ndence that passed between Chefdebien and
Salvalette de Langes, recently discovered and published in France, is
one of the most illuminating records of the masonic ramifications in
existence before the Revolution ever brought to light.[441] To judge by
the tone of these letters, the leaders of the Rit Primitif would appear
to have been law-abiding and loyal gentlemen devoted to the Catholic
religion, yet in their passion for new forms of Masonry and thirst for
occult lore ready to associate themselves with every kind of adventurer
and charlatan who might be able to initiate them into further mysteries.
In the curious notes drawn up by Savalette for the guidance of the
Marquis de Chefdebien we catch a glimpse of the power behind the
philosophers of the _salons_ and the aristocratic adepts of the
lodges--the professional magicians and men of mystery; and behind these
again the concealed directors of the secret societies, the _real
initiates_.

The Magicians

The part played by magicians during the period preceding the French
Revolution is of course a matter of common knowledge and has never been
disputed by official history. But like the schools of philosophers this
sudden crop of magicians is always represented as a sporadic growth
called into being by the idle and curious society of the day. The
important point to realize is that just as the philosophers were all
Freemasons, the principal magicians were not only Freemasons but members
of occult secret societies. It is therefore not as isolated charlatans
but as agents of some hidden power that we must regard the men whom we
will now pass in a rapid survey.

One of the first to appear in the field was Schroepfer, a coffee-house
keeper of Leipzig, who declared that no one could be a true Freemason
without practising magic. Accordingly he proclaimed himself the
"reformer of Freemasonry," and set up a lodge in his own house with a
rite based on the Rose-Croix degree for the purpose of evoking spirits.
The meetings took place at dead of night, when by means of carefully
arranged lights, magic mirrors, and possibly of electricity, Schroepfer
contrived to produce apparitions which his disciples--under the
influence of strong punch--took to be visitors from the other
world.[442] In the end Schroepfer, driven crazy by his own incantations,
blew out his brains in a garden near Leipzig.

According to Lecouteulx de Canteleu, it was Schroepfer who indoctrinated
the famous