The works of Mr. Thomas Brown, serious and comical : in prose and verse, with his remains in four volumes compleat; vol. IIBrown, Thomas
General
The works of Mr. Thomas Brown, serious and comical : in prose and verse, with his remains in four volumes compleat; vol. II
Brown, Thomas
English wit and humor -- Early works to 1800; Erotic literature -- Early works to 1800; Latin literature -- Translations into English
I have likewise attained to the green, golden and black dragon,
known to none but magicians and hermatic philosophers; I tell the
meaning of all magical panticles, sigils, charms and lameness, and
have a glass, and help to further marriage; and what is more, by my
learning and great travels, I have obtained the true and perfect
seed and blossom of the female fern; and infinitely improv’d that
great traveller major _John Coke_’s famous necklaces for breeding
of teeth. The spring being already advanc’d, which is the properest
season for preventing new, and renewing old distempers, neglect not
this opportunity----
_My hours are from nine till twelve in the morning, and from two in
the afternoon till nine at night, every day in the week, except on
the real christian sabbath, called_ Saturday.
_It may be of use to keep this advertisement._
This, gentlemen, is an exact copy of my bill, which has been carefully
distributed all over this populous city, pasted upon the chief gates and
churches; and since dispersed by two running messengers, _Theophrastus
Paracelsus_ and _Cornelius Agrippa_, all over king _Pluto_’s dominions.
I forgot to tell you, that finding it absolutely necessary to take me a
wife, (the women in certain cases that shall be nameless, being
unwilling to consult any but those of their own sex) I was advised by
some friends to make my applications to the famous _Cleopatra_ queen of
_Egypt_, who being a person of great experience, and notably well
skill’d in the _Arcana_’s of nature, would in all probability make me an
admirable spouse. In short, after half a dozen meetings, rather for form
sake than any thing else, the bargain was struck, and a match concluded
between her _Alexandrian_ majesty and myself; cardinal _Wolsey_, who is
now curate of a small village, to the tune of four marks _per annum_,
and the magnificent perquisites of a bear and fiddle, perform’d the holy
ceremony: _Amphion_ of _Thebes_ diverted us at dinner with his crowd,
and all the while _Molinos_, the quietist, danced a _Lancashire_ jigg.
Sir _Thomas Pilkington_, who, as I told you in my last, is become a most
furious rhime-tagger or versificator, composed the _epithilamium_; and
_Sardanapalus_, _Caligula_, _Nero_, _Heliogabalus_, and pope _Alexander_
VII. were pleas’d to throw the stocking. Her majesty, to do her a piece
of common justice, proves a most dutiful and laborious wife, spreads all
my plaisters, makes all my unguents, distills all my waters, and pleases
my customers beyond expression.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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