The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

                                
                                     [6-text p 553] 
                                  
                                  Thus was I ones lerned of a clerk
                                
                                  Of þat no charge I wol speke of oure werk
                                  Line 749 
                                
                                  Whan we ben þere as we schulle exercise
                                
                                  Oure eluysshe craft; we semen wonder wise
                                
                                  Oure termes ben so clergeal and so queynte
                                
                                  I blowe þe fuyr. til þat myn herte feynte
                                  Line 753 
                                
                                  What scholde I telle eche proporcion
                                
                                  Of þinges whiche þat we worchen vppon
                                
                                  As on fyue or sixe vnces may wel be
                                
                                  Of siluer or of som oþer quantite
                                  Line 757 
                                
                                  And besye me to telle ȝou þe names
                                
                                  Of Opyment brent bones yren squames
                                
                                  That in to poudre grounden ben ful smal
                                
                                  And in an erþen pot how þat put is al
                                  Line 761 
                                
                                  And salt y-put in and also paupere
                                
                                  Bifore þise poudres þat I speke of here
                                
                                  And wel y-couered wiþ a laumpe of glas
                                
                                  And of muche oþer þing what þat þer was
                                  Line 765 
                                
                                  And of þe pot and glas englutyng
                                
                                  That of þe aier mighte passe no þing
                                
                                  And of þe esy fyr and smert also
                                
                                  Which þat was mad and of þe care and wo
                                  Line 769 
                                
                                  þat we hadde in oure matiers sublymynge
                                
                                  And amalgamynge and Calcenynge
                                
                                  Of quyk syluer y-cleped mercurie crude
                                
                                  ffor alle oure sleightes we can nouȝt conclude
                                  Line 773 
                                
                                  Oure orpymed and sublimed mercurie
                                
                                  Oure grounde litarge eek on þe porphirie [folio 181a] 
                                
                                  Of ech of þise of vnces a certayn
                                
                                  Nouȝt helpeþ vs oure labour is in vain
                                  Line 777 
                                
                                  Ne eek oure spirites ascencioun
                                
                                  Ne eek oure matieres þat lyn al fixe a doun
                                
                                  Mowen in oure werkynge no þing vs auayle
                                
                                  ffor lost is alle oure labour and trauaile
                                  Line 781 
                                
                                  And al þe cost on twenty deuele wey
                                
                                  Is lost also which we vpon it ley

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Title: The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 403
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,; 1868-[1869]

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8235.0001.001/431:9

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Full citation: "The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 26, 2025.

The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

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