STay, see! our Mercury is comming forth; Art and all the Elements

assist. Call forth our Philosophers. He will bee gon, he will euaporate.

Deare Mercury! helpe. He flies. He is scap'd. Precious golden Mercury,

be fixt; be not so volatile. Will none of the Sonnes of Art appeare?

NOw the place and goodnesse of it protect me. One tender-hearted

creature, or other, saue Mercury, and free him. Ne're an olde Gentle-

woman i'the house, that has a wrinckle about her, to hide mee in? I could

run into a Seruing-womans pocket now; her gloue, any little hole. Some

mercifull vardingale among so many, be bounteous, and vndertake me:

I will stand, close, vp, any where, to escape this polt-footed Philosopher, old

Smug here of Lemnos, and his smoaky familie. Has he giuen mee time to

breathe? Ô the variety of torment, that I haue endur'd in the reigne of the

Cyclops, beyond the most exquisite wit of Tyrannes. The whole houshold

of 'hem are become Alchymists (since their trade of armour-making fail'd

them) onely to keepe themselues in fire, for this winter, for the mischiefe

of Secret, that they know, aboue the consuming of coales and drawing of

Vskabah. Howsoeuer they may pretend vnder the specious names of Ge-

ber, Arnold, Lully, Bombast of Hohenhein, to commit miracles in art and

treason again' nature. And, as if the title of Philosopher, that creature of

glory, were to be fetch'd out of a furnace, abuse the curious and credulous

Nation of metall-men through the world, and make Mercury their in-

strument. I am their Crude, and their Sublimate; their Præcipitate, and

their vnctuous; their male and their female; Sometimes their Hermaphro-

dite; what they list to stile me. It is I, that am corroded, and exalted, and

sublim'd, and reduc'd, and fetch'd ouer, and filtred, and wash'd, and wip'd;

what betweene their salts and their sulphures; their oyles, and their tar-

tars, their brines and their vinegers, you might take me out now a sous'd

Mercury, now a salted Mercury, now a smoak'd and dri'd Mercury, now a

pouldred and pickl'd Mercury: neuer Herring, Oyster, or Coucumer past

so many vexations: my whole life with 'hem hath bene an exercise of tor-

ture; one, two, three, foure and fiue times an houre ha' they made mee

dance the Philosophicall circle, like an Ape through a hoope, or a dogge in

a wheele. I am their turne-spit indeed; They eate or smell no rost-meate

but in my name. I am their bill of credit still, that passes for their victuals

and house-roome. It is through mee, they ha 'got this corner o'the Court

to coozen in, where they sharke for a hungry diet below staires, and cheat

vpon your vnder-Officers, promising mountaines for their meat, and all

vpon Mercuries security. A poore Page o' the Larder, they haue made ob-

stinately beleeue, he shalbe Phisician for the Houshold, next Summer: they

will giue him a quantity of the quintessence, shall serue him to cure kibes,

or the mormall o' the shinne, take away the pustles i' the nose, and Mer-

cury is ingag'd for it. A child o' the Scullery steales all their coales for 'hem

too, and he is bid sleepe secure, hee shall finde a corner o'the Philosophers

stone for't, vnder his bolster, one day, and haue the Prouerbe inuerted.

Against which, one day I am to deliuer the Buttry in, so many firkins of

Aurum potabile, as it deliuers out Bombards of Budge to them, betweene

this and that. For the Pantry, they are at a certaintie with mee, and keepe

a Tally, An Ingot, a loafe, or a wedge of some fiue pound weight, which is

a thing of nothing, a trifle. And so the Blacke guard are pleased with anothing of nothing, a trifle. And so the Blacke guard are pleased with a

toy lease of life (for some 999.) especially those o' the boylingany lease of life (for some 999.) especially those o' the boyling

house, they are to haue Medeas kettle hung vp, that they may souse into it

when they will, and come out renew'd like so many strip'd Snakes at their

pleasure. But these are petty Engagements, and (as I saide) below the

staires; Marry aboue here, Perpetuity of beauty, (doe you heare, Ladies)

health, Riches, Honours, a matter of Immortality is nothing. They will

calcine you a graue matron (as it might bee a mother o' the maides) and

spring vp a yong virgin, out of her ashes, as fresh as a Phœnix: Lay you an

old Courtier o' the coales like a sausedge, or a bloat-herring, and after

they ha' broil'd him enough, blow a soule into him with a paire of bel-

lowes, till hee start vp into his galliard, that was made when Mounsieur

was here. They professe familiarly to melt down all the old sinners o' the

suburbes once in halfe a yeere, into fresh gamesters againe. Get all the

crack'd maiden-heads, and cast 'hem into new Ingots, halfe the wenches

o' the towne are Alchymie. See, they begin to muster againe, and draw their

forces out against me! The Genius of the place defend me. You that are

both the Sol and Iupiter of this spheare Mercury, inuokes your maiesty a-

gainst the sooty Tribe here; for in your fauour onely, I growe recouer'd

and warme.

BEgin your charme, sound musique, circle him in, and take him: If he

will not obey, bind him.

IT is in vaine, Vulcan, to pitch your net in the sight of the fowle thus: I am

no sleepy Mars, to be catch'd i'your subtile toyes. I know what your

aymes are, Sir, to teare the wings from my head, and heeles, and lute mee

vp in a glasse, with my owne seales, while you might wrest the Caducæus out

of my hand, to the adultery and spoile of Nature, and make your accesses

by it, to her dishonour, more easie. Sir, would you beleeue, it should be

come to that height of impudence, in mankind, that such a nest of fire-

wormes, as these are (because their Patron Mulciber heretofore has made

stooles stirre, and statues dance, a dog of brasse to barke, and (which some

will say, was his worst acte, a woman to speake) should therefore with

their heats cal'd Balnei, cineris, or horse-doung, professe to outworke the

Sunne in vertue, and contend to the great act of generation, nay, almost

creation? it is so, though. For, in yonder vessels which you see, in their

laboratorie, they haue inclos'd Materials, to produce men, beyond the

deedes of Deucalion, or Prometheus (of which, one, they say, had the Philoso-

phers stone, and threw it ouer his shoulder, the other the fire, and lost it.)

And what men are they, they are so busie about, thinke you? not com-

mon or ordinary creatures, but of rarity and excellence, such as the times

wanted, and the Age had a speciall deale of neede of: such, as there was a

necessitie, they should be artificiall; for Nature could neuer haue thought

or dreamt o' their composition. I can remember some o' their titles to

you, and the ingredients doe not looke for Paracelsus man among 'hem,

that he promised you out of white bread, and dele-wine, for hee neuer

came to light. But of these, let me see; the first that occurres; a master of

the Duel, a carrier of the differencies. To him went spirit of ale, a good

quantitie, with the amalgama of sugar and nutmegs, oyle of othes, sul-

phureof quarrell, strong waters, valour precipitate, vapor'd o're the

helme with tobacco, and the rosin of Mars with a dram o'the businesse,

for that's the word of tincture, the businesse. Let me alone with the bu-

sinesse, I will carrie the businesse. I doe vnderstand the businesse. I doe

finde an affront i' the businesse. Then another is a fencer i' the Mathe-

matiques, or the townes-cunning-man, a creature of arte too; a supposed

secretary to the starres; but, indeed, a kind of lying Intelligencer from those

parts. His materials, if I be not deceiu'd, were iuyce of almanacks, extra-

ction of Ephemerides, scales of the Globe, fylings of figures, dust o'the twelue

houses, conserue of questions, salt of confederacy, a pound of aduenture,

a graine of skill, and a drop of trueth. I saw vegitals too, aswell as mine-

rals, put into one glasse there, as adders tongue, title-bane, nitre of clyents,

tartar of false conueyance, Aurum palpabile, with a huge deale of talke, to

which they added tincture of conscience, with the faces of honesty; but

for what this was, I could not learne; onely I haue ouer-heard one o' the

Artists say, Out o'the corruption of a Lawyer was the best generation of

a Broker in suits: whether this were he or no, I know not.

THou art a scorner, Mercury, and out of the pride of thy protection

here, mak'st it thy study, to reuile Art, but it will turne to thine owne

contumely soone. Call forth the creatures of the first classe, and let them

moue to the harmony of our heat, till the slanderer haue seal'd vp his

owne lips, to his owne torment.

LEt 'hem come, let 'hem come, I would not wish a greater punishment

to thy impudence.

ARt thou not asham'd, Vulcan, to offer in defence of thy fire and Art, a-

gainst the excellence of the Sunne and Nature, creatures more imper-

fect, then the very flies and insects, that are her trespasses and scapes?

Vanish with thy insolence, thou and thy Impostors, and all mention of

you melt, before the Maiesty of this light, whose Mercury henceforth I pro-

fesse to be, and neuer againe the Philosophers. Vanish, I say, that all who

haue but their senses, may see and iudge the difference betweene thy ridi-

culous monsters, and his absolute features.