Page 39. Loves Alchymie.
l. 7. th'Elixar: i.e. 'the Elixir Vitae', which heals all disease and indefinitely prolongs life. It is sometimes identified with the philosopher's stone, which transmutes metals to gold. In speaking of quintessences (see note, II. p. [30]) Paracelsus declares that there are certain quintessences superior to those of gold, marchasite, precious stones, &c., 'of more importance than that they should be called a quintessence. It should be rather spoken of as a certain secret and mystery ... Among these arcana we here put forward four. Of these arcana the first is the mercury of life, the second is the primal matter, the third is the Philosopher's Stone, and the fourth the tincture. But although these arcana are rather angelical than human to speak of we shall not shrink from them.' From the description he gives they all seem to operate more or less alike, purging metals and other bodies from disease.
ll. 7-10. And as no chymique yet, &c. 'My Lord Chancellor gave me so noble and so ready a dispatch, accompanied with so fatherly advice that I am now, like an alchemist, delighted with discoveries by the way, though I attain not mine end.' To ... Sir H. G., Gosse's Life, &c., ii. 49.
ll. 23-4.
at their best
Sweetnesse and wit, they'are but Mummy, possest.
The punctuation of these lines in 1633-54 is ambiguous, and Chambers has altered it wrongly to
Sweetness and wit they are, but Mummy possest.
The MSS. generally support the punctuation which I have adopted, which is that of the Grolier Club edition.
Page 40. The Flea.
I have restored this poem to the place it occupied in 1633. In 1635 it was placed first of all the Songs and Sonets. A strange choice to our mind, but apparently the poem was greatly admired as a masterpiece of wit. It is the first of the pieces translated by Huyghens: