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    The Devil's Law Case: "All things do help the unhappy man to fall"
    The Devil's Law Case: "All things do help the unhappy man to fall"
    The Devil's Law Case: "All things do help the unhappy man to fall"
    Ebook179 pages1 hour

    The Devil's Law Case: "All things do help the unhappy man to fall"

    By John Webster

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    John Webster is known primarily for his two Jacobean tragedies, The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil. Much of the detail and chronology of his life that led to these two pivotal works is, however, unknown. His father, a carriage maker also named John Webster, married a blacksmith's daughter, Elizabeth Coates, on November 4th, 1577, and it is likely that Webster was born within a year or two in or near London. The family lived in St. Sepulchre's parish. Both his father and his uncle, Edward Webster, were Freemen of the Merchant Taylors' Company and Webster attended Merchant Taylors' School in Suffolk Lane, London. Some accounts say he began to study law but nothing is certain although there are some legal aspects to his later works to suggest this may have been so. By 1602, Webster was employed working as part of various teams of playwrights on history plays, though unfortunately most were never printed and therefore do not survive. These include a tragedy Caesar's Fall (written with Michael Drayton, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton and Anthony Munday), and a collaboration with Thomas Dekker; Christmas Comes but Once a Year (1602). This factory line assembly of plays may seem rather odd to us today but plays then ran for much shorter durations and consequently a steady supply had to be assured. Webster’s relationship with Dekker seems to have been a good one. Together they wrote Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed in 1607, although it is thought first performed in 1602 and two city comedies, Westward Ho! in 1604 and Northward Ho! in 1605. It seems Webster also adapted, in 1604, John Marston's The Malcontent for staging by the King's Men. On March 18th, 1606 Webster married the 17-year-old Sara Peniall at St Mary's Church, Islington. Sara was 7 months pregnant and marrying during Lent required the issuing of a special permit, hence the certainty of the date. Their first child, John, was baptised at the parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West on March 8th, 1606. Records show that on the death of a neighbour, who died in 1617, several bequests were made to the Webster family and it is therefore thought that other children were born to the couple. Despite his ability to write comedy, and to collaborate with others, Webster is remembered best for his sole authorship on two brooding English tragedies based on Italian sources. The White Devil, retells the intrigues involving Vittoria Accoramboni, an Italian woman assassinated at the age of 28. It was performed at the open-air Red Bull Theatre in 1612 but was unsuccessful, perhaps being too high brow for a working-class audience. In 1614 The Duchess of Malfi was first performed by the King's Men, most probably in the indoor Blackfriars Theatre and to a more high-brow audience. It proved to be more successful. The play Guise, based on French history, was also written but him but no text has survived. Webster wrote one more play on his own: The Devil's Law Case (c. 1617–1619), a tragicomedy. He continued to write thereafter but always in collaboration and usually city comedies; Anything for a Quiet Life (c. 1621), with Thomas Middleton, and A Cure for a Cuckold (c. 1624), with William Rowley. In 1624, he also co-wrote a topical play about a recent scandal, Keep the Widow Waking (with John Ford, Rowley and Dekker). The play itself is lost, although its plot is known from a court case. There is also some certainty that he contributed to the tragicomedy The Fair Maid of the Inn with John Fletcher, John Ford, and Phillip Massinger. His Appius and Virginia, was probably written with Thomas Heywood, and is of uncertain date. It is believed, mainly from Thomas Heywood's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels (licensed 7 November 1634) that speaks of him in the past tense that John Webster had died at some point in that year of 1634.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStage Door
    Release dateMar 2, 2017
    ISBN9781787373396
    The Devil's Law Case: "All things do help the unhappy man to fall"

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      Book preview

      The Devil's Law Case - John Webster

      The Devil’s Law Case by John Webster

      To the Right Worthy, All-accomplished Gentleman, Sir Thomas Finch, Baronet

      John Webster is known primarily for his two Jacobean tragedies, The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil.  Much of the detail and chronology of his life that led to these two pivotal works is, however, unknown.

      His father, a carriage maker also named John Webster, married a blacksmith's daughter, Elizabeth Coates, on November 4th, 1577, and it is likely that Webster was born within a year or two in or near London.

      The family lived in St. Sepulchre's parish. Both his father and his uncle, Edward Webster, were Freemen of the Merchant Taylors' Company and Webster attended Merchant Taylors' School in Suffolk Lane, London.

      Some accounts say he began to study law but nothing is certain although there are some legal aspects to his later works to suggest this may have been so.

      By 1602, Webster was employed working as part of various teams of playwrights on history plays, though unfortunately most were never printed and therefore do not survive.  These include a tragedy Caesar's Fall (written with Michael Drayton, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton and Anthony Munday), and a collaboration with Thomas Dekker; Christmas Comes but Once a Year (1602).  This factory line assembly of plays may seem rather odd to us today but plays then ran for much shorter durations and consequently a steady supply had to be assured.

      Webster’s relationship with Dekker seems to have been a good one. Together they wrote Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed in 1607, although it is thought first performed in 1602 and two city comedies, Westward Ho! in 1604 and Northward Ho! in 1605.  It seems Webster also adapted, in 1604, John Marston's The Malcontent for staging by the King's Men.

      On March 18th, 1606 Webster married the 17-year-old Sara Peniall at St Mary's Church, Islington. Sara was 7 months pregnant and marrying during Lent required the issuing of a special permit, hence the certainty of the date. Their first child, John, was baptised at the parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West on March 8th, 1606. Records show that on the death of a neighbour, who died in 1617, several bequests were made to the Webster family and it is therefore thought that other children were born to the couple.

      Despite his ability to write comedy, and to collaborate with others, Webster is remembered best for his sole authorship on two brooding English tragedies based on Italian sources. The White Devil, retells the intrigues involving Vittoria Accoramboni, an Italian woman assassinated at the age of 28.  It was performed at the open-air Red Bull Theatre in 1612 but was unsuccessful, perhaps being too high brow for a working-class audience.

      In 1614 The Duchess of Malfi was first performed by the King's Men, most probably in the indoor Blackfriars Theatre and to a more high-brow audience. It proved to be more successful.

      The play Guise, based on French history, was also written but him but no text has survived.

      Webster wrote one more play on his own: The Devil's Law Case (c. 1617–1619), a tragicomedy.

      He continued to write thereafter but always in collaboration and usually city comedies; Anything for a Quiet Life (c. 1621), with Thomas Middleton, and A Cure for a Cuckold (c. 1624), with William Rowley.

      In 1624, he also co-wrote a topical play about a recent scandal, Keep the Widow Waking (with John Ford, Rowley and Dekker). The play itself is lost, although its plot is known from a court case.

      There is also some certainty that he contributed to the tragicomedy The Fair Maid of the Inn with John Fletcher, John Ford, and Phillip Massinger. His Appius and Virginia, was probably written with Thomas Heywood, and is of uncertain date.

      It is believed, mainly from Thomas Heywood's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels (licensed 7 November 1634) that speaks of him in the past tense that John Webster had died at some point in that year of 1634.

      Index of Contents

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      ACT I

      SCENE I

      SCENE II

      ACT II

      SCENE I

      SCENE II

      SCENE III

      SCENE IV

      ACT III

      SCENE I

      SCENE II

      SCENE III

      ACT IV

      SCENE I

      SCENE II

      ACT V

      SCENE I

      SCENE II

      SCENE III

      SCENE IV

      SCENE V

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      ROMELIO, a merchant.

      CONTARINO, a nobleman, and suitor to JOLENTA.

      ERCOLE, a Knight of Malta, also suitor to JOLENTA.

      CRISPIANO, a lawyer.

      JULIO, son to CRISPIANO.

      PROSPERO, a merchant, and colleage of ROMELIO.

      ARIOSTO, a lawyer, and afterwards a judge.

      CONTILUPO, a lawyer, representing LEONORA at the trial.

      SANITONELLA, a law-clerk, assisting CONTILUPO

      A CAPUCHIN FRIAR.

      BAPTISTA, a merchant [ghost character].

      LEONORA, mother of ROMELIO and of JOLENTA.

      JOLENTA, sister of ROMELIO, and sought in marriage by CONTARINO and ERCOLE.

      WINIFRID, her waiting woman.

      ANGIOLELLA, a nun, pregnant by ROMELIO.

      Two Surgeons, Judges, Lawyers, Bellmen, Registrar, Marshal, Herald, and Srevants.

      SCENE

      The Action takes place in Naples

      ACT I

      SCENE I

      [Enter ROMELIO, and PROSPERO]

      PROSPERO

      You have shown a world of wealth; I did not think

      There had been a merchant liv'd in Italy

      Of half your substance.

      ROMELIO

      I'll give the King of Spain

      Ten thousand ducats yearly, and discharge

      my yearly custom. The Hollanders scarce trade

      More generally than I: my factors' wives

      Wear shaperoons of velvet, and my scriveners

      Merely through my employment, grow so rich,

      They build their palaces and belvederes

      With musical water-works: never in my life

      Had I loss at sea. They call me on th'exchange,

      The fortunate young man, and make great suit

      To venture with me. Shall I tell you sir,

      Of a strange confidence in my way of trading?

      I reckon it as certain as the gain

      In erecting a lottery.

      PROSPERO

      I pray, sir, what do you think

      Of Signor Baptista's estate?

      ROMELIO

      A mere beggar:

      He's worth some fifty thousand ducats.

      PROSPERO

      Is not that well?

      ROMELIO

      How, well? For a man to be melted to snow-water,

      With toiling in the world from three and twenty,

      Till threescore, for poor fifty thousand ducats!

      PROSPERO

      To your estate 'tis little I confess:

      You have the spring tide of gold.

      ROMELIO

      Faith, and for silver,

      Should I not send it packing to th'East Indies,

      We should have a glut on't.

      [Enter SERVANT.]

      SERVANT

      Here's the great Lord Contarino.

      PROSPERO

      O, I know

      His business, he's a suitor to your sister.

      ROMELIO

      Yes sir, but to you-

      As my most trusted friend, I utter it-

      I will break the alliance.

      PROSPERO

      You are ill-advis'd then;

      There lives not a completer gentleman

      In Italy, nor of a more ancient house.

      ROMELIO

      What tell you me of gentry? 'Tis nought else

      But a superstitious relic of time past:

      And sift it to the true worth, it is nothing

      But ancient riches: and in him you know

      They are pitifully in the wane. He makes his colour

      Of visiting us so often, to sell land,

      And thinks if he can gain my sister's love,

      To recover the treble value.

      PROSPERO

      Sure he loves her

      Entirely, and she deserves it.

      ROMELIO

      Faith, though she were

      Crook'd-shoulder'd, having such a portion,

      She would have noble suitors. But truth is,

      I would wish my noble venturer take heed;

      It may be whiles he hopes to catch a gilthead,

      He may draw up a gudgeon.

      [Enter CONTARINO.]

      PROSPERO

      He's come. Sir I will leave you.

      [Exit PROSPERO and SERVANT]

      CONTARINO

      I sent you the evidence of the piece of land

      I motioned to you for the

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