Scene 10 - Closing

	Merry Report and all the suitors enter.

	Merry Report
	If I had caught them
1140	Or ever I raught them,
	I would have taught them
	To be near me.
	Full dear have I bought them,
	Lord, so I sought them,
1145	Yet have I brought them
	Such as they be.

	Gentleman
	Pleaseth it Your Majesty, Lord, so it is:
	We, as your subjects and humble suitors all,
	According as we hear your pleasure is,
1150	Are pressed to your presence, being principal
	Head and governor of all in every place.
	Who joyeth not in your sight no joy can have,
	Wherefore we all commit us to Your Grace
	As Lord of Lords, us to perish or save.

	Jupiter
1155	As long as discretion so well doth you guide
	Obediently to use your duty,
	Doubt ye not we shall your safety provide.
	Your grieves we have heard, wherefore we sent for ye
	To receive answer, each man in his degree.
1160	And first to content, most reason it is,
	The first man that sued, wherefore mark ye this:

	Oft shall ye have the weather clear and still
	To hunt in, for recompense of your pain.
	Also you merchants shall have much your will:
1165	For, oft times when no wind on land doth remain,
	Yet on the sea pleasant cools you shall obtain.
	And since your hunting may rest in the night,
	Oft shall the wind then rise, and before day light

	It shall rattle down the wood in such case
1170	That all ye rangers the better live may.
	And ye water millers shall obtain this grace:
	Many times the rain to fall in the valley,
	When at the self times on hills we shall purvey
	Fair weather for your windmills, with such cools of wind
1175	As in one instant both kinds of mills may grind.

	And for ye fair women that close weather would have,
	We shall provide that ye may sufficiently
	Have time to walk in, and your beauty save.
	And yet shall ye have, that liveth by laundry,
1180	The hot sun oft enough your clothes to dry.
	Also ye, pretty child, shall have both frost and snow.
	Now mark this conclusion, we charge you arow:

	Much better have we now devised for ye all
	Then ye all can perceive or could desire.

1185	Each of you sued to have continual
	Such weather as his craft only doth require.
	All weathers in all places if men all times might hire,
	Who could live by other? What is this negligence,
	Us to attempt in such inconvenience?

1190	Now, on the other side, if we had granted
	The full of some one suit and no more,
	And from all the rest the weather had forbid,
	Yet who so had obtained had won his own woe.
	There is no one craft can preserve man so,
1195	But by other crafts, of necessity,
	He must have much part of his commodity.

	All to serve at once, and one destroy another,
	Or else to serve one and destroy all the rest:
	Nuther will we do the one nor the other,
1200	But serve as many or as few as we think best.
	And where, or what time, to serve most or least,
	The direction of that doubtless shall stand
	Perpetually in the power of our hand.

	Wherefore we will the whole world to attend,
1205	Each sort, on such weather as for them doth fall.
	Now one, now other, as liketh us to send.
	Who that hath it, ply it, and sure we shall
	So guide the weather in course to you all,
	That each with other ye shall whole remain
1210	In pleasure and plentiful wealth, certain.

	Gentleman
	Blessed was the time wherein we were born,
	First for the blissful chance of your godly presence.
	Next for our suit! Was there never man before
	That ever heard so excellent a sentence

1215	As Your Grace hath given to us all arow.
	Wherein your highness hath so bountifully
	Distributed my part, that Your Grace shall know
	Your self sole possessed of hearts of all chivalry.

	Merchant
	Likewise we merchants shall yield us wholly
1220	Only to laud the name of Jupiter
	As god of all gods, you to serve solely,
	For of every thing, I see, you are nourisher.

	Ranger
	No doubt it is so, for so we now find,
	Wherein Your Grace us rangers so doth bind
1225	That we shall give you our hearts with one accord,
	For knowledge to know you as our only lord.

	Water Miller
	Well, I can no more but, for our water
	We shall give your lordship Our Lady’s Psalter.

	Wind Miller
	Much have ye bound us, for, as I be saved,
1230	We have all obtained better then we craved.

	Gentleman
	That is true, wherefore Your Grace shall truly
	The hearts of such as I am have, surely.

	Launder
	[To the Gentlewoman] And such as I am (who be as good as you),
	His highness shall be sure on, I make a vow.

	Boy
1235	Godfather god, I will do somewhat for you again.
	By Christ, ye may hap to have a bird or twain!
	And I promise you, if any snow come,
	When I make my snow balls, ye shall have some.

	Merry Report
	God thank Your Lordship. Lo, how this is brought to pass!
1240	Sirs, now shall ye have the weather even as it was.

	Jupiter
	We need no whit our self any farther to boast,
	For our deeds declare us apparently.
	Not only here on Earth in every coast,
	But also above in the Heavenly company,
1245	Our prudence hath made peace universally.
	Which thing, we say, recordeth us as principal
	God and governor of Heaven, Earth, and all.

	Now unto that Heaven we will make return,
	Where we be glorified most triumphantly.
1250	Also we will all ye that on Earth sojourn,
	Since cause giveth cause, to know us your lord only,
	And now here to sing most joyfully,
	Rejoicing in us; and in mean time we shall
	Ascend into our throne celestial.

Jupiter delivers his remedy for the problems with the weather upon earth. Comically, this is to give all of the claimants the weather they desire for at least some of the time, explaining that the estates of society are interdependent and cannot function without each other. He admonishes them too, saying that they have failed in their obligation to him as subjects in demanding only what is good for themselves and not for the commonwealth. The suitors each thank him individually. Jupiter ascends back to heaven, and the play ends with a song.

Key Research Topic

Political History of 1532 / 33
	The historical and political context in which The Play of the Weather was written and to which it alludes is outlined, notably in relation to the King’s Great Matter.

Historical Context

Greenwich Revels - Lodovico Spinelli's Account
	In his account of the revels Lodovico Spinelli comments in particular on the seating of the audience, according to rank and gender, for the performance of the drama Love and Riches. He also remarks on the degree of order and silence with which the Greenwich revels were conducted.
Account of the entertainment for the French Ambassadors, 1518
	An account from Hall's Chronicle that describes a courtly pageant performed in 1518 - a theatrical spectacle to celebrate the betrothal of Princess Mary to the Dauphin of France.

Resources

View film stills from Scene 10

Scene 10 - Closing

Key Research Topic

Political History of 1532 / 33

Historical Context

Greenwich Revels - Lodovico Spinelli's Account

Account of the entertainment for the French Ambassadors, 1518

Resources