Francis Kirkman
Encyclopedia
Francis Kirkman appears in many roles in the English literary world of the second half of the seventeenth century, as a publisher, bookseller, librarian, author and bibliographer. In each he is an enthusiast for popular literature and a popularising businessman, described by one modern editor as ”hovering on the borderline of roguery”.
. Little is known of the younger Kirkman's life beyond his publications. He wrote The Unlucky Citizen (1673), which is taken to be autobiographical, though Kirkman was anything but reliable. However, the part in which he refers to his discovery of literature rings true, and is a good example of his style and enterprise.
Once I happened upon a Six Pence, and having lately read that famous Book, of the Fryar and the Boy, and being hugely pleased with that, as also the excellent History of the Seven Wise Masters Of Rome, and having heard great Commendation of Fortunatus, I laid out all my mony for that, and thought I had a great bargain ... now having read this Book, and being desirous of reading more of that nature; one of my School-fellows lent me Doctor Faustus, which also pleased me, especially when he travelled in the Air, saw all the World, and did what he listed.... The next Book I met with was Fryar Bacon, whose pleasant Stories much delighted me: But when I came to Knight Errantry, and reading Montelion Knight of the Oracle, and Ornatus and Artesia, and the Famous Parisimus; I was contented beyond measure, and (believing all I read to be true) wished my self Squire to one of these Knights: I proceeded on to Palmerin of England, and Amadis de Gaul; and borrowing one Book of one person, when I read it my self, I lent it to another, who lent me one of their Books; and thus robbing Peter to pay Paul, borrowing and lending from one to another, I in time had read most of these Histories. All the time I had from School, as Thursdays in the afternoon, and Saturdays, I spent in reading these Books; so that I being wholly affected to them, and reading how that Amadis and other Knights not knowing their Parents, did in time prove to be Sons of Kings and great Personages; I had such a fond and idle Opinion, that I might in time prove to be some great Person, or at leastwise be Squire to some Knight.
As will be seen Kirkman’s enthusiasm for some of these books led him to publish them himself. He claims to have been forbidden to travel or be apprenticed into the book trade, and to have run away from the first scrivener
to whom he was apprenticed.
he installed his collection of novels and plays in his office, before selling many of them to finance the publication of his own translation of the sixth book of Amadis de Gaul (1652). It is characteristic that Kirkman’s first publication was his own extension of a work already popular. His entrepreneurial talents were always directed towards the popular, or vulgar
, end of the book trade. Although he became a freeman of the Blacksmith’s Company he was never a member of the Stationers’ Company
.
From 1652 he operated as a scrivener and bookseller
from a small shop near the Tower of London
, and continued to trade from various premises in Thames Street, Fenchurch Street
and Paul's Yard
until 1680. From 1657 he was publishing plays, although his partnership with Henry Marsh, Nathaniel Brook and Thomas Johnson ended after they were accused of pirating books, probably an edition of Beaumont and Fletcher
's The Scornful Lady
. He also claimed to have been swindled by Marsh, whose business he took over after his death in 1666. Kirkman had received a substantial inheritance on his father’s death in 1661, which he squandered, and although he had an entrepreneurial spirit he suffered continual financial problems.
Kirkman published many early novels, including many translated from French and Spanish. In 1652 he published The Loves and Adventures of Clerio and Lozia, which he also claimed was translated from French. One of his greatest successes was a novel
, The English Rogue the first volume of which was written Richard Head, and published in 1665. In 1666 Kirkman re-issued this, and then wrote a second volume in his own name (1668), followed by a third and fourth (1671), claiming Head as a co-author. In 1673 Kirkman wrote and issued under his own name The Counterfeit Lady Unveiled, a fictional autobiography of Mary Carleton
, an impostor and bigamist. He also published other popular romances
, such as The Famous and Delectable History of Don Bellianus of Greece, (1671-1674), The Seven Wise Masters of Rome
(1674).
Kirkman also became increasingly interested in theatre. In 1661 he published his own play The Presbyterian Lash, based on the notorious story of Zachary Crofton
, a minister accused of whipping his maidservant. Kirkman had a penchant for the picaresque in literature, and in attributions. He also collected manuscripts, which he published, including A Cure for a Cuckold
and The Thracian Wonder (both 1661), and both correctly attributed to John Webster
and William Rowley
. In 1662 he published The Birth of Merlin
, wrongly attributed by him to William Shakespeare
and William Rowley. This has been described as “a medley in which legendary history, love romance, sententious praise of virginity, rough and tumble clown-play, necromancy and all kinds of diablerie jostle each other”. He was also involved in the publication of plays pirated from other printers. For instance, Kirkman in 1661 published The Beggars Bush
by John Fletcher
, Francis Beaumont
, and Philip Massinger
, pirated from Humphrey Robinson & Anne Moseley. Their hurried second printing contains a notice; "You may speedily expect those other Playes, which Kirkman, and his Hawkers have deceived the buyers withal, selling them at treble the value, that this and the rest will be sold for, which are the onely Originall and corrected copies, as they were first purchased by us at no mean rate, and since printed by use.”
and The Old Law
(both 1656).
The first catalogue, attached to an edition of Tom Tyler and his Wife (1661), included 690 plays published England. Kirkman claimed to have read them all, and be ready to sell or lend them, “upon reasonable considerations”. In 1671 he expanded to list 806 plays, attached to a translation of Pierre Corneille
’s Nicomede. For the first time he listed them not by title, but by author, for the most popular authors. Kirkman listed 52 plays attributed to Francis Beaumont
and John Fletcher
, with Ben Jonson
the next most productive at 50, and William Shakespeare
third with 48. This was probably an accurate representation of their comparative popularity at the time. It must also be an indication of his reputation that Kirkman advertised books for sale at the sign of The John Fletcher’s Head, only the second author thought worthy of this, (the first being Jonson). Shakespeare never This list provided the basis for the work of Gerard Langbaine
, which became the main source for English drama to the end of the seventeenth century.
, based on his collection, starting in 1660, in Westminster
and moving to Bishopsgate
by 1669.
Also significant in the history of theatre was Kirkman’s collection of drolls
, The Wits, or Sport for Sport. The first part was published by Henry Marsh in 1662, but seems very likely to have been prepared by Kirkman before they fell into dispute and litigation. Marsh was a member of the Stationers’ Company, and seems to have acted as printer and bookseller, with Kirkman acting as publisher and editor. It was described as Part I, but Part II did not appear until after Marsh had died and Kirkman had taken over his business. In 1672 Kirkman re-issued Part I, and issued Part II in 1673.
Kirkman said, disingenuously, that the pieces were “written I know not when, by several persons, I know not who”, though he included items such as the gravediggers' scene from Hamlet
, and the bouncing knight from The Merry Wives of Windsor
, the authorship of which cannot have been unknown either to him or his audience. He attributed some to an actor, Robert Cox
, who had published his own drolls, and probably performed them at the Red Bull Theatre
, and outside London.
The Wits went through many editions in the next two decades. Kirkman described the contents as : -
Kirkman said the pieces were selected because of their popularity during the Commonwealth
between 1642 and 1660, when the theatres were officially closed: -
He recommends the work for those reading for pleasure, fiddlers, mountebanks seeking a crowd, those undertaking long sea voyages, and strolling players, as “a few ordinary properties is enough to set them up, and get money in any Town in England”. The extent to which these drolls were performed is almost impossible to tell. Some of the contents of The Wits were almost certainly edited by Kirkman from the many play scripts he owned. However, some of the drolls are known from versions that date before 1620. This suggests that, like so many plays, they existed in manuscript for many years before they were published. One droll, The Lame Commonwealth, a canting interlude extracted from The Beggars Bush, includes an additional section which seems to record stagecraft. Another droll from The Wits, Daphilo & Granida, is based on the play Granida by P.C. Hooft. Baskervill (1924) notes that a Christmas play collected from Keynsham
, Somerset
in 1822 contains a passage exhibiting a striking similarity to a passage from Daphilo & Granida, which suggests the text of Kirkman's droll was adapted for use in the folk play.
The Wits is also known for the frontispiece by John Chantry. This is often assumed to represent the Red Bull Theatre
, although this is disputed as being unlikely; it is not described as such before 1809, and is not consistent with what is known of it. It is one of the earliest illustrations of a theatre interior, showing chandeliers and lighting at the front of the stage, a curtained entrance, which may be genuine representations. However, the various characters shown are a catalogue, not an example of a scene as staged. They include Falstaff
(by far the most popular theatrical character of the seventeenth century), a hostess, (perhaps Mistress Quickly
), Clause
(from The Lame Commonwealth), French Dancing Mr, (a dancing fiddler), The Changeling, and Simpleton, a character played by Cox.
Early life
Francis Kirkman was the eldest son of Francis Kirkman senior (1602–61), who was a member of the Blacksmith’s Company and a citizen of the City of LondonCity of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. Little is known of the younger Kirkman's life beyond his publications. He wrote The Unlucky Citizen (1673), which is taken to be autobiographical, though Kirkman was anything but reliable. However, the part in which he refers to his discovery of literature rings true, and is a good example of his style and enterprise.
Once I happened upon a Six Pence, and having lately read that famous Book, of the Fryar and the Boy, and being hugely pleased with that, as also the excellent History of the Seven Wise Masters Of Rome, and having heard great Commendation of Fortunatus, I laid out all my mony for that, and thought I had a great bargain ... now having read this Book, and being desirous of reading more of that nature; one of my School-fellows lent me Doctor Faustus, which also pleased me, especially when he travelled in the Air, saw all the World, and did what he listed.... The next Book I met with was Fryar Bacon, whose pleasant Stories much delighted me: But when I came to Knight Errantry, and reading Montelion Knight of the Oracle, and Ornatus and Artesia, and the Famous Parisimus; I was contented beyond measure, and (believing all I read to be true) wished my self Squire to one of these Knights: I proceeded on to Palmerin of England, and Amadis de Gaul; and borrowing one Book of one person, when I read it my self, I lent it to another, who lent me one of their Books; and thus robbing Peter to pay Paul, borrowing and lending from one to another, I in time had read most of these Histories. All the time I had from School, as Thursdays in the afternoon, and Saturdays, I spent in reading these Books; so that I being wholly affected to them, and reading how that Amadis and other Knights not knowing their Parents, did in time prove to be Sons of Kings and great Personages; I had such a fond and idle Opinion, that I might in time prove to be some great Person, or at leastwise be Squire to some Knight.
As will be seen Kirkman’s enthusiasm for some of these books led him to publish them himself. He claims to have been forbidden to travel or be apprenticed into the book trade, and to have run away from the first scrivener
Scrivener
A scrivener was traditionally a person who could read and write. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business, judicial, and history records for kings, nobles, temples, and cities...
to whom he was apprenticed.
Publisher and bookseller
Upon being apprenticed to another scrivenerScrivener
A scrivener was traditionally a person who could read and write. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business, judicial, and history records for kings, nobles, temples, and cities...
he installed his collection of novels and plays in his office, before selling many of them to finance the publication of his own translation of the sixth book of Amadis de Gaul (1652). It is characteristic that Kirkman’s first publication was his own extension of a work already popular. His entrepreneurial talents were always directed towards the popular, or vulgar
VULGAR
Vulgar is the fourth studio album released by Dir En Grey on September 10, 2003 in Japan and on February 21, 2006 in Europe. A limited edition containing an additional DVD was also released. It featured the video of the song "Obscure", albeit a censored version...
, end of the book trade. Although he became a freeman of the Blacksmith’s Company he was never a member of the Stationers’ Company
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557...
.
From 1652 he operated as a scrivener and bookseller
Bookselling
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers or bookmen.-Bookstores today:...
from a small shop near the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, and continued to trade from various premises in Thames Street, Fenchurch Street
Fenchurch Street
Fenchurch Street is a street in the City of London home to a number of shops, pubs and offices. It links Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street to the west. To the south of Fenchurch Street and towards its eastern end is Fenchurch Street railway station...
and Paul's Yard
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
until 1680. From 1657 he was publishing plays, although his partnership with Henry Marsh, Nathaniel Brook and Thomas Johnson ended after they were accused of pirating books, probably an edition of Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I ....
's The Scornful Lady
The Scornful Lady
The Scornful Lady is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and first published in 1616, the year of Beaumont's death...
. He also claimed to have been swindled by Marsh, whose business he took over after his death in 1666. Kirkman had received a substantial inheritance on his father’s death in 1661, which he squandered, and although he had an entrepreneurial spirit he suffered continual financial problems.
Kirkman published many early novels, including many translated from French and Spanish. In 1652 he published The Loves and Adventures of Clerio and Lozia, which he also claimed was translated from French. One of his greatest successes was a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, The English Rogue the first volume of which was written Richard Head, and published in 1665. In 1666 Kirkman re-issued this, and then wrote a second volume in his own name (1668), followed by a third and fourth (1671), claiming Head as a co-author. In 1673 Kirkman wrote and issued under his own name The Counterfeit Lady Unveiled, a fictional autobiography of Mary Carleton
Mary Carleton
Mary Carleton was an Englishwoman who used false identities, such as a German princess, to marry and defraud a number of men.-Early life:...
, an impostor and bigamist. He also published other popular romances
Romances
Romances is the fifteenth studio album by Mexican singer Luis Miguel, released on August 12, 1997, by Warner Music Latina. It is the third album of the Romance series, in which Miguel covers Latin songs from 1940 to 1978...
, such as The Famous and Delectable History of Don Bellianus of Greece, (1671-1674), The Seven Wise Masters of Rome
Seven Wise Masters
The Seven Wise Masters is a cycle of stories of Sanskrit, Persian or Hebrew origins.-Story and Plot:...
(1674).
Kirkman also became increasingly interested in theatre. In 1661 he published his own play The Presbyterian Lash, based on the notorious story of Zachary Crofton
Zachary Crofton
Zachary Crofton was an Anglo-Irish nonconforming minister and controversialist, in England from the 1640s.-Life:He was born in Ireland and principally educated at Dublin. He came to England about 1646. His first living was at Wrenbury in Cheshire, from which he was expelled in 1648 for refusing to...
, a minister accused of whipping his maidservant. Kirkman had a penchant for the picaresque in literature, and in attributions. He also collected manuscripts, which he published, including A Cure for a Cuckold
A Cure for a Cuckold
A Cure for a Cuckold is a late Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Webster and William Rowley. The play was first published in 1661, though composed some four decades earlier.-Date and performance:...
and The Thracian Wonder (both 1661), and both correctly attributed to John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
and William Rowley
William Rowley
William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
. In 1662 he published The Birth of Merlin
The Birth of Merlin
The Birth of Merlin, or, The Child Hath Found his Father is a Jacobean play, first performed in 1622 at the Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch. It contains a comic depiction of the birth of the fully grown Merlin to a country girl, and also features figures from Arthurian legend, including Uther...
, wrongly attributed by him to William 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"...
and William Rowley. This has been described as “a medley in which legendary history, love romance, sententious praise of virginity, rough and tumble clown-play, necromancy and all kinds of diablerie jostle each other”. He was also involved in the publication of plays pirated from other printers. For instance, Kirkman in 1661 published The Beggars Bush
Beggars' Bush
For the old military barracks in Dublin, Ireland, see Beggars BushBeggars' Bush is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators that is a focus of dispute among scholars and critics.-Authorship and Date:...
by 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...
, Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
, and Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
, pirated from Humphrey Robinson & Anne Moseley. Their hurried second printing contains a notice; "You may speedily expect those other Playes, which Kirkman, and his Hawkers have deceived the buyers withal, selling them at treble the value, that this and the rest will be sold for, which are the onely Originall and corrected copies, as they were first purchased by us at no mean rate, and since printed by use.”
Theatrical bibliography
Kirkman’s greatest contribution to literary history is his catalogues of plays. In 1671 he wrote "I have been these twenty years a Collector of plays, and have conversed with, and enquired of those that have been Collecting these fifty years". Kirkman's catalogues expanded upon two earlier lists, published in the first quartos of The Careless ShepherdessThe Careless Shepherdess
The Careless Shepherdess is a Jacobean era stage play, a pastoral tragicomedy generally attributed to Thomas Goffe. Its 1656 publication is noteworthy for the introduction of the first general catalogue of the dramas of English Renaissance theatre ever attempted.-Date and performance:The dates of...
and The Old Law
The Old Law
The Old Law, or A New Way to Please You is a seventeenth-century tragicomedy written by Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, and Philip Massinger...
(both 1656).
The first catalogue, attached to an edition of Tom Tyler and his Wife (1661), included 690 plays published England. Kirkman claimed to have read them all, and be ready to sell or lend them, “upon reasonable considerations”. In 1671 he expanded to list 806 plays, attached to a translation of Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
’s Nicomede. For the first time he listed them not by title, but by author, for the most popular authors. Kirkman listed 52 plays attributed to Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
and 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...
, with 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...
the next most productive at 50, and William 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"...
third with 48. This was probably an accurate representation of their comparative popularity at the time. It must also be an indication of his reputation that Kirkman advertised books for sale at the sign of The John Fletcher’s Head, only the second author thought worthy of this, (the first being Jonson). Shakespeare never This list provided the basis for the work of Gerard Langbaine
Gerard Langbaine
Gerard Langbaine was an English dramatic biographer and critic, best known for his An Account of the English Dramatic Poets , the earliest work to give biographical and critical information on the playwrights of English Renaissance theatre...
, which became the main source for English drama to the end of the seventeenth century.
Circulating library
From the above Kirkman is taken to have operated what amounted to the first circulating libraryLending library
A lending library is a library from which books are lent out. The earliest reference to or use of the term "lending library" yet located in English correspondence dates from ca. 1586; C'Tess Pembroke Ps. CXII. v, "He is .....
, based on his collection, starting in 1660, in Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
and moving to Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...
by 1669.
The Wits (Drolls)
Droll
A droll is a short comical sketch of a type that originated during the Puritan Interregnum in England. With the closure of the theatres, actors were left without any way of plying their art. Borrowing scenes from well-known plays of the Elizabethan theatre, they added dancing and other...
, The Wits, or Sport for Sport. The first part was published by Henry Marsh in 1662, but seems very likely to have been prepared by Kirkman before they fell into dispute and litigation. Marsh was a member of the Stationers’ Company, and seems to have acted as printer and bookseller, with Kirkman acting as publisher and editor. It was described as Part I, but Part II did not appear until after Marsh had died and Kirkman had taken over his business. In 1672 Kirkman re-issued Part I, and issued Part II in 1673.
Kirkman said, disingenuously, that the pieces were “written I know not when, by several persons, I know not who”, though he included items such as the gravediggers' scene from Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, and the bouncing knight from The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
, the authorship of which cannot have been unknown either to him or his audience. He attributed some to an actor, Robert Cox
Robert Cox (actor)
Robert Cox was a seventeenth-century English actor, best known for creating and performing the "drolls" that were a permitted form of dramatic entertainment during the English Civil War and the Interregnum, when theatres were officially closed and standard plays were not allowed.Gerard Langbaine...
, who had published his own drolls, and probably performed them at the Red Bull Theatre
Red Bull Theatre
The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...
, and outside London.
The Wits went through many editions in the next two decades. Kirkman described the contents as : -
- Selected pieces of drollery, digested into scenes by way of dialogue; together with variety of humours of several nations, fitted for the pleasure and content of all persons, either in court, city, country, or camp . . . presented and shewn for the merriment and delight of wise men, and the ignorant, as they have been sundry times acted in publique, and private, in London at Bartholomew in the countrey at other faires, in halls and taverns, on several mountebancks stages, at Charing Cross, Lincolns-Inn-Fields, and other places, by several stroleing players, fools, and fidlers, and the mountebancks zanies, with loud laughter, and great applause.
Kirkman said the pieces were selected because of their popularity during the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
between 1642 and 1660, when the theatres were officially closed: -
- When the publique Theatres were shut up... then all that we could divert ourselves with were these humours and pieces of Plays, which passing under the name of a merry conceited Fellow, called Bottom the Weaver, Simpleton the Smith, John Swabber, or some such title, were only allowed us, and that but by stealth too, and under the pretence of Rope-dancing, or the like; and these being all that was permitted to us, great was the confluence of the Auditors; and these small things were as profitable as any of our late famed Plays. I have seen the Red Bull Play-House, which was a large one, so full, that as many went back for want of room as had entered; and as meanly as you may think these Drolls, they were then acted by the best Comedeians then and now in being; and I may say, by some exceeded all now living ...
He recommends the work for those reading for pleasure, fiddlers, mountebanks seeking a crowd, those undertaking long sea voyages, and strolling players, as “a few ordinary properties is enough to set them up, and get money in any Town in England”. The extent to which these drolls were performed is almost impossible to tell. Some of the contents of The Wits were almost certainly edited by Kirkman from the many play scripts he owned. However, some of the drolls are known from versions that date before 1620. This suggests that, like so many plays, they existed in manuscript for many years before they were published. One droll, The Lame Commonwealth, a canting interlude extracted from The Beggars Bush, includes an additional section which seems to record stagecraft. Another droll from The Wits, Daphilo & Granida, is based on the play Granida by P.C. Hooft. Baskervill (1924) notes that a Christmas play collected from Keynsham
Keynsham
Keynsham is a town and civil parish between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, south-west England. It has a population of 15,533.It was listed in the Domesday Book as Cainesham, which is believed to mean the home of Saint Keyne....
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
in 1822 contains a passage exhibiting a striking similarity to a passage from Daphilo & Granida, which suggests the text of Kirkman's droll was adapted for use in the folk play.
The Wits is also known for the frontispiece by John Chantry. This is often assumed to represent the Red Bull Theatre
Red Bull Theatre
The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...
, although this is disputed as being unlikely; it is not described as such before 1809, and is not consistent with what is known of it. It is one of the earliest illustrations of a theatre interior, showing chandeliers and lighting at the front of the stage, a curtained entrance, which may be genuine representations. However, the various characters shown are a catalogue, not an example of a scene as staged. They include Falstaff
Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...
(by far the most popular theatrical character of the seventeenth century), a hostess, (perhaps Mistress Quickly
Mistress Quickly
Mistress Quickly is an inn-keeper who appears in four plays by William Shakespeare:*Henry IV, Part 1*Henry IV, Part 2*Henry V*The Merry Wives of Windsor...
), Clause
Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
(from The Lame Commonwealth), French Dancing Mr, (a dancing fiddler), The Changeling, and Simpleton, a character played by Cox.
Sources and further reading
The National Portrait Gallery, London has a portrait of Kirkman by an unknown artist dated 1673- Old DNB and DNB Francis Kirkman
- Gibson, StricklandStrickland GibsonStrickland Gibson was an English librarian and bibliographer, who also served as Keeper of the Archives at the University of Oxford from 1927 to 1945.-Life:Gibson was born on 27 January 1877...
, (1949), A bibliography of Francis Kirkman with his prefaces dedications and commendations, Oxford Bibliographical Society. - Elson, John James, ed., (1932), Kirkman, Francis The Wits, or Sport Upon Sport.(Cornell) Also available online at EEBO
- Wright, Louis B, (1934) Middle Class Culture in Elizabethan England, Chapel Hill, pp.86–7
- Masten, Jeffrey, (2000) Ben Jonson's Head, Shakespeare Studies, 05829399, 2000, Vol. 28, MAS Online Plus
- W. van Lennep, et al., The London Stage 1660-1800,p.80.
- Baskervill, C.R. (1924) Mummers' Wooing Plays in England, Modern Philology, Feb.1924, Vol.21, No.3, pp.225–272, pp.268–272, extracted at http://www.folkplay.info/Texts/67tq37kf.htm & http://www.folkplay.info/Texts/82st66hs.htm
- Astington, J., "'The Wits' illustration, 1662" Theatre Notebook 47, 1993, p.128
- Astington, John H., Callot's Etchings and Illustrations of the English Stage in the Seventeenth Century, at http://www.theatrelibrary.org/sibmas/congresses/sibmas90/sto_11.html