wondered to hear his Father talk so like an Adept, and with such a Mixture of Piety, while Alexandrinus observing his Attention fixed, proceeded:  This Phial, Child, and this little Earthen-Pot will add to thy Estate so much, as to make thee the richest Man in the German Empire.  I am going to my Long Home, but shall not return to common Dust.  Then he resumed a Countenance of Alacrity, and told him, That if within an Hour after his Death he anointed his whole Body, and poured down his Throat that Liquor which he had from old Basilius, the Corps would be converted into pure Gold.  I will not pretend to express to you the unfeigned Tendernesses that passed between these two extraordinary Persons; but if the Father recommended the Care of his Remains with Vehemence and Affection, the Son was not behind-hand in professing that he would not cut the least Bit off him, but upon the utmost Extremity, or to provide for his younger Brothers and Sisters.

Well, Alexandrinus died, and the Heir of his Body (as our Term is) could not forbear in the Wantonness of his Heart, to measure the Length and Breadth of his beloved Father, and cast up the ensuing Value of him before he proceeded to Operation.  When he knew the immense Reward of his Pains, he began the Work:  But lo! when he had anointed the Corps all over, and began to apply the Liquor, the Body stirred, and Renatus, in a Fright, broke the Phial. [1]

[Footnote 1:  This tale is from the Description of the memorable Sea and Land Travels through Persia to the East Indies, by Johann Albrecht von Mandelslo, translated from the German of Olearius, by J. B. B. Bk v. p. 189.  Basil Valentine, whom it makes the hero of a story after the manner of the romances of Virgil the Enchanter, was an able chemist (in those days an alchemist) of the sixteenth century, who is believed to have been a Benedictine monk of Erfurth, and is not known to have had any children.  He was the author of the Currus Triumphalis Antimonii, mentioned in a former note.  His name was familiar through several books in French, especially ’L’Azoth des Philosophes, avec les 12 Clefs de Philosophie’ (Paris, 1660), and a ‘Testament de Basile Valentine’ (London, 1671).]

* * * * *

No. 427.  Thursday, July 10, 1712.  Steele.

  ’Quartum a rerum turpitudine abes, tantum Te a verborum libertate
  sejungas.’

  Tull.

It is a certain Sign of an ill Heart to be inclined to Defamation.  They who are harmless and innocent, can have no Gratification that way; but it ever arises from a Neglect of what is laudable in a Man’s self, and an Impatience of seeing it in another.  Else why should Virtue provoke?  Why should Beauty displease in such a Degree, that a Man given to Scandal never lets the Mention of either pass by him without offering something to the Diminution of it?  A Lady the other Day at a Visit being attacked somewhat