60 WINE, LOVE, LEARNING. 



At tlie meetings of the " Order," the higher-class 

 brethren wore a small silver triangle, with the 

 favourite Greek triad engraved thereon. By out- 

 siders, the men of the brotherhood were generally 

 called "the red-ribbons," or " Oineromaths. " The 

 "good-fellowship" brethren, vinously reticent of the 

 principles of the " Order," brought it into ridicule, if 

 not contempt, so that, in 1838, it was needful to 

 weed out those whose " bosoms glowed with oinero- 

 mathic fire," and to have the earnest lovers of truth 

 planted in the foreground ; and these alone entered 

 " The Universal Brotherhood of Friends of Truth." * 

 Scrupulous care was exercised in the admission of 

 new members, and of those only who had proved 

 themselves worthy by works done, or by the show 

 of a diligent pursuit after truth, and no less by 

 the possession of a genial and hearty spirit to 

 further the interests of the brotherhood. There 

 were gradations in the "Order;" " frater," " triangle," 

 and ceremonial officers — ex. gr. "the Bearer of the 

 Mystic Lyre" and "Arch Magus." Forbes, after two 

 years abroad, returned to Edinburgh (Nov. 1838) ; 

 and among the first acts of the " Brotherhood" was 

 the election of John Goodsir as "frater;" in Novem- 

 ber of the same year he rose to the honour of 

 " triangle." The brotherhood consisted of men of 

 different callings, — artists, scholars, physicians, natu- 



* This title originated with Monsieur Jalabert, of St. Etienne, a staunch 

 "frater," who got the beautiful ribbon of "the Order" manufactured in his 

 father's silk establishment. 



