into a coal fire, and the water shall rise as oil shining like
gold, the air remaining at the bottom like oil of gold. Put
these aside.]

sublyme eyr, or fier,
or er[th]e. and so [take] [th]o [th]re elementis, and
sette in [th]e same bath
by .vij. dayes [th]at [th]ei be weel meyngid, &
so cloos [th]{a}t
no [th]ing be distillid / aftir [th]e .vij. dayes take [th]e 28
stillatorie, and putte it
to [th]e fier of aischen, [th]{a}t is strongere [th]a{n}
fier of bath clepid marien; and [th]e watir schal ascende in foorme
of oyle schynynge as gold /
and aftirward [th]{a}t no [th]ing more schal
ascende, [gh]e haue [th]anne
in [th]e ampulle .ij. elementis, [th]at is to seie, 32
watir and eyr. & oon
from ano[th]ir [gh]e schal dep{ar}te in [th]e bath,
puttynge yn a[gh]en wher al-oonly [th]e cleer watir schal ascende /
and [th]e eyr schal
al-oonly remayne i[-n] [th]e botu{m} of [th]e vessel in
lijknesse of oyle of gold.
[th]e which oyle [th]at is gold, [th]e which oyle 36

[Page 13: HOW TO FIX OTHER THINGS IN OUR QUINTE ESSENCE.]

[To separate fire from the earth, put 4 lbs. of water on 1 lb.
of earth; place it in the Marian bath for 7 days; then in hot
flames; red water shall ascend and black earth fall.]

[th]at is ayr / putte it aside.
[th]anne [th]{er} leeue[th] [gh]itt fier wi[th] er[th]e.
to dep{ar}te fier from er[th]e,
putte [th]e element of watir, [th]at is to
seye .iiij [lb] of watir,
vpon j [lb] of mat{er} / and putte by .vij. daies

[Put the red water into the distiller; pure water shall rise;
red water, or fire, shall remain; so you have the 4 Elements
separate.]

to encorp{er}e wel as tofore in [th]e bath of marie[-n] / Aftirward 4
putte it to [th]e fier of flawme
ri[gh]t strong, and [th]e reed wat{er} schal

[[* Fol. 18b.]]

ascende. [th]e which gadere
togidere as longe as ony [*][th]ing ascendi[th].
and to [gh]ou schal remayne
an er[th]e ri[gh]t blak in [th]e botum. [th]e which
gadere togidere aside /
[th]anne [th]e redeste watir [gh]e schal take. forwhy. 8
[th]er be .ij. eleme{n}tis,
[th]at is to seie, [th]e element of watir and fier.
[th]a{n}ne yn [th]e stillatorie,
to [th]e fier of ba[th], cleer watir schal asende.
and in [th]e botu{m}
schal remayne [th]