The Alchemist

"The Alchemist" by Ben Jonson is a comedy first performed in 1610. When a plague forces a London gentleman to flee the city, his scheming butler transforms the empty house into a den of fraud. Teaming with a conman and a prostitute, he preys on the greed and ambitions of eager victims—a gambling clerk, a wealthy nobleman seeking the philosopher's stone, and religious zealots hoping to turn metal into gold. As deceptions multiply and schemes collide, the swindlers' elaborate house of cards grows dangerously unstable. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 85.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. Originally issued 2003-05-01. Transcribed by Produced by Amy E Zelmer, Robert Prince, Sue Asscher, and David Widger. This work is in the public domain in the United States. Sourced from Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4081).