I must make particular mention of the two most celebrated of the Rosicrucian works; the first is _La Chiave del Cabinetto_, Col. 1681, 12mo. The author, Joseph Francis Borri, gives a most systematic account of the doctrine of the Rosic Cross in this interesting little volume. He was imprisoned for magic and heresy, and died in his prison at Rome in 1695 at the age of seventy years. On this work was founded one still more remarkable-- "Le Compte de Gabalis, ou Entretiens sur les Sciences Secrètes. 'Quod tanto impendio absconditur etiam solum modo demonstrare, destruere est.'--_Tertull._ Sur la Copie imprimée à Paris, chez Claude Barbin.--M.DC.LXXI. 12mo., pp. 150." {176} This work, thus published anonymously, was from the pen of the Abbé de Villars. An English translation was published at London in 1714. The doctrine of the Rosy Cross entered largely into the literature of the seventeenth century. This applies especially to the masques of James I. and Charles I. To the same source Shakspeare owes his _Ariel_, and Milton much of his _Comus_. It is strange, but instructive, to observe how variously different minds make use of the same materials. What greater contrast can we have than _The Rape of the Lock_ and _Undine_?--the one redolent of the petit-maître and the Cockney; the other a work _sui generis_, of human conceptions the most exquisite and spirit-fragrant. Wieland's _Idris and Zenide_, Bulwer's _Zanoni_, and Mackay's _Salamandrine_, are also based on Rosicrucian principles. Mention of the Rosicrucians occurs in Izaak Walton's Angler and Butler's _Hudibras_--see Zachary Grey's note and authorities referred to by him. See also two interesting papers on the subject in Chambers's _Edinb. Journal_, ed. 1846, vol. vi. pp. 298. 316. EIRIONNACH. July 20, 1853. P. S.--I may as well notice here a very curious book of Rosicrucian emblems, as I have it beside me: "Atalanta Fugiens, hoc est, Emblemata Nova de Secretis Naturæ Chymica. Accommodata partim oculis et intellectui, figuris cupro incisis, adjectisque sententiis, Epigrammatis et notis, partim auribus et recreationi animi plus minus 50 Fugis Musicalibus trium vocum, quarum duæ ad unam simplicem melodiam distichis canendis peraptam correspondeant, non absq; singulari jucunditate videnda, legenda, meditanda, intelligenda, dijudicanda, canenda, et audienda. Authore Michaele Majero, Imperial. Consistorii Comite, Med. D. Eq. Ex. etc.: Oppenheimii, ex Typographia Hieronymi Galleri, sumptibus Joh. Theodori de Bry, MDCXVIII." Small 4to. pp. 211.