To the Reader.

If we reflect on former ages and consider how few there were who employed themselves in the scrutiny of the secret arcanumsLatin arcana: hidden secrets or mysteries of nature. of nature, and how destitute the philosophers of those times were of the helps and advantages we enjoy that lead to the right understanding of such mysteries, we see that HermesHermes Trismegistus, the mythical founder of alchemy., the prince of philosophers, seemed to be alone and the only inventor of this most excellent art. CremerusThe Abbot of Westminster, a reputed alchemist. the abbot, and our countryman, after thirty years of study and expensive practice and labor, was compelled to seek in Italy for a master. FlamellNicolas Flamel, a famous 14th-century French writer and alchemist. the LutetianA resident of Lutetia, or Paris. did partake of the same hard fortune, together with many other of the ancients. Our author, Basilius, confesses that he would never have attained to the knowledge of this art if, by God's special grace, some books of the ancient masters had not come into his hands. Have we not then cause to bless God that we are in such an age and in such a nation also, wherein we may converse with many, both ancient and modern philosophers—such whose works show them to be servants to the Most High, beloved of Him, and acquainted with the most occult and secret mysteries and arcanums of nature? These men, having toiled and spent much of their precious time in fruitless labors, have—to prevent the like in their successors—discovered and as it were chalked...