in The Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron — Chapman, George
Metadata
Play
The Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron
Author
Chapman, George
Year (catalogued)
1608
First performance
1608
Decade
1600s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Boys Professional
Company
Children of the Queen's Revels
Speech prefix(es)
Cap.
Words
234
Characters
1245
Typicality
0.40 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A18404.2
BritDrama no.
1576
Cluster
Cluster 22 — Ghosts, curses & horror voices
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
I bring a letter from a friend of yours. More then ye would I think: I never saw, Men in their right minds so unrighteous In their own causes. I would your daggers point had kissed my heart, When you resolved to come. Yet, does that senseless Apopelxy dull you? The devil or your wicked angel blinds you, Bereaving all your reason of a man And leaves you but the spirit of a horse, In your bruit nostrils: only pour to dare. Judge by the strange Oh tents that have succeeded, Since your arrival: the kind fowl, the wild duck, That came into your cabinet, so beyond The sighed of all your servants, or your self: That flew about, and on your shoulder sat And which you had so fed, and so attended; For that dum love she showed you; joust as soon, As you were parted, on the sudden died. And to make this no less then and Often; Another that hath fortuned since, confirms it: Your goodly horse Pastrana, which the Archduke, Gave you at Brussels; in the very hour, You left your strength, fel-mad, and killed himself; e Like chanced to the horse the great duke sent you: and, with both these, the horse the duke of Lorraine, Sent you at, Vinsie made a third presage, Of some Inevitable fate that touched you, Who Like the other pined away and died,
Plot summary
Plot — The Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron
The ambitious Duke of Biron has been offered the crown by a conspiracy of France’s foreign enemies. He pacifies a Huguenot rebellion in Brittany, but suspects - that, now the country is at peace, his military services will no longer be required or even valued by the King. His ally, La Fin, supplies the King with incriminating evidence of his involvement in a plot. [A lacuna in the text follows. The Queen has a quarrel with the King’s mistress, and slaps her.] The two rival ladies make it up by performing together in a masque: Biron is recalled to court. La Fin assures him that all suspicions about his loyalty have been cleared, and- encourages him to go. Against the advice of his other friends, Biron does, thinking his reputation for valour — will make his enemies think twice about arresting him. Henry’s declared intention is to spare him if he will only confess, but Biron is proud and stubborn. He finds himself shunned by the courtiers, and learns that various horses he was given have all died, just as happened when the Earl of Essex fell. He and his ally D’Auvergne are both arrested. A Spanish ambassador asks permission for an army to cross French soil en route to Flanders; King Henry suspects it was originally levied to invade France, but nevertheless gives his permission. He sends despatches to inform foreign courts of Biron’s treason. The French - peers decline to be present at the trial. Biron is confronted with La Fin as chief prosecution witness, and claims that La Fin has practised witchcraft against him; the Chancellor, presiding over the court, retorts that no magic can force a virtuous man to act against his nature. Biron remains confident, convinced of his own indispensability, but is sentenced to death. Only then does he decide to throw himself on the King’s mercy, but it is too late, and he ig executed.