Face. Already, sir, have you found it? Lo

thee, Abel!

Sub. And in right way toward riches

Face. Sir!

Sub. This summer

He will be of the clothing of his company,

And next spring call'd to the scarlet; spend what he can.

Face. What, and so little beard?

folly" on Jonson also, and to accuse him, in his Reflections on Originality, of "plagiarism, tediousness, and obscurity."

"A neat, spruce, honest fellow, and no goldsmith." A quaint distinction-and no goldsmith! It means possibly that he had not the chrysosperme, (the philosopher's stone.) It is, however, by no means obvious that this is the real meaning, and therefore it must remain hardly intelligible, &c. p. 66. This egregious critic did not know that goldsmiths, in Jonson's age, were not only bankers, but brokers and money-lenders. Abel was a good, "honest fellow," and no usurer. This is the simple meaning of the passage, produced with such parade to convict Jonson of obscurity." His " plagiarism" (for we may as well dismiss the critic at once) is proved by his taking a trite line from Martial -marked by the poet himself, be it observed, as a quotation; and-happily detected, after a lapse of two centuries, by this sagacious gentleman. The " tediousness" is thus brought home to him. Abel says, (p. 42,)

66

"Yes, I have a portague I have kept this half year." "Holinshead mentions the portague as a piece very solemnly kept of divers. This custom we are sure from hence continued in his time. But a reader of Jonson is continually teazed with these!" p. 65. Why these should be more teazing in the poet than the historian, it is difficult to conjecture-but enough of Mr. Bowle, on whom I should not have wasted a syllable, had not all his trash been transcribed for the press, on the margin of Whalley's corrected copy.

6 This summer

He will be of the clothing of his company,

And next spring call'd to the scarlet;] i. c. he will, this year, be brought upon the livery of the Grocers company, and the next, be drank to as sheriff.

Sub. 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!'

Sub. By a rule, captain,

In metoposcopy, which I do work by ;

A certain star in the forehead, which you see not.
Your chesnut or your olive-colour'd 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?

Sub. His little finger. Look.

You were born upon a Wednesday?
Drug. Yes, indeed, sir.

Sub. The thumb, in chiromancy, we give Venus;
The fore-finger, 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 fore-shew'd, He should be a merchant, and should trade with balance.

7 I am amused at that !] i. e. amazed. The two words have the same origin, (which is not that given by Dr. Johnson,) and were once perfectly synonymous. Thus in Mons. d'Olive: "I am amused, or I am in a quandary, gentlemen ;-for, in good faith, I remember not very well whether of them was my word." A. ii. Sc. 1. See vol. iii. p. 131.

8 I know't, by certain spots too, in his teeth,

And on the nail of his mercurial finger.] Our poet's authority is Cardan: Sunt etiam in nobis vestigia quædam futurorum eventuum in unguibus, atque etiam in dentibus- -sed pro manus natura, et

digitorum in quibus fiunt, et colorum, et mutatione eorum.

WHAL.

Face. Why, this is strange! Is it not, honest Nab?

Sub. There is a ship now, coming from Ormus, That shall yield him such a commodity

Of drugs-This is the west, and this the south? [Pointing to the plan.

Drug. Yes, sir.

Sub. And those are your two sides?

Drug. Ay, sir.

Sub. 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.
Drug. Yes, sir.

Sub. And

Beneath your threshold, bury me a load-stone
To draw in gallants that wear spurs: the rest,
They'll seem to follow.

Face. That's a secret, Nab!

Sub. And, on your stall, a puppet, with a vice'

9 And, on your stall, a puppet, with a vice] "The droll antic character, so often mentioned in our old plays." Whalley copied this from Upton, as usual; though nothing was ever more absurd. The "vice" is, simply, some kind of machinery; a doll, in short, moved by wires. Thus Holinshed describes the "Rood of Boxlie" in Kent, as "made with divers vices to moove the eyes and lips." And thus Chapman :

"Every thing

"About your house so sortfully disposed,
"That even as in a turnspit, called a jack,
"One vice assists another; the great wheels
Turning, but softly, make the less to whirr
"About their business."

VOL. IV.

Gentleman Usher, A. iii. Sc. 1.

E

And a court-fucus, to call city-dames :
You shall deal much with minerals.
Drug. Sir, I have
At home, already.

Sub. 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 say1-I will not say directly,
But very fair-at the philosopher's stone.
Face. Why, how now, Abel! is this true?
Drug. Good captain,

What must I give?

[Aside to Face. Face. Nay, I'll not counsel thee.

Thou hear'st what wealth (he says, spend what thou canst,)

Thou'rt like to come to.

Drug. 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?

Drug. 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

And give a say &c.] i. e. make a shrewd attempt at, &c. See vol. ii. p. 549. Subtle alludes to this speech, p. 89.

2 Yes, I have a portague, &c.] A gold coin worth about three pounds twelve shillings. It was very common in this country, not many years since, and principally on those parts of the coast most addicted to smuggling. See p. 39.

He will appear more grateful, as your skill
Does raise him in the world.

Drug. I would entreat

Another favour of his worship.

Face. What is❜t, Nab?

Drug. But to look over, sir, my almanack, 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.
Sub. And a direction for his shelves.

Face. Now, Nab,

Art thou well pleased, Nab?

Drug. "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.

Sub. You are pleasant, sir.

3 And cross out my ill days, &c.] In our old almanacks, as may be collected from the dramatic poets, the days supposed to be favourable or unfavourable to buying and selling, were usually distinguished by particular marks. See vol. ii. p. 42. Mr. Steevens had one of them in his possession, dated 1562, and another, but of a more recent period, is mentioned by Aubrey, with similar advantages. There is some well meant ridicule of this practice in a curious old pamphlet called the Owles Almanack, in which every day of the month has its appropriate for. tune annexed to it.