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Article A MASONIC MASTYR—HYPPOLITO JOSE DA COSTA... ← Page 2 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Masonic Mastyr—Hyppolito Jose Da Costa...
Still , from the early part of this century , Masonry , although persecuted , never became extinct , and was maintained under all privations . ^ The Inquisition , in the course of years , was stripped of its bloodiest prerogatives ; and whenever there was a gleairi of
constitutionalism Masonry brightened up . The hatred of the priests and of the peasantry against Masonry was , however , deep and brutal . I have heard the Portuguese state , not long after Da Costa ' s death , that the Masons met at the full moon to meet the devil and worship him , and to say the Lord ' s Prayer backwards , and the like gross legends were propagated by the clergy .
Da Costa , submitting to his fate , settled in England , made himself master of our language , and acquired literary fluency in it ; and having secured some fortune from his relatives , lived in comfort , and invested his capital in English undertakings . He so far conformed tollnglish practices , that he was , I remember , a director of several joint-stock companies .
In consequence of the Portuguese connections of my family and my father ' s Masonic zeal , Da Costa was very intimate with him , and , as a boy , I remember him well . His manners were kind and dignified , and the incidents of hishistory , which I knew better then than now , gave him an interest in my eyes , not lessened by a childish reverence for the mysterious rites in which he held a part , and which servants did
not fail to inspire by exciting legends in reference to one so well known to be a Mason . Grave , dignified , and courteous in manner , he readily impressed strangers with respect . I remember that he was very fond of sketching likenesses or caricatures with his pen—not too well done—some of which he drew for me , and of which I have specimens . I was , however , too young to take much notice of such
a man , and who was only one in a large circle of remarkable men whom I had the opportunity of seeing . Da Costa died , I think , about 1825 or 1826—at any rate , before the constitutional reaction in Portugal , and the famous visit of Dom Miguel to this country , an incident I well remember , having then seen the- young Nero of the Peninsula in one of the theatres . My remembrance of Da Costa was ,
however , kept up by my own connection with the Portuguese constitutionalists at an early period of my life , and the intercourse I had with Portuguese Masons ; and as Da Costa was one of my first Portuguese acquaintances , he was long a kind of prototype or first model of the Portuguese to ine , though I must own too favourable an exemplar .
Da Costa remained in this country , naturally a zealous Mason , for he had been tried for his faith , and many old Masons now alive have worked with him . He had a deep " attachment to Masonic literature , and a profound conviction of Masonic antiquity ; for he
was one of those to whom Masonry was a religion , whatever his external persuasion , which I do not now feel assured of . I have some reason to think he was a member of tho Hebrew persuasion , and I know . that he was well acquainted with the Hebrew language and rabbinical literature , and one of a knot of Hebrew scholars who
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Masonic Mastyr—Hyppolito Jose Da Costa...
Still , from the early part of this century , Masonry , although persecuted , never became extinct , and was maintained under all privations . ^ The Inquisition , in the course of years , was stripped of its bloodiest prerogatives ; and whenever there was a gleairi of
constitutionalism Masonry brightened up . The hatred of the priests and of the peasantry against Masonry was , however , deep and brutal . I have heard the Portuguese state , not long after Da Costa ' s death , that the Masons met at the full moon to meet the devil and worship him , and to say the Lord ' s Prayer backwards , and the like gross legends were propagated by the clergy .
Da Costa , submitting to his fate , settled in England , made himself master of our language , and acquired literary fluency in it ; and having secured some fortune from his relatives , lived in comfort , and invested his capital in English undertakings . He so far conformed tollnglish practices , that he was , I remember , a director of several joint-stock companies .
In consequence of the Portuguese connections of my family and my father ' s Masonic zeal , Da Costa was very intimate with him , and , as a boy , I remember him well . His manners were kind and dignified , and the incidents of hishistory , which I knew better then than now , gave him an interest in my eyes , not lessened by a childish reverence for the mysterious rites in which he held a part , and which servants did
not fail to inspire by exciting legends in reference to one so well known to be a Mason . Grave , dignified , and courteous in manner , he readily impressed strangers with respect . I remember that he was very fond of sketching likenesses or caricatures with his pen—not too well done—some of which he drew for me , and of which I have specimens . I was , however , too young to take much notice of such
a man , and who was only one in a large circle of remarkable men whom I had the opportunity of seeing . Da Costa died , I think , about 1825 or 1826—at any rate , before the constitutional reaction in Portugal , and the famous visit of Dom Miguel to this country , an incident I well remember , having then seen the- young Nero of the Peninsula in one of the theatres . My remembrance of Da Costa was ,
however , kept up by my own connection with the Portuguese constitutionalists at an early period of my life , and the intercourse I had with Portuguese Masons ; and as Da Costa was one of my first Portuguese acquaintances , he was long a kind of prototype or first model of the Portuguese to ine , though I must own too favourable an exemplar .
Da Costa remained in this country , naturally a zealous Mason , for he had been tried for his faith , and many old Masons now alive have worked with him . He had a deep " attachment to Masonic literature , and a profound conviction of Masonic antiquity ; for he
was one of those to whom Masonry was a religion , whatever his external persuasion , which I do not now feel assured of . I have some reason to think he was a member of tho Hebrew persuasion , and I know . that he was well acquainted with the Hebrew language and rabbinical literature , and one of a knot of Hebrew scholars who