And look how far your subtilty can work Thorough those organs, with that body, spy Amongst mankind, (you cannot there want vices, And therefore the less need to carry them with you,)

But as you make your soon at night's relation, And we shall find it merits from the state,

You shall have both trust from us, and employ

ment.

Pug. Most gracious chief!

Sat. Only thus more I bind you,

To serve the first man that you meet; and him I'll shew you now: observe him. Yon' is he, [Shews him Fitzdottrel coming out of his house at a distance.

You shall see first after your clothing. Follow him:

But once engaged, there you must stay and fix; Not shift, until the midnight's cock do crow. Pug. Any conditions to be gone.

Sat. Away then.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt severally.

The Street before Fitzdottrel's House.

Enter FITZDOTTREL.

Fitz. Ay, they do now name Bretnor, as before They talk'd of Gresham, and of doctor Foreman, Franklin, and Fiske, and Savory, he was in too;'

Ay, they do now name Bretnor, as before

They talk'd of Gresham, and of doctor Foreman,

Franklin, and Fiske, and Savory, he was in too;] These were pretenders to soothsaying, in other words, receivers of stolen. goods, pimps, and poisoners. They were all, with the exception

VOL. V.

C

But there's not one of these that ever could
Yet shew a man the devil in true sort.
They have their crystals, I do know, and rings,
And virgin-parchment, and their dead men's
sculls,

Their ravens' wings, their lights, and pentacles,
With characters; I have seen all these. But-
Would I might see the devil! I would give
A hundred of these pictures to see him
Once out of picture. May I prove a cuckold,
And that's the one main mortal thing I fear,
If I begin not now to think, the painters
Have only made him: 'slight, he would be seen
One time or other else; he would not let
An ancient gentleman, of [as] good a house
As most are now in England, the Fitzdottrels,
Run wild, and call upon him thus in vain,
As I have done this twelvemonth. If he be not
At all, why are there conjurers? if they be not,'

of Bretnor, who came later into notice, connected with the infamous countess of Essex and Mrs. Turner, in the murder of sir Thomas Overbury. Of Foreman the reader will find some account, vol. iii. p. 428. Gresham succeeded him in the service of Mrs. Turner, and being, as Arthur Wilson says, a rotten engine," was preserved, like his predecessor, from the gallows by an early death. Franklin was hanged at the same time with Mrs. Turner, "a swarthy, sallow, crook-backed fellow, Wilson says,) as sordid in his death as pernicious in his life, and deserving not even so much as memory, p. 82. He was the purveyor of the poison. Fiske is often mentioned by Lilly; and appears to have been just such another ignorant and impudent impostor as himself and Dr. Foreman. "He was a licentiate in physick, exquisitely skilful in the art of directions upon nativities, and had a good genius in performing judgment thereupon-Oh learned esquire!" this pathetic apostrophe is to the dupe of these miscreants, the worthy Ashmole, "he died about the seventy-eighth year of his age, poor." Lilly's History, p. 44. Fiske is introduced as a cheating rogue, in Fletcher's Rollo Duke of Normandy.

if they be not, &c.] It is not a little amusing ot

Why are there laws against them? The best

artists

Of Cambridge, Oxford, Middlesex and London, Essex and Kent, I have had in pay to raise him, These fifty weeks, and yet he appears not. 'Sdeath,

I shall suspect they can make circles only Shortly, and know but his hard names. They do say,

He will meet a man, of himself, that has a mind to him.

If he would so, I have a mind and a half for him:
He should not be long absent. Prithee come,
I long for thee:-an I were with child by him,
And my wife too, I could not more. Come yet,
Good Beelzebub. Were he a kind devil,
And had humanity in him, he would come, but
To save one's longing. I should use him well,
I swear, and with respect; would he would try me!
Not as the conjurers do, when they have raised
him,

Get him in bonds, and send him post on errands
A thousand miles; it is preposterous, that;
And, I believe, is the true cause he comes not:
And he has reason. Who would be engaged,
That might live freely, as he may do? I swear,
They are wrong all. The burnt child dreads the
fire.

They do not know to entertain the devil:

I would so welcome him, observe his diet, Get him his chamber hung with arras, two of 'em,

In my own house, lend him my wife's wrought pillows;

find Fitzdottrel deep in the Dialectics of Chrysippus. This is the very syllogism by which that acute philosopher triumphantly proved the reality of augury. De Divinatione, Lib. 1. § 71.

And as I am an honest man, I think,

If he had a mind to her too, I should grant him, To make our friendship perfect: so I would not To every man. If he but hear me now,

And should come to me in a brave young shape, And take me at my word?

Enter PUG handsomely shaped and apparelled.

Ha! who is this?

Pug. Sir, your good pardon, that I thus presume
Upon your privacy. I am born a gentleman,
A younger brother, but in some disgrace
Now with my friends; and want some little means
To keep me upright, while things be reconciled.'
Please you to let my service be of use to you, sir.
Fitz. Service! 'fore hell, my heart was at my
mouth,

'Till I had view'd his shoes well: for those roses
Were big enough to hide a cloven foot.-[Aside.
No, friend, my number's full. I have one servant,
Who is my all, indeed; and from the broom
Unto the brush: for just so far I trust him.
He is my wardrobe-man, my cater, cook,
Butler, and steward: looks unto my horse;
And helps to watch my wife. He has all the places
That I can think on, from the garret downward,
Even to the manger, and the curry-comb.
Pug. Sir, I shall put your worship to no charge,

while things be reconciled.] i.e. until.

- for those roses

Were big enough to hide a cloven foot.] I have already noticed the preposterous size of this fashionable article of dress; (vol. iii. P 368;) a passage, which was then overlooked, may serve to shew, that the poet is guilty of no exaggeration in the description of it. "He hath in the shoe as much taffetie for the tyings, as would serve for an ancient:" i. c. an ensign. Nashe's Unfortunate Traveller, 1598.

More than my meat, and that but very little; I'll serve you for your love.

Fitz. Ha! without wages?

I'd hearken o' that ear, were I at leisure.
But now I am busy. Prithee, friend, forbear me-
An thou hadst been a devil, I should say

Somewhat more to thee: thou dost hinder now.
My meditations.

Pug. Sir, I am a devil.
Fitz. How!

Pug. A true devil, sir.
Fitz. Nay, now you lie;

Under your favour, friend, for I'll not quarrel.
I look'd on your feet afore, you cannot cozen me,
Your shoe's not cloven, sir, you are whole hoof'd.
Pug. Sir, that's a popular error, deceives many:
But I am that I tell you.

Fitz. What's your name?

Pug. My name is Devil, sir.

Fitz. Say'st thou true?

Pug. Indeed, sir.

Fitz. 'Slid, there's some omen in this! What countryman?

Pug. Of Derbyshire, sir, about the Peak.
Fitz. That hole

Belong'd to your ancestors?

Pug. Yes, Devil's arse, sir.

Fitz. I'll entertain him for the name sake. Ha! And turn away my t'other man, and save

5 Under your favour, friend, &c.] This was one of the qualifying expressions, by which, "according to the laws of the duello," the lie might be given, without subjecting the speaker to the absolute necessity of receiving a challenge. To this Fitzdottrel alludes in the next hemistich-for I'll not quarrel, The remainder of the speech refers to the vulgar opinion. respecting the devil, which is also noticed by Shakspeare, "I look down towards his feet;-but that's a fable." Othello.