The Illuminati;

practical eyes in this century it would seem very much as if the fears and credulity of the marquis had been played upon hy two knowing swindlers ; nevertheless , we give his recital as we find it . When the Illuminati , he assures us , have discovered among their Masonic novices a man sufficiently hot in zeal , sufficiently credulous , or possessed in a sufficient degree 01 those infamous qualities which

they require in their instruments , they propose to him to dedicate himself to their order and to consecrate his resolution by solemn oaths . Having agreed to this , he is conducted by a gloomy path into an immense hall , of which the roof , the floor , and the walls , are covered with black cloth , on which are represented flames of fire and threatening serpents . Three sepulchral lamps shed an uncertain light upon

the dismal scene , and enable him to gaze upon the bones of dead men suspended from the walls in funeral crape . In the centre of the place , a heap of skeletons forms a kind of altar , by the side of which are displayed open books ; if he examine these , he will find that , while some contain threats against the perjured , others reveal the fearful history of the vengeance which has overtaken those who have broken their

oaths . Eig ht hours elapse , when mysterious phantoms , clad in grave clothes , appear slowly and noiselessly to traverse the hall , and disappear in the gloom beyond , . without any sound , but leaving behind them a fetid smell The initiate is kept in this terrible place for twenty-four hours ,

until both body and mind are weakened by his long fast ; suddenly , at his feet appear three cups filled with a liquid of a greenish hue . Exhausted , he is induced to lift one to his lips ,. but finds it so particularly nasty that he is fain to cast it from him . At length appear two persons , who seem the very ministers of death ; they bind the forehead of the recipiendary with a rose-coloured ribbon tinged with blood ,

bearing sundry characters iu silver interspersed with the figure of Notre Dame de Lorette , and place in his hand a copper crucifix . They put on his neck a species of amulet covered with violet cloth . He is then stripped of his clothes , which two serving brothers place upon a funeral p ile at the other extremity of the chamber . They then trace on his naked body a cross with bloodand perform other disgusting

, and painful ceremonies . In this state of suffering and humiliation , he sees approach , with haughty steps , five phantoms armed with swords dripping with blood . Their faces are veiled ; they spread a carpet on the floor on which they kneel in the attitude of prayer , crossing their hands on their breasts and looking on the ground in profound silence . An hour is passed iii this penitent attitude . After this fatiguing

probation , p laintive accents are heard , the funeral pile is lit , but only throws a pale glimmer on the scene ; the clothing is consumed , while a colossal figure , nearly transparent , issues from the centre of the pile . At this sig ht the five men throw themselves into convulsions horrible to view . At length a tremulous voice pierces the chamber , and propounds the obligation , which certainly is atrociously blasphemous . If M , de Lnchet invented it ( which we strongly suspect ) , he certainly