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Article CURIOUS BOOKS.—I. Page 1 of 2 →
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Curious Books.—I.
CURIOUS BOOKS . —I .
BY BOOKWORM . TN 1714 , B . Lintott , at the Cross Keys , and E . Curll , at the Dial - * - and Bible , in Fleet-street , issued the " second edition " of the diverting history of the Count de Gabalis , an occult or Hermetic
work . The first edition appears to have been published in 1670 ( though we have not seen it ) , and in French , and is said to have been written by a certain Abbe de Villars , in ridicule of German Hermetic associations then said to be j ) revailing and spreading . The date of the original work is veiy remarkable and noteworthy , for it would
prove that at that period the " Societas Rosete Crucis " had an existence in Paris , and was of some influence , as people do not for the most part take the trouble to ridicule things or persons unless they fear their effects on others , or dislike their influence and pretensions . If this be so , we may fairly assume that the Fraternity of the Rose
Croix was in Paris about the middle of the seventeenth century ; and then comes the further question was it imported from Germany , or was the German movement the revival and expansion of a much older Hermetic association , such a one , for instance , as Cornelius AgTippa is said to have belonged to , and the general body of those who studied
the occult sciences ? This is an interesting and not an uninrportant question for Masonic students . In the " Count de Gabalis " we find traces of an admission to a
fraternity , or company , or association , which terms its members " the Children of Wisdom , " the "Society of Sages , " and the " admission into its ranks , " the " time of reception , " the "hour of regeneration , " and exhorts those who wish to enter into their Company to render themselves a " a worthy receptacle for the Cabalistic Lights . "
This Company is said to be composed of " Princes , Great Lords , Gentlemen of the Long Robe , handsome Ladies , and ugly ones , too , Doctors , Prelates , Monks , Nuns , in a word , people of every sort and kind . " If these words are to be literally understood , they point very much
and nearly to a quasi Masonic assembly . But we must always bear in mind that this work is written not in commendation but in satire , and we must not set too much store by its expressions ; still we have a right to use it to this extent , that as people do not generally write about what does not exist , such a society
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Curious Books.—I.
CURIOUS BOOKS . —I .
BY BOOKWORM . TN 1714 , B . Lintott , at the Cross Keys , and E . Curll , at the Dial - * - and Bible , in Fleet-street , issued the " second edition " of the diverting history of the Count de Gabalis , an occult or Hermetic
work . The first edition appears to have been published in 1670 ( though we have not seen it ) , and in French , and is said to have been written by a certain Abbe de Villars , in ridicule of German Hermetic associations then said to be j ) revailing and spreading . The date of the original work is veiy remarkable and noteworthy , for it would
prove that at that period the " Societas Rosete Crucis " had an existence in Paris , and was of some influence , as people do not for the most part take the trouble to ridicule things or persons unless they fear their effects on others , or dislike their influence and pretensions . If this be so , we may fairly assume that the Fraternity of the Rose
Croix was in Paris about the middle of the seventeenth century ; and then comes the further question was it imported from Germany , or was the German movement the revival and expansion of a much older Hermetic association , such a one , for instance , as Cornelius AgTippa is said to have belonged to , and the general body of those who studied
the occult sciences ? This is an interesting and not an uninrportant question for Masonic students . In the " Count de Gabalis " we find traces of an admission to a
fraternity , or company , or association , which terms its members " the Children of Wisdom , " the "Society of Sages , " and the " admission into its ranks , " the " time of reception , " the "hour of regeneration , " and exhorts those who wish to enter into their Company to render themselves a " a worthy receptacle for the Cabalistic Lights . "
This Company is said to be composed of " Princes , Great Lords , Gentlemen of the Long Robe , handsome Ladies , and ugly ones , too , Doctors , Prelates , Monks , Nuns , in a word , people of every sort and kind . " If these words are to be literally understood , they point very much
and nearly to a quasi Masonic assembly . But we must always bear in mind that this work is written not in commendation but in satire , and we must not set too much store by its expressions ; still we have a right to use it to this extent , that as people do not generally write about what does not exist , such a society