Thomas Norton, The Ordinall of Alchimy, part 3 of 5

CHAP. IV.

OF the grosse Warke now I will not spare,
Though it be secrete, largely to declare:
To teach you the trewth is myne intente,
As far forth as I dare for Gods Commaundement.
I will informe and guide you in the way,
In such wise as you may finde your praye:
If you consider how the partes of Werkes,
Be out of Order set by the old Clerks.
As I saide before, the Masters of this Arte,
Every each of them disclosed but a parte:
Wherefore though ye perceived them as ye woulde,
Yet ye cannot order and joyne them as ye shulde.
Arnold sheweth in his writinge,
How our finall secret is to know the thinge
Whereupon our worke shulde take her grounde,
And how pure Natures & simple may be found:
In this Boke begining multipharie,
He saith in our grounded Matter two kindes be;
But how to find them he kept that in store,
Ye have their Names the last Chapter before.
Freer Bacon disclosed more of that pointe,
When he said, Departe ye every joynte
In Elementa propinqua: take good heede thereto;
But unwise Doctours never worken soe,
But headly they proceed as men well nigh madd,
To the Matters divisible moe Matters they adde:
Soe when thei weene to bringe forth a Flower,
They doe nothinge but multiply Errour.
There cesed Bacon, and so doe other such,
For very dread least they shulde shew too much
Avicen in Porta wrote, if ye remember,
How ye shulde proceede perfection to ingender.
Trewly teaching as the pure trewth was,
Comedas ut bibas, et bibas ut Comedas,
Eate as it drinketh, and drinke as it doth eate,
And in the meane season take it a perfect sweate.
Rasis set the Dietary and spake some deale farr,
Non tamen comedat res festinanter,
Let not your Matters eate over hastilie,
But wisely consume their foode leasurelie.
Hereof the Prophet made wondrous mention,
Yf ye applie it to this intention.
Visitasti terram, & inebriasti eam,
Multiplicasti locupletare eam
Terram fructiferam in salsuginem,
Et terram sine aqua in exitus aquarum.
If it I have plenty of Meate and of Drinke,
Men must wake when they desier to winke:
For it is laboure of watch and paines greate.
Also the Foode is full costly meate;
Therefore all Poore men beware said Arnold,
For this Arte longeth to greate men of the worlde.
Trust to his words ye Poore men all,
For I am witnes that soe ye finde shall.
Esto longanimis & suavis said he,
For hasty men th'end shall never see.
The lengthe of clensing of Matters infected,
Deceyveth much People, for that is unsuspected.
Wherefore Poore men put ye not in prea[…]e,
Such wonders to seech, but in season cease.
Excesse for one halfe quarter of an howre,
May destroy all: therefore cheefe succoure
Is Primum pro quo, & vultimum pro quo non,
To know of the simperinge of our Stone.
Till it may noe more simper doe not cease,
And yet longe Continuance may not cause increase,
Remember that Water will buble and boyle,
But Butter must simper and also Oyle.
And soe with long leasure it will waste,
And not with bubling made in haste:
For doubt of perrills many moe then one,
And for supergression of our stone.
Amongst grosse Workes the fowlest of all
Is to clarifie our meanes Minerall.
Extremities may not be well wrought,
Without many Meanes wisely sought.
And everie Meane must be made pure,
If this worke shulde be made sure.
For foule and cleane by naturall lawe
Hath greate discord, and soe hath ripe and rawe.
Stedfast to stedfast will it selfe combinde,
And fleeting to fleeting will drawe by kinde:
And ever where as the Concordance is more,
Natures will drawe that were elswhere before;
This grosse Worke is fowle in her kinde,
And full of perrills as ye shall it finde.
No mans witt can him soe much availe,
But that sometyme he shall make a fayle.
As well as the Lay-man soe shall the Clerke,
And all that labour the grosse werke:
Whereof Anaxagoras said trewlie thus,
Nemo primo fronte reperitur discretus.
And once I heard a wise man say,
How in Catilonia at this day,
Magnetia with Minerall meanes all,
Be made to sale if ye for them call,
Whereby the honds of a cleanly Clerke,
Shall not be siled about so foule a werke.
And longe tyme sooner your Worke I understonde,
Shulde be farr onward before honde.
For if you shulde make all things as I cann,
Ye might be weary before your worke begann.
The Philosophers warke doe not begin,
Till all things be pure without and within.
We that must seeke Tincture most specious,
Must needely avoyd all things vild and vicious.
Of manifold meanes each hath his propertie,
To doe his Office after his degree:
With them hid things be out fett,
Some that will helpe and some that would lett.
Our Appoticaries to dresse them can no skill,
And we to teach them have no manner of will:
Whereof the cause trewly is none other,
But that they will counterfaict to beguile their Brother,
Rather then they will take the paine
Thereto belonging, ere they should it attaine:
It is there use whereof my hert is sore,
Much to desire and litle to doe therefore.
Who would have trewe warke he may no laboure spare,
Neither yet his Purse, though he make it bare:
And in the Grosse Warke he is furthest behinde,
That daily desireth the end thereof to finde.
If the grosse warke with all his Circumstance,
Were don in three yeares, it were a blessed chance:
For he that shall end it once for certeyne,
Shall never have neede to begin againe,
If he his Medicine wisely can Augment;
For that is the Mastrie of all our intent.
It needeth not to name the meanes Minerall,
For Albert writeth openly of them all.
Much I might write of nature of Mynes,
Which in this Grosse Warke be but engines;
For in this Warke finde ye nothing shall,
But handie-crafte called Arte Mechanicall:
Wherein an hundreth wayes and moe,
Ye maie committ a faulte as ye therein goe.
Wherefore beleeve what old Auctors tell,
Without Experience ye maie not doe well.
Consider all Circumstances, and set your delight
To keepe Uniformity of all things requisite.
Use one manner of Vessell in Matter and in Shape,
Beware of Commixtion that nothing miscape.
And hundreth faultes in speciall,
Ye maie make under this warning generall.
Nethles this Doctrine woll suffice,
To him that can in Practise be wise.
If your Ministers be witty and trew,
Such shall not neede your warkes to renew.
Therefore if ye woll avoyde all dreade,
In the Grosse Warke doe by my read:
Take never thereto no Houshold-man,
Thei be soone weary as I tell cann;
Therefore take noe man thereto,
But he be Waged, however you doe;
Not by the Moneth, as nigh as ye maie,
Ne by the Weeke, but by the Daye:
And that your Wages be to their minde,
Better then thei elsewhere can finde;
And that thei neede not for Wages sue,
But that their Payment be quick and trewe;
For that shall cause them to love and dreade,
And to their Warks to take good heede,
For doubt least thei be put awaye,
For Negligence of them in one daye:
Houshold-men woll not doe soe,
From this Warke therefore let them goe.
If I had knowne this, and had done soe,
I had avoyded mickle woe.
Alsoe in this Warke must be Liberty,
Without impediment, in everie degree,
With divers Comforts peynes to release
Of labours continuall which maie not Cease;
Els anguish of Labour and Melancholly,
Mought be Cause your Warkes to destroy.
Of the grosse Warke it needes to shew noe more,
For old men have tought the remnant before;
And what is necessary that thei laft out,
This Boke sheweth it without doubt.
Wherefore this litle Boke the Ordinall,
Is in Alkimy the Complement of all;
The Chapter following convenient for a Clerke,
Sheweth the Councells of the subtill Werke.

[Figure: Ro. Vaughan sculp.]

CHAP. V.

BRISE by Surname when the chaunge of Coyne was had,
Made some Men sorry, and some Men glad:
And as to much people that chaunge,
Seemed a newe thinge and a straunge;
Soe that season befell a wonderous thinge,
Tuching this Science without leasinge.
That three Masters of this Science all
Lay in one Bed nigh to Leaden-Hall,
Which had Elixirs parfite White and Red,
A wonder such Three to rest in one Bed,
And that within the space of dayes Tenn,
While hard it is to finde One in Millions of Men.
Of the Dukedome of Loraine one I understand
Was borne, that other nigh the Midle of England;
Under a Crosse, in the end of Shires three,
The third was borne; the youngest of them is he.
Which by his Nativity is by Clerks found,
That he shulde honour all English ground;
A Man mought walke all the World aboute,
And faile such Three Masters to finde oute;
Twayne be fleeting, the Youngest shall abide,
And doe much good in this Londe at a Tyde.
But sinne of Princes shall let or delaye
The Grace that he shulde doe on a daye.
The eldest Master chaunted of him a Songe,
And said that he shulde suffer much wronge.
Of them which were to him greately behould,
And manie things moe this Master tould,
Which sith that tyme hath trewly befall,
And some of them hereafter shall,
Whereof one is trewlie (said he)
After Troubles great Joy shalbe
In every quarter of this Londe,
Which all good Men shall understonde:
The Younger asked when that shulde be,
The old Man said when Men shall see
The holy Crosse honored both day and night,
In the Lond of God in the Lond of Light;
Which maie be done in right good season,
But long delayed it is without reason:
When that beginneth note well this thinge,
This Science shall drawe towards the Kinge;
And many moe Graces ye maie be boulde,
Moe then of us shall now be tould;
Grace on that King shall descend,
When he ould Manners shall amende:
He shall make full secreate search,
For this Scyence with doulced speech;
And amonge the Solitary,
He shall have tidings certainly.
So sought King Kalid of manie Men,
Till he met with Morien,
Which helped Kalid at his neede,
His Vertues caused him to speede.

NOwe of such Matters let us cease,
And of the suttill Warke reherse;
Greate need hath he to be a Clerke,
That would perceive this suttill Werke.
He must know his first Philosophie,
If he trust to come by Alkimye:
And first ye shall well understonde,
All that take this Werke in honde;
When your materialls by preparation,
Be made well apt for Generation,
Then thei must be departed a twinn,
Into foure Elements if ye would to winn:
Which thing to doe if ye ne can,
Goe and lerne it of Hortolan.
Which made his Boke of that Doctrine,
How ye shulde part the Elements of Wine.
Moreover ye must for your succour,
Know th'effects of the quallities fower;
Called Heate, Colde, Moisture, and Drines,
Of which fower all things Compounded is;
And sith in this Arte your cheefe desire
Is to have Colour which shulde abide fier,
Ye must know before you can that see,
How everie Colour ingendred shall be,
For every Colour whiche maie be thought,
Shall heere appeare before that White be wrought.
Yet more ye would have to this summe,
Swiftly to melt as Wex or Gumme:
Els mought it not enter and perce
The Center of Mettalls as Auctors reherse;
Soe ye would have it both fix and flowe,
With Colour plenty if ye wist howe;
Such three Contraries joyntly to meete
In one accord is a greate Secret.
Nethles he that is cleere of Minde,
In this Chapter maie it well finde;
And first to give you a short Doctrine,
Of the aforesaid qualities prime:
Heate, and Cold, be qualities Active
Moisture, and Drines, be qualityes Passive;
For they suffren the Actives evermore,
As Stones to be Lyme, and Water to be Froare.
Hereupon to Judge, ye maie be bold,
Nothing is full wrought but by Heate and Cold;
Nethles the Passives have some Activity,
As in Handicrafts men ye maie daily see;
In Bakinge, and Brewinge, and other Crafts all,
Moisture is opperative and soe Drines be shall.
Aristotle in his Phisicks and other manie moe,
Said ab actionibus procedit speculatio;
They said that Practise is roote and beginning,
Of Speculation and of all Cunning:
For the properties of every thinge,
Be perceaved by their working;
As by Colours of Urins we may be bold
To give sentence of Heate and Colde;
By thes aforesaid foure qualities prime,
We seeche Colours with length of tyme;
Of White Colour we be not full sure,
To seeche it but in a substance pure:
Greate Doctrine thereof lerne now ye maie,
When ye know how Colours growe all day.

COlour is the utmost thinge of a Body cleere,
Cleere fubstance well termined is his matter heere;
If Heate hath maistery in matter that is drye,
White Colour is ever thereof certainely;
As it appeareth in sight of brent Bones,
And in making of all Lyme Stones.

Where Cold worketh in matter moist & cleere,
Yet of such working Whitnes woll appeare:
As it sheweth in Ice and Frosts hore;
The cause is set out in Philosophie before:
I write not here of common Philosophie,
But by example to teach Alkimy;
That one maie be perceived by that other,
As is the Child perceived by the Mother.

If Heate in moyst matter and grosse withall,
Warke, thereof Black Colour ingender shall;
Example hereof if ye of me desire,
Behold when you see greene Wood set on a fire;
When Cold worketh in matter thick and drye,
Black Colour shall be, this is the cause whie;
Such matter is compacted and more thick,
With Cold constreyning, enimy to all quick,
Thicknes made Darknes with privation of Light,
Soe Collour is private, then Black it is to Sight,
Therefore evermore remember this,
How cleere matter is matter of Whitenes;
The cause efficient maie be manyfold,
For somewhile it is Heate, and sometime Cold:
But Whire and Black, as all men maie see,
Be Colours contrary in most extremitie:
Wherefore your warke with Black must beginn,
If the end shulde be with Whitenes to winn.

The midle Colour as Philosophers write,
Is Red Colour betweene Black and White:
Nethlesse trust me certainly,
Red is last in work of Alkimy.
Alsoe they say in their Doctrine,
How theis two Colours Rufe and Citrine,
Be meane Colours betweene White and Red,
And how that Greene, and Colour wan as Lead,
Betweene Red and Black be Colours meane,
And freshest Colour is of matter most Cleane.

Physitians in Urines have Colours Nynteene,
Betweene White and Black as thei weene;
Whereof Colour underwhite Subalbidus is one,
Like in Colour to Onychyne stone:
Of such like Colour Magnetia found is,
But Magnetia glittereth with Cleerenes:
In our suttill warke of Alkimy
Shall be all Colours that hath beene seen with Eye:
An hundreth Colours more in corteyne,
Then ever hath been seene in Urine.
Where in so many Colours mought not be,
But if our Stone conteyned every degree,
Of all Compositions found in warke of kinde,
And of all Compositions imaginable by minde.
Of as manie Colours as shall therein be saine,
So manie graduations your wisdome must attaine:
And if you knowe not such graduations all,
Lerne them of Raymond in his Atre Generall.
Gilbert Kymer wrote after his devise,
Of 17. Proportions, but thei maie not suffice
In this Science, which he coude never finde;
And yet in Phisick he had a nobil minde.
Wher the royalty of the nature of Man,
Advaunceth ofte Medicines of the Phisitian:
And so honoreth oft times his Crafte,
When that the Medicines peradventure mought be lafte;
But it is not so in Phisick of Mines,
For that Arte exceedeth all other engines:
And resteth only in the wisdome of Man,
As by experience wise men witnes can.

ANd soe of Alkimy the trew foundation,
Is in Composition by wise graduation
Of Heate and Cold, of Moist and of Drye,
Knowing other Qualities ingendered thereby;
As hard and soft, heavy and light,
Rough and smoothe, by ponders right,
With Number and Measure wisely sought,
In which three resteth all that God wrought:
For God made all things, and set it sure,
In Number Ponder and in Measure,
Which numbers if you doe chaunge and breake,
Upon Nature you must doe wreake.
Wherefore Anaxagoras said Take good heede,
That to Conjunction ye not proceede,
Till ye know the Ponders full compleate
Of all Components which shulde therein meete;
Bacon said that old Men did nothing hide,
But only Proportion wherein was noe guide:
For none old Auctor, King, Prince, ne Lord,
Writing of this Science with others did accorde
In the Proportions; which if ye would reach,
Raymond, with Bacon, and Albert, done it teach,
With old Anaxagoras, of them fowre ye shall
Have perfect knowledge, but not of one have all:
And if you would joyne fowre Qualities to intent,
Then must ye Conjoyne every Element:
As Water and Erthe after your desire,
Well compounded with Ayer, and Fier:
Knowing the worthiest in his activitie,
The second, the third, every-each in his degree;
The fourth, and the vilest maie not be refused,
For it is profitable and best to be used;
And best maie extend his Multiplication,
In whome is the virtue of our Generation;
And that is the Erthly Lytharge of our Stone,
Without him Generation shall be none;
Neyther of our Tincture fixation,
For nothing is fixt but Erthe alone;
All other Elements moveable be,
Fier, Ayer, and Water, as ye daily see:
But Fier is cause of extendibility,
And causeth matters permiscible to be,
And cleere brightnes in Colours faire
Is caused of kinde evermore of Ayer,
And Ayer also with his Coaction,
Maketh things to be of light liquefaction:
As Wax is and Butter, and Gummes all,
A little heate maketh them to melt and fall:
Water clenseth with ablution blive,
And things mortifyed causeth to revive.
Of multiplying of Fier is no greater wonder,
Than is of multiplying of Erth set under:
For Erth beareth Herbes daily new and newe,
Without number, therefore it is trewe
That Erth is wonderfull as well as Fier,
Though one sparke maie soone fill a Sheere:
If all a Sheere were filled with Flaxe,
One sparke than would wonderfully waxe:
Fier and Erth be multipliers alone,
And thei be causers of multiplying our Stone.
Of this Erth showeth Albert our great Brother,
In his Mineralls, which Lytharge is better than other.
For the white Elixir he doth it there rehearse,
And the booke of Meeter showeth it in a verse.

NOw to Conjunction let us resorte,
And some wise Councell thereof reporte:
Conjoyne your Elements Grammatically,
With all their Concords conveniently:
Whiche Concords to healpe a Clerke,
Be cheefe Instruments of all this werke:
For nothinge maie be more contrary nowe,
Than to be fixt and unperfectly flowe:
All the Grammarians of England and of Fraunce,
Cannot teach you this Concordance:
This Ordinall telleth where ye maie it see,
In Phisick in the Boke de Arbore.
Joyne them also in Rhetoricall guise,
With Natures Ornate in purified wise.
Sithens our Tincture must be most pure and faire,
Be sure of pure Erth, Water, Fier and Ayre.
In Logicall wise be it early or late,
Joyne trewe kindes not sophisticate;
Ignorance hereof hath made many Clerks,
Lewdly to leese their labour and their werkes.
Joyne them together also Arithmetically,
By suttill Numbers proportionally.
Whereof a litle mention made there was,
When Boetius said tu numeris elementa ligas.
Joyne your Elements Musically,
For two causes, one is for Melody:
Which there accords will make to your mind,
The trewe effect when that ye shall finde.
And also for like as Diapason,
With Diapente and with Diatesseran,
With ypate ypaton, and Lecanos muse,
With other accords which in Musick be,
With their proporcions causen Harmony,
Much like proportions be in Alkimy,
As for the great Numbers Actuall:
But for the secreate Numbers Intellectuall;
Ye must seeche them as I said before,
Out of Raymond and out of Bacons lore.
Bacon sheweth it darkly in his three letters all,
And Raymonde better in his Arte Generall.
Many men weene which doth them reade,
That theie doe understonde them when theie doe not indeede.
With Astrologie joyne Elements also,
To fortune their Workings as theie goe:
Such simple kindes unformed and unwrought,
Must craftily be guided till the end be sought,
All which season theie have more obedience,
Above formed Natures to Sterrs influence.
And Science Perspective giveth great evidence,
To all the Ministers of this Science.
And so done other Sciences manie moe
And specially the Science de Pleno & Vacuo,
But the chiefe Mistris among Sciences all,
For helpe of this Arte, is Magick Naturall.

WHen the foure Elements wisely joyned be,
And every-each of them set in his degree,
Then of divers degrees and of divers digestion,
Colours will arise towards perfection.
For then worketh inward heate naturall,
Which in our substance is but Intellectuall:
To sight unknowne, hand maie it not feele,
His working is knowne to few Men and seild;
And when this heate naturall moved be shall
By our outward heate artificiall,
Then Nature excited to labour will not cease
Many diversities of degrees to increase.
Which is one cause by reason you ma[…]e see,
Whie in our warke so manie Colours be:
Therfore it causeth in this Arte great doubt,
Ignorance of heate within and without,
To know how theis two heates shulde accord,
And which of them in working shulde be Lord.

DIgestion in this warke hath great likenesse
To digestion in things of Quicknes:
And before other (as I witnesse can)
It is most like to digestion of Man.
Therefore said Morien, our Stone in generation
Is most like thing to Mans Creation,
In whom saith Raymond the fowre degrees all
Of the fowre Complexions together finde ye shall,
And that actually, which ye cannot finde
Amongst Creatures in none other kinde.
Wherefore amonge Creatures theis two alone
Be called Microcosmus, Man and our Stone.
Now of Digestion the aliment and foode
Perfectly to know is needfull and full good.
It is humor sollid constant with siccitie,
Mightily medled after some degree,
In opposite passives mixed duly,
Ingendered by inward and outward heat trewly.
Soe nothing else is our Digestion,
But of humour substantiall a create perfection.
I pray ye Laymen have me excused,
Though such Tearmes with you be not used,
I must use them, for all Auctors affirmes,
How every Science hath his proper Tearmes.
Digestion sometimes advanced maie be
By outward cold, as yearly ye maie see
How in Winter men eaten more meate
Than in Summer, when expansed is their heate;
For colde maketh heate inward then to flye,
And ligge nigh together, then stronger is he;
Which by his strength his power is more
To make Digestion than he mought before.
But our cheefe Digesture for our intent,
Is virtuall heate of the matter digerent;
Nethles heate of the digestible thinge,
Helpeth digestion and her working:
Feaverly heate maketh no digestion,
Baines maie helpe and cause also destruction.
Wine digested hath more heate naturall,
Than hath new Muste, whose heate is accidentall:
Coagulation is noe forme substantiall,
But onlie passion of things materiall.

MOre ye must know, when Colours appeare,
Who is principall Agent in that matter Cleere.
For sometimes it is Heate, and sometimes Cold it is,
And sometime Moysture, and somewhile Drines.
The principall Agent to know at every season,
Requireth great search made by suttill reason:
Which is not perceived but of Masters fewe,
For thei mark not how Colours arise by rewe:
The principall Agent of the qualities fowre,
Hath power royall as Lord of most honour
The remnant of qualities to Converte to his kinde,
Of which conversion Anaxagoras maketh minde
In his Boke of Conversions Naturall,
Whereof Raymond sheweth causes speciall:
It is no Jape neither light to lerne
Your principall Agent all seasons to discerne:
Which I teach you to knowne by signes fowre,
By Colour, Odour, Sapor and Liquore.

ANd first by Colour to serve your intente,
To know thereby your principall Agent.
Looke in your Vessell which Colour sheweth most,
He that causeth him is principall of the host
As for that season, whose pride ye maie swage,
By this our Doctrine, if ye see him rage:
Which ye maie doe when ye well understonde,
The cause of all Colours which ye have in honde.
Which I woll teach you now shortly withall,
Bycause here and there seeke them ye ne shall:
Whitnes is caused of manie matters cleere,
In another thing termined, and soe it is heere;
Blacknes is when parts of a body darke,
With thicknes oppresseth the cleernes of the Warke;
Or els it is of a Combust terrestrietie;
But of such Combustion greate hardnes shall be;
And by Commixion of Darke Cleere and Cleane,
Shall be ingendered all the Colours meane:
Every cleere thinge perspicuate and fayre,
Standeth by the matters of Water and Aire,
Whome a pure Erth doth apprehend,
Such as shall not their cleerenes offend;
And if in such cleerenes and perspicuitie,
Ye can noe speciall Colour see,
Thereupon to Judge you maie be bold,
The cause of such things was exceeding Colde:
As Christall, Berill, and other things moe,
Diversitie betweene them lerne ere ye goe;
Christall hat Water declyning toward Ayer,
Wherefore it is cleere, perspicuous and faire;
But where it declineth towards Water more,
It is darke as Berill or Ice hard frore;
But when matters draweth toward siccitie,
Darknes with hardnes ingendred shall be;
As it appeareth in the Adamant Stone,
And in other things manie one.
Twinckling and glittering as in Magnetia is,
Light is cause thereof within matter of Cleerenes;
Which is superduced upon waterly vapour,
Beforetyme incenced with Heate be ye sure;
Now after cleerenes and Colours in extremitie,
Of meane Colours a litle shew will I.