Chapter VIII: Part VII: Pharmacy

Pharmacy was not overlooked.

I do remember an apothecary,—
And hereabouts he dwells,—which late I noted
In tatter’d weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of simples: meagre were his looks,
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuff’d, and other skins
Of ill-shap’d fishes; and, about his shelves,
A beggarly account of empty boxes,
Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses,
Were thinly scatter’d to make up a show.
Noting this penury, to myself I said—
An if a man need poison now,
Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.
* * * * *
What, ho! apothecary!
_Romeo and Juliet, Act V., Sc. I._

O, true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act V., Sc. III._

He did buy a poison of a poor apothecary,
And there withal came to this vault to die.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act V., Sc. III._

Bid the apothecary
Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.
_Henry VI—2d, Act III., Sc. III._

Your master will be dead ere you return;
There’s nothing can be minister’d to nature.
That can recover him. Give this to the ’pothecary,
And tell me how it works.
_Pericles, Act III., Sc. II._

Great griefs, I see, medicine the less.
_Cymbeline, Act IV., Sc. II._

That drug-damn’d Italy hath out-craftied him.
_Cymbeline, Act III., Sc. IV._

One, whose subdu’d eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their med’cinable gum.
_Othello, Act V., Sc. II._

Set ratsbane by his porridge.
_King Lear, Act III., Sc. IV._

I had as lief they would put ratsbane in my mouth, as offer
to stop it with _security_.
_Henry IV—2d, Act I., Sc. II._

I would the milk
Thy mother gave thee, when thou suck’dst her breast,
Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake!
_Henry VI., Act V., Sc. IV._

If you have poison for me I will drink it.
_King Lear, Act IV., Sc. VII._

I have bought the oil, the balsamum and aquavitæ.
_Comedy of Errors, Act IV., Sc. I._

Give me some aquavitæ.
_Romeo and Juliet, Act III., Sc. II._

* * * * * *

Transcriber’s note:

Old or antiquated spellings have been preserved.

Typographical errors have been silently corrected.

The book cover image was created by the transcriber and is in the public domain.