I. The " Chymical Marriage " is sailed a ludibrium by its

author, and Professor Buhle describes it as a comic romance, but those of my readers who are acquainted with alchemical allegories will discern in this singular narrative by a pre- pared student or artist who was supernaturally and magi- cally elected to participate in the accomplishment of the magnum opus, many matters of grave and occult signifi- cance. They will recognise that the comic episodes are part of a serious design, and that the work as a whole is in strict accordance with the general traditions of alchemy. They will question the good faith of the author in the ap- plication of a manifestly incongruous epithet. Perhaps they will appear to be wise above what is written, but the posi- tion is not really unreasonable, for the passage in which reference is made by Andreas to the " Nuptiae Chymicse " is calculated to raise suspicion. He was a shrewd and keen observer ; he had gauged the passions and the crazes of his period ; he was fully aware that the rage for alchemy blinded the eyes and drained the purses of thousands of credulous individuals, who were at the mercy of the most wretched impostors, and that no pretence was too shallow and no recipe too worthless to find believers. He could not be ignorant that a work like the " Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosencreutz " was eminently liable to impose upon every class of theosophists. When, therefore, he sup-
232 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.
poses, and, by implication, expresses, astonishment that his so-called ludibrium became the object of earnest investigation and of high esteem, I freely confess that I, for one, cannot interpret him seriously ; in other words, that I reject the statement. This, however, is only the initial difficulty. The same passage of the " Vita ab ipso Conscripta " con- tains another piece of incredible information, namely that Andreas wrote the "Nuptiae Chymicse" before he was sixteen. This story gives evidence of an acquaintance with the practice and purposes of alchemy which was absolutely impossible to the most precocious lad. More- over, the boldness of its conception and the power which is displayed in its execution, setting aside the debateable question of its occult philosophical character, are things utterly transcending the cacoethes scribendi of a youngster barely attained to the age of puberty. I appeal to the dis- crimination of my readers whether the curious and in- genious perplexities propounded at the supper on the third day are in any way suggestive of " the light fire in the veins of a boy." The romance supposed to have been written in 1602-3 did not see the light till 1616, when it appeared in the full tide of the Rosicrucian controversy. Why did it remain in manuscript for the space of thirteen years at a period when everything treating of alchemy was devoured with unexampled avidity 1 The " Chymical Mar- riage," in its original draft, may have been penned at the age of fifteen, but it must have been subjected to a searching revision, though I confess that it betrays no trace of subse- quent manipulation. These grave difficulties are enhanced by a fact which is wholly unknown to mostEosicrucian critics, and which was certainly not to be expected in the jest of a schoolboy, namely, that the barbarous enigmatical writings
THE CASE OFJOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAS. 233
which are to be found in several places of " The Hermetick Wedding " are not an unmeaning hoax, but contain a de- cipherable and deciphered sense. The secretary of an English Rosicrucian Society says that the Supreme Magus of the Metropolitan College can read all three of the enigmas, and that he himself has deciphered two. Their secret is not a tradition, but the meaning dawns upon the student after certain researches. The last point is curious, and, outside the faculty of clairvoyance, the suggested method does not seem probable, but I give it to be taken at its worth, and have no reason to doubt the statement.
From these facts and considerations, the conclusion does not seem unreasonable, and may certainly be tolerated by an impartial mind, that in spite of the statement of Andreas, and partly because of that statement, the " Chymical Marriage" is not a ludibrium, that it betrays a serious purpose, and conceals a recondite meaning.