For penny nor for pound, I you behete.4667
He that me broughtë first unto that game,
Ere that he die, sorrow have he and shame.
For it is earnest4668 to me, by my faith;
That feel I well, what so any man saith;
And yet for all my smart, and all my grief,
For all my sorrow, labour, and mischíef,4669
I couldë never leave it in no wise.
Now would to God my wittë might suffice
To tellen all that longeth to that art!
But natheless yet will I tellë part;
Since that my lord is gone, I will not spare;
Such thing as that I know, I will declare.”
The Tale4670
With this Canón I dwelt have seven year,
And of his science am I ne’er the near:4671
All that I had I havë lost thereby,
And, God wot, so have many more than I.
Where I was wont to be right fresh and gay
Of clothing, and of other good array
Now may I wear an hose upon mine head;
And where my colour was both fresh and red,
Now is it wan, and of a leaden hue
(Whoso it useth, sore shall he it rue);
And of my swink4672 yet bleared is mine eye;4673
Lo what advantage is to multiply!
That sliding4674 science hath me made so bare,
That I have no good,4675 where that ever I fare;
And yet I am indebted so thereby
Of gold, that I have borrow’d truëly,
That, while I live, I shall it quitë4676 never;
Let every man beware by me for ever.
What manner man that casteth4677 him thereto,
If he continue, I hold his thrift y-do;4678
So help me God, thereby shall he not win,
But empty his purse, and make his wittës thin.
And when he, through his madness and follý,
Hath lost his owen good through jupartie,4679
Then he exciteth other men thereto,
To lose their good as he himself hath do’.
For unto shrewës4680 joy it is and ease
To have their fellows in pain and disease.4681
Thus was I onës learned of a clerk;
Of that no charge;4682 I will speak of our work.
When we be there as we shall exercise
Our elvish4683 craft, we seemë wonder wise,
Our termës be so clergial and quaint.4684
I blow the fire till that mine heartë faint.
Why should I tellen each proportión
Of thingës, whichë that we work upon,
As on five or six ounces, may well be,
Of silver, or some other quantitý?
And busy me to tellë you the names,
As orpiment, burnt bonës, iron squames,4685
That into powder grounden be full small?
And in an earthen pot how put is all,
And, salt y-put in, and also peppére,
Before these powders that I speak of here,
And well y-cover’d with a lamp of glass?
And of much other thing which that there was?
And of the pots and glasses engluting,4686
That of the air might passen out no thing?
And of the easy4687 fire, and smart4688 also,
Which that was made? and of the care and woe
That we had in our matters súblimíng,
And in amalgaming, and calciníng
Of quicksilver, called mercúry crude?
For all our sleightës we can not conclude.
Our orpiment, and súblim’d mercurý,
Our ground litharge4689 eke on the porphyrý,
Of each of these of ounces a certáin,4690
Not helpeth us, our labour is in vain.
Nor neither our spiríts’ ascensioún,
Nor our mattérs that lie all fix’d adown,
May in our working nothing us avail;
For lost is all our labour and traváil,
And all the cost, a twenty devil way,
Is lost also, which we upon it lay.
There is also full many another thing
That is unto our craft appértainíng,
Though I by order them not rehearsë can,
Becausë that I am a lewëd4691 man;
Yet will I tell them as they come to mind,
Although I cannot set them in their kind,
As bol-armoniac, verdigris, boráce;
And sundry vessels made of earth and glass;
Our urinalës, and our descensories,4692
Phials, and croslets,4693 and sublímatories,
Cucurbitës,4694 and álembikës4695 eke,
And other suchë, dear enough a leek,4696
It needeth not for to rehearse them all.
Waters rubifying, and bullës’ gall,
Arsenic, sal-armoniac, and brimstóne,
And herbës could I tell eke many a one,
As egremoine,4697 valerian, and lunáry,4698
And other such, if that me list to tarry;
Our lampës burning bothë night and day,
To bring about our craft if that we may;
Our furnace eke of calcinatión,
And of waters albificatión,
Unslaked lime, chalk, and glair of an ey,4699
Powders divérse, ashes, dung, piss, and clay,
Seared pokettes,4700 saltpetre, and vitriol;
And divers firës made of wood and coal;
Sal-tartar, alkali, salt preparáte,
And combust matters, and coaguláte;
Clay made with horse and mannë’s hair, and oil
Of tartar, alum, glass, barm, wort, argoil,4701
Rosalgar,4702 and other matters imbibing;
And eke of our mattérs encorporing,4703
And of our silver citrinatión,4704
Our cémentíng, and fermentatión,
Our ingots,4705 tests, and many thingës mo’.
I will you tell, as was me taught also,
The fourë spirits, and the bodies seven,
By order, as oft I heard my lord them neven.4706
The first spirit Quicksílver called is;
The second Orpiment; the third, y-wis,
Sal-Armoniac, and the fourth Brimstóne.
The bodies sev’n eke, lo them here anon.
Sol gold is, and Luna silvér we threpe;4707
Mars iron, Mercury quícksilver we clepe;4708
Saturnus lead, and Jupiter is tin,
And Venus copper, by my father’s kin.
This cursed craft whoso will exercise,
He shall no good have that him may suffice;
For all the good he spendeth thereabout,
He losë shall, thereof have I no doubt.
Whoso that list to utter4709 his follý,
Let him come forth and learn to multiply:
And every man that hath aught in his coffer,
Let him appear, and wax a philosópher;
Ascauncë4710 that craft is so light to lear.4711
Nay, nay, God wot, all be he monk or frere,
Priest
