[58] BERNARD, EARL OF TRÉVISAN: _A Treatise of the Philosophers Stone_, 1683 (see _Collectanea Chymica: A Collection of Ten Several Treatises in Chemistry_, 1684, p. 91). Sir George Ripley (14--?-1490?). § =44.= =Sir George Ripley=, an eminent alchemistic philosopher of the fifteenth century, entered upon a monastic life when a youth, becoming one of the canons regular of Bridlington. After some travels he returned to England and obtaining leave from the Pope to live in solitude, he devoted himself to the study of the Hermetic Art. His chief work is _The Compound of Alchymie . . . conteining twelve Gates_, which was written in 1471. In this curious work, we learn that there are twelve processes necessary for the achievement of the _magnum opus_, namely, Calcination, Solution, Separation, Conjunction, Putrefaction, Congelation, Cibation, Sublimation, Fermentation, Exaltation, Multiplication, and Projection. These are likened to the twelve gates of a castle which the philosopher must enter. At the conclusion of the twelfth gate, Ripley says:-- “Now thou hast conqueryd the _twelve Gates_, And all the Castell thou holdyst at wyll, Keep thy Secretts in store unto thy selve; And the commaundements of God looke thou fulfull: In fyer conteinue thy glas styll, And Multeply thy Medcyns ay more and more, For wyse men done say _store ys no sore_.”[59] [59] Sir GEORGE RIPLEY: _The Compound of Alchemy_ (see _Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum_, edited by Elias Ashmole, 1652, p. 186). At the conclusion of the work he tells us that in all that he wrote before he was mistaken; he says:-- “I made _Solucyons_ full many a one, Of Spyrytts, Ferments, Salts, Yerne and Steele; Wenyng so to make the Phylosophers Stone: But fynally I lost eche dele, After my Boks yet wrought I well; Whych evermore untrue I provyd, That made me oft full sore agrevyd.”[60] [60] _Ibid._ p. 189. Ripley did much to popularise the works of Raymond Lully in England, but does not appear to have added to the knowledge of practical chemistry. His _Bosom Book_, which contains an alleged method for preparing the Stone, will be found in the _Collectanea Chemica_ (1893). Thomas Norton (15th Century). § =45.= =Thomas Norton=, the author of the celebrated _Ordinall of Alchemy_, was probably born shortly before the commencement of the fifteenth century. The _Ordinall_, which is written in verse (and which will be found in Ashmole’s _Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum_),[61] is anonymous, but the author’s identity is revealed by a curious device. The initial syllables of the proem and of the first six chapters, together with the first line of the seventh chapter, give the following couplet:-- “Tomais Norton of Briseto, A parfet _Master_ ye maie him call trowe.” [61] A prose version will be found in _The Hermetic Museum_ translated back into English from a Latin translation by Maier.