Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

JOHN

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)Iohn. | Ioh.
Words284
Characters1463
Typicality0.29 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA11151
BritDrama no.2027
ClusterCluster 1 — Wives, widows & intimate counsel

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

Is my Mistress ready for dinner? Half and hour ago man. Pox on him, they say he's the arrantest . I er, we shall never live good day with him. Yes. Exit. I do not know. They say you're to marry one that will feed us. With horse-plums, instead of Beef and Cabidge. No, but my friends are. My guts. Yes, and shall conclude Coxecombe, and I be fed with herring bones, 'sfoo e, I say no more, but if we worser e want as much bred of our dany allowance, as wood dine a Sparrow, or as much drink as wood fox a Fly, I know what I know. Oh Mistress, yonder's the mad gallant, Master A lexander Bloodhound entered into the Hall. Prithee peace, shalt hear a Song. Look Mistress, how they stare one at another? My Mistress remembers her love, and requests you would endure her so much to your patience, as to read that. But sirrah, canst tell what my Mistress means to do with her suitors? Which is he, I prithee? The Welshman. Ditties, they are the ends of old Ballets. Here comes my Mistress: Marry. Handsome by this hand. 'Tis as I told thee, Master Alexander, thy Mistress eldest son will be here. Troth, she makes little preparation, but it may be she wood be wedded, as sh wood be bedded, privately. Why, that there goes but a pair of sheets, a pro moter, and a knave, if you know more, take your choice of either. But now and she speak she spoils all, or if he call her by my Mistress his name, hast thou no: tricks to enjoin them both to silence till they come sure.

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.