212 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



it. But let me nevertheless tell you, that camphor, put with 

 moss into your worm-bag with your worms, makes them, if many 

 anglers be not very much mistaken, a tempting bait, and the 



commanded not to be opened until a century after his death, when (1604) 

 there was discovered a book containing them written in letters of gold. 

 The sect, however, became suddenly known to the world by the publication 

 of two books; the one, Fama Frnternitatis Laudabilis Ordinis Roscb- 

 crucis in 1614, the other Conftssio Fraternitatia, &.C., in 1G17, at Francfort. 

 The authorship of these books is attributed to Johannes Vaientinus An- 

 dria, a theologian of Wartenburg, who is believed, with some reason, to 

 have been the principal inventor and projector of the whole farce ; thoui^h 

 some think that a secret society of the same character had been founded 

 some time before, by Agrippa von Mettersheim, an occult philosopher, a 

 follower of Reuchlin in Neo-Platonism, and of Raymond Lulli in Alche- 

 my. The system was in fact a revival, with some additions suited to the 

 religious character of the age, of the doctrines taught by the celebrated 

 Swiss physician. Bombast von Hohenheim, better known by his assumed 

 name of Paracelsus, who blended Therapeutics and Chemistry with the 

 Neo-Platonic and Cabalistic mysticisms. The Rosicrucian tenets were a 

 compound of Theosophism and Alchemy. Their experimental inquiries 

 were directed to the transmutation of metals, the art of prolonging life, 

 the power of knowing what was passing at a distance, and the use of the 

 cabala and numbers in the resolution of all mysteries. They claimed, at 

 least for the superior brethren of their order, the faculty of curing all 

 diseases, the power of controlling the agency of powerful demons, and the 

 design of regenerating the world. They pretended that tlie primitive 

 Christian Church was restored in their society, and recognised two sacra- 

 ments only. The highest class of the initiated was limited to eight; but 

 the lower classes were without any restriction of number. Each member 

 was bound to cure gratuitously the sick ; to obey the usages of the country 

 in which he lived ; to meet once a year in their general assembly; and.if 

 of the higher class, to nominate some person capable of succeeding him 

 when he cliose to die. Their fraternity was to be kept secret for a hun- 

 dred years ; and they adoj)ted the name of Rosicrucians as tl)eir cliarac- 

 teristic designation. This name, popularly thought to have been taken 

 from that of Rosenkranz, had a mystical meaning, being compounded of 

 two words : Ros, the Latin for dew, which they hold to be the most pow- 

 erful dissolvent of gold ; and Crux or cross, which in their mystic lan- 

 guage was eiiuivalent to liglit, because the figure of the cross X shows at 

 the same time the three letters L V X, of which the Latin word LUX, or 

 light, is compounded. Lux was called by them the seed of the great dra- 

 gon, or the corporeal light which, when proj)erly modified, produces gold. 

 Thus a Rosicrucian signified one who by the existence of dew seeks for 

 light or the Philosopher's Stone. The common notion that the word was 



