228 OF THE PROLONGATI ON 



V 



" CGntemplated with pleafure the beautiful cover, and 

 iC the fuperb paintings, of which fhe underftood as 

 cc little as I. Yet it gave me great fatisfaclion to talk 

 " with her about it, and to be able to advife with her 

 " concerning what was to be done for coming at the 

 " meaning thereof. I caufed the figures to be copied, 

 €( mewed them to all the learned at Paris, and told 

 " them that thefe figures were taken from a book that 

 " treated of the philofopher's Hone : but they under- 

 " flood nothing of the matter, and laughed both at me 

 " and my trumpery ftone. I laboured at it for one 

 6C and twenty years, but I got nothing by all my pains. 

 * c At length I loft all patience, and made a vow to God 

 " and to St. James in Galicia ; with the confent of my 

 " wife Perenelle, I took the pilgrim's ftaff and*leather- 

 4C bottle, fet out on my journey, and came to St. Jago 

 * c de Compoftella, where I performed my vow with 

 " devotion. This done, I turned back, and at Leon 

 " met with a french merchant, who directed me to a 

 (C jewilh phylician, that had been converted to chrifti- 

 (c anity, and dwelt there. He was a man of folid 

 <c learning, and was called Sanchez. On my mewing 

 6C him the copies of fome of the paintings, he feemed 

 " quite overjoyed, and afked me immediately, whether 

 " I had heard any thing of the book, wherein they 

 " were to be found ? I anfwered, I had hopes that I 

 " knew fomething of it, if any one could be found to 

 <c decypher its contents. He could now no longer 

 * ( reftrain his joy, and began to explain the figures, to 

 66 me. He had long heard of this book, but as of a 

 $ 6 treafure that was totally loft.' He forthwith left all, 

 travelled with me from Leon to Oviedo, and from 



" thence 



