Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

Face. Speak you this from art?

[blocks in formation]

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?
Dap. Shall I not have it with me?
Sub. Oh, good sir!

There must a world of ceremonies pass;
You must be bath'd and fumigated first:
Besides the queen of Fairy does not rise
Till it be noon.

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.
It will be somewhat hard to compass; but
However, see her. You are made believe it,
If you can see her. Her grace is a lone woman,
And very rich; and if she take a fancy,

Win some five thousand pound, and send us two She will do strange things. See her, her, at any hand.

on't.

[blocks in formation]

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.

[blocks in formation]

Sir, against one o'clock prepare yourself;
Till when you must be fasting; only take
Three drops of vinegar in at your nose,
Two at your mouth, and one at either ear;
Then bathe your fingers ends and wash your eyes,
To sharpen your five senses, and cry hum
Thrice, and then buz as often; and then come.

Face. Can you remember this?
Dap. I warrant you.

[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.-
Re-enters, followed by DRUGGER.

What is your name? say you, Abel Drugger?
Drug. Yes, sir.

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

[blocks in formation]

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;
He lets me have good tobacco, and he does not
Sophisticates it with sack-lees or oil,
Nor washes it in muscadel and grains,
Nor buries it in gravel under ground,
Wrapp'd up in greasy leather or piss'd clouts;
But keeps it in fine lily pots, that, open'd,
Smell like conserve of roses, or French beans.
He has his maple block, his silver tongs,
Winchester pipes, and fire of Juniper: 7

A neat, spruce, honest fellow, and no goldsmith.
Sub. He is a fortunate fellow, that I am sure on.
Face. Already, sir, have you found it? Lo
thee, Abel!

Sub. And in right way toward riches

Face. Sir!

Sub. This summer

[blocks in formation]

$ 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.
Your chestnut or your olive-colour'd face
Does never fail: and your long ear doth promise.
I knew't by certain spots, too, in his teeth,
And on the nail of his mercurial finger.

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.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

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,
In her best love to mankind, ever could:
If his dream lasts, he'll turn the age to gold.

[Exeunt.

Nab prays your worship to drink this, and swears
He will appear more grateful, as your skill
Does raise him in the world.

[blocks in formation]

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:
And there within, sir, are the golden mines,
Great Solomon's Ophir! he was sailing to't
Three years, but we have reach'd it in ten months.
This is the day, wherein, to all my friends,
I will pronounce the happy word, BE RICH;
THIS DAY YOU SHALL BE SPECTATISSIMI.2

You shall no more deal with the hollow dye,
Or the frail card. No more be at charge of keeping
The livery-punk for the young heir, that must
Seal, at all hours, in his shirt: no more,
If he deny, have him beaten to't, as he is
That brings him the commodity. No more
Shall thirst of satin, or the covetous hunger
Of velvet entrails for a rude-spun cloke,
To be display'd at Madam Augusta's, make

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
Commit idolatry with wine and trumpets:
Or go a feasting after drum and ensign..
No more of this. You shall start up young

viceroys,

How now!

And have your punks, and punketees, my Surly.
And unto thee I speak it first, BE RICH.
Where is my Subtle, there? Within, ho.

by.

Mam. That is his fire-drake,

[blocks in formation]

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.
This is the day I am to perfect for him

The magisterium, our great work, the stone;
And yield it, made, into his hands: of which
He has, this month, talk'd as he were possess'd.
And now he's dealing pieces on't away.-
Methinks I see him entering ordinaries,
Dispensing for the pox, and plaguy houses,
Reaching his dose, walking Moorfields for lepers,
And offering citizens' wives pomander-bracelets,
As his preservative, made of the elixir;
Seaching the spittal, to make old bawds young;
And the highways, for beggars, to make rich:
I see no end of his labours. He will make

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:
And, early in the morning, will I send

To all the plumbers and the pewterers,
And buy their tin and lead up; and to Lothbury &

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
Medicine,

Of which one part projected on a hundred
Of Mercury, 11 or Venus, or the moon,

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.'
2Most respected."

* 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;
Nay, to a thousand, so ad infinitum:
You will believe me?

Sur. Yes, when I see't, I will.
But if my eyes do cozen me so, and I
Giving them no occasion, sure I'll have
Them out next day.

Mam. Ha! why?

Do you think I fable with you? I assure you,
He that has once the flower of the sun,

The perfect ruby, which we call elixir,
Not only can do that, but, by its virtue,
Can confer honour, love, respect, long life;
Give safety, valour, yea, and victory,

To whom he will. In eight-and-twenty days,
I'll make an old man of fourscore a child.

Sur. No doubt; he's that already.

Mam. Nay, I mean,

Restore his years, renew him, like an eagle,
To the fifth age; make him get sons and daughters,
Young giants; as our philosophers have done,
The ancient patriarchs, afore the flood,
But taking, once a week, on a knife's point,
The quantity of a grain of mustard of it,
Become stout Marses, and beget young Cupids.

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,
Cures all diseases coming of all causes;

[blocks in formation]

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,

[blocks in formation]

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
Equal with Solomon, who had the stone
Alike with me; and I will make me a back
With the elixir, that shall be as tough
As Hercules.-

Thou art sure thou saw'st it blood?

Face. Both blood and spirit, sir.

It shall be such as might provoke the Persian,
Were he to teach the world riot anew.

My gloves of fishes and birds' skins, perfumed
With gums of paradise, and eastern air-

Sur. And do you think to have the stone with
this?

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;
My venture brings it me. He, honest wretch,
A notable, superstitious, good soul,

Has worn his knees bare, and his slippers bald,
With prayer and fasting for it: and sir, let him
Do it alone, for me, still. Here he comes.

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
Fill'd with such pictures as Tiberius took
From Elephantis, and dull Aretine
Buť coldly imitated. Then, my glasses
Cut in more subtle angles, to disperse
And multiply the figures, as I walk
Naked between my succube. My mists
I'll have of perfume, vapour'd 'bout the room,
To lose ourselves in; and my baths, like pits
To fall into; from whence we will come forth,
And roll us dry in gossamer and roses.-
Is it arrived at ruby?-

And my flatterers

Shall be the pure and gravest of divines,
That I can get for money. My mere fools,
Eloquent burgesses; and then my poets
The same that writ so subtly of the fart,
Whom I will entertain still for that subject.

[blocks in formation]

With your ungovern'd haste. I should be sorry
To see my labours, now even at perfection,
Got by long watching and large patience,
Not prosper where my love and zeal hath placed

them.

Which (heaven I call to witness, with yourself,
To whom I have pour'd my thoughts) in all my

The few that would give out themselves to be
Court and town-stallions, and each-where, bely
Ladies who are known most innocent for them;
Those will I beg, to make me eunuchs of:
And they shall fan me with ten ostrich tails
Apiece, made in a plume to gather wind.
We will be brave, Puffe, now we have the Now grown a prodigy with men. Wherein,

ends,

Have look'd no way, but unto public good,
To pious uses, and dear charity,

med'cine.

My meat shall all come in, in Indian shells,

If you, my son, should now prevaricate,
And, to your own particular lusts employ
So great and catholic a bliss, be sure
A curse will follow, yea, and overtake

Your subtle and most secret ways.

Mam. I know, sir;

Dishes of agate set in gold, and studded

With emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths, and rubies.
The tongues of carps, dormice, and camels' heels,
Boiled in the spirit of sol, and dissolv'd pearl,
Apicius' diet,1 'gainst the epilepsy:

And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber,
Headed with diamond and carbuncle.

My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calver'd2 salmons,
Knots,3 godwits, lampreys: I myself will have
The beards of barbels served, instead of sallads:
Oil'd mushrooms; and the swelling unctuous paps
Of a fat pregnant sow, newly cut off,

Drest with an exquisite and poignant sauce;
For which, I'll say unto my cook, There's gold,

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,
To have you confute this gentleman.

Sur. Who is,

Indeed, sir, somewhat costive of belief,
Toward your stone; would not be gull'd.

Sub. Well, son,

All that I can convince him in is this,

The WORK IS DONE, bright sol is in his robe.
We have a medicine of the triple soul,

The glorified spirit. Thanks be to heaven,
And make us worthy of it!-Ulen Spiegel!

Face [within.] Anon, sir.

Sub. Look well to the register.

And let your heat still lessen by degrees,
To the aludels.5

Face. [within.] Yes, sir.
Sub. Did you look

On the bolt's-head yet?

[blocks in formation]

3 Knots-a small bird of the snipe kind, as was also the godwit.

ends.

« ZurückWeiter »