Fragments copied from Thomas Charnock’s own hand

FRAGMENTS COPPIED From THOMAS CHARNOCK'S owne hand writing.

WHen an hundreth & fourscore had run their
Then sone after in short time & space, (race
Blacknes began to shew his Face, (in fyght
But when a C. and L. had overcumde hym
He made him wash his Face white & bright
Which unto me was a joyfull syght.
Yet xx. at last came in with greate bost,
And made both Black and White to fly the Cost.

Written by T. Charnock at the end of Scotus de Bufone.

HEre in Gods name take thy rest,
Quietly in thy warme nest,
For so Charnocke thinks it best,
Tyll the Sune hathe runne West,
Seaven tymes 600. and 16. just,
Then this Chyld awake thou must.

Written at the end of RIPLYE'S Cantalena.

ABowte 653. I dare be bold,
This Chyld shall put on a Crowne of Gold;
Or at 656. at the moste,
This Chyld shall rule the roste.

OTher Fragments scattered in the wast places of an Old Manuscript, written with T. Charnock's own Hand.

WE worke this Worke of wonder,
By Wayght, Measure and Number.
Quoth THOMAS CHARNOCK.

WHen he is full Black then take some payne,
To wash him 7. tymes in the water of Jourdayne.

CHARNOCK.

FRo the tyme that he be Black and Ded,
Wash him 7 tymes, or he be perfect Red.

ANd when he is full Black then take some payne,
To wash hym 7. tymes in the water of Jourdayne.

ANd when you see hym perfect Redd,
Then take a stone and knock him on the hedd.

Id est.

ANd when this Woman is brought a bed,
Take the Chyld and knock hym on the hedd.

CHARNOCKE, 1573.

PErfect Whyte will not be accomplished,
Untill it hath byne twelve tymes circulated,

Id est.

Six tymes Black, and vi. tymes Whyte.

BEtwixt true Black, and true Whyte;
Wyll appeare many Collers to syght.

T.C.

BEtwixt Purgatory and Paradyse,
The Raigne-bows Collers will arise.

T.C.

BEtwixt Black and Whyte sartayne,
The Pekokes fethers wyll appeare plaine.

T.C.

LOoke you conceive my words aright,
And marke well this which I have sede;
For Black is Ferment unto the Whyte,
And Whyte shalbe Ferment unto the Rede:

Which I never saw till I had whyte heres upon my head.

T. C. 1574. The 50 yeare of my age.

In some Coppies I have found these Verses placed before Pearce the Black Monk, upon the ELIXIR.

MAN and Woman God hath wrought,
And full mykle fruite forth they brought,
So multiplyeth the workes of our heaven King
And yet come they but of one thing.
Now quod Marlin what may that be?
The slithe of the Yearth so say we:
Yearth it was, some Men would say nay,
And yet was it nether cleane yearth sand ne clay,
But the feces of yearth it was of Colour grey,
Which then turned to yearth as it on yearth lay.
The Water turned to blude to make man stronge,
The Ayre and Fire was medled theare amonge.
How be Ayre and Fire quod Marlin?
Through the workes of our Lord quod Martin.
For the brightnes of the holy Ghost is the Aire,
And the lightnes that gafe lyfe is Fyre.
Wheare hast thowe goe too Scolle to learne all this?
For that thou sayest is right true I wisse;
And I suppose it in thie thought,
That with iiii. Spirits it must be wrought.
Nay your Spirits are too wilde quoth Marlin againe,
Therefore I will not medle with them certaine:
I will have a Spirit made by kinde naturally,
That will abide with every body kindly;
Such a Spirit could I macke quod Marlin,
And yet men would hold yt but in veyne.
And yet of all workes it is the best,
Lest of Cost and most surest:
For if it should faile then were we done all,
And therefore for the most parfitest worke we it call;
It is so rich when it is wrought,
Though all the world were turned to nought:
As mennye rich bodyes agayn make would he,
As ever were or ever should be.
Take Earth of Earth, Earths Brother, &c.

I have seene an old Coppy of the said work of Pearce the Black Monk, to the end of which these following Verses were joyned.

NOW of this Matter derke and nothing clere,
An Exposicion I doe mack here;
Wherein I charge you secre to be,
That frend ne foe doe yt se;
Erth hyd within the bodies center is most fine,
Water of Wood Essell of Wine,
For by the moyster of the Grape,
This centrall Earth who can it take;
It and Sercion do our Maistry make,
For it shall become Mercuriall,
And after that Essentiall.
But now beware that you not faile,
For then you loose your greate travaile,
Whan you have drawne owte of the Gum,
All the Mercury that wyll come,
Understand that Lycowres three
In that Mercury conteyned be;
The first is the Watur of lyfe Ardent,
By Bath departed that is most lent;
It burneth as Aquavite by live,
And is called our Mercury attractive,
Wherewith is made Earth Christalline,
Out of all Collours Metallyne:
I speke no more thereof as yet,
For in this worke we neede not it.
Then runneth a Water after thilke,
Litle in quantity white as mylke;
Whych ys sperme or nature of our Stone,
That is earnestly sought of many one:
For of Man, Beste, and every thynge,
Sperme is there begynyng,
Therefore we our Mercury do it call.
Whych ys found here and there and over all,
For wythout yt ys nothyng lyvyng,
Wherefore yt ys in every thyng:
As well in thyngs most preciouse,
As in thyngs most vyle and odious;
Of yt they have there first nature,
Thys moyster to you as now is clere,
Thys ys the Mercury that we call
Vigetable, Minerall and Animall:
Our Quicksilver and our lac Virginis,
Our Water permanent forsooth yt ys;
Wyth thys Water Mercuriall,
We wasch the fylth Originall
Of our Erth tyll yt be whyte,
Lyke a Gumm that floweth lyte,
By dry fyre after that schale cume
Oyle wherewyth we make red Gumm:
Wych ys our Tincture and our Sulfur vive,
The soule of Saturne the Golde of life.
Our Tincture and our airy Gould,
Wych before was never so plainely tould;
God graunt that I do no displeasure
To hym in fulfillyng your desire.

Now Elements be divided every one,
Wyth thys Oyle make red your Stone;
Owre Gumms two then have schall ye,
Wythout the wych no Elixir may be.
They go the Body and the Spirits betwixt,
Wythowte the wych our Ston cannot be fixt,
And makyth of hym in a lytle space,
Two Elixirs by Gods Grace:
Whereby are trewly alterate,
All Metalline Bodies into a better state,
Wyth Sol and Luna equall to be,
To helpe us in our necessitie.
Now thanked be God most gracious,
Wych hath this Secret lent to us,
Hys grace therewyth to us he leave,
To our Soules helth us for to meve.

This following Fragment in some copies I have found placed at the end of the aforegoing Exposition of Pearce the Black Monke. In others, immediately before—With Hic and with Hac, &c. and bearing this Tytle,

A CONCLUSION.

TAke Wynde and Water, white and greene,
And thereof draw a lac Virgine;
Where some it call a water cleere,
The which water hath no Peere;
And then make your Fier stronger,
When the white fume doth appeare;
Chaunge your Receiver and continue longer:
And then shall you see come a Fire,
Red as blood and full of Yre.
Quod dicitur menstruum faetens, & sol philosophorum,
In quo fit nostra dissolutio, & congelatio.
Sublimatio, attractio, & etiam fixatio,
Et Sulphuris nostri, five foliati creatio.
WIth hic and with haec thus may ye do,
As Husband and Wife toogeather them wed;
Put them in a chamber both two,
And shet fast the dore when they be a bed.
The woman is both wanton and wilde,
With her husband she cannot rest,
Till she have conceived a Child;
Of all his kin he shall be best.
He is a Childe of the Elements
Both by Father and by Mother,
None so worthy in presence,
Not perfect Sol his owne Brother.
Sol and Luna owe unto him obedience,
And all that him needes they to him bring,
Saturne doth to him obesance,
Howbeit he is next of his kinne:
There is neither Emperour or Kinge,
But of his presence they would be glad,
If he from them were one yeare wanting;
In their hearts they would be full sad.
In riches he exceedeth all other,
The Elements in him are so even,
Luna is his Sister, and Sol is his Brother,
His Father dwelleth among the planets seaven.
Nulla virtus mineralibus where shall we him seeke,
Sit tibi principium principale Councell we must it keepe;
Reperitur ubi q; localis by way in every streete.

An other Conclusion.

FIrst Calcine and after Putrefie,
Dissolve, distill, sublime, discend and fix
With Aquavitae oftymes wash and dry;
And make a marriage of Body & Soul the Spirit betwixt.
Which thus together naturally if ye cannot mix,
Then shall the Body utterly dye in the flix.
Bleeding and changing Collours as ye shall see,
In bus and nubi he shall uprise and descend;
First up to the Moone and after up to the Sun,
Onely shipped within a litle glasen Tunne.
When he commeth thether, then is all the Maistry wonne,
About which Journey great goods ye shall not spend,
And ye shall be Glad that ever it was begun;
Patiently if ye list, to your worke to attend.
Who so shall our Pearle and our Ruby make,
Our Principle let him not forsake.
For at the beginning if his Principle be trew,
And that he can by craft so him bake;
Trewly at the end his Worke shall him not rew.

The whole Scyence.

THere is a bodi of a Bodi,
And a Soule and a Spryte,
Wyth two Bodyes must be knete.

There ben two Erthys at I the telle,
And two Waters wyth hem do dwelle;
The ton ys Whyte the tother is Red,
To quick the Bodies that ben ded.

And oon Fyre in Nature y hydd,
And oon Ayre with hem that doth the dede.
And all hyt commeth out of onn kynde,
Marke thys well Man and beare yt yn mynde.

TAke Mercury from Mercury which is his wyfe,
For Mercury wife to Mercury maketh greate stryfe:
But Mercurys wyfes Wyfe,
To Mercury maketh no stryfe.

AND thou wed Mercury to Mercury with her wyfe,
Then shall Mercury and Mercury be merry withouten stryfe:
For Mercuries Wyfe to Mercury maketh greate stryfe,
But Mercuries wyfe's wyfe to Mercury maketh no stryf.

A Ridle to you I will propose,
Of a Comon thing which most men knowes,
Which now in the Earth very reefe doth grow,
But is of small Price as all men know;
And that without roote, stalke or seede,
Wherewith of his kinde another to breede:
Yet of that nature, that it cannot cease,
If you plant it by peeces it selfe to increase,
Right heavy by kinde, yet forced to fly,
Starke nought in the purse, yet good in the Eye,
This something is nothing which seemeth full strange,
Having tasted the fire which maketh the change:
And hath many Collours yet sheweth but one,
This is the materiall of our STONE.

I Asked Philosophy how I should
Have of her the thing I would,
She answered me when I was able,
To make the Water malliable,
Or else the way if I could finde,
To mesure out a yard of Winde:
Then shalt thou have thyne owne desire,
When thou canst weigh an ounce of Fire:
Unlesse that thou canst doe these three,
Content thy selfe, thou get'st not me.

LEt the old man drinke wine till he pisse:
The meanes to the blest Stone is:
And in that menstrous water drowne,
The radiant brightnes of the Moone,
Then cast the Sun into her lapp,
That both may perish at a clapp.
Soe shall you have your full desire,
When you revive them both by Fire.

IF ye wolle to hys Medycyn aplye,
Make furst hevy, hard, hotte and drye:
Nesshe, lyght, cold and wete,
Put ham togeder and make ham mete,
Thus may ye spend mor thann the King,
Yf ye have connyng of suche a thynge.

IF thou the Fixid can dissolve,
And that Dissolv'd doest cause to fly,
That Flying then to Fixing bring,
Then maist thou live most happily.

R. B.