Seven Days of the Week, Parts 1 and 2

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Historical Records

Performance Records

Playlists in Philip Henslowe's diary

NB. In the tables below, the entries for "Seven Days of the Week" are collated; see Critical Commentary, below, for arguments identifying which entries pertain to a second part.


Fol. 12v (Greg I.24):

ye 3 of June 1595 . . . . . . . ne . . Res at the vij dayes of the weacke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iijll xs
ye 6 of June 1595 Res at the vij dayes of the weack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxxiiijs
ye 10 of June 1595 post 83ll - 0 Res at the vij dayes of the wecke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iijll vjs
ye 14 of June 1595 Res at the vij dayes of the wecke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iijll ixs
ye 23 of June 1595 Res at the vij dayes of the wecke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iijll vs

___________________________________________________________________________________

ye 27 of aguste 1595 . . . . . . . . . Res at the weacke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . liijs
ye 3 of septmbƺ 1595 Res at the vij dayes of the weacke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lijs
ye 13 of septmbƺ 1595 Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxvijs


Fol. 12v (Greg, I. 25)

ye 22 of septmbƺ 1595 ———— Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxxiiijs
ye 6 of octobƺ 1595 ———— Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxxs
ye 14 of octobƺ 1595 Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvijs
ye 17 of octobƺ 1595 Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxviijs
ye 29 of octobƺ 1595 Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiijs

Fol. 14 (Greg, I. 27)

ye 15 of novmbƺ 1595 . . . . . . . . . . Res at vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviijs
ye 1 of desembƺ 1595 Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiiijs
ye 1 Jenewary 1595 Res at the wecke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxxijs

Fol. 14v (Greg, I. 28)

ye 22 Jenewary 1595 . . . . . . ne . . Res at the 2 wecke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iijll
ye 26 Jenewary 1595 Res at the 2 weake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiiijs
ye 25 febreary 1595 Res at wecke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxs

Fol. 25 (Greg, I.49)

ye 11 of novmbƺ 1596 . . . . . . . . . . |R''es''| at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxvs
ye 15 of novmbƺ 1596 |R''es''| at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xijs


Fol. 25v (Greg, I.50)

ye 26 of novembƺ 1596 Res at weake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvijs
ye 12 of desembƺ 1596 Res at the vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixs
ye 31 of desembƺ 1596 . . . . . . . . . . Res at vij dayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vjs



Theatrical Provenance

The Admiral's men performed "Seven Days of the Week" at the Rose playhouse from August 1595 through December 1596, for 19 performances. Several of those shows may (or may not) be for a second part. See Critical Commentary, below for scholarly opinion on whether "Seven Days of the Week" was a two-part play.

Probable Genre(s)

Moral (?) Harbage; "Histories out of Scriptures," White

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

References to the Play

Critical Commentary

Malone had no comment on "Seven Days of the Week" except to omit a listing for Henslowe's entry of "the 2 wecke," snd thus inferring that similarly recorded entries indicated more performances of the play now considered the first part. Collier called Malone on this, adding a note to "the 2 wecke" that "Malone takes no notice of this piece" (p. 63, n.3).

Fleay, BCED introduced a red herring into the question of subject matter of "Seven Days of the Week" by referring to The Christmas Prince, 1607, which he documented only by a cryptic addition of "Halliwell" (#168, 2.304). Of the second part, he had an entry but no comment (#179, 2.305). Greg II expanded on Fleay's mention of The Christmas Prince, only to reject it, saying the 1607 piece "probably had nothing but the title in common with the Admiral's play" (#73, p. 175). Greg's listing of the second part (#86, p. 178) merely referred readers to the entry for the first part.

Despite Fleay's off-the-cuff suggestion and Greg's dismissal, something about The Christmas Prince apparently influenced opinion on "Seven Days of the Week" in that Chambers, ES indexed the lost play simply with "See Christmas Prince" (4.421); however, in the entry for The Christmas Prince Chambers made no mention of the lost play specifically, though he did note that only the text of one of the entertainments survives, that of The Seven Days of the Week (4.71). Harbage, deeply reliant on Greg and Chambers, appears to reflect the genre of The Christmas Prince by flagging "1 Seven Days of the Week" as "Moral (?)." Matthew Steggle provides a thumbnail description of the "Seven Days of the Week" in the 1607 Christmas Prince that clarifies what Fleay, Greg, Chambers, and Harbage had seen in the Oxford entertainment:. Steggle calls it "an inset show ... [that] begins with the entry of a personified Monday, who delivers a verse oration praising himself, until he is beaten off stage by Tuesday, who then in turn prises himself until supplanted by Wednesday, and so on" (34).

Wiggins, Catalogue


White



For What It's Worth

Collier provided a note to the entry of "Seven Days of the Week" on 3 June 1595 with which everyone who works with lost plays can sympathize; he said, "A new play, of which, like many more, we hear on no other authority" (p. 53, n.3).

Works Cited