til thou seest the mater in the pott wex blak y-nowȝ, for thanne is thi quik silvir slayn. Thanne sette it adoun of the fier, and grinde it weel on a stoon, and thanne make a fayr coole fier, and loke thou have a good thicke Jordan[1] of glas, and take good cley and hors-dounge, and make a good lute therof, and therwith daube thi Jordan al aboute half ynche thicke, and putte al thi mater in the Jordan, and hange it over the fier by the necke that the glas be almoost an hond-brede fro the coolis; and ordeyne thee anothir glas that the mouth be almoost as the jordans mouth of largenes, and sette that litil glas upon the jordans mouth, mouth aȝens mouth, and the botme upward of the lesse glas, and the botme dounward of the more glas, and thanne thou schalt se the leyt of the mater rengynge upward into the upper glas, and thanne bigynne first esy fier and aftirward make good fier, and alwey be blowynge the fier, and othirwhile styre the Jordan with a smal ȝerde of yren at the botme for to make the hatt arise out of the mater, and thanne thou schalt se manye dyvers colouris of the leyt arise into the uppere glas; and whanne thou seest the leyt arise riȝt blood reed, thanne is thi vermyloun maad, thanne breke thi Jordan, and loke what thou fyndist therinne. And al I forbede thee that the Jordan be not lenger on the fier than the leyt bigynneth to wexe rede, for if it be it is lost al togidere; and also another thing I forbede thee, that day that thou wolt make it, go not therto fastynge, for thou schalt fynde a wickid breeth of smel, and therfore ete a mossel and drinke; and also another thing, make but esy fier at the firste tyme, lete it be sokynge fier.
[Fol. 138, r°.]
Here it techith how thou schalt make fyn vertgrece and good.
Take copur y-vilid[2] as myche as thow wolt aftir thi pott is of greetnesse, for thou myȝt not fille thi pott but litil more than half ful of copur; thanne take fyn vynegre, and helde into thi pott, to the vynegre vilynge of the copur, and styre it weel togidere, and thanne loke thou have to v. li of copur a potel of vynegre, and therto li. ij. and half a quart of vynegre, and this is the proporciouns of this craft, and thus thou maist chese how myche thou wolt make. But whanne thou hast proporcioned thi vynegre and thi copur, thanne putte it in a pott, and hele it clos that no breth go out, and sette it in hors-dounge, and loke that ther be two feet bitwene the pottis botme and the ground of hors-doung, and ij. feet thicke on ech side, and tweie feet above on the mouth, and so that it be over al lich in hors-doung; and so lete hem stonde ij. moncthis stille on hors-doung or evere he be removed; and at the ij. monethis ende take it up, and thow schalt fynde fyn vertegrece and riȝt good for sothe.
- ↑
A jordan was a kind of pot or vessel used by physicians and alchymists, of the form represented in the accompanying figure, which is taken from the margin of our receipt in the Sloane MS. The word is used in this sense by Chaucer and other writers of that age. At a later period it was used in the sense of a chamber-pot, as in Shakespeare.
- ↑ Filed copper, i. e. copper filings.
