Harley MS 1735, ff 29r-36v

Miscellanous texts, imperfect, copied by a professional Norfolk scribe for Crophill's use, including:

1. ff. 29r-33r: Short texts relating to astrology, astronomy and cosmology; imperfect at the beginning. A text on perilous days in the year starting at '[…] þe first day of clene August, þe first day of clene de/cembre', explicit: 'Also þe 11 of clene Aprile / on þe left arme for þe sighte et cetera', acephalous; title (f. 30r): 'In curtilogio tholomei et cetera', incipit: 'every lym of man is rew/lid by a signe of þe zodiac'; incipit (f. 30v): 'This suyng Chapitre declarethe how þe 7 planetis be / frendis'; incipit (f. 30v): 'The Dyametre of þe erthe is 10022 myles and 6 / furlongis'; incipit (f. 31r): 'This suyng Chapitre declarethe þe / 4 elementis' (with marginal note 'Capitulo 9o'); incipit (f. 31r): 'This Chapitre here suying declarethe þe reynyng of / þe planetis'. The texts are divided into 13 chapters, the first of which is missing. Some of this material can be found in Sloane MS 213 (ff. 106r-118v), including a complete copy of the first text (2. The four qualities and elements and the four complexions. The complexions relate to the four seasons, the four ages of man and the four parts of the body. Incipit: 'Here suys þe descripcion of þe 4 elementis and of þe / 4 complexions. And wite you wele þat in every man / and woman reynys every planet', explicit: 'malyncoly reignes / in al gendrid lymmes þat is for to sey fro þe reynys / dounward'. Another copy in Sloane MS 213, ff. 117r-118r (ff. 33r-34v).

3. ff. 34v-35v: Short treatise related to uroscopy; incipit: 'Wherefore every mannys uryn is cast in 4 / partes', explicit: 'and nam/li of þe lowher partys of mannys body'. Another copy in Sloane MS 213 (ff. 118r-118v).

4. f. 35v: Two alchemical recipes; incipit: 'Ignis ardens super aquam et natans hoc modo fit sicut ignis'; incipit: 'Ut ignis exeat de vase pleno aque'.

5. ff. 35v-36v: Text relating to onomancy; incipit: 'Here suyth a tretys of calculacion know what / þu wilt', explicit 'has 9 shal over come et cetera. Quondam John Crophill'. Tables of numerical equivalents for the planetary weekdays and of alphabetical and numerical equivalents relating to this text were supplied by Crophill on f. 40v. Another copy in Sloane MS 213 (ff. 120r-120v). For the text and its relation to the Arabic work entitled 'Sirr al-asrar', known in the West as Secretum Secretorum, see also C. S. F. Burnett, 'The Eadwine Psalter and the Western Tradition of the Onomancy in Pseudo-Aristotle's Secret of Secrets', Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Âge, 55 (1988), 143-67.