in If It Be Not Good, the Devil Is in It (If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil Is in It) — Dekker, Thomas
Metadata
Play
If It Be Not Good, the Devil Is in It (If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil Is in It)
Author
Dekker, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1612
First performance
1611
Decade
1610s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Queen Anne's Men
Theater
Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Bra.
Words
320
Characters
1654
Typicality
0.56 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A20066
BritDrama no.
1641
Cluster
Cluster 0 — Clowns, beggars & street sellers
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 0 (shillings, tom, guts, mutton, wares, dan…). Matches are highlighted.
They are bore crowns indeed sir, and they came from Animals and vermin that are more bore: we that are clerks of these flesh-markets have a great deal of rotten mutton lying upon our hands, and find this to be a soar payment. So our surgeons tell'em every day; but the pox of mendment I see. Yes sir, their hair comes off fast enough,
see. Yes sir, their hair comes off fast enough, we turn a way cracked french crowns every day. I have suit to your worship in behalf of all our dealers in small wares, our free whores sir, you know my meaning. I should have brought a petition from they, but that 'tis put off sir, till cleansing-week, that they may all be able
crown about a smock, have now their delight dog-cheape, but for spending one quarter of that money in smoke: beside sir, they are not contented to rob us of our customs on lie, but when their pipes are fowl with spitting and drivelling in those foresaid shops, they have no place to burn they in, but our houses. Let a frost come
those foresaid shops, they have no place to burn they in, but our houses. Let a frost come first sir: I thank your venerable worsh p; the pox gnaw out so many small guts as have paid thee crowns.
Full speech
The pension of the Stews, you need not untie it, I brought it but now from the sealers office: ther's not a piece there, but has a hold in't, because men may know where it had, and where it will be taken again: bless your worship? Stew-money sir, Stew-Prunc cash sir. They are bore crowns indeed sir, and they came from Animals and vermin that are more bore: we that are clerks of these flesh-markets have a great deal of rotten mutton lying upon our hands, and find this to be a soar payment. So our surgeons tell'em every day; but the pox of mendment I see. Yes sir, their hair comes off fast enough, we turn a way cracked french crowns every day. I have suit to your worship in behalf of all our dealers in small wares, our free whores sir, you know my meaning. I should have brought a petition from they, but that 'tis put off sir, till cleansing-week, that they may all be able to set to their hands, or else a whores mark. Marry sir, that all the shee-tobacco-shops, that creep up daily in every hold about the City, may be put to sci lence. I thank your good worsh p, I had not such a sweet bit given me this 7 years, honest fellow: marry sir I'll open to you your suppliants cases: they that had wont to spend a crown about a smock, have now their delight dog-cheape, but for spending one quarter of that money in smoke: beside sir, they are not contented to rob us of our customs on lie, but when their pipes are fowl with spitting and drivelling in those foresaid shops, they have no place to burn they in, but our houses. Let a frost come first sir: I thank your venerable worsh p; the pox gnaw out so many small guts as have paid thee crowns.
Plot summary
Plot — If It Be Not Good, the Devil Is in It (If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil Is in It)
Hell has a population problem: so few new souls are arriving that Charon’s earnings are in decline, but Pluto is reluctant to allow him to raise his fare lest the new price should prove a deterrent. Instead, he sends devils to Naples in human disguise to tempt people into sin in the court, the abbey, and the city. They are later to rendezvous in a grove to report their progress. Ruffman goes to court, assuming the identity of the foreign courtier Bohor. The newly crowned King of ===== PAGE 144 ===== Is In It Naples, Alfonso, intends to be a just and godly ruler, and plans out his week to devote each day toa different state task. Bohor persuades him to spend more time on pleasure and less on duty, so Saturday is designated a day of hedonism. Alfonso proclaims a reward for whoever entertains him best, and Bohor wins with a display of airborne fireballs. Alfonso’s devotion to pleasure starts to extend beyond Saturdays, and he neglects his state duties. He also breaks off his engagement with Princess Ermenhild, who retires to a convent and lets it be known that she is dead. Shackle-Soul becomes Friar Rush, a novice in the abbey. On learning that the friars eat frugally, he tempts them to gluttony and is appointed the abbey cook. Only Clement, the Sub-Prior, dissents, and Rush identifies him as an enemy who will have to be dealt with. He also makes an enemy of Scumbroth, his predecessor as cook, when he lays an untrue accusation of unchastity. Obtaining gold from a spirit, he tempts Clement: when Clement goes to fetch water, he finds his pot filled instead with gold, which he gives away to Scumbroth. After squandering the money, Scumbroth returns to the grove to get more, witnesses the diabolic rendezvous there, and realizes that Friar Rush is a devil. Ermenhild hears that her father, the Duke of Calabria, has declared war on Naples over her apparent death. She asks Friar Clement to deliver him a letter establishing that she is in fact alive. Clement continues to withstand Rush’s temptations, proving insensible to the pleasures of music, dancing, and voluptuous women, and is steadfast even when Rush reverts to diabolic form and tells him he is to die that night. Grumball adopts the name Lurchall and enters the service of the corrupt merchant Bartervile, who attempts to cheat his client Innocentio: the terms of Innocentio’s loan require him to repay it at a set time, or else his mortgaged estate will revert to Bartervile; so Bartervile tries unsuccessfully to…