-
Articles/Ads
Article FREEMASONRY AND CIVILIZATION. ← Page 2 of 3 Article FREEMASONRY AND CIVILIZATION. Page 2 of 3 Article FREEMASONRY AND CIVILIZATION. Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry And Civilization.
I 756 and 1784 respectively . I stated that tils chief characteristic of the work was a statement of the re-election of the Earl of Crawfotd , Lord Weymouth ' s name being omitted . I hope Bro . Hughan may be able to give some information . Yours fratcrna'ly , I . P . M .
533-THE PRIMITIVE 1 LLUMINATI . ( Co'litihueii fiam . Page 252 ) * Dear Sir and Brother , — We have all of us heard of the notorious Criminal whose reluctance to consummate his apotheosis is recorded by thc poet in the lines »• . oft fitted the halter , oft traversed thc cart , "
And often took leave , but was loath to depart . " 1 am constrained to imitate that frequently adduced malefactor , and , at the risk of the reflection occurring in tbe minds of my readers , that " Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage , " to ask their indulgence for yet another letter to succeed this , 1 » bich I trust will take the form of a summary .
For Ihe present week , I cannot undertake to deal with fnore than the two first of the subjects which I enumerated for enquiry in the concluding sentence , of my last Communication . 1 proceed now to perform this task . It would be a very interesting enquiry to investigate the extent ot the prevalence of a belief in the resurrection from the dead in the ancient Wortck That the
comparatively modern sect of the Sadducees did not believe in this article : of faith alluded to in the New Testament aS being rather an exceptional state of mind among the Jews . Ancient literature alio evinces that this Form of unbelief was by no means general .
We may indeed , assert from an acquaintance with early writings , that a belief in the doctrine or the resurrection , even more intelligent than that now generally entertained , was widely diffused in the 'golden days of learning in all the ancient States oi trie world . The creed that Professor Longfellow has beautifully epitomised ;
* There ( s 110 Death ! What seems so is transition This life of mortal breath , Is but a suburb of the life clysian Whose portal we call death . " f lias been more or less familiar to the mind of man in all ages . Among the Grecian sages , Plato , whom I have already quoted , may be again instanced .
Conspicuous hcreanent m the Latin writers shines Seneca , and I have somewhere read , but I cannot , this moment , remember where , and it is not xvorth while to seiich for the authoiity , for perhaps the idt a is but fantastical , that this writer was himself a Mason , or rather , to continue my neutral term , one of the Primitive llluraiinati , and based his idea upon the teachings he . had ,
as such imbibed . I bave , too , some floating indistinct remembrance that thc same authority , when found , can be cited lor the theory that St . Paul was a Mason , initiated by the above named great Roman author , whose was the house in which the Apostle lodged while sojourning in Rome . Classical readers vill readily recall the well-Vnown , half confident , half dubious epigram of the
Emperar Hadrian . % Reflective minds too will ponder over the many allusions , express and implied scattered throughout all the philosophical wri'ings of antiquity , to a notion of corruption producing Incorruptibility : a something deposited in a tomb or womb undergoing a change " into something new and strange ; " the wondrous analogy between death and life ,
apparent destruction and real birth . Familiar to us all is the exquisite illustration of St . Paul , so appropriately eraployedin the Burial Service of the Church of England , " that which thou sowest is not quickened , except it die , " 1 Cor . xv ., v . 3 6 ; and numerous other passages of Holy Writ might he cited to show how widely spread in thc ancient world was the notion of thc inexorable necessity of decay as invariably productive of vitality .
Howsoever then this belief originated we must admit that it was extensively entertained . As germane to our present subject , what we have now to examine is as to how far it was applied to an expectation of the material resurrection of the martyred founder of a sect . Volumes have been wiitten upon the myths of Osiris and Isis . of Venus and Adonis , of Saturn and many others , analogous to these , that will recur to minds versed in classical mythology . It is curious to observe that the martyred
Freemasonry And Civilization.
Osiris is said to have ehliglitericd mankind "by introducing among thefti the worship of the gods and a reverence tor the wisdom of a Supreme Being . " * TTie peculiar mutilation of this confessor , after his legendary liiurdcr by his brother Typhon , doubtlessly gave rise to the notorious Phallic worship — in itself and in its ' pure practice ; but the expression of a simple reverence for the phenomena of reproduction—a Superstition which I cannot
but think has bet'n treated a little too summarily and therefore too severely , by the learned and reverend editor of the " Masonic ttncyc ! opa ? dia , " where the incidence rather than the . essence , the abuse rather than the professed usft , of thc peculiar rite seems alone to be considered , and , from that point of view , justifiably aninadverted upon . f And this would seem to be a convenient opportunity for
introducing Dr . Lempriere ' s expression of opinion that the notion ot Phallic worship among the ancients never conveyed any impure thought or lascivious reflection . In this too he is supported by the high authority of Dr . Smith iii his " Grecian and Roman Antiquities . " On the other hand , Lingam worship , the Hindoo torm of the Phallic superstition , has been denounced by the equally eminent
authority of Lore Macaulay , who denounces Lingamism as " not merely idolatfy , but idolatry in its most pernicious form ; " it must be remembered , however , that it was but consistent with the other elen ents of the Hindoo mythology . In the same speech this able statesman has asserted that " through the whole Hindoo Pantheon you will look in Vain for anything resembling those beautiful and mystic forms
which stood in the shuhes of ancient Greece . All is hideous and grotesque and ignoble . "J The probability is , as Mr . Franks , the profoundly learned curator of the Hindoo antiquities in the national collection , recently remarked to me , that the cult took various forms , more or less refined , or gross , according to the clinriate of the country and temperament of its followers ' , and that
thc study has been rendered difficult and revolting by thc importation of matetials , not necessarily Accessory to the worship , not even necessarily antique , but the miscellaneous gatherings of which , include among genuine amulets and reputed charms many obscene toys and represcntatations , the productions of those who in all ages have been found only too ready to pander to depraved and profligate
tastes . It is very curious , by the bye , to observe that remains of this peculiar superstition are not only Ibun-i , and found prodigally , distributed in the remote East , and in the far West—for there are Peruvian monuments having distinctly a Phallic reference—but also midway , so lo speak , for there are Runic stones discovered in Ireland , with figures sculpturcd / thereon , leaving no doubt of their
allusions . Also it is'not generally known to how ! gte . , a period the traditions of the myth descended . Perhaps even now the continental pcasantiy , notwithstanding the strenuous exertions of the Roman Catholic Church , are not entirely emancipated from this idolatrous boiie'S-ge ; nay , the vulgar of our own country apparently retain , unwittingly , some traces of it , and so lately as 1709 , the
worship of Priapus essentially , though not in terms , practised , was found prevalent in the Island of Sicily . § It must not be rashly assumed that the apparently revolting study of thc Phallic idolatry is irrelevant to the consideration of our subject . It pertains tc it thus . In the first place , the theory of a Primitive llluminati preserving , amongst the grossn ' esses of early mankind , the
pure cult of refined spiritual worship , cannot be adequately discussed without some notion of the kind of creed , if creed it can be called , against which their lives weie a constant protest . The material sacrifices made by the early professors of a life of intellectual—of spiritual— - purity can only be adequately appreciated by Conterflplating the temptations by which they were surrounded , the
vicious allurements to which their kinsfolk , their friends , their pupils , their dependents , were , probably , day by day succumbing around them . The study of this peculiar form of heathenism is useful to the pure-minded enquirer as illustrating that peculiar polluting influence of paganism —made attractive to the young by the bait of physical enjoyment—against which thc Jewish lawgivers , under
Divine inspiration , so sedulously strove to guard the chosen people . Secondly , considering how the theory of the resurrection of the body is bound up with our modern system of speculative Freemasonry , a superstition which continues almost to our own time the traditition , if not the piactice , of t he worship of one of the earliest myths in which the doctrine appears , i . e ., that of Osiris and Isis , cannot but
be a subject of absorbing interest to the speculator in the antiquity of the Craft . Returning to the charge , I again submit that the inculcation of the duty of personal physical sacrifice to purchase the reward of a glorious future life , was one of the most powerful influences the emeritii could bring to bear upon their proselytes as a prophylactic against debasing temptation .
All kinds of theories have been propounded as the origin of this tenet : a something—a feature—an clement—devouring something else , seems to be the broad foundation . There is the legend of Thetis—and the earliest savage on the sea shore has beheld the day god suddenly sink into the broad bosom ot the deep , westward—has seen him a few hours afterwards arise in the east in renewed glory . The Runic monuments , the wonderful circles of Stonehenge and Albury , although out of sight of the ocean , have all been
Freemasonry And Civilization.
apparently constructed with a view to the contemplation of this daily re-occurring phenomenon of nature ; , There is the myth of Satufn devouring his children , and the rudest hortlad was familiar with the daily repetition of the Spectacle of the darkness of night Apparently swallowing up the light of day . Extending the time of duration of the phenomenon-, we have the exquisite Apologue of Adonis
restored to life by Proserpine on condition that he ( the risen ) should spend one half of each year , with Verius , the other half with his fair restorer d cleat allusion to the alternation of the seasons ; and it is remarkable , anent our present subject , to observe that anciently Adonis was frequently taken for Osiris , " because the festivals of both were often begun with mournful lamentations , and finished with a
revival of joy as if they were returning to life again . * Till a very late period the Chinese attributed the natural phenomenon of an eclipse to a great dragon seeking td entomb the sun or moon ; as the case might be , in his maw , afid tlie vulgar actually went out , making a hideous din with gongs and rattles , to frighten the presumed devourer away . All mankind from the remotest period of the existence of the race upon the earth , have observed the alternate victory of
darkness over light and of light over darkness , and it is not to be wondered at if some dim notion of the great truth of the doctrine of the resurrection dawried lirJort trie mind from tbe constant recurrence of this material mani * testation , tn Holy Writ We hive repeated instances of that which is there presented to us as a miracle , and it is a singular feature that the figure three repeatedly recurs . Either the dend remains inert for three daysf—the
Shun-* Dr . Lempriere . f There is a .. curious lingering in the minds of the lower . classes ; of the habit of believing in the possibility of an actual resurrection from the dead of a favourite leader . In our grandfathers' time numbers believed , or professed to believe , that the notorious Johanna Southcott would " rise again ; " the period fixed upon was the traditio nal tt . rec
days . With a strange inconsistency her devotees adduced the fact of the absence of the usual rigor mortis as . ft sound foundation for their expectations , not seeing that the admission of the existence of the condition of trante wouW necessarily displace the fulfilment of her prediction of a miracle . When 1 was a very small schoolboy there was a marine-store shop on Tower-hill , which , whenever my
friends gave me the treat of a visit to that fortress , irresistibly attracted my attention , for its window displayed the battered lecpard skin bedizened casques of bapoteon ' s cuirassiers , and the horse-hair plumed and comb-adorned helmets of our own life-guards , with . bullet-bruised and perorated cuirasses and breast-plateS of the heavy cavalry of boih nations , thc relics of the then comparatively retrerit
Battle of Waterloo . One day a number of cutlasses , of pretiy . much the pattern now regulation in the navy , was exposred in the window , and to my enquiries anent them the reply was given— " Oh , they are the swords Sir William Honeywood Courtenay Thorn bought to arm his followers with . " Many years afterwards a hangr-dog ' -looking individual was pointed out to me as Thorn ' s agent for
procuring these lethal weapons , just returned from seven years' transportation ( or his share in the outbreak . Heaven knows if it were true that he was the man . He might have been adduced to satisfy my curiosity , ( for I was discussing Thorn ' s affair at the time ) , as the reader will remember John Westlcck improvised a member of the swell-mob out of a respectable and innocent passer by , to
satisfy Tom Pinch ' s provincial curiosity to gaze upon a pickpocket in the flesh , But this emeUte of the impostor Thorn is by no rneans irrelevant to the consideration of the deepIy = rooted belief in the minds of the vulgar of the possibility of an actual material resurrection , inasmuch as , it proves the existence of the faith so late PS the year 1538 j but this , I believe ) is tile last Instance of it . The
schoolmaster abroad has , probably , since then , effectually laid this long lingering ghost of superstition . This fellow Thom was an awful scamp . He had been punished for arson , for obtaining goods under false pretences , for defrauding his creditors , for Heaven knows whatnot . He had no more to do with the eminently aristocratic county family of thc Kentish Honeywood Courtenays than St . John Long , his
contemporary impostor , had . it is very awful to recall this scoundrel ' s pretensions . He was not content with dubbing himself chevalier and taking the name of one of the best families in the county . beside calling himself Knight of Malta , he assumed to be , and seemed to be able to persuade his ignorant followers tbat he was , the Messiah , appearing in another avatar upon earth . He constantly
told them that , like Him , he should apparently give his life for tbe cause , but that they need not despair , for—again like Him—he should lise again in three days to establish his kingdom upon earth . His trumpery insurrection seemed , in a period of great national suffering among the poor and lowly , to have a kind of socialistic communistic object , The peasantry of MidrKent flocked to this new and
fanatic combination of John of Leyden , Wat Tyler , and Jack Cade . On the constabulary attempting to disperse the mob Thom shot a constable dead , and afterwards spurned the body with his foot and out-raged it with his sword . The aid of the military was then invoked , when the miscreant coolly pistolled a young ensign advancing to parley and , in token of his desire , displaying
the usual pacific emblem of a white handkerchief . This was too much for the troops , who gave fire , and Thom and some of his followers fell . His body was buried in—I am not sure whether it was Harbledown ( near Canterbury ) , or Boughton Churchyard—but at all events , on the third day after his death , the cemetery was crowded by
thousands of the Kentish peasantry , many of whom recalled the prediction they had heard from their dead leader ' s own lips . ' Of course the turf above the prone carcase of the riotous assassin remained undisturbed , but it is curious to reflect that such an instance of superstition occurred ta so late a period as the first year of the reign of Her beloved present Majesty ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry And Civilization.
I 756 and 1784 respectively . I stated that tils chief characteristic of the work was a statement of the re-election of the Earl of Crawfotd , Lord Weymouth ' s name being omitted . I hope Bro . Hughan may be able to give some information . Yours fratcrna'ly , I . P . M .
533-THE PRIMITIVE 1 LLUMINATI . ( Co'litihueii fiam . Page 252 ) * Dear Sir and Brother , — We have all of us heard of the notorious Criminal whose reluctance to consummate his apotheosis is recorded by thc poet in the lines »• . oft fitted the halter , oft traversed thc cart , "
And often took leave , but was loath to depart . " 1 am constrained to imitate that frequently adduced malefactor , and , at the risk of the reflection occurring in tbe minds of my readers , that " Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage , " to ask their indulgence for yet another letter to succeed this , 1 » bich I trust will take the form of a summary .
For Ihe present week , I cannot undertake to deal with fnore than the two first of the subjects which I enumerated for enquiry in the concluding sentence , of my last Communication . 1 proceed now to perform this task . It would be a very interesting enquiry to investigate the extent ot the prevalence of a belief in the resurrection from the dead in the ancient Wortck That the
comparatively modern sect of the Sadducees did not believe in this article : of faith alluded to in the New Testament aS being rather an exceptional state of mind among the Jews . Ancient literature alio evinces that this Form of unbelief was by no means general .
We may indeed , assert from an acquaintance with early writings , that a belief in the doctrine or the resurrection , even more intelligent than that now generally entertained , was widely diffused in the 'golden days of learning in all the ancient States oi trie world . The creed that Professor Longfellow has beautifully epitomised ;
* There ( s 110 Death ! What seems so is transition This life of mortal breath , Is but a suburb of the life clysian Whose portal we call death . " f lias been more or less familiar to the mind of man in all ages . Among the Grecian sages , Plato , whom I have already quoted , may be again instanced .
Conspicuous hcreanent m the Latin writers shines Seneca , and I have somewhere read , but I cannot , this moment , remember where , and it is not xvorth while to seiich for the authoiity , for perhaps the idt a is but fantastical , that this writer was himself a Mason , or rather , to continue my neutral term , one of the Primitive llluraiinati , and based his idea upon the teachings he . had ,
as such imbibed . I bave , too , some floating indistinct remembrance that thc same authority , when found , can be cited lor the theory that St . Paul was a Mason , initiated by the above named great Roman author , whose was the house in which the Apostle lodged while sojourning in Rome . Classical readers vill readily recall the well-Vnown , half confident , half dubious epigram of the
Emperar Hadrian . % Reflective minds too will ponder over the many allusions , express and implied scattered throughout all the philosophical wri'ings of antiquity , to a notion of corruption producing Incorruptibility : a something deposited in a tomb or womb undergoing a change " into something new and strange ; " the wondrous analogy between death and life ,
apparent destruction and real birth . Familiar to us all is the exquisite illustration of St . Paul , so appropriately eraployedin the Burial Service of the Church of England , " that which thou sowest is not quickened , except it die , " 1 Cor . xv ., v . 3 6 ; and numerous other passages of Holy Writ might he cited to show how widely spread in thc ancient world was the notion of thc inexorable necessity of decay as invariably productive of vitality .
Howsoever then this belief originated we must admit that it was extensively entertained . As germane to our present subject , what we have now to examine is as to how far it was applied to an expectation of the material resurrection of the martyred founder of a sect . Volumes have been wiitten upon the myths of Osiris and Isis . of Venus and Adonis , of Saturn and many others , analogous to these , that will recur to minds versed in classical mythology . It is curious to observe that the martyred
Freemasonry And Civilization.
Osiris is said to have ehliglitericd mankind "by introducing among thefti the worship of the gods and a reverence tor the wisdom of a Supreme Being . " * TTie peculiar mutilation of this confessor , after his legendary liiurdcr by his brother Typhon , doubtlessly gave rise to the notorious Phallic worship — in itself and in its ' pure practice ; but the expression of a simple reverence for the phenomena of reproduction—a Superstition which I cannot
but think has bet'n treated a little too summarily and therefore too severely , by the learned and reverend editor of the " Masonic ttncyc ! opa ? dia , " where the incidence rather than the . essence , the abuse rather than the professed usft , of thc peculiar rite seems alone to be considered , and , from that point of view , justifiably aninadverted upon . f And this would seem to be a convenient opportunity for
introducing Dr . Lempriere ' s expression of opinion that the notion ot Phallic worship among the ancients never conveyed any impure thought or lascivious reflection . In this too he is supported by the high authority of Dr . Smith iii his " Grecian and Roman Antiquities . " On the other hand , Lingam worship , the Hindoo torm of the Phallic superstition , has been denounced by the equally eminent
authority of Lore Macaulay , who denounces Lingamism as " not merely idolatfy , but idolatry in its most pernicious form ; " it must be remembered , however , that it was but consistent with the other elen ents of the Hindoo mythology . In the same speech this able statesman has asserted that " through the whole Hindoo Pantheon you will look in Vain for anything resembling those beautiful and mystic forms
which stood in the shuhes of ancient Greece . All is hideous and grotesque and ignoble . "J The probability is , as Mr . Franks , the profoundly learned curator of the Hindoo antiquities in the national collection , recently remarked to me , that the cult took various forms , more or less refined , or gross , according to the clinriate of the country and temperament of its followers ' , and that
thc study has been rendered difficult and revolting by thc importation of matetials , not necessarily Accessory to the worship , not even necessarily antique , but the miscellaneous gatherings of which , include among genuine amulets and reputed charms many obscene toys and represcntatations , the productions of those who in all ages have been found only too ready to pander to depraved and profligate
tastes . It is very curious , by the bye , to observe that remains of this peculiar superstition are not only Ibun-i , and found prodigally , distributed in the remote East , and in the far West—for there are Peruvian monuments having distinctly a Phallic reference—but also midway , so lo speak , for there are Runic stones discovered in Ireland , with figures sculpturcd / thereon , leaving no doubt of their
allusions . Also it is'not generally known to how ! gte . , a period the traditions of the myth descended . Perhaps even now the continental pcasantiy , notwithstanding the strenuous exertions of the Roman Catholic Church , are not entirely emancipated from this idolatrous boiie'S-ge ; nay , the vulgar of our own country apparently retain , unwittingly , some traces of it , and so lately as 1709 , the
worship of Priapus essentially , though not in terms , practised , was found prevalent in the Island of Sicily . § It must not be rashly assumed that the apparently revolting study of thc Phallic idolatry is irrelevant to the consideration of our subject . It pertains tc it thus . In the first place , the theory of a Primitive llluminati preserving , amongst the grossn ' esses of early mankind , the
pure cult of refined spiritual worship , cannot be adequately discussed without some notion of the kind of creed , if creed it can be called , against which their lives weie a constant protest . The material sacrifices made by the early professors of a life of intellectual—of spiritual— - purity can only be adequately appreciated by Conterflplating the temptations by which they were surrounded , the
vicious allurements to which their kinsfolk , their friends , their pupils , their dependents , were , probably , day by day succumbing around them . The study of this peculiar form of heathenism is useful to the pure-minded enquirer as illustrating that peculiar polluting influence of paganism —made attractive to the young by the bait of physical enjoyment—against which thc Jewish lawgivers , under
Divine inspiration , so sedulously strove to guard the chosen people . Secondly , considering how the theory of the resurrection of the body is bound up with our modern system of speculative Freemasonry , a superstition which continues almost to our own time the traditition , if not the piactice , of t he worship of one of the earliest myths in which the doctrine appears , i . e ., that of Osiris and Isis , cannot but
be a subject of absorbing interest to the speculator in the antiquity of the Craft . Returning to the charge , I again submit that the inculcation of the duty of personal physical sacrifice to purchase the reward of a glorious future life , was one of the most powerful influences the emeritii could bring to bear upon their proselytes as a prophylactic against debasing temptation .
All kinds of theories have been propounded as the origin of this tenet : a something—a feature—an clement—devouring something else , seems to be the broad foundation . There is the legend of Thetis—and the earliest savage on the sea shore has beheld the day god suddenly sink into the broad bosom ot the deep , westward—has seen him a few hours afterwards arise in the east in renewed glory . The Runic monuments , the wonderful circles of Stonehenge and Albury , although out of sight of the ocean , have all been
Freemasonry And Civilization.
apparently constructed with a view to the contemplation of this daily re-occurring phenomenon of nature ; , There is the myth of Satufn devouring his children , and the rudest hortlad was familiar with the daily repetition of the Spectacle of the darkness of night Apparently swallowing up the light of day . Extending the time of duration of the phenomenon-, we have the exquisite Apologue of Adonis
restored to life by Proserpine on condition that he ( the risen ) should spend one half of each year , with Verius , the other half with his fair restorer d cleat allusion to the alternation of the seasons ; and it is remarkable , anent our present subject , to observe that anciently Adonis was frequently taken for Osiris , " because the festivals of both were often begun with mournful lamentations , and finished with a
revival of joy as if they were returning to life again . * Till a very late period the Chinese attributed the natural phenomenon of an eclipse to a great dragon seeking td entomb the sun or moon ; as the case might be , in his maw , afid tlie vulgar actually went out , making a hideous din with gongs and rattles , to frighten the presumed devourer away . All mankind from the remotest period of the existence of the race upon the earth , have observed the alternate victory of
darkness over light and of light over darkness , and it is not to be wondered at if some dim notion of the great truth of the doctrine of the resurrection dawried lirJort trie mind from tbe constant recurrence of this material mani * testation , tn Holy Writ We hive repeated instances of that which is there presented to us as a miracle , and it is a singular feature that the figure three repeatedly recurs . Either the dend remains inert for three daysf—the
Shun-* Dr . Lempriere . f There is a .. curious lingering in the minds of the lower . classes ; of the habit of believing in the possibility of an actual resurrection from the dead of a favourite leader . In our grandfathers' time numbers believed , or professed to believe , that the notorious Johanna Southcott would " rise again ; " the period fixed upon was the traditio nal tt . rec
days . With a strange inconsistency her devotees adduced the fact of the absence of the usual rigor mortis as . ft sound foundation for their expectations , not seeing that the admission of the existence of the condition of trante wouW necessarily displace the fulfilment of her prediction of a miracle . When 1 was a very small schoolboy there was a marine-store shop on Tower-hill , which , whenever my
friends gave me the treat of a visit to that fortress , irresistibly attracted my attention , for its window displayed the battered lecpard skin bedizened casques of bapoteon ' s cuirassiers , and the horse-hair plumed and comb-adorned helmets of our own life-guards , with . bullet-bruised and perorated cuirasses and breast-plateS of the heavy cavalry of boih nations , thc relics of the then comparatively retrerit
Battle of Waterloo . One day a number of cutlasses , of pretiy . much the pattern now regulation in the navy , was exposred in the window , and to my enquiries anent them the reply was given— " Oh , they are the swords Sir William Honeywood Courtenay Thorn bought to arm his followers with . " Many years afterwards a hangr-dog ' -looking individual was pointed out to me as Thorn ' s agent for
procuring these lethal weapons , just returned from seven years' transportation ( or his share in the outbreak . Heaven knows if it were true that he was the man . He might have been adduced to satisfy my curiosity , ( for I was discussing Thorn ' s affair at the time ) , as the reader will remember John Westlcck improvised a member of the swell-mob out of a respectable and innocent passer by , to
satisfy Tom Pinch ' s provincial curiosity to gaze upon a pickpocket in the flesh , But this emeUte of the impostor Thorn is by no rneans irrelevant to the consideration of the deepIy = rooted belief in the minds of the vulgar of the possibility of an actual material resurrection , inasmuch as , it proves the existence of the faith so late PS the year 1538 j but this , I believe ) is tile last Instance of it . The
schoolmaster abroad has , probably , since then , effectually laid this long lingering ghost of superstition . This fellow Thom was an awful scamp . He had been punished for arson , for obtaining goods under false pretences , for defrauding his creditors , for Heaven knows whatnot . He had no more to do with the eminently aristocratic county family of thc Kentish Honeywood Courtenays than St . John Long , his
contemporary impostor , had . it is very awful to recall this scoundrel ' s pretensions . He was not content with dubbing himself chevalier and taking the name of one of the best families in the county . beside calling himself Knight of Malta , he assumed to be , and seemed to be able to persuade his ignorant followers tbat he was , the Messiah , appearing in another avatar upon earth . He constantly
told them that , like Him , he should apparently give his life for tbe cause , but that they need not despair , for—again like Him—he should lise again in three days to establish his kingdom upon earth . His trumpery insurrection seemed , in a period of great national suffering among the poor and lowly , to have a kind of socialistic communistic object , The peasantry of MidrKent flocked to this new and
fanatic combination of John of Leyden , Wat Tyler , and Jack Cade . On the constabulary attempting to disperse the mob Thom shot a constable dead , and afterwards spurned the body with his foot and out-raged it with his sword . The aid of the military was then invoked , when the miscreant coolly pistolled a young ensign advancing to parley and , in token of his desire , displaying
the usual pacific emblem of a white handkerchief . This was too much for the troops , who gave fire , and Thom and some of his followers fell . His body was buried in—I am not sure whether it was Harbledown ( near Canterbury ) , or Boughton Churchyard—but at all events , on the third day after his death , the cemetery was crowded by
thousands of the Kentish peasantry , many of whom recalled the prediction they had heard from their dead leader ' s own lips . ' Of course the turf above the prone carcase of the riotous assassin remained undisturbed , but it is curious to reflect that such an instance of superstition occurred ta so late a period as the first year of the reign of Her beloved present Majesty ,