has been published hitherto consists in the
repetition of Rosicrucian legends or in unsubstantiated theorizings on
their doctrines. What we need are facts. We want to know who were the
early Rosicrucians, when the Fraternity originated, and what were its
real aims. These researches must be made, not by an occultist weaving
his own theories into the subject, but by a historian free from any
prejudices for or against the Order, capable of weighing evidence and
bringing a judicial mind to bear on the material to be found in the
libraries of the Continent--notably the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal in
Paris. Such a work would be a valuable contribution to the history of
secret societies in our country.

But if the Continental Brethren of the Rose-Croix form but a shadowy
group of "Invisibles" whose identity yet remains a mystery, the English
adepts of the Order stand forth in the light of day as, philosophers
well known to their age and country. That Francis Bacon was initiated
into Rosicrucianism is now recognized by Freemasons, but a more definite
link with the Rosicrucians of the Continent was Robert Fludd, who after
travelling for six years in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain--where he
formed connexions with Jewish Cabalists[264]--was visited by the German
Jew Rosicrucian Michel Maier--doctor to the Emperor Rudolf--by whom he
appears to have been initiated into further mysteries.

In 1616 Fludd published his _Tractatus Apologeticus_, defending the
Rosicrucians against the charges of "detestable magic and diabolical
superstition" brought against them by Libavius. Twelve years later Fludd
was attacked by Father Mersenne, to whom a reply was made "by Fludd or a
friend of Fludd's" containing a further defence of the Order. "The
Book," says Mr. Waite, "treats of the noble art of magic, the foundation
and nature of the Cabala, the essence of veritable alchemy, and of the
Causa Fratrum Rosae Crucis. It identifies the palace or home of the
Rosicrucians with the Scriptural House of Wisdom."

In further works by English writers the Eastern origin of the Fraternity
is insisted on. Thus Thomas Vaughan, known as Eugenius Philalethes,
writing in praise of the Rosicrucians in 1652, says that "their
knowledge at first was not purchased by their own disquisitions, for
they received it from the Arabians, amongst whom it remained as the
monument and legacy of the Children of the East. Nor is this at all
improbable, for the Eastern countrie