ACT TWO
[Enter] OLIVER [and] AMBROSE.n6043
178AmbroseI swear I am serious, and you may believe it.
(Wert thou a fool to credit it) that would keep
A house, by way of public
ordinary,gs1572
For fashionable guests and
curiousgs812 stomachs,
The daintiest palates, with rich wine and
cheer,gg1410
And all for nothing, but
all’s paid and welcome?n6044
So well my
credit,gg4051 that prove you it false
You shall be at this twel’gg4054 month.
Of
all the mockeries,n6045 the ape, the ram, the horns,
The goat, and such
tamegs814 monsters, whom poor wits
Have sent wise tradesmen to, as to a knight,
A lord, or foreign prince, to be his
mercer,gg453
When those that have been mocked still sent their neighbours,n6047
Till half the city have
beenn6048 fool-found.n6049 Ha!
Is’t not some such poor
trick?gs815
Enter VALENTINE.
183OliverOh, Master Bridegroom, that stole the wealthy
match!gs816 How got you loose so soon? I thought you had been
tied up by the loins,gg4056 like a monkey,n6051n6050 to the bed-post, for a fortnight at the least. How does old Bumpsey, that
free-costgg4057 drunkard, thy mad father-in-law, take thy
stol’ngg4058 marriage? I am sure he knows
on’t.gg776
That half until he dies, the rest is mine too.
This morning the
French tailorn6054 brought a gown home,
Of the fashion,n6055 for my wife; he bought one
That never wore so
richgs819 in all her life.
Before thou cam’st.
Now called the
roaringgs821 brotherhood, thirty years since;
Having had
something fallen to him,n6058 as it seems.
200OliverThat Osbright has been dead these many years.
He tells me there’s no
gaming,gg4075 so no cheating,
Nor any other
by-waygg4076 of expense,
I will
unfoldgg4079 the riddle to you. This feasting
Has been but for three days, and for great persons
That are invited and to be prepared
To
venturegg1831 for a prize. This very night
There will be some great
riflinggs826 for some jewel
Or other rare
commoditygs827 they say;
I cannot
namen6060 ’t. ’Tis
twenty pound a man.n6061
But,
hitherto,gg1301 nor dice, nor cards, nor
wenchgs828
Is seen i’th’ house, but his own only daughter.
208OliverOh! Has he daughter there? Mark that, Nam.
No gaming say’st thou?
’Ods me,gs829 and they play not
’Tis above twenty years since he went over,
And was reported dead (they say) soon after,
In France, I take it. But, then, it seems, he lived,
And got this
damselgg4084 there? Is she French-born?
English but
brokenly.gg4085 But for French behaviour
She’s a most complete
demoiselle,gs831 and able
To give instructions to our courtliestgg4087 dames.n6063
Enter VERMIN [and FIRST] SERVANT.n6064
I was as ignorant of the deceit,
As your own innocent
worshipgs776 ever was
Of
cozeninggs832 any man of land or living.
216VerminWas ever man so cursed in his children!
He
undidgg4092 a worthy gentleman I know.
Justly inherit nothing but the gallows.n6067
And, at sixteen, a student here i’th’
Temple.n6068
In which he’s lately travelled into France.
I’ll search the
citygg3452 and the
suburbsgg4097 for her.
[FIRST] SERVANT [exits].
They say you have a daughter you would
match,gs839 sir.
230VerminIt may be I have; it may be not. How then?
What’s that to you?
232VerminPray let me ask you first, if you be not
The
knavesgg4107 confederates that stole her from me?
We heard none ill today, but very good,
As that of the new
ordinary—gs1572
This gentleman had lately with a wife—
It comes from your own mouth, were
e’engs841 too good
For our belief,
methinks.gg3925
That your daughter’s gone, lost, or
stol’n,gg4058 as you say?
That cannot but rejoice at your
affliction,gg2204
And therefore blameless, that desire
to hear it.n6078
Me on these
scorners?gg4111 How my slave
staysgs844 too!
Enter [Sir] AMPHILUS [and] TREBASCO.n6083
Have married Vermin’s daughter.
253TrebascoYou need not, sir, now you
begg4116 determined to marry and live here i’ the city
altogether.gs848 And truly, sir, she could never
ha’gg4039 died better, nor been taken from you (as they say) in a better time, so near her journey’s end.
255AmphilusWas it
well donegg4117 of her, dost think, to die today upon the way, when
shen6091 had been i’ my purse tomorrow in
Smithfield?n6092 Poor
fool,gs849 I think she died
forgs850 grief I would ha’ sold her.
257AmphilusWould I had
taken’tgg4118 now. And she had not died mine own, ’twould ne’er have grieved me.
259AmphilusAnd ’t had not been the first loss that
e’ergg4119 I had in my life, I could ha’ borne it.
261AmphilusI would thou couldst ascertain me that, but mischiefs are
tailedgg4121 to one another, and I must grieve as well
for the what’s to come as the departed.n6096
265Trebasco [To Sir AMPHILUS] You will not talk to ’em.
267TrebascoSir, as it were, because she could go no further.
272TrebascoShoes
all behind?n6102 I thought how wise you were.n6103 [To Sir AMPHILUS] Come away, master.
[To VALENTINE] No, while she lived, she never wore but
twon6104 behind, sir.
275TrebascoHow can I choose, when they do nothing but make a fool of your worship before your worship’s face, and your worship
perceivesgg4126 it not.
276ValentineGood sir, fall from your man to your beast again.
280AmphilusThese were her shoon, gentlemen,n6108 I’ll keep ’em for her sake, that little tit, my little poor
gonhelly,gg4129 that would have carried me on
this little ironn6109 from
Penzancen6110 to
St Columbn6111 on a day. And that’s a
waygs856 would
trygg1932 a
stumbler,gg4130 you’ll say, if you know it.
281Valentine’Tis enough. I know you, Sir Amphilus, and have
fooledgg4131 enough with you.
Adieu;gg4132 my
businessgs806 calls me. Gentlemen, will you meet me tonight at the
ordinary?gs1572[VALENTINE] exit[s].n6112
282OliverYes, and perhaps, be there before you too.
Come, Ambrose—
[OLIVER and AMBROSE exit.]n6113
285AmphilusTrue, we have other
mattersgg4143 to think on. Your first
course,gs859 Trebasco, after we come to our
lodging,gg4144 shall be to
Turnbulln6183 Street, to the cobbler.
289AmphilusAnd know of him what
gamestersgg4146 came to the ponds nowadays, and what good dogs.
291AmphilusAnd ask him – dost thou hear? – if he ha’ not
done awayn6184 his own dog yet, Black Swan with the white foot. If I can but purchase him, and my own whelp prove
right,gs860 I will be
duke of the ducking-pond.n6185
292TrebascoNever
misdoubt,gg4147 your whelp’s right, I
warrantgg859 you, for why, he could
lap before he could well go,n6186 and at ten weeks old he
could piss under leg.n6187
293AmphilusHe was a
finegg4148 forwardgs861 puppy, true enough. But and that be a sign of short life, and he should
peakgg4149 away after my mare now— Here,
prithee,gg262 take her
shoongg4128 again. What should I keep ’em for? They put me too much in mind of
mortality.gg4150 Do ’em away, make money of ’em, and I’ll
convert itn6188 into a dog-collar—
Enter VERMIN [and FIRST] SERVANT.n6189
296AmphilusSee my
aldermanicalgg4152n6192 father-in-law! How d’ye do sir? I am come. I
keep my day,n6193 you see, before I am a
citinergg4153 among you. How does my best beloved, I pray, your daughter? You do not speak, methinks.
297VerminAsk you for my daughter? Let me ask you first what was your plot to put me in this fright, to make me
trudgegg4154 to your inn, whilst
knavegg779 your man here— Is not this he?
300AmphilusThis is
abomination!gs864 What inn? And what old iron? I
came atn6196 no inn today, nor
touch old iron but that with sorrow enough— My poor mare’s shoes;n6197 she left me at her sad decease
ton6198 Brainford. I had rather
ha’gg4039 lost the best part of five
mark,gs865 iwus.gg4155 From whence I came by water, landed here at the Temple,
ton6199 leave a letter
ton6200 a kinsman’s chamber,
now right as sure as can be.n6201 Say,n6202 Trebasco.
304AmphilusAll ill go with her.n6203 Did not I say I should hear of more mischief, and that one was ever
tailedgg4121 to another?
305TrebascoYou said so indeed, but
if she had been tailed to your mare I should have seen her, sure, when I stripped her.n6204
For ever having anything to do
on’t.gs866
Although methinks the day might
servegs867 as well
To find her, as to lose her, if luck serve.
Best
losen6207 no time, sir.
Conjuredgg4162 out of his land.
Here’s money to be got, sir, but to tell us
What may
be now betid ofn6212 this man’s daughter?
Sink unavoidablygg4163 to hell.
Most
deeply read!n6471 May not a son-in-law—
A son-in-law escape in your opinion?
And by his son-in-law, or outlawed, down he must,
If he set
vent’rousgg4290 foot, as his inheritor,
Nor
flygs889 out of the reach of my
fellgg323 curses.
That freedom (being all that thou hast left me)
Thou canst not rob me of.
Then, to confine it and yourself in
Bedlam.gs891
Thine own inheritance for mine.n6473
A purchase
theren6474 too,
father-’lawgg4293 that should be?
Give something to my box.
A little of thy money would so
thrivegs801 here,
’Twouldgg4296 grow,
by thatn6478 I were ready for a husband,
My father is a knight, but
must be nameless.n6479
Nay, prithee, prithee now, gi’ me a tester.
I
ne’ergg2599 ask less: my mother’s a poor gentlewoman
And has no
meansgs377 but what comes
throughgg4297 my fingers,
And this is all my work. Come,
wringgg4298 it out.
Whose
count’nancegs894 shows how
loathgg1201 he is to part with ’t!
It comes so
sweetlygs393 from him, when it comes.
Nay, when? I pray thee, when?
Pish,gg3269 make an end.
I have
allowancegs647 here, as well as any
Panders,gg4306 and
cheatersgg4307 of all sorts, that mix here
’Mongstgg4308 men of honour,
worship,gg2931 lands and money.
[As PHYLLIS speaks,] lawyers and others pass over the stage as conferring two by two.n6486n8768
My work lies plain before me as my way,
With, ‘will you give me’? Pray thee, hard old man.
For this man’s land, or sell another’s
right,gg207
Or else to match thy daughter, if thou hast one
To
this young gentleman—n6487 Thou wilt give me something.
Thy money such an
idolgg4277 as to think
That
match,gs898 or whatsoever thou hast in
traffic,gg4312
By parting with a
sillygs899 silver sixpence.
Thy match shall
thrivegs801 the better. Look, I have got
Here four and sixpence; prithee
make it a crown.gg2902n6489
’Twillgg4315 ne’er be missed in thy dear daughter’s
dowry,gs704
If (as I said) thou hast one.
Thy money out the while.n6490 [To VERMIN] Come, out with it, man.
I
flygs889 thee, as I would the devil that sent thee.
With knowledge of
my wrongs and his oppressionn6497
To take my part. Take thou a blessing
for’t,gg2370
The miseries of a distressèd man,
Not means for one day’s
sustenance,gg5717 for breath
To
crygg4325 thy cruelty before my death!
That law, once called sacred, and
ordainedgg4326
And now be styled
supportressgg4330 of oppression,
Of rape or murder, all the
cryinggg4332 sins
Enter ATTORNEY.
[To ATTORNEY] Thou art a villain, and
crop-earedn6509 I doubt not.
What, darest thou say, thou see’st upon me that—
So
soilgg4338 the face of poverty, which is virtue,
To make it seem that monster
perjury?gg4339
Rather let sorrow
end me all at oncen6514
Than virtue be
misconstruedgg4340 in my looks,
Which I will hide from such
interpretation.gg4341He lies on his face.n6515
Enter FRIENDLY.
I fear, will strike him dead. Yet I must speak.
[To BROOKALL] Sir, give not misery that advantage
onn6516 you
To maken6517 yourself the less by
shrinkinggg4343 under
The buffetingsgg4344 of Fortune.
To
seekgg4345 my son. Ha’ you found him at his
chamber?gg4346
Or has not want of
fatherly suppliesn6519
(Which Heaven knows I am robbed of)
thrustgg4347 him out
Where is he? Have you found him?
But I have found what may be comfort to you,
If you receive it
like a man of courage.n6521
And happilygs915 for a better.n6524 He is happiest
That goes the right way soonest.n6525 Nature sent usn6526
All naked
hither,gg1268 and all the goods we had
And that the best of men are but mere borrowers,
Your
arguments of consolation—n6530
I am the surer
on’t,gg776 for that he lived
Not to learn law enough to—n6531 Hush. No more.
Only, sir, this: if you can
brookgg4350 his absence
375FriendlyHe’s gone to travel, sir. Here comes the gentleman.
Enter VALENTINE.
376Valentine [Aside] I am sure he does not know me. If he could
I were as sure this charity would be rejected,
So much I know his
spirit.gs917 [To BROOKALL] Is your name Brookall, sir?
[To VALENTINE] Good,gs919 do not mock me, sir.
He lives and sent it to you:
forty pieces.n6536n6535
So great a sum? Not in this world, I fear.
Could I ha’gg4039 kept it for him.
Now to a
hopefulgg3892 fortune. A noble gentleman,
Lategs922 gone to travel,
ta’en with good affectionn6538
Towards your son, has
ta’engg2156 him to his care,
And like a father, not a master, keeps him,
383BrookallDo you think the boy did well to send it me, then,
When
’twasgg4357 intended for his master’s honour,
To waivegs406 a master’s meaning so.
Though most
unhappilygg4358 mislaid.
What is the gentleman?n6542 Or
whithergs926 travelled?
If you can
rendergs927 me my son, I’ll thank you.
Yourself for his
advancement,gg830 would you
bar himn6543
Although no beggar poorer, and I fear
I am no father.n6545 For I would not give
My son to gain a province, nor
acceptn6546
This coin to save my life. If he be lost—
Let me look nearer onn6547 you, sir.
He will accept the money. Poverty
I ever saw this face. But I have seen
(Many years since) one that it so resembles,
He was my rival. For, young man, I tell thee
Thou hadst a virtuous,
well-deservinggg4364 mother.
He won her without loss of my
knowngg4365 friendship,
But since her death, you cannot but have heard,
Me, and my family, whored her, and
cast her offn6552
On the appointedgs931 marriage day.
Could
warrantgs932 his ability in combat,
And so is fallen; or thou, not daring stand
Trial in such a cause, by treachery
Hast
cut him off,n6555 and com’st to make thy peace,
Presuminggg4368 on my poverty, with money.
Worse than the
basegs933 attorney’s
projectgs934 this!
Who could escape the law?
Talk not to me of law; law’s not my friend.
I have enough of law.
[To FRIENDLY] Pray
stand you off.n6557
[To VALENTINE] Will you, sir,
furnishgs937 me but with a sword,
And bring me to
fitgs938 ground to end this
difference?gg3297
Will you do so,
and like a gentleman?n6558
[Aside] I must speak in his
phrase—gg4371 [Aloud] and by that honour
A gentleman should keep sacred,
two hoursn6561 hencegs939
I’ll meet you in this place—
Fit ground, as you
propounded,gg4372 where we’ll end
The difference.
No whinnellinggg4373 satisfaction.
Edited by Lucy Munro
n6041
2.1
Video
Act 2 consists of one long scene, set in the Temple Walks, during which a number of important characters and plot-elements are introduced. It begins with Oliver, Ambrose and Valentine discussing the ‘new ordinary’ of the play’s subtitle, which will be introduced on stage in Act 3; Vermin then enters and is taunted about the loss of his daughter, who has run away to avoid being married to Sir Amphilus. Vermin storms off, but returns later when the gallants have gone, only to be accosted by Sir Amphilus and his manservant Trebasco, who have arrived in London in advance of the wedding. They are then joined by Brookall, a gentleman who has been cheated out of his land by Vermin, and the beggar Phyllis. The scene concludes with an exchange between Valentine and Brookall, and Valentine’s reluctant agreement to duel with Brookall, who believes that Valentine is involved with his son’s disappearance from the Temple.
The scene is important in terms of the development of the plot, featuring the first appearances of three important characters: Sir Amphilus, a major comic character; Brookall, whose financial ruin propels much of the plot; and Phyllis, who will play an important role later in the narrative. It is also a key scene in terms of many of the play’s particular preoccupations: nationality and accent; the representation of poverty and its relationship with the law; and an almost symbolist approach to character. It is also typical of Brome’s bravura handling of large-cast scenes, with their ebb and flow of characters exiting and entering, their crescendos and diminuendos, and their subtle (and not so subtle) shifts in tone. In order to examine these aspects of Brome’s dramaturgy, we worked in detail on the section running from just before Vermin’s abrupt exit in the face of the gallants’ mockery [DM 2.1.speeches240-242] to the re-entrance of Valentine to Brookall [DM 2.1.speech375], see this extract
for a run-through of the entire section, and see below for more detailed commentary.
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n6042
2.1
ACT. II. Scene I.
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n6043
[Enter] OLIVER [and] AMBROSE.
Oliver. Ambrose.
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gs810
gullery
usually means deception or trickery (an attempt to gull or trick), but given Ambrose’s reply it may also mean foolishness (‘gull’ also means a foolish person)
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gs811
ass
fool, conceited person (OED n1, 2)
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gs1572
ordinary,
an establishment where meals were provided at a set price; OED notes that in the seventeenth century ‘the more expensive ordinaries were frequented by men of fashion, and the dinner was usually followed by gambling; hence the term was often used as synonymous with “gambling-house”’ (OED n, 11c)
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gs812
curious
particular, fastidious, choosy (OED a, 2)
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gg1410
cheer,
what is provided by way of entertainment: fare, provisions, viands, food (OED n, 6a)
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n6044
all’s paid and welcome?
A conventional phrase in the context of eating and drinking establishments: compare Middleton, Your Five Gallants (Queen’s Revels, c. 1607), in which Goldstone asks ‘what’s to be done, sirs?’ and the Vintner responds, ‘All’s paid, and your worships are welcome, only there’s a goblet missing, gentlemen, and cannot be found about house’ (2.4.351-4). Brome uses this phrase elsewhere, in The Court Beggar, where Raphael, chiding Lady Strangelove for her ‘spirit of scorn’ tells her that she has ‘won the title of the Humorous Lady by’t, and drawn a scorn upon yourself’; she responds, ‘Why then all’s paid and welcome, good Sir Raphael’ [CB 2.1.speeches257-258].
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gs813
truth
truthfulness
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gg4051
credit,
belief, trust
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gg4052
tavern
taverns normally sold wine but not food (as opposed to an ordinary, which primarily sold food), and provided lodging
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gg4053
reckonings
bills
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gg4054
twel’
twelve
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n6045
all the mockeries,
Oliver seems to refer to practical jokes paid on tradesmen, when the ‘clients’ to whom they are sent turn out to be merely domestic animals.
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gs814
tame
domestic, domesticated; familiar; insipid
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gg453
mercer,
a person who deals in textiles, especially silks, velvets, etc.
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n6046
as to a knight, A lord, or foreign prince, to be his mercer, His tailor, sempster, milliner, or barber,
i.e. the tradesmen are sent to knights, lords and princes, and believe that they will be employed by them.
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gg452
sempster,
a person whose occupation is sewing
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gg931
milliner,
seller of fancy goods and apparel, particularly hats
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n6047
When those that have been mocked still sent their neighbours,
i.e. even the tradesmen who have made these fruitless errands encourage their neighbours to do the same thing.
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n6048
been
] bee
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n6049
fool-found.
discovered to be idiots
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gs815
trick?
hoax, practical joke (OED n, 2a)
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gg4055
author.
authority, informant
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gs816
match!
advantageous marriage partner
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n6050
tied up by the loins, like a monkey,
i.e. kept occupied with sex.
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gg4056
loins,
the parts of the human body between the lower ribs and the hip-bones; also used to refer to the genital area and the parts of the body immediately above and below it, as in ‘loin-cloth’
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n6051
like a monkey,
Pet monkeys were kept from wandering by means of a leash around their waists; see Anthony van Dyck’s portrait of Henrietta Maria with Jeffrey Hudson (1633; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC: Samuel H. Kress Collection). Monkeys were also often associated with lust, making the reference particularly appropriate here.
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gg4057
free-cost
free, gratuitous (OED a, B): Oliver suggests that Bumpsey only gets drunk when he is getting his alcohol for free
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gg4058
stol’n
stolen
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gg776
on’t.
of it
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n6052
i’th’ nick,
That is: (1) at the crucial moment; (2) when we were engaged in sexual activity.
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gg4059
nick,
a slang term for the female genitals (OED n1, 2d; Williams, 2: 947)
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gs817
pieced
united, in agreement (with sexual innuendo: ‘piece’ can refer to the genitals, or to a person, usually a woman, in a sexual context); ‘peased’ means ‘reconciled’ (OED pease v, 1a), and either spelling might be used here
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gg4060
wrangled
disputed, argued
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gg4061
of
by
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gg4062
singular
unique; remarkable; strange
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gs818
humour.
temperament, disposition
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gg4063
gi’n
given
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gs800
t’other,
the other (of two) (OED A. 1)
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gg4064
covenant.
(n) a mutual agreement: (the) bargain
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n6053
runs at waste
squanders his money
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n6054
French tailor
French fashion was widely admired and copied in 1630s England; for further discussion see the Introduction.
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n6055
Of the fashion,
i.e. fashionably designed.
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gg2252
Straight,
immediately
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gg4065
ready-made,
finished, immediately available to wear
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gs819
rich
costly, splendid, made from superior material (OED a, 5a)
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gs820
brave
courageous, intrepid (OED a, 1a); splendid, showy (in this context, splendidly or showily dressed) (OED a, 2); worthy, excellent (OED a, 3)
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gg2712
carry it?
behave
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n6056
of
Coaches were expensive to obtain and run, having ownership of one was therefore a mark of status or social pretension.
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gg5380
bespoke
ordered
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gg4066
Nam
a diminutive of Ambrose or Abraham
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gg4067
ord’nary?
ordinary: an establishment where meals were provided at a set price; OED notes that in the seventeenth century ‘the more expensive ordinaries were frequented by men of fashion, and the dinner was usually followed by gambling; hence the term was often used as synonymous with “gambling-house”’ (OED n. 11.c)
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n6057
Osbright.
The name Osbright may have had associations with disreputable and sexually irresponsible behaviour for at least some of the audience: in a widely circulated story, Osbright, King of the West Saxons, raped the wife of Bruer, one of his nobles, and met his death fighting against invading forces as a result. The story appears in John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments, and in John Speed’s History of Great Britain.
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gs820
brave
courageous, intrepid (OED a, 1a); splendid, showy (in this context, splendidly or showily dressed) (OED a, 2); worthy, excellent (OED a, 3)
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gg4068
blade:
gallant, good fellow
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gg2460
president
head (OED n, 2b)
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gg4069
can-quarrelling
not in OED; a ‘can’ is a drinking vessel, so ‘can-quarrelling’ probably refers to alcohol-fuelled aggression
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gg4070
fraternity,
brotherhood
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gs821
roaring
riotous, noisy (‘roaring boy’ was a term for the rowdy young men who are a common feature of Jacobean and Caroline plays)
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gs822
civil,
polite, courteous
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gs823
free
frank, open; noble, generous
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gg4071
hospitable,
welcoming; ‘open and generous in mind or disposition’ (OED a, 2: OED’s earliest citation is from 1655, but this meaning seems to be implied)
[go to text]
n6058
something fallen to him,
i.e. some financial windfall.
[go to text]
n6059
beyond sea
i.e. abroad, overseas
[go to text]
gs824
strange
unfamiliar (OED a, 7); unusual, exceptional (OED a, 8); surprising, peculiar (OED a, 10a)
[go to text]
gs825
in’t.
in it
[go to text]
gg4072
politick
shrewd; cunning
[go to text]
gg4073
Noll!
a diminutive of Oliver
[go to text]
gg4074
mystery
secret purpose (OED n1, 6); personal secret (OED n1, 8)
[go to text]
gg4075
gaming,
gambling
[go to text]
gg4076
by-way
obscure route: figuratively, a disreputable method, a short cut
[go to text]
gg4077
bawdry,
provision of sex for money
[go to text]
n4078
privy
This phrase is not recorded by Dent or Tilley, but the idea has a quasi-proverbial usage in a number of early modern texts. For instance, William Leighton writes in Virtue Triumphant, or A Lively Description of the Four Virtues Cardinal (London, 1603), ‘every virtue finds a vicious foe’ (sig. B2r), and Thomas Jordan in ‘An Elegy on the Death of Mr. John Steward’, in Piety, and Poesy (London, 1643) writes, ‘Virtue seldom goes / By envy unattended’ (sig. D1v). A similar sentiment lies behind the idea that virtue is strengthened by opposition: see, for instance, Robert Herrick, ‘A Panegyric to Sir Lewis Pemberton’, in Hesperides (London, 1648): ‘Virtue dies when foes / Are wanting to her exercise’ (171-2); Charles Aleyn, The Battles of Crecy and Poitiers (London, 1631): ‘virtue gathers heat by having foes’ (sig. B2v).
[go to text]
gg4079
unfold
explain, make clear
[go to text]
gg1831
venture
(v.) to risk the loss or hazard of something
[go to text]
gs826
rifling
gambling, raffling (‘rifle’ also means to plunder or despoil, and the pun becomes increasingly pointed as The Demoiselle goes on)
[go to text]
gs827
commodity
thing produced for use or sale
[go to text]
n6060
name
Name it.
[go to text]
n6061
twenty pound a man.
£20 was equivalent in terms of spending power to approximately £1700 in today’s currency.
[go to text]
gg262
prithee?
(I) pray thee: (I) ask you; please
[go to text]
gg1301
hitherto,
until now
[go to text]
gs828
wench
young woman; (in this context) prostitute
[go to text]
gs829
’Ods me,
a mild oath: possibly a contract of ‘God save me’ (‘’Od’ is frequently used as a euphemism for ‘God’); Brome also uses it in The Northern Lass
[go to text]
gs830
the old game
prostitution (Brome uses this phrase in the same way in The Queen and Concubine [QC 5.2.speech1134])
[go to text]
gg4082
of old
an earlier time
[go to text]
n6062
I dare—
As Valentine assumes, Oliver seems likely to be trying to say ‘I dare be sworn...’
[go to text]
gg4083
stale,
old, past a marriageable age; no longer fresh
[go to text]
gg4084
damsel
young, unmarried woman
[go to text]
gg4085
brokenly.
imperfectly
[go to text]
gs831
demoiselle,
young woman (Valentine deliberately uses the French word, picking up Oliver’s ‘damsel’)
[go to text]
n6063
able To give instructions to our courtliest dames.
Tuition in French accomplishments, style and manners was popular in the 1630s, and it appears in a number of plays. Another detailed portrait of this trend can be found in Brome’s The New Academy, written a few years before The Demoiselle, and female academies appear (usually as the subject of satire) in plays including Jonson’s The Devil is an Ass (King’s Men, 1616). For further discussion see the Introduction.
[go to text]
gg4087
courtliest
having the manners or breeding appropriate for the court (OED courtly a, 2a); refined, elegant
[go to text]
n6064
Enter VERMIN [and FIRST] SERVANT.
] Enter Vermine. Servant.
[go to text]
gg1946
undone
ruined, destroyed
[go to text]
gg2620
villain.
scoundrel, rascal (with imputation of low social status)
[go to text]
gg4088
Out, alas!
exclamation indicating indignant reproach or outrage (OED int. 1)
[go to text]
gs776
worship
a title of honour, used to address people of high status (OED n, 5a)
[go to text]
gs832
cozening
cheating, defrauding
[go to text]
gg4089
wretch
vile or contemptible person (OED n, 3); miser (OED n, 4); OED’s post-medieval examples of the latter meaning are largely Scottish, but this sense is found elsewhere, as in Abraham Fleming’s A Memorial of the Famous Monuments and Charitable Almsdeeds of the Right Worshipful Master William Lambe Esquire (London, 1580), sig. B1v: ‘Do you not remember that the Holy Ghost speaketh of a covetous miser, a wretch, a worldling, one that very busily occupied his head about enlarging his barns, that his soul might be more merry in the middest of his abundance’
[go to text]
gs833
trow,
do you think
[go to text]
n6065
Temple Walks?
The grounds of the Inner Temple and Middle Temple, two of the four Inns of Court where law was taught and practised; this area was a legal sanctuary where people could not be arrested for debt.
[go to text]
n6066
law’s his lechery?
i.e. law is the thing he lusts for, or is his equivalent of lustful behaviour.
[go to text]
gg4090
Devil’s itch
venereal disease (itching is a symptom of scabies, which was often confused with syphilis)
[go to text]
gg4091
marrow
bone marrow; the tissue of the bones; vitality and strength (OED n1, 3c); semen (Williams, 2: 857-8)
[go to text]
gg2370
for’t.
for it
[go to text]
gg4092
undid
ruined
[go to text]
n8767
Aye,
] I
[go to text]
gg4093
thrusting
pushing, forcing
[go to text]
gs834
fitted
answered
[go to text]
gg2370
for’t,
for it
[go to text]
n6067
Justly inherit nothing but the gallows.
i.e. whose behaviour means that he is destined to be hanged.
[go to text]
gg3892
hopeful
promising, ‘giving promise of success or future good’ (OED a, 2a)
[go to text]
n6068
Temple.
The Inner Temple or Middle Temple, two of the four Inns of Court, where law was practised and studied.
[go to text]
gs835
fall
ruin
[go to text]
gs836
Mere
pure, absolute; ‘Having no greater extent, range, value, power, or importance than the designation implies’ (OED a2, 5a)
[go to text]
gg4094
maint’nance
maintenance: means of subsistence, financial resources
[go to text]
gs837
service,
work as a servant
[go to text]
gg4095
recorder’s;
office of the recorder, a magistrate or judge with responsibility for a city or borough
[go to text]
gg4096
warrant.
(n) ‘a writ or order issued by some executive authority, empowering a ministerial officer to make an arrest, a seizure, or a search, to execute a judicial sentence, or to do other acts incident to the administration of justice’ (OED n1, 10a)
[go to text]
gg3452
city
The City of London, the ancient capital and commercial area with its own system of power and government; often contrasted with the Royal Court, based a few miles down the Thames at Westminster and Whitehall, a rival base of power, authority, and culture.
[go to text]
gg4097
suburbs
areas outside the city walls
[go to text]
n6069
[Ambrose]
] Amp.
[go to text]
gg4098
like enough.
probably
[go to text]
gg4099
wager
bet
[go to text]
gg4100
poaching
tramping heavily, trampling (OED poach v2, 8); possibly puns on poaching as the illegal pursuit of fish, game, etc. (OED poach v2, 4a)
[go to text]
n6070
poaching
] poching
[go to text]
gg4101
’mong
among
[go to text]
gs838
broker,
middleman, agent
[go to text]
gg1250
match
(v) marry
[go to text]
gg1898
landed
possessing land
[go to text]
n6071
their walk.
i.e. the place where they walk
[go to text]
gg1616
fit
(v) punish accordingly (OED v1, 12)
[go to text]
n6072
Thou’lt ne’er endure his breath: it stinks of brimstone.
Usurers are often associated with the devilish in seventeenth-century texts; see the inset masque sequence in Robert Davenport’s A New Trick to Cheat the Devil (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, c. 1625-39; printed London, 1639), in which a figure enters ‘with money bags’ and the motto ‘I am an usurer’, to which Slightall responds, ‘I am an usurer, Satan’s eldest son, / And heir to all his torments; thou hast swallowed / Young heirs, and Hell must one day swallow thee’ (sig. F4v).
[go to text]
gg4102
Thou’lt
thou wilt: you will
[go to text]
gg4103
brimstone.
sulphur
[go to text]
n6073
take the wind
This phrase has two associations, one with nautical language, in which it means to ‘to get to windward of (another ship) so as to intercept the wind, to get the weather gage of’ (OED wind n, 1 3b), the other from hunting terminology, in which it means to take the scent of (or detect) an animal (OED wind n, 1 4). Brome also uses the phrase in The Queen and Concubine [QC 1.3.speech153].
[go to text]
gg4104
well met,
welcome into our company, fortuitously encountered
[go to text]
gs839
match,
marry advantageously to someone
[go to text]
gg3327
Pray
a contraction of 'I pray you', or 'I ask you'
[go to text]
gg4105
worst
poorest, least important
[go to text]
gg4106
deserve
be entitled to, be worthy of
[go to text]
gg4107
knaves
rogues, scoundrels
[go to text]
gg4058
stol’n
stolen
[go to text]
n6074
In troth I am glad on’t.
This part of the line might be most effectively directed at Vermin, but it might also be directed towards Ambrose and Oliver: it would then spur Ambrose and Oliver’s own comments in the following lines.
[go to text]
gg4108
In troth
truly
[go to text]
gg776
on’t.
of it
[go to text]
n6075
[Ambrose]
] Amp.
[go to text]
gg776
on’t.
of it
[go to text]
gs1572
ordinary—
an establishment where meals were provided at a set price; OED notes that in the seventeenth century ‘the more expensive ordinaries were frequented by men of fashion, and the dinner was usually followed by gambling; hence the term was often used as synonymous with “gambling-house”’ (OED n, 11c)
[go to text]
n6076
[Ambrose]
] Amp.
[go to text]
gs841
e’en
even: fully, completely (used as an intensifier)
[go to text]
gg3925
methinks.
it seems to me
[go to text]
gg4058
stol’n,
stolen
[go to text]
n6077
[Ambrose]
] Amp.
[go to text]
gg4109
report
relate, give an account of (OED v, 1a)
[go to text]
gs842
after
behind (i.e. behind your back); after you have left our company
[go to text]
gg2204
affliction,
distress, misery
[go to text]
n6078
to hear it.
i.e. to hear about it
[go to text]
gg4110
chiefly
pre-eminently, most particularly (OED adv. 1)
[go to text]
gs843
Relieve
rescue, assist (OED v, 1a); also used specifically to refer to legal relief (OED v, 1d)
[go to text]
n6079
so much
i.e. so much legal support
[go to text]
gg4111
scorners?
people who mock or scorn
[go to text]
gs844
stays
delays
[go to text]
n6080
I may find a time—
i.e. the time will come.
[go to text]
n6081
[VERMIN] exit[s].
] Exit.
[go to text]
n6082
what thing is this?
Video
Oliver’s use of the word ‘thing’ suggests his contempt for Sir Amphilus, and it may suggest that the knight’s appearance is intended to be comic in itself, either because his clothes are obviously rustic, or because he has dolled himself up in fashionable clothes for his arrival in London. However, the gallants are not particularly vicious in their treatment of Sir Amphilus, perhaps because they can gain enough amusement merely by feigning interest and encouraging him to speak. The tone is captured in this extract from the workshop.
[go to text]
gs845
thing
used to refer to someone with contempt, amusement or pity (OED thing n1, 10b)
[go to text]
n6083
Enter [Sir] AMPHILUS [and] TREBASCO.
] Enter Amphilus, Trebasco.
[go to text]
n6084
[Amphilus]
] Amb.
[go to text]
gg4112
skip-kennel.
someone who has to jump (skip) over gutters (known as ‘kennels’), ‘a lackey, a foot-boy, a footman’ (OED; earliest citation is from 1668)
[go to text]
n6086
[Replies in Cornish.]
Video
Oliver’s comment makes it clear that Trebasco’s first lines are in Cornish. Brome apparently relied on Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men to supply the dialogue, although Cornish dialogue does appear in The Sparagus Garden. In this extract from the workshop on the scene he says ‘Soweth, syrra, agas margh yú marow’ (‘Alas, sir, your horse is dead’), and Sir Amphilus reacts emotionally to being reminded of this sad fact. In this extract and in the full run-through of a longer extract from the scene, the Cornish accents of Sir Amphilus and Trebasco are set alongside the middle-class tones of the gallants and Brookall, Vermin’s London accent, and the country lilt that actor Jennifer McEvoy gives to Phyllis.
[go to text]
n6085
[Replies in Cornish.]
] . . . .
[go to text]
n6087
[Ambrose]
] Amp.
[go to text]
n6088
It
The gallants again suggest that Sir Amphilus is something less than human; ‘it’ can also be used as patronising baby-talk: compare Elder Loveless in Beaumont and Fletcher’s The Scornful Lady (Queen's Revels, c. 1610; revived frequently by the King’s Men in the 1630s), who tells the Lady,
You were the prettiest fool to play withal,
The wittiest little varlet, it would talk,
Lord, how it talked, and when I angered it
It would cry out, and scratch, and eat no meat,
And it would say ‘Go hang -’ (4.1.143-7).
[go to text]
gg3925
methinks.
it seems to me
[go to text]
gs846
shadow
someone who follows or accompanies another person as if they were their shadow; also means a parasite or toady (OED n, 8)
[go to text]
n6089
in Cornish.
Video
In this extract from the workshop on this scene, Olivia Darnley’s Oliver mockingly imitates Sir Amphilus and Trebasco’s accent.
[go to text]
n6090
wise
The word is used ironically.
[go to text]
gg4113
western
from the west of England
[go to text]
gg4114
footman,
attendant or foot-servant, especially a servant who runs before his master’s carriage (OED 3)
[go to text]
gg4112
skip-kennel.
someone who has to jump (skip) over gutters (known as ‘kennels’), ‘a lackey, a foot-boy, a footman’ (OED; earliest citation is from 1668)
[go to text]
gg2599
ne’er
never
[go to text]
gg4115
more—
any more
[go to text]
gs847
footman
someone who walks on foot
[go to text]
gg4116
be
are
[go to text]
gs848
altogether.
permanently (OED a, 3)
[go to text]
gg4039
ha’
have
[go to text]
gg4117
well done
appropriate, fitting, morally good
[go to text]
n6091
she
i.e. the money that he would have got for her
[go to text]
n6092
Smithfield?
London’s main meat market
[go to text]
gs849
fool,
used as a term of endearment or pity (OED fool n1, 1c)
[go to text]
gs850
for
on account of
[go to text]
n6093
Reynold Pengutling’s
Reynold Pengutling is probably devised by Brome as a typical-sounding Cornish name. ‘Pen’ (meaning ‘end’, ‘head’ or ‘headland’) is a common prefix in Cornish surnames, cf. the widely circulating rhyme, ‘By Tre, Pol, and Pen, / You shall know the Cornishmen’ (see Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England who for Parts and Learning have been Eminent in the Several Counties [London, 1662], p. 197).
[go to text]
gg4118
taken’t
taken it
[go to text]
gs851
bear
endure
[go to text]
n6094
We are all mortal,
This does not appear in Dent or Tilley’s collections of proverbs, but it is a cliché with a quasi-proverbial force. In the popular King’s Men play The Merry Devil of Edmonton, first performed c. 1603 but revived and performed at court in February 1631 and November 1638, the parson Sir John’s catchphrase is ‘Grass and hay, we are all mortal’, and the hero of Chapman’s Sir Giles Goosecap (Chapel Children, 1601-3, but published in 1636 with a title-page attribution to Salisbury Court) also (over-)uses the phrase ‘we are all mortal’.
[go to text]
n6095
her time
i.e. time when she was fated to die.
[go to text]
gg4119
e’er
ever
[go to text]
gg4120
grace og
by the grace of God: og is a variant on ‘gog’, a corruption of ‘god’ used in oaths
[go to text]
gg4121
tailed
joined on behind, annexed
[go to text]
n6096
for the what’s to come as the departed.
i.e. for the mishap that may befall me, as well as for the deceased.
[go to text]
n6097
We will have a bout with him.
Video
At this point the gallants move in on Sir Amphilus. This might be handled in a variety of ways on the stage, but see this clip from the workshop on the scene, in which Alan Morrissey, Beth Vyse and Olivia Darnley, reading Valentine, Ambrose and Oliver, encircle Sir Amphilus (Mike Burrell) and Trebasco (Joseph Thompson). Trebasco responds to this by trying, unsuccessfully, to manoeuvre Sir Amphilus away.
[go to text]
gg4122
bout
contest, match: often used to describe a round at fighting or a trial of strength (OED n, 2 3a)
[go to text]
gg4123
prettiest
cleverest, most able (OED a, 1a); most attractive (OED a, 2a); most pleasing (OED a, 3b); boldest, most gallant, most admirable (OED a, 3a)
[go to text]
gs852
tit—
horse, nag: originally used to describe a small breed of horse, or an immature horse (OED n3, 1a); also used to refer to a girl or young woman (OED n3, 2a)
[go to text]
gg885
leave
permission
[go to text]
n6098
a little more of
i.e. talk a bit more about
[go to text]
n6099
had her all
i.e. had all of her body (deliberately misunderstanding Oliver’s ‘a little more of your mare’ [DM 2.1.speech269]).
[go to text]
n6100
to do you good,
Two meanings apply: (1) to show kindness to you; (2) and much good may it do you.
[go to text]
n6101
Brainford.
A town in Middlesex, to the west of London on the Thames, now known as Brentford; Brainford appears in a number of other plays of this period, and it is often associated with illicit sexual activity. In Massinger’s The City Madam (King’s Men, 1632), Luke accuses Goldwire of keeping ‘your punks at livery / In Brainford, Staines and Barnet’ (The Plays and Poems of Philip Massinger, ed. by Philip Edwards and Colin Gibson 5 vols [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976], vol. 4, 4.2.85-6), and a lyric in Thomas Ravenscroft’s Pammelia (London, 1609) runs, ‘Go no more to Brainford, unless you love a punk, for that wicked sinful town hath made me drunk’ (sig. C1v). See Sugden, Topographical Dictionary, 73, s.v. Brainford.
[go to text]
gg4124
all
everything
[go to text]
n6102
all behind?
Trebasco deliberately misunderstands Valentine and interprets his statement as meaning that all of the mare’s four horseshoes were worn on her hind-legs.
[go to text]
n6103
I thought how wise you were.
Either (1) I thought you were wiser than that, or (2) I thought you had that little wisdom.
[go to text]
n6104
two
i.e. two shoes (one on each hind-leg).
[go to text]
gg1450
Gramercy,
thanks
[go to text]
gs853
honest
suggests appreciation or praise, but can also be said with a patronising air to a social inferior (OED a, 1c)
[go to text]
gs324
Sirrah,
sir (authoritatively or contemptuously); often addressed to a boy or servant
[go to text]
gg4125
snappishly.
peevishly, abruptly
[go to text]
gg4126
perceives
sees, realises
[go to text]
gs855
main
great
[go to text]
gg4127
mock!
insult, act of mockery
[go to text]
n6105
He would have him fall from a man to a beast.
Video
Trebasco again deliberately misunderstands Valentine, interpreting ‘fall from’ as ‘descend from the status of’. This line seems to be an aside: it might be delivered to the audience, but is also effective when treated as a general comment or ‘note to self’, as in this extract from the workshop on this scene.
[go to text]
gs854
fall
take the topic of discussion; descend in status
[go to text]
gg4128
shoon.
shoes (in this period a marker of northern or southern English dialect speech, or a poetic archaism)
[go to text]
n6106
Let ’em go, I say; I will have ’em.
Video
Sir Amphilus may physically tussle with Trebasco for the shoes, or, as in this extract from the workshop on this sequence, he may merely pull rank on him.
[go to text]
n6107
He’ll ne’er be wiser.
Video
Again, this may be delivered as an aside, as in this extract from the workshop on this scene. In this version, Joseph Thompson, reading Trebasco, temporarily gives up the unequal struggle of trying to prevent Sir Amphilus from making a fool of himself, and withdraws to the other side of the stage, leaving his master and the gallants in the centre.
[go to text]
n6108
These were her shoon, gentlemen,
Video
In this extract from the workshop, intimacy is created between Sir Amphilus and the gallants as they gather around him and he tells them the sad story of his horse’s death; nonetheless, their mocking amusement is plain.
[go to text]
gg4129
gonhelly,
a Cornish term for a pony (OED’s earliest citation is from 1640)
[go to text]
n6109
this little iron
i.e. these horseshoes
[go to text]
n6110
Penzance
One of the major towns of West Cornwall, which became wealthy during the seventeenth century as a result of the local mining industry. Brome also mentions Penzance in The Court Beggar [CB 2.1.speech201].
[go to text]
n6111
St Columb
Sir Amphilus is probably referring to St Columb Major, a town to the east of Newquay in Cornwall, around 40 miles by road (or 35 miles as the crow flies) from Penzance. (There is also a St Columb Minor, just outside Newquay.)
[go to text]
gs856
way
road, path
[go to text]
gg1932
try
test
[go to text]
gg4130
stumbler,
someone or something that stumbles, especially used of horses
[go to text]
gg4131
fooled
played; behaved like a fool
[go to text]
gg4132
Adieu;
goodbye
[go to text]
gs806
business
affairs, concerns, tasks to attend to
[go to text]
gs1572
ordinary?
an establishment where meals were provided at a set price; OED notes that in the seventeenth century ‘the more expensive ordinaries were frequented by men of fashion, and the dinner was usually followed by gambling; hence the term was often used as synonymous with “gambling-house”’ (OED n, 11c)
[go to text]
n6112
[VALENTINE] exit[s].
] Exit.
[go to text]
n6113
[OLIVER and AMBROSE exit.]
] Exeunt.
[go to text]
gs858
Odd
peculiar, eccentric (OED a, 9a)
[go to text]
n6181
Why did you talk with ’em? What had you to make with ’em?
Video
The exchange between Trebasco and Sir Amphilus following the departure of the gallants might be played in a variety of ways. In this extract from the run-through of the full sequence from Vermin’s first exit, Joseph Thompson, reading Trebasco, maintains a certain degree of anger at Mike Burrell’s Sir Amphilus, whereas in this earlier version he quickly becomes more relaxed and tolerant.
[go to text]
n6182
to make with
That is: to have to do with (OED make v, 1 57); ‘to side with, make common cause with’ (OED to make with 2)
[go to text]
gg4143
matters
things, concerns
[go to text]
gs859
course,
action
[go to text]
gg4144
lodging,
accommodation, lodging-house
[go to text]
n6183
Turnbull
A street in Clerkenwell, London, now (and originally) known as Turnmill Street (Sugden, Topographical Dictionary, 533, s.v. Turnbull Street). Turnbull Street was a notorious location for brothels (Sugden describes it as ‘the most disreputable street in London’), and it is often used as a byword for rowdy and promiscuous behaviour. See, for instance, Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful Lady (in Bowers, gen. ed., vol. 2), in which Savill complains ‘here has been such a hurry, such a din, such dismal drinking, swearing and whoring, ’thas almost made me mad: we have all lived in a continual Turnball Street’ (3.2.143-5). The ambiguity about the keeping of dogs and women which we find in The Demoiselle also appears in Brome’s The New Academy; see [NOTE n5188]. See also Wat’s comment of Sir Amphilus in 1.1, ‘Cheap whores and duck-hunting: / There’s his delight indeed’ [DM 1.1.speech75].
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gg4145
whelp
puppy
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gg408
term.
'each of the periods (usually three or four in the year) appointed for the sitting of certain courts of law, or for instruction and study in a university or school' (OED n, 5a) which also dictated busy periods in London in terms of business and pleasure
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gg4146
gamesters
gamblers; those who engage in sexual ‘play’
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n6184
done away
got rid of, sold, put down
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gs860
right,
healthy, properly developed in mind and body
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n6185
duke of the ducking-pond.
Video
The joke here lies in the contrast between the high status of a duke and the low status of the ducking-pond; in the workshop versions of this section, Mike Burrell delivers this line with a lightness of touch which makes the most of the alliteration.
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gg4147
misdoubt,
doubt
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gg859
warrant
assure, promise
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n6186
lap before he could well go,
i.e. drink before he could walk.
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n6187
could piss under leg.
Trebasco seems to mean that the puppy could urinate as most dogs do, by lifting his leg.
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gg4148
fine
skilful, accomplished; excellent
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gs861
forward
eager; precocious
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gg4149
peak
languish, become sickly (OED v1, 3)
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gg262
prithee,
(I) pray thee: (I) ask you; please
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gg4128
shoon
shoes (in this period a marker of northern or southern English dialect speech, or a poetic archaism)
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gg4150
mortality.
loss of life, an abnormal frequency of death (OED n, 2a); the fact that living beings are mortal
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n6188
convert it
i.e. have it made
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n6189
Enter VERMIN [and FIRST] SERVANT.
] Enter Vermine. Servant.
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n6190
try the market
i.e. see whether I can sell them.
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n6191
The frumping jacks are gone—
Video
In this extract from the workshop on this scene, Philip Cumbus speaks Vermin’s words as an expression of his relief that the persecuting gallants are no longer there to mock him.
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gg4151
frumping
mocking, scoffing (OED)
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gs862
jacks
fellows, knaves (OED n1, 2a)
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n6192
aldermanical
Video
Sir Amphilus clearly enjoys long, polysyllabic words (see also ‘cittner’ and ‘abomination’), something that is captured nicely by Mike Burrell in this workshop extract.
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gg4152
aldermanical
like an alderman (OED lists only this example, and I have not found any others)
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n6193
keep my day,
That is: keep my appointment (with financial undertones; to keep one's day also means to pay one’s debts on time).
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gg4153
citiner
citizen: according to OED, in Scots and Northern English dialect, but it is used in other London-based comedies, often with a mocking undertone: compare Chapman, Jonson and Marston, Eastward Ho (Queen’s Revels, 1605), in which the aspiring citizen’s daughter Gertrude tells her mother, ‘you talk like yourself and a cittiner in this, i’faith’ (Eastward Ho, ed. R.W. Van Fossen [Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1979], 5.1.141-2), and Dekker and Webster, Northward Ho (Children of Paul’s, 1605), in which Bellamont comments, ‘when your citizen comes into his inn, wet and cold, dropping, either the hostess or one of her maids warms his bed, pulls on his night-cap, cuts his corns, puts out the candle, bids him command ought if he want ought: and so after master citiner sleeps as quietly as if he lay in his own low-country of Holland’ (Bowers, ed., vol. 2, 5.1.66-70).
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gg4154
trudge
walk laboriously or wearily (OED v1, 1)
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gg779
knave
rogue, scoundrel
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n6194
I doubt,
i.e. I doubt it is
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gg790
trumpery
trifles, rubbish
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n6195
old iron
An ironic repetition of Sir Amphilus’ descriptions of his horseshoes, as Sir Amphilus himself recognises in the following lines.
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gs863
baggage.
good-for-nothing, strumpet (punning on baggage as ‘luggage’ – one baggage has been exchanged for another)
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gs864
abomination!
a terrible thing to have happened
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n6196
came at
i.e. went to.
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n6197
touch old iron but that with sorrow enough— My poor mare’s shoes;
Video
Sir Amphilus probably gestures at the horseshoes at some point during this statement. In this extract from the workshop on this scene, the shoes are in Trebasco’s shirt pocket, so Sir Amphilus places his hand on Trebasco’s chest, a gesture which is sympathetically received by Trebasco, who puts his hand on Sir Amphilus’s.
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n6198
to
i.e. at
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gg4039
ha’
have
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gs865
mark,
marks: gold or silver coins worth about thirteen shillings and four pence (OED n2, 2a)
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gg4155
iwus.
iwis (certainly, indeed, truly); I have kept the octavo’s spelling in case it gives a clue to the pronunciation
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n6199
to
i.e. in order to
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n6200
to
i.e. at
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n6201
now right as sure as can be.
i.e. certainly, undoubtedly
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n6202
Say,
i.e. tell him
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n6203
All ill go with her.
i.e. may she suffer every misfortune.
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gg4121
tailed
joined on behind, annexed
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n6204
if she had been tailed to your mare I should have seen her, sure, when I stripped her.
That is: if Alice had been attached to the horse, I would have seen her (Alice) when I groomed her (the mare) at night (with a pun on ‘stripped’ which leaves the referent of ‘her’ ambiguous).
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gg2204
affliction,
distress, misery
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n6205
cross out of my almanac
Vermin claims that this day has been so distressing that he would prefer to forget about it altogether, by erasing it from his almanac.
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gg1376
almanac
book of tables, containing a calendar of months and days, with astronomical data and calculations, ecclesiastical and other anniversaries, besides other useful information, including astrological forecasts of good days for special occasions like weddings
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gs866
on’t.
on it
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gs867
serve
suffice, be of use
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n6207
lose
i.e. waste
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n6208
[Vermin.]
] the speech prefix is omitted in the octavo
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n6209
Enter BROOKALL.
Video
Different effects might be achieved in performance depending on where Brookall enters, as three extracts from the workshop on this scene demonstrate. In the first, Vermin makes to leave down-stage right, only to wheel around when Brookall enters up stage right. However, it is more effective if Vermin makes for the door that Brookall is about to emerge from, as in the second and third versions. The comic effect of this confrontation can be heightened or decreased depending on the positioning of Brookall and Vermin, and of Sir Amphilus, and the movement on stage; for a discussion of these issues see this extract from the workshop. The delivery of Brookall’s lines also affects the tone of the exchange. In the first version, the two men confront each other at close proximity, and Brookall (Sam Alexander) spits defiance at Vermin (Philip Cumbus). Brookall’s overt hostility is maintained the in second version, but here the adversaries circle around the bemused Sir Amphilus, and Vermin, increasingly frustrated, eventually takes refuge behind his servant. In the third version, Brookall is more depressive and subdued, and Vermin less panicked, while the reduced mobility of the actors enables a greater degree of pathos to be established.
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gg4156
execration
curse, utter hatred
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gg4157
malice
ill-will, hatred; malicious action
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gg4158
commendation
expression of approval (OED 2)
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gg4159
deserved
rightfully earned, merited (OED ppl. a. 1)
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gg4160
possession
piece of property; in legal discourse, exclusive control of a piece of land (OED n, 1b)
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gg4161
gapes
longs, opens its mouth eagerly
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gg777
entertain
receive
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gs869
conjurer
someone who conjures spirits or devils; a wizard or magician
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gs868
spirit
soul (i.e. of a deceased person); can also be used to refer to a demon
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gg4162
Conjured
charmed, bewitched; ordered through supernatural means (punning on Sir Amphilus’ ‘conjurer’ (exorcist); [DM 2.1.speech313])
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gs870
conjure,
cast spells; consult with spirits or devils
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n6212
be now betid of
That is: have happened to (see OED betide v, 1).
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gg307
posterity
descendents
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gg4163
unavoidably
inevitably
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n6471
deeply read!
learned
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gg4289
railer?
someone who rails, or rants abusively (OED n2)
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gg4290
vent’rous
daring, bold, adventurous
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n6472
It was by law he made the purchase, And by his son-in-law, or outlawed, down he must, If he set vent’rous foot, as his inheritor, Upon the mould was got by his oppression.
Brookall argues that through his position as Vermin’s son-in-law and inheritor Sir Amphilus will be doomed to the same fate as Vermin himself. The syntax is rather odd: it is not entirely clear whether ‘he’ in the first line refers to Vermin, who has purchased the land, or Sir Amphilus, who is purchasing his position as Vermin’s son-in-law; ‘his’ in the second line might refer to Vermin but probably refers to Sir Amphilus (‘son-in-law’ should perhaps be in inverted commas); ‘he’ in the third line is Sir Amphilus, but ‘his’ in the third and fourth lines refers to Vermin.
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gg4291
mould
soil
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gs792
Pretty
clever, crafty, ingenious (OED a, 1); fairly, very (OED adv, 1a)
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gs887
reason,
reasoning, thinking (OED n1, 10); statement, remark (OED n1, 3a); ground, cause (OED n1, 6)
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gs888
tame
curb, discipline
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gg4089
wretch,
vile or contemptible person (OED n, 3); miser (OED n, 4); OED’s post-medieval examples of the latter meaning are largely Scottish, but this sense is found elsewhere, as in Abraham Fleming’s A Memorial of the Famous Monuments and Charitable Almsdeeds of the Right Worshipful Master William Lambe Esquire (London, 1580), sig. B1v: ‘Do you not remember that the Holy Ghost speaketh of a covetous miser, a wretch, a worldling, one that very busily occupied his head about enlarging his barns, that his soul might be more merry in the middest of his abundance’
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gs889
fly
flee, escape
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gg323
fell
dreadful, terrible; cruel, savage
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gs890
means,
ways, methods of action; opportunities (OED n3, 3a); resources
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gs891
Bedlam.
an early mental asylum, the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, situated next to Bishopsgate, on the edge of the City of London (see Sugden, Topographical Dictionary, 53-4, s.v. Bedlam)
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gg4292
just,
fair, righteous
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n6473
to exchange Thine own inheritance for mine.
i.e. Vermin belongs in Bedlam, not Brookall.
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n6474
there
i.e. in Bedlam
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gg4293
father-’law
a contraction of father-in-law
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gs889
fly
flee, escape
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n6475
Enter PHYLLIS, a box in her hand.
Video
Vermin is again prevented from exiting, this time by the beggar-maid Phyllis. As this extract from the workshop suggests, the tone of the scene again shifts, though the extent of the shift would depend on the tone established for Brookall’s condemnation of Vermin (see [NOTE n2609]). In writing Phyllis, Brome teeters on the verge of sentimentality, but the economic verisimilitude with which she is sketched, and her uncanny ability to say exactly the right thing to rile Vermin, give an edge to her appearance here. Jennifer McEvoy, reading Phyllis, gives her a rustic lilt to her voice which suggests that the urban environment is an alien one for her; it also contrasts her effectively with the aggressively urban Vermin.
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n6476
box
i.e. money-box, or box for collecting money
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gs238
stay
wait
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gg4294
Out on
curses upon (OED int. 2)
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gg294
baggage.
good-for-nothing; strumpet, whore
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gg966
tester.
sixpence
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n6477
Thou
Phyllis deliberately uses the intimate ‘thou’, instead of the more formal ‘you’, as part of her attempt to ingratiate herself with Vermin.
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gg4295
penny-father,
man who is careful with money; also OED notes, it is often used in a derogatory sense to mean a miser
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gs801
thrive
be successful, prosper
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gg4296
’Twould
it would
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n6478
by that
That is: by the time that...
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gs766
pretty
considerable, abundant (OED a, 4a)
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gg1143
portion.
dowry (monies, goods or lands brought by the wife to augment her husband’s estate on their marriage)
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gg1015
In sooth
truly
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gs892
by-blow;
illegitimate child, bastard (OED n, 1a)
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n6479
must be nameless.
That is: (1) his name must remain unknown: he must be left in inglorious obscurity (OED a, 1a); (2) his name must not be given to avoid incriminating him (‘nameless’ also means ‘illegitimate’, recalling ‘by-blow’ in the previous line)
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n6480
get beggars?
i.e. the sons of usurers such as Vermin rise to the status of knights, on the back of their fathers’ wealth.
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gs893
get
beget, father
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gg2599
ne’er
never
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gs377
means
resources (especially financial)
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gg4297
through
by means of
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gg4298
wring
squeeze, strain, force
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gg4299
hard-bound
(1) frozen: compare Nathan Field, A Woman is a Weathercock (Queen’s Revels, c. 1610): ‘Lord, how he labours, like a hard-bound poet, whose brains had a frost in ’em’ (in William Peery, ed., The Plays of Nathan Field [Austin: University of Texas Press, 1950] 3.3.17-18); (2) constipated: compare John Day, The Parliament of Bees (auspices uncertain; printed London, 1641):
Phar[macopolis.] I’ll tell your master, sir, though you’ll take none,
Let me give your steward a purgation.
St[eward]. Why, I am well.
Phar[macopolis.] No, you are too hard bound,
And you must cast me up the fifty pound
I gave you in bribe-powder. (sig. F4v)
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gg4300
money-master,
moneylender (OED money a, C2)
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gs894
count’nance
face
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gg1201
loath
reluctant, unwilling (OED a, 4a)
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gs393
sweetly
pleasurably (OED adv. 3); delightfully (OED adv. 4); smoothly, easily (OED adv. 5); lovingly (OED adv. 6)
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gg3269
Pish,
an interjection 'expressing contempt, impatience, or disgust' (OED)
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gg4123
prettiest
cleverest, most able (OED a, 1a); most attractive (OED a, 2a); most pleasing (OED a, 3b); boldest, most gallant, most admirable (OED a, 3a)
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n6481
merry beggar.
a cliché, and something of an oxymoron; Brome’s own Jovial Crew is subtitled ‘The Merry Beggars’
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gg4301
merry
pleasing, delightful (OED a, 1a); happy (OED a, 1b); witty (OED a, 4d)
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gg4302
Housewife,
a worthless or impudent woman or girl (OED n, 2): pronounced ‘hussif’
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gg4039
ha’
have
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n6482
whipped.
Whipping was the conventional punishment for beggars.
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n6483
Aye,
] I
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n6484
i’th’ streets.
i.e. in the streets of the cities of London or Westminster, outside the sanctuary of the Temple Walks.
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gs647
allowance
permission
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gg4303
Brokers,
middlemen in bargains, agents (OED 3)
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gg4304
projectors,
promoters of bogus or unsound business ventures; cheats, swindlers (OED n, 1b)
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n6485
common bail,
A bail is someone who procures the release of another person from custody or prison by giving security (either money or their own person) for the prisoner’s appearance in court (OED n.1 6). Thomas Blount writes in Glossographia, or A Dictionary (London, 1656), ‘There is both common and special bail; common bail is in actions of small prejudice or slight proof, in which case any sureties are taken; whereas upon cases of greater weight special bail or surety must be given’ (sig. F3r). The term ‘common bail’ is used in some texts to refer to those who make false oaths: see the vision of hell in Dekker’s Dekker his Dream (London, 1620), in which ‘perjured common bail’ mingle
With pettifoggers, that set law to sale
With cauterized consciences; thieves, cheats,
Tradesmen that fed upon the broken meats
Of oaths and rotten wares (sigs. E3v-E4r)
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gg4305
bankrupts,
insolvent traders or merchants (OED n, 2); people who bring themselves into debt through reckless living, fugitives from their creditors (OED n, 2b)
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gg4306
Panders,
bawds, go-betweens
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gg4307
cheaters
dishonest gamblers (OED 2); swindlers (OED 3)
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gg4308
’Mongst
amongst
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gg2931
worship,
authority (as a man of good repute and standing, fit to be addressed as "Your worship")
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n8768
[As PHYLLIS speaks,] lawyers and others pass over the stage as conferring two by two.
] Lawyers and others / passe over the Stage / as conferring by / two and two.
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n6486
[As PHYLLIS speaks,] lawyers and others pass over the stage as conferring two by two.
Video
In the octavo text, this stage direction is located in the right-hand margins of lines 946-9 [DM 2.1.lines946-949]. If the lawyers actually appear as Phyllis describes the ‘Brokers, projectors, common bail, or bankrupts, / Panders, and cheaters of all sorts, that mix here / ’Mongst men of honour, worship, lands and money’ [DM 2.1.speech339] of the Temple Walks, an ironic comparison is set up between her words and the appearance of the ‘lawyers and others’. Something of this effect may be captured in this workshop version of the sequence, in which the ‘lawyers’ are soberly dressed in black overcoats. The direction is the most explicit indication of the symbolism often found in The Demoiselle, which builds on the names of characters such as Vermin, Dryground and Brookall to suggest that the play works in a symbolist manner analogous to the estates satire. On the other hand, however, it might also be used to create realistic ‘colour’ and a sense of the bustle and clamour of the Temple Walks. Brome is at his most Jonsonian here, the movement of bodies around the stage recalling the fair scenes of Bartholomew Fair (Lady Elizabeth’s Men, 1614), or the Paul’s Walk scene in Every Man out of his Humour (Chamberlain’s Men, 1599). In the workshop, we experimented with different ways of presenting the ‘lawyers’. In this version, they pass across the front of the stage, intervening between the audience and the other characters; in these later versions, the diagonals are used. In production, choices have to be made about the extent to which the ‘lawyers’ are engaged by the other characters. In this version, Phyllis accosts them as they pass, trying to persuade them to give her money, whereas in this version, she remains still but nonetheless gestures towards them with her bowl. In both of these versions, the lawyers’ movements centre on Sir Amphilus, and Trebasco again attempts to protect his master from what he perceives to be a threat. If the play were to be staged in a playhouse with a configuration like that of the Salisbury Court, with entry doors placed only at the rear of the stage, diagonals could not be used, and it would be necessary for them to cross the back of the stage, to walk around the edge of the stage, or to circle the other characters before exiting.
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gs895
rare
exceptional; splendid
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gg1268
hither
here (to this place)
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gs896
cozen;
cheat, defraud
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gs897
deal
negotiate, do business
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gg207
right,
(n) justifiable claim, title
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n6487
this young gentleman—
This is said ironically or flatteringly to Sir Amphilus.
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gg4309
haunts
pursues, molests
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gg4277
idol
image of a god or deity
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gg4310
dishonour’t,
dishonour it
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gg4311
impair
damage, make less valuable (OED v, 1)
[go to text]
gs898
match,
marriage or marriage agreement (OED n1, 8a); bargain (OED n1, 9)
[go to text]
gg4312
traffic,
trade
[go to text]
gs899
silly
insignificant
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gg4313
i’fecks,
a very mild oath, meaning ‘in faith’
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gg4314
la,
an exclamation used ‘to call attention to an emphatic statement’ (OED int.)
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n6488
I’ll strike luck to it;
According to OED, to strike a person luck is ‘to give him a “luck-penny” on making a bargain’ (strike, v. 69.b): a luck-penny is ‘a piece of money given or kept “for luck”’, or ‘a certain sum which local custom prescribes to be returned by the seller to the buyer, esp. in the sale of live-stock’ (luck, n. 5). Phyllis says that by giving her sixpence Vermin will gain better fortune in his business dealings.
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gs801
thrive
be successful, prosper
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n6489
make it a crown.
i.e. by giving her the sixpence Vermin will make Phyllis’ total fortune five shillings, the worth of a crown.
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gg2902
crown.
a coin (once gold, subsequently silver) to the value of five shillings (its spending power in terms of the currency of 2009 would be £21.45p)
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gg4315
’Twill
it will
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gs704
dowry,
the money or property which the wife brings to her husband; the portion given with the wife (OED dowry n, 2; dower n2, 2)
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gg294
baggage!
good-for-nothing; strumpet, whore
[go to text]
gg4316
gi’t
give it (i.e. give it to)
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n6490
find Thy money out the while.
That is: get out your money: the use of the word ‘find’ also suggests that Phyllis (rightly) assumes that Amphilus is as miserly as Vermin.
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n6491
Pull her away.
Video
Vermin may direct this line to his servant, as he does in this extract from the workshop on this scene.
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gs889
fly
flee, escape
[go to text]
n6492
’tis time;
i.e. it’s time we went
[go to text]
n6493
begs
i.e. she is asking me for money
[go to text]
gg4317
o’ertake
overtake
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n6495
[All except BROOKALL exit.]
Video
Phyllis apparently exits pursuing Vermin, but Amphilus and Trebasco might exit in another direction, either together or separately. When Sir Amphilus next appears in 3.2 he is alone, but he is quickly followed on stage by Trebasco. See this extract from the workshop for an example of how the exits might be handled: Vermin and the Servant exit down stage left, followed by Phyllis, while Sir Amphilus and Trebasco exit up stage right, leaving Brookall to move into the centre of the stage from the position at the rear from which he has been enjoying Vermin’s discomfiture.
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n6494
[All except BROOKALL exit.]
] Exeunt omnes preter Brookall.
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n6496
Good child,
Video
The tone again shifts, as Brookall takes centre stage to contemplate the wrongs that he has undergone at the hands of Vermin and the law. After the crowded stage of the last 200 lines, this effectively slows the action and focuses the audience’s attention on Brookall, whose plight will be the subject of the rest of the scene. See this extract from the workshop.
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gs900
pensive
melancholy, ‘sorrowfully thoughtful’ (OED a, 1); anxious (OED a, 4)
[go to text]
gg840
vexation.
trouble, harassment, affliction
[go to text]
gg4318
spake
spoke
[go to text]
gs901
divination
clairvoyance, supernatural insight
[go to text]
n6497
my wrongs and his oppression
That is: the wrongs done to me and his oppression of me.
[go to text]
gg2370
for’t,
for it
[go to text]
gg4319
Whoe’er
whoever
[go to text]
gg4320
recalculate
go over again, recount, ‘calculate afresh’ (OED) (a very rare word)
[go to text]
gs902
Cast
thrown; ‘cast’ can also mean ‘beaten in a law suit’ (OED ppl. a, 2), and Brookall may pun on this sense
[go to text]
gs903
Unhappy
disastrous, associated with or causing misfortune (OED a, 3)
[go to text]
gg1405
chance
falling out or happening of events; in this context, mischance
[go to text]
gg2556
false
disloyal, treacherous
[go to text]
gg4321
merciless
unrelenting, pitiless
[go to text]
n6498
dice
i.e. gambling
[go to text]
gg4322
strumpets,
prostitutes
[go to text]
gg4323
Hydra-throated
The Lernaean Hydra was a many-headed beast fought by Hercules as his second labour. As soon as one of the Hydra’s heads was cut off, another one grew in its place, and Hercules only defeated it by using a firebrand to scorch each neck stump after he had cut off a head. Brookall’s allusion to the Hydra suggests the monstrosity of the law, its multiplicity and its imperviousness to attack.
[go to text]
gs904
maw
throat, usually used of a voracious animal (OED n, 1 3a)
[go to text]
n6499
Gulped up
swallowed greedily
[go to text]
n6500
life’s
] lives
[go to text]
gg4324
supportance,
means of support
[go to text]
gg5717
sustenance,
food, nourishment
[go to text]
gg4325
cry
shout indignantly (about), proclaim, pronounce
[go to text]
gg4326
ordained
appointed, ordered
[go to text]
gg4327
safety
protection, safeguard (OED 3)
[go to text]
gs905
relief
aid, help, assistance; (especially in legal discourse) deliverance, redress (OED relief n2, 6a)
[go to text]
gs906
innocence,
as an adjective: freedom from sin, moral purity (OED 1); guilelessness, artlessness, simplicity (OED 3); as a noun: innocent people
[go to text]
gg4328
accursed
cursed, doomed to misery or perdition (OED ppl. a, 1); hateful, damned (OED ppl. a, 2)
[go to text]
gg4329
succession,
successors, offspring (OED 8); followers (OED 10.b: recorded from 1653)
[go to text]
gg4330
supportress
a female supporter
[go to text]
gs907
past
exceeding, surpassing (OED prep, 2b)
[go to text]
gg4331
bloody
accompanied by bloodshed (OED a, 4b); blood-thirsty, cruel (OED a, 6)
[go to text]
gg4332
crying
shouting, clamorous (OED ppl. a, 1); wailing, weeping (OED ppl. a, 2); notorious (OED ppl. a, 3)
[go to text]
gg4333
Negotiating
doing business or trade (OED v, 1b)
[go to text]
gs396
wild
savage; uncontrolled, unrestrained; reckless; unruly, wayward; wanton, dissolute; savage, violent; passionate; furious; demented
[go to text]
gg588
practice.
habit or exercise; carrying out of a profession (OED n, 1)
[go to text]
n6501
A man, I hope, for my purpose,
Video
After the intense emotion of Brookall’s speech, Brome again insists on the immediate social and topographical context in his introduction of the corrupt attorney looking for a man to swear a (presumably false) oath. (A nicely amoral urbanity is captured by Anita Wright in this extract from the workshop.) The Attorney’s appearance also has the immediate effect of endorsing Brookall’s view of the law.
[go to text]
gg4334
a-going
going
[go to text]
n6502
to the church
possibly because he would find desperate people praying there
[go to text]
gg4335
oath,
‘a solemn or formal declaration invoking God (or a god, or other object of reverence) as witness to the truth of a statement, or to the binding nature of a promise or undertaking’ (OED n, 1a)
[go to text]
n6503
two shillings.
twelve pence
[go to text]
n6504
half a crown,
Then equivalent to two and a half shillings, or thirty pence.
[go to text]
n6505
stand w’ ye;
That is: argue with you, haggle (OED stand v, 79).
[go to text]
n6506
at leisure,
free, unoccupied
[go to text]
n6507
the other of our bail
i.e. the other person who is giving security for the accused person.
[go to text]
gg4336
bail
someone who procures the release of another person from custody or prison by giving security (either money or their own person) for the prisoner’s appearance in court (OED n1, 6)
[go to text]
gs908
already.
a legal professional who conducts litigation in the courts of Common Law and prepares the case for the barrister, or counsel, who argues the case in open court (OED attorney, n1, 3)
[go to text]
gg4337
employ
hire, use
[go to text]
n6485
common bail,
A bail is someone who procures the release of another person from custody or prison by giving security (either money or their own person) for the prisoner’s appearance in court (OED n.1 6). Thomas Blount writes in Glossographia, or A Dictionary (London, 1656), ‘There is both common and special bail; common bail is in actions of small prejudice or slight proof, in which case any sureties are taken; whereas upon cases of greater weight special bail or surety must be given’ (sig. F3r). The term ‘common bail’ is used in some texts to refer to those who make false oaths: see the vision of hell in Dekker’s Dekker his Dream (London, 1620), in which ‘perjured common bail’ mingle
With pettifoggers, that set law to sale
With cauterized consciences; thieves, cheats,
Tradesmen that fed upon the broken meats
Of oaths and rotten wares (sigs. E3v-E4r)
[go to text]
gs909
common
‘free to be used by every one’ (OED a, 6a); used to describe criminals and offenders (OED a, 8); inferior
[go to text]
n6508
knight o’ th’ post.
Someone who makes a living by giving false evidence, a false bail.
[go to text]
n6509
crop-eared
Cropping of the ears was a punishment for various forms of misdemeanour, including perjury; as Garthine Walker notes, ‘Torn, cropped and amputated ears imparted an explicit message to early modern observers: the owner was literally “ear-marked” for life as one who had been officially punished as a rogue, or a seditious, libellous, fraudulent or perjured person.’ (Crime, Gender and Social Order in Early Modern England [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003], 91). As Matthew Steggle hints (Richard Brome 132) this may also allude to the fate of William Prynne, whose ears - already trimmed as a result of the reception of his anti-theatrical tract Histriomastix - were cut away completely when he was prosecuted for seditious libel, along with John Bastwick and Henry Burton, in 1637.
[go to text]
n6510
cry you mercy!
I beg your pardon, forgive me
[go to text]
n6511
I must up, I see, To the old synagogue, there I shall be fitted—
Video
This line may be delivered as an aside, as it is in this extract from the workshop on this scene.
[go to text]
n6512
the old synagogue,
There were no synagogues in London in the seventeenth century, but an alternative meaning of synagogue is a place of worship (OED synagogue, 3.b), so the attorney probably refers to the Temple church. In A Mad Couple Well Matched, Careless tells Wat that rather than think up schemes to gain wealth he will ‘rather die here in Ram Alley, or walk down to the Temple and lay myself down alive in the old Synagogue, cross-legged among the monumental knights there till I turn marble with ’em.’ [MC 1.1.speech14] The use of the word synagogue implies, through a common, racist stereotype about Jews, the avarice of the people he will find there.
[go to text]
gs910
fitted—
supplied, furnished
[go to text]
n6513
[ATTORNEY] exit[s].
] Exit.
[go to text]
gs911
wretched?
sunk into degradation, vile, despicable
[go to text]
gg4338
soil
tarnish, bring disgrace on (OED v1, 3)
[go to text]
gg4339
perjury?
the action of making a false oath, or swearing to something that you know is not true
[go to text]
n6514
end me all at once
That is: kill me immediately.
[go to text]
gg4340
misconstrued
misinterpreted
[go to text]
gg4341
interpretation.
construction put on intentions, etc. (OED 2b)
[go to text]
n6515
He lies on his face.
Video
That is: he lies down with his face towards the ground. Compare similar stage directions in Thomas Lord Cromwell (Chamberlain’s Men, c. 1601; printed London, 1602), in which Friskiball despairs of life and, commenting ‘Be patient therefore, lay thee down and die’, ‘He lies down.’ (sig. E1r), and Massinger’s The Maid of Honour (Lady Elizabeth’s Men, 1621-2), in which Bertoldo despairs:
Can it then
Be censured womanish weakness in me, if
Thus clogged with irons, and the period
To close up all calamities denied me
(Which was presented Seneca), I wish
I ne’er had being, at least never knew
What happiness was? Or argue with heaven’s justice,
Tearing my locks, and in defiance throwing
Dust in the air? Or falling on the ground, thus
With my nails, and teeth to dig a grave or rend
The bowels of the earth, my stepmother,
And not a natural parent? Or thus practise
To die, and as I were insensible,
Believe I had no motion? Lies on his face.
(Edwards and Gibson, eds., vol. 1, 4.3.21-34)
Brookall may lie flat on his face, as he does in this extract from the workshop on this scene, or he may assume a crouching position, with his head on the ground, as he does in this extract. In the latter version, the position is assumed with a certain melodramatic flourish – suggesting ways in which the scene might be made more comic – but in this extract from the run-through of a longer extract it is handled more seriously. For further discussion of the handling of this moment, with actors Sam Alexander and Hannah Watkins, see this extract from the workshop.
[go to text]
gg4342
sore
severely, dangerously; intensely
[go to text]
gg2237
afflicted,
troubled (OED ppl. a, 1); affected by disease of body or mind, suffering (OED ppl. a, 2; the first citation is dated 1680-90, but the context here suggests that this meaning is possible); downcast (OED ppl. a, 3)
[go to text]
n6516
on
i.e. over
[go to text]
n6517
To make
i.e. by making
[go to text]
gg4343
shrinking
cowering, retreating; curling up (see OED shrink v, 11)
[go to text]
gg4344
buffetings
blows
[go to text]
n6518
desired you
i.e. asked you to, wanted you to
[go to text]
gg4345
seek
go in search of; go to, visit (OED v, 4a)
[go to text]
gg4346
chamber?
room or apartment in a house (OED n, 1a)
[go to text]
n6519
fatherly supplies
i.e. the financial support that Brookall should have provided as his son’s father.
[go to text]
gg4347
thrust
forced, pushed
[go to text]
n6520
Of commons, to the common world
The word ‘common’ has obviously lingered in Brookall’s mind, and is compulsively repeated.
[go to text]
gs912
commons,
common table or refectory
[go to text]
gs913
common
general, public; used to describe criminals and offenders (OED a, 8); inferior
[go to text]
gs914
succour?
means of assistance (OED n, 2); protection, shelter (OED n, 4); financial aid (OED n, 6)
[go to text]
n6521
like a man of courage.
i.e. courageously
[go to text]
n6522
Phew—
Video
This is probably a dismissive sound such as a snort, rather than an expression of relief (compare Wat’s similar expression in 3.1 and this extract from the workshop on that scene). See these extracts from the workshop on this scene for other ways of handling it in a modern production: in the first, Brookall (Sam Alexander) sobs instead of saying ‘phew’; in the second, he says ‘phew’.
[go to text]
n6523
You’ll tell me
Video
Brookall launches into a series of conventional statements which aim to console the bereaved: for further comment see below. See this extract from the workshop, in which Sam Alexander effectively suggests that he is reciting familiar, even clichéd, sentiments.
[go to text]
n6524
man ne’er dies but changeth life, And happily for a better.
This expression is related to a number of proverbial phrases, such as ‘DEATH is the end of all' (Dent D142.1) and ‘A man can die but once’ (Tilley M73). In Kaina Kai Palaia Things New and Old, Or, a Store-House of Similes, Sentences, Allegories, Apophthegms, Adages, Apologues, Divine, Moral, Political, &c. (London, 1658), under the heading ‘The Day of Death Better Than the Day of Life’, John Spenser quotes Elizabeth I as saying ‘Whilst I call things past to mind [...] I behold things present; and whilst I expect things to come, I hold them happiest that go hence soonest’ (p. 407).
[go to text]
gs915
happily
fortunately, appropriately
[go to text]
n6525
He is happiest That goes the right way soonest.
This is related to the proverbial phrases ‘The best WAY to travel is towards heaven’ (Tilley W14) and ‘To go the WAY of all flesh’ (Tilley W166).
[go to text]
n6526
Nature sent us
A common cliché: compare Thomas Blenerhasset’s account of the ‘Complaint of Carassus’ in The Second Part of the Mirror for Magistrates Containing the Falls of the Unfortunate Princes of this Land, from the Conquest of Caesar, unto the Coming of Duke William the Conqueror (London, 1578):
Sith men be born by Nature naked all,
With their estates why are not men content?
Why do they deem the want of wealth a thrall?
Why should they loathe the lot which God hath sent? (sig. C2r)
Like Brome, Blenerhasset links the image of man coming naked into the world with his dependence on God for his earthly fortune.
[go to text]
gg1268
hither,
here (to this place)
[go to text]
n6527
all the goods we had We only took on credit with the world.
This phrase also has proverbial associations: compare, for instance, ‘LIFE is no sure inheritance’ (Tilley L253), ‘No MAN has a lease of his life’ (Tilley M327) and ‘DEATH pays all debts’ (Tilley D148). In Kaina Kai Palaia Things New and Old, Or, a Store-House of Similes, Sentences, Allegories, Apophthegms, Adages, Apologues, Divine, Moral, Political, &c. (London, 1658), under the heading ‘A Rich Man is Gods Steward’, John Spenser quotes a story of Nicholas Udall’s about a rich woman who gives money to a beggar telling him, ‘God hath not given, but lent unto me what I have’ (p. 129).
[go to text]
gs916
credit
financial credit: ‘trust or confidence in a buyer’s ability and intention to pay at some future time’ (OED n, 9)
[go to text]
n6528
the best of men are but mere borrowers, Though some take longer day.
Related to the proverb ‘To pay one’s DEBT to nature’ (Dent D168); compare William Drummond of Hawthornden’s ‘Ah, burning thoughts’ (in Poems: by William Drummond, of Hawthornden [Edinburgh, 1616], sig. C2r): ‘Let me renowned live from the vulgar throng, / And when ye list (Heavens) take this borrowed breath’, and Henry King, ‘Sic Vita’ (in Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes, and Sonnets [London, 1657], sig. K5r):
Like to the falling of a star,
Or as the flights of eagles are,
Or like the fresh springs gaudy hue,
Or silver drops of morning dew,
Or like a wind that chafes the flood,
Or bubbles which on water stood,
Even such is man, whose borrow’d light
Is straight called in, and paid tonight.
The wind blows out; the bubble dies;
The spring entombed in autumn lies;
The dew dries up; the star is shot;
The flight is past; and man forgot.
[go to text]
n6529
take longer day.
i.e. who take longer to make their payment
[go to text]
gg4348
day.
a fixed date (especially for a payment) (OED n, 9a)
[go to text]
n6530
arguments of consolation—
statements that aim to console or comfort
[go to text]
gg776
on’t,
of it
[go to text]
n6531
he lived Not to learn law enough to—
i.e. he didn’t learn enough law to end up in hell. (Brookall breaks off before reaching the end of his statement, but it is clear where his thoughts are heading).
[go to text]
gg4349
Substantially
as a substantial, physical being
[go to text]
n6532
in flesh,
i.e. in physical form, in his body
[go to text]
gg4350
brook
endure, put up with (OED v, 3)
[go to text]
gg4351
fear
anxiety (for someone’s safety) (OED n1, 4); alarm, dread
[go to text]
gg4352
mistrust,
suspicion, distrust, doubt
[go to text]
n6533
thou play’st with me!
i.e. you amuse yourself at my expense; you mock me.
[go to text]
gs917
spirit.
character, disposition
[go to text]
n6534
wrongs
i.e. the wrongs that have been committed against me
[go to text]
gs918
late
recently, formerly; ‘late’ also means ‘deceased’, which is the sense that Brookall picks up
[go to text]
gg4353
infer
deduce, conclude
[go to text]
gs919
Good,
a courteous way of addressing someone (‘good sir’ would be more usual, and it is possible that a word is missing)
[go to text]
n6535
forty pieces.
The octavo places this phrase in Valentine’s speech, and the scancion suggest that it belongs here, but the punctuation (it appears as ‘to you; forty peeces?’) might suggest that it rather belongs at the beginning of Brookall’s speech.
[go to text]
n6536
forty pieces.
The word ‘piece’ was most often used to refer to the unite of James I; Wat assumes in 3.1 [DM 3.1.speech477] that a piece is worth 20 shillings, so on this reckoning forty pieces would be worth £40, which is roughly equivalent to £3400 in today’s currency.
[go to text]
gs920
whence,
what source
[go to text]
gg4355
achieve
gain
[go to text]
gs921
handsome
considerable
[go to text]
gg4356
possibility
potential fortune, financial prospects
[go to text]
gg4039
ha’
have
[go to text]
n6537
in a way
has a good chance of achieving
[go to text]
gg3892
hopeful
promising, ‘giving promise of success or future good’ (OED a, 2a)
[go to text]
gs922
Late
recently
[go to text]
n6538
ta’en with good affection
i.e. becoming fond of, feeling good will towards (ta'en: taken).
[go to text]
gg2156
ta’en
taken
[go to text]
gs923
free
generous; unrestricted, unrestrained
[go to text]
gs791
bounty
kindness, generosity
[go to text]
gs924
means.
money
[go to text]
gg4357
’twas
it was
[go to text]
gs925
fly
move quickly, travel
[go to text]
n6539
silks and feathers?
Used here as representative of expensive clothing.
[go to text]
n6540
servant-like
i.e. the appropriate behaviour of a servant.
[go to text]
gs406
waive
cast aside, reject, disregard
[go to text]
gg4358
unhappily
unfortunately, unluckily
[go to text]
gg2040
hand.
handwriting (OED n, 16)
[go to text]
n6541
Ha, ha, ha—
Brookall’s laughter may be hysterical, hollow, or scornful.
[go to text]
n6542
What is the gentleman?
Either ‘of what rank or character?’, or ‘what is his name?’.
[go to text]
gs926
whither
where, to what place
[go to text]
gg2469
crave
ask, beg
[go to text]
gs927
render
return; deliver
[go to text]
gs377
means
resources (especially financial)
[go to text]
gg830
advancement,
promotion, preferment
[go to text]
n6543
bar him
obstruct him from; hinder him from gaining
[go to text]
gs791
bounty
kindness, generosity
[go to text]
gs928
full
abundant, perfect
[go to text]
gg4359
ability?
financial power, estate, means (OED 4)
[go to text]
n6544
more like a father than a beggar,
i.e. emphasising fatherly care over financial need.
[go to text]
n6545
I am no father.
i.e. because he believes his son is dead.
[go to text]
n6546
accept
] except
[go to text]
n6547
nearer on
i.e. more closely at
[go to text]
n6548
Poverty Was ne’er so coy else.
i.e. a poor person will never have been so coy.
[go to text]
gg4360
coy
shy, disdainful
[go to text]
gg4361
spit
(v) speak with anger or hatred
[go to text]
gg4362
defiance
a challenge (OED 2); an declaration of hostility or of hatred (OED 4 and 5)
[go to text]
n6549
on’t—
on it: in this context, at it
[go to text]
n6550
mean you?
do you mean
[go to text]
n6551
thee
Brookall moves from addressing Valentine with the polite ‘you’ to using the informal ‘thou’, the shift signalling his sudden anger.
[go to text]
gg4363
murther
murder
[go to text]
gs929
collect
compose, control
[go to text]
gs930
like
the same, similar
[go to text]
gg4364
well-deserving
worthy, virtuous
[go to text]
gg4365
known
well-known, recognised
[go to text]
gg1770
basely
dishonourably, disingenuously
[go to text]
gg4366
wronged
injured, treated unfairly
[go to text]
n6552
cast her off
discarded her
[go to text]
gs931
appointed
agreed, arranged
[go to text]
gg776
on’t.
of it
[go to text]
gg4367
charged
challenged
[go to text]
n6553
with’t,
i.e. about it
[go to text]
n6554
before his years
i.e. before he was old enough.
[go to text]
gs932
warrant
assure, guarantee
[go to text]
n6555
cut him off,
i.e. killed him
[go to text]
gg4368
Presuming
relying on (OED v, 7); taking unscrupulous advantage (OED v, 6)
[go to text]
gs933
base
contemptible
[go to text]
gs934
project
scheme
[go to text]
gs397
mere
pure, complete
[go to text]
gs935
wild
rude, uncivilised; reckless; unruly; passionate; furious; demented
[go to text]
gs936
fancy
imagination
[go to text]
gg4369
gathers
concludes
[go to text]
n6556
as
] a
[go to text]
gg2042
house.
family
[go to text]
n6557
stand you off.
keep back
[go to text]
gs937
furnish
provide
[go to text]
gs938
fit
suitable
[go to text]
gg3297
difference?
disagreement
[go to text]
n6558
and like a gentleman?
That is: will you behave in the honourable way expected of a gentleman?
[go to text]
gg4370
for pity?
an exclamation expressing remonstrance (compare ‘for pity’s sake’) (OED pity n, 2c)
[go to text]
n6559
He fenceth.
Brookall is apparently not carrying a sword, given that he asks Valentine to provide him with one in [DM 2.1.speech405], so he mimes fencing, in an aggressive manner. In Barnabe Barnes’ The Devil’s Charter (King’s Men, 1606; printed London, 1607), Frescobaldi, according to a stage direction, ‘fenceth’, while saying,
He makes a thrust, I with a swift passado,
Make quick avoidance, and with this stoccado
(Although he fence with all his finest force)
Bared of his body thrust him in the throat. (sig. F1v)
[go to text]
n6560
your will before your end.
i.e. your dying wishes
[go to text]
gg4371
phrase—
style
[go to text]
n6561
two hours
The events of the play apparently take place within a very short space of time; in 4.1 Valentine says that Wat was freed from prison ‘this day’, and in 5.1 Frances says that Alice arrived at the ordinary ‘but dis day’. For further comment see the Introduction.
[go to text]
gs939
hence
from now
[go to text]
n6562
To FRIENDLY
In the octavo this stage direction appears in the right hand margin.
[go to text]
n6563
From whence we’ll walk—
Brookall and Valentine finish one another’s sentences, suggesting the complicity between them in the plan to fight a duel.
[go to text]
gs940
whence
which place
[go to text]
n6563
Silent, as nothing were—
Brookall and Valentine finish one another’s sentences, suggesting the complicity between them in the plan to fight a duel.
[go to text]
n6563
As nothing were betwixt us,
Brookall and Valentine finish one another’s sentences, suggesting the complicity between them in the plan to fight a duel.
[go to text]
gg3294
betwixt
between
[go to text]
gg4372
propounded,
intended, suggested
[go to text]
n6564
not
] no
[go to text]
gg4373
whinnelling
weak, puny; trifling (OED whindle v)
[go to text]
n6565
set thy house in order.
That is: settle your estate (in advance of death).
[go to text]
© University of Sheffield, 2010
The transcribed text is made freely available for non-commercial usage.
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