in Chabot, Admiral of France — Chapman, George; Shirley, James, rev.
Metadata
Play
Chabot, Admiral of France
Author
Chapman, George; Shirley, James, rev.
Year (catalogued)
1639
First performance
1612
Decade
1630s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Unknown
Theater
Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Secr. | Sec. | Sec | S • c. | Se • .
Words
253
Characters
1363
Typicality
0.25 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
B12027
BritDrama no.
1676
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
A name to fright, and terrify young statists, There is necessity my Lord, that you Must loose your light, if you eclipse not him, Two stars so Lucid cannot shine at once In such a firmament, and better you Extinguish his fires, then be made his fuel, And in your ashes give his slame a Trophy. Answer but only that. The Admiral smil S. Merciful men, pitiful Judges certain. 1. Subscribe, it matters nothing being constrained On this side, and on this side, this capital I, Both which together put, import plain Vi; And witness we are forced. 2. Enough, It will acquit us when we make it known, Our names are forced. It were too much honour to vouchsafe your sighed. Vnhea ed of impudence! Tre. Be merciful great Sir. He's lost toth' people, what contempts They throw upon him? but we must be wise. How he would flatter him? We must be careful to prevent their mutiny. I could have wished him fallen on softer ground For his good parts. But if this Actium prove unjust, will you Say all his other may be so as well, And think your own course fitter far than his. He'll find the horror waking the King's troubled; Now for thu der-clap: the Queen and Constable. I do not Like this. 1. The sum of all Was urged to prove your Admiral corrupt, Was and exaction of his officers, Of twenty souse taken from the Fishermen For every boat, and that fished the Normand coast.
Plot summary
Plot — Chabot, Admiral of France
Admiral Philip Chabot has been supplanted at court by a new royal favourite, the Duke Montmorency. The King intervenes to put a stop to their rivalry, but Montmorency is encouraged by his fellow courtiers to renege and seek Chabot’s downfall. The opportunity arises when Montmorency proffers a suit, concerning a merchant ship seized by the Spanish, and has the bill approved by the King and Council; it is forwarded to Chabot for signature, but he insists on reading it and, finding it unjust, tears it up. The Queen encourages her husband to treat Chabot’s action as criminal defiance, but the King claims he was only testing the Admiral’s probity, and expected him to destroy the bill. He sees Chabot privately and tries to persuade him to relent and allow the bill, but Chabot is adamant that no injustice must be done in the King’s name. Offended by his stubbornness, the King asks Poyet, the Lord Chancellor, to prepare the case against him. His secretary Allegre is racked, but confesses nothing against him. At his trial, the inferior judges point out that the only crimes mentioned in the accusation are trivial ones, but Poyet is adamant that Chabot must be convicted of high treason, and the judges sign the condemnation under duress. Meanwhile, the Queen meets Chabot’s wife and, impressed by her loyalty and humility, has a change of heart. She and Montmorency approach the King to plead for Chabot, but he says he cannot interfere with the workings of the law. The news of the conviction comes through, and Poyet presses for an early execution. The King summons Chabot and publicly pardons him, but Chabot insists that he has committed no crime and so needs no pardon. The King takes this for contempt, but asks to see the bill of condemnation. Sure enough, no specific crimes are listed, and Poyet’s over-zealous behaviour comes to light. The King has him arrested and put to trial: he is vilified by the same prosecutor who flattered him at Chabot’s arraignment. He is fined, deprived of office, and sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in his own castle. The King cancels the sentence, thinking it too lenient, and gives Chabot the right to substitute an alternative, heavier punishment. Chabot asks instead that Poyet be forgiven, then drops dead, exhausted by his experiences. The King complies with his dying wishes, and promises to look after his family.