Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECHET SOCIETY. 365
8. What part did the old printers and publishers play in the
For instance, John Norton (Lady Anne Bacon's
secret society?
cousin) and the Spottisworths (both families in which these
trades have in an eminent degree flourished ever since).
9. Did the " Baconian " water-marks remain in use until
circa 1G80, — in fact, for just one hundred years from the time
when the first document of the Rosicrucian society was published?
10. Was it intended that, by the end of the period of one
hundred years, all the posthumous works of Francis Bacon,
" My cabinet and presses full of papers," should have been published
by his followers? and did the
printed books cease at that period?
system of water-marks in
11. Are printers and paper-makers, as a rule, Freemasons?
Do they mutually co-operate and understand each other's
marks?
12. If not, what reasons do they adduce for the mystery
which is still cast over simple matters connected with their useful
and beneficent crafts, and for the unusual difficulties which
are met with in obtaining any good books or any trustworthy
information upon the subjects which we have been considering?
13. Is there any period at which modern Freemasonry and
Rosicrucianism propose to clear up and reveal these apparently
useless and obstructive " secrets " ?
14. Or, what is supposed to be the advantage, either to the
public or to individuals, in keeping up these or other mystifications-,
historical or mechanical? Once, doubtless, helpful and
protective, guides as well as guardians, they now seem to be
mere stumbling-blocks in the way of knowledge.
Further on we shall have to inquire, who are they who have
the right and the power so to manipulate the printed catalogues
of our public libraries as to enable them to convey hints
to the initiated of books specially to their purpose; and to repress
open references to certain books or documents which
would tell the uninitiated too much ? For the present we merely
throw out these hints to encourage observers to note very precisely
every instance in which such aberrations occur.
In matters