Wit in a Madness: Difference between revisions

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===Stationers' Register===
===Stationers' Register===
19 March 1639/40. Entered to Constable:  
19 March 1639/40. Entered to Francis Constable:  
:three Playes called. Sparagus Garden. The Antipodes. & Witt in a Madnes. [by Ric ''deleted''].<br><br>
:three Playes called. Sparagus Garden. The Antipodes. & Witt in a Madnes. [by Ric ''deleted''].<br><br>
17 February 1647/8. The administrators of the estate of Alice Constable, widow of Francis Constable, transferred to Richard Thrale twenty copyrights including:
17 February 1647/8. The administrators of the estate of Alice Constable, widow of Francis Constable, transferred to Richard Thrale twenty copyrights including:
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:19. ''Witt in a Constable''. a play [brace] by Henry Glapthorne.<br><br>
:19. ''Witt in a Constable''. a play [brace] by Henry Glapthorne.<br><br>


9 September 1653. Entered to Moseley, forty-one plays of which the second and third are:
9 September 1653. Entered to Humprhey Moseley, forty-one plays of which the second and third are:
:Witt in Madnesse [brace]
:Witt in Madnesse [brace]
:The Louesick Maid, or the honour of Young Ladies. by [brace] Rich: Brome.<br><br>
:The Louesick Maid, or the honour of Young Ladies. by [brace] Rich: Brome.<br><br>
11 April 1681. Dorothy Thrale, administratrix of Richard Thrale, assigned ''The Sparagus Garden, The Antipodes'', and ''Wit in a Madness'', with thirty-nine other titles, to Benjamin Thrale.
11 April 1681. Dorothy Thrale, administratrix of Richard Thrale, assigned ''The Sparagus Garden, The Antipodes'', and ''Wit in a Madness'', with thirty-nine other titles, to Benjamin Thrale.


(Cited from Bentley, 3.78 and 3.92; Arber II, 1.289-290.)
(Cited from Bentley, 3.78 and 3.92; S.R.2, 1.289-290.)
 


==Theatrical Provenance==
==Theatrical Provenance==
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Harbage's idea, regrettably, is pure wishful thinking.
Harbage's idea, regrettably, is pure wishful thinking.


For a discussion of the lost Brome play ''The Lovesick Maid'', registered alongside ''Wit in a Madness'', see [[Lovesick Maid, or Honor of Young Ladies|<b>here</b>]].
For a discussion of the lost Brome play ''The Lovesick Maid'', registered alongside ''Wit in a Madness'', see [[Lovesick Maid, or Honor of Young Ladies|<b>here</b>]].


Feigned madness, as a device, is present in plays of the period including ''Hamlet'', ''The Changeling''. and Brome's own ''The Court Beggar''.   
Feigned madness, as a device, is present in plays of the period including ''Hamlet'', ''The Changeling''. and Brome's own ''The Court Beggar''.   


Henry Glapthorne's ''Wit in A Constable'', which appears near ''Wit in a Madness'' on the Thrale list, shares the same format of title - wit present where one might not expect to find it.  Perhaps one play was cashing in on the success of the other.


[[Henry Glapthorne]]'s ''Wit in A Constable'' (1636-8, revised 1639), which appears near ''Wit in a Madness'' on the Thrale list, shares the same format of title - wit present where one might not expect to find it.  Perhaps one play was cashing in on the success of the other.


[[category:Madness]] [[category:Palimpsests]][[category:Paradoxical titles]]


[[category:all]][[category:Madness]] [[category:Palimpsests]][[category:Paradoxical titles]] [[category:King's Revels]] [[Category: Queen Henrietta Maria's]][[category:Stationers' Register]]
<br>
==Works Cited==
==Works Cited==


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Site created and maintained by [[Matthew Steggle]]: updated 4 December 2009.
Site created and maintained by [[Matthew Steggle]]: updated 15 February 2010.[[category:Matthew Steggle]]

Latest revision as of 15:57, 10 December 2021

Richard Brome (?1623-40)


Historical Records

Stationers' Register

19 March 1639/40. Entered to Francis Constable:

three Playes called. Sparagus Garden. The Antipodes. & Witt in a Madnes. [by Ric deleted].

17 February 1647/8. The administrators of the estate of Alice Constable, widow of Francis Constable, transferred to Richard Thrale twenty copyrights including:

14. Sparagus Garden a play.
15. The Antipodes a play.
16. Witt in a Madnes. a play.
17. The Chast maide of Cheapside. a play.
18. The Ladies priviledge a play [brace]
19. Witt in a Constable. a play [brace] by Henry Glapthorne.

9 September 1653. Entered to Humprhey Moseley, forty-one plays of which the second and third are:

Witt in Madnesse [brace]
The Louesick Maid, or the honour of Young Ladies. by [brace] Rich: Brome.

11 April 1681. Dorothy Thrale, administratrix of Richard Thrale, assigned The Sparagus Garden, The Antipodes, and Wit in a Madness, with thirty-nine other titles, to Benjamin Thrale.

(Cited from Bentley, 3.78 and 3.92; S.R.2, 1.289-290.)


Theatrical Provenance

King's Revels/Queen Henrietta's Men?


Probable Genre(s)

Comedy (Harbage)


Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

None known.


References to the Play

None known.


Critical Commentary

Looking at the records from 1639/40, 1647/8, and 1681, Bentley (3.92) cast doubt on whether Wit in a Madness was necessarily by Brome at all. But the 1653 entry, seemingly overlooked by Bentley in this particular context, seems to resolve that doubt.


Harbage dates it c.1635-40, and accordingly lists it under the year 1637; but "1637" has since been repeated in online sources (such as Wikipedia) as if unqualified fact. Shaw (17-18) prefers the conjectural date 1638-9. Steggle (118-23) notes that a major difficulty with the 1635-40 theory is that in his 1640 legal deposition Brome claimed only to have written seven new plays for the King's Revels/Queen Henrietta's Men in that period. All seven of these seem to be already accounted for.


In "Elizabethan-Restoration Palimpsest", Harbage speculates that Thomas D'Urfey's city comedy The Richmond Heiress, or a woman once in the right (1693), which features a heroine who feigns madness, "levied upon Brome's lost Wit in Madness" [sic] (309).


For What It's Worth

Harbage's idea, regrettably, is pure wishful thinking.


For a discussion of the lost Brome play The Lovesick Maid, registered alongside Wit in a Madness, see here.


Feigned madness, as a device, is present in plays of the period including Hamlet, The Changeling. and Brome's own The Court Beggar.


Henry Glapthorne's Wit in A Constable (1636-8, revised 1639), which appears near Wit in a Madness on the Thrale list, shares the same format of title - wit present where one might not expect to find it. Perhaps one play was cashing in on the success of the other.

Works Cited

Harbage, Alfred. 'Elizabethan-Restoration Palimpsest'. Modern Language Review 35 (1940): 287-319.
Shaw, Catherine M. Richard Brome. Boston: Twayne, 1980.
Steggle, Matthew. Richard Brome: Place and Politics on the Caroline Stage. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004.


Site created and maintained by Matthew Steggle: updated 15 February 2010.