" After describing
the three kinds of fire, that of the lamp, that of ashes, and that
against nature, which last "is the fire of fire, that is the secret fire
drawn up, being the quintessence of the sun & moon, with the other
mercurial water joined with & together, which is fire elemental," he
tells us that "these fires are & doth contain the whole mystery of the
work." The reader, perhaps, thinks that he has nothing to do but
forthwith to turn all the lead he can lay his hands on into gold. But no:
"If you had the first ingredience & the proportion of each, yet all were
nothing if you had not the certain times & seasons of the planets &
signs, when to give more or less of this fire, namely a hot & dry, a cold
& moist fire which you must use in the mercurial water before it comes to
black & after into white & then red, which is only done by these fires,
which when you practise you will easily see & perceive, that you shall
stand amazed, & admire at the great & admirable wisdom of God, that can
produce such a wonderful, efficacious, powerful thing as this is to
convert all metallic bodies to its own nature, which may be well called a
first essence. I say by such weak simple means of so little value & so
little & easy labor & skill, that I may say with Artephus, 200 page, it
is of a worke so easy & short, fitter for women & young children than
sage & grave men.
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