Eastward Hoe

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Eastward Hoe or Eastward Ho, is a play written by George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, printed in 1605. It was performed after the accession of James I and resulted in Jonson and Chapman's being thrown in jail for a time, possibly for offending the King with an anti-Scottish reference in Act III. Jonson suggested that the whole offense amounted to a few words. Marston, who had been trained in the law and who was wooing the daughter of James's confessor, escaped charge.

The play deals with a goldsmith and his household. He has two apprentices and two daughters. One apprentice, Golding, is industrious and temperate. The other, Quicksilver, is rash and ambitious. One daughter, Mildred, is mild and modest. The other, Gertrude, is vain. Mildred and Golding marry. Gertrude marries the fraudulent Sir Petronel Flash, a man who possesses a title but no money. Sir Petronel promises Gertrude a coach and six and a castle. Sir Petronel takes her dowry and sends her off in a coach for an imaginary castle while he and Quicksilver set off for Virginia after Quicksilver has robbed the goldsmith. During this time, the provident and careful Golding has become a deputy alderman. Quicksilver and Petronel are shipwrecked on the Isle of Dogs and are brought up on charges for their actions. They come before Golding. After time in prison, where they repent of their schemes and dishonesty, Golding has them released.

The play is notable for its comedy of humors construction and for the vision it gives of the artisan class in London in the early Jacobean era.