Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 229
ably be anticipated that some at least are " noted in the margin,
or that some will be found with traces of marks which were
guides to the transcriber or amanuensis, as to the portions which
were to be copied for future use in Bacon's collections or book
of " commonplaces."
One word more, before quitting these rules of the Rosicrucians.
The eighteenth rule shows that on the death of a brother
nothing should be done which should reveal his connection with
the fraternity. His tomb was to be either without epitaph or
the inscription must be ambiguous. It is remarkable how many
of the tombs of Bacon's friends and of the distinguished names
of his time come under one or the other of these descriptions.
Some of these will be noticed in their proper place. Meanwhile,
let us remark that there seems to be only one satisfactory way of
accounting for this apparently unnecessary rule. The explanation
is of the same kind as that given with regard to rule 5,
which prohibits the members of the society from professing a
knowledge which they did not possess.
For suppose that the friends of deceased Rosicrucians had
inscribed upon their tombs epitaphs claiming for them the authorship
of works which had passed current as their writings, but
which they did not really originate. The monuments would, in
many cases, have been found guilty doing positive dishonour,
not only to the sacred place in which they were erected, but
even to the dead, whose memory they were to preserve, for they
would actually declare and perpetuate untruths, or at the best
half-truths, certain in the end to be discovered.
It is rare to find any epitaph by way of eulogium over the
grave of any person who seems to have collaborated with Bacon,
or to have been accredited with the authorship of any work which
is suspiciously Baconian. Rarer still do we find on such tombs
any hint that the so-called poet or philosopher ever ivrote anything.
In the few cases where this is asserted or suggested,
there are reasons for believing, or actual proof, that the inscription,
perhaps the monument itself, was put up by descendants or
admirers some years after the death of the individual to
the memorial was erected.
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