Verse play · c. 1553 (printed 1575)

Gammer Gurton's Needle

by William Stevenson (attributed)

Gammer Gurton loses the needle with which she was mending her servant Hodge's breeches, and the mischievous vagabond Diccon the Bedlam persuades her that her neighbour Dame Chat has stolen it. Accusations, a brawl and the arrival of the curate, Doctor Rat, and the bailiff follow, until Hodge, struck by Diccon, finds the needle sticking in his own breeches. One of the earliest English comedies, it opens Act II with the drinking song 'Back and side go bare, go bare'.

Contents · 22 parts

• Persons of the Play7 lines
• Prologue20 lines
• Act I, Scene I24 lines
• Act I, Scene II45 lines
• Act I, Scene III49 lines
• Act I, Scene IV65 lines
• Act I, Scene V59 lines
• Act II, Scene Iabout 180 lines
• Act II, Scene II94 lines
• Act II, Scene III45 lines
• Act II, Scene IV53 lines
• Act II, Scene V12 lines
• Act III, Scene I10 lines
• Act III, Scene II38 lines
• Act III, Scene IIIabout 120 lines
• Act III, Scene IV41 lines
• Act IV, Scene I32 lines
• Act IV, Scene II72 lines
• Act IV, Scene III44 lines
• Act IV, Scene IV64 lines
• Act V, Scene I39 lines
• Act V, Scene IIabout 400 lines

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