Eco: Foucalt's Pendulum by eco foucault (ebook smartphone .txt) 📕

76

If it were then a matterof defining in one word the dominant characteristic of FrenchFreemasonry in the eighteenth century, only one would do:dilettantism.

¡XRene Le Forestier, LaFranc-Mayonnerie Templiere et Occultiste, Paris, Aubier, 1970,2

The next evening, weinvited Aglie to Pilade's. Though the bar's new customers had goneback to jackets and ties, the presence of our guest, in bluechalk-stripe suit and snow-white shirt, tie fastened with a goldpin, caused eyebrows to be raised. Luckily, at six o'clock Pilade'swas fairly empty.

Aglie confused Pilade byordering a cognac by its brand name. Pilade had it, of course, butthe bottle had stood enthroned on the shelf behind the zinccounter, untouched, for years.

Aglie studied the liquorin his glass against the light, then warmed it with his hands,displaying gold cuff links that were vaguely Egyptian instyle.

We showed him the list,telling him we had compiled it from the manuscripts of theDiabolicals.

"The fact that theTemplars were connected with the early lodges of the master masonsestablished during the construction of Solomon's Temple iscertain," he said. "And it is equally certain that theseassociates, on occasion, recalled the murder of the Temple'sarchitect, Hiram, a sacrificial victim. The masons vowed to avengehim. After their persecution then, many knights of the Temple musthave joined those artisan confraternities, fusing the myth ofavenging Hiram with the determination to avenge Jacques de Molay.In the eighteenth century, in London, there were lodges of genuinemasons, and they were called operative lodges. Then, gradually,some idle but thoroughly respectable gentlemen were determined tojoin operative masonry, so it became symbolic, philosophicalmasonry.

"In this atmosphere acertain Desaguliers, popularizer of Newton, encouraged a Protestantpastor, Anderson, to draft the constitutions of a lodge of Masonbrothers, deist in persuasion, and Anderson began speaking of theMasonic confraternities as corporations dating back four thousandyears, to the founders of the Temple of Solomon. These are thereasons for the Masonic masquerade: the apron, the trowel, the Tsquare. Masonry became fashionable, attracting the aristocracy withthe genealogical tables it hinted at, but it appealed even more tothe bourgeoisie, who now not only could hobnob with the nobles butwere actually permitted to wear a short sword. In the wretchedmodern world at its birth, the nobles need a place where they cancome into contact with the new producers of capital, and the newproducers of capital are looking to be ennobled."

"But the Templars seemto have emerged later."

"The one who firstestablished a direct relation with the Templars, Ramsay, I'd prefernot to discuss. I suspect he was put up to it by the Jesuits. Hispreaching led to the birth of the Scottish wing ofMasonry.''

"Scottish?"

"The Scottish rite was aFranco-German invention. London Masonry had established threedegrees: apprentice, fellow craft, and master. Scottish Masonrymultiplied the degrees because doing so meant multiplying thelevels of initiation and secrecy. The French, congenitally foolish,love secrecy..."

"But what was thesecret?"

"There was no secret,obviously. But if there had been one¡X or if they had possessedit¡Xits complexity would have justified the number of degrees ofinitiation. Ramsay multiplied-the degrees to make others believe hehad a secret. You can imagine the thrill of those solid tradesmennow at last able to become princes of vengeance..."

Aglie was prodigal withMasonic gossip. And in the course of his talk, as was his custom,he slipped gradually into first-person recollection.

"In those days, inFrance, they were already writing couplets about the new fashion,the Frimacons. The lodges, multiplying, attracted monsignors,friars, barons, and shopkeepers, and the members of the royalfamily became grand masters. The Templar Strict Observance of thatHund character received Goethe, Lessing, Mozart, Voltaire. Lodgessprang up among the military; in the regimental mess they plottedto avenge Hiram and discussed the coming revolution. For others,Masonry was a societe de plaisir, a club, a status symbol. Youcould find a bit of everything there: Cagliostro, Mesmer, Casanova,Baron d'Holbach, d'Alembert...Encyclopedists and alchemists,libertines and hermetics. At the outbreak of the Revolution,members of the same lodge found themselves on opposite sides, andit seemed that the great brotherhood would never recover from thiscrisis..."

"Wasn't there a conflictbetween the Grand Orient and the Scottish lodge?"

"Only verbally. Forexample: the lodge of the Neuf Soeurs welcomed Franklin, whosegoals, naturally, were secular; he was interested only insupporting his American revolution...But at the same time, one ofits grand masters was the Comte de Milly, who was seeking theelixir of longevity. Since he was an imbecile, in the course of hisexperiments he poisoned himself and died. Or take Cagliostro: onthe one hand, he invented Egyptian rites; on the other, he wasimplicated in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, a scandal devisedby the rising bourgeoisie to discredit the ancien regime. AndCagliostro was indeed involved! Just try to imagine the sort ofpeople one had to live with..."

"It must have beenhard," Belbo said, with comprehension.

"But who," I asked, "arethese barons von Hund who seek the UnknownSuperiors....?"

"New groups sprang up atthe time of the necklace farce, altogether different in nature. Togain adepts, they identified themselves with the Masonic lodges,but actually they were pursuing more mystical ends. It was at thispoint that the debate about the Unknown Superiors took place. Hund,unfortunately, wasn't a serious person. At first he led his adeptsto believe that the Unknown Superiors were the Stuarts. Then hesaid that the aim of the order was to rescue the originalpossessions of the Templars, and he scraped together funds from allsides. Unsatisfied with the proceeds, he fell into the hands of aman named Starck, who claimed to have learned the secret of makinggold from the authentic Unknown Superiors, who were in Petersburg.Hund and Starck were surrounded by theosophists, cheap alchemists,last-minute Rosicrucians. All together, they elected as grandmaster a thoroughly upright man, the Duke of Brunswick. Heimmediately realized that he was in the worst possible company. Oneof the members of the Strict Observance, the landgrave of Hesse,summoned the Comte de Saint-Germain, believing this gentleman couldproduce gold for him. And why not? In those days the whims of themighty had to be indulged. But the landgrave also believed himselfto be Saint Peter. I assure you, gentlemen: once, when Lavater wasthe landgrave's guest, he had a dreadful time with the Duchess ofDevonshire, who thought she was Mary Magdalene."

"But what about thisWillermoz