We have observed CRL 618, an infrared object believed to be in transition between the red giant and planetary nebula stages, in seven lines of vibrationally excited H2 and the Brackett α and γ lines of ionized hydrogen. The H2 observations were made in 1979 and repeated in 1982, extending over more than four years monitoring of H2 emission from this source. The intensity of H2 emission approximately tripled between August 1977 and November 1979 and may have increased by another 15-20 per cent between November 1979 and February 1982. This increase in emission occurred during the same time period that the radio free-free flux roughly doubled (Kwok and Feldman, 1981). The object may now be in a more quiescent phase following a strong flare. The H2 lines appear to be in thermal equilibrium at ≈ 2000 K and to suffer only small extinction. The Brackett α and γ lines are more heavily obscured, with ≈ 2 mag. of 2.17 μm extinction. These results support the model that the compact H II region is behind and expanding into the dense molecular material where the H2 is found. The mass of hot H2 is, ≈ 4 × 10−4 M and of total ejecta ≈ .1 M⊙, so the mass-loss rate is probably > .