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Plot summaries for the 185 plays represented
Gammer Gurton's Needle
Stevenson, William (?) · 1553 · Comedy · at University;
Gammer Gurton loses her needle while mending Hodge’s breeches, after the cat spills a pail of milk. She takes out her distress on her servants, and Diccon of Bedlam takes advantage of the ensuing domestic chaos to steal a rasher of bacon from the house. Frantic searching fails to locate the needle, but the bacon is missed and the cat blamed, so Hodge goes hungry with only a piece of bread. Diccon makes mischief. His talk of the devil frightens Hodge so much that he defecates in his breeches. Then he sets Gammer Gurton and her neighbour Dame Chat at odds: he tells Dame Chat that she has been accused of stealing Gammer Gurton’s cocks, but suggests to Gammer Gurton that Dame Chat stole the needle. The neighbours confront one another and a fight breaks out. Gammer Gurton sends for Doctor Rat to resolve the matter. The cat chokes and it is suspected that she has swallowed the needle; Hodge proposes cutting her open to recover it. Doctor Rat arrives, and Diccon persuades him to sneak into Dame Chat’s house to catch her with the stolen needle; but he tells Dame Chat that the intruder is Hodge out to kill all her hens. The result is that Doctor Rat has his head broken. He complains to the Bailiff, who questions Dame Chat. She insists that she was defending her property against Hodge, but on examination his head turns out to be intact. The investigation then turns to the stolen needle, and the Bailiff establishes that Gurton and Chat have been at cross-purposes: Diccon is identified…
Damon and Pithias
Edwards, Richard · 1564 · Comedy · Children of the Chapel (first) (Oxford's Boys) · before the Court;
Damon and Pythias, close friends since their schooldays, arrive in Syracuse, only to discover that the ruler, Dionysius, is a tyrant given to executing his subjects for trivial reasons, and whose court is a magnet for mercenary men. Eager to cement his position there, the parasite Carisophus tries to trap Damon into indiscreet talk, then seizes on his tourist’s interest in the city as a pretext to brand him a spy. Damon is arrested and condemned to death. Pythias seeks the help of the philosopher courtier Aristippus, who refers him to Eubulus, whose advice has already been rejected by Dionysius. Eubulus argues that kings should inspire their subjects’ love, but Dionysius is convinced that terror is the only effective instrument of rule, and orders the execution to proceed. Damon asks for leave to return to Greece to put his affairs in order, with the promise that he will then return to face his death. Dionysius will not accept his word of honour, so Pythias offers himself as pledge. He is imprisoned and Damon released. Dionysius grows more suspicious, to the extent that he will allow only his own daughters to shave him. Two pages induce Grim the collier to pass on the common talk about the Damon case and the court in general. When he expresses interest in being shaved by the King’s daughters, the pages offer to do it in the same style, and take the opportunity to rob him. The day of Pythias’s execution approaches, and Damon has not returned. Carisophus falls from favour…
Hippolytus (Seneca's Fourth Tragedy)
Studley, John, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · 1567 · Tragedy
: Reasons of state have forced Phaedra of Crete to marry her country’s old enemy, Theseus, but he has left Athens on a mission to the underworld, leaving her to rule in his place. She becomes obsessed with her stepson Hippolytus, despite her nurse’s attempts to discourage her. The nurse is sent to Hippolytus to propose a liaison, but he rejects the idea. Phaedra offers him the crown if he will accept her love, but he is adamant in his refusal. Theseus returns to Athens. At the nurse’s suggestion, Phaedra lays a charge of attempted rape against Hippolytus, and Theseus prays for his son’s destruction. Hippolytus flees Athens, but a sea-monster frightens his horses and he is killed after losing control of his chariot. Distraught, Phaedra stabs herself, and confesses that the accusation was false. Theseus takes order for Hippolytus’ funeral, and has Phaedra’s body thrown unceremoniously into a pit.
The Interlude of Vice (Orestes)
Pickering, John · 1567 · Tragedy
The Vice (who gives several aliases but eventually reveals his name as Revenge) is sent by the gods to incite Orestes to avenge his father's murder. Orestes is living in exile in Crete under the protection of King Idumeus, who grants him permission to return home and supplies a thousand-strong army. Nature tries to dissuade Orestes from matricide. He lays siege to Mycenae, forcing Clytemnestra and Aegisthus to leave their life of sexual dalliance and give battle. After Orestes' ultimatum is answered disdainfully, he conquers the city, hangs Aegisthus, and orders his mother's death. In consequence, ill fame attends him, and Menelaus, his uncle, demands revenge in turn on him.
The Most Virtuous and Godly Susanna
Garter, Thomas · 1569 · Moral
Satan commissions Ill Report to bring about the downfall of Susanna, a paragon of virtue. Since pride, gluttony, envy, sloth, and covetousness have failed to achieve this, Ill Report decides to use lust. He selects the elders Voluptas and Sensualitas as his instruments of temptation, and they are tempted in turn when they see Susanna. Susanna’s husband Joachim leaves to inspect his realm, leaving the elders to administer justice in his absence. The elders spy on Susanna as she bathes in her orchard after dinner, and proposition her for sex. When she refuses, they slander her with whoredom. Meanwhile Joachim discovers that the elders are corrupt and hated by the people. The elders’ perjured testimony ensures that Susanna is sentenced to death, but God intervenes, sending Daniel to reveal the truth. The elders are stoned, and die penitent. Ill Report is hanged, and a frustrated Satan arrives to carry him to hell and tormenters for his failure. Susanna and her family count their blessings.
2 Promos and Cassandra
Whetstone, George · 1578 · Comedy · Unacted
Alerted by the raped @assandra, King @6nihGs is coming to Gyula to investigate the activities of his deputy, Lord Promos. PHalaX has to organize the city’s dramatic welcome at short notice. The King makes his royal entry, but refuses the town’s gift of a purse. Sir WIFIES is appointed and proclaimed as the ombudsman to investigate allegations of official corruption, pending a hearing before the King. The complaints flood in, and promoters take the opportunity to extort money with the threat of arrest. At the hearing, Phallax is accused of extortion, and confesses; his goods are seized and he is forced to resign his office, but his admission saves him from other punishment. Then Cassandra discloses Promos’s treachery in raping her and murdering her brother. Promos confesses, and the King sentences him to death, but requires him to marry Cassandra first. Vice is suppressed in Gyula: Baila the courtesan is arrested and carted, and Phallax leaves town in search of easier pickings. AaTuBIG has been living in the forest. Told of recent events by John A@roynes, he returns to the town in disguise, where he witnesses Cassandra’s pleas for her new husband’s life. Promos is led to execution, but is reprieved when Andrugio reveals himself to the King. Promos and Andrugio are pardoned, and Andrugio required to marry P6lifia. Promos is restored to office, with a warning to act justly and beware his subordinates’ corruption.
The Three Ladies of London
Wilson, Robert · 1581 · Moral · Leicester's Men
Lady Love and Lady Conscience are concerned that Lady Lucre now rules in London, but Fame assures them that she and her adherents will meet their due punishment in the end. Four knaves and Simplicity, a penurious miller, go to London in the hope of employment by one of the ladies. Conscience rejects their applications, but Love agrees to take on Simplicity; the knaves find positions in Lucre’s household. Out of work because foreigners have taken all the jobs, Artifex also seeks a place with Lucre. Simplicity procures a testimonial from Conscience for his cousin Sincerity, who seeks a benefice; but he is unable to get anything from Simony because he has no bribe to offer. Dissimulation fobs him off with the parsonage of St Nihil — nothing - and an invitation to dine with Nemo — nobody — is likewise worthless (though Simplicity has _ difficulty understanding this). Simony employs Sir Peter Pleaseman, who can be either Protestant or Catholic as it suits his circumstances, as Lucre’s chaplain. Conscience is forced to sell her cottage to Lucre, but hopes to stay on as a sitting tenant. Usury threatens eviction; there is a proposal to pack the house with foreigners who will require less living space than English tenants. Eventually he relents and quadruples the rent instead. Love and Conscience are reduced to sending Usury their clothes in lieu of payment, but Dissimulation gives Simplicity money to redeem one of the gowns. He intended it to be Love’s, since he cares nothing for…
Campaspe (Alexander, Campaspe, and Diogenes)
Lyly, John · 1583 · Comedy · Children of the Chapel (first) (Oxford's Boys) · before the Court;
King Alexander has conquered Thebes and brought its captives to Athens, where he means to spend a peaceful interlude with the philosophers. Mo~t 1.:on 1 e and debate for him, but Diogenes churlishly refu:;t:"s to comply. Alexander becomes enamoured of Campaspe, and has her painted by Apelles, who himself falls in love with her. Knowing he must not challenge Alexander in love, he creates an excuse to see her again by blemishing the painting so that a second sitting is needed. Diogenes sends his servant to draw a crowd with a report that he will fly, but it is only a pretext to rail at them. Using a false report of a fire in Apelles' shop, Alexander tricks the painter into revealing his feelings for Campaspe, and, establishing that she reciprocates them, graciously withdraws his suit and allows them to marry. Having subdued his own amorous feelings, he will now go to war with Persia and conquer the world.
Sappho and Phao
Lyly, John · 1583 · Comedy · Children of the Chapel (first) (Oxford's Boys) · before the Court;
Menus plans to visit Syracuse to make SAppH6 fall in love, and travels there on PHa0’s ferry-boat. She makes Phao beautiful; and, unknown to her, @iipi@ makes him irresistibly attractive to women, even though he is not interested in them. Sibyllaj whom the gods have given long life but not eternal youth, counsels Phao not to waste his prime years. He falls in love with Sappho, and Sibylla advises him on the technique of wooing. Sappho is taken ill; Phao, who has some pharmaceutical knowledge, is summoned to minister to her. In fact, her malady is love for Phao, whose base origins make him unsuitable for her. Venus too falls for Phao, and procures from Wailea new arrows for Cupid, with which he can break her rival Sappho’s infatuation and turn Phao’s affections her way. Cupid carries out the first part of his mission, but also tells Sappho what he has done; so she persuades him to use another of the new arrows to make Phao hate Venus. Cupid decides to be Sappho’s son instead of Venus’, and gives her his arrows: now she, not Venus, will be the lady of love. Venus swears to get even, and, convinced of love’s pointlessness, Phao leaves Sicily.
Gallathea
Lyly, John · 1585 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (first) (?) · before the Court;
Every five years, Lincolnshire’s fairest and chastest virgin is sacrificed to N&@ptumé; this ancient custom keeps the land safe from the monster Agat. The fathers of Galatea and PHyllidd independently attempt to preserve their respective daughters from selection for sacrifice by disguising her as a boy and sending her to hide in the woods. They meet: each takes the other for the boy she seems, and falls in love with ‘him’. Meanwhile, to make mischief among Diana’s nymphs, @upid cross-dresses too and gives them all amorous thoughts about the two disguised girls; but Galatea and Phyllida reject them all, each preferring the other. Cupid is captured, and set fiddly tasks by way of punishment. The day of the sacrifice arrives. M@be, the most suitable remaining virgin, is offered in sacrifice, but Neptune has seen through Galatea and Phyjllida’s disguises and will not take her; Hebe is relieved to-have survived and disappointed not to be the fairest virgin. WenGsS arrives to release her son, and appeals for Neptune’s help. He offers to discontinue the custom of sacrifice if Dia@iia will release Cupid, and, knowing it will save the lives of future virgins, Diana agrees. Galatea and Phyllida each discover the other's true gender, but Venus agrees to change one of them into a boy, but they are not to know which of them it is until they are married. In the sub-plot, three brothers are shipwrecked on the Lincolnshire coast, and seek their fortune by some other means than the sea.…
Dido, Queen of Carthage
Marlowe, Christopher; Nashe, Thomas · 1586 · Tragedy · Children of the Chapel (first) (Oxford's Boys)
JMipHEEE tries to seduce Gahiymiede] who complains of Juno’s ill usage, but succumbs when offered gifts. Meanwhile J@m6 has suborned Aeolus to wreck Aeneas’ fleet, which is carrying refugees from Troy to Italy; WEMUS seeks Jupiter’s help: Jupiter prophesies that ASHEa8 is destined to wander until he founds a new Troy in what will become Rome; but also sends Mereury to calm the seas. Separated from his fleet, Aeneas lands on the coast of north Africa and meets the disguised Venus, who encourages him to present himself at Dido’s court. The Trojans are reunited in Carthage, where Dido greets them. At her request, he recounts the fall of Troy. Venus abducts AS€amius and substitutes @apid in his shape. He makes Dido fall in love with Aeneas, and she offers to help repair his ships on condition that he remains with her in Carthage; her attentions make her suitor [aeba8 jealous. Juno attempts to kill the sleeping Ascanius, but Venus intervenes, warned by her doves. Submitting to destiny, Juno agrees to help Dido win Aeneas, and causes a storm during their hunting expedition. They shelter together in a cave, and, wooed by Dido, Aeneas promises never to leave Carthage during her lifetime. Iarbas prays for Jupiter’s help against Aeneas; AiR tries to interest him in her instead of her sister, but fails. Hermes appears to Aeneas in a dream and instructs him to leave for Italy, but Dido crowns him King of Carthage. As further insurance, she has ‘Ascanius’ taken into the country, and the…
The Spanish Tragedy (Hieronimo is Mad Again)
Kyd, Thomas · 1587 · Tragedy · Unknown
Don Andrea) Beleimiperia’s secret lover, was separated from her by the war with Portugal and killed in battle by Baltazar Now the powers of hell have promised him vengeance, and he and R@Véfige sit down to watch it worked out in the play. In the course of the action Andrea expresses mounting impatience, while Revenge makes him wait, sleeps, and finally takes control of the action. Spain wins the war and Portugal agrees to pay tribute. Balthazar has been taken prisoner, and is committed to DGFSHZO!s custody. BElAImperia is wooed by Balthazar, and the King plans to settle the succession on their issue, thereby uniting Spain and Portugal. But Bel-Imperia cannot accept her dead love's killer, and opts for MGFatiG instead. Lorenzo learns of this by suborning her servant Pédfingafio, who then assists him and Balthazar in murdering MOratio! Miéroninie finds his son’s body hanging in his arbour and swears revenge, but his wife counsels patience while heaven puts matters right. In Portugal, Willipps falsely accuses AUSXandrS of murdering Balthazar in battle. At the last moment Alexandro is saved from burning at the stake by the arrival of the Ambassador from Spain with news that Balthazar is alive. Alexandro is released and Wiliippo condemned. Béleimpera is imprisoned by DGFeHZ6) but writes Hieronimo a letter in her own blood. Fearing a trap, Hieronimo investigates, but his suspicions alert Lorenzo. PR@HigaHG is persuaded to murder his accomplice]/Sérbenine] on promise of a pardon;…
Alphonsus, King of Aragon
Greene, Robert · 1587 · Romance · Queen Elizabeth's Men (?)
Twenty years before the action, Alphonsus’ branch of the royal family of Aragon was dispossessed of the crown through the Duke of Milan’s treachery, and banished, along with their supporters. Now, a generation later, the usurping King is making war on Naples. Alphonsus poses as a common soldier and is recruited to King Belinus’ defending army; he makes the condition that he will unconditionally own anything he wins by fighting. In battle he kills the usurping King of Aragon, and King Belinus grudgingly gives him the crown; he then claims sovereignty over Naples. After rescuing a follower from beheading by Belinus, he conquers Italy and crowns his followers. Albinius, his oldest ally, is made King of Aragon in his place, while he pursues Belinus, who has fled to the court of the Great Turk Amurack. Amurack promises Belinus military help, and summons armies from throughout his wide dominions. Encouraged by the anxious Empress Fausta, the enchantress Medea seeks supernatural information about the coming wars, and it comes in a vision to the sleeping Amurack: defeat, captivity, then release through Alphonsus’ love for his daughter Iphigina, and the expulsion of paganism. When Fausta speaks against this, she and Iphigina are banished from the court; encouraged by Medea to accept the inevitable, they go to gather their Amazon troops. The prophecy is also overheard by the god Muhammad, who withdraws his support from Amurack, but encourages his pagan allies to attack Alphonsus; when…
The Wounds of Civil War, or Marius and Scilla
Lodge, Thomas · 1588 · Tragedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
King Mithridates has defied Roman power in Asia Minor, and the consul Sulla has been selected by lot to take reprisals. But Sulla lingers with the army in Capua, and the Senate votes to transfer the command to Marius, a more experienced soldier. Sulla invades the Senate with his troops and threatens to uphold his rights with violence. The senators take sides, and a civil war follows. Sulla is victorious; Marius takes refuge at Minturnum. Sulla proscribes Marius and his allies as traitors, and leads the army to Asia Minor. Marius is warned that his hosts plot his murder, but accepts his fate and goes to sleep. The assassin, Pedro, is unable to go through with the killing, so the magistrates simply ask Marius to leave town. He flees to Africa, and lives in the mountains on a diet of roots. Marius’ son comes to recall him to Rome: the new consul, Cinna, is sympathetic to him. But Sulla returns victorious from the east, and attempts to prevent his rival from entering Italy. Nevertheless Marius reaches Rome, and begins to settle old scores with violence. Cinna deposes and murders his fellow consul Octavius, Marius’ enemy, and Marius is appointed to fill the vacancy. Sulla is proscribed and his property confiscated, and Marius sends his son to engage Sulla’s army in battle. Sulla’s wife and daughter are arrested as they attempt to leave Rome; Marius threatens them with death, but then sends them honourably back to Sulla. Marius dies in office. After a bloody battle, Sulla enters…
A Looking Glass for London and England
Lodge, Thomas; Greene, Robert · 1588 · Biblical Moral · Derby's (Strange's) Men
Triumphant over the King of Jerusalem, the Assyrian king Rasni declares himself divine and marries his sister, Remilia; a viceroy who objects is banished and the flatterer Radagon given his place. Inordinately proud of her beauty, Remilia is struck by lightning. Rasni is unable to revive her, and buries her in state; but is encouraged by Radagon to think of the living rather than the dead, and to take Alvida, wife of the King of Paphlagonia. When her husband objects to the adulterous liaison, she poisons him. Alvida continues to be unfaithful: her ambition attracts her to Rasni, but her sexual appetite favours the Viceroy of Cilicia, so she takes both. Thrasybulus and Alcon are both cheated by a usurer to whom they are trying to repay money: he keeps them talking beyond the due hour and then secures possession of Thrasybulus’ farm and Alcon’s cow as a penalty for non-payment. They attempt to sue him, but he bribes both the judge and their lawyer, and they lose their cases. Alcon appeals to Radagon, his son, to help his starving family, but Radagon is too proud to acknowledge his parent, and Rasni has him ejected from the court. Radagon’s mother curses him, and: he is swallowed by subterranean fire. Thrasybulus ard ===== PAGE 473 ===== 1589 Alcon turn to begging and theft in their destitution, and try to pawn stolen clothes to the usurer. Adam, a smith’s man, goes off with some ruffians to get drunk. After a drunken quarrel over a woman, one of them is killed. Rasni finds…
Endymion, the Man in the Moon
Lyly, John · 1588 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (first) · before the Court;
Endymion is obsessed with his love for GyHEHI, the moon, and neglects Méllisj who is infatuated with him. She plots to force him to love her, but the enchantress Dipsas is unable to induce love magically. She can, however, make Endymion sleep away his youth, and, with Bag@a’s assistance, casts a spell to that effect. Meanwhile the comic braggart Sir GpHaS falls in love with Dipsas and sleeps too. When Tellus is rude about Endymion, Cynthia banishes her to weave in a desert castle. There she uses her feminine attractiveness to induce her keeper, GGESITES, to move Endymion from where he sleeps, but he is unable to lift the sleeping body. He is pinched asleep by fairies, who magically spot his face and hands. S@mielé is sentenced to a year’s silence as punishment for her spiteful speaking. Cynthia sends courtiers around the world in search of a remedy for Endymion, but the wise men who come are unable to help. However, Eiimenideés finds a magic fountain which will supply any wished-for remedy ifa true lover weeps into it and sees the bottom. Eumenides passes the fidelity test and has to choose whether to satisfy his unrequited love for Semele or wake up Endymion. He chooses Endymion, and is shown in a cryptic prophecy that the sleeper will wake when Cynthia kisses him. It works: Endymion awakes, now an old man, and tells his dreams. Sir Tophas also awakes, seemingly more youthful. Neither gets the girl: Cynthia is chaste and unattainable, while Dipsas turns out to be married to…
Andria (The Woman from Andros)
Kyffin, Maurice, trans.; Terence (Publius Terentius Afer) · 1588 · Comedy
Simo has given his son Pamphilus free rein upon his coming of age, in order to allow his character to develop freely; but he is alarmed to discover that he has been paying court to Glycerie, a poor young foreigner, sister to a recently dead courtesan, Chrysis. Although Simo has arranged for him to marry Philumena, the daughter of his neighbour, Chremes, the contract is cancelled when Chremes discovers the intimacy with Glycerie; but Simo intends to press ahead as if the marriage was still going to happen, so that Pamphilus’ refusal to comply may give him an opportunity to assert his paternal authority. The liaison with Glycerie is even more complicated than expected, however: she 1587 is pregnant and about to give birth to Pamphilus’ child. Charinus, who wants to marry Philumena himself, is distraught at the news that she isto marry Pamphilus, but reassured when Pamphilus admits that he doesn’t want her. The observant servant Davus notices that no wedding preparations are being made, and advises Pamphilus to call his father’s bluff by consenting to the marriage. Simo overhears Glycerie giving birth to a baby boy, but, reassured by his son’s submission, convinces himself that it is all a ruse: obviously Pamphilus and Glycerie have had a quarrel, and she is trying to get him back. Thinking it best to get Pamphilus married before such a reconciliation can take place, he persuades Chremes to withdraw his objections—which means that the wedding is now to be for real. Davus takes…
The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London
Wilson, Robert · 1588 · Moral · Queen Elizabeth's Men (?)
The three lords of London, in want of wives, plan to marry the three ladies. There are two complications. ===== PAGE 450 ===== First, it emerges that they all want the same lady, Lucre. More pressingly, all three ladies are in prison. The lords agree to secure their freedom and worry later about who marries whom. But Judge Nemo has heard petitions for the ladies’ release before: many men wanted Lucre, some wanted Love, and nobody cared about Conscience. His conditions are that either all three ladies go free or none of them, and that, if they do, he shall decide which lady marries which lord. The ladies are taken from prison and sat on uncomfortable penitential stones. They are visited by Lucre’s former servants, who were banished from London but now want their old jobs back; Lucre is unable to accommodate them. Falsehood and Double- Dealing offer the ladies clothes to replace their prison rags, but they refuse. Nemo arranges for them to have more virtuous garments, the first stage in their rehabilitation. When the three lords continue to quarrel over which of them should have Lucre, Nemo agrees to give up his right to make the marital dispositions, on condition that the lords accept the lady’s own choice. He then has Conscience pose as Lucre. Each lord offers her a different benefit — power, magnificence, and hedonism - and she eventually bestows herself on Pleasure. He is happy with his fiancée even when he learns of the deception. Conscience declares that Policy should…
Friar Bacon and Friar Bongay
Greene, Robert · 1589 · Comedy · Queen Elizabeth's Men
Primce Bdwafd is in love with the country wench Margarety and he orders Bay to woo her on his behalf. He does so, but she falls for him rather than the Prince. Meanwhile BRiamlBaeoH is questioned by his academic superiors, who suspect him of practising black magic. He explains his plans to make a brazen head which will lecture in philosophy, and to surround England with a defensive wall of brass. The one sceptic, DEIBOTGER, is shown up when Bacon uses his powers to reveal that he sneaks off at night to play cards at a tavern when he should be reading. Prineejkdward and Ralphithelfeal swap clothes and identities when visiting Bacon, but he sees through the deception with ease. Bacon shows Edward events at Suffolk through a magic mirror: Daey is wooing Margaret for himself, and they are to be married by FriamBungay; but Bacon magically strikes Bungay dumb, then brings him to Oxford for dinner. Edward rides to Suffolk to confront Lacy, but Margaret’s determination reconciles him to the situation: even if he tries to remove the obstacle by killing Lacy, she will never love him and will kill herself to be with Lacy. Prince Edward’s future wife, Elifi@f of Castile, arrives in England with a group of foreign potentates. The Emperor of Germany has brought along Wandérmast} a famous magician, to compete with England’s best scholars at Oxford. Vandermast’s first opponent in magic is BriamBuiigay, who conjures up a golden tree. Vandermast summons Hercules to pull it down, but Hercules…
Midas
Lyly, John · 1589 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (first) · before the Court;
Offered anything he wishes by way of reward for entertaining Baéehus) KingiMidas seeks advice. Two of his lords suggest that he request love and empire respectively; the third proposes gold, which can buy both, so Midas asks that everything he touches should turn to gold. The gift proves to be an inconvenience, turning Midas’s food and even his beard to gold. (A BaBE steals the golden beard from the FSyalibarber, but the barber gets his own back by giving him toothache.) Regretting his folly and his imperialistic designs on other nations, Midas seeks a remedy from the oracle, and washes off the golden touch in a nearby river. On the way home, Midas goes hunting in the woods, gets lost, and encounters Ajpoll6 and Pan ‘The two gods are in dispute over which is the best musician; Midas is asked to judge, and, perversely, chooses Pan. Apollo gives him ass’s ears in reprisal, and he becomes reclusive while rumours spread; even the reeds whisper about his ears. Meanwhile his empire begins to disintegrate and he is unable to achieve his overriding objective, the conquest of Lesbos. Finally he seeks a remedy from the oracle of Apollo, and also proclaims that any further talk about his ass’s ears will cost the speaker his own. The pages inveigle Motto the barber into flouting the edict, and thereby force him to return the golden beard. Midas makes his obeisance at Apollo’s oracle, and is ordered to give up his imperial ambitions; in particular, his ears will only get longer if he…
The Jew of Malta
Marlowe, Christopher · 1589 · Tragedy · Unknown · before the Court;Phoenix/Cockpit;Whitehall;Indoor Professional
For ten years, Malta has failed to pay tribute to the Turks; now Séliml(@alymath comes to collect the arrears, but grants Bémeze, the Governor, a month to find the money. Ferneze requires the island’s Jews to contribute half their assets towards the sum, on pain of forcible conversion; but Bafabas, a wealthy merchant with trading links all over the east, refuses either to pay or to become a Christian. His entire estate is seized and his house converted to a nunnery. Unbeknown to the authorities, there is a cache of money and jewels hidden in the house; Barabas has his daughter, Abigail, become a nun in order to get access to it. After retrieving the gold, she leaves the convent, and Barabas buys a new house. The Spanish Vice-Admiral, Martin(§@elgposcs} arrives in Malta after routing the Turkish navy. He is granted permission to sell his prisoners as slaves on the island, even though this will be provocative to the Turks; Ferneze decides to keep the gold he levied to pay the tribute, and count on Spanish aid in the war that will follow. Barabas visits the slave market and buys [fiamiore; they swap stories about their exploits in villainy. A Turkish pasha comes to collect the tribute money, but Ferneze refuses to pay. War looms. Mathias and WEdGwiek both love Abigail. Barabas asks her to encourage Lodowick, even though she prefers Mathias; he doesn’t want her to marry either, but particularly wants to destroy Lodowick to get revenge on Ferneze, his father. He tells Mathias of…
Antonius (Antony)
Herbert, Mary Sidney, trans.; Garnier, Robert · 1590 · Tragedy
Antonius has neglected his charge to fight for Rome in the East, and has betrayed his wife by devoting himself to the love of Cleopatra. This has led to a war with Caesar, which Antonius lost. Now Cleopatra has betrayed him, his followers have deserted him, and he despairs at his fall from greatness through a single act of folly at Actium. Certain that Caesar will no longer accept him as co-ruler of the Empire, he resolves to die. Ransacked by the Roman army, Egypt suffers; in future it will be governed by foreigners, its wealth exported to enrich another land. Cleopatra blames herself for the disaster. Her women encourage her to live and fight for Egypt’s independence, but she is more concerned about the loss of Antony, and keen not to acquire a reputation for faithlessness in adversity. She takes refuge in a tomb and sends word to Antony implying that she is dead. He stabs himself and is taken up to Cleopatra as he dies. While the people of Alexandria mourn, Dercetas brings the sword that killed him to the exultant Caesar. Agrippa advises entering the tomb to prevent Cleopatra destroying her treasure; Caesar also wants her to grace his triumph in Rome. The Roman soldiers look forward to peace and imperial power. Cleopatra entrusts her children to the care of their teacher and plans to join Antony in the afterlife.
Mucedorus (and Amadine)
Anonymous · 1590 · Romance · Unknown
The princess Almadifle and her fiancé S@pasto are attacked by a bear as they walk in the forest. Segasto runs away, but the shepherd MuG@d@Fus saves Amadine’s life by killing the bear. Envious of the honour promised to Mucedorus, Segasto suborns the war hero (PEMielio to murder him, but in the event 1591 Mucedorus kills Tremelio instead. Charged with murder, Mucedorus pleads self-defence but is sentenced to death. Amadine produces the bear’s head in his defence, and the King rescinds the sentence. Segasto sends Mucedorus a false message that he has been banished from the court. Amadine, who has transferred her affections to Mucedorus, asks to go with him, and they arrange a rendezvous; but Mucedorus is delayed, and Amadine is accosted by the cannibal BRémi®. Struck by her beauty, he decides not to eat her, but instead makes her his queen and lives with her in the woods. Mucedorus evades his pursuers by disguising himself as a hermit, but is attacked by Bremo. Not knowing his identity, Amadine pleads for his life, and Bremo allows him to join them in their woodland ménage. When Bremo tries to teach his guest to fight, however, Mucedorus seizes the opportunity to kill him, then reveals his identity to Amadine. The couple are found by M@USe, Segasto’s servant, and they are taken back to court. Amadine insists that she will marry Mucedorus notwithstanding his lowly status, whereupon he reveals that he is actually of royal birth: he came to Aragon in disguise to woo her. On…
The Scottish History of James the Fourth
Greene, Robert · 1590 · Romance · Unknown
Bohan has shut himself up in a tomb and scorns the world. He is visited by GB@FGn, who gives blessings to his sons: preferment for Nad, and for Slippér the promise of fairy help when he is in danger. Bohan shows him a story of King JameSEIV to justify his misanthropy. During the action, Oberon falls asleep. The King of Scots marries the English princess Dorothea, but in the church his eye lights on [da and he falls in tove. Al@iiKin offers to help him with his affair, hires servants (among them Slipper), and woos Ida on James’s behalf. Although Dorothea assumes the King’s pursuit of Ida is only a sham to test her own love, his behaviour and his liking for flatterers is ===== PAGE 35 ===== 1590 driving the nobles away from his court; James secretly welcomes this, since their absence gives him greater freedom of action. Ateukin attributes his lack of success with Ida to the adulterous nature of the proposal: if she had an expectation of marriage, she would be more pliable; therefore Dorothea must die, and Ateukin engages Jaqwes to murder her, with the promise of promotion at court. Ateukin uses his influence at court to sell favours. His own servants are equally corrupt: Sir Bartram bribes Slipper to steal a lease from Ateukin’s pocket, but what Slipper actually takes is the murder warrant. When the document is missed, Ateukin orders Andrew to find it; because reporting Slipper will expose his own malfeasance, Andrew instead robs him of the bribe- money to teach him a lesson.…
Fair Em, the Miller's Daughter of Manchester
Anonymous (?) · 1590 · Comedy · Derby's (Strange's) Men
Ata tilt, William the Conqueror falls in love with the portrait on his opponent’s shield. The subject is the Danish princess Blanche, and he travels incognito to Denmark to woo her. In the flesh she is a disappointment, outshone by the captive princess Mariana. At a masque, William unwittingly picks a fight with his friend the Marquis of Litbeck, and spends a night in prison. He sends a love-letter to Mariana, which Blanche intercepts and tears up in Mariana’s face. Mariana has no interest in William anyway: she asks him to rescue her from Denmark, but substitutes Blanche when the plot is carried out. William returns to England to find his regents fighting one another, and the Danes threaten war if he does not return Blanche to her father. In the sub-plot, meanwhile, the Norman Conquest has forced many of the English gentry into hiding, among them Sir Thomas Goddard and his daughter, Em. He disguises himself as a miller, and she is wooed by three suitors: the local boy Manvile, whom her father favours, and the Normans Mountney and Valingford. The miller’s man Trotter also fancies his chances: he persuades Em to promise to do anything to ease his sickness before telling her that it is love- sickness. Manvile becomes jealous of the other suitors, and Em tries to put them off by pretending to be blind and deaf. This only succeeds in alienating Manvile, who lays plans to marry another woman, Elinor. Suspecting a stratagem, Valingford is harder to yet rid of: he learns of…
Love's Metamorphosis
Lyly, John · 1590 · Pastoral Comedy · Children of Paul's (first)
Three nymphs are loved by three foresters but reject them. The foresters offend Erisychthon, ruler of the forest, by cutting down a tree sacred to Ceres and blaspheming the goddess. The tree is revealed to contain Fidellia, a nymph transformed after being raped by a satyr, and she calls for revenge. Ceres punishes Erisychthon with perpetual hunger, driving him to attempt to sell his daughter Protea for food. Neptune grants Protea the power of metamorphosis, allowing her to escape. Meanwhile, the foresters seek help from Cupid, who punishes the disdainful nymphs through transformations: Nisa becomes a rock, Celia a rose, and Niobe a bird. Protea later saves her lover from a Siren’s temptation. Eventually Cupid and Ceres reverse the punishments, freeing Erisychthon from hunger and restoring the nymphs to their original forms. The nymphs finally accept the love of the foresters.
The Old Wives Tale
Peele, George · 1590 · Romance · Queen Elizabeth's Men
PLOT Lost in the woods, three pages encounter Clunch the smith, and accept the hospitality of his cottage. One of them goes to bed with him while his wife, Madge, tells the others a tale. Delia, the daughter of the King of Thessaly, has been abducted by the sorcerer Sacrapant, who can only be killed by a dead man, and whose power depends on a light in a glass which can only be broken by a woman who is neither wife, widow, nor maid. Delia's two brothers come to England in search of her, and meet Erestus. They give him alms and he prophesies to them. He too is a victim of Sacrapant, who has transformed him into an old man by day and a bear by night, and driven his betrothed lady, Venelia, out of her mind. The brothers enter Sacrapant's domain, but are imprisoned by Furies and set to work digging for gold. Delia, forgetting her identity under the influence of a potion, is appointed as their overseer. Others are also searching for Delia. One is the wandering knight Eumenides, another the braggart Huanebango; the former gives generous alms to Erestus, but the latter refuses. Eumenides happens upon a fight between Wiggen and the parish officials, who are refusing to bury Wiggen's dead brother Jack; Eumenides resolves the dispute by giving all his remaining money to pay for the funeral. Huanebango attempts to force his way into Sacrapant's cell, and is ejected by the Furies; Sacrapant strikes him deaf and Corebus blind. Lampriscus has two daughters, one ugly in looks and the other…
George a Green, the Pinner of Wakefield
Greene, Robert (?) · 1590 · Romance · Sussex's Men
(helEarlSfKendal, inspired by a prophecy that he and e KinglfiSeets will meet in London and defeat the KingofEngland, musters his troops and communicates with King James. THENMEHIOPOrKShize, of his treason, refuse to victual his army. When Sir Nicholas Maniniering threatens the people of Wakefield, GGrge- aeGreehe tears up his commission and makes him eat the seals. Infuriated, Kendal plans revenge: he and his allies go to Wakefield in disguise, but George impounds their horses. Kendal tries to entice George to: join him in rebellion, insisting that he seeks social justice rather than power. Encouraged by George, he visits a hermit to hear his fortunes; but the hermit is actually George himself in disguise, and the visit a ruse to get Kendal and his henchmen alone. George fights them, takes Kendal prisoner, and hands him over to the authorities. King James brings troops into England, but is distracted by his passion for JARGMANBaHEy, whose husband is away. When she refuses him, he besieges her castle. The aged war veteran Milsgrave, who refuses to hand over the responsibility of arms to his n Gay, arrives and raises the siege. James is taken prisoner, and both he and Kendal are brought before King Edward. Kendal is imprisoned and Edward visits the north to meet George. Willy liberates George’s love, B@HGHS, from Grime her father by visiting her disguised as a woman and swapping clothes with her. The lovers are reunited, leaving Willy still at Grime’s house. However, Bettris…
1 Henry the Sixth
Nashe, Thomas; Marlowe, Christopher; Shakespeare, William; Anonymous · 1590 · History · Derby's (Strange's) Men
King Henry Vis dead, and England's French lands are lost. After a military setback, the French accept the offered aid of Joan Pucelle , who claims supernatural powers from the Virgin Mary; but they also release Talbot in an exchange of prisoners. With Joan 's help the French recapture the occupied town of Orleans, but the English take it back in a night attack led by Talbot. The Countess of Auvergne invites Talbot to visit her. intending treachery, but he second-guesses her and brings soldiers with him. In England, feuds brew between Gloucester and Winchester, and between Richard Plantagenet and the Duke of Somerset, whose supporters show their allegiance by picking different coloured roses. Richard , who has been deprived of his titles through the attainder of his father, learns from the imprisoned and dying Mortimer that he has a claim to the throne . King Henry restores him to his inheritance, creating him Duke of York. Joan takes Rouen by a ruse , but Talbot recaptures it the same day; she then persuades England's ally Burgundy to join the French. After King Henry's coronation in Paris, York is left in command of Prance, but personal tension between him and Somerset means that troop reinforcements arrive late; in consequence, Talbot is defeated, surviving only long enough to learn that his son has perished in battle. Joan conjures devils, but they will not help her: she is captured by York and burned at the stake. The French and English agree a peace which will entail…
Edward the First
Peele, George · 1591 · History · Unknown
Edwardilongshanks returns from the crusades to find that in his absence both his father and his son have 1591 died, and that he is now King of England. He makes provision to house his wounded veterans, and all the nobility contribute handsomely. His @W@8n asks him to defer the coronation to give her time to send to Spain for the latest fashions. MEW was planning to take advantage of Edward’s absence to secure his power in Wales. A Welshliprophet encourages him with the assertion that he will mount higher than all his kin. Now he intends reprisals against Edward for the detention of his betrothed wife, DA@VMEI@HGr, daughter of an English rebel. His brother DaWid, a spy in the English court, proposes getting himself captured by the Welsh in order to create a pretext for an exchange of prisoners. The plan goes awry when the Welsh soldiers agree to make peace with the English, on condition that Edward does not impose direct rule from England. Llewelyn and his entourage pose as Robin Hood, and waylay passers-by in the forest. M@riimiér, who loves Lady Eleanor, goes to Wales and joins in the masquerade by assuming the identity of the potter from the Robin Hood story; but this means he gets a thrashing. To comply with the Welsh demand for a Welsh-born prince, Edward summons the pregnant Queen to Wales, where she gives birth to a son: Edward, Prince of Wales. The loyal Welsh present the child with a frieze mantle, but the Queen takes offence at the homespun fabric. Edward promises…
Master Arden of Faversham in Kent
Anonymous; Kyd, Thomas (?); Shakespeare, William (?); Watson, Thomas (?) · 1591 · Tragedy · Pembroke's Men (?)
lige Arden is having an affair with M@sbBy, which makes her husband jealous and melancholy. The lovers proliferate murder plots against him: both offer marriage to SHi8Zh Mosby as an inducement, but to different accomplices, Michaelland GlakKe the painter. Clarke supplies a poison, but when Arden feels ill upon eating the contaminated broth, Alice throws it on the ground. Alice meets GFSeHe, who has a grudge against Arden in connection with land ownership, and gives him money to hire murderers. He engages BIAEKIWil) and ShakeBap, and they follow A¥d@h to London, where he is visiting his friend BFaHKIB. Greene writes an incriminating letter to Alice, which is carried, innocently, by Bradshaw. An attempt on Arden’s life in St Paul’s churchyard fails when a shop front is let down and bonks Black Will on the head; Arden escapes, knowing nothing of the danger. The murderers conspire with Michael to gain access to Franklin’s house at night, but Arden finds the door unlocked: the murderers are shut out and Michael reproved for negligence. The killers next pursue Arden to Rainham Down, where he meets Lord Ghee and is invited to dinner the following day. Cheyne recognizes and distracts Black Will, so Arden escapes again. His luck still holds the next day: following him on his way to Lord Cheyne’s house, Black Will and Shakebag lose their way in the fog and Shakebag falls into the marsh. Meanwhile, Mosby and Alice have a falling-out, but are reconciled, and Clarke supplies a poisoned…
Orlando Furioso
Greene, Robert · 1591 · Romance · Queen Elizabeth's Men (on tour); Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men (in London) · before the Court;
From all over the world, princes have come to Africa to woo |Amgeliga, the successful suitor will become her father Marsilis’ heir. Given a free choice, Angelica opts for OFlaHdG) offending his higher-ranking rivals. They plan to seize Angelica and despoil Africa, but Orlando lays siege to R@@aimant's castle and sacks it. Rodamant and Brandimart flee. _ . Ambitious for love and power, Sa@rapalit woos Angelica, but she loves only Orlando. Planning to make Orlando jealous, he hangs love poems on the trees in a grove where Orlando walks; his man disguises himself as a shepherd and tells Orlando that Angelica is in love with Orlando is driven out of his mind, and dismembers fi@lShepherd’, mistaking him for Medor. M@arSiiWS banishes Angelica, but his former enemy Manidmieard receives gracious treatment and becomes his companion. Convinced that both Medor and Angelica are dead, Orlando madly plans to pursue them to hell to continue his revenge. He recruits an army of rustics and kills SERS in battle. He meets Angelica, but does not know her. His page presents him with a false ABeliea - in reality a cross-dressed clown - whom he beats. Having heard of Orlando’s lunacy, the twelve peers of France come to seek reprisals against ey and are greeted by Marsilius. makes war on Marsilius. The vitbeli Melis8A cures Orlando’s madness and sends him to fight. Sacrapant is defeated in single combat by Orlando, disguised as a common soldier; he confesses Angelica’s innocence before he dies.…
Phillis and Amyntas (Ivychurch) (Amyntas' Pastoral)
Fraunce, Abraham, trans.; Tasso, Torquato · 1591 · Pastoral
Cupid’s mother wants him to exercise his power at "court among lords, but he rebels and runs away to work in a pastoral setting disguised as a shepherd. The objects. of his attention are to be Amyntas and the - . loveless Phyllis: by making them fall for one another, he will demonstrate that he has power over rustics as well as over kings. . Three years ago, Amyntas ‘fell in love with his ‘neighbour and childhood friend Phyllis; but when he “declared his love, she rejected it and has refused his ‘ company ever since, despite others’ efforts to persuade __ her. Now that a soothsayer has told him there is no - hope, Amyntas is suicidally melancholy: he will kill himself, and then she'll be sorry. Phyllis has also attracted the attentions of a Satyr, but she scorns him too; so he plans to rape and murder her at the well ' where she washes. Thyrsis and Daphne plan to bring Amyntas to the well, too: seeing her naked will arouse his amorous propensities, and, in spite of herself, she will enjoy being raped by him. The Satyr gets there first, -and Amyntas finds Phyllis stark naked, tied to a tree “ with her own hair. He beats off the Satyr, but Phyllis is ungrateful and runs away when he releases her. - Phyllis flees to Fulvia, who clothes her and takes her hunting at Ivychurch. There she wounds a wolf, and pursues it into the forest. Fulvia follows her, and finds a pack of wolves devouring a corpse, and nearby a bloody hair-tire which she recognizes as Phyllis’s. She reports this…
The True Tragedy of Richard the Third
Anonymous · 1591 · Tragedy; History · Queen Elizabeth's Men
Twenty-two years ago, the House of York seized the throne from Henry VI. Since then, RiéHard has sought to clear his path to the crown by murdering the deposed M@firy and his own brother, @IMFenee. The dying BGWardli] tries to make peace between Lord Hastings and Marquess Dorsét, and appoints Richard as Lord Protector during his son’s minority. As the new King travels to London for his coronation, Richard allies himself with his former enemy, BUCKingham. and Dorset and other noblemen flee the kingdom. Travelling to London with the new King, RIVERS is left behind to negotiate with Richard and Buckingham. Richard arranges to have him locked in his room at the inn where he is staying, and arrests him; he then catches up with the King and arrests the rest of the Queen’s family, despite the King’s protests. The QG@8H and her other children take sanctuary, but the Duke of WGrk is removed to the Tower to keep the King ===== PAGE 490 ===== company. Richard has the arrested men executed without trial. The King and York are declared bastards and the crown offered to Richard. Edward IV’s death is bad news for Mistress SHGFé, too: she loses all her influence at court and has to face the prospect of an enemy in power. Accused of plotting with her to bewitch the King and Buckingham with a view to seizing power, Lord Hastings is arrested and executed. Mistress Shore’s property is confiscated and Londoners ordered not to give her food or shelter; even those she helped in earlier times are…
Mother Bombie
Lyly, John · 1591 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (first)
Menmiphio and Stellig each has a fool for his only child, — a son and a daughter respectively, but both have managed to conceal the fact from the neighbours. Each plans to marry his offspring to the other’s without disclosing the heir’s mental debility, and each tasks his servant to make the arrangements. Meanwhile, @amidiliis and [ivid are in love with one another, but their parents disapprove, wanting them to marry wealth instead: Candius is made to woo Stellio’s daughter Sil@mla, and Livia is intended for Memphio’s son Al@GiiS] The four fathers’ boy servants conspire to frustrate these various . marital plans, and go off to drink at the tavern. Candius meets Silena as she sneaks out to hear her fortune, and offers to read her palm. He is momentarily struck by her beauty, but quickly discovers that she is an idiot, a legitimate impediment to marriage. Mother Bomibié tells Silena’s fortune in cryptic terms: she is not the child of her parents. The fortune teller is also consulted by the siblings M@eStiiS and Sérénaj] who have developed an incestuous passion for one another; Mother Bombie tells them that they shall be married and each will displace a fool. The boys arrange for Candius and Livia to swap apparel with the two idiots, and they are married in disguise, with their own fathers as witnesses. Accius and Silena court one another in disguise, but their marriage prospects take a turn for the worse after each father identifies the other’s child as a fool. DE@Rilio is…
King John
Shakespeare, William · 1591 · History · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
The Plantagenets have a dynastic dispute: J@lih is de facto King of England, but Alptiillir, the young son of his dead elder brother, has a better claim in primogeniture; France takes Arthur’s side. John is asked to adjudicate in another case of . disputed inheritance: Robert Falé@nbridge claims that his elder brother BHiliip is a bastard, begotten in his father’s absence by the dead King Richard. John rules for Philip’s legitimacy irrespective of parentage, since he was conceived in wedlock; but Philip decides to be a king’s son rather than a knight’s heir, cedes his brother the family lands, and joins John’s court. John meets the Kinglofibrance outside the town of Angers, which claims loyalty to the English crown but is holding out against both claimants until the issue is decided. England and France decide to defer their differences until they have subjugated Angers, but the citizens save themselves by suggesting an Anglo- French marriage between DOUISNEHEMDapHin and John’s niece BI@HEHE; France expediently transfers its support from Arthur to John. After the wedding, the papal legate Pandulph excommunicates John for his interference in ecclesiastical affairs, and declares his assassination legitimate. The French revert to support for Arthur, leaving Blanche with a conflict of interests. Arthur is captured in battle and taken back to England ===== PAGE 337 ===== 1596 in MWbert’s custody; John instructs Hubert to arrange the boy’s death. Anticipating this outcome, Pandulph…
Edward the Second
Marlowe, Christopher · 1592 · History · Pembroke's Men
GavestGn, banished by KangpyBdwardl is recalled to England on the accession of BdWardllll. His presence exacerbates tension between the King and barons, but Edward gives him multiple offices of state. Together they assault the BiSHOplomi@oventry, whose title also goes to Gaveston. The nobles and church contrive the minion’s banishment, but QWeenilsabella, neglected by Edward, arranges his reprieve in the hope of winning favour. King and barons make their peace and Lord MOrtimier, leaving for war in Scotland, advises his nephew to tolerate Edward’s love for Gaveston. The King’s preoccupation with his minion leads him to neglect public affairs, jeopardizing the political and economic stability of the crown: the unpaid army mutinies, rebellion breaks out in Ireland, and English territory is invaded by both Scotland and France. Lord Mortimer is taken prisoner in Scotland, but Edward refuses to ransom him. The barons, now joined by Edward’s brother, the B@gi§6fK@nt, increase the pressure to banish Gaveston again, while Edward begins to suspect Isabella of adultery with the younger Mortimer. Gaveston is captured by the barons. Edward asks to see him one last time; P@mibrOke agrees to conduct Gaveston there and back, but the minion is captured and killed en route by WaRWIEK’s treachery. Isabella and the Prince go to parley with the French King over the invasion of Normandy. The barons demand the removal of the Sp@me@r family, whom Edward has advanced, and battle ensues. The King…
Doctor Faustus
Marlowe, Christopher; Anonymous (?) · 1592 · Tragedy · Unknown
DrFaustls is dissatisfied with the limited rewards and power offered by traditional academic disciplines, including logic, medicine, law, and divinity, and instead turns to magic. He conjures up a devil, Mephistopheles. Partly confident that this act has already damned him, and partly out of disbelief in Hell, Faustus proposes a bargain: 24 years of guaranteed life and pleasure, with Mephistopheles as his servant, in exchange for his soul. Mephistopheles secures Lucifer’s agreement, and Faustus writes out a deed of gift in his own blood; Mephistopheles distracts him from his doubts with a show of Ganeinglaevils. Faustus’ first request is for a wife, but Mephistopheles brings him a cross-dressed devil and persuades him to embrace promiscuity rather than marriage. He discourses with Mephistopheles about astronomy, but the devil refuses to answer his theological questions. When Faustus seems ready to repent, DWGifEH arrives and distracts him with a show of Hi@§S@VenuDeadly Sins. Faustus journeys into space in a chariot drawn by dragons, to study astronomy at close quarters. He next ===== PAGE 422 ===== travels to Rome, where Mephistopheles makes him invisible. At a papal banquet, he snatches the Pope’s food and boxes his ears; the clerics take him for a ghost and attempt an exorcism. RObin steals one of Faustus’ magic books and attempts to impose his will on Rafe. He conjures up Mephistopheles, who is not pleased to be summoned all the way from Constantinople, and turns Robin…
Soliman and Perseda (Zulziman)
Anonymous · 1592 · Tragedy · Unknown
Love, Fortune, and Death dispute which of them is the most appropriate chorus to the tragedy; they debate their roles in the choric passages that follow. Erastus proves his knightly prowess in a wedding-day tilt for the Prince of Cyprus, but loses a chain given to him by his love Perseda. Ferdinando finds it and gives it to his love, Lucina. Seeing her wearing it, Perseda believes Erastus has been unfaithful. Erastus visits Lucina in disguise and wins back the chain in a dice- game, but is confronted by Ferdinando, who is killed in the ensuing quarrel. In consequence, Erastus has to go into exile to the enemy state of Turkey, leaving the chain for Perseda as a token of his misunderstood constancy. Rhodes is strategically important, the key to the conquest of Christendom. One of the knights at the wedding tilt, Brusor, was a Turkish spy sent to investigate the island’s defences prior to an attack. He also tells Suleiman about Erastus’ magnificent tiltyard performance, so the Emperor is pleased when Erastus arrives at his court, and allows him to demonstrate his worth in a friendly bout of swordplay. He accepts and honours Erastus, allows him to remain a Christian, and spares him the task of conquering his native Rhodes, which is successfully undertaken by Brusor. . Erastus is appointed the Governor of conquered Rhodes. Prisoners of war are brought to Turkey, including the island’s women, and also the cowardly knight Basilisco, who escapes execution by converting to Islam.…
The Taming of a Shrew
Anonymous · 1592 · Comedy · Unknown
Forcibly ejected from an alehouse, Sly is sleeping off his drunkenness when he is found by a lord, who brings him home and tricks him into thinking himself a nobleman. A play is performed for him: The Taming of a Shrew. In the play, Aurelius of Sestos, newly arrived in Athens, falls in love with Philema; his friend Polidor already loves her sister, Emelia. To pursue his love, Aurelius pretends to be a wealthy merchant’s son and has his man Valeria assume his aristocratic identity. However, the girls’ father Alfonso has decreed that his eldest daughter Kate, a shrewish scold, must be married before them. The two wooers decide to persuade Ferando to marry Kate, but Alfonso has already promised him six thousand crowns to undertake the same task He and Kate meet unchaperoned, and they wrangle, but the marriage is arranged for the following Sunday; Kate seems outwardly unwilling but consents in an aside. Ferando goes to prepare his country house. Valeria is sent to teach Kate the lute, but she behaves aggressively. On the wedding day Ferando arrives in base clothes and forces Kate to leave with him immediately after the ceremony. When they arrive in the country, he claims that the dinner is burnt, and beats his servants. She is kept hungry, and denied her choice of clothing. Aurelius has Philotus pose as his father to persuade Alfonso that he is wealthy enough to marry Philema. He and Polidor are married to Kate’s younger sisters. Kate and Ferando visit them, after Kate submits…
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Shakespeare, William · 1593 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men (?)
Walefifihe leaves Verona to broaden his horizons. Protelis stays at home and woos Jiilia) but no sooner is his suit successful than his father decides to send him after Valentine to court. He and Julia exchange rings. In Milan, Proteus finds that Valentine has fallen in love with Sil¥ia and plans to elope with her, using a rope ladder to reach the tower in which her father locks her up at night. Proteus falls for Silvia himself and, knowing that her father prefers Valentine’s rival Hiro, betrays his friend’s confidence to the Duke, who duly banishes Valentine. This only succeeds in ‘alienating Silvia from Thurio and her father, so Proteus is asked to woo her on Thurio’s behalf. Valentine is ambushed by banished Saws, who make him their chief. Leaving her property in the care of her waiting- woman Hwee’, Julia follows Proteus to Milan disguised as a page-boy; there she learns of Proteus’ interest in Silvia, and witnesses one of his wooing attempts. Proteus sends Silvia a gift of a dog, but Bane loses it and offers her his own dog, which behaves badly and relieves itself under the table; Lance takes the blame for the latter offence. Proteus employs the disguised Julia as a go-between, sending her ring as a gift to Silvia, who will not accept it. With Bglami6ii’s help, Silvia absconds to join Valentine; the Duke rides after her with Thurio; Proteus follows in search of Silvia, and the disguised Julia follows him. All except Eglamour are captured by the outlaws. When Silvia…
The Woman in the Moon
Lyly, John · 1593 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (first) · before the Court;
When. the SHépheérds of Utopia protest that, unlike all other creatures, they have no mates, Nature produces one she made earlier: a female statue, which Goneord animates by joining spirit with flesh, and to which DiS€6rd gives a tongue; Nature names her Pandora. The seven planets are jealous of Pandora, and take it in turns to cross her. First Saturn makes her melancholy, and she rejects all her wooers. Then jupiter makes her ambitious, and woos her himself; her acceptance angers JMO!) She sets the shepherds a-love test, to kill a savage boar; she will love the one who brings her its head. Ma#§ supplants Jupiter and makes Pandora aggressive: when the shepherds fight over who killed the boar, she joins in and wounds Stésias} Next Sl is in the ascendant, inducing Pandora to love, chastity, and other feminine virtues: she remorsefully accepts Stesias as her husband, and speaks ambiguous Latin prophecies about their future happiness. Wenus rises and makes Pandora amorous, so she wantons with the other shepherds. Stesias tries to catch her in the act, but G@iH@philis double-crosses him and he is persuaded of her chastity. Mereuty takes over and makes Pandora cunning and dishonest, qualities which save her when the three shepherds tell Stesias that she has indeed been unchaste: she is able to convince him that this is merely the jealousy of disappointed rivals, then pays back her accusers by making further assignations, which Stesias keeps, dressed as a woman, and beats them;…
Titus Andronicus
Shakespeare, William; Peele, George · 1594 · Tragedy · Pembroke's Men (?)
The brothers Saturninus and Bassianus are rival candidates for the Roman emperorship. ‘Titus ===== PAGE 181 ===== 1592 Andronicus is recalled from the war against the Goths, to be a further candidate. He returns in triumph with the Goth Queen Tamora a captive, but many of his sons dead. He allows his surviving sons to kill Tamora’s eldest son, Alarbus, as a sacrifice. Refusing the crown, he offers his support to Saturninus, who is duly elected; Titus hands over the prisoners to him and agrees to his request to marry Lavinia. Lavinia, however, is betrothed to Bassianus, and Titus’ family intervene on her behalf. Titus kills his son Mutius in reprisal; his brothers bury him despite their father’s opposition. Saturninus marries Tamora _ instead. Though she wants vengeance on Titus and Rome, she decides to bide her time until her husband is more politically secure. The Andronici and the royal family go hunting. Tamora has an assignation in the woods with Aaron, but is discovered by Bassianus and Lavinia. Tamora’s sons, Chiron and Demetrius, kill Bassianus and throw his body into a pit. Aaron frames Titus’ sons Martius and Quintus for the murder, using a forged letter and hidden gold. Chiron and Demetrius rape Lavinia, and silence her by cutting off her hands and tongue. She is found in the woods by her uncle, Marcus. - Titus watches his sons taken to execution; Lucius is banished for attempting to rescue them; Marcus brings mutilated Lavinia to her father. Aaron offers . Titus…
The Love of David and Fair Bathsheba
Peele, George · 1594 · Biblical History · Queen Elizabeth's Men (?)
PLOT King David sees Bathsheba bathing and falls in love, but she resists his advances. To check his desires, he recalls her husband, Uriah, from the war, where his army has just conquered a town. Uriah returns, refuses to see his wife, and becomes embarrassingly drunk at a royal feast. David sends him back to the war, with orders that he should be placed in the vanguard. Uriah is killed in battle, removing the obstacle to David's liaison with Bathsheba; but he is rebuked by the prophet Nathan and the child of their union falls sick and dies. David believes that this removes Bathsheba's shame, and enables him to legitimize their relationship and beget another child. Amnon falls in love with his half-sister Tamar and feigns sickness in order to be alone with her. He rapes her and then throws her out. She complains to her brother Absalom, who plots revenge. Despite David's injunction to leave justice to the crown, Absalom goes to Amnon's pastoral feast and has him murdered. Now that Israel is about to conquer the Ammonite enemy, Joab asks David to come to the war, so that the triumph will belong to him rather than to his general. The Israelites are celebrating their victory when David hears of Amnon's murder. He banishes Absalom. A widow tells him how she stands to lose both sons because one murdered the other; he pronounces in favour of the surviving son, then applies the case to his own circumstances and recalls Absalom — which is what Joab intended in sending the woman to…
Two Lamentable Tragedies
Yarington, Robert · 1594 · Tragedy · Unknown
MOmicide is frustrated at finding the town so virtuous, but AWaige recommends two men as suitable agents of violence. [Filth overhears them and introduces the stories. In one plot, MRGM@SIMERY, who would like to be richer, notices how well off B&BGh is. He lures Beech to his inn and murders him there with a hammer. The other members of his household quickly discover what has happened; his man MWilli@fhs leaves his service rather than condone the crime, but nevertheless agrees to keep it a secret. Merry is concerned that BEGeh’sIBSy may know too much, and murders him too. Thinking there are thieves in Beech’s shop, a Maid gives the alarm, and the dying boy is found with the hammer still embedded in his head. Beech comes under suspicion. Merry wants to get the other body out of his inn before it starts to putrefy, and chops it up to facilitate disposal. The various parts of the body are found around London; the torso is in an identifiable sack, but when a house-to-house search is instigated, its vendor fails to recognize M@PySisister as the woman who bought it. Merry begins to feel secure, but the melancholy Williams finally reveals the secret after close questioning by a friend. Merry and his sister are arrested and hanged; Williams is allowed benefit of clergy. In the other plot, ——- —f% die, leaving him in the custody of his uncle, , who will inherit everything should the boy die. Fallerio plans murder, but when his son All@H8o will not co-operate, he hires two ruffans…
Locrine, the Eldest Son of King Brutus
S., W. (?) · 1594 · Tragedy · Unknown
Brutus, the conqueror of Britain, is dying. He gives his eldest son Locrine the crown and betrothes him to Gwendoline, and assigns his other sons, Camber and Albanact, the south and north respectively. His funeral is swiftly followed by Locrine’s royal wedding. Strumbo is in love with Dorothy, and persuades her to marry him. However, he is impressed into Albanact’s army when the Scythians invade northern Britain, and Dorothy is killed when the Scythians burn his house with her inside. The Scythians win the battle, and Albanact takes his own life rather than submit. To avenge his death, Locrine, Camber, and the peers give battle and defeat the Scythians. Humber’s wife Estrild is captured by Locrine’s soldiers, and Locrine is attracted to her. Strumbo is caught having sex with Margery. Initially he refuses to marry her, but is forced to agree after she beats him up. He encounters the defeated and starving Humber, but the ghost of Albanact stops him from feeding the Scythian. Humber eventually drowns himself. Locrine is unable to put away Gwendoline and install Estrild as his queen because Gwendoline’s father, Corineus, proves inconveniently long-lived despite being wounded in the battle with the Scythians. Locrine hides her in an underground pleasure- chamber and visits her in secret; they have a child, Sabren. After Corineus finally dies, Gwendoline goes to Cornwall to arrange the funeral, and Locrine takes the opportunity to bring Estrild out of hiding. Gwendoline and her…
Richard the Second
Shakespeare, William · 1595 · Tragedy; History · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
HennyiBolingbroke and THOMasIMGWbiay accuse one another of treason. Bolingbroke claims that Mowbray has misappropriated money intended to pay the army, and is responsible for the murder of the Duke of Gleweester. Mowbray insists that the money he kept was in reimbursement of legitimate expenses, but has no very clear rebuttal to the murder charge. They challenge one another to fight, and KimglRi@hard is unable to persuade them out of it. On the appointed day, however, he intervenes to halt the trial by combat and banishes them both, Bolingbroke for a term of years and Mowbray forever; Bolingbroke’s sentence is ===== PAGE 288 ===== cut from ten years to six to please his father, JOHMIS Gaunt Richard is using unorthodox means to raise revenue, including leases and forced loans. He goes to visit Gaunt, who is mortally ill, hoping to find him dead so that he can seize the estate to pay for his Irish wars; but he arrives too soon and has to listen to some dying words of wisdom. He then sequesters Gaunt’s property, despite fRelDUKeIOMork's protest at the dispossession of the rightful heir, Bolingbroke. He goes to Ireland, leaving York to rule England in his absence. NOrhUmbeHand and other nobles, discontented with Richard’s fiscal practices, learn that Bolingbroke is returning to England with an army, and join him. York mobilizes troops to defend the kingdom, but Bolingbroke insists that he only comes to claim his inheritance. Richard returns from Ireland, intending to crush the…
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William · 1596 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
: Theseus has conquered Hippolyta and is soon to marry her. Hermia loves Lysander, but her father Egeus wishes her to marry Demetrius, who has jilted Helena for her. Egeus invokes an Athenian law which allows him to have her executed for disobedience — though Theseus points to the additional option of lifelong — chastity in a nunnery. Lysander proposes fleeing with Hermia beyond Athenian jurisdiction, | and they confide their plans to Helena - who tells Demetrius in the hope of winning his favour. He pursues Lysander and Hermia into the woods, and Helena follows him. Marital strife between Oberon and Titania over a changeling boy has. led to chaos in the natural environment. Oberon sends Robin Goodfellow to fetch a magic flower whose juice can compel love. Seeing Demetrius reject Helena, Oberon sends Robin to use some of the juice on him, while he himself uses some on Titania. On the lookout for Athenian clothing, Robin comes upon Lysander and Hermia sleeping, and anoints his eyes. Helena discovers Lysander, and wakes him; he falls in love with her and pursues her, leaving Hermiaalone. — - A group of artisans, planning to perform Pyramus and Thisbe at Theseus’ wedding, meet for a rehearsal in the woods. They begin to adapt the play to avoid scaring the ladies in the audience, and to make it possible to represent the moon and a wall on stage. During the rehearsal, Robin metamorphoses Bottom, putting an ass’s head on him, and scares off the other artisans. Titania wakes, sees…
2 Henry the Fourth
Shakespeare, William · 1597 · History · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
After the battle of Shrewsbury, there are contradictory rumours abroad as to the outcome: some say that the King and his son have vanquished Lord Hotspur of Lancaster, whereas in fact they won. Now Lord John of Lancaster is travelling north with a power, including Sir John Falstaff, to crush the regrouping remnants of the Percy rebellion. Mistress Quickly tries to have Falstaff arrested for debt, while threatens to prevent him setting out for London, but he talks his way out of it. Back from a military expedition in Wales, Prince Henry and Poins disguise themselves as drawers and eavesdrop on Falstaff’s conversation: he says uncomplimentary things about them, but Falstaff excuses himself inventively when confronted. Northumberland’s family persuade him to flee to Scotland rather than join the other northern rebels. Falstaff musters troops in Gloucestershire, but the best men bribe their way out, leaving him with the least suitable soldiers. Prince John sees the rebels and agrees to redress their grievances if they disband their army; but when they do so, he has them arrested for treason. Falstaff arrives in the north late, but meets the rebel Sir John Colville, who promptly surrenders without a fight, having heard Falstaff’s reputation. Prince John returns to court, but Falstaff goes via Gloucestershire to visit Justice Shallow. The sickly King prepares for death, and worries about the kingdom’s future in the hands of his eldest son. News arrives of the defeat of all the…
Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare, William · 1598 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Returning to Messina after a war, Claudio falls in love with Hero. At a masked revel, Don Pedro woos her for him by proxy; Don John maliciously tells Claudio that Pedro has wooed her for himself, but the truth soon purges Claudio’s jealousy and he and Hero are engaged to be married in a week’s time. In the interim, Don Pedro undertakes to make Beatrice and Benedick, who have a humour of mutual hatred, fall in love with each other. This is done by letting each of them overhear a conversation about how much in love the other is. Don John attempts to prevent Claudio’s marriage by showing him what he takes to be a nocturnal assignation between Hero and another man; in fact it is Margaret in Hero’s clothes, wooed by Borachio whom Don John has suborned. Claudio rejects Hero at the wedding, and the Friar proposes that she feign death to inculcate remorse in him. Borachio and his associate Conrad are arrested and examined, and confess the plot. As penance, Claudio undertakes to marry another ===== PAGE 61 ===== 1598 lady, said to be Leonato’s niece, without first seeing her; she is actually Hero. Benedick and Beatrice join Hero and Claudio to make it a double wedding. Don John flees Messina, but is apprehended and brought back to face punishment.
Englishmen for My Money, or A Woman Will Have Her Will
Haughton, William · 1598 · Comedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
The usurer Pisaro intends to marry his daughters to three foreigners, while also using them to acquire wealth from their English suitors. Anthony, their tutor, is sacked for acting as a go-between for the Englishmen, but he disguises himself and is hired in as his own replacement. The daughters encourage their suitors to borrow more money from Pisaro, in the expectation that the debt will be cancelled when they marry. Pisaro, distracted by rumours that his ships have been ambushed in the Mediterranean by Spanish pirates, mistakenly invites the English suitors to dinner. They take up the invitation, meet their foreign rivals, and arrange a nocturnal assignation with the sisters. Learning of this, Pisaro plans to substitute the foreigners, but Anthony forewarns the sisters, so that the Englishmen are able to misdirect the foreigners in the darkness. One of them is actually the clown Frisco, who has taken the Dutchman’s place, and who now leads the two foreigners even further astray. The Dutchman himself finds his way to Pisaro’s house, and the sisters trap him in a basket. The lovers arrive, ready to marry and then sleep with the sisters, but Pisaro intervenes. It seems that the daughters are to be married against their will in the morning, but Anthony devises three schemes: Walgrave impersonates a woman and spends the night with Mathea; Laurentia impersonates Anthony and escapes from the house to- marry Heigham; and Harvey pretends to be mortally ill, forcing Pisaro to let…
The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (Irus)
1598 · Comedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Before the start of the action, Queen Aegiale proposed an adulterous liaison with Cleanthes, but was rebuffed. She then engineered his unjust banishment, but now wants to find him to renew her advances. To that end, she consults the blind beggar and fortune-teller Irus. who recommends that she publish his image throughout Egypt and offer a reward for his apprehension. What she doesn't know is that Irus is himself Cleanthes in disguise. He is maintaining a series of separate identities, passing the time by simultaneously wooing Elimine and Psamathis, while awaiting the opportunity to return and claim the Egyptian crown. The girls also consult lrus about their love-lives , and he makes predictions designed to facilitate his maJ:"riage to them both: Elirnine marries honouJ:" in the person of'Count Hermes', Psamathis marries money in the person of 'Leon', a usurer. and their friend Martia marries status in the person of the Burgomaster of Alexandria, who is really lrus ' clownish brother. lrus then uses his different personas to cuckold himself. As Leon, he seizes a nobleman's property for defaulting on a loan, even though the debt has been repaid, and produces both Hermes and lrus as witnesses in support of his version of events. Egypt is without a male heir after an enchantress transformed King Ptolemy's son into a mandrake. Now he plans to marry his daughter against her will to Prince Doricles, thereby fulfilling a prophecy that such a marriage will enable Egypt to conquer…
The Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (2 Robin Hood)
Munday, Anthony; Chettle, Henry · 1598 · Tragedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
SimDoncaster. whose life was saved by RGbimjHGad, is ungrateful: jealous of Robin’s popularity, he tries to regroup his enemies, and wins over {H@§PHOr who agrees to poison Robin. Hearing of the Prior’s wondrous elixir, Robin invites EHEIKGG to taste it at a feast, but drinks it first himself; it proves to be poison. He accuses Doncaster and the Prior of treason — it also emerges that Doncaster is a rapist as well as a murderer ~— and they are sentenced to death. The King assigns the Prior’s lands, which were once Robin’s, to Mariani and, on his deathbed, Robin makes PHHE@JGlHin swear to treat Marian honourably and not to love her beyond the bounds of chastity. Marian reverts to her original name of Matilda. The King dies and is succeeded by John, who resists the temptation to invade Austria, disposes of Alpthur, the rival claimant to his throne, and marries [Sabél, who was already betrothed to another man. Obsessed with Matilda, however, he soon divorces Isabel, and unsuccessfully attempts to woo Matilda in a masque. Matilda’s allies, Bady§Briiée and her younger sGfi, are taken hostage and imprisoned. Seeking to remove her rival, Isabel confronts and assaults Matilda, but she is rescued by §HeiBrices. Though Matilda graciously attempts to exculpate her, Isabel’s behaviour causes her relationship with King John to deteriorate further. Seeking revenge on the entire Bruce family, John has Lady Bruce and her son starved to death. B@BEH is sent to apprehend Matilda, but she…
2 Edward the Fourth
Heywood, Thomas (?) · 1599 · History · Derby's (Strange's) Men
King Edward invades France; but the Duke of Burgundy and the Constable of France fail to supply the military aid they promised. Several English soldiers are shot by the Constable's men in a failed attempt to assassinate Edward; the Constable pleads an accident,The English herald sent to King Louis is offered peace terms, which Edward modifies: Louis must submit to his suzerainty, and pay both the expenses of the invasion and an annual tribute thereafter. Louis accepts the offer and a treaty is agreed. Burgundy and the Constable try to double-cross both Edward and one another: each writes independently to both Edward and Louis, offering Louis Edward's murder and Edward assistance against Louis. Edward feigns deafness, forcing the envoys to speak loud enough for the hidden Louis to hear; then confronts the envoys with their masters' treachery. He returns to England, leaving troops in France to help Louis rout the traitors. Jane Shore visits the London prisons, distributing alms to the prisoners. Brakenbury solicits her help to procure a pardon for his kinsman Strangwidge, whose actions against French shipping were committed in ignorance of the recent treaty which made them piratical. Also condemned is his passenger, known as Flood but actually Matthew Shore. The Queen first confronts, then forgives Jane for her adultery with Edward. The King pardons Strangwidge and his crew, and Jane pays their prison fees herself. Brakenbury employs 'Flood' at the Tower. Edward has fallen ill…
As You Like It
Shakespeare, William · 1599 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Before the start of the play, Duke Senior was usurped and banished by his younger brother Frederick. Some loyal lords have gone into voluntary exile with him in the Forest of Arden, but his daughter, Rosalind, has remained at court with her beloved cousin, Celia. Upon inheriting his father’s estate, Oliver has neglected his responsibility to educate his younger brother Orlando, keeping him instead in rustic poverty. Orlando remonstrates with Oliver about it without success, then asks for his small inheritance, determined to make his own way in the world. He intends to compete against Charles the wrestler, who has challenged all comers at a forthcoming court show. Charles consults Oliver, concerned that he may injure the young man, but Oliver persuades him that Orlando is a bad lot and that the world would benefit if Charles were to kill him in the match. In the event, Orlando is victorious, but Duke Frederick’s pleasure in his success disappears on learning that he is the son of Sir Rowland, a personal enemy. Rosalind falls in love with Orlando, but he is too tongue-tied to speak to her. Frederick banishes Rosalind. She and Celia flee to the forest in disguise, taking the court fool Touchstone with them; for security, Rosalind poses as a youth, Ganymede, and buys a cottage on arrival. Frederick hears rumours that Orlando may have absconded with them. Meanwhile, Oliver attempts to murder Orlando by burning down his lodging, so the young man escapes to the forest with the old…
Look About You
Anonymous · 1599 · Comedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Before the start of the action, Queen Eleanor had her rival, Rosamund, poisoned by Skink, and was imprisoned for it; Skink escaped and has taken the identity of a fortune-telling hermit. Her son Henry and his brothers attempted a coup, and there are now two kings in England, father and son. At a parliament, the younger King Henry offers to split the kingdom with the elder, but alienates his supporters by his readiness to seize their lands. Skink, summoned to the parliament by Prince Richard, is rewarded with Gloucester’s lands, and Gloucester imprisoned when he protests and strikes Skink. Richard, who has an interest in Gloucester’s sister, Lady Falconbridge, promises to free him. Eavesdropping on a meeting between them, Sir Richard Falconbridge sees his wife reject the Prince’s advances. Pursued by the watch, Skink evades arrest by swapping clothes with Redcap, but is taken to the Fleet prison for identification by Redcap’s father, the porter. Gloucester swaps clothes with him in turn and escapes, and finally Skink too gets away by purloining Prince John’s clothes. Lady Falconbridge disguises Gloucester as her husband, fooling the watch sent to search for him. The substitutions cause misunderstandings when Skink (as John) is given a chain by Falconbridge and Gloucester (as Falconbridge) is given John’s sword; in each case the real man denies what his doppelganger has done. The porter of the Fleet is to be hanged for Gloucester’s escape, but the old King is persuaded to…
Every Man Out of His Humor
Jonson, Ben · 1599 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Cordatus and Mitis are brought by Asper to watch a satirical play, in which he is to be an actor, playing malicious Macilente. They keep up a running commentary between, and sometimes during, the scenes. Each character in the play has a ‘humour’ or obsession to be purged. Sogliardo wants to be a gentleman: he takes instruction from Carlo Buffone and purchases himself a coat of arms; he is eventually used to humiliate the conceited court lady Saviolina by showing that she cannot tell true gentility from false. The farmer Sordido is hoarding grain, and resists a court order to sell it because he is gambling on the price going up after a bad harvest; when this does not happen, he tries to hang himself, and repents on hearing the comments of the rustics who cut him down. Puntarvolo plays chivalric wooing games of mock- adultery with his wife, and plans to travel to Constantinople with his wife and dog, venturing money on their safe return; but he loses the inclination when Macilente poisons the dog. Fungoso tries to imitate the courtier Brisk’s fashionable suit, but is continually frustrated because Brisk keeps changing his clothes. The uxorious Deliro seeks advice on how best to please his contrary wife, Fungoso’s sister. Shift, wanting to be known for a machismo he doesn’t really have, represents himself as a robber, but the threat of hanging forces him to admit the truth. Carlo Buffone has a humour of talking: at a tavern, he performs a comic dialogue between two cups,…
The Shoemaker's Holiday, or The Gentle Craft
Dekker, Thomas · 1599 · Comedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men · before the Court;
Before the start of the action, Lacy went bankrupt on a Continental tour, and learned the cobbler's trade in Wittenberg. On his return to England, he fell in love with Rose Oatley, but they fall foul of disapproving relatives: the Earl of Lincoln contrives for Lacy to leave the country. as a commander in the French wars, and her father takes her away to his country house. The newly married shoemaker Ralph is recruited into the army and takes a sad leave of his wife, Jane, and his colleagues. Lacy, however, deserts after the troops take ship: he sends his cousin to war in his place, and returns to London in the hope of making contact with Rose. Disguised as a Dutch shoemaker, Hans, he seeks employment with Simon Eyre and, though the business does not need another journeyman, he is accepted because Eyre's other workmen like him. A Dutch ship arrives in London with a rich cargo of luxury items, which the skipper offers at a bargain price; Lacy helps Eyre to buy the goods, using the money Lincoln gave him for his expenses in France. Eyre grows prosperous and becomes first an alderman, then Sheriff, and makes over his shop to his foreman. Hodge. In the country, Rose meets Hammon during a hunt, and her father thinks him a suitable son-in-law; at the betrothal, however, she rejects him and declares that she will live a maid. Hammon decides to try his luck with a London shopkeeper instead. The English rout the French in battle with relatively few fatal casualties, but Ralph is…
Julius Caesar
Shakespeare, William · 1599 · Tragedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Caesar returns to Rome triumphant over Pompey. He is warned to beware the Ides of March, and later offered the crown, which he refuses. Meanwhile Cassius sounds out Brutus’ attitude to Caesar’s ambition, and determines to screw him up to conspiracy. Supernatural portents disturb the night before the Ides of March. Brutus convinces himself that Caesar must be assassinated to prevent him establishing himself as a monarch. The conspirators meet at his house, and Brutus insists on limiting the scope of the plot. Cicero is not to be taken into their confidence, Mark Antony is to be spared, and only Caesar murdered. After the conspirators have left, Portia forces Brutus to take her into his confidence. The portents and Calpurnia’s anxiety persuade Caesar to stay at home, but Decius convinces him to go to the Senate as arranged. Artemidorus tries to give him a letter warning against the conspirators, but he refuses to read it. He is stabbed to death, and confusion ensues. Against Cassius’ wishes, Brutus agrees that Antony may speak at Caesar’s funeral. Brutus’ speech justifying the assassination temporarily convinces the mob, but Antony’s rhetoric, and a bequest in Caesar’s will, turns them against the conspirators. Brutus and Cassius flee Rome. In the riots that follow, the conspirators’ houses are burned and Cinna the poet killed, mistaken for the conspirator of the same name. Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus seize power, draw up a death list, and make preparations for war with…
Patient Grissel
Dekker, Thomas; Chettle, Henry; Haughton, William · 1600 · Comedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Gwaltef has vowed to choose a wife. On the day of decision, he goes hunting instead, but leads his companions to the low-born (GHiSSil] whom he has been wooing in secret. D@WFe6) Grissil’s brother, comes home from university in poverty, but he and his father become courtiers after Gwalter and Grissil are married. Grissil becomes pregnant. Gwalter’s subjects object to his marrying beneath him. Though obsessively uxorious, he is determined to test her patience, and attempts to humiliate her by making her tie a servant’s shoe; she complies without protest. He then banishes her family from court; again she accepts this patiently. She gives birth to a twin son and daughter, and Gwalter has the babies taken away from her: they are sent to PaWia to be looked after by his brother, and Grissil is expelled from court. She ===== PAGE 196 ===== GRISSIL, Janicola’s daughter, Laureo’s sister: later Gwalter’s wife and mother of Prince Gwalter and the Princess; also called Lady Grissil returns to her father’s house, and Gwalter sends Fan to tell her she will never see her children again; he watches the conversation in disguise, and BABULO, Janicola’s man; formerly a traveller ‘accidentally’ drops a piece of gold to ensure that Master LAUREO, a poor young scholar; Janicola’s son, she will not starve. In the sub-plot, Eiiul6 and Siff{Oweni are rivals for Grissil’s brother; later uncle of Grissil’s children Two LapIgs attending Gwalter (sc.2, non-speaking) the Welsh widow GwWénthian, while…
Thomas Lord Cromwell
S., W. · 1600 · History · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
So devoted is young Thomas Cromwell to his studies thathe tries to stop his father's workmen from making a noise. Old Cromwell is concerned at his ambitious son's lavishness with money: he seems not to understand the economic realities of life. He is making a living by working as a copyist, but accepts a job as a secretary in Antwerp. Banister owes Friskiball £1,ooo. Bagot has him arrested in Friskiball's name, and hardens the creditor's heart by telling him that Banister has enough money to pay his debts, if he were willing to do so. Frisk.iball relents after Mistress Banister pleads for her husband, and defers the debt until the couple have become prosperous; but the vindictive Bagot buys Banister's debts in order to oppress him. Banister flees to Antwerp, but Bagot pursues and arrests him. Cromwell agref!S to help the Banisters, and speaks to Bagot; but fails to move pity in him. Bagot negotiates with the Governor of Antwerp over some jewels, w:hich turn out to be stolen. Bagot is arrested and sent back to England; Banister is released, and awarded his confi.s.cated property. Cromwell goes to Florence with his servant Hodge, but they are robbed of their clothes. Following Italian custom, they set up bills describing their misfortune, and the anglophile Friskiball gives them money. They travel on to Bologna to relieve the Earl of Bedford, who is trapped in a house surrounded by French troops. Cromwell rescues the Earl posing as a Neapolitan hired by the French to abduct…
The Maid's Metamorphosis
Anonymous · 1600 · Pastoral Romance · Children of Paul's (second)
Considering Eurymine too low-born to be a suitable match for his son Ascanio, Duke Telemachus orders two of his gentlemen to escort her from the court and murder her. In the event, however, Phylander persuades his colleague that they have no obligation to follow unlawful orders. They plan to present the Duke with an animal’s heart, claiming it to be hers, and Eurymine agrees to live away from the court in country exile. She meets a forester and a shepherd, each of whom wants her to live with him; when they become competitive, she agrees to accept a cottage from the forester and a flock of sheep from the shepherd. Ascanio goes into the woods looking for Eurymine. Juno finds him asleep and, eager to prove her superiority to Venus, arranges for him to dream of where to find his love. Meanwhile, Eurymine meets Apollo, who is also attracted to her. To save herself from rape, she claims to disbelieve his claims of godhead, and asks him to prove himself by working a miracle: specifically, she asks him to change her sex. He does, but with an associated curse: as a man, she will fall hopelessly in love with another man, and long to be a woman again. Ascanio learns from an echo that Eurymine is nearby but inaccessible, and the hermit Aramanthus, who is also a dispossessed prince, explains her metamorphosis. This disappoints not only Ascanio but also her country admirers, and Aramanthus recommends that she should ask the Graces to intercede with Apollo on her behalf. Apollo eventually…
Jack Drum's Entertainment (Katherine and Pasquil)
Marston, John · 1600 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (second)
The liberal Sir Edward Fortune has two daughters, Katherine and Camelia, and numerous would-be sons- in-law; he is concerned that the girls should marry their own choice of husband. Katherine is pursued by the usurer Mammon, who criticizes Sir Edward for excessive generosity, and by Master Puff, but she © prefers Pasquil. Camelia loves Ned Brabant, but others, including the foolish John Ellis and the lustful ~ - Frenchman Monsieur John fo’ de King are interested in her. Witnessing an early-morning encounter between Pasquil and Katherine, Mammon engages _ ===== PAGE 217 ===== 1600 Monsieur John to murder Pasquil, but Pasquil pays him more to report the deed done without actually committing it. On hearing the rumours that Pasquil is dead, Katherine disappears. Camelia’s waiting-woman Winifred has been bribed to promote John Ellis’s suit, and Camelia duly transfers her affections to Ellis, jilting Ned Brabant. Outraged, Brabant’s friend Planet bribes Winifred to change her recommendation. Camelia changes her mind just as Ellis and her father are about to agree a marriage contract, and wants Planet instead. She sends a love- gift to Planet, but he rejects her, thereby avenging her treatment of Brabant. But Brabant does not know what Planet is up to, and becomes murderously jealous when he sees the offer of Camelia’s favour. He sends his page to shoot Planet, then takes Planet’s hat and coat in order to pose as him for an assignation with Camelia. Wer behaviour makes Planet’s…
Il Pastor Fido, or The Faithful Shepherd
Dymoke, Tailboys, trans.; Guarini, Giovanni Battista · 1601 · Pastoral
Years ago, AWAVRE, two-timed by DUST prayed to DiSNa for vengeance. She sent death to Arcadia, and the oracle decreed that her wrath could be appeased only when Lucrina is sacrificed at the hands of Amyntas. Lucrina was brought to the altar, but Amyntas took pity on her and killed himself; recognizing the truth of his love, Lucrina then herself committed a remorseful suicide in turn. But the curse was remitted only temporarily, and {i#@@nnualhuman SAGHHEES must continue; Diana will be permanently pacified only by a marriage between a couple, both of GivVi@NGSS2hH) and by the pity of a faithful shepherd. Such a couple has been identified: SHMSl and AMmamillis; but Silvio is uninterested in women, preferring to hunt the boar which has been ravaging the countryside. ; A chain of failed amours proceeds from. this. AMaHGS is loved by MEFGHG) who thinks himself too poor and lowly to be worthy of her. He has tried to get access to her by dressing as a nymph; in this disguise he became unwittingly involved in a Sapphic kissing contest, and was adjudged the winner by Amarillis. Returning home to tend to his sick father, he pined away, and an oracle reported that his only hope was to go t@NAIRGadial — so here he is. He in turn is both loved and hated by G&HiSE4) who has learned the amorous arts in the city: she loves him for his beauty, hates him for his interest in Amarillis. She offers to promote his suit to ABZ) in order to take revenge on them both. Corisca has led on a…
The Trial of Chivalry (This Gallant Cavaliero Dick Bowyer)
Anonymous · 1601 · Romance · Derby's (Strange's) Men
France is on the point of battle over its claim to suzerainty over Navarre, but the children of the two royal families call for peace: Ferdinand and Philip love Katharine and Bellamira. A truce of three months is agreed; if the marriages take place, the war will end permanently. Neither courtship is successful, however. Katharine is in love with the Earl of Pembroke, Navarre’s ally, and treats Ferdinand with disdain. Ferdinand appoints Pembroke to woo her on his behalf, but her behaviour afterwards convinces him that Pembroke has wooed her on his own account. He challenges Pembroke to a duel; they wound one another, and are reported dead. Meanwhile, the French traitor Bourbon aims to secure the crown of Navarre for himself by marrying Bellamira, then poisoning Ferdinand and the King. Balked by the planned diplomatic marriage and rejected by Bellamira herself, he uses a poison supplied by his ally, Duke Roderick, to disfigure Bellamira’s face. Philip insists that he will marry her anyway, but she runs away before the wedding can take place. Duke Roderick reports untruthfully that Katharine too has run away after being raped by Ferdinand. France accepts Bourbon’s submission and offer of troops; both kingdoms are back on a war footing. In fact, unknown to each other, both Ferdinand and Pembroke have been found by countrymen and nursed back to health. Believing Ferdinand dead, Pembroke erects a tomb to him and demands that passers-by leave their shields in tribute. Katharine…
Poetaster, or The Arraignment
Jonson, Ben · 1601 · Comedy · Children of the Chapel (second) · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Ovid’s father wants him to be a lawyer, but he prefers poetry. He attends an assignation of poets and their loves at Albius’ house. Crispinus, wishing to cuckold the jeweller, observes how taken his wife Chloé is with poets, and determines to become a poet himself. He forces his company on Horace, who escapes when an apothecary tries to arrest Crispinus for debt. Tucca intervenes to save him, and arranges for him to contribute to the controversial play satirizing poets which the players, anxious to attract audiences after a poor winter’s playing season, have hired Demetrius to write. Julia hosts a drunken banquet at court for the poets and ladies, who all dress as gods and goddesses, hiring appropriate props from the players, including a crown and sceptre. Lupus hears about this and, mistakenly believing that treason is plotted, brings the Emperor to interrupt the banquet. Appalled at the poets’ impiety and abuse of their talents, and at his daughter’s wantonness, Augustus banishes Ovid and imprisons Julia. A poetry reading by Virgil is interrupted by Lupus, who thinks he has detected more treason, and is exposed as a fool. Crispinus and Demetrius are tried for defamation of Horace and found guilty. Horace gives Crispinus a purge, and he vomits his obscure vocabulary. 1601 B-Text After the play has finished, two critics visit the author in his study and debate the play’s origins and the controversy over its personal satire; the author proposes that his next play will be a…
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Shakespeare, William · 1601 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Orsino is in love with Olivia, but she is in mourning and has renounced the company of men. Shipwrecked in Illyria and believing her twin brother dead, Viola enters Orsino’s service posing as a eunuch, ‘Cesario’. She falls in love with him, but is sent to woo Olivia on his behalf. Olivia in turn falls in love with ‘Cesario’. Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby, is trying to marry her off to his idiot acquaintance, Sir Andrew. After her steward Malvolio interrupts their raucous nocturnal sing-song, and unjustly accuses her gentlewoman Maria of complicity, the offended parties plot to humiliate him. Maria writes a letter, in handwriting similar to Olivia’s, and leaves it for him to find. It encourages him to believe possible his fantasies of marrying his mistress, and induces him to behave and dress inappropriately in her presence. Olivia thinks he is mad or possessed, and has him confined in Sir Toby’s charge. Sir Toby and his accomplices take the opportunity to mock him. Sebastian, Viola’s brother, is alive after all: he was rescued from drowning by Orsino’s enemy Antonio. They too come to Illyria, and Antonio entrusts Sebastian with his purse. Sir Toby encourages Sir Andrew to challenge ‘Cesario’ to a duel, and makes each afraid of the other. They are on the point of fighting when Antonio intervenes to help the youth, believing him to be Sebastian. When he is arrested by Orsino’s officers, Viola is unable to return the purse he gave to Sebastian; he reproaches ‘Sebastian’s’…
The Fair Maid of the Exchange
Anonymous (?) · 1602 · Comedy · Unknown
Phyllis and Ursula are assaulted by two ruffians as they go to deliver wares to a customer at night. A cripple rescues them, and a second assault is foiled by the intervention of Frank Golding; the cripple promises to help Frank if ever he can. Frank's two brothers are both in love with Phyllis, and, though he scorns amorous passions, Frank has fallen for her too. Phyllis, however, loves the cripple, and woos him by giving him a handkerchief to embroider “for a friend’. Meanwhile, Bobbington poses as a sailor going on a voyage, and borrows money from Phyllis’s father, Flower, leaving a diamond ring with him as security. Ferdinand and Anthony overhear one another's plans to woo Phyllis, but neither knows that Frank is also a rival. Ferdinand writes to her; Anthony plans to intercept the letter and substitute his own, but Ferdinand disguises Frank as a porter and gets him hired as Anthony's messenger. Planning to double-cross them both, Frank enlists the cripple's help. The cripple supplies him with two rejection letters to take back to his brothers, as from Phyllis. They each enlist the help of one of Phyllis’s parents, ===== PAGE 378 ===== who then quarrel over which brother shall marry their daughter. _ Knowing Phyllis loves him but thinking himself unworthy, the cripple lends Frank his clothes. Frank courts Phyllis in disguise, and she gives him her ring; then. he brings the parents forged letters from his brothers withdrawing their suits. Each parent decides to:spite the…
Antonio and Mellida
1602 · Tragicomedy · Children of Paul's (second)
The Genoese navy is routed by the Venetians, and the defeated Duke and his son Antonio are banished; the victorious Venetian Duke Piero proclaims a price on both their heads. Meanwhile, aristocratic suitors have come to Venice to woo Mellida, Piero's daughter and Antonio's love. Shipwrecked in Venetian territory and believing his father dead, Antonio disguises himself as an Amazon. He meets Mellida and is received at court; at first he maintains his alias, pretending to have seen Antonio die, but then reveals himself to Mellida. He makes arrangements to abscond with her to England; the plot is discovered, but they escape, separately, in disguise. Andrugio too is alive, believing Antonio to have perished, and he too has been washed up in Venice. Father and fugitive son are reunited in the Venetian marsh; then Antonio meets the disguised Mellida. Piero's search party captures Mellida; she is imprisoned and will be forced to marry her suitor Galeazzo. The courtiers perform a wedding masque, during which Andrugio arrives, to claim Piero's proffered reward for bringing his own head. Piero is astounded at his courage and renounces their enmity. Antonio prompts further remorse by feigning his own death; he rises from his coffin when Piero wishes Mellida's love could bring him back to life. Galeazzo agrees to give up Mellida (he was never that fond of her anyway), and Piero gives her to Antonio, along with the promised gold.
Wily Beguiled
Anonymous (?) · 1602 · Comedy · Unknown
Grip the usurer wants to marry his daughter Lelia to the foolish son of his neighbour, Ploddall, in order to gain control of Ploddall’s extensive land-holdings. For her part, Lelia loves the scholar Sophos, but Grip doesn’t think him rich enough and warns the young man off. The fathers agree and Churms the lawyer is engaged to draw up the marriage contract. Churms persuades Grip to let him visit her to intercede for Peter Ploddall, and also agrees to act as an intermediary woeer for Sophos; but all the while his objective is to win Lelia for himself. Meanwhile he engages Robin Goodfellow to provide Peter with a fake love-philtre for Lelia, and to frame Sophos for rape so that Lelia will fall out of love with him. Robin in turn plans to cozen Churms of Lelia and Grip of his money; but his plotting is overheard by Grip’s son, Fortunatus, who has just returned from the wars. Fortunatus finds the despairing Sophos sleeping in the woods, and listens to his woes. It becomes clear that Churms is double-crossing Sophos, so Fortunatus lays a plot. At her brother's behest, Lelia arranges to abscond with Churms, who capitalizes Grip’s debts at less than their true value in order to finance the elopement. While Fortunatus and Sophos are waiting ===== PAGE 368 ===== to.intercept Churms, Robin tries to frighten Sophos by dressing up as the devil, but Fortunatus beats him and forces him to admit his misdeeds. When the eloping ‘couple’ arrive, Fortunatus intervenes and asks Lelia to choose…
The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt
Dekker, Thomas; Webster, John; Heywood, Thomas (?); Chettle, Henry (?) · 1602 · History · Worcester's Men
The King of England is dying. Northumberland and Suffolk conspire to disinherit his sister, Mary, in favour of Suffolk’s daughter, the reluctant Lady Jane Grey. When news arrives of the King’s death, they have her proclaimed Queen. Sir Thomas Wyatt, refusing to be a party to this, leaves court, and brings the news to Mary, who is living in frugal retirement. Northumberland and Suffolk raise an army against Mary, but Wyatt and the Lord Treasurer speak in the Council for a legal succession in accordance with the will of King Henry VIII. Mary is proclaimed Queen in London, and Lady Jane and her husband Guildford Dudley are arrested. Northumberland is ordered to discharge his troops and come to court, and is arrested. Suffolk is on the run. His servant, Holmes, brings him food, but also brings the Sheriff to arrest him. Holmes is paid well, but later strangles himself in remorse. Queen Mary begins to make fiscal arrangements, and reneges on her promise not to make any alteration in state religion: she plans to restore the Roman Catholic church. She also plans to marry Philip of Spain, contrary to the laws established by her father. Northumberland is executed. Disgusted at the prospect of Spanish infiltration, Wyatt raises rebellion in Kent. Part of Norfolk’s army defects to Wyatt on nationalist grounds, but when Pembroke bars the gates of London against him, his supporters slink away and he is arrested. Jane and Guildford are tried, and declare their innocence; Guildford notes…
Antonio's Revenge (2 Antonio and Mellida)
1602 · Tragedy · Children of Paul's (second)
The war between Venice and Genoa is over, and peace is to be sealed with a marriage between Antonio and Mellida, the children of the two dukes; Antonio's mother Maria is on her way to Venice to attend the wedding. But Duke Piero's commitment to peace is not sincere: he secretly murders Felice and Duke Andrugio, and hides Felice's body in Mellida's bedroom. When Antonio comes to wake her on the wedding morning, he finds the body hanging in the window, and Piero claims that he killed Felice in rage upon finding him and Mellida fornicating; Mellida herself is imprisoned. Andrugio in tum is reported to have died of joy. Piero's plan is to kill Antonio, marry Mellida to the heir to the duchy of Florence, and marry Maria himself, thereby extending his dominion across three Italian states. To this end, he plans to frame Antonio and establish Mellida's innocence. Antonio visits Andrugio's tomb and sees his ghost, who calls on him to avenge his death, assures him of Mellida's chastity, and warns him that Maria is going to marry Piero. Antonio murders Piero's son. The day before Maria's intended wedding, the ghost appears to her in her bedroom and reproaches her for disloyalty in widowhood. He further tells her that he was poisoned by Piero, and insists that Antonio should flee the court in order to seek revenge. Instead, Antonio stays at court disguised as a fool, and has it put about that he is dead. Mellida is put on trial, and Strozzo makes a false confession vindicating her and…
How a Man May Choose a Good Wife from a Bad
Anonymous (?) · 1602 · Comedy · Worcester's Men
Arthur has fallen out with his wife: he is bored with her, convinced she is always trying to put him down, and also just wants a change. When the couple’s fathers visit in an effort to achieve marital harmony, they enter without knocking and find Arthur beating his wife. Her father, Old Lusam, wants to take her home, but she won’t go; she also resists the efforts of Anselm to seduce her and rejects his criticisms of her husband. The fathers take her to Justice Reason in an attempt to have him intervene, but she will not co-operate and Reason will not get involved. Arthur becomes attracted to Mary, a courtesan whom the schoolmaster Aminadab also loves. Seeing her attentions to Arthur makes Aminadab suicidal, and he tries to obtain poison from Fuller, pretending he needs it for an infestation of rats; Fuller gives him a sleeping potion instead. Seeking to kill his wife, Arthur takes the ‘poison’ from Aminadab under cover of preventing his suicide, and holds a dinner party. One of the guests is Mary, but Mistress Arthur puts up even with this, only to be given ‘poisoned’ wine by her husband. Mistress Arthur is interred in her family vault. Anselm visits her tomb and she revives when he kisses her. He hides her in his mother’s house, but despite everything she remains faithful to her husband 1601 and resists her rescuer’s advances. Meanwhile Arthur marries Mary, but finds her an unloving, disobedient, spendthrift wife. In an attempt to win her trust, he tells her the guilty…
May Day
Chapman, George · 1602 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
It is May morning. In accordance with the season, old Lorenzo is planning an amorous, adulterous adventure with Francischina, and approaches her kinsman Angelo to act as go-between. Francischina’s husband too is going out with his gull, Innocentio, who is to observe gentlemanly behaviour at an ordinary. Lodovico makes doubly sure of his absence by introducing him to an admirer, Giovanelli, and they go to a tavern together. He is implicated in a second plot which in turn requires Lorenzo to be away from his home: Lorenzo’s daughter Aemilia, whom he plans to marry against her will to Gasparo, loves Aurelio, and Lodovico has promised to bring him to her at the house’s rear terrace. Meanwhile, Leonoro conspires with Temperance to win the love of Lucretia, Aurelio’s cousin. Nothing goes entirely according to plan. Lorenzo comes to Francischina disguised as a chimney-sweep, so that he can enter the house without risk to her honour, but Lodovico lets his friends in on the secret and they tease him on the way; later Angelo pretends to be Quintiliano coming home early, and frightens Lorenzo into hiding. Aurelio’s assignation with Aemilia turns out to involve more than talking when Lodovico provides a rope ladder and he climbs up onto the terrace, which gives access to her bedroom. Lodovico waits below, muffled in his cloak, and Temperance mistakes him for Leonoro; she invites him in just as the real Leonoro arrives and is taken to Lucretia’s chamber. When he gets into bed with her,…
The Family of Love
Barry, Lording · 1603 · Comedy · Children of the King's Revels
Glister forbids his ward Maria to see Gerardine, and confines her to his house. He is invited to a supper party at Purge’s, where Gerardine’s will is to be read. On the way, Gerardine and his friends pass beneath Maria’s window, and she warns him how dangerous it would be for him to climb up to see her, thereby dropping a hint. The will is read: Gerardine is going On a voyage overseas, and has made Maria his heir; his property is in a trunk, which is to be given into Glister’s safe-keeping until he returns. Glister takes delivery of the trunk. Once Maria is alone with the trunk, Gerardine emerges from it. Their tryst is interrupted by Lipsalve, who overheard Maria’s indirect instructions and now poses as Gerardine in hope of an assignation; he goes away unsuccessful, and Gerardine has sex with Maria, promising to marry her later. Glister is consulted first by Lipsalve and then by Gudgeon, each of whom wants magical help in cuckolding Purge. Glister agrees to a stratagem: Lipsalve must pretend to be away for a few days, but stay in his lodgings; Glister will conjure a spirit to bring Mistress Purge there. Each would-be lover is told that the spirit will take the form of the other, and that he must attack it with a whip supplied by Glister. Each keeps the appointment, and whips the other before they realize the trick that has been played on them. Mistress Purge is a member of the Family of Love, a radical Christian sect which is also a women’s sex club. Her husband overhears…
A Woman Killed with Kindness
Heywood, Thomas · 1603 · Tragedy · Worcester's Men
. : : marries Sir Francis -Acton’s sister Anne, to ‘much. celebration. Frankford. welcomes IWSHUGH into his household as his companion. but Wendoll seduces Anne. Nicholas tells Frankford of Anne's infidelity,so - he leaves the house on a pretext and returns to find her in bed with Wendoll. Eschewing violence, he ejects Wendoll and banishes Anne to another house, never again to see him or their children. Wendoll goes into voluntary exile for a time, planning to return to . England when his misdeeds are forgotten. Anne starves herself to death. but is reconciled with her _ husband before she d | a Wood E. 4, p. 10; Chambers, iv. 30; Edmund Gayton, — Sir Francie: ey a Shtiite wager, kills two “of his ===== PAGE 26 ===== retainers, and is arrested; he escapes execution but spends his inheritance in litigation, and accepts a loan from SHafton. He is reduced to farming to keep his little remaining property, but Shafton wants to acquire it and puts pressure on him by calling in the loan; when Sir Charles refuses to sell, he is arrested for debt. Sir Francis plans to further his revenge against the Mountfords by tempting SUiSaii to whoredom, but falls in love with her when she proves chaste. After he has Sir Charles released from prison, Sir Charles feels obliged to repay him by offering him Susan; the siblings plan to commit suicide after the rape, but Sir Francis ends the feud and accepts Susan as his wife.
Philotus
Anonymous (?) · 1603 · Comedy
Rejected by Emily, Philotus engages a bawd to help with his wooing. She recounts to Emily the advantages of marrying a rich old man: social position, fashionable clothes, a life of luxury, and the prospect of early widowhood. Emily is more concerned about his sexual performance, but the bawd emphasizes the opportunities she will have to commit adultery. When Emily remains unconvinced, Philotus agrees with her father Alberto that each will marry the other’s daughter. Emily still refuses, so Alberto threatens her with imprisonment on a bread-and-water diet. She asks for time to think it over. Flavius is a suitor more to Emily’s liking. She absconds disguised as a page, but is seen by her father’s servant. Philotus and Alberto search for her, but find her brother Philerno, who has returned home unrecognized. They take him for his cross-dressed sister: Alberto forgives ‘her’ provided that ‘she’ now consents to the marriage. Philotus takes ‘her’ home and lodges ‘her’ with Brisilla, his daughter and Alberto’s fiancée. Brisilla witnesses a miracle: Philerno prays to be turned into a man to evade the marriage, and instantly becomes one. The nuptial day arrives, and Flavius sees Philotus being married to ‘Emily’. Assuming the Emily he has at home to be a devil in human form, he throws her out of the house. Meanwhile, Philerno hires a whore to take - his place on the wedding night, and she demonstrates who is the dominant partner by beating Philotus. Confronted by Alberto and Flavius,…
1 Jeronimo, with the Wars of Portugal
Anonymous · 1604 · Tragedy · Unknown
Hieronimo is created Marshal of Spain. Portugal fails to pay tribute to Spain, and Don Andrea is sent as ambassador to investigate. He learns that the unpaid tribute arises from deliberate policy rather than negligence, and declares war. In Spain, his promotion arouses jealousy in Lorenzo, who plots to frustrate his love for Bel-Imperia: Alcario is to offer her gifts beyond what Andrea could afford, and, if that doesn’t work, Lazarotto is to murder Andrea on his return to Spain. The plot is overheard by Hieronimo and Horatio, who write to warn Andrea. Alcario disguises himself as Andrea to woo Bel-Imperia, and Lorenzo spreads rumours of Andrea’s return to add credence to the pretence: in consequence, Lazarotto mistakenly kills Alcario instead of Andrea, and Lorenzo silences him by hastening his execution. No sooner has Andrea returned than he must leave again: the Portuguese army is on the march. Spanish and Portuguese leaders agree to pair off for single combat in the battle. The two armies’ losses seem evenly balanced: Lorenzo kills Don Pedro, but Alexandro kills Rogero. Andrea is downed by Balthazar but rescued by Horatio; later Balthazar is floored by Andrea, but relieved by soldiers who then kill Andrea. Horatio beats down Balthazar, but Lorenzo seizes the Portuguese prince’s weapons. Andrea’s ghost attends his own funeral, accompanied by Revenge, who will not allow him to speak to Horatio. The war ends with defeat for Portugal; Balthazar is taken to Spain in captivity.
Measure for Measure
Shakespeare, William; Middleton, Thomas, rev. · 1604 · Tragicomedy · King's Men
Duke Vincentio appoints Angelo as his deputy during his absence from Vienna, but arranges to remain in the city disguised as a friar. He explains to Friar Thomas, who helps with the disguise, that his objective is the restoration of the strict penal laws against sexual immorality which he has allowed to slip; Angelo, famous for his rectitude, will be able to effect this without risk of personal censure. But the Duke is also interested in how Angelo himself will respond to the challenges and temptations of power. Angelo does as expected, enforcing the laws which make begetting a child out of wedlock a capital crime. Claudio is arrested: he has made his fiancée Julietta pregnant, having been unable to have their marriage publicly solemnized because her family disapproves and would withhold her dowry. Claudio asks his friend Lucio to get his sister Isabella, who is about to enter a nunnery, to intercede with Angelo on his behalf. Isabella goes to see Angelo, who initially rejects her pleas, but then defers a decision and asks to see her again. At the second meeting, he offers her a bargain: Claudio’s life will be spared in exchange for sex with her. When he learns of the proposal, Claudio is torn between honour and fear, but finally urges Isabella to accept; she is chastely unwilling to do so. The Duke overhears their conversation, enjoins Claudio to prepare himself for death, and offers Isabella an option. Angelo was engaged to marry Mariana, but jilted her after her dowry was…
Caesar and Pompey (The Wars of Caesar and Pompey)
Chapman, George · 1605 · Tragedy · Unacted (?)
The armies of Caesar and Pompey are both dangerously close to Italy: Pompey’s has been summoned by the Senate, fearful of Caesar’s ambition, and this provoked Caesar to bring up his own forces. The Senate meets to discuss the issue. Caesar’s agents unsuccessfully try to keep out his incorruptible enemy, Cato. Caesar arranges for a motion to be put to allow Pompey’s army to enter Italy, as a pretext to allow his to do the same; but this meets with the opposition of Cato. A quarrel erupts between Caesar and Pompey, and the Senate orders Caesar to disband his army, whilst requiring Pompey to mobilize in defence of the state. Civil war ensues. Fearing that the war will put a stop to his long criminal career, Fronto tries to hang himself. The devil Ophioneus prevents him and offers him a senior position in the priesthood in return for his service. Fronto declines ecclesiastical preferment, but is content to accept a more secular office. Pompey flees Rome to avoid an early battle. His ally Vibius is taken prisoner after a daring exploit goes wrong; Caesar salutes his bravery and sends him back to Pompey with an offer of peace. Pompey’s troops are gathering: Brutus joins him, despite bearing him a grudge, and so do the kings of five of Rome’s satellite states. Meanwhile the convergence of Caesar’s forces is hindered by Pompey’s navy, until it is dispersed by a tempest. Vibius brings Caesar’s offer of peace, but Brutus persuades Pompey that it must be a trap. Pompey prepares for his…
The Dutch Courtesan (Cockle de Moye)
1605 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Mulligrub is morose: Cocledemoy has stolen some goblets from him. As the play goes on he gets increasingly infuriated as Cocledemoy continues to get the better of him. First the cheater borrows barber's instruments, visits him posing as a northern barber, and steals his bag of money while shaving him. Next, Mulligrub buys a goblet from Burnish and has it sent to his wife. Posing as Burnish's man, Cocledemoy pretends that he has been sent to arrange a meal for the Mulligrubs and Burnishes, leaves a gift of salmon, and takes the goblet back for engraving. Mulligrub returns home and, knowing nothing of the meal, decides to eat the salmon before anyone realizes the mistake, but loses his appetite on realizing that the goblet is gone. After he leaves to raise the alarm, Codedemoy returns and cons the salmon out of Mistress Mulligrub too. Finally Cocledemoy arranges for Mulligrub to pick up his cloak, then has him arrested for theft.Freevill invites his friend Malheureux to join him on a visit to the courtesan Francischina, in the hope that he will reconsider his disapproval of prostitution. He does: on seeing the courtesan, he falls in love. She grows jealous on hearing that Freevill is to marry Beatrice, and asks him to give her Beatrice's ring. When he refuses, she asks the infatuated Malheureux to prove his love by killing Freevill; she will reward him sexually when he brings her the ring. Malheureux soon comes to his senses: he tells Freevill everything, and they conspire to…
The Queen's Arcadia (Arcadia Reformed)
Daniel, Samuel · 1605 · Pastoral · before the Court;at University;
Arcadia is no longer the place of pastoral simplicity it once was: old shepherds have grown litigious, young ones are falling in love unwisely and unrequitedly, and the nymphs, who seem less beautiful than before, have abandoned the modest simplicity of traditional Arcadian dress in favour of quirky new fashions. The problems arise from foreign influences on this previously sequestered land. Colax has travelled abroad, and brought back with him the city woman Techne, and they are selfishly interfering in the love- lives of the nymphs and shepherds: they have made Silvia and Palaemon jealous of one another with mendacious tales of infidelity; and Colax has persuaded Dorinda to jilt Myrtillus in his favour, making her the latest in a string of sexual conquests. Meanwhile Lincus, a lawyer, and Doctor Alcon have both come from town to set up practices in Arcadia. Lincus has found the local amity bad for business: the Arcadians do not covet one another’s property and so never go to law. For Alcon, however, the Arcadians’ fellow-feeling is profitable, because when one falls ill, others follow suit, and they all want the same medicine from him — which is just as well, because he has only one to offer, and that is a placebo. Both are keen to drum up trade, so Lincus has set Montanus and Acrisius against one another, and Alcon has introduced the Arcadians to an unhealthy habit: tobacco-smoking. Carinus (who has recently jilted Amaryllis) and Amyntas are rivals for the love of Cloris,…
All Fools
1605 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels · before the Court;Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
alerio and Fortunio are both in love, but the strictness of Valerio's father Gostanzo crosses them both: Valerio has married Gratiana in secret and must keep the fact from Gostanzo, who wrongly thinks him a model of virtue; and Fortunio loves Valerio's sister Bellanora but can gain no access to her. Rinaldo resolves both problems by tellingGostanzo thatGratiana is Fortunio's wife and that his father Marc Antonio, angry at not being consulted about the match, has disowned him. Gostanzo offers to take in the 'couple' until Marc Antonio's displeasure passes; there Fortunio will learn from Valerio's good example. However, when he sees Valerio behaving amorously with Gratiana, Gostanzo insists that she leaves. Rinaldo next lodges Gratiana with Marc Antonio, telling him the truth that she is really Valerio's wife and that the story about Fortunio was a blind to gull Gostanzo. Marc Antonio believes this at first, until Gostanzo persuades him otherwise; when Valerio seeks his forgiveness for his secret marriage, he thinks this a device to deceive Marc Antonio, and gives the couple his blessing. Valerio has been made to look a fool when Cornelio and Dariotto persuade him to sing and play for them. He gets even by spreading a rumour that Dariotto has cuckolded Cornelio, who wounds the courtier in reprisal and then sets about divorcing his wife. As he is signing the divorce papers, however, he gets a nosebleed and, thinking it ominous, defers it till the next court day. On being told…
The Isle of Gulls
Day, John · 1606 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Three members of the audience ask the Prologue about the play they are to see, The Isle of Gulls. They prove to have irreconcilable tastes in drama: one wants satire, one bawdy, and one bombast, but all eventually agree to give the play a chance. Concerned about his daughters’ unsuitable suitors, Basilius retires with them for a year to an uninhabited, fortified island, leaving his brother to rule Arcadia in his stead. A proclamation challenges royal would-be suitors to win the princesses by stealth. This attracts Julio and Amintor to the island, alerted by Basilius’ unworthy favourite Dametas; and also Lysander and Demetrius, respectively disguised as Zelmane, an Amazon, and Dorus, a woodman. ‘Zelmane’ becomes Violetta’s companion, and Demetrius enters Dametas’ service. Dametas arranges an opportunity for Julio and Amintor to rape the princesses by isolating them during a hunt. They kidnap the girls, but ‘Zelmane’ and ‘Dorus’ rescue them. ‘Dorus’ is rewarded with an appointment as Hippolita’s attendant, but the incident also casts doubt on ‘Zelmane’s’ gender, so Lysander loses his access to Violetta. Basilius and Gynecia are both enamoured of Lysander (each believing him to be a different sex), and each persuades him to accept the other’s advances for sport. Meanwhile Dametas’ daughter Mopsa falls in love with ‘Dorus’. Amintor and Julio continue to have ill success: they pose as envoys from Basilius’ brother, appealing for him to deal with an outbreak of abuses, corruption,…
The Woman Hater (The Hungry Courtier)
Beaumont, Francis; Fletcher, John · 1606 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (second)
Oriana is on her way to visit the Duke’s court when she is caught in a hail-storm, and takes refuge in the house of Gondarino. Gondarino is a confirmed misogynist, and makes her duly unwelcome. The Duke, on his way to visit Oriana at home, is also caught in the storm and he too shelters in Gondarino’s house. Gondarino suspects that he is unwittingly being made the host of an illicit assignation (and indeed the Duke is attracted to Oriana). Oriana takes umbrage at Gondarino’s attitude to women, and pretends to pursue him amorously in an effort to torment him out of it. He sends her to stay in a bawdy-house, and tells the Duke that she is unchaste. Her brother Valore disputes this, and Gondarino is suspected of slander. To defend himself, he shows her to the Duke in her new lodgings, but his story is discredited when it emerges that he sent her there himself. The Duke sends the courtier Arrigo to kill Oriana, but he offers to spare her in return for sex. She refuses, and thereby proves her chastity: the Duke was testing her, and she now accepts his proposal
The Whore of Babylon
Dekker, Thomas · 1606 · Allegorical History · Prince Henry's Men
WitaHid becomes Queen of Fairyland and restores respect to Truth and her book; friars, cardinals, and other ecclesiastical figures are expelled from the kingdom. All this infuriates theiBmpressioriBabylony who had banished Truth to the wilderness, claiming her to be an impostor. She sends three Kings to Fairyland to seduce Titania, while Cardinalg@omoG sends agents to convert the populace at grass roots level. The Kings woo Titania with a masque, but, advised by her fairy lords, she rejects them. Two of the Kings leave Fairyland, but the third, Satyrane} stays on to plot against her; one of his stratagems entails a magical attack via a wax effigy, but the conjurer is caught burying it in a dunghill and arrested. Titania pardons her physician, DejParidelly who has ~ been sentenced to death on a charge of attempted murder, but he secretly resents being beholden to her. He secures her permission to travel abroad, where he is recruited as an agent of Babylon. She refuses to receive the malcontented scholar @amMipeiis at court. He encounters Satyrane, who sympathizes with his annoyance at Fairyland’s treatment of academics, assures him that they are better used overseas, and persuades him to defect to Babylon. Since marriage overtures have failed, the Empress’s policy turns to assassination. She receives Campeius and the physician Ropus and sends them back to Fairyland. Traitors emerge out of the earth, summoned by Falsehood posing as Truth, but all are identified and arrested:…
The Devil's Charter, or Pope Alexander the Sixth
Barnes, Barnabe · 1606 · Tragedy · King's Men · before the Court;
During a papal election, Roderigo Borgia both bribes the conclave and sells his soul to the Devil. These actions ensure his election as Pope Alexander VI. He makes his son Caesar a cardinal and his other son, the Duke of Gandy, the general of the papal armies. To nepotism he adds incest with his daughter, Lucretia; among many other crimes, he also poisons cardinals for their money and makes homosexual advances to the vanquished prince, Astor Manfredi. Later, seeking to acquire the lands of Astor and his brother, he has them put to sleep with opium, then kills them with poisonous snakes and gives out that they died from over-exerting themselves at tennis. King Charles of France enters Italy to press his claim to the Neapolitan throne, and is given assistance by Lodowick Sforza. Their army marches on Rome. Alexander has secured a marriage alliance with the current rulers of Naples, and so: favours Ferdinand, Charles’s rival claimant. On Caesar’s advice, he ===== PAGE 344 ===== reluctantly allows Charles to enter Rome and capitulates to his demands. Charles takes Naples, but dies after returning to France, and Ferdinand takes back the throne; Charles’s successor, King Louis, invades again. Frustrated by the restrictions imposed by her jealous husband, Lucretia Borgia traps him in a trick chair which immobilizes him; she agrees to spare his life on condition that he signs a document she has prepared, but afterwards she stabs him to death anyway. The document turns out to be a…
The Puritan, or The Widow of Watling Street (The Puritan Widow)
Middleton, Thomas · 1606 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (second)
Lady Plus has just been widowed, but her son Edmond. does not grieve appropriately at the funeral. She mourns a good, liberal husband, who strove to make his family rich by fair means and foul; she swears not to remarry, and her elder daughter Frances renounces marriage too. Not so her younger daughter, Moll, who entertains a suitor. The other two Plus women are also being pestered by unwanted suitors, one of whom has bribed Lady Plus’s brother-in-law, Sir Godfrey, to recommend him. Captain Idle is taken to prison for highway robbery; there he is visited by his puritan kinsman Nicholas, one of. the Plus household’s servants, and also by Skirmish and Pieboard, two tricksters who plan to get him out. To that end, they persuade Nicholas to steal Sir Godfrey’s chain. Pieboard visits Lady Plus posing as a fortune teller, and tells her that her husband is in purgatory, from which he can be released only if both she and her daughters reverse their marital intentions (which he has overheard): she and Frances must marry, and Moll must not. As a puritan, Lady Plus doubts the theology of this, so he establishes his authenticity by predicting that, before the day is out, there will be bloodshed outside her door and Sir Godfrey will suffer a loss, with worse to follow for the women of the household. The first two events are prearranged: Nicholas steals Sir Godfrey’s chain, and Skirmish and Corporal Oath feign a street-fight which results in a wound for Oath and arrest for Skirmish.…
The Turk (Muleasses the Turk)
Mason, John · 1607 · Tragedy · Children of the King's Revels
Julia, the under-age Duchess of Florence, has been promised by her uncle, Borgias, in marriage to the Duke of Ferrara; but the Senate has promised her to the Duke of Venice. The rival dukes lay siege to Florence, but Borgias gets them to raise the siege by hiding Julia and telling them that she is dead. To supply a body for the funeral, he has his wife Timoclea poisoned by the Turk Muleasses. Borgias intends to marry his daughter Amada to Muleasses, marry Julia himself now that he is a widower, and make himself King of Italy; Muleasses will help him in order to secure Turkey a foothold in Christendom. They also plot to murder Venice and Ferrara, using a poison with a thirty-day time delay, so that they will not die until after they have left Florence. But Borgias still has another dead body to find, to stand in for Timoclea at her funeral, and he asks Eunuchus to help supply one. Eunuchus inveigles Bordello into a false assignation with Timoclea, intending to leave him instead in Borgias’s bedchamber to be killed. In fact, Timoclea is not dead: Muleasses only gave her a sleeping draught, and when she wakes he releases her from Julia’s tomb and promises to help her take revenge on her husband. She appears to Venice posing as Julia’s ghost, and denounces Borgias as her murderer. Bordello sees her en route to his assignation, and is scared off. Eunuchus is also haunted, flees, and ends up running into Ferrara’s dagger, with fatal consequences. After overhearing Muleasses…
What You Will
1607 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (second) (?)
Only three months after her husband Albano was reported dead in a sea battle, Celia has many suitors. Tomorrow she intends to marry Laverdure, a French knight; but Alban.o 's brothers, Randolfo and Adrian, disapprove. After fruitlessly petitioning the noctumal. party-loving Duke to stop the wedding, thcr decide to make it illegitimate by introducing an impostor, a perfumer named Francisco, to pose as Albano, claiming that he did not die after all; but Laverdure's page Bidet witnesses their scheming and warns his master. In fact, Albano survived. On his return to Venice he is unimpressed to hear that his supposedly faithful and loving wife is getting married again so soon; but when he accosts Laverdure, he is taken for Francisco. Even his own brothers take him for the disguised perfumer, so he begins to believe that he has indeed become Francisco by metempsychosis. He interrupts the performance of a play at court to protest at the way he has been treated, and the Duke assures everyone that he really is Albano. He decides to forgive everyone, including Laverdure and Celia. In the sub-plot, Simplicius saves the schoolboy Holofernes Pippo from a thrashing and takes him on as his page. A group of pages trick Simplicius into arranging an assignation with a merchant's wife, who turns out to be Holofemes in disguise.
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
Beaumont, Francis · 1607 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels
At the theatre, a citizen and his wife object to the satirical subject matter of the play, The London Merchant: they insist on a more romantic offering starring their apprentice, Rafe, as a heroic grocer. The boy actors do their best to provide this within the play they have rehearsed. In the play, Luce prefers her father Venturewell’s apprentice Jasper to his chosen son-in-law, Humphrey; so Venturewell discharges Jasper, and he goes home to a family impoverished by the irresponsible merriment of his father, Old Merrythought. His mother, who 1607 favours his younger brother Michael, insists that he be paid his inheritance and sent out into the world. Several of the characters go to Waltham Forest. Luce elopes with Humphrey, intending to meet Jasper there. Rafe the grocer, a voluminous reader of chivalric romance, becomes the Knight of the Burning Pestle and leaves in search of heroic deeds. He scares Mistress Merrythought, who leaves behind her jewels. These are found and taken away by Jasper, who then meets the eloping couple, beats Humphrey, and takes Luce. In the audience, the citizen and his wife take Jasper to be the villain and Humphrey the hero; they demand that Rafe return to fight Jasper, but Jasper beats him. Notified by Humphrey, Venturewell confronts Jasper’s father, but is offended by his refusal to take the matter seriously. Jasper tests Luce’s love by threatening her with violence. She accepts her fate, but Humphrey and her father seize her before he can admit…
Lingua, or The Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for Superiority
Tomkis, Thomas · 1607 · Allegorical Comedy
Lingua wants to be a sense, but feels that the five established senses are preventing her from pleading her cause with the judge Common Sense. Having failed to appeal to the senses’ various proclivities, she decides to cause discord between them. She is in possession of a crown and robe which were to have been the prize in a public-speaking competition, but which came to her, as the patroness of oratory, when the five contestants were all adjudged equal; now the inscription promising the crown to the greatest of the five will put the five senses at odds. Tactus comes upon the robe and crown: he puts them on, gets delusions of grandeur, and unsuccessfully tries to conceal his find from the other senses. When Lingua’s page Mendacio tells them that the objects were left by Mercury, they begin to quarrel over precedence and mobilize troops against one another. Lingua reports the discord to Common Sense, and Mendacio describes the various animals in the armies. Common Sense defuses the conflict by deciding to judge the senses’ relative worthiness: each sense will present his case in a show. While the shows are in preparation, he hears Lingua’s petition to become the sixth sense: she asserts her importance as a medium of communication; but the senses put in a counter-plea drawing attention to her misdeeds. The shows are performed. Visus presents Light and Colour, Heaven and Earth, while Auditus offers Comedy and Tragedy. Olfactus’ show features Odour and Tobacco, currently the…
Croesus
Alexander, William · 1607 · Tragedy
Alexander the Great is dead, poisoned by Cassander. He leaves behind a pregnant widow but no definite heir. Unable to get into the underworld because as yet unburied, his ghost returns to earth and recounts his life story, a tale of escalating atrocity as power progressively divorced him from ordinary humanity. He decides to inspire his captains with ambition and bloodlust. The captains are unable to agree on how best to secure the Macedonian Empire, and various proposals are advanced: to await the birth of Alexander's posthumous child, and appoint a regent in the interim; to crown either Alexander’s bastard brother or his elder son, who is half-barbarian and so unacceptable to the people; to split up the empire between themselves. The only thing they can agree on is that the common foot-soldiers should have no say in the decision. Lysimachus and Seleucus decide to bide their time, let their fellow captains wear themselves out with wrangling, and then step in to take the empire for themselves. Meleager tries to have Perdiccas, his rival, murdered, but the plot fails and Perdiccas responds in kind with more success. When Alexander’s child is born, it is a son. Perdiccas and others become his joint regents, but Perdiccas schemes for personal supremacy. He removes his two colleagues in the regency, gives the other captains their own kingdoms in an effort to secure their loyalty, and plans to marry into the royal family. Two of his new subject kings, Antigonus and Ptolemy, ally…
Every Woman in Her Humor
Anonymous · 1607 · Comedy · Children of the King's Revels
Misogyny has made the normally jovial Acutus.- melancholy. After scaring some foolishly fashionable characters, he joins them at the Hobby tavern, where Gaetica has taken lodgings with her dog. Disguised as a © soldier, Acutus picks a fight with Scilicet and Servulus, © then exposes their hypocrisy by returning disguised as first a friend and then an enemy of the ‘soldier’, and eliciting inconsistent responses. Scilicet attempts to woo Gaetica; she is more concerned about the disappearance of her man Bos with her dog, but becomes betrothed to him. , Lentulus is in love, and asks Cicero to woo Terentia for him. They go to dine with Flaminius, Terentia’s father, and Cicero is left alone with the ladies of the house. The upshot is that Terentia falls in love — but -- with Cicero himself rather than Lentulus. Rumours circulate that she is to marry Cicero, but Flaminius has not given his consent and takes offence. Lentulus makes Cicero and Terentia admit wronging him, and. _ he sentences Cicero to death — but only if Terentia will kill him. He woos and wins Terentia’s sister Flavia, and plans a double wedding. Acutus gives Philautus a sleeping potion, and he appears to die. He is rumoured to have drunk himself to death, but the reported numbers of alcohol victims escalate as the news circulates. Acutus pays for the funeral and invites the tavern’s proprietors and customers, Philautus wakes up on the way to his interment: initially it is assumed that he is a ghost, but - =====…
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Shakespeare, William; Wilkins, George · 1608 · Romance · King's Men · Globe;Outdoor Professional
Pericles comes to Antioch to woo the daughter and heir of King Antiochus. Her suitors must solve a riddle about her, or be executed. Pericles realizes that the riddle cryptically reveals that she and her father are an incestuous couple. Seeing that the game is up, Antiochus pretends that Pericles is mistaken, grants him a forty-day reprieve so that he can try again, and makes arrangements to have him poisoned. Pericles flees to Tyre, but the murderer, Thaliard, follows him. On realizing the danger, Pericles leaves his principality in the care of Helicanus; he has already gone by the ===== PAGE 413 ===== 1607 time Thaliard arrives. He goes to Tarsus, which has been stricken by a famine, and supplies corn to Cleon, the Governor. In Tyre, Thaliard’s murderous intentions are discovered, and Pericles is recalled home. In Antioch, the King and his daughter are destroyed by fire from heaven. On his way home, Pericles is shipwrecked on the coast of Pentapolis, where King Simonides is holding a tournament for the hand of his daughter, Thaisa. Some fishermen retrieve Pericles’ armour from the sea, and, though it is rusty, he is able to compete. He is victorious, and Thaisa falls in love with him. Simonides sends away the other knights, telling them that Thaisa has taken a vow to the goddess Diana not to marry for another year. She insists that she will marry Pericles, with or without her father’s consent. Simonides makes a show of disapproval, but in fact her choice accords with his…
Cupid's Revenge
Beaumont, Francis; Fletcher, John · 1608 · Tragedy · Children of the Queen's Revels
Leontius, King of Lycia, promises his daughter Hydaspes anything she asks for on her birthday. She wants him to ban the cult of Cupid in Lycia: the god’s naked statues are to be taken down and burnt, and Cupid-worship to be made a capital offence. Leontius agrees, persuaded that the religion is the cause of national immorality. His nephew Ismenus demurs: he will promulgate the Duke’s orders, but will himself take no hand in obeying them. As his temples are dismantled, Cupid declares vengeance on the kingdom. The Lycian royal family begins to behave with inappropriate amorousness. Hydaspes fixates on Zoilus, a deformed dwarf, and asks to be allowed to marry him; her father’s response is to have him beheaded, and she pines to death. Prince Leucippus falls for Bacha, a strumpet only interested in his wealth and power, but, questioned by his father, denies sexual misbehaviour and praises her virtue and chastity. Leontius is so impressed that he sends Leucippus away ===== PAGE 378 ===== and woos Bacha for himself, affecting youthful clothing and behaviour. Bacha becomes Queen of Lycia. When Leucippus returns to court, Bacha tries to seduce him again. He refuses to cuckold his father, and, annoyed at his refusal, she plots his death; this will leave her daughter Urania as the only heir to the throne. She makes Leontius jealous of his son’s popularity with the people and courtiers, and persuades him that Leucippus is plotting his assassination. The court parasite Timantus tells…
The Faithful Shepherdess
Fletcher, John · 1608 · Pastoral Tragicomedy · Children of the Queen's Revels
Having buried her love, @I6Tifi swears to live a life of chastity ever after, abstaining from her fellow shepherdesses’ amorous sports; instead she will live by his grave and devote herself to herbal medicine. She attracts the attentions of a passing Saji, but he only wants to give her fruit; as her mother always told her, preserving her virginity has protected her from harm. Périgot makes a date with Almoret] and refuses the advances of Almiaryllis} who then plots with a sullen, malcontented shepherd to cross their love. Using herbs and a magic well, she transforms herself into Amoret’s shape, and makes unchaste advances to PeHgOu thinking the worst, Perigot then attacks the real Amoret. After he has gone, the sullen shepherd tries to finish the job by throwing her into the well, but the God of the River rescues her and heals her wounds. GhIGE) eager for sex, propositions a number of boys. [HEHE is only interested in Ql6rin, but(GHIGe manages Daphnis turns out to want a chaste lover, so Chloe sends him off on a fool’s errand looking for a hollow tree, and hopes for better luck with Alexis. She also takes the fancy of the sullen shepherd, who attacks and wounds Alexis; but the confrontation is interrupted by the chance arrival of the Satjr. The sullen shepherd is scared off, and the Satyr brings \ANGRIS to Clorin for medical treatment. Chloe decides that joining Daphiig inside his hollow tree will be better than nothing. Ammaryllis confesses her shape-shifting ruse to a…
Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks
Barry, Lording · 1608 · Comedy · Children of the King's Revels
The rich heiress Constantia Somerfield disguises herself as a page and enters the employ of her beloved, Boucher, intending to keep an eye on his fidelity. The rich widow Taffeta drops a handkerchief to get Boucher’s attention, and invites him into her house. Despite a prophecy that a widow will endanger his life, soul, lands, and reputation, Boucher is attracted to her. He has several rivals, including the old knight Sir Oliver Smallshank and Captain Puff, who claims marital rights in Taffeta and threatens to attack anyone who shows any sexual interest in her. Sir Oliver comes to woo Taffeta, but hides under her farthingale when Puff arrives. Puff assaults her, and Sir Oliver is forced out of his hiding place. Seeing the advantages of being a courtier’s wife, Taffeta agrees to marry him. Sir Oliver’s younger son, Will, is in debt, and his lands are mortgaged to Throat the lawyer. He pretends to have eloped with Constantia, but the woman he introduces to his family is actually his whore, Frances. He leaves her with Throat while he goes to arrange the wedding, asking Throat to confirm his cover story: that he has expectations of becoming a lord. Throat tells her the truth, that Will is a penniless fortune-hunter, and woos the lady for himself. When Will takes her, ostensibly to a nocturnal marriage ceremony, Throat has them attacked in the darkened streets. They are separated from Frances, whom Throat then marries himself. Will arranges to have himself arrested for debt when…
The Dumb Knight
Markham, Gervase; Machin, Lewis · 1608 · Tragicomedy · Children of the King's Revels
The King of Cyprus, in love with the Queen of Sicily; lays siege to her city, but accepts the Queen’s proposal that they settle the affair with a trial by combat: the King and his champion Philocles versus the Duke of Epire and Lord Alfonso. Epire defeats the King but is bested in a play-off with Philocles; the Queen accepts the outcome and submits to the King’s love, but Epire swears to avenge his dishonour. Philocles woos Epire’s sister, Mariana, but gets the brush-off. Asked to set him a task to prove his love, she demands that he remain silent for a year; when he swears to do so, she is pleased not to have to listen to any more love-talk from him. His dumbness is taken to be a malady, which medicine fails to remedy. The King offers a reward for a successful cure ~ but those who try unsuccessfully will be executed. Mariana offers to achieve the cure, but Philocles will not speak at her command and she is duly sentenced to death. Philocles waits until the headsman is about to strike before speaking out. She is spared, but Philocles refuses to marry her until she demonstrates that she cares as much for him as he for her. Epire’s vindictive vexation grows. Epire suggests to the King that the Queen is having an affair with Philocles: he takes his opportunities to put the Queen into Philocles’ company, and arranges for the King to see them dancing and playing cards together. They are arrested and imprisoned, and parliament condemns them to death. Epire’s plan is to proclaim…
Epicene, or The Silent Woman
Jonson, Ben · 1609 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels
Dauphine's obsessively noise-hating uncle, Morose. has threatened to disinherit him by taking a wife and begetting a son and heir. He has engaged a gen ts to seek a silent woman for his bride, and the barber, Cutbeard, seems to have found him one, Mistress Epicoenc. Truewit goes to him in disguise and tries to dissuade him from marriage; but this makes him the more determined to go ahead with it straight away. He inspects Epicoene, is pleased by her silence, and marries her. Almost at once he learns that she is able to speak loudly. Sir Amorous La Poole is holding a dinner for the members of a college of ladies, but the gallants divert the collegians to Morose's house, to celebrate his wedding. They persuade La Poole that Sir John Daw has arranged this to dishonour him. La Foole dresses up as a sewer to serve the meat. Mistress Otter comes along with him, and the gallants arrange for her to witness her henpecked husband criticizing her behind her back - which earns him a beating. The collegians hold her up as an example to Epicoene: she must establish her dominance in the household. The gallants persuade Dauphine that the two knights have slandered him, and tell each of the knights in turn that the other intends to fight him. Both are so anxious to avoid a duel that each agrees to be beaten by the other; Dauphine does the beating and takes their swords from them. The ladies witness the event, and see the knights' unworthiness; they transfer their affections to Dauphine and…
A Christian Turned Turk (The Two Famous Pirates)
Daborne, Robert · 1610 · Tragedy · Unknown
By a ruse, the pirate Ward takes prisoner two French merchants, Ferdinand and Albert. He attacks the ship taking Alizia to her bridegroom, Young Raymond, and kills her brother; she escapes by disguising herself as a ship-boy, Fidelio. Another pirate, Francisco, challenges him for the spoils; they engage in single combat, and ultimately agree to share the booty. During the fight, Ward’s men Gismund and Gallop mutiny and steal a ship, and make for Tunis, taking the disguised Alizia with them. Ward swears vengeance, seizes further prisoners, among them Alizia’s fiancé, and sells them into slavery in Tunis. Gallop makes his peace with Ward by pretending he was abducted, like ‘Fidelio’. The Turkish authorities in Tunis attempt to convert Ward to Islam. He is initially reluctant, but agrees when Voada offers herself as his wife; even so, he evades circumcision by putting an ape’s tail under the knife instead of his penis. He marries Voada as planned and gives her ‘Fidelio’ as her page; but in fact ‘Fidelio’ has been the object of her affections all along, and she has no sexual interest in Ward. ‘Fidelio’ agrees to sleep with her if she arranges for a particular slave to escape, claiming him to be a brother (though of course it is really Young Raymond). To evade the sexual part of the bargain, ‘Fidelio’ then makes an alternative arrangement with Ward, who agrees to help her, but then double-crosses her by telling his wife. Voada kills Raymond, thinking he is trying to rob her of…
The Maid's Tragedy
Beaumont, Francis; Fletcher, John · 1610 · Tragedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
At: the King’s request, Al@minf6f breaks off his engagement to his fiancée AlSpatia and instead marries Evadne) sister of his friend Melantius. After a wedding masque, Evadne prepares for bed. When Amintor arrives, however, she refuses him sex and explains that she is the King’s mistress: the marriage has been arranged as a cover for their continuing relationship, and to provide a nominal father for any bastards that may result; it will never be consummated. Amintor is unable to satisfy his impulse to take revenge, because his wronger is the King, but on learning the truth, Melantius has no similar scruples. A successful rebellion depends upon control of the city’s: defensive fort, but this is in the hands of Melantius’ enemy, ASpatia’sifathier Caliana who partly blames Melantius for the way Aspatia has been treated. Melantius asks Calianax to hand over the fort, knowing this will be reported to the King; but when the King confronts him with the accusation, his bare-faced denial. discredits Calianax and makes the accusation look like senile malice. Calianax is sent away from court and sees no option but to give Melantius the fort after all. M@@lantivis]? threat of violence secures a confession from Bya@méj and she agrees to join the conspiracy. Summoned by the King that night, Evadne ties him to the bed and kills him when he wakes. Melantius retreats to the fort and agrees to come out only once the mew King has granted him a pardon on his own terms. The despairing AlSpatia…
The Winter's Tale
Shakespeare, William · 1610 · Romance · King's Men
Polixenes of Bohemia is coming to the end of a nine-month stay at the Sicilian court of Leontes, his childhood playmate. Leontes cannot persuade him to extend his stay, but the pregnant queen, Hermione, has more success. Leontes conceives a suspicion that Polixenes and Hermione have committed adultery, and that her unborn child is a bastard. He commands Camillo to poison Polixenes, but instead Camillo warns the intended victim and escapes with him to Bohemia. Leontes arrests Hermione and sends to the oracle of Apollo for confirmation of her adultery. She gives birth to a daughter in prison, and Paulina hopes to bring Leontes to his senses by showing him the baby; instead, he orders her husband, Antigonus, to take it out of his dominions and abandon it. Hermione is tried for adultery and treason. The oracle, when read, exonerates her and foretells that, unless the lost be found, Leontes will have no heir. Leontes refuses to believe it, whereupon his son Mamillius, who fell sick when his mother was arrested, dies. Hermione collapses in court and is later reported dead. Antigonus abandons the baby on the coast of Bohemia, and is eaten by a bear. The child, Perdita, is found and adopted by an old shepherd. Sixteen years pass. The penitent Leontes, still mourning Hermione, attempts to recall Camillo to Sicily, but Polixenes will not let him go. Worried by rumours that Prince Florizel is courting a shepherd’s daughter, Polixenes attends the sheep-shearing feast in disguise. When…
The Night Walker, or The Little Thief
Fletcher, John; Shirley, James, rev. · 1611 · Comedy · Lady Elizabeth's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
The usurer Justice Algripe has seized the wastrel Lurcher’s lands to settle a mortgage; he was also amorously interested in Lurcher’s sister, who has since disappeared. The destitute Lurcher is left to steal for a living; invited to join him, his friend Wildbrain prefers womanizing, on the grounds that it will not end on the gallows. Lurcher is approached by a boy, Snap, and, after ascertaining his skills at deception, takes him into his service. Algripe marries Wildbrain’s cousin Maria, who consented out of filial obedience rather than love: she loves Hartlove. Her mother’s household opposes the match, suspecting that old Algripe is impotent, and Wildbrain arranges for Hartlove to meet her on her way to bed and cuckold Algripe on his wedding night. She refuses his advances and faints when they are found together; she is taken for dead and prepared for burial. Her mother throws Wildbrain out for his part in the incident. Lurcher burgles the house that night, frightening the servants by pretending to be a ghost; but what he supposes to be a chest of jewels is actually Maria’s coffin. Upon discovering what their swag really is, he and his accomplices attempt to bury her in secret, but have a chance encounter with Algripe in the churchyard. Snap frightens him away by impersonating Maria’s ghost, but the thieves are scared off themselves when Maria wakes up in her coffin. Wildbrain meets Hartlove in the dark; Hartlove bears him a grudge and fights him. Maria hears the commotion…
The Atheist's Tragedy, or The Honest Man's Revenge
Tourneur, Cyril · 1611 · Tragedy · Unknown
Montferrers has forbidden his son Charlemont from going to war and refused him the money necessary to equip himself. Charlemont gets a subvention from his uncle, D’Amville, and this persuades Montferrers to change his mind. But D’Amville is an atheist who believes that he must make his happiness in this world rather than wait for reward or punishment in the next, and he has an ulterior motive for wanting his nephew out of the way. Castabella loves Charlemont, and has privately agreed to marry him when he returns. They entrust their secret only to the Puritan Languebeau Snuffe. D’Amville bribes Snuffe to betray them and persuade Belleforest, her father, to make her marry Rousard, his son. Castabella is pressured into the match, despite the protestations of Sebastian, Rousard’s younger brother. As soon as he is married, Rousard falls ill with symptoms which include impotence. On the wedding day, D’Amville’s accomplice Borachio brings false news that Charlemont has been killed in battle. Montferrers makes a new will in D’Amville’s favour. D’Amville gets Montferrers’s torchbearers drunk at the wedding celebrations, and tricks them into quarrelling with one another when lighting their master home; the torches go out in the fight, allowing Borachio to murder Montferrers under cover of darkness. Montferrers’s ghost appears to Charlemont, tells him of the murder, and enjoins him not to take revenge. Charlemont returns to France to find himself presumed dead and his fiancée unhappily…
Match Me in London
Dekker, Thomas · 1611 · Tragicomedy · Red Bull (Revels) Company (first) · Red Bull;Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
It is midnight, and Tormiella is missing from her father Malevento’s house. He wonders if she is visiting Gazetto, her fiancé, but in fact she has eloped to Seville with the man she loves, Cordolente. There they get married and open a shop. The bawd Dildoman recommends her to the King, who comes to the shop on the pretext of buying a glove. Tormiella is taken to court and her escort disposed of by a ruse; Dildoman tries to persuade her to yield to the King. The Queen becomes jealous of Tormiella and attempts to stab her. Cordolente realizes he has been cuckolded; he and Malevento are both offered places at court, but only Malevento accepts. Don John intends to depose the King, his brother, with the help of the Portuguese nobility. He persuades his doctor to poison Don Valasco, the Queen’s father, having first told him that the King is having an affair with Tormiella. Valasco eats some grapes, falls sick, and is then poisoned with the medicine the doctor administers; Don John sends the body home. In fact, it was only a sleeping potion, and the King confronts Don John with the living Valasco; when their quarrel escalates to the point of a duel, the King puts Don John under house arrest. He discovers documentary proof of the conspiracy, and sends Valasco to supervise Don John’s execution, which is to be done in private and using a method selected by Don John himself from an illustrated book of deaths. Valasco reports him dead. The King uses Martines, who is implicated in Don…
The Brazen Age (The Age of Brass)
Heywood, Thomas · 1611 · Classical Myth · Queen Anne's Men
Hercules and the shape-changing Achelous fight for the hand of Dejanira; Achelous transforms himself into a series of monsters, but Hercules retains the upper hand, and Achelous concedes defeat after one of his bull’s horns is pulled off (later to become the cornucopia). Hercules takes Dejanira home, and en route they meet Nessus, the only survivor of Hercules’ massacre of the centaurs. Feigning friendship, the vindictive Nessus offers to carry Dejanira across the river on his back; but when he gets to the other side, he attempts to abduct her. Hercules shoots him and, dying, he tells Dejanira that his blood is a love-charm, which she should use on Hercules if he ever seems interested in another woman; in fact, it is poisonous. Hercules travels to Egypt, where King Busiris sacrifices foreigners, and kills him on his own altar, but refuses to accept his crown. During his absence, Diana, offended that King Oeneus has sacrificed to all the gods but her, sends a boar to ravage the Calydonian countryside. The lords of Greece gather to hunt the boar. One of them is Adonis, and Venus falls in love with him; he insists on hunting, the boar kills him, and she transforms him into a flower. Atalanta joins the hunt, and Meleager falls in love with her; when the boar is killed, he is awarded its head, but he offends his companions by presenting it to her. In the ensuing fight, Meleager kills his uncles. His mother Althea is torn between her duty to her brothers and to her son. Meleager’s…
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Fletcher, John; Shakespeare, William · 1613 · Tragicomedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Theseus’ wedding to Hippolyta is interrupted by three widowed queens, whose husbands have fallen in battle against Thebes. Creon, the victor, has denied them the right to bury their dead, so they request Theseus’ help in forcing his hand. At Hippolyta’s request, Theseus postpones the wedding feast and leads an army against Thebes. It is a bad moment for the Theban princes Palamon and Arcite: they are on the point of leaving Creon’s corrupt court, but now feel a patriotic duty to defend their city. Theseus wins the war, Palamon and Arcite are taken prisoner, and the dead kings are buried. Palamon and Arcite are imprisoned in Athens. Their cell overlooks a garden where Emilia walks; they both fall in love with her and quarrel jealously. Arcite is released, on condition that he never returns to Athens, but he stays in disguise and performs with distinction at a. sporting festival for Emilia’s birthday. Meanwhile Palamon is moved to a cell without a garden view. The jailer’s daughter falls in love with him and, aware that they are of markedly different rank, seeks to win his regard by engineering his escape. Palamon meets Arcite in the woods the following morning; Arcite agrees to bring him food, clothing, and weapons so that they can fight out their quarrel. In consequence, Palamon fails to turn up at his appointment with the jailer’s daughter, and she is driven mad by a combination of disappointed love and fear that her father will be blamed for the escape. The fight between…
The Hog Hath Lost His Pearl
Tailor, Robert · 1613 · Comedy
Haddit has spent all his money and mortgaged his lands to Hog the usurer, and now ekes out a living selling jigs to players. He aims to solve his financial problems by marrying Rebecca, Hog’s daughter, whose affections he had previously refused in the belief that she was too low-born for him. Hog intends Rebecca to marry young Lord Wealthy, but she refuses, and helps Haddit trick her father. Haddit’s uncle, Lightfoot, helps to get the servant Peter out of the way by picking a quarrel, to give him a pretext for making peace with a drinking contest; Peter imbibes himself insensible in the cellar. Rebecca steals Hog’s keys, giving Haddit and his accomplices access to his bedroom, where he keeps his gold. Lightfoot appears to Hog as the ghost of Croesus, come to make the usurer rich: a spirit will ===== PAGE 291 ===== 1613 take his gold and transform it into pearl, which is even more valuable; in reality, Haddit steals the money and retrieves his mortgage, then absconds with Rebecca and marries her. Hog goes to complain to old Lord Wealthy, but his supernatural experiences induce a conversion: he renounces avarice and gives the couple his blessing. In the sub-plot, Carracus plans to elope with young Lord Wealthy’s sister Maria, and entrusts his friend Albert with the arrangements. Albert visits Maria early, posing as Carracus, and has sex with her; she then leaves with Carracus as planned, and marries him: Albert suffers remorse and decides to leave human society. Some time…
The Scornful Lady
Beaumont, Francis; Fletcher, John · 1613 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
The Loveless brothers are in trouble. The younger owes money to Morecraft and stands to lose his land, while the elder has been ordered by his lady-love to go into exile for a year as penance for his over-eagerness. He leaves his brother in charge of his house during his absence, with an allowance for his maintenance, and the steward Saville to restrain him, but the young man associates with rogues. Together they reinterpret his brother’s written instructions in order to license his prodigal behaviour. While they are drinking and wenching, the elder Loveless returns in disguise bringing news of his own death: young Loveless inherits his brother’s land, and promptly mortgages it to Morecraft. The elder Loveless also reports his death to the Lady, who consoles herself by chatting up another lover, Welford. When Loveless reveals his true identity, she retorts that she knew it was him and sends him on his way, but also disappoints Welford. Loveless returns and abuses her, pretending to be out of love. She faints and he relents: it was a trick to test her; but, she says, she knew that all along, and Loveless is sent away again. The elder Loveless dismisses Saville for negligence and reclaims his mortgaged property, but his younger brother not only keeps the money but also steals Morecraft’s intended fiancée, a rich, socially ambitious widow. She objects to his low-life friends, but he persuades her that they are cheaper than servants. The Lady’s affections begin to turn: she…
The Duchess of Malfi
Webster, John · 1614 · Tragedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Globe;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
There are two new arrivals at the Duchess of Malfi’s court. One is Antonio, her steward, who has returned from an extended visit to France. The other is Bosola, an ex-convict who committed a murder for the Cardinal, and who is now placed at court by the Duchess’s brother Ferdinand, with instructions to supply information. Ferdinand and the Cardinal leave the court, enjoining their sister not to marry again, but she defies them and secretly woos and marries Antonio. She clandestinely gives birth to a son, which Bosola discovers after Antonio accidentally drops the baby’s horoscope. The news is duly reported to the infuriated Ferdinand. The Duchess has two more children. Ferdinand visits Malfi, planning to marry her to Count Malateste. He visits her private chamber and catches her talking to Antonio, whose identity remains unknown because he has hidden as part of a practical joke. She banishes Antonio as a pretext to get him out of court, and follows him on a feigned pilgrimage to the state of Ancona. Bosola wins her confidence by speaking well of Antonio, unlike the other court flatterers; she entrusts him with the secret of their marriage, which he duly reports to his paymaster. The Cardinal is commissioned to fight in the war, and ceremonially puts off his ecclesiastical office. By papal decree, the Duchess and Antonio are banished ===== PAGE 347 ===== 1613 from Ancona and the Duchy of Malfi is seized by the Holy See; Antonio flees to Milan with his eldest son, and Bosola…
Bartholomew Fair
Jonson, Ben · 1614 · Comedy · Lady Elizabeth's Men
Bartholomew Cokes has two objectives in life: to visit the fair which shares his name, and to marry Grace Wellborn, who, as a ward, faces a financial penalty should she refuse. He sends his servant Wasp to Littlewit the proctor to obtain a marriage licence, but then, impatiently, comes himself. He brings Grace with him, and she attracts the interest of Winwife, present with his friend Quarlous as a suitor to Littlewit’s mother-in-law, Dame Purecraft. Littlewit is more interested in Cokes’s talk of the fair, having secretly written one of the puppet plays to be performed there. The only snag is that the puritanical Dame Purecraft will disapprove of their visit, thinking fairs profane. Busy, an elder of Purecraft’s church, advises the family that fairs may lawfully be visited for good reason, and comes along with them to partake of the pork. After some unfortunate experiences involving mistaken identity, Justice Overdo no longer trusts informers and has decided to do his spying personally. He visits the fair in disguise to seek out ‘enormities’ perpetrated by the fairground folk. He is impressed by one young man, Edgeworth, and decides to rescue him from the clutches of the cheaters; but he does not know that Edgeworth is a cutpurse. While Overdo is busy telling him about the wickedness of tobacco, Edgeworth steals Cokes’s purse; Overdo gets the blame. When it happens a second time, Overdo is arrested and put in the stocks. There he encounters the madman Trouble-All, who…
The Sophister (Fallacy, or The Troubles of Great Hermenia)
Zouche, Richard · 1614 · Comedy
. . The envious bastard Fallacy Sat to Sdtiinintent a oo to his father, Discourse, which will drive him-mad. His eager servant, Ambiguity, provides two options, one of |. - which will only induce drunkeriness. During. a’ - telling-off, Fallacy slips his father the drug and Discourse’s attitude changes: Fallacy becomes his. favourite son. The madness disables Discourse from being the ruler of Hermenia, so a regent must be _ appointed. Fallacy bribes Opposition to support his claim against his legitimate younger brothers, Topicus and Demonstration. He also tells Invention and ~ Judicium that Intellect has left. the kingdom, and persuades them to go looking for him; in fact, he has Intellect under lock and key. The counsellors debate. - the three brothers’ claims, and Topicus fights a duel : ar with Demonstration in which both are. wounded. -. Fallacy becomes Regent, appoints Opposition his chief -. counsellor, and banishes the others who supper’ Bs ' ' brothers. Hermenia declines ehder Fallacy’s jindtighbened. x rule. He locks up Scientia and Opinion, his brothers’ fiancées, and their mother, Truth. His attempts to woo © - Scientia are rebuffed, but he tricks Opposition into thinking that the lady is willing but unable to accepthis ©. proposal because Judicium knows her secret vows to... - _.the- contrary. ls Judicium. Fallacy then persuades Opposition’s son, Contradiction, to fight a duel ‘with an unknown. ~°0° | opponent. Father and son fight. and wound one Tae ‘another with…
Monsieur Thomas (Father's Own Son)
Fletcher, John · 1615 · Comedy · Unknown · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Old Valentine returns home from a Continental tour with a new young friend, Francis. Francis falls ill and is attended by physicians, but Valentine learns that he is really sickening for love. Unfortunately the woman who interests him is Valentine’s own intended, Cellide. Valentine asks Cellide to offer herself to Francis. Though offended, she does so, but Francis will not betray Valentine by accepting. Witnessing the encounter, Valentine gives his blessing to their union. Both Francis and Cellide abscond from the household: Francis attempts to join a merchant ship, but is apprehended by Valentine’s friend Michael; Cellide enters a nunnery. Thomas also returns home from travels abroad, thoroughly Frenchified. To his father Sebastian, who prizes the family tradition of madcap eccentricity, he behaves with unwelcome sobriety. To his sweetheart Mary, who would like him to calm down, he is grossly rude, to the extent of sending her a letter full of offensive oaths. He then serenades her late at night with bad music, and climbs up to the window to kiss her. Mary responds with a practical joke: when he reaches the window, Thomas finds himself kissing a servant in a devil mask; startled, he falls and hurts his legs. When Thomas denies his servant’s report of their riotous night, Sebastian pays him his portion and decides to marry again and beget an heir more like the father; but Thomas prevents him by claiming to have already slept with every woman he has in mind — which proves to…
Albumazar
Tomkis, Thomas · 1615 · Comedy · before the Court;at University;
The neighbours Pandolfo and Antonio, both widowers, have arranged to marry each other’s daughters; but before they can do so, Antonio is lost and presumed dead on an overseas voyage, and the plan goes into abeyance because his son Lelio disapproves of Pandolfo as a potential brother-in-law. Albumazar’s accomplice Furbo has gained access to Pandolfo’s household, posing as his daughter’s tutor, and has learned of his .- amorous aspirations, and also his credulity about. magic and astrology. Albumazar plans to trick him, and sets about demonstrating his occult power. Ronca shows Pandolfo some of the astrologer’s amazing inventions: a telescope and an ‘otacousticon’ (actually a pair of ass’s ears) which allow him to see and hear things at a distance. Albumazar then predicts Pandolfo’s marriage, and also a stabbing which his associates then enact in a brawl. Pandolfo asks the astrologer to raise Antonio’s ghost, but instead Albumazar undertakes to transform the tenant farmer Trincalo into Antonio’s likeness for one day, so that he can give Flavia in marriage to Pandolfo. Trincalo agrees because this will give him access to Antonio’s household, and therefore to the maid Armellina, whom he loves. Pandolfo is required to prepare a room for the metamorphosis, laid out with valuable possessions. When he begins to have second thoughts about paying Albumazar, his servant Cricca suggests that he should pretend to have been robbed of his valuables; but when they are indeed stolen,…
The Bloody Brother (Rollo, Duke of Normandy)
Fletcher, John; Massinger, Philip; Field, Nathan (?) · 1617 · Tragedy · King's Men
The old Duke of Normandy has left his dukedom to be shared by his two sons, Rollo and Otto, but the brothers are mutually antagonistic. Civil war is averted by the intervention of their mother Sophia, and they agree to celebrate the new accord at a banquet. Latorch persuades Rollo to renege on the truce, but proposes to dispose of Otto by craft rather than by force, and suborns the kitchen staff preparing the banquet to poison Otto's food. At the feast, however, Otto is off his food and will not eat. Rollo pretends to take offence, claiming that Otto's reluctance is tantamount to accusing him of a poisoning attempt, and leaves the banquet. He later murders Otto in their mother's presence, and sends Latorcb to convince the citizens that he was acting in self-defence. Gisbert and Baldwin, two senior courtiers, are beheaded for refusing to abet his usurpation; a third, Aubrey, recognizes that, the murder notwithstanding, Rollo is the only legitimate heir left. Rollo makes it known that the poisoning plot was instigated by Otto, and has the caterers hanged. Rollo proves to be a tyrant who preys not only on his nobles but also his meaner subjects. Among the latter is Allan , Gisbert's servant, who is condemned to death for burying his executed master; his brother Hamond, the Duke 's Captain of the Guard, cannot persuade Rollo to spare him. Latorch asks permission to have Rollo's horoscope cast; his objective is to get the astrologers to foretell danger to the Duke's life from a…
The Raging Turk, or Bajazet the Second
Goffe, Thomas · 1618 · Tragedy · at University;
Bajazeth’s youngest son Corcutus has _ himself crowned Emperor, but quickly repents and resigns the crown to his father. Understanding Bajazeth to have promised him the succession, he retires to academic life. Bajazeth’s younger brother Zemes also covets the crown and plots with the King of Armenia to seize it. The Armenian army is mobilized, but routed by the Turks under Achmetes. In battle, Achmetes encounters Zemes and fights him; Zemes pretends to have been killed, then flees to Rome, where he takes refuge with Pope Alexander. Achmetes divorces his wife for adultery and so offends her father, the Pasha Isaac. Isaac tells Bajazeth that Achmetes negligently allowed Zemes to escape and then boasted of killing him. At a banquet, Bajazeth gives Achmetes a robe, which turns out to be black. In Turkish practice, giving a black robe signifies that the recipient is condemned to death without recourse to law, but Achmetes is rescued by the janissaries, who threaten Bajazeth and force him to rescind the sentence. Bajazeth fetches home the Turkish army to counter Achmetes’ control of the janissaries, and buys time by proposing a war with Rome for harbouring Zemes. In fact, he has written asking the Pope to kill Zemes, and Alexander has agreed to do so at a convenient time; he is spared the labour when Zemes drops dead of guilt. Meanwhile Bajazeth’s plans for war are opposed by two of his sons; he has them strangled and stabs Achmetes himself, but soon regrets the murders. Bajazeth’s…
Technogamia, or The Marriages of the Arts
Holyday, Barten · 1618 · Academic Comedy · at University;
Astronomia has several suitors: Geographus (whom her mother dislikes), Geometres (whom her friends favour), and Poeta (who has recently jilted Historia to pursue her). Against her kinsman Polites’ advice, Historia still wants to marry Poeta, consummating the long-standing association between history and the poetic imagination. Poeta quarrels with Grammaticus, and Logicus becomes involved in the ensuing affray. Unsure whether to fight a duel with Poeta or sue him for assault, Logicus sets both courses in train. Hearing that Poeta has been hurt in the fight, Historia sends to Medicus for help, but Magus, who is helping Geometres, sees an opportunity to dispose of one of his client’s rivals, and persuades Medicus to send poison instead. Medicus’ man, Sanguis, delivers the poison, but spots that it isn’t medicine. Poeta infers Historia's treachery, but persuades himself out of absolute misogyny by thinking of Astronomia. To reconcile Poeta with Logicus and Grammaticus, Ethicus arranges a banquet. Several of the wooers use magical help in their suits. Poeta meets two gipsies, who pick his- pocket and foretell that he will marry Astronomia. Using sieve- divination, Magus predicts that Geometres will marry Astronomia, and will achieve this mainly through hypnotism, with a little pharmaceutical help. (Geometres finds the third option, conjuration, too frightening to try.) However, when Astronomia drinks the supposed love philtre at Ethicus’ feast, it poisons her. Meanwhile, Poeta…
The Two Merry Milkmaids, or The Best Words Wear the Garland
Cumber, John (?) · 1619 · Comedy · Red Bull (Revels) Company (first) · before the Court;
Bernard sneaks into his tutor Landoff’s study, reads his magic books, and attempts to conjure up the devil. The spirit who appears is in fact Landoff himself in disguise: he has been trying to. find out why his pupil is melancholy, and left his study door unlocked so that the prospect of magic might cause him to reveal the answer. It does: Bernard wants to go home because he has fallen for a local girl, Julia, but has not yet plucked up the courage to tel her. Dorilus tries to court the proud, ambitious Dorigen, but she has her sights set on becoming a duchess. On - hearing that the Duke is coming to the area, she and Julia dress up as milkmaids and go to see him. The Duke is attracted by Dorigen’s flirtatious manner, and he grants her a boon. She asks that he make her father an earl, and, once that is done, she points out that there is no impediment of rank preventing him from 1619 marrying her. He does so, but Dorilus persists in his attentions after the wedding. She promises to reciprocate if he fulfils an impossible task: to bring her a garland containing every species of flower, which will remain fresh so long as he is constant in his love. Landoff, still posing as a spirit, agrees to fetch him the blooms, and Dorilus gladly signs away his estate to Bernard by way of payment. Presented with the garland, Dorigen is disconcerted to realize that she will have to keep her side of the bargain. She confesses to the Duke, who seems unconcerned at the prospect of her adultery,…
The Heir
May, Thomas · 1620 · Comedy · Red Bull (Revels) Company (first)
In order to facilitate a marriage between his daughter Leucothoe and the wealthy Count Virro, Polymetes has the rumour put about that his son Eugenio has died during a trip overseas, which means that Leucothoe is now his heir. Among her many other admirers is Philocles, the son of Polymetes’ enemy, Euphues; he is barred from direct access to her, but is able to see her through the window of his friend Clerimont’s lodgings, next door to Polymetes’ house. He overhears her admitting that she does not love Virro, who is too old for her, but has fallen in love with a young man she saw riding in the street: Philocles. He throws a letter to her, and she plans an assignation with him in her father’s absence. Eugenio returns home disguised as the scholar Irus, but Polymetes seems less interested in the news of his son’s survival than that the rumour of his death should not be contradicted. Polymetes learns of Philocles’ assignation with Leucothoe; he and ‘Irus’ eavesdrop on it and hear the lovers plan to elope, even though stealing an heiress is a capital crime. Approving of his sister’s choice, Eugenio tells Virro that he will be marrying Leucothoe under false pretences, since the true heir is still alive; but Virro’s response is to hire ‘Irus’ to poison Eugenio. Polymetes catches Philocles and Leucothoe in the act of elopement, and Euphues’ attempts to secure a pardon are fruitless. Leucothoe’s pleading has more effect on the King, but only because he is attracted to her: he swears…
The Virgin Martyr
Dekker, Thomas; Massinger, Philip · 1620 · Tragedy · Red Bull (Revels) Company (first)
An imperial edict orders the extirpation of Christianity from the Roman Empire, and the re-establishment of the worship of the pagan gods. In Caesarea, Theophilus works to that end, abetted by Harpax; his many successes so far include the forced apostasy of his own daughters, once Christians but now votaresses of Jupiter. Diocletian gives his daughter Artemia the right to choose her own husband, and she selects the unwilling Antoninus, who loves the Christian Dorothea and asks for time to consider. Artemia remains in Caesarea as her father’s deputy. Harpax tells Theophilus that Antoninus is having an illicit relationship with Dorothea, and Theophilus suborns her servants Spungius and Hircius to smuggle him into her home so that he can witness a meeting between them. Dorothea and Antoninus are arrested. Theophilus sets his daughters, Dorothea’s childhood friends, to convert her to paganism; but instead Dorothea persuades them to revert to Christianity. When they demonstrate their new faith by spitting at an idol of Jupiter, their outraged father kills them. Antoninus is taken ill. His father brings Dorothea to his sick-bed in the hope that he will rape her and so be cured. He refuses, and Dorothea is taken for torture and execution. Destitute after losing the gold Theophilus gave them, Spungius and Hircius are engaged by Harpax to be the torturers. They flog her, but miraculously she feels nothing; they are wrongly suspected of botching the job out of regard for their former…
The Duke of Milan
Massinger, Philip · 1621 · Tragedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Sforza, Duke of Milan, dotes on his haughty Duchess Marcelia, and fears the prospect of losing her. Her birthday banquet is interrupted by bad news: Sforza rebuffed Charles the Emperor’s overtures and chose to ally Milan with France instead; but now the Empire has routed France at the Battle of Pavia. Sforza expects imperial reprisals, and goes to submit himself to Charles. Before he leaves, he appoints Francisco his deputy, with instructions that, should he not return, Marcelia is to be murdered so that nobody else shall enjoy her. He submits himself to Charles, offers an explanation but no excuse for his supporting France, and expresses his willingness to pay with his life in order to prevent the imperial army from sacking Milan, thus sparing his subjects further bloodshed. His dignity impresses Charles, who confirms his ducal title. In Sforza’s absence, the tensions between Marcelia and his sister Mariana break out into open violence. Though Mariana is his own wife, Francisco takes Marcelia’s side in the quarrel and imprisons Mariana. Believing that Sforza will not return, he propositions Marcelia, shows her the warrant for her execution, and suggests that they should seize power together. She refuses him, so he explains the excessive love which led Sforza to order her death. This annoys her. When Sforza returns to Milan, she greets him coldly, which gives offence. Mariana learns of Francisco’s efforts to seduce Marcelia, and informs Sforza, who will not believe her.…
Herod and Antipater
Markham, Gervase; Sampson, William · 1622 · Tragedy · Red Bull (Revels) Company (first) · Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
Queen Alexandra attempts to flee to Egypt with her son, the High Priest Aristobulus, after King Herod commands a bloody purge of their family. Herod’s troops arrive in time only to seize their luggage, but they are found hiding inside. Herod makes a public gesture of sparing them, but has his bastard son Antipater arrange an ‘accidental’ drowning for Aristobulus during a swimming contest. Herod backed the wrong side in the recent Roman civil war between Mark Antony and Augustus. He goes to Rome to make his peace with Augustus, the new master of the Empire, leaving Antipater with instructions to kill Mariam, the Queen, in the event of his failure. When Herod presents himself, Augustus offers two slaves the chance to murder him: the Briton conscientiously refuses, whereas the Roman eagerly accepts the job. But Augustus was only toying with Herod: he rewards the British slave, has the Roman thrown into the sea, and confirms Herod in his kingdom as an ally of Rome. Mariam learns that Herod has ordered her death, which compounds his crime in killing Aristobulus. Antipater, who seeks the crown, draws inspiration from Hell, and is shown a vision of the murder of Agamemnon. He procures false witnesses to accuse Mariam of attempting to poison her husband in order to facilitate an incestuous liaison with his brother. Herod sentences them both to death; he later changes his mind and tries to reprieve Mariam, but is too late. His two sons, Alexander and the younger Aristobulus, raise…
The Noble Spanish Soldier (The Noble Soldier, or A Contract Broken Justly Revenged)
Dekker, Thomas · 1622 · Tragedy · Unknown
The King of Spain claims to have doubts about the legality of his marriage: he was pre-contracted to Onaelia and had an illegitimate son by her. He sends the Cardinal to Onaelia with an offer to have the marriage annulled; she will then be instated as Queen of Spain and her son legitimized. She accepts, and hands over her marriage contract for redrafting. But it is only a ruse to get hold of the document, and the King burns it in the presence of his council. Meanwhile, having heard that the King is considering renewing his contract to Onaelia, Queen Paulina feigns pregnancy; any divorce will thus entail the unpopular step of bastardizing his unborn child. Onaelia’s uncle, the Duke of Medina, swears revenge on the King and begins to assemble a faction. The despised soldier Balthazar offers his services to assassinate the King, but when Onaelia refuses, says that he was only testing her. With the King’s complicity, Paulina engages Balthazar to murder Onaelia and her son Sebastian, but he betrays the plot to Medina, to whom he owes allegiance. Medina counter-plots: Balthazar is to report back that Sebastian has been killed but that Onaelia was too well protected; in reality, Sebastian will be hidden in a monastery. Medina tests Balthazar’s fidelity and the King’s malice by disguising himself as a French doctor and offering the King his services as a poisoner; the King’s acceptance of the offer as a second murder option should Balthazar fail, and Balthazar’s outrage, both tell…
A Match at Midnight
R., W. · 1622 · Comedy · Red Bull (Revels) Company (first) (?)
Old Bloodhound is training his younger son Tim in the family pawnbroking business, since Alexander, the elder son, is a drunken wastrel. He intends to marry his daughter Mary to the informer Earlack, even though she prefers Ensign Young, while he himself will marry the young widow Wag. The widow has other suitors, including her servant Jarvis, but wants to get rid of them. She arranges a midnight assignation with Old Bloodhound, intending not to turn up. Jarvis arranges a substitute, and tells Bloodhound that his mistress has come incognito and must be addressed as Mistress Coot; in fact it really is a Mistress Coot, an old bawd, whom Bloodhound takes home that night in preparation for a wedding the next morning. Meanwhile, Mary plans to elope with Young that ' night, retrieving his mortgage from her father’s papers. 1622 The widow's Welsh suitor, Randall, hears about Mary and, though he has never met her, decides he prefers her to Wag. The servant Sim fixes Randall up with an assignation that night, but he ends up encountering Wag's maid, who is returning from a late errand and who also happens to be named Mary. Tim visits the tavern to give Alexander some pawn- money, and becomes enamoured of Sue Shortheels, thinking her a lady of noble descent. In fact, she is a prostitute. Alexander gets into the widow’s bedroom and hides under her bed, then forces her to agree to marry him by threatening to undress just as neighbours appear to be arriving. The various wedding plans…
The Bondman (The Noble Bondman)
Massinger, Philip · 1623 · Tragicomedy · Lady Elizabeth's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Carthage has territorial designs on Sicily, so Corinth sends its general, Timoleon, to take charge of the defence of Syracuse. On arrival, he criticizes the Sicilians for appointing unworthy and inexperienced senators and for general corruption. He decrees that all private wealth should be sequestered to pay for the war. It is an unpopular measure until Cleora public- spiritedly gives up her jewels, forcing the others to follow her example. Cleora has several suitors, including Pisander of Thebes; but her brother Timagoras, keen for her to marry his friend Leosthenes, slandered Pisander to induce their father to send him away. Now that the young men are going to war, Leosthenes is jealous about what she may get up to in his absence, so she promises literally not to see or say anything until his return. The slaves of Syracuse take advantage of the absence of the army and rebel, enslaving their former masters. The ringleader is Cleora’s slave Marullo, who claims to be motivated by unrequited passion for his mistress, but, when he gains access to her, disclaims any intention of raping her and receives in return a wordless acknowledgement of her regard for him. He encourages the former slaves to treat their former masters well, since their positions may again be reversed. News arrives of a victory over the Carthaginians, with particular military distinction achieved by Leosthenes. The rebellious slaves man the city’s walls and gates to keep out the returning army; from the…
The Duchess of Suffolk
Drue, Thomas · 1624 · History · Prince Palatine's (Palsgrave's) Men
King Edward VI orders the widowed Duchess of Suffolk to marry the Count Palatine, newly elected the . King of Poland. Other aristocratic suitors present themselves, but she contracts herself to her servant Bertie. Bishops Gardiner and Bonner are imprisoned, and Bonner swears revenge when the Duchess insults him. Queen Mary succeeds to the throne, releases the imprisoned bishops and appoints them commissioners to exterminate heresy. Bonner has Bertie arrested, but permits him to go abroad; he then has the Duchess arrested and her household broken up. Forced to choose which of its members will remain in her service, she selects Cranwell above Fox, who takes it badly. Bonner’s men have little success in detaining the Duchess and her associates: Dr Sandys escapes by impersonating a workman, and the Duchess also sneaks out of London with Cranwell, her baby daughter, and its nurse. The workmen are arrested and brought before Bonner, who orders them burned, but forgets about them when he hears news of the Duchess’s whereabouts. He goes with Fox to Leigh, where she and her remaining household have assembled in disguise at Gosling’s house, but Fox helps them to escape by ‘accidentally’ knocking Bonner into a well. The Duchess and Bertie meet at Emden. Still wanted by the English authorities, they decide to travel separately, but Bertie is concerned for his wife’s safety and is on hand to rescue her from being raped when her party is attacked by thieves. The nurse first flees with the…
The Renegado, or The Gentleman of Venice
Massinger, Philip · 1624 · Tragicomedy · Lady Elizabeth's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
PLOT Paulina has been kidnapped by the pirate Grimaldi and brought to stock the Viceroy Hassan Bey’s seraglio in Tunis. However, she wears a relic given to her by the Jesuit Francisco, which protects her from violence and ensures that she cannot be raped. Hassan Bey’s attempts to seduce her are proving ineffectual. The Pasha Mustapha arrives in Tunis and presents himself to Donusa with a letter from her uncle, the Sultan, recommending him as a prospective husband. She expresses an interest in seeing the market, and he escorts her there. One of the merchants, Vitelli, is really Paulina’s brother. He is selling pictures of beautiful European women, so Donusa unveils herself to invite a comparison. Vitelli instantly falls in love with her, and, to bring him out of his reverie, she smashes some of his glassware and tells him to present the bill for the damage at the palace the following day. Seeing an opportunity to rescue Paulina, he goes, is admitted to the seraglio, and ends up having sex with Donusa. He returns to the market a made man, and passes on his business to his servant Gazet. The Maltese raid the harbour at Tunis and capture a ship. Having failed to prevent this, Grimaldi is dismissed from Hassan Bey’s services; his seraglio recruitment work counts for nothing. He goes to the market in despair, believing he can never be forgiven the act of sacrilege for which he originally fled Venice: dashing the host out of a priest’s hand as he was saying mass. The priest was, in…
The Knave in Grain, New Vamped
D., J. · 1625 · Comedy · Unknown · Fortune;Outdoor Professional
Jorezzo, banished after his father’s conviction for treason, has returned to Venice under the alias Julio, confiding his identity only to his old schoolfellow Franciscus. He plans to raise his fortunes by marrying Franciscus’ sister Phemone. Unfortunately for him, she is already in love with Antonio; so he tells Franciscus that Antonio is attempting to seduce his wife Cornelia. The jealous Franciscus fights a duel with Antonio, leaves him for dead, and goes into exile. Antonio is found and nursed bya shepherd. Franciscus’ property is seized by the state, and Cornelia’s father, believing the accusation of adultery, turns her out of his house; Phemone leaves Venice with her. They are given shelter by the disguised Antonio, but do not realize his identity. Antonio’s father Arbaces offers a reward for the capture of the fugitive Franciscus, who is living in disguise near Venice. Julio seeks him out, pretending remorse, but really intending to claim the «reward. Franciscus accepts his company, but sneaks off to fetch Arbaces and the watch. Franciscus is arrested and brought before the Duke. At first he is condemned for Antonio’s murder, but the judgement is reversed when Antonio himself comes to the court. Franciscus generously asks the court to spare Julio, but his plea backfires when he lets it slip that Julio is really Jorezzo, the son of a traitor. The Duke sentences him to be branded on the forehead with the word ‘knave’, then banished. In the sub-plot, Stultissimo comes off…
The School of Compliment (Love Tricks)
Shirley, James · 1625 · Comedy · Lady Elizabeth's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Selina and Hilaria have each attracted the attention of several suitors. Selina’s brother Antonio is one of those interested in Hilaria; and Hilaria’s recently widowed father Rufaldo, who disapproves of Antonio and would rather she married the wealthy Bubulcus, would nevertheless like Selina for his second wife. Antonio has his friend and servant distract Rufaldo while he sneaks in to visit Hilaria; they do it by persuading Rufaldo that he has been miraculously rejuvenated. Selina’s father is happy to let her have her own way in ===== PAGE 140 ===== her love-life, because her sister Felice absconded after he interfered in hers. He proposes that she should be cautious about marrying Rufaldo, but she declares enthusiasm for the idea and asks for a hasty wedding; on the appointed day, however, she disappears and goes to live in the country disguised as a shepherd. Felice’s abandoned suitor Gasparo sets up a school of compliment to teach people refined behaviour. His clients include: Bubulcus, who wants to learn how to woo Hilaria and scorn Antonio; Delia, a chambermaid keen to brush up her etiquette: a judge who wants to learn how to address the jury; Medulla, a social-climbing widow; an old countryman who wants to turn his oafish son into a courtier; a quarrelsome gentleman; Ingeniolo, a justice’s clerk in love; and Jenkin, an amorous Welshman in search of poetry to turn a shepherdess’s head. The search for Selina sends several people off to the country, including her true…
A New Trick to Cheat the Devil
Davenport, Robert · 1625 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men (?); Lady Elizabeth's Men (?)
Anne Changeable wants to marry Slightall, with her father’s consent, but her mother persuades her that marriage to Lord Scales will be better for her social standing. Slightall takes rejection badly: he turns to misogyny and voluptuous hedonism. One of his servants, Roger, tries unsuccessfully to dissuade him from squandering his money, while the other, Geoffrey, helps make an arrangement with a usurer to supply him with a further £1,000 — the usurer’s objective being to acquire his land. Lord Scales visits Anne, and she finds that he is not a good kisser: Slightall is the better catch in every respect save his lack of a title; but when she tries to reactivate the romance, Slightall rejects her. He has been ruined by prodigality and pays off his servants; Geoffrey is taken on by Lord Scales, but Roger declines a similar offer. Anne insults everyone who persuaded her to jilt Slightall, but this only makes Lord Scales more attracted to her. Changeable promises Anne that he will get Slightall back for her. Driven out of his wits with melancholy, Slightall conjures up Beelzebub, and makes a contract: the devil will give him enough money to pay his debts in exchange for the right to take his soul when he no longer owes anyone anything. On the day his debt to the usurer falls due, he turns out to have ample money to pay, so the usurer gets his money back rather than the lands he coveted. Asked by Anne to give Slightall some financial support, Lord Scales finds his offer rejected…
The Wedding
Shirley, James · 1626 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Beauford is to marry Sir John Belfare’s daughter, Gratiana, but on the eve of the wedding his kinsman Marwood tells him that she is unchaste: he himself has slept with her. Beauford fights a duel with him in the park; Marwood is wounded, but still insists that his story is true. Beauford sends a surgeon to him, but the body disappears before he arrives, taken away for treatment by the park gamekeeper’s wife. Beauford accuses and jilts Gratiana on the day of the wedding. Questioned by. Beauford’s friend Captain Landby, Gratiana insists that she is a virgin, and he offers to help vindicate her. At his instigation, she writes to Beauford pretending to have drowned herself, and shuts herself away in the house of Landby’s uncle, Justice Landby. Milisent, a boy servant, tells Gratiana that Marwood has died insisting on the veracity of his accusation: he slept with Gratiana with the connivance of her guardian Cardona. Milisent then tells Beauford that Marwood was mistaken: Gratiana is innocent, and Cardona is to blame. The boy also claims to have brought him Marwood’s body, but the coffin actually contains the living Gratiana, and the lovers are reconciled. Beauford is arrested for Marwood’s murder arid brought before Justice Landby. Belfare rushes to the judge's house to lay an additional accusation for the rourder of the missing Gratiana, only to find her there alive. The other murder charge proves. equally iiitounded: Marwood too is present in disguise. Cardona admits that she…
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt
May, Thomas · 1626 · Tragedy · Unknown
PLOT Though he has a wife in Rome, Antonius is devoted to Cleopatra. Provocatively, he bestows on her three eastern Provinces which were under Roman rule. News arrives from Rome that all but one of his rivals have been eclipsed; the remaining politician, Caesar, is too proud to share power and has engrossed the others' confiscated estates to himself rather than dividing them with Antonius. Antonius abandons hedonism to prepare for war, and Cleopatra forces him to allow her to accompany him. Portents appear in Egypt and Rome, including a comet. During the decisive battle, Cleopatra flees and Antonius follows her, leaving his navy to be massacred; his soldiers transfer their allegiance to Caesar. Antonius goes to live in misanthropic seclusion, madly taking on the name and identity of Timon of Athens. Cleopatra offers Caesar gold to keep herself and her dynasty on the Egyptian throne. Caesar wants the gold, but also wants to display her at his triumph; but, knowing that she will never allow herself to be humiliated, he decides on a ruse. Meanwhile, Cleopatra investigates suicide methods, only to be told that there is no chemical poison which is both fast-acting and painless: her only option is the bite of an asp. She tests the claim on two condemned prisoners, administering the asp to one; when it does indeed appear to be a tranquil death, the other man is spared. Antonius is brought back to his senses by the news of his army's defection, and prepares to return to Cleopatra.…
The Maid's Revenge
Shirley, James · 1626 · Tragedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
PLOT Sebastiano hopes that his friend Antonio will marry one of his sisters, and introduces him to the family, even though the girls both have suitors already. Antonio falls for Berinthia, but her father, Vilarezo, will not allow her to marry until the elder daughter, Catalina, is wed. Catalina herself becomes enamoured of Antonio, which makes her jealous of her sister and annoys her suitor, Montenegro. After Antonio is called away, Catalina plots to frustrate his wooing: she persuades Valasco, Berinthia’s other suitor, to damn her reputation by claiming that Berinthia has promised to marry him; Vilarezo responds by ordering Berinthia’s confinement in Catalina’s custody. Antonio writes to Berinthia, but the letter falls into Catalina’s hands. Catalina proposes that Valasco should force the issue by kidnapping Berinthia; but her real plan is for him to take the blame for Berinthia’s death by poison. Antonio’s servant overhears the plot and warns his master. Antonio comes to rescue Berinthia, and is admitted by Catalina’s chambermaid, who takes him for Valasco; together they escape to Antonio’s castle. Upon realizing that Antonio is his daughter’s abductor, Vilarezo sends Sebastiano to take reprisals. Though told the truth and treated honourably, he feels obliged to fight a duel with Antonio, and wins: Antonio is killed and Berinthia brought home. Antonio’s sister Castabella, who has fallen in love with Sebastiano despite her brother’s death, follows him disguised as a page.…
Apollo Shroving
Hawkins, William · 1627 · Comedy
The people are summoned to do Shrovetide homage to Apollo and'present any grievances they may have; it is rumoured that many will be indicted for encroaching on the god’s prerogative, Novice gets himself enrolled in Compliment’s school of etiquette, which is currently fashionable. Compliment hopes to be granted a licence to run his school, and asks Lauriger to intercede with Apollo to that end. He tries to cheat his rich pupil Jingle, who ===== PAGE 261 ===== LGo2y. pays monthly fees, by reckoning a month as four weeks, so that there are thirteen months in the year. At Apollo’s court, Compliment is launched into the air with fireworks, and his page Implement is sentenced to a year repairing damaged school books. Jingle is sentenced to spend all his inheritance on bodily pleasure, leaving him with nothing to live on in his old age. Novice is simply sent back to school. Amphibius is in love after receiving an amorous letter from Queen Hedone, delivered by Siren, but his friend Philoponus points out that the address is in a different handwriting from the letter: it is a forgery. In fact, Siren is tempting many votaries of Apollo to apostasy. She also attempts to seduce Lauriger into devotion to Hedone, but he resists her alluring song. At the court, Siren is exposed as an ugly monster. For overestimating his academic abilities, Retro was awarded a three-year penance of only being able to speak backwards. His father seeks Apollo’s clemency, and it is granted. Ludio, who prefers…
The Great Duke of Florence
Massinger, Philip · 1627 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
The Great Duke -Gosimo, a childless widower, rejects his courtiers suggestion that he should marry his: ward Fiorinda. His: nephew Giovanni; who-has been educated by Carolo in the country, is recalled to court and adopted as his heir. Giovanni's main regret is that he must-leave Lydia, Carolo’s daughter, so he asks Fiorinda to bring her to court as a lady-in-waiting. Fiorinda asks that, in-return, he intercede. with the Duke to stop sending his favounte, Sannazaro, to war; she is attracted to ‘him, though he seems ‘not to notice. Cosinio announces his intention that Giovanni should marry Fiorinda and, hearing of his interest in Lydia, sends Sannazare to investigate. Sannazaro completes the love-quadrangle by becoming enamoured of Lydia himself. - Sannazaro infers that Cosimo is considering Lydia asa bride, which puts him in a quandary; ifhe faithfully reports his estimation of Lydia’s beauty, he will lose his own: chance: of having her. He tries to persuade Giovanni that it-would-be a bad thing for Cosimo to remarry and disinherit hini by begetting a son, but Giovanni is only concerned that Cosimo might deprive him of Lydia. They both talk down Lydia's beauty in order to dampen Cosimo’s imagined ardour. Then Fiorinda asks Cosinio's permission to introduce Lyxlia to her court, citing Giovanni's recommendation. ===== PAGE 274 ===== Realizing he has been deceived, Cosimo visits Carolo’s home. Giovanni writes to give Lydia advance warning of what he understands to be Cosimo’s…
The English Traveller
Heywood, Thomas · 1627 · Tragicomedy · Lady Elizabeth's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Geraldine has recently returned from foreign travels, to find that, during his absence, a childhood friend, whom he was expected to marry, married old Wincott instead; she did not seek the marriage, but has no complaints. Having no children of his own, Wincott treats Geraldine as a close friend, and is trusting enough to leave the young man alone with his wife. Geraldine agrees with her that, should they both survive Wincott, he will be her second husband, and he agrees to remain single until then. Dalavill spreads rumours that Geraldine and Mistress Wincott are lovers. Concerned at the possible scandal, Old Geraldine tests his son by proposing that he should marry; Geraldine’s refusal is taken as confirmation of the affair. Geraldine protests his innocence, but to prove it, and silence the gossip, his father insists that he should never again visit the Wincotts. His absence grieves Wincott, and Geraldine agrees to explain himself at a secret midnight meeting. He is pressed by Wincott to stay the night but, unable to sleep, decides to pass the time looking innocently at Mistress Wincott in her bed. Outside her room he overhears her talking to Dalavill: they are lovers. Disillusioned, Geraldine plans to leave England. Wincott lays on a feast to mark his departure, and everyone is invited. At the party, Geraldine confronts Mistress Wincott with what he knows. She is mortified, rejects Dalavill, faints, and dies, having written to her husband a confession. Dalavill flees the…
Antigone, the Theban Princess
May, Thomas · 1627 · Tragedy
Self-blinded and banished from Thebes, Oedipus wishes only for death. His daughter Antigone temporarily persuades him to give up such thoughts, but it is not long before he is dead. Thebes itself is at war: Eteocles has dishonoured a power-sharing agreement with his brother Polynices, and seven Greek champions have besieged the city in support of the latter’s claim. After sustaining heavy casualties, Polynices proposes settling the case in single combat with Eteocles. Both are killed. The new King, Creon, decrees that no Theban shall bury any enemy soldier, including Polynices. He also places Antigone under house arrest and refuses his son Haemon permission to marry her. In defiance of Creon, Antigone goes to the battlefield in search of Polynices’ body. There she meets his widow, Argia, and together they convey the corpse past the watchmen and give it a funeral. Creon too comes to the battlefield, to consult the witches who are gathering Parts of the dead bodies for magical use. They make a dead body tell his fortune: he will die soon, and disorder will come to Thebes. Antigone and Argia are arrested. Creon holds Argia, a foreign princess, for ransom, but sentences Antigone to be entombed alive and left to starve to death. By threatening to take his own life, Haemon persuades his father to allow her release, but it is too late: she has taken poison to hasten her death. Haemon kills himself. Thebes is attacked by Theseus, who has been summoned by another widow to intervene…
Albovine, King of the Lombards
Davenant, William · 1628 · Tragedy · Unacted
Before the start of the action, King Albovine killed a vanquished king and took his daughter Rhodolinda prisoner; another prisoner of war, Paradine, has risen to be his favourite. Albovine marries Rhodolinda, but at the wedding banquet he drunkenly forces her to drink from a cup made of her father’s skull. She responds by refusing to consummate the marriage. Hermegild, who has a grudge against Paradine, encourages Albovine to make advances to Paradine’s wife, Valdaura, but then arranges for Rhodolinda to witness the encounter and tells her that Albovine is promiscuous. She swears revenge and promises to take Hermegild as her second husband if he will help her. Valdaura spends every night away from her nuptial bed, claiming that Rhodolinda requires her overnight attendance. A court lady, Thesina, offers to arrange an opportunity for the frustrated Paradine to sleep with his own wife. The following morning, however, he learns that his nocturnal partner was Rhodolinda. She tells hirn of Valdaura’s adultery and demands that he ki}} Albovine, or be denounced as a rapist. Hermegild sees to it that Valdaura eavesdrops on the meeting, arouses her jealousy, and gives her a slow-acting poison with which to kill her husband; his plan is to ensure that Paradine kills Albovine before the poison takes effect. Yaidaura pretends to adetintster the poison and goads Paradine into killing her; but she dies affirming that the pyisoning was only a bluff. At Hermiegild’s instigation. Paradine |is…
The Deserving Favorite
Carlell, Lodowick · 1629 · Tragicomedy · King's Men · before the Court;Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Before the start of the action, Utrante and Orsinio were suspected of poisoning a member of the royal family: Orsinio was banished and, for a time, Utrante imprisoned, his lands confiscated. Nevertheless Orsinio's son, Lysander, has prospered: the Duke saved his life after a hunting accident, took him into favour, and intervened to secure his estate when his uncle mounted a legal claim against him. He has become secretly betrothed to Utrante's daughter, Clarinda; but now the Duke has fallen in love with her too. Lysander feels he must stand aside in his patron's favour, not only because of his personal obligations to the Duke but also because he knows that, if balked, the Duke could make life difficult, or short, for Clarinda's father. Clarinda, however, will not accept Lysander's withdrawal or the Duke's suit. Not knowing of her prior engagement, Utrante pressurizes her, and she asks to postpone the decision for a month, intending to force a fait accompli by marrying Lysander in the interim. Jacomo discovers the secret romance and arranges for the Duke to witness an assignation between the lovers. He offers to murder Lysander, against whom he has a grudge, but the Duke refuses, preferring the honourable option: a duel. The rivals fight in the forest; both are wounded, but the Duke gets the worst of it. They are found by the Princess, Cleonarda, who takes Lysander back to her hunting lodge, leaving the Duke's body for later collection. It has gone when her servants come back…
The Grateful Servant (The Faithful Servant)
Shirley, James · 1629 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
PLOT The Duke of Savoy was to marry Leonora, Princess of Milan; but with the death of her father, the Milanese feared falling under the dominion of Savoy and have tried to force her to marry her uncle instead. Rather than go to war, the Duke redirects his amorous attentions to Cleona, who is Savoy-born and so poses none of the problems of language and obedience associated with a foreign wife. Cleona has just lost another lover, Foscari, who was reported dead on a journey. In fact, he has returned with a new page, Dulcino, whom he rescued from the banditti. He sends Dulcino with a letter announcing his return. Cleona at once loses all interest in the Duke; but when Foscari learns that he is the Duke’s rival in love, he decides to bow out: Dulcino is sent back to make a false confession that the letter was a forgery and that Foscari is dead after all, clearing the way for the Duke’s suit and Cleona’s advancement. The Duke, however, finds himself unaccountably attracted to Dulcino. Foscari intends to become a monk, taking Dulcino with him. Dulcino does not share this ambition: ‘he’ is really Leonora, who fled Milan to escape the forced marriage. The monk sent to negotiate Foscari’s admission to the abbey turns out to be the one who also helped her to abscond, Valentino, and he promises to arrange matters. Meanwhile the Duke learns that Foscari is alive, but promises to keep it from Cleona until after the monastic initiation ceremony, which they are both to witness. In the…
The New Inn, or The Light Heart
Jonson, Ben · 1629 · Comedy · King's Men
Before the start of the action, the aristocratic Framipul family disintegrated. The younger daughter, |. actitia, ===== PAGE 357 ===== 1629 disappeared. Her mother, believing her husband had fallen out of love with her because of inability to produce a son, went mad. Lord Frampul too then vanished and his title devolved to his elder daughter, Frances, who is now enjoying herself spending her inheritance. Lady Frances and her crew of suitors descend on the Light Heart, a country inn, on pleasure bent. Lovel, a melancholy guest at the inn, decides to leave, but Goodstock the jovial host persuades him to stay. He agrees so long as he doesn’t have to meet Frances, and explains that he loves her but is honourably trying to leave the field clear for another suitor, his ward Beaufort. Unfortunately for him, Frances insists that he joins in with the day’s planned entertainment. Her maid Prudence has been appointed to preside over the revels as the mock-queen, even though the new gown she was to wear for the occasion has not arrived. She awards Lovel two hours of the Lady’s undivided attention in which to woo her, and to be rewarded with two kisses. Prudence also borrows Goodstock’s son Frank, dresses him as a woman, and induces Beaufort to fall in love with ‘her’. For the first hour, he discourses of the nature of spiritual love; Beaufort is more interested in love of the physical kind, but Frances is inspired with a new respect for the emotion, and gladly pays Lovel the kiss she…
The Just Italian
Davenant, William · 1629 · Tragicomedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
A few months ago, Altamont married Alteza against the wishes of her uncle, the Duke. She brought a handsome dowry with her, and expects to be the dominant partner in the marriage; in turn, he finds her rebellious, proud, and prodigal, and determines to tame her. Now it is clear that the marriage has broken down, she refuses him access to her bed and proposes to divide the house between them: they will be. in effect, next-door neighbours rather than husband and wife. Altamont tries to discipline his wite by pretending to take a mistress (impersonated by his sister Scoperta'. but Alteza openly receives a lover. the rake Scialte:. However, she savs he must wait for sex and leaves him alone in the house to amuse himself. Wandetinyg around the house, he encounters Scoperta and courts her under the eavesdropping ears of Altamant: she agrees to go away with him if his intentions ware honourable. Once Alteza ts ready to entertamn Scrotte, he is no longer interested in her and is giving up the libertine life. Alteza is reconciled with her husband ond asks him to kill Sciolto. By a ruse, Altamont pets Scoperta to adnut that ste is a willing object of Sciolto’s attentions. He locks her up, and his men seize Sciolte as he scales Che en tora wall for the elopement. Altarmont and Scrolte heb a duel; Sciolto is beaten, but Altamont is wounded in the chest. Alteza is told that he is dead. and giver the power to pass sentence on Sciolta and Scoperta as tin people responsible; she orders them…
The Northern Lass
Brome, Richard · 1629 · Comedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Globe;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
Against the advice of his kinsman Triedwell, Sir Philip Luckless has contracted to marry Mistress Fitchew, a rich lawyer’s widow. He has second thoughts when he meets his future brother-in-law, the idiot Widgeon, and realizes that he may have allied himself to bad stock. Mistress Trainwell comes to remind him that he is already committed to marry the northern lass Constance, but he is unco-operative, calling Constance a whore and Trainwell a bawd. It later emerges that Constance sent Trainwell in the naive belief that a kiss from Luckless at a fleeting encounter was a binding offer of marriage. Triedwell attempts to save Luckless by dissuading Fitchew from the match. His arguments about the discontents of wifely obedience make no headway: Fitchew has already had her own dominance written into the marriage contract. Moreover, Triedwell falls 1629 in love with her himself. Fitchew suspects Luckless is trying to wriggle out of his obligations. When Luckless proposes having the marriage solemnized early, she takes it to be a bluff, and calls it; by that evening, they are married. They are presented with a wedding masque of forsaken lovers; Triedwell wears the willow for Fitchew and Constance for Luckless. This so offends Fitchew that she refuses to sleep with her new husband; Luckless regrets his hasty marriage. Constance falls into a melancholy over her lost love. Her uncle, the justice Sir Paul Squelch, tries to induce her to marry Nonsense, but she sees through an attempt to…
The Lover's Melancholy
1629 · Tragicomedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Globe;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
Menaphon returns home to Cyprns after a year's travel, bringing with him Parthenophill, a young man he met in Greece. Neither his love-Life nor that of his friend Amethus is going well: Amethus' love Oeophila is too preoccupied with her father's illness to entertain his suit. and Menaphon 's love Thamasta seems uninterested in men - at least until she meets Parthenophill. She sets her maid Kala to woo the newcomer, to avenge a slight, Kala courts him for herself, but Parthenophill rejects them both. Prince Palador has also been unlucky in love : two years before, during his father Agenor's lifetime, he was to have married Erodea, daughter of the principal minister, Meleander; but Agenor wooed her for himself and attempted to have her kidnapped; Mdeander rescued her and she disappeared, leaving the disgraced Meleander to sink into insanity under house arrest. Now Palador is melancholy, and affairs of state are neglected. The court physician Corax undertakes to tind the cause of Palador's malady, and presents a masque of mdancholy, representing various types of mental disorder: lycanthropia, hydrophobia, delirium, phrenitis, and St Vitus' dance, but not love-mdancholr, v.,-hich is represented by a sizeable blank in the masque's paper programme. Palador's angry reaction to Co-ra."l'.'s commentary on the omission reveals that this is his malady . Menaphon becomes jealous of the attentions Thamasta pays to Parthenophill, but her persistenct: leads the young man to reveal the…
Amyntas, or The Impossible Dowry
Randolph, Thomas · 1630 · Pastoral · King's Revels Company · before the Court;Whitehall;
More than sixteen years before the start of the action, Claius stole Lalage, the girlfriend of Philaebus. Philaebus grew melancholy and his father Pilumnus prayed to Ceres for vengeance on Lalage, who duly died in childbirth. This didn’t help Philaebus, who pined to death on her grave. Ceres declared that she will remain angry until the blood of Claius both quenches and kindles fire; so Claius fled, pursued by Corymbus, determined to kill him and lift the curse. But Ceres also disapproved of Pilumnus’ vindictiveness, and further declared that his daughter Urania will have 1630 an unhappy marriage unless her fiancé Amyntas, Claius’ son, gives her as a dowry something he does not, may not, and cannot have. The riddle so occupied his mind that he went mad. All this strife convinces Medorus that the time is not right for his daughter Laurinda to fall in love. She is herself averse to committing herself in marriage (since marriages always seem to end in unhappiness), and cannot make up her mind between her two suitors, Damon and Alexis. Damon is also the object of Amaryllis’ affections, but he is only interested in Laurinda. The two suitors would like to settle matters by fighting a duel, but bloodshed is a capital crime in the sacred vale, so they make a suicide pact instead. Laurinda dissuades them from carrying it out, and promises that she will finally accept one of them tomorrow: all three must accept the decision of the first virgin they meet coming out of the temple in the…
The Spanish Bawd (Calisto and Meliboea) (Celestina)
Mabbe, James, trans.; Rojas, Fernando de · 1631 · Literary Tragicomedy
Looking for a lost hawk, Calisto meets Melibea in a garden and falls in love with her, but she rejects his attentions, thinking them presumptuous. His servant Sempronio tries to talk him out of love, and, having failed, agrees to help. He calls in the services of the bawd Celestina (partly to give him an excuse to visit Elicia, a prostitute, whom he himself loves), and she comes lo Calisto's house. There she meets another servant, Parmeno, who served her when he was a boy. She tells him that his dead mother entrusted her with the secret of where his inheritance is hidden, and promises him the love of Areusa, if he will leave his master and patch up his feud with Sempronio.Having paid for Celestina's assistance, Calisto becomes impatient and sends Sempronio to chivvy her. She casts a spell, creating an enchanted clew of yarn which will compel Melibea to love Calisto. She goes to Melibea's house and sells her the clew, but it does not have the desired effect: she tells Melibea about a sick man, and Melibea seems ready to take pity on him until she hears his name, whereupon she orders Celestina out of the house. Celestina insists that she was not procuring under cover of a metaphor: Calisto has a toothache and has sent her to fetch Melibea's magic girdle, which will cure it. Melibea agrees to send the girdle, but cannot write out the accompanying charm straight away; Celestina will have to return and collect it the following morning. Celestina reports to Calisto, asking for new…
The Traitor
Shirley, James · 1631 · Tragedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men
PLOT Lorenzo plots against both the Duke and his political rivals. He induces Pisano to jilt his fiancée Amidea and transfer his affections to the wealthy Oriana, who loves Cosmo; this will block Cosmo’s political ascent by denying him Oriana’s money. Cosmo, motivated by male friendship, agrees to give up his girlfriend. The Duke is warned against Lorenzo, but when he publicly confronts Lorenzo with the letter of denunciation, the traitor argues plausibly that it is a malicious libel. The sexually undisciplined Duke is attracted to Amidea, and Lorenzo arranges an assignation for him, but also inflames her brother Sciarrha with a desire for revenge: the liaison is to be the occasion for the Duke’s assassination. When he comes to Sciarrha’s, the Duke is shown a moral masque rebuking royal lust, but he is so busy chatting up Amidea that he doesn’t watch the entertainment. He visits Amidea in her bedroom, but she keeps him off by threatening suicide, and he returns to his senses. Sciarrha is satisfied: he denounces Lorenzo to the Duke, but when Lorenzo is told that the assassination has taken place, with the Duke eavesdropping, the traitor disclaims all knowledge and again re-establishes his good faith. De Pazzi, Lorenzo’s ally, worries that his part in the treason will lead to his execution, and asks to be excused from further complicity; he gets his wish to leave court when the Duke banishes him. Oriana’s mother, believing Cosmo is a poor match while his enemy Lorenzo is in…
Love's Cruelty
Shirley, James · 1631 · Tragedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Hippolito has decided to avoid seeing his friend Bellamente’s fiancée Clariana before they are married, for fear that he will fall in love with her. On learning this, Clariana pays him a visit, without revealing her identity, and he woos her. The session is interrupted by a summons from the Duke, so Hippotite leaves Clariana in his room, locking the door behind him. The Duke’s business turns out to take longer than anticipated: he has brought the virgin Eubella to court to be his mistress, but, despite bestowing promotien: on her father Sebastian, he cannot persuade Rubella into bed, and wants Hippolito to do the jab ter him. Hippolito asks Bellamente to go and release the unnamed gentlewoman from his unsuccessfully attempts his blandishments on Bubs Meanwhile, Bellamente is dismayed to find dit bh: friend’s visitor was Clariana; she argues coyenth thet her visit was innocent curiasity. but decides to make sure of her by advanciny the dete their wedding. , Having seen Clariana, Hippolite: talix fur her ia he expected. Bellamente’s servant discevers thet i + locked room together and, iooking threuuh os oralt the wall, sees them having sex. Puid «4 the on Bellamente swears revenge and catuhe: thera ten in bed. He forces Hippolito inte the Gosct ani oa orders Clariana to tidy the bed. and thes --2 the servant and rebukes him te: Released from his hiding-place. Hipruiies.: Bellamente to be a true Italien amd biit si Bellamente cannot bring himiselt tc: declares that he will…
The Emperor of the East
Massinger, Philip · 1631 · Tragicomedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Globe;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
Paulinus agrees to introduce Athenais at court: she wants to petition the virtuous Protectress Pulcheria after being cheated of her inheritance by her brothers. Pulcheria adopts her as a handmaiden and arranges for her to be converted to Christianity; she also catches-the eye of the Emperor, Theodosius. Urged by his eunuchs, Theodosius declares that his minority is at an end, and takes the reins of power from Pulcheria. She encouragés him to marry, but when he refuses the two diplomatic offers which are under consideration, she presents a third option: Athenais, whom he had been thinking of all along. The eunuchs suspect a stratagem to enable Puicheria to hang onte power by proxy. Theodosius disregards their warnings and insists on marrying as soon as Athenais has been baptised, which also entails her taking 2 new name, Eudoxia. He celebrates the wedding with extravagant largesse. Pulcheria asks the new Empress to use her influence to discourage her husband from prodigality, but Eudoxia contemptuously refuses. Theodosius grants Pulcheria a boon, and he seals it without troubling to find out what it contains. [t turns out to be a deed of gift, conferring ownership of Eudoxia. Pulcheria uses this to teach them beth a lesson, Eudoxia about pride and Theedosius about the dangers of being unwisely bountiful; she then destroys the deed and gives Theodosius back his wife. A countryman presents Theodosius with the gitt of a splendid apple. He in turn sends it to Eudoxia, whe in turn…
The Humorous Courtier (The Duke)
Shirley, James · 1631 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
PLOT It is vital that the Duchess of Mantua marries; otherwise the King of Spain will assert his interest in the succession. But the Duchess has turned away three foreign princes proposed by her courtiers, most recently Foscari, who left Mantua annoyed. She declares that she will choose a husband from her own court, which puts the courtiers into a competitive frenzy of ambition. In this they are each abetted by a Florentine visitor to the court, Giotto. Giotto tells Comaccio that the Duchess is interested in his foolish nephew, de Pazzi. At Comaccio’s request, Giotto gives de Pazzi advice on wooing technique designed to make him appear undesirable: he is to talk unchastely and dispraise the other men and women of the court. He composes an offensive poem for the Duchess, but she finds it funny and shows de Pazzi greater favour than before. Comaccio asks Giotto to get de Pazzi out of the way for good, by murdering him; Giotto persuades him to go into hiding until after the marriage is decided. The soldier Orseollo is misled into thinking he is the chosen suitor, and starts to regret his public displays of misogyny. Even after his U-turn, Giotto tells him there is a slight problem: his former attitudes could be taken as evidence of his impotence, perhaps the result of a battlefield injury; so Orseollo attempts to secure his reputation as a stud by revealing the prodigious extent of his secret whoring. Old Contarini regrets his recent marriage to a young wife, which puts him out…
The Wonder of A Kingdom
Dekker, Thomas · 1631 · Comedy · Prince Charles's Men (first) (?)
The Duke of Florence has betrothed his daughter, Fiametta, to the Prince of Pisa, and, to facilitate the political marriage, banished her lover, Angelo. Fiametta sickens for her absent love, and he returns to court disguised as a French doctor, offering the Duke his services to save her life. He diagnoses sexual frustration, and proposes a cure which requires the patient to drink a potion made from the beloved’s powdered heart: she will then hate him. In order to obtain the key ingredient, Angelo must be murdered. Angelo reveals his presence to Fiametta, but she insists on identifying him to her father, in the expectation that the Duke will relent. Angelo passes this off as an insane delusion, then flees to sanctuary. He is found and brought to court with a friar. He seems to reject Fiametta, and she agrees to marry Pisa the following day, but asks for the friar to hear her confession overnight. In fact, he secretly marries her to Angelo, pre-empting Pisa; the Duke and Prince are annoyed, but recognize there is nothing to be done about it. In the sub-plot, Lord Vanni has amorous inclinations younger than his physical age, and sends a love-letter and jewel to the chaste Alphonsina Neri. Meanwhile, Alphonsina’s brother Tibaldo has fallen sick for love of Vanni’s wife Dariene. He asks Alphonsina to accept Vanni’s advances, and Vanni duly excuses himself from Dariene’s bed. Tibaldo has arranged for himself to be present disguised as Alphonsina’s sister, and offers himself as an…
The Jealous Lovers
Randolph, Thomas · 1632 · Comedy · before the Court;at University;
Simo lives an ascetic life so that his son Asotus will inherit a large fortune. Asotus asks for money now, and is given some. His tutor Ballio persuades him that it is vulgar to carry his own purse, and undertakes to do so for him. Tyndarus and Techmessa are both prone to jealousy of their respective lovers, Evadne and Pamphilus; Tyndarus even doubts Evadne’s chastity when she kisses him over-enthusiastically. Asotus tries to chat up Evadne, but she refuses him. He manages to purloin one of her ear-rings and, to avenge himself for the rebuff, shows it to Tyndarus, who reacts predictably. Ballio makes a play for Techmessa by encouraging her to think Pamphilus unwilling to defend her honour, and she charges him to take Pamphilus’ sword from him. He steals it from Pamphilus’ page while he is delivering letters to Techmessa, then tells her that he was given it by Pamphilus rather than rise to the provocation to fight. The page summons officers to arrest Ballio, and he confesses the ruse. Asotus also admits his slander of Evadne, and both are allowed to choose their own punishment; they elect to cudgel one another. Techmessa and Tyndarus decide to test their lovers: Tyndarus asks Pamphilus to woo Evadne, and Techmessa asks Evadne to respond to Tyndarus’ advances; the result confirms them in their jealousy, until the situation is explained. Techmessa’s mother Dipsas is keen to cross Evadne’s love, partly because she resents the fact that Evadne was brought up in her household…
The Magnetic Lady, or Humors Reconciled
Jonson, Ben · 1632 · Comedy · King's Men
Probee and Damn-Play are sent on stage by the audience to bargain for a good play; what they get is The Magnetic Lady. They watch the play and comment on it between the acts. Visitors flock to Lady Loadstone’s house, some brought by her lodger, Compass, others to pay court to her sickly but wealthy niece, Placentia Steel, on her birthday. By the terms of her parents’ will, Placentia’s marriage portion of £16,000 is to be paid when she marries, but until then is held by her uncle, Interest. There are several suitors, including Practice the lawyer and Silkworm the courtier. Lady Loadstone initially prefers Practice, but the prospect of being made a countess through a friend at court converts her to Silkworm’s suit. Palate also promotes Silkworm, pointing out that Practice is already engaged to the servant Pleasance. Interest is trying to arrange a marriage between Placentia and Bias, who is a younger brother and will be content to accept less than the full dowry. Ironside, Compass’s brother, wounds Silkworm in a violent altercation at dinner, and Compass persuades the courtier to seek redress in a duel rather than at law; Bias hopes that Silkworm will be killed and the court rid of a nuisance, but in the event he merely talks to Ironside about valour. Placentia turns out to be pregnant, and the suitors back off; Practice asks Compass to help him marry Pleasance instead. Compass learns that Pleasance and Placentia were swapped for one another in their cradles, and uses the…
The Rival Friends
Hausted, Peter · 1632 · Comedy · before the Court;at University;
With Placenta’s help, Constantina disguises herself as a boy and leaves her father’s house in search of her missing love, Cleopes; she leaves a former boy-actor in her place. The friends Neander and Lucius both love Pandora, but she cannot decide between them. Each asks old Lively to help him win her love, not for himself but for his friend. Favouring Lucius, Lively plans to arrange a bogus wedding that will remove Neander from the rivalry, leaving Pandora for Lucius, without being subsequently binding. The ‘boy’ whom Lively selects to pose as Neander’s bride is actually Constantina; but he allows the wedding to go ahead even after discovering her identity. Meanwhile Placenta advises Pandora to make her lovers jealous by pretending interest in someone else, so she woos the page Endymion. When she learns that Neander is married, and when Lucius claims to be a eunuch, she transfers her affections to Endymion in earnest. It emerges that Lucius has jilted Endymion’s sister Isabella, who subsequently disappeared. Constantina is brought in apparently dead, killed by Neander, and her brother Love-All recognizes her. In fact, she is only injured, and revives, calling for Cleopes. Neander admits that he is Cleopes: he had wooed her, but became more interested in Pandora, and feigned a voyage overseas; he then returned with a new identity to pursue Pandora. Love-All wants to know who was pretending to be his sister while Constantina has been out of the house; the ‘boy’ is brought in,…
Changes, or Love in a Maze
Shirley, James · 1632 · Comedy · King's Revels Company (?); Prince Charles's Men (second) (?) · Salisbury Court;Indoor Professional
Goldsworth’s twin daughters, Chrysolina and Aurelia, are daily courted by numerous suitors, including the foolish knight Simple, whom Mistress Goldsworth favours for his title, and the would-be poet Caperwit. Both girls favour the same suitor, Gerard, but with selfless sisterly affection, each wants the other to have him. Gerard comes under pressure to choose between them, not only from Goldsworth but also from his friend Thornay, who wants to woo whichever one he leaves; but, loving them equally, he cannot decide. Thornay decides to seize the initiative and woos Chrysolina (who consequently thinks him disloyal to Gerard), then misleads Gerard into thinking that she has reciprocated and that he should concentrate on Aurelia. But Chrysolina is offended by Gerard’s sudden neglect, and Aurelia takes it as a sign of his fickleness, and refuses him. She also rejects Simple’s suit, but her attempts to be polite about it to her mother are misconstrued, and Mistress Goldsworth sets about making wedding plans. Sir John Woodhamore keeps his niece Eugenia inside, away from the world and its temptations, while he seeks a husband worthy of her; he has decided on Youngrave. When Youngrave is left alone to woo her, however, she asks him to carry a letter to Thornay, the man she loves. Thornay protests that he isn’t interested: he loves Chrysolina. To get her own back on Gerard, Chrysolina pretends to return Thornay’s love; but she is upset to hear that he has rejected Eugenia, and sends…
The Ball
Shirley, James · 1632 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Lord Rainbow is to hold a ball. Ladies practise their dancing, coached by Monsieur La Frisk, and engage in amours. Lucina has four suitors whom she teases with the prospect of marriage. She plans to see each of them in turn, but unknown to her, her servant Scutilla conceals one of them, Colonel Winfield, in her room, and he witnesses her scornful treatment of his rivals: Sir Marmaduke is mocked for his money-making schemes, Sir Ambrose for his baldness, and Bostock, who habitually boasts of his imagined kinship with noblemen, is told she will only marry a commoner—which induces him to suggest that he may be illegitimate, and therefore eligible after all. The Colonel takes a more masterful line with her at his meeting. He then suggests to the other insulted suitors that they go back and treat her with contempt. Bostock nominates himself the spokesman, and is duly rude to her, whereupon the Colonel steps in to defend her honour. She agrees to marry him, on condition that he proves himself to be a virgin; he infers another jeer on her part, and takes offence. She is in earnest, however. She tests the Colonel’s fidelity by telling him that he will be taking on her debts and children (both imaginary) and that he will have to live in the country; when he is undaunted, she accepts him. In another plot, before leaving on a journey to Venice, Freshwater sold his land and laid out money to be paid back fivefold on his safe return. When he gets back, the men who took his money seem…
Love's Sacrifice
1633 · Tragedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
D'Avolos induces Roseilli to leave court by inventing a ducal order of banishment, then intervenes in a developing love-quadrangle: the Duke has recently married Bianca, who is loved by Fernando, who in turn is loved by Fiormonda. Bianca repeatedly refuses to hear Fernando's protestations, but later visits him in bed while the Duke is away hunting, and admits that she reciprocates his love. However, he will not take dishonourable advantage of the situation, and adultery does not occur. D'Avolos learns of their mutual attraction, andtells Fiormonda. With Fernando's connivance, Roseilli returns to court disguised as a fool, and is placed in Fiormonda's household. Ferentes woos three women-Colona, Julia, and old Morona-and under promise of marriage gets each of them pregnant; he then refuses to honour his word to any of them. Fernando proposes to welcome Bianca's uncle to court with a masque, but the jilted women use it as a front for revenge, and kill Ferentes during the performance. They are bailed into male custody and eventually pardoned, but old Mauruccio, the only other masquer deemed criminally responsible, is imprisoned. Bianca and Fernando plead for his release, which is granted after Morona agrees to marry him, but the couple are then banished. D'Avolos casually draws the Duke's attention to Bianca's solicitude towards Fernando, and works with Fiormonda to foster his jealousy: they insinuate that Ferentes was killed to silence him, but the Duke asks for ocular proof…
A Maidenhead Well Lost
Heywood, Thomas · 1633 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Julia has given herself sexually to her flance, the Prince of Parma, but is now concerned that he mav have fost interest in her: she has been told of a dalliance between him and Lauretta. When lulia publicly strikes Eauretta, Parma breaks off the engagement. In fact, Julia’. informant, Stroza, was lying: he has a grudge agamoat ===== PAGE 406 ===== Lauretta’s father, General Sforza, and has also been working to secure his downfall by delaying the shipment of money and supplies to the front. News arrives that the war is won, but that Sforza, unable to pay his men, gave them everything he had and died of grief. His widow pays the soldiers’ arrears out of her estate and leaves Milan with Lauretta. Fearful of dishonour, Julia tries to persuade Parma to stay by telling him she is pregnant. He denies paternity — she consented so readily to pre-marital sex that, misled by Stroza, he believes she must also have had other men - and leaves anyway. Her father the Duke learns of the situation, and sends Stroza to fetch Parma back, dead or alive. Julia’s unborn child saves her from execution for her misdeed, and she goes into hiding until the baby is born. When it is, the Duke orders Stroza to dispose of it, and plans to conceal her shame with a hasty marriage to another foreign prince. Stroza leaves the baby in a grove to be found by passers-by; sure enough, when he returns a few hours later, it has gone, found by Parma and recognized as his own true issue. Lauretta and her mother are…
The Young Admiral
Shirley, James · 1633 · Tragicomedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Cesario has provoked a war between Sicily and Naples by wounding the King of Sicily’s favourite, Horatio, and by refusing to marry his daughter, Rosinda; he is more interested in Cassandra, the girlfriend of the Neapolitan Admiral Vittori. He pesters her unsuccessfully while Vittori is away fighting the war, then has Vittori’s father Alphonso imprisoned. When Vittori returns in triumph, he finds the city gates shut against him on Cesario’s orders. Offered a reward by the King, Cesario’s father, Vittori asks for Alphonso’s freedom; the King agrees only on condition that Vittori and Cassandra go into exile. The banished pair are shipwrecked on the Neapolitan coast and fall into the hands of the regrouped Sicilian army. Cassandra is taken into Rosinda’s custody and Vittori offered a choice: if he agrees to lead the army against Naples, Cassandra’s life will be spared. Torn between love and honour, he chooses love. He goes to Naples, disguised as a herald, and tries to persuade the King to surrender; but Cesario complicates his dilemma by sending back the message that Alphonso will be executed if Vittori fights. The threat is a bluff: after the message is sent, Alphonso is appointed to command the Neapolitan army against his son. Rosinda is with the invasion forces because, despite everything, she loves Cesario. Cassandra writes to him to set up an assignation, intending that Rosinda should go in her place. Cesario agrees to come into the Sicilian camp for the meeting, but the…
The Gamester
Shirley, James · 1633 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Wilding is sexually uninterested in his wife, but propositions her ward, Penelope, with the promise that afterwards he will find her a husband. Penelope agrees to sex with him only if Mistress Wilding consents, so Wilding duly asks his wife. Mistress Wilding encourages Penelope to agree—in order to facilitate a plot. Penelope insists on a midnight assignation: Wilding is to come in the dark and neither of them shall speak during the encounter. The plan is for Mistress Wilding to take Penelope’s place. When the evening comes, however, Wilding is more interested in a gambling event at an ordinary, and sends Hazard to sleep with Penelope in his place; but after losing his money in the game, he envies Hazard his more pleasurable night. Then Mistress Wilding tells him of the substitution, and he is tormented with the thought of being a cuckold, until he realizes that Hazard still thinks he slept with Penelope. He puts it to Hazard that they should marry, but Hazard is unwilling, until he hears of Penelope’s £2,000 estate. He woos and marries her, then tells Wilding that the earlier assignation did not go as expected: both Mistress Wilding and Penelope were there, armed with a light and planning to rebuke Wilding for his lechery. No sex took place, and so Wilding is no cuckold. In the second plot, the friends Delamore and Beaumont fall out in a drunken argument about their respective girlfriends, Leonora and Violante, and Beaumont wounds Delamore. One man is taken to a surgeon,…
A Tale of a Tub
Jonson, Ben · 1633 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men
Audrey Turf is to be married to John Clay, even though her father has promised her to Squire Tub: she drew Clay in a Valentine’s Eve lottery and her parents are determined that she should marry him on Valentine’s Day. The vicar, Sir Hugh, alerts Tub, and lays a plot to stop the wedding; but also abets Justice Preamble’s scheming to get the girl for himself. Tub’s governor Hilts poses as a servant whose master, Captain Thumbs, was attacked nearby; he has brought Constable Turf orders from the Queen to raise a hue and cry to catch the criminals; moreover, his description of one of them fits Clay, the bridegroom. Turf is obliged to postpone the wedding, and leaves his daughter with Hilts, who hands her over to Tub. Audrey at first thinks herself too low-born to be the Squire’s wife, but is won over by the prospect of social advancement. But before Tub can get her to church, he is arrested by Preamble. The judge leaves Tub with a pursuivant, saying he must return Audrey to her father; but the pursuivant turns out to be Preamble’s clerk, Metaphor, in disguise, and he explains that Preamble is actually taking her to church to marry her himself. Clay goes into hiding. Tub tells Turf that the robbery was a ruse by Preamble to enable him to take Audrey. Turf breaks off the hue and cry and intervenes in time to prevent the marriage, and takes Audrey home. Sir Hugh poses as the robbed man, Captain Thumbs, and complains of Turf’s negligence. Turf is summoned before Preamble to answer…
The Late Lancashire Witches
Heywood, Thomas; Brome, Richard · 1634 · Comedy · King's Men · Globe;Outdoor Professional
Arthur hopes for a subvention from his uncle, Seely, to help him redeem a mortgage, but strange things are going on in the Seely household: the father is dominated by the son, Gregory, who is mastered in turn by his servant, Lawrence; there is a similar inversion of hierarchy among the women of the house. Gregory disapproves of his father’s plans to help Arthur, so the money is not forthcoming; but fortunately Arthur’s friend Generous helps out instead. The truth is that the Seelys have been bewitched in reprisal for some harsh words spoken to an old woman. Many other supernatural events are going on. Mall Spencer, owner of an amazing self-propelled milk-pail, gives Generous’s groom Roberta a high-speed horse so that he can fetch wine from his master’s favourite London tavern in a single overnight journey. Anyone who spends the night in a haunted mill is assaulted, so Gretty the miller gives up his tenancy, and Generous gives it to a poor, demobilized soldier. A witch and her spirit take the form of greyhounds; when Gretty’s son tries to whip the dogs, they scare and then abduct him. Lawrence marries his fellow servant Parnell, but a spirit turns the wedding cake into crumbs, and the rest of the meal magically becomes even less appetizing; the real food is taken to supply the witches’ feast. Mall Spencer gives Lawrence a codpiece point, which makes him impotent, causing marital difficulties. He and Parnell are mocked with a skimmington, but the relationship returns to normal…
The Shepherds' Holiday
Rutter, Joseph · 1634 · Pastoral · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · before the Court;Whitehall;
Thyrsis, who was found by Montanus as a baby with a mysterious inscribed circlet around his neck, is distraught. He left his girlfriend Sylvia in a grove, and she has disappeared; he self-reproachfully worries that she has been raped by a passing satyr, and neglects his flocks. The oracle of Apollo reassures him that he will get her back, but only when they cease to be Thyrsis and Sylvia. Sylvia is really the Princess, Calligone. She fell in love with Thyrsis when the shepherds last came to court with some musical entertainment, and went into the country in pastoral disguise to be with him; she was also hoping to escape the amorous attentions of Cleander, but he found her in the grove and took her home. Her father, Euarchus, suspects the reason she absconded, and summons the shepherds to perform at court again, in the hope of identifying one of them as her lover. They prepare a masque. Cleander is warned off Calligone by his father, Eubulus. Before she was born, the oracle foretold that King Euarchus would see his only son after having a child who is not really his own, that he would twice condemn that son to death, and that the son would marry Euarchus’ daughter. The King took this to mean that, should the pregnant Queen produce a baby boy, it would be a bastard, so he ordered Eubulus to have the infant killed if male. When the child was indeed a boy, Eubulus plotted with the Queen to swap it for his own new-born daughter, who grew up to be Calligone. He then left the baby…
Adrasta, or The Woman's Spleen and Love's Conquest
Jones, John · 1635 · Tragicomedy
Adrasta, Duchess of Florence, objects to the amours between her son Lucilio and Althea, a woman of lower rank. She forges a letter from Lucilio to Althea which describes a plan to murder the Duke; Althea’s reply provides evidence to have her arrested for treason. Lucilio visits her in prison, convinces her that the original letter was a fake, and arranges her escape. Dressed in women’s clothes, he takes her place in the cell, stands trial as her, and is sentenced to death. The substitution is discovered only just before the execution; Lucilio attempts to kill himself anyway, but is prevented by his friend Antonio. He leaves Florence, fearful of his parents’ reprisals, and asks Antonio to assume his name and go to Greece, hoping that his father’s agents will follow this false trail and so leave him in peace. Worried that he may yet take his own life, Antonio passes on the responsibility to the villainous servant Alastor, and shadowys Lucilio in disguise. Consulted by Adrasta, the witch Micale conjures up spirits, who locate Althea living as a shepherdess in the mountains and supply poison to dispose of her. Micale is magically transported there and tries to share food with her, but Althea is melancholy and only her friend Camilla will drink the poisoned wine. Micale’s second strategy entails getting her to despair and kill herself, so she claims that both Lucilio and Althea’s mother Julia have been executed. Camilla dies, and Althea covers her face with a scarf she was given…
The Seven Champions of Christendom
Kirke, John · 1635 · Romance · Red Bull Company (second) · Red Bull;Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional;Outdoor Professional
Years ago, the witch Calib stole a child, George, intending to bathe in his blood; but she fell in love with the baby and brought him up with her own son, Suckabus. She has always refused to let him know the identity of his real parents, but after much importunity she relents and tells George that he was a bastard whom she saved from infanticide. She asks her diabolic lover Tarpax how long she has to live; the demon prophesies that she will die only when love causes her to lose control of her magical powers. She shows George six Christian champions whom she keeps in her cave, and grants him their ransom. When George feels pity for them but pretends severity, she gives him her magic wand. The ghosts of his parents visit him, and he learns that Calib poisoned them, and that he is really of noble birth. He uses the magic wand to kill Calib, but agrees to take on Suckabus as a servant; Tarpax encourages Suckabus to spread his seed widely around the earth by taking every opportunity for procreation. George joins the six champions, bringing them up to the number prophesied by a Sibyl, seven. They go their separate ways into pagan lands. Trebizond is troubled by monsters: a dragon and a lion terrorize the land and kill knights who attempt to dispose of them. The Emperor proclaims a reward for anyone who will deal with the menace. The champions Andrew and Anthony arrive in Trebizond, and the Princess and Carintha fall in love with them; but their welcome evaporates when the Emperor…
The Hollander (Love's Trial)
Glapthorne, Henry · 1636 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · before the Court;Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Dr Artless has grown rich by taking in resident lady patients, and is concerned that his house should keep its good name. One of his current guests has a jealous husband, Sir Martin Yellow, who believes the house is really a place of assignation, and sends his nephew Popinjay there in search of evidence. Popinjay meets Artless’s daughter, Dalinea, and falls in love. Meanwhile, the apothecary Mixum has sent Artless a young man, Sconce, as a potential son-in-law; Artless is unconcerned that he is a fool because he is also rich. Sconce’s main preoccupation is with Mixum’s weapon-salve which will cure any wound if applied to the weapon that made it. When Sir Martin wounds him in a jealous rage, he takes away Sir Martin’s sword but finds the salve ineffectual and concludes that there must be something wrong with his blood. Another visitor to Artless’s house is Freewit, a suitor to Mistress Know-worth, but she breaks up with him, having heard from Lovering, her servant, that he has slept with the servant-girl Martha and got her pregnant. When he proves reluctant to marry Martha, Mistress Know-worth gives him an alternative: she will consider his suit if he can persuade Martha to release him from his prior obligation. Artless’s servant Urinal offers to prove to Sir Martin that Lady Yellow is chaste: he is to visit his wife in her bedroom, incognito, while the rest of the household is out at Dalinea’s wedding. The problem is that Dalinea doesn’t want to marry Sconce, to her parents’…
Hannibal and Scipio
1637 · Tragedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
rebukes them, but finds himself attracted to one of the A MESSENGER, who brings news from Spain (1.5) local ladies. News from Spain snaps him out of it: BOMILCAR, Hannibal's kinsman Scipio has taken several Carthaginian cities. He decides SYPHAX, King of Numidia, a young, unmarried man; to attack Rome, but is recalled to Carthage before he later Sophonisba's first husband can do so. Carthage has recently lost an African ally, Masinissa, who has been wooed to the side of Rome. In an effort to counterbalance him, Hannibal goes to Numidia to seek an alliance with its king, Syphax. He also finds Scipio there, and suspects Syphax of treachery, but makes the offer anyway: Syphax's military support in return for marriage to Sophonisba, who was previously promised to Masinissa. The lady herself is reluctantshe still loves Masinissa and thinks herself above a petty king like Syphax-but Syphax is agreeable and the marriage goes ahead. The alliance does not help the Carthaginians: Masinissa defeats Syphax's forces in battle, takes Sophonisba prisoner, and marries her (even though Syphax, her husband, is still alive). Scipio wants her to be sent to Rome, but she takes poison rather than be handed over. Hannibal meets with Scipio and offers him a peace, but Scipio refuses, and Hannibal is routed in the ensuing battle. When he returns to Carthage, the Senate rebukes him for initiating unauthorized peace negotiations, and also suspects him of attempting to set himself up as a king. He…
Tottenham Court
1638 · Comedy · Prince Charles's Men (second) (?); King's Revels Company (?) · Salisbury Court;Indoor Professional
Worthgood and Bellamie intend to marry, and have absconded to London with her uncle in pursuit. Bellamie is separated from Worthgood in Marylebone Park. She meets the censorious Cicely, and faints when Cicely voices her suspicions of sexual impropriety. She dreams that she will have Worthgood that very day, and is revived by Cicely's father, the park-keeper, who takes her home and seems interested in the name Worthgood. Worthgood meets the keeper, who promises to reunite him with Bellamie; but she and Cicely have already left for London, exchanging clothes to deceive any pursuers. Worthgood and the keeper follow them. Bellamie and Cicely arrive at an alehouse in Tottenham Court. Bellamie unexpectedly meets her brother, Sam, but denies her identity when recognizes her; he infers that she has become a common prostitute. Also at the alehouse is Cicely's unwanted admirer, Frank, who intends to seduce the tailor's wife, Mistress Stitchwell, and has piqued her interest by posing as a misogynist. Mistress Stitchwell intends to cuckold her husband in his presence, but the first attempt backfires: alone in the alehouse bathroom with her, Frank's friend George hides in the tub when Stitchwell arrives, and has water poured over him. Sam's friend James visits Cicely, thinking her a prostitute too, but hides in a trunk when others arrive. Importuned by Frank, Cicely proposes having herself smuggled to his room in the trunk; she and Bellamie then send it there, with the sleeping James…
The Bloody Banquet
Dekker, Thomas; Middleton, Thomas · 1639 · Tragedy · Queen Anne's Men (?)
Although peace between Lydia and Lycia is guaranteed by an exchange of hostages, the King of Lycia persuades the Lydian hostage, Lapyrus, to betray his country. When hostilities resume, Lydia solicits military assistance from Armatrites, King of Cilicia, who repels the invaders - but then seizes the Lydian throne. The Queen flees with her infant children into the forest, where Lapyrus rescues her from the advances of two soldiers. In remorse for his treachery, he gives her the opportunity to kill him, but she cannot bring herself to do it. He becomes her protector, and goes in search of food, but falls into a wolf-trap. One of the babies dies of starvation. The old King of Lydia rescues Lapyrus from the pit, but the Queen has gone when Lapyrus shows the King where he left her. Armatrites’ son, Zenarchus, promises Tymethes, the heir of Lydia, that he will give back the kingdom when he succeeds to the throne. Tymethes falls in love with Zenarchus’ sister, Amphridote, who has been promised in marriage to the court favourite Mazeres. Zenarchus and Tymethes visit the young Queen of Cilicia, whom Armatrites has jealously locked up in a castle. She conceives a passion for Tymethes, and bribes her keeper Roxano to arrange an assignation, with the proviso that Tymethes must not know her identity lest he boast of his conquest; but Mazeres also bribes Roxano to kill Tymethes, and his gold seems to weigh the heavier. Tymethes keeps the appointment, is taken to the Queen with a hood over…
The Arcadia
Shirley, James · 1640 · Pastoral Romance · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
King Basilius understands an oracle to have foretold that his daughters’ marriage will result in his death and the usurpation of his throne by a foreigner; it has also indicated that he will commit adultery with his own wife. In an effort to thwart any destiny, he has decided to keep the girls unmarried virgins; he leaves court, placing the kingdom under the rule of his deputy, Philanax, and lodges his elder daughter Pamela in the forest with Dametas. Pyrocles and Musidorus are amorously interested in Basilius’ daughters, Pamela and Philoclea, and come to Arcadia in disguise. Musidorus poses as a shepherd, takes a job under Dametas, and, to enable him to elope with Pamela, gets the family out of the way with a series of ruses: Dametas is told a story of buried gold, Miso of her husband’s philandering, and Mopsa of a wishing tree which will enable her to become whatever she wants. (She wants to be a queen, with no obligation to obey anyone.) Pyrocles, meanwhile, gets access to Philoclea by disguising himself as an Amazon, Zelmane, only to find that in his new identity he has attracted interest from Basilius. ‘Zelmane’ helps to quell a rebellion by the people of Arcadia, who are dissatisfied with Basilius’ retirement from government, then arranges an assignation with the King at a nearby cave. Queen Gynecia sees through Pyrocles’ disguise and falls for him herself. He arranges for Gynecia to take his place at the date with Basilius, and approaches Philoclea while they are…
The Bride
1640 · Comedy · Beeston's Boys · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Wit is charged by his father to woo and marry Wisdom, or lose his inheritance, Ignorance sends her son Idleness to mislead him. Posing as Honest Recreation, he introduces Wit to Wantonness, who gives him a fool's headdress and steals his money. Good Nurture restores him to sense and introduces him to the true Honest Recreation, whom Wit finds boring. Two sailors blindfold Idleness and rob him of the money he stole from Wit. Wit rescues Idleness and fights Irksomeness, who leaves him for dead. Wisdom revives him and promises to be his lady if he will kill Irksomeness. She gives him a sword, Perseverance, which he uses to behead the monster. Idleness is proclaimed an outlaw, and is arrested after he steals Mother Bee’s porridge pot while Doll and Lob are kissing in the barn. Wit falls into Fancy’s clutches and is imprisoned. Good Nurture releases him and takes him to be married to Wisdom. Idleness also intends to go to the wedding, disguised as a priest.
1 Saint Patrick for Ireland
1640 · Neo-miracle · Ogilby's Men
public office. Araspas argues that reason should be the