Mysteries of the Rosie Cross

Who and what were the Rosicrucians?

The questions which present themselves on the threshold of this enquiry are:-Who and what were the Rosicrucians? When and where did they flourish, and what influence did any peculiar tenets they may have held, or practices they may have indulged in, exercise upon the world? We shall endeavour to answer these queries as distinctly as so mysterious and extravagant a subject will allow of, and illustrate the whole by copious extracts from the writings of recognized leaders and disciples.

Comparatively very little is known about these people; and, if we open any of our works of general reference, such as dictionaries and encyclop?dias, we find little more than a bare reminder that they were a mystic sect to be found in a few European countries about the middle of the fifteenth century. That such a sect did exist is beyond question, and the opinion that what is left of it exists at the present time in connection with modern Freemasonry, seems not altogether destitute of foundation.

They appear to have a close connection with the Alchemists; springing into existence as a distinct body when those enthusiastic seekers after the power of transmuting the baser into the nobler metals were creating unusual sensation. Somewhere about the end of the fifteenth century, a Dutch pilot named Haussen, had the misfortune to be shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland. The vessel was lost, but Haussen was saved by a Scotch gentleman, one Alexander Seton, who put off in a boat and brought the drowning mariner to land. A warm friendship sprang up between the two, and, about eighteen months after, Seton went to Holland, and paid a visit to the man whom he had rescued. During this visit he informed the Dutchman that he was in possession of the secret of the philosopher's stone, and report says that in his presence he actually transmuted large quantities of base metal into the finest gold, which he left with him as a present. Seton in due course took leave of his friend, and prosecuted his travels through various parts of the continent. He made no attempt to conceal the possession of his boasted secret, but openly talked of it wherever he went and performed certain experiments, which he persuaded the people were actual transmutations of base metal into gold. Unfortunately for him, the Duke of Saxony heard the report of these wonders, and immediately had him arrested and put to the torture of the rack to extract from him the precious secret, or to compel him at least to use it in his especial service. All was in vain, however, the secret, if such he really possessed, remained locked up in his own breast, and he lay for months in prison subjected to treatment which reduced him to mere skin and bone, and well nigh killed him. A Pole, named Sendivogius, also an alchemist, an enthusiast like the rest of the fraternity, who had spent time and fortune in the wild and profitless search, then came upon the scene. The sufferings of Seton aroused his sympathy, and he resolved to bring about, if possible, his escape from the tyrant. After experiencing a deal of difficulty he obtained permission to visit the prisoner, whom he found in a dark and filthy dungeon, in a condition well nigh verging upon absolute starvation. He immediately acquainted the unhappy man with his proposals, which were listened to with the greatest eagerness, and Seton declared that, if he succeeded in securing his liberation, he would make him one of the wealthiest of living men. Sendivogius then set about his really difficult task; and, with a view to its accomplishment, commenced a curious and artful series of movements. His first move was to procure some ready money, which he did by the sale of some property near Cracow. With this he began to lead a gay and somewhat dissipated life at Dresden; giving splendid banquets, to which he invited the officers of the guard, particularly selecting those who were on duty at the prison. In the course of time his hospitality had its expected effect; he entirely won the confidence of the officials, and pretending that he was endeavouring to overcome the obstinacy of the captive, and worm out his secret, was allowed free access to him. It was at last resolved upon a certain day to make the attempt at escape; and, having sent the guard to sleep by means of some drugged wine, he assisted Seton over a wall, and led him to a post-chaise, which he had conveniently waiting, to convey him into Poland. In the vehicle Seton found his wife awaiting him, having with her a packet of black powder, which was said to be the philosopher's stone by which iron and copper could be transmuted into gold. They all reached Cracow in safety, but Seton's sufferings had been so severe, and had so reduced his physical strength, that he did not survive many months. He died about 1603 or 1604, leaving behind him a number of works marked Cosmopolite. Soon after his death Sendivogius married the widow; and, according to the accounts which have come down to us, was soon initiated into the methods of turning the commoner metals into the finer. With the black powder, we are told, he converted great quantities of quicksilver into the purest gold, and that he did this in the presence of the Emperor Rudolph II. at Prague, who, in commemoration of the fact, caused a marble tablet with an inscription to be fixed in the wall of the room where the experiment was performed. Whether the experiment was a cheat or not, the tablet was really fixed in the said wall, and was seen and described by Desnoyens, secretary to the Princess Mary of Gonzaga, Queen of Poland, in 1651.

Rudolph, the Emperor, seems to have been perfectly satisfied with the success of the alchymist, and would have heaped the loftiest honours upon him had he been disposed to accept of them; this, however, did not accord with his inclination; he, it is said, preferred his liberty, and went to reside on his estate at Gravarna, where he kept open house for all who responded to his invitations. His biographer, Brodowski, who was also his steward, insists, contrary to other writers, that the magic powder was red and not black; that he kept it in a box of gold, and that with one grain of it he could make a hundred ducats, or a thousand rix dollars, generally using quicksilver as the basis of his operations. When travelling this box was carried by the steward, who hung it round his neck by a golden chain; the principal part of the powder, however, was hidden in a secret place cut in the step of his chariot; this being deemed a secure place in the event of being attacked by robbers. He appears to have lived in constant fear of being robbed, and resorted to all manner of precautions to secure his treasure when on a journey; for it is said that he was well known as the possessor of this philosopher's stone, and that many adventurers were on the watch for any opportunity to rob him.

Brodowski relates that a German prince once served him a scurvy trick, which ever afterwards put him on his guard. The prince was so anxious to see the wonderful experiments, of which he had heard so much, that he actually fell upon his knees before the alchymist, when entreating him to perform in his presence. Sendivogius, after much pressing, allowed his objections to be overcome; and, upon the promise of secrecy by the prince, showed him what he was so anxious to witness. No sooner, however, had the alchymist left, than the prince entered into a conspiracy with another alchymist, named Muhlenfels, for robbing Sendivogius of the powder he used in his operations. Accompanied by twelve armed attendants, Muhlenfels hastened after Sendivogius, and overtaking him at a lonely inn, where he had stopped to dine, forcibly took from him his golden box containing a little of the powder; a manuscript book on the philosopher's stone; a golden medal, with its chain, presented to him by the Emperor Rudolph; and a rich cap, ornamented with diamonds, of the value of one hundred thousand rix-dollars.

Sendivogius was not at all disposed to put up with such treatment without an effort to obtain redress, so he went at once to Prague, and laid his complaint before the Emperor. The Emperor at once sent an express to the prince, ordering him to deliver up Muhlenfels and his plunder. Alarmed at the aspect that things were now assuming, the prince, treacherous to one man as he had been to the other, erected gallows in his courtyard and hanged Muhlenfels with a thief on either side of him. He sent back the jewelled hat, the medal and chain, and the book in manuscript; the powder, he said, he knew nothing of.

Sendivogius now adopted a different mode of living altogether to that which he had formerly been addicted to; he pretended to be excessively poor, and would sometimes keep his bed for weeks together, to make the people conclude it was impossible for him to be the owner of the philosopher's stone. He died in the year 1636, upwards of eighty, and was buried at Gravarna.

Now, it is commonly held by most people, who have studied the subject, that there is a close and intimate connection between the Alchymists and the Rosicrucians; probably this is true, and a perusal of the works of John Heydon, and others of a similar character, will deepen the impression. It was, indeed, during the life of Sendivogius that the Rosicrucians first began to make a mark in Europe, and cause anything approaching to a sensation. A modern writer says:-"The influence which they exercised upon opinion during their brief career, and the permanent impression which they have left upon European literature, claim for them especial notice. Before their time alchemy was but a grovelling delusion; and theirs is the merit of having spiritualised and refined it. They also enlarged its sphere, and supposed the possession of the philosopher's stone to be, not only the means of wealth, but of health and happiness, and the instrument by which man could command the services of superior beings, control the elements to his will, defy the obstructions of time and space, and acquire the most intimate knowledge of all the secrets of the universe."[1]

It is a fact well known to all well-informed readers, that at this time the European continent was saturated with the most degrading superstitions. Devils were supposed to walk the earth, and to mingle in the affairs of men; evil spirits, in the opinion even of the wise and learned, were thought to be at the call of any one who would summon them with the proper formalities; and witches were daily burned in all the capitals of Europe. The new sect taught a doctrine less repulsive. They sprang up in Germany, extended with some success to France and England, and excited many angry controversies. Though as far astray in their notions as the Demonologists and witch believers, the creed was more graceful. They taught that the elements swarmed not with hideous, foul and revengeful spirits, but with beautiful creatures, more ready to do man service than to inflict injury. They taught that the earth was inhabited by Gnomes, the air by Sylphs, the fire by Salamanders, and the water by Nymphs or Undines; and that man, by his communication with them, might learn the secrets of nature, and discover all those things which had puzzled philosophers for ages-Perpetual Motion, the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Essence of Invisibility.

Respecting the origin and signification of the term Rosicrucian different opinions have been held and expressed. Some have thought it was made up of rosa and crux (a rose and a cross) but it is maintained by others upon apparently good authority, that it is a compound of ros (dew) and crux (cross). Mosheim contends that it is abundantly attested that the title of Rosicrucians was given to the chemists who united the study of religion with the search after chemical secrets, the term itself being chemical, and not to be understood without a knowledge of the style used by the chemists. We shall give some extracts from very old Rosicrucian works presently which will enlighten our readers in such matters.

A cross in the language of the fire philosophers is the same as Lux (light), because the figure of a + exhibits all the three letters of the word Lux at one view. Moreover, this sect applied the term Lux to the seed or menstruum of the Red Dragon, or to that crude and corporeal light which, being properly concocted and digested, produces gold. A Rosicrucian, therefore, is a philosopher who, by means of dew seeks for light-that is, for the substance of the philosopher's stone.

Mosheim declares the other interpretations of this name to be false and deceptive, being the inventions of the chemists themselves, who were exceedingly fond of concealment, for the sake of imposing on others who were hostile to their religious views. The true import of this title, he says, was perceived by the sagacity of Peter Gassendi, Examen Philosophi? Fluddan?, sec. 15, in his Opp. iii, 261; though it was more lucidly explained by the celebrated French physician Eusebius Renaudot, Conférences Publiques, iv. 87.

In 1619 Dr. Jo. Valentine Andre?, a celebrated Lutheran divine, published his Tower of Babel, or Chaos of Opinions respecting the Fraternity of the Rosy-Cross, in which he represents the whole history as a farce, and gave intimations that he was himself concerned in getting it up.

Brucker says to the class of Theosophists has been commonly referred the entire society of Rosicrucians, which, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, made so much noise in the ecclesiastical and literary world. The history of this society, which is attended with some obscurity, seems to be as follows:-"Its origin is referred to a certain German, whose name was Rosencreuz who, in the fourteenth century, visited the Holy Sepulchre; and, in travelling through Asia and Africa, made himself acquainted with many Oriental secrets; and who, after his return, instituted a small fraternity, to whom he communicated the mysteries he had learned, under an oath of inviolable secrecy. This society remained concealed till the beginning of the seventeenth century, when two books were published, the one entitled, Fama Fraternitatis laudabilis Ordinis Ros?crusis: "The report of the laudable Fraternity of Rosicrucians;" the other, Confessio Fraternitatis, "The Confession of the Fraternity." In these books the world was informed that this fraternity was enabled, by Divine revelation, to explain the most important secrets, both of nature and grace; that they were appointed to correct the errors of the learned world, particularly in philosophy and medicine; that they were possessed of the philosopher's stone, and understood both the art of transmuting metals and of prolonging human life; and, in fine, by their means the golden age would return. As soon as these grand secrets were divulged, the whole tribe of the Paracelsists, Theosophists and Chemists flocked to the Rosicrucian standard, and every new and unheard-of mystery was referred to this fraternity. It is impossible to relate how much noise this wonderful discovery made, or what different opinions were formed concerning it. After all, though the laws and statutes of the society had appeared, no one could tell where the society itself was to be found, or who really belonged to it. It was imagined by some sagacious observers, that a certain important meaning was concealed under the story of the Rosicrucian fraternity, though they were wholly unable to say what it was. One conjectured that some chemical mystery lay hid behind the allegorical tale; another supposed that it foretold some great ecclesiastical revolution. At last Michael Breler, in the year 1620, had the courage publicly to declare that he certainly knew the whole story to have been the contrivance of some ingenious persons who chose to amuse themselves by imposing upon the public credulity. This declaration raised a general suspicion against the whole story; and, as no one undertook to contradict it, this wonderful society daily vanished, and the rumours, which had been spread concerning it, ceased. The whole was probably a contrivance to ridicule the pretenders to secret wisdom and wonderful power, particularly the chemists, who boasted that they were possessed of the philosopher's stone. It has been conjectured-and the satirical turn of his writings, and several particular passages in his works, favour the conjecture-that this farce was invented and performed, in part at least, by John Valentine Andrea of Wartenburg."[2]

Pope, in the dedication of his Rape of the Lock to Mrs. Arabella Fermor, wrote:-"I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a lady; but it is so much the concern of a poet to have his works understood-and particularly by your sex-that you must give me leave to explain two or three difficult terms.

"The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The best account I know of them is in a French book called Le Comte de Gabalis, which, both in its title and size, is so like a novel, that many of the fair sex have read it for one by mistake. According to these gentlemen, the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call sylphs, gnomes, nymphs and salamanders. The gnomes, or demons of earth, delight in mischief; but the sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, are the best conditioned creatures imaginable; for they say any mortals may enjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a condition very easy to all true adepts, an inviolate preservation of chastity."

On the lines (verse 20, canto 1):-

"Belinda still her downy pillow prest,

Her guardian sylph prolonged the balmy rest."

in Pope's Rape of the Lock, Warburton thus comments:-

"When Mr. Pope had projected to give the Rape of the Lock its present form of a mock-heroic poem, he was obliged to find it with its machinery. For, as the subject of the Epic consists of two parts, the metaphysical and the civil; so this mock epic, which is of the satiric kind, and receives its grace from a ludicrous mimicry of other's pomp and solemnity, was to have the like compounded nature. And as the civil part is intentionally debased by the choice of a trifling action; so should the metaphysical by the application of some very extravagant system. A rule which, though neither Boileau nor Garth had been careful enough to attend to, our author's good sense would not suffer him to overlook. And that sort of machinery which his judgment informed him was only fit for use, his admirable invention soon supplied. There was but one systematic extravagance in all nature which was to his purpose, the Rosicrucian Philosophy; and this by the effort of a well-directed imagination, he presently seized. The fanatic Alchemists, in the search after the great secret, had invented a means altogether to their end: it was a kind of Theological Philosophy, made up in a mixture of almost equal parts of Pagan Platonism, Christian Quietism and the Jewish Cabbala; a mixture monstrous enough to frighten reason from human commerce. This system, he tells us, he took as he found it in a little French tract called, La Comte de Gabalis. This book is written in dialogue, and is a delicate and very ingenious piece of raillery on that invisible sect by the Abbé Villiers; the strange stories that went about of the feats and adventures of their adepts making, at that time, a great deal of noise at Paris. But, as in this satirical dialogue, Mr. P. found several whimsies of a very high mysterious nature, told of their elementary beings, which were unfit to come into the machinery of such a sort of poem, he has, in their stead, with great judgment, substituted the legendary stories of Guardian Angels, and the nursery tales of the Fairies, and dexterously accommodated them to the rest of the Rosicrucian System. And to this artful address (unless we will be so uncharitable to think he intended to give a needless scandal) we must suppose he referred in these two lines,

"If e'er one Vision touch'd thy infant thought,

Of all the nurse and all the priest have taught."

Thus, by the most beautiful invention imaginable, he has contrived that (as in the serious Epic, the popular belief supports the machinery) in his mock Epic the machinery (taken from a circumstance the most humbling to reason in all philosophical fanaticism) should serve to dismount learned pride and arrogance."

On verse 45, canto 1, he remarks:-"The Poet here forsakes his Rosicrucian system; which, in this part, is too extravagant even for ludicrous poetry."

On verse 68, canto 1, he continues:-"Here, again, the author resumes the Rosicrucian system. But this tenet, peculiar to that wild philosophy, was founded on a principle very unfit to be employed in such a sort of poem, and, therefore suppressed, though a less judicious writer would have been tempted to expatiate upon it."

Swift, in the "Tale of a Tub," says:-"Night being the universal mother of things, wise philosophers hold all writings to be fruitful, in the proportion they are dark; and therefore the true illuminated (that is to say, the darkest of all) have met with such numberless commentators, whose scholastic midwifery has delivered them of meanings, that the authors themselves perhaps never conceived, and yet may very justly be allowed the lawful parents of them; the words of such writers being like seed, which, however scattered, at random, when they light upon a fruitful ground, will multiply far beyond either the hopes or imagination of the sower. And, therefore, in order to promote so useful a work, I will here take leave to glance a few inuendos, that may be of great assistance to those sublime spirits, who shall be appointed to labour in a universal comment upon this wonderful discourse. And, first, I have couched a very profound mystery in the number of O's multiplied by seven and divided by nine. Also, if a devout brother of the rosy cross will pray fervently for sixty-three mornings, with a lively faith, and then transpose certain letters and syllables, according to prescription, in the second and fifth section, they will certainly reveal into a full receipt of the opus magnum. Lastly, whoever will be at the pains to calculate the whole number of each letter in this treatise, and sum up the difference exactly between the several numbers, assigning the true natural cause for every such difference, the discoveries in the product will plentifully reward his labour."

"For Mystic Learning, wondrous able

In magic Talisman and Cabal,

Whose primitive tradition reaches

As far as Adam's first green breeches;

Deep sighted in Intelligences,

Ideas, Atoms, Influences;

And much of Terra-Incognita,

Th' intelligible world, could say;

A deep Occult Philosopher,

As learned as the wild Irish are,

Or Sir Agrippa, for profound

And solid lying much renowned.

He Anthroposophus and Fludd,

And Jacob Behmen understood;

Knew many an amulet and charm,

That would do neither good nor harm;

In Rosy-Crusian lore as learned

As he that verè adeptus earned."

-Hudibras, Part I, Canto I.

The Globe Encyclop?dia, under article Rosicrucians, says:-"A mystic brotherhood revealed to the outer world in the Fama Fraternitatis R. C. (1614), the Confessio Fraternitatis R. C. (1615), and the Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreuz (1616), which last was acknowledged by, as the two former works were commonly ascribed to, Johann Valentin Andre?. From them we learn that a German noble of the 14th century, one Christian Rosenkreuz, after long travel in the East, founded on his return a brotherhood of seven adepts, the R., and dying at the age of 106 was buried in their temple-the 'House of the Holy Spirit,' with the inscription on his grave-'Post CXX. annos patebo.' The laws of the order, thus made known in the fulness of time, were that its members should heal the sick gratis, should meet once every year in a certain secret place, should adopt as their symbol R. C. (i.e. Rosea Crux), or a rose springing from a cross (the device, be it observed, of Luther's seal), and should assume the habit and manners of whatsoever country they might journey to. It is now supposed that Andre? simply intended a hoax upon the credulity of the age, and that Christian Rosenkreuz and all the attendant mysteries were wholly the coinage of his fertile brain. However, the hoax, if hoax there were, was taken seriously, and as early as 1622, societies of alchemists at the Hague and elsewhere assumed the title R., while Rosicrucian tenets powerfully influenced Cabalists, Freemasons, and Illuminati, and were professed by Cagliostro and similar impostors. Even to-day a Rosicrucian lodge is said to exist in London, whose members claim by asceticism to live beyond the allotted age of man, and to which the late Lord Lytton sought entrance vainly."

"I was once engaged in discourse with a Rosicrucian about the 'great secret.' As this kind of men, I mean those of them who are not professed cheats, are over-run with enthusiasm and philosophy, it was very amusing to hear this religious adept descanting on his pretended discovery. He talked of the secret as of a spirit which lived within an emerald, and converted everything that was near it to the highest perfection it is capable of. 'It gives a lustre,' says he, 'to the sun, and water to the diamond. It irradiates every metal, and enriches lead with all the properties of gold. It heightens smoke into flame, flame into light, and light into glory.' He further added, that a single ray of it dissipates pain, and care, and melancholy, from the person on whom it falls. In short, says he, 'its presence naturally changes every place into a kind of heaven.'

"After he had gone on for some time in this unintelligible cant, I found that he jumbled natural and moral ideas together in the same discourse, and that his great secret was nothing else but content."

* * *

Historical Notices of the Rosicrucians.

So mysterious a sect were the Rosicrucians, and so involved in doubt and obscurity are most of their movements, practices and opinions, that nearly everything connected with them has been denied or doubted at one time or another by those who have written about them. Dr. Mackay says: "Many have denied the existence of such a personage as Rosencreutz, and have fixed the origin of this sect at a much later epoch. The first dawning of it, they say, is to be found in the theories of Paracelsus and the dreams of Dr. Dee, who, without intending it, became the actual, though never the recognised founders of the Rosicrucian philosophy. It is now difficult, and indeed impossible to determine whether Dee and Paracelsus obtained their ideas from the then obscure and unknown Rosicrucians, or whether the Rosicrucians did but follow and improve upon them. Certain it is, that their existence was never suspected till the year 1605, when they began to excite attention in Germany. No sooner were their doctrines promulgated, than all the visionaries, Paracelsists, and alchymists, flocked around their standard, and vaunted Rosencreutz as the new regenerator of the human race." According to Mayer, a celebrated physician of the times, who published a report of the tenets and ordinances of the new fraternity at Cologne in the year 1615, they asserted in the first place that the meditations of their founders surpassed everything that had ever been imagined since the creation of the world, without even excepting the revelations of the Deity; that they were destined to accomplish the general peace and regeneration of man before the end of the world arrived; that they possessed all wisdom and piety in a supreme degree; that they possessed all the graces of nature, and could distribute them among the rest of mankind according to their pleasure; that they were subject to neither hunger, nor thirst, nor disease, nor old age, nor to any other inconvenience of nature; that they knew by inspiration, and at the first glance, every one who was worthy to be admitted into their society; that they had the same knowledge then which they would have possessed if they had lived from the beginning of the world, and had been always acquiring it; that they had a volume in which they could read all that ever was or ever would be written in other books till the end of time; that they could force to, and retain in their service the most powerful spirits and demons; that by the virtue of their songs, they could attract pearls and precious stones from the depths of the sea or the bowels of the earth; that God had covered them with a thick cloud, by means of which they could shelter themselves from the malignity of their enemies, and that they could thus render themselves invisible from all eyes; that the first eight brethren of the Rosie-Cross had power to cure all maladies; that by means of the fraternity, the triple diadem of the Pope would be reduced into dust; that they only admitted two sacraments, with the ceremonies of the Primitive Church, renewed by them: that they recognised the Fourth Monarchy and the Emperor of the Romans as their Chief, and the Chief of all Christians; that they would provide him with more gold, their treasures being inexhaustible, than the King of Spain had ever drawn from the golden regions of Eastern and Western India.

Things went on pretty quietly for some time, converts being made with ease in Germany, but only with difficulty in other parts. In 1623, however, the brethren suddenly made their appearance in Paris, and the inhabitants of the city were surprised on the 3rd of March to find placarded on the walls a manifesto to this effect:-"We, the deputies of the principal college of the brethren of the Rosie Cross, have taken up our abode, visible and invisible, in this city, by the grace of the Most High, towards whom are turned the hearts of the just. We show and teach without any books or symbols whatever, and we speak all sorts of languages in the countries wherein we deign to dwell, to draw mankind, our fellows, from error and to save them from death."

Whether this was a mere joke on the part of some of the wits of the day, it is certain that it created a very wide-spread sensation, and no little wonder and alarm, particularly amongst the clergy. Very soon pamphlets in opposition, and intended to warn the faithful, began to make their appearance. The earliest was called "A History of the Frightful Compacts entered into between the Devil and the Pretended Invisibles, with their Damnable Instructions, the Deplorable Ruin of their Disciples, and their Miserable End." This was followed by another of a far more ambitious character, pretending to ability to explain all the peculiarities and mysteries of the strange intruders. It was called "An examination of the New Cabala of the Brethren of the Rosie-Cross, who have lately come to reside in the city of Paris, with the History of their Manners, the Wonders worked by them, and many other particulars."

As the books sold and circulated the sensation and alarm in the breasts of the people largely increased, approaching almost to a kind of panic. Ridicule and laugh as some would, it was impossible to disguise the fact that a vast number of the population went in bodily fear of this mysterious sect, whose members they had never seen. It was believed that the Rosicrucians could transport themselves from place to place with the rapidity almost of thought, and that they took delight in cheating and tormenting unhappy citizens, especially such as had sinned against the laws of morality. Then very naturally came the wildest and most unlikely stories, which, as is usual with such things, in spite of all their folly, were soon propagated far and wide, and increased the general alarm.

An innkeeper declared that a mysterious stranger entered his inn, regaled himself on the best of everything, and suddenly vanished in a cloud when the reckoning was presented. Another was patronised by a similar stranger, who lived upon the choicest fare and drank the best wines of the house for a week, and paid him with a handful of new gold coins, which turned into slates the following morning. It was also reported that several persons on awakening in the middle of the night found individuals in their bedchambers, who suddenly became invisible, though still palpable when the alarm was raised. Such was the consternation in Paris, that every man who could not give a satisfactory account of himself was in danger of being pelted to death; and quiet citizens slept with loaded guns at their bedside, to take vengeance upon any Rosicrucian who might violate the sanctity of their chambers. No man or woman was considered safe; the female sex especially were supposed to be in danger, for it was implicitly believed that no bolts, locks or bars could keep out would be intruders, and it was frequently being reported that young women in the middle of the night found strange men of surpassing beauty in their bedrooms, who vanished the instant any attempt was made to arouse the inmates of the house. In other quarters it was reported that people most unexpectedly found heaps of gold in their houses, not having the slightest idea from whence they came; the feelings and emotions thus excited were consequently most conflicting, no man knowing whether his ghostly visitant might be the harbinger of good or evil.

While the general alarm was at its height, another mysterious placard appeared, which said:-"If any one desires to see the brethren of the Rose-Cross from curiosity only, he will never communicate with us. But if his will really induces him to inscribe his name in the register of our brotherhood, we, who can judge of the thoughts of all men, will convince him of the truth of our promises. For this reason we do not publish to the world the place of our abode. Thought alone, in unison with the sincere will of those who desire to know us, is sufficient to make us known to them, and them to us."

The imposition thus perpetrated upon the credulity of the people had but a comparatively short life in Paris, a deal of controversy was engendered between those who regarded the whole affair as a stupid hoax, and those whose superstitious fears made them think there was truth in it, and the efforts made by its disciples to defend their theories overshot the mark, and exposed the fallacies of that which they were intended to support. The police were called upon the scene to try and trace out and arrest the authors of the troublesome placards, and the Church took up the moral and theological aspect of the sensation, and issued pamphlets which professed to explain the whole as the production of some disciples of Luther, who were sent out to promulgate enmity and opposition to the Pope. The Abbé Gaultier, a Jesuit, distinguished himself in this direction, and informed the public that the very name of the disciples of the sect proved they were heretics; a cross surmounted by a rose being the heraldic device of the arch-heretic Luther. Another writer named Garasse, declared they were nothing but a set of drunken impostors; and that their name was derived from the garland of roses, in the form of a cross, hung over the tables of taverns in Germany as the emblem of secrecy, and from whence was derived the common saying, when one man communicated a secret to another, that it was said, "under the rose." Other explanations were also freely offered, which we have not space to describe, but which may be reached by the aid of the learned works given in our list of authorities.

The charges of evil connections brought against the Rosicrucians were repudiated by those people with energy and determination; they affirmed in the most positive manner that they had nothing to do with magic, and that they held no intercourse whatever with the devil. They declared, on the contrary, that they were faithful followers of the true God, that they had already lived more than a hundred years, and expected to live many hundred more, and that God conferred upon them perfect happiness, and as a reward for their piety and service gave them the wonderful knowledge they were possessed of. They declared that they did not get their name from a cross of roses, but from Christian Rosencreutz, their founder. When charged with drunkenness, they said that they did not know what thirst was, and that they were altogether proof against the temptations of the most attractive food. They professed the greatest indignation perhaps at the charge of interfering with the honour of virtuous women, and maintained most positively that the very first vow they took was one of chastity, and that any of them violating that oath, would be deprived at once of all the advantages he possessed, and be subject to hunger, thirst, sorrow, disease and death like other men. Witchcraft and sorcery they also most warmly repudiated; the existence of incubi and succubi they said was a pure invention of their enemies, that man "was not surrounded by enemies like these, but by myriads of beautiful and beneficent beings, all anxious to do him service. The sylphs of the air, the undines of the water, the gnomes of the earth, and the salamanders of the fire were man's friends, and desired nothing so much as that men should purge themselves of all uncleanness, and thus be enabled to see and converse with them. They possessed great power, and were unrestrained by the barriers of space, or the obstructions of matter. But man was in one respect their superior. He had an immortal soul, and they had not. They might, however, become sharers in man's immortality if they could inspire one of that race with the passion of love towards them. Hence it was the constant endeavour of the female spirits to captivate the admiration of men, and of the male gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines to be beloved by a woman. The object of this passion, in returning their love, imparted a portion of that celestial fire, the soul; and from that time forth the beloved became equal to the lover, and both, when their allotted course was run, entered together into the mansions of felicity. These spirits, they said, watched constantly over mankind by night and day. Dreams, omens, and presentiments were all their work, and the means by which they gave warning of the approach of danger. But though so well inclined to befriend man for their own sake, the want of a soul rendered them at times capricious and revengeful; they took offence at slight causes, and heaped injuries instead of benefits on the heads of those who extinguished the light of reason that was in them by gluttony, debauchery, and other appetites of the body."[3] Great as was the excitement produced in the French capital by these placards, pamphlets and reports, it lasted after all but a very few months. The accumulating absurdities became too much, even for the most superstitious, and their fears were overcome by that sense of the ridiculous which speedily manifested itself. Instead of trembling as before, men laughed and derided, and the detection, arrest and summary punishment of a number of swindlers who tried to pass off lumps of gilded brass as pure gold made by the processes of alchemy, aided by a smartly written exposure of the follies of the sect by Gabriel Naudé, soon drove the whole thing clean off the French territory.

* * *

Early Leaders-Literature-Romantic Stories.

We now proceed to speak of some of the more prominent of the Rosicrucian leaders and teachers, and to call attention to the literature from which we obtain our only reliable information.

In the sixteenth century lived that extraordinary man Theophrastus Paracelsus, whose writings exercised a greater influence, perhaps, over the minds of his fellow creatures than any other author of his time. No man it is certain had contributed so much as he, to the diffusion of the Cabbalism, Theosophy and Alchemy which had flooded Germany and flowed over a greater part of Western Europe. Now it was generally believed that in the seventeenth century a great and general reformation amongst the human race would take place, as a necessary fore-runner to the day of judgment. In connection with this, Paracelsus made several prophecies which took a very firm hold of the public mind. He declared that the comet which made its appearance in 1572 was the sign and harbinger of the coming revolution, and he prophesied that soon after the death of the Emperor Rudolph, there would be found three treasures that had never been revealed before that time. In the year 1610 there were published at the same time three books which led to the foundation of the Rosicrucian order as a district society. One was called "Universal Reformation of the Whole Wide World." De Quincey summarises its contents thus: "The Seven Wise Men of Greece, together with M. Cato and Seneca, and a secretary named Mazzonius, are summoned to Delphi by Apollo, at the desire of the Emperor Justinian, and there deliberate, on the best mode of redressing human misery. All sorts of strange schemes are proposed. Thales advised to cut a hole in every man's breast, and place a little window in it, by which means it would become possible to look into the heart, to detect hypocrisy and vice, and thus to extinguish it. Solon proposes an equal partition of all possessions and wealth. Chilo's opinion is that the readiest way to the end in view would be to banish out of the world the two infamous and rascally metals gold and silver. Kleolinlus steps forward as the apologist of gold and silver, but thinks that iron ought to be prohibited, because in that case no more wars could be carried on amongst men. Pittacus insists upon more rigorous laws, which should make virtue and merit the sole passports to honour; to which, however, Periander objects that there had never been any scarcity of such laws, nor of princes to execute them, but scarcity enough of subjects conformable to good laws. The conceit of Bias, is that nations should be kept apart from each other, and each confined to its own home; and for this purpose, that all bridges should be demolished, mountains rendered insurmountable, and navigation totally forbidden. Cato, who seems to be the wisest of the party, wishes that God in his mercy would be pleased to wash away all women from the face of the earth by a new deluge, and at the same time to introduce some new arrangement for the continuation of the excellent male sex without female help. Upon this pleasing and sensible proposal the whole company manifest the greatest displeasure, and deem it so abominable that they unanimously prostrate themselves on the ground, and devoutly pray to God "that He would graciously vouchsafe to preserve the lovely race of women" (what absurdity) "and to save the world from a second deluge!" At length after a long debate, the counsel of Seneca prevails; which counsel is this-that out of all ranks a society should be composed having for its object the general welfare of mankind, and pursuing it in secret. This counsel is adopted: though without much hope on the part of the deputation, on account of the desperate condition of 'the Age,' who appears before them in person, and describes his own wretched state of health."

The second work was the celebrated Fama Fraternitatis of the meritorious order of the Rosy Cross, addressed to the learned in general, and the Governors of Europe. Here we may cite De Quincey again: "Christian Rosycross, of noble descent, having upon his travels into the East and into Africa learned great mysteries from Arabians, Chaldeans, etc., upon his return to Germany established, in some place not mentioned, a secret society composed at first of four-afterwards of eight-members, who dwelt together in a building called the House of the Holy Ghost, erected by him: to these persons, under a vow of fidelity and secrecy, he communicated his mysteries. After they had been instructed, the society dispersed agreeably to their destination, with the exception of two members, who remained alternately with the founder. The rules of the order were these:-The members were to cure the sick without fee or reward. No member to wear a peculiar habit, but to dress after the fashion of the country. On a certain day in every year all the members to assemble in the House of the Holy Ghost, or to account for their absence. Every member to appoint some person with the proper qualifications to succeed him at his own decease. The word Rosy-Cross to be their seal, watchword, and characteristic mark. The association to be kept unrevealed for a hundred years. Christian Rosycross died at the age of a hundred years. His death was known to the Society, but not his grave; for it was a maxim of the first Rosicrucians to conceal their burial places even from each other. New masters were continually elected into the House of the Holy Ghost, and the Society had now lasted 120 years. At the end of this period, a door was discovered in the house, and upon the opening of this door a sepulchral vault. Upon the door was this inscription: One hundred and twenty years hence I shall open (Post CXX. annos patebo). The vault was a heptagon. Every side was five feet broad and eight feet high. It was illuminated by an artificial sun. In the centre was placed, instead of a grave-stone, a circular altar with a little plate of brass, whereon these words were inscribed: This grave, an abstract of the whole world, I made for myself while yet living (A. C. R. C. Hoc Universi compendium vivus mihi sepulchrum feci). About the margin was-To me Jesus is all in all (Jesus mihi omnia). In the centre were four figures enclosed in a circle by the revolving legend: Nequaquam vacuum legis jugum. Libertas Evangelii. Dei gloria intacta. (The empty yoke of the law is made void. The liberty of the gospel. The unsullied glory of God). Each of the seven sides of the vault had a door opening into a chest; which chest, besides the secret books of the order and the Vocabularium of Paracelsus, contained also mirrors-little bells-burning lamps-marvellous mechanisms of music, etc., all so contrived that, after the lapse of many centuries, if the whole order should have perished, it might be re-established by means of this vault. Under the altar, upon raising the brazen tablet, the brothers found the body of Rosycross, without taint or corruption. The right hand held a book written upon vellum with golden letters: this book which is called T., has since become the most precious jewel of the society next after the Bible; and at the end stand subscribed the names of the eight brethren, arranged in two separate circles, who were present at the death and burial of Father Rosycross. Immediately after the above narrative follows a declaration of their mysteries, addressed by the society to the whole world. They profess themselves to be of the Protestant faith; that they honour the Emperor and the laws of the Empire; and that the art of gold making is but a slight object with them." The whole ends with these words: "Our House of the Holy Ghost though a hundred thousand men should have looked upon it, is yet destined to remain untouched, imperturbable, out of sight, and unrevealed to the whole godless world for ever."

Before we proceed to notice at any length the third of the books we have mentioned, we will turn to some further accounts of the burial place of the founder of this party, which, though in some respects similar and in the main stating the same facts, yet, supply other matter both curious and interesting.

The following story has been quoted by a writer on the Rosicrucians, as related by Dr. Plot in his History of Staffordshire; a careful examination of the four copies of that work in the library of the British Museum, however, has failed to unearth the tale; it is to the following effect. At the close of a summer's day a countryman was digging a trench in a field in a valley which was surrounded by dense masses of woodland scenery. It was shortly after sunset, and the workman wearied with his task was about to cease his labour; before his pick, however, had given its last blow, it struck against some hard material a little below the surface of the ground with sufficient force to cause a bright spark to flash out into the evening gloom. This, exciting his curiosity, he forgot his fatigue and again went on with his digging, anxious to ascertain what it was he had discovered. The stone he had come upon was large and flat, and lay nearly in the middle of a field at a considerable distance from any of the farms of the neighbouring country. It was covered with grass and weeds, the growth of many years and had a large iron ring fixed at one end in a socket. For some time it proved too much for the countryman's strength, half an hour's struggling with it failed to remove it from its position, and it was not till he had rigged up some tackle by the aid of some rope and a tree that he managed to raise it. He then found it covered a deep hollow in the ground, wherein after some examination he discovered a stone staircase of apparently extraordinary depth. His inquisitiveness to know whither the steps led, and the thought perhaps that he might be the discoverer of some hidden treasure, gave him more courage than he naturally possessed, and he descended a few of the stairs, then, after vainly trying to penetrate into the darkness beneath, paused and looked up to the sky above. Encouraged by the remains of the sunlight and the shining planet Venus above him, he resumed his descent. He went, he supposed a hundred feet underground, when he came upon a square landing-place with a niche in the wall, then he came to another long staircase, still descending into darkness. Once more he paused, and looked up at the now very little bit of sky visible over head. Seeing nothing to cause any fear, and hopeful of soon being able to unravel the mystery, he stretched out his hands, and by cautiously feeling the walls, and with equal caution placing his feet slowly and firmly upon each step, he boldly went forward and counted in his descent two hundred and twenty steps. He found himself able to breathe pretty freely, but noticed an aromatic smell like that of burning incense, which he thought Egyptian. This he noticed rolling up now and then from beneath, as if from another world, and it occurred to him that it was from the world of mining gnomes, and that he was breaking in upon their secrets. Still he went on, in spite of all his fears, until he was momentarily stopped by a wall in front; turning sharply to the right, however, he found the way open to him, and discovered a still deeper staircase, at the foot of which was a steady though pale light. His alarm at discovering light so far down in the earth's interior was naturally great, but not great enough to overcome his curiosity and cause him to retrace his steps, and he once more commenced descending the mouldering old steps which looked as if they had not been trodden for ages. Then he thought he heard mysterious rumblings over head, like the sound of heavy waggons and horses, then all was still again. Many times he paused and thought he would return, thinking he might have accidently stumbled upon either the haunt of robbers or the abode of evil spirits; he stood still for awhile, fairly paralysed with fear. Then he began to recall where he had been working, he thought of the field above, the surrounding woods and his native hamlet only a few miles distant. This somewhat cheered him, but still with a good deal of fear remaining in his heart, he went down the rest of the stairs, the light growing brighter at every step. At last, he came upon a square chamber, built up of large hewn ancient stones. Filled with awe and wonderment, he found a flagged pavement and a lofty roof rising to a centre, in the groins of which was a rose beautifully carved in some dark stone or in marble. The alarm he had hitherto felt was nothing as compared with the fear which overwhelmed him when, after passing a Gothic stone portal, light suddenly streamed out over him with a brightness equal to that of the setting sun, and revealed to him the figure of a man whose face was hidden as he sat in a studious attitude in a stone chair, reading in a great book, with his elbows resting on a table like a rectangular altar, in the light of a large, ancient iron lamp, suspended by a thick chain to the middle of the roof. The adventurous countryman was unable to repress the cry that rose to his lips as he gazed upon this strange and unexpected scene. As the sound of his foot touching the floor resounded through the chamber, the figure started bolt upright from his seated position, as if in awful astonishment. He erected his hooded head, and seemed about angrily to question the intruder. The latter seemed perfectly fascinated by what he saw, and instead of withdrawing advanced yet another step into the chamber. Instantly the figure thrust out its arm, as though warning the intruder off; the hand contained an iron baton and it was raised in the most threatening attitude, but the unhappy explorer, seemingly unable to control himself, took a third step forward, and then the image or man raised his arm high above his head, and with his truncheon striking the lamp a tremendous blow left the place in utter darkness. Nothing more followed but a long, low roll of thunder, which gradually died away and all was still.

The place was afterwards known as the burial place of one of the brotherhood, whom the people called Rosicrucius, and it is said the arrangement of the lamp had been made by some Rosicrucian, to shew that he had discovered the secret of the ever burning lamps of the ancients, but was resolved that no one should reap the benefit of it.

The Spectator, No. 379, gives the following:-"A certain person having occasion to dig somewhat deep in the ground, where this philosopher (Rosicrucius) lay interred, met with a small door, having a wall on each side of it. His curiosity, and the hopes of finding some hidden treasure, soon prompted him to force open the door. He was immediately surprised by a sudden blaze of light, and discovered a very fair vault. At the upper end of it was a statue of a man in armour, sitting by a table, and leaning on his left arm. He held a truncheon in his right hand, and had a lamp burning before him. The man had no sooner set one foot within the vault, than the statue erecting itself from its leaning posture, stood bolt upright; and upon the fellow's advancing another step, lifted up his truncheon in its right hand. The man still ventured a third step, when the statue, with a furious blow, broke the lamp into a thousand pieces, and left his guest in a sudden darkness. Upon the report of this adventure, the country people came with lights to the sepulchre, and discovered that the statue, which was made of brass, was nothing more than a piece of clockwork; that the floor of the vault was all loose, and underlaid with several springs, which, upon any man's entering, naturally produced that which had happened. Rosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of this method to show the world that he had re-invented the ever burning lamps of the ancients, though he was resolved no one should reap any advantage from the discovery."

Respecting the above story given as we have said in the Spectator, No. 379, a writer in Notes and Queries (6th S. 7th vol) says: "This is a very old tale, and has been printed again and again. The following is an early version, which was printed by Caxton in 1482; but I give from the edition printed by Peter de Treveris in 1527. The Polycronicon was originally written in Latin early in the fourteenth century, and translated into English in 1357. As the book is chiefly a compilation from old monkish chronicles, the tale was probably very old even when Higden included it in the Polycronicon. At any rate it was current long before the date given as the year of death of the somewhat mythical Christian Rosencrutz. I have met with several versions of it, varying more or less. In one a man with a bow and arrow extinguishes the lamp. There are many accounts of these miraculous lamps discovered burning in tombs hundreds of years after interment, but having omitted to make notes of them, I am unable to give references just now.... In Albesterio a place that hyghte Mutatorium Cesaris were made whyte stoles for Emperours. Also there was a candlestyke, made of a stone that hyght Albestone whan it was ones steynd and sette a fire and I sette without thee coude no manne quenche it with no crafte that men coude devyse, In this maner it myght be that the Geant Pallas about the yere of oure Lorde a thousand and xi. That yere was founde in Rome a Geantes body buryed hole and sounde, the space of his wounde was foure foote longe and a halfe, the length of his body passed the heyght of the walles, at his hede was founde a lantern brennyng alwaye that no man coulde quenche with blaste ne with water ne with other crafte, unto the tyme that there was made a lytell hole under the lyght benethe that the ayer might enter. Men sayen that Turnus slowgh this Gean Pallas when Eneas fought for Lanina that was Eneas wyfe. This Geantes Epytaphium is this. The wrytyug of mynde of hym that lay there was this. Pallas Enandres sone lyeth here, hym Turnus the knyght with his spere slowghe in his maner."

One other notice will close this part of the subject.

Although we find in the works of some of the Apologists for the Rosicrucians extraordinary statements as to the length of life it was within their power to attain unto (John Higden professes to shew how a man may live two hundred years) and although some of the fraternity actually did live a great number of years, we find them at last dying one by one notwithstanding their professed power to guard against or to relieve sickness. The founder himself seems to have reached the tolerably advanced age of a hundred and six (some say a hundred). He then died, and according to the Fama the place of his burial remained a secret to all except the two brothers who were with him, and they, according to the agreement to which they had bound themselves, carried the mystery with them to the grave. The society still continued to exist, unknown to the world, and always consisting of eight members, till another one hundred and twenty years had elapsed, when, according to a tradition among them the grave of Rosenkrutz was to be discovered, and the brotherhood to be no longer a mystery to the world. It was about this time that the brothers began to make some alterations in their building, and thought of removing to another and more fitting situation the memorial tablet, on which were inscribed the names of the associates. The plate which was of brass, was fixed to the wall by means of a nail in its centre, and so firmly did it hold, that in tearing it away a portion of the plaster came off too and discovered to them a concealed door. Upon this door being yet farther cleansed from the incrustation, there appeared above in large letters

Post CXX Annos Patebo.

Great was their delight at so unlooked-for a discovery; but still they so far restrained their curiosity as not to open the door till the next morning, when they found themselves in a seven sided vault, each side five feet wide, and eight feet high. It was lighted by an artificial sun in the centre of the arched roof, while in the middle of the floor, instead of a tomb, stood a round altar covered with a small brass plate on which was this inscription:

A. C. R. C. Hoc, universi compendium, vivus mihi

sepulchrum feci.

About the outer edge was, Jesus mihi omnia.

In the centre were four figures; each enclosed in a circle, with these circumscriptions:

1. Nequaquam Vacuus.

2. Legis Jugum.

3. Libertas Evangelii.

4. Dei gloria intacta.

Thereupon they all knelt down and returned thanks to heaven for having made them so much wiser than the rest of the world, a native trait that adds not a little to the verisimilitude of the story. Then they divided the vault into three parts-the roof, or heaven-the wall, or the sides-and the ground, or pavement. The first and last were according to the seven sides divided into triangles, while every side was divided into ten squares with figures and sentences, to be explained to the newly initiated. Each of these again, had a door opening upon a closet, wherein were stored up sundry rare articles, such as secret books of the order, the vocabulary of Paracelsus, and other things of the same nature, which it was allowable to impart even to the profane. In one, they discovered the life and itinerary of their founder; in another they lighted upon mirrors possessed of different qualities, a little bell, burning lamps, and a variety of curious matters, intended to help in rebuilding the order, which after the lapse of many centuries was to fall into decay. Curiosity to see their founder induced them to push aside the altar, when they came upon a strong brass plate, and this too being removed,

"Before their eyes the wizard lay

As if he had not been dead a day."

Moreover, like the celebrated character described in these lines, he had a volume under his arm, which proved to be of vellum with letters of gold, and at the end of it, in two separate circles, were the names of eight brethren who had assisted at their founder's interment. Next to the Bible, the Rosicrucians valued this book beyond any portion of their inheritance, yet it is not said whether they took away any of these rarities, or left the dead man in quiet possession of his treasures.[4]

* * *