 

Another line of criticism also open and leading to convincing resultswould dwell upon the glaring improbability of the entire story outsidethat miraculous element. There is no colourable pretence of likelihood, for example, in the connection instituted between fakirs and Freemasons, or between secret societies in China and a sect of Luciferians inCharleston. But the partisans of Dr Bataille are prepared to believeanything of Masonry, and to dismiss likelihood as they would dismissimpossibility. Some arguments are unassailable on account of theirstupidity, and of such shelter I intend to deprive my witness. I shalltherefore merely register my recognition that this criticism does obtaincompletely. For much the same reason I shall only refer in passing toanother matter which in itself is sufficient to remove these memoirsfrom the region of actuality; they bristle with the kind of coincidenceswhich are the common convenience of bad novelists to create or escapesituations, and are rejected even by legitimate fiction, because theyare untrue to life. At the present time the device of coincidence isleft to its true monopolists, the Society for Psychical Research and themanufacturers of the penny dreadful. Unreasonable demands are, however, made upon it by Dr Bataille; never in an awkward predicament does thecoincidence fail to help him; wheresoever he goes it times his arrivalrightly to witness some occasional and rare event, and it places him atonce in communication with the indispensable person whose presence wasantecedently unlikely. The very existence of his memoirs would have beenjeopardised had the Anadyr reached Point-de-Galle immediately beforeinstead of immediately after the catastrophe which converted Carbuccia. At the beginning of his mission against Masonry, coincidence arrangedthe last illness of the Cingalese pythoness to the exigencies of hisdate of arrival; it brought John Campbell to Pondicherry and PhileasWalder to Calcutta; at Singapore it fixed a Palladic institution in thegrade of Templar-Mistress to correspond with his flying visit on theroad to Shanghai. Now, all these coincidences are of the class whichcome off in fiction and miss in the combinations of real life, but toinsist on this point would not disillusionise the believers in DrBataille, who will say that he was assisted by Providence. We must showthat he has deceived them in matters which admit of verification, overcertain points of ordinary fact, which can be placed beyond the regionof dispute, and by which the truth of his narrative may be held to standor fall. I shall confine myself for this purpose to what he states atfirst hand in his capacity as an eyewitness, and to two salient caseswhich may be taken to represent the whole. Among the rest some are incourse of investigation, and so far as they have gone are promisingsimilar results; the locality of others has been so chosen as to baffleinquiry; and in one or two instances I have failed to obtain results. Itis obviously impossible to prove that there is not a native hut in "athick and impassable forest" at an unindicated distance fromPoint-de-Galle, or that this hut does not possess a vast subterraneanchamber. When we cannot check our witness we must regard what he tellsus in the light of those instances which it is possible to fix firmly. Among negative results I may mention an inquiry into the alleged deathof a person named George Shekleton in a Masonic lodge at Calcutta. SirJohn Lambert, K. C. S. I. E. , the commissioner of police at that place, verycourteously made investigations at my suggestion, first at the coroner'scourt, but the records for the year 1880 are not now in existence, and, secondly, among the oldest police officers, but also without result. Iapplied thereupon to Mr Robert William Shekleton, Q. C. , J. P. , inquiringwhether any relative of his family had died under curious circumstancesat Calcutta about the year 1880. His answer is this:--"I never heardanything about the death of a George Shekleton in Calcutta. My elder andyounger brother were both living in Calcutta, and if any person of thesame name had been living there I should have heard it from them. Myyounger brother Alexander Shekleton died at Madras on his way home withhis wife and children of confluent small-pox; my eldest brother Josephis still alive. " The presumption, therefore, is that Carbuccia's storyof the strange fatality which occurred in his presence at a Masoniclodge is without any foundation in fact, but I regard the result asnegative because it falls short of demonstration. I am now setting otherchannels in operation, but as it is not a test case, and not an eventwhich Dr Bataille claims to have witnessed himself, it is unnecessary toawait the issue. 

If the reader will now glance at the several sections of the sixthchapter, he will find that one of the most important is that entitled"The Seven Temples and a Sabbath in Sheol, " where Dr Bataille tells usthat he witnessed unheard of operations in black magic on the part ofPalladian Masons and diabolising fakirs. The locality was a plain calledDappah, two hours drive from Calcutta. The particulars which are givenconcerning the edifices on the mountain of granite, but more especiallyconcerning an open charnel where the dead bodies of innumerable humanbeings, mixed indiscriminately with those of animals and with the townrefuse, are left to rot under the eye of heaven, will not impress anyone, however unacquainted with India, and with the vicinity of theEnglish capital and seat of government, as wearing many of the featuresof probability. The facts are as follows:--A place called Dhappamanpour, and for brevity Dhappa, does exist in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, andthereto the town refuse is actually carried by a special line ofrailway; there is no granite mountain and there are no temples, while sofar from it being a charnel into which human bodies are flung, or aplace where the adepts of the Palladium could celebrate a black Sabbathand form a magic chain with putrid corpses, it is a great lake coveringan area of thirty square miles, and is known by Anglo-Indians as theSaltwater Lake. In the year 1886 it was in course of reclamation, butall that Dr Bataille tells us is specifically untrue, and he could neverhave witnessed there the things which he describes as taking place inthe year 1880. The _récit d'un témoin_ is in this matter an inventedhistory. 

As a consequence of this bogus experience in Calcutta, Dr Bataillepretends to have been admitted within the charmed circle of the New andReformed Palladium, and was therefore qualified to be present at theinitiation of a Templar-Mistress which took place not long after atSingapore. His account of this initiation turns upon two or three pointswhich do not appear in the synopsis of the sixth chapter. One of theseis the existence of a Kadosch Areopagite of the Ancient and AcceptedScotch Rite. But at least, at the period in question, there was no suchAreopagite, and the Scotch Rite did not exist at Singapore. The soleMasonic institution was a District Grand Lodge of Ancient Free andAccepted Masons of England in the Eastern Archipelago, working under thewarrant of the English Grand Lodge, holding half-yearly communications, and special meetings when the District Grand Master deemed necessary. Its patent dates from March 3, 1878, and the District Grand Master atthe time was the Hon. William H. Macleod Read. Three lodges workedunder its jurisdiction, two of which were at Singapore and one atPenang, and to one of the former a Royal Arch Chapter was attached. Itis needless to say that our author's Misraïm diploma would have obtainedhis admission to none, and there is no person here in England who wouldhave the effrontery to affirm that he might have fared better by reasonof his Palladian degree. It is sufficient, however, to state that therewas no Lodge of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite in Singapore at thetime of his visit. But the imposition does not end here; Dr Batailledoes not merely describe what took place at a lodge which was not inexistence--he gives particulars of an address delivered by a certain DrMurray at a meeting attended by himself. Now, at the date in question, there was no such person either in the town, in its vicinity, or inPenang. There is fortunately an institution among us which is termed theBritish Museum, and it enables us to verify questions of this kind. Furthermore, when describing the Palladian meeting at the Presbyterianchapel--there was such a chapel by the way--he tells us that the GrandMaster was named Spencer, and that he was a _négociant_ of Singapore, but there was again no such person in the town or its vicinity at thetime, and so his entire narrative, with its ritual reproduced from LeoTaxil, is demolished completely. I submit that these two instances aresufficient to indicate the kind of man with whom we are dealing. It maybe a matter of astonishment to my readers that a work even of impositionshould be performed so clumsily as to betray itself at once to a littleeasy research, but it must be remembered that the class of Frenchreaders to whom Dr Bataille made appeal are so ignorant of all whichconcerns the English that skill is not required to exploit them; it isenough that the English are abused. Of our author's qualifications inthis respect I have already given some specimens, but they convey noidea of his actual resources in the matter of abuse and calumny. Adirect quotation will not be beside the purpose in thisplace:--"Wheresoever religious influence can make itself felt, therethe wife and maid are the purest, the most ingenuous expression of thecreation and the divinely touching idea synthetised by the immaculateMother of Christ, the Virgin Mary; but, on the contrary, in England, andstill more especially in the English colonies, under the perniciousinfluence of the Protestant heresy engendered by revolts of trulydiabolical inspiration, the wife and maid are in some sort theopprobrium of humanity. The example, moreover, comes from an exaltedplace, as is known. The whole world is acquainted with that which JohnBull does not himself confess, namely, the private history of her whomIndians term 'the old lady of London, ' given over to vice anddrunkenness from her youth--Her Majesty Wisky the 1st. " I have made thisquotation, because it gives the opportunity to dispense with thecivility of discussion which is exercised by one gentleman towardsanother, but would be out of place on the part of a gentleman who isgiving a deserved castigation to a disgusting and foul-mouthed rascal. This is the nameless refuse which flings itself to bespatter Masonry. Down, unclean dog, and back, scavenger, to your offal! The scullion inthe Queen's kitchen would, I think, disdain to whip you. 

Setting aside these scandalous slanders, and returning to the subject inhand, it is clear that when a writer who comes forward with a budget ofsurprising revelations is shown to have invented his materials incertain signal instances, it becomes superfluous to subject his entiretestimony to a laborious sifting, and there is really no excuse to delaymuch longer over the memoirs of Dr Bataille. It will be needless tostate that my researches have failed to discover any such dismantledtemple as that described at Pondicherry, and affirmed to be on theEnglish soil adjacent to the French town. It is equally unnecessary tosay that the story of the caves of Gibraltar is a gross and absurdimposture, for, in fact, it betrays itself. Parisian literature of theby-ways has its own methods, and its purveyors are shrewd enough to knowwhat will be tolerated and what enjoyed by their peculiar class ofpatrons; transcendental toxicology and an industry in idols worked bycriminals intercommunicating by means of Volapuk may be left to them. 

Nor is it needful to do more than touch lightly upon a pleasant processin piracy by which Dr Bataille lightens the toils of authorship. He hasdone better than any other among the witnesses of Lucifer in hisgleanings from Éliphas Lévi. On p. 32 of his first volume there is abrazen theft concerning the chemistry of black magic, and there isanother, little less daring, on p. 67, being a description of aBaphometic idol. It goes without saying that the Conjuration of the Fouris imported, as others have imported it, from the _Rituel de la HauteMagie_. The vesture of the master of ceremonies who officiated in theSanctuary of the Phoenix, one of the mythical temples of Dhappa, is aproperty derived from the same quarter. So in like manner is part of amagical adjuration in the account of a Sabbath in Sheol. Finally, amethod of divination described in a later place (vol. I. , pp. 343, 344)will be found in Christian's _Histoire de la Magie_. 

The artist who has illustrated the memoirs has acted after the samemanner. The two Baphometic figures (vol. I. , pp. 9 and 89), arereproductions from Lévi's plates. The Sabbatic figure (_Ib. _, p. 153) isa modification from Christian. The original idea of the shadow-demon onp. 201 will be found in Lévi's sacerdotal hand making the sign ofesotericism. The four figures of the Palladian urn on p. 313 areplagiarised in a similar way. The illustration on p. 337, which purportsto be a gnostic symbol of the dual divinity, is actually thefrontispiece to Lévi's _Dogme de la Haute Magie_. The magical urn on p. 409 is the facsimile of a similar object in another of Lévi's drawings;and if it were worth while to continue, the material for a furtherenumeration is not wanting. But these matters, after all, are ofinferior moment, and to complete the exposure of this witness, I pass tothe final points of my criticism. 

Dr Bataille publishes an alleged Table of High-grade Masonry as itexisted on March 1, 1891, and this document, which is similar in manyrespects to another of a slightly anterior date, produced by SignorMargiotta, is said to have been prepared by Albert Pike himself; itincludes a long list of the persons then in correspondence with theSupreme Dogmatic Directory as Inspectors General "in permanent mission. "It is a bizarre medley which includes the Orders of the Druids, Mopses, Oddfellows, and Mormon Moabites in the same connection as the Ancientand Accepted Scotch Rite, the Rites of Memphis and Misraïm, and theSan-Ho-Hei. As such, it would be, in any case, a large tax upon thegullibility of readers outside the back streets of Paris. But Idetermined to make some inquiries among the English names mentioned. Forexample, Mr R. W. Shekleton, to whom I have already referred, is said, at the period in question, to have been in official correspondence withthe Dogmatic Directory, representing the special relations of Ireland, and, having drawn his attention to the point, he has furnished me withthe following contradiction:--"The statement in your letter, taken fromthe book you refer to, that I was in the year '91 in directcorrespondence with the Supreme Dogmatic Directory of Charleston isutterly false. I never even heard of any such Body as the SupremeDirectory, or of what is called the New and Reformed Palladium. The onlycommunication I ever had with General Albert Pike (whom I had neverseen) was in reference to a question of Masonic procedure in America. Sofar as I am aware the existence of either of the Bodies you refer to isunknown to any of the Masonic Body in Ireland, and I can, with almostcertainty, make the same statement in reference to the English andScotch Masons. Having been for nearly twenty-seven years the Acting Headof the Order in Ireland, I can speak with authority, and you are atliberty in my name to give the most emphatic contradiction to thestatements quoted from the book. So far as I am aware, General Pike wasnever anything more than Sovereign Grand Commander of the SupremeCouncil of the 33rd Southern Jurisdiction of America. "

The case of Mr John Yarker, Grand Master of the Memphis Rite in England, I have already had occasion to mention, and have cited his explicitdenial of any acquaintance with the New and Reformed Palladium, but heis included by Dr Bataille in his wonderful enumeration. Upon thegeneral question, Mr Yarker observes: (a) that the Scottish or Ancientand Accepted Rite has nothing occult about it, but the Memphis andMisraïm Rites are wholly occultism. (b) That Pike has, however, in hislectures added occult matters from these occult Rites. (c) That Pike, asa very able man, ruled the whole of the Supreme Grand Councils of the33° (Ancient and Accepted), which almost all originated from Charleston. (d) That this is the only form in which there can be said to have been aDogmatic Directorate. 

In like manner, Mr William Officer of Edinburgh, an initiate of theScotch Rite, Inspector-General of the Supreme Council of the FrenchGrand Orient, and Hon. Member of its Grand College of Rites, denies hisalleged connection with any Central Directory, and has heard nothing ofsuch an institution. 

I do not conceive that there is any call to fill space by themultiplication of these denials, and I need therefore only add that Ihave others equally explicit in my possession. The obvious conclusion isthat the alleged Table of High-Grade Masonry is a bogus document foundedon some official lists of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite. 

Lastly, there are certain statements made by Dr Bataille which warrantthe presumption that he could have had little, if any, activeacquaintance with the Memphis Rite. That he may have purchased a diplomafrom Pessina is probable enough; what I learn of the Grand Master of theNeapolitan Sovereign Sanctuary, through sources not tainted like thoseof the witnesses of Lucifer, does not place him wholly above financialconsiderations, but Pessina was, and is, totally unrecognised by anyMasonic power in the world of Craft Masonry. So far, therefore, fromsuch a diploma acting as an _Open Sesame_, it would have sealed alldoors against its owner, and this statement is true not only forordinary Craft Masonry, but for the great majority of lodges under theMisraïm obedience. Dr Bataille would not, therefore, have muchopportunity for participating in that Rite to which he had purchasedentrance, and, as a fact, he is wholly ignorant concerning it. Forexample, he seems to represent the Memphis and Misraïm Rites as enjoyingrecognition from the Scotch Rite, and the latter as consciouslysubordinate and inferior, whereas the position is this. Memphisrecognises the 33° of the Ancient and Accepted as its first steps, andplaces 62 degrees upon them, which are not recognised in return. Misraïmalso includes the 33° of the Scotch Rite, but in a more irregulararrangement, other degrees being interspersed among them. Pessina'sMisraïm Rite has been reduced by him from 90° to 33°, which arevirtually those of the Ancient and Accepted Rite approximated to Misraïmteaching. So also he states that General Garibaldi was in 1860, and hadbeen so for many previous years, the Grand Master and Grand Hierophantof the Rite of Memphis for all countries of the globe. This iscompletely untrue, for, as a matter of fact, Garibaldi succeededJacques Etienne Marconis of Paris, becoming president of a confederationof the Rites which was brought about by Mr John Yarker in the year 1881. Before this period he was simply an Hon. Grand Master of Pessina's body. The articles of this treaty, with a true copy of all the signaturesattached to it, and with the seals of the Sovereign Sanctuaries againstthem, is before me as I write. I may state, in conclusion, that DrBataille also falsely represents himself to have met with Mr Yarker, whotold him that he had personally aspired to the succession at the deathof Garibaldi, which Mr Yarker characterises as "an infamous concoction. "

I am in possession of ample materials for illustrating more fully themarvellous inventions produced by this witness of Lucifer, but theinstalment here given is sufficient for the present purpose. 

CHAPTER XIII

DIANA UNVEILED

The discovery of Leo Taxil and of M. Ricoux has one remaining witness inthe person of Miss Diana Vaughan. She also, as we have seen, is a writerof memoirs, and in giving some account of her narrative I have alreadyindicated in substance certain lines of criticism which might be appliedwith success thereto. We must obviously know more about this lady, andhave some opportunity of verifying the particulars of her past lifebefore we can accept her statement that she has written while fresh from"conversion, " and is speaking for the first time the language of aChristian and a Catholic. The supernatural element of her memoirs it isnot worth while to discuss. Were she otherwise worthy of credit, wemight exonerate her personal veracity by assuming that she was trickedover the apparition and hallucinated in the vision that followed it, butI propose submitting to my readers sufficient evidence to justify aconclusion that she does not deserve our credit, and though out ofdeference to her sex it is desirable, so far as may be possible, tospeak with moderation, I must establish most firmly that the motive shebetrays in her memoirs is not in many respects preferable to that of theprevious witness. 

It will be advisable, however, to distinguish that part of the narrativefor which Miss Vaughan is admittedly and personally responsible fromthat which she claims to be derived from her family history. I mustdistinguish between them, not that I am prepared to admit as alegitimate consequence of her statement that there is any realdifference or that I unquestionably regard Miss Vaughan as havingcreated a strong presumption that she is in possession of the documentswhich she claims to have. I am simply recognising the classificationwhich she may herself be held to make. If in this respect it can beshown that I have mistaken the actual position, I will make suchreparation as may be due from a man of letters, whose reasonableindignation in the midst of much imposture will, in such case, havemisled him. But there is only one course which is open to Miss Vaughanin the matter, and that is to produce the original documents on whichshe has based her narrative for the opinion of competent Englishinvestigators, in which case Miss Vaughan may be held to haveestablished not the truth of her family history, which is essentiallybeyond establishment, but her _bona fides_ in connection with itsrelation. After this the portion for which she is personallyresponsible, and from which there is no escape, will still fasten thecharge of falsehood ineffaceably upon her narrative. 

In addition, then, to her personal history, Miss Vaughan's memoirscontain:--I. A mendacious biography of the English mystic, ThomasVaughan. II. A secret history of the English Rosicrucian Fraternity, andof its connection with Masonry, which is also an impudent fraud. The twoconstitute one of the most curious literary forgeries which are to bemet with in the whole range of Hermetic literature; and Hermeticliterature, it is known, has been enriched by many triumphs ofinvention. I shall deal with the narratives plainly on the provisionalassumption that Miss Vaughan has been herself deceived in regard tothem. They are based upon family papers said to be now in possession ofthe Charleston Dogmatic Directory. The central facts which are sought tobe established by means of these papers have been mentioned already inmy eighth chapter, namely, that Miss Vaughan is one of the two lastdescendants of the alchemist Thomas Vaughan; that this personage made acompact with Satan in the year 1645, that under the name of EirenæusPhilalethes, he wrote the well-known alchemical work entitled "An OpenEntrance to the Closed Palace of the King, " and that he consummated amystical marriage with Venus-Astarte, of which the PalladianTemplar-Mistress is the last development. For the purposes of thesenarratives the birth of Thomas Vaughan is placed in the year 1612, andhis death, or rather translation, in the year 1678. At the age oftwenty-four years, that is to say, in 1636, he proceeded to London, andthere connected himself with the mystic Robert Fludd, by whom he wasinitiated into a lower grade of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, and receiveda letter of introduction to the Grand Master, Johann Valentin Andreæ, which he took over to Stuttgart and presented. In 1637, having returnedto London, he was present at the death of Robert Fludd, which occurredin that year. In 1638 he made his first voyage to America, where he washospitably entertained by a Protestant minister, named John Cotton, buthis visit was not characterised by any remarkable occurrence. At thisperiod the alchemist is represented by his descendant as a Puritanimpregnated with the secret doctrine of Robert Fludd. In 1639 Vaughanreturned to England, but was immediately attracted to Denmark by thediscovery of a golden horn adorned with mysterious figures, which he andhis colleagues in alchemy supposed to typify the search for thephilosophical stone. At the age of twenty-eight, Vaughan made furtherprogress in the Rosicrucian Fraternity, being advanced to the grade of_Adeptus Minor_ by Amos Komenski, in which year also Elias Ashmoleentered the order. Accompanied by Komenski, Vaughan proceeded toHamburg, thence by himself to Sweden, and subsequently to the Hague, where he initiated Martin de Vriès. A year later he visited Italy, andmade acquaintance with Berigard de Pisa. This was a pious pilgrimagewhich testified his devotion to Faustus Socinus, for Miss Vaughan, onthe authority of her documents, regards the Italian heretic, not only asa conscious Satanist, but as the founder of the Rosicrucian Society, andthe initiator of Johann Valentin Andreæ, whom he also won over toLucifer. On his return Thomas Vaughan tarried a short time in France, where he conceived the project of organising Freemasonry as it exists atthe present day, and there also it occurred to him that the guilds ofthe Compagnage might serve him for raw material. When, however, hereturned to England, he concluded that the honorary or Accepted Masons, received by the Masonic guilds of England, were better suited to hispurpose. Some of these were already Rosicrucians, and among them he setto work. In the year 1644 he presided over a Rosicrucian assembly atwhich Ashmole was present. At this time also Oliver Cromwell is said tohave been an accepted Mason, and it was by his intervention that, a yearlater, Thomas Vaughan was substituted for the headsman at the executionof Archbishop Laud, for the object already described. It was after hiscompact with Lucifer that the alchemist wrote the "Open Entrance. " Hisactivity in the Rosicrucian cause then became prodigious, and thefollowers of Socinus, apparently all implicated in the Satanism of theirmaster, began to swell the ranks of the Accepted Masons. At this timealso he began his collaborations with Ashmole for the composition of theApprentice, Companion, and Master grades, that is to say, for theinstitution of symbolical Masonry. In 1646 he again visited America, andconsummated his mystic marriage, as narrated in the eighth chapter. In1648 he returned to England, and one year later completed the Mastergrade, that of Companion having been produced during his absence, butfollowing the indications he had given, by Elias Ashmole. In 1650 hebegan to issue his Rosicrucian and alchemical writings, namely, _Anthroposophia Theomagica_ and _Anima Magica Abscondita_, followed by_Lumen de Lumine_ and _Aula Lucis_ in 1651. The Rosicrucian Grand MasterAndreæ died in 1654, and was succeeded by Thomas Vaughan, whose nextstep was the publication of his work, entitled "Euphrates, or the Watersof the East. " In 1656 he is said to have published the complete works ofSocinus, two folio volumes in the collection, entitled _BibliothecaFratrum Polonorum_. Three years later appeared his "Fraternity of R. C. , "and in 1664 the _Medulla Alchymiæ_. In 1667 he decided to publish the"Open Entrance, " the MS. Of which was returned to him by the editorLangius after printing, and was subsequently annotated in the way I havepreviously mentioned. During the early days of the same year Vaughanconverted Helvetius, the celebrated physician of the Hague, who in histurn became Grand Master of the Rosicrucian Fraternity. In 1668 hepublished his "Experiments with Sophic Mercury" and _Tractatus Tres_, while ten years later, or in 1678, the year of his infernal translation, he produced his edition of "Ripley Revived" and the _Enarratio TriumGebri_. 

From beginning to end, generally and particularly, the narrative I havesummarised above is a gross and planned imposture, nor would anyepithets be so severe as to be undeserved by the person who hasconcocted it, because it does outrage to the sacred dead, in particularto the greatest of the English spiritual mystics, Thomas Vaughan, and tothe greatest of the English physical mystics, Eirenæus Philalethes. Forthe mendacious history confuses two entirely distinct persons--Eugeniusand Eirenæus Philalethes. It is true that this confusion has been madefrequently, and it is true also that at the beginning of my researchesinto the archæology of Hermetic literature I was one of its victims, forwhich I was sharply brought to book by those who knew better. But ayoung and unassisted investigator, imperfectly equipped, has an excusewhich will exonerate him at least from a malicious intention. It isotherwise with a pretended family history. When documents of this kindreproduce blunders which are pardonable to ignorance alone, and upon asubject about which two opinions are no longer possible, it is certainthat such documents are not what they claim; in other words, they havebeen fabricated, and the fabrication of historical papers is essentiallya work of malice. Furthermore, when such forgeries impeach persons longsince passed to their account, on the score of unheard of crimes, theyare the work of diabolical malice, and this is a moderately wordedjudgment on the case now in hand. Thomas Vaughan, otherwise EugeniusPhilalethes, was born in the year 1621 at Newton, in Brecknockshire. Theaccepted and perfectly correct authority for this statement is the_Athenæ Oxonienses_ of Anthony Wood, but he is not the only authority, and if he be not good enough for Miss Vaughan, she can take in his placethe exhaustive researches of the Rev. A. B. Grosart, whose edition ofthe works of the Silurist Henry Vaughan have probably been neither seennor heard of by this unwise woman, in the same way that she is ignorantof most essential elements in the matters which she presumes to treat. The authority of a laborious scholar like Dr Grosart will probably be ofgreater weight than the foul narrative of a Palladian memoir-maker, whohas not produced her documents. From this date it follows that in theyear 1636 Thomas Vaughan was still in the schoolboy period, not even ofsufficient age to begin a college career. He could not, as alleged, havevisited Fludd, the illustrious Kentish mystic, in London, nor would hehave been ripe for initiation, supposing that Fludd could have dispensedit. In like manner, Andreæ, assuming that he was Grand Master of theRosicrucians, would not have welcomed a youngster of fifteen years, supposing that in those days he was likely to travel from London toStuttgart, but would have recommended him to return to hislesson-books. The first voyage to America and all the earlier incidentsof the narrative are untrue for the same reason. In place of wanderingthrough Denmark, the Hague, and Sweden, initiating and being initiated, he was drumming through a course at Oxford; in place of piouspilgrimages to the shrine of Socinus, he was preparing to take orders inthe English Church, and the narrative which is untrue to his early isuntrue also to his later life. After receiving Holy Orders he returnedto his native village and took over the care of its souls. He was nevera Puritan; he was never a friend of Cromwell; he was a high-churchmanand a Royalist, and he was ejected from his living because he wasaccused by political enemies of carrying arms for the king. He nevertravelled; on the contrary, he married, at what period is unknown, buthis tender devotion to his wife is commemorated on the reverse pages ofan autograph alchemical MS. Now in the British Museum, which beliesfurthermore, in every line and word, the Luciferian imposture of theParis-cum-Yankee documents, by its passionate religious aspiration andits adoring love of Christ. 

When Vaughan came up to London, it was as a man who was somewhat out ofjoint with English, in spite of his Oxford career, because he was aWelsh speaking man, and when he took to writing books, he apologises forhis awkward diction. He accentuates also his youth, which would bewarrantable at the age of twenty-eight, but would be absurd in a writerapproaching forty years. This point may be verified by any one who willrefer to my edition of Vaughan's _Anthroposophia Theomagica_. The worksof Thomas Vaughan, besides _Anthroposophia Theomagica_, are _AnimaMagica Abscondita_, published in 1650; _Magia Adamica_ 1650, apparentlyforgotten by the "authentic documents" of Miss Vaughan, as are also "TheMan-Mouse" and "The Second Wash, or the Moore scoured onceMore"--satires on Henry More, written in reply to that Platonist, whohad attacked the previous books. These belong to the year 1651, as alsodoes _Lumen de Lumine_; "The Fame and Confession of the FraternityR. C. " appeared in 1652, not 1659, as the "family history" affirms; _AulaLucis_, 1652 (not 1651); and "Euphrates, " 1655. What is obviouseverywhere in these priceless little books is the devotion of a truemystic to Jesus Christ, and to gift them with the sordid interpretationof a French-born cultus of Lucifer is about as possible as to attributea Christian intention to the calumnies of Miss Vaughan's documents. 

In the year 1665, at the house of the rector of Albury, a chemicalexperiment with mercury cost the Welsh alchemist his life, and he wasburied in the churchyard of that village in Oxfordshire. 

It is clear, therefore, that the wonderful archives in the possession ofMiss Vaughan give a bogus history of Eugenius Philalethes, but they arealso untrue of Eirenæus. It is untrue that this mysterious adept, whoseidentity has never been disclosed, was born in 1612; he was born someten years later. 

The source of both dates is "The Open Entrance to the Closed Palace ofthe King"; but that which Miss Vaughan champions is based upon acorrupt reading in a bad version, and she has evidently never seen theoriginal and best of the Latin impressions, that of Langius, though shehas the presumption to cite it. That edition establishes that he wrotethe treatise in the year 1645, he being then in the twenty-third year ofhis age--whence it follows that the date of his birth was most probably1622, and the history with which he is invested by Miss Vaughan is againa misfit; it is putting man's garments on a boy. Furthermore, there isnot one item in her statements concerning the "Open Entrance" which isnot directly and provably false. It was not printed, as she indicates, under the supervision of the author; it was not printed from theoriginal MS. , nor was that MS. Returned to Philalethes after it hadpassed through the press. It is shameful for any person, male or female, however little they may consider their own fair fame, to so far violatethe canons of literary honour as to make dogmatic statements concerninga work which they cannot have seen. The preface prefixed to thisedition by Langius completely refutes Miss Vaughan. Here is a passage inpoint:--"Truly who or what kind of person was author of this sweet, must-like work, I know no more than he who is most ignorant, nor, sincehe himself would conceal his name, do I think fit to enquire so far, lest I get his displeasure. " Again--"To pick out the roses from the mostthorny bushes of writings, and to make the elixir of philosophers by hisown industry, without any tutor, and at twenty-three years of age, thisperchance hath been granted to none, or to most few hitherto. " Langius, moreover, laments explicitly the fact that he did not print from anoriginal MS. He printed from a Latin translation, the work of an unknownhand, which had come into his possession, as he tells us, from a man whowas learned in such matters. Miss Vaughan's pretended autograph, withits despicable marginal readings, is obviously a Latin copy, whatever beits history otherwise. The original was in English, and when Langius wasregretting its loss, "a transcript, probably written from the author'scopy, or very little corrupted, " was in possession of the booksellerWilliam Cooper, of Little Saint Bartholomews, near Little Britain, inthe city of London, who published it in the year 1669, to correct theimperfections in the edition of Amsterdam. This transcript alsoestablishes that the "Open Entrance" was penned when the author was inhis twenty-third year. 

As a matter of fact, Philalethes does not appear to have superintendedthe publication of any of his writings, and here Miss Vaughan againexhibits her unpardonable ignorance concerning the works with which sheis dealing. To prove that her reputed ancestor was alive after theaccepted date of Thomas Vaughan's death, she triumphantly observes thatin the year 1668 he published his experiments on the preparation ofSophic Mercury and _Tractatus Tres_. But the latter volume was a piracy, for in his preface to "Ripley Revived" the author expressly laments thattwo of its three treatises had passed out of his hands, and he fearedlest they should get into print, because they were imperfect workspreceding the period of solid knowledge which produced the "OpenEntrance. " Again, so little was he consulted over the appearance of the"Sophic Mercury" that the printer represents it as the work of anAmerican philosopher, whence it has been fathered upon George Starkey. 

Eirenæus Philalethes was undoubtedly a great traveller and he visitedAmerica, but there is no ground for supposing that he was ever in Italy, and that either he or Thomas Vaughan edited the works of Socinus is anignorant fiction, for which even Miss Vaughan can find no better warrantthan the evasive place of publication which figures on the title-page ofthe _Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum_, namely, Eirenæopolis. In likemanner she erroneously credits him with the authorship of the _MedullaAlchemiæ_, which is the work of Eirenæus Philoponos Philalethes, otherwise George Starkey. 

These facts fully establish the fraudulent nature of Miss Vaughan'sfamily history, by whomsoever it has been devised, and seeing that whereit is possible to check it, it breaks down at every point, we need haveno hesitation in rejecting the information which it provides in thosecases where it cannot be brought to book. The connection of FaustusSocinus with the Rosicrucian Fraternity, as founder, is one instance;this is merely an extension of the imposture of Abbé Lefranc in his"Veil Raised for the Curious, " and it rests, like its original, on noevidence which can be traced. Another is the Rosicrucian Imperatorshipof Andreæ, and yet another the initiation of Robert Fludd. Again, theconnection of Philalethes with John Frederick Helvetius is based onspeculation only, and that of Ashmole with the institution of symbolicalMasonry has never been more than hypothesis, and not very deserving atthat. I regret to add that, on the authority of her bogus documents, Miss Vaughan has given currency to a rumour that the founder of theAshmolean Museum poisoned his first wife. She deserves the most severereprobation for having failed to test her materials before she madepublic this foul slander. Furthermore, in that portion of her materialswhich is concerned with her family history, she is not above tamperingwith the sense of printed books. The worshippers of Lucifer arerepresented as invariably terming their divinity the "good God"--_Dieubon_, --or our God--_notre Dieu_--to distinguish him from the God of theAdonaïtes, and the references made to the Deity by Philalethes in the"Open Entrance" she falsely translates by these Luciferian equivalents, thus creating an impression in the minds of the ignorant that he is notspeaking of the true Divinity. After this it will hardly surprise myreaders that a pretended translation from a MS. Of Gillermet deBeauregard, which she states to be preserved in the archives of theSovereign Patriarchal Council of Hamburg, is simply stolen from an_Instruction à la France sur la vérité de l'Histoire des Frères de laRoze-Croix_, by Gabriel Naudé, who ridiculed and reviled the Order. Isubmit in conclusion that, in view of the facts already elicited, it isnot worth while to inquire into the value of the episode concerned withthe judicial murder of Archbishop Laud, and to elaborately argue thatOliver Cromwell was the last person in England to be implicated in sucha transaction, he, at the period in question, being briskly employed incheckmating his King, who was at Oxford in winter quarters, and havingneither the power nor opportunity to meddle with the details of anexecution. The incident, in a word, is worth as much and as little asthe abominable story of the subsequent pact with Lucifer or the fooleryof the mystic marriage. 

The critical investigation of Miss Vaughan's alleged documents havingled to these results, it remains to be seen how far the other portionsof her narrative will bear analysis. So long as she confined the moreresponsible part of her memoirs to personal experiences in the scienceof conversion and to the relation of her Eucharistic raptures, thelovers of ardent reading in this order of sensation were the onlypersons who could lay a complaint against her if she failed to fulfiltheir requirements. So long also as she fixed the scene of her historyin a comparatively remote place, and among men now dead, she waspartially protected from exposure, but when she transfers herrevelations to England she is treading on dangerous ground, and she hasin fact fallen into the pit. She has had the temerity to meddle with themodern history of Rosicrucian societies, and has undertaken to informher readers after what manner she has come into possession of therituals of the revived Rosicrucian Order, and her account isspecifically untrue. She is undoubtedly acquainted with the grades ofthe order, but she could have obtained these from more than onepublished source--as, for example, the late Kenneth McKenzie's"Cyclopædia of Freemasonry, " or from my own "Real History of theRosicrucians. " But even if she possess the rituals, she has not come bythem in the manner she describes. Her account is as follows:--"TheFraternity of the Rose-Cross comprises nine degrees of initiation--1. Zelator; 2. Theoricus; 3. Practicus (Miss Vaughan writes _Praticus_, which would be the error of a French person who does not read Latin andnot the error of an English or American person as she claims to be); 4. Philosophus; 5. Adeptus Minor, according to the variants of ValentinAndreæ, or Adeptus Junior, according to the variants of Nick Stone(those were the variants of Nick Stone which were ostensibly burned in1720 by the Grand Master Theophilus Desaguliers, but were not in realitydestroyed; transmitted to trusty English brethren, after the death ofDesaguliers, they passed from reliable hands to others also reliable, until the reconstitution of the Rose-Cross; for the reconstitutedassociation exists actually in England, Scotland, the United States, andCanada, and those variants of the grades which were made by Nick Stone, are at the present day deposited with Doctor W. W. W. , living at Cambden(_sic_) Road, London, Supreme Magus of the Rose-Cross for England, ATWHOSE HOUSE I HAVE TRANSCRIBED THEM); 6. Adeptus Major; 7. AdeptusExemptus; 8. Magister Templi; 9. Magus. "

Miss Vaughan's literary methods are not exactly captivating, and theenormous parenthesis is hers, but the capitals which close it are mine. The English doctor mentioned is well known to transcendentalists, and heis actually a high-grade Mason; he is also personally well-known tomyself. To the best of his recollection he has never at any time met anyperson terming herself Diana Vaughan. More especially, no suchindividual has ever called at his house, much less copied any rituals ofwhich he may be in possession. There is therefore only one term by whichit is possible to qualify Miss Vaughan in her account of this matter, and if I refrain from applying it, it is more out of literary grace thanfrom considerations of gallantry, for when persons of the opposite sexelect to make themselves odious by gross imposition, they cannot expectto escape the legitimate consequences at the hands of criticism any morethan another class of female malefactors will escape on the plea oftheir sex at the hand of justice. 

The subject of Luciferian Freemasonry has been under discussion in thecolumns of _Light_ long before the appearance of this volume, and anumber of transcendentalists, including one of great eminence--MrCharles Carleton Massey--a few high-grade Masons, and myself, haveexposed the pretensions of the French conspiracy. In most cases, and bymore than one person, copies of the various issues were sent to MissVaughan through her publisher, and if she be not, as I hinted in thatjournal, the Mrs Harris of Freemasonry, there is little doubt that theyreached her like other friendly offerings which she acknowledges in oddcorners of her memoirs. It is probably in consequence of the exposuresmade in _Light_ in connection with others said to have been maderecently in Canada that in the eighth number of her memoirs shethreatens to turn somewhat desperately on her critics. I understand thatthe Australian boomerang is a weapon that comes back to its caster, andthe vindictive feeling which has prompted Miss Vaughan to a fresh burstof revelation has returned upon herself in a very overwhelming manner. "I am driven, and I will do it, " is her position. "I will reveal theEnglish Palladists such as they actually and personally are. " And shedoes so to her own destruction as follows:--

"The actual chief of the English Luciferians is Doctor William WynnWestcott, living at 396 Cambden Road, London, whom on a previousoccasion I mentioned only by his initials. It is he who is the actualcustodian of the diabolical rituals of Nick Stone; it is he who is theSupreme Magus of the Socinian Rose-Cross for England. " She proceeds togive the names of the Senior and Junior Sub-Magi, the members of theGrand Council, the chiefs of what she terms the Third Luciferian Order, and the Masters of the Temple, otherwise the Metropolitan College. Similar particulars follow concerning the York College, the College ofNewcastle-on-Tyne, and that of Edinburgh. 

Now, Dr Wynn Westcott is a high-grade Mason, as I have said, and heoccupies a professional position of influence and importance; it isclear that a gratuitous attempt to fasten upon him charges of an odiouscharacter is an exceedingly evil proceeding and places the person whodoes so outside all limits of tender consideration. When Miss Vaughanstates that Dr Westcott is a Palladist, a diabolist, a worshipper ofLucifer, or however she may elect to distinguish it, I reply that she isguilty of a gross libel, which is at the same time an abominable andcruel falsehood. When she says that she has been received at his house, I reply that she has not been received there, and that Dr Westcott islikely to require better credentials from female visitors than aresupplied by the infamous inventions in the "Memoirs of an Ex-Palladist. "When Miss Vaughan affirms that she has transcribed Dr Westcott's ritualsat the house of Dr Westcott, I reply that this would be an untruestatement if the lady who made it were an intimate friend, and it isdoubly untrue when affirmed by a perfect stranger. When Miss Vaughanstates that Dr Westcott is the head of a Society which worships Lucifer, I reply that she is speaking falsely of a body concerning which she isin complete ignorance, and when an ignorant person thus attributes evilshe or he does not only act foolishly but with exceeding malice. MissVaughan is henceforth upon all accounts outside that category ofliterary honour which makes it possible for criticism to be concernedwith her and still preserve its dignity. Lastly, Miss Vaughan allegesthat the official appointments made by Dr Westcott as Supreme Magus ofthe Society in question for the year 1896 were submitted to AdrianoLemmi and approved by him. This allegation is false _in toto_. Neitherin a general nor a special sense is Dr Westcott responsible to Lemmi orto any Italian Freemason; what is more, no personal or writtencommunication has at any time passed between them, and save as a pastGrand Master Dr Westcott has never heard of the person to whose commandshe is thus supposed to be subject. It will be seen that the baselessnature of this absurd statement involves all others of its kind, andthere is no reason to attach the slightest credibility to anything whichhas been advanced concerning the supreme position of Adriano Lemmi, who, further, himself denies it, and, whatever his past history, is as muchentitled to belief as accusers who betray their true character in thisunenviable manner. 

The Society which has thus been attacked in the person of its SupremeMagus is of singularly unpretending nature, simple as regards itshistory, and making no claim either to Masonic or Mystical importance. It does not claim or possess a connection with the original RosicrucianFraternity. It does not attribute antiquity to the rituals which ituses. It was founded by Robert Wentworth Little, who died in 1878, andhas been in existence somewhat less than forty years. Its soleconnection with Masonry is that it only initiates Masons. It neitherenjoys nor expects recognition from the Grand Lodge of England. It isliterary and antiquarian in its object, and came into existence chieflyfor the study of the history of Freemasonry and of other secretsocieties. Its members are required to believe in the fundamentalprinciples of Christian doctrine. The Metropolitan College has only fourconvocations and one banquet annually; the number of Fratres upon theRoll of Subscribers is fifty-four. It has attracted Masons interested inthe antiquities of their craft and has no other sphere of influence. Itpublishes occasional transactions, the dimensions of which are regulatedby an exceedingly modest income. I mention many of these particularsmerely to place a check upon exaggerated notions. Some of the provincialColleges have a larger membership, but they are of precisely the samecharacter. It is not a society of occultists, though, like innumerableother bodies, it counts occultists among its brethren. Finally, noreligious cultus of any kind is performed at its meetings, and no womanhas ever passed its threshold. 

The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is Rosicrucian only in its name, asit is Masonic only in its name, and its members are not Miss Vaughan's_ex-Frères d'Angleterre_. 

It is certainly and in all respects necessary that something effectualshould be done to curb a slanderous and evil tongue which has theaudacity to impress the most sacred feelings of religion into theservice of wilful lying. Dr Westcott is not the only English Mason whohas suffered the undeserved indignity of gross aspersion from thisunclean pen. Another victim is Mr Robert S. Brown, Grand Secretary ofthe Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland, who is also a memberof the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and of nearly all Masonic Orders, theSocietas Rosicruciana in Anglia included. This honourable gentleman isespecially recommended by Miss Vaughan to the attention of Catholics inEdinburgh, being the city in which he resides. She describes him as adangerous sectarian, a veritable sorcerer, and the evil genius of one ofher own relatives. She states further that he is an Elect Magus of thePalladium, that he protects Sophia Walder when she visits Scotland, andthat he was a great admirer of Phileas Walder, at whose instance heconsecrated himself to the demon anti-Christ. In each and all thesestatements this malicious woman has lied foully. I communicated with MrBrown on the subject, and hold his written denials, which are at theservice of any person who desires to see them. Mr Brown says:--"I am notan Elect Magus of the Palladium. I never to my knowledge saw MissWalder, and never knew Miss Vaughan, or anyone of the name, man, woman, or child. I never heard Miss Walder named till I received your letter, and never knew of the existence of the Palladian Order, if it doesexist, till I saw it mentioned in articles in 'Light' and the'Freemason's Chronicle' (London).... With reference to the particularstatements in this copy of the _Mémoires_, no doubt the writer hassucceeded in getting hold of the facts in most cases as to the officialpositions of the parties named, which of course are easily obtained; thelittle details regarding some of us would indicate the presence of anagent in our midst or near at hand. The 'inventions' and most slanderousstatements regarding most of us are, however, outrageously false andwicked. My house has never had the honour(!!!) of entertaining MissWalder or any other lady of like character; it is not a chemicallaboratory, and I have never exercised myself in these _mysteriousexperiences_ either there or elsewhere. I am a humble member of theEpiscopal Church of Scotland, and, I trust, a sincere follower of theMaster.... I count nearly all the gentlemen named in this vileproclamation among my friends, they are all good men and true, and Ihope to associate with them for many years to come. I most emphaticallydeny the vile aspersions cast on their characters and my own, and youhave my full authority to do so as far as the same may serve yourpurpose. " My readers will agree that the clear and temperate statementof Mr R. S. Brown brands Diana Vaughan with indelible disgrace in theeyes of the civilised world. 

There is a limit to the necessity of exposure, but should Miss Vaughanmanifest any desire to have further instances of her mis-statements Iwill undertake to supply them. I will only add here in conclusion mypersonal opinion that Miss Vaughan has not been for any length of time aresident in an English-speaking country, much less can she havereceived, as it is alleged by some of her friends, an Americaneducation. The proof is that she makes characteristic French blundersover English names. Thus, we have _Cambden_ on each occasion for Camden, _Wescott_ for Westcott; we have _baronnet_ for baronet, _Cantorbéry_ forCanterbury, _Kirkud-Bright_ for Kirkcudbright; we have hybridcombinations like _Georges_ Dickson, impossibilities like _Tiers-OrdreLuciferien d'Honoris Causa_, and numerous similar instances. 

To behold "Diana unveiled" was equivalent in alchemical terminology toattaining the _magnum opus_. The reputed author of the "New Light ofAlchemy" testifies that some persons had in his own day and to hiscertain knowledge attained this supreme privilege. It is not of my ownseeking if in another sense I have made public the same spectacle, andthus broken with the traditions of secret science. It would have beenpreferable from one point of view to have discovered Lucifer behind themask of Masonry than to have found the conspiracy against it another_Tableau des Inconstances des Démons_ in which the _infidelité etmécreance_ connected with the old false witness, abound after a mannerundreamed of by Bodin and Wierus, for it is distinctly disconcerting tothink that a great church is so little honoured by her combatants andconverts. 

It only remains to state, and I do so with extreme reluctance, that theevidence of Signor Domenico Margiotta, which seems so strong in itself, can only be accepted, as we have seen, in connection with thecredibility of Miss Vaughan, and as this has completely broken down, wecannot do otherwise than regard that part of his evidence which isconcerned with Palladism as the narrative of a person who has been veryseriously misled. And I think he has otherwise shown us that he is not ajudicious critic of the materials which have come into his hands. Heshould never, for example, have printed his list of Palladian LotusLodges--so far as regards Great Britain, it is undeniably a false list. Take that of Edinburgh as a typical instance. Mr Brown, who has everyopportunity of knowing, tells me there is absolutely no truth in thestatement that there is in Edinburgh a Mother, or any, Lodge of thePalladian Order. "Neither is there a Triangular Province--whatever thatmay mean--such as is described. All is absolutely false. "

CHAPTER XIV

THE RADIX OF MODERN DIABOLISM

We have finished with the witnesses of Lucifer, and I think that thesearch-light of a drastic criticism has left them in considerabledisarray. We approach the limit of the present inquiry, but beforesumming up and presenting such a general statement or conclusion as maybe warranted by the facts, there is one point, left over hereunto, anddesigned for final consideration, because it appeals more exclusively toprofessed transcendentalists, which it will be necessary to treatbriefly. I have already indicated that sporadic revivals of black magichave occasionally been heard of by mystics here in England, and fromtime to time we have also heard vaguely of obscure assemblies ofLuciferians. Quite recently an interview with Papus, the Frenchoccultist, published in _Light_, mentions a society which was devoted tothe cultus of Lucifer, star of the morning, quite distinct from Masonry, quite unimportant, and since very naturally dead. Now, a largeproportion of mystics here in England are High-Grade Masons, and if asociety of the Palladium had extended to anything remotely approachingthe proportions alleged, they could not have failed to know of it. Iwill go further and affirm that our non-Masonic transcendentalassociations have abundant opportunities to become acquainted withinstitutions similar to their own, and it is preposterous to supposethat there could be several Palladian triangles working their degrees inthis country without our being aware of the fact. But we have not beenaware of it, and our only informations concerning Palladism have come tous from France. We do not accept these informations; we know that thepersons here in England who are alleged by French false witnesses to beconnected with the Palladium are not so connected, and are now learningof it for the first time. The statements concerning Mr John Yarker arecategorically untrue; the gross calumny published by the "converted"Diana Vaughan about Dr Wynn Westcott, who happens to be a High-GradeMason, she will never dare to come forth from her "retreat" andre-affirm within the jurisdiction of these islands, because she knowswell that a British jury would make a large demand upon her reputedAmerican dollars. Let us, however, put aside for the moment themendacities and forgeries which complicate the question of Lucifer, andlet us approach Palladism from an altogether different side. I believethat I may speak with a certain accent of authority upon any questionwhich connects with the French magus Éliphas Lévi. I am an old studentof his works, and of the aspects of occult science and magical historywhich arise out of them; in the year 1886 I published a digest of hiswritings which has been the only attempt to present them to Englishreaders until the present year when I have undertaken a translation _inextenso_ of the _Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie_, which is actuallyin the hands of the printer. Now, it has not been alleged in so manywords that the radix of Modern Diabolism and the Masonic cultus ofLucifer is to be found in Éliphas Lévi, but that is the substance of thecharge. Most, or all, of the witnesses agree in representing him as anatrocious Satanist, an invoker of Lucifer, a celebrater of black masses, and an adept in the practical blasphemies of Eucharistic sacrilege; allof them father either upon the Palladium or upon Pike a variety ofdocuments containing gross thefts from Lévi; some of them, directly andupon their own responsibility, cite passages from his works, always withconspicuous bad faith. Finally, they agree in connecting him with thefoundation of the New and Reformed Palladium through his allegeddisciple Phileas Walder; and one of them goes so far as to say thatPalladism was a further development or restoration of a Satanic societydirected by Éliphas Lévi and operating his theurgic system, which he inturn, if I rightly understand the mixed hypothesis of M. De la Rive, mayhave derived from the Palladic rite of 1730. If we accept for themoment this origin of the reformed order, it will follow that if theoccult doctrines of Éliphas Lévi have been seriously misunderstood orgrossly defamed by the witnesses, the diabolical or Luciferianconnection of Palladism does not wear the complexion which has beenascribed to it. It is represented as: (a) outwardly Masonic, and (b)actually theurgic. (c) It is Manichæan in doctrine. (d) It regardsLucifer as an eternal principle co-existent, but in a hostile sense, with Adonaï. (e) It holds that the beneficent deity is Lucifer, whileAdonaï is malevolent; (f) Certain sections of Palladists, however, recognise that Lucifer is identical with Satan, and is the evilprinciple. (g) This section adores the evil principle as such. Now, ineach and all these matters the Palladian system conflicts with that ofLévi. 

To give a colourable aspect to their hypothesis, the witnesses affirmthat Lévi was a high-grade Mason. He was nothing of the kind; he affirmsmost distinctly in his "History of Magic, " that for any knowledge whichhe possessed about the mysteries of the fraternity, he owed hisinitiation only to God and to his individual studies. Secondly, thepractice of ceremonial magic, which is what the witnesses understand bytheurgy, is a practice condemned by Lévi, except as an isolatedexperiment to fortify intellectual conviction as to the truth of magicaltheorems. He attempted it for this purpose in the spring of the year1854, and having satisfied himself as to the fact, he did not renew it. Thirdly, the philosophy of Éliphas Lévi is in direct contrast toManichæan doctrine; it cannot be explained by dualism, but must beexplained by its opposite, namely, triplicity in unity. He shows that"the unintelligent disciples of Zoroaster have divided the duad withoutreferring it to unity, thus separating the pillars of the temple, andseeking to halve God" (_Dogme_, p. 129, 2nd edition). Is that aManichæan doctrine? Again: "If you conceive the Absolute as two, youmust immediately conceive it as three to recover the unity principle"(_Ibid. _). Once more: "Divinity, one in its essence, has two fundamentalconditions of being--necessity and liberty" (_Ibid. _, p. 127). And yetagain: "If God were one only, He would never be Creator nor Father. IfHe were two, there would be antagonism or division in the infinite, andthis would be severance or death for every possible existence; He istherefore three for the creation by Himself, and in His image of theinfinite multitude of beings and numbers. Thus He is really one inHimself and triple in our conception, by which we also behold Him triplein Himself and one in our intelligence and in our love. This is amystery for the faithful and a logical necessity for the initiate of theabsolute and true sciences" (_Ibid. _, p. 138). And the witnesses ofLucifer have the effrontery to represent Lévi as a dualist! I will notdiscredit their understanding by supposing that they could misread soplain a principle, nor dissemble my full conviction that they acted withintentional bad faith. Fourthly, Éliphas Lévi regarded Lucifer as aconception of transcendental mythology, and the devil as an impossiblefiction, or an inverted and blasphemous conception of God--divinity _àrebours_. He describes the Ophite heresy which offered adoration to theserpent and the Caïnite heresy which justified the revolt of the firstangel and the first murderer as errors fit for classification with themonstrous idols of the anarchic symbolism of India (_Rituel_, pp. 13, 14). Is that diabolism? Is that the cultus of Lucifer? True, Lévi didnot believe in the personal existence of a father of lies, and if it beSatanism not to do so, let us be content to diabolise with Lévi whilethe false witnesses illustrate the methods of their father. 

It is unnecessary to multiply quotations, but here is one more: "Theauthor of this book is a Christian like you; his faith is that of aCatholic deeply and strongly convinced; therefore his mission is not todeny dogmas, but to combat impiety under one of its most dangerousforms, that of erroneous belief and superstition.... Away with the idolwhich hides our Saviour! Down with the tyrant of falsehood! Down withthe black god of the Manichæans! Down with the Ahriman of the oldidolaters! Live God alone and His incarnate Logos, Jesus the Christ, Saviour of the world, who beheld Satan precipitated from heaven!" Go to, M. Le Docteur Bataille! _À bas_, Signor Margiotta! Phi, diabolus and LeoTaxil!

Seeing then that Éliphas Lévi has been calumniously represented, andthat he was not a Satanist, he could not have founded a Satanic society, nor could a Manichæan order have been developed out of his doctrines. Hence if a Palladian Society do exist at Charleston, it either owesnothing to Lévi, or its cultus has been falsely described. In otherwords, from whatever point we approach the witnesses of Lucifer, theyare subjected to a rough unveiling. In the words of the motto on mytitle, the first in this plot was Lucifer--_videlicet_, the Father ofLies!

CHAPTER XV

CONCLUSION

It remains for us now to appreciate the exact position in which theexistence of the Palladian Order is left after all suspiciousinformation has been subtracted. We have examined in succession thetestimony of every witness to the discovery of Leo Taxil and M. AdolpheRicoux, and it has been made entirely evident that they are of a mostunsatisfactory kind. I make no pretence to pass a precise judgment uponLeo Taxil, for I am not in a position to prove that the Palladianrituals which appear in "Are there Women in Freemasonry?" can becharacterised as invented matter. Granting his personal good faith, there are still many obvious questions, one of which is the connectionbetween the Palladians and Masonry. As regards the so-called Paristriangle, from which the information was obtained, as regards theritual itself, there is obviously no such connection, except thefantastic and arbitrary rule that initiation is imparted exclusively topersons possessed of Masonic degrees. It is patent that such aninstitution is not Masonic, though it possesses some secrets of Masonry. The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, as we have seen, is an associationbased upon precisely the same regulation, but it has no officialposition. Should a circle of Catholic priests conspire for the formationof a society dedicated to black magic and the celebration of the Satanicmass, that would not be the Church diabolising. No institution, and nosociety, is responsible for the unauthorised acts of individual members. At the same time, if it should be advanced by hostile criticism that theinvention of rituals is easy, and that the literary antecedents of LeoTaxil are not precisely of that kind which would lead any cautiousperson to place blind confidence in his unchecked statements, I amcompelled to say that I should find considerable difficulty inchallenging such a position. 

Mgr. Meurin, the next witness, deserves, by his position and ability, our very sincere respect; compared with the octogenarian sentimentalismof Jean Kostka, the violence of Signor Margiotta, and the paste-pot ofM. De la Rive, one breathes _à pleine poitrine_ in the altitudes ofecclesiastical erudition, artificial as their eminence turns out; theart sacerdotal does not concern itself with preposterous narratives, sothat it disputes nothing with the art of Bataille; it has never stood inneed of conversion, and hence is exempt from the hysterical ardours andlanguors of Diana Vaughan. But the archbishop's interpretation ofMasonry is based upon another interpretation of Kabbalistic literature, which can be accepted by no person who is acquainted therewith, andwould have scarcely been attempted by himself if he had known it atfirst hand. In the matter of Palladian Masonry, he can tell us only whathe has learned from Ricoux. 

It is agreed upon all sides that we dismiss Dr Bataille. He does notdisclose the name and nation which he adopted during his Masonic career, and hence the persons whom he states that he met are, with oneexception, not in a position to contradict him, because they are not ina position to identify him. The personality of the one exception is notparticularised, but may be guessed without the exercise of much skill indivination, and here I must leave the point, not because I amdisinclined to speak plainly and thus risk the possibility of beingmistaken, but because Dr Bataille informs us that this one confidant isin his power, and that he could procure for him or her a term of penalservitude. Lastly, he is not in a position to exhibit his Palladiandiplomas, which were demanded by the dispensing authorities when hefirst fell under their suspicion and have not been returned to him. While we are therefore prevented from checking his affirmations in whatmost concerns our inquiry, we see that at all points where it ispossible to control him he has completely broken down; the miraculouselement of his narrative transcends credit, and his statements upon amultitude of ordinary matters of fact are beneath it. When we connectthese points with the mode of publication he has seen fit to adopt, andremember the kind of motive which usually attaches to that mode, we haveno other course but to set him entirely outside consideration. His bookis evidentially valuable only to close the question. He may have visitedCharleston; he may have made the personal acquaintance of Albert Pike, Gallatin Mackey, Phileas Walder, and his daughter Sophia; three of thesepersons are dead and cannot testify; the fourth acknowledges that heattended her medically at Naples; she protests against his betrayal, butshe does not betray in return his Masonic identity, though I needscarcely add that she does not substantiate his statements. On thesepoints my readers may be reasonably left to form their own judgments. 

Miss Diana Vaughan is a lady who, in spite of much notoriety, is not inevidence; with one exception no credible person has ever said that hehas seen her; that exception is Signor Margiotta. It would not, however, be the strongest line of criticism to dispute her existence; we mayaccept very gladly all that her Italian friend is good enough to say inregard to her personal characteristics, but we know that she has triedto deceive us, with conspicuous ill-success it is true, yet in a grossand most wicked manner. As to Signor Margiotta himself, with all hisimperfections, he is the strongest witness to the discovery of LeoTaxil. I have admitted the great apparent force which belongs to hisenormous array of documentary evidence, and I have established thenature of the complications which make that evidence extremely difficultto accept. 

Lastly, Jean Kostka and M. A. C. De la Rive, though they came within thescope of our inquiry, are not Palladian witnesses. It would appear, therefore, that Leo Taxil and M. Adolphe Ricoux are, for the most part, neither honoured in their witnesses nor in a position to stand alone. The evidence which has grown out of their discovery is in an exceedinglycorrupt state, and in summing the Question of Lucifer, as an impartialcritic, I shall therefore simply propose to my readers the followinggeneral statement:--In the year 1891, Leo Taxil and M. Adolphe Ricouxstate that they have discovered certain documents which show theexistence of a Palladian Society, claimed to be at the head of Masonry, and in the year 1895 Signor Domenico Margiotta states that he belongedto that society and gives further particulars concerning it. A number ofother witnesses have also come forward whose evidence must, for variousreasons, be completely rejected. It is in all respects much to bedeplored that Signor Margiotta has largely and approvingly cited thetestimony of two of these witnesses who are most open to condemnation, and that he has himself exercised an imperfect and uncritical censorshipover papers which have come into his hands. From first to last alldocuments are open to strong suspicion. 

Such is the slender residue which results from this sifting of Lucifer;if I have made my final statement thus indeterminate in its character, it is because I wish my readers to form their own conclusions as to LeoTaxil and Domenico Margiotta, and because I believe that, before long, further evidence will be forthcoming. I have little personal doubt as tothe ultimate nature of the verdict, but at the present stage of theinquiry, with all the exposures which I have had the satisfaction ofmaking fresh and clear in my mind, I would dissuade any one from sayingthat there is "nothing in" the Question of Lucifer; it is at leastobvious that there is no end to its impostures, in which respect I donot claim to have done more than trim the fringes of the question. It isnot therefore closed, and, if I may so venture to affirm, it assumes afresh interest with the appearance of this book. It deserves to rankamong the most extraordinary literary swindles of the present, perhapsof any, century. The field which it covers is enormous, and there isroom, and more than room, for a score of other investigators who willnone fail of their reward. Within the limits of a moderate volume, it isimpossible to take into account the whole of the issues involved, whilethe importance which is to be attributed to the subject should not belightly regarded, seeing that in France, at the time of writing, itprovides an apparently remunerative circulation to two monthly reviews, and that its literature is otherwise still growing. At the presentmoment, and for the purposes of this criticism, a few concludingstatements alone remain to be made; they concern the position of Italyin connection with the so-called Universal Masonry, some aspects of thehistory of the Scotch Rite in connection with the recent revelations, and the interference of the Catholic Church, wisely or not, in thequestion. 

The one Mason whose rank corresponds in Italy to that of Albert Pike inAmerica is not Adriano Lemmi, but Signor Timoteo Riboli, Sovereign GrandCommander of the 33rd and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted ScotchRite. Adriano Lemmi is, or was, Grand Master of the Craft Section ofItaly and Deputy Grand Commander only of the Supreme Council of Italy ofthe 33°. The pretended Grand Central Directory of Naples, which governsall Europe in the interests of Charleston, with Giovanni Bovio forSovereign Director, is a Masonic myth--_pace_ Signor Margiotta. SignorBovio is a Member of the Grand Master's Council and a 33° at Rome. Thereis a Neapolitan Section of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, but it haspowers only up to the 30°, and as such has no authority in generalgovernment, nor does Bovio appear to be a member of the Neapolitansection, though as a member of Lemmi's Council, and a 33°, he no doubthas his share in the government of the Neapolitans. 

The history of the Ancient and Accepted Rite as given by SignorMargiotta and sketched in my second chapter is an incorrect history. Thefacts are as follows:--A person named Isaac Long was engaged inpropagating the French Rite of Perfection of 25° in America before 1796;in that year he gave the degrees to one de Grasse and also to de laHogue, who established a Consistory of the 25° at Charleston. In 1802this Consistory had blossomed into a Supreme Grand Council, 33°, and ata little later period they forged the name of Voltaire's friend, Frederick the Great of Prussia, to what Mr Yarker terms "one of the moststupidly concocted documents ever palmed upon an ignorant public. "However this may be, Long does not seem to have been at any time amember of this body. This is how the "Mother Council of the World" issaid to have come into existence, and Charleston has established SupremeCouncils 33°, between 1811 and 1846, in France, Ireland, Scotland, England, and elsewhere. 

There is no foundation for the legend of the Charleston Templar relics, namely, the skull of Jacques de Molay and the Baphomet, beyond the factthat one of the grades, the 23° of the old Rite of Perfection and the30° of the modern Rite, uses a representation of the Papal tiara in itsceremonies and also of the crown of France, in allusion to Pope ClementV. And Philip le Bel. 

I can find no Mason, of what grade or rite soever, who has ever heard ofPike's Sepher d'Hebarim, his book called Apadno, or lectures in which heimparted extracts unacknowledged from Éliphas Lévi; they may rank withtriangular provinces, Lucifer _chez lui_, the skull of Molay, and thePalladium; in other words, they are lying myths. Nothing which Pike hasor is known to have written has any Luciferian complexion. He hascollected into his lectures a mass of mystical material from rites likeMemphis and Misraïm, but it is alchemical, theosophical, or dealing withancient symbolism, the mysteries, pre-christian theology, &c. As to Pikehimself, a Mason of high authority observes in a private letter:--"Hewas one of the greatest men who ever adorned our Order. He was a giantamong men, his learning was most profound, his eloquence great, and hiswisdom comprehensive; he was a scholar in many languages, and a mostvoluminous writer. He was an ornament to the profession to which hebelonged, namely, Law; he fought the cause of the red man against theAmerican government many years ago, and prevailed in a large degree. Ibelieve he was a true and humble servant of the One True and Living God, and a lover of humanity. "

Having regard to all these facts, it is much to be regretted that theCatholic Church should have warmly approved and welcomed the extremelyunsatisfactory testimony which connects Masonry with Diabolism. When thereport of Diabolism first reached the ears of English mystics, and itwas understood that the Church had concerned herself very seriously inthe matter, I must confess that a hidden motive was immediatelysuspected. A recrudescence of mediæval Black Magic was in no senselikely to attain such proportions as to warrant the august interference;it seemed much as if Her Majesty's government should think it worthwhile to suppress the League of the White Rose. But when it transpiredthat the Question of Lucifer was a new aspect of the old question ofCatholic hostility to Masonry, the astonishment evaporated; it was atonce seen that Modern Diabolism had acquired an extrinsic importancebecause it was alleged to be connected with that Fraternity which theChurch has long regarded as her implacable enemy. I must be permitted toregister clearly the general conviction that if black magic, sorcery, and the Sabbath up to date had been merely revived demonomania, had beenmerely concerned with the black paternoster, the black mass, or evenwith transcendental sensualism and the ordeal of the pastos, the Romanhierarchy would not have taken action as it has, nor would the witnessesconcerning these things have been welcomed with open arms; as a fact, no interest whatsoever is manifested in the doings of diabolists whooperate apart from Masonry. Now, the hostility of Continental Masonstowards Catholicism, in so far as it provably exists, has been largelyor exclusively created by the hostility of the Church, and we know thathe hates most who hates the first. In so far, therefore, as the Churchhas concerned herself by encouragement, which has something of theaspect of incitement, in the recent revelations, we shall have to bearin mind her attitude, while the history of forged decretals and bogusapostolic epistles will reveal to us that she does not invariablyexercise a searching criticism upon documents which serve her purpose. 

The sorcery of the nineteenth century is under no circumstances likelyto justify the faggots of the fifteenth; it might be easier to justifythe sorcery. As much by mystics as by the Church Catholic, modern blackmagic may be left to perish of its own corruption. But an attempt on thepart of the Church to fasten the charge of diabolism on the MasonicFraternity has credibly another motive than that of political hostility, which seems held to justify almost any weapon that comes to hand. At thebottom of her hatred of Masonry there is also her dread of the mystic. Transcendental science claims to have the key of her doctrines, andthere is evidence that she fears that claim. Black magic, which, by thehypothesis, is the use of the most evil forces for the most evilpurposes, she does not fear, for it wears its condemnation on itsforehead; but mysticism, which accepts her own dogmas and interpretsthem in a sense which is not her own, which claims a certitude inmatters of religion that transcends the certitude of faith, seems tohint that at one point it is possible to undermine her foundations. Hence she has ever suspected the mystic, and a part of her suspicion ofMasonry has been by reason of its connection with the mystic; she hasintuitively divined that connection, which by Masons themselves, for themost part, is not dreamed at this day, and when suggested is generallysomewhat lightly cast aside. It would be quite out of place at theclose of the present inquiry, which, from a wholly independentstandpoint, has sought to justify a great fraternity from a singularlyfoul aspersion, to attempt enforcing upon Masons a special view of theirinstitution, but it is desirable, at the same time, to be just towardsthe Catholic Church, and to affirm that we, as mystics, are on thispoint substantially in agreement with her. The connection in questionwas for a time visible, and remains in historical remembrance; from thebeginning of its public appearance till the close of the eighteenthcentury, the history of Masonry is part of transcendental history. Thatconnection has now ceased to manifest, but there is another which isintegral and permanent, and is a matter of common principles and commonobjects. Let it be remembered, however, that connection is not identity;it is not intended to say that the threshold of Masonry is a gate ofMysticism, but that there is a community of purpose, of symbolism, ofhistory, and indirectly of origin, between the two systems. 

All true religion, all true morality, all true mysticism have but oneobject, and that is to act on humanity, collective and individual, insuch a manner that it shall correspond efficiently with the great law ofdevelopment, and co-operate consciously therewith to achieve the end ofdevelopment. Under all the mysteries of its symbolism, behind theimpressive parables of its ritual, and as equally, but if possible moreeffectually concealed, beneath the commonplace insistences of its moralmaxims, this end is also proposed by the occult initiations of Masonry;and if it be defined more explicitly as the perfection of man both hereand hereafter, and his union with what is highest in the universe, weshall see more clearly not only that it is the sole fundamentalprinciple of all religion, its very essence, divested of creed anddogma, but also inherent in the nature of symbolical Masonry, and"inwrought in the whole system of Masonic ceremonies. "

As mystics, however, we consider that the ethical standard of Masonrywill produce good citizens to society and good brethren to theFraternity, but it will not produce saints to Christ. There is anexcellence which is other than the moral, and stands to morality inprecisely the same relation that genius bears to talent. The moralvirtues are not the _summum bonum_, nor the totality of all forces atwork in the development of man, nor actually the perfect way, thoughthey are the gate of the way of perfection. Now, the mystic claims to bein possession of the higher law which transcends the ethical, from whichthe ethical derives, and to which it must be referred for its reason. That the lost secret of Freemasonry is concerned with specialapplications of this higher law which connect with mysticism, we, asmystics, do hold and can make evident in its proper time and place. Here, and personally, I am concerned only with a comprehensivestatement. In addition to its body of moral law, which is founded in thegeneral conscience, or in the light of nature, Masonry has a body ofsymbolism, of which the source is not generally known, and by which itis identified with movements and modes of thought, and withevolutionary processes, having reference to regions already described astranscending the ethical world and concerned with the spiritual man. From every Masonic candidate, ignoring the schismatic and excommunicatedsections, there is required a distinct attitude of mind towards theworld without and the world within. He is required to believe in theexistence of a Supreme Intelligence, with which his essential naturecorresponds in the possession of an indestructible principle ofconscious or understanding life. Beyond these doctrines, Masonry iswholly unsectarian; it recognises no other dogmas; it accredits no formof faith. Now, Mysticism is a body of spiritual methods and processes, based, like the Masonic body of ethical methods and processes, on thesesame doctrines. Every man who believes in God and immortality is the rawmaterial of a mystic; every man who believes that there is adiscoverable way to God is on the path of conscious mysticism. As thispath has been pursued in all ages and nations by persons of widelydivergent creeds, it is clear that however much mysticism has beenidentified with special spheres of religious thought and activity, it isindependent of all. 

But while Masonry would appear to regard the evolution of our physical, intellectual, and moral nature as the best preparation for that largerexistence which is included in its central doctrine, and would thus workinward from without, mysticism deems that the evolution of the spiritualman and the production of a human spirit at one with the divine, constitute the missing condition requisite for the reconstruction ofhumanity, and would thus work outward from within. Neither Mason norMystic, however, can ignore either method. The one supplements theother; and seeing that the processes of mysticism are distinct from whatis still a subject of derision under the name of transcendentalphenomena, as they are wholly philosophical and interior, not to beappreciated by the senses, a secret experience within the depths andheights of our spiritual being, an institution which believes in God andimmortality, and by the fact of immortality in the subsistence of anintimate relation between the spirit and God, will not look suspiciouslyon mysticism when it comes to understand it better. 

I have spoken of Masonic symbolism, and the method of instruction inMasonry is identical with that of mysticism; both systems are "veiled inallegory and illustrated by symbolism. " The significance of thiscorrespondence would not be measurably weakened were there no similarityin the typology, no trace of mystic influence in Masonic rite andlegend. But there is a resemblance, and the types are often identical, though the accredited interpretation varies. Masonry, as a fact, interprets the types which belong to our own science according to thecriterion of ethics, and thus provides a prolegomena to Mysticism, asethics are a necessary introduction to the inner science of the soul. There is naturally a minor body of conventional typology which istolerably exclusive to the craft, but the grand and universal emblems, characteristic of symbolical Masonry as distinct from the operativeart--these are our own emblems. The All-Seeing Eye, the Burning Star, the Rough and Perfect Ashlar, the Point within a Circle, the Pentalpha, the Seal of Solomon, the Cubic Stone--all these belong to the most loftyand arcane order of occult symbolism, but in mystic science theyillumine more exalted zones of the heaven of mind. The rites, legends, and mysteries of the great Fraternity are also full of mysticalallusions, and admit of mystical interpretation in the same manner, buttheir evidential force is weaker, because ceremonial and legend in thehands of a skilful commentator can be made to take any shape and anycomplexion; it is otherwise with the symbols of the Brotherhood whichwere possessed by us before the historical appearance of Masonry. Soalso the Masonic reverence for certain numbers which are apparentlyarbitrary in themselves is in reality connected with a most reconditeand curious system of mystic methodical philosophy, while in the hightitles of Masonic dignity there is frequently a direct reference toMysticism. 

If we turn from these considerations and approach the historicalconnection through those still undetermined problems which concern theorigin of Masonry, we shall discern not unfortunately a way clear totheir solution, but a significant characteristic pervading every Masonichypothesis almost without exception--namely, an instinctive desire torefer Masonry in its original form to sources that are provably mystic. In the fanciful and extravagant period, when archæology and comparativemythology were as yet in their childhood, this tendency was not lessstrong because it was mostly quite unconscious. To pass in review beforeus the chief institutions of antiquity with which Masonry was then saidto be connected, would be to sweep the whole field of transcendentalhistory, and when we come to a more sober period which recognised thebetter claim of the building guilds to explain the beginnings of theFraternity, the link with Mysticism was not even then abandoned, and asplendid variant of the Dionysian dream took back the mediævalarchitects to the portals of Eleusis and of Thebes. 

When the history of Freemasonry becomes possible by the possession ofmaterials, its chief philosophical interest centres in one country ofEurope; there is no doubt that it exercised an immense influence uponFrance during that century of quakings and quickenings which gave birthto the great revolution, transformed civilisation in the West, andinaugurated the modern era. Without being a political society, it was aninstrument eminently adaptable to the sub-surface determination ofpolitical movements. At a later date it may have contributed to theformation of Germany, as it did certainly to the creation of Italy, butthe point and centre of Masonic history is France in the eighteenthcentury. To that country also is mainly confined the historicalconnection between Masonry and mystic science, for the revival ofMysticism which originated in Germany at the close of the eighteenthcentury, and thence passed over to England, found its final field inFrance at the period in question. There Rosicrucianism reappeared, thereAnton Mesmer recovered the initial process of transcendental practice, there the Marquis de Puységur discovered clairvoyance, there Martines dePasqually instructed his disciples in the mysteries of ceremonial magic;there the illustrious Saint-Martin, _le philosophe inconnu_, developed aspecial system of spiritual reconstruction; there alchemy flourished;there spiritual and political princes betook themselves to extravagantresearches after an elixir of life; there also, as a consequence, roseup a line of magnificent impostors who posed as initiates of the occultsciences, as possessors of the grand secret and the grand mastery;there, finally, under the influences of transcendental philosophy, emblematic Freemasonry took root and grew and flourished, developing tenthousand splendours of symbolic grades, of romantic legends, of sonorousnames and titles. In a word, the Mysticism of Europe concentrated itsforces at Paris and Lyons, and all French Mysticism gathered under theshadow of the square and compass. To that, as to a centre, the wholemovement gravitated, and thence it worked. There is nothing to show thatit endeavoured to revolutionise Masonry in its own interest. TheFraternity naturally attracted all Mystics to its ranks, and thedevelopment of the mystic degrees took place as the result of thatattraction. 

By the year 1825 a variety of circumstances had combined to suspendtranscendental activity, and the connection with Masonry ended, but thepresent revival of mystic thought is rapidly picking up the links of thebroken chain; secretly or unobtrusively the spirit of transcendentalismis working within the Fraternity, and the bogus question of Lucifer issimply a hostile and unscrupulous method of recognising that fact. IfMasonry and Mysticism could be shown in the historical world to beseparated by the great sea, the consanguinity of their intention wouldremain, which is more important than external affinity, and they aresisters by that bond. But they have not been so separated, and on eitherside there is no need to be ashamed of the connection. With all brethrenof the Fraternity, "we also do believe in the resurrection of Hiram, "and we regard the Temple as "an edifice immediately realisable, for werebuild it in our hearts. " We also adore the Grand Architect, and offerour intellectual homage to the divine cipher which is in the centre ofthe symbolic star; and we believe that some day the Mason will recognisethe Mystic. He is the heir of the great names of antiquity, thephilosophers and hierarchs, and the spiritual kings of old; he is of theline of Orpheus and Hermes, of the Essenes and the Magi. And all thoseillustrious systems and all those splendid names with which Masonry hasever claimed kindred belong absolutely to the history of Mysticism. 

THE END

TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.