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.

I will be ruled by thee in anything, Jeremy.

190

Kas. 'Slight, thou art not hide-bound, thou art a jovy2

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,
Were very ungrateful, if he would not be

A little indulgent to that servant's wit,

And help his fortune, though with some small strain

Of his own candour.3 — (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;
Stretch age's truth sometimes, and crack it too.

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,
Hot Ananias, Dapper, Drugger, all
With whom I traded: yet I put myself

On you
that are my country: and this pelf,
Which I have got, if you do quit me, rests
To feast you often, and invite new guests.

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."

III.

PHILASTER;

OR,

LOVE LIES A-BLEEDING.

BY FRANCIS BEAUMONT AND JOHN FLETCHER.

Probably first represented in 1608.

PHILASTER;

OR,

LOVE LIES A-BLEEDING.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

KING.

PHILASTER, Heir to the Crown of Guard, Attendants.

Sicily.

PHARAMOND, Prince of Spain.

Two Woodmen.

ARETHUSA, Daughter of the King. EUPHRASIA, Daughter of DION, disguised as a Page under the name of BELLARIO.

Noble Gentlemen.

An old Captain.

Citizens.

A Country Fellow.

MEGRA, a Court Lady.

GALATEA, a Lady attending the
Princess.

Two other Ladies.

Cle. Here's nor lords nor ladies.

Dion. Credit me, gentlemen, I wonder at it. They received strict charge from the King to attend here: besides,

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