[Sidenote: A besant is a besant, and not a duckett.] Besante you
expounde a duckett, But a duckett ys farre from a besante, bothe
for the tyme of the invent{i}one, and for the forme; and as I
suppose for the valewe, not withstandinge that Hollybande in his
frenche-Englishe dictionarye make yt of the valewe of a duckett,
whiche duckett is for the most part eyther venetiane or
spanyshe, when the Besante ys mere Grekishe; a coyne well knowen
and vsed in Englande (and yet not therefore one auncient coyne
of Englande, as Hollybande sayethe yt was of france,) emongst
the Saxons before, and the Normans after the Conqueste; the
forme whereof I will at other tyme describe, onlye nowe settinge
downe, that this besante (beinge the frenche name, and in
armorye rightlye accordinge to his nature, for a plate of
golde,) was called in Latine Byzant{i}um, obteyninge that name
because yt was the coyne of Constantinople sometyme called
Bizant{i}um; and because you shall not thinke this any
fic{ti}one of myne owne, I will warrante the same with Williame
of Malmesberye in the fourthe booke De Regibus, who hathe these
wordes: Constantinopolis prim{u}m Bizantiu{m} dicta forma{m}
antiqui vocabuli preferu{n}t imperatorii nu{m}mi Bizantiu{m}
dicta; where one other coppye for nummi Bizantiu{m} hath
Bizantini nu{m}mi, and the frenche hath yt besante or Bezantine,
makinge yt an olde coyne of france, (when he sholde haue sayed
one olde coyne in France and not of France,) of the valewe of a
duckette.
[Sidenote: Fermentacione is fermentacione, and not dawbing even
metaphorically.] Fermentac{i}o{n}e yo{u} expounde Dawbinge,
whiche cannott anye way be metaphoricallye so vsed in Chaucer,
althoughe yt sholde be improperlye or harsely applied. For
fermentac{i}one ys a peculier terme of Alchymye, deduced from
the bakers fermente or levyne. And therefore the Chimicall
philosophers defyne the fermente to bee anima, the sowle or
lyfe, of the philosophers stoone. Whereunto agreethe Clauiger
Bincing, one chimicall author, sayinge, ante viuificatio{ne}m id
est fermentac{i}o{ne}m, w{hi}che is before tinctinge, or gyvinge
tincture or cooler; that beinge as muche to saye as gyvinge
sowle or lyfe to the philosophers stoone, wherby that may
fermente or cooler or gyue lyfe to all other metaline bodyes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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