life long he evinced a great animosity towards the priesthood, and his
famous poem abounds with passages reflecting upon their avarice,
cruelty, and immorality. At his death he left a large box, filled with
some weighty material, which he bequeathed to the Cordeliers, as a
peace-offering, for the abuse he had lavished upon them. As his
practice of alchymy was well-known, it was thought the box was filled
with gold and silver, and the Cordeliers congratulated each other on
their rich acquisition. When it came to be opened, they found to their
horror that it was filled only with slates, scratched with
hieroglyphic and cabalistic characters. Indignant at the insult, they
determined to refuse him Christian burial, on pretence that he was a
sorcerer. He was, however, honourably buried in Paris, the whole court
attending his funeral.

NICHOLAS FLAMEL.

The story of this alchymist, as handed down by tradition, and
enshrined in the pages of Lenglet du Fresnoy, is not a little
marvellous. He was born at Pontoise of a poor but respectable family,
at the end of the thirteenth, or beginning of the fourteenth, century.
Having no patrimony, he set out for Paris at an early age, to try his
fortune as a public scribe. He had received a good education, was well
skilled in the learned languages, and was an excellent penman. He soon
procured occupation as a letter-writer and copyist, and used to sit at
the corner of the Rue de Marivaux, and practise his calling: but he
hardly made profits enough to keep body and soul together. To mend his
fortunes he tried poetry; but this was a more wretched occupation
still. As a transcriber he had at least gained bread and cheese; but
his rhymes were not worth a crust. He then tried painting with as
little success; and as a last resource, began to search for the