ACT FIVE
5.1*
n5081
Act 5 begins by returning the audience to an almost-forgotten facet of the plot: the loss of Matchil's son. Old Lafoy, the Frenchman who had raised young Matchil, has arrived in London and is seeking his own son who had travelled back to England with his boyhood companion. He is accompanied by Captain Hardyman from the Isle of Wight, who happens also to be Hannah Camelion's father. Hardyman is attempting to restrain Old Lafoy's fury at Matchil's conduct in banishing and then losing Lafoy's daughter, Gabriella. Despite Matchil's earlier recognition of his own folly and propensity for needless and abrupt reactions, he again has to be talked down into reasonableness, and still he seems unable to step out of his sense of his own victimhood. Fortunately, Cash arrives to make his peace with his master, using his knowledge of the whereabouts of Joyce and Gabriella as a means of deflecting Matchil's ire at his servant's dishonesty. Reassured that they will be able to find their daughters, all the characters set off for the New Academy.
n5081
[MATCHIL's house]*n5019
There is no indication of location in the original, but the setting is clear from the dialogue.
n5019
Enter LAFOY, HARDYMAN, and MATCHIL
1039LafoyInhospitable! ’Tis inhumane, passed
The cruelty of infidels.
1040MatchilThou speak’st
But thine own barbarous cruelty, hollow Frenchman.
1041LafoyAbominable hypocrite.
1042MatchilCunning villain.
1043HardymanFie, gentlemen, forbear this unknown†gs610
strange, unfamiliar, and, with a sense of reprobation, 'uncouth', alien and distasteful
language,
gs610
And either speak to other’s understanding,
If you speak justice.
1044MatchilGive me then my son.
1045LafoyThou hast thy son, give me my son and daughter.
1046HardymanPray, gentlemen, if you’ll not hear each other, yet both hear me.
1047MatchilI pray, captain, speak.
1048HardymanYou had his son to foster; he, your daughter.
You faithfully affirm you sent his son
For England a month since.
1049LafoyAnd mine own with him.
1050HardymanYou have confessed you put away his daughter.
1051MatchilAnd mine own with her, through her disobedience.
But ’twas upon advertisement†gs611
being informed, having one's attention called to something
by letter,
gs611
That he had first cast off my son to an
Untimely death.
1052HardymanSome villain forged that letter,
And let me tell you, sir, though in your house,
Lafoy’s an honest and a temperate man.
I will maintain for truth; what you have done,
I wish you could make good. But I may fear
You are marked out by your own wilfulness
The subject of much woe and sad misfortune.
1053MatchilI know not what I am, but, did you know
The number and the weight of my afflictions,
You could not chide me thus without some pity.
1054HardymanIndeed, I pity you; and, now you’re calm,
Know that Lafoy sent his son over with yours,
And but for some affairs he had with me
I’ th’ Isle of Wight, he had embarked himself
With them, and brought ’em to you.
1055MatchilThere’s hope, then, yet that my boy lives.
1056HardymanAnd is come over, fear not.
1057MatchilYou comfort me, and now, Lafoy, you’re welcome.
1058LafoyBut to what comfort, having lost my daughter?
1059MatchilLost or lost not, mine’s with her. And I
Purpose now to be sad no longer. For I think
I ha’ lost my wife too, there’s a second comfort.*n5069
Matchil is being ironic: his wife is 'lost' in the sense that she has embarked, he fears, on a life of adultery. But his speech shows him still callous, self-centred, and self-pitying.
n5069
1060HardymanTake an example here, Monsieur Lafoy,
And shake off sadness; mirth may come unlooked for.
I ha’ lost a son too, a wild roaring lad*n5128
Har. I ha' lost a son too, a wild roaring lad, A duplicate Speech Prefix has been removed. The ms. annotator of Newberry Library Y135.B779 notices the duplication and reassigns this speech to Lafoy; but it is Hardyman's step-son who has gone missing and turned wild. Throughout this act, the only one in which Hardyman appears, the speech prefixes are variously 'Har.' and 'Hard.'. 'Har.' is predominant until Hannah enters, with her speech prefix 'Han.'. At this point, with few exceptions, 'Har.' gives way to 'Hard.'. Perhaps the copyist or the compositor became aware of the likelihood of confusion.
,
n5128
About this town, and if I find not him,
I doubt not I shall find that he has spent me
A hundred pound since I last heard of him.
By the way, sir, I sent you a bill of change
Last month to pay a hundred pieces for me.
1061Matchil’Twas paid. I have your bill for my discharge*n5203
Matchil has a receipt that proves that he dispensed the money to Hannah.
.
n5203
How now? Ha’ you found your mistress?
1062ServantNo tidings of her, sir.
1063MatchilShe has found, then, some good exercise, I doubt not,*n5070
Matchil is again ironic, implying that the 'exercise' that holds Joyce is anything other than good.
n5070
That holds her so.
1064ServantSir, there’s a gentleman
Craves instant speech with you.
1065MatchilWho? Or whence comes he?
1066ServantHe will be known to none before he sees you
And, when you see him, he says he thinks you’ll know him.
He’s a brave gallant, one o’the Alamodes†gg3425
fashionable young men, from the French 'a la mode'
,
gg3425
Nothing but French all over*n5204
As on several occasions in the play, it is not the French themselves who are represented adversely, but the English who adopt their fashions and manners.
Brome's representation of the French and the Frenchified Englishman resembles, but is not identical with, that of William Cavendish, earl of Newcastle, who was probably Brome's patron to some degree, especially later in the decade. In his comedy The Variety Newcastle has a French dancing master, Galliard, who comments on 'de Courtier Alamode' (p. 17). Newcastle's Galliard is the subject of keener criticism than that to which Brome subjects his character so named.
.
n5204
Brome's representation of the French and the Frenchified Englishman resembles, but is not identical with, that of William Cavendish, earl of Newcastle, who was probably Brome's patron to some degree, especially later in the decade. In his comedy The Variety Newcastle has a French dancing master, Galliard, who comments on 'de Courtier Alamode' (p. 17). Newcastle's Galliard is the subject of keener criticism than that to which Brome subjects his character so named.
1067MatchilFetch him me quickly,
It is my son. Grammercy mine own heart*n5205
Matchil suddenly uses the phrase associated with his daughter Joyce and her companion Gabriella.
,
n5205
That wast not light so suddenly for nothing.
Pray, gentlemen, who e’er you see, name no man
To me, unless I ask you. He comes, he comes.
Enter CASH
[Aside] I’m grown a proper man.*n4883
Ironically, when he sees the fashionably dressed Cash, his thieving servant, and mistakes him for the son he has not seen for many years, Matchil takes pride that his boy has grown into a fine man. As well as making a poor judgement founded purely on externals, Matchil's manner of speaking displays his continuing self-absorption. One ms. annotator amends to read 'He's grown a proper man', but this misses the point: Matchil's vanity.
Heaven make me thankful.
n4883
Set clothes and fashion by*n4884
allowing for the differences over time in fashions and clothing; or perhaps that Matchil was, at his son's age, a working man and so had no fine clothes.
. He thinks to try†gg1932
test
n4884
gg1932
[Aloud to CASH] With me, sir, is your business?
1068CashI presume
You do not know me, sir.
1069Matchil [Aside to LAFOY and HARDYMAN] As well as he that got him.
Pray, gentlemen, keep your countenances. [Aloud] Not know you, sir?
’Tis like I may have known you heretofore,
You are much changed by travel, time, and bravery†gg41
'finery, fine clothes' (OED 3b); showy attire (worn with an air of bravado)
gg41
Since I last saw you. [Aside to LAFOY and HARDYMAN] There he may find
I partly guess, but will not know him yet.
Good gentlemen, say nothing.
[CASH looks terrified]
1070HardymanWhat ails he, trow?
1071Cash [Aside] He knows me, I fear, too soon. If now my
plot fail, and he have a counterplot upon me, I am
laid up†gg455
imprisoned
. [Aloud]*n5139
Cash A duplicate Speech Prefix has been removed. The National Art Library Dyce 25.E.45 ms. annotator deletes this duplicate Speech Prefix.
Do you not know me yet, sir?
gg455
n5139
1072MatchilKnow you, or know you not, sir, what’s your business?
1073CashYou sometimes had a son, sir.
1074Matchil [Aside] Now he comes to me.
[Aloud] I had, sir. But I hear he’s slain in France.
And farewell he. [Aside to LAFOY and HARDYMAN] Mark how I handle him.
[Aloud] And what, sir, of my son?
1075CashHe’s dead, you say?
1076Matchil [Aside] I muse the knave asks me not blessing though.
1077CashBut, to supply his loss, you have a daughter
That may endear a son, sir, to your comfort.*n4885
Cash hopes that he will become Matchil's son-in-law by marrying Joyce, and that the new relation will make Matchil forgive and forget.
n4885
Or where to find her?
1079CashFirst upon my knees
Let me implore your pardon. [CASH kneels]
1080Matchil [Aside to LAFOY and HARDYMAN] Now he comes home and I can hold no longer.
[Aloud] My blessing, boy, thou meanest. Take it, and welcome
To a glad father. Rise, and let my tears,
Of*n5140
If. The National Art Library Dyce 25.E.45 ms annotator also makes this emendation.
joy confirm thy welcome.
n5140
1081CashI may not rise yet, sir.
1082MatchilNo? Why? What hast thou done? Where’s young Lafoy,
My true friend’s son here? Whom I now must lock
Up in these arms, amidst a thousand welcomes.
Where’s the young man?
1083CashI know not who you mean, sir.
1084MatchilDistract me not.
1085LafoyI fear you are distraught.
I know not him*n5206
Unlike Matchil, who has not seen his son for many years, Old Lafoy has witnessed him grow up and they have only parted a few days earlier. He therefore knows that Cash is not Matchil's son and is mystified by the conversation.
. How should he know my son?
n5206
1086MatchilLet me look nearer.
1087CashSir, I am your prentice.
1088MatchilWhow – whow, – whow! Who? – my thief and runaway?
1089CashPray, sir, afford me hearing.
1090MatchilSir, your cause
Requires a judge’s hearing*n4886
Matchil responds to Cash's request to be allowed to explain by saying that he will be taken directly to a court of law to be arraigned as a thief.
.
n4886
1091CashI have put me
Into your hands, and not without much hope,
To gain your pardon, and your daughter’s love.
1092Matchil’Tis roundly†gg1199
plainly (OED 3a); completely, fully (OED 2)
spoken. Gentlemen, I’ll tell you,
gg1199
This gallant youth has gallanted away
A thousand pound of mine.
1093CashFor your advantage, sir. For by this way
Of gallantry, as you call it, I have travelled
Through the resorts and haunts, public and private,
Of all the gallants in the town. In brief,
I have found your daughter, where she had been lost
For ever in your brother Strigood’s hands.
1094MatchilCanst bring me thither?
1095LafoyIs my daughter with her?
1096CashMadam Gabriella, the French damsel’s there.
And others, men and women, whom you’ll know
When you come there.
1097LafoyGood sir, let’s hasten thither.
1098MatchilYou’ll aid me, sirs?
1099HardymanYes, with our lives and fortune.[Exit LAFOY, HARDYMAN, MATCHIL, and CASH]
5.2*n5082
The play concludes with all characters arriving at the New Academy. First, Erasmus persuades Blith that her only escape from marriage to Nehemiah lies in her contracting a union with him; and in this he is assisted by Camelion. The representation of Blith's predicament is both sophisticated and stark; and the risk she is taking becomes all the more clear when, concealed, they witness a conversation between Hannah and Valentine, and then Camelion's fury at what he supposes to be his wife's infidelity. Hannah manages to reveal that Valentine's power over her is not sexual but sisterly; and the arrival of Captain Hardyman enables the confirmation of her story and her chastity. Hardyman also agrees to assist his ne'er-do-well son to achieve an advantageous match with Lady Nestlecock.
Concealed, Matchil, Hardyman, and Lafoy witness Strigood's plotting; but they also witness Lady Nestlecock and Rachel arriving on the stage in apparent and elaborate harmony, when we had last seen them furiously engaged in dispute. As elsewhere in the play, Brome challenges us to acknowledge that the New Academy, and the arts it represents, are not susceptible of simple judgement. While it acknowledges through Strigood's conduct that such establishments could be little more than a cover for depravity, and by extension that the arts taught and practised there could themselves be little more than ways to enable vice, the play also suggests that these arts, however artificial and exaggerated, can have a positive effect in the new urban society of London. However insincere Lady Nestlecock and Rachel are, their performance of the art of compliment has indeed deflected their antagonism, or at least the display of that antagonism in public.
Camelion spirits Erasmus away for his clandestine marriage with Blith, Whimlby arrives distraught at his inability to find his niece, Lady Nestlecock reveals the transference of her affections from him to Valentine, Rachel realises that her apparent power over Valentine has evaporated, and Strigood begins to realise that all his enterprises in the New Academy are about to crumble about him. His escape is prevented by the emergence from concealment of Matchil, Hardyman, Lafoy, and Hannah.
Matchil reconciles Whimlby to his niece's marriage to Erasmus, Hardyman makes the financial assurances that will enable the marriage of Lady Nestlecock and Valentine to take place, and all that is left is to achieve the cross marriages of Matchil and Lafoy's children. They arrive having apparently contracted incestuous marriages; but the marriages are not yet legally valid, the unions not having been consummated. In any case, although sexual union could occur, marriage could not, since the sibling couples are within the bounds of consanguinity and therefore they are ineligible for marriage. In a series of abrupt and, frankly, unconvincing exchanges the young people then reveal that they had come to know that they were brothers and sisters, and that the marriages were pretended in order to bring Strigood to justice in some way. The exchange of partners takes place and cross marriages are agreed.
The play ends with another dance. In this instance however the dance is clearly not a sophisticated import from France but a vigorous English country dance. Brome seems to be associating the comedic restoration of harmony with a more local, simple, and primitive form of festivity, whereas the French dances we have seen taught in the Academy hitherto have been associated with the kinds of negotiations that are necessary to maintain civility in an urban society that is somewhat disconnected from the elemental impulses of traditional comedy.
n5082
Concealed, Matchil, Hardyman, and Lafoy witness Strigood's plotting; but they also witness Lady Nestlecock and Rachel arriving on the stage in apparent and elaborate harmony, when we had last seen them furiously engaged in dispute. As elsewhere in the play, Brome challenges us to acknowledge that the New Academy, and the arts it represents, are not susceptible of simple judgement. While it acknowledges through Strigood's conduct that such establishments could be little more than a cover for depravity, and by extension that the arts taught and practised there could themselves be little more than ways to enable vice, the play also suggests that these arts, however artificial and exaggerated, can have a positive effect in the new urban society of London. However insincere Lady Nestlecock and Rachel are, their performance of the art of compliment has indeed deflected their antagonism, or at least the display of that antagonism in public.
Camelion spirits Erasmus away for his clandestine marriage with Blith, Whimlby arrives distraught at his inability to find his niece, Lady Nestlecock reveals the transference of her affections from him to Valentine, Rachel realises that her apparent power over Valentine has evaporated, and Strigood begins to realise that all his enterprises in the New Academy are about to crumble about him. His escape is prevented by the emergence from concealment of Matchil, Hardyman, Lafoy, and Hannah.
Matchil reconciles Whimlby to his niece's marriage to Erasmus, Hardyman makes the financial assurances that will enable the marriage of Lady Nestlecock and Valentine to take place, and all that is left is to achieve the cross marriages of Matchil and Lafoy's children. They arrive having apparently contracted incestuous marriages; but the marriages are not yet legally valid, the unions not having been consummated. In any case, although sexual union could occur, marriage could not, since the sibling couples are within the bounds of consanguinity and therefore they are ineligible for marriage. In a series of abrupt and, frankly, unconvincing exchanges the young people then reveal that they had come to know that they were brothers and sisters, and that the marriages were pretended in order to bring Strigood to justice in some way. The exchange of partners takes place and cross marriages are agreed.
The play ends with another dance. In this instance however the dance is clearly not a sophisticated import from France but a vigorous English country dance. Brome seems to be associating the comedic restoration of harmony with a more local, simple, and primitive form of festivity, whereas the French dances we have seen taught in the Academy hitherto have been associated with the kinds of negotiations that are necessary to maintain civility in an urban society that is somewhat disconnected from the elemental impulses of traditional comedy.
Enter ERASMUS, BLITH, and CAMELION [carrying a key]
n6829
This brief interchange between Erasmus and Blith, with Camelion in attendance, is a moment of quiet intensity as the play draws to a conclusion; and it demands a series of decisions by the actors. Camelion is something of a grotesque, comedic figure, complacent and forever repeating his tag, 'Honi soit qui mal y pense'. Blith has been characterised principally up to this point by raucous laughter at the folly of her prospective husband, Nehemiah, with only hints that she is conscious of the awfulness of her marital fate. Erasmus seems almost to come from a different play: reflective and with a nuanced sense of morality.
In this passage, however, Blith reveals herself Erasmus's equal in recognition of the implications of the choice she is about to make. In exploring the scene, actors and the director, Brian Woolland, questioned first the degree to which it was 'appropriate to see a psychological struggle in a play like this', posing a problem not unique to The New Academy among Brome's plays, where clear genre boundaries frequently disappear. It rapidly became clear that the focal point was Blith and her perspective as manifested in her lines (which are not many) and actions, and the audience's relationship with her. Her eye contact with Erasmus and with the audience was crucial.
n6829
In this passage, however, Blith reveals herself Erasmus's equal in recognition of the implications of the choice she is about to make. In exploring the scene, actors and the director, Brian Woolland, questioned first the degree to which it was 'appropriate to see a psychological struggle in a play like this', posing a problem not unique to The New Academy among Brome's plays, where clear genre boundaries frequently disappear. It rapidly became clear that the focal point was Blith and her perspective as manifested in her lines (which are not many) and actions, and the audience's relationship with her. Her eye contact with Erasmus and with the audience was crucial.
1100ErasmusBe fearless, lady, and upon my life,n6937
Erasmus's first line displays the formality and seriousness that will characterise the exchange between him and Blith. Her response, two sentences in nine lines, is complex in clause structure and latinate in diction: 'liberally', 'censure', 'supposition', 'protestation', 'enthralled'. These are examples from Blith's speech alone, but Erasmus matches her in formality. The speech requires a slow pace, as does Erasmus's careful response, a single seven-line sentence in which he diplomatically balances his personal motives and an altruistic pity for her circumstances.
Both Erasmus and Blith carefully deploy balanced words and phrases, revealing that each is fully aware of the choice Blith faces. One result is that near-dead metaphors and dormant symbolism are vivified by the characters' own consciousness. When staging the scene in workshops the actors experimented with differing degrees of emphasis, probing the degree to which an audience would respond to the implied meaning without open elaboration.
The effect of this exchange is somewhat paradoxical, and its paradox goes to the heart of the issues of politeness and civility in the play. Erasmus and Blith's diction seems both authentic to their situation and circumstances and akin to the formal and performed polite speech being taught in the academies and in contemporary books of good manners. The audience experiences this intense moment having already seen the explicit performances of polite compliment and speech in Act 4 and shortly before witnessing Lady Nestlecock and Rachel use a highly-artificial linguistic style to navigate around their hostility. Brome's contemporary audience may recognise the verbal manner advocated in such works as The Mirrour of Complements (1634).
n6937
Her response, two sentences in nine lines, is complex in clause structure and latinate in diction: 'liberally', 'censure', 'supposition', 'protestation', 'enthralled'. These are examples from Blith's speech alone, but Erasmus matches her in formality. The speech requires a slow pace, as does Erasmus's careful response, a single seven-line sentence in which he diplomatically balances his personal motives and an altruistic pity for her circumstances. Both Erasmus and Blith carefully deploy balanced words and phrases, revealing that each is fully aware of the choice Blith faces. One result is that near-dead metaphors and dormant symbolism are vivified by the characters' own consciousness. When staging the scene in workshops the actors experimented with differing degrees of emphasis, probing the degree to which an audience would respond to the implied meaning without open elaboration.
The effect of this exchange is somewhat paradoxical, and its paradox goes to the heart of the issues of politeness and civility in the play. Erasmus and Blith's diction seems both authentic to their situation and circumstances and akin to the formal and performed polite speech being taught in the academies and in contemporary books of good manners. The audience experiences this intense moment having already seen the explicit performances of polite compliment and speech in Act 4 and shortly before witnessing Lady Nestlecock and Rachel use a highly-artificial linguistic style to navigate around their hostility. Brome's contemporary audience may recognise the verbal manner advocated in such works as The Mirrour of Complements (1634).
Honour, and faith, you are secure from danger.
1101BlithSir, I have put me in your hands, you see,
If not a censure, yet a supposition
Of too much easiness, in being led
So suddenly, so far towards your desire.
But my opinion of your nobleness,
Joined with your protestation, pleads my pardon.
At least it may, the wretchedness considered,
To which I was enthralled.
1102ErasmusIt is not more my love
Unto your virtue, and your fair endowments,
Than pity in me labours your release,
Nor is it rather to enrich myself,
Than to save you from so immense a danger,
As you had fallen into by yielding under
Your uncle’s weakness in so fond a match.
1103BlithBless me from being fool-clogged†gg3427
encumbered with an idiot-husband
.n6938
Blith's exclamation could be made to Erasmus or it may be to herself. In exploring the staging of the scene the actor performed this line in several different ways. Noticeable in them all was the contrast between the Anglo-Saxon diction -- 'fool-clogged' -- and her latinate diction in the previous speech, to Erasmus.
gg3427
n6938
or it may be to herself. In exploring the staging of the scene the actor performed this line in several different ways. Noticeable in them all was the contrast between the Anglo-Saxon diction -- 'fool-clogged' -- and her latinate diction in the previous speech, to Erasmus.
1104ErasmusNow you are free,
If you can think yourself so, and but yield
Unto my present counsel.n4887
Erasmus wrestles here with one of the play's central questions, already seen in the relationship between Matchil and Rachel: does marriage for a woman represent the acquisition of freedom? Or is it 'enthrallment', entering into a different servitude? For Blith, the advantage is that she would escape the control of her uncle (and guardian), Whimlby, with his willingness to marry her to a wildly inappropriate husband in order to secure his own bride. But escaping that fate requires her to enter a marriage with Erasmus. Who knows how that bargain will turn out?
Both Erasmus and Blith use terms common in poetic love discourses (the description of the lover as the beloved's prisoner, for instance); but these are rendered newly vivid by the sense that bad marriages in this play are like a permanent incarceration, till death do them part.
Erasmus's first two line-endings neatly capture Blith's dilemma: 'free', 'yield'. They surround the need for her to interpret marriage to him as freedom, despite the legal position of married women: 'if you can think yourself so'.
n4887
Both Erasmus and Blith use terms common in poetic love discourses (the description of the lover as the beloved's prisoner, for instance); but these are rendered newly vivid by the sense that bad marriages in this play are like a permanent incarceration, till death do them part.
Erasmus's first two line-endings neatly capture Blith's dilemma: 'free', 'yield'. They surround the need for her to interpret marriage to him as freedom, despite the legal position of married women: 'if you can think yourself so'.
1105CamelionDo so, lady,
Before you are missed within. Here is the closet,
And here’s the keyn4888
The key and closet are real but they are also figurative: will she have the power represented by the key if she really goes through with the marriage? They are also anatomical: the 'key' in this period frequently represented the penis. It is a reference that continues even in Jane Austen: Maria Bertram says of her tedious, soon-to-be husband, 'Mr. Rushworth is so long fetching this key!' (Mansfield Park, chapter 10.)
In exploring the staging of this moment, the key as a property became a centre of attention, understood by the characters as both literal and figurative. Camelion gives Blith the key; the actors experimented with it being received and further given as visible confirmation of the transaction between Blith and Erasmus.
The interchange between these three characters raises insistently questions of manipulation. What is Camelion's role and motive, as he stage-manages Erasmus's successful proposition? How morally reprehensible is Erasmus's use of the situation to manipulate Blith? Erasmus repeatedly emphasises the transparency of his dealings , but the audience must wonder whether this too is rhetorical, building pressure on Blith, like a stage magician assuring an audience that there is no trickery.
in your own hands. [CAMELION gives BLITH the key] And presently*n6940
The sense of immediacy and urgency is powerful throughout this act, in which the word 'presently' occurs four times, this being the first. Here, Camelion moves from Blith's hesitant acceptance of a risky course of action to immediate fulfilment.
I’ll fetch a priest.
n4888
In exploring the staging of this moment, the key as a property became a centre of attention, understood by the characters as both literal and figurative. Camelion gives Blith the key; the actors experimented with it being received and further given as visible confirmation of the transaction between Blith and Erasmus.
The interchange between these three characters raises insistently questions of manipulation. What is Camelion's role and motive, as he stage-manages Erasmus's successful proposition?
How morally reprehensible is Erasmus's use of the situation to manipulate Blith? Erasmus repeatedly emphasises the transparency of his dealings , but the audience must wonder whether this too is rhetorical, building pressure on Blith, like a stage magician assuring an audience that there is no trickery. n6940
1106ErasmusYou see
I still deal fairly w’ye, and give you power
To keep guard on yourself.
1107BlithAnd yet I yieldn4891
Blith shows herself fully aware of the paradox of her situation and the perils she runs: Erasmus tells her he gives her power and liberty, she responds by saying that to escape one cage she must enter another, as the property of a husband.
In this crucial moment the actor must decide the degree to which to portray Blith as undergoing an interior debate. Exploring the scene, the actor, Hannah Watkins, experimented with turning from Erasmus and delivering her line facing the audience, with him seeing her face only partially and obliquely.
n4891
In this crucial moment the actor must decide the degree to which to portray Blith as undergoing an interior debate. Exploring the scene, the actor, Hannah Watkins, experimented with turning from Erasmus and delivering her line facing the audience, with him seeing her face only partially and obliquely.
Myself your prisoner.
1108CamelionIn. Somebody comes.
She will be yours. And let me tell you, sir,
I wish you as much joy with her, as I*n4892
Camelion's complacency is highly ironic, as will be seen in a few moments.
n4892
Have with my Cock.
1109ErasmusYou have befriended me
In this good enterprise, and one good turn
Requires another. And now for that I told you,
Touching your wife, your Cock you so rejoice in.n6939
At this point the tension of the interchange between Erasmus and Blith is released as the scene turns back to the more-obviously comedic character of Camelion. The turn to comedy is signalled by Erasmus's sardonic use of Camelion's singularly inappropriate epithet for his wife: 'your Cock you so rejoice in'. Exploring the scene, the actors themselves found this line sufficiently bizarre to cause laughter, as it surely would in the theatre.
n6939
1110CamelionAlas, alas, good gentleman, you would fain
Ha’ me be jealous. Honi soit, you’re short†gs608
failing to reach some standard or objective (OED short III)
.
gs608
Enter VALENTINE and HANNAH [carrying 50 pieces of money and two letters]
1111ErasmusStand by and observe.
[ERASMUS, BLITH, and CAMELION conceal themselves]
1112ValentineDo you begin to boggle†gg3761
to raise scruples, hesitate, demur, stickle (at, occas. about, over, etc., or to do a thing) (OED boggle v, 2)
,
gg3761
And when I send for twenty pieces, do you
Send me but ten?
1113Camelion [Aside to ERASMUS] What’s that?
1114Erasmus [Aside to CAMELION] Nay, mark.
1115ValentineI pray,
What have I had in all by your account?
1116HannahAt several times, you have had fifty pounds of
my poor husband’s money.
1117ValentineWhat’s that to the free pleasure of my body
Which must afford you sweet and lusty payment,
You froward monkey? But perhaps you ha’ got
Some new-found horn-maker†gg3428
a man who seduces other men's wives, making the husbands cuckolds and thus wearers of horns
, that you may think
gg3428
Deserves your husband’s money better, for
Doing his journey-work†gs696
used figuratively, one who performs some action, apprentice-like, for another
, one o’ the monsieurs,
gs696
Or both perhaps i’th’ house here, under’s antlers*n5207
In Camelion's own house and therefore beneath the cuckolded husband's own horns.
?
n5207
It must be so; why else of all the town,
Must I be one o’th’ last that must take notice
Of your new college here, your brazen-face college
Of feats and fine fagaries†gg3762
a departure or straying from the ordered, regular, or usual course of conduct, decorum, or propriety; a frolic or prank, esp. one of a freakish nature (OED vagary 3a); a capricious, fantastic, or eccentric action or piece of conduct (OED vagary n, 4a); the spelling is a variant
? Do you grow weary of me?
gg3762
1118HannahDo you grow wild? Speak lower. Do you mean
To undo me?
1119ValentineWill tother fifty pound undo thee? I have lost
All that I had within among your monsieurs.
And you must yield supply or lose a friend*n4893
Either Hannah must give Valentine the money he demands or he will cease to be her lover. The irony is that she will not take him for a lover; Valentine, as ever, seems unable to recognise that she has resisted him.
n4893
Of me.
1120Camelion
[Aside] What a way would so much money have gone in bets at the ducking pond?
1121HannahWill no less serve your turn than fifty?
1122ValentineNo less. All makes, you know, but a just hundred.
And there I’ll stick; and stick close to thee too,*n5071
Valentine resorts to blackmail without hesitation or compunction.
n5071
Else all flies open. What care I who knows
Your credit’s breach, when you respect not mine*n5208
Valentine plays on credit as social reputation and possessing the trust of others in terms of money and debt.
?
n5208
1123Camelion [CAMELION and ERASMUS come forward] ’Tis too well known already.
All’s too open*n4894
Camelion plays on the use of 'close' in Valentine's speech, where the latter meant staying in physical proximity, to mean that the affair between Valentine and Hannah is now 'open', no longer 'close', meaning secret. But he then applies a physical meaning: his house, purse, and wife's legs have been all too open and accessible.
.
n4894
My house, my purse, my wife, and all’s too open*n4894
Camelion plays on the use of 'close' in Valentine's speech, where the latter meant staying in physical proximity, to mean that the affair between Valentine and Hannah is now 'open', no longer 'close', meaning secret. But he then applies a physical meaning: his house, purse, and wife's legs have been all too open and accessible.
.
n4894
1124HannahO me, undone.
1125CamelionWas ever loving husband
So much abused?
1126ValentineEnquire among your neighbours.
1127ErasmusBe patient, man.
1129ValentineTake heed, sir, what you say.
E’en now you said she was too open*n4895
Valentine mocks Camelion, deliberately misinterpreting the various meanings of 'close' and 'open'.
, sir.
n4895
You’re in two tales already.
1130HannahI fear he’s mad; or jealous, which is worse.
1131ValentinePish, Honi soit. He jealous, he defies it!
1132CamelionDo you deride me?
Sir, you can witness with me, he confessed
Receipt of fifty pounds my wife has lent him,
False woman that she is, for horn-making,
Job journey-work.
1133HannahYou are deceived.
1134CamelionI know –
At least I think*n5209
This sudden acknowledgement of the slender evidence for his wife's adultery suggests a hesitation in Camelion. And he is hoist with his own petard: evil to him who evil thinks, his catchphrase.
– I am deceived in both
n5209
My money and thy honesty, but the laws
In both shall do me right, or all shall fly for’t.
I’ll instantly to counsel.
1135HannahHear me first.
1136ErasmusBy all means, hear her first. Pray, grant her that.
1137CamelionI dare not look on her, lest I be tempted
To yield unto my shame and my undoing.*n5210
Is Camelion saying that he would behave in an unmanly way, breaking down emotionally? Or does he mean that he might attack her violently, which he might think a manly response?
n5210
1138ValentineWill you not hear your Cock, your Nansy, Nanny Cock?
1139HannahTime was you would not ha’ denied me that.
1140CamelionNor anything, if my Cock had but stood*n5072
held to, taken her stand immovably. See OED stand v 77 f c
n5072
Upon’t. Such was my love, but now –
1141HannahBut now you’re jealous.
1142CamelionHave I not cause?
1143HannahHere’s tother fifty pieces. Take’em, sir.
[HANNAH gives VALENTINE fifty pieces of money] They are full weight, and truly told*n4896
Hannah literally means that the coins have not been shaved and have been scrupulously counted out; but there is also a sense that she is drawing attention to Valentine's falsity through the contrast between that and the inert but undisputed integrity of the money he is extorting.
.
n4896
1144ValentineBrave wench.
1145HannahIf you will law, sir, you shall law for something.
1146CamelionWhat dost thou mean?
1147Valentine [Aside] I hope she’ll humble him so,
That he shall keep our chamber door for us,
While we get boys for him. A dainty rogue,
She tempts me strongly now. Would she would call me
About it presently.
1148HannahThat money, sir,
May think the better of your credit too,
Being so good i’ th’ house.*n4907
This appears to mean, 'being of such good standing in the house'. Hannah's phrase is shot through with irony, but Valentine misses it entirely.
n4907
1149ValentineI’ll straight amongst’em.
1150Camelion [To ERASMUS] Counsel me not, sir. All my joys are gone.
I cannot think now what a ducking pond
Can be good for, except to drown me in’t.
1151ErasmusAlas, poor man, I was in this too busy.
[VALENTINE prepares to leave]
1152HannahStay, you shall promise me before my husband
That you will never more attempt my chastity.
1153ValentineThat bargain’s yet to make. Though before him
I may say much, I will not stand to that
For all the wealth he has.
1154HannahYou shall protest
Then, fairly, as you are a gentleman,
You never have enjoyed me.
1155CamelionI like that.
1156ValentineNo, no, I cannot safely, for in that
I shall surrender up my interest
In’s house; and he may warn me out on’t. No,
Take heed o’that. ’Tis not his tother hundred
Shall make me slip that hold.
1157CamelionI am lost again.
1158HannahWhat a bold thief is this! Pray hear me, sir:
You may remember that I asked you once
What countryman you were.
1159ValentineYes, when you first cast your good liking on me,
And I told you o’ th’ Isle of Wight. And what o’ that?
1160HannahAnd you
Call Captain Hardyman your father-in-law†gg3432
step-father
?*n4908
their. However, there are no plural step-children to call Captain Hardyman 'their' father-in-law. The ms. annotators of Folger Shakespeare Library B4872 and National Art Library Dyce 25.E.45 also see the problem and emend. My emendation agrees with Folger Shakespeare Library B4872.
gg3432
n4908
1161ValentineYou wrong me basely to say I call him
Anything: for he gives me nothing.
1162HannahYou wrong him basely. Look you, can you read?
[HANNAH shows VALENTINE a letter]
1163ValentineI had done ill to venture, as I ha’ done,
On Salisbury Plain else.*n4909
The meaning is clear: you need certain skills, not to be an innocent abroad, to travel on Salisbury Plain. This reads like a proverbial saying. Though no exact equivalent has been found, there is a contemporary proverb: 'Salisbury Plain is seldom without a thief or twain'.
Ha! What’s here?
n4909
[VALENTINE reads] That, 'Daughter, I sent you order to receive for me an hundred pounds. If you find that your brother the
spendthrift Val Askal,'– Zooks, that’s I! – 'be in any want, furnish him according to your own discretion.' I am Val Askal, where’s the money? My hundred pound, ha’ you’t?
1164HannahIt seems a sister of yours had it.
Ha’ you a sister?
1165ValentineHe had a daughter by my mother, but
He placed her out a child, I know not where.
Where’s that young whore, trow? Hannah, I think
Her name was. Hang me if I know directly.
1166CamelionMy wife’s name’s Hannah, sir.
1167HannahI am that sister, brother, but no whore.
1168ErasmusNow, Val, your brags to make men think you lay with her.
1169HannahYou have your hundred pound, sir. Look you, husband:
This is my father’s letter which you wrote on,
That which you dared the devil and clerks to counterfeit. Read your own hand.
[HANNAH shows CAMELION the letter]
1171ErasmusI must admire this woman.
1172ValentineDost think I did not know thee?
1173HannahNo, sir, nor would I that you should,
Till I had foiled you in your course,
And had my will to make my husband jealous.
1174CamelionMy Cock, my Cock again, my Nanny cock
Cock-all, my Cock-a-hoop, I am overjoyed.
See, see thy father too.
Enter MATCHIL, HARDYMAN, LAFOY, and CASH
1175MatchilThis is the woman,
To whom I paid your money.
1176Hardyman’Tis my daughter!
My blessing on you. [HARDYMAN sees his son VALENTINE] What, are you here too?
1177ValentineAnd ask you blessing too. Your hundred pound
Has bound me to’t. Heaven bless you. Here’s half
One still, yes, and the better half, for tother’s spent.
1178HardymanO, y’are a great good husband*n5211
Hardyman mocks Valentine for being a spendthrift, but Valentine shrewdly takes the word 'husband' and reuses it in the more limited sense of 'a married man'.
.
n5211
1179ValentineI would be one. And here’s a good rich widow
Now in the house, your countenance may help me.
How orderly and civilly I live.
1180CamelionO wag.
1181Hardyman’Tis like, sir, I shall prove your furtherer†gg3763
one who helps, promotes, or supports a person or action
.
gg3763
What is she?
1182ValentineThat merchant’s sister, and a lady, sir.
I would not have him hear.
1183HardymanWe’ll talk aside, then. [HARDYMAN and VALENTINE] talk aside.
1184MatchilIn that I’m partly satisfied.*n4910
The audience here comes in upon a conversation between Erasmus and Matchil, in which Erasmus has been assuring the merchant that his wife has not yet gone through with her adulterous intentions. Erasmus has been explaining that his own role was to appear to be involved, but actually to act as something of a chaperone, ensuring that Valentine was unable to achieve his end.
n4910
1185ErasmusI love you, sir,
And waited on your wife but as your spy,
For fear he might have led her to more folly.
1186MatchilBut saw you not two such damsels here?
1187ErasmusHere are
Some in the house that would not be seen by us.
1188CashBecause they thought you’d know ’em.
1189ErasmusAnd if that
Old fellow be your brother Strigood, ’tis most
strange.
1190MatchilYou know not him here, do you?
1191ErasmusNo, not I.
1192Matchil’Tis my man, Cash.
1193ErasmusMost wonderful.
1194MatchilWe shall know more anon.
1195LafoyPray haste, sir, to discovery. I would fain
Once see my daughter.
1196MatchilI would see a little
The fashions o’the house first.
1197CashPray obscure
See and hear all that passes, nor can any
Pass out o’th’ house without your notice.
The gentlemen and I will mix again
With the society, if they please.
1198ErasmusAgreed.
1199Strigood Within*n5141
The Speech Prefix in 1659 is Within Strigood.
Where are you, gentlemen?
n5141
1200ErasmusCome away, Val.
1201MatchilIs not that the hell-hound's voice?
1202CashYes, ’tis your brother.
1204HannahI’ll seat you to see all, and be unseen.
1205CamelionDo so, good Cock, do so. [Aside to ERASMUS] Now, sir, I’ll fetch the priest.[Exit CAMELION]*n6930
Camelion reenters later in this scene and must exit here.
n6930
HANNAH, HARDYMAN, MATCHIL, and LAFOY [conceal themselves]*n6935
In the 1659 text these characters exit: 'Ex. Han. Hard. Mat. Lafoy.'
n6935
Enter STRIGOOD
1206StrigoodO gentlemen, you have lost such sport, the lady
1207CashCould not
The old knight part ’em?
1208StrigoodHe has done his best,
And almost lost his eyes in the adventure
Betwixt the furies’ talons.
1209ErasmusBut are they friends again?
1210StrigoodAnd deep in compliment.*n7769
Strigood's description alerts the audience to the coming set-piece of good manners and mannered compliment. Lady Nestlecock and her new sister-in-law Rachel were last seen indulging in vituperation and insult; now they demonstrate the transformative power of polite language. Although there are no explicit verbal borrowings, this interchange clearly echoes the dialogues in such works as The Mirrour of Complements (1634).
n7769
Our school affords no such in act or language.
Enter LADY NESTLECOCK and RACHEL
1211Lady NestlecockSister, indeed I am too much your trouble.
1212RachelPray, madam, let me serve you truly, truly.
1213Lady NestlecockIndeed, indeed, you wrong yourself, I am yours.
1214RachelI am your servant’s servant, and will serve
Under your ladyship’s cook to do you service.
1215Lady NestlecockIndeed, you may not.
1216[Rachel]*n5083
La. This speech is misassigned to Lady Nestlecock in the original printing.
If I may not be
n5083
Accepted for your household servant, let me
Become your charwoman in any office
From cupboard to close-stool*n4914
The very abjectness of the roles Rachel proposes for herself suggests an element of irony: the exaggeration marks the offer as artificial.
. I can do all
n4914
To do your ladyship service.
1217ValentineThis now savours*n4915
Valentine puns on 'savour', meaning 'has some connotation', drawing on the idea of the odours emanating from the close-stool.
of compliment indeed.
n4915
1218RachelIn sooth, ’tis sooth, forsooth the tale I tell you*n5213
The repetition of 'sooth' makes the line risible, heightening the sense of Rachel's performance and, perhaps, insincerity.
.
n5213
Enter NEHEMIAH
1219NehemiahWell acted, mother.
1220Lady NestlecockYou’re too obsequious,
Good gentle sister.
1221RachelI am short of good;
Gentle I grant I am, for I bite nobody.
Command me then, sweet madam.
1223Lady NestlecockO, you shall pardon me.
1224RachelI am no pope*n4916
Rachel picks up the word 'pardon', by which Lady Nestlecock means simply 'excuse', but wrenches it to refer to the papal power of issuing pardons and indulgences.
, for your sake would I were.
n4916
1225Lady NestlecockYour courtesy o’ercomes me.
1226RachelO, not so.
I wish it could, forsooth, would it were better for you.
1227NehemiahExceeding well acted o’both sides,
Mother and aunt, f’sooth; Amardla, you have done’t
Better than the two schoolmistresses today
Could do their whatsicomes†gg3433
something for which one has forgotten the correct word
, their compliments,
gg3433
I think you call ’em. But I ha’ lost my mistress
To compliment withal.*n6171
Nehemiah means that having lost sight of Mistress Blith he cannot engage in games of compliment. But the audience recognises another meaning also: it was Erasmus's linguistic skill, itself evidence of a subtle and empathetic mind, that persuaded Blith to throw her lot in with him. Nehemiah, in that sense, lost his prospective bride to compliment.
Mistress Blith Tripshort
n6171
Has out-striped*n4917
There are two possible meanings. In the 1659 text the word is printed 'out-stip't'. Read as 'out-striped' it would mean 'defeated me in a contest of beating, the giving of stripes'; and this has been characteristic of the combative interactions of Nehemiah and Blith. Alternatively, it could be read as 'outstripped', meaning that Blith has won a figurative race with Nehemiah.
me, Amardla, that she has.
n4917
1228Lady NestlecockWhere’s her wise uncle should ha’ look’t to her?
1229NehemiahHe’s crying all about the house for her,
But cannot find her. How shall I have her now?
1230Lady NestlecockThou shalt not have her, boy, she’s nought.
1231NehemiahThen he’s nought too. You shan’t have him.
1232Lady NestlecockNor will, I fear not.
1233NehemiahThink of the gentleman, mother, that outfaced
The Frenchman for me. I would you had a thousand
such in France now.
1234ValentineGod-a-mercy, boy.
1235ErasmusPeace, hear a little more.
Enter CAMELION
1236Camelion [Aside to ERASMUS] Sir, come away.
I have found a careless curate*n4918
Two meanings may be present here: that the curate is none too careful about the ceremonies at which he officiates; and that he is without a parish or position, that he is care-less or cure-less, and so will perform such ceremonies for necessary money.
, that has nothing
but a bare coat too loose*n4919
It is possible that this should read 'to lose', meaning that the curate has little to lose so is prepared to act in ways that may not be strictly lawful. However, 'too loose' suggests that he is hungry and thus lean, and that his coat is literally too loose.
, shall chop it up presently.
And give him but a piece, he’ll fear no cannon.*n4920
Camelion puns on 'piece' as money and 'piece' as a gun or other firearm; then on 'cannon' as military ordinance and 'canon' as church law.
n4918
n4919
n4920
1238StrigoodWhither goes he?
1239ValentineNo matter, let him go; t’untruss†gg3434
to undo the fastenings of a garment
*n4921
Valentine's throw-away line would matter a great deal if it were true, since it would suggest that Erasmus has gone away to fornicate with Blith.
, perhaps.
gg3434
n4921
Enter WHIMLBY and EPHRAIM
1240EphraimI say she is i’th house.
1241WhimlbyShe’s gone, she’s gone.
1242[Ephraim]*n5129
Whim. Misassigned in the original to Whimlby. The ms. annotators of National Art Library Dyce 25.E.45, Folger Shakespeare Library B4872, and Newberry Library Y135.B779 all make this emendation.
She’s flown out of a window, or chimneytop, then.
n5129
I’m sure I watched the door with open eyes
E’er since you entered, as my lady charged me,
Lest her child might slip out to play i’ th’ street.
1243NehemiahAnd I am here, you see. He cannot see.*n4922
Whimlby is back to weeping and so cannot see.
n4922
He has no more eyes than a sucking pig,
And yet he weeps like a roasted one.
1244WhimlbyI am abused.
And render me my niece,
You have stolen her for your son.
1245Lady NestlecockMy son defies her,
As I do you, old, whining, withered fellow,
That has no moisture in him but for tears.*n4923
Lady Nestlecock mocks Whimlby savagely, saying he has only moisture for crying and, by implication, is impotent or perhaps incapable of producing sperm or seminal fluid.
n4923
1246Valentine [Aside] That is my cue.*n4924
Valentine in an aside uses the language of the theatre. Brome regularly introduces theatrical terminology toward the ends of plays, reminding the audience of the artificiality of what they see and the parts being played. Here the character recognises that Lady Nestlecock's allusion to Whimlby's age-related impotence opens the door to a virile, younger man.
[Aloud to LADY NESTLECOCK] A young, well-governed man
n4924
Were fitter, madam.
1247RachelWhere have you been, servant?
1248ValentineI speak to my lady.
1249RachelMy lady, I think you said.
1250Lady NestlecockI rather think he plays the cunning hypocrite
With his false tears, and packed her hence himself.
1251RachelMy lady minds you not, and I can learn
To give you a broadside*n5214
Lady Nestlecock has turned to talk to Ephraim and thus away from Valentine.
too.
n5214
1252EphraimMadam, that cannot be, for I have seen
All that went out, or came into the house
Since you. Here came a churchman in ere while.
1253WhimlbyA churchman! Then I fear she’s closely married unto her woe and mine.
1254NehemiahPerhaps to me.
Behind my back you said she would do so.
1255[Ephraim]*n5084
There is no speech prefix before this line; it is run on as part of Nehemiah's previous speech. But not least from Ephraim's next line, in response to Lady Nestlecock, it is clear that he speaks at this point.
And before him came in your brother Matchil.
n5084
1256Lady NestlecockMy brother! Who, her husband?
1257EphraimYes, with others.
1258RachelMy husband, I think you said. What a foul
house these washing days make!*n4925
Washing day was regarded as rendering houses 'foul' (Samuel Pepys writes of avoiding his 'foul house' on such days [27 October 1663]). However, the use here suggests a proverb.
n4925
1259ValentineNay, ’tis no jest. Now, ladies, let me tell you;
And sad Sir Swithin. Pray lend all your ears.
1260Strigood [Aside to CASH] Cash, we are betrayed, Cash, if we be not nimble.
I smell a fox, hie thee up quickly, Cash,
And hurry down the wenches. We’ll make bold with*n4926
Strigood intends to commandeer Lady Nestlecock's coach in order to make his escape with Cash, Joyce, and Gabriella.
n4926
My lady’s coach to hurry us away.
MATCHIL, HARDYMAN, LAFOY, and HANNAH [reveal themselves]*n6936
In the 1659 text these characters enter: 'Enter Matchil, Hardy, Lafoy, Hannah'
n6936
1261MatchilBut not too fast. [To CASH] Go, sir, fetch down the wenches.
[To STRIGOOD] Thou shameless reprobate. Dost thou hang thy head now?
I’ll take a course to hang the rest o’thee.*n4927
Matchil threatens legal action that might result in Strigood's execution.
n4927
Your ladyship's well met at the new school.
By the devil’s doctrine here? You weep, Sir Swithin,
For the iniquity of the times?
1262NehemiahYou mean
His niece. Pray, uncle, did you meet her?
She’s gone away too, after my cousin Joyce
And the French maid, I think.
Enter ERASMUS, BLITH, and CAMELION
She is here again.
Amardla, wipe your eyes, and look, Sir Swithin,
The tother honest gentleman has found her.
And let him take her for his pains for me.
1263ErasmusI thank your love. But sir, ’tis your consent
1264MatchilSir Swithin, let ’em have it;
This is the gentleman I would have spoke for:*n5130
Mat. This is the gentleman I would have spoke for: A duplicate Speech Prefix has been removed. The ms. annotators of Folger Shakespeare Library B4872 and Newberry Library Y135.B779 make this emendation.
n5130
In birth, in means, in person every way
Deserving her. Take him upon my word.
1265Hardyman [To LADY NESTLECOCK] And madam, since you stick but upon jointure,
Having heard lately well of his husbandry–
1266Hannah [Aside to VALENTINE] Thank a good sister, sir.
1267HardymanI will secure you
Three hundred pounds a year. Your brother knows me*n5076
Lady Nestlecock's brother, the merchant Matchil, can vouch for Hardyman's ability to make good on his financial commitment.
.
n5076
1268Matchil’Will make good his word. Agree by yourselves.
1269Lady NestlecockUpon these terms, ’tis like we shall agree.
Sir Swithin, are you pleased?
1270WhimlbyPleased or displeased,
It seems they are married.
1271CamelionYes, I assure you,
I saw their hands joined, and I heard ’em both
Answer the priest.*n5077
Though theirs was a conventional marriage, they were eligible and their commitment was immediate, mutual, voluntary, and seen and heard by a witness, Camelion. It was therefore valid. Following the Reformation, two versions of conventional marriage contract were acknowledged: 'sponsalia per verba de praesenti', verbal commitment with immediate effect; and 'sponsalia per verba de futuro', with the marriage to be effective at some future point and when consummated. The legal forms of marriage were contested throughout this period and later, as both state and state church sought to achieve greater control; however, such conventional marriage contracts remained potentially valid in England until the 1753 Marriage Act, and in Scotland arguably until the Scottish Family Law Act of 2006.
n5077
1272WhimlbyI will no longer whine.
Heaven give you joy. As you’re your own, you’re mine.
1273CamelionThere are more weddings i’th’ house. Your daughters
Are linked by this time to the two young Frenchmen.
1274MatchilHis daughters? Ours, I fear! What French? Where are they?n6942
With this question Matchil summons onstage a further five characters, assembling virtually the whole cast for the final sequence in which all the play's plots are brought to a conclusion, families reconciled, rogues forgiven, couples rearranged, and right marriages affirmed.
The stage is crowded and a production needs to achieve utter clarity in order to carry the audience to a satisfying conclusion. Brome includes a humorous glance at the arbitrariness of his own plotting, as he does in other plays, when he makes the Matchil and Lafoy children's cross-marriage partners interchangeable: 'they shall exchange'.
In this play Brome again focuses attention in the end on the male authority figures, particularly Matchil and Hardyman. Each of these takes his turn controlling the final action, in effect directing the denouement. It is striking that Hardyman is left dominating the stage. Though he has appeared only in the final act, his even-temper (contrasting with Matchil's acknowledged intemperateness) gives him the authority to speak the final lines, contradict Matchil, and propel the play into a celebratory meal in honour of the various marriages and reconciliations. Before that it is he who sees through the chaos of apparently incestuous marriages, recognising that they cannot have legal force.
In staging the scene it was found useful to have each father come forward to occupy the most prominent position on the stage, revealing the way in which authority shifts among them, coming to rest on Hardyman. Though the arrangement of actors in this preliminary staging was static, it created a space that was clearly to be the focus of action and the audience's attention. Each significant action resolving a plot strand took its place in that dominant space, giving way to the next after resolution. As the director Brian Woolland said, the overriding requirement of the scene is clarity.
Although the workshop could attempt nothing more than a simple reading, even that showed Brome skillfully switching between plots and characters, bringing each to the fore as the focus of the stage as conflicts are resolved, marriages arranged, villains forgiven, and fools spared.
n6942
The stage is crowded and a production needs to achieve utter clarity in order to carry the audience to a satisfying conclusion. Brome includes a humorous glance at the arbitrariness of his own plotting, as he does in other plays, when he makes the Matchil and Lafoy children's cross-marriage partners interchangeable: 'they shall exchange'.
In this play Brome again focuses attention in the end on the male authority figures, particularly Matchil and Hardyman. Each of these takes his turn controlling the final action, in effect directing the denouement. It is striking that Hardyman is left dominating the stage. Though he has appeared only in the final act, his even-temper (contrasting with Matchil's acknowledged intemperateness) gives him the authority to speak the final lines, contradict Matchil, and propel the play into a celebratory meal in honour of the various marriages and reconciliations.
Before that it is he who sees through the chaos of apparently incestuous marriages, recognising that they cannot have legal force. In staging the scene it was found useful to have each father come forward to occupy the most prominent position on the stage, revealing the way in which authority shifts among them, coming to rest on Hardyman. Though the arrangement of actors in this preliminary staging was static, it created a space that was clearly to be the focus of action and the audience's attention. Each significant action resolving a plot strand took its place in that dominant space, giving way to the next after resolution. As the director Brian Woolland said, the overriding requirement of the scene is clarity.
Although the workshop could attempt nothing more than a simple reading, even that showed Brome skillfully switching between plots and characters, bringing each to the fore as the focus of the stage as conflicts are resolved, marriages arranged, villains forgiven, and fools spared.
1275CashHere, sir, undone, I fear.
1276MatchilWhat, are you married?
1277[Papillion]*n5131
Mat. Jun. For the remainder of the scene and the play, the young men are identified in Speech Prefixes by their real family names, their disguises being dropped: Matchil Junior and Lafoy Junior.
Sir, she is mine, I must and will maintain it.
n5131
1278[Galliard]*n5133
Laf. Jun. For the remainder of the scene and the play, the young men are identified in Speech Prefixes by their real family names, their disguises being dropped: Matchil Junior and Lafoy Junior.
And she is mine.
n5133
1279LafoyThis is your son. And this is mine.
1280MatchilThis is your daughter. And this mine. Each
married to her brother.
1281[Galliard]Mon père, je desire votre benediction
pour moi et ma femme.*n6961
1659: 'Mon Pere Je desire vetre Benediction Jour / pour moy & ma fennue.' Once more the compositor appears to have struggled with the French. Regularised in this modernised text, it means, 'Father, I ask your blessing for me and my wife'.
n6961
1282LafoyYou are lost children all. Was ever thread
By fate so crossly spun, so crossly wed*n5215
The primary reference is to the classical Fates, the goddesses who spin out mortal life and cut the thread at the point of death. However, there have been a number of different uses of threads and weaving as metaphors in the play.
?
n5215
1283MatchilI know not how to bless you, or to look
On your incestuous eyes.
1284[Galliard]What is dat incest?
We have commit noting*n4928
Once more the French pronunciation of 'nothing' perhaps makes a pun on 'noting' active.
, we have no time,
n4928
Since we were marry for so much as kiss,
1285HardymanBe not dismayed. These marriages are none.
The error of the persons nullifies
The verbal ceremony; and ’tis well
They passed not unto further rites.*n5564
Captain Hardyman is correct. Although the young people claim to have gone through the required steps for conventional marriage 'per verba de praesenti' (declared themselves married immediately in front of witnesses), they were not in fact eligible, because of their status as brother and sister. The marriages are therefore invalid. Incest has been avoided because they have not consummated the 'marriages' - just as well.
I’ll find
n5564
A lawful way to clear all this. And then,
As you and they consent, they shall exchange*n4929
As the play draws towards its conclusion, the various meanings and uses of 'exchange' are being marked and rendered prominent.
n4929
And marry in due order.
1286[Galliard]Sir, I tanck you.
You’ave speak very well. And we shall make
De exshange presently. A new exchange,
De new Exshange indeed, for de husbands
To shange the wifes before they can be weary.
Prenez, mon frère, la voici, l’une pour l’autre.*n6962
1659: 'Prenez mon frere, la voici la' une pour lautre.' The regularised French of this edition is translated here, 'Take [her], my brother, the one for the other'.
n6962
Dere, is one for anoder.
1287HardymanIs each party
Agreed, and so content?
1289[Joyce]And we.
1290[Galliard]Oui, oui, je suis tres bien content.*n6963
1659: 'Oui, oui I en suis tresbien contult.' The compositor again seems to struggle with Brome's French: 'Yes, yes, I am very content [or happy]'.
n6963
1291[Papillion]Provided that we have our fathers’ leaves
and counsels.
1292MatchilCan you seek fathers’ leaves or counsels now,
That have run from ’em in your disobedience,
Into the snares of hell too far, I fear,
To be released? [MATCHIL turns on STRIGOOD] O hell-bred villain.
1293StrigoodYour brother o’ one side.*n4930
Matchil again flings devilishness in the face of Strigood, who coolly replies that, if he was bred in hell, then maybe his half-brother, Matchil, was too.
n4930
1294[Papillion]Lend but a patient ear,
And by my hopes of your desired pardon
I’ll quit you of your fear. ’Tis true, my duty
At my arrival should have winged me to you,
But hearing of your late, ill-talked on marriage –
1295MatchilO that root of mischief!
1296[Papillion]*n5132
These lines are set as part of Matchil's previous speech, but they clearly belong to his son (he refers to Joyce as his sister). The ms. annotators of National Art Library Dyce 25.E.45, Folger Shakespeare Library B4872, and Newberry Library Y135.B779 make this emendation.
And of my sister’s flight, as loth to appear to you
n5132
As to presume a welcome, I was curious
First to observe the town, and taste the news;
When, more by providence than accident,
Here we made choice of lodging, saw and liked
The practices of the society,
Until this wicked man – who still presumes
To call you brother – finding us youthful strangers,
And, as he might suppose, wanton –
1297MatchilHe made
A bargain with you for their maidenheads.
Cash*n6650
Though part of Matchil's speech, 'Cash' is set as a Speech Prefix in the 1659 text.
told me that, and how that hellish purpose
n6650
Was virtuously declined.
1298StrigoodO counterfeit Cash*n8927
Although this sounds too modern, both 'counterfeit' and 'cash' were used in their current senses well before the date of Brome's play. Strigood is probably punning on Cash's name to make a sardonic joke.
.
n8927
1299MatchilBut must you therefore, knowing whose sons you were,
Marry you knew not whom?
1300[Papillion]Pardon me, sir.
Our loves were noble, and by due enquiry,
Fetched from each other’s faithful breast, the knowledge
Of each other.
1301MatchilWhat! And marry then
Each his own sister? Riddle me not to death.
1302[Papillion]Sir, I have done. And now that I have said
The worst that might have happened by his practice,
To make his shame or his repentance greater,
Who only was my aim: we are not married,
None of us all are married one to other.
1303CamelionNo, I assure you, sir. Howe’er I lied
At their request – small matter for a friend –
I saw all the hurt the priest did here today.
That was upon them two there.
1304ErasmusThank you, sir.
1305MatchilYou shall be then*n5078
Though the marriages they said they had previously entered into were fake, Matchil now says that, having straightened out the brother-sister relationships, there will be cross-marriages between the young people.
. And so take hands in earnest.
n5078
Is’t not a double match*n5216
It is interesting that Matchil uses a different term and avoids 'cross match' or 'cross marriage', terms associated with the failed negotiations between Lady Nestlecock and Whimlby.
, Lafoy?
n5216
1306LafoyWithout
All manner of condition, I consent.
1307MatchilI am full of joy.
1308CashO, can you pardon me, sir?
1309MatchilGood boy, good boy. I know not how a city
Could stand without such prentices,*n4931
Like Lovewit at the end of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, Matchil forgives his servant's crimes on the grounds of sheer wit, saying that a successful city needs such inventiveness from its up-and-coming citizens.
and hope
n4931
This wants few such. But what canst thou now say,
Brother o’one side, for thyself? Speak quickly,
While the good humour holds me to be friends
Athwart my stomach.
1310StrigoodYou’re full of joy, you say,
And I say, had it been within my power
To have broke your heart, I had done ’t. Therefore in me
Be comforted and love me; for I find
I have no power to hurt you, and will therefore
Attempt no further.
1311MatchilBrotherly spoke, in troth,
And worthily worth an hundred mark†gg2889
a gold or silver coin equivalent to two-thirds of a pound (of silver or sterling), that is about thirteen shillings and four pence (OED mark, n2, 2a cites J. Norden in 1607 who spells out the equivalence); one such coin in terms of today's spending power would equal £57.20p
a month*n4932
Strigood's repentance and brutally honest account of his actions and intentions purchase him the subvention from his brother that he has been hoping for all along. It is interesting, however, that Matchil is paying him off monthly, keeping his brother dependent.
.
gg2889
n4932
Shall ha’t.
1312StrigoodKnow then, into the bargain, that
I forged the letter that suggested to you
My nephew’s death, in hope of means that way.
1313MatchilHonestly said again. [To RACHEL] Now, what say you?
[RACHEL falls to her knees]
1314RachelI say that I am humbled on my knees.n4933
Matchil has by this stage thoroughly recovered his position of authority in the play and his own household. Rachel, shamed by the discovery of her intentions and now destitute of young male attendants, abases herself.
Or at least she appears to. Matchil asks her what she says; she replies, 'I say that I am humbled on my knees'. Is this a physical genuflection, as in this edition, or does she stop at 'saying'? Are both Rachel and Strigood doing more than expressing verbal contrition? Will their actions suit their words?
n4933
Or at least she appears to. Matchil asks her what she says; she replies, 'I say that I am humbled on my knees'. Is this a physical genuflection, as in this edition, or does she stop at 'saying'? Are both Rachel and Strigood doing more than expressing verbal contrition? Will their actions suit their words?
I beg your pardon.
1315MatchilAll’s too well, methinks*n5217
Matchil seems to express a sentiment the audience may well share: even by the standard of this kind of comedy, the loose ends of the play are tied up a little too neatly and perfunctorily. And yet it sends the audience thinking back through the play and its seemingly simple ending. Rachel may here be doing no more than she promised, performing subservience in public. Matchil's wary judgement may mean that he suspects that, in private, his wife will be less docile. His phrase 'All's too well' recalls the title of one of Shakespeare's most discomforting comedies (All's Well That Ends Well); and the scene may even remind the audience of Katherine's performance of abject subservience at the end of The Taming of the Shrew and the replayings of that topic and contest in the various answers to Shakespeare's play.
.
n5217
One frisk, one fling now, one careering†gg3766
moving at speed, galloping, used figuratively to mean energetically
dance,
gg3766
And then pack up†gg3767
to put (goods or belongings) in a container, pack, or parcel; to put items of any kind into (a suitcase, bag, etc.); (in later use also) to assemble and stow (all the items in a particular place) preparatory to departure (OED pack v1)
.
gg3767
1316[Erasmus, Valentine, Lafoy, Cash, Strigood, Rachel, Ephraim, Papillion, Galliard, Joyce, Gabriella, Camelion, Hannah, Nehemiah, Lady Nestlecock, Hardyman, Whimlby, and Blith]*n6964
1659: 'Omn.'
Agreed, Agreed, Agreed.
n6964
1317StrigoodPlay then Les tous ensembles*n4934
The name of a dance tune, unidentified. The French name means 'all together', a suitable dance to conclude a comedy that has resolved conflicts and reintegrated the fools and even the villains into the community.
.
n4934
1318NehemiahThat’s the French name on’t, uncle, ’tis in Dutch
called All-to-mall*n4935
A dance tune, unidentified.
; and I call it in English.
n4935
Omnium Gatherum*n4936
A popular dance tune, used particularly for country dances. It is striking that at the end of the play the characters participate in a much less courtly dance than those taught at the New Academy. Omnium Gatherum is much more obviously connected to the ancient idea of dance as celebrating and creating community harmony.
The title is Latin, clearly not English, as Nehemiah seems to think.
, ’tis the daintiest dance.
n4936
The title is Latin, clearly not English, as Nehemiah seems to think.
We had it here today. I and my mother,
My aunt and all can dance in’t, as well as the best,
With everyone in their own footing*n5080
Nehemiah means that everyone can have a place in the dance, but 'footing' also means place in a hierarchy or a society. The play is ending with everything and everyone restored to their proper positions. But it might also mean that, with the right social lubricant -- one of the functions of the civility that the play has been concerned with -- individuality and idiosyncrasy can be tolerated within the larger patterns of a well-mannered society.
. Now observe.
n5080
Dance.
1319MatchilYou have done well. Now pray, let’s break up
school.
1320HardymanBut yet not break up house. My son and daughter*n8926
Hardyman refers to Camelion and Hannah, in whose house the Academy has functioned.
n8926
Have given me power to call their supper minen4937
The young couples should host their wedding suppers, but Captain Hardyman asks to be permitted to preside over the feast, to celebrate the restoration of harmony to the whole community of the play. Matchil thinks he is dictating the conclusion, but Hardyman -- the embodiment of calm reasonableness and tolerance at the end of the play -- usurps that position.
.
n4937
To which I’ll give you welcome, ale and wine.
Deus dedit his quoque finem, laus Deo.*n4938
A Latin tag, deriving from Virgil's Aeneid 1.199, meaning here 'God has given an end to these things, praise be to God'. Versions of this tag appear at the end of other texts, so it is likely that the words are those of the printer, not the author.
n4938
FINIS.
Edited by Michael Leslie