The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
Folio 190r
21 of 22 folios
Wiþdrawe þe fir lest it so faste brenne
705
Medleþ nomore wiþ þat art I mene
For if ȝe doon ȝour þrift is gon ful clene /
And right as swithe I wol ȝou telle heere
What þat þe philosophres sein in þis matere /
Lo þus seiþ arnold of þe newe toun
710
As his Rosarie makeþ mencioun
He seiþ rigħt þus wiþouten eny lye
Þer may no man mercurie mortifie
But if it be wiþ his broþeres knowleching
How þat he which þat first seyde þis þing /
715
Of Philosophres fader was hermes /
He saiþ how þat þe dragoū douteles
Ne dyeþ not but if he be slayn
Wiþ his broþer and þat is for to sayn
By þe dragoū mercurie and non oþer
720
He vnderstood þat bremston were his broþer
Þat on of Sol and luna were y drawe
And þerfore sayde he tak heed to my sawe
Lat no man busye him þis art for to seche
But he þat þe entencioū and þe speche
725
Of philosophres vnderstonde can
And if he do he is a lewed man
For þis science and þis connyng quod he /
Is of þe secre of Secrees parde
Also þer was a disciple of Plato
730
That on a tyme sayde his mayster to
As his book Somer wil bere witnesse
And þis was his demaunde in soþfastnesse
Telle me þe name of þe pryuy stoon
And plato answerde vnto him anon
735
Tak þe stoon þat titanos men name
Which is þat quod he magnasia þe same /
Seyde Plato ȝee Sire and is it þus
This is ignotū par ignocius
What is magnasia goode sire I pay /