exclaimed, with a sigh, 'If I had but had a round copper vessel of
sufficient strength, I would have fixed mercury with silver.' There was
not one among them who had not some excuse for his failure; but I was deaf
to all their speeches. I did not want to part with my money to any of
them, remembering how often I had been the dupe of such promises.

"A Greek at last presented himself; and with him I worked a long time
uselessly upon nails made of cinnabar or vermilion. I was also acquainted
with a foreign gentleman newly arrived in Paris, and often accompanied him
to the shops of the goldsmiths to sell pieces of gold and silver, the
produce, as he said, of his experiments. I stuck closely to him for a long
time, in the hope that he would impart his secret. He refused for a long
time, but acceded at last on my earnest entreaty, and I found that it was
nothing more than an ingenious trick. I did not fail to inform my friend
the abbe, whom I had left at Toulouse, of all my adventures; and sent him,
among other matters, a relation of the trick by which this gentleman
pretended to turn lead into gold. The abbe still imagined that I should
succeed at last, and advised me to remain another year in Paris, where I
had made so good a beginning. I remained there three years; but,
notwithstanding all my efforts, I had no more success than I had had
elsewhere.

"I had just got to the end of my money, when I received a letter from the
abbe, telling me to leave every thing, and join him immediately at
Toulouse. I went accordingly, and found that he had received letters from
the king of Navarre (grandfather of Henry IV.). This prince was a great
lover of philosophy, full of curiosity, and had written to the abbe that I
should visit him at Pau; and that he would give me three or four thousand
crowns if I would communicate the secret I had learned from the foreign
gentleman. The abbe's ears were so tickled with the four thousand crowns,
that he let me have no peace night or day until he had fairly seen me on
the road to Pau. I arrived at that place in the month of May 1542. I
worked away, and succeeded, according to the receipt I had obtained. When
I had finished to the satisfaction of the king, he gave me the reward that
I expected. Although he was willing enough to do me further service, he
was dissuaded from it by the lords of his court; even by many of those who
had been most anxious that I should come. He sent me then about my
busin