racters as the remains of a more ancient and solemn mode of expression, which had been superseded, in common life, by other words and phrases; and, in several cases, it seemed probable, that the forms of the characters had been so far degraded and confused, that the addition of a greater number of distinguished epithets have become necessary, in order that the sense might be rendered intelligible."

LECTURE VI.

EXEMPLIFICATION OF THE SYMBOLS USED IN THOSE SPURIOUS INSTITUTIONS WHICH ATTAINED THE MOST PERMANENT CELEBRITY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD.

After these appeared

A crew who, under names of old renown,

Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train,

With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused

Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek

Their wandering gods, disguised in brutish forms
Rather than human.

Milton.

IN ancient times, when leaders and commanders were chosen by lot, Dionysius of Syracuse drew the letter M, which a friend, in the anxiety of his mind, interpreted unfavourably, and exclaimed: "You will acquit yourself foolishly, O Dionysius, and your oration will be laughed at; for your initial means Mogoloyets." Dionysius was of a different opinion; for he felt confident of his own powers, and replied: "You are mistaken, friend, my lot is Movaozroo; I shall be a monarch." And he was right; for his speech produced such a strong impression on the audience, that he was chosen general of the Syracusian army on the spot. Here we have a striking evidence of the very equivocal nature of signs and symbols at that early period. Hieroglyphics of every kind were of doubtful interpretation, even to the initiated, except they had been admitted to the very highest degrees. And here what was the secret? It was nothing less than a development of the plan of human salvation by the future advent of a Man-God, or Mediator. Thus was Christianity, under the direction of Providence, the aim and end of these remarkable institutions. But this great truth, and its details, in the shape of tradition and

prophecy, were buried so deeply in hieroglyphics as to be unintelligible to common comprehensions; and the popular versions were so much at variance with each other, that little credit could be attached to any of them. They resembled the superstitious figments of our own times, which induce, in the minds of weak and uninstructed persons, a belief in the efficacy of charms for agues, toothache, fits, and sciatica; amulets to prevent mischance and danger; philters for love, and omens which foretell the accidents of life. Such a circle of awful mystery was drawn around the hieroglyphical knowledge of ancient times, by the hierophant of the Spurious Freemasonry, that the people bowed before the symbols inscribed on tombs, obelisks, and temples, and worshipped them with great devotion, as though they were instinct with the divine essence, and possessed perception and power to bless or ban; to distribute benefits or inflict calamities.

We have seen, in the preceding Lecture, that the origin of hieroglyphics was picture-writing. This was very simple, and consisted merely of the representation of any concise fact it was thought desirable to record, by scrawling some visible object connected with it. Experience soon proclaimed the inadequacy of this plan. Gradual improvements arose to meet the necessities of ripening knowledge; and hieroglyphics were invented to designate invisible objects and qualities; and in process of time these were combined and formed into a regular system. Thus they considered the hawk as an emblem of the supreme Deity because of its piercing sight and swiftness; the asp, the cat, and the beetle were also honoured as images of the Divine power; the first as not being subject to old age, and moving without the assistance of limbs; the cat, because they imagined she conceived by her ear, and brought forth her young by her mouth, representing the generation of speech; and the beetle, because they supposed there was no female in the whole species. The crocodile also they took to be another image of the Deity, because, of all animals, it has no tongue, which organ God has no occasion for.1

The method adopted by the Chinese is thus explained by Li Yang Ping; and has been communicated by that eminent scholar and antiquary, Sir William Jones. "The ancient characters used in this country were the outlines of visible objects, earthly and celestial. But as things merely intellectual could not be expressed by those figures, the grammarians of China contrived to represent the various operations of the mind by metaphors drawn from the productions of nature; thus the idea of roughness and rotundity, of motion and rest, were conveyed to the eye by signs representing a mountain, the sky, a river, and the earth; the figure of the sun, moon, and stars, differently combined, stood for smoothness and splendour, for any thing artfully wrought or woven with delicate workmanship; extension, growth, increase, and many other qualities, were painted in characters taken from the clouds, from the firmament, and from the vegetable part of the creation; the different ways of moving, agility and slowness, idleness and diligence, were expressed by various insects, birds, fish, and quadrupeds. In this manner passions and sentiments were traced by the pencil; and ideas not subject to any sense, were exhibited to the sight, until by degrees new combinations were invented, new expressions added; the characters deviated imperceptibly from their primitive shape; and the Chinese language became not only clear and forcible, but rich and elegant in the highest degree."

It is asserted by Bin Washih, that the first dynasty of the earliest Egyptian kings "invented, each according to his own genius and understanding, a particular alphabet, in order that none should know them but the sons of Wisdom. Few, therefore, are found who understand them in our time. They took the figures of different instruments, trees, plants, quadrupeds, birds or their parts, and of planets and fixed stars. In this manner these hieroglyphical alphabets became innumerable. They were not arranged at all in the order of our letters; but they had proper characters agreed upon by the inventors of these alphabets, and which differed in their figure and order; viz. they expressed water by an indented line. They understood the secrets of nature, and endeavoured

to express everything by an appropriate sign, so that they might express it by its appearance."

112

The Egyptian writing, at the period of its greatest perfection, was of three sorts; the Epistolic, the Hieroglyphic, and the Symbolic; while, in addition to these, the priests had another species of picture-writing, which was termed Hierogrammatic. This latter they entrusted to none but those of their own order. Modern writers have subdivided the above into Pure hieroglyphics, or pictures; Linear hieroglyphics, or emblems; Phonetic hieroglyphics, or the representatives of sounds; and Demotic, or Epistolographic or Enchorial writing for the business of common life. And they invented another system of magical communication which imbedded Cabalistic secrets in comprehensive phrases, that were not only mysterious, but absolutely formidable to the ignorant. Thus soothsayers were called, magic alarm posts; philters and dangerous compounds, treasure chambers; the knowledge of spirits, astrological tables; mysterious things, conjuring spirits; pyramids, secrets of the stars, &c. But the symbolic writing was most comprehensive, and, for greater secrecy, became subdivided into three parts, which were denominated the Curiologic, the Tropical, and the Allegorical, each admitting of a different method of interpretation, the secret of which was communicated only to a select few. Thus, for instance, in the Curiologic style, the moon was pictured by a crescent, tropically by a cat, and allegorically by the figure of Isis, or a veiled female.

Bin Washih, above cited, gives an account of the following series of hieroglyphics as existing in a temple in Upper Egypt; which is valuable because it contains a vivid picture of the legend of initiation into the mysteries. "This building was a temple of Adonis, whom the sun and moon serve. It represents a coffin adorned with curious figures and admirable ornaments. A sprig of vine

*The above author has enumerated a vast variety of alphabets, and with great industry has collected the hieroglyphical characters of most of them, including antediluvian alphabets, those of the kings and philosophers, one for each of the twelve signs, and the seven planets, &c., to the number of eighty, which embody an abundance of symbols used in the mysteries, as well as many which have been incorporated into genuine Freemasonry.