The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
Folio 172r
2 of 21 folios
Oure termes ben so clergeal and queynte
I blowe þe fuyr til þat myn herte feynte /
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What schulde I telle ech proporcioun
Of þinges which þat we werke vp and doun
As an fyue or six ounces may wel be /
Of siluer or som oþer quantite
And besy me to telle ȝow þe names
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Of Orpiment brent bones yren squames
That in to poudre grounden ben ful smal
And in an erthen pot how þat put is al
And salt y put in and also paupere
Biforn þese poudres þat I speke of heere
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And wel I couered wiþ a lamp of glas /
And of moche oþer þing what þat þer was
And of þe pot and glas enlutyng
That of þe aier mighte passe no þing
And of þe esy fuyr and smert also
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Which þat was maad and of þe care and wo
That we hadde in oure matiers sublymynge /
And amalgamynge and calcenynge
Of quyksiluer y clept mercury crude /
For aƚƚ oure sleigħtes we can nougħt conclude /
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Oure orpiment and sublyment mercurie
Oure grounde litarge / eek on þe porfurye
Of ech of þese of ounces a certayn
Nat helpeþ vs oure labour is in vayn
Ne eek oure spirites ascensiou~
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Ne eek oure matiers þat lyn al fix a doun
Mowe in oure werkyng us no þing auayle
For lost is al oure labour and trauayle
And al þe cost on twenty deuelway
Is lost also which we vpon it lay
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Ther is also ful many anoþer þing
That is to oure craft appertenyng
Though I by ordre hem here reherse ne can
By cause þat I am a lewed man
Ȝet wil I telle hem as þey come to mynde /
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Though I ne conne nought sette hem in her kynde /