in The Scottish History of James the Fourth — Greene, Robert
Metadata
Play
The Scottish History of James the Fourth
Author
Greene, Robert
Year (catalogued)
1598
First performance
1590
Decade
1590s
Genre
Romance
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Unknown
Speech prefix(es)
Doug. | Dougl. | Dou.
Words
333
Characters
1748
Typicality
0.29 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A02168
BritDrama no.
854
Cluster
Cluster 22 — Ghosts, curses & horror voices
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
O hapless flock whereas the guide is blind? Men seek not moss upon a rolling stone, Or water from the sive, or fire from ice: Or comfort from a rechlesse monarchs hands. Madame he sets us light that served in Court, In place of credit in his father's days, If we but enter presence of his grace, Our payment is a frown, a scoff, a frump, While flattering Gnato pranks it by his side, Soothing the careless King in his misdeeds, And if your grace confider your estate, His life should urge you too if all be true. Why Douglas why? As if you have not herd His lawless love to Ida grown of late, His careless estimate of your estate. We are descried, o Mano we are dead. What seeks the English King? For what offence? for what default of ours? Art thou incensed so soar against our state? Can generous hearts in nature be so stern To pray on those that never did offend? What though the Lion, (king of brutish raze, Through outrage sin, shall lambs be therefore slain? Or is it lawful that the humble die, Because the mighty do gainsay the right? Oh English King, thou bearest in thy breast, The King of beasts, that harms not yielding ones, The Ros all cross is spread within thy field, A sign of peace, not of revenging war: Be gracious then unto this little town, And though we have withstood thee for a while, To show allegiance to our liefest liege, Yet since we know no hope of any help, Take us to mercy, for we yield our selves. We will submit us to the English king. They descend down, open the gates, and humble them. My private troubles are so great my liege, As I must crave your licence for a while: For to intend mine own affairs at home. Of that which yours and my poor heart does break Although fear shuts our mouths we dare not speak.
Plot summary
Plot — The Scottish History of James the Fourth
Bohan has shut himself up in a tomb and scorns the world. He is visited by GB@FGn, who gives blessings to his sons: preferment for Nad, and for Slippér the promise of fairy help when he is in danger. Bohan shows him a story of King JameSEIV to justify his misanthropy. During the action, Oberon falls asleep. The King of Scots marries the English princess Dorothea, but in the church his eye lights on [da and he falls in tove. Al@iiKin offers to help him with his affair, hires servants (among them Slipper), and woos Ida on James’s behalf. Although Dorothea assumes the King’s pursuit of Ida is only a sham to test her own love, his behaviour and his liking for flatterers is ===== PAGE 35 ===== 1590 driving the nobles away from his court; James secretly welcomes this, since their absence gives him greater freedom of action. Ateukin attributes his lack of success with Ida to the adulterous nature of the proposal: if she had an expectation of marriage, she would be more pliable; therefore Dorothea must die, and Ateukin engages Jaqwes to murder her, with the promise of promotion at court. Ateukin uses his influence at court to sell favours. His own servants are equally corrupt: Sir Bartram bribes Slipper to steal a lease from Ateukin’s pocket, but what Slipper actually takes is the murder warrant. When the document is missed, Ateukin orders Andrew to find it; because reporting Slipper will expose his own malfeasance, Andrew instead robs him of the bribe- money to teach him a lesson. Sir Bartram shows the stolen warrant to Dorothea, and prevails upon her to escape dressed as a squire; but Jaques catches up with her, wounds her, and leaves her for dead. She is taken in by Sir GWEHBEMNAMAERSGh, whose wife, mistaking her for a young man, falls in love with ‘him’. Things go badly for the King of Scots. To insure himself against the possibility of Ateukin’s fall, Andrew secretly informs the Kinglefllngland of Dorothea’s fate. This precipitates an English invasion of Scotland in reprisal. Ateukin goes to resume the wooing of Ida, but on arrival finds her just married to Lord Eiistace; unable to persuade Jaques to kill Eustace too, he goes into hiding. Corruption, poverty, and lawlessness spread through Scotland, and the price of peace with England is ‘dead’ Dorothea’s return. When James proclaims a reward, the Queen reveals her identity to the disappointed DaayNAMGersGn, and goes to court. James puts a price on Ateukin’s head and orders Slipper and Andrew imprisoned…