“This man,” he continued, “was, as I telled you, my cherished friend, my confidant in all things, although he possessed no interest in my craft. Being of a bookish turn of mind, he treated with friendly derision and apparent unconcern my experiments in leechcraft and chirurgery, professing no faith in them. Now it having been my practice to consult regularly a soothsayer, I learned from him that in two years’ time England would be visited by the Black Plague. Thereby I was greatly saddened and sorrowed o’ nights, having visions of good folk dying in the streets and carted off to the potter’s field. Most of all did I think of the poor children who have not their elders’ philosophy to bear pain and are most tender to suffer so. The thought of these poor little ones so worked upon me that I had no peace. At last an idea of great magnitude took possession of me. In the two years’ time that was to elapse afore this terrible visitation would take place, I resolved to discover a simple which would be both a preventive and a cure for this plague with which the Lord sees fit to visit us at sundry times. I took his Majesty the King into my confidence. The proposed adventure received his gracious approval. For its furtherance he gave me large monies, and I also used the greater substance of my house. I travelled to India to consult with Eastern scholars, wondrously learned in mysterious ways beyond our ken. Weeks, day and night, I spent in experimenting. At last one morn, just as the day broke, and its light fell on my two trusty servitors who had fallen asleep e’en as they stood assisting me, I gave a great shout for joy. My last experiment had stood the test. I had triumphed. The recipe was perfected. ‘Wake, wake,’ I cried, ‘and give thanks unto God.’