Alchemists -- Drama; City and town life -- Drama; English drama (Comedy); English drama -- 17th century; London (England) -- Drama
SUR. O, make your approach, good captain.
I have found from whence your copper rings and spoons
Come, now, wherewith you cheat abroad in taverns.
'Twas here you learned t' anoint your boot with brimstone,
Then rub men's gold on't for a kind of touch,
And say 'twas naught, when you had changed the colour,
That you might have't for nothing. And this doctor,
Your sooty, smoky-bearded compeer, he
Will close you so much gold, in a bolt's-head,
And, on a turn, convey in the stead another
With sublimed mercury, that shall burst in the heat,
And fly out all in fumo! Then weeps Mammon;
Then swoons his worship.
[FACE SLIPS OUT.]
Or, he is the Faustus,
That casteth figures and can conjure, cures
Plagues, piles, and pox, by the ephemerides,
And holds intelligence with all the bawds
And midwives of three shires: while you send in--
Captain!--what! is he gone?--damsels with child,
Wives that are barren, or the waiting-maid
With the green sickness.
[SEIZES SUBTLE AS HE IS RETIRING.]
--Nay, sir, you must tarry,
Though he be scaped; and answer by the ears, sir.
[RE-ENTER FACE, WITH KASTRIL.]
FACE. Why, now's the time, if ever you will quarrel
Well, as they say, and be a true-born child:
The doctor and your sister both are abused.
KAS. Where is he? which is he? he is a slave,
Whate'er he is, and the son of a whore.--Are you
The man, sir, I would know?
SUR. I should be loth, sir,
To confess so much.
KAS. Then you lie in your throat.
SUR. How!
FACE [TO KASTRIL]. A very errant rogue, sir, and a cheater,
Employ'd here by another conjurer
That does not love the doctor, and would cross him,
If he knew how.
SUR. Sir, you are abused.
KAS. You lie:
And 'tis no matter.
FACE. Well said, sir! He is
The impudent'st rascal--
SUR. You are indeed: Will you hear me, sir?
FACE. By no means: bid him be gone.
KAS. Begone, sir, quickly.
SUR. This 's strange!--Lady, do you inform your brother.
FACE. There is not such a foist in all the town,
The doctor had him presently; and finds yet,
The Spanish count will come here.
[ASIDE.]
--Bear up, Subtle.
SUB. Yes, sir, he must appear within this hour.
FACE. And yet this rogue would come in a disguise,
By the temptation of another spirit,
To trouble our art, though he could not hurt it!
KAS. Ay,
I know--Away,
[TO HIS SISTER.]
you talk like a foolish mauther.
SUR. Sir, all is truth she says.
FACE. Do not believe him, sir.
He is the lying'st swabber! Come your ways, sir.
SUR. You are valiant out of company!
KAS. Yes, how then, sir?
[ENTER DRUGGER, WITH A PIECE OF DAMASK.]
FACE. Nay, here's an honest fellow, too, that knows him,
And all his tricks. Make good what I say, Abel,
This cheater would have cozen'd thee o' the widow.--
[ASIDE TO DRUG.]
He owes this honest Drugger here, seven pound,
He has had on him, in two-penny'orths of tobacco.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account