and Sides, with Coals, and I persuade them, that the Art
consists in that; among those Coals that are laid at Top, I put in one
that has the Silver or Gold in it, that being melted by the Heat of the
Fire, falls down among the other Metal, which melts, as suppose Tin or
Brass, and upon the Separation, it is found and taken out.

_Ir._ A ready Way; but, how do you manage the Fallacy, when another does
it all with his own Hands?

_Mis._ When he has done every Thing, according to my Direction, before
the Crucible is stirr'd, I come and look about, to see if nothing has
been omitted, and then I say, that there seems to want a Coal or two at
the Top, and pretending to take one out of the Coal-Heap, I privately
lay on one of my own, or have laid it there ready before-Hand, which I
can take, and no Body know any Thing of the Matter.

_Ir._ But when they try to do this without you, and it does not succeed,
what Excuse have you to make?

_Mis._ I'm safe enough when I have got my Money. I pretend one Thing or
other, either that the Crucible was crack'd, or the Coals naught, or the
Fire not well tempered. And in the last Place, one Part of the Mystery
of my Profession is, never to stay long in the same Place.

_Ir._ And is there so much Profit in this Art as to maintain you?

_Mis._ Yes, and nobly too: And I would have you, for the future, if you
are wise, leave off that wretched Trade of Begging, and follow ours.

_Ir._ Nay, I should rather chuse to bring you back to our Trade.

_Mis._ What, that I should voluntarily return again to that I have
escap'd from, and forsake that which I have found profitable?

_Ir._ This Profession of ours has this Property in it, that it grows
pleasant by Custom. And thence it is, that tho' many have fallen off
from the Order of St. _Francis_ or St. _Benedict_, did you ever know
any that had been long in our Order, quit it? For you could scarce taste
the Sweetness of Beggary in so few Months as you follow'd it.

_Mis._ That little Taste I had of it taught me, that it was the most
wretched Life in Nature.

_Ir._ Why does no Body quit it then?

_Mis._ Perhaps, because they are naturally wretched.

_Ir._ I would not change this Wretchedness, for the Fortune of a King.
For there is nothing more like a King, than the Life of a Beggar.

_Mis._ What strange Story do I hear? Is nothing more like Snow than a
Coal?

_Ir._ Wherein consists the greatest Happiness of Kings?

_Mis._ Because in t