in The Elder Brother — Fletcher, John; Massinger, Philip
Metadata
Play
The Elder Brother
Author
Fletcher, John; Massinger, Philip
Year (catalogued)
1637
First performance
1625
Decade
1630s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
King's Men
Theater
Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Egre. | Egr.
Words
390
Characters
2082
Typicality
0.25 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A00960
BritDrama no.
1866
Cluster
Cluster 23 — Gulls, fops & laughing-stocks
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Nay to the King and Council. Yes, she's a sweet young woman, But be sure you keep her from learning. 'Tis not half and hours work, A Cupid and a fiddle, and the thing's done, But let's be handsome, shall's be Gods or Nymphs? Could he not stay till the Masque was passed? with are ready. What a skirvie trick's this? And we not seeing him Strive in his own cause, that was principal, And should have led us on; thought it ill manners To begin a quarrel here. Some spleenative youths now that had never seen More than their Country smoke would grow in choler. It would show fine in us. Wee'll quit the house and ask you mercy too: Good Lady, let no murder be done here; We came but to parley. A Coach and four horses. As good as France can show Sir. We share with you In the affront. It is but feeding a suitor with false Hope's, And after squeeze him with a dozen of oaths. You are new rigged, and this no more remembered. None that thrives so well As that, within my knowledge. To be of no Religion, Argues a subtle moral understanding, And it is often cherished. Rather vices, Eustace; Fighting! What's fighting? It may be in fashion, Among Provant swords, and buff-jerkin men: But w'us that swim in choice of silks and Tissues; Though in defence of that word reputation, Which is indeed a kind of glorious nothing, To loose a dram of blood must needs appear As coarse as to be honest. By no means. Eust. Honour is nothing with you? Get me a battoon, 'Tis twenty times more courtlike, and less trouble. What sudden rapture's this? A second Charles; Pray look not Sir so furiously. We will swear any thing. And will make oath, If you enjoin us to't, nor knave, nor fool, Nor Coward living in it. which wee'll repay with servulating. the are mere Images, No gentle motion nor behaviour in they, They'll prattle ye of primum mobile, And tell a story of the state of Heaven, What Lords and Ladies govern in such houses, And what wonders they do when they meet together, And how they spit snow, fire, and hail Like a Juggler, And make a noise when they are drunk, which we call Thunder.
Plot summary
Plot — The Elder Brother
Louis wishes his lazy daughter Angelina would take more exercise, but her woman Sylvia has a better idea: she should get married. Unfortunately Angelina has high standards: when Louis proposes one or other of Brisac’s sons, Charles the scholar and Eustace the courtier, she objects that neither will have the money to keep her as she would wish. Louis pursues the idea anyway, but the bookish Charles, who has only ever seen one woman, his mother, has been put off marriage by the bad examples of antiquity. Louis is willing to accept Eustace, the younger brother, so long as Brisac agrees to disinherit Charles. Much to the disgust of Charles’s uncle, Miramont, a legal instrument is drawn up for the purpose. Charles seems unconcerned by his father’s plans, until he sees Angelina, whereupon he changes his mind about women, refuses to sign away his birthright, and woos the girl himself. She finds him more attractive than Eustace, and the wedding is aborted. Brisac throws him out; Angelina goes with him, and they live together in unmarried chastity. Spurred on by his father, Eustace visits them at night and tries to seize Angelina, but Charles puts up a fight and takes Eustace’s sword from him. Brisac has arranged for Charles’s servant Andrew to marry Lily, and given the couple a farm; but in reality Lily is his mistress and, on the same night as the brothers fight, he visits her for sex. Andrew brings Miramont to the farm to see the liaison for himself, and intervenes as Brisac is undressing for bed. Brisac tries to buy Andrew’s silence with a larger grant of land before realizing that there is a second witness. Eustace borrows a sword and confronts Charles, but Charles will not give up Angelina, and they fight. The bout is interrupted by the arrival of news that Brisac has been arrested by Louis, who insists on the return of Angelina (in the same condition as before). The brothers join forces to rescue their father. Miramont points out that, if he pursues the case, Louis will both ruin Angelina’s reputation and put himself in the control of lawyers; so Louis drops the matter. Miramont pays off the officers and insists that, as a penance, Brisac should abide by his offer to enlarge Andrew’s farm.