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THE DRAMATURGICAL AND THEATRICAL HERITAGE conueyaunce I wyll and I can / Saue a stronge thefe and hange a trew man." Later, Courtly Abusion, disguised as Pleasure, with the help of a crafty yet polished description of a beautiful mistress** encourages Magnyfycence to follow his “lust and lykynge,”** which lays the ground for Cloaked Collusion (Sober Sadness) to gain control of the king’s wealth by expelling Measure from the royal court.*” Moreover, Redress ultimately summarizes the moral of the play to the audience as “it be regystryd well in memory / A playne example of worldly vaynglory / Howe in this worlde there is no sekernesse / But fallyble flatery enmyxyd with bytternesse.”®® In the True Chronicle Historie, flattery manifestly becomes the means of wreaking vengeance. When Skallinger informs Gonorill and Ragan, bitterly jealous of their virtuous sister, that their father is planning to make his daughters confess how much they love him in order to force the suitor of his choice on Cordella, Gonorill immediately realizes how to take advantage of Leir’s secret plan: “our revenge we will inflict on her, / Shall be accounted piety in us: / I will so flatter with my doting father, / As he was ne’re so flattered in his life.’? However, what makes the love contest scene peculiar from a poetical point of view is how differently Leir and Cordella react to the elder sisters’ adulation. Listening to Gonorill’s words, Leir responds, “O, how thy words revive my dying soule!” while Cordelia says, “O, how I do abhorre this flattery!” Also, Leir welcomes Ragan’s sugarcoated lines, “Did never Philomel sing so sweet a note,’ which is in sharp contrast with Cordelia’s comment, “Did never flatterer tell so false a tale”°! The tension between the parallelism of syntactic elements expressed by the isocolon and the contrast in the ways in which they are interpreted anticipates the conflict over understanding Cordella’s confession: “I cannot paynt my duty forth in words, / I hope my deeds shall make report for me"? When her sisters and Leir accuse her of pride, Cordella asks them not to misunderstand her plain words, since her tongue “was never usde to flattery’? When Gonorill’s and Ragan’s deceitful conduct becomes obvious, Skalliger recognizes the mistake the king made and at the same time tries to excuse himself for his role in the scheme against Leir by confronting Gonorill: “Go, viperous woman, shame to all thy sexe: / The heavens, no doubt, will punish thee for this: / And mea villayne, that to curry favour, / Have given the daughter 84 Tbid., lines 1379-1381. 85 Ibid., lines 1569-1583. 86 Tbid., line 1632. 87 Tbid., lines 1658-1755. 88 Tbid., lines 2552— 2555. Anonymous: The True Chronicle, A4r. 99 Tbid., sig. Blr. % Ibid., sig. Blv. % Ibid., sig. Blv. 93 Ibid., sig. B2r. + 29 +
