Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

REGISTER

in The Staple of News — Jonson, Ben

Metadata

PlayThe Staple of News
AuthorJonson, Ben
Year (catalogued)1631
First performance1616
Decade1630s
GenreComedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyKing's Men
Speech prefix(es)REG. | REG ▪
Words251
Characters1394
Typicality0.22 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA04633.3
BritDrama no.1810
ClusterCluster 15 — Devils, vices & grotesques

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

Are those news registered, That Emissary Buz sent in last night? Of Spinola, and his Eggs ? What are you now upon? Dispatch, that's news indeed, and of importance. What would you have good woman? Oh! You are a Butterwoman, ask Nathaniel The Clerk, there. Do good woman, have patience, It is not now, as when the Captain lived. Show him the last Roll, Of Emissary West-minster's, The Heir. Yes, Sir. The people press upon us, please you, Sir, The Regi ster offers him a room. Withdraw with your fair Princess. There's a room Within, Sir, to retire too. It's the house of fame, Sir, Where both the curious, and the negligent; The scrupulous, and careless; wild, and stayed; The idle, and laborious; all do meet, To taste the Cornu copiae of her rumours, Which she, the mother of sport pleases to scatter Among the vulgar: Baits, Sir, for the people! And they will bite Like fish. Yes, how much would you? 1. Cust. Ash baptist. Lay your money down, read, Thomas. Most likely. Yes, But dearer, it will cost you a shilling. Not, to the good o'the Saints ? Read, from Constantinople, Nine penny'orth. Buz. Your countryman. Yes, for Amboina, and the Justice there! This is a Doper, a she Anabaptist! Seal and deliver her her news, dispatch. Afore 'twas paid for, you were somewhat too hasty. We may well do't, We have not many such. So there had needs, for they are still by the ears One with another.

Plot summary

Plot — The Staple of News
. _ Pug the junior devil is keen to visit earth. Satan svarns him that his ideas of effective devilment are half a century out of date, but grants him leave to spend the day in London, made flesh and subject to all the frailties and limitations of the human body. A ready-made body is available, in the shape of a recently hanged cutpurse, but Pug will have to make his own arrangements for clothes. Another proviso is that he must serve the first man he meets. Unfortunately for Pug, he turns out to be a twit: Fabian Fitzdottrel. Fitzdottrel longs to see the devil, and agrees to accept Pug as an unpaid servant because he gives his mame as Devil. The same obsession makes Fitzdottrel eager to see a new play, The Devil is an Ass, but he needs some finery to show off as he sits on the stage. Wittipol is eager to sleep with Fitzdottrel’s wife, and offers him a suitable cloak in exchange for fifteen minutes’ uninterrupted conversation with the lady. He uses the time to proposition her, and engages her interest even though she has been forbidden to reply. Fitzdottrel is introduced to Merecraft, a purveyor of imaginative financial schemes, who offers to make him rich and a duke through land reclamation in the eastern fens. Fitzdottrel agrees to meet with him, leaving Pug to ensure that nobody attempts to visit his wife. Pug instead brings her a follow-up message from Wittipol, then makes advances to her on his own account, but is caught by Fitzdottrel and gets a beating. Wittipol’s friend Manly has a room which abuts Mistress Fitzdottrel’s gallery, which he uses to have a second meeting with her. This is much more intimate than the first, despite being conducted through the windows of adjacent buildings. Pug gets back into favour by tipping off Fitzdottrel, who puts a stop to the assignation and threatens to take up another woman to share his expectations and be his Duchess. Merecraft suggests that what Fitzdottrel’s wife needs is to be taught proper manners, and recommends a widow who knows the ways of the Spanish court, who might be persuaded to undertake the task if sent an expensive ring as a gift, and who is entirely fictitious. His accomplice Engine proposes hiring an actor to impersonate her, but Merecraft worries that his business methods might be leaked to a playwright and end up on stage; in the event, Engine finds a gentleman to take on the role instead, who happens to be Wittipol. Fitzdottrel cannot get his wife to part with a ring of her own, so…