ft’f]
iiant tliat its own subjects could not be left
to starve to death quietly, without the of-
ficioLis interference of the Genevese. I
have already mentioned the judicicus exertions
of the Genevese, to assist the Savoyards
of the neighbouring village of
Monetier, when it was destroyed by fire.
I f the Genevese are suffering under the
unjust charge of avarice, I am therefore
inclined to think it is more for the sins of
their fathers than their own.
A few centuries ago, when alchemy was
a prevailing folly in Europe, the citizens
desired their magistrates to entice the persons
most celebrated for the art of making;
gold to reside in their city, forgetting that
persons who possessed the power of creating
riches at will, were not easily to be
bribed by the poor inhabitants of a little
republic. This willingness to become the
dupes of money-making charlatans, occasioned
the following amusing imposture to
be practised on the citizens of Geneva.
A French woman, calling herself Margaret
de Bartingo, about forty years of age, having
a pleasing figure, and an insinuating
address, came to Geneva about the end
of the year 1660 ; her pretended husband
came with her, which served to sanction
her pregnancy, that was far advanced.
This man was in reality a monk of St.
Benoit, habited like a layman : he shortly
departed from Geneva, with two male domestics,
leaving Margaret with only a
femme de chambre. Although she was a
catholic, permission was granted her to
lodge in the house o of Theodore Burlamaqui,
a principal merchant in the city, to
whom she had been recommended by a
person who had only seen her for eight
days at Lyons. After she had expended
some considerable sums of money, with a
view to convince the people that she was a
lady of fortune and family, she contrived
to spread about the rumour, that she possessed
the true secret of the philosophers’
stone. She then ordered a furnace to be
constructed in her apartment, and in the
presence of many goldsmiths, fifty ducats
were put into it, with an equal weight of a
powder, which she had provided. After
the ducats were melted, she said they would
combine with the powder, and convert it
into gold. When all was arranged, she
closed the mouth of the furnace hermetically,
a seal was set upon it, and the fire