ow throne richly adorned, and a rich cloth
of state over his head of blue satin embroidered. He was alone, save
that he had two pages of honour, on either hand one, finely attired in
white. His under garments were the like that we saw him wear in the
chariot; but instead of his gown, he had on him a mantle with a cape, of
the same fine black, fastened about him. When we came in, as we were
taught, we bowed low at our first entrance; and when we were come near
his chair, he stood up, holding forth his hand ungloved, and in posture
of blessing; and we every one of us stooped down, and kissed the end of
his tippet. That done, the rest departed, and I remained. Then he warned
the pages forth of the room, and caused me to sit down beside him, and
spake to me thus in the Spanish tongue:

"God bless thee, my son; I will give thee the greatest jewel I have. For
I will impart unto thee, for the love of God and men, a relation of the
true state of Salomon's House. Son, to make you know the true state of
Salomon's House, I will keep this order. First, I will set forth unto
you the end of our foundation. Secondly, the preparations and
instruments we have for our works. Thirdly, the several employments and
functions whereto our fellows are assigned. And fourthly, the ordinances
and rites which we observe.

"The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret
motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to
the effecting of all things possible.

"The preparations and instruments are these. We have large and deep
caves of several depths; the deepest are sunk 600 fathoms; and some of
them are digged and made under great hills and mountains; so that if you
reckon together the depth of the hill, and the depth of the cave, they
are, some of them, above three miles deep. For we find that the depth of
an hill, and the depth of a cave from the flat, is the same thing; both
remote alike from the sun and heaven's beams, and from the open air.
These caves we call the lower region. And we use them for all
coagulations, indurations, refrigerations, and conservations of bodies.
We use them likewise for the imitation of natural mines and the
producing also of new artificial metals, by compositions and materials
which we use and lay there for many years. We use them also sometimes
(which may seem strange) for curing of some diseases, and for
prolongation of life, in some hermits that choose to live there, well
a