84 THE NEW SCIENCE AND ENGLISH LITERATURE 



Mouth, and if the perpetual Motion be not there, let them never 

 hope to find it ", 59 



In his practice as a physician, Drench, like the Greshamites, 

 "works by natural eauses". 60 



The process here is obvious. Lacy has succeeded in pouring a 

 little new wine into the old wine-skins without loss. He freely 

 confesses his obligations to other wits and apologizes for his adapta 

 tions on the ground that he cannot help it. "There is a kind of 

 charm in poetry 'tis like tobacco and chemistry; for if you once 

 take the one and undertake the other, you are fixed to the freehold 

 never to be parted". 61 The dramatist has gathered a few scraps 

 from the table of the new scientists and patched up the old char 

 acter of the astrological physician. 



This comic situation and this character reappear in Mrs. Cent- 

 livre's Love's Contrivance (1703), and in Fielding's Mock Doctor 

 (1732). In the latter comedy Gregory, as Drench is there called, 

 has a touch of the new science in him. He had once been a servant 

 at the university, and being quick of wit, had absorbed some Latin 

 and some scientific jargon. 



* ' Gregory, Sir, I can cure anything. Hark ye, Mr. Apothecary, 

 you see that the love she has for Leander is entirely contrary 

 to the will of her father, and that an immediate remedy is 

 necessary. For my part, I know of but one ; which is a dose of 

 purgative running away, mixt with two drams of pills of mat- 

 rimoniacy and three large handfuls of arbor vitae ; perhaps she 

 will make some difficulty to take them; but as you are an able 

 apothecary, I shall trust you for the success. Go, make her 

 walk in the garden ; be sure to lose no time ; to the remedy quick ; 

 to the remedy specific. 



Sir Jasper, What drugs, Sir, were those I heard you mention, 

 for I don't remember I ever heard them spoke of before? 

 Gregory, They are some, Sir, lately discovered by the Royal 

 Society". 62 



88 Ibid. Act II, sc. 1. 

 60 Ibid. 



81 Epistle to the Reader. 

 62 The Dumb Lady, Act II. 



