Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 303
to be hoped that at last some true and reliable information would
be forthcoming. But, so far as any fresh knowledge concerning
paper and paper-marks is concerned, an examination of many
of these curious scrap-books and note-books has proved disappointing.
Yet we glean fnrtber evidence as to the pains and
care which in past years have been bestowed upon the laying
of plans, and the carrying of them out in small details, for the
purpose of preventing these subjects from becoming public property
;
for the books bear silent witness that one of two things
has occurred: Either the portions relating to paper and papermarks,
their use and interpretation, have been at some time
carefully eliminated (and probably stored elsewhere), or else
they never were in this collection. In the latter case, Joel Munsell,
Hearne, and others, must have derived their information
about John Bagford and his extraordinary and almost unique
knowledge of paper, i. e., of paper-marks, from some other
sources which they do not disclose, but which must be discoverable.
For the present, we rest in the persuasion that all these
" secrets " are in the possession of a certain Freemason circle,
or perhaps, more correctly speaking, of the paper-makers' and
printers' " Rings," and since it is not possible that these can a
tale unfold of the secrets of the printing-house which have
come to them traditionally, and under stringent vows, we must
be content, as before, to grope and grub after scraps of information
which, poor and despicable as they may seem in their disjointed
state, afford, when pieced together, a valuable contribution
toward the " furniture " of knowledge.
Ordinary works, whether of general information, or particular
instruction on matters connected with paper-making, uniformly
convey the impression that " water-marks " are either mere
ornaments in the paper, or else trade-marks of the paper-manufacturer.
One writer defines them as " ornamental figures in
wire or thin
brass, sewn upon the wires of the mould, which,
like those wires, leave an impression, by rendering the paper,
where it lies on them, almost translucent. " l
l Objects in Art Manufacture. Edited by Charles Tomlinson. No. 1. Paper.
Harrison, 1884.