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 reached it in ten months. You shall no more deal with the hollow die Or the frail card.2 No more be at charge of keeping The sons of Sword and Hazard fall before The golden calf, and on their knees, whole nights, Or go a feasting, after drum and ensign. No more of this. You shall start up young viceroys, And unto thee I speak it first, BE RICH. Where is my Subtle, there? Within, ho! Face (within). Sir, he'll come to you by and by. 1 Most illustrious. 2 Used by dishonest gamblers. 3 Cloaks of which the lining was richer than the material. ΙΟ 20 His Lungs,1 his Zephyrus, he that puffs his coals, 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 Lothbury3 30 Sur. What, and turn that too? Mam. Yes, and I'll purchase Devonshire and Cornwall,+ And make them perfect Indies! You admire now? Sur. No, faith. Mam. But when you see th' effects of the Great Medicine, Of Mercury, or Venus, or the moon, Sur. Yes, when I see't I will. But if my eyes do cozen me so, and I A crow shall pluck them out next day.[1 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, 40 1 The apprentice to an alchemist was called Lungs, because he blew the bellows. 2 Stir, strike (Latin ferio). 3 Stow, in his account of London (p. 287), says that Lothbury is "inhabited chiefly by founders, that cast candlesticks, chafing-dishes, spice mortars, and such-like copper works." 4 That is, convert their minerals to gold. Not only can do that, but by its virtue Can confer honour, love, respect, long life; To whom he will. In eight and twenty days, I'll make an old man of fourscore a child. 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. 50 60 Sur. The decay'd vestals of Pickt-hatch1 would thank you, That keep the fire alive there. Mam. 'Tis the secret Of nature naturized 'gainst all infections, Cures all diseases coming of all causes ; A month's grief in a day, a year's in twelve ; And of what age soever, in a month: Sur. And I'll 70 1 A place of vile repute (in Trumbull Street, Cow Cross, Clerkenwell), where attacks of bullies made a pickt-hatch, or a half-door armed with spikes, a necessary defence. — R. G. White. Cf. Merry Wives of Windsor, ii, 2. 2 The Schoolmen distinguished between Natura naturans, God the Creator, and natura naturata, the universe created. 3 There had been a severe plague in 1602, and the theatres had been closed. Be bound, the players shall sing your praises 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 waterwork1 does with water? Mam. You are incredulous. Sur. Faith, I have a humour I would not willingly be gull'd. Your stone Cannot transmute me. Mam. Pertinax Surly, Will you believe antiquity? records? I'll show you a book where Moses and his sister, And Solomon have written of the art; Ay, and a treatise penn'd by Adam Sur. How! 2 Mam. Of the philosopher's stone, and in High Dutch. Mam. He did;3 Which proves it was the primitive tongue. Sur. What paper? Mam. On cedar board. Sur. Oh, that indeed, they say Will last 'gainst worms. Mam. 'Tis like your Irish wood 'Gainst cobwebs. I have a piece of Jason's fleece too, Which was no other than a book of alchemy, Writ in large sheepskin, a good fat ram-vellum. 1 Bulmer constructed waterworks for London in 1595. 2 Fabricius, in a work on writers on chemistry, included these. 8 This absurdity was affirmed by Goropius Becanus. 80 90 100 Such was Pythagoras' thigh, Pandora's tub, The manner of our work; the bulls, our furnace, That keeps the whiteness, hardness, and the biting; Enter FACE as a Servant. How now! IIO Do we succeed? Is our day come? and holds it? Mam. Pertinax, my Surly, Again I say to thee aloud, Be rich. This day thou shalt have ingots; and to-morrow Give lords th' affront.2-Is it, my Zephyrus, right? Face. Aye. Mam. My only care is, 120 1 Crimson was the color reached in the last stage before the base metal was projected. 2 Meet, and look in the face. |