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ADDITIONAL NOTES. 439
than two days on your estate," said the impostor ;
" I must
then proceed to Venice and be present at the grand assembly
of my brethren. In the first place, you must keep my
secret inviolable ; in the second, send to the first apothe-
cary in the town and purchase a quantity of litharge ;
cast
but one grain of this red powder therein, and in less than
a quarter of an hour it will be transformed into gold."
The prince performed the operation, and repeated it
three times in the presence of the virtuoso. This personage
had previously purchased all the litharge which was to be
found at the apothecaries in Sedan, and had resold it to
them, tinctured with several ounces of gold.
The adept on
departing presented all his powder of projection to the due
de Bouillon, who did not doubt for a moment that, having
manufactured three ounces of gold with three grains, he
would make one hundred thousand ounces with a propor-
tionate quantity of this priceless and mysterious powder.
he declared
The philosopher was in haste to quit the town ;
that he had given all his powder to the prince, and that he
needed some coin of the realm to repair to Venice for the
inauguration of the assembly of Hermetics. A man of mode-
rate tastes, he asked simply for twenty thousand crowns,
but was forced by his princely disciple to accept twice that
sum ; but when the unfortunate duke had exhausted all the
litharge in Sedan he could no longer manufacture gold, nor
could he anywhere discover his philosopher.