in The Grateful Servant (The Faithful Servant) — Shirley, James
Metadata
Play
The Grateful Servant (The Faithful Servant)
Author
Shirley, James
Year (catalogued)
1630
First performance
1629
Decade
1630s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Queen Henrietta Maria's Men
Theater
Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Val. | Wal.
Words
281
Characters
1472
Typicality
0.20 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A12138
BritDrama no.
2287
Cluster
Cluster 6 — Battlefield messengers & soldiers
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
We do wear The Scapular of Saint Bennet Sir. To fashion my reply to your demand, Is not to boast, though I proclaim the honours Of our profession; Four Emperors, Forty six Kings, and one and fifty Queens, Have changed their Royal Ermines for our sables, These Cowls have clothed the heads of fourteen hundred, And six Kings Sons, of Dukes, great Marquises, And Earls, two thousand and above four hundred Have turned their Princely Coronets, into And humble Coronet of hair of hair left by The Razour thus. Think what 'tis you do, It is no thing to play the wanton with, In the strong bent passion of and humour, For a friends death, a Kings frown, or perhaps Loss of a Mistress. My Lord, the truth is Like your coat of arms, Richest when plainest, I do fear the world Hath tired you, and you seek a cell to rest in, As Birds that wing it over the Sea, seek ships, Till they get breath, and then they sly away. I go, Mean time examine well this new desire, Whether't be a wild flash, or a Heavenly fire. Would 'tis the S me. Dear Leon ra. The ci cumstance confirms it. And Heaven hath herd my prayer. Why my charge? Did you consent? You're in a straight I must Confess, no matter, hold your purpose, and Leave all to me, he is returned. He is constant to attend you, I have prepared him, and made way to the Abbot, For your reception, One of them sir Does owe this character. This does speak the other Sir. O let My tears express my joys, what myracl Gave you this liberty?
Plot summary
Plot — The Grateful Servant (The Faithful Servant)
PLOT The Duke of Savoy was to marry Leonora, Princess of Milan; but with the death of her father, the Milanese feared falling under the dominion of Savoy and have tried to force her to marry her uncle instead. Rather than go to war, the Duke redirects his amorous attentions to Cleona, who is Savoy-born and so poses none of the problems of language and obedience associated with a foreign wife. Cleona has just lost another lover, Foscari, who was reported dead on a journey. In fact, he has returned with a new page, Dulcino, whom he rescued from the banditti. He sends Dulcino with a letter announcing his return. Cleona at once loses all interest in the Duke; but when Foscari learns that he is the Duke’s rival in love, he decides to bow out: Dulcino is sent back to make a false confession that the letter was a forgery and that Foscari is dead after all, clearing the way for the Duke’s suit and Cleona’s advancement. The Duke, however, finds himself unaccountably attracted to Dulcino. Foscari intends to become a monk, taking Dulcino with him. Dulcino does not share this ambition: ‘he’ is really Leonora, who fled Milan to escape the forced marriage. The monk sent to negotiate Foscari’s admission to the abbey turns out to be the one who also helped her to abscond, Valentino, and he promises to arrange matters. Meanwhile the Duke learns that Foscari is alive, but promises to keep it from Cleona until after the monastic initiation ceremony, which they are both to witness. In the event, however, Valentino slips the Duke a paper identifying Leonora. That not only debars her from joining the abbey but also puts an end to any interest the Duke may have in marrying Cleona; which means that Foscari in turn no longer needs to take himself out of the Duke’s way. Both couples can pair off as originally intended. In the sub-plot, the Duke’s brother Lodwick neglects his wife, and plans to give himself grounds for divorce by procuring his associate Piero to commit adultery with her; this will leave him free to marry Cleona. He then aims to succeed to the dukedom by inducing his brother to enter religion. His former governor, Grimundo, persuades him that he is himself a secret debauchee, and offers to arrange a garden assignation for him. His date introduces herself as the devil in sexy human form, which somewhat dampens his ardour. He rushes back, to find with relief that Piero’s attempted seduction has been unsuccessful, and resolves to become a more dutiful husband — even…