The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

                                
                                     [6-text p 553] 
                                  
                                  Thus was I oones lerned of a clerk /
                                
                                  Of þat no charge I wol speke of oure werk
                                  Line 749 
                                
                                  whan we ben þer as we schul exercise
                                
                                  Oure eluyssh craft we seme wonder wyse
                                
                                  Oure termes ben so clergeal and queynte / [folio 172a] 
                                
                                  I blowe þe fuyr til þat/ myn herte feynte /
                                  Line 753 
                                
                                  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
                                  Line 757 
                                
                                  And besy me to telle ȝow þe names
                                
                                  Of Orpiment brent bones yren squames
                                
                                  That in to poudre grounden ben ful smal
                                
                                  And in an erthen pot/ how þat put is al
                                  Line 761 
                                
                                  And salt y-put in and also paupere
                                
                                  Biforn these poudres þat I speke of heere
                                
                                  And wel I-couered wiþ a lamp of glas /
                                
                                  And of moche oþer þing what þat þer was
                                  Line 765 
                                
                                  And of þe pot . and glas enlutyng
                                
                                  That of þe aier mighte passe no þing
                                
                                  And of þe esy fuyr and smert also
                                
                                  which þat was maad and of þe care and wo
                                  Line 769 
                                
                                  That we hadde in oure matiers sublymynge
                                
                                  And amalgamynge and calcenynge
                                
                                  Of quyksiluer y-clept mercury crude /
                                
                                  For alle oure sleightes we can nought conclude /
                                  Line 773 
                                
                                  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
                                  Line 777 
                                
                                  Ne eek oure spirites ascencioun
                                
                                  Ne eek our matiers þat lyn al fix a doun
                                
                                  Mowe in oure werkyng vs no þing auayle
                                
                                  For lost is al oure labour and trauayle
                                  Line 781 
                                
                                  And al þe cost on twenty deuelway
                                
                                  Is lost also which we vpon it lay

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Title: The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 393
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,; 1885.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8246.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8246.0001.001/405

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Full citation: "The Harleian ms. 7334 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/agz8246.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 4, 2025.

The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

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