himself by noon, as they would not away all the play-time, do what he could for his heart.

Mirth. 'Twas his part, gossip; he was to be drunk by his part.

Tat. Say you so? I understood not so much.

Expect. Would we had such another part, and such a man in this play! I fear 'twill be an excellent dull thing.

Cen. Expect, intend it.

ACT II. SCENE I.

A Room in Pennyboy senior's House.

Enter PENNY BOY sen. PECUNIA, MORTGAGE, STATUTE, BAND, and BROKER.

P. sen. Your grace is sad, methinks, and me-
lancholy,

You do not look upon me with that face
As you were wont, my goddess, bright Pecunia!
Altho' your grace be fallen off two in the hundred,"
In vulgar estimation; yet am I

Your grace's servant still and teach this body
To bend, and these my aged knees to buckle,
In adoration, and just worship of you.

7 Although your grace be fallen off two in the hundred, &c.] The rate of interest was fixed, by a law passed in the thirtyseventh year of Hen. VIII. and confirmed in the thirteenth of Elizabeth, to ten per cent. per annum; but by the statute of the twenty-first of James (the year before this play appeared,) it was reduced to eight. This was a grievous affliction to the Pennyboys (misers) of the time, and to this the text here and elsewhere alludes.

Indeed, I do confess, I have no shape
To make a minion of, but I am your martyr,
Your grace's martyr. I can hear the rogues,
As I do walk the streets, whisper and point,
"There goes old Pennyboy, the slave of money,
Rich Pennyboy, lady Pecunia's drudge,
A sordid rascal, one that never made

Good meal in his sleep, but sells the acates are sent him,'

Fish, fowl, and venison, and preserves himself, Like an old hoary rat, with mouldy pie-crust!" This I do hear, rejoicing I can suffer

This, and much more for your good grace's sake. Pec. Why do you so, my guardian? I not bid you:

Cannot my grace be gotten, and held too, Without your self-tormentings and your watches, Your macerating of your body thus,

With cares and scantings of your diet and rest? P. sen. O no, your services, my princely lady, Cannot with too much zeal of rites be done, They are so sacred.

Pec. But my reputation

May suffer, and the worship of my family, When by so servile means they both are sought. P. sen. You are a noble, young, free, gracious

lady,

And would be every body's in your bounty,
But you must not be so. They are a few
That know your merit, lady, and can value it.

sells the acates are sent him,

Fish, fowl, and venison, and preserves himself

With mouldy pie-crust!] Pope has very happily transferred this (for he did not find it in Horace) to the character of Avidienus, whom, like Pennyboy, he makes to

"Sell his presented partridges and fruits,
And humbly live on rabbits and on roots."

Yourself scarce understands your proper powers,
They are all-mighty, and that we, your servants,
That have the honour here to stand so near you,
Know and can use too. All this nether world'
Is yours, you command it, and do sway it;
The honour of it, and the honesty,

The reputation, ay, and the religion,
(I was about to say, and had not err'd,)
Is queen Pecunia's: for that style is yours,
If mortals knew your grace, or their own good.
Mor. Please your grace to retire.

Band. I fear your grace

Hath ta'en too much of the sharp air.

Pec. O, no!

I could endure to take a great deal more, (And with my constitution,) were it left Unto my choice; what think you of it, Statute?

Virtus, fama, decus, divina humanaque pulchris
Divitiis parent. Hor. L. ii. Sat. 3.

And again :

- fidemque et amicos,

Et genus, et formam, Regina Pecunia donat. Lib. i. Ep.6.

But Jonson has an eye constantly on Aristophanes, and has introduced various allusions to the highly humorous scene in which Chremylus and his servant let Plutus into the secret of his own importance.

Την δυναμιν, ην λυπῃ τι, καταλύσεις μόνος.
Πλ. Τι λέγεις ; δι' εμε θυεσιν αυτῳ ;

Χρ. Φημ' εγω.

Και νη Δι' ει τι γ' εςι λαμπρον και καλον,
Η χαριεν ανθρωποισι, δια σε γιγνεται.
Απανία τω πλείειν
yag

εσθ ̓ ὑπηκοα, κ. τ. α. v. 145.

Sta. A little now and then does well, and keeps Your grace in your complexion.

Band. And true temper.

Mor. But too much, madam, may increase cold rheums,

Nourish catarrhs, green sicknesses, and agues, And put you in consumption.

P. sen. Best to take

Advice of your grave women, noble madam, They know the state of your body, and have studied

Your grace's health.

Band. And honour. Here'll be visitants, Or suitors by and by; and 'tis not fit They find you here.

Sta. "Twill make your grace too cheap To give them audience presently.

Mor. Leave your secretary

To answer them.

Pec. Wait you here, broker.

Bro. I shall, madam,

[Exeunt all but Broker.

And do your grace's trusts with diligence.

Enter PIEDMANTLE.

Pie. What luck is this? I am come an inch too late!

Do you hear, sir? is your worship of the family Unto the lady Pecunia?

Bro. I serve her grace, sir,

Aurelia Clara Pecunia, the Infanta.

Pie. Has she all those titles, and her grace besides ?

I must correct that ignorance and oversight,
Before I do present. Sir, I have drawn

A pedigree for her grace, though yet a novice
In that so noble study.

Bro. A herald at arms?

Pie. No, sir, a pursuivant, my name is Pied

mantle.

Bro. Good master Piedmantle.

Pie. I have deduced her

Bro. From all the Spanish mines in the WestIndies,

I hope; for she comes that way by her mother, But by her grandmother she is duchess of mines. Pie. From man's creation I have brought her. Bro. No farther!

Before, sir, long before, you have done nothing else;

Your mines were before Adam, search your office, Roll five and twenty, you will find it so.

I see you are but a novice, master Piedmantle, If you had not told me so.

Pie. Sir, an apprentice

In armory. I have read the Elements,

And Accidence, and all the leading books; *
And I have now upon me a great ambition
How to be brought to her grace, to kiss her hands.
Bro. Why, if you have acquaintance with
mistress Statute,

Or mistress Band, my lady's gentlewomen,
They can induce you. One is a judge's daughter,
But somewhat stately; the other, mistress Band,
Her father's but a scrivener, but she can
Almost as much with my lady as the other,
Especially if Rose Wax the chambermaid
Be willing. Do you not know her sir, neither?
Pie. No, in troth, sir.

Bro. She's a good pliant wench,

I have read the Elements,

And Accidence, and all the leading books ;] The Elements of Armory, by Edm. Bolton, printed in 1610. And the Accedence of Armorye, by Leigh, printed in 1562. WHAL.