MDDM18: Enthusiasts

[Dave Monroe]

"There, over the Evening, he will find, among the
Clientele, German Enthusiasts ..." (M&D, Ch. 30, p.
298)

Main Entry: en·thu·si·asm 
Pronunciation: in-'thü-zE-"a-z&m, en-, also -'thyü-
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek enthousiasmos, from enthousiazein to
be inspired, irregular from entheos inspired, from en-
+ theos god
Date: 1603
1 a : belief in special revelations of the Holy Spirit
b : religious fanaticism
2 a : strong excitement of feeling : ARDOR b :
something inspiring zeal or fervor
synonym see PASSION

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=enthusiasm

>From Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment
(New Yor: Routledge, 2002 [1972]), Ch. 13, "From the
Invisible College to the Royal Society,' pp. 220-46
...

   "What has been going on in the Oxford group?  I
suggest, as a possibility, that there may have been a
movement among some of them to dissociate it as
completely as possible from imputation of magic, still
a danger for scientific groups.  To do this, they
intensify their interpretation of [Francis] Bacon as a
the teacher of 'experimental philosophy', disinfecting
him from all other associations, whilst at the same
time drawing away from [John] Dee's mathematical
preface [to Euclid], and the Dee mathematical
tradition, which they are associating with
'enthusiasm', the 'enthusiasm' of a 'canting Puritan'
or a 'moping Friar.'
   "The way was now prepared for an unleashing of a
witch-scare ... which now took the form of a
publication which was to blast Dee's reputation for
three hundred years and to confuse the history of
thought by knocking out from serious consideration one
of its most important figures.
   "This was the publication in 1659 of Dee's
Spiritual Diary, or the records of his supposed
conversations with angles, with a damning preface by
Meric Casaubon accusing Dee of diabolical magic.  It
appears that Csaubon had personal reasons for the
publication, through which he hoped to establish his
own orthodoxy, and it was also aimed at discrediting
those pretending to 'so much Inspiration', that is, it
was against 'enthusiasts'....  The year of publication
is significant, 1659, when Oliver Cromwell was dead,
when the weak government of his son was producing
chaos, when no one knew what would happen next.  What
happened next was, of course, the Restoration of
Charles II in 1660.  Who were the 'enthusiasts' that
Meric Casaubon's publication aimed at discrediting and
excluding from influence in the years ahead?
   "The publication of Dee's diary was certainly part
of a general campaign against enthusiasts and
illuminati being worked up at the time....  This
campaign ruined Dee's reputation and deprived him for
centuries of the credit for his important scientific
work.  Robert Hooke, who, as one of the best
mathematicians in the Royal Society, would have known
of Dee's work, later tried to rescue his reputation by
arguing that the Spiritual Diaries were a 'concealed
history of art and nature' relating to contemporary
events [!].
   "As the natural philosophers moved towards the
consummation of the Royal Society, they had to be very
careful.  Religious apssions were still high, and a
dreaded witch-scare might start at any moment to stop
their efforts.  So they drop Dee, and make their
Baconianism as innocuous as possible." (pp. 240-1)

Hence said "Enthusiasts" adjacency to "Quack
Physicians"?  At any rate, Yates cites here ...

Rattansi, P.M.  "Paracelsus and the Puritan
   Revolution."  Ambix 11 (1963): 24-32.

And see as well, e.g., ...

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/h_dee.html

Just a little something I stumbled upon researching
Chs. 36-7.  And thanks to Bandwraith, Doug, jbor, John
Bailey, Keith, Mutualcode, Nika, Peter F-M, et
soforthiam.  But, still, why "German"?  Tune in next
week ...

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
http://sports.yahoo.com