Thereupon they all knelt down and returned thanks to heaven for having made them so much wiser than the rest of the world, a native trait that adds not a little to the verisimilitude of the story. Then they divided the vault into three parts--the roof, or heaven--the wall, or the sides--and the ground, or pavement. The first and last were according to the seven sides divided into triangles, while every side was divided into ten squares with figures and sentences, to be explained to the newly initiated. Each of these again, had a door opening upon a closet, wherein were stored up sundry rare articles, such as secret books of the order, the vocabulary of Paracelsus, and other things of the same nature, which it was allowable to impart even to the profane. In one, they discovered the life and itinerary of their founder; in another they lighted upon mirrors possessed of different qualities, a little bell, burning lamps, and a variety of curious matters, intended to help in rebuilding the order, which after the lapse of many centuries was to fall into decay. Curiosity to see their founder induced them to push aside the altar, when they came upon a strong brass plate, and this too being removed, "Before their eyes the wizard lay As if he had not been dead a day." Moreover, like the celebrated character described in these lines, he had a volume under his arm, which proved to be of vellum with letters of gold, and at the end of it, in two separate circles, were the names of eight brethren who had assisted at their founder's interment. Next to the Bible, the Rosicrucians valued this book beyond any portion of their inheritance, yet it is not said whether they took away any of these rarities, or left the dead man in quiet possession of his treasures.[4] CHAPTER IV. _The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity._ We shall now call the attention of our readers to the third of the books we spoke of as published simultaneously about the year 1610, "the substance of which," says De Quincey, "it is important to examine, because they in a very strange way, led to the foundation of the Rosicrucian order as a distinct body." The third book is the _Confessio Fraternitatis_, which we present almost in its entirety. _The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of R:C:Community, of the Rosie Cross._ THE EPISTLE TO THE READER:--To the Wise and Understanding Reader.