Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

SQUIRREL

in Northward Ho — Dekker, Thomas; Webster, John

Metadata

PlayNorthward Ho
AuthorDekker, Thomas; Webster, John
Year (catalogued)1607
First performance1605
Decade1600s
GenreComedy
Play typeBoys Professional
CompanyChildren of Paul's (second)
Speech prefix(es)Squi. | Squir | Squir.
Words441
Characters2284
Typicality0.45 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA20098
BritDrama no.1483
ClusterCluster 20 — Conjurers, witches & physicians

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

I will discover it, not as a Darby-shere women disco vers her great teeth, in laughter: but softly as a gentlema ̄ courts a wench behind and Arras: and this it is, young Greenesheild thy Master with Greenesheilds sister lie in my masters garden-house here in More-fields. Hold? no more hold then of a Bull anointed with Soap, and baited with a sn a e of idle S I Staffordshire: stand close I hear her coming. Enter Kate. Sfoot he may well worser eame he's made a Knight: for I'll be hanged I she do ot worser b him. He will feel her warrant you? Oh politic Mistress. Mark how she wrings him by the fingers. And I'll take the pains to discover all this to my mai ster old Maybery, there hath gone a report a good while, my Master hath used them kindly, because they have been over familiar with his wife, but I see which way Fetherstone looks. sfoot ther's near a Gentleman of them all shall gull a Citizen, & think to go scotfree: though your commons shrink for this be but secret, and my Master shall entertain thee, make thee in steed of handling false Dice, finger nothing but gold and silver wag, and old Servingman turns to a young beggar, whereas a young Prentice may turn to and old Alderman, wilt be secret? Marry sir if the Gentlewoman be not his wife, he come mits incest, for Ime sure he lies with her every night. I will tell thee, the most politic trick of a woman, that ere made a men face look withered and pale Like the tree in Cuckolds Haven in a great snow: and this it is, my mistress makes her husband believe that she walks in her sleep a nights, and to confirm this belief in him, sundry times she hath rizen out of her bed, unlocked all the doors, gone from ̄ Cham ber to Chamber, opened her chests, touz'd among her linen, & when he hath wakte & missed her, coming to question why she conjured thus at midnight, he hath found her fast a sleep, marry it was Cats sleep, for you shall hear what prey she watched for. I overheard her last night talking with thy Master, and she promised him that assoon as her husband was a sleep, she would walk according to her custom, and come to his Chamber, mar y she wou worser do it so pu annically, so secretly I mean that no body should hear of it. Take but that corner and stand close, and thine eyes shall w to esse it.

Plot summary

Plot — Northward Ho
Luke Greenshield has failed to seduce Moll Mayberry in her husband’s absence; now he dines with Mayberry at Ware and describes how he slept with an unnamed wife, showing him her wedding ring. Mayberry grows jealous and hurries back to London to confront Moll, but is satisfied by her explanation that the ring was stolen. Seeking revenge, he has her play up to Greenshield’s advances on his next visit to the house. Greenshield arranges lodgings at one of Mayberry’s houses for himself and Kate, a young woman whom he introduces as his sister, but who is actually his wife. The servants are soon aware that they are sleeping together, and also that Kate has a habit of sleep- walking around the house and ending up in Featherstone’s bedroom; actually she is shamming with a view to visiting Featherstone, her lover. ===== PAGE 241 ===== 1605 Meanwhile, Philip is arrested for debt after spending lavishly on the prostitute Doll. His father Bellamont grudgingly pays up and he is released; the price of Philip’s freedom is to have to listen to some moralistic exhortation. In response, he conspires with Doll (who has a tendency to swindle her clients out of money and valuables by way of love-gifts). She poses as a wealthy lady who wants to hire Bellamont to write some verses; Philip then introduces her as the girlfriend whom Bellamont criticized. Doll is smitten with the old man and visits him at home; but when she arrives, he is engaged with Captain Jenkins, Doll’s client, who also wants to buy his poetical talents to write a love poem for her. Jenkins hides during Bellamont’s meeting with Doll, and hears her ease her conscience by confessing that she is a common whore; he proceeds to blacken her name among her other lovers. Doll blames Bellamont and swears vengeance. The characters now gravitate back northward to Ware. Featherstone plans an assignation there with Kate, using a ruse to get Greenshield out of London. Mayberry encourages Greenshield to think that Moll is also going there for sexual purposes, and they follow together, accompanied by Bellamont, Philip, and others. Bellamont proposes that they enliven the journey by playing practical jokes on one another, and he is the first victim when they stop off at Bedlam and the young men try to have him committed as a lunatic. On arrival at Ware, the old men trick Greenshield into offering Mayberry the disguised Kate for a night’s pleasure. Greenshield also learns that Featherstone has been sleeping with Kate;…