The second work was the celebrated _Fama Fraternitatis_ of the meritorious order of the Rosy Cross, addressed to the learned in general, and the Governors of Europe. Here we may cite De Quincey again: "Christian Rosycross, of noble descent, having upon his travels into the East and into Africa learned great mysteries from Arabians, Chaldeans, etc., upon his return to Germany established, in some place not mentioned, a secret society composed at first of four--afterwards of eight--members, who dwelt together in a building called the House of the Holy Ghost, erected by him: to these persons, under a vow of fidelity and secrecy, he communicated his mysteries. After they had been instructed, the society dispersed agreeably to their destination, with the exception of two members, who remained alternately with the founder. The rules of the order were these:--The members were to cure the sick without fee or reward. No member to wear a peculiar habit, but to dress after the fashion of the country. On a certain day in every year all the members to assemble in the House of the Holy Ghost, or to account for their absence. Every member to appoint some person with the proper qualifications to succeed him at his own decease. The word Rosy-Cross to be their seal, watchword, and characteristic mark. The association to be kept unrevealed for a hundred years. Christian Rosycross died at the age of a hundred years. His death was known to the Society, but not his grave; for it was a maxim of the first Rosicrucians to conceal their burial places even from each other. New masters were continually elected into the House of the Holy Ghost, and the Society had now lasted 120 years. At the end of this period, a door was discovered in the house, and upon the opening of this door a sepulchral vault. Upon the door was this inscription: One hundred and twenty years hence I shall open (_Post CXX. annos patebo_). The vault was a heptagon. Every side was five feet broad and eight feet high. It was illuminated by an artificial sun. In the centre was placed, instead of a grave-stone, a circular altar with a little plate of brass, whereon these words were inscribed: This grave, an abstract of the whole world, I made for myself while yet living (A. C. R. C. Hoc Universi compendium vivus mihi sepulchrum feci). About the margin was--To me Jesus is all in all (Jesus mihi omnia). In the centre were four figures enclosed in a circle by the revolving legend: Nequaquam vacuum legis jugum. Libertas Evangelii. Dei gloria intacta. (The empty yoke of the law is made void. The liberty of the gospel. The unsullied glory of God). Each of the seven sides of the vault had a door opening into a chest; which chest, besides the secret books of the order and the _Vocabularium_ of Paracelsus, contained also mirrors--little bells--burning lamps--marvellous mechanisms of music, etc., all so contrived that, after the lapse of many centuries, if the whole order