Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

PIERCE

in The New Inn, or The Light Heart — Jonson, Ben

Metadata

PlayThe New Inn, or The Light Heart
AuthorJonson, Ben
Year (catalogued)1631
First performance1629
Decade1630s
GenreComedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyKing's Men
Speech prefix(es)Pei.
Words454
Characters2484
Typicality0.42 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA04658
BritDrama no.2263
ClusterCluster 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

What wine is't Gentlemen, white or claret? I'll draw you Juno's milk That died the Lilies, Colonel. Cream o'the grape! That dropped from Juno's breasts, and sprung the Lily! I can recite your fables, Pox o'this waiting, Quarter Master, Fly. Old Parcel Peck! Art thou there? how now? lamb Oh you have had some phantasy, fellow Peck, Some revelation— To steal the hay, Out o'the racks again: Or bring pe The bottom upwards, heaped with oats; and cry. Here's the best measure upon all the road! when You know the guessed, put in his hand, to feel, And smell to the oats, that grated all his fingers Vpo'the wood— And fou ̄ worser out your You were that there, upon your knees; I do remember it: To ha'the fact concealed. I could tell more, Soping of saddles, cutting of horse tails, And cropping—pranks of ale, and hostelry— We are all mortal, And have our visions. These are fits, and fancies, Which you must leave, good Peck. Who's master's double beneficed; put in that. His saddle too May want a stirrup. And a graziers may. Suffer before the Master's face, sometime. When the slight is, rubbing his gums with salt, Till all the skin come off, he shall but mumble, Like and old woman that were chewing brawn, And drop them out again. Whose horse w it? Is Bat Burst come? Mass, Bartolmew Burst. One that hath been a Citizen, since a Courtier, And now a Gamester. Hath had all his whirls, And bouts of fortune, as a man would say, Once a Bat, and ever a Bat! a Reremouse, And Bird of twilight, he has broken thrice Nor are they Always to hold. He is a merchant still, Adventurer, At in, and in: and is our thorough-fares friend. The same: and a fine gentl Was with him! Who? Hodge H A cheater, & another fine gentl A friend of the Chamberlains! Iordans! M r Huf He is Bursts protection. He will be drunk so civilly- And punctually! joust at his hour. And sup With his tuft-taffata night-geere, here, so silently! A dozen of bawdy songs. In private Sir, and pay, The Fiddlers with that modesty, next morning. And pack away in their trundling cheats, Like Gipsies Yes do: and sleep with them, let him go-base whipstock. Hee' as drunk as a fish now, almost as dead. Keep the peace gentlemen: wha do you m There are a Company of Ladies above Desire your Ladyships Company, and to take The surety of their lodgings, from the affront Of these half-beasts, were here een now, the Centaur's, Some very fine Ladies. I dare use no comparisons, Being a servant, sent— Joy. Ior. Joy. Jug. All joy.

Plot summary

Plot — The New Inn, or The Light Heart
Before the start of the action, the aristocratic Framipul family disintegrated. The younger daughter, |. actitia, ===== PAGE 357 ===== 1629 disappeared. Her mother, believing her husband had fallen out of love with her because of inability to produce a son, went mad. Lord Frampul too then vanished and his title devolved to his elder daughter, Frances, who is now enjoying herself spending her inheritance. Lady Frances and her crew of suitors descend on the Light Heart, a country inn, on pleasure bent. Lovel, a melancholy guest at the inn, decides to leave, but Goodstock the jovial host persuades him to stay. He agrees so long as he doesn’t have to meet Frances, and explains that he loves her but is honourably trying to leave the field clear for another suitor, his ward Beaufort. Unfortunately for him, Frances insists that he joins in with the day’s planned entertainment. Her maid Prudence has been appointed to preside over the revels as the mock-queen, even though the new gown she was to wear for the occasion has not arrived. She awards Lovel two hours of the Lady’s undivided attention in which to woo her, and to be rewarded with two kisses. Prudence also borrows Goodstock’s son Frank, dresses him as a woman, and induces Beaufort to fall in love with ‘her’. For the first hour, he discourses of the nature of spiritual love; Beaufort is more interested in love of the physical kind, but Frances is inspired with a new respect for the emotion, and gladly pays Lovel the kiss she owes. Another suitor, Tiptoe, is an admirer of all things Spanish. He fraternizes with the inn’s servants, tries to organize them on the lines of the Spanish army, and hears about their methods of cheating the guests. A fight breaks out when a visitor refuses to drink to the honour of Spain, but it is broken up by Lovel, and Tiptoe and his associates drink themselves into a stupor and out of the play. Pinnacia, an apparently noble lady, arrives at the inn with her footman, who is really her husband, Stuff the tailor. His sexual fetish is connected with his profession: after making a gown for a titled lady customer, and before delivering the garment, he likes to dress his wife up in it and have sex with her, pretending that she is herself an aristocrat. Today is not his lucky day: his customer is on the premises. Frances recognizes the gown Pinnacia is wearing as the one she ordered for Prudence to wear at the revels. Stuff is tossed in a blanket and Pinnacia sent home in her underwear.…