ABSTRACT
Theodorus Witgood’s little rhyme near the beginning of A Trick to Catch the Old One (1605), one of Thomas Middleton’s city comedies written between about 1602 and 1607, shows that the young country gentleman has no delusions about his relationship with his uncle, Pecunious Lucre, to whom he has mortgaged his lands, and spent the proceeds. While he stands ruminating on how he dare not go up to London to pursue Joyce, the virgin he loves who has a dowry of £1000, because of the creditors awaiting him there, Witgood is approached by his long-time mistress, Jane Medlar; she inspires in him a plan to turn the tables on Lucre, to ‘uncle’ him in fact, since one meaning of the word was to ‘cheat or swindle’. They will present Jane (who is both intelligent and faithful, as it happens) as a rich widow Witgood is courting. The presumption is that Lucre, sensing more profit, will once more help his prodigal nephew, who will thus secure both funds and the return of his land.
