The Complete Plays of Ben Jonson, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Complete Plays of Ben Jonson, Vol. 2<br><br>Face. Why, I pray you, have I<br>Been countenanced by you, or you by me<br>Do but collect, sir, where i met you first.<br><br>Sub. I do not hear well.<br><br>Face. Not of this, I think it.<br>But I shall put you in mind, sir; - at Pie-corner,<br>Taking your meal of steam in, from cooks' stalls,<br>Where, like the father of hunger, you did walk<br>Piteously costive, with your pinch'd-horn-nose,<br>A And your complexion of the Roman wash,<br>Stuck full of black and melancholic worms,<br>Like powder corns snot at the artillery-yard.<br><br>Sub. I wish you could advance your voice a little.<br><br>Face. When you went pinn'd up in the several rags<br>You had raked and pick'd from dunghills, before day;<br>Your feet in mouldy slippers, for your kibes;<br>A felt of rug, and a thin threaden cloke,<br>That scarce would cover your no buttocks -<br><br>Sub. So, sir!<br><br>Face. When all your alchemy, and your algebra,<br>Your minerals, vegetals, and animals,<br>Your conjuring, cozening, and your dozen of trades,<br>Could not relieve your corps with so much linen<br>Would make you tinder, but to see a fire;<br>I gave you countenance, credit for your coals,<br>Your stills, your glasses, your materials;<br>Built you a furnace, drew you customers.<br>Advanced all your black arts; lent you, beside,<br>A house to practise in -<br><br>Sub. Your master's house!<br><br>Face. Where you have studied the more thriving skill<br>Of bawdry since.<br><br>Sub. Yes, in your master's house.<br>You and the rats here kept possession.<br>Make it not strange. I Know you were one could keep<br>The Buttery-hatch still lock'd, and save the chippings,<br>Sell the dole beer to aqua-vit men,<br>The which, together with your Christmas vails<br>At post-and-pair, your letting out of counters,<br>Made you a pretty stock, some twenty marks,<br>And gave you credit to converse with cobwebs,<br>Here, since your mistress' death hath broke up house.<br><br>Face. You might talk softlier, rascal.<br><br>Sub. No, you scarab.<br>I'll thunder you in pieces: I will teach you<br>How to beware to tempt a Fury again,<br>That carries tempest in his hand and voice.<br><br>Face. The place has made you valiant.<br><br>Sub. No, your clothes. -<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.