And get some carts Love. For what, my zealous friends? Ana. To bear away the portion of the righteous Out of this den of thieves. Love. What is that portion? Ana. The goods sometimes the orphan's, that the brethren Bought with their silver pence. Love. What, those in the cellar, The knight Sir Mammon claims? Ana. I do defy The wicked Mammon, so do all the brethren, Thou profane man! I ask thee with what conscience That have the seal? were not the shillings number'd, In the eighth month, upon the table dormant, Love. Mine earnest vehement botcher, And deacon also, I cannot dispute with you: I shall confute you with a cudgel. Ana. Sir! Tri. Be patient, Ananias. Ana. I am strong, And will stand up, well girt, against an host That threaten Gad in exile. Love. I shall send you To Amsterdam, to your cellar. Ana. I will pray there, Against thy house: may dogs defile thy walls, 130 140 150 And wasps and hornets breed beneath thy roof, Love. Another too? [Exeunt ANA. and TRIB. Enter DRUGGER. Drug. Not I, sir, I am no brother. Love. (beats him). Away, you Harry Nicholas1! do you talk? [Exit DRUGGER. Face. No, this was Abel Drugger. Good sir, go, 160 And satisfy him; tell him all is done : [To the Parson. He staid too long a-washing of his face. The doctor, he shall hear of him at West-chester; Some good port-town else, lying for a wind. [Exit Parson. Enter KASTRIL, dragging in his sister. Kas. Come on, you ewe, you have match'd most sweetly, have you not? 'Slight, you are a mammet 2! O, I could touse you, now. Death, mun' you marry, with a plague ! Love. You lie, boy; As sound as you; and I'm aforehand with you. Kas. Anon! 170 Love. Come, will you quarrel? I will feize you, sirrah; Why do you not buckle to your tools? 1 A fanatic of Leyden, supposed to be the founder of the sect called "The Family of Love." 2 Puppet; the word is a corruption of Mahomet, and was applied to effigies of him. 3 Chastise, beat; still used in the West of England. Kas. Ods light, This is a fine old boy as e'er I saw ! Love. What, do you change your copy now? Proceed, Here stands my dove: stoop1 at her, if you dare. Kas. 'Slight, I must love him! I cannot choose, i' faith, An I should be hang'd for't! Suster, I protest, I honour thee for this match. Love. O, do you so, sir? • 181 Kas. Yes, and thou canst take tobacco and drink, old boy, I'll give her five hundred pound more to her marriage, Than her own state. Love. Fill a pipe full, Jeremy. Face. Yes; but go in and take it, sir. Love. We will I will be ruled by thee in anything, Jeremy. 190 Kas. 'Slight, thou art not hide-bound, thou art a jovy" boy! Come, let us in, I pray thee, and take our whiffs. Love. Whiff in with your sister, brother boy. (Exeunt KAS. and DAME P.) That master That had received such happiness by a servant, In such a widow, and with so much wealth, A little indulgent to that servant's wit, And help his fortune, though with some small strain Of his own candour.- (Advancing.) Therefore, gentlemen, And kind spectators, if I have outstript An old man's gravity, or strict canon, think What a young wife and a good brain may do ; 1 Pounce upon; a term in falconry. 200 Speak for thyself, knave. Face. So I will, sir.—(Advancing to the front of the stage.) Gentlemen, My part a little fell in this last scene, Yet 'twas decorum. And though I am clean Got off from Subtle, Surly, Mammon, Dol, 210 [Exeunt1 1 "The manifold harmony of inventive combination and imaginative contrast, the multitudinous unity of various and concordant effects, the complexity and the simplicity of action and impression, which hardly allow the reader's mind to hesitate between enjoyment and astonishment, laughter and wonder, admiration and diversion all the distinctive qualities which the alchemic cunning of the poet has fused together in the crucible of dramatic satire for the production of a flawless work of art, have given us the most perfect model of imaginative realism and satirical comedy that the world has ever seen; the most wonderful work of its kind that can ever be run upon the same lines."— Swinburne: A Study of Ben Jonson. Coleridge "thought the Edipus Tyrannus, The Alchemist, and Tom Jones, the three most perfect plots ever planned." |