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probably all set together.[1] Similarly, The Phoenix has six houses, all in Ferrara;[2] and Michaelmas Term has five houses, all in London.[3] On the other hand, although A Mad World, my Masters has only four houses,[4] and A Trick to Catch the Old One seven,[5] yet both these plays resemble Dekker's, in that the action is divided between London and one or more places in the country; and this, so far as it goes, seems to suggest settings on public theatre lines. I do not know whether Middleton wrote The Puritan, but I think that this play clearly had a continuous setting with only four houses, in London.[6] And although Beaumont's Woman Hater requires
- ↑ Blurt Master Constable has (a) Camillo's (I. i; II. i) with a hall; (b) Hippolyto's (III. i) where (136) 'Violetta appears above', and (175) 'Enter Truepenny above with a letter'; (c) a chapel (III. ii) with a 'pit-*hole' dungeon, probably also visible in II. i and III. i; (d) Blurt's (I. ii) which is 'twelve score off'; (e) Imperia's, where is most of the action (II. ii; III. iii; IV. i, ii, iii; V. ii, iii). Two chambers below are used; into one Lazarillo is shown in III. iii. 201, and here in IV. ii he is let through a trap into a sewer, while (38) 'Enter Frisco above laughing' and (45) 'Enter Imperia above'. At IV. iii. 68 Lazarillo crawls from the sewer into the street. In IV. i and IV. iii tricks are played upon Curvetto with a cord and a rope-ladder hanging from a window above.
- ↑ Phoenix has (a) the palace (I. i; V. i) with hall; (b) Falso's (I. vi; II. iii; III. i); (c) the Captain's (I. ii; II. ii); (d) a tavern (I. iv; IV. iii) with interior action; (e) a law court (IV. i); (f) a jeweller's (III. ii; IV. i, ii, iii) with interior action. It will be observed that (f) is needed both with (d) and (e). There is no action above.
- ↑ M. Term has (a) Paul's (I. i, ii); (b) Quomodo's shop, the Three Knaves (II. iii; III. iv; IV. i, iii, iv; V. i); (c) a tavern (II. i); (d) a law court (V. iii); (e) a courtesan's (III. i; IV. ii). All have interior action and (b) eavesdropping above in a balcony (II. iii. 108, 378, 423; III. iv). Much action is merely in the streets.
- ↑ A Mad World has (a) Harebrain's (I. ii; III. i; IV. iv); (b) Penitent Brothel's (IV. i), with interior action; (c) a courtesan's (I. i; II. iii, vi; III. ii; IV. v), with a bed and five persons at once, perhaps above, in III. ii; (d) Sir Bounteous Progress's in the country (II. i; II. ii, iv, v, vii; III. iii; IV. ii, iii; V. i, ii). The action here is rather puzzling, but apparently a hall, a lodging next it, where are 'Curtains drawn' (II. vii. 103), the stairs, and a 'closet' or 'matted chamber' (IV. ii. 27; IV. iii. 3) are all used. If the scenes were shifted, the interposition of a scene of only 7 lines (II. iii) at London amongst a series of country scenes is strange.
- ↑ A Trick to Catch has (a) Lucre's (I. iii, iv; II. i, ii; IV. ii, iii; V. i); (b) Hoard's (III. ii; IV. iv; V. ii); (c) a courtesan's (III. i); (d) an inn (III. iii); (e) Dampit's (III. iv; IV. v); and away from London, (f) Witgood Hall, with (g) an inn (I. i, ii); (h) Cole Harbour (IV. i). Nearly all the action is exterior, but a window above is used at (b) in IV. iv, and at (e) there is interior action both below in III. iv and perhaps above (cf. III. iv. 72), with a bed and eight persons at once in IV. v.
- ↑ Puritan has (a) the Widow's (I. i; II. i, ii; III. i, ii; IV. i, ii, iii; V. i, ii), with a garden and rosemary bush; (b) a gentleman's house (III. iv); (c) an apothecary's (III. iii); (d) a prison (I. iv; III. v). There is interior action below in all; action above only in (a) at V. ii. 1, 'Enter Sir John Penidub, and Moll aboue lacing of her clothes' in a balcony.
