in Histriomastix, or The Player Whipped — Marston, John
Metadata
Play
Histriomastix, or The Player Whipped
Author
Marston, John
Year (catalogued)
1610
First performance
1599
Decade
1610s
Genre
Moral
Play type
Boys Professional
Company
Unknown
Speech prefix(es)
Gut. | Gutt. | Guit.
Words
263
Characters
1418
Typicality
0.28 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03405
BritDrama no.
1314
Cluster
Cluster 11 — Tosspots & tavern railers
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
I Gut the Fiddle-string-maker. If our parrell be not poynt-deuice the fat's i'th fire. Shall we here a flirt before the audience come. Will not our own stuff serve the multitude? Prologue begin; rehearse, &c. Gentlemen in this envious age we bring Bayard For Bucephalus: if mierd, bogged, Draw him forth with your favours, So promising that we never mean to perform Our Prologue peaceth. It is as dangerous to read his name at a playe-dore As a printed bill on a plague door. Fellow Belsh you have found a haunt at my house You must belch and breath your spirits some, where else. When the door's shut the sign's in Capricorn I'll tear their turret tops, I'll Beatrice their Bulwarcks down, I'll rend such Rascals from their rags, And whip them out of town. Since dearth of Poets lets not players live by wit To spite them lets to wars, and learn to use a spit. Alas sir, we Players are priuieldg'd, 'Tis our Audience must fight in the field for us, And we upon the stage for them. Faith, I have a better stomach to my breakfast. Sir you may choose, Faith I must fallen to making fiddle strings again. Faith we can read nothing but riddles. Have Ier'e a good humour in my partly? Thou play the cowardly knave; thou dost but jest, 'Twill serve you to remember dinner time. Fa that make him fell a whole troop of horse To buy thee one. Is this the well-learned man Chrissganus, He beats the Air the best that ere I herd,
Plot summary
Plot — Histriomastix, or The Player Whipped
Under the benevolent rule of Peace, various orders of society turn to learning in their different ways: Mavortius and his fellow noblemen and gentlemen become students of the liberal arts, professional people appoint the scholar Chrisoganus as their lecturer, and some artisans organize themselves as a company of players, Sir Oliver Owlet’s Men. However, the new reign of Plenty tempts many of them away from their studies, leaving only Chrisoganus loyal. While the lawyers and merchants take advantage of the leisure of the vacation to go hunting, Mavortius entertains his guests with a play given by Owlet’s Men. Plenty is succeeded by Pride, who encourages a dedication to fashion and a neglect of proper decorum: the lawyers and merchants enrich themselves unjustly, Mavortius dismisses many of his servants to release more money to spend on pleasure, and both Chrisoganus (who has turned playwright) and Owlet's Men price themselves out of the market. Next, Envy comes to power, causing class resentment in the realm: the citizenry’s adoption of the latest fashions causes resentment among the nobility, envious behaviour disrupts the players’ rehearsal, and Mavortius becomes belligerent. The next ruler is War, under whom the players are conscripted as soldiers, Mavortius fights with his friends, the common people rise in rebellion against their social superiors, and the Spanish invade the realm. Out of this chaos comes Poverty, leading aristocrats, merchants. and peasants alike to debt, bankruptcy, and famine. Owlet’s men, unable to pay their taxes, are banished from the realm. Finally Poverty and her associates are expelled by the return of Peace and Plenty. Queen Elizabeth also appears, in the guise of Astraea, and the play ends with the five lesser rulers resigning their sceptres to Peace.