#  John Gower on Alchemy 

 



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*Use the glossary in* The Riverside Chaucer *for words not glossed in the margins; see also [a note on Gower's spellings](/pages/note-gowers-spelling).*

***Confessio Amantis*, Book IV, 451-632**

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Bot hou that metall cam a-place   
 Thurgh mannes wit and goddes grace   
 The route of Philosophres wise  
 Controeveden be sondri wise,  
 Ferst forto gete it out of Myne,   
 And after forto trie and fyne.  
 And also with gret diligence   
 Thei founden thilke experience,   
 Which cleped is Alconomie,  
 Wherof the Selver multeplie   
 Thei made and ek the gold also.   
 And forto telle hou it is so,   
 Of bodies sevene in special   
 With foure spiritz joynt withal  
 Stant the substance of this matiere.   
 The bodies whiche I speke of hiere   
 Of the Planetes ben begonne:   
 The gold is titled to the Sonne,   
 The mone of Selver hath his part,  
 And Iren that stant upon Mart,  
 The Led after Satorne groweth,  
 And Jupiter the Bras bestoweth,   
 The Coper set is to Venus,  
 And to his part Mercurius   
 Hath the quikselver, as it falleth,  
 The which, after the bok it calleth,   
 Is ferst of thilke fowre named   
 Of Spiritz, whiche ben proclamed;   
 And the spirit which is secounde   
 In Sal Armoniak is founde:   
 The thridde spirit Sulphur is;   
 The ferthe suiende after this  
 Arcennicum be name is hote.   
 With blowinge and with fyres hote   
 In these thinges, whiche I seie,   
 Thei worchen be diverse weie.  
 For as the philosophre tolde   
 Of gold and selver, thei ben holde   
 Tuo principal extremites,  
 To whiche alle othre be degres  
 Of the metalls ben acordant,   
 And so thurgh kinde resemblant,  
 That what man couthe aweie take   
 The rust, of which thei waxen blake,   
 And the savour and the hardnesse,   
 Thei scholden take the liknesse   
 Of gold or Selver parfitly.   
 Bot forto worche it sikirly,  
 Betwen the corps and the spirit,  
 Er that the metall be parfit,   
 In sevene formes it is set;   
 Of alle and if that on be let,  
 The remenant mai noght availe,   
 Bot otherwise it mai noght faile.   
 For thei be whom this art was founde  
 To every point a certain bounde   
 Ordeignen, that a man mai finde  
 This craft is wroght be weie of kinde,   
 So that ther is no fallas inne.  
 Bot what man that this werk beginne,   
 He mot awaite at every tyde,  
 So that nothing be left aside,   
 Ferst of the distillacion,   
 Forth with the congelacion,   
 Solucion, descencion,   
 And kepe in his entencion   
 The point of sublimacion,   
 And forth with calcinacion   
 Of veray approbacion   
 Do that ther be fixacion   
 With tempred hetes of the fyr,  
 Til he the parfit Elixir   
 Of thilke philosophres Ston   
 Mai gete, of which that many on  
 Of Philosophres whilom write.   
 And if thou wolt the names wite  
 Of thilke Ston with othre tuo,   
 Whiche as the clerkes maden tho,  
 So as the bokes it recorden,   
 The kinde of hem I schal recorden.   
 These olde Philosophres wyse   
 Be weie of kinde in sondri wise   
 Thre Stones maden thurgh clergie.   
 The ferste, if I schal specefie,   
 Was lapis vegetabilis,  
 Of which the propre vertu is  
 To mannes hele forto serve,  
 As forto kepe and to preserve   
 The bodi fro siknesses alle,   
 Til deth of kinde upon him falle.   
 The Ston seconde I thee behote  
 Is lapis animalis hote,  
 The whos vertu is propre and cowth  
 For Ere and yhe and nase and mouth,  
 Wherof a man mai hiere and se   
 And smelle and taste in his degre,   
 And forto fiele and forto go  
 It helpeth man of bothe tuo:   
 The wittes fyve he underfongeth  
 To kepe, as it to him belongeth.   
 The thridde Ston in special   
 Be name is cleped Minerall,   
 Which the metalls of every Mine   
 Attempreth, til that thei ben fyne,  
 And pureth hem be such a weie,  
 That al the vice goth aweie   
 Of rust, of stink and of hardnesse:   
 And whan thei ben of such clennesse,   
 This Mineral, so as I finde,   
 Transformeth al the ferste kynde   
 And makth hem able to conceive  
 Thurgh his vertu, and to receive   
 Bothe in substance and in figure   
 Of gold and selver the nature.   
 For thei tuo ben th' extremetes,   
 To whiche after the propretes   
 Hath every metal his desir,  
 With help and confort of the fyr   
 Forth with this Ston, as it is seid,   
 Which to the Sonne and Mone is leid;  
 For to the rede and to the whyte   
 This Ston hath pouer to profite.   
 It makth multiplicacioun   
 Of gold, and the fixacioun   
 It causeth, and of his habit   
 He doth the werk to be parfit   
 Of thilke Elixer which men calle   
 Alconomie, as is befalle  
 To hem that whilom weren wise.  
 Bot now it stant al otherwise;   
 Thei speken faste of thilke Ston,   
 Bot hou to make it, nou wot non  
 After the sothe experience.   
 And natheles gret diligence   
 Thei setten upon thilke dede,   
 And spille more than thei spede;  
 For allewey thei finde a lette,  
 Which bringeth in poverte and dette   
 To hem that riche were afore:   
 The lost is had, the lucre is lore,  
 To gete a pound thei spenden fyve;   
 I not hou such a craft schal thryve  
 In the manere as it is used:   
 It were betre be refused   
 Than forto worchen upon weene  
 In thing which stant noght as thei weene.   
 Bot noght forthi, who that it knewe,   
 The science of himself is trewe   
 Upon the forme as it was founded,   
 Wherof the names yit ben grounded   
 Of hem that ferste it founden oute;   
 And thus the fame goth aboute   
 To suche as soghten besinesse   
 Of vertu and of worthinesse.   
 Of whom if I the names calle,   
 Hermes was on the ferste of alle,   
 To whom this art is most applied;   
 Geber therof was magnefied,   
 And Ortolan and Morien,   
 Among the whiche is Avicen,   
 Which fond and wrot a gret partie   
 The practique of Alconomie;   
 Whos bokes, pleinli as thei stonde   
 Upon this craft, fewe understonde;   
 Bot yit to put hem in assai   
 Ther ben full manye now aday,   
 That knowen litel what thei meene.   
 It is noght on to wite and weene;   
 In forme of wordes thei it trete,   
 Bot yit they failen of beyete,  
 For of tomoche or of tolyte  
 Ther is algate founde a wyte,  
 So that thei folwe noght the lyne   
 Of the parfite medicine,   
 Which grounded is upon nature.   
 Bot thei that writen the scripture   
 Of Grek, Arabe and of Caldee,  
 Thei were of such Auctorite   
 That thei ferst founden out the weie   
 Of al that thou hast herd me seie;   
 Wherof the Cronique of her lore   
 Schal stonde in pris for everemore.



  
   
 **company**   
 **contrived**   
   
 **assay and refine**   
   
   
 **alchemy**   
   
   
   
   
 **joined**   
   
   
   
   
 **moon**   
 **iron; Mars**   
 **lead**   
   
 **copper**   
   
 **mercury**   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 **following**   
   
   
   
 **work**   
   
   
 **two**   
 **by**   
   
 **natural resemblance**   
   
   
   
   
   
 **truly**   
 **body**   
   
   
 **one be hindered**   
   
   
 **by**   
   
 **establish**   
   
 **fallacy**   
   
 **each hour**   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 **heats**   
   
   
 **many a one**   
   
 **know**   
   
 **then**   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 **vegetable stone**   
 **power**   
 **well-being**   
   
   
   
 **promise**   
 **animal stone**   
 **known**   
 **ear; eye; nose**   
   
   
 **feel**   
   
 **undertakes**   
   
   
   
   
 **tempers; refined**   
 **purifies**   
   
   
   
   
   
 **reproduce**   
   
   
   
   
   
 **i.e., all metals want to be gold or silver**   
   
   
 **sun and moon**   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 **alchemy**   
 **them**   
   
   
 **no one now knows**   
   
   
   
 **lose; succeed**   
 **hindrance**   
   
   
 **money**   
   
 **I do not know**   
   
   
 **work on speculation**   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 **attainment**   
 **too much or of too little**   
 **defect, something to reproach**   
   
   
   
   
 **Chaldean**







  
Text adapted from: *The English Works of John Gower*, ed. G. C. Macaulay, EETS e.s. 81-82. London. 1900-01.