in The Shoemaker's Holiday, or The Gentle Craft — Dekker, Thomas
Metadata
Play
The Shoemaker's Holiday, or The Gentle Craft
Author
Dekker, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1600
First performance
1599
Decade
1600s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Theater
before the Court;
Speech prefix(es)
Rose | Rose.
Words
573
Characters
2913
Typicality
0.46 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A20083
BritDrama no.
1188
Cluster
Cluster 5 — Romantic leads (high style)
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Sibil, what news at London? Did Lacy send kind greetings to his love? Oh Sibyl, how dest thou my Lacy wrong? My Roland is as gentle as a lamb, No dove was ever half so mild as he. Will my love leave me then and go to France? Get Thee to London, and learn perfectly, Whither my Lacy go to France, or no: Do this, and I will give Thee for thy pains, My cambricke apron, and my romish gloves, My purple stockings, and a stomacher, Say, wilt thou do this Sibil for my sake? Can it be possible you love me so? No, no, within those eie-bals I espy, Apparent likelihoods of flattery, Pray now let go my hand. Make haste sweet love. If Rose were asked that question, she say, no. Oh my most gracious Lord! Can you divide the body from the soul, Yet make the body live? Do so good Sibyl, mean time wretched I Will fit and sighs for his lost company. Exit. Why Sibyl wilt thou prove a forester? Hark hark, the hunter's come, you're best take heed Theyle have a saying to you for this deed. No, but two Does. Trust me, not I, It is not Like the wild forest dear, Would come so near to places of resort, You are deceived, he fled some other way. Why do you stay, and not pursue your game? But not the dear (sir) which you had in chase. The strangest hunting that ever I see, But where your park? Impale me, and then I will not stray. To lose your heart, is't possible you can? Alack good gentleman. You by such luck might prove your heart a hind. Now God an't be his will send Luck into your way. As deer as your own heart? I judge it right. Men love their hearts best when th'are out of sighed. Yet hands off now: If flesh be frail, how weak and frail's your vow? Then do not brawl, One quarrel loses wife and life and all, Is not your meaning thus? Love loves to sport, therefore leave love you're best. I mean to live a maid. Say sir I cannot, I have made a vow, Who ever be my husband, 'tis not you. Yea, when wilt begin? What louerimes man? fie on that deadly sin. How Like my Lacy looks yond shoemaker. For his sake whose fair shape thou representest, Good friend I drink to Thee. Sibil What shall I do? That Hance the shoemaker is my love Lacy, Disguised in that attire to find me out, How should I find the means to speak with him? Do this, and ever be assured of my love. Sweet Lacy, since fair Opportunity Offers her self to further our escape, Let not too overfond esteem of me Hinder that happy hour, invent the means, And Rose will follow Thee through all the world. A man and want wit in extremity, Come, come, be Hans still, play the shoemaker, Pull on my shoe. O God it pincheth me, what will you do? Be not dismayed at this what ere befall, Rose is thine own, to witness I speak truth, Where thou appoints the place I'll meet with Thee, I will not fix a day to follow Thee, But presently steal hence, do not reply. Love which gave strength to bear my father's hate, Shall now add wings to further our escape.
Plot summary
Plot — The Shoemaker's Holiday, or The Gentle Craft
Before the start of the action, Lacy went bankrupt on a Continental tour, and learned the cobbler's trade in Wittenberg. On his return to England, he fell in love with Rose Oatley, but they fall foul of disapproving relatives: the Earl of Lincoln contrives for Lacy to leave the country. as a commander in the French wars, and her father takes her away to his country house. The newly married shoemaker Ralph is recruited into the army and takes a sad leave of his wife, Jane, and his colleagues. Lacy, however, deserts after the troops take ship: he sends his cousin to war in his place, and returns to London in the hope of making contact with Rose. Disguised as a Dutch shoemaker, Hans, he seeks employment with Simon Eyre and, though the business does not need another journeyman, he is accepted because Eyre's other workmen like him. A Dutch ship arrives in London with a rich cargo of luxury items, which the skipper offers at a bargain price; Lacy helps Eyre to buy the goods, using the money Lincoln gave him for his expenses in France. Eyre grows prosperous and becomes first an alderman, then Sheriff, and makes over his shop to his foreman. Hodge. In the country, Rose meets Hammon during a hunt, and her father thinks him a suitable son-in-law; at the betrothal, however, she rejects him and declares that she will live a maid. Hammon decides to try his luck with a London shopkeeper instead. The English rout the French in battle with relatively few fatal casualties, but Ralph is injured and comes home lame. He finds that Jane, forced to make her own living in his absence, has disappeared.Eyre is invited to dine with Oatley in the country, and the shoemakers accompany him to provide musical entertainment. Oatley hopes that the Eyres will. talk some marital sense into Rose, but she recognizes one of the morris-dancing shoemakers as Lacy. She summons him the following day on the pretext of fitting her shoes, and they elope. Oatley and Lincoln are decoyed to wait at the wrong church, but the couple are married before they realize their mistake. Meanwhile Hammon courts Jane, who is working as a seaJnstress, and overcomes her lack of interest by showing her Ralph's name on a list of the war dead. He orders a new pair of shoes for her to wear at the wedding, and sends one of her old ones as a model; Ralph recognizes it and his fellow shoemakers help him to intercept the wedding party before they reach the church. Jane is delighted that her true love is still alive; Hammon…