suffered themselves to be ensnared by the imposing veil of mysteriouſneſs, which, at bottom, was nothing better than a cloak of their defects, and of the private selfish views of their founders. However good and noble the primary principles of some of these institutions may have been in the beginning, yet they all degenerated, sooner or later, in a most lamentable and glaring manner. The Secret Tribunal, for instance, was certainly originally instituted for the noble purpose of putting a stop to the numerous murders and robberies perpetrated by the predatory nobility, whom the German Emperors did not dare to punish for their disobedience to the existing laws on account of their own imbecillity; but it soon degenerated into a sanguinary and despotic tribunal, that was deaf to the voice of humanity and justice, and became the terror, instead of being the guardian angel, of Germany.
The secret order of the Illuminators in Bavaria, founded by the celebrated Weis-haupt,
