in The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London — Wilson, Robert
Metadata
Play
The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London
Author
Wilson, Robert
Year (catalogued)
1590
First performance
1588
Decade
1590s
Genre
Moral
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Queen Elizabeth's Men (?)
Speech prefix(es)
Fea. | Fea: | Feal. | Feal,
Words
464
Characters
2586
Typicality
0.30 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A15517
BritDrama no.
821
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
Parlle with those three, Herald. Imperious Spaniard, do a Herald right. Thy self art one, their Trowch man if thou be, Be thou my Trunk, that I my message may through thee convey to them from London Lords. More servile thou to lose a Heralds endue, That is in field a kings companion, But if thou dare not my Ambassage do, Stand by and stop not my access to them. My Lords Then braving Spaniards wish A counterview of Pages and of shields, But what they mean or be I know not yet: Haply you may by their ymprezes view, Or I by parlle some conjecture give, So please it you your pages and your shields With me to send, their Herald comes with theirs. Then know Castillian Caualieros this, The owners of these Emblems are three Lords Those three that now are viewing of your shields, Of London, our chief city are they Lords, Policy, pomp, and pleasure be their names: And they in honour of their Mistress's, Love, Lucre, Conscience, London Ladies three, Emblazoned these Scutchens, challenging Whom durst compare, or challenge one of them, And Policy a Tortoys hath Emprez'd, Encompassed with her shel, her native walls, And providens securus is his word: His page is Wit, his Mistress Lady Love. pomp in his shield a Lily hath portrayed, As paragon of beauty, and boon grace: Glory sans peer his word, and true it is, With Londons Pomp Castille cannot compare, His Page is wealth, his mistress Lucre hight. Pleasure, the dainty of that famous town, A Falcon hath emblazoned, soaring High, To show the pitch that Londons Pleasure flies: His word Pour temps, yet never stoops to train, But unto Conscience, chosen for his deer. His Page is Will, and thus effect you hear. Mala, mala per Catholicos Castillianos. Then proud Castillians look for your service. In war they follow, and the Spaniard is warring in mind Do they scorn? what, are thy Master's, Monarchs every one? Or be they Gods? or rather be they Devils? Scorn they a Heralds presence and his speech? Name them, that I may know their mightiness, And so avoid of duties some neglect. Accompanied with Wit and Will, no peril. Well done my boys, but now all reverence. I see Castilians, that you marvel much at this same Emblem of the Olive tree Upon my back: Lo this it signifies. Spain is in wars, but London lives in peace, Your native fruit doth wither on your soil, and prospers where it never planted was. This Londons Fealty doth avouch for truth, Herald of war, and Porter of their peace, Command you me no service to my Lords. Quid mihi cum dominis seruietis miseri meis I hope in this my duty to discharge, as heretofore
Plot summary
Plot — The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London
The three lords of London, in want of wives, plan to marry the three ladies. There are two complications. ===== PAGE 450 ===== First, it emerges that they all want the same lady, Lucre. More pressingly, all three ladies are in prison. The lords agree to secure their freedom and worry later about who marries whom. But Judge Nemo has heard petitions for the ladies’ release before: many men wanted Lucre, some wanted Love, and nobody cared about Conscience. His conditions are that either all three ladies go free or none of them, and that, if they do, he shall decide which lady marries which lord. The ladies are taken from prison and sat on uncomfortable penitential stones. They are visited by Lucre’s former servants, who were banished from London but now want their old jobs back; Lucre is unable to accommodate them. Falsehood and Double- Dealing offer the ladies clothes to replace their prison rags, but they refuse. Nemo arranges for them to have more virtuous garments, the first stage in their rehabilitation. When the three lords continue to quarrel over which of them should have Lucre, Nemo agrees to give up his right to make the marital dispositions, on condition that the lords accept the lady’s own choice. He then has Conscience pose as Lucre. Each lord offers her a different benefit — power, magnificence, and hedonism - and she eventually bestows herself on Pleasure. He is happy with his fiancée even when he learns of the deception. Conscience declares that Policy should marry Love and that Lucre is best suited to Pomp. Before the lords can proceed with their marriages, however, they must repel a Spanish invasion. Three lords of Spain arrive and plan to take the ladies for themselves. The London lords defeat them and present their captured shields to their ladies. Nemo grants the two remaining ladies to the appropriate lords, but three lords of Lincoln intervene, claiming pre-contracts with the ladies. The London lords outface their rivals, who are sent away with the penitential stones in lieu of the ladies. In the sub-plot, Fraud sells Simplicity some cheap ‘gold’, which turns out to be mere copper, so Simplicity repeatedly attempts to have him arrested. Posing as Skill and Fair Semblance, Fraud and Dissimulation seek jobs with the lords, but are recognized. Dissimulation is branded, and Fraud is taken to prison, but bribes Diligence to release him on the way; the bribe money is later found to be counterfeit. Fraud attends the lords’ wedding in…