Prince Edward Prince of the royal house of Plantagenet, eldest son of King Henry III, later crowned King Edward I (r. 1272-1307) Edward's tall and slender physique famously earned him the moniker "Longshanks" (Holinshed 223). He is said to have been a wayward and brutal youth; the thirteenth-century chronicler Matthew Paris tells of an altercation in which he casually ordered his entourage to cut away the ear and eye of another young man (Prestwich 3). However, a contemporary song claims he tempered his viciousness with virtue, combining the pride and ferocity of a lion with the changeability of a leopard: "Leo per superbiam, per fercitatem; / Est per inconstantiam et varietatum / Pardus" (Wright, 93). Lauded in maturity as an eloquent and pious ruler, he retained his bellicose edge, ruthlessly dispossessing and banishing Jews from England in 1290 and leading punishing military campaigns against France, Wales, and Scotland. The epithet Scottorum malleus ('hammer of the Scots') inscribed on his Westminster tomb speaks to the intensity with which he prosecuted his northern wars in particular. Greene's characterization glances at this mercurial and often violent reputation--our first impression of the character is that of a joyous venison hunter suddenly transformed into a "melancholy dump" and "like to a troubled sky" ready to storm (TLN 1-15). The SQM interpretation of the Prince was not informed by the historical sources. The actor's interpretation was built primarily on the similarities between this character and the other mischievous princes he played in the repertoire. The aggression implied by the ongoing comparison of hunting deer and hunting women remained textual, while the performance of the scene was playful and superficially harmless. It could certainly have been played to bring focus on the more unpleasant side of these characters. malcontented disturbed or distracted On the Elizabethan stage, conventional signifiers of the erotic melancholia from which Edward suffers included crossed arms and a disarrayed costume. The disposition is cued again at TLN 15 and TLN 25. The stock image of the malcontented, melancholy lover would have been instantly recognizable to an Elizabethan audience. Silvius in As You Like It, for example, says to be a lover is to be "made of sighs and tears" (TLN 2491). Since our Prince Edward's melancholy is the premise of the opening scene, the company devised means to make it apparent to their modern audience. Prior to their entrance the company sang the sorrowful madrigal "I go before my darling" and then burst into wild joyful applause and laughter. Hopkins (Prince Edward) then entered slowly and crossed to front stage right where he sighed and put the back of his hand up to his head. His companions followed him, still laughing but gradually let their Prince's somber mood change their own. The fact that the Prince's melancholy is spoiling their aristocratic fun is the spur to the action of the scene and this staging, developed independently by the company under Hopkins' leadership as master actor, made the central conflict of the scene clear from its first moment. Lacy, earl of Lincoln a pseudo-historical character probably inspired by Edmund de Lacy (d. 1258), a courtier and heir of John de Lacy, second earl of Lincoln (d. 1240) Holinshed states that both "William earle Warren and John earle of Lincoln" died in 1240 (Chronicle 225). The chronicler's pairing of these magnates may have inspired Greene to include their heirs as members of Edward's entourage (Round 20). Greene seems unaware of the fact that the younger Lacy died before he could inherit the earldom of Lincoln, which (suo jure) remained invested in his mother the countess Margaret de Lacy (Wilkinson 121-22). John Warren, earl of Sussex John de Warenne, sixth earl of Surrey and Sussex (1231-1304) Holinshed describes "John de Warren erle of Surrey and Sussex" as Edward's longtime companion and a leader in Henry III's military conflict against his barons (Round 19). He fought for the Plantagenets at the Battle of Lewes in 1264 where he "did manfullie resist the enemies" (Holinshed 264-67) and he later joined King Edward's campaigns against Wales and Scotland in the 1280s and 90s. Ermsby William Ormsby, English justiciar of Scotland at the time of William Wallace's insurrection of 1296-97 Like John de Warenne, Ormsby was one of Edward I's chief administrators in Scotland. He is said to have narrowly escaped when William Wallace and his followers attacked his court in Scone in 1297 intent on capturing or killing him. Rafe Simnell a fictitious character, Edward's licensed fool Rafe's surname evokes that of Lambert Simnell, the Oxford youth conscripted by Yorkist loyalists in 1487 to impersonate the royal claimant Edward Plantagenet. Aiming to depose the newly-crowned Tudor monarch Henry VII, conspirators "caused young Lambert to be proclaimed and named king of England after the solemne fashion, as though he were the verie heire of bloud roiall lineallie borne and descended." His handlers were defeated at the Battle of Stoke and Simnell was deemed sufficiently harmless to relegate to the king's kitchens as a menial "turnebroch," or spit-turner (Holinshed 765-67). A droll parallel informs Greene's use of the surname: like the historical pretender, Rafe exchanges roles with an earlier Edward Plantagenet and enacts misrule in scenes 1, 5, and 6. I encouraged the actor playing Rafe (Matthew Krist) to experiment with the question of whether Edward's fool is a natural fool (a simpleton), or a professional performer imitating a natural in order to enjoy the license to offend. Alate Lately launds open spaces among woods, or untilled pastures (OED n) Compare with Shakespeare's usage in Venus and Adonis: "With this he breaketh from the sweet embrace/Of those fair arms which bound him to her breast,/And homeward through the dark laund runs apace,/Leaves love upon her back, deeply distressed" (TLN 811-814). Stripped Outran frolic joyous, sportive (OED adj.1) One of Greene's favorite terms, spoken thirteen times in the play. scudded 'fore the teisers fled the first brace of deerhounds let loose during the chase (OED) George Gascoigne's The Noble Art of Venery or Hunting (1575) distinguishes "teisers" (greyhounds used to rouse game) from "sidelays" and "backsets" (dogs used to take game down): "By this word teisers is meant the first greyhound, or brace or lease of greyhounds, which is let slip either at the whole herd to bring a deer single to the course, or else at a low deer, to make him strain before he come at the sidelays and backsets" (244). was the deer were the deer Both was and were indicate the plural past in Early Modern English. Fressingfield a rural town in northeast Suffolk, about twenty miles south of Greene's birthplace in Norwich. lustily pulled down by jolly mates Lacy likens the pleasure of the aristocratic deer hunt to the pursuit of an erotic partner, a common metaphor in Elizabethan love poetry. a melancholy dump a state of lethargic self-absorption Here, and for much of this scene, Edward ignores efforts to divert him. Elizabethan "melancholy" was not dissimilar to modern depression and thought to result from a chemical imbalance (an excess of black bile, the melancholic "humor"). Medical writings of the period point to unrequited love as a common cause and hint at how its symptoms may have been represented theatrically. Timothy Bright's A Treatise of Melancholy (1586) describes the melancholic as "dull, both in outward senses and conceit" and "of pace slow, silent, negligent, refusing the light and frequency of men" (124). Andre Du Lauren's A Discourse of the Preservation of the Sight (1599) is even more fastidious in cataloguing erotic melancholy's"signs and tokens": the sufferer is "quite undone and cast away, the senses are wandering to and fro, up and down, reason is confounded, the imagination corrupted, the talk fond and senseless; the silly loving worm cannot anymore look upon anything but his idol; all the functions of the body are likewise perverted, he becometh pale, lean, swooning, without any stomach to his meat, hollow and sunk-eyed ... weeping, sobbing, sighing, and redoubling his sighs, and in continual restlessness, avoiding company, loving solitariness, the better to feed and follow his foolish imaginations" (118). the Keeper's lodge the residence of an officer appointed to manage a royal hunting ground and prevent the poaching of its game jocund mirthful, merry, cheerful (OED) cans drinking cups stately in her stammel red noble-looking in her red woolen attire Stammel may refer to a course woolen cloth often dyed red, or to the reddish shade of the dye itself (OED n.1-2). Elizabethans were carefully attuned to social distinctions and would be alert to the paradox of associating common worsted with stateliness. Edward's erotic imagination is elevating Margaret here, projecting onto her an aristocratic status she does not in fact possess. At this point, Adam Fraser (Warren) made a crude gesture with his hands to indicate the maid's breasts. Although not really prompted by the text, the action was a means to alert our modern audience, for whom the sartorial clues were likely to be unclear, that this scene is about sexual desire rather than pure, romantic affection. It is a good example of how the boisterous atmosphere of our all-male cast complemented the play’s patriarchal perspective on women and sexuality,. a qualm a sudden impulse or pang of sickening fear or despair (OED n.3) straight at once passions mental anguish and erotic suffering (OED n. 3a, 6a and 8a) Sirrah a term of address expressing the assumption of social superiority, often used playfully Rafe's subversion of social and political decorum is consistent with his license as a court fool. Matthew Krist (Rafe) performed the fool on the dividing line between the natural and artificial. He exploited his license but within the improvisatory spirit generated by the company clowning he developed a combative relationship with the Prince where he was also under the threat of violence if he offended too greatly. all amort dispirited, dejected (a corruption of the French à la mort) Greene's is the first recorded usage in the OED. Hearest thou, Ned? The familiarity implied by Rafe's use of the informal pronoun thou and the diminutive Ned again reflect his linguistic and social license as a court fool (see TLN 24 above). How if Before answering Hopkins released a mournful sigh to further establish his status as a conventional, melancholy lover. The usual laugh at this point I took as a sign that the company had successfully established the Elizabethan convention and the audience could enjoy the way his character was conforming to type. Marry By the Virgin Mary (an exclamatory oath) my cap . . . my dagger fool's hat, suit, and weapon 'Artificial' fools conventionally wore coxcombs (hats resembling the comb of a rooster, decorated with bells) and coats of motley (different-colored materials patched together). Rafe's dagger may be a jester's bauble, or perhaps a dagger of wood or lath, a stage property associated with the morality play Vice and braggart clowns of the later commercial stage. The SQM version of motley was parti-coloured, half-red and half-grey, his coxcomb resembled an ass's ears rather than a rooster's crest, but the bottom edge of the hood was cut to resemble the feathering on the neck of a rooster. As with our other clowns in King Leir and Famous Victories Rafe was given a wooden dagger. Reviewing the video, I noticed that he is not using the same kind of wooden dagger as Alon Nashman, the company clown, does in the other plays and as Miles does in this one. Rafe's dagger is painted silver to resemble an actual dagger. If I had noticed this in production, I would have insisted on a consistent use of obviously wooden daggers. I think it speaks better to the childishness of these characters and their harmlessness. beguile Love perplex or evade Eros (or Cupid), the personification of sexual desire scab rascal or scoundrel, a common Elizabethan term of abuse (OED n.4) lively vigorous, animated, fresh Dyce views Q1's "liuely" as a misreading of "louely," a recurrent word in the text. Grosart, Ward, and Dickinson follow suit. But Greene's idealized portrayal of Margaret's health and physical beauty warrants Collier's proposed retention of "lively." country weeds rustic clothing Why, is not . . . his whole grammar. Doesn't the Warwickshire abbot have more sexual experience than you? And so isn't he better qualified to determine the most attractive woman in England? Yes, he's well-prepared to do so. Rafe's innuendo mocks the hypocrisy of a supposedly celibate clergy: the abbot's pursuit of books (women) ensures his depth of learning (sexual knowledge).The metaphors appear again in scene 2 (see TLN 269 and TLN 279-287). Rafe also plays the wise fool here, counseling Edward to expose himself to a greater number of amatory possibilities. Like Lacy, who advises Edward to pursue a more courtly partner (TLN 56), Rafe thinks Margaret's low social standing disqualifies her as a royal consort and he aims to check Edward's idealization of her. The SQM actors were encouraged to apply themselves to the local needs of the scene and to avoid spending time on the motivations of their charactres. Matthew Krist (Rafe) focused on finding ways to make the humor work and did not focus on the possible moral objectives of his character. His humor here does not refer to the maid's social status, only to the prince's claims for her beauty, and later in the scene Rafe encourages his master to pursue Margaret through the use of magic; so a corrective moral function for the fool is not supported by the text. In this instance, his attempt at humor did not satisfy his prince and he received another swift kick in the backside as reward (see note at TLN 40). lighten forth cause to flash out like lightning (OED v.2), a conventional Petrarchan conceit In the elevated rhetoric that follows, Edward reveals that his erotic conception of Margaret effaces the reality of who she is. golden hair Mention of Margaret's hair draws the audience's attention to her virginity; unmarried Elizabethan women conventionally wore their hair loosely whereas wives kept it bound beneath a cap, hat, or headdress. Her bashful . . . lovely cheeks. The paleness of her complexion is like moonlight merged with her dawn-colored blushing. White and red hues were conventional aspects of facial beauty in Petrarchan poetry. Ironically, the prince's invocation of the Roman goddess Luna, believed to be a protector of women and children, contradicts his own unrealistic and possessive desire. It also initiates a sustained pattern of allusion to powerful female deities associated with the moon, wisdom, virginity, and the protection of women. References to Luna, Pallas Athena, Diana, and Hecate (who after Virgil was represented as having a triple-body, what Ovid terms a diva triformis) underscore Greene's thematic interest in the contest between feminine power and self-sufficiency and the threat of aggressive masculine conquest. In the political and artistic discourse of the 1580s and 1590s, Queen Elizabeth I was often referred to in similar coded terms, as, for instance, in the epithet Cynthia (a name derived from Diana's birthplace, the Cynthian Hill); c.f. John Lyly's comedy Endymion and Sir Walter Ralegh's poem "The Ocean to Cynthia". Such allusiveness appears calculated to appeal to the ear of the "Virgin Queen" who sponsored the acting company for which Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay was written. Her front . . . gorgeous excellence Her forehead is a painter's canvas upon which the artist Beauty brushes its self-portrait A table may refer either to a canvas board upon which a picture is painted or the picture itself, as in Shakespeare's Sonnet 24: "Mine eye hath played the painter and hath steeled / Thy beauty's form in table of my heart" (l. 1-2). Edward continues to project an embellished idea of beauty upon a woman he barely knows. While the Prince (Hopkins) praised Margaret through his elaborate metaphors, Rafe (Krist) performed a grotesque and parodic version of the maid in response to the Prince's descriptions. This physical comedy provides a good example of how the physical inventiveness of the actors developed a mocking and playful relationship between conventional poetic rhetoric and sexual desire in this scene. margarites pearls The Latin term for pearls(margaritae) here enables a pun on Margaret's name. ruddy coral cleaves reddish cliffs (her lips) overmatch superior survey'st her curious imagery examine her intricate and beautifully wrought features The Petrarchan poetic framework used to describe Margaret had become cliched by Greene's time and potentially communicates the emptiness of Edward's erotic fascination, a strategy Shakespeare would later employ in his representation of Romeo's superficial attraction to Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet (TLN 293-350). Matthew Krist brought attention to the clichés by enacting a grotesque impression of the object of the Prince's desire. At the end of the speech, Hopkins (Edward) caught him in the act and threatened to punch him but Rafe quickly jumped back to join the other companions at other the side of the stage. homely humble, unsophisticated, rustic (OED) in the court in the powerful and socially elevated circles surrounding the royal family Performing on the "University Stage" as seen in the video, Clarkson (Lacy) referred to the female audience members sitting at the back of the stage in the place of privilege. This worked particularly well in our final performance at the Arts and Letters club where the onstage audience included academics dressed in their full regalia. By praising the beauty of the courtly ladies while directly referring to the women sitting with him up on the stage, Clarkson brought the social dynamic of the space into play, one that became all the more fun when Edward rejected the beauty of the court ladies in favor of his milkmaid. quainter dames more elegant and fashionable ladies "Quaint" and "cunt" were homophones in Early Modern English and sometimes inspired obscene puns. Lacy may be picking up Rafe's cue at TLN 50-53 and trying to entice Edward to turn his attention from Margaret to courtly partners whose coyness, enriched with honor's taint (TLN 70), belies easy sexual availability. taint color, hue (OED n.4) Taint can also refer to a moral blemish or stain that brings one to disgrace (OED n.5); c.f. Antonio's claim to "hate ingratitude more in man / Than ... any taint of vice" in Twelfth Night (TLN 1873-1875). There is the potential again for innuendo if Lacy is implying that superficial courtly honor often masks sexual eagerness and accessibility. vaunt their trophies proudly parade their beauties. And seen . . . were but foolery. For Edward, the lively and unadorned attractiveness of an obscure young woman is superior to the cosmetic beauty of the falsely modest courtly elite. Ermsby's response to the prince's enthusiasm in the next line (Why, how watched you her, my lord?) suggests that secret beauties may carry the bawdy sense of 'nakedness'. Note the mention of "her lily arms" below (TLN 82). Paul Hopkins (Edward) followed Scott Clarkson's (Lacy) lead here (TLN 69) referring his lines directly to the women in the onstage audience, and waving his arm as he dismissed the "foolery" of their "courtly coyness." The moment got a big laugh in our final performance where the seating behind the stage was populated by dignitaries from the university in full regalia. The audience - on stage and out in the "pit" - enjoyed the actors using the hierarchical structure of the theatre architecture to bring out the issues of social class in the scene. INSERT CLIP Venus Roman goddess of love and sexual desire Pallas Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, virginity, the household, and domestic crafts Audiences alert to classical allusion would recognize here Greene's motif of the powerful female deity (often associated with the triple Hecate) who stands for wisdom and chastity. For its echoing of the contemporary mythography of Queen Elizabeth I, see the note to TLN 59-60. She turned . . . run her cheese Edward's heated imagination warps Margaret's practical labor into an erotic act of undressing. Paul Hopkins (Edward) caught the erotic nature of this description beautifully. He supported his description by imitating Margaret reaching in to the butter churn with her hands. Operating as master actor [[ Invalid href ]] in the company, he also directed his companions to moan in sympathy to further emphasize the sexual nature of his recollections,. Through Famous Victories the company had developed a distinctly masculine performance style. made her blush . . . bring for compare put to shame by comparison other women's beauty, be it cosmetic or unadorned The contest between artificial and natural beauty was an early modern commonplace, as in Polixenes's postulation: "Yet nature is made better by no mean/But nature makes that mean. So over that art/Which you say adds to nature is an art/That nature makes" (The Winter's Tale TLN 1900-1903). From Edward's fetishistic perspective, Margaret's beauty transcends both art and nature. huswife a woman, married or unmarried, who manages a domestic space; from the Old English hus=house and wif=woman/wife (OED, "wife", n.1, "housewife", n.1) Edward compliments Margaret's domestic expertise, but his tone and earlier reference to huswifery (TLN 81) indicate condescension and an underlying sexual motivation. By the late sixteenth-century, the word huswife had begun to acquire the derogatory sense of its later abbreviation hussy, i.e. a low and disreputable woman prone to improper behavior (OED n.2). Florio's A World of Words (1598) is unequivocal in defining a "foolish idle huswife" as "a sluttish driggle draggle" (LEME). Lucrece legendary Roman matron whose rape by the tyrant Tarquin and principled suicide provoked the rebellion that established Republican Rome This is the first of several allusions to ancient narratives of rape. Edward's reference to Tarquin's hazarding of Rome and all in the next line (TLN 90) hints at the abandon soon to characterize his menacing desire for Margaret. wouldst fain would you gladly an learn me if you teach me (an idiomatic expression) brave necromancer powerful conjurer of spirits Q1's Nigromancer describes Bacon accurately as a practitioner of "black" arts, while necromancer technically refers to one who divines by conjuring the dead. Hunter argues against modernizing on this basis (81-82, n6) and Seltzer accordingly retains original spelling. However, the two terms were interchangeable in Early Modern English (OED n.1) and Collier's emendation better reflects modern usage. he can make . . . cats into costermongers he can raise devils in the shape of women and transform cats into fruit-sellers using magic (juggle, OED v.4b) Rafe claims that Bacon can procure a concubine for Edward, either by raising a devil in the shape of a woman or by purchasing her services in the marketplace (cat and costermonger were slang terms for prostitute and pimp). father Harry King Henry III (r. 1216-1272) See the longer note at TLN 444. prince it out disguise myself in your fine clothes and enjoy the courtly lifestyle make thee transform you into wrought smock woman's embroidered undergarment But how . . . the maid? Paul Hopkins (Edward) was willing to humor Rafe at this point but could not yet follow his chop-logic. Krist reacted as if it were a stupid question, assuming that the logic should be obvious. He had his mouth hanging open gormlessly and for me this moment captured the dynamic of the artificial fool performing the natural. The logic of his argument is ridiculous but with a gaping expression on his face he acts as if it should be evident to all. placket slit cut into a woman's garment, offering access to a pocket (OED n.2) The sexual suggestion is obvious. Compare with Thersites's use of the conceit in Troilus and Cressida: "After this, the vengeance on the whole camp, or rather the bone-ache, for that me thinks is the curse dependent on those that war for a placket" (TLN 1221-1223). Matthew Krist (Rafe) located the placket down the front of Margaret's dress and mimed it being placed there as he spoke the line. It clarified the joke and all the "wags" (TLN 128) on stage joined in with his sexual fantasy. This moment is a good example of how the all-male company affected the representation of sex and gender in the SQM performance. plead make suit, wrangle. Properly a legal term, plead here takes on a sexual connotation. policy stratagem, trick (OED n.3). But how . . . wrought smock Having enjoyed the fantasy of Rafe's first device, Paul Hopkins (Edward) wanted more. The ensuing joke became funny because the Prince was so clearly fantasizing along with Rafe's description of his "policy" (TLN 122). The SQM performance created a powerful sense of homosociality for the play's group of wags. lay thee into lavender set you aside for future use The expression "lay up in lavender" comes from the practice of using lavender stocks to preserve stored linens from damage by moths (OED n.2). from a smock to a man from something soft into something hard. Wonderfully wisely . . . counseled, Rafe Lacy's line cut through the prince's fantasy. Clarkson delivered it with an element of irony and it is hard to imagine the line working otherwise, but the prince responds as if Rafe has indeed come up with an excellent plan. The prince's other companions are all in favor of the plan but Lacy's ironic tone in the performance served to foreshadow his resistance to the prince's sexual aggression later in the play. God . . . Ned. i.e. I will thank you when I'm actually wearing it. Rafe implies that the prince will never keep his promise to give him a new coat. For why Because (OED conj.1). honest points chastity. marriage or no market without a wedding there can be no sex. This is the only known use of this phrase, though it sounds proverbial. It was commonplace to represent the sexual pursuit of women in terms of commercial bargaining, as when Imogen suspects that Iachimo has come to Britain "to mart / As in a Romish stew" (Cymbeline TLN 769-770). Both mart and market derive from the Latin mercari (to do business, to trade). To wean . . . teat. To break the will of these conceited and obstinate young women In retrospect, this is one of the more unpleasant lines in a scene that implicitly celebrates male sexual aggression. In the SQM company, it was taken lightly but I suspect our approach would have been different had the company not been all-male. I am unknown In the repertory SQM performances, Hopkins's delivery of this phrase echoed his performance of the King of Gallia in King Leir "We'll go disguised, all unknown to any." (TLN 1867). His series of characters, the young princes, all share a love of disguise. The cross-referencing of characters in this way was a notable feature of the SQM performances. liege's game animals on a royal hunting preserve Edward's metaphor hints unpleasantly at his assumed right to hunt the young women of Fressingfield. See note at TLN 132. Saint James's the feast of Saint James, July 25 on Catholic and some Protestant liturgical calendars Harleston Fair The parish of Harleston is four miles north of Fressingfield on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk. Its annual fair was a place to see and to be seen (as Edward says at TLN 141) and encouraged rituals of youthful courtship. Stow tells of a popular uprising in 1569 "made by certain gentlemen and others in the county of Norfolk, whose purpose was on midsummer day at Harleston fair, with sound of trumpet and drum, to have raised a number and then to proclaim their devilish pretense against strangers and others" (The Abridgment of the English Chronicle 1147). The fair's association with social disorder could inform Greene's conception of Edward's disruptive desire for Margaret. Feign Contrive, pretend Cote Go beyond, surpass Dyce's reading of Q1's "coat" relies upon the French verb cotoyer (to move alongside, to coast). But in Early Modern English cote could also describe an act of surpassing, as Edward intends it here. Compare with Rosencrantz's account of passing Elsinore's traveling players on the road: "We coted them on the way, and hither are they coming to offer you service" (Hamlet TLN 1364-1365). clown rural person, or peasant Does Edward refer here to one of the imagined suitors from the previous line (TLN 144), or to Margaret herself? In either case, his possessiveness is plain, as is his belief that his gift of venison warrants sexual recompense. tiréd attired, dressed. run her cheese generate cheese curd from warm milk Commends him Conveys his compliments (OED v.5) fairings gifts or compliments bestowed at a fair. wax grow increasingly (OED v.1). send how she fares report on how she feels about me(OED fare v.4). The request reflects Edward's inability to interpret Margaret's demeanor. Blushing may equally suggest discomfort or anger at the prince's aggressive gaze and tacit sexual expectation. As if . . . with her. A moment of irony if Lacy has already become romantically attracted to Margaret. His vow to court her on behalf of the prince as if he loves her presents the actor with the opportunity to communicate a sudden conflict of interest. In the compressed rehearsal period of the SQM productions there was not time to think through this issue at great length. The policy generally was to avoid reading irony or complex motivation into the roles and play what the actor is given in the text. However, the final performance recorded on video was performed to an audience largely made up of academics familiar with the play, and this line played ironically regardless of the actor's intentions. It could certainly be played this way intentionally to develop Lacy's distance from the Prince's dishonorable motives in order to create a critical perspective on the gender politics of the scene (see note at TLN 132). morris dance rural folk dance performed on festive occasions such as May Day at which participants wore colorful costumes adorned with jangling bells, ribbons, and scarves. Participants in the morris sometimes dressed as emblematic characters, hence Rafe's allusion to the personification of Love who has overmastered the prince's will and now leads him in a carnivalesque round among villagers below his social standing. look . . . charge, attend carefully to the order you have been given
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (Modern)
Scene 1
1[Scene 1] [Video Sc.1]
Enter [Prince Edward], malcontented, with Lacy, earl of Lincoln, John Warren, earl of Sussex, and Ermsby, gentleman, [and] Rafe Simnell, the king's fool.
Lacy
5Why looks my lord like to a troubled sky
When heaven's bright shine is shadowed with a fog?
Alate we ran the deer and through the launds
Stripped with our nags the lofty frolic bucks
That scudded 'fore the teisers like the wind.
10Ne'er was the deer of merry Fressingfield
So lustily pulled down by jolly mates,
Nor shared the farmers such fat venison,
So frankly dealt this hundred years before;
Nor have I seen my lord more frolic in the chase,
15And now changed to a melancholy dump.
Warren
After the prince got to the Keeper's lodge
And had been jocund in the house awhile,
Tossing of ale and milk in country cans,
Whether it was the country's sweet content,
20Or else the bonny damsel filled us drink
That seemed so stately in her stammel red,
Or that a qualm did cross his stomach then,
But straight he fell into his passions.
Ermsby
Sirrah Rafe, what say you to your master?
25Shall he thus all amort live malcontent?
Rafe
Hearest thou, Ned?-- Nay, look if he will speak to me.
Edward
What say'st thou to me, fool?
Rafe
I prithee tell me, Ned, art thou in love with the 30Keeper's daughter?
Edward
How if I be, what then?
Rafe
Why then, sirrah, I'll teach thee how to deceive love.
Edward
How, Rafe?
Rafe
Marry, sirrah Ned, thou shalt put on my cap and 35my coat and my dagger, and I will put on thy clothes and thy sword, and so thou shalt be my fool.
Edward
And what of this?
Rafe
Why so thou shalt beguile Love, for Love is such a proud scab that he will never meddle with fools nor children. Is 40not Rafe's counsel good, Ned?
Edward
Tell me, Ned Lacy, didst thou mark the maid,
How lively in her country weeds she looked?
A bonnier wench all Suffolk cannot yield.
All Suffolk? Nay, all England holds none such.
45Rafe
Sirrah Will Ermsby, Ned is deceived.
Ermsby
Why, Rafe?
Rafe
He says all England hath no such, and I say, and I'll stand to it, there is one better in Warwickshire.
Warren
How provest thou that, Rafe?
50Rafe
Why, is not the Abbot a learnéd man and hath read many books, and thinkest thou he hath not more learning than thou to choose a bonny wench? Yes, I warrant thee, by his whole grammar.
Ermsby
A good reason, Rafe.
55Edward
I tell thee, Lacy, that her sparkling eyes
Do lighten forth sweet love's alluring fire,
And in her tresses she doth fold the looks
Of such as gaze upon her golden hair;
Her bashful white mixed with the morning's red
60Luna doth boast upon her lovely cheeks;
Her front is beauty's table, where she paints
The glories of her gorgeous excellence;
Her teeth are shelves of precious margarites,
Richly enclosed with ruddy coral cleaves.
65Tush, Lacy, she is beauty's overmatch,
If thou survey'st her curious imagery.
Lacy
I grant, my lord, the damsel is as fair
As simple Suffolk's homely towns can yield,
But in the court be quainter dames than she,
70Whose faces are enriched with honor's taint,
Whose beauties stand upon the stage of fame,
And vaunt their trophies in the courts of Love.
Edward
Ah, Ned, but hadst thou watched her as myself,
And seen the secret beauties of the maid,
75Their courtly coyness were but foolery.
Ermsby
Why, how watched you her, my lord?
Edward
When as she swept like Venus through the house,
And in her shape fast folded up my thoughts,
Into the milk-house went I with the maid,
80And there amongst the cream bowls she did shine
As Pallas 'mongst her princely huswifery.
She turned her smock over her lily arms
And dived them into milk to run her cheese;
But whiter than the milk her crystal skin,
85Checked with lines of azure, made her blush,
That art or nature durst bring for compare.
Ermsby, if thou hadst seen, as I did note it well,
How beauty played the huswife, how this girl
Like Lucrece laid her fingers to the work,
90Thou wouldst with Tarquin hazard Rome and all
To win the lovely maid of Fressingfield.
Rafe
Sirrah Ned, wouldst fain have her?
Edward
Ay, Rafe.
Rafe
Why, Ned, I have laid the plot in my head. Thou 95shalt have her already.
Edward
I'll give thee a new coat an learn me that.
Rafe
Why, sirrah Ned, we'll ride to Oxford to Friar Bacon. Oh, he is a brave scholar, sirrah. They say he is a brave necromancer, that he can make women of devils, and he can juggle cats into 100costermongers.
Edward
And how then, Rafe?
Rafe
Marry, sirrah, thou shalt go to him, and because thy father Harry shall not miss thee, he shall turn me into thee; and I'll to the court and I'll prince it out, and he shall make thee 105either a silken purse full of gold or else a fine wrought smock.
Edward
But how shall I have the maid?
Rafe
Marry, sirrah, if thou be'st a silken purse full of gold, then on Sundays she'll hang thee by her side, and you must not say a word. Now, sir, when she comes into a great press of people, 110for fear of the cutpurse on a sudden she'll swap thee into her placket; then, sirrah, being there you may plead for yourself.
Ermsby
Excellent policy!
Edward
But how if I be a wrought smock?
Rafe
Then she'll put thee into her chest and lay thee 115into lavender, and upon some good day she'll put thee on, and at night when you go to bed, then being turned from a smock to a man, you may make up the match.
Lacy
Wonderfully wisely counseled, Rafe.
Edward
Rafe shall have a new coat.
120Rafe
God thank you when I have it on my back, Ned.
Edward
Lacy, the fool hath laid a perfect plot
For why our country Margaret is so coy
And stands so much upon her honest points
That marriage or no market with the maid.
125Ermsby, it must be necromantic spells
And charms of art that must enchain her love,
Or else shall Edward never win the girl.
Therefore, my wags, we'll horse us in the morn,
And post to Oxford to this jolly friar.
130Bacon shall by his magic do this deed.
Warren
Content, my lord; and that's a speedy way
To wean these headstrong puppies from the teat.
Edward
I am unknown, not taken for the prince;
They only deem us frolic courtiers
135That revel thus among our liege's game;
Therefore I have devised a policy.
Lacy, thou know'st next Friday is Saint James's,
And then the country flocks to Harleston Fair;
Then will the Keeper's daughter frolic there,
140And overshine the troupe of all the maids
That come to see and to be seen that day.
Haunt thee, disguised among the country swains;
Feign thou'rt a farmer's son, not far from thence;
Espy her loves, and who she liketh best;
145Cote him, and court her to control the clown.
Say that the courtier tiréd all in green,
That helped her handsomely to run her cheese
And filled her father's lodge with venison,
Commends him, and sends fairings to herself.
150Buy something worthy of her parentage,
Not worth her beauty, for, Lacy, then the fair
Affords no jewel fitting for the maid.
And when thou talkest of me, note if she blush;
Oh, then she loves; but if her cheeks wax pale,
155Disdain it is. Lacy, send how she fares,
And spare no time nor cost to win her loves.
Lacy
I will, my lord, so execute this charge
As if that Lacy were in love with her.
Edward
Send letters speedily to Oxford of the news.
160Rafe
And, sirrah Lacy, buy me a thousand thousand million of fine bells.
Lacy
What wilt thou do with them, Rafe?
Rafe
Marry, every time that Ned sighs for the Keeper's daughter, I'll tie a bell about him, and so within three or four 165days I will send word to his father, Harry, that his son and my master Ned is become Love's morris dance.
Edward
Well, Lacy, look with care unto thy charge,
And I will haste to Oxford to the friar,
That he by art and thou by secret gifts
170Mayst make me lord of merry Fressingfield.
Lacy
God send your honor your heart's desire.
Exeunt.

Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (Modern)