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. "^^ 



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



anatomize me? 



Sir Philip Modelove, — Ay, Ay, Madam, he w'ould 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."^^ 



Periwinkle is largely given over to the antiquarian humor. 

 Wlien 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 resen^e 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 ' '.^® 



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".®^ 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 ".80 



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



«« Ibid. 



"Ibid. Act V, sc. 1. 



*«Ibid. Act IV. 



s'lbid. Act III. 



BO Ibid. Act III, sc. 1. 



