urney in 1312, they make it appear that it was
Edward II. Edmond Dickenson, in his work on the _Quintessences of the
Philosophers_, says, that Raymond worked in Westminster Abbey, where, a
long time after his departure, there was found in the cell which he had
occupied a great quantity of golden dust, of which the architects made a
great profit. In the biographical sketch of John Cremer, Abbot of
Westminster, given by Lenglet, it is said that it was chiefly through his
instrumentality that Raymond came to England. Cremer had been himself for
thirty years occupied in the vain search for the philosopher's stone, when
he accidentally met Raymond in Italy, and endeavoured to induce him to
communicate his grand secret. Raymond told him that he must find it for
himself, as all great alchymists had done before him. Cremer, on his
return to England, spoke to King Edward in high terms of the wonderful
attainments of the philosopher, and a letter of invitation was forthwith
sent him. Robert Constantinus, in the _Nomenclator Scriptorum Medicorum_,
published in 1515, says, that after a great deal of research, he found
that Raymond Lulli resided for some time in London, and that he actually
made gold, by means of the philosopher's stone, in the Tower; that he had
seen the golden pieces of his coinage, which were still named in England
the nobles of Raymond, or rose-nobles. Lulli himself appears to have
boasted that he made gold; for, in his well-known _Testamentum_, he states
that he converted no less than fifty thousand pounds weight of
quicksilver, lead, and pewter into that metal.[35] It seems highly
probable that the English king, believing in the extraordinary powers of
the alchymist, invited him to England to make test of them, and that he
was employed in refining gold and in coining. Camden, who is not credulous
in matters like these, affords his countenance to the story of his coinage
of nobles; and there is nothing at all wonderful in the fact of a man
famous for his knowledge of metals being employed in such a capacity.
Raymond was, at this time, an old man, in his seventy-seventh year, and
somewhat in his dotage. He was willing enough to have it believed that he
had discovered the grand secret, and supported the rumour rather than
contradicted it. He did not long remain in England, but returned to Rome
to carry out the projects which were nearer to his heart than the
profession of alchymy. He had proposed them to several suc