Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

288 FPANClS P.ACON
instance, foot-note 6 turns upon a supposed confusion between
Venetia and Phoenicia: "perhaps similitude of sound might
deceive the clerk tvho first took down the examination." Then to
the question, " Howe commede ytt yn Engelonde? " we are
informed that Masonry was brought by " Peter Gower, a Grecian,
who, after travelling through Egypt and Syria, and every country
where " the
Venetians " had planted Masonry, " framed a
grate lodge at ' Groton.' " The foot-notes again correct this
passage at much length
" Peter Gower must be another mistake of the writer. I was
puzzled at first to guess who Peter Gower should be, the name
being perfectly Euglish ; or how a Greek could come by such a
name. But as soon as I thought of Pythagoras, I could scarce
forbear smiling to find that philosopher had undergone a metempsychosis
he never dreamt of. We need only consider the French
pronunciation of his name, Pythagorc, that is, Petagore, to conceive
how easily such a mistake may be made by an unlearned
clerk.
The true, object of this note seems to be to draw attention to
the connection between Pythagoras and the wisdom and religious
mysteries of the Egyptians. " That he was initiated into
several different orders of priests, icho in those days kept all
their learning secret from the vulgar," is a hint which seems to
point to a similar system in Masonry, and the subsequent remarks
about Pythagoras having discovered the Forty-seventh
Book of Euclid, and that he " made every geometrical theorem
a secret, and admitted only such to the knowledge of them as
had first undergone a five years' silence," seems to contain a
further hint concerning the nature of certain highly scientific
systems of cipher- writing which we have elsewhere found mentioned
in connection with the name of Pythagoras.
With regard to " the grate lodge" which Pythagoras is said
to have founded at Groton, another foot-note corrects the error
after this fashion: " Groton is the name of a place in England.
The place here meant is Crotona, " etc. From the many Masons
made by Pythagoras " yn processe of tyrne, the arte passed yn
Engelonde."