Thomas Randolph

PLUTOPHTHALMIA PLUTOGAMIA, or
HEY FOR HONESTY, DOWN WITH KNAVERY
Adapted from Aristophanes' Plutus

circa 1626–circa 1628
(revised by "F.J." 1648–circa 1649)

a synoptic, alphabetical character list

ĆNEAS

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

ALLESTREE

Only mentioned. Pond, Booker, Allestree, Jeffry, Neve Gent, and Merlinus Anglicus were good astronomers, according to Carion, who nevertheless cannot predict so well as Chremyla's corns.

ALMEROTH of CANTIMEROPUS

Only mentioned. Never-good invokes Dr. Faustus, Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Termagant, and Almeroth of Cantimeropus in his impotent attempt to curse Goggle and Carion.

ANDREA, DON

Only mentioned. Blepsidemus believes Penia-Penniless looks like Jeronymo, Don Andrea, or perhaps the Ghost in Hamlet in her rage.

ANDREW, ST.

Only mentioned. Brun, the Scots soldier, swears by St. Andrew.

ANUS

A lustful old woman. Carion likens her to the Witch of Endor. She is angry with Plutus because she can no longer keep her young gigolo, Neanias, in her bed because he is rich enough no longer to need her money. She mistakes Scrape-all's offer of assistance for seduction and rejects him because he is old. Chremylus calls her a "skinful of lechery." When Neanias and Chremylus deride her, she beats Chremylus and begs Neanias to kiss her and return to her bed. Failing in her every attempt, she comes across the distressed and starving Pope and for a bit of food gains his favor to condemn Neanias and require him to go to bed with Anus for his penance, but nothing comes of this.

ap HUGH

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

ap MORGAN

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

ap OWEN

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

ap RICHARD

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

ap SHINKIN

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

ap SHON

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

ARISTOPHANES

Appears in the Introduction. He wants to know the news from London. Cleon's ghost calls him "a wicked Cavalier" and a "scoffing Royalist, Fennor of Greece, Tarlton of Athens." He and the Translator conjure away Cleon's ghost.

ASMODEUS

Only mentioned. Never-good invokes Dr. Faustus, Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Termagant, and Almeroth of Cantimeropus in his impotent attempt to curse Goggle and Carion.

ASOTUS SPEND–ALL

A "ghost character." He is Penia-Penniless' father of "Brecknockshire." Penia-Penniless is his eldest daughter.

ATTORNEY

Included among the disgruntled tradesmen. He complains of being out of work now that Plutus has made all honest men rich. He agrees with the other tradesmen–attorney, tinker, miller, tailor, shoemaker, etc. –to combine into an insurrection. Nothing comes of this, however, in the play, and they are not seen again.

BANKS the CONJUROR

A "ghost character." Godfather of Plutus, god of wealth.

BELLIBARNE

A "ghost character." Brun's wife. If he is not allowed to fight, he will go home to her and "get lusty martial bairns."

BESS BROUGHTON

Only mentioned. An example of an "unconsconiable" quean who never unbuttoned to any of the guard for nothing, according to Carion's reading of Plutarch.

BLEPSIDEMUS

Friend of Chremylus. He is amazed to find his friend grown rich because he is also honest. When he learns the truth that Plutus will reward only honest men, he is happy to help Chremylus and Carion escort Plutus to the Temple of Esculapius to have his eyesight restored. He enjoys his new wealth afterwards.

BOOKER

Only mentioned. Pond, Booker, Allestree, Jeffry, Neve Gent, and Merlinus Anglicus were good astronomers, according to Carion, who nevertheless cannot predict so well as Chremyla's corns.

BOY

A mute character and Goggle's servant. He carries Goggle's shoes and cloak for Goggle to dedicate to Plutus.

BRUN

A Scottish soldier who follows Penia-Penniless. He lost an arm at Chevy Chase. He speaks in the comic stage dialect of his country. In the argument over who shall be captain of Penia-Penniless' "fleece tattered" army, he threatens to go back to Scotland if it is not he, and Caradoc and Termock support him, then the three of them support Penia herself as leader until they all agree that is should be Higgen. Nothing is seen of him after this in the play.

BRUNDUCA

Only mentioned. Caradoc compares Penia-Penniless with several great Amazons, including her. This blunder for Bonduca is probably intentional.

BRUTUS

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

BUCEPHALUS

Only mentioned. The famous war-horse of Alexander the Great. Anus says that she would choose Neanias as her lover "Though Pegasus and Bucephalus came a-wooing me."

BURTON

Only mentioned. Goggle remembers Never-good as the one who made him stand in the "Popish pillory" with Prynne and Burton.

CAMPION

Only mentioned. Edmund Campion's Jesuitć Rationes Decem, referred to as his "ten reasons," is compared to Dicćus' argument against poverty.

CARADOC

A Welsh soldier who follows Penia-Penniless. He speaks in the comic stage dialect of his country. He claims the right to lead Penia's "tattered fleece" army because his lice are descended from great fighters' lice all the way back to Troy. In turns, he supports Brun, then Penia, and finally Higgen for captain. Nothing is seen of him after this in the play.

CARION

Chremylus' witty servant. He complains of his master's poverty and foolish desire to follow blind Plutus. He helps Chremylus in his plan to befriend Plutus and heal his eyesight. Chremylus sends him to round up his poor but honest neighbors Clodpole, Lackland, and Stiff. He helps Chremylus and Blepsidemus take Plutus to be healed at the Temple of Esculapius. Later, he recounts the healing to Chremyla, who sends him to the goldsmith to buy her a ring. He complains humorously of all the gold, silver, ivory, and rubies that now adorn the house. He comes upon Goggle, who wishes to make a gift of his shoes and old cloak to Plutus. Never-good meets them. Never-good wishes to put out Plutus' eyes again. Carion encourages Goggle to strip off Never-good's finery as a better gift for Plutus. Later, he admits Mercurius as the household poet because "household chaplains are now out of date."

CATESBY

Only mentioned. Carion calls him one of the "puisnies" along with Percy and lumps them both in with all knaves.

CHREMYLA

Chremylus' wife. When Carion recounts to her how Plutus regained his eyesight and that she will now be a countess, she sends him to the goldsmith to buy her a ring. She takes sweetmeats to Plutus and invites him into her house.

CHREMYLUS

An honest, decayed old gentleman. He went to the Delphic oracle and was told to follow the first person he saw until he got home. He finds and follows Plutus. He promises to cure Plutus' blindness if the god of wealth will favor him in return. He intends to have Plutus return to his old ways of enriching only honest men and impoverishing knaves. He must defend himself to his friend, Blepsidemus, who believes that he has grown dishonest because he has become rich. Later, he complains when everyone now wants to be his friend, realizing that they are interested only in his money. When he comes upon Anus and Neanias, he ridicules the lustful old woman, and she beats him. Neanias tries to palm her off on him, but no one wants Anus.

CIRCE

Only mentioned. Carion jokes that, like Circe, he will turn Clodpole, Lackland, and Stiff into hogs.

CISS

Only mentioned. Carion imagines when everyone is rich even the milkmaids will be addressed formally as "Madame Kate" or "Madame Ciss." The names Kate, Ciss, and Jane are used several times throughout the play as the names for generic young maids to be loved and kissed.

CLIP–LATIN, MASTER

A poor curate. Stiff calls him their "ficar" (vicar). In growing rich, he will not need Latin or Greek, and he preaches only by the Book of Common Prayer and rejects speaking ex tempore. He is "for the king and the Prayer-Book."

CLODPOLE

A rustic swain. One of Chremylus' honest neighbors. When Carion tells him that Plutus will make him rich, he dreams of throwing away his leather slops and pitchfork. He later delights in seeing parson Dicćus defeat Penia-Penniless in a disputation over the superiority of wealth over poverty.

COLOSSUS

Only mentioned. Penia-Penniless says there is no such giant that follows in her train.

CROMWELL

Only mentioned. Anus says that Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex destroyed nunneries ("such zealous bawdy-houses!") because he was a eunuch.

DAUGHTER, CHREMYLA'S

A "ghost character." Chremyla is spinning a smock for her when Carion interrupts her with news of her newly acquired wealth.

DAVY, ST.

Only mentioned. Caradoc, the Welsh soldier, swears by "St. Taffie."

DEBORAH

Only mentioned. Caradoc compares Penia-Penniless with several great Amazons, including her.

DICĆUS

A rich parson. He stands č diametro opposite Penia-Penniless and disputes with her over the question of restoring Plutus' eyesight. He is successful in his debate, demonstrating that wealth is better than poverty. He rejoices in his wealth because he can forget his Latin and Greek and march about Westminster as he pleases. He will ask Plutus to reward his brother cleric Clip-Latin with twenty pounds per annum

DIGBY

Only mentioned. One of the gunpowder conspirators. Carion mentions him, Garnet, and Faux (Fawkes) and lumps them together with the knaves of the world.

DOUGLAS, EARL

Only mentioned. To prove his mettle, the Scots soldier Brun mention his "blithe and bonny" service to Earl Douglas.

DUDLEY

Only mentioned. One of the "prime sequestrators" of his age. Never-good envies Empson and Dudley because they died before Plutus impoverished such knaves.

DULL–PATE

A parson and Scrape-all's son. Plutus says that he has a thriving name, that he should teach in private, and he will be rich. Towards the end of the play, he comes upon the Pope, who is starving for want of wealth, and glories over him. In exchange for a crust of bread and some mutton, Dull-pate has the Pope absolve him of all sin forever. He calls in the Quire to sing benedictus while the Pope blesses Plutus.

EMPSON

Only mentioned. One of the "prime sequestrators" of his age. Never-good envies Empson and Dudley because they died before Plutus impoverished such knaves.

EPILOGUE

He wishes the married couple joy. He says it would be good for England if Wealth and Honesty would breed and have issue but that the bride is past child bearing. Nevertheless, he is certain that "our Parliament" will never divorce them.

ESCULAPIUS

A "ghost character." God of the healing arts. He restores Plutus' eyesight offstage when Chremylus, Carion, and Blepsidemus take the god of wealth to Esculapius' temple. Carion later recounts the healing to Chremyla and tells how snakes licked Plutus' eyelids before Esculapius dropped medicine in.

FALSTAFF

Only mentioned. Higgen compares Penia-Penniless' "knights of the tattered fleece" to Falstaff's regiment that had but one shirt between them.

FAUSTUS, DR.

Only mentioned. Never-good invokes Dr. Faustus, Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Termagant, and Almeroth of Cantimeropus in his impotent attempt to curse Goggle and Carion.

FAUX

Only mentioned. One of the gunpowder conspirators. Carion mentions him, Digby, and Garnet and lumps them together with the knaves of the world. Guy Fawkes is meant.

FENNOR, WILLIAM

Only mentioned. The literary antagonist of Taylor the water-poet. Cleon's ghost accuses Aristophanes of being the "Fennor of Greece."

GAMALIEL RATSEY

Only mentioned. A Northamptonshire highwayman. Chremylus fears that Anus would look worse that Gamaliel Ratsey if her makeup were washed away.

GARAGANTUA

Only mentioned. Penia-Penniless says there is no such giant that follows in her train.

GARNET

Only mentioned. One of the gunpowder conspirators. Carion mentions him, Digby, and Faux (Fawkes) and lumps them together with the knaves of the world.

GEORGE, ST.

Only mentioned. Higgen, the English soldier, swears by St. George.

GHOST in HAMLET

Only mentioned. Blepsidemus believes Penia-Penniless looks like Jeronymo, Don Andrea, or perhaps the Ghost in Hamlet in her rage.

GHOST, CLEON'S

Appears in the Introduction. He laments his lost puissance and upbraids the Translator for translating Aristophanes' scoffs before the Translator and Aristophanes conjure him away.

GOGGLE, ANANIAS

An Amsterdam-man. He comes looking for Plutus to restore his lost wealth. He speaks in the grandiloquent style of the Puritan orator. He disdains the "Popish" Never-good and, at Carion's suggestion, strips Never-good of his finery to give that to Plutus instead of his own poor cloak and shoes.

GOGGLE, PATIENCE HYPOMONE

A "ghost character." Goggle's father, a "holy tailor and a venerable parson."

GRAND SIGNIOR

Only mentioned. Chremylus tells Clodpole, Lackland, and Stiff that they will have wealth enough to confront Prester-John and the Grand Signior.

GRIMALKIN

Only mentioned. A cat, identified as having nine lives.

HECTOR

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

HIGGEN

An English soldier who follows Penia-Penniless. He is an orator of Beggar's Bush. He speaks the cant language of the seventeenth-century London street, using slang such as "there's not a quire cove nobler than I" in his cockney oratory. Though the other soldiers argue over who should lead Penia's "tattered fleece" army, he holds firm, denying even Penia herself (refusing to follow a smock), and is made captain. Nothing is seen of him after this in the play.

HOBSON

A "ghost character." Old Hobson the carrier. Godfather of Plutus, god of wealth.

HONESTY CLEON

An honest scrivener's daughter. Plutus loves her because she is honest. She goes with him at play's end to be married.

HOPTON, GENERAL

Only mentioned. He was maintained by Plutus.

HORSE, BANKS'

Only mentioned. The famous horse, Morocco is mentioned in a song that Lackland sings.

JACK DOLOPHIN

Only mentioned. Blepsidemus cries against Penia-Penniless, "Jack Dolophin and his kettledrum defend us!"

JANE

Only mentioned. The names Kate, Ciss, and Jane are used several times throughout the play as the names for generic young maids to be loved and kissed.

JEFFRY

Only mentioned. Pond, Booker, Allestree, Jeffry, Neve Gent, and Merlinus Anglicus were good astronomers, according to Carion, who nevertheless cannot predict so well as Chremyla's corns.

JERONYMO

Only mentioned. Blepsidemus believes Penia-Penniless looks like Jeronymo, Don Andrea, or perhaps the Ghost in Hamlet in her rage. Later, Anus uses Orlando and Jeronymo as types of madmen who would be so cruel as Neanias.

JOAN of OLEANCE

Only mentioned. Caradoc compares Penia-Penniless with several great Amazons, including her. This blunder for Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, is probably intentional.

JOHN HOPKINS

Only mentioned. Stiff praises him and Thomas Sternhold for joining the Psalms to the Book of Common Prayer in "David's time." So beautiful is the meter that Stiff can sleep by it "as well as any in the parish."

JUPITER

A "ghost character." He blinded Plutus, god of wealth. He grows angry when Plutus' eyesight is restored and sends Mercurius to threaten Chremylus and his household.

KATE

Only mentioned. Carion imagines when everyone is rich even the milkmaids will be addressed formally as "Madame Kate" or "Madame Ciss." The names Kate, Ciss, and Jane are used several times throughout the play as the names for generic young maids to be loved and kissed.

KING of POLAND

Only mentioned. Carion, drunk with glee over his riches, imagines that he will raise an army against the Spanish Inquisition, the Turks, Rupert, and the King of Poland.

LACKLAND

A rustic swain. One of Chremylus' honest neighbors. When Carion tells him that Plutus will make him rich, he imagines how his other friends, Clip-Latin, Rent-all, Steal-all, and Noyse, will act when they are likewise enriched. He later delights in seeing parson Dicćus defeat Penia-Penniless in a disputation over the superiority of wealth over poverty.

LADY SANDS

Only mentioned. Blepsidemus would rather fight Mall Cutpurse and Lady Sands at quarterstaff than keep company with Penia-Penniless.

LONG MEG of WESTMINSTER

Only mentioned. Caradoc compares Penia-Penniless with several great Amazons, including her.

LYNCEUS

Only mentioned. He could see the motes of the sun and the least things of the world. Chremylus promises to make Plutus' vision as perfect as Lynceus'.

MALL CUTPURSE

Only mentioned. Blepsidemus would rather fight Mall Cutpurse and Lady Sands at quarterstaff than keep company with Penia-Penniless. Later, Caradoc compares Penia-Penniless with several great Amazons, including Mall Cutpurse.

MARIA COROMBONA BUTTO FUOCO

A "ghost character." "A Venetian courtesan bred up in London, an arrant whore." She has written one of the forty letters that Plutus has received today offering him marriage. Perhaps she is intended as an allusion to Webster's Vittoria Corombona from The White Devil.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Only mentioned. Never-good invokes Dr. Faustus, Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Termagant, and Almeroth of Cantimeropus in his impotent attempt to curse Goggle and Carion.

MERCURIUS

God of theft. He arrives at Chremylus' door telling Carion that Jupiter is angry. Now that Plutus has regained his eyesight no one sacrifices to Jupiter anymore. They are all to be thrown into Barathrum, "Pluto's boggards." In truth, Mercurius is more worried about his own fortunes than those of the other gods. He and Carion engage in lengthy foolery. Mercurius sings and picks Carion's pocket. He returns Carion's purse and asks, in turn, to be made the family's porter, merchant, fool, juggler, and poet. Carion rejects each offer but the last, and Mercurius is admitted as the household poet because "household chaplains are out of date."

MERLIN

Only mentioned. Caradoc the Welsh soldier suggests that Merlin is Penia-Penniless' cousin and countryman.

MERLINUS ANGLICUS

Only mentioned. Pond, Booker, Allestree, Jeffry, Neve Gent, and Merlinus Anglicus were good astronomers, according to Carion, who nevertheless cannot predict so well as Chremyla's corns.

MIDDLETON, SIR HUGH

Only mentioned. Carion believes that Plutus must have been begot in the silver mine that Middleton found in Wales. Middleton is mentioned several times in different contexts by different characters throughout the play.

MILLER

Included among the disgruntled tradesmen. He complains of being out of work now that Plutus has made all honest men rich. He agrees with the other tradesmen–attorney, tinker, miller, tailor, shoemaker, etc. –to combine into an insurrection. Nothing comes of this, however, in the play, and they are not seen again.

MOMPESSON, SIR GILES

Only mentioned. Carion says that Never-good conspired with Mompesson to persecute "innocent tapsters." Mompesson was a notorious monopolist who held commissions or licenses allowing him to grant or deny licensing to inns and alehouses. He was impeached in 1620, stripped of his knighthood, fined Ł10,000, imprisoned and finally banished. He is also probably satirized in the figure of Justice Greedy in Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts.

MONTROSE, GENERAL

Only mentioned. He was maintained by Plutus.

MOTHER, NEANIAS'

A "ghost character." Sometimes Neanias received a French hood from Anus for his mother.

NEANIAS

A young gallant and younger brother in need of money. He has been Anus' gigolo, taking goods and money in return for servicing her in bed, but now Plutus has given him his own money. He no longer visits Anus. He is drunk in the street and singing merrily when he meets Anus. He is saucy with her and will not go back to her bed for all her pleas.

NEOCLIDES

A "ghost character." A blind thief whom Esculapius did not cure, according to Carion.

NEVE GENT

Only mentioned. Pond, Booker, Allestree, Jeffry, Neve Gent, and Merlinus Anglicus were good astronomers, according to Carion, who nevertheless cannot predict so well as Chremyla's corns.

NEVER–GOOD

A sequestrator. He is the only person who does not like Master Clip-Latin, according to Stiff. He has become impoverished since Plutus regained his sight because he is one of the knaves. Starving now, Never-good seeks to put out Plutus' eyes again. Carion and Goggle scorn him and strip off his finery to give as a gift to Plutus.

NOYSE

A "ghost character." A ballad singer and friend of Lackland. When Plutus makes him rich, he will ride about in coaches.

O'NEILL

Only mentioned. Spelled Oneale. Termock has fought under him in Ireland and believes this entitles him to be captain of Penia's army.

ORLANDO

Only mentioned. Anus uses Orlando and Jeronymo as types of madmen who would be so cruel as Neanias.

PATRICK, ST.

Only mentioned. Termock, the Irish soldier, swears by St. Patrick.

PEGASUS

Only mentioned. The famous flying horse tamed by Bellerophon. Anus says that she would choose Neanias as her lover "Though Pegasus and Bucephalus came a-wooing me."

PENDRAGON, UTTER

Only mentioned. Father of King Arthur. Penia-Penniless refers to the Welsh soldier Caradoc as a man of Pendragon's noble stock. Utter Pendragon is mentioned again later in the play.

PENIA–PENNILESS

Goddess of poverty. She introduces herself as Penia-Poverty. She has a face the color of red-ochre and puts Chremylus and Blepsidemus in mind of vengeful ghosts or "some bawd of Shoreditch, or Turnbull broker of maidenheads." She is furious with them for shunning her in favor of Plutus. Dicćus engages in a formal disputation with her wherein she fails to demonstrate that poverty is nobler than wealth. She is driven away. She raises an army including Higgen, Termock, Brun, and Caradoc. When they argue amongst themselves who should lead this "tattered fleece" army, she offers to take control, but Higgen will not be led by a smock. They settle the quarrel by electing Higgen to lead and nothing is heard of her after this moment in the play.

PENIA–POVERTY

Alternate name for Penia-Penniless. This is the name she uses for herself.

PERCY

Only mentioned. Carion calls him one of the "puisnies" along with Catesby and lumps them both in with all knaves.

PERICLES

Only mentioned. The prince of Tyre is invoked by Penia-Penniless as an example of what even base tailors might become if Plutus ever regained his eyesight.

PHILIP of SPAIN

Only mentioned. Chremylus opines that wealth made Philip too proud.

PINCHBACK TRUEPENNY

A "ghost character." Father of Plutus, god of wealth. He is the "rich usurer of Islington" and a friend of Scrape-all's.

PLUTUS

God of wealth, a "dusty old dotard" and a "bunchback." He appears, blind and stumbling, followed by Chremylus and Carion. He was born in Golden Lane and christened at the Mint in the Tower. Jupiter blinded him for remaining only with honest me. Now he cannot distinguish honesty from knavery and the knaves all cozen him to stay with them. He is heartened when Chremylus and Carion tell him of his true power, greater than Jupiter himself. He meets Scrape-all and Dull-pate and goes as guest to Scrape-all's house. Later, Chremylus, Carion, and Blepsidemus take him to the Temple of Esculapius where he is healed. He rejoices in his renewed eyesight. Chremyla gives him sweetmeats and invites him to her house. He enters at play's end and realizes that England "is a covetous place." At least forty women have written offering him marriage. He has fallen in love, however, with Honesty Cleon and as the play ends he takes her and marries Riches to Honesty.

POLYPHEMUS

Only mentioned. Carion leads Clodpole, Lackland, and Stiff in a merry Cyclopes song, Threttanelo, sung to the tune of Fortune my foe and he mentions Polyphemus along the way.

POND

Only mentioned. Pond, Booker, Allestree, Jeffry, Neve Gent, and Merlinus Anglicus were good astronomers, according to Carion, who nevertheless cannot predict so well as Chremyla's corns.

POPE

Called Jupiter's vicar. He comes looking for Chremylus' house and Plutus. He is starving and has pawned away everything from the church of Rome for food. Now that everyone is rich, indulgences have become cheap, and he cannot thrive. He offers to canonize Dull-pate for a crust of bread. He agrees to help Anus by making Neanias sleep with her in penance for his sins. He forgives Dull-pate all of his sins forever and raises him above the Pope in exchange for some mutton. With a Quire to chant benedictus, he blesses Plutus.

PRESTER–JOHN

Only mentioned. Chremylus tells Clodpole, Lackland, and Stiff that they will have wealth enough to confront Prester-John and the Grand Signior.

PROLOGUE

Spoken by the Translator at the end of the Introduction. . He says that the poet is worried about the audience's high expectations of him and wishes the play had "been done / In some old rotten barn at Islington."

PRYNNE

Only mentioned. Goggle remembers Never-good as the one who made him stand in the "Popish pillory" with Prynne and Burton.

PUCELLE de DIEU

Only mentioned. Caradoc compares Penia-Penniless with several great Amazons, including her. This blunder for Joan de la Pucelle is probably intentional.

QUEEN MARY

Only mentioned. Anus misses the days of Queen Mary (some seventy-nine years before this play) because women back then could get sexual gratification from a "lusty friar in auricular confession."

QUIRE

Dull-pate calls in this group to chant benedictus while the Pope blesses Plutus.

QUIXOTE, DON

Only mentioned. Carion compares his valor with that of Quixote.

RENT–ALL

A "ghost character." Lackland's neighbor. When Plutus makes him rich, he will get a satin doublet and scorn his landlord.

RUPERT

Only mentioned. Carion, drunk with glee over his riches, imagines that he will raise an army against the Spanish Inquisition, the Turks, Rupert, and the King of Poland.

SCANDERBEG

Only mentioned. Higgen compares himself favorably to Scanderbeg and Tamberlain.

SCRAPE–ALL

A farmer and country swain as well as Dull-pate's father. He lives in Islington and was kin and neighbor to Pinchback Truepenny, Plutus' usurer father. He calls Plutus "uncle" and takes him to be his house guest. Later, he tells Anus how to find Plutus' house.

SHAKESPEARE

Only mentioned. He wrote his comedies for Plutus.

SHOEMAKER

Included among the disgruntled tradesmen. He complains of being out of work now that Plutus has made all honest men rich. He agrees with the other tradesmen–attorney, tinker, miller, tailor, shoemaker, etc. –to combine into an insurrection. Nothing comes of this, however, in the play, and they are not seen again.

SILVERSIDE, MISTRESS

A "ghost character." Mother of Plutus, god of wealth. An alderman's widow.

SISTER, NEANIAS'

A "ghost character." Sometimes Neanias received a kirtle from Anus for his sister.

SNEGO

A "ghost character." Clip-Latin's "host" who will be glad of Clip-Latin's good fortune because the parson will now "build no more sconces, but . . . pay my old tickets." He will serve him and his companions a cup of stingo.

STEAL–ALL

A "ghost character." A tailor and friend of Lackland. When Plutus makes him rich, he will ride about in coaches.

STIFF

A rustic swain. One of Chremylus' honest neighbors. When Carion tells him that Plutus will make him rich, he thinks he will give a penny for a Maypole and dance a morris around it. He later delights in seeing parson Dicćus defeat Penia-Penniless in a disputation over the superiority of wealth over poverty.

SYLVIUS

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

TAILOR

Included among the disgruntled tradesmen. He complains of being out of work now that Plutus has made all honest men rich. He agrees with the other tradesmen–attorney, tinker, miller, tailor, shoemaker, etc. –to combine into an insurrection. Nothing comes of this, however, in the play, and they are not seen again.

TAMBERLAIN

Only mentioned. Higgen compares himself favorably to Scanderbeg and Tamberlain.

TARLTON, RICHARD

Only mentioned. The famous Elizabethan clown. Cleon's ghost accuses Aristophanes of being the "Tarlton of Athens."

TERMAGANT

Only mentioned. Never-good invokes Dr. Faustus, Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Termagant, and Almeroth of Cantimeropus in his impotent attempt to curse Goggle and Carion.

TERMOCK

An Irish soldier who follows Penia-Penniless. He is the "wonder of Redshanks" and fond of his "usquabaugh." He speaks in the comic stage dialect of his country. He wants to be captain of Penia's "tattered fleece" army, but he ends up supporting every other candidate in turn until the choice is made for Higgen. Nothing is seen of him after this in the play.

THOMAS SHELTON

Only mentioned. When told that Plutus will find his way to honest houses "at a short-hand," Blepsidemus replies, "What, brachygraphy? Thomas Shelton's art?" Shelton translated Don Quixote in the 1620's not from Cervantes' original text but from the Brussels' editions.

THOMAS STERNHOLD

Only mentioned. Stiff praises him and John Hopkins for joining the Psalms to the Book of Common Prayer in "David's time." So beautiful is the meter that Stiff can sleep by it "as well as any in the parish."

TINKER

Included among the disgruntled tradesmen. He complains of being out of work now that Plutus has made all honest men rich. He agrees with the other tradesmen–attorney, tinker, miller, tailor, shoemaker, etc. –to combine into an insurrection. Nothing comes of this, however, in the play, and they are not seen again.

TOM THUMB

Only mentioned. Penia-Penniless compares her followers to diminutive Tom Thumb.

TRANSLATOR

Appears in the Introduction. He tells Aristophanes that in London "three-quarters of the city are Roundheads" who hate all languages but English–"'tis a dangerous touchy age." He helps Aristophanes conjure away Cleon's ghost. He then presents the prologue to the play. He says that the poet is worried about the audience's high expectations of him and wishes the play had "been done / In some old rotten barn at Islington."

TROILUS

Only mentioned. Caradoc asserts that his own lice are descended from the "magnanimous lice of ap Shinkin ap Shon ap Owen ap Richard ap Morgan ap Hugh ap Brutus ap Sylvius ap Ćneas ap Troilus ap Hector."

VIRGIL

Only mentioned. Carion tells Clodpole, Lackland, and Stiff to cease jesting and restores them to their "old metamorphosis" as in "the first leaf of Virgil's Bucolics."

WIFE, SCRAPE–ALL'S

A "ghost character." Scrape-all says that she will delight to see Plutus as much as she would for a French hood or taffeta kirtle.

WILL SUMMERS

Only mentioned. He "broke his wind" for Plutus.

WITCH of ENDOR

Only mentioned. Carion likens the old woman Anus to the Witch of Endor. She was the sorceress whom King Saul asked to conjure the spirit of Samuel (1 Samuel 28: 3-25).

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