|
Act IIScene II. The same.
Scene II. The same.
Mammon, Surly. [Enter] Face, [as a Servant]
Mam. Do we succeed? Is our day come? And holds it?
Face. The evening will set red upon you, sir;
You have colour for it, crimson: the red ferment
Has done his office; three hours hence prepare you
To see projection.
Mam. Pertinax, my Surly.
Again I say to thee, aloud, Be Rich.
This day thou shalt have ingots; and tomorrow
Give lords th` affront. - Is it, my Zephyrus, right?
Blushes the bolt`s-head?^1
[Footnote 1: A kind of flask.]
Face. Like a wench with child, sir,
That were but now discover`d to her master.
Mam. Excellent witty Lungs! - My only care is
Where to get stuff enough now, to project on;^2
This town will not half serve me.
[Footnote 2: Transmute.]
Face. No, sir! buy
The covering off o` churches.
Mam. That`s true.
Face. Yes.
Let `em stand bare, as do their auditory;^3
Or cap `em new with shingles.
[Footnote 3: Congregation.]
Mam. No, good thatch:
Thatch will lie light upo` the rafters, Lungs. -
Lungs, I will manumit thee from the furnace;
I will restore thee thy complexion, Puff,
Lost in the embers; and repair this brain,
Hurt with the fume o` the metals.
Face. I have blown, sir,
Hard, for your worship; thrown by many a coal,
When `twas not beech; weigh`d those I put in, just,
To keep your heat still even. These blear`d eyes
Have wak`d to read your several colours, sir,
Of the pale citron, the green lion, the crow,
The peacock`s tail, the plumed swan.
Mam. And lastly,
Thou hast descried the flower, the sanguis agni?
Face. Yes, sir.
Mam. Where`s master?
Face. At`s prayers, sir, he;
Good man, he`s doing his devotions
For the success.
Mam. Lungs, I will set a period
To all thy labours; thou shalt be the master
Of my seraglio.
Face. Good, sir.
Mam. But do you hear?
I`ll geld you, Lungs.
Face. Yes, sir.
Mam. For I do mean
To have a list of wives and concubines
Equal with Solomon, who had the stone
Alike with me; and I will make me a back
With the elixir that shall be as tough
As Hercules, to encounter fifty a night. -
Thou`rt sure thou saw`st it blood?
Face. Both blood and spirit, sir.
Mam. I will have all my beds blown up, not stuft;
Down is too hard: and then, mine oval room
Fill`d with such pictures as Tiberius took
From Elephantis, and dull Aretine
But coldly imitated. Then, my glasses
Cut in more subtle angles, to disperse
And multiply the figures, as I walk
Naked between my succubae.^4 My mists
I`ll have of perfume, vapour`d `bout the room,
To lose our selves in; and my baths, like pits
To fall into; from whence we will come forth
And roll us dry in gossamer and roses. -
Is it arrived at ruby? - Where I spy
A wealthy citizen, or [a] rich lawyer,
Have a sublim`d pure wife, unto that fellow
I`ll send a thousand pound to be my cuckold.
[Footnote 4: Mistresses.]
Face. And I shall carry it?
Mam. No. I`ll ha` no bawds
But fathers and mothers: they will do it best,
Best of all others. And my flatterers
Shall be the pure and gravest of divines,
That I can get for money. My mere fools,
Eloquent burgesses, and then my poets
The same that writ so subtly of the fart,
Whom I will entertain still for that subject.
The few that would give out themselves to be
Court and town-stallions, and, each-where, bely
Ladies who are known most innocent, for them,
Those will I beg, to make me eunuchs of:
And they shall fan me with ten estrich tails
A - piece, made in a plume to gather wind.
We will be brave, Puff, now we ha` the med`cine.
My meat shall all come in, in Indian shells,
Dishes of agate set in gold, and studded
With emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths, and rubies.
The tongues of carps, dormice, and camels` heels,
Boil`d i` the spirit of sol, and dissolv`d pearl
(Apicius` diet, `gainst the epilepsy):
And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber,
Headed with diamond and carbuncle.
My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calver`d salmons,^5
Knots,^6 godwits, lampreys: I myself will have
The beards of barbel^7 serv`d, instead of salads;
Oiled mushrooms; and the swelling unctuous paps
Of a fat pregnant sow, newly cut off,
Drest with an exquisite and poignant sauce;
For which, I`ll say unto my cook, There`s gold,
Go forth, and be a knight.
[Footnote 5: Salmon elaborately prepared.]
[Footnote 6: Robin-snipes.]
[Footnote 7: A fish.]
Face. Sir, I`ll go look
A little, how it heightens.
[Exit.]
Mam. Do. - My shirts
I`ll have of taffeta-sarsnet,^8 soft and light
As cobwebs; and for all my other raiment,
It shall be such as might provoke the Persian,
Were he to teach the world riot anew.
My gloves of fishes and birds` skins, perfum`d
With gums of paradise, and Eastern air -
[Footnote 8: Soft silk.]
Sur. And do you think to have the stone with this?
Mam. No, I do think t` have all this with the stone.
Sur. Why, I have heard he must be homo frugi,^9
A pious, holy, and religious man,
One free from mortal sin, a very virgin.
[Footnote 9: A virtuous man.]
Mam. That makes it, sir; he is so: but I buy it;
My venture brings it me. He, honest wretch,
A notable, superstitious, good soul,
Has worn his knees bare, and his slippers bald,
With prayer and fasting for it: and, sir, let him
Do it alone, for me, still. Here he comes.
Not a profane word afore him; `tis poison. -
|
