But let them not so rashly condemn this Wise Man, without having better information of his conduct. 'Tis true he has discovered all to me; but not without all the Cabalistick Circumspectious requisite. I must do him the right, in giving this testimony to his memory, that he was a great Zealot for the religion of his fathers, the Philosophers; and that he would have suffered the flames, rather than have profaned the Sanctity of it, by disclosing it to any unworthy Prince, to any ambitious person, or to one that was incontinent; three sorts of people, excommunicated in all ages by the wise. By good fortune I am no Prince; I have little Ambition; and by the Sequel of this discourse, it may be seen that I have a little more Chastity than a Sage needs have. I am endued with a Docible Wit; curious of knowledge, and Bold enough: I want but a little Melancholy to make all those who would blame the Count of Gabalis, confess that he needed not have concealed any thing from me, in regard I was a Subject proper enough for the Secret Sciences. It is true that without Melancholy, no great progress can be made therein: but this little stock of it that I have, was enough to make me not to be rejected by them. You (has he said a hundred times to one) have Saturn in an Angle, in his House, and Retrograde; you cannot fail, one of these days, of being as Melancholy as a Sage ought to be: for the wisest of all men (as we know in the Cabal) had, as you have, Jupiter in the Ascendant. And yet, it was never observed, that he ever so much as once laughed, in all his life time, so powerful was his Saturn in him, though it was certainly weaker than yours. 'Tis then my Saturn, and not Monsieur the Count of Gabalis that the _Virtuoso_ must quarrel with, if I affect more the Divulging of there Secrets, than the practising of them. If the Stars do not their duty, the Count is not in the fault, and if I have not a soul great enough to attempt to become Master of Nature, to turn the Elements upside down, to entertain the Supreme Intelligences, to command the Demons, to beget Giants, to create New Worlds, to speak to God in his High Throne, and to oblige the Cherubin, which defends the entrance of Paradise, to let me come in, and take two or three turns in his Walks; 'tis me that they must blame more or less: they must not for this insult over the memory of this Rare Man; and say that he is dead, for having blabbed all things to me. Is it impossible that amongst the wandering spirits he may not have been worsted in a conflict with some undocible Hobgoblin? Perchance he is not dead, but in appearance; following the custom of the Philosophers, who seem to Dye in one place, and transport themselves to another. Be it how it will, I can never believe, that the Manner wherewith he entrusted his Treasures to me, merited any punishment. You shall see how all things passed.