(acted 1610; printed 1612)
One of Jonson's best known and most robust comedies, this play relates the search
for the philosophers stone, satirizing human gullibility and duplicity. Lovewit, a London gentleman, leaves the city to escape the plague, placing in charge of the house his butler, Face. That rogue brings in Subtle, an
alchemist, and his accomplice, Dol Common; among them, they set in motion a complicated program of swindles. Sir Epicure Mammon, a knight who dreams of turning all base metals into gold, and who has an amorous eye for the ladies, is a ready client for the trio. Other victims include Tribulation Wholesome and Ananias, two hypocritical puritans; Dapper, a clerk who desires magical skill at gambling; Abel Drugger, a tobacconist wishing a device to fascinate customers (a role often played by David Garrick); Kastril, an aggressive country lad aping court manners; his sister Dame Pliant, a pretty young widow wsho wishes to marry again; and Surly, a gamester friend of Mammon who alone suspects the proceedings. Lovewit unexpectedly returns, at a critical moment. The charlatans flee; Lovewit marries Dame Pliant, and forgives Face because he was the matchmaker.