Note 124 — IV. (continued 2)
Reading edition
Die Rosenkreutzer formed a secret society founded in Germany in the 17:th century. Confessedly they aimed at bringing about certain reforms in Church and State, but the mystery in which they were shrouded gave rise, later, to the popular belief that they were chiefly occupied in alchemical pursuits. Among English writers interested in the ‘Rosecrucian idea’ were Godwin (St. Leon), Shelley (St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian, 1811), and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, 1818).