produced by the wright american fiction project.) tom clark and his wife, their double dreams, and the curious things that befell them therein; being the rosicrucian's story. by dr. p. b. randolph, "the dumas of america," author of "waa, gu-mah," "pre-adamite man," "dealings with the dead," "it isn't all right," "the unveiling of spiritism," "the grand secret," "human love--a physical substance," etc., etc., etc. new york: sinclair tousey, nassau street. . dear charles t----s: since we parted at the "golden gate," the weight of a world has rested on your shoulders, and i have suffered much, in my journeyings up and down the world, as wearily i wandered over zahara's burning sands and among the shrines and monuments of egypt, syria, and araby the blessed; separated in body, but united in soul, we have each sought knowledge, and, i trust, gained wisdom. _our work_ is just begun. one portion of that work consists in the endeavor to unmask villainy, and vindicate the sanctity and perpetuity of marriage. in this little work i have tried to do this, and believe that if the magic talisman herein recommended as a sovereign balm for the strifes and ills of wedlock, be faithfully used, that the great married world will adopt your motto and my own, and become convinced that in spite of much contrary seeming "we may be happy yet!" to you, and to such this book is affectionately dedicated by your friend and the world's, p. b. randolph. the rosicrucian's story. part i. the man. he used to pace rapidly up and down the deck for a minute or two, and then, suddenly striking his forehead, as if a new thought were just pangfully coming into being at the _major foci_ of his soul, he would throw himself prone upon one of the after seats of the old "uncle sam," the steamer in which we were going from san francisco to panama, and there he would lie, apparently musing, and evidently enjoying some sort of interior life, but whether that life was one of reverie, dream, or disembodiedness, was a mystery to us all, and would have remained so, but that on being asked, he very complaisantly satisfied our doubts, by informing us that on such occasion he, in spirit, visited a place not laid down in ordinary charts, and the name of which was the realm of "wotchergifterno," which means in english, "violinist's meadow" (very like "fiddler's green"). when not pacing the deck, or reclining, or gazing at the glorious sunsets on the sea, or the still more gorgeous sun-risings on the mountains, he was in the habit of--_catching flies_; which flies he would forthwith proceed to dissect and examine by means of a microscope constructed of a drop of water in a bent broom wisp. gradually the man became quite a favorite with both passengers and officers of the ship, and not a day passed but a crowd of ladies and gentlemen would gather around him to listen to the stories he would not merely recite, but compose as he went along, each one containing a moral of more than ordinary significance. it was apparent from the first that the man was some sort of a mystic, a dreamer, or some such out-of-the-ordinary style of person, because everything he said or did bore an unmistakable ghostly impress. he was sorrowful withal, at times, and yet no one on the ship had a greater or more humorous flow of spirits. in the midst, however, of his brightest sallies, he would suddenly stop short, as if at that moment his listening soul had caught the jubilant cry of angels when god had just pardoned some sinful, storm-tossed human soul. one day, during the progress of a long and interesting conversation on the nature of that mysterious thing called the human soul, and in which our fellow passenger had, as usual, taken a leading part, with the endeavor to elicit, as well as impart, information, he suddenly changed color, turned almost deathly pale, and for full five minutes, perhaps more, looked straight into the sky, as if gazing upon the awful and ineffable mysteries of that weird phantom-land which intuition demonstrates, but cold reason utterly rejects or challenges for tangible proof. long and steadily gazed the man; and then he shuddered--shuddered as if he had just received some fearful solution of the problem near his heart. and i shuddered also--in pure sympathy with what i could not fairly understand. at length he spoke; but with bated breath, and in tones so low, so deep, so solemn, that it seemed as though a dead, and not a living man, gave utterance to the sounds: "lara! lara! ah, lovely! would that i had gone _then_--that i were with thee now!" and he relapsed into silence. surprised, both at his abruptness, change of manner and theme--for ten minutes before, and despite the solemnity of the conversational topic, he had been at a fever heat of fun and hilarity--i asked him what he meant. accustomed, as we had been, to hear him break in upon the most grave and dolorous talk with a droll observation which instantly provoked the most unrestrainable, hilarious mirth; used, as we had been to hear him perpetrate a joke, and set us all in a roar in the very midst of some heart-moving tale of woe, whereat our eyes had moistened, and our pulses throbbed tumultuously, yet i was not, even by all this, prepared for the singular characteristic now presented. in reply to my question, he first wiped away an involuntary tear, as if ashamed of his weakness; then raised his head, and exclaimed: "lara! lara! the beautiful one!" "what of her?" asked colbert, who sat opposite him, and who was deeply moved at his evident distress, and whose curiosity, as that of us all, was deeply piqued. "listen," said he, "and i will tell you;" and then, while we eagerly drank in his words, and strove to drink in their strange and wondrous meaning (first warning us that what he was about to say was but the text of something to be thereafter told), he leaned back upon the taffrail, and while the steamer gently plowed her way toward acapulco and far-off panama, said: "fleshless, yet living, i strode through the grand old hall of a mighty temple. i had been compelled to climb the hills to reach the wall that bars the gates of glory, and now within my heart strange pulses beat the while. i found myself upon the verge of a vast extended plain, stretching out to the infinitudes, as it seemed, through the narrow spaces wherein the vision was not obstructed by certain dense, convolving vapor-clouds that ever and anon rose from off the murky breast of the waters of the river of lethe, that rolled hard by and skirted the immense prairie on and over which i proposed to travel, on my way from minus to plus--from nothing to something, from bad to good, and from better to best--travelling toward my unknown, unimagined destiny--travelling from the _now_ toward the _shall be_. and i stood and mutely gazed--gazed at the dense, dark shadows rolling murkily, massily over the plain and through the spaces--dim shadows of dead worlds. no sound, no footfall, not even mine own--not an echo broke the stillness. i was alone!--alone upon the vast solitude--the tremendous wastes of an unknown, mysterious, unimagined eterne--unimagined in all its fearful stillitude! within my bosom there was a heart, but no pulse went from it bounding through my veins; no throb beat back responsive life to my feeling, listening spirit. i and my soul were there alone; we only--the thinking self, and the self that ever knows, but never thinks--were there. my heart was not cold, yet it was more: it was, i felt, changed to solid stone--changed all save one small point, distant, afar off, like unto the vague ghost of a long-forgotten fancy; and this seemed to have been the penalty inflicted for things done by me while on the earth; for it appeared that i was dead, and that my soul had begun an almost endless pilgrimage--to what?--to where? a penalty! and yet no black memory of red-handed crime haunted me, or lurked in the intricacies of the mystic wards of my death-defying soul; and i strode all alone adown the uncolumned vistas of the grand old temple--a temple whose walls were builded of flown seconds, whose tesselated pavements were laid in sheeted hours, whose windows on one side opened upon the gone ages, and on the other upon the yet to be; and its sublime turrets pierced the clouds, which roll over and mantle the hoary summits of the grey mountains of time! and so i and my soul walked through this temple by ourselves--alone! "with clear, keen gaze, i looked forth upon the vastness, and my vision swept over the floors of all the dead years; yet in vain, for the things of my longing were not there. i beheld trees, but all their leaves were motionless, and no caroling bird sent its heart-notes forth to waken the dim solitudes into life and music--which are love. there were stately groves beneath the arching span of the temple's massy dome, but no amphian strains of melody fell on the ear, or filled the spaces, from their myriad moveless branches, or from out their fair theatres. all was still. it was a palace of frozen tones, and only the music of silence (which is vocal, if we listen well) prevailed; and i, paschal the thinker, and my thought--strange, uncouth, yet mighty but moveless thought--were the only living things beneath the expansive dome. living, i had sacrificed all things--health, riches, honor, fame, ease, even love itself, for thought, and by thought had overtopped many who had started on the race for glory long ere my soul had wakened to a consciousness of itself--which means power. in life i had, so it seemed, builded stronger than i thought, and had reached a mental eminence--occupied a throne so lofty--that mankind wondered, stood aloof, and gazed at me from afar off; and by reason of my thought had gathered from me, and thus condemned the thinker to an utter solitude, even in the most thronged and busy haunts of men; and i walked through earth's most crowded cities more lonely than the hermit of the desert, whose eyes are never gladdened by the sight of human form, and through the chambers of whose brain no human voice goes ringing. thus was it on earth; and now that i had quitted it forever, with undaunted soul, strong purpose, and fearless tread, assured of an endless immortality, and had entered upon the life of thinking, still was i alone. had my life, my thinking, and my action on thought been failures? the contemplation of such a possibility was bitter, very bitter--even like unto painful death--and yet it seemed true that failure had been mine--failure, notwithstanding men by thousands spoke well of me and of my works--the children of my thought--and bought my books in thousands. failure? my soul rejected the idea in utter loathing. for a moment the social spirit, the heartness of my nature over-shadowed reason, and caused me to forget that, even though confined by dungeon walls, stricken with poverty, deformity, sin or disease--even though left out to freeze in the cold world's spite--yet the thinker is ever the world's true and only king. i had become, for a moment, oblivious of the fact that failure was an impossibility. _rosicrucians never fail!_" * * * * "but now, as i slowly moved along, i felt my human nature was at war with the god-nature within, and that heart for a while was holding the head in duress. i longed for release from solitude; my humanity yearned for association, and would have there, on the breast of the great eterne, given worlds for the company of the lowliest soul i had ever beheld--and despised, as i walked the streets of the cities of the far-off earth. i yearned for human society and affection, and could even have found blissful solace with--a dog! just such a dog as, in times past, i had scornfully kicked in cairo and stamboul. even a dog was denied me now--all affection withheld from me--and in the terrible presence of its absence i longed for death, forgetting again that soul can never die. i longed for that deeper extinguishment which should sweep the soul from being, and crown it with limitless, eternal night--forgetful, again, that the memories of soul must live, though the rememberer cease to be, and that hence horrors would echo through the universe--children mourning for their suicidal parent, and that parent myself! "and i lay me down beneath a tree in despair--a tree which stood out all alone from its fellows, in a grove hard by--a tree all ragged and lightning-scathed--an awful monument, mute, yet eloquently proclaiming to the wondering on-looker that god had passed that way, in fierce, deific wrath, once upon a time, in the dead ages, whose ashes now bestrewed the floors of the mighty temple of eterne. "it was dreadful, very dreadful, to be all alone. true, the pangs of hunger, the tortures of thirst, the fires of ambition, and the raging flames of earthly passion no longer marred my peace. pain, such as mortals feel, was unknown; no disease racked my frame, or disturbed the serenity of my external being--for i was immortal, and could laugh all these and death itself to scorn; and yet a keener anguish, a more fearful suffering, was mine. i wept, and my cries gave back no outer sound, but they rang in sombre echoes through the mighty arches, the bottomless caverns, the abyssmal deeps of soul--my soul--racking it with torments such as only thinking things can feel. such is the lot, such the discipline of the destined citizens of the farther empyrean--a region known only to the brethren of the temple of peerless rosicrucia!" * * * * "sleep came--sweet sleep--deep and strange; and in it i dreamed. methought i still wandered gloomily beneath the vast arches of the grand old hall, until at last, after countless cycles of ripe years had been gathered back into the treasury of the _etre supreme_, i stood before a solid, massive door, which an inscription thereabove announced as being the entrance to the garden of the beatitudes. this door was secured by a thousand locks, besides one larger than all the rest combined. every one of these locks might be opened, but the opener could not pass through unless he unfastened the master-lock having ten thousand bolts and wards. "once more despair seized on my soul, in this dream which was not all a dream; for to achieve an entrance through the gate without the master-key was a task, so said the inscription, that would defy the labors of human armies for periods of time utterly defying man's comprehension--so many were the difficulties, so vastly strong the bolts. "sadly, mournfully, i turned away, when, as if by chance--forgetting that there is no such thing as chance--my eye encountered a rivetless space upon the solid brazen door--a circular space, around the periphery of which was an inscription running thus: 'man only fails through feebleness of will!' within this smooth circle was the semblance of a golden triangle, embracing a crystalline globe, winged and beautiful, crowned with a rosicrucian cypher, while beneath it stood out, in fiery characters, the single word, 'try!' the very instant i caught the magic significance of these divine inscriptions, a new hope was begotten in my soul; despair fled from me, and i passed into "a dream within a dream. "what a change! during my slumber it seemed that i had been transported to the summit of a very lofty mountain, yet still within the temple. by my side stood an aged and saintly man, of regal and majestic presence. he was clad in an oriental garb of the long-gone ages, and his flowing robes were bound to his waist by a golden band, wrought into the similitude of a shining serpent--the sacred emblem of eternal wisdom. around his broad and lofty brow was a coronet of silver, dusted with spiculæ of finest diamond. on the sides of the centre were two scarabei, the symbol of immortality; and between them was a pyramid, on which was inscribed a mystical character which told, at the same time, that his name was ramus the great.[ ] [footnote : the same known historically as thothmes, or thotmor the third, king of all egypt, in the th dynasty, and sixty-ninth chief or grand master of the superlative order of gebel al maruk--since known, in christian lands, as the order of the brethren of the rosie cross, and now known in america and europe, where it still thrives, as the imperial order of rosicrucia.] "this royal personage spake kindly to me, and his soft tones fell upon the hearing of my soul like the words of pardon to the sense of sinners at the judgment seat. 'look, my son,' said he, at the same time pointing toward a vast procession of the newly-risen dead--a spectral army on the sides of the mountain, slowly, steadily, mournfully wending their way toward the part of the temple i had quitted previous to the commencement of this dream within a dream. said the man at my side: 'yonder host of pilgrims are men and women who are seeking, as thou hast sought, to unbar the gates of glory, that they may pass through them into the delightful garden of the beatitudes. it is one thing to be endowed with intellectual strength, knowledge and immortality; it is another to be wise and happy. the first is a boon granted to all the children of earth alike; the last can only be attained by integral development--by self-endeavor, by innate goodness and god-ness continually manifested--and this in material and aromal worlds alike. man is man and woman is woman, wherever they may be! the true way to the garden lies not through manifestation corridor, but through the hall of silence! and each aspirant must open the door for himself alone. failing to enter, as thou hast failed, each must turn back, and, like thee, come hither to mount retrospect, and entering into the labyrinths within its sides, must search for the triple key, which alone can unbar the gate, and admit to the beautiful garden! remember! despair not! try!' and in an instant the phantom-man turned from me, and with outstretched arms, and benignance beaming from every feature, hied him toward the ascending army. "again i stood alone, not now in despondency and gloom, but in all the serene strength of noble, conscious manhood--not the actual, but the certain and glorious possibility thereof. my soul had grown. it was aware of all its past short-comings, failures, and its hatreds toward two men who had done me deadly wrong. this feeling still survived--stronger than ever, now that i was across the bridge of hours, and had become a citizen of the inner land--a wanderer through eternity. that hate was as immortal as my deathless soul. will it ever be? and yet i had ever meant well. all was calm in my spirit, save this single awful thing. in this spirit, with this consciousness--not of deep malignance, but of outraged justice--i began to look for the mysterious key; and as i looked, an instinct told me that the key must consist of certain grand human virtues, and corresponding good deeds, held and done before i left the shores of time and embarked upon the strange and mystic sea whereon my soul's fortunes were now cast. "and so i searched, and at last seemed to have found what i sought; and thereupon i wished myself once more before the brazen gate. instantly, as if by magic, the wish was realized, and i stood before at, on the same spot formerly occupied. the first inscription, the symbols and circle had disappeared, and in their stead was another circle, containing these lines: 'speak, for thou shalt be heard! tell what thou hast done to elevate thy fellow men, and to round out the angles of thine own soul. whom hast thou uplifted, loved, hated? speak, and when the words containing the key are spoken, the door will yield, and thou mayest pass the threshold.' "the writing slowly faded, and left naught but a surface, but that surface as of molten gold. i spoke aloud my claim to entrance, and, to my astonishment, my voice rang out shrill and clear, through the vaults and arches of the mighty dome towering far above my head. 'i have suffered from infancy--been opposed from the cradle to maturity--been hated, robbed, slandered on all sides, yet pushed forward in defiance of all, until i reached all that i desired--all that earth could give me. self-educated, i achieved triumphs where others failed; have reaped laurels and grasped the keys of fame, and laughed at my folly afterwards, because what is fame? a canker, gnawing out one's life when living, disturbing his repose when dead--not worth a straw! but, in all this, despite the ending, i have set an example, by following which man might elevate himself, society be improved, and its constituents realize the bliss of moving in loftier spheres of usefulness!' while giving voice to these truths, i firmly expected to see the gate fly open at their conclusion. but what was my horror and dismay to see that it moved not at all, while the echoes of my speech gave back in frightfully resonant waves of sound the last word, 'usefulness!' "not being able to think of any nobler achievements, i cast my eyes groundward, and, on again raising them, i beheld, across the clear space on the door, the single word, 'try!' "taking heart again, i said, 'alone i sought the secret of restoring health to the sick, and gave it freely to the world, without money, without price. i have made grand efforts to banish sloth, sin, ignorance; have ever upheld the honor of the cross, and the sweet religion it symbolizes. striving ever to upraise the veil that hides man from himself, in the effort i have been misapprehended, my motives impugned, and my reward has been poverty, slander, disgrace. in the strife, i have been heedless to every call save that of human duty, and, in obeying the behests of a nobler destiny, have been regardless of all worldly distinction; have ignored wealth, fame, honorable place in the world's esteem, and even been deaf to the calls of love!' "i ceased, and again the vault threw back my last word, and all the arches echoed 'love!' "the gate moved not, but once more appeared upon the golden lozenge on the door the word 'try!' in greater brightness than before, while it seemed to the hearing sense of my spirit that a thousand velvet whispers--low, _so_ low, gently cadenced back 'love!' "'i have rebuked the immoral, humbled the lofty and overbearing, exposed deception, comforted the mourner, redeemed the harlot, reformed the thief, fed the orphan and upheld the rights and dignity of labor!' "still the door moved not, but again the echoes gave back the last word, 'labor!' "'i have preached immortality to thousands, and prevailed on them to believe it; have written of, and everywhere proclaimed its mighty truths. i have beaten the sceptic, confirmed the wavering, reassured the doubting, and through long and bitter years, in both hemispheres of the globe, have declared that if a man die, he shall live again; thus endeavoring to overthrow error, establish truth, banish superstition, and on their ruins lay the deep and broad foundations of a better faith!' "as if a myriad voices chimed out my last syllable, there rang through the spacious halls and corridors of the temple, the sublime word, 'faith!' and instantly the bolts appeared to move within their iron wards. continuing, i said: 'i have ever endeavored, save in one single instance, to foster, and in all cases have a spirit of forgiveness.' "this time there was no mistake. the thousand bolts flew back, the ponderous brazen gate moved forward and back, like a vast curtain, as if swayed by a gentle wind; while a million silvery voices sang gloriously, 'in all cases have a spirit of forgiveness!' "joyously i tried again, intuition plainly telling me that only one thing more was necessary to end my lonely pilgrimage, and exalt me to the blessed companionship of the dear ones whom i so longed to join in their glory-walks adown the celestial glades and vistas of god's garden of the beatitudes. i spoke again: "'i have fallen from man's esteem in pursuance of what appeared to be my duty. a new faith sprung up in the land, and unwise zealots brought shame and bitter reproach against and upon it. lured by false reasoning, i yielded to the fascinations of a specious sophistry, and for awhile my soul languished under the iron bondage of a powerful and glittering falsehood. at length, seeing my errors, i strove to correct them, and to sift the chaff from the true and solid grain; but the people refused to believe me honest, and did not, would not understand me; but they insisted that in denouncing error, i ignored the living truths of god's great economy; yet still i labored on, trying to correct my faults, and to cultivate the queen of human virtues, charity!' scarcely had this last word escaped my lips, than the massive portals flew wide open, disclosing to my enraptured gaze such a sight of supernal and celestial beauty, grandeur, and magnificence, as human language is totally inadequate to describe; for it was such, as it stood there revealed before my ravished soul; and i may not here reveal the wondrous things i saw and heard.... lara, lara, my beautiful one, the dear dead maiden of the long agone, stood before me, just within the lines of paradise. she loved me still--aye, the dear maiden of my youth had not forgotten the lover of her early and her earthly days-- "'when i was a boy, and she was a girl, in the city by the sea,' ere the cruel death had snatched her from my arms, and love, a long, long time ago; for the love of the indian, as _his hatred, survives the grave_.... and she said, 'paschal, my beloved--lone student of the weary world--i await thy entrance here. but thou mayest not enter now, because no hatred can live inside these gates of bliss. wear it out, discard it. thou art yet incomplete, thy work is still unfinished. thou hast found the keys! go back to earth, and give them to thy fellow-men. teach, first _thyself_, and _then_ thy brethren, that usefulness, love, labor, forgiveness, faith and charity, are the only keys which are potent to cure all ill, and unbar the gates of glory.' "'lara! beautiful lara, i obey thee! wait for me, love. i am coming soon!' i cried, as she slowly retreated, and the gate closed again. 'not yet, not yet,' i cried, as with extended arms i implored the beauteous vision to remain--but a single instant longer. but she was gone. i fell to the ground in a swoon. when i awoke again, i found the night had grown two hours older than it was when i sat down in the chair in my little chamber in bush street, the little chamber which i occupied in the goodly city of the golden gate." thus spake the rosicrucian. we were all deeply moved at the recital, and one after the other we retired to our rooms, pondering on the story and its splendid moral. next day we reached acapulco, and not till we had left and were far on our way toward panama, did we have an opportunity of listening to the sermon to the eloquent text i have just recounted. at length he gave it, as nearly as it can possibly be reproduced, in the following words: part ii. the double dream. ----"and saw within the moonlight of his room---- an angel, writing in a book of gold."--leigh hunt. "and so you like the text, do you? very well, i will now see how much better you will be pleased with the sermon. listen: "'i cannot and will not stand this any longer. here am i, yet a young man--in the very prime and heyday of life, and i do believe that i shall be a regular corpse in less than no time, if a change for the better don't very soon take place in my family; that's just as certain as "open and shut." she, ah, _she_, is killing me by inches--the vampire! would that i had been thirty-five million of miles the other side of nowhere the day i married her. don't i though, betsey--betsey clark is killing me! no love, no kindness, not a soft look, never a gentle smile. oh, don't i wish somebody's funeral was over; but not mine; for i feel quite capable of loving, of being happy yet, and of making somebody's daughter happy likewise. people may well say that marriage is a lottery--a great lottery; for, if there's one thing surer than another, then it is perfectly certain that i have drawn the very tallest kind of a blank; and hang me, if it wasn't for the disgrace of the thing, if i wouldn't run off and hitch myself for life to one of the hottentots i have read about; for anything would be better than this misery, long strung out. oh, don't i wish i was a turk! when a fellow's a turk he can have ever so many wives--and strangle all of 'em that don't suit him or come to taw--as they ought to. bully for the turks! i wish i knew how to turn myself into one. if i did, i'd be the biggest kind of a mohammedan afore mornin'!' "such was the substance of about the thousandth soliloquy on the same subject, to the same purport, delivered by mr. thomas w. clark, during the last seven years of his wedded life. "the gentleman named delivered himself of the contented and philanthropic speech just recited, on the morning of a fine day, just after the usual morning meal--and quarrel with his--wife, _de jure_--female attendant would better express the relation _de facto_. mr. clark was not yet aware that a woman is ever just what her husband's conduct makes her--a thing that some husbands besides himself have yet to learn. "every day this couple's food was seasoned with sundry and divers sorts of condiments other than those in the castor. there was a great deal of pickle from his side of the gay and festive board, in the shape of jealous, spiteful innuendoes; and from her side much delicate _sauce piquante_, in the form of sweet allusions to a former husband, whom she declared to have been 'the very best husband that was ever sent to'--a premature grave by a vixen--she might have added, truthfully, but did not, finishing the sentence with, 'to be loved by a tender, gentle wife'--like her! the lady had gotten bravely over all her amiable weaknesses long ago. gentle! what are tigresses? tender! what is a virago? so far the man. now for his mate. "scarcely had her lord--'mr. thomas w.,' as she was wont to call him--gone out of the house, and slammed the door behind him, at the same time giving vent to the last bottleful of spleen distilled and concocted in his soul, than 'mrs. thomas w.,' or poor betsey clark, as i prefer to call her--for she was truly, really pitiable, for more reasons than one, but mainly because she had common sense and would not exercise it sufficiently to make the best of a bad bargain--threw herself upon the bed, where she cried a little, and raved a good deal, to the self-same tune as of yore. getting tired of both these delightful occupations very soon, she varied them by striking an attitude before a portrait of the dear defunct--badly executed--the portrait, not the man--whose name she bore when she became mistress thomas w. this picture of a former husband tom clark had not had courage or sense enough to put his foot through, but did have bad taste sufficient to permit to hang up in the very room where he lived and ate, and where its beauties were duly and daily expatiated upon, and the virtues of its original lauded to the skies, of course to the intense delight of mr. clark. "madam had a tongue--a regular patent, venom-mounted, back-spring and double-actioned tongue, and, what is more, knew well how to use it when the fit was on, which, to do her justice, was not more than twenty-three hours and a half each day. never did an opportunity offer that she did not avail herself of to amplify the merits of the deceased, especially in presence of such visitors as chance or business brought to their house, all to the especial delectation of her living spouse, mr. thomas w. clark. "just look at her now! there she is, _kneeling_ at her shrine, my lady gay, vehemently pouring forth the recital of her wrongs--forgetful of any one else's, as usual with the genus grumbler--dropping tears and maledictions, now on her own folly, then on the devoted head of him she had promised to love, honor, and obey, mr. clark, fruit-grower, farmer, and horse-dealer. exhausted at length, she winds up the dramatic scene by invoking all the blessings of all the saints in all the calendars on the soul of him whose counterfeit presentment hangs there upon the wall. "if this couple did not absolutely hate each other, they came so near it that a philadelphia lawyer would have been puzzled to tell t'other from which, and yet nobody but themselves had the least idea of the real state of things--those under-currents of married life that only occasionally breach through and extensively display themselves in the presence of third parties. in the very nature of the case, how absurd it is for outsiders to presume to know the real _status_ of affairs--to comprehend the actual facts which exist behind the curtains of every or any married couple in the land. hymen is a fellow fond of wearing all sorts of masks and disguises; and it often happens that tons of salt exist where people suppose nothing but sugar and lollypops are to be found. "tom and his wife--the latter, especially--pretended to a vast deal of loving-kindness--oh, how great--toward each other--and they were wise--in the presence of other people. you would have thought, had you seen them billing and cooing like a pair of 'turkle doves'--to quote the 'bard of baldwinsville'--that there never was so true, so perfect a union as their own; and would not have entertained the shadow of a doubt but that they had been expressly formed for each other from the foundations of the world, if not before. no sooner did they meet--before folks, even after the most trifling absence--than they mutually fell to kissing and 'dearing,' like two swains just mated, all of which made fools wonder, but wise people to grieve. physical manifestations are not quite love's methods; and it is a safe rule that those who most ape love externally, have less of it within--and in private, so great a difference is there between behind and before, in these matters of the heart. billing and cooing before folks acts as a nauseant upon sensible men and women, and in this case it did upon a few of the better class of the city of santa blarneeo, within a few miles of which clark lived. "betsey clark gave a last, long, lingering look at the portrait, saying the while: 'don't i wish you were alive and back here again, my love, my darling, my precious duck?' lucky for him was it that such could not be; for had it been possible, and actualized, he would have been finely plucked, not to say roasted, stewed, perpetually broiled, and in every way done brown. 'if you were here, i should be happy, because you _was_ a man; but this one (meaning tom), bah!' and the lady bounced upon her feet and kicked the cat by way of emphasis. she resumed: 'i can't stand it, and i won't, there! that's flat! i'm still young, and people of sense tell me i am handsome--at least, good-looking. i'm certain the glass does, and no doubt there are plenty who would gladly link their lot with mine if he was only dead!' and she shuddered as the fearful thought had birth. 'dead! i wish he was; and true as i live, i've a great good mind to accomplish my wish!' and again she shuddered. poor woman, she was indeed tempted of the devil! as the horrible suggestion flashed across the sea of her soul, it illumined many a deep chasmal abyss, of whose existence, up to that moment she had been utterly unaware. "the human soul is a fearful thing, especially when it stands bare before the eternal eye, with myriad snake-forms--its own abnormal creation, writhing round and near it. a fearful thing! and betsey clark trembled in the ghastly presence of uncommitted murder, whose glance of lurid flame set fire to her heart, and scorched and seared it with consuming heat. its flashful light lasted but for a moment; but even that was a world too long, for it illumined all the dark caverns of her soul, and disclosed to the horrified gaze of an aërial being which that instant chanced to pass that way--an abyssmal deep of crime-possibility, so dense, black and terrible, that it almost shrivelled the eyeballs and shrouded the vision of the peerless citizen of the upper courts of glory. "suddenly the radiant heaven-born ceased its flight through the azure, looked pityingly earth and heaven-ward, heaved a deep and soul-drawn sigh, and stayed awhile to gaze upon the woman and the man. long it gazed, at first in sorrow, but presently a smile passed across its face, as if a new and good thought had struck it, and then it darted off into space, as if intent upon discovering a cure for the desperate state of things just witnessed. 'did it succeed?' wait awhile and see. "human nature is a very curious and remarkable institution; so is woman nature, only a great deal more so--especially that of the california persuasion. still it was not a little singular that tom's wife's mind should have engendered (of hate and impatience) the precise thought that agitated his own at that very minute--that very identical crime-thought which had just rushed into being from the deeps of his own spirit--twin monsters, sibilating 'murder!' in both their ears. "there is as close a sympathy between opposites and antagonists, indeed far greater, than between similarities--as strong attractions between opposing souls as in those fashioned in the same mould. true, this affirmation antagonizes many notions among current philosophies and philosophers; but it is true, notwithstanding, and therefore so much the worse for the philosophers. "the same fearful thought troubled two souls at the same time, and each determined to do a little private killing on their own individual and separate accounts. as yet, however, only the intent existed. the plans were yet crude, vague, immature, and only the crime loomed up indistinctly, like a grim, black mountain through a wintry fog. "the day grew older by twelve hours, but when the sunset came, ten years had fastened themselves upon the brows of both the woman and the man since last they had parted at rosy morn. "bad thoughts are famous for making men grow old before the weight of years has borne them earthward. they wrinkle the brow and bring on decrepitude, senility and grey hairs faster than time himself can possibly whirl bodies graveward. the rolling hours and the circling years are less swift than evil thoughts of evil doing. right doing, innocence, and well-wishing make us young; bad thoughts rob us of youth, vivacity, and manhood! let us turn to mr. and mrs. thomas w.: "'night was on the mountain, darkness in the valley, and only stars could guide them now in the doubtful rally.' "there _was_ a star hung out in the sky, and she had already determined to watch their destinies; with what success, and in what manner, will be apparent before finishing my story, every word of which is true in one sense, if not precisely in another. �the sun had set, and slowly the moon was uprising--blessed moon! god's left eye, wherewith he at night overlooketh the thoughts and deeds of solitary men and solitary women--for only such are capable of crime--those only who are, and live alone--and many such there be, even at their own firesides, surrounded by their own families, own flesh, own blood--fathers, mothers, wives (as times go), husbands (as they are conventionally called). many there be who exist in dreadful solitudes in the very midst of human crowds--who live alone and pass through life, from the cradle to the grave, perfect strangers, perfect hermits, wholly unknowing, totally unknown, like interlopers on the globe, whose very right to be here all the world disputes. friends, i have seen many such--have you? these lonely people, these exotics, these insulars in the busy haunts of men--the teeming hives of commerce--alone in earth's well-paced market-towns--in the very saturnalia of trade's gala days; and they are to be pitied, because they all have human, yearning hearts, filled to the brim with great strangling sorrows; and they have high and holy aspirations, only that the world chokes them down--crushes out the pure, sweet life god gave them. these are the unloved ones; yet ought not to be, for are they not somebody's sons and daughters? yes! then they have rights; and the first, greatest, highest right of all is the right of being loved--loved by the people of the land--our world-cousins, for what we do, are doing, or have done; and to be loved, for the sake of the dear soul within, by somebody else's son or daughter. "so think we of the rosicrucian order; so, one day, will think the world." at this point of the rosicrucian's narrative, captain jones, one of his auditory, interrupted him with: "why, i thought the rosicrucian system had been dead, buried, and forgotten two centuries ago." he replied: "the false or pseudo-rosicrucian system has ceased to be. truth herself is deathless. i cannot now stop to explain what interests you concerning the revived system of rosicrucianism. you will now please to allow me to proceed with my story," said he, and then resumed, saying: "i repeat that only those who live alone, unloved, unloving, are they who, becoming morbid, having all their kindly feelings driven back upon themselves, daily, hourly eating up their own hearts--brooding over their wrongs, their social and other misfortunes--at length engender crime, if not against their fellow-men, then against themselves. "oh, for something to love, and be loved by, if but a little pet dog! the unloved ever are wrecked, the unloving ever wreck others. it is sweet to be loved by even a dumb brute! but, ah, how inexpressibly, how infinitely better to be endeared for yourself alone!--for your integral wealth of soul--by a man, a full, true man; by a woman, a full, gushing-hearted woman; or, sweeter, dearer still, a child--some glorious hero of a hobby-horse, some kitten-torturing cora! ah, what a chord to touch! i am very fond of children--dear little godlings of the ages. those who reciprocate affection truly, are too full of god to keep a devil's lodging-house. it is a dear thing to feel the great truth--one of rosicrucia's truths--that nothing is more certain than that somewhere, perhaps on earth, perhaps in some one of the innumerable aromal worlds--star-spangles on god's diadem--or from amidst the mournful monodies in material creation--some one loves us; and that there goeth up a prayer, sweet-toned as seraph-harps, to him for you, my weary brother, for you, my sister of the dark locks turning prematurely grey; for all of us whose paths through life have been thickly strewn with thorns and rocks, sharp boulders and deep and frightful pit-falls--great threatening, yawning gulfs: "'oh, the little birds sing east, and the little birds sing west, toll slowly. and i smile to think god's greatness flows around our incompleteness, round our restlessness his rest.' "somebody loves us for ourselves' sake. thank god for that! "and the pale, silver shield of the moon hangs out in the radiant blue, and myriad gods look down, through starry eyes, upon this little world, as it floats, a tiny bubble, on space's vast ocean; and they speak through their eyes, and bid us all love the supreme, by loving one another; and they say, 'love much! such is the whole duty of man.' the moon, god's night-eye, takes note of all ye do, and is sometimes forced to withdraw behind cloud-veils, that ye may not behold her sweet features while she weeps at the sad spectacle of thy wrong doing! luna, gentle luna, does not like to peer down into human souls, and there behold the slimy badness, which will ere long breed deeds of horror to make her lovely face more pale--things which disfigure the gardens of man's spirit, and transform them into tangled brakes, where only weeds and unsightly things do grow. and luna has a recording angel sitting on her shield, whose duty is to flash all intelligence up to his deific brain, in whose service she hath ever been. he is just, inexorably just, ever rewarding as man sinneth or obeys. and so it is poor policy to sin by night. it is equally so to sin by day; for then the sun--god's right eye--fails not to behold you, for he is always shining, and his rays pierce the clouds and light up the world, even though thick fogs and dense vapors conceal his radiant countenance from some. he sees man, though man beholds him not; and he photographs all human thoughts and deeds upon the very substance of the soul, and that, too, so well and deeply, that nothing will destroy the picture; no sophistical 'all right' lavements can wash it away, no philosophic bath destroy it. they are indelible, these sun-pictures on the spirit, and they are, some of them, very unsightly things to hang in the grand memory-galleries of the imperishable human soul; for, in the coming epochs of existence, as man moves down the corridors of time, these pictures will still hang upon the walls, and if evil, will peer down sadly and reproachfully, and fright many a joy away, when man would fain be rid, but cannot, of pain-provoking recollections, when his body shall be stranded on the shores of the grave, and his spirit is being wafted over strange and mystic seas on the farther brink of time! "night had come down, and mr. and mrs. thomas w. retired to bed, each with thoughts of murder rankling in their hearts. not a word was spoken, but they lay with throbbing pulses, gazing out upon the night, through a little window at the foot of the bed, whose upper sash was down--gazing out upon the starry lamps that skirt the highways of the sky, beacons of safety placed there to recall and guide all stray and wandering souls back on their way to heaven! and they silently looked at the stars as they twinkled and shimmered in the azure. "the stars shone; and strange, horrible, ghastly thoughts agitated the woman and the man. 'tom _might_ get sick, and he might _die_! isn't it possible to feed him with a little arsenic, or some other sort of poison, and not get caught at it? i think it _is_. he, once dead, i shall be free--free as the air, and happy as the birds!' happy! think of it! "'is it not possible to push betsey over the cliff, _accidentally_, of course, and thus rid myself of her and misery together, and forever!' forever! picture it! and thus they lay as the night wore on, two precious immortal souls, with rank murder for a bed-fellow. "at the end of an hour's cogitation, both had reached the desperate resolution to carry their wishes into execution, and attempt the fearful crime. "'come down in thy profoundest gloom-- without one radiant firefly's light, beneath thine ebon arch entomb earth from the gaze of heaven, o night. a deed of darkness must be done, put out the moon, roll back the sun.' "betsey was to 'season' tom's coffee; he was very fond of coffee. tom was to treat betsey to a ride in a one-horse shay, and topple the shay, horse, and mrs. thomas w.--all except his mother's only son--over a most convenient and inviting little precipice, a trifle over four hundred feet deep, with boulders at the bottom rather thicker than autumn leaves in vallambrossa, and a good deal harder. all this was to be the result of 'accident,' and 'inscrutible providence,' as a matter of course. afterwards he was to buy a 'slashing suit' of mourning, bury what was left of her in grand style, erect a fine headstone of marble, announcing that-- "'the lord gave, and the lord took away, blessed be the name of the lord!' an inscription many a spouse would like to read in their own cases! "the proposed locality of the fall of woman 'luckily' lay right on the road between their house and santa blarneeo. each thought, 'i may not be able to achieve the exploit upon which i am bent, but one thing is certain, which is, that it shall not fail for want of trying. once fairly accomplished, freedom comes, and then for a high old time!' so thought the woman; so thought the man. "night has various and strange influences, which are altogether unknown to the day. the magi, on the plains of chaldea, the astrologers of early egypt, and the whole ancient world duly acknowledged the power of the astral bodies. the whole interest of bulwer's 'zanoni' hinges on the soul-expanding potentiality of a star upon clarence glyndon, one of the heroes of that rosicrucian story. indeed, the whole august fraternity, from the neophyte of last week to ross and henri more, down to appolonius of tyanæ, and away through the ages to thothmes, and down beyond all the egyptian dynasties to zytos, and still away into the very heart of the pre-adamite eras, we know, held strange doctrines concerning stars; and if the historian of the order, the great mirandolo, be not mistaken, our brotherhood possesses the key that reveals the nature of the starry influences, and how they may be gained. of my own knowledge--for i am but in the fifth degree, therefore do not know all these mysteries--there are destinies in the stars. well, on this particular night, the star known as hesper, she of the pale mild eye, was looking straight into the room where lay the precious pair, and it shone through the little window at the foot of the bed. the night was sultry--a little window--summer was in the ascendant--and the upper sash was down. remember this, _the upper sash_ was down. "and now a strange thing occurred, a very strange and mysterious thing. just as tom clark and his wife had been magnetized into a sort of restless sleep from gazing at the star--an uneasy, disturbed, nervous, but dreamless sleep--as if a heavy, thick and murky cloud just floated off a stagnant marsh, there descended upon the house a pestilent, slimy mist, and it gathered over and about the roof; and it entered, rolling heavily, into the chamber, coming through that little window at the foot of the bed. "it was a thick, dense, iron-greyish mist, approaching blackness, only that there was a sort of turgid redness, not a positive color, but as if it had floated over the depths of hell, and caught a portion of its infernal luminosity. and it was thick and dark, and dense and very heavy; and it swept and rolled, and poured into the room in thick, voluminous masses--into the very room, and about the couch where tossed in uneasy slumber the woman and the man. and it filled the apartment, and hung like a pall about their couch; and its fetor oppressed their senses; and it made their breath come thick, and difficult, and wheezing from their lungs. it was dreadful! and their breath mingled with the strange vapor, apparently endowing it with a kind of horrid life, a sort of semi-sentience; and gave it a very peculiar and fearful movement--orderly, systematic, gyratory, pulsing movement--the quick, sharp breath of the woman, the deep and heavy breath of the man. and it had come through the window at the foot of the bed, for the upper sash was down. "slowly, and with regular, spiracular, wavy motion, with gentle undulations, like the measured roll of the calm pacific sea, the gentle sea on which i am sailing toward the pyramids and my cora--six years old, and so pretty! pyramids ten thousand years old, and so grand! like the waves of that sea did the cloud begin to move gyrally around the chamber, hanging to the curtains, clinging to the walls, but as if dreading the moonlight, _carefully_ avoiding the window through which it had come, the little window at the foot of the bed--whose upper sash was down. "soon, very soon, the cloud commenced to change the axis of its movement, and to condense into a large globe of iron-hued nebulæ; and it began a contrary revolution; and it floated thus, and swam like a dreadful destiny over the unconscious sleepers on the bed, after which it moved to the western side of the room, and became nearly stationary in an angle of the wall, where for a while it stood or floated, silent, appalling, almost motionless, changeless, still. "at the end of about six minutes it moved again, and in a very short time assumed the gross but unmistakable outline of a gigantic human form--an outline horrible, black as night--a frowning human form--cut not sharply from the vapor, but still distinctly human in its _shapeness_--but very imperfect, except the head, which was too frightfully complete to leave even a lingering doubt but that some black and hideous devilry was at work in that little chamber. and the head was infamous, horrible, gorgonic; and its glare was terrible, infernal, blasting, ghastly--perfectly withering in its expression, proportions and aspect. "the thing, this pestilent thing was bearded with the semblance of a tangled mass of coarse, grey iron wire. its hair was as a serried coil of thin, long, venom-laden, poison-distilling snakes. the nose, mouth, chin and brows were ghastly, and its sunken cheeks were those of famine intensified. the face was flat and broad, its lips the lips of incarnate hate and lust combined. its color was the greenish blue of corpses on a summer battle-field, suffused with the angry redness of a demon's spite, while its eyes--great god!--_its_ eye--for there was but one, and that one in the very centre of its forehead, between the nose and brow--was bloodshot and purple, gleaming with infernal light, and it glamored down with more than fiendish malignance upon the woman and the man. "nothing about this thing was clearly cut or defined, except the head--its hideous, horrible head. otherwise it was incomplete--a sort of spectral formlessness. it was unfinished, as was the awful crime-thought that had brought it into being. it was on one side apparently a male, on the other it looked like a female; but, taken as a whole, it was neither man nor woman, it was neither brute nor human, but it was a monster and a ghoul--born on earth of human parents. there are many such things stalking our streets, and invisibly presiding over festal scenes, in dark cellars, by the lamp, in the cabinet and camp; and many such are daily peering down upon the white paper on the desks where sit grave and solemn ministers of state, who, for ambition's sake and greed of gold, play with an empire's destiny as children do with toys, and who, with the stroke of a pen, consign vast armies to bloody graves--brave men, glorious hosts, kept back while victory is possible--kept back till the foeman has dug their graves just in front of his own stone walls and impenetrable ramparts--and then sent forward to glut the ground with human blood. do you hear me, ministers of state? i mean you! you who practically regard men's lives as boys regard the minnows of a brook. i mean you who sit in high places, and do murder by the wholesale--you who treat the men as half foes, half friends, tenderly; men whose hands are gripped with the iron grip of death around the nation's throat--the nation's throat--do you hear?--and crushing out the life that god and our fathers gave it. remember milliken's bend, port hudson, fort wagner, and the black heroes of the war--noble men--black, too, but the bravest of the brave--yet treated not as heroes ought to be. forget not fredericksburg! and bear in mind that this gorgon of your own creation will not quit you, day or night--not even on your dying day, when it will hiss into your ears, 'father, behold, embrace me!'--and its slime will fall upon and choke you, as you have choked our country. and the sheeted ghosts of six hundred thousand heroes, slaughtered by a whim, will mournfully upbraid, and--perhaps--forgive you. will the weeping widows and the countless orphans--pale, blue-cast women, pale with grief, blue with want; orphans, poor little shrivelled, half-starved orphans--will they forgive you? will your own conscience? will the eternal god of heaven? why did you sacrifice these six hundred thousand men? why did you not put your guns and swords in the hands of six hundred thousand men--men who had god's best gifts to fight for and maintain--liberty and their wives? black men, too--brawny, brave, strong-hearted, freedom-nerved, god-inspired black men. _no black man yet ever sold his country!_ why don't you first remove their disabilities here in the north? why don't you bid them rise and be men? why grudge freemen the pay of other free men; the bounty, the pension, of other heroes of the same rank? do this, let the negro understand that you concede his manhood, and appreciate his prowess; let him once know that you are grateful for all he does for the country, and proclaim it to the world, and black men will flock to your standard, not only from your own soil, but from every spot on earth where civilized black men exist. "see, yonder is a plain, miles in extent. in its centre there stands an obelisk. go, ministers of state, and plant on its top a banner, upon which shall be emblazoned this magic sentence: 'freedom--personal, political, and social, to the black man--and protection of his rights forever,' and there will be more magnetic power in it than in ten thousand ministers, with their little whims; ten thousand 'fancy generals,' with their 'pretty little games,'--and such would be history's record when she handed you down the ages. if you would live in the sacred page, and have your names shine brightly, act, act at once, cut the cords that now bind the black man. say to him: 'come as a man, not as a chattel! come with me to enfranchisement and victory! let us save the nation!' and the swift-winged winds will bear the sound from pole to pole, from sea to sea, and from continent, island, and floating barks, from hills, valleys, and mountains, from hut, hovel, and dismal swamps, will come a vast and fearful host, in numbers like unto the leaves of the forest; and they will gather in that plain around that obelisk, rallying around that banner, and before their victorious march rebellion will go down as brick walls before the storm of iron; and if france, or england, or austria, or all, combine against them--they, too, will go out of the battle, nevermore to enter it again. "this is possible destiny! think of it, o ministers of state! * * * * "and so the fearful spectre in tom clark's room had its origin then and there--had been created by the morning's wicked thought--a creature fashioned by their human wills, and drawing its vitality from their life and pulses--drawing its very soul from out those two beating human hearts. tell me not that i am painting a picture, limning the creature of a distorted fancy. i know better, you know better, we all know that just such hideous creatures, just such monstrosities, move, viewless, daily, up and down the crowded streets of santa blarneeo, up and down the streets of the empire city and puritanic boston; but there are crowds of them in pennsylvania avenue, and they wear phantom epaulettes upon their spectral shoulders! you and i know that just such and other "'monstrous, horrid things that creep from out a slimy sea,' exist all over the land--but principally in high places begotten of treason and lust of gold. "soon the lips began to move; it spoke: 'father! mother! i am yet weak; be quick; make me strong! feed me; i am hungry; give me blood--hot streams--great gouts of blood! it is well. kill, poison, die; it is well! ha! ha! it is well; ho! ho!' and then the thing began to dissolve into a filmy mist, until at last only the weight of its presence was felt, for it floated invisibly but heavily through the room, and, except the gleam--the fiery gleam of its solitary eye--nothing else of it was discernible. "ten minutes elapsed after it had found voice, and faded away, when suddenly a fleecy cloud that had for some time past obscured the sky in the direction of hesper, shutting out her silvery smiles, broke away, and permitted her beams and those of the moon to once more enter the chamber and flood it with a sheeted silver glory--the room where still lingered the hateful thing, and where still slept the woman and the man. "simultaneously with this auspicious event there came sighing over the landscape, the musical notes of such a song as only seraphs sing--came over the wastes like the mystical bells that i have heard at sunset often while sailing on the nile--mystical bells which thousands have heard and marvelled at--soft bells, silvery bells, church bells--bells, however, not rung by human hands. i have often heard them chiming over egypt's yellow, arid sands, and i believe they are rung by angel hands on the other side of time. and such a sound, only sweeter, came floating o'er the lea, and through the still air into the little chamber. was it a call to the angels to join in prayer--midnight prayer, for the sinful souls of men? but it came. low it was, and clear; pure it was, and full of saintly pity, like unto the dying cadence of the prayer that was prayed by the sufferer on the stony heights of calvary; that same calvary where i have stood within a year, 'midst devout lovers of their lord, and the jeering scoffs of mussulmans! and the music came--so sweetly, as if 'twould melt the stony heart of crime itself. and it proclaimed itself the overture of another act of the eventful drama then and there performing. and see! look there! the curtain rises. woman, man, behold! alas! they slumber insensibly on. gaze steadily at that upper sash--above it--for it is down; see, the clear space is again obscured by a cloud; but this time it is one of silver, lined with burnished gold, and flecked and edged with amethyst and purple. look again! what is that at the window? it is a visible music--a glorious sheet of silvery vapor, bright, clear, and glittering as an angel's conscience! it is a broad and glowing mantle of woven gossamer, suffused with rose-blushes, and sprinkled with star-beams; and it flows through the space, and streams into the chamber, bathing all things in holy tremulous light, soft, sweet, balmy, and pure as the tears of virgin innocence weeping for the early dead! that light! it was just such a light as beamed from your eyes, woman--beamed from out your soul, when, after your agony, your eye first fell upon the angel you had borne--the man-child whom god gave to your heart a little while ago; just such a light as flashed fitfully from your soul, and fell upon the cradle, o father of the strong and hopeful heart, wherein the little stranger lay; just such light as beamed from your eyes, in pride, and hope, and strange, deep prophecies, as you bent over her languishing form, heartfully pressing her first-born to her dear woman's bosom, when you looked so tenderly, kindly, lovingly down through her eyes into her spirit--the true heart beating for you and it, beneath folded--contentedly folded, arms--contented, too, through all the deep anguish, such, o man, as only a woman and a mother can undergo. that light! it was like that which fell upon the babe she had given you, and the great man-wanting world--given first for its coming uses, and then to him who doeth all things very well--well, even when he taketh the best part of our souls away, and transplants the slips in his eternal and infinite gardens, across the deep dark gulfs that hide the dead; just such a light as gleamed from her eyes and thine own, when your hearts felt calm and trustful once more, after the great, deep grief billows had rolled over them--grief for the loss of one who stayed but a little while on earth--all too coarse and rough for her--some little, cooing winnie--like mine--whose soul nestles afar off, on his breast, in the blue sky, and whose body they laid in the cold grave, there in utica, after they--_he_--had let her starve, perish sadly for want of proper food and medicine, while i was on the deep--winsome winnie! child of my soul, gone, lost, but not forever!--just such a light played in that little room as streams from angel eyes when god takes back at the hands of azrael and sandalphon, the beautiful angels of death and of prayer, the things you had learned to love too well--to forgetfulness of god and all true human duty. but they will give back what they took: they will give back all, more in the clear sunshine of a brighter and a purer day, than these earthly ones of ours! "and the light streamed through and into the chamber where lay the woman and the man; and it radiated around, and bathed every object in a crystalline luminescence; and it carried a sadness with it--just such a sadness as we feel when parting from those who love us very well; as i felt on the day i parted from ----, brother of my soul! when we parted at the proud ship's side--the ocean courser, destined to bear me over the steaming seas to egypt's hoary shrines. it bore a sadness with it like unto that which welled up from my soul, tapping the fountains of friendship--and tears upon its way, in the memorable hour wherein i left the golden gate, and began my perilous journey to the distant orient--across the bounding seas. what an hour!--that wherein our bodies move away, but leave our sorrowing souls behind! "well, a holy light, sadness-bearing light, like this now rested on the bodies of the sleeping pair. at first, this silvery radiance filled the room, and then the fleecy vapor began to condense slowly. presently it formed into a rich and opalescent cloud-column, which speedily changed into a large globe, winged, radiant and beautiful. gradually there appeared in the centre of this globe a luminous spot, momentarily intensifying its brilliance, until it became like unto a tiny sun, or as the scintillæ of a rare diamond when all the lamps are brightly shining. slowly, steadily, the change went on in this magic crystal globe, until there appeared within it the diminutive figure of a female, whose outlines became more clear as time passed on, until, at the end of a few minutes, the figure was perfect, and stood fully revealed and complete--about eighteen inches high, and lovely--ah, how lovely!--that figure; it was more than woman is--was all she may become--_petite_, but absolutely perfect in form, feature and expression; and there was a love-glow radiating from her presence sufficiently melting to subdue the heart of sin itself, though robed in nova zembla's icy shroud. her eyes!--ah, her eyes!--they were softer than the down upon a ring-dove's breast!--not electric, not magnetic--such are human eyes; and she was not of this earth--they were something more, and higher--they were tearful, anxious, solicitous, hopeful, tender, beaming with that snowy love which blessed immortals feel. her hair was loose, and hung in flowing waves adown her pearly neck and shoulders. such a neck and shoulders!--polished alabaster, dashed with orange blossoms, is a very poor comparison; it would be better to say that they resembled petrified light, tinted with the morning blush of roses! around her brow was a coronet of burnished, rainbow hues; or rather the resplendent tints of polarized light. in its centre was the insignia of the supreme temple of the rosie cross--a circle inclosing a triangle--a censer on one side, an anchor fouled on the other, the centre-piece being a winged globe, surmounted by the sacred trine, and based by the watchword of the order, 'try,' the whole being arched with the blazon, 'rosicrucia.' to attempt a minute description of this peerless fay, on my part, would be madness:--her chin, her mouth, her bust, her lips! no! i am not so vain as to make the essay. i may be equal to such a task a century or two from this, but am not equal to it now. "there, then, and thus stood the crowned beauty of the night, gazing down with looks of pity upon the restless occupants of that humble couch; for during all these transactions they had been asleep. she stood there, the realization and embodiment of light; and there, directly facing her, glowered, and floated the eye of that hateful, scowling, frowning thing--scowling with malignant joy upon the woman and the man. thus stood the shadow: thus stood the light. but soon there came a change o'er the spirit of the scene; for now an occurrence took place of a character quite as remarkable as either of those already recounted; for in a very short time after the two mysteries had assumed their relative positions, there came through the window--the same little window at the foot of the bed--the tall and stately figure of a man--a tall and regal figure, but it was light and airy--buoyant as a summer cloud pillowed on the air--the figure of a man, but not solid, for it was translucent as the pearly dew, radiant as the noontide sun, majestic as a lofty mountain when it wears a snowy crown!--the royal form of a man, but evidently not a ghost, or wraith, or a man of these days, or of this earth, or of the ages now elapsing. he was something more than man; he was supramortal; a bright and glorious citizen of a starry land of glory, whose gates i beheld, once upon a time, when lara bade me wait; he was of a lineage we rosicrucians wot of, and only we!--a dweller in a wondrous city, afar off, real, actual--whose gates are as the finest pearl--so bright and beautiful are they.... the stately figure advanced midway of the room until he occupied the centre of a triangle formed by the shadowy thing, the female figure, and the bed; and then he waved his hand, in which was a staff or truncheon--winged at top and bottom; and he spake, saying: "'i, otanethi, the genius of the temple, lord of the hour, and servant of the dome, am sent hither to thee, o hesperina, preserver of the falling; and to thee, dark shadow, and to these poor blind gropers in the night and gloom. i am sent to proclaim that man ever reacheth ruin or redemption through himself alone--strengthened by love of him--self-sought--reacheth either pole of possibility as he, fairly warned, and therefore fully armed, may elect! poor, weak man!--a giant, knowing not his own tremendous power!--master both of circumstance and the world--yet the veriest slave to either!--weak, but only through ignorance of himself!--forever and forever failing in life's great race through slenderness of purpose!--through feebleness of will! virtue is not virtue which comes not of principle within--that comes not of will and aspiration. that abstinence from wrong is not virtue which results from external pressure--fear of what the speech of people may effect! it is false!--that virtue which requires bolstering or propping up, and falls when left to try its strength alone! vice is not vice, but weakness, that springs not from within--which is the effect of applied force. real vice is that which leaves sad marks upon the soul's escutcheon, which the waters of an eternity may not lave away or wash out; and it comes of settled purpose--from within, and is the thing of will. the virtue that has never known temptation--and withstood it, counts but little in the great ledger of the yet to be! true virtue is good resolve, better thinking, and action best of all! that man is but half completed whom the world has wholly made. they are never truly made who fail to make themselves! mankind are not of the kingdom of the shadow, nor of the glorious realm of light, but are born, move along, and find their highest development in the path which is bounded on either side by those two eternal diversities--the light upon this side--the shadow upon that: "'the road to man and womanhood lies in the mean: discontent on either side--happiness between.' "'life is a triangle, and it may be composed of sorrow, crime, misery; or aspiration, wisdom, happiness. these, o peerless hesperina, are the lessons i am sent to teach. thou art here to save two souls, not from loss, assailings or assoilings from without, but from the things engendered of morbid thought--monstrous things bred in the cellars of the soul--the cesspools of the spirit--crime-caverns where moral newts and toads, unsightly things and hungry, are ever devouring the flowers that spring up in the heart-gardens of man--pretty flowers, wild--but which double and enhance in beauty and aroma from cultivation and care. we are present--i to waken the wills of yonder pair; thou to arouse a healthy purpose and a normal action; and the shadow is here to drag them to perdition. man cannot reach heaven save by fearlessly breasting the waves of hell! listen! thou mayest not act directly upon the woman or the man, but are at liberty to effect thy purpose through the instrumentality of dream! and thou,' addressing the thing, 'thou grim shadow--angel of crime--monstrous offspring of man's begetting--thou who art permitted to exist, art also allowed to flourish and batten on human hearts. i may not prevent thee--dare not openly frustrate thee--for thus it is decreed. thou must do thy work. go; thou art free and unfettered. do thy worst; but i forbid thee to appear as thou really art--before their waking senses, lest thy horrible presence should strike them dumb and blind, or hurl will and reason from their thrones. begone! to thy labor, foul thing, and do thy work also through the powerful instrumentality of dream!' "thus spoke the genius of the order and the hour; and then, turning him toward the couch, he said, yearningly, with tearful mien and outstretched arms: 'mortals, hear me in thy slumber--let thy souls, but not thy senses, hear and understand. behold, i touch thee with this magic wand of rosicrucia, and with it wake thy sleeping wills--thus do i endow thee with the elements, attention, aspiration, persistence--the seeds of power--of resistless might, which, will--if such be thy choice, enable thee to realize a moral fortress, capable of defying the combined assaults of all the enginery circumstance can bring to bear against thee. the citadel is will. intrenched within it, thou art safe. but beware of turning thy assaulting power against thyselves. will, normal, ever produceth good: abnormal, it hurls thee to the bad! remember! wake not to the external life, but in thy slumber seize on the word i whisper in thine ears; it is a magic word--a mighty talisman, more potent than the seal of solomon--more powerful than the chaldean's wand--but it is potential for ill as for good. see to it, therefore, that it is wisely used. the word is, "try!" as thou shalt avail thyselves of its power, so be it unto thee. i now leave thee to thy fate, and the fortunes that may befall thee. two dreams each shalt thou have this night; one of them shall be overruled by thy good, the other by thy evil genius. god help thee! farewell!' and in another instant, the tall and stately figure passed through the moonlight, out upon the deep bosom of the night; and he floated, accompanied by the same soft music heard before, away off into the blue empyrean; and he passed through the window--the little window at the foot of the bed, whose upper sash was down. part iii. the magic spell. "in the kingdom of dream strange things are seen, and the fate of the nations are there, i ween." _from_ "_the rosie cross_," _an unpublished poem by_ p. b. randolph. "the regal being was scarcely gone from the chamber ere hesperina and the shadow--which had once more become visible, approached the sleeping pair--drew nigh unto the woman and the man; and the fay gently breathed upon their heads, as if to establish a magnetic _rapport_ between herself and them. she then calmly took her stand near the bedside, and folded her beautiful arms across her still more beautiful bosom, and awaited the action of the tempter. she had not long to wait, for straightway the black presence advanced, and hovered over the bed--hovered scowlingly over them, glaring down into their souls, as doth the vampire upon the man she would destroy--the spirit of wrong peering wistfully at all beautiful things, and true! such was the posture of affairs; and thus they remained until the thing had also established some sort of connection with the sleepers. it soon became evident, from their nervous, uneasy movements and postures, that the twain were rapidly crossing the mystic boundaries that divide our own from dream-land--that they were just entering the misty mid-region--the shadow, the thing, the monstrous it, ruling the hour, and guiding them through the strange realm-- "'that lieth sublime, out of space and out of time.' "the man who says that dreams are figments is a fool. half of our nightly experiences are, in their subsequent effects upon us, far more real and positive than our daily life of wakefulness. dreams are, as a general thing, save in rare instances, sneered at by the wise ones of this sapient age. events, we of rosicrucia hold, are pre-acted in other spheres of being. prophetic dreaming is no new thing. circumstances are constantly occurring in the outer life that have been pre-viewed in dream-land. recently, while in constantinople, i became acquainted with a famous dongolese negro, near the grand mosque of st. sophia, in one of the narrow streets on the left, as you enter the square from toward the first bridge, and this man had reduced the interpretation of dreams to a science almost; and many a long hour have i rapidly driven the pen, in the work of recording what was translated to me from dongolese and arabic into turkish and english, from his lips, obtaining in this way not merely the principles upon which his art was founded, but also explicit interpretations of about twenty-nine hundred different dreams. "the dream of thomas w. "tom clark was dreaming; and, lo! great changes had taken place in the fortunes of the sleeping man. no longer a toiler at the anvil or the plow, he had become a rich and, as times go, therefore an honored man--honored by the crowd which, as a general thing, sees the most virtue in the heaviest sack of dollars. "the wealth of mr. thomas w. had come to him in a very singular and mysterious manner, all since he had become a widower; for mrs. thomas was dead, poor woman, having some time previously met her fate through a very melancholy accident. an extract from the 'daily truth-teller,' of santa blarneeo, a copy of which paper tom clark carried in his pocket all the time, and which pocket i shall take the liberty of picking of the journal aforesaid, and of quoting, will tell the story--sad story--but not the whole of it, quite: "'fearful and fatal catastrophe!--we learn with deep, sincere, and very profound regret, that another of those fearful calamities, which no human prudence can guard against, no foresight prevent, has just occurred, and by means of which a most estimable woman, an exemplary and loving wife, an excellent christian, firm friend, and esteemed person, has been suddenly cut off in her prime, and sent prematurely to her final account. it appears that the late heavy rains have rendered all the roads leading from santa blarneeo nearly impassable, by reason of the rifts, rocks, boulders, and slides of clay--very dangerous and slippery clay--which they have occasioned. "'especially is this the case along the cliff road, and more particularly where it skirts the side of the bayliss gulch. of late it has been exceedingly unsafe to pass that way in broad daylight, and much more so after dark. "'at about ten o'clock yesterday morning, as mr. ellet, the ranchero, was passing that road, along the brink of what is known as the scott ravine, his horse shied at some objects in the path, which proved to be a man's hat and woman's shawl, on the very edge of the precipice--a clear fall of something like four hundred feet. it immediately occurred to farmer ellet, that if anybody had tumbled over the cliff, that there was a great probability that whoever it was must have been considerably hurt, if nothing more, by the time they reached the bottom, as he well remembered had been the case with a yoke of steers of his that had run off at the same spot some years before, and both of which were killed, very dead, indeed, by the accident. so, at least, he informed our reporter, who took down the statement phonographically. mr. ellet discovered the remains of a horse and buggy at the bottom of the ravine, and at a little to the left, about ten feet down the bank, where he had, by a miracle, been thrown when the horse went over, mr. ellet found the insensible body of a man, desperately hurt, but still breathing. his fall had been broken by some stout young trees and bushes, amidst the roots of which he now lay. mr. e. soon rescued the sufferer, who proved to be mr. thomas w. clark, a well-known, honest, sober man, and a neighbor as well. mr. clark's injuries are altogether internal, from the shock of falling, otherwise he is almost unscathed. his pains inwardly are very great, besides which he is nearly distracted and insane from the loss of his wife and horse, but mainly for the former. it seems that they had been riding out on a visit to a sick friend, and the horse had slipped on the wet clay, had taken fright, and leaped the bank, just as clark was hurled from the buggy, and landed where ellet found him. the horse, carriage, and the precious freight, instantly plunged headlong down through four hundred feet of empty air. "'we learn that the couple were most devotedly attached to each other, as is notorious from the fact, among others, that whenever they met, after a day's absence, and no matter where, nor in what company, they invariably embraced and kissed each other, in the rich, deep fullness of their impassioned and exhaustless conjugal love. poor clark's loss is irreparable. his wife had been twice married, but her affection for her first husband was but as a shallow brook compared to the deep, broad ocean of love for him who now mourns, most bitterly mourns, her untimely fate!' "there! what d'ye think o' that, my lady?--what d'ye think o' that, my man? that's a newspaper report, the same that tom clark carried in his pocket, and read so often in his dream. singular, isn't it, that the ruling passion triumphs, especially reporters'--even in death or dream-land. "at the end of two days mr. clark recovered sufficiently to go to the foot of the cliff, and when there his first work was to carefully bury what was left of his wife--and her first husband's portrait at the same time--for he had placed that canvas across the backs of two chairs, and amused himself by jumping through it--like a sensible man. "there is--do you know it?--an almost uncontrollable fascination in danger. have you never been seized with the desire to throw yourself down some yawning chasm, into some abyss, over into the ready jaws of a shark, to handle a tiger, play with a rattlesnake, jump into a foundery furnace, write a book, edit a paper, or some other such equally wise and sensible thing? well, i know many who have thus been tempted--and to their ruin. human nature always has a morbid streak, and that is one of them, as is also the horrible attraction to an execution--to visit the scene of a homicide or a conflagration--especially if a few people have been burnt up--and the more the stronger the curiosity; or to look at the spot where a score or two of pat-landers have been mumified by the weakness of walls--and contractors' consciences. with what strange interest we read how the monarch of some distant lovely isle dined with his cabinet, off _potage aux têet de missionaire_--how they banqueted on delicate slices of boiled evangelist, all of which _viandes_ were unwillingly supplied by the rev. jonadab convert-'em-all, who had a call that way to supply the bread of life, not slices of cold missionary--and did both! so with tom clark. one would have thought that the last scene he would willingly have looked upon, would have been the bottom of the ravine. not a bit of it. an uncontrollable desire seized him, and for his life he could not keep away from the foot of the cliff. he went there, and day by day searched for every vestige of the poor woman, whose heart, and head likewise, he at last had succeeded in breaking into very small fragments. these relics he buried as he found them, yet still could not forsake his daily haunt. of course, for a time the people observed his action, attributed it to grief and love, forbore to watch or disturb, and finally cared nothing about the matter whatever. such things are nothing in california. well was it for clark that it was so--that they regarded him as mildly insane, and let his vagaries have full swing, for it gave him ample time and opportunity to fully improve one of the most astounding pieces of good luck that ever befell a human being since the year one. "it fell out upon a certain day, that, after attending to other duties, tom clark, as usual, wound his way, by a zig-zag and circuitous path, to the foot of the hill, and took his accustomed seat near by the rock where it was evident mrs. c. had landed--the precise spot where her flight had been so rudely checked. there he sat for a while, like volney, in deep speculative reverie and meditation--not upon the ruins of empires, but upon those of his horse, his buggy, and his wife. suddenly he started to his feet, for a very strange fancy had struck upon his brain. i cannot tell the precise spot of its impingement, but it hit him hard. he acted on the idea instantly, and forthwith resolved to dig up all the soil thereabouts, that had perchance drank a single drop of her blood. it was not conscience that was at work, it was destiny. this soil, that had been imbrued with the blood of the horse and buggy--no, the woman, i mean--he resolved to bury out of sight of man and brute, and sun and moon, and little peeping stars; for an instinct told him that the gore-stained soil could not be an acceptable spectacle to anything on earth, upon the velvet air, or in the blue heaven above it; and so he scratched up the mould and buried it out of sight, in a rift hard by, between two mighty rocks, that the earthquake had split asunder a million years before. "and so he threw it in, and then tried to screen it from the sun with leaves and grass, great stones and logs of wood; after which he again sat down upon the rock to rest. "presently he arose to go, when, as he did so, a gleam of sunshine flashed back upon his eyes from a minute spiculæ of, he knew not what. he stooped; picked up the object, and found, to his utter astonishment, that he held in his hand a lump of gold, solid gold--an abraded, glittering lump of actual, shining gold. "tom clark nearly fainted! the lump weighed not less than a pound. its sides had been scratched by him as he dug away the earth at the foot of the cliff where his wife had landed, after a brief flight through four hundred feet of empty air--a profitable journey for him--but not for her, nor the horse, nor buggy! "for a minute clark stood still, utterly bewildered, and wiping the great round beads of sweat from off his brow. he wept at every pore. but it was for a minute only: in the next he was madly, wildly digging with the trowel he always carried with him, for tom was herb-doctor in general for the region roundabout, and was great at the root and herb business, therefore went prepared to dig them wherever chance disclosed them. "five long hours did he labor like a hercules, in the soft mould, in the crevices of the rocks--everywhere--and with mad energy, with frantic zeal. five long hours did he ply that trowel with all the force that the hope of sudden wealth inspired, and then, exhausted, spent, he sank prostrate on the ground, his head resting on a mass of yellow gold--gold not in dust, or flecks, or scales, but in great and massy lumps and wedges, each one large enough for a poor man's making. "that morning thomas clark's worldly wealth, all told, could have been bought thrice over for any five of the pieces then beneath his head, and there were scores of them. his brain reeled with the tremendous excitement. he had struck the richest 'lead' ever struck by mortal man on the surface of the planet, for he had already collected more than he could lift, and he was a very strong and powerful man. there was enough to fill a two-peck measure, packed and piled as close and high as it could be; and yet he had just begun. ah, heaven, it was too much! "alas, poor tom! poor, doubly poor, with all thy sudden, boundless wealth! thou art even poorer than valmondi, who, the legends say, gave his soul to the service of the foul fiend--for he, like thee, had riches inexhaustible; but, unlike valmondi, and the higher brethren of the rosie cross, thou hast not the priceless secret of perpetual youth. thou wilt grow old, tom clark--grow old, and sick, and grey hairs and wrinkles will overtake thee. and see! yonder is an open grave, and it yearns for thee, tom clark, it yearns for thee! and there's blood upon thy hands, tom clark, red gouts of blood--and gold cannot wash it off. "valmondi repented, and died a beggar, but thy heart is cased in golden armor, and the shafts of mercy may not reach its case, and wake thee up to better deeds, and high and lofty daring for the world and for thy fellow-men. gold! ah, tom, tom, thou hadst better have been a humble rosicrucian--better than i, for weakness has been mine. it is better to labor hard with brain and tongue and hands, for mere food and raiment, than be loaded down with riches, that bear many a man earthward, and fill untimely graves! it is better to live on bread, and earn it, than to be a millionaire. better to have heaped up wealth of goodness, than many bars of gold. poor tom! rich you are in what self-seeking men call wealth; but poor, ah, how poor! in the better having, which whetteth the appetite for knowledge, and its fruitage, wisdom, and which sendeth man, at night, to happy dream land, upon the viewless pinions of sweet and balmy sleep! every dollar _above_ labor brings ten thousand evils in its train. "well, night was close at hand, and tom buried his god, and went home. home, did i say? not so. he went to his bed, to sleep, and in that sleep he dreamed that it was raining double eagles, while he held his hat beneath the spout. but he was not home, for home is where the heart is, and we have seen the locality of clark's. "for days, weeks, months, he still worked at his 'lead,' studiously keeping his own counsel, and managing the affair, from first to last, with the most consummate tact; so that no one even suspected that the richest man in california, and on the entire continent, was mr. thomas w. by degrees he conveyed to, and had vast sums coined at the mint, as agent for some mining companies. a few hogsheads he buried here and there, and sprinkled some dozens of barrels elsewhere about the ground. this he continued to do until at last even _his_ appetite for gold was doubly, _triply_ glutted; and then he sprung the secret, sold his claim for three millions, cash in hand, and forthwith moved, and set up an establishment close under telegraph hill, in the best locality in all santa blarneeo. "and now everybody and his wife bowed to mr. thomas w., and did homage to--his money. curious, isn't it, how long some gods _will_ live? about three thousand years ago a man of israel fashioned one out of borrowed jewelry, fashioned it in the form of a _veal_, after which he proclaimed it, and all the human calves fell down straightway, and a good many are still bent on worshipping at the self-same shrine. that calf has retained to this day '_eleven-tenths_' of earth's most zealous adoration! so now did men reverence clark's money. women smiled upon him, ambitious spinsters ogled, and hopeful maidens set their caps to enthrall him. he could carry any election, gave tone to the money market, reigned supreme and undisputed king on ''change,' and people took him for a happy man; and so he was, as long as daylight lasted, and he was steadily employed; but, somehow or other, his nights were devilishly unpleasant! he could not rest well, for in the silence of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon man, an unsheeted ghost passed before his face, bearing a most damnably correct similitude to a former female acquaintance of his, now, alas! deceased; and not unfrequently, as he hurried along the streets, did he encounter persons who bore surprising and unmistakable resemblances to the 'dear departed.' "'black clouds come up, like sinful visions, to distract the souls of solitary men.' "was tom clark mistaken? was it fancy? was it fear?... one night he went to a theatre, but left it in a hurry, when the actor, who was playing macbeth, looked straight into his private box and said: "'the times have been that, when the brains were out the man would die--and there an end; but _now_ they rise again, with twenty mortal murders on their crowns, to push us from our seats!' and the words pushed clark out of the house, deadly sick--fearfully pale; for the avenging furies, roused at last, were at that very moment lashing his guilty soul to madness--and shakspeare's lines, like double-edged daggers, went plunging, cutting, leaping, flying through every vault and cavern of his spirit. he rushed from the place, reached his house, and now: 'the bowl, the bowl! wine, give me wine, ruby wine.' they gave it, and it failed! stronger drink, much stronger, now became his refuge, and in stupefying his brain he stultified his conscience. his torture was not to last forever, for by dint of debauchery his sensitive soul went to sleep, and the brute man took the ascendant. conscience slept profoundly. his heart grew case-hardened, cold and callous as an ice-berg. he married a voice, and a figure, as heartless as himself; became a politician--which completely finished him; but still, several handsome donations to a fashionable church--just think of it!--had the effect of procuring him the reputation of sanctity, which lie he, by dint of repetition, at last prevailed upon himself to believe. thus we leave him for awhile, and return to the chamber in which was the little window whose upper sash was down. part iv. the dream of betsey clark. "madame, awake, it will be remembered, had come to the conclusion to settle tom's coffee--and hash, at the same time, with a dose or two of ratsbane, or some similar delicate condiment; and now, in her dream, she thought all her plans were so well and surely made as to defy detection, and laugh outright at failure. "in california there is a small but very troublesome rodent known to science as '_pseudo-stoma bursarius_,' and to the vulgar world as 'gopher'--a sort of burrowing rat, nearly as mischievous and quite as wicked, for the little wretches have a settled and special penchant for boring holes in the ground, particularly in the vicinity of fruit trees. my friend, mr. rumford, who has a very fine orchard in fruit vale, contra costa, just across the bay from santa blarneeo, recently assured me that the rascals make it a point to destroy young trees, not only without compunction, but even without saying, 'by your leave.' now it so happened that clark's place was overstocked with the pestilent animals alluded to, and the proprietors had, time and again, threatened the whole race with extermination, by means of arsenic, phosphor-paste, or some other effective poison, but had never carried the resolution into practice. this fact was seized on by mrs. clark, as a capital _point d'appui_. accordingly, with a dull hand-saw, the lady hacked a few dozen of the very choicest young trees, in such a way as to make them look like unmistakable gopher-work, thus subjecting the brutes to charges whereof they were as innocent as _two_ unborn babes. gophers and the devil have to answer for a great deal that properly belong to other parties. her act was a grand stroke of policy. she meant that tom should voluntarily get the poison, which she intended he--not the gophers--should take at the very earliest possible opportunity. _she_ didn't mean to purchase arsenic--oh, no, she knew too much for _that_! the ravage was speedily discovered by clark. he raved, stamped his foot in his wrath, turned round on his heel, pulled his cap over his eyes, ejaculated, 'dod dern 'em!' started for the city, and that very night returned, bearer of six bits' worth of the strongest and deadliest kind of poison--quite as deadly, almost as strong, as that which stupid fools drink in corner stores at six cents a glass. "that night about half the poison was mixed and set. twelve hours thereafter there was great tribulation and mourning in gopherdom; for scores of the little gentry ate of it, liked the flavor, tried a little more--got thirsty--they drank freely (most fools do!), felt uncomfortable, got angry, swelled--with indignation and poisoned meal! and not a few of them immediately (to quote mr. clark), 'failed in business; that is to say, they burst--burst all to thunder! alas, poor rodents! "next morning tom's coffee was particularly good. betsey fairly surpassed herself, in fact she came it rather too strong. about ten o'clock he felt thirsty, and inclined toward cold water; for the weather was hot, and so were his 'coppers,' to quote the ancient mariner. he would have taken much water, only that betsey dissuaded him, and said: 'it was just like him, to go and get sick by drinking ever so much cold water! why didn't he take switchel, or, what was much better, cold coffee, with plenty of milk in it--and sugar, of course;' and so he (tom) tried her prescription, liked it, took a little more, and that night followed the gophers! "three days afterwards a kindly neighbor handed mrs. clark a fresh copy of the 'santa blarneeo looking glass,' wherein she read, with tearful eyes, the following true and veracious account of "'a most distressing and fatal suicide! "'we regret to announce the fearful suicide, while laboring under a fit of temporary insanity, caused by the bite of a gopher, of mr. thomas w. clark. it appears, that in order to destroy the vermin, he purchased some arsenic, gave some to the animals, got bitten by them, ran stark mad in consequence, and then swallowed the balance (about a pound) himself. his unfortunate wife now lies at the point of death, by reason of the dreadful shock. she is utterly distracted by the distressing and heart-rending event, which is all the more poignant from the fact, that probably no married pair that ever lived were more ardently and devotedly attached than were they. the coroner and a picked jury of twelve men sat for two hours in consultation, after which they found a verdict of "death by his own act, while insane from the bite of a gopher!"' * * * * "in due time the body of the victim who had been killed so exceedingly dead, by cruel, cold poison--(if it had been warm he might have stood it, but cold!)--was consigned to the grave--and forgetfulness at the same time; and after a brief season of mourning, materially assisted before company by a peeled onion (one of the rankest kind) in a handkerchief, applied to the eyes--my lady gay, our disconsolate relict--fair, forty, and somewhat fat--gave tokens, by change of dress, that she was once more in the market matrimonial, "'with her tacks and sheets, and her bowlines, too, and colors flying--red, white, and blue,' she was once more ready to dare and do for husband number three. to do her justice, she _was_ good-looking--all women are, when they choose to be. her face was fair and intelligent; she possessed a voluptuous degree of what monsieur de fillagre calls 'om-bong-pong' (_embonpoint_), could sing--at a mark; and if not o fat! was _au fait_--a little of both, perhaps--on the light, fantastic toe--of the california order; while as an invaluable addition, there was no woman on the coast who could equal her in getting up either linen, a dinner, or a quarrel. she excelled all rivals in the really divine art of cooking a husband--beefsteak, i mean. her pastry and bread were excellent, her tea was fine, and her coffee was all that man could wish, and more so, for it was good--perfectly killing--as we have seen. "betsey took matters coolly; was in no apparent hurry, for she had resolved to shoot only at high game, and, accordingly, after a time, deigned to smile upon the reverend doctor dryasdust, the honored head of the new sect recently sprung up in the land, and which was known as the 'wotcher kawlums,' and who rejoiced in repudiating everything over five years old in the shape of doctrine, tenet and discipline, but who went in strongly for progress and pantaloons--for women; for honduras and the _naked_ truth; for socialism and sugar estates; mahogany and horticulture--a patent sort. "now, the pastor of this promising body felt that it was not good for man to be alone, and therefore cast about for a rib whereof to have fashioned a help meet unto him. he saw the widow, fell in love, proposed, was accepted, and in due time she became the wife of the newlight preacher. i like the old lights best; she didn't. "betsey achieved a 'position'--a thing for which her sex almost proverbially sacrifice all they have on earth--happiness, health, long life, usefulness. she enjoyed herself quite well, and only two things disturbed her peace of mind: first, she could not bear the smell or sight of coffee, which drink her new lord was strongly addicted to, and insisted on her making for him with her own hands; thereby inflicting daily tortures upon her, compared to which all physical pain was pleasure. the second disturbing cause was this: by a very strange fatality their house was overrun with rats, and their garden fairly swarmed with gophers--which, with infernal malice and pertinacity, became quite tame, semi-domesticated, and intruded themselves upon her notice a dozen times a day, thereby fetching up from memory's storehouse fearful reminiscences of other days--horrible recollections of the gophers of the long-agone. it is hard to be weaned of your fears; nevertheless, after a while she conquered herself, brazened down her horrors, weighed herself, applied a false logic, tried herself by it, and returned a clear verdict of 'justifiable all the way,' and concluded that her present happiness, what there was of it, fairly outweighed the crime by which it had been reached. she was materially justified in her conclusions by an accidental development of character on the part of her present husband, who had, in a fit of petulance, unfolded a leaf from the inner volume of the soul within. "not caring to recapitulate the whole story (for reticence is sometimes wisdom), i will merely observe that at the end of a somewhat heated controversy, her husband had smashed a mirror, with one of webster's quarto dictionaries, and roundly declared that he 'preached for pay. hang it, madame, the salary's the thing!--you _bet_! how can souls be saved without a salary? that's a plain question. they are not now, at all events, whatever may have been the case with the old lights, who had a great deal more zeal than discretion--more fools they! it can't be done in these days of high prices and costly raiment--with the obligation of feeding well and dressing better. what's life without money? what's talent without brass? what's genius without gold? they won't pay! no, no, madame; in the game of life, diamonds are always trumps, and hearts are bound to lose. what's the result? "'listen! five years ago, up in the mountains, i thought i had a call. i did, and went--and preached the new doctrines of do-as-you-feel-a-mind-to-provided-you-don't-get-catched-at-it-ism--the regular out and out all-right-ite-provided-you-don't-tread-on-my-corns religion. well, i preached it, had large houses, converted many--and nearly starved! what's the consequence? why, i left, and now hear only the loudest kind of calls! what's the loudest call? why, the biggest salary! that's what's the matter! do you see the point--the place where the laugh comes in? it's as plain as a b c to me, or any other man! and all the rest is leather and prunella--stuff, fudge--hum!' "honest, out-spoken dryasdust! how many of the world's teachers sail in the same boat! his eloquence--not all false, perhaps--was not lost upon his wife. the dryasdusts are not all dead; there's a few more left of the same sort--only they keep their own counsel, even from their wives. new lights! "as a result of this conversation, madame became a sort of cross between an atheist and--god knows what; for she was neither one thing nor 'tother, but a sort of pseudo-philosophical nondescript, without any set principle of belief whatever. her conscience froze. "'who knoweth the spirit of a man that it goeth upward, or of a beast that it goeth downward? the spiritualists?--a pack of fanatics! i don't believe in ghosts'--but she shuddered as she gave utterance to the words, and her hair crawled upon her head as if touched with spectral fingers. no man disbelieves his immortality--the thing is impossible, _per se_; for although he may differ with that class of people who pretend to very extensive ghostly acquaintanceship and commerce, as many do--yet he doubtless always whistles as he passes a graveyard in the night! i certainly do! why? because i disbelieve in ghosts!--of course. "she resumed her soliloquy: 'i'm nervous--that's all! i mean to eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow i die--die! what of it--isn't death an eternal sleep? my husband says that it is, to all except the new lights; but he's a fool, in some things, that's certain.... and after death the _judgement_!' and she shuddered again, for a cold wind passed by her, and she thought it best to light two more candles and run her fingers over the piano, and take a glass of sainsevain's best angelica. 'bah! who knows anything about a judgment? there's no such thing. he's dead. what of it? he can't talk! if he could, what of it? ghosts can't testify in court! besides, it was to be--and it's done. fate is responsible, not i� "'in spite of reason, erring reason's spite, one truth is clear, whatever _is_ is right.' "'tom was to die. the conditions that surrounded him were just such as had determined the results that followed. i was but the proxy of eternal fate. am i to blame? certainly _not_, for i acted in precise accordance with the conditions that surrounded me--that made me do as i did--tempted me beyond my strength; and, for that reason, the crime, if crime it be, was a foregone conclusion from the foundation of the world! hereafter? "'come from the grave to-morrow with that story, and i may take some softer path to glory.' "'parrhasius was a true philosopher--or willis. pshaw! i guess i'll take another drop of angelica!' "poor betsey! she had been reading pope and leibnitz, and ben blood--bad, worse and worst, unfairly interpreted; good, better and best, rightly understood--and as the respective writers probably meant. weak people read a book as children do swift's gulliver--on the surface; others read the great book whose letters are suns, whose words are starry systems, in the self-same manner; and there is still a greater volume--the first edition, to be continued--the human soul--which they never read at all. all of these must go to school; they will graduate by-and-by, when death turns over a new leaf. it is best to study now--there may not be so good a chance presently. "betsey clark believed, or thought she did, that because god made all things, therefore there could be no wrong in all the world. she accepted pope's conclusions literally, misread them, and totally overlooked the sublime teachings of the third author named; and her mind went to rest, and her conscience slumbered under the sophisms--for such they are, from one point of view. the opiate acted well. and so she slept for years--long years of peace, wealth, all the world could give her--slept in the belief that there would never be a waking. was she right? wait. let us see. "we are still in the little chamber, near the window--the little window at the foot of the bed--whose upper sash was down." part v. tom clark dreams again. "and now the shadow--the terrible, monstrous thing, that had so strangely entered the room through the window--the little window at the foot of the bed, whose upper sash was down--hovered no longer over the heads of the woman and the man--the unhappy woman, the misery-laden man, who, when the last sun had set, went to bed with murder and revenge--and hatred--this wretched couple, who had contemplated such dreadful crimes, and who, within the past two hours, had had such strange and marvellous dreams! only two hours! and yet in that space had been crowded the events of a lifetime. they say there are no miracles! what, then, is this? what are these strange experiences of soul which we are constantly having--fifty years compressed in an hour of ordinary dream!--thirty thousand ages in a moment of time, while under the accursed spells of hasheesh? the soul flying back over unnumbered centuries; scanning the totality of the present, and grasping a myriad futurities--sweeping the vortex of unborn epochs by the million!--and all in an instant of the clock, while under the influence of the still more accursed muust. what are the frogs and bloody waves of egypt, compared to these miracles of the human soul--these dream-lives that are not dreams? "and so the thing took the glare of its horrible eye from off the woman and the man. its mission--its temptations were over. and it floated from off the bed, frown-smiling at hesperina as it did so; and it passed lazily, gloomily, scowlingly through the window at the foot of the bed, through which it had a little previously entered; and it moved through the starlight with a rush and a roar--a sullen rush and roar--as if each star-beam stabbed it with a dagger of flame; and the thing seemed consciously angry, and it sullenly roared, as doth the wintry blast through the tattered sails of a storm-tossed bark, toilsomely laboring thro' the angry deep: a minute passed, and it was gone; thank god! it was gone--at last--that horrible incubus--that most fearful thing! "simultaneously the sleepers evinced by their movements that their souls, if not their senses, had been relieved by the presence of its absence; and they were apparently on the point of waking, but were prevented by the magic, or magnetic action of the angelic figure at that moment leaning o'er their couch; for she gently, soothingly waved her snowy hands, and, in a voice sweeter than the tones of love, whispered: 'sleep on; still sleep--softly--sweetly sleep--and dream. peace, troubled hearts! peace; be still!' and they slumbered on. "tom clark's dream had changed. all the former troubled and exciting scene had vanished into thin air, leaving only vague, dim memories behind, to remind his soul of what it had been, and what it had seen and suffered. in the former dream he had been on dry, solid land; but now all this was strangely altered, and he found himself tossed on a rough, tumultuous sea; his lot was cast upon the deep--upon a wild and dreary waste of waters. in his dream the rain--great round and heavy drops of rain--fell in torrents; the mad winds and driving sleet--for the rain froze as it fell--raved and roared fiercely, fitfully; and the good ship bent and bellied to the hurricane, and she groaned as if loath to give up the ghost. and she drove before the blast, and she plunged headlong into the foaming billows, and ever and anon shook her head--brave ship! as if she knew that ruin was before her, and had determined to meet it as a good ship should--bravely, fairly in the face. "i have yet to disbelieve that every perfect work of man--ship, watch, engine--has a semi-conscious life of its own--a life derived from the immortal soul that gave its idea birth--for all these things--these ships, watches, engines, are ideas, spiritual, subtle, invisible, till man hides their nakedness with wood, iron, steel, brass--the fig-leaves of the ideal world. some people cannot feel an idea, or be introduced to one, unless it be dressed up in matter. sometimes we lay it on paper or canvas, and draw pencil lines around, or color it, and then it can be seen; else we take one and plant it out of doors, and then put brick and iron, marble and glass sides to it, rendering the spirit visible, and then the people see the idea's clothing, and fancy they behold the thing itself, just as others, when looking at a human body, imagine they behold the man, the woman, or the child. a mistake! none but god ever yet beheld a human soul, and this it is, and not the body or its accidents, that constitutes the ego. * * * * "and the ship surged through the boiling seas, and her timbers strained and cracked in the combat, and her cordage shrieked as the blast tore through, and the tattered sails cried, almost humanly--like a man whose heart is breaking because his wife loves him not, and all the world for him is robed in mourning--and they cried, as if in deadly fear they were craving mercy at the storm-king's hands. he heard the cries, but he laughed 'ho! ho!' and he laughed 'ha! ha!' and he tore away another sail and hurled it in the sea, laughing madly all the while; and he blew, and he rattled, and he roared in frightful glee; and he laughed 'ha! ha!' and he laughed 'ho! ho!' as the bridegroom laughs in triumph. "and still the storm came down; and the yards bent before the gale, and then snapped asunder, like pipe-clay stems, and the billows leaped and dashed angrily at her sides, like a trained blood-hound at the throat of the mother, whose crime is being black--chivalrous, well-trained blood-hounds! and the waves swept the decks of the bark--swept them clean, and whirled many a man into the weltering main, and sent their souls to heaven by water, and their bodies to the coral caves of ocean. poor sailors! the storm-king's spirit was roused, and his soul up in arms; and the angry waves danced attendance; the lightning held high revelry, and flashed its applause in the very face of heaven, and lit up the night with terrible, ghastly smiles; and the sullen growl of distant thunder was the only requiem over the dead upon that dismal deep. "it was night. day had long left the earth, and gone to renew his youth in his western bath of fire--as we all must--for death is our west--and the gloomy eidolon had usurped day's throne, arrayed in black garments, streaked with flaming red, boding no good, but only ill to all that breathed the upper air. and the turmoil woke the north, and summoned him to the wassail; and he leaped from his couch of snow, with icebergs for his pillow, and he stood erect upon his throne at the pole, and he blew a triumphant, joyous blast, and sent ten thousand icy deaths to represent him at the grand, tempestuous revel. they came, and as the waters leaped into the rigging, they lashed them there with frost-fetters; and they loaded the fated ship with fantastic robes of pearly, heavy, glittering ice--loaded her down as sin loads down the transgressor. "and still the noble ship wore on--still refused the bitter death. enshrouded with massy sheets and clumps of ice, the good craft nearly toppled with the weight, or settled forever in the yawning deep; for despite her grand endeavors--her almost human will and resolution--her desperate efforts to save her precious freight of human souls--she nearly succumbed, and seemed ready to yield them to the briny waters below. lashed to staunch timbers, the trembling remnant of the crew soon found out, while terror crowned their pallid brows, that the tornado was driving them right straight upon a rock-bound coast--foaming and hopeless for them, notwithstanding that from the summit of the bold cliffs, a light-house gleamed forth its eye coldly--cynically upon the night--in mockery lighting the way to watery death and ruin. steadily, clearly it glimmered out upon the darkness, distinctly showing them the white froth at the foot of the cliff--the anger-foam of the demon of the storm. ah, god! have mercy! have mercy! "look yonder, at the stern of the ship! what frightful gorgon is that? you know not! well, that is death sitting on the taffrail. see, he moves about. death is standing at the cabin door; he is gazing down below, looking up aloft, glaring out over the bleak, into the farther night. see! he is stalking about the deck--the icy deck--very slippery it is, and where you fall you die, for he has trodden on the spot. ah, me! ah, me! woe, woe, a terrible woe is here, tom clark! tom clark, don't you hear? death stands glamoring on you! hark! he is whistling in the rigging; he is swinging on the snapping ends of yonder loosened halliards; if they strike you you are dead, for they are whips, and death is snapping them! he is calling you, tom clark; don't you hear him?--calling from his throne, and his throne is the tempest, tom clark--the tempest. now he is watching you--don't his glance trouble you? don't you know that he is gazing down into your eyes? how cold is his glance! how colder his breath! it is very, very cold. ah! i shiver as i think--and death is freezing you, tom clark;--he is freezing your very heart, and turning your blood to ice. he is freezing you, and has tried to freeze me, in various ways. but i bade him stand back--to stay his breath--for, unlike you, tom clark, i am a brother of the rosie cross, and i have been over egypt, and syria, and turkey; on the borders of the caspian, and arabia's shores; over sterile steppes, and weltered through the deserts--and all in search of the loftier knowledge of the soul, that can only there be found; and i found what i sought, tom clark--the nature of the soul, its destiny, and how it may be trained to any end or purpose. and the history and mystery of dream, tom clark, from the lips of the oriental dwellers in the temple--and pul ali beg--tom clark--our persian ramus and our lordly chief--and i learned the worth of will, and how to say, and _mean_,--'i _will_ be well, and not sick--alive, and not dead!' and achieve the purpose. how? that is our secret--the rosicrucians'--strange order of men; living all along the ages, _till they are ready to die_--for death comes only because man will not beat him back. they die through feebleness of will. but not so with us, tom clark; we leave not until our work is done, and mine is not yet finished. we exercise our power over others, too, but ever for their good. well do i remember, how, when i lived in charlestown, there was an old man dying, but i bade him live. he exists to-day. and long years before that, there reached me--lightning borne, on the banks of the hudson, a message saying, 'come, she is dying!' and i went, and stood beside the bed of the sick child, and i prayed, and i invoked the adonim of the upper temple; and they came and bade her live. and she liveth yet--but how ungrateful! "till our work is done! what work? you ask me, and from over the steaming seas i answer, and i tell you through the boundless air that separates us: our work is to help finish that begun lang syne upon the stony heights of calvary; in the shade beneath the olive in gethsemane, where i have stood and wept--begun when time was thousands of years younger than to-day. our work, tom clark, is to make men, by teaching them to make themselves. we strive to impress a sense upon the world of the priceless value of a man! * * * * "and the vessel drove before the gale straight upon the cliff. all hope was at an end; all hope of rescue was dead. there was great sorrowing on board that fated bark. heads were downcast, hearts beat wildly, ears drank in the mournful monody of the scene, and lo! the strong man lifted up his voice and wept aloud. did you ever see a man in tears--tears tapped from his very soul? when they laugh at his misery, whose lives he has saved? when he discovers that the man he has loved as a brother, and for whom he has sacrificed his all during long years, was all the while a traitor and a foe, a mean and conscienceless traitor, and a secret, bitter judas iscariot, yet wearing a smile on his face continually? god grant you never may. "the strong man wept! the very man, too, who, a few brief hours before, had heaped up curses, for trifling reasons, upon the heads of others; but now, in this hour of agony and mortal terror, fell upon his knees in the sublime presence of god's insulted majesty; who now, in the deadly peril, lashed to the pump, trembling to his soul's deep centre, cried aloud to him for--mercy! god's ears are never deaf! at that moment one of his angels--sandalphon--the prayer-bearer, in passing by that way, chanced to behold the sublime and moving spectacle. and his eyes flashed gladness, even through his tears; and he could scarcely speak for the deep emotion that stirred his angel heart; but still he pointed with one hand at the prostrate penitent, and with the other he placed the golden trumpet to his lips, and blew a blast that woke the sleeping echoes throughout the vast infinitudes; and he cried up, cried up from his very soul: 'behold! he prayeth!' and the silence of the upper courts of heaven started into sound at the glad announcement, 'behold! he prayeth!' and the sentence was borne afar on the fleecy pinions of the light, from ashtoreth to mazaroth, star echoing to star. and still the sound sped on, nor ceased its flight until it struck the pearly gates of glory--where was an angel standing--the recording angel--writing in a book; and, oh! _how_ eagerly he penned the sentence, right opposite tom clark's name: 'behold! he prayeth!' and the tears--great, hot, scalding tears, such as, at this moment, i am shedding--rolled out from the angel's eyes, so that he could scarcely see the book--mine own eyes are very dim--but still he wrote the words. god grant that he may write them opposite your name and mine--opposite everybody's, and everybody's son and daughter--opposite all our names! "'behold! he prayeth!' and lo! the angels and the cherubim, the seraphs and the antarphim, caught up the sound, and sung through the dome; sung it till it was echoed back from aidenn's golden walls, from the east to the west, and the north and south thereof; until it echoed back in low, melodious cadence from the veiled throne, on which sitteth in majesty the adonai of adonim, the peerless and ineffable over soul, the gracious lord of both the living and the dead! are there any _dead_? no! except in sin and guiltiness!... and there was much joy in the starry world over one sinner that had in very truth repented. "and still the ship drove on, and on, and on--great heaven! right on to a shelving ledge of rock, where she was almost instantly dashed into a million fragments; masts, hull, sails, freight, men, all, all swept and whirled with relentless fury into one common gulf of waters; and yet, despite the din and roar, there rose upon the air, high and clear, and shrill: "'the startling shriek--the bubbling cry of one strong swimmer in his agony.' "and that swimmer was tom clark. thrice had he been thrown by the surf upon a jutting ledge of rock; thrice had he, with the strength of despair, clung to it, and seized upon the sea-weed growing on its edges, with all the energy of a drowning man. in vain; the relentless sea swept him off again, broke his hold, and whirled him back into the brine. his strength was almost gone; exhaustion was nigh at hand; and he floated, a helpless, nerveless mass at the mercy of the tide. and yet, so wonderful a thing is a human soul!--in that dreadful moment, when hope herself was dead, and he was about to quit forever and forever this earth of sin and sorrow, and yet an earth so fair and bright, so lovely and so full of love, teeming so with all that is heroic and true, so friendly and so kind; his soul, even then, his precious and immortal soul, just pluming its wings for a flight to the far-off regions of the living dead--that soul for which god himself had put forth all his redemptive energy--had abundant time to assert its great prerogative, and bid death himself a haughty, stern defiance. with the speed of light his mental vision flashed back along and over the valley of the dead years, and saw arrayed before it all the strange phasmaramas of the foretime. deeds, thoughts, and intuitions never die! they are as immortal as the imperishable souls that give them life and being! "and in that wondrous vision tom clark was young again; his childhood, youth, maturity; his sins, sorrows, virtues, and his aspirations, all, all were there, phototyped upon the walls of the mystic lane through which his soul was gazing--a lane not ten inches long, yet stretching away into the immeasurable deeps of a vast infinitude. a paradox! i am speaking of the soul!--a thing whereof we talk so much, and know so very little. "the spectres of all his hours were there, painted on the wall of memory's curved lane; his joys, his weary days of grief--few of the first, many of the latter--were there, like green and smiling oases, standing out in quick relief against the desert of his life. his anxious eyes became preternaturally acute, and seemed to take cognizance both of fact and cause--effect and principle at the same glance. his marriage life--even to its minutest circumstance--stood revealed before him. he saw betsey as she had been--a girl, spotless, artless, intelligent, ambitious; beheld her married; then saw her as she was when she joined her lot with his own. he beheld her as she had become--anything but a true wife and woman, for only her surface had been reached by either husband. there was a fountain they had neither tapped nor known. her heart had been touched, indeed; but her soul, never. he was amazed to find that a woman can give more than a husband is supposed to seek and find. more, did i say? my heaven! not one man in ten thousand can think of a line and plummet long enough to fathom the vast ocean of a woman's affection; cannot imagine the height and depths--the unfathomable riches of a woman's love. not a peculiar woman's--but any, every woman's love; your sister's, sir, or your wife's, sir, or mine, or anybody's sister or wife--anybody's daughter. "it appeared to clark's vision that a vast deal of his time had been worse than wasted, else had he devoted a portion of it to the attentive study of the woman whom he had, in the presence of god and man, sworn to love, honor, and protect; for no man is fit for heaven who does not love his wife, and no man can love his wife unless he carefully studies her nature; and he cannot study her nature unless he renders himself lovable, and thus calls out _her_ love; and until her love _is_ thus called out, the office of husband is a suicidal sham. thus saith the canons of the rosicrucian philosophy. are they bad? "and he gazed in the depths of her spirit, surprised beyond measure to find that god had planted so many goodly flowers therein--even in virago betsey's soul! and he said to himself--as many another husband will, before a hundred years roll by--'what a precious fool i've been! spending all my time in cultivating thistles--getting pricked and cursing them--when roses smell so very well, and are so easily raised? fool! i wish'----and he blamed his folly for not having nurtured roses--for not having duly cultivated the rich garden god had intrusted him with; execrated himself for not having cherished and nursed this garden, and availed himself of its golden, glorious fruitage. it was as a man who had willfully left down the bars for the free entrance of his neighbor's cattle, and then wondering that his harvest of hay was not quite so heavy as desired.... clark saw that it had been in his power--as it unquestionably is in that of every married man--by a few kind acts, a few tender, loving words, to have thawed and melted forever the ice collected by ill-usage--and every woman is ill-used who is not truly, purely, loyally loved! he saw that he might easily have warmed her spirit toward himself, therefore toward the world, and consequently toward the giver. he might have made their life a constant summer-time--that very life that had been by his own short-sighted externalism, confirmed into freezing, stormy, chilling winter. "wheat and lentils i have seen in egypt, taken from a mummy's hand, where they had lain three thousand and four hundred years. some of that wheat i still possess; some of it i planted in a flower-pot, and it forthwith sprung up, green and beautiful, into life and excellence. the mummy's hand was crisp; the tombs of beni-hassan were not the places for wheat to grow, for they are very dry. do you see the point, the place--the thing i am aiming at? it is to show that the ills of marriage life are to be corrected not by a recourse to law-courts and referees, but by each party resolutely trying to correct them in the heart, the head, the home. another thing i aim at is to seal the lips--to strike to the earth the brawlers for divorce--the breakers-up of families, who preach--or prate of--what they have neither brains to comprehend, nor manhood to appreciate--marriage! "clark saw, in the soul of his wife, in an instant, that which takes me an hour to describe; for the soul sees faster than the hand can indite, or the lips utter. he beheld many a gem, pure and translucent as a crystal, shut up in the caverns of her nature; shut up, and barred from the light, all the while yearning for day. what seeds of good, what glorious wheat was there. the milk of human kindness had been changed to ice-froth--sour, and sugar-less, not fit to be tasted. inestimable qualities had been left totally unregarded, until they were covered up, nearly choked out by noxious weeds. god plants excellent gardens, and it is man's express business to keep them and dress them, and just as surely as he neglects them, and leaves the bars down, or the gates open, just so surely along comes the tare-sower, whether his name be 'harmonial philosopher,' 'all-right' preacher, tom, harry, dick, devil--or something worse. "many good things, saw tom, that might have been developed into use and beauty, that had, in fact, become frightfully coarse and abnormal; and all for want of a little trying. "'the saddest words of tongue or pen are these sad words: it might have been!' "but that he was not kind, tractable, and confiding; and that he was the reverse of all this. faults of his own--great and many; tremendous faults they were. he had been curt, short, sarcastic, selfish, exacting, petulant, _offish_, arbitrary, tyrannical, suspicious, peremptory--all of which are contained in the one word mean!--and he _was_ mean. too late he realized that he might have brought to the surface all the delicious, ripe sweets of her woman, and her human nature, instead of the cruel and the bitter. he saw, what every husband ought to see--but don't--that no woman can be truly known who is not truly loved!--and that, too, not with mere lip-homage, nor with nervous, muscular, demonstrative, show-love--for no female on the earth but will soon detect all such--and reckon you up accordingly--at your proper value--less than a straw! she demands true homage, right straight from the heart; from the bottom of the heart--whence springs the rightful homage due from man to woman--right straight from the heart--without deflection. mind this. give her _that_, and ah, then, _then_, what a heaven is her presence! and what a fullness she returns! compound interest, a thousand-fold repeated!--a fullness of affection so great that god's love only exceedeth it!--a love so rich and vast, that man's soul can scarce contain the half thereof. _this truth i know._ this truth i tell, because it is such. you will bless me for it by-and-by, when i am over the river--if not before--will bless and thank me--despite of what 'they say.' remember that! "tom clark was drowning, yet he realized all this. he regretted that he had treated his wife as if she were soulless, or a softer sort of man. he could have so managed as to have been all the world to betsey--all the world, and something more and better, for there are leaves in wedlock's book which only those can turn and read who truly love each other. marriage is, to some, a coarse brown paper volume, with rough binding, bad ink, and worse type, poorly composed, and badly adjusted, without a page corrected. it may be made a super-royal volume, on tinted paper, gilt-edged, clear type, and rich and durable covers, the whole constituting the history of two happy lives spent on hymen island: profusely illustrated, in full tints, with scenes of joy in all its phases. price, the trying! very cheap, don't you think so? "he saw, as he floated there in the brine, that he had never done aught to call out his wife's affection, in which he resembled many another whiskered ninny, who insanely expect women to doat upon them merely because they happen to be married. dolts! not one in a host comprehends woman's nature; not one in two hosts will take the trouble to find it out; consequently, not one man in three hosts but goes down to the grave never having tasted life's best nectar--that of loving and being loved. "'o betsey, betsey, i know you _now_! _what_ a stupid i have been, to be sure!' "profound ejaculation! "'i've been an out-and-out fool!' "sublime discovery! "thus thought the dying man, in the dreadful hour of his destiny--that solemn hour wherein the soul refuses to be longer enslaved or deceived by the specious warp and woof of the sophistical robe it may have voluntarily worn through many a year, all the while believing it to be truth, as some people do davis' and joe smith's 'philosophy.' it is not till a dose of common sense has caused us to eject from our moral stomachs the nice philosophical sweetmeats we have indulged in for years, until at last they have disturbed our digestion--sweets, very pleasant to the palate--like the 'all right-ism' of the 'hub of the universe'--but which, like boarding-house hash, is very good in small quantities--seldom presented--and not permanently desirable--that we begin to have true and noble views of life, especially married life, its responsibilities and its truly royal joys and pleasures. clark had reached this crisis, and in an instant the scales fell from his eyes--the same that blinds so many of us during the heyday and vigor of life. "'if i could be spared, betsey, i'd be a better man.' "bravo! glorious thomas clark! well said, even though the waters choke thine utterance. "'i would. o wife, i begin to see your value, and what a treasure i have lost--lost--_lost_!' "and the poor dying wretch struggled against the brine--struggled bravely, fiercely to keep off the salt death--the grim, scowling death that had sat upon the taffrail; that had stalked about the deck, and stood at the cabin door; the same fearful death that had whistled through the rigging, and ridden on the storm, and which had followed but had not yet touched him with his cold and icy sceptre." part vi. what became of thomas clark. our entertainer ceased to speak, for the evening meal was nearly ready, and the golden sun was setting in the west, and he rose to his feet to enjoy the glowing scene. never shall i forget the intense interest taken by those who listened to the tale--and doubtless these pages will fall in the hands of many who heard it reported from his own lips, on the quarter-deck of the steamer "uncle sam," during the voyage begun from san francisco to panama, on the twenty-first day of november, . at first his auditors were about ten in number, but when he rose to look at the crimson glories of the sky, fifty people were raptly listening. we adjourned till the next day, when, as agreed upon the night before, we convened, and for some time awaited his appearance. at last he came, looking somewhat ill, for we were crossing the gulf of california, and boreas and neptune had been elevating robert, or in plainer english, "kicking up a bobbery," all night long. we had at least a thousand passengers aboard, consisting of all sorts of people--sailors, soldiers, and divers trades and callings, and yet not one of us appreciated the blessing of the epigastrial disturbances--caused by the "bobbery" aforesaid. many could successfully withstand any amount of qualms of conscience--but those of the stomach were quite a different thing altogether! and not a few of us experienced strong yearnings toward "new york," and many "reachings forth" went in that direction. indeed the weather was so rough, that scarce one of us in the cabin fully enjoyed our breakfasts. as for me, i'm very fond of mush and molasses, but i really _couldn't_ partake thereof on that occasion. no, _sir_! the gentleman from africa who stood behind us at table to minister to our gustatory wants, found his office a perfect sinecure that morning; and both i and the rosicrucian, in whose welfare that official took an especial interest--because, in a fit of enthusiasm, we had each given him four bits (ten dimes)--seemed to challenge his blandest pity and commiseration, for we both sat there, looking as if we had been specially sent for and couldn't go. the waiter--kind waiter!--discerned, by a wonderful instinct, that we didn't feel exactly "o fat," and he therefore, in dulcet tones, tried to persuade us to take a little coffee. coffee! only think of it! just after mrs. thomas w. had poisoned her husband through that delectable medium. he suggested pork! "pork, avaunt! we're sea-sick." "beef." just then i had a splendid proof of psychological infiltration and transmission of thought; for my friend and i instantaneously received a strong impression--which we directly followed--to arise from our seats, go on deck, and look over the lee rail. toward the trysting time, however, the sea smoothed its wrinkles, and the waters smiled again. presently the expected one came, took his accustomed seat, and began the conclusion of tom clark's dream "there's a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." shakspeare. "there's a tide in the affairs of women, which, taken at the flood, leads--god knows where." byron. "neither do i! last night, my friends, we left poor tom in a desperate situation, from which it seems necessary that i should relieve him, but really without exactly knowing how--not feeling particularly well from the motion of the ship last night, it is not easy to think under such circumstances; still, believing as i do, in the sterling motto, try, why, i will endeavor to gratify your curiosity, especially as i perceive we are honored with the presence of the ladies, and, for their sakes, if not for our own, i feel it incumbent to do something for him. "tom clark had, by the waves, been already taken in, and by this time was nearly done for, so far as easy breathing was concerned. slowly, but surely, his vision was fading away, and he felt that he was fast sinking into night. "'deep the gulf that hides the dead-- long and dark the road they tread.' that road he felt that he was rapidly going; for his senses were becoming numb, and a nauseant sensation proved that if he was not sea-sick, he was remarkably sick of the sea, even to the point of dissolution. "all dying persons hear musical sounds: all dying persons see strange, fitful gleams of marvellous light, and so did thomas clark--low, sweet music and soft and pearly light it was, but while he drank it in, and under its influence was being reconciled to death, there suddenly rose high and shrill above the midnight tempest, a loud and agonizing shriek--the wild, despairing, woeful shriek of a woman--and it was more shrill and piercing than the ziraleet of egyptian dame or persian houri; and it broke upon the ear of the perishing man, like a summons back to life and hope. well and instantly did he recognize its tones. 'it must be--yet no!--still it can be no other than _her_ v-voice! it cannot be--and i am dy-ing!' and an angry wave dashed over him, drowning his utterance, and hurling his body, like a wisp of straw, high upon the ledge of rocks, whence the recoil, or undertow, was about to whirl it out again into the foaming waters, when it was prevented by a most wonderful piece of good fortune, which at that instant, intervened to save him, at what certainly was the most interesting and critical juncture of his entire earthly existence. again that sharp voice rang out upon the storm, and a hand, small, soft, yet nerved with all a woman's desperate energy--desperate in love! clutched him by the hair, and dragged--triumphantly dragged him to the hard and solid land, just over the ledge, on a winding path at the foot of the overhanging cliff. it was betsey clark's voice; it was betsey clark's hand; it was she who saved him; and thus he received a new lease of life at the hands of the very woman whom, in a former dream, he had sent so gaily sailing down the empty air--down through four hundred feet of unobstructed space--with boulders at the bottom--solid boulders of granite and quartz--gold-bearing quartz at that, and very rich, too, but still quite solid and considerably harder than was agreeable to either the woman, the buggy, or the horse, for not one of them was 'soft as downy pillows are'-- not even governor downie's of california. "it was, indeed, his wife's voice that he heard; it was she that rescued him from what, in very truth, was a most unfortunate pickle--or _brine_--as you choose, or _both_--but at all events one into which he would never have got had he not been far greener than a cucumber. "in a dream strange things come to pass. and in strict accordance with the proprieties of that weird life and realm--a life and realm no less real than weird--tom was speedily cared for, and emptied of the overplus of salt water he had involuntarily imbibed, while mrs. clark carefully attended upon him, and a score or two of good people busied themselves in saving all they could from the wreck. after this they all retreated to a comfortable mansion, situated on the summit of this cliff, in the regions of dream, and there the following explanations took place: it appeared that betsey had been on a visit to her uncle, who kept the light-house, and had for several days been on the look-out for the arrival of the vessel--the wrecked one--in which, some time previous, tom had sailed on a voyage to honey-lu-lu, the bay of fun-dee, or some other such place that vessels trade to. the ship had at last been descried, laboring in the midst of a violent storm, just before dark, and under such circumstances as rendered it positively certain that she would drive headlong upon the rocks at the foot of the very cliff on which the light-house stood. "but by a singular coincidence, perfectly unaccountable anywhere else, save in dream-land, betsey clark had learned to love tom dearly, at the precise instant that he had discovered, and repented his own great error. at the instant that tom had declared that, could he be spared, he would be a better man, she saw his deadly peril; the icicles began to melt around her heart--melt very fast--so that by the time she reached him her soul was in a glow of pure affection for the man she had until that moment hated. she now saw, with unmitigated astonishment, that, with all his faults, there was a mine of excellent goodness; that god had not made anything either perfect or imperfect; and that, after all was said or done, he was of priceless consequence and value to her. "human nature and woman nature are very remarkable institutions, especially the latter. we seldom value either a man or woman, until they are either dead or a long way off, and then--'who'd a'thought it?' "when clark awoke from the gentle sleep into which he had fallen after the kind people had made him comfortable, he found his head pillowed on a bosom a great deal softer than down or downie's--that of his loving and tender wife--for she was so now, and no mistake, in the full, true sense--a wife! * * * * "tom clark got well. he never grew rich, and never wanted to. he went to santa blarneeo, and had both their pictures taken in a single frame, on one canvas, and he hung it over the window in the little room--the little window at the foot of the bed, whose upper sash was down. * * * * "years rolled by. long did they live in the enjoyment of a domestic bliss too great for expression or description--a happiness unsullied by an unworthy thought, unstained by any blot; for it was full, pure, husbandly, wifely; and daily, hourly, did they bless and learn to love each other more. * * * * "'cease dreaming,' said hesperina--the beautiful hesperina, the genius of the garden and the star--'cease thy _dream_ of perpetual peace, and live to actualize it on thy way through the world! cease dreaming, but awaken not. remember the counsel of otanethi, the radiant, lord of the temple, the spirit of the hour; and when thou wakest, try to be a nobler and a better man. waken not yet, o frail and weak! but still sleep--sweetly, soundly sleep, yet awhile, and only wake to be a full, true, loving man, forgiving and forgiven!' and then the peerless being waved her hand over the prostrate woman, and, lo! her movements gave token that the strange and mighty magic was felt, and that she was swiftly passing the mystic threshold of that sphere of new and marvellous activities where the dream fay reigns supreme." at this point of the story, a lady, mrs. v., invoked the narrator's attention, saying: "thus far, sir, your story is an excellent one, and its moral is all that could be desired; yet how comes it that you, who so strongly deprecate all human hatreds and unkindness, are yet, in a measure, amenable to the very thing you decry? in the proem to the remarkable story you have been reciting, you have admitted that there was one man toward whom your soul felt bitter. is this right? is it just to yourself, your foe, the world, or god? answer me!" the rosicrucian studied awhile, and then replied: "it is _not_ right or just, and yet it is very hard to forgive, much less to forget, a cool, deliberate injury, such as i suffered at the pen, and hand, and tongue of the man alluded to. it is hard to forget"---- "and still harder to forgive," said one of our company, a rather young-looking man, who had been one of the speaker's most attentive auditors. he spoke with much passion. said the stranger: "it is hard to forgive or forget. few people in the world are capable of long-continued love in a single direction, unless self-trained; fewer still of deliberate, long-continued hatred, and fewer still are competent to full, free, unqualified forgiveness. _i am not._ in all my experience, i never knew but one man in whom unqualified hatred was a paramount king-passion, over-riding and surviving all others whatsoever. i will tell you that man's story as he told it to me, for he was a friend of mine whom i dearly loved, and who loved me in return. one day i asked him to open his heart to me, which, after a while, he did as follows, saying: 'listen, while i briefly sketch the story of my life. there was a man who, because i differed with him on questions of philosophy--for he claimed to be nature's private secretary, which claim all sensible people laughed at, and only weaklings listened to and believed--he, this man, for this cause, called in question, not only my own, but the fair fame of the mother who bore me--that mother being already dead; and for this i hate him, as roses hate the foul malarious swamps of earth. the blazoned motto of that man was--let no man call god his father, who calls not man his brother. i rose in the world, and he hated me for the talent god gave me. envy! i was in a sense his rival, and as such, this man, snake-like, used his very utmost influence and power, by tongue and pen, to injure me--and did--for he took the bread from my children by depriving me of employment. i wrote a pamphlet, under a _nom de plume_, and he joyfully exposed my secret. jealousy! he attacked me personally, grossly in his paper, misrepresented well known facts--lied! robbing me of fair fame, as he had my dead mother before me. it is impossible for a to forgive b for a crime against c. i hated him for the dead one's sake; that hate i once thought would survive my death, and be the thing next my heart through all the eternities. perhaps it will not. he crushed me for a time, but "_je renais de mes cendres!_" we two are yet in the world. he will not forget it! will i? never!--for the sake of my dead mother. i can overlook his crimes toward me, but before the bar i hold him ever accountable for the injury to her--and to my little ones, who nearly starved, while this fiend of hell, in the garb of heaven, triumphed in _my_ misery, and gloated over _their_ wrongs. i am the watchful proxy--the rightful nemesis, of the living and the dead! i put forth books to the world. this demon in saint's garb, and his minions, howled them down as blood-hounds do the panting slave. more bread lost to my hungry ones, more stern calling for reprisals. all men have foes. i had; and this man--this impostor, this conscienceless outrager of the dead and starver of little children, listened gladly, and covertly published their statements--and that when he morally knew them to be as false as his own black, polygamous, scoundrel heart. more wrong done, more little pale hands reaching vainly forth for bread; and more hatred laid up for him and his minions at the bottom of my heart of hearts, the core and centre of my soul!' "thus he spake, and the man's eyes flashed fire as the words escaped him, proving that they were not the impulsive utterances of temper, but the deep and cherished results of long and bitter years of feeling. said i: 'and does this feeling demand a physical atonement?' with a look of ineffable scorn, he replied: 'not for an empire's sceptre would i harm a single hair of that man's head. were his wife in a burning building, i would rescue her, or perish in the trial; were his children--but, thank god, he cannot propagate his species--monsters never do!--but had he such, and they were hungry, i would work till i fell from exhaustion, in the effort to procure them bread: were the man himself in want or danger, i would joyously risk my life to save or serve him. why? because my revenge is one that could not be appeased by blood. it is too vast--too deep--and i will wreak it in other worlds, a myriad ages from now. to this i pledge my very soul; and when hereafter i point him to what i am, and what he has brought me to, i will thunder, in the ears of his spirit, in the very presence of the judge, "thou art the man!" wherever he may be, in the vault, or in the space, there will i be also. nor can this feeling die before he shall undo his doing, and--no matter what. at length this feeling of mine grew strong. i loved. it drowned all love. i was ambitious, and ambition paled before it. i had wealth within my reach, and turned from the shining gold to the superior brilliance of the pole star of my passion against the soul of this man, not against his body. and then i said:--i will rise from my ashes. i will win fame and name. i, the angular character, will rise, and in my dealings with this fiend will be as remorseless and bitter as the quintessence of hate; i will suffer patiently, and mount the steeps of fame, and i will ring the bells at the door of the world till all the peoples wake, and then, _then_ will i launch him down the tide of time in his own true colors--stripped to the centre, and show him to the ages for the monster that he is. this is a revenge worthy of an immortal being; one that merely extends to the physical person is such as brutes enjoy, but is not full, broad, deep and enduring enough for a man. as for his minions they are too contemptible to engage my attention for a moment; but in their master's soul will i fix my talons so deep, that an eternity shall not witness their extraction; and henceforth i dedicate all my life to the one purpose of _avenging the dead_!' "five years rolled by after this recital, when again, in a foreign land, we met each other. in the meantime he had grown grey. his foe still attacked him; he had never once replied, but his hatred had crystallized in the centre of his soul, and, said he, 'i can wait a million years; but revenged i will be yet, by the life of god!' that is my story; i believe my friend will keep his oath," said the young man as he turned from the company on the quarter-deck, and slowly walked toward the bow of the steamer. the words he had spoken were bitter ones, and they were expressed with such a _verve_--such a vehemence of vigor, intensity and passion, that not one man or woman on the quarter-deck of the steamer doubted for an instant that himself was the injured one, himself the vehement hater, notwithstanding his implied disclaimer. we saw that he fully, deeply, felt all he gave utterance to; and never, until that moment, did i comprehend the awful depths and capacity of the human soul for either love or hatred; nor had any of us, even the rosicrucian, the faintest idea but that every word of his awful threat came from his heart; nor the slightest doubt that if there were a possibility of wreaking his revenge in the world to come, that he would find that possibility, and remorselessly execute it. said the rosicrucian, as the man finished his terrible recital: "this episode comes in quite _apropos_ to my own story's moral. it is well to beware, lest we, by some act or word of ours, so deeply plant the germ of hatred, that in after years it spring up to annoy us, and mar our peace of mind. now, i have some knowledge of the soul, and am firmly convinced that the man who has just left us means all that he says; nor would i incur so dreadful a penalty as that man's hatred, for all the diadems on the terraqueous globe. his passion is not merely external, else he would, by an assault, or by slander, seek its satisfaction. but his feeling is the offspring of a sense of outraged justice. i have not the least doubt that the object of his spleen laughs at the man. but revenge will outlive laughter, wealth, position, influence--all things, when of the nature of the present case. thus, madame, your question, i hope, has been answered to your satisfaction. of course, i deprecate hatred, but demand justice. "but see, the sun is setting again, and the conclusion of our story must be deferred until after supper, when, if you will again assemble here upon the quarter-deck, you shall learn what befell mr. thomas w., and what other events transpired in the little chamber with a window at the foot of the bed, whose upper sash was down." part vii. betsey clark in dream-land. could i with ink the ocean fill, were all the earth of parchment made; were every blade of grass a quill, and every man a scribe by trade-- to tell the love of god above would drain the briny oceans dry: nor would a scroll contain the whole, though covering all the arching sky. "i believe just as did the writer of these lines," said the rosicrucian, as he began his recital in the cabin of the "uncle sam," after partaking of what the purveyors of that steamship line, in the rich exuberance of their facetious imaginations were pleased to call a supper. * * * * "betsey clark was dreaming: it was morning, and the glorious face of the sun shone in unclouded splendor over the world--this world, which, to the good man and woman, is ever a world of good and beauty, viewed from the god-side, whatever it may be from the human. all things were praising him--at least all dumb things were, for men so intently adore their lares and penates--dollars and dimes--that they have scarcely time to devote a worshipful thought to him who is king of kings, and regnant god of gods. "nature was arrayed in gala robes; she had put aside her frowns, and now smiled sweetly on the world, decked gaily in pearls and light; she was on her way to attend the weddings of the flowers and the birds. betsey clark was a blythe young girl again. in her dream she was gaily tripping o'er the lea, her happy heart swelling and palpitating with strange emotions--she was a budding virgin now, and her heart overflowed with innocence and love, accompanied with that pure, but strange, wild discontent, and longing for, she knew not what, but something, which all young women feel, and are conscious of, as they pass the golden barrier that divides their youth from womanhood. it is, and was, the holy and chaste desire to love, and be loved in return--from the heart, sir, right straight from the heart! ah, how i sometimes wish i had been created a girl instead of a boy. bah! what's the use of wishing? especially when all the girls desire an opposite transmigration. "betsey's bloom outrivalled the blushes of the newly-wedded roses--roses just married to sunlight, in the morning dew, with all the trees for witnesses, and all the birds to swell the sounding chorus! and she was happy; ah, how full of happiness! and yet it was slightly dashed with bitterness--just a taste of gall in her cup of honey--for she imagined a more perfect state, had vague dreamings of something still higher. so have we all. we have it! and that is a certain sign that that higher something is attainable, if we only try. some one said he wanted to eat his friend. good! but i want to lose myself in another self--to make of them twain a unit, which is better! or to thus blend, and then lose _ourself_ in the great god-life, which is best! "and she gaily tripped over the lea. she was going with a pitcher of cream, and a basket of fresh eggs, toward a hole in the rock, not a great way off, to present them to the strange 'hermit of the silver girdle,' who dwelt within a little grotto just upon the edge of a forest wild, hard by her girlhood's home. "now, be it henceforth known to everybody, and to everybody's son and daughter--if the fact is not already patent unto them--that every female between the ages of fifteen and twenty-three, is naturally, spontaneously, and inevitably, in love; and all that is then wanting, is a suitable, and worthy object to lavish it upon. if she finds such, well and good; but whether she does, or not, still she must, and will pour it out--either healthily, or otherwise--on a cat or a man; a poodle or politics; marriage or a mirror. between those ages the female heart is just as full of love as an egg is full of meat; nor can she help it; it is the birth of affection, love, romance--the endeared and endearing spring-tide of life and emotion. alas! that the tide too often ebbs, never, never to rise again this side of the grave! then, in the rich exuberance of her innocence and purity, woman, unlike man at the same age, thinks no wrong, fears no harm. gentle, trustful, noble girl! blessed is he who then calls her to himself--who, in the morning of his life, and her own, shall win, and worthily wear, her heart; and abased indeed is he who then shall gaze upon her with unhallowed eyes, and seek to lure her from the path of honorable womanhood! "presently the girl reached the hermit's abode, saluted the reverend man, presented her welcome gift, and received on bended knee his blessing in return. "they conversed awhile, did that fair girl and that strange recluse; the hermit stood on this side, the maiden stood on that. 'daughter,' said he, as he placed his white palms upon her beaming forehead, 'the world and all it contains amounts to but little, if it, and they, be not improved to the utmost--the attainment of the soul's aliment, knowledge, which it assimilates and digests into wisdom. i have partaken of that food for fourscore years and ten--have converted it into wisdom, and expect to be thus engaged during long centuries to come. thou seest me living here alone, dependent upon the charities of such as thou: poor in california, where even the rocks are retained by golden wedges in their places, and where diamonds sparkle in a hundred valleys. thou seest me shut out from the busy world, and drawing life from charity--and heaven. such an existence is suitable for me, but not for such as thee. i am a student and professor of a strange and mighty magic, for i possess the marvellous mirror, and the still more wondrous crystal globe--both of which are heirlooms of the early foretime, handed down the ages to me, as i in turn shall bequeath them to the ages yet to be. but thou! thou art a woman, and cannot afford to shut thyself out from life, society, and pleasure, as rosicrucians do, and must, if they would obtain the kingdom, the password--that uplifts the sable curtains that hide a dozen worlds--and the key, by which the doors of mystery are opened. child, for thee there are more fitting things in store than the upper knowing--better than solitude; higher charms than study, and abstruse pondering over recondite lore, and subtle laws of being and of power. thou in thy way, i in mine, are, and must be, soldiers in the strife for holy peace; toilers for the millions yet unborn; mechanics for redemption of the world; active bees in the busy hive--thou of active human life, i that of human destiny; together, marchers in the grand army whose movement is ever onward, and which never looks behind. i strive for the true; thy destiny tends toward the beautiful; together, we shall reach the goal of good, moving over thorny roads, albeit, on the way; for there are many dangerous pit-falls, deep morasses, dismal swamps, gloomy forest-solitudes, and stony mountains, steep and slippery, that bar man's path to happiness. "prepare ye the way.... make his paths straight!" such is thy business--and mine. to accomplish this duty i am here; but a different field is thine to labor in. to achieve thy destiny thou must place thine affections upon a son of man--thy soul's great love on god alone. you must wed, bear children in great agony, yet gloriously, to your husband, your country, and to him. "'i will now, by means of the higher magic, which i am able to use in thy behalf, show the figure of a man whom you will hereafter marry. you shall behold him _as he is; as he will be_, and _and as he may become_--provided you choose to make him so; for a husband is _ever and always just what a woman makes him_! i am now about to display a phantarama of the future before you. observe, and note well all thou mayest behold. speak not thereof to vain worldlings, who cannot comprehend deep mysteries, such as these; above all, utter not one single word while thou sittest at yonder table, gazing into the future-revealing crystal globe.' "and so saying, the grey-clad hermit of the silver girdle, who dwelt in a forest wild, led the way to a recess of the grotto, where the light was very subdued, very dim, and exceedingly religious. there he seated her before a tripod, supporting a triangular shelf or table, himself taking a seat directly opposite. upon this table he then placed a small, square, dark-leathern box, opening on brass hinges across the sides and top. he opened it, while reiterating his caution, and disclosed to the enraptured gaze of the doubly-delighted girl--all girls are delighted before they get their husbands--and many of them are considerably delighted, if not more so, to get rid of them afterwards!--a magnificent globe of pure crystal, clear as a dew-drop, radiant as a sunbeam. it was not over four inches in diameter, was a perfect sphere, and was altogether beautiful--in this respect, infinitely transcending that of a soap-bubble of the same size--a humble comparison, but a just one--for there are few things more beautiful than these self-same soap-bubbles! "the first impulse of the girl was to handle this beautiful trinue--as it was called; and she made a movement with that intent, but was instantly prevented by the hermit in grey, who said: 'not for a hundred husbands, should mortal fingers touch that sphere; for such contact would instantly rob it of its virtues, perhaps never to be regained! look, my daughter, look, but touch not!' "she obeyed, and withdrew her hand, but reluctantly; for her fingers itched severely--as what young woman's would not, under similar circumstances. _vide_ the apple and eve--by means of which, man fell--but fell _up-hill_ nevertheless! a great trait is this curiosity. it is woman's nature; it is her great prerogative! eve looked into matters and things generally, induced adam to follow her example, and thus was the main lever that lifted the race out of barbarism, and into civilization and decency. so much for this much-abused 'female curiosity.' but for it, man had remained a brute. with it, he has risen to a position a long way below the angels, to be sure, but then he is 'coming up.' "the twain now began to gaze steadily at the magic globe, maintaining perfect silence for the space of ten minutes. all was still, hushed, silent as the grave, and only the wild throbbings of the young girl's heart could be heard. presently the crystal began to change, and to emit faint streams of pale light, which gradually became more pronounced and distinct, until finally there was a most magnificent play of colors all over its surface. presently the rich, effulgent scintillas, the concentric, iridescent flashings previously observed, ceased entirely, and in their stead the girl began to notice two very strange and extraordinary appearances, which, to her and to all save those who are familiar with such mysteries (and which, although nearly unknown in this country, are still quite common in the farther east), are totally unaccountable. in the first place, she became conscious that she was breathing an atmosphere highly charged with a subtle aura that manifestly emanated from the body of the crystal itself. this air was entirely different from that which floated in the grotto an hour before, when she entered with her offering, because it was unmistakably charged, and that, too, very heavily, with a powerful magnetic aura. i said 'magnetic;' i should have said 'magnetoid,' for whereas the former induces drowsy feeling and somnolence, the latter had a purely opposite effect, for it provoked wakefulness, and promoted greater and intensified vigilance on the part of both the woman and the man. "in the second place, there came a remarkable change in the crystal itself; for, having lost its brilliant, diamond-like colors and interchanging rainbow spray, it now became decidedly opalescent, speedily passing into the similitude of a ball of clear glass, with a disk of pearly opal transversely through its centre. very soon even this changed, until it became like a dead-white wall, upon the surface of which the eye rested, without the power of penetration as before. gazing steadily upon this opaque frame, the girl in a short time distinctly and perfectly beheld, slowly moving across that pearly shield, as if instinct with life, numerous petite, but unmistakable _human figures_!--figures of men and women, tiny to the last degree, but absolutely perfect in outline and movement. and they moved hither and thither across the field of vision; she saw them moving through the streets of a city. a little closer!--'as i live, they are going up and down bush street!'--an aristocratic thoroughfare in the great city known in this story as santa blarneeo. this fact she instantly recognized, with that strange and inexplicable anachronism peculiar to dreams, and the still stranger inconsistency peculiar to dreamers and voyagers to the 'summer land.' "gradually these tiny figures appeared to enlarge, or rather, she saw them in such a perspective, that they looked like full-sized persons some little distance off. even while she gazed, the crystal changed again, or rather, vanished from her perceptions altogether, the figures enlarged--approached, as it were--and she became a passive spectator of a scene at that moment transpiring--but where? certainly not in this world of ours, nor in dream-land, nor in fancy's realms, nor in the home of souls you read about in the 'very funny' descriptions of 'starnos and 'cor,' nor in 'guptarion,' nor around the 'lakes of mornia,' nor among the 'pyramidalia,' nor in 'saturn,' nor in any of the gloriously ridiculous localities imagined by a. j. davis, and put forth by him in the delusive hope that any sane man or woman could be found green or fool enough to swallow. few men better deserve the name of impostor than the author of 'guptarion,' 'mornia,' 'foli,' 'starnos,' 'galen,' 'magic staffs,' 'harm _only_--man,' and ''cor,'--not one of which has the least existence on the earth, under, or above or around it; but the true and exact location of which is on an extensive and very soft spot just above their author's ears, and the soft spots of his followers, for it is morally certain that no one with even an ordinary modicum of--not sanity, but common sense, can, would or could accept his funny 'philosophy?' as true. "'where, then, was the true locality of the scene that betsey saw taking place?' you ask. and i answer, and i tell you, in nearly the words of the strange hermit of the silver girdle, when explaining it to betsey clark: all these strange things are occurring, not in any sort of phantom-world, but in another material earth, quite as solid as this. this crystal is a magic telescope through which we may view whatever we desire to, whether on this earth or off it. "listen! space is by no means limitless, but is a globular or elliptical, definite region--the play-ground of the powers--and is bounded on all sides by a thick amorphous wall, of the materials of which new worlds and starry systems from time to time are fashioned. this wall is thicker, a million-fold, than the diameter of the entire menstruum wherein this universe is floating. surrounding this universe, on all sides of this wall, are seven other universes, separated as is this, from all the others; and they all differ from our own and the rest, as differs a volcano from a sprig of rosemary--that is to say, utterly--totally. the material worlds of each of these other universes outnumber the sands of the desert, yet their number is precisely that of the one in which we live; but they are larger, for the earth that corresponds to, and bears the name of this of ours, is, in the smallest of the other universes, quite as bulky as the sun which gives us light, and the other solar bodies in proportion. the universe next higher is immeasurably larger than the one just alluded to. it has the same number of material worlds, and the earth corresponding to this of ours is as large as the solar system in which we are. that of the third is as large as the solar system of the second, and so on to the last of the series of seven; but not the last in fact, for outside of, and surrounding the entire seven, is another wall, separating them from forty-nine other systems, in ascending grade. i cannot now give you any information respecting the sublime realities of these forty-nine, nor of the regions and realms still beyond; therefore i recall your attention to this world and sphere of being. "on earth there are seven distinct classes or orders of men: the instinctual, affectional, intellectual, intuitional, aspiring, indifferent, and wise, to all of whom a different destiny is decreed. organizations determine destinies! every nebulæ seen in the far-off heaven is a system of worlds. that wonderful family of stars to which our sun belongs is, with all its overflowing measure of star-dust, but a single cosmos; and there are myriads of such within the confines of this present universe, and before we cross the vast ocean of ethylle, and reach the wall alluded to. all things are in halves; male, female--negative, positive--light, dark, and so on. so is the nebulæ of worlds to which we belong. now, remember what i have said of the resemblances between this earth and universe and the seven others beyond the wall. precisely such likenesses exist between the worlds of the respective halves of our own system. "at various distances, flecking the vault, we behold suns and systems innumerable. these all belong to this, the female half of our system. beyond them lies a vast ocean of ether, separating the continents. across that ocean, at a distance incomputable by the human intellect, is the male half of our system. there--there is a sun precisely as large, as brilliant, and as hot as ours--and no more so. around that sun fiery comets whirl, planets revolve, and meteors flash, just as they do hitherward. there is a venus, mercury, asteroids, mars, jupiter, and all the other planetary bodies, just as here, and of the same dimensions. a globe there is called earth; it has a moon, an atlantic, pacific, mediterranean, and other seas, exactly equivalent to ours. it has a california, a san francisco, paris, berlin, munich, boston, new york, philadelphia, baltimore, pittsburg, just as here; and their names, as are those of its trees, countries, counties, town, people, capitals, are exactly as on this earth. there is a president lincoln, and general fremont; a thurlow weed, and cullen bryant; an agassiz, and horace greeley; atlantic monthly, and harper's magazine; a new york mercury, an independent, edited by beecher, tilton and leavitt--and they deal the same as do their similitudes here. the streets and omnibuses are precisely as here; wall street is as full of thieves, and contractors get fat off their country's gore as they do here. there is a rebellion there, and union generals sell themselves to treason just as here--while the men who could and would save the nation are left out in the cold, in spite of the tribunes, posts, and times--all of which long since pointed out the road to richmond and to victory--and were laughed at just as in our planet. "in that far-distant world there is at this moment a steamer, 'uncle sam,' sailing across the gulf of california, as at this moment we are, and on board of her there are just as many men and women as on this one, and their persons, names, habits, features, motives, hopes, fears, characters, secrets, and intellectual and moral natures, are precisely the same as our own, on board this ship. our namesakes there are at this instant doing, thinking, acting, reading, as are we; and some of them are listening to a very strange story, and its still stranger episodes, told by a rosicrucian--just such a personage as myself--indeed my very self--in the self-same form and feature. and i say, and i tell you, that the _alter ego_--the living portrait of each man and woman in this circle, is thinking of him or herself, and of me and my revelations, at this moment, with the same stupid levity, with the same deep and awful impression of their truth, in the same manner, whatever it be, as are all of you at this moment. and some there, as here, set me and my story at naught--stigmatize me as an enthusiast or dreaming poet, as do some of you. others believe my truths. you have heard that coming events cast their shadows before them, and that prophecy has been demonstrated true. behold the solution of the world-enigma. events transpire in that other world a trifle sooner than they do here; yet you must remember that there is a vast interval of space, and therefore time, that must be bridged by even that swift courier, sympathy. according as a man there, and his counterpart here, are fine, aspiring, and spiritual-minded, so is their _rapport_ across the awful gulf; and the male half, the more perfect portion of each man or woman's self, very frequently telegraphs the other, often a long time before the event becomes actualized on this earth. you have heard of fays and fairies. listen, and learn the truth concerning them: remembering that no human soul can by any possibility quit the confines of this universe until it has exhausted the whole of its, the universe's, resources, and has attained _all_ of love, will, majesty, power, wisdom and dignity, that this vast cosmos can give it; after which it sleeps awhile, but will awake again to the exercise of creative energy, on the thither side of the wall--both duplicates sleep at once; for, after their deaths on the material earths, they exist apart, but sustain the same relations, in certain aromal worlds attached to their respective primary homes. at the final deaths, they blend forever, their stature is increased, and they enter, through the wall, that earth resembling the one whereon the double unit had its birth _originally_. "you have heard of metempsychosis, transmigration, of reincarnation, and of progress. listen, and learn more: not only the inhabitants of the countless myriads of worlds in this material _and aromal_ universe, but also the material and aromal worlds themselves, are in a constant state of progressive movement. by aromal worlds i mean the aërial globes that attend each planet. they are places where souls rest awhile after death, before they commence in earnest the second stage of their career; and this state is an intermediate one, just like sleep, only that they are conscious and active while there; but it is an activity and consciousness, not like, but analogous to that of dream. every world, and assemblage of worlds, is periodically reduced, by exhaustion, but at enormously long intervals, into chaos, and is then reformed, or created anew, still, however, being the same world. after this passage, each system and world becomes vastly more perfect than before; but, owing to the diminished quantity of spirit or essence which has been consumed in giving birth to hosts of immortal armies, each system and world is vastly smaller than before. this is for two reasons, one of which i have just stated; the other is, in order to make room for new cosmi, and new worlds, both of which are being constantly created from the material of the wall; and the wall itself is the condensed effluence of the maker--in short, it is god-od, and therefore inexhaustible. the majority of those who have lived on any world are re-born in it after its restitution, they, in the meantime, having grown correspondingly clean and perfect. the same relative proportions between a world and its occupants is still preserved, and never varies; and, consequently, the six-foot man and the five-foot woman of one career, find themselves, in their next state, occupying five and four-foot bodies respectively. the present is our thirty-fourth incarnation. originally we were taller than many of our present trees, and coarser than our mountains. we are smaller and better than ever before, and our worst man is better than the best of the preceding state. the worst, in the next change, will be better than our best.[ ] to illustrate, let me say, that the following persons, viz.: thurlow w----, abraham l----, russel l----, j. gordon b----, henry j. r----, wm. cullen b----, jefferson d----, john g. fre----, james buch----, wigfall, charles sum----, horace g----, fernando w----, george b. mc----, gen. j. h--k--r, dr. h. f. g--d--r, charles t--n--s, lizzie d---- and myself, respectively, were, previously to the last change: the first, a feudal lord; the second, an editor; the third, a danish prince; the fourth, a court-jester; the fifth, a missionary; the sixth, a _generalissimo_; the seventh, a harpist; the eighth, a theatrical manager; the ninth, a knife-grinder; the tenth, a privateer; the eleventh, a preacher; the twelfth, a schoolmaster; the thirteenth, a trumpeter; the fourteenth, a politician; the fifteenth, a hunter; the sixteenth, a very little boy, died exceedingly young; the seventeenth, an emperor; the eighteenth, a born queen; and the last, a barber's clerk; so that it is evident, that though our progress is slow, still that we are 'coming up.' little as our actual worth may be, still we are better now, generally speaking, than in the former stage. thus, we will grow smaller at every change. some worlds, and their dwellers, in this universe have thus decreased, and being sometimes seen by people here, have been called fays or fairies. the world has yet to undergo some thousands of these changes, until at last we become very small indeed, which will occur when conception is no longer possible in the universe, either in the vegetable or animal worlds; and then will occur the change and transference beyond the wall. [footnote : extremes meet. the sublime impinges on the ridiculous. the substance of the text--save only that i have changed the names--was put forth seriously as truth, by a recent british author. here, of course, it is given for what it is worth, which may be _more than some imagine_. viewed in one light, these notions are almost as absurd as are the desperately-funny lucubrations of andrew jackson davis, concerning what he calls the "summer land," which many people regard as true revelations of man's _post-mortem_ life, when, in fact, they are monstrous abortions, devoid of even common sense, and are without one particle of truth from beginning to end.] "betsey clark was beholding persons and events of that other world-half of this, our little staying-house, beholding things through that fairy lense--that beautiful magic crystal, through which the human eye can see, the human brain _sense_, things that have occurred, are occurring, or are to occur, upon the world-stage of this our life's theatre. "it is an established fact that fools never dream! wise people often do! and those belonging to the latter category cannot have failed to notice that things, dates, persons, circumstances, and probabilities, are considerably mixed up, as a general thing, in dreams. their anachronisms are especially remarkable and provoking, and indicate that time is of but little, if any, account, so far as the soul, _per se_, is concerned. a dream of a minute often embraces the multifarious experience of a century. this instant you are hob-nobbing with one of the pre-adamite kings on the plateaus of eastern asia, and in the next are taking wine with pharaoh and moses on the banks of the nile; now you are delivering an oration before alexander the great, and in a jiffy find yourself stuffing ballots on cornhill in an election for ward-constable; now you are contemporary with sardanapalus or thothmes iii., and in half a second you are delivering a 'spiritual lecture' in lamartine hall, having paid fifty cents for the privilege of listening to your own 'splendid and overpowering eloquence.' taken together, dreams, like complimentary benefits, are queer concerns. such was that of betsey clark; for at one moment of time she was a virgin girl, a wife, a widow, and a wife again. she recognized at once the facts of her girlhood, that she had carefully deposited one husband in a hole in the ground, and was in high hopes of performing the same kind office for a second--mr. thomas w. "presently the view in the crystal faded away, and in its stead there came the appearance of a large and splendid atelier, containing numberless statues, in a more or less finished condition, standing on pedestals or in niches round the wall-sides. the sculptor was absent. it was evident at a glance that his images were not hewn of marble, but of some other material, which needed but a touch of fire to make them start up into life, liberty, and light. it was a man-factory--a place where people were carved out to order by a wonderful artist, who had just opened business thereabouts and who, judging from appearances, was already in a fair line of patronage, and quite likely to do well, if not better. "standing near the centre of the apartment, propped up with bits of wood, betsey saw the exact likeness, in all respects, of mr. thomas clark--but the figure was unfinished--soft, puttyish, and doughy as a northern politician. "this statue stood semi-erect, and strongly suggested an invalid kitten, leaning on a hot brick; or, a modern philosopher of the spread-eagle and progressive school, when the contributions are small. the figure was labelled 'tom clark, as he was;' that is to say, soft, ductile, capable of being moulded into the ruffian or the man. directly beside it was another statue, closely resembling the other in many points, but yet different. it was labelled 'tom clark, as he is!' that is to say, it looked as if abundantly capable of feeding on tenpenny nails, dining on files, and supping upon pigs of iron. it looked, for all the world, as if the greatest possible favor that could be done for it, would be to tread on the tail of its coat, or knock a chip off its shoulder, or as if its supreme delight would be to be permitted to wrap itself in a star-spangled banner; move across the room in three strides and a straddle; fire off two horse-pistols, and die like a son of a--gun, after having exercised a special penchant for divorced women--separating wives from their husbands, for the sake of position, wealth, beauty and passion. it looked as if it was troubled about stealing rain-producing theories--not for stealing, but for being caught at it. it looked as if its heart was breaking, because it had not brains enough to be a pantarch--or the tenth-part of one. it looked as if its heart would burst with envy, because other men had friends, and power, and applause, and merit, in spite of _its_ little, perked-up, seven-by-nine, skull-cracked soul--poor cambric, needle-eyed soul, twelve hundred and eighty trillions to the half ounce. it looked, for all the world, as tom really did the very last time he came home, just before they lay down upon their couch, in the little chamber in which was the little window, whose upper sash was down--that is to say, short, crusty, crisp, and meaner than 'git;' as he felt before they both lay down, and dreamed such 'very funny' dreams--mean, despicable, iron-hearted tom clark, the plague of her life, bane of her existence, and source of all her troubles. so at least it seemed to the lady in her curious vision. presently both these figures slowly faded from her sight, and in their stead there arose through the floor a third figure, labelled, '_tom clark, as he may be_.' while she was admiring the vast superiority, in all respects, of this new statue, a fourth human figure entered the atelier; this figure was alive, and, _mirabile dictu!_ the woman beheld the exact counterpart of--_herself!_--clad as a working artist--a sculptor, with apron, paper-cap, and dusty clothing, all complete, as if she had just left chiselling the dead marble. this lemur of herself appeared deeply gratified at the appearance of the statue; for, after surveying it awhile, she proceeded to arm herself with a flame-tipped baton, wherewith she touched the figure in various places, but mainly on the head, and over the region of the heart. the effect of these touches of flame was to make the figure move; and, in five minutes the dead mass was warm with life, vitality and genius--for the phantom-artiste appeared to endow the figure with a portion of her own life; and a closer inspection revealed the curious fact that the flame at the end of the staff--which was hollow--was fed from a deep well of subtle, fine and inflammable ether in her own heart. "the statue lived. it was tom clark, and no mistake; but heaven! what a change!--what a difference between the actual and the ideal man! his features fairly blazed with the fires of genius and ambition; and they beamed like a sun, with friendship, intelligence, truth and manhood--they all held high court in his soul, and radiated from his inspired features; his very presence charged the air with mind, though his lips spoke never a word, breathed never a syllable. and now betsey heard her _alter ego_ speak; and it said to the living statue: 'rise, tom clark; rise, and be a man--be yourself. rise!' and it rose; stepped from the pedestal, erected its head--and such a head!--while she, the phantom artiste, with careful tread, and anxiously holding her nether lip between her teeth, slowly retreated backward from the room, quitting it through the door by which she had entered a little while before. she was followed majestically by the statue, which moved with power and grace, as if charged to the brim by god's galvanic batteries. "scarcely had the two phantoms left the room, than the woman on the stool--the real betsey clark--followed their example with a sudden bound, exclaiming, as she did so, despite the warning of the hermit of the silver girdle (for whom at that moment she didn't care;--not even a piece of a fig), 'my _husband_! _my_ husband!' human nature, especially woman nature, could stand the pressure no longer. she felt and acted _as_ she felt--as every woman has, since the year one--and will, until time and eternity both grow grey. '_my husband!_' there spake the woman. in an instant the hermit of the silver girdle was in a very great and unprecedented fluster. "'silly girl! didn't i tell you not to speak? only look! see how you have gone and done it!--done _me_! oh, dear! if i warn't a rosicrucian, i'd get excessively angry, dorg on it, if i wouldn't!' and in his trouble, he pronounced 'dog,' with an _r_. commend me to a female for upsetting the best calculation of the wisest rosicrucian that ever lived. i speak from experience. "'i told you not to open your lips, and here you've gone and spoken right out! what's the consequence?' exclaimed the venerable grey-beard. 'why, the spell is broken--the charm fled--nor can either be recalled before the sun has set and rose again, and once more declined toward the western sea. familiar as i am with the secrets of galæ and the mysteries of magic crystals, i know that you have done very wrong; for no one is fit to consult destiny by their aid who is not competent to keep silence for an hour, no matter what the temptation or provocation to break it may be. now hie thee homeward. to-morrow thou mayest return again, provided thou wilt obey me, and speak not a syllable while the phantasmal game of fate is being played before thine eyes.' "the hermit of the silver girdle had spoken truly; for at the very first movement of her lips, the whole scene of enchantment vanished into thin air, leaving only a three-cornered table and a little glossy-looking ball behind. "to depict her chagrin and disappointment at this abrupt termination of a very strange affair, is a task totally beyond my capacities. she bounced out of the grotto in a miff, tossing her pretty head in a manner peculiarly adapted to play the very old scratch with the soft and susceptible heads and hearts of the male 'sect'--especially their heads; but she had no idea of abandoning the adventure at that point--not she; but was fully resolved to see it out next day, even if she bit her tongue in two, in the endeavor to keep still. warriors, statesmen, philosophers, and well-read men can comprehend the sublimity of her resolution, because they know that of all earthly tasks, the one assigned herself was the greatest, most heroic, and one compared to which the twelve labors of the greek god were mere child's pastime. at all events, to keep perfectly silent she would certainly--'try,' said a voice, right beside her ear! she started, attributing the circumstance to mere fancy; but again the magic word was, by unseen lips, gently, softly whispered in her ear. 'try,' it said--and the word went echoing through her very soul. whence came the voice? who was it--what was it that spoke? certainly not herself, nor the hermit. when was it, where was it, that she had heard that voice and word before? when, how, where had it made so deep an impression on her mind? was it in a dream? who can tell? she could not. my hearers, can you? "next morning, bright and early, the young girl returned once more to the grotto of the hermit of the silver girdle, who dwelt on the shady borders of a forest wild. an hour or two elapsed in friendly converse and admonition; and now again behold the dissimilar twain once more seated silently before the little table, on which glittered, as before, the rare, pearl-disked, magic, wonder-working crystal globe. again, as before, the glorious play of colors came and went. again it faded, and she saw the atelier, the artiste, and the artiste's living statue; but this time betsey could look right through its body, as if it were made of finely-polished glass. tom clark stood before her. she saw and comprehended him on all sides--soul, spirit, body; and though she was neither a strong-minded woman, a lecturess on philosophy, 'the good time coming,' nor 'woman's sacred and delicate work,'--and though she knew but little of the human organism, beyond a few familiar commonplaces--yet she comprehended enough of the glorious mystery before her to be aware that the red, pulsing lump just beneath its throat was technically known and considered as the heart; and she couldn't help admiring its wonderful and mighty mechanism; its curious movements, mystical arrangements of parts, and adaptation of means to ends; its auricles, valves, and veins; its ventricles, and its pump--tapping the well of life, and forcing its water through a million yards of hose, plentifully irrigating the loftiest gardens of man's body, and hence, of his imperishable soul. the inspection was almost too much for the girl, who had liked to have screamed out her wonderment and delight; but having made up her mind to keep still this time, she, by dint of much handkerchief and tongue-biting, succeeded, to the eternal credit of herself--or any other woman! "'that which you see,' said the hermit, who of course had the privilege of talking as he pleased, 'is a man's heart, in full play. it is, as you perceive, filled with blood, whose office is to give life to the body and vigor to the mind. but the heart has other chambers than those containing the venous and arterial fluids; for all its walls and valves contain innumerable small cells; and these cells secrete and contain certain aëriform fluids far more potential than blood, and which subserve the ends of a higher and far more wonderful economy. there are two kinds of blood; so also are there two kinds of the subtle fluid i have mentioned: one sort is born with us, and we come into the world with exactly one half of these cells full, while the other half are entirely empty; and so they must remain until they are filled from the heart of some one else. males are born with the cells of the left side empty, females with those of the right unfilled, while the other cells of each are always full. these fluids are real, actual, perceptible, but imponderable. their name is love; and when things take their proper and natural course, the fluid flows out from the cells of a woman's heart into the empty ones of a man's; and the full cells of a man's heart fill the empty ones of a woman's, in which case they are said to "love each other." two men cannot thus love; nor can two females. many of either sex travel from the cradle to the grave without either filling, or being filled in turn; for it is a law that love cannot flow unless it be tapped by the opposite party; and it can only be tapped by kindness, gentleness, respect--these three! the unloved and unloving are only half men and half women--and, believe me, my child, there's a mighty sight of halfness in this world of ours! much of it comes of not trying to have it otherwise. people--married people, especially--devote half their days to growling because they have not got somebody else's wife or husband, when the fact is that their own partners are quite good enough--as they would find out with a little proper endeavor. men expect a woman's love to bubble up all the time. fools! why don't they sound its depth, and _bring it to the surface_? there are altogether too many divorces--a divorce first, and the next step--is dangerous. i knew a wife of three divorces; i knew a man the husband of two consecutive divorcees. good intentions! bah! hell is paved with such. i know of fifty broken-hearted women whose husbands, after wearing them out, sneaked off to indiana and robbed them of name, fame, life, and hope;--the demons! out upon the wretches! the woman who has wasted her youth and bloom upon a man who then wants a divorce, and permits him to obtain it, is a fool. he promised for life. make him keep it, even if you invoke the law's strong arm. if both agree, that alters the case. i have a legal acquaintance in new york who drives a large trade in the divorce line, at twenty-five dollars a head. i feel called upon to expose the infernal methods by means of which it is done, and i call upon the legislature to see to it that the thing is not suffered to go on. a. is a lawyer; b. and c. are husband and wife. b. wants a "divorce without publicity;" goes to a. and pays a fee to secure it, but has no legal quibble by means of which to obtain it. a. gives him the following counsel: "go to a brothel, take up with an inmate thereof; call her d.; make three or four male and female acquaintances (e., f., g., and h.), introduce them to d. as your wife; leave town a day or two, but take care that d. is well watched in the interim. of course she will avail herself of your absence to ply her vocation. e., f., g., and h. furnish the most incontestable and damning proof of her supposed guilt. the witnesses may or may not know your precious scheme. you prosecute the leman under your wife's name--she, of course, knowing nothing about the proceedings--poor thing! the court takes the evidence, hands it over to a referee, who passes on it; returns it, affirmed, to the court, which forthwith enters a decree of perpetual divorce. a scoundrel goes unwhipped of justice, and an honest woman's reputation is forever damned! "'legislators, i tell you that these things are done every day! i was told it--could not believe it--and assuming to be desirous of such a decree, received the above counsel, word for word, from a practitioner at the new york bar. legislators, here is a crime worse than murder! will you sanction it longer? how prevent it? summon the witnesses and performer of this marriage; or at least _prove the identity of the woman or the man_, as the case may be--for women practice in that court also! "'there would be far less of this sort of iniquity, if there were fewer blatant philosophy-mongers afloat on the tide of the times, inculcating their morbid, detestable, blasphemous, brothel-filling, "harmonial" theories, all of which directly pander to the worst vice a man can have--meanness. "'people insanely look for and expect perfection in others--not only without the slightest claim thereto themselves, but without the least attempt in that direction--which is a very suicidal policy to pursue. such soon come to be vampires, consuming themselves and destroying others--ravening tigers at their own fold's side! sometimes one person's affection--which is akin to love--goes out toward and clings round another; but death ever flaps his wings by the side of such, when that other fails to give it back. the unloving loved one, if such a thing be possible, is a born thief, from the cradle to the clouds; and there are a great many such robbers in the world.' "'but how is one to love when one don't feel like it, or has attractions in another direction?' asked betsey. "'where duty and honor point, there should the attraction lie! whosoever shall render themselves lovable and lovely, can no more help being loved than smoke can help ascending through the air. make yourself agreeable to the partner of your lot in life, and that partner can no more help loving you than mirrors can help reflecting. "'the heart of yonder statue, which is that of the man who is destined to be a future husband of yours,' said the old man--pointing to the first figure of the previous day, which had, together with the second, re-appeared upon the scene, 'will be only half full by reason of your withholding and refusing all tender wifeliness; you will rob him and yourself of the better meat of life; your years will be gloomy ones; you will make him wretched, and be the same yourself--cheat your bodies of health, your souls of happiness and vigor! take heed; correct the fault. you "can't?" there's no such word. try!' "turning now to the second figure of the previous day, he observed: 'see! tom clark's heart is empty. all its cells are _filled with a void_--hollow as the apples of persia's arid wastes. have mercy, heaven, on him whose heart throbs not with the rapturous burden of a woman's love! pity him whose soul groweth not tender with the love-light beaming from a baby's eyes! ah, what a world of nameless glory flashes from an infant's eyes! they are telescopes through which my soul sees heaven--through which i watch the mazy dance of starry worlds, and behold the joys of seraphim. we rosicrucians love babies--seed of the ages--and their mothers, too--because they are such; for we believe that after death the maids fair worst--the wives fare better; but no tongue or pen can express the rapture that awaits those who have borne sons and daughters to the world and heaven! bachelors! bah! i will pass by such cattle, merely remarking that their place is not to be found in heaven, or the other place. they repair in a body to fiddler's green--and ought to stay there, if they do not!' "and betsey gazed on the forlorn figure of poor tom--who was all one-sided, crooked, lean; his hopes and joys were flown, because no one loved him, not even his wife; and who else should, if not she? and so he was wretched, like full many another whom i have seen as i journeyed down life's glades. his soul was driven back upon, and forced to eat itself, day by day, and year after year. 'and this great wrong you will do,' said the hermit; and 'this great wrong i have already done,' thought the girl--wife--widow--wife--four in one, with that strange, anomalous inconsistency, peculiar to dream-life. 'i have done badly; but this i will do no more--not another second longer!' "bravely, royally thought and said! better, if more gloriously done!--and that's just the difference--saying and doing. the first is common; the last is very rare. 'better still, if truly said, and still more nobly done!'--was whispered in the woman's ear, in the same low, silvery voice, she had heard the day before. who was it that spoke these melodious words? not the hermit in grey. was it the invisible hesperina, telegraphing betsey's soul across the vast expanse of the continent of dream? who shall answer me these questions? "said the silver-girdled hermit, as he smiled a smile of more than human gladness--more than human meaning--'it is well.' she looked again toward the magic globe, and lo! within a moment, its disk had changed. the first two figures had disappeared; the third had once more come upon the scene--a conspicuous actor in such a terrific drama, as neither earth nor starry eyes ever saw before, may they never see again! "the gorgon, war, had glutted himself on europe's bloody fields, and had flown across the salt sea, alighting on our shores. the demon landed with a howl, midway between moultrie and sumter. he had seized the reins of government, proclaimed himself sole lord and king; strangled reason in his dreadful gripe, until she lay bleeding on the gory earth, and meek-eyed peace fled tearfully away from his grim presence, and hid herself upon a distant mountain-top, whence she could survey the shock of armies on the plains beneath, and sigh, and long for liberty and rule. "war and carnage, side by side, with gory banners flying, marched from one end of the nation to the other, until their footsteps rested on the graves of eight hundred thousand men. god's precious word was disregarded, and his blessed soil dyed red with human blood--the rich, fat blood of the noblest race that ever trod his earth--the blood of your brother, and of mine, o my countrymen! "and now, the loud-lunged trumpets brayed their fierce alarums, and summoned columbia's sons to deeds at which our grandsons shall turn pale--deeds of heroic daring such as greece, nor rome, nor carthage ever dreamed of, nor storied page has chronicled: summoned them to sumter's stony ramparts, and potomac's grassy banks--summoned them to do, and--die. eight hundred thousand men! and they went--going as tornadoes go--to strike for a nation's life--to strike the foul usurper low, and fling his carcass to the dogs. they would have struck--struck hard and home; but they were stayed. _that_ was not the 'little game' of generals and statesmen, and of high contract-ing parties. oh, no! victory would never do! 'let us fight the foe with gloves on!' said the minister. they fought. the foe wore gloves, also; but the palms were brass, the fingers iron, and the knuckles polished steel! but the minister had his whim, and unborn generations will feel its consequences! eight hundred thousand graves! "and the union legions went, from decreed fate toward a consummated destiny, in spite of ministers, their minions, or the 'little game;' and tom clark went, too. "and loud the trumpets brayed; and the heavy drums did sound; and they woke strange and fearful energies in the slumbering nation's heart. what a magic transmutation! plowmen transformed to heroes, such as shall forever put cincinnatus in the shade; day laborers, carriers of the hod, claiming--and rightfully, too--high places in the pantheon of heroic demi-gods. look at fredericksburg! forget not the black brigade! bear in mind the deeds of a hundred regiments on a hundred fields--fields, too, that might, and would have finally decided the carnage and the quarrel, but for the minister, his gloves, his 'little game,' his great whim--and lo! its consequences! * * * * "tom clark, quickened into life by the subtle, flame-tipped staff in the hands of the phantom-artiste--the proprietress of the wonderful atelier and man-factory, now stepped forth through the door of the room, and forthwith the scene expanded to such vast dimensions, that betsey found it impossible to realize the magic mimicry, for the whole thing was too real, and on too grand a scale. she stood on the hill of the world, surveying its valleys at leisure. tom clark, apparently heard--deeply heard, his country's wail of agony--for unchecked treason was then griping her tightly by the throat. that cry called him to a field of glory, such as god's green earth never before afforded, nor his sun ever saw; nor his moon; nor his myriad, twinkling, starry eyes! "clark's soul was in arms, as his offended ears drank in the hoarse, deep thunders of treason's cannonry, pouring iron hail upon a prostrate nation's head; and his eyes beheld the flashing of the guns, as they vomited a hell of iron and fire upon sumter, upon anderson, and the peerless eighty-three! tom clark saw the storm, and his heart indignant swelled, at the insult to the star-gemmed flag of human rights and liberty--an insult, long since wiped out in traitor's blood, but for the minister, and the gloves, and the 'little game,' and the whim, whose consequences are--eight hundred thousand skeletons! "like a true man, clark, inspired by a true woman--the phantom-wife, and artiste--ran, leapt, flew to arms and deathless glory. ah, god! to arms, and fadeless glory! he had no time to grieve, or grumble; or to criticise this general, or that battle. he looked over the heads of cowards and traitors in his own camp, at the noble men in arms, and who bravely fought, and nobly died, for the country. he saw, and gloriously emulated such men as lyon, saxton, hunter, fremont--and baker! baker!--o oregon! my tears fall with thine, for him! he was mine, yours--ours! ours, in his life; in his nobleness; in his soul-arousing eloquence; in the valor, and the effulgent glory of his death--the result of another whim, and lo! the consequences! "and now, see! behold the smoke of yonder battle! death rides on cannon-balls, to-day! and, to-night, there will be much mourning in the land; for strong men in thousands are giving up the ghost. weep not, o widow, for god accepts such sacrifices; mourn not, o orphans, he who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, will hold thee in his keeping; thy grateful country will not let thee want for bread; and, by-and-by, it will be a proud boast of thine, 'my father died to redeem the land from treason!' "death rides on cannon-balls, to-day, in the fight that we are seeing. tom clark is a hero. see! he leads the van. god spare him! what a presence! what blows he deals for liberty and the union! lo! the thundering battalions of the brave and bold, but insane, misguided, and revengeful foe, sweep down the embattled plain, their war-cry ringing out above the belching roar of artillery; and, with such might and valor do they charge, that freedom's cohorts reel and stagger beneath the dreadful shock of arms. another such a charge, and all is lost. but, see, there comes a man from the ranks--a common soldier--his voice rings clearly out upon the sulphur-laden air: 'follow me!' the inspiring words and action kindle new fire in the wavering breasts of hundreds. they rise; they throw themselves upon the foe--they hush his battle-cry in death. he is repulsed! 'who did that?' demands an aide-de-camp. 'private thomas w.,' is the response. 'hero! greet him in my name, as color sergeant,' says the general; and tom clark is promoted on the field. "the first day's fight is over. it is renewed next day, and, when the tired guns give over with the sun, a group of soldiers are gathered round a man. 'who is it?' 'who is it?' 'i thought you knew--why, it is the man who saved the tenth brigade--and was rewarded on the spot--captain thomas w.!' "with the sunrise, came the foe! 'pass the word along the line, there--captain clark is wanted at the tent of the general-in-command!' he goes. "' captain clark, do you see yonder battery of the enemy? it must be taken, or we are lost. if i give you command of a regiment whose colonel was killed yesterday, can you take it?' 'i will try.' ... 'general, the battery on the left is ours,' says an aide-de-camp an hour afterwards. 'it is taken, and all its men are either dead or prisoners!' 'indeed! so soon? greet the commander in my name, and salute him as colonel thomas w.' "another day dawns on the ensanguined field--a field where privates were heroes and generals poltroons! hard fighting is before us. up, up the soldiers spring; and on, on to death or victory they rush. oh, it was a splendid sight--those death-defying demi-gods, who, had they in previous battles had but a man to lead them, would have taken fifty rebel strongholds in as many hours. but such was not the drift of the 'pretty little game.' more men must die, more ditches must be dug, and more human bones must fill them, else how can ministers carry out their whims; how else can the enemy be fought and placated at the same time? it isn't constitutional! besides which it hurts the prospect for the presidency of the re-united states--which prospect would be forever marred, and the 'little game' played out, if we fought without gloves, and violated our constitutional obligations by kicking the wind out of the foe, who is trying might and main to strangle the nation. he might hereafter say: '_you_, sir, fought without gloves on!' which wouldn't do, you know. "'damn that colonel thomas w. if the fellow keeps on at that rate, we'll surely whip somebody--badly. curse the fellow, he don't believe in the glove business, or in the "erring sisters' theory,"' soliloquized somebody on a certain day. 'this'll never do! aid, come here; go tell colonel clark take possession of the valley down yonder, and hold it at all hazards till nightfall!' 'but, general, he has only seven hundred men--the foe is thirteen thousand strong!' 'so much the worse for'--he meant clark, but said, 'the enemy--they will fight like tigers.' and the aid transmitted the order--shaking hands with the colonel as he rode away, muttering, 'poor fellow! his goose is cooked for a certainty! what a pity he stands in somebody's light--somebody who is jealous of even a private's fame. ah me!' and he rode back to headquarters, wondering whose turn next it would be to face the forlorn hope--such a singular number of which this rebellion has developed. "but there was no flinch in colonel thomas w.--no flinch in his men. they all saw the hazard; but _they_ were men and soldiers. _they_ knew how to obey orders, when their superiors did not. but then again, they had no hopes of success in a general election; they had no 'little game.' "'their's not to reason why, their's but to do or die.' and they done it! "on, on, like more than spartan heroes, on they dashed, literally, as absolutely as anything earthly can be, 'into the jaws of death--into the mouth of hell.' i have a minnie bullet on my table that plowed a furrow through a brother's heart of mine in that same dreadful valley! away they went--that gallant band, that gallant man; and many a bullet went crashing through skulls and bones as they went; and many a soul sped its way to god ere the cohort reached the knoll in the valley. once there, they were no longer men--they were as sublime exemplar gods. but a man fell--fell before the resistless force of a hundred horses charging with all of treason's vehement strength, and the gallant man went down, and the thunder of iron hoofs exploded in his ear, and then the cloud passed on. "and thomas clark went down--down, as truth, and justice and i went down; but he rose again--so ever does truth and justice; and as for me, _je renais de mes cendres_--let those beware by whom i fell.... down to the gory soil he went; but even while the woman sat there in the grotto, gazing till her eyeballs fairly ached with intensity--sat gazing with suppressed breath, so still was she--sat gazing, her blood on fire, her pulse beating three hundred to the minute, beating with a deep, fierce, tumultuous fire; sat gazing stilly, while her heart bounded and thumped within its bony citadel as if impatient of its duress, and longing to burst its tabernacle, and let the imprisoned soul go free; sat gazing, while her eyes, large grey eyes, all the while gleamed with a light that proved her capable of giving birth to heroes--even while thus she gazed on the wheeling squadrons, the charging hosts, and the great guns, as they gave forth their fiery vomit, charged with sudden deaths--the man, tom clark, sprung to his feet again, and, as he staunched his blood with one hand, he pointed with the other at the foe. 'follow me!' he cried. 'see! we are reinforced! on to victory--on!' and his voice rose above the tempest, and it flew over the spaces, and it fell upon the ears of a 'great man,' and the 'great man' wrung his hands, and he thought: 'not dead yet! damn the fellow! he will make us win a victory--and that'll never do! dear me! that cursed fool will spoil my little game! oh, for night, or a fresh division of--the enemy! i must reinforce him, though, else it'll get into that infernal _tribune_--or into that cursed george wilkes' paper--and that'll spoil my little game! ho, there! aid, go tell general trueman to reinforce colonel thomas w. _my little game_!' and he arranged his epaulettes and gave his moustache an additional killing twist. in the meantime, tom clark had charged the enemy with bayonets with the remnant of his own force, followed by hundreds whom his example had transformed into something more sublime than fighting soldiers. "and now occurred one of those conflicts which make or mar the fortunes of a nation: one of those terrible multi-personal combats which mark a century's history, and strike the ages dumb with awe; one of those terrific scenes in the world's great drama, that mark historic epochs, and enshrine men's names in fiery letters upon the scrolls of fame. "the charge and the action were short, sharp, swift, desperate; but at its close the "'flag of the planet gems, with saphire-circled diadems,' floated proudly over the scene of treason's battle lost--a nation's battle won! "day closes again; and the wounded hero in an ambulance was borne fainting--almost dying, from the field. 'colonel clark, can i do anything for you?' said one of the fighting generals to the stricken man--a bullet had gone through him. 'you are a noble fellow, and i speak for myself, your comrades in arms, and for our country. can i--can they, can we, can she--do anything for you, in this sad hour of your destiny? if so, i beg you to speak.' "'alas! no, my friend,' replied he, reviving, only to swoon again. a little cold water on his temples partially dissipated the coma, but not all the fog from his perceptions; for his general's words, 'can _she_,' considerably obfuscated his intellect, and he thought: 'he means betsey--that's the only _she_ i know of.' and then he strengthened up for a last dying effort; strove to collect his thoughts, partly succeeded, and said: 'nothing more, dear general. yes. no. i'm--dy--ing--going--home. tell betsey--_dear_ betsey--i did not--find her out till--it was--too--late. tell her that i loved--her from my--soul--at last. tell her--that'---- "she can't stand the pressure any longer--globe or no globe, hermit or no hermit--not another minute. _you_ bet! it's a pretty how de do, me a settin' here, and poor tom laying there, killed a'most to death!' shrieked the fair girl in the grotto of the hermit of the silver girdle, waked up beyond endurance by the skillful magic of the weird recluse. and repeating the californian, 'you _bet_!' with vehement emphasis on the last word, she sprung to her feet, in spite of the warnings of the man who dealt in magic crystal globes in the precincts of a forest wild--upsetting table, tripod, stool and hermit, in her eagerness to reach tom's side and give him wifely ministry. "what luck she might have had in bridging phantom river i know not, having omitted to remain long enough for inquiry, not having had time to thus devote; but this i do know, namely, that she nearly kicked the veritable mr. thomas w. clark completely out of bed--the bed at whose foot was a window, whose upper sash was down--the identical window through which came all the 'funny things' of this most veracious history, which, of course, is all true. betsey woke from excitement, tom from being kicked, and both had finished their double dreams. "'what'n thunder's up now, bet--no, lizzie, i mean?' said he, checking the less respectful utterance, and modulating his voice to what he doubtless intended to be a 'velvet-dulcet cadence,' but which wouldn't pass for that in italian opera. 'not nothing, tommy, dear.' 'not nothing, lizzie?' 'not nothing.' 'that ain't grammar, sweet.' 'i was paragorically speaking, my turkle dove! only i've been having two very funny dreams.' 'you! _two_ dreams? that _is_ queer!' 'you bet!' 'what about, lizzie?' 'oh, all about how we didn't love each other as we ought to, husband.' 'and, dorg on my buttons, wife, if i haven't had two just such dreams myself--all about a precipice, and a pile--oh, wasn't it a pile, though?' 'you bet!' 'and my dreams were all about how i ought to love you, and didn't--and then, again, i did.' 'that's a dear!' 'you bet!' 'let's love each other this time out, will _you_?' 'i will; will _you_?' 'you _bet_!' 'let's profit by our dreams. i mean to; won't you?' 'i'll _try_!' '_i'll_ try!' 'we'll both try!' 'you bet!' and they tried to forgive and forget. "will you do the same?" asked the rosicrucian of the "angular character," who had told his own story in disguise. the latter saw that his secret was out; yet his heart was touched, for, as a great tear-drop rolled down his cheek, he said, with smothered breath, the holy words--"i'll try!" "amen!" said the rosicrucian. "amen!" said we all; and then, turning to his auditors again, the story-teller said: "friends, go thou and do likewise; and so long as you live, i charge you never to forget the rosicrucian nor his story; nor it, the shadow; nor hesperina, the light; nor otanethi, the genius of the hour; nor the silver-girdled hermit, and his crystal globe in a forest wild; nor, above all, the little window at the foot of the bed, whose upper sash was down." * * * * a day or two afterwards we reached panama, and after that we saw but little of our entertainer; but before i finally lost sight of him he told me that he was about writing some rosicrucian stories, the mss. of which he would send to me when ready. i have received some, and they will be published by me as soon as i can spare time to attend to it, which will be-- "when this cruel war is over" p. b. r. utica, _november, _. from sinclair tousey newsvenders' and booksellers' agency. i invite the attention of dealers in _cheap publications, periodicals, etc.,_ to my facilities for packing and forwarding everything in my line. all goods packed with the utmost care, and forwarded, _in all instances_, by the very earliest conveyance following the receipt of the orders. i am general agent for, and take the whole editions (except mail subscriptions), of the new york ledger, new york clipper, nick-nax, national police gazette, scottish-american journal, beadle's dime books, littel's living age, wilkes' spirit of the times, comic monthly, new york weekly, metropolitan record, irish american, phunny fellow, herald of progress, leslie's budget of fun, mr. merryman's monthly, banner of light, leslie's history of the war, madame demorest's mirror of fashions, new york illustrated news, leslie's war maps, etc., etc. i also supply all other magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals sold in the trade, at the very lowest prices, and forward them at the earliest moment after leaving the press. i make special efforts to forward new books on the best terms. sinclair tousey, no. nassau street, new york. miscellaneous articles. dealers wanting anything from new york, not in their regular order, as books, stationery, music, pens, envelopes, almanacs, song books, pictures, paper, maps, charts, note paper, plain, note paper, embossed, note paper, colored edges, note paper, with mottoes, note paper, with designs, note paper, with states' arms, note paper of all sorts, kinds, qualities and prices. letter paper of all sorts, kinds, qualities and prices. cap paper of all sorts, kinds, qualities and prices. envelopes white, envelopes buff, all shades, envelopes plain, envelopes with designs and mottoes, envelopes of all sorts, qualities and prices. almanacs, toy books, paper dolls, pens, ink, etc., etc. everything needed by a newsdealer or bookseller, or anybody else. also, cheap novels, pictures, portraits, albums of all kinds, lithographs, maps, cartes de visite of prominent persons, etc., etc., etc. every new thing as soon as ready. books, papers, magazines, etc., sent free of postage, on receipt of the advertised retail price. i pledge myself to furnish everything at the very lowest prices, and low enough to afford the retailer a good profit. by dr. p. b. randolph, the dumas of america. new, original and thrilling works!! it is sufficient to say of the following seven works, that they are from the pen of p. b. randolph, to command such a sale as few books enjoy in these days. i. "the wonderful story of ravalette," a rosicrucian romance, and the most extraordinary and thrilling work ever published in this country. contents:--the strange man.--the legend.--preëxistence.--double life.--the haunted house.--the mysterious guest.--a very strange story.--evlambéa.--a son of adam and a daughter of ish.--napoleon iii. and the rosicrucian.--an extraordinary séance in paris.--spectra.--phosphorus and the elixir of life.--the magic mirror.--who was he?--what was it?--the secret of perpetual youth!--the priest of fire.--the magic slumber.--strange revelations.--confession.--the magic pictures.--"and several other worlds!"--very curious.--an astounding chapter!--singular experiment.--"a man goes in a cab in search of his own ghost!"--a strange wager.--mystery thickens.--deeper and deeper.--murder will out.--the devil in paris.--diablerie extraordinary.--"the saucer on the floor." what some folks believe are spirits!--_an astounding disclosure!_--the grand secret.--a theory demolished.--ravalette explains.--the sleep, and a revelation of the destinies of nations, a chapter so extraordinary that it alone is worth the price of the whole book. ii. tom clark and his wife; their double dreams, and the curious things that befell them therein. _being the third thousand of the celebrated_ rosicrucian's story. iii. pre-adamite man: demonstrating human existence , years ago, and that adam was not the first man. "when the gude laird was making adam, even then the clan grant was as thick and numerous as the heather on yon hills."--bailey grant. universally conceded by the press of two countries, to be-- "a remarkable book." "we hail this shot from the fort of truth!... shows that men built cities , years ago!... extra valuable volume." "great grasp of thought!... _proves_ adam was _not_ the first man, nor anything like it!... engrossingly interesting.... soul-stirring and grand beyond description!" "the author exhibits a profound reverence for the truths of scripture, but a still profounder one for truth herself. dissent we may to some things, yet on the whole, we commend the work to the favorable attention particularly of the learned world." iv. "dealings with the dead." the human soul--what it is; whence it came; its location in the body; its passage through death; whither it goes after death; what it does; how it lives! marriage in the soul-world! offspring there! eating, drinking, sleeping after we are dead! do souls occupy space? does a soul feel heat, cold, get wet in a storm? what becomes of dead children?--of idiots?--lunatics?--premature births? heaven! hell!--their nature and location, with scores of equally important and profound questions, are all answered in this most extraordinary and entirely original volume. v. an inside view of spiritualism. a thorough and complete summing up of the system, showing its true nature and vividly depicting its effects upon the minds, bodies, morals and characters of all its adherents, by one who had a thorough experience of ten years of, and in it. vi. the rosicrucian's story. the great sensation tale. embracing the celebrated and quite extraordinary "miranda theory." by dr. p. b. randolph. n.b. the above two books are especially valuable by reason of the flood of light thrown on the modern phenomena usually attributed to "spirits." vii. it isn't all right; being an answer to, and refutation of, the modern doctrine that "whatever is is right." the book is an eloquent defence of marriage, and embraces an appeal for the poor prostitute against the villainous wiles of those who make her what she is. nothing in the language speaks more forcibly for fallen woman than this rare pamphlet. * * * * it is doubtful if any list of modern works by a single author can surpass in variety, interest, scope or power, that above presented. the volumes are well worth perusal. all orders for them, or any books published by this house, or any other, will be promptly filled, whether for single copies or in quantities. sinclair tousey. _in addition to the above, will be for sale_, the celebrated "rodrey" dream-book, re-translated, condensed, and adapted to modern usage. this, the largest and most perfect book of the kind in the world, in any language, has been enlarged till it now contains the enormous number of three thousand solutions of three thousand dreams! it is utterly impossible to have any sort of dream; the interpretation and meaning of which is not contained in this very curious book. it also embraces the famous persian "pfal," whereby these orientals tell their own and each others fortunes by means of the numbers thrown with three dice. as a source of amusement, and instruction too, this book is unsurpassed. http://www.archive.org/details/mysteriesofrosie londrich transcriber's note: text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). text in bold face is enclosed by equal signs (=bold=). a list of corrections is at the end of the e-book. mysteries of the rosie cross, or the history of that curious sect of the middle ages, known as the rosicrucians; with examples of their pretensions and claims as set forth in the writings of their leaders and disciples. a. reader, orange street, red lion square, london. . _preface._ in the following pages an attempt has been made to convey something like an intelligible idea of the peculiar mystic sect known to the readers of history, as the rosicrucians. the subject is confessedly difficult, owing to the grossly absurd character of the writings left by the disciples of this body, and the secrecy with which they sought to surround their movements and clothe their words. anything like a consecutive narration is an impossibility, the materials at hand being so fragmentary and disjointed. we have, however, done the best that we could with such facts as were within reach, and if we are not able to present so scientific and perfect a treatise as we might have hoped to do, we at least trust that the following contribution to the scanty literature treating of this matter will be found interesting, and will throw some light upon what is shrouded in such profound mystery. _contents._ chapter the first. who and what were the rosicrucians chapter the second. historical notices of the rosicrucians chapter the third. early leaders--literature--romantic stories chapter the fourth. the fame and confession of the fraternity of r. c. chapter the fifth. john heydon and the rosicrucians chapter the sixth. gabalis: or the extravagant mysteries of the cabalists chapter the seventh. the hermetick romance; or chymical wedding chapter the eighth. modern rosicrucians _authorities._ el havareuna; or the english physitian's tutor, in the astrobolismes of mettals rosie crucian, miraculous saphiric medicines of the sun and moon, the astrolosmes of saturn, jupiter, mars.... all harmoniously united and opperated by astromancy and geomancy.... whereunto is added psonthonphanchia.... the books being also an appeal to the natural faculties of the mind of man whether there be not a god. by john heydon, m.d. . the holy guide: leading the way to the wonder of the world (a compleat physician) teaching the knowledge of all things, past, present, and to come, viz., of pleasure, long life, health, youth, blessedness, wisdome, virtue; and to cure, change, and remedy all diseases in young or old. with rosie crucian medicines, etc. (the rosie cross uncovered, and the places, temples, holy houses.... and invisible mountains of the brethren discovered), etc. john heydon. . a new method of rosie crucian physick, wherein is shewed the cause, and therewith their experienced medicines for the cure of all diseases. john heydon. . a quintuple rosie crucian scourge, for the correction of that pseudo-chymist, geo. thomson, being in part a vindication of the society of physicians. john heydon. . theomagia, or the temple of wisdome. in three parts, spiritual, celestial and elemental; containing the occult powers of the angels of astromancy.... the mysterious virtues of the character of the stars.... the knowledge of the rosie crucian physick. j. heydon. . the rosie crucian infallible axiomata, or generall rules to know all things past, present, and to come. usefull, pleasant, and profitable to all, and fitted to the understanding of mean capacities. john heydon. . rise and attributes of the rosi crucians. by j. von d----. mosheim's ecclesiastical history. brucker's history of philosophy. the hermetick romance, or chemical wedding. by c. rosencreutz. new curiosities of literature. g. soane. tale of a tub. swift. notes and queries. series - . vols., , , . warburton's commentary on the rape of the lock. spectator. nos. , . national magazine. vol. . london magazine. vols. , . western monthly. vol. . book lore. vol. . plot's history of staffordshire. the count of gabalis, or the extravagant mysteries of the cabalists. butler's hudibras. mackay's popular delusions. higgins's anacalypsis. fame and confession of the rosie cross. e. philateles. mackay's symbolism of freemasonry. de quincey on rosicrucianism and freemasonry. apologia compendiaria fraternitatis de rosea cruce. fama fraternitatis. , etc. mysteries of the rosie cross. chapter i. _who and what were the rosicrucians?_ the questions which present themselves on the threshold of this enquiry are:--who and what were the rosicrucians? when and where did they flourish, and what influence did any peculiar tenets they may have held, or practices they may have indulged in, exercise upon the world? we shall endeavour to answer these queries as distinctly as so mysterious and extravagant a subject will allow of, and illustrate the whole by copious extracts from the writings of recognized leaders and disciples. comparatively very little is known about these people; and, if we open any of our works of general reference, such as dictionaries and encyclopædias, we find little more than a bare reminder that they were a mystic sect to be found in a few european countries about the middle of the fifteenth century. that such a sect did exist is beyond question, and the opinion that what is left of it exists at the present time in connection with modern freemasonry, seems not altogether destitute of foundation. they appear to have a close connection with the alchemists; springing into existence as a distinct body when those enthusiastic seekers after the power of transmuting the baser into the nobler metals were creating unusual sensation. somewhere about the end of the fifteenth century, a dutch pilot named haussen, had the misfortune to be shipwrecked off the coast of scotland. the vessel was lost, but haussen was saved by a scotch gentleman, one alexander seton, who put off in a boat and brought the drowning mariner to land. a warm friendship sprang up between the two, and, about eighteen months after, seton went to holland, and paid a visit to the man whom he had rescued. during this visit he informed the dutchman that he was in possession of the secret of the philosopher's stone, and report says that in his presence he actually transmuted large quantities of base metal into the finest gold, which he left with him as a present. seton in due course took leave of his friend, and prosecuted his travels through various parts of the continent. he made no attempt to conceal the possession of his boasted secret, but openly talked of it wherever he went and performed certain experiments, which he persuaded the people were actual transmutations of base metal into gold. unfortunately for him, the duke of saxony heard the report of these wonders, and immediately had him arrested and put to the torture of the rack to extract from him the precious secret, or to compel him at least to use it in his especial service. all was in vain, however, the secret, if such he really possessed, remained locked up in his own breast, and he lay for months in prison subjected to treatment which reduced him to mere skin and bone, and well nigh killed him. a pole, named sendivogius, also an alchemist, an enthusiast like the rest of the fraternity, who had spent time and fortune in the wild and profitless search, then came upon the scene. the sufferings of seton aroused his sympathy, and he resolved to bring about, if possible, his escape from the tyrant. after experiencing a deal of difficulty he obtained permission to visit the prisoner, whom he found in a dark and filthy dungeon, in a condition well nigh verging upon absolute starvation. he immediately acquainted the unhappy man with his proposals, which were listened to with the greatest eagerness, and seton declared that, if he succeeded in securing his liberation, he would make him one of the wealthiest of living men. sendivogius then set about his really difficult task; and, with a view to its accomplishment, commenced a curious and artful series of movements. his first move was to procure some ready money, which he did by the sale of some property near cracow. with this he began to lead a gay and somewhat dissipated life at dresden; giving splendid banquets, to which he invited the officers of the guard, particularly selecting those who were on duty at the prison. in the course of time his hospitality had its expected effect; he entirely won the confidence of the officials, and pretending that he was endeavouring to overcome the obstinacy of the captive, and worm out his secret, was allowed free access to him. it was at last resolved upon a certain day to make the attempt at escape; and, having sent the guard to sleep by means of some drugged wine, he assisted seton over a wall, and led him to a post-chaise, which he had conveniently waiting, to convey him into poland. in the vehicle seton found his wife awaiting him, having with her a packet of black powder, which was said to be the philosopher's stone by which iron and copper could be transmuted into gold. they all reached cracow in safety, but seton's sufferings had been so severe, and had so reduced his physical strength, that he did not survive many months. he died about or , leaving behind him a number of works marked cosmopolite. soon after his death sendivogius married the widow; and, according to the accounts which have come down to us, was soon initiated into the methods of turning the commoner metals into the finer. with the black powder, we are told, he converted great quantities of quicksilver into the purest gold, and that he did this in the presence of the emperor rudolph ii. at prague, who, in commemoration of the fact, caused a marble tablet with an inscription to be fixed in the wall of the room where the experiment was performed. whether the experiment was a cheat or not, the tablet was really fixed in the said wall, and was seen and described by desnoyens, secretary to the princess mary of gonzaga, queen of poland, in . rudolph, the emperor, seems to have been perfectly satisfied with the success of the alchymist, and would have heaped the loftiest honours upon him had he been disposed to accept of them; this, however, did not accord with his inclination; he, it is said, preferred his liberty, and went to reside on his estate at gravarna, where he kept open house for all who responded to his invitations. his biographer, brodowski, who was also his steward, insists, contrary to other writers, that the magic powder was red and not black; that he kept it in a box of gold, and that with one grain of it he could make a hundred ducats, or a thousand rix dollars, generally using quicksilver as the basis of his operations. when travelling this box was carried by the steward, who hung it round his neck by a golden chain; the principal part of the powder, however, was hidden in a secret place cut in the step of his chariot; this being deemed a secure place in the event of being attacked by robbers. he appears to have lived in constant fear of being robbed, and resorted to all manner of precautions to secure his treasure when on a journey; for it is said that he was well known as the possessor of this philosopher's stone, and that many adventurers were on the watch for any opportunity to rob him. brodowski relates that a german prince once served him a scurvy trick, which ever afterwards put him on his guard. the prince was so anxious to see the wonderful experiments, of which he had heard so much, that he actually fell upon his knees before the alchymist, when entreating him to perform in his presence. sendivogius, after much pressing, allowed his objections to be overcome; and, upon the promise of secrecy by the prince, showed him what he was so anxious to witness. no sooner, however, had the alchymist left, than the prince entered into a conspiracy with another alchymist, named muhlenfels, for robbing sendivogius of the powder he used in his operations. accompanied by twelve armed attendants, muhlenfels hastened after sendivogius, and overtaking him at a lonely inn, where he had stopped to dine, forcibly took from him his golden box containing a little of the powder; a manuscript book on the philosopher's stone; a golden medal, with its chain, presented to him by the emperor rudolph; and a rich cap, ornamented with diamonds, of the value of one hundred thousand rix-dollars. sendivogius was not at all disposed to put up with such treatment without an effort to obtain redress, so he went at once to prague, and laid his complaint before the emperor. the emperor at once sent an express to the prince, ordering him to deliver up muhlenfels and his plunder. alarmed at the aspect that things were now assuming, the prince, treacherous to one man as he had been to the other, erected gallows in his courtyard and hanged muhlenfels with a thief on either side of him. he sent back the jewelled hat, the medal and chain, and the book in manuscript; the powder, he said, he knew nothing of. sendivogius now adopted a different mode of living altogether to that which he had formerly been addicted to; he pretended to be excessively poor, and would sometimes keep his bed for weeks together, to make the people conclude it was impossible for him to be the owner of the philosopher's stone. he died in the year , upwards of eighty, and was buried at gravarna. now, it is commonly held by most people, who have studied the subject, that there is a close and intimate connection between the alchymists and the rosicrucians; probably this is true, and a perusal of the works of john heydon, and others of a similar character, will deepen the impression. it was, indeed, during the life of sendivogius that the rosicrucians first began to make a mark in europe, and cause anything approaching to a sensation. a modern writer says:--"the influence which they exercised upon opinion during their brief career, and the permanent impression which they have left upon european literature, claim for them especial notice. before their time alchemy was but a grovelling delusion; and theirs is the merit of having spiritualised and refined it. they also enlarged its sphere, and supposed the possession of the philosopher's stone to be, not only the means of wealth, but of health and happiness, and the instrument by which man could command the services of superior beings, control the elements to his will, defy the obstructions of time and space, and acquire the most intimate knowledge of all the secrets of the universe."[ ] it is a fact well known to all well-informed readers, that at this time the european continent was saturated with the most degrading superstitions. devils were supposed to walk the earth, and to mingle in the affairs of men; evil spirits, in the opinion even of the wise and learned, were thought to be at the call of any one who would summon them with the proper formalities; and witches were daily burned in all the capitals of europe. the new sect taught a doctrine less repulsive. they sprang up in germany, extended with some success to france and england, and excited many angry controversies. though as far astray in their notions as the demonologists and witch believers, the creed was more graceful. they taught that the elements swarmed not with hideous, foul and revengeful spirits, but with beautiful creatures, more ready to do man service than to inflict injury. they taught that the earth was inhabited by gnomes, the air by sylphs, the fire by salamanders, and the water by nymphs or undines; and that man, by his communication with them, might learn the secrets of nature, and discover all those things which had puzzled philosophers for ages--perpetual motion, the elixir of life, the philosopher's stone, and the essence of invisibility. respecting the origin and signification of the term rosicrucian different opinions have been held and expressed. some have thought it was made up of _rosa_ and _crux_ (a _rose_ and a _cross_) but it is maintained by others upon apparently good authority, that it is a compound of ros (dew) and crux (cross). mosheim contends that it is abundantly attested that the title of rosicrucians was given to the chemists who united the study of religion with the search after chemical secrets, the term itself being chemical, and not to be understood without a knowledge of the style used by the chemists. we shall give some extracts from very old rosicrucian works presently which will enlighten our readers in such matters. a cross in the language of the fire philosophers is the same as lux (light), because the figure of a + exhibits all the three letters of the word _lux_ at one view. moreover, this sect applied the term _lux_ to the _seed or menstruum of the red dragon_, or to that crude and corporeal light which, being properly concocted and digested, produces gold. a rosicrucian, therefore, is a philosopher who, by means of _dew_ seeks for _light_--that is, for the substance of the philosopher's stone. mosheim declares the other interpretations of this name to be false and deceptive, being the inventions of the chemists themselves, who were exceedingly fond of concealment, for the sake of imposing on others who were hostile to their religious views. the true import of this title, he says, was perceived by the sagacity of peter gassendi, examen philosophiæ fluddanæ, sec. , in his opp. iii, ; though it was more lucidly explained by the celebrated french physician eusebius renaudot, _conférences publiques_, iv. . in dr. jo. valentine andreæ, a celebrated lutheran divine, published his tower of babel, or chaos of opinions respecting the fraternity of the rosy-cross, in which he represents the whole history as a farce, and gave intimations that _he_ was _himself_ concerned in getting it up. brucker says to the class of theosophists has been commonly referred the entire society of rosicrucians, which, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, made so much noise in the ecclesiastical and literary world. the history of this society, which is attended with some obscurity, seems to be as follows:--"its origin is referred to a certain german, whose name was rosencreuz who, in the fourteenth century, visited the holy sepulchre; and, in travelling through asia and africa, made himself acquainted with many oriental secrets; and who, after his return, instituted a small fraternity, to whom he communicated the mysteries he had learned, under an oath of inviolable secrecy. this society remained concealed till the beginning of the seventeenth century, when two books were published, the one entitled, _fama fraternitatis laudabilis ordinis rosæcrusis_: "the report of the laudable fraternity of rosicrucians;" the other, _confessio fraternitatis_, "the confession of the fraternity." in these books the world was informed that this fraternity was enabled, by divine revelation, to explain the most important secrets, both of nature and grace; that they were appointed to correct the errors of the learned world, particularly in philosophy and medicine; that they were possessed of the philosopher's stone, and understood both the art of transmuting metals and of prolonging human life; and, in fine, by their means the golden age would return. as soon as these grand secrets were divulged, the whole tribe of the paracelsists, theosophists and chemists flocked to the rosicrucian standard, and every new and unheard-of mystery was referred to this fraternity. it is impossible to relate how much noise this wonderful discovery made, or what different opinions were formed concerning it. after all, though the laws and statutes of the society had appeared, no one could tell where the society itself was to be found, or who really belonged to it. it was imagined by some sagacious observers, that a certain important meaning was concealed under the story of the rosicrucian fraternity, though they were wholly unable to say what it was. one conjectured that some chemical mystery lay hid behind the allegorical tale; another supposed that it foretold some great ecclesiastical revolution. at last michael breler, in the year , had the courage publicly to declare that he certainly knew the whole story to have been the contrivance of some ingenious persons who chose to amuse themselves by imposing upon the public credulity. this declaration raised a general suspicion against the whole story; and, as no one undertook to contradict it, this wonderful society daily vanished, and the rumours, which had been spread concerning it, ceased. the whole was probably a contrivance to ridicule the pretenders to secret wisdom and wonderful power, particularly the chemists, who boasted that they were possessed of the philosopher's stone. it has been conjectured--and the satirical turn of his writings, and several particular passages in his works, favour the conjecture--that this farce was invented and performed, in part at least, by john valentine andrea of wartenburg."[ ] pope, in the dedication of his rape of the lock to mrs. arabella fermor, wrote:--"i know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a lady; but it is so much the concern of a poet to have his works understood--and particularly by your sex--that you must give me leave to explain two or three difficult terms. "the rosicrucians are a people i must bring you acquainted with. the best account i know of them is in a french book called le comte de gabalis, which, both in its title and size, is so like a novel, that many of the fair sex have read it for one by mistake. according to these gentlemen, the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call sylphs, gnomes, nymphs and salamanders. the gnomes, or demons of earth, delight in mischief; but the sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, are the best conditioned creatures imaginable; for they say any mortals may enjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a condition very easy to all true adepts, an inviolate preservation of chastity." on the lines (verse , canto ):-- "belinda still her downy pillow prest, her guardian sylph prolonged the balmy rest." in pope's rape of the lock, warburton thus comments:-- "when mr. pope had projected to give the rape of the lock its present form of a mock-heroic poem, he was obliged to find it with its machinery. for, as the subject of the epic consists of two parts, the metaphysical and the civil; so this mock epic, which is of the satiric kind, and receives its grace from a ludicrous mimicry of other's pomp and solemnity, was to have the like compounded nature. and as the civil part is intentionally debased by the choice of a trifling action; so should the metaphysical by the application of some very extravagant system. a rule which, though neither boileau nor garth had been careful enough to attend to, our author's good sense would not suffer him to overlook. and that sort of machinery which his judgment informed him was only fit for use, his admirable invention soon supplied. there was but one systematic extravagance in all nature which was to his purpose, the rosicrucian philosophy; and this by the effort of a well-directed imagination, he presently seized. the fanatic alchemists, in the search after the great secret, had invented a means altogether to their end: it was a kind of theological philosophy, made up in a mixture of almost equal parts of pagan platonism, christian quietism and the jewish cabbala; a mixture monstrous enough to frighten reason from human commerce. this system, he tells us, he took as he found it in a little french tract called, _la comte de gabalis_. this book is written in dialogue, and is a delicate and very ingenious piece of raillery on that invisible sect by the abbé villiers; the strange stories that went about of the feats and adventures of their adepts making, at that time, a great deal of noise at paris. but, as in this satirical dialogue, mr. p. found several whimsies of a very high mysterious nature, told of their elementary beings, which were unfit to come into the machinery of such a sort of poem, he has, in their stead, with great judgment, substituted the legendary stories of guardian angels, and the nursery tales of the fairies, and dexterously accommodated them to the rest of the rosicrucian system. and to this artful address (unless we will be so uncharitable to think he intended to give a needless scandal) we must suppose he referred in these two lines, "if e'er one vision touch'd thy infant thought, of all the _nurse_ and all the _priest_ have taught." thus, by the most beautiful invention imaginable, he has contrived that (as in the serious epic, the popular belief supports the machinery) in his mock epic the machinery (taken from a circumstance the most humbling to reason in all philosophical fanaticism) should serve to dismount learned pride and arrogance." on verse , canto , he remarks:--"the poet here forsakes his rosicrucian system; which, in this part, is too extravagant even for ludicrous poetry." on verse , canto , he continues:--"here, again, the author resumes the rosicrucian system. but this tenet, peculiar to that wild philosophy, was founded on a principle very unfit to be employed in such a sort of poem, and, therefore suppressed, though a less judicious writer would have been tempted to expatiate upon it." swift, in the "tale of a tub," says:--"night being the universal mother of things, wise philosophers hold all writings to be fruitful, in the proportion they are dark; and therefore the true illuminated (that is to say, the darkest of all) have met with such numberless commentators, whose scholastic midwifery has delivered them of meanings, that the authors themselves perhaps never conceived, and yet may very justly be allowed the lawful parents of them; the words of such writers being like seed, which, however scattered, at random, when they light upon a fruitful ground, will multiply far beyond either the hopes or imagination of the sower. and, therefore, in order to promote so useful a work, i will here take leave to glance a few inuendos, that may be of great assistance to those sublime spirits, who shall be appointed to labour in a universal comment upon this wonderful discourse. and, first, i have couched a very profound mystery in the number of o's multiplied by seven and divided by nine. also, if a devout brother of the rosy cross will pray fervently for sixty-three mornings, with a lively faith, and then transpose certain letters and syllables, according to prescription, in the second and fifth section, they will certainly reveal into a full receipt of the _opus magnum_. lastly, whoever will be at the pains to calculate the whole number of each letter in this treatise, and sum up the difference exactly between the several numbers, assigning the true natural cause for every such difference, the discoveries in the product will plentifully reward his labour." "for mystic learning, wondrous able in magic talisman and cabal, whose primitive tradition reaches as far as adam's first green breeches; deep sighted in intelligences, ideas, atoms, influences; and much of terra-incognita, th' intelligible world, could say; a deep occult philosopher, as learned as the wild irish are, or sir agrippa, for profound and solid lying much renowned. he anthroposophus and fludd, and jacob behmen understood; knew many an amulet and charm, that would do neither good nor harm; in rosy-crusian lore as learned as he that _verè adeptus_ earned." --hudibras, part i, canto i. the globe encyclopædia, under article rosicrucians, says:--"a mystic brotherhood revealed to the outer world in the _fama fraternitatis r. c._ ( ), the _confessio fraternitatis r. c._ ( ), and the chymische hochzeit christiani rosenkreuz ( ), which last was acknowledged by, as the two former works were commonly ascribed to, johann valentin andreæ. from them we learn that a german noble of the th century, one christian rosenkreuz, after long travel in the east, founded on his return a brotherhood of seven adepts, the r., and dying at the age of was buried in their temple--the 'house of the holy spirit,' with the inscription on his grave--'post cxx. annos patebo.' the laws of the order, thus made known in the fulness of time, were that its members should heal the sick gratis, should meet once every year in a certain secret place, should adopt as their symbol r. c. (_i.e. rosea crux_), or a rose springing from a cross (the device, be it observed, of luther's seal), and should assume the habit and manners of whatsoever country they might journey to. it is now supposed that andreæ simply intended a hoax upon the credulity of the age, and that christian rosenkreuz and all the attendant mysteries were wholly the coinage of his fertile brain. however, the hoax, if hoax there were, was taken seriously, and as early as , societies of alchemists at the hague and elsewhere assumed the title r., while rosicrucian tenets powerfully influenced cabalists, freemasons, and illuminati, and were professed by cagliostro and similar impostors. even to-day a rosicrucian lodge is said to exist in london, whose members claim by asceticism to live beyond the allotted age of man, and to which the late lord lytton sought entrance vainly." "i was once engaged in discourse with a rosicrucian about the 'great secret.' as this kind of men, i mean those of them who are not professed cheats, are over-run with enthusiasm and philosophy, it was very amusing to hear this religious adept descanting on his pretended discovery. he talked of the secret as of a spirit which lived within an emerald, and converted everything that was near it to the highest perfection it is capable of. 'it gives a lustre,' says he, 'to the sun, and water to the diamond. it irradiates every metal, and enriches lead with all the properties of gold. it heightens smoke into flame, flame into light, and light into glory.' he further added, that a single ray of it dissipates pain, and care, and melancholy, from the person on whom it falls. in short, says he, 'its presence naturally changes every place into a kind of heaven.' "after he had gone on for some time in this unintelligible cant, i found that he jumbled natural and moral ideas together in the same discourse, and that his great secret was nothing else but content." chapter ii. _historical notices of the rosicrucians._ so mysterious a sect were the rosicrucians, and so involved in doubt and obscurity are most of their movements, practices and opinions, that nearly everything connected with them has been denied or doubted at one time or another by those who have written about them. dr. mackay says: "many have denied the existence of such a personage as rosencreutz, and have fixed the origin of this sect at a much later epoch. the first dawning of it, they say, is to be found in the theories of paracelsus and the dreams of dr. dee, who, without intending it, became the actual, though never the recognised founders of the rosicrucian philosophy. it is now difficult, and indeed impossible to determine whether dee and paracelsus obtained their ideas from the then obscure and unknown rosicrucians, or whether the rosicrucians did but follow and improve upon them. certain it is, that their existence was never suspected till the year , when they began to excite attention in germany. no sooner were their doctrines promulgated, than all the visionaries, paracelsists, and alchymists, flocked around their standard, and vaunted rosencreutz as the new regenerator of the human race." according to mayer, a celebrated physician of the times, who published a report of the tenets and ordinances of the new fraternity at cologne in the year , they asserted in the first place that the meditations of their founders surpassed everything that had ever been imagined since the creation of the world, without even excepting the revelations of the deity; that they were destined to accomplish the general peace and regeneration of man before the end of the world arrived; that they possessed all wisdom and piety in a supreme degree; that they possessed all the graces of nature, and could distribute them among the rest of mankind according to their pleasure; that they were subject to neither hunger, nor thirst, nor disease, nor old age, nor to any other inconvenience of nature; that they knew by inspiration, and at the first glance, every one who was worthy to be admitted into their society; that they had the same knowledge then which they would have possessed if they had lived from the beginning of the world, and had been always acquiring it; that they had a volume in which they could read all that ever was or ever would be written in other books till the end of time; that they could force to, and retain in their service the most powerful spirits and demons; that by the virtue of their songs, they could attract pearls and precious stones from the depths of the sea or the bowels of the earth; that god had covered them with a thick cloud, by means of which they could shelter themselves from the malignity of their enemies, and that they could thus render themselves invisible from all eyes; that the first eight brethren of the rosie-cross had power to cure all maladies; that by means of the fraternity, the triple diadem of the pope would be reduced into dust; that they only admitted two sacraments, with the ceremonies of the primitive church, renewed by them: that they recognised the fourth monarchy and the emperor of the romans as their chief, and the chief of all christians; that they would provide him with more gold, their treasures being inexhaustible, than the king of spain had ever drawn from the golden regions of eastern and western india. things went on pretty quietly for some time, converts being made with ease in germany, but only with difficulty in other parts. in , however, the brethren suddenly made their appearance in paris, and the inhabitants of the city were surprised on the rd of march to find placarded on the walls a manifesto to this effect:--"we, the deputies of the principal college of the brethren of the rosie cross, have taken up our abode, visible and invisible, in this city, by the grace of the most high, towards whom are turned the hearts of the just. we show and teach without any books or symbols whatever, and we speak all sorts of languages in the countries wherein we deign to dwell, to draw mankind, our fellows, from error and to save them from death." whether this was a mere joke on the part of some of the wits of the day, it is certain that it created a very wide-spread sensation, and no little wonder and alarm, particularly amongst the clergy. very soon pamphlets in opposition, and intended to warn the faithful, began to make their appearance. the earliest was called "a history of the frightful compacts entered into between the devil and the pretended invisibles, with their damnable instructions, the deplorable ruin of their disciples, and their miserable end." this was followed by another of a far more ambitious character, pretending to ability to explain all the peculiarities and mysteries of the strange intruders. it was called "an examination of the new cabala of the brethren of the rosie-cross, who have lately come to reside in the city of paris, with the history of their manners, the wonders worked by them, and many other particulars." as the books sold and circulated the sensation and alarm in the breasts of the people largely increased, approaching almost to a kind of panic. ridicule and laugh as some would, it was impossible to disguise the fact that a vast number of the population went in bodily fear of this mysterious sect, whose members they had never seen. it was believed that the rosicrucians could transport themselves from place to place with the rapidity almost of thought, and that they took delight in cheating and tormenting unhappy citizens, especially such as had sinned against the laws of morality. then very naturally came the wildest and most unlikely stories, which, as is usual with such things, in spite of all their folly, were soon propagated far and wide, and increased the general alarm. an innkeeper declared that a mysterious stranger entered his inn, regaled himself on the best of everything, and suddenly vanished in a cloud when the reckoning was presented. another was patronised by a similar stranger, who lived upon the choicest fare and drank the best wines of the house for a week, and paid him with a handful of new gold coins, which turned into slates the following morning. it was also reported that several persons on awakening in the middle of the night found individuals in their bedchambers, who suddenly became invisible, though still palpable when the alarm was raised. such was the consternation in paris, that every man who could not give a satisfactory account of himself was in danger of being pelted to death; and quiet citizens slept with loaded guns at their bedside, to take vengeance upon any rosicrucian who might violate the sanctity of their chambers. no man or woman was considered safe; the female sex especially were supposed to be in danger, for it was implicitly believed that no bolts, locks or bars could keep out would be intruders, and it was frequently being reported that young women in the middle of the night found strange men of surpassing beauty in their bedrooms, who vanished the instant any attempt was made to arouse the inmates of the house. in other quarters it was reported that people most unexpectedly found heaps of gold in their houses, not having the slightest idea from whence they came; the feelings and emotions thus excited were consequently most conflicting, no man knowing whether his ghostly visitant might be the harbinger of good or evil. while the general alarm was at its height, another mysterious placard appeared, which said:--"_if any one desires to see the brethren of the rose-cross from curiosity only, he will never communicate with us. but if his will really induces him to inscribe his name in the register of our brotherhood, we, who can judge of the thoughts of all men, will convince him of the truth of our promises. for this reason we do not publish to the world the place of our abode. thought alone, in unison with the sincere will of those who desire to know us, is sufficient to make us known to them, and them to us._" the imposition thus perpetrated upon the credulity of the people had but a comparatively short life in paris, a deal of controversy was engendered between those who regarded the whole affair as a stupid hoax, and those whose superstitious fears made them think there was truth in it, and the efforts made by its disciples to defend their theories overshot the mark, and exposed the fallacies of that which they were intended to support. the police were called upon the scene to try and trace out and arrest the authors of the troublesome placards, and the church took up the moral and theological aspect of the sensation, and issued pamphlets which professed to explain the whole as the production of some disciples of luther, who were sent out to promulgate enmity and opposition to the pope. the abbé gaultier, a jesuit, distinguished himself in this direction, and informed the public that the very name of the disciples of the sect proved they were heretics; a cross surmounted by a rose being the heraldic device of the arch-heretic luther. another writer named garasse, declared they were nothing but a set of drunken impostors; and that their name was derived from the garland of roses, in the form of a cross, hung over the tables of taverns in germany as the emblem of secrecy, and from whence was derived the common saying, when one man communicated a secret to another, that it was said, "under the rose." other explanations were also freely offered, which we have not space to describe, but which may be reached by the aid of the learned works given in our list of authorities. the charges of evil connections brought against the rosicrucians were repudiated by those people with energy and determination; they affirmed in the most positive manner that they had nothing to do with magic, and that they held no intercourse whatever with the devil. they declared, on the contrary, that they were faithful followers of the true god, that they had already lived more than a hundred years, and expected to live many hundred more, and that god conferred upon them perfect happiness, and as a reward for their piety and service gave them the wonderful knowledge they were possessed of. they declared that they did not get their name from a cross of roses, but from christian rosencreutz, their founder. when charged with drunkenness, they said that they did not know what thirst was, and that they were altogether proof against the temptations of the most attractive food. they professed the greatest indignation perhaps at the charge of interfering with the honour of virtuous women, and maintained most positively that the very first vow they took was one of chastity, and that any of them violating that oath, would be deprived at once of all the advantages he possessed, and be subject to hunger, thirst, sorrow, disease and death like other men. witchcraft and sorcery they also most warmly repudiated; the existence of incubi and succubi they said was a pure invention of their enemies, that man "was not surrounded by enemies like these, but by myriads of beautiful and beneficent beings, all anxious to do him service. the sylphs of the air, the undines of the water, the gnomes of the earth, and the salamanders of the fire were man's friends, and desired nothing so much as that men should purge themselves of all uncleanness, and thus be enabled to see and converse with them. they possessed great power, and were unrestrained by the barriers of space, or the obstructions of matter. but man was in one respect their superior. he had an immortal soul, and they had not. they might, however, become sharers in man's immortality if they could inspire one of that race with the passion of love towards them. hence it was the constant endeavour of the female spirits to captivate the admiration of men, and of the male gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines to be beloved by a woman. the object of this passion, in returning their love, imparted a portion of that celestial fire, the soul; and from that time forth the beloved became equal to the lover, and both, when their allotted course was run, entered together into the mansions of felicity. these spirits, they said, watched constantly over mankind by night and day. dreams, omens, and presentiments were all their work, and the means by which they gave warning of the approach of danger. but though so well inclined to befriend man for their own sake, the want of a soul rendered them at times capricious and revengeful; they took offence at slight causes, and heaped injuries instead of benefits on the heads of those who extinguished the light of reason that was in them by gluttony, debauchery, and other appetites of the body."[ ] great as was the excitement produced in the french capital by these placards, pamphlets and reports, it lasted after all but a very few months. the accumulating absurdities became too much, even for the most superstitious, and their fears were overcome by that sense of the ridiculous which speedily manifested itself. instead of trembling as before, men laughed and derided, and the detection, arrest and summary punishment of a number of swindlers who tried to pass off lumps of gilded brass as pure gold made by the processes of alchemy, aided by a smartly written exposure of the follies of the sect by gabriel naudé, soon drove the whole thing clean off the french territory. chapter iii. _early leaders--literature--romantic stories._ we now proceed to speak of some of the more prominent of the rosicrucian leaders and teachers, and to call attention to the literature from which we obtain our only reliable information. in the sixteenth century lived that extraordinary man theophrastus paracelsus, whose writings exercised a greater influence, perhaps, over the minds of his fellow creatures than any other author of his time. no man it is certain had contributed so much as he, to the diffusion of the cabbalism, theosophy and alchemy which had flooded germany and flowed over a greater part of western europe. now it was generally believed that in the seventeenth century a great and general reformation amongst the human race would take place, as a necessary fore-runner to the day of judgment. in connection with this, paracelsus made several prophecies which took a very firm hold of the public mind. he declared that the comet which made its appearance in was the sign and harbinger of the coming revolution, and he prophesied that soon after the death of the emperor rudolph, there would be found three treasures that had never been revealed before that time. in the year there were published at the same time three books which led to the foundation of the rosicrucian order as a district society. one was called "_universal reformation of the whole wide world_." de quincey summarises its contents thus: "the seven wise men of greece, together with m. cato and seneca, and a secretary named mazzonius, are summoned to delphi by apollo, at the desire of the emperor justinian, and there deliberate, on the best mode of redressing human misery. all sorts of strange schemes are proposed. thales advised to cut a hole in every man's breast, and place a little window in it, by which means it would become possible to look into the heart, to detect hypocrisy and vice, and thus to extinguish it. solon proposes an equal partition of all possessions and wealth. chilo's opinion is that the readiest way to the end in view would be to banish out of the world the two infamous and rascally metals gold and silver. kleolinlus steps forward as the apologist of gold and silver, but thinks that iron ought to be prohibited, because in that case no more wars could be carried on amongst men. pittacus insists upon more rigorous laws, which should make virtue and merit the sole passports to honour; to which, however, periander objects that there had never been any scarcity of such laws, nor of princes to execute them, but scarcity enough of subjects conformable to good laws. the conceit of bias, is that nations should be kept apart from each other, and each confined to its own home; and for this purpose, that all bridges should be demolished, mountains rendered insurmountable, and navigation totally forbidden. cato, who seems to be the wisest of the party, wishes that god in his mercy would be pleased to wash away all women from the face of the earth by a new deluge, and at the same time to introduce some new arrangement for the continuation of the excellent male sex without female help. upon this pleasing and sensible proposal the whole company manifest the greatest displeasure, and deem it so abominable that they unanimously prostrate themselves on the ground, and devoutly pray to god "that he would graciously vouchsafe to preserve the lovely race of women" (what absurdity) "and to save the world from a second deluge!" at length after a long debate, the counsel of seneca prevails; which counsel is this--that out of all ranks a society should be composed having for its object the general welfare of mankind, and pursuing it in secret. this counsel is adopted: though without much hope on the part of the deputation, on account of the desperate condition of 'the age,' who appears before them in person, and describes his own wretched state of health." the second work was the celebrated _fama fraternitatis_ of the meritorious order of the rosy cross, addressed to the learned in general, and the governors of europe. here we may cite de quincey again: "christian rosycross, of noble descent, having upon his travels into the east and into africa learned great mysteries from arabians, chaldeans, etc., upon his return to germany established, in some place not mentioned, a secret society composed at first of four--afterwards of eight--members, who dwelt together in a building called the house of the holy ghost, erected by him: to these persons, under a vow of fidelity and secrecy, he communicated his mysteries. after they had been instructed, the society dispersed agreeably to their destination, with the exception of two members, who remained alternately with the founder. the rules of the order were these:--the members were to cure the sick without fee or reward. no member to wear a peculiar habit, but to dress after the fashion of the country. on a certain day in every year all the members to assemble in the house of the holy ghost, or to account for their absence. every member to appoint some person with the proper qualifications to succeed him at his own decease. the word rosy-cross to be their seal, watchword, and characteristic mark. the association to be kept unrevealed for a hundred years. christian rosycross died at the age of a hundred years. his death was known to the society, but not his grave; for it was a maxim of the first rosicrucians to conceal their burial places even from each other. new masters were continually elected into the house of the holy ghost, and the society had now lasted years. at the end of this period, a door was discovered in the house, and upon the opening of this door a sepulchral vault. upon the door was this inscription: one hundred and twenty years hence i shall open (_post cxx. annos patebo_). the vault was a heptagon. every side was five feet broad and eight feet high. it was illuminated by an artificial sun. in the centre was placed, instead of a grave-stone, a circular altar with a little plate of brass, whereon these words were inscribed: this grave, an abstract of the whole world, i made for myself while yet living (a. c. r. c. hoc universi compendium vivus mihi sepulchrum feci). about the margin was--to me jesus is all in all (jesus mihi omnia). in the centre were four figures enclosed in a circle by the revolving legend: nequaquam vacuum legis jugum. libertas evangelii. dei gloria intacta. (the empty yoke of the law is made void. the liberty of the gospel. the unsullied glory of god). each of the seven sides of the vault had a door opening into a chest; which chest, besides the secret books of the order and the _vocabularium_ of paracelsus, contained also mirrors--little bells--burning lamps--marvellous mechanisms of music, etc., all so contrived that, after the lapse of many centuries, if the whole order should have perished, it might be re-established by means of this vault. under the altar, upon raising the brazen tablet, the brothers found the body of rosycross, without taint or corruption. the right hand held a book written upon vellum with golden letters: this book which is called t., has since become the most precious jewel of the society next after the bible; and at the end stand subscribed the names of the eight brethren, arranged in two separate circles, who were present at the death and burial of father rosycross. immediately after the above narrative follows a declaration of their mysteries, addressed by the society to the whole world. they profess themselves to be of the protestant faith; that they honour the emperor and the laws of the empire; and that the art of gold making is but a slight object with them." the whole ends with these words: "our house of the holy ghost though a hundred thousand men should have looked upon it, is yet destined to remain untouched, imperturbable, out of sight, and unrevealed to the whole godless world for ever." before we proceed to notice at any length the third of the books we have mentioned, we will turn to some further accounts of the burial place of the founder of this party, which, though in some respects similar and in the main stating the same facts, yet, supply other matter both curious and interesting. the following story has been quoted by a writer on the rosicrucians, as related by dr. plot in his history of staffordshire; a careful examination of the four copies of that work in the library of the british museum, however, has failed to unearth the tale; it is to the following effect. at the close of a summer's day a countryman was digging a trench in a field in a valley which was surrounded by dense masses of woodland scenery. it was shortly after sunset, and the workman wearied with his task was about to cease his labour; before his pick, however, had given its last blow, it struck against some hard material a little below the surface of the ground with sufficient force to cause a bright spark to flash out into the evening gloom. this, exciting his curiosity, he forgot his fatigue and again went on with his digging, anxious to ascertain what it was he had discovered. the stone he had come upon was large and flat, and lay nearly in the middle of a field at a considerable distance from any of the farms of the neighbouring country. it was covered with grass and weeds, the growth of many years and had a large iron ring fixed at one end in a socket. for some time it proved too much for the countryman's strength, half an hour's struggling with it failed to remove it from its position, and it was not till he had rigged up some tackle by the aid of some rope and a tree that he managed to raise it. he then found it covered a deep hollow in the ground, wherein after some examination he discovered a stone staircase of apparently extraordinary depth. his inquisitiveness to know whither the steps led, and the thought perhaps that he might be the discoverer of some hidden treasure, gave him more courage than he naturally possessed, and he descended a few of the stairs, then, after vainly trying to penetrate into the darkness beneath, paused and looked up to the sky above. encouraged by the remains of the sunlight and the shining planet venus above him, he resumed his descent. he went, he supposed a hundred feet underground, when he came upon a square landing-place with a niche in the wall, then he came to another long staircase, still descending into darkness. once more he paused, and looked up at the now very little bit of sky visible over head. seeing nothing to cause any fear, and hopeful of soon being able to unravel the mystery, he stretched out his hands, and by cautiously feeling the walls, and with equal caution placing his feet slowly and firmly upon each step, he boldly went forward and counted in his descent two hundred and twenty steps. he found himself able to breathe pretty freely, but noticed an aromatic smell like that of burning incense, which he thought egyptian. this he noticed rolling up now and then from beneath, as if from another world, and it occurred to him that it was from the world of mining gnomes, and that he was breaking in upon their secrets. still he went on, in spite of all his fears, until he was momentarily stopped by a wall in front; turning sharply to the right, however, he found the way open to him, and discovered a still deeper staircase, at the foot of which was a steady though pale light. his alarm at discovering light so far down in the earth's interior was naturally great, but not great enough to overcome his curiosity and cause him to retrace his steps, and he once more commenced descending the mouldering old steps which looked as if they had not been trodden for ages. then he thought he heard mysterious rumblings over head, like the sound of heavy waggons and horses, then all was still again. many times he paused and thought he would return, thinking he might have accidently stumbled upon either the haunt of robbers or the abode of evil spirits; he stood still for awhile, fairly paralysed with fear. then he began to recall where he had been working, he thought of the field above, the surrounding woods and his native hamlet only a few miles distant. this somewhat cheered him, but still with a good deal of fear remaining in his heart, he went down the rest of the stairs, the light growing brighter at every step. at last, he came upon a square chamber, built up of large hewn ancient stones. filled with awe and wonderment, he found a flagged pavement and a lofty roof rising to a centre, in the groins of which was a rose beautifully carved in some dark stone or in marble. the alarm he had hitherto felt was nothing as compared with the fear which overwhelmed him when, after passing a gothic stone portal, light suddenly streamed out over him with a brightness equal to that of the setting sun, and revealed to him the figure of a man whose face was hidden as he sat in a studious attitude in a stone chair, reading in a great book, with his elbows resting on a table like a rectangular altar, in the light of a large, ancient iron lamp, suspended by a thick chain to the middle of the roof. the adventurous countryman was unable to repress the cry that rose to his lips as he gazed upon this strange and unexpected scene. as the sound of his foot touching the floor resounded through the chamber, the figure started bolt upright from his seated position, as if in awful astonishment. he erected his hooded head, and seemed about angrily to question the intruder. the latter seemed perfectly fascinated by what he saw, and instead of withdrawing advanced yet another step into the chamber. instantly the figure thrust out its arm, as though warning the intruder off; the hand contained an iron _baton_ and it was raised in the most threatening attitude, but the unhappy explorer, seemingly unable to control himself, took a third step forward, and then the image or man raised his arm high above his head, and with his truncheon striking the lamp a tremendous blow left the place in utter darkness. nothing more followed but a long, low roll of thunder, which gradually died away and all was still. the place was afterwards known as the burial place of one of the brotherhood, whom the people called rosicrucius, and it is said the arrangement of the lamp had been made by some rosicrucian, to shew that he had discovered the secret of the ever burning lamps of the ancients, but was resolved that no one should reap the benefit of it. _the spectator, no. _, gives the following:--"a certain person having occasion to dig somewhat deep in the ground, where this philosopher (rosicrucius) lay interred, met with a small door, having a wall on each side of it. his curiosity, and the hopes of finding some hidden treasure, soon prompted him to force open the door. he was immediately surprised by a sudden blaze of light, and discovered a very fair vault. at the upper end of it was a statue of a man in armour, sitting by a table, and leaning on his left arm. he held a truncheon in his right hand, and had a lamp burning before him. the man had no sooner set one foot within the vault, than the statue erecting itself from its leaning posture, stood bolt upright; and upon the fellow's advancing another step, lifted up his truncheon in its right hand. the man still ventured a third step, when the statue, with a furious blow, broke the lamp into a thousand pieces, and left his guest in a sudden darkness. upon the report of this adventure, the country people came with lights to the sepulchre, and discovered that the statue, which was made of brass, was nothing more than a piece of clockwork; that the floor of the vault was all loose, and underlaid with several springs, which, upon any man's entering, naturally produced that which had happened. rosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of this method to show the world that he had re-invented the ever burning lamps of the ancients, though he was resolved no one should reap any advantage from the discovery." respecting the above story given as we have said in the spectator, no. , a writer in notes and queries ( th s. th vol) says: "this is a very old tale, and has been printed again and again. the following is an early version, which was printed by caxton in ; but i give from the edition printed by peter de treveris in . the polycronicon was originally written in latin early in the fourteenth century, and translated into english in . as the book is chiefly a compilation from old monkish chronicles, the tale was probably very old even when higden included it in the polycronicon. at any rate it was current long before the date given as the year of death of the somewhat mythical christian rosencrutz. i have met with several versions of it, varying more or less. in one a man with a bow and arrow extinguishes the lamp. there are many accounts of these miraculous lamps discovered burning in tombs hundreds of years after interment, but having omitted to make notes of them, i am unable to give references just now.... in albesterio a place that hyghte mutatorium cesaris were made whyte stoles for emperours. also there was a candlestyke, made of a stone that hyght albestone whan it was ones steynd and sette a fire and i sette without thee coude no manne quenche it with no crafte that men coude devyse, dr. in this maner it myght be that the geant pallas about the yere of oure lorde a thousand and xi. that yere was founde in rome a geantes body buryed hole and sounde, the space of his wounde was foure foote longe and a halfe, the length of his body passed the heyght of the walles, at his hede was founde a lantern brennyng alwaye that no man coulde quenche with blaste ne with water ne with other crafte, unto the tyme that there was made a lytell hole under the lyght benethe that the ayer might enter. men sayen that turnus slowgh this gean pallas when eneas fought for lanina that was eneas wyfe. this geantes epytaphium is this. the wrytyug of mynde of hym that lay there was this. pallas enandres sone lyeth here, hym turnus the knyght with his spere slowghe in his maner." one other notice will close this part of the subject. although we find in the works of some of the apologists for the rosicrucians extraordinary statements as to the length of life it was within their power to attain unto (john higden professes to shew how a man may live two hundred years) and although some of the fraternity actually did live a great number of years, we find them at last dying one by one notwithstanding their professed power to guard against or to relieve sickness. the founder himself seems to have reached the tolerably advanced age of a hundred and six (some say a hundred). he then died, and according to the _fama_ the place of his burial remained a secret to all except the two brothers who were with him, and they, according to the agreement to which they had bound themselves, carried the mystery with them to the grave. the society still continued to exist, unknown to the world, and always consisting of eight members, till another one hundred and twenty years had elapsed, when, according to a tradition among them the grave of rosenkrutz was to be discovered, and the brotherhood to be no longer a mystery to the world. it was about this time that the brothers began to make some alterations in their building, and thought of removing to another and more fitting situation the memorial tablet, on which were inscribed the names of the associates. the plate which was of brass, was fixed to the wall by means of a nail in its centre, and so firmly did it hold, that in tearing it away a portion of the plaster came off too and discovered to them a concealed door. upon this door being yet farther cleansed from the incrustation, there appeared above in large letters post cxx annos patebo. great was their delight at so unlooked-for a discovery; but still they so far restrained their curiosity as not to open the door till the next morning, when they found themselves in a seven sided vault, each side five feet wide, and eight feet high. it was lighted by an artificial sun in the centre of the arched roof, while in the middle of the floor, instead of a tomb, stood a round altar covered with a small brass plate on which was this inscription: a. c. r. c. hoc, universi compendium, vivus mihi sepulchrum feci. about the outer edge was, jesus mihi omnia. in the centre were four figures; each enclosed in a circle, with these circumscriptions: . nequaquam vacuus. . legis jugum. . libertas evangelii. . dei gloria intacta. thereupon they all knelt down and returned thanks to heaven for having made them so much wiser than the rest of the world, a native trait that adds not a little to the verisimilitude of the story. then they divided the vault into three parts--the roof, or heaven--the wall, or the sides--and the ground, or pavement. the first and last were according to the seven sides divided into triangles, while every side was divided into ten squares with figures and sentences, to be explained to the newly initiated. each of these again, had a door opening upon a closet, wherein were stored up sundry rare articles, such as secret books of the order, the vocabulary of paracelsus, and other things of the same nature, which it was allowable to impart even to the profane. in one, they discovered the life and itinerary of their founder; in another they lighted upon mirrors possessed of different qualities, a little bell, burning lamps, and a variety of curious matters, intended to help in rebuilding the order, which after the lapse of many centuries was to fall into decay. curiosity to see their founder induced them to push aside the altar, when they came upon a strong brass plate, and this too being removed, "before their eyes the wizard lay as if he had not been dead a day." moreover, like the celebrated character described in these lines, he had a volume under his arm, which proved to be of vellum with letters of gold, and at the end of it, in two separate circles, were the names of eight brethren who had assisted at their founder's interment. next to the bible, the rosicrucians valued this book beyond any portion of their inheritance, yet it is not said whether they took away any of these rarities, or left the dead man in quiet possession of his treasures.[ ] chapter iv. _the fame and confession of the fraternity._ we shall now call the attention of our readers to the third of the books we spoke of as published simultaneously about the year , "the substance of which," says de quincey, "it is important to examine, because they in a very strange way, led to the foundation of the rosicrucian order as a distinct body." the third book is the _confessio fraternitatis_, which we present almost in its entirety. _the fame and confession of the fraternity of r:c:community, of the rosie cross._ the epistle to the reader:--to the wise and understanding reader. wisdom (saith solomon) is to a man an infinite treasure for she is the breath of the power of god, and a pure influence that floweth from the glory of the almighty; she is the brightness of eternal light, and an undefiled mirror of the majesty of god, and an image of his goodness; she teacheth us soberness and prudence, righteousness and strength; she understands the subtilty of words, and solution of dark sentences; she foreknoweth signs and wonders, and what shall happen in time to come; with this treasure was our first father adam fully endued: hence it doth appear, that after god had brought before him all the creatures of the field, and the fowls under heaven, he gave to every one of them their proper names, according to their nature. although now through the sorrowful fall into sin this excellent jewel wisdom hath been lost, and meer darkness and ignorance is come into the world, yet, notwithstanding, hath the lord god sometimes hitherto bestowed, and made manifest the same, to some of his friends: for the wise king solomon doth testifie of himself, that he upon earnest prayer and desire did get and obtain such wisdom of god, that thereby he knew how the world was created, thereby he understood the nature of the elements, also the time, beginning, middle, and end, the increase and decrease, the change of times through the whole year, and ordinance of the stars; he understood also the properties of tame and wilde beasts, the cause of the raiging of the winds, and minds and intents of men, all sorts and natures of plants, vertues of roots and others, was not unknown to him. now i do not think that there can be found any one who would not wish and desire with all his heart to be partaker of this noble treasure; but seeing the same felicity can happen to none, except god himself give wisdom and send his holy spirit from above, we have therefore set forth in print this little treatise, to wit, famam and confessionem, of the laudable fraternity of the rosie cross, to be read by every one, because in them is clearly shewn and discovered, what concerning it the world hath to expect. although these things may seem somewhat strange, and many may esteem is to be but a philosophical shew, and no true history, which is published and spoken of the fraternity of the rosie cross; it shall here sufficiently appear by our confession that there is more _in necessu_ than may be imagined; and it shall be easily understood, and observed by every one (if he be not altogether voyd of understanding) what now-adays, and at these times is meant thereby. those who are true disciples of wisdom, and true followers of the spherical art, will consider better of these things, and have them in greater estimation, as also judge far otherwise of them, as hath been done by some principal persons but especially of adam haselmeyer, notarius publicus to the arch duke maximilian, who likewise hath made an extract ex scriptis theologicis theophrasti, and written a treatise under the title of jesuiter, wherein he willeth, that every christian should be a true jesuit, that is, to walk, live, be, and remain in jesus. he was but ill rewarded of the jesuits, because in his answer written upon the _famam_, he did name those of the fraternity of the rosie cross, the highly illuminated men, and undeceiving jesuits; for they not able to brook this, layd hands on him, and put him into the calleis, for which they likewise have to expect their reward. blessed aurora will now henceforth begin to appear, who (after the passing away of the dark night of saturn) with her brightness altogether extinguisheth the shining of the moon, or the small sparks of heavenly wisdom, which yet remaineth with men, and is a forerunner of pleasant phebus, who with his clear and fiery glistering beams brings forth that blessed day long wished for, of many true hearted; by which daylight then shall truly be known, and shall be seen all heavenly treasures of godly wisdom, as also the secrets of all hidden and invisible things in the world according to the doctrine of our forefathers and ancient wisemen. this will be the right kingly ruby, and most excellent shining carbuncle, of the which it is said, that he doth shine and give light in darkness, and to be a perfect medicine of all imperfect bodies, and to change them into the best gold, and to cure all diseases of men, easing them of all pains and miseries. be, therefore, gentle reader, admonished, that with me you do earnestly pray to god, that it please him to open the hearts and ears of all ill hearing people, and to grant unto them his blessing, that they may be able to know him in his omnipotency, with admiring contemplation of nature, to his honour and praise, and to the love, help, comfort and strengthening of our neighbours, and to the restoring of the diseased. fama fraternitatis, or, a discovery of the fraternity of the most laudable order of the rosy cross. seeing the only wise and merciful god in these latter days hath poured out so richly his mercy and goodness to mankind, whereby we do attain more and more to the perfect knowledge of his son jesus christ and nature, that justly we may boast of the happy time, wherein there is not only discovered unto us the half part of the world, which was heretofore unknown and hidden, but he hath also made manifest unto us many wonderful and never-heretofore seen works and creatures of nature, and moreover hath raised men imbued with great wisdom, which might partly renew and reduce all arts (in this our age spotted and imperfect) to perfection; so that finally man might thereby understand his own nobleness and worth, and why he is called microcosmus, and how far his knowledge extendeth in nature. although the rude world herewith will be but little pleased, but rather smile and scoff thereat; also the pride and covetousness of the learned is so great it will not suffer them to agree together; but were they united, they might out of all those things which in this our age god doth so richly bestow upon us, collect _librum naturæ_, or a perfect method of all arts; but such is their opposition, that they still keep and are loth to leave the old course, esteeming porphiry, aristotle, and galen, yea and that which hath a meer show of learning, more than the clear and manifested light and truth, who if they were now living, with much joy would leave their erroneous doctrines. but here is too great weakness for such a great work, and although in theologie, physic, and the mathematic, the truth doth oppose itself, nevertheless the old enemy by his subtilty and craft doth shew himself in hindering every good purpose by his instruments and contentious wavering people. to such an intent of a general reformation, the most godly and highly illuminated father, our brother, c. r., a german, the chief and original of our fraternity, hath much and long time laboured, who by reason of his poverty (although descended of noble parents) in the fifth year of his age, was placed in a cloyster, where he had learned indifferently the greek and latin tongues, who (upon his earnest desire and request), being yet in his growing years, was associated to a brother p. a. l., who had determined to go to the holy land. although this brother dyed in cyprus, and so never came to jerusalem, yet our brother c. r. did not return, but shipped himself over, and went to damasco, minding from thence to go to jerusalem; but by reason of the feebleness of his body, he remained still there, and by his skill in physick he obtained much favour with the turks. in the mean time he became by chance acquainted with the wise men of damasco in arabia, and beheld what great wonders they wrought, and how nature was discovered unto them; hereby was that high and noble spirit of brother c. r. so stirred up that jerusalem was not so much now in his mind as damasco; also he could not bridle his desires any longer, but made a bargain with the arabians that they should carry him for a certain sum of money to damasco. as we have on another page stated all these particulars on the authority of the epistle dedicatory to the axiomata we need simply allude to them as recorded in the work from which we are now quoting. the account proceeds pretty much as stated in the axiomata by john heydon, then after stating that the fraternity began with an association of four persons only, the fama says that finding their labour too heavy they concluded to draw and receive yet others more into their fraternity. to this end was chosen brother r. c. his deceased father's brother's son, brother b. a skilful painter, g. and p. d. their secretary, all germans except j. a., so in all they were eight in number, all bachelors and of sound virginity; by those was collected a book or volumn of all that which man can desire, wish, or hope for. although we do now freely confess that the world is much amended within an hundred years, yet we are assured that our axiomata shall unmovably remain unto the world's end, and also the world in her highest and last age shall not attain to see anything else; for our rota takes her beginning from that day when god spake fiat, and shall end when he shall speak pereat; yet god's clock striketh every minute, where ours scarce striketh perfect hours. we also stedfastly beleeve, that if our brethren and fathers had lived in this our present and clear light, they would more roughly have handled the pope, mahomet, scribes, artists, and sophisters, and had shewed themselves more helpful, not simply with sighs, and wishing of their end and consummation. when now these eight brethen had disposed and ordered all things in such manner, as there was not now need of any great labour, and also that every one was sufficiently instructed, and able perfectly to discourse of secret and manifest philosophy, they would not remain any longer together, but as in the beginning they had agreed, they separated themselves into several countries, because that not only their axiomata might in secret be more profoundly examined by the learned, but that they themselves, if in some country or other they observed any thing or perceived some error, they might inform one another of it. their agreement was this:-- , that none of them should profess any other thing than to cure the sick, and that gratis. , none of the posterity should be constrained to wear one certain kind of habit, but therein to follow the custom of the country. , that every year upon the day c. they should meet together at the house s. spiritus, or write the cause of his absence. , every brother should look about for a worthy person, who after his decease might succeed him. , the word c. r. should be their seal, mark, and character. , the fraternity should remain secret one hundred years. these six articles they bound themselves one another to keep; and five of the brethren departed, only the brethren b. and d. remained with the father fra. r. c. a whole year; when these likewise departed, then remained by him his cousin and brother j. o., so that he hath all the days of his life with him two of his brethren. and although that as yet the church was not cleansed, nevertheless we know that they did think of her, and what with longing desire they looked for. every year they assembled together with joy, and made a full resolution of that which they had done; there must certainly have been great pleasure to hear truly and without invention related and rehearsed all the wonders which god hath poured out here and there through the world. every one may hold it out for certain, that such persons as were sent, and joyned together by god and the heavens, and chosen out of the wisest of men as have lived in many ages, did live together above all others in highest unity, greatest secrecy, and most kindness one towards another. after such a most laudable sort they did spend their lives; and although they were free from all disease and pain, yet notwithstanding they could not live and pass their time appointed of god. the first of this fraternity which dyed, and that in england, was j. o., as brother c. long before had foretold him; he was very expert, and well learned in cabala, as his book called h. witnesseth. in england he is much spoken of, and chiefly because he cured a young earl of norfolk of the leprosie. they had concluded, that as much as possibly could be their burial place should be kept secret, as at this day it is not known unto us what is become of some of them, yet every one's place was supplyed with a fit successor; but this we will confess publickly by these presents to the honour of god, that what secret soever we have learned out of the book m. (although before our eyes we behold the image and pattern of all the world) yet are there not shewn unto us our misfortunes, nor hour of death, the which only is known to god himself, who thereby would have us keep in a continual readiness; but hereof more in our confession, where we do set down reasons whereby we now do make known our fraternity, and proffer such high mysteries freely, and without constraint and reward: also we do promise more gold than both the indies bring to the king of spain; for europe is with child, and will bring forth a strong child, who shall stand in need of a great godfather's gift. after the death of i. o. brother r. c. rested not, but as soon as he could, called the rest together (and as we suppose) then his grave was made although hitherto we (who were the latest) did not know when our loving father r. c. died, and had no more but the bare names of the beginners, and all their successors to us; yet there came into our memory a secret which through dark and hidden words, and speeches of the years, brother a. the successor of d. (who was one of the last and second row and succession, and had lived amongst many of us) did impart unto us of the third row and succession; otherwise we must confess, that after the death of the said a. none of us had in any manner known anything of brother r. c., and of his first fellow brethren, than that which was extant of them in our philosophical bibliotheca, amongst which our axiomata was held for the chiefest rota mundi, for the most artificial, and protheus the most profitable. likewise we do not certainly know if these of the second row have been of the like wisdom as the first, and if they were admitted to all things. it shall be declared hereafter to the gentle reader not only what we have heard of the burial of the r. c., but also made manifest publickly by the foresight, sufferance and commandment of god, whom we most faithfully obey, that if we shall be answered discreetly and christian like, we will not be afraid to set forth publickly in print, our names and surnames, our meetings, or anything else that may be required at our hands. now the true and fundamental relation of the finding out of the high illuminated man of god, fra: c. r. is this; after that a. in gallia narbonensi was deceased, then succeeded in his place our loving brother n. n. this man after he had repaired unto us to take the solemn oath of fidelity and secrecy, he informed us _bona fide_, that a. had comforted him in telling him, that this fraternity should ere long not remain so hidden, but should be to all the whole german nation, helpful, needful, and commendable; of the which he was not in any wise in his estate ashamed of. the year following after he had performed his school right, and was minded now to travel, being for that purpose sufficiently provided with fortunatus purse, he thought (he being a good architect) to alter something of his building, and to make it more fit; in such renewing he lighted upon the memorial table which was cast of brasse, and containeth all the names of the brethren, with some few other things. this he would transfer in another more fitting vault, for where or when fra: r. c. died, or in what country he was buried, was by our predecessors concealed and unknown to us. in this table stuck a great naile, somewhat strong, so that when he was with force drawn out, he took with him an indifferent big stone out of the thin wall, or plastering of the hidden door, and so unlooked for uncovered the door; wherefore we did with joy and longing throw down the rest of the wall, and cleared the door upon which that was written in great letters, post annos patebo, with the year of the lord under it: therefore we gave god thanks and let it rest that same night, because first we would overlook our rotam; but we refer ourselves again to the confession, for what we here publish is done for the help of those that are worthy, but to the unworthy (god willing) it will be of small profit, for like as our door was after so many years wonderfully discovered, also there shall be opened a door to europe (when the wall is removed) which already doth begin to appear, and with great desire is expected of many. in the morning following we opened the door, and there appeared to our sight a vault of seven sides and corners, every side five foot broad, and the height of eight foot. although the sun never shined in this vault, nevertheless it was enlightened with another sun, which had learned this from the sun, and was situated in the upper part in the centre of the ceiling; in the midst, instead of a tombstone, was a round altar covered over with a plate of brass. round about the first circle or brim stood jesus mihi omnia. we kneeled all together down, and gave thanks to the sole wise, sole mighty, and sole eternal god, who hath taught us more than all men's wit could have found out, praised be his holy name. this vault we parted in three parts, the upper part a ceiling, the wall a side, the ground a floor. of the upper part you shall understand no more of it at this time, but that it was divided according to the seven sides in the triangle, which was in the bright centre; but what therein is contained, you shall, god willing (that are desirous of our society) behold the same with your own eyes; but every side or wall is parted into ten squares, every one with their several figures and sentences, as they are truly shewed, and set forth concentratum here in our book. the bottom again is parted in the triangle but because therein is described the power and rule of the inferior governors, we leave to manifest the same, for fear of the abuse by the evil and ungodly world. but those that are provided and stored with the heavenly antidote, they do without fear or hurt, tread on, and bruise the head of the old and evil serpent, which this our age is well fitted for. every side or wall had a door for a chest, wherein there lay divers things, especially all our books, which otherwise we had, besides the vocabular of theoph. par. ho., and these which daily unfalsifieth we do participate. herein also we found his itinerarium, and vitam, whence this relation for the most part is taken. in another chest were looking-glasses of divers virtues, as also in other places were little bells, burning lamps, and chiefly wonderful artificial songs; generally all done to that end, that if it should happen after many hundred years, the order or fraternity should come to nothing, they might by this vault be restored again. now as yet we had not seen the dead body of our careful and wise father, we therefore removed the altar aside, there we lifted up a strong plate of brass, and found a fair and worthy body, whole and unconsumed. concerning minutum mundum, we found it kept in another little altar, truly more finer than can be imagined by any understanding man; but we will leave him undescribed until we shall truly be answered upon this our true hearted famam; and so we have covered it again with the plates, and set the altar thereon, shut the door, and made it sure, with all our seals; besides by instruction and command of our rota, there are come to sight some books, among which is contained m. (which were made instead of household care by the praiseworthy m. p.). finally we departed the one from the other, and left the natural heirs in possession of our jewels. and so we do expect the answer and judgment of the learned, or unlearned. howbeit we know after a time there will now be a general reformation, both of divine and human things, according to our desire, and the expectation of others; for it's fitting, that before the rising of the sun, there should appear and break forth aurora, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky; and so in the meantime some few, which shall give their names, may join together, thereby to increase the number and respect of our fraternity, and make a happy and wished for beginning of our philosophical canons, prescribed to us by our brother r. c., and be partakers with us of our treasures (which never can fail or be wasted) in all humility, and love to be eased of this world's labour, and not walk so blindly in the knowledge of the wonderful works of god. but that also every christian may know of what religion and belief we are, we confess to have the knowledge of jesus christ (as the same now in these last days, and chiefly in germany, most clear and pure is professed, and is nowadays cleansed and voyd of all swerving people, hereticks and false prophets), in certain and noted countries maintained, defended and propagated; also we use two sacraments, as they are instituted with all formes and ceremonies of the first renewed church. in politia we acknowledge the roman empire and quartam monarchiam for our christian head; albeit we know what alterations be at hand, and would fain impart the same with all our hearts, to other godly learned men; notwithstanding our handwriting which is in our hands, no man (except god alone) can make it common, nor any unworthy person is able to bereave us of it. but we shall help with secret aid this so good a cause as god shall permit or hinder us, for our god is not blind as the heathen's fortuna, but is the church's ornament and the honour of the temple. our philosophy also is not a new invention, but as adam after his fall hath received it, and as moses and solomon used it; also she ought not much to be doubted of, or contradicted by other opinions, or meanings; but seeing the truth is peaceable, brief, and always like herself in all things, and especially accorded by with _jesus in omni parte_ and all members. and as he is the true image of the father, so is she his image; it shall not be said, this is true according to philosophy, but true according to theologie: and wherein plato, aristotle, pythagoras and others did hit the mark, and wherein enoch, abraham, moses, solomon did excel; but especially wherewith that wonderful book the bible agreeeth. all that same concurreth together, and make a space or globe whose total parts are equidistant from the centre, and hereof more at large and more plain shall be spoken of in christianly conference. but now concerning (and chiefly in this our age) the ungodly and accursed gold-making, which hath gotten so much the upper hand, whereby under colour of it, many runagates and roguish people do use great villanies, and cozen and abuse the credit which is given them; yea nowadays men of discretion do hold the transmutation of mettals to be the highest point, and _fastigium_ in philosophy, this is all their intent and desire, and that god would be most esteemed by them, and honoured, which could make great store of gold, and in abundance, the which with unpremeditated prayers, they hope to attain of the all knowing god, and searcher of all hearts; we therefore do by these presents publickly testify, that the true philosophers are far of another minde, esteeming little the making of gold, which is but a parergon; for besides that they have a thousand better things. and we say with our loving father _r. c. c. phy: aurum nisi quantum aurum_, for unto them the whole nature is detected; he doth not rejoyce, that he can make gold, and that, as christ saith, the devils are obedient unto him; but is glad that he seeth the heavens open, and the angels of god ascending and descending, and his name written in the book of life. also we do testifie that under the name of 'chymia' many books and pictures are set forth in contumeliam gloriæ dei, as we will name them in their due season, and will give to the pure-hearted a catalogue or register of them; and we pray all learned men to take heed of these kinde of books, for the enemy never resteth, but soweth his weeds, till a strange one doth root it out. so according to the will and meaning of fra. c. r. c., we his brethren request again all the learned in europe who shall read (sent forth in five languages) this our _famam and confessionem_, that it would please them with good deliberation to ponder this our offer, and to examine most nearly and most sharply their arts, and behold the present time with all diligence, and to declare their minde, either _communicato consilio_, or _singulatum_ by print. and although at this time we make no mention either of our names or meetings, yet nevertheless every one's opinion shall assuredly come to our hands, in what language soever it be; nor anybody shall fail who so gives his name to speak with some of us either by word of mouth, or else if there be some lett in writing. and this we say for a truth, that whosoever shall earnestly, and from his heart, bear affection with us, it shall be beneficial unto him in goods, body and soul; but he that is false-hearted, or only greedy of riches, the same first of all shall not be able in any manner of wise to hurt us, but bring himself to utter ruine and destruction. also our building (although one hundred thousand people had seen and beheld the same) shall for ever remain untouched, undestroyed, and hidden to the wicked world, sub umbra alarum tuarum jehova. a preface of the confession to the reader who is desirous of wisdom. here, gentle reader, you shall finde incorporated in our confession thirty seven reasons of our purpose, and intention, the which according to thy pleasure thou mayst seek out and compare them together: thou mayst also consider with thyself, if they be weighty and sufficient enough to bring and persuade thee for to take our parts. verily it requires no small pains to confirm that which men have not yet seen, but when it shall once come to light we doubt not, but they will then justly be ashamed of such doubts and conjectures. and as we do now altogether, securely, freely, and without any hurt call the pope of rome antichrist, the which heretofore was held for a deadly sin, and such in all countries were put to death for it. so we know certainly, that the time shall likewise come, that that which we yet keep in secret, we shall openly, freely, and with a loud voice publish and confess it before all the world; the which gentle reader wish with us with all thy heart, that it may happen with speed. confessio fraternitatis, or, the confession of the laudable fraternity of the most honourable order of the rosie cross, written to the learned of europe. whatsoever there is published, and made known to every one, concerning our fraternity by the foresaid fama, let no man esteem lightly of it, nor hold it as an idle or invented thing, and much less receive the same, as though it were only a meer conceit of ours. it is the lord jehovah (who seeing the lord's sabbath is almost at hand, and hastened again, his period or course being finished to his first beginning) doth turn about the course of nature; and what heretofore hath been sought with great pains and dayly labour, is now manifested unto those who make small account, or scarcely once think upon it; but those which desire it, it is in a manner forced and thrust upon them, that thereby the life of the godly may be eased of all their toyl and labour, and be no more subject to the storms of unconstant fortune; but the wickedness of the ungodly thereby, with their due and deserved punishment, be augmented and multiplied. although we cannot be by any suspected of the least heresie, or of any wicked beginning, or purpose against the worldly government; we do condemn the east and west (meaning the pope and mahomet) blasphemers against our lord jesus christ, and offer and present with a good will to the chief head of the romish empire, our prayers, secrets, and great treasures of gold. yet we have thought good and fit for the learned sakes, to add somewhat more to this, and make a better explanation, if there be any thing too deep, hidden, and set down over dark in the fama, or for certain reasons were altogether omitted, and left out; hoping herewith the learned will be more addicted unto us, and be made far more fitter and willing for our purpose. concerning the alteration and amendment of philosophy, we have (as much as at present is needful) sufficiently declared, to wit, that the same is altogether weak and faulty; yet we doubt not, although the most part falsely do alledge that she (i know not how) is sound and strong, yet notwithstanding she fetches her last breath and is departing. but as commonly, even in the same place or country where there breaketh forth a new unaccustomed disease, nature also there discovereth a medicine against the same; so there doth appear for so manifold infirmities of philosophy, the right means, and unto our patria sufficiently offered, whereby she may become sound again, which is now to be renewed and altogether new. no other philosophy we have, than that which is the head and sum, the foundation and contents of all faculties, sciences and arts, the which (if we will behold our age) containeth much of theology and medicine, but little of the wisdom of lawyers, and doth diligently search both heaven and earth: or to speak briefly thereof, which doth manifest and declare sufficiently man; whereof than all learned who will make themselves known unto us, and come into our brotherhood, shall finde more wonderful secrets by us, than heretofore they did attain unto, and did know, or are able to believe or utter. wherefore to declare briefly our meaning hereof, we ought to labour carefully that there be not only a wondering at our meeting and adhortation, but that likewise every one may know, that although we do highly esteem and regard such mysteries and secrets, we nevertheless hold it fit, that the knowledge thereof be manifested and revealed to many. for it is to be taught and believed, that this our unhoped willing offer will raise many and divers thoughts in men unto whom (as yet) be unknown miranda sextæ ætatis, or those which by reason of course of the world, esteem the things to come like unto the present, and are hindered through all manner of importunities of this their time, so that they live no otherwise in the world, than blinde fools, who can, in the clear sun-shine days, discern and know nothing than only by feeling. now concerning the first part, we hold this, that the meditations, knowledge and inventions of our loving christian father (of all that, which from the beginning of the world, man's wisdom, either through god's revelation, or through the service of the angels and spirits, or through the sharpness and deepness of understanding, or through long observation, use and experience, hath found out, invented, brought forth, corrected, and till now hath been propagated and transplanted) are so excellent, worthy and great, that if all books should perish, and by god almighty's sufrance, all writings, and all learning should be lost, yet the posterity will be able only thereby to lay a new foundation, and bring truth to light again; the which perhaps would not be so hard to do as if one should begin to pull down and destroy the old ruinous building, and begin to enlarge the fore court, afterwards bring the lights in the lodgings, and then change the doors, staples and other things according to our intention. but to whom would this not be acceptable, for to be manifested to every one rather than to have it kept and spared, as an especial ornament for the appointed time to come. wherefore should we not with all our hearts rest and remain in the only truth (which men through so many erroneous and crooked ways do seek) if it had only pleased god to lighten unto us the sixth candelabrum, were it not good that we needed not to care, not to fear hunger, poverty, sickness and age. were it not a precious thing that you could always live so, as if you had lived from the beginning of the world, and moreover as you should still live to the end therof. were it not excellent, you dwell in one place, that neither the people which dwell beyond the river ganges in the indies could hide anything, nor those which live in peru might be able to keep secret their counsels from thee. were it not a precious thing that you could so read in one only book, and withal by reading understand and remember all that, which in all other books (which heretofore have been, and are now and hereafter shall come out) hath been, is, and shall be learned, and found out of them. how pleasant were it that you could so sing, that instead of stony rocks you could draw to thee pearls and precious stones, instead of wilde beasts, spirits, and instead of hellish pluto, move the mighty princes of the world. o ye people, god's counsel is far otherwise, who hath concluded now to increase and enlarge the number of our fraternity, the which we with such joy have undertaken as we have heretofore obtained this great treasure without our merits, yea without any our hopes and thoughts, and purpose with the like fidelity to put the same in practice, that neither the compassion nor pity of our own children (which some of us in the fraternity have) shall draw us from it, because we know that these unhoped for goods cannot be inherited, nor by chance be obtained. if there be somebody now which on the other side will complain of our discretion, that we offer our treasures so freely, and without any difference to all men, and do not rather regard and respect more the godly, learned, wise, or princely persons than the common people; those we do not contradict, seeing it is not a slight and easie matter; but without we signify so much, that our arcana or secrets will no ways be common, and generally made known. although the fama be set forth in five languages, and is manifested to every one, yet we do partly very well know that, the unlearned and gross wits will not receive nor regard the same; as also the worthiness of those who shall be accepted into our fraternity are not esteemed and known of us by man's carefulness, but by the rule of our revelation and manifestation. wherefore if the unworthy cry and call a thousand times, or if they offer and present themselves to us a thousand times, yet god hath commanded our ears, that they should hear none of them: yea, god hath so compassed us about with his clouds, that unto us his servants, no violence or force can be done or committed; wherefore we neither can be seen or known by any body, except he had the eyes of an eagle. it hath been necessary the fama should be set forth in every ones mother tongue, because those should not be defrauded of the knowledge thereof, whom (although they be unlearned) god hath not excluded from the happiness of this fraternity, the which shall be divided and parted with certain degrees; as those which dwell in the city damcar in arabia, who have a far different politick order from the other arabians. for there they do govern only wise men, who by the king's permission make particular laws; according unto which example, also the government shall be instituted in europe (whereof we have a description set down by our christianly father) when first is done and come to pass that which is to precede. and thenceforth our trumpet shall publiquely sound with a loud sound, and great noise, when namely the same (which at this present is showed by few, and is secretly, as a thing to come, declared in figures and pictures) shall be free and publiquely proclaimed, and the whole world be filled withall. even in such manner as heretofore, many godly people have secretly and altogether desperately pusht at the pope's tyranny, which afterwards, with great earnest, and especial zeal in germany, was thrown from his seat and trodden under foot, whose final fall is delayed, and kept for our times, when he also shall be scratched in pieces with nails, and an end be made of his asses cry, by a new voyce: the which we know is already reasurably manifest and known to many learned men in germany, as their writings and secret congratulations do sufficiently witness the same. we could here relate and declare what all the time from the year of our lord, (in which year our christian father was born) till now, hath happened, where we might rehearse what alterations he hath seen in the world these one hundred and six years of his life, which he hath left to our brethren and us after his decease to peruse. but brevity, which we do observe, will not permit at this present to make rehearsal of it, till a more fit time; at this time it is enough for those which do not despise our declaration, having therefore briefly touched it, thereby to prepare the way for their acquaintance and friendship with us. yea, to whom it is permitted, that he may, and for his instruction use those great letters and characters which the lord god hath written and imprinted in heaven and earth's edifice, through the alteration of government, which hath been from time to time altered and renewed; the same is already (although as yet unknown to himself) ours: and as we know he will not despise our inviting and calling, so, none shall fear any deceit, for we promise and openly say, that no man's uprightness and hopes shall deceive him, whosoever shall make himself known unto us under the seal of secrecy, and desire our fraternity. but to the false hypocrites, and to those that seek other things than wisdom, we say and witness by these presents publickly, we cannot be made known and be betrayed unto them, and much less they shall be able to hurt us any manner of way without the will of god; but they shall certainly be partakers of all the punishment spoken of in our fama; so their wicked counsels shall light upon themselves, and our treasures shall remain untouched, until the lion doth come, who will ask them for his use, and employ them for the confirmation and establishment of his kingdom. we ought therefore here to observe well, and make it known unto every one, that god hath certainly and most assuredly concluded to send and grant to the world before her end, which presently thereupon shall ensue, such a truth, light, life, and glory, as the first adam had, which he lost in paradise, after the which his successors were put, and driven with him to misery, wherefore there shall cease all servitude, falsehood, lyes, and darkness, which by little and little with the great world's revolution, was crept into all arts, works and governments of men, and have darkened the most part of them. for from thence are proceeded an innumerable sort of all manner of false opinions and heresies, that scarce the wisest of all was able to know whose doctrine and opinion he should follow and embrace, and could not well and easily be discerned, seeing on the one part they were detained, hindered, and brought into errors through the respect of the philosophers and learned men, and on the other part through true experience. all the which when it shall once be abolished and removed, and instead thereof a right and true rule instituted, then there will remain thanks unto them which have taken pains therein, but the work itself shall be attributed to the blessedness of our age. as we now willingly confess, that many principal men by their writings will be a great furtherance unto this reformation which is to come; so we desire not to have this honour ascribed to us, as if such work were only commanded and imposed upon us; but we confess, and witness openly with the lord jesus christ, that it shall first happen that the stones shall arise, and offer their service before there shall be any want of executors and accomplishers of god's counsel: yea, the lord god hath already sent before certain messengers, which should testifie his will, to wit, some new stars, which do appear and are seen in the firmament in serpentario and cygno, which signifie and give themselves known to every one that they are powerful signacula of great mighty matters. so then, the secret hid writings and characters are most necessary for all such things which are found out by men, although that great book of nature stand open to all men, yet there are but few that can read and understand the same. for as there is given to man two instruments to hear, likewise two to see, and two to smell, but only one to speak, and it were but vain to expect speech from the ears, or hearing from the eyes: so there hath been ages or times which have seen, there have also been ages that have heard, smelt and tasted: now there remains that which in short time, honour shall be likewise given to the tongue, and by the same, what before times hath been seen, heard, and smelt, now finally shall be spoken, and uttered forth, viz., when the world shall awake out of her heavy and drowsie sleep, and with an open heart, bare-head and bare-foot, shall merrily and joyfully meet the now arising sun. these characters and letters, as god hath here and there incorporated them in the holy scripture and the bible, so hath he imprinted them most apparently into the wonderful creation of heaven and earth, yea, in all beasts. so that like as the mathematician or astronomer can long before see and know the eclipses which are to come, so we may verily foreknow and foresee the darkness of obscurations of the church, and how long they shall last, from the which characters or letters we have borrowed our magick writing, and have found out, and made a new language for ourselves, in the which withall is expressed and declared the nature of all things, so that is no wonder that we are not so eloquent in other languages, the which we know that they are altogether disagreeing to the languages of our forefathers, adam and enoch, and were through the babylonical confusion wholly hidden. but we must also let you understand, that there are yet some eagle's feathers in our way, the which do hinder our purpose. wherefore we do admonish every one for to read diligently and continually the holy bible; for he that taketh all his pleasures therein, he shall know that he prepared for himself an excellent way to come into our fraternity; for as this is the whole sum and content of our rule, that every letter or character which is in the world ought to be learned and regarded well; so those are like unto us, and are very near allied unto us, who do make the holy bible a rule of their life, and an aim and end of all their studies; yea, to let it be a compendium and content of the whole world, and not only to have it continually in the mouth, but to know how to apply and direct the true understanding of it to all times and ages of the world. also it is not our custom to prostitute and make so common the holy scriptures, for there are innumerable expounders of the same, some alledging and wresting it to serve for their opinion, some to scandal it, and most wickedly do liken it to a nose of wax which alike should serve the divines, philosophers, physicians and mathematicians, against all the which we do openly witness and acknowledge, that from the beginning of the world there hath not been given unto men a more worthy, a more excellent, and a more admirable and wholesome book than the holy bible. blessed is he that hath the same, yea, more blessed is he who reads it diligently, but most blessed of all is he that truly understandeth the same, for he is most like to god, and doth come most near to him. but whatsoever hath been said in the fama concerning the deceivers against the transmutation of metals, and the highest medicine in the world, the same is thus to be understood, that this so great gift of god we do in no manner set at naught or despise it. but because she bringeth not with her always the knowledge of nature, but this bringeth forth not only medicine, but also maketh manifest and open unto us innumerable secrets and wonders; therefore it is requisite that we be earnest to attain to the understanding and knowledge of philosophy. and moreover, excellent wits ought not to be drawn to the tincture of metals, before they be exercised well in the knowledge of nature. he must needs be an unsatiable creature, who is come so far that neither poverty nor sickness can hurt him; yea, who is exalted above other men, and hath rule over that, the which doth anguish, trouble and pain others, yet will give himself again to idle things, as to build houses, make wars, and use all manner of pride, because he hath of gold and silver infinite store. god is far otherwise pleased, for he exalteth the lowly, and putteth down the proud with disdain; to those which are of few words he sendeth his holy angel to speak with them, but the unclean babblers he driveth in the wilderness and solitary places; the which is the right reward of the romish seducers, who have vomitted forth their blasphemies against christ, and as yet do not abstain from their lies in this clear shining light: in germany all their abominations and detestable tricks have been disclosed, that thereby he may fully fulfil the measure of sin, and draw near to the end of his punishment. therefore one day it will come to pass that the mouth of those vipers will be stopped, and the three double horns will be brought to nought, as thereof at our meeting shall more plain and at large be discoursed. in conclusion of our confession, we must earnestly admonish you, that you put away, if not all, yet the most books, written by false alchemists, who do think it but a jest or a pastime, when they either misuse the holy trinity, when they do apply it to vain things, or deceive the people with most strange figures and dark sentences and speeches, and cozen the simpliest of their money; as there are now-a-days too many such books set forth, which the enemy of man's welfare doth daily, and will to the end, mingle among the good seed, thereby to make the truth more difficult to be believed, which in herself is simple, easie and naked; but certainly falsehood is proud, haughty, and coloured with a kind of lustre of seeming godly and of humane wisdom. ye that are wise, eschew such books, and turn unto us, who seek not your moneys but offer unto you most willingly our great treasures. we hunt not after your goods with invented lying tinctures, but desire to make you partakers of our goods: we speak unto you by parables, but would willingly bring you to the right, simple, easie, and ingenuous exposition, understanding, declaration and knowledge, of all secrets. we desire not to be received of you, but invite you unto our more than kingly houses and palaces, and that verily not by our own proper motion, but (that you likewise may know it) as forced unto it, by the instigation of the spirit of god, by his admonition, and by the occasion of this present time. what think you, loving people, and how seem you affected, seeing that you now understand and know, that we acknowledge ourselves truly and sincerely to profess christ, condemn the pope, addict ourselves to the true philosophy, lead a christian life, and dayly call, intreat, and invite many more unto our fraternity, unto whom the same light of god likewise appeareth. consider you not at length how you might begin with us, not only by pondering the gifts which are in you, and by experience which you have in the word of god beside the careful consideration of the imperfection of all arts, and many other unfitting things, to seek for an amendment therein; to appease god, and to accommodate you for the time wherein you live. certainly if you will perform the same, this profit will follow, that all the goods which nature hath in all parts of the world wonderfully dispersed, shall at one time altogether be given unto you, and shall easily disburden you of all that which obscureth the understanding of man, and hindereth the working thereof, like unto the vain epicides, and excentrick astronomical circles. but those pragmatical and busieheaded men, who either are blinded with the glistering of gold, or (to say more truly) who are now honest, but by thinking such great riches should never fail, might easily be corrupted, and brought to idleness, and to riotous proud living; those we do desire that they would not trouble us with their idle and vain crying. but let them think, that although there be a medicine to be had which might fully cure all diseases, nevertheless those whom god hath destinated to plague with diseases, and to keep them under the rod of correction, such shall never obtain any such medicine. even in such manner, although we might enrich the whole world, and endue them with learning, and might release it from innumerable miseries, yet shall we never be manifested and made known unto any man, without the especial pleasure of god; yea, it shall be so far from him whosoever thinks to get the benefit, and be partaker of our riches and knowledge, without and against the will of god, that he shall sooner lose his life in seeking and searching for us, than to find us, and attain to come to the wished happiness of the fraternity of the rosie cross. chapter v. _john heydon and the rosicrucians._ as we have frequently to mention works of that "extraordinary royalist, mystic and geomancer," john heydon, who wrote so much respecting the rosie crucian mysteries, and so loudly extolled the praises of the disciples, it will be advisable to present a sketch of his life as made by one frederick talbot, in the years and , and attached to "elhavareuna," or the "english physitian's tutor." he says john heydon is not basely, but nobly descended. the antiquaries derive them (his parents) from julius heydon the king of hungary and westphalia, that were descended from that noble family of cæsar heydon in rome; and since in this royal race the line run down to the honourable sir christopher heydon, and sir william heydon, his brother of heydon, neer norwich; who married into devonshire. here the family flourished divers waies, to sir john heydon, late lord lieutenant of the king's tower of london. and this sir william heydon had one sonne christened also william, and had two sons william and francis, both born in devon, at poltimore house; francis married one of the noble chandlers in worcestershire of the mother's side, which line spread by marriage into devonshire, among the collins, ducks, drues and bears, he had one sister named anne heydon, who died two years since, his father and mother being yet living. he was born at his father's house in green-arbour, london (his father having bestowed £ , upon those houses) and was baptised at st. sepulchre's, and so was his sister, and both in the fifth and seventh year of the reign of king charles the first; he was educated in warwickshire among his mother's friends, and so careful were they to keep him and his sister from danger, and to their books, that he had one continually to wait upon him, both to school and at home, and so had his sister. he was commended by mr. john dennis, his tutor in tardebick, to mr. george linacre, priest of coughton, where he learned the latin and greek tongues; the war at this time began to molest the universities of this nation, he was articled to mr. mic. petley, an attorney of clifford inne, with eighty pounds, that at five years' end he should be sworn an attorney; now being very young he applied his mind to learning, and by his happy wit attained great knowledge in all arts and sciences, afterwards also he followed the armies of the king, and for his valour commanded in the troops, when he was by these means famous for learning and arms, he travelled into spain, italy, arabia, egypt, and persia, etc., and gave his mind to writing, and composed about seventeen years since, the temple of wisdom in three books, the holy guide in six books, elhavareuna in one book, ocia imperialia in one book, the idea of the law, the idea of government, the idea of tyranny in three parts, the fundamental elements of moral philosophy, policy, government and war, etc. these books were written near seventeen years since, and preserved by the good hand of god in the custody of mr. thomas heydon, sir john hanner, sir ralph freman, and sir richard temple; during the tyrant's time first one had the books, then another, etc. and at last at the desire of these noble, learned and valiant knights, and in honour of his highness the duke of buckingham, they were printed. he wrote many excellent things, and performed many rare experiments in the arts of astromancy and geomancy, etc., but especially eighty one, the first upon the king's death, predicted in arabia by him to his friends, the second upon the losses of the king at worcester, predicted at thauris in persia. thirdly he predicted the death of oliver cromwell in lambeth house to many persons of honour mentioned in his books. fourthly he wrote of the overthrow of lambert, and of the duke of albymarle, his bringing again of the king to his happy countries, and gave it to major christopher berkenhead, a goldsmith at the anchor by fetter lane end in holborn; the fifth precaution or prediction he gave to his highness the duke of buckingham, two months before the evil was practised, and his enemy abraham goodman lies now in the tower for attempting the death of the noble prince. the sixth for count gramont when he was banished into england by the king of france, and he predicted by the arts of astromancy and geomancy, the king's receiving again into favour, and of his marriage to the lady hamilton. the seventh for duke minulaus, a peer of germany, that the emperor sent to him, when the turk, had an army against him, and of the death of the pope; the rest are in his books, and therefore by these monuments the name of heydon for his variety of learning was famous not only in england, but also in many other nations into which his books are translated. this john heydon, fears none, contemneth none, is ignorant of none, rejoyceth in none, grieves at none, laughs at none, is angry with none, but being himself a philosopher, he hath taught the way to happiness, the way to long life, the way to health, the way to wane young being old, and the way to resolve all manner of questions, present and to come, by the rules of astromancy and geomancy, and how to raise the dead. there be many john heydons, one john heydon the divine and priest of jesus christ, this is a philosopher and lawyer, stiled a servant of god and secretary of nature, and to this the princes and peers not only of england, but of spain, italy, france and germany send dayly to him, and upon every occasion he sheweth strong parts and a vigorous brain; his wishes and aimes, and what he pointeth at, speaketh him owner of a noble and generous heart; this gentleman's excellent books are admired by the world of lettered men, as the prodigy of these latter times (indeed his works before mentioned, if i am able to judge anything) are full of the profoundest learning i ever met withall: and i believe, who hath well-read and digested them will perswade himself, there is no truth too abstruse, nor hitherto conceived out of our reach, and if any should question my judgement, they may read the commendations of both the universities, oxford and cambridge, besides the learned thomas white and thomas revell, esq., both famous in rome and other parts beyond sea, that have highly honoured this gentleman in their books; yet he hath suffered many misfortunes, his fathered was sequestered, imprisoned, and lost two thousand pounds by cromwell. this oliver imprisoned this son also two year and half, or thereabout, in lambeth house, for he and his father's family were always for the king, and endeavoured to the utmost his restoration; and indeed the tyrant was cruel to him, but john thurloe, his secretary, was kind to him and pittied his curious youth. and the messenger kept him (at his request) at his own house, and gave him leave to go abroad, but yet being zealous and active for the king, he was again taken and clapt up in lambeth house; in these misfortunes it cost him a £ , and upwards; after this some envious villains forged actions of debt against him, and put him in prison. it seems at the beginning of these misfortunes, a certain harlot would have him to marry her, but denying her suit, for he had never spoken to her in his life good or evil until then; she devised now with her confederates abundance of mischief against him. and many courted him to marry, but he denyed. now there was left (amongt a few old almanacks and scraps of other men's wit) collected and bequeathed unto the world by nic. culpe (as his own admired experience) old alice culpeper, his widow. she hearing this gentleman (that he was heir to a great estate after the death of his father, and after the death of his uncle, £ , a year, but whether this uncle be of the father's or the mother's side i know not, but the estate is sure his at their death), courts him by letters of love, to no purpose; the next saint in order was she that calls herself the german princess. but he flies high and scorns such fowl great beasts, the first of these two blessed birds in her life time caused one heath to arrest him, and another laid actions against him that he never knew nor heard of. in this perplexity was he imprisoned two years, for they did desire nothing but to get money, or destroy him, for fear if ever he got his liberty he might then punish them. he being of a noble nature forgave them all their malice and devices against him, and scorns to revenge himself such upon pittiful things. god indeed hath done him the justice, for this heath consumes to worse than nothing, and indeed, if i can judge or predict anything his baudy-houses will be pawned, and he will dye a miserable diseased beggar. his mistress, when he was very young and a clerke, desired him to lay with her, but he like joseph refusing, she hated him all her life. god preserved him from their malice, although one of these three lewd women swore this gentleman practised the art of magic; she told oliver cromwell she saw familiar spirits come and go to him in the shape of conies, and her maid swore she had often seen them in his chambers when he was abroad, and sometimes walking upon the housetop in moonshine nights, and sometimes to vanish away into a wall or aire, but when asked she could not tell what manner of man he was. so these stories were not credited, and for all these and many more afflictions and false accusations, i never saw him angry, nor did he even arrest or imprison any man or woman in all his life. he was falsely accused but lately of writing a seditious book and imprisoned in a messenger's custody, but his noble friend the duke of buckingham finding him innocent and alwaies for the king, he was then discharged, and indeed this glorious duke is a very good and just judge and noble, for he forgave abraham godman that came to kill him with his sword drawn, the duke with his plate and napkin (for he was at supper) takes away his sword, saying, i can kill thee, but i scorn it, and a little after he pardoned him. and so mercifull he is that after he had taken the quakers prisoners in yorkshire, he used so many wise convincing arguments that they submitted to the king; of which the duke was glad, and saved all their lives; he studies the way to preserve his king and country in peace, plenty, and prosperity. it is a pity the king hath not many more such brave men as he, a thousand such wise dukes as this (like marshell'd thunder, back'd with flames of fire) would make all the enemies of the king and christendome quake, and the turk fly before such great generals, in all submission; we humbly pray for this great prince, and leave him to his pleasure and return to our subject. john heydon is not of that vain and presumptuous nature as the taylors that despised all artists, even appolonius, more, vaughan, and smith, etc. and yet they cannot read these, and many other learned authors, they so impudently abuse, rob of their learning, and convert other men's parts to their own profit. he lent one ten pounds gold, he in requital or return speaks ill of him, and pretends to know many admirable rules of geomancy, and impertinently addes them to nativities, and applyes them to all manner of questions in astromancy, but his books being written so long since, viz., seventeen years by himself, their greediness of great matters is discovered, and we now know them to be neither scholars nor gentlemen, these hang up clouts with--here are nativities calculated, questions resolved, and all the parts of astrology taught by us.... in threepence, fourpence, sixpence, or higher if you please--thus are young apprentices, old women, and wenches abused, and that they may be found for money, tell us the twelve houses of heaven in the sign of a coat of arms are to be let, when they might indeed set bills upon their brazen foreheads, engraven thus: here are rooms to be let unfurnished, but our author regards not these men; all their scandals, forgeries, and villainous devises they contrive against him, he slights and scorns, and hath purposely forsaken spittle fields and his lodging there, to live a private life, free from the concourse of multitudes of people that daily followed after him, but if any desire to be advised, let them by way of letter leave their business at his booksellers, and they shall have answer and counsel without reward, for he is neither envious, nor enemie to any man; what i write is upon my own knowledge. he now writes from hermenpolis, a place i was never at; it seems by the word to be the city of mercury, and truly he hath been in many strange places, among the rosie crucians, and at their castles, holy houses, temples, sepulchres, sacrifices. this gentleman hath suffered much by his own discreet silence and solitude. every nativity hawker condemns the rosie crucians because they appear not to the world, and concludes there is no such society because he is not a member of it, and mr. heydon will not come upon the stage (let his enemies write or speak what they will) when any fool cries enter, neither doth he regard every dog that barks at him. all the world knows this gentleman studys honourable and honest things, and faithfully communicates them to others, yet if any traduce him hereafter, they must not expect his vindication, he hath referred his quarrel to the god of nature, it is involved in the concernments of his truths and he is satisfied with the peace of a good conscience; he hath been misinterpreted in his writing, with studied calumnies, they disparage a person whom they never saw, nor perhaps will see, he is resolved for the future to suffer, for he says god condemns no man for his patience, the world indeed may think the truth overthrown, because she is attended with his peace for in the judgment of most men, there is no victory, this he looks upon as no disadvantage, the estimate of such censures will but lighten the scales, and i don't suppose them very weak brains who conceive the truth sinks because it outweighs them; as for tempestuous outcrys when they want their motives they discover an irreligious spirit, one that hath more of the hurrey-cano than of christ jesus, god was not in the wind that rent the rocks in pieces, nor in the earthquake and fire at horeb. he was in aura tenui, in the still small voice. his enemies are forced to praise his vertues and his friends are sorry he hath not , pounds a year, he doth not resent the common spleen, who writs the truth of god hath the same patron with the truth itself, and when the world shall submit to the general tribunal, he will find his advocate where they shall find their judge, there is mutual testimony between god and his servants, or nature and her secretary; if the baptist did bear witness of christ, christ did also much for the baptist; he was a burning and shining light; when i writ this gentleman's life god can bear me witness it was unknown to him, and for no private ends, but i was forced to it by a strong admiration of the mistery and majesty of nature, written by this servant of god and secretary of nature; i began his life some years since, and do set it down as i do finde it, if any man oppose this, i shall answer, if you are for peace, peace be with you, if you are for war, i have been so too (mr. heydon doth resolve never to draw sword again in england, except the king command him). now let not him that puts on the armour boast like him that puts it off. 'gaudet patientia duris' is his motto, and thus i present myself a friend to all artists, and enemy to no man. frederick talbot, esq. _march , ._ what was thought of john heydon and what he appeared to think of himself may be learned from the somewhat gushing testimonials he appended to several of his books. at the commencement of the axiomata we have the following:-- "to his most ingeniously accomplish'd friend, mr. john heydon, on his rosie crucian infallible axomata, the excellent and secret use of numbers." "now let the pope no more pretend to bee, the father of infallibility; unless he can great heyden's numbers teach, and nimbly to his axiomata reach. one learned heydon, with his art-like pen, hath exercised so the brains of men; that how to answer him this very age knows not [i'm sure] with all its wit and rage. our author here, as heir unto his skill, hath kept his name up (with a pregnant quill) so happily! that ages yet to come, shall sing his fame in this eulogium; while numbers sing the world's glad harmony, this worthy work shall teach philosophy." j. gadbury. again in the same work. "to his much honoured friend the author mr. john heydon upon the rosie crucian infallible axiomata." "pythag'ras redivivus, go thy ways into the world: and number out thy praise; laconian lads esteem yourself no more, who numbers rich is, who esteems is poor, for they esteem themselves, because no more. moses in miracles did exceed 'tis true by numbers done; only found out by you therefore the greatest miracle's your due. tria sunt omnia shall no more surpass, who's but for simple numbers is an asse, thy compound numbers shew as clear as glass. that the wide world this piece shall so extoll as swears no soul, if not harmonic all for never was piece i' the world so exactly done, in the time past, or present, what's to come, then teeming soul give thy pen intermission, and breathe a while before the next edition." john fyge, _minister of the gospell._ again:-- "o comprehensive magus, praise attends thy worthy work, to that each number tends, sith to the holy cross thou art the crown; and that, which nature did at first set down in hieroglyphicks, that she might conceal from sons of earth, her darling doth reveal unto the sons of art and doth unfold those tomes of crypicks that before were rold; axioms infallible, thou dost us shew, would pyrrho make his doubting trade forego; philosophy may by thy method be courted, and won by men of low degree, when fancy tells me this cannot be done, my reason prompts me to believe a son, inspired by the rosie crucian spirit, is heir to more, to whom i do refer it. thomas fyge." "hayl you (admired heydon) whose great parts shine above envy; and the common arts, you kin to angels, and superiour lights, (a spark of the first fire) whose eagle flights trade not with earth, and grossness, but do pass to the pure heavens, and make your god your glass, in whom you see all forms, and so do give these rare discov'ries, how things move and live, proceed to make your great designs compleat, and let not this rude world our hopes defeat. oh let me but by this the dawning light which streams upon me through your three pil'd night, pass to the east of truth, 'till i may see man's first fair state; when sage simplicity the dove and serpent, innocent and wise dwell in his brest, and he in paradise. these from the tree of knowledge his best boughs i'le pluck a garland from this author's brows, which to succeeding times fame shall bequeath, with this most just applause, great heyden's wreath. fred. talbot, _esquire_." in the opening pages of the "holy guide," we find the following:-- "renowned eugenius! famous above all! a prince in physiques! most seraphicall! the art's great archer! never shooting wide; yet hitt'st the white best, in thy holy guide. good god! what pains have learn'd physitians for cleansing physiques [strange perturbed] brook? but as their crooked labours did destroy our hopes, thy guide directs the ready way. hippocrates, great galen, and senertus, rhenvoleus, paracelsus, and albertus, grave gerrard, and ingenious parkinson, dead culpeper, and living thomlinson, have all done well. but ah! they miss the road, thou chalked out, thou dear servant of god; and therefore 'tis no wonder, if they vary from thee; great nature (high born) secretary! 'tis thou alone, hast taught the way to bliss: 'tis thou alone, that knowest what it is: 'tis thou hast raked fruitful egypt o'er for medicines; and italy for more; and in arabia thy collecting braines, to doe us good, hath taken wondrous paines this having done, if critiques will not bow to thy great learning petra scandalou, it shall unto them surely prove: and this essay of thy sublimer misteryes, shall make them sure unto the wise minerva yet still be ignorant of thy pantarva. but hold! where am i? sure th' hast set a spell on me, cause i can't praise thy doings well: release me, good eugenius! and the crowne shall stand on no browes but thy learned owne. poets, no more lay claime unto the bayes! 'tis heydon shines alone with splendid rayes! follow his guide, he teaches you most sure; let any make the wound; 'tis he must cure. for he directs the welgrowne; old, and young, to live rich, happy, healthy, noble, strong. john gadbury." "to the reader on the behalf of my much honoured friend the author mr. john heydon." "a labyrinth doth need a clew to find the passage out, and a dædalian mind may doe strange works, beyond the vulgar's reach, and in their understandings make a breach. it's often seene, when men of pregnant parts study, invent, and promulgate rare arts, or unknown secrets, now they puzzle those that understand them not; their yea's, their no's, are put to non-plus; tutors then they lack to drive them forward, or to bring them back. how many learned men (in former ages) in all the sciences were counted sages? and yet are scarcely understood by men, who daily read them o're and o're again! some can recount things past, and present some, and some would know of things that are to come. some study pleasure, some would faine live long; some that are old, would faine again be young. this man doth toyle, and moile, to purchase wealth, that man gets sickness studying for his health; this man would happy bee, that wisdom have; all are at loss, and every man doth crave; none is content, but each man wants a guide them to direct when they do step aside. since this is thus, our author hath took paine to lead us in, and bring us out again; now who is pleas'd in him for to confide in these discoveries, here's his holy guide. pray what can more improve the commonwealth, than the discovery of the way to health? the paradox is made a certain truth, an ancient man may dye it 'h prime of 's youth. what wonder is it if he goe aside the path, which will not take the holy guide! john booker." "to his ingenuous friend mr. john heydon, on his book intituled the holy guide." "the antient magi, druids, cabbalists, the brachmans, sybils, and gymnosophists with all that occult arts haberdash and make so many mancies, doe but trash by retaile vend, and may for pedlars goe: your richer merchandise doth make them soe. the stagarite must with his murnival of elements, galen of humours call in all their suit, or your new art, without them, makes their good old cause to smart. vulgar physitians cannot look for more patients, then such which doe need hellibore: when rosie crucian power can revive the dead, and keep old men in youth alive. had you not call'd your work the holy guide, it would have puzzled all the world beside to have baptized it with a name so fit and adæquate to what's contain'd in it; should it be styled the encyclopædy of curious arts, or term'd a mystery in folio, or be named the vatican reduc'd unto an enchiridion, or all the hermæ in a senary, the urim and thummim of philosophy, the art of hieroglyphicks so revealed and like the apocalyps they are conceal'd or th' orthodoxall parodox, or all discover'd, which men still a wonder call; or th' magna charta of all sciences, and he that names it cannot call it less, the book and title might have well agreed; yet men have questioned if into their creed they should have put your article, but now the name of holy none dare disallow when so much learning doth in one exist heydon, not hermes, shall be trismegist. and if the right reverend of levi's tribe do hallow it, i cannot but subscribe. myself your friend and servant, thos. fyge." "now there are," says john heydon, "a kind of men as they themselves report, named rosie crucians; a divine fraternity that inhabite the suburbs of heaven, and these are the officers of the generalissimo of the world, that are as the eyes and eares of the great king, seeing and hearing all things; they say these r. c. are seraphically illuminated, as moses was, according to this order of the elements; earth refyn'd to water, water to air, air to fire. so if a man be one of the heroes, of a heros, a damon, or good genius, if a genius, a partaker of divine things, and a companion of the holy company of unbodied souls and immortall angells, and according to their vehicles, a versatile life, turning themselves proteus-like into any shape. "but the richest happiness they esteem, is the gift of healing and medicine. it was a long time great labour and travell before they could arrive to this blisse above set, they were at first poor gentlemen, that studied god and nature, as they themselves confesse: (saying) seeing the only wise and mercifull god in these latter dayes hath poured out so richly his mercy and goodness to mankind, whereby wee do attain more and more to the perfect knowledge of his son jesus christ and nature: that justly we may boast of the happy time wherein there is not only discovered unto us the half part of the world which was heretofore unknown and hidden; but he hath also made manifest unto us many wonderfull and never heretofore seen works and creatures of nature, and moreover hath raised men, indued with great wisdome, which might partly renew and reduce all arts (in this our age, spotted and imperfect) to perfection. "although in theologie, physick, and the mathematick, the truth doth oppose itself, nevertheless the old enemy by his subtilty and craft doth shew himself in hindering every good purpose by his instruments and contentious (wavering people) to such an intent of a generall reformation, the most godly and seraphically illuminated father, our brother c. r., a german, the chief and originall of our fraternity, hath much and long time laboured, who by reason of his poverty (although a gentleman born, and descended of noble parents) in the th year of his age was placed in a cloister, where he had learned indifferently the greek and latin tongues (who upon his earnest desire and request being yet in his growing years, was associated to a brother p. a. l., who had determined to go to apamia). "although his brother dyed in cyprus and so never came to apamia, yet our brother c. r. did not return but shipped himself over, and went to damasco, minding from thence to go to apamia, but by reason of the feebleness of his body he remained still there, and by his skil in physick, he obtained much favour with the ishmalits. in the mean time he became by chance acquainted with the wise men of damcar in arabia, and beheld what great wonders they wrought and how nature was discovered unto them; hereby was that high and noble spirit of brother c. r. so stirred up that apamia was not so much now in his mind as damcar; also he could not bridle his desires any longer, but made a bargain with the arabians that they should carry him for a certain summe of money to damcar, this was in the th year of his age when the wise received him (as he himself witnesseth) not as a stranger, but as one whom they had long expected, they called him by his name, and showed him other secrets out of his cloyster, whereat hee could not but mightily wonder. "he learned there better the arabian tongue: so that the year following he translated the book m. into good latine, and i have put it into english wearing the title of the wiseman's crown; whereunto is added a new method of rosie crucian physick. this is the place where he did learn his physick and philosophie, how to raise the dead; for example, as a snake cut in pieces and rotted in dung will every piece prove a whole snake again, &c., and then they began to practise further matters and to kill birds and to burn them before they are cold in a glass, and so rotted, and then inclosed in a shell, to hatch it under a hen, and restore the same; and other strange proofs they made of dogs, hogs, or horses, and by the like corruption to raise them up and again and renew them. and at last they could restore by the same course every brother that died to life again, and so continue many ages. "brother c. r. after many travels, returned again into germany, and there builded a neat and fitting habitation, upon a little hill or mount, and on the hill there rested always a cloud; and he did there render himself visible or invisible, at his own will and discretion. "after five years came into his minde the wished return of the children of israel out of egypt, how god would bring them out of bondage with the instrument moses. then he went to his cloyster, to which he bare affection, and desired three of his brethren to go with him to moses, the chosen servant of god. brother g. v., brother j. a., and brother j. o., who besides that they had more knowledge in the arts than at that time many others had, he did binde those three unto himselfe, to be faithful, diligent, and secret; as also to commit carefully to writing what moses did; and also all that which he should direct and instruct them in, to the end that those which were to come, and through especial revelation should be received into this fraternity, might not be deceived of the least syllable and word. "after this manner began the fraternity of the rosie cross, first by four persons, who died and rose again until christ, and then they came to worship as the star guided them to bethlem of judea, where lay our saviour in his mother's arms; and then they opened their treasure and presented unto him gifts, gold, frankinsense, and myrrhe, and by the commandment of god went home to their habitation. "these four waxing young again successively many hundreds of years, made a magical language and writing, with a large dictionary, which are yet in daily use to god's praise and glory, and do finde great wisdome therein; they made also the first part of the book m. which i will shortly publish by the title of the wiseman's crown." in his apologue to the sixth book of "the holy guide," after stating that moses was the father of the rosie crucians, that they were the officers of the generalissimo of the world, of the order of elias or disciples of ezekiel, &c., john heydon proceeds:--"but there is yet arguments to procure mr. walfoord and t. williams, rosie crucians by elections, and that is the miracles that were done by them, in my sight, for it should seem rosie crucians were not only initiated into the mosaical theory, but have arrived also to the power of working miracles, as moses, elias, ezekiel, and the succeeding prophets did, as being transported where they please, as habakkuk was from jewry to babylon, or as philip, after he had baptized the eunuch, to azotus, and one of these went from me to a friend of mine in devonshire, and came and brought me an answer to london the same day, which is four dayes journey; they taught me excellent predictions of astrology, and earthquakes; they slack the plague in cities; they silence the violent winds and tempests; they calm the rage of the sea and rivers; they walk in the air; they frustrate the malicious aspects of witches; they cure all diseases; i desired one of these to tell me whether my complexion were capable of the society of my good genius? when i see you again, said he, i will tell you, which is when he pleases to come to me, for i know not where to go to him. when i saw him then he said, ye should pray to god; for a good and holy man can offer no greater nor more acceptable sacrifice to god than the oblation of himself, his soul. "he said also, that the good genii are as the benigne eyes of god, running to and fro in the world, with love and pitty beholding the innocent endeavours of harmless and single hearted men, ever ready to do them good, and to help them; and at his going away he bid me beware of my seeming friends who would do me all the hurt they could, and cause the governours of the nations to be angry with me, and set bounds to my liberty; which truly happened to me, as they did indeed; many things more he told me before we parted, but i shall not name them here. "in this rosie crucian physick or medicines, i happily and unexpectedly light upon in arabia, which will prove a restauration of health to all that are afflicted with that sickness which we ordinarily call natural, and all other diseases, as the gout, dropsie, leprosie, and falling sickness; and these men may be said to have no small insight in the body, and that walfoord, williams, and others of the fraternity now living, may bear up in the same likely equipage, with those noble divine spirits their predecessors; though the unskilfulness in men commonly acknowledges more of supernatural assistance in hot, unsettled fancies, and perplexed melancholy, than in the calm and distinct use of reason; yet for mine own part, but not without submission to better judgments, i look upon these rosie crucians above all men truly inspired, and more than any that professed or pretended themselves so this sixteen hundred years, and i am ravished with admiration of their miracles and transcendent mechanical inventions, for the solving the phenomena in the world: i may without offence therefore compare them with bezaliel and aholiab, those skilful and cunning workers of the tabernacle, who, as moses testifies, were filled with the spirit of god, and therefore were of an excellent understanding to find out all manner of curious work. "nor is it any argument that these rosie crucians are not inspired, because they do not say they are; which to me is no argument at all; but the suppression of what so happened, would argue much more sobriety and modesty; when as the profession of it with sober men, would be suspected of some piece of melancholy and distraction, especially in those things, where the grand pleasure is the evidence and exercise of reason, not a bare belief, or an ineffable sense of life, in respect whereof there is no true christian but he is inspired; but if any more zealous pretender to prudence and righteousness, wanting either leisure or ability to examine these rosie crucian medicines to the bottome, shall notwithstanding either condemn them or admire them, he hath unbecomingly and indiscreetly ventured out of his own sphere, and i cannot acquit him of injustice or folly. nor am i a rosie crucian, nor do i speak of spite, or hope of gain, or for any such matter, there is no cause, god knows; i envie no man, be he what he will be, i am no phisitian, never was, nor never mean to be; what i am it makes no matter as to my profession. "lastly, these holy and good men would have me know that the greatest sweet and perfection of a vertuous soul, is the kindly accomplishment of her own nature, in true wisdome and divine love; and these miraculous things that are done by them, are, that that worth and knowledge that is in them may be taken notice of, and that god thereby may be glorified, whose witnesses they are; but no other happiness accrues to them from this, but hereby they may be in a better capacity of making others happy. _spittle-fields, this th of may, ._ john heydon." as, of course, it is impossible to give any lengthy extracts from the works of this celebrated john heydon, a few quotations from the index to his holy guide will show the nature of the work and must suffice for our present purpose. "how by numbers the rosie crucians fore-know all future things, command all nature and do miracles, etc. the resolution of all manner of questions, and how by numbers you may be happy, etc. how to make a man live to two hundred years. how to avoid all disease. the rosie crucian way to get health. how to live twenty years without food, as many creatures do. how to raise a dead bird to life. of generating many serpents of one," etc., etc. chapter vi. _gabalis: or the extravagant mysteries of the cabalists._ on a former page we referred to a book which at one time achieved considerable notoriety under the title of "count gabalis; or the extravagant mysteries of the cabalists," the following extract will show the nature of the work and no doubt prove interesting. count gabalis: or the extravagant mysteries of the gabalists, or, rosy-crucians exposed in five pleasant discourses on the secret sciences. discourse the first. god rest the soul of monsieur the count of gabalis! who as they write me news, is lately dead of an apoplexy. now the cabalists will not fail to say, that this kind of death is ordinary to those who imprudently manage the secrets of the sages; and that since the blessed ramundus lullius has pronounced the sentence in his last will and testament, a destroying angel has ever been ready to strangle in a moment, all those who have indiscreetly revealed the philosophick mysteries. but let them not so rashly condemn this wise man, without having better information of his conduct. 'tis true he has discovered all to me; but not without all the cabalistick circumspectious requisite. i must do him the right, in giving this testimony to his memory, that he was a great zealot for the religion of his fathers, the philosophers; and that he would have suffered the flames, rather than have profaned the sanctity of it, by disclosing it to any unworthy prince, to any ambitious person, or to one that was incontinent; three sorts of people, excommunicated in all ages by the wise. by good fortune i am no prince; i have little ambition; and by the sequel of this discourse, it may be seen that i have a little more chastity than a sage needs have. i am endued with a docible wit; curious of knowledge, and bold enough: i want but a little melancholy to make all those who would blame the count of gabalis, confess that he needed not have concealed any thing from me, in regard i was a subject proper enough for the secret sciences. it is true that without melancholy, no great progress can be made therein: but this little stock of it that i have, was enough to make me not to be rejected by them. you (has he said a hundred times to one) have saturn in an angle, in his house, and retrograde; you cannot fail, one of these days, of being as melancholy as a sage ought to be: for the wisest of all men (as we know in the cabal) had, as you have, jupiter in the ascendant. and yet, it was never observed, that he ever so much as once laughed, in all his life time, so powerful was his saturn in him, though it was certainly weaker than yours. 'tis then my saturn, and not monsieur the count of gabalis that the _virtuoso_ must quarrel with, if i affect more the divulging of there secrets, than the practising of them. if the stars do not their duty, the count is not in the fault, and if i have not a soul great enough to attempt to become master of nature, to turn the elements upside down, to entertain the supreme intelligences, to command the demons, to beget giants, to create new worlds, to speak to god in his high throne, and to oblige the cherubin, which defends the entrance of paradise, to let me come in, and take two or three turns in his walks; 'tis me that they must blame more or less: they must not for this insult over the memory of this rare man; and say that he is dead, for having blabbed all things to me. is it impossible that amongst the wandering spirits he may not have been worsted in a conflict with some undocible hobgoblin? perchance he is not dead, but in appearance; following the custom of the philosophers, who seem to dye in one place, and transport themselves to another. be it how it will, i can never believe, that the manner wherewith he entrusted his treasures to me, merited any punishment. you shall see how all things passed. common sense having always made me suspect that there was a great deal of emptiness in all that which they call secret science, i was never tempted to lose so much time, as to turn over the leaves of those books which treat of them: but yet not finding it reasonable to condemn without knowing why, all those addicting themselves thereto, who otherwise are wise persons, very learned for the most part, and eminent both for the gown and sword. i took up a resolution (that i might avoid being unjust, and wearying myself with tedious reading) of feigning myself a great devotee to those sciences, amongst all those, whom i could learn were of that gang. i had quickly better success than i could possibly hope for. since all these gentlemen, how mysterious and how reserved soever they may seem to be, desire nothing more, than to vent their imaginations, and the new discoveries which they pretend to have made in nature. in a few dayes i was the confident of the most considerable amongst them, and had every day one or other of them in my study, which i had on purpose garnished with their most phantastick authors. there was never a learned virtuoso of this kind, but i had correspondence with him. in a word, for my zeal to this science, i quickly found that i was well approved by all. i had for my companions, princes, great lords, gown-men, handsome ladies, and unhandsome too; doctors, prelates, fryars, nuns: in fine people of all ranks and qualities. some of them were for converse with angels, others with devils, others with their genius, others with incubus's; some addicted themselves to the cure of diseases, some to star-gazing, some to the secrets of divinity, and almost all to the philosopher's stone. they all agreed, that these grand secrets, and especially the philosopher's stone, were hardly to be found out, and that but very few do attain to them, but they had all in particular, a very good opinion of themselves, to believe that they were of the number of the elect. by good luck, with infinite impatiency, the most considerable of them expected at this time, the arrival of a lord, who was a great cabalist, and whose estate lyes upon the frontiers of poland. he had promised by letters to the children of philosophy in paris to come and visit them; and so to pass from france into england. i had a commission to write an answer to this great man: i sent him the scheme of my nativity, that he might judge if i were capable of aspiring to the supreme wisdom. my scheme and my letter were so happy to oblige him to do me the honour of answering me; that i should be one of the first that he would see at paris; and that, if heaven did not oppose, there should be nothing wanting in him to introduce me into the society of the wise. in the well management of my good fortune, i entertain a regular correspondence with the illustrious german: i propose to him, from time to time, great doubts, as well grounded as i could, concerning the harmony of the world, the numbers of pythagoras, the revelations of st. john, and the first chapter of genesis. the greatness of the matter ravished him! he writ to me unheard of wonders; and i plainly saw that i had to deal with a man of a most vigorous and most copious imagination. i was astonished one remarkable day, when i saw a man come in a most excellent mien, who, saluting me gravely, said to me in the french tongue, but in the accents of a foreigner: adore my son; adore the most glorious and great god of the sages and let not thyself be puffed up with pride, that he sends to thee one of the children of wisdom to constitute thee a fellow of their society, and make thee partaker of the wonders of his omnipotency. this strange manner of salutation, did upon the sudden surprise me, and i began, at first, to question, whether or no it might not be some apparition: nevertheless, recovering my spirits the best i could, and looking upon him as civilly as the little fear i was seized with, could permit me, whatever you be (said i to him) whose complement savours not of this world, you do me a great honour in making me this visit. but i beseech you, if you please, before i worship this god of the sages, let me know of what god and what sages you speak. do me the favour to sit down on this chair and give yourself the trouble to tell me, what this god is, and what these sages, this company, these wonders of omnipotency, and after or before all this, what kind of creature i have the honour to speak to. sir, you receive me most sage-like (said he, smiling, and taking the chair which i presented him) you desire me on a sudden to explain things to you, which, if you please, i shall not resolve to-day. the complement which i made you, are the words which the sages use at first, to those to whom they purpose to open their hearts and to discover their mysteries. i had thought that being so wise as you seemed to me in your letters, this salutation would not have been unknown to you, and that it would be the most pleasing complement that could be made you by the count of gabalis. ah! sir (cried i, remembering that i had a ticklish game to play) how shall i render myself worthy of so much goodness? is it possible that the excellentest of all men should be in my study? that the great gabalis should honour me with his visit? i am the least of the sages (replied he, with a serious look) and god, who dispenses the beams of his wisdom by weight and measure, as his sovereignty pleases, has given me but a small talent, in comparison of that which i admire in my fellows. i hope that you may equal them, one day; if i durst judge of it by the scheme of your nativity, which you did me the honour to send me: but you give me cause to complain of you, sir (added he, smiling) in taking me even now for a spirit. not for a spirit, (said i to him) but i protest to you, sir, that calling to my remembrance on a sudden, what cardan relates of his father; that being one day in his study, he was visited by unknown persons, cloathed in divers colours; who entertained him in a pleasant discourse concerning their nature and employment. i understand you (interrupted the count), they were sylphes, of which i shall talk to you hereafter: they are a kind of aerial substances; who sometimes come to consult the sages concerning the books of averroes, which they do not well understand. cardan was a coxcomb, for publishing that amongst his subtilties: he had found those memories amongst his father's papers, who was one of us, and who seeing that his son was naturally a babbler, would teach him nothing of what was most considerable; but let him puzzle his brains in astrology, by which he was not cunning enough to prevent his sons being hanged. this ass was the cause of your doing me the injury to take me for a sylphe. injury (replied i!) why, sir, should i be so unfortunate to--i am not angry at it (interrupted he) since you are not obliged to know beforehand, that all these elementary spirits are our disciples; for they are most happy, when we will stoop so low, as to instruct them; and the least of our sages is more knowing than all those little gentlemen. but we shall talk more at large of this, some more convenient time; it is sufficient for me to-day, that i have had the satisfaction to see you. endeavour, my son, to make yourself worthy of receiving the cabalistical illuminations: the hour of your regeneration is come; the fault is your own, if you become not a new creature. he went out of my study, and i complained of his short visit, as i waited on him back, that he had the cruelty to leave me so quickly, after he had let me be so happy, as to have a glimpse of his light. but having assured me with a grand grace that i should lose nothing by this sudden departure, he got up into his coach, and left me in a surprise which i am not able to express. i could not believe my own eyes, nor my own ears: i'm sure (said i) that this is a man of great quality; that he hath an estate of five thousand pounds a year, besides he appears very accomplished. is it possible that he can thus suffer himself to be filled with these fooleries? he has talked to me of these sylphes with great earnestnes: should he prove a sorcerer in the upshot? and should i have been deceived till now, in believing that there were no such things? but suppose he was a sorcerer, are there also some of them so devout as this man appears to be? the count was pleased to allow me all the night in prayer, and in the morning by break of day, he acquainted me with a note that he would come to my house by eight of the clock, and that if i pleased, we might go and take the air together. i waited for him; he came, and after reciprocal civilities, let us go (said he to me) to some place where we may be free together and where nobody may interrupt our discourse. he seeing that we were as free from company as he could desire said:--how happy shall you be, my son, if heaven has the kindness to put those dispositions into your soul, which the high mysteries require of you. you are about to learn how to command nature; god above shall be your master, and the sages only shall be your equals, the supreme intelligences shall esteem it as glory to obey your desires. when you shall be enrolled amongst the children of philosophy, and that your eyes shall be fortified by the use of our sacred medicine, you shall immediately discover that the elements are inhabited by most perfect creatures, from the knowledge and commerce of whom, the sin of the unfortunate adam has excluded all his too unhappy posterity. this immense space which is between the earth and the heavens, has more noble inhabitants than birds and flies; this vast ocean has also other troops, besides dolphins and whales; the profundity of the earth, is not only for moles; and the element of fire (more noble than the other three) was not made to be unprofitable and void. the air is full of an innumerable multitude of people having human shape, somewhat fierce in appearance, but tractable upon experience; great lovers of the sciences, subtil, officious to the sages, and enemies to sots and ignorants. their wives and their daughter have a kind of masculine beauty, such as we describe the amazons to have. how sir (cried i), would you persuade me, that these friends you speak of are married? be not so fierce, my son (replied he) for so small a matter. believe whatsoever i tell you, to be solid and true. i am making known nothing to you, but the principles of the antient cabal, and there needs nothing more to justify them, than that you should believe your own eyes; but receive with a meek spirit the light which god sends you by my interposition. know that the seas and rivers are inhabited, as well as the air: the ancient sages have called these kind of people undians or nymphs. they have but few males amongst them, but the women are there in great numbers: their beauty is marvellous, and the daughters of men have nothing in them comparable to these. the earth is filled almost to the centre with gnomes or pharyes, a people of small stature, the guardians of treasures, of mines, and of precious stones. they are ingenious, friends of men, and easy to be commanded. they furnish the children of the sages with as much money as they have need of, and never ask any other reward than the glory of being commanded. the gnomides or wives of these gnomes or pharyes, are little, but very handsome and their habit marvellously curious.... as for the salamanders, the inhabitants of the region of fire, they serve the philosophers, but they seek not for their company with any great eagerness. the wives of the salamanders are fair, nay, rather more fair than all others, seeing they are of a purer element. you will be charmed more with the beauty of their wit than of their body, yet you cannot choose but be grieved for these poor wretches when they shall tell you that their soul is mortal, and that they have no hope of enjoying eternal happiness, and of the supreme being, which they acknowledge and religiously adore. they will tell us, that being composed of the most pure parts of the elements which they inhabit, and not having in them any contrary qualities, seeing they are made but of one element, they die not but after many ages, but alas! what is such a time, in respect of eternity? they must eternally resolve into their nothing. this consideration does sorely afflict them; and we have trouble enough, to comfort them concerning it. our fathers, the philosophers, speaking to god face to face, complained to him of the unhappiness of these people, and god whose mercy is without bounds, revealed to them, that it was not impossible to find out a remedy for this evil. he inspired them, that by the same means as man, by the alliance which he contracted with god, has been made partaker of divinity: the sylphs, the gnomes, the nymphs, and the salamanders by the alliance which they might contract with man, might be made partakers of immortality. so a she-nymph or a sylphide becomes immortal, and capable of the blessing to which we aspire, when they shall be so happy as to be married to a sage; a gnome, or a sylph ceases to be mortal, from the moment that he espouses one of our daughters. hence arose the error of the former ages, of tertullian, of justin martyr, of lactantius, cyprian, clemens alexandrinus, athengoras the christian philosopher, and generally of all the writers of that time. they had learnt that these elementary demi-men, had endeavoured a commerce with maids, and they have from thence imagined that the fall of the angels had not happened, but for the love which they were touched with after women. certain gnomes, desirous of becoming immortal, had a mind to gain the good affections of our daughters, and had brought abundance of precious stones of which they are the natural guardians, and these authors, relying on the book of enoch, which they misunderstood, thought that it was the attempt which these amorous angels had offered to the chastity of our wives. in the beginning these children of heaven begat famous giants by making themselves beloved by the daughters of men, and the old cabalists, josephine and philo (as all the jews are ignorant) and after them all the other authors, which i have just now named, as well as origen and macrebius, and have not known that they were the sylphs, and other people of the elements that under the name of the children of elohim, are distinguished from the children of men. likewise that which the sage saint augustine, has had the modesty to leave undetermined, touching the pursuits which those called faunes or satyrs, made after the africans of his time, is cleared by that which i have now alleged of the desire which all these elementary inhabitants have, of allying themselves to men; as the only means to attain to the immortality which they have not. no, no! our sages have never erred so as to attribute the fall of the first angels to their love of women, no more than they have put men under the power of the devil; by imputing all the adventures of the nymphs and sylphs to him, of which the historians speak so largely. there was nothing criminal in all that. they were the sylphs, which endeavoured to become immortal. their innocent pursuits, far enough from being able to scandalize the philosophers, have appeared so just to us, that we are all resolved by common consent, utterly to renounce women; and entirely to give ourselves to the immortalizing of the nymphs and satyrs. good lord (cried i) what do i hear? was there ever such marvellous f----. yes, my son (interrupted the count) admire the marvellous felicity of the sages! instead of women, whose fading beauty passes away in a short time, and is followed with horrible wrinkles and ugliness, the philosophers enjoy beauties which never wax old, and whom they have the glory to make immortal. guess at the love and the acknowledgment of those invisible mistresses, and with what ardour they strive to please the charitable philosopher, who labours to immortalize them. ah! sir (cried i once again), i renounce ----. yes, you sir, (pursued he, without giving me the leisure to finish) renounce the fading pleasures which are to be had with women; the fairest among them all is loathsome in respect of the homeliest syphide: no displeasure ever follows our sage embraces. miserable ignorants! how should you complain, that ye have not the power to taste of the philosophick pleasures. miserable count de gabalis (interrupted i, in an accent mixed with choler and compasion) will you give me leave to tell you at last, that i renounce this senseless wisdom; that i find this visionary philosophy very ridiculous; that i detest the abominable embraces which make you affect these phantasms; and that i tremble for you, and wonder that some one of these pretended sylphides does not hurry you to hell, in the middle of your transports and raptures; and for fear, lest so honest a man as you, should not perceive the end of your foolish chymerick zeal, and should not repent of so great a crime. oh! oh! (answered he) mischief light on thy indocible spirit. his action, i must confess, affrighted me; but it was yet worse, when i perceived, that going further from me, he drew out of his pocket a paper which i could easily see at that distance to be full of characters; yet i could not well discern it. he read them gravely, and spake low. i guessed that he was invoking some spirit for my ruin, and repented me more than a little for my inconsiderate zeal. if i escape this adventure (cried i), i'll never have to do with a cabalist more. i fixed my eyes upon him, as upon a judge that was ready to condemn me to death; when at last i perceived that his looks became serene. 'tis hard, (said he, smiling, and coming towards me again) 'tis hard for you to kick against the pricks. you are a vessel of election. heaven has ordained you to be the greatest cabalist of your age. behold the scheme of your nativity, which cannot fail. if it be not now, and that too by my means, 'twill be a great wonder, as it appears by this saturn retrograde. alas, sir (said i to him) if i must become a sage, it will never be but by the means of the great gabalis; but to deal freely with you, i am afraid, that you will find it a difficult matter to bend me to this philosophical mode. it seems (continued he) that you should be but ill read in physicks, that cannot be persuaded of the existence of these people? i know not (answered i) but i cannot imagine that these can be anything else but friends disguised. do you still (said he) rather believe your own whimseys, than natural reason? than plato, pythagoras, celsus, psellus, proclus, porphyrius, jamlicus, plotinus, trismegistus, noblius, dorneus, fludd; than the great phillippus aureolus theophractus bombst paracelsus de honeinhem; and than all our society. i would believe you (answered i) as soon, nay sooner than all these; but, dear sir, could you not so order the business with the rest of your society, that i might not be obliged to have carnal knowledge of these elementary ladies? away, away (replied he) you have your own liberty, without doubt; for nobody loves, unless he has a mind to it. few of the sages have been able to defend themselves from their charms, but it has been observed that some reserving themselves wholly and entirely for great things (as you will know in time), would never do this honour to the nymphs. i will be then of this number (said i), but yet neither can i resolve to lose time about the ceremonies which i have heard a prelate say, must be practised by those who mean to converse with their geniuses. this prelate knew not what he said (said the count), for you shall see ere long, that there are no geniuses there; and besides, that never any sage employed either ceremonies or superstition for the familiarity of the geniuses, no more than for the people of whom we speak. the cabalists do nothing, but by the principles of nature: and if there are sometimes found in our books certain strange words, characters, or fumigations, 'tis but to conceal the philosophical principles from the ignorant. admire the simplicity of nature, in all her most marvellous operations! and in this simplicity, a harmony and agreement so great, so just, and so necessary that it will make you return back in despite of yourself from your weak imaginations. that which i am now about to tell you, we teach those of our disciples, which we will not let altogether enter into the sanctuary of nature; and to whom we will nevertheless, not utterly deprive of the society of the elementary people, merely out of the compassion which we have for these poor wretches. the salamanders (as you have already, perhaps, comprehended) are composed of the most subtile parts of the sphere of fire, conglobated and organized by the action of the universal fire (concerning which, i shall one day entertain you further) so called, because it is principal of all the motions of nature. the sylphes in like manner, are composed of the purest atoms of the air: the nymphs of the most delicate parts of the water, and the gnomes of the subtlest parts of the earth. there was a great proportion betwixt adam and these so perfect creatures; because they being composed of that which was most pure in the four elements; he comprehended the perfection of these four sorts of people, and was their natural king. but since the time that his sin precipitated him into the excrements of the elements (as you shall see hereafter) the harmony was disordered, and there was no more proportion, he being become impure and dull in respect of the substances so pure and so subtil. what remedy for this evil? how shall we remount this throne and recover this lost sovereignty? o nature! why do they study thee so little? do you not comprehend my son, with what simplicity nature can render to man the goods which he has lost? alas! sir (replied i), i am very ignorant in all these simplicities, you speak of. but yet (pursued he) it is very easy to become knowing in them. if we would recover that empire over the salamanders, we must purifie, and exalt the element of fire which is in us, and raise up the tone of this slackened string, we need do no more, but concentre the fire of the world by concave mirrors in a globe of glass. and herein, is that great piece of art which all the ancients have so religiously concealed, and which the divine theophrastus has discovered. there is formed in this globe a solar powder, which being purified by itself from the mixture of other elements, and being prepared according to art, becomes in a very little time, sovereignly proper to exalt the fire which is in us, and make us become (according to our phrase) of a fiery nature. from that time the inhabitants of the sphere of fire become our inferiors, and ravished to see our mutual harmony re-established, and that we once more approach to them. they have all the kindness for us which they have for their own species, all the respect which they owe to the image and to the lieutenant of their creator; and all the concern which may make evident in them, the desire of obtaining by us the immortality which they want. 'tis true that as they are more subtil than those of the other elements, they live a very long time, so they are not very forward to importune the sages to make them immortal. you may accommodate yourself with one of these, if the aversion which you have witnessed to me last not with you to the end: perchance, she will never speak to you of that which you fear so much. it will not be so with the sylphs, the gnomes and the nymphs, for they living a less time, have more need of us, and so their familiarity is more easie to obtain. you need but shut up a glass filled with conglobated air, water or earth, and expose it to the sun for a month; then separate the element according to art, which is very easie to do, if it be earth or water. 'tis a marvellous thing to see, what a vertue any one of these purified elements have to attract the nymphs, sylphs, and gnomes. in taking but never so little every day, for about a month together, one shall see in the air the volant republique of the sylphs; the nymphs come in shoals up the rivers, and the guardians of treasures, presenting you with their riches. thus, without characters, without ceremonies, without barbarous words you become absolute master over all these people. they require no worship of the sages, since they know well enough that he is nobler than they. thus venerable nature teaches her children how to repair the elements by the elements. thus is harmony re-established. thus man recovers his natural empire, and can do all things in the elements, without demons, or unlawful art. thus you see, my son, that the sages are more innocent than you thought. you say nothing to me----. i admire sir (said i), and i begin to fear that you will make me to become a chymist. ah! god preserve thee from that, my child (cried he). 'tis not to these fooleries that your nativity designs you, i will warrant you on the contrary, from being troubled about that: i told you already, that the sages shew not these things, but to those whom they will not admit into their society. you shall have all these advantages, and others infinitely more glorious, and more pleasant, by ways clearly more philosophical. i had not described those methods to you, but to let you see the innocence of this philosophy, and to take you out of these panic fears. i thank god, sir (answered i), i am not at present, in any such fear as i was even now. and although i do not yet resolve upon the accommodation which you propose to me with the salamanders; i cannot refrain from having the curiosity to learn how you have discovered that these nymphs and these sylphs die. truly (replied he) they tell us so, and we see them die. how (said i) can you see them die, and yet your commerce renders them immortal? that would be well (pursued he) if the number of the sages equalled the number of these people: besides that, there are many amongst them, who rather choose to die, than hazard by becoming immortal, the being so unhappy as they see the devils are. and 'tis the devil, who inspired with these opinions: for there is no mischief, which he doth not do to hinder the poor creatures from becoming immortal by our alliance. insomuch that i look upon it (and so ought you my son) as a most pernicious temptation, and a motion of very little charity, to have this aversion which you show to it. moreover, as concerning their death, of which you speak: what was it that obliged the oracle of apollo, to say, that all those who speak oracles, were mortal, as well as he; as porphyrius reports? and, what think you, was the meaning of that voice which was heard on all the coast of italy, and struck so great a terror into all those who were upon the sea? the great pan is dead! they were the people of the air: who gave notice to the people of the water that the chiefest and most aged of all the sylphs, was newly dead. at that time when this voice was heard (said i to him) i suppose that the world worshipped pan and the nymphs: and that these gentlemen, whose commerce you are preaching of to me, were the false gods of the heathen. 'tis true, my son (replied he) the sages have always been of that opinion, that the devil never had the power to make himself worshipped. he is too unhappy, and too weak, ever to have had this pleasure, and this authority. but he has been able to persuade the elementary hosts to shew themselves to men, and make men erect temples to them; and by the natural dominion which every one has over the element which he inhabits, they trouble the air, and the sea, set the earth in combustion, and dispense the fire of heaven, according to their humour: insomuch that they had no great trouble to be taken for deities, so long as the sovereign being dispensed the salvation of the world. but the devil never received all the advantage of his malice, which he hoped he should; for it has happened from thence, that pan, the nymphs, and the rest of the elementary people, having found the means of changing this commerce of worship, into a commerce of love; (for you may remember, that amongst the ancients, pan was the king of those gods whom they called incubuses, and who always earnestly sought the acquaintance of maids), many heathens have escaped the devil, and shall never burn in hell. i do not well understand you, sir (said i) you have not minded me, to understand me (continued he, smiling, and in a jeering tone). behold what you pass over! and likewise what your doctors pass over, who know not what these excellent physicks mean! behold the great mystery of all this part of philosophy, which concerns the elements, and which will take away (if you have but never so little love for yourself), this repugnance to philosophy, which you have witnessed to me this day! know then, my son; and go not about to divulge this great arcanum to any unworthy ignorant. know, that as the sylphs acquire an immortal soul, by the alliance which they contract with the men who are predestinated; so also, the men who have no right to eternal glory: those miserable wretches, whose immortality is but a lamentable advantage, for whom the messias was sent-- then, you gentlemen of the cabal, are jansenists likewise (interrupted i?) we know not what that is, my child (proceeded he, somewhat angrily) and we scorn to inform ourselves wherein consists the different sects and divers religions, with which the ignorant puzzle their heads. we keep to the ancient religion of our fathers, the philosophers; wherein 'tis very necessary that i instruct you. but come again to the purpose: these men whose sad immortality is nothing but an eternal misfortune; the unhappy children, whom the sovereign father has neglected, have also this recourse, that they may become mortal, by contracting alliance with these elementary people. so that you see, the sages hazard nothing for eternity. if they are predestinated, they have the pleasure to carry with them to heaven (in quitting the prison of this body) the sylphide or nymph, which they have immortalised! and if they be not predestinated, the commerce of the nymph renders their soul mortal, and delivers them from the horrors of the second death. so the devil saw all the pagans escape, who allied themselves to the nymphs: and so the sages, or friends of the sages, when god inspires us to communicate to any one, the four elementary secrets (which i have now been teaching you), free themselves from the peril of being damned. without lying, sir (cried i, not daring to put him again into an ill humour, and finding it requisite to defer the telling him plainly my opinion, till i should have discovered all the secrets of his cabal, which i judged by this glimpse, must needs be very full of pleasure and divertisement): without lying, you advance wisdom to a great height! and you had reason to tell me, that this surpassed all our doctors; and i believe, that this likewise passes all our magistrates too; and that, if they could discover who those were that escaped the devil by this means (as ignorance is very unjust), they would engage in the devil's interest, against these fugitives and make a strong party for him. yes, it is for that (pursued the count) that i have so strictly commanded you; to keep religiously this secret. your judges are strange persons. they condemn a most innocent action as a dismal crime. what a barbarity was it, to burn those two priests which the prince of miranda says he knew of, who had each of them his sylphide, for the space of forty years! what an inhuman thing was it to put joan hervilles to death, for having laboured six and forty years, to immortalise a gnome! and, what a piece of ignorance was that of bodin, to represent her as a witch; and that from thence he might take advantage to authorise popular errors, touching pretended sorcerers; in a book as impertinent as his commonwealth is reasonable. but it is late; and i do not consider, that you have not yet dined. 'tis yourself, that you mean, sir (said i), for as for my part, i could listen to you till to-morrow, without inconvenience. for me! alas! (replied he, laughing, and walking towards the gate), 'tis easily seen that you understand but little what philosophy is. the sages eat but for their pleasure, and never for necessity. i had a quite contrary idea of wisdom (answered i), i had thought that you wise men should never eat but to satisfy nature. you are abused (said the count). how long think you, that our sages can subsist without eating? how can i tell? (answered i), moses and elias, you know, fasted forty days: you sages, i make no doubt, may do it, some days less. what a great piece of business would that be (replied he), the most wise men that ever was, the divine, the almost adorable paracelsus, affirms, that he has seen many of the sages fast twenty years, without eating anything whatsoever. he himself, before he attained to the monarchy of wisdom, whereof we have justly presented him the sceptre, he, i say, would undertake to live many years without eating, by taking but half a scruple of his solar quintescence. and if you would have the pleasure to make any one live without victuals, you need do no more, but prepare the earth, as i told you it must be prepared, for the society of the gnomes: this earth applied to the navle, and renewed when it is dry, will cause any one to live without eating or drinking, and that without any trouble. and the use of this catholic-cabalistical medicine, frees us much better from all the importunate necessities, to which nature makes the ignorant subject; we eat not, but when it pleases us; and all the superfluity of food passing away by an insensible transpiration, we are never ashamed to be men. there he held his peace. in succeeding interviews the count de gabalis further explains to his interlocutor the nature and pursuits of the elementary spirits; asserts that it was they only, and not the vile gods of the greeks and romans, that delivered the oracles of old; that they continually kept watch over man to do him service, and to warn him of approaching evil. it was they who sent omens and furnished him with the understanding to interpret them, and who filled his mind with presentiments when some great calamity was impending over him, that he might perchance avoid it. they also sent him dreams for the regulation of his fate. but "alas," continues the count, "men ignorantly misunderstand and reject their kindness. a poor sylph hardly dares to shew himself lest he should be mistaken for an imp of evil; an undine cannot endeavour to acquire an immortal soul, by loving a man, without running the risk of being considered a vile, impure phantom; and a salamander, if he shews himself in his glory, is taken for a devil, and the pure light which surrounds him considered the fire of hell. it is in vain that, to dispel these unworthy suspicions, they make the sign of the cross when they appear, and bend their knees when the divine name is uttered. all their efforts are useless. obstinate man persists in considering them enemies of that god whom they know, and whom they adore more religiously than men do. the prayer which you will find preserved by porphyne, and which was offered up in the temple of delphos for the enlightenment of the pagans, was the prayer of a salamander." in short without continuing to quote the words of the count de gabalis, he asserted that all the supernatural appearances with which the history of every age and nation was full, were to be, and could only be, explained by the agency of these elemental sprites; that the deeds attributed to devils, imps and witches, were the creations of a false and degrading superstition, unworthy to be believed by philosophers. there were no fiends with "----'aery tongues that syllable mens' names on sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses." but beneficent spirits, the friends of man. the _peris_ of eastern romance, the _fées_, the _fatas_, and the fairies of european legends, were names which, in their ignorance, the people of different countries had given to the sylphs. vulcan, bacchus, and pan, though the greeks did not know it, were gnomes; neptune and venus, and all the naiads and nereids, were but the undines of the rosicrucians; apollo was a salamander, and mercury a sylph; and not one of the personages of the multifarious mythology of the greeks and romans, but could be ranged under one or other of these classes. chapter vii. _the hermetick romance; or chymical wedding._ a remarkable work was published at strasbourg, in the year , entitled, "the hermetick romance: or the chymical wedding. written in high dutch by christian rosencreutz." this book though not given out to the world until the above year, is said to have existed in manuscript for some time previously, as far back in fact as , thus making it the oldest rosicrucian book extant. a modern writer says: the whole rosicrucian controversy centres in this publication, which buhle describes as a comic romance of extraordinary talent. owing to its importance, we shall have to make some lengthy extracts from the translation made in , by e. foxcroft of king's college, cambridge. it is arranged in chapters, denominated days, marked from one to seven. the first day. on an evening before easter day, i sate at a table, and having (as my custom was) in my humble prayer sufficiently conversed with my creator, and considered many great mysteries (whereof the father of lights his majesty had shewn me not a few) and being now ready to prepare in my heart, together with my dear paschal lamb, a small unleavened, undefiled cake; all on a sudden ariseth so horrible a tempest, that i imagined no other but that through its mighty force, the hill whereon my little house was founded, would fly in pieces. but in as much as this, and the like from the devil (who had done me many a spite) was no new thing to me; i took courage and persisted in my meditation, till somebody (after an unusual manner) touched me on the back; whereupon i was so highly terrified, that i durst hardly look about me; yet i shewed myself as cheerful as (in the like occurrences) human frailty would permit. now the same thing still twitching me several times by the coat, i looked back, and behold it was a fair and glorious lady whose garments were all skye colour, and curiously (like heaven) bespangled with golden stars. in her right hand she bare a trumpet of beaten gold, whereon a name was engraven (which i could well read in) but am as yet forbidden to reveal it. in her left hand she had a great bundle of letters of all languages, which she (as i afterwards understood) was to carry into all countries. she had also large and beautiful wings, full of eyes throughout, wherewith she could mount aloft and fly swifter than any eagle. i might perhaps have taken further notice of her, but because she staid so small a time with me, and terror and amasement still possessed me, i was fain to be content. for as soon as i turned about, she turned her letters over and over, and at length drew out a small one, which with great reverence she laid down upon the table, and without giving one word departed from me. but in her mounting upwards, she gave so mighty a blast on her gallant trumpet, that the whole hill echoed thereof, and for a full quarter of an hour after, i could hardly hear my own words. in so unlooked-for an adventure, i was at loss, how either to advise or assist my poor self, and therefore fell upon my knees, and besought my creator to permit nothing contrary to my eternal happiness to befall me; whereupon with fear and trembling i went to the letter which was now so heavy, as had it been mere gold, it could hardly have been so weighty. now as i was diligently viewing it, i found a little seal, whereupon a curious cross with this inscription, in hoc signo vinces, was engraven. now as soon as i espied this sign i was the more comforted, as not being ignorant that such a seal was little acceptable, and much less useful to the devil. whereupon i tenderly opened the letter and within it, in an azure field, in golden letters, found the following verses written-- this day, this day, this, this the royal wedding is. art thou thereto by birth inclin'd and unto joy of god design'd, then mayst thou to the mountain tend whereon three stately temples stand, and there see all from end to end. keep watch and ward, thyself regard; unless with diligence thou bathe, the wedding can't thee harmless save: he'll damage have that here delays, let him beware, too light that weighs. underneath stood sponsus and sponsa. as soon as i had read this letter, i was presently like to have fainted away, all my hair stood on end, and a cold sweat trickled down my whole body. for although i well perceived that this was the appointed wedding, whereof seven years before i was acquainted in a bodily vision, and which now so long time i had with great earnestness attended, and which lastly, by the account and calculation of the planets, i had most diligently observed, i found so to be, yet could i never foresee that it must happen under so grievous and perilous conditions. for whereas i before imagined that to be a welcome and acceptable guest, i needed only be ready to appear at the wedding; i was now directed to divine providence, to which until this time i was never certain. i also found by myself, the more i examined myself, that in my head there was nothing but gross misunderstanding and blindness in mysterious things, so that i was not able to comprehend even those things which lay under my feet, and which i daily conversed with, much less that i should be born to the searching out and understanding of the secrets of nature; since in my opinion nature might everywhere find a more _vertuous_ disciple, to whom to intrust her precious, though temporary and changeable treasures. i found also that my bodily behaviour, and outward good conversation, and brotherly love towards my neighbour, was not duly purged and cleansed; moreover, the tickling of the flesh manifested itself, whose affection was bent only to pomp and bravery, and worldly pride, and not to the good of mankind; and i was always contriving how by this art i might in short time abundantly increase my profit and advantage, rear up stately palaces, make myself an everlasting name in the world, and other the like carnal designs. but the obscure words concerning the three temples did particularly afflict me, which i was not able to make out by any after speculation, and perhaps should not yet, had they not been wonderfully revealed to me. thus sticking betwixt hope and fear, examining myself again and again, and finding my own frailty and impotency, not being in any wise able to succour myself, and exceedingly amazed at the fore-mentioned threatening; at length i betook myself to my usual and most secure course; after i had finished my earnest and most fervent prayer, i laid me down in my bed, that so perchance my good angel by the divine permission might appear, and (as it had formerly happened) instruct me in this doubtful affair, which to the praise of god, my own good, and my neighbour's hearty and faithful warning and amendment did now likewise fall out. for i was scarce fallen asleep, when me-thought, i, together with a numberless multitude of men lay fettered with great chains in a dark dungeon, wherein, without the least glimpse of light, we swarmed like bees over one another, and thus rendered each other's affliction more grievous. but although neither i, nor any of the rest could see one jot; yet i continually heard one heaving himself above the other, when his chains or fetters were become ever so little lighter, though none of us had much reason to shove up the other, since we were all captive wretches. now as i with the rest had continued a good while in this affliction, and each was still reproaching the other with his blindness and captivity, at length we heard many trumpets sounding together, and kettle-drums beating so artificially thereto, that it even revived and rejoiced us in our calamity. during this noise, the cover of the dungeon was from above lifted up, and a little light let down unto us. then first might truly have been discerned the bustle we kept, for all went pesle-mesle, and he who perchance had too much heaved up himself, was forced down again under the others feet. in brief, each one strove to be uppermost, neither did i myself linger, but with my weighty fetters slipped up from under the rest, and then heaved myself upon a stone, which i laid hold of; howbeit, i was several times caught at by others, from whom yet as well as i might, with hands and feet, i still guarded myself. for we imagined no other but that we should all be set at liberty, which yet fell out quite otherwise. for after the nobles, who looked upon us from above through the hole, had a while recreated themselves with this our struggling and lamenting, a certain hoary headed ancient man, called to us to be quiet, and having scarce obtained it, began (as i still remember) thus to say:-- if wretched mankind would forbear themselves so to uphold, then sure on them much good confer my righteous mother would. but since the same will not insue they must in care and sorrow rue, and still in prison lie. howbeit my dear mother will their follies over-see, her choicest gifts permitting still too much in th' light to be. though very rarely it may seem that they may still keep some esteem, which else would pass for forgery. wherefore in honour of the feast we this day solemnize, that so her grace may be increast a good deed she'll devise, for now a cord shall be let down, and whosoe'er can hang thereon, shall freely be releast. he had scarce done speaking, when an ancient matron commanded her servants to let down the cord seven times into the dungeon, and draw up whosoever could hang upon it. good god! that i could sufficiently describe the hurry and disquiet that then arose amongst us, for every one strove to get at the cord, and yet only hindered each other. but after seven minutes a sign was given by a little bell, whereupon at the first pull the servants drew up four. at that time i could not come near the cord by much, having to my huge misfortune, betaken myself to a stone at the wall of the dungeon, and thereby was disabled to get to the cord which descended in the middle. the cord was let down the second time, but divers because their chains were too heavy, and their hands too tender, could not keep their hold on the cord, but with themselves beat down many another, who else, perhaps, might have held fast enough; nay, many an one was forcibly pulled off by another who yet could not himself get at it; mutually envious were we even in this our great misery. but they of all others most moved my compassion whose weight was so heavy that they tore their very hands from their bodies, and yet could not get up. thus it came to pass that at these five times, very few were drawn up. for as soon as the sign was given, the servants were so nimble at the draught, that the most part tumbled one upon another, and the cord, this time especially, was drawn up very empty. whereupon the greatest part, and even i myself, despaired of redemption, and called upon god that he would have pity on us, and (if possible) deliver us out of this obscurity, who also then heard some of us: for when the cord came down the sixth time, some of them hung themselves fast upon it, and whilst in the drawing up, the cord swung from one side to the other, it (perhaps by the will of god) came to me, which i suddenly catching, got uppermost above all the rest, and so at length beyond hope came out; whereat i exceedingly rejoiced, so that i perceived not the wound, which in the drawing up i received on my head by a sharp stone, till i with the rest who were released (as was always before done) was fain to help at the seventh and last pull, at which time through straining, the blood ran down all over my clothes, which i nevertheless for joy regarded not. now when the last draught whereon the most of all hung was finished, the matron caused the cord to be laid away and willed her aged son (at which i much wondered) to declare her resolution to the rest of the prisoners, who after he had a little bethought himself, spoke thus unto them: ye children dear, all present here, what is but now compleat and done, was long before resolved on: what ev'r my mother of great grace to each on both sides here hath shewn may never miscontent misplace; the joyful time is drawing on, when every one shall equal be, none wealthy, none in penury. who ev'r receiveth great commands, hath work enough to fill his hands. who ev'r with much hath trusted been, 'tis well if he may save his skin. wherefore your lamentations cease, what is't to waite for some few days. as soon as he had finished the words, the cover was again put and locked down, and the trumpet and kettle-drums began afresh, yet could not the noise thereof be so loud but that the bitter lamentation of the prisoners which arose in the dungeon was above all, which soon also caused my eyes to run over. presently after the ancient matron, together with her son, sat down upon seats before prepared, and commanded the redeemed should be told. now as soon as she understood the number, and had written it down in a gold-yellow tablet, she demanded every one's name, which were also written down by a little page; having viewed us all, one after another, she sighed, and spoke to her son, so as i could well hear her. 'ah? how heartily am i grieved for the poor men in the dungeon! i would to god, i durst release them all,' whereunto her son replied; 'it is, mother, thus ordained of god, against whom we may not contend. in case we all of us were lords, and possessed all the goods upon earth, and were seated at table, who would there then be to bring up the service?' whereupon his mother held her peace, but soon after she said; 'well, however, let these be freed from their fetters,' which was likewise presently done, and i, except a few, was the last, yet could i not refrain, but (though i still looked upon the rest) bowed myself before the ancient matron, and thanked god that through her, he had graciously and fatherly vouchsafed to bring me out of such darkness into the light: after me the rest did likewise, to the satisfaction of the matron. lastly, to every one was given a piece of gold for a remembrance, and to spend by the way; on the one side whereof was stamped the rising sun, on the other (as i remember) these three letters, d. l. s., and therewith everyone had license to depart, and was sent to his own business, with this annexed intimation, that we to the glory of god should benefit our neighbours, and reserve in silence what we had been intrusted with, which we also promised to do, and so departed one from another. but in regard of the wounds which the fetters had caused me, i could not well go forward, but halted on both feet, which the matron presently espying, laughing at it, and calling me again to her, said thus to me, my son, let not this defect afflict thee, but call to mind thy infirmities, and therewith thank god who hath permitted thee even in this world, and in the state of thy imperfection to come into so high a light, and keep these wounds for my sake. whereupon the trumpets began again to sound, which so affrighted me that i awoke, and then first perceived that it was only a dream, which yet was so strongly impressed upon my imagination, that i was still perpetually troubled about it, and methought i was yet sensible of the wounds on my feet. howbeit, by all these things i well understood that god had vouchsafed that i should be present at this mysterious and hidden wedding; wherefore with child-like confidence i returned thanks to his divine majesty, and besought him that he would further preserve me in this fear, that he would daily fill my heart with wisdom and understanding, and at length graciously (without my desert) conduct me to the desired end. hereupon i prepared myself for the way, put on my white linen coat, girded my loins with blood-red ribbon, bound crossways over my shoulder; in my hat i stuck four red roses, that i might sooner by this token be taken notice of among the throng. for food i took bread, salt, and water, which by the counsel of an understanding person, i had at certain times used, not without profit, in the like occurrences. before i parted from my cottage i first in this dress and wedding garment, fell down on my knees and besought god, that in case such a thing were, he would vouchsafe me a good issue. and thereupon in the presence of god i made a vow, that if anything through his grace should be revealed unto me, i would employ it neither to my own honour nor authority in the world, but to the spreading of his name, and the services of my neighbour. and with this vow and good hope, i departed out of my cell with joy. the second day. i was hardly got outside of my cell into a forest, when methought that the whole heavens had already trimmed themselves against this wedding, for even the birds in my opinion chanted more pleasantly than before, and the young fawns skipped so merrily that they rejoiced my old heart, and moved me to sing. at length i espied a curious green heath, whither i betook myself out of the forest. upon the heath stood three tall cedars, to one of which was fastened a tablet, upon which was curious writing, offering to him who had heard anything concerning the nuptials of the king, four ways, all of which would lead to the royal court. the reader was exhorted to choose which he would, and to persevere therein, receiving at the same time warning as to the dangers to which he would be committed. as soon as i had read this writing, all my joy was near vanished again, and i, who before sang merrily, began now inwardly to lament, for although i saw all the three ways before me, and understood that henceforward it was vouchsafed me to make choice of one of them; yet it troubled me that in case i went the stormy and rocky way, i might get a miserable and deadly fall; or taking the long one, i might wander out of it through byways, or be otherwise detained in the great journey. neither durst i hope that i should be the very he, who should choose the royal way. i saw likewise the fourth before me, but it was so invironed with fire and exhalations, that i durst not draw near it, and therefore again and again considered whether i should return back, or take any of the ways before me. i presently drew out my bread and cut a slice of it, which a snow white dove, of whom i was not aware, sitting upon the tree, espyed and thereupon came down and betook herself very familiarly to me, to whom i willingly imparted my food, which she received, and so with her prettiness did again a little refresh me. but as soon as her enemy, a black raven, perceived it, he straight darted himself down upon the dove, and taking no notice of me, would needs force away the dove's meat, who could no otherwise guard herself but by flight; whereupon they both together flew towards the south, at which i was so hugely incensed and grieved, that without thinking what i did, i made haste after the filthy raven and so against my will ran into one of the forementioned ways a whole field's length, and thus the raven being chased away, and the dove delivered, i then first observed what i had inconsiderately done, and that i was already entered into a way, from which under peril of great punishment i durst not retire, and though i had still wherewith in some measure to comfort myself, yet that which was worst of all to me was, that i had left my bag and bread at the tree, and could never retrieve them again. at length upon a high hill afar off i espied a stately portal, to which not regarding how far it was distant, i hasted, because the sun had already hid himself under the hills, and i could elsewhere espy no abiding place, and this verily i ascribe only to god, who might well have permitted me to go forward in this way, and with-held my eyes that so i might have gazed beside this gate, to which i now made mighty haste, and reached it by so much daylight, as to take a very competent view of it. now it was an exceeding royal beautiful portal. as soon as i was come under it there stepped forth one in a sky coloured habit, whom i in friendly manner saluted, which though he thankfully returned it, yet he instantly demanded of me my letter of invitation. o how glad was i that i had then brought it with me. i quickly presented it, wherewith he was not only satisfied, but showed me abundance of respect, saying, come in, my brother, an acceptable guest you are to me; and withall intreated me not to with-hold my name from him. now having replied that i was a brother of the red-rosie cross, he both wondered and seemed to rejoice at it, and then proceeded thus, my brother, have you nothing about you wherewith to purchase a token? i answered my ability was small, but if he saw anything about me he had a mind to, it was at his service. now he having requested of me my bottle of water, and i granted it, he gives me a golden token, whereon stood no more but these two letters, s. c., intreating me that when it stood me in good stead, i would remember him. after which i asked him, how many were got in before me, which he also told me, and lastly out of mere friendship, gave me a sealed letter to the second porter. now having lingered some time with him, the night grew on, whereupon a great beacon upon the gate was immediately fired, that so if any were still upon the way, he might make haste thither. at length after sufficient information, and an advantageous instruction, i friendly departed from the first porter. on the way, though, i would gladly have known what was written in my letter, yet since i had no reason to mistrust the porter, i forbare my purpose, and so went on the way, until i came likewise to the second gate which although it was very like the other, yet was it adorned with images and mystic significations. under this gate lay a terrible grim lion, chain'd, who as soon as he espied me arose and made at me with great roaring: whereupon the second porter, who lay upon a stone of marble, awaked, and wished me not to be troubled or affrighted, and then drove back the lion, and having received the letter, which i with trembling reached him, he read it, and with very great respect, spoke thus to me; now well-come in god's name unto me the man who of long time i would gladly have seen. meanwhile he also drew out a token, and asked me whether i could purchase it. but i having nothing else but my salt, presented it to him, which he thankfully accepted. upon this token again stood only two letters, namely, s. m. being now just about to enter discourse with him, it began to ring in the castle, whereupon the porter counselled me to run apace, or else all the pains and labour i had hitherto taken would serve to no purpose, for the lights above began all ready to be extinguished; whereupon i dispatched with such great haste that i heeded not the porter, in such anguish was i, and truly it was but necessary, for i could not run so fast but that the virgin, after whom all the lights were put out, was at my heels, and i should never have found the way, had not she with her torch, afforded me some light. i was moreover constrained to enter the very next to her, and the gate was so suddenly clapped to, that a part of my coat was locked out, which i verily was forced to leave behind me, for neither i nor they who stood ready without and called at the gate could prevail with the porter to open it again, but he delivered the keys to the virgin, who took them with her into the court. under this gate i was again to give my name, which was this last time written down in a little vellum book, and immediately with the rest dispatched to the lord bridegroom. here it was where i first received the true guest-token, which was somewhat less than the former, but yet much heavier; upon this stood three letters s. p. n. besides this, a new pair of shoes were given me, for the floor of the castle was laid with pure shining marble; my old shoes i was to give way to one of the poor who sat in throngs under the gate. two pages, with as many torches, then conducted me into a little room; there they willed me to sit down on a form, which i did, but they, sticking their torches in two holes in the pavement, departed, and left me thus alone. soon after i heard a noise, but saw nothing, and it proved to be certain men who stumbled in upon me; but since i could see nothing i was fain to suffer and attend what they would do with me, but presently perceiving them to be barbers, i intreated them not to justle me so, for i was content to do whatever they desired, whereupon they quickly let me go, and so one of them fine and gently cut away the hair round about from the crown of my head, but on my forehead, ears, and eyes, he permitted my grey locks to hang. in this first encounter i was ready to despair, for inasmuch as some of them shoved me so forcibly, and i could yet see nothing i could think no other but that god, for my curiosity, had suffered me to miscarry. now these invisible barbers carefully gathered up the hair which was cut off and carried it away with them. after which the two pages entered again, and heartily laughed at me for being so terrified. but they had scarcely spoken a few words with me when again a little bell began to ring, which was to give notice for assembling, whereupon they willed me rise, and through many walks, doors, and winding stairs lighted me into a spacious hall. in this room was a great multitude of guests, emperors, kings, princes, and lords, noble and ignoble, rich and poor, and all sorts of people, at which i hugely marvelled, and thought to myself, ah, how gross a fool hast thou been to engage upon this journey with so much bitterness and toil, when here are even those fellows whom thou well knowest, and yet had'st never any reason to esteem. they are now all here, and thou with all thy prayers and supplications art hardly got in at last. this, and more, the devil at that time injected, whom i notwithstanding (as well as i could) directed to the issue. meantime one or other of my acquaintance here and there spake to me: oh brother rosencreutz! art thou here too? yea, my brethren, replied i, the grace of god hath helped me in also; at which they raised a mighty laughter, looking upon it as ridiculous that there should be need of god in so slight an occasion. now having demanded each of them concerning his way, and found that most were forced to clamber over the rocks, certain trumpets (none of which we saw) began to sound to the table, whereupon they all seated themselves, everyone as he judged himself above the rest, so that for me and some other sorry fellows there was hardly a little nook left at the lower-most table. presently the two pages entered, and one of them said grace; after this meat was brought in, and albeit none could be seen, yet everything was so orderly managed, that it seemed to me as if every guest had had his proper attendant. now my artists having somewhat recruited themselves, and the wine having a little removed shame from their hearts, they presently began to vaunt and brag of their abilities. one would prove this, another that, and commonly the most sorry idiots made the loudest noise. ah, when i call to mind what preternatural and impossible enterprises i then heard, i am still ready to vomit at it. in fine they never kept in their order, but whenever one rascal here, another there, could insinuate himself in between the nobles; then pretended they the finishing of such adventures as neither sampson nor yet hercules with all their strength could ever have achieved. this would discharge atlas of his burden; the other would again draw forth the three-headed cerberus out of hell. in brief, every man had his own prate, and yet the great lords were so simple that they believed their pretences, and the rogues so audacious, that although one or other of them was here and there rapped over the fingers with a knife, yet they flinched not at it, but when any one perchance had filched a gold chain, then would all hazard for the like. i saw one who heard the rustling of the heavens. the second could see plato's ideas. a third could number democritus's atoms. there were also not a few pretenders to perpetual motion. many an one (in my opinion) had good understanding, but assumed too much to himself, to his own destruction. lastly, there was one also who would needs out of hand persuade us that he saw the servitors who attended, and would still have pursued his contention, had not one of those invisible waiters reached him so handsome a cuff upon his lying muzzle, that not only he, but many who were by him became as mute as mice. but it best of all pleased me, that all those, of whom i had any esteem were very quiet in their business, and made no loud cry of it, but acknowledged themselves to be _misunderstanding_ men, to whom the mysteries of nature were too high, and they themselves much too small. in this tumult i had almost cursed the day wherein i came hither, for i could not but with anguish behold that those lewd vain people were above at the board, but i in so sorry a place could not, however, rest in peace, one of those rascals scornfully reproaching me for a motley fool. now i thought not that there was yet one gate behind, through which we must pass, but imagined i was during the whole wedding, to continue in this scorn, contempt and indignity, which yet i had at no time deserved, either of the lord bridegroom or the bride, and therefore (in my opinion) he should have done well to have sought out some other fool to his wedding than me. behold, to such impatience doth the iniquity of this world reduce simple hearts. but this really was one part of my lameness, whereof i dreamed. and truly this clamour the longer it lasted, the more it increased. for there were already those who boasted of false and imaginary visions, and would persuade us of palpably lying dreams. now there sat by me a very fine quiet man, who oftentimes discoursed of excellent matters, at length he said, behold, my brother, if any one should now come who were willing to instruct these blockish people in the right way, would he be heard? no, verily, replied i. the world, said he, is now resolved (whatever comes on it) to be cheated, and cannot abide to give ear to those who intend its good. seest thou also that same coxcomb, with what whimsical figures and foolish conceits he allures others to him. there, one makes mouths at the people with unheard of mysterious words. yet believe me in this, the time is now coming when those shameful vizards shall be plucked off, and all the world shall know what vagabond impostors were concealed behind them. then perhaps that will be valued which at present is not esteemed. then there began in the hall such excellent and stately music as all the days of my life i never heard the like of. after half an hour this music ceased. presently after began a great noise of kettle drums, trumpets, etc. the door opened of itself and many thousand small tapers came into the hall, all which of themselves marched in so very exact order as altogether amazed us, till at last the two fore-mentioned pages with bright torches, lighting in a most beautiful virgin, all drawn on a gloriously gilded triumphant self-moving throne, entered the hall. it seemed to me she was the very same who before on the way kindled and put out the lights, and that these her attendants were the very same whom she formerly placed at the trees. she was not now as before in sky colour, but arrayed in a snow white glittering robe which sparkled of pure gold and cast such a lustre that we durst not steadily behold it. such guests as chose to stay throughout the night, having announced their intention of so doing, were bound in their chambers with cords, in such a way that they could by no means free themselves. at length in my sorrowful thoughts i fell asleep. the third day. on the morrow all being assembled, the trumpets, etc., began again to sound and we imagined that the bridegroom was ready to present himself, which nevertheless was a huge mistake. for it was again the yesterday's virgin who had arrayed herself all in red velvet and girded herself with a white scarf. her train was now no more of small tapers, but consisted of two hundred men in harness who were all clothed in red and white. as soon as they were alighted from the throne, she comes straight to us prisoners, and after she had saluted us, she said in a few words: that some of you have been sensible of your wretched condition is hugely pleasing to my most mighty lord, and he is also resolved you shall fare the better for it. and having espied me in my habit, she laughed and spake, good lack! hast thou also submitted thyself to the yoke? i imagined thou would'st have made thyself very snug, which words caused my eyes to run over. after which she commanded we should be unbound, and coupled together and placed in a station where we might behold the scales, for, said she, it may yet fare better with them than with the presumptuous who yet stand here at liberty. meanwhile the scales which were entirely of gold were hung up in the midst of the hall. there was also a little table covered with red velvet, and seven weights placed thereon. first of all stood a pretty great one, next four little ones, lastly, two great ones severally; and these weights in proportion to their bulk were so heavy that no man can believe or comprehend it. the virgin having sprung up into her high throne, one of the pages commanded each one to place himself according to his order, and one after the other, step into the scales. one of the emperors made no scruple of it, but first of all bowed himself a little towards the virgin, and afterwards in all his stately attire went up, whereupon each captain laid in his weight, which (to the wonder of all) he stood out. but the last was too heavy for him, so that forth he must, and that with such anguish that the virgin herself had pity on him, yet was the good emperor bound and delivered over to the sixth band. next came forth another emperor, who stepped haughtily into the scale and having a great thick book under his gown, he imagined not to fail; but being scarce able to abide the third weight, and being unmercifully slung down, and his book in that affrightment slipping from him, all the soldiers began to laugh, and he was delivered up bound to the third band. thus it went with some others of the emperors. after these came forth a little short man with a curled beard, an emperor too, who after the usual reverence got up also, and held out so steadfastly, that methought had there been more weights ready, he would have outstood them; to whom the virgin immediately arose, and bowed before him, causing him to put on a gown of red velvet, and at last reached him a branch of laurel, having good store of them upon her throne, upon the steps whereof she willed him to sit down. after him, how it fared with the rest of the emperors, kings and lords would be too long to recount, but i cannot leave unmentioned that few of those great personages held out. after the inquisition had also passed over the gentry, the learned, and unlearned, and the rest, and in each condition perhaps one, it may be, two, but for the most part none, was found perfect, it came at length to those honest gentlemen the vagabond cheaters, and rascally lapidem spitalanficum, who were set upon the scale with such scorn that i myself for all my grief was ready to burst with laughing, neither could the very prisoners themselves refrain, for the most part could not abide that severe trial, but with whips and scourges were jerked out of the scale, and led to the other prisoners. thus of so great a throng so few remained, that i am ashamed to discover their number. the inquisition being completely finished, and none but we poor coupled hounds standing aside, at length one of the captains stepped forth and said, gracious madam, if it please your ladyship, let these poor men who acknowledged their misunderstanding be set upon the scale, also without their incurring any danger of penalty, and only for recreation's sake, if perchance anything that is right may be found amongst them. we being untied were one after another set up. my companion was the fifth who held out bravely, whereupon all, but especially the captain, applauded him, and the virgin shewed him the usual respect. i was the eighth. now as soon as (with trembling) i stepped up, my companion who already sat by in his velvet, looked friendly upon me, and the virgin herself smiled a little. but for as much as i outstayed all the weights, the virgin commanded them to draw me up by force, wherefore three men moreover hung on the other side of the beam, and yet could nothing prevail. whereupon one of the pages immediately stood up and cried out exceeding loud, that's he, upon which the other replied, then let him gain his liberty, which the virgin acceded, and being received with due ceremonies, the choice was given me to release one of the captives, whosoever i pleased. afterwards a council of the seven captains and us was set, and the business was propounded by the virgin as president, who desired each one to give his opinion, how the prisoners were to be dealt with. * * * * * the story is a long one, and we must present the rest only in outline. it goes on to say that the kinds of punishment to be dealt out to the prisoners were then discussed and arranged, after which another banquet took place, when these captives were required to make confession of being cheats and vagabonds, which after some expostulation they agreed to, appealing at the same time for mercy which was refused, though variations in the degrees of punishment were promised. when the sentences had all been executed, there came forward "a beautiful snow white unicorn with a golden collar about his neck. in the same place he bowed himself down upon both his fore feet, as if hereby he had shewn honour to the lyon, who stood so immoveably upon the fountain, that i took him to be of stone or brass, who immediately took the naked sword, which he bare in his paw and break it in the middle in two, the pieces whereof to my thinking sunk into the fountain, after which he so long roared, until a white dove brought a branch of olive in her bill, which the lyon devoured in an instant, and so was quieted. and so the unicorn returned to his place with joy, while our virgin led us down by the winding stairs." the narrative grows complicated as it proceeds, and none the less strange in its character; its details are inexplicable and tedious, and it will be impossible to lay them before our readers. the writer proceeds to describe his rambles about the castle, the wonders which there met his gaze, his respectful treatment at the banquet, and a problem proposed by the virgin which was duly debated by each in turn. fourth day. presented to the king by the virgin who explained that the lords had ventured hither with peril of body and life--assured by atlas of the king's welcome--promised by the virgin that she would remove the burden of his old age--performance of a comedy. fifth day. further explorations of the castle--discovery of the burial place of lady venus, "that beauty which hath undone many a great man both in fortune, honour, blessing, and prosperity." journey with the virgin to the tower of olympus. sixth day. distribution by lot of ladders, ropes and wings--the mysterious bird--restoring the dead to life. seventh day. "after eight o'clock i awaked and quickly made myself ready, being desirous to return again into the tower, but the dark passages in the wall were so many and various that i wandered a good while before i could find the way out. the same happened to the rest, too, till at last we all met again in the neathermost vault, and habits entirely yellow were given us, together with our golden fleeces. at that time the virgin declared to us that we were knights of the golden stone, of which we were before ignorant. after we had now thus made ourselves ready and taken our breakfasts, the old man presented each of us with a medal of gold; on the one side stood these words: ar. nat. mi. on the other these, tem. na. f. exhorting us, moreover, we should enterprise nothing beyond and against this token of remembrance. herewith we went to the sea, where our ships lay so richly equipped, that it was not well possible but that such brave things must first have been brought thither. the ships were twelve in number; our flags were the twelve celestial signs, and we sate in libra. besides other things, our ship had also a noble and curious clock, which shewed us all the minutes. the ships passed on and before we had sailed two hours the mariner told us that he already saw the whole lake almost covered with ships, by which we could conjecture they were come but to meet us, which also proved true. as soon as they were well in ken of us, the pieces were discharged on both sides, and there was such a din of trumpets, shalms, and kettledrums that all the ships upon the sea capered again. finally as soon as we came near they brought our ships together and so made a stand. immediately the old atlas stepped forth on the king's behalf, making a short but handsome oration, wherein he welcomed us and demanded whether the royal presents were in readiness. the rest of my companions were in an huge amazement, whence this king should arise, for they imagined no other but that they must again awaken him. we suffered them to continue in their wonderment, and carried ourselves as if it seemed strange to us too. after atlas's oration, out steps our old man making somewhat a larger reply, wherein he wished the king and queen all happiness and increase, after which he delivered up a curious small casket, but what was in it i know not; only it was committed to cupid, who hovered between them both, to keep. after the oration was finished, they again let off a joyful volley of shot, and so we sailed on a good time together, till at length we arrived at another shore. this was near the first gate at which i first entered. at this place again there attended a great multitude of the king's family together with some hundreds of horses. our old lord and i most unworthy were to ride even with the king, each of us bearing a snow white ensign, with a red cross. i had fastened my tokens round my hat of which the young king soon took notice, and demanded if i were he, who could at the gate redeem those tokens? i answered in the most humble manner, yes. but he laughed on me, saying, there henceforth needed no ceremony; i was his father. then he asked wherewith i had redeemed them. i replied, with water and salt, whereupon he wondered who had made me so wise, upon which i grew somewhat more confident, and recounted unto him, how it had happened to me with my bread, the dove, and the raven, and he was pleased with it, and said expressly that it must needs be that god had herein vouchsafed me a singular happiness.... meantime the tables were prepared in a spacious room, in which we had never been before; into this we were conducted with singular pomp and ceremony. this was the last noblest meal at which i was present. after the banquet the tables were suddenly taken away, and certain curious chairs placed round about in circle, in which we together with the king and queen, both their old men, the ladies and virgins were to sit. after which a very handsome page opened the above mentioned glorious little book, when atlas immediately placing himself in the midst, began to bespeak us to the ensuing purpose. that his royal majesty had not yet committed to oblivion the service we had done, and how carefully we had attended our duty, and therefore by way of retribution had elected all and each of us knights of the golden stone. that it was therefore further necessary not only once again to oblige ourselves towards his royal majesty, but to now swear too upon the following articles, and then his royal majesty would likewise know how to behave himself towards his liege people. upon which he caused the page to read over the articles, which were these:-- .--you my lords the knights, shall swear, that you shall at no time ascribe your order either unto any devil, or spirit, but only to god your creator, and his handmaid nature. .--that you will abominate all whoredom, incontinency and uncleanness, and not defile your order with such vices. .--that you through your talents will be ready to assist all that are worthy, and have need of them. .--that you desire not to employ this honour to worldly pride and high authority. .--that you shall not be willing to live longer than god will have you. now being to vow to them all by the king's sceptre, we were afterwards with the usual ceremonies installed knights, and amongst other privileges set our ignorance, poverty and sickness; to handle them at our pleasure. and this was afterwards ratified in a little chapel, and thanks returned to god for it. and because every one was there to write his name, i writ thus, summa scientia nihil scire, fr. christianus rosencreutz, eques aurei lapidis, anno ." chapter viii. _conclusion--modern rosicrucianism._ in notes and queries for nov. th, , we find the following:--"in the student's encyclopædia, published by hodder and stoughton in , i find the following twofold statement: 'even to-day a rosicrucian lodge is said to exist in london, whose members claim by asceticism to live beyond the allotted age of man, and to which the late lord lytton vainly sought admission.' may i ask whether anything authentic can be learnt ( ) as to the existence of these modern rosicrucians, and ( ) as to lord lytton's failure to gain admission among them?" in the number of dec. of the same year, the above query was thus answered: "the soc. rosic. in anglia still holds several meetings a year in london. the fratres investigate the occult sciences; but i am not aware that any of them now practice asceticism, or expect to prolong life on earth indefinitely. it is not customary to divulge the names of candidates who have been refused admission to the first grade, that of zelator, so must ask to be excused from answering the question as to lord lytton. wynn westcott, _m.b., magister templi_." in september of the previous year a correspondent asked if any one could inform him if there were still any members of the society of the rosy cross (or rosicrucians); and if there were, how could one communicate with them? also if there were still any alchemists searching for the philosopher's stone and the transmutation of metals? this evoked the following reply:-- "some say the modern rosicrucians are the same as the freemasons; but as in the main they lived isolated, they could have been but slightly connected with the masons. the range of celebrated men included in the society is large:--avicenna, roger bacon, cardan, down to mr. peter woulfe, f.r.s., who lived at no. , barnard's inn, and was, according to mr. brand, the last true believer in alchemy. but no doubt some few still dabble in these occult things." notes and queries, series , vol , . on the same page of the same volume we have:--"the rosicrucians are now (how i know not) incorporate with, and form one of the highest ranks, if not the highest rank, of english freemasons." also:--"in reply to charles d. sunderland, allow me to say there are yet living both rosicrucians and alchemists." de quincey does not hesitate for a moment in deciding as to the identity between rosicrucianism and freemasonry. he says:--"i shall now undertake to prove that rosicrucianism was transplanted to england, where it flourished under a new name, under which name it has been since re-exported to us in common with other countries of christendom. for i affirm as the main thesis of my concluding labours, that freemasonry is neither more nor less than rosicrucianism as modified by those who transplanted it to england." he then proceeds with an argument to shew this identity between the two, an argument to which our limited space forbids us to do more than briefly allude. he says:--"in we have seen that the old name was abolished; but as yet no new name was substituted; in default of such a name they were styled _ad interim_ by the general term, wise men. this, however, being too vague an appellation for men who wished to form themselves into a separate and exclusive society, a new one had to be devised bearing a more special allusion to their characteristic objects. now the immediate hint for the masons was derived from the legend contained in the _fama fraternitatis_, of the "house of the holy ghost." this had been a subject of much speculation in germany; and many had been simple enough to understand the expression of a literal house, and had inquired after it up and down the empire. but andrea had made it impossible to understand it in any other than an allegoric sense, by describing it as a building that would remain invisible to the godless world for ever." theophilus schweighart also had spoken of it thus: "it is a building," says he, "a great building, _carens fenestris et foribus_, a princely, nay an imperial palace, everywhere visible, and yet not seen by the eyes of man." this building in fact, represented the purpose or object of the rosicrucians. and what was that? it was the secret wisdom, or, in their language, _magic_--viz., . philosophy of nature, or occult knowledge of the works of god; . theology, or the occult knowledge of god himself; . religion, or god's occult intercourse with the spirit of man, which they imagined to have been transmitted from adam through the cabbalists to themselves. but they distinguished between a carnal and a spiritual knowledge of this magic. the spiritual knowledge is the business of christianity, and is symbolised by christ himself as a rock, and a building of human nature, in which men are the stones and christ the corner stone. but how shall stones move and arrange themselves into a building? "they must become living stones." but what is a living stone? "a living stone is a mason who builds himself up into the wall as a part of the temple of human nature." in these passages we see the use of the allegoric name masons upon the extinction of the former name. in other places fludd expresses this still more distinctly. the society was therefore to be a masonic society, in order to represent typically that temple of the holy spirit which it was their business to erect in the spirit of man. this temple was the abstract of the doctrine of christ, who was the grand-master: hence the light from the east, of which so much is said in rosicrucian and masonic books. after pursuing the matter in a similar strain somewhat further, de quincey sums up the results of his inquiry into the origin and nature of freemasonry as follows:-- . the original freemasons were a society that arose out of the rosicrucian mania, certainly within the thirteen years from to , and probably between and . their object was magic in the cabbalistic sense--_i.e._, the occult wisdom transmitted from the beginning of the world, and matured by christ; to communicate this when they had it, to search for it when they had it not: and both under an oath of secrecy. . the object of freemasonry was represented under the form of solomon's temple, as a type of the true church, whose cornerstone is christ. this temple is to be built of men, or living stones: and the true method and art of building with men it is the province of magic to teach. hence it is that all the masonic symbols either refer to solomon's temple, or are figurative modes of expressing the ideas and doctrines of magic in the sense of the rosicrucians, and their mystical predecessors in general. . the freemasons having once adopted symbols, &c., from the art of masonry, to which they were led by the language of scripture, went on to connect themselves in a certain degree with the order itself of handicraft masons, and adopted their distribution of members into apprentices, journeymen, and masters. christ is the grand-master, and was put to death whilst laying the foundation of the temple of human nature. . the jews, mahomedans and roman catholics were all excluded from the early lodges of freemasons. the roman catholics were excluded on account of their intolerance: for it was a distinguishing feature of the rosicrucians that they first conceived the idea of a society which should act on the principle of religious toleration, wishing that nothing should interfere with the most extensive co-operation in their plans except such differences about the essentials of religion as make all co-operation impossible. . freemasonry, as it honoured all forms of christianity, deeming them approximations more or less remote to the ideal truth, so it abstracted from all forms of civil polity as alien from its own objects, which, according to their briefest expressions, are ( ) the glory of god; ( ) the service of men. . there is nothing in the imagery, mythi, ritual, or purposes of the elder freemasonry, which may not be traced to the romances of father rosycross, as given in the fama fraternitatis. de quincey is not the only writer who has expressed himself to the effect that the systems of freemasonry and rosicrucianism are virtually identical; others have said so as well, and in stating their views have not scrupled to write most severely respecting what they believed to be the tricks and impositions of both. mr. george soane in his "new curiosities of literature," says of the freemasons, that he can shew their society sprang out of decayed rosicrucianism just as the beetle is engendered from a muck-heap. and further he says, "not a few of the old nursery tales still maintain their ground amongst us; and of these freemasonry is the most disseminated and the most ridiculous." "of course," he continues "such an opinion will shock many gentlemen, who wear aprons, leather or silk as the case may be, and who amuse themselves with talking of light from the east, and the building of solomon's temple, and with many other childish pranks, which if played off in the broad daylight would be ridiculous." he goes on to say:--"in wading through a mass of alchemical trash for very different purposes, i was struck by the great similarity both of the doctrine and symbols existing between the rosicrucians and the freemasons. with more haste than judgment i at first imagined that the brethren of the rosy cross were only imitators of the freemasons, but after a long and patient enquiry, pursued through more volumes than i should like to venture upon again for such an object, i was forced to abandon my position. the freemasons did indeed, like the rosicrucians, lay claim to great antiquity, but while some of them modestly dated the origin of their order from adam, i could by no means trace it back farther than the first half of the seventeenth century. their historical assertions, when fairly tested and examined, crumbled into dust; the negative proofs were as strong against them as they well could be; and at length the conclusion was to my mind inevitable." soane then proceeds to say:--"i feel not the slightest hesitation in saying that the freemasons have no secret beyond a few trumpery legends and the attaching of certain religious and moral meanings to a set of emblems, principally borrowed from the mechanical art of the builder. i affirm too that all such symbols, with their interpretations, are of rosicrucian origin, and that the freemasons never belonged to the working guilds, their objects being totally different." professor buhle in his last chapter maintains that "freemasonry is neither more nor less than rosicrucianism as modified by those who transplanted it into england." dr. mackey, however, takes a contrary view, and in the synoptical index to his "symbolism of freemasonry, and rosicrucians," says:--"a sect of hermetical philosophers, founded in the fifteenth century, who were engaged in the study of abstruse sciences. it was a secret society much resembling the masonic in its organization and in some of the subjects of its investigation, but it was no other way connected with freemasonry." fifty years ago a writer in the penny cyclopædia said:--"some say that the order of rosicrucians is identical with that of freemasons, one of whose degrees or dignities is called in some countries the degree of the red cross. the rosicrucians have not been heard of as a separate order for nearly a century past, but some have thought that they continued to exist under the name of the illuminati, who were much talked of in germany and france in the latter part of the eighteenth century. barruel, after describing the ceremonies with which candidates were admitted to the degree of red cross in some freemasons' lodges, which however, he says, vary in different countries, observes that these ceremonies which were apparently allusive to the passion of jesus christ, were differently interpreted, according to the dispositions of the candidates; that some saw in it a memento of the passion, others an introduction to the arcana of alchemy and magic, and others at last a blasphenous invective against the founder of christianity which the rosicrucians had derived from the templars of old." * * * * * the rosie crucian prayer to god. jesus mihi omnia. [triangle] "oh thou everywhere and good of all, whatsoever i do, remember, i beseech thee, that i am but dust, but as a vapour sprung from earth, which even thy smallest breath can scatter; thou hast given me a soul, and laws to govern it; let that eternal rule, which thou didst first appoint to sway man, order me; make me careful to point at thy glory in all my wayes; and where i cannot rightly know thee, that not only my understanding, but my ignorance may honour thee. thou art all that can be perfect; thy revelation hath made me happy; be not angry, o divine one, o god the most high creator, if it please thee, suffer these revealed secrets, thy gifts alone, not for my praise, but to thy glory, to manifest themselves. i beseech thee most gracious god, they may not fall into the hand of ignorant envious persons, that cloud these truths to thy disgrace, saying, they are not lawful to be published, because what god reveals, is to be kept secret. but rosie crucian philosophers lay up this secret into the bosome of god, which i have presumed to manifest clearly and plainly. i beseech the trinity, it may be printed as i have written it, that the truth may no more be darkened with ambiguous language. good god, besides thee nothing is. oh stream thyself into my soul, and flow it with thy grace, thy illumination, and thy revelation. make me to depend on thee; thou delightest that man should account thee as his king and not hide what honey of knowledge he hath revealed. i cast myself as an honourer of thee at thy feet. o establish my confidence in thee, for thou art the fountain of all bounty, and canst not but be merciful, nor canst thou deceive the humbled soul that trusts thee: and because i cannot be defended by thee, unless i live after thy laws, keep me, o my soul's sovereign, in the obedience of thy will, and that i wound not my conscience with vice, and hiding thy gifts and graces bestowed upon me; for this i know will destroy me within, and make thy illuminating spirit leave me: i am afraid i have already infinitely swerved from the revelations of that divine guide, which thou hast commanded to direct me to the truth; and for this i am a sad prostrate and penitent at the foot of thy throne; i appeal only to the abundance of thy remissions. o my god, my god, i know it is a mysterie beyond the vast soul's apprehension, and therefore deep enough for man to rest in safety in. o thou being of all beings, cause me to work myself to thee, and into the receiving armes of thy paternal mercies throw myself. for outward things i thank thee, and such as i have i give unto others, in the name of the trinity, freely and faithfully, without hiding anything of what was revealed to me, and experienced to be no diabolical delusion or dream, but the adjectamenta of thy richer graces; the mines and deprivation are both in thy hands. in what thou hast given me i am content. good god ray thyself into my soul, give me but a heart to please thee, i beg no more than thou hast given, and that to continue me, uncontemnedly and unpittiedly honest. save me from the devil, lusts and men: and for those fond dotages of mortality, which would weigh down my soul to lowness and debauchment, let it be my glory (planting myself in a noble height above them) to contemn them. take me from myself, and fill me but with thee. sum up thy blessings in those two, that i may be rightly good and wise; and these for thy eternal truths' sake grant and make grateful."[ ] the end. s. & j. brawn, printers, , gate street, holborn, london, w.c. footnotes: [ ] mackay, pop. delusions. [ ] hist. of philosophy, ii. . [ ] mackay. [ ] new curiosities of literature, vol. , p. . [ ] the holy guide, . phallic and mystical series, cr. vo, vellum, s. d. each. _only a very limited number_, privately printed. phallicism.--a description of the worship of =lingam-yoni= in various parts of the world, and in different ages, with an account of ancient and modern crosses, particularly of the =crux ansata= (or handled cross) and other symbols connected with the mysteries of =sex worship=. (_out of print_). ophiolatreia.--an account of the rites and mysteries connected with the origin, rise, and development of =serpent worship= in various parts of the world, enriched with interesting traditions, and a full description of the celebrated serpent mounds and temples, the whole forming an exposition of one of the phases of =phallic=, or =sex worship=. phallic objects, monuments and remains; illustrations of the rise and development of the =phallic idea= (sex worship), and its embodiment in works of nature and art. _etched frontispiece._ cultus arborum.--a descriptive account of =phallic tree worship=, with illustrative legends, superstitious usages, etc.; exhibiting its origin and development amongst the eastern and western nations of the world, from the earliest to modern times. this work has a valuable bibliography which will be of the greatest use and value to the student of ancient faiths. it contains references to nearly five hundred works on phallism and kindred subjects. fishes, flowers, and fire as elements and deities in the =phallic faiths and worship= of the ancient religions of greece, babylon, rome, india, etc., with illustrative myths and legends. archaic rock inscriptions; an account of the cup and ring marking on the sculptural stones of the old and new worlds. this subject, though comparatively a new one, and upon which a very limited amount of literature has been written, has excited considerable curiosity among its discoverers. these strange figures and marks bear the same resemblance whether found in england, ireland, scotland, india, mexico, brazil, north america, sweden, etc. probably the cup and ring markings were connected with the religious mysteries surrounding the worship of baal. they are asserted on good authority to be phallic symbols, which subject the author has treated of in the present work. _in the press._ a new work on the =masculine cross= theory, and recent discoveries connected with phallicism. _other works._ matrimonial ceremonies displayed.--wherein are exhibited the various customs, odd pranks, whimsical tricks and surprising practises of near one hundred different kingdoms and peoples in the world, now used in the celebration and consummation of matrimony, collected from the papers of a =rambling batchelor=, with the adventures of sir harry fitzgerald and his =seven wives=. cr. vo, japanese parchment, s. the above volume describes the extensive and extraordinary ceremonies of the different nations of the world, including an interesting account of the more free and easy rites of the savage tribes. there will also be found an entertaining description of the ceremonies of the indians in america, at the time of its first colonisation by the europeans. flagellation, history of, among different nations, a narrative of the strange customs and cruelties of the romans, greeks, egyptians, etc., with an account of its practice among the early christians as a religious stimulant and corrector of morals, also anecdotes of remarkable cases of flogging and of celebrated flagellants. cr. vo, parchment, s. a curious history of whipping inflicted by force, and voluntarily practised by the monks, heathens, etc., with anecdotes of its use by kings, bishops, abbots, etc. * * * * * transcriber's note: punctuation has been corrected without note. the following misprints have been corrected: "the the" corrected to "the" (page ) "sytsem" corrected to "system" (page ) "morever" corrected to "moreover" (page ) "his" corrected to "is" (page ) "yon" corrected to "you" (page ) "nevertherless" corrected to "nevertheless" (page ) "inhabttants" corrected to "inhabitants" (page ) "and and" corrected to "and" (page ) "kness" corrected to "knees" (page ) "understauding" corrected to "understanding" (page ) "mdae" corrected to "made" (page ) other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.