Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/190

 his preface he distinctly states that he had no relations with the fraternity, neither did he much desire their acquaintance.

His life and work have made varying impressions. Dibdin, in his notes to Sir Thomas More's ‘Utopia’ (1808, p. 441), though avoiding any statement of opinion as to the subject-matter of ‘Magia Adamica,’ considers the style and learning of the author to be admirable, and comments on his predilection for forcible metaphor. Wotton, on the other hand, in his notes to Swift's ‘Tale of a Tub’ (1867, p. 153), pronounces ‘Anthroposophia Magica’ to be ‘a piece of the most unintelligible fustian that perhaps was ever published in any language.’ The first part of Samuel Butler's ‘Character of an Hermetic Philosopher’ (Genuine Remains, ed. Thyer, 1759) is obviously drawn from Vaughan, as are some traits in the character of Ralph in ‘Hudibras’ (edit. 1761, p. 19). Vaughan's verses, both English and Latin, are tinged with genuine poetic feeling.

His published works appeared almost entirely under the pseudonym of Eugenius Philalethes. They include: 1. ‘Anthroposophia Theomagica,’ with ‘Anima Magica Abscondita,’ London, 1650; Amsterdam, 1704 (in German); Leipzig and Hof, 1749 (in German); London, 1888, in Waite's ‘Magical Writings.’ 2. ‘Magia Adamica; or the Antiquities of Magic,’ London, 1650, 1656; Amsterdam, 1704 (in German); Leipzig and Hof, 1749 (in German); London, 1888 (in ‘Magical Writings’). 3. ‘The Man-Mouse taken in a Trap,’ London, 1650. 4. ‘The Second Wash; or the Moore scour'd once more,’ London, 1651. 5. ‘Lumen de Lumine,’ London, 1651; Hof, 1750 (in German). 6. ‘Aula Lucis; or the House of Light,’ London, 1652 (under the pseudonym ‘S. N., a Modern Speculator’); Hamburg and Frankfort, 1690 (in Lange's ‘Wunderliche Begebenheiten,’ part ii., in German); Nuremberg, 1731 (in Scholtz's ‘Deutsches Theatrum Chemicum,’ in German). 7. ‘Euphrates; or the Waters of the East,’ London, 1655, 1671; Stockholm and Hamburg, 1689 (in German); Nuremburg, 1727 (in Scholtz's ‘Deutsches Theatrum Chemicum,’ in German). 8. ‘The Chymists Key to shut, and to open; or the True Doctrine of Corruption and Generation,’ London, 1657.

Langlet du Fresnoy assigns to Vaughan ‘Abyssus Alchymiæ Exploratus’ (Hamburg, 1705), which is a translation of ‘The Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King,’ by Eirenæus Philalethes (see below); and Halkett and Laing mention a work called ‘The Retort. By the Author,’ London, 1761.

He wrote verses for Thomas Powell's ‘Elementa Opticæ,’ London, 1651, for the English translation of Cornelius Agrippa's ‘Three Books of Occult Philosophy,’ London, 1651, and for William Cartwright's ‘Comedies,’ London, 1651.

A collection of Thomas's Latin verses was printed at the end of Henry Vaughan's ‘Thalia Rediviva,’ London, 1678. Some of his English poems, which are scattered through his prose works, were included in Tutin's ‘Secular Poems of Henry Vaughan,’ Hull, 1893, and a large (perhaps complete) collection of both English and Latin is printed in Grosart's ‘Works of Henry Vaughan’ in the ‘Fuller Worthies' Library.’

Vaughan must be carefully distinguished from the mystical writer who assumed the pseudonym of Eirenæus Philalethes, a list of whose works is given at the end of the notice of George Starkey [q. v.] (cf. Sloane MS. 646, ff. 1–5). Vaughan's identity with this strange person has been pressed by an alleged descendant, calling herself Diana Vaughan, in ‘Mémoires d'une Ex-Palladiste,’ No. 4, October 1895, published in Paris, where wild assertions of morbid credulity are repeated, including the legendary pact between Satan and Thomas Vaughan, signed 25 March 1645.

[Wood's Athenæ, iii. col. 722; Jones's Hist. of Brecknock, vol. ii. pt. ii. pp. 507, 540, 546; Rawl. MS. A. 11, 335; Thurloe State Papers, ii. 120; Foster's Alumni; Aubrey's Brief Lives, ed. Clarke, 1898, ii. 268–9; Grosart's Edition of the Works of Henry Vaughan, vol. i. pp. xxv–xxviii, xxxv–xli, vol. ii. pp. 298–9, 301, 303, 311–15; Saturday Rev. 22 Oct. 1887; Walker's Sufferings, pt. ii. p. 389; Waite's Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan, passim; Langlet du Fresnoy's Histoire de la Philosophie Hermétique, iii. 266; biographical note by Mr. E. K. Chambers prefixed to vol. ii. of the ‘Muses' Library’ edition of the Poems of Henry Vaughan, pp. xxxiv et seq.] 

VAUGHAN, THOMAS (fl. 1772–1820), dramatist, son of a lawyer, was educated in the same profession. He obtained the post of clerk to the commission of peace of the city of Westminster, and about 1782 became captain of a company of the Westminster volunteers. He had a great partiality for the stage, and devoted much of his leisure to dramatic literature. In 1772 he wrote a series of essays in the ‘Morning Post’ on the Richmond Theatre. In 1776 he produced a farce entitled ‘Love's Metamorphoses,’ which was acted for Mrs. Wrighten's benefit at Drury Lane on 15 April. It was afterwards rejected by Kemble, manager of Drury Lane, in 1789,