in The Seven Champions of Christendom — Kirke, John
Metadata
Play
The Seven Champions of Christendom
Author
Kirke, John
Year (catalogued)
1638
First performance
1635
Decade
1630s
Genre
Romance
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Red Bull Company (second)
Theater
Red Bull;Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Prin. | Princeſſe. | Princeſſ.
Words
319
Characters
1745
Typicality
0.37 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A04874
BritDrama no.
2432
Cluster
Cluster 5 — Romantic leads (high style)
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Sir, by my father's leave I do pronounce You're freely welcome, not to us alone, but to all, All faithful Subject's to my Father, and their loud joys Shall speak it; one work of gratitude We owe the gods, the other to your valours. What remains, but that you bless our eyes With the true figures of our deer lives preserver? Therefore unarm your selves, your dangerous combat, The heat and dust, and the fast closure of Your Armours strictness may much impair your healths; Let me prevail with you. Of goodly presence both, and far exceeds The youths our Country breeds, in form and stature; Speak my Carintha, what judge ye of them? Then you are indifferent, your love is equal? So is not mine; but thoughts a while conceal, What passion might unwisely now reveal. Oh unhappy maid, lost in my best of wishes! Was I born to ruin virtue, and gain by it a name Hateful to all posterity? Royal Sir, Have you no other to employ, than her That you gave life too? must I become and executioner? Or do you think me Marble? o that I were, That I might ever weep for your injustice: For ever may my hand forget its motion If it give way to this: Know I dare die, Rather than act this mischief. Oh Sacred Pallas, protector of the Virgin votary; Thou in whose well mixed soul Judgement and worth holds equal balance; From those Sphere-like eyes that shoot forth terror To the amazed world, send piercing lightning To consume these Monsters that overwhelm our kingdom. Unhappy Violeta. I am prepared, and glory in my sufferings. This is cruel; sink mine eyes into your Hollow caverns, do not see and act so full of horror. How many Knights, even in their spring of youth, The pride and riches of this populous land, Has his vast bowels made their Sepulcher?
Plot summary
Plot — The Seven Champions of Christendom
Years ago, the witch Calib stole a child, George, intending to bathe in his blood; but she fell in love with the baby and brought him up with her own son, Suckabus. She has always refused to let him know the identity of his real parents, but after much importunity she relents and tells George that he was a bastard whom she saved from infanticide. She asks her diabolic lover Tarpax how long she has to live; the demon prophesies that she will die only when love causes her to lose control of her magical powers. She shows George six Christian champions whom she keeps in her cave, and grants him their ransom. When George feels pity for them but pretends severity, she gives him her magic wand. The ghosts of his parents visit him, and he learns that Calib poisoned them, and that he is really of noble birth. He uses the magic wand to kill Calib, but agrees to take on Suckabus as a servant; Tarpax encourages Suckabus to spread his seed widely around the earth by taking every opportunity for procreation. George joins the six champions, bringing them up to the number prophesied by a Sibyl, seven. They go their separate ways into pagan lands. Trebizond is troubled by monsters: a dragon and a lion terrorize the land and kill knights who attempt to dispose of them. The Emperor proclaims a reward for anyone who will deal with the menace. The champions Andrew and Anthony arrive in Trebizond, and the Princess and Carintha fall in love with them; but their welcome evaporates when the Emperor discovers their religion. An oracle has decreed that any Christians who set foot in Trebizond must convert to paganism or be executed. The Emperor allows them to choose their own executioners; they choose the ladies, who refuse to comply; so they offer to relieve the ladies of the responsibility and execute one another. The Emperor allows them to be rearmed so that they can do so, and this enables them to fight their way to freedom. The champion David accidentally causes the death of Prince Arbasto in a joust. David has helped the King of Tartary, Arbasto’s father, in his war with the Persians, and cannot honourably be executed, so the King offers him a pardon, half the kingdom, and the succession if he will bring back the head of his enemy, Ormandine. The expectation is that Ormandine will kill him. Ormandine was once a duke, but was deposed by the Kings of Tartary and Arabia, and took up magic to avenge himself. A prophecy assures him of his security until the arrival of a British…