Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

AMBLE

in A New Way to Pay Old Debts — Massinger, Philip

Metadata

PlayA New Way to Pay Old Debts
AuthorMassinger, Philip
Year (catalogued)1633
First performance1625
Decade1630s
GenreComedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyQueen Henrietta Maria's Men
TheaterPhoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)Amb. | Amble.
Words232
Characters1209
Typicality0.29 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA07241
BritDrama no.2180
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

Cannot you stay To be served among your fellows from the basket, But you must presle in to the hall? Or shall we teach it you, By the head, and shoulders? Perform it bravely. You are happily encountered: I yet never Presented one so welcome, as I know You will be to my Lady. Would, would; I shall burst. Would, would, my Lady has God Such a guest at her table, this term-driver Marrall, This suippe of and Attourney. The knave thinks still he's at the cooks shop in Ramme-alley, Where the Clerks divide, and the Elder is to choose; And feeds so slovenly. My Lady Drank to him sor fashion sake, or to please master Well born. As I live he rises, and takes up a dish, In which there were some remnants of a boiled capon, And pledges her in whitebroth. And when I brought him wine, He leaves his stool, and after a leg or two Most humbly thanks my worship. I shall be chid. We are taught better By you good Madam. And this. You are merry Good Master Steward. Why fellow Furnace, it's not twelve a clock yet, Nor dinner taking up, then it's allowed Cooks by their places may be choleric. There was no hurt meant. But you had wanted matter there to work on. Welcome, Sir. In you he lives. How his mouth runs over!

Plot summary

Plot — A New Way to Pay Old Debts
Sir Giles Overreach’s schemes for the accumulation of lands and money include a campaign against his prodigal nephew, Welborne, and a plot to marry his daughter Margaret to Lord Lovell. Welborne has sold Overreach all his land to fund a prodigal lifestyle, and now Overreach’s agent Marrall has him ejected from his alehouse lodging: the objective is to force him into a choice between hunger and theft, and so procure his death either by starvation or on the gallows. Welborne goes to see the recently widowed Lady Alworth, who is refusing to see her many suitors, including Overreach’s associate Justice Greedy. Welborne forces his way in and persuades her, trading on his friendship with her dead husband, to entertain him and a guest to dinner. Welborne brings Marrall, who infers from their cordial reception that Welborne is to marry the widow. He is therefore likely to be worth more alive than dead, so Overreach changes his plans and lends him £1,000, with which Welborne pays his old debts. When Overreach attempts to close the trap and force him to sign away Lady Alworth’s lands, however, Welborne refuses, and insists that his own estate is wrongfully detained by Overreach. His uncle produces the deeds to prove otherwise, but Marrall, fed up with Overreach’s maltreatment, has tampered with them and they are invalid. To redeem his lost reputation, Welborne joins the army to fight for king and country. In the other plot, Lord Lovell goes to dinner at Overreach’s house, where another unexpected guest is Lady Alworth. Overreach plans to tempt him into sex with Margaret, so that he will then be obliged to restore her honour by marrying her. Margaret confides to Lovell that she prefers his page, Lady Alworth’s stepson, and, knowing that the attraction is mutual, Lovell agrees to help. He proposes that she should deceive her father with a display of amorousness, and that Alworth should be introduced into the equation as a carrier of love letters between them. Overreach agrees to this, is pleased to overhear that the first letter seems to solicit an elopement, and makes arrangements for his chaplain to perform the marriage. He is reeling from the failure of his Welborne scheme when the news arrives that the marriage has taken place — but the bridegroom has been Alworth, not Lovell. The extortioner goes mad and is sent to Bedlam, tormented by his conscience for his many financial misdeeds. Lovell asks Lady Alworth to marry him.