The Pilgrimage of Pure Devotion by Desiderius Erasmus
page 32 of 53 (60%)
page 32 of 53 (60%)
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dothe so excell in expressynge ye fourme bewty, &
coloure of thaym maruylously in other thynges, but pryncypaly in precyous stones? moreouer she hathe gyuen to ye same stones wonderouse vertu and strêkthe that is almost incredyble, but that experience dothe otherwyse testyfye. Tell me, do you beleue that a Adamand stone wold drawe vnto him stele withowt any towchynge therof, and also to be separate frome him ayen of hys owne accorde, excepte that yow had sene it with yowre eyes. _Me._ No verely, nat and if .x. Arystoteles wold perswade me || to the contrarye. _Ogy._ Therfore bycause you shuld nat say thys were a lye, in case you here any thynge, whiche you haue not sene prouyd. In a stone callyd Ceraunia we see ye fashon of lightnynge, in the stone Pyropo wyldfyre, Chelazia dothe expresse bothe the coldnes and the fourme of hayle, and thoghe thou cast in to the hote fyre, an Emrode, wyll expresse the clere water of the seye. Carcinas dothe counterfayte ye shape of a crabfishe. Echites of the serpente vyper. But to what purpose shuld I entreat, or inuestygate the nature of suche thynges whiche be innumerable, whã there is no parte of nature nor in the elementes, nother in any lyuynge creature, other in planetes, or herbes ye nature euyn as it were all of pleasure hathe not expressyd in precyous stones? Doo yow maruayle thã that in thys stone at owre ladies fote, || D.|| is the fourme and fashon of a tode. _Me._ I maruayle that nature shuld haue so moche lesure, so to counterfayt the nature of althynges. _Ogy._ It was but to exercyse, or occupye the curyosytye of mannes |
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