Vaughan, Thomas (Eugenius Philalethes; 1622–1666)

VAUGHAN, THOMAS (Eugenius Philalethes; 1622–1666)

VAUGHAN, THOMAS (Eugenius Philalethes; 1622–1666), Welsh alchemist, Rosicrucian, Hermeticist, and Paracelsan. Twin brother of the poet Henry Vaughan, Thomas Vaughan was born in Newton, Wales. He studied at Jesus College, Oxford, graduating with a B.A. in 1642. Thereafter he became rector of Llansaintfraid and supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War. Ejected from his living by a parliamentary commission in 1649, he practiced as an alchemist, or chemical philosopher, in London. He published several books under the pseudonym Eugenius Philalethes: Magia Adamica (1650), Anthroposophia Theomagica (1650), Anima Magica Abscondita (1650), and Lumen de Lumine (1651). He was also responsible for publishing an English translation of the Rosicrucian manifestos Fama andConfessio in 1652. During the 1650s he became acquainted with Samuel Hartlib and two future fellows of the Royal Society: Thomas Henshaw, dedicatee of Anima Magica Abscondita, and Sir Robert Moray, with whom he conducted alchemical investigations. Vaughan is best remembered for his controversy with Henry More, who attacked him under the pseudonym Alazonmastix Philalethes. The vituperative character of the exchange can be gauged from the titles of Vaughan's replies: Man-Mouse Taken in a Trap (1650) and The Second Wash, or the Moore Scour'd Once More (1651).

See also Alchemy ; Hartlib, Samuel ; More, Henry ; Rosicrucianism .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

More, Henry (Alazonomastix Philalethes). Anthroposophia theomagica, or a Discourse of the Nature of Man and His State after Death. London, 1650.

——. Observations upon Anthroposophia Theomagica. London, 1650.

——. The Second Lash of Alazonomastix. London, 1651.

Vaughan, Thomas (Eugenius Philalethes). The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of R.C., commonly, of the Rosie Cross. London, 1652.

——. The Works of Thomas Vaughan. Edited by A. Rudrum. Oxford, 1984.

Secondary Sources

Brann, N. L. "The Conflict between Reason and Magic in Seventeenth-Century England." Huntington Library Quarterly 43 (1980): 103–126.

Burnham, F. B. "The More-Vaughan Controversy: The Revolt against Philosophical Enthusiasm." Journal of the History of Ideas 35 (1975): 33–49.

Newman, William. "Thomas Vaughan, an Interpreter of Agrippa von Nettesheim." Ambix 29 (1982): 125–140.

Sarah Hutton