CHAPTER XXI

BEN JONSON’S “ALCHEMIST” AND
OTHER QUACKS

THE seventeenth century, which was destined to see the
birth of scientific chemistry, saw alchemy gradually fall¬
ing entirely into the hands of the charlatans, who found in it
an easy means of making gold through the gullibility of the
more ignorant. The mystery in which the art was enveloped
gave these cunning knaves an advantage which they were not
slow to use for their own purposes. They swarmed over
Europe, and while the honest alchemists pursued their work
the quacks, who added to their rogueries astrology and fortune¬
telling, brought contumely upon it.

The literature of the period bears evidence of how alchemy
had become degraded. Butler satirized the art in his Hudibras ,
and Ben Jonson held the mirror to the foibles of the credulous
rich in The Alchemist. This comedy, which was written in 1 6 1 o,
is evidently typical of the time, and tells the story of a London
household, the master of which flies from the city in fear of the
plague.

Jonson introduces us to Subtle, his butler, who in his master’s
absence, aided by two accomplices, Face and Dol Common,
takes the opportunity of playing the professional quack and sets
out to dupe the public. The three impart marvellous informa¬
tion to Drugger, a brainless tobacconist, and perform mysterious
rites with Surly, a gamester, while they seek to ensnare a greedy
knight, Sir Epicure Mammon, who wishes to add to his wealth
by means of alchemy. Two Anabaptists named Tribulation and
Ananias, who hope by means of the Philosopher’s Stone to be able
to sustain the Puritan religious system, also take part in the play.

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LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

Mammon, who is in haste to make gold, takes Surly to the
alchemist and tells him :

This night I’ll change
All that is metal in my house to gold :

And, early in the morning, will I send
To all the plumbers and the pewterers,

And buy their tin and lead up ; and to Lothbury
For all the copper.

But when you see th’ effects of the Great Med’cine,
Of which one part projected on a hundred
Of Mercury, or Venus, or the Moon,

Shall turn it to as many of the Sun ; 1
Nay, to a thousand, so ad infinitum.

The perfect ruby, which we call elixir,

Not only can do that, but by its virtue,

Can confer honour, love, respect, long life ;

Give safety, valour, yea, and victory,

To whom he will. In eight and twenty days,

I’ll make an old man of fourscore, a child.

Surly, who is sceptical of the power of the alchemist, observes :

Alchemy is a pretty kind of game,

Somewhat like tricks o’ the cards, to cheat a man
With charming.

• •••••

What else are all your terms,

Whereon no one o’ your writers ’grees with other ?

Of your elixir, your lac virginis ,

Your stone, your med’cine and your chrysosperm,

Your sal, your sulphur, and your mercury,

Your oil of height, your tree of life, your blood,

Your marchesite, your tutie, your magnesia,

Your toad, your crow, your dragon, and your panther ;

Your sun, your moon, your firmament, your adrop,

Your lato, azoth, zernich, chibrit, heautarit,

And then your red man, and your white woman,

With all your broths, your menstrues, and materials.

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1 Gold.

SOME QUACK ALCHEMISTS

Later Subtle puts his accomplice, Face, through the following
amusing examination of his knowledge in order to convince
Ananias of his skill :

Sirrah my varlet, stand you forth and speak to him

Like a philosopher : answer ; i’ the language.

Name the vexations, and the martyrizations of metals
in the work.

Face thus recites:

Sir, putrefaction,

Solution, ablution, sublimation,

Cohobation, calcination, ceration, and
Fixation.

Subtle. And when comes vivication ?

Face. After mortification.

Subtle. What’s your ultimum supplicium auri ?

Face. Antimonium.

Subtle. Your lapis philosophicus ?

Face. ’Tis a stone,

And not a stone ; a spirit, a soul, and a body :
Which if you do dissolve, it is dissolv’d ;

If you coagulate, it is coagulated :

If you make it to fly, it flieth.

At the close of the play the absent master of the house sud¬
denly returns, but is afraid to enter, for they announce that it is
infected by the plague ; but in the end the butler confesses his
masquerade and all is forgiven.

Of the type of charlatan satirized by Ben Jonson was Simon
Forman, who claimed to be an alchemist, astrologer, and
magician. He was born in 1552 and, after acquiring some
knowledge at Oxford, came to London to practise physic. From
time to time he was brought before the College of Physicians
and fined for pretending to cure the sick, and was several times
sent to prison. In 1 594 he began to experiment in transmuta¬
tion and telling fortunes, and he soon attracted many customers,
mostly women of good position. William Lilly calls him “a
very silly fellow, yet had wit enough to cheat ladies and other
women by pretending skill in telling their fortunes, as to
whether they should bury their husbands and what second

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LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

husband they should have.” He is thought to have been the
original of Subtle in Ben Jonson’s Alchemist. He left behind
him a diary and voluminous manuscripts on astrological and
alchemical subjects which are now in the Ashmolean Collection
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

At the trial of those charged with the murder of Sir Thomas
Overbury in 1615 it was discovered that a Mrs Turner, who was
implicated in the crime, had constantly consulted Simon For¬
man on behalf of the Countess of Essex, who was seeking to
obtain a divorce from her husband. He was asked to furnish
philtres which would alienate the Earl from the Countess and
draw toward her the love of the Earl of Somerset.

Ben Jonson refers to the fame of his love-philtres in Epicene ,
and in Richard Nicols’s poetical account of the murder he is
thus alluded to :

Forman was, that fiend in human shape,

That by his art did act the devil’s ape.

Contemporary with Forman was Francis Anthony, who
became famous for his ‘Potable Gold,’ which he claimed was
the elixir capable of curing all diseases. His process was pub¬
lished in 1683 under the title A Receit showing the Way to make
the most Excellent Medicine called A UR UM POTABILE. The
sale of his elixir was so successful that it was carried on by his
son for some time after his death.

About 1680 an alchemist, who claimed to be in possession of
the true Philosopher’s Stone, took up his residence in Light’s
Court, near the King’s Arms, close to St Giles’ Church in Lon¬
don. According to a bill exhibited over his door, “He hath
brought along with him the work of a Famous Philosopher which
is the True Matter and Stone of Philosophers and Naturalists
concerning Gold and Silver.”

It further states that he was ready to show for a shilling

some Sulphur and Mercury in their crudity and also in their

marriage, and he did this to undeceive so many people and to
200

s

SOME QUACK ALCHEMISTS

hinder many Learned and Chymists from wasting their estates
and consuming their lives to no purpose, to come to the knowledge
of the great work to which they shall never attain, as long as they
shall make use, as the most part do, of matters which are quite
contrary to that end.

He continues:

By seeing this work and by working they may, if it please God,
come to the knowledge of the True Philosophical Sulphur, Salt,
and Mercury fixed by Nature, and see that possible which many
believe Impossible, and they will afterwards employ their time
upon a natural subject and common to all mankind which they
shall never want and will return the Gentleman thanks for having
shown them their errors and freed them from great expenses.

Another well-known quack-alchemist who flourished in Lon¬
don about this time was Moses Stringer, who claimed to have
discovered an “elixir capable of renewing youth to the aged and
prolonging life.” In a letter addressed to the “Learned Dr
Woodrofe, Master of Worcester College in Oxford,” Stringer
thus describes the properties of his wonderful discovery :

Since I had the honour of your instructions in the University
concerning physick and chemistry, I have in a particular manner
apply’d myself to the study of those sciences. I have considered
the nature of Humane Bodies and consulted the history of the
ancients tho’ I can’t give credit to what the Poets record of iEson ;
yet what Paracelsus reports concerning the force of medicines in
Recovering Old Age affects me very much.

That learned Chymist made his first experiment upon a Hen,
so very old that nobody would kill it, either out of sense of profit
or good-nature. He mingled some of his medicine, which he
called “Renovating Quintessence,” with a quantity of Barly and
gave it to the Hen fifteen days together. The effects were wonder¬
ful and the Hen recovered Youth and New Feathers, and what is
still more surprising LAID EGGS and Hatcht chickens, as if she
had lost a dozen years of her age.

An ancient woman that kept his house with the consequences of
Old Age was upon the very margin of death. He gave her the same
medicine fifteen days together as he had prescribed to his feathered
patient and the success was the same. She recover’d her Health,

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LURE 8? ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY

Youth, Hair, and Teeth again. Her Complexion lookt florid and
vigorous and Nature exerted itself as it generally does in Young
Women.

Stringer tells the doctor that, having reflected “ upon these
Cures with considerable cost and pains,” he has discovered such
a remedy to renew youth very much and help old age. He
called it “Elixir Renovans, because it doth refresh and make
young again and it was to be obtained only at his House, for
fear of counterfeits, at a Guinea a Bottle, sealed with Three
Eagles displayed.”

Moses Stringer lived to a good old age at his house in Black-
friars, near Puddle Dock, but whether his longevity was due to
his elixir or not there is no evidence forthcoming.

202