The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
Folio 194v
2 of 17 folios
Oure termes / been so clergial / and so queynte
I blowe the fir / til that myn herte feynte
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What sholde I tellen ech proporcioū
Of thynges / whiche þt we werche vpon
As on fyue / or sixe Ounces / may wel be
Of siluer / or som oother quantitee
And bisye me / to telle yow the names
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Of Orpyment brent bones / Iren Squames
That in to poudre grounden been ful smal
And in an erthen pot put is al
And salt yput In / and also papeer
Biforn thise poudres / that I speke of heer
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And wel ycouered / with a lampe of glas
And muchel oother thyng which þt ther was
And of the pot and glasses enlutyng
That of the Eyr mygħte passe out no thyng
And of the esy fir / and smart also
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Which that was maad / and of the care and wo
That we hadden / in oure matires sublymyng /
And in almalgamyng and calcemyng /
And of quyk siluer / yclept Mercurie crude
For alle oure sleigħtes / we kan nat conclude
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Oure Orpyment . and sublymed Mercurie
Oure grounden litarge eek in the Prfurie
Of ech of thise / of Ounces a certeyn
Nogħt helpeth vs / oure labour is in veyn
Ne eek oure spirites Ascencioū
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Ne oure matires / þt lyen al fix adoun
Mowe in oure werkyng no thyng vs auaille
For lost is / al oure labour and trauaille
And al the cost a twenty deuel way
Is lost also / which we vp on it lay
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¶ Ther is also / ful many another thyng
That is / vn to oure craft apertenyng /
Thougħ I by ordre / hem nat reherce kan
By cause / that I am a lewed man
Yet wol I telle hem / as they come to mynde
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Thogħ I ne kan nat sette hem in hir kynde
As Boole Armonyak vertgrees / Boras
And sondry vessels / maad of erthe and glas
Oure vrynals / and oure descensories
Violes / crosletz / and Sublymatories
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Cucurbites / and Alambikes eek
And othere swiche / deere ynougħ a leek
Nat nedeth it for to reherce hem alle
Watres rubifiyng and Boles galle
Arsenyk / sal Armonyak and Brymstoon
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And herbes / koude I telle eek many oon