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And the weights too.

Slave, I could bite thine ear.

Away, thou dost not care for me.

Face. Not I, sir!

Mam. Come, I was born to make thee, my good weasel,

Set thee on a bench, and have thee twirl a chain

With the best lord's vermin of 'em all.

Face. Away, sir.

Mam. A count, nay, a count palatine

Face. Good, sir, go.

Mam. Shall not advance thee better: no, nor faster.

Re-enter SUBTLE and DOL.

Sub. Has he bit? has he bit?

Face. And swallowed too, my Subtle.

I have given him line, and now he plays, i' faith.
Sub. And shall we twitch him?

Face. Thorough both the gills.

For here is a rare bait, with which a man

No sooner's taken, but he straight firks mad.

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[Exit.

Sub. Dol, my Lord What's'hums sister, you must now

Bear yourself statelich.

Dol. Oh, let me alone.

I'll not forget my race, I warrant you.

I'll keep my distance, laugh and talk aloud;
Have all the tricks of a proud scurvy lady,

And be as rude as her womar

Face. Well said, sanguine!

Sub. But will he send his andirons?

Face. His jack too,

And's iron shoeing-horn; I have spoke to him. Well,

I must not loose my wary gamester yonder.

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690

Sub. Oh, Monsieur Caution, that will not be gull'd.
Face. Ay,

If I can strike a fine hook into him, now !

The Temple Church, there I have cast mine angle.

Well, pray for me. I'll about it.

Sub. What, more gudgeons!

[Knocking without.

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Dol, scout, scout! (DOL goes to the window.) Stay, Face,

you must go to the door.

Pray God it be my Anabaptist.

Who is't, Dol?

Dol. I know him not: he looks like a gold-endman.1

Sub. Ods so! 'tis he, he said he would send - what

call you him?

The sanctified elder, that should deal

For Mammon's jack and andirons. Let him in.

Stay, help me off, first, with my gown. (Exit FACE with the

gown.) Away,

Madam, to your withdrawing chamber. (Exit DOL.) Now,

In a new tune, new gesture, but old language.

This fellow is sent from one negotiates with me
About the stone too; for the holy brethren
Of Amsterdam, the exiled saints; that hope
To raise their discipline by it. I must use him

In some strange fashion, now, to make him admire me.

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1 One who buys remnants of gold or silver; a goldsmith's apprentice.

And rectify your menstrue from the phlegma.1
Then pour it on the Sol, in the cucurbite,

And let them macerate" together.

Face. Yes, sir.

And save the ground?

Sub. No: terra damnata

Must not have entrance in the work. Who are you?

3

Ana. A faithful brother, if it please you.

Sub. What's that?

A Lullianist?

a Ripley !5 Filius artis?

Can you sublime and dulcify? calcine?

Know you the sapor pontic? sapor stiptic?

Or what is homogene, or heterogene?

Ana. I understand no heathen language, truly.

Sub. Heathen! you Knipper-doling?" is Ars sacra,

Or chrysopoeia, or spagyrica,'

Or the pamphysic, or panarchic knowledge,

A heathen language?

Ana. Heathen Greek, I take it.

Sub. How heathen Greek?

Ana. All's heathen but the Hebrew.8

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730

Sub. Sirrah, my varlet, stand you forth and speak to him

Like a philosopher: answer in the language,

Name the vexations and the martyrizations

1 Water of distillation.

3 The Puritans called each other "faithful brothers."

2. Steep.

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4 Raymond Lully, one of the most famous philosophers of the Middle Age; b. about 1235, d. 1315.

5 George Ripley, canon of Bridlington in the fifteenth century, dedicated

a great work on alchemy to King Edward IV. See Fuller's Worthies.

6 An Anabaptist, who raised a revolt in Münster in 1533.

7 Alchemical.

8 The Puritans, taking the Hebrew Old Testament for their guide, treated Greek, the language of the New Testament, scornfully.

Of metals in the work.

Face. Sir, putrefaction,

Solution, ablution, sublimation,

Cohobation, calcination, ceration, and
Fixation.

Sub. This is heathen Greek to you, now!
And when comes vivification?

Face. After mortification.

Sub. What's cohobation?

Face. 'Tis the pouring on

Your aqua regis,' and then drawing him off,
To the trine circle of the seven spheres.

Sub. What's the proper passion of metals?
Face. Malleation.

Sub. What's your ultimum supplicium auri?
Face. Antimonium.

Sub. This is heathen Greek to you? –

mercury?

Face. A very fugitive, he will be gone, sir.
Sub. How know you him?

Face. By his viscosity,

His oleosity, and his suscitability.

Sub. How do you sublime him?
Face. With the calce of egg-shells,

White marble, talc.

Sub. Your magisterium, now,

What's that?

Face. Shifting, sir, your elements,

Dry into cold, cold into moist, moist into hot,
Hot into dry.

Sub. This is heathen Greek to you still!

1 Nitro-muriatic acid, to dissolve the gold.

And what's your

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Your lapis philosophicus?

Face. 'Tis a stone,

And not a stone; a spirit, a soul, and a body:
Which if you do dissolve, it is dissolved;

If you coagulate, it is coagulated;

If you make it to fly, it flieth.

Sub. Enough.

[Exit FACE. 780

This is heathen Greek to you! What are you, sir?

Ana. Please you, a servant of the exiled brethren

That deal with widows and with orphans' goods:
And make a just account unto the saints:
A deacon.

Sub. Oh, you are sent from Master Wholesome,
Your teacher?

Ana. From Tribulation Wholesome,

Our very zealous pastor.

Sub. Good! I have

Some orphans' goods to come here.

Ana. Of what kind, sir?

Sub. Pewter and brass, andirons and kitchenware,
Metals, that we must use our medicine on :

Wherein the brethren may have a pennyworth
For ready money.

Ana. Were the orphans' parents

Sincere professors?

Sub. Why do you ask?

Ana. Because

We then are to deal justly, and give in truth
Their utmost value.

Sub. 'Slid, you'd cozen else,

And if their parents were not of the faithful!

I will not trust you, now I think on it,

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800

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