Review Of A Curious Old Book.

REVIEW OF A CURIOUS OLD BOOK .

Bt BRO . JACOB N ORTON .

ABOUT threo months ago a friend lent mo a small book with the following title page : — " The Count de Gabalis , boing a diverting history of the Rosicrucian ' s Doctrine of Spirits—viz . Sylphs , Salamanders , Gnomes , and Daemons . Showing their various influence upon human bodies . Done from the Paris edition . To which is prefixed Monsieur Bayle ' s account of the work , and the sect of Rosicrucians . London : Printed for B . Lintott and E . Curll , in Fleet St . 1714 . Price Is 6 d . "

Besides some notes by tho translator , the margins are covered with MS . notes and comments by Robert Southey . Whether Sonthey ' s pen wrote tho said notes I am unable to decide ; bnt there is no doubt , whoever the annotator in MS . was , that he was an accomulished scholar , and was well acquainted with Rosicrucian literature ,

and the authors referred to in the narrative . The book opens with an Introduction by the translator , and next comes a Preface by the French author . Hero is part of the ti'anslator ' a preface . " Monsieur Bayle informs us that it [ the book ] was published in Paris by the celebrated Abbot de Villars in 1670 ; that some have

been of opinion that the story of de Gabalis was originally founded npon two Italian Chymical letters by Borri ; but others affirm that Borri took his chief bints from this work , " and that Bayle left this question to those who are more critically enrions . " The revival of the book in 1714 was occasioned by Alexander

Pope's dedication of the ' Rape of tho Lock . The best account , says Pope , he knew of the Rosicrucian system is in this tract , which the translator thought would be ' a sufficient recommendation to the public' the following I copied from Pope ' s dedication of the ' Rape of the Lock : '

" The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with . The best account I know of them is in a French book called L'Compte 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 . " Next comes the author ' s Preface , about " Some account of the Rosicrucians . " But , strange to say , the imaginary founder of the Rosicrucians—viz ., Roaenkreutze—was unknown to the French

author . The name of the founder of the Ronicrucians is merely vaa \ . cated by the following capital letters : A . C . This A . C ., in 1378 , was a monk , learned in Latin and Greek , who visited Palestine and Damascus , and studied among the Arabians . After a long time , he returned to Germany , formed the Rosicrucian Association , and died in 1484 .

In 1604 bis grave waa discovered , " with divers devices , characters , and inscriptions , the principal of which contained these four letters in gold—A . C . R . E . " The origin of the discovery is curious : thna , a person while digging found the tomb , and believing that it might contain a treasure , he forced open the door , when he was surprised at seeing a blaze of light , and at the further end a statue of a man

in armour was sitting , with a truncheon in his hand , and a lamp was burning before him . The intruder had no sooner entered when the statue rose up . The man , however , advanced another step , when the statue raised np his truncheon . The intrude !' , not intimidated , advanced still another step , when the truncheon came down and smashed the lamp into a thousand pieces . When lights were after .

wards brought in , it was found that the statue contained machinery , and the floor of the vault was connected with the statue by springs . The Rosicrucians , however , claimed that their master had re-invented the perpetual lamp of the ancients , but he \ va 3 resolved that no one should have the advantage of his discovery . " Afterwards ( continues the author ) that society , which in reason is

but a set of mountebanks , began to multiply , but durst not appear publicly , and for that reason was snrnamed Invisible , Enlightened , or Illuminati , and those of Spain proceeded from them * * * In 1615 , a book appeared in Germany , which comprehended two treatises , entitled The Manifesto and Confession of Faith of the fraternity of Rosicrucians , dedicated to Monarchs , States , & c . These persons boasted

themselyes to be of the Liberty of Ptolemy Philadelphia , the Academy of Plato , & c , and bragged of extraordinary qualifications , whereof the least was , that they could speak all the languages , and in 1622 , they gave this advertisement to the curious : — " We are deputed by oar College , the principal of the brethren of the Rosicrucians , to make our visible and invisible abode in this City

[ what 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 langnage of the countries wherever we are , to draw men like ourselves from the errors of death . " " This bill , continues the author , was a matter of merriment , iu the meantime the brethren of the Rosicrucians have disappeared . "

The author of de Gabalis evidently believed that after 1615 the Rosicrucians increased in numbers , but durst not show themselves publicly . Now , if they dnrsfc cot show themselves publicly , how did he kuow that they became so numerous ? he himself was not a Rosicrucian , and what he had learned about them he must have learned from mere hearsay j his believing , in 1670 , that there bad been

Rosicrucians before he was born , really amounts to nothing , and moreover , he frankly admits that in his day , when writing his book , " The Brethren of the Rosicrucians have disappeared . " The question is , have the brethren of the Rosicrucians ever existed l-fore 1670 ? It is certain , that alchemists , astrologers , and similar quacks

existed before 1615 , and it is equally certain that no one had yet discovered where the Rosicraeians had held their assemblies , and whether the very name Rosicrucian , was ever beard of before the sixteenth century . Many writers of that period , even ecclesiastics , undoubtedly believed in the existence of that mystic society , and what of it ? surely that was not the only absurdity people believed

Review Of A Curious Old Book.

in in those days , and believe now too . The Encyclopedia Britannica vol . 15 , page 757 , says : — " Tho Grand Rosicrucian Lodgo apparently existed nowhere but iu the brains of the superstitious , yet men talked of its secrets with bated breath , and orthodox divines groped in blind wrath for the pillars of the Rosicrucian Temple "f the Holy Ghost . "

The mere fact that people believed in the existence of a Rosi . crncinn Order , really amounts to nothing , and even the author of de Gabalis , though , as already stated , he really believed that the book of 1615 gnve rise to such an association , yet his admission that it ceased to exist in his day has limited its existence to about fift y years or less . But tho general opinion prevailing now is , that no

Rosicrucian society was ever organised , or a sooiety that styled itself Rosicrucian , until Masonic noodledom began to hanker after Hi gh Christian degrees ; when , and nob till when , Rosicrucian degrees were invented , and palmed off upon credulous Ma « ous as a genuine article . Everything waa fish in the Masonio market in those days , and it remains fish in the imagination of some Masons .

Having acquainted the reader with tho prefaces of the translator and anthor , I shall now proceed to describe the characters that figure in the book . But I must premise that , though I have taken numerous notes from the said book , I shall have to rely on my memory considerably . The book is now out of town , and I am therefore deprived of referring to its pages just now . Briefly then : —

A young man residing in Paris ( whom , for brevity sake , I shall call A Y . ) , at the time when the supposed Rosicrucian Societ y flourished , wanted to obtain the Rosicrnoian secrets , and not willing to study their writings , he managed to ingratiate himself with some of the brethren , from whom he learned that the German Count de Gabalis , who was a kind of Pope of the Rosiorucians , was about to

retnrn from England to Germany by way of Pans , and he accordingly sent to the Count a very flattering invitation to visit his house upon his arrival in Paris . The Count thereupon cast the horo- ' scope of A . Y ., and learned therefrom that the said A . Y . waB destined to become the most shining light of his school . Upon the Count ' s arrival in Paris , he paid the desired visit , and they met five

times for discussion , and the ohapters of the book are called "Discourses . " A . Y . showed himself by no meaus a docile learner , and his style of arguing and doubting would have offended any other kind of a missionary ; but the Count had so much fatih in the horoscope as to cause him to bear with his disciple ' s rudeness . In the middle of

one of their conversations they were interrupted by the entranoe of the servant , who announced the arrival of a messenger from the Court , who had something of importance to communicate . A . Y . politely requested the Count to withdraw into an adjoining room , and remain there during the expected interview with the Court messengei " . The Count , however , assured his host that no secrets

could be concealed from him , and , therefore , he might as well remain where he was . A . Y ., however , objeoted to his remaining . " Well , " said the Count , " if you like I will make myself invisible . " As the offer was not accepted , the Count left the room , with a shrug of his shoulders . Strange to say , that while the Count repeatedly asked permission

of A . Y . to perform miracles , the other always declined to witness them . At last , his curiosity conquered his aversion , and he actually asked the Count to introduce him to the Nymphs , Salamanders , & c . But here the Count became coquettish . " Oh , no , " said he , " you don't deserve it , " or words to that effect ; but , after a lecture , chiding him for his want of faith , it was finally agreed that a public

meeting of the Spirits should be exhibited on the following night . Bnt , to my great regret , and , I presume , to the regret of other readers of the book , here the narrative abruptly ends . The Count , of course , believed in the Bible , but he was inspired to understand the Bible after a fashion of his own . When God created Adam and Eve , said he , he also created Nymphs , Sylphs ,

Salamanders , and Gnomes , and the design of the Creator was that Adam and Eve shonld not become man and wife , but each should be united to one of the spirits . But Adam and Eve ' s lust spoilt everything , hence they were driven out of Eden . As to their sin of eating an apple , he scouted at that as a popular superstition ; the apple , said he , is a mere metaphor for lust , and for that lust mankind was punished

with death . The Count ' s aim was , therefore , to have the brethren marry the ladies of the Nymphs , Sylphs , & e . ; then their progeny would cease to die . He also had a curious theory about Noah . But as I have not now the book , I shall use Bayle ' s account thereof . " The Count de Gabalis ( says Bayle ) must divert us here with a fragment of bis comedy . He supposes that after the Deluge , Noah

yielded his wife Vesta to the Salamander Oromassis , Prince of the Fiery substances , and he persuaded his three sons to yield their wives also to the Princes of the other three elements j but Shem proved rebellious to Noah ' s counsel , and could not resist his wife's charms , and throusjh that his posterity became black . . . . As , for example , you believe ( said the Connt ) that the injury which Shem

did to his father , or such as it literally seems to be , is truly quite another thing . Thus , Noah being come out of the Ark , and seeing his wife Vesta grow more beautiful every day by the commerce she had with her lover Oromassis , grew passionately in love with her again . Shem , fearing his father was going to people the world again with black children , as the Ethiopians were , took his opportunity

one day when the good old man was drunk , and unmercifully castrated him . " I must , however , add to the above , that the spirits afterwards restored to Noah his original manhood . The reference to Borri in the translator ' s preface indaced we to find out in Bayle who Borri was . Well then , Bayle describes Borri

as chemist , quack , and heretic . Borri actually claimed to be the fourth person in the Godhead ; he was , however , ultimately captured by the Inquisition ; was compelled to make a public confession of his errors , after which he was imprisoned in Rome for life , and he died about the year 1795 . Bayle further informs ni that" Some pieces were printed at Gsnova in 1681 whiob are ascribed