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the miserand scattered around him 64 mit...
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LIVES OF MISEBS. Lives and Anecdotes of ...
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wilson's catholicity. Catliolicity—Spiri...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Schlosser S Historv Op The Eighteenth Ce...
order of freemasons , and a ll that its founders knew of ceremonies , consecrations , and pretended secrets was very insignificant : Knigge was the fiTst who gave the order a form , which he borrowed from that of the treemasons . This nobleman and bon-vivant was y « zy far indeed from having any tendency toward * mysticism and a contemplative life , since he , as well as- Weisbaupt and VonZwackh , troubled himself very little about morality ; but he was thoroughly acquainted with outward life and all its intrigues . Moreover , in the then existing condition of things in Bavaria , it might have been expedient and useful to found another order for the promotion of enlightenment , after the model , but expressly ln . opposition to that of the Jesuits and mystics ; and these
circumstances induced many of the noblest men of . our German plains , whose names are to be found in > the Hata of tbp illuminati , to unite with such , persons as Weishaupt , Zwackh , and Knigge . Among the names of those Bavarians who were persecuted as illuminati , there will be found those of the most distinguished and best men of the country , but at the same time many , such as that of Montgelas and others , of a very different description . The principles of the illuminati , however , even opened the eyes of those last mentioned , for they afterwards combated with success the prevalence of the monkish spirit in the high offices of state , which from the earliest times had proved ruinous to Bavaria . In May , 1776 , Weishaupt and his anti-jesuitical friends and hearers in Landshut first conceived Jtfe < idea of founding a new
order , which in its first , or what was called its minerval degree , was to be an institution for the cultivation of a free spirit in a country in which no man durst venture to utter a free word . In consequence of Von Zwackh ' s exertions among the young men and students , the order not only soon obtained many members , but as soon as two other persons , contemporaneously with Von Zwackh , began to make a business of seeking for recruits for the order , it was extended amongst other classes and ranks . " Von Zwackh had procured some knowledge of the external furms of freemasonry , of its symbols , degrees , and initiation , with which Weishaupt was wholly unacquainted . The founders of the new order proceeded , according to their imperfect knowledge of masonry , which was then in Bavaria in a melancholy condition , to establish gradations and classes in the new order , which at first
deceived many freemasons , and led them to look upon it as a branch of freemasonry . The order of the illuminati , which was instituted in this manner as one of the numerous sects of freemasonry , which was then very widelyextended , included in its ranks , as early as 1778 , twelve lodges in Catholic Bavaria , Franconia , and the Tyrol . Such distinguished men as Born and Sonnenfels in Vienna were received into the' order , and these were the persons who afterwards , under Joseph II ., gained great renown by the extension of a system of
education in Austria in accordance with the demands and improvement of the age . The order first obtained a completely new form when Herr von Kni » ge , who was a Hanoverian baron , devoted his attention to its constitution , and applied his accurate knowledge of the order of freemasons in such a way to that of the illuminati , that he and such like men were afterwards enabled to avail themselves of the freemason lodges , as all the fanatics , visionaries , ghost-seerR , alchymists , martinisr . s , and magnetizeis had long previously done .
" This Herr von Knigge , who became so prominent a member of the illuminati in 1780 , and was discreditably known under the name of I'hilo , which he adopted as bis appellation in the order , was , like his antagonist Zimmerman , a nativo of Berne ; he , however , livrd ; . s councillor ami court physician in Hanover , and became one of those German celebrities who knew well how to practise upon and deceive the world ; an art which , as is well known , is a much surer path to renown than truth , -which only a few persons either understand or respect . Both of these in < n , by their connection with the world , their access to fashionable life , their knowledge of tne means of fluttering their patrons , and a superficial style of writing suited for the usual class of sentimental
novelreaders , understood how to obtain a name and to exercise an influence in society , which has given them an importance in history which in precisely in the inverse ratio of 1 heir merit . Knigge , by his residence as chamberlain in Weimar , and his sojourn in Frankfort and Heidelberg , had been in the very centre of mysticism and freemasonry , and made himself minutely acquainted with everything ' which waa calculated to promote such objects an those which peiMoiiK like Zimmerman and Knigge regrtid as the highest and ¦ most important in life . In order to make dial of everything , Knigge even became a Catholic , and then again a Prou-Hiunt ; mysticism and orders , priest era ft . ;> nd enlightenment were equally welcome and acceptable to him for the realization ol his designs , whilst they were liati d by Zimmerman for the advancement of / us , and ti . wards I lie end of the century they haunted and
him like a (/ host , till lie was finally diivcn actually mad . JJotli Kui ^^ e Zimmerman attained their rewriective aims , — ( lwir mimes Ix-camc universally known . Knii ^ c Hi . st played a prominent , part , in all the orders , and then be beciime almost , as celebrated a writer an Kotzebne , wi : b whou . lie mi « bt . be compared , except in the ohmI >! c HuljcuiH of which he knew nothing , and it was precisely tbohC writings by which he gained the liiglu-Ht reputation . All the newspapers teemed with prainea upon Ium thick volume on Solitude . ; the Kr < at world regarded him as a
piopbet ; whilbt . every honest , man , every muu wlio was a Hias !< iof hi . ) ) c , or capable of ( U ( p thought or tru «; feeling , looked upon him aH a miserable wight ; and Licit-nbei g of ( iouingen , the gieatcHt autiiitsl of G ' ermany , treated him an t > u « h . "
The Miserand Scattered Around Him 64 Mit...
the miserand scattered around him 64 mit * a , c a art . Satprday >
Lives Of Misebs. Lives And Anecdotes Of ...
LIVES OF MISEBS . Lives and Anecdotes of Miters : or the Passion of Jvarice Displayed . By F . Somner Merryweathet , author of Bwlu > - rnania in the Middle Ages , " " Glimmerings in the Dark . & c . Sirnpkin , Marshall , and Co . We bad recently to commend Mr . Merryweather for a pleasant unpretending book of antiquarian gossip , and have now to thank him for another amusing volume . His Anecdotes of Misers , though for the most part neither rare nor extremely curious , have a sort of collective importance . But it would .
have been well bad he limited his task to that of simple compilation , ; all that he offers in the way ol philosophy being so feeble that its absence would be a charm . The passion , of avarice with all its varieties and collaterals is a subject to task the psychologist ; and had Mr . Merry weather been a psychologist he might have made the present amusing volume an important one ; not possessing the requisite moral observation and analytic power to render his remarks suggestive , it is a pity he allowed himself to fall into trite commonplace .
Take this as a sample : — " It is difficult to discover the motives of hoary avarice —with limbs bending beneath the weight of yeais—with hair blanched by thesnows of many winters—sans sightsans teeth—sans everything—yet gloating over gold which he can never live to want , and greedy for acquisitions which can procure no happiness . We can only imagine that the mind , so absorbed by avarice , is rendered imbecile to all other feelings ; or that the thoughts become so engrossed in their mammon worship as to forget the flight of years , and the phantom of the tomb !"
This kind of rhetoric is simply fatiguing . Ask its meaning and you will see at once that the author had little or none when he wrote it . The " motives" of avarice are " difficult" to discover ; and Mr . Merryweather can only imagine these motives to be the " absorption of the mind by avarice" which renders it " imbecile to all other feelings . '" Avarice is thus the motive of avarice ; it is avarice because avarice forgets " the flight of years and the phantom of the tomb . " Enough of this philosophy . The anecdotes are better than the commentary . Here is one of
A PENURIOUS DUXE . "If the reader will take the trouble to enquire , he may glean some curious anecdotes of a ' noble ' miser of the present day , whose parsimony is so great that he deprives his domestics of their perquisites , and has been known , to have sold the refuse rat from his own kitchen for the trifle which it produced . This descendant of a valiant race may be seen , in the locality of his own mansion , with a huge basket on his arm , wandering from shop to -hop , and from stall to stall , to pick up bargains or thrifty provender for his household . He not only attends to the economy of his kitchen , but even to the
most minute ull ' iirs of his farm ; his dairy receives no small share of bis attention , and he will sometimes condescend to measure out and sell his milk in retail to the iieuthboniing villagers . One morning , it is related , a little fiirl presented herself at , the castle , and giving in her jug and penny , was served by his grace , who , pleased with her appearance , gave the little damsel a ki « s , telling her at the name : time that she would always now be able to say that . she had been kissed by a duke . ' Yis , ' replied the little ruHtiii , but you took the penny , though !' We could point to many such instances of aristocratic penury , but we do not wish t . o draw our illustrations from contemporary characters . "
Surely the concluding assertion is a little exaggerated ? Does the author really know many such instances of aristocratic penury ? The following story suggests strange reflections : — " In the year 17 (> 2 an extraordinary instance of avarice occurred in France . A miser , of the name of Fow ue , who had amassed enormous wealth by the most sordid parsimony and the most discreditable extortion , was requested by the Ciovernment to advance ; a Hum of money hh a loan . The iniaer , to whom a / air interest was not inducement Hiiflicicntly strong to enable him to part wilh his treasured gold , declared his incapacity to meet , thin
demand ; he pleaded seveic louses and the utmost poverty . Fearing , however , that some of his neighbours , among whom he was very unpopular , would report his immense wealth to the Uovernment , he applied his ingenuity to discover some effectual way of hiding his gold , riliould they attempt to institute a search to ascertain the truth or falsehood of his plea . Witli great , care and secrecy he dug a deep cave ; in bin cellar ; to thin receptacle for bin tiefl . sur <; ho dencended by a ladder , and t . o the trap door he attached a Hpring lock , so thi . t , on shutting , it would fasten of itself . Hy and bye the
miser disappeared ; 'enquiries were made ; thu house was searched ; woods were explored , and the ponds were dragged ; but . no Fohciic could they find ; and gossips began to conclude that ttio miner had Hed with his gold to some [ tart , where , by living incognito , he would be free fioin the ( leinandn of the ( ioveiiimriit . tioine time panned on ; the house in which he had lived wiih Hold , and woikmi'ii were liiihily employed in its icpiir . In the progiCHH of ru'ir work they met with the . door ol" the kccicI . cave , with the key in the lock , outside . They threw back Uio door and dcHC ^ nded with : i light . The fiisi object upon which the lamp was reflected w : ik the ghastly body of
Foscue , were heavy hags of gold and ponderous chests of untold tr easure ; a candlestick lay beside him on the floor . This worshi pper of mammon had gone into his cave to pay hia devoirs to his golden god and became a sacrifice to his devotion ! What must have- been the sensations of that miserable man—what the horrors of , his situation , when he heard the door close after him , and the spring lock effectu ally imprison him within his secret mine ! How bitter must have been the last struggles of that avaricious soul ! How terrible must have been the appeals of conscience within that sordid sinner ! Ifow each bag must have disgorged its treasure , and each , piece of gold have danced , in imagination , around him as a demon ! How hated , when the gnawing pangs of starvation came slowly upon him , must nave been that yellow vision ; sick at that
his very heart must have grown which he once so dearly loved ! Gold in bags ; gold in chests ; gold piled in heaps ; gold for a pillow ; gold strewed upon the ground- for him to lie upon ! Whilst his taper lasted , turn where he would his eyea , nothing met them but his gold . But when the last flicker died away , the miser was left in darkness to dwell upon his coming death , and upon his many sins , how awful must have been the agonies of conscience ! How , surety , amidst the gloom of that sepulchre of gold , must the poor whom he had oppressed , and the unfortunate whom he had ruined by his avarice , have rose up to reproach him ; and , when the mind became fevered by its last deadly struggles , how the faces of haggard poverty , of hate , and loathing for the miser , must , in one loud , discordant chorus , have oried for vengeano © and retribution upon his guilty soul ! " One of the best things in the book is the following epitaph , on a miser : — HERE LIE 3 JEMMY TAYLOR , alias Gripus , the Southwark Miser , Who lived and died single to save Expences . HIS MA l . GHLESS ( ECONOMY Could only be compared to his singular Resolution in SELF-DENIAL . He was so disinterested in his Disposition , that he never Preferred one Person to another , but cast an equal Eye upon all his Acquaintance . His mind was of such a peculiar Cast , that he could neither
Hear the Tale nor behold the Face of the Wretched ; And , to avoid mistaken Acts of Charity , Never bestowed the smallest Mite upon the Poor , until Death , that shakes the strong-est Head , whispered , " TAYLOR , give something to the CHURCH . " Envied by the Avaricious " for his vast Wealth , Detested by the malicious World for his severe Virtues , And regretted by none of his FRIENDS UPOxN THJK 'CHANGE . He gave up this Life , with Fears of a Better , In the Seventieth Yeau of his Existence ; And has left his Relations perfectly resigned Tt > the Will of Heaven . For having withdrawn , in good Time , the Accumulator of their Fortunes .
Wilson's Catholicity. Catliolicity—Spiri...
wilson ' s catholicity . Catliolicity—Spiritual and Intellectual . A Series of Discourses . Bv Thoinas Wilson , M . A ., late Minister of St . Peter ' s Manefoft , Norwich . John Chapman . Wi 5 have already briefly noticed these eloquent and significant discourses , which faithfully reflect the spiritual struggles of a conscientious and devout mind after a more Catholic creed than is to be found within the pale of the Church . We hope and believe that the manly protest which is made in these pages against the absolute ignoring ot Natural Religion in favour of merely Historical Faith ,
which distinguishes the established theology , will induce many others of the clergy to look with fresh eyes on the anomalous position in which they are placed . We fearlessly assert that , not only is the inculcation of Nicene and Tridentine theology—¦ of Puseyism and Popery—impossible in the present age , but that the time is -not far distant when all such authoritative teaching in matters of faith will be rejected hy the enlightened consciences of the peopic . The utter degradation of what we call Protestantism at the present moment , its open
violation of all the principles upon which it is professedly founded , its false and untenable position , its sophistical balancings between the rival claims of reason and authority , have nearly destroyed its spiritual character . ' 1 he conduct of Protestant Dissenters at the present crisis is , moreover , marked hy a total oblivion of all the rational principles of dissent , and the descendants of the Puritans and of Milton , whose noble dream was h theocracy , are found fighting in the ranks of episcopacy for the spiritual supremacy of I he Crown !
Many and various and profoundly significant arc the events daily passing around us , casting their deep shadows before them on the fated establishment . The whole idea of a priesthood is abandoned' by the evangelical clergy in general , and the Dean of Bristol , in a speech reported in the Times , amidst the rapturous cheers of his audience , brands the assumption as " the substitution of the agency of man lor the workings of the li « t : spirit of Cod . " Mr . Wilson has , m these discourses , fearlessly appended the logical conclusions to these daugeious premises . He has ably exposed the iuiuio-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 18, 1851, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18011851/page/16/
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