Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 329
The text which furnishes the motif oi these lines is from Psalm
u O God, thou knowest my foolishness, aud my sins
lxix, 5:
are not hid from thee."
In the modern edition, a child with a fool's cap and bauble
rides astride upon the world, which wears an ass's head.
Little as we have reason to trust any printed statements on
these subjects, yet there seems to be no cause for
disbelieving
the uncalled-for assertion that the fooTs cap gave place to the
fqure of Britannia, or that of a lion rampant. There are apparently
no modern fool's caps, but « Britanuias" are common
in English, aud lions in foreign foolscap paper. So there can
be no harm, for the present at least, in registering this item of
knowledge. Yet we will, a little curiously, inspect our muchesteemed
ruled foolscap. Holding towards the light the sheet
on which we are about to write, we see that on one half it bears
the inscription, " Toogood's Superfine. » This is truly its trademark.
According to our authority, on the other half we have
Britannia portrayed as on our national penny, seated, and occupied
as usual in ruling the waves.
This is the first impression. But Britannia should wear a
helmet, should bear in her hand a trident, and beside her a
round target or wheel, with the mixed crosses of St. George, St.
Patrick, and St. Andrew, in the Union Jack.
The lady of our paper-mark seems to be crowned with five
pearls In her right hand she holds a trefoil or fleur-de-lis,
in her left a spear tipped with a diamond. By her side rests a
shield of elliptical form, and on it a plain cross. Beneath her
feet are the ancient marks of waters, and her image is framed
by three elliptical lines surmounted with a crown of pearls, and
the Maltese cross and orb. Pearls, fleur-de-lis, diamond, crosses,
ellipses -surely again we see in the very texture of our paper
a reminder of the "Sovereign Lady," Truth; the heavenly
iewel of knowledge tipping the spear which » pierces to the heart
of things » the pearls, the dew of heaven, the celestial manna,
;
which Truth affords. Then the threefold ellipse, the cross,
trefoil, and waters, are they not reminders of the fact that