Page:Horrid Mysteries Volume 1.djvu/15

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
v

liable to experience. A spirit of philosophical investigation began, indeed, to pervade the countries that were under its influence, and Bavaria in particular; many great geniuses were roused from the mental lethargy in which they had been kept by the priesthood; the hatred against Protestants abated, and gave room to more liberal sentiments: however, the promising hopes the unknown Superiors of the order had held out to their disciples soon were visibly shaken. Self-interest, vengeance, ambition, and numberless other baneful passions, began, by degrees, to guide the influence of the association, which, by the many injuries it committed: against the innocent object of the hatred of individual members, and by the glaring abuses of its great power, threatened to become a curse to mankind, instead of promoting the happiness of the world, and was, at length, dispersed by the interference of the Bavarian government. One of its superiors (Baron de Knigge, whois

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.