Face. Speak you this from art? Face. Must you! 'slight, Sub. Ay, sir, and reason too, the ground of art. What else is thanks? will you be trival? - Doctor, He is of the only best complexion, The queen of Fairy loves. Face. What! is he? Sub. Peace! He'll overhear you. Sir, should she but see him. Face. What? Sub. Do not you tell him. Face. Will he win at cards too? Sub. The spirits of dead Holland, living Isaac, You'd swear were in him; such a vigorous luck As cannot be resisted. 'Slight, he'll put Six of your gallants to a cloke, indeed. [DAPPER gives him the money. When must he come for his familiar? There must a world of ceremonies pass; Face. Not, if she danced, to-night. Sub. And she must bless it. Face. Did you never see Face. A strange success, that some man shall Her royal grace yet? be born to! Sub. He hears you, man Dap. Sir, I'll not be ingrateful. Face. Faith, I have confidence in his good nature: You hear, he says he will not be ingrateful. Sub. Why, as you please; my venture follows yours. Face. Troth, do it, doctor; think him trusty, and make him. He may make us both happy in an hour; Dap. Whom? Face. Your aunt of Fairy? Sub. Not since she kist him in the cradle, captain: I can resolve you that. Face. Well, see her grace, Whate'er it cost you, for a thing that I know. Win some five thousand pound, and send us two She will do strange things. See her, her, at any hand. on't. 1 set-staked. 2 The poet alludes to the two famous chemists, Isaac and John Isaac Hollandus, who flourished about this time, and wrote several treatises on alchemy.-WHALLEY. 3 he'll put, &c. i.e. strip them to the cloak, the last thing a gallant parted with. GIFFORD. 4 This was, and probably by some is still, superstitiously supposed to be a token of good fortune through life. * Ifac-also ifag, ifagins-i'faith. 'Slid, she may hap to leave you all she has: It is the doctor's fear. Dap. How will't be done, then? Face. Let me alone, take you no thought. Do you But say to me, Captain, I'll see her grace. Dap. Captain, I'll see her grace. Face. Enough. Sub. Who's there? [Knocking within. Sir, against one o'clock prepare yourself; Face. Can you remember this? [Exit. Face. Well then, away. It is but your bestowing Some twenty nobles 'mong her grace's servants, And put on a clean shirt: you do not know What grace her grace may do you in clean linen. [Exeunt FACE and DAPPER. Sub. [within]. Come in! Good wives, I pray you forbear me now; Troth I can do you no good till afternoon.- What is your name? say you, Abel Drugger? Sub. A seller of tobacco? Drug. Yes, sir. Sub. Umph! Free of the grocers? Drug. Ay, an't please you. Sub. Well Your business, Abel? Drug. This, an't please your worship: I am a young beginner, and am building Face. What! my honest Abel? Thou art well met here. Drug. Troth, sir, I was speaking, Just as your worship came here, of your worship: I pray you speak for me to master doctor. Face. He shall do anything.-Doctor, do you hear! This is my friend, Abel, an honest fellow; A neat, spruce, honest fellow, and no goldsmith. Sub. And in right way toward riches Face. Sir! Sub. This summer $ Sophisticate-adulterate. 6 grains-perhaps the grains that remain after brewing. in It should be observed that the houses of druggists (tobacconists) were not merely furnished with tobacco, but with conveniences for smoking it. Every wellfrequented shop was an academy of this 'noble art,' where professors regularly attended to initiate the country aspirant. The maple block was for shredding the tobacco leaf, the silver tongs for holding the coal, and the fire of Juniper for the customers to light their pipes. GIFFORD. 8 no goldsmith-ie. no usurer-goldsmiths being the bankers and money-lenders of these days. This summer, &c.-i.e. he will, this year, be brought upon the livery of the grocers' company, and the next, be drunk to as sheriff.-GIFFORD. 19 metoposcopy-divination by the lines on the forehead --Gr. metopon, the forehead, skopeō, to examine. A certain star in the forehead, which you see not. Face. Which finger's that? Sub. His little finger. Look. You were born upon a Wednesday Drug. Yes, indeed, sir. Sub. The thumb, in chiromancy, we give Venus; The fore-finger, to Jove; the midst, to Saturn; The ring, to Sol; the least, to Mercury, Who was the lord, sir, of his horoscope; His house of life being Libra; which foreshow'd He should be a merchant, and should trade with balance. 1 chiromancy-divination by examining the hand-Gr. cheir, hand, manteia, soothsaying. 2 vice. This probably is an allusion to the 'droll antic character so often mentioned in "our old plays,"" though Gifford thinks it is merely some kind of machinery. 3 A fucus was a paint or wash for the face. 4 argaile-the impure salt from the lees of wine; crude tartar, or tartar of wine. 5 Cinoper-cinnabar. 6 say-assay, attempt. portague-a Portuguese gold coin, worth from £3, 10s. to £4, 10s. Face. Out on thee, Nab! 'Slight, there was such an offer Shalt keep't no longer, I'll give't him for thee. Doctor, Who's but a step-dame, shall do more than she, [Exeunt. Nab prays your worship to drink this, and swears ACT II.-SCENE I. An Outer Room in LOVEWIT'S House. Enter SIR EPICURE MAMMON and SURLY. Mam. Come on, sir. Now, you set your foot on shore In Novo Orbe; here's the rich Peru: You shall no more deal with the hollow dye, The sons of Sword and Hazard fall before Sub. You are pleasant, sir. gence Costs me more money than my share oft comes to, In these rare works. Re-enter DOL. The golden calf, and on their knees, whole nights viceroys, How now! And have your punks, and punketees, my Surly. by. Mam. That is his fire-drake, Dol. Coming along, at far end of the lane, Slow of his feet, but earnest of his tongue To one that's with him. Sub. Face, go you and shift. [Exit FACE. Dol, you must presently make ready too. Dol. Why, what's the matter? Sub. Oh, I did look for him With the sun's rising: 'marvel he could sleep. The magisterium, our great work, the stone; Nature asham'd of her long sleep: when art, 4 Face. [Within.] Sir, he'll come to you by and His Lungs, his Zephyrus, he that puffs his coals, Till he firk nature up, in her own centre. You are not faithful, sir. This night, I'll change All that is metal in my house to gold: To all the plumbers and the pewterers, For all the copper. Sur. What! and turn that too? 8 Mam. Yes, and I'll purchase Devonshire and Cornwall, And make them perfect Indes! you admire 10 now? Sur. No, faith. Mam. But when you see th' effects of the Great Of which one part projected on a hundred 1 corsive-corrosive. 2 crosslet-a sort of crucible. 3 magisterium-a fine substance deposited by precipitation. 4 pomander-bracelets. Pomander was a perfumed ball in a box containing perfumery, formerly carried by ladies at the end of a chain, etc 5 spittal-hospital 1 The new world.' * Alluding to loaded dice. The keeper of a brothel or an ordinary. 5 Lungs was a term of art for the under-operators in chemistry, whose business principally was to take care of the fire. 6 firk-beat. faithful-believing. 8 Lothbury was at that time famous for its copper works. 9 He meant to turn all the tin of these counties into gold. 10 admire-in old writers generally means wonder, here it seems to be equal to believe. 11 In the nomenclature of alchemy the Sun represented gold, the Moon, silver, Mars, iron, Mercury, quicksilver, Saturn, lead, Jupiter, tin, and Venus, copper. Shall turn it to as many of the sun; Sur. Yes, when I see't, I will. Mam. Ha! why? Do you think I fable with you? I assure you, The perfect ruby, which we call elixir, To whom he will. In eight-and-twenty days, Sur. No doubt; he's that already. Mam. Nay, I mean, Restore his years, renew him, like an eagle, Sur. The decay'd vestals of Pict-hatch would thank you, That keep the fire alive there. Mam. "Tis the secret Of nature naturiz'd2 'gainst all infections, A month's grief in a day, a year's in twelve; And, of what age soever, in a month: Mam. Pertinax, my Suriy, Again I say to thee, aloud, Be rich. Past all the doses of your drugging doctors. I'll undertake withal, to fright the plague Out of the kingdom in three months. This day thou shalt have ingots; and, to-morrow, Give lords th' affront.2-Is it, my Zephyrus, right? Blushes the bolt's-head? 3 Sur. And I'll Face. Like a wench with child, sir, Be bound, the players shall sing you praises, That were but now discover'd to her master. Without their poets. then, Mam. Sir, I'll do't. Meantime, I'll give away so much unto my man, Shall serve the whole city, with preservative, Weekly; each house his dose, and at the rate Sur. As he that built the Waterwork, does with water? Mam. You are incredulous. Sur. Faith I have a humour, 4 I would not willingly be gull'd. Your stone Cannot transmute me. Will you believe antiquity? records? Mam. Excellent witty Lungs! my only care Where to get stuff enough now, to project on; This town will not half serve me. Face. No, sir! buy The covering off o' churches. Mam. That's true. Face. Yes. Let them stand bare, as do their auditory; Or cap them, new, with shingles. Mam. No, good thatch: Thatch will lie light upon the rafters, Lungs. Lungs, I will manumit thee from the furnace; I'll show you a book where Moses and his sister, Hurt with the fume o' the metals. Mam. Pertinax, [my] Surly, I will restore thee thy complexion, Puffe, Lost in the embers; and repair this brain, 1 Pict-hatch-a noted tavern or brothel in Turnmill or Turnbull Street, Cow-Cross, Clerkenwell; a haunt of the worst part of both sexes. A hatch with pikes upon it was a common mark of a bad house.-NARES. 2 Our poet seems here to allude to the theological distinction of natura naturans and natura naturata. The former applied to the Creator, as having imparted existence and nature to all things; and the latter to the creatures, as having received their nature and properties from the power of another.-GIFFORD. * The theatres were shut up during the plague. humour-whim, way. This was a favourite and much-abused word in Jonson's days, and had a great variety of meanings. It is ridiculed both by him and Shakespeare. Mam. Where's master? 1 projection-the twelfth and last process in alchemy; nothing is left but to pour the medicine on the baser metals, and make gold and silver amain.-GIFFORD. 2 i.e. look them in the front or face. 3 bolt's-head-a long straight-necked glass vessel, gradually rising to a conical figure-WHALLEY. 4 These are all terms used by alchemists to express the several effects arising from the different degrees of fermentation. It would occupy too much space to explain them intelligibly; but an explanation of these is not necessary to the understanding of the drama. 5 sanguis agni-blood of the lamb.' Face. At his prayers, sir, he; Good man, he's doing his devotions For the success. Mam. Lungs, I will set a period To all thy labours; thou shalt be the master Of my seraglio. Face. Good, sir. Mam. But, do you hear? I'll geld you, Lungs. Face. Yes, sir. Mam. For I do mean To have a list of wives and concubines Thou art sure thou saw'st it blood? Face. Both blood and spirit, sir. It shall be such as might provoke the Persian, My gloves of fishes and birds' skins, perfumed Sur. And do you think to have the stone with Mam. No, I do think t' have all this with the stone. Sur. Why, I have heard, he must be homo frugi, A pious, holy, and religious man, One free froin mortal sin, a very virgin. Mam. That makes it, sir; he is so: but I buy it; Has worn his knees bare, and his slippers bald, Mam. I will have all my beds blown up, not Not a profane word afore him: 'tis poison. stuft: Down is too hard: and then, mine oval room And my flatterers Shall be the pure and gravest of divines, With your ungovern'd haste. I should be sorry them. Which (heaven I call to witness, with yourself, The few that would give out themselves to be ends, Have look'd no way, but unto public good, med'cine. My meat shall all come in, in Indian shells, If you, my son, should now prevaricate, Your subtle and most secret ways. Mam. I know, sir; Dishes of agate set in gold, and studded With emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths, and rubies. And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber, My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calver'd2 salmons, Drest with an exquisite and poignant sauce; Go forth and be a knight. Face. Sir, I'll go look A little, how it heightens. Mam. Do. My shirts I'll have of taffeta-sarsnet, soft and light As cobwebs; and for all my other raiment [Exit. 1 Apicius' diet. Apicius was the name of three notorious gluttons; the one alluded to above lived in the time of Tiberius, and is said to have squandered £800,000 on his stomach, and then hanged himself because he had only a pittance of £80,000 left. 2 calver'd salmon-i.e. salmon cut in slices, scalded with wine, water, and salt, boiled up in white wine vinegar, and set by to cool-NARES. You shall not need to fear me: I but come, Sur. Who is, Indeed, sir, somewhat costive of belief, Sub. Well, son, All that I can convince him in is this, The WORK IS DONE, bright sol is in his robe. The glorified spirit. Thanks be to heaven, Face [within.] Anon, sir. Sub. Look well to the register. And let your heat still lessen by degrees, Face. [within.] Yes, sir. On the bolt's-head yet? 3 Knots-a small bird of the snipe kind, as was also the godwit. ends. |