in The Late Lancashire Witches — Heywood, Thomas; Brome, Richard
Metadata
Play
The Late Lancashire Witches
Author
Heywood, Thomas; Brome, Richard
Year (catalogued)
1634
First performance
1634
Decade
1630s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
King's Men
Theater
Globe;Outdoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Dickis. | Gil. | Gill. | Gooddy Dickison. | Gooddy Dick. | G. Dick. | Good. Dick | Gooddy Dick | Goody Dickison. | Gooddy Dickis
Words
445
Characters
2226
Typicality
0.33 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03258
BritDrama no.
2441
Cluster
Cluster 16 — Errand servants & brief parts
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Stand up my boy, for thou shalt have no harm, Be silent, speak of nothing thou hast seen. And here's a shilling for thee. Nay sirrah, though you be young, and I old, you are not so nimble, nor I so lame, but I can overtake you. To hug thee, stroke thee, and embrace thee thus, And teach thee twenty thousand pretty things. So thou tell no tales; and boy this night Thou must along with me to a brave feast. Not sirrah, then perforce thou shalt along, This bridle helps me still at needs, And shall provide us of a steed. Now sirrah, take your shape and be Prepared to hurry him and me. Now look and tell me where's the lad become. And thats the horse we must bestride, On which both though and I must ride, Thou boy before and I behind, The earth we tread not, but the wind, For we must progress through the air, And I will bring thee to such fare As thou never sawest, up and away, For now no longer we can stay. Therefore sing Mawd, and call each spright. Come away, and take thy duggy, Now spirits fly about the task, That we projected in our Mask. Of eely is family? But to be short, The w dding must bring on the sport Betwixt the harebrained man and maid, Master and dame that overswayed. I that, be now the subject of our chat. Then we'll not run But find some way how to be gone. I shall know thee Peg, by thy grissel'd gut, And so say I. They'll search in yonder Meadow ground. I and my puckling will a brace Of Greyhouds be, fit for the raze; And linger where we may be taken Up for the course in the by-lane; Then will we led that ir Dogs a course, And every man and every horse; Until they break their necks, and say— No succour. Whoop, whurre, heres a stir, never a cat, never a cur, but that we must have this demur. But stay, where the Boy, look out, if he e escape us, we are all betrayed. Where shall we next met? You our Familiars, come. In speech let all be dumb, And to close up our Feast, To welcome every gest A merry round let's dance. Sirrah, you have served me well to swinge me thus. You young rogue, you have used me Like a dog. Pull for the Poultry, Foul, & Fish, For empty shall not be a dish. partly of it's here. The other we must pull for. But whats he? Boy, theres meat for you. And drink too.
Plot summary
Plot — The Late Lancashire Witches
Arthur hopes for a subvention from his uncle, Seely, to help him redeem a mortgage, but strange things are going on in the Seely household: the father is dominated by the son, Gregory, who is mastered in turn by his servant, Lawrence; there is a similar inversion of hierarchy among the women of the house. Gregory disapproves of his father’s plans to help Arthur, so the money is not forthcoming; but fortunately Arthur’s friend Generous helps out instead. The truth is that the Seelys have been bewitched in reprisal for some harsh words spoken to an old woman. Many other supernatural events are going on. Mall Spencer, owner of an amazing self-propelled milk-pail, gives Generous’s groom Roberta a high-speed horse so that he can fetch wine from his master’s favourite London tavern in a single overnight journey. Anyone who spends the night in a haunted mill is assaulted, so Gretty the miller gives up his tenancy, and Generous gives it to a poor, demobilized soldier. A witch and her spirit take the form of greyhounds; when Gretty’s son tries to whip the dogs, they scare and then abduct him. Lawrence marries his fellow servant Parnell, but a spirit turns the wedding cake into crumbs, and the rest of the meal magically becomes even less appetizing; the real food is taken to supply the witches’ feast. Mall Spencer gives Lawrence a codpiece point, which makes him impotent, causing marital difficulties. He and Parnell are mocked with a skimmington, but the relationship returns to normal when they burn the codpiece point. Mistress Generous has developed the habit of riding out alone at night. Acting on her husband’s orders, Robert refuses her a horse, so she rides him instead. It turns out that she is meeting with the witches: she is their leader. Gretty’s son escapes from their feast and tells his father about them. The new miller has a bad night, but cuts off the paw of one of the cats who are attacking him. What is found on the ground, however, is a severed human hand wearing rings identifiably belonging to Mistress Generous. She falls sick, and is found to have a stump where her hand should be. Generous orders her arrest. The witches are rounded up, confronted with their magical misdeeds, and sent for trial.