Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/219

 THE BEGGARS' DIALOGUE. 213 and that they may have the less reason to doubt, to perform the whole operation with their own hands, while I stand at a distance, and do not so much as put my finger to it. I put them to refine the melted matter themselves, or carry it to the refiners to be done ; I tell them before- hand how much silver or gold it will afford. And, in the last place, I bid them, carry the melted mass to several goldsmiths, to have it tried by the touchstone. They find the exact weight that I told them they find it to be the finest gold or silver ; it is all one to me which it is, except that the experiment in silver is the less chai'geable to me. Ir. But has your art no cheat in it? Mis. It is a mere cheat all over. Ir. I cannot see where the cheat lies. Mis. I will make you see it presently. I first make a bargain for my reward ; but I will not be paid befc re I have given a proof of the thing itself. I give them a little powder, as though the whole business was effected by the virtue of that ; but I never tell them how to make it, except they purchase it at a very great price. And I make them take an oath, that for six months they shall not discover the secret to anybody living. Ir. But I have not heard the cheat yet. Mis. The whole mystery lies in one coal that I have prepared for this purpose. I make a coal hollow, and into it I pour melted silver, to the quantity I tell them beforehand will be produced. And after the powder is pxit in, I set the pot in such a manner that it is covered all over, above, beneath, and sides with coals, and I per- suade 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 1 Mis. When he has done everything according to my direction, be- fore the crucible is stirred 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 beforehand, which I can take, and nobody know anything of the matter. Ir. But when they try to do this without you, and it does not succeed, what excuse have you to make 1 Mis. I am safe enough when I have got my money. I pretend one thing or other, either that the crucible was cracked, 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 choose to bring you back to our trade. Mis. What ! that I should voluntarily return again to that I have escaped from, and forsake that which I have found profitable 1 Ir. This pro- fession of ours has this property in it, that it grows pleasant by custom. And thence it is, that though 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 followed it. Mis. That little taste