in The Hector of Germany, or The Palsgrave, Prime Elector — Smith, William (?)
Metadata
Play
The Hector of Germany, or The Palsgrave, Prime Elector
Author
Smith, William (?)
Year (catalogued)
1615
First performance
1614
Decade
1610s
Genre
Pseudo-History
Play type
Private
Theater
Red Bull;Curtain;Outdoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Page. | Pag. | P • ge.
Words
293
Characters
1499
Typicality
0.50 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A12548
BritDrama no.
1707
Cluster
Cluster 0 — Clowns, beggars & street sellers
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
I have a sweet Office, to be Gentleman Por ter to a back door; but 'tis for a Lady, the best beauty in England: and if there be any Pandering in the but sinesse, though I am accessary i'the fee, because I live by it, I have no knowledge in the fault. Ma nigh a Courtier would be glad of my place, yet I hold it not by patent, for term of life, nor for years: but as young Gentlemen get Venison upon sufferance or by stealth. If the Lord Clynton should have no tice of this Key or evidence, by which the young Lord Fythwaters is conveyed to his Daughter against his will, though she be his Wife by a precontract, I might be conveyed to the porters-lodge. But if all Court-secrets come to light, what will be come of the Farthingales think you that cover them? No, since Ladies wear Whale-bones, ma nigh have been swallowed, and so may this. Here comes the Young Lord. I thank your Lordship. And now Like the Keeper of a prison, having my fee, 'tis fit I should turn the Key. You know the way to my Ladies chamber. Sure liberality was a lover, or he would never be so bountiful: some think it a chargeable thing to keep a Woman of any eminent fashion, and so 'tis, but to keep them as I do under lock and key, and suffer none to enter but such liberal Gentlemen, is the only way to make a rich Keeper. I must walk still to watch his coming forth. Enter old Fythwaters and Steward. Help, help. Walking in the Garden. Fled to your Son. The Steward laid the plot; What I have done Was for my Ladies sake.
Plot summary
Plot — The Hector of Germany, or The Palsgrave, Prime Elector
. Defeated in his attempt to seize power in Spain, Henry the Bastard attempts to get himself elected Holy Roman Emperor; he secures the support of three of the seven Electors, promising that Saxony will be the power behind his throne. But the other Electors, including the sickly Palsgrave, prefer the Duke of Savoy’s candidature, so the Bastard uses force: he defeats the opposing Electors in battle, imprisons two of them, and has himself crowned, then breaks his word and excludes Saxony from power. News of the ===== PAGE 311 ===== 1613 usurpation cures the Palsgrave, who prepares to mobilize an army. Spain is the theatre of war for their first confrontation. The Palsgrave is victorious, and the Bastard is captured, but rescued by Saxony. The warring potentates seek alliances against one another: the Palsgrave goes to England, the Bastard to France. The Palsgrave competes in an English tournament and is installed in the Order of the Garter. King John of France is reluctant to fight the English again (they have too good a track record of victory in France), and hopes to use diplomacy to secure Edward III’s neutrality. Refused the chance to conduct the mission, Saxony goes to England in disguise, but is identified by the Palsgrave, who dishonours him by pulling off a lock of his hair. Diplomacy fails, and Edward and the Palsgrave invade France, dispatching troops to free the imprisoned Electors. The Palsgrave defeats and kills Saxony in single combat. King John withdraws his support from the Bastard, and Savoy is formally crowned Emperor. In the sub-plot, Lord Fitzwaters is betrothed to Floramell, but discovers that she loves his son. He witnesses a secret assignation between the lovers in the garden of Lord Clinton, Floramell’s father. Clinton orders Young Fitzwaters off his land; Lord Fitzwaters goes further and banishes him from England. Floramell goes with him, leaving in her place a cross-dressed page, whom Lord Fitzwaters ‘marries’. The lovers are separated in a shipwreck: Floramell is washed up on the French coast and becomes a maid of honour at court; Young Fitzwaters is marooned on a barren rock and subsists on a fish diet until he is rescued by Saxony. King John is attracted to Floramell and offers to make way for her by having the Queen murdered. Floramell will not consent to adultery or murder, but agrees to give him a single kiss. Unfortunately this is witnessed by the Queen, who plans revenge and engages as her murderer an English newcomer to…