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The Digital Index of Middle English Verse
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DIMEV 1865
IMEV 1150.3
NIMEV 1150.3
He that in this book beginneth to read
Patris Sapientiae, an alchemical poem — in quatrains (aabb)
Note: For a similar but shorter poem cf. 2121.
Title(s): Patris Sapientiae
Subjects: alchemy
Versification: — four-line — aabb
Bibliographic Ghosts: New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library Osborn fa.16


Manuscript Witnesses:
1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Ashmole 1445 (SC 7630), Part V, ff. 8v-14
First Lines:
Thou that this boke beginneth to reade
keepe well thy Counsell the better to speede…
Last Lines:
…And if thou than not fynde in this booke nether sone nor mone
Then goe and seeke further as other fooles haue done
Note: 120 stanzas; at the end: ‘finis’.
Attributed Title: Pater sapientiae (f. 8v)
2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Ashmole 1490 (SC 7010), ff. 336-342v
First Lines:
He that in this bocke beginneth to read
Kepe well thine owne Councelle, the bettar shalt thou spead…
Last Lines:
…And if your dannot find bt this bock neither sonn nor mon
Then goe farder and seke thee forth as other fooles have don
Note: 120 stanzas; at the end: ‘Explicit Liber patris sapientiae / 1599 Rescriptum per Simonem Forman’.
Attributed Title: Pater Sapientiae (f. 336)
3.Source: London, British Library Sloane 2352, ff. 86-91v
4.Source: London, Lincoln’s Inn Hale 90, ff. 32-34v
First Lines:
Ye þat in this booke beginneth to reade
Keep well thine owne Counsell þe better shall thou spede…
Last Lines:
…Gum & galls but also eggs shells
Hony wax Lun Oyles or Eallyelse
5.Source: Boston, MA, Massachusetts Historical Society Winthrop 20 C, ff. 14v-19v
First Lines:
He that in thys booke begynneth to rede
Kepe well thy awne counsell the better shall thou spede…
Last Lines:
…Also therof thou must haue manye symples to shew
Or elles they wyll shrowdlie thynke and say few
Note: 114 stanzas, aabb.
Attributed Title: Patris Sapientia (f. 14v)