Chapter XV. is thus headed, — " Of Free Masons, and other learned men, that used to get

drunk." It commences as follows : — " If what brother Eugenius Philalethes, author of ' Long
Livers,' a book dedicated to the Free Masons, says in his Preface to that treatise, be true,
those mystical gentlemen very well deserve a place amongst the learned.^ But, without
entering into their peculiar jargon, or whether a man can be sacrilegiously perjured for
revealing secrets when he has none, I do assure my readers, they are very great friends to the
vintners. An eye-witness of this was I myself, at their late general meeting at Stationers'

1 June 4, 1881.

' As " Long Livers " is an extremely rare work, it may be useful to state that a reprint of ihs 2>rtf(.tcc will be found
in the Masonic Magazine, vol. iv., 1876-77, p. 161.

^ I was deterred by the length of some of Eugenius Philalethes' exhortations, from quoting them literatim. It is,
however, important to state, that, whilst eulogising Christianity, he directs the Masons " to avoid Politics and Keligion "
(Long Livers, preface, p. 16, 1. 19).

••The following appears on the title-page: "Ebrietatis Encomium: or, the Praise of Drunkenness: Wherein is
Authentically, and most evidently proved, The Necessity of Frequently Getting Drunk ; and. That the Practice is Most
Ancient, Primitive, and Catholic. By Boniface Oinophilus, Do Monte Fiascone, A. B. 0." According to the MS.
Catalogue, Brit. Mus. Library, this work is a translation of " L'filoge de L'Y\Tesse" of A. II. de Sallengr6.

' "Thus shall Princes love and cherish you, as their most faithful aud obedient Children and Servants, and take
delight to commuue with you, inasmuch as amongst you are found Men exceUent in all kinds of Sciences, aud who
thereby may make their Name, who love and cherish you, immortal" (Long Livers, preface, p. 17, 1. 6).

128 EARLY BRITISH FREEMASONRY— ENGLAND.

H;ill,i who having learned some of their catechism,^ passed my examination, paid my five
shillings, and took my place accordingly. We had a good dinner, and, to their eternal honour,
the brotherhood laid about them very valiantly. But whether, after a very disedifying
manner, their demolishing huge walls of venison pasty be building up a spiritual house, I
leave to brother Eugenius Philalethes to determine. However, to do them justice, I must
own, there was no mention made of politics or religion, so well do they seem to follow
the advice of that author.^ And when the music began to play, 'Let the king enjoy
his own again,' they were immediately reprimanded by a person of great gravity and
science."

I adduce the above, as the only contemporary criticism of the preface to " Long Livers "
with which I am conversant, and have merely to add that the writer, in anticipation of the
charge, " that he who wrote the ' Praise of Drunkenness,' must be a drunkard by profession,"
expresses " his content, that the world should believe him as much a drunkard as Erasmus,
who wrote the ' Praise of Folly,' was a fool, and weigh him in the same balance." " The Praise
of Drunkenness" is both a witty and a learned book, and Samber's apostrophe to the
Freemasons is dissected far more minutely than I have shown above. The criticism,
however, tends to prove, that none of the speculations now rife with regard to the mystical
language in which Eugenius Philalethes is supposed to have veiled Masonic secrets — above the
comprehension of the general body of the craft— occupied the minds of those by whom his jcu
d'esprit was perused at the time of its appearance.

It has been said that after Paracelsus the Alchymists divided into two classes : one
comprising those who pursued useful studies ; the other, those that took up the visionary side
of Alchymy, writing books of mystical trash, which they fathered on Hermes, Aristotle,
Albertus Magnus, and others. Their language is now unintelligible. One brief specimen may
suffice. The power of transmutation, called the Green Lion, was to be obtained in the
following manner : — " In the Green Lion's bed the sun and moon are born, they are married
and beget a King ; the King feeds on the lion's blood, which is the King's father and mother,
who are at the same time his brother and sister ; I fear I betray the secret,* which I promised
my master to conceal in dark speech from every one who does not know how to rule the
philosopher's fire."^ "Our ancestors," says Heckethorn, "must have had a great talent for
finding out enigmas if they were able to elicit a meaning from these mysterious directions j
stiU the language was understood by the adepts, and was only intended for them." To give
one further example. When Hermes Trismegistus, in one of the treatises attributed to him,
directs the adept to catch the flying bird and to drown it, so that it fly no more, the fixation
of quicksilver by a combination with gold is meant. Many statements of mathematical

' This must either have been tlie meeting of June 21, 1721, when tlie Duke of Montague was invested as Grand
Muster, or that of June 24, 1722, when the Duke of Wharton was irregularly proclaimed ; no other assembly having
been held at Stationers' Hall, at which the author of the work quoted from (1723) could have been present. The
allusion to the toast of the Pretender, coupled with the Duke of Wharton's known Jacobite proclivities, would favour
the later date.

' This points to an earlier form of the Masonic Examination than has come down to us.

' Long Livers, preface, p. 16, 1. 19.

* Compare with the passage (satirized by the author of the " Praise of Drunkenness ") wherein Eugenius Philalethes
expresses his horror of being "sacrilegiously perjured."

= Heckethorn, Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries, 1875, vol. i., p. 222, § 182.

EARLY BRITISH FREEMASONRY— ENGLAND. 129

formulfe must always appear pure gibberish ^ to the uniaitiated into the higher science of
numbers ; still these statements enunciate truths well understood by the mathematician.^

In my judgment, Itobert Samber is to be classed with these Alchymists, or people addicted
to the use of alchymical language, " who did not pursue useful studies ; " and there I should
leave the matter, but some interpretations have been placed upon his words, of which, in
candour, I am bound to give some specimens. " If," says Dr Mackey — and the reader should
carefully bear in mind that this is the opinion of one of the most accurate and diligent of
Masonic students — "as Eugenius PhUalethes plainly indicates, there were, in 1721, higher
Degi-ees, or at least a higher Degree in which knowledge of a Masonic character was hidden
from a great body of the craft . • . . • . why is it that neither Anderson nor Desaguliers
make any allusion to this higher and more illuminated system ? " Mackey here relies on two
passages which are italicised in my extract from Saml^er's preface — one, the allusion to those
" who stand in the outward place," and " are not far illuminated ; " the other, the exhortation
to "Brethren of the higher class." The result of his inquiry being, "that this book of
Philalethes introduces a new element in the historical problem of Masonry," in which opinion
the Eev. A. F. A. Woodford evidently concurs.

Among the further commentaries upon the introduction to "Long Livers," I shall only
briefly notice those of Mr T. B. Whytehead,^ who alludes to the " Spiritual Celestial Cube,"
and infers from the language of the writer that he may have belonged to certain Christian
degrees ; and of Mr John Yarker, who finds in its phraseology a r6sum4 of the symbolism and
history given in the three Degrees of Templar, Templar Priest, and Eoyal Arch,* which
Degrees he considers date from the year 1686, and observes (on the authority of Ashmole)
that they synchronize with the revival of Freemasonry and Rosicruciauism in London.*

The remarks I have to offer on the subject of degrees will be given in a later chapter,
and I shall next give a short sketch of EUas Ashmole, in his character of an Hermetic
Philosopher.