SCENE. III.

Another Room in the same.

Enter DELIRO and MACILENTE.

Deli. O, on my soul you wrong her, Macilente. Though she be froward, yet I know she is honest.

Maci. Well, then have I no judgment. Would any woman, but one that were wild in her affections, have broke out into that immodest and violent passion against her husband? or is't possible

Deli. If you love me, forbear; all the arguments i' the world shall never wrest my heart to believe it. [Exeunt.

Cor. How like you the deciphering of his dotage? Mit. O, strangely: and of the other's envy too, that labours so seriously to set debate betwixt a man and his wife. Stay, here comes the knight adven

turer.

Cor. Ay, and his scrivener with him.

SCENE IV.

Puntarvolo's Lodgings.

Enter PUNTARVOLO, Notary, and Servants with the dog and cat.

Punt. I wonder monsieur Fastidious comes not! But, notary, if thou please to draw the indentures the while, I will give thee thy instructions.

Not. With all my heart, sir; and I'll fall in hand with them presently.

Punt. Well then, first the sum is to be understood.

Not. [writes.] Good, sir.

Punt. Next, our several appellations, and character of my dog and cat, must be known. Shew him the cat, sirrah.

Not. So, sir.

Punt. Then, that the intended bound is the Turk's court in Constantinople; the time limited for our return, a year; and that if either of us miscarry, the whole venture is lost. These are general, conceiv'st thou? or if either of us turn Turk.

Not. Ay, sir.

Punt. Now, for particulars: that I may make my travels by sea or land, to my best liking; and that hiring a coach for myself, it shall be lawful for my dog or cat, or both, to ride with me in the said coach.

Not. Very good, sir.

Punt. That I may choose to give my dog or cat, fish, for fear of bones; or any other nutriment that, by the judgment of the most authentical physicians where I travel, shall be thought dangerous.

Not. Well, sir.

Punt. That, after the receipt of his money, he shall neither, in his own person, nor any other, either by direct or indirect means, as magic,

4 By the judgment of the most authentical physicians.] Authentical physicians are those who are allowed to practise publicly. There is a similar expression in Shakspeare, "Par. So I say both of Galen and Paracelsus. Laf. Of all the learned and authentic fellows." All's Well that ends Well, A. II. S. 3.

WHAL.

witchcraft, or other such exotic arts, attempt, practise, or complot any thing to the prejudice of me, my dog, or my cat: neither shall I use the help of any such sorceries or enchantments, as unctions to make our skins impenetrable, or to travel invisible by virtue of a powder, or a ring, or to hang any three-forked charm about my dog's neck, secretly conveyed into his collar;ʻ (understand you?) but that all be performed sincerely, without fraud or imposture.

Not. So, sir.

5 That, after the receipt of his money, he shall neither-by direct or indirect means, as magic, witchcraft, &c.] The whole of this is a solemn burlesque upon the oaths which were taken by the combatants of romance, and indeed of history, before they were permitted to encounter each other. The powder, Whalley conceives to be fern-seed, which from its minuteness, not being itself visible, was supposed, according to the vulgar superstition, "to make the person invisible who carried it about him.” This is rather doubtful: but the subject is scarcely worth pursuing. By the ring, is meant that of Gyges, which, when the bezel was turned towards the palm of the hand, rendered the wearer of it invisible. Both are mentioned by Fletcher:

"Why, did you think that you had Gyges' ring,
"Or the herb that gives invisibility?"

Fair Maid of the Inn, A. I. S. 1.

Or to hang any three-forked charm about my dog's neck, secretly conveyed into his collar.] Alluding probably to Cornelius Agrippa's dog. Paulus Jovius gives the following account of the master and his dog: (Elog. doct. Viror. edit. Basil. 1577, p. 187.) Excessit è cita nondum senex apud Lugdunum, ignobili et tenebroso in diversorio, multis eum tanquam · necromantic suspicione infamem execrantibus; quod cacodæmonem nigri canis specie circumduceret ; ita ut quum propinqua morte ad pænitentiam urgereter, cani collare loreum magicis per clarorum emblemata inscriptum notis exsolverit; in hæc suprema verba irate prorumpens, Abi, perdita bestia, quæ me totum perdidisti! nec usquam familiaris ille canis, aut assiduus itinerum omnium comes, et tum morientis domini desertor postea conspectus est, quum precipiti fuga saltu in Ararim se immersisse, nec enatasse, ab his qui id vi disse asserebant, existimetur. WHAL.

Punt. That, for testimony of the performance, myself am to bring thence a Turk's mustachio, my dog a Grecian hare's lip, and my cat the train or tail of a Thracian rat.

Not. [writes.] 'Tis done, sir.

Punt. 'Tis said, sir; not done, sir. But forward; that, upon my return, and landing on the Tower-wharf, with the aforesaid testimony, I am to receive five for one, according to the proportion of the sums put forth.

Not. Well, sir.

Punt. Provided, that if before our departure, or setting forth, either myself or these be visited with sickness, or any other casual event, so that the whole course of the adventure be hindered thereby, that then he is to return, and I am to receive the prenominated proportion upon fair and equal terms.

Not. Very good, sir; is this all?

Punt. It is all, sir; and dispatch them, good notary.

Not. As fast as is possible, sir.

[Exit.

Enter CARLO.

Punt. O Carlo! welcome: saw you monsieur Brisk?

Car. Not I did he appoint you to meet here? Punt. Ay, and I muse he should be so tardy; he is to take an hundred pounds of me in venture, if he maintain his promise.

Car. Is his hour past?

Punt. Not yet, but it comes on apace.

Car. Tut, be not jealous of him; he will sooner break all the commandments, than his hour; upon my life, in such a case trust him.

Punt. Methinks, Carlo, you look very smooth, ha!

Car. Why, I came but now from a hot-house; I must needs look smooth.

Punt. From a hot-house!

Car. Ay, do you make a wonder on't? why, it is your only physic. Let a man sweat once a week in a hot-house, and be well rubb'd, and froted, with a good plump juicy wench, and sweet linen, he shall ne'er have the pox.

Punt. What, the French pox?

Car. The French pox! our pox: we have them in as good a form as they, man; what? Punt. Let me perish, but thou art a salt one! was your new-created gallant there with you, Sogliardo?

Car. O porpoise! hang him, no: he's a leiger at Horn's ordinary yonder;' his villainous Ganymede and he have been droning a tobacco-pipe there ever since yesterday noon.

Punt. Who? signior Tripartite, that would give my dog the whiffe?

Car. Ay, he. They have hired a chamber and all, private, to practise in, for the making of the patoun, the receipt reciprocal, and a number of other mysteries not yet extant.' I brought

7 He's a leiger at Horn's ordinary yonder ;] i. e. he has taken up his abode there: a leiger was a resident ambassador. Of Horn I know nothing; he was perhaps, the master of the Mitre and yet the Mitre was too respectable an inn for the haunts of cavaliero Shift.

8

droning a tobacco-pipe] See the Silent Woman,

A. IV. S. 1. 9 for the making of the patoun, the receipt reciprocal, and a number of other mysteries not yet extant.] An editor of Jonson has to struggle with difficulties which seem to grow beneath his toil. I know no other poet of that age, whose language may not be explained by references to contemporary writers;