John Gower the Alchemist

[Paul Ferguson]

"Our display included the first edition of the Theatrum chemicum Britannicum (AlcC52AS.EL), a compendium of alchemical literature. Editor Elias Ashmole envisions John Gower as a skilled user of the craft. In fact, he claims that Gower was Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Master in this Science,” training him in alchemy during their friendship. Excerpted in this book is a passage from Gower’s Confessio amantis, which Ashmole claims to prove Gower “fully understood the Secret, for he gives you a faithfull account… and affirmes the Art to be true.”

https://special-collections.wp.st-andrew...r-society/

   

John Gower shooting the world, a sphere of earth, air, and water (from a manuscript of his works ca. 1400). The text reads:

Ad mundum mitto mea iacula dumque sagitto
At ubi iustus erit nulla sagitta ferit
Sed male viventes hos vulnero transgredientes
Conscius ergo sibi se speculetur ibi

[Paul Ferguson]

"I send my darts at the world and simultaneously shoot arrows;
But mind you, wherever there is a just man, no one will receive arrows.
I badly wound those living in transgression, however;
Therefore, let the thoughtful man look out for himself."