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Plot summaries for the 187 plays represented
The Chief Promises of God unto Man (God's Promises)
Bale, John · 1538 · Biblical
Though mankind is sinful and deserves death, God promises life through his Son. He curses Adam for his disobedience, but Adam’s repentance persuades him to promise the chance of salvation. But mankind proves a disappointment, and God plans to annihilate his creation with a flood. Noah pleads for the human race and is saved; God promises never again to seek mankind’s destruction in this way, and confirms it with the covenant of the rainbow. Mankind persists in sin, and God plans further reprisals: having promised not to use water, he chooses fire as his weapon to destroy the Sodomites. Abraham, who honours God and is therefore to be spared, asks his maker not to destroy the righteous people in Sodom along with the wicked. God agrees to spare the city if it is found to contain 50 righteous people, and Abraham talks him down to 10. God makes his third promise: Abraham will be the father of a blessed race; the sign of the covenant is circumcision. Man does not improve, so plague is to be God’s next instrument of judgement. Moses pleads for mercy: God has spared his people from the plagues of Egypt, helped them to escape from bondage, and kept them alive in the wilderness. But they are ungrateful: while Moses has been talking with God, they have erected a golden idol. God makes his fourth promise: a prophet will arise from the Jewish people; the sign of the covenant is the Passover lamb. Given the promised land, the Israelites persist in their ingratitude to God, and resume…
Ralph Roister Doister
Udall, Nicholas · 1552 · Comedy
Ralph Roister Doister seeks Matthew Merrygreek’s help in wooing Dame Custance, who is already affianced to Gawyn Goodluck. They send her a letter using her nurse, Madge Mumblecrust, as a go-between, but Dame Custance will not read it. They also send her a ring, but Tibet the maid gets into trouble for accepting it. Merrygreek tells Ralph that Dame Custance has not only rejected him but disparaged his manhood; Ralph despairs, but is persuaded to try again. Dame Custance is persuaded in turn to hear the love-letter read aloud, but Merrygreek reads it without regard for the punctuation, and reverses its meaning: it seems to promise her an unpleasant married life. His hopes dashed, Ralph seeks revenge on the scrivener who composed the letter, but the fault is shown to lie with the reader of it. Ralph continues to press his suit, and arouses the suspicions of Gawyn Goodluck’s servant. Ralph and Custance prepare to use force against one another, and Merrygreek admits that he was only helping Ralph for fun. When the men and women do battle, he hits Ralph while pretending to attack Dame Custance. Ralph has the worst of it, and retreats in disarray. Gawyn Goodluck hears of his fiancée’s apparent disloyalty, but accepts Tristram Trusty’s word as to what really happened. He makes his peace with Ralph, despite Dame Custance’s doubts.
Troas (Seneca's Sixth Tragedy)
Heywood, Jasper, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · 1559 · Tragedy
After a ten-year war, Troy has fallen: King Priam had been murdered, the city burned, the women taken into slavery; but Queen Hecuba’s age means that none of the Greek conquerors are interested in her. Achilles’ ghost returns from the dead, demanding the blood of Hecuba’s daughter Polyxena in revenge for his own treacherous murder by Paris. Until she is sacrificed on his tomb, he will not allow the Greek fleet to sail home. Agamemnon is doubtful about this, but Pyrrhus reminds him that he was willing to sacrifice his own daughter to get the fleet to Troy, and Calchas confirms that the price of returning to Greece is the same as the price of leaving it: a virgin’s death. The ghost of Hector appears to Andromache in a dream and warns her to flee from Troy with their son: Calchas has demanded his blood as well as Polyxena’s. She hides the boy in Hector’s tomb, and tells Ulysses he is dead; but Ulysses insists on removing Hector’s ashes if the Greeks cannot have their sacrifice. Andromache produces the child, and Ulysses has him thrown to his death from a tower. Helen is sent to prepare Polyxena to marry Pyrrhus, but she tells Hecuba and Andromache that the Greeks intend a sacrifice, not a wedding. Pyrrhus leads Polyxena away and kills her. A messenger describes the two deaths. Not knowing whom she should grieve for most — husband, daughter, or nephew — Hecuba wishes for death. The women, Hecuba included, are taken away to live in slavery in Greece.
Thyestes (Seneca's Second Tragedy)
Heywood, Jasper, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · 1560 · Tragedy
The ghost of Tantalus is summoned from hell by Megaera; his very presence in Argos will be baleful for his descendants, Atreus and Thyestes. Thyestes has seduced Atreus’ wife and stolen a golden-fleeced ram; now he has gone into exile. Atreus entices him back with the offer of a half-share in the kingdom. Thyestes is doubtful, but his son Phylisthenes persuades him to seize his chance of power. Atreus greets him with feigned friendship, but then kills his three sons and serves them up to him in a banquet. As Thyestes drinks their blood, believing it to be wine, Atreus reveals what he has done, and exults in his vengeance while Thyestes expresses his horrified grief.
Robin Hood (Robin Hood and the Friar) (Robin Hood and the Potter)
Anonymous · 1560 · Folk Romance
Robin Hood. meets a Friar who robbed him the previous day, and they fight, the loser to carry the other over the water. The Friar loses and joins Robin. Robin bets Little John that he will be able to make an arrogant potter pay a toll. He provokes the potter by smashing his pots and calling him a cuckold. The surviving text breaks off as they are about to fight.
Ferrex and Porrex (Gorboduc)
1565 · Tragedy · 1562 · before the Court;
Queen WidHa is outraged that King GGEBGAGE plans to divide his prosperous kingdom between his two sons, instead of leaving everything to the elder, Fetrex) Gorboduc seeks his council’s consent to the division, ‘and to his sons’ installation as kings before his own death, but gets three different answers. He makes Ferrex king of the south, PO#PEX of the north, and appoints a counsellor to advise each. B€frex is advised to mistrust his brother’s intentions, and he prepares for war. This provokes POFFex into making a pre-emptive invasion of the south; he murders Ferrex with his own hands. Gorboduc summons Porrex and charges him with fratricide. Porrex admits it, and is killed by Videna. In turn, Gorbodie and Vida are murdered by their own people. The land is laid waste with civil war, followed by mass executions after the good councillor BGbGIGS and the British dukes repress the rebellion. Fergus) Duke of Albany, takes advantage of the chaos to plot for the throne. In taking arms against him, the other lords agree, rather than submit to foreign domination, to remit the question of the succession to the judgement of Parliament. Eubulus is confident that the crown will eventually be restored to the rightful heir.
Medea (Seneca's Seventh Tragedy)
Studley, John, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · 1566 · Tragedy
For Jason’s sake, Medea has betrayed her father, killed her brother, and abandoned her country; she has also caused the death of his enemy, Pelias. But now he has divorced her and is about to marry the daughter of King Creon. She calls on the gods for revenge, and asks her feminine pity and fear to be taken from her. The wedding takes place, and Medea plans to burn the palace in vengeance. Creon banishes her, ignoring her insistence on having a proper trial, but allows her the rest of the day to say goodbye to her two children. Jason points out to her that Creon would have had her executed without his intervention: her presence in Corinth is causing diplomatic difficulties with the son of Pelias. Noting the intensity of Jason’s love for their children, she sees a way of avenging herself. Medea prepares a poison and calls on Hecate. She wounds herself to provide an oblation of her own blood, and impregnates a gown with the poison, then sends the children to present it to the bride as a wedding gift. The poison takes fiery effect and the palace is burned to the ground; Creon and his daughter are immolated with it. Medea exults in the atrocities she has committed, and, after initial hesitation, takes her revenge on Jason by killing one of her sons. When she shows him the body, Jason tries persuade her to spare the other, but she kills the boy in his presence, then escapes in a flying chariot drawn by dragons.
Jocasta
Gascoigne, George, trans.; Kinwelmershe, Francis, trans.; Yelverton, Christopher, trans.; Euripides; Dolce, Lodovico · 1566 · Tragedy
Oedipus unknowingly murdered his father and married his mother Jocasta; on learning the truth, he blinded himself. His sons imprisoned him and agreed to alternate annually as kings of Thebes: Polynices went into exile while Eteocles took the first turn on the throne; but Eteocles refused to give it up at the end of his year in office, and Polynices has besieged Thebes in association with the King of Argos. Jocasta intervenes as their mother, and persuades Polynices to enter Thebes and meet Eteocles under truce. Eteocles will not hand over power, but offers to accept his brother back as a private citizen. Jocasta is unable to reconcile her sons, and Polynices’ forces prepare for battle. Eteocles names Creon as his successor, and asks him to marry Antigone to his son Haemon. Creon consults Tiresias, and learns that Thebes is doomed to destruction in divine revenge for Jocasta’s incest; only the death of his other son, Menoeceus, can save the city. Keen to die for his country, Menoeceus refuses to go into exile as his father wishes, reports the prophecy to Eteocles, and kills himself. Meanwhile, the battle is indecisive, and Eteocles and Polynices agree to settle their dispute in single combat. Jocasta and Antigone are too late to stop them killing each other: arriving to find them both dying, Jocasta stabs herself with Polynices’ dagger. The besieging army is massacred by the Thebans. Antigone brings the three bodies back to Thebes and tells her father what has happened. Creon…
Agamemnon (Seneca's Eighth Tragedy)
Studley, John, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · 1566 · Tragedy
The ghost of Thyestes describes his crimes and foretells the death of Agamemnon. During her husband’s long absence at the Trojan war, Clytemnestra has had an affair with Aegisthus; but now Agamemnon is coming home. She tells Aegisthus her doubts about their liaison, but when he proposes suicide, she agrees to join him in finding another way to dispose of their problems. Agamemnon arrives after a stormy crossing from Troy, bringing Cassandra with him as a prisoner. She foretells his murder by Clytemnestra, which duly comes to pass. Clytemnestra wants to kill her children 1566 too, but Orestes has escaped, and Aegisthus is reluctant to behead Electra; instead she is imprisoned in a distant dungeon. Cassandra exults in the overthrow of Troy’s conqueror, and predicts Clytemnestra’s downfall. She is beheaded, but Orestes survives to avenge his father’s death.
Thebais (Seneca's Third Tragedy)
Newton, Thomas, trans.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · 1581 · Tragedy
When Oedipus was born, an oracle said that he would kill his father, so King Laius had him exposed. He survived, returned to Thebes as an adult, and unwittingly fulfilled the oracle; he also married his mother, Jocasta. He resigned the crown of Thebes in his sons’ favour, but Eteocles, the elder son, refused to hand over power to his brother Polynices at the end of his term of office. Polynices has raised an army and is marching on Thebes. Now Oedipus wants to kill himself to expiate the wrongs he did to his father. Antigone, his daughter offers to lead him to a cliff where they can both throw themselves to their deaths; but insists that he acted in ignorance and cannot be held responsible. Both she and the people of Thebes ask him to intervene and impose his authority on his sons, and, though he despairs of having any influence, he agrees to try. Jocasta and Antigone see the battle commence in the distance. Jocasta runs to the battlefield and persuades her sons to lay down their arms. However, Polynices is dissatisfied that his brother will get away with his treachery: despite Jocasta’s insistence that Thebes has a crown of ill omen, he believes no price is too great to pay for power.
Fedele and Fortunia (Two Italian Gentlemen)
Munday, Anthony, trans. (?); Pasqualigo, Luigi · 1584 · Comedy · Children of the Chapel (first) (Oxford's Boys) · before the Court;
Bedelé and Bortunid, rivals for the affections of WWictoria, are both melancholy for love. Victoria once favoured Fedele, who still loves her; but he has been away, and she now loves Fortunio instead. A third would-be suitor is @aptain§@rmekstenée, whom Fortunio has asked for help. Fedele in turn is loved by Mirginia, his original love whom he jilted when he fell for Victoria. Victoria seeks M@@USA’s magical help to compel Fortunio’s love. Both Fedele and Crackstone see her going to raise spirits at night. They throw candles into a tomb, but Crackstone has hidden inside it; his emergence convinces them that they have raised the devil, and they run away, leaving behind a wax image which was to be used in the spell. Crackstone sends the incriminating image to Fedele, who confronts Victoria and tells Fortunio everything. Victoria engages Crackstone to kill Fedele. Meanwhile P@danté has been promoting Fedele’s cause through Victoria’s maid, Alttilia, and has fallen in love with her. He visits Victoria’s house disguised as a beggar. Fedele shows this to Fortunio, convincing him that Victoria has a lover. Attilia leaks the murder plot to Pedante, who tells Fedele. Crackstone pretends to kill Fedele, fighting with the air, with the intention of telling Victoria that he is dead and marrying her before she discovers the truth. However, Fedele catches him in a net, and Victoria mocks him and pours urine over him. Crackstone swears revenge, and Pedante offers to help; but for his part…
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;…
1 Tamburlaine the Great
Marlowe, Christopher · 1587 · Tragedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Encouraged by a prophecy that he will one day rule Asia, Mambuarlainé robs travellers passing through Persia. He ambushes the party escorting Zénderate to her husband-to-be, purloins their treasure, and. woos her. [iferidamas is sent by Mycetés, the Persian King, to attack Tamburlaine, but Tamburlaine persuades him to switch sides with eloquent promises of wealth and power. The Persian nobles conspire to depose Mycetes in favour of his brother @GSEGE] Mycetes offers battle, and Cosroe joins forces with Tamburlaine against him. Advised by his counsellor M@amdgét Mycetes plans to beat Tamburlaine’s soldiers by laying out gold on the battlefield: they will stop fighting to pick it up, and so be massacred. The stratagem fails. Tamburlaine encounters Mycetes on the battlefield, but rejects the opportunity to steal the crown Mycetes is trying to hide: he will win it in battle instead. MIyG8tés is killed: Tamburlaing presents @6sf6e with his crown, and is created Regent of Persia; but the prospect of coronation attracts him. He betrays and kills Cosroe and makes himself king. Zenserate remains with Tamburlaine, nominally as his captive; though reputed his concubine, she grows to love him. When Ajpydaas tries to persuade her to reject Tamburlaine, the Scythian induces him to commit suicide. The Emperor of the Turks, Bajazethi leaves the siege of Constantinople to challenge Tamburlaine. He is defeated and taken captive with his wife Zabifial Tamburlaine refuses to ransom him, and…
The Misfortunes of Arthur (Certain Devices and Shows Presented to Her Majesty)
Hughes, Thomas; Fulbecke, William, rev. · 1588 · Tragedy · before the Court;
Three Muses present five members of Gray’s Inn to the Queen: they are law students who have been trained to disdain the arts, but the Muses have taken them captive so that the show will be poetical. A student retorts that they are willing prisoners, and denies the antithesis between the law and the arts: they are able to turn their hand to anything. The ghost of Gorlois rises from the underworld to wreak revenge: Pendragon stole his wife, and now Pendragon’s son has lost his wife to adultery. Arthur is returning to Britain, victorious after nine years’ foreign wars, during which time Guenevora has lived with the usurper Mordred. Initially she plans to murder Arthur on his arrival, but eventually decides to go into a nunnery instead. Mordred is unsuccessful in his attempt to prevent Arthur from landing, but refuses to surrender when Arthur offers peace. Instead he secures the support of his allies by dividing his kingdom with them. Arthur reluctantly accepts that he must fight for his kingdom, and likewise musters his allies. Many are slaughtered in the ensuing battle, and, seeing he cannot win, Mordred spits himself on Arthur’s sword, enabling himself to get close enough to give Arthur a mortal wound. Arthur dies full of military glory, but the kingdom has been laid waste. Gorlois gloats over his revenge and predicts a time when the golden age will return to a Britain ruled by a virgin. B-Text a The opening speech of Gorlois indicates that he has been sent back to Earth by…
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…
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…
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…
2 Tamburlaine the Great
Marlowe, Christopher · 1588 · Tragedy · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Q@reames has invaded Europe, but the advance of @amiburlaine in Asia forces him to make peace: he concludes a defensive treaty with SigiSiOHa) and both swear by the gods of their respective religions. Sigismond breaks his vow and makes war; Orcanes prays to Jesus Christ for victory, and Sigismond interprets his defeat as divine vengeance for his perjury. Bajazetli’s son @allapimé escapes from prison in Egypt by offering his jailer wealth and a crown. He is installed as Emperor of Turkey, and he and (Bamiburlaine muster their forces for war on one another. Tamburlaine encourages his sons to martial pursuits, and promises to settle the succession on the most warlike, not the eldest. He teaches them courage by wounding himself, but @alypHaS proves reluctant. Zenoeraté dies. Tamburlaine has her body embalmed and takes it with him; Bamissa, the town of her death, is burned. @echelles and [iieridamas besiege BalSSPA at the Syrian frontier. The fort is taken and its captain shot; determined not to outlive him, his wife Olympia kills her son but is captured before she can kill herself. Miteridamias woos her, and threatens rape when she rejects him. She offers him an ointment that will make him invulnerable, and offers to test it by anointing her own throat; this turns out to be a trick to make him kill her. Wamburiaine’s forces arrive at the frontier and give battle. GalyphasiStays away, preferring to play cards, so Tamburlaine kills him. Callapine’s subject kings are captured and…
The Wars of Cyrus, King of Persia
Anonymous · 1588 · Tragedy · Children of the Chapel (first) (Oxford's Boys)
Cyrus has conquered the rulers of Lydia, Arabia, and Assyria, and now he divides the spoils with his men, accepting none for himself. Unwilling to serve the new King of Assyria, who murdered his son, Gobryas defects to Cyrus and is given a command in his army. Panthea is taken captive: the Persians propose to present her to Cyrus, but she is faithful to her husband, Abradatas, and Cyrus refuses the temptation to love her. Appointed Panthea’s keeper, Araspas falls in love with her. When she rejects him, he resorts to magic; but the charm fails, and she reports him to Cyrus. Antiochus, the new King of Assyria, seeks revenge on Cyrus for his father’s death, and sends Ctesiphon as a feigned defector to the Persian camp. He also has vengeful designs on Gobryas’ daughter, Alexandra, but she swaps clothes with her page Libanio, who persuades Antiochus to hold ‘her’ hostage while ‘her page’ goes to persuade Gobryas to return. However, these plans go awry: Ctesiphon is so impressed with Cyrus that he renounces Antiochus’ sovereignty, confesses his former King’s plot, and offers to kill him; and when Dinon attempts to seduce the false Alexandra, ‘she’ sings him to sleep, kills him, and absconds to the Persian camp. Gobryas randomly selects a Persian husband for his daughter using the custom of blindfold turf-throwing; the clod lands on Hystaspas. Cyrus sends Ctesiphon back to Antiochus with a letter purportedly offering peace terms; in fact, it tells the Assyrian king of Ctesiphon’s…
The Battle of Alcazar
Peele, George · 1589 · Tragedy · Unknown
The law of Barbary provides that the sons of Ml} Mahanietieque shall succeed one another, but the eldest son has arranged to bypass his brothers and pass the kingdom to his own eldest son, MilyMahamet The third son of Xeque, AIBGEIMIEIEE, flees into exile, and, after his father’s death, Muly Mahamet has his own brothers and his eldest uncle murdered to secure his power. Abdelmelec returns to Barbary with military support from the [RG@FKISHINEMIperor, deposes Muly Mahamet, and re-establishes the succession on his own younger brother, Sth Muly Mahamet lives rough, eating the raw flesh of wild animals, and solicits military help from S@bastian of Portugal, offering him the crown of Morocco. Sebastian in turn seeks aid from other princes; SHURE and his allies, delayed in Lisbon on the way to convert Ireland to Catholicism, are also conscripted. Spurred on by a promise of Spanish troops which fail to arrive, Sebastian sets sail for Africa. The two sides prepare their forces and join battle at Alcazar. Abdelmelec dies after initial setbacks, but Seth rallies the troops by displaying the dead body propped ===== PAGE 430 ===== up to look as if alive. As the tide of battle turns, Muly Mahamet procures a horse to flee, but is drowned when the horse throws him in the river. Stukely’s men turn on him, and he dies after telling the audience his life story. Sebastian is also killed in the thick of battle. Seth becomes King of Barbary, and orders Muly Mahamet’s body flayed and stuffed as a…
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…
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…
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 Reign of King Edward the Third
Anonymous; Shakespeare, William (?) · 1590 · History · Derby's (Strange's) Men (?)
KingledwWardlll of England hears of his claim to the French throne by his mother’s right, and plans an invasion. The French have induced the Scots to invade England, and they have laid siege to the Countess of 1593 Salisbury’s castle. King Edward goes north to deal with them, and they flee at his approach, but the Countess persuades him to stay rather than pursue them. He falls in love with her, but neither his wooing nor her father’s unwilling advocacy can overcome her fidelity to her husband. She breaks his obsession by first demanding the deaths of his queen and her husband, then threatening to stab herself. With his troops mustered, Edward sets off for France. The French gather their allies about them, but their navy fails to prevent the English from landing. Edward’s army lays waste the country, and the inhabitants flee. PRGSIBAWArd is formally armed, and his father refuses to commit troops to help him out of danger at the battle of Crécy; the honour of his victory is thereby the greater. MHeEArNonSalisbiity releases his prisoner Willli@rs to seek safe conduct for him to Calais, on condition that he returns a prisoner if unsuccessful. His insistence on keeping his oath to return persuades the reluctant Dalipiin to issue a passport. Emboldened by an ambiguous prophecy, the French give battle to Prince Edward. Salisbury is captured, but produces his passport; Kimggohih is reluctantly compelled to honour it. The terms of the prophecy are fulfilled: the French army is…
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…
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.
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…
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.
2 Henry the Sixth (The First Part of the Contention betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster)
Shakespeare, William; Marlowe, Christopher; Anonymous (?) · 1590 · History · Pembroke's Men (?)
Siiffolk brings KingiHenryiVd his new queen, Margaret, having been his proxy at their wedding in France; the agreement means peace with France, but also the surrender of some of England’s French possessions. In England, factions develop for and against Gioueester, the Lord Protector, while WOFk intends to claim the crown for himself; moreover, rivalry brews between the Queen and Gloucester’s ambitious wife, who also covets the throne. Common talk about York’s claim to the crown means that SOimierset supplants him as Regent of France, and this talk is later verified in a trial by combat. _ ile incites the DGGHESSIGAEGIONEESEr to solicit demonic predictions about England’s political future (some of which come true later in the play); she is forced to do penance, and banished. By careful questioning, Gloucester establishes that a supposed miracle is actually fraudulent. Somerset’s regency results in the loss of all England’s French lands; the Queen and barons unite to lay the blame on Gloucester and have him first arrested for high treason, then murdered. Suffolk is . banished by popular acclamation, captured at sea by pirates, and beheaded. MH@NCaFdifial dies in a delirium ‘of guilt for his part in Gloucester’s murder. , ’ York goes to put down a rising in Ireland, and arranges for a rebellion in his absence to give him a reason to return in arms: Jaeki@ade and his men duly wreak havoc in London before Glifférd quells the rebellion with a promise of pardon; Cade himself is…
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…
The Cobbler's Prophecy
Wilson, Robert · 1590 · Moral · Queen Elizabeth's Men (?)
Security has bred social ills in Boeotia, including impiety and disrespect for age. Meanwhile Venus scandalizes heaven with her adulterous liaison with Mars. Mercury selects Ralph Cobbler at random to prophesy to both Mars and Boeotia, and strikes his wife Zelota mad. A courtier, landlord, scholar, and soldier debate the relative merits of their different estates; Sateros the soldier, who is seeking employment from Mars, is obviously the worthiest. He visits the Muses to seek directions to Mars’s court, while Ralph tries to ride there with Charon. On arrival, they are sent on to Venus’ court by a dangerous route, and find Mars engaged in sexual dalliance with Venus. Mars recommends Sateros to the Duke of Boeotia, but is ===== PAGE 168 ===== infuriated by Ralph’s prophecy and quarrels with Venus. When he learns that she has another sexual partner, Contempt, he becomes jealous and misogynistic, and returns to his proper concern with warfare. Venus bears Contempt’s illegitimate child, Ruina. She is deprived of her godhead and banished from heaven; Contempt also abandons her. The Duke hires Sateros and learns from Ralph that the courtier Emnius is plotting to assassinate him while they are out hunting. Under questioning, Emnius confesses, but pretends to repent under threat of being shot with his own pistol. Spared but determined to take revenge, he assaults Ralph and is stabbed to death by mad Zelota. Both Ralph and Zelota are imprisoned for the killing. Boeotia is invaded by…
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…
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…
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…
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…
1 The Troublesome Reign of King John
Anonymous (?) · 1591 · History · Queen Elizabeth's Men
Jel becomes King of England; but young Prince (Athi son of his elder brother, also has title to the throne, and his claim is supported by Philip of France. John refuses to give up his kingdom and prepares to invade France. Before he goes, he has to settle a dispute between the brothers Falconbridge: the younger brother RObéft alleges the bastardy of the elder, PHilip} thereby establishing Philip as the natural, if illegitimate, son of King Richard and Robert as rightful heir of Falconbridge. Philip is impelled to accept royal parentage, the better to pursue his ambitions, and he joins King John’s expedition to France. The Kings of England and France confront one another outside the English-held town of Angers. When the citizens refuse to yield to either John or Arthur until one or the other is proven the rightful King, the bastard suggests that the warring kings should join forces against the town, and cement the alliance with a marriage between fh@§Daphin and John’s niece, Blai@He (even though he covets Blanche for himself). John and King Philip agree terms: Blanche’s dowry is to include a substantial part of England’s French possessions, and King Philip transfers his support from Arthur to John. Seeking vengeance for his father, King Richard, the bastard challenges Allisttid to a duel, but Austria will not accept even when John creates the bastard a duke. Cardinal Pandulphiéxcommunicates John for his interference in ecclesiastical affairs. John refuses to submit to papal…
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…
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…
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 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…
Cornelia (Pompey the Great His Fair Cornelia's Tragedy)
Kyd, Thomas, trans.; Garnier, Robert · 1594 · Tragedy
Gigéfo laments the decline of Rome: after presumptuously conquering the nations of the world, the city has been laid waste by civil war, and now lives under a tyrant. @6ffélia laments the successive deaths of her two husbands, Gfassiis and Pompey. She and Gieér dispute which is greater: the common grief or hers in particular. He talks her out of committing suicide. She sees her dead husband in a dream; he tells her that her father has been killed in the African war, and asks her to send their son Sextus away from Rome for his own safety. Philip, a witness to Pompey’s murder, brings his ashes to @6FHelia. Both Cicero and Cornelia look forward to Caesar’s violent downfall. ’ Caesar returns to Rome in triumph. His supporter Decimus Brutus fears that he intends to assume absolute power in Rome; in that event, he and @assils plan to kill the tyrant. MaFR§AMtOMy warns Caesar against plots, but Caesar refuses to be cowed by fear. A messenger recounts to Cornelia how her father killed himself after G@A@8ar defeated him in battle. With her father dead and her husband’s property confiscated, @G6FMelia decides to defer suicide until she has erected their tombs.
The Four Prentices of London
Heywood, Thomas · 1594 · Romance · Worcester's Men · Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
Deposed and banished by the King of France, the Earl of Bouillon flees to England, where he helped to put King William on the throne. Planning to end his life on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he takes his leave of his four sons, who have found work as London apprentices. Dissatisfied by their jobs and itching for the military life, the four brothers join Robert of Normandy's army embarking on a crusade; their sister Bella Franca follows them in disguise. The army is struck by a storm at sea, and the brothers are separated, variously washed up in Bouillon, France, Italy, and Ireland, each believing the others to be dead. Godfrey frees the town of Bouillon from its usurping Spanish occupiers, and the people acclaim him their earl. Guy is spotted on a raft by the Princess of France, who falls in love with him and persuades her father to make him a courtier - a dangerous situation, since the King is the enemy of Guy's father and would execute him if he knew his true identity. Uninterested in love, Guy joins the army which the King is sending to the crusade, but the princess follows him disguised as a page. In Ireland, Eustace acquires a servant. In Italy, Charles is set on by banditti, but kills their captain and becomes their leader. He attempts to impose civility on them, and discovers that they have captured his father. Charles releases him, tells him of his brothers' death, and gives him money for his continuing pilgrimage. The banditti appointed to escort the old Earl try…
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…
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…
Love's Labor's Lost
Shakespeare, William · 1595 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men · before the Court;
The King of Navarre has proclaimed a three-year period of study during which his courtiers must live abstemiously and refrain from seeing women; no woman may even approach the court. Unfortunately the Princess of France is due to arrive on a diplomatic mission concerning a dispute over money and territory, and the King is forced to meet her; however, the evidence in support of France’s claim against Navarre has not arrived, and the issue is deferred. Costard is caught canoodling with Jaquenetta and is remitted to Don Armado’s custody. Armado is himself enamoured of Jaquenetta, and sends Costard to her with a love-letter. Biron also pays Costard to carry a similar letter to his love, Rosaline, and Costard mixes up the two letters. Armado’s causes amusement to the French ladies when they receive it; Biron’s causes embarrassment to himself when, directed by Holofernes, Jaquenetta brings it to the King just after Biron has attacked him and the other lords for falling in love. Biron argues the illegitimacy of their original vows, and they set about wooing the ladies, first with gifts, then by appearing in a masque of Russians. The ladies confound the latter by wearing masks themselves and swapping gifts so that each lord woos the wrong lady; they also refuse to dance. Don Armado and the locals offer the court a pageant of the Nine Worthies, devised by the schoolmaster: it is mocked by the lords and breaks up in confusion when Costard accuses Don Armado of fathering the pregnant…
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…
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…
1 Henry the Fourth
Shakespeare, William · 1597 · History · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Civil war has ended in England, and King H@nryiliV intends to take an English army on a crusade to liberate the Holy Land. The enterprise is delayed by continuing military instability on England’s borders. Lord MOGrfimer has been defeated in battle by Owen Glemd@Wer and taken a prisoner to Wales. In the north, H@#Splr has had better success against the Scots, but refuses to hand over his prisoners until King Henry ransoms Mortimer. But Mortimer has thrown in his lot with Glendower, so Henry refuses. TH@IPEFGy family suspects an ulterior motive: Mortimer was proclaimed heir to the throne during the previous reign, so the King has good reason to want him off the scene. Led by tH@IBAPINSPIWSreeSter, the Percies plan to put together an alliance to rise in rebellion against the King; to that end, Hotspur releases his Scottish prisoners without ransom. THEMPHNCeMSMWales spends his time idly with . BaIStaif and Poyntz, secretly intending to use his bad reputation as a foil to a subsequent reformation. They plan and execute a highway robbery, but the Prince and Poyntz disguise themselves and rob Falstaff in turn. In the tavern afterwards, Falstaffs account of these events grows progressively more inflated and extravagant; but, when confronted with the truth, he claims he knew it was the Prince all the time. News of the Percies’ plans reaches the King, and Prince Henry is summoned to court. Falstaff helps the Prince with a rehearsal: at first he plays the King, but his performance is…
Every Man in His Humor
Jonson, Ben · 1598 · Comedy · Lord Chamberlain's (Hunsdon's) Men
Prospero invites DOrenzo—jinior to visit him in Florence and see two gulls, Mathes and Bobadilla; Lorenzo decides to bring along his cousin St@pHAHG as a third. His father has intercepted the letter and, concerned to wean him away from poetry and towards more profitable studies, follows him to the city. The servant Misco follows EGFEHZOISEHIOF and insinuates himself into his master’s service under a new identity, disguised as a soldier. MGFENG is concerned that Prospero has become dissolute, and that the bad company which visits him will corrupt his sister M@Sperida and cuckold him; consequently he is anxious about leaving his house to do business. Matheo, who has been threatened with a cudgelling by GiliaiG, visits Bobadilla at his lodgings and they practice fighting. Later, Bobadilla assaults @6B for speaking against tobacco, and Cob procures a warrant from the city magistrate, DGGtGPIGIEMERL, to prevent ===== PAGE 52 ===== him fighting. Matheo woos Hesperida, using plagiarized verses. Giuliano provokes a fight with Matheo, but Bobadilla cannot participate because he is bound over by Cob’s warrant (and also because he is a coward); Giuliano later gives him a beating, which again he cannot resist. Thorello and his wife are lured away on false errands while Lorenzo Junior marries Hesperida. A series of ‘mistaken identities and tricks by Musco leads all the major characters to Doctor Clement’s house, either as litigants or prisoners. Lorenzo Junior pronounces on the current…
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…
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…
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.
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…
1 Sir John Oldcastle
Munday, Anthony; Drayton, Michael; Wilson, Robert; Hathaway, Richard · 1599 · History · Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Despite a royal prohibition on disorder during the preparations for the invasion of France, Lords Herbert and Po·wys fall out over their religious differences, and brawl with their followers in the streets of Hereford;Herbert is wounded, and Powys flees, with orders given for his arrest. The Bishop of Rochester does his best to associate dissent and conspiracy with Sir John Oldcastle, but the King is not convinced. Powys takes refuge in Oldcastle's house, just before two orders arrive: one to attend at court, the other to answer charges before Rochester's ecclesiastical court; Oldcastle's servant Harpoole forces Rochester's summoner to eat his own summons, wax and all. The King advises Oldcastle to keep his religious views private: he can believe what he likes so long as he does not antagonize the bishops or encourage Protestant rebellion. In turn. Oldcastle intercedes for Powys, and the King signs his pardon. Rebellion is brewing in England. On the basis of a superior dynastic claim, the Earl of Cambridge intends to seize the throne with French support. Oldcastle is invited to join the plot, but he procures an incriminating document and takes it to court. Meanwhile, Protestant rebels muster their forces in London. The King plans to spy on them in disguise, but is robbed by the renegade priest Sir John; the priest gets him to promise to secure the King's pardon for robbery, and gives him half a coin as a token by which they can know one another again. On the night before the…
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…
Alaham
Greville, Fulke · 1600 · Tragedy
Before the start of the action, an oracle foretold that the kingdom’s security depended on the death of the King’s eldest son, Zophi; but the pashas, ruling during the King’s senility, merely banished him. Hala, wife of the younger son, Alaham, has had a series of affairs with pashas: first Muhammad, who was forced into exile as a result, then Cain. Seeking to secure his position, Alaham has recalled Muhammad, ===== PAGE 189 ===== 1600 but Muhammad has recalled Zophi in turn, cutting Alaham out of the succession. Hala seeks to make Cain king, and persuades him to murder Muhammad; but he changes his mind after Muhammad warns him of Alaham’s ambition: Cain will tell Alaham that Muhammad is dead, but in reality he will go into hiding. Meanwhile Alaham corrupts the guard, blinds his father and brother, and seizes power. When Cain tells him of Muhammad's death, he is sent for execution — if not for murder then for lying about it, as he is told when he tries to save himself. Alaham’s sister Caelica helps Zophi and their father to take sanctuary in the temple. Alaham has the city searched, finds Caelica, and arrests her. Her cries bring the old King out of hiding, and he too is arrested. The King, Caelica, and Zophi are all burned to death; as they die, their souls call out for vengeance. Seeking to avenge Cain’s death, Hala sends Alaham a poisoned robe, and plans to kill their son before his face, so that the other child, Cain’s bastard, will inherit the kingdom; but she…
Blurt, Master Constable, or The Spaniard's Night Walk
Anonymous · 1601 · Romance · Children of Paul's (second)
Camillo and Hippolito return home to Venice after a war with France. Camillo brings the French lord Fontinelle as a prisoner, and presents him to his love Violetta. She falls for the Frenchman, so Camillo sends him to prison. Hippolito takes charge of the situation. He makes the courtesan Imperia dote on Fontinelle by sending her his picture; but Fontinelle refuses to accept her love and is taken back to his dungeon. Meanwhile Camillo’s attempts to woo Violetta back are met with rejection. Fontinelle escapes by changing clothes with Frisco, and, using Violetta’s page as a go-between, makes an assignation at a chapel, where they are secretly married. Afterwards, though, he takes up with Imperia. Camillo swears revenge on all three and leads a party of armed men to kill them and hang out their dead bodies. Violetta also goes to find her husband at Imperia’s, and is invited to join him in bed. Camillo’s men, the watch, and the Duke all arrive simultaneously at the brothel. The Duke prevents murder being done, but has Fontinelle arrested for adultery, which is a capital crime in Venice. Violetta denies that infidelity has occurred: it was all a plot laid by her and Fontinelle. In the sub-plot, Lazarillo also arrives in Venice from the wars and gets lodgings with Blurt the constable. He goes to Imperia’s house to lecture the ladies on Spanish marital conduct, and makes a nocturnal assignation with Imperia. Simperina makes another assignation with old Curvetto, but when he tries…
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…
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.
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…
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…
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…
Darius
Alexander, William · 1603 · Tragedy
Vanquished by Alexander, Darius fears for his mother, wife, and children, who have been taken captive. He offers a ransom for them, and Parmenio encourages Alexander to accept (the money can be used to finance future campaigns), but Alexander refuses. The women assume that Darius is dead and ask leave to bury him. Alexander gives them his personal assurance that Darius is alive and that they v.ill be treated honourably. Bessus and Narbazanes plan to betray Darius to Alexander in the hope of getting kingdoms for themselves. Darius learns that his wife has died, but is impressed by Alexander's honourable treatment of her. Narbazanes encourages him to resign the crown to Bessus, while others advise him not to trust the two traitors, and to rely on his mercenary troops if necessary. Darius meditates on tl1e inevitable fall of princes and accepts the coming of death. The traitors spread a rumour that he has committed suicide, then take him prisoner and offer him to Alexander. Darius dies with a speech honouring Alexander for his magnanimity in victory. Alexander vows to hunt down and dismember the traitors.
Sejanus His Fall
Jonson, Ben · 1603 · Tragedy · King's Men
While disaffected Romans whisper, the favourite Séjamus dominates the court with his spies and corruptly sells offices; it is rumoured that he seeks imperial status for himself. He has an affair with Livia and arranges the death by poison of her husband Drasiis} He and the Emperor MibETUS plot to destabilize the opposition, effectively led by Agtippinal To that end, they have Silii§ and @6rdus tried for treason before the Senate; Silius pre-empts the verdict by publicly committing suicide. Sejanus persuades Tiberius to retire from: Rome, but makes him suspicious by seeking to marry Livia (and so become part of the imperial family). Leaving Sejanus as his deputy in Rome, Tiberius also assigns Maer to watch and act against him. Sejanus returns to favour when he saves the Emperor’s life after a rockfall. The legalized harassment of dissent is stepped up: Agrippina’s son @aligala escapes from Rome with Macro, but his mother and brothers are arrested and condemned. Rumours of Tiberius’ debaucheries circulate in Rome, while his treatment of Sejanus seems increasingly ambiguous: the favourites’ allies and enemies seem both to be given high office. Portents like the appearance of a Biantisiake inside Sejanus’ statue prefigure his fall. He professes atheism, accepting only the power of Fertile, but at a religious ceremony the statue of Fortune turns her face from him. The Senate is summoned to hear a communication from the Emperor, and rumours circulate that Sejanus is to be invested…
The Widow's Tears
Chapman, George · 1604 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels · Blackfriars;Whitefriars;Indoor Professional
Renouncing Fortune and devoting himself instead to the goddess Confidence, Tharsalio intends to woo the widowed Countess Eudora. His wooing technique is grossly sexual, and he also quarrels with a rival, Rebus. Rebuffed and mocked by his family, he seeks out Arsace and bribes her to advise Eudora not to marry him, but when he returns to her and throws out Rebus, he is rejected a second time. Finally, however, she accepts him, and their wedding is marked by a masque. ===== PAGE 180 ===== Lysander is concerned about his wife Cynthia’s constancy, and plans to test it by faking his own death: with the help of Lycus he undertakes a journey and sends back a report that he has been murdered by mountain bandits. His body is interred in the family monument; Cynthia and her waiting-woman go to live in the tomb in order to be near him. Lysander returns incognito, disguised as a soldier assigned as the sentinel of the cemetery. He successfully seduces Cynthia, but she insists that their liaison be conducted privately to avoid compromising her reputation. Tharsalio sees them kissing inside the tomb and takes revenge on the ‘sentinel’ by stealing one of the crucified bodies he is supposed to be watching. When this is discovered, Cynthia suggests disinterring Lysander’s body and substituting it for the stolen one. Lysander goes to fetch a crowbar, removes his disguise, and meets Tharsalio, who deduces what is happening and informs Cynthia. She is thus able to pretend that she knew who the…
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.
The London Prodigal
Anonymous · 1604 · Comedy · King's Men
Old Flowerdale returns secretly from Venice and hears tales of his son’s prodigality. Wanting to think the best of his offspring, he tests the young man by posing as Christopher, a sailor bringing news of his own death and a will disinheriting his son. Under his new identity he lends his son money to enable him to pursue an advantageous marriage to Sir Lancelot’s daughter Luce, and enters his service to observe him at close quarters. Sir Lancelot is trying to get husbands for all three of his daughters, but Delia prefers a virgin life. For Luce, Sir Lancelot initially favours the wealthy bumpkin Oliver, and takes his part when Young Flowerdale challenges him to a duel. However, ‘Christopher’ forges a will which makes Flowerdale seem richer than Oliver, so Sir Lancelot changes his mind and persuades Flowerdale to go to his own wedding rather than keep his appointment to fight Oliver. It is to be a double wedding: another daughter, Frances, is marrying a merchant’s son. Flowerdale makes no secret of the fact that he intends to exploit Luce financially. Disappointed in him, Old Flowerdale arranges for his uncle to have him arrested for debt immediately after the wedding; apart from teaching the young man a lesson, it will also establish whether Luce genuinely loves him. When Sir Lancelot tries to shrug off the debt, the will is exposed as a fraud. Luce, who only married Flowerdale in obedience to her father, now insists on honouring her marital vows. Intending that Flowerdale…
1 The Honest Whore (1 The Converted Courtesan) (The Patient Man and the Honest Whore)
Dekker, Thomas; Middleton, Thomas · 1604 · Comedy · Prince Henry's Men
Count Hippolito attempts to make a scene at the funeral of the Duke’s daughter, Infelice, but is restrained. In fact, Infelice is not dead: the Duke administered a sleeping draught to prevent her from marrying Hippolito. When she wakes, he tells her Hippolito is dead and sends her away to Bergamo, then accepts Dr Benedict’s offer to poison Hippolito. Bellafront the courtesan falls in love with Hippolito when his friend and her client Matheo brings him to meet her. He mistrusts her protestation that, for him, she will become honest, and speaks harshly against whores. But she fulfils her promise: dismisses her pander Roger (who quickly finds alternative employment) and sends away her former clients, including Matheo. On a Monday, she goes to visit Hippolito, disguised as a page; she finds him in solemn meditation (since Infelice supposedly died on a Monday), and he rejects her again. Dr Benedict tells the Duke that he has been poisoned, and is banished for it; but in fact he has done no such thing, and tells Hippolito that Infelice is not only alive, but waiting at the madhouse to marry him. Meanwhile, Fustigo returns to Milan to find that his sister has married Candido, a man apparently incapable of anger. This is demonstrated in a wager between three gentlemen who try to make him lose his temper: first Castruccio poses as a customer and makes unreasonable demands, which Candido meets even though it means spoiling a piece of cloth; then Fluello steals a beaker from the…
2 The Honest Whore (2 The Converted Courtesan)
Dekker, Thomas · 1605 · Comedy · Prince Henry's Men
On his way to court, Hippolito receives petitioners, including the reformed courtesan Bellafront: she wants his help in petitioning the Duke to pardon her husband Matheo, who has been condemned to death for homicide. Hippolito solicits the help of Bellafront’s father Orlando, but he is still morally outraged at her former sexual misconduct. Nevertheless he secretly arranges for Matheo’s release, and enters his household disguised as a servingman, Pacheco. Matheo proves dissolute, and when ‘Pacheco’ gives him money for safe keeping, he gambles it all away. Bellafront is trying not to let poverty and Matheo’s prodigality force her back into prostitution. Hippolito, who converted her from whoredom, now tries to seduce her back again. She sends ‘Pacheco’ to return his love-tokens, but ‘Pacheco’ instead takes them to Infelice, who identifies them as her own gifts to Hippolito. She interrogates Hippolito’s go-between, Brian the footman, then tells her husband that Brian gave her the love-tokens and had an affair with her. Brian is dismissed and goes home to Ireland. Desperate for money, Matheo strips the gown from his wife’s back and sells it. Lodovico promises to furnish him as a gentleman, so he is properly dressed when Orlando visits in his own person. The old man feigns lack of sympathy, then returns as Pacheco in time to prevent Matheo assaulting Bellafront. Prompted by Orlando, the Duke takes a hand: he issues a warrant to arrest Matheo for robbing two pedlars (who were…
Eastward Ho
Chapman, George; Jonson, Ben; Marston, John · 1605 · Comedy · Children of the Queen's Revels · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
The goldsmith [owehstone has two apprentices, the rebellious prodigal QUIEKSIWVEF and the virtuous Golding, and two daughters, the proud Gertrude and the modest Mildréd. Mistress Touchstone insists that Gertrude should marry above her rank to Sim@PéetronelFlash, while Touchstone bestows Mildred on Golding. Quicksilver is sacked after appearing for work drunk; Golding is also released from his indentures to become his former master’s son-in-law. Quicksilver considers becoming a merchant, then conspires with Security to entrap Sir Petronel Flash into debt to finance the secret expedition to Virginia he is planning. While Gertrude travels to her new husband’s fictitious country castle, Sir Petronel plans a _ - sexual liaison with [Winifméd| Security’s wife. Quicksilver and Sir Petronel both set sail, each in a different vessel, with the jealous S€@uirity following in a third, but a storm wrecks all three boats at Cuckold’s Haven. Winifred convinces Security that his suspicions are groundless. Quicksilver and Sir Petronel are arrested and sent to prison by Golding, now a deputy alderman, on suspicion of stealing from Touchstone. They and Security become penitent in their incarceration, but Touchstone is determined to prosecute them. Golding wishes to be more forgiving, and feigns his own imprisonment to bring his father-in-law to the jail. There Touchstone sees and accepts the sincerity of the miscreants’ repentance; Quicksilver, Sir Petronel, and Security are released, and…
A Trick to Catch the Old One
Middleton, Thomas · 1605 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (second)
The spendthrift Witgood has mortgaged all his lands to his uncle, Lucre, but he is still in debt, and fear of his creditors keeps him away from London. Nevertheless he must go there if he is to make his fortune by marrying Joyce, the wealthy niece to Lucre’s enemy Walkadine Hoard. He conspires with Jane, a courtesan, to give the impression that he now has good prospects: she poses as a rich country widow who plans to marry him. Lucre’s attitude to his nephew is immediately transformed: hoping to acquire the widow’s lands too after the wedding, he denies the existence of the mortgage and lends Witgood money for new clothes. News of the widow also attracts Witgood’s creditors, but he persuades them that if they are over-attentive they will break his engagement, and thereby wreck their chances of repayment: the widow must continue to believe him to be financially secure. To that end, they eagerly agree to lend him even more money. Meanwhile Jane herself is a magnet for suitors, including the young men who were earlier trying to woo the reluctant Joyce, who is only interested in Witgood. Hoard throws his hat in the ring, bringing gentlemen to give Witgood a bad testimonial and discredit Lucre’s claims that there is no mortgage. Jane denies that she has any lands, but Hoard takes it for winsomeness and insists that her love is all that matters. They arrange an elopement; she absconds from Witgood at a tavern and marries Hoard. Lucre intervenes, not knowing he is too late, and…
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…
Nobody and Somebody
Anonymous · 1605 · History; Satire · Queen Anne's Men
The British nobles are discontented at the way Archigallo, recently succeeded to the throne, has grown vicious and lascivious. This is demonstrated in the way he decides a series of disputes among his subjects. Morgan and Malgo both claim the ownership of an island; Archigallo takes it for himself and appoints Lord Sycophant as its governor. The clown has stolen and married Rafe’s fiancée; Archigallo adjudicates in the clown’s favour, but then promises the woman advancement if she will stay at court. ===== PAGE 191 ===== 1605 Finally, a petition is presented against Nobody for his excessive charity; at Sycophant’s suggestion, Somebody is appointed to bankrupt Nobody. The nobles plot rebellion, but are overheard by the unworthy princes Vigenius and Peridure. Realizing they have been caught, the nobles continue the conversation by suggesting that the princes will become joint rulers after Archigallo is deposed. The princes decide not to expose the treachery after all, but as they discuss how they will divide the kingdom, they are themselves overheard by Archigallo and sent to prison. The Council deposes Archigallo. Elidure is reluctant to take the crown, but his wife, eager to lord it over the Queen, forces him to do so. He releases Vigenius and Peridure. Out hunting, he meets Archigallo, who was banished but has remained in the kingdom. Elidure decides to resign the crown, but the Council is initially unwilling to have Archigallo back: they would rather have a foreigner as…
2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody (The Second Part of Queen Elizabeth's Troubles)
Heywood, Thomas · 1605 · History · Queen Anne's Men
GhomasyGresham is in long legal dispute with Sir (homaspRamisay over a land deal: Gresham outbid Ramsay after contracts were exchanged, bought the land and built on it, so each man now claims ownership. DEINGWEll adjudicates fairly between them and makes them friends. Under the terms of the settlement, Gresham is to pay Ramsay £100, but his nephew John misappropriates the money and contrives ===== PAGE 115 ===== 1604 to get Timothy the factor arrested for debt. Caught out, Timothy admits that he has embezzled £500 from Gresham, and Gresham applauds John’s misbehaviour as an example of good financial management. Gresham sees the need for a dry place in London where merchants can do business; and, inspired by portraits of famous Londoners responsible for important civic buildings and institutions, he gets permission and funding to build it himself. He is unabashed by heavy losses through war and shipwreck (including a change of king in Barbary after the battle of Alcazar, which costs him his trade monopoly in Barbary sugar). Eventually an impressive Burse is built, and opened by Queen Elizabeth: she names it the Royal Exchange, and knights Gresham. Another strand of the action focuses on the comic eccentricities of old M@bSGH, who records an honest pedlar’s account under a nickname, Bawny2@oat, so that the man is unable to pay what he owes when he returns to the shop. “Tawny-Coat’ is ruined by his debts to Hobson and by his own charity, but Hobson takes pity when he finds him…
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 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 Two Maids of More-Clacke
Armin, Robert · 1606 · Comedy · Children of the King's Revels
Before the action, James Humil wrote to his wife from what he took to be his deathbed. Believing herself widowed, she made swift arrangements for her remarriage to Sir William Vergir, with the support of her son, who hoped to marry one of Sir William’s daughters, Now, on her way back from the wedding, she sees James in the street. She loses her glove, and offers a reward for its discovery: the person who finds . it will have the honour of deciding the festivities in celebration of her second marriage. This is a ruse to enable her to see James, who has found the glove. She tells him that, though she genuinely thought him dead, she contracted her second marriage as a means of paying his debts and securing a desirable match for ===== PAGE 471 ===== 1608 their son. She takes on James as a servant, and tells her second husband that she will only consummate the marriage once Young Humil is married to his elder daughter, Mary. Since both daughters are already engaged, Sir William tries to put off the fiancés by setting impossible conditions: Toures will only be allowed to marry Mary after she has died and come back to life; Young Filbon will get Tabitha only if he becomes a woman. Filbon sends a letter to Tabitha via Touch, Sir William’s servant, but the letter is found and Touch dismissed; Tabitha becomes estranged from her father. Toures visits Mary disguised as a tinker, and they go off to Putney to get married. Tabitha has two other suitors ~ Auditor, Toures’s father, and the…
Macbeth
Shakespeare, William; Middleton, Thomas, rev. · 1606 · Tragedy · King's Men
With the aid of some treacherous noblemen, the Norwegians have attacked Scotland. In the ensuing battle, Macbeth is instrumental in expelling the invaders, and is created Thane of Cawdor. Before he learns of this honour, he is greeted with the title by three witches who tell him he is to be King; they also tell Banquo that, though he will not be King himself, his descendants will. King Duncan names his son Malcolm the heir apparent, and invites himself to Macbeth’s castle, where Macbeth murders him, abetted by his wife. The night is troubled by unnatural, portentous events. When the assassination is discovered, Malcolm and Donalbain flee the country; suspicion falls on them, and the succession on Macbeth. Macbeth is troubled by the witches’ prophecy about Banquo. He has Banquo murdered, but Fleance escapes; Banquo’s ghost then appears when Macbeth wishes him present at a feast. Hecate rebukes the witches for failing to involve her in their dealings with Macbeth. Disgraced after his failure to attend Macbeth’s feast, Macduff goes to England to rally military support against Macbeth, who has become an egregious tyrant. The witches show Macbeth three apparitions which warn him to beware of Macduff, but also assure him that he cannot be harmed by anybody born of a woman, and that he shall never be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane; he is also shown a vision confirming that Banquo’s heirs will rule Scotland. Learning of Macduff's defection, Macbeth has his wife and…
Michaelmas Term
Middleton, Thomas · 1606 · Comedy · Children of Paul's (second)
Rearage and Andrew Lethe are rivals for the hand of Quomodo’s daughter: her mother favours Rearage and her father Lethe. Lethe has assumed gentry status, and is concerned when his plebeian mother arrives from the country; but she does not recognize him, and he employs her as a go-between. Hellgill brings a country wench to London, promising to pass her off as a gentlewoman. He dresses her up and she begins to attract gallants, including Lethe. Her father comes looking for her, and, not recognizing him, she takes him on as a servant. A third visitor from the country is Richard Easy, who is entrapped by Shortyard and Falselight, the agents of Ephestian Quomodo. Shortyard gambles with Easy, persuading him to keep on betting in the hope of breaking his losing streak. In consequence, he needs money to fund his social life, and seeks to borrow it from Quomodo. He is induced to take the loan in cloth, which he can sell on to realize the money; ===== PAGE 155 ===== 1604 posing as the fictitious ‘Blastfield’, Shortyard also signs the bond. Quomodo and his accomplices engineer a downturn in the market: the cloth has to be sold for less than half its true value. When the bond falls due for repayment a month later, Blastfield cannot be found, and Easy is arrested. Quomodo’s accomplices pose as wealthy citizens and stand bail for Easy, so long as he signs over all his possessions to them. When Blastfield still cannot be found, the bailsmen give Quomodo Easy’s lands in lieu of the bail…
Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare, William · 1607 · Tragedy · King's Men
Antony dallies with Cleopatra in Egypt while the Roman world collapses into faction. His wife and brother make war on Caesar, and Pompey takes advantage of his absence to foment a sea war with the state and avenge his murdered father. At first Antony ignores Caesar’s messages, but his wife’s death draws him back to Rome, where he and Caesar are reconciled; to seal the league, Antony marries Caesar’s sister, Octavia. A soothsayer, who has told the fortunes of members of Cleopatra’s court, warns him that, although he is a better man than Caesar, Caesar will always prove the more successful of the two. Antony, Caesar, and Lepidus meet Pompey with an army, but war is averted. Lepidus gets egregiously drunk at the feast on Pompey’s galley to celebrate the treaty. Pompey refuses his ally Menas’ dishonourable proposal to kill the triumvirate and make him master of the world. Antony’s lieutenant Ventidius defeats the Parthians in battle, but is cautious about taking too much of the credit for himself. Meanwhile, news of Antony’s marriage reaches Cleopatra; she does not take it well. Antony leaves Rome with his new wife, but absence breeds suspicion between him and Caesar. Caesar breaks the truce with Pompey and deposes Lepidus on a pretext. Antony, in turn, sends Octavia home and returns to Egypt, where he creates Cleopatra queen of several dominions. War between east and west follows. Antony perversely chooses to fight by sea, and Cleopatra insists on being present at the battle.…
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…
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…
The Insatiate Countess
Machin, Lewis; Barkstead, William; Marston, John · 1607 · Tragedy · Children of the Queen's Revels (?); Children of the King's Revels (?) · Whitefriars;Indoor Professional
Suitors visit Isabella, who is in open mourning for her dead husband, but secretly glad to be free of his jealousy and restrictions. She accepts Count Roberto’s suit and they are married the following day; but when she dances with Count Rogero in the wedding masque, her affections turn. She woos Rogero by letter and elopes with him to Pavia; Roberto enters holy orders. At Pavia, Rogero is visited by his friend Gniaca; Isabella falls in love with the newcomer, and feigns illness to give herself an opportunity to seduce him. After bedding Gniaca, she then feigns penitence to free herself from Rogero. The spurned lover takes his revenge by circulating bitter satires on Isabella’s promiscuity, so she sets on Gniaca to kill him. In the attempt, Gniaca is reconciled with his former friend, so Isabella seduces Don Sago, colonel in the Spanish power occupying Pavia, to murder both Rogero and Gniaca. Sago kills Rogero, and is arrested, but pardoned by the Duke of Medina. Isabella’s attempt to bribe the Duke fails to secure her freedom, and she is beheaded after a scaffold reconciliation with Roberto. In the sub-plot, the enemies Claridiana and Mizaldus are both married on the same day. They quarrel when they meet, and Mizaldus’s wife Abigail and Lady Lentulus, who are close friends, compare notes and swap places: each receives her own husband in the other’s bedroom. Meanwhile their friends Mendosa and Lady Lentulus, attracted to one another, try to circumvent the latter’s vow not to…
Bussy D'Ambois
1607 · History;Foreign History · Children of Paul's (second) · Paul's;Indoor Professional
Monsieur is heir presumptive to the French crown: only his brother's life stands between him and the throne. He seeks to engage the services of the poor, discontented, and ambitious soldier Bussy D'Amboise, and sends Maffé to him with money. Maffé tries to fob off Bussy with a smaller sum, intending to pocket the difference; but Bussy takes offence and assaults Maffé. Monsieur introduces Bussy to court as an attendant on the King, but many courtiers regard him as an upstart, especially the Duke of Guise, who considers him inappropriately familiar with his Duchess. A fight breaks out between Bussy and a group of courtiers; only Bussy escapes alive, and Monsieur procures a royal pardon for him. Monsieur attempts to seduce Tamyra, but she is more interested in Bussy and engages her confessor, Friar Comolet, to act as go-between. While her husband, Montsoreau, is away overnight, she has an assignation with Bussy. Unbeknown to them, this is witnessed by Tamyra's maid, Pero, who tells Montsoreau what she has seen. Monsieur is jealous of Bussy's intimacy with Tamyra, but his higher plans take precedence - until Bussy declares that he will serve him in any way except by killing the King. Monsieur and Guise conspire to inform Montsoreau of Tamyra's adultery. In order to discover what they know and what they intend, Comolet conjures the spirit Behemoth, who is unable to procure the letter containing Guise's information, but declares that Tamyra is the greatest danger to Bussy and…
The Rape of Lucrece
Heywood, Thomas · 1607 · Tragedy · Queen Anne's Men · Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
Tired of being a subject, Tullia encourages her husband Tarquin to seize power from her father, King Servius, and make her Queen of Rome. Having gathered the support of a faction of peers, Tarquin takes the throne at the Senate. When Servius challenges this, a fight breaks out in which he is killed. Tullia treads his dead body underfoot, then drives over it in her chariot. She encourages Tarquin to rule by fear: he cancels Servius’ funeral, seizes his political opponents’ property, exiles people without trial, and sets about extending Rome’s power in Italy, both by alliances and force of arms. Servius’ former allies submit to the new regime, but cope with it in different ways: Brutus feigns idiocy, Scaevola laughs, Lucretius cries, Horatius adopts a habit of bitter speech, and Valerius sings incessantly. Tarquin has an ominous dream and sends his sons to the oracle to have it interpreted; they take Brutus along to entertain them. The oracle says that Rome must be purged of Tullia’s sins, and that, of the three Romans present, the first to kiss his mother will achieve power in Rome. Brutus kisses the earth, but the two brothers race home to kiss Tullia. Aruns gets there first, and Sextus swears enmity against him and flees to the Sabines, who make him their general. He leads them against Tarquin and wins twice, but is later reconciled with his father and brother. The Tarquins welcome Porsenna to Rome as an ally in the project of establishing military rule over the…
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 - =====…
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 Conspiracy of Charles Duke of Byron
Chapman, George · 1608 · History · Children of the Queen's Revels
The Duke of Savoy comes to the court of Henry IV, angry with his Spanish allies over the relative dowries ===== PAGE 463 ===== 1608 paid to him and his brother-in-law, the Archduke Albert, and keen to resolve a territorial dispute with France; in particular, he has his eye on the good offices of the Duke of Biron. At present, Biron is in Flanders, one.of the French commissioners sent to witness the signing of a peace treaty with Archduke Albert. Eager to compromise his loyalty to the French crown, Albert’s men shower him with honours and flattery. When Biron returns to France, he listens sympathetically to the complaints of the court malcontent La Fin, and offers him an introduction to Savoy. What he doesn’t realize is that Savoy has put La Fin up to this: the object of the exercise is to arrange a meeting between Savoy and Biron, not Savoy and La Fin. Savoy sets up a mutual enmity between Biron and King Henry. He tells the King, who is already concerned about the honours showered on Biron in Flanders, about Biron’s reputation for supreme valour; this irritates Henry, who was himself the commander in the military engagements Savoy describes. Conversely, Savoy flatters Biron and makes him annoyed that the King undervalues his soldierly service. Henry sends Biron to England as an ambassador. Before he goes, Biron shows his horoscope to a magician, who finds indications in it that Biron has recently done something that will cost him his head. On Biron’s return from England,…
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…
Humor Out of Breath
Day, John · 1608 · Comedy · Children of the King's Revels
Octavio has just won a war against Mantua, which has resulted in the banishment of Antonio, the Mantuan ===== PAGE 427 ===== 1607 Duke, and his family. Now Octavio sends his sons out into Italy to look for wives, but accompanies them incognito to keep an eye on them. His daughter Florimell protests that she wants love too, but Octavio leaves her in the custody of Hortensio, giving him a brief to restrain her wanton tendencies. Antonio and his family are living a rustic life, eating fish they have caught themselves. Aspero, the son, goes to Venice, eager to assassinate Octavio in revenge. With Octavio gone, he meets Florimell, who is attracted to him. When he does not reciprocate, she concurs in Hortensio’s decision to arrest him, but asks that he should be imprisoned in her own chamber. On hearing that she is planning to have him executed, but only because she is playing hard-to-get, he pretends to be dead. The sight of his body shocks her into declaring her love openly, and this brings him back to life. Hortensio has just received information as to his identity, and has him committed to close prison. Florimell and Hortensio visit him, and Hortensio is persuaded to play blind man’s buff in the cell. While Hortensio is hoodwinked, she disguises Aspero in his clothes and removes him from the prison; Hortensio is left behind in the cell. The jailer is given orders to allow nobody to see the prisoner, even if he should pretend to be Hortensio or imitate his voice. Aspero and…
The Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron
Chapman, George · 1608 · Tragedy · Children of the Queen's Revels
The ambitious Duke of Biron has been offered the crown by a conspiracy of France’s foreign enemies. He pacifies a Huguenot rebellion in Brittany, but suspects - that, now the country is at peace, his military services will no longer be required or even valued by the King. His ally, La Fin, supplies the King with incriminating evidence of his involvement in a plot. [A lacuna in the text follows. The Queen has a quarrel with the King’s mistress, and slaps her.] The two rival ladies make it up by performing together in a masque: Biron is recalled to court. La Fin assures him that all suspicions about his loyalty have been cleared, and- encourages him to go. Against the advice of his other friends, Biron does, thinking his reputation for valour — will make his enemies think twice about arresting him. Henry’s declared intention is to spare him if he will only confess, but Biron is proud and stubborn. He finds himself shunned by the courtiers, and learns that various horses he was given have all died, just as happened when the Earl of Essex fell. He and his ally D’Auvergne are both arrested. A Spanish ambassador asks permission for an army to cross French soil en route to Flanders; King Henry suspects it was originally levied to invade France, but nevertheless gives his permission. He sends despatches to inform foreign courts of Biron’s treason. The French - peers decline to be present at the trial. Biron is confronted with La Fin as chief prosecution witness, and claims that La…
A Shoemaker a Gentleman
Rowley, William · 1608 · Romance · Prince Charles's Men (first) · Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
The Roman Emperors, Diocletian and Maximinus, bring an army to Britain to crush the Christians. Alured, the British King, is killed in battle. His sons, Eldred and Offa, change their identities and get themselves apprenticed to a shoemaker. They see their mother taken to prison after being captured on the battlefield; their sympathy for her plight impresses their new master. Alban is appointed to rule Britain and continue the persecution. Amphiabel comes from Wales and converts him to Christianity. Maximinus arrests Alban, and Amphiabel flees back to Wales, pursued by the Roman army. Meanwhile, the Welsh Queen Winifred, also converted by Amphiabel, asks her suitor Sir Hugh for a moratorium on his wooing efforts; when he completes the agreed period, however, she announces that she has given herself wholly to heaven and cannot marry him. One of the Romans pursuing Amphiabel mocks the power of Winifred’s holy well, and smears the water on his eyes; it blinds him. His sight is restored, but he ascribes the miracle to the pagan gods. Winifred and Amphiabel are both arrested and brought to see the martyrdom of Alban. Leodice, Maximinus’ daughter, becomes enamoured of her new shoemaker, Crispin, who is really Offa; she continually finds reasons to asks for new shoes and new fitting sessions. She offers to show him the image of his future wife in a magic mirror; but in fact it is an ordinary mirror, and he sees her reflection. He confides that he is not really base-born, but a…
Coriolanus
Shakespeare, William · 1608 · Tragedy · King's Men
The. citizens of Rome riot for corn. They insist that the patricians are hoarding the commodity, but Menenius Agrippa tells them a fable suggesting that the Senate has made an equitable distribution of what there is. The Senate grants the people tribunes to represent their interests, to the disgust of the patrician soldier Martius. ‘The Volsces put troops in-the field in an attempt to capture Roman territory. The Romans split their powers: the general Cominius takes on the attacking army under the Volscian commander Aufidius, while Martius and Titus Lartius attack the Volscian town of Corioles. Martius ventures alone into the town and is trapped when the gates close behind him. When he re-emerges, bleeding from the fight, he invigorates the troops and Corioles is conquered. He goes to relieve Cominius, while Titus Lartius finalizes the terms of the Roman occupation. Martius confronts Aufidius in single combat. They are long-time rivals who have sworn to fight to the death, but they are balked when Aufidius’ troops intervene to rescue him. Meanwhile, Aufidius realizes that he will never beat Martius in a fair fight: it will have to be by stealth. Martius, now surnamed Coriolanus, returns triumph to Rome, and is put forward for the consulship. By custom, he must humbly ask the consent of the people and show them his war-wounds. He is reluctant, partly through contempt for the plebeians and partly out of a concern that his valour might be misinterpreted as political ambition.…
A Woman Is a Weathercock
Field, Nathan · 1609 · Comedy · Children of the Queens Revels (Children of the Whitefriars) (?) · before the Court;Whitefriars;Whitehall;Indoor Professional
Scudmore is in love with Bellafront, and his friend Nevill persuades him, with difficulty, to show the love- letter he has received from her. There is a slight complication: Nevill is on his way to .Bellafront’s wedding. She is to marry Count Frederick that morning. The whole family is mired in matrimonial competition. Bellafront’s sister Lucida also loves Frederick, and has sworn never to marry for his sake; but she is being courted by the foolish Sir Abraham Ninny, who has got himself knighted expressly to make himself a more eligible son-in-law. The youngest daughter, Katherine, is also to be married that morning, to Strange the merchant, but she too has another admirer, Captain Pouts. Unbeknown to Scudmore, Nevill impersonates the parson who is to officiate at the wedding. Scudmore tries to catch Bellafront at the church door, but she refuses him; this convinces him that all women are perfidious. After the wedding, Pouts publicly declares that Katherine has slept with him on many previous occasions. Strange seems reluctant to seek legal redress for this slander, but only because he doesn’t want anyone to stop him secretly taking a more immediate revenge. He tries to see Pouts at his lodging, but Pouts assumes he has come to serve a writ and will not let him in. Pouts then prepares to flee England and his creditors, but Strange intercepts him disguised as a soldier, claiming that Katherine engaged him to murder her new husband and that she loves only Pouts. Pouts admits…
Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding
Beaumont, Francis; Fletcher, John · 1609 · Tragicomedy · King's Men · Globe;Outdoor Professional
The King. of Sicily invites the Spanish prince Pharamiond to marry his daughter Airethiisa and become his heir. This is challenged by the rightful King, PHilastér, who was deposed in his minority by the present King’s predecessor, but is too popular to imprison or kill. Arethusa secretly woos Philaster, and he gives her the page Bellarig to be their go-between. She refuses Pharamond’s request for pre-marital sex, so, looking for satisfaction elsewhere, he tries the ladies-in-waiting: (Galatéd refuses him, but his seduction of M@gra is more successful. Galatea overhears their plans for an assignation and reports it to Arethusa, who reports it in turn to the King. Pharamond is disgraced, but Megra gets her revenge by alleging an improper relationship between Alrethtisa and Béllario. The scandalous rumours come to Philaster’s ears, and he becomes mentally distracted through jealousy. Arethuisa dismisses Bellario on her father’s orders. She then disappears in the woods during a royal hunt, and meets the boy by chance. PhilaStér finds them together and thinks his fears confirmed. He confronts and wounds her, but is driven off by a country fellow; he then finds Béllarid asleep and wounds him. Philaster is taken prisoner and committed to Alrethusa’s custody. Facing execution, he is reconciled to her, and they are married. When the King learns of this, he has them both imprisoned. Pharamond pays a sightseeing visit to the city. There he is captured by the Sicilian citizens, who have…
The Golden Age, or The Lives of Jupiter and Saturn
Heywood, Thomas · 1610 · Classical Myth · Queen Anne's Men · Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
King Uranus of Crete is dead. Titan is the eldest son, but his younger brother Saturn is the popular choice to ascend the throne. Titan agrees to make way for him provided that he agrees to settle the succession on Titan’s issue and kill his own sons as soon as they are born. Saturn is declared a god, and under his benevolent rule, the people learn agriculture, ship- building, and architecture, and begin to make weapons for hunting. His wife, Sibylla, becomes pregnant, but Saturn keeps his promise to Titan and kills the baby. During a second pregnancy, an oracle foretells that the child will depose Saturn. This time Sibylla demands the privilege of killing her own child; but neither she nor her women can bring themselves to do it, so the baby is sent to a foster mother, the Princess of Epirus, and Saturn is deceived with the blood of a goat. Jupiter grows up in the court of King Melisseus of Epirus, and is sent as an envoy to conclude a peace with King Lycaon of Pelasgia; but Lycaon has murdered the Epirote hostage and offers his limbs to Jupiter as a cannibalistic banquet. Jupiter deposes Lycaon and the people elect him their King. During the conflict, he encounters Callisto, Lycaon’s daughter, and is attracted to her. She asks him to grant her a boon to prove his love; he promises, but her request is to live a chaste life as a nymph of Diana. She joins Diana, but the nymphs are already paired off, so she must await the next recruit to have a bedfellow. This turns out to be…
Chester's Triumph (St George's Day Entertainment)
Amory, Robert; Davies, Richard · 1610 · Civic Pageant · before the Court;
St George’s colours are hung out by an acrobat. Two savages are terrorized by a dragon, which is later killed. Fame has brought various worthies from Elysium in honour of the day. She invokes Mercury, who descends with a message from the gods: the Mayor’s virtues have won him their favour, as a mark of which Mercury presents him with a gift. Chester announces a sports competition modelled on the Olympic Games. Britain, Cambria, and Rumour deliver orations in praise of the King, the Prince, and St George, and gilt bells are presented to the Mayor. Peace and Plenty proclaim a new golden age, but Envy mounts the stage and tries to disrupt the proceedings, criticizing the actors” performances. Love banishes her to hell and, with Joy, presides over the rest of the day’s festivities. After the sports, Fame, Britain, Cambria, and Rumour present wreaths to the winners, and Chester invites the important guests to a meal.
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 Tempest
Shakespeare, William · 1611 · Comedy · King's Men
Twelve years ago, Prospero, Duke of Milan, was deposed. He devoted himself to his studies, leaving the management of the state to his brother Antonio. Antonio conspired with Alonso, King of Naples: he was installed as Duke in exchange for accepting the suzerainty of Naples over Milan. The people’s love saved Prospero from assassination; he was put to sea with his magic books and his infant daughter Miranda. He arrived on a Mediterranean island once ruled by an Algerian witch, released the spirit Ariel whom she had imprisoned in a tree, and took in her son Caliban as a household servant. Now, Alonso is passing the island when his ship encounters a tempest raised by Ariel, who creates the illusion of a shipwreck. The passengers come to shore in separate groups; Alonso and Ferdinand, father and son, are made to think one another dead. Ariel sees to 1611 it that Ferdinand meets Miranda and falls in love with her; but Prospero, seeking to test his love, makes him carry logs. After Ariel charms Alonso to sleep, Antonio persuades Sebastian to kill him and seize the Neapolitan throne; but Ariel warns the sleeping Gonzalo and the murder is forestalled. Prospero’s spirits serve the group a banquet, which disappears when they attempt to eat it; disguised as a harpy, Ariel reminds them of their treachery to Prospero, identifies this as the cause of their current disaster, and drives them out of their minds. Meanwhile, the butler Stephano has come ashore on a butt of wine. The liquor…
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…
Catiline His Conspiracy
Jonson, Ben · 1611 · Tragedy · King's Men
Piqued at his rejection for a military command, Catiline has assembled a group of ambitious and malcontented men, and plans to take over the Roman state: some ~ are motivated by envy of those in authority, and by the prospect of wealth, power, and the opportunity for unlimited self-indulgence; another, Lentulus, believes that a prophecy has named him as a future ruler of Rome — an interpretation commissioned by Catiline himself. At a clandestine meeting, the conspirators drink blood to mark their commitment to the plot. Meanwhile Aurelia recruits a network of powerful women supporters. Curius visits his mistress Fulvia, whose resistance to his advances provokes a rape attempt. He excites her curiosity and she wheedles details of the conspiracy out of him. Catiline stands in the consular election, but is defeated by Cicero. When Cicero speaks of the need to protect the Roman state, Caesar and Crassus suspect that he may secure his position by manufacturing a threat for himself to overcome; they set the other consul, Antonius, to keep an eye on him, but Cicero turns him by bribery. Upset that Sempronia has been given pre-eminence in the conspiracy, Fulvia leaks to Cicero what she knows about it; Cicero confronts Curius with the information and recruits him as a double agent inside the plot. The conspirators plan to burn the city, having first assassinated Cicero; the plot is secretly backed by Crassus and Caesar. Curius sends Fulvia to warn Cicero of the attempt on his life,…
The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse
Dekker, Thomas; Middleton, Thomas · 1611 · Comedy · Prince Henry's Men · Fortune;Outdoor Professional
Sebastian Wengrave was contracted to marry Mary Fitzallard until his father, dissatisfied with the dowry, cancelled the arrangement; Sebastian plans to reverse 1611 his father’s decision by pretending infatuation with Moll Cutpurse. Sir Alexander employs Trapdoor to enter Moll’s service as a spy and agent provocateur. Trapdoor forewarns Sir Alexander of an assignation between Sebastian and Moll, and they plot to entrap her in.a false charge of theft. In fact, Moll uses the meeting to bring Sebastian together with Mary. Sir Alexander eavesdrops on them and gives Moll counterfeit coins. Moll recognizes Trapdoor as a spy and sacks him. He turns to begging, posing as an discharged soldier, but she sees through his disguise and buys his true allegiance. Sir Alexander hears that Sebastian has absconded with Moll to get married, but is stymied when Trapdoor brings him additional, contradictory (and false) information about their movements. This enables Sebastian to carry out his clandestine marriage with Mary unmolested. Relieved that his son has not married into the criminal classes after all, Sir Alexander settles lands on the couple and forgives Moll. In the second plot, Laxton and Goshawk are having adulterous affairs with the citizen wives, Mistress Gallipot and Mistress Openwork. Laxton also has a date with Moll, but changes his mind about it when she turns up cross-dressed. He sends Mistress Gallipot a love-letter and asks her for money. Gallipot catches her reading it, and…
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…
If It Be Not Good, the Devil Is in It (If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil Is in It)
Dekker, Thomas · 1611 · Comedy · Queen Anne's Men · Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
Hell has a population problem: so few new souls are arriving that Charon’s earnings are in decline, but Pluto is reluctant to allow him to raise his fare lest the new price should prove a deterrent. Instead, he sends devils to Naples in human disguise to tempt people into sin in the court, the abbey, and the city. They are later to rendezvous in a grove to report their progress. Ruffman goes to court, assuming the identity of the foreign courtier Bohor. The newly crowned King of ===== PAGE 144 ===== Is In It Naples, Alfonso, intends to be a just and godly ruler, and plans out his week to devote each day toa different state task. Bohor persuades him to spend more time on pleasure and less on duty, so Saturday is designated a day of hedonism. Alfonso proclaims a reward for whoever entertains him best, and Bohor wins with a display of airborne fireballs. Alfonso’s devotion to pleasure starts to extend beyond Saturdays, and he neglects his state duties. He also breaks off his engagement with Princess Ermenhild, who retires to a convent and lets it be known that she is dead. Shackle-Soul becomes Friar Rush, a novice in the abbey. On learning that the friars eat frugally, he tempts them to gluttony and is appointed the abbey cook. Only Clement, the Sub-Prior, dissents, and Rush identifies him as an enemy who will have to be dealt with. He also makes an enemy of Scumbroth, his predecessor as cook, when he lays an untrue accusation of unchastity. Obtaining gold from a spirit, he…
The Valiant Welshman (Caradoc the Great)
A., R. · 1612 · History · Prince Henry's Men
The Earl of. Monmouth seeks to usurp old King Octavian’s throne, and has won two significant victories over him. Cadallan and his sons come to support Octavian. Cadallan is killed in the ensuing battle, but his son Caradoc avenges him by killing Monmouth. Re-established on the throne, Octavian rewards Caradoc with marriage to his daughter and heir, Guinevere. This displeases his bastard son, Codigune, who had regarded Guinevere as his only obstacle to the succession. King Guiderius has failed to pay tribute to the Romans, so the Emperor Claudius invades Britain. Guiderius appeals to Octavian, and Caradoc is sent, fresh from his wedding, to offer military aid. In his absence, Codigune conspires with Gloucester and Cornwall: they poison Octavian and imprison Guinevere, and Codigune seizes power. Gloucester writes warning Guiderius not to trust Caradoc, so Guiderius, about to go into battle, orders the Welsh troops to observe from a hilltop and intervene only ifa British defeat seems likely. Caradoc disregards this, joins the battle in disguise, and bests Claudius in hand- to-hand combat; he refuses Claudius’ offer to buy his freedom, but accepts a token of the Emperor’s friendship, a golden lion. Prince Gald is impressed by Caradoc’s single-handed contribution to the British victory, accompanies him back to Wales, and marries his sister Voada. Finding Codigune installed as King of Wales, Caradoc offers to settle matters in single combat. Codigune is beaten, refuses an offer to…
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 Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn (Wedding Masque of Olympian Knights)
Beaumont, Francis · 1613 · Masque · before the Court;Whitehall;
Jove and Juno each send a messenger to honour the marriage of two rivers. The messengers, Iris and Mercury, quarrel, and try to outdo one another with antimasque dances, culminating in a rustic May-game- Mercury also brings Jove’s message to the effect that_ the Olympic Games, which have long been in abeyances- are to be revived in honour of the wedding. Masquer knights gather at Jove’s altar in readiness. Dancing: ensues, until they are summoned by music to” participate in the games. :
Cynthia's Revenge, or Maenander's Ecstasy
Stephens, John · 1613 · Tragedy
PLOT The King of Sparta has decreed that henceforth only women need to worship Cynthia, goddess of change; men are to be exempt. Cynthia takes revenge. The King dies, but his son Menander begins his reign by confirming the edict and marrying Favorina, daughter of a senior counsellor. Malindo plots with Cassius, Governor of Epirus, to murder Menander and the peers as they watch a play, but Malindo’s letter falls into the hands of the playwright Perillus, who writes a special prologue to warn Menander. Malindo is beheaded, the Spartan army mobilized, and Cassius repelled. Malindo’s estate is given to Amilcar, son of the new favourite, Pheudippe, who is himself allowed to marry Lucilla, Menander’s sister. Reading Lucan tempts Pheudippe to aspire to be King, and these thoughts are reinforced by the invisible influence of Malindo’s ghost. Against his better judgement, Pheudippe confides in Lucilla, encouraging her jealousy that Favorina has supplanted her as the top woman at court. Their plan has three heads: Pheudippe will corrupt Laelio, Captain of the Guard, to assassinate Menander; Amilcar will kill Favorina; and they will secure control of the corn supply in order to starve the people into submission. Amilcar has his own agenda, however. He is sexually attracted to Favorina, tells her about the plot in confidence, and invites her to help him circumvent it: he will abduct her with her assistance and procure someone to confess to her murder and implicate Lucilla; once Lucilla…
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 Hector of Germany, or The Palsgrave, Prime Elector
Smith, William (?) · 1614 · Pseudo-History · Red Bull;Curtain;Outdoor Professional
. Defeated in his attempt to seize power in Spain, Henry the Bastard attempts to get himself elected Holy Roman Emperor; he secures the support of three of the seven Electors, promising that Saxony will be the power behind his throne. But the other Electors, including the sickly Palsgrave, prefer the Duke of Savoy’s candidature, so the Bastard uses force: he defeats the opposing Electors in battle, imprisons two of them, and has himself crowned, then breaks his word and excludes Saxony from power. News of the ===== PAGE 311 ===== 1613 usurpation cures the Palsgrave, who prepares to mobilize an army. Spain is the theatre of war for their first confrontation. The Palsgrave is victorious, and the Bastard is captured, but rescued by Saxony. The warring potentates seek alliances against one another: the Palsgrave goes to England, the Bastard to France. The Palsgrave competes in an English tournament and is installed in the Order of the Garter. King John of France is reluctant to fight the English again (they have too good a track record of victory in France), and hopes to use diplomacy to secure Edward III’s neutrality. Refused the chance to conduct the mission, Saxony goes to England in disguise, but is identified by the Palsgrave, who dishonours him by pulling off a lock of his hair. Diplomacy fails, and Edward and the Palsgrave invade France, dispatching troops to free the imprisoned Electors. The Palsgrave defeats and kills Saxony in single combat. King John withdraws his…
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…
Sicelides (The Sicilians)
Fletcher, Phineas · 1615 · Pastoral · at University;
A year before the start of the action, Olinda rejected the love of Thalander, a friend of her brother Perindus. Thalander pined away, but sent Atyches to her with a final message and gift. Since then, Atyches has wooed her with equal lack of success. Now an enchanter has framed her for the crime of picking fruit from Neptune’s tree, and she is to be sacrificed to a sea-monster, the Orca, unless a champion comes forward to fight it on her behalf. Atyches does so, and kills the monster. In accordance with custom, she is - obliged to marry him. Atyches reveals to Perindus that he is really Thalander in disguise. Perindus once loved Glaucilla, but now refuses her after an oracle foretold trouble associated with both his and Olinda’s marriages: Olinda would die when married, and either Perindus or his bride would be cast from a rock. Cosma has come from the city to the seaside, where she attracts a number of lovers, including the foolish Pas, the ancient Fredocaldo, and the local Cyclops Rimbombo. She in turn is interested in Perindus, who does not reciprocate. She gives Glaucilla a medicine to cure the pangs of love, which Glaucilla gives to Olinda, who is secretly grieving for Thalander’s death; the medicine is poisoned, and Olinda dies. Glaucilla is condemned to be thrown from a rock for the murder. The long-lost father of Perindus and Olinda returns home to learn that his daughter is dead. Moreover, Perindus chooses to sacrifice his own life to save Glaucilla’s, and is thrown…
Work for Cutlers (Sword, Rapier, and Dagger)
Anonymous · 1615 · Academic Entertainment · at University;
Sword quarrels with Rapier. Dagger intervenes in an effort to stop them fighting one another, and threatens to call in the cutler to deal with them. The two weapons boast of one another’s martial prowess, and comment on the soldiership of other weapons they know. When the quarrel threatens to erupt again, Dagger reminds them that duelling is now illegal, and offers his services as an arbitrator. He allows each of them their own distinctive sphere of influence: Sword will hold sway in the army camp and Rapier in the court. With this agreed, the weapons go off for a drink at the Dagger inn.
Orestes
Goffe, Thomas · 1617 · Tragedy · at University;
Agamemnon returns home after ten years of war. When he takes his neglected wife Clytemnestra to bed, she and her lover Aegisthus murder him. Roused by bad dreams, his son Orestes finds the body in bed. Feigning innocence, Clytemnestra curses the murderer, while the surviving Trojan glories in the death of the enemy commander: Troy is avenged. Recognizing that he is in danger, Orestes goes into hiding with Pylades until the murderer is identified, and sends a report that, unhinged with grief, he threw himself off a cliff into the sea, and that Pylades also went over trying to stop him. Aegisthus, the next in line, ascends the throne and marries Clytemnestra. She bears him a son, establishing his dynasty, and in celebration he proclaims a general pardon for all crimes. Orestes and Pylades consult the witch Canidia, who shows them a vision of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus committing the murder. They return to court in disguise. Their plotting is overheard by Misander, and they kill him to preserve secrecy, but are immediately arrested. In judging the case, Aegisthus faces two problems: the crime is covered by the general pardon, and each defendant, seeking to save the other, claims that he alone was the murderer. Aegisthus decides not to pass a death sentence on either, and is further impressed when Pylades introduces Orestes as a doctor who has perfected the secret of rejuvenation. Aegisthus asks for a demonstration, using himself and Clytemnestra as the subjects. Agamemnon’s…
Hans Beer-Pot (See Me and See Me Not)
Belchier, Dabridgcourt · 1618 · Comedy
Hans is sent to town to sell corn for his master, Cornelius; his mistress, Hanneke, gives him money to give to her younger son, a student, anda shilling on top for beer-money. Cornelius suspects that Hans is cheating him, and follows him to town. There he finds his son and son-in-law drinking with Hans at a tavern; they have been losing bets with Sergeant Goodfellow about his linguistic ability, and discussing the relative merits of infantry and cavalry (with extensive reference to Turkish history). Hans sneaks away, thinking he has not been spotted; but in fact he has. The town characters go to the country as Cornelius’ guests at Christmas dinner. There they discuss the decline in public respect for soldiers, making extensive reference to the great military men of the Elizabethan era, including some with whom Cornelius served in his younger days.
The Courageous Turk, or Amurath the First
Goffe, Thomas · 1619 · Tragedy · at University;
Amurath the Turk is diverted from his programme of European conquest when, having subdued Greece, he falls in love with a Greek concubine, Eumorphe, and marries her. He asks his tutor Lala-Schahin to furnish a wedding masque about the classical gods’ amours; Lala-Schahin does so, but appends a second masque in which Fame extols the military glory of dead heroes. His objective is to turn Amurath back to martial pursuits, since there is no need for him to marry: he has already produced enough heirs. Amurath is troubled, but also melancholy at the limitations his royal status imposes on his love-life. Schahin dresses up as the ghost of Amurath’s father and, as he goes to his marriage bed, rebukes him for squandering his imperial legacy. Amurath beheads Eumorphe in her sleep and plans to attack Europe again. There is discord in the Christian ranks, and the Turks are victorious: many Christians are slain. The prisoners of war are recruited to Amurath’s service as an elite bodyguard of janissaries. Amurath negotiates a marriage treaty between his son Bajazeth and the daughter of the King of Phrygia; this secures him further territorial control in Asia Minor. Amurath breaks off his European campaign to suppress a rebellion by his son-in-law Aladin. He invades Caramania and burns its cities; Aladin is routed, but uses his wife and children to secure Amurath’s pardon. Amurath turns his attention back to Serbia, and appoints Aladin to lead one wing of the army. A series of portents…
The Fatal Dowry
Field, Nathan; Massinger, Philip · 1619 · Tragedy · King's Men · Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
. Before the start of the action, the Marshal Charolais bankrupted himself to pay the army, and died in a debtors’ prison. Now his creditors seek to detain his body, preventing it from being buried. His son appeals in the courts, but the measure is pronounced legal; however, the creditors accept Young Charolais’s offer to be imprisoned himself, and the funeral takes place. Being poor, Charolais has no hope of ever being released, but Rochfort pays the debt and, in return, asks that Charolais marry his daughter Beaumelle. Before the marriage, Young Novall paid Beaumelle’s waiting-woman Bellapert to help him seduce her. Despite now being Charolais’s wife, Beaumelle proves receptive to his continued courting, but their meeting is witnessed by Charolais’s friend Romont. He intervenes and sends Novall packing, much to Beaumelle’s displeasure, then accuses her, first to Rochfort and then to her husband, but neither will believe him. Finally he confronts Novali and forces him at gunpoint to sign a confession and undertake never to see or contact Beaumelle again. Novall does not keep his word: Charolais catches him with Beaumelle and kills him. He then presents his wife to her father as the accused in an adultery trial. As a judge, Rochfort is obliged to condemn her to death, a sentence Charolais readily carries out; but as a father, he takes her part and accuses Charolais of ingratitude. The young man is arrested and tried for Novall’s murder. He admits the killing, but pleads that…
The Devil's Law Case (When Women Go to Law the Devil Is Full of Business)
Webster, John · 1619 · Tragicomedy · Queen Anne's Men
Contarino, who has been wooing Jolenta, asks her family’s permission to marry her, but her widowed mother Leonora misunderstands his oblique request and thinks she is herself the object of his interest. Meanwhile Jolenta’s brother, Romelio, would prefer her to marry Ercole; but she refuses him and Ercole takes offence. Contarino fights a duel with Ercole, and they wound one another. The bodies are sent to a 1618 monastery. Ercole recovers and decides to forgo his interest in Jolenta to Contarino, should he too survive. Concerned that he should not, Romelio visits the monastery disguised as a Jewish physician, and stabs Contarino’s body. He is seen by two surgeons, who plan to blackmail him; but ironically the stab clears Contarino’s wound and facilitates his recovery. Romelio’s financial situation is perilous: he has lost his mercantile carracks of spice. Contarino has named Jolenta his heir; Romelio plans to make her Ercole’s too, by fabricating the story that she is pregnant by him. Romelio himself will supply the eventual baby: he has got a nun, Angiolella, with child, and wants both to cover this up and ensure that his issue will inherit both suitors’ property. Jolenta, however, claims that she really is pregnant, by Contarino; so Romelio proposes that she should produce twins. Knowing of Leonora’s interest in Contarino, he fosters jealousy between mother and daughter. The Spanish judge Crispiano comes to Naples in disguise with three objectives: to observe his son’s…
Nero (Piso's Conspiracy)
Anonymous · 1619 · Tragedy · Unknown
The Emperor Nero celebrates his latest triumph : not a military victory, but success in a singing and acting competition against the Greeks; he also has one of his critics executed. He gives a performance in the role of Orestes; the theatre is guarded so that the audience cannot escape, and those who do not respond with due enthusiasm are marked down for execution. Deciding that he has treated Rome too lenien:tly, he has the city burned down . The wind blows the fire back towards the palace, and his own possessions are destroyed. . Antonius loves _ the Empress Poppaea, despite Petronius' efforts to persuade him to settle for someone of lower rank. Poppaea refuses Antonius, preferring Nymphidius, who has cultivated her affections as a means to make himself Emperor. Scaevinus broaches --a conspiracy to assassinate Nero, thinking it demeaning to have _an Emperor so dedicated to artistic pursuits. Piso is recruited, and the plotters discuss the best way to assassinate Nero; but they are overheard by the freedman Milichus, who reports them to Nero. Piso commits suicide; other conspirators are arrested, and Nero institutes a purge of their sympathizers. Petronius is arrested and executed simply because Tigellinus has -a score to settle with him. A young man is executed merely for pitying Piso's death; Poppaea tries to save him because he resembles a former lover of hers, so Nero kicks her to death in a rage. News arrives from France that Vindex has revolted and chosen · Galba as…
All's Lost by Lust
Rowley, William · 1619 · Tragedy · Prince Charles's Men (first) · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Spain is threatened by an invasion of Moors, but an ancient curse prevents King Roderick from opening his treasury to pay his troops. Julianus is appointed general and goes to the war. Roderick’s intention is to get Julianus out of the way while he attempts to seduce Jacinta, his daughter; Lothario engages a professional bawd to help. Jacinta resists Roderick’s advances, so he rapes her. She is then imprisoned in Lothario’s custody, but she escapes while he is asleep. Meanwhile, Antonio is in love with the base-born Margaretta, and procures her family’s consent to marry her before he leaves for the war. At the front, the Moors are reluctant to give battle, and seem undermanned. Antonio is attracted to Dionysia, the Castellan’s pugnacious daughter, and she encourages his advances. Lazarello advises him to keep quiet about his existing marriage, and pay Margaretta off. Margaretta learns that Antonio has married Dionysia bigamously, and sends her brother to the wars with a letter for him. Antonio is in a dilemma: he loves both women. Lazarello proposes that he should take Antonio’s place at the consummation of his marriage with Margaretta: she will mistake him for Antonio in the dark, and afterwards will be too ashamed to claim her husband. The plan is successful only to the extent that Lazarello is taken to be Antonio by the vindictive Margaretta: she strangles him in his bed. Julianus returns from war victorious, but Roderick orders him to stay away from court, and demands…
The World Tossed at Tennis
Middleton, Thomas; Rowley, William · 1620 · Masque · Prince Charles's Men (first)
The royal palaces of Richmond and St James now have a rival, Denmark House. Richmond is afraid that the newcomer will take all Prince Charles’s attention, leaving them neglected; but Denmark House assures them that each is suitable for a particular season (herself for winter, St James’s for spring, and Richmond for summer), and that the Prince will rotate among them equally. An unemployed scholar and an unemployed soldier consider their options. Their patroness Pallas descends, argues that the complete man combines both their professions, art and arms together, and invokes Jupiter's help. Jupiter presents the Muses and the Nine 1620 Worthies as an illustration of the virtue of former times. Time weeps at the encroaching vice of the present; he finds himself continually abused and hated. Deceit and pride have damaged the world in its latter days, and Jupiter summons the five coloured starches as illustrations of the absurdity of modern fashion. White Starch claims precedence over the others, but Yellow wins acclaim. Simplicity arrives to see what has become of the world (represented on stage by a globe), and is not reassured by his observations. Deceit wants to cozen him of the world, Simplicity to protect it from Deceit’s bad influence. Deceit successively gains the confidence of a series of men with worldly power: a king, a land- captain, a sea-captain, a flamen, and a lawyer. Each in turn is persuaded that the world should belong to him: the King takes it from Simplicity,…
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 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.…
The Maid of Honor
Massinger, Philip · 1621 · Tragicomedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Before the start of the action, Aurelia, Duchess of Siena, refused a marriage proposal by Ferdinand, Duke of Urbino. In reprisal, Ferdinand attacked Siena, conquered it, but then found himself trapped inside the city by the regrouped Sienese troops. To raise the siege, he invokes a defensive treaty with Sicily, but King Roberto refuses to honour it because Ferdinand was the aggressor and has brought his troubles on himself. However, he allows his bastard half-brother Bertoldo to go to war with a volunteer army. The court favourite Fulgentio takes advantage of Bertoldu: absence to woo his fiancée, Camiola. But she misses Bertoldo and refuses Fulgentio; his mpaste 1s to produce Roberto’s ring and make it a reval order that she accept him. She wishes Bertoldo were present to defend her honour: another suitor. Adurni. steps in. fights a duel, and wounds Fulgentio, which gets him into trouble with the King. Far trom raising the siege. Bertolde is routed by Gonzaga, Aurelia’s general. Both men are kKrughts «1 Malta, and Gonzaga is affronted to find Bertalds: unmindtul of chivalry as to be leading an ara searnst a lady’s interests. Roberta seuds Astutio te ransens: the Sicilian prisoners of war, but Bertoldo from the payment of his ransam by any private cen © aiid, expressly crcbeudhe + a ' torbnds ihe arrangement and ignores the order and sends Adurnt Go pay the ratsern Bertoldy is released. abligation to marry Camtola: bat Aurelia asks 1) him, falls in love with huni. arranges a…
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…
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…
Rule a Wife and Have a Wife
Fletcher, John · 1624 · Comedy · King's Men
Perez, gathering his troops in preparation for an expedition to Flanders, is visited by the veiled Estefania. She piques his interest by refusing to show her face; on their second meeting, he woos her, hastily marries her, abandons his military career, and moves into what she claims to be her house, bringing with him what he claims to be a trunk of jewels. In fact the house belongs to Margarita; Estefania is no lady but a former servant. Margarita intends to marry, but when her older confidantes remind her of the joys of promiscuity, she decides on a husband who will be content to be cuckolded. Her waiting-woman Altea recommends Leon, who has just evaded military recruitment by feigning folly, and who agrees to be his wife’s subordinate in the marriage, no better than her household servants. The newlyweds arrive unexpectedly at Margarita’s city house, surprising Estefania and her husband. Estefania claims that she has lent the house to Margarita (whom she claims as a kinswoman), to facilitate the cozening of a lover. Perez moves temporarily into lodgings, whereupon Estefania steals the contents of his trunk. She later discovers the jewels to be counterfeit, and gets her own back by encouraging Perez to take possession of ‘his’ house; when he attempts to do so, he is rebuffed by Leon. She presents the jewels to the rich tradesman Cacafuego, persuading him that they are a love-gift from Margarita. In return, he gives her money which she hands over to Perez: evidently she has…
The Unnatural Combat
Massinger, Philip · 1624 · Tragedy · King's Men · Globe;Outdoor Professional
Malefort Junior, son of the Admiral, has committed treason by allying himself with pirates and threatening the ruin of Marseilles. The Admiral is suspected of complicity and imprisoned. Theocrine, his daughter, reluctantly offers herself to Beaufort Junior, son of the Governor of Marseilles, if he will only persuade his father to allow hers a hearing. Beaufort Senior can refuse his son nothing, so the Admiral gets his opportunity to protest his innocence. Malefort Junior ‘challenges his father to a duel over a wrongdoing which he will not specify. The Admiral refuses to be held accountable by his son, and accepts the challenge. Malefort Junior is killed: the threat to Marseilles is over, and Admiral Malefort is lauded a hero. Malefort suggests that Theocrine should marry Beaufort Junior; Beaufort Senior half-heartedly agrees and invites them to a nuptial feast. The Governor's table is open to any former soldier who needs a free ~ meal, a custom regularly invoked by Belgarde, who is unemployed in peacetime and angry at being denied - his -back pay. Fearing embarrassment at the feast, Beaufort Senior has his steward discourage Belyarde with the suggestion that he is underdressed for the ===== PAGE 200 ===== occasion; but the upshot is that Belgarde turns up in a suit of armour and declares his worthiness. His plain- speaking wins him respect and a gift of money from the Governor. He spends it all on new clothes, but the signs of prosperity attract his creditors, and he is…
A Game at Chess
Middleton, Thomas · 1624 · Comedy · King's Men · Globe;Outdoor Professional
Ignatius Loyola returns to Earth to find that the Jesuits do not yet rule the world — which serves them right for ===== PAGE 93 ===== 1624 having taken so long to canonize him. Error shows him a vision of a chess game between the forces of Catholicism (the Black house) and Protestantism (the White house). The White Queen’s Pawn has broken off her engagement to the White Bishop’s Pawn after the latter was castrated by the Black Knight’s Pawn. Now the Black Queen’s and Bishop’s Pawns attempt to seduce her, in both religious and sexual terms; the Black King also hopes to use her as a way of getting at the White Queen, both to satisfy his lust and as part of the Black house’s scheme for world domination. In the event, however, she rejects the advances of the Black Bishop’s Pawn and he attempts to rape her, but is interrupted. The discovery of his hypocrisy provides ammunition for the White cause. However, the victim loses credence when the Black Knight produces forged documents purporting to show that the Black Bishop’s Pawn was not in the country at the time of the incident. The White King allows the Black house to determine her punishment, but the Black Knight's stratagem is exposed and the pawn vindicated. The Black Knight takes the White King’s Pawn, who turns out to be an agent of Black anyway; he expects to be made a cardinal, but the Black Knight double-crosses him and he ends up in the bag. The Black Queen’s Pawn pretends sympathy for her White opposite number, and tries…
Monuments of Honor
Webster, John · 1624 · Civic Pageant
When the incoming Lord Mayor of London embarks on his barge by the Three Cranes tavern, Oceanus and Thetis arrive by water with London’s two rivers and a group of English seamen, representing England's maritime power; after establishing that they are in London, not Venice, they wish the new Lord Mayor well. At St Paul’s Churchyard, the Temple of Honour awaits with figures representing Troynovant (London), five eminent cities, five major English scholar-poets by whom honour is celebrated and who preserve the memories of both men and cities, and two figures from the history of the Merchant Taylors’ Company. At the next stop, the Lord Mayor witnesses a pageant of kings and distinguished Merchant Taylors, with iconography appropriate to the company. Learning describes how a Merchant Taylor Mayor, Sir Thomas White, founded an Oxford college. The last pageant car bears a visual tribute to the dead Prince Henry, which is reinforced by the final speech from Amadeus le Grand, who also commends integrity to the Lord Mayor.
Fuimus Troes (The True Trojans)
Fisher, Jasper · 1625 · History · at University;
The Romans have invaded Gaul. Caesar reaches the northern shore and thinks himself at the edge of the world, until he sees the white cliffs across the Channel: a new land to conquer. To justify a war, he sends Volusenus to make an offer of peace, expecting the Britons to refuse; Volusenus will also spy out the country in preparation for the Roman assault. News of the Roman invasion plans reaches King Cassibelan, who mobilizes his troops and allies. When Volusenus presents the terms, which require the Britons to pay tribute and send hostages, Cassibelan is advised to reject them, and does. Commius the Gaul makes a last effort to encourage him to come to terms, but is imprisoned for his pains. Caesar invades Britain, but sustains heavy casualties trying to get his troops ashore. Duke Nennius defeats Caesar in the battle, but is killed by Caesar’s poisoned sword. The celebration of the British victory is offset by Nennius’ state funeral. Cassibelan came to power by murdering a previous king and depriving his son Mandubrace of his throne. Seeking revenge, Mandubrace allies himself with Caesar, who agrees to launch a second attack on Britain. Against advice, Cassibelan decides to allow the Romans to land and face them in an inland battle. A storm wrecks forty of Caesar’s ships, and initially the Briton army has the upper hand. The tide turns after many of the British petty kingdoms switch their allegiance to Mandubrace, and Cassibelan realizes that the island will be conquered.…
The Vow Breaker, or The Fair Maid of Clifton
Sampson, William · 1625 · Tragedy
Though Young Bateman is betrothed to Anne Boot and loved by her, her father reneges on the ===== PAGE 347 ===== 1628 arrangement. Meanwhile, war looms: England enters an alliance with a federation of Scottish lords hostile to the French Queen Regent of Scotland, and troops are being recruited to march north. Bateman joins up, hoping that his absence will make Old Boot’s heart grow fonder, and Anne vows to love only him; but her father puts pressure on her to marry German, and, seduced by his wealth, she agrees. The French are vanquished, and Bateman distinguishes himself in battle; but he is troubled by dreams about Anne, and returns home on the day of her wedding, just missing the ceremony. German goes away on a long business trip, leaving Anne in her father’s house. Old Bateman sues Boot for breach of the pre-contract; Young Bateman hangs himself outside Anne’s door, and his ghost haunts Anne, invisible to the rest of her family. Anne gives birth to a baby girl. While the women around her sleep, she sees the ghost and runs out of the house; following her footsteps in the snow, the household find her drowned in the river. The two bereaved fathers, Boot and Bateman, commiserate together. In Scotland, Sir Gervase Clifton insults the Queen Regent by drawing an unfavourable comparison with Queen Elizabeth, and captures Martigues in a single combat, but releases him with honour. Joshua the Puritan intends to hang his cat for Sabbath-breaking - she killed a mouse on Sunday - but…
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 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.…
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 Valiant Scot
W., J. · 1626 · History · Unknown
PLOT Scotland is under English rule. An attempt is made to dispossess Old Wallace of his office and lands; but Old Wallace partially circumvents it by transferring ownership of the land to his son. King Edward plans to make war on France, and appoints Bruce his general. Scotland is left in the charge of Queen Elinor and a panel of commissioners. Young Selby, son of one of the commissioners, abducts Peggy Graham, intending to marry her by force. Wallace intervenes and kills Young Selby in a duel. Commissioner Selby arrests Peggy and threatens her with execution for the murder. Wallace gives himself up, and Peggy is released. His own execution is forestalled when the Queen orders him brought to court for interrogation. He escapes en route, marries Peggy, and becomes a rebel. Friar Gertrid prophesies that he will be victorious until betrayed by his own blood. The English capture Peggy, Gertrid, and Old Wallace, and Selby has them killed. King Edward sends Wallace an ultimatum: if he will surrender and beg for mercy, he may be spared. Wallace sends an alternative ultimatum back: if Edward will admit himself to be a tyrant, he may be spared. Upon discovering that one of the ambassadors, the Queen’s nephew, has no diplomatic accreditation, he puts the young man to death. He then cuts out an ambassador’s tongue and blinds another, and accompanies them back to King Edward disguised as a lame soldier. The English plan to entice Wallace into a trap, and send another messenger to…
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…
The Witty Fair One
Shirley, James · 1628 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
PLOT After a dinner party at his brother Worthy’s house, Sir George Richly goes off to visit his prospective son-in-law Sir Nicholas in the country, leaving his daughter Violetta in Worthy’s care and under the watchful eye of his servant Brains: he is concerned that, as his heir, she should not be the object of unwelcome attentions from gallants. The other dinner guests take a walk in the garden. Aimwell has fallen for Violetta and asks Worthy what his chances are; he gets a frank answer, and resolves to give up his suit, but changes his mind when Violetta’s own words seem to imply that her father’s matrimonial plans for her may not have her full consent. Meanwhile Fowler woos Worthy’s daughter Penelope, but admits in private that he is not in earnest, only practising his skill. Sir George returns home with Sir Nicholas. He proves to be an arrant fool dependent on his opportunistic tutor, who can see that the objective of the marriage is one knight’s desire to control the other’s estate. Aimwell sends a letter to Violetta enclosed in one from Fowler to Penelope. Through a mix-up, Violetta keeps her reply and sends him back his original letter, which he takes as a rebuff. Brains steals the remaining letter from her and sends it to her father, who is outraged and plans to advance the date of the wedding. Violetta’s chambermaid Sensible, sacked by Sir George, tells Aimwell about the mistake with the letters; reassured that she loves him after all, he starts to lay plans.…
Aminta
Reynolds, Henry, trans.; Tasso, Torquato · 1628 · Pastoral
Resenting his mother’s efforts to control his activities and limit them to persons of high estate, Cupid absconds to live as a shepherd and make Silvia fall in love. Silvia was Aminta’s companion in boyhood. Three years ago he declared his love for her, and she has refused to see him ever since. Despite Daphne’s attempts to persuade her that she should take her amorous pleasures while she can, Silvia has no maternal desires: she loves only hunting, and hates Aminta because he loves her. Recognizing that Aminta needs to be more masterful, Daphne and Thyrsis arrange for him to encounter Silvia while she is bathing. But Silvia has another rejected admirer with similar ideas, a Satyr, and when Aminta arrives he finds Silvia stark naked, tied to a tree with her own hair, and about to be raped. He drives the Satyr off, but Silvia is haughtily ungracious and runs away. Daphne restrains Aminta’s suicidal impulses. Silvia borrows some clothes from Nerina and goes hunting. She encounters a wolf and chases it; Nerina follows, loses her, and then sees a wolf-pack licking blood off the ground, with Silvia’s bloodstained veil nearby. When Aminta hears of this, his suicidal impulses are renewed: with the help of Ergastus, he climbs a cliff and throws himself off. Silvia is not really dead — the wolves’ prey was only an animal — but the news of Aminta’s death prompts her to recognize her love for him, and seek to join him in the afterlife. It turns out that he is not dead: he fell into a…
Lodovic Sforza, Duke of Milan
Gomersall, Robert · 1628 · Tragedy
Sforza is ambitious to rule Milan even though primogeniture has passed him by, leaving him as merely the Protector to his nephew, the Duke Galeazzo. He invites the King of France, who covets the throne of Naples, to invade Italy to press his claim by force, relying on French support for his own usurpation of Milan. He then poisons Galeazzo, and attempts to dispose of the two poisoners; but one of them, Vitellio, survives and plans revenge using forged documents which implicate Sforza in the crime. After the coronation, rumours of foul play begin to circulate. Vittellio is caught lurking around Sforza’s bedchamber, intending to murder him, so Sforza has him strangled. Caiazzo plans to murder Isabella, Galeazzo’s widow, as she visits his tomb, but realizes that he could do better for himself by marrying her. She refuses him, but he promises her revenge on Sforza as a mark of his good faith, When she remains resolute, he threatens to ===== PAGE 305 ===== 1628 rape her, but is prevented by Sforza’s arrival. He claims she tried to persuade him to assassinate Sforza, but the Duke takes no reprisals. Sforza is visited by Galeazzo’s ghost, who foretells that he will fall from power and die in prison, Meanwhile, the French take Naples with ease, frustrating Sforza’s exit strategy: he was expecting them to be tied down in a long war, giving him time to co-ordinate Italian forces to expel them. The French King is taken ill at a tennis match and dies. The deposed Neapolitan ruler…
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…
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 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 Muses' Looking Glass
Randolph, Thomas · 1630 · Moral · King's Revels Company
Bird and Mistress Flowerdew, Puritan residents of Blackfriars, bring their wares to the theatre, but are appalled when Roscius tells them they have been ordered for use as props in a filthy stage play. Roscius argues that they themselves make a living from the vice of vanity, and invites them to see the play before they condemn it; he will give them a running commentary on its moral import. Despite Roscius’ high claims, Comedy and Tragedy seem initially more concerned about the order of their precedence; they agree to spend a year in competition, staging examples of their respective genres, and whichever is adjudged the better will thereafter have the theatre to herself. The play is a series of episodes showing specific virtues to be the mean: an excess or a deficiency constitutes a vice. A lack of courtesy makes Dyscolus churlishly ready to pick quarrels, whereas too much of it makes Colax sycophantic, to such an extent that he hangs around for the rest of the play flattering all the other vices. Aphobus is over-confident and Deilus cowardly, afraid of his own shadow: they have respectively too much fortitude and too little. Temperance is the next example, illustrated by Acolastus the epicure and Anaisthetus the ascetic, followed by liberality, missing in Aneleutherus the miser and carried to excess in Asotus the prodigal. The over-ostentatious Banausus, full of extravagant schemes for public works, overdoes magnificence, whereas Microprepes balks at replacing a church…
Holland's Leaguer
Marmion, Shackerley · 1631 · Comedy · Prince Charles's Men (second) · Salisbury Court;Indoor Professional
Six years ago, Faustina’s father sent her abroad to keep her away from her love, Fidelio, and made her swear not to marry for seven years. Now the old man is dead, she has returned to London, known only to Fidelio, but insists on keeping her oath for the last remaining year. Her brother Philautus is in love with himself, which distresses his friends and offends his wife, but gives his servant Ardelio the opportunity to steal from him by conveying away property into storage at an accomplice’s house. Fidelio plans to make him fall in love with Faustina; this will both cure him and test her fidelity. He explains it to Faustina as a plan to humiliate a lord who has cast aspersions on women. Philautus makes advances to Faustina on the assumption that all women are libidinous and enjoy being raped from time to time; but he is impressed by her militant chastity, and accedes to her demand that he prove his honour in battle. He later returns from the wars, cured of narcissism, and asks Faustina’s pardon for his earlier insolence. She identifies herself as his sister, and he gives his blessing to her marriage to Fidelio; so she agrees to abandon her oath before the seven years are out. On learning that Ardelio is a villain, Philautus dismisses him. He goes to collect the stolen goods, only to find that his partner in crime will not acknowledge that the items even exist. The ensuing argument is overheard, and the miscreants are both arrested, In the sub-plot, Agurtes intends to cheat…
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 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…
Rhodon and Iris
Knevet, Ralph · 1631 · Pastoral
: Aiming to sow dissension among the flowers, Poneria and Agnostus disguise themselves as a virtuous maiden and a wise man. Rhodon has recently breken off his suit to Eglantine, and is now expected to marry Iris. His sister Violetta appeals to him for help against the marauding Martagon, who has trampled on her flowers and forced her to live away from her home. Martagon conspires with Eglantine’s brother to forestall Rhodon’s match with Iris. The jilted Eglantine grows melancholy, but Poneria stops her killing herself and gets her to tart herself up for an assignation with Rhodon. It becomes clear that Martagon has no intention of making restitution to Violetta, so Rhodon will have to take him on by force: a floral war seems inevitable. Iris gives Rhodon a gern which makes the wearer victorious in battle; Violetta gives him a lettuce which guarantees sustenance and prevents poisoning. Martagon suborns Poneria to kill Rhodon, so she gives Eglantine a poison, telling her it is a love-philtre. Posing as Iris, Eglantine gives it to him, claiming it to be a restorative, and expects him to fall in love with her. Instead. he falls iJ, but is cured by the vegetable antidote from his sister. _ 2335. Rhodon and Iris | 499 Rhodon challenges. Martagon to single combat, but. he refuses: the full armies will settle it. Realizing that, since Rhodon is alive, Poneria’s plot has miscarried, Martagon orders her out-of his territory, so she goes to Rhodon and tells him. that it was Eglantine,…
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 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…
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…
Love's Riddle
Cowley, Abraham · 1633 · Pastoral
Before the start of the action, Callidora was the victim of an attempted rape when she was alone in her absent parents’ house. Aphron, who was obsessed with her, broke into the house, but she hid in a corner and evaded him. Afraid of a second encounter, she borrowed a suit of her brother’s clothes and fled into the forest. Aphron went mad, and initially believed every woman he met to be Callidora. In the forest, the cross-dressed Callidora becomes ‘Callidorus’. She meets Alupis, a shepherd who sold his inheritance to see the city and came home penniless but with a witty devotion to pleasure. She takes him on as her man, and asks him to teach her indifference to love. She sets up home in the country, only to find that, seeming to be a beautiful youth, she attracts the amorous attentions of the local women, young and old. Palaemon is interested in marrying Hylace, but her father Melarnus refuses the match, thinking him too poor. But Hylace has only been leading him on, more interested in his gifts than himself. Alupis encourages him to turn the tables: she will come to heel if he treats her with masterful disdain; but when this doesn’t bring about her immediate devotion, he loses his nerve and tells her it was all a joke. Alupis decides to recruit her mother, the ancient but amorously inclined Truga, to support Palaemon’s suit. Though infatuated with ‘Callidorus’, Truga transfers her affections to Alupis when he speaks politely to her, and gives him a ring as a lover’s token.…
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…
A Fine Companion
Marmion, Shackerley · 1633 · Comedy · Prince Charles's Men (second) · before the Court;Salisbury Court;Whitehall;Indoor Professional
Aurelio was disinherited after his father perceived him as a rival in love, so the estate passed to his younger brother, Careless. As a result, Littlegood the usurer no longer considers Aurelio an eligible son-in-law; but Valeria, Aurelio’s girlfriend, is determined to stick with him despite the material disadvantages. Careless has capitalized his inheritance by mortgaging the lands to Littlegood; intending to use his wealth to acquire the reputation of being a fine companion, he has taken up with Captain Whibble and his crew of drinkers. Littlegood favours Spruce as a husband for Valeria. Spruce is really only interested in sex, and intends to jilt her afterwards; but her refusal only increases his interest. Aurelio sends Valeria his ring, but she drops it; Spruce finds it and uses it to make Aurelio jealous. Aurelio had planned a ruse whereby Valeria would feign madness, but now he intends to drive her truly mad. Reports of her distress bring him back to his senses: he confronts Spruce and makes him admit that the accusation against her was malicious and mendacious. Dotario, appalled at his nephew Careless’s prodigality, plans to marry and beget an heir so that the young wastrel will not get his hands on a second estate. He woos Littlegood’s younger daughter, Aemilia, who puts him off by describing what a shrewish spendthrift of a wife she would be. She is more interested in Careless, who pays her a drunken visit, but is pressured by her father into giving Dotario a more…
The Opportunity
Shirley, James · 1634 · Comedy · Queen Henrietta Maria's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Arriving in Urbino for the first time, Aurelio is surprised to find the inhabitants greeting him as a long-lost friend. It turns out that he looks identical to Borgia, who had been banished for killing the brother of Ursini, a court favourite. Accepted by Borgia’s father Mercutio, he seizes his opportunity and steps into his alter-ego’s shoes. They are summoned to court, where Ursini, in love with Borgia’s sister Cornelia, has procured a pardon for Borgia in order to gain the family’s favour. Complications arise when Aurelio falls in love with Cornelia himself, while the Duchess falls in love with him and appoints him her secretary. Aurelio decides to keep his options open, maintains his assumed identity, and pursues both ladies, circumventing any suspicion of incest by telling Cornelia that he is acting on Aurelio’s behalf: Aurelio fell for her on seeing her picture, he says, and engaged him to woo her. Other suitors have come to woo the Duchess, including the Duke of Ferrara, posing as his own ambassador; he takes offence at the favours shown to ‘Borgia’. There is a mix-up in the dark: posing as the Duchess, Cornelia tells ‘Borgia’ that she will marry Ferrara; then the Duchess arrives; ‘Borgia’ takes her for Cornelia, and, on hearing she is to marry Ursini, admits his true identity. Having overheard Cornelia’s comments, Ferrara arrives in Urbino in his own person to claim the Duchess as his bride, but she denies ever promising herself to him. Aurelio’s servant Pimponio…
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…
Coelum Britannicum (The British Heaven)
Carew, Thomas · 1634 · Masque · before the Court;Whitehall;
Mercury comes to Britain from a heavenly court whose morals have been reformed through following the example of King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria. He announces that Jove is so ashamed of his former life of sexual incontinence that he has removed from the night sky the stellified memorials of his former girlfriends, and intends to replace them with images of the King and Queen. Mercury is interrupted by Momus, who complains that he never gets to appear in any court masques, and describes critically the newly chaste court of heaven. Mercury conjures down the monsters from the constellations, then Cancer, the highest sign of the zodiac, then the constellations representing vices, and each group dances in turn. At last the sky is emptied. Momus invites applicants to fill the stellar vacancies. Plutus, Poverty, Fortune, and Pleasure all express interest, introduce antimasque dances, and are rejected. Momus leaves to prevent further suitors from entering. Mercury explains that only the King and Queen are worthy to be the new constellations. Britain’s heroic past is celebrated in dance, and the British worthies appear as new stars in the heavens, with the King pre-eminent among them. Allegorical virtues sing their praises, and further dancing ensues.
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 Conspiracy (Pallantus and Eudora)
Killigrew, Henry · 1635 · Tragedy · King's Men
Two foreign princes arrive on Crete after a storm. One is Clearchus, who is finding an excuse to land with a shipful of troops which he intends to use to rescue the Princess Hianthe from a forced marriage to the usurping King’s son, Timeus. The other is Pallantus, whose ship has been wrecked. Afterwards he discovers that this was a lucky escape: Timeus suborned the sailors to kill him. He disguises himself as a soldier and both he and Clearchus fall in with a group of courtiers who are conspiring to restore the rightful King, Cleander, to the throne. (Cleander disappeared in infancy when the present King seized power sixteen years ago, and was wrongly presumed murdered.) Timeus learns of the plot, but open rebellion breaks out before he can do anything about it: Clearchus’ troops storm the city, Hianthe is rescued, and Pallantus kills the usurping King. In the ensuing sack, Pallantus encounters the Princess Eudora, the King’s daughter, and falls in love with her. He later returns to her in his own person, and counters her objections to him as her father’s killer by producing the evidence that Timeus attempted to have him murdered. Meanwhile, Timeus and his associates take refuge in the fort. Pallantus is sent to parley with them, and succeeds in persuading him to abandon villainy and accept Cleander’s mercy. Timeus and Eudora are reunited, and Timeus shows remorse for the attempted murder of Pallantus. Eudora agrees to marry Pallantus, and the dead King is cremated.
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’…
The Royal Slave
Cartwright, William · 1636 · Tragicomedy · King's Men · before the Court;at University;
Five Greeks are taken prisoner by the Persians after a war with Ephesus. According to a local custom, one of these slaves must be given royal power for three days, but then killed as an offering to the sun god. Cratander, who denies the efficacy of human sacrifice, is selected, and has his fellow captives released to serve him at court. Cratander takes his royal responsibilities seriously. The lords fear that he will use his power to harm the state, and offer him the sensual pleasures of kingship, but he refuses to be distracted. Atossa, the Queen, is impressed by his self-control, and gives him a chain, exciting the jealousy of her husband, King Arsamnes. The other Greeks, however, enjoy a bibulous, lascivious good time, and are only prevented from raping Atossa’s women by the chance arrival of Cratander. Fearing further attempts, the women of Sardis take refuge in the castle. Two members of the Ephesian army who are still at liberty take the risk of coming to see Cratander at the palace. They ask him to use his power to send the Persian army back to war, with the intention that they will be massacred by the forewarned Ephesians. Cratander conscientiously refuses, but asks the Ephesian army to rendezvous with him at the castle. His plan is to allow them to be defeated in battle, but have Atossa intervene with her husband to spare them and free Ephesus. The other Greeks plan to ambush Cratander in the woods, disguised as beggars; but he recognizes them and sends them back to…
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…
The Rebellion
Rawlins, Thomas · 1638 · Tragedy · King's Revels Company
Machvile envies Antonio his popularity and also covets the crown. When the French, under Raymond the Moor, lay siege to Seville, Machvile engineers Antonio’s downfall at a council of war: he speaks for a military strategy, Antonio responds with a proposal to make peace, and the city’s Governor accuses Antonio of treason and cowardice; this provokes Antonio into killing the Governor. Antonio flees to his home, where he is appalled to find his sister Evadne kissing the tailor Giovanno. Before he can do more than protest, he is arrested by Machvile, who has succeeded to the governorship; but Giovanno and other tailors rescue him and he goes into hiding among them. Despite Giovanno’s help, Antonio is unable to sanction his love for Evadne, being bound by a deathbed promise to his father only to allow her to marry a nobleman. Machvile’s aggressive strategy is put into effect: the Spanish break out of their besieged city and defeat the French; Giovanno captures Raymond, but Machvile takes charge of the prisoner and banishes the heroic tailor. Planning to seize the Spanish throne, he proposes an alliance with Raymond to divide the country between them, planning all the while to kill the Moor once his object is achieved. Meanwhile the captive Raymond looks for a way to communicate with France and ask for additional troops. Antonio is told in a dream to flee, but is found, arrested, and sentenced to be ground to death in a mill. Aurelia, daughter of the captain of the mill, falls in…
The Lady's Trial
1639 · Comedy · Beeston's Boys · Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Since the customary number of sages is seven (as in Ausonius' Ludus septern sapientum), it is possible that the six masquing sages 1574 were complemented by a seventh in the audience — who else but the Queen? Compare 557.
1 Saint Patrick for Ireland
1640 · Neo-miracle · Ogilby's Men
public office. Araspas argues that reason should be the