The City Nightcap
Encyclopedia
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.
, on October 24, 1624
. Many commentators have assumed that the play was written not long before that date. The play's "heavy borrowing" from Shakespeare seems to suggest that it must have been written after the 1623
publication of the First Folio
.
The question of the play's date is complicated by one internal factor: in Act III, scene 3, Dorothea states that when her maid put "a little saffron
in her starch," she "most unmercifully broke her head." This is a reference to the fashion for yellow-dyed ruffs and cuffs that was current c. 1615, and was closely associated with Mistress Anne Turner and her execution for her role in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury
(November 15, 1615). Allusions to "yellow bands" and "yellow starch" are common in plays written in the 1615–18 period, but somewhat dated in a play from the early 1620s. (Davenport's A New Trick to Cheat the Devil
, another play of uncertain date, also includes a yellow-starch reference.)
and one of the stories in the Decameron of Boccaccio (the seventh story of the seventh day). Greene's story involves a jealous husband and a faithful wife, while Boccaccio's considers a confidant husband and an unfaithful wife. Davenport combines and contrasts the two stories to create a dialectic on marital fidelity and trust.
The plot also bears resemblances to the "Curious Impertinent" episode in Don Quixote.
, printed by John Cotterell for the stationer
Samuel Speed. The 1661 edition was the sole publication of the play prior to the nineteenth century.
The title page of the 1661 edition states that the play was "acted with great applause" by Queen Henrietta's Men
at the Cockpit Theatre
. The claim is credible — Davenport's King John and Matilda
was performed by the same company — but no data on the play's early productions is extant. (The Queen Henrietta's company was formed in 1625
, largely out of a previous troupe, the Lady Elizabeth's Men
. If The City Nightcap was acted prior to 1625, it was probably staged by the Lady Elizabeth's company.)
The play's Latin subtitle, "crede quod habes, et habes," is a proverb that means "believe that you have it, and you have it."
, Aphra Behn
adapted The City Nightcap into her play The Amorous Prince. Around 1680, another, anonymous adaptor turned Davenport's play into The Politic Whore, or the Conceited Cuckold. A century and a half later, Washington Irving
based his sketch "Wives," published in his collection Bracebridge Hall
(1822
), on Davenport's drama.
, where the play begins; his wife Abstemia is a sister of the Duke of Venice
. Lorenzo has fallen victim to an irrational jealousy of his wife; he is convinced, beyond reason, that she is unfaithful to him. Lorenzo pressures his friend Philippo to make sexual advances to Abstemia, to test her chastity. Philippo reluctantly complies; Abstemia consistently rejects his advances. Trapped in an awkward position for a gentleman, Philippo informs Abstemia of the situation; thrown together, the two become friends — which only exacerbates Lorenzo's jealousy.
Lorenzo takes the extreme step of preferring legal charges against his wife and friend. In the play's first trial scene (II,3), two of Lorenzo's slaves give suborned testimony against the accused; the court has little choice but to convict them. Philippo is banished, and Abstemia is divorced from Lorenzo. A distraught and devastated Abstemia tearfully leaves the court, and disappears.
The banished Philippo leaves Verona — and reports all that has happened to Abstemia's brother, the Venetian duke. The Duke and his army come to Verona to express displeasure at the proceedings. The play's second trial scene (III,2) reveals that one of the slaves has already recanted his perjured testimony. In the glare of open court, the other slave loses his nerve and confesses that their testimonies were suborned. Lorenzo is banished from Verona and Venice; he cannot return until he retrieves the missing Abstemia.
The scene shifts to Milan
in Act IV; Abstemia, a victim of "treacherous intelligence," has been lured to a brothel. Held prisoner there, she goes under the name of Millicent. Philippo happens to visit, attracted by the report of a new girl of beauty and recalcitrant spirit, who has not yet been tamed to sex work. Before he meets "Millicent," however, Philippo is driven out with a kick by Antonio, the son and heir of the Duke of Milan. Antonio wants to be the man to enjoy "Millicent" first. Yet Abstemia is so eloquent an advocate of virtue that she chills his desires. (This material is strongly reminiscent of the brothel scenes in Act IV of Pericles, Prince of Tyre
.)
Antonio is always accompanied by his Turkish slave — but the slave secretly plans to kill Antonio. The prince has a habit of switching clothes with his slave, as a way to avoid his father's spies and informers. (The two men resemble each other in build and bearing.) They switch outfits again: the "slave" (Antonio in disguise) will try to convince "Millicent" that the prince's love is now chaste and virtuous. Philippo comes upon the slave in Antonio's clothing; assuming that he has found the man who insulted and kicked him, Philippo shoots him in the eye with a pistol, killing him in revenge. When the body is found, the face is obscured by its bloody wound; the corpse in Antonio's clothing leads people to believe that the prince has been murdered.
Lorenzo has come to Milan, following reports of Abstemia's whereabouts. The Duke of Milan and his lords, searching for Antonio's killer, investigate the newcomers to the city. A distraught Lorenzo, eager to be finished with life's burdens, confesses to Antonio's murder. Abstemia learns of this, and she confesses too, to save him. The Dukes of Verona and Venice come to Milan. In the concluding revelation scene, all the complications are unwound; Antonio shows that he is still alive, and Philippo admits that he killed the slave. The repentant Lorenzo and the faithful Abstemia are re-united. Philippo gains a pardon when he produces a document that proves the slave planned to kill Antonio (which the slave conveniently carried around with him). Happy ending.
The play's subplot shows a diametrically opposite situation. Lodovico is a ridiculously complaisant husband. His motto is "Crede quod habes, et habes" — if you believe you're a cuckold, you are, and if you believe you're not, you're not. (Lodovico's servant Pambo is the play's Clown; the subplot provides most of the play's overt comedy.) Lodovico's wife Dorothea cannot resist the opportunity she's given; she sleeps with their servant Francisco and conceives a child with him. Her behavior is so blatant that Lodovico's friends urge him to take some action. Bowing to their pressure, Lodovico disguises himself as his wife's confessor to hear her confession. He expects to be proved correct in trusting his wife — but is profoundly shocked when she admits her affair and her illegitimate pregnancy.
In his friar's disguise, Lodovcio gives his wife her penance: she must publicly admit to her husband that he is not the father of her child. Dorothea is appalled — but resourceful; she makes the confession at a banquet in front of her husband and his friends, but she cleverly phrases it as if she is relating the contents of a dream. Lodovico has already informed the assembled company of the truth; he prevents Dorothea's trick by going out and returning in the friar's robes, and revealing Dorothea's confession.
The exposed adulterers are punished. Francisco is sentenced to ride through the city's streets backwards on a donkey, and then have his forehead branded. Dorothea is sent to a nunnery.
attributed the anonymous play Dick of Devonshire (c. 1626) to Davenport, and based his judgement largely on perceived similarities between that play and The City Nightcap. Other commentators have allowed Davenport as a reasonable candidate for the authorship of Dick of Devonshire, without regarding the attribution as conclusive.
Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...
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...
. It is one of only three dramatic works by Davenport that survive.
Date
The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the RevelsMaster of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
, on October 24, 1624
1624 in literature
The year 1624 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*The King's Men perform The Winter's Tale at Whitehall Palace on January 18...
. Many commentators have assumed that the play was written not long before that date. The play's "heavy borrowing" from Shakespeare seems to suggest that it must have been written after the 1623
1623 in literature
The year 1623 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Twelfth Night at Court on Candlemas....
publication of the First Folio
First Folio
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
.
The question of the play's date is complicated by one internal factor: in Act III, scene 3, Dorothea states that when her maid put "a little saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
in her starch," she "most unmercifully broke her head." This is a reference to the fashion for yellow-dyed ruffs and cuffs that was current c. 1615, and was closely associated with Mistress Anne Turner and her execution 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...
(November 15, 1615). Allusions to "yellow bands" and "yellow starch" are common in plays written in the 1615–18 period, but somewhat dated in a play from the early 1620s. (Davenport's A New Trick to Cheat the Devil
A New Trick to Cheat the Devil
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....
, another play of uncertain date, also includes a yellow-starch reference.)
Sources
Davenport based the main plot and subplot for his play on two prose works, the Philomela of Robert GreeneRobert Greene (16th century)
Robert Greene was an English author best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit, widely believed to contain a polemic attack on William Shakespeare. He was born in Norwich and attended Cambridge University, receiving a B.A. in 1580, and an M.A...
and one of the stories in the Decameron of Boccaccio (the seventh story of the seventh day). Greene's story involves a jealous husband and a faithful wife, while Boccaccio's considers a confidant husband and an unfaithful wife. Davenport combines and contrasts the two stories to create a dialectic on marital fidelity and trust.
The plot also bears resemblances to the "Curious Impertinent" episode in Don Quixote.
Publication
The play was not published until 37 years after it entered the historical record in 1624. The first edition appeared in 16611661 in literature
The year 1661 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* The Book of Kells is presented to Trinity College, Dublin.* Controversial author James Harrington is arrested on a charge of conspiracy....
, printed by John Cotterell for the stationer
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557...
Samuel Speed. The 1661 edition was the sole publication of the play prior to the nineteenth century.
The title page of the 1661 edition states that the play was "acted with great applause" by Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.-Beginnings:...
at the Cockpit Theatre
Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was christened The Phoenix....
. The claim is credible — 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...
was performed by the same company — but no data on the play's early productions is extant. (The Queen Henrietta's company was formed in 1625
1625 in literature
The year 1625 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - The King's Men act Henry IV, Part 1 at Whitehall Palace....
, largely out of a previous troupe, the Lady Elizabeth's Men
Lady Elizabeth's Men
The Lady Elizabeth's Men, or Princess Elizabeth's Men, was a company of actors in Jacobean London, formed under the patronage of King James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth. From 1618 on, the company was called The Queen of Bohemia's Men, after Elizabeth and her husband the Elector Palatine had...
. If The City Nightcap was acted prior to 1625, it was probably staged by the Lady Elizabeth's company.)
The play's Latin subtitle, "crede quod habes, et habes," is a proverb that means "believe that you have it, and you have it."
Adaptations
In 16711671 in literature
The year 1671 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Nell Gwyn retires from the stage.*On November 9, the Duke's Company open their new venue, the Dorset Garden Theatre.-New books:...
, Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
adapted The City Nightcap into her play The Amorous Prince. Around 1680, another, anonymous adaptor turned Davenport's play into The Politic Whore, or the Conceited Cuckold. A century and a half later, Washington Irving
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
based his sketch "Wives," published in his collection Bracebridge Hall
Bracebridge Hall
Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley was written by Washington Irving in 1821, while he lived in England, and published in 1822. This episodic novel was originally published under his pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon.-Plot introduction:...
(1822
1822 in literature
The year 1822 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Thursday-evening class" begins*Percy Bysshe Shelley dies-New books:*Hans Christian Andersen - Ghost at Palnatoke's Grave...
), on Davenport's drama.
Synopsis
The play is set in the cities of northern Italy. Lorenzo is a kinsman of the Duke of VeronaVerona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, where the play begins; his wife Abstemia is a sister of the Duke of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. Lorenzo has fallen victim to an irrational jealousy of his wife; he is convinced, beyond reason, that she is unfaithful to him. Lorenzo pressures his friend Philippo to make sexual advances to Abstemia, to test her chastity. Philippo reluctantly complies; Abstemia consistently rejects his advances. Trapped in an awkward position for a gentleman, Philippo informs Abstemia of the situation; thrown together, the two become friends — which only exacerbates Lorenzo's jealousy.
Lorenzo takes the extreme step of preferring legal charges against his wife and friend. In the play's first trial scene (II,3), two of Lorenzo's slaves give suborned testimony against the accused; the court has little choice but to convict them. Philippo is banished, and Abstemia is divorced from Lorenzo. A distraught and devastated Abstemia tearfully leaves the court, and disappears.
The banished Philippo leaves Verona — and reports all that has happened to Abstemia's brother, the Venetian duke. The Duke and his army come to Verona to express displeasure at the proceedings. The play's second trial scene (III,2) reveals that one of the slaves has already recanted his perjured testimony. In the glare of open court, the other slave loses his nerve and confesses that their testimonies were suborned. Lorenzo is banished from Verona and Venice; he cannot return until he retrieves the missing Abstemia.
The scene shifts to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in Act IV; Abstemia, a victim of "treacherous intelligence," has been lured to a brothel. Held prisoner there, she goes under the name of Millicent. Philippo happens to visit, attracted by the report of a new girl of beauty and recalcitrant spirit, who has not yet been tamed to sex work. Before he meets "Millicent," however, Philippo is driven out with a kick by Antonio, the son and heir of the Duke of Milan. Antonio wants to be the man to enjoy "Millicent" first. Yet Abstemia is so eloquent an advocate of virtue that she chills his desires. (This material is strongly reminiscent of the brothel scenes in Act IV of Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio...
.)
Antonio is always accompanied by his Turkish slave — but the slave secretly plans to kill Antonio. The prince has a habit of switching clothes with his slave, as a way to avoid his father's spies and informers. (The two men resemble each other in build and bearing.) They switch outfits again: the "slave" (Antonio in disguise) will try to convince "Millicent" that the prince's love is now chaste and virtuous. Philippo comes upon the slave in Antonio's clothing; assuming that he has found the man who insulted and kicked him, Philippo shoots him in the eye with a pistol, killing him in revenge. When the body is found, the face is obscured by its bloody wound; the corpse in Antonio's clothing leads people to believe that the prince has been murdered.
Lorenzo has come to Milan, following reports of Abstemia's whereabouts. The Duke of Milan and his lords, searching for Antonio's killer, investigate the newcomers to the city. A distraught Lorenzo, eager to be finished with life's burdens, confesses to Antonio's murder. Abstemia learns of this, and she confesses too, to save him. The Dukes of Verona and Venice come to Milan. In the concluding revelation scene, all the complications are unwound; Antonio shows that he is still alive, and Philippo admits that he killed the slave. The repentant Lorenzo and the faithful Abstemia are re-united. Philippo gains a pardon when he produces a document that proves the slave planned to kill Antonio (which the slave conveniently carried around with him). Happy ending.
The play's subplot shows a diametrically opposite situation. Lodovico is a ridiculously complaisant husband. His motto is "Crede quod habes, et habes" — if you believe you're a cuckold, you are, and if you believe you're not, you're not. (Lodovico's servant Pambo is the play's Clown; the subplot provides most of the play's overt comedy.) Lodovico's wife Dorothea cannot resist the opportunity she's given; she sleeps with their servant Francisco and conceives a child with him. Her behavior is so blatant that Lodovico's friends urge him to take some action. Bowing to their pressure, Lodovico disguises himself as his wife's confessor to hear her confession. He expects to be proved correct in trusting his wife — but is profoundly shocked when she admits her affair and her illegitimate pregnancy.
In his friar's disguise, Lodovcio gives his wife her penance: she must publicly admit to her husband that he is not the father of her child. Dorothea is appalled — but resourceful; she makes the confession at a banquet in front of her husband and his friends, but she cleverly phrases it as if she is relating the contents of a dream. Lodovico has already informed the assembled company of the truth; he prevents Dorothea's trick by going out and returning in the friar's robes, and revealing Dorothea's confession.
The exposed adulterers are punished. Francisco is sentenced to ride through the city's streets backwards on a donkey, and then have his forehead branded. Dorothea is sent to a nunnery.
Dick of Devonshire
The nineteenth-century critic F. G. FleayFrederick Gard Fleay
Frederick Gard Fleay was an influential and prolific nineteenth-century Shakespeare scholar.Fleay, the son of a linen draper, graduated from King's College London and Trinity College, Cambridge , where he received mathematical training that was key to his later achievements...
attributed the anonymous play Dick of Devonshire (c. 1626) to Davenport, and based his judgement largely on perceived similarities between that play and The City Nightcap. Other commentators have allowed Davenport as a reasonable candidate for the authorship of Dick of Devonshire, without regarding the attribution as conclusive.