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 the Operation of those Spirits. I dare reveal no more at present, but shall proceed to inform you of mine own Adventures as briefly as I can.

After Supper, I consented to stay with him, on Condition that he wou'd instruct me in his Art; which he in a short Time perform'd. I liv'd with him thirty nine Years, for the most Part pretty pleasantly, tho' in the Beginning I did not much care for the Conversation of Persons I could not see; for he kept many Servants, who were firm to his Interest on Account of the good Wages which he gave them, and who were not to be seen by any Stranger, for fear of a Discovery. He supply'd them with Money by the Help of the Philosopher's Stone, which he was in Possession of, and generally kept one Person invisible to buy him Necessaries. During the first three Years, I was employ'd in grinding Powders, gathering Herbs, and boiling them for Use; and sometimes was allow'd to see the Manner of some of their Performances. When I had attain'd to this small Knowledge, I began to think myself as expert as my Master, and resolv'd to give him a Proof of my Skill, upon the first Opportunity.

But see how Fortune favour'd my Design: I was order'd one Day to make a certain Powder; and to this End, I was first to wash a Piece of Wood in a Chymical Liquor, and then hammer it itit [sic] till I had broke the Continuity of the Parts: All this I did; and above my Orders, I wet the Powder in this Liquor, purely to see what Effect it wou'd have, and was a little amaz'd, that the Powder upon being wet became invisible, the Bulk of it still remaining the same, as I observed by feeling it. I immediately concluded that the Colour was latent in the Liquor, since the Wood had lost it; and thought, that to extract the Colour from the Liquor, wou'd be a sufficient Proof of