'Yes, and he has an entire tale that he tells, of how he found the recipe in Babylonia.' Pepys rolled his eyes. 'Enthralled the courtiers. Anyway – for this evening's Demo', he'd collected urine from a sewer that drains Whitehall, and boiled it – endlessly – on a barge in the Thames. I'll spare you the rest of the details – suffice it to say that when it was finished, and they were done applauding, and all of the courtiers were groping for a way to liken the King's splendor and radiance to that of Phosphorus – '