Scene + 

I + 

A room in Lovewit’s house. + 

Face + 

Believ’t, I will. + 

Subtle + 

Thy worst. I fart at thee. + 

Dol Common + 

Have you your wits? Why, gentlemen! For love⁠— + 

Face + 

Sirrah, I’ll strip you⁠— + 

Subtle + 

What to do? Lick figs + 

Out at my⁠— + 

Face + 

Rogue, rogue!⁠—out of all your sleights. + 

Dol Common + 

Nay, look ye, sovereign, general, are you madmen? + 

Subtle + 

O, let the wild sheep loose. I’ll gum your silks + 

With good strong water, an you come. + 

Dol Common + 

Will you have + 

The neighbours hear you? Will you betray all? + 

Hark! I hear somebody. + 

Face + 

Sirrah⁠— + 

Subtle + 

I shall mar + 

All that the tailor has made, if you approach. + 

Face + 

You most notorious whelp, you insolent slave, + 

Dare you do this? + 

Subtle + 

Yes, faith; yes, faith. + 

Face + 

Why, who + 

Am I, my mongrel? Who am I? + 

Subtle + 

I’ll tell you, + 

Since you know not yourself. + 

Face + 

Speak lower, rogue. + 

Subtle + 

Yes, you were once (time’s not long past) the good, + 

Honest, plain, livery-three-pound-thrum, that kept + 

Your master’s worship’s house here in the Friars, + 

For the vacations⁠— + 

Face + 

Will you be so loud? + 

Subtle + 

Since, by my means, translated Suburb-Captain. + 

Face + 

By your means, Doctor Dog! + 

Subtle + 

Within man’s memory, + 

All this I speak of. + 

Face + 

Why, I pray you, have I + 

Been countenanced by you, or you by me? + 

Do but collect, sir, where I met you first. + 

Subtle + 

I do not hear well. + 

Face + 

Not of this, I think it. + 

But I shall put you in mind, sir;⁠—at Pie-corner, + 

Taking your meal of steam in, from cooks’ stalls, + 

Where, like the father of hunger, you did walk + 

Piteously costive, with your pinched-horn-nose, + 

And your complexion of the Roman wash, + 

Stuck full of black and melancholic worms, + 

Like powder corns shot at the artillery-yard. + 

Subtle + 

I wish you could advance your voice a little. + 

Face + 

When you went pinned up in the several rags + 

You had raked and picked from dunghills, before day; + 

Your feet in mouldy slippers, for your kibes; + 

A felt of rug, and a thin threaden cloak, + 

That scarce would cover your no buttocks⁠— + 

Subtle + 

So, sir! + 

Face + 

When all your alchemy, and your algebra, + 

Your minerals, vegetals, and animals, + 

Your conjuring, cozening, and your dozen of trades, + 

Could not relieve your corps with so much linen + 

Would make you tinder, but to see a fire; + 

I gave you countenance, credit for your coals, + 

Your stills, your glasses, your materials; + 

Built you a furnace, drew you customers, + 

Advanced all your black arts; lent you, beside, + 

A house to practise in⁠— + 

Subtle + 

Your master’s house! + 

Face + 

Where you have studied the more thriving skill + 

Of bawdry since. + 

Subtle + 

Yes, in your master’s house. + 

You and the rats here kept possession. + 

Make it not strange. I know you were one could keep + 

The buttery-hatch still locked, and save the chippings, + 

Sell the dole beer to aqua-vitae men, + 

The which, together with your Christmas vails + 

At post-and-pair, your letting out of counters, + 

Made you a pretty stock, some twenty marks, + 

And gave you credit to converse with cobwebs, + 

Here, since your mistress’ death hath broke up house. + 

Face + 

You might talk softlier, rascal. + 

Subtle + 

No, you scarab, + 

I’ll thunder you in pieces: I will teach you + 

How to beware to tempt a Fury again, + 

That carries tempest in his hand and voice. + 

Face + 

The place has made you valiant. + 

Subtle + 

No, your clothes.⁠— + 

Thou vermin, have I ta’en thee out of dung, + 

So poor, so wretched, when no living thing + 

Would keep thee company, but a spider, or worse? + 

Raised thee from brooms, and dust, and watering-pots, + 

Sublimed thee, and exalted thee, and fixed thee + 

In the third region, called our state of grace? + 

Wrought thee to spirit, to quintessence, with pains + 

Would twice have won me the philosopher’s work? + 

Put thee in words and fashion, made thee fit + 

For more than ordinary fellowships? + 

Given thee thy oaths, thy quarrelling dimensions, + 

Thy rules to cheat at horse-race, cock-pit, cards, + 

Dice, or whatever gallant tincture else? + 

Made thee a second in mine own great art? + 

And have I this for thanks! Do you rebel, + 

Do you fly out in the projection? + 

Would you be gone now? + 

Dol Common + 

Gentlemen, what mean you? + 

Will you mar all? + 

Subtle + 

Slave, thou hadst had no name⁠— + 

Dol Common + 

Will you undo yourselves with civil war? + 

Subtle + 

Never been known, past equi clibanum, + 

The heat of horse-dung, under ground, in cellars, + 

Or an alehouse darker than deaf John’s; been lost + 

To all mankind, but laundresses and tapsters, + 

Had not I been. + 

Dol Common + 

Do you know who hears you, Sovereign? + 

Face + 

Sirrah⁠— + 

Dol Common + 

Nay, General, I thought you were civil. + 

Face + 

I shall turn desperate, if you grow thus loud. + 

Subtle + 

And hang thyself, I care not. + 

Face + 

Hang thee, collier, + 

And all thy pots, and pans, in picture, I will, + 

Since thou hast moved me⁠— + 

Dol Common + 

O, this will o’erthrow all. + 

Face + 

Write thee up bawd in Paul’s, have all thy tricks + 

Of cozening with a hollow coal, dust, scrapings, + 

Searching for things lost, with a sieve and sheers, + 

Erecting figures in your rows of houses, + 

And taking in of shadows with a glass, + 

Told in red letters; and a face cut for thee, + 

Worse than Gamaliel Ratsey’s. + 

Dol Common + 

Are you sound? + 

Have you your senses, masters? + 

Face + 

I will have + 

A book, but barely reckoning thy impostures, + 

Shall prove a true philosopher’s stone to printers. + 

Subtle + 

Away, you trencher-rascal! + 

Face + 

Out, you dog-leech! + 

The vomit of all prisons⁠— + 

Dol Common + 

Will you be + 

Your own destructions, gentlemen? + 

Face + 

Still spewed out + 

For lying too heavy on the basket. + 

Subtle + 

Cheater! + 

Face + 

Bawd! + 

Subtle + 

Cowherd! + 

Face + 

Conjurer! + 

Subtle + 

Cutpurse! + 

Face + 

Witch! + 

Dol Common + 

O me! + 

We are ruined, lost! Have you no more regard + 

To your reputations? Where’s your judgment? ’Slight, + 

Have yet some care of me, of your republic⁠— + 

Face + 

Away, this brach! I’ll bring thee, rogue, within + 

The statute of sorcery, tricesimo tertio + 

Of Harry the Eighth: ay, and perhaps thy neck + 

Within a noose, for laundering gold and barbing it. + 

Dol Common + 

Snatches Face’s sword. + 

You’ll bring your head within a cockscomb, will you? + 

And you, sir, with your menstrue⁠— + 

Dashes Subtle’s vial out of his hand. + 

Gather it up.⁠— + 

’Sdeath, you abominable pair of stinkards, + 

Leave off your barking, and grow one again, + 

Or, by the light that shines, I’ll cut your throats. + 

I’ll not be made a prey unto the marshal, + 

For ne’er a snarling dog-bolt of you both. + 

Have you together cozened all this while, + 

And all the world, and shall it now be said, + 

You’ve made most courteous shift to cozen yourselves? + 

To Face. + 

You will accuse him! You will “bring him in + 

Within the statute!” Who shall take your word? + 

A whoreson, upstart, apocryphal Captain, + 

Whom not a Puritan in Blackfriars will trust + 

So much as for a feather: + 

To Subtle. + 

and you, too, + 

Will give the cause, forsooth! You will insult, + 

And claim a primacy in the divisions! + 

You must be chief! As if you only had + 

The powder to project with, and the work + 

Were not begun out of equality? + 

The venture tripartite? All things in common? + 

Without priority? ’Sdeath! You perpetual curs, + 

Fall to your couples again, and cozen kindly, + 

And heartily, and lovingly, as you should, + 

And lose not the beginning of a term, + 

Or, by this hand, I shall grow factious too, + 

And take my part, and quit you. + 

Face + 

’Tis his fault; + 

He ever murmurs, and objects his pains, + 

And says, the weight of all lies upon him. + 

Subtle + 

Why, so it does. + 

Dol Common + 

How does it? Do not we + 

Sustain our parts? + 

Subtle + 

Yes, but they are not equal. + 

Dol Common + 

Why, if your part exceed today, I hope + 

Ours may, tomorrow match it. + 

Subtle + 

Ay, they may. + 

Dol Common + 

May, murmuring mastiff! Ay, and do. Death on me! + 

Help me to throttle him. + 

Seizes Subtle by the throat. + 

Subtle + 

Dorothy! Mistress Dorothy! + 

’Ods precious, I’ll do anything. What do you mean? + 

Dol Common + 

Because o’ your fermentation and cibation? + 

Subtle + 

Not I, by heaven⁠— + 

Dol Common + 

Your Sol and Luna + 

To Face. + 

—help me. + 

Subtle + 

Would I were hanged then? I’ll conform myself. + 

Dol Common + 

Will you, sir? Do so then, and quickly: swear. + 

Subtle + 

What should I swear? + 

Dol Common + 

To leave your faction, sir, + 

And labour kindly in the common work. + 

Subtle + 

Let me not breathe if I meant aught beside. + 

I only used those speeches as a spur + 

To him. + 

Dol Common + 

I hope we need no spurs, sir. Do we? + 

Face + 

’Slid, prove today, who shall shark best. + 

Subtle + 

Agreed. + 

Dol Common + 

Yes, and work close and friendly. + 

Subtle + 

’Slight, the knot + 

Shall grow the stronger for this breach, with me. + 

They shake hands. + 

Dol Common + 

Why, so, my good baboons! Shall we go make + 

A sort of sober, scurvy, precise neighbours, + 

That scarce have smiled twice since the king came in, + 

A feast of laughter at our follies? Rascals, + 

Would run themselves from breath, to see me ride, + 

Or you t’ have but a hole to thrust your heads in, + 

For which you should pay ear-rent? No, agree. + 

And may Don Provost ride a feasting long, + 

In his old velvet jerkin and stained scarfs, + 

My noble Sovereign, and worthy General, + 

Ere we contribute a new crewel garter + 

To his most worsted worship. + 

Subtle + 

Royal Dol! + 

Spoken like Claridiana, and thyself. + 

Face + 

For which at supper, thou shalt sit in triumph, + 

And not be styled Dol Common, but Dol Proper, + 

Dol Singular: the longest cut at night, + 

Shall draw thee for his Dol Particular. + 

Bell rings without. + 

Subtle + 

Who’s that? One rings. To the window, Dol: + 

Exit Dol. + 

—pray heaven, + 

The master do not trouble us this quarter. + 

Face + 

O, fear not him. While there dies one a week + 

O’ the plague, he’s safe, from thinking toward London. + 

Beside, he’s busy at his hop-yards now; + 

I had a letter from him. If he do, + 

He’ll send such word, for airing of the house, + 

As you shall have sufficient time to quit it: + 

Though we break up a fortnight, ’tis no matter. + 

Reenter Dol. + 

Subtle + 

Who is it, Dol? + 

Dol Common + 

A fine young quodling. + 

Face + 

O, + 

My lawyer’s clerk, I lighted on last night, + 

In Holborn, at the Dagger. He would have + 

(I told you of him) a familiar, + 

To rifle with at horses, and win cups. + 

Dol Common + 

O, let him in. + 

Subtle + 

Stay. Who shall do’t? + 

Face + 

Get you + 

Your robes on: I will meet him as going out. + 

Dol Common + 

And what shall I do? + 

Face + 

Not be seen; away! + 

Exit Dol. + 

Seem you very reserved. + 

Subtle + 

Enough. + 

Exit. + 

Face + 

Aloud and retiring. + 

God be wi’ you, sir, + 

I pray you let him know that I was here: + 

His name is Dapper. I would gladly have stayed, but⁠— + 

Dapper + 

Within. Captain, I am here. + 

Face + 

Who’s that?⁠—He’s come, I think, Doctor. + 

Enter Dapper. + 

Good faith, sir, I was going away. + 

Dapper + 

In truth + 

I am very sorry, Captain. + 

Face + 

But I thought + 

Sure I should meet you. + 

Dapper + 

Ay, I am very glad. + 

I had a scurvy writ or two to make, + 

And I had lent my watch last night to one + 

That dines today at the sheriff’s, and so was robbed + 

Of my past-time. + 

Reenter Subtle in his velvet cap and gown. + 

Is this the cunning-man? + 

Face + 

This is his worship. + 

Dapper + 

Is he a Doctor? + 

Face + 

Yes. + 

Dapper + 

And have you broke with him, Captain? + 

Face + 

Ay. + 

Dapper + 

And how? + 

Face + 

Faith, he does make the matter, sir, so dainty + 

I know not what to say. + 

Dapper + 

Not so, good Captain. + 

Face + 

Would I were fairly rid of it, believe me. + 

Dapper + 

Nay, now you grieve me, sir. Why should you wish so? + 

I dare assure you, I’ll not be ungrateful. + 

Face + 

I cannot think you will, sir. But the law + 

Is such a thing⁠—and then he says, Read’s matter + 

Falling so lately. + 

Dapper + 

Read! He was an ass, + 

And dealt, sir, with a fool. + 

Face + 

It was a clerk, sir. + 

Dapper + 

A clerk! + 

Face + 

Nay, hear me, sir. You know the law + 

Better, I think⁠— + 

Dapper + 

I should, sir, and the danger: + 

You know, I showed the statute to you. + 

Face + 

You did so. + 

Dapper + 

And will I tell then! By this hand of flesh, + 

Would it might never write good court-hand more, + 

If I discover. What do you think of me, + 

That I am a chiaus? + 

Face + 

What’s that? + 

Dapper + 

The Turk was here. + 

As one would say, do you think I am a Turk? + 

Face + 

I’ll tell the Doctor so. + 

Dapper + 

Do, good sweet Captain. + 

Face + 

Come, noble Doctor, pray thee let’s prevail; + 

This is the gentleman, and he is no chiaus. + 

Subtle + 

Captain, I have returned you all my answer. + 

I would do much, sir, for your love⁠—But this + 

I neither may, nor can. + 

Face + 

Tut, do not say so. + 

You deal now with a noble fellow, Doctor, + 

One that will thank you richly; and he is no chiaus: + 

Let that, sir, move you. + 

Subtle + 

Pray you, forbear⁠— + 

Face + 

He has + 

Four angels here. + 

Subtle + 

You do me wrong, good sir. + 

Face + 

Doctor, wherein? To tempt you with these spirits? + 

Subtle + 

To tempt my art and love, sir, to my peril. + 

Fore heaven, I scarce can think you are my friend, + 

That so would draw me to apparent danger. + 

Face + 

I draw you! A horse draw you, and a halter, + 

You, and your flies together⁠— + 

Dapper + 

Nay, good Captain. + 

Face + 

That know no difference of men. + 

Subtle + 

Good words, sir. + 

Face + 

Good deeds, sir, Doctor Dogs-meat. ’Slight, I bring you + 

No cheating Clim o’ the Cloughs or Claribels, + 

That look as big as five-and-fifty, and flush; + 

And spit out secrets like hot custard⁠— + 

Dapper + 

Captain! + 

Face + 

Nor any melancholic under-scribe, + 

Shall tell the vicar; but a special gentle, + 

That is the heir to forty marks a year, + 

Consorts with the small poets of the time, + 

Is the sole hope of his old grandmother; + 

That knows the law, and writes you six fair hands, + 

Is a fine clerk, and has his ciphering perfect. + 

Will take his oath o’ the Greek Testament, + 

If need be, in his pocket; and can court + 

His mistress out of Ovid. + 

Dapper + 

Nay, dear Captain⁠— + 

Face + 

Did you not tell me so? + 

Dapper + 

Yes; but I’d have you + 

Use master Doctor with some more respect. + 

Face + 

Hang him, proud stag, with his broad velvet head!⁠— + 

But for your sake, I’d choke, ere I would change + 

An article of breath with such a puckfist: + 

Come, let’s be gone. + 

Going. + 

Subtle + 

Pray you let me speak with you. + 

Dapper + 

His worship calls you, Captain. + 

Face + 

I am sorry + 

I e’er embarked myself in such a business. + 

Dapper + 

Nay, good sir; he did call you. + 

Face + 

Will he take then? + 

Subtle + 

First, hear me⁠— + 

Face + 

Not a syllable, ’less you take. + 

Subtle + 

Pray you, sir⁠— + 

Face + 

Upon no terms but an assumpsit. + 

Subtle + 

Your humour must be law. + 

He takes the four angels. + 

Face + 

Why now, sir, talk. + 

Now I dare hear you with mine honour. Speak. + 

So may this gentleman too. + 

Subtle + 

Why, sir⁠— + 

Offering to whisper Face. + 

Face + 

No whispering. + 

Subtle + 

Fore heaven, you do not apprehend the loss + 

You do yourself in this. + 

Face + 

Wherein? For what? + 

Subtle + 

Marry, to be so importunate for one, + 

That, when he has it, will undo you all: + 

He’ll win up all the money in the town. + 

Face + 

How! + 

Subtle + 

Yes, and blow up gamester after gamester, + 

As they do crackers in a puppet-play. + 

If I do give him a familiar, + 

Give you him all you play for; never set him: + 

For he will have it. + 

Face + 

You are mistaken, Doctor. + 

Why he does ask one but for cups and horses, + 

A rifling fly; none of your great familiars. + 

Dapper + 

Yes, Captain, I would have it for all games. + 

Subtle + 

I told you so. + 

Face + 

Taking Dapper aside. + 

’Slight, that is a new business! + 

I understood you, a tame bird, to fly + 

Twice in a term, or so, on Friday nights, + 

When you had left the office, for a nag + 

Of forty or fifty shillings. + 

Dapper + 

Ay, ’tis true, sir; + 

But I do think now I shall leave the law, + 

And therefore⁠— + 

Face + 

Why, this changes quite the case. + 

Do you think that I dare move him? + 

Dapper + 

If you please, sir; + 

All’s one to him, I see. + 

Face + 

What! For that money? + 

I cannot with my conscience; nor should you + 

Make the request, methinks. + 

Dapper + 

No, sir, I mean + 

To add consideration. + 

Face + 

Why then, sir, + 

I’ll try.⁠— + 

Goes to Subtle. + 

Say that it were for all games, Doctor. + 

Subtle + 

I say then, not a mouth shall eat for him + 

At any ordinary, but on the score, + 

That is a gaming mouth, conceive me. + 

Face + 

Indeed! + 

Subtle + 

He’ll draw you all the treasure of the realm, + 

If it be set him. + 

Face + 

Speak you this from art? + 

Subtle + 

Ay, sir, and reason too, the ground of art. + 

He is of the only best complexion, + 

The Queen of Fairy loves. + 

Face + 

What! Is he? + 

Subtle + 

Peace. + 

He’ll overhear you. Sir, should she but see him⁠— + 

Face + 

What? + 

Subtle + 

Do not you tell him. + 

Face + 

Will he win at cards too? + 

Subtle + 

The spirits of dead Holland, living Isaac, + 

You’d swear, were in him; such a vigorous luck + 

As cannot be resisted. ’Slight, he’ll put + 

Six of your gallants to a cloak, indeed. + 

Face + 

A strange success, that some man shall be born to. + 

Subtle + 

He hears you, man⁠— + 

Dapper + 

Sir, I’ll not be ingrateful. + 

Face + 

Faith, I have confidence in his good nature: + 

You hear, he says he will not be ingrateful. + 

Subtle + 

Why, as you please; my venture follows yours. + 

Face + 

Troth, do it, Doctor; think him trusty, and make him. + 

He may make us both happy in an hour; + 

Win some five thousand pound, and send us two on’t. + 

Dapper + 

Believe it, and I will, sir. + 

Face + 

And you shall, sir. + 

Takes him aside. + 

You have heard all? + 

Dapper + 

No, what was’t? Nothing, I, sir. + 

Face + 

Nothing! + 

Dapper + 

A little, sir. + 

Face + 

Well, a rare star + 

Reigned at your birth. + 

Dapper + 

At mine, sir! No. + 

Face + 

The Doctor + 

Swears that you are⁠— + 

Subtle + 

Nay, Captain, you’ll tell all now. + 

Face + 

Allied to the Queen of Fairy. + 

Dapper + 

Who! That I am? + 

Believe it, no such matter⁠— + 

Face + 

Yes, and that + 

You were born with a cawl on your head. + 

Dapper + 

Who says so? + 

Face + 

Come, + 

You know it well enough, though you dissemble it. + 

Dapper + 

I’fac, I do not; you are mistaken. + 

Face + 

How! + 

Swear by your fac, and in a thing so known + 

Unto the Doctor? How shall we, sir, trust you + 

In the other matter? Can we ever think, + 

When you have won five or six thousand pound, + 

You’ll send us shares in’t, by this rate? + 

Dapper + 

By Jove, sir, + 

I’ll win ten thousand pound, and send you half. + 

I’fac’s no oath. + 

Subtle + 

No, no, he did but jest. + 

Face + 

Go to. Go thank the Doctor: he’s your friend, + 

To take it so. + 

Dapper + 

I thank his worship. + 

Face + 

So! + 

Another angel. + 

Dapper + 

Must I? + 

Face + 

Must you! ’Slight, + 

What else is thanks? Will you be trivial?⁠—Doctor, + 

Dapper gives him the money. + 

When must he come for his familiar? + 

Dapper + 

Shall I not have it with me? + 

Subtle + 

O, good sir! + 

There must a world of ceremonies pass; + 

You must be bathed and fumigated first: + 

Besides the Queen of Fairy does not rise + 

Till it be noon. + 

Face + 

Not, if she danced, tonight. + 

Subtle + 

And she must bless it. + 

Face + 

Did you never see + 

Her royal Grace yet? + 

Dapper + 

Whom? + 

Face + 

Your aunt of Fairy? + 

Subtle + 

Not since she kissed him in the cradle, Captain; + 

I can resolve you that. + 

Face + 

Well, see her Grace, + 

Whate’er it cost you, for a thing that I know. + 

It will be somewhat hard to compass; but + 

However, see her. You are made, believe it, + 

If you can see her. Her Grace is a lone woman, + 

And very rich; and if she take a fancy, + 

She will do strange things. See her, at any hand. + 

’Slid, she may hap to leave you all she has: + 

It is the Doctor’s fear. + 

Dapper + 

How will’t be done, then? + 

Face + 

Let me alone, take you no thought. Do you + 

But say to me, Captain, I’ll see her Grace. + 

Dapper + 

“Captain, I’ll see her Grace.” + 

Face + 

Enough. + 

Knocking within. + 

Subtle + 

Who’s there? + 

Anon. + 

Aside to Face. + 

—Conduct him forth by the back way.⁠— + 

Sir, against one o’clock prepare yourself; + 

Till when you must be fasting; only take + 

Three drops of vinegar in at your nose, + 

Two at your mouth, and one at either ear; + 

Then bathe your fingers’ ends and wash your eyes, + 

To sharpen your five senses, and cry “hum” + 

Thrice, and then “buz” as often; and then come. + 

Exit. + 

Face + 

Can you remember this? + 

Dapper + 

I warrant you. + 

Face + 

Well then, away. It is but your bestowing + 

Some twenty nobles ’mong her Grace’s servants, + 

And put on a clean shirt: you do not know + 

What grace her Grace may do you in clean linen. + 

Exeunt Face and Dapper. + 

Subtle + 

Within. Come in! Good wives, I pray you forbear me now; + 

Troth I can do you no good till afternoon⁠— + 

Reenters, followed by Drugger. + 

What is your name, say you? Abel Drugger? + 

Drugger + 

Yes, sir. + 

Subtle + 

A seller of tobacco? + 

Drugger + 

Yes, sir. + 

Subtle + 

Umph! + 

Free of the grocers? + 

Drugger + 

Ay, and’t please you. + 

Subtle + 

Well⁠— + 

Your business, Abel? + 

Drugger + 

This, and’t please your worship; + 

I am a young beginner, and am building + 

Of a new shop, and’t like your worship, just + 

At corner of a street:⁠—Here is the plot on’t⁠— + 

And I would know by art, sir, of your worship, + 

Which way I should make my door, by necromancy, + 

And where my shelves; and which should be for boxes, + 

And which for pots. I would be glad to thrive, sir: + 

And I was wished to your worship by a gentleman, + 

One Captain Face, that says you know men’s planets, + 

And their good angels, and their bad. + 

Subtle + 

I do, + 

If I do see them⁠— + 

Reenter Face. + 

Face + 

What! My honest Abel? + 

Though art well met here. + 

Drugger + 

Troth, sir, I was speaking, + 

Just as your worship came here, of your worship: + 

I pray you speak for me to Master Doctor. + 

Face + 

He shall do anything.⁠—Doctor, do you hear? + 

This is my friend, Abel, an honest fellow; + 

He lets me have good tobacco, and he does not + 

Sophisticate it with sack-lees or oil, + 

Nor washes it in muscadel and grains, + 

Nor buries it in gravel, under ground, + 

Wrapped up in greasy leather, or pissed clouts: + 

But keeps it in fine lily pots, that, opened, + 

Smell like conserve of roses, or French beans. + 

He has his maple block, his silver tongs, + 

Winchester pipes, and fire of Juniper: + 

A neat, spruce, honest fellow, and no goldsmith. + 

Subtle + 

He is a fortunate fellow, that I am sure on. + 

Face + 

Already, sir, have you found it? Lo thee, Abel! + 

Subtle + 

And in right way toward riches⁠— + 

Face + 

Sir! + 

Subtle + 

This summer + 

He will be of the clothing of his company, + 

And next spring called to the scarlet; spend what he can. + 

Face + 

What, and so little beard? + 

Subtle + 

Sir, you must think, + 

He may have a receipt to make hair come: + 

But he’ll be wise, preserve his youth, and fine for’t; + 

His fortune looks for him another way. + 

Face + 

’Slid, Doctor, how canst thou know this so soon? + 

I am amused at that! + 

Subtle + 

By a rule, Captain, + 

In metoposcopy, which I do work by; + 

A certain star in the forehead, which you see not. + 

Your chestnut or your olive-coloured face + 

Does never fail: and your long ear doth promise. + 

I knew’t by certain spots, too, in his teeth, + 

And on the nail of his mercurial finger. + 

Face + 

Which finger’s that? + 

Subtle + 

His little finger. Look. + 

You were born upon a Wednesday? + 

Drugger + 

Yes, indeed, sir. + 

Subtle + 

The thumb, in chiromancy, we give Venus; + 

The forefinger, to Jove; the midst, to Saturn; + 

The ring, to Sol; the least, to Mercury, + 

Who was the lord, sir, of his horoscope, + 

His house of life being Libra; which foreshowed, + 

He should be a merchant, and should trade with balance. + 

Face + 

Why, this is strange! Is it not, honest Nab? + 

Subtle + 

There is a ship now, coming from Ormus, + 

That shall yield him such a commodity + 

Of drugs + 

Pointing to the plan. + 

—This is the west, and this the south? + 

Drugger + 

Yes, sir. + 

Subtle + 

And those are your two sides? + 

Drugger + 

Ay, sir. + 

Subtle + 

Make me your door, then, south; your broad side, west: + 

And on the east side of your shop, aloft, + 

Write Mathlai, Tarmiel, and Baraborat; + 

Upon the north part, Rael, Velel, Thiel. + 

They are the names of those mercurial spirits, + 

That do fright flies from boxes. + 

Drugger + 

Yes, sir. + 

Subtle + 

And + 

Beneath your threshold, bury me a loadstone + 

To draw in gallants that wear spurs: the rest, + 

They’ll seem to follow. + 

Face + 

That’s a secret, Nab! + 

Subtle + 

And, on your stall, a puppet, with a vice + 

And a court-fucus to call city-dames: + 

You shall deal much with minerals. + 

Drugger + 

Sir, I have. + 

At home, already⁠— + 

Subtle + 

Ay, I know you have arsenic, + 

Vitriol, sal-tartar, argaile, alkali, + 

Cinoper: I know all.⁠—This fellow, Captain, + 

Will come, in time, to be a great distiller, + 

And give a say⁠—I will not say directly, + 

But very fair⁠—at the philosopher’s stone. + 

Face + 

Why, how now, Abel! Is this true? + 

Drugger + 

Aside to Face. + 

Good Captain, + 

What must I give? + 

Face + 

Nay, I’ll not counsel thee. + 

Thou hear’st what wealth (he says, spend what thou canst,) + 

Thou’rt like to come to. + 

Drugger + 

I would gi’ him a crown. + 

Face + 

A crown! And toward such a fortune? Heart, + 

Thou shalt rather gi’ him thy shop. No gold about thee? + 

Drugger + 

Yes, I have a portague, I have kept this half-year. + 

Face + 

Out on thee, Nab! ’Slight, there was such an offer⁠— + 

Shalt keep’t no longer, I’ll give’t him for thee. Doctor, + 

Nab prays your worship to drink this, and swears + 

He will appear more grateful, as your skill + 

Does raise him in the world. + 

Drugger + 

I would entreat + 

Another favour of his worship. + 

Face + 

What is’t, Nab? + 

Drugger + 

But to look over, sir, my almanac, + 

And cross out my ill-days, that I may neither + 

Bargain, nor trust upon them. + 

Face + 

That he shall, Nab: + 

Leave it, it shall be done, ’gainst afternoon. + 

Subtle + 

And a direction for his shelves. + 

Face + 

Now, Nab, + 

Art thou well pleased, Nab? + 

Drugger + 

’Thank, sir, both your worships. + 

Face + 

Away. + 

Exit Drugger. + 

Why, now, you smoaky persecutor of nature! + 

Now do you see, that something’s to be done, + 

Beside your beech-coal, and your corsive waters, + 

Your crosslets, crucibles, and cucurbites? + 

You must have stuff brought home to you, to work on: + 

And yet you think, I am at no expense + 

In searching out these veins, then following them, + 

Then trying them out. ’Fore God, my intelligence + 

Costs me more money, than my share oft comes to, + 

In these rare works. + 

Subtle + 

You are pleasant, sir. + 

Reenter Dol. + 

—How now! + 

What says my dainty Dolkin? + 

Dol Common + 

Yonder fishwife + 

Will not away. And there’s your giantess, + 

The bawd of Lambeth. + 

Subtle + 

Heart, I cannot speak with them. + 

Dol Common + 

Not afore night, I have told them in a voice, + 

Thorough the trunk, like one of your familiars. + 

But I have spied sir Epicure Mammon⁠— + 

Subtle + 

Where? + 

Dol Common + 

Coming along, at far end of the lane, + 

Slow of his feet, but earnest of his tongue + 

To one that’s with him. + 

Subtle + 

Face, go you and shift. + 

Exit Face. + 

Dol, you must presently make ready, too. + 

Dol Common + 

Why, what’s the matter? + 

Subtle + 

O, I did look for him + 

With the sun’s rising: ’marvel he could sleep, + 

This is the day I am to perfect for him + 

The magisterium, our great work, the stone; + 

And yield it, made, into his hands: of which + 

He has, this month, talked as he were possessed. + 

And now he’s dealing pieces on’t away.⁠— + 

Methinks I see him entering ordinaries, + 

Dispensing for the pox, and plaguey houses, + 

Reaching his dose, walking Moorfields for lepers, + 

And offering citizens’ wives pomander-bracelets, + 

As his preservative, made of the elixir; + 

Searching the spittal, to make old bawds young; + 

And the highways, for beggars, to make rich. + 

I see no end of his labours. He will make + 

Nature ashamed of her long sleep: when art, + 

Who’s but a step-dame, shall do more than she, + 

In her best love to mankind, ever could: + 

If his dream lasts, he’ll turn the age to gold. + 

Exeunt. + 