thank you,

Shall turn it to as many of the sun;

Mam. On cedar board. Nay, to a thousand, so ad infinitum:

Sur. Oh that, indeed, they say, You will believe me?

Will last 'gainst worms. Sur. Yes, when I see't, I will.

Mam. 'Tis like your Irish wood, But if my eyes do cozen me so, and I

'Gainst cobwebs. I have a piece of Jason's fleece, Giving them no occasion, sure I'll have

too, Them out next day.

Which was no other than a book of alchemy, Mam. Ha! why?

Writ in large sheep-skin, a good fat ram velluin. Do you think I fable with you? I assure you, Such was Pythagoras' thigh, Pandora's tub, He that has once the flower of the sun,

And, all that fable of Medea's charms, The perfect ruby, which we call elixir,

The manner of our work; the bulls, our furnace, Not only can do that, but, by its virtue,

Still breathing fire; our argent-vive, the dragon; Can confer honour, love, respect, long life; The dragon's teeth, mercury sublimate, Give safety, valour, yea, and victory,

That keeps the whiteness, hardness, and the To whom he will. In eight-and-twenty days, biting; I'll make an old man of fourscore a child.

And they are gather'd into Jason's helm, Sur. No doubt; he's that already.

The alembic, and then sow'd in Mars his field, Mam. Nay, I mean,

And thence sublimed so often, till they're fix'd.
Restore his years, renew him, like an eagle, Both this, the Hesperian garden, Cadmus' story,
To the fifth age; make him get sons and daughters, Jove's shower, the boon of Midas, Argus' eyes,
Young giants; as our philosophers have done, Boccace his Demogorgon, thousands more,
The ancient patriarchs, afore the flood,

All abstract riddles of our stone.-
But taking, once a week, on a knife's point,
The quantity of a grain of mustard of it,

Enter Face, as a Servant.
Become stout Marses, and beget young Cupids.

How now! Sur. The decay'd vestals of Pict-hatch? would Do we succeed? Is our day come ? and holds it?

Face. The evening will set red upon you, sir ; That keep the fire alive there.

You have colour for it, crimson: the red ferment Mam. "Tis the secret

Has done his office; three hours hence prepare Of nature naturiz'da 'gainst all infections,

you Cares all diseases coming of all causes;

To see projection."
A month's grief in a day, a year's in twelve ; Mam. Pertinax, my Suriy,
And, of what age soever, in a month:

Again I say to thee, aloud, Be rich.
Past all the doses of your drugging doctors. This day thou shalt have ingots; and, to-morrow,
I'll undertake withal, to fright the plague Give lords th’affront.2-Is it, my Zephyrus, right?
Out of the kingdom in three months.

Blushes the bolt's-head ? 3 Sur. And I'll

Face. Like a wench with child, sir, Be bonnd, the players shall sing you praises,3 | That were but now discoverd to her master. then,

Mam. Excellent witty Lungs! my only care Without their poets.

Where to get stuff enough now, to project on; Mam. Sir, I'll do't. Meantime,

This town will not half serve me.
I'll give away so much unto my man,

Face. No, sir! buy
Shall serve the whole city, with preservative, The covering off o'churches.
Weekly; each house his dose, and at the rate Mam. That's true.
Sur. As he that built the Waterwork, does Face. Yes.
with water?

Let them stand bare, as do their auditory;
Mam. You are incredulous.

Or cap them, new, with shingles. Sur. Faith I have a humour, 4

Mam. No, good thatch: I would not willingly be gulld. Your stone Thatch will lie light upon the rafters, Lungs. Cannot transmute me.

Lungs, I will manumit thee from the furnace; Mam. Pertinax, (my] Surly,

will restore thee thy complexion, Puffe, Will you believe antiquity ? records ?

Lost in the embers; and repair this brain,
I'll show you a book where Moses and his sister, Hurt with the fume o' the metals.
And Solomon, have written of the art;

Face. I have blown, sir, ;
Ay, and
a treatise penn'd by Adam-

Hard for your worship; thrown by many a coal, Sur. How!

When 'twas not beech; weigh'd those I put in, Mam. Of the philosopher's stone, and in High just, Dutch.

To keep your heat still even; these blear's eyes Sur. Did Adam write, sir, in High Dutch ? Have wak’d to read your several colours, sir, Mam. He did;

Of the pale citron, the green lion, the crow,
Which proves it was the primitive tongue. The peacock's tail, the plumed swan..
Sur. What paper ?

Mam. And, lastly,
Thou hast descry'd the flower, the sanguis agni? 5

Face. Yes, sir.
1 Pict-hatch-& noted tavern or brothel in Turnmill or Mam. Where's master?
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.

projection—the twelfth and last process in alchemy: 2 Our poet seems here to allude to the theological dis nothing is left but to pour the medicine on the baser tinction of natura naturans and natura naturata.

The metals, and make gold and silver amain.-GIFFORD. former applied to the Creator, as having imparted ex 21.e. look them in the front or face. istence and nature to all things; and the latter to the 3 bolt's-head-a long straight-necked glass vessel, gracreatures, as having received their nature and properties dually rising to a conical figure.--WHALLEY. from the power of another.-GIFFORD.

4 These are all terms used by alchemists to express * The theatres were shut up during the plague. the several effects arising from the different degrees of * humour-whim, way.

This was a favourite and fermentation. It would occupy too much space to exmuch-abused word in Jonson's days, and had a great plain them intelligibly; but an explanation of these is variety of meanings. It is ridiculed both by him and not necessary to the understanding of the drama. Shakespeare.

sanguis agni-'blood of the lamb.'

Face. At his prayers, sir, he ;

It shall be such as might provoke the Persian, Good man, he's doing his devotions

Were he to teach the world riot anew. For the success.

My gloves of fishes and birds' skins, perfumed Mam. Lungs, I will set a period

With gums of paradise, and eastern airTo all thy labours; thou shalt be the master Sur. And do you think to have the stone with Of my seraglio.

this? Face. Good, sir.

Mam. No, I do think t' have all this with the Mam. But, do you hear?

stone. I'll geld you, Lungs.

Sur. Why, I have heard, he must be homo Face. Yes, sir.

frugi, Mam. For I do mean

A pious, holy, and religious man, To have a list of wives and concubines

One free from mortal sin, a very virgin. Equal with Solomon, who had the stone

Mam. That makes it, sir; he is so: but I buy it; Alike with me; and I will make me a back My venture brings it me. He, honest wretch, With the elixir, that shall be as tough

A notable, superstitious, good soul, As Hercules.

Has worn his knees bare, and his slippers bald, Thou art sure thou saw'st it blood ?

With prayer and fasting for it: and sir, let him Face. Both blood and spirit, sir.

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

Enter SUBTLE.
Filld with such pictures as Tiberius took Good morrow, father.
From Elephantis, and dull Aretino

Sub. Gentle son, good morrow.
But coldly imitated. Then, my glasses

And to your friend there. What is he, is with Cut in more subtle angles, to disperso

you? And multiply the figures, as I walk

Mam. An heretic, that I did bring along, Naked between my succubæ. My mists

In hope, sir, to convert him. I'll have of perfume, vapour'd 'bout the room, Sub. Son, I doubt To lose ourselves in; and my baths, like pits You are covetous, that thus you meet your time To fall into; from whence we will come forth, In the just point: prevent? your day at morning. And roll us dry in gossamer and roses.

This argues something, worthy of a fear Is it arrived at ruby?

Of importune and carnal appetite. And my flatterers

Take heed you do not cause the blessing leave Shall be the pure and gravest of divines,

you, That I can get for money. My mere fools, With your ungovern'd haste. I should be sorry Eloquent burgesses; and then my poets

To see my labours, now even at perfection, The same that writ so subtly of the fart,

Got by long watching and large patience, Whom I will entertain still for that subject. Not prosper where my love and zeal hath placed The few that would give out themselves to be

them. Court and town-stallions, and each-where, bely Which (heaven I call to witness, with yourself, Ladies who are known most innocent for them; To whom I have pour'd my thoughts) in all my Those will I beg, to make me eunuchs of :

ends, And they shall fan me with ten ostrich tails Have look'd no way, but unto public good, A piece, made in a plume to gather wind.

To pious uses, and dear charity, We will be brave, Puffe, now we have the Now grown a prodigy with men. Wherein, med'cine.

If you, my son, should now prevaricate,
My meat shall all come in, in Indian shells, And, to your own particular lusts employ
Dishes of agate set in gold, and studded

So great and catholic a bliss, be sure
With emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths, and rubies. A curse will follow, yea, and overtake
The tongues of carps, dormice, and camels' heels, Your subtle and most secret ways.
Boiled in the spirit of sol, and dissolv'd pearl, Mam. I know, sir;
Apicius' diet,'gainst the epilepsy:

You shall not need to fear me: I but come,
And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber, To have you confute this gentleman.
Headed with diamond and carbuncle.

Sur. Who is,
My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calver'da salmons, Indeed, sir, somewhat costive 3 of belief,
Knots, 3 godwits, lampreys: I myself will have Toward your stone; would not be gulld.
The beards of barbels served, instead of sallads : Sub. Well, son,
Oil'd mushrooms; and the swelling inctuous paps All that I can convince him in is this,
Of a fat pregnant sow, newly cut off,

The WORK IS DONE, bright sol is in his robe.
Drest with an exquisite and poignant sauce ; We have a medicine of the triple soul,
l'or which, I'll say unto my cook, There's gold, The glorified spirit. Thanks be to heaven,
Go forth and be a knight.

And make us worthy of it!-Ulen Spiegel! Face. Sir, I'll go look

Face (within.) Anon, sir. A little, how it heightens.

Sub. Look well to the register. Mam. Do.- My shirts

And let your heat still lessen by degrees, I'll have of taffetà-sarsnet, soft and light

To the aludels.5 As cobwebs; and for all my other raiment

Face. [within.] Yes, sir.

Sub. Did you look i Apicius' diet. Apicius was the name of three noto On the bolt's-head yet? rious gluttons; the one alluded to above lived in the time of Tiberius, and is said to have squandered £300,000 on his stomach, and then hanged himself because he 1 homo frugi-explained in the next line. had only a pittance of £80,000 left.

preventmanticipate. 2 cairer'd salmon-ie, salmon cut in slices, scaled 3 costire-stiff. with wine, water, and salt, boiled up in white wine 4 Ulen Spiegel-.e. Owl Glass, the hero of a German vinerar, and set by to cool-Vareş.

jest-book, which seems to have been very popular. 3 knots-a small bird of the snipe kind, as was also 5 aludels-pear-shaped earthen vessels open at both the goduit.

ends.

[Exit.

2

means

Face. Sir, to be cured.

Mam. Oh yes, but I forgot. I have, believe it, Sub. [within.) Why, rascal!

One of the treacherousest memories, I do think, Face. Lo you!-Here, sir!

[Exit. Of all mankind. Mam. 'Fore God, a Bradamante, 1 a brave piece. Sur. What call you her brother? Sur. 'Heart, this is a bawdy-house! I will be Mam. My lord burnt else.

He will not have his name known, now I think Mam. Ob, by this light, no: do not wrong him. on't. He's

Sur. A very treacherous memory! Too scrupulous that way: it is his vice.

Jam. On my faithNo, he's a rare physician, do him right,

Sur. Tut, if you have it not about you, pass it, An excellent Paracelsian, and has done

Till we meet next.
Strange cures with mineral physic. He deals all Mam. Nay, by this hand, 'tis true.
With spirits, he; he will not hear a word He's one I honour, and my noble friend;
Of Galen, or his tedious recipes.-

And I respect his house.

Sur. 'Heart, can it be,
Re-enter FACE.

That a grave sir, a rich, that has no need,
How now, Lungs!

A wise sir, too, at other times, should thus, Face. Softly, sir; speak softly. I meant With his own oaths and arguments, make hard To have told your worship all. This must not hear.

To gull himself? An this be your elixir, Mam. No, he will not be gull’d:' let him alone. Your lapis mineralis,' and your lunary, Face. You are very right, sir, she is a most Give me your honest trick yet at primero,2 rare scholar,

Or gleek; and take your lutum sapientis, And is gone mad with studying Broughton's? Your menstruum simples! I'll have gold before you, works.

And with less danger of the quicksilver, if you but name a word touching the Hebrew, Or the hot sulphur.“ Sbo falls into her fit, and will discourse

Re-enter FACE. So learnedly of genealogies, As you would run mad too, to hear her, sir. Face. Here's one from Captain Face, sir [to Mam. How might one do t' have conference SURLY], with her, Lungs?

Desires you meet him in the Temple church, Face. Oh divers have run mad upon the con Some half hour hence, and upon earnest business.-ference:

Sir (whispers MAMMON], if you please to quit us I do not know, sir. I am sent in haste

now; and come To fetch a vial.

Again within two hours, you shall have Sur. Be not gulld, Sir Mammon.

My master busy examining o' the works; Mam. Wherein? Pray ye, be patient.

And I will steal you in, unto the party, Sur. Yes, as you are,

That you may see her converse.-Sir, shall I say, i And trust confederate knaves, and bawds, and You'll meet the captain's worship? whores.

Sur. Sir, I will. -

(Walks aside. Mam. You are too foul, believe it.—Come here, But, by attorney, and to a second purpose. Ulen,

Now, I am sure it is a bawdy-house; One word.

I'll swear it, were the marshal here to thank me : Fuce. I dare not, in good faith. [Going. The naming this commander doth confirm it. Mam. Stay, knave.

Don Face! why he's the most authentic dealer Foce. He is extreme angry that you saw her, sir. In these commodities, the superintendent Mam. Drink that. [Gives him money.] What To all the quainter traffickers in town! is she when she's out of her fit?

He is the visitor, and does appoint, Face. Oh, the most affablest creature, sir! so Who lies with whom, and at what hour; what merry!

price ; So pleasant! she'll mount you np, like quicksilver, | Which gown, and in what smock; what fall;6 Over the helm; and circulate like oil,

what tire. A very vegetal: discourse of state,

Him will I prove, by a third person, to find Of mathematics, bawdry, anything

The subtleties of this dark labyrinth: Mam. Is she no way accessible? no means,

Which, if I do discover, dear Sir Mammon, No trick to give a man a taste of her-wit You'll give your poor friend leave, though no Or so ?

philosopher, Sub. [within.] Ulen!

To laugh: for you that are, 'tis thought, shall Face. I'll come to you again, sir. [Exit. weep. Mam. Surly, I did not think one of your

breeding Would traduce personages of worth.

1. Mineral stone.' Sur. Sir Epicure,

? A once very fashionable game. Each player got four Your friend to use; yet still loth to be gull’d:

cards: the 7 was the highest in point of number he could

avail himself of, which counted for 21; the 6 counted for I do not like your philosophical bawds.

18; the 5 and ace for 15 each; the 2, 4, and knave for Their stone is lechery enough to pay for,

their respective points. The knave of diamonds was Without this bait.

commonly fixed on for chief card. If the cards were of Mam. 'Heart, you abuse yourself.

different suits, the highest number was the primero, or I know the lady, and her friends, and means,

prime; but if all of one colour, he that held them won The original of this disaster. Her brother

the flush.-NARES. Gleek was played by three persons Has told me all.

with forty-four cards, each hand having twelve, and

eight being left for the stock. Sur. And yet you never saw her

3 Iute of the wise.' Lute was a composition for Till now!

securing the joints of chemical vessels.

4 Meaning with less danger of being salivated for it.

-UPTON. 1 The name of a heroine in Orlando Furioso.

5 by attorney-by proxy. ? Ir. Hugh Broughton, a celebrated rabbin in Queen 6 The fall was a ruff or band turned back over the Elizabeth's days, and a great publisher.—WHALLEY. shoulders.