dition of a line of gods that formerly dwelt in Greece is no dream of fancy, though the poets have now mixed ſo much fable and falſehood with it, that it is more difficult to part one from the other than to purify ſilver calcined by antimony: nevertheleſs, the ſilver is contained in the ſcoriæ, and may be found by the adept. The lineage of gods is only a ſpecies of ethereal ſpirits, that inhabit the upper regions of the atmoſphere, or the top of mount Olympus. In the chain of beings they are the link next above man, and connect him with the gods. Formerly they lived with men in confidential and viſible intercourſe; they mixed with the deſcendants of Adam; and the offspring has continued in this lower world to the preſent hour. The amorous ſwan who ſurpriſed the unguarded Leda in a lonely bath under the aſſumed character of the imaginary thunderer, was only one of theſe genii. He endowed his poſterity
