The Night Walker, or The Little Thief · chunk 17 of 39
Fletcher, John / Shirley, James · published 1640 · first performed or written c.1611(?) [revised by Shirley and re-licensed for stage, May 11, 1633] (Annals) comedy · Lady Elizabeth's Men · Phoenix/Cockpit T26 Devils, hell and fiends typicality 0.79 · 489 words
Marked words are the most distinguishing words of T26: devil, hell, devils, sure, soul, fiend, sr, wife, lord, men.
The night, and all the evils the night covers, The Goblins, Hags, and the black spawn of darkness Cannot fright me, no death, I dare thy cruelty, For I am weary both of life and light too; Keep my wit's heaven, they say spirits appear To melancholy minds, and the graves open, I would fain see the fair Maria's shadow, But speak unto her spirit ere I died, But ask upon my knees a mercy from her: I was a villain, but her wretched Kinsman, That set his plot, shall with his heart blood satisfy Her injured life and honour, what lights this? It is but melancholy walking thus; The Tavern doors are barricadoed too, Where I might drink till morn, in expectation; I cannot meet the Watch neither; nothing in The likeness of a Constable, whom I might In my distress abuse, and so be carried, For want of other lodging to the Counter. 'tis his voice, Fate, I thank thee. Ha, who's that, and thou be'st a man speak? Frank Heartlove, then I bore my destinies, Thou art the man of all the world I wished for; My Aunt has turned me out a doors, she has, At this unchristian hour, and I do walk, methinks, like Guido Faux with my dark lantern, Stealing to set the town a fire; i'th' country I should be ta'en for William o'the Wisp, Or Robin Goodfellow, and how dost Frank? The worse for you. Come, thou'rt a fool, art going to thy lodging? I'll lie with thee tonight, and tell thee stories, How many devils we ha' met withal; Our house is haunted Frank, whole legions, I saw fifty for my share. Didst not fright 'em? How, fright 'em? no, they frighted me sufficiently. Thou hadst wickedness enough to make them stare, And be afraid o'thee, malicious devil; And draw thy sword, for by Maria's soul; I will not let thee scape to do more mischief. Thou art mad, what dost mean? To kill thee, nothing else will ease my anger, The injury is fresh, I bleed with all, Nor can that word express it, there's no peace in't, Nor must it be forgiven but in death; Therefore call up thy valour if thou'st any, And summon up thy spirits to defend thee; Thy heart must suffer for thy damned practises, Against thy noble cosen, and my innocence. Hold, hear a word; did I do any thing But for your good, that you might have her, That in that desperate time I might redeem her, Although with show of loss. Out ugly villain, Fling on her the most hated name of Whore To the world's eye, and face it out in courtesy, Bring him to see't, and make me drunk to attempt it. I hear some voices this way. No more, if you can pray, do it as you fight. What new frights oppose me? I have heard that tongue.
c.1611(?) [revised by Shirley and re-licensed for stage, May 11, 1633]
First performance (BritDrama)
1615 [1613-1616] [revised 1633]
Company (BritDrama)
Lady Elizabeth's Men
Theater
Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Genre (British Drama)
comedy
Play type
Adult Professional;Professional
Edition / TCP / DEEP
edition 1127 · TCP A00966 · DEEP 947
Edition role
Representative edition — used in the analysis
Position
nodes 1116–1176 (positions in the processed text, not lines of the printed book) · chunk 17 of 39 in this edition
Length
489 words · 653 tokens
Topic (seed 42)
T26 — Devils, hell and fiendscross-work theme (confirmed, in the genre comparison) · typicality 0.789 (cosine to the topic centroid)
Other seeds
seed 43: T23 · seed 44: T23 — topic numbers are assigned independently in each run; equal or different numbers say nothing by themselves
Original spelling (EEBO-TCP, unregularized)
The night, and all the evills the night covers, The Goblins, Hagges, and the blacke spawne of darkenesse Cannot fright me, no death, I dare thy cruelty, For I am weary both of life and light too; Keepe my wits heaven, they say spirits appeare To melancholy minds, and the graves open, I would faine see the faire Marias shadow, But speake unto her spirit ere I died, But aske upon my knees a mercy from her: I was a villaine, but her wretched Kinsman, That set his plot, shall with his heart blood satisfie Her injur'd life and honor, what lights this? It is but melancholy walking thus; The Taverne doores are baricadoed too, Where I might drinke till morne, in expectation; I cannot meete the Watch neither; nothing in The likenesse of a Constable, whom I might In my distresse abuse, and so be carried, For want of other lodging to the Counter. Tis his voyce, Fate, I thanke thee. Ha, who's that, and thou beest a man speake? Franke Heartlove, then I bare my destinies, Thou art the man of all the world I wish'd for; My Aunt has turn'd me out a doores, she has, At this unchristian houre, and I doe walke, Me thinkes, like Guido Faux with my darke Lanthorne, Stealing to set the towne a fire; ith' country I should be tane for William o'the Wispe, Or Robin Goodfellow, and how dost Franke? The worse for you. Come, thar't a foole, art going to thy lodging? Ile lie with thee to night, and tell thee stories, How many devills we ha met withall; Our house is haunted Franke, whole legions, I saw fiftie for my share. Didst not fright e'm? How, fright e'm? no, they frighted me sufficiently. Thou hadst wickednesse enough to make them stare, And be afraid o'thee, malicious devill; And draw thy sword, for by Marias soule; I will not let thee scape to doe more mischiefe. Thou art mad, what dost meane? To kill thee, nothing else will ease my anger, The injury is fresh, I bleede with all, Nor can that word expresse it, there's no peace in't, Nor must it be forgiven but in death; Therefore call up thy valour if thou'st any, And summon up thy spirits to defend thee; Thy heart must suffer for thy damn'd practises, Against thy noble con, and my innocence. Hold, heare a word; did I doe any thing But for your good, that you might have her, That in that desperate time I might redeeme her, Although with shew of losse. Out ugly villaine, Fling on her the most hated name of Whore To the worlds eye, and face it out in courtesie, Bring him to see't, and make me drunke to attempt it. I heare some voyces this way. No more, if you can pray, doe it as you fight. What new frights oppose me? I have heard that tongue.