Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

SEXTON

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)Sex.
Words196
Characters969
Typicality0.26 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA21136
BritDrama no.1392
ClusterCluster 16 — Errand servants & brief parts

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

Heeres a sky as black as Luciser, God bless us, here was goodman Theophilus buried, he was the best Nutcraker that ever dwelled in Enfeild: well, 'tis 9. a clock, 'tis time to ring cur few. Lord bless us, what a white thing is that in the Church porch; Oh Lord my legs are too weak for my body, my hair is too stiff for my nightcap, my heart fails; this is the ghost of Theophilus, Oh Lord it follows me, I cannot say my prayers and one would give me a thousand pound: good spirit, I have bowled and drunk and followed the hounds with you a thousand times, though I have not the spirit now to deal with you; Oh Lord. We are grass and hay indeed; I know you to be Master Parson by your phrase. I Sir. Oh Lord I am a man of another element; Master Theophilus Ghost is in the Church porch, there was a hundred Cats all fire dancing here even now; and they are climbed up to the top of the steeple, isle not into the bellfree for a world. It may be a woman's body Sir John.

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.