“One morning in the spring of 1796, a handsome young man, in a green silk-plush coat, and otherwise well dressed, came to Stilling’s house at Ockershaussen. This gentleman introduced himself in such a manner as betrayed a polished and genteel education. Stilling inquired who he was, and learnt that he was the remarkable ----. Stilling was astonished at the visit, and his astonishment was increased by the expectation of what this extremely enigmatical individual might have to communicate. After both had sat down, the stranger began by saying that he wished to consult Stilling relative to a person diseased in the eyes. However, the real object of his visit pressed him in such a manner that he began to weep; kissed, first, Stilling’s hand, then his arm, and said: ‘Sir, are not you the author of the “Nostolgia?”’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘You are, therefore, one of my secret superiors’ (in the Grand Lodge of the R. C.) Here he again kissed Stilling’s hand and arm, and wept almost aloud. Stilling answered: ‘No, dear sir; I am neither your nor any one else’s secret superior. I am not in any secret connection whatever.’ The stranger looked at Stilling with a fixed eye, and inward emotion, and replied: ‘Dearest friend, cease to conceal yourself! I _have been long tried_, and severely enough. I thought you knew me already!’ Stilling: ‘No, Mr. ----, I assure you solemnly that I stand in no secret connection, and in reality understand nothing of all that you require of me!’ “This speech was too strong and too serious to leave the stranger in uncertainty. It was now his turn to be astonished and amazed. He therefore continued: ‘But tell me, then, how is it that you know anything of the great and venerable connection in the East which you have so circumstantially described in the “Nostolgia,” and have even pointed out their rendezvous in Egypt, on Mount Sinai, in the Monastery of Canobin, and under the Temple at Jerusalem?’ ‘I know nothing of all this,’ replied Stilling. ‘But these ideas presented themselves in a very lively manner to my imagination. It was, therefore, mere fable and fiction. “‘Pardon me, the matter is the truth and reality as you have described it. It is astonishing that you have hit it in such a manner--this cannot have come by chance!’ The gentleman now related the real particulars of the association in the East. Stilling was amazed and astonished beyond measure; for he heard remarkable and extraordinary things, which are not, however, of such a nature as can be made public. I only affirm that what Stilling learnt from the gentleman had not the most remote reference to political matters.