Knights Templar in Palestine, in the year 1188, and he adds that Prince Edward, the son of Henry III., of England, was admitted into the order by Raymond Lulle, in 1196. Westerode names Ormesius, an Egyptian priest, who had been converted to Christianity, as its founder.

Others have attributed the origin of this degree to a learned and pious monk, John Valentine Andreæ, Abbot of Adelberg, who died in 1564, and among whose writings are to be found several treatises which relate to this subject.* Ragon says of Andreæ, that, profoundly grieved at seeing the principles of the Christian religion forgotten in vain disputes, and science made subservient to the pride of man, instead of contributing to his happiness, he passed his days in devising what he supposed to be the most appropriate means of restoring each to its legitimate moral and benevolent tendency. It may be that with this view the eminently Christian degree of Rose Croix was invented by him. But notwithstanding the authority of Ragon, sustained as it is by that of Nicolai in his work on the "Crimes imputed to the Templars," we are inclined to suspect that the labours and the writings of the Abbot of Adelberg referred rather to the Rosicrucian alchemists, than to the Rose Croix Masons.

Other authors have supposed that they could find the origin of the Rose Croix, or at least of its emblems, in a book published in 1601, by Jacobus Typotus, the historiographer to Rhodolph the Second. The book of Typotus, on which rests any claims which may be made to his paternity of the Rose Croix degree, is entitled "Symbola divina et humana pontificum, imperatorum, regum," and it is in that part of it which is devoted to the "symbol of the holy cross," that the allusions are found which seem to indicate the author's knowledge of this degree. Ragon, however, who appears to have seen the work, utterly refutes the idea of any connection between the emblems of Typotus and those of the Rose Croix.

Two especially, one entitled "Judicorum de fraternitate R. C. Chaos," and the other "Noces chemiques de Rozen-Crutz.”

Clavel, with his usual boldness of assertion, which is too often independent of facts, declares that the degree was invented by the Jesuits for the purpose of countermining the insidious attacks of the free-thinkers upon the Roman Catholic religion, but that the philosophers parried the attempt by seizing upon the degree and giving to all its symbols an astronomical signification. Clavel's opinion is probably derived from one of those sweeping charges of Professor Robison, in which that systematic enemy of our institution declares, that about the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Jesuits interfered considerably with masonry, "insinuating themselves into the lodges, and contributing to increase that religious mysticism that is to be observed in all the ceremonies of the order."* But there is no better evidence than these mere vague assertions, of the connection of the Jesuits with the Rose Croix degree.

Oliver says that the earliest notice that he finds of this degree, is in a publication of 1613, entitled "La Reformation universelle du monde entier avec la fama fraternitatis de l'Ordre respectable de la Rose Croix." But he adds, that "it was known much sooner, although not probably as a degree in masonry; for it existed as a cabalistic science from the earliest times in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as among the Jews and Moors in times more recent."+

Oliver, however, undoubtedly, in the latter part of this paragraph, confounds the masonic Rose Croix with the alchemical Rosicrucians, and the former is singularly inconsistent with the details that he gives in another part of his writings respecting an order to which we are now about to allude, and which it seems probable to us had as much as any other, to do with the institution of the degree in question.

There is a tradition among the Masons of Scotland, that after the dissolution of the Templars, many of the knights repaired to

Proofs of a Conspiracy, p. 21.

† Oliver's Landmarks, vol. ii. p. 81, n. 35.

Scotland, and placed themselves under the protection of Robert Bruce; and that, after the battle of Bannockburn, which took place on St. John the Baptist's day, in the year 1314, this monarch instituted the Royal Order of Herodom and Knight of the Rosy Cross, and established the chief seat of the order at Kilwinning. From that order, it seems to us by no means improbable that the present degree of Rose Croix de Heroden may have taken its origin. In two respects, at least, there seems to be a very close connection between the two systems: they both claim the kingdom of Scotland and the Abbey of Kilwinning as having been at one time their chief seat of government, and they both seem to have been instituted to give a Christian explanation to Ancient Craft Masonry. There is, besides, a similarity in the names of the degrees of "Rose Croix de Heroden," and "Herodom and Rosy Cross," amounting almost to an identity, which appears to indicate a very intimate relation of one to the other.

The subject, however, is in a state of inextricable confusion; and I confess that, after all my researches, I am still unable distinctly to point to the period when, and to the place where, the present degree of Rose Croix received its organization as a masonic grade.

No matter, however, where precisely it received its origin, nor who has the honour of having been its inventor, it is at least certain that the degree of Rose Croix is to be placed among the most ancient of the higher degrees of masonry; and that this antiquity, in connection with the importance of its design and the solemnity of its ritual, has given to it a universality in the masonic world, inferior only to the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. It is to be found, as I have already said, in nearly all the rites, under some name and in some modification, and in many of them it is placed at the summit of the ritual.

In the Ancient and Accepted Scotch rite, whence nearly all the Rose Croix Masons of this country have derived the degree, it is placed as the eighteenth on the list. Some ilea of the im

portance of the degree may be obtained from a brief detail of the preparatory ceremonies which are necessary to be performed by all candidates who make application for it.

The ceremonies and history of a chapter of Rose Croix, are of such a nature as to render it impossible to give any account of them here. The presiding officer is called "Ever Most Perfect Sovereign," and the two Wardens are styled "Most Excellent and Perfect Brothers." The annual feast of the order is on Shrove Tuesday, and must be celebrated by every member. There are five other obligatory days of meeting, viz. Ascension day; St. John the Baptist's day, Pentecost; St. John the Evangelist's day; Tuesday after Easter; and All Saints' day.

The degree is conferred in a body called a "Chapter of the Sovereign Princes of Rose Croix," which derives its authority immediately from the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third, and which confers with it, only one other and inferior degree, that of "Knights of the East and West." The aspirant for the degree of Rose Croix, who must, of course, have received all the preparatory degrees, applies at the door of the chapter with a petition for admission; and if his prayer be granted, the time and place of his reception are made known to him, when he retires to return on the appointed day.

On his second application, before admission, he is called upon to make the following engagements: 1, That he will never reveal the place where he was received, nor the names of those who were present at his reception; 2, That he will conform to all the ordinances of the chapter, and keep himself uniformly clothed as far as he is able; 3, That he will acknowledge his master at all times and in all places, and never confer this degree without permission from proper authority, as well as answer for the probity and respectability of those whom he may thereafter propose; 4, That he will be extremely cautious in granting the degree, so that it may not be unnecessarily multiplied.

There are two kinds of aprons. The first, or mourning apron, is white bordered with black; on the flap are a skull and cross

bones between three red roses; on the apron is a globe surrounded by a serpent, and above the letter J. The second apron, used on festive occasions, is red, lined and bordered with the same; on it a triple triangle of gold, with three squares within three circles, and a J in the centre; above these the compasses extended, one point resting on the triangle, the other on the circles. This is the apron of the Scotch rite. The first apron in the French rite is black with a red cross. The second is white, bordered with red, and inscribed with the jewel of the degree. The collar is red, with the eagle of the degree embroidered on it.

The jewel of the Rose Croix is a golden compass, extended on an arc to the sixteenth part of a circle or twenty-two and a half degrees. The head of the compass is surmounted by a triple crown, consisting of three series of points, arranged by three, five, and seven. Between the legs of the compass is a cross resting on the arc of the circle; its centre is occupied by a full blown rose, whose stem twines around the lower limb of the cross; at the foot of the cross, on the same side on which the rose is exhibited, is the figure of a pelican wounding its breast to feed its young, which are in a nest surrounding it, while on the other side of the jewel is the figure of an eagle with wings displayed. On the arc of the circle, the P... W.. of the degree is engraved in the cipher of the order.

In this jewel are included the most important symbols of the degree. The cross, the rose, the pelican, and the eagle, are all important symbols, the explanation of which will go far to a comprehension of what is the true design of the Rose Croix order.

Of these emblems the eagle is perhaps the least important, and its application the most difficult to explain. The symbol, however, is of great antiquity. In Egypt, Greece, and Persia, this bird was sacred to the sun. Among the pagans it was an emblem of Jupiter, and with the Druids it was a symbol of their supreme God. In the Scriptures a distinguished reference is many instances made to the eagle; especially do we find Moses

in