in News from the New World Discovered in the Moon — Jonson, Ben
Metadata
Play
News from the New World Discovered in the Moon
Author
Jonson, Ben
Year (catalogued)
1641
First performance
1620
Decade
1640s
Genre
Masque
Play type
Occasional
Theater
before the Court;
Speech prefix(es)
COCK. | COC. | CO.
Words
290
Characters
1517
Typicality
0.49 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A72473.10
BritDrama no.
1921
Cluster
Cluster 11 — Tosspots & tavern railers
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
O the Lord! what be these? Tom dost thou know? Come hither, come hither Dick, didst thou ever see such? the finest Olive-coloured spirits, they have so danced, and gingled here, as if they had been a set of overgrown Fairies. One shall hardly see such gentlemanlike- Gipsies, though under a hedge in a whole Summer's day, if they be Gipsies. We must have some music then, and take out the Wenches. What was there i'thy purse, thou keepest such a whining; was the lease of thy house in it. I, upon those terms Sir, and in hope your Captain keeps better cheer then he made the Devil, for my stomach will never agree with that diet, wee'll be all his followers; I'll go home and fetch a lit tle money Sir, all I have, and you shall pick my pocket to my face, and i'll avouch it; A man would not desire to have his pocket picked in better company. No, nor a Hobbyhorse. Nor a Fool that I see. I, and all the good wenches of Windsor; after him, yonder is Prue o'the Park, He's able to muster up the smocks of the two Shieres; Yes, and the'ile come about us for luck sake. Come Girls, here be Gipsies come to town, let's dance'em down. And I my knife and sheath, and my fine Dogs-leather gloves. A Gipsy of quality believe it, and one of the Kings Gipsies; this a Drinke-alian, or a Drinke-braggatan? Ask him. The King has his noise of Gipsies, as well as of Bearwards, and other Minstrels. O, he would chirp in a pair of stocks sumptuously; I'de give any thing to see him play lose with his hands, when his feet were fast.
Plot summary
Plot — News from the New World Discovered in the Moon
Two heralds announce news, and receive attention from three distributors of the commodity: a printer, a historian, and a writer of newsletters. Each is guilty of abuses: the printer recycles old news, printing it again with a new date; the historian pads out his book with trivia to reach a length agreed in advance with his publisher; and the letter-writer tells different news according to the religious opinions of the recipient. The heralds’ news has come from the Moon: Ben Jonson has just returned from a voyage there and brings an account of its strange landscape, inhabitants, and customs. Also arrived are the Volatees, lunar fauna, who dance the antimasque. The masquers have travelled into space in order to contemplate the King’s greatness and virtue. Now they return, somewhat chilly, but thaw out under the royal refulgence, shake off their icicles, and dance. Then they return to space to spread the news of the King’s magnificence.