Among all those who yielded up copyrights, 8 Jan. 1584, for the use of the poor of the Stationers' Company, Day was by far the most liberal, giving no fewer than thirty-six (ib. ii. 787).
Day fully deserves the praise of Dibdin, that ‘there are very few of our earlier printers to whom both literature and typography are more deeply indebted’ (Typogr. Antiq. iv. 41). Archbishop Parker ‘had a particular kindness’ for him, he being ‘more ingenious and industrious in his art, and probably richer too than the rest’ (Life, ii. 525). He is the first English letter-founder of whom we possess authentic records, and his new Anglo-Saxon, italic, Roman, and Greek types are remarkably fine. His music has already been noticed. He introduced a variety of mathematical and other signs, and was liberal in the use of handsome woodcut initials, vignettes, and other illustrations. He was a steady supporter of the reformed religion, and promoted the ‘Acts and Monuments’ of John Foxe, who for some time lodged in his house. Day had a prosperous and active career of nearly forty years, during which period he produced about 230 works, many of importance.
There is a fine head of Day at the age of forty, by a foreign artist, to be found in several of his books, and a smaller one, both reproduced by Dibdin. Day's portrait is the earliest genuine representation of an English printer. He married two wives, and had thirteen children by each of them. The name of the first wife is not known. That of the second, a gentlewoman of good birth, who survived him, was Lehunte. He died at Walden in Essex, 23 July 1584, aged 62, and was buried 2 Aug. at Bradley Parva in Suffolk, where there is a monumental brass with inscription (see plate in Gent. Mag. November 1832).
The names of only four of his twenty-six children are known: Bartholomew, buried 6 May 1581 at Bradley Parva; Richard (1552–1607?) [q. v.]; John (1566–1627–8) [q. v.]; and Lionel (1570–1640).
[Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), i. 614–80; the same (Dibdin), iv. 41–177; biography and genealogy by J. G. Nichols in Gent. Mag. November 1832, pp. 417–21; Timperley's Encyclopædia, 1842; E. Rowe Mores's Diss. upon English Typogr. Founders, 1778; T. B. Reed's Old English Letter Foundries, 1887; Bigmore and Wyman's Bibliography of Printing, i. 155–6; Martin's Cat. of Privately Printed Books, 2nd ed. 1854, pp. 1–14; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. xi. 213, 260; Strype's Annals, I. i. 203, 267; Granger's Biogr. Hist. of England, 1824, i. 332; Nichols's Illustr. iv. 231–2, 640; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 550, 570, 572, 589, viii. 673; Cat. of English Books in British Museum printed to 1640, 1884, 3 vols.; Edinb. Review, January 1852; Cotton's Editions of the Bible in English, 2nd ed. 1852.]
DAY, JOHN (fl. 1606), dramatist, is described on the title-page of ‘The Parliament of Bees,’ 1641, as ‘Sometimes Student of Caius Colledge in Cambridge.’ He was admitted 24 Oct. 1592, and was expelled for stealing a book from the library 4 May 1593. A comedy called ‘The Maiden's Holiday’ was entered in the Stationers' books in 1654 as the joint production of Day and Marlowe. If credit could be paid to this doubtful entry, it would appear that Day was writing for the stage as early as 1593; but we find no mention of him in Henslowe's ‘Diary’ until 1598, in which year he assisted Chettle in writing (1) ‘The Conquest of Brute, with the first finding of the Bath.’ In 1599 he wrote with Haughton two domestic tragedies, (2) ‘The Tragedy of Merry,’ and (3) ‘The Tragedy of Cox of Collumpton;’ and in the same year he joined Chettle and Haughton in the composition of (4) ‘The Orphan's Tragedy.’ He was engaged in January 1599–1600 on (5) ‘The Italian Tragedy of …’ [name wanting in the ‘Diary’]; in February 1599–1600 he wrote with Dekker and Haughton (6) ‘The Spanish Moor's Tragedy,’ which critics have sought to identify with ‘Lust's Dominion,’ printed in 1657 as a work of Marlowe; in March 1599–1600 he joined the same playwrights in composing a play called (7) ‘The Seven Wise Masters.’ Other plays to which he contributed in 1600 were: (8) ‘The Golden Ass, and Cupid and Psyche,’ written in conjunction with Dekker and Chettle; (9) ‘The Blind Beggar of Bednal Green,’ in which he was assisted by Chettle. In January 1600–1 Day and Haughton wrote (10) ‘The Second Part of the Blind Beggar;’ and (11) ‘The Third Part,’ by the same authors, was produced without delay. To 1601 also belong (12) ‘The Conquest of the West Indies,’ by Day, Wentworth Smith, and Haughton; (13) ‘The Six Yeomen of the West,’ by Day and Haughton; (14) ‘Friar Rush and the Proud Woman of Antwerp,’ by the same authors; (15) ‘The Second Part of Tom Dough,’ by the same authors. In 1602 Day wrote without assistance (16) ‘The Bristol Tragedy,’ which has been wrongly identified with the anonymous comedy published in 1605 under the title of ‘The Fair Maid of Bristow;’ he also joined Hathway and Wentworth Smith in writing (17) ‘Merry as may be,’ (18) ‘The Black Dog of Newgate,’ (19) ‘The Second Part of the Black Dog’ (January 1602–3), and (20) ‘The Unfortunate General’
