ABSTRACT
The fear is expressed that the Russian Freemasons, in particular the Moscow 'Martinists', would fain undo the good work of Luther and Voltaire, and introduce into Russia a fanatical obscurantism comparable to that preached by the Prophet Mohammed. Then he had himself declared bankrupt and retired from St Petersburg to Novgorod, where he had a nice house already built-in his wife's name, of course. Trained as a shop assistant in St Petersburg, he is a past master in the art of giving customers short measure, on account of which he is the apple of his father's eye. It turns out that this forms part of a whole bundle of documents, comprising draft projects for political reform, which have been accidentally left behind by a voyager who has lately passed through on his way to St Petersburg.
