Marked words are the most distinguishing words of T56: magic, faustus, charms, charm, conjure, spirits, skill, ho, power, spells.
Then hear what I propound. Cynosbatus, Within a place nigh hand, resides A Beldame much renowned for sacred skill In magic mysteries. She with her awful Charms wonts to call forth All sorts of noisome Creatures that are bred In Sandy Lybia, or cold Scythia, From whom she takes her choice of poison strong. The Herbs which grow on precipitious Erix, She with her bloody Sickle crops: And whatsoever poisonous weed springs on The craggy top of snowy Caucasus, That's sprinkled with the blood of wise Prometheus, She carefully selects; Those venoms which the warlike Medians, and The nimble Parthians, or Arabians rich, Use to anoint their deadly shafts withal. She doth by Moonlight gather; Each Herb that in this fertile vernal season Puts forth its head from Ops's pregnant bosom She searches for; whether the same be bred In the cold Forest of Hercynea, Or in the deserts of parched Afrique, What flower soe'er doth in his seed or root Strange causes of great mischief nourish, She never faileth to find out: Whether the same on banks of Tigris grows, Or on the sunburnt brink of warm Hydaspes, Whose golden channels paved with precious stones; Some of these herbs she doth by twilight gather, At midnight some, and some at break of day. Nor is she ignorant how to apply The panting heart of the dull melancholy Owl, Or the breathing entrails cut from a living Cat. The proudest Swain that lives in Thessaly Is glad to be obsequious to her will; For in her power it is to cure or kill. Unto this reverent Sibyl let us go, And her advice request in this design; By her instructions let us our actions regulate, Providing for our own security: She can divine of all events, and tell Whether things shall succeed or ill or well. What thy sound judgement thinks fit to be done, I condescend to, noble Martagon. SInce that the proud usurper Martagon Will not restore what he hath ta'en away By force and injury from Violetta, We are resolved to put on lawful arms, To suage the pride of that great Termagant; That of his prowess doth so vainly vaunt. Therefore dear friends address yourselves to show Your true and faithful fortitudes, for know An ignominious peace may not compare, With any just and honourable war. Out upon this Fabian valour, These tedious cunctations: I tell thee Rhodon, I must needs chide thee for our loss of time, My troops are all in perfect readiness, And long to meet their foes in open field; If we deliberate a day longer The edge of their valour (I fear) will be quite taken off. Now fie upon that valour which depends On circumstance of time or place, 'tis relative virtue, that like glass is brittle, Whose force soon dies and perfects very little,
nodes 1060–1125 (positions in the processed text, not lines of the printed book) · chunk 17 of 27 in this edition
Length
475 words · 641 tokens
Topic (seed 42)
T56 — Magic, spells and conjuringcross-work theme (confirmed, in the genre comparison) · typicality 0.718 (cosine to the topic centroid)
Other seeds
seed 43: T45 · seed 44: T51 — topic numbers are assigned independently in each run; equal or different numbers say nothing by themselves
Original spelling (EEBO-TCP, unregularized)
Then heare what I propound. Cynosbatus, Within a place nigh hand, resides A Beldam much renown'd for sacred skill In magicke mysteries. She with her awfull Charmes wonts to call forth All sorts of noysome Creatures that are bred In Sandy Lybia, or cold Scythia, From whom she takes her choyce of poyson strong. The Herbs which grow on precipitious Erix, She with her bloudy Sicle crops: And whatsoever poysonous weed springs on The craggy top of snowy Caucasus, That's sprinkled with the bloud of wise Prometheus, She carefully selects; Those venomes which the warlike Medians, and The nimble Parthians, or Arabians rich, Vse to annoynt their deadly shafts withall. She doth by Moone-light gather; Each Herbe that in this fertle vernall season Puts forth its head from Opses pregnant bosome She searches for; whether the same be bred In the cold Forrest of Hercynea, Or in the deserts of parch'd Africae, What flower soe're doth in his seed or root Strange causes of great mischiefe nourish, She never faileth to finde out: Whether the same on bankes of Tigris growes, Or on the sun-burnt brinke of warme Hydaspes, Whose golden channels pau'd with precious stones; Some of these herbes she doth by twilight gather, At midnight some, and some at breake of day. Nor is she ignorant how to apply The panting heart of the dull melancholy Owle, Or the breathing entrailes cut from a living Cat. The proudest Swaine that lives in Thessaly Is glad to be obsequious to her will; For in her power it is to cure or kill. Vnto this reverent Sybill let us goe, And her advice request in this designe; By her instructions let us our actions regulate, Providing for our owne security: She can divine of all events, and tell Whether things shall succeed or ill or well. What thy sound judgement thinks fit to be done, I condescend to, noble Martagon. SInce that the proud usurper Martagon Will not restore what he hath tane away By force and injury from Violetta, We are resolu'd to put on lawfull armes, To swage the pride of that great Termagant; That of his prowesse doth so vainly vaunt. Therefore deere friends addresse your selves to shew Your true and faithfull fortitudes, for know An ignominious peace may not compare, With any iust and honourable warre. Out upon this Fabian valour, These tedious cunctations: I tell thee Rhodon, I must needs chide thee for our losse of time, My troopes are all in perfect readinesse, And long to meet their foes in open field; If we deliberate a day longer The edge of their valour (I feare) will be quite taken off. Now fie upon that valour which depends On circumstance of time or place, Tis relative vertue, that like glasse is brittle, Whose force soone dyes and perfects very little,