20 Loves Garland. 
universally made, to class them among the 
tricksters and cheats of the day in which 
they lived. 
False views they may have held, but in 
nearly every instance these views were 
founded on a substratum of truth, and were, 
at any rate, held conscientiously. 
Of all my guests, one of the most interest- 
ing was assuredly Basil Valentine ; in answer 
to my inquiry, he said he had xo doubt that 
the “ Philosopher’s Stone ” was a compound 
of mercury, sulphur, and salt ; But, he added 
with emphasis, so pure, that when mixed 
with the baser metals they were brought to a 
greater degree of purity, bringing them at 
last to the state of silver and gold. He 
strongly urged me to read his great work, 
“ Currus Triumphalis Antimonii,” and I can 
earnestly recommend it to you all as a most 
masterly production on the great subject on 
which it treats. f 
To tell you of all the minor lights of 
alchymic science that have obeyed my sum- 
