A New Trick to Cheat the Devil
Encyclopedia
A New Trick to Cheat the Devil is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a comedy
written by Robert Davenport
that was first printed in 1639
. One of only three surviving Davenport plays, it has been called an entertaining and extravagant farce
.
printed by John Okes for the bookseller Humphrey Blunden. This was the only edition of the play prior to the nineteenth century.
The 1639 quarto includes a short preface, apparently written by the bookseller. This prefatory note describes the play as "an Orphant, and wanting the Father which first begot it...." This seems to indicate that Davenport was dead by 1639; but other evidence suggests that he was still alive. In the following year, two plays, Nathaniel Richards's Messalina and Thomas Rawlins's The Rebellion, were printed with commendatory poems written by Davenport. And the address "To the knowning Reader" prefixed to Davenport's King John and Matilda
suggests that Davenport was still alive in 1655, when that play was first published.
One curious feature is that the play contains a "yellow starch" reference. in Act IV, scene 1, the Devil says "I was first father to this yellow Sterch...." This is an allusion to the fashion for wearing ruffs and cuffs dyed yellow, which was strongly associated with Mistress Anne Turner, the woman executed for her role in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury
on November 15, 1615. References to yellow starch and "yellow bands" are common in plays written in the 1615–18 years, but seem rather dated in a play from the 1620s or '30s. (The same dating conundrum applies to Davenport's other comedy, The City Nightcap
.) [For more data on yellow starch references, see: The World Tossed at Tennis
.]
into English Renaissance theatre
.
Earlier plays in the Devil sub-genre, like Doctor Faustus and The Devil's Charter
, presented the infernal influences as real aspects of the world. Later plays in the tradition, like New Trick or The Soddered Citizen
(c. 1630), treat Satanic matters as spurious and fraudulent.
.
The play's brief subplot also depends on folklore material. A version of the same story appears in a poem printed in Scotland in 1603 and 1622. Folktales in several traditions replicate similar plots.
When she actually meets the lord, however, Anne is deeply disappointed; man for man, she much prefers Slightall, and is not shy about saying so. She seeks out Slightall to express her regret, but he is too deeply enmeshed in his heartbreak to respond. Anne, in deep psychological distress, reproaches everyone in her circle, father, mother, lordly future husband and others, for their faults; they think she has lost her reason.
Slightall mortgages his lands to an Usurer to gain funds to waste on self-indulgence. The Usurer tells his Scrivener how he conspires with Slightall's corrupt servant Geoffrey to drag Slightall down into bankruptcy. The Usurer's scenes allow Davenport to comment on the social and economic conditions of the day.
Slightall's bad servant Geoffrey is counterbalanced by a loyal servant, Roger, who stands by his master even when his formal employment has come to an end. Master Changeable is also a partisan in Slightall's cause. Anne's father arranges a complex charade: after a masque
of infernal spirits dressed as a Beggar, a Whore, a Puritan
and similar figures, Changeable himself masquerades as the Devil and draws Slightall into the standard infernal bargain. He, the "Devil," will provide financial support to Slightall in return for Slightall's soul. Slightall gains the funds to redeem his mortgages from the Usurer on the final day possible. The time comes for Slightall to pay the Devil his due: Mistress Changeable, Lord Scales, and others watch what they think is an infernal marriage, in which Slightall will marry a "shee Lamia," a succubus
. Slightall actually marries Anne, to their own delight and the discomfiture of the rival party.
The drama's subplot is confined to a single long scene, III,1. Two friars, Bernard and John, pay a late-night call upon their friend, the Host of an inn. They seek shelter for the night. The Host is absent, and his wife the Hostess is ready to meet her lover, the local Constable, for a tryst. She is naturally unhappy with the presence of her visitors, and confines the two monks to an upper room. The humble Friar Bernard goes to sleep, but Friar John is disquiet; he spies on the Hostess through a chink, and sees the Constable arrive and lay out a tasty supper for the two of them. When the Host suddenly and unexpectedly returns, the Hostess hides the food and the Constable — all of which Friar John witnesses.
John makes enough noise to attract the attention of the Host, who is happy to greet his monkish friends. The Hostess, very dissatisfied, denies that there is any good cheer to be had in the house. The crafty John pretends to conjure the demon Asteroth to supply a magic meal; he exposes, item by item, the Constable's hidden delectables, which the Host and friars enjoy. Finally, John tells the Host that he will conjure the demon Asteroth in person, in the guise of the local Constable; the Host must not be fooled be this appearance, but must beat the demon soundly. Of course, the friar exposes the real Constable in his hiding place, and the Host gives the would-be adulterer a vigorous beating before the man escapes.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
written by Robert Davenport
Robert Davenport
Robert Davenport was an English dramatist of the early seventeenth century. Nothing is known of his early life or education; the title pages of two of his plays identify him as a "Gentleman," though there is no record of him at either of the two universities or the Inns of Court. Scholars have...
that was first printed in 1639
1639 in literature
The year 1639 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*May 21 - The King's Men act John Fletcher's The Mad Lover.*Blaise Pascal's family move to Rouen.*François de La Mothe-Le-Vayer is elected to the Académie Française....
. One of only three surviving Davenport plays, it has been called an entertaining and extravagant farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
.
Publication
The play was first published in 1639, in a quartoBook size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
printed by John Okes for the bookseller Humphrey Blunden. This was the only edition of the play prior to the nineteenth century.
The 1639 quarto includes a short preface, apparently written by the bookseller. This prefatory note describes the play as "an Orphant, and wanting the Father which first begot it...." This seems to indicate that Davenport was dead by 1639; but other evidence suggests that he was still alive. In the following year, two plays, Nathaniel Richards's Messalina and Thomas Rawlins's The Rebellion, were printed with commendatory poems written by Davenport. And the address "To the knowning Reader" prefixed to Davenport's King John and Matilda
King John and Matilda
King John and Matilda is a Caroline era stage play, a historical tragedy written by Robert Davenport. It was initially published in 1655; the cast list included in the first edition is provides valuable information on some of the actors of English Renaissance theatre.-Performance and publication:No...
suggests that Davenport was still alive in 1655, when that play was first published.
Date
No firm evidence on the play's date of authorship is extant. The earliest evidence for Davenport's career as a dramatist comes from 1624; the period from 1624 to its publication in 1639 has been regarded as the range of possible dates for New Trick.One curious feature is that the play contains a "yellow starch" reference. in Act IV, scene 1, the Devil says "I was first father to this yellow Sterch...." This is an allusion to the fashion for wearing ruffs and cuffs dyed yellow, which was strongly associated with Mistress Anne Turner, the woman executed for her role in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury
Thomas Overbury
Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
on November 15, 1615. References to yellow starch and "yellow bands" are common in plays written in the 1615–18 years, but seem rather dated in a play from the 1620s or '30s. (The same dating conundrum applies to Davenport's other comedy, The City Nightcap
The City Nightcap
The City Nightcap, or Crede Quod Habes, et Habes is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Robert Davenport. It is one of only three dramatic works by Davenport that survive.-Date:...
.) [For more data on yellow starch references, see: The World Tossed at Tennis
The World Tossed at Tennis
The World Tossed at Tennis is a Jacobean era masque composed by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, first published in 1620. It was likely acted on 4 March 1620 at Denmark House....
.]
Devil and prodigal
New Trick naturally belongs in at least two classes of English Renaissance play. It is a "prodigal son" drama, one of a long series of plays that trace the fall and recovery of a protagonist in the manner of the Biblical parable. It is also, as its title indicates, a devil play, a sub-genre that extended the influence of the Medieval morality playMorality play
The morality play is a genre of Medieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas with or without a moral theme. Morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of...
into English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
.
Earlier plays in the Devil sub-genre, like Doctor Faustus and The Devil's Charter
The Devil's Charter
The Devil's Charter is an early Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Barnabe Barnes. The play recounts the story of Pope Alexander VI.-Date, performance, publication:...
, presented the infernal influences as real aspects of the world. Later plays in the tradition, like New Trick or The Soddered Citizen
The Soddered Citizen
The Soddered Citizen is a Caroline era stage play, a city comedy now attributed to John Clavell. The play was lost for three centuries; the sole surviving manuscript was rediscovered and published in the twentieth century....
(c. 1630), treat Satanic matters as spurious and fraudulent.
Sources
As in his other plays, Davenport draws plot materials in New Trick from folklore and from previous dramas, more so than from the formal prose literature of his day. Uncertainty in the play's date makes it difficult, in many cases, to say which plays may have influenced Davenport's work, and in turn which plays might have been influenced by Davenport's work. Influence from Shakespeare is plain and evident; A passage in I,2 that is rich in classical allusions draws heavily upon OvidOvid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
.
The play's brief subplot also depends on folklore material. A version of the same story appears in a poem printed in Scotland in 1603 and 1622. Folktales in several traditions replicate similar plots.
Synopsis
The play opens with its hero and heroine, Slightall and Anne Changeable; they are in love and plan to marry. Anne's father, Master Changeable, supports the match, but her social-climber harridan mother, Mistress Changeable, wants her daughter to wed an aristocrat, Lord Skales. The young and naive Anne is swayed by her mother's materialist temptations, and rejects Slightall for the lord. Slightall is crushed and devastated, and quickly lapses into spendthirft debauchery.When she actually meets the lord, however, Anne is deeply disappointed; man for man, she much prefers Slightall, and is not shy about saying so. She seeks out Slightall to express her regret, but he is too deeply enmeshed in his heartbreak to respond. Anne, in deep psychological distress, reproaches everyone in her circle, father, mother, lordly future husband and others, for their faults; they think she has lost her reason.
Slightall mortgages his lands to an Usurer to gain funds to waste on self-indulgence. The Usurer tells his Scrivener how he conspires with Slightall's corrupt servant Geoffrey to drag Slightall down into bankruptcy. The Usurer's scenes allow Davenport to comment on the social and economic conditions of the day.
Slightall's bad servant Geoffrey is counterbalanced by a loyal servant, Roger, who stands by his master even when his formal employment has come to an end. Master Changeable is also a partisan in Slightall's cause. Anne's father arranges a complex charade: after a masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
of infernal spirits dressed as a Beggar, a Whore, a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
and similar figures, Changeable himself masquerades as the Devil and draws Slightall into the standard infernal bargain. He, the "Devil," will provide financial support to Slightall in return for Slightall's soul. Slightall gains the funds to redeem his mortgages from the Usurer on the final day possible. The time comes for Slightall to pay the Devil his due: Mistress Changeable, Lord Scales, and others watch what they think is an infernal marriage, in which Slightall will marry a "shee Lamia," a succubus
Succubus
In folklore traced back to medieval legend, a succubus is a female demon appearing in dreams who takes the form of a human woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual intercourse. The male counterpart is the incubus...
. Slightall actually marries Anne, to their own delight and the discomfiture of the rival party.
The drama's subplot is confined to a single long scene, III,1. Two friars, Bernard and John, pay a late-night call upon their friend, the Host of an inn. They seek shelter for the night. The Host is absent, and his wife the Hostess is ready to meet her lover, the local Constable, for a tryst. She is naturally unhappy with the presence of her visitors, and confines the two monks to an upper room. The humble Friar Bernard goes to sleep, but Friar John is disquiet; he spies on the Hostess through a chink, and sees the Constable arrive and lay out a tasty supper for the two of them. When the Host suddenly and unexpectedly returns, the Hostess hides the food and the Constable — all of which Friar John witnesses.
John makes enough noise to attract the attention of the Host, who is happy to greet his monkish friends. The Hostess, very dissatisfied, denies that there is any good cheer to be had in the house. The crafty John pretends to conjure the demon Asteroth to supply a magic meal; he exposes, item by item, the Constable's hidden delectables, which the Host and friars enjoy. Finally, John tells the Host that he will conjure the demon Asteroth in person, in the guise of the local Constable; the Host must not be fooled be this appearance, but must beat the demon soundly. Of course, the friar exposes the real Constable in his hiding place, and the Host gives the would-be adulterer a vigorous beating before the man escapes.