ACT THREE
3.1*
n5039
Act 3 opens with an eruption of argument and vituperation, with Erasmus seeking to moderate the hostility between Matchil and Rachel, and Valentine beginning to see that the breakdown of trust between husband and wife offers him real opportunities. Rachel plays on Matchil's fears concerning her chastity with a wonderful set of references to card games, all of which seem to imply illicit sexual activity.
Once alone on the stage, Matchil speaks at length about his predicament, recognises his own responsibility for it, and reasons himself into the need to make peace with his new wife and, he hopes, persuade her to moderate her conduct. This she agrees to do, but only in show: out of the observation of others, she intends to rule the roost, and will covertly inflict physical pain on Matchil to keep him in line. This she proceeds to do when Erasmus and Valentine re-enter, appearing to have returned to a subservient role, but taking every opportunity to pinch her husband out of their sight. When husband and wife leave the stage, Erasmus and Valentine first marvel at the transformation and then shrewdly guess that this is all pretence.
It is striking that Matchil has his long speech at this point in the play and not closer to the resolution of all the plotlines towards the end. Brome to some degree rehabilitates his central character, making him unexpectedly sensitive to his own follies, and worse, and then showing him capable of a restrained attempt to restore some sort of harmony in his marriage. This gives the play an unexpected structure: rather than suggesting an onward rush towards disaster right to the end of the play, only for that to be averted in some sort of comic resolution, The New Academy seems to reassure the audience at its midpoint, meaning that the remainder of the play is far less tense and that we can concentrate much more on the representations of fashionable London life in the set-piece scenes to come.
n5039
Once alone on the stage, Matchil speaks at length about his predicament, recognises his own responsibility for it, and reasons himself into the need to make peace with his new wife and, he hopes, persuade her to moderate her conduct. This she agrees to do, but only in show: out of the observation of others, she intends to rule the roost, and will covertly inflict physical pain on Matchil to keep him in line. This she proceeds to do when Erasmus and Valentine re-enter, appearing to have returned to a subservient role, but taking every opportunity to pinch her husband out of their sight. When husband and wife leave the stage, Erasmus and Valentine first marvel at the transformation and then shrewdly guess that this is all pretence.
It is striking that Matchil has his long speech at this point in the play and not closer to the resolution of all the plotlines towards the end. Brome to some degree rehabilitates his central character, making him unexpectedly sensitive to his own follies, and worse, and then showing him capable of a restrained attempt to restore some sort of harmony in his marriage. This gives the play an unexpected structure: rather than suggesting an onward rush towards disaster right to the end of the play, only for that to be averted in some sort of comic resolution, The New Academy seems to reassure the audience at its midpoint, meaning that the remainder of the play is far less tense and that we can concentrate much more on the representations of fashionable London life in the set-piece scenes to come.
Enter MATCHIL, RACHEL, between [them to separate them]*n8914
There are two possibilities here: that Matchil and Rachel are flanked by Erasmus and Valentine; or that Erasmus and Valentine are in the middle, keeping the warring couple apart. This edition imagines the latter.
ERASMUS and VALENTINE
n8914
504ErasmusGood Master Matchil.
505ValentineMistress, be not so violent.
506RachelHa!
endure her.
508RachelYou*n5043
Throughout this dispute, Matchil and Rachel address each other as 'you', rather than the more intimate 'thou'.
were best to kill her, then, and then you’ll
have no other course to take, unless you stay and be hanged.
n5043
509MatchilI’ll make thee glad to fly*n4718
Matchil means that he will make things so disagreeable that his new wife will run away; she reapplies the word, however, saying she will stay and spend all his money before she leaves.
first.
n4718
510RachelFrom my house and husband, shall I? From my
possessions, shall I? And leave you all to spend in riot,
shall I? No, sir, I’ll stay and spend my share if you go
to that, that will I. And make all fly*n4718
Matchil means that he will make things so disagreeable that his new wife will run away; she reapplies the word, however, saying she will stay and spend all his money before she leaves.
as well as you, and
you go to that, that will I, ha.
n4718
511MatchilWhoop, whow.*n6160
These are typographical sings for the actor to express his fury and despair through inarticulate but loud noises.
n6160
512ErasmusNay, fie, be not so loud*n5195
Erasmus expresses concern at the public display of their dispute, responding to the sense that reputation is crucial in the world of Stuart London.
.
n5195
513MatchilWhat didst thou bring, thou drudge thou?
514RachelThat which you were content to drudge withal,
I am too sure o’that. The drudge you speak of is no
worse than your own wife, I am too sure o’ that.
515MatchilI know not what to say to her.*n8915
Rachel's aggressive defence of her position reduces her husband to silence, just as she had done his sister Lady Nestlecock. No-one expects the previously silent servant to be so linguistically confident.
n8915
516RachelDid you not say for better, for worse? And if
’twere worse than ’tis, ’twere all too good for you. And
that I hope I shall find some good friend to
know*n4719
Rachel threatens to take a lover and thus cuckold Matchil, as he recognises in his next speech: 'She threatens horns'.
.
n4719
517Valentine [Aside] That I like well, I’ll be her first man*n5040
Valentine's complacent assertion shows his confidence that he will seduce Rachel before anyone else; it also implies that her husband, Matchil, is too old to be his wife's 'first man'.
.
n5040
518RachelI trust you have found the drudge to be a woman
fit to content a man, and if you grant not that, some
better man perhaps shall be a judge, betwixt you and
the drudge.
519Valentine [Aside] Better still.
520MatchilShe threatens horns*n4719
Rachel threatens to take a lover and thus cuckold Matchil, as he recognises in his next speech: 'She threatens horns'.
, I think.
n4719
521RachelHorns, I think you said. If ’twere so, ’twere
too good for you. Cannot your own wife content
you, ha?
522Valentine [Aside] She holds up that point stoutly.*n8916
Valentine makes a cheap phallic joke, but it draws attention to the gender reversal that is shot through this scene.
n8916
523RachelThat shall be tried.
524MatchilO for an expert surgeon*n5063
chyrugion
now to cast her
in a deep sleep, and geld her.*n4720
Matchil's use of 'geld', to castrate, indicates how dominant Rachel has become, taking what her husband sees as the male role in their relationship. It recalls Camelion's term of affection for his wife Hannah: 'Cock'. Again the genders are reversed.
n5063
n4720
525ErasmusIn troth you will be both sorry, when your
passion gives but least way to your understandings.
Master Matchil, let me persuade with you.
526MatchilNever, unless you bring her on her knees, to
crave forgiveness at my foot.*n6162
This is exactly what does happen in the play's final scene. [NA 5.2.speech1314]
n6162
527Valentine [Aside to RACHEL] If you but yield an inch, he treads upon your
neck. I will not give an under spur-leather*n4721
An under spur-leather is strap going under the heel of a boot to keep the spur in place. Hence the term is used for a subordinate or menial. OED records this figurative use only from 1685.
for you.
But bear it out bravely, and I’ll be your servant.
n4721
528ErasmusMistress Matchil.
529RachelMistress Match-ill indeed, to be so matched.
530MatchilSo matched! How matched? What, from the hurden†gg3377
a coarse fabric
smock†gg3378
a common shift or undergarment
with lockram†gg1819
linen fabric used for apparel and household material
upper-bodies†gg3379
the clothing of the chest and shoulders
, and hempen
sheets†gg3380
made of hemp, hence coarse or rustic material
, to wear and sleep in Holland†gg3381
Holland-cloth, a fine linen fabric
, and from the
dripping-pan†gg3382
a pan used to catch juices from roasting meat, a kitchen pan
to eat in silver, ha? Do you repine at
your match, ha? Is wealth contemptible to you?
gg3377
gg3378
gg1819
gg3379
gg3380
gg3381
gg3382
531RachelI was better content in my poverty. I have
not been myself, gentlemen, since he married me.
532MatchilYou may be poor again as soon as you please,
the door is open, depart at your pleasure; you know
the way to your old aunt the apple-woman, at Hockleyhole*n5064
Hockley Hole, or Hockley-in-the-Hole, in Clerkenwell, was notorious as a place of ill-repute and famous for bear-baitings.
. Take your knitting needles again, and live
with her, go.
n5064
533RachelNo, sir, I’ll stay with you, and make you as poor
before I have done wi’ ye, as I was before you
had me gent†gg3383
a contraction of gentle
. I shall not be myself till then.
gg3383
534MatchilThe devil you shall. Was ever such a crooked condition crept into a thing like woman?*n4722
The abuse of women as having a 'crooked condition' seems common in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but I have found no instances before Brome's phrase in this play.
n4722
535ValentineYet this, sir, is the rare piece of obedience
You boasted of, and said you would defy
The devil to dishonest her. I am sorry
Your judgement led you into such an error.
Already she’s my mistress.
536MatchilIs she so?
537RachelYes, and I’ll call him servant*n4723
Rachel intensifies Matchil's discomfort by using the term 'servant' now in meanings drawn from the language of romance, courtship, and love. Where she had literally been Matchil's servant before, now her lovers will be 'servants' to their 'mistress'. As she says, 'gentlewomen use it'.
; gentlewomen
use it.
n4723
538ValentineDo so, mistress.
539MatchilIf she, sir, be your mistress, then am I
Your master-in-law. Out of my house, I charge you.
540Erasmus [To VALENTINE] Dost thou conspire to grieve him?
541ValentineTroth, sir, I did but jest. You have my pity.
542ErasmusAll are not times for jest, friend Valentine.
543MatchilO my affliction![RACHEL] looks in her watch*n5541
Rachel's action with her watch and her references to the machinery of the kitchen (the 'jack') are clearly intended to display her newly-acquired wealth and status as wife to Matchil, but they also suggest a freedom - specifically sexual - that threatens her husband.
It seems likely that her assertion that the watch is broken, or needs winding, implies Matchil's impotence or inadequacy as a lover. Valentine picks up a few lines later on the suggestive euphemism: 'Pity the spring is broke, but I can get it mended.'
.
n5541
It seems likely that her assertion that the watch is broken, or needs winding, implies Matchil's impotence or inadequacy as a lover. Valentine picks up a few lines later on the suggestive euphemism: 'Pity the spring is broke, but I can get it mended.'
544ErasmusHave a little patience, sir,
While I talk calmly with her.
545MatchilLeave me then
A while unto my thoughts. Go into the house.
546Rachel [RACHEL holds up a pocket-watch] Pray, servant, help me here a little. Do so much
As wind up my jack for me*n4724
Rachel is still using the terminology of the kitchen, a 'jack' being the mechanism for turning the meat before the fire, so called because it takes the place of 'Jack', the boy who would otherwise perform the task (also a general term for machines [GLOSS gg3206].
But 'jack' is also slang for 'penis' and Rachel's desire for someone to 'wind up my jack' again implies Matchil's inadequacy as a lover. Williams, Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery, quotes an instance when the kitchen-jack is invoked: 'a whore receiving a "Spanish Rogue into my French quarters, where he turn'd the Pig so long till one of his best members was lost in the dripping-pan, yet the Jack-weights are secure and hang fast still" (p. 727, quoting from 'Spenser', Strange and True Conference, [1660]).
, my watch I would say.
n4724
But 'jack' is also slang for 'penis' and Rachel's desire for someone to 'wind up my jack' again implies Matchil's inadequacy as a lover. Williams, Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery, quotes an instance when the kitchen-jack is invoked: 'a whore receiving a "Spanish Rogue into my French quarters, where he turn'd the Pig so long till one of his best members was lost in the dripping-pan, yet the Jack-weights are secure and hang fast still" (p. 727, quoting from 'Spenser', Strange and True Conference, [1660]).
547Valentine [Aside] Her jack! She’s in the kitchen still.
[Aloud to RACHEL] A pretty watch this, mistress, what did you pay for ’t?
548RachelNothing, my husband ga’t me.
549Valentine
Pity the spring is broke, but I can get it mended.*n5541
Rachel's action with her watch and her references to the machinery of the kitchen (the 'jack') are clearly intended to display her newly-acquired wealth and status as wife to Matchil, but they also suggest a freedom - specifically sexual - that threatens her husband.
It seems likely that her assertion that the watch is broken, or needs winding, implies Matchil's impotence or inadequacy as a lover. Valentine picks up a few lines later on the suggestive euphemism: 'Pity the spring is broke, but I can get it mended.'
n5541
It seems likely that her assertion that the watch is broken, or needs winding, implies Matchil's impotence or inadequacy as a lover. Valentine picks up a few lines later on the suggestive euphemism: 'Pity the spring is broke, but I can get it mended.'
550RachelGood servant, take it with you then to the jackmakers, I would say, the watchmakers. Come,
gentlemen, shall we have a crash†gs600
a brief bout of activity
at cards*n4725
Rachel's use of 'crash', which can mean simply a 'bout' or can refer to sexual intercourse, launches yet more double entendres to torment Matchil with the prospect of cuckoldry. Each of the names of card games she goes on to use has within it some term suggestive of sexual intercourse.
?
gs600
n4725
551ErasmusWith all my heart. What is your game?
552RachelI can play a-many old games. One and thirty
bone-ace*n4726
A card game in which players try to get as close to 31 in points as possible without exceeding that number. However, 'bone-ache' is also a popular term for venereal disease (OED bone n1 17).
, tickle me quickly*n4727
a card game, also used as a woman's name in Middleton's The Inner Temple Masque.
, and my lady's hole*n4728
a card game, also used as a woman's name in Middleton's The Inner Temple Masque.
, and
sichie*n5196
No other use of this word has been found. It appears to be a colloquial version of 'such-like'. 'Sich' is a dialect form of 'such'.
. But you shall teach me new ones, though I lose
money for my learning: gleek†gg3407
a card game involving 3 players and 44 cards
and primero†gg3408
a variant name for Primiera, a card game related to poker
, gresco saut†gg3409
a card game, mentioned but not described in early modern literature
, primofistula†gg3410
one of the names of primo visto or primofisto, a card game (This version of the name is perhaps unique to The New Academy; a fistula is, anatomically, a pipe-like ulcer and Rachel's term perhaps shows her inexperience and is another mortification for Matchil)
, I know all by hear-say. Come, let
us have a bout at somewhat. I have money enough.
n4726
n4727
n4728
n5196
gg3407
gg3408
gg3409
gg3410
553Valentine [Aside] And I’ll make shift to ease you of some on’t.Exit [RACHEL, ERASMUS, and VALENTINE]*n5041
Ex. three
n5041
554MatchilAffliction on affliction hourly finds me,
n6965
Rachel, Erasmus, and Valentine exit, leaving Matchil alone. The New Academy, like others of Brome's plays, sometimes seems broad comedy but then contain moments of nearly shocking psychological subtlety and penetration.
Matchil's appalled realisation that his marriage has condemned him to a life of conflict, noise, and humiliation results in a long and complex speech. It comes surprisingly early in the play: the audience might expect such a crisis for the leading character to come in the final act. This positioning gives the speech unexpectedness, and that may be one of the ways it achieves its penetration of the audience's imagination.
Exploring the speech with different actors revealed its sophistication in manifesting Matchil's response and developing understanding. At first acknowledging questions concerning the appropriateness of finding such psychological mimesis in the play, the actors and the director, Brian Woolland, charted Matchil's movement from 'egotistical melancholia' (Woolland) through a wholly new reflectiveness, as a result of which the character recognises his responsibility for the accumulating disasters, and finally -- surprisingly -- to Matchil's resolution to subject himself to his new wife in the cause of peace. The moment ends in a brief but telling exchange with a servant, in which Matchil begins to adapt his peremptory verbal style to his new humility and conciliatory purpose.
The exploration of the scene involved two actors -- Robert Lister and Philip Cumbus -- alternating the roles of Matchil and the unnamed servant. Each reading built upon the previous ones, incorporating rhythms and actions found to be powerful and revealing.
After much exploration, Philip Cumbus as Matchil performed the complete speech for the editors and other actors, with Robert Lister as the servant. The relationship between master and new servant -- replacing Rachel, now Matchil's provoking wife -- had become crucial to defining Matchil's journey towards a wounded acceptance of his lot.
n6965
Matchil's appalled realisation that his marriage has condemned him to a life of conflict, noise, and humiliation results in a long and complex speech. It comes surprisingly early in the play: the audience might expect such a crisis for the leading character to come in the final act. This positioning gives the speech unexpectedness, and that may be one of the ways it achieves its penetration of the audience's imagination.
Exploring the speech with different actors revealed its sophistication in manifesting Matchil's response and developing understanding. At first acknowledging questions concerning the appropriateness of finding such psychological mimesis in the play, the actors and the director, Brian Woolland, charted Matchil's movement from 'egotistical melancholia' (Woolland) through a wholly new reflectiveness, as a result of which the character recognises his responsibility for the accumulating disasters, and finally -- surprisingly -- to Matchil's resolution to subject himself to his new wife in the cause of peace. The moment ends in a brief but telling exchange with a servant, in which Matchil begins to adapt his peremptory verbal style to his new humility and conciliatory purpose.
The exploration of the scene involved two actors -- Robert Lister and Philip Cumbus -- alternating the roles of Matchil and the unnamed servant. Each reading built upon the previous ones, incorporating rhythms and actions found to be powerful and revealing.
After much exploration, Philip Cumbus as Matchil performed the complete speech for the editors and other actors, with Robert Lister as the servant. The relationship between master and new servant -- replacing Rachel, now Matchil's provoking wife -- had become crucial to defining Matchil's journey towards a wounded acceptance of his lot.
And lays me on the rack†gg1476
instrument of torture, on which a body is tied and stretched to prompt a confession of guilt; punning on the rack of a manger, at which a horse is tied
, tearing my heart*n4792
Matchil imagines himself a tortured hero like Prometheus, who was chained to a rock while vultures tore out his liver. Appropriately, Matchil changes the organ to the heart, seat of romantic passion.
Performing this passage, the actors found a violent energy in Matchil. At this point in the speech, he perceives himself as the victim and his complaint seems almost premeditated and self-conscious. It is characterised by elevated diction and reference and rhetorical patterning.
Alone on stage, the actors found themselves drawn to use the audience, as though they were setting out a case.
gg1476
n4792
Performing this passage, the actors found a violent energy in Matchil. At this point in the speech, he perceives himself as the victim and his complaint seems almost premeditated and self-conscious. It is characterised by elevated diction and reference and rhetorical patterning.
Alone on stage, the actors found themselves drawn to use the audience, as though they were setting out a case.
Like greedy vultures. O my heart! This heart
That I so long supposed impenetrable
By all the darts of sorrow, is now transfixed,
Shot through and through with torments, and by this,
This last made sensible of all the rest.
My son’s untimely death, my daughter’s loss.
My sister’s follies, and my brother’s vices,
My servant’s falsehood, and the jeers of strangers
Now wound me all at once; and all through this
Predominant blow, pulled on me by mine own
Impetuous rashness. Let me here consider,n6966
The actors found this to be the moment of crisis in the speech, when Matchil turns from complaint about the cruelty of his situation and realises his own responsibility. It is all the more striking because the character comes to an abrupt halt after a sentence of five and a half lines, the halt being in the middle of the line. The actors paused long enough for the audience to register an internal struggle and change in Matchil; thereafter the speech becomes less 'public', more intimate.
The pause was all the more effective given that Matchil ends his previous sentence with 'rashness'. He enacts a new reflectiveness, the reverse of his previously impetuous and wilful manner.
Matchil says 'Let me here consider'; and the director, Brian Woolland, suggested the positioning of a chair in the front centre of the stage, as a place to which Matchil might return -- 'here' becomes literal. The actors then used the chair to create greater stillness in the latter parts of the speech, as Matchil faces up to his predicament.
n6966
The actors paused long enough for the audience to register an internal struggle and change in Matchil; thereafter the speech becomes less 'public', more intimate.
The pause was all the more effective given that Matchil ends his previous sentence with 'rashness'. He enacts a new reflectiveness, the reverse of his previously impetuous and wilful manner.
Matchil says 'Let me here consider'; and the director, Brian Woolland, suggested the positioning of a chair in the front centre of the stage, as a place to which Matchil might return -- 'here' becomes literal. The actors then used the chair to create greater stillness in the latter parts of the speech, as Matchil faces up to his predicament.
While my heart’s torture keeps my soul awake,
The moving cause*n4793
In keeping with Matchil's inflated sense of the singularity and epic sweep of his torments, he now makes a cosmic connection. The root cause of his predicament is composed of his uncontrolled passions, failure to heed example and experience, and refusal to listen to advice. These are the 'moving cause', the primum mobile, that sets in motion all the other 'spheres' of his destructive conduct and resultant unhappiness.
of all these ill effects,
n4793
Mine own unbridled wild affections,
Scorn of example, and contempt of counsel.
I cannot but observen6967
The first half of the speech seems pre-meditated and designed, consciously or not, to enable Matchil to cast himself as a victim; but as he proceeds he finds himself forced to admit his own errors. The director and actors registered the sense that Matchil seems almost surprised to hear what he has just said; despite his determination not to admit fault, he cannot stop himself observing (in all senses) that his own actions and behaviour have created the various disasters.
Robert Lister found it best to engage the audience directly and intensely only after Matchil had reconciled himself to admission of his own faults. Conversely, Philip Cumbus used Matchil's tendency to list grievances and other formal linguistic techniques to portray Matchil as something of an advocate, asserting the justice of his case to the audience, ranging round the stage, only to come to a point of stillness when self-knowledge becomes inescapable: 'I cannot but observe'.
withal, how just
n6967
Robert Lister found it best to engage the audience directly and intensely only after Matchil had reconciled himself to admission of his own faults.
Conversely, Philip Cumbus used Matchil's tendency to list grievances and other formal linguistic techniques to portray Matchil as something of an advocate, asserting the justice of his case to the audience, ranging round the stage, only to come to a point of stillness when self-knowledge becomes inescapable: 'I cannot but observe'.
A judgement follows mine own wilful acts,
In the same kind, of doing ills for ills.*n6974
Matchil's name primarily refers to his disastrous marriage choices; ironically, he here draws attention to the fact that the punishment fits the crime, matching well.
n6974
For my lost son, I rashly wrought revenge
Upon an innocent girl; and with her
Have lost mine own; and for th’unmanly joy
I took in one wife’s death, because a shrew –
Though otherwise virtuous – I am in another
Trebly tormented; not alone with noise*n5542
Matchil here most clearly reveals his descent from Ben Jonson's Morose, in Epicoene, echoing Morose's abhorrence of the noise that his new wife will make. It is almost as though, at this moment, Matchil is relying on the audience's consciousness of this descent to make the point about the greater intensity of his misery: 'not alone [like Morose] with noise but ...'. See the Introduction for a discussion of the relationship between these plays.
,
n5542
But with a fear of unchaste purposesn6968
Though Matchil alludes to his new wife's forthcoming infidelities, he does so in a phrase that is almost euphemistic, seeming still to try to defend himself from the knowledge even while expressing it. In the workshop exploration of the speech, the fear was manifest, but actors and editors registered the abstraction and lack of immediate clarity as Matchil uses a distanced abstraction to both say and not speak his dreaded fate.
,
n6968
Which if they come to act, my purse must pay for.*n6969
Again, this is relatively clear on the page: Matchil will have to support financially his new wife's bastards. But in the theatre the audience found it hard to determine exactly what he meant, even though the sense of sexual horror was clear: was it to do with the scrotum as a purse, and so venereal disease? The larger point appears to be, once again, that Matchil has to express his fears but cannot do so without distancing and concealing through euphemism and allusiveness.
n6969
I see my faults, and feel the punishments.*n6970
By this point in the speech, modifiers have fallen away and we are left with phrases in which the energy is all in the verbs. Here, Matchil stresses the parallelism-with-difference of seeing and feeling. The pairing is a commonplace: see Shakespeare's Sonnet 2: 'This were to be new made when thou art old, / And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold' (lines 13-14). S.T. Coleridge uses the same pairing in 'The Dejection Ode': 'I see, not feel, how beautiful they [the stars and moon] are'. Matchil's condition is the reverse of Coleridge's speaker: for perhaps the first time, pain has penetrated his arrogant and privileged alienation from the rest of the world -- he feels the punishments.
n6970
And, rather than stand out in my defence,
T’enjoy some peace I will endure some sorrow,n7359
Matchil's self-conscious patterning -- 'some peace' ... 'some sorrow' -- emphasises the trade he is making, but its unadorned bluntness allows the actor to decide whether to play Matchil as shrinking into acceptance or, once more, erupting into bitterness, anger, and frustration. Philip Cumbus chose the latter , Robert Lister tended towards the former .
n7359
, Robert Lister tended towards the former . And bear it civilly. [Calls offstage] Within there.
Enter SERVANTn6971
As elsewhere in Brome, the entrance of a servant plays a surprisingly large role in establishing the nature of a psychological crisis. The actors and editors discussed the surprising prominence of this interchange, which looks so nondescript on the page. This instance may be compared with the arrival of the servant Belt at the end of Crosswill's soliloquy that opens Act 5 of The Weeding of Covent Garden [CG 5.1speeches1010-1012].
Here in The New Academy, Matchil moves from resolving to acting, and does so in front of a nameless character appearing for the first time. Hitherto the servant who would have answered is Rachel, the woman he has married; now Matchil has to plead with her to speak with him.
n6971
This instance may be compared with the arrival of the servant Belt at the end of Crosswill's soliloquy that opens Act 5 of The Weeding of Covent Garden [CG 5.1speeches1010-1012]. Here in The New Academy, Matchil moves from resolving to acting, and does so in front of a nameless character appearing for the first time. Hitherto the servant who would have answered is Rachel, the woman he has married; now Matchil has to plead with her to speak with him.
555ServantSir.
556MatchilGo call your mistress, pray her to come alone.n6972
Matchil's line is composed of two balanced phrases; it is as though previous instances in the speech have been teaching the audience to attend to the similarities and the differences. Matchil here begins with an imperative (in his experience hitherto, he addresses everyone thus), then softens to a request when he remembers his new reality.
In the workshop exploration of the scene, having used the chair to establish a despairing stillness when Matchil confronts his own responsibility, the actors were then able to signal this new humility by sitting and standing at the end of the speech. Matchil calls in his servant, perhaps half expecting Rachel, who has hitherto occupied this role. A stranger enters, and Matchil, imagining already the abasement he must go through, pauses, then stands to issue a command that morphs into a request.
Working with the actors also led to heightened emphasis on the verbs Matchil uses.
Exit SERVANT
n6972
In the workshop exploration of the scene, having used the chair to establish a despairing stillness when Matchil confronts his own responsibility, the actors were then able to signal this new humility by sitting and standing at the end of the speech. Matchil calls in his servant, perhaps half expecting Rachel, who has hitherto occupied this role. A stranger enters, and Matchil, imagining already the abasement he must go through, pauses, then stands to issue a command that morphs into a request.
Working with the actors also led to heightened emphasis on the verbs Matchil uses.
My resolution brings me yet some ease:
Men that are born to serve, must seek to please.n6973
Again phrasal parallelism drives home Matchil's predicament and his intense emotional struggle to resolve it. Hitherto he has never served and never sought to please; but in order to try to achieve even a modicum of peace in his life, he now commits to abase himself.
The actors exploring the speech experimented with different emotions in these final lines (all intense). The unadorned verbs could express a resurgence of anger and bitterness; or the lines could be spoken with a quieter sense of understanding and resolution.
Developing routes through the speech and Matchil's internal struggle resulted in discussion among actors, the director, and the editors about the energies that drive Matchil and how one achieves a kind of verisimilitude in performance.
n6973
Hitherto he has never served and never sought to please; but in order to try to achieve even a modicum of peace in his life, he now commits to abase himself. The actors exploring the speech experimented with different emotions in these final lines (all intense). The unadorned verbs could express a resurgence of anger and bitterness; or the lines could be spoken with a quieter sense of understanding and resolution.
Developing routes through the speech and Matchil's internal struggle resulted in discussion among actors, the director, and the editors about the energies that drive Matchil and how one achieves a kind of verisimilitude in performance.
Enter RACHEL
557MatchilRachel.
558RachelYour pleasure quickly, I have left
My company, my servant, and my friend yond,
Sawing†gg3411
competing against each other
against one another at Corn the Caster*n4794
In the context this is likely to be either another card game or a popular phrase for playful combat. However, no other uses of the term have been found.
, till I come to ’em.
gg3411
n4794
559MatchilAnd then all three to in and in*n4795
The vagueness of this phrase makes it seem all the more euphemistic and so obscene.
, is’t so?
n4795
560RachelMy servant, and my friend and I are e’en all one.
They are the goodest gentlemen, the best company.
561MatchilYour servant and your friend.
562RachelYes, and my servant plays for me now in my
Absence, as far as ten pieces go that I left him.
My plough goes there*n4796
Rachel's metaphor suggests that, though she is absent, her part in the game goes on and therefore her money is being put to use. This is the meaning taken up by Matchil in his response ('Your plough makes vile baulks of my money'), meaning that she is wasting his money by making it unproductive ('baulk': [GLOSS gg3412]). But there is also, as in virtually everything else she says here, a hint of the 'unchaste purposes' Matchil fears in his new wife's relationships with Erasmus and Valentine, drawing on the metaphorical use of ploughing for sexual intercourse.
, though I am here.
n4796
563Matchil
Your plough makes vile baulks†gg3412
a piece of ground missed in ploughing, and therefore unproductive
of my money the while.
gg3412
564RachelI am not so ill a housewife*n5246
huswife. Rachel accepts the role of housewife as a woman with authority and responsibility for household affairs, without the pejorative associations of 'hussy' so prominent when the word is spoken by Lady Nestlecock.
as you imagine. And
my friend and my servant have promised to carry me
abroad, to this town, and to that town, and tother
town, and – wow!*n6586
Rachel's excitement is expressed in this exclamation.
– I know not whither. And my servant will have me
to Hyde Park*n263
Hyde Park was a new, fashionable leisure resort consisting of pleasure gardens, open in the spring and summer seasons and used for walking, horse-racing, and coach races. See James Shirley's play from 1632, Hyde Park.
, he says,
to see and to
show all*n4797
Rachel's 'see and show all' suggests a promiscuity of gazing and display that strongly hints at sexual promiscuity to follow.
, as well as the brave gallants.
n5246
n6586
n263
n4797
566RachelAnd my friend will carry me to a whatdeecall, a
new Academy*n4798
Rachel's introduction of the new Academy in this context draws on the negative connotations of the schools of manners of the period. Though recognised as teaching sophisticated social conduct, that positive function was frequently and fearfully associated with their being sites of sexual corruption and debauchery. See Introduction.
, where I shall see the rarest music and
dancing, he says, and learn the finest compliments,
and other courtly qualities that are to be had for money, and such instructions for the newest fashions.
n4798
567Matchil [Aside] She will fly to the devil for fashion’s sake. [Aloud] Pray
stay a little, and let me talk calmly with you. You
have almost broke my heart.
568RachelBut not altogether, I hope. I would not win so
great a game, without some sport in playing it.
569MatchilHear me.
I know you put on this affected carriage,
But to try mastery*n4729
As with the naming of Whimlby's dead wife, Grissel, Matchil's phrase here suggests a connection to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the so-called 'marriage group', and especially the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale. See Introduction.
, and the disease
n4729
Being so general among all women,
Is in you therefore more excusable.
570RachelO, are you coming?*n5042
Rachel's interjections in this conversation may be asides or may be heard by Matchil.
n5042
571MatchilHear what I say to you,
And find in that a husband’s good affection.
I love my peace, and would preserve my honour,
Both which are in your breasts to save or spoil.
572RachelAnd can you think the way to purchase peace
Do you think your domineering looks, or noise,
Or blows, can fright me into quietness,
Or that you shall have honour by abasing
Your wife?
573MatchilYou will not understand me.
574RachelHa!
575MatchilThough I love peace, and would preserve my honour,
I’ll yield in both to you, and can – I have been
So used to thraldom. But the world, the world
Is such a talker –
576RachelI have found the man.*n5042
Rachel's interjections in this conversation may be asides or may be heard by Matchil.
n5042
577MatchilThere I would save a reputation*n4800
Matchil asks that, even though his new wife may dominate the marriage in private, he be allowed the appearance of authority. It is ironic that he uses the word 'reputation', defence of which (meaning sexual honesty) is usually the province of females in fiction.
.
n4800
You’ll be content, so I will suffer you
To bear a loud command o’er me in public,
That I shall carry it in private. Is’t not so?
579MatchilTruly, wife, yes.
580RachelYou’ll give me leave to beat you
In private then?
581MatchilNay, we’ll bar blows at all times.
Or now and then a nip†gg3385
a pinch
, and you strike me*n5065
Rachel threatens that, if Matchil retaliates to her physical attacks, she will cuckold him.
gg3385
n5065
Again, I’ll strike you some way else, as you
The gentlemen are coming.
Enter ERASMUS and VALENTINE
583ErasmusO, here they are.
584ValentineAnd not by the ears: that’s wonderful.
585RachelSir, I perceive my error, and repent it.
Promising you in all my after life,
To be a faithful and obedient wife.
586ValentineHe has fetched her about†gg3386
to turn something to face a different way, to change how something is perceived
, it seems.
gg3386
587MatchilGrammercy, Rachel, bind it with a kiss*n8917
Although this is an act only, Matchil uses the kiss to seal a bargain in a way reminiscent of Camelion's use of the kiss to try to shut down Hannah's arguments against his conduct in Act 2, Scene 1. In her conversation with Valentine, Hannah taunts him with a reference to 'thirty pieces' of silver, Judas's reward for the betrayal of Christ; these kisses may also allude to the 'Judas kiss'.
.
n8917
[MATCHIL and RACHEL] kiss
588ErasmusAnd thus it should be.
589MatchilGentlemen, have ye found us?
590ErasmusWith joy to see this reconciliation.
591Matchil [Aside to ERASMUS and VALENTINE] Thus shall ye see it ever, gentlemen.
I knew she would yield, or I should make her heartache.
What were a husband, if he were not master?
592ValentineYou have won the field, it seems, yet I may hope
I have not lost a mistress.
593ErasmusNor I a friend.
594MatchilIn a fair way, gentlemen, I shall
Abridge her of no courtly privilege.
But no more haytie twaytie†gg3387
no other instances of this compound have been found; the meaning is perhaps akin to the modern hoity-toity (giddy, flighty or haughty behaviour)
tricks, I charge you.
gg3387
She shall not jaunt to this nor that town with you –
I thank you for your care – nor to Hyde Park.
Nor to the Academy you tell her of,
Without my leave.
595ValentineAnd do you say so, mistress?
596RachelTruly, yes.
I am no such woman as you took me for.
With Master Matchil’s leave you may be welcome
Home to his house in good and seemly sort.
But pray expect no further entertainment
Than he shall well allow of.
597ValentineI have lost her.
598ErasmusThis change is admirable.
599MatchilWhy do you admire it?
Is she not mine? How could you think she durst
Stand out in her rebellion? Although the devil*n4731
Matchil represents his new wife's former mutiny as demoniacal possession, but asks if the young men do not believe that he, the husband, has superior powers.
,
n4731
Who sooths all upstart’s dispositions
Into an over-weening of themselves,
Possessed her for a time, had not I power*n4801
Matchil asserts that he has the power to defeat the devil, imagining himself as a magician or exorcist. But the combination 'power and virtue' conflates the idea of husband as dominant in the relationship and as sexually potent. He is bragging on several levels to the young men who, he fears, wish to supplant him.
n4801
And virtue, do you think, to conjure him out*n4802
Matchil continues his fantasy of the powerful husband as a powerful magician who can expel the devil prompting his wife to disobey.
?
n4802
What have I studied for, think you, e’er since
My last wife died, but how to rule the next?
Go get you in, there’s something in the house
Worth looking after.
600ErasmusI be sworn, he frights her.
601Rachel [Aside] Would I had you within to perform covenants.*n4732
Rachel wishes to have Matchil in private so that she can torment him, according to their agreement.
n4732
602MatchilWhat, do you grow rebellious again?
Why stir you not else, ha? [Aside to RACHEL] Prithee, sweetheart,
Respect my dignity, or seem to do it.
603Rachel [Aside to MATCHIL] Yes, I will only seem to do it.
604ValentineHe makes her tremble.
605RachelGentlemen, I must about my house-affairs.
So, I take my leave.
606Erasmus and ValentineGood Mistress Matchil.
[RACHEL curtseys and secretly pinches MATCHIL]*n5044
[Curtsy
Matchil's next line -- 'Aha' -- indicates that he is responding to her infliction of pain.
n5044
Matchil's next line -- 'Aha' -- indicates that he is responding to her infliction of pain.
607MatchilAha.
608RachelAnd Master Matchil, at your own good pleasure,
Having in private something to impart to you,
I would entreat your presence.
609MatchilWell, anon, anon.
610RachelYour ear before I go, good Master Matchil.
611ValentineH’has brought her to her servile old obedience.
612MatchilO – oh!
614Matchil [Aside to RACHEL] Pox of your lobster-claws*n4803
Rachel gives Matchil a severe pinch.
. There waanip*n4733
No other use of this word has been found. It probably represents Matchil's pained exclamation at being pinched again.
!
n4803
n4733
615RachelIt will be worth consideration, sir.
616MatchilWell, I’ll come to you presently.
617RachelI humbly take my leave.Exit RACHEL
618ErasmusAny ill news that you change colour so?
619MatchilNo, nothing, nothing but a womanish fear*n8918
Matchil associates being afraid with being female, but there is an obvious irony: he is afraid of a woman.
.
n8918
620ValentineWell, you are a happy man that have o’ercome
her.
A word in private would do it.
622ValentineYet she desires to have you again in private.
623Matchil’Tis her abundant love, and pure obedience.
624ErasmusShe comes again.
Enter RACHEL
625RachelSince y’are not disposed to enter, sir,
One word more, Master Matchil, if you please.[RACHEL curtseys]*n5046
[curtsy.
n5046
626MatchilOh – I understand you. Go, I’ll follow
you.
627RachelAgain I take my leave.Exit RACHEL
628Matchil [Aside] I must wear lantern-horns*n4734
The meaning is clear: Matchil needs some sort of protective layer to prevent Rachel from pinching his arms. However, the use of 'lantern-horns' is not entirely obvious. Horn cut very thin was used as an alternative to glass in windows, and the term 'lantern-horn' usually has this meaning. A lantern is a way of protecting a light from wind, etc., and this may give Matchil's sense of protection for his arms.
upon mine arms,
n4734
If she use this. [Aloud] Well, gentlemen, at your own time
Let’s see yee. My Rach. shall make you welcome.
And for me, you know me, I will still be master –
Enter RACHEL
I come, I come, I come. So, farewell gentlemen.Exit [MATCHIL and RACHEL]
629ValentineHa, do you run?
630ErasmusWhat dost thou think of this?
631ValentineI’ll lay all the tricks I have against his brags,
She masters him in private, and that all
This show of her obedience is dissembled.
My hope revives again; we must abroad with her.
But tell me, what new Academy’s that
You told her of? I understand not that yet.
632ErasmusNor have I seen it, but we both will shortly.
’Tis but of two or three day’s standing yet.
633ValentineWhere is it?*n6164
Erasmus offers no answer to this question. The original audience probably provided its own knowledge of the locations of the academies being satirised.
Who are the professors,
n6164
And what the arts?
634ErasmusI’ll tell thee all I know.
It carries a love-sound*n4735
The description makes the Academy sound like a brothel. Erasmus uses a more decorous term.
; but I am told
n4735
It is but private lodgings kept by
Both men and women, as I am informed,
After the French manner, that profess
Music, dancing, fashion, compliment –
635ValentineAnd no drabbing†gg3755
engaging in prostitution
?*n4736
Though Erasmus is using elevated diction, even circumlocution, Valentine cuts to the most basic and vulgar: 'no sex for sale'?
gg3755
n4736
636ErasmusA little perhaps in private.
But guess now in whose house all this.
637ValentineI cannot.
638ErasmusEven in your city mistress’s, that lends you
money so freely.
639ValentineWho, Camelion?
640ErasmusYes, sir, I doubt†gs601
(as a verb) to dread, fear, be afraid of (OED v. II 5 trans.)
your borrowing of the wife
gs601
Has broke the husband, put ’em off their trade,
And now they seek new ways to live by projects.
641ValentineAnd could you keep this from me all this while?
Till I am there, each step’s a tedious mile.
642ErasmusBut not without me, good Val. We’ll find a time
Together, and our Mistress Matchil with us.Exit [ERASMUS and VALENTINE]
3.2*n5048
At the heart of the play Brome takes the audience to the New Academy itself, established in Camelion's house with Hannah as its landlady and principal hostess, with Strigood as its regent or director, and with Joyce and Gabriela as the performers and bait for, in particular, young males who wish to become students of the Academy. It is clear that the academy is operating just on the fringes of being a high-class brothel.
Strigood is joined by Cash, who is dressed in his finery, and together with Camelion they perform a dance. As will be the case in the rest of the play, the audience experiences two somewhat different responses: we see that this dance is performed by three characters of, at best, dubious morality; but we also see a dance well performed. The action is both reprehensible and admirable, simultaneously.
The Academy's residents and staff are joined by two new characters, apparently the young French men Papillion and Galliard, but actually the lost sons of Matchil and old Lafoy; Matchil's son has been living in France throughout his boyhood. Old Lafoy's son in particular seems to want to view the Academy as a brothel and to engage in sexual activity with the young woman who will turn out to be his sister, whom he has not seen for many years and does not recognize. Cash now becomes a moral interpreter for the audience, speaking in asides to confirm Strigood's intentions and declare his own role as, to some degree, the young women's protector.
Again, those on the stage perform dances, displaying to each other their skills, but also performing for the audience in the theatre.
n5048
Strigood is joined by Cash, who is dressed in his finery, and together with Camelion they perform a dance. As will be the case in the rest of the play, the audience experiences two somewhat different responses: we see that this dance is performed by three characters of, at best, dubious morality; but we also see a dance well performed. The action is both reprehensible and admirable, simultaneously.
The Academy's residents and staff are joined by two new characters, apparently the young French men Papillion and Galliard, but actually the lost sons of Matchil and old Lafoy; Matchil's son has been living in France throughout his boyhood. Old Lafoy's son in particular seems to want to view the Academy as a brothel and to engage in sexual activity with the young woman who will turn out to be his sister, whom he has not seen for many years and does not recognize. Cash now becomes a moral interpreter for the audience, speaking in asides to confirm Strigood's intentions and declare his own role as, to some degree, the young women's protector.
Again, those on the stage perform dances, displaying to each other their skills, but also performing for the audience in the theatre.
Enter CAMELION and HANNAH
643CamelionCock, I protest, Cock, I commend thy course.
Thou hast taken in brave lodgers, gallant guests,
Guests o’th’ game†gs602
sexual activity, particularly prostitution (as in the modern 'on the game')
*n4737
men come for entertainment, customers, sexual or otherwise. See Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair: 'Hang your vapours, they are stale, and stink like you. Are these the guests of the game you promised to fill my pit withal, today?' (3.2.107-109) (Herford and Simpson, vol. 6, p. 65). 'Game' could be neutral, but it often means illicit sexual activity. [GLOSS gs602]
, Cock; and my house is counted
gs602
n4737
A house of quality and recreation, Cock,
In civil sort and gentle fashion, Cock,
’Sbobs, Cock, I know thou would’st not have it otherwise
For all the wealth i’ th’ Exchange*n4804
Camelion's invocation of the New Exchange and its profits once more associates social practices with commerce.
.
n4804
644HannahBut, Rafe, you care not
What people say, so I bring you in profit.
645CamelionNot I, not I, my little Cocksie, Nansie,
646HannahSome do not stick to say, I know what’s what,
And that our house is no better than it should be.*n4738
Much used phrases, meaning of questionable morals.
n4738
647CamelionPish, Hony soit again, i’th’ very teeth of ’em,
Let ’em all say what they will. Dainty, come thou to me.
648HannahBut I know what I know, and that our house is
Better than it should be, if some of them
Had but the keeping of it, that speak so ill on’t.
And that the gentlewomen in our house
Are well conditioned, and as chaste as courteous.
And if you saw, as they desire I should
See all betwixt their great resorts and them,
You’d be in love with their sweet way of living.
Then for their dancing, ’tis so neat and graceful.
See ’em anon at practice.
649CamelionNot I, Cock, I’ll see nothing.
I will not leave one ducking pond for ten dancing schools.
Yet I can dance, and love it, you know that, Cock.
And though you are a gentlewoman born,*n4739
Camelion makes a heavy joke: his wife comes from a higher social stratum, one in which her family might have had the right to heraldic display, to 'bear arms'. Camelion did not, but claims to have attracted his wife by his dancing, by his legs.
Hannah, the daughter of a gentleman, Captain Hardyman, has descended in social class by marrying Camelion. Her husband trivialises this by attributing her choice to her being attracted by his legs and his dancing.
n4739
Hannah, the daughter of a gentleman, Captain Hardyman, has descended in social class by marrying Camelion. Her husband trivialises this by attributing her choice to her being attracted by his legs and his dancing.
You took me for my legs, not for my arms.
Is not that a good jest, Cock? ’Sbobs, ’twas out before
I was aware. Here comes their father.
Enter STRIGOOD and CASH disguised in bravery*n5052
Cash is dressed in his costume as a gallant; Strigood has also disguised himself, as he proudly says and Cash confirms. He has shaved his head and beard, put on a fashionable wig, and dresses modishly.
.
n5052
650[Hannah]It seems he has brought in some new scholar.
651StrigoodWhere are my daughters, landlady?
652HannahClose in their chamber, sir.
653StrigoodAre none of our academics come yet?
654HannahNot any, sir.
655StrigoodI look for some anon.
Pray bid the girls come down to practice.
656HannahYes, sir.Exit HANNAH
657CamelionSir, when I was a bachelor, I practised
Dancing sometimes.
658StrigoodIndeed, good landlord?
Yet in these legs, that can express at least
Love to the quality*n5198
Camelion appears to mean that, though he is married and beyond the courting days associated with dancing, he can still dance sufficiently well to show that he enjoyed and admired the activity.
.
n5198
660StrigoodThat shall not be lost,
If I can further it.
661CamelionI saw last night
Your new French dance of three; what call you it?
662StrigoodO, the Tres-bon*n6587
Clearly the name of a fashionable dance, imported from France, the name of which puns on 'tres' as 'very', an intensitive (hence a very good dance) and 'tres' meaning 'three', for three dancers, as here.
.
n6587
663CamelionI think I could make one in’t.
664StrigoodThis gentleman’s another. Call the music.
I’ll try what you can do.Exit CAMELION
Cash, thou art welcome, I am glad I met thee.
665CashBut that you had foreknowledge of my habit,
And seen it in my out-leaps, as you call ’em,
I might ha’ passed*n5199
Cash's costume is so good that he might have escaped detection, had Strigood not already known him. The play is full of disguise but also full of instances where members of this society attempt to 'pass' as something other than they are.
. But you, in this disguise,
n5199
None but the devil himself that is your inmate,
And lodges with you in it, could have known you.
Sure he devised it.
666StrigoodNo, you are short.
I learned it of a Jesuit*n4740
The Jesuits, much feared and hated by English protestants, were thought to be infiltrating England, disguised. Ephraim has already suggested to Lady Nestlecock that Strigood is 'adverse in religion', a closet Catholic.
,
n4740
And ’twas but easy: shaving of my old
After the fashion; having but few wrinkles,
For which I thank my bachelorship, I pass
For a brisk youth. But for my Hannibal eye†gg3391
a blind eye (OED cites this instance only)
here. And by my brother’s
gg3391
Courteous advice I have ta’en a course to live
Upon my stock of wit, sleight and activity,*n4741
Strigood stresses the irony: he has done as his brother Matchil contemptuously advised him, but to achieve this has exposed Matchil's own daughter to moral and social dangers. He caps his self-praise with Matchil's own characteristic exclamation: 'Ha!'.
n4741
With nimble brain, quick hands, and airy heels,
As he told me, ha!
667Cash
He could not think you would have stolen his daughter to ha’ set up withal.*n6588
As so often with Brome, the editor -- and thus actors -- have to make a decision as to whether this line is verse or prose. It is 17 or 18 syllables, and so not two complete lines of iambic pentameter; but Brome is strikingly loose in syllable counts even when speeches are clearly verse. Here the line is set at prose because it interrupts a long verse speech by Strigood. Strigood's half-lines immediately before and after Cash's interjection are each five syllables. Shakespeare similarly uses the completion of a verse line to emphasise a prose interjection in Cymbeline 3.2.33-44, where Cloten's crude threats to the Roman emperor's ambassador Lucius interrupt the Queen's more dignified utterance, which ended with a seven-syllable line. Cymbeline ineffectually interrupts his step-son ('Son, let your mother end.'), but then steers the interchange back to diplomacy and verse with a three-syllable line ('You must know'), completing the Queen's pentameter.
n6588
668StrigoodBut now I care not
What the wretch thinks, so he discovers nothing.
I dare trust thee, Cash, partly on thy oath,
Which I have ta’en you know, but more respectively
Which I have also ta’en; but most of all
For that I know you dare not make discovery,
For fear of little-ease†gg3392
a place in which there is little ease for him who occupies it; a narrow place of confinement; specifically, the name of a dungeon in the Tower of London, and of an ancient place of punishment for unruly apprentices at the Guildhall, London; also, the pillory or stocks
. That were a prison
gg3392
Too fearful for such bravery to stoop into.
669CashThat keeps me still in awe. ’Tis well you know it.
But it is better he has no suspicion
That I am run away.
Enter CAMELION
670CamelionThe music’s ready, sir.
671StrigoodPlay then – the Tres-bon.
672Strigood’Twas very well done, landlord. I protest
I love your house the better for your quality.
673CamelionBut if you saw me at the ducking pond,
Me and my trull†gg1701
a low prostitute or concubine; a drab, strumpet, trollop (OED)
*n4743
Camelion lets the cat out of the bag: he is with a prostitute at the 'ducking pond'. Questioned immediately by Strigood, he tries to recover: 'I mean, my bitch, sir.'
.
gg1701
n4743
674StrigoodYour trull?
675CamelionI mean, my bitch, sir.
Enter HANNAH
676StrigoodSome other time.
Here comes your wife. The news, good landlady?
677HannahNews out of France, your fame is spread abroad.
678StrigoodHow out of France?
679HannahTwo young French gentlemen,
New come ashore, the daintiest, sweetest gentlemen
That e’re I saw – now you be jealous, Rafe –
680CamelionNot I.
681HannahAre coming to lodge here, having heard,
It seems, that you profess French qualities,
And instantly desire to be acquainted
With you and your sweet company.
682StrigoodCan they speak English?
683HannahOne very well; and the tother can say
'Tree Fransh crown for two English kiss'*n4744
Young Lafoy's heavily accented English is so represented in the text. It has been left thus in this modern edition; the caricature of the libidinous young Frenchman requires it.
already –
n4744
Now be jealous, Rafe.
684CamelionPish, Hony soit qui maly pense.
685StrigoodYou can speak French, landlord?
686CamelionSo much as you have heard, not one word more,
I assure you, but this: Adieu, Monsieur.
And so I leave you.
687HannahWill you not see the gallants, Rafe?
688CamelionNot I, I won’t be jealous, Cock, and so
By the back-door to the ducking pond I go.Exit [CAMELION]
689StrigoodEnter then. Landlady, where be these girls?
690HannahHere they are come.Exit [HANNAH]
Enter JOYCE and GABRIELLA
691StrigoodStand aside, Cash, and be not yet discovered.
[CASH stands aside, unnoticed by JOYCE and GABRIELLA]
How, ladies, how do y’like your way of living?
692JoyceI do not like it, uncle.
693GabriellaTroth, nor I, sir.
694JoyceWe eat and lodge well; and we wear good clothes,
And keep our credit in the house we live in;
But what we suffer in our reputation*n4745
Joyce's recognition of the danger of their being perceived as prostitutes, for sale, connects her with Hannah's sense that her husband is exposing her to social and moral peril.
n4745
Abroad is dangerously doubtful.
695StrigoodSo, so.
696GabriellaHere we are viewed and reviewed by all comers,
Courted and tempted too; and though we’re safe
In our chaste thoughts, the impious world may say
We are set out to common sale*n4746
Gabriella makes clear the connection between their exposure and the commercial activity of the New Exchange.
.
n4746
697StrigoodSo, so.
698Cash [Aside] And so you are to th’ utmost of his power,
I dare be sworn.
699JoyceBut, uncle, for the time that you intend
To stay, I pray admit no new acquaintance,
Nor any more, lest I for my escape
Venture to leap two stories deep.
700StrigoodHa! You said?
You know I have disclosed you to no eye
That could take knowledge who or whence you are,
And for the foreign strangers, and such townsfolks
As knew us not, what need we weigh their thoughts?
Their gold is weight; let that be all we look to,
While our deserving arts and qualities
Require it from ’em. If they think us wicked,
And hope to get virginities for salary,
And pay for their deluded hopes beforehand,
What is our act but justice on their follies,
In taking of their prodigal coin?*n4747
Strigood seeks to reassure the young women that what others conceive their activities to be is of no account: so long as they are virtuous, no-one else's opinion matters. But his diction is all commercial: 'weigh', 'gold', 'salary', 'coin'.
n4747
701GabriellaI hope you deal not that way for us.
702StrigoodNever fear it.
703JoyceBut, uncle,
Though you have taught us courtly gypsy†gg2651
cunning, deceitful; also used as a derogatory term for a woman, similar to 'hussy' or 'baggage' (OED n. 2b), so could refer to the actions of such a woman
tricks
gg2651
Pray let it not be thought we’ll sell our honesties.
704StrigoodTrust to my care.
705Cash [Aside] And that’s the way to do it*n8921
Cash's aside echoes that of Ephraim earlier in the scene, when he observed Sir Swithin wooing Lady Nestlecock: 'And that's the way to win her'.
.
n8921
706StrigoodAnd in that care be confidently seen
By a deserving gentleman, whom I
Present to kiss your hands.
[STRIGOOD presents CASH]
707JoyceI will see none.
708CashYou need not fear me, lady; for I can
But tell your father, if you slight his servant.
709GabriellaBless us! What metamophosis†gg3413
change, but drawing on the connection to Ovid's epic poem, Metamorphosis
is this?
gg3413
’Tis Cash, your father’s man.
710JoyceIs this the habit of a merchant’s prentice?
711CashIs this the lodging of a merchant’s daughter?
712JoyceHas his great marriage turned my father’s house
Into a sumptuous palace, that he keeps
Such costly men? Or doth the bravery
Of his late beauteous bride require such gorgeous
Attendants? Pray, what office may you fill
About her person?
713CashWill you home and see?
714GabriellaWe are betrayed!
715StrigoodHa, ha, ha. Be not afraid of Cash.
I know him, and he knows us. He is our friend
And we’ll be his. As for his bravery†gg41
'finery, fine clothes' (OED 3b); showy attire (worn with an air of bravado)
,
gg41
’Tis no new thing with him. I know him of old.
This suit’s his worst of four. And he’s one
Of the four famous prentices*n4772
This is probably a reference to the famous and popular play by Thomas Heywood, The Four Prentices of London (performed c. 1592; printed 1600), a naive romance of the crusading exploits of four heroic apprentices, the sons of the earl of Boloigne. The play was one of the main targets of Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607). It was reprinted in 1632. Strigood is enhancing Cash's status by the comparison, but also maybe mocking his unsophisticated pretensions.
o’ th’ time.
n4772
None of the cream and cake-boys*n4748
This sounds like a well-known phrase, but I have found no other instance. It appears to mean, pejoratively, country-people, rustics.
, nor of those
n4748
That gall their hands with stool-balls†gg3393
an old country game somewhat resembling cricket, played chiefly by young women or, as an Easter game, between young men and women for a 'tansy' (OED tansy 3) as the stake
, or their catsticks†gg3352
a bat or stick used in games of tip-cat and trap-ball (see [NOTE n5066])
,
gg3393
gg3352
For white-pots†gg3208
dishes from the Devonshire and Cornwall region, made of milk or cream boiled with eggs, flour, raisins, sugar, spices etc.
, pudding-pies, stewed prunes, and tansies†gg3394
a pudding, omelette, or the like, flavoured with juice of tansy, a bitter-tasting but aromatic garden herb (tansy n, 3a)
,
gg3208
gg3394
To feast their tits†gg3348
a girl or young woman: often qualified as little: cf. chit; also applied indiscriminately to women of any age:(a) usually in depreciation or disapproval: esp. one of loose character, a hussy, a minx; or (b) sometimes in affection or admiration, or playful meiosis (common in 17th and 18th c.; now low slang) (OED n. 3 and 2a)
at Islington*n4773
An area to the north of the City of London, Islington contained the springs that supplied fresh water to the city. It also had many pleasure gardens and grounds and was a semi-rural resort just beyond the dense urban town. As ever, the resort was a place where some frowned-upon activities took place, including illicit sexual liaisons.
or Hogsden*n4774
A variant form of Hoxton. This village, like Islington, was to the north of the wall of the City of London, was semi-rural, and had a number of pleasure grounds. Like many such areas, it was suspected of being a place for dubious moral activities, including illicit sexual liaisons.
,
gg3348
n4773
n4774
But haunts the famous ordinaries†gs693
an inn, public house, tavern, etc., where meals are provided at a fixed price; also the room in such a building where this type of meal is provided (OED ordinary n, 12c, which notes that these had their own hierarchy: 'In the 17th-18th centuries 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"')
o’th’ time,
gs693
Where the best cheer, best game, best company are frequent.
Lords call him cousin at the Bowling Green*n4776
Henry VIII's Whitehall Palace had a recreation complex including 'four tennis courts, a bowling alley, a cockpit and tiltyard and gardens' on the site of King Street (see Simon Thurley, 'The Lost Palace of Whitehall'). In 1604 James VI and I converted part of the site into lodgings for his daughter and the later Stuarts expanded the lodgings until only one tennis court remained. Cash is consorting with the fashionable and court-connected.
n4776
And the great Tennis-Court*n4776
Henry VIII's Whitehall Palace had a recreation complex including 'four tennis courts, a bowling alley, a cockpit and tiltyard and gardens' on the site of King Street (see Simon Thurley, 'The Lost Palace of Whitehall'). In 1604 James VI and I converted part of the site into lodgings for his daughter and the later Stuarts expanded the lodgings until only one tennis court remained. Cash is consorting with the fashionable and court-connected.
. Thy father’s money
n4776
Would rust†gg3398
figuratively, deteriorate
else, girl*n5543
Strigood cynically alludes to Matthew 6. 19-21: 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also'; and also perhaps the Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25. 14-30, especially verse 25: 'and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth'.
. Keep thou our counsel, Cash,
gg3398
n5543
And we’ll keep thine, though ’t be to the undoing
Of him and all the wretches of his brotherhood
That love their money, and their base desires,
Better than blood or name.
716GabriellaBut can you hold
It good in any servant so to hazard
His master’s livelihood?
717StrigoodCan you hold your peace?
He’s wise, and saves by ’t all this while: he knows
His friends are bound in full two thousand pounds,
For’s truth, and his true service, and perhaps,
He is not out above one thousand yet.
Where’s your wit now?
718Cash [Aside to JOYCE] Mistress, I’ll do you service, and be true to you.
I’d not have missed of this discovery –
719StrigoodYou see she hearkens to him. Talk aside, Cash,
And touch her boldly.
720Cash [Aside to JOYCE] I would not have missed it,
For all the wealth your father has: and at
Convenient privacy I’ll give you reasons,
That shall gain your belief to’t.
Enter PAPILLION and GALLIARD
721Strigood [Aside] The French Gallants,
I had almost forgot them. They are a pair
Of delicate young monsieurs. If they have
But crowns†gg2902
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)
enough, they are the likeliest
gg2902
She said they can speak English, that’s a help,
For devil of French have I to entertain ’em.[STRIGOOD] salutes [PAPILLION and GALLIARD]
722GabriellaSee, mine own heart, here’s more temptation still.
723JoyceI’ll not endure the onset.
724CashI’ll defend you.
725JoyceYet there are graces in their looks, methinks,
That do invite my stay.
726PapillionNe comprenez-vous pas la langue française, Monsieur? Parlez.*n4749
1659 rendering: 'N'entendes vous la langue Francais, monsieur? Dittes.' Papillion means 'Don't you understand French, sir? Speak.' Brome's French is presumably intended to be accurate (even though Papillion is not a native speaker, he has lived in France throughout his boyhood) and so it has been corrected here.
n4749
727StrigoodI would be glad to hear you speak the language
I better understand, and that is English,
In which you are most welcome.
728PapillionYour fair courtesy
Merits our greatest thanks.
729GalliardI tanck you, sir.
I have bid France adieu to come and learn
De English very well; I speak a lietel,
But de English Mesteresse can teach de best.
I shall be glad to take my commencements,
Or my first lessons from these ladies’ lips.[PAPILLION and GALLIARD] salute
[STRIGOOD, JOYCE, and GABRIELLA]
[STRIGOOD, JOYCE, and GABRIELLA]
731GalliardO sweet, O delicate.
Ladies, if you will breath into me English,
Une pour l’autre, dat is one for anoder.
732Cash [Aside] So they might make a hot bargain on ’t.
733JoyceAre these your civil gentlemen, landlady?
Is wondrous civil. He comes blushingly.
735PapillionYou are before me in the salutation
Of these fair ladies, Monsieur Galliard.
736GalliardIl est vrai, Monsieur Papillion*n4752
It's true, Monsieur Papillion
,
n4752
737[Papillion]*n5050
This line is set as part of Galliard's previous speech, but is clearly Papillion's. The manuscript annotators of Folger Shakespeare Library B4872 and Newberry Library Y135.B779 make this emendation.
But let me pray my tardinesse be excused. [PAPILLION kisses JOYCE]*n5147
[Salute Papillion's action, represented by the stage direction Salute in the 1659 text, is in response to Galliard's teasing injunction 'you mose kiss behind'.
n5050
n5147
738JoyceYou pronounce English well, sir.
739PapillionI am glad
You like it, lady.
740GabriellaI like the other’s as well.
741PapillionI have before spent many months in England,
And my great love unto the nation,
Especially to the beauties of your sex,
Till now that my persuasion won his company;
And happily, I suppose, we are arrived,
That, to the sight and knowledge we have had
Of music, dances, courtships, and behaviour,
Through all parts of our country, France, with an
Addition of all Italy affords,*n4805
The image of France as more socially sophisticated, and especially as the home of the most elevated and courtly dance culture of Europe, was well established in the 1630s. The young men say that they have also learnt from the culture of Italy. By this time the principal elements of the Grand Tour as a means of acquiring social accomplishments were becoming fixed, meaning a progress through France and Italy in particular. This is different from the continental tour for political and literary education, such as that experienced by Philip Sidney in the previous century, which included Paris and (when safe) Italian cities, but placed an equal, and often greater, emphasis on the Low Countries, the cities of the Rhine, and Vienna and Prague as the capitals of the Holy Roman Empire.
n4805
Where, by all best opinions, even the choicest
Of such court qualities, and active graces,
Have had their spring, we now as fame suggests
Shall in this fair society discern
More than by all our former observation.
742StrigoodReport, sir, speaks too loud on our behalf,
And let me pray ye that it not beget
Too great an expectation on our weakness,
By your too gentle suffrage. What we can,
We’ll do.
743GalliardO oui, dat’s de best. Doe is de ting*n4778
Galliard's use of 'do' draws on its sexual meaning.
n4778
De Fransh man loves: If all your both two daughters
Show all, all makes but more desire to do.
Speak I no good English, madamoiselle?
744JoyceI understand you not.*n4777
Joyce appears deliberately to fail to understand Galliard, whose obscene suggestions are too obvious for delicacy. She resembles the Princess in Love's Labours Lost, who claims not to comprehend the King's insensitivities after she has heard of her father's death: 'I understand you not. My griefs are double' (5.2.734).
n4777
745GalliardYou no understand me,
Because you tinck I lie. But if you lie*n4779
Galliard plays obscenely on the various meanings of 'lie'.
n4779
With me, I make you understand me presently.
746Cash [Aside] This hot-reined†gg2824
kidneys (the seat of lust)
*n4780
The 'reins' (kidneys) are the seat of sexual desire and performance; Galliard's kidneys are excited and importunate.
monsieur takes ’em for the same
gg2824
n4780
Strigood would have ’em be. I came in time.
747StrigoodAt afternoon we’ll have an exercise
Of courtship, gentlemen. In the interim,
If you will have, to stir the appetite,
A dance before our ordinary, we are for you.
748GalliardAnd we for you. Allons, à l’Egremont, allons*n4753
1659: 'Alloun al Egremant Alloun
/ Monsieur Papillion pour l’honour de France'. 'Onwards with the Egremont! Onwards, Monsieur Papillion, for the honour of France!' Brome's French has again been regularised for the modern text.
n4753
Monsieur Papillion, pour l’honneur de France.
749PapillionWhat are your dances chiefly in request?
750StrigoodGood landlady, bid the music be in readiness,
And then see dinner set upon the table.Exit HANNAH
We have, sir, for corants†gg3397
a dance, using fluent, gliding footwork
, La Migniarde*n4754
A dance. Though listed here as a 'corant' or 'courante' 'La Mignard' or 'La Mignarde' appears in most texts as a galliard. The name probably derives from French, 'mignard' (elegant or affected) or 'mignardise' (elegance, affectedness). The music for one version, by John Dowland, is given in Gary Taylor et al, 'Middleton, Music, and Dance', Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Culture: A Companion to the Collected Works eds. Gary Taylor et al, p. 166. Other dances with this name occur elsewhere, making one less confident than the Middleton editors that Dowland's version is certainly the one referred to in Middleton, William Rowley, and Thomas Heywood, The Old Law.
I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for her assistance in tracing this dance.
,
gg3397
n4754
I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for her assistance in tracing this dance.
La Vemimde*n4755
No dance with this name has been traced. Dances could be named to refer to different styles or individuals; they also seem to have changed names depending on fashion and circumstances.
I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for advice on dance names.
, Le Marquess*n4756
This dance appears to be named in association with an aristocrat, 'The Marquis'. The French lutenist and composer Jacques Gallot (1625-c.1690) has a dance tune named 'La marquise'. Though too late for Brome's play, this illustrates the naming culture.
, Le Holland*n4757
A dance named in all probability for Henry Rich, Earl of Holland (1590-1649). I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for assisting me with the identification of dances.
,
n4755
I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for advice on dance names.
n4756
n4757
La Brittaine*n4758
This dance appears to be named patriotically, as is the case with the two succeeding: 'Le Roy' and 'Le Prince'.
, Le Roy*n4759
No dance with this exact name has been found, but like 'Le Brittaine' and 'Le Prince' it appears to be named patriotically.
, Le Prince*n4760
No dance with exactly this name has been identified, but like 'Le Brittaine' and 'Le Roi' it appears to be named patriotically.
, Le Montague*n4761
This dance is probably named for one of the most prominent French dancing masters working in England at the time, Barthelemy de Montagut. Montagut was a member of Henrietta Maria's household and had been accused of plagiarism by his colleague, Francois de Lauze. I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for her assistance with this dance name.
,
n4758
n4759
n4760
n4761
The Saraband*n4762
Sarabands were considered a more risque kind of dance, supposedly of Spanish origin, lively and accompanied by castagnettes. In the course of the seventeenth century, slower courtly versions became common. I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for assistance with the description of this dance.
, the Canaries*n4763
Following on from the saraband, 'The Canaries' is another foreign, exotic dance, with a characteristic stamping step. Current from the late sixteenth century, it appears in Thoinot Arbeau, Orchesographie (1589). I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for assistance with the identification of these dances.
, La Reverie*n4764
The name could allude to reveries or dreams, or could be punning on the formal gesture of obeisance, the 'reverence'. Courtly dancing was closely connected with deportment, both subjects being treated in the most widely used books of instruction, such as Francois de Lauze, Apologie de la danse (1625). I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for her help in identifying these dances.
.
n4762
n4763
n4764
For galliards*n4765
A fast, energetic, triple-time dance with jumps. I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for her assistance in defining and identifying dances.
, the Sellibrand*n4766
No dance of this name has been found. It is perhaps a variant on or misreading of 'saraband', described in the OED as 'a slow and stately Spanish dance in triple time' (saraband 1). However, in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the 'sarabande' was reputed a livelier, sometimes lewd, dance. No precise choreography has survived to confirm this.
I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for advice on the possible types of dances meant in this reference.
, the Dolphine*n4767
An unidentified dance, probably named for the French dauphin.
,
n4765
n4766
I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for advice on the possible types of dances meant in this reference.
n4767
The New Galliard*n4768
According to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer (private communication), galliards could be highly improvisatory. This name could refer to a recently-invented version of this lively dance type.
, the Valette Galliard*n4769
A courant, not a galliard, of this name composed by Robert Ballard is found in Ballard's Deuxiesme livre du luth (1614), p. 21 and in Adrianus Valerius, Nederlandtsche Gedenck-Clanck (1626), p. 43. Dance names could be swapped easily in this period and it is well within the bounds of possibility that the name of a courante should be transferred to a galliard (both courantes and galliards are in triple-time). I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for her advice on this matter.
, and L'Epee*n4770
No dance of this name has been traced, but it is probably named for the rapier. I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Ravelhofer for assistance in identifying the names of dances.
.
n4768
n4769
n4770
751Galliard’Tis all very good. Monsieur Papillion, essayons,*n4771
1659: 'Monsieur Papillica Essontes Mon Ami'. The compositor appears to have struggled with the French in the manuscript here; it may be that Brome's command of the French language was also shaky. This rendering in the modernised text means, 'Monsieur Papillion, let's try, my friend'.
n4771
mon ami.
752CashAnd hark you, Monsieur Strigood, you will
be put to’t.
753StrigoodI fear no French flashes†gs692
a display or show, often superficially brilliant and often brief (see OED flash n, 2 3, 4a, 4b, and 5)
. Bear up, Cash, if we
cannot dance them of o’ their legs, our wenches can*n8922
Strigood appears to have a bawdy meaning: even if he and Cash cannot dance the young men to exhaustion, causing them to lie down, the young women will get them to do so in bed.
,
gs692
n8922
I warrant thee. Music, be ready.
Gallants, what, are you pleased to dance?[PAPILLION directs the dance]*n5051
1659 stage direction: Phil tells what, etc.
n5051
After the Dances, enter HANNAH
754HannahGentlemen, your dinner stays, meat will be cold.
755[Galliard]*n6166
Fran.
In this Speech Prefix the 1659 edition uses a contraction of Galliard's real name, Frances [Lafoy]. It is the only such occurrence in the play. It is difficult to make sense of this unless the manuscript being used in the print shop was the author's. No-one else would think of 'Galliard' or 'Young Lafoy' as 'Frances'.
And we are hot. ’Tis better that take cold
n6166
In this Speech Prefix the 1659 edition uses a contraction of Galliard's real name, Frances [Lafoy]. It is the only such occurrence in the play. It is difficult to make sense of this unless the manuscript being used in the print shop was the author's. No-one else would think of 'Galliard' or 'Young Lafoy' as 'Frances'.
Than we. But come, one table for us all.
756Papillon and StrigoodAgreed, agreed, agreed.
757Cash [Aside] I say so too,
But to myself reserve what I will do.All exit
Edited by Mike Leslie