Henry Carey

[Frederique]

Henry Carey (writer), (c. 26 August 1687 – 5 October 1743) was an English poet, dramatist and song-writer. He is remembered as an anti-Walpolean satirist and also as a patriot. Several of his melodies continue to be sung today, and he was widely praised in the generation after his death. Because he worked in anonymity, selling his own compositions to others to pass off as their own, contemporary scholarship can only be certain of some of his poetry, and a great deal of the music he composed was written for theatrical incidental music. However, under his own name and hand, he was an extremely prolific song writer and balladeer, and he wrote the lyrics for almost all of these songs. Further, he wrote numerous operas and plays. His life is illustrative of the professional author in the early 18th century. Without inheritance or title or governmental position, he wrote for all of the remunerative venues, and yet he also kept his own political point of view and was able to score significant points against the ministry of the day. Further, he was one of the leading lights of the new "Patriotic" movement in drama. [...]
Nothing is known definitely of Henry Carey's origins. He was born before the end of 1689, perhaps as early as 1687, probably in Yorkshire. The date is deduced from his probable age at later stages in his life; his birthplace from locales, turns of phrase, and similar evidence of Yorkshire in his writings. During his lifetime he was said to be an illegitimate son of George Savile, the first marquis of Halifax (1633-1695), the Whig politician who was largely responsible for putting William III and Mary on the throne. Frederick T. Wood, who edited Carey's poems in 1930, suggested that Carey was more likely the son of the marquis's fourth child, George (born 1667), who died in either 1688 or 1689. During his lifetime Carey neither confirmed nor denied any of these rumors, although he did include Savile in the names of two sons, and his widow named their fifth or sixth child, born after Carey's death, George Savile Carey, pointing in no uncertain manner to a family connection with the first marquis.[...]
Poetry Foundation

[Frederique]

Henry Carey, Chrononhotonthologos (Prologue)

TO night our comic MUSE the buskin wears,
And gives herself no small romantic airs;
Struts in heroics, and in pompous verse
Does the minutest incidents rehearse;
In ridicule's strict retrospect displays
The Poetasters of these modern days;
Who with big bellowing bombast read our ears,
Which, stript of sound, quite void of sense appears;
Or else their fiddle-faddle numbers flow,
Serenely dull, elaborately low;
Either extreme when vain pretenders take,
The actor suffers for the Author's sake.
The quite-tn'd audience lose whole hours; yet pay
To go un-pleas'd and un-improv'd away.
This being our scheme, we hope you will excuse
The wild excursion of the wanton Muse;
Who out of frolic wears a mimick mask,
And sets herself so whimsical a task:
'Tis meant to please; but, if it should offend,
It's very short, and soon will have an end.




[...]On 22 February 1734 Carey (under the pseudonym Benjamin Bounce) produced at the Little Theatre in the Hay-Market the musical burlesque entitled The most Tragical Tragedy that ever was Tragedized by a Company of Tragedians, called Chrononhotonthologos. Carey was doubtless inspired by Henry Fielding's Tragedy of Tragedies, or the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, which had been very successful in 1730; but Carey goes to greater lengths to satirize the dramatic conventions, complicated plots, and inane dialogue of the contemporary stage, especially the operatic stage. The plot concerns an invasion of the kingdom of Queerummania, the realm of King Chrononhotonthologos, by the king of the Antipodes (whose kingdom is aptly named, for he walks with his head where his feet should be). The king of the Antipodes is captured by Bombardinian, leader of Queerummania's army, and brought to the royal palace, where Queen Fadladinida falls in love with him. At a dinner attended by the principals King Chrononhotonthologos, who feels that the cook has insulted him, kills the unfortunate servant.[...]
Poetry Foundation




An 1818 playbill for Chrononhotonthologos.

Literary significance
Henry Carey's work has been tarred with allegations of triviality since his own day. He had an extraordinary gift with melody and wordplay, and later authors, such as Edward Lear, would cite Carey as a predecessor for his tongue twisters and nonsense verse in Namby Pamby and Chrononhotonthologos. At the same time, Carey's productions were noted in his own day for their political acuity and bravery (if not foolhardiness). He was willing to offend and suffer the consequences of his convictions, but he made his political statements in a diverting and apparently frivolous manner, thereby allowing his friends to respond to his politics and his enemies to dismiss his levity. In the Macaulay-dominated view of literary history of the early 20th-century, Carey was represented as a balladeer whose fundamental moroseness was proven by his shameful suicide, and his plays, now devoid of topicality, were set as broad entertainments.

Musicologists have recognized, however, the subtle gifts necessary for Carey's music, and theater historians are beginning to recognize the context of his plays. He was the most prolific English song composer of 1715-1740, and he wrote his own lyrics to all but twelve of his two hundred and fifty songs (Gillespie 128). He was responsible for linking the vocal style of Henry Purcell to the later style of Arne by combining popular English folks song and tavern song with Italian flourishes.
Chrononhotonthologos is a satirical play by the English poet and songwriter Henry Carey from 1734. Although the play has been seen as nonsense verse, it was also seen and celebrated at the time as a satire on Robert Walpole and Queen Caroline, wife of George II.
The play is relatively short on the page, as it relies heavily upon its songs and theatrical effects for stage time. It concerns King Chrononhotonthologos and Queen Fadladinida of Queerummania who face an invasion by the Antipodeans (who are inverted people from the other side of the world). The king defeats the entire Antipodean army, leaving behind only the Antipodean king, who is taken to prison. The Queen sees the captive king, falls deeply in love, and mourns her virginity (for the king had never consummated their marriage). She prays to Cupid and Venus, and she gets her wish to lose her virginity and her husband. Chrononhotonthologos, in camp, takes offense at a piece of pork, slaps his general, and is killed by the raging general. The general creates a bloodbath before killing himself. The Queen is thus a widow maid and is free to marry the king's courtiers. The two courtiers take offense at her preference, and so she decides merely to pay them each night for their sexual services. The play ends thereupon with all well.

 Poems published in Translatum:

• Chrononhotonthologos

Links: http://www.chrononhotonthologos.com/script.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=FuVbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=Chrononhotonthologos&source=bl&ots=ivPL-o8i81&sig=bEde86GnouQGZGJ-60dgMoXmflI&hl=en&ei=zJvWTf3PD43F8QOPo4GFCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Chrononhotonthologos