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Make letchers and their punks with dewtry
Commit fantastical advowtry;

Bewitch Hermetick-men to run
Stark-staring mad with manicon;

v. 319. With cow-itch meazle like a leper] Cowage, commonly called cow-itch, is a great sort of kidney-bean, a native of the East Indies; the pod which is brought over to us, is thickly covered with short hairs, which, applied to the skin, occasion a troublesome itching for a little time, and are often used to play tricks with. (Dr. H.) In Dr. Hooke's Micrographia, observ. 26. p. 145. see a dissertation upon

cowage.

v. 321, 322. Make letchers and their punks with dewtry-Commit fantastical advowtry] Dutroy, dutroa, now called datura, is a plant which grows in the East Indies: its flower and seed have a peculiar intoxicating quality, for, taken in a small quantity, they transport a man from the objects about him, and place before him imaginary scenes, with which his attention is wholly taken up; so that any thing may be done with him, or before him, without his regarding it then, or remembering it afterwards. Thieves are said to give it to those they have a mind to rob; and women to their husbands, in order to use them as here represented by our Poet. Some are said to be so expert in the use of the drug, that they can proportion its dose, so as to take away the senses for any certain number of hours. (Dr. H.) (See Linschoten's Voyages, chap. 31. p. 60, 157. Facet. Facetiar. de Hanreitate, p. 441.) Mr. Purchase (see his Pilgrims, part 2. lib. 10. cap. 8. p. 1357. see likewise 1781. Linschoten's Voyages, chap. 61. p. 409.) observes, that if the feet of the person under these circumstances are washed with cold water, he presently recovers his senses. See a further account of the datura, or dewtry, Bishop Sprat's History of the Royal Society, 2d edit. p. 161, 162. Dale's Pharmacologia.

The Nepenthe in Homer, (Odyssey, book 4. v. 301, &c.) by the description, seems to have been much like it.

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Believe mechanick virtuosi

Can raise 'em mountains in Potosi ;
And sillier than the antick fools,
Take treasure for a heap of coals;

Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exulted mind
All sense of woe delivers to the wind.
Though on the blazing pile his parent lay,
Or a lov'd brother groan'd his life away,

Or darling son oppress'd by ruffian force,
Fell breathless at his feet, a mangled corse:
From morn to eve, impassive and serene,

The man entranc'd, would view the deathful scene.
These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life,
Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife;
Who sway'd the sceptre, where prolific Nile
With various simples clothes the fatten'd soil.

Mr. Pope.

325

Ibid. -advowtry] Adultery. "That he was the most perfidious man on earth, and that he had made a marriage compounded between an advowtry and a rape." Lord Bacon's Life of Henry VII. (ED.)

v. 323. Bewitch Hermetick-men to run] *Hermes Trismegistus, an Ægyptian philosopher, is said to have lived Anno Mundi 2076, in the reign of Ninus, after Moses. He was a wonderful philosopher, and proved that there was but one God, the creator of all things; and was the author of several most excellent and useful inventions; but those Hermetick-men here mentioned, though the pretended sectators of this great man, are nothing else but a wild and extravagant sort of enthusiasts, who make a hodge-podge of religion and philosophy, and produce nothing but what is the object of every considering person's contempt."

v. 324. Stark-staring mad with manicon] Manicon, an herb so called from it's making people mad: called also dorychnion, a kind of night-shade. Bailey's Dictionary.

Some herb of this kind probably made some part of Mark Anthony's army run mad, in his retreat from his Parthian expedition; in which the pursuing Parthians were repulsed eighteen times. See Mr. Lewis's History of the Parthian Empire, p. 160, 165. See a remarkable account of a fruit, which whosoever tastes, will die laughing, Turkish Spy, vol. 8. book 4. letter 15.

Seek out for plants with signatures,
To quack of universal cures :

With figures ground on panes of glass,

Make people on their heads to pass :

330

v. 325. Believe mechanick virtuosi Can raise 'em mountains in Potosi] A banter upon such as have pretended to find out the Philosopher's stone, or powder for the transmutation of metals. Of which Helmont gives the following account: "I have often seen it, and with my hands handled the same, &c. - I projected a quarter of one grain wrapt up in paper, upon eight ounces of argent vive, (quick silver) hot in a crucible, and immediately the whole hydrargyry with some little noise ceased to flow, and remained congealed like yellow wax: after fusion thereof, by blowing the bellows, there were found eight ounces of gold, wanting eleven grains. Therefore one grain of this powder transmutes 19186 equal parts of argent vive into the best gold." (See a tract, entitled, The Golden Calf, in which is handled the more rare and incomparable Wonder of Nature, in transmuting Metals. Written in Latin, by John Frederick Helvetius, &c. London 1670, p. 36. Public Library, Cambridge, 14, 6, 24.)

v. 326. Potosi] *Potosi is a city of Peru, the mountains whereof afford great quantities of the finest silver in all the Indies."

v. 327, 328. And sillier than the antick fools,-Take treasure for a heap of coals] Antick fools in all the editions to 1710 inclusive. 'ArIganes i Inoaudis réquzev, i.e. Carbones Thesaurus erant. See the meaning Erasmi Adag. Chil. 1. Cent. ix. Prov. xxx. col. 346. "The governor Aratron converteth treasure into coals, and coals into treasure.” Arbatel of Magick, aphor. 17. Agrippa's Occult Philosophy, 4to, 1655, P. 188.

The Poet here designs probably to sneer Martin Frobisher and others, who in Queen Elizabeth's time were adventurers to Cathaia, and brought home ore which they took for gold, which yet proved little bet ter than coals.

Mr. Smith of Harleston is of opinion, that as Cathaia lies near the arctick circle, arctick fools would be an emendation.

v. 329.- —plants with signatures] The medicinal virtues of many plants were supposed to be indicated by their forms and marks. Woodsorrel was used as a cordial, because its leaf is shaped like a heart; liverwort for disorders of the liver, the yellow juice of the celandine for the jaundice and the herb-dragon to counteract the effects of poison, because its stem was speckled like a serpent. (ED.)

And mighty heaps of coin increase,
Reflected from a single piece:

To draw in fools, whose nat'ral itches

335

Incline perpetually to witches;

And keep me in continual fears,

And danger of my neck and ears:

When less delinquent have been scourg'd,
And hemp on wooden anvils forg'd,
Which others for cravats have worn

About their necks, and took a turn.

340

v. 331, 332. With figures ground on panes of glass,—Make people on their heads to pass] Alluding to the camera obscura; for an account of which, I refer the reader to Mr. Chambers's Cyclopædia, and Dr. Smith's Complete System of Opticks, vol. 2. book 3. chap. 15. 968. 973. p. 384. 386.

See a contrivance to make the picture of any thing appear on a wall, picture, or cupboard, or within a picture-frame, &c. in the midst of a light room, in the day-time: or in the night, in any room that is enlightened with a considerable number of candles, devised and communicated by the ingenious Mr. Hooke. Philosophical Transactions, num. 38. August 17, 1668. vol. 2. p. 741.

v. 333, 334. And mighty heaps of coin increase,—Reflected from a single piece] Something of this kind of juggling, or slight of hand, is ascribed by Dr. Heywood, (see Hierarchy of Angels, p. 574) to Dr. Faustus, and Cornelius Agrippa.

Of Faustus and Agrippa it is told,

That in their travels they bare seeming gold,
Which cou'd abide the touch, and by the way,
In all their hostries, they would freely pay:

But parting thence, mine host thinking to find

Those glorious pieces they had left behind

Safe in the bag, sees nothing, save together

Round scutes of horn, and pieces of old leather.

v. 339. When less delinquent have been scourg'd, &c.] See Lupton's Thousand notable Things, 2d edit. p. 366.

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I pity'd the sad punishment
The wretched caitiff underwent,

And held my drubbing of his bones
Too great an honour for poltroons ;

For knights are bound to feel no blows
From paltry and unequal foes,

Who when they slash, and cut to pieces,
Do all with civilest addresses:

Their horses never give a blow,

But when they make a leg and bow.

345

350

I therefore spar'd his flesh, and press'd him
About the witch with many a question.

Crimes are not punish'd 'cause they're crimes,

But 'cause they're low and little:

Mean men for mean faults in these times

Make satisfaction to a tittle;

Whilst those in office, and in power,

Boldly the underlings devour.

(The Reformation, Collection of Royal old Songs, vol. 1. No. 65. p. 169.)

v. 340. And hemp on wooden anvils forg'd] Alluding to petty criminals, who are whipped, and beat hemp in Bridewell; and other houses of correction.

v. 347, 348. For knights are bound to feel no blows-From paltry and unequal foes] Still alluding to the rules of knight-errantry, in imitation of Don Quixote, (see vol. 1. book 3. chap. 1. p. 133.) who gave the following advice to his squire Sancho Pancha: "Friend Sancho, for the future, whenever thou perceivest us to be any ways abused by such inferior fellows, thou art not to expect that I should offer to draw my sword against them, for I will not do it in the least: no, do thou then draw, and chastise them as thou thinkest fit: but if any knight come to take their part, then will I be sure to step between thee and danger." (See likewise part 1. chap. 8. p. 68. vol. 2. p. 220. vol. 3. chap. 11. p. 104. and Pharamond, a Romance, part 3. book 4. p. 117.)

v. 351, 352. Their horses never give a blow,—But when they make a leg and bow] Mr. Lewis (in his History of the Parthian Empire,

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