C. R. appears to have wished that this Vault should

remain closed for one hundred and twenty years, after the expiry of which time, if the Society survived, the Vault was to be opened, the existence of the Society declared, and a fuller admission of students to membership should be invited.
XVI
INTRODUCTION
This long period passed away; the universality of Catholicism had been wrecked, and the Reformed Religion had become notable.
Frater. N. N. in 1604 discovered the entrance to the Vault and caused it to be opened, 120 years after the de¬ cease of C. R. Within the Vault was found the body care¬ fully preseved under an Altar, and in his hand the parch¬ ment Roll called the Book T. (Testamentum), also copies of other valuable books of the Fraternity, a “Vita44 and an “Itinerarium44 of the Founder, certain songs (mantras), with mirrors, glasses, bells, lamps, etc. After a careful exami¬ nation of all these matters the Vault was reserved as a centre of illumination and the Domus S. S. as the central Home of the Fratres.
Continental Fratres state that this Tomb existed until the middle of the last century, its situation is still known and is revealed to higher Adepts of the present Society.
In 1610 a Notary named Haselmeyer wrote that he had seen A MS. copy of the history called “Fama Fraternitatis oder Bruderschaft des Hochloblichen Ordens des Rosen- kreuzes“ when he was staying in the Tyrol; the name of its author is unknown, or at any rate has never been dis¬ closed by any true Rosicrucian.
In 1614 this “ Fama,44 which was a narrative of the founding of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, was printed and published at Cassel, in Germany. The Soc: Rosie: in Anglia possesses a copy which is preserved in the Library of the High Council.
In 1615 the “Fama44 was republished at Frankfort-on- the-Main with the addition of the tract called “Confessio Fraternitatis/4 these have been generally attributed to the theologian Valentine Andrea. It should be noted that al¬ though the 44Fama44 and the “Confessio44 gave to the world a knowledge of the existence of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, they contain certain discrepancies which bear evidence that they were not written by anyone who had accurate his¬ torical information or a personal knowledge of the affaire
INTRODUCTION
XVII
of the Brethren of the Fraternity, nor do they exhibit literary ability.
Several other editions followed. It should be noted that during the interval between the death of C. R. in 1484 and the opening of the Vault in 1604 the Protestant Refor¬ mation had been effected in Germany by Luther and others, about 1517.
The “ Fama“ views Christianity as contrasted with Paganism and Mohammedanism, while the “Confessio“ adopts the views of the Reformed Lutheran religion.
In 1615 was printed at Dantzig, by Julius Sperber, in German, “An Echo of the God-illuminated Brotherhood of the R. C.“ highly praising the learning of the Fraternity.
In 1616, the “Chymische Hochzeit“ was printed and published at Strasburg, this was claimed by Andrea (also written Andreas and Andreae) as being his own work, and is found in an Autobiography published after his death. Andrea lived from 1586 to 1654, and was Abbot of Adelsburg.
An English translation of “The Chemical Wedding “ was published in 1690 by E. Foxcroft, a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.
The publication of these tractates caused a great commotion among the learned in Europe; Libavius and Menapius criticised them, and several hundred pamphlets upon the Rosicrucian controversy were issued during the next few years; some of these written by persons desirous of reception, praised the objects of the Fraternity, while many others, written by those who failed to secure ad¬ mission, condemned the Institution in no measured terms.
Do these works refer to a myth, or do they narrate a history? Each alternative has been supported by men of great eminence, but no final decision has been arrived at; no Domus Sancti Spiritus has ever been seen by the uni¬ nitiated; how many persons were received into the Society no one can say. All that can be stated is that from 1616 onward there have been always some persons who claimed to be Adepts of the Rosicrucian Fraternity. Some few of
xviii INTRO DOC TION
them have issued printed works relating1 to Rosicrucian subjects; others have signed themselves with the official motto, R. C., and others appear to have written in defence of the Society anonymously, or under the guise of a Latin Motto.
Michael Maier, who lived from 1568 to 1662, was a famous German philosopher and Rosicrucian Magus, author of many learned works, notably “Silentium post clamores,“ 1617, and the “Themis Aurea,“ 1618, which described Rosi¬ crucian regulations, he visited England and admitted Robert Fludd, M. A. and M. D. Oxon. to Rosicrucian Adeptship.
Dr. Roberr Fludd, also known as “Robertus de Flucti- bus,“ who was born at Miigate House, Bearstead, in 1574, and died in 1637, was the son of Sir Thomas Fludd, Treasurer of War to Queen Elizabeth; he practised medicine in the City of London for many years with great success. In Bearstead Church, Kent, there is a fine monument to Fludd, with a long inscription, and near by are still the Rose Farm and Rose Inn upon land he had owned. Fludd became first Magus in England, and wrote many learned works on Kabalistic theosophy and Rosicrucian doctrines, the most notable being his “Apologia/4 1616, “Tractatus,“ 1617, and “Sum mum Bonum,“ 1629.
To him succeeded Sir Kenelm Digby (1603 — 1665), philosopher, poet and Rosicrucian, author of “The Nature of Man’s Soul,“ and “The Nature of Bodies/4 also works upon Medicine and the Cure of Wounds by Sympathy. The Rosicrucian Cross of this Frater was exhibited to Fratres of the Metropolitan College a few years ago, having been kindly lent by the present representative of this old family.
Francis Lord Bacon, who lived from 1561 to 1629, was much influenced by Fludd, and became a Rosicrucian Adept, and so Rosicrucianism may have been the means of prompting the introduction of many mystic notions into the Plays and Sonnets of Shakespeare, who died in 1616.
Elias Ashmole, famous as an antiquary, was a Rosi¬ crucian Adept, he lived from 1617 to 1692, and is believed
INTRODUCTION >dx
to have been concerned in the creation of modern Specu¬ lative Freemasonry. About 1652 Ashmole received much Occult knowledge from William Backhouse, a renowned Rosicrucian and chemist.
In 1646 Ashmole, Lilly, the two Whartons, with Drs. Hewitt and Pearson, formed a Rosicrucian Lodge in London, which was carried on with great privacy: see the Ency¬ clopedia Metropolitana of 1845.
In 1847 George Soane, in his “New Curiosities of Literature“ gives a lengthy article on the Rosicrucians and Freemasons.
In 1652 Thomas Vaughan, a famcus Mystic, under the pseudonym of Eugenius Philalethes, published an English translation of the “Fama and Confession Associated with Vaughan was Sir Robert Moray, the first President of the Royal Society.
In 1656 was published an English translation of Michael Maier’s “Themis Aurea, or the Laws of the Fra¬ ternity of the Rosie Crosse.“
In 1659 Peter Sthael, of Strasburg, a Rosicrucian Adept and notable chemist, lectured at Oxford.
In 1710, Sigimund Richter, an Adept, published under the motto “Sincerus Renatus,“ a volume entitled “Die War- haffte und Vollkommene Bereitung aus dem Orden des Gulden und Rosen Kreutzes,“ giving 52 Rules of the Rosicrucian Fraternity of that period.
In 1777 was established the Reformed Rite of the Brethren of the Rosy and Golden Cross.
In 1778 the famous Johann Wolfgang Goethe wrote the poem “Die Geheimnisse,“ which shows Rosicrucian inspiration, as does his long poem “Faust.“
In 1781 was published by “Pianco,“ an expelled member who perjured himself, a false account of the Rosicrucian; it was entitled “Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blosse,“ “The Rosicrucians in his Nakedness/4
In 1785, at Altona, was published the, first part of the „Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer aus dem 16-ten and 17-ten Jahrhundert,“ a most valuable theosophic work
✓
XX
INTRODUCTION
with beautiful coloured emblematic plates; it contains the German text also of the “Aureum Seculum redivivum44 of Henricus Madathanus (Adrian Mynsicht), first printed in 1621, “The Golden Tractate of the Philosopher’s Stone, “ and also the original “Prayer of a Rosicrucian.“ The S. R. I. A. possesses a copy. Some portions of this work have been translated into English and were published by Franz Hart¬ mann, who was a member of the German Fraternity, in 1887; he died in 1912.
In 1803 Christoph Gottlieb von Murr published his “Uber den wahren Ursprung des Rosenkreuzer,“ in which he asserts that the Freemasons and Rosicrucians were at first identical, and only became distinct bodies in 1633.
In 1804 was published “Ueber den Ursprung . . . der OrdenderRosenkreuzer und Freimaurer,“ by Johann G. Buhle, at Gottingen, a German version of a lecture given in Latin in 1803; he positively asserts the early existence of an English Rosicrucian College.
In 1836 Godfrey Higgins, in his erudite and valued work “Anacalypsis, an attempt to draw aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis,“ remarks that a group of Rosicrucians was at work at this time, but he had not joined it.
In 1850 the very old Rosicrucian Lodge at Frank-on- the-Main fell into abeyance; in this Lodge the first Lord Lytton was received into Adeptship and became imbued with the ideas he displayed in his novel “Zanoni“ and other works.
Thomas de Quincey (d. 1859) published a very inte¬ resting “Inquiry into the Origin of the Rosicrucian and Freemasons/4 commenting on the Germann Essays of J. H. Buhle, of 1804, and of C. F. Nicolai, 1806.
Frederick Hockley, a notable English Rosicrucian, mystic and clairvoyant (who died in 1885), collected a great number of MS. treatises upon Alchemy, Astrology, Crystal Vision and the Occult Sciences; he possessed an original MS. (of which he gave a copy to the S. R. I. A.), which described the admission to the Rosicrucian Fraternity in the Island of Mauritius, in 1792, of Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom,
INTRODUCTION
XXI
a notable physician, by the Comte de Chazal. When on a visit to Natal and East Africa, I traced the descendants of this French Rosicrucian, who ceased to use his title of nobility; he was noted in the Island of Mauritius as a learned person of eccentric habits and benevolent character.
In 1878. the “Isis Unveiled “ of H. P. Blavstsky, was published ; it contains many mediaeval Rosicrucian notions, which are not repeated in her later works.
In 1888 was published, “Bacon, Shakespeare and the Rosicrucians,“ by W. F. C. Wigston, a critical volume con¬ taining much curious speculation.
In the “ Sphynx“ an excellent article appeared concer¬ ning the Rosicrucians, written by Karl Kisewetter; an English translation is found in “Theosophical Stiftings,“ 1890.
In a survey of the past, it is obvious that very few Rosicrucians have been permitted fo publish anything rela¬ ting to the Fraternity, or to acknowledge their membership.
The name Rosicrucian has suffered greatly from the pretensions of men, who falsely claiming membership, have made exaggerated, false and unreasonable statements regar¬ ding the powers and possessions of the Fratres of the Rose and Cross. No true Rosicrucian Adept has asserted his power to make Gold at will, or to posses such an Elixir of Life as could enable men to avoid death alto¬ gether, or indefinitely, as charlatans have asserted.
Poets and writers of romance have also shed a halo of unreality about the Rosicrucians, as we find in the vo¬ lume called “The Count de Gabalis,“ in the “ Undine, “ of La Motte Fouque, and Pope’s “Rape of the Lock/
The Fraternity has, however, instructed its pledged members in the doctrine of human Re-incarnation, has declared that the law of cause and effect acts in the spiri¬ tual, as well as in the physical world, that man has around him unseen beings related to elemental forces; that man is influenced by the Sun, Moon and Planets, and that special training and the use of certain personal processes will in some students lead to supranormal spiritual functions and
INTRODUCTIO N
xxii
a high form of clarvoyant. faculty in the present life; provided that the body be duly cared for, the mind well cultured, and the highest morality be preserved.
In 1890 the Rosicrucian groups on the Continent were reformed under a revised Constitution. They are carried on with great privacy, and their members do not openly confess to their admission and membership. Several centres are in active work under conditions derived from previous centuries of usefulness. While studying and teaching theories of life and its duties, and admitting mem¬ bers by ceremonial and ritual, many groups of the Con¬ tinental Rosicrucians are, as formerly, of both sexes, and so are not necessarily Freemasons. As in the earliest times the Rosicrucians not only studied, but went about doing good and healing the sick and diseased, so now the Fratres of to-day are concerned in the study and adminis¬ tration of medicines, and in their manufacture upon old lines; they also teach and practise the curative effects of coloured light, and cultivate mental processes which are believed to induce spiritual englightenment and extended powers of the human senses, especially in the direction of clairvoyance and clairaudience. Their teaching does not necessarily include any Indian or Egyptian symbolism.
During recent yeare a new impetus to the study of Rosicrucian ideals has been given by Theosophical and Anthroposophical Societies to students who are aspiring to become Iniatiates.
The Soc Ros. in Anglia is composed of Freemasons alone, and derives its title from some descendants of the older Rosicrucians of Germany ; it does not profess Magic, nor claim the possession of the Philosopher’s Stone; but “The aim of the Society is to afford mutual aid and en¬ couragement in working out the great problems of Life, and in searching out the Secrets of Nature; to facilitate the study of the system of Philosophy, founded upon the Kabalah and the doctrines of Hermes Trismegistus, which was inculcated by the original Fratres Rosae Crucis, of Germany, A. D. 1450; and to investigate the meaning and
INTRODUCTION
xxill
symbolysm of all that now remains of the wisdom, art and literature of the ancient world. “
It numbers about eight hundred members, who carry out, so far as may be, the objects of the Society. On their behalf primarily, and for the assistance of literary men in general, my Frater Gardner has taken very great plains to make this catalogue of Rosicrucian books, a most arduous task, but one after his own heart.
The Catalogue will be of the greatest use, not only to those interested in the recondite studies of the Rosi- crucians, but also to the student of Freemasonry, for it is to the tenets and dicta of the Rosicrucians, that many Masonic authorities look for the source of much Masonic ritual and symbolism.
It is necessary to state that there are Societies both at home and upon the Continent of Europe, and especially in the United States of America, which use the title „Rosi- crucian“ in various manners, and yet have not received any permission to do so from anyone holding authority in any Rosicrucian Lodge having direct descent from the mediaeval Fraternity.
WILLIAM WYNN WESTCOTT