and of Arnold de Villeneuve. The
reading of these, and the reflections I made upon them, occupied me for
another year, when I finally determined on the course I should adopt. I
was obliged to wait, however, until I had mortgaged another very
considerable portion of my patrimony. This business was not settled until
the beginning of Lent, 1549, when I commenced my operations. I laid in a
stock of all that was necessary, and began to work the day after Easter.
It was not, however, without some disquietude and opposition from my
friends who came about me; one asking me what I was going to do, and
whether I had not already spent money enough upon such follies? Another
assured me that, if I bought so much charcoal, I should strengthen the
suspicion already existing, that I was a coiner of base money. Another
advised me to purchase some place in the magistracy, as I was already a
Doctor of Laws. My relations spoke in terms still more annoying to me, and
even threatened that, if I continued to make such a fool of myself, they
would send a posse of police-officers into my house, and break all my
furnaces and crucibles into atoms. I was wearied almost to death by this
continued persecution; but I found comfort in my work and in the progress
of my experiment, to which I was very attentive, and which went on bravely
from day to day. About this time, there was a dreadful plague in Paris,
which interrupted all intercourse between man and man, and left me as much
to myself as I could desire. I soon had the satisfaction to remark the
progress and succession of the three colours which, according to the
philosophers, always prognosticate the approaching perfection of the work.
I observed them distinctly, one after the other; and next year, being
Easter Sunday, 1550, I made the great trial. Some common quicksilver,
which I put into a small crucible on the fire, was, in less than an hour,
converted into very good gold. You may judge how great was my joy, but I
took care not to boast of it. I returned thanks to God for the favour he
had shewn me, and prayed that I might only be permitted to make such use
of it as would redound to his glory.

"On the following day, I went towards Toulouse to find, the abbe, in
accordance with a mutual promise, that we should communicate our
discoveries to each other. On my way, I called in to see the sage monk who
had assisted me with his counsels; but I had the sorrow to learn that they
were both dead. After