Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

COOT

in A Match at Midnight — R., W.

Metadata

PlayA Match at Midnight
AuthorR., W.
Year (catalogued)1633
First performance1622
Decade1630s
GenreComedy
Play typeAdult Professional; Boys Professional
CompanyRed Bull (Revels) Company (first) (?)
Speech prefix(es)Bawd | Bawd.
Words248
Characters1193
Typicality0.30 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA11151
BritDrama no.2027
ClusterCluster 12 — Wooers, gallants & courtly love-talk

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

I am her Grandmother, forg to not that by any means. Pray lead, and he shall follow. I have not drunk yet sir. Yes, yes, has taken wing, and your Brother's gone after him, to fight with him. Jest kether, here will be jesting of all sides I think, if Jarvis keep his word. This was a pretty one I protest. O Jarvis, Jarvis, how I long till I see thee. Jarvis. Good old man, I know him by his tongue. This 'tis to be in love, if I do not dwindle. Master Bloodbound as I take it. So I was given to understand Sir. A pretty wholesome Air Sir, in the Summer time. Adieu my sweet deer heart. I warrant thee Jarvis, let me alone to right my self into the garb of a Lady: O strange to see how dreams fallen by contraries, I shall be coached to morrow, and yet last night dreamed I was carted: prithee keep a little state, go Jarvis. Exit Alas Sir, I was merely nuied, betrayed by Jar vis, but as I have been Bawd to the flesh, you have been Bawd to your money; so set the Hare Pie against the Goose g ble S, and you and I are as daintily matched as can be sir. I winckt at you Sue, and you cooed have seen me, there's one I rni , a rope on him has juggled me into the sudds to oh. O this Rogue Jarvis.

Plot summary

Plot — A Match at Midnight
Old Bloodhound is training his younger son Tim in the family pawnbroking business, since Alexander, the elder son, is a drunken wastrel. He intends to marry his daughter Mary to the informer Earlack, even though she prefers Ensign Young, while he himself will marry the young widow Wag. The widow has other suitors, including her servant Jarvis, but wants to get rid of them. She arranges a midnight assignation with Old Bloodhound, intending not to turn up. Jarvis arranges a substitute, and tells Bloodhound that his mistress has come incognito and must be addressed as Mistress Coot; in fact it really is a Mistress Coot, an old bawd, whom Bloodhound takes home that night in preparation for a wedding the next morning. Meanwhile, Mary plans to elope with Young that ' night, retrieving his mortgage from her father’s papers. 1622 The widow's Welsh suitor, Randall, hears about Mary and, though he has never met her, decides he prefers her to Wag. The servant Sim fixes Randall up with an assignation that night, but he ends up encountering Wag's maid, who is returning from a late errand and who also happens to be named Mary. Tim visits the tavern to give Alexander some pawn- money, and becomes enamoured of Sue Shortheels, thinking her a lady of noble descent. In fact, she is a prostitute. Alexander gets into the widow’s bedroom and hides under her bed, then forces her to agree to marry him by threatening to undress just as neighbours appear to be arriving. The various wedding plans unravel in the morning. Earlack has sneaked the opportunity to sleep with the widow — who is really Coot the bawd and a somewhat less desirable prospect in bed once seen in daylight. Meanwhile, Tim has married Sue, not knowing her true profession until it is too late, and Mary has married Young, to the dismay of Randall, who finds that he has accidentally married a servant. Only Alexander seems on course for the wedding he wants, until the widow points out that Jarvis has a prior claim: when he tried to seduce her months ago, she demanded that he should prove himself by living in her household as her servant. Now, however, she intends to honour her dead husband by never remarrying. Jarvis reveals his true identity: he is Wag himself, the widow’s husband, still alive, and satisfied that his ruse has proven his wife’s fidelity.