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was lighted. At the end of eight days the
furnace was opened in the presence o f the
same goldsmiths, and they found in it an
ingot of gold, equal in weight to 100 ducats.
The gold was assayed, and proved to be of
the purest quality. The fame of the experiment
spread, and excited the liveliest
interest in the city. Every one was anxious
to meet and hail the wonderful woman,
whom heaven in its great mercy had sent
to enrich the inhabitants. No sooner was
she observed in th e streets, than the doors
and windows flew open, every one desiring
to be favoured with the light of her countenance,
and some were made inexpressibly
happy by her entrance into their houses.
The people in the streets fell into ranks to
let her pass, greeting her, no doubt, with
language similar to that of “ Holy Willy’s”
prayer.
“ With golden gear bless me and mine,
And all the glory shall be thine. Amen, Amen !”
B u r n s .
The gold-making catholic Bartingo was
then held in higher veneration by stern
Calvinists, than all the Protestant martyrs.
“ Religio post nummusf was the saving creed
of the day.
This adulation, paid by avarice and folly
to hypocrisy and fraud, increased from day
to d a y ; the richest citizens vieing with
each other in acts of officious kindness, to
ingratiate themselves into her favour. On
her part, she gave splendid entertainments,
and made great display of extraordinary
wealth to those whom she selected for her
dupes.
Margaret de Bartingo was soon after delivered
of a son, who died in three days.
The completion of the hopes of the Genevese
was thus unavoidably delayed till her
recovery; but in the interval, cupidity and
anxiety occupied every mind, and the daydreams
of the citizens converted every
thing they touched into gold. After her
recovery, she ordered twenty-three furnaces
to be constructed in the houses of those
whom she styled her most intimate friends,
and whom she intended to distinguish by
the first-fruits of her bounty. Aided by
her servant, she put into these furnaces, or
rather pretended to put in, th e gold which
was given her, together with the powder
which was to double the quantity and the
weight. The furnaces were then hermeti-
cally closed, and the fires were lighted,