CHAPTER VI.

ENGLISH ROSICRUCIANS.


It is not very easy to trace the origin of the Rosicrucian
Brotherhood. It is not easy, indeed, to get at the true derivation of
the name 'Rosicrucian.' Some authorities refer it to that of the
ostensible founder of the society, the mysterious Christian
Rosenkreuse, but who can prove that such an individual ever existed?
Others borrow it from the Latin word _ros_, dew, and _crux_, a cross,
and explain it thus: 'Dew,' of all natural bodies, was esteemed the
most powerful solvent of gold; and 'the cross,' in the old chemical
language, signified _light_, because the figure of a cross exhibits at
the same time the three letters which form the word _lux_. 'Now, lux
is called the seed, or menstruum, of the red dragon; or, in other
words, that gross and corporeal light, which, when properly digested
and modified, produces gold.' So that, according to this derivation, a
Rosicrucian is one who by the intervention and assistance of the 'dew'
seeks for 'light'--that is, the philosopher's stone. But such an
etymology is evidently too fanciful, and assumes too much to be
readily accepted, and we try a third derivation, namely, from _rosa_
and _crux_; in support of which may be adduced the oldest official
documents of the brotherhood, which style it the 'Broederschafft des
Roosen Creutzes,' or Rose-Crucians, or 'Fratres Rosatæ Crucis;' while
the symbol of the order is 'a red rose on a cross.' Both the rose and
the cross possess a copious emblematic history, and their choice by a
secret society, which clothed its beliefs and fancies in allegorical
language, is by no means difficult to understand. 'The rose,' says
Eliphas Levi, in his 'Histoire de la Magie,' 'which from time
immemorial has been the symbol of beauty and life, of love and
pleasure, expressed in a mystical manner all the protestations of the
Renaissance. It was the flesh revolting against the oppression of the
spirit; it was Nature declaring herself to be, like Grace, the
daughter of God; it was Love refusing to be stifled by celibacy; it
was Life desiring to be no longer barren; it was Humanity aspiring to
a natural religion, full of love and reason, founded on the revelation
of the harmonies of existence of which the rose was for initiates the
living and blooming symbol....' The reunion of the rose and the
cross--such was the problem proposed by supreme initiation, and, in
effect, occult philosophy, being the universal synthesis, should take
into account all the phenomena of Being. It may be doubted, however,
whether this ingenious symbolism has anything at all to do with
Rosicrucianism; but it is not the less a fact that the rose and the
cross were chosen because they were recognised emblems. And probably
because the rose typified secrecy, while the cross was a protest
against the tyranny and superstition of the Papacy.

We hear nothing of Rosicrucianism until the beginning of the
seventeenth century. The earlier alchemists knew nothing of its
theosophic doctrines; and the earlier Rosicrucians did not dabble in
alchemy. The connection between the two was established at a later
date; when the quest of the 'elixir of life' and the 'philosopher's
stone' was grafted upon the mysticism which had taken up the ancient
teaching of the Alexandrian Platonists, combining with it much of the
allegorical jargon of Paracelsus, and something of the theology of
Luther and the German Reformers. The antiquity claimed for the
brotherhood in the 'Fama Fraternitatis' is purely a myth. For my own
part, I must regard as its virtual founder--though he may not have
been its actual initiator--the celebrated Johann Valentine Andreas,
who with wide and profound learning united a lively imagination, and
was, moreover, a man of pure and lofty purpose. The regeneration of
humanity, the extirpation of the vices and follies which had sprung up
in the dark shadow of the mediæval Church, was the dream of his life;
and it is beyond doubt that he hoped to realize it by secret societies
bound together for the purpose of reforming the morals of the age and
inspiring men with a love of wisdom. This is proved by three of his
acknowledged works, namely, 'Reipublicæ Christianapolitanæ
Descriptio,' 'Turris Babel, sive Judiciorum de Fraternitate Rosaceæ
Crucis Chaos,' and 'Christianæ Societatis Idea'; and I venture to
think, though Mr. Waite will not have it so, that the author of these
works was also the author of the 'Fama,' as well as of the 'Confessio
Fraternitatis' and the 'Nuptæ Chymicæ,' in which he gathered up all
the floating dreams and traditions bearing on his subject, and gave to
them a certain form and order, infusing into them a fascinating
poetical colouring, and inspiring them with his own idealistic
speculations.

'Akin to the school of the ancient Fire-Believers,' says Ennemoser,
'and of the magnetists of a later period, of the same cast as those
speculators and searchers into the mysteries of Nature, drawing from
the same well, are the theosophists of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. These practised chemistry, by which they asserted they
could explore the profoundest secrets of Nature. As they strove, above
all earthly knowledge, after the Divine, and sought the Divine light
and fire, through which all men can acquire the true wisdom, they were
called the Fire-Philosophers (_philosophi per ignem_).' They were
identical with the Rosicrucians, and in the books of the later
Rosicrucians we meet with the same mysticism and transcendental
philosophy as in theirs.

Whether we agree in accepting Andreas as the founder of the order, or
as simply its hierophant, we must admit that the rise of
Rosicrucianism dates from the publication of the 'Fama' and the
'Confessio Fraternitatis.' They produced an immense sensation, passed
through several editions, and were devoured by multitudes of eager
readers. 'In the library at Gottingen,' says De Quincey (adapting
from Professor Buhle), 'there is a body of letters addressed to the
imaginary order of Father Rosy Cross, from 1614 to 1617, by persons
offering themselves as members.... As certificates of their
qualifications, most of the candidates have enclosed specimens of
their skill in alchemy and cabalism.... Many other literary persons
there were at that day who forbore to write letters to the society,
but threw out small pamphlets containing their opinions of the order,
and of its place of residence.'

It is not my business, however, to write a history of Rosicrucianism.
I have desired simply to say so much about its origin as will serve as
a preface to my account of the principal English members of the
brotherhood. The reader who would know more about its origin and
extension, its pretensions and professors, may consult Heckethorn's
'Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries,' Ennemoser's 'History of
Magic,' Thomas de Quincey's essay on 'Rosicrucians and Freemasons,'
and Arthur Edward Waite's 'Real History of the Rosicrucians.'[36]

The greatest English Rosicrucian, and most distinguished of the
disciples of Paracelsus, was Robert Fludd (or Flood, or De Fluctibus),
a man of singular erudition, of great though misdirected capacity, and
of a vivid and fertile imagination.

The second son of Sir Thomas Flood, Treasurer of War to Queen
Elizabeth, he was born at Milgate House, in the parish of Bersted,
Kent, in the year 1574. At the age of seventeen he was entered of St.
John's College, Oxford. His father had originally intended him for a
military life, but finding that his inclinations led him into the
peaceful paths of scholarship, he forbore to oppose them, and the
youth entered upon a particular study of medicine, which drew him, no
doubt, into a pursuit of alchemy and chemistry. Having graduated both
in the arts and sciences, he went abroad, and for six years travelled
over France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, making the acquaintance of the
principal Continental scholars, as well as of the enthusiasts who
belonged to the theosophic school of the divine Paracelsus, and the
adepts who dabbled in the secrets of the Cabala. Returning to England
in 1605, he became a member of the College of Physicians, and settled
down to practise in Coleman Street, London, where, about 1616, he was
visited by the celebrated German alchemist, Michael Maier.

His active imagination stimulated by his knowledge of the Rosicrucian
doctrines, he resolved on revealing to his countrymen the true light
of science and wisdom. He had already, as a believer in the theory of
magnetism, introduced into England the celebrated 'weapon salve' of
Paracelsus, which healed the severest wound by sympathy--not being
applied to the wound itself, but to the weapon or instrument that had
caused it. The recipe, as formulated by Paracelsus, would hardly be
approved by modern practitioners: 'Take of moss growing on the head of
a thief who has been hanged and left in the air, of real mummy, of
human blood still warm, one ounce each; of human suet, two ounces; of
linseed-oil, turpentine, and Armenian bole, of each two drachms. Mix
together thoroughly in a mortar, and keep the salve in a narrow oblong
urn.' This, or, I presume, some similar compound, Fludd tried with
success in several cases, and no wonder; for while the sword was
anointed and put away, the wound was well washed and carefully
bandaged--a process which has been known to succeed in our own day
without the intervention of any salve whatever! Fludd contended that
every disease might be cured by the magnet if it were properly
applied; but that as every man had, like the earth, a north pole and a
south, magnetism could be produced only when his body occupied a
boreal position. The salve, at all events, grew into instant favour.
Among other believers in its virtues was Sir Kenelm Digby, who,
however, converted the salve into a powder, which he named 'the powder
of sympathy.' But it had its incredulous opponents, of whom the most
strenuous was a certain Pastor Foster, who published an invective
entitled 'Hyplocrisma Spongus; or, A Sponge to Wipe Away the Weapon
Salve,' and affirmed that it was as bad as witchcraft to use or
recommend such an unguent, that its inventor, the devil, would at the
Last Day claim every person who had meddled with it. 'The devil,' he
said, 'gave it to Paracelsus, Paracelsus to the Emperor, the Emperor
to a courtier, the courtier to Baptista Porta, and Baptista Porta to
Doctor Fludd, a doctor of physic, yet living and practising in the
famous city of London, who now stands tooth and nail for it.' Tooth
and nail Dr. Fludd met his adversary, and the public were infinitely
amused by the vehemence of his style in his pamphlet, 'The Spunging of
Parson Foster's Spunge; wherein the Spunge-carrier's immodest Carriage
and Behaviour towards his Brethren is detected; the bitter Flames of
his Slanderous Reports are, by the sharp Vinegar of Truth, corrected
and quite extinguished; and, lastly, the Virtuous Validity of his
Spunge in wiping away the Weapon Salve, is crushed out and clean
abolished.'

In all the dreams of the mediæval philosophy--in the philosopher's
stone and the stone philosophic, in the universal alkahest, in the
magical 'elixir vitæ'--Dr. Fludd was a serious believer. It was a
favourite hypothesis of his that all things depended on two
principles--_condensation_, or the boreal principle, and _rarefaction_,
the southern or austral. The human body, he averred, was governed by a
number of demons, whom he distributed over a rhomboidal figure.
Further, he taught that every disease had its own particular demon, the
evil influence of which could be neutralized only by the assistance of
the demon placed opposite to it in the rhomboid. The doctrines of the
Rosicrucian brotherhood he defended with a charming enthusiasm, and
when they had been attacked by Libavius and others, he set them forth
in what he conceived to be their true light in his 'Apologia
Compendiaria Fraternitatem de Rosea-Cruce suspicionis et infamiæ
Maculis Aspersam,' etc. (published at Leyden in 1616)--a work which
entitles him to be regarded as the high-priest of their mysteries. It
was severely criticised, however, by contemporary men of science, as by
Kepler, Gassendus (in his 'Epistolica Exercitatio'), and Mersenne,
whose searching analysis of the pretensions of the fraternity provoked
from Fludd an elaborate reply, entitled 'Summum Bonum, quod est Magiæ,
Cabalæ, Alchemiæ, Fratrum Roseæ-Crucis verorum, et adversus Mersenium
Calumniatorem.'[37]

In addition to the foregoing works, Fludd gave to the world:

1. 'Utriusque Cosmi, Majoris et Minoris, Technica Historia,' 2 vols.,
folio, Oppenheim, 1616; 2. 'Tractatus Apologeticus Integritatem
Societatis de Rosea-Cruce Defendens,' Leyden, 1617; 3. 'Monochordon
Mundi Symphoniacum, seu Replicatio ad Apologiam Johannis Kepleri,'
Frankfort, 1620; 4. 'Anatomiæ Amphitheatrum effigie triplici
Designatum,' Frankfort, 1623; 5. 'Philosophia Sacra et vere
Christiana, seu Meteorologica Cosmica,' Frankfort, 1626; 6. 'Medicina
Catholica, seu Mysterium Artis Medicandi Sacrarium,' Frankfort, 1631;
7. 'Integrum Morborum Mysterium,' Frankfort, 1631; 8. 'Clavis
Philosophiæ et Alchymiæ,' Frankfort, 1633; 9. 'Philosophia Mosaica,'
Goudac, 1638; and 10. 'Pathologia Dæmoniaca,' Goudac, 1640.

The last two treatises were posthumous publications. Fludd died in
London in 1637, and was buried in Bersted Church, where an imposing
monument perpetuates his memory. It represents him seated, with his
hand on a book, from the perusal of which his head has just been
lifted. Just below are two volumes (there were eight originally) in
marble, inscribed respectively, 'Mysterium Cabalisticum' and
'Philosophia Sacra.' The epitaph runs as follows: 'viii. Die Mensis
vii. A{o} D{ni}, M.D.C.XXXVII. Odoribvs vana vaporat crypta tegit
cineres nee speciosa tros qvod mortale minvs tibi. Te committimvs vnvm
ingenii vivent hic monvmenti tvi nam tibi qvi similis scribit
moritvrqve sepvlchrvm pro tota eternvm posteritate facit. Hoc
monvmentvm Thomas Flood Gore Courti in-coram apud Cantianos armiger
infoelicissimum in charissimi patrvi svi memoriam erexit die Mensis
Avgvsti, M.D.C.XXXVII.'

I shall not weary the reader with an analysis of any of Fludd's
elaborately mystical productions. They are as dead as anything can be,
and no power that I know of could breathe into them the breath of
life. But I may quote a few specimen or sample sentences, so to speak,
which will afford an idea of their style and tone:

'Particulars are frequently fallible, but universal never. Occult
philosophy lays bare Nature in her complete nakedness, and alone
contemplates the wisdom of universals by the eyes of intelligence.
Accustomed to partake of the rivers which flow from the Fountain of
Life, it is unacquainted with grossness and with clouded waters.'

In reference to Music, which he says stands in the same relation to
arithmetic as medicine to natural philosophy, he revives the
Pythagorean idea of the harmony of the universe: 'What is this music
(of men) compared with that deep and true music of the wise, whereby
the proportions of natural things are investigated, the harmonical
concord and the qualities of the whole world are revealed, by which
also connected things are bound together, peace established between
conflicting elements, and whereby each star is perpetually suspended
in its appointed place by its weight and strength, and by the harmony
of its herent spirit.'

_Light._--'Nothing in this world can be accomplished without the
mediation or divine act of light.'

_Magic._--'That most occult and secret department of physics, by which
the mystical properties of natural substances are extracted, we term
Natural Magic. The wise kings who (led by the new star from the east)
sought the infant Christ, are called Magi, because they had attained a
perfect knowledge of natural things, whether celestial or sublunar.
This branch of the Magi also includes Solomon, since he was versed in
the arcane virtues and properties of all substances, and is said to
have understood the nature of every plant, from the cedar to the
hyssop. Magicians who are proficient in the mathematical division
construct marvellous machines by means of their geometrical knowledge;
such were the flying dove of Archytas, and the brazen heads of Roger
Bacon and Albertus Magnus, which are said to have spoken. Venefic
magic is familiar with potions, philtres, and with the various
preparations of poisons; it is, in a measure, included in the natural
division, because a knowledge of the properties of natural things is
requisite to produce its results. Necromantic magic is divided into
Goëtic, maleficent, and theurgic. The first consists in diabolical
commerce with unclean spirits, in rites of criminal curiosity, in
illicit songs and invocations, and in the invocation of the souls of
the dead. The second is the adjuration of the devils by the virtue of
Divine names. The third pretends to be governed by good angels and the
Divine will, but its wonders are most frequently performed by evil
spirits, who assume the names of God and of the angels. This
department of necromancy can, however, be performed by natural powers,
definite rites and ceremonies, whereby celestial and Divine virtues
are reconciled and drawn to us; the ancient Magi formulated in their
secret books many rules of this doctrine. The last species of magic is
the thaumaturgic, begetting illusory phenomena; by this art the Magi
produced their phantasms and other marvels.'

_The Creation._--'According to Fludd's philosophy,' says Mr. Waite,
'the whole universe was fashioned after the pattern of an archetypal
world which existed in the Divine ideality, and was framed out of
unity in a threefold manner. The Eternal Monad or Unity, without any
regression from His own central profundity, compasses complicitly the
three cosmical dimensions, namely, root, square, and cube. If we
multiply unity as a root, in itself, it will produce only unity for
its square, which being again multiplied in itself, brings forth a
cube, which is one with root and square. Thus we have three branches
differing in formal progression, yet one unity in which all things
remain potentially, and that after a most abstruse manner. The
archetypal world was made by the egression of one out of one, and by
the regression of that one, so emitted into itself by emanation.
According to this ideal image, or archetypal world, our universe was
subsequently fashioned as a true type and exemplar of the Divine
Pattern; for out of unity in His abstract existence, viz., as it was
hidden in the dark chaos, or potential mass, the bright flame of all
formal being did shine forth, and the spirit of wisdom, proceeding
from them both, conjoined the formal emanation with the potential
matter, so that by the union of the divine emanation of light, and the
substantial darkness, which was water, the heavens were made of old,
and the whole world.'[38]

FOOTNOTES:

[36] See also Louis Figuier's 'L'Alchimie et les Alchimistes,' a
popular and agreeable survey; and the more erudite work of Professor
Buhle.

[37] This is sometimes ascribed to Joachim Fritz, but no one can doubt
that virtually it is Fludd's, who accompanied it with a defence of his
general philosophical teaching, entitled 'Sophiæ cum Moriâ Certamen.'
But whose was 'the Wisdom,' and whose 'the Folly'?

[38] Waite, 'History of the Rosicrucians,' p. 385.


THOMAS VAUGHAN.

Another English Rosicrucian to whom allusion must briefly be made is
Thomas Vaughan, who in his writings assumes the more classical
appellation of Eugenius Philalethes ('truth-lover'), and in his
travels was known as Carnobius in Holland, and Doctor Zheil in
America. He was born about 1612; was educated at Oxford; wandered
afterwards through many countries; embraced the delusions of alchemy
and the Rosy Cross; accreted round his personality a number of wild
and extravagant stories; and finally disappeared into such complete
oblivion that the time and place of his death are alike unknown.

The writings attributed to him are: 1. 'Anthroposophia Magica; or, A
Discourse of the Nature of Man and his State after Death;' and 'Anima
Magica Abscondita; or, A Discourse of the Universall Spirit of
Nature,' London, 1650. 2. 'Magia Adamica; or, The Antiquities of
Magic,' same place and date. 3. 'The Man-Mouse taken in a Trap;' a
reply to Henry More, who had criticised his 'Anthroposophia Magica.'
4. 'Lumen de Lumine; or, A New Magicall Light discovered and
communicated to the World,' London, 1651. 5. 'The Second Wash; or, The
Moor Scoured Once More, being a charitable Cure for the Distractions
of Abazonomastix' [Henry More], London, 1651. 6. 'The Fame and
Confession of the Fraternity of R. C., with a Preface annexed thereto,
and a short declaration of their physicall work,' London, 1652. 7.
'Euphrates; or, The Waters of the East, being a Short Discourse of
that Great Fountain whose water flows from Fire, and carries in it the
beams of the Sun and Moon,' London, 1656. 8. 'A Brief Natural
History,' London, 1669. And 9. 'Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Regis
Palatium. Philalethæ Tractatus Tres: i. Metallorum Metamorphosis; ii.
Brevis Manductio ad Rubrium Coelestem; iii. Fons Chymicæ Veritatis,'
London, 1678.

Vaughan seems to have led a wandering life, and to have fallen 'often
into great perplexities and dangers from the mere suspicion that he
possessed extraordinary secrets.' The suspicion, I should say, was
abundantly justified, since he made gold at will, and knew the
composition of the wonderful elixir! On one occasion, he tells us, he
went to a goldsmith, desiring to sell him twelve hundred marks' worth
of gold; but the goldsmith at first sight pronounced that it had never
come out of any mine, but was the production of art, seeing that it
was not of the standard of any known kingdom. Vaughan adds that he was
so confounded at this statement--though, surely, he must have expected
it--that he at once departed, _leaving the gold behind him_. But the
strangest part of his history is, that a writer in 1749 speaks of him
as living _then_, at the respectable old age of 137. 'A person of
great credit at Nuremberg, in Germany, affirms that he conversed with
him but a year or two ago. Nay, it is further asserted that this very
individual is the president of the Illuminated in Europe, and that he
sits as such in all their annual meetings.' Mayhap he is sitting at
them still! Only if he have discovered, not only the secret of the
transmutation of metals, but that of the indefinite prolongation of
life, is it not cruelly selfish of him to withhold it--we will not say
from the world at large, which deserves to be punished for its
scepticism and incredulity, but from the members of his own
fraternity?


JOHN HEYDON.

The English Rosicrucians are few in number--_rari gurgite in vasto
nantes_--and when I have added John Heydon to Vaughan and Fludd, I
shall have named the most distinguished. Heydon was the author of 'The
Wise Man's Crown; or, The Glory of the Rosie Cross' (1664); 'The Holy
Guide, leading the Way to Unite Art and Nature, with the Rosie Cross
Uncovered' (1662); and 'A New Method of Rosicrucian Physic; by John
Heydon, the Servant of God and the Secretary of Nature' (1658). In the
last-named he describes himself as an attorney--who will not pity his
clients, if he had any?--practising at Westminster Hall all term times
as long as he lived, and in the vacations devoting himself to
alchemical and Rosicrucian speculation. His introduction ('An Apologue
for an Epilogue') is full of such outrageous nonsense as to suggest
suspicion of his sanity. He speaks of Moses, Elias, and Ezekiel as the
prophets and founders of Rosicrucianism. Its present believers, he
says, may be few in number, but their position is incomparably
glorious. They are the eyes and ears of the great King of the
universe, seeing all things and hearing all things; they are
seraphically illuminated; they belong to the holy company of embodied
souls and immortal angels; they can assume any shape at will, and
possess the power of working miracles. They can walk in the air,
banish epidemics from stricken cities, pacify the most violent storms,
heal every disease, and turn all metals into gold. He had known, he
says, two illustrious brethren, named Williams and Walford, and had
seen them perform miracles--a statement which brands him either as a
knave or a dupe. 'I desired one of them to tell me,' he says, 'whether
my complexion were capable of the society of my good genius. "When I
see you again," said he (which was when he pleased to come to me, for
I knew not where to go to him), "I will tell you." When I saw him
afterwards, he said: "You should pray to God: for a good and holy man
can offer no greater or more acceptable service to God than the
oblation of himself--his soul." He said also, that the good genii were
the benign eyes of God, running to and fro in the world, and with love
and pity beholding the innocent endeavours of harmless and
single-hearted men, ever ready to do them good and to help them.'

Heydon advocated, without enforcing his precepts by example, the
Rosicrucian dogma, that men could live without eating and drinking,
affirming that all of us could exist in the same manner as the
singular people dwelling near the source of the Ganges, described by
his namesake, Sir Christopher Heydon[39] (but certainly by no other
traveller), who had no mouths, and therefore could not eat, but lived
by the breath of their nostrils--except when they went on a far
journey, and then, to recuperate their strength, they inhaled the
scent of flowers. He dilated on the 'fine foreign fatness' which
characterized really pure air--the air being impregnated with it by
the sunbeams--and affirmed that it should suffice for the nourishment
of the majority of mankind. He was not unwilling, however, that people
with gross appetites should eat animal food, but declared it to be
unnecessary for them, and that a much more efficacious mode would be
to use the meat, nicely cooked, as a plaster on the pit of the
stomach. By adopting this external treatment, they would incur no risk
of introducing diseases, as they did by the broad and open gate of the
mouth, as anyone might see by the example of drink; for so long as a
man sat in water, he knew no thirst. He had been acquainted--so he
declared--with many Rosicrucians who, by using wine as a bath, had
fasted from solid food for several years. And, as a matter of fact,
one might fast all one's life, though prolonged for 300 years, if one
ate no meat, and so avoided all risk of infection by disease.

Growing confidential in reference to his imaginary fraternity, he
states that its chiefs always carried about with them their symbol,
the R.C., an ebony cross, flourished and decked with roses of gold;
the cross typifying Christ's suffering for the sins of mankind, and
the golden roses the glory and beauty of His Resurrection. This symbol
was carried in succession to Mecca, Mount Calvary, Mount Sinai, Haran,
and three other places, which I cannot pretend to identify--Casele,
Apamia, and Chaulateau Viciosa Caunuch: these were the meeting-places
of the brotherhood.

'The Rosie Crucian Physick or Medicines,' says this bravely-mendacious
gentleman, 'I happily and unexpectedly light upon in Arabia, which
will prove a restoration of health to all that are afflicted with
sickness which we ordinarily call natural, and all other diseases.
These men have no small insight into the body: Walford, Williams, and
others of the Fraternity now living, may bear up in the same likely
equipage with those noble Divine Spirits their Predecessors; though
the unskilfulness in men commonly acknowledges more of supernatural
assistance in hot, unsettled fancies, and perplexed melancholy, than
in the calm and distinct use of reason; yet, for mine own part, I look
upon these Rosie Crucians above all men truly inspired, and more than
any that professed themselves so this sixteen hundred years, and I am
ravished with admiration of their miracles and transcendant mechanical
inventions, for the solving the Phænomenon of the world. I may,
without offence, therefore, compare them with Bezaliel, Aholiab, those
skilful workers of the Tabernacle, who, as Moses testifies, were
filled with the Spirit of God, and therefore were of an excellent
understanding to find out all manner of curious work.'

The plain fact is that Heydon's books are _fictions_--purely
imaginative work, based on some rough and ready knowledge of the old
alchemy and the new magic; partly allegorical and mystical, such as a
quick invention might readily conceive under the influence of
theosophic study, and partly borrowed from Henry More, and other
writers of the same stamp. The island inhabited by Rosicrucians, which
he describes in the introduction to 'The Holy Guide,' was evidently
suggested by Sir Thomas More's 'Utopia,' and Bacon's 'New Atlantis.'
It would be easy to point out his obligations elsewhere.

I may add, in bringing this chapter to a close, that Dr. Edmund
Dickenson, one of Charles II.'s physicians, professed to be a member
of the brotherhood, and wrote a book upon one of their supposed
doctrines, entitled 'De Quinta Essentia Philosophorum,' which was
printed at Oxford in 1686.

* * * * *

Whatever may be our opinion of Rosicrucianism, which, I believe, still
finds some believers and adepts in this country, we must acknowledge
that the literature of poetry and fiction is indebted to it
considerably. The machinery of Pope's exquisite poem, 'The Rape of the
Lock,' was borrowed from Paracelsus and Jacob Böhmen--not directly, it
is true, but through the medium of the Abbé de Villars' sparkling
romance, 'Le Comte de Gabalis.' 'According to those gentlemen,' says
Pope, 'the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call
sylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and salamanders.'

The Rosicrucian water-nymph supplied La Motte Fouqué with the idea of
that graceful and lovely creation, 'Undine,' and Sir Walter Scott has
invested his 'White Lady of Avenel' with some of her attributes.

William Godwin's romance of 'St. Leon' turns on the Rosicrucian fancy
of immortal life; while Lord Lytton's 'Zanoni' is practically a
Rosicrucian fiction. The influence of the Rosicrucian writers is also
apparent in the same author's 'A Strange Story.'

FOOTNOTE:

[39] Author of 'A Defence of Judiciall Astrologie,' printed at
Cambridge in 1603.