THE

HISTORY OF INITIATION,

IN TWELVE LECTURES;

COMPRISING A DETAILED

ACCOUNT OF THE RITES AND CEREMONIES,

DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE,

OF ALL THE

SECRET AND MYSTERIOUS INSTITUTIONS

OF THE

ANCIENT WORLD.

BY THE REV. GEORGE OLIVER, D.D.

INCUMBENT OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, WOLVERHAMPTON; D.P.G.M. FOR LINCOLNSHIRE;
DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD KENSINGTON.

C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

ORIGINAL DEDICATION.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

CHARLES TENNYSON D'EYNCOURT, M.P.

M.A. F.R.S. F.A.S. ETC.

ONE OF THE EQUERRIES OF HIS R. H. THE duke of susSEX, PROVINCIAL
GRAND MASTER OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS

FOR THE COUNTY OF LINCOLN.

MY DEAR SIR,

WHILST I was engaged in arranging these papers for the press, I received the gratifying intelligence that the friend and supporter of all my literary labours had been elevated, by His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, to the superintendence of Freemasonry in Lincolnshire, in the capacity of its Provincial Grand Master. It required no deliberation to determine at whose feet these Lectures should be placed; for duty and inclination alike concur in the propriety of inscribing them to you, as the ostensible guardian of Masonry within the Province, and the legitimate patron of all its collateral pursuits.

To your energies I confidently look for the spread of Masonry in this extensive county. From your enlightened understanding and vigorous superintendence I anticipate measures that will secure to the man of letters a profitable employment for his time in the tyled recesses of the Lodge; for it may be fairly presumed that if his mind be not deeply