A droll is a short comical sketch of a type that originated during the Puritan Interregnum in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. 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 entertainments and performed these, sometimes illegally, to make money. Along with the popularity of the source play, material for drolls was generally chosen for physical humor or for wit.

Francis Kirkman Francis Kirkman (1632 – c. 1680) 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 litera ...

's ''The Wits, or Sport Upon Sport'',

1662 Events January–March * January 4 – Dziaddin Mukarram Shah becomes the new Sultan of Kedah, an independent kingdom on the Malay Peninsula, upon the death of his father, Sultan Muhyiddin Mansur. * January 10 – At the ...

, is a collection of twenty-seven drolls. Three are adapted from

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

: ''Bottom the Weaver'' from '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', the gravedigger's scene from ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', and a collection of scenes involving

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

called ''The Bouncing Knight''. A typical droll presented a subplot from John Marston's ''

The Dutch Courtesan ''The Dutch Courtesan'' is an early Jacobean stage play written by the dramatist and satirist John Marston circa 1604. It was performed by the Children of the Queen's Revels, one of the troupes of boy actors active at the time, in the Blac ...

''; the piece runs together all the scenes in which a greedy vintner is gulled and robbed by a deranged gallant. Just under half of the drolls in Kirkman's book are adapted from the work of

Beaumont Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

and

Fletcher Fletcher may refer to: People * Fletcher (occupation), a person who fletches arrows, the origin of the surname * Fletcher (singer) (born 1994), American actress and singer-songwriter * Fletcher (surname) * Fletcher (given name) Places United ...

. Among the drolls taken from those authors are ''Forc'd Valour'' (the title plot from ''

The Humorous Lieutenant ''The Humorous Lieutenant'', also known as ''The Noble Enemies'', ''Demetrius and Enanthe'', or ''Alexander's Successors'', is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher. Highly praised by critics, it has been called "Fl ...

''), ''The Stallion'' (the scenes in the male brothel from ''

The Custom of the Country ''The Custom of the Country'' is a 1913 tragicomedy of manners novel by the American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Undine Spragg, a Midwestern girl who attempts to ascend in New York City society. Plot summary The Spraggs, a famil ...

''), and the taunting of Pharamond from ''

Philaster Philaster may refer to: * Philastrius (died 390s), bishop of Brescia in the fourth century * ''Philaster'' (play), play by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, published in 1620 * ''Philaster'' (genus), a genus of ciliates in the family Philasterid ...

''. The prominence of Beaumont and Fletcher in this collection prefigures their dominance on the early Restoration stage. The extract from their ''

Beggar's Bush ''Beggars' Bush'' is a English literature, Jacobean era stage play, a comedy in the canon of John Fletcher (playwright), John Fletcher and his collaborators that is a focus of dispute among scholars and critics. Authorship The authorship and ...

'', known as ''The Lame Commonwealth'', features additional dialogue, strongly suggesting it was taken from a performance text. The character of Clause, the King of the Beggars in that extract, appears as a character in later works, such as the memoirs of

Bampfylde Moore Carew Bampfylde Moore Carew (1690-1758) was an English rogue, vagabond and impostor, who claimed to be King of the Beggars. Life Baptized at Bickleigh, Devon, on 23 September 1690, Bampfylde Moore Carew was the son of Reverend Theodore Carew, rect ...

, the self-proclaimed King of the Beggars. Actor Robert Cox was perhaps the best-known of the droll performers.

References

* Kirkman, Francis. ''The Wits, or Sport Upon Sport''. ed. John James Elson (Cornell University Press, 1932) * Baskervill, C. R. "Mummers' Wooing Plays in England." ''Modern Philology'', Vol. 21 No. 3 (February 1924),pp. 225–272; see pp. 268–272,
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