in The Bird in a Cage (The Beauties) — Shirley, James
Metadata
Play
The Bird in a Cage (The Beauties)
Author
Shirley, James
Year (catalogued)
1633
First performance
1633
Decade
1630s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Queen Henrietta Maria's Men
Theater
Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Grut. | Gr. | Gurt.
Words
630
Characters
3250
Typicality
0.36 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A12128
BritDrama no.
2396
Cluster
Cluster 13 — Attendant courtiers & citizens
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Madam Katherina, they are gone Signior. News, Signior News. We have told you. Th'art very free. Not the Golden one. It's he. Do you thrive in your Hope's? Nay nay, impart. Why hast thou none? Im'e glad he's gone. But hark you Signior, we forget the Ladies still And he that gets the first hint, communicate— Ten to one, but if I did—let it alone, a pox on't, I were best drink some Sack, they say it helps in uention. Recover it with thy finger. Lose it not, thou art great with wit, let us de liver thee, what, is't? Didst not promise. How? So am I, that he is so reserved What shall's do. He has better eyes then we to distinguish it. In courtesy we ask: That wo'd be seen, this is news. Teach men to walk invisible, a very fine trade. It's impossible—see, see, more Gentlemen, pre thee lets to him, this will be a trick worth our learning. Man, I see no man. And you were not too busy Sir— Here's not a man, are they not sunk, came they out here? This man can doo't I see already. Video pro intelligo I mean Sir. How? This is admirable. Come you will cast a missed before our eyes. Can you not do it presently. The crown shall be ready Sir. Can you tell Sir, what became of all the Swal lowes, Cuckoes, and small birds, we had here last Sum mere? Would, would, would. Not I Sir, you shall excuse me, 'twas the last thing I did. You shall see't. And because you shall know the truth of his Art, he will be invisible all but his hand, what think you of that? the rarest fellow in Christendom. He is and Infidel. I do incline to believe, that we are cheated. We wonot then. And this—o quickly. That will be excellent. I think now to most of the beholders, he is in visible all but his head, for he has but a small grate to look out at. Nay, he is Like to lie by't, for I hear since, all his Creditors, Like so many Crows have light upon him, and they'le leave him but a thin Carcase. He sent me and Epistle to take pity on him. I returned him my Court compliment, that I was sorry I could not serve him: I would do him any office that strecth'd not to mine own prejudice, that we had taken order with his Keeper; upon payment of our sums disbursed, he might be enlarged. At the grate. —Would. Did he not die in prison, and his Ghost haunts us, brave!—It's not he. And thus Gallant. Would we durst beat him. Would thou were't hanged any way. Let's to the prison, and know the wonder better—Noble Signior. Many other he hath discharged they say. He has some cause to imagine himself short lived, and that makes him so desperately charitable, to ward his end. Signior Perenotto. How came he off? Very good— The case is altered with you. They are too light, quickly down. 'Twere pity but he should have a patent for't, to him and his posterity. And thou canst sing it? And he continue thus but a Moon, he'll make the Court mad. 'Tis he. Fellow, what Bird is that? Come, you were unkind to rub us before the Duke so. The Duke. The Duke's perplexed, observe. Humble your self you Coxecombe. Here is the other Traitor Sir. This is pretty Dondolo. Make me happy to renew my suit. Or I would not be in his taking when the Moon cham ̄ ges. I always thought he would cheat us, what shall's do, to prevent more laughter? He does teach to walk invisible they say.
Plot summary
Plot — The Bird in a Cage (The Beauties)
After rumours of Philenzo’s interest in Eugenia, her father the Duke banishes him and shuts her up in a newly-built palace, attended only by ladies, until he can find her a husband of suitable rank. Orpiano is sent to Florence with her picture to negotiate a marriage treaty; her fiancé will be the Great Duke’s son. Rolliardo, an unemployed wit, comes to court looking for work. The Duke gives him the task of gaining access to Eugenia in her new quarters within a month, with the proviso that he will be executed if he fails; he agrees, subject to the condition that the Duke gives him enough money to do the job—meaning, in effect, unlimited access to the exchequer. Pursued by creditors, the artist Bonamico sets up business disguised as a mountebank, Altomaro, offering to teach people the secret of invisibility. Rolliardo sceptically rejects this as a method of penetrating Eugenia’s palace, preferring to trust in the corruptibility of the captain of the guard—who refuses to help, but keeps the bribe anyway. ‘Altomaro’ tries to encourage prospective clients by dressing up as a series of customers entering his shop; they are not seen leaving because, he says, they have become invisible. Dondolo and Grutti decide this would be a good way to get to see their girlfriends, two of Eugenia’s attendants, and pay ‘Altomaro’ for a demonstration: he will be invisible, save only for his hand. And so he is—the ‘hand’ being a handwritten letter from him. The courtiers realize they have been cheated; Bonamico’s assistant Carlo tells them his true identity and helps them find and imprison him pending the repayment of their demonstration fee. Morello attempts to get into the palace prison posing as a woman, but one of the guards wants a sexual fee and discovers his true gender. He is taken to the Duke and sentenced to wear his women’s clothes for a month. An ambassador arrives from Florence to finalize the marriage contract; Fulvio tells him about Philenzo’s love for Eugenia. Rolliardo uses his access to the exchequer to buy all debtors out of prison; one of the beneficiaries is Bonamico, who again offers his help. He brings the Duke a large cage of birds, which the Duke sends as a present to Eugenia. It arrives while the ladies are putting on a play, The New Prison, about Jupiter and Danaë, imprisoned by her tyrannous father. Eugenia feels sorry for the birds and opens the cage. Rolliardo is hidden inside. He woos her, but she refuses him: her heart belongs to Philenzo. He…