Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

BILBO

in The Merry Devil of Edmonton — Anonymous (?)

Metadata

PlayThe Merry Devil of Edmonton
AuthorAnonymous (?)
Year (catalogued)1608
First performance1602
Decade1600s
GenreComedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyLord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
TheaterGlobe;Outdoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)Bil.
Words273
Characters1428
Typicality0.35 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA21136
BritDrama no.1392
ClusterCluster 23 — Gulls, fops & laughing-stocks

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

Truly mine host, Bilbo, though he be somewhat out of fashion, will be your one y blade still I have a villainous sharp stomach to slice a breakfast. And do you serve the good duke of Norfolk still? You have fine Scholarlike terms, your Coopers Dixionary is your only book to study in a cellar, a man shall find very strange words in it: come my host, lets serve the good duke of Norfolk. Marry you must to horse presently, that villainous old gouty churl, Sir Richard Clare longs till he be at the Nunry. Well nothing grieves me, but for the poor wench, she must now cry vale to Lobster pies, artichokes, and all such meats of mortality; poor gentlewoman, the sign must not be in virgo any longer with her, and that me grieves full well. Poor Milliscent Must pray and repent: Oh fatalle wonder! Sheele now be no fatter, Love must not come at her, Yet she shall be kept under. Let her take heed of fasting, and if ever she hurt her self with praying, I'll never trust beast. She had rather have a man in her bed. I a poor innocent she, well, heres no knavery, he flouts the old fools to their teeth. A plague on you both for a couple of Jews. Why now thou hast two of the liberal sciences about thee, wit and reason, thou mayest serve the Duke of Europe. I will to horse presently sir; a plague a my Lady, I shall miss a good breakfast. Smug how chance you cut so plaguely behind Smug? Farewell Smug, thou art in another element.

Plot summary

Plot — The Merry Devil of Edmonton
The magician Peter Fabell’s bargain with the devil falls due, and Coreb comes to collect his soul; but Fabell traps him in a magic chair and demands another seven years as the price of freedom. Millicent Clare loves her fiancé, Raymond Mounchensey; but her father Sir Arthur, unsure of Sir Richard Mounchensey’s financial stability, plans to break off the match and place her as a novice in a nunnery for three months while he arranges an alternative marriage with young Jerningham. Feeling sorry for Raymond, his friend and one-time fellow student, Fabell, tells him what Sir Arthur has in mind, and the young men plot to frustrate the old man’s plans. Millicent is entered in the nunnery, and is dismayed at her new life of abstinence, prayer, and flagellation. Posing as the Abbot of Waltham, Fabell substitutes Raymond for one of the friars, Benedick. Taking him for the novice he seems, Sir Arthur tells Raymond everything, and takes him to hear Millicent’s confession. This enables him to plan Millicent’s escape. The young men succeed in getting Millicent out of the nunnery, but are separated from her when they encounter some locals on a poaching expedition: assuming them to be Sir Arthur, they lead the locals off the scent. Millicent is found by the keeper. The poachers rendezvous in Enfield churchyard and scare the sexton into thinking he has seen a ghost. Sir Arthur complains to the real Abbot of Waltham about Millicent’s abduction, but is discomfited when the Abbot produces the real Friar Benedick. Sir Arthur and Sir Richard return to their inn, but spend the night in the wrong one after the signs are switched. In their absence, Raymond and Millicent are married. Sir Arthur accepts the fait accompli.