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)
War.
Words
398
Characters
2274
Typicality
0.54 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03405
BritDrama no.
1314
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
Rule fier-eied War, revel in blood and flames, Envy, whose breath hath poisoned all estates, Hath now resigned her spiteful throne to us: Stand forth Ambition; fly through the land, And enter every breast of noble blood, Infect their honoured minds with factious thoughts, And make them glister in opposed arms: Let unjust force and scarlet Tyranny Wait on their Actions till their ulcers break, Or else be lanced by the hand of War, Which cannot be without a lasting scar, Fury, thy turn is next, go now and fill The trunk of Peasants with thy dangerous breath, Inspire them with the spirit of Mutiny, Rage, and rebellion, make them desperate Hurry them headlong unto every ill, Like dust raised with a whirl wind; let their eyes, Be ever fixed upon the bruised prints Made in their state by wild oppression, And (after all) possess them with this fire, That only War must purchase their desire. Horror shall greet the bosom of green youth, The melting liver of pied gallantry, The wrinkled vizard of Devotion, The cheuerell conscience of corrupted law, And frozen heart of gouty Merchandise, Horror wound these, strike palsies in their limbs, And as thou stalkest (in thy prodigious shape,) And meetest a fellow swollen with mounted place; Shake him with glances of thy hollow eyes, And let thy vigour live as his heart die. Horror adieu, These three, are Ushers to our Deity, Only vast Ruin here attends on us, And is a follower of our high designs: Ruin thou faithful servant to grim War, Now teach thy murdering shot to tear men's limm's, Thy brazen Cannos how to make a breach, In a fair Cities bosom; teach thy fierce To climb the tops of houses; and thy mines, To blow up Churches in th'offended sky. Consume whole groves and standing fields of Corn In thy wild age, and make the proud earth groan, Under the weight of thy confusion. Mean while weel steep our sinowie feet in blood And dance unto the Music of the field, Trumpets for trebles, bases, bellowing drnmmes. Broils Envy bred, but War shall end those brawls, Deaf war that will not hear a word of Peace: Sharp pikes shall serve for subtle lawyers pens The Merchants silks shall turn to shining steel, In steed of false-yard sticks, large horsemen's staves, Shall measure out true pattern's of their graves.
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.