o}phete and
kyng of Egipt, aft{er} the flood of Noe, fadir of philosophris, 4
hadde by reuelaciou{n} of an aungil of god to him sende, [th]{a}t
[th]e wijsdom and [th]e science of [th]is book schulde not p{er}ische,
but be kept and p{re}serued vnto [th]e eende of [th]e world, of alle
holy men from al wickid peple and tyrauntis, for greet p{er}ilis 8
[th]at my[gh]te falle [th]erof.
For wi[th]i{n}ne [th]is breue tretis, wi[th] [th]e
g{ra}ce of god, I wole more determine of practif[*] [th]an of theorik.

[[* practise, MS. Harl.]]

[God's greatest secret for man's need is how to restore old
feeble men to the strength of their youth, except in case of
thunder-blast, and too much fasting, and the term set for all
men.]

[gh]itt ben bo[th]e nedeful /
The firste and souereyneste p{ri}uyte [th]at
god, maker of kynde, ordeyned for mannys nede, how [th]at olde 12
euangelik men, and feble in kynde, my[gh]te be restorid, and haue
a[gh]en her firste
strenk[th]is of [gh]ong[th]e in [th]e same degree [th]at is in
al kynde, & be m{a}d hool p{ar}fi[gh]tly, except [th]e strok of [th]e
[th]undir blast, & violent brusuris, and oppressynge of to myche 16
betynge / Also p{er}ilous
fallyngis of hi[gh] placis, to myche abstynence,
& o[th]{er}e yuel gou{er}naunce a[gh]ens kynde, And also [th]e
teerme [th]{a}t is sett
of god, [th]{a}t noman may a-schape, as Iob sei[th] in
latyn / "Breues dies ho{min}is s{un}t &c." Forso[th]e philosophoris 20

['N{ot}a.']

[Page 2: THE NAMES AND QUALITIES OF QUINTE ESSENCE.]

[The purest substance of corruptible things is Quinte Essence
or man's heaven.]

clepen [th]e purest substau{n}ce
of manye corruptible [th]i{n}gis elementid,
'qui{n}ta e{ss}encia,' [th]at is to seie, 'ma{n}nys heuene,' drawe out
by craft of mani;[1] for whi,
as quinta e{ss}encia sup{er}ior, [th]{a}t is,

[Footnote 1: ? MS. meant for 'man.']

[[* Fol. 10b.]]

heuene of oure lord god, in reward of [th]e .iiij elementis, is 4
yncorruptible & vnchau{n}geable /
ri[gh]t so [*]q{ui}nta e{ss}encia sup{er}ior

[Quinte Essence is incorruptible as to the four qualities of
man's body, but not as the heaven of God.]

inferior, [th]at is to seie, ma{n}nys heuene, is incorruptible,
in reward of [th]e .4. q{ua}litees of mannys body; and so it is
p{re}ued naturaly [th]