Matter and form are principles of all bodily things ; and privation
of matter and form is naught else but destruction of all things. And the
more subtle and high matter is in kind, the more able it is to receive
form and shape. And the more thick and earthly it is, the more feeble is
it to receive impression, printing of forms and of shapes. And matter is
principle beginning of distinction, and of diversity, and of multiplying,
and of things that are gendered. For the thing that gendereth and the thing
that is gendered are not diverse but touching matter. And therefore
where a thing is gendered without matter, the thing that gendereth, and
the thing that is gendered, are all one in substance and in kind: as it
fareth of the persons in the Trinity. Of form is diversity, by the which
one thing is diverse from another, and some form is essential, and some
accidental. Essential form is that which cometh into matter, and maketh
it perfect; and accordeth there- with to the perfection of some thing.
And when form is had, then the thing hath its being, and when form is destroyed
nothing of the substance of the thing is found. And form accidental is
not the perfection of things, nor giveth them being. But each form
accidental needeth a form substantial. And each form is more simple and
more actual and noble than matter. And so the form asketh that shall be
printed in the matter, the matter ought to be disposed and also arrayed.
For if fire shall be made of matter of earth, it needeth that the matter
of earth be made subtle and pured and more simple. Form maketh matter known.
Matter is cause that we see things that are made, and so nothing is more
common and general than matter. And natheless nothing is more unknown than
is matter; for matter is never seen without form, nor form may not be seen
in deed, but joined to matter.
OF ELEMENTS
Elements are simple, and the least particles of a body that is compound.
And it is called least touching us, for it is not perceived by wits of
feeling. For it is the least part and last in undoing of the body, as it
is first in composition. And is called simple, not for an element
is simple without any composition, but for it hath no parts that compound
it, that be diverse in kind and in number as some medlied bodies have:
as it fareth in metals of the which some parts be diverse; for some part
is air, and some is earth. But each part of fire is fire, and so of others.
Elements are four, and SO there are four qualities of elements, of the
which everybody is composed and made as of matter. The four elements
are Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, of the which each bath his proper qualities.
Four be called the first and principal qualities, that is hot, cold, dry,
and moist: they are called the first qualities because they slide
first from the elements into the things that be made of elements. Two of
these qualities are called Active, heat and coldness. The other are dry
and wetness and are called Passive.
OF THE RAINBOW
The Rainbow is impression gendered in an hollow cloud and dewy, disposed to rain in endless many gutters, as it were shining in a mirror, and is shapen as a bow, and sheweth divers colours, and is gendered by the beams of the sun or of the moon. And seldom gendered by beams of the moon, no more but twice in fifty years, as Aristotle saith. In the rainbow by cause of its clearness be seen divers kinds and shapes that be contrary. Therefore the bow seemeth coloured, for, as Bede saith, it taketh colour of the four elements. For therein, as it were in any mirror, shineth figures and shapes and kinds of elements. For of fire he taketh red colour in the overmost part, and of earth green in the nethermost, and of the air a manner of brown colour, and of water somedeal blue in the middle. And first is red colour, that cometh out light beam, that touches the outer part or the roundness of the cloud: then is a middle colour somedeal blue as the quality asketh, that hath mastery in the vapour, that is in the middle of the cloud. Then the nethermost seemeth a green colour in the nether part of a cloud ; there the vapour is more earthly. And these colours are more principal than others.
As Beda saith and the master of stories, years tofore the doom, the
rainbow shall not be and that shall be token of drying, and of default
of elements.
OF DEW,,
And though dew be a manner of airy substance, and most subtle outward,
natheless in a wonder manner it is strong in working and virtue. For it
besprinkleth the earth, and maketh it plenteous, and maketh flour, pith,
and marrow increase in corn and grains: and fatteth and bringeth forth
broad oysters and other shell fish in the sea, and namely dew of spring
time. For by night in spring time oysters open themselves against
dew and receive dew that cometh in between the two shells, and hold and
keep it; and that dew so holden and kept feedeth the flesh, and maketh
it fat; and by its incoporation with the inner parts of the fish breedeth
a full precious gem, a stone that is called Margarita. Also the birds
of ravens, while they are whitish in feathers ere they are black, dew feedeth
and sustaineth them as Gregory saith.
OF RAIN,
Fumosities that are drawn out of the waters and off the earth by strength of heat of heaven are drawn to the nethermost part of the middle space of the air, and there by coldness of the place they are made thick, and then by heat dissolving and departing the moisture thereof and not wasting all) these fumosities are resolved and fall and turn into rain and showers.
If rain be temperate in quality and quantity, and agreeable to
the time, it is profitable to infinite things. For rain maketh the land
to bear fruit, and joineth it together, if there be many chines therein,
and assuageth and tempereth strength of heat, and cleareth the air, and
ceaseth and stinteth winds, and fatteth fish, and helpeth and comforteth
dry complexion. And if rain be evil and distemperate in its qualities,
and discording to place and time, it is grievous and noyful to many things.
For it maketh deepness and uncleanness and slipperiness in ways and in
paths, and bringeth forth much unprofitable herbs and grass, and corrupteth
and destroyeth fruit and seeds, and quencheth in seeds the natural heat,
and maketh darkness and thickness in the air, and taketh from us the sun
beams, and gathereth mist and clouds, and letteth the work of labouring
men, and tarrieth and letteth ripening of corn and of fruits, and exciteth
rheum and running flux, and increaseth and strengtheneth all moist ills,
and is cause of hunger and of famine, and of corruption and murrain of
beasts and sheep; for corrupt showers do corrupt the grass and herbs of
pasture, whereof cometh needful corruption of beasts.
OF THUNDER,
Of impressions that are gendered in the air of double vapour, the first
is thunder, the which impression is gendered in watery substance of a cloud.
For moving and shaking hither and thither of hot vapour and dry, that fleeth
its contrary, is beset and constrained in every side, and smit into itself
and is thereby set on fire and on flame, and quencheth itself at last in
the cloud, as Aristotle saith. When a storm of full strong winds cometh
in to the clouds, and the whirling wind and the storm increaseth, and seeketh
out passage: it cleaveth and breaketh the cloud, and falleth out with a
great rese and strong, and all to breaketh the parts of the cloud, and
so it cometh to the ears of men and of beasts with horrible and dreadful
breaking and noise. And that is no wonder: for though a bladder be light,
yet it maketh great noise and sound, if it be strongly blown, and afterward
violently broken. And with the thunder cometh lightning, but lightning
is sooner seen, for it is dear and bright; and thunder cometh later to
our ears, for the wit of sight is more subtle than the wit of hearing.
As a man seeth sooner the stroke of a man that heweth a tree, than he heareth
the noise of the stroke.
Of LIGHTNING,
The lightning which is called Clarum is of a wonder-ful kind, for it
catcheth and draweth up wine out of the tuns, and toucheth not the vessel,
and melteth gold and silver in purses, and melteth not the purse.
OF THOSE THINGS THAT ARE REQUIRED
TO THE PERFECTION OF NATURE,
As wits and virtues are needed to the ruling of kind, so to the perfection
thereof needeth needly some spirits, by whose benefit and continual moving,
both wits and virtues in beasts are ruled to work and do their deeds. As
we speak here of a spirit, a spirit is called a certain substance, subtle
and airy, that stirreth and exciteth the virtues of the body to their doings
and works. A spirit is a subtle body, by the strength of heat gendered,
and in man's body giving life by the veins of the body, and by the veins
and pulses giveth to beasts, breath, life, and pulses, and working, wilful
moving, and wit by means of sinews and muscles in bodies that have souls.
Physicians say that this spirit is gendered in this manner wise. Whiles
by heat working in the blood, in the liver is caused strong boiling and
seething, and thereof cometh a smoke, the which is pured, and made subtle
of the veins of the liver. And turneth into a subtle spiritual substance
and airly kind, and that is called the natural spirit. For kindly by the
might thereof it maketh the blood subtle. And by lightness thereof it moveth
the blood and sendeth it about into all the limbs. And this same spirit
turneth to heartward by certain veins. And there by moving and smiting
together of the parts of the heart, the spirit is more pured, and turned
into a more subtle kind. And then it is called of physicians the vital
spirit: because that from the heart, by the wosen, and veins, and small
ways, it spreadeth itself into all the limbs of the body, and increaseth
the virtues spiritual, and ruleth and keepeth the works thereof.
For out of a den of the left side of the heart cometh an artery vein, and
in his moving is departed into two branches: the one thereof goeth downward,
and spreadeth in many boughs, and sprays, by means of which the vital spirit
is brought to give the life to all the nether limbs of the body.
The other bough goeth upward, and is again departed in three branches.
The right bough thereof goeth to the right arm, and the left bough to the
left arm equally, and spreadeth in divers sprays. And so the vital spirit
is spread into all the body and worketh in the artery veins the pulses
of life. The middle bough extendeth itself to the brain, and other higher
parts, and giveth life, and spreadeth the vital spirit in all the parts
about. The same spirit piercing and passing forth to the dens of the brain,
is there more directed and made subtle, and is changed into the animal
spirit, which is more subtle than the other. And so this animal spirit
is gendered in the foremost den of the brain, and is somewhat spread into
the limbs of feeling. But yet nevertheless some part thereof abideth
in the aforesaid den,
that common sense, the common wit, and the virtue imaginative may be
made perfect Then he passeth forth into the middle den that is called
Logistic, to make the intellect and understanding perfect And when he;
hath en formed the intellect, then he passeth forth to the den of memory,
and bearing with him the prints of likeness, which are made in those other
dens, he layeth
them up in the chamber of memory. From the hinder-most parts of the
brain he pierceth and passeth by the; marrow of the ridge bone, and cometh
to the sinews of moving, that so wilful moving may be engendered) in all
the parts of the nether body. Then one and the same spirit is named by
divers names. For by working in the liver it is called the natural spirit,
in the heart the vital spirit, and in the head, the animal spirit. We may
not believe that this spirit is man's reasonable soul, but more soothly,
as saith Austin, the car therof and proper instru-ment. For by means of
such a spirit the soul is joined to the body: and without the service of
such a spirit, no act the soul may perfectly exercise in the body. And
therefore if these spirits be impaired, or let of their working in any
work, the accord of the body and soul is resolved, the reasonable spirit
is let of all its works in the body. As it is seen in them that be amazed,
and mad men and frantic, and in others that oft lose use of reason.
OF THE VIRTUE VISIBLE,
The sight is most simple, for it is fiery, and knoweth suddenly things
that be full far. The sight is shapen in this manner. In the
middle of the eye, that is, the black thereof is a certain humour most
pure and clear. The philosophers call it crystalloid, for it taketh sud-denly
divers forms and shapes of colours as crystal doth. The sight is
a wit of perceiving and knowing of colours, figures, and shapes, and outer
properties. Then to make the sight perfect, these things are needful,
that is to wit, the cause efficient, the limb of the eye convenient to
the thing that shall be seen, the air that bringeth the like-ness to the
eye, and taking heed, and easy moving. The cause efficient is that virtue
that is called animal. The instrument and limb is the humour like crystal
in either eye clear and round. It is clear that by the clearness
thereof the eye may beshine the spirit, and air; it is round that it be
stronger to withstand griefs. The outer thing helping to work, is the air,
without which being a means, the sight may not be perfect. It needeth
to take heed, for if the soul be occupied about other things than longeth
to the sight, the sight is the less perfect. For it deemeth not of
the thing that is seen. And easy moving is needful, for if the thing
that is seen, moveth too swiftly, the sight is cumbered and disparcied
with too swift and continual moving: as it is in an oar that seemeth broken
in the water, through the swift moving of the water. In three manners the
sight is made. One manner by straight lines, upon the which the likeness
of the thing that is seen, cometh to the sight. Another manner, upon lines
rebounded again: when the likeness of a thing cometh therefrom to a shewer,
and is bent, and reboundeth from the shewer to the sight. The third manner
is by lines, the which though they be not bent and rebounded, but stretched
between the thing that is seen and the sight: yet they pass not always
forthright, but other whiles they blench some whether, aside from the straight
way. And that is when divers manners spaces of divers clearness and thick-ness
be put between the sight and the thing that is seen.
OF COLOURS,
Aristotle rehearseth these five mean colours [between white and black]
by name, and calleth the first yellow, and the second citrine, and the
third red, the fourth purple, and the fifth green.
OF GOLD,
In the book Meteorics, a little before the end, Aristotle saith that
gold, as other metals, hath other matter of subtle brimstone and red, and
of quicksilver subtle and white. In the composition thereof is more sadness
of brimstone than of air and moisture of quicksilver, and therefore gold
is more sad and heavy than silver. In composition of silver is more
commonly quicksilver than white brimstone. Then among metals nothing is
more sad in substance, or more better compact than gold. And therefore
though it be put in fire, it wasteth not by smoking and vapours, nor lesseth
not the weight, and so it is not wasted in fire, but if it be melted with
strong heat, then if any filth be therein, it is cleansed thereof. And
that maketh the gold more pure and shining. No metal stretcheth more with
hammer work than gold, for it stretcheth so, that between the anvil and
the hammer without breaking and rending in pieces it stretcheth to gold
foil. And among metals there is none fairer in sight than gold, and
therefore among painters gold is chief and fairest in sight, and so it
embellisheth colour and shape, and colour of other metals. Also among metals
is nothing so effectual in virtue as gold. Plato describeth the virtue
thereof and saith that it is more temperate and pure than other metals.
For it hath virtue to comfort and for to cleanse superfluities gathered
in bodies. And therefore it helpeth against leprosy and meselry. The filings
of gold taken in meat or in drink or in medicine, preserve and let breeding
of leperhood, or namely hideth it and maketh it unknown.
OF AURIPIGMENTUM,
Orpiment is a vein of the earth, or a manner of free stone that cleaveth
and breaketh, and it is like to gold in colour: and this is called Arsenic
by another name, and is double: red and citron. It hath kind
of brim-stone, of burning and drying. And if it be laid to brass, it maketh
the brass white, and burneth and wasteth all bodies of metal, out take
gold.
OF SILVER,
Though silver be white yet it maketh black lines and strakes in the
body that is scored therewith. In composition thereof is quicksilver
and white brimstone, and therefore it is not so heavy as gold. There are
two manner of silvers, simple and compound. The simple is fleeting, and
is called quicksilver; the silver com-pounded is massy and sad, and is
compounded of quick-silver pure and clean, and of white brimstone, not
burn-ing, as Aristotle saith.
OF QUICKSILVER
Quicksilver is a watery substance medlied strongly with subtle earthly
things, and may not be dissolved and that is for great dryness of earth
that melteth not on a plain thing. Therefore it cleaveth not to thing that
it toucheth, as doth the thing that is watery. The substance thereof is
white: and that is for clearness of clear water, and for whiteness of subtle
earth that is well digested. Also it hath whiteness of medlying of with
the foresaid things. Also quicksilver hath the air property that it curdeth
not by itself kindly without brimstone: but with brimstone, and with substance
of lead, it is congealed and fastened together. And there-fore it is said,
that quicksilver and brimstone is the element, that is to wit matter, of
which all melting metal is made. Quicksilver is matter of all metal,
and therefore in respect of them it is a simple element. Isidore saith
it is fleeting, for it runneth and is specially found in silver forges
as it were drops of silver molten. And it is oft found in old dirt of sinks,
and in slime of pits. And also it is made of minium done in caverns of
iron, and a patent or a shell done thereunder; and the vessel that is anointed
therewith, shall be beclipped with burning coals, and then the quicksilver
shall drop. Without this silver nor gold nor latten nor copper may be overgilt.
And it is of so great virtue and strength, that though thou do a stone
of an hundred pound weight upon quicksilver of the weight of two pounds,
the quick silver anon withstandeth the weight. And if thou doest thereon
a scruple of gold, it ravisheth unto itself the lightness thereof. And
so it appeareth it is not weight, but nature to which it obeyeth.
It is best kept in glass vessels, for it pierceth, boreth, and fretteth
other matters.
OF ADAMANT,
If an adamant be set by iron, it suffereth not the iron to come to the
magnet, but it draweth it by a manner of: violence from the magnet, so
that though the magnet draweth iron to itself, the adamant draweth it away
from the magnet. It is called a precious stone of reconcilia-tion
and of love. For if a woman be away from her housebond, or trespasseth
against him : by virtue of this stone, she is the sooner reconciled to
have grace of her husband.
OF CRYSTAL,
Crystal is a bright stone and clear, with watery colour. Men trowe
that it is of snow or ice made hard in space of many years. This stone
set in the sun taketh fire, insomuch if dry tow be put thereto, it setteth
the tow on fire. That crystal materially is made of water, Gregory on Ezekiel
i. saith: water, saith he, is of itself fleeting, but by strength of cold
it is turned and made stedfast crystal. And hereof Aristotle telleth the
cause in his Meteorics: there he saith that stony things of substance of
ore are water in matter. Ricardus Rufus saith: stone ore is of water:
but for it hath more of dryness of earth than things that melt, therefore
they were not frozen only with coldness of water, but also by dryness of
earth that is mingled therewith, when the watery part of the earth and
glassy bath mastery on the water, and the aforesaid cold hath the victory
and mastery. And so Saint Gregory his reason is true, that saith, that
crystal may be gendered of water.
OF BRASS,
In old time or the use of iron was known, men eared land with brass,
and fought therewith in war and battle. That time gold and silver were
forsaken, and gold is now in the most worship, so age that passeth and
vadeth changeth times of things. Brass and copper are made in this manner
as other metals be, of brimstone and quicksilver, and that happeneth when
there is more of brimstone than of quicksilver, and the brimstone is earthy
and not pure, with red colour and burning, and quicksilver is mean and
not subtle. Of such medlying brass is gendered.
OF ELECTRUM, -
Electrum is a metal and hath that name, for in the sunbeam it shineth
more clear than gold or silver. And this metal is more noble than other
metals. And hereof are three manners of kinds. The third manner is made
of three parts of gold, and of the fourth of silver: and kind electrum
is of that kind, for in twinkling and in light it shineth more clear than
all other metal, and warneth of venom, for if one dip it therein, it maketh
a great chinking noise, and changeth oft into divers colours as the rainbow,
and that suddenly.
OF THE Heliotrope.
Heliotrope is a precious stone, and is green, and sprinkled with red
drops, and veins of the colour of blood. If it be put in water before the
sunbeams, it maketh the water seethe in the vessel that it is in, and resolveth
it as it were into mist, and soon after it is resolved into rain-drops.
Also it seemeth that this same stone may do wonders, for if it be put in
a basin with clear water, it changeth the sunbeams by rebound-ing of the
air, and seemeth to shadow them, and breedeth in the air red and sanguine
colour, as though the sun were in eclypse and darkened. An herb of the
same name, with certain enchantments, doth beguile the sight of men that
look thereon, and maketh a man that beareth it not to be seen.
OF IRON,
Though iron cometh of the earth, yet it is most hard and sad, and therefore
with beating and smiting it sup-presseth and dilateth all other metal,
and maketh it stretch on length and on breadth. Iron is gendered
of quicksilver thick and not clean, full of earthy holes, and of
brimstone, great and boisterous and not pure. In composition of iron
is more of the foresaid brimstone than of quicksilver, and so for mastery
of cold and dry and of earthy matter, iron is dry and cold and full well
hard, and is compact together in its parts. And for iron bath less of airy
and watery moisture than other metals: therefore it is hard to resolve
and make it again to be nesh in fire. Use of iron is more needfull
to men in many things than use of gold: though covetous men love more gold
than iron. Without iron the com-monalty be not sure against enemies,
without dread of iron the common right is not governed; with iron inno-cent
men are defended: and foolhardiness of wicked men is chastised with dread
of iron. And well nigh no handiwork is wrought without iron: no field is
eared without iron, neither tilling craft used, nor building builded without
iron. And therefore Isidore saith that iron bath its name ferrum, for that
thereby farra that is corn and seed, is tilled and sown. For without iron
bread is not won of the earth, nor bread is not departed when it is ready
without iron convenably to man’s use.
OF LEAD,
Of lead are two manner of kinds white and black, and the white is the
better, and was first found in the islands of the Atlantic Sea in old time,
and is now found in many places. For in France and in Portugal is
a manner of black earth found full of gravel and of small stones, and is
washed and blown, and so of that matter cometh the substance of lead. Also
in gold quarries with matter of gold are small stones found, and are gathered
with the gold, and blown by themselves, and turn all to lead, and therefore
gold is as heavy as lead. But of black lead is double kind. For black
lead cometh alone of a vein, or is gendered of silver in medlied veins,
and is blown, and in blowing first cometh tin, and then silver, and then
what leaveth is blown and turneth into black lead. Aristotle saith that
of brimstone that is boisterous and not swiftly pured, but troublous and
thick, and of quicksilver, the substance of lead is gendered, and is gendered
in mineral places; so of uncleaness of impure brimstone lead hath a manner
of neshness, and smircheth his hand that toucheth it. And with wiping and
cleansing, this uncleanness of lead may be taken away for a time, but never
for always; a man may wipe off the uncleaness but alway it is lead although
it seemeth silver. But strange qualities have mastery therein and
beguile men, and make them err therein. Some men take Sal Ammoniac (to
cleanse it) as Aristotle saith, and assigneth the cause of this un-cleanness
and saith, that in boisterous lead is evil quick-silver heavy and fenny.
Also that brimstone thereof is evil vapour and stinking. Therefore it freezeth
not well at full. Hermes saith that lead in boiling undoeth the hardness
of all sad and hard bodies, and also of the stone adamant. Aristotle
speaketh of lead in the Meteorics and saith that lead without doubt when
it is molten is as quicksilver, but it melteth not without heat, and then
all that is molten seemeth red. Wonder it is that though lead be pale or
brown, yet by burning or by refudation of vinegar oft it gendereth seemly
colour and fair, as tewly, red, and such other; therewith women paint themselves
for to seem fair of colour.
OF THE SAPPHIRE,
The sapphire is a precious stone, and is blue in colour most like to
heaven in fair weather and clear, and is best
among precious stones, and most apt and able to fingers of kings. Its
virtue is contrary to venom and quencheth it every deal. And if thou
put an addercop in a box, and hold a very sapphire of Ind at the mouth
of the box any while, by virtue thereof the addercop is overcome and dieth,
as it were suddenly. And this same I have seen proved oft in many and divers
places.
OF TIN,
Tin in fire departeth metals of divers kind, and it departeth lead and
brass from gold and silver, and defendeth other metals in hot fire. And
though brass and iron be most hard in kind, yet if they be in strong fire
without tin, they burn and waste away. If brazen vessels be tinned,
the tin abateth the venom of rust, and amendeth the savour. Also mirrors
be tempered with tin, and white colour that is called Ceruse is made of
tin, as it is made of lead. Aristotle saith that tin is corn-pounded of
good quicksilver and of evil brimstone. And these twain be not well medlied
but in small parts corn-pounded, therefore tin hath colour of silver but
not the sadness thereof. In the book of Alchemy Hermes saith, that
tin breaketh all metals and bodies that it is medlied with, and that for
the great dryness of tin. And destroyeth in metal the kind that is obedient
to hammer work. And if thou medliest quicksilver there with, it withstandeth
the crassing thereof and maketh it white, but afterward it maketh it black
and defileth it Also there it is said that burnt tin gendereth red colour,
as lead doth; and if the fire be strong, the first matter of tin cometh
soon again. Also though tin be more nesh than silver, and more hard than
lead, yet lead may not be soon soldered to lead nor to brass nor to iron
without tin. Neither may these be soldered without grease or tallow.
OF BRIMSTONE,
Brimstone is a vein of the earth and bath much air -and fire in its
composition. Of brimstone there are four kinds. One is called vivum, the
which when it is digged, shineth and flourisheth, the which only among
all the kinds thereof physicians use. Avicenna means that brimstone is
hot and dry in the fourth degree, and is turned into kind of brimstone
in part of water, of earth, and of fire, and that brimstone is sometimes
great and boisterous and full of drausts, and sometimes pure white, clear
and subtle, and sometimes mean between both. And by this diverse disposition,
divers metals are gendered of brimstone and of quicksilver.
OF GLASS,
Glass, as Avicen saith, is among stones as a fool among men, for it
taketh all manner of colour and painting. Glass was first found beside
Ptolomeida in the cliff beside the river that is called Vellus, that springeth
out of the foot of Mount Carmel, at which shipmen arrived. For upon
the gravel of that river shipmen made fire of clods medlied with bright
gravel, and thereof ran streams of new liquor, that was the beginning of
glass. It is so pliant that it taketh anon divers and contrary shapes
by blast of the glazier, and is sometimes beaten, and some-times graven
as silver. And no matter is more apt to make mirrors than is glass,
or to receive painting; and if it be broken it may not be amended without
melting again. But long time past, there was one that made glass pliant,
which might be amended and wrought with an hammer, and brought a vial made
of such glass tofore Tiberius the Emperor, and threw it down on the ground,
and it was not broken but bent and folded. And he made it right and amended
it with an hammer. Then the emperor commanded to smite off his head
anon, lest that his craft were known. For then gold should be no
better than fen, and all other metal should be of little worth, for certain
if glass vessels were not brittle, they should be accounted of more value
than vessels of gold.
OF DOUBLE MOVING OF THE PLANETS,
All the planets move by double moving; by their own kind moving out of the west into the east, against the moving of the firmament; and by other moving out of the east into the west, and that by ravishing of the firmament. By violence of the firmament they are ravished every day out of the east into the west. And by their kindly moving, by the which they labour to move against the firmament, some of them fulfil their course in shorter time, and some in longer time. And that is for their courses are some more and some less For Saturn abideth in every sign xxx months, and full endeth its course in xxx years. Jupiter dwelleth in every sign one year, and full endeth its course in xij years. Mars abideth in every sign xlv days, and full endeth its course in two years. The sun abideth in every sign xxx days and ten hours and a half, and full endeth its course in ccclxv days and vj hours. Mercury abideth in every sign xxviij days and vj hours, and full endeth its course in cccxxxviij days. Venus abideth in every sign 29 days, and full endeth its course in 348 days. The moon abideth in every sign two days and a half, and six hours and one bisse less, and full endeth its course from point to point in 27 days and 8 hours. And by entering and out passing of these 7 stars into the 12 signs and out thereof every thing that is bred and corrupt in this nether world is varied and disposed and therefore in the philosopher's book Mesalath it is read in this manner: 'The Highest made the world to the likeness of a sphere, and made the highest circle above it movable in the earth, pight and stedfast in the middle thereof; not withdrawing toward the left side, nor toward the right side, and set the other elements moveable, and made them move by the moving of 7 planets, and all other stars help the planets in their working and kind.' Every creature upon Earth hath a manner inclination by the moving of the planets, and destruction cometh by moving and working of planets. The working of them varieth and is diverse by diversity of climates and countries. For they work one manner of thing about the land of blue men, and another about the land and country of Slavens. . . . In the signs the planets move and abate with double moving, and move by accidental ravishing of the firmament out of the East into the West; and by kindly moving, the which is double, the first and the second. The first moving is the round moving that a planet maketh in its own circle, and passeth never the marks and bounds of the circle. The second moving is that he maketh under the Zodiac, and passeth alway like great space in a like space of time. And the first moving of a planet is made in its own circle that is called Eccentric, and it is called so, for the earth is not the middle thereof, as it is the middle of the circle that is called Zodiac. Epicycle is a little circle that a planet describeth, and goeth about therein by the moving of its body, and the body of the planet goeth about the roundness thereof. And there-fore it sheweth, that the sun and other planets move in their own circles; and first alike swift, though they move diversely in divers circles. Also in these circles the manner moving of planets is full wisely found of astronomers, that are called Direct, Stationary, and Retrograde Motion. Forthright moving is in the over part of the circle that is called Epicycle, backward is in the nether part, and stinting and abiding or hoving is in the middle.