BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 



SHOULD any uninstructed per- 

 son who might chance upon 

 Basil Valentine's ''Triumphal 

 Chariot of Antimony " undertake to read 

 that work, he would probably be mystified 

 by much of its contents, by its references 

 to the Spagyric art, to the grand Magis- 

 terium, the true and universal Medicine, 

 the Tinctures which transmute metals, 

 with other unknown quantities and other 

 deep mysteries which make part of the 

 Sacramentum Regis. But if he were 

 asked what he thought of Basil Valentine 

 in his historical and personal character, 

 it is unlikely that he would suppose for 

 a moment the existence of any romantic 

 mystery encompassing the mere life of 

 the man. He would regard him as a 

 pious Benedictine monk, uncommonly 

 well versed for his period in certain 



