[London] :: Printed [by George Eld] for Thomas Thorppe.,
1607..
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"Ben: Ionson his Volpone or The foxe." In the digital collection Early English Books Online Collections. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/B14292.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 27, 2024.
Pages
SCENE. 1.
POLITIQVE. PEREGRINE.
I Told you, Sir, it was a plot: you seeWhat obseruation is. You mention'd mee,For some instructions: I will tell you, Sir,(Since we are met, here, in this height of Venice)Some few perticulars, I haue set downe,Onely, for this meridian, fit to be knowneOf your crude Trauailer, and they are these.I will not touch▪ Sir, at your phrase, or clothes,For they are old.
PER.
Sir, I haue better.
POL.
PardonI meant, as they are Theames.
PER.
O, Sir, proceed:Ile slander you no more of wit, good Sir.
POL.
First, for your garbe, it must be graue, and serious,
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V••ry rescru'd, and lock't; not tell a secret,On any terme••, not to your father; scarseA fable, but with with caution; make sure choiseBoth of yo••r company, and discourse; beware,You neuer speake a truth—
PER.
How?
POL.
Not to stran∣gers,For those be they, you must conuerse with, most;Others I would not know, Sir, but, at distance,So as I still might be a sauer, in 'hem:You shall haue tricks, else, past vpon you, hourely.And then, for your Religion, professe none;But wonder, at the diuersity of all;And, for your part, protest, were there no otherBut simply the Lawes, o'th' Land, you could content you:Nic: Machiauell, and Monsieur Bodine, both,Were of this minde. Then, must you learne the vse,And handling of your siluer forke, at meales;The mettall of your glasse— These are maine matters,With your Italian, and to know the hower,When you must eat your melons, and your figges.
PER.
Is that a point of State, too?
POL.
Here it is,For your Venetian, if hee see a manPreposterous, in the least, he has him straight;Hee has: hee strippes him. Ile acq••aint you, S••r,I now haue liu'd here ('Tis some fourteene monthes)Within the first weeke, of my landing here,All tooke me for a Citizen of Venice:I knew the formes, so well—
PER.
And nothing else.
POL.
I had read Contarene, tooke mee a house,Dealt with my Iewes, to furnish it with moueables—Well, if I could but finde one man-one man,To mine owne heart, whome I durst trust— I would—
PER.
What? what, Sir?
POL.
Make him rich; make him a fortune:He should not thinke, againe. I would command it.
PER.
As how?
POL.
With certaine proiects, that I haue:Which, I may not discouer.
PER.
If I had
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But one to wager with, I would lay odds, now,Hee tells me, instantly.
POL.
One is, (and thatI care not greatly, who knowes) to serue the StateOf Venice, with red herrings, for three yeares,And at a certaine rate, from Roterdam,Where I haue correspendence. There's a letter,Sent me from one o'th' States, and to that purpose;He cannot write his name, but that's his marke.
PER.
He is a Chaundler?
POL.
No, a Cheesemonger.There are some other two, with whome I treateAbout the same negotiation;And—I wi••l vndertake it: For, tis thus,Ile do't with ease, I' haue cast it all. Your hoighCarries but three men in her, and a boy;And she shall make me three returnes, a yeare:So, if there come but one of three, I saue,If two, I can defalke. But, this is now,If my mayne proiect faile.
PER
Then, you haue others?
POL.
I should be loath to draw the subtill ayreOf such a place, without my thousand aymes.Ile not dissemble, Sir, where ere I come,I loue to be consideratiue; and, 'tis true,I haue, at my free houres, thought vponSome certaine Goods, vnto the State of Venice,Which I do call my Cautions: and, Sir, whichI meane (in hope of pension) to propoundTo the great Councell, then vnto the Forty,So to the Ten. My meanes are made already—
PER.
By whome?
POL.
Sir, one, that though his place b'obscure,Yet, he can sway, and they will heare him. H'isA Commandadore.
PER.
What, a common sergeant?
POL.
Sir, such, as they are, put it in their mouthes,What they should say, sometimes: as well as greater.I thinke I haue my notes, to shew you—
PER.
Good, Sir.
POL.
But, you shall sweare vnto mee, on your gentry,
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Not to anticipate—
PER.
I, Sir?
POL.
Nor reuealeA circumstance — My paper is not with mee.
PER.
O, but, you can remember, Sir.
POL.
My first isConcerning Tinder-boxes. You must know,No family is, here, without it's boxe;Now Sir, it being so portable a thing,Put case, that you, or I were ill affectedVnto the State: Sir, with it, in our pockets,Might not I go into the Arsenale?Or you? come out againe? and none the wiser?
POL.
Except your selfe, Sir.
POL.
Go too, then. I, therefore,Aduertise to the State, how fit it were,That none, but such as were knowne Patriots,Sound louers of their country, should be sufferdT'enioy them in their houses: And, euen those,Seald, at some office, and, at such a bignesse,As might not lurke in pockets.
PER.
Admirable!
POL.
My next is, how t'enquire, and be resolu'd,By present demonstration, whether a Ship,Newly arriued from Sorìa, or fromAny suspected part of all the Leuant,Be guilty of the Plague: And, where they vseTo lie out forty, fifty dayes, sometimes,About the Lazaretto, for their triall;Ile saue that charge, and losse vnto the merchant,And, in an houre, cleare the doubt.
Beside my water-workes: For this I do, Sir.First, I bring in your ship, 'twixt two brickwalles;(But those the State shall venter) on the oneI straine me a fayre tarre-paulin; and, in that,I stick my onions, cut in halfes: the otherIs full of loope holes, out at which, I thrust
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The noses of my bellowes; and, those bellowesI keepe, with water-workes, in perpetuall motion,(Which is the easi'st matter of a hundred.)Now, Sir, your onion, which doth naturallyAttract th' infection, and your bellowes, blowingThe aire vpon him, will shew (instantly)By his chang'd colour, if there be contagion;Or else, remaine as faire, as at the first:Now 'tis knowne, tis nothing.
PER.
You are light, Sir.
POL.
I would, I had my note.
PER.
'Faith, so would I:But, you ha' done well, for once, Sir.
POL.
Were I false,Or would be made so, I could shew you reasons,How I could sell this State, now, to the Turke;Spight of their Galleys, or their—
PER.
Pray you, Sir Poll.
POL.
I haue 'hem not, about mee.
PER.
That I fear'd.They'are there, Sir?
POL.
No. This is my Diary,Wherein I note my actions of the day.
PER.
'Pray you, let's see, Sir. What is here? Notandum,A Rat had gnawne my spur-lethers; notwithstanding,I put on new, and did go forth: but, first,I threw three beanes ouer the threshold. Item,I went, and bought two tooth-pickes, whereof oneI burst, immediatly, in a discourseWith a dutch Merchant, 'bout Ragion del stato.From him, I went, and payd a moccinigo,For peecing my silke stockings; by the way,I cheapend sprats: and at StMarkes, I vrin'd.'Faith, these are politique notes!
POL.
Sir, I do slippeNo action of my life, thus, but I quote it.
PER.
Beleeue me, it is wise!
POL.
Nay, Sir, read forth.
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