THE
ALCHEMIST.
ARGUMENT.
T he sickness hot,[1] a master quit, for fear,
His house in town, and left one servant there;
Ease him corrupted, and gave means to know
A Cheater, and his punk; who now brought low,
Leaving their narrow practice, were become
Cozeners at large; and only wanting some
House to set up; with him they here contract,
Each for a share, and all begin to act.
Much company they draw, and much abuse,
In casting figures, idling fortunes, news,
Selling of flies,[2] flat bawdry with the stone,
Till it, and they, and all in fume are gone.
- ↑ The sickness hot, &c.] This, as has been already observed, was the term in use for that species of plague with which London was so frequently afflicted in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the first decisive symptoms, the alarm became general, and all who could, hastened into the country, leaving their houses in the charge of some confidential servant. Lilly tells us, in the history of his life, that he was left, in 1625, "to take care of his master's house, which had much money and plate in it." He appears to have spent his time in frivolous dissipations; "for ease corrupted him" also, though it did not make him quite as profligate as Face.
- ↑ Selling of flies,] i.e. of familiar spirits. See p. 25.
