Art. 15, Vorte couche selverfoyl

by: Susanna Greer Fein (Editor)

from: The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript, Volume 2  2014

52vb]    2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

N N N; T    N N

¶ Tac gumme arabuk, ant cast hit into tempret gleyr, vorte hit beo imolten. Ant seththe tac chalk ant grynt hit as smal as thu myht, ant tempre hit with thilke water, that is icleopet “gleyr,” as thikke as thu wolt leggen hit with a pinsel, oper with what thu wolt. Et theras hit is ileyd, let hit resten that hit beo druye. Ant thenne tac thi selverfoyl ant ley theron. Ant yef hit is idruyet to druye, ethe theruppon with thi breth, ant hit wol moysten ageyn, ant thenne hit wol cachen the foyl fast, ant stike wel the betere. Ant wit an hare-tayl thac hit to. Ant seththe tac an houndus tooh, ant vasne in a stikkes ende, ant robbe uppon thi lettre, other uppon whet other thing hit beo. Ant that that hath the sise schal stunte stylle, ant that that nat nout the sise, wol awey. ¶ I the selve maner, mac the sise to goldfoyl, save tac a lutel radel ant grynt to thin      asise, vorte loosen is colour, bi resun of the goldfoyl, ant so vorth as I seyde er.

¶ Take gum arabic, and cast it into tempered egg white, until it is melted. And then take chalk and grind it as fine as you can, and temper it with this water, which is called “glair,” as thick as you wish to apply it with a pointed stick, or with whatever you wish. And there where it is laid, let it rest until it is dry. And then take your silverfoil and lay it on there. And if it has dried too dry, blow upon it with your breath, and it will moisten again, and then it will catch the foil fast, and stick better. And pat it with a hare’s tail. And then take a hound’s tooth, and fasten it to the end of a stick, and rub on the letter, or on whatever thing it is. And that which has the glue will hold fast, and that which does not have the glue, will be removed. ¶ In the same manner, make the glue for goldfoil, except take a little red ochre and grind it into in your glue, in order to get rid of its color, by reason of the goldfoil, and so forth as I explained earlier.

Go To Art. 16, Vorte maken iren as hart as stel, introduction
Go To Art. 16, Vorte maken iren as hart as stel, text

Footnotes

ART. 15, VORTE COUCHE SELVERFOYL: EXPLANATORY NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: AND: Anglo-Norman Dictionary; ANL: Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts (R. Dean and Boulton); BL: British Library (London); Bodl.: Bodleian Library (Oxford); CCC: Corpus Christi College (Cambridge); CUL: Cambridge University Library (Cambridge); IMEV: The Index of Middle English Verse (Brown and Robbins); IMEV Suppl.: Supplement to the Index of Middle English Verse (Robbins and Cutler); MED: Middle English Dictionary; MWME: A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500 (Severs et al.); NIMEV: A New Index of Middle English Verse (Boffey and Edwards); NLS: National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh).

1 gumme arabuk. See MED, gomme (n.), “a gum from a certain species of acacia.”

3 pinsel. See MED, pencel (n.(2)), “a small brush used for painting, manuscript illumination, etc.; also, a pointed straw or stick of similar use.”

7 thac. “Pat, stroke, or dab”; see MED, thakken (v.).

9 sise. Glue. See MED, sise (n.(2)), “A sticky fluid used to prepare a surface before applying gold or silver overlay,” and assise, sense 10.(c) (the form that appears in line 12).

11 radel. See MED, radel (n.), “Red ochre used as a pigment.”

ART. 15, VORTE COUCHE SELVERFOYL: TEXTUAL NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: As: Aspin; Bö: Böddeker; Bos: Bossy; Br: Brook; BS: Bennett and Smithers; BZ: Brandl and Zippel; B13: Brown 1932; B14: Brown 1952; DB: Dunn and Byrnes; Deg: Degginger; Do: Dove 1969; Gr: Greene 1977; Ha: Halliwell; Hal: Hall; Hol: Holthausen; Hor¹: Horstmann 1878; Hor²: Horstmann 1896; Hu: Hulme; JL: Jeffrey and Levy; Ju: Jubinal; Kel: Keller; Ken: Kennedy; Le: Lerer 2008; Mc: McKnight; Mi: Millett; MR: Michelant and Raynaud; Mo: Morris and Skeat; MS: MS Harley 2253; Mu: H. M. R. Murray; Pa: Patterson; Pr: Pringle 2009; Rei: Reichl 1973; Rev¹: Revard 2004; Rev²: Revard 2005b; Ri¹: Ritson 1877; Ri²: Ritson 1885; Ro: Robbins 1959; Sa: Saupe; Si: Silverstein; St: Stemmler 1970; Tr: Treharne; Tu: Turville-Petre 1989; Ul: Ulrich; W¹: Wright 1839; W²: Wright 1841; W³: Wright 1842; W⁴: Wright 1844; WH: Wright and Halliwell.

7 wit. So MS, W⁴. Kel: with.