Cave in his Historia Literaria makes no mention of the work as belonging to Albertus.
b. Brunet, the great authority on books and editions, in his Manuel du Libraire, says: "De Secretis Mulierum, opus 1478, in 4o, première édition de cet ouvrage, mal-à-propos attribué à Albert-le-grand"—"De Secretis Mulierum, 1478, 4to, first edition of this work, wrongfully attributed to Albert the Great."
c. Encyclopædias.—Edinburgh Encyclopædia, conducted by David Brewster, edition of 1832, art. "Albertus Magnus:" "The treatise De Secretis Mulierum, etc., generally ascribed to him, was written by one of his disciples, Henricus de Saxonia." Penny Encyclopædia, London, 1833: "There are also collections of supposed secrets which have erroneously been published under his name; among others, one De Secretis Mulierum et Naturæ, printed at Amsterdam, in 1655, which is believed to have been written by one of his disciples." Chambers's Encyclopædia rejects the work also as supposititious.
d. Historians.—Natalis Alexander, Hist. Ecc., Sæculum XIII., on "Albertus Magnus," concludes his notice thus: "Liber De Mirabilibus vanitate et superstitione refertus, Alberto Magno suppositus est, inquit Debrio, Disquisitionum Magicarum, cap. 3. Librum De Secretis Mulierum nec ipsius est nec docti cujuspiam esse censuerunt Medici Lovanienses, ut refert Molanus in Bibliotheca Sacra"—"The book De Mirabilibus, filled with nonsense and superstition, has been falsely ascribed to Albertus Magnus, says Debrio in his work Essays on Magic, cap. 3. The Medical Faculty of the University of Louvain gave as their opinion that the book De Secretis Mulierum is not his nor that of any learned man, as Molanus relates in his Bibliotheca Sacra."
Raynoldus, in his Cronaca, the great continuation of the Annals of Baronius, under the year 1260, paragraph 15th, says: "Hic vero lectorem diligenter monitum velim plura passim Alberti Magni nomine scripta circumferri, quæ ab ipso nunquam emanasse exploratum est; cum magica superstitione sint fœdata, sed ad conciliandum rei vel frivolæ vel scelestæ auctoritatem, piissimi et sapientis viri nomine subornati simplicibus obtruduntur"—"We wish here particularly to warn the reader that there are many writings extant attributed to Albertus Magnus, which, it is clear, never emanated from his pen; for they are filled with magical superstition; but to gain some authority for a trifling or wicked work, they are palmed off on the ignorant under the name of a most pious and learned man." Prof. Hefele, the German historian, in an article on Albertus Magnus in Wetzer and Welte's Kirchen-Lexicon, concludes thus: "Dem Albertus sind viele Bücher unterschoben worden, z. B. De Alchymia und De Secretis Mulierum, u. dgl."—"Many books have been fathered on Albert, e.g. De Alchymia and De Secretis Mulierum, etc." Cantri, the Italian historian, in his Universal History, expresses the same opinion in his chapter on the "Natural and Occult Sciences."
e. Biographies.—Feller, in his Biographie Universelle, says: "Enfin, on a lui attribué de ridicules recueils des Secrets, auquels il n'a pas eu la moindre part. On y trouve même des indécences et des recherches aussi vaines que peu dignes d'une religeux"—"Finally, a ridiculous collection of Secrets have been attributed to him, with which he had nothing to do. Even obscene things are found in this collection, and investigations as frivolous as they are unworthy of a religious." The French and German biographies consulted by us agree in this same opinion.
f. Editions.—Dr. Atkinson, in his Medical Biography, mentions all the editions of the work from the first in 1478 to 1760. The first edition, 1478, is without the name of the place in which it was printed; and of it we have seen the judgment of Brunet. The editions of 1480 and 1481 are without the name of either printer or place. The edition of 1484, Augustæ, comes out with Henry of Saxony as its author. Those of 1488 and 1498 also. The earliest editions, therefore, cannot be quoted as making Albertus the author of the work. It was only the editions of 1600 and those which followed that ascribed the work to Albertus, and they were almost all printed in Germany or Holland. Does it not look as if party spirit had much to do with these editions? The only complete edition of the works of Albertus is that of the Rev. A. P. Peter Jammy, S.T.D., in twenty-one folio volumes, printed at Lyons, 1651. This edition contains no mention of the book.
In the authorities thus far quoted, we have studiously avoided bringing forward any but those which are universally admitted as standard. But even should the extrinsic testimony thus far given not have been all on our side, we think the intrinsic evidence would be quite sufficient to settle the question. To this point we will now briefly direct attention. These intrinsic arguments are drawn from the work itself and from the well-known character of Albertus Magnus. The book or document was written somewhere about the year 1240 or 1250, and was first printed in the year 1478. Its composition shows evidently that it was intended only for the person to whom it was directed; that it was merely a letter to a friend in answer to an obscure question proposed by him; in fine, that it was not a treatise intended for preservation, but merely a familiar correspondence on the part of the writer to satisfy, as far as he was able, the inquiries of his friend. Naudé, the critic, makes use of these two proofs to show that Albertus could not have written the work. First, Albertus did not name himself in the beginning of the work. He who commented upon it affirmed without any proof that Albertus was its author. The text begins with these words: "Delecto sibi in Christo socio et amico," etc.—"To his beloved companion and friend in Christ. In the notes added to the edition of 1601 and 1637 these words have been placed as a title: "Ego Albertus morans Parisiis"—"I, Albert, staying in Paris." The title has been affixed gratuitously and arbitrarily. The work is therefore anonymous. Second, Albertus could not have written it, for his own authority is often made use of. We must remember that the document in question was only a letter from one friend to another; and it certainly would be strange for a man to quote his own well-known works at any time, much less in a familiar correspondence. If he introduced them at all, it would be in some such form as this: "as you will find in my work on," etc. The author of this letter quotes Albertus's authority at least five times. We have verified the following in the edition of 1637, Argentorati: Page 49: "That this may be understood, we must note that there are four states of the moon, according to Albertus in his treatise De Statu Solis et Lunæ. Page 69, showing the impossibility of a universal deluge, the author says: "And we must know that these things are not imaginary, because Albertus, on the Action and Effect of Lightning, mentions," etc. Page 97, "For Albertus mentions just as," etc. Page 109, "As Albertus says in his book on," etc. We do not argue from the fact of the authority of Albertus being used to prove that he could not have been the author, but from the manner in which that authority is introduced. The reader will judge for himself if our inference be correct. But to us the convincing proof of the falsity of the work is to be drawn from the character of Albertus himself and the subject matter of the work. The testimony of antiquity has brought him down to us as venerable for his piety and goodness as he was illustrious for learning. He was truly a good man. He was really an exceedingly learned man. The work ascribed to him could have been written by neither a good man nor even a moderately well-educated man. There are principles laid down in it which contradict the first ideas of morality and inculcate unbridled license. And shall the well-known works on morality of the great doctor not be allowed to cry out in his defence? Shall we say that he has not only glaringly contradicted himself, but become the open advocate of immorality? When the illustrious Protestant critic Cave tells us that Albertus was considered the greatest theologian, philosopher, and mathematician of his day, he does but re-echo the voice of each past generation; and shall we say that he could have written the work in question, so full of nonsense and superstition, and contrasting so strongly with his other writings? Is not the opinion of the Medical Faculty of the University of Louvain more just when they maintain that the work De Secretis Mulierum is neither that of Albertus nor indeed of any learned man at all? These few reflections should be enough to settle the matter. We could bring forward other and far more convincing reasons in vindication of this great doctor; but from what has been said, we think we are justified in placing the positive affirmation of the writer ascribing the work to Albertus Magnus as a glaring misstatement—as blot number two.
The third misstatement was that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote a commentary on it. We challenge the writer to bring a single authority to prove that fact. We never heard or saw anything about it before. None of the great standard critics ever hint at it; so, not to lose patience, we affirm that it is the most glaring misstatement made—blot number three, in almost as many lines.
The reader might here naturally ask, Where, then, did the writer obtain any information on which to base his so positive statements, so injurious to the characters of two justly celebrated benefactors of the human race? We have met with but one phrase which could have suggested the lines in question, and they are taken from a writer who should not be brought forward as authority in a matter of criticism; for the scurrilous, filthy, and flippant manner in which he speaks of authors and books renders him unworthy of an answer. This author is Dr. James Atkinson, who published a Medical Biography, one volume, A and B, London, 1834. After admitting that the authorship of the book De Secretis Mulierum is a contested matter, he has these words: "It may be a question whether the editions (of which I have one in Gothic characters) of this Libellus de Secretis Mulierum were not originally written by Albertus, and published with a commentary (which is annexed to it in my edition) by St. Thomas Aquinas (although usually 'non est inventus') or Henricus de Saxonia. Is it possible?" The character of the author Atkinson, as manifested in his work, and these words themselves, are a sufficient answer to any proof to be drawn from his authority. We must say candidly that these are the only words we could find even to suggest the remarkable lines we have quoted in the beginning of this article; and we conclude that we might have hoped for the sincerity of Atkinson in one who shows that, if he has tried to read much, he has read neither wisely nor well.