i8o 



CHEMISTRY AND ALCHEMI'. 



work in his laboratory in the St. Chapello yard. The high intelligence of 

 the King, and the piety of his mother, Queen Blanche, were scarcely enough 

 to shield their learned protege from the most absurd accusations. At 

 midnight people often used to creep along the quays of the Seine to see 

 whether they could get a glimpse, reflected in the river, of the magic 

 furnaces in which Master Vincent was supposed to evoke his familiar spirit. 



At about the same period there was much talk of another monk, the 

 alchemist Raymond Lulli (born at Palma, in the island of Majorca), who, 

 after a long and eventful life of wanderings and adventures, came to a tragic 



Fig. 128. The Alchemist Raymond Lulli. After an Engraving by Vriese. 



end, being stoned by the populace of Tunis in 1315. A recent attempt 

 has been made to prove that amongst his numerous works on philosophy and 

 theology, those which treat of alchemy should be ascribed to another savant 

 almost his contemporary, and bearer of the same name. But it was precisely 

 these works which had made the reputation of the theologian of Majorca. A 

 thousand absurd stories were related of this singular man, and it was said 

 that he would have been prosecuted as a sorcerer by the Inquisition, unless he 

 had succeeded, by the help of Edward I. of England, in coining six millions 

 of false money, with which the English monarch promised to undertake 



