in The World Tossed at Tennis — Middleton, Thomas; Rowley, William
Metadata
Play
The World Tossed at Tennis
Author
Middleton, Thomas; Rowley, William
Year (catalogued)
1620
First performance
1620
Decade
1620s
Genre
Masque
Play type
Occasional; Adult Professional
Company
Prince Charles's Men (first)
Speech prefix(es)
Den.
Words
437
Characters
2352
Typicality
0.40 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A07525
BritDrama no.
1931
Cluster
Cluster 3 — Citizens, tradesfolk & neighbors
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Ye're welcome, most nobly welcome. Why, was there any doubt, Of our kind gratulation? I am proud Only to be in fellowship with you, Comate and Servant to so great a Master. O, let not that be any difference, When we do serve, let us be ready for't. And called at His great pleasure: the round year In her circumferent arms will fold us all, And give us all employment seasonable. I am for colder hours, when the bleak air Bites with and Icy tooth: when Summer ha seared And Autumn all discoloured, laid all Fallow, Pleasure taken house, and dwells within doors, Then shall my Towers smoke, and comely show: But when again, the fresher morn appears, And the soft Spring renews her Velvet head, S to James's take my blessed Inhabitants For she can better entertain them then, In larger bounds, in Park, sports, delights, and grounds. A third season yet (with the Western Oars) Calls up to Richmond, when the high-heated year, Is in her Solsticie: Then she affords More sweeter-breathing air, more bounds, more pleasures: The Hounds loud Music to the flying Stag, The feathered Talenter to the falling bird, The Bow-mans twelvescore prick, even at the door, And to these I could add a hundred more. Then let not us strive which shall be his homes: But strive to give him welcome when he comes. Mean time, it's fit I give him welcome hither; But first, to you my Royal Royalest guessed, And I could wish your Banquet were a Feast: How ever your welcome is most bounteous, Which, I beseech you take as gracious: To you my Owner, Master, and my Lord, Let me the second unto you afford, And then, from you to all: for it is you That gives indeed, what I but seem to do. I was from ruin raised by a fair hand, A Royal hand: in that state let me stand For ever now: to bounty I was bred, My cups full brimmed, and my free tables spread To hundreds daily, even without my door, I had and open hand unto the poor. I know I shall so still, then shall their prayers Pass by the Porters Keys, climb up each stairs, And knit, and joint, my new reedifyde frames, That I shall able be to keep your names Unto eternity: Denmark House shall keep His high Name now, till Time does fallen asleep, And be no more: mean time, welcome, welcome, Heartily welcome; but chiefly you (great Sir,) What ever lies in my power, command me all, As freely as you were at your Whitehall.
Plot summary
Plot — The World Tossed at Tennis
The royal palaces of Richmond and St James now have a rival, Denmark House. Richmond is afraid that the newcomer will take all Prince Charles’s attention, leaving them neglected; but Denmark House assures them that each is suitable for a particular season (herself for winter, St James’s for spring, and Richmond for summer), and that the Prince will rotate among them equally. An unemployed scholar and an unemployed soldier consider their options. Their patroness Pallas descends, argues that the complete man combines both their professions, art and arms together, and invokes Jupiter's help. Jupiter presents the Muses and the Nine 1620 Worthies as an illustration of the virtue of former times. Time weeps at the encroaching vice of the present; he finds himself continually abused and hated. Deceit and pride have damaged the world in its latter days, and Jupiter summons the five coloured starches as illustrations of the absurdity of modern fashion. White Starch claims precedence over the others, but Yellow wins acclaim. Simplicity arrives to see what has become of the world (represented on stage by a globe), and is not reassured by his observations. Deceit wants to cozen him of the world, Simplicity to protect it from Deceit’s bad influence. Deceit successively gains the confidence of a series of men with worldly power: a king, a land- captain, a sea-captain, a flamen, and a lawyer. Each in turn is persuaded that the world should belong to him: the King takes it from Simplicity, and the Land- Captain from the King (through a display of superior military power); the Sea-Captain threatens the Land- Captain with naval cannon and they agree to share the world; but the Flamen takes it from them, urging them to look to their souls, and the Lawyer in turn takes it from the Flamen, insisting on his role in maintaining proper social discipline. On each occasion, Deceit asks for his share of the world, and is rebuffed at every turn (though the Lawyer gives him all the money in the world): none of the worldly powers is susceptible to corruption. A dance ensues in which the various powers pass the world between themselves; Deceit and the Devil repeatedly attempt to possess it, and fail. The world ends up in the hands of the King. With the world now at ease, Jupiter tells the Soldier and Scholar that they have only themselves to blame if they are unemployed, and encourages them to go and get jobs. The Soldier goes to war overseas; the Scholar stays in England under its…