Being at a friend's house in the country during some part of the summer 1795, I there saw a volume of a German periodical work, called Religions Begebenheiten, i. e. Religious Occurrences: in which there was an account of the various schisms in the Fraternity of Free Masons, with frequent allusions to the origin and history of that celebrated association. This account interested me a good deal, because, in my early life, I had taken some part in the occupations (shall I call them) of Free Masonry; and, having chiefly frequented the Lodges on the Continent, I had learned many doctrines, and seen many ceremonials which have no place in the simple system of Free Masonry which obtains in this country. I had also remarked, that the whole was much more the object of reflection and thought than I could remember it to have been among my acquaintances at home.

ジョン・ロビソンによる本作は、単なる陰謀論の元祖に留まらず、理性の時代に潜む深淵への恐怖を克明に描いた第一級の精神史資料です。著者の執拗な筆致は、堅実な団体の裏側に社会を覆す秘密結社の脈動を幻視させます。科学者としての冷静な眼差しが見えない脅威を形にする過程は、文学的な緊張感に満ちており、読者を不穏な思索の旅へと誘います。 本書の魅力は、大陸風の秘儀と英国的な秩序が衝突する境界線にあります。秩序が影の権力に侵食されるというモチーフは、現代サスペンスの源流とも言えるでしょう。著者の実体験を交えた語り口は、虚実が入り混じる迷宮のような奥行きを与え、真実を求める知的好奇心を揺さぶります。情報の裏を読み解こうとする人間心理の本質を突いた、時代を超越する衝撃の書です。