An Humorous Day's Mirth
Encyclopedia
An Humorous Day's Mirth is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy
by George Chapman
, first acted in 1597
and published in 1599
.
Algernon Charles Swinburne
called Chapman's play one of the finest comedies in English. "The plot is intricate and ingenious and shows that Chapman had been taking lessons of Jonson's masters, Plautus
and Terence
."
at the Rose Theatre
; it has been identified with the "Humours" play that the company acted on May 1, 1597, as described in a contemporary letter by Dudley Carleton
. A 1598 inventory of the Admiral's properties lists items of clothing in the costumes of specific characters in the play.
, the only edition of the play in the seventeenth century, was printed and published by Valentine Simmes
, who is generally recognized as one of the best London printers of his generation; Simmes printed nine Shakespeare
quartos in the 1597–1604 period. The quality of Simmes's work is evident in the Chapman volume: "A shop proofreader was especially careful in correcting the first quarto edition...."
(1605
), the dedication indicates that Chapman oversaw the printing of that play, to prevent a version "patch'd with others' wit" from reaching the public. This has been taken to indicate that the printed versions of Chapman's earliest plays, The Blind Beggar of Alexandria
and Humorous Day's Mirth, were corrupted and adulterated by other hands.
comedy, drawing its material from the traditional theory of human physiology and psychology. The sub-genre would gain its greatest prominence in the works of Ben Jonson
— most notably in Every Man in His Humour
(1598
) and Every Man Out of His Humour
(1599), but through his later works too. Other dramatists of the era also worked in the humors vein, like John Fletcher
in The Humorous Lieutenant (c. 1619) and James Shirley
in The Humorous Courtier
(1631
).
In the prevailing theory, the physically and emotionally healthy human being has his or her "humors" in a general balance; Chapman's comic characters illustrate various extremes of imbalance of humors. Dowsecer is melancholic and misanthropic; Dariotto is a fashion-obsessed courtier; Florilla is a Puritan
wife whose Puritanism quickly fails the test; Cornelius is an upstart gentleman jealous of his wife. These and other characters show their vulnerability to folly by the end of the play. Chapman's protagonist Lemot acts as something like a circus ringmaster, presiding over the fun.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
by George Chapman
George Chapman
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
, first acted in 1597
1597 in literature
-Events:*February - Pembroke's Men contract with Francis Langley to play the next year at his new Swan Theatre. Their season goes disastrously wrong in July, when they stage the scandalous play The Isle of Dogs, which provokes the authorities to close all of the London theatres for the remainder of...
and published in 1599
1599 in literature
-Events:* Undated - Opening of the Globe Theatre.*June 4 - Middleton's Microcynicon and Marston's Scourge of Villainy are publicly burned, as ecclesiastical authorities crack down on the craze for satire of the past year. The Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury tighten their...
.
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
called Chapman's play one of the finest comedies in English. "The plot is intricate and ingenious and shows that Chapman had been taking lessons of Jonson's masters, Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
and Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
."
Performance
An Humorous Day's Mirth was performed by the Admiral's MenAdmiral's Men
The Admiral's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in the Elizabethan and Stuart eras...
at the Rose Theatre
The Rose (theatre)
The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre , the Curtain , and the theatre at Newington Butts The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577),...
; it has been identified with the "Humours" play that the company acted on May 1, 1597, as described in a contemporary letter by Dudley Carleton
Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester
Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester was an English art collector, diplomat and Secretary of State.-Early life:He was the second son of Antony Carleton of Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, and of Jocosa, daughter of John Goodwin of Winchendon, Buckinghamshire...
. A 1598 inventory of the Admiral's properties lists items of clothing in the costumes of specific characters in the play.
Publication
The 1599 quartoBook size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
, the only edition of the play in the seventeenth century, was printed and published by Valentine Simmes
Valentine Simmes
Valentine Simmes was an Elizabethan era and Jacobean era printer; he did business in London, "on Adling Hill near Bainard's Castle at the sign of the White Swan." Simmes has a reputation as one of the better printers of his generation, and was responsible for several quartos of Shakespeare's plays...
, who is generally recognized as one of the best London printers of his generation; Simmes printed nine Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
quartos in the 1597–1604 period. The quality of Simmes's work is evident in the Chapman volume: "A shop proofreader was especially careful in correcting the first quarto edition...."
Text
Yet if the printer did a good job of printing his text, the text he had to work with possessed significant deficiencies. "The text...is so corrupt, and the stage directions are so infrequent and confusing, that it is extremely difficult to follow the story." The play was probably "altered and published without the author's supervision." It is worth noting that in the first edition of a later Chapman comedy, All FoolsAll Fools
All Fools is an early Jacobean era stage play, a comedy by George Chapman that was first published in 1605. The play has often been considered Chapman's highest achievement in comedy: "not only Chapman's most flawless, perfectly balanced play," but "also his most human and large-minded." "Chapman...
(1605
1605 in literature
The year 1605 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 1 - The Queen's Revels Children perform George Chapman's All Fools at Court....
), the dedication indicates that Chapman oversaw the printing of that play, to prevent a version "patch'd with others' wit" from reaching the public. This has been taken to indicate that the printed versions of Chapman's earliest plays, The Blind Beggar of Alexandria
The Blind Beggar of Alexandria
The Blind Beggar of Alexandria is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by George Chapman. It was the first of Chapman's plays to be produced on the stage; its success inaugurated his career as a dramatist.-Performance and publication:...
and Humorous Day's Mirth, were corrupted and adulterated by other hands.
Humours
Chapman's play was the first Elizabethan humorsFour humours
Four Temperaments is a theory of proto-psychology that stems from the ancient medical concept of humorism and suggests that four bodily fluids affect human personality traits and behaviors.- History and development :...
comedy, drawing its material from the traditional theory of human physiology and psychology. The sub-genre would gain its greatest prominence in the works of Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
— most notably in Every Man in His Humour
Every Man in His Humour
Every Man in His Humour is a 1598 play by the English playwright Ben Jonson. The play belongs to the subgenre of the "humours comedy," in which each major character is dominated by an overriding humour or obsession.-Performance and Publication:...
(1598
1598 in literature
-Events:*September 22 - Ben Jonson is charged with manslaughter, after killing actor Gabriel Spenser in a duel.*October - Edmund Spenser's castle at Kilcolman, near Doneraile in North Cork, is burned down by the native Irish forces of Aodh Ó Néill...
) and Every Man Out of His Humour
Every Man Out of His Humour
Every Man out of His Humour is a satirical comedy written by English playwright Ben Jonson, acted in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It is a conceptual sequel to his 1598 comedy Every Man in His Humour...
(1599), but through his later works too. Other dramatists of the era also worked in the humors vein, like John Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
in The Humorous Lieutenant (c. 1619) and James Shirley
James Shirley
James Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
in The Humorous Courtier
The Humorous Courtier
The Humorous Courtier, also called The Duke, is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley, first published in 1640....
(1631
1631 in literature
The year 1631 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 9 - Love's Triumph Through Callipolis, a masque written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, is staged at Whitehall Palace....
).
In the prevailing theory, the physically and emotionally healthy human being has his or her "humors" in a general balance; Chapman's comic characters illustrate various extremes of imbalance of humors. Dowsecer is melancholic and misanthropic; Dariotto is a fashion-obsessed courtier; Florilla is a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
wife whose Puritanism quickly fails the test; Cornelius is an upstart gentleman jealous of his wife. These and other characters show their vulnerability to folly by the end of the play. Chapman's protagonist Lemot acts as something like a circus ringmaster, presiding over the fun.