t of him, which he protested had been transmuted
from lead, and flushed with the hopes of success, hurried to town to
examine whether the ingot was true gold, which proved fine beyond the
standard. The lady now fully convinced of the truth of the empyric's
declaration, took fifty pounds out of the hands of a Banker, and
entrusted him with it.

The only difficulty which remained, was, how to carry on the work
without suspicion, it being strictly prohibited at that time. He was
therefore resolved to take a little house in another county, at a few
miles distance from London, where he was to build a public laboratory,
as a professed Chymist, and deal in such medicines as were most
vendible, by the sale of which to the apothecaries, the expence of the
house was to be defrayed during the operation. The widow was accounted
the housekeeper, and the Dr. and his man boarded with her; to which
she added this precaution, that the laboratory, with the two lodging
rooms over it, in which the Dr. and his man lay, was a different
wing of the building from that where she and her little daughter, and
maid-servant resided; and as she knew some time must elapse before any
profit could be expected, she managed with the utmost frugality. The
Dr. mean time acted the part of a tutor to miss, in Arithmetic, Latin,
and Mathematics, to which she discovered the strongest propensity. All
things being properly disposed for the grand operation, the vitriol
furnace was set to work, which requiring the most intense heat
for several days, unhappily set fire to the house; the stairs were
consumed in an instant, and as it surprized them all in their first
sleep, it was a happy circumstance that no life perished. This unlucky
accident was 300 l. loss to Mrs. Thomas: yet still the grand project
was in a fair way of succeeding in the other wing of the building. But
one misfortune is often followed by another. The next Sunday evening,
while she was reading to, and instructing her little family, a sudden,
and a violent report, like a discharge of cannon was heard; the house
being timber, rocked like a cradle, and the family were all thrown
from their chairs on the ground. They looked with the greatest
amazement on each other, not guessing the cause, when the operator
pretending to revive, fell to stamping, tearing his hair, and raving
like a madman, crying out undone, undone, lost and undone for ever.
He ran directly to the Athanor, when unlocking the door, he