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On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
built with stone . And , when they please , they cause the whole to disappear . " He then speaks of " a learned clerk , " who , for the amusement of his friends , shewed to him " forests full of wild deer , where he saw an hundred of them slain , some with hounds and some with arrows . The hunting being finisheda company of falconers appeared
, upon the banks of a fair river , where the birds pursued the herons and slew them . He then saw kni ghts justing upon a plain ; and , lastly , the resemblance of his beloved lad y dancing , which occasioned him to dance also . But the master that wrought this magic , then clapped his hands together , and all was gone in an instant . "
We are now perfectly convinced that very surprising things may be exhibited through the medium of a proper apparatus , ancl with the assistance of expert confederates . A magic lanthorn , a concave mirror , or an oxv-hydrogen microscope , will produce appearances quite as w'onderful as those described by Chaucer , to persons totally ignorant of
the existence and nature of such instruments . The principles of natural philosophy were known only to a few in those dark ages , and , for that reason , the spectators were more readily deceived . They considered these exhibitions to be produced by magic . Even King James , in his demonology , says , that they were performed by the agency of the devil , and we cannot , therefore , wonder that they were so esteemed by the ignorant .
These pretensions did not proceed from ignorant impostors , who made a private advantage of the credulity of mankind ; for we find names of still greater note than any I have mentioned in the lists of those who made public theii supposed discoveries for the benefit of their fellow creatures , Who would believe that the great Bacon , whose addiction
to astrology , and other speculative and mysterious sciences , is well known , coulcl have gravely asserted that , to his linoioledge , a certain lady had discovered an ointment , by the use of which a person might live more than 300 years ? or that the philosophic , Boyle , speaking , as he says , from experience , should recommend the application of moss from a dead man ' s skull as a never-failing remedy for bleedino- at the nose ?
Cardinal Wolsey was a very eminent Mason , ancl was appointed Grand Master ofthe Order in 1515 , which office he held till the period of his disgrace in 1530 . He professed himself an adept in these occult practices . Thus Lord
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
built with stone . And , when they please , they cause the whole to disappear . " He then speaks of " a learned clerk , " who , for the amusement of his friends , shewed to him " forests full of wild deer , where he saw an hundred of them slain , some with hounds and some with arrows . The hunting being finisheda company of falconers appeared
, upon the banks of a fair river , where the birds pursued the herons and slew them . He then saw kni ghts justing upon a plain ; and , lastly , the resemblance of his beloved lad y dancing , which occasioned him to dance also . But the master that wrought this magic , then clapped his hands together , and all was gone in an instant . "
We are now perfectly convinced that very surprising things may be exhibited through the medium of a proper apparatus , ancl with the assistance of expert confederates . A magic lanthorn , a concave mirror , or an oxv-hydrogen microscope , will produce appearances quite as w'onderful as those described by Chaucer , to persons totally ignorant of
the existence and nature of such instruments . The principles of natural philosophy were known only to a few in those dark ages , and , for that reason , the spectators were more readily deceived . They considered these exhibitions to be produced by magic . Even King James , in his demonology , says , that they were performed by the agency of the devil , and we cannot , therefore , wonder that they were so esteemed by the ignorant .
These pretensions did not proceed from ignorant impostors , who made a private advantage of the credulity of mankind ; for we find names of still greater note than any I have mentioned in the lists of those who made public theii supposed discoveries for the benefit of their fellow creatures , Who would believe that the great Bacon , whose addiction
to astrology , and other speculative and mysterious sciences , is well known , coulcl have gravely asserted that , to his linoioledge , a certain lady had discovered an ointment , by the use of which a person might live more than 300 years ? or that the philosophic , Boyle , speaking , as he says , from experience , should recommend the application of moss from a dead man ' s skull as a never-failing remedy for bleedino- at the nose ?
Cardinal Wolsey was a very eminent Mason , ancl was appointed Grand Master ofthe Order in 1515 , which office he held till the period of his disgrace in 1530 . He professed himself an adept in these occult practices . Thus Lord