...Thomas Moore, 42) We also find a variant of the conjunctival phrase without the pronoun it: (12) But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre. (HC (c1387-95), Geoffrey Chaucer, The General Prologue, 28.C1) 'But although he was a philosopher,...
But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre... 
