Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

SMUG

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)Smug. | Smu. | Sm. | Smi.
Words388
Characters1951
Typicality0.50 (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

Banks, your ale is a Philistine fox, z'hart theres fire i'th tail: out; you are a rogue to charge us with Mugs i'th rear ward: a plague of this wind, Oh it tickles our Catastrophe. Vulcan was a rogue to him; Sir John lock, lock, lock fast sir John: so sir John, I'll one of these years when it shall please the Goddesses and the destinies, be drunk in your come pany; thats all now, and God fend us health; shall I swear I love you? Z blood, I'll tickle your keeper. Need of me? z'hart, you shall have need of me always while theres iron in and Anvil. Go, I'll go inspight of all the bells in Uvaltham. God night Uvaltham, who, ho, ho boy. Content sir John. Tush, an't had been as high as the Abbey, I should never have hurt my self I have fallen into the river coming home from Uvaltham, and escaped drowning. Fire, S blood theres no fire in England Like your Tri nidado sack; is any man here humorous? we stole the venison, and weel justify it: say you now. Oh rare! who, ho, ho boy. Mine host, my bully, my precious consul, my noble Holefernes, I have been drunk i'thy house, twenty times and ten, all's one for that, I was last night in the third heavens, my brain was poor, i't had yeast in't; but now I am a man of acti on, is't not so lad? I will serve the Duke of Christendom, and do him more credit in his cellar then all the plate in his buttery, is't not so lad? Here, a pox on ye all dogs; I have killed the greatest Buck in Brians walk, shift for your selves, all the keepers are up, lets meet in Enfield church porch, away we are all taken else. I do not take any exceptions against your sack, but if yowl lend me a pick staff, isle cudgel them all hence by this hand. Stand away; isle founder you else. I will be by and by, I will be Sir George again, 'sfoot mine Host, shalls not grapple? Pray pray you; I could fight now for all the world Like a Coc katrices ege; shals not serve the Duke of Norfolk? He shall have ransom by the Lord.

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.