244 FROM THE ART OF BUILDING TO THE ART OF THINKING
founding of that great scholarly association known as the Royal
Society.^12 One of the most active members of London's Rosicrucian soci-
ety was Elias Ashmole (1617-1692), known by the nickname "the
English Mecuriophile." After performing well in his studies, he became a
solicitor in 1638 and in 1641 returned to his native Litchfield. There he
became a staunch supporter of the Stuarts' cause in 1644 and was named
a commissioner of the king. Some have maintained that Ashmole was an
Israelite, but in actuality he was an active member of London's Catholic
circle and was buried in the Catholic church of South Lambeth.^13
Ashmole was introduced to the Rosicrucian Society by William
Backhouse and on October 16,1646, according to his own journal, was
admitted as an accepted mason into the Warrington Lodge. Here he
found himself in the company of the Warton brothers, Thomas and
George; the mathematician William Oughteed; the doctors of theology
John Herwitt and John Prarson; and the astrologer William Lilly.
With these men he founded a society whose purpose was to build
the House of Solomon, the ideal temple of the sciences, in imitation of
the models imagined by Sir Thomas More and Francis Bacon. He per-
suaded the masons to allow them to meet on their premises. We should
note that the society formed by Ashmole, like those of More and Bacon,
was meant to remain secret.
In 1724, a manuscript of ancient masonic constitutions was printed
under the title The Secret History of the Free-Masons. Its preface pre-
sented the Rosicrucians and masons as "brothers of the same fraternity
or order." Similarly, the Daily Journal of September 5, 1730, indicates
that the modern Freemasonry was an offshoot of the Rosicrucian Society.
Political and Religious InfluencesJust as it was practice in Germany for factions to seek the support of the
rich, organized, powerful guilds and corporations during divisive times
such as the election of emperors or the religious wars, in England, when
the struggle broke out between the Stuart royal family and Parliament
and later between the Stuarts and the House of Orange or Hanover,
political parties sought to enlist the corporations to their side. It seems
that the Stuarts, from James I to Charles III, likely employed such meas-