h]{a}t hermys [th]e p{ro}phete and
kyng of Egipt, aft{er} [th]e flood of Noe
fadir of philosophris, hadde by
reuelaciou{n} of an aungil
of god to him
sende.

Edited from
British Museum MS. Sloane 73
about 1460-70 A.D.
by
FREDERICK J. FURNIVALL

_Published for_
THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY
_by the_
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON . NEW YORK . TORONTO

FIRST PUBLISHED 1866
REVISED EDITION 1889
REPRINTED 1965

Original Series, No. 16
Reprinted in Great Britain by Richard Clay
(The Chaucer Press) Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk

* * * * *

The odd account of the origin of this Treatise--in its first
lines--caught my eye as I was turning over the leaves of the Sloane
Manuscript which contains it. I resolved to print it as a specimen of
the curious fancies our forefathers believed in (as I suppose) in
Natural Science, to go alongside of the equally curious notions they
put faith in in matters religious. And this I determined on with no idea
of scoffing, or pride in modern wisdom; for I believe that as great
fallacies now prevail in both the great branches of knowledge and
feeling mentioned, as ever were held by man. Because once held by other
men, and specially by older Englishmen, these fancies and notions have,
or should have, an interest for all of us; and in this belief, one of
them is presented here.

The loss of my sweet, bright, only child, Eena, and other distress, have
prevented my getting up any cram on the subject of Quintessence to form
a regular Preface. The (translated?) original of the text is attributed
to Hermes--Trismegistus, "or the thrice great Interpreter," so called as
"having three parts of the Philosophy of the whole world"[1]--to whom
were credited more works than he wrote. The tract appears to be a great
fuss about Alcohol or Spirits of Wine; how to make it, and get more or
less tipsy on it, and what wonders it will work, from making old men
young, and dying men well, to killing lice.

The reading of the proof with the MS. was done by Mr. Edmund Brock, the
Society's most careful and able helper. To Mr. Cockay