The Adepts.

The Adepts .

•£ * g ^—^ | HOSF . who have given close attention to the f / w * m ^\ 1 P g ress ° f Masonry during the 25 or 30 years ^ k ^ lJy 1 * - ' la ( : f ° " owe < ^ l ' establishment of the Grand [ jpsl | glU Lodge of England have doubtless read of a certain Charles Sackville , Earl—or Duke , as he is

erroneously described—of Middlesex , the lodge he is said to have founded in Italy , and the medal struck by Natter in his honour in 1 733 . This is the oldest medal , ofthe existence of which there is authentic evidence , and as may be imagined , not many specimens of it are met with . Doubts have been

raised as to its genuineness , or rather , perhaps , as to the genuineness of the date inscribed upon it . The late Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , in Kenning ' s " Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry , " of which he was editor , looked with favour upon it tn

this respect , and a few years after the publication ot that important work had , if we remember rightly , the good fortune to meet with a specimen in the British Museum collection . Contemporary evidence , however , is forthcoming in abundance which shows that Charles Sackville , Earl of Middlesex , the eldest son of thc

lirst Duke' of Dorse't , was not only 111 Italy , but actually m Florence in 1732 , and the earlier months of the following year , and having regard to the free-and-easy manner in which in those

days Masonic lodges were set up , there ! is no special reason that we can suggest why this Charles Sackville may not have been a Mason , and started the lodge at Florence in honour of which this medal of Natter ' s was struck . It is on record that

his younger brother , Lord George Sackville , was Grand Master of Ireland in 1751 , and that early in 1752 he was invited to become G . Master ofthe- "Ancient" Masons , then working unde : r a Grand Committee , but as Dermott , who was Grand Secretarv at the time , and also one of the deputation that waited

upon Ins lordship , tells us in his minutes of ist April , 1752 , " having read the petition , His lordship told them politely , That he had the : highest veneration for the Ane * ie'iit Craft , and wish to promote' it . But he * was engaged to attend His Father , the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , and was informed that the- Grand Lodge

of Ireland had lately chosen him Grand Master , and that upon his return to England he would . * ie * e * e * pt the chair or recommend them to another noble Mason . " But if the younger brother was a Mason , why may not the elder have been one likewise , and to

go a step further , why may he : not , as other young men of rank wen * in the- habit of doing , taken the liberty of doing what in humbler men would have' been punishable without benefit of cle-rgv ? Freemasonry was very much in fashion at the' time .

But this is a digression which bears only very remotely upon the story we reproduce and which , we trust , will be overlooked . What we are de'sirous of pointing out is that Charles Sackville was in Florence' in 1732 and 1733 , and that we' are * indebted for the evidence of this lo the' works of the Rev . Joseph Spence ,

who attended the young nobleman in quality of a companion , and not as a governor . Nor was this the * only foreign tour that Mr . Spence made- in this capacity . He accompanied Mr . Trevor on a tour through Holland , Flanders , and France from May , 1737 , to February , 173 H , with thc intention of proceeding to

Italy . But this was impossible , as Mr . Trevor was . called home to offer himself as candidate- for a borough . From October , 1739 , to November , 1 742 , he travelled with the : Earl of Lincoln , afterwards second Duke of Newcastle , and it was his custom to write home to his mother full particulars of whatever struck him as being

worthy of record , or likel y to interest or amuse- her . These memoranda were lirst published from the- original papers , with Notes and a Life of the author , bv Samuel Weller Singer , in 1820 , the publishers being XV . II . Carpenter , Lower Brook-street , London ; and Archibald Conslabh : ane ! Co ., Edinburgh . ' and it is from the *

narrative ol" the third anil last 01 these' tours , as will be seen from the date of lhe letter itself , that the following extraordinary storv is quoted . Doubtless , the reader will have' the same diflirultv in maintaining a grave- counleiiance when reading it as Mr . Spence himself experienced when the' story was being told lo him by the Adept .

The Adepts.

Turin , August 25 , 1740 . Dear Mother , If the history of Floris was too Melanchol y for you ( as I fear it was ) I am now going to give you an account of

some people that may be too mysterious for you ; such as some people will scarce believe ever were , or will be , in the world ; however , one of them I have very lately met with ; & I must give you an account of him while 'tis fresh in my memory .

Have you ever heard of the people call'd Adepts ? They are a sett of Philosophers , superiour to whatever appear'd among the Greeks and Romans . The three great points they drive at , is to be free from Poverty , Distempers , & Death ; & if you will believe them , they have found out one Secret that' is capable of

freeing them from all three ! There are never more than twelve of these men in the world at a time ; & wc have the happiness of having one of the twelve at this time in Turin . I was very well acquainted with him ; & have often talk'd with him of their Secrets as far as he is allow'd to talk to a cornon mortal of them .

His name i . s Audrey ; a Frenchman ; of a Genteel Air ; but with a certain Gravity in his face , that I never saw in any Frenchman before . The first time I was in company with him , as I found hc had been a great Traveller , I ask'd him whether he had ever been in England ,

and how * he lik'd the Country ? He said that he had , & that he lik'd it more * than anv Country he had ever been in . The last time- I was in England , added he , there werc Eleven Philosophers there . I told him I hop'd there might be more than Eleven in England . He' smil'd a little and said : S I

don t talk of common Philosophers ; I talk of Adepts ; and of them I saw in England , what I never saw anywhere else ; there were Eleven at Table *; I made the Twelfth ; and when we came to compare our Ages all together , they made somewhat upward of Four Thousand years , f wonder'd lo hear a grave man talk so

strangely , & ask'd him , as seriousl y as I cou'd , how old he might be himself . He said lhat he was not quite 200 ; but that he was one of the * youngest at the Table . He said that the See're'l of carrying on their lives as long as they pleas'd was known to all of them ; & lhat some of them perhaps might

remove out of this world ; but that he did not think any onc of them would dye ; for if thev did not like this Globe , they had nothing to do but to go into another , whenever they pleased . How soon that might be , he did not know , but St . John and tho

Travelling Jew , he said , had staid in it above 17 hundred vears ; & some of his Friends perhaps might stay as long . He said the- Gre-at Elixir of w' * ' he had some * in his pocket , made him look no older than Forty ; that he * was afraid of no distemper ,

for that would cure him lmmediatelv ; nor of Want , because ' t wou'd make' him as much Gold as he plea . s'd . He said many other things as strange' and surprizing , as what I have told vou .

I was talking of him and his Gold-making to our Minister here : who , upon this , told me a verv odel storv , which he * had from Mareoha ! Rhebeneler , General of the King of Sardinia ' s Forces at present . The General ( who comes from those- parts ) says , that when Gustavus Adol phus was going to make * War with

the' LmpiTour , he' found himself al a loss for monev sufficient for so great an Undertaking , lie was very melancholy upon it , & everything was at a stand ; when one morning a verv old man came to his Court , & told the * Gentleman of the Be-dchamber in Waiting , that he wanted to speak lo the King . The

Gentleman desired his name ; he' refused to tell it ; but he said he must speak to the King , & that it was on Business of the utmost importance to his Majesty ' s Affairs . Gustavus , who was incapable of fear , order'd him to be admitted . When the-v wen * alone , lhe Old Man tolel him ,

that he knew what straits he was in for monev ; & that he was come to lurnish him with as much as he shou ' el want . He then desir ' el him to send for a Crucible full of Mercury ; lie look out a While Powder , & put in only ab the quantity of a pinch of snuff . He then desir'd him to sit bv the' Crucible , till lhe- next

morning ; gave : him a large bundle of ( he White Powder , and dpcarlcd . When Gustavus call'd for the Crucible the next morning , ' twas all full of one solid piece of Gold . He coin'd

this into Ducats ; cv on the Coin , in memory of the fact , was . struck the Chyniical Marks for Merciirv and Sulphur . Rhebender had several of them thus markt , & gave- one of Ihem to our Minister , who told me the story .