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him so to order his arrangements as that he should seem to die in one place (to keep up the character of the natural manner of his life), by withdrawing himself, to reappear in another place as a new person at the time that seemed most convenient to him for the purpose. For everything, and every difficult thing, is easy to those with money; nor will the world inquire with too resolute a curiosity, if you have coolness and address, and if you have the art of accounting for things. The man of this order also is solus, and without wife or children to embarrass him in the private disposition. of his affairs, or to follow him too closely into his by-corners. Thus it will be seen that philosophers may live in the world, and have all these gifts, and yet be never heard of—or, if heard of, only as they themselves wish or suggest.

As an instance of the unexpected risks which a member of this order may run if he turns his attention to the practical side of his studies, spite of all his precautions, we may cite the accident which happened to a famous Englishman, who disguised himself under the name of Eugenius Philalethes, but whose real name is said to be Thomas Vaughan. He tells us of himself, that going to a goldsmith to sell twelve hundred marks' worth of gold, the man told him, at first sight, that it never came out of the mines, but was the production of art, as it was not of the standard of any known kingdom which proved so sudden a dilemma to the offerer of the gold, that he withdrew immediately, leaving it behind him. It naturally follows from this, that it is not only necessary to have gold, but that the gold shall be marketable or acceptable gold, as otherwise it is utterly useless for the purposes of conversion into money in this world. Thomas Vaughan, who was a scholar of Oxford, and was vehemently attacked in his lifetime, and who certainly was a Rosicrucian adept if there ever was one, led a wandering `life, and fell often into great perplexities and dangers from the mere suspicion that he possessed extraordinary secrets. He was born, as we learn from his writings, about the year 1612, which makes him a contemporary of the great English Rosicrucian, Robert Flood; and what is the strangest part

of his history, as we find remarked by a writer in 1749, is, that he is "believed by those of his fraternity"—so the author adds-" to be living even now; and a person of great credit at Nuremberg, in Germany, affirms that he conversed with him but a year or two ago. Nay, it is further asserted," continues the author, "that this very individual is the president of the Illuminated in Europe, and that he sits as such in all their annual meetings." Thomas Vaughan, according to the report of the philosopher Robert Boyle, and of others who knew him, was a man of remarkable piety, and of unstained morals. He has written and edited several invaluable works upon the secrets of the philosophers, some of which are in our possession; among others: Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis Palatium; Lumen de Lumine; Magia Adamica; Anima Magica Abscondita, and other learned books; advancing very peculiar theories concerning the seen and the unseen. These books were disbelieved at the time, and remain discredited, principally because they treat of eccentric and seemingly impossible things. It is, however, certain that we go but a very little way out of the usual learned track before we encounter puzzling matters, which may well set us investigating our knowledge, and looking with some suspicion upon its grounds, spite of all the pompous claims of modern philosophers, who are continually, on account of their conceitedness, making sad mistakes, and breaking down with their plausible systems.

"Progress and enlightenment are prerogatives to which no generation in particular can lay a special claim," says a modern writer, speaking of railways and their invention. "Intelligence like that of the Stephensons is born again and again, at lengthened intervals; and it is only these giants in wisdom who know how to carry on to perfection the knowledge which centuries have been piling up before them. But the age in which such men are cast is often unequal to appreciate the genius which seeks to elevate its aspiration. Thus it was in 1820 that Mr. William Brougham proposed to consign George Stephenson to Bedlam, for being the greatest benefactor of his time. But now that we

THE PHILOSOPHER HUME.

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have adopted somewhat fully his rejected ideas of steamlocomotion and high rates of speed, which were with so much difficulty forced upon us, we complacently call ourselves 'enlightened;' and doubtless we are tolerably safe in doing so, considering that the Stephensons, and similar scientific visionaries, no longer live to contradict us." We might add, that the Rosicrucians hold their critics in light esteem-indeed in very light esteem.

If such is the disbelief of science of everyday use, what chance of credit has the abstruser knowledge, and those assertions of power which contradict our most ordinary ideas of possibility? Common sense will answer, None at all. And yet all human conclusions and resolutions upon points which have been considered beyond the possibility of contradiction have been sometimes at fault. The most politic course is not too vigorously to take our stand upon any supposed fixed point of truth, but simply to admit that our knowledge is limited, that absolute truth is alone in the knowledge of God, and that no more truth is vouchsafed to man than he knows how to utilise most of his uses, even of his little quantum of truth, being perverted. He must await other states for greater light, and to become a higher creature should that be his happy destiny. As to certainty in this world, there is none-nor can there be any. Whether there is anything outside of man is uncertain. Hume has pointed out that there is no sequence between one and two. Other philosophers have ingeniously detected that our senses are all one, or all none. Man is the picture painted upon external matter, and external matter is the individuality that surveys the picture. In the world of physics, colours are tones in other senses, and tones are colours; sevenfold in either case, as the planetary powers and influences are septenary-which, in the ideas of the Rosicrucians, produce both.

Talisman of the Jaina Kings.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.

MYTHIC HISTORY OF THE FLEUR-DE-LIS.

HE maypole is a phallos. The ribbons depending from the discus, or ring, through which the maypole pierces, should be of the seven prismatic colours those of the rainbow (or Règne-beau). According to the Gnostics and their Remains, Ancient and Modern, a work by the Rev. C. W. King, M.A., published in 1864, Horapollo has preserved a talisman, or Gnostic gem, in yellow jasper, which presents the engraved figure of a "Cynocephalus, crowned, with bâton erect, adoring the first appearance of the new moon."

The phallic worship prevailed, at one time, all over India. It constitutes, as Mr. Sellon asserts, to this day one of the chief, if not the leading, dogma of the Hindoo religion. Incontestable evidence could be adduced to prove this-however strange and impossible it seems—the key of all worship the world over; and highest in esteem in the most highly civilised nations. Though it has degenerated into gross and sensual superstition, it was originally intended as the worship of the creative principle in Nature. Innumerable curious particulars lie scattered up and down, in all countries of the world, relating to this worship, mad as it seems —bad as, in its grossness, it is. It is only in modern times that sensuality, and not sublimity, has been actively asso

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ciated with this worship, however. There was a time when the rites connected with it were grand and solemn enough. The general diffusion of these notions regarding the Phalli and the Ioni, and of the sacred mystic suggestions implied in both, as well as the inflections in design of these unlikely, repulsive figures for serious worship, prove that there was something very extraordinary, and quite beyond belief to the moderns, in the origin of them. The religion of the Phallos (and of its twin emblem) is to be traced all over the East. It appears to be the earliest worship practised by man. It prevailed not only amongst the Hindoos, Assyrians, Babylonians, Mexicans, Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans, in ancient times, but it still forms an integral part of the worship of India, Thibet, China, Siam, Japan, and Africa. We cannot, therefore, afford to ignore this grand scheme of ritual, when we discover it to be a religion so widely spread, and reappearing so unexpectedly, not only in the countries. with which we are contemporaneously acquainted, but also in those old countries of which we in reality know very little, or nothing at all; for all history reads doubtfully, being written for popular purposes.

In the Temple-Herren of Nicolai there is an account of a Gnostic gem, or talisman, which represents a "Cynocephalus," with a lunar disc on his head, standing in the act of adoration, with sceptrum displayed, before a column engraved with letters, and supporting a triangle. This latter architectural figure is, in fact, an obelisk. All the Egyptian obelisks were Phalli. The triangle symbolises one of the Pillars of Hermes (Hercules). The Cynocephalus was sacred to him. The Pillars of Hermes have been Judaised into Solomon's "Jachin and Boaz." So says Herz, in regard to "Masonic Insignia." We will explain fully, later in our book, of these interesting sexual images, set up for adoration so strangely; and from the meaning of which we foolishly but determinedly avert.

We now propose to deduce a very original and a very elaborate genealogy, or descent, of the famous arms of France, the Fleurs-de-Lis, "Lucifera," Lisses, Luces, "Lu