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ROSICRUCIANISM IN FRANCE. 393
Invisibles. There his eyes were uncovered, and he found
himself in the presence of five senatorial persons, who
gravely informed him that they too were well acquainted
with his aspirations, but before they could gratify them he
must be prepared to take the oath of fidelity, and to write
"
four words upon a paper, namely, I renounce my self." The
appropriate preliminary to a new faith was to blindfold one's
eyes to the teachings of all the old beliefs. The neophyte
complied, after which one of them breathed in his ear, and
this breathing he believed to be the wind of the Holy Spirit
instead of the devil's respiration. They caused him to
behold innumerable illusions by the operation of the fiends,
instructed him in the magical utterances by which he could
become invisible at pleasure, in the imprecations which he
must pronounce against the Roman Church, and in the
homage which he must pay both morning and evening to
their master Satan, in recognition of the marvels he had
lavished for the benefit of the men of that time. This
finished, they caused the lawyer to strip, the magic ointment
was rubbed over his body, and having been enjoined to
bathe in the river at daybreak, he sat down with them to a
sumptuous repast at his own expense, after which his eyes
were again bandaged, and he was led back to the meetingplace
of the previous evening. Though partially drunk, he
determined to fulfil his duty and plunge at once into the
river, wherein he attempted to swim, in order to cleanse
himself more thoroughly, but the unfortunate man was
drowned, and thus, says the anonymous historian, he was
truly changed from a visible into an invisible being, yet not,
also, from one invisible into one visible, for to this day
hath his body been discovered by none, though sought for
with diligent anxiety. "Such are the first fruits of the
study of the invisible doctors at the end of last July."