about twenty dollars. There is a ninth degree, the initiation fee to which is ninety-nine gold marks, for which the member becomes a true Magus, knowing all the secrets of nature, with power over all angels, devils, and men ; the philosopher's stone is the least of his possessions.

289. Spread of Rosicrucianism.-These Rosicrucians assert that they had lodges in various countries. Vienna, according to their statements, was the seat of the Grand Master of the eighth degree;1 Königsberg, Stettin, Berlin, and Danzig, meeting places of the Brethren of the fifth degree; at Breslau and Leipzic the Brethren of the fourth degree assembled; at Hamburg the Brethren of the sixth degree had a lodge, which cost nine thousand marks. The Order, moreover, had lodges at Nuremberg, Augsburg, Innsbruck, Prague, Paris, Venice, Naples, Malta, Lisbon, Bergen-op-Zoom, Cracow, Warsaw, Basle, Zurich in Europe, and at Smyrna and Ispahan in Asia. The sect was also known in Sweden and Scotland, where it had its own traditions, claiming to be descended from the Alexandrian priesthood of Ormuzd, who embraced Christianity in consequence of the preaching of St. Mark, founding the society of Ormuzd, or of the Sages of Light." This tradition is founded on the Manichæism preserved among the Coptic priests, and explains the seal impressed on the ancient parchments of the Order, representing a lion placing his paw on a paper, on which is written the famous sentence, "Pax tibi, Marce Evangelista meus, from which we might infer that Venice had some connection with the spreading of that tradition. In fact, Nicolai tells us that at Venice and Mantua there were Rosicrucians, connected with those of Erfurt, Leipzic, and Amsterdam. And we also know that at Venice congresses of Alchymists were held; and the connection between these latter

1 A somewhat curious fact may be mentioned here: The Rosicrucians generally adopted sidereal or alchymistic pseudonyms. In the seventeenth century, under the Emperor Ferdinand III., one John Konrad Richthausen came to Vienna. He was a Rosicrucian, and as such bore the name of Chaos, and eventually was ennobled as Herr von Chaos. In 1663 he erected an institution for the sons of poor or deceased parents. When, three years after, the Plague raged in Vienna and attacked some of the youths in the institution, the executors of Richthausen's will the testator having died-quickly erected in the district of Mariahilf, almost in the centre of Vienna, another building, to separate the youths attacked by the disease from the others. Gradually the building was enlarged, so that in 1773 it could receive 145 pupils. It was known as the Chaos Foundation (haosische Stift). In 1752 the Empress Maria Theresa purchased the house for a military academy, which purpose it still serves ; but it continues to be called the Stift, and the street facing it is still called the Stiftyasse.

Never

and the Rosicrucians has already been pointed out. theless the Scotch and Swedish Rosicrucians called themselves the most ancient, and asserted Edward, the son of Henry III., to have been initiated into the Order in 1191, by Raymond Lully, the alchymist. The Fraternity of the Rosy Cross is still flourishing in England (see 293).

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290. Transition to Freemasons. From the Templars and Rosicrucians the transition to the Freemasons is easy. With these latter alchymy receives a wholly symbolical explanation; the philosopher's stone is a figure of human perfectibility. In the Masonic degree called the "Key of Masonry," or "Knight of the Sun," and the work "The Blazing Star," by Tschudi, we discover the parallel aims of the two societies. From the "Blazing Star" I extract the following portion of the ritual: "When the hermetic philosophers speak of gold and silver, do they mean common gold and silver? No, because common gold and silver are dead, whilst the gold and silver of the philosophers are full of life." "What is the object of Masonic inquiries?"-"The art of knowing how to render perfect what Nature has left imperfect in man.” “ 'What is the object of philosophic inquiry?""The art of knowing how to render perfect what Nature has left imperfect in minerals, and to increase the power of the philosopher's stone." "Is it the same stone whose symbol distinguishes our first degrees?" Yes, it is the same stone which the Freemasons seek to polish." So also the Phoenix is common to Hermetic and Masonic initiation, and the emblem of the new birth of the neophyte. Now, we have already seen the meaning of this figure, and its connection with the sun. We might multiply comparisons to strengthen the parallelism between hidden arts and secret societies, and trace back the hermetic art to the mysteries of Mithras, where man is said to ascend to heaven through seven steps or gates of lead, brass, copper, iron, bronze, silver, and gold.

291. Progress and Extinction of Rosicrucians. After having excited much attention throughout Germany, the Rosicrucians endeavoured to spread their doctrines in France, but with little success. In order to attract attention, they in 1623 secretly posted certain notices in the streets of Paris, to this effect: "We, the deputies of the College of the Rosy Cross, visibly and invisibly dwell in the city. We teach without books or signs every language that can draw men from mortal error," &c. &c. A work by Gabriel Naudé gave them the final blow. Peter Mormio, not having succeeded in reviving the society in Holland, where it existed in 1622,

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published at Leyden in 1630, a work entitled Arcana Naturæ Secretissima," wherein he reduced the secrets of the brethren to three-viz., perpetual motion, the transmutation of metals, and the universal medicine.

292. Rosicrucians in the Mauritius.—I am indebted to Mr. Waite's "Real History of the Rosicrucians" (published by George Redway, 1888) for the following particulars:

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It appears that a society of Rosicrucians existed in 1794 in the island of Mauritius. "My authority," says Mr. Waite, gives at length a copy of the admission of Dr. Bacstrom into that society by Le Comte de Chazal. In that document Dr. Bacstrom promises, among other things, never to reveal the secret knowledge he receives,' 'to initiate such persons as he may deem worthy,' including women, seeing that Leona Constantia, Abbess of Clermont, was actually received as a practical member and master into the society in 1736 as a Soror Crucis;' that he will commence the great work as soon as circumstances permit,' that he will give nothing to the Church,' that he will 'never give the fermented metallic medicine for transmutation to any person living, unless he be a member of the Rosy Cross."" To this document is appended the philosophic seal of the society, representing a man standing in a triangle, enclosed in a square, and surrounded by a circle. At the head and feet of the man are various cabalistic signs. The whole resembles some of the diagrams which may be found in the "Magical Works of Cornelius Agrippa," in the chapter treating of the proportions, measures, and harmony of the human body.

293. Modern English Rosicrucians.-Mr. Waite further states that a pseudo-society existed in England before the year 1836, because Godfrey Higgins says that "He had joined neither the Templars nor the Rosicrucians." The present Rosicrucian Society was remodelled about thirty years ago. A previous initiation into Masonry is an indispensable qualification of candidates: "the officers of the society shall consist of three Magi, a Master-General, a Treasurer-General, a Secretary-General, and seven Ancients. There is also an Organist, a Torch-bearer, a Herald, a Guardian of the Temple, and a Medallist. The members are to meet four times a year, and dine together once a year. Every novice on admission shall adopt a Latin motto, to be appended to his signature in all communications with the Order. The jewel of the Supreme Magus is an ebony cross, with golden roses at its extremities, and the jewel of the Rosie Cross in the centre. It is surmounted by a crown of gold for the Supreme

Magus alone, and is worn round the neck, suspended by a crimson velvet ribbon. The jewel of the general officers is a lozenge-shaped plate of gold, enamelled white, with the Rosie Cross in the centre, surmounted by a golden mitre, on the rim of which is enamelled in rose-coloured characters LUX, and in its centre a small cross of the same colour. The jewel is worn suspended from a button-hole by a green ribbon an inch wide, and with a cross also embroidered on it in rose-coloured silk. The jewel of the fraternity is the lozenge-shaped jewel of the Rosie Cross, without the mitre, suspended by a green ribbon an inch in width, and without the embroidered cross.

Mr. Waite derived this information from a secret record of the association entitled The Rosicrucian, a very small quarterly of twelve pages, first published in 1868, which ceased in 1879. In 1871 the society informed its members that their objects were purely literary and antiquarian; that it consisted of 134 fratres, ruled over by three Supreme Magi. Seventy-two members composed the London colleges, the others formed the Bristol and Manchester colleges. A Yorkshire college was consecrated in 1877; a college in Edinburgh had been established some time previously. The prime mover in the association was Robert Wentworth Little; the late Lord Lytton was Grand Patron. But as to Rosicrucian knowledge the Brethren were altogether destitute of it, as they themselves admitted.

VOL. I.