in The Puritan, or The Widow of Watling Street (The Puritan Widow) — Middleton, Thomas
Metadata
Play
The Puritan, or The Widow of Watling Street (The Puritan Widow)
Author
Middleton, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1607
First performance
1606
Decade
1600s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Boys Professional
Company
Children of Paul's (second)
Speech prefix(es)
Penny-dub. | Penny. | Penny | Penne. | Pen. | 〈◊〉 Penny. | Sir I oh.
Words
269
Characters
1360
Typicality
0.31 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A11264
BritDrama no.
1509
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
I thank you faith,—Nay you must stand me, till I kiss you: it's the fashion every where I'faith, and I came from Court enough? Then not forgetting the sweet of new ceremonies, I first fallen back, then recovering my self; make my honour to your lip thus: and then accost it. I two of you have, but the thirds a good wench! I ax a'th Fortuneteller, would Derecke had been his fortune seven year ago, to cross my love them: did he know what case I was in, why this is able to make a man drown himself in's Father's fishpond. In Purgatory? why let him purge out his heart there, what have we to do with that? there's Physicians enough there to cast his water, is that any matter to us: how can he hinder our love, why let him bew changed now he's dead?—Well, have I rid post day and night, to bring you merry news of my father's death, and now— As dead as his Bairn door Moll. I faith. Too, All this. Mum: Molls a good wench still, I know what shee'le do? But I hope you will not serve a Knight so: Gentlewo man will you: to casheere him, and cast him off at your pleasure; what do you think I was dubbed for nothing, no by my faith Ladies daughter. Whewh Mistress Mol, Mistress Mol. Pree the Mol let me come up. I'll not stay i'faith. Oh the art a mad wench Moll, but I pree thee make hast, for the Priest is gone before. Thou shalt Moll. They are all mine Moll.
Plot summary
Plot — The Puritan, or The Widow of Watling Street (The Puritan Widow)
Lady Plus has just been widowed, but her son Edmond. does not grieve appropriately at the funeral. She mourns a good, liberal husband, who strove to make his family rich by fair means and foul; she swears not to remarry, and her elder daughter Frances renounces marriage too. Not so her younger daughter, Moll, who entertains a suitor. The other two Plus women are also being pestered by unwanted suitors, one of whom has bribed Lady Plus’s brother-in-law, Sir Godfrey, to recommend him. Captain Idle is taken to prison for highway robbery; there he is visited by his puritan kinsman Nicholas, one of. the Plus household’s servants, and also by Skirmish and Pieboard, two tricksters who plan to get him out. To that end, they persuade Nicholas to steal Sir Godfrey’s chain. Pieboard visits Lady Plus posing as a fortune teller, and tells her that her husband is in purgatory, from which he can be released only if both she and her daughters reverse their marital intentions (which he has overheard): she and Frances must marry, and Moll must not. As a puritan, Lady Plus doubts the theology of this, so he establishes his authenticity by predicting that, before the day is out, there will be bloodshed outside her door and Sir Godfrey will suffer a loss, with worse to follow for the women of the household. The first two events are prearranged: Nicholas steals Sir Godfrey’s chain, and Skirmish and Corporal Oath feign a street-fight which results in a wound for Oath and arrest for Skirmish. Pieboard gives Oath a medicine which is actually a sleeping potion, so that he appears to have been killed. Nicholas tells Sir Godfrey that Idle is a conjurer who can get his chain back for him; so Sir Godfrey arranges for Idle to be released and the charges dropped. On his way to brief Idle, Pieboard is arrested for failing to pay his rent, but he escapes by pretending that he must deliver a masque device to a gentleman, who will pay him enough to settle the debt. On arrival at the gentleman’s house (chosen at random), he escapes through the back door while the officers wait for him in the front room. The next day, Idle undertakes his fake conjuring at Lady Plus’s house, and claims that the devil has delivered the lost chain in the garden (where in reality it has been hidden all the time). He also pretends to render Edmond invisible, which gets the young man into trouble when he takes the opportunity to buffet his uncle. Two processions pass the house, taking Oath to his funeral and…