a hundred Crowns gone; and he did not spare to go to Gaming again briskly.  Upon giving him new Cash, he gets new Coals, and then the Business is begun again with more Resolution than before; just as Soldiers do, when they have happened to meet with a Disaster, they repair it by Bravery.  When the Laboratory had been kept hot for some Months, and the golden Fruit was expected, and there was not a Grain of Gold in the Vessel (for the Chymist had spent all that too) another Pretence was found out, That the Glasses they used, were not rightly tempered:  For, as every Block will not make a Mercury, so Gold will not be made in any Kind of Glass.  And by how much more Money had been spent, by so much the lother he was to give it over.

Phi. Just as it is with Gamesters, as if it were not better to lose some than all.

La. Very true.  The Chymist swore he was never so cheated since he was born before; but now having found out his Mistake, he could proceed with all the Security in the World, and fetch up that Loss with great Interest.  The Glasses being changed, the Laboratory is furnished the third Time:  Then the Operator told him, the Operation would go on more successfully, if he sent a Present of Crowns to the Virgin Mary, that you know is worshipped at Paris; for it was an holy Act:  And in Order to have it carried on successfully, it needed the Favour of the Saints. Balbinus liked this Advice wonderfully well, being a very pious Man that never let a Day pass, but he performed some Act of Devotion or other.  The Operator undertakes the religious Pilgrimage; but spends this devoted Money in a Bawdy-House in the next Town:  Then he goes back, and tells Balbinus that he had great Hope that all would succeed according to their Mind, the Virgin Mary seem’d so to favour their Endeavours.  When he had laboured a long Time, and not one Crumb of Gold appearing, Balbinus reasoning the Matter with him, he answered, that nothing like this had ever happened all his Days to him, tho’ he had so many Times had Experience of his Method; nor could he so much as imagine what should be the Reason of this Failing.  After they had beat their Brains a long Time about the Matter, Balbinus bethought himself, whether he had any Day miss’d going to Chapel, or saying the Horary Prayers, for nothing would succeed, if these were omitted.  Says the Imposter you have hit it.  Wretch that I am, I have been guilty of that once or twice by Forgetfulness, and lately rising from Table, after a long Dinner, I had forgot to say the Salutation of the Virgin.  Why then, says Balbinus, it is no Wonder, that a Thing of this Moment succeeds no better.  The Trickster undertakes to perform twelve Services for two that he had omitted, and to repay ten Salutations for that one.  When Money every now and then fail’d this extravagant Operator, and he could not find out any Pretence to ask for more, he at last bethought himself of this Project.