Secrets reveal'd, or, An open entrance to the shut-palace of the King containing the greatest treasure in chymistry never yet so plainly discovered / composed by a most famous English-man, styling himself anonymus or Eyræneus Philaletha cosmopolita ... ; published for the benefit of all Englishmen by W.C., Esq., a true lover of art and nature.

CHAP. 23. Of the various Regimens of this Work.

BE certainly confident studious Son of Art, whoever thou art, that nothing is hidden in this Work, save only the Re∣gimen, of which, that of the Philoso∣pher may be verified, Whoever is Ma∣ster of that Science, Princes and Gran∣dees of the Earth shall honour him. I assure you, upon the word of an honest Man, that if this one Secret were but openly discovered, Fools themselves would deride the Art; for that being known, nothing remains, but the Work of Women and the play of Children, and that is Decoction: So that not without cause did the Wise men hide this Secret with all their might. And rest assured that we have done the same, whatever we have seemed to speak concerning the de∣gree

of heat; yet because I did promise candor in this Treatise, something at the least is to be done, that I may not deceive the ingenious of their hope and pains: Know then, that our Regimen, from the beginning to the end, is only lineal, and that is to decoct and to digest, and yet this one Regimen in it self comprehends many others, which the envious have concealed, by giving them divers names, and describing as so many several Opera∣tions: We, to perform the candor we promised, will make a far more perspicu∣ous manifestation. So that, Reader, who∣ever thou art (if ingenious) thou shalt find cause to acknowledge our candidness in this to be more than ordinary.