Chapter XCVI: Part I: To the well minded Reader (24)

C. _You are pleased to offer me delicate Dainties, easie to be prepared, for I have not so much Money as is to be laid out upon those kind of chargeable and costly Labours: Neither will my Family Affairs admit thereof, =viz.= to spend my days in such sumptuous and chargeable Cookeries, and which are so full of most great Labours, and whose event too is oftentimes very uncertain. For I have heard some say, that the smallest Errour may destroy the whole Work, and quite spoil it, and so grievously affect such as operate about such great Secrets, with a very great loss of long time, and great Expences. And therefore such a Work, as I can attend upon without letting my taking Care of my Family, and which will need the disbursment of but a few Expences, will please me better than those other Costly ones would._

_B._ I readily believe, that this very thing you desire, will not only be exceedingly pleasing unto your self, but also unto many others besides. The Expences are but very small, and the Labours thereupon but little, so that each days Fire, which the Matter is to be set upon, may be taken Care for, in half an hours space. But now, though the Philosophers have made mention of very small Expences, and have comprised them in the compass of a couple of _Florins_, yet is that saying to be otherwise understood. Those Ancients made use of the greatest _Florins_, _viz._ the _Rhenish_ ones, and also the _Hungarian_ Crowns, each of which is of the value of five of our _Florins_. And if you thus understand it after this compute, I can easily shew unto you the Truth of their Assertion.

C. _I do even think as you say: Sure we must not expect any [such] things for nothing; I am content, [and therefore, pray] let us proceed._

_B._ If our Work be called the labour of Women, and Boys play, it is expedient, that it be like unto Womens work, and Boys play: For else the Philosophers would have used an unfit similitude. You well know, what Labours your Wife is chiefly busied about, and what her daily Labour is she imploys her self in.

C. _Yes, verily I daily see, that she doth boyl Food necessary for the Use of the whole Family, and being boyl’d sets it upon the Table to be eaten. This Labour she performs, at least twice every day, when Dinner and Supper is ended, she doth wash the Dishes, Pots, Goblets, and other Vessels, and cleans them, and makes them fit to put other new Food in, and to be served out to the Table. Besides too, this is her Office and Care, if haply a Pot be broken, or crackt, whereby it is made unfit to hold moisture any more, to substitute (in defect of Iron Pots) a new Pot made of Potters Clay, in the stead thereof: Such and the like Labours, as these, are in our Country called the Womens work._

_B._ Well, be it so: I will likewise shew unto thee, such a Labour in _Chymical_ Operations, as resembles this. Therefore, like as the Female Sex do first wash the _Flesh_, _Fish_, _Rapes_, _Pot-herbs_, _Roots_, _Apples_, _Pears_, or other things with pure Water, which they mean to boyl, and then put them into the Pot, and pour thereunto as much Water as is requisite, and place it over the Fire, and boyl it so long, till all the crudity, or rawness being vanisht, the Meats become grateful to the Palat, and pleasant, and easily digestible by the Stomach. [So do we] They do likewise sometimes pour Wine upon Flesh and Fish, instead of Water, and add as much Salt as is convenient, together with some Spices, or odoriferous Herbs, by which they give the Fish and Flesh a most excellent Taste. But yet we must not forget Salt, above all the other Spices, or Seasonings, and odoriferous Herbs, for it Corrects and maturates the Flesh, Fish, and other hard Meats, more than other Spices. For we can well enough want these if they are not at hand, but as for Salt, there is always need of that, about the boyling of Flesh, Fish, and other Food. If therefore Flesh, or Fish are to be boyld well, then Salt water is requisite; and as for all the other Additions of Herbs, and odoriferous Spices, they only serve to give it a good pleasant Taste, and make it acceptable to the Palat, and to the Smelling. For the Flesh and Fish when boyl’d or stewed, do by their Magnetick Virtue attract so much Salt and grateful Savour, and Virtue, as they need: And that which remains, stays in the Water. Now the curious Dames do shut the tops of their Pots very well with their Covers, lest the efficacious Vapours should be forced away in fume by the Boyling, and not stay with the Flesh or other Meats. But the careless Housewifes do not much regard the covering of their Pots, from whence it comes to pass, that they lose these good and sweet Spirits, and then they fil up their Pots with new Water, by which doings, the Flesh, or Fish, do not get so sweet a Savour, as they would have, if that efficacious Water had been kept in and conserved. Some Women that are yet more curious, and diligent about their Cookery, do put upon their Pots, wherein they boyl their Meats, such a Cover as hath a fold in it, by which the Collected sweet and odoriferous Vapours may distil down into an under-put Vessel, which being thus gotten, they keep by them, to refresh and cherish with them, such as are weak and sick, when need requires. Others, to free themselves from this kind of Labour, do add as much Water as need is, together with Salt and Spices, to their Flesh, and so boyl it by little and little, shutting in the Vapours with a Cover, which else would go away, and the Meat taste of burning; And by doing thus, they are not necessitated to pour on any new Water, though this slow boyling takes up more time than that, which is done by a strong and uncessant Ebullition: I would have you well to observe these things, for ’tis not without cause that I utter them. And now let us examine the other similitude, and see what those Boys Plays are, that so we may afterwards accommodate even them too, to our Philosophical work. What therefore do you see concerning the Boys Plays, with what things, and after what manner do they Play?

C. _How can I tell? They play as their Parents please to let them, or as they can get opportunity of Playing: As for my self, I do not grant my Children so much Liberty, to play when, and how they list themselves. I send them to the School and to the Church, and sometimes I allow them one hours Play for Recreations sake, nor do I allow them any other Play but at Bowls, [or Knickers] by which they moderately stir their Bodies, and exercise themselves, and Concoct their Meat, and this is far more profitable for them, than if they were constrained to sit always at home, without any exercise at all: Other play than this, I allow them not. Cards and Dice are unfit Plays for Boys, they are many times very hurtful to those of riper years, especially when by the too much abuse of them, they do so unprofitably waste their precious time, and cannot tell how to use a mean. I have indeed otherwise seen Boys, that meeting with some Sand get [thereout of] bright Stones, and play with them, but yet this is not usual. However, there is no play more frequent amongst Children, than that of Bowls, [or Knickers] which play they daily use, whatsoever time they can steal, to that purpose. Yea both at their going to School, and returning from School, you may see them presently busied about their Rubbers, or Knickers-play. They are very hardly restrained therefrom. If they want Money to buy the Bowls, or Knickers, they get a little piece of Potters Clay and moisten it with Water, and make up their little Bowls, or Pellets in their hands, and harden them in the Fire; which I remember, when I was a Boy, I often did. And besides this Boys play, no other is known unto me._

_B._ Very good, you have hit the nail on the head: And now let us see, whether or no the ancient Philosophers have (after the manner of Boys) played with small Bowls, or Knickers? and whether, or no, they have boyl’d their work in Pots, with as easie a Labour, as Women do. For of necessity they must have hit on doing after this wise, else could they not have compared their work to the Labour of Women, and play of Children. So then, if we are to imitate Women and Boys in our Operation, what Matters are we to make use of, for our boyling, in the stead of Flesh, Fish, and other Meats; and what Water is it, that is to be poured thereupon. For if we are minded to do any good effect, ’tis expedient, that we likewise know, what those Matters are, which admit of being boyled unto a Maturity in our fiery Water, and these verily must be such, (seeing they are to be _maturated by boyling_) as have a great Affinity with the said Water: Forasmuch therefore, as our Water is of a _Metallick_ Nature, and yet all the Metals do in a manner arise, or proceed (in the Earth) therefrom, and are even at this very day advanced, by the very same (by the help of the Terrestrial and Central fire) by little and little unto perfection: All that we have to do is, to imitate the simplicity of Nature, which will never seduce us, for so without question, those most ancient Philosophers did do, who having borrowed their wonderful Work from Nature her self, do advise us to do no more, but to follow Nature, and to begin there, where Nature left off, and to ascend higher and to make that perfect, which is as yet imperfect: God hath prefixed unto Nature her bounds, which she cannot transgress [or go beyond:] But Art, doth much excel Nature, and performs those things which Nature cannot accomplish: Yea more, that which she can hardly do in the Earth in a thousand years time, Art effects in one year, and this is easily confirmed by many Testimonies. Now as to the Generation and Maturation of the Metals, Nature useth a most simple or plain way, a very slow one, but yet safe. From thence ariseth the Errour of many a Man, who do not follow Nature, but the guidance of their own phantastick Brains, never effecting ought of good, but remain always Novellists in the same, what Labours soever they undertake, and what Expences soever they are at: Although the ancient Philosophers do by their many Admonitions set afore us, that most simple Course of Nature for us to imitate; and they have especially hinted to us, that their Work is so simple, that should they but openly and clearly have treated of the same, even the Women would deride it and say, that the Male kind had learned their Art from them. Yea, it is so very vile a Work, that no Body would be able to believe it, and upon this Account, the Philosophers have done their utmost, to hide and obscure the Art the most they could, least they should be contemned by the proud deriders, (who Soaring aloft seek after things too high for them,) and be accounted for Cheats and false Writers. And this is the main and chiefest Reason, why this Art being so wrapt up in darkness of a most profound Silence, lyes hitherto hid from the whole Troop of Sophisters, and such deriding Fellows. _Sendivow_ (as we have already several times hinted) doth expresly say, that he had oftentimes declared the whole Art, to not a few word for word, unto whom, that Art did nevertheless seem so very vile and mean, that they could not at all believe any likelihood of Truth in his most true words, and so left the Work unattempted. The same _Sendivow_ doth also say, That had the most skilful _Hermes_, the most quick witted _Geber_, and most illuminated _Lully_ been again alive, and beheld our Laboratories stored with so many, and such various Instruments of Glass, Earth, Iron, and other Matters, and such several Fornaces, they would be ravished into a most high Admiration, like so many Boys, and would be but as it were our Scholars, as concerning those Vessels and Fornaces, all which however, we have learned from their Writings, but yet we are destitute of that most excellent Work which was wrought by them in so simple a Way, and it hitherto flies our subtile and acute Wits. And, my dear Friend, he also tells us, that we should fly aloft into the lofty Air with our Wings, for the Work is simple, vile and abject, the which, you may sooner comprehend [or feel] with your hands, than apprehend by the subtilty of your Wit or Cogitations.

C. _All these things may very sufficiently serve to rid us out of so great a Labyrinth, but I pray, Sir, how comes it about, that we do sottishly persuade our selves, that those things are so very difficult, which notwithstanding are so very simple, vile, and abject._

_B._ It is indeed, to him that has knowledge of the same, an easie, vile, and simple thing: But very difficult and intricate to him, that laying aside the way of Nature, thinks himself able to learn so great an Art out of Books, which (by their leave) though, seems a thing almost impossible to be done. For the Philosophers have so prolixly, intricately, and obscurely described the whole Mystery, that their so prolix and dark Writings would sooner lead a Man from the true and right way, so far off are they from reducing him thereinto.

C. _I my self find, that this is most certainly true, for I never heard as yet of any Man, or read of any, that learned the Art out of Books: But that almost all of them who were skilled in the same, do Confess, that they became Masters of the same, either by Divine Inspiration or Revelation, or by the help of some Friend. There’s no Body can contradict those things which you have here induced, for the Confirmation of your Opinion. And now, Sir, let us set upon the Work it self, and diligently pray unto God and wait for his Blessing._

_B._ Content, hearken therefore attentively.

C. _So I do._

_B._ Did you never find in the reading of the Philosophers, that all the imperfect Metals may in a _Particular_ way be promoted to the perfect Maturity of Gold or Silver, by their dry Water which wetteth not the hands: But being not content with this effect, they have promoted the first _Ens_ of Metals (by the help of their occult, fiery, and ripening Water) to a more than perfect Constancy, and Fixity in the Fire, and have concentrated it to the form of Gold.

C. _I remember, that I have read of such things as these, though by reason of my unskilfulness and ignorance, I could not understand the least Particle of their meaning: For I am altogether ignorant of that kind of wonderful, and yet, to every Body well known Water: And so shall still remain until it be shewn (and pointed at) with the Fingers._

_B._ Look here, here’s a piece of admirable Water which is every where in all places easie to be found, yea, in the poorest Country-mens Houses, nor doth it deny any Man, the Possession and having it.

C. _Who would ever have believed, or thought, that there was any good hidden in so vile and abject a Body?_

_B._ [I wonder] wherefore [it is] that no Body can think of this Matter, seeing it is evident, that in our Water the first Entities of all the Metals are abundantly hidden, as in their own proper Seed, out of which they are generated in the Earth, and ripened unto perfection. Those first Entities are but extracted out of this our Water, by [peculiar] Magnets. And now, like as every Metal hath its own Magnet, even so every one [of them] hath its proper Magnet, by which it is concentrated into a narrow Room. I will declare unto you the Truth of this business, by an example taken from the Metals. If you have a Water fully impregnated with Copper, and you desire to have Copper out of the said Water, you will easily bring this to pass, if you shall but put in to that Water, which holds in it the Copper, a piece of clean Iron, the which Iron, (as being the true Magnet of the Copper,) will attract unto it self, all the invisible Copper out of the Water, and gather it into a visible and palpable Metal. If Silver be dissolv’d in any Water and made invisible, and you would again have it, put into the Solution a Plate of pure [or clean] Copper, which (after a Magnetick manner) will gather together [or draw out] all the Silver in his own [Silvery] Body, and make it visible and palpable. Now when Gold is dissolved in some Water, and largely dispersed, [as I may say] and you would again have it [in the form of Gold;] then put in some ☿ or _Ar. vive_ in that Water, and boyl it a little therewithal, (as was done above, with the Copper and Silver) and you shall presently see all the Gold to be attracted, and gathered together by the _Mercury_, insomuch that there will not remain ought of the Gold in the Water, because it follows the Attraction of its own Magnet, _Mercury_. These _Metallick_ and _Magnetick_ Operations, are a sufficiently manifest Information unto us, and do point out unto us (as with a Finger) the way, of the extracting, not only good Metals in a _Particular_ manner, but also far better things than Metals, (_viz._ the Tincture, or form of Gold) out of our stinking Water, in an _Universal_ way, by such Magnets, as are fit and apt in Nature for this Extraction. Another similitude we have from the Earth, and Rain water, with which the Fruits of the Earth are moistned: Put you in such an Earth moistned with that Water, as many Seeds as you please; each of them, will (by its _Magnetick_ Virtue) attract unto its self, its own like, for its Multiplication, and will leave to the other Seeds, to attract each of them its like also. If now, by this similitude, the Scope or end I aim at, may be made manifest unto you, there is yet hopes you may be holpen: If not, I do not see, by what means you can be succoured, forasmuch as it would be too tedious here to use many other Circumstances. For when we are certainly assured, that the first _Ens_, or the very Form of Gold is plentifully hidden in our Water, we do by very good right seek after that best part, _viz._ the form of Gold, and leave the other first Entities of the rest of the Metals, in the Water. And now Ile shew thee another similitude: Dissolve in one and the same Water, ☉, ♀, ♂, ♃, ☿, that so you may have all these Metals commixt together in the same: If now you desire to extract the best of them, _viz._ the Gold there out of, what hurt will the other bring you, if they remain in the Water. Such therefore as the Magnet is, which you put into that same Water, such is the Metal too, that you shall extract. If therefore we particularly seek ☉ and ☽ in our Water, it will be expedient, that we put unto this spiritual ☉ and ☽ their proper Magnet, unto which Magnets, they (being precipitated) do stick on, and are by little and little fixed [on thereunto.] And now if we seek after something better than ☉ and ☽, _viz._ the form and Tincture of Gold, it will be necessity, that we also apply such a [suitable] Magnet, which may draw out nothing else but the Tincture or Form of Gold, which being precipitated [thereout of] may be fixed. And thus have I here told you all those things that are necessary to be known. If you are minded to extract in a _Particular_ way, _Sol_ and _Lune_ out of the Universal Mineral water, you must then put unto them their Magnet, _viz._ an _Amalgama_ of Copper, and _Argent vive_: For the Copper draws to it self the spiritual Silver, and the ☿ the spiritual Gold, out of the said Water, and brings it unto a Fixation [or Corporeity] with it self, [or, as it self is.] But if you are minded, or desirous, of getting some better thing, than the Gold it self, or Silver, is, _viz._ a Tincture, you must then needs adjoyn thereto its own peculiar Magnet, for, without it, you cannot effect any thing at all: But that you may know, what the true Magnet of the Tincture is, I say unto you, _That is the Compeere, or Companion of our Water, and not of the Metals_: For like seeks its like, as the Philosophers say, Nature rejoyceth with Nature, Nature overcomes Nature, Nature retains Nature: More than these things I have told you, it is not needful for you to know: Consider therefore very accurately what I have said, and beg of God by your Prayers a blessing, which if you do, you shall not err, but yet you will not be all of a sudden Master of what you desire. All these things have their determinate times, like as a Grain of Wheat Sown in the Earth, the which requires a time to ripen in, nor doth it wax ripe afore the time appointed for Maturation be come about. Follow you the Advice left by _Geber_, and do not hasten on your Work, by any the least hasty speed: For he tells us expresly, that all hastning in our Work is of the Devil. And as concerning what is to be known, and what a one the Student of so noble an Art ought to be, you will find described in the Fifth Part of my _Spagyrical Pharmacopœa_. And what think you now? Can you thoroughly understand me?

C. _Yes, Verily, I do well enough understand those things which I have hitherto heard from you, But yet this Womens work, which you began a Declaration of, is not sufficiently clear unto me, nor is that Boys-play, which is done with small Bowls or Knickers, I do not thoroughly understand that neither, =viz.= how it may be compared with the work of the Philosophers. Were but these things made clear and evident unto me, I would Ranck my self amongst the number of the Masters of the Art._

_B._ Well then, come let us go on and see, by what means the Philosophers are wont to make their little Bowls. [Note!] Like as the Boys make use of Earth and Water, for the making of their Pellets or Knickers: So likewise will we use our Earth, and our Water to the making of our small Bowls or Pellets: Ours, I say, not the vulgar and common Earth and Water, for they are unprofitable as to our Work. But tis indifferent, and all one, whether we take Yellow, Red, or white Earth, because all of them are of one and the same Nature. According to the Colour of the Earth which we use, will the Colour of the small Balls we make, be: We have here at hand a threefold Earth, a yellow Earth of Gold, a white of Silver and a Red of Copper. This threefold Earth will we moisten with our Water or _Mercury_, and so make up a Paste or Mass of the two, which the _Chymists_ call an _Amalgama_. This Paste will we wash with pure Water, grinding it so long ’twixt our Fingers, till there be to appearance of any father impurity, and that it admits of being easily washt, or broken with the Fingers. Being thus well washt, we will put it in a Skin, or Cotton, and tye it firmly in; out of which, we will squeez forth all the ☿ with our hands, and separate it from the said Earth, just in such a manner as _Argent vive_ is separated in _Amalgamations_, or _Metalick_ Masses. The _Mercury_ being separated, we will take out our thick _Amalgama_, and make small Bowls, or Knickers thereof, and of almost the same bigness, that the Boys Knickers are of. These Bowls we will expose to the Air, for about some twenty four hours, and by this time they will be grown so hard, as to resemble Stones, in hardness. And now, being thus made ready for boyling, we will put them into our Water to seeth: But yet in the seething, there must be an accurate regard had to some skilful handling the Matter, if you would have it perform its Operation without Errour. This Art will I faithfully open unto thee, lest you err, and so bring damage upon your self: These Pellets, or little Bowls thus made of our Mass, are not to be thrown into the Pot filled with Water, afore the said Water boyls: Which boyling, you must throw them in one after another, and they will presently harden themselves, and cover themselves over with an hard Crustiness or Skin by which they will be prevented from sticking to one another, and from coming altogether into one Mass. For if you first of all put your little Balls into the Pot, and then afterwards pour cold Water upon them, and so set them on the Fire, that they may be boyled unto their Maturity, you will spoil your whole work. For before the Water in the Pot be hot, all the Pellets being dissolved, would run together in one Mass, and so would not admit the Humefying, or moistning of their inside Parts, and so you would turn all your Pellets by your seething into a mere Pouse or Pottage, whereas they should remain whole in all their Parts, as well internal, as external, for fear of drawing the Water in. But that you may have an accurate Account of all these things which I have said unto you, I hope you will set about the Work, [or thus,] I hope you will do your best, heedfully to regard all these things which I have said unto you and I suppose, that you have sufficiently understood the things which I have already spoken: But if so be, you do not yet apprehend the meaning of these things, I will Counsel you, by what means you may learn this Operation at home from your Wife. When you are come home, bid your Wife to make you some little Balls, or Dumplins with Flower and Veal. And heedfully observe, what Course she takes, about making such Balls, that so you may by the same way learn to deal with your _Metallick_ Pellets. First of all, you shall see, that she puts some pure Flower into a deep Dish or Platter, and having put it in, she works it into a Paste, or Mass with Cream, or the purest Milk. Then she admixeth some green Herbs smally minced, and some Spice medled among, and sprinkling some Salt thereupon, she mixeth them with the Paste made as aforesaid, to give it the sweeter Smell, and Taste. Of this Paste, she will afterwards make little Balls, of what bigness she pleaseth, which Balls she does not put in the Water afore it boyls. When therefore the Water seeths, she throws in, one Ball after another, each of which, as soon as ever it feels the fervent heat of the boyling Water, will presently cover it self over with a Skin, whereby they will be kept from sticking one to another, and running into one Mass, and returning into such a Paste as they were in, before their being made up into Pellets: Whereas, now each of them may be kept in its own Form, and be encompassed all round with the Water, and be advanced unto a Maturity, or readiness, by a due seething: And now, when you have seen this Operation of your Wives Cookery, I do not question, but that you will be well enough skilled in this Cooking Art.

C. _My dearest Friend, I do friendly request you not to take it amiss, in that I cannot abstain any longer from down right laughing, when I hear that our work hath such a corresponding likeness, with the Art of Cookery: Your so faithful Instructions have already abundantly satisfied me: I have very often seen my Wife busied about the Cooking of such Balls, and my self have also delightfully fed upon these kind of Dumplins, made both of Veal, Eggs, and Spices, and also of Flower, Milk, and green Herbs. But I fear me, that when my Wife shall see me making these Balls or Pellets, and boyling them in a little Pot, she will laugh at me, and say, that I learned my Skil from her._

_B._ ’Tis no Matter, you have no reason to regard either the tatling of your Wife, or of all Men whatever: For they know not what they do, it is enough for you, that your self know what end it is, you do any thing for: Think you, that if other Wiselings and Know-littles should see you working with such little Balls, they would not deride and mock you. But don’t you at all mind their unprofitable Prating, leave the shril-sounding Geese to their own loud Chatling, and follow you my Doctrine, and wrap up this our Cookery Art in the darkness of Silence: Which if you do, you need not fear of being mockt, or laught at by either Women, or Womanish Men.

C. _I have now (praised be God) learned enough: But yet, there is one thing I am ignorant of, and that is this, by what sign I may come to know, when my Pellets are well enough boyled, and what Fire they are to be boyled in. The Fire of Wood and Coals, I know is used by the feminine Sex for to boyl withal, but whether or no, the same be necessary and conducive to our Operation, I request you to inform me._

_B._ Have you never seen, what proof Women have to know, when their Dumplings are well boyled? They are wont to take one out, and cut it in twain, that they may see, whether or no the inside, as well as the outside of the same be so well seethed, as that the Flower is not any more tenacious or Clammy: Do you even the same, and sometimes put a piece of one of your Pellets you take out, in the _Cineritium_ or _Cupel_, and that will shew unto you, how much increase of _Sol_ and _Lune_ hath particularly added its self to your Balls, in that time of the boyling, and how long they are, as yet, to be boyled. Now you know, that all these things are to be searcht into, by your own Meditation and Tryal, because it can not possibly be, that all things can be so very clearly set afore ones Eyes, as to need no farther meditating thereupon, and inquisition thereinto. After this manner may you boyl in one Pot, with one and the same Water, two, three, or more little Bowls, of different kinds, as, some made of Flower, green Herbs, Spices, Flesh, Eggs, Fish, and other things, and so, after the seething of them, you make take forth one kind after another, and _Particularly_ apply them to your Use. For these things are to be understood concerning _Particulars_. But if you have a mind desirous after the _Universal_ Medicine, then must you enter upon a certain way of almost an whole entire year, which is necessarily requisite to the finishing of its Operation. For our Magnet, whose Task it is to extract the _Form_ of the Gold out of our Waters, doth as yet groan under its immaturity, and therefore needs no small space of time, for the extracting the _Tincture_ out of our fugacious and combustible Waters, and fixing it with it self.

C. _These Words of yours, by which you mention so long a time, do not a little affrighten me. Our Wives can boyl their Dumplins enough in one hours space; what will such a continued boyling cost? I would be glad to redeem it, [or, to be excused] for the price of two Golden pieces of Money [or Duckets.]_

_B._ I should tell you, that you are of the Off-spring of unbelieving _Thomas_, for you heap upon your self, by your needless incredulity, such heaps and Loads of Cares. Don’t you remember, that I told you at first, that the Charges of the whole work, from the beginning to the very end, do not exceed two Golden pieces of Money, which they call Duckets. And that I do not at all tell you an untruth, I will expound it unto you by an evident Demonstration. When you shall heat your well covered Pot, that so your Water may not vanish away in fume, with the small fire of a Lamp, how much I pray will such a Labour cost you? Put Case, that some Pounds of water cost you some _Asses_ or _Stivers_, and the Magnet doth also cost you some _Stivers_, [ten _Asses_ are a _Roman_ Peny, which is Seven pence half Peny of our Money] and now how many Pounds of Oyl will there need to nourish that so little a Fire? And though you should spend forty, fifty, or more Pounds of Oyl, may not you well say, that you shall finish the whole work, for the Charge of two Golden Duckets. Well! what say you? Are you yet Content?

C. _You do now again somewhat encourage my mind, which had almost fainted, by telling me, that the Matters necessary for our Work are sold at so mean a Price. But there’s one thing still that doth not a little trouble me, and that is, that so much time is required to the Fixation. All the other things are as well as I could wish: But, I would fain have had that shorter work of three hours, or seven days._

_B._ O thou Dreamer, what have I to do with thee? What? doth that space of time, wherein such excellent and most profitable Fruits are to be hoped for by thee, seem too long? What dost thou think to get without length of time? Good things are not wont to offer themselves without Process of time, as the common Proverb tells us. Mean while you may follow your Vocation, nor needs there any other Labour, than that you look to your Lamp Morning and Evening, and see how the Fire is. And I pray, are not the Country men constrained to wait their time, wherein to reap, and again to receive the Fruits which they committed to the Earth? And though they have sown their Seeds afore the approach of the Winter, yet they cannot reap them again from the Earth, sooner than the next following _August_, which then rewards and recompenseth all their hard Labours. But now, the waiting so long a time does not tire them; for they patiently expect the time of Harvest. Thus likewise are you to do, but if you are greedily desirous of sooner making ready your Pellets, or Balls, by the boyling, you may I Confess, have a sooner ending of your expectation, and that on this wise, _viz._ by a stronger Fire, which may make your Water boyl without any ceasing, but yet in this same way of Operating there doth again happen this trouble, from that strong and uncessant seething, _viz._ that your Water being without any intermission resolved into Fume and Vapour, is always lessened, and you must of necessity be always pouring in more new. Use which of these two ways you please, for you are e’en importunate and troublesome enough unto me. I will not, for the time to come, take on me to instruct any more such Disciples as you are. What do you think, that if that short work of three days, or of seven hours were known unto me, I would presently reveal it unto you? No! But yet I am not gotten to so high a Degree of knowledge, as to profess my self a Master of so great an Art. I do believe though, that such things are possible to be done, but I deny, that I my self am able to do such notable things. And now, go home, in God’s Name, and diligently and seriously meditate upon all these things: You have heard enough, and my time will no longer permit me to confer with you. If perhaps, one or two Errours should put a stop to your proceedings, you may again come unto me, and ask me thereabouts. Mean while I commend you unto God, and pray him to bestow his Blessing upon your self, and your Labours.

C. _Now am I contented, not know what farther I should ask: I am sorry, that I have so much troubled you by my dull Brains, and beetle Head, and been so importunate: Nor know I, how to requite your deserts, God will reward you with Life eternal, I shall go home full of joy, and bear a glad Message, and Tidings unto my Family. And I pray God to be at all times present with us, to our Help and Succour._

_B._ Amen.

_The COROLLARY._

I have, in this Third Dialogue, made mention of a certain secret fiery Water, which can ripen the Volatile and immature Minerals, and Metals: And herein I have principally regarded a _Particular_ Transmutation. But forasmuch as a _Particular_ Melioration of the Metals requires as much time, and no fewer Expences, than the _Universal_ it self does, I would here commend to the Sons of Art the _Universal_ work, which is to be preferred before a _Particular_ one. Such things as we have perhaps omitted in this Dialogue, the Description of my fourth Secret Fire will sufficiently supply the defect; to which, I refer the friendly Reader. He will there see and understand, that the greatest part of the whole Work, and the very hinge of the said Operation, consists chiefly in the true Vessel, in which our Matter is to be ripened; and without the knowledge of which, there can never be any thing done to purpose. Which Vessel, seeing that all the Philosophers have covered over, and hidden with so great a Care and Diligence, and have involved it with such obscure Clouds of darkness, I should do amiss, yea, most extreamly amiss, should I lay it open, and bring it from out of those dark inwrapments, into the Light. Thus much only I say, that it ought to be such a Fornace, and the Vessel it self such a one too, as in which, all the Chymical Operations, _viz._ Solution, Putrefaction, Distillation, Sublimation, Cohobation, Ascension, Descension, Circulation, Inceration, and Fixation may be perfectly shewn unto an _Hermetick_ Disciple, or Learner, in one hours time, in one little Fornace, in one Glass, and in one Fire, all which must not cost more than the value of one quarter part of a Doller, and is all done without any changing of the Glasses, or putting to, of the hands of the Operator. These are indeed such things as exceed all the belief of the whole World, but yet they do not exceed Glauber’s faith, nor sufficeth it him only to believe, but he can also effect the same, that so other incredulous people may believe likewise.

* * * * *

_N. B._ On a certain time, as I was familiarly discoursing with a learned Man, concerning such great and incredible things, he presented me with these following Verses, aptly agreeing to this Matter in hand.

_Thy [3]Sirname =(Glauber!)= given was, as, unto =Faith=, relating
Yet by good right it should have squar’d unto thy Operating.
Faith’s Objects are invisible, but yet, such things, do you,
As would at first be scarce believ’d, produce by Art to view._

[3] John.

_A Short Exposition upon the Hellish Goddess =Proserpina=, the
Wife of =Pluto=, =viz.= what the Heathenish Philosophick Poets,
as =Ovid= and =Virgil= understood by it._

_And how, by the help of this =Proserpina=, the =Animæ=, or Souls,
of the Mortified =Metallick= Bodies are carried out of the
Chymical Hell into the Philosophick Heaven. Translated out of the
=High-Dutch=._

Reader, that we may see, if and how the inferiour Metals, by true Art, may be transmuted into good and constant Gold and Silver: I find, that it is first necessary to declare whence, and by what means the Melioration of the imperfect Metals must proceed by Art, and by what means only by Nature, without the hand of the Artist, the clean and fixed Gold and Silver hath arrived to such a Purity, and Perfection.

It being then, that this knowledge is the only Foundation, upon which _Alchymy_ is built, I find it necessary to discover it to those, who are ignorant of it, and to shew a sure way, in which they may go without hinderance, and happily arrive to the desired End.

The Reason, why Nature generates all Metals in the Mountains, and brings some of them to Perfection, and leaves others imperfect, several Philosophers of our Ancestors have very plainly described, and therefore needs not here to be repeated. He that knows it not may enquire after it, in the Writings of these Philosophers, where he may learn their Grounds, or Reasons, only this little I think necessary here to shew, _viz._ that all Metals and Minerals have but one Original, or beginning, to wit, the four Elements, Fire, Air, Earth and Water. But that one Metal in the Earth, in which is its Matrix, becomes to be more noble than another, this is but accidental, according as one Metal by the Central Fire is more, or less cocted, and chiefly from thence, according as the Universal Spirit of the World, or first Matter of Metals, lights of a Matrix in the Earth, more clean or unclean. But passing this by, because the Books of Philosophers are filled with them, although observed by a very small number of Men. For almost all who read Chymical Books, read only to the end, that they may see those Processes, which teach how to make Gold and Silver out of the inferiour Metals, but do not at all mind the Original, and difference of Metals, although that ought to be the first, for where the Philosophers write of the Generation and difference of Metals, there they publish the whole Ground of _Alchymy_: But where they write their _Receipts_, and _Processes_, their they obscure the Art, and lead the easie Believers into Errour. Among all the Philosophers, I have found none which hath dealt more plainly and openly in this Matter, than _Paracelsus_ in his _Heaven of Philosophers_, who writes, that every Metal is an hider or concealer of the other Six, or that every visible Metal contains in it self invisibly and spiritually the other six Metals, and that to bring forth and make visible, the invisible, and more noble Metal, and on the contrary, to transplant the visible and ignobler Metal in the same place, where the more noble and invisible was, is very possible, which is indeed the very Truth. For I my self have perform’d this Transplantation, not only once, but some hundred times. If any hath a mind to perform any notable thing in _Alchymy_, he can find no Book, which will teach him more than the Book above cited. But yet I will not despise the Books of other good Writers. And if this were not true, that every visible Metal hides in it self the others, invisibly, how could it be possible to transmute any inferiour Metal, either universally or particularly, into good and constant Gold? But that it is possible, daily ocular inspection proves to be true, in several places of the World. Now if this be so, as no man needs to doubt it, it will not be difficult to teach any understanding Man, if he will but learn a little how to handle the Fire, how to bring forth fixed and corporeal Gold, out of those gross and visible Metals, in which lyes hidden a great deal of pure and spiritual Gold. But yet you must know, that one clean Metal hath more invisible and spiritual Gold in it, than another. _Jupiter_ hath in it much spiritual Gold, but _Venus_ more, and _Mars_ the most: Yet _Antimony_ doth not give place to _Mars_, for the quantity of spiritual Gold. Now whosoever is minded to undertake this sort of Labour with Profit, let him take care what Metal he handles, and how he handles it, that instead of Profit, he may not reap discouragement and damage, but may have reason to thank God, Nature and Art; in which, this following Process will sufficiently help him, in which, the true and most certain way is openly shewn. Yet with this Proviso, that he so lives, that God may be pleased with his Conversation, and not have it in Abomination. For Gods blessing is all in all. There must be together earnest Prayers, diligent Consideration, and unwearied Labour, or else one may easily fail, although the Art be plainly and clearly set before his Eyes, without any reserve, which a good Christian ought certainly to believe. Yet I have often heard the contrary, from impious Men, such are the adherents and Consorts of _Farnner_, as if God had nothing to do with such Arts, and that Art alone was Master in these Cases, which certainly is very impious, seeing that such Blasphemies, take away from God his Omnipotency, his Goodness and Mercy, and give them only to Nature, seeing that God hath not his beginning from Nature, but Nature from God. Have not the wise Heathens believed, that God could give his blessing to Mens endeavours, and take it away again at his Pleasure? What saith _Virgil_, that famous Philosopher? when he teacheth hew to pluck the Golden branch from the _Opake_ Tree:

_Tene manu, facileque sequetur, & uno avulso,
Non deficit alter, si te fata vocant, aliter nullis viribus
Nec duro ferro avellere potes._

_One Branch being pluck’d and born away,
Another follows; unless the Fates say nay nay:
Without whose Smile, no force of hardest Steel
To crop the smallest Twig, can ought prevail._

It is said, _Ora & Labora_, Pray and Labour, according to which, let every Man live. Now you shall hear how the imperfect Metals, in a particular way, may be transmuted with great Profit, into perfect, and that very plainly without any reserve, for I have obtain’d it at length by much Consideration. And because my great Age, and several long Sicknesses keep me continually in Bed, and both Feet are as in the Grave, where I stand certainly expecting nothing else, but a happy departure out of this transitory Life, into a better, which passeth not away. So that I would by no means intermit to sing with the _Swan_ before my end, a pleasant Song; which may rejoyce all the Lovers of _Alchymy_, if they will make themselves sharers of this Melody. For those who read what I here write, and yet give no Credit to it, nor put their hand to the Work, and finish it with diligence, they will reap no Profit by this my instruction. But those who understand my Writing, and work plainly after the Letter, provided they have but a little understanding in the Fire, will reap great Profit; yea, even great Riches by it. For I am plain without any reserve, so that if any should fail, the fault will not be mine, but must be imputed to the Workmans want of Skil; for I never in my Life sought to gain any thing by my Writing, neither will I now do it, but it sufficeth me if I do good to my Neighbour, out of Love, with that Talent which God hath given me. Whosoever is on _Glauber_’s side, and will participate of my good intention, he may, or let it alone, ’tis all one to me, for they are not all good Cooks that wear long Knives; the Art consisteth in Experience, and he that is but any thing skilled in Chymical Operations will do well enough, for all is laid plainly down before his Eyes. But on the contrary, the Covetous, Proud, and Lazy, who seek to be rich without labour and pains, will find every thing dark, and never attain to any thing profitable. For God will have it so, that not every Body shall be Rich, as _Paracelsus_ very well expresseth it in his Book of _Sulphur_, when he saith, _Many might be helped with a few Words, if it was not against the Will of God, for God will not have the =Goats=-tail equal the =Cows= in length, for else out of Pride he might with it beat out his own Eyes, and therefore it is better to be silent, that they may remain Poor_. Thus _Paracelsus_. But I _Glauber_ say, that it is better to lay down the Art in truth, without difference before all Men, for God keeps still his hand over it, and to whom he Wills it, he will give it, and to whom he will not give it, he knoweth how to cast a Mist before his Eyes, that he may not see the good, nor have power to apprehend it, but may wander about in darkness, with his proud and dull Head, till at length he fall into the Pit of the impious, and there perish without help. But that I may no longer detain the Lover of Art with my Discourses, but come at length to the Practice, I will in the Name of God here set down the whole Process as it is in it self, without any Reservation, and the whole business is thus.

Now followeth the true, and often practised Process, how to transmute Silver (as being yet not a perfectly mature Metal) by degrees, without any loss, totally into the highest perfection, that is to say, into good Gold abiding all Tryals. After the revealing of this Process, we shall also hear, how all the imperfect Metals, _viz._ ♄, ♃, ♂, and ☿ may after the same manner (but yet not totally, but only so far as they contain an incombustible _Mercury_,) be transmuted into good Gold and Silver. And after this Revelation, we will not omit to shew also, which way ☿ the most immature of all the Metals, may be transmuted, not only Particularly, but also Universally, into the highest Medicine, and the best Gold. But the later must thus be understood, that we may not cast Pearl before Swine, but that they may remain only among honest hearts, and not come into the hands of double-minded Men.

But now, to come to the Melioration of Silver, the ingenious must know, that Silver is naturally fixed in the Earth, and endures the fire, and therefore needs no Art to fix it; for it bears the Tryal of the Test, as well as Gold, wanting only Colour and Weight, which Nature hath not bestowed upon it, but may be procured by Art. As for the Colour, the secret Fire of the Wise can only make it perfect, for all Colours are absconded in the common Fire of Wood, and the Sun, as we daily see, that the Universally ripening Sun, brings all the Fruits of the Earth, from a Green and White, by its constant Beams, to Redness and Maturity. And we also see, that the common Fire, of Wood and Coals, makes Earths and Minerals which are White, become Red, as we see _Crocus Martis_, _Minium_, and other Colours which are produced out of Black, Gray, and White Metals and Minerals; as the highly illuminated _Paracelsus_ hath sufficiently taught us, _viz._ that the common fire of Coals, by its own power and innate Nature, without any addition of other things, is perfectly able to graduate the white Metals, into Red, or yellow Gold, as you may see in his _Book of Cements_. If the common Wood-fire of it self doth this, what cannot the Fire of the wise effect, which was always kept in the greatest Secrecy? Especially, if one know how to add a graduating _Metallick_ Species, as _Mars_, _Venus_, and _Antimony_, and the like, after a spiritual manner, to the secret Fire; which is the way to give to white Silver, a constant Redness.