h appears to
describe them exactly, and one cannot be otherwise than astonished at
the extraordinary gravity of nervous and well-intentioned persons who
ascribe them such tremendous importance. Whereas they are the fringe of
Freemasonry, writers like M. de la Rive persist in regarding them as its
heart and centre, while it is also in such institutions that he and
others of his calibre expect to discover Satanism. A celibate religion
ever suspects the serpent in the neighbourhood of the woman. He
discovers Satanism accordingly by reading it into handy passages and
bracketing interpretations of his own when the text cannot otherwise be
worked. Thus he gets oracles everywhere, and to compel Satan he finds
the parenthesis quite as useful as the circle of black magic; it is a
juggler's method, but among French anti-Masons it passes with high
credit. The question of Female Freemasonry, apart from the Palladian
Order, is quite outside our subject; its existence in Spain is a matter
of public knowledge, and I have Mr Yarker's authority for stating that
in certain countries, one of which is South America, the Rite of
Memphis and Misraim and the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite have both
initiated women, the latter up to and including the 33rd degree. No
adoptive lodges exist or would be tolerated in England within the
jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge, and if it can be shown that the
Palladian order initiates English women into Masonic secrets, that is
performed surreptitiously and in defiance of our Masonic constitutions.
As to the schismatic Grand Orient of France, whatever may be done in
secret or devised in public upon this point, is of no importance here,
but I should add that little credit, and deservedly, is attached in
England to any of the so-called revelations which from time to time come
over from Paris.

As regards M. de la Rive, apart from this subject, we are unable to
extract from his pages anything that is fresh or informing on the
subject of our inquiry. Despite the sensational picture which emblazons
the title-page, where a full-length Baphomet is directing a _decolletee_
Templar-Mistress through the pillars Jakin and Bohaz, there is not a
single page in the whole vast compilation which shows any connection
between Satanism and Masonry until towards the close, when an adroit tax
is levied on the still vaster storehouse of Doctor Bataille. The author
tells us clearly enough how adoptive Masonry arose, what rites w