32
THE ALCHEMIST.
Sub.Peace.
He'll overhear you. Sir, should she but see him—
Face.What?
Sub.Do not you tell him.
Face.Will he win at cards too?
Sub.The spirits of dead Holland, living Isaac,
You'd swear, were in him;[1] such a vigorous luck
As cannot be resisted. 'Slight, he'll put
Six of your gallants to a cloke,[2] indeed.
Face.A strange success, that some man shall be born to!
Sub.He hears you, man
Dap.Sir, I'll not be ingrateful.
Face.Faith, I have confidence in his good nature:
You hear, he says he will not be ingrateful.
Sub.Why, as you please; my venture follows yours.
Face.Troth, do it, doctor; think him trusty, and make him.
He may make us both happy in an hour;[3]
Win some five thousand pound, and send us two on't.
- ↑ Sub. The spirits of dead Holland, living Isaac,
You'd swear, were in him;] The poet alludes to the two famous chemists Isaac, and John Isaac Hollandus, who flourished about this time, and wrote several treatises on Alchemy. Whal.
The works of the latter were published in 1617, with this title; M. Joannis Isaaci Hollandi Opera mineralia et vegetatilia, sive de lapide philosophico quae reperiri potuerunt, omnia. - ↑ He'll put
Six of your gallants to a cloke,] i.e. strip them to the cloke; the last thing which "a gallant" parted with, as it served to conceal the loss of the rest. Cartwright, a devoted follower of Jonson, has imitated, or rather caricatured, much of this dialogue in the Ordinary. - ↑ He may make us both happy in an hour;] i.e. rich. We
