THE NEW SCIENCE AND COMEDY 91 



Sir John Tradescant becomes for the time being his uncle. These 

 qualifications captivate Periwinkle; "I say Knowledge makes the 

 Man". He, therefore, gladly recommends the Colonel to Mrs. 

 Lovely; this is the ideal. "He shall be a man famous for Travels, 

 Solidity, and Curiosity one who has searched into the profundity 

 of Nature. When Heaven shall direct such a one, he shall have 

 my consent, because it may turn to the Benefit of Mankind/' 88 



"Mrs. Lovely, The Benefit of Mankind! What, would you 



anatomize me? 



Sir Philip Modelove, Ay, Ay, Madam, he would dissect you. 



Tradelove, or, pore over you with a Microscope, to see how 



your Blood circulates from the Crown of your Head to the 



Sole of your Foot." 87 



Periwinkle is largely given over to the antiquarian humor. 

 When he is duped into thinking he has inherited 700 a year, his 

 mind begins to calculate "what a valuable Collection of Rarities" 

 can be bought with it. "I may well reserve sixteen hundred of 

 it for a Collection of such Rarities, as will make my name famous 

 to Posterity". 



"With Nature's Works I'll raise my Fame, 



That Men till Dooms-Day, may respect my Name". 88 



Mrs. Lovely's advice to him is to "study your Country's Good, 

 Mr. Periwinkle, and not her insects Rid you of your homebred 

 Monsters, before you fetch any from abroad I dare swear you 

 have Maggots enough in your own Brain to stock all the Virtuoso 's 

 in Europe with Butterflies". 89 And yet he knows other scientific 

 interests also. 



"Periwinkle, Descartes tells us 



Colonel, Descartes, with the rest of his Brethren both ancient 



and modern know nothing of the Matter. You have heard of 



blazing comets? Those Comets are little Islands, bordering 



on the Sun". 90 



If he has a laboratory it is not mentioned, but he must have a 



86 Ibid. 



87 Ibid. Act V, sc. 1. 



88 Ibid. Act IV. 



89 Ibid. Act III. 



60 Ibid. Act III, sc. 1. 



