Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

LANDLORD

in The Pedlar's Prophecy — Anonymous

Metadata

PlayThe Pedlar's Prophecy
AuthorAnonymous
Year (catalogued)1595
First performance1561
Decade1590s
GenreMoral
Play typeInterlude
Speech prefix(es)Land.
Words250
Characters1160
Typicality0.24 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA15516
BritDrama no.344
ClusterCluster 17 — Intriguers & schemers

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

A sirrah, I have be at your house twice or thrice to day, You know whereof you and I did reason, Let me hear what to it you will say? Liberty I granted you till this season, I tell you I may have three pound for my good will And double as much rend as you do give, You shall know the party, and see his bill, And that within these few days, if you will not me believe. Will you not have me to do as all men do? Shall I not make that I can of mine own? You know my mind if you will not agree thereto, What I will do within these few days with it, shall be known No more then other will give I do desire, And daily for the same to me they do sue. All Landlords deal not so honestly as I deal, I would you should have it before another: You know what to you I did reveal, I can do no more, if you were my brother. Unstable, marry sir that is most sure: He is so far out of his wits, that he is passed cure. My servants were well enough within this hour. You are a knave, I dare lay my life, I will teach you to rail, on and honest men wife. Between game and earnest, I desire thee, Tell me the troth, if any such things there be. Yes indeed, I herd of such a one.

Plot summary

Plot — The Pedlar's Prophecy
An itinerant pedlar possesses a stone which confers on him the gift of prophecy. The play shows him encountering a series of social types to whom he utters cryptic, apocalyptic prophecies about the land of Ilion and the city of Tyre, whilst also offering goods for sale. First he touches on family discipline with two parents and their daughter, who is secretly no longer a virgin. Next he meets three working men and deals with economic malpractice, but learns that he stands in danger of being charged with witchcraft. Then he poses as a third party reporting the pedlar’s words to members of the ecclesiastical and legal professions, and focuses on matters of religion and judicial corruption. The prophecies repeatedly criticize immigration and social abuses arising out of the ownership of land and property; they regularly threaten not only destruction but also bodily metamorphosis; and the pediar offends