of Saint John is but an ignorant attempt to reveal an ancient mystery, and hence its title. Nearly all the first known Christian books were called revelations. Then came the Epistles from one branch to another branch of sect, that was formed by the curiosity excited among the slaves and other ignorant people; and lastly, a pretended biography or Gospel of the hero of all the mysteries and revelations, the sun personified, named by the Christians, Jesus Christ, or Saviour Anointed.

That certain mysteries called Freemasonry have existed in this Island is known in almost every cottage, and my revelation will follow the curiosity raised, wherever it be. But I have no real system to set up. I see that these mysteries are all mischievous; I desire to pull all down, to leave nothing of the kind. So also was the existence of mysteries known to all the people tributary to the Romans, and the Roman Conquests opened the way for the exposure and fall of these mysteries. The Roman power removed the danger that would have otherwise attended the exposures; and it is very probable, that the first Christians did expose, as far as they could, the better to set up a new system upon the fall of the old ones: as we read but little of the existence of these mysteries after Christianity began to gain a footing. But these religious savages, the Christians and Mahometans, have destroyed nearly all that were useful or delightful in the ancient mysteries, in ancient science and literature, for the better support of their more ignorant, more useless, and more gloomy dogmas. These religious savages have been the worst of all savages; they have been the scorpions of the earth. Even now, they would fain destroy the last vestige of Hindoo or Chinese records, for the sake of having nothing of the kind of prior date to their low, gross, and abominable Bible and Koran. And of these two classes of book worshippers, each, would gladly destroy the other! Abominable relic of mystery! abominable religion! that makes mankind nothing but a wicked and miserable race of cut throats!

I consider that I have conferred even a benefit on masons who follow the thing from curiosity, by this exposure, and am entitled to their thanks. Many of them go on under the supposition that they arrive at some very important knowledge; and to assure them that they are not, is to confer a benefit on them, pecuniary as well as moral, for the pursuit is very expensive. The Degrees which I have printed in this publication, and much less incorrect than

mine, were sold by Finch at the average price of a guinea each! He considered half a crown a page a moderate charge for his nonsense! nonsense, I truly say, for good sense never fetched such a price. His charge for attendance to instruct a lodge was ten guineas a day, and Single Masons he would pass through the degrees at the rate of a guinea, sometimes a guinea and a half, or two guineas for a each degree. To have bought a copy of each degree and its accompaniments that Finch had to sell, or to be initiated by him through all the degrees, would have cost near a hundred pounds! I speak from a calculation. made from his lists of prices and avowed charges. His boast was that he administered masonry at a much cheaper rate than it could be bought in the regular lodges! after all, brother Masons, or Brother Williams, I shall give you more masonic information for half a dozen shillings than the cheap dealing Finch would have given you for a hundred pounds. His charges were as abominable as masonry itself. Before I published the Age of Reason, I have bought the two first parts, which I now sell for eighteen pence, for sixteen shillings and have sold them for a guinea. I thought this an enormous price; but there was something for the money, and that something a suppressed book, a book that brought danger of prosecution for selling it. Finch had no excuse for his prices, beside that of finding masonic fools to give them. He was the first to print and sell: and the poor silly fellow thought, that as God was with him, he was going to make masons of all mankind, rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, and settle all buman affairs according to the degrees of holy writ! But he found himself sadly opposed by the brotherly love of Masons. He tells us that experience had taught him, that he could not trust them even to send him an unpaid letter, for fear it should not not be worth opening; and where he let out his books on credit, he found no pay! An action was brought against him for the price of work done in printing or engraving. he tried a set off by charging the man £15 or £16 for passing him through some of the degrees of Masonry; but Lord Ellenborough would not allow the charge; because, forsooth, other Masons said that Finch had no authority to make masons. He had the same legal authority as the Grand Lodge, or any other Lodge, and that is none. I am of opinion, that any man may recover his money again; indict the officers for raising money under false pretences; or bring an action for general damages as to money spent, waste of time, &c, The whole is a permanent.

hoax. Aware of this, of late, an attempt has been made to twist it into something like a Benefit Society, but as all the benefits are optional and not compulsory or regulated by articles, the law would not recognize it as a benefit society:

I have been thinking, whether it would not be worth Mr. Dibdin's while to dramatize some of the foregoing degrees or degrees to come. It would certainly fill the Surrey Theatre for months. The scenery may be got up to any pitch of magnificence, as the subject is most extensive. It would be a much more becoming subject for the stage than was the Herefordshire Murder. I hope, at least, that some friend will submit it to Mr. D's. notice, or to that of some other caterer for the dramatic públic. The joke would be good, to see all the mummeries practised on the stage; all the secret signs, tokens and words given, and the whole thing exposed to the life! There is room for good comic action, in the nonsensical ceremonies. I will find a gentleman to regulate the thing as to correctness, at all points, if such be wanted. Masonry is in itself a private or secret drama. If the Masons will not see it, their wives will to a woman. And but few masons could keep away from it. I want this done, as the finish to my exposure. Let it once get on the stage, and no two Masons would, afterwards, look each other in the face. The grand patron, of course, is not confined to a patronage of Masonry, in public houses; he will be as well pleased to patronize it on the stage, as in The Republican, or elsewhere. I shall dedicate this volume to the Grand Patron of Freemasonry.

It will be necessary to improve some of the dramatic arrangements, which are wretchedly constructed as performed in the lodges. For instance, the murder of Hiram Abiff, at mid-day, in an open building, surrounded by hundreds of workmen, including his time taken for prayer and theirs for burial within the dinner hour, is fallacious upon the face of it. The finding of the Jewel in the well, the body under a loose sprig of Cassia, and the assassin, or, in some degrees, the assassins, in a cave, with the wandering meteor or stars, is equally fallacious and deficient in dramatic arrangement. One would think, that the whole story was a nursery tale. Daggers are introduced, which was an instrument unknown to the Asiatics of that time. The affected grief for Hiram Abiff exceeds that which would be common in real life. Indeed, Masonry may be taken allegorically as another version of the Christian Religion, sub

stituting Hiram Abiff, for Jesus Christ, or Prometheus or Hercules, or Thammuz, or the Sun for ages below the horizon, gone down to hell.

Taking the Temple of Solomon to be allegorical and to mean a fabric of knowledge, a construction to which Josephus in some measure leads us, Masonry might have been made and may be viewed as a beautiful science. It is in this sense only, that it would be what Sir Isaac Newton pronounced it, the science of sciences. But modern Masons have no such brilliant notions; nor do I think that one in a thousand of them will understand my allusion without further explanation. Josephus tells us, that the temple of Solomon was a scientific emblem of the universe, an emblem of the extent of human knowledge, even of inspired know. ledge; and so far its masonry was a science veiled in allegory. But as modern masons make no pretensions of the kind, it would be wrong to give them credit for professing the knowledge, as, if possessed, it would be a fair matter for boast, and would court publicity.

Both Masonry and Rosicrucianism are ill-constructed similes of the origin of the Christian Religion or the crucifixion of Prometheus, a persecution and destruction of brilliant reason and accomplishments by force, strength or thieves, for the revenge of which, the associations are professedly formed. Yet ignorant of the allegorical meaning of the association, and taking the whole fable as a literal truth, the members of these associations have but re-murdered their Hiram Abiff, or re-crucified their Christ. And such being the case, my attack upon them, as that of a more intelligent Mason, Christian or Rosicrucian, is fully warranted. And this will explain what I meant by masonifying masons. It has been hitherto considered a disgrace by the ignorant Christians, not to be a Christian of their stamp ; but we and Christians will turn the scale and make the disgrace felt, to be such a Christian; and the same with Masons.

As I hope by this time, that I shall have improved your masonry, Mr. Williams, I will draw my Masonic letter

writing to you to a close, with a few further explanations.

The drawings in the lodges for the different degrees were generally made on the floor, with chalk and charcoal. Chalk, Charcoal and Clay are mystic words with Masons, and emblematic of freedom, fervour and zeal or fidelity. In some lodges, it was a custom to strew the floor with powdered rosin, which reflected the illumination, at the time of making a new Noodle. And it was also a custom to make Noodle, with a mop and pail of water, clean up the the floor, as his first labour in masonry. But lately the officers of the lodge have adopted the habit of drawing the outline of the figure, as far as possible, by nailing down tape or other material of the kind. It must be confessed, that every thing is done and worn among them, with a degree of neatness and elegance: and, in some instances, at a great expence.

Much of the masonic foolery of the last century is abolished, and, severe as is now the probation of a noodle, it has no comparison with what it was. Every possible terror that could be impressed upon the mind of the candidate, without doing him a bodily injury, was adopted. In some lodges, the first thing he saw, on being restored to light, was the whole lodge standing round him with drawn swords pointed and all but touching him. This, with the glittering effects of the lights and the swords, after having been long blindfolded, must have produced a strong mental impression, even terror. There were also very tedious processions, in perambulating the lodge blindfolded a given number of times.

In calling the men from work to refreshment, the following ceremonies are observed. The master whispers to the Senior Deacon on his right hand and says: It is my will and pleasure, that this lodge be called off from work to refreshment - during pleasure. The Senior Deacon whispers the communication to the Senior Warden; he to the Junior Deacon, as his messenger; who carries it to the Junior Warden; by