For behold what Troopes forsake the Standard of the Citie, and flie to him: neither are they base & commo¯n souldiers, but euen those that haue borne armes a long time. Be silent therfore, and be patient: and since there is no remedie but that (this combatant that is so cunning at the sharp) wil come in, mark in what triumphant and proud manner, he is marshalled through Newgate: At which Bulwarke (& none other) did he (in policy) desire to shew himself. First, because he knew if the Citie should play with him as they did wt Wiat, Newgate held a nu¯ber, that though they were false to all the world, would be true to him. Couragiouously therfore does he enter: All of them that had once serued vnder his colors (and were now to suffer for the Truth, which they had abused) leaping vp to the Iron lattaces, to beholde their General, & making such a ratling with shaking their chaines for •oy, as if Cerberus had bin come fro¯ hell to liue and die amongst them. Shauing is now lodged in the heart of the Citie, but by whom? and at whose charges? Mary at a common purse, to which many are tributaries, & therfore no maruell if he be feasted royally. The first that paid their mony towards it, are cruel and couetous Land-lords, who for the building vp of a Chimny, which stands them not aboue 30. s. and for whiting the wals of a tenement, which is searce worth the daubing raise the rent presently (as if it were new put into ye Subsidy book, assessing it at 3. li. a yéer more then euer it went for before: fi•thy wide-mouthd bandogs they are, that for a quarters rent will pull out their ministers throte, if he were their tena¯t: And (though it turn to the vtter vndoing of a man) being rubd with quicksiluer, which they loue because they haue mangyconsciences, they will let to a drunken Flemming a house ouer his own cou¯try-mans head, thinking hees safe enough from the thunderbolts of their wiues & children, and from curses, and the very vengeance of heauen, if he get by the bargaine but so many Angels as will couer the crowne of his head.
The next that laide downe his share, was no Sharer among the Players, but a shauer of yong Gentlemen, before euer a haire dare peepe out of their chinnes: and these are Vsurers: who for a little money, and a greate deale of trash: (as Fire-shouels, browne-paper, motley cloake-bags, &c. bring yong Nouices into a •ooles Paradice till they haue sealed the Morgage of their landes, and then like Pedlers, goe they (or some Familiar spirit for them ra•zde by the Vsurer) vp and downe to cry Commodities) which scarce yeeld the third part of ye sum for which they take them vp.
There are like wise other Barbers, who are so well customed, that they shaue a whole Citie sometymes in three dayes, and they doe it (as Bankes his horse did his tricks) onely by the eye, and the eare: For if they either see no Magistrate comming towardes them (as being called back by the Common-weale for more serious imployments) or doe but heare that hee lyes sicke, vpon whom the health of a Cittie is put in haza•d: they presently (like Prentises vpon Shroue-tuesday) take the lawe into their owne handes, and doe what they list. And this Legion consists of Market-folkes, Bakers, Brewers, all that weigh their Consciences in Scales. And lastly, of the two degrees of Colliers, viz. those of Char-coles, and those of Newcastle. Then haue you the Shauing of Fatherlesse children, and of widowes, and thats done by Executors, The Shauing of poore Clients especially by the Atturneyes Clearkes of your Courts, and thats done by writing their Billes of costs vpon Cheuerell. The Shauing of prisoners by extortion, first, taken by their kéepers, for a prison is builded on such ranke and fertil ground, that if poore wretches sow it with hand-fulles of small debts when they come in if thery lie thee but a while to see the comming vp of them: the charges of the house will bee treble the demaund of the Creditor. Then haue you Brokers yt shaue poor men by most iewish interest: marry the diuils trimme them so soone as they haue washed others. I wil not tell how Uintners shaue their Guestes with a little peece of Paper not aboue three fingers broade; for their roomes are like Barbars Chaires: Men come into them willingly to bee Shauen. Onely (which is worst) bee it knowne •o thee (O thou Queene of Cities) thy Inhabitants Shaue their Consciences so close, that in the ende they growe baloe, and bring foorth no goodnesse.
Wee haue beene quicke (you see) in Trimming this Cutter of Queene Hith, because tis his propertie to handle others so, let vs bee as nymble in praysing his Houshold-stuffe: The best part of which is his Chariot, richly adorned, It is drawen by foure beasts: the 2. formost are a Wolfe (which will eate till he be readie to burst) and hee is Coach-fellow to a she-Bea•e, who is cruell euen to women great with childe: behinde them are a couple of Blood-houndes: the Coach-man is an Informer. Two Pettifoggers that haue beene turned ouer the barre, a•e his Lackies: his Houshold seruants are Wit (who is his Steward) Audacitie: Shifting: Inexorabilitie: and Disq•ietnesse of mind: The Meanie are (besides some person, before named) skeldring soldiers, and begging schel•ces.
CRUELTIE: OR THE SEUENTH AND LAST DAYES TRIUMPH.
WHAT a weeke of sinfull Reueling hath heere bin with these six p•oud Lords of Miscu•e? to which of your Hundred parishes (O you Citizens) haue not some one of these (if not all) remoued their Courts, and feasted you with them? your Percuilises are not strong inough to keepe them out by day your Watchmen are too sleepy to spie their ••ealing in by night. There is yet another to enter, as great in power as his fellowes, as subtill, as full of mischiefe: If I shoulde name him to you, you would laugh mee to scorne, because you cannot bee perswaded that such a one should euer bee suffered to liue within the freedome: yet if I name him not to you, you may in time, by him (as by the rest) bee vndone. It is Crueltie, O strange! mee thinkes London should start vp out of her sollid foundation, and in anger bee ready to fall vppon him, and grinde him to dust that durst say, shee is possest with such a deuill. Cruelty! the verie sound of it shewes that it is no English word: it is a Fury sent out of hel, not to inhabit within such beautifull walles, but amongst Turkes and Tarta•s. The other sixe Monsters transforme themselues into Amiable shapes, and set golden, inticing Charmes to winne men to their Circaean loue, they haue Angelical faces to allure, and bewitching tongues to inchaunt: But Cruelty is a hag, horred in forme, terrible in voice, formidable in threates, A tyrant in his very lockes, and a murderer in all his actions.
How then comm•th it to passe that heere he seekes entertainment? For what Cittie in the world, does more drie vp the teares of the Widdowe, and giues more warmth to the fatherlesse then this ancient and reuerend Grandam of Citties? Where hath the Orphan (that is to receiue great portions) lesse cause to mourne the losse o• Parents? He findes foure and twentie graue Senators to bee his Fathers instead of one: the Cittie it selfe to bee his Mother: her Officers to bee his Seruants, who see that hee want nothing: her lawes to suffer none to doe him wrong: and though he be neuer so simple in wit, or •o •ender in yeares, shee lookes as warily to that welth which is left him, as to the Apple of her owne eye. Where haue the Leaper and the Lunatick Surgery, and Phisicke so good cheape as heere? their payment is onely than•es: large Hospitalls are erected (of purpose to make them lodgings) and the rent is most easie, onely their prayers: yet for all this that Charitie hath her Armes full of children, & that •ender brested Compassion is still in one street or other dooing good workes: off from the Hindges are one of the 7. Gates readie to bee lifted, to make roome for this Giant: the Whiflers of your inferior and Chiefe companies cleere the wayes before him, men of all trades with shoutes & acclamations followed in thro¯ges behinde him, yea euen the siluer-bearded, & seuearest lookt cittize¯s haue giuen him welcomes in their Parlors.
There are in Lond & within the buildings, yt rou¯d about touch her sides, & stand within her reach, Thirteene strong houses of sorrow, where the prisoner hath his heart wasting away sometimes a whole prentiship of yeres in cares. They are most of them built of Fréestone, but none are frée within the¯: cold are their imbraceme¯ts: vnwholsom is their chear•• dispaireful their lodgings, vnco¯fortable their s•ocieties, miserable their inhabitants: O what a deale of wretchednes can make shift to lye in a little roome! •f those 13 houses were built al together, how rich wold Griefe be, hauing such large inclosure
s? Doth cruelty challe¯ge a fréemans roome in the City because of these places: no, the politicke body of the Republike wold be infected, if such houses as these were not maintained, to keep vp those that are vnsound. Claimes he then an inheritance here, because you haue whipping postes in your streete• for the Uagabond? the Stocks and the cage for the vnruely beggar? or because you haue Carts for the Bawde and the Harlot, and Beadles for the Lecher? neither. Or is it because so many mo¯thly Sessions are held? so many men, women and Children cald to a reconing at the Bar of death for their liues? and so many lamentable hempen Tragedies acted at Tiburne? nor for this: Iustice should haue wrong, to haue it so reported. No (you Inhabitants of this little world of people) Crueltie is a large Tree & you all stand vnder it: you are cruel in compelling your children (for wealth) to goe into loathed beds, for therby you make them bond-slaues: what ploughman is so foolish to yoake young hecfars & old bullocks together? yet such is your husbandry. In fitting your Coaches with horses, you are very curious to haue them (so neere as you ca¯, both of a colour, both of a height, of an age, of proportion, and will you bee carelesse in coupling your Children? he into whose bosome threescore winters haue thrust their frozen fingars, if hee be rich (though his breath bee rancker then a Muck-hill, his bodye more drye than Mummi, and his minde more lame than Ignorance if selfe) shall haue offered vnto him (but it is offered as a sacrifice) the tender bossome of a Uirgin, vpon whose fore-head was neuer written sixteene yeares: if she refuse this liuing death (for lesse than a death it cannot be vnto her) She is threatned to bee left an out-cast, cursd for disobedience, raild at daily, and reuylde howerlye: to saue herselfe from which basenes, She desprately runnes into a bondage, and goes to Church to be married, as if she went to be buried. But what glorye atcheiue you in these conquests? you doe wrong to Time, inforcing May to embrace December: you dishonour Age, in bringing it into scorne for insufficiency, into a loathing for dotage, into all mens laughter for iealousie. You make your Daughters looke wrinckled with sorrowes, before they be olde, & your sonnes by riot, to be beggars in midst of their youth. Hence comes it, ye murders are often contriued, & as often acted: our countrie is woful in fresh examples Hence •omes it, yt the Courtiers giues you an open scoffe, ye clown a secret mock, the Cittizen yt dwels at your threshald, a ieery fru¯p: Hence it is, yt if you goe by water in the calmest day, you are driuen by some fatall storme into ye vnlucky & dangerous hauen betwéene Greenewich & London. You haue another cruelty in keeping men in prison so long, til sicknes & death deal mildely with them, and (in despite of al tyranny) baile them out of all executions. When you see a poore wretch that to keep life in a loathed body hath not a house left to couer his head from the tempestes, nor a bed (but the common bedde which our Mother the earth allowes him) for his cares to sleepe vppon, when you haue (by keeping or locking him vp, robd him of all meanes to get, what seeke you to haue him loose but his life? The miserable prisoner is ready to famish, yet that ca¯not mooue you, the more miserable wife is readye to runne mad with dispaire, yet that cannot melt you• the moste of all miserable, his Children lye crying at your dores, yet nothin• can awakenin you compassion: if his debts be heauie, the greater and more glorious is your pitt• to worke his freedome, if they be light, the sharper is the Vengeance that will be heaped vpon your heades for your hardnes of hea•t. Wee are moste like to God that made vs, when one to another, and doe moste looke like th• Di•ell that would destroy vs, when wee are one another st•rme If any haue so much flint growing about his bosome, that he will needes make D•ce of mens bones. I would the•e were a lawe to compell him to make drinking bowles of their Sculs too: and that euerie miserable debter that so dyes, might be buried at his Creditors doore, that when hée strides ouer him he might thinke he still rises vp (like the Ghost in Ieronimo) crying Reuenge.
Crueltie hath yet another part to play, it is acted (like the old Morralls at Maningtree) by Trades-men, marrye seuerall companies in the Cittie haue it in study, and they are neuer perfect in it, till the end of seauen yeares at least, at which time, they come off with it roundly. And this it is: When your seruants haue made themselues bondmen to inioy your fruitefull hand-maides, thats to lay, to haue an honest and thriuing Art to liue by: when they haue fared hardly with you by Indenture, & like your Beasts which carry you haue patiently borne al labours, and all wrongs you could lay vpon them.
When you haue gathered the blossomes of their youth, and reaped the fruites of their strength, And that you can no longer (for shame) hold them in Captiuitie, but that by the lawes of your Country and of conscience you must vndoe their fetters, Then, euen then doe you hang moste weightes at their heeles, to make them sincke downe for euer: when you are bound to send them into the world to liue, you send them into the world to beg: they seru’d you seuen yéeres to pick vp a poore liuing, and therein you are iust, for you will be sure it shall be a poore liuing indéede they shall pick vp: for what do the rich cubs? like foxes they lay their heats together in conspiracy, burying their leaden consciences vnder the earth, to the intent that all waters that are wholesome in taste, and haue the swéetnes of gaine in going downe, may he drawne through them only, being the great pipes of their Company, because they sée tis the custome of the Citty, to haue all waters that come thither, conueyed by such large vessels, and they will not breake the customes of the Citty. When they haue the fullnesse of welth to the brim, that it runs ouer, they scarce will suffer their poore Seruant to take that which runs at waste, nor to gather vp the wind-fals, when all the great trées, as if they grew in the garden of the Hesperides, are laden with golden apples: no, they would not haue them gleane the scattered eares of corne, though they themselues cary away ye full sheafes: as if Trades that were ordaind to be Communities, had lost their first priuiledges, and were now turnd to Monopolyes. But remember (ô you Rich men) that your Seruants are your adopted Children, they are naturalized into your bloud, and if you hurt theirs, you are guilty of letting out your owne, than which, what Cruelty can be greater?
What Gallenist or Paracelsian in the world, by all his water-casting, and minerall extractions, would iudge, that this fairest-fa•••e daughter of Brute, (and good daughter to King Lud, who gaue her her name) should haue so much corruption in her body? vnlesse (that béeing now two thousand and seuen hundred yéeres old) extreme age should fill her full of diseases! Who durst not haue sworne for her, that of all loathsome sinnes that euer bred within her, she had neuer toucht the sinne of cruelty? It had wont to be a Spanish Sicknes, and hang long (incurably) vpon the body of their Inquisition; or else a French disease, running all ouer that Kingdome in a Massacre; but that it had infected the English, especially the people of this now once-againe New-reard-Troy, it was beyond beliefe. But is she cléerely purg’d of it by those pills that haue before bin giuen her? Is she now sound? Are there no dregs of this thick and pestilenciall poyson, eating still through her bowels? Yes: the vgliest Serpent hath not vncurld himselfe. She hath sharper and more black inuenomed stings within her, than yet haue bin shot forth.
There is a Cruelty within thée (faire Troynouant) worse and more barbarous then all the rest, because it is halfe against thy owne selfe, and halfe against thy Dead Sonnes and Daughters. Against thy dead children wert thou cruell in that dreadfull, horrid, and Tragicall yeere, when 30000. of them (struck with plagues from heauen) dropt downe in winding-shéets at thy feet. Thou didst then take away all Ceremonies due vnto them, and haledst them rudely to their last beds (like drunkards) without the dead mans musick (his Bell.) Alack, this was nothing: but thou tumbledst them into their euerlasting lodgings (ten in one heape, and twenty in another) as if all the roomes vpo¯ earth had •in full. The gallant and the begger lay together; the scholler and the carter in one bed: the husband saw his wife, and his deadly enemy whom he hated, within a paire of sheetes. Sad & vnséemely are such Funeralls: So felons that are cu• downe from the trée of shame and dishonor, are couered in the earth: So souldiers, after a mercilesse battaile, receiue vnhansome buriall. But
suppose the Pestiferous Deluge should againe drowne this little world of thine, and that thou must be compeld to breake open those caues of horror and gastlinesse, so hide more of thy dead houshold in them, what rotten st•nches, and contagious damps would strike vp into thy nosthrils? thou couldst not lift vp thy head into the aire, for that (with her condensed sinnes) would stifle thée; thou couldst not dine into the waters, for that they being teinted by the ayre, would poison thée. Art thou now not cruell against thy selfe, in not prouiding (before the land-waters of Affliction come downe againe vpon thée) more and more conuenient Cabins to lay those in, that are to goe into such farre countries, who neuer looke to come back againe? If thou shouldst deny it, the Graues when they open, will be witnesses against thée.
Complete Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker Page 214