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ROSICRUCIAN APOLOGISTS: ROBERT FLUDD. 289
but it has been disputed on insufficient grounds. As a
maiden effort, it will not of course bear comparison with
the dialectical skill of his mature productions, but the principles
it propounds are those of the " Mosaicall Philosophy "
and the " Tractatus Varii." " What was the particular occa-
sion of his own first acquaintance with Kosicrucianism is
not recorded," says Buhle.
" All the books of Alchemy or
other occult knowledge, published in Germany, were at
that time immediately carried over to England provided
they were written in Latin ; and if written in German, were
soon translated for the benefit of English students. He
may therefore have gained his knowledge immediately from
the Eosicrucian books, but it is more probable that he
acquired it from his friend Maier. ... At all events, he
must have been initiated into Eosicrucianism at an early
period."
By whomsoever written, the "Tractatus Apologeticus "
is an exceedingly curious work, so astonishing occasionally
in the nature of its arguments that it is difficult to suppose
that they were put forward seriously. It was called for by
Andrew Libavius' " searching and hostile analysis " of the
Eosicrucian Confession, and was written to clear the Society
from the Infamies, maculce cast on it by the accusations then
brought forward, and above all from the charges of detest-
able magic and diabolical superstition. It is divided into
three parts, and various chapters are illustrated by appropriate
quotations from the manifesto it is defending, whose
underlying principles are developed and explained. The
first part treats of the various departments of magical
science, of the Cabala, of the Books of God, both visible
and invisible, of the secret characters of Nature, and of the
value of astrological portents. The second part is devoted
T