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238
HISTORY OF THE ROSJCRUCIANS.
versal delusion he had succeeded in creating, he is represented
as endeavouring to foster it,
"
to gratify his satirical
propensities," and when even in after life he becomes
"
shocked to find that the delusion had taken firm root in
the public mind," he adopts no adequate measures to dispel it.
Thus not only does Andreas wilfully turn the long-planned
purpose of his life into a wretched fiasco, but to complete
the libel on the character of a great and good man, he is
supposed to delude his fellow creatures no longer for a lofty
purpose, but from the lowest motive which it is possible to
attribute to anyone, a motive indefinitely meaner than
any of personal gain.
The facts of the case untortured by any theory are these.
The "Fama Fraternitatis " was published, say, in 1612.
In 1613 a brief Latin epistle addressed to the venerable
Fraternity E. C. is supposed to have appeared at Francfurt,
supplemented the following year by an " Assertio Fraterni-
tatis R. C. a quodam Fraterni ejus Socio carmine expressa."
These two publications I have been unable to trace, though
both are mentioned by Buhle, and are included by Langlet
du Fresnoy in the Rosicrucian bibliography which is to be
found in the third volume of his " Histoire de la Philoso-
phic Herm^tique." In 1615, the Latin original of the
" Confessio Fraternitatis "
appeared, as we have seen, in
the alchemical quarto of Philip a Gabella. All these works
are attributed to Andreas, and the year 1616 saw the pub-
lication of the " Chymical Nuptials
of Christian Rosen-
creutz," which work is undoubtedly his. Taking this view,
and comparing these persistent and successive attempts to
draw attention to the secret society
with the known
character and the known ambitions of Andreas, we are
evidently face to face with an earnest and determined pur-