Brother! Well Met!

numerous , but which , among other choiceand fitting associates , had received tha t recreant Freemason ancl detestable individuality—Egalite Orleans . Even at this distance of time the minds of the honest and the loyal shudder at his unexampled treachery , baseness , his profane speeches , unholy living , and , with Lamai'tine , cannot but believe that that family has much " expiation" to make before the words and deeds of their ancestor can be forgiven or forgotten .

Many of the acts of this little handful of " Illuminati , " for there were certainly not above two or three lodges at the outside in Paris , have been ascribed by hot-headed ancl ill-informed Ultramontane writers , to the " Freemasons , " whereas the French Freemasons had positively nothing to do with the French revolution , which spared their as little as it spared all other classes of society , ancl Freemasonry itself knows nothing whatever of the principles

and proceedings of " Illuminism , " though it has an " Illumination " of its own , a " star which ever shines most steadily ancl brightly in the darkness of time , quite sufficiently ancl satisfactorily for all its true children ! But I am running on with a very dry disquisition , and think that I had better return to my story . I may add , iu all I have written I have expressed , I believe , the opinions of all cultured Freemasons , looking at the history of the past , and especially of the French Revolution , in the light which Freemasonry sanctions and commends .

Among the friends who specially affected the society ancl "salon" of the then great Mirabeau was a certain young Breton noble , called the Vicomte de Puisac . He came of a very old family in Brittany , but for some reason or other , having been first accidentally thrown into the society of Mirabeau as a young diplomat , he had become his daily companion ancl constant friend . Mirabeau had initiated him , being a Freemason too ( though Mirabeau , as I said beforewas not a Freemason ) among the Illumines . Ancl on the evening of the

, day of which I speak , Mirabeau ancl his friend , were going to attend a special service for the initiation of two or three candidates . Accordingly , at a given hour , they started together , and walking in that district beyond the dreadful " Temple , " a street which was , as all French streets were then , ancl English tod , dim ancl dark , he knocked in a peculiar manner at a side door in a wall , which seemed to surround a small garden , ancl

was admitted by an unseen janitor . The two crossed the little garden with rapid steps , and were admitted into a large pavilion , connected with the house by a covered way , in the same stealthy ancl mysterious manner . We shall take the liberty of describing a scene which soon after took place . The room was an oblong , with rows of benches covered with crimson cloth , and the wall was hung with crimson hangings . At the further extremity was a

platform with railings in front , except where the ascent was b y four steps , all covered with a dark crimson carpet . Under a canopy of crimson silk sat the President ( Mirabeau himself ) , in a crimson robe , with a masked cowl , and it was onl y in this way that any difference could be seen between the President and the members , as all else were white ancl all were cowled . Two secretaries sat at a bureau covered with a crimson cloth , ancl seven brethren seemed to sit at the end facing the President , on a special seat in a row . All were armed .

There was a sort of altar in the midst , on which was a sword , a halter , ancl a poignard , and this room was illuminated by four silver lamps in the middle , four silver lamps on pedestals in the four corners , a silver lamp on the President ' s desk , ancl two on the secretaries' bureau . We need not go through the ceremonies of Illuminati initiation , which were profane ancl senseless beyond almost all conception . It will suffice us to say that these " neophytes" were duly received ; after this begun the serious business of the evening . A cowled member rose from near the top of the room , and said , " I denounce the Marquis de Merilhac as an obstinate aristocrat ! "