For she may be so light

She may want grains.

FAC.

Aye, or be such a burden,

A man would scarce endure her, for the whole.

SUB.

Faith, best let's see her first, and then determine.

FAC.

Content. But Dol must ha' no breath on't.

SUB.

Mum.

Away, you to your Surly yonder, catch him.

FAC.

'Pray God, I ha' not stayed too long.

SUB.

I fear it.

 

[Exeunt]

 

 

Act III

Scene 1

Enter Tribulation Wholesome, Ananias

 

TRI.

These chastisements are common to the Saints,

And such rebukes we of the Separation

Must bear, with willing shoulders, as the trials

Sent forth, to tempt our frailties.

ANA.

In pure zeal,

I do not like the man: he is a heathen.

And speaks the language of Canaan, truly.

TRI.

I think him a profane person, indeed.

ANA.

He bears

The visible mark of the Beast in his forehead.

And for his stone, it is a work of darkness,

And with philosophy blinds the eyes of man.

TRI.

Good Brother, we must bend unto all means,

That may give furtherance to the holy cause.

ANA.

Which his cannot: the sanctified cause

Should have a sanctified course.

TRI.

Not always necessary.

The children of perdition are, oft-times,

Made instruments even of the greatest works.

Beside, we should give somewhat to man's nature,

The place he lives in, still about the fire,

And fume of metals, that intoxicate

The brain of man, and make him prone to passion.

Where have you greater atheists, than your cooks?

Or more profane, or choleric than your glassmen?

More Antichristian than your bell-founders?

What makes the devil so devilish, I would ask you,

Satan, our common enemy, but his being

Perpetually about the fire, and boiling

Brimstone and arsenic? We must give, I say,

Unto the motives, and the stirrers up

Of humours in the blood. It may be so,

When as the work is done, the stone is made,

This heat of his may turn into a zeal,

And stand up for the beauteous discipline

Against the menstruous cloth and rag of Rome.

We must await his calling, and the coming

Of the good spirit. You did fault, to upbraid him

With the Brethren's blessing of Heidelberg, weighing

What need we have to hasten on the work,

For the restoring of the silenced Saints,

Which ne'er will be, but by the philosophers' stone.

And so a learned Elder, one of Scotland,

Assured me; aurum potabile being

The only medicine, for the civil magistrate,

To incline him to a feeling of the cause:

And must be daily used, in the disease.

ANA.

I have not edified more, truly, by man;

Not since the beautiful light first shone on me:

And I am sad my zeal hath so offended.

TRI.

Let us call on him, then.

ANA.

The motion's good,

And of the spirit; I will knock first. Peace be within.

 

Scene 2

Enter Subtle

 

SUB.

Oh, are you come? 'Twas time. Your threescore minutes

Were at the last thread, you see; and down had gone

Furnus acediae, turris circulatorius:

Limbeck, bolt's-head, retort, and pelican

Had all been cinders. Wicked Ananias!

Art thou returned? Nay then, it goes down yet.

TRI.

Sir, be appeased, he is come to humble

Himself in spirit, and to ask your patience,

If too much zeal hath carried him aside

From the due path.

SUB.

Why, this doth qualify!

TRI.

The Brethren had no purpose, verily,

To give you the least grievance: but are ready

To lend their willing hands to any project

The spirit and you direct.

SUB.

This qualifies more!

TRI.

And for the orphans' goods, let them be valued,

Or what is needful, else, to the holy work,

It shall be numbered: here, by me, the Saints

Throw down their purse before you.

SUB.

This qualifies, most!

Why, thus it should be, now you understand.

Have I discoursed so unto you, of our stone?

And of the good that it shall bring your cause?

Showed you (beside the main of hiring forces

Abroad, drawing the Hollanders, your friends,

From the Indies, to serve you, with all their fleet)

That even the medicinal use shall make you a faction,

And party in the realm? As, put the case,

That some great man in state, he have the gout,

Why, you but send three drops of your elixir,

You help him straight: there you have made a friend.

Another has the palsy, or the dropsy,

He takes of your incombustible stuff,

He's young again: there you have made a friend.

A lady, that is past the feat of body,

Though not of mind, and hath her face decayed

Beyond all cure of paintings, you restore

With the oil of talc; there you have made a friend:

And all her friends. A lord, that is a leper,

A knight, that has the bone-ache, or a squire

That hath both these, you make 'em smooth and sound,

With a bare fricace of your medicine: still,

You increase your friends.

TRI.

Aye, 'tis very pregnant.

SUB.

And, then, the turning of this lawyer's pewter

To plate, at Christmas –

ANA.

Christ-tide, I pray you.

SUB.

Yet, Ananias?

ANA.

I have done.

SUB.

Or changing

His parcel gilt to massy gold. You cannot

But raise you friends. Withal, to be of power

To pay an army, in the field, to buy

The king of France out of his realms; or Spain,

Out of his Indies: what can you not do,

Against lords spiritual, or temporal,

That shall oppone you?

TRI.

Verily, 'tis true.

We may be temporal lords ourselves, I take it.

SUB.

You may be anything, and leave off to make

Long-winded exercises: or suck up,

Your 'ha' and 'hum' in a tune. I not deny,

But such as are not graced in a state,

May, for their ends, be adverse in religion,

And get a tune, to call the flock together:

For (to say sooth) a tune does much with women,

And other phlegmatic people; it is your bell.

ANA.

Bells are profane: a tune may be religious.

SUB.

No warning with you? Then farewell my patience.

'Slight, it shall down: I will not be thus tortured.

TRI.

I pray you, sir.

SUB.

All shall perish. I have spoke it.

TRI.

Let me find grace, sir, in your eyes; the man

He stands corrected: neither did his zeal

(But as yourself) allow a tune, somewhere.

Which, now, being toward the stone, we shall not need.

SUB.

No, nor your holy vizard, to win widows

To give you legacies; or make zealous wives

To rob their husbands, for the common cause:

Nor take the start of bonds, broke but one day,

And say they were forfeited, by providence.

Nor shall you need, o'er night to eat huge meals,

To celebrate your next day's fast the better:

The whilst the Brethren, and the Sisters, humbled,

Abate the stiffness of the flesh. Nor cast

Before your hungry hearers scrupulous bones,

As whether a Christian may hawk or hunt;

Or whether Matrons of the holy assembly

May lay their hair out, or wear doublets,

Or have that idol starch about their linen.

ANA.

It is, indeed, an idol.

TRI.

Mind him not, sir.

I do command thee, spirit (of zeal, but trouble)

To peace within him. Pray you, sir, go on.

SUB.

Nor shall you need to libel 'gainst the prelates,

And shorten so your ears, against the hearing

Of the next wire-drawn grace. Nor of necessity

Rail against plays, to please the alderman,

Whose daily custard you devour. Nor lie

With zealous rage, till you are hoarse.