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.