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PREFACE.

When I composed my Historical Essay on St. Jacques de la Boucherie, St. Jacques de la Boucherie was a prominent parish church in Paris. Today, only its Gothic tower—the Tour Saint-Jacques—remains standing. I had occasion to speak of Nicolas Flamel, a figure as famous for the ideas people have held about his fortune as for the use he made of it.

The natural leaning that people have toward the marvelous has prevented most writers who have mentioned Flamel from examining what was said about him with attention. Without evaluating his foundations In this context, "foundations" refers to charitable endowments, such as the building of hospitals, houses for the poor, and chapels., they have simply counted them; and judging them more considerable even than those made by Kings and Princes*, they sought their source in means either opposed to integrity or so extraordinary that they border on the miraculous. Villain is referring to the legend that Flamel discovered the "Philosopher's Stone" and created gold through alchemy.

Although at heart it is of relatively little importance to know whether Flamel was rich or not, or if he possessed the

* Lenglet du Fresnoy, History of Hermetic Philosophy, original: "Histoire de la Philosophie Hermétique" Vol. 1, p. 216.