SCENE III.
Albumazar, Pandolfo, Ronca, Trincalo.
Alb. Signior Pandolfo, y' arrive in happiest hour:
If the seven planets were your nearest kindred,
And all the constellations your allies;
Were the twelve houses and the inns o' th' zodiac
Your own fee-simple, they could ne'er ha' chosen
A fitter place to favour your designs.
For the great luminaries look from Helic[280]
And midst of heaven, in angles, conjunctions,
And fortunate aspects of trine and sextile,
Ready to pour propitious influences.
Pan. Thanks to your pow'r and court'sy, that so plac'd them.
This is the man that's ready for the business.
Alb. Of a most happy count'nance and timber fit
To square to th' gentry: his looks as apt for changing,
As he were cover'd with chameleons' skins.
Trin. Except my hands; and 'twill be troublesome
To fit these fingers to Antonio's gloves:
[Aside.]
Pan. Pray let's about the work as soon as may be.
Alb. First, choose a large low room, whose door's full east,
Or near inclining: for the oriental quarter's
Most bountiful of favours.
Pan. I have a parlour
Of a great square, and height as you desire it.
Alb. Southward must look a wide and spacious window:
For howsoever Omar, Alchabitius,
Hali, Abenezra, seem something to dissent;
Yet Zoroastres, son of Oromasus,
Hiarcha, Brachman, Thespion, Gymnosophist,
Gebir, and Budda Babylonicus,[281]
With all the subtle Cabalists and Chaldees,
Swear the best influence for our metamorphosis,
Stoops from the south, or, as some say, southeast.
Pan. This room's as fit as you had made it of purpose.
Trin. Now do I feel the calf of my right leg
Twingle and dwindle to th' smallness of a bed-staff:
Such a speech more turns my high shoes strait boots.[282]
Ron. Ne'er were those authors cited to better purpose,
For through that window all Pandolfo's treasures
Must take their flight, and fall upon my shoulders.
Alb. Now if this light meridional had a large casement,
That overlook'd some unfrequented alley,
'Twere much more proper; for th' Intelligences
Are nice and coy, scorning to mix their essence
With throng'd disturbance of cross multitudes.
Ron. Spoken by art, Albumazar; a provident setter;
For so shall we receive what thou hand'st out,
Free from discovery. But, in my conscience,
All windows point full south for such a business.
Pan. Go to my house, satisfy your curious choice:
But, credit me, this parlour's fit; it neighbours
To a blind alley, that in busiest term-time
Feels not the footing of one passenger.
Alb. Now, then, declining from Theourgia,
Artenosaria[283] Pharmacia rejecting
Necro-puro-geo-hydro-cheiro-coscinomancy,[284]
With other vain and superstitious sciences,
We'll anchor at the art prestigiatory,
That represents one figure for another,
With smooth deceit abusing th' eyes of mortals.
Trin. O my right arm! 'tis alter'd, and, methinks,
Longs for a sword. These words have slain a ploughman.
Alb. And, since the moon's the only planet changing,[285]
For from the Neomenia in seven days
To the Dicotima, in seven more to the Panselinum,[286]
And in as much from Plenilunium
Thorough Dicotima to Neomenia,
'Tis she must help us in this operation.
Trin. What towns are these? The strangeness of these names
Hath scal'd the marks of many a painful harvest,
And made my new-pil'd finger itch for dice.
Pan. Deeply consider'd, wondrous Albumazar!
O, let me kiss those lips that flow with science.
Alb. For by her various looks she intimates
To understanding souls, that only she
Hath power t' effect a true formation.
Cause then your parlour to be swept carefully
Wash'd, rubb'd, perfum'd, hang'd round, from top to bottom,
With pure white lunary tap'stry or needlework;
But if 'twere cloth of silver, 'twere much better.
Ron. Good, good! a rich beginning: good!—what's next?
Alb. Spread all the floor with finest Holland sheets,
And over them, fair damask tablecloths;
Above all these draw me chaste virgins' aprons:
The room, the work, and workman must be pure.
Trin. With virgins' aprons! the whole compass of this city
Cannot afford a dozen.
[Aside.
Ron. So: there's shirts
And bands[287] to furnish all on's for a twelvemonth.
Alb. An altar in the midst, loaded with plate
Of silver basins, ewers, cups, [and] candlesticks,
Flagons and beakers; salts, chargers, casting-bottles.[288]
'Twere not amiss to mix some bowls of gold,
So they be massy, the better to resemble
The lovely brotherhood of Sol and Luna:
Also some diamonds for Jupiter.
For by the whiteness and bright sparkling lustres
We allure the intelligence to descend.
Ron. Furbo and I are those intelligences
That must attend upon the magistery.
[Aside.
Alb. Now, for the ceremonious sacrifice,
Provide such creatures as the moon delights in:
Two sucking lambs, white as the Alpine snow;
Yet if they have a mole or two, 'twill pass;
The moon herself wants not her spots.
Pan. 'Tis true.
Ron. Were they hell-black, we'd make a shift to eat them.
[Aside.
Alb. White capons, pheasants, pigeons; one little blackbird
Would stain and spoil the work. Get several wines
To quench the holy embers: Rhenish, Greek wine,
White muscadel, sherry, and rich canary,
So't be not grown too yellow; for the quicker,
Brisker and older, the better for these ceremonies:
The more abundance, sooner shall we finish.
For 'tis our rule in suchlike businesses,
Who spares most, spends most. Either this day must do't,
Or th' revolution of five hundred years
Cannot: so fit are all the heavens to help us.
Ron. A thousand thanks! thou'lt make a complete cheat.
Thus, loaded with this treasure, cheer'd with wine,
Strengthen'd with meat, we'll carry thee in triumph,
As the great General of our atchievement.
Pan. Sir, for rich plate and jewels I have store;
But know not how to furnish you with hangings.
Alb. Cannot you borrow from the shops? four hours
Shall render all as fair as you receiv'd it.
Pan. That can I easily do.
Alb. And hear you, sir:
If you chance meet with boxes of white comfits,
Marchpane, dry sucket, macaroons, and diet-bread,
'Twill help on well——
Ron. To furnish out our banquet.
Alb. I had clean forgot; we must have ambergris,[289]
The greyest can be found, some dozen ounces:
I'll use but half a drachm; but 'tis our fashion
T' offer a little from a greater lump.
Pan. All shall be done with expedition.
Alb. And when your man's transform'd, the chain you promis'd.
Pan. My hand: my deeds shall wait upon my promise.
Alb. Lead then with happy foot to view the chamber.
Pan. I go, sir. Trincalo, attend us here,
And not a word, on peril of thy life.
Trin. Sir, if they kill me, I'll not stir a foot;
And if my tongue's pull'd out, not speak a word.