And Wit Ye Well, That A Man Ought To Take Good Keep For To Buy
Balm, But If He Con Know It Right Well, For He May Right Lightly Be
Deceived.
For men sell a gum, that men clepe turpentine, instead
of balm, and they put thereto a little balm for to give good odour.
And some put wax in oil of the wood of the fruit of balm, and say
that it is balm.
And some distil cloves of gilofre and of
spikenard of Spain and of other spices, that be well smelling; and
the liquor that goeth out thereof they clepe it balm, and they
think that they have balm, and they have none. For the Saracens
counterfeit it by subtlety of craft for to deceive the Christian
men, as I have seen full many a time; and after them the merchants
and the apothecaries counterfeit it eft sones, and then it is less
worth, and a great deal worse.
But if it like you, I shall shew how ye shall know and prove, to
the end that ye shall not be deceived. First ye shall well know,
that the natural balm is full clear, and of citron colour and
strongly smelling; and if it be thick, or red or black, it is
sophisticate, that is to say, counterfeited and made like it for
deceit. And understand, that if ye will put a little balm in the
palm of your hand against the sun, if it be fine and good, ye ne
shall not suffer your hand against the heat of the sun.
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