The Ancient Mysteries.

We have now seen for what purpose the mysteries were instituted . Their principal object was the knowledge of the Supreme Being , and the explication of the different fables attributed to the gods by whom that being was represented ; the doctrine of a providence , the dogma of the immortality of the soul , and that of future punishments and rewards ; the history of the establishment of civil societyas well as the invention of the artsamongst which

, , agriculture held the first place . They had at the same time a tendency to inspire the love of justice , of humanity , of all the patriotic virtues ; and they joined to the precepts of the purest morality a display of truths of the utmost importance . To these different objects all the mystical ceremonies had a reference , as it will be easy to perceivebthe simple detail which we mean to give of them .

, y Some of these ceremonies may perhaps appear ridiculous , and little suited to the dignit y of a great people ; but it must be remembered that they belong to a symbolical religion that explained itself only in figures . They are , however , interesting in so far as they illustrate the origin of several institutions still practised among ourselves , which sometimes have only varied their appearance that they might adapt themselves to the worship of modern nations .

What was called initiation among the Ancients was admission into the sacred mysteries ; and as that august ceremony was , as it were , a transition to a new life , it has been compared to death , of which it was the image . To descend to the shades properly signified to be initiated , as Serving has remarked , * and we may consult on this subject a very curious fragment preserved by Stobaaus . Hence , in the fabulous ages of antiquity , are so many visits recorded that were made by heroes to the infernal mansions of the dead . That enterprise was ranked in the number of their most brilliant exploits ; it gave fame

to Ulysses , iEneas , and even to Theseus , whose actions seem more properly to belong to history . It was chiefly for legislators , for chiefs of colonies , for founders of empires , that the glory of this exploit was reserved . Accordingly , of all those who penetrated to the gloomy regions , Orpheus is the most celebrated . Being instructed- in the school of the Egyptians , and imbued with their wisdom , the Western nations considered him as the author of all their civil aud religious institutions . He was represented in the Elysian fields

arrayed in a flowing robe , and uttering those divine accents that had formerl y set open to him the gates of the infernal kingdom , when he went to solicit the restoration of his beloved Ettrydice . His grief when she was again ravished from him , bis lamentations , re-echoed from the tops of the Riphoan mountains to the frozen shores of the Tanais ; his dreadful end , and the sweet accents of his voicethat iu spite of the leaden hand of death still repeated the name he

, held so dear , have been described in the most enchanting numbers , and make the most beautiful episode in the most perfect poem that antiquity has transmitted to our times . The circumstances of his descent into hell have a reference to emblems that are now unknown . But it is probable that the author of the Georgies conformed to the sacred traditions that were current in his time . We cannot help observing in this place , the difference between the fictions

of the ancients and those of the moderns . It does not appear that the imaginary heroes of chivalry were ever actuated by the great motives of religion , or even of patriotism . The St . Grail , which they swore to defend , seems merely to exhibit a picture of the superstition and gross ignorance that then prevailed . Though for the most part enrolled under the banner of the cross , their hih feats of arms consisted in engagements with iants of enormous

g g stature , in bidding defiance to the bravest warriors , in storming castles , and in exhibiting prodigies of intemperate valour . The enchantments of the old romance , and the illusions of fairy power , leave no impression on the mind of the reader that can afford him satisfaction . It was otherwise with the Grecian