SOURCE: Cocke, William T., III. “Introduction.” In A Critical Edition of John Day's The Parliament of Bees, pp. xi-xxviii. New York: Garland Publishing, 1979.

In the excerpt below, Cocke offers an overview of Day's life and work, and focuses on issues of dating Day's work.

I. Life and Works

John Day was born about 1574 at Cawston, Norfolk, the son of “Walter, a husbandman.” He attended school at Ely under a Mr. Speight, and on October 24, 1592, when he was eighteen years old, entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, as a sizar. After only six months, on May 4, 1593, he was expelled from the college for stealing a book. These facts are from the Cambridge University register and all but exhaust the official records concerning Day's life.¹

When Day began to write for the London theater is impossible to ascertain. The next mention of his name in any sort of document that...