Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

PRIORESS

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)Pri. | Prio.
Words302
Characters1576
Typicality0.42 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA21136
BritDrama no.1392
ClusterCluster 10 — Mourners, mothers & doleful voices

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

Ihesus daughter Mary's child, Holy matron woman mild, For thee a mass shall still be said, Every sister drop a bead. And those again succeeding them For you shall riug a Requiem. May your happy soul be blithe, That so truly pay your tithe. He who many children gave, 'Tis fit that he one child should have. Then fair virgin hear my spell, For I must your duty tell. First a morning's take your book The glass wherein yourself must look, Your young thoughts so proud and jolly Must be turned to motions holy: For your busk, attires and toys, Have your thoughts on heavenly joys: And for all your follies passed, You must do penance, pray and fast. You shall ring the saving bell, Keep your hours and tell your knell, Rise at midnight to your mattens. Read your Psalter, sing your latins, And when your blood shall kindle pleasure, Scourge your self in plenteous measure. Grass and hay, Oh that I could conjure, we saw a spirit here in the Churchyard; and in the fallow field ther's the devil, with a men body upon his back in a white sheet. If she be a woman, the sheets damn her, Lord bless us, what a night of mortality is this. Mine host. The Sexton almost frighted out of his wits, Did you see Banks, or Smug. We are all mortal mine host. Grass and hay, mine host, lets live till we die, and be merry and there S and end. You must read the morning's mass, You must creep unto the Cross. Put cold ashes on your head, Have a hair cloth for your bed. Bind your beads and tell your needs, Your holy Auies and your Creeds, Holy maid this must be done, If you mean to live a Nun.

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.