“Then wear this cross of white,
And where you see the like, they are my friends;
Observe them well, the type is dangerous.”[109:1]
A touch of the pathetic (often mingled with the comic), accompanies the “poor, grieved gentlewoman” who once refused his suit and for love of whom Shattillion’s mind became unhinged, who:
“Follows him much lamenting, and much loving,
In hope to make him well.”[109:2]
But, says Longueville, a courtier,
“he knows her not,
Nor any else that comes to visit him.”[109:2]
Shattillion is plainly created for a dramatic purpose. The main story concerns the gulling of a gentleman named Mount-Marine by his wife, who persuades him that the King has granted him many high honours, and that he is Duke of Burgundy. Shattillion, whose delusions persuade him that he has himself a claim to the crown, is worked into the plot with considerable skill, and his quarrel in the fifth act with the “Duke” and his servant unites the two plots with great effect.