264 OF THE P R O L C (I <S A T I O rf 



'f tal of the kingdom. He found that the pofterity of 

 66 his father were held in great refpedl by all the pro- 

 C4 feffors of judaifm of that place ; and amongft others 

 " he got acquainted with a rabbi of his tribe, who 

 44 fought after the true philofophy, and laboured in the 

 " magnum opus (the philofopher s ftonc . Our friend 

 " entered into a familiar attachment with this relation, 

 44 and communicated to him various elucidations of 

 44 great importance. But, as the preparation of the 

 " materia prima demanded a tedious operation, he 

 cc contented himlelf with giving him a written procefs 

 44 of all that Was neceflary for making the philofophi- 

 44 cal ft one. * And, to convince him of the truth of 

 44 what he had committed to writing, he made, in his 

 " prefence, a projection of ninety pounds of bafe me- 

 44 tal, which he changed into pure gold. The rabbi, 

 44 who was filled with aftonifhment at our brother, on 

 4 4 account of this operation, did his utmofr to detain 

 "him with him. The rabbi, finding himfeif unable 

 44 to gain his point, converted his friendihip into the 

 6i moil deadly hatred. He conceived the black deflgn 

 iQ of extinguiming one of the torches of the world. 

 44 In fhort, he murdered the fage, and got poiiefiion 

 44 of his tincture and the whole of his apparatus. But 

 44 he did not long enjoy the fruits of his iniquity; his 

 " horrid crime was uncovered, and, as many other 

 66 things now came out to his prejudice, he was burnt 

 46 alive. Shortly after this, the persecution of the jews 

 \\ at Paris broke our, and, as is well known, they were. 

 44 all driven into a miferable exile. Flamel, who had 

 44 a deeper iniight into things than the generality ot 

 " his fellow-citizens, made no temple to keep up a 



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