Conclusion To leade an imparfect Body to hys greate parfectnesse In joyning that like to hys like thow standest in no distres For when thow hast joyned the milke to the Bodyes dry Than hast thow the White and Red Elixer truly The which ys a Marvilous and very precious Stone For therein lieth in thys Science all the worke upon In thys Science these Stones be in themselves so precious That in their working and nature they be marvelous To schew thee the greate vertue furthermore I will declare That if thow canst with thys manner of working well fare First thow must take of that Body which ys next Sol in perfection And of his colour toward in ponderosity proportion Being soluble as it were cleere blood running In the hot Element yt ys alwayes lightest and fleeting Then take parte of the Red Elixer that ys the precious Stone And cast him upon that body that ys blood running anon And whan thow hast thus parfectly thys warke wrought It schalbe turned into parfect Sol with litle labour or nought On the same wise do for Luna that is in the Colour so white In joyning with that body that is schining and somewhat light In the same proportion cast him the very white Stone And then ys all thy greatest warke both made and done Than hast thow both the Red warke and the White Therefor blessed be that tyme both day and night For thys warke that standeth by greate vertue and love Thow must thanke Almighty God in heaven above Sonn in the 21. Chapter there write I a full true Rime That ys to say unto thys warke thow have no greate disdaine Till thow have proved my words in deede and thought I know it well thys Science schalbe set at nought My Son to these last precepts looke thow take good hede For better ' t ys to have then to wish for in time of neede For who so ys bold in time to a Freind to breake He that ys thy Freind may be thy Fo and hys emnity wreake And therefor my Son I schall give thee a greate charge In uttering of speech be thow not to large To tell every man what thow hast in Silver or Gold For to have it from thee many men wil be right bold Also use not to revill or ryott that schould exceede To thy bodily health the better schalt thow speede Use temperate dyet and temperate travell For when Physitian thee fayleth thys schall thee availe And leave all blind warkes that thow hast seene or heard of Conclusions Or proved by Sublimations Preperations Distillations or Dissolutions Of such manner of things greate Bokes do greatly specifie And all those contrary sayings in this Craft I do plainly deny Also my Son remember how thow art mortall Abiding but a while in thys World which ys terrestriall Thow wottest not how long nor hence how soone That death schall thee visitt and unto thee Come And remember thee well at thy departing Whome thow lovedst and trustedst best old and young Make him thine Heire and most of thy Councell And give him thy Cunning or thy Boke every deale But beware of flattering and glosing People Of Boasters and Crackers for they will thee beguâ—le Of thy precious Cunning behinde or beforne And when they have their intent they will give thee a scorne Therefor make no Man of thy Councell rude nor rustie But him that thow knowest both true and trustie In ryding and going sleeping and waking Both in word and deede and in hys disposing Also in thy owne Chamber looke thow be secret That thy dores and windowes be close shet For some wyll come and looke in every Corner And anon they will aske what thow makest there And therefore a good excuse must soone be had Or else thow schalt verily wine for to run madd Say thow labourest sore both sleeping and waking To the perfect way of strange Colours making As yt be sure Bice Vermillion Aurum Musicum others moe Or else with some people thow schalt never have a doe Also thereof thow must have many samples to schew Or else they that harmes thinke will say so Also furthermore I give thee right good warning Beware of thy warking and also of thy uttering For the examination of the People better or worse Ere thow have for thy warke thy mony in thy purse Therefor take heede my Son unto these Chapters sixscore And all manner of things said what schould be don before For in Astronomy thow must have right good feeling Or else in thys Boke thow schalt have simple believing For thow must know well of seaven principle Characters To what Bodyes in heaven moving that they be likned in those figures And to understand their properties and their Conditions In Colours qualities softnes hardnes in their proper fashions Now Son to thee that understandest parfection Sciences Whether it be Speculative or Pracktick to my sentences In thys Science and labour I thinke it greate ruthe Therefore I write to thee very truth And to thee that understandest no parfection nor practike In no conclusion proved that schould be to hys warke like By Almighty God that all thys world hath wrought I have said and performed to thee right nought Therefore my Son before that thow thys Boke begin Understand wisely in thys what ys written therein For if thow canst not finde by thys Boke neither Sol nor Moynâ— Then go forth and seeke thow further as other fooles have done Explicit Liber dictus Pater Sapientiae Vaughan sculp IN the name of the holy Triniti Now send us grase so hit be Fyrst God made both Angel and Heaven Na alleso the World wyth Planets seaven Man and Woman wyth gret sensewalite Sum of estate and other in hyr degree Both Best and Worme for in the grown crepe Everyech in hys kynd to receve hys mete Egles and Fowles in the Eyre donfle And swemynge of Fycheys also in the See Wyth vygital moystter and of the red Grap And alleso of the whyâ—e hos can hym take Alle meneral thyng that growyth in grownd Sum to encrese and sum to make an end Alle thes bryngeth now to owre howse The mightti Ston that ys so precius Thys ryche 〈◊〉 that stoâ—n of pryce The whych 〈◊〉 send owt of Paradyce Thus made the gret God of heven Whych alle ben rewled under Planets seaven God send us parte of thys secrete And of that heven that ys sweet AMEN IYfe thow wilt thys warke begyn Than schrevy the clene of alle thy Seyne Contryte in hert wyth alle thy thowght And ever thenke on hym that the der bowght Satisfaction thow make wyth alle thy myght Than thre fayre flowers thow hast in syght Yet nedeth the mor to thy conclesyon Take thow good hede nowe to thys lessen Thow must have Grase Nature and Resen Spekelatif and Coning wyth good Condition Yet thow must have more now herto Experience wyth Pracktik Prudent also Patient that thow be and
Alchimy Yet many called every Houre Learn'd and Unlearned Rich and Poore who 'll neither Tend nor take the Paines And therefore Trudge without the Gaines On whom God doth this Art bestow Her Sons may herein fully know By these foure-lines you may believe Heaven doth all things gratis give This Art in such you only finde As Justice love with spotles-Minde But t is deny'd to guilefull Men For sin protracts the gifts of Heaven These had adorn'd the English-Throne If they had trusted God alone For he that hereby Honor winns Shall change the old for better things And when he comes to rule the Land Reforme it with a vertuous hand Leaving examples of good deedes To every King that him succeedes Then shall the People Jubilize In mutuall love and sacrifise Praises to God O King that shall These Workes implore the God of all For timely helpe in this good thing So to a Just and Glorious King Most goodly Graces shall descend When least look'd for To Crowne his End THE PROHEME TO the honor of God One in Persons three This Boke is made that Lay-men shulde it And Clerks alsoe after my decease Whereby all Lay-men which putteth see To seech by Alkimy great ryches to winn them in prease May finde good Counseller they such warke begin And greate deceipts they may hereby eschewe And by this doctrine know fals men from trewe Nathles Clerks greate seacreats heere may leare But all Lay men shall finde heere cause to feare And to beware of falsillusions Which Multiplyers worke with their Conclusions But for that I desire not worldly fame But your good prayers unknowne shall be my name That no man shulde therafter search ne looke But wisely Consider the flowers of this booke Of every estate that is within Mankind If yee make search much people ye may finde Which to Alkimy their Corage doe address Only for appetite of Lucre and Riches As Popes with Cardinalls of Dignity Archbyshopes with Byshopes of high degree With Abbots and Priors of Religion With Friars Heremites and Preests manie one And Kings with Princes and Lords great of blood For every estate desireth after good And Merchaunts also which dwell in the fiere Of brenning Covetise have thereto desire And Common-workemen will not be out-lafte For as well as Lords they love this noble Crafte As Gouldsmithes whome we shulde lest repreve For sights in their Craft meveth them to beleeve But wonder it is that Wevers deale with such warks Free Masons and Tanners with poore Parish Clerks Tailors and Glasters woll not thereof cease And eke sely Tinkers will put them in the prease With greate presumption but yet some collour there was For all such Men as give Tincture to Glasse But many Artificers have byn over-swifte With hasty Credence to fume away their thrifte And albeit that losses made them to smarte Yet ever in hope continued their hearte Trusting some tyme to speede right well Of many such truly I can tell Which in such hope continued all their lyfe Whereby they were pore and made to unthrife It had byne good for them to have left off In season for noughte they founde but a scoffe For trewly he that is not a greate Clerke Is nice and lewde to medle with this warke Ye may trust me well it is no small inginn To know all secreats pertaining to the Myne For it is most profound Philosophie The subtill science of holy Alkimy Of which Science here I intend to write Howbeit I may not curiously indite For he that shulde all a common people teache He must for them use plaine and common speache Though that I write in plaine and hoemely wise No good Man then shulde such writenge dispise All Masters that write of this Soleme werke They made their Bokes to many Men full derke In Poyses Parables and in Metaphors alsoe Which to Shollers causeth peine and woe For in their practise whan they would it assay They leese their Costs as men see aldaye Hermes Rasis Geber and Avicen Merlin Hortolan Democrit and Morien Bacon and Raimond with others many moe Wrote under covert and Aristotle alsoe For what hereof they wrote with their penn Their Cloudy Clauses dulled many Men Fro Lay-men Fro Clearks and so fro every Man They hid this Art that no Man finde it cann By their bokes do they shew Reasons faire Whereby much people are brought into dispaire Yet Anaxagoras wrote plainest of them all In his boke of Conversions naturall Of the old Fathers that ever I founde He most disclosed of this Science the grownde Whereof Aristotle had greate envy And him rebuked unrightfully In many places as I can well report Intending that men to him shulde not resort For he was large of his cunning and love God have his soule in blisse with him above And suche as sowed envious seede God forgive them their misdeede As the Mounke which a Boke did write Of a thousand receipts in mallice for despight Which be coppied in many a place Whereby hath beene made pale many a Face And many Gownds have byne made bare of hewe And men made fals which before tyme were trewe Wherefore my Pitty doth me constreyne To shew the trewth in fewe words and plaine Soe that you may fro false doctrine flee If ye give Credence to this boke and mee Avoide your Bokes written of Receipts For all such Receipts are full of Deceipts Trust not such Receipts and lerne well this Clause Nothing is wrought but by his proper Cause Wherefore that Practise falleth farr behinde Wher Knowledge of the cause is not in minde Therefore remember ever more wisely That you woorke nothing but you knowe howe and whie Alsoe he that would in this Arte proceede To eschewe falshood he hath greate need For trewth is good which this Arte must guide Wherefore to falshood ye may never slide But stedfastly your minde must be set Fals Colloured Metall never to Counterfett As thei that seeke Blanchers or Citrinacions Which woll not abide all Examinacions Wherewith fals Plate they make as they cann Or Money to beguile some good trew Mann But God hath made that of this blessed Arte All that be fals shall have thereof noe parte He must have Grace that would for this Arte sue Therefore of right him needeth to be trew Also he may not be trobled in his Minde With outward charges which this Arte would finde And he that would have his intent He must have Riches sufficient In many wayes he maie not looke But only pursue the order of this Boke Named of Alkimy the Ordinall The Crede mihi the Standard perpetuall For like as the Ordinall to Preesti sotteth out The service of the dayes as they goe aboute Soe of all the Bokes unordered in Alkimy The effect is here set out Orderly Therefore this Boke to an Alchimister wise Is a Boke of incomparable price Whose trewth shall never be defiled Though it appeare in homely wise compiled And as I had this Arte
workes Daulton kept dilligently Many yeares till that Channon must dye And for his service he said in that space The Cannon gave him all that thereof was The Kinge gave to Daulton Marks foure With liberty to goe where he would that houre Then was the Kinge in his herte sore That he had not knowne Daulton before And ever it happneth without leasinge That Tyrants be full nigh to a Kinge For Herberte lay for Daulton in waight And brought him to Stepney with deceipte The servaunts of Herbert the mony tooke away Which the King gave to Daulton that day And after Herbert carried Daulton farr From thence to the Casle of Gloucester There was Daulton prisner full longe Herbert to Daulton did mickle wronge Fro thence he had him to prison fast To Troy till foure yeares were nigh past And after he brought him out to dye Daulton to death obeyed lowly And said Lord Jesue blessed thou be Me thinks I have byne too longe from thee A Science thou gavest me with full greate charge Which I have kept without outrage I founde noe man yet apt thereto To be myne Heyer when I am goe Wherefore sweete Lord now I am faine To resigne this thy guift to thee againe Then Daulton made devout prayers and still Withsmiling cheere he said now doe your wil. When Herbert sawe him so glad to dye Then ran water from Herberts Eye For Prison ne Death could him not availe To winn this Arte his Crafte did him faile Now let him goe said Herbert than For he shall never hurt ne profett man But when Daulton from the block should rise He looked forth in full heavie wise And so departed with full heavie cheere It was not his will to live one yeare This was his Paine as I you tell By men that had no dread of Hell Herbert dyed soone after in his bed And Deluis at Teuxbury lost his head This wise greate Paine as you may see Followeth this Arte in every degree Heere lost the King all his intent For Herbert was proude and violent Soe nobil a man to opprese with pride And like a Fellone him leade and guide Where that by goodnesse patience and grace There might have growen full great solace As well to the King ye may understonde As for th'ease of Commons of this londe But wonder not that grace doe not fall For sinn reygneth in this londe over all Loe here was grace full ready at honde To have ceased Taxes and Tallages of this londe Whereby much Love and Grace would have be Betweene Knight-hood Priest-hoode and Comminaltie Here ye maie see how vicious violence Maie not purchase the vertue of sapience For vice and vertue be things contrary Therefore the vicious maie not come thereby If Vicious men mought lerne this Science They would therewith doe wondrous violence And with Ambitiousnesse grow evermore Worse of Conditions then they were before Now is this Chapter of Joy and Paine gone The Chapter following sheweth Matters of our Stone CHAP. III. TONsile was a labourer in the fire Threescore years and more to win his defire Brian was another with Holton in the Weste Thes were ever busie could practice with the best But yet this Science thei never founde For thei knew not the Matters ne the Grounde But rumbled foorth and evermore they sought They spent their lyfe and their goods to nought Much losse much cost much anguish they bought Amonge their Receipts which they had wrought Then made Tonsile to me his greate complainte With weeping Teares he said his heart was fainte For he had spended all his lusty dayes In fals Receipts and in such lewde assayes Of Herbes Gommes of Rootes and of Grasse Many kindes by him assayed was As Crowefoote Celondine and Mizerion Vervaine Lunara and Martagon In Antimony Arsenick Honey Wax and Wine In Haire in Eggs in Merds and Urine In Calx vive Sandifer and Vitriall In Markasits Tutits and every Minerall In Malgams in Blanchers and Citrinacions All fell to nought in his opperacions For he considered not how he did rage When to Gods proportions he layde surcharge After all this he thought nothing so good To worke upon as shulde be mans Blode Till that I said how blode would waste and fume In mighty fire and utterly consume For Christ his love then saide he teach me Whereof the substance of our Stone should be Tonsile said I what shulde it you avayle Such thing to know your lims doth you faile For very Age therefore cease your lay And love your Beades it is high time to Praye For if you knew the Materialls of our Stone Ere you could make it your dayes would begone Thereof no charge good Master said he It were sufficient Comfort now to me To know the trewe Materialls without wronge Of that Stone which I have sought soe longe Tonsile said I It is noe litle thinge Whereof you would have trewe tydinge For many Auctors write of this doubte But none of them sheweth it Cleerly oute For Auctors which of this Arte doe write Besought God as witnesseth Democrite That he unpained would fro this Worlde take Their Soules whom he tought Bokes thereof to make For greatly doubted evermore all suche That of this Scyence they may write too muche Every each of them tought but one pointe or twayne Whereby his fellowes were made certayne How that he was to them a Brother For every of them understoode each other Alsoe they wrote not every man to Teache But to shew themselves by a secret Speache Trust not therefore to reading of one Boke But in many Auctors works ye may looke Liber librum apperit saith Arnold the greate Clerke Anaxagoras said the same for his werke Who that slothfull is in many bokes to see Such one in Practice prompt shall never be But Tonsile for almes I will make no store Plainly to disclose it that never was done before By way of answer for your recreation If ye cann wisely make Interrogation Good Master saide he then teach me trewly Whether the matters be Sol or Mercury Or whether of Sol or Lune it maie be Or whether I shall take them all three Or Sol by it selfe or Mercury alone Or Sulpher with them for matters of our Stone Or whether I shall sal Almoniack take Or Minerall meanes our Stone thereof to make Here be many questions Tonsile said I Wisely remembred and full craftily You name it not yet but onely in generall For you must take some deale of theis things all Of these and of other you must take a parte One time or other to minister this Arte Many things helpeth to apt our Stone But two be Materialls yet our Stone is one Betweene which two is such diversity As betweene the Mother and the Childe may be An other diversity betweene them find ye shall Such as is found betweene Male and Female Theis two kindes shall doe all your service As for the White worke if you can be wise One of thes kindes a
estate Betwixt Men and Gold is debate Soe fer forthe that unneths there is none This Multiplyeng blyndeth so many one That in good fayth I trowe that it be The greatest cause of such scarsyte These Phylosophers speken so mistily In this Crafte that men cannot come thereby For any witte that men have nowe adayes They may well chattre and jangle as doth the Jayes And in her termes sett her luste and payne But to her purpose shall they never attaine A man may lightly lerne if he have ought To Multiply and bring his good to nought Lo such a Lucre is in this lusty game A mans myrthe it wol turne all to grame And emptien also greate and hevy purses And maken folke to purchase curses Of hem that han alsoe her good ylent O fye for shame they that han be brente Alas cannot they fly the fyres hete Ye that it usen I rede that ye it lete Lest ye lesen al for bet then never is late Never to thryve were to long a date Though that ye prolle aye ye shall it never fynde Ye ben as bold as is Bayarde the blynde That blondereth forth and perill casteth none He is as bolde to renne agenst a stone As for to go besyde in the way So faren ye that multiplyen I say If that your Eyen can not sene aright Loketh that your Mynde lacke not his sight For though ye loke never soe brode and stare Ye shall not wynne a myte in that chaffare But waste all that ye may repe and renne Withdrawe the fyre least it to fast brenne Medleth with that Arte noe more I mene For yf ye done your thrifte is gone full cleane And right as swythe I woll you tellen here What that the Phylosophers sayne in this mattere Lo thus saith Arnolde of the newe toune As his Rosarye maketh mencioune He sayth right thus withouten any lye There may noe man Mercury mortifye But if it be with his brothers knowlegyng Lo how that he which firste sayd this thyng Of Phylosophers father was Hermes He saythe how that the Dragon doutlesse Ne dyeth not but if he be slayne With his brother and this is for to sayne By the Dragon Mercurye and none other He understood that Brimstone was his brother That out of Sol and Luna were ydrawe And therefore sayd he take heed to my sawe Let no man besye him this Arte for to seche But he that the Entention and speche Of Phylosophers understonde can And if he do he is a leud man For this Science and this connyng quod he Is of the Secre of the Secres parde Alsoe there was a Disciple of Plato That on a tyme sayd his Maister to As his booke Senior wol bere wytnesse And this was his demaunde in sothfastnesse Tell me the name of the privy Stone And Plato answered unto him anone Take the Stone that Tytanos men name Which is that quod he Magnatia is the same Said Plato ye Sir and is it thus This is ignotum per ignotius What is Magnatia good Sir I you pray It is a Water that is made I say Of Elements foure quod Plato Tell me the Rocke good Sir quod he tho Of that Water if it be your wyll Nay nay quod Plato certayne that I nyll The Philosophers were y sworne echone That they shulde discover it unto none Ne in no Boke it write in no manere For unto Christ it is so lefe and dere That he wol not that it discovered be But where it liketh to his deite Man to enspyre and eke for to defende Whan that him lyketh lo this is his ende Then conclude I thus sens the God of heaven Ne wyl not that the Phylosophers nemen Howe that a Man shall come unto this Stone I rede as for the best lett itt gone For who so maketh God his adversary As for to werche any thing in contrary Unto his will certes never shall he thrive Though that he Multiplye terme of his live And there a poynte for ended is my Tale God send every true man Bote of his bale THE WORKE OF JOHN DASTIN NOt yet full sleping nor yet full waking But betweene twayne lying in a traunce Halfe closed mine Eyne in my slumbering Like a Mā rapt of all cheer countenance By a manner of weninge Remembrance Towards Aurora ere Pheebus uprose I dreamed one came to me to doe me pleasaunce That brought me a Boke with seaven seales close Following upon I had a wonderfull dreame As semed unto my inward thought The face of him shone as the Sun-beame Which unto me thys hevenly Boke brought Of so greate Riches that yt may not be bought In order set by Dame Philosophie The Capitall and the flowrishing wrought By a wise Prince called Theologie Thys Boke was written with letters aureat Perpetually to be put in memory And to Apollo the Chapters consecrate And to the seaven Gods in the hevenly Consistory And in Mercuries litle Oratory Groweth all the fruite in breefe of thys Science Who can expresse hem and have of hem Victory May clayme the tryumph of his Minerall prudence Of this matter above betweene Starrs seaven By Gods and Goddesses all of one assent Was sent Caducifer to Erth downe form Heaven Saturnus as Bedell by great advisement For to summon a generall Parliament By concord of all both old and younge of age To say in Breife their Councell most prudent For Common proffit to knitt up a Marriage Betweene twaine Borne of the Imperiall blood And descended from Iupiters line Of their Natures most pure and most good Wythowte infeccion their seede is most divine That noe Eclips may let them for to shine So that Mercury doth stint all debate And restraine their Courage by meaknes them incline That of frowardnes they be not indurate For the Sunne that sitteth so heigh a loft His golden dew-droppes shall cleerely raigne downe By the meane of Mercury that moven first made soft Then there schalbe a glad Conjunccion Whan there is made a Seperacion And their two Spermes by Marriage are made one And the said Mercury by devision Hath taken his flight and from both is gone These be the two Mercuries cheife of Philosophers Revived againe with the Spirit of lyfe Richer then Rubies or Pearles shut in Cofeurs Washed and Baptized in waters vegitative The body dissevered with heate nutrative By moderate moysture of Putrefaccion So that there is no excesse nor no strife Of the foure Elements in their Conjunccion The graine of Wheate which on the ground doth fall But it be dead it may not fructifie If it be hole the vertue doth appayle And in no wise it may not Multiplye The increase doth begin whan it doth Putrefie Of good Grafts commeth Fruites of good lastage Of Crabs Verjuyce of Ash is made Lye Of good Grapes followeth a good Vintage Who soweth good Seede repeth good againe Of Cockles sowne there can grow no good Wheate For as such a Ploughman traveleth in vaine To
Worke it selfe it is sheav'd up from a few gleanings in part of our English Fields where though I have bestowed my Industry to pick up here and there what I could finde in my way yet I believe there are many other Pieces of this Nature in private Hands which if any are pleas'd out of the same Ingenious score that I have published these to Communicate to me I shall set thereon a value sutable to the worth of their Favours and let the World know its Obligation to them besides The Style and Language thereof may I confesse to some seeme Irksome and Uncouth and so it is indeed to those that are strangers thereunto but withall very Significant Old words have strong Emphasis others may look upon them as Rubbish or Trifles but they are grosty Mistaken for what some light Braines may esteem as Foolish Toys deeper Judgements can and will value as sound and serious Matter We English have often varied our Fashions such is the levity of our Fancies and therefore if you meet with Spellings different from those in use or uncouth Words as strangely ridiculous as a Maunch Hood Cod-piece or Trunke-hose know as they were the fashionable Attyres so these the usuall Dialects of those Times And Posterity will pay us in our own Coyne should we deride the behaviour and dresse of our Ancestors For we must consider that Languages which are daily used in our Discourse are in as continuall Mutation what Custome brings into habit is best lik'd for the Present whether it be to revive what is lost or introduce something new or to piece up the present with the retained shreds of what preceded But learned Tongues which are contain'd in Books injoy a more immutable Fate because not subject to be washt away with the daily tyde and current of Times They are like the fashion and Drapery wrought on Marble Statutes which must â—ver be retained without alteration And therefore that the Truth and Worth of their Workes might receive no Diminution by my Transcription I purposely retain'd the old Words and manner of their Spelling as I found them in the Originalls except only some palpable Mistakes and Blemishes of former Transcribers which I took upon me to correct and purge as litle more then Litterall Imperfections yet not to leave the Reader unsatisfied have added a Compendious Table for the Interpretation of Old unusuall and obsolete Words and thereby smooth'd as I suppose the Passage for such as have not hitherto bin Conversant in these Ancient Rough hew'd Expressions Wherefore you that love to converse with the Dead or consult with their Monuments draw near perhaps you may find more benefit in them then the Living There you may meet with the Genii of our Hermetique Philosophers learne the Language in which they woo'd and courted Dame Nature and enjoy them more freely and at Greater Command to satisfie your Doubts then when they were in the Flesh For they have Written more then they would Speake and left their Lines so Rich as if they had dissolved Gold in their Inke and clad their Words with the Soveraign Moysture My Annotations are limited within the Bounds of what is Historicall or what occasionally must needs intrench on the Confines of other Arts and all Glosses upon the Philosophicall Worke purposely omitted for the same Reasons that I chose to send forth other Mens Children into the World rather then my own And what presumptuous Mistaks or Errors the Candid Reader shall meet with will I hope be Censured with no lesse Favour and Charity then that whereby they are wont to Judge the Faults of those they esteem their Friends and Well-wishers And now to Conclude May the GOD of NATURE be gratiously pleased out of the Immense Treasury of his Goodness to vouch safe all such whose good Angells direct them to or have alreadly Religiously Engaged them in this Mysterious knowledge the Full and Entire Accomplishments of a True and Pious Philosopher To wit Learning Humility Judgement Courage Hope Patience Discretion Charity Secrecie That so they may enjoy the Fruits of their Labours which otherwise will be but vain and unpleasant and causelâ—sly render the Divine Science and Secret it selfe Contemptible Farewell Industrious Students and let your Goodnesse still invite â—e to accomplish the End I have proposed In doing which I presume you may one Day esteeme me better deserving your Patronage At least-wise your charitable Censure which is all the Recompence Expected or Merited by him who is 26 Jan. 1651 2 Yours Really Devoted E. Ashmole THE ORDINALL OF ALCHIMY VVritten by THOMAS NORTON OF BRISTOLL LIber iste Clericis monstrat scientiam Liber sed Laicis auget inscitiam Liber honores juvans per copiam Et Liber pauperum fugans inopiam Liber fiduciae est veritatis Regibus consilium doctrina Praelatis Et Liber utilis viris beatis Vivere qui cupiunt absque peccatis Liber secretum Liber doni Dei Electis semita vires bonae spei Valens constantibus firmae fidei Ve non credentibus verbis oris mei Quaerunt Alchimiam falsi quoque recti Falsi sine numero sed hi sunt rejecti Et cupiditatibus heu tot sunt infecti Quod inter mille millia vix sunt tres electi Istam ad scientiam multi sunt vocati Nobiles pauperes inscii literati Qui noelunt labores neque tempus pati Ideo non perficient quia sunt ingrati Liber Artis filios docet iste satis Quibus haec percipere deus dedit gratis Versiculis propheticis quatuor his credatis Omnia dat gratis divinae fons pietatis Haec nobilis scientia est tantum illis data Qui diligunt justitiam mente cum beata Dolosis raptoribus sed est denegata Propter peccata tardantur munera grata Saepe Reges Angliae decorasset haec res Firmasi in domino fuisset eorum spes Ille sed qui capiet per hanc rem honores Antiquos mores mutabit in meliores Iste cumque venerit regnum reformabit Virtutibus moribus exemplum dabit Sempiternum Regibus plebs tunc jubilabit Et mutuo se diligens laudes Deo dabit O Rex haec facturus Deum Regem ora Et ejus auxilium pro re hac implora Tunc regi justo fulgenti mente decora Grata supervenient quâ non sperabitur hora. THis Booke the greatest Clearkes may teach But shorteneth the Vulgar-Reach A Booke that gets by Wealth Renowne And Boggles at a thred-bare-Gowne A trusty-Booke of faithfull-Things Instructing Priests Advising Kings A Booke that 's fitted for the sence Of Man who lives without offence A Booke of secrets given by God To men Elect a Beaten-Trod Availing such as constant be In Faith and Hope and trusting Me. Good Men and Bad even Numberlesse The latter but without successe Desire the Art But still Alas They are so given to Avarice That of a Million hardly three Were ere Ordaind for
it appeareth by this Similitude The Elephant for that she is great and rude Goeth with Foale years full twayne And fifty yeares ere that Foale gender againe Anaxagoras said in his Consideration That Mettals had for their generation A thousand Yeares wherefore him list to say In respect thereof our Worke is but one Day Also ye must worke by good advice When ye see Erth above Water rise For as Water beareth Erth which we goe on So woll it doe in working of our Stone Wherefore Well-springs with strokes soft Soberly make ye must in tymes oft Whereby Water maie soberly flowe For violent Fluxes be perilous as nowe MOreover it healpeth in Alkimy To know seaven Waters effectually Which be Coppied with manie a Man While thei be common seeke them as ye can Desire not this Boke to show things all For this Boke is but an Ordinall By those Waters men Weene in mind All faults to amend of Metaline kinde Also thei weene of the Elements fower The effects to weene by their succour For thei suppose with confidence unfeined That all Vertues requifit in them be conteyned Some to molifie Mettalls hard wroght And some to harden Mettalls that be soft Some to purifie some to make malleable Everie each according that he was able Such Liquors to know it is profitt and good Howbeit thei maie not to our Stone be food Noble Auctors men of glorious fame Called our Stone Microcosmus by name For his composition is withouten doubt Like to this World in which we walke about Of Heate of Cold of Moyst and of Drye Of Hard of Soft of Light and of Heavy Of Rough of Smooth and of things Stable Medled with things fleetinge and moveable Of all kinds Contrary broght to one accord Knit by the doctrine of God our blessed Lord Whereby of Mettalls is made transmutation Not only in Colour but transubstantiation In which ye have need to know this thing How all the vertues of the Elements transmuting Upon the transmuted must have full domination Before that the substance be in transmutation And all partes transmuted must figured be In the Elements transmuting impressed by degree So that the third thinge elemented of them all Of such condition evermore be shall That it trewly have it maie be none other But her Substance of that one and her Vertue of that other A Child at his Nativitie can eate his meate and cry Our Stone at his Nativity woll Colour largly In three years after a Child can speake and goe Then is our Stone more Colouring also One upon a Thousand his tincture trewly is Of clean washen Mettall I am trew witnes Fastiely beleeve it and fully in your thought It maketh good Silver as of the Myne is wrought And also our Stone woll augment and increase In quantitie and qualitie and thereof never cease And therefore his growing and augmentation Is likned to Man in waxing and creation Nathles one pointe of trewth I woll reporte Which to some Men maie be discomforte At the first making of our Stone That time for winninge looke for none If ye then cease I understande Ye shall departe with loosinge handâ— The Costs be so great before Expended and set upon the score But at the first augment of all Which tyme our Stone depart ye shall In parts twaine full equally With subtill ballance and not with Eye One for the Red that other for the White To mainteyne both for your delight Then winning first beginneth to arise But afterwards if ye be wise At every augment continually Profit shall grow comodiously In this our White Warke alone As well as in the Ruby Stone Whereof said Maraa Sister of Aron Lyfe is short and Science is full long Nathles it greately retardeth Age When it is ended by strong Courage But some that have byne tought trewlie Have forsooke their worke lewdly When their greate labour have byne paste For thei know not how at the laste Groweth the profit and the winninge Which thei would have at the beginninge Therefore I finde that it is neede The trewth to tell when ye shulde speede For when I am past and out of minde This my Witnes shall rest behinde For which cause I doe not spare Of this Arte the trewth to declare As much as I dare that I be not shent For breaking of Gods Commandement This wise endeth all our White Werke Shewed sufficiently for an able Clerke AFter all this upon a day I heard my noble Master say How that manie men patient and wise Found our White Stone with Exercise After that thei were trewlie tought With great labour that Stone they Caught But few said he or scarcely one In fifteene Kingdomes had our Red Stone And with that word he cast his Eye Looking on me full steadilye Of his words he saw me woe I said alas what shall I doe For above all Erthly thinge I most desire and love Cunninge And for the Red Stone is preservative Most precious thinge to length my Life The Red Stone said I is lever to me Then all were Gould that I would soe to be He said I was to younge of Age Of Body lusty and likely to outrage Scantly of the age of twenty eight yeares He said Philosophers had noe such Compeers This woefull answer then he made to me Till ye be elder he said it maie not be Alas good Master remember said I Howbeit my Body be light and lustie Prove and assay and you shall finde Age sufficient within my Minde He held his words full still that tyde And so long tyme he did abide After this sudainely in wonderous wise He tempted me after the Philosophers guise Which to reherse it were too longe And to shew how I should doe wronge For that must be kept secreate For them which shall with this Science meete Yet at the last with leasure and with space I wan his love by help of Gods Grace So that I had with Grace the trewe doctrine Of Confection of the Red medicine Whom to seeke it availeth right nought Till the White medicine be fully wrought Alsoe both Medicines in their beginninge Have one manner of Vessell and Workinge As well for the White as also for the Red Till all quick things be made dead Then Vessells and forme of operation Shall chaunge in Matter Figure and Graduation But my herte quaketh my hand is tremblinge When I write of this most selcouth thinge Hermes brought forth a true sentence and blounte When he said Ignis AZot tibi sufficiunt The Expositor of Hermes and Aristotle joynte In that joynte worke shewd a straunge pointe He said Albertus Magnus the Black Freere Nether Freer Bacon his compeere Had not of our Red stone consideration Him to increase in multiplication The Expositor knew it sufficiently And my Master tought me trewly Albeit that I never made assaye Of the Red worke before this Daye The cause appeareth in this Boke before When I was robbed then I would no more Nethlesse I have put me
Magnus In his Boke De Mineralibus Hereof a Secreate disclosed was By my good Master to more and lesse Saying Si Deus non dedisset nobis vas Nihil dedisset and that is Glasse Instruments needefull there be more As be Furnaces ordeyned therefore Olde Men imagined for this Arte A speciall Furnace for everie parte Everie-each divising after his owne thought But manie Furnaces of them be naught Some were too broade and some too longe Manie of them did Nature wronge Therefore some Furnaces maie be well used But manie of them must be refused For theie were made but by advice Of them which seemed and were not wise The most Commendable Fashion of them all In this Boke portraied finde ye shall One Furnace by me is found of newe Such as Olde Men never knewe Whose secreate Power with study sought And with greate Cost was dearely bought In him wil be at one tyme wrought Threescore Warkes and cost right nought More than it shulde for one Warke or twaine Therefore profitable it is certaine Threescore degrees divers ye maie gett For threescore warkes and everie-ech of divers Heate Within that Furnace to serve your desire And all thei served with one litle Fier Which of a Foote square onlie shal be Yet everie-ech of the threescore as greate space as he Manie purposes ye maie thereby fulfill For here you shall have Heate after your will Of this Instrument all Men maie not be sure Therefore it is not formed in Picture Another Furnace woll serve threescore Glasses trewly and yet farr more Everie-ech of them standing in like Heate As by the Picture Doctrine ye maie gett Another Furnace for this operation By me was found by Imagination Notably serving for Seperation Of dividents and for Altification And for Dis-junction called Division And for Correction called Ablution Yt woll for some things serve Desiccation Yt serveth full well for Preparation Soe for six things it serveth well And yet for all at once as I can tell This is a new thinge which shall not be Set out in Picture for all men to see Another Furnace in Picture be shall More full of perills than other Furnaces all Made for Magnetia whereof bould Men had doubte To tuch with hands a poore lynine Cloute Which in the midle thereof unbrenned stoode For feare of flames brenning fierce and woode Which suttill Furnace I devised alsoe In which I found manie wonders moe Than is convenient at this season to tell Whose graduation is doubtfull and casuell Wherein Magnetia matter of greate coste Must quickly be served or suddainly be loste Of whose graduation if you woll not misse Consider your Stoples and lerne well this The more is the Stople the lesse is the Heate By manifould Stoples Degrees ye maie gett Whoe knoweth the power the working and kinde Of everie Furnace he maie well trewth finde And he which thereof dwelleth in Ignorance All his Warke faleth upon Chaunce Noe man is sure to have his intent Without full concord of Arte with Instrument Manie more Instruments occupied ye shall se Than in this Chapter now rehearsed be Which ye must ordeyne by good or sad advice And prove them before hand oft if ye be wise THe fourth Concord is full notable Betweene this Arte and Places Convenable Some Places must needes be evermore dry Close from Aier no waies Windy Some must be darke and dimme of sight In which Sun-beames none maie light But for some Places the trewth so is Thei cannot have too much brightnes Some Places must needes be Moist and Cold For some workes as Auctors toulde But in our Warkes in everie place Winde will hurt in everie Case Therefore for everie Warke in season Ye must ordaine Places by reason Philosophers said by their engine How it shulde be wrought within locks Nyne Astrologers said it was a grace To finde a Chosen Working Place For manie things woll wonderous doe In some Places and elsewhere not soe But contrarie wonders be of one thinge In contrarie Countries wrought without leasing Whereof none other cause maie appeare But only contrarie places of the Sphere Whereto Places contrarie of the grounde To them Concordaunt and Obedient be found Hereof great Evidence and wittnes full cleere In the Magnets Stone openly doth appeare Whose North pointe draweth toward his Countrie Which under the Southe starr driveth Needles awaye Wherefore wise Men which for this Arte sought Found some Places concordant some Places nought Trewly such Places where Lechery is used Must for this Arte be utterly refused THe fift Concord is knowne well of Clerks Betweene the Sphere of Heaven and our Suttill Werks Nothing in Erth hath more Simplicitie Than th' elements of our Stone woll be Wherefore thei being in warke of Generation Have most Obedience to Constellation Whereof Concord most kindly and convenient Is a direct and firie Ascendent Being signe common for this Operation For the multitude of their Iteration Fortune your Ascendent with his Lord also Keeping th' aspect of Shrewes them fro And if thei must let or needely infect Cause them to looke with a Trine aspect For the White warke make fortunate the Moone For the Lord of the Fourth house likewise be it done For that is Thesaurum absconditum of olde Cleâ—ks Soe of the Sixt house for Servants of the Werks Save all them well from greate impediments As it is in Picture or like the same intents Unlesse then your Nativity pretend infection In contrariety to this Election The vertue of the Mover of the Orbe is formall The vertue of the Eight Sphere is here Instrumentall With her Signes and Figures and parts aspectuall The Planets vertue is proper and speciall The vertue of the Elements is here materiall The vertue infused resulteth of them all The first is like to a workmans Minde The second like his Hand ye shall finde The third is like a good Instrument The remnant like a Thing wrought to your intent Make all the Premises with other well accord Then shall your merrits make you a greate Lord. In this wise the Elixir of whom ye make mention Is ingendered a thing of a second intention Trust not in Geomantie that superstitious Arte For God made Reason which there is set aparte Trust not to all Astrologers I saie whie For that Arte is as secreat as Alkimy That other is disproved and plainely forbod By holy Saincts of the Church of God Trust not ne love not Negromancy For it is a property of the Devill to lye Trust to this Doctrine set herein your desires And now lerne the Regiment of your Fiers CHAP. VII Aparfet Master ye maie him call trowe Which knoweth his Heates high and lowe Nothing maie let more your desires Than ignorance of Heates of your Fiers Of manie Auctors written ye maie see Totum consistit in ignis regimine Wherefore in all Chapters you must so proceed That Heate worke not more ne lesse than it need Wherein manie of Gebars Cookes Deceived were though thei be wise
thy Elements into Fyre turnyd by Cyrculacyon Then to wyn to thy desyre thou needst not be in dowte For the Whele of our Phylosophy thou hast turnyd abowte But yet ageyne turne abowte two tymys thy Whele In whych be comprehendyd all the Secretts of our Phylosophy In Chapters 12 made playne to the if thou conseve them well And all the Secretts by and by of our lower Astonomye How thou Calcin thy Bodys parfit dissolve devide putrefie Wyth parfyt knowledge of all the polys whych in our Hevyn ben Shynyng with colors inexplycable never were gayer sene And thys one Secrett conclusyonal know thou wythouten fayle Our Red Man teyneth not tyll he teynyd be Therfore yf thou lyst thy selfe by thy craft to avayle The Altytude of thy Bodys hyde show out theyr profundyte In every of thy Materyalls dystroyyng the fyrst qualyte And secundary qualytes more gloryose repare in them anon And in one Glas wyth one governaunce 4 Naturs turne into one Pale and Black wyth falce Citryne unparfyt Whyte Red Pekoks fethers in color gay the Raynbow whych shall overgoe The Spottyd Panther wyth the Lyon greene the Crowys byll bloe as lede These shall appere before the parfyt Whyte many other moe Colors and after the parfyt Whyt Grey and falce Citrine also And after all thys shall appere the blod Red invaryable Then hast thou a Medcyn of the thyrd order of hys owne kynde Multyplycable Thow must devyde thy Elixer whyte into partyes two After thou rubify and into Glassys let hym be don If thou wylt have the Elixers both for Son and Mone do so Wyth Mercury then hem Multeply unto gret quantyte sone Yf thow at the begynnyng had not as much as wold into aspone Yet moght thou them so Multeply both the Whyte Red That yf thou levyd a thousand yere they shold the stond in stede Have thou recourse to thy Whele I councell the unto And stody tyll thou understond eche Chapter by and by Medyll with no falce Fantesys Mulâ—â—plyers let them go Which wyll the flatter falcely sey they are connyng in Phylosophye Do as I byd the and then dyssolve these foreseyd Baces wyttely And turne hym into parfyt Oylys with our trew water ardent By Cyrculacion that must be don accordyng to our entent These Oylys wyll fyx crude Mercury and convert Bodys all Into parfyt Sol and Lune when thou shalt make Projeecyon That Oylysh substance pure and fyx Raymond Lully dyd call Hys Basylyske of whych he made never so playne deteccyon Pray for me to God that I may be of hys eleccyon And that he wyll for one of hys on Domys Day me kene And graunt me in hys blys to reygne for ever wyth hym Amen Gloria tibi Domine An Admonition wherein the Author declareth his Erronious experiments AFter all thys I wyll thou understonde For thy savegarde what I have done Many Experyments I have had in hond As I found wryten for Son and Mone Whych I wyll tell the rehersyng sone Begynnyng wyth Vermylion whych provyd nought And Mercury sublymyd whych I dere bought I made Solucyons full many a one Of Spyrytts Ferments Salts Yerne and Steele Wenyng so to make the Phylosophers Stone But fynally I lost eche dele After my Boks yet wrought I well Whych evermore untrew I provyd That made me oft full sore agrevyd Waters corrosyve and waters Ardent With which I wrought in divers wyse Many one I made but all was shent Eggs shells I calcenyd twise or thryse Oylys fro Calcys I made up-ryse And every Element fro other I did twyne But profyt found I ryght none therein Also I wrought in Sulphur and in Vitriall Whych folys doe call the Grene Lyon In Arsenike in Orpement fowle mot them fall In debili principio was myne Incepcyon Therefore was frawde in fyne the Conclusyon And I blew my thryft at the Cole My Clothys were bawdy my Stomache was never hole Sal Armonyake and Sandever Sal Alkaly sal Alembroke sal Attinckarr Sal Tarter sal Comyn sal Geme most clere Sal Peter sal Sode of these beware Fro the odor of Quycksylver kepe the fare Medyll not wyth Mercury precipitate Nether wyth imparfyt Bodys rubyfycate I provyd Uryns Eggs Here and Blod The Scalys of Yern whych Smethys do of smyte Aes Ust and Crokefer whych dyd me never good The sowle of Saturne and also Marchasyte Lythage and Antemony not worth a myte Of whych gey Tyntures I made to shew Both Red and Whyte whych were untrew Oyle of Lune and water wyth labour grett I made Calcynyng yt with salt precipytate And by hyt selfe with vyolent hett Gryndyng with Vynegar tyll I was fatygate And also with a quantyte of Spyces acuate Uppon a Marble whych stode me oft in cost And Oyles with Corrosyves I made but all was lost Many Amalgame dyd I make Wenyng to fix these to grett avayle And thereto Sulphur dyd I take Tarter Egges whyts and the Oyle of the Snayle But ever of my purpose dyd I fayle For what for the more and what for the lesse Evermore somethyng wantyng there was Wyne Mylke Oyles and Runnett The Slyme of Sterrs that falleth to the grownde Celydony and Secundynes wyth many moe yett In these I practysyd as in my books I found I wan ryght nought but lost many a pownde Of Mercury and Mettalls I made Chrystall stones Wenyng that hyt had ben a worke for the nonys Thus I rostyd and boylyd as one of Gebers Cooks And oft tymes my wynnyng in the Asks I sought For I was dyscevyd wyth many falce Books Wherby untrue thus truly I wrought But all such Experyments avaylyd me nought But brought me in danger and in combraunce By losse of my goods and other gravaunce For the love of our Lady such lewdnes eschue Medyll wyth no falshood whych never prevyd well Assay when thow wylt and thow shalt fynde me treue Wynn shalt thou nought but lose every dele Pence in thy Pauwkner fewe shalt thou feele In smokes and smells thow shalt have myckle wo That unnethe for syknes on Erth shalt thow go I never saw true worke treuly but one Of whych in thys tretys the trewth I have told Stody only therfore to make our Stone For therby may thow wyn both Sylver and Gold Uppon my wrytynge therfore to ground the be bold So shalt thow lose nought yf God be thy gyde Trust to my Doctryne and therby abyde Remember how Man ys most noble Creature In erths Composycyon that ever God wrought In whom are the fowre Elements proportyonyd by nature A naturall Mercuryalyte whych cost ryght nought Out of hys myner by Arte yt must be brought For our Mettalls be nought ells but myners too Of our Soon and our Moone wyse Reymond seyd so The clerenes of the Moone and of the Soone bryght Into these two Myners desendyth secretly Howbeyt the cleernes be hyd fro thy syght By craft thou shalt make ytt to appere openly Thys hyd Stone
the keepe hit secretlye And serve thy God both nyght and day The better thou shalt speede thys ys no nay Now I have taught the how thow schalt do The blys of hevyn God bryng hus to HER ys an Erbe men calls Lunayrie I blesset mowte hys maker bee Asterion he ys I callet alle so And other namys many and mo He ys an Erbe of grete myght Of Sol the Sunn he taketh hys lyght He ys the Fader to Croppe and Rote Wyth fragrant Flowris that ben sote Flowrys to bere in that stede Swm ben Whyte and swm ben Red Hys Lewys grwyth both day and nyght Lyke to the Ferment that ys so bright I shall declare thys Erbe so lyght To many a man hyt ys a fayre seyght Frist at the Rote I wolle be gynne That cawsyth alle thing for to sprynge A growyth a pon a Mowntayne brym Where Febis hath grete dominacion The Sune by day the Mone by nyghâ— That maketh hym both fayre and bryght The Rote growyth on stonns clere Whyte and Rede that ys so peyre The Rote ys blacke the Stalke ys red The wyche schall ther never be dede The Lewis ben rownd as a Nowbel son And wexsyth and wanyth as the Mon In the meddes a marke the brede of a peni Lo thys is lyke to owre sweght Lunayre Hys Flowrys schynith fayre and cler In alle the Worlde thaye have non pere He ys not fownde in no maner wyse But of a Schepeherd in Godis servyse The good Schepeherd that I her mene Ys he that keepeth hys Sowle clene Hys Flowrys ben gret and sum ben small Lyke to hem that growyth in Dale With many a vertu both fayre and cler As ther ben dayes in alle the yere Fro fallyng Ewel and alle Sekeneys From Sorowe he brengyth man to Bles Unto that blese that wee maye come by th the help of Marys Sonne And of hys Moder that ys so fre Amen good Lord for cherite Spiritus Anima Corpus I Schal yow tel wyth hert mode Of thre Kynggys that ben so goude And how thaye cam to God almyght The wich was ther a sweet syght I figure now howr besset Stone Fro Heven wase sende downe to Solomon By an Angele bothe goude and stylle The wych wase than Christis wylle The present of hem in Bedlem than To Cryst brwght Aurum Tus Myrham Owre Sol and Sulphir wyth his Mercuri Both Bodi and Soule wyth oure Luneyre Aurum betokeneth heer owre Bodi than The wych was brwght to God and Man And Tus alleso owre Soule of lyfe Wyth Myrham owre Mercurye that ys hys Wyfe Here be the thre namys fayre and good And alle thaye ben but one in mode Lyke as the Trenite ys but on Ryght so conclude the Phylosofeers Stone Thow mayst a se her now in syght Off owre Stone figuriet a right How sende he wase out of Heven By an Angele wyth mylde Stefyn And by hys fygure thow mayst se That hyt ys lyke to personis Thre To Fader and Sonne and holi Gost The wych was and ys of mytis most Into hys blyse now come wee Amen goud Lord for cheyte Ishew you here a short Conclusion To understand it if ye have grace Wrighten without any delusion Comprehended in a litle space All that in this Booke wrighten is In this place comprehended is How Nature worketh in her kinde Keepe well this Lesson in your minde I have declared micle thing If you have grace to keepe in minde How that our Principle is One thing More in Number and One in kinde For there ben things Seven That in a Principle doe dwell Most precious under Heven I have so sworne I may not tell In this Booke I shew to you in wrighting As my Bretheren doe each one A similitude of every like thing Of the which we make our Stone Our Stone is made of one simple thing That in him hath both Soule and Lyfe He is Two and One in kinde Married together as Man and Wife Our Sulphur is our Masculine Our Mercury is our Femenine Our Earth is our Water cleere Our Sulphur also is our Fier And as Earth is in our Water cleare Soe is Aer in our Fier Now have yee Elements foure of might And yet there appereth but two in sight Water and Earth ye may well see Fier and Aer be in them as quality Thys Scyence maie not be taught to every one He were acurst that so schould done How schould ye have Servants than Than non for other would ought done To tyl the Lande or drive the Plough For ever ech man would be proud enough Lerned and leude would put them in Presse And in their workes be full busie But yet they have but little increse The writings to them is so misty It is full hard this Scyence to finde For Fooles which labour against kinde This Science I pray you to conceale Or else with it do not you meale For and ye canot in it prevaile Of much sorrow rhen may you tell By suddain mooving of Elements Nature may be letted And wher lacks Decoction no perfection may be For some Body with leprosy is infected Raw watery humors cause superfluity Therefore the Philosopher in his reason hath contrived A perfect Medicine for bodyes that be sick Of all infirmetyes to be releeved This heleth Nature and prolongeth lyfe eak This Medicine of Elements being perfectly wrought Receypts of the Potecary we neede not to buy Their Druggs and Dragms we set at nought With quid pro quo they make many a ly Our Aurum potabile Nature will increase Of Philosophers Gold if it be perfectly wrought The Phisitians with Minerall puteth him in prese Litle it availeth or else right nought This Scyence shall ye finde in the old boke of Turb How perfectly thisMedicine Philosophers have wrought Rosary with him also doth record More then four Flements we occupie nought Comune Mercury and Gold we none occupie Till we perfectly have made our Stone Then with them two our Medicine we Multiply Other recepts of the Potecary truly we have none A hundred Ounces of Saturne ye may well take Seeth them on the fire and melt him in a mould A Projection with your Medicin upon hem make And anon yee shall alter him into fine Gold One Ounce upon a hundred Ounces is sufficient And so it is on a thousand Ounces perfectly wrought Without dissolucion and Subtillant Encreasing of our Medicine els have we nought Ioy eternall and everlasting blisse Be to Almyghty God that never schal miss In some Copies I found these following Verses set before this Worke. EArth out of Earth clensed pure By Earth of himselfe through his nature Rectified by his Milke who can it tye And afterward united with Water of lyfe truly A Dragon lying in his deepe denne Rotting in Water to Putrefie then Leprouse huge and terrible in sight By bathing and balning the Dragon cometh to light Evermor drowned in the bottome of his
Arch-Bishop dyed the same yeare this Ordinall was begun to be written yet the certaine time of that yeare I cannot yet learne But it was towards the latter end thereof when his Successor Lawrence Booth was Consecrate viz. 25. Sept. Besides in all probability he lay not long sick because he dyed at Birthlow upon a Iourney from Yorke So that the Booke might be finished and presented or if not presented yet intended before he dyed though begun but the lame yeere Pag. 107. The Compounde of Alchymie c. THis Worke which is also called the Twelve Gates was pen'd by Sir George Ripley and formerly set forth in print by Ralph Rabbards I have compared it with severall other Manuscript Copies amongst which I happily met with one written neere about the time that Ripley lived and in these Streames of Learning the more clearest and without the least of Mixture is to be found neerest the Spring-head the which I most relyed upon Yet where they differ the Reader if this Copy please not may make use of the former It appeares at the end of this Worke that it was written in the yeare 1471. which I the rather take notice of because I have met with a kind of Retractation of Ripley's beginning Falix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum Wherein he beseeches all men wheresoever they shall meete with any of his Experiments written by Him or that go under his Name from the yeare 1450. to the yeare 1470. either to burne them or afford them no Credit being written according to his esteâ—me nor proofe and which afterwards upon tryall he found false and vaine for soe long was he seeking the Stone but in the truth of practise had not found it till towards the end of that yeare and then saith He Inveni quem diligit anima mea So that this Treatise of the 12. Gates being wrote the yeare after is unquestionably to be relyed upon because pen'd from a grounded experimentall Practise as himselfe Testifies in his Admonition I never saw worke truly but one Of which in this Treatise the truth I have told In which for the Students safeguard he gives an account of his own Errâ—nious Experiments therein following Chaucer Richardus Anglicus Dioâ—ifius Zacharius the noble Trevisan and divers other honest and Consciencious Philosophers Ludovicus Combachiuâ— who hath lately set forth divers of Riplâ—y's Works in Latin tells us that he then had in his hands these Twelve Gates rendred in most pure Elegiaque verse by one Nicholas May upon the Command of the Emperour Rudolph the second and that he could willingly have added it to that he published which was translated out of English into Latine verse by Sir Edw Kelley for the better understanding thereof but that the Copy was none of his owne The learned Faber 1646. bestowed much Paines and Cost in publishing to the world Basilius Currus Triumphalis and others in one Volume In the Argument of which Booke Georgius Riplaeus Canonicus Anglus doctissimus mirandus in quo nihil falsi supervacui ad metallorum omnium proprictates naturas manifestandus is thus Ingeniously acknowledged He further assuresus that his Workes are worthy to keep pace with the best Philosophers and knowes that Policie in Printing is surest and takes well with the Iudicious to begin with a good Worke and end with the best to which place he refers on Ripley But I must needs tell the Reader that in pag. 338. and so to the end he is by mistake called Triplanus instead of Riplaeus There are other the like notorious faults which the Printer most likely is guilty of as giving Isaac Holland the name of Irsacus Cornelius Drebble he prints Tornelius and sometimes Fornelius Prebellianus and besides these further causes of Exception to other parts of the Worke too many to be mentioned here amongst the rest where Faber sayes they were all rendred into Latin out of Dutch and that this peece of Ripley's which he there calls Triplanus de lapide Philosophorum but is indeed an Epitomy of these 12. Gates was by one Nicholas Barnard a Philosopher Translated out of Dutch into Latin intimating withall that it was Originally written in the Germain Tongue which is very false injurious to our Author and dishonourable to our Nation Thus much for the Worke and now to say something touching our Author Philemon Holland in his Translation of Cambden's Britania Printed 1636. is pleased to take the liberty to tell us that the place of his Nativity was Ripley a Village in the County of Surrey and calls him a Ring-leader of our Alchimists and a mysticall Impostor This Imputation of Mysticall Impostor smells more of Envious dislike then faithfull Account and therefore I 'le passe it by But as to the place of his Birth I am induced to believe it to be about Yorkshire not that he was a Foundling at Ripley in that County or of so obscure Parents that the name of the place of his Nativity must be impos'd upon him in defect of a better No certainly his Name Relation and Kindred discover him to be the Sonne of a Gentleman and though I cannot exhibite his Pedigree yet it appeares in some ancient Manuscript Copies of his Medulla which I have seene that his Relation of Kindred lay in the Northerne parts where he saith he had divers Kindred Gentlemen of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as Yevarsall Ripley Medlay Willoughbie Burham Waterton Flemming and Talboyes who as he there complaines to the Arch-Bishop Nevell to whom he dedicated that Worke were by the Conquering Sword of Edward the fourth God so permitting lamentably destroyed 'T is also considerable that his Ecclesiasticall Promotion hapned to be at Bridlington a Towne in the East Riding of Yorkshire According to my Profession In Order Chanon Regular of Bridlington And probably such his Advancement might be procured rather in that Country where his Kindred and Friends lived and himself that Country-man then if he had been a Stranger I determine not whether Holland has done the learned Antiquary or profound Philosopher the greater Injury in what he puts downe concerning the place of his Birth for I must let the world know 't is not to be found in the Originall Latin which Cambden published Anno 1607. nor can I learne that there was any other Impression to the time of Translation nor in probability could there be when Holland fell to worke immediately upon the coming out of the said Impression in 1607. and set forth his Translation within foure Yeares So that I cannot but wonder at the Boldnesse of this Translator not onely in adding many things of his owne score but for abusing so learned a Philosopher with the Tearme of Mysticall Impostor and putting it upon the Account of an Author who should he thus vilifie one of so cleere a Reputation ingenious Schollars might have just cause to question the Candidnesse of his Pen in other things But this kind of liberty I finde Holland hath