>♦' ^^v ^^. ,0 VS - ^....>:S«7,^,» 0^ e'V'-V -^O '^ A^ ^^^c,"^' .^^ (V ft o " « <» "^ -i^ ^^^■\ ^%^- ^^'V \1K- /% ''^W.'/\ • • * .\ ^^ %r^o* o^-' ^OV" ^^'\ ^-^^^' «^ * o « ' .^^ & /. . -^, vO^ *' :. '^^0^ : .^^\ v;T* V^ 'bV" O M O •" .■^* o « a . -^o -•.-:^'\/ 'o^*^-'*/ v-'^'s/ V*^"^''/ •^ot? ■^^^o^" V / %-^"'/ v^^*y v^^'V f \ '--^S ^^^"% WW.' < "•^Ao^" :", •'f. v-^^ -v/^C,- •^ A^ ♦! ^'•^--.\ co^ca:^°o .<-^:^\ .P^.-^.,'-c -AO^ o_ * .^^^ •^0^ o_ ^ -^0^ , ' • « O , VI .E STUDIES IN ENGLISH ALBERT S. COOK, Editor XLVII THE MAGNETIC LADY OR HUMORS RECONCILED BY BEN JONSON Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary BY HARVEY WHITEFIELD PECK, Ph.D. Instructor iii..^gllah in the University of Texas. A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy NEW YORK HENRY F /D COMPANY PR ^6 YALE STUDIES IN ENGLISH ALBERT S. COOK, Editor XLVII THE MAGNETIC LADY OR HUMORS RECONCILED BY BEN JONSON Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary BY HARVEY WHITEFIELD PECK, Ph.D. Instructor In English in tlie University of Texas. A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1914 Gift MAR 30 m\ WEIMAR : PRINTED BY R.WAGNER SOHN. C7^ PREFACE For assistance of various kinds in the editing of this play my hearty thanks are due to the following men : to Professor J. M. Berdan of Yale for the generous loan of his volume, which contains a copy of the first edition of The Magnetic Lady ; to Professor Charles P. Sherman of the Yale Law School for the explanation of a difficult point ; to Mr. Andrew Keogh, Mr, Henry R. Gruener, and Mr. George A. Johnson for bibliographical aid ; to Pro- fessor Brooke for valuable criticism ; and especially to my teacher, Professor Cook, for constant inspiration and criticism. A portion of the expence of printing this thesis has been borne by the English Club of Yale University, from funds placed at its disposal by the generosity of Mr. George E. Dimock, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1874. H. W. P. Yale University, May I, 1913. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION A. Editions of the Text I. The Folio of 1640 . II. Subsequent Editions . B. Date and Reception of the Play C. Allegory in The Magnetic Lady D. The Satire .... I. Specific Objects of Satire II. Satire of Types or Classes III. Prototypes of the Characters in Jonson's Earlier Plays E. Sources I. Chaucer .... II. Greek Philosophy III. Other Classical Borrowings IV. Jonson's Earlier Plays V. Relation of The Magnetic Lady to Eliza- bethan and Jacobean Satire and the Sa- tiric Drama F. Extracts from the Critics G. Critical Estimate TEXT EXPLANATORY NOTES GLOSSARY .... BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX sj PAGE vii vii viii viii X xii xii \/ xiii*' xviii J XX XX xxi xxiii xxiii y XXIV xxvii xxxiii 1 109 206 226 230 INTRODUCTION A. Editions of the Text I. THE FOLIO OF 1640 The Magnetic Lady was first published in the second volume of the 1640 folio of Jonson's collected works. The play reappears in all subsequent collected editions. These are : (i) the third folio, 1692 ; (2) a bookseller's edition, 1716 (1717) ; (3) Whalley's edition, 1756 ; (4) John Stockdale's reprint of Whalley's edition (together with the works of Beaumont and Fletcher), 1811 ; (5) Gil- ford's edition, 1816 ; (6) Barry Cornwall's one-volume edition, 1838 ; (7) Lieut. Col. Francis Cimningham's three-volume reissue (with some minor variations) of Gif ford's edition, 1871 ; (8) another reissue by Cunning- ham, in nine volumes (with additional notes), 1875. The catalogue of the British Museum shows that Jonson's works were printed in two volumes at Dublin in 1729. Of these editions, the original of 1640 is the only one calling for a detailed description ; and of the others only the first, second, third, fifth, and eighth will be dis- cussed. As this play was published after the death of the author, we cannot expect to find that it underwent any degree of correction in the course of printing off. The two copies of the original folio which I have collated — one belonging to Professor J. M. Berdan, the other found in the Yale University Library — are almost identical. There are only two variations in the form of words (which are recorded in the variants to the text), and about a dozen minor differences in punctuation. viii Introduction II. SUBSEQUENT EDITIONS The inaccuracies of the 1640 foho were gradually eHminated in the subsequent editions. The edition of 1692 corrected some of the most obvious errors. It also attempted, not very consistently, to modernize punctua- tion, spelling, and capitalization. The edition of 1716 made several emendations of value, but introduced new errors. It made a further attempt to modernize spelling and punctuation. The designation of the act, which in earlier editions appears at the beginning of each scene, is omitted except at the beginning of the act. Whalley's edition of 1756 is the first attempt at a critical text. It made several valuable emendations, re-arranged or made insertions in verses for better metrical effect, and in- dicated a change of speaker which was unnoticed in earlier editions. It stiU further modernized capitali- zation and spelling, and replaced elided vowels. Gil- ford's edition is the nearest approach to a critical text. His chief contribution was the addition of stage-di- rections and side-notes. He reduced the number of scenes, making each one represent an actual change of place rather than a single situation. He also re-arranged verses for metrical effect. A number of the changes, however, are of questionable value ; and his habit of spelling out elisions does violence, in some cases, to the metre. For a detailed discussion of these various editions of Jonson's works, see W. S. Johnson's edition of The Devil is an Ass, Introduction, pp. xiv— xvii. B. Date and Reception of the Play The Magnetic Lady was acted by the King's Majesty's Servants at the Blackfriars Theatre. The license for performing it, which was quoted by Malone from the Date and Reception of the Play ix Register of Sir H. Herbert, bears the date of 12th Oc- tober, 1632. The following item is copied from Fleay (p. 336) : 1632. Oct. 12. — (For the King's men) £2 ' received of Knight (the Blackfriars bookkeeper) for allowing of Ben Jonson's play called Humours Reconciled or The Magnetic Lady to be acted.' It would seem, from a passage in a letter to Jonson by- James Howell, dated 27th Jan., 1629, that the play had already been written and acted; but the discrepancy is accounted for by Oldys. ' He tells us, in his manuscript notes to Langbaine, that Howell first published his letters without any dates, and that when he attempted to sub- join them in his subsequent editions, he confounded the time : " hence," says he, " so many errors in their dates." '^ ' The time of the completion of the Magnetic Lady is fixed by the following sentence in a letter from John Pory to Sir Thomas Puckering, dated Sept. 20, 1632—" Ben Jonson (who I thought had been dead) hath written a play against next term called the Magnetick Lady." '^ As to the reception of the play, Langbaine wrote (be- fore 1 691) : ' This play is generally esteemed an excellent play : tho' in those days it found some enemies.'* Alex- ander Gill's satire, Uppon Ben Johnson's Magnetick Ladye^ shows who some of these enemies were : Nathaniel Butter, Inigo Jones, Richard Allestree, and the writer, Gill. Jonson's quarrel with Inigo Jones began (1630—31) a short time before the composition of this play. He satirized Jones as Vitruvius Hoop, as In-and-in Med- lay in a Tale of a Tub, and as Coronal Vitruvius in the Entertainment to the King and Queen at Bolsover on July 30, 1634. In The Magnetic Lady, although asserting ^ Gifford, Works of Ben Jonson 6. 2. 2 Collier, Annals of the Stage 2. 43—4. * Langbaine, Account of the English Dramatick Poets. * Gifford, Works 6. 113— 6. X Introduction that ' a play, though it apparell and present vices in general, flies from all particularities in persons,' Jonson made satiric allusions to AUestree and Butter, and prob- ably also to Gill (4. 2. 34; 3.5.139, and note). Fleay conjectures 1 that Damplay, who in the Induction derives Magnetic from Magnus, and who cites Vitruvius pedanti- cally, is Inigo Jones. It would be interesting to know whether the king or queen ever saw The Magnetic Lady acted. The absence of any reference to it in The Account 0/ the Revels ^ argues against a presentation at court. However, the king was a liberal patron of the drama, and might have seen this play at the Blackfriars.^ At any rate, Jonson 's expression of deference and gratitude (i. Ch. 48), and the Epilogue to the King, make it probable that he expected a royal auditor. C. Allegory in The Magnetic Lady The element of allegory in The Magnetic Lady is slight. The play, as a whole, is a humor-comedy, satirizing under typical figures pronounced follies of the time. But Jon- son does not keep consistently to his main satiric purpose, occasionally introducing a thrust at a personal enemy, or deviating into the obscure regions of allegory. This ele- ment, however, has no organic function in the play : it is sporadic and trivial ; and what in some cases seems a touch of allegory is nothing more than a pun on the name of a character. The three personages in the play who may be considered allegorical are Lady Loadstone, Captain ^^^^ Ironside, and Compass. In Woodbridge's Studies in Jon- 1 B. Chron. i. 386. 2 Fleay, History of the Stage, p. 318. ^ H. B. Baker, The London Stage, p. 28. Allegory in the Magnetic Lady xi son's Comedy (p. 37), there is the following observation : * In The Magnetic Lady . . . Lady Loadstone's powers of attraction are continually alluded to, though with no apparent reason unless it be perhaps the sound of her name, and at the end she is married to Captain Ironside, presumably because magnet attracts iron.' But this statement, I think, reverses the process which Jonson would more naturally have followed — that of adapting the name to the character and the plot, rather than the reverse. And reflection upon the nature of allegory inclines me to the opinion that these personages should not be classified under that type. Allegorical characters are personifications of a single, abstract quality ; but these are typical characters, each with a predominant trait. Lady Loadstone is the rich and gracious hostess to whose hospitaJity is added the attraction of a wealthy and marriageable niece ; Compass is the astute observer and critic, the scholar with a satiric bent ; and the typical soldier swaggers in the person of Captain Ironside. In one passage, however. Lady Loadstone and Compass are mentioned as if they were merely symbolic personifica- tions : As Doctor Ridley writ, and Doctor Barlow ? They both have wrote of you and Mr. Compasse. (i. 4. 5; see note) Again, in Act 5, scene 5, Alderman Parrot's widow is described in such terms that one is doubtful as to whether the subject of conversation is a gentlewoman or a parrot. With the exception of these passages, the seemingly allegorical touches in the play may rather be explained as puns on the names which suggest the pre- dominant traits of typical characters than as genuine personifications. The marriage of Lady Loadstone and Ironside is a natural result of the situation ; rather hastily executed, to be sure, but not more so than the union of xii Introduction Oliver and Celia m. As You Like It ; and as justifiable, at least, as the marriage of Vincentio and Isabella in Measure for Measure. The allegory in The Magnetic Lady is much less extensive and important than that in The Staple of News. The quasi-allegorical passages are the product of Jonson's ingenuity, and belong to the same species of mental dexterity as his habit of punning, and his use of words with an ambiguous meaning or humorous connotation. D. The Satire L SPECIFIC OBJECTS OF SATIRE In The Magnetic Lady, Jonson, as he explains in the Induction (lines 86—97), is making a summary of his satiric humor-studies : he brings together ' a diversity of guests, aU persons of different humors to make up his peri- meter.' The result is not emphasis upon the satire of one or a few specific types or customs, but a more scattering and cursory treatment of many. Since the play lacks the unifying force of a central satiric motive, such as is ex- hibited in Volpone and The Alchemist, we cannot expect it to possess their dramatic power ; but to one who has made a study of Jonson's earlier works, the play is rich in literary allusion. In addition to his satire of representative types of folly or affectation, Jonson attacks various customs and super- stitions. He makes thrusts at astrology (2. 2. 50 ; 5. ID. 14), the predictions of almanacs (4. 2. 25), and monopolies (i. 7. 74 ; 5. 3. 12). In this byplay he merely echoes work done more thoroughly in The Alchemist and The Devil is an Ass. The conflict of the humors of the captain and the courtier gives opportunity for an elabo- rate satire upon the duello, and in the last act he attacks the popular belief in demoniac possession, a phase of the The Satire xiii witchcraft-superstition. The exposure of this supersti- tion of demoniac possession in Act 5 is a much abridged parallel to the satire upon the belief in alchemy in The Alchemist. It is involved with satire upon the doctor's pretended powers of exorcism, and upon the popular belief in birds of omen. As the topic of the duello, and Jonson's satirical comments upon it, are discussed with some fulness in the notes (3. 3. 44; 3. 5. 21, 26), it is not necessary to deal with it further at this point. The satire upon the belief in demoniac possession and other allied objects of Jonson's humor and ridicule is also dis- cussed in the notes (5. 5. 8). The vogue of dueling and the belief in witchcraft were both elaborately satirized in The Devil is an Ass; and are discussed in their histori- cal relations in Johnson's edition of this play (Introduc- tion, pp. liv— Iviii, Ixii— Ixv). 11. SATIRE OF TYPES OR CLASSES Before discussing the satire of types or classes, it may be well to classify the characters of the play. A survey of the group suggets the following division : (i) sympa- thetic characters; (2) humor-types not treated satirically; (3) minor characters ; and (4) satirized characters. In addition to these four main groups may be mentioned a fifth, the personages of the chorus — Probee, Damplay, and Boy of the House — who discuss questions of critical and theatrical interest that have a bearing upon the play. The one sympathetic person of the play is Compass. He is the chorus or ideal commentator ; his function is to expose and explain the follies of the other characters. Gifford remarks that he is the mouthpiece of Jonson ; and there certainly are strong points of resemblance between this character and the dramatist himself. His ideas and xiv Introduction sentiments are in harmony with those which Jonson ex- pressed in the Underwoods and Discoveries, and enforced dramatically through the speeches of Crites and Horace. His mental characteristics are also those of Jonson — keen observation, extensive knowledge, unerring insight into character, freedom from contemporary super- stitions. Like the dramatist, he is a scholar, and has been a soldier. If one is looking for autobiographical material in Jonson's plays, he may well be considered together with Horace, Crites, and Macilente. In the second group, the humor-types not treated sa- tirically, belong Captain Ironside and the midwife. Chair. The captain is the typical soldier and man of ac- tion — independent, void of ceremony, intolerant of affec- tation and caprice. Although sudden and quick in quarrel, he is without deep grudge or resentment, and ready to do another a good turn. He is a hasty and suc- cessful wooer. The midwife is a type pretty thoroughly individualized. She is coarse and morally obtuse, but has the attractive qualities of good nature, and healthy optimism. The forcefulness of her personality is shown indirectly in the success with which she composes the quarrel between Polish and Keep. In the third group, the minor characters or mere agents of the plot, belong Lady Loadstone, Placentia, Pleasance, Keep, Needle, and Item. The satirized characters, or main group, include Palate, the clergjonan ; Rut, the physician ; Silkworm, the courtier ; Practice, the lawyer ; Interest, the usurer ; Bias, the intriguing politician ; and Polish, whose character is sufficiently complex to require separate treatment. In satirizing these personages, Jonson is repeating work that he has done before. He is beyond doubt the greatest English satiric dramatist, and in his epigrams he took a high rank in satiric character-writing. The success of Jonson The Satire xv as a satiric dramatist is probably due in large part to the happy union of the man and the time. He possessed a strong intellectual endowment and sturdy common sense. His temper was serious and self-conscious. From his study of classical literature he acquired a reverence for form and for the rational element, and a fund of critical precepts. And he began to write at a time when the vogue of EHzabethan romantic literature was beginning to pass. Shakespeare's later comedies, which were contemporary with Jonson's Every Man in His Humor, were becoming increasingly serious in tone ; and a few years later he gave up for a time the production of romantic comedy, and devoted himself to the highest form of realism, tragedy. The decade from 1600 to 1610 was the most serious period of the national drama. The literary fashions and social culture introduced from Italy, though bearing excellent fruit with Sidney, Marlowe, Greene, Shakespeare, and others, had developed on the social side into affectation, extravagance, and vice. The death of Elizabeth removed a great national unifying and uplifting force ; and the cor- rupt court of James reduced to further disillusionment the idealistic temper of the preceding decade. The appeal of the drama at length became narrower, and the Puritan movement increasingly drew away the middle-class ele- ment from the theatres. The audience, it is probable, became composed mainly of the rabble and the courtiers ; and when, in the following decade, the reahstic drama was less in vogue, the coarse tragi-comedies of intrigue by Beaumont and Fletcher and their successors held the chief place on the stage. But Jonson, with the exception of the years when he was busy on the masques, persisted in the composition of realistic and satiric plays. While the majority of the dramatists were writing plays of adven- ture and intrigue with a foreign setting, he continued to satirize the follies of the time. The characters of The xvi Introduction Magnetic Lady, then, are not new ; they are the types found in Jonson's earlier plays, his epigrams, and the satires of the character-books — the courtier, the doctor, the prelate, the usurer, the lawyer. It would be interesting to consider just how much social justification there was for Jonson's satire ; to make allowance for the selection and emphasis of a negative and unsympathetic temper, and for the exaggeration due to the influence of the classics and the acceptance of the role of satirist. After reading Professor Ward's Some Political and Social Aspects of the Later Elizabethan and Earlier Stewart Period,^ one is inclined to believe that Jonson has overemphasized the objectionable features in the life of the times ; but any attempt at an exact estimate is beyond the purpose of this work. Since Jonson was satirizing the life of the court and the capital, and the court, especially during the reign of James, was notoriously corrupt, the satire may be considered a fairly accurate transcript of facts, even if a large part of the nation was morally and socially sound. Among the characters satirized, especial mention should be made of Polish. She and the midwife are the original creations of the play. In fact, Polish is portrayed as an individual character rather than a type. In one of Gif ford's notes ^ he makes the following observation : ' How little Jonson is known to the dramatic critics may be collected from the silence which they aU observe respecting the character of Mrs. Polish, the most perfect representation of a gossiping " toad-eater " that the Eng- lish stage can boast. Supple, voluble, and abounding in anecdote, she wins her way to confidence, betrays her trust, insults the agents of her guilt in the madness of security, and when discovered, in spite of the readiness 1 Cambridge History of English Literature, Vol. 5, chap. 14. 2 Wks. 6. no— II. The Satire xvii of her subterfuges, assumes the most frontless hardihood, and without a touch of penitence for her crime, gaily proceeds to anticipate the reward of her treachery.' Castelain ^ calls Polish the one interesting character of the play. But there is, I think, another important trait of Polish's character which has escaped the notice of the critics, her Puritanism. This may be illustrated by quot- ing a few passages from her speeches : And then the Persians were our Puritanes. (i. 5. 18) She was both witty and zealous, And hghted all the Tinder o' the truth, As one said, of Religion, in our Parish, (i. 5. 33—5) When Chair, the midwife, composes the quarrel between Keepe and Polish, which the latter fears wiU result in the disclosure of her plot, she exclaims (4. 7. 11) : ' Blest be the Peace maker.' Also, before this, when the nurse in anger threatens to divulge the secret, Polish exclaims : Didst thou not sweare To keep it secret ? and upon what booke ? I do remember now. The Practice of Piety. (4. 4. 37) Almost as significant as evidences of the assumed religious character of Polish are the following : i. 4. 34 ; i. 4. 62 ; 2. 2. 2. This Puritanic strain in her character has prob- ably been unnoticed because it is only one trait of several which are prominent. She is a toady, a ' stroaker,' a fa-^ning flatterer. Her loquacity is irrepressible. Her per- sonal ambition overrides all moral principle or respect for others. She has an active mind — is naturally clever. Moreover, she speaks the language and assumes the char- acter of the devout Puritan of the time. Besides creating an individual character, then, Jonson is repeating his satire of the Puritans : Polish belongs in the list with Ananias and Tribulation Wholesome of The Alchemist, ^ Ben Jonson, p. 442. xviii Introduction Zeal-of-the land Busy and Dame Purecraft of Bartholo- mew Fair, and the ' surly shepherds ' of The Sad Shepherd. But the Puritanism of Polish is not so pronounced as theirs ; she is an individual in whom an assumed Puri- tanism is one of a number of co-ordinate characteristics. A type, of course, is more simple : it is a personality with one predominant trait, or with one trait especially em- phasized by the fact that it motivates a series of events. Ananias, Tribulation Wholesome, Busy, and Dame Pure- craft are simply obvious types of the Puritan, as Jonson saw him. Although the satire upon the Puritans, or upon religious hypocrites in general, which Jonson made in creating the character of Polish, is not so obvious as this earlier satire, it is an important element in the play ; in portraying her, he re-echoed work already done, as well as produced a striking dramatic personality. III. PROTOTYPES OF THE CHARACTERS IN JONSON'S EARLIER PLAYS It is easy to discover likenesses between most of the characters of this play and those of Jonson's earlier comedies, but a closer comparison will detect equally striking differences. Professor Ward observed, in com- menting upon Jonson's characterization ^ : ' His characters are never more original than when they at first sight appear to resemble other characters, either created by himself or his contemporaries. If instead of pointing out where Jonson's characters . . . resemble Shakespeare's, a languid criticism would condescend to enquire where they differ from their supposed prototypes, a beginning would have been made towards an appreciation of his supreme merits. To label Jonson's characters as a mere series of types of general ideas is to shut one's eyes to 1 Hist, of Eng. Dram. Lit. II. 402. The Satire xix the nicety with which they are distinguished from others to which they have a superficial hkeness.' In the following comparisons, I am merely noting type- resemblances, or isolated likenesses, and am ignoring the individuality and realism of the characters which make them vivid and interesting. Compass recalls Macilente-Asper, of Every Man Out; Crites, of Cynthia's Revels ; and Horace, of The Poetaster. In his character of expositor, he belongs to the same class as these, and also to that of Carlo Buffone, in Every Man Out ; Truewit, Dauphine, and Clerimont, in The Silent Woman ; Volpone, Mosca, and Sir Politic Would-be, in The Fox ; and Arruntius, in Sejanus. Ironside is similar in some respects to Kastrill, of The Alchemist. He is the last of a list of captains or ' boys of the sword,' the literary descendants, or at least analogues, of Plautus' Miles Gloriosus ^ ; but, unlike them, he is a humor-study not drawn satirically ; he is a boisterous, but likable, character, and in the end is rewarded with the hand of the rich widow. Palate, in his character of glutton, recalls Jonson's supreme portrayal of the type in Sir Epicure Mammon, of The Alchemist. For the rest, he is the unlearned and worldly pastor, resembling Chaucer's Friar. Dr. Rut, in his charac- ter as the sensual, unprincipled, and superstitious physi- cian, is a much more forcible representative of the type than Almanac, of The Staple of News. Silkworm belongs with Fastidious Brisk, of Every Man Out, and Hedon, of Cynthia's Revels. As a boastful but timorous duelist he reminds one of Bobadill and Master Stephen, of Every Man In ; Shift, of Every Man Out ; Tucca, of The Poetaster ; Sir John Daw and Sir Amorous La-Foole, of The Silent Woman ; and Sir Glorious Tipto, of The New Inn. Prac- tice, as a type of the ambitious lawyer, is less objectionable 1 Reinhardstoettner, Spdtere Bearbeitungen Plautinischer Lusi- spiele, pp. 8i, 103. b2 A XX Introduction than Voltore, of The Fox, Sir Paul Eitherside, of The Devil is an Ass, and Picklock, of The Staple of News. Interest, as the typical usurer, or, in a broader sense, the typical miser, belongs with Sordido, of Every Man Out, Volpone and his expectant heirs, of The Fox, and Penny- boy, the usurer, of The Staple of News. Polish, as I have already noted, has an important trait in common with Ananias and Tribulation Wholesome, of The Alchemist, and Zeal-of-the-land Busy and Dame Purecraft, of Bartholomew Fair. Pleasance belongs to the same class of pleasant, but dependent and rather characterless women as Dame Pliant, of The Alchemist, Win Littlewit, of Bartholomew Fair, and Mrs. Fitzdottrell, of The Devil is an Ass. Finally Placentia, in her character of an heiress whose wealth attracts suitors, is similar to Pecunia, of The Staple of News. E. Sources I. CHAUCER As Ballman has pointed out,^ Jonson is largely in- debted to Chaucer for the characterization of Parson Pal- ate and Doctor Rut, the prototypes of these characters being the friar and the physician of The Canterbury Tales. Jonson also paraphrases a passage from The Canterbury Tales (3. 4. 22—6), and imitates Chaucer's rhyme and phrase in four other passages (i. i. Sy ; i. 2. 39 ; i. 2. 42 ; and I. 6. 14). There is also another couplet, unnoticed by Ballman, in which Jonson seems to repeat Chaucer's thought and poetic form (i. 2. 27). Of this indebtedness it is not necessary to speak further at this point, as it is considered in the explanatory notes. * Chaucer's Einfluss auf das Englische Drama (Strassburg, 1902), pp. 24-5. Sources xxi II. GREEK PHILOSOPHY In the discussion of valor in Act 3, scene 5, Jonson re- peats thoughts expressed in the speech of Lovel in Act 4, scene 4 of The New Inn. As the source of this speech has been investigated by Dr. Tennant in his edition of The New Inn, I shall merely indicate his conclusions. The parallel passages of The Magnetic Lady and The New Inn are as follows : M. L. 3.5.83—96. Pra. I think a cup of generous wine were better, Then fighting i' your shirts. Dia. Sir, Sir, my valour. It is a valour of another nature. Then to be mended by a cup of wine. Com. I should be glad to heare of any valours. Differing in kind; who have knowne hitherto. Only one vertue, they call Fortitude, Worthy the narae of valour. Iro. Which, who hath not. Is justly thought a Coward: And he is such. Dia. O, you ha' read the Play there, the New Inne, Of lonsons, that decries all other valour But what is for the publike. Iro. I doe that too. But did not learne it there; I thinke no valour Lies for a private cause. 3. 5. Ill— 14. Dia. ... I doe know all kinds Of doing the busines, which the Towne cals valour. Com. . . . Your first ? Dia. Is a rash head-long unexperience. N. J. 4. 4. 39—48. It is the greatest vertue, and the safety Of all mankinde, the obiect of it is danger. A certaine meane 'twixt feare, and confidence : No inconsiderate rashnesse, or vaine appetite Of false encountring formidable things ; But a true science of distinguishing What's good or evill. It springs out of reason. And tends to perfect honesty, the scope Is alwayes honour, and the pubUque good : It is no valour for a priuate cause. M. L. 3. 5. 118— 19. Dia. The next, an indiscreet Presumption, grounded upon often scapes. xxii Introduction N. I. 4. 4. 206—7. So he is valiant. That yeelds not unto wrongs ; not he that scapes 'hem. M. L. 3. 5. 124—7. Com. . . . Your third ? Dia. Is nought but an excesse of choUer, That raignes in testy old men — . Com. Noble mens Porters And selfe conceited Poets. Dia. And is rather A peevishnesse, then any part of valour. N. I. 4. 4. 64—6. Lov. ... I never thought an angry person valiant: Vertue is never ayded by a vice. 4. 4. 74—7. Lov. No man is valianter by being angry. But he that could not valiant be without : So, that it comes not in the aid of vertue. But in the stead of it. M. L. 3. 5. 150— I. Dia. But mine is a Judicial resolving. Or liberall undertaking of a danger — . N. I. 4. 4. 126—9. Lov. A valiant man Ought not to undergoe, or tempt a danger, But worthily, and by selected waves: He undertakes with reason, not by chance. M. L. 3. 5. 180—4. P''''^- But there's a Christian valour, 'hove these too. Bia. Which is a quiet patient toleration. Of whatsoever the malitious world With Injury doth unto you ; and consists In passion, more than action, Sir Diaphanous. N. I. 4. 4. 130—9. Lov. His valour is the salt to his other vertues. They are unseason'd without it. The waiting maids. Or the concomitants of it, are his patience, His magnanimity, his confidence, His constancy, security, and quiet ; He can assure himselfe against all rumour ! Despaires of nothing ! laughs at contumelies ! As knowing himselfe, advanced in a height Where injury cannot reach him, nor aspersion Touch him with foyle ! These parallels, as well as the reference to The New Inn, show that Jonson had in mind Lovel's oration on Sources xxiii valor when writing this scene of The Magnetic Lady. The difference between the two situations as a whole is that the speech of Lovel is declamatory, and expresses a noble idealism, while the discussion in this play, since it is participated in by several speakers, is more dramatic — is humorous and satiric, as well as reflective. The serious, reflective element is almost identical with that in The New Inn, which has been traced by Dr. Tennant to the third book of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.^ Tennant also points out that the same ideas may be found in Plato's Protagoras and Laches. III. OTHER CLASSICAL BORROWINGS Jonson's debt to other classical authors is small in The Magnetic Lady. His classical borrowings, most of which were pointed out in a general way by Gifford, are recorded in the notes. These borrowings are all confined to brief passages. Counting references to characters of Latin literature, as well as quotations and allusions, the authors and the number of references to each are as follows : Plautus, 5 ; Terence, 4 ; Horace, 3 ; Juvenal, 2 ; Cicero, 2 ; Aristophanes, i ; Martial, i ; and Claudian, i. The in- fluence of Horace is more apparent in the critical ideas which Jonson expounds in the choruses, but these are so thoroughly assimilated as to preclude literary al- lusion. IV. JONSON'S EARLIER PLAYS The chief source upon which Jonson drew in writing The Magnetic Lady was material treated in his earlier plays. His general indebtedness to these has been indi- cated in the remarks on the prototypes of the characters. At the time of writing this play he was bedridden ; had lost * Edition of The New Inn, Introduction, pp. xlix— Ivi. xxiv Introduction that touch with contemporary affairs that might have furnished him with new material ; and was dependent upon his imagination, working over the materials afforded by his memory. Jonson's detailed indebtedness to his earlier plays, the allusions, and the repetitions of phrases and ideas, are carefully considered in the explanatory notes. V. THE RELATION OF THE MAGNETIC LADY TO ELIZABETHAN AND JACOBEAN SATIRE AND THE SATIRIC DRAMA Although Jonson was the first great English satirist to select the drama as the vehicle for his invective, he had a formidable list of predecessors and contemporaries in satiric character-drawing. We are accustomed to consider the age of Elizabeth as one of the characteristic eras of Romanticism, and predominantly it was ; but a nearer approach will also discover its great complexity. Gas- coigne wrote The Steele Glas as early as 1576. Formal satire came distinctly into fashion in the last decade of the sixteenth century : Alden has discussed a list of satirists who wrote between 1593 and 1600.^ — Donne, Lodge, Hall, Marston, Guilpin, T. M., the author of Micro-Cynicon, Turner, and Rowlands. After this period formal satire declined, until in 1613 it revived, and flou- rished for another decade. ^ This temporary blank is probably due, as Alden believes, partly to the efforts of the authorities to suppress satirical literature, and partly to the rise of the satirical drama. In the drama, the last decade of the sixteenth century was distinctly an age of Romanticism, but by 1600 a 1 The Rise of Formal Satire in England under Classical Influence. 2 Alden, pp. 238—9. Sources xxv change became apparent. The exuberance of imagina- tion began to dechne, and the national temper seems to have grown more serious and reflective. This is evidenced in part by the rise of Puritanism. So, too, it is exhibited in the drama. Most of the plays from 1600 to 1608 or 1609 were tragedies, or realistic or satiric comedies.^ Within these years Shakespeare wrote his great tragedies, and Jonson his best comedies. The decade may be called the serious period of the national drama. But after the retirement of Shakespeare, and the rise of the vogue of Beaumont and Fletcher, the influence of the drama narrowed. The better element of the middle class stayed away more and more ; and the audience, as described in the inductions to Bartholomew Fair and The Magnetic Lady, seems to have consisted in large part of courtiers and people of fashion, and the rabble. From Bartholo- mew Fair to The Staple of News, Jonson was busy on the production of masques ; and when he again turned to the drama, his own powers had declined, and the form in which he chose to write had gone out of vogue. But in spite of his only partial success, he continued the tradition of the serious drama ; and while in the hands of others the Eng- lish stage had degenerated into a form of sensational enter- tainment, he exposed and satirized in comedy the same abuses that were attacked by the satirists and the Puritans. An enumeration of the objects of Jonson's satire in The Magnetic Lady will give an idea of its scope. Under the head of moral defects occur the following : avarice, usury, ambition, fortune-hunting, flattery, abuse of guardianship, hypocrisy, bribery, lust, gluttony, super- stition, affectation, slander, cowardice, stupidity. The fashions and institutions satirized are : extravagance in ^ Thorndike, The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher upon Shak- spere, chap. 6. xxvi Introduction clothes, belief in astrology, the monopoly-system, and the vogue of dueling. Some of these, of coiu-se, are merely touched upon. Among the classes satirized are the politician, the money-lender, the lawyer, the courtier, the physician, and the clergyman. The conventional character of the types and objects satirized in The Magnetic Lady may be seen by a cursory examination of the satiric character-drawing and satiric drama of the early seventeenth century. In the character- writing of Joseph Hall (1597— 1608), Sir Thomas Over- bury (1614), and John Earle (1628), we find portrayed characters that are obviously analogues to those in The Magnetic Lady — courtier, flatterer, soldier, tailor, Puritan, mere common lawyer, almanac-maker, hypo- crite, precisian, vain-glorious coward in command, roaring boy, domestic chaplain, witless gallant, mere dull physi- cian, alderman, idle gallant, she-precise-hypocritc, hand- some hostess, affected man, coward, sordid rich man, etc. Also in the drama, especially that of the first decade of the seventeenth century, are found the same general types of character satirized by Jonson. The works of Middleton, especially, furnish interesting parallels ; and the same types are found in Marston, Dekker, and the earlier work of Beaumont and Fletcher. By glancing through the list of dramatis personce of these plays, one can make out a long list of such personages : Lucre, a rich uncle ; Hoard ; Moneylove ; Glister, a doctor of physic ; Purge, an apothecary ; gallants ; Gallipot, an apothecary ; promoters ; midwife, nurses, Puritans, and other gossips ; Knavesby, a lawyer ; a land-captain ; a sea-captain ; Securitie, a usurer ; Bramble, a lawyer ; Morecraft, a usurer, etc., etc. This brief review, and the remarks on the prototypes of the characters, show the conventional character of Jon- son's satire. The customs and classes held up to ridicule Extracts from the Critics xxvii or moral reprobation in this, as well as his earlier comedies, are the regular objects of Elizabethan and Jacobean for- mal satire and the satiric drama. Jonson's distinction consists in vividness, convincingness, and consistency of character-portrayal ; in reflective comment, humor, dic- tion, literary allusion, and energy of treatment. While it is not the purpose of this work to consider how far Jon- son's satire is a realistic reflection of the times, I may re- mark in passing that it deals with some abuses which were of a purely temporary or transitory nature. A large pro- portion of the moral vices attacked — avarice, ambition, flattery, hypocrisy, lust, gluttony, cowardice, stupidity — are the universal evils of human nature ; but the office of state-informer, the extravagance of court- costume, the belief in astrology and alchemy, the mono- poly-system, the vogue of dueling, and the ignorance and worldliness of clergymen and physicians, were the peculiar evils of the time. Volpone is a type of avarice, one of the evil passions of human nature. Bobadill is a type of the disbanded soldier, living by his wits, who infested the capital at a certain period of its history. In other words, Jonson was both a classical satirist and an English realist. F. Extracts from the Critics Ward 1 : After The New Inn Jonson produced two further comedies, of which the earlier, The Magnetic Lady or Humours Reconciled, acted, as it would appear, under the latter title, in 1633, seems to have not been wholly unsuccessful. Yet in it we have in truth nothing more than the remnants of Ben Jonson — dry leaves from a nosegay of brighter days. The conception of the piece ^ Hist. Eng. Dram. Lit. 2. 377—8, xxviii Introduction is that of assembling a variety of characters, each disting- uished by its own ' humour,' round the centre supphed by the dramatic action ; but there is nothing magnetic about the lady except the money of her niece, and the humours of the characters in general are described rather than illustrated by the course of the play. In its execution the marks of old age are apparent. Gifford praises the character of Polish, the she-parasite of Lady Loadstone, as an unequalled dramatic picture of the ' gossiping toad- eater ' ; at all events, this personage is more vigorously drawn than the rest of the Intimes of the Magnetic Lady. The author's undertaking to ' reconcile ' the humours con- trasted with one another is indeed carried out in part, but very perfunctorily. Altogether the comedy is by no means devoid of ingenuity ; but on the other hand it can- not be pronounced free from coarseness. Swinburne ^ : The higher genius of Ben Jonson as a comic poet was yet once more to show itself in one brilliant flash of parting splendour before its approaching sunset. No other of his works would seem to have met with such all but universal neglect as The Magnetic Lady ; I do not remember to have ever seen it quoted or referred to, except once by Dryden, who in his Essay of Dramatic Poesy cites from it an example of narrative substituted for action, ' where one comes out from dinner, and relates the quarrels and discorders of it, to save the undecent appearance of them on the stage, and to abbreviate the story.' And yet any competent spectator of its opening scenes must have felt a keen satisfaction at the apparent revival of comic power and renewal of the dramatic instinct so lamentably enfeebled and eclipsed on the last occasion of a new play from the same hand. The first act is full of brilliant satirical description and humorous ana- lysis of humours : the commentator Compass, to whom ^ Study of Ben Jonson, pp. 81—3. Extracts from the Critics xxix we owe these masterly summaries of character, is an excellent counterpart of that ' reasonable man ' who so constantly reappears on the stage of Moliere to correct with his ridicule or control by his influence the extravagant or erratic tendencies of his associates. Very few examples of Jonson's grave and deliberate humour are finer than the ironical counsel given by Compass to the courtly fop whom he dissuades from challenging the soldier who has insulted him, on the ground that the soldier has killed so many As it is ten one to one his turn is next ; You never fought with any, less, slew any ; And therefore have the (fairer) hopes before you. The rest of the speech, with all that follows to the close of the scene, is no less ripe and rich in sedate and ingenious irony. There is no less admirable humour in the previous discourse of the usurer in praise of wealth — especially as being the only real test of a man's character : For, be he rich, he straight with evidence knows Whether he have any compassion Or inclination unto virtue, or no: Where the poor knave erroneously believes If he were rich he would build churches, or Do such mad things. Most of the characters are naturally and vigorously drawn in outline or in profile : Dame Polish is a figure well worthy the cordial and lavish commendation of Gifford : and the action is not only original and ingenious, but duiing the first four acts at any rate harmonious and amusing. The fifth act seems to me somewhat weaker ; but the interludes are full of spirit, good humour, and good sense, Aronstein ^ : Das ist die nicht gerade sehr erfreuliche Handlung, die, wenn auch nicht ohne ermiidende Langen * Ben Jonson, pp, 225—6. XXX Introduction und Episoden, doch wahrend der ersten vier Akte ziem- lich lebhaft fortschreitet, im fiinften Akte allerdings sich nur miihsam ihrem Ende zuschleppt. Die Charaktere sind zum Teil in der Anlage nicht iibel. Jonsons umfassende Menschenkenntnis und scharfe Be- obachtungsgabe verleugnen sich auch hier nicht. Gifford lobt nicht mit Unrecht den Charakter der Frau PoHsh, die er ,,die vollkommenste Darstellung einer geschwatzigen Schmarotzerin nennt, deren die enghsche Biihne sich riihmen kann." Swinburne sieht iiberhaupt in diesem Stiicke ein Wiederaufleben der komischen Kraft Ben Jonsons und findet besonders den Charakter des Compass sehr gelungen, den er ein ausgezeichnetes Gegenstiick zu dem Raisonneur bei Mohere nennt. In Wirkhchkeit fehlt alien diesen Charakteren, ob der Dichter sich nun auf dichterische Vorbilder stiitzt, wie in dem Arzt und Geistlichen, die Chaucers Frere und Physician in den Canterbury- Geschicht en nachgeahmt sind, oder ob er aus eigener Beobachtung schopft, die Frische, der Humor, das Leben. Das Skelett und die ausseren Umrisse sind scharf gesehen, aber die schopferische Phantasie vermag diesen nicht mehr Leben einzuhauchen. Nur die Reflexion und Satire, die lehrhafte Absichtlichkeit sind geblieben. So lost denn gerade dieses Stiick, dessen Bau den alten Theaterpraktiker und dessen scharfe und geistvolle Sprache den hochgebildeten, denkenden Dichter nicht verleugnen, bei dem Leser und Verehrer Jonsons mehr wie eins der friiheren traurig-pathetische Gefiihle aus. Die alte dramatische Kraft ist erloschen, und nur unter dem Zwange ausserer Not kehrt der alte und kranke Dichter zur Biihne zuriick, ohne doch etwas anderes als ein Zerr- bild seiner friiheren Leistungen vollbringen zu konnen. Castelain ^ : Ce qu'il faut encore louer dans cette comedie, comme dans celle qui precede, c'est la fagon ^ Ben Jonson, pp. 443—4. Extracts from the Critics xxxi dont elle est ecrite. Le style, qui garde quand il faut sa vigueur d'autrefois, s'est assoupli, semble-t-il, comme sous r influence aimable de Fletcher, en m^me temps que I'humeur du poete gagnait en douceur, en gaiete. On en pourra juger par les quelques portraits qui remplissent le premier acte ; nous citerons egalement un morceau plus considerable, quoique les grands discours soient assez peu nombreux dans cette piece et que I'auteur, avec un souci du mouvement dramatique qu'il n'a pas toujours montre, ait eu soin de les couper par de courtes repliques des interlocuteurs. C'est I'eloge de la richesse que fait Sir Moth, le vieil avare, devant Compass et quelques autres. Jonson a su renouveler ce lieu commun par d'heureux traits : celui des eglises est une vraie trouvaille ; il faudrait changer le mot suivant les siecles, mais il est d'application etemelle. On peut citer encore un autre morceau d'une facture non moins admirable et non moins jolie ; d'une portee moins generale, mais plein de details amusants. C'est Compass qui veut reconforter Sir Diaphanous, lequel hesite fort a se battre avec le terrible Ironside ; et il lui tient un beau discours, plein de raisons specieuses et inattendues. Sans doute, on ne saurait pretendre qu'il y ait dans cette scene toute la verve cocasse, toute la fantaisie verbale qu'y auraient mises Regnard ou Ban- ville ; mais il y a des traits qu'ils auraient voulu trouver, j'en suis sur, d'autres qu'ils n'auraient peut-etre pas inventes. Et si de pareils morceaux font exception dans I'oeuvre de Jonson, cela meme etait une raison pour les signaler. En somme, c'est encore a nos comedies du temps de Louis XIII que cette nouvelle piece fait surtout songer, L'action, un peu plus animee que dans la pre- cedente, n'y est pas encore tres mouvementee, si Ton fait abstraction des divers episodes du cinquieme acte ; et c'est precisement un des caracteres de notre comedie avant Moliere, comme chez lui du reste et apres lui, que xxxii Introduction rintrigue y soit reduite en general au strict necessaire. Cette intrigue, il est vrai, a un caractere assez vulgaire, comme il arrive souvent dans la comedie anglaise, alors et ton jours ; et Ton n'y verra pas ces galantes querelles d'amoureux qui font comme partie integrante de la comedie a la frangaise. Mais on y trouve d'amusantes peintures de moeurs, plus ou moins bien reliees a 1' action, et des morceaux de bravoure empreints d'une certaine verve spirituelle : ce sont la les merites accoutumes de notre ecole de 1630. Jonson a plus de force et moins d'elegance ; mais sa comedie semble taillee sur le m^me patron que les notres. Comme la plupart de celles-ci, ce n'est pas un chef-d'oeuvre ; elle est meme ennuyeuse d'ensemble, mais beaucoup de details en sont amusants ; on la lit avec un peu de peine, on la relit avec plaisir. En la comparant avec la precedente, nous serions plus embarrasses que M. Swinburne pour declarer notre preference : inegales toutes deux, elles sont tres differentes I'une de I'autre. Contentons-nous d'admirer une fois de plus chez le vieux Ben la variete du talent. Thorndike ^ : The Magnetick Lady : or Humors Re- conciVd attempted a continuation and conclusion of the series of comedies of humours begun thirty-five years before. A marriageable young niece of the magnetic lady is constituted the ' centre attractive, to draw thither a diversity of guests, all persons of different humours, to make up his (the author's) perimeter.' This plan is carried out in a half-hearted way, though with the usual elaborate attention to details, and explanatory inter- mezzos. But, while the acts conform to the laws of protasis, epitasis and catastasis, there is no life or wit. 1 ' Ben Jonson,' in The Cambrigde History of English Literature 6. 28-9. Critical Estimate xxxiii G. Critical Estimate In attempting a critical estimate of The Magnetic Lady, the first step might profitably be a classification. The drama in general one may divide rather abstractly into that which emphasizes plot, action, or events : that which stresses the delineation of character ; and that which subordinates these elements to dialogue. The drama which is concerned primarily with characterization may represent its characters through events, or through dia- logue, or through both. But as all significant dramatic literature has to do largely with problems of character- ization, we may consider exclusively these two classes — that which represents character mainly through action, and that which represents it chiefly through speech. Of these two classes. The Magnetic Lady belongs de- cidedly to the second. Anything in the nature of theat- rical sensation is suppressed, or is related by narrative. Thus in Act 3, the quarrels and disorders of the dinner are merely related ; the fainting of Placentia and of Sir Moth Interest take place off the stage ; and in Act 5, scene 10, the incident of the usurer's falling into the well is also narrated. The whole of Act i is taken up with exposition ; the only suggestion of a forward movement of events being the report that Placentia is ill. The Magnitic Lady, then, maybe classified as a comedy of which the subject-matter is contemporary life; the purpose, moral ; and the method followed, the re- presentation of character through speech. But while the species of comedy which portrays character through dialogue is recognized as a legitimate one, a too great tendency toward monologue and description of character is outside the scope of drama. In this respect, The Magnetic Lady is somewhat at fault. Three of the clev- erest passages of the play — Interest's long argument for xxxiv Introduction the virtue of wealth (Act 2, scene 6), Compass' speeches dissuading Silkworm from a duel (Act 3, scene 3), and the discussion of valor (Act 3, scene 5) — are in the form of monologues or of long speeches by one personage, interspersed with the comments of others. So, too, the characterization, especially in Act i, is in the form of description. Compass' speeches in this act are largely a series of character-sketches. He portrays the parson, the doctor, the soldier, the courtier, the lawyer, the usurer, and the politician. After the first act, when the action is under way, and there is interplay of character upon character and upon the central situation, the speeches are more properly dramatic. As a whole, however, the play is on the border between declamatory description of character and dramatic characterization. The characters as portrayed I have already considered. As a group they are the Jonsonian types, each person set forth with great distinctness of detail and clearness of outline. Excepting a few of Jonson's earlier creations — Bobadill, Volpone, Mosca, Subtle, Tucca, and Sir Epicure Mammon — I cannot see but that these are about as successful as the majority of the personages of his earlier plays. Polish is complex enough to be considered an individual ; and the midwife, Chair, is a type depicted with unusual vividness. But the play cannot be properly appreciated without a full comprehension of its wit and humor. And this element is the one which has so far received the least amount of critical notice. Fashions in social pleasantry and badinage are, of all expressions of intellectual life, probably, the most transitory. Types of character are universal, and actions are readily comprehensible, so that Shakespeare's tragedies still retain much of their former appeal ; but the euphuism of Lyly, the wit of Touchstone, and the smart social conversation of Con- Critical Estimate xxxv greve's Way of the World and Love for Love, are now mainly of historical interest. Punning, another form of wit which was very popular in the time of Jonson, is now considered beneath the interest of cultivated people. This element of intellectual byplay in The Magnetic Lady, though often coarse and trivial enough when judged by the standard of present taste, must have furnished an element of theatrical appeal to a Jacobean audience, and probably accounts in part for the not altogether unfavorable reception of the play. But not only have fashions in witty conversation gone out of vogue, but the language has also changed. A survey of the obsolete and archaic meanings in the glossary will explain why a large part of the witty observations are not apparent at the first reading. And Jonson's immense vocabulary, his habit of punning, and his general verbal ingenuity, make him more obscure to us than are his other contem- poraries. For illustrations of wit, punning, and inten- tional ambiguity, reference should be made to the explanatory notes. Yet the present rather low estimate of the play, al- though probably in part the result of the remoteness of the life represented, and the obscurity caused by the changes of language, is partly also due to inherent defects. The changes in manners and customs, in the whole outer civilization, which make against the present interest of the play, operate, of course, as effectively against the other plays of Jonson. But the lack of concentration upon one central satiric motive, such as is found in Volpone and The Alchemist, makes impossible any such summation of dramatic impression as is found in those plays. Then the vitality and intensity of style, mood, and handling that are found in the earlier master- pieces are not to be expected in the work of a bedridden poet. Perhaps, too, the fact that The Magnetic Lady xxxvi Introduction is one of the latest of Jonson's works, and was preceded by plays of much higher quality, has caused few scholars to put the time and study on the play which are necessary to a more favorable estimate. Certain of the characteristic qualities of Elizabethan drama — charm, idealism, and poetic atmosphere — are not found in this play ; but their absence is due to the nature of the type in which Jonson chose to work ; it no more makes against the excellence of a play in its kind than the absence of realism and satire makes mihtates the literary value of a romance. In summary, the play has its defects and its qualities. In its use of monologues and long speeches, and its sub- stitution of description for representation of character, it is dramatically defective ; but its clearness and con- sistency of character-portrayal, its wit, humor, satire, and sound morality may be considered as positive qua- lities. And these considerations should be carefully weighed before the play is dismissed as merely one of Jonson's ' dotages.' THE MAGNETIC LADY OR Humors Reconciled TEXT EDITOR'S NOTE The text here adopted is that of the original foHo edition of 1640. The particular impression adopted is that of a copy of the 1640 edition in the possession of Professor J. M. Berdan, of Yale University. An effort has been made to reproduce all the peculiarities of the original. Of the subsequent editions, only such variants have been noted as ma^^ be considered emendations, or otherwise significant. 1692 = The third folio, 1692. 1716 = Edition of 1716 (1717). W = Whalley's edition, 1756. G = Gifford's edition, 1816. 1640 Y = The copy of the 1640 folio in the Yale Uni- versity Library. SD = Stage-direction at the beginning of a scene, f = and all later editions. THE MAGNETICK LADY HVMORS RECONCILD. A COMEDYcompofed 'By Ben: Iohnson. Um lapides fms ardor agit ferrutmit tenetur , Jlkabris. Claud, dc Magnet* L ONDON, Printed M. CD. XL. THE SCENE, LONDON. The Lady Loadftone, Mrs. Polifh, Mrs. Placentia, Pleafance, Mrs. Keepe, Mother Chaire, Mr Compaffe, Captaine Ironfide, Parson Palate, Doctor Rut, Tim Item, Sir Diaph Silkworm, Mr. Pradife, Sir Moath Intereft, Mr. Bias, Mr. Needle, Perfons that act. The Magnetick Lady. Her Golfip, and fhe-Parafite. Her Neice. Her Waiting- woman. The Neices Nourfe. The Midwife. A Scholler, Mathematick. A Souldier. Prelate of the Parifh. Phyfician to the houfe. His Apothecary. A Courtier. A Lawyer. An Vlurer, or Money-baud. A Vi-poHtique, or Sub-fecretary. The Ladies Steward, and Taylor. C H O R V S by way of Induction. The Perjons that act.] Dramatis Personse. 1716, f Sir Diaph'] Sir Diaphanous W, f Captaine Ironjide, A Souldier] Captain Ironside, his brother, a soldier. G Servant to Moth, Serjeants, &c. G Chorus . . . Induction] The Chorus (Probee, Damplay, and Boy of the house) by way of Induction. G G changes order of dramatis personse, putting men first, women after. THE INDVCTION ; or, CHORUS. Two Gentlemen enfring upon the Stage. Mr. Probee and Mr- Damplay. A Boy of the houfe, meets them. Boy. What doe you lack, Gentlemen ? what is't you lack ? any fine Phanfies, Figures, Humors, Characters, Idaeas, Definitions of Lords, and Ladies ? Waiting- women, Parafites, Knights, Captaines, Courtiers, Law- yers ? what do you lack ? Pro. A pretty prompt Boy for the Poetique Shop. Dam. And a bold ! where's one o' your Mafters, Sirrah, the Poet ? Boy. Which of 'hem ? Sir wee have divers that drive that trade, now : Poets, Poet'accios, Poetafters, lo Poetito's — Dam. And all Haberdafhers of fmall wit, I pre- fume: wee would fpeake with the Poet o' the day. Boy. Boy. Sir, hee is not here. But, I have the dominion of the Shop, for this time, under him, and can fhew you 15 all the variety the Stage will afford for the prefent. Pro. Therein you will expreffe your owne good parts. Boy. Two . . . them.] The Stage. Enter Master Probee and Master Damplay, met by a Boy of the house. G 10 The Magnetic Lady [ind. Dam. And tye us two, to you, for the gentle office. 20 Pro. Wee are a paire of publique perfons (this Gentle- man, and my felfe) that are lent, thus coupled unto you upon ftate-bulines. Boy. It concernes but the ftate of the Stage I hope ! Dam. O, you fhall know that by degrees, Boy. No 25 man leaps into a bufines of ftate, without fourding firft the ftate of the bufines. Pro. Wee are fent unto you, indeed from the people. Boy. The people ! which fide of the people ? Dam. The Venifon fide, if you know it. Boy. 30 Boy. That's the left fide. I had rather they had beene the right. Pro. So they are. Not the Fceces, or grounds of your people, that fit in the oblique caves and wedges of your houfe, your finfull fixe-penny Mechanicks — 35 Dam. But the better, and braver fort of your people ! Plufh and Velvet-outfides ! that ftick your houfe round like fo many eminences — Boy. Of clothes, not underftandings ? They are at pawne. Well, I take these as a part of your people 40 though ; what bring you to me from thefe people ? Dam. You have heard. Boy, the ancient Poets had it in their purpofe, ftill to pleafe this people. Pro. I, their chief e aime was — Dam. Populo ut placerent : (if hee underftands fo 45 much.) Boy. Quas fecijjent fabulas.) I underftand that, fin' I learn'd Terence, i' the third forme at Westminfter : go on Sir. Pro. Now, thefe people have imployed us to you, in 5" all their names, to intreat an excellent Play from you. Dam. For they have had very meane ones, from this fhop of late, the Stage as you call it. Boy. Troth, Gentlemen, I have no wares, which I IND.] The Magnetic Lady ii daxe thruft upon the people with praife. But this, fuch as it is, I will venter with your people, your gay gallant ss people : lo as you, againe, will undertake for them, that they fhall know a good Play when they heare it ; and will have the conlcience, and ingenuity befide, to confelfe it. Proh. Wee'U palfe our words for that : you fhall have a brace of us to ingage our felves. 6° Boy. You'l tender your names. Gentlemen, to our booke then ? Dam. Yes, here's Mr. Probee ; A man of moft power- full fpeech, and parts to perfwade. Pro. And M"". Dampiay, will make good all he under- 65 takes. Boy. Good Mr. Probee, and Mr. Dampiay ! I like your fecurities : whence doe you write your felves ? Pro. Of London, Gentlemen : but Knights brothers, and Knights friends, I affure you. 70 Dam. And Knights fellow's too. Every Poet writes Squire now. Boy. You are good names ! very good men, both of you ! I accept you. Dam. And what is the Title of your Play, heie ? 75 The Magnetick Lady ? Boy. Yes, Sir, an attractive title the Author has given it. Pro. A Magnete, I warrant you. Dam. O, no, from Magnus, Magna, Magnum. so Boy. This Gentleman, hath found the true magni- tude — Dam. Of his portall, or entry to the worke, according to Vitruvius. Boy. Sir all our worke is done without a Portall— or 85 Vitruvius. In Foro, as a true Comcedy fhould bee. And what is conceald within, is brought out, and made prefent by report. 12 The Magnetic Lady [iND. Dam. Wee lee not that alwayes obferv'd, by your 90 Authors of these times : or Icarce any other. Boy. Where it is not at all knowne, how fhould it be obferv'd ? The moft of thofe your people call Authors, never dreamt of any Decorum, or what was proper in the Scene ; but grope at it, i' the darke, and feele, or fumble 95 for it ; I fpeake it, both with their leave, and the leave o' your people. Dam. But, why Humors reconcil'd ? I would faine know ? Boy. I can fatisfie you there, too : if you will. But, 100 perhaps you defire not to be fatisfied. Dam. No ? why fhould you conceive fo, Boy ? Boy. My conceit is not ripe, yet : He tell you that anon. The Author, beginning his ftudies of this kind, with every man in his Humour ; and after, every man out "s of his Humour ; and fince, continuing in all his Playes, efpecially those of the Comtek thred, whereof the New-Inne was the laft, fome recent humours ftill, or manners of men, that went along with the times, finding himfelfe now neare the clofe, or fhutting up of his Circle, hath phant'fied "° to himfelfe, in IdcBa, this Magnetick Miftris. A Lady a brave bountif ull Houfe-keeper, and a vertuous Widow : who having a young Neice, ripe for a man and marria- geable, hee makes that his Center attractive, to draw thither a diverfity of Guefts, all perfons of different "5 humours to make up his Perimiter. And this he hath call'd Humors reconcil'd. Pro. A bold undertaking! and farre greater, then the reconciliation of both Churches, the quarrell be- tweene humours having beene much the ancienter, and, 120 in my poore opinion, the root of all Schifme, and Faction, both in Church and Common-wealth. Boy. Such is the opinion of many wife men, that meet at this fhop ftill ; but how hee will fpeed in it, wee cannot IND.] The Magnetic Lady 13 tell, and hee himfelfe (it feems) leffe cares. For hee will not be intreated by us, to give it a Prologue. He has ^^s loft too much that way already, hee fayes. Hee will not woo the gentile ignorance To much. But careleffe of all vulgar cenfure, as not depending on common appro- bation, hee is confident it fhall fuper-pleafe judicious Spectators, and to them he leaves it to worke, with the ^30 reft by example, or otherwife. Dam. Hee may be deceived in that, Boy : Few follow examples now, efpecially, if they be good. Boy. The Play is ready to begin. Gentlemen, I tell you, left you might defraud the expectation of the ^35 people, for whom you are Delegates ! Pleafe you take a couple of Seates, and plant your felves, here, as neere my ftanding as you can : Fly everything (you fee) to the marke, and cenfure it ; freely. So, you interrupt not the Series, or thred of the Argument, to breake or mo pucker it, with unneceffary queftions. For, I muf t tell you, (not out of mine own Dicfamen, but the Authors) A good Play, is like a skeene of filke: which, if you take by the right end, you may wind off, at pleafure, on the bottome, or card of your difcourfe, in a tale, or fo ; how you will : ms But if you light on the wrong end, you will pull all into a knot, or elfe-lock ; which nothing but the fheers, or a candle will undoe, or feparate. Dam. Stay ! who be thefe, I pray you ? Boy. Becaufe it is your firft queftion, and (thefe 150 be the prime perfons) it would in civility require an anfwer : but I have heard the Poet affirme, that to be the moft unlucky Scene in a Play, which needs an Inter- preter ; efpecially, when the Auditory are awake : and fuch are you, hee prefumes. Ergo. 15s 130—1 and . . . otherwife] and to them he leaves it to work with the rest, by Example or otherwise. 1692, f B2 THE MAGNETICK LADY: or, HUMORS RECONCILED. Act L Scene L Compaffe, Ironfide. Om. Welcome good Captaine Ironfide, and brother ; C You fhall along with me, I'm lodg'd hard by. Here at a noble Ladies houfe i' th' ftreet, The Lady Loadstones (one will bid us welcome) Where there are Gentlewomen, and male Guefts, s Of feverall humors, cariage, conltitution. Profession too : but fo diametrall One to another, and fo much oppos'd, As if I can but hold them all together, And draw 'hem to a fufferance of themfelves, " But till the Diffolution of the Dinner ; I fhall have just occafion to beleeve My wit is magifteriall ; and our felves Take infinite deUght, i' the fucceffe. Iro. Troth, brother Compasse, you fhall pardon me ; 's I love not fo to multiply acquaintance At a meales coft, 'twill take off o' my freedome So much : or bind me to the leaft obfervance. i6 The Magnetic Lady [act i Com. Why Ironfide, you know I am a Scholler, 2° And part a Souldier ; I have beene imployed, By fome the greateft Statef-men o* the kmgdome, Thefe many yeares : and in my time convers'd With lundry humors, fuiting fo my lelfe To company, as honeft men, and knaves, 25 Good-fellowes, Hypocrites, all forts of people. Though never fo divided in themfelves, Have ftudied to agree ftill in the ufage. And handling of me (which hath been faire too). Iro. Sir I confeffe you to be one well read 3° In men, and manners ; and that, ufually, The moft ungovern'd perfons, you being prefent. Rather fubject themfelves unto your cenfure. Then give you leaft occafion of diftafte. By making you the fubject of their mirth : 35 But (to deale plainely with you, as a brother) When ever I diftruft i' my owne valour : He never beare me on anothers wit, Or offer to bring off, or fave my felfe On the opinion of your Judgement, gravitie, 4° Difcretion, or what elfe. But (being away) You' are fure to have leffe-wit-worke, gentle brother. My humour being as ftubborne, as the reft, And as unmannageable. Com. You doe miftake My Caract of your friendfhip, all this while ! 45 Or at what rate I reckon your affiftance Knowing by long experience, to fuch Animals, Halfe-hearted Creatures, as thefe are, your Foxe, there, Vnkenneld with a Cholerick, ghaftly afpect. Or two or three comminatory Termes, so Would run their feares to any hole of fhelter. Worth a dayes laughter ! I am for the fport : For nothing elfe. Iro. But, brother, I ha' feene A Coward, meeting with a man as valiant sc. l] The Magnetic Lady 17 As our St. George (not knowing him to be fuch, Or having leaft opinion that hee was fo) 55 Set to him roundly, I, and fwindge him foundly : And i' the vertue of that errour, having Once overcome, refolv'd for ever after To erre ; and thinke no perfon, nor no creature More vahant then himfelfe. Com. I thinke that too. ^o But, Brother, (could I over intreat you) I have fome httle plot upon the reft If you would be contented, to endure A Hiding reprehenfion, at my hands, To heare your felfe, or your profeffion glanc'd at 65 In a few fleighting termes : It would beget Me fuch a maine Authority, o' the by : And doe your felfe no dif -repute at all ! Iro. Compaffe, I know that univerfall caufes In nature produce nothing ; but as meeting 70 Particular caufes, to determine thofe. And fpecifie their acts. This is a piece Of Oxford Science, ftaies with me ere fince I left that place ; and I have often found The truth thereof, in my private paffions : 75 For I doe never feele my felfe perturb'd With any generall words 'gainft my profeffion, Vnleffe by fome fmart ftroke upon my felfe They doe awake, and ftirre me : Elfe, to wife And well experienc'd men, words doe but fignifie ; ^o They have no power ; fave with dull Grammarians, Whofe foules are nought, but a Syntaxis of them. Com. Here comes om Parfon, Parfon Palate here A venerable youth ! I muft falute him. And a great Gierke! hee's going to the Ladies, ^^ And though you fee him thus, without his Cope, 75 my private] my [own] private. G 80 but] not W, f i8 The Magnetic Lady [act i I dare affure you, hee's our Parifh Pope! God lave my reverend Clergy, Parfon Palate. Act I. Scene II. Palate, Compa/fe, Ironfide. Pal. The witty Mr. Compaf/e ! how is't, with you ? Com. My Lady ftaies for you, and for your Councell, Touching her Neice Mrs. Placentia Steele ! Who ftrikes the fire of full fourteene, to day, 5 Ripe for a husband. Pal. I, fhe chimes, fhee chimes. Saw you the Doctor Rut, the houfe Phylician ? He's fent for, too. Com. To Councell ? 'time you* were there. Make hafte, and give it a round quick difpatch : That wee may goe to dinner betimes, Parfon : lo And drinke a health or two more, to the bufines. Iro. This is a ftrange put-off ! a reverend youth. You ufe him moft furreverently me thinkes ! What call you him ? Palate Pleaje ? or Parfon Palate ? Com. All's one, but fhorter ! I can gi' you his Character. 15 Hee, is the Prelate of the Parifh, here ; And govemes all the Dames ; appoints the cheere ; Writes downe the bils of fare ; pricks all the Guefts ; Makes all the matches and the marriage feafts Within the ward ; drawes all the parifh wils ; 20 Defignes the Legacies ; and ftrokes the Gills Of -the chiefe Mourners ; And (who ever lacks) Of all the kindred, hee hath firft his blacks. Thus holds hee weddings up, and burials, 87 [Enter Palate.] G Act . . . Iron/ide. om. G 10 [Exit Palate.] G sc. Il] The Magnetic Lady 19 As his maine tithing ; with the Goffips ftals, Their pewes ; He's top ftill, at the pubhque meffe ; 25 Comforts the widow, and the fatherleffe, In funerall Sack ! Sits 'bove the Alderman ! For of the Ward-mote Queft, he better can, The mylterie, then the Levitick Law: That peece of Clark-Ihip doth his Veftry awe. 30 Hee is as he conceives himfelfe, a fine Well fumilh'd, and apparaled Divine. Iro. Who made this Epigramme, you ? Com. No, a great Clarke As any 'is of his bulke. [Ben : lonfon) made it. Iro. But what's the other Character, Doctor Rut ? 35 Com. The fame man made 'hem both : but his is fhorter. And not in rime, but blancks. He tell you that, too. Rut is a young Phyfician to the family : That, letting God alone, afcribes to nature More then her fhare ; licentious in difcourfe, 40 And in his life a profeft Voluptary ; The flave of money, a Buffon in manners ; Obfcene in language ; which he vents for wit ; Is fawcy in his Logicks, and difputing. Is any thing but civill, or a man. 45 See here they are ! and walking with my Lady, In confultation, afore the doore ; Wee will flip in, as if we faw 'hem not. 45 Re-enter Palate with Rut and lady Loadstone, in dis- course. G 20 The Magnetic Lady [act I Act I. Scene III. Lady, Palate, Rut. Lad. I, tis his fault, fhe's not beftow'd, My brother Interefts. Pal. Who, old Sir Moath ? Lad. Hee keeps off all her Suitors, keepes the portion, Still in his hands : and will not part with all, 5 On any termes. Pal. Hinc illae lachrymae ; Thence flowes the caufe o' the maine grievance. Rut. That Is a maine one ! how much is the portion ? Lad. No petty fumme. Pal. But fixteene thoufand pound. Rut. He fhould be forc'd. Madam, to lay it downe. '° When is it payable ? Lad. When fhe is married. Pal. Marry her, marry her, Madam. Rut. Get her married. Loole not a day, an houre Pal. Not a minute. Purine your project reall. Mr. Compaffe, Advis'd you, too. He is the perfect Inftrument, '5 Your Ladilhip fhould faile by. Rut. Now, Mr. Compaffe Is a fine witty man ; I faw him goe in, now. Lad. Is hee gone in ? Pal. Yes, and a Fether with him, He feemes a Souldier. Rut. Some new Sutor, Madam. Lad. I am beholden to him : hee brings ever 2o Variety of good perfons to my table, And I muft thanke him, though my brother Intereft Diflike of it a little. Pal. Hee likes nothing That runs your way. Rut. Troth, and the other cares not. Hee'U goe his owne way, if he thinke it right. Act . . . Rut.'l om. G [Iron, and Com. go into the house. G 15 Now,] om. G sc. iv] The Magnetic Lady 2i Lad. Hee's a true friend ! and ther's Mr. Praciife, ^s The fine young man of Law comes to the houfe : My brother brooks him not, becaufe he thinkes He is by me affjgned for my Neice : Hee will not heare of it. Rut. Not of that eare ; But yet your Ladifhip doth wifely in it 3° Pal. 'Twill make him to lay downe the portion fooner. If he but drearne you'l match her with a Lawyer. Lad. So Mr. Compa/fe fayes. It is betweene The Lawyer, and the Courtier, which fhall have her. Bal. Who, Sir Diaphanous Silke-worme ? Rut. A 35 fine Gentle-man Old Mr. Silke-wormes Heire. Pal. And a neat Courtier, Of a moft elegant thred. Lad. And fo my Goffip Poli/h affures me. Here fhe comes ! good Polifh Welcome in troth ! How do'ft thou gentle Polifh ? Rut. Who's this ? Pal. Dame Polifh, her fhee- 40 Parafite, Her talking, foothing, fometime governing Goffip. Act I. Scene IV. Polifh, Lady, Palate, Rut. Pal. Your Ladifhip is ftill the Lady Loadftone That drawes, and drawes unto you, Guefts of all forts : The Courtiers, and the Souldiers, and the SchoUers, The Travelleis, Phyficians, and Divines, As Doctor Ridley writ, and Doctor Barlow ? They both have wrote of you, and Mr. Compaffe. Lad. Wee meane, they fhall write more, ere it be long. Pol. Alas, they are both dead, and 't pleafe you ; But, Your Ladifhip meanes well, and fhall meane well, 35 Bal.] Pal. 1692, f 38 comes !] Enter mistress Polish. G 40 this ?] Aside to Palate. G Act . . . Rui.] om. G 22 The Magnetic Lady [act i lo So long as I live. How does your fine Neice ? My charge, Miftris Placentia Steele ? Lad. Shee is not well. Pol. Not well ? Lad. Her Doctor layes fo. Rut. Not very well ; fhee cannot fhoot at Buts. Or manage a great Horfe, but fhee can cranch 15 A lack of fmall coale ! eat you lime, and haire, Soap-afhes, Loame, and has a dainty fpice O' the greene fickneffe! Pol. 'Od fheild! Rut. Or the Dropfie! A toy, a thing of nothing. But my Lady, here Her noble Aunt. Pol. Shee is a noble Aunt ! 20 And a right worfhipfull Lady, and a vertuous ; I know it well ; Rut. Well, if you know it, peace. Pal. Good fister Polifh heare your betters fpeake. Pol. Sir I will fpeake, with my good Ladies leave. And fpeake, and fpeake againe ; I did bring up 25 My Ladies Neice, Mrs, Placentia Steele, With my owne Daughter (who's Placentia too) And waits upon my Lady, is her woman : Her Ladifhip well knowes Mrs. Placentia Steele (as I faid) her curious Neice, was left 30 A Legacie to me ; by Father, and Mother With the Nurfe, Keepe, that tended her : her Mother Shee died in Child-bed of her and her Father Liv'd not long after : for he lov'd her Mother ! They were a godly couple ! yet both di'd, 35 (As wee muft all.) No creature is immortall ; I have heard our Paftor fay : no, not the faithful ! And they did die (as I faid) both in one moneth. Rut. Sure fhee is not long liv'd, if fhe fpend breath thus. Pol. And did bequeath her, to my care, and hand, 40 To polifh, and bring up. I moulded her. And fafhion'd her, and form'd her ; fhe had the fweat SC. v] The Magnetic Lady 23 Both of my browes and braines. My Lady knowes it Since The could write a quarter old. Lad. I know not That fhe write fo early, my good Goffip. But I doe know fhe was fo long your care, 45 Till fhe was twelve yeare old ; that I call'd for her. And tooke her home, for which I thanke you Polifh, And am beholden to you. Rut. I fure thought She had a Leafe of talking, for nine lives — Pal. It may be fhe has. Pol. Sir fixteene thoufarid 5° pound Was then her portion ! for fhe was, indeed, Their only child ! and this was to be paid Vpon her marriage, fo fhe married ftill With my good Ladies liking here, her Aunt: (I heard the Will read) Mr. Steele her father, ss The world condemn'd him to be very rich. And very hard, and he did ftand condemn'd With that vaine world, till, as 'twas 'prov'd, after, He left almoft as much more to good ufes In Sir Moath Interefts hands, my Ladies brother, ^° Whole lifter he had married : He holds all In his clofe gripe. But Mr. Steele, was hberall, And a fine man ; and fhe a dainty Dame, And a religious, and a bountifull — Act I. Scene V. Compaffe, Ironjide. To them. You knew her Mr. Compaffe ? Com. Spare the torture, I doe confeffe without it. Pol. And her husband. What a fine couple they were ? and how they liv'd ? Com. Yes. Act . . . Ironjide.} Enter Compass and Ironside from the house. G 24 The Magnetic Lady [act i Pol. And lov'd together, like a paire of Turtles? Com. Yes. s Pol. And feafted all the Neighbours ? Com. Take her off Some body that hath mercy. Rut. O he knowes her, It feemes ! Com. Or any meafure of compaffion : Doctors, if you be Chriftians, undertake One for the loule, the other for the body ! lo Pol. She would difpute with the Doctors of Divinity At her owne table ! and the Spitle Preachers ! And find out the Armenians. Rut. The Arminians ? Pol. I fay the Armenians. Com. Nay, I fay fo too ! Pol. So Mr. Polijh calld 'hem, the Armenians ! '5 Com. And Medes, and Perfians, did he not ? Pol. Yes, he knew 'hem, And fo did Miftris Steele ! fhe was his Pupill ! The Armenians, he would fay, were worfe then Papifts ! And then the Perfians, were our Puritanes, Had the fine piercing wits ! Com. And who, the Medes ? ="> Pol. The midle men, the Luke-warme Proteftans ? Rut. Out, out. Pol. Sir fhe would find them by their branching : Their branching fleeves, brancht caffocks, and brancht doctrine, Befide their Texts. Rut. Stint Karlin : He not heare. Confute Jier Par f on. Pol. I refpect no Perfons, 25 Chaplins, or Doctors, I will fpeake. Lad. Yes, fo't be reafon. Let her. Rut. Death, fhe cannot fpeake reafon. Com. Nor fenfe, if we be Mafters of our fenfes ! Lro. What mad woman ha' they got, here, to bate ? Pol. Sir I am mad, in truth, and to the purpofe ; 12 Arminians ?] Armenians ? 1540 Y., 1692, 1716, W Ar- minians, G 24 PerXons] Parsons 1692, f SC. v] The Magnetic Lady 25 And cannot but be mad ; to heare my Ladies 30 Dear filter fleighted, witty Mrs. Steele ! Iro. If fhee had a wit, Death has gone neere to fpoile it, Affure your felfe. Pol. She was both witty, and zealous. And hghted all the Tinder o' the truth, (As one faid) of Religion, in our Parifh : 35 Shee was too learn'd to live long with us ! She could the Bible in the holy tongue : And reade it without pricks : had all her Maforeth ; Knew Burton, and his Bull ; and fcribe Prin-Gent ! Prae/to-be-gon : and all the Pharifees. Lad. Deare 40 Goffip, Be you gone, at time, too, and vouchfafe To fee your charge, my Neice. Pol. I fhall obey If your wife Ladifhip thinke fit : I know. To yeild to my Superiors. Lad. A good woman ! But when fhe is impertinent, growes earneft, 45 A litle troublefome, and out of feafon : Her love, and zeale tranfport her. Com. I am glad, That any thing could port her hence. Wee now Have hope of dinner, after her long grace. I have brought your Ladifhip a hungry Gueft, here, so A Souldier, and my brother Captaine Iron/ide : Who being by cuftome growne a Sanguinarie, The folemne, and adopted fonne of flaughter : Is more delighted i' the chafe of an enemy. An execution of three daies, and nights ; ss Then all the hope of numerous fucceffion. Or happineffe of Iffue could bring to him. Rut. Hee is no Suitor then ? Pal. So't fhould feeme. 44 Superiors. [Exit. G 58 then ? [Aside to Pal. G So't] So it W. f 26 The Magnetic Lady [act i Com. And, if hee can get pardon at heavens hand, 6° For all his murthers, is in as good cafe As a new chriftned Infant : (his imployments Continu'd to him, without Interruption ; And not allowing him, or time, or place To commit any other finne, but thofe) 65 Pleafe you to make him welcome for a meale, Madam, Lad. The nobleneffe of his profeffion makes His welcome perfect : though your courfe defcription Would feeme to fully it. Iro. Never, where a beame Of fo much favour doth illuftrate it, 7° Right knowing Lady. Pal. She hath cur'd all well. Rut. And hee hath fitted well the Complement. Act I. Scene VI. To them. Sir Diaphafious. Practife. Com. No ; here they come ! the prime Magnetick Guefts Our Lady Loadftone fo refpects : the Artick ! And th' Antartick ! Sir Diaphanous Silke-worme ! A Courtier extraordinary ; who by diet 5 Of meates, and drinkes ; his temperate exercife ; Choise mufick ; frequent bathes ; his horary fhifts Of Shirts and Waft-coats ; meanes to immortalize Mortality it felfe ; and makes the effence Of his whole happineffe the trim of Court. 10 Dia. I thanke you Mr. Compasse, for your fhort Encomiaftick. Rut. It is much in httle. Sir. Pal. Concife, and quick : the true ftile of an Orator. Com. But Mr. Practife here, my Ladies Lawyer ! Or man of Law : (for that's the true writing) Act . . . Practi/e.] Enter sir Diaphanous Silkworm and Prac- tice. G 14 that's] that is W, f sc. vi] The Magnetic Lady 27 A man fo dedicate to his prof eff ion, 's And the preferments goe along with it ; As fcarce the thundring bruit of an invafion, Another eighty eight, threatning his Countrey With mine ; would no more worke upon him. Then Syracufa's Sack, on Archimede : '° So much he loves that Night-cap ! the Bench-gowne ! With the broad Guard o'th back ! Thele fhew A man betroth'd unto the ftudy of our Lawes ! Pra. Which you but thinke the crafty impofitions, Of fubtile Clerks, feats of fine underftanding, ^5 To abufe Clots, and Clownes with, Mr. Compaffe, Having no ground in nature, to fuftaine it Or light, from thofe cleare caufes : to the inquiry And fearch of which, your Mathematicall head. Hath fo devow'd it felfe. Com. Tut, all men are 30 Philofophers, to their inches. There's within, Sir Intereft, as able a Philofopher, In bu37ing, and felling ! has reduc'd his thrifte, To certaine principles, and i' that method ! As hee will tell you inftantly, by Logorythmes, as The utmoft profit of a ftock imployed : (Be the Commoditie what it will) the place. Or time, but caufing very, very little. Or, I may fay, no paralaxe at all, In his pecuniary obfervations ! 4° He has brought your Neices portion with him. Madam, At leaft the man that muf t receive it ; Here They come negotiating the affaire ; You may perceive the Contract in their faces ; And read th' indenture: If you'ld figne 'hem. So. 45 22, 23 With . . ■. Lawes !] With the broad guard o' th back ! these shew a man / Betroth'd unto the study of our laws. W, f 45 you'ld] you'll 1692, f 28 The Magnetic Lady [ACT i Act 1. Scene VII. To them. Ifitereft. Bias. Pal. What is he, Mr. Compaffe ? Com. A Vi-poH- tique ! Or a fub-aiding Inftrument of State ! A kind of laborious Secretary To a great man ! (and Hkely to come on) 5 Full of attendance ! and of fuch a ftride In bufines politique, or oeconomick. As, well, his Lord may ftoope t' advife with him. And be prelcribed by him, in affaires Of higheft confequence, when hee is duU'd, '° Or wearied with the leffe. Dia. 'Tis Mr. Bias, Lord WhacKtim's Politique. Com. You know the man ? Dia. I ha' feene him waite at Court, there, with his Maniples Of papers, and petitions. Pra. Hee is one That over-rules tho', by his authority '5 Of living there ; and cares for no man elfe : Neglects the facred letter of the Law ; And holds it all to be but a dead heape. Of civill inftitutions : the reft only Of common men, and their caufes, a farragoe, 2° Or a made difh in Court ; a thing of nothing : Com. And that's your quarrell at him ? a juft plea. Int. I tell you fifter Load/lone — Com. (Hang your eares This way : and heare his praifes, now Moath opens) Int. I ha' brought you here the very man ! the Jewell '5 Of all the Court ! clofe Mr. Bias ! Sifter, Apply him to your fide ! or you may weare him Here o' your breft ! or hang him in your eare ! He's a fit Pendant for a Ladies tip ! Act . . . Bias] Enter sir Moth Interest and Bias. G 23 [Aside. G SC. vii] The Magnetic Lady 29 A Chrifolite, a Gemme : the very Agat Of State, and Politie : cut from the Quar 3° Of Macchiavel, a true Cornelian, As Tacitus himfelfe ! and to be made The brooch to any true State-cap in Europe ! Lad. You praife him brother, as you had hope to fell him. Com. No Madam, as hee had hope to fell your Neice 35 Vnto him. Lad. 'Ware your true jefts, Mr. Compaffe ; They will not relifh. Int. I will tell you, fifter, I cannot cry his Ca.ract up enough : He is unvaluable : All the Lords Have him in that efteeme, for his relations, 40 Corrant's, Avifes, Correfpondences With this Ambaffadour, and that Agent ! Hee WiU fcrew you out a Secret from a Statift — . Com. So eafie, as fome Cobler wormes a Dog. Int. And lock it in the Cabinet of his memory — . 45 Com. Till t* turne a politique infect, or a Fly ! Thus long. Int. You may be merry Mr. Compaffe, But though you have the reverfion of an office. You are not in 't Sir. Bia. Remember that. Com. Why, fhould that fright me, Mr. Bi — , from 50 telling Whofe as you are ? Int. Sir he's one, can doe His turnes there : and deliver too his letters. As punctually, and in as good a fafhion. As ere a Secretary can in Court. Iro. Why, is it any matter in what fafhion ss A man deliver his letters, fo he not open 'hem ? Bia. Yes, we have certaine precedents in Court, From which we never fwerve, once in an age : And (whatfoere he thinkes) I know the Arts, 51 as] ass 1692, f C2 30 The Magnetic Lady [act i 6° And Sciences doe not directlier make A Graduate in our Vniverfities ; Then an habituall gravitie prefers A man in Court. Com. Which by the truer ftile, Some call a formall, flat fervility. 65 Bia. Sir you may call it what you pleafe. But wee (That tread the path of publike bulineffes) Know what a tacit Ihrug is, or a Ihrinke ; The wearing the Callott ; the politique hood : And twenty other purer ga, o' the by, 70 You Seculars under ftand not : I fhall tiick him, If his reverfion came, i' my Lords way. Dia. What is that Mr. Practife ? you fure know ? Mas' Compaffes reverfion? Pra. A fine place (Surveyor of the Projects generall) 75 1 would I had it. Pal. What is't worth ? Pra. O Sir, A Nemo fcit. Lad. Wee'l thinke on't afore dinner. C^roRUS. BOy. Now, Gentlemen, what cenfure you of our Pro- tajis, or firft Actl Pro. WeU, Boy, it is a faire Prefentment of your Actors. And a handfome promife of fomewhat to come 5 hereafter. Dam. But, there is nothing done in it, or concluded : Therefore I fay, no Act. Boy. A fine peice of Logick ! Doe you looke, Mr. Dampiay, for conclufions in a Protefis ? I thought the '° Law of Comedy had referv'd to the Cataffrophe : and that 71 came] come 1692, f 76 [Exeunt. G Chorus] om. G 8 Protefis ?] Protasis 1692, f 8, 9 relerv'd] reserved [them] G sc. vii] The Magnetic Lady 31 the Epitasis, (as wee are taught) and the Cataftafis, had beene interveening parts, to have beene expected. But you would have all come together it feemes : The Clock fhould ftrike five, at once, with the Acts. Dam. Why, if it could doe fo, it were well. Boy. 's Boy. Yes, if the nature of a Clock were to fpeake, not ftrike. So, if a Child could be borne, in a Play, and grow up to a man, i' the firft Scene, before he went off the Stage : and then after to come forth a Squire, and bee made a Knight : and that Knight to travell betweene '° the Acts, and doe wonders i' the holy land or elfe where ; kill Paynims wild Boores, dun Cowes, and other Mon- fters ; beget him a reputation, and marry an Emperours Daughter : for his Mrs. Convert her Fathers Countrey ; and at laft come home, lame and aU to be laden with ^s miracles. Dam. Thefe miracles would pleafe, I affure you : and take the People ! For there be of the People, that will expect miracles, and more then miracles from this Pen. 3° Boy. Doe they thinke this Pen can juggle ? I would we had Hokospokos for 'hem then ; your People, or Travitanto Tudesko. Dam. Who's that Boy ? Boy. Another Juggler, with a long name. Or that 35 your expectors would be gone hence, now, at the firft Act ; or expect no more hereafter, then they underftand. Dam. Why fo my peremptory Jack ? Boy. My name is John, indeed — Becaufe, who expect what is impoffible, or beyond nature, defraud them- '•° selves. 23, 24 matry . . . Countrey ;] marry an Emperours Daughter for his Mrs. Convert her Father's Countrey; Y. 1640. marry an emperor's daughter for his mistress : convert her father's country ; W, f 32 The Magnetic Lady [act i Pro. Nay, there the Boy faid well : They doe defraud themfelves indeed. Boy. And therefore, Mr. Damplay, unlelfe like a 45 folemne Juftice of wit, you will damne our Play, unheard, or unexamin'd ; I fhall intreat your Mrs. Madam Ex- fectation, if fhee be among thefe Ladies, to have patience, bit a piffing while : give our Springs leave to open a httle, by degrees : A Source of ridiculous matter may so breake forth anon, that fhall fteepe their temples, and bathe their braines in laughter, to the fomenting of Stupiditie it felfe, and the awaking any velvet Lethargy in the Houfe. Pro. Why doe you maintaine your Poets quarrell 55 fo with velvet, and good clothes. Boy ? wee have feene him in indifferent good clothes, ere now. Boy. And may doe in better, if it pleafe the King (his Mafter) to fay Amen to it, and allow it, to whom hee acknowledgeth all. But his clothes fhall never be the 6o beft thing about him, though, hee will have fomewhat befide, either of humane letters, or fevere honefty, fhall fpeak him a man though he went naked. Pro. Hee is beholden to you, if you can make this good, Boy. 65 Boy. Himfelfe hath done that, already, againft Envy. Dam. What's your name Sir ? or your Countrey ? Boy. lohn Try-guft my name : A Cornifh youth, and the Poets Servant. Dam. Weft-countrey breed, I thought, you were fo 70 bold. Boy. Or rather fawcy : to find out your palate, Mr. Damplay, Faith we doe call a Spade, a Spade, in Corne- wall. If you dare damne our Play, i' the wrong place, we fhall take heart to tell you fo. 75 Pro. Good Boy. sc. l] The Magnetic Lady 33 Act II. Scene I. Keepe, Placentia. Pleajance. Kee. O Weet Miltris, pray you be merry : you are fure ♦^ To have a husband now. Pla. I, if the ftore Hurt not the choife. Pie. Store is no fore, young Miftris, My mother is wont to fay. Keep. And fhee'l fay wifely, As any mouth i' the Parifh. Fixe on one, 5 Fixe upon one, good Miftris. Pla. At this caU, too. Here's Mr. Practije, who is call'd to the Bench Of purpofe. Kee. Yes, and by my Ladies meanes — Pie. 'Ti3 thought to be the man. Kee. A Lawyers wife. Pie. And a fine Lawyers wife. Kee. Is a brave 10 calling. Pie. Sweet Miftris Practije \ Kee. Gentle Miftris Practife ! Pie. Faire, open Miftris Practiie ! Kee. I, and clofe And cunning Mrs. Practije ! Pla. I not like that ; The Courtiers is the neater calling. Pie. Yes, My Lady Silke-worme. Kee. And to fhine in Plufh. 15 Pie. Like a young night Crow, a Diaphanous Silfie- worme. Kee. Lady Diaphanous founds moft delicate ! Pie. Which would you choofe, now Miftris ? Pla. Cannot tell. The copie does confound one. Pie. Here's my Mother. S. D. A Room in lady Loadstone's House. Enter Nurse Keep, Placentia, and Pleasance. G 34 The Magnetic Lady [act II Act II. Scene 11. Polifh. Keepe. Placentia. Pleafance. Needle. Pol. How now, my dainty charge, and diligent Nurfe ? ^ To her daugk-'y^hs.t were you chanting on ? (*God bleffe you Maiden.) ier nee ing. ^^^ -^^^ wcrc inchanting all ; wifhing a husband For my young Miftris here. A man to pleafe her. 5 Pol. Shee fhall have a man, good Nurfe, and mult have a man : A man, and a halfe, if wee can choofe him out : We are all in Counfell within, and fit about it : The Doctors, and the SchoUers, and my Lady ; Who's wifer then all us — . Where's Mr. Needle ? '° Her Ladifhip fo lacks him to prick out The man ? How does my fweet young Miftris ? You looke not well, me thinkes ! how doe you, deare charge ? You muft have a husband, and you fhall have a husband ; There's two put out to making for you : A third, >5 Your Vncle promifes : But you muft ftill Be rul'd by your Aunt : according to the will Of your dead father, and mother (who are in heaven). Your Lady- Aunt has choise i' the houfe for you : Wee doe not truft your Vncle ; hee would keepe you ^° A Batchler ftill, by keeping of your portion : And keepe you not alone without a husband. But in a fickneffe : I, and the greene fickneffe. The Maidens malady ; which is a fickneffe : A kind of a difeafe, I can affure you, 2 5 And like the Fifh our Mariners call remora — . Kee. A remora Miftris ! Pol. How now goody Nurfe ? Dame Keepe of Katernes ? what ? have you an oare Act . . . Needle] ova. G Enter Polish. G 2 on ? [Plea- sance kneels] G 11 man ? [Exit Pleasance] G SC. Il] The Magnetic Lady 35 r the Cockboat, 'caufe you are a Saylors wife ? And come from Shadwell ? I fay a remora : For it will ftay a Ship, that's mider Saile ! 30 And ftaies are long, and tedious things to Maids ! And maidens are young fhips, that would be failing, When they be rigg'd : wherefore is all their trim elfe ? Nee. True ; and for them to be ftaid — . Pol. The ftay is dangerous : You know it Mrs. Needle. Nee. I know fomewhat : 35 And can affure you, from Doctors mouth, Shee has a Dropfie ; and muft change the ayre, Before fhe can recover. Pol. Say you fo. Sir ? Nee. The Doctor faies fo. Pol. Sayes his worfhip fo ? I warrant 'hem he fayes true, then ; they fometimes 40 Are Sooth-fayers, and alwayes cunning men. Which Doctor was it ? Nee. Eeene my Ladies Doctor : The neat houfe-Doctor : But a true ftone-Doctor. Pol. Why ? heare you, Nurfe ? How comes this geare to paffe ? This is your fault in truth : It fhall be your fault, 45 And muft be your fault : why is your Mif tris ficke ? Shee had her health, the while fhee was with me. Kee. Alas good Miftris Polish, I am no Saint, Much leffe, my Lady, to be urg'd give health. Or fickneffe at my will : but to awaite 50 The ftarres good pleafure, and to doe my duty. Pol. You muft doe more then your dutie, foolifh Nurfe : You muft doe all you can ; and more then you can, More then is poffible : when folkes are fick, Efpecially, a Miftris ; a young Miftris. ss Kee. Here's Mr. Doctor himselfe, cannot doe that Pol. Doctor Doo-all can doe it. Thence he's call'd fo. 29 Shadwell ? [Enter Needle] G 35 Mrs.] Mr. 1692, f 56 [Exit. G Enter lady Loadstone and Rut. G 36 The Magnetic Lady [act li Act 11. Scene III. Rut. Polifh. Lady. Keeps. Placentia. Rut. Whence ? what's hee call'd ? Pol. Doctor, doe all you can, I pray you, and befeech you, for my charge, here. Lad. She's my tendring Goffip, loves my Neice. Pol. I know you can doe all things, what you pleale, Sir, 5 For a young Damfel, my good Ladies Neice, here ! You can doe what you lilt. Rut. Peace Tiffany. Pol. Efpecially in this new cafe o' the Dropfie. The Gentlewoman (I doe feare) is leven'd. Rut. Leven'd ? what's that ? Pol. Puft, blowne, and't pleafe your worfhip Rut. What ! Darke, by darker ? What is blowne ? puff'd, fpeake Englilh — Pol. Tainted (and't pleafe you) fome doe call it. She fwels, and fwels fo with it. — Rut. Give her vent, If fhee doe fwel. A Gimblet muft be had : It is a Tympanites fhe is troubled with ; 15 There are three kinds : The firft is Ana- j area Vnder the Flefh, a Tumor: that's not hers. The fecond is A j cites, or Aquojus, A watry humour : that's not hers neither. But Tympanites (which we call the Drum) 2o A wind bombes in her belly, muft be unbrac'd. And with a Faucet, or a Peg, let out. And fhe'U doe well : get her a husband. Pol. Yes, I fay fo Mr. Doctor, and betimes too. Lad. As Soone as wee can : let her beare up to day, 25 Laugh, and keepe company, at Gleeke, or Crimpe. Act . . . Placentia.} om. G 12 fwels lo] so swels 1716, f 23, 24 I say so, master doctor, and betimes too. / Lady L. As soon as we can : let her bear up to-day, G SC. Ill] The Magnetic Lady 37 Pol. Your Ladifhip fayes right, Crimpe, fure, will cure her. Rut. Yes, and Gleeke, too ; peace Goffip Tittle-Tattle, Shee mult to morrow, downe into the Countrey, Some twenty mile ; A Coach, and fix brave Horfes : Take the frefh aire, a moneth there, or five weekes : 30 And then returne a Bride, up to the Towne, For any husband i' the Hemifphere, To chuck at ; when fhe has dropt her Timpane. Pol. Muft fhe then drop it ? Rut. Thence, 'tis call'd a Dropfie. The Timpanites is one fpice of it ; as A toy, a thing of nothing, a meere vapour : He blow't away. Lad. Needle, get you the Coach Ready, against to morrow morning. Nee. Yes Madam. Lad. He downe with her my felfe, and thanke the Doctor. Pol. Wee all fhall thanke him. But, deare Madam, 40 thinke, Refolve upon a man, this day. Lad. I ha' done't. To teU you true (fweet Goffip ;) here is none But Mafter Doctor, hee fhall be o' the Counfell : The man I have defign'd her to, indeed. Is Mafter Practife : he's a neat young man, 4s Forward, and growing up, in a profeffion ! Like to be fome body, if the Hall ftand ! And Pleading hold ! A prime young Lawyers wife. Is a right happy fortune. Rut. And fhee bringing So plentiful! a portion, they may live s* Like King, and Queene, at common Law together ! Sway Judges ; guide the Courts ; command the Clarkes ; And fright the Evidence ; rule at their pleafures, Like petty Soveraignes in all cafes. Pol. O, that 29 mile] miles 1692, f 38 [Exit. G 38 The Magnetic Lady [ACT 11 55 Will be a worke of time ; fhe may be old Before her husband rife to a chiefe Judge ; And all her flower be gone : No, no, a Lady O' the firft head I'M have her ; and in Court : The Lady Silk-worme, a Diaphanous Lady : 6° And be a Vi-coimtelfe to carry all Before her (as wee fay) her Gentleman-ufher : And caft off Pages, bare, to bid her Aunt Welcome unto her honour, at her lodgings. Rut. You fay well, Ladies Goffip; if my Lady 65 Could admit that, to have her Neice precede her. Lad. For that, I muft consult mine owne Ambition, My zealous Goffip. Pol. O, you fhall precede her : You fhall be a Counteffe ! Sir Diaphanous, Shall get you made a Counteffe ! Here he comes ; 70 Has my voice certaine : O fine Courtier ! O bleffed man ! the bravery prick't out. To make my dainty charge, a Vi-counteffe ! And my good Lady, her Aunt, Counteffe at large ! Act IL Scene IIIL To them. Diaphanous. Palate. Dia. I tell thee Par f on, if I get her, reckon Thou haft a friend in Court ; and fhalt command A thoufand pound, to goe on any errand. For any Church preferment thou haft a mind too. 5 Pal. I thanke your worfhip : I will fo work for you. As you fhall ftudy all the wayes to thanke me : He worke my Lady, and my Ladies friends ; Her Goffip, and this Doctor ; and Squire Needle, And Mr. Compaffe, who is all in all : 70 certaine :] Enter behind sir Diaphanous Silkworm and Palate, in discourse. G Act . . . Palate.} om. G 4 too.] to 1692, f sc. nil] The Magnetic Lady 39 The very Fly fhee moves by : Hee is one i«> That went to Sea with her husband, Sir lohn Loadftone, And brought home the rich prizes : all that wealth Is left her ; for which fervice fhe refpects him : A dainty SchoUer in the Mathematicks ; And one fhee wholly imployes. Now Dominus Practife ^5 Is yet the man (appointed by her Ladifhip) But there's a trick to fet his cap awry : If I know any thing ; hee hath confeft To me in private, that hee loves another, My Ladies woman, Mrs. Pleafance : therefore 20 Secure you of Rivalfhip. Dia. I thanke thee My noble Par /on : There's five hundred pound Waites on thee more for that. Pal. Accoaft the Neice : Yonder fhee walkes alone : He move the Aunt : But here's the Goffip : fhee expects a morfell. ^s Ha' you nere a Ring, or toy to throw away ? Dia. Yes, here's a Diamont of fome threefcore pound, I pray you give her that. Pal. If fhee will take it. Dia. And there's an Emerauld, for the Doctor too : Thou Parfon, thou fhalt coine me : I am thine. 30 Pal. Here Mr. Compajfe comes : Doe you fee my Lady ? And all the reft ? how they doe flutter about him ! Hee is the Oracle of the houfe, and family ! Now, is your time : goe nick it with the Neice : I will walke by ; and hearken how the Chimes goe. 3s Act II. Scene V. Compaffe. To them. Com. Nay Parfon, ftand not off ; you may approach : This is no fuch hid point of State, wee handle, 31 comes: Enter Compass. G 34 [Exit Sir Dia. G 35 [Walks aside. G Act . . . Compa/fe.] om. G 40 The Magnetic Lady [act ii But you may heare it : for wee are all of Counfell. The gentle Mr. Practife, hath dealt clearly, 5 And nobly with you, Madam. Lad. Ha'you talk'd with him ? And made the overture ? Com. Yes, firft I mov'd The bufines trufted to me, by your Ladifhip, I' your owne words, almoft your very Sillabes : Save where my Memory trefpaff 'd 'gainft their elegance : lo For which I hope your pardon. Then I inlarg'd In my owne homely ftile, the fpeciall goodnelle, And greatnefle, of your bounty, in your choice. And free conferring of a benefit. So without ends, conditions, any tye »5 But his meere vertue, and the value of it, To call him to your kindred, to your veines, Infert him in your family, and to make him A Nephew, by the offer of a Neice, With fuch a portion ; which when hee had heard, 2° And moft maturely acknowledg'd (as his calling Tends all unto maturity) he retum'd A thankes, as ample as the Curtefie, (In my opinion) faid it was a Grace, Too great to be rejected, or accepted 25 By him ! But as the termes ftood with his fortune, Hee was not to prevaricate, with your Ladifhip, But rather to require ingenious leave, He might with the fame love, that it was offer'd Refufe it, fince he could not with his honefty, 3° (Being he was ingag'd before) receive it. Pal. The fame he faid to me. Com. And name the party. Pal. He did, and he did not. Com. Come, leave your Schemes, And fine Amphibolies, Par f on. Pal. You'll heare more. 31 name] nam'd, W named, G party.] party ? 1692, f sc. v] The Magnetic Lady 41 Pol. Why, now your Ladifhip is free to choofe, The Courtier Sir Diaphanous : he fhall doe it, 3s He move it to him my lelfe. Lad. What will you move to him ? Pol. The making you a Counteffe. Lad. Stint, fond woman. Know you the partie Mr. Practife meanes ? To Compajfe. Com. No, but your Parfon fayes he knowes, Madam. Lad. I feare he fables ; Parson doe you know 40 Where Mr. Practife is ingag'd ? Pal. He tell you ! But under feale, her Mother muft not know : 'Tis with your Ladifhips woman, Mrs. Pleajance. Com. How ! Lad. Hee is not mad. Pal. O hide the hideous fecret From her, fhee'l trouble all elfe. You doe hold 45 A Cricket by the wing. Com. Did he name Pleajance ? Are you fure Parfon ? Lad. O'tis true, your Mrs ! I find where your fhooe wrings you, Mr. Compaffe : But, you'l looke to him there. Com. Yes, here's Sir Moath, Your brother, with his Bias, and the Partie 50 Deepe in difcourfe : 'twiU be a bargaine, and fale ; I fee by their clofe working of their heads. And running them together fo in Councell. Lad^ Will Mr. Practife be of Councell against us ? Com. He is a Lawyer, and muft fpeake for his Fee, 55 Againft his Father, and Mother, all his kindred ; His brothers, or his lifters : no exception Lies at the Common-Law. He muft not alter Nature for forme, but goe on in his path It may be he will be for us. Doe not you 60 Offer to meddle, let them take their couife : 53 Enter at a distance, in discourse, sir Moth Interest, Prac- tice, and Bias. G 44 mad.] mad ? 1716, f 60 he will] he'll W, f 42 The Magnetic Lady [ACT II Dif patch, and marry her off to any husband ; Be not you fcrupulous ; let who can have her : So he lay downe the portion, though he gueld it : 6s It will maintaine the fuit againft him: fomewhat, Something in hand is better, then no birds ; He fhall at laft accompt, for the utmoft farthing, If you can keepe your hand from a dif charge. Pol. Sir, doe but make her worfhipfull Aunt a Coun- teffe, 70 And fhe is yours : her Aunt has worlds to leave you ! The wealth of fix Eaft Indian Fleets at leaft! Her Husband, Sir John Load/tone, was the Governour O' the Company, feven yeares. Dia. And came there home. Six Fleets in feven yeares ? Pol. I cannot tell, 75 I muft attend my Goffip, her good Ladifhip, Pla. And will you make me a Vi-counteffe too ? For How doe they make a Counteffe ? in a Chaire ? Or 'pon a bed ? Dia. Both wayes, fweet bird, He fhew you. Act 11. Scene VI. Intereft. Practife. Bias. Compaffe. Palate. Rnt. To them. Ifonfide. Int. The truth is, Mr. Practife, now we are fure That you are off, we dare not come on the bolder : The portion left, was fixteene thoufand pound, I doe confeffe it, as a juft man fhould. s And call here Mr. Compaffe, with thefe Gentlemen, 68 [Exit Lady L. G 69 Pol. [to Diaphanous.] G 75 [Exit. G 76 For,] sir ? G 78 [Exeunt sir Diaphanous and Placentia. G Act . . . Iron/ide.] om. G i Int.] Sir Moth, [coming forward.] G Rnt."] Rut. 1692 — W sc. Vl] The Magnetic Lady 43 To the relation : I will ftill be juft. Now for the profits every way arifing, It was the Donors wifedome, thofe fhould pay Me for my watch, and breaking of my fleepes ; It is no petty charge, you know, that fumme ; To keepe a man awake, for fourteene yeare. Pra. But (as you knew to ufe it i' that time) It would reward your waking. Int. That's my in- duftry ; As it might be your reading, ftudie, and counfell ; And now your pleading, who denies it you ? I have my calling too. Well, Sir, the Contract Is with this Gentleman, ten thoufand pound. (An ample portion, for a younger brother, With a loft, tender, delicate rib of mans flefh, That he may worke like waxe, and print upon.) He expects no more, then that fumme to be tendred, And hee receive it : Thofe are the conditions. Pra. A direct bargaine, and in open fale market. Int. And what I have furnifh'd him with all o' the by. To appeare, or fo : A matter of foure hundred. To be deduc'd upo' the payment — . Bia. Right. You deale like a juft man ftill. Int. Draw up this Good Mr. Practife, for us, and be fpeedy. Pra. But here's a mighty gaine Sir, you have made Of this one ftock ! the principall firft doubled. In the firft feven yeare ; and that redoubled I' the next feven ! befide fixe thoufand pound. There's threefcore thoufand got in fourteene yeare, After the ufual rate of ten i' the hundred. And the ten thoufand paid. Int. I thinke it be ! Pra. How will you fcape the clamour, and the en vie ? 22 Thofe] these. W, f 23 in open fale market.] sale in open market. W, f D 44 The Magnetic Lady [ACT II Int. Let 'hem exclaime, and envie : what care I ? Their murmurs raife no bhfters i' my flefh. My monies are my blood, my parents, kindred : 40 And he that loves not thole, he is unnatural : I am perlwaded that the love of monie Is not a vertue, only in a Subject, But might befit a Prince. And (were there need) I find me able make good the Affertion. 45 To any reasonable mans underltanding. And make him to confeffe it. Com. Gentlemen, Doctors, and Schollers, yo'll heare this, and looke for As much true fecular wit, and deepe Lay-fenfe, As can be fhowne on fuch a common place. 50 Int. Firft, wee all know the foule of man is infinite In what it covets. Who defireth knowledge, Defires it infinitely. Who covets honour. Covets it infinitely. It will be then No hard thing, for a coveting man, to prove 55 Or to confeffe, hee aimes at infinite wealth. Com. His foule lying that way. Int. Next, every man Is i' the hope, or poffibility Of a whole world : this prefent world being nothing. But the difperfed iffue of firft one : 60 And therefore I not fee, but a juft man May with juft reafon, and in office ought Propound unto himselfe. Com. An infinite wealth ! He beare the burden : Goe you on Sir Moath. Int. Thirdly, if wee confider man a member, 65 But of the body politique, we know, By juft experience, that the Prince hath need More of one wealthy, then ten fighting men. Com. There you went out o' the road, a little from us. 59 of firft one :] o' th' first one. W of [the] first one. G SC. VI] The Magnetic Lady 45 Int. And therefore, if the Princes aimes be infinite, It muft be in that, which makes us all. Com. Infinite 70 wealth. Int. Fourthly, 'tis naturall to all good fubjects. To fet a price on money ; more then fooles Ought on their Mrs. Picture ; every piece Fro' the penny to the twelve pence, heingthe Hieroglyphick, And facred Sculpture of the Soveraigne. 75 Com. A manifeft conclufion, and a fafe one. Int. Fiftly, wealth gives a man the leading voice. At all conventions ; and difplaceth worth, With generall allowance to all parties : It makes a trade to take the waU of vertue ; 80 And the mere iffue of a fhop, right Honourable. Sixtly, it doth inable him that hath it To the performance of all reall actions. Referring him to himfelfe f till : and not binding His will to any circumftance ; without him ; 85 It gives him precife knowledge of himfelfe ; For, be he rich, he ftraight with evidence knowes Whether he have any compaffion, Or inclination unto vertue, or no ; Where the poore knave erronioufly beleeves, 90 If he were rich, he would build Churches, or Doe fuch mad things. Seventhly, your wife poore men Have ever beene contented to obferve Rich Fooles, and fo to ferve their tumes upon them : Subjecting all their wit to the others wealth. 95 And become Gentlemen Parafites, Squire Bauds, To feed their Patrons honorable humors. Eightly, 'tis certaine that a man may leave His wealth, or to his Children, or his friends ; His wit hee cannot fo difpofe, by Legacie, '«° As they fhall be a Harrington the better for 't. xoi Enter captain Ironside. G D2 46 The Magnetic Lady [ACT 11 Com. He may intaile a Jeft upon his houfe, though : Enter Iron- Or leavc a tale to his pofteritie, ■^^ ' To be told after him. Iro. As you have done here ? "5 T' invite your friend, and brother to a feaft, Where all the Guefts are fo mere heterogene, And ftrangers, no man knows another, or cares If they be Chriftians, or Mahumetans ! That here are met. Com. Is't any thing to you brother, "° To know Rehgions more then thofe you fight for ? Iro. Yes, and with whom I eat. I may difputQ, And how fhall I hold argument with fuch, I neither know their humors, nor their herefies ; Which are religions now, and fo receiv'd ? "5 Here's no man among thefe that keepes a fervant, To' inquire his Mafter of : yet i' the houfe, I heare it buzz'd, there are a brace of Doctors ; A Foole, and a Phyfician : with a Courtier, That feeds on mulbery leaves, like a true Silkeworme : "° A Lawyer, and a mighty Money-Baud, Sir Moath ! has brought his politique Bias with him : A man of a moft animadverting humor : Who, to indeare himfelfe unto his his Lord, Will tell him, you and I, or any of us, »=5 That here are met, are all pernitious fpirits, And men of peftilent purpofe, meanely affected Vnto the State wee live in: and beget Himfelfe a thankes, with the great men o' the time, By breeding Jealoufes in them of us, 130 Shall croffe our fortunes, fruftrate our endeavours. Twice feven years after : And this trick be call'd Cutting of throats, with a whifpering, or a pen-knife. I muft cut his throat now : I' am bound in honour. And by the Law of armes, to fee it done ; 102 though :] om. 1692, f 123 his his] his 1692, f SC. vi] The Magnetic Lady 47 I dare to doe it ; and I dare profeffe 135 The doing of it : being to fuch a Raskall, Who is the common offence growne of man-kind ; And worthy to be tome up from fociety. Com. You fhall not doe it here, Sir. Iro. Why ? will you Intreat your felfe, into a beating for him, mo My courteous brother ? If you will, have at you. No man deferves it better (now I thinke on't) Then you : that will keepe confort with fuch Fidlers, Pragmatick Flies, Fooles, Publicanes, and Moathes : And leave your honeft, and adopted brother. '45 Int. 'Belt raife the houfe upon him, to fecure us ; Hee'll kill us all ! Pal. I love no blades in belts. Rut. Nor I. Bid. Would I were at my fhop againe, In Court, fafe ftow'd up, with my politique bundels. Com. How they are fcatter'd ! Iro. Run away Uke ^s° Cimici, Into the cranies of a rotten bed-ftead. Com. I told you fuch a paffage would difperfe 'hem, Although the houfe were their Fee-fimple in Law, And they poffeft of aU the bleffings in it. Iro. Pray heaven they be not frighted from their 'ss ftomacks : That fo my Ladies Table be disfurnifh'd Of the provifions ! Com. No, the Parfons calling By this time, all the covey againe, togethei. Here comes good tydings ! Dinners o' the boord. 147 aU! [Exit. G 147 [Exit. G 148 I. [Exit. G 149 [Exit. G 159 tydings !] Enter Pleasance. G 159 [Exit Ironside. G 48 The Magnetic Lady [ACT II Act II. Scene VII. Compaffe. Pleafance. Com. Stay Mrs. Pleafance, I muft aske you a quef tion : Ha' you any fuites in Law ? Pie. I, Mr. Compaffe ? Com.. Anfwer me briefly, it is dinner time. They fay you have retain'd brisk Mr. Practife 5 Here, of your Councell; and are to be joyn'd A Patentee with him. Pie. In what ? who fayes fo ? You are difpos'd to jeft. Cam. No, I am in eameft. It is given out i' the houfe fo, I affure you ; But keepe your right to your felfe, and not acquaint 10 A common Lawyer with your cafe. If hee Once find the gap ; a thousand will leape after. He tell you more anone. Pie. This Riddle fhewes A little like a Love-trick, o' one face. If I could underftand it. I will ftudie it. Ckorus. Dam. But whom doth your Poet meane now by this — Mr. Bias ? what Lords Secretary, doth hee pur- pofe to perfonate, or perftringe ? Boy. You might as well aske mee, what Alderman, 5 or Alder mans Mate, hee meant by Sir Moath Inter eft ? or what eminent Lawyer, by the ridiculous Mr. Practife ? who hath rather his name invented for laughter, then any offence, or injury it can ftick on the reverend Pro- feffors of the Law : And fo the wife ones will thinke. to Pro. It is an infidious Queftion, Brother Damplay ! Iniquity it felfe would not have urg'd it. It is picking the Lock of the Scene ; not opening it the faire way with Act . . . Pleafance.'l om. G 12 anone. [Exit. G 14 [Exit. G Chorus.'] om. G SC. Vli] The Magnetic Lady 49 a Key. A Play, though it apparell, and prelent vices in generall, flies from all particularities in perfons. Would you aske of Plautus, and Terence, (if they both liv'd »s now) who were Davus, or Pfeudolus in the Scene ? who Pyrgopolinices, or Thrafo ? who Euclio or Menede- mus ? Boy. Yes, he would : And inquue of Marital, or any other Epigrammati/t, whom he meant by Titius, or Seius ^<* (the common John d Noke, or lohn d Style) imder whom they note all vices, and errors taxable to the Times ? As if there could not bee a name for a FoUy fitted to the Stage, but there muft be a perfon in nature, found out to owne it. ^s Dam. Why, I can phant'Iie a perfon to my felfe Boy, who fhaU hinder me ? Boy. And, in not pubhfhing him, you doe no man an injury. But if you wiU utter your owne ill meaning on that perfon, under the Authors words, you make a Libell 3° of his Comcedy. Dam. O, hee told us that in a Prologue, long fince. Boy. If you doe the fame reprehenfible iU things, ftill the fame reprehenfion will ferve you, though you heard it afore : They are his owne words. I can invent as no better, nor he. Pro. It is the folemne vice of interpretation, that deformes the figure of many a faire Scene, by drawing it awry; and indeed is the civill murder of moft good Playes : If I fee a thing vively prefented on the Stage, 40 that the Glaffe of cuftome (which is Comedy) is fo held up to me, by the Poet, as I can therein view the daily examples of mens hves, and images of Truth, in their manners, fo drawne for my delight, or profit, as I may (either way) ufe them : and wiU I, rather (then make 4s that true ufe) himt out the Perfons to defame, by my mahce of mifapplying? and imperiU the innocence, and 50 The Magnetic Lady [act ji candor of the Author, by his calumnie? It is an un- juft way of hearing, and beholding Playes, this, and 5° moft unbecomming a Gentleman to appeare mahgnantly witty in anothers Worke. Boy. They are no other but narrow, and fhrunke natures, fhriveld up, poore things, that cannot thinke well of themf elves, who dare to detract others. That 55 Signature is upon them, and it will laft. A halfe-witted Barbarifme ! which no Barbers art, or his bals, will ever expunge or take out. Dam. Why, Boy ? This were a ftrange Empire, or rather a T5n"annie, you would entitle your Poet to, 6o over Gentlemen, that they fhould come to heare, and fee Playes, and fay nothing for their money. Boy. O, yes ; fay what you will : fo it be to purpofe, and in place. Dam. Can any thing be out of purpofe at a Play ? 65 I fee no reafon, if I come here, and give my eighteene pence, or two fhillings for my Seat, but I fhould take it out in cenfure, on the Stage. Boy. Your two f hilling worth is allow'd you : but you will take your ten f hilling worth, your twenty f hilling 70 worth, and more : And teach others (about you) to doe the hke, that follow your leading face ; as if you were to cry up or downe every Scene, by confederacy, be it right or wrong. Dam. Who fhould teach us the right, or wrong at 7s a Play ? Boy. If your owne fcience can not doe it, or the love of Modefty, and Truth ; all other intreaties, or attempts — are vaine. You are fitter Spectators for the Beares, then us, or the Puppets. This is a popular ignorance 8° indeed, fomewhat better appareld in you, then the 48 his] this W, f SC. vil] The Magnetic Lady 51 People : but a hard handed, and Itiffe ignorance, worthy a Trewel, or a Hammer-man ; and not onely fit to be fcom'd, but to be triumph'd ore. Dam. By whom, Boy} Boy. No particular, but the general neglect, and ^s filence. Good Mafter Damplay, be your felfe ftill, without a fecond : Few here are of your opinion to day, I hope ; to morrow, I am fure there will bee none, when they have ruminated this. Pro. Let us mind what you come for, the Play, which 90 will draw on to the Epitafis now. Act III. Scene I. Item. Needle. Keepe. Plea/ance. lem. Here's Mr. Doctor ? Nee. O Mr. Tim Item, His learned Pothecary ! you are welcome : He is within at dinner. Ite. Dinner ! Death ! That hee will eat now, having fuch a bufines. That fo concemes him ! Nee. Why, can any bufines Concerne a man like his meat ? Ite. O twenty millions, To a Phyfician, that's in practife : I Doe bring him newes, from all the points o' the Compaffe. (That's all the parts of the fublunary Globe.) Of times, and double times. Nee. In, in, fweet Item, And furnifh forth the Table with your newes : Defer ve your dinner : Sow out your whole bag full : The Guefts will heare it. Item. I heard they were out. Nee. But they are piec'd, and put together againe. You may goe in, you'l find them at high eating : The Par I on has an edifying ftomack. And a perfwading Palate (like his name : S. D. A Room in lady Loadstone's House. Enter Timothy Item, Needle, and Nurse Keep. G 7cw.] Item. 1692, f 52 The Magnetic Lady [act III Hee hath begun three draughts of lack in Doctrines, And fower in Ufes. Ite. And they follow him. 2° Nee. No, Sir Diaphanous is a Recufant In fack. He onely takes it in French wine. With an allay of water. In, in, Item, And leave your peeping. Kee. I have a moneths mind. To peepe a little too. Sweet Mas' Needle. 25 How are they fet ? Nee. At the boords end my Lady — . Kee. And my young Mrs. by her ? Nee. Yes, the Parfon On the right hand (as hee'l not lofe his place For thrufting) and 'gainlt him Mrs. Polifh : Next, Sir Diaphanous, against Sir Moath ; 3° Knights, one againe another: Then the Souldier, The man of warre, and man of peace the Lawyer : Then the pert Doctor, and the politique Bias, And Mr. Compaffe circumfcribeth aU. Pie. Nurfe Keepe, nurfe Keepel Nee. What noife is that within ? A noife Pie. Come to my Miftris, all their weapons are out. within. jy^^ Mifchiefe of men ! what day, what houre is this ? Kee. Run for the cellar of ftrong waters, quickly. Act in. Scene II. To them Compaffe. Iron/ide. after. Com. Were you a mad man to doe this at table ? And trouble all the Guelts, to affright the Ladies, And Gentlewomen ? Iro. Poxupo' your women. And your halfe man there. Court- Sir Amber-gris : 23 peeping. [Exit Item. G 34 Pie. [within.] G 35 Pie. [within.] G 37 [Exeunt. G S. D. Another Room in the Same. Enter Ironside, followed by Compass. G sc. II The Magnetic Lady 53 A perfum'd braggart : He muft drinke his wine 5 With three parts water ; and have Amber in that too. Com. And you muft therefore breake his face with a Glaffe, And wafh his nofe in wine. Iro. Cannot he drinke In Orthodoxe, but he muft have his Gums, And Panym Drugs ? Com. You fhould have us'd the "» Glaffe Rather as ballance, then the fword of Juftice : But you have cut his face with it, he bleeds. Come you fhall take your Sanctuary with me ; The whole houfe will be up in armes 'gainst you elfe. Within this halfe houre ; this way to my lodging. »s Rut. Lady. Poli/h. Keepe, carrying Placentia over the Stage. Pleafance. Item. Rut. A moft rude action ! carry her to her bed ; And ufe the Fricace to her, with thofe oyles. Keepe your newes Item now, and tend this bufines. Lad. Good Goffip looke to her. Pol. How doe you fweet charge ? Kee. She's in a fweat. Pol. I, and a faint fweat «• mary. Rut. Let her alone to Tim : he has directions. He heare your newes Tim Item, when you ha' done. Lad. Was ever fuch a Gueft brought to my table ? Rut. Thefe boiftrous Souldiers ha' no better breeding. 15 [Exeunt. G Scene III. Another Room in the Same. Enter Ruth, lady Loadstone, Polish, and Keep, carrying Pla- centia ; Pleasance and Item following. G 22 [Exeunt Item, Polish, Keep and Pleasance, with Placentia. G 25 comes :] Enter Compass. G 54 The Magnetic Lady [ACT ill =5 Here Mr. Compafje comes : where's your Captaine, Rudhudibras de Ironside ? Com. Gone out of doores. Lad. Would he had nere come in them, I may wifh. He has difcredited my houfe, and boord, With his rude fwaggering manners, and endanger'd 30 My Neices health (by drawing of his weapon) God knowes how farre ; for Mr. Doctor does not. Com. The Doctor is an Alfe then, if hee fay fo, And cannot with his conjuring names, Hippocrates ; Galen or Rafis, Avicen. Averroes, 35 Cure a poore wenches falling in a fwoune : Which a poore Farthing chang'd in Rofa Jolis, Or Cynnamon water would. Lad. How now ? how does she ? Kee. Shee's fomewhat better, Mr. Item has brought her A httle about. Pol. But there's Sir Moath your brother 40 Is falne into a fit o' the happyplexe, It were a happy place for him, and us, If he could fteale to heaven thus : All the houfe Are calling Mr. Doctor, Mr. Doctor. The Par f on he has gi'n him gone, this halfe houre ; -5 Hee's pale in the mouth already, for the feare O' the fierce Captaine. Lad. Helpe me to my Chamber, Nurfe Keepe : Would I could fee the day no more, But night hung over me, like fome darke cloud ; That, buried with this loffe of my good name, s° I, and my houfe might perifh, thus forgotten — Com. Her taking it to heart thus, more afflicts me Then all thefe accidents, for they'll blow over. 25 Where's] Where is G. 37 would.] Re-enter Keep and Polish. G 43 [Exit Rut. G 50 [Exeunt Lady L., Keep, and Polish. G SC. Ill] The Magnetic Lady 55 Act III. Scene III. Practife. Silkworme. Compaffe. Pra. It was a barbarous Injury, I confeffe : But if you will be counfell'd, Sir, by me, The reverend Law lies open to repaire Your reputation. That will gi' you damages ; Five thoufand pound for a finger, I have knowne 5 Given in Court : And let me pack your Jury. Silk. There's nothing vexes me, but that he has ftaind My new white lattin Doublet ; and befpatter'd My fpick and fpan lilke Stockings, o' the day They were drawne on : And here's a Ipot i' my hole too. 1° Com. Shrewd maimes ! your Clothes are wounded defperately. And that (I thinke) troubles a Courtier more, An exact Courtier, then a gafh in his flelh. Silk. My flelh ? / Iweare had he giv'n me twice fo much, I never fhould ha' reckon'd it. But my clothes 15 To be de defac'd, and ftigmatiz'd lo foulely ! I take it as a contumely done me Above the wifedome of our Lawes to right. Com. Why then you'l challenge him ? Silk. I will advife, Though Mr. Practise here doth urge the Law ; ^o And reputation it will make me of credit, Befide great damages (let him pack my Jury.) Com. He fpeales like Mr. Practife, one, that is The Child of a Profeffion he's vow'd too, And fervant to the ftudie he hath taken, "s A pure Apprentice at Law ! But you muf t have Act . . . Compajje.l Enter Practice and sir Diaphanous Silkworn. G 21 reputation] reparation. W, f 56 The Magnetic Lady [ACT HI The Counfell o' the Sword ; and fquare your action Vnto their Cannons, and that brother-hood, If you doe right. Pra. I tell you Mr. Compajje, 3° You Ipeake not like a friend unto the Lawes, Nor fcarce a fubject, to perfwade him thus, Vnto the breach o' the peace : Sir you forget There is a Court above, o' the Starr e-Chamher, To punifh Routs and Riots. Com. No, young Malter, 35 Although your name be Practije there in Terme time, I doe remember it. But you'l not heare What I was bound to fay ; but like a wild Young haggard Justice, fly at breach o' the Peace, Before you know, whether the amorous Knight 4° Dares break the peace of confcience in a Duell. Silk. Troth Mr. Compajje, I take you my friend ; You fhall appoint of me in any matter That's reafonable, fo wee may meet faire, On even termes. Com. I fhall perfwade no other, *5 (And take your learned Counfell to advife you) He run along with him. You fay you'l meet him. On even termes. I doe not fee indeed How that can be, 'twixt Ironjide and you. Now I confider it. Hee is my brother. 5° I doe confeffe (wee ha' call'd fo twenty yeare :) But you are. Sir, a Knight in Court, allied there. And fo befriended, you may eafily anfwer The worft fucceffe : He a knowne, noted, bold Boy o' the Sword, hath all mens eyes upon him; 55 And there's no London-Iury, but are led In evidence, as farre by common fame. As they are by prefent depofition. Then you have many brethren, and neer kinfmen. If he kill you, it will be a lafting Quarrell ^° T'wixt them, and him. Whereas Rud : Ironside Although he ha' got his head into a Beaver, SC. Ill] The Magnetic Lady 57 With a huge feather, 's but a Corners fonne, And has not two old Cordov'an skins, to leave In Leather Caps to mourne him in, if he die. Againe, you are generally belov'd, he hated 6$ So much, that all the hearts, and votes of men Goe with you, in the wifhing all profperity Vnto your purpofe ; hee's a fat, corpulent, Vnweildy fellow : you, a dieted Sparke, Fit for the Combat. He has kild fo many ; 70 As it is ten to one his turne is next ; You never fought with any ; leffe, flew any : And therefore have the hopes before you. I hope thefe things thus fpecified unto you. Are faire advantages : you cannot encounter 7S Him upon equall termes. Befide, Sir Silkworme, He hath done you wrong in a mof t high degree : And fenfe of fuch an Injury receiv'd. Should fo exacuate, and whet your choUer, As you fhould count your lelfe an holt of men, s© Compar'd to him. And therefore you, brave Sir, Have no more reafon to provoke, or challenge Him, then the huge great Porter has to try His ftrength upon an Infant. Silke. Mr. Compaffe, You rather fpur me on, then any way ss Abate my courage to the Enterprife, Com. All Counfell's as it's taken. If you ftand On point of honour, not t'have any odds, I have rather then diffwaded you, then otherwife : If upon termes of humour and revenge, 90 I have encourag'd you. So that I thinke, I have done the part of a friend on either fide : In furnifhing your feare with matter firft, 73 the hopes] the [better] hopes W, f 58 The Magnetic Lady [act m If you have any : Or, if you dare fight, 95 To heighten, and confirme your refolution. Pra. I now doe crave your pardon, Mr. Compafje : I did not apprehend your way before, The true Perimiter of it : you have Circles, And fuch fine draughts about ! Silke. Sir I doe thanke you, "° I thanke you Mr. Compafje heartily ; I muft confeffe, I never fought before. And I'll be glad to doe things orderly. In the right place : I pray you inftruct me. Is't belt I fight ambitioufly, or malitioufly ? "5 Com. Sir, if you never fought before, be wary, Truft not your felfe too much. Silke. Why ? I affure you, Fam very angry. Com. Doe not fuffer, though. The flatuous, windy choUer of your heart, To move the clapper of your underftanding, no Which is the guiding faculty, your reafon: You know not, if you'l fight, or no, being brought Vpo' the place. Silke. O yes, I have imagin'd Him treble arm'd, provok'd too, and as furious As Homer makes Achilles; and I find "5 My felfe not frighted with his fame one jot. Com. Well, yet take heed. Thefe fights imaginary. Are leffe then skirmifhes ; the fight of fhadowes : For fhadowes have their figure, motion And their umbratile action from the reall 120 Pofture, and motion of the bodies act : Whereas (imaginarily) many times. Those men may fight, dare fcarce eye one another. And much leffe meet. But if there be no helpe, Faith I would wifh you, fend him a faire Challenge. 102 I'll] I'd. G 103 inltruct me.] instruct me, sir : G SC. IV] The Magnetic Lady 59 Silk. I will goe pen it prefently. Com. But word it '^s In the moft generous termes. 5*7^. Let me alone. Pra. And lilken phrale : the courtlieft kind of Quarrell. Com. HeH make it a petition for his peace. Pra. O, yes, of right, and hee may doe it by Law. Act III. Scene IV. Rut. Palate, Bias, bringing out Interejt in a Chaire. Item. Polijh following. Rut. Come, bring him out into the aire a little : There fet him downe. Bow him, yet bow him more, Dafh that fame Glaffe of water in his face : Now tweak him by the nofe. Hard, harder yet : If it but call the blood up from the heart, 5 I aske no more. See, what a feare can doe ! Pinch him in the nape of the neck now : nip him, nip him. Ite. He feeles, there's life in him. Pal. He graones, and ftirres. Rut. Tell him the Captaine's gone. Int. Ha ! Pal. He's gone Sir. Rid. Gi' him a box, hard, hard, on his left eare. 10 Int. O ! Rut. How doe you feele your felfe ? Int. Sore, fore. Rut. But where ? Int. V my neck. Rut. I nipt him there. Int. And i' my head. Rut. I box'd him twice, or thrice, to move thofe Sinnewes. Bia. I fweare you did. Pol. What a brave man's 15 a Doctor, 129 [Exeunt. G S. D. Another Room in the Same. Enter Rut— etc. G 8 graones] groans, 1692, f E 6o The Magnetic Lady [ACT III To beat one into health ! I thought his blowes Would eene ha' kild him: hee did feele no more Then a great horle. Int. Is the wild Captaine gone ? That man of murther ? Bia. All is calme and quiet. 2° Int. Say you fo, Cofen Bias ? Then all's well. Pal. How quickly a man is loft! Bia. And foone recover'd ! Pol. Where there are meanes, and Doctors, learned men. And their Apothecaries, who are not now, (As Chawcer fayes) their friendfhip to begin. 25 Well, could they teach each other how to win I' their fwath bands — . Ritt. Leave your Poetry good Goffip. Your Chawcers clouts, and wafh your difhes with 'hem, Wee muft rub up the roots of his difeafe. And crave your peace awhile, or elfe your abfence. 30 Pol. Nay, I know when to hold my peace. Rut. Then do it. Gi' me your hand Sir Moath. Let's feele your pulfe. It is a Purfineffe, a kind of Stoppage, Or tumor o' the Purfe, for want of exercife. That you are troubled with : fome ligatures 3s I'th neck of your Vefica, or Marfupium, Are fo clofe knit, that you cannot evaporate ; And therefore you muft ufe relaxatives. Befide, they fay, you are fo reftive growne, You cannot but with trouble put your hand 40 Into your pocket, to difcharge a reckoning. And this we fonnes of Phyfick doe call chiragra, A kind of Crampe, or Hand-Gout. You fhall purge for't. Ite. Indeed your worf hip f hould doe well to ' advif e him. To clenfe his body, all the three high wayes ; 45 That is, by Sweat, Purge, and Phlebotomy. 23 now,] new SC. rv] The Magnetic Lady 6i Rut. You fay well learned Tim, He firft prefcribe him. To give his purfe a purge once, twice a weeke At Dice, or Cards : And when the weather is open, Sweat at a bowling Alley ; or be let blood I' the lending veine, and bleed a matter of fifty, so Or threefcore ounces at a time. Then put Your thumbs under your Girdle, and have fome body Elfe, pull out your purfe for you, till with more cafe, And a good habit, you can doe it your felfe. And then be fure alwayes to keepe good diet ; ss And h' your table furnifh'd from one end, Vnto the tother : It is good for the eyes, But feed you on one difh ftill, ha' your Diet-drinke, Ever in Bottles ready, which muft come From the Kings-head: I will prefcribe you nothing, 6° But what He take before you mine owne felfe : That is my courfe with all my Patients. Pal. Very methodicall. Secundum Artem. Bia. And very fafe pro captu recipientis. Pol. All errant learned men, how they 'fpute Latine ! 6s Rut. I had it of a Jew, and a great Rabbi, Who every morning caft his cup of White-wine With fugar, and by the refidence i' the bottome. Would make report of any Chronick malady, Such as Sir MoatKs is, being an oppilation, 70 In that you call the neck o' the money bladder, Moft anatomicall, and by diffection. ^"^^^ ^■^rf''- Kee. O Mr, Doctor, and his Pothecary ! Good Mr. Item, and my Miftris Polijh ! 51 — 53 Or three score ounces at a time : then put your thumbs Under your girdle, and have somebody else Pull out your purse for you, till with more ease, G 72 Enter Nurse Keep, hastily. G E2 62 The Magnetic Lady [ACT in 75 Wee need you all above ! Shee's falne againe, In a worfe fit then ever. Pol. Who ? Kee. Your charge. Pol. Come away Gentlemen. Int. This fit with the Doctor, Hath mended me paft expectation. Act III. Scene V. Compaffe. Diaphanous. Practife. Bias. Ironfide. Com. O Sir Diaphanous, ha' you done ? Dia. I ha' brought it. Pra. That's well. Com. But who Ihall carry it now ? Dia. A friend : He find a friend to carry it ; Mr. Bias here Will not deny me that. Bia. What is't ? Dia. To carry 5 A Challenge I have writ unto the Capteine. Bias. Faith but I will Sir, you fhall pardon me For a twi-reafon of State : He beare no Challenges ; I will not hazard my Lords favour fo ; Or forfeit mine owne Judgement with his honour, to To turne a Ruffian : I have to commend me Nought but his Lordfhips good opinion — And to't my Kallygraphy, a faire hand. Fit for a Secretary : Now you know, a mans hand Being his executing part in fight, 15 Is more obnoxious to the common perill — Dia. You fhall not fight Sir, you fhall onely fearch My Antagonift ; commit us fairely there Vpo' the ground on equall termes. Bia. O Sir ! But if my Lord fhould heare I ftood at end 78 [Exeunt all but Bias. G Act . . . Iron/ide.] Enter Compass, sir Diaphanous Silkworm, and Practice. G sc. v] The Magnetic Lady 63 Of any quarrell, 'twere an end of me ^o In a ftate courle ! I ha' read the Pohtiques ; And heard th' opinions of our belt Divines. Com. The Gentleman has reafon! Where was firft The birth of your acquaintance ? or the Cradle Of your stricktfriendf hip made ? Dia. WemetinjPmwc^, Sir. ^s Com. In France ! that Garden of humanity, The very feed-plot of all courtefies : I wonder that your friendfhip fuck'd that aliment, The milke of France ; and fee this fower effect It doth produce, 'gainst all the fweets of travell : 30 There, every Gentleman profeffing armes, Thinkes he is bound in honour to imbrace The bearing of a Challenge for another. Without or queftioning the caufe, or asking Leaft colour of a reafon. There's no Cowardize, 35 No Poultrounerie, like urging why ? wherefore ? But carry a Challenge, die, and doe the thing. Bia. Why, heare you Mr. Compaffe, I but crave Your eare in private ? I would carry his Challenge, If I but hop'd your Captaine angry enough *° To kill him : For (to tell you truth) this Knight, Is an impertinent in Court (wee thinke him :) And troubles my Lords Lodgings, and his Table With frequent, and unneceffary vifits. Which wee (the better fort of Servants) like not : *^ Being his Fellowes in all other places. But at our Mafters boord ; and we disdaine To doe thofe lervile offices, oft times, His foolifh pride, and Empire will exact, Againft the heart, or humour of a Gentleman. s<» Com. Truth Mr. Bias, I'ld not ha' you thinke I fpeake to flatter you: but you are one 37 die, and doe the thing.] do the thing, and die. G 39 private ? [takes him aside.] G 64 The Magnetic Lady [act III O' the deepeft Politiques I ever met, And the moft lubtily rationall. I admire you. 55 But doe not you conceive in luch a cafe, That you are accelfary to his death, From whom you carry a Challenge with luch purpofe. Bia. Sir the corruption of one thing in nature, Is held the Generation of another ; 6° And therefore, I had as leive be acceffory Vnto his death, as to his life. Com. A new Morall Philofophy too ! you'l carry't then. Bia. If I were fure, 't would not incenfe his choller To beat the Meffenger. Com. O' He fecure you, 65 You fhall deliver it in my lodging ; fafely. And doe your friend a fervice worthy thankes. Bia. He venture it, upon fo good Induction, To rid the Court of an Impediment, This baggage Knight. Iro. Peace to you all Gentlemen, Enter Iron- Savc to this Mufhromc ; who I heare is menacing ^"^^' Me with a Challenge : which I come to anticipate, And fave the Law a labour : Will you fight Sir ? Dia. Yes, in my fhirt. Iro. O, that's to fave your doublet ; I know it a Court trick ! you had rather have 75 An Vlcer in your body, then a Pinke More i' your clothes. Dia. Captaine, you are a Coward, If you not fight i' your fhirt. Iro. Sir I not meane To put it off for that, nor yet my doublet : Yo' have caufe to call me Coward, that more feare 8° The ftroke of the common, and life giving aire. Then all your fury, and the Panoplie. Pra. (Which is at beft, but a thin linnen armour.) I thinke a cup of generous wine were better, 66 Enter Ironside. G 73 fhirt.] Throws off his doublet. G 77 you] you'll 1692, f I not meane] I do not mean 1692, f SC. v] The Magnetic Lady 65 Then fighting i' your fhirts. Dia. Sir, Sir, my valour, It is a valour of another nature, 85 Then to be mended by a cup of wine. Com. I fhould be glad to heare of any valours, Differing in kind ; who have knowne hitherto, Only one vertue, they call Fortitude, Worthy the name of valour. Iro. Which, who hath not, 9° Is juftly thought a Coward : And he is fuch. Dia. O, you ha' read the Play there, the New Inne, Of lonjons, that decries all other valour But what is for the publike. Iro. I doe that too, But did not learne it there ; I thinke no valour 95 Lies for a private caufe. Dia. Sir, He redargue you, By difputation. Com. O let's heare this ! I long to heare a man difpute in his fhirt Of valour, and his fword drawne in his hand. Pra. His valour will take cold ; put on your doublet. 1°° Com. His valour will keepe cold, you are deceiv'd ; And relifli much the fweter in our eares : It may be too, i' the ordinance of nature. Their valours are not yet fo combatant. Or truly antagoniftick, as to fight ; ^°5 But may admit to heare of fome divifions, Of Fortitude, may put 'hem off their Quarrell. Dia. I would have no man thinke me fo ungovern'd. Or fubject to my paffion, but I can Reade him a Lecture 'twixt ma undertakings, "<> And executions : I doe know all kinds Of doing the bufines, which the Towne cals valour. Com. Yes, he has read the Towne, Towne-top's his Author ! Your firft ? Dia. Is a rafh head-long unexperience. Com. Which is in Children, Fooles, or your ftreet "5 Gallants O' the firft head. Pra. A pretty kind of valour ! 66 The Magnetic Lady [act hi Com. Commend him, he will fpin it out in 's fhirt, Fine, as that thred. Dia. The next, an indifcreet Prelumption, grounded upon often f capes. "° Com. Or th' infufficiencie of Adverfaries, And this is in your common fighting Brothers. Your old Perdu's, who (after a time) doe thinke, The one, that they are fhot free ; the other, fword free. Your third ? Dia. Is nought but an exceffe of choUer, '25 That raignes in telty old men — . Com. Noble mens Porters, And felfe conceited Poets. Dia. And is rather A peevifhneffe, then any part of valour. Pra. He but reherfes, he concludes no valour. Com. A hiftory of hiftory of diftempers, as they are practiz'd, '30 His Harangue undertaketh, and no more. Your next ? Dia. Is a dull defperate refolving. Com. In cafe of fome neceffitous mifery, or Incumbent mifchiefe. Pra. Narrowneffe of mind, Or ignorance being the root of it. '35 Dia. Which fhou fhall find in Gamefters, quite blowne up. Com. Banckrupt Merchants, undif covered Tray tors. Pra. Or your exemplified Malefactors, That have furviv'd their infamy, and punifhment. Com. One that hath loft his eares, by a juft fentence '40 O' the Starr e-Chamber, a right valiant Knave — And is a Hijtrionicall Contempt, Of what a man feares moft ; it being a mifchiefe In his owne apprehenfion unavoidable. Pra. Which is in Cowards wounded mortally, '45 Or Theeves adjudg'd to die. Com. This is a valour, I fhould defire much to fee incourag'd : As being a fpeciall entertainment For our rogue People ; and make oft good fport Vnto 'hem, from the GaUowes to the ground. I sc. v] The Magnetic Lady 67 Dia. But mine is a Judiciall refolving, ^so Or liberal! undertaking of a danger — . Com. That might be avoided. Dia. I, and with aflurance, That it is found in Noble-men, and Gentlemen, Of the beft Iheafe. Com. Who having lives to lofe. Like private men, have yet a world of honour, ^ss And publike reputation to defend — . Dia. Which in the brave hiftorified Greeks, And Romans you fhall reade of. Com. And (no doubt) May in our Alder-men meet it, and their Deputies, The Souldiers of the Citie, valiant blades, ^^o Who (rather then their houfes fhould be ranfack'd) Would fight it out, like fo many wild beafts ; Not for the fury they are commonly arm'd with: But the clofe manner of their fight, and cuftome, Of joyning head to head, and foot to foot. ^H Iro. And which of thefe fo well-preft relolutions Am I to encounter now ? For commonly. Men that have fo much choife before 'hem, have Some trouble to refolve of any one. Bia. There are three valours yet, which Sir Dia- ^t> phanous, Hath (with his leave) not touch'd. Dia. Yea ? which are thofe ? Pya. He perks at that ! Com. Nay, h3 does more, he chatters. Bia. A Philofophicall contempt of death, Is one : Then an infufed kind of valour. Wrought in us by our Genii, or good fpirits ; 17s Of which the gallant Ethnicks had deepe fenfe : Who generally held, that no great Statef-man, SchoUer, or Souldier, ere did any thing Sine divino aliquo afflatu. Pra. But there's a Chriftian valour, 'bove thefe too. i8<> 68 The Magnetic Lady [act III Bid. Which is a quiet patient toleration, Of whatfoever the malitious world With Injury doth unto you ; and confifts In paffion, more then action, Sir Diaphanous. '85 Dia. Sure, I doe take mine to be Chriltian valour — . Com. You may miftake though. Can you juftifie On any caule, this feeking to deface. The divine Image in a man ? Bia. O Sir ! Let 'hem alone : Is not Diaphanous ^9° As much a divine Image, as is Ironfide ? Let Images fight, if they will fight, a God's name. Act III. Scene VI. To them infer- Kcepe. Needle. Inter eft. vening. Kee. Where's Mr. Needle ? Saw you Mr. Needle ? Wee are undone. Com. What ailes the frantick Nurfe ? Kee. My Miftris is undone, fhee's crjdng out ! Where is this man trow ? Mr. Needle ? Nee. Here. 5 Kee. Run for the party, Mrs. Chaire the Mid-wife. Nay, looke how the man ftands, as he were gok't ! Shee's loft, if you not hafte away the party. Nee. Where is the Doctor ? Kee. "SVhere a fcoffing man is. And his Apothecary, little better ; 10 They laugh, and geere at all : will you dif patch ? And fetch the party quickly to our Miftris : Wee are all undone ! The Timpanie will out elfe. Int. Newes, newes, good newes, better then butter'd newes ! My Neice is found with Child, the Doctor tels me. Act . . . Intere/t.] Enter Nurse Keep hastily. G 4 Needle ?] Enter Needle. G 4 [Takes her aside. G 12 [Exeunt Needle and Keep. Enter sir Moth Interest. G SC. vi] The Magnetic Lady 69 And falne in labour. Com. How ? Int. The portion's ^s paid ! The portion — o' the Captaine ! Is he here ? Exit. Pra. H' has fpi'd your fwords out ! put 'hem up, put up, Yo' have driven him hence ; and yet your quarrel's ended. Iro. In a moft Itrange dilcovery. Pra. Of light gold. Dia. And crack't within the Ring. I take the Omen, '^° As a good Omen. Pra. Then put up your Sword, And on your Doublet. Give the Captaine thankes. Dia. I had beene flur'd elfe. Thanke you noble Captaine : Your quarrelling caus'd all this. Iro. Where's Com- pa/fe ? Pra. Gone, Shrunke hence ; contracted to his Center, I feare. ^j Iro. The flip is his then. Dia. I had like t' have beene Abus'd i' the bufines, had the flip flur'd on me, A Counterfeit. Bias. Sir, we are all abus'd : As many as were brought on to be Suitors ; And we will ]oyne in thankes, all to the Captaine, 3» And to his fortune that fo brought us off. Cko rus. Dam, This was a pittifull poore fhift o' your Poet, Boy, to make his prime woman with child, and faU in labour, juft to compofe a quarrell. Boy. With whofe borrowed eares, have you heard, Sir, all this while, that you can miftake the current of our Scene fo ? The ftreame of the Argument, threatned her being with child from the very beginning, for it 15 How ? [Exit. G [Exit. G 31 [Exeunt. G Chorus."] om. G 70 The Magnetic Lady [ACT III prefented her in the firft of the fecond Act, with fome apparent note of infirmity, or defect : from knowledge '° of which, the Auditory were rightly to bee fufpended by the Author, till the quarrell, which was but the accidentall caufe, haftned on the difcovery of it, in occafioning her affright ; which made her fall into her throwes prefently, and within that compaffe of time allow'd to the Comedy, ^5 wherein the Poet expreft his prime Artifice, rather then any errour, that the detection of her being with child, fhould determine the quarrell, which had produc'd it. Pro. The Boy is too hard for you. Brother Damplay, beft marke the Play, and let him alone. 2° Dam. I care not for marking the Play : He damne it, talke, and doe that I come for. I will not have Gentlemen lofe their priviledge, nor I my felfe my prerogative, for neere an overgrowne, or fuperannuated Poet of 'hem all. Hee fhall not give me the Law ; I will cenfure, and ^5 be witty, and take my Tobacco, and enjoy my Magna Charta of reprehenfion, as my Predeceffors have done before me. Boy. Even to licenfe, and abfurdity. Pro. Not now, becaufe the Gentlewoman is in travell : 30 and the Midwife may come on the fooner, to put her and us out of our paine. Dam. Well, looke to your bufines afterward, Boy, that all things bee cleare, and come properly forth, fuited, and fet together ; for I will fearch what foUowes 35 feverely and to the naile. Boy. Let your naile run fmooth then, and not f cratch : left the Author be bold to pare it to the quick, and make it fmart : you'l find him as fevere as your felfe. 40 Dam. A fhrewd Boy! and has mee every where. The Mid-wife is come, fhe has made hafte. ACT IV, SC. i] The Magnetic Lady 71 c Act nil. Scene I. Chaire. Needle. Keepe. Ha. Stay Mr. Needle, you doe prick too faft Vpo' the bufines : I muft take fome breath ; Lend me my ftoole, you ha' drawne a ftitch upon me. In faith, fonne Needle, with your halte. Nee. Good Mother, peice up this breach ; He gi' you a new Gowne, A new filke-Grogoran Gowne. He do't Mother. Kee. What '11 you doe ? you ha' done too much alread}'- With your prick-Ieame, and through-Ititch. Mr. Needle, I pray you fit not fabling here old tales. Good Mother Chaire, the Mid-wife, but come up. Act nil. Scene II. Compajje. Keepe. Practi/e. Com. How now Nurfe, where's my Lady ? Kee. In her Chamber Lock'd up, I thinke : fhee'll fpeake with no body. Com. Knowes fhee o' this accident ? Kee. Alas Sir, no ; Would fhe might never know it. Pra. I thinke her Ladifhip Too vertuous, and too nobly innocent, 5 To have a hand in fo ill-form 'd a bufines. S. D. A room in lady Loadstone's House. Enter mother Chair, and Needle. G 6 Enter Nurse Keep. G 10 [Exeunt Chair and Needle. G Act . . . Practi/e.] Enter Compass and Prac- tice. G 4 it. [Exit. G 72 The Magnetic Lady [ACT IIII Com. Youi thought Sir is a brave thought, and a lafe one. The child now to be borne is not more free, From the afperlion of all fpot, then fhe ? lo She have her hand in plot, 'gainft Mr. Practije. If there were nothing elfe, whom fhe fo loves ? Cries up, and values ? knowes to be a man Mark'd out, for a chiefe Justice in his cradle ? Or a Lord Paramount ; the head o' the Hall ? '5 The Top, or the Top-gallant of our Law ? Affure your felfe, fhe could not fo deprave. The rectitude of her Judgement, to wifh you Vnto a wife, might prove your Infamy, Whom fhe efteem'd that part o' the Common-wealth, 20 And had up for honour to her blood. Pra. I muft confeffe a great beholdingneffe Vnto her Ladifhips offer, and good wifhes. But the truth is, I never had affection, Or any liking to this Neice of hers. 25 Com. You fore-faw fomewhat then ? Pra. I had my notes. And my Prognof ticks. Com. You read Almanacks, And ftudy 'hem to fome purpofe, I beleeve ? Pra. I doe confeffe, I doe beleeve, and pray too : According to the Planets at fometimes. 30 Com. And doe obferve the figne in making Love ? Pra. As in Phlebotomy. Com. And choofe your Miftris By the good dayes, and leave her by the bad ? Pra. I doe, and I doe not. Com. A little more Would fetch all his Aftronomie from Allejtree. 35 Pra. I tell you Mr. Compajfe, as my friend, And under feale, I caft mine eye long fince, 20 had up] had [raised] up G SC. Il] The Magnetic Lady 73 Vpo' the other wench, my Ladies woman, Another manner of peice for handfomneffe. Then is the Neice (but that is juh figillo, And as I give it you) in hope o' your aid, And counfell in the bufines. Com. You need counfell ? The only famous Counfell, o' the kingdome. And in all Courts ? That is a Jeere in faith. Worthy your name, and your profeffion too, Sharpe Mr. Pradife. Pra. No, upo' my Law. As I am a Bencher, and now double Reader, I meant in meere fimplicity of requeft. Com. If you meant fo. Th' affaires are now per- plex'd. And full of trouble, give 'hem breath, and fetling. He doe my beft. But in meane time doe you Prepare the Par I on. (I am glad to know This ; for my felfe lik'd the young Maid before, And lov'd her too.) Ha' you a Licence? Pra. No; But I can fetch one ftraight. Com. Doe, doe, and mind The Parsons pint t'ingage him — the bufines ; A knitting Cup there muft be. Pra. I fhall doe it. Act IV. Scene III. Bias. Interejt. Compaffe. Bia. Tis an affront, from you Sir ; you here brought me Vnto my Ladies, and to wooe a wife, Which fince is prov'd a crack'd commoditie ; Shee hath broke bulke too foone. Int. No fault of mine, If fhe be crack'd in peeces, or broke round ; 46 I am] I'm W 53 too [Aside.] G 55 —the bu- fines ;] in the business. W, f 56 [Exit. G Act . . . Compa/fe.'] Enter Bias, and sir Moth Interest. G 74 The Magnetic Lady [ACT rv It was my filters fault, that ownes the houfe, Where fhe hath got her clap, makes all this noife. I keepe her portion fafe, that is not fcatter'd : The money's rattle not ; nor are they throwne, »° To make a Muffe, yet 'mong the gamefome Suitors. Com. Can you endure that flout, clofe Mr. Bias, And have beene fo bred in the Politiques ? The injury is done you, and by him only ; He lent you impreft money, and upbraids it : »5 Furnifh'd you for the wooing, and now waves you, Bia. That makes me to expoftulate the wrong So with him, and refent it as I doe. Com. But doe it home then. Bia. Sir, my Lord Ihall know it. Com. And all the Lords o' the Court too. Bia. What a Moath =o You are Sir Intereft ! Int. Wherein I intreat you, Sweet Mafter Bias ? Com. To draw in young Statef-men, And heires of policie into the noofe Of an infamous matrimonie. Bia. Yes. Infamous, quasi in communem famam : ^5 And Matrimony, quaji, matter of Money. Com. Learnedly urg'd, my cunning Mr. Bias. Bia. With his lewd, knowne, and proftituted Neice. Int. My knowne, and proftitute : how you miftake. And run upon a falfe ground, Mr. Bias ! 30 (Your Lords will doe me right.) Now, fhe is proftitute, And that I know it (pleafe you underftand me.) I meane to keepe the portion in my hands : And pay no monies. Com. Marke you that Don Bias ? And you fhall ftill remaine in bonds to him, 35 For wooing furniture, and impreft charges. Int. Good Mr. Compajfe, for the fummes he has had Of me, I doe acquit him : They are his owne. Here, before you, I doe releale him. Com. Good ! SC. iv] The Magnetic Lady 75 Bia. O Sir. Com. 'Slid take it : I doe witneffe it : Hee cannot hurle away his money better. Int. He fhall get fo much Sir, by my acquaintance, To be my friend : And now report to his Lords As I delerve no otherwife. Com. But well : And I will witneffe it, and to the value ; Foure hundred is the price, if I miftake not. Of your true friend in Court, Take hands, you ha' bought him, And bought him cheap. Bia. I am his worfhips fervant. Com. And you his flave, Sir Moath. Seal'd, and deliver'd. Ha' you not ftudied the Court Complement ? Here are a paire of Humours, reconcil'd now. That money held at diftance : or their thoughts, Bafer then money. Act IV. Scene IV. Polish. Keepe. Compajfe. Pol. Out thou catife witch ! Baud, Beggar, Gipfey : Anything indeed. But honeft woman. Kce. What you pleafe, Dame Polijh, My Ladies Stroaker. Com. What is here to doe ? The Goffips out ! Pol. Thou art a Tray tor to me. An Eve, the Apul, and the Serpent too : A Viper, that haft eat a paffage through me. Through mine owne bowels, by thy ret chief neffe. Com. What frantick fit is this ? He ftep afide And hearken to it. Pol. Did I truft thee, wretch, 49 [Exeunt Sir Moth and Bias. G Act . . . Compaffe.} Enter Polish driving in Nurse Keep. G 5 out ! [Aside. G ID it. [Retires. G F 76 The Magnetic Lady [act iv With fuch a fecret, of that confequence, Did lo conceme me, and my child, our hvehhood, And reputation ? And haft thou undone us ? By thy connivence, nodding in a corner, 15 And fuffering her begot with child fo bafely ? Sleepie unlucky Hag ! Thou bird of night, And all mif chance to me. Kee. Good Lady Empreffe ! Had I the keeping of your Daughters clicket In charge ? was that committed to my truft ? =0 Com. Her Daughter ? Pol. Softly Divell, not fo low'd, You'ld ha' the houfe heare, and be witneffe, would you ? Kee. Let all the world be witneffe. Afore lie Endure the Tyrannic of fuch a tongue — And fuch a pride — . Pol. What will you doe ? Kee. Tell truth, 25 And fhame the She-man-Divell in puff 'd fleeves ; Run any hazzard, by revealing all Vnto my Lady : how you chang'd the cradles, And chang'd the children in 'hem. Pol. Not fo high ! Kee. Calling your Daughter Pleajance, there Pla- centia, 30 And my true Miftris by the name of Pleajance. Com. A horrid fecret, this ! worth the difcovery ; Pol. And muft you be thus lowd ? Kee. I will be lowder : And cry it through the houfe, through every roome, And every office of the Lawndry-maids : 35 Till it be borne hot to my Ladies eares. Ere I will live in fuch a flavery. He doe away my felfe. Pol. Didft thou not fweare To keepe it fecret ? and upon what booke ? (I doe remember now) The Practice of Piety. 20 Daughter ? [Aside. G sc. v] The Magnetic Lady yy Kee. It was a practice of impiety, 4° Out of your wicked forge, I know it now, My confcience tels me. Firft, againlt the Infants, To rob them o' their names, and their true parents ; T' abufe the neighbour-hood, keepe them in errour ; But moft my Lady : Shee has the maine wrong : +s And I wil let her know it inftantly. Repentance, (if it be true) nere comes too late. Pol. What have I done ? Conjur'd a fpirit up I fha' not lay againe ? drawne on a danger, And ruine on my felfe thus, by provoking s<» A peevifh foole, whom nothing will pray of. Or fatisfie I feare ? Her patience ftirr'd, Is tum'd to fury. I have run my Barke, On a fweet Rock, by mine owne arts, and truft : And muft get off againe, or dafh in peeces. 55 Com. This was a bufines, worth the liftning after. Act nil. Scene V. Pleajance. Compaffe. Pie. O Mr. Compaffe, did you fee my Mother ? Miftris Placentia, my Ladies Neice ; Is newly brought to bed o' the braveft boy ! Will you goe fee it ? Com. Firft, He know the father. Ere I approach thefe hazards. Pie. Miftris Midwife Has promis'd to find out a father for it. If there be need. Com. Shee may the fafelier do't. By vertue of her place. But pretty Pleafance, I have a newes for you, I thinke will pleafe you. 47 [Exit. G 51 of,] off 1692, f 55 [Exit. G 56 Com. [coming forward.] G Act . . . Compa/je.] Enter Pleasance. G F2 78 The Magnetic Lady [ACT rv '° Pie. What is't Mr. Compa/fe ? Com. Stay, you muft Delerve it ere you know it. Where's my Lady ? Pie. Retir'd unto her Chamber, and fhut up. Com. She heares o' none o' this 3/et ? well, doe you Command the Coach ; and fit your felfe to travell ^s A little way with me. Pie. Whither, for Gods fake ? Com. Where He intreat you not to your loffe, beleeve it. If you dare truft yourfelfe. Pie. With you the world ore. Com. The newes will well requite the paines, I affure you. And i' this tumult you will not be mift. 2° Command the Coach, it is an inftant bufines, Wu' not be done without you. Parfon Palate Moft opportunely met, ftep to my Chamber : He come to you prefently. There is a friend. Or two, will entertaine you. Mr. Practije, =5 Ha' you the Licence ? Act IV. Scene VL Practije. Compa/fe. Pleafance. Palate. Pra. Here it is. Com. Let's fee it : Your name's not in't. Pra. He fill that prefently ; It has the Scale, which is the maine: And regiftred, The Clarke knowes me, and trufts me. Com. Ha' you the Parfon ? Pra. They fay hee's here, he' pointed to come hither. Com. I would not have him feene here for a world. To breed fupition. Doe you intercept him, 21 you. [Exit Pleasance. G [Enter Palate. G 24 you. Exit Palate. G Enter Practice. G Act . . . Palate.] om. G SC. Vl] The Magnetic Lady 79 And prevent that. But take your Licence with you, And fill the blanke : or leave it here with me, He doe it for you, ftay you with us at his Church, ^° Behind the old Exchange, we'll come i' th Coach, And meet you there within this Quarter at leaft. Pra. I am much bound unto you, Mr. Compajfe, You have all the Law, and parts of Squire Practije For ever at your ufe. He tell you newes, too : 's Sir, your Reverlion's fall'n : Thin-wits dead. Surveyor of the Projects generall. Com. When died he ? Pra. Eene this morning, I receiv'd it From a right hand. Com. Conceale it Mr. Practije, And mind the maine affaire, you are in hand with. ^o Pie. The Coach is ready Sir. Com. 'Tis well faire Pleajance, Though now wee Ihall not ufe it ; bid the Coach-man Drive to the Parifh Church, and ftay about there. Till Mr. Practije come to him, and imploy him : I have a Licence now, which muft have entry =5 Before my Lawyers. Noble Parjon Palate, Thou fhalt be a marke advanc't : here's a peece, And doe a feat for me. Pal. What, Mr. Compajje ? Com. But run the words of Matrimony, over My head, and Mrs. Pleajances in my Chamber : 3° There's Captaine Ironjide to be a witneffe : And here's a Licence to fecure thee. Parjon ! What doe you ftick at ? Pal. It is after-noone Sir, Directly againft the Canon of the Church ; You know it Mr. Compajje : and befide, 35 I am ingag'd unto our worfhipfuU friend, The learned Mr. Practije in that bufines. 10 with] for 1716, f 20 [Exit Practice. G Re-enter Pleas- ance. G 24 [Exit Pleasance. G 26 Lawyers.] Re-enter Pa- late. G 27 [Gives him money. G 8o The Magnetic Lady [act illl Com. Come on, ingage your felfe : Who fhall be able To fay you married us, but i' the morning, 40 The molt canonicall minute o' the day. If you affirme it ? That's a fpic'd excufe, And fhewes you have fet the Common Law, before Any profeffion elfe, of love, or friendfhip. Come Mrs. Pleafance, wee cannot prevaile 45 "With th' rigid Par /on here ; but Sir, He keepe you Lock'd in my lodging, 'till't be done elfewhere. And under feare of Ironjide. Pal. Doe you heare. Sir ? Com. No, no, it matters not. Pal. Can youthinke Sir I would deny you anything ? not to loffe 5» Of both my Livings : I will doe it for you, Ha' you a wedding Ring ? Com. I and a Poefie : Annulus hie nobis, quod jcit uterq ; dahit. Pal. Good ! This Ring will give you what you both defire. He make the whole houfe chant it, and the Parifh. 55 Com. Why, well faid Par f on. Now to you my newes, That comprehend my reafons, Mrs. Pleafance. Act Iin. Scene VII. Chaire. Needle. Poli/h. Keepe. Cha. Goe, get a Nurfe, procure her at what rate You can : and out o' th' houfe with it, fonne Needle. It is a bad Commoditie. Nee. Good Mother, I know it, but the beft would now be made on't. Cha. And fhall : you fhould not fret fo, Mrs. Polifh, Nor you Dame Keepe ; my Daughter fhall doe well, 42 Common] Canon 1692, f 43 Re-enter Pleasance. G 56 [Exeunt. G Act . . . Keepe.] Scene II. Another Room in the Same. Enter Mother Chair with a child, PoUsh, Keep, and Needle. G 4 [Exit with the child. G SC. VII] The Magnetic Lady 8i When fhe has tane my Cawdle. I ha' knowne Twenty fuch breaches piec'd up, and made whole, Without a bum of noife. You two fall out ? And teare up one another. Pol. Blelfed woman ? ^^^ Blejt be the Peace maker. Kee. The Peafe-dreffer ! He heare no peace from her. I have beene wrong'd So has my Lady, my good Ladies worlhip, And I will right her, hoping fhee'll right me. Pol. Good gentle Keepe, I pray thee Miftris Nurfe, ^s Pardon my paffion, I was mifadvis'd. Be thou yet better, by this grave fage woman. Who is the Mother of Matrons, and great perlons, And knowes the world. Kee. I doe confeffe, fhe knowes Something — and I know fomething — . Pol. Put your 2° fomethings Together then. Cha. I, here's a chance falne out You cannot helpe ; leffe can this Gentlewoman ; I can and will, for both. Firft, I have fent By-chop away ; the caufe gone, the fame ceafeth. Then by my Cawdle, and my Cullice, I fet «5 My Daughter on her feet, about the houfe here : Shee's young, and muft ftirre fomewhat for neceffity. Her youth will beare it out. She fhall pretend, T' have a fit o' the Mother : there is all. If you have but a Secretary Landreffe, 30 To blanch the Linnen — Take the former counfels Into you ; keepe them fafe i' your owne brefts ; And make your Merkat of 'hem at the higheft. Will you goe peach, and cry your felfe a foole At Granam's Croffe ? be laugh'd at, and difpis'd ? 35 Betray a purpofe, which the Deputie Of a double Ward, or fcarce his Alderman, With twelve of the wifeft Queftmen could find out, Imployed by the Authority of the Citie ? Come, come, be friends : and keepe thefe women-matters, 4<» 82 The Magnetic Lady [ACT IV Smock-fecrets to our felves, in our owne verge. We Ihall marre all, if once we ope the myfteries O' the Tyring-houfe, and tell what's done within : No Theaters are more cheated with apparances, ^5 Or thefe fhop-lights, then th' Ages, and folke in them. That leeme molt curious. Pol. Breath of an Oracle ! You Ihall be my deare Mother ; wifeft woman That ever tip'd her tongue, with point of reafons. To turne her hearers ! Miltris Keepe, relent, 5° I did abufe thee ; I confeffe to pannance : And on my knees aske thee forgiveneffe. Cha. Rife, She doth begin to melt, I fee it — . Kee. Nothing Griev'd me fo much, as when you call'd me Baud : Witch did not trouble me, nor Gipfie ; no 55 Nor Beggar. But a Baud, was fuch a name ! Cha. No more rehearfals ; Repetitions Make things the worfe: The more wee ftirre (you know The Proverbe, and it fignifies a) ftink. What's done, and dead, let it be buried. 6o New houres wiU fit frefh handles, to new thoughts. Act IV. Scene VIII. Interejt, with his Foot-boy. To them Compaffe. Iron- fide. Silkeworme. Palate. Pleafance. To them the Lady : and after Practi/e. Int. Run to the Church, Sirrah. Get all the Drunkards To ring the Bels, and jangle them for joy My Neice hath brought an Heire unto the houfe. A lufty boy. Where's my lifter Load/tone ? 51 forgivenelle. [kneels. G 60 Exeunt. G Act . . . Prac- ti/e. Scene III. Another Room in the Same. Enter sir Moth Interest, and Servant. G 4 boy. [Exit Servant.] G 4 Enter lady Loadstone. G SC, VIII] The Magnetic Lady 83 Afleepe at aftemoones ! It is not wholefome ; s Againft all rules of Phyfick, Lady filter. The little Doctor will not like it. Our Neice Is new deliver'd of a chopping Child, Can call the Father by the name already, If it but ope the mouth round. Mr. Compafle, "> He is the man, they fay, fame gives is out. Hath done that Act of honour to our houfe, And friendfhip to pompe out a Sonne, and Heire, That fhall inherit nothing, furely nothing From me at leaft. I come t' invite your Ladifhip »s To be a witneffe ; I will be your Partner, And give it a horne-fpoone, and a treene difh ; Baftard, and Beggars badges, with a blanket For Dame the Doxey to march round the Circuit, With bag, and baggage. Com. Thou malitious Knight, »°^ Envious Sir Moath, that eates on that which feeds thee, And frets her goodneffe, that fuftaines the being ; What company of Mankind would owne thy brother- hood, But as thou haft a title to her blood. Whom thy ill nature hath chofe out t' infult on, as And vexe thus, for an Accident in her houfe. As if it were her crime ! Good innocent Lady, Thou fhew'ft thy felfe a true corroding Vermine, Such as thou art. Int. Why, gentle Mr. Compafje ? Because I wifh you joy of your young Sonne, 3° And Heire to the houfe, you ha' lent us ? Com. I ha' fent you ? I know not what I fhall doe. Come in friends : Madam, I pray you be pleas'd to truft your felfe Vnto our company. Lad. I did that too late : 13 pompe] pump 1716, f 15 lealt.] Enter Compass. G 32 Enter Ironside, sir Diaphanous Silkworm, Palate, and Plea- sance. G 84 The Magnetic Lady [ACT rv 35 Which brought on this calamity upon me, With all the infamy I heare ; your Souldier, That fwaggering Gueft. Com. Who is retum'd here to you, Your vowed friend, and fervant ; comes to fup with you, So wee doe all ; and'U prove he hath deferv'd, 40 That fpeciall refpect, and favour from you. As not your fortunes, with your felfe to boote, Caft on a Feather-bed, and fpread o' th' fheets Vnder a brace of your beft Perfian Carpets, Were fcarce a price to thanke his happy merit. 45 Int. What impudence is this ? can you indure To heare it filter ? Com. Yes, and you fhall heare it ; Who will indure it worfe. What deferves he In your opinion. Madam, or weigh'd Judgement, That, things thus hanging (as they doe in doubt) 50 Sufpended, and fufpected, all involv'd, And wrapt in errour, can refolve the knot ? Redintigrate the fame, firft of your houfe ? Reftore your Ladifhips quiet ? render then Your Neice a Virgin, and unvitiated ? 5s And make all plaine, and perfect (as it was) A practife to betray you, and your name ? Int. Hee fpeakes impoffibilities. Com. Here he f tands, Whofe fortune hath done this, and you muft thanke him : To what you call his fwaggering, wee owe all this. ■So And that it may have credit with you Madam, Here is your Neice, whom I have married, witneffe Thefe Gentlemen, the Knight, Captaine, and Parson, And this grave Politique Tell-troth of the Court. Lad. What's fhe that I call Neice then ? Com. Polifhes Daughter ; 65 Her Mother Goodwy' Polijh hath confeff'd it To Granam Keepe, the Nurfe, how they did change The children in their Cradles. Lad. To what purpofe ? SC. vill] The Magnetic Lady 85 Com. To get the portion, or fome part of it, Which you muft now disburle intire to me, Sir, If I but gaine her Ladifhips confent. 70 Lad. I bid God give you joy, if this be true. Com. As true it is, Lady, Lady, i' th' fong. The portion's mine, with intereft Sir Moath ; I will not 'bate 370U a fingle Harrington, Of intereft upon intereft. In meane time, 75 I doe commit you to the Guard of Ironfide. My brother here, Captaine Rudhudibras : From whom I will expect you, or your Ranfome. Int. Sir you muft prove it, and the poffibility, Ere I beleeve it. Com. For the poffibility, 8° I leave to triall. Truth fhall fpeake it felfe. O Mr. Practi/e, did you meet the Coach ? Pra. Yes Sir, but empty. Com. Why, I fent it for you. The bulines is difpatch'd here, ere you come ; Come in, lie tell you how : you are a man 85 Will looke for fatisfaction, and muft have it. All. So doe wee all, and long to heare the right. Chorus. Dam. Troth, I am one of thofe that labour with the fame longing, for it is almoft pucker'd, and pull'd into that knot, by your Poet, which I cannot eafily, with all the ftrength of my imagination, untie. Boy. Like enough, nor is it in your office to be troubled or perplexed with it, but to fit ftiU, and expect. The more your imagination bufies it felfe, the more it is intangled, efpecially if (as I told, in the beginning) you happen on the wrong end. 81 triall.] Enter Practice. G 87 [Exeunt. G Chorus.] om. G 86 The Magnetic Lady [ACT IV ^° Pro. He hath laid fufficient, Brother Damplay ; our parts that are the Spectators, or fhould heare a Comedy, are to await the proceffe, and events of things, as the Poet prelents them, not as wee would corruptly fafhion them. Wee come here to behold Playes, and cenfure them, ^5 as they are made, and fitted for us ; not to beflave our owne thoughts, with cenforious fpitle tempering the Poets clay, as wee were to mould every Scene anew : That were a meere Plaftick, or Potters ambition, moft unbecomming the name of a Gentleman. No, let us =^° marke, and not lofe the bufines on foot, by talking. Follow the right thred, or find it. Dam. Why, here his Play might have ended, if hee would ha' let it : and have fpar'd us the vexation of a jift Act yet to come, which every one here knowes the »5 iffue of already, or may in part conjecture. Boy. That conjecture is a kind of Figure-flinging, or throwing the Dice, for a meaning was never in the Poets purpofe perhaps. Stay, and fee his laft Act, his Cataftrophe, how hee will perplexe that, or fpring fome ?° frefh cheat, to entertaine the Spectators, with a convenient delight, till fome unexpected, and new encounter breake out to rectifie all, and make good the Conclujion. Pro. Which, ending here, would have fhowne dull, flat, and unpointed ; without any fhape, or fharpeneffe, r:. Brother Damplay. Dam. Well, let us expect then : And wit be with us, o' the Poets part. SC. l] The Magnetic Lady 87 Act V. Scene I. Needle. Item. Nee. n[^Roth Mr. Item, here's a houfe divided, J- And quarter'd into parts, by your Doctors ingine. H' has caft out Inch afperfions on my Ladies Neice here, of having had a Child ; as hardly Will be wip'd off, I doubt. Ite. Why, is't not true ? Nee. True ! did you thinke it ? Ite. Was fhee not in labour ? The Mid-wife lent for ? Nee. There's your errour now ! Yo' ha' drunke o' the fame water. Item. I beleev'd it, And gave it out too. Nee. More you wrong'd the party ; She had no fuch thing about her, innocent creature ! I em. What had fhe then ? only a fit o' the Mother ! They burnt old fhoes, Goofe-feathers, A/fafcetida, A few home fhavings, with a bone, or two. And fhe is well againe, about the houfe ; — Ite. Is't poffible ? Nee. See it, and then report it. Ite. Our Doctors Vrinall- Judgement is halfe crack'd then. Nee. Crack't i' the cafe, moft hugely, with my Lady, And fad Sir Moath, her brother ; who is now Vnder a cloud a little. Ite. Of what ? Difgrace ? Nee. He is committed to Rud-hudibras. ■■ The Captaine Ironjide, upon difpleafure, From Mr. Compajje, but it will blow off. Ite. The Doctor fhall reverfe his, inftantly, And fet all right againe : of you'll affift But in a toy ; Squire Needle, comes i' my nodle now. S. D. A Room in lady Loadstone's House. Enter Needle and Item. G 11 then ? [Nee.] 171 6, f 88 The Magnetic Lady [act V Nee. Good, Needle and Nodle ! what may 't be ? I long for't. Ite. Why, but to goe to bed : faine a diftemper Of walking i' your fleepe, or talking in't A little idly, but lo much, as on' it, 3° The Doctor may have ground, to raife a cure For's reputation. Nee. Any thing, to ferve The worfhip o' the man I love and honour. Act V. Scene II. Polifh. Pleafance. Chaire. Placentia. Keepe. Pol. O ! gi' you joy Madamoijelle Compa/fe ! You are his Whirle-poole now : all to be married, Againft your Mothers leave, and without counfell ! H' has fifh'd faire, and caught a Frog, I feare it. 5 What fortune ha' you to bring him in dower ? You can tell Itories now : you know a world Of lecrets to difcover. Pie. I know nothing But what is told me ; nor can I difcover Anything. Pol. No, you fhaU not, He take order, lo Goe, get you in there : It is Ember-weeke ! He keepe you fafting from his flefh a while. Cha. See, who's here ? fhe 'has beene with my Lady ; who kift her, all to kift her, twice or thrice. Nee. And caU'd her Neice againe, and view\i her Linnen. 32 [Exeunt. G Act . . . Keepe.] Scene II. Another Room in the Same. Enter Polish and Pleasance. G 10 there : [Exit Pleasance.] G 11 Enter Chair and Keep with Placentia. G 12, 13 See, who's here ? Ihe' has beene with my Lady ; / who kilt her, all to kilt her, twice or thrice. 1692. who] Who 1716. See who is here ? she has been with my lady. Who kist her, all-to-be-kist her, twice or thrice. W, f sc. in] The Magnetic Lady 89 Pol. You ha' done a Miracle, Mother Chaire. Cha. Not I, My Cawdle has done it. Thanke my Cawdle heartily. »5 Pol. It fhall be thank'd, and you too, wileft Mother ; You fhall have a new, brave foure-pound Beaver hat. Set with enamell'd ftuds, as mine is here : And a right paire of Criftall Spectacles, Criftall o' th' Rock, thou mighty Mother of Dames, ^o Hung in an Ivory Cafe, at a gold Belt, And filver Bels to gingle, as you paffe Before your fiftie Daughters in proceffion To Church, or from the Church. Cha. Thankes Mrs. Polifh. Kee. She does deferve as many penfions, *s As there be peeces in a — Maiden-head ; Were I a Prince to give 'hem. Pol. Come fweet Charge, You fhall prefent your f elfe about the houfe, be confident, and beare up ; you fhall be feene. Act V. Scene III. Compa/fe. Ironjide. Practije. Com. What ? I can make you amends, my learned Counfell, And fatisfie a greater Injury To chafed Mr. Practife. Who would thinke That you could be thus teftie ? Iro. A grave head ! Gi'n over to the ftudy of our Lawes. Com. And the prime honours of the Common-wealth. 28, 29 You shall present your self about the House ; Be confident, and bear up; you shall be seen. 1716, f 30 [Exeunt. G Act . . . Pracfi/e.] Scene III. Another Room in the Same. Enter Compass, Ironside, and Practice. G 90 The Magnetic Lady [act v Iro. And you to mind a wife. Com. What fhould you doe With fuch a toy as a wife, that might diftract you, Or hinder you i' your Courfe ? Iro. He shall not thinke on't. *o Com. I will make over to you my Poffeffion, Of that fame place is falne (you know) to fatisfie Surveyor of the Projects generall. Iro. And that's an office, you know how to ftirre in. Com. And make your profits of. Iro. Which are (indeed) "s The ends of a gown'd man : Shew your activity, And how you are built for bufines. Pra. I accept it As a Po/felsion, be't but a Reverfion. Com. You firft told me 'twas a Poffeffion. Pra. I, I told you that I heard fo. Iro. All is one, 20 Hee'U make Reverfion a Pojfefsion quickly. Com. But I muft have a generall Releafe from you. Pra. Doe one. He doe the other. Com. It's a match Before my brother Ironfide. Pra. 'Tis done. Com. Wee two are reconcil'd then. Iro. To a Lawyer, 25 That can make ufe of a place, any halfe title, Is better then a wife. Com. And will fave charges Of Coaches, Vellute Gownes, and cut-worke Smocks. Iro. Hee is to occupie an office wholly. Com. True, I muft talke with you neerer, Mr. Prac- tife, 3^ About recovery o' my wives portion. What way I were beft to take. Pra. The plaineft way. Cow. What's that, for plaineneffe ? Pra. Sue him at Common-Law : Arresft him on an Action of Choke-baile, Five hundred thoufand pound ; it will affright him, SC. iv] The Magnetic Lady 91 And all his lureties. You can prove your marriage ? ss Com. Yes. Wee'll talke of it within, and heare my Lady. Act V. Scene IV. Intereft. Lady. Rut. Item. Int. V am lure, the Rogue o' the houfe went all that way; She was with Child, and Mr. Compafje got it. Lad. Why, that you fee, is manifeftly falfe, H' has married the other ; our true Neice he fayes : He would not wooe 'hem both : hee is not fuch s A Stallion, to leape all. Againe, no Child Appeares, that I can find with all my fearch, And ftricteft way of Inquiry, I have made Through all my family. A fit o' the Mother, The women fay fhe had, which the Mid-wife cur'd, 1° With burning bones and feathers : Here's the Doctor. Enter Doctor. Int. O noble Doctor, did not you, and your Item, Tell me our Neice was in labour ? Rut. If I did, What followes ? Int. And that Mother Mid-night Was fent for ? Rut. So fhe was : and is i' the houfe 's ftill. Int. But here has a noife beene fince, fhe was deliver'd Of a brave boy, and Mr. Compaffe's getting. Rut. I know no rattle of Goffips, not their noyfes. I hope you take not me for a Pimpeerrant, To deale in fmock Affaires ? Where's the Patient ? 2° The infirme man, I was fent for. Squire Needle ? 36 [Exeunt. G Act . . . Item.'] Scene IV. Another Room in the Same. Enter sir Moth Interest, and lady Loadstone. G I Rogue] vogue 1716, f Cunningham suggests ' voice.' I I feathers :] Enter Rut. G G g2 The Magnetic Lady [act v Lad. Is Needle lick ? Rut. My 'Pothecary tels me E»ter Tim. Hec is in danger ; how is't Tim ? where is he ? Ite. I cannot hold him downe. Hee's up, and walkes, 25 And talkes in his perfect fleepe, with his eyes fhut, As fenlibly, as he were broad awake. Rut. See, here he comes. Hee's faft afleepe, obferve him. Rut. Hee'll tell us wonders : What doe thefe women here ? Act V. Scene V. Rut. Needle. Interejt. Item. Lady. Polijh. Chaire. Keefe. Placentia. Hunting a man halfe naked ? you are fine beagles ! You'd have his doufets. Nee. I ha' linnen breeks on. Rut. He heares, but hee fees nothing. Nee. Yes, I fee Who hides the treafure yonder. Int. Ha ? what treafure ? 5 Rut. If you aske queftions, he 'wakes prefently : And then you'l heare no more, till his next fit. Nee. And whom fhe hides it for. Rut. Doe you marke Sir ? lift. Nee. A fine fhe fpirit it is, an Indian Mag-pie. She was an Aldermans Widow, and fell in love ^° With our Sir Moath, my Ladies brother. Rut. (Heare you ?) Nee. And fhe has hid an Aldermans eftate ; Dropt through her bill in httle holes, i' the Garden, And fcrapes earth over 'hem ; where none can fpy 23 danger;] Enter Item G 27 Enter Needle, followed by Polish, Chair, Keep, and Placentia. Act . . . Placentia.'] om. G SC. v] The Magnetic Lady 93 But I, who fee all by the Glowormes light, That creeps before. Pol. I knew the Gentlewoman ; 's Alderman Parrots Widow, a fine Speaker, As any was i' the Clothing, or the Bevy ; She did become her fcarlet, and black Velvet, Her greene, and purple — . Rut. Save thy colours, Rainebow, Or fhe will run thee over, and all thy lights, 2° Pol. She dwelt in Doo-little Lane, a top o' the hill there ; I' the round Cage, was after Sir Chime Squirr ell's. Shee would eate nought but Almonds, I affure you. Rut. Would thou had'ft a dofe of pilles, a double dofe, O' the beft purge, to make thee turne tale, tother way. =5 Pol. You are a foule mouth'd, purging, abfurd Doctor ; I tell you true, and I did long to tell it you. You ha' fpread a fcandall i' my Ladies houfe here, On her fweet Neice, you never can take off With all your purges, or your plaifter of Oathes ; 30 Though you diftill your Dam-me, drop by drop, r your defence. That fhe hath had a Child, Here fhe doth fpit upon thee, and defie thee ; Or I do't for her. Rut. Madam, pray you bind her To her behaviour. Tye your Goffip up, 35 Or fend her unto Beflem. Pol. Goe thou thither, That better haft deferv'd it, fhame of Doctors : Where could fhe be deliver'd ? by what charme ? Reftor'd to her ftrength fo foone ? who is the Father ? Or where the Infant ? Aske your Oracle, *° That walkes, and talkes in his fleepe. Rut. Where is he ? gone ? You ha' loft a fortune liftning to her, to her Tabour. 15 before. [Exeunt Needle, Chair, Keep, and Placentia. G 42 You ha' lost a fortune, list'ning to her tabor. W, f 42 [Aside to sir Moth. G G2 94 The Magnetic Lady [act V Good Madam lock her up. Lad. You muft give loofers Their leave to fpeake, good Doctor. Rut. Follow his footing 45 Before he get to his bed : This reft is loft elfe. Act V. Scene VI. Compa/fe. Practife. Ironfide. Polifh. Lady. Com. Where is my wife ? what ha' you done with my wife, Goffip o' the Counfels. Pol. I, fweet Mr. Compaffe ? I honour you, and your wife. Com. Well, doe fo ftill. I will not call you Mother tho', but Polifh. 5 Good Goffip Polifh, where ha' you hid my wife ? Pol. I hide your wife ? Com. Or fhe's run away. Lad. That would make all fufpected. Sir, a frefh. Come we will find her, if fhe be i' the houfe. Pol. Why fhould I hide your wife, good Mr. Com- paffe ? lo Com. I know no caufe, but that you are goo'dy Polifh, That's good at malice ; good at mifchiefe ; all That can perplexe, or trouble a bufines, throughly. Pol. You may fay what you will : yo' are Mr. Com- paffe, And carry a large fweep. Sir, i' your Circle. 15 Lad. He fweep all comers, Goffip, to fpring this. If't be above ground, I will have her cry'd. By the Common-cryer, through all the Ward, But I will find her. Iro. It will be an Act Worthy your juftice, Madam. Pra. And become 2o The integrity, and worfhip of her name. 45 [Exeunt Rut and sir Moth. G Act . . . Lady.] Enter Compass, Practice, and Ironside. G 20 [Exeunt. G sc. viii] The Magnetic Lady 95 Act V. Scene VII. Rut. I titer eft. Item. Needle. Rut. 'Tis fuch a Fly, this Golfip, with her buz, Shee blowes on every thing, in every place ! Int. A bufie woman, is a fearefull grievance ! Will hee not fleepe againe ? Rut. Yes inltantly, As foone as he is warme. It is the nature 5 Of the difeale, and all thefe cold dry fumes. That are melancholicke, to worke at firft. Slow, and infenfibly in their afcent. Till being got up, and then diftilling downe Vpo' the braine ; they have a pricking quality ^° That breeds this reltleffe reft, which we, the fonnes Of Phyfick, call a walking in the fleepe. And telling myfteries, that muft be heard. Softly, with art, as we were fowing pillowes Vnder the Patients elbowes, elfe they'd fly ^s Into a phrenfie, run into the Woods, Where there are Noifes, huntings, fhoutings, hallowings, Amidft the brakes, and furzes, over bridges FaU into waters : Scratch their flefh : Sometimes Drop downe a praecipice, and there be loft. 20 How now ! what does her ? Ite. He is up againe. And 'gins to talke. Int. O' the former matter, Item ? -Enter item. Ite. The treafure, and the Lady : That's his argument. Int. O mee, happy man ! he cannot off it. I fhaU know all then. Rut. With what appetite ^s Our owne defires delude us ! Heare you Tim ? Let no man interrupt us. Ite. Sir Diaphanous, And Mr. Bias, his Court-friend's, defire Act . . . Needle.'] Scene V. Another Room in the Same. Enter Rut and sir Moth Interest. G 20 Enter Item. G 24 O me [most] happy man ! G 26 us ! [Aside.] G g6 The Magnetic Lady [act v To kiffe his Neices hands, and gratulate 3° The finne recovery of her good fame, And honour — Int. Good, fay to 'hem, Mr. Item, My Neice is on my Ladies fide : they'll find her there. I pray to be but fpar'd for halfe an houre : He fee 'hem prefently. Rut. Doe, put 'hem off, Tim. 35 And tell 'hem the importance of the bufines. Here, he is come ! footh ; and have all out of him. Nee. How doe you Lady-bird ? fo hard at worke, ftill ? What's that you fay ? Doe you bid me walke, fweet Bird? And tell our Knight ? I will. How ? walke knave, walke ? 40 I thinke y' are angry with me Pol. Fine Pol ! PoVs a fine bird ! O fine Lady Pol ! Almond for Parrat ; Parrat's a brave bird : Three hundred thoufand peeces ha' you ftuck, Edge-long into the ground, within the Garden ? 45 O 'bounteous Bird ! Int. And me, moft happy creature. Rut. Smother your joy. Nee. How ? and drop'd twice fo many — Int. Ha ! where ? Rut. Containe your felfe. Nee. I'the old Well ? Int. I cannot, I am a man of flefh, and blood : Who can containe himfelfe, to heare the Ghoft 5° Of a dead Lady, doe fuch workes as thefe ? And a Citie Lady too, o' the ftreight wafte ? Rut. Hee's gone. Nee. I will goe try the truth of it. Rut. Follow him, Tim : See what he does ; if he bring you A'ffay of it now. Int. He fay hee's a rare fellow : 36 Enter Needle, talking as in his sleep. G 52 [Exit. G 53 does ; [Exit Item.] G sc. vii] The Magnetic Lady 97 And has a rare difeafe. Rut. And I will worke ss As rare a cure upon him. Int. How, good Doctor ? Rut. When he hath utter'd all, that you would know of him ; lie clenfe him with a pill (as fmall as a peafe) And ftop his mouth : for there his illue lies, Betweene the Mufcles o' the tongue. Int. Hee's come. ^^ Rut. What did he, /ifew ? Ite. The firf t ftep he f tept Into the Garden, he pull'd thefe five peices Vp, in a fingers bredth one of another. The durt fticks on 'hem ftill. Int. I know enough. Doctor, proceed with your Cure, He make thee famous, 6s Famous among the fonnes of the Phyficians, Machaon, Podalirius, Efculapius. Thou fhalt have a golden beard, as well as he had ; And thy Tim Item here, have one of filver : A hvery beard. And all thy 'Pothecaries 7° Belong to thee. Where's Squire Needle ? gone ? Ite. Hee's prick'd away, now he has done the worke. Rut. Prepare his pill, and gi' it him afore Supper. Int. He fend for a dozen o' labourers to morrow, To turne the furface o' the Gaiden up. 75 Rut. In mould ? bruife every clod ? Int. And have all lifted; For He not loofe a peice o' the Birds bounty. And take an Inventory of all. Rut. And then, I would goe downe into the Well — Int. My felfe ; No trufting other hands : Sixe hundred thoufand, 80 To the firft three ; nine hundred thoufand pound — Rut. 'Twill purchafe the whole Bench of Aldermanity, Stript to their fhirts. Int. There never did accrew, So great a gift to man, and from a Lady, I never law but once ; now I remember, H 60 tongue.] Re-enter Item. G 73 [Exit Item. G 98 The Magnetic Lady [ACT v Wee met at Merchants-Taylors-hall, at dinner, In Thred-needle ftreet. Rut. Which was a ligne Squire Needle Should have the thredding of his thred. Int. 'Tis true ; I Ihall love Parrots better, while I know him. Rut. Il'd have her ftatue cut, now in white marble. Int. And have it painted in moft orient colours. Rut. That's right ! all Citie ftatues muft be painted : EKe, they be worth nought i' their lubtile Judgements. Act V. Scene VIII. Intereft. Bias. Rut. Palate. Int. My trueft friend in Court, deare Mr. Bias ; You heare o' the recovery of our Neice In fame, and credit ? Bia. Yes, I have beene with her, And gratulated to her ; but I am lory 5 To find the Author o' the fowle afperfion Here i' your company, this inlolent Doctor. Int. You doe miltake him : He is cleare got off on't. A Goffips Jealoufie firlt gave the hint. He drives another way, now, as I would have him. 10 Hee's a rare man, the Doctor, in his way. H' has done the noblelt cure here, i' the houfe. On a poore Squire, my filters Taylor, Needle That talk'd in's fleepe ; would walke to Saint lohn's wood, And Waltham Forreft, fcape by aU the ponds, IS And pits i' the way ; run over two-inch bridges ; With his eyes faft, and i' the dead of night ! He ha' you better acquainted with him. Doctor, Here is my deare, deareft friend in Court, Act . . . Palate.] Enter Bias. G sc. viii] The Magnetic Lady 99 Wife, powerfull Mr. Bias ; pray you lalute Each other, not as ftrangers, but true friends. ^o Rut. This is the Gentleman you brought to day, A Suitor to your Neice ? Int. Yes. Rut. You were Agreed, I heard ; the writings drawne betweene you ? Int. And feald. Rut. What broke you off ? Int. This rumour of her ? Was it not Mr. Bias ? Bia. Which I find =5 Now faKe, and therefore come to make amends r the firft place. I ftand to the old conditions. Rut. Faith give 'hem him, Sir Mouth, what ere they were. You have a brave occafion now, to croffe The flanting Mr. Compajje, who pretends 30 Right to the portion, by th' other Intaile. Int. And claimes it. You doe heare he's married ? Bia. We heare his wife is run away from him, Within : She is not to be found i' the houfe, With all the Hue, and Cry is made for her, 35 Through every roome ; the Larders ha' beene fearch'd. The Bak-houfes, and Boulting-tub. the Ovens, Wafh-houfe, and Brew-houfe, nay the very Fornace, And yet fhe is not heard of. Int. Be fhe nere heard of, The fafety of Great Brittaine lyes not on't. 40 You are content with the ten thoufand pound. Defalking the foure hundred gamifh money ? That's the condition here, afore the Doctor, And your demand, friend Bias. Bia. It is Sir Moath. Enter Palate. Rut. Here comes the Far Ion then, fhall make all lure. 45 Int. Goe you with my friend Bias, Parjon Palate, Vnto my Neice ; affure them wee are agreed. Pal. And Mrs. Compasse too, is found within. 44 Enter Palate. G 100 The Magnetic Lady [ACT V Int. Where was The hid ? Pal. In an old Botle-houfe, 5° Where they fcrap'd trenchers ; there her mother had thruft her. Rut. You fhall have time, Sir, to triumph on him. When this fine feate is done, and his Rud-Ironjide. Act V. Scene IX. Compajje. Pleajance. Lady. Ironfide. Practife. Polijh. Chaire. Keepe. &c. Com. Was ever any Gentlewoman us'd So barbaroufly by a malitious Goffip, Pretending to be Mother to her too ? Pol. Pretending! Sir, I am her Mother, and chal- lenge 5 A right, and power for what I have done. Com. Out, Hag. Thou that haft put all nature off, and woman : For fordid gaine, betray'd the truft committed Vnto thee by the dead, as from the living : Chang'd the poore innocent Infants in their Cradles : lo Defrauded them o' their parents, chang'd their names, Calling Placentia, Pleajance ; Pleajance, Placentia. Pol. How knowes he this ? Com. Abus'd the neigh- bour-hood ; But moft this Lady. Did'ft enforce an oath. To this poore woman, on a pious booke, 15 To keepe clofe thy impiety. Pol. Ha' you told this ? Kee. I told it ? no, he knowes it, and much more, As he's a cunning man. Pol. A cunning foole, 52 [Exeunt. G Act . . . &c.] Scene VI. Another Room in the Same. Enter Compass, lady Loadstone, Practice, Polish, Chair, and Keep. G 12 this ? [Aside. G 15 [Aside to the Nurse. G sc. x] The Magnetic Lady lOI If that be all. Com. But now to your true daughter, That had the Child, and is the proper Pleajance, Wee muft have an account of that too, Goffip ; Pol. This's like all the reft of Mr. Compafje. Act V. Scene X. Enter to them running, Rut. Helpe, helpe for Charity ; Sir Moath Intereft Where ? where ? Rut. Rut. Is falne into the Well. Lad. V the Garden. A rope to fave his life. Com. How came he there ? Rut. He thought to take poffeffion of a fortune, There newly drop't him, and the old Chaine broke, And downe fell hee i' the Bucket. Com. Is it deepe ? Rut. We cannot tell. A rope : helpe with a rope. Sil. He is got out againe. The Knight is fav'd. Iro. A little fows'd i' the water: Needle fav'd him. Ite. The water fav'd him, 'twas a faire efcape. Nee. Ha' you no hurt ? Int. A little wet. Nee. That's nothing. Rut. I wifh'd you ftay Sir till to morrow : And told you. It was no lucky houre : fince fixe a Clock All ftarres were retrograde. Lad. V the name ^'^y- Of fate, or folly how came you i' the Bucket ? *s Int. That is a Quere of another time, fifter. The Doctor will refolve you — who hath done The admirable'ft cure upon your Needle ! Gi' me thy hand good Needle : thou cam'ft timely. Enter Silke- worme. Iron- fide. Item . Needle, and Inter eft- Rut. Act . . . i?M/.] Enter Rut running. G 7 Enter sir Diapha- nous Silkworm, Ironside, Item, and Needle, leading in sir Moth In- terest. G 102 The Magnetic Lady [ACT V ^° Take off my hood and coat. And let me fhake Bias. My felfe a little. I have a world of bufines. Palate.' Where is my Nephew Bias ? and his wife ? Who bids God gi'hem joy ? Here they both Itand As fure affianced, as the Parfon, or words ^5 Can tie 'hem. Rut. Wee all wilh 'hem joy, and happi- neffe. Silk. I faw the Contract, and can witneffe it. Int. He fhall receive ten thoufand pounds to morrow. You look'd for't, Compaffe, or a greater fumme. But 'tis dilpo'sd of, this, another way. 3° I have but one Neice, verely Compaffe. Com. He find another. Varlef, doe your office. VarM. Var. I doe arreft your body, Sir Moath Intereft, In the Kings name: At fuite of Mr. Compaffe, And Dame Placentia his wife. The Action's entred, 35 Five hundred thoufand pound. Int. Heare you this, fifter ? And hath your houfe the eares, to heare it too ? And to refound the affront ? Lad. I cannot ftop The Lawes, or hinder Juftice. I can be Your Baile, if't may be taken. Com. With the Cap- taines, t" I aske no better. Rut. Here are better men. Will give their Baile. Com. But yours will not be taken, Worfhipfull Doctor ; you are good fecurity For a fuit of clothes, to th' Taylor, that dares truft you : But not for fuch a fumme, as is this Action, '•s Varlet, You know my mind. Var. You muft to prifon, Sir, Vnleffe you can find Baile the Creditor likes. Int. I would faine find it, if you'd fhew me where. 22 Enter Bias and Placentia. G 30 verely Compa/le. verily [master] Compass. G 30 Enter a Serjeant. G SC. x] The Magnetic Lady 103 Silk. It is a terrible Action ; more indeed, Then many a man is worth. And is call'd F right- Baile. Iro. Faith I will baile him, at mine owne apperill. so Varlet, be gone : He once ha' the reputation. To be fecurity for fuch a lumme. Beare up Sir Moath. Rut. He is not worth the Buckles About his Belt, and yet this Ironfide clafhes : Int. Peace, left he heare you Doctor : wee '11 make ss ufe of him. What doth your brother Compaffe, Captaine Ironside, Demand of us, by way of challenge, thus ? Iro. Your Neices portion ; in the right of his wife. Int. I have affur'd one portion, to one Neice, And have no more t' account for, that I know of : ^o What I may doe in charity, if my fifter. Will bid an Offring for her maid, and him, As a Benevolence to 'hem, after Supper, He fpit into the Bafon, and intreat My friends to doe the like. Com. Spit out thy gall, 65 And heart, thou Viper : I will now no mercy. No pitty of thee, thy falfe Neice, and Needle ; Bring forth your Child, or I appeale you of murder, You, and this Goffip here, and Mother Chaire. Cha. The Gentleman's falne mad ! Pie. No, Mrs. 70 Midwife. I faw the Child, and you did give it me, ftepsout. And put it i' my armes, by this ill token. You wifhi'd me fuch another ; and it cry'd. Pra. The Law is plaine ; if it were heard to cry. And you produce it not, hee may indict 75 All that conceale't, of Felony, and Murder. Com. And I will take the boldneffe. Sir, to doe it : Beginning with Sir Moath here, and his Doctor. 67 Enter Pleasance. G 104 ^^^ Magnetic Lady [act v Silk. Good faith this lame is hke to turne a bufines. 8° Pal. And a fhrewd bufines, marry : they all ftart at't. Com. I ha' the right thred now, and I will keepe it. You good'y Keepe, confeffe the truth to my Lady, The truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Pol. I fcorne to be prevented of my glories. 85 I plotted the deceit, and I will owne it. Love to my Child, and lucre of the portion Provok'd me; wherein though th' event hath fail'd In part, I will make ufe of the beft fide. This is my Daughter, and fhe hath had a Child 90 This day, (unto her fhame, I now profeffe it.) By this meere falfe-ftick Squire Needle, but Since this wife Knight, hath thought it good to change, The foohfh Father of it, by affuring Her to his deare friend, Mr. Bias ; and him 95 Againe to her, by clapping of him on With his free promife of ten thoufand pound, Afore fo many witneffes. Silk. Whereof I Am one. Pal. And I another. Pol. I fhould be unnarurall To my owne flefh, and blood, would I not thanke him. 100 I thanke you Sir : and I have reafon for it. For here your true Neice Itands, fine Mrs. Compajfe. (He tell you truth, you have deferv'd it from me.) To whom you are by bond engag'd to pay, The fixteene thoufand pound, which is her portion, JOS Due to her husband, on her marriage-day. I fpeake the truth, and nothing but the truth. Iro. You'll pay it now. Sir Moath, with intereft ? You fee the truth breaks out on every fide of you. Int. Into what nets of cous'nage am I caft 89 Daughter, [Points to Placentia.] G 98 unnarurall] un- natural 1692, f SC. xj The Magnetic Lady 105 On ev'ry fide ? each thred is growne a noofe : "° A very mefh : I have run my lelfe into A double breake, of paying twice the money. Bia. You fhall be releas'd, of paying me a penny, With thefe conditions. Pol. Will you leave her then ? Bia. Yes, and the fumme, twice told, ere take "5 a wife. To pick out Mounfier Needles bafting threds. Com. Goffip you are paid : though he be a fit nature, Worthy to have a Whore juftly put on him ; He is not bad enough to take your Daughter, On fuch a cheat. Will you yet pay the portion ? "o Int. What will you 'bate ? Com. No penny the Law gives. Int. Yes, Bias's money. Com. What ? your friend in Court ? I will not rob you of him, nor the purchafe. Nor your deare Doctor here, ftand altogether. Birds of a nature all, and of a feather. 125 Lad. Well, wee are all now reconcil'd to truth. There refts yet a Gratuitie from me, To be conferr'd upon this Gentleman ; Who (as my Nephew Compaffe fayes) was caufe, Firft of th' offence, but fince of all th' amends, 130 The Quarrell caus'd th' affright ; that fright brought on The travell, which made peace ; the peace drew on This new difcovery, which endeth all In reconcilement. Com. When the portion Is tender'd, and receiv'd. Int. Well, you muft have it, 135 As good at firft as laft. 'Tis well faid brother. And I, if this good Captaine will accept me. Give him my felfe, endow him with my eftate. no noole] noofe Y. 1640. noose W, f 136 laft. [Lad.] 1692, f. io6 The Magnetic Lady [ACT v And make him Lord of me, and all my fortunes : MO He that hath fav'd my houre, though by chance, He really ftudy his, and how to thanke him. Iro. And I imbrace you. Lady, and your goodneffe, And vow to quit all thought of wane hereafter ; Save what is fought under your colours. Madam. M5 Pal. More worke then for the Parfon ; I fhall cap The Loadftone with an Ironfide, I fee, Iro. And take in thefe, the forlorne Couple, with us, Needle, and's Thred, whofe portion I will thinke on ; As being a bufines, waiting on my bounty : 'SO Thus I doe take poffeffion of you. Madam, My true Magnetick Miftris, and my Lady. THE END. 140 houre,] Honour 171b, t 151 [Exeunt. G CHORUS Changed into an Epilogve : To the KING. WEll, Gentlemen, I now muft under jeale, And tK Authors charge, waive you, and make my^appeale. To the fupremeft power, my Lord, the King ; Who be/t can judge of what wee humbly bring. Hee knowes our weaknejje, and the Poets faults ; Where he doth ftand upright, goe firme, or halts ; And hee will doome him. To which voice he f lands, And prefers that, 'fore all the Peoples hands. H EXPLANATORY NOTES These notes include whatever has been considered of value in the notes of the preceding editions. Notes signed W are by Whalley, G by Gifford, C by Cunningham. For other abbreviated references and for editions of works cited, the Bibliography should be consulted. Explanations of words and phrases are usually found only in the Glossary, although exceptional cases are treated further in the notes. References to this play are to act, scene, and line of the text ; other references to Jonson's works are to the Gifford-Cunningham edition of 1875 — to play, volume, and page. The metrical in- vestigation included in the notes is based upon the treatment of prosody in Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar. THE MAGNETIC LADY lam lapides suus ardor agit ferrumq ; tenetur, Illecebris. — Claudian, M agues. 56—57, with Et changed to lam. The Persons that act. In accordance with his custom, Jonson gives to each of his characters a name which suggests the chief trait or humor. Mrs. Placentia. See Glossary s. v. Mrs. The title Mrs. in the 17th and i8th centuries might be prefixed to the name of an unmarried lady or girl. ' Mrs. Elizabeth Carter,' ' Mrs. Hannah More.' Sir Diaph Silkworm. Cf . The Staple of News {Wks. 5. 167) : O ! though thou art a silkworm. And deal'st in satins and velvets, and rich plushes. Thou canst not spin all forms out of thyself. Also, On Court-worm {Wks. 8. 152) : AU men are worms : but this no man. In silk. The term silkworm was defined by Steele in The Spectator, No. 454: H2 no The Magnetic Lady This Chace was now at an End, and the Fellow who drove her came to us, and discovered that he was ordered to come again in an Hour, for that she was a Silk- Worm. I was surprised with this Phrase, but found it was a Cant among the Hackney Fraternity for their best Customers, Women who ramble twice or thrice a Week from Shop to Shop, to turn over all the Goods in Town without buying any thing. The Silk- Worms are, it seems, indulged by the Tradesmen ; for tho' they never buy, they are ever talking of new Silks, Laces and Ribbands, and serve the Owners in getting them Customers, as their common Dunners do in mak- ing them pay. In 1609, to promote the manufacture of silk in England, King James had many hundred thousand young mulberry trees imported from France, and sent into the different counties; cf. Harl. Misc. 2. 218—23. Sir Moath Interest, An Usurer, or Money-baud. A usurer was called a bawd, because he was an intermediary between money and those who wanted it. In The Staple of News {Wks. 5. 216), where money is personified as Pecunia, the figure was more appropriate : Old Covetousness, the sordid Pennyboy, the Money-bawd, who is a flesh-bawd too. A usurer was merely a person who lent out money at interest, not, as with us, one who exacts more than the legal rate. The business of money-lending was then held in great disrepute, and much of the opprobrium heaped upon Sir Moth in the course of the play is due to his character of hard-hearted money-lender. Increase by gold and silver was considered unlawful, because against nature. Aristotle is credited with the honor of starting this conceit. Cf. The Merchant of Venice I. 3. 136-7 : . . . for when did friendship take A breede of barraine mettall of his friend ? and the discussion of this passage in the Furness Variorum 7. 48. Stubbes' diatribe against usury expresses the feeling of the time; see The Anatomy of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, IND.] Explanatory Notes iii pp. 123—9). Here he characterizes the usurer as worse than a thief, a Jew, Judas, hell itself, cruder than death, and worse than the Devil. Bacon, in his essay 0/ Usury, treats the sub- ject more rationally. The idea of abolishing usury is one of the idle opinions to be relegated to Utopia ; but usury is ' a concession, on account of hardness of heart.' It is curious that this opposition — of idealists at least — to the taking of interest, finds literary expression as late as Tennyson's The Brook. The Persons that act. Mr. Bias, A Vi-politique. A sub- stitute or deputy politician, a sub-secretary to a politician. Vi is a contraction of vice ; cf . vice-chairman, vice-president. Ind. Induction. Shakespeare also used this word in the sense of introduction : j. Henry IV 3. 1.2:' And our induction full of prosperous hope.' Ind. I. What doe you lack? ' The boy uses the language of the petty traders of the time, and the others continue the allusion.' — G. Ind. 9. Poet'accios, Poetasters, Poetito's. For the meaning of these terms, see the Glossary. The Elizabethan drama was now on the decline : the giants, Shakespeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, and Chapman, had left the stage ; and their places were ill supplied by a host of lesser lights — ^Massinger, Rowley, Heywood, Ford, Field, Shirley, Brome, Davenant, Cart- wright, Randolph, Mayne, and others. Ind. 12. Sir, hee is not here. 'Jonson always attended the first presentation of his pieces, when it was in his power. He was now bed-ridden : his last appearance in the theatre seems to have been in 1625, when The Staple of News was brought forward.' — G. Ind. 16. tye US two, to you. Place us two under obli- gations to you ; see the Glossary, s. v. tye: Also cf. Shake- speare's Cymbeline i. 6. 23 : ' He is one of the Noblest note, to whose kindnesses I am most infinitely tied.' Ind. 20. No man leaps into a busines of state, without fourding first the state of the busines. The figure is of a man wading slowly and carefully across a stream, and then leaping forward rapidly. NED. cites examples of the figurative use 112 The Magnetic Lady [iND. of the term : e. g. Bp. Mountague, Acts & Mon. (1642) 299 ; ' The truth at last he foorded.' For the use of leap as here employed, cf. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Woman Hater I. 22 : ' Val. I pray you, sir, leap into the matter ; what would you have me do for you ? ' Plays upon word's or jingles such as business of state . . . state of the business, were common in Jonson's time. Ind. 24. The Venison side. An evident pun : the side on which the h(e)art is situated. SalUes of this sort are partly attributable to the irregularity of spelling in Jonson's time. Ind. 28. your sinJull sixe-penny Mechanicks. In various places in Jonson's works he shows contempt for the laboring classes. Cf. The New Inn {Wks. 5. 327) : Lady F. Pox o' this errant tailor, He angers me beyond aU mark of patience ! These base mechanics never keep their word. In anything they promise. Pru. ' Tis their trade, madam. To swear and break ; they all grow rich by breaking More than their words ; their honesties, and credits. Are still the first commodity they put off. Jonson's attitude-toward the common people was largely shared by his fellow-dramatists. See the paper on The Shaksperian Mob by Frederick Tupper, Jr., Pub. of Mod. Lang. Assoc, Vol. 27, No. 4, Dec, 1912. It may be, too, that Jonson is casting a slur at the Globe Theatre, which was patronized largely by a poorer class than the Blackfriars ; cf . The Poetaster (Wks. 2. 430) : Tuc. And what new matters have you now afoot, sirrah, ha ? I would fain come with my cockatrice one day, and see a play, if I knew where there were a good bawdy one ; but they say you have nothing but Hu- mours, Revels, and Satires, that gird and f-t at the time, you slave. Hist. No, I assure you, captain, not we. They are on the other side of Tyber : we have as much ribaldry in our plays as can be, as you would wish, captain : all the sinners in the suburbs come and applaud our action daily. IND.] Explanatory Notes 113 Ind 31. like so many eminences. Cf. Dekker's The Gul's Hornbook (ed. McKerrow, chap. 6, p. 50) : ' For do but cast up a reckoning, what large comings-in are pursed up by sitting on the stage. First, a conspicuous eminence is gotten ; by which means, the best and most essential parts of a gallant, good clothes, a proportionable leg, white hand, the Persian lock, and a tolerable beard, are perfectly revealed.' Ind. 32. Of clothes, not understandings ? Throughout his works Jonson satirized the class of people who came to plays to see and be seen, but not to listen intelligently. Fitzdottrell, in The Devil is an Ass [Wks. 5. 27—8), is a good example of the type : Here is a cloke cost fifty pound, wife. Which I can sell for thirty, when I have seen All London in't, and London has seen me. To-day I go to the Blackfriars play house. Sit in the view, salute all my acquaintance. Rise up between the acts, let fall my cloke, Publish a handsome man, and a rich suit, As that's a special end why we go thither. For other examples, see To Mr. John Fletcher, upon his Faith- ful Shepherdess : Underwoods {Wks. 8. 324) ; Jonson's Ode to Himself (Tennant's ed. of The New Inn, p. 118) ; The Magnetic Lady, i. Ch. 41—49. Ind. 38. Populo ut placerent. Prologue to Terence's Andria, line 3. Ind . 49. and will have the conscience, and ingenuity beside, to confesse it. Cf. Induction to Bartholomew Fair {Wks. 4. 347) : ' The author promiseth to present them by us, with a new sufficient play, called Bartholomew Fair, merry, and as full of noise, as sport : made to delight all and offend none ; provided they have either the wit or the honesty to think well of themselves.' Ind. 61. Every Poet writes Squire now. This apparently refers to the growing claim on the part of plajrwrights and poets to be enrolled among the gentry ; see the note to i. 5. 39, and cf . the title-page to The Two Noble Kinsmen : ' Written b}^ the memorable Worthies of their time ; 114 ^^^ Magnetic Lady [ind. Mr. John Fletcher, and | ^ , Mr. William Shakespeare. ^ Cf . also the title-page to the second edition of Cupid's Revenge : I Fran. Beaumont i & I Gentlemen.' Jo. Fletcher ' Ind. 70. Of his portall, or entry to the worke, according to Vitruvius. A discussion Of the Proportions of the Doors of Temples is found in chap. 6. p. 115, of Joseph Gwilt's trans- lation of the De Architectura. Ind. 72. without a Portall — or Vitruvius. The boy, who knows nothing of Vitruvius, merely repeats the terms of the preceding speech. — G. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman architect and engineer. From information gathered from his writings, he is supposed to have lived during the age of Julius Caesar and the reign of Augustus. He was the author of a celebrated work on architecture, De Architectura ; see Encyl. Brit., nth ed.. Vol. 28: ' From the early Renaissance down to a comparatively recent time the influence of this treatise has been remarkably great. Throughout the period of the classi- cal revival Vitruvius was the chief authority studied by architects, and in every point his precepts were accepted as final. . . . Bramante, Michelangelo, Palladio, Vignola and earlier architects were careful students of the work of Vitru- vius, which through them has largely influenced the archi- tecture of almost all European countries.' Jonson satirized the architect, Inigo Jones, under the title, Vitruvius Hoop {A Tale of A Tub), and as Coronal Vitruvius {Entertainment at Bolsover). Ind. 73. In Foro. In court ; in the open. Jonson used this phrase in The New Inn {Wks. 5. 349) : Lord L. I am not jealous. Host. Of so short a time Your lordship needs not, and being done in foro. Ind. y2>- And what is conceald within, is brought out, and made present by report. That part of the plot or action of IND.] Explanatory Notes 115 the play which is not represented dramatically is represented by narrative. Jonson insists that a play should be presented to an audience as a comprehensible unity. See Schelling's edition of Timber (XXXV, and pp. 85—7). In this respect Jonson's practice differs from that of Beaumont and Fletcher, in whose plays the leading personages often change character off the stage. See Thorndike, The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher upon Shakespeare, pp. 119— 21. The relation between action and narrative in plays is discussed in Horace, De Arte Poetica. See Jonson's translation Of the Art of Poetry {Wks. 9. 93) : The business either on the stage is done. Or acted told. But ever things that run In at the ear, do stir the mind more slow Than those the faithful eyes take in by show, And the beholder to himself doth render. Yet to the stage at all thou may'st not tender Things worthy to be done within, but take Much from the sight, which fair report will make Present anon. The same point is discussed in Sidney's Defense of Poesy (see Cook's edition, p. 49) : ' Again, many things may be told which cannot be showed, — if they know the difference betwixt reporting and representing. As for example I may speak, though I am here, of Peru, and in speech digrees from that to the description of Calicut . . . And so was the manner the ancients took, by some Nuntius to recount things done in former time or other place.' Ind. 78. The most of those your people call Authors, never dreamt of any Decorum. See Glossary, s. v. Decorum. In the Induction to Bartholomew Fair {Wks. 4. 353—4), Jonson employs this term : ' And though the Fair be not kept in the same region that some here, perhaps, would have it ; yet think, that therein the author hath observed a special decorum, the place being as dirty as Smithfield, and as stinking every whit.' The term decorum is probably the one which most nearly sums up the doctrine of the classical school of criticism — Aristotle, Horace, the Italians, Sidney, etc. For Jonson's criticism, ii6 The Magnetic Lady [IND. and his relation to Sidney and the Itahans, see Spingarn, Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century, Vol. i, Introduction, pp. IX— XXI, and pp. 10—64. Ind. 86—90. The — ^last. The Magnetic Lady appears as the last of a list of humor-plays : Every Man In (1598) ; Every Man Out (1599) ; Cynthia's Revels (1600) ; The Poetaster {1601) ; The Fox (1605) ; The Silent Woman (1609) ; The Alchemist (1610) ; Bartholomew Fair (1614) ; The Devil is an Ass (1616) ; The Staple of News (1626) ; The New Inn (1629). Ind. 95. hee makes that his Center attractive. Lady Loadstone is but slightly characterized. Her function in the play is to bring together the interesting characters. Her attractive qualities are her hospitality and her guardian- ship over her wealthy and marriageable niece. The name Loadstone suggests the use of the term in The Alchemist {Wks. 4. 40) : Beneath your threshold, bury me a load-stone To draw in gallants that wear spurs. Later, in John Earle's Micro cosmography (pub. 1628), the character of A Handsome Hostess is very similar to Jonson's Magnetic Lady : ' A handsome hostess is the fairer commen- dation of an inn, above the fair sign, or fair lodgings. She is the loadstone that attracts men of iron, gallants and roarers, where they cleave sometimes long, and are easily got off.' Ind. 106. Hee will not woo the gentile ignorance so much. Gifford notes that this passage resembles one of Aristophanes in The Clouds (560—2) : "OoTig ovv rovroiGi yeXa, roTg Bfioig fit] xa<()f'ro> • '7/r d' efioi xal rolGiv e/iioig £V" Strutt, Sports and Pastimes 165—8 ; and Charles Magnin, Histoire des Marionnettes en Europe. Con- sidering Jonson's high and uncompromising ideals of art, one can understand his repugnance to bear-baiting and the puppet-shows. 3. 1. I. The accent may be on the second syllable of Mister (see Abbott, § 490). Here's Mis | ter Doc | tor ? O | Mister [ Tim It ; em. 3. 1. 3. Death! This is an imprecation. The original expression was God's death, which became abbreviated to ' Sdeath, later to death. 3. 1. II. ftimish forth the Table with your newes. It must have been something of a custom for hungry adventurers to earn a meal by relating sensational news, for Jonson satirized the practice elsewhere : see To Captain Hungry, Epigrams {Wks. 8. 209) ; and Underwoods LXV {Wks. 8. 417). 3. I. 14. But they are piec'd. For another example of piece, to re-unite a broken friendship, see The Devil is an Ass {Wks. 5. 96) : ' Now, I protest ; and I will have all pieced, and friends again.' 3. 1. 18. Hee hath begun three draughts of sack in Doc- * trines. And fower in Uses. ' Needle adopts the language of the puritans in this place. In preaching, they divided their discourses into doctrine and use, meaning by the former the subject under explanation, and by the latter the practical inference to be derived from it. Hudibras has the words frequently in his mouth : Thou canst, in conscience, not refuse, From thy own doctrine to raise use. l62 The Magnetic Lady [ACT III Again : ... in a town There lived a cobler, and but one, Who out of doctrine could cut use, And mend men's lives as well as shoes.' — G. 3. I. 23. a moneths mind. This expression has two widely different meanings, i. ' Eccl. In England before the Refor- mation, and still in Ireland among Roman Catholics : The commemoration of a deceased person by the celebration of masses, etc., on a day one month from the date of his death.' 2. An inchnation, a fancy, a liking. To he in a month's mind, ' to have a strong expectation.' NED. Nares gives as the more common use, an eager desire or longing, and refers in explanation to the conjecture of John Croft, who published a few detached remarks upon Shake- speare. 'He explains it to allude to " a woman's longing; which " he says " usually takes place (or commences, at least) in the first month of pregnancy." Rem., p. 2. Unfortu- nately he gives no authority for it, and I have endeavored in vain to find it, in that mode of application. Yet it accords so perfectly with this second sense, that I have no doubt of its being the true explanation. It is in this latter sense it is used by Shakespeare in the Two Gentlemen of Verona : I see you have a month's mind to them. Act i, sc. 2. ... So also in Hall : And sets a month's mind upon smiling May. Satires, B. IV, s. 4. Fuller also has it : The king (Henry VII) had more than a moneth's mind, (keeping 7 yeares in that humour) to procure the pope to canonize Henry VI for a saint. Church Hist., B. IV, 23. And Hudibras : For if a trumpet soimd, or drum beat. Who hath not a month's mind to combat. P. i. Cant, ii. Now what possible connection can any of these have with the celebration of the dead ? To give a ludicrous sense to a combination common on more solemn occasions, might have been one inducement to adopt the latter phrase ; but it must ACT III] Explanatory Notes 163 have been founded on something, that made it proper in the lighter sense, and something also that authorized the speaker to say you have such a mind. And what more probable origin can be imagined, than the longing of a woman in the first month of pregnancy, a subject of such common remark ? " You long for it like a woman with child." ' — Nares, Glos. 3. 2. 4. Couit-Sir Amber-gris. Ambergris was used in perfumery and in cookery ; it was also believed to be an aphrodisiac. Stubbes {Anat. Abus., pp. 77—8) inveighs agamst the use of costly perfumes and musk ; but the custom is easily understood, when one considers the unsanitary con- dition of houses at that time. For the use of ambergris in wines, see Beaumont and Fletcher, The Custom of the Country 3.2: 'Tis well, be sure, The wines are lusty, high and full of spirit, and ambered all. 3. 2. II. Rather as ballance, then the sword of Justice. Justice was often personified, and represented in art as a goddess holding balanced scales or a sword ; cf . Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI 5. 2. 102 : You are right Justice, and you weigh this well : Therefore still beare the Ballance, and the Sword. — NED. 3.2.26. Rudhudibras de Ironside ? Jonson used this name in The New Inn {Wks. 5. 338—9) : He has the father of swords within, a long sword ; Blade Cornish styled of sir Rud Hughdebras. " Rud Hughdebras was, as Milton tells us, the son of Leil, who built Caerliel, and I know not how many more cities. He seems to have been a peaceful monarch, so that his blade Cornish was not, perhaps, much the worse for use." — G. Milton wrote : " Rudhuddibras, or Hudibras appeasing the commotions which his father could not, founded Caerkeynt or Canterbury, Caerguent, or Winchester, and Mount Paladur, now Septonia or Shaftsbury; but this by others is contra- dicted." Hist. oi Britain, 1677, p. 23. 'Milton's authority is Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bk. 2, chap. 9. The statement is of course mythical.' Tennant. The name, Hudibras, is 164 The Magnetic Lady [act hi found also in the Faerie Queene, Bk. 2, canto 2, and was immortalized later by Butler. 3. 2. 26. For metre, see note on 2. 5. 44. Rudhud I ibras | de Ironside ? | Gone out | of doores. 3. 2. 33. his conjuring names, Hippocrates; Galen or Rasis, Avicen. Averroes. Hippocrates Greek philosopher and writer, termed the ' Father of Medicine,' was born, according to Soranus, in Cos, in the first year of the 8oth Olympiad, i. e., 460 B.C. He was believed to be descended from Aescu- lapius. He was the first to cast superstition aside, and to base the practice of medicine on the principles of inductive philo- sophy. He is said to have exerted great influence over the Athenian thinkers. His name is especially famous in mediae- val stories. In modern times his works on medicine have been highly valued. Galen (or Galenus) Claudius, the most celebrated of ancient medical writers, was born at Pergamus, in Mysia, about A.D. 130. He spent a considerable part of his life at Rome. He is said to have written nearly hundred treatises on various subjects, including logic, ethics, and grammar. He was regarded as an oracle by the Arabs and Europeans until the fifteenth century. Rasis, or Rhasis, Latin forms of the surname Razee, a celebrated Arabian physician. He was born about the middle of the ninth century. He wrote treatises on smallpox and the measles. He is said to have been the first who described the smallpox accurately. 'Avicenna, the Latin form of Ibn-Sina, the most illus- trious of Arabian physicians, was born at Afshena, a village in Bokhara, 980 a.d. ... No man, except Aristotle and Galen, exercised so absolute an authority in science during the middle ages, as Avicenna. For five centuries his " Canon " was regarded as the authority in the schools of Erope.' Averroes, ' the common form of the name Ibn-Roshd, one of the most famous of all the Arabian philosophers and physicians, was born at Cordova, in Spain, probably in the ACT III] Explanatory Notes 165 first quarter of the twelfth century. . . . His celebrity as a writer rests chiefly on his Commentary on Aristotle. . . . He wrote on medicine, theology, law, logic, etc. ... In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the disciples of Aristotle in Italy were divided into two sects, the Averroists and the Alexandrists.' Lippincott's Pron. Biog. Diet., Encycl. Brit, and Diet. Gr. and Rom. Biog. and Myth. Burton is constantly quoting these men as authorities in The Anatomy of Melaneholy. Chaucer's doctor, who prob- ably influenced Jonson's characterization of Rut, also knew them well ; cf . Prologue 429—434 ; Wei knew he the olde Esculapius, And Deiscorides, and eek Rufus, Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien, Serapion, Razis, and Avicen ; Averrois, Damascien, and Constanryn ; Bernard, and Gatesden, and Gilbertyn. The fact that Compass refers to Rut's using these as con- juring names is, of course, a thrust at the doctor, as the ignorant practitioner would use the names of authorities without understanding their doctrines ; see the character of A Mere Dull Physician in Morley's Character Writing, p. 162. For the relation of medicine to alchemy, astrology, magic, etc., see Hathaway's edition of The Alchemist, Introduction, p. 49. 3.2.36. a poore Farthing chang'd in Rosa solis. A farthing's worth of the cordial called rosa-solis. For the use of in for into, see Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, § 159. For rosa- solis as a cure for swooning, see Every Man Out {Wks. 2. 156) : Fung. Another suit ! {Swoons. Sog. How now, nephew? Fast. Would you speak with me, sir ? Car. Ay, when he has recovered himself, poor Poll ! Punt. Some rosa-solis. 3. 3. 8. sattin Doublet: . . . silke Stockings. See the characterization of Silkworm, i. 6. 4—9. ' This passion for silk stockings is glanced at by other dramatic writers. So, in the Miseries of In forced Marriage : i66 The Magnetic Lady [ACT ill " This town craves maintenance, silk stockings must be had." And, in The Hog hath lost his Pearl, 1614 : " Good parts without habihments of gallantry, are no more set by in these times, than a good leg in a woolen stocking." ' — ^W. ' Bobadill, who is the mirror of fashion in this ^Idiy [Every Man In], is furnished with silk stockings ; and it is not one of the least evils, with which the humorous malice of the poet has pursued his disgrace, to make him pawn this favourite article of gallantry, to procure a warrant for binding over the tur- bulent Downright to keep the peace.' — G. 3. 3. 21. reputation. Amended to reparation ; see variant. 3. 3. 26. A pure Apprentice at Law! ' An ancient term for a barrister at law, as distinguished from a serjeant.' — G. 3- 3- 33- a Court ... 0' the Starre-Chamber. ' The name given in the 15th, i6th, and 17th centuries to an English high court of justice, consisting of the members of the ordinary council, or of the privy council only, with the addition of certain judges, and exercising jurisdiction, mainly criminal, in certain cases. ... In practice its jurisdiction was almost unlimited. I took notice of maintenance and liveries, bribery or partiality of jurors, falsification of panels or of verdicts, routs and riots, murder, felony, forgery, perjury, fraud, libel and slander, offences against proclamations, duels, acts ten- ding to treason, as well as of a few civil matters, — disputes as to land between English and foreign merchants, testa- mentary cases, etc., — in fact " all offences may be here exam- ined and punished if the king will." It was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641, and never afterward revived.' — Hudson, Treatise of the Court of Star-Chamber {Collectanea Juridicia, Vol. 2). 3. 3. 37. but like a wild Young haggard Justice, fly at breach 0' the Peace. More of the language of hawking. ' A haggard was a falcon that had preyed for herself before she was caught, and therefore more difficult to train than one take from the nest.'— C. ACT III] Explanatory Notes 167 3. 3. 43. 'In some words the accent is nearer the end than with us ' (Abbott, § 490). That rea | sona | ble, so | we may | meet faire, 3. 3. 44—84 and 87—95. These monologues are of the kind that characterize the persons addressed rather than the speaker. The specious but illogical arguments of Compass, which are so admired by Silkworm and Practice, reveal in a striking way their dulness and formality. The satire in Compass's speeches is, of course, directed against a certain condition brought about by the vogue of dueling. ' A law of honour having annexed the imputation of cowardice to patience under an affront, challenges are given and accepted, with no other design than to prevent and wipe off this sus- picion, without malice against the adversary — without a wish to destroy him ; and, generally, with no other concern than to preserve the duellists' own reputation and reception in the world.' — Steinmetz, The Romance of Duelling i. 12. The humor of the situation, aside from Compass' speeches, consists in the conflict between the cowardice of Silkworm and his desire to conform to the code of honor. For well-known parallels, see the clown's account of his quarrel in As You Like It 5. 4. 51—104, and the annotation in the Furness Variorum ; also the dueling scenes in Sheridan's The Rivals (1775). Many of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher utihze dramatic material afforded by the code of honor, and this code motivates the action to a large extent in the heroic plays of Davenant and Dryden. Of The Little French Lawyer (c. 1616) Ward writes : ' The humour of the play lies in its satirical reference to the mania for quarrels of honour which had risen to its height — or perhaps . . . had just passed it — in the age in which the comedy appeared.' For other parallels in Jonson's works, see the scenes in which Master Stephen and Bobadill appear in Every Man In ; Shift, in Every Man Out ; Tucca, in The Poetaster ; Sir John Daw and Sir Amorous La-Foole, in The Silent Woman ; and Sir Glorious Tipto, in The New Inn. For a discussion of Jonson's satire of the elaborate rules of fencing and dueling in Cynthia's Revels, see Judson's edition. i68 The Magnetic Lady [act hi pp. 209—11. For a satisfactory discussion of the duello in general, see W. S. Johnson's edition of The Devil is an Ass, Introduction, pp. liv— Ixiii. 3. 3. 54. Boy 0' the Sword. According the NED., boy was used in various connections, indicating a member of a fra- ternity or band ; Roaring Boys were riotous fellows of the time of Elizabeth and James I. 3. 3. 57. The first foot is monosyllabic. As I they are | by pres | ent de | posi : tion 3. 3. 61 . a Beaver. Beaver hats were very costly and were worn by women as well as men ; cf. The Magnetic Lady 5. 2. 18: You shall have a new, brave, foure-pound Beaver hat, Set with enamell'd studs, as mire is here. Pepys {Diary 2. 56) says : ' This day Mr. Holden sent me a bever, which cost me £4 5s.' — NED. 3. 3. 83. the huge great Porter. ' William Evans, the porter to James I ; he was seven feet and a half in height ; . . . but he was what the Latines call compernis, knocking his knees together, and going out squalling with his feet, but also halted a little, yet made a shift to dance in an Antimasque at court, where he drew little Jeffry (Hudson) out of his pocket, first to the wonder, and then to the laughter of the beholders.' — G. The same person is probably alluded to in A Tale of A Tub [Wks. 6. 179) : I had crack'd all their costards, As nimbly as a squirrel will crack nuts. And flourished like to Hercules the porter Among the pages. 3. 3. 93. In furnishing your feare with matter first. If you have any. In furnishing you honorable grounds for avoiding a fight if you fear to enter it. 3. 3. 118. For metre, see note on i. 2. 47. For sha | dowes have | their fig | ure, mo [ tion ACT III] Explanatory Notes 169 3. 3. 127. silken phrase. For the use of silken as ' soft, flattering,' see Loves Labors Lost 5. 2. 406 : ' Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise.' — NED. 3. 3. 128—9. He'l . . . Law. ' Jonson alludes to the famous Petition of Right, which was long in agitation, and which, after being eagerly debated in both houses of parUament, received the royal assent in June 1628.'— G, 3.4.2. There set him downe. Bow him, yet bow him more. 'In Jonson's time there was great faith placed in this mode of treatment. In Richard Brome's Sparagus Garden (vol. iii, p. 127) we find : Fris. Oh me ! why, mistris, look up, look up, I say. Reh. Clap her cheek, rub her nose I Fris. Sprinkle cold water on her face ! Reh. Cut her lace ! cut her lace ! And bow her for- ward, so, so, so ! And Beaumont and Fletcher in the Maid's Tragedy : I've heard if there be any life, but bow The body thus, and it will shew itself. Soo, too, Massinger, in the Duke of Milan (vol. i, p. 277), when Marcelia swoons, makes Francisco say : What have I done ? Madam ! for heaven's sake, Madam ! O my fate, I'll bend her body.' — C. 3. 4. 7. The verse is metrically irregular. Pinch him | in the nape | of the neck ; now : | nip him, I nip him. 3. 4. 9. The monosyllable, gone, because of emphatic meaning, may be pronounced as a disyllabic (Abbott, §481). Tell him | the Cap | taines go i en. Ha ! | He's gone : Sir. 3. 4. II. The interjection and short interrogative sen- tence make metrical arrangement difficult ; the following one-verse scansion may be admissible : O ! How I doe you feele ] your selfe ? | Sore, sore. | But where ? 170 The Magnetic Lady [ACT in 3.4.17. hee did feele no more Then a great horse. ' Horse, fig. Applied contemptuously or playfully to a man, with reference to various qualities of the quadruped.' Cf. 1606. Shaks. Troilus and Cressida 3. 3. 126 : ' The unknowne Aiax ; Heavens what a man is there ? a very Horse, That has he knowes not what.' — NED. 3. 4. 22—5. Doctors . . . win. Cf . Chaucer, Prologue 425—8 : Ful redy hadde he his apothecaries, To sende him drogges and his letuaries, For ech of hem made other for to winne ; Hir frendschipe nas nat newe to beginne. As Professor Cook observes, now in line 23 should read new, since Jonson is quoting Chaucer. As the folio edition of Chaucer (1602) has the form new, the mistake must have been made by the printers of the first edition of this play. 3. 4. 23—6. who . . . bands. Whose friendship is of long standing. They could teach each other how to get gain when they were babies in swaddling clothes. 3. 4. 27. Your Chawcers clouts, and wash your dishes with 'hem. The term clout is suggested by swath bands of the line before. The doctor contrives to dismiss Polish, wittily using terms her quotation suggests. 3. 4. 32. a Pursinesse, ... or tumor o' the Purse. Cf. Earle's Microcosmography (pub. 1628), A Mere Dull Physician, in Morley's Character Writing, p. 162 : ' If he have leisure to be idle (that is to study), he has a smatch at alchemy, and is sick of the philosopher's stone ; a disease uncurable, but by an abundant phlebotomy of the purse.' 3.4.41. chiragra, A kind of Crampe, or Hand-Gout. Jon- son used this expression in The Devil is an Ass {Wks. 5. 78) : But now, sir. My learned counsel, they must have a feeling, They'U part, sir, with no books, without the hand-gout Be oil'd : and I must furnish. Cf . also Overbury's Characters (ed. Morley, p. 63) : ' His libera- lity can never be said to be gouty-handed.' ACT III] Explanatory Notes 171 3. 4. 45. Sweat, Purge, and Phlebotomy. These were the chief methods used in the cure of sickness or indisposition. Burton, Anat. of Mel. 1. 271—2, enumerates the conditions which are benefited by these means. For a humorous satire on the excess to which the practise of phlebotomy was carried at one time by physicians, see Le Sage's Gil Bias, Bk. 2, chaps. 3-5. 3. 4. 57. the tother. This is a survival of the early ME, form ; the t of the first word being added to the second ; thet other becomes the tother. 3. 4. 60. From the King's-head. ' The reader will be pleased to learn that this tavern stood in New-Fish street : it was, as our old writers affirm, " haunted by roysters," so that the wine drank there was unquestionably of the very first quality.' — G. ' Kings' Head Court, Fish Street Hill, to Pudding Lane, marks the site of the famous old King's Head Tavern, " where Roysters did range."' — ^Wheatley and Cunningham, London Past and Present 2. 344. 3. 4. 62. E mute may be pronounced (Abbott, § 487). That is I my course | with all | my Pa I tients. 3.4.63. Secundum Artem. According to the rules of art. 3. 4. 64. pro captu recipientis. For the pleasing of the recipient. 3. 4. 64. R often softens a preceding unaccented vowel (Abbott, § 464). And ve | ry safe | pro captu | recip | ien ; tis 3. 4. 66—9. I . . . malady. The rabbi was no more serious, apparently, than Dr. Rut ; his main concern, we may infer, was to drink the sweetened white wine. 3. 4. 68. For metre, see notes on 3. 4. 64 ; i. i. 81. With sugar | and by | the resi | dence i' | the bot : tome, 3. 5. 21. the Politiques. See Glossary, ' In 1602, the combined remonstrances of the church and the magistrates M 172 The Magnetic Lady [ACT III extorted from the king of France an edict condemning to death whoever should give or accept a challenge or act as second. But public opinion was revolted by such rigour, and the statute remained a dead letter. During the reign of James I duels appear to have been frequent, and were resorted to, not only by the upper classes, but amongst the lower orders. This appears from a speech of Bacon, when attorney-general, in the case of a challenge brought before the Star Chamber Court. Bacon therein attributes the frequency of the practice to the rooted prejudice of the times, and hopes that the great would think it time to leave off the custom, when they find it adopted by barber-surgeons and butchers. ..." I will prosecute," he says, " if any man appoint the field, though no fight takes place ; if any man send a challenge in writing or verbally ; if any man accept a challenge, or consent to be a second ; if any man depart the realm in order to fight ; if any man revive a quarrel after the late proclamation." ' — ^Millingen, History of Duelling, 2. 9. 3. 5. 26—37. I^ thing. The duel of honor flourished in France. ' Duelling is a special development of chivalry, and chivalry is one of the phases of the protective spirit which was predominant in France up to the time of the Revolution. Add to this the keen sense of personal honour, the suscepti- bility and the pugnacity which distinguish the French race. Montaigne, when touching on this subject in his essays, says, " Put three Frenchmen together on the plains of Libya, and they will not be a month in company without scratching one another's eyes out." The third chapter of d'Audiguier's Ancien usage des duels is headed, " Pourquoi les seuls Fran^ais se battent en duel." English literature abounds with allusions to this characteristic of the French nation. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who was ambassador at the court of Louis XIIL, says, " There is scarce a Frenchman worth looking on who has not killed his man in a duel." ' — Encycl. Brit., For full information about the vogue of dueling in France, see Millingen, The History of Duelling, Vol. 1. 3. 5. 36. For metre, see notes on 3. 4. 64 ; 3. 3. 43. ACT III] Explanatory Notes 173 No Poul I trounerie, | like urg | ing why ? | wherefore ? 3. 5. 52. you are one 0' the deepest Politigues I ever met. Compass' language is intentionally ambiguous : a politique may be i. 'a sagacious, prudent person ; a skilled politician ' : or 2. 'a shrewd schemer.' 3. 5. 56. For metre, see note on i, i. 61. That you | are ac | cessar | y to | his death, 3. 5. 58. the corruption of one thing in nature. Is held the Generation of another. The terms corruption and generation were frequently employed in mediaeval philosophy to denote contrary processes. Their use originated from Aristotle's treatise, De Generatione et Corruptione. Cf. Middleton and Dekker, The Roaring Girl 3. 4 : ' Would you know a catchpoole rightly deriu'd, the corruption of a Cittizen is the generation of a serieant.' — NED. 3. 5. 69. For metre, see note on i. 2. 9. This bag | gage Knight. | Peace to | you all | Gentlemen, 3. 5. 70. Mushrome. The use of this term to signify ' an upstart, a worthless fellow,' is found in several passages of Jonson's works. In Every Man Out {Wks. 2. 36), Macilente rails against Such bulrushes ; these mushroom gentlemen. That shoot up in a night to place and worship. See also Catiline (Wks. 4. 221) : And we must glorify A mushroom ! one of yesterday ! The Silent Woman {Wks. 3. 370) : ' A mere talking mole, hang him ! no mushroom was ever so fresh.' Upton refers this last quotation to Plautus' Bacch. 4. 7. 23: lam nihil sapit, Nee sentit ; tanti'st, quanti est fungus putidus. The term is also used in a derogatory sense in Plautus' Tri- nummus 4. 2. 12 : Pol hie quidem fungino generest. M2 174 The Magnetic Lady [act III 3, 5. 71. For metre, see notes on i. i. 28 ; i. i. 81. Me with I a Chal | lenge : | which I | come to | antici : pate. 3. 5. 76. Captaine, you are a Coward, If you not fight i' your shirt. In his desire to save his clothes, the courtier avails himself of the opinion that it is a mark of valor to fight without any sort of protection ; cf. Massinger, The Maid of Honour (Wks. 3. 8) : Gasp. I will raise me a company of foot ; And, when at push of pike I am to enter A breach, to show my valour I have bought me An armour cannon-proof. Bert. You will not leap, then O'er an outwork, in your shirt ? Gasp. I do not Hke Activity that way. 3- 5- 77- Sir I not meane. For the omission of do, see note on 2. i. 13. 3. 5. 92. you ha' read the Play there, the New Inne. For a discussion of the relation of this play to The New Inn, and of Jonson's debt to Greek philosophy for his ideas of valor, see Introduction, p. xxv. 3. 5. 96. For metre, see note on 2. 5. 44. Lies for | a pri | vate cause. | Sir, He | redargue ; you, 3. 5. 98. For metre, see note on i. 3. 16. I long I to heare | a man | dispute | in his shirt 3. 5. 100. His valour will take cold. His valour will cool ; it will lose the support of passion. 3. 5. 113. Towne-top's his Author! According to Nares, the town-top or parish-top was one bought for public exercise in a parish. Stevens says : ' This is one of the customs now laid aside. A large top was formerly kept in every village, to be whipped in frosty weather, that the peasants might be kept warm by exercise, and out of mischief while they could not work.' — Nares, Glos. The implication of Compass' remark is, possibly, that Silkworm has not read the treatises ACT III] Explanatory Notes 175 on fencing and dueling (such as Saviola's Of Honour and Honorable Quarrels), but has picked up his information by listening to the gossip about the town-top. 3. 5. 116. o' the first head. See note on 2. 3. 57. 3.5.122. Perdu's. See the Glossary. Shakespeare, Lear 4- 7- 35 : To watch, poor Perdu With this thin helme. Rushw. Hist. Coll. (Ser. 4. 2. 1173) : ' Our Purdues lie so near the Enemy, as to hear them discourse.' Chapman, The Widow's Tears {Wks. 3. 23) : Revolts from manhood, Debaucht perdus, have by their companies Turn'd Devill like themselves. — NED. 3. 5. 123. For the metre, see note on i. i. 28. The one, [ that they | are shot free ; | the oth | er, sword free. 3. 5. 134. For the metre, see note on 2. 6. 74. Or ig I norance | being | the root | of it. 3. 5. 137. exemplified Malefactors. See the Glossary, s, v. exemplified. 3. 5. 139. One that hath lost his eares, . . . And is a Histrionicall Contempt. ' This is evidently meant of Scribe Prynne, and may be con- sidered as " the retort courteous " to the histrionical con- tempt with which he had assailed the dramatic writers.' — G. Gifford made two mistakes in this note. Jonson could not have meant William Prynne, because this play was acted in 1632, and Prynne did not lose his ears until May, 1633 ; see DNB. He probably refers to Alexander Gill the younger, with whom 'Jonson had a long-standing feud, which began as early as 1623, in consequence of the elder Gill's patronage 176 The Magnetic Lady [act III of Wither's satires.' — DNB. The difficulty with this identi- fication is the fact that Gill did not actually lose his ears : on November i, 1628, he was sentenced to degradation from the ministry, to a fine of 2000 £, and to the loss of both ears ; but on the intercession of his father, Laud consented to miti- gate the fine, and forego the corporal punishment ; and on November 30, 1630, a free pardon was signed by Charles I. — DNB. That Jonson did actually refer to Gill is shown by his retort to Gill's attack Uppon Ben Johnson's Magnetick Ladye, in which he speaks as if the sentence by statute were equivalent to its execution : Shall the prosperity of a pardon still Secure thy railing rhimes, infamous Gill, At Libelling ? Shall no Star-chamber peers. Pillory, nor whip, (nor cart) nor want of ears. All which thou hast incurr'd deservedly, Nor degradation from the ministry, To be the Denis of thy father's school. Keep in thy bawling wit, thou bawhng fool ? Thinking to stir me, thou hast lost thy end, I'll laugh at thee, poor wretched tike : go send Thy blatant music abroad, and teach it rather A tune to drown the ballads of thy father : For thou hast nought in thee, to cure his fame, But tune and noise, and echo of his shame. A rogue by statute, censur'd to be whipt, Cropt, branded, slit, neck-stockt : — Go, you are stript ! The expression, histrionical contempt, does not, as Gifford implies, mean a contempt expressed in a satiric drama; the passage means : And is a feigned or acted comtempt Of what a man fears most ; it being an evil In his own judgement unavoidable. See the Glossary, s. v. histrionicall. 3. 5. 145. Theeves adjudg'd to die. Theft was a capital offense. See Harrison's Elizabethan England, p. 236 : ' In cases of felony, manslaughter, robbery, murder, rape, piracy, and such capital crimes as are not reputed for treason or hurt of the estate, our sentence pronounced upon the offender is. ACT III] Explanatory Notes 177 to hang till he be dead.' Idem, p. 243 : ' Witches are hanged, or sometimes burned ; but thieves are hanged (as I said be- fore) generally on a gibbet or gallows.' 3. 5. 147. ' The e in entertainment, &c, which originally preceded the final syllable, is sometimes retained, and, even where not retained, sometimes pronounced ' (Abbott, § 488). As being | a spec | iall en ] tertain | e ment 3. 5. 147. a special entertainment For our rogue People. The amusement which the people derived from executions is suggested in a passage in The Devil is an Ass {Wks. 5. 136) : Iniq. . . . Thou mayst have a triumphal egression. Pug. In a cart, to be hang'd ! Iniq. No, child, in a car. The chariot of triumph, which most of them are. See also Boulton, The Amusements of Old London 2. 244 : ' Could the taste of Londoners for horrors, the interest in suffering which appeared in half their sports and amusements, be better displayed than in the records of their delight in the exhibitions of Tyburn and Tower Hill ? We believe that no spectacle of the last century, no coronation, no triumphal progress of captured standards to St. Paul's, or treasure to Mint during the first Mr. Pitt's great war, ever drew such crowds into the streets as when Balmerino and Kilmarnock went to Tower Hill, or Lord Ferrers or Dr. Dodd, Jack Sheppard or John Rann, made the long and doleful journey from Newgate to Tyburn. . . . When the criminal was noto- rious, or distinguished, or pitied, or execrated above the common, his agony was prolonged by crowds in such numbers as lengthened the passage through the streets by hours. The space of time which lay between the stroke of the bell at midnight under the condemned man's cell window in Newgate Gaol and the claiming of his body by his friends, or by the surgeons for dissection, . . . was a time of revel and merry- making for his fellow-citizens.' 3. 5. 152. For the metre, see note on 2. 5. 44. That might | be avoid | ed. I, | and with | assuri ance, 178 " The Magnetic Lady [act hi, 3- 5- 153- For the metre, see note on i. 2. 9. That it I is found | in Nob | le-men, | and Gentle men, 3. 5. 154. Of the best sheafe. The term sheaf is ' applied to various things collected or bundled together.' — Nares, Gloss. Here it means rank or class. Cf. Every Man Out [Wks. 2. 51) : ' I am so haunted at the court, and at my lod- ging, with your refined choice spirits, that it makes me clean of another garb, another sheaf, I know not how ! I cannot frame me to your harsh vulgar phrase, ' tis against my genius.' Cf. also Staunton's emendation of Hamlet i. 3. 74, and Ingleby's citations in support of Staunton in the Fumess Variorum, p. 69. 3. 5. 156. The accent may be upon a monosyllabic pre- position (Abbott, §457a). And pub I like re | puta | tion to | defend. 3. 5. 158—65. And . . . foot. This passage apparently alludes to the struggle of the citizens of London to resist thy compulsory loans, benevolences, imposts, and rates upon merchandise by which Charles strove to govern without parliament. This play, it should be remembered, was acted three years after Charles had dissolved his third parliament. The opposition of the citizens, as Compass remarks, was not furious, but close and united. London was, later, during the Civil War, the stronghold of the parliamentary party. See Norton's Historical Account of the City of London, chap. 6, and Gardiner's History of England, Vol. 6. 3. 5. 170. For the metre, see note on i. 3. 41. There are | three val | ours yet, | which Sir | Diaph '■ anous, 3. 5. 175. our Genii, or good spirits. Genius : ' With reference to classical pagan belief : The tutelary god or attendant spirit alloted to every person at his birth, to govern his fortunes and determine his character, and finally to con- duct him out of the world.' Shaks. Macb. 3. i. 56 : 'Under him My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said Mark Anthonies was by Caesar.' — NED. ACT III] Explanatory Notes 179 3. 5. 179. Sine divino aliquo afflatu. Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2. 66. 167 : ' Nemo igitur vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam iuit.' 3. 5. 180. a Christian valour. Cf. Matt. 5. 39—41 : ' But I say unto you, Resist not h:m that is evil : but whosoever smiteth thee on thy rij!;iit cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two.' 3. 5. 183. For the metre, see notes on 3. 4. 64; 3. 5. 186. See also Abbott, § 457 a. With In I jury doth | unto | you ; and | consists 3. 5. 188. The divine Image. Alluding to Gen. i. 26, etc. 3. 5. 188. For the metre, see note on i. i. 61. The di | vine Im | age in | a man ? | O Sir ! 3. 6. 13. butter'd newes ! This is an allusion to Nathaniel Butter (d. 1664), whom Jonson had satirized in The Staple of News. He was a publisher and news-collector. By his success in reporting news he virtually created the London press. See DNB., and Winter's edition of The Staple of News, Introduction, pp. XXXV— LI. 3. 6. 20. crack't within the Ring. ' The gold coin of our ancestors was very thin, and therefore liable to crack. It still, however, continued passable until the crack extended beyond the ring, i.e. beyond the inmost round which circum- scribed the inscription ; when it became uncurrent, and might be legally refused. . . . The application of the expression to anything seriously injured, debased, unserviceable, factitious, &c., is perfectly natural, and in one or other of these senses it is to be found in almost all the writers of Jonson's age.'— G. See also McKerrow's note on line 642 of his edition of B. Bar- nes' The Devil's Charter: 'Broken within the ring.' This recalls " clipped or cracked, within the ring," a phrase pro- erly applied to a coin which was damaged within the boundary of the inscription, and hence not current. As used of women, it meant both " having lost virginity " and " dishonest." i8o The Magnetic Lady [ACT III Cf. Lyly, Woman in the Moone, III. ii. 266, and Hamlet, II. ii. 448.' See also Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain 3. 246 : Which may awaken his compassion To make you clerk o' the kitchen, and at length, Come to be married to my lady's woman After she's crack'd i' the ring. — C. 3. 6. 26. The slip is his then. ' Sir Diaphanous plays on the double meaning of the word slip, which signified either a base-born child, or a piece of false money. In the latter sense it occurs in many of our old dramas, and generally, as here, in conjunction with counterfeit. Thus Shakespeare : What counterfeit did I give you ? The slip, the slip, sir. Romeo and Juliet. Again : " If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit, thou wouldst not have slipped out of my contemplation." Troilus and Cressida.' — G. For the use of slip as a base-born child, see Dekker, The Devils Last Will {Wks. (Grosart) 3. 353) : ' Because he is a slip of mine owne grafting, I likewise bequeath to him my best slippers ' ; Crabbe, The Borough 20. 247 : ' He talk'd of bastard slips, and cursed his bed.' — NED. 3. Ch. 10. the accidental! cause. The four causes of Aristotle were the efficient cause, the formal, the material, and the final ; but Ayliffe's Parerga (1726) suggests that other divisions were made : ' There are seven Causes consider'd in Judgment, viz. the Material, Efficient, and Formal Cause ; and likewise a Natural, Substantial, and Accidental Cause ; and lastly a Final Cause.' — NED. 3. Ch. 20. an overgrowne, or superannuated Poet. See note on i. 2. 33. 3. Ch. 22. take my Tobacco. Smoking was very popular in England ; cf . Besant's London in the Time of the Tudors, p. 285 : ' The palmy time of tobacco extended over the fifty years after its introduction (c. 1565). During this time the use of tobacco penetrated all ranks and classes of society. The grave divine, the soldier, the lawyer, the gallant about town, ACT III] Explanatory Notes i8i the merchant, the craftsman, the 'prentice, all used pipes At the theatre the young fellow called for his pipe and for tobacco and began to smoke. . . . People went to bed with tobacco box and pipe and candle on a table by the bedside in case they might wake up in the night and feel inclined for tobacco. After supper in a middle-class family, all the men and women smoked together.' Paul Hentzner describes the smoking at theatres and elsewhere : ' At these spectacles, and everywhere else, the English are constantly smoking tobacco. . . . They have pipes . . . made of clay, into the farther end of which they put the herb, so dry that it may be rubbed into powder ; and putting fire to it, they draw the smoke into their mouths, which they puff out again through their nostrils, like funnels, along with plenty of phlegm and defluxion from the head.' — Hentzner's Itinerarium, cited by Morley, Mem. 137. King James I opposed smoking in his Counterblaste to Tobacco. Jonson satirized the habit in Every Man In, Every Man Out, Cynthia's Revels, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair. For an adequate treatment of the general subject of tobacco, see Fairholt's Tobacco : Its History and Associations. 3. Ch. 23. Magna Charta of reprehension. Cf. The New Inn {Wks. 5. 310) : It is against my freehold, my inheritance. My Magna Charta, cor laetificat, To drink such balderdash, or bonny-clabber ! Also T. Watson's Body Divin (1692), p. 460 : ' The Covenant of Grace is our Magna Charta, by vertue of which God passeth himself over to us to be our God.' — NED. Magna Charta, of course, refers to the Great Charter of English personal and political liberty, granted by King John in 1 215, and appealed to in all disputes between king and subjects, till the establishment of constitutional government. 3. Ch. 30. I will search what foUowes ... to the naile. 'Jonson alludes to the practice of the ancient artists, who proved the polish of their works, by running their nails over the surface.' — G. i82 The Magnetic Lady [ACT IV 4. 2. 3. For the metre, see notes on 3. 3- 43 i i- i- 81. Knowes shee | o' this | accident ? | Alas | Sir, no ; 4. 2. 4. For the metre, see note on 2. 4. 16. Would she ] might ne | ver knowit. | I think | her La : diship 4. 2. 15. The top, or the Top-gallant of our Law P See the Glossary, s. v. Top and Top-gallant. The Devil is an Ass (Wks. 5. 113) : The top of woman! all her sex in abstract! Top and top-gallant are sailors' terms familiar to a maritime people like the Londoners. 4. 2. 26. You read Almanacks. 'Abnanac-making had become an extensive and profitable trade in this country at the beginning of the 17th century, and with the exception of some fifteen or twenty years at the time of the Rebellion continued to flourish until its close. There were three distinct classes of almanacs published during the seventeenth cen- tury — the common almanacs, which preceded and followed the period of the Rebellion, and the political and satirical almanacs that were the direct outcome of that event. ' The common almanacs came out year after year in un- broken uniformity. They were generally of octavo size and consisted of two parts, an almanac and a prognostication. Good and evil days were recorded, and they contained rules as to bathing, purging, etc., descriptions of the four seasons and rules to know the weather, and during the latter half of the century an astrological prediction and " scheme " of the ensuing year. ' In the preceding century the makers of almanacs were " Physitians and Preests," but they now adopted many other titles, such as " Student in Astrology," " Philomath," " Well Wilier to the Mathematics." The majority of them were doubtless astrologers, but not a few were quack doctors who only published their almanacs as advertisements.' — From note by W. S. Johnson, abridged from Notes and Queries, 6th Ser., 12. 243. ACT iv] Explanatory Notes 183 Jonson satirized the belief in the predictions of almanacs in Every Man Out {Wks. 2. 39—41) and The Alchemist {Wks. 4. 41). For an idea of the extent which the pubhshing of almanacs reached at one time, see the article, Almanacs for the Ensuing Year, in The Book of Days 2. 715. 4. 2. 31. And choose your Mistris By the good dayes, and leave her by the bad P Brand (2. 44—51) discusses Days Lucky or Unlucky, from which the following extract is taken : ' Bourne (chap. XVIII), speaking of that superstitious custom among the heathens of observing one day as good, and another as bad, observes : " that among these were lucky and unlucky days ; some were Dies atri, and some Dies albi. The Atri were pointed out in their calendar with a black character, the Albi with a white ; the former to denote a day of bad success, the latter a day of good. Thus have the monks, in the dark and unlearned ages of Popery, copy'd after the heathens, and dream'd them- selves into the like superstitions, esteeming one day more successful than another." . . . Thomas Lodge, in his In- carnate Devils, 1596, p. 12, glances as follows at the superstitious observer of lucky and unlucky times : "He will not eat his dinner before he hath lookt in his almanacke." Mason, in the Anatomic of Sorcerie, 1612, p. 85, enumerates among the superstitious of that age, " Regard ers of times, as they are which will have one time more lucky than another : to be borne at one hower more unfortunate than at another : to take a journey or any other enterprize in hand, to be more dange- rous or prosperous at one time than another : as likewise, if such a festivall day fall upon such a day of the weeke, or such like, we shall have such a yeare following : and many other such like vaine speculations, set downe by our astrologians, having neither footing on God's word, nor yet natural reason to support them ; but being grounded onely upon the super- stitious imagination of man's braine." ' 4. 2. 34, Allestree. 'A Richard Allestry, of Derby . . . was the author of several almanacs, ranging from 1624 to 1643:— DNB. 184 The Magnetic Lady [ACT IV 4. 2. 38. Another manner of peice. For this use of piece as an individual, see Bartholomew Fair [Wks. 4. 368) : ' Gentle- men, you do not know him ; he is another manner of piece than you think for : but nineteen years old, and yet he is taller than either of you by the head, God bless him ! ' 4. 2. 39. sub sigillo. Under the seal (of professional secrecy) . 4. 2. 46. a Bencher, and now double Reader. See the Glossary, s. v. Bencher. ' " In those days," says Sir W. Dug- dale, (i. e. when readings in the Inns of Court were kept up with some degree of solenmity,) " in those days men came to be single readers at fifteen or sixteen years standing in the House and read double about seven years afterwards. Orig. Jur., p. 209. Again : " By the antient orders of the House, (Middle Temple,) now disused, he is in turn to read again, and then is called a double reader." ' — G. 4. 2. 56. A knitting Cup. The drinking of wine at marr- iages was considered necessary. Compleat Vintner (1720), quoted by Brand : What priest can join two lovers' hands, But wine must seal the marriage-bands ? As if celestial wine was thought Essential to the sacred knot. And that each bridegroom and his bride Believ'd they were not firmly ty'd Till Bacchus, with his bleeding tun. Had finished what the priest begun. The New Inn {Wks. 5. 404) : Lord B. Get our bed ready, chamberlain, And host, a bride-cup. See the account of this custom in Brand, Pop. Antiq. 2. 136—9. 4. 3. 3. a craek'd commoditie. Damaged goods ; fig. A marriageable girl who has proved of blemished moral character. 4. 3. 4. broke bulke. Punning on the meaning of btdke : I. ' a cargo of a ship ; the whole lot ' (of a commodity) ; and 2. ' the belly.' Cf. Heywood, The Iron Age 2. 3. i {Wks. 1874, 3. 392) : ' My sword through Priams bulke shall flie.' — NED. ACT iv] Explanatory Notes 185 4. 3. 10. To make a Musse. A muss means a scramble. According to Halliwell, there was a scrambling game amongst children so called. Brand discusses this {Pop. Ant. 2. 429) : ' In Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, act i, sc. 11, the ancient puerile sport called muss is thus mentioned : Ant. " When I cry'd, ho ! Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth, And cry, your will ? " ' Jonson used the term in Bartholomew Fair {Wks. 4. 446) : Cokes. Ods so ! a muss, a muss, a muss, a muss ! {Falls a scrambling for the pears. 4. 3. 13. For the metre, see note on 3. 4. 64. The in | jury is | done you, | and by | him on i ly ; 4. 3. 24. Infamous, quasi, in communem famam : And Matrimony, quasi, matter of Money. ' This is not one of the worst of those idle conundrums, which were once so much in vogue. Even the grave Camden did not disdain to unbend with them ; first taking care, however, to sanction his practice by the laudable example of one Dio- nysius, like himself, perhaps, a schoolmaster, who "merrily" called mice- holes mysteria, [j.u.%^/.v t^^^^^ ..^', -^Z ..^, ^^^^^^ ..; •'■'• \ c°*.i^i'°o /.'i;;^.\ oo*.ia^'.>. .--,/ "°^*^-''/ *■ <^ <» • * .O v> 111 Thomson Park Drive • '■'*•♦ ^A c ° " " f ' Cranberry Township, PA 16066 R IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION m Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724) 779-2111 v^^ii^-i ' ry- J"^^ ^ ^ •*^' /\, -: ■ft.* •<* > 0^ *!,*°' ^"^> V sl.!rL'* <^ AV WtRT BOOKBINDING GraniMlle Pa