Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 11 (tospot, rees, ralph, soch, tout, oundes…). Matches are highlighted.
wash it off. Codrus farewe l. Tush, if thou be sent of God, we cannot hold thee farewell. Thee? Why what art thou, that living suest to go to hell? That I will Ralph whats the matter? Hagh.
Full speech
Again, I and again too, I trow, What night and day no rest but row? Come if thou wilt go over Styx, For if thou stay a while I think, There will come so many my boat will sink, I come, I come. Codrus I cannot help thee now, and yet I wish thee well, Theres scarcely room enough for rich, So that no poor can come to hell. But when the ditch is dug down as clean as is the wall That parted hell and purgatory, then if thou chance to call: Because I see as thou art poor thou art impatient, To carry thee quickly unto hell Codrus le be content. And now the time will not be long, for the commission gone For workeme ̄ , that have power to make Elysium & Limbo one, And there are shipwrights sent for too, to built me up a bigger boat, A boat said I? nay awhole hulk: And that the same may safely float, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegecon Shall all be dug into Styx: For where one wont to come to hell, I tell thee now comes five or six. For ignorance that wont to be, Is wilful blindness now become. So thou must come when room is made, I tell thee yet there is no room. Oh, night was my mother, this is his mark, I cannot wash it off. Codrus farewe l. Tush, if thou be sent of God, we cannot hold thee farewell. Thee? Why what art thou, that living suest to go to hell? That I will Ralph whats the matter? Hagh.
Plot summary
Plot — The Cobbler's Prophecy
Security has bred social ills in Boeotia, including impiety and disrespect for age. Meanwhile Venus scandalizes heaven with her adulterous liaison with Mars. Mercury selects Ralph Cobbler at random to prophesy to both Mars and Boeotia, and strikes his wife Zelota mad. A courtier, landlord, scholar, and soldier debate the relative merits of their different estates; Sateros the soldier, who is seeking employment from Mars, is obviously the worthiest. He visits the Muses to seek directions to Mars’s court, while Ralph tries to ride there with Charon. On arrival, they are sent on to Venus’ court by a dangerous route, and find Mars engaged in sexual dalliance with Venus. Mars recommends Sateros to the Duke of Boeotia, but is ===== PAGE 168 ===== infuriated by Ralph’s prophecy and quarrels with Venus. When he learns that she has another sexual partner, Contempt, he becomes jealous and misogynistic, and returns to his proper concern with warfare. Venus bears Contempt’s illegitimate child, Ruina. She is deprived of her godhead and banished from heaven; Contempt also abandons her. The Duke hires Sateros and learns from Ralph that the courtier Emnius is plotting to assassinate him while they are out hunting. Under questioning, Emnius confesses, but pretends to repent under threat of being shot with his own pistol. Spared but determined to take revenge, he assaults Ralph and is stabbed to death by mad Zelota. Both Ralph and Zelota are imprisoned for the killing. Boeotia is invaded by foreign powers, and Sateros musters the army; prisoners, including Ralph, are released to serve as soldiers. The invasion is understood to be a punishment from the gods for disregarding Ralph’s prophecies, and in penance the Duke has Contempt’s cabin burnt. News arrives of victory, granted by the gods. Ralph returns to shoemaking, Zelota is cured and pardoned, and Sateros and the scholar unite in support of the Duke’s regime.