The Works of John Marston. Volume 3

In Short

This collection gathers Jacobean plays, erotic verse, verse satires, pageants, and masques from seventeenth-century London. The main stage drama follows an ambitious, fraudulent scheme to sail to Virginia, which disintegrates when a riverboat capsizes in bad weather. Surrounding this narrative are erotic verses retelling classical myths, furious poetic attacks on contemporary hypocrisy, and formal court pageants. Held together by sharp wit and biting moral observation, the volume remains a valuable monument of early modern English drama, illustrating the clashes between city commerce, aristocratic pretensions, and human foolishness.

The Story

The collection opens in the heart of London's merchant district, where the honest goldsmith Master Touchstone oversees two apprentices and two daughters. One daughter, Mildred, marries the industrious apprentice Golding, while the foolish, status-obsessed daughter Gertrude marries Sir Petronel Flash, a penniless knight with grand pretensions. Petronel immediately schemes to acquire Gertrude's land, liquidate it into ready money, and set sail for Virginia alongside adventurous companions. Aided by the dismissed, riotous apprentice Quicksilver, Petronel secures funds by tricking the old usurer Security. Adding to the betrayal, Petronel plots to abduct Security's wife, Winifred, disguising her and bringing her along to the riverfront tavern on the eve of departure.

As the conspirators drink heavily, the tide turns against them and a fierce storm blows across the Thames. Ignoring the warnings of local boatmen, the drunken party insists on taking to the water toward their waiting ship at Blackwall. The voyage ends almost immediately: the gale capsizes the boats, plunging the entire party into the freezing river. The survivors wash ashore at various points along the riverbank—Security crawls ashore at Cuckold’s Haven, Winifred is pulled out at St. Katherine’s, and Quicksilver comes ashore right beside the gallows.

Following the watery disaster, the conspirators land in prison under the watch of Master Wolf. Faced with execution or severe punishment, Quicksilver and Petronel undergo a dramatic, humbled transformation, writing letters of genuine repentance to Touchstone. Touchstone initially refuses to soften his heart, vowing to let blind justice take its course. However, Golding intercedes, moved by their profound humbleness. Touchstone visits the prison, witnesses their genuine mortification, and pardons the repentant plotters.

The volume then shifts into dark romantic tragedy and sharp satire. In the dramatic scenes of Venetian intrigue, married women like Abigail and Thais plot revenge against their foolish, jealous husbands, leading to arrests, impending executions, and last-minute reprieves. In verse sections like Pygmalion's Image, the text explores the obsessive, earthly devotion of an artist to his own creation, before abruptly pivoting into the furious rhyming tirades of The Scourge of Villainy, where the speaker rails against city hypocrisy, false piety, and social pretension. The book concludes with ceremonial pageants and courtly masques, where allegorical figures like Obscurity usher in enchanted knights to celebrate royal power, love, and order.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Master Touchstone contrasts his virtuous apprentice Golding with the unruly Quicksilver, while Gertrude marries the needy Sir Petronel Flash. Petronel immediately plans to sell her property to fund a sea expedition to Virginia.

A night at the tavern Petronel and Quicksilver trick the usurer Security into handing over funds and bringing his disguised wife, Winifred, to the Thames tavern. The reckless party drinks heavily before attempting to board the boats in a rising gale.

Cast into the Thames High winds and rough waters capsize the riverboats, soaking the drunken conspirators. The survivors wash up at different landmarks along the river, and the ringleaders are promptly marched off to prison.

Repentance behind bars In the prison cells, Quicksilver and Petronel write deeply humble letters asking for mercy. Touchstone vows to let justice take its course, but Golding convinces him to forgive the chastened rowdies.

Venetian intrigues and satires The focus turns to marital squabbles, duels, and satirical verse. Characters argue over love and honor, while poetic satires lash out against hypocritical courtiers, fraudulent alchemists, and fake piety.

The courtly masques The volume draws to a close with elaborate court entertainments. Allegorical figures such as Cynthia and Obscurity deliver formal verses to celebrate royal patrons, releasing enchanted knights in a display of music and spectacle.

The People

• Master Touchstone: A prosperous, practical London goldsmith. He values honesty, industry, and sobriety above all else, disowning those who chase empty nobility while rewarding humble virtue.
• Francis Quicksilver: Touchstone's riotous, boastful apprentice. He dabbles in basic alchemy, spends recklessly, and joins the Virginia plot, only to be thoroughly humbled by a night in the freezing river and a term in prison.
• Sir Petronel Flash: A penniless, title-obsessed knight. He marries Gertrude purely to liquidate her property, schemes to steal another man's wife, and leads the ill-fated river crossing before repenting his foolishness.
• Golding: Touchstone's industrious, dutiful apprentice. He marries Mildred, rises steadily in civic standing, and uses his influence to plead for mercy on behalf of his disgraced fellow apprentice.
• Security: An elderly, greedy usurer who unwittingly assists in the abduction of his own wife, Winifred, after being outsmarted by Petronel and Quicksilver.
• Abigail and Thais: Sharp-witted Venetian wives who outsmart their foolish, jealous husbands, manipulating city law and local customs to force their spouses into submission.
• Obscurity: An allegorical figure featured in the masque who, forced by fate, uses light and song to release enchanted knights from shade and darkness.

In Its Own Voice

"I will blanch copper so cunningly that it shall endure all proofs but the test: it shall endure malleation, it shall have the ponderosity of Luna, and the tenacity of Luna--by no means friable."

Francis Quicksilver boasts of his illicit, underground alchemy skills to Sir Petronel Flash while plotting their fortunes in London.

"The stage of heaven is hung with solemn black, / A time best fitting to act tragedies."

Don Sago broods in the dark street before embarking on a violent errand of vengeance.

"I hate no man, but men's impiety. / My soul is vex'd; what power will resist, / Or dares to stop a sharp-fang'd satirist?"

The fiery speaker of the verse satires declares his moral crusade against the rampant corruption of contemporary society.

What It's Really About

Underneath its theatrical schemes, rowdy humor, and courtly pageantry, the volume explores the tension between honest labor and greedy ambition. It repeatedly pits the quiet dignity of steady craftsmanship against the destructive lure of quick wealth and aristocratic pretensions. Figures who try to bypass social honesty through fraudulent alchemy, risky overseas voyages, or deceptive marriages end up drenched in the Thames or trapped in prison cells.

The text also wrestles with the ethics of art and speech. Through its sharp satires, it questions whether poetry should flatter the elite or expose systemic hypocrisy. It warns that pride consumes itself through empty display, insisting that true worth comes from inner virtue rather than hollow titles or bought nobility.

Why Read It Today

This volume offers a vivid, unfiltered window into the theatrical and literary pulse of early modern London. Readers who enjoy Jacobean comedy, sharp satire, and historical street life will find immense pleasure in its quick-witted dialogue and rowdy characterizations. It captures the bustling energy of seventeenth-century tradesmen, reckless aristocrats, and scheming taverns with remarkable freshness and pace.

The reading experience is not without its hurdles. Readers must navigate archaic legal terms, heavy Elizabethan slang, intricate classical references, and period dialect. The verse satires, in particular, demand patience due to their dense, obscure allusions and angry, compressed syntax. Furthermore, the attitudes toward gender, religion, and social hierarchy reflect the sharp prejudices of seventeenth-century England.

Despite these difficulties, the book rewards those who step into its world. Its enduring strength lies in its sharp observational humor, its colorful depictions of human foolishness, and its timeless celebration of practical wisdom over arrogant posturing. The dramatic splash of the Virginia conspirators into the chilly Thames remains as satisfyingly funny now as it was four centuries ago.