Little piece; the adjective tiny is connected with the word. ↩
Prosper; achieve, end; French, achever. ↩
Breadth. ↩
Doubt. ↩
Countenance. ↩
Search. ↩
Little piece; the adjective tiny is connected with the word. ↩
That of all the saints. ↩
Curse. ↩
Unless, if. ↩
Trial, experiment. ↩
Then. ↩
Again. ↩
Stratagem. ↩
Heed. ↩
Particle. ↩
Apply. ↩
Before. ↩
Provided with that false contrivance. ↩
Went. ↩
Quickly. ↩
Better. ↩
Forthwith; again. ↩
Skillful. ↩
Swiftly. ↩
Haste. ↩
Took; from Anglo-Saxon, niman, to take. Compare German, nehmen, nahm. ↩
Swiftly. ↩
Before. ↩
Trick. ↩
Befooled him. ↩
Small piece of silver. ↩
Hind; slave, wretch. ↩
Unsuspecting. ↩
Left. ↩
Took. ↩
Before, erewhile. ↩
Of any value. ↩
Unless. ↩
Quickly. ↩
Proof. ↩
Besotted, stupid. ↩
No matter. ↩
Certainly. ↩
Were it not for. ↩
Fetched. ↩
Care. ↩
Rather. ↩
Mad. ↩
Good result of your experiments. ↩
Great thanks. ↩
Saw. ↩
Befooled. ↩
The false Canon. ↩
Scarcely is there any (gold). ↩
Blinds, deceives. ↩
Pleasure and exertion. ↩
Easily. ↩
Gain, profit. ↩
Pleasant. ↩
Sorrow; Anglo-Saxon, gram; German, gram. ↩
Burnt. ↩
Advise. ↩
Leave it—that is, the alchemist’s art. ↩
Perceives no danger. ↩
Traffic, commerce. ↩
Seize and plunder; acquire by hook or by crook. ↩
Burnt. ↩
Prosperity. ↩
Quickly. ↩
Arnaldus Villanovanus, or Arnold de Villeneuve, was a distinguished French chemist and physician of the fourteenth century; his Rosarium Philosophorum was a favourite textbook with the alchemists of the generations that succeeded. ↩
Except. ↩
Hermes Trismegistus, counsellor of Osiris, King of Egypt, was credited with the invention of writing and hieroglyphics, the drawing up of the laws of the Egyptians, and the origination of many sciences and arts. The Alexandrian school ascribed to him the mystic learning which it amplified; and the scholars of the Middle Ages regarded with enthusiasm and reverence the works attributed to him—notably a treatise on the philosopher’s stone. ↩
Drawn, derived. ↩
Saying. ↩
Study, explore. ↩
Except. ↩
Ignorant, foolish. ↩
Knowledge. ↩
Secreta Secretorum; a treatise, very popular in the Middle Ages, supposed to contain the sum of Aristotle’s instructions to Alexander. Lydgate translated about half of the work, when his labour was interrupted by his death about 1460; and from the same treatise had been taken most of the seventh book of Gower’s Confessio Amantis. ↩
Tyrwhitt says that this book was printed in the Theatrum Chemicum, under the title, Senioris Zadith fi. Hamuelis tabula chymica; and the story here told of Plato and his disciple was there related of Solomon, but with some variations. ↩
That. ↩
To explain the unknown by the more unknown. ↩
Then. ↩
Will not. ↩
Precious. ↩
Protect. ↩
Name. ↩
Counsel. ↩
Though he pursue the alchemist’s art all his days. ↩
An end. ↩
Remedy for his sorrow and trouble. ↩
Know. ↩
Mr. Wright supposes this to be the village of Harbledown, near Canterbury, which is situated on a hill, and near which there are many ups and downs in the road. Like Boughton, where the Canon and his Yeoman overtook the pilgrims, it stood on the skirts of the Kentish forest of Blean or Blee. ↩
A proverbial saying. Dun is a name for an ass, derived from his colour. ↩
Easily. ↩
The mention of the Cook here, with no hint that he had already told a story, confirms the indication given by the imperfect condition of his “Tale,” that Chaucer intended to suppress the “Tale” altogether, and make him tell a story in some other place. ↩
Make. ↩
Faith. ↩
In the day time. ↩
Laboured. ↩
Preferable. ↩
Are dim. ↩
Flattered. ↩
The quintain; called “fan” or “vane,” because it turned round like a weathercock. ↩
Referring to the
