und, unadorned by titles of
chivalry but exercising supreme jurisdiction over the Order. The system
had been foreshadowed by the "Invisibles" of seventeenth-century
Rosicrucianism; but now, instead of an intangible group whose very
existence was only known vaguely to the world, there appeared in the
light of day a powerful organization led apparently by men of influence
and position yet secretly directed by hidden chiefs.[405] Mirabeau has
described the advent of these mysterious directors in the following
passage:

In about 1756 there appeared, as if they had come out of the
ground, men sent, they said, by unknown superiors, and armed with
powers to reform the order [of Freemasonry] and re-establish it in
its ancient purity. One of these missionaries, named Johnston, came
to Weimar and Jena, where he established himself. He was received
in the best way in the world by the brothers [Freemasons], who were
lured by the hope of great secrets, of important discoveries which
were never made known to them.[406]

Now, in the manuscripts of the Prince of Hesse published by Lecouteulx
de Canteleu it is said that this man Johnston, or rather Johnson, who
proclaimed himself to be "Grand Prior of the Order," was a Jew named
Leicht or Leucht.[407] Gould says that his real name was either Leucht
or Becker, but that he professed to be an Englishman, although unable to
speak the English language, hence his assumption of the name
Johnson.[408] Mr. Gould has described Johnson as a "consummate rogue and
an unmitigated vagabond ... of almost repulsive demeanour and of no
education, but gifted with boundless impudence and low cunning." Indeed,
von Hundt himself, after enlisting Johnson's services, found him too
dangerous and declared him to be an adventurer. Johnson was thereupon
arrested by von Hundt's friend the councillor von Pritsch, and thrown
into the castle of Wartburg, where sudden death ended his career.

It is, however, improbable that Mirabeau could be right in indicating
Johnson as one of the "Unknown Superiors," who were doubtless men of
vaster conceptions than this adventurer appears to have been. Moreover,
the manner of his end clearly proves that he occupied a subordinate
position in the _Stricte Observance_.

Here, then, we have a very curious sequence of events which it may be
well to recapitulate briefly in order to appreciate their full
significance:

1737. Oration of Cheva