published in 1836 by Charles Knight, and entitled, "Secret Societies of the Middle Ages," embraces four societies only.

The student who wishes for more ample information will have to consult the lists of authorities given at the head of each Book, as it was thought best not to encumber the text with foot-notes, which would have swelled the work to at least twice its present extent. The reader may rest satisfied that few statements are made which could not be supported by numerous and weighty authorities; though dealing as we do here with societies whose very existence depended on secrecy, and which, therefore, as a matter of policy, left behind them as little documentary evidence as possible, the old distich applies with peculiar force :

"What is hits is history,

And what is mist is mystery."

Again, bearing in mind that the imperative compass of the work exacted a concise setting forth of facts-ranging as the subject does over a surface so vast-I have been careful to interrupt the narrative only by such comments and reflections as would seem almost indispensable for clearing up obscurities or supplying missing historical links.

It may at first appear as if some societies had improperly been inserted in this work as "secret" societies; the Freemasons, for instance. Members of secret associations, it might be objected, are not in the habit of proclaiming their membership to the world, but no Freemason is ashamed or afraid of avowing himself such; nay, he is rather proud of the fact, and given to proclaim it somewhat obtrusively; yet the most rabid Celt, who wishes to have a hand in the regeneration of his native land by joining the Fenian brotherhood, has sense enough to keep his affiliation a profound secret from the uninitiated. But the rule I have followed in adopting societies as "secret" was to include in my collection all such as had or have "secret rites and ceremonies" kept from the outer world, though the existence of the society itself be no secret at all. In fact, no association of men can for any length of time remain a secret, since however anxious the members may be to shroud themselves in darkness, and remain personally unknown, the purpose for which they band together must always betray itself by some overt acts; and wherever there is an act, the world surmises an agent; and if none that is visible can be found, a secret one is suspected. The Thugs, for instance, had every desire to remain un

known; yet the fact of the existence of such a society was suspected long before any of its members were discovered. On the principle also of their being the propounders of secret doctrines, or doctrines clothed in language understood by the adepts alone, Alchymists and Mystics have found places in this work; and the Inquisition, though a state tribunal, had its secret agents and secret procedure, and may therefore justly be included in the category of Secret Societies.

Secret Societies, religious and political, are again springing up on many sides: the religious may be dismissed without comment, as they are generally without any novelty or significance, but those that have political objects ought not to be disregarded as without importance. The International, Fenians, Communists, Nihilists, Wahábees, are secretly aiming at the overthrow of existing governments and the present order of things. The murders of Englishmen perpetrated by native Indians point to the machinations of secret societies in British India. Before the outbreak of the great Indian mutiny English newspaper correspondents spoke rather contemptuously of some religious ceremony observed throughout British India of carrying small loaves from village to village, but this ceremony was the summons to the people to prepare for the general rising; hence the proceedings of the natives should be closely watched.

November, 1874.

VOL. I.

b

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED

*

N.B.-The books to the titles of which an is prefixed are in the author's own library.

ANCIENT MYSTERIES IN GENERAL.

ANQUETIL. Zend-Avesta. Paris, 1771.

*APULEIUS. Les Metamorphoses, ou l' âne d'or, Traduites en Français par Victor Bétoland. Paris, 1873.

*Bacchus Elucidated; or, The Gospel according to the Heathen. London, 1864.

BARTH. Ueber die Druiden. Erlau, 1826.

BEAL, S. A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures, from the Chinese. London, 1871.

The Romantic Legend of Sakya Buddha. London, 1875. *BJORNSTJERNA, Count M. The Theogony of the Hindoos, with their systems of Philosophy and Cosmogony. 8vo. 1884.

*BOULANGER, M. L'Antiquité Dévoilée.

1777.

Three vols. Amsterdam,

*BREDOW, G. G. Handbuch der alten Geschichte. Altona, 1837.

*BRYANT, J. New System of Ancient Mythology. Six vols. Plates.

London, 1807.

Cæsar de Bell. Gall., vi. 12, 13. The Druids.

CATTANEO, C. Le Origine Italiche illustrate coi libri sacri dell' Antica

Persia.

COLEBROOKE. Essay on the Philosophy of India. 1853.

*DUPUIS, C. F. Origine de tous les Cultes. Paris, 1869.

EICHHORN. De Solo Invicto Mithras.

FABER. Horæ Mosaicæ. Oxford, 1801.

Mysteries of the Cabiri. Oxford, 1803.

HAMMER. Mémoire sur le Culte de Mithra. Paris, 1833. *HEDERICH, B. Lexicon Mythologicum. Leipzig, 1741. HIGGINS. Celtic Druids. London, 1829.

HYDE. De Religione Veterum Persarum. Oxford, 1700.

JACOBI, H. Der Buddhismus und seine Geschichte. Leipzig, 1882, &c.

JACOBI, H. The Kalpa Sutra of Bhadrabahu; or, The Jain Gospels. Leipzig, 1879.

JENNINGS. Jewish Antiquities. London, 1766.

JONES. Extracts from the Vedas.

*KANNE, J. A. System der Indischen Mythe. Leipzig, 1813.

LASSEN. Gymnosophista. Bonn, 1832.

*LENORMANT, F. Il Mito di Adone-Tammuz nei Documenti Cuneiformi. Firenze, 1879.

*

Chaldean Magic; its Origin and Development. Translated from the French. London, 1877.

*LUCIUS, P. E. Der Essenismus. Strasburg, 1881.

LYDE, S. The Ansyreeh and Ismalech; a Visit to the Secret Sects of Northern Syria. London, 1853.

The Asian Mystery: illustrated in the History, Religion, and Present State of the Ansayreeh or Nusairis of Syria. London, 1861.

*MACKEY, A. G. Lexicon of Freemasonry. London, 1867.

*MAURICE, THOS. Indian Antiquities. Five vols. Plates. London, 1792.

History of Hindostan. Three vols. 4to. Plates. London, 1795. MEYER. Der Tempel Solomons. Berlin, 1830.

MÜLLER. Mithras. Wiesbaden, 1833.

*MÜLLER, MAX. Lecture on Buddhist Nihilism. London, 1869.

*OLIVER. History of Initiation.

London, 1841.

OUWAROFF. Essais sur les Mystères d'Eleusis. Paris, 1816.

PLINY. Nat. Hist., xvi. 95. The Druids.

*PLUCHE, Abbé. History of the Heavens.

Freval. Two vols. London, 1752.

Translated by J. B. de

*PRESCOTT, W. H. History of the Conquest of Mexico. Three vols. London, 1852.

* History of the Conquest of Peru. Edited by J. F. Kirk. London, 1878.

*RAGON. Cours Philosophique des Initiations anciennes et modernes. Paris, 1841.

RHODE. Die Heilige Sage. Frankfort, 1820.

ROBIN.

Recherches sur les Initiations anciennes et modernes. SAINT-VICTOR. Mysteries of Antiquity. Ispahan, 1788. SCHELLING. Über die Götter von Samothrace.

*SCHUBERT. Nachtseite der Naturwissenschaft. Leipzig, 1850.

SENART, E. Essai sur la Légende du Bouddha. Paris, 1876.

SILVESTRE DE SACY. Exposé de la Religion des Druses. Two vols. Paris, 1838.

Essai sur les Mystères d'Eleusis. 1816.