Blackfriars;Globe;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Man. | Manh. | Mon.
Words
651
Characters
3430
Typicality
0.24 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03190
BritDrama no.
2434
Cluster
Cluster 7 — Pedants, satyrs & Latin wit
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Why for my sake do you neglect your freedom? The Spaniard's noble, beyond thought or expectation noble, instead of a Dungeon, he has furnished me with means, and sent me home with a letter of his purposed friendship to my friend. And now, though freed both from Turk and Spaniard. I live slave to a more cruel nation than both, my own country men for suretyship and debt, (diseases that many a gallant lies sick to death on) have taken hold on me, and though I know it improbable, and partly ridiculous, that a false beard, and a fanta sticall habit, should mar my creation & make me a new creature, it has passed currant with some in this place, and I may the bo der venture on't. First then to my friends Sister, the young Lady Fer rars, I think her virtuous, but withal know her for a woman, and dare not trust my liberty in so weak a stomach: in this disguise then, I 'le address me to her presently. Yes, this disguise will doo't; and for my friend, her no ble brother's sake, I'll make the first tender of my service to her; save you Lady. Impart a secret to you. Strange! Had I a secret concerned my life, Idem trust it in a Woman's bosom to choose, and think I said it up safe too. Because no wiseman will over look for any matter of Worth in such a weak building. Mine own turn with all my heart: This fashions to my wishes; what if your Ladyship do want a servant? I am your man, your first man too, and such a man as know the World. And one Manhurst his friend, they are both prisoners, and lie—only for ransom. Are you for any adventures Lady? As generous, as he is valiant, 'twere cowardice in me to dishearten her, we must be gallant; what habit were I best to travel in, l to me see, a Spannish slop, good easy wear, but that Like Chambermaids, they are lose, and somewhat too open below. It hath been, but now adays it grows shorter and shorter, Like your Court allowance: their Tailors are good hus bans, though they make little or no waste at all, and that makes your Gallants stand so much upon Points: your button-hose is a good wear for Courtiers. Cause they are full of large promises outward, but lined with narrow and scant-performance wit . No, for my money, give me your substantial, English hose, ro and and somewhat full afore. The more the discretion of the Landlord that builds them the makes room enough for his Tenant to stand upright in, he may walk in and out at ease without stooping: but of all the rest, I am clean out of love with your Irish trowfes; they are for all the world Like a Jealous wife, always close at a men tail: out of all these will I cut and fashion that shall and Imitable: will you follow? Yes, Graves. This fellow I perceive's a Satirist Against the Feminine Sex Save thee, my friend. Why I have traveled too— Come Lady, if we press not through the throng We shall not get to hearing. Though I have stood In silence all this while, yet in this cause I, I my self am taxed: and to approve This Ladies Beauty, virtue, chastity I'll be this Spaniard's second. Not Manhurst? O sir, you were my . None but our lives. Yes, it is. Civil, the chief of Spain; where I presume You never were till now. Doubt not me: I'll fit you with a lodging; Here's a Spaniard, I'll sound him to that purpose. What meres this? Your reason? How, must? Mezentius. cruelty, Comes short of yours, he joined, but you divide A living man in two. So I'll die, Thy thought's and Antidote against tyranny.
Plot summary
Plot — A Challenge for Beauty
The marriage of Sebastian and Isabella unites the crowns of Portugal and Spain. Covetous of excessive praise, the proud Isabella solicits flattery from her courtiers. Two comply, but Bonavida criticizes her arrogant self-regard and is banished: he may return only when he can produce a woman who is Isabella’s equal in beauty, so he travels the world in search of one. Petrocella thinks she might be in with a chance, and is disappointed when her next caller is not Bonavida but her suitor Valladaura, who has returned injured from a sea-battle. She disparages his exploits and rejects him, but speaks well of the Englishman who wounded him. The soldier in question, Ferrers, has been captured by the Turks; Valladaura finds him in a slave market and buys him and his friend, Manhurst. Though Ferrers is suspicious of his motives, Valladaura frees them both: Manhurst goes back to England, and Ferrers is introduced to Petrocella, in the hope that he will testify to Valladaura’s bravery and court her on his behalf. In England, Bonavida finds the beautiful woman he is searching for: Helena. He proposes marriage, but plans to go home to have his banishment rescinded before bringing Helena there as his wife. They exchange tokens, and Bonavida takes his leave; but when he arrives in Spain, he is imprisoned for breaking his exile, having returned without the woman he was charged to find. Isabella sends her two flatterers to England to get the ring Bonavida left with Helena, and they trick her maid into stealing it. Pursued by his creditors, Manhurst enters Helena’s household in disguise, and tells her that her brother, Ferrers, is still in prison and must be ransomed; she sets off for Spain. Ferrers falls for Petrocella himself, declares his love for her, and finds that she loves him too. He tells her that he may only marry a woman who agrees unconditionally to his first request, and she swears to do so; he then asks her to love and marry Valladaura. At Valladaura’s request, he first disguises himself as a priest and performs the marriage, then substitutes himself for the bridegroom on the wedding night, observing Valladaura’s stipulation that there should be no sex. Valladaura tells his new father-in-law that Petrocella is spending the night with another man; but Petrocella has stabbed the man in bed with her, taking him for Valladaura. Or so it seems, for in fact Ferrers is not dead, and Valladaura can see his plan through: to test his friend’s fidelity and then (having…