in A New Trick to Cheat the Devil — Davenport, Robert
Metadata
Play
A New Trick to Cheat the Devil
Author
Davenport, Robert
Year (catalogued)
1639
First performance
1625
Decade
1630s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Queen Henrietta Maria's Men (?); Lady Elizabeth's Men (?)
Speech prefix(es)
Con.
Words
321
Characters
1672
Typicality
0.15 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A19888
BritDrama no.
2198
Cluster
Cluster 21 — Old fathers & plain counsel
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
My Watch is set, charge given, and all at peace, But by the burning of the Candle blue, Which I by chance espied through the Lanthorn, And by the dropping of the Beadles Nose, I smell a Frost; now to prevent this cold, To which I am subject, I have made my Deputy, Given up my staff and power into his hands; My self intending to spend all this night Here, at and honest Neighbours; some provision I have sent in, and some I have brought along, A cast of Manchets, and a Bottle to Of the best Wine in Turnball, which, they say All London cannot better: Silent all, None stirring near, I'll knock but softly for fear Of waking Neighbours. It's I. The same fair love. Yes, at you further Corner. Gramercy wench; the kindest loving Neighbour the Town yields, the Hamlet cannot match her; a smug Lass, And one that knows it too; I would not lose her For half my state in the Parish, while I'm in Office, She's safe as Mouse in Mill: O, are you come? Sweet a kiss, and hark in thine ear. Friar John peeps out above. Here's to thy good fat Pullet that's within, Two fine Cheat Loaves were sent me from the Court, A Cup of Nipsitate brisk and neat; The Drawers call it Tickle-brain, it'll do't, But is the Roast-meat ready? Quick, good Wench. The Friars? what Friars? Tush, no matter, What's that to us? Come sweet, cut up the Pullet, And after we'll to Bed. In faith it shall be thine. Well, since you'll force me to't, I will make bold this once. One knocks at the door. Would, what then? What shall become of me? Dost thou not think he'll spare and Officer? But fallen on the Kings Image? Where, which way? I, if my swell betray me not. I do feel I had needs of shift already.
Plot summary
Plot — A New Trick to Cheat the Devil
Anne Changeable wants to marry Slightall, with her father’s consent, but her mother persuades her that marriage to Lord Scales will be better for her social standing. Slightall takes rejection badly: he turns to misogyny and voluptuous hedonism. One of his servants, Roger, tries unsuccessfully to dissuade him from squandering his money, while the other, Geoffrey, helps make an arrangement with a usurer to supply him with a further £1,000 — the usurer’s objective being to acquire his land. Lord Scales visits Anne, and she finds that he is not a good kisser: Slightall is the better catch in every respect save his lack of a title; but when she tries to reactivate the romance, Slightall rejects her. He has been ruined by prodigality and pays off his servants; Geoffrey is taken on by Lord Scales, but Roger declines a similar offer. Anne insults everyone who persuaded her to jilt Slightall, but this only makes Lord Scales more attracted to her. Changeable promises Anne that he will get Slightall back for her. Driven out of his wits with melancholy, Slightall conjures up Beelzebub, and makes a contract: the devil will give him enough money to pay his debts in exchange for the right to take his soul when he no longer owes anyone anything. On the day his debt to the usurer falls due, he turns out to have ample money to pay, so the usurer gets his money back rather than the lands he coveted. Asked by Anne to give Slightall some financial support, Lord Scales finds his offer rejected with contempt. The Changeables’ house is troubled by a female spirit; Slightall agrees to help exorcise it by spending the night in the haunted room. When he does so, he is visited by the ghost in Anne’s form. Beelzebub comes for Slightall’s soul, but Slightall demonstrates that he is not yet clear of debt: he paid the usurer with money loaned by Beelzebub. The devil accepts the situation and offers to marry him to the she-devil who haunts the Changeables’ house. Anne’s mother and Lord Scales give their consent, and watch as a friar performs the ceremony. In fact it is not a ghost in Anne’s form, but Anne herself; and ‘Beelzebub’ was really Changeable: Anne has finally got her man back. In the sub-plot, two friars are detained until late by charitable visitation, and find themselves locked out of their abbey. They ask Nan to give them a bed for the night. She is expecting an assignation with the Constable in her husband’s absence, but agrees to lodge them in a garret so long as she…