Creatures and in this poynt all wise men agree and for this cause sicke folkes are suffered to see playes and pleasaunt thinges are brought vnto them yea oftentimes following theyr humour wee giue them many contrary thinges because the affection and appetite of the soule ouercommeth sicknesse Nowe forsomuch as the truth must in no wise bee empayred wee are diligently to consider that euery Agent not onely substances but likewise Accidens of the third kinde of Qualities worketh a vertue and maketh an apparance in the outward nature and that there are certain sensible vertues in things This therefore may worke a vertue and kinde out of it selfe and the rather because it is more excellent then other corporall things but cheesely for the worthinesse of the soule And men do not exercise only through heat but their spirits are stirred vppe within them as they likewise are in other liuing creatures And we see that some creatures are changed and do change such things as are obedient vnto them as for example The Basiliske slaieth a man if it doo but beholde him the wolfe maketh a man hoarse if it spie him first and the Hyena as Solinus reporteth in his wonders of the worlde and other Authors will not suffer a dog to barke within his shadow Yea Aristotle sayth in his booke of Vegetables that the frutes of the female Palme trees wax ripe by the smell of the male Palmes and in some regions Mares conceiue with yong through the very sent of the horses as Solinus recordeth and many such things happen through the kinds and vertues of creatures and plants euen many strange wonderfull things as Aristotle affirmeth in his booke of Secrets Now if plants and liuing creatures cannot attaine vnto the excellencie of mans nature they shall much lesse be able to worke vertues kinds and sende foorth colours for the alterations of bodies without them whereupon Aristotle saith in his booke of Sleep Watching that if a menstrous woman beholde her selfe in a looking glasse shee will infect it so that there will appeare a cloude of bloud And Solinus reporteth that in Sythia there are women which haue a double Ball or Apple in one eye which caused Ouid to say Nos quoque pupilla duplex who when they are angry slay men with the very looking on them And we know that a man of an ill complexion hauing some contagious disease as the leprosie or falling-sicknesse or a sharpe ague or very bad eyes and the like poysoneth and infecteth others that are in his company but contrariwise men of a good and healthie complexion especially yong men do comfort others and make men ioyfull with their presence which commeth to passe by reason of their delicate Spirits theyr holsom and pleasant vapours their kindly natural heate I say it is by meanes of the spirits and vertues which proceede from them as Galen teacheth vs in Techin And these things become hurtful if the soule be corrupted with many grosse sins beeing coupled with a diseased body of an euill complexion and in like case is it if there be a feruent appetite and vehement desire to hurt and mischiefe For then the nature of the complexion and soundnesse woorketh more forcibly by the cogitations of the soule and longing desires that it hath For which cause the Leper that earnestly wisheth and with exceeding carefulnesse intendeth to infect some body that standeth before him doth both more speedily and dangerously infect him then he could haue done if he had not before hand thought hereof desired and purposed it For Nature as Auicen teacheth in the foresayde places obeyeth the thoughts and vehement desires of the Soule yea there should bee no operation at all in men if the naturall vertue in the members did not subiect it selfe to the thoughts and desires of the soule For as Auicen teacheth in the thirde of the Metaphysickes the first moouer is a thought and the next a desire conformable to the thought And last of all the vertue of the Soule in the members which yeeldeth obedience to the desire and thought and that both in euill and good VVhereupon when these thinges are to bee seene in a man a good complexion health of bodie youth beautie comly proportion of the members and a Soule free from sinne an earnest thought and vehement desire to someworke then whatsoeuer may be effected by the kinde and vertue of man by the spirits and naturall heate it must of necessitie be more forcibly and throughly wrought by these such like Spirites Vapours and influences then if anie of these were wanting especially if there bee an earnest desire and forcible intention So then many straunge matters may bee brought to passe by the woordes and workes of man when all the forenamed caules doo concurre and meete together for wordes proceede from within by the thoughts of the Soule and desire commeth by the motion of the Spirites heate and vocall arterie And the generation of these thinges hath open wayes through which is a great passage of Spirits heate euaporation vertue and kindes which may bee made by the Soule and heart By reason whereof there are alterations and chaunges made in thinges spirituall other things beeing answerable by words according to that naturall power which is due vnto them For wee see that by reason of these and such like arteries gaspings and yawnings and many resolutions of the Spirites and of heate arise from the heart in the inwarde partes which sometimes hurt vs when they proceede from a crazie body that is of an euill complexion and againe they greatly profite and comfort vs when they come from a pure and sound bodie of a good complexion In like sort therefore there may be some naturall operations in the generation and pronunciation of woordes with an intent and desire of working so that not without good cause we vse to say that a linely voyce is of great efficacie not because it hath that vertue which the Magitians dreame of or that it is able to make and alter as others thinke but because it is as nature hath ordained We must therefore be verie circumspect in these things for a man may easily tread awry and many erre in both partes Some denie that there is any operation but others exceede and flie vnto Magicke And hence it is that there are so many bookes in the worlde of charmes and characters praiers coniurations sacrifices and such like that are meere Magicke as the booke of the offices of Spirits the book of the death of the Soule the booke of Art notorie and infinite more of the same kinde that containe not in them the power of Art or Nature but are wholy stuffed with the idle denises of vaine magitians Yet it must be remembred that many bookes are ascribed to Magitians which in truth are not such but containe in them the excellencie of wisdome Now amongst these which are suspected and which not euerye mans particular experience shall instruct him
their places for there will be a great noyse Goe with them my sonne for they will quickly vanish away CHAP. XI Of the commistion of the Elements that were seperated BEgin composition which is the circuite of the whole worke for there shall be no composition without marriage and putrefaction The Marriage is to mingle the thinne with the thicke and Putrefaction is to rost grinde and water so long till all be mingled together and become one so that there should bee no diuersitie in them nor separation from water mingled with water Then shall the thicke labour to retaine the thinne then shall the soule striue with the fire and endeuour to beare it then shall the Spirite labour to be drowned in the bodyes and poured foorth into them And this must needes bee because the bodye dissolued when it is commixt with the Soule it is likewise commixt with euerie part therof other things enter into other things according to theyr similitude and likenesse and are changed into one and the same thing And for this cause the soule must partake with the commoditie durablenesse and permanencie which the body receiued in his commixtion The like also must befall the Spirite in this state or permanencie os the soule and boby sor when the Spirit shall bee commixt with the soule by laborious operation and all his partes with all the partes of the other two to wit the soule and bodie then shall the Spirite and the other two bee conuerted into one indiuisible thing according to their entire substance whose natures haue beene preserued and their partes haue agreed and come together whereby it hath come to passe that when this compounde hath met with a body dissolued and that heate hath got hold of it and that the moysture which was in it appeareth and is molten in the dissolued body and hath passed into it and mixt it selfe with that which was of the nature of moysture it is inflamed and the fire defendeth it self with it Then when the fire would been flamed with it it will not suffer the fire to take holde of it that is to say to cleaue vnto it with the Spirit mingled with his water The fire will not abide by it vntill it be pure And in like manner doth the water naturally flie from the fire wherof when the fire hath taken hold it doth forth with by little and little euaporate And thus hath the body beene the meanes to retaine the water and the water to retaine the oyle that it should not burne nor consume away and the oyle to retaine tincture and tincture the precise cause to make the colour appeare and shew forth the tincture wherein there is neither light nor life This then is the true life and perfection of the worke and masterie which thou soughtest for Be wise therefore and vnderstande and thou shalt find what thou lookest for if it please God CHAP. XII Of the solution of the Stone compounded THe Philosophers moreouer haue taken great paines in dissoluing that the body and soule might the better be incorporate for all those things that are together in contrition assation and rig ation haue a certaine affinitie and alliance betweene themselues so that the fire may spoyle the weaker of nature till it vtterly fade and vanish away as also it again returneth vpon the stronger parts vntil the bodie remaine without the Soule But when they are thus dissolued and congealed they take the parts one with another as well great as small and incorporate them well together till they be conuerted and changed into one and the same thing And when this is done the fire taketh from the Soule as much as from the body neither more nor lesse and this is the ceuse of perfection For this cause it is necessary teaching the composition of Elixir to afford one chapter for expounding the solution of simple bodyes and soules because bodyes doo not enter into soules but do rather withhold and hinder them from sublimatiō fixation retention commistion and the like operations except mundification go before And thou shalt know that solution is after one of these two wayes for either it extracteth the inward parts of things vnto their Superficies and this is solution an example whereof thou hast in Siluer that seemeth cold and drie but being dissolued and that his inwards appeare it is found hot and moyst or else it is to purchase to a body an accidentall moysture which it had not before and to adde hereunto his owne humiditie whereby his parts may be dissolued and this likewise is called solution CHAP. XIII Of the coagulation of the Stone dissolued SOme among the learned haue said Congeale in a bath with a good congelation as I haue tolde thee and this is Sulphur shining in darknesse a red Hiasinth a firy deadly poyson the Elixir that abideth vppon none a victorious Lion a malefactor a sharpe sworde a precious Triacle healing euery infirmitie And Geber the sonne of Hayen sayd that all the operations of this masterie are contained vnder fixe things to put to flight to melt to incerate to make as white as Marble to dissolue and congeale That putting to flight is to driue away and remoue blacknesse from the spirit and soule the melting is the liquefaction of the body to incerate belongeth properly to the body and is the subtiliation thereof to whiten is properly to melt speedily to congeale is to congeale the body with the soule alreadie prepared Againe flight appertaineth to the body and soule to melt whiten incerate and dissolue belong vnto the body and congelation to the soule Bee wise and vnderstand CHAP XIIII That there is but one Stone and of his nature BAuzan a Greeke Philosopher when it was demaunded of him whether a stone may be made of a thing that buddeth made answere yea to wit the two first stones the stone Alkali and our stone which is the life and workmanship of him that knoweth it but he that is ignorant of it and hath not made it and knoweth not how it is engendred supposing it to be no stone or that conceiueth not with himselfe whatsoeuer I haue spoken of it and yet will make a tryall of it prepareth himselfe for death and casteth away his money for if he cannot finde out this precious stone another shall not arise in his place neither shall natures triumph ouer him His nature is great heate with moderation He that now knoweth it hath profited by reading this booke but he that remaineth ignorant hath lost his labour It hath many properties and vertues for it cureth bodies of their accidentall diseases and preserueth sound substances in such sort that their appeareth in them no perturbations of contraries nor breach of their bond and vnion For this is the sope of bodies yea their spirit and soule which when it is incorporate with them dissolueth them without any losse This is the life of the dead and their resurrection a medicine preseruing bodies and
desire according as they are disposed togither In all these neither Physicall reason nor Art nor naturall power hath anye place and for this cause it is more abhominable sith it contemneth the lawes of Phylosophie and contrarie to all reason inuocateth wicked Spirites that by theyr helpe they may haue their desire And herein are they deceyued that they thinke the Spirits to bee subiect vnto them and that they are compelled at mens pleasures which is impossible for humane force is farre inferiour to that of the Spirites And againe they fowly erre to dreame that the cursed spirits are called vppe and figured by vertue of those naturall meanes which they vse Moreouer they notoriously offende when they goe about by inuocations deprecations and sacrifices to appease them and vse them for the benefite and commoditie of man For this were without all comparison more easie to bee attayned at the handes of God or of good spirites But vet the malignaunt spirits will not yeeld vnto vs in those things which are very hurtfull and daungerous saue so farre forth as it pleaseth God who ruleth and gouerneth mankinde for the sinnes of men to permit and suffer them These wayes and meanes therefore are besides the rules and precepts of Wisedome nay rather they are contrarie vnto them and the Phylosophers did neuer make account of them Now concerning Charmes Characters and such like trumperies that are vsed in these dayes I adindge them to bee all false and doubtfull For some are without all shewe of reason whereof the Philosophers haue made mention in the woorkes of Nature and Art to the ende they might conceale secrets from the vnworthie as if it were altogither vnknowne that the Load-stone could attract Iron and one desirous to woorke this feate before the people shoulde make Characters and pronounce Charmes that by this meanes he might bring it to passe this worke of his should be erroneous and deceitfull After this maner there are many thinges hidden in the Philosophers bookes wherein a wise man must beware that neglecting the Charmes and Characters he onely attend and make tryall of the worke of Nature and Art And then he shall perceyue things liuing and without life to concurre and agree in Nature for the conformitie and likenesse of their Natures and not by vertue of the Charme or Character whereas the simple people suppose manie things to bee wrought by Magicke which are nothing else but the secretes of Art and Nature Yea the Magitians themselues doo vainelie repose such confidence in theyr Charmes and Characters as though they should receyne power from them that in the meane time they sorsake the woorke of Arte and Nature And by this meanes both these kinde of men are depryued of the benefite of VVisedome theyr owne follye so constrayning Neuerthelesse there are certaine deprecations long since sramed and instituted by faithfull men or rather ordained by God himselfe and his Angels that may retaine their pristine and ancient vertue as it is yet to bee seene in many Countreyes where they make certain prayers ouer Iron red hot ouer the water of y e riuer such like there by to approue the innocent and cōdemne the guilty and these things are thought to be brought to passe by the authority of the prelates For euē the priests them selues do vse Exorcismes as we may reade in the consecration of blessed water and the old law of the water of purification whereby adultery breach of wedlock was fifted out And ther are many other such like things But as for those things that are contained in the Magicians books we must vtterly reiect them though they bee not altogether deuoyde of truth because they be so stuffed with fables that the truth cannot be discerned from fal shoold So that we must giue no credit to such as say that Solomon and other learned men made them for these bookes are not receiued by the authoritie of the Church nor of wise men but by Seducers that take the bare ietter and make newe bookes themselues and fill the world with their new inuentions as daily experience teaeheth vs. And to the ende men might be the more throughly allured they giue glorious titles to their workes and foolishly ascribe them to such and such Authors as though they spake nothing of themselues and write base matters in a lostie stile and with y e cloke of a text do hide their own forgeries But as for Characters they are either words vnder the sorme of some letters containing in them the matter of a praver or else they are made sor the seruice and worship of certaine Stars at speciall times Of Characters in the first sence we are to iudge in the same sort as we did of prayers but as for these latter figures and Characters it is well knowne that they haue no vertue nor efficacie at all vnlesse they be sramed in their proper seasōs For which cause he that maketh them as he findeth them in the books obseruing only the figure wherein he solloweth his sampler is iudged by al wise men to do iust nothing But contrariwise he that worketh according to the aspect of the heauens in due constellations is able not onely to dispose of his Characters but euen of all his works as well artificiall as naturall agreeable to the influence of the heauen Neuerthelesse for so much as it is very difficult to perceiue the certainty of heauenly bodies many are ouertaken with grosse errors few there are that can truly profitably order any thing And hence it is that the common Mathematicians iudging and working by Magick Starres and by workes as it were iudgements at choyse times become nothing famous although they bee right cunning and throughly acquainted with the Arte and are able to bring many things to passe But it must not bee forgotten that the skilfull Phisition and any other of what profession soeuer may to good purpose vse Charmes and Characters though they bee fained after the opinion of Constantinus the Phisition not as though Charmes and Characters coulde worke any thing but that the Medicine might bee the more willingly and readily receyued and that the minde of the patient might bee excited become more confident and bee filled with ioye for the Soule thus affected is able to renue many things in his owne bodie insomuch that it may recouer his former health through the ioy and hope it hath conceiued If therefore the Physition for the magnifying of his worke doo administer any such thing that his patient may not dispayre of his health it is not to bee abhorred if wee will credite the sayde Constantinus For hee in his Epistle of those things which may be hanged about the necke graunteth that Charmes and Characters may thus bee vsed and in this cause defendeth them for the soule hath great power ouer the body through his strong and forcible operations as Auicennae sayth in his Bookes of the Soule and in his eight booke of liuing
nowewee are to speake of the Vessell and Furnace in what sort and of what things they must be made Whereas nature by a naturall fire decocteth the mettals in the Mynes shee denieth the like decoction to be made without a vessell fitte for it And if we purpose to immitate nature in concocting wherefore do we reiect her vessell Let vs first of all therefore see in what place the generation of mettals is made It doth euidently appeare in the places of Minerals that in the bottom of the mountaine there is heate continually alike the nature whereof is alwaies to ascend and in the ascention it alwayes drieth vp and coagulateth the thicker or grosser water hidden in the belly or veines of the earth or mountaine into Argent-uiue And if the minerall fatnes of the same place arising out of the earth be gathered warme togither in the veines of the earth it runneth through the mountain becommeth Sulphur And as a man may see in the foresaide veines of that place that Sulphur engendred of the fatnesse of the earth as is before touched meeteth with the Argent-uiue as it is also written in the veines of the earth and begetteth the thicknesse of the minerall water There through the continual equall heate in the mountaine in long processe of time diuerse mettals are engendred according to the diuersitie of the place And in these Minerall places you shall finde a continuall heate For this cause wee are of right to note that the externall minerall mountaine is euerie where shut vp within it selfe and stonie for if the heate might issue out there should neuer be engendred any mettall If therefore wee intend to immitate nature we must needes haue such a furnace like vnto the Mountaines not in greatnesse but in continual heate so that the fire put in when it ascendeth may finde no vent but that the heat may beat vpon the vessell being close shutte containing in it the matter of the stone which vessell must be round with a small necke made of glasse or some earth representing the nature or close knitting togither of glasse the mouth whereof must be signed or sealed with a couering of the same matter or with lute And as in the mynes y t heat doth not immediatly touch the matter of Sulphur and Argent-uiue because the earth of the mountain cōmenth euery where between So this fire must not immediatly touch the vessell containing the matter of the foresaide things in it but it must be put into another vessell shut close in the like manner that so the temperate heate may touch the matter aboue and beneath and where ere it be more aptly and fitly wherevpon Aristotle sayth in the light of lights that Mercurie is to be cōcocted in a threefold vessell and that the vessell must bee of most hard Glasse or which is better of earth possessing the nature of Glasse CHAP. VI. Of the accident all and essentiall colours appearing in the worke THe matter of the stone thus ended thou shalt knowe the certaine maner of working by what maner and regiment the stone is often chaunged in dccoction into diuerse colours Wherupon one saith So many colours so many names According to the diuerse colours appearing in the worke the names likewise were varied by the Philosophers whereon in the first operation of our stone it is called putrifaction and our stone is made blacke whereof one saith When thou findest it blacke know that in that blacknesse whitenesse is hidden and thou must extract the same from his most subtile blacknes But after putrefaction it waxeth red not with a true rednesse of which one saith It is often red and often of a citrine colour it often melteth and is often coagulated before true whitenesse And it dissolueth it selfe it coagulateth it selfe it putrifieth it selfe it coloureth it self it mortifieth it selfe it quickneth it selfe it maketh it selfe blacke it maketh it selfe white it maketh it selfe red It is also greene whereon another sayth Concoct it till it appeare greene vnto thee and that is the soule And another Know that in that greene his soule beareth dominion There appeares also before whitenesse the peacocks colour whereon one saith thus Know thou that al the colours in the world or y t may be imagined appeare before whitenesse and afterward true whitenesse followeth Whereof one sayth When it hath bin decocted pure and clean that it shineth like the eyes of fishes then are wee to expect his vtilitie and by that time the stone is congealed rounde And another sayth When thou shalt finde whitenesse a top in the glasse be assured that in that whitenesse rednesse is hidden and this thou must extract but concoct it while it become all red for betweene true whitenesse and true rednesse there is a certaine ash-colour of which it is sayde After whitenesse thou canst not erre for encreasing the fire thou shalt come to an ash-colour of which another saith Doo not set light by the ashes for God shal giue it thee molten and then at the last the King is inuested with a red crowne by the will of God CHAP. VII How to make proiection af the medicine vpon any imperfect booke I Haue largely accomplisht my promise of that great masterie for making the most excellent Elixir red and white For conclusion we are to treate of the manner of proiection which is the accomplishment of the work the desired expected ioy The red Elixir doth turne into a citrine colour infinitely and changeth all mettals into pure gold And the white Elixir doth insinitely whiten and bringeth euerie mettal to perfect whitenesse But we know that one mettall is farther off from perfection then another one more neere then another And although euerie mettall may by Elixir be reduced to perfection neuerthelesse the neerest are more easily speedily and perfectly reduced then those which are far distant And when we meete with a mettall that is neere to perfection we are there by excused from many that are farre off And as for the mettals which of them be neere and which farre off which of them I say be neerest to perfection if thou be wise and discreete thou shalt find to be plainely and truely set out in my Chapters And without doubt hee that is so quick sighted in this my Mirrour that by his own industry hee can finde out the true matter hee doth full well knowe vppon what body the medicine is to bee proiected to bring it to perfection For the forerunners of this Art who haue founde it out by their philosophie do point out with their finger the direct plain way when they say Nature containeth nature Nature ouercommeth nature Nature meeting with her nature exceedingly reioyceth and is changed into other natures And in another place Euery like reioiceth in his like for likenesse is saide to be the cause of friendship wherof many Philosophers haue left a notable secret Know thou that the soule doth quickly enter into his body which
drink the weight of which moysture we haue not here determined Then againe worke them with an operation vnlike the former first imbibing and subliming it and this operation is that which they call Albification and they name it Yarit that is Siluer and and white Leade And when thou hast made this compounde white adde to him so much of the Spirit as maketh halfe of the whole and set it to working till it waxe redde and then it shall be of the colour Alsulfir which is verie red and the Philosophers haue likened it to golde the effect hereof leadeth thee to that which Aristotle saide to his Disciple Arda wee call the claye when it is white Yarit that is Siluer and when it is red wee name it Temeynch that is Golde Whitenesse is that which tincteth Copper and maketh it Yarit and that is rednesse which tincteth Yarit that is siluer maketh it Temeynch that is Gold He therefore that is able to dissolue these bodies to subtiliate thē to make them white and red and as I haue said to compound them by imbibing and conuert them to the same shall without all doubt attaine the masterie and performe the worke whereof I haue spoken vnto thee CHAP. II. Of the things and instruments necessarie and fit for this worke IT behoueth thee to knowe the vessels in this masterie to wit Aludela which the Philosophers haue called Church-yards or Cribbles because in them the parts are diuided and cleansed and in them is the matter of the masterie made compleat perfect and depured And euery one of these must haue a Furnace fit for it and let either of them haue a similitude and figure agreeable to the worke Mezleme and many other Philosophers haue named all these things in their bookes teaching the maner and forme there of And thou must know that herein the Philosophers agree togither in their wrytings concealing it by signes and making many books thereof instruments which are necessarie in these foure foresaid things As for the instruments they are two in number One is a Cucurbit with his Alembick the other is Aludel that is well made There are also foure things necessarie to these that is to say Bodies Soules Spirites and VVaters of these foure dooth the masterie and minerall worke consist These are made plaine in the Philosophers Bookes I haue therefore omitted them in mine and onely touched those things which they passed ouer with silence which he shall easily discerne that is but of indifferent iudgement And this booke I haue not made for the ignorant and vnlearned but for the wise and prudent CHAP. III. Of the nature of things appertaining to this worke KNow thou that the Philosophers haue giuen them diuerse names for some haue called them Mynes some Animal some Herball and some by the name of Natures that is Naturall some other haue called them by certaine other names at their pleasures as seemed good vnto them Thou must also know that their Medicines are neere to Natures according as the Philosophers haue said in their bookes that Nature commeth nigh to nature and Nature is like to nature and Nature is ioyned to nature and Nature is drowned in nature and Nature maketh nature white Nature doth make nature red and generation is retained with generation generation conquereth with generation CHAP. IIII. Of Decoction and the effect thereof KNow thou that the Philosophers haue named Decoction in their Bookes saying that they make Decoction in thinges and that is it that engendreth them and changeth them from their substances and colours into other substāces and colours If thou transgresse not I tell thee in this booke thou shalt proceed rightly Consider brother the seed of the earth wheron men liue how the heate of the Sunne worketh in it till it be ripe when men and other creatures seede vpon it and that afterwarde Nature worketh on it by her heate within man conuerting it into his flesh and blood For like hereto is our operation of the masterie the seed whereof as the learned haue sayde is such that his perfection and proceeding consisteth in the fire which is the cause of his life and death without somwhat comming betweene and his spiritualtie which are not mingled but with the fire Thus haue I tolde thee the truth as I haue seene and done it CHAP. V. Of Subtiliation Solution Coagulation and commistion of the Stone and of their cause and end KNow that except thou subtiliate the bodie till all become water it will not rust and putrifie and then it cannot congeale the fitting soules when the fire toucheth them for the fire is that which congealeth them by the ayd therof vnto them And in like maner haue the Philosophers commanded to dissolue the bodies to the end y e heat might enter into their bowels Again we returne to dissolue those bodies congeale them after their solution with that thing which cōmeth nigh to it vntil we ioyne all those things which haue beene mingled togither by an apt and fit commixtion which is a temperate quantitie Whereupon we ioyne fire and water earth and ayre togither when the thick hath bin mingled with the thin the thinner with the thick the one abydeth with the other and their natures are changed and made like wheras before they were simple because that part which is generatiue bestoweth his vertue vpon the subtill and that is the ayre for it cleaueth vnto his like and is a part of the generation from whence it receyueth power to moue and ascend vpward Cold hath power ouer the thick because it hath lost his heate and the water is gone out of it and the thing appeared vpō it And the moisture departed by ascending the subtil part of y e aire and mingled it selse with it for it is like vnto it and of the same nature And when the thicke bodie hath lost his heat and moysture and that cold and drinesse hath power ouer him and that their parts haue mingled themselues and be diuided and that there is no moysture to ioyne the partes diuided the parts withdraw themselues And afterwards the part which is contrary to colde by reason that it hath continued sent his heat and decoction to the parts of y e earth hauing power ouerthem and exercising such dominion ouer the cold that where before it was in the thicke body it now lurketh and lieth hid his part of generation is changed becomming subtil and hot and striuing to dry vp by his heat But afterward the subtill part that causeth natures to ascende when it hath lost his accidentall heat waxeth cold then the natures are changed and become thicke and descend to the center where y e earthly natures are ioyned togither which were subtiliate and conuerted in their generation and imbibed in them and so the moysture coupleth togither the parts diuided but the earth endeuoureth to drie vp that moysture cōpassing it about and hindring it from going out by
in his second booke namely that in a certaine Citie hee defended himselfe against the Romane armie for hee burnt an armed souldior with diuers things which he cast at him The Greeke fire is not much vnlike these and many other burning things Besides there may be made perpetuall lights and bathes burning without end for we haue knowne many that are not burned but purified But ouer and besides these there are other things of Nature that will amaze and astonish vs to heare of them for noyses may bee made in the aire like thunders yea with greater horror then those that come by Nature for a little matter fitted to the quantitie of a thumbe maketh a horrible noyse and wonderfull lightning And this is done after sundry fashions whereby any citie and armie may be destroyed after the manner of skilfull Gedeon who hauing onely three hundreth men discomfited the hosts of the Madianites with broken pitchers and lamps fire issuing out with an vnspeakeable noyse These are maruailous things if men knewe how to vse them effectually in due quantitie and matter But nowe I will propose many strange things of another kind which although they haue no great profite yet are they a most apparant demonstration of wisedome and may be vsed for the prouing of any secet things which the rude multitude gainsay being like to the attraction of Iron by the Adamant For who would beleeue such an attraction vnlesse he behelde it and there be many wonders of nature in this drawing of the Iron that are vnknowne to the common people as experience teacheth the studious But these things are greater and more in number for there is the like attraction of all mettals by the Stone of golde and siluer and the Stone runneth to Vineger Yea plants and the parts of liuing creaturs beeing locally diuided the one from the other will not withstanding by a naturall motion concurre and come together again Now when I had beheld these and such like things and considered them well I thought nothing incredible neyther in diuine nor humane things Yet there are greater behinde then these For the whole power of the Mathematickes according to the practise of Ptolomy in the. 8. de Almagesto setteth but an instrument vppon the superficies wherein all things that are in the heauen shall be truely described with theyr lengths and breadths but that they should naturally mooue with a daily motion is not in the Mathematicians power Yet doth the faithfull and industrious practisioner earnestly desire to make it of such a matter and after such a manner That the heauens should be naturally moued with a daily motion seemeth impossible vnto him because many things are carryed with the motion of the heauenly bodyes as Comets and the sea when it floweth and other things eyther wholy or in parte for then should all instruments of Astrology be in vaine as well those which haue beene inuented by the learned as those that haue beene deuised by the common sort neyther shoulde a Kings treasure bee skant comparable Moreouer there may yet greater things bee performed though not in respect of their straungenesse yet if wee regarde a publike or priuate commoditie namely to gette as great plentie of golde and siluer as we list not by a possibilitie of Nature but by the perfection of Art for asmuch as there are seuenteene manners of golde whereof eight in number haue a commixtion of Argent-uiue with gold Now the first kinde of golde is made of certaine parts of golde and some partes of siluer vntill wee reach vnto the two and twentieth degree of Gold alwayes augmenting one degree of gold with one of siluer and there are as many more of the admixtion of Brasse with Golde So that the last manner consisteth of foure and twentie degrees of pure golde without the admixtion of any other mettall and nature cannot proceede any further as experience teacheth But Art may augment gold very much in the parts of purity and likewise accomplish it without fraude or couine But this is a greater matter then the former that although the reasonable soule cannot bee constrained yet may she be effectually disposed indued and prouoked freely to change her maners affections and desires according to another mans pleasures and this may be effected not in one particular person alone but in the whole body of a Citie or people of a Kingdome And such a matter Aristotle teacheth in his booke of Secrets as well of a nation as of an army or priuate person These things are almost as much as nature or Art are able to performe But yet the last decree wherein the perfection of Art can doo oughts with all the power of nature is the prolonging of life for a great space and the possibilitie hereof is approued by many experimēts For Plynie reporteth that there was a Souldiour lustie and strong both in body mind that continued healthy beyond the accustomed age of man who when Octauianus Augustus asked him what he did that made him liue so long made aunswere in a riddle that he vsed oyle outwardly and sweet wine inwardly But afterwards there sell out many such things for on a time as a husband man was plowing he chanced to finde a golden vessell with a precious licour which he surmising to be the dew of heauen washt his face with it and dranke thereof and was incontinently renewed in Spirite in body and in quicknesse of witte for which cause of a plow-man hee was made porter to the King of Sicily this hapned in the time of king Ostus Besides it is confirmed by the testimony of the Popes letters that Almanichus beeing Captaine among the Saracens took a medicine by the benifit wherof he prolonged his life fiue hundred yeares For the king to whom hee was prisoner receiued Ambassadors from king Magus with this medicine but forasmuch as he suspected it to be poyson he would needes make a tryall of it in this Captiue In like manner the Queene of Tormery in great Britany seeking after a white Hart lighted vppon an Oyntment wherewith the Keeper of the forrest had noynted his whole bodie the soles of his feete onely excepted he liued three hundreth yeares without corruption saue that hee was troubled with the goute in his feete And wee haue obserued many Countrey-men in our dayes who without the counsell and adulse of Phisitions haue liued a hundred and three score yeares or there abouts And these things are approoued by the works of bruit beasts as namely in the Hart the Egle the Serpent and many other that by the vertue of hearbes and stones renewe theyr youth For which cause wise men haue addiected themselues to search out such a secret prouoked thereunto by the example of brute Beastes deeming it to bee possible for man to obtaine that which is not denied to vnreasonable creatures And hence is it that Artephius in his Booke intituled the Wisedome of Secretes diligently obseruing the force and