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PREFACE.
~T)ENEATH the broad tide of human history there flow
- ^ the stealthy undercurrents of the secret societies,
which frequently determine in the depths the changes that
take place upon the surface. These societies have existed
in all ages and among all nations, and tradition has invari-
ably ascribed to them the possession of important know-
ledge in the religious scientific or political order according
to the various character of their pretensions. The mystery
which encompasses them has invested them with a magical
glamour
and charm that to some extent will account for
the extravagant growth of legend about the Ancient
Mysteries, the Templars, the Freemasons, and the Rosi-
crucians, above all, who were the most singular in the
nature of their ostensible claims and in the uncertainty
which envelopes them.
" A halo of poetic splendour," says Heckethorn, 1 " sur-
rounds the Order of the Rosicrucians ; the magic lights of
fancy play round their graceful day-dreams, while the
mystery in which they shrouded themselves lends additional
attraction to their history. But their brilliancy was that
of a meteor. It just flashed across the realms of imagina-
tion and intellect, and vanished for ever; not, however,
without leaving behind some permanent and lovely traces
of its hasty passage. . . . Poetry and romance are deeply
1 " Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries."
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