Lives of alchemystical philosophers: To which is added a bibliography of alchemy and hermetic philosophyWaite, Arthur Edward
Philosophy
Lives of alchemystical philosophers: To which is added a bibliography of alchemy and hermetic philosophy
Waite, Arthur Edward
Alchemists -- Biography; Alchemy -- Bibliography; Alchemy -- History
According to Langlet du Fresnoy, the evidence of these things remained
in the year 1742. In the cemetery of the Holy Innocents stood the
arch built by Flamel with the hieroglpyhic figures upon it. In two
niches, without the arch and on the cemetery side, were statues of
St James and St John. Below that of St John was the figure of Flamel
himself, reading in a book, with a Gothic N. F. to mark his name. The
progression of the colours in the order of the process, originally
represented on the wall, was, however, effaced.
In the same cemetery was a charnel house, or receptacle for the
skulls and bones disinterred in the digging of new graves. Upon one
of the pillars of this charnel there was a Gothic N. F., with this
inscription:--
_Ce charnier fut fait & donné à l’Eglise,
Pour l’amour de Dieu, l’an 1399._
The second of these evidences was upon the Marivaux door of the Church
of Saint Jacques-la-Boucherie, where on the left side at entering was
the figure of Flamel, kneeling at the feet of St James, with a Gothic
N. upon the pedestal. The figure of Perrenelle was represented on the
opposite side, kneeling at the feet of St John, the pedestal bearing a
Gothic P.
The third evidence was in the street of Notre Dame, at the portal of
Genevieve of Arden. There Flamel’s statue was to be seen in a niche,
kneeling with a desk at his side, looking towards St James. There was a
Gothic N. F. below and the inscription, “This portal was built in 1402,
by the alms of many.” Flamel is supposed to have concealed in this
manner that he was the principal donor, but the figure may have been
erected to his memory.
The fourth and final evidence was in the street of the cemetery of
St Nicholas of the Fields, where there was the wall of an unfinished
hospital with figures engraven on the stone and the initials of Flamel.
After the death of Perrenelle the bereaved adept is supposed to have
prepared for posterity several works on the supreme science which had
enriched him:--_Le Livre des Figures Hieroglyphiques_; _Le Sommaire
Philosophique_, written in verse after the manner of the _Roman de
la Rose_; _Trois Traités de la Transformation Metallique_, also in
rhymed verse; _Le Desir Désiré, ou Trésor de Philosophie_; _Le Grand
Eclaircissement de la Pierre Philosophale pour la Transmutation de tous
Métaux_; _La Musique Chimique_; _Annotationes in D. Zacharmin_, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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