ON THE TRIUMPHAL CHARIOT OF 



ANTIMONY, AND THE NATURE 



OF THE FIRE STONE. 



BEING removed from all worldly 

 care by the fervour of prayer 

 and heaveniy thoughts, I deter- 

 mined to yield up my soul to those 

 spiritual inspirations without which it is 

 impossible to have a right knowledge of 

 created things. I proposed to furnish 

 myself with wings wherewith I might 

 ascend to the stars and inspect the 

 heavens, as Icarus had done before me, 

 if we may believe the old writers.* 



But, when I approached the sun too 

 closely, my feathers were consumed by 



* We cannot wonder if here, where he has reached the 

 climax of his work, and is about to explain the secret of 

 secrets, Basilius hides his meaning from the foolish and 

 the scornful under the guise of a parable. The true disciple 

 of our Art will be all the more encouraged to press onward, 

 and to remove the veil which hides the secret. 



