Sloane MS 1873

ff. 1r–85v: Sixteenth-century copy of Thomas Norton's The Ordinal of Alchemy, written in secretary hand, with a poem by Walter Haddon (f. 84v) in praise of Norton. At the beginning and end (ff. 1r–v, 85r–v) are fragments from Chapter 2 of Book 8 of the Interpretatio Topicorum Aristotelis by Boethius, copied in the 2nd half of the 13th century.

f. 2r: Three poems and a riddle written in two italic hands.

Seven-line poem entitled 'Thomas Nortons Credit Me and learned Ordinall.' Begins 'But how may i well credit hym that hath not uttered all'

Couplet: 'Desyre not thyss booke to shew thinges all/ For this booke is but an ordinall'

'A Riddell.' Begins: 'A thing of small pryce which all men knowe.'

Pasted from another manuscript, and in a different italic hand to the former three items, is the couplet 'For Bacon I long whom long I haue sought/ Beg borrowe or stele hym yf he may not be bought.'

ff. 3r–84r: Norton's The Ordinall of Alchymy (1477). Printed in Elias Ashmole (ed.), Theatrum chemicum Britannicum (1652), pp. 1–106.

f. 84v: An eight-line poem by Walter Haddon, entitled 'Gualteri Haddonis carmen in laudem Thomae Nortoni.' Begins 'Maximus ingenio scribendi maximus arte.' In the same italic hand as the material on f. 2r.