Our navigation bar is loading . . .

 


 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.  




 

JCSM's Top 1000 Christian Sites - Free Traffic Sharing Service!


Do you need volunteer, community service, work, military or court hours?

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Return to the JCSM Study Center!

Encyclopedia Britannica



VAUGHAN, THOMAS (1622-1666)

This article appears in Volume V27, Page 956 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: VAN-VIR
VAUGHAN, THOMAS (1622-1666) , English alchemist and mystic, was the younger twin brother of
Henry
  Vaughan, the " Silurist." He matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford, in 1638, took his B.A. degree in 1642, and became fellow of his college. He remained for some years at Oxford, but also held the living of his native parish of Llansantfread from 164o till 1649, when he was ejected, under the Act for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales, upon charges of drunkenness, immorality and bearing arms for the king. Subsequently he lived at his brother's farm of Newton and in various parts of London, and studied alchemy and kindred subjects. He married in 1651 and lost his wife in 1658. After the Restoration he found a patron in Sir Robert Murray, with whom he fled from London to Oxford during the plague of 1665. He appears to have had some employment of state, but he continued his favourite studies and actually died of the fumes of mercury at the
house
  of Samuel Kern at Albury on the 27th of February 1666. Vaughan regarded himself as a philosopher of nature, and although he certainly sought the universal solvent, his published writings deal rather with magic and mysticism than with technical alchemy. They also contain much controversy with
Henry
  More the Platonist. Vaughan was called a Rosicrucian, but denied the imputation. He wrote or translated Anthroposophia Theomagica (165o); Anima Magica Abscondita (165o); Magia Adamica and Coelum.Terrae (165o); The Man-Mouse taken in a Trap (165o); The Second
Wash
 ; or the Moor Scoured once more (1651); Lumen de Lumine and Aphorisimi Magici Eugeniani (1651); The Fame an4
Confession
  of the Fraternity of R.C. (1652); Aula Lucis (1652); Euphrates (1655); Nollius' Chymist's Key (1657); A Brief Natural History (1669). Most of these pamphlets appeared under the pseudonym of Eugenius Philalethes. Vaughan was probably, although it is by no means certain, not the famous adept known as Eirenaeus Philalethes, who was alleged to have found the philosopher's stone in America, and to whom the Introitus A pertus in Occlusum Regis Palatium (1667) and other writings are ascribed. In 1896 Vaughan was the subject of an amazing mystification in the Memoires d'une ex-Palladiste. These formed part of certain alleged revelations as to the practice of devil-
worship
  by the initiates of freemasonry. The author, whose name was given as Diana Vaughan, claimed to be a descendant of
Thomas
  and to possess family papers which showed amongst other marvels that he had made a pact with Lucifer, and had helped to found freemasonry as a Satanic society. The inventors of the hoax, which took in manyeminent Catholic ecclesiastics, were some unscrupulous Paris journalists.
The Magical Writings of
Thomas
  Vaughan were edited by Mr A. E.
Waite
  in 1888. His miscellaneous Latin and English verses are included in vol. ii. of Dr A. B. Grosart's Fuller Worthies Library edition of the Works of Henry Vaughan (1871). A manuscript book of his, with alchemical and autobiographical jottings made between 1658 and 1662, forms Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 1741. Biographical data are in Mr E. K. Chambers's Muses Library edition of the Poems of Henry Vaughan (1896), together with an account and criticism of the Memoires d'une ex-Palladiste. These fabrications were also discussed by Mr A. E.
Waite
 , Devil-
Worship
  in France (1896), and finally exposed by M. Gaston Wry, La Write sur Diana Vaughan.
(E. K. C.)


End of Article: VAUGHAN, THOMAS (1622-1666)


If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/VAN_VIR/VAUGHAN_THOMAS_1622_1666_.html">
VAUGHAN, THOMAS (1622-1666)
</a>


(Previous)
VAUGHAN, HERBERT (1832-1903)
(Next)
VAUGHAN, WILLIAM (1577-1641)



 
 


JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA  92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-2012.
 

 

Sponsored Advertisements

Online First Aid and CPR Certification  .  DHA Solutions  .  PB Happy Hour Specials  .  Improvising Made Easy For Guitar and Bass  .  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained  .  Home Equity Loans  .  First Aid and CPR Online  .  San Diego Music Lessons  .  10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings  .  Blow Up Your Site (For Free!)  .  San Diego DUI Lawyers  .  Jason Gastrich  .  Jordan Faith Gastrich  .  Divorce Secrets Revealed  .  Post Your Ad Link Free  .  San Diego Soccer Training  .  JCSM  .  Download Sermons  .  Custom Religious Banners, Build A Sign  .  Christian Singles Dating  .  Christian T-Shirts  .  Healing Christian Prayer  .  Bumper Authority  .  Personalized Blogs and Email  .  San Diego Haircuts  .  The Do the Math Diet  .  Stop Twitter Spam  .  Christian Conservative Work at Home Network  .  The Website of the Lord