was that they could speak all Languages; and after, in 1622, they gave this Advertisement to the Curious: We, deputed by our College, the Principal of the Brethren of the ROSICRUCIANS, to make our visible and invisible Abode in this City, thro' the grace of the Most High, towards whom are turned the Hearts of the just. We teach without Books or Notes, and speak the Language of the Countries wherever we are ;1 to draw Men, like ourselves, from the Error of Death.' This Bill [which was probably a mere hoax] was Matter of Merriment. In the meantime, the Rosicrucians have dissapear'd, tho' it be not the sentiment of that German chymist, the author of a book, 'De Volucri Arboreâ,' and of another, who hath composed a treatise stiled 'De Philosophiâ Purâ.'" But nothing can give so clear an idea of what true Rosicrucianism really was, whether an account of a sect then actually existing, or the sketch of a sect which the projector hoped to form, or to which of the two categories it belongs, than of course the "Fama" itself, and as it is either I am not now arguing on either side-the parent or the exponent of a very celebrated denomination, and one which, in some men's minds at least, has] had considerable influence on Freemasonry, I trust that I shall be pardoned if I present an abstract as copious as my space will allow, and as accurate as my abilities will enable me to perform. The translation which I have used is "printed by J. M. for Giles Calvert, at the Black Spread Eagle at the west end of Paul's, 1652," and is translated by Eugenius Philalethes, "with a preface annexed thereto, and a short Declaration of their (R. C.) Physicall work." This Eugenius Philalethes was one Thomas Vaughan, B.A. of Jesus College, Oxford, born in 1621, and of whom Wood says: "He was a great chymist, a noted son of the fire, an experimental philosopher, and a zealous brother of the Rosie-Crucian fraternity." 2 He pursued his chemical studies in the first instance at Oxford, and afterwards at London under the protection and patronage of Sir Robert Moray or Murray, Knight, Secretary of State for the Kingdom of Scotland. That this distinguished soldier and philosopher was received into Freemasonry at Newcastle in 1641, has been already shown;3 and in the inquiry we are upon, the circumstance of his being in later years both a Freemason and a Rosicrucian, will at least merit our passing attention. Moray's initiation, which preceded by five years that of Elias Ashmole, was the first that occurred on English soil of which any record has descended to us. In this connection, it is not a little remarkable, that whereas it has been the fashion to carry back the pedigree of speculative masonry in England, to the admission of Elias Ashmole, the Rosicrucian philosopher, the association of ideas to which this formulation of belief has given rise, will sustain no shock, but rather the reverse, by the priority of Moray's initiation. Sir Robert Moray, a founder and the first president of the Royal Society, "was universally beloved and esteemed by men of all sides and sorts; "4 but as it is with his character as a lover of the occult sciences we are chiefly concerned, I pass over the encomiums of his friends, John Evelyn 5 and Samuel Pepys," 1 We ought not to forget that at the present day we have Irvingites in our midst who still "speak with tongues." 2 Athenæ Oxonienses, vol. iii., col. 719. 3 Ante, Chap. VIII., p. 409. For further details, see Lyon, History of the Lodge of Edinburgh, p. 96; and Lawrie, History of Freemasonry, 1804, p. 102. 4 Burnet, vol. i., p. 90. 5 "July 6, 1673.-This evening I went to the funeral of my deare and excellent friend, that good man and accomplish'd gentleman, Sir Robert Murray, Secretary of Scotland. He was buried by order of His Majesty in Westminster Abbey" (Evelyn's Diary). See, however, Lyon, op. cit., p. 99, who names the Canongate Churchyard as the place of interment ? 6" Feb. 16, 1667.—To my Lord Broucker; and there was Sir Robert Murrey, a most excellent man of reason and learning. Here came Mr Hooke, Sir George Ent, Dr Wren, and many others" (Diary of Samuel Pepys). |