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diff --git a/22397-8.txt b/22397-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb7c75f --- /dev/null +++ b/22397-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16341 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Shakespearean Playhouses, by Joseph Quincy +Adams + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Shakespearean Playhouses + A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration + + +Author: Joseph Quincy Adams + + + +Release Date: August 25, 2007 [eBook #22397] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYHOUSES*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Linda Cantoni, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the many original illustrations. + See 22397-h.htm or 22397-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/3/9/22397/22397-h/22397-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/3/9/22397/22397-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + The original book cites Holland's _Her[Greek: ô]ologia_ in several + places, but consistently misspells it _Hero[Greek: ô]logia_. This + has been corrected based on the image of the original title page + of _Her[Greek: ô]ologia_ at the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov. + + The original book occasionally uses a numeral or letter enclosed + in square brackets. In this e-book, these have been changed to + curly brackets to avoid confusion with footnote markers. + + + + +SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYHOUSES + +A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration + +by + +JOSEPH QUINCY ADAMS +Cornell University + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +Gloucester, Mass. +Peter Smith +1960 + +Copyright, 1917, by +Joseph Quincy Adams + +Reprinted, 1960, +by Permission of +Houghton Mifflin Co. + + +[Illustration: MAP OF LONDON SHOWING THE PLAYHOUSES + +BLACKFRIARS, (FIRST) 1576-1584. +BLACKFRIARS, (SECOND) 1596-1655. +CURTAIN, 1577-after 1627. +FORTUNE, (FIRST) 1600-1621. +FORTUNE, (SECOND) 1623-1661. +GLOBE, (FIRST) 1599-1613. +GLOBE, (SECOND) 1614-1645. +HOPE, 1613-after 1682. +PHOENIX OR COCKPIT, 1617-after 1664. +RED BULL, about 1605-after 1663. +ROSE, 1587-1605. +SALISBURY COURT, 1629-1666. +SWAN, 1595-after 1632. +THEATRE, 1576-1598. +WHITEFRIARS, about 1605-1614(?).] + + + + +TO + +LANE COOPER + +IN GRATITUDE AND ESTEEM + + + + +PREFACE + + +The method of dramatic representation in the time of Shakespeare has +long received close study. Among those who have more recently devoted +their energies to the subject may be mentioned W.J. Lawrence, T.S. +Graves, G.F. Reynolds, V.E. Albright, A.H. Thorndike, and B. +Neuendorff, each of whom has embodied the results of his +investigations in one or more noteworthy volumes. But the history of +the playhouses themselves, a topic equally important, has not hitherto +been attempted. If we omit the brief notices of the theatres in Edmond +Malone's _The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare_ (1790) and John +Payne Collier's _The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1831), the +sole book dealing even in part with the topic is T.F. Ordish's _The +Early London Theatres in the Fields_. This book, however, though good +for its time, was written a quarter of a century ago, before most of +the documents relating to early theatrical history were discovered, +and it discusses only six playhouses. The present volume takes +advantage of all the materials made available by the industry of later +scholars, and records the history of seventeen regular, and five +temporary or projected, theatres. The book is throughout the result of +a first-hand examination of original sources, and represents an +independent interpretation of the historical evidences. As a +consequence of this, as well as of a comparison (now for the first +time possible) of the detailed records of the several playhouses, many +conclusions long held by scholars have been set aside. I have made no +systematic attempt to point out the cases in which I depart from +previously accepted opinions, for the scholar will discover them for +himself; but I believe I have never thus departed without being aware +of it, and without having carefully weighed the entire evidence. +Sometimes the evidence has been too voluminous or complex for detailed +presentation; in these instances I have had to content myself with +reference by footnotes to the more significant documents bearing on +the point. + +In a task involving so many details I cannot hope to have escaped +errors--errors due not only to oversight, but also to the limitations +of my knowledge or to mistaken interpretation. For such I can offer no +excuse, though I may request from my readers the same degree of +tolerance which I have tried to show other laborers in the field. In +reproducing old documents I have as a rule modernized the spelling and +the punctuation, for in a work of this character there seems to be no +advantage in preserving the accidents and perversities of early +scribes and printers. I have also consistently altered the dates when +the Old Style conflicted with our present usage. + +I desire especially to record my indebtedness to the researches of +Professor C.W. Wallace, the extent of whose services to the study of +the Tudor-Stuart drama has not yet been generally realized, and has +sometimes been grudgingly acknowledged; and to the labors of Mr. E.K. +Chambers and Mr. W.W. Greg, who, in the _Collections_ of The Malone +Society, and elsewhere, have rendered accessible a wealth of important +material dealing with the early history of the stage. + +Finally, I desire to express my gratitude to Mr. Hamilton Bell and the +editor of _The Architectural Record_ for permission to reproduce the +illustration and description of Inigo Jones's plan of the Cockpit; to +the Governors of Dulwich College for permission to reproduce three +portraits from the Dulwich Picture Gallery, one of which, that of Joan +Alleyn, has not previously been reproduced; to Mr. C.W. Redwood, +formerly technical artist at Cornell University, for expert assistance +in making the large map of London showing the sites of the playhouses, +and for other help generously rendered; and to my colleagues, +Professor Lane Cooper and Professor Clark S. Northup, for their +kindness in reading the proofs. + +JOSEPH QUINCY ADAMS + +ITHACA, NEW YORK + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE INN-YARDS 1 + + II. THE HOSTILITY OF THE CITY 18 + + III. THE THEATRE 27 + + IV. THE CURTAIN 75 + + V. THE FIRST BLACKFRIARS 91 + + VI. ST. PAUL'S 111 + + VII. THE BANKSIDE AND THE BEAR GARDEN 119 + + VIII. NEWINGTON BUTTS 134 + + IX. THE ROSE 142 + + X. THE SWAN 161 + + XI. THE SECOND BLACKFRIARS 182 + + XII. THE GLOBE 234 + + XIII. THE FORTUNE 267 + + XIV. THE RED BULL 294 + + XV. WHITEFRIARS 310 + + XVI. THE HOPE 324 + + XVII. ROSSETER'S BLACKFRIARS, OR PORTER'S HALL 342 + +XVIII. THE PHOENIX, OR COCKPIT IN DRURY LANE 348 + + XIX. SALISBURY COURT 368 + + XX. THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT, OR THEATRE ROYAL AT WHITEHALL 384 + + XXI. MISCELLANEOUS: WOLF'S THEATRE IN NIGHTINGALE LANE; + THE PROJECTED "AMPHITHEATRE"; OGILBY'S DUBLIN THEATRE; + THE FRENCH PLAYERS' TEMPORARY THEATRE IN DRURY LANE; + DAVENANT'S PROJECTED THEATRE IN FLEET STREET 410 + + BIBLIOGRAPHY 433 + + MAPS AND VIEWS OF LONDON 457 + + INDEX 461 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +MAP OF LONDON SHOWING THE PLAYHOUSES _Frontispiece_ + +AN INN-YARD 4 + +MAP OF LONDON SHOWING THE INN-PLAYHOUSES 9 + +THE SITE OF THE FIRST PLAYHOUSES 27 + +THE SITE OF THE FIRST PLAYHOUSES 31 + +A PLAN OF BURBAGE'S HOLYWELL PROPERTY 33 + +THE SITE OF THE CURTAIN PLAYHOUSE 79 + +BLACKFRIARS MONASTERY 93 + +THE SITE OF THE TWO BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSES 94 + +A PLAN OF FARRANT'S PLAYHOUSE 97 + +THE BANKSIDE 120 + +THE BANKSIDE 121 + +THE BEAR- AND BULL-BAITING RINGS 123 + +THE BEAR GARDEN 127 + +THE BEAR GARDEN AND THE ROSE 147 + +THE BEAR GARDEN AND THE ROSE 149 + +JOAN WOODWARD ALLEYN 152 + +THE MANOR OF PARIS GARDEN AND THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE 163 + +THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE 165 + +THE INTERIOR OF THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE 169 + +PLAN ILLUSTRATING THE SECOND BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSE 187 + +REMAINS OF BLACKFRIARS 196 + +RICHARD BURBAGE 234 + +WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 238 + +A PLAN OF THE GLOBE PROPERTY 242 + +THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE FIRST GLOBE 245 + +THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE FIRST GLOBE 246 + +THE FIRST GLOBE 248 + +THE FIRST GLOBE 253 + +MERIAN'S VIEW OF LONDON 256 + +THE SECOND GLOBE 260 + +THE TRADITIONAL SITE OF THE GLOBE 262 + +THE SITE OF THE FORTUNE PLAYHOUSE 270 + +THE FORTUNE PLAYHOUSE? 278 + +EDWARD ALLEYN 282 + +THE SITE OF THE RED BULL PLAYHOUSE 294 + +A PLAN OF WHITEFRIARS 312 + +MICHAEL DRAYTON 314 + +THE SITES OF THE WHITEFRIARS AND THE SALISBURY COURT PLAYHOUSES 318 + +THE HOPE PLAYHOUSE, OR SECOND BEAR GARDEN 326 + +THE HOPE PLAYHOUSE, OR SECOND BEAR GARDEN 331 + +THE SITE OF THE COCKPIT IN DRURY LANE 350 + +A PLAN OF THE SALISBURY COURT PROPERTY 371 + +THE COCKPIT AT WHITEHALL 390 + +INIGO JONES'S PLANS FOR THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT 396 + +FISHER'S SURVEY OF WHITEHALL SHOWING THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT 398 + +THE THEATRO OLYMPICO AT VICENZA 399 + +THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT 407 + + + + +SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYHOUSES + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE INN-YARDS + + +Before the building of regular playhouses the itinerant troupes of +actors were accustomed, except when received into private homes, to +give their performances in any place that chance provided, such as +open street-squares, barns, town-halls, moot-courts, schoolhouses, +churches, and--most frequently of all, perhaps--the yards of inns. +These yards, especially those of carriers' inns, were admirably suited +to dramatic representations, consisting as they did of a large open +court surrounded by two or more galleries. Many examples of such +inn-yards are still to be seen in various parts of England; a picture +of the famous White Hart, in Southwark, is given opposite page 4 by +way of illustration. In the yard a temporary platform--a few boards, +it may be, set on barrel-heads[1]--could be erected for a stage; in +the adjacent stables a dressing-room could be provided for the actors; +the rabble--always the larger and more enthusiastic part of the +audience--could be accommodated with standing-room about the stage; +while the more aristocratic members of the audience could be +comfortably seated in the galleries overhead. Thus a ready-made and +very serviceable theatre was always at the command of the players; and +it seems to have been frequently made use of from the very beginning +of professionalism in acting. + +[Footnote 1: "Thou shalt not need to travel with thy pumps full of +gravel any more, after a blind jade and a hamper, and stalk upon +boards and barrel-heads." (_Poetaster_, III, i.)] + +One of the earliest extant moralities, _Mankind_, acted by strollers +in the latter half of the fifteenth century, gives us an interesting +glimpse of an inn-yard performance. The opening speech makes distinct +reference to the two classes of the audience described above as +occupying the galleries and the yard: + + O ye sovereigns that sit, and ye brothers that stand right + up. + +The "brothers," indeed, seem to have stood up so closely about the +stage that the actors had great difficulty in passing to and from +their dressing-room. Thus, Nowadays leaves the stage with the request: + + Make space, sirs, let me go out! + +New Gyse enters with the threat: + + Out of my way, sirs, for dread of a beating! + +While Nought, with even less respect, shouts: + + Avaunt, knaves! Let me go by! + +Language such as this would hardly be appropriate if addressed to the +"sovereigns" who sat in the galleries above; but, as addressed to the +"brothers," it probably served to create a general feeling of good +nature. And a feeling of good nature was desirable, for the actors +were facing the difficult problem of inducing the audience to pay for +its entertainment. + +This problem they met by taking advantage of the most thrilling moment +of the plot. The Vice and his wicked though jolly companions, having +wholly failed to overcome the hero, Mankind, decide to call to their +assistance no less a person than the great Devil himself; and +accordingly they summon him with a "Walsingham wystyle." Immediately +he roars in the dressing-room, and shouts: + + I come, with my legs under me! + +There is a flash of powder, and an explosion of fireworks, while the +eager spectators crane their necks to view the entrance of this +"abhomynabull" personage. But nothing appears; and in the expectant +silence that follows the actors calmly announce a collection of money, +facetiously making the appearance of the Devil dependent on the +liberality of the audience: + + _New Gyse._ Now ghostly to our purpose, worshipful sovereigns, + We intend to gather money, if it please your negligence. + For a man with a head that of great omnipotence-- + + _Nowadays_ [_interrupting_]. Keep your tale, in goodness, I + pray you, good brother! + + [_Addressing the audience, and pointing towards the + dressing-room, where the Devil roars again._] + + He is a worshipful man, sirs, saving your reverence. + He loveth no groats, nor pence, or two-pence; + Give us red royals, if ye will see his abominable presence. + + _New Gyse._ Not so! Ye that may not pay the one, pay the other. + +And with such phrases as "God bless you, master," "Ye will not say +nay," "Let us go by," "Do them all pay," "Well mote ye fare," they +pass through the audience gathering their groats, pence, and twopence; +after which they remount the stage, fetch in the Devil, and continue +their play without further interruption. + +[Illustration: AN INN-YARD + +The famous White Hart, in Southwark. The ground-plan shows the +arrangement of a carriers' inn with the stabling below; the guest +rooms were on the upper floors.] + +In the smaller towns the itinerant players might, through a letter of +recommendation from their noble patron, or through the good-will of +some local dignitary, secure the use of the town-hall, of the +schoolhouse, or even of the village church. In such buildings, of +course, they could give their performances more advantageously, for +they could place money-takers at the doors, and exact adequate payment +from all who entered. In the great city of London, however, the +players were necessarily forced to make use almost entirely of public +inn-yards--an arrangement which, we may well believe, they found far +from satisfactory. Not being masters of the inns, they were merely +tolerated; they had to content themselves with hastily provided and +inadequate stage facilities; and, worst of all, for their recompense +they had to trust to a hat collection, at best a poor means of +securing money. Often too, no doubt, they could not get the use of a +given inn-yard when they most needed it, as on holidays and festive +occasions; and at all times they had to leave the public in +uncertainty as to where or when plays were to be seen. Their street +parade, with the noise of trumpets and drums, might gather a motley +crowd for the yard, but in so large a place as London it was +inadequate for advertisement among the better classes. And as the +troupes of the city increased in wealth and dignity, and as the +playgoing public grew in size and importance, the old makeshift +arrangement became more and more unsatisfactory. + +At last the unsatisfactory situation was relieved by the specific +dedication of certain large inns to dramatic purposes; that is, the +proprietors of certain inns found it to their advantage to subordinate +their ordinary business to the urgent demands of the actors and the +playgoing public. Accordingly they erected in their yards permanent +stages adequately equipped for dramatic representations, constructed +in their galleries wooden benches to accommodate as many spectators as +possible, and were ready to let the use of their buildings to the +actors on an agreement by which the proprietor shared with the troupe +in the "takings" at the door. Thus there came into existence a number +of inn-playhouses, where the actors, as masters of the place, could +make themselves quite at home, and where the public without special +notification could be sure of always finding dramatic entertainment. + +Richard Flecknoe, in his _Discourse of the English Stage_ (1664), goes +so far as to dignify these reconstructed inns with the name +"theatres." At first, says he, the players acted "without any certain +theatres or set companions, till about the beginning of Queen +Elizabeth's reign they began here to assemble into companies, and set +up theatres, first in the city (as in the inn-yards of the Cross Keys +and Bull in Grace and Bishop's Gate Street at this day to be seen), +till that fanatic spirit [i.e., Puritanism], which then began with the +stage and after ended with the throne, banished them thence into the +suburbs"--that is, into Shoreditch and the Bankside, where, outside +the jurisdiction of the puritanical city fathers, they erected their +first regular playhouses. + +The "banishment" referred to by Flecknoe was the Order of the Common +Council issued on December 6, 1574. This famous document described +public acting as then taking place "in great inns, having chambers and +secret places adjoining to their open stages and galleries"; and it +ordered that henceforth "no inn-keeper, tavern-keeper, nor other +person whatsoever within the liberties of this city shall openly +show, or play, nor cause or suffer to be openly showed or played +within the house yard or any other place within the liberties of this +city, any play," etc. + +How many inns were let on special occasions for dramatic purposes we +cannot say; but there were five "great inns," more famous than the +rest, which were regularly used by the best London troupes. Thus +Howes, in his continuation of Stow's _Annals_ (p. 1004), in attempting +to give a list of the playhouses which had been erected "within London +and the suburbs," begins with the statement, "Five inns, or common +osteryes, turned to playhouses." These five were the Bell and the +Cross Keys, hard by each other in Gracechurch Street, the Bull, in +Bishopsgate Street, the Bell Savage, on Ludgate Hill, and the Boar's +Head, in Whitechapel Street without Aldgate.[2] + +[Footnote 2: All historians of the drama have confused this great +carriers' inn with the Boar's Head in Eastcheap made famous by +Falstaff. The error seems to have come from the _Analytical Index of +the Remembrancia_, which (p. 355) incorrectly catalogues the letter of +March 31, 1602, as referring to the "Boar's Head in Eastcheap." The +letter itself, however, when examined, gives no indication whatever of +Eastcheap, and other evidence shows conclusively that the inn was +situated in Whitechapel just outside of Aldgate.] + +Although Flecknoe referred to the Order of the Common Council as a +"banishment," it did not actually drive the players from the city. +They were able, through the intervention of the Privy Council, and on +the old excuse of rehearsing plays for the Queen's entertainment, to +occupy the inns for a large part of each year.[3] John Stockwood, in a +sermon preached at Paul's Cross, August 24, 1578, bitterly complains +of the "eight ordinary places" used regularly for plays, referring, it +seems, to the five inns and the three playhouses--the Theatre, +Curtain, and Blackfriars--recently opened to the public. + +[Footnote 3: See especially _The Acts of the Privy Council_ and _The +Remembrancia_ of the City of London.] + +Richard Reulidge, in _A Monster Lately Found Out and Discovered_ +(1628), writes that "soon after 1580" the authorities of London +received permission from Queen Elizabeth and her Privy Council "to +thrust the players out of the city, and to pull down all playhouses +and dicing-houses within their liberties: which accordingly was +effected; and the playhouses in Gracious Street [i.e., the Bell and +the Cross Keys], Bishopsgate Street [i.e., the Bull], that nigh Paul's +[i.e., Paul's singing school?], that on Ludgate Hill [i.e., the Bell +Savage], and the Whitefriars[4] were quite put down and suppressed by +the care of these religious senators." + +[Footnote 4: There is some error here. The city had no jurisdiction +over Whitefriars, or Blackfriars either; but there was a playhouse in +Blackfriars at the time, and it was suppressed in 1584, though not by +the city authorities. Possibly Reulidge should have written +"Whitechapel."] + +[Illustration: MAP OF LONDON SHOWING THE INN-PLAYHOUSES + +1. The Bell Savage; 2. The Cross Keys; 3. The Bell; 4. The Bull; 5. +The Boar's Head.] + +Yet, in spite of what Reulidge says, these five inns continued to be +used by the players for many years.[5] No doubt they were often used +surreptitiously. In _Martin's Month's Mind_ (1589), we read that a +person "for a penie may have farre better [entertainment] by oddes at +the Theatre and Curtaine, and _any blind playing house_ everie +day."[6] But the more important troupes were commonly able, through +the interference of the Privy Council, to get official permission to +use the inns during a large part of each year. + +[Footnote 5: _The Remembrancia_ shows that the inn-playhouses remained +for many years as sharp thorns in the side of the puritanical city +fathers.] + +[Footnote 6: Grosart, _Nash_, I, 179.] + +There is not enough material about these early inn-playhouses to +enable one to write their separate histories. Below, however, I have +recorded in chronological order the more important references to them +which have come under my observation. + +1557. On September 5 the Privy Council instructed the Lord Mayor of +London "that some of his officers do forthwith repair to the Boar's +Head without Aldgate, where, the Lords are informed, a lewd play +called _A Sackful of News_ shall be played this day," to arrest the +players, and send their playbook to the Council.[7] + +[Footnote 7: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, VI, 168.] + +1573. During this year there were various fencing contests held at the +Bull in Bishopsgate.[8] + +[Footnote 8: W. Rendle, _The Inns of Old Southwark_, p. 235.] + +1577. In February the Office of the Revels made a payment of 10_d._ +"ffor the cariadge of the parts of ye well counterfeit from the Bell +in gracious strete to St. Johns, to be performed for the play of +_Cutwell_."[9] + +[Footnote 9: A. Feuillerat, _Documents Relating to the Office of the +Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth_, p. 277.] + +1579. On June 23 James Burbage was arrested for the sum of £5 13_d._ +"as he came down Gracious Street towards the Cross Keys there to a +play." The name of the proprietor of this inn-playhouse is preserved +in one of the interrogatories connected with the case: "Item. Whether +did you, John Hynde, about xiii years past, in _anno_ 1579, the xxiii +of June, about two of the clock in the afternoon, send the sheriff's +officer unto the Cross Keys in Gratious Street, being then the +dwelling house of Richard Ibotson, citizen and brewer of London," +etc.[10] Nothing more, I believe, is known of this person. + +[Footnote 10: Burbage _v._ Brayne, printed in C.W. Wallace, _The First +London Theatre_, pp. 82, 90. Whether Burbage was going to the Cross +Keys as a spectator or as an actor is not indicated; but the +presumption is that he was then playing at the inn, although he was +proprietor of the Theatre.] + +1579. Stephen Gosson, in _The Schoole of Abuse_, writes favorably of +"the two prose books played at the Bell Savage, where you shall find +never a word without wit, never a line without pith, never a letter +placed in vain; the _Jew_ and _Ptolome_, shown at the Bull ... neither +with amorous gesture wounding the eye, nor with slovenly talk hurting +the ears of the chast hearers."[11] + +[Footnote 11: Arber's _English Reprints_, p. 40.] + +1582. On July 1 the Earl of Warwick wrote to the Lord Mayor requesting +the city authorities to "give license to my servant, John David, this +bearer, to play his profest prizes in his science and profession of +defence at the Bull in Bishopsgate, or some other convenient place to +be assigned within the liberties of London." The Lord Mayor refused to +allow David to give his fencing contest "in an inn, which was somewhat +too close for infection, and appointed him to play in an open place of +the Leaden Hall," which, it may be added, was near the Bull.[12] + +[Footnote 12: See The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 55-57.] + +1583. William Rendle, in _The Inns of Old Southwark_, p. 235, states +that in this year "Tarleton, Wilson, and others note the stay of the +plague, and ask leave to play at the Bull in Bishopsgate, or the Bell +in Gracechurch Street," citing as his authority merely "City MS." The +Privy Council on November 26, 1583, addressed to the Lord Mayor a +letter requesting "that Her Majesty's Players [i.e., Tarleton, Wilson, +etc.] may be suffered to play within the liberties as heretofore they +have done."[13] And on November 28 the Lord Mayor issued to them a +license to play "at the sign of the Bull in Bishopsgate Street, and +the sign of the Bell in Gracious Street, and nowhere else within this +City."[14] + +[Footnote 13: See _The Remembrancia_, in The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 66.] + +[Footnote 14: C.W. Wallace, _The First London Theatre_, p. 11.] + +1587. "James Cranydge played his master's prize the 21 of November, +1587, at the Bellsavage without Ludgate, at iiij sundry kinds of +weapons.... There played with him nine masters."[15] + +[Footnote 15: _MS. Sloane_, 2530, f. 6-7, quoted by J.O. Halliwell in +his edition of _Tarlton's Jests_, p. xi. The Bell Savage seems to have +been especially patronized by fencers. George Silver, in his _Paradoxe +of Defence_ (1599), tells how he and his brother once challenged two +Italian fencers to a contest "to be played at the Bell Savage upon the +scaffold, when he that went in his fight faster back than he ought, +should be in danger to break his neck off the scaffold."] + +Before 1588. In _Tarlton's Jests_[16] we find a number of references +to that famous actor's pleasantries in the London inns used by the +Queen's Players. It is impossible to date these exactly, but Tarleton +became a member of the Queen's Players in 1583, and he died in 1588. + +[Footnote 16: First printed in 1611; reprinted by J.O. Halliwell for +The Shakespeare Society in 1844.] + + At the Bull in Bishops-gate-street, where the Queen's + Players oftentimes played, Tarleton coming on the stage, one + from the gallery threw a pippin at him. + + There was one Banks, in the time of Tarleton, who served the + Earl of Essex, and had a horse of strange qualities; and + being at the Cross Keys in Gracious Street getting money + with him, as he was mightily resorted to. Tarleton then, + with his fellows playing at the Bell by, came into the Cross + Keys, amongst many people, to see fashions. + + At the Bull at Bishops-gate was a play of Henry the Fifth. + +The several "jests" which follow these introductory sentences indicate +that the inn-yards differed in no essential way from the early public +playhouses. + +1588. "John Mathews played his master's prize the 31 day of January, +1588, at the Bell Savage without Ludgate."[17] + +[Footnote 17: _MS. Sloane_, 2530, f. 6-7, quoted by Halliwell in his +edition of _Tarlton's Jests_, p. xi. There is some difficulty with the +date. One of the "masters" before whom the prize was played was +"Rycharde Tarlton," whom Halliwell takes to be the famous actor of +that name; but Tarleton the actor died on September 3, 1588. Probably +Halliwell in transcribing the manuscript silently modernized the date +from the Old Style.] + +1589. In November Lord Burghley directed the Lord Mayor to "give order +for the stay of all plays within the city." In reply the Lord Mayor +wrote: + + According to which your Lordship's good pleasure, I + presently sent for such players as I could hear of; so as + there appeared yesterday before me the Lord Strange's + Players, to whom I specially gave in charge and required + them in Her Majesty's name to forbear playing until further + order might be given for their allowance in that respect. + Whereupon the Lord Admiral's Players very dutifully obeyed; + but the others, in very contemptuous manner departing from + me, went to the Cross Keys and played that afternoon.[18] + +[Footnote 18: _Lansdowne MSS._ 60, quoted by Collier, _History of +English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), I, 265.] + +1594. On October 8, Henry, Lord Hunsdon, the Lord Chamberlain and the +patron of Shakespeare's company, wrote to the Lord Mayor: + + After my hearty commendations. Where my now company of + players have been accustomed for the better exercise of + their quality, and for the service of Her Majesty if need so + require, to play this winter time within the city at the + Cross Keys in Gracious Street, these are to require and pray + your Lordship (the time being such as, thanks to God, there + is now no danger of the sickness) to permit and suffer them + so to do.[19] + +[Footnote 19: _The Remembrancia_, The Malone Society's _Collections_, +I, 73.] + +By such devices as this the players were usually able to secure +permission to act "within the city" during the disagreeable months of +the winter when the large playhouses in the suburbs were difficult of +access. + +1594. Anthony Bacon, the elder brother of Francis, came to lodge in +Bishopsgate Street. This fact very much disturbed his good mother, who +feared lest his servants might be corrupted by the plays to be seen at +the Bull near by.[20] + +[Footnote 20: See W. Rendle, _The Inns of Old Southwark_, p. 236.] + +1596. William Lambarde, in his _Perambulation of Kent_,[21] observes +that none of those who go "to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or +Theatre, to behold bear-baiting, interludes, or fence play, can +account of any pleasant spectacle unless they first pay one penny at +the gate, another at the entry of the scaffold, and the third for a +quiet standing." + +[Footnote 21: The passage does not appear in the earlier edition of +1576, though it was probably written shortly after the erection of the +Theatre in the autumn of 1576.] + +1602. On March 31 the Privy Council wrote to the Lord Mayor that the +players of the Earl of Oxford and of the Earl of Worcester had been +"joined by agreement together in one company, to whom, upon notice of +Her Majesty's pleasure, at the suit of the Earl of Oxford, toleration +hath been thought meet to be granted." The letter concludes: + + And as the other companies that are allowed, namely of me + the Lord Admiral, and the Lord Chamberlain, be appointed + their certain houses, and one and no more to each company, + so we do straightly require that this third company be + likewise [appointed] to one place. And because we are + informed the house called the Boar's Head is the place they + have especially used and do best like of, we do pray and + require you that the said house, namely the Boar's Head, may + be assigned unto them.[22] + +[Footnote 22: _The Remembrancia_, The Malone Society's _Collections_, +I, 85.] + +That the strong Oxford-Worcester combination should prefer the Boar's +Head to the Curtain or the Rose Playhouse,[23] indicates that the +inn-yard was not only large, but also well-equipped for acting. + +[Footnote 23: They had to use the Rose nevertheless; see page 158.] + +1604. In a draft of a license to be issued to Queen Anne's Company, +those players are allowed to act "as well within their now usual +houses, called the Curtain and the Boar's Head, within our County of +Middlesex, as in any other playhouse not used by others."[24] + +[Footnote 24: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 265.] + +In 1608 the Boar's Head seems to have been occupied by the newly +organized Prince Charles's Company. In William Kelly's extracts from +the payments of the city of Leicester we find the entry: "Itm. Given +to the Prince's Players, of Whitechapel, London, xx _s._" + +In 1664, as Flecknoe tells us, the Cross Keys and the Bull still gave +evidence of their former use as playhouses; perhaps even then they +were occasionally let for fencing and other contests. In 1666 the +great fire completely destroyed the Bell, the Cross Keys, and the Bell +Savage; the Bull, however, escaped, and enjoyed a prosperous career +for many years after. Samuel Pepys was numbered among its patrons, and +writers of the Restoration make frequent reference to it. What became +of the Boar's Head without Aldgate I am unable to learn; its memory, +however, is perpetuated to-day in Boar's Head Yard, between Middlesex +Street and Goulston Street, Whitechapel. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HOSTILITY OF THE CITY + + +As the actors rapidly increased in number and importance, and as +Londoners flocked in ever larger crowds to witness plays, the +animosity of two forces was aroused, Puritanism and Civic +Government,--forces which opposed the drama for different reasons, but +with almost equal fervor. And when in the course of time the Governors +of the city themselves became Puritans, the combined animosity thus +produced was sufficient to drive the players out of London into the +suburbs. + +The Puritans attacked the drama as contrary to Holy Writ, as +destructive of religion, and as a menace to public morality. Against +plays, players, and playgoers they waged in pulpit and pamphlet a +warfare characterized by the most intense fanaticism. The charges they +made--of ungodliness, idolatrousness, lewdness, profanity, evil +practices, enormities, and "abuses" of all kinds--are far too numerous +to be noted here; they are interesting chiefly for their +unreasonableness and for the violence with which they were urged. + +And, after all, however much the Puritans might rage, they were +helpless; authority to restrain acting was vested in the Lord Mayor, +his brethren the Aldermen, and the Common Council. The attitude of +these city officials towards the drama was unmistakable: they had no +more love for the actors than had the Puritans. They found that "plays +and players" gave them more trouble than anything else in the entire +administration of municipal affairs. The dedication of certain "great +inns" to the use of actors and to the entertainment of the +pleasure-loving element of the city created new and serious problems +for those charged with the preservation of civic law and order. The +presence in these inns of private rooms adjoining the yard and +balconies gave opportunity for immorality, gambling, fleecing, and +various other "evil practices"--an opportunity which, if we may +believe the Common Council, was not wasted. Moreover, the proprietors +of these inns made a large share of their profits from the beer, ale, +and other drinks dispensed to the crowds before, during, and after +performances (the proprietor of the Cross Keys, it will be recalled, +was described as "citizen and brewer of London"); and the resultant +intemperance among "such as frequented the said plays, being the +ordinary place of meeting for all vagrant persons, and masterless men +that hang about the city, theeves, horse-stealers, whoremongers, +cozeners, cony-catching persons, practicers of treason, and such other +like,"[25] led to drunkenness, frays, bloodshed, and often to general +disorder. Sometimes, as we know, turbulent apprentices and other +factions met by appointment at plays for the sole purpose of starting +riots or breaking open jails. "Upon Whitsunday," writes the Recorder +to Lord Burghley, "by reason no plays were the same day, all the city +was quiet."[26] + +[Footnote 25: So the Lord Mayor characterized playgoers; see _The +Remembrancia_, in The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 75.] + +[Footnote 26: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 164.] + +Trouble of an entirely different kind arose when in the hot months of +the summer the plague was threatening. The meeting together at plays +of "great multitudes of the basest sort of people" served to spread +the infection throughout the city more quickly and effectively than +could anything else. On such occasions it was exceedingly difficult +for the municipal authorities to control the actors, who were at best +a stubborn and unruly lot; and often the pestilence had secured a full +start before acting could be suppressed. + +These troubles, and others which cannot here be mentioned, made one of +the Lord Mayors exclaim in despair: "The Politique State and +Government of this City by no one thing is so greatly annoyed and +disquieted as by players and plays, and the disorders which follow +thereupon."[27] + +[Footnote 27: _The Remembrancia_, in The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 69.] + +This annoyance, serious enough in itself, was aggravated by the fact +that most of the troupes were under the patronage of great noblemen, +and some were even high in favor with the Queen. As a result, the +attempts on the part of the Lord Mayor and his Aldermen to regulate +the players were often interfered with by other or higher authority. +Sometimes it was a particular nobleman, whose request was not to be +ignored, who intervened in behalf of his troupe; most often, however, +it was the Privy Council, representing the Queen and the nobility in +general, which championed the cause of the actors and countermanded +the decrees of the Lord Mayor and his brethren. One of the most +notable things in the City's _Remembrancia_ is this long conflict of +authority between the Common Council and the Privy Council over actors +and acting. + +In 1573 the situation seems to have approached a crisis. The Lord +Mayor had become strongly puritanical, and in his efforts to suppress +"stage-plays" was placing more and more obstacles in the way of the +actors. The temper of the Mayor is revealed in two entries in the +records of the Privy Council. On July 13, 1573, the Lords of the +Council sent a letter to him requesting him "to permit liberty to +certain Italian players"; six days later they sent a second letter, +repeating the request, and "marveling that he did it not at their +first request."[28] His continued efforts to suppress the drama +finally led the troupes to appeal for relief to the Privy Council. On +March 22, 1574, the Lords of the Council dispatched "a letter to the +Lord Mayor to advertise their Lordships what causes he hath to +restrain plays." His answer has not been preserved, but that he +persisted in his hostility to the drama is indicated by the fact that +in May the Queen openly took sides with the players. To the Earl of +Leicester's troupe she issued a special royal license, authorizing +them to act "as well within our city of London and liberties of the +same, as also within the liberties and freedoms of any our cities, +towns, boroughs, etc., whatsoever"; and to the mayors and other +officers she gave strict orders not to interfere with such +performances: "Willing and commanding you, and every of you, as ye +tender our pleasure, to permit and suffer them herein without any your +lets, hindrances, or molestation during the term aforesaid, any act, +statute, proclamation, or commandment heretofore made, or hereafter to +be made, to the contrary notwithstanding." + +[Footnote 28: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, VIII, 131, 132.] + +This license was a direct challenge to the authority of the Lord +Mayor. He dared not answer it as directly; but on December 6, 1574, he +secured from the Common Council the passage of an ordinance which +placed such heavy restrictions upon acting as virtually to nullify the +license issued by the Queen, and to regain for the Mayor complete +control of the drama within the city. The Preamble of this remarkable +ordinance clearly reveals the puritanical character of the City +Government: + + Whereas heretofore sundry great disorders and inconveniences + have been found to ensue to this city by the inordinate + haunting of great multitudes of people, specially youths, to + plays, interludes, and shews: namely, occasion of frays and + quarrels; evil practises of incontinency in great inns + having chambers and secret places adjoining to their open + stages and galleries; inveigling and alluring of maids, + specially orphans and good citizens' children under age, to + privy and unmeet contracts; the publishing of unchaste, + uncomly, and unshamefaced speeches and doings; withdrawing + of the Queen's Majesty's subjects from divine service on + Sundays and holy days, at which times such plays were + chiefly used; unthrifty waste of the money of the poor and + fond persons; sundry robberies by picking and cutting of + purses; uttering of popular, busy, and seditious matters; + and many other corruptions of youth, and other enormities; + besides that also sundry slaughters and maimings of the + Queen's subjects have happened by ruins of scaffolds, + frames, and stages, and by engines, weapons, and powder used + in plays. And whereas in time of God's visitation by the + plague such assemblies of the people in throng and press + have been very dangerous for spreading of infection.... And + for that the Lord Mayor and his brethren the Aldermen, + together with the grave and discreet citizens in the Common + Council assembled, do doubt and fear lest upon God's + merciful withdrawing his hand of sickness from us (which God + grant), the people, specially the meaner and most unruly + sort, should with sudden forgetting of His visitation, + without fear of God's wrath, and without due respect of the + good and politique means that He hath ordained for the + preservation of common weals and peoples in health and good + order, return to the undue use of such enormities, to the + great offense of God....[29] + +[Footnote 29: For the complete document see W.C. Hazlitt, _The English +Drama and Stage_, p. 27.] + +The restrictions on playing imposed by the ordinance may be briefly +summarized: + +1. Only such plays should be acted as were free from all unchastity, +seditiousness, and "uncomely matter." + +2. Before being acted all plays should be "first perused and allowed +in such order and form, and by such persons as by the Lord Mayor and +Court of Aldermen for the time being shall be appointed." + +3. Inns or other buildings used for acting, and their proprietors, +should both be licensed by the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen. + +4. The proprietors of such buildings should be "bound to the +Chamberlain of London" by a sufficient bond to guarantee "the keeping +of good order, and avoiding of" the inconveniences noted in the +Preamble. + +5. No plays should be given during the time of sickness, or during any +inhibition ordered at any time by the city authorities. + +6. No plays should be given during "any usual time of divine service," +and no persons should be admitted into playing places until after +divine services were over. + +7. The proprietors of such places should pay towards the support of +the poor a sum to be agreed upon by the city authorities. + +In order, however, to avoid trouble with the Queen, or those noblemen +who were accustomed to have plays given in their homes for the private +entertainment of themselves and their guests, the Common Council +added, rather grudgingly, the following proviso: + + Provided alway that this act (otherwise than touching the + publishing of unchaste, seditious, and unmeet matters) shall + not extend to any plays, interludes, comedies, tragedies, or + shews to be played or shewed in the private house, dwelling, + or lodging of any nobleman, citizen, or gentleman, which + shall or will then have the same there so played or shewed + in his presence for the festivity of any marriage, assembly + of friends, or other like cause, without public or common + collections of money of the auditory or beholders thereof. + +Such regulations if strictly enforced would prove very annoying to the +players. But, as the Common Council itself informs us, "these orders +were not then observed." The troupes continued to play in the city, +protected against any violent action on the part of the municipal +authorities by the known favor of the Queen and the frequent +interference of the Privy Council. This state of affairs was not, of +course, comfortable for the actors; but it was by no means desperate, +and for several years after the passage of the ordinance of 1574 they +continued without serious interruption to occupy their inn-playhouses. + +The long-continued hostility of the city authorities, however, of +which the ordinance of 1574 was an ominous expression, led more or +less directly to the construction of special buildings devoted to +plays and situated beyond the jurisdiction of the Common Council. As +the Reverend John Stockwood, in _A Sermon Preached at Paules Crosse, +1578_, indignantly puts it: + + Have we not _houses of purpose_, built with great charges + for the maintenance of plays, and that _without the + liberties_, as who would say "_There, let them say what they + will say, we will play!_" + +Thus came into existence playhouses; and with them dawned a new era in +the history of the English drama. + +[Illustration: THE SITE OF THE FIRST PLAYHOUSES + +Finsbury Field and Holywell. The man walking from the Field towards +Shoreditch is just entering Holywell Lane. + +(From Agas's _Map of London_, representing the city as it was about +1560.)] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE THEATRE + + +The hostility of the city to the drama was unquestionably the main +cause of the erection of the first playhouse; yet combined with this +were two other important causes, usually overlooked. The first was the +need of a building specially designed to meet the requirements of the +players and of the public, a need yearly growing more urgent as plays +became more complex, acting developed into a finer art, and audiences +increased in dignity as well as in size. The second and the more +immediate cause was the appearance of a man with business insight +enough to see that such a building would pay. The first playhouse, we +should remember, was not erected by a troupe of actors, but by a +money-seeking individual.[30] Although he was himself an actor, and +the manager of a troupe, he did not, it seems, take the troupe into +his confidence. In complete independence of any theatrical +organization he proceeded with the erection of his building as a +private speculation; and, we are told, he dreamed of the "continual +great profit and commodity through plays that should be used there +every week." + +[Footnote 30: I emphasize this point because the opposite is the +accepted opinion. We find it expressed in _The Cambridge History of +English Literature_, VI, 431, as follows: "Certain players, finding +the city obdurate, and unwilling to submit to its severe regulations, +began to look about them for some means of carrying on their business +out of reach of the mayor's authority," etc.] + +This man, "the first builder of playhouses,"--and, it might have been +added, the pioneer in a new field of business,--was James Burbage, +originally, as we are told by one who knew him well, "by occupation a +joiner; and reaping but a small living by the same, gave it over and +became a common player in plays."[31] As an actor he was more +successful, for as early as 1572 we find him at the head of +Leicester's excellent troupe. + +[Footnote 31: Deposition by Robert Myles, 1592, printed in Wallace's +_The First London Theatre_, p. 141.] + +Having in 1575 conceived the notion of erecting a building specially +designed for dramatic entertainments, he was at once confronted with +the problem of a suitable location. Two conditions narrowed his +choice: first, the site had to be outside the jurisdiction of the +Common Council; secondly, it had to be as near as possible to the +city. + +No doubt he at once thought of the two suburbs that were specially +devoted to recreation, the Bankside to the south, and Finsbury Field +to the north of the city. The Bankside had for many years been +associated in the minds of Londoners with "sports and pastimes." +Thither the citizens were accustomed to go to witness bear-baiting +and bull-baiting, to practice archery, and to engage in various +athletic sports. Thither, too, for many years the actors had gone to +present their plays. In 1545 King Henry VIII had issued a proclamation +against vagabonds, ruffians, idle persons, and common players,[32] in +which he referred to their "fashions commonly used at the Bank." The +Bankside, however, was associated with the lowest and most vicious +pleasures of London, for here were situated the stews, bordering the +river's edge. Since the players were at this time subject to the +bitterest attacks from the London preachers, Burbage wisely decided +not to erect the first permanent home of the drama in a locality +already a common target for puritan invective. + +[Footnote 32: See page 134.] + +The second locality, Finsbury Field, had nearly all the advantages, +and none of the disadvantages, of the Bankside. Since 1315 the Field +had been in the possession of the city,[33] and had been used as a +public playground, where families could hold picnics, falconers could +fly their hawks, archers could exercise their sport, and the militia +on holidays could drill with all "the pomp and circumstance of +glorious war." In short, the Field was eminently respectable, was +accessible to the city, and was definitely associated with the idea of +entertainment. The locality, therefore, was almost ideal for the +purpose Burbage had in mind.[34] + +[Footnote 33: See _The Remembrancia_, p. 274; Stow, _Survey_. The +Corporation of London held the manor on lease from St. Paul's +Cathedral until 1867.] + +[Footnote 34: Doubtless, too, Burbage was influenced in his choice by +the fact that he had already made his home in the Liberty of +Shoreditch, near Finsbury Field.] + +The new playhouse, of course, could not be erected in the Field +itself, which was under the control of the city; but just to the east +of the Field certain vacant land, part of the dissolved Priory of +Holywell, offered a site in every way suitable to the purpose. The +Holywell property, at the dissolution of the Priory, had passed under +the jurisdiction of the Crown, and hence the Lord Mayor and the +Aldermen could not enforce municipal ordinances there. Moreover, it +was distant from the city wall not much more than half a mile. The old +conventual church had been demolished, the Priory buildings had been +converted into residences, and the land near the Shoreditch highway +had been built up with numerous houses. The land next to the Field, +however, was for the most part undeveloped. It contained some +dilapidated tenements, a few old barns formerly belonging to the +Priory, and small garden plots, conspicuous objects in the early maps. + +[Illustration: THE SITE OF THE FIRST PLAYHOUSES + +Finsbury Field lies to the north (beyond Moor Field, the small +rectangular space next to the city wall), and the Holywell Property +lies to the right of Finsbury Field, between the Field and the +highway. Holywell Lane divides the garden plots; the Theatre was +erected just to the north, and the Curtain just to the south of this +lane, facing the Field. (From the _Map of London_ by Braun and +Hogenbergius representing the city as it was in 1554-1558.)] + +Burbage learned that a large portion of this land lying next to the +Field was in the possession of a well-to-do gentleman named Gyles +Alleyn,[35] and that Alleyn was willing to lease a part of his +holding on the conditions of development customary in this section of +London. These conditions are clearly revealed in a chancery suit of +1591: + + The ground there was for the most part converted first into + garden plots, and then leasing the same to diverse tenants + caused them to covenant or promise to build upon the same, + by occasion whereof the buildings which are there were for + the most part erected and the rents increased.[36] + +[Footnote 35: For a detailed history of the property from the year +1128, and for the changes in the ownership of Alleyn's portion after +the dissolution, see Braines, _Holywell Priory_.] + +[Footnote 36: Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 365. The suit +concerns the Curtain property, somewhat south of the Alleyn property, +but a part of the Priory.] + +The part of Alleyn's property on which Burbage had his eye was in sore +need of improvement. It consisted of five "paltry tenements," +described as "old, decayed, and ruinated for want of reparation, and +the best of them was but of two stories high," and a long barn "very +ruinous and decayed and ready to have fallen down," one half of which +was used as a storage-room, the other half as a slaughter-house. Three +of the tenements had small gardens extending back to the Field, and +just north of the barn was a bit of "void ground," also adjoining the +Field. It was this bit of "void ground" that Burbage had selected as a +suitable location for his proposed playhouse. The accompanying map of +the property[37] will make clear the position of this "void ground" +and of the barns and tenements about it. Moreover, it will serve to +indicate the exact site of the Theatre. If one will bear in mind the +fact that in the London of to-day Curtain Road marks the eastern +boundary of Finsbury Field, and New Inn Yard cuts off the lower half +of the Great Barn, he will be able to place Burbage's structure within +a few yards.[38] + +[Footnote 37: I have based this map in large measure on the documents +presented by Braines in his excellent pamphlet, _Holywell Priory_.] + +[Footnote 38: For proof see Braines, _op. cit._] + +[Illustration: A PLAN OF BURBAGE'S HOLYWELL PROPERTY + +Based on the lease, and on the miscellaneous documents printed by +Halliwell-Phillipps and by Braines. The "common sewer" is now marked +by Curtain Road, and the "ditch from the horse-pond" by New Inn Yard.] + +The property is carefully described in the lease--quoted below--which +Burbage secured from Alleyn, but the reader will need to refer to the +map in order to follow with ease the several paragraphs of +description:[39] + + All those two houses or tenements, with appurtenances, which + at the time of the said former demise made were in the + several tenures or occupations of Joan Harrison, widow, and + John Dragon. + + And also all that house or tenement with the appurtenances, + together with the garden ground lying behind part of the + same, being then likewise in the occupation of William + Gardiner; which said garden plot doth extend in breadth from + a great stone wall there which doth enclose part of the + garden then or lately being in the occupation of the said + Gyles, unto the garden there then in the occupation of Edwin + Colefox, weaver, and in length from the same house or + tenement unto a brick wall there next unto the fields + commonly called Finsbury Fields. + + And also all that house or tenement, with the appurtenances, + at the time of the said former demise made called or known + by the name of the Mill-house; together with the garden + ground lying behind part of the same, also at the time of + the said former demise made being in the tenure or + occupation of the aforesaid Edwin Colefox, or of his + assigns; which said garden ground doth extend in length from + the same house or tenement unto the aforesaid brick wall + next unto the aforesaid Fields. + + And also all those three upper rooms, with the + appurtenances, next adjoining to the aforesaid Mill-house, + also being at the time of the said former demise made in the + occupation of Thomas Dancaster, shoemaker, or of his + assigns; and also all the nether rooms, with the + appurtenances, lying under the same three upper rooms, and + next adjoining also to the aforesaid house or tenement + called the Mill-house, then also being in the several + tenures or occupations of Alice Dotridge, widow, and Richard + Brockenbury, or of their assigns; together with the garden + ground lying behind the same, extending in length from the + same nether rooms down unto the aforesaid brick wall next + unto the aforesaid Fields, and then or late being also in + the tenure or occupation of the aforesaid Alice Dotridge. + + And also so much of the ground and soil lying and being + afore all the tenements or houses before granted, as + extendeth in length from the outward part of the aforesaid + tenements being at the time of the making of the said former + demise in the occupation of the aforesaid Joan Harrison and + John Dragon, unto a pond there being next unto the barn or + stable then in the occupation of the right honorable the + Earl of Rutland or of his assigns, and in breadth from the + aforesaid tenement or Mill-house to the midst of the well + being afore the same tenements. + + And also all that Great Barn, with the appurtenances, at the + time of the making of the said former demise made being in + the several occupations of Hugh Richards, innholder, and + Robert Stoughton, butcher; and also a little piece of ground + then inclosed with a pale and next adjoining to the + aforesaid barn, and then or late before that in the + occupation of the said Robert Stoughton; together also with + all the ground and soil lying and being between the said + nether rooms last before expressed, and the aforesaid Great + Barn, and the aforesaid pond; that is to say, extending in + length from the aforesaid pond unto a ditch beyond the brick + wall next the aforesaid Fields. + + And also the said Gyles Alleyn and Sara his wife do by these + presents demise, grant, and to farm lett unto the said James + Burbage all the right, title, and interest which the said + Gyles and Sara have or ought to have in or to all the + grounds and soil lying between the aforesaid Great Barn and + the barn being at the time of the said former demise in the + occupation of the Earl of Rutland or of his assigns, + extending in length from the aforesaid pond and from the + aforesaid stable or barn then in the occupation of the + aforesaid Earl of Rutland or of his assigns, down to the + aforesaid brick wall next the aforesaid Fields.[40] + + And also the said Gyles and Sara do by these presents + demise, grant, and to farm lett to the said James all the + said void ground lying and being betwixt the aforesaid ditch + and the aforesaid brick wall, extending in length from the + aforesaid [great stone] wall[41] which encloseth part of the + aforesaid garden being at the time of the making of the said + former demise or late before that in the occupation of the + said Gyles Allen, unto the aforesaid barn then in the + occupation of the aforesaid Earl or of his assigns. + +[Footnote 39: The original lease may be found incorporated in Alleyn +_v._ Street, Coram Rege, 1599-1600, printed in full by Wallace, _The +First London Theatre_, pp. 163-80, and again in Alleyn _v._ Burbage, +Queen's Bench, 1602, Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 267-75. The lease, I +think, was in English not Latin, and hence is more correctly given in +the first document; in the second document the scrivener has +translated it into Latin. The lease is also given in part on page +187.] + +[Footnote 40: This part of the property was claimed by the Earl of +Rutland, and was being used by him. For a long time it was the subject +of dispute. Ultimately, it seems, the Earl secured the title, as he +had always had the use of the property. This probably explains why +Burbage did not attempt to erect his playhouse there.] + +[Footnote 41: The document by error reads "brick wall" but the mistake +is obvious, and the second version of the lease does not repeat the +error. This clause merely means that the ditch, not the brick wall, +constituted the western boundary of the property.] + +The lease was formally signed on April 13, 1576, and Burbage entered +into the possession of his property. Since the terms of the lease are +important for an understanding of the subsequent history of the +playhouse, I shall set these forth briefly: + +First, the lease was to run for twenty-one years from April 13, 1576, +at an annual rental of £14. + +Secondly, Burbage was to spend before the expiration of ten years the +sum of £200 in rebuilding and improving the decayed tenements. + +Thirdly, in view of this expenditure of £200, Burbage was to have at +the end of the ten years the right to renew the lease at the same +rental of £14 a year for twenty-one years, thus making the lease good +in all for thirty-one years: + + And the said Gyles Alleyn and Sara his wife did thereby + covenant with the said James Burbage that they should and + would at any time within the ten years next ensuing at or + upon the lawful request or demand of the said James Burbage + make or cause to be made to the said James Burbage a new + lease or grant like to the same presents for the term of one + and twenty years more, to begin from the date of making the + same lease, yielding therefor the rent reserved in the + former indenture.[42] + +[Footnote 42: Quoted from Burbage _v._ Alleyn, Court of Requests, +1600, Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 182. I have stripped the passage of some +of its legal verbiage.] + +Fourthly, it was agreed that at any time before the expiration of the +lease, Burbage might take down and carry away to his own use any +building that in the mean time he might have erected on the vacant +ground for the purpose of a playhouse: + + And farther, the said Gyles Alleyn and Sara his wife did + covenant and grant to the said James Burbage that it should + and might be lawful to the said James Burbage (in + consideration of the imploying and bestowing the foresaid + two hundred pounds in forme aforesaid) at any time or times + before the end of the said term of one and twenty years, to + have, take down, and carry away to his own proper use for + ever all such buildings and other things as should be + builded, erected, or set up in or upon the gardens and void + grounds by the said James, either for a theatre or playing + place, or for any other lawful use, without any stop, claim, + let, trouble, or interruption of the said Gyles Alleyn and + Sara his wife.[43] + +[Footnote 43: Quoted from Burbage _v._ Alleyn, Court of Requests, +1600, Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 182.] + +Protected by these specific terms, Burbage proceeded to the erection +of his playhouse. He must have had faith and abundant courage, for he +was a poor man, quite unequal to the large expenditures called for by +his plans. A person who had known him for many years, deposed in 1592 +that "James Burbage was not at the time of the first beginning of the +building of the premises worth above one hundred marks[44] in all his +substance, for he and this deponent were familiarly acquainted long +before that time and ever since."[45] We are not surprised to learn, +therefore, that he was "constrained to borrow diverse sums of money," +and that he actually pawned the lease itself to a money-lender.[46] +Even so, without assistance, we are told, he "should never be able to +build it, for it would cost five times as much as he was worth." + +[Footnote 44: That is, about £80.] + +[Footnote 45: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 134; cf. p. 153.] + +[Footnote 46: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 151. Cuthbert Burbage declared +in 1635: "The Theatre he built with many hundred pounds taken up at +interest." (Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 317.)] + +Fortunately he had a wealthy brother-in-law, John Brayne,[47] a London +grocer, described as "worth five hundred pounds at the least, and by +common fame worth a thousand marks."[48] In some way Brayne became +interested in the new venture. Like Burbage, he believed that large +profits would flow from such a novel undertaking; and as a result he +readily agreed to share the expense of erecting and maintaining the +building. Years later members of the Brayne faction asserted that +James Burbage "induced" his brother-in-law to venture upon the +enterprise by unfairly representing the great profits to ensue;[49] +but the evidence, I think, shows that Brayne eagerly sought the +partnership. Burbage himself asserted in 1588 that Brayne "practiced +to obtain some interest therein," and presumed "that he might easily +compass the same by reason that he was natural brother"; and that he +voluntarily offered to "bear and pay half the charges of the said +building then bestowed and thereafter to be bestowed" in order "that +he might have the moiety[50] of the above named Theatre."[51] As a +further inducement, so the Burbages asserted, he promised that "for +that he had no children," the moiety at his death should go to the +children of James Burbage, "whose advancement he then seemed greatly +to tender." + +[Footnote 47: The name is often spelled "Braynes."] + +[Footnote 48: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 109.] + +[Footnote 49: See Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 139 _seq._] + +[Footnote 50: That is, half-interest.] + +[Footnote 51: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 40.] + +Whatever caused Brayne to interest himself in the venture, he quickly +became fired with such hopes of great gain that he not only spent upon +the building all the money he could gather or borrow, but sold his +stock of groceries for £146, disposed of his house for £100, even +pawned his clothes, and put his all into the new structure. The spirit +in which he worked to make the venture a success, and the personal +sacrifices that he and his wife made, fully deserve the quotation +here of two legal depositions bearing on the subject: + + This deponent, being servant, in Bucklersbury, aforesaid, to + one Robert Kenningham, grocer, in which street the said John + Brayne dwelled also, and of the same trade, he, the said + Brayne, at the time he joined with the said James Burbage in + the aforesaid lease, was reputed among his neighbors to be + worth one thousand pounds at the least, and that after he + had joined with the said Burbage in the matter of the + building of the said Theatre, he began to slack his own + trade, and gave himself to the building thereof, and the + chief care thereof he took upon him, and hired workmen of + all sorts for that purpose, bought timber and all other + things belonging thereunto, and paid all. So as, in this + deponent's conscience, he bestowed thereupon for his owne + part the sum of one thousand marks at the least, in so much + as his affection was given so greatly to the finishing + thereof, in hope of great wealth and profit during their + lease, that at the last he was driven to sell to this + deponent's father his lease of the house wherein he dwelled + for £100, and to this deponent all such wares as he had left + and all that belonged thereunto remaining in the same, for + the sum of £146 and odd money, whereof this deponent did pay + for him to one Kymbre, an ironmonger in London, for iron + work which the said Brayne bestowed upon the said Theatre, + the sum of £40. And afterwards the said Brayne took the + matter of the said building so upon him as he was driven to + borrow money to supply the same, saying to this deponent + that his brother Burbage was not able to help the same, and + that he found not towards it above the value of fifty + pounds, some part in mony and the rest in stuff.[52] + +[Footnote 52: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 136.] + +In reading the next deposition, one should bear in mind the fact that +the deponent, Robert Myles, was closely identified with the Brayne +faction, and was, therefore, a bitter enemy to the Burbages. Yet his +testimony, though prejudiced, gives us a vivid picture of Brayne's +activity in the building of the Theatre: + + So the said John Brayne made a great sum of money of purpose + and intent to go to the building of the said playhouse, and + thereupon did provide timber and other stuff needful for the + building thereof, and hired carpenters and plasterers for + the same purpose, and paid the workmen continually. So as he + for his part laid out of his own purse and what upon credit + about the same to the sum of £600 or £700 at the least. And + in the same time, seeing the said James Burbage nothing able + either of himself or by his credit to contribute any like + sum towards the building thereof, being then to be finished + or else to be lost that had been bestowed upon it already, + the said Brayne was driven to sell his house he dwelled in + in Bucklersbury, and all his stock that was left, and give + up his trade, yea in the end to pawn and sell both his own + garments and his wife's, and to run in debt to many for + money, to finish the said playhouse, and so to employ + himself only upon that matter, and all whatsoever he could + make, to his utter undoing, for he saieth that in the latter + end of the finishing thereof, the said Brayne and his wife, + the now complainants, were driven to labor in the said work + for saving of some of the charge in place of two laborers, + whereas the said James Burbage went about his own business, + and at sometimes when he did take upon him to do some thing + in the said work, he would be and was allowed a workman's + hire as other the workman there had.[53] + +[Footnote 53: Brayne _v._ Burbage, 1592. Printed in full by Wallace, +_op cit._ p. 141.] + +The last fling at Burbage is quite gratuitous; yet it is probably true +that the main costs of erecting the playhouse fell upon the shoulders +of Brayne. The evidence is contradictory; some persons assert that +Burbage paid half the cost of the building,[54] others that Brayne +paid nearly all,[55] and still others content themselves with saying +that Brayne paid considerably more than half. The last statement may +be accepted as true. The assertion of Gyles Alleyn in 1601, that the +Theatre was "erected at the costs and charges of one Brayne and not of +the said James Burbage, to the value of one thousand marks,"[56] is +doubtless incorrect; more correct is the assertion of Robert Myles, +executor of the Widow Brayne's will, in 1597: "The said John Brayne +did join with the said James [Burbage] in the building aforesaid, and +did expend thereupon greater sums than the said James, that is to say, +at least five or six hundred pounds."[57] Since there is evidence +that the playhouse ultimately cost about £700,[58] we might hazard the +guess that of this sum Brayne furnished about £500,[59] and Burbage +about £200. To equalize the expenditure it was later agreed that "the +said Brayne should take and receive all the rents and profits of the +said Theatre to his own use until he should be answered such sums of +money which he had laid out for and upon the same Theatre more than +the said Burbage had done."[60] + +[Footnote 54: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 213, 217, 263, 265, _et al._] + +[Footnote 55: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 137, 141, 142, 148, 153.] + +[Footnote 56: Alleyn _v._ Burbage, Star Chamber Proceedings, 1601-02; +printed by Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 277.] + +[Footnote 57: Myles _v._ Burbage and Alleyn, 1597; printed by Wallace, +_op. cit._, p. 159; cf. pp. 263, 106, 152.] + +[Footnote 58: See Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 277.] + +[Footnote 59: This agrees with the claim of Brayne's widow.] + +[Footnote 60: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 120.] + +But if Burbage at the outset was "nothing able to contribute any" +great sum of ready money towards the building of the first playhouse, +he did contribute other things equally if not more important. In the +first place, he conceived the idea, and he carried it as far towards +realization as his means allowed. In the second place, he planned the +building--its stage as well as its auditorium--to meet the special +demands of the actors and the comfort of the audience. This called for +bold originality and for ingenuity of a high order, for, it must be +remembered, he had no model to study--he was designing the first +structure of its kind in England.[61] For this task he was well +prepared. In the first place, he was an actor of experience; in the +second place, he was the manager of one of the most important troupes +in England; and, in the third place, he was by training and early +practice a carpenter and builder. In other words, he had exact +knowledge of what was needed, and the practical skill to meet those +needs. + +[Footnote 61: Mr. E.K. Chambers (_The Mediæval Stage_, I, 383, note 2; +II, 190, note 4) calls attention to a "theatre" belonging to the city +of Essex as early as 1548. Possibly the Latin document he cites +referred to an amphitheatre of some sort near the city which was used +for dramatic performances; at any rate "in theatro" does not +necessarily imply the existence of a playhouse (cf., for example, _op. +cit._, I, 81-82). There is also a reference (quoted by Chambers, _op. +cit._, II, 191, note 1, from _Norfolk Archæology_, XI, 336) to a +"game-house" built by the corporation of Yarmouth in 1538 for dramatic +performances. What kind of house this was we do not know, but the +corporation leased it for other purposes, with the proviso that it +should be available "at all such times as any interludes or plays +should be ministered or played." Howes, in his continuation of Stow's +_Annals_ (1631), p. 1004, declares that before Burbage's time he +"neither knew, heard, nor read of any such theatres, set stages, or +playhouses as have been purposely built, within man's memory"; and +Cuthbert Burbage confidently asserted that his father "was the first +builder of playhouses"--an assertion which, I think, cannot well be +denied.] + +The building that he designed and erected he named--as by virtue of +priority he had a right to do--"The Theatre." + +Of the Theatre, unfortunately, we have no pictorial representation, +and no formal description, so that our knowledge of its size, shape, +and general arrangement must be derived from scattered and +miscellaneous sources. That the building was large we may feel sure; +the cost of its erection indicates as much. The Fortune, one of the +largest and handsomest of the later playhouses, cost only £520, and +the Hope, also very large, cost £360. The Theatre, therefore, built at +a cost of £700, could not have been small. It is commonly referred to, +even so late as 1601, as "the great house called the Theatre," and the +author of _Skialetheia_ (1598) applied to it the significant adjective +"vast." Burbage, no doubt, had learned from his experience as manager +of a troupe the pecuniary advantage of having an auditorium large +enough to receive all who might come. Exactly how many people his +building could accommodate we cannot say. The Reverend John Stockwood, +in 1578, exclaims bitterly: "Will not a filthy play, with the blast of +a trumpet, sooner call thither a thousand than an hour's tolling of +the bell bring to the sermon a hundred?"[62] And Fleetwood, the City +Recorder, in describing a quarrel which took place in 1584 "at Theatre +door," states that "near a thousand people" quickly assembled when the +quarrel began. + +[Footnote 62: The rest of his speech indicates that he had the Theatre +in mind. The passage, of course, is rhetorical.] + +In shape the building was probably polygonal, or circular. I see no +good reason for supposing that it was square; Johannes de Witt +referred to it as an "amphitheatre," and the Curtain, erected the +following year in imitation, was probably polygonal.[63] It was built +of timber, and its exterior, no doubt, was--as in the case of +subsequent playhouses--of lime and plaster. The interior consisted of +three galleries surrounding an open space called the "yard." The +German traveler, Samuel Kiechel, who visited London in the autumn of +1585, described the playhouses--i.e., the Theatre and the Curtain--as +"singular [_sonderbare_] houses, which are so constructed that they +have about three galleries, one above the other."[64] And Stephen +Gosson, in _Plays Confuted_ (_c._ 1581) writes: "In the playhouses at +London, it is the fashion for youths to go first into the yard, and to +carry their eye through every gallery; then, like unto ravens, where +they spy the carrion, thither they fly, and press as near to the +fairest as they can." The "yard" was unroofed, and all persons there +had to stand during the entire performance. The galleries, however, +were protected by a roof, were divided into "rooms," and were provided +for the most part with seats. Gyles Alleyn inserted in the lease he +granted to Burbage the following condition: + + And further, that it shall or may [be] lawful for the said + Gyles and for his wife and family, upon lawful request + therefor made to the said James Burbage, his executors or + assigns, to enter or come into the premises, and there in + some one of the upper rooms to have such convenient place to + sit or stand to see such plays as shall be there played, + freely without anything therefor paying.[65] + +[Footnote 63: One cannot be absolutely sure, yet the whole history of +early playhouses indicates that the Theatre was polygonal (or +circular) in shape. The only reason for suspecting that it might have +been square, doubtfully presented by T.S. Graves in "The Shape of the +First London Theatre" (_The South Atlantic Quarterly_, July, 1914), +seems to me to deserve no serious consideration.] + +[Footnote 64: Quoted by W.B. Rye, _England as Seen by Foreigners_, p. +88.] + +[Footnote 65: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 177.] + +The stage was a platform, projecting into the yard, with a +tiring-house at the rear, and a balcony overhead. The details of the +stage, no doubt, were subject to alteration as experience suggested, +for its materials were of wood, and histrionic and dramatic art were +both undergoing rapid development.[66] The furnishings and +decorations, as in the case of modern playhouses, seem to have been +ornate. Thus T[homas] W[hite], in _A Sermon Preached at Pawles Crosse, +on Sunday the Thirde of November, 1577_, exclaims: "Behold the +sumptuous Theatre houses, a continual monument of London's +prodigality"; John Stockwood, in _A Sermon Preached at Paules Cross, +1578_, refers to it as "the gorgeous playing place erected in the +Fields"; and Gabriel Harvey could think of no more appropriate epithet +for it than "painted"--"painted theatres," "painted stage." + +[Footnote 66: There is no reason whatever to suppose, with Ordish, +Mantzius, Lawrence, and others, that the stage of the Theatre was +removable; for although the building was frequently used by fencers, +tumblers, etc., it was never, so far as I can discover, used for +animal-baiting.] + +The building was doubtless used for dramatic performances in the +autumn of 1576, although it was not completed until later; John +Grigges, one of the carpenters, deposed that Burbage and Brayne +"finished the same with the help of the profits that grew by plays +used there before it was fully finished."[67] Access to the playhouse +was had chiefly by way of Finsbury Field and a passage made by Burbage +through the brick wall mentioned in the lease.[68] + +[Footnote 67: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 135.] + +[Footnote 68: For depositions to this effect see Halliwell-Phillipps, +_Outlines_, I, 350 ff.] + +The terms under which the owners let it to the actors were simple: the +actors retained as their share the pennies paid at the outer doors for +general admission, and the proprietors received as their share the +money paid for seats or standings in the galleries.[69] Cuthbert +Burbage states in 1635: "The players that lived in those first times +had only the profits arising from the doors, but now the players +receive all the comings in at the doors to themselves, and half the +galleries."[70] + +[Footnote 69: I suspect that the same terms were made with the actors +by the proprietors of the inn-playhouses.] + +[Footnote 70: Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 317.] + +Before the expiration of two years, or in the early summer of 1578, +Burbage and Brayne began to quarrel about the division of the money +which fell to their share. Brayne apparently thought that he should at +once be indemnified for all the money he had expended on the playhouse +in excess of Burbage; and he accused Burbage of "indirect +dealing"--there were even whispers of "a secret key" to the "common +box" in which the money was kept.[71] Finally they agreed to "submit +themselves to the order and arbitrament of certain persons for the +pacification thereof," and together they went to the shop of a notary +public to sign a bond agreeing to abide by the decision of the +arbitrators. There they "fell a reasoning together," in the course of +which Brayne asserted that he had disbursed in the Theatre "three +times at the least as much more as the sum then disbursed by the said +James Burbage." In the end Brayne unwisely hinted at "ill dealing" on +the part of Burbage, whereupon "Burbage did there strike him with his +fist, and so they went together by the ears, in so much," says the +notary, "that this deponent could hardly part them." After they were +parted, they signed a bond of £200 to abide by the decision of the +arbitrators. The arbitrators, John Hill and Richard Turnor, "men of +great honesty and credit," held their sessions "in the Temple church," +whither they summoned witnesses. Finally, on July 12, 1578, after +"having thoroughly heard" both sides, they awarded that the profits +from the Theatre should be used first to pay the debts upon the +building, then to pay Brayne the money he had expended in excess of +Burbage, and thereafter to be shared "in divident equally between +them."[72] These conditions, however, were not observed, and the +failure to observe them led to much subsequent discord. + +[Footnote 71: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 142, 148.] + +[Footnote 72: For the history of this quarrel, and for other details +of the award see Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 102, 119, 138, 142, 143, +148, 152.] + +The arbitrators also decided that "if occasion should move them +[Burbage and Brayne] to borrow any sum of money for the payment of +their debts owing for any necessary use and thing concerning the said +Theatre, that then the said James Burbage and the said John Brayne +should _join_ in pawning or mortgageing of their estate and interest +of and in the same."[73] An occasion for borrowing money soon arose. +So on September 26, 1579, the two partners mortgaged the Theatre to +John Hide for the sum of £125 8_s._ 11_d._ At the end of a year, by +non-payment, they forfeited the mortgage, and the legal title to the +property passed to Hide. It seems, however, that because of some +special clause in the mortgage Hide was unable to expel Burbage and +Brayne, or to dispose of the property to others. Hence he took no +steps to seize the Theatre; but he constantly annoyed the occupants by +arrest and otherwise. This unfortunate transference of the title to +Hide was the cause of serious quarreling between the Burbages and the +Braynes, and finally led to much litigation. + +[Footnote 73: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 103.] + +In 1582 a more immediate disaster threatened the owners of the +Theatre. One Edmund Peckham laid claim to the land on which the +playhouse had been built, and brought suit against Alleyn for +recovery. More than that, Peckham tried to take actual possession of +the playhouse, so that Burbage "was fain to find men at his own charge +to keep the possession thereof from the said Peckham and his +servants," and was even "once in danger of his own life by keeping +possession thereof." As a result of this state of affairs, Burbage +"was much disturbed and troubled in his possession of the Theatre, and +could not quietly and peaceably enjoy the same. And therefore the +players forsook the said Theatre, to his great loss."[74] In order to +reimburse himself in some measure for this loss Burbage retained £30 +of the rental due to Alleyn. The act led to a bitter quarrel with +Alleyn, and figured conspicuously in the subsequent litigation that +came near overwhelming the Theatre. + +[Footnote 74: See Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 201, 239, 240, 242.] + +In 1585 Burbage, having spent the stipulated £200 in repairing and +rebuilding the tenements on the premises, sought to renew the lease, +according to the original agreement, for the extended period of +twenty-one years. On November 20, 1585, he engaged three skilled +workmen to view the buildings and estimate the sum he had disbursed in +improvements. They signed a formal statement to the effect that in +their opinion at least £220 had been thus expended on the premises. +Burbage then "tendered unto the said Alleyn a new lease devised by his +counsel, ready written and engrossed, with labels and wax thereunto +affixed, agreeable to the covenant." But Alleyn refused to sign the +document. He maintained that the new lease was not a verbatim copy of +the old lease, that £200 had not been expended on the buildings, and +that Burbage was a bad tenant and owed him rent. In reality, Alleyn +wanted to extort a larger rental than £14 for the property, which had +greatly increased in value. + +On July 18, 1586, Burbage engaged six men, all expert laborers, to +view the buildings again and estimate the cost of the improvements. +They expressed the opinion in writing that Burbage had expended at +least £240 in developing the property.[75] Still Alleyn refused to +sign an extension of the lease. His conduct must have been very +exasperating to the owner of the Theatre. Cuthbert Burbage tells us +that his father "did often in gentle manner solicit and require the +said Gyles Alleyn for making a new lease of the said premises +according to the purporte and effect of the said covenant." But +invariably Alleyn found some excuse for delay. + +[Footnote 75: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 229, 234, 228, 233.] + +The death of Brayne, in August, 1586, led John Hide, who by reason of +the defaulted mortgage was legally the owner of the Theatre, to +redouble his efforts to collect his debt. He "gave it out in speech +that he had set over and assigned the said lease and bonds to one +George Clough, his ... father-in-law (but in truth he did not so)," +and "the said Clough, his father-in-law, did go about to put the said +defendant [Burbage] out of the Theatre, or at least did threaten to +put him out." As we have seen, there was a clause in the mortgage +which prevented Hide from ejecting Burbage;[76] yet Clough was able to +make so much trouble, "divers and sundry times" visiting the Theatre, +that at last Burbage undertook to settle the debt out of the profits +of the playhouse. As Robert Myles deposed in 1592, Burbage allowed the +widow of Brayne for "a certain time to take and receive the one-half +of the profits of the galleries of the said Theatre ... then on a +sudden he would not suffer her to receive any more of the profits +there, saying that he must take and receive all till he had paid the +debts. And then she was constrained, as his servant, to gather the +money and to deliver it unto him."[77] + +[Footnote 76: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 55.] + +[Footnote 77: _Ibid._, p. 105.] + +For some reason, however, the debt was not settled, and Hide continued +his futile demands. Several times Burbage offered to pay the sum in +full if the title of the Theatre were made over to his son Cuthbert +Burbage; and Brayne's widow made similar offers in an endeavor to gain +the entire property for herself. But Hide, who seems to have been an +honest man, always declared that since Burbage and Brayne "did jointly +mortgage it unto him" he was honor-bound to assign the property back +to Burbage and the widow of Brayne jointly. So matters stood for a +while. + +At last, however, in 1589, Hide declared that "since he had forborne +his money so long, he could do it no more, so as they that came first +should have it of him." Thereupon Cuthbert Burbage came bringing not +only the money in hand, but also a letter from his master and patron, +Walter Cape, gentleman usher to the Lord High Treasurer, requesting +Hide to make over the Theatre to Cuthbert, and promising in return to +assist Hide with the Lord Treasurer when occasion arose. Under this +pressure, Hide accepted full payment of his mortgage, and made over +the title of the property to Cuthbert Burbage. Thus Brayne's widow was +legally excluded from any share in the ownership of the Theatre. Myles +deposed, in 1592, that henceforth Burbage "would not suffer her to +meddle in the premises, but thrust her out of all." + +This led at once to a suit, in which Robert Myles acted for the widow. +He received an order from the Court of Chancery in her favor, and +armed with this, and accompanied by two other persons, he came on +November 16, 1590, to Burbage's "dwelling house near the Theatre," +called to the door Cuthbert Burbage, and in "rude and exclamable sort" +demanded "the moiety of the said Theatre." James Burbage "being within +the house, hearing a noise at the door, went to the door, and there +found his son, the said Cuthbert, and the said Myles speaking loud +together." Words were bandied, until finally Burbage, "dared by the +same Myles with great threats and words that he would do this and +could do that," lost his temper, and threatened to beat Myles off the +ground.[78] + +[Footnote 78: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 57, 60, 62.] + +Next the widow, attended by Robert Myles and others, visited the home +of the Burbages "to require them to perform the said award" of the +court. They were met by James Burbage's wife, who "charged them to go +out of her grounds, or else she would make her son break their knaves' +heads." Aroused by this noise, "James Burbage, her husband, looking +out a window upon them, called the complainant [Widow Brayne] +murdering whore, and ... the others villaines, rascals, and knaves." +And when Mistress Brayne spoke of the order of the court, "he cryed +unto her, 'Go, go. A cart, a cart for you! I will obey no such order, +nor I care not for any such orders, and therefore it were best for you +and your companions to be packing betimes, for if my son [Cuthbert] +come he will thump you hence!'" Just then Cuthbert did "come home, and +in very hot sort bid them get thence, or else he would set them +forwards, saying 'I care for no such order. The Chancery shall not +give away what I have paid for.'" And so, after "great and horrible +oathes" by James Burbage and his son, the widow and her attendants +"went their ways."[79] + +[Footnote 79: _Ibid._, p. 121.] + +Receiving thus no satisfaction from these visits to the home of James +Burbage, the widow and Robert Myles came several times to the Theatre, +bearing the order of the court in their hands; but each time they were +railed upon and driven out. Finally, the widow, with her ever-faithful +adjutant Robert Myles, his son Ralph, and his business partner, +Nicholas Bishop, went "to the Theatre upon a play-day to stand at the +door that goeth up to the galleries of the said Theatre to take and +receive for the use of the said Margaret half of the money that should +be given to come up into the said gallery." In the Theatre they were +met by Richard Burbage, then about nineteen years old, and his mother, +who "fell upon the said Robert Myles and beat him with a broom staff, +calling him murdering knave." When Myles's partner, Bishop, ventured +to protest at this contemptuous treatment of the order of the court, +"the said Richard Burbage," so Bishop deposed, "scornfully and +disdainfully playing with this deponent's nose, said that if he dealt +in the matter, he would beat him also, and did challenge the field of +him at that time." One of the actors then coming in, John +Alleyn--brother of the immortal Edward Alleyn--"found the foresaid +Richard Burbage, the youngest son of the said James Burbage, there +with a broom staff in his hand; of whom when this deponent Alleyn +asked what stir was there, he answered in laughing phrase how they +came for a moiety, 'But,' quod he (holding up the said broom staff) +'I have, I think, delivered him a moiety with this, and sent them +packing.'" Alleyn thereupon warned the Burbages that Myles could bring +an action of assault and battery against them. "'Tush,' quod the +father, 'no, I warrant you; but where my son hath now beat him hence, +my sons, if they will be ruled by me, shall at their next coming +provide charged pistols, with powder and hempseed, to shoot them in +the legs.'"[80] + +[Footnote 80: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 63, 97, 100, 101, 114.] + +But if the Burbages could laugh at the efforts of Myles and the widow +to secure a moiety of the Theatre from Cuthbert, they were seriously +troubled by the continued refusal of Gyles Alleyn to renew the lease. +James Burbage many times urged his landlord to fulfill the original +agreement, but in vain. At last, Alleyn, "according to his own will +and discretion, did cause a draft of a lease to be drawn, wherein were +inserted many unreasonable covenants." The new conditions imposed by +Alleyn were: (1) that Burbage should pay a rental of £24 instead of +£14 a year; (2) that he should use the Theatre as a place for acting +for only five years after the expiration of the original +twenty-one-year lease, and should then convert the building to other +uses; (3) that he should ultimately leave the building in the +possession of Alleyn.[81] The first and third conditions, though +unjust, Burbage was willing to accept, but the second condition--that +he should cease to use the Theatre for plays--he "utterly refused" to +consider. + +[Footnote 81: See Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 195, 212, 216, 250, 258, +_et al._] + +Finally, perceiving that it was useless to deal further with Alleyn, +he made plans to secure a new playhouse in the district of +Blackfriars, a district which, although within the city walls, was not +under the jurisdiction of the city authorities. He purchased there the +old Blackfriars refectory for £600, and then at great expense made the +refectory into a playhouse. But certain influential noblemen and +others living near by protested against this, and the Privy Council +ordered that the building should not be used as a public playhouse. +All this belongs mainly to the history of the Second Blackfriars +Playhouse, and for further details the reader is referred to the +chapter dealing with that theatre. + +Shortly after the order of the Privy Council cited above, Burbage +died, just two months before the expiration of his lease from Alleyn; +and the Theatre with all its troubles passed to his son Cuthbert. By +every means in his power Cuthbert sought to induce Alleyn to renew the +lease: "Your said subject was thereof possessed, and being so +possessed, your said servant did often require the said Alleyn and +Sara his wife to make unto him the said new lease of the premises, +according to the agreement of the said indenture." Cuthbert's +importunity in the matter is clearly set forth in a deposition by +Henry Johnson, one of Alleyn's tenants. It was Alleyn's custom to come +to London at each of the four pay terms of the year, and stop at the +George Inn in Shoreditch to receive his rents; and on such occasions +Johnson often observed Cuthbert's entreaties with Alleyn. In his +deposition he says that he "knoweth that the said complainant +[Cuthbert Burbage] hath many times labored and entreated the defendant +[Gyles Alleyn] to make him a new lease of the premises in question, +for this deponent sayeth that many times when the defendant hath come +up to London to receive his rents, he, this deponent, hath been with +him paying him certain rent; and then he hath seen the plaintiff with +his landlord, paying his rent likewise; and then, finding opportunity, +the plaintiff would be intreating the defendant to make him a new +lease of the premises in question; and sayeth that it is at least +three years since [i.e., in 1597] he, this deponent, first heard the +plaintiff labor and entreat the defendant for a new lease."[82] +Cuthbert tells us that Alleyn did not positively refuse to renew the +lease, "but for some causes, which he feigned, did defer the same from +time to time, but yet gave hope to your subject, and affirmed that he +would make him such a lease."[83] + +[Footnote 82: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 246.] + +[Footnote 83: _Ibid._, p. 184.] + +Cuthbert's anxiety in this matter is explained by the fact that the +old lease gave him the right to tear down the Theatre and carry away +the timber and other materials to his own use, provided he did so +before the expiration of the twenty-one years. Yet, relying on +Alleyn's promises to renew the lease, he "did forbear to pull downe +and carry away the timber and stuff employed for the said Theatre and +playing-house at the end of the said first term of one and twenty +years." A failure to renew the lease would mean, of course, the loss +of the building. + +Alleyn, though deferring to sign a new lease, allowed Burbage to +continue in possession of the property at "the old rent of £14." Yet +the Theatre seems not to have been used for plays after the original +lease expired.[84] The Lord Chamberlain's Company, which had been +occupying the Theatre, and of which Richard Burbage was the chief +actor, had moved to the Curtain; and the author of _Skialetheia_, +printed in 1598, refers to the old playhouse as empty: "But see, +yonder, one, like the unfrequented Theatre, walks in dark silence and +vast solitude."[85] + +[Footnote 84: The lease expired on April 13, 1597; on July 28 the +Privy Council closed all playhouses until November. The references to +the Theatre in _The Remembrancia_ (see The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 78) do not necessarily imply that the building was +then actually used by the players.] + +[Footnote 85: The same fact is revealed in the author's remark, "If my +dispose persuade me to a play, I'le to the Rose or Curtain," for at +this time only the Chamberlain's Men and the Admiral's Men were +allowed to play.] + +To Cuthbert Burbage such a state of affairs was intolerable, and on +September 29, 1598, he made a new appeal to Alleyn. Alleyn proffered a +lease already drawn up, but Cuthbert would not "accept thereof" +because of the "very unreasonable covenants therein contained."[86] + +[Footnote 86: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 216, 249.] + +Shortly after this fruitless interview, or late in 1598, Gyles Alleyn +resolved to take advantage of the fact that Cuthbert Burbage had not +removed the Theatre before the expiration of the first twenty-one +years. He contended that since Cuthbert had "suffered the same there +to continue till the expiration of the said term ... the right and +interest of the said Theatre was both in law and conscience absolutely +vested" now in himself; accordingly he planned "to pull down the same, +and to convert the wood and timber thereof to some better use for the +benefit" of himself.[87] + +[Footnote 87: _Ibid._, pp. 277, 288.] + +But, unfortunately for Alleyn, Cuthbert Burbage "got intelligence" of +this purpose, and at once set himself to the task of saving his +property. He and his brother Richard, the great actor, took into their +confidence the chief members of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, then +performing at the Curtain Playhouse, namely William Shakespeare, John +Heminges, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, and William Kempe. These +men agreed to form with the Burbages a syndicate to finance the +erection of a new playhouse. The two Burbages agreed to bear one-half +the expense, including the timber and other materials of the old +Theatre, and the five actors promised to supply the other half. +Together they leased a suitable plot of land on the Bankside near +Henslowe's Rose, the lease dating from December 25, 1598. These +details having been arranged, it remained only for the Burbages to +save their building from the covetousness of Alleyn. + +On the night of December 28, 1598,[88] Alleyn being absent in the +country, Cuthbert Burbage, his brother Richard, his friend William +Smith, "of Waltham Cross, in the County of Hartford, gentleman," Peter +Street, "cheefe carpenter," and twelve others described as "laborers +such as wrought for wages," gathered at the Theatre and began to tear +down the building. We learn that the widow of James Burbage "was +there, and did see the doing thereof, and liked well of it";[89] and +we may suspect that at some time during the day Shakespeare and the +other actors were present as interested spectators. + +[Footnote 88: The date, January 20, 1599, seems to be an error.] + +[Footnote 89: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 238.] + +The episode is thus vividly described by the indignant Gyles Allen: + + The said Cuthbert Burbage, having intelligence of your + subject's purpose herein, and unlawfully combining and + confederating himself with the said Richard Burbage and one + Peter Street, William Smith, and diverse other persons to + the number of twelve, to your subject unknown, did about + the eight and twentieth day of December, in the one and + fortieth year of your highness reign, and sithence your + highness last and general pardon, by the confederacy + aforesaid, riotously assembled themselves together, and then + and there armed themselves with diverse and many unlawful + and offensive weapons, as namely swords, daggers, bills, + axes, and such like, and so armed did then repair unto the + said Theatre, and then and there armed as aforesaid, in very + riotous, outrageous, and forceable manner, and contrary to + the laws of your highness realm, attempted to pull down the + said Theatre. Whereupon, diverse of your subjects, servants + and farmers, then going about in peaceable manner to procure + them to desist from that unlawful enterprise, they, the said + riotous persons aforesaid, notwithstanding procured then + therein with great violence, not only then and there + forcibly and riotously resisting your subjects, servants, + and farmers, but also then and there pulling, breaking, and + throwing down the said Theatre in very outrageous, violent, + and riotous sort.[90] + +[Footnote 90: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 278-79. This document was +discovered by J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, who printed extracts in his +_Outlines_. See also Ordish, _Early London Theatres_, pp. 75-76.] + +The workmen, under the expert direction of Peter Street, carried the +timber and other materials of the old Theatre to the tract of land on +the Bankside recently leased by the new syndicate--as Gyles Alleyn +puts it, "did then also in most forcible and riotous manner take and +carry away from thence all the wood and timber thereof unto the +Bankside, in the Parish of St. Mary Overies, and there erected a new +playhouse with the said timber and wood." + +The playhouse thus erected was, of course, an entirely new structure. +Nearly a quarter of a century had elapsed since James Burbage designed +the old Theatre, during which time a great development had taken place +both in histrionic art and in play writing; and, no doubt, many +improvements were possible in the stage and in the auditorium to +provide better facilities for the actors and greater comfort for the +spectators. In designing such improvements the architect had the +advice and help of the actors, including Shakespeare; and he succeeded +in producing a playhouse that was a model of excellence. The name +selected by the syndicate for their new building was "The Globe." For +further details as to its construction, and for its subsequent +history, the reader is referred to the chapter dealing with that +building. + +When Gyles Alleyn learned that the Burbages had demolished the Theatre +and removed the timber to the Bankside, he was deeply incensed, not +only at the loss of the building, but also, no doubt, at being +completely outwitted. At once he instituted suit against Cuthbert +Burbage; but he was so intemperate in his language and so reckless in +his charges that he weakened his case. The suit dragged for a few +years, was in part referred to Francis Bacon, and finally in the +summer of 1601 was dismissed. Thus the history of the first London +playhouse, which is chiefly the history of quarrels and litigation, +came to a close. + +It is not possible now to indicate exactly the stay of the different +troupes at the Theatre; the evidence is scattered and incomplete, and +the inferences to be drawn are often uncertain. + +When the building was opened in 1576, it was, no doubt, occupied by +the Earl of Leicester's troupe, of which Burbage was the manager, and +for which, presumably, the structure had been designed. Yet other +troupes of players may also have been allowed to use the +building--when Leicester's Men were touring the provinces, or, +possibly, on days when Leicester's Men did not act. This arrangement +lasted about six years. + +In 1582 the use of the Theatre was interrupted by the interference of +Peckham. For a long time the actors "could not enjoy the premises," +and Burbage was forced to keep Peckham's servants out of the building +with an armed guard night and day. As a result of this state of +affairs, Leicester's troupe was dissolved; "many of the players," we +are told, were driven away, and the rest "forsook the said Theatre." +The last notice of these famous players is a record of their +performance at Court on February 10, 1583. + +Shortly after this, in March, 1583, Tilney, the Master of the Revels, +organized under royal patronage a new company called the Queen's Men. +For this purpose he selected twelve of the best actors of the realm, +including some of the members of Leicester's company.[91] The two +best-known actors in the new organization were the Queen's favorite +comedian, Richard Tarleton, the immortal "Lord of Mirth," and John +Lanham, the leader and apparently the manager of the troupe. James +Burbage, who may by this time, if not before, have retired from +acting, was not included. + +[Footnote 91: For a list of the Queen's Men see Wallace, _op. cit._, +p. 11.] + +The newly organized Queen's Men in all probability occupied the +Theatre which had been left vacant by the dissolution of Leicester's +company. Mr. Wallace denies this, mainly on the evidence of a permit +issued by the Lord Mayor, November 28, 1583, granting the Queen's Men +the privilege of acting "at the sign of the Bull [Inn] in Bishopgate +Street, and the sign of the Bell [Inn] in Gracious Street, and nowhere +else within this city." But this permit, I think, lends scant support +to Mr. Wallace's contention. The Lord Mayor had no authority to issue +a license for the Queen's Men to play at the Theatre, for that +structure was outside the jurisdiction of the city. The Privy Council +itself, no doubt, had issued such a general license when the company +was organized under royal patronage.[92] And now, ten months later, +on November 26, 1583, the Council sends to the Lord Mayor a request +"that Her Majesty's players may be suffered to play ... within the +city and liberties _between this and shrovetide next_"[93]--in other +words, during the winter season when access to the Theatre was +difficult. It was customary for troupes to seek permission to act +within the city during the winter months.[94] Thus the Queen's Men, in +a petition written probably in the autumn of the following year, 1584, +requested the Privy Council to dispatch "favorable letters unto the +Lord Mayor of London to permit us to exercise within the city," and +the Lord Mayor refused, with the significant remark that "if in winter +... the foulness of season do hinder the passage into the fields to +play, the remedy is ill conceived to bring them into London."[95] +Obviously the Queen's Men were seeking permission to play in the city +only during the cold winter months; during the balmy spring, summer, +and autumn months--for actors the best season of the year--they +occupied their commodious playhouse in "the fields." + +[Footnote 92: Such a license would include also permission to act in +the provinces. This latter was soon needed, for shortly after their +organization the Queen's Men were driven by the plague to tour the +provinces. They were in Cambridge on July 9, and probably returned to +London shortly after. See Murray, _English Dramatic Companies_, I, 8.] + +[Footnote 93: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 66.] + +[Footnote 94: Lord Hunsdon, on October 8, 1594, requested the Lord +Mayor to permit the Chamberlain's Men "to play this winter time within +the city at the Cross Keys in Gracious Street." See The Malone +Society's _Collections_, I, 67.] + +[Footnote 95: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 170, 172.] + +That this playhouse for a time, at least, was the Theatre is indicated +by several bits of evidence. Thus the author of _Martin's Month's +Mind_ (1589) speaks of "twittle-twattles that I had learned in +ale-houses and at the Theatre of Lanham and his fellows." Again, Nash, +in _Pierce Penniless_ (1592), writes: "Tarleton at the Theatre made +jests of him"; Harrington, in _The Metamorphosis of Ajax_ (1596): +"Which word was after admitted into the Theatre with great applause, +by the mouth of Master Tarleton"; and the author of _Tarlton's Newes +out of Purgatory_ (_c._ 1589) represents Tarleton as connected with +the Theatre. Now, unless Lanham, Tarleton, and their "fellows" usually +or sometimes acted at the Theatre, it is hard to understand these and +other similar passages. + +The following episode tends to prove the same thing. On June 18, 1584, +William Fleetwood, Recorder, wrote to Lord Burghley:[96] + + Right honorable and my very good lord. Upon Whitsunday there + was a very good sermon preached at the new churchyard near + Bethelem, whereat my Lord Mayor was with his brethren; and + by reason no plays were the same day, all the city was + quiet. Upon Monday I was at the Court.... That night I + returned to London and found all the wards full of watchers; + the cause thereof was for that very near the Theatre or + Curtain, at the time of the plays, there lay a prentice + sleeping upon the grass; and one Challes, at Grostock, did + turn upon the toe upon the belly of the same prentice. + Whereupon the apprentice start up. + +[Footnote 96: The letter is printed in full in The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 164.] + +In the altercation that followed, Challes remarked that "prentices +were but the scum of the world." This led to a general rising of +apprentices, and much disorder throughout the city. Fleetwood records +the upshot thus: + + Upon Sunday my Lord [Mayor] sent two aldermen to the court + for the suppressing and pulling down of the Theatre and + Curtain. All the Lords [of the Privy Council] agreed + thereunto saving my Lord Chamberlain and Mr. + Vice-Chamberlain. But we obtained a letter to suppress them + all. Upon the same night I sent for the Queen's Players [at + the Theatre?] and my Lord Arundel's Players [at the + Curtain?] and they all willingly obeyed the Lords's letters. + The chiefest of Her Highness's Players advised me to send + for the owner of the Theatre [James Burbage[97]], who was a + stubborn fellow, and to bind him. I did so. He sent me word + he was my Lord of Hundson's man, and that he would not come + at me; but he would in the morning ride to my lord. + +[Footnote 97: This could not have been Hide, as usually stated. Hide +had nothing to do with the management of the Theatre, and was not "my +Lord of Hunsdon's man." Hide's connection with the Theatre as sketched +in this chapter shows the absurdity of such an interpretation of the +document.] + +The natural inference from all this is that the Queen's Men and Lord +Arundel's Men were then playing _outside the city_ where they could be +controlled only by "the Lords's Letters"; that the Queen's Men were +occupying the Theatre, and that James Burbage was (as we know) not a +member of that company, but merely stood to them in the relation of +"owner of the Theatre." + +What Burbage meant by calling himself "my Lord of Hunsdon's man" is +not clear. Mr. Wallace contends that when Leicester's Men were +dissolved, Burbage organized "around the remnants of Leicester's +Company" a troupe under the patronage of Lord Hunsdon, and that this +troupe, and not the Queen's Men, occupied the Theatre thereafter.[98] +But we hear of Hunsdon's Men at Ludlow in July, 1582; and we find them +presenting a play at Court on December 27, 1582. Since Leicester's +troupe is recorded as acting at Court as late as February 10, 1583, it +seems unlikely that Mr. Wallace's theory as to the origin of Hunsdon's +Men is true. It may be, however, that after the dissolution of +Leicester's Men, Burbage associated himself with Hunsdon's Men, and it +may be that he allowed that relatively unimportant company to occupy +the Theatre for a short time. Hunsdon's Men seem to have been mainly a +traveling troupe; Mr. Murray states that notices of them "occur +frequently in the provinces," but we hear almost nothing of them in +London. Indeed, at the time of the trouble described by Fleetwood, +Hunsdon's Men were in Bath.[99] If Burbage was a member of the troupe, +he certainly did not accompany them on their extended tours; and when +they played in London, if they used the Theatre, they must have used +it jointly with the Queen's Men. + +[Footnote 98: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 11.] + +[Footnote 99: Murray, _English Dramatic Companies_, I, 321.] + +Late in 1585 the Theatre was affiliated with the adjacent Curtain. +Burbage and Brayne made an agreement with the proprietor of that +playhouse whereby the Curtain might be used "as an easore" [easer?] to +the Theatre, and "the profits of the said two playhouses might for +seven years space be in divident between them." This agreement, we +know, was carried out, but whether it led to an exchange of companies, +or what effect it had upon the players, we cannot say. Possibly to +this period of joint management may be assigned the witticism of Dick +Tarleton recorded as having been uttered "at the Curtain" where the +Queen's Men were then playing.[100] It may even be that as one result +of the affiliation of the two houses the Queen's Men were transferred +to the Curtain. + +[Footnote 100: _Tarlton's Jests_, ed. by J.O. Halliwell, p. 16. +Tarleton died in 1588.] + +In 1590, as we learn from the deposition of John Alleyn, the Theatre +was being used by the Admiral's Men.[101] This excellent company had +been formed early in 1589 by the separation of certain leading players +from Worcester's Men, and it had probably occupied the Theatre since +its organization. Its star actor, Edward Alleyn, was then at the +height of his powers, and was producing with great success Marlowe's +splendid plays. We may suppose that the following passage refers to +the performance of the Admiral's Men at the Theatre: + + He had a head of hair like one of my devils in _Dr. + Faustus_, when the old Theatre crackt and frightened the + audience.[102] + +[Footnote 101: Wallace, _op. cit._, pp. 101, 126.] + +[Footnote 102: _The Black Booke_, 1604.] + +Late in 1590 the Admiral's Men seem to have been on bad terms with +Burbage,[103] and when John Alleyn made his deposition, February 6, +1592, they had certainly left the Theatre. Mr. Greg, from entirely +different evidence, has concluded that they were dispersed in +1591,[104] and this conclusion is borne out by the legal document +cited above. + +[Footnote 103: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 101.] + +[Footnote 104: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, II, 83. The Admiral's Men +were reorganized in 1594, and occupied the Rose under Henslowe's +management.] + +The next company that we can definitely associate with the Theatre was +the famous Lord Chamberlain's Men. On April 16, 1594, Lord Strange, +the Earl of Derby, died, and the chief members of his troupe--William +Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, John Heminges, William Kempe, Thomas +Pope, George Bryan, and Augustine Phillips--organized a new company +under the patronage of the Lord Chamberlain. For ten days, in June, +1594, they acted at Newington Butts under the management of Philip +Henslowe, then went, probably at once, to the Theatre, which they made +their home until the Burbage lease of the property expired in the +spring of 1597. Here, among other famous plays, they produced the +original _Hamlet_, thus referred to by Lodge in _Wit's Miserie_, 1596: + + He looks as pale as the visard of the ghost which cries so + miserably at the Theatre, like an oyster-wife, "Hamlet, + revenge!" + +And here, too, they presented all of Shakespeare's early masterpieces. + +Their connection with the building ceased in 1597 at the expiration of +the Burbage lease; but their association with the proprietors of the +Theatre was permanent. Their subsequent history, as also the history +of the Burbage brothers, will be found in the chapters dealing with +the Globe and the Second Blackfriars.[105] + +[Footnote 105: For other but unimportant references to the Theatre see +The Malone Society's _Collections_, vol. I: disorder at, October, +1577, p. 153; disorder at, on Sunday, April, 1580, p. 46; fencing +allowed at, July, 1582, p. 57; fencing forbidden at, May, 1583, p. 62; +to be closed during infection, May, 1583, p. 63; complaint against, by +the Lord Mayor, September, 1594, p. 76. And see Halliwell-Phillipps, +_Outlines_, I, 363, for a special performance there by a "virgin," +February 22, 1582.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CURTAIN + + +Although James Burbage was, as his son asserted, "the first builder of +playhouses," a second public playhouse followed hard on the Theatre, +probably within twelve months. It was erected a short distance to the +south of the Theatre,--that is, nearer the city,--and, like that +building, it adjoined Finsbury Field.[106] To the two playhouses the +audiences came trooping over the meadows, in "great multidudes," the +Lord Mayor tells us; and the author of _Tarlton's Newes out of +Purgatory_ (_c._ 1589) describes their return to London thus: "With +that I waked, and saw such concourse of people through the fields that +I knew the play was done."[107] + +[Footnote 106: The site is probably marked by Curtain Court in +Chasserau's survey of 1745, reproduced on page 79.] + +[Footnote 107: Ed. by J.O. Halliwell, for The Shakespeare Society +(1844), p. 105.] + +The new playhouse derived its name from the Curtain estate, on which +it was erected.[108] This estate was formerly the property of the +Priory of Holywell, and was described in 1538 as "scituata et +existentia extra portas ejusdem nuper monasterii prope pasturam dicte +nuper Priorisse, vocatam _the Curteine_."[109] Why it was so called +is not clear. The name may have been derived from some previous owner +of the property; it may, as Collier thought, have come from some early +association with the walls (_curtains_) or defenses of the city; or, +it may have come, as Tomlins suggests, from the mediæval Latin +_cortina_, meaning a court, a close, a farm enclosure.[110] Whatever +its origin--the last explanation seems the most plausible--the +interesting point is that it had no connection whatever with a stage +curtain. + +[Footnote 108: The Rose and the Red Bull derived their names in a +similar way from the estates on which they were erected.] + +[Footnote 109: Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 364.] + +[Footnote 110: Tomlins, _Origin of the Curtain Theatre, and Mistakes +Regarding It_, in The Shakespeare Society's Papers (1844), p. 29.] + +The building was probably opened to the London public in the summer or +autumn of 1577. The first reference to it is found in T[homas] +W[hite]'s _Sermon Preached at Pawles Crosse on Sunday the Thirde of +November, 1577_: "Behold the sumptuous theatre houses, a continual +monument of London's prodigality and folly";[111] and a reference to +it by name appears in Northbrooke's _A Treatise_, licensed December, +1577: "Those places, also, which are made up and builded for such +plays and interludes, as the Theatre and Curtain."[112] + +[Footnote 111: J.D. Wilson, _The Cambridge History of English +Literature_, VI, 435, says that this sermon was "delivered at Paul's +cross on 9 December, 1576 and, apparently, repeated on 3 November in +the following year." This is incorrect; White did preach a sermon at +Paul's Cross on December 9, but not the sermon from which this +quotation is drawn.] + +[Footnote 112: Ed. by J.P. Collier, for The Shakespeare Society +(1843), p. 85.] + +Like the Theatre, the Curtain was a peculiarly shaped building, +specially designed for acting; "those playhouses that are erected and +built _only for such purposes_ ... namely the Curtain and the +Theatre,"[113] writes the Privy Council; and the German traveler, +Samuel Kiechel, who visited London in 1585, describes them as +"_sonderbare_" structures. They are usually mentioned together, and in +such a way as to suggest similarity of shape as well as of purpose. We +may, I think, reasonably suppose that the Curtain was in all essential +details a copy of Burbage's Theatre.[114] Presumably, then, it was +polygonal (or circular) in shape,[115] was constructed of timber, and +was finished on the outside with lime and plaster. The interior, as +the evidence already cited in the chapter on the Theatre shows, +consisted of three galleries surrounding an open yard. There was a +platform projecting into the middle of the yard, with dressing-rooms +at the rear, "heavens" overhead, and a flagpole rising above the +"heavens." That some sign was displayed in front of the door is +likely. Malone writes: "The original sign hung out at this playhouse +(as Mr. Steevens has observed) was the painting of a curtain +striped."[116] Aubrey records that Ben Jonson "acted and wrote, but +both ill, at the Green Curtain, a kind of nursery or obscure playhouse +somewhere in the suburbs, I think towards Shoreditch or +Clerkenwell."[117] By "at the Green Curtain" Aubrey means, of course, +"at the sign of the Green Curtain"; but the evidence of Steevens and +of Aubrey is too vague and uncertain to warrant any definite +conclusions. + +[Footnote 113: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXVII, 313.] + +[Footnote 114: It seems, however, to have been smaller than the +Theatre.] + +[Footnote 115: Johannes de Witt describes the Theatre and the Curtain +along with the Swan and the Rose as "amphitheatra" (see page 167). It +is quite possible that Shakespeare refers to the Curtain in the +Prologue to _Henry V_ as "this wooden O," though the reference may be +to the Globe.] + +[Footnote 116: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 54; cf. also Ellis, _The +Parish of St. Leonard_.] + +[Footnote 117: Did Steevens base his statement on this passage in +Aubrey?] + +Of the early history of the Curtain we know little, mainly because it +was not, like certain other playhouses, the subject of extensive +litigation. We do not even know who planned and built it. The first +evidence of its ownership appears fifteen years after its erection, in +some legal documents connected with the Theatre.[118] In July, 1592, +Henry Lanman, described as "of London, gentleman, of the age of 54 +years," deposed: "That true it is about 7 years now shall be this next +winter, they, the said Burbage and Brayne, having the profits of plays +made at the Theatre, and this deponent having the profits of the plays +done at the house called the Curtain near to the same, the said +Burbage and Brayne, taking the Curtain as an esore[119] to their +playhouse, did of their own motion move this deponent that he would +agree that the profits of the said two playhouses might for seven +years space be in divident between them."[120] + +[Footnote 118: Brayne _v._ Burbage, 1592, printed in full by Wallace, +_The First London Theatre_, pp. 109-52. See especially pp. 126, 148.] + +[Footnote 119: Easer?] + +[Footnote 120: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 148; cf. p. 126.] + +[Illustration: THE SITE OF THE CURTAIN PLAYHOUSE + +From _An Actual Survey of the Parish of St Leonard in Shoreditch taken +in the year 1745_ by Peter Chasserau, Surveyor. The key to the map +gives "93" as Curtain Court, probably the site of the old playhouse, +"87" as New Inn Yard, and "94" as Holywell Court, both interesting in +connection with Burbage's Theatre. (Redrawn from the original for this +volume.)] + +From this statement it is evident that Henry Lanman was the sole +proprietor of the Curtain as far back as 1585, and the presumption is +that his proprietorship was of still earlier date. This presumption is +strengthened by the fact that in a sale of the Curtain estate early in +1582, he is specifically mentioned as having a tenure of an "edifice +or building" erected in the Curtain Close, that is, that section of +the estate next to the Field, on which the playhouse was built.[121] +Since Lanman is not mentioned as having any other property on the +estate, the "edifice or building" referred to was probably the +playhouse. The document gives no indication as to how long he had held +possession of the "edifice," but the date of sale, March, 1582, +carries us back to within four years of the erection of the Curtain, +and it seems reasonable to suppose, though of course we cannot be +sure, that Lanman had been proprietor of the building from the very +beginning.[122] + +[Footnote 121: Tomlins, _op. cit._, pp. 29-31.] + +[Footnote 122: Of this Henry Lanman we know nothing beyond the facts +here revealed. Possibly he was a brother of the distinguished actor +John Lanman (the name is variously spelled Lanman, Laneman, Lenmann, +Laneham, Laynman, Lanham), one of the chief members of Leicester's +troupe, and one of the twelve men selected in 1583 to form the Queen's +Men. But speculation of this sort is vain. It is to be hoped that in +the future some student will investigate the life of this obscure +theatrical manager, and trace his connection with the early history of +the drama.] + +Certain records of the sale of the Curtain estate shortly before and +shortly after the erection of the playhouse are preserved, but these +throw very little light upon the playhouse itself. We learn that on +February 20, 1567, Lord Mountjoy and his wife sold the estate to +Maurice Longe, clothworker, and his son William Longe, for the sum of +£60; and that on August 23, 1571, Maurice Longe and his wife sold it +to the then Lord Mayor, Sir William Allyn, for the sum of £200. In +both documents the property is described in the same words: "All that +house, tenement or lodge commonly called the _Curtain_, and all that +parcel of ground and close, walled and enclosed with a brick wall on +the west and north parts, called also the _Curtain Close_." The lodge +here referred to, generally known as "Curtain House," was on, or very +near, Holywell Lane;[123] the playhouse, as already stated, was +erected in the close near the Field.[124] + +[Footnote 123: Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 365.] + +[Footnote 124: The Privy Council on March 10, 1601, refers to it as +"The Curtaine in Moorefeildes"; in ancient times, says Stow, +Moorefields extended to Holywell. See Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, +I, 364.] + +How long Sir William Allyn held the property, or why it reverted to +the Longe family, we do not know. But on March 18, 1582, we find +William Longe, the son of "Maurice Longe, citizen and clothworker, of +London, deceased," selling the same property, described in the same +words, to one "Thomas Harberte, citizen and girdler, of London." In +the meantime, of course, the playhouse had been erected, but no clear +or direct mention of the building is made in the deed of sale. +Possibly it was included in the conventionally worded phrase: "and all +and singular other messuages, tenements, edifices, and buildings, with +all and singular their appurtenances, erected and builded upon the +said close called the Curtain."[125] Among the persons named as +holding tenures of the above-mentioned "edifices and buildings" in the +close was Henry Lanman. It seems not improbable, therefore, that the +Curtain, like the Theatre, was erected on leased ground. + +[Footnote 125: Tomlins, _op. cit._, p. 31.] + +It is impossible to give a connected history of the Curtain. Most of +the references to it that we now possess are invectives in early +puritanical writings, or bare mention, along with other playhouses, in +letters or ordinances of the Privy Council and the Lord Mayor. Such +references as these do not much help us in determining what companies +successively occupied the building, or what varying fortunes marked +its ownership and management. Yet a few scattered facts have sifted +down to us, and these I have arranged in chronological order. + +On the afternoon of April 6, 1580, an earthquake, especially severe in +Holywell, shook the building during the performance of a play, and +greatly frightened the audience. Munday says merely: "at the +playhouses the people came running forth, surprised with great +astonishment";[126] but Stubbes, the Puritan, who saw in the event a +"fearful judgment of God," writes with fervor: "The like judgment +almost did the Lord show unto them a little before, being assembled at +their theatres to see their bawdy interludes and other trumperies +practised, for He caused the earth mightily to shake and quaver, as +though all would have fallen down; whereat the people, sore amazed, +some leapt down from the top of the turrets, pinnacles, and towers +where they stood, to the ground, whereof some had their legs broke, +some their arms, some their backs, some hurt one where, some another, +and many score crushed and bruised."[127] + +[Footnote 126: _View of Sundry Examples_, 1580.] + +[Footnote 127: _The Anatomy of Abuses_, ed. F.J. Furnivall, New +Shakspere Society, p. 180. For other descriptions of this earthquake +see Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 369.] + +The disturbance at the Theatre and the Curtain in 1584, when one +Challes "did turn upon the toe upon the belly of" an apprentice +"sleeping upon the grass" in the Field near by, has been mentioned in +the preceding chapter. If the interpretation of the facts there given +is correct, Lord Arundel's Players were then occupying the Curtain. + +In the winter of 1585 Lanman entered into his seven years' agreement +with Burbage and Brayne by which the Theatre and the Curtain were +placed under one management, and the profits shared "in divident +between them." This agreement was faithfully kept by both parties, but +there is no evidence that after the expiration of the seven years, in +the winter of 1592, the affiliation was continued. What effect the +arrangement had upon the companies of players occupying the two +theatres we cannot now determine. To this period, however, I would +assign the appearance of the Queen's Men at the Curtain.[128] + +[Footnote 128: _Tarlton's Jests_, ed. by J.O. Halliwell for the +Shakespeare Society (1844), p. 16. For a discussion see the preceding +chapter on the Theatre, p. 72.] + +On July 28, 1597, as a result of the performance of Thomas Nashe's +_The Isle of Dogs_, by Pembroke's Men at the Swan,[129] the Privy +Council ordered the plucking down of "the Curtain and the +Theatre."[130] The order, however, was not carried out, and in October +plays were allowed again as before. + +[Footnote 129: For details see the chapter on the Swan.] + +[Footnote 130: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXVII, 313.] + +At this time the Lord Chamberlain's men were at the Curtain, having +recently moved thither in consequence of the difficulties Cuthbert +Burbage was having with Gyles Alleyn over the Theatre property. During +the stay of the Chamberlain's Company, which numbered among its +members William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, William Kempe (who had +succeeded Tarleton in popular favor as a clown), John Heminges, Thomas +Pope, and Augustine Phillips, the playhouse probably attained its +greatest distinction. Both Shakespeare and Jonson wrote plays for the +troupe; _Romeo and Juliet_, we are told, "won Curtain plaudities," as +no doubt did many other of Shakespeare's early masterpieces; and +Jonson's _Every Man in His Humour_ created such enthusiasm here on its +first performance as to make its author famous.[131] + +[Footnote 131: Marston, _The Scourge of Villainy_ (1598); Bullen, _The +Works of John Marston_, III, 372.] + +In the summer of 1599 the Chamberlain's Men moved into their splendid +new home, the Globe, on the Bankside, and the Curtain thus abandoned +fell on hard times. Perhaps it was let occasionally to traveling +troupes; in Jeaffreson's _Middlesex County Records_, under the date of +March 11, 1600, is a notice of the arrest of one William Haukins +"charged with a purse taken at a play at the Curtain." But shortly +after, in April, 1600, when Henslowe and Alleyn began to erect their +splendid new Fortune Playhouse, they were able to give the impression +to Tilney, the Master of the Revels, and to the Privy Council, that +the Curtain was to be torn down. Thus in the Council's warrant for the +building of the Fortune, dated April 8, 1600, we read that "another +house is [to be] pulled down instead of it";[132] and when the +Puritans later made vigorous protests against the erection of the +Fortune, the Council defended itself by stating that "their Lordships +have been informed by Edmund Tilney, Esquire, Her Majesty's servant, +and Master of the Revels, that the house now in hand to be built by +the said Edward Alleyn is not intended to increase the number of the +playhouses, but to be instead of another, namely the Curtain, which is +either to be ruined and plucked down, or to be put to some other good +use."[133] + +[Footnote 132: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 52.] + +[Footnote 133: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 82.] + +All this talk of the Curtain's being plucked down or devoted to other +uses suggests a contemplated change in the ownership or management of +the building. We do not know when Lanman died (in 1592 he described +himself as fifty-four years of age),[134] but we do know that at some +date prior to 1603 the Curtain had passed into the hands of a +syndicate. When this syndicate was organized, or who constituted its +members, we cannot say. Thomas Pope, in his will, dated July 22, 1603, +mentions his share "of, in, and to all that playhouse, with the +appurtenances, called the Curtain";[135] and John Underwood, in his +will, dated October 4, 1624, mentions his "part or share ... in the +said playhouses called the Blackfriars, the Globe on the Bankside, and +the Curtain."[136] It may be significant that both Pope and Underwood +were sharers also in the Globe. Since, however, further information +is wanting, it is useless to speculate. We can only say that at some +time after the period of Lanman's sole proprietorship, the Curtain +passed into the hands of a group of sharers; and that after a +discussion in 1600 of demolishing the building or devoting it to other +uses, it entered upon a long and successful career. + +[Footnote 134: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 148.] + +[Footnote 135: J.P. Collier, _Lives of the Original Actors in +Shakespeare's Plays_, p. 127. In exactly the same words Pope disposed +of his share in the Globe.] + +[Footnote 136: _Ibid._, p. 230.] + +On May 10, 1601, "the actors at the Curtain"[137] gave serious offense +by representing on the stage persons "of good desert and quality, that +are yet alive, under obscure manner, but yet in such sort as all the +hearers may take notice both of the matter and the persons that are +meant thereby." The Privy Council ordered the Justices of the Peace to +examine into the case and to punish the offenders.[138] + +[Footnote 137: Possibly Derby's Men.] + +[Footnote 138: See Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXXI, 346.] + +Early in 1604 a draft of a royal patent for Queen Anne's Players--who +had hitherto been under the patronage of Worcester[139]--gives those +players permission to act "within their now usual houses, called the +Curtain, and the Boar's Head."[140] On April 9, 1604, the Privy +Council authorized the three companies of players that had been taken +under royal patronage "to exercise their plays in their several and +usual houses for that purpose, and no other, viz., the Globe, +scituate in Maiden Lane on the Bankside in the County of Surrey, the +Fortune in Golding Lane, and the Curtain in Holywell."[141] The King's +Men (the Burbage-Shakespeare troupe) occupied the Globe; Prince +Henry's Men (the Henslowe-Alleyn troupe), the Fortune; and Queen +Anne's Men, the Curtain. + +[Footnote 139: The company was formed by an amalgamation of Oxford's +and Worcester's Men in 1602. See The Malone Society's _Collections_, +I, 85.] + +[Footnote 140: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 266.] + +[Footnote 141: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 61; Dasent, _Acts of the +Privy Council_, XXXII, 511.] + +But the Queen's Men were probably dissatisfied with the Curtain. It +was small and antiquated, and it must have suffered by comparison with +the more splendid Globe and Fortune. So the Queen's players had built +for themselves a new and larger playhouse, called "The Red Bull." This +was probably ready for occupancy in 1605, yet it is impossible to say +exactly when the Queen's Men left the Curtain; their patent of April +15, 1609, gives them permission to act "within their now usual houses +called the Red Bull, in Clerkenwell, and the Curtain in +Holywell."[142] It may be that they retained control of the Curtain in +order to prevent competition. + +[Footnote 142: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 270.] + +What company occupied the Curtain after Queen Anne's Men finally +surrendered it is not clear. Mr. Murray is of the opinion that Prince +Charles's Men moved into the Curtain "about December, 1609, or early +in 1610."[143] + +[Footnote 143: _English Dramatic Companies_, I, 230.] + +In 1613 "a company of young men" acted _The Hector of Germany_ "at +the Red Bull and at the Curtain." Such plays, however, written and +acted by amateurs, were not uncommon, and no significance can be +attached to the event. + +In 1622, as we learn from the Herbert Manuscripts, the Curtain was +being occupied by Prince Charles's Servants.[144] In the same year the +author of _Vox Graculi, or The Jack Daw's Prognostication for 1623_, +refers to it thus: "If company come current to the Bull and Curtain, +there will be more money gathered in one afternoon than will be given +to Kingsland Spittle in a whole month; also, if at this time about the +hours of four and five it wax cloudy and then rain downright, they +shall sit dryer in the galleries than those who are the understanding +men in the yard." + +[Footnote 144: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 59; cf. Chalmers's +_Supplemental Apology_, p. 213, note _y_. Murray gives the date +incorrectly as 1623.] + +Prince Charles's Men did not remain long at the Curtain. At some date +between June 10 and August 19, 1623, they moved to the larger and more +handsome Red Bull.[145] After this, so far as I can discover, there is +no evidence to connect the playhouse with dramatic performances. +Malone, who presumably bases his statements on the now lost records of +Herbert, says that shortly after the accession of King Charles I it +"seems to have been used only by prize-fighters."[146] + +[Footnote 145: Murray, _English Dramatic Companies_, I, 237, note 1.] + +[Footnote 146: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 54, note 2.] + +The last mention of the Curtain is found in the _Middlesex County +Records_ under the date February 21, 1627.[147] It is merely a passing +reference to "the common shoare near the Curtain playhouse," yet it is +significant as indicating that the building was then still standing. +What ultimately became of it we do not know. For a time, however, its +memory survived in Curtain Court (see page 79), and to-day its fame is +perpetuated in Curtain Road. + +[Footnote 147: See Jeaffreson, _Middlesex County Records_, III, 164, +from which the notice was quoted by Ordish, _Early London Theatres_, +p. 106.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FIRST BLACKFRIARS + + +The choir boys of the Chapel Royal, of Windsor, and of Paul's were all +engaged in presenting dramatic entertainments before Queen Elizabeth. +Each organization expected to be called upon one or more times a +year--at Christmas, New Year's, and other like occasions--to furnish +recreation to Her Majesty; and in return for its efforts each received +a liberal "reward" in money. Richard Farrant, Master of the Windsor +Chapel, was especially active in devising plays for the Queen's +entertainment. But having a large family, he was poor in spite of his +regular salary and the occasional "rewards" he received for the +performances of his Boys at Court; and doubtless he often cast about +in his mind for some way in which to increase his meagre income. + +In the spring of 1576 James Burbage, having conceived the idea of a +building devoted solely to plays, had leased a plot of ground for the +purpose, and had begun the erection of the Theatre. By the autumn, no +doubt, the building was nearing completion, if, indeed, it was not +actually open to the public; and the experiment, we may suppose, was +exciting much interest in the dramatic circles of London. It seems to +have set Farrant to thinking. The professional actors, he observed, +had one important advantage over the child actors: not only could they +present their plays before the Queen and receive the usual court +reward, but in addition they could present their plays before the +public and thus reap a second and richer harvest. Since the child +actors had, as a rule, more excellent plays than the professional +troupes, and were better equipped with properties and costumes, and +since they expended just as much energy in devising plays and in +memorizing and rehearsing their parts, Farrant saw no reason why they, +too, should not be allowed to perform before the public. This, he +thought, might be done under the guise of rehearsals for the Court. +Possibly the Queen might even wink at regular performances before the +general public when she understood that this would train the Boys to +be more skilful actors, would provide Her Majesty with more numerous +and possibly more excellent plays, and would enable the Master and his +assistants to live in greater comfort without affecting the royal +purse. + +[Illustration: BLACKFRIARS MONASTERY + +A plan of the various buildings as they appeared before the +dissolution, based on the Loseley Manuscripts and other documents, +surveys, and maps. The Buttery became Farrant's, the Frater Burbage's +playhouse. (Drawn by the author.)] + +For Farrant to build a playhouse specifically for the use of the +Children was out of the question. In the first place, it would be too +conspicuously a capitalization of the royal choristers for private +gain; and in the second place, it would be far too hazardous a +business venture for so poor a man as he to undertake. The more +sensible thing for him to do was to rent somewhere a large hall which +could at small expense be converted into a place suitable for training +the Children in their plays, and for the entertainment of +select--possibly at first invited--audiences. The performances, of +course, were not to be heralded by a trumpet-and-drum procession +through the street, by the flying of a flag, and by such-like vulgar +advertising as of a public show; instead, they were to be quiet, +presumably "private," and were to attract only noblemen and those +citizens of the better class who were interested in the drama.[148] + +[Footnote 148: From this notion of privacy, I take it, arose the term +"private" theatre as distinguished from "common" or "public" theatre. +The interpretation of the term suggested by Mr. W.J. Lawrence, and +approved by Mr. William Archer, namely, that it was a legal device to +escape the city ordinance of 1574, cannot be accepted. The city had no +jurisdiction over the precinct of Blackfriars, nor did Farrant live in +the building.] + +[Illustration: THE SITES OF THE TWO BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSES + +The smaller rectangle at the north represents the Buttery, later +Farrant's playhouse, the larger rectangle represents the Frater, later +Burbage's playhouse. (From Ogilby and Morgan's _Map of London_, 1677, +the sites marked by the author.)] + +Such was Farrant's scheme. In searching for a hall suitable for his +purpose, his mind at once turned to the precinct of Blackfriars, where +in former years the Office of the Revels had been kept, and where the +Children had often rehearsed their plays. The precinct had once, as +the name indicates, been in the possession of the Dominican or "Black" +Friars. The Priory buildings had consisted chiefly of a great church +two hundred and twenty feet long and sixty-six feet broad, with a +cloister on the south side of the church forming a square of one +hundred and ten feet, and a smaller cloister to the south of this. At +the dissolution of the religious orders, the property had passed into +the possession of the Crown; hence, though within the city walls, it +was not under the jurisdiction of the city authorities. Farrant +probably did not anticipate any interference on the part of the Common +Council with the royal choristers "practicing" their plays in order +"to yield Her Majesty recreation and delight," yet the absolute +certainty of being free from the adverse legislation of the London +authorities was not to be ignored. Moreover, the precinct was now the +home of many noblemen and wealthy gentlemen, and Farrant probably +thought that, as one of the most fashionable residential districts in +London, it was suitable for "private" performances to be given by +members of Her Majesty's household. + +In furthering his project he sought the counsel and aid of his "very +friend" Sir Henry Neville, Lieutenant of Windsor, who, it is to be +presumed, was interested in the Windsor Boys. It happened that Neville +knew of exactly such rooms as were desired, rooms in the old monastery +of Blackfriars which he himself had once leased as a residence, and +which, he heard, were "to be let either presently, or very shortly." +These rooms were in the southwestern corner of the monastery, on the +upper floor of two adjoining buildings formerly used by the monks as a +buttery and a frater. A history of the rooms up to the time of their +use as a theatre may be briefly sketched. + +In 1548 the buttery and frater, with certain other buildings, were let +by King Edward to Sir Thomas Cawarden, Master of the Revels; and in +1550 they were granted to him outright. In 1554 Cawarden sold the +northern section of the buttery, fifty-two feet in length, to Lord +Cobham, whose mansion it adjoined. The rest of the buttery, forty-six +feet in length, and the frater, he converted into lodgings. Since the +frater was of exceptional breadth--fifty-two feet on the outside, +forty-six feet on the inside--he ran a partition through its length, +dividing it into two parts. The section of the frater on the west of +this partition he let to Sir Richard Frith; the section on the east, +with the remainder of the buttery not sold to Lord Cobham, he let to +Sir John Cheeke. It is with the Cheeke Lodgings that we are especially +concerned. + +About September, 1554, Cheeke went to travel abroad, and surrendered +his rooms in the Blackfriars. Sir Thomas Cawarden thereupon made use +of them "for the Office of the Queen's Majesty's Revells"; thus for a +time the Cheeke Lodgings were intimately connected with dramatic +activities. But at the death of Cawarden, in 1559, the Queen +transferred the Office of the Revels to St. John's, and the +Blackfriars property belonging to Cawarden passed into the possession +of Sir William More. + +[Illustration: A PLAN OF FARRANT'S PLAYHOUSE + +Frith's Lodging and the four southern rooms of Farrant's Lodging were +on the upper floor of the Frater; the two northern rooms of Farrant's +Lodging were on the upper floor of the Buttery. The playhouse was +erected in the two rooms last mentioned.] + +In 1560 the new proprietor let the Cheeke Lodgings to Sir Henry +Neville, with the addition of "a void piece of ground" eighteen feet +wide extending west to Water Lane.[149] During his tenancy Neville +erected certain partitions, built a kitchen in the "void piece of +ground," and a large stairway leading to the rooms overhead. In 1568 +he surrendered his lease, and More let the rooms first to some "sylk +dyers," and then in 1571 to Lord Cobham. In 1576 Cobham gave up the +rooms, and More was seeking a tenant. It was at this auspicious moment +that Farrant planned a private theatre, and enlisted the aid of Sir +Henry Neville. + +[Footnote 149: This was enclosed with brick walls, and the greater +part used as a wood-yard. This yard was later purchased by James +Burbage when he secured the frater for his playhouse. The kitchen, +shed, and stairs, built on the eastern part, were sold to Cobham.] + +On August 27 Farrant and Neville separately wrote letters to Sir +William More about the matter. Farrant respectfully solicited the +lease, and made the significant request that he might "pull down one +partition, and so make two rooms--one." Neville, in a friendly letter +beginning with "hearty commendations unto you and to Mrs. More," and +ending with light gossip, urged Sir William to let the rooms to +Farrant, and recommended Farrant as a desirable tenant ("I dare answer +for him"). Neither letter mentioned the purpose for which the rooms, +especially the large room referred to by Farrant, were to be used; but +More doubtless understood that the Windsor Children were to practice +their plays there, with occasional private rehearsals. Largely as a +result of Neville's recommendation, More decided to let the rooms to +Farrant. The progress of the negotiations is marked by a letter from +Farrant to More, dated September 17, 1576, requesting that there be +granted him also a certain "little dark room," which he found would be +useful. + +The lease as finally signed describes the property thus: + + Sir William More hath demised, granted, and to ferm letten, + and by these presents doth demise, grant, and to ferm let + unto the said Richard Farrant all those his six upper + chambers, lofts, lodgings, or rooms, lying together within + the precinct of the late dissolved house or priory of the + Blackfriars, otherwise called the friars preachers, in + London; which said six upper chambers, lofts, lodgings, or + rooms, were lately, amongst others, in the tenure and + occupation of the right honourable Sir William Brooke, + Knight, Lord Cobham; and do contain in length from the north + end thereof to the south end of the same one hundred fifty + and six foot and a half of assize; whereof two of the said + six upper chambers, lofts, lodgings, or rooms in the north + end of the premises, together with the breadth of the little + room under granted, do contain in length forty[150] and six + foot and a half, and from the east to the west part thereof + in breadth twenty and five foot of assize;[151] and the + four other chambers, or rooms, residue of the said six upper + chambers, do contain in length one hundred and ten foot, and + in breadth from the east to the west part thereof twenty-two + foot of assize.... And also ... the great stairs lately + erected and made by the said Sir Henry Neville upon part of + the said void ground and way. + +[Footnote 150: By an error in the manuscript this reads "fifty"; but +the rooms are often described and always as "forty-six" feet in +length; moreover, the error is made obvious by the rest of the lease.] + +[Footnote 151: The breadth is elsewhere given as twenty-six, and +twenty-seven feet.] + +It was agreed that the lease should run for twenty-one years, and that +the rental should be £14 per annum. But Sir William More, being a most +careful and exacting landlord, with the interest of his adjacent +lodgings to care for, inserted in the lease the following important +proviso, which was destined to make trouble, and ultimately to wreck +the theatre: + + Provided also that the said Richard Farrant, his executors + or assigns, or any of them, shall not in any wise demise, + let, grant, assign, set over, or by any ways or means put + away his or their interest or term of years, or any part of + the same years, of or in the said premises before letten, or + any part, parcel, or member thereof to any person, or + persons, at any time hereafter during this present lease and + term of twenty-one years, without the special license, + consent, and agreement of the said Sir William More, his + heirs and assigns, first had, and obtained in writing under + his and their hands and seals. + +The penalty affixed to a violation of this provision was the immediate +forfeiture of the lease. + +Apparently Farrant entered into possession of the rooms on September +29[152] (although the formal lease was not signed until December 20), +and we may suppose that he at once set about converting the two upper +rooms at the north end of the lodgings into a suitable theatre.[153] +Naturally he took for his model the halls at Court in which the +Children had been accustomed to act. First, we are told, he "pulled +down partitions to make that place apt for that purpose"; next, he +"spoiled" the windows--by which is meant, no doubt, that he stopped up +the windows, for the performances were to be by candle-light. At one +end of the hall he erected a platform to serve as a stage, and in the +auditorium he placed benches or chairs. There was, presumably, no room +for a gallery; if such had been erected, the indignant More would +certainly have mentioned it in his bill of complaints.[154] +Chandeliers over the stage, and, possibly, footlights, completed the +necessary arrangements. For these alterations Farrant, we are told, +became "greatly indebted," and he died three or four years later with +the debt still unpaid. More complained that the alterations had put +the rooms into a state of "great ruin," which meant, of course, from +the point of view of a landlord desiring to let them again for +residential purposes. Just how costly or how extensive the alterations +were we cannot now determine; but we may reasonably conclude that +Farrant made the hall not only "commodious for his purpose," but also +attractive to the aristocratic audiences he intended to gather there +to see his plays. + +[Footnote 152: The date from which the lease was made to run.] + +[Footnote 153: It is usually said that he converted the entire seven +rooms into his theatre, but that seems highly unlikely. The northern +section was 46 x 26 feet, the southern section 110 x 22--absurd +dimensions for an auditorium. Moreover, that Farrant originally +planned to use only the northern section is indicated by his request +to be allowed to "pull down one partition and so make two rooms--one." +The portion not used for the playhouse he rented; in 1580, we are +told, he let "two parcels thereof to two several persons."] + +[Footnote 154: M. Feuillerat, I think, is wrong in supposing that +there was a gallery. He deduces no proof for his contention, and the +evidence is against him.] + +To reach the hall, playgoers had to come first into Water Lane, thence +through "a way leading from the said way called Water Lane" to "a +certain void ground" before the building. Here "upon part of the said +void ground" they found a "great stairs, which said great stairs do +serve and lead into" the upper rooms--or, as we may now say, +Blackfriars Playhouse.[155] + +[Footnote 155: There must have been two stairways leading to the upper +rooms; I have assumed that playgoers used Neville's stairs to reach +the theatre.] + +Having thus provided a playhouse, Farrant next provided an adequate +company of boy actors. To do this, he combined the Children of Windsor +with the Children of the Chapel Royal, of which William Hunnis was +master. What arrangement he made with Hunnis we do not know, but the +Court records show that Farrant was regarded as the manager of the new +organization; he is actually referred to in the payments as "Master of +the Children of Her Majesty's Chapel," and Hunnis's official +connection with the Children is ignored. + +Farrant may have been able to open his playhouse before the close of +the year; or he may have first begun performances there in the early +months of 1577. He would certainly be anxious to make use of the new +play he was preparing for presentation at Court on Twelfth Day, +January 6, 1577. + +For four years, 1576-1580, the playhouse was operated without trouble. +Sir William More, however, was not pleased at the success with which +the actors were meeting. He asserted that when he made the lease he +was given to understand that the building was to be used "only for the +teaching of the Children of the Chapel"--with, no doubt, a few +rehearsals to which certain persons would be _privately_ invited. But, +now, to his grief, he discovered that Farrant had "made it a continual +house for plays." He asserted that the playhouse had become offensive +to the precinct; and doubtless some complaints had been made to him, +as landlord, by the more aristocratic inhabitants.[156] At any rate, +he became anxious to regain possession of the building. + +[Footnote 156: I suspect that the theatre gave greater offense to More +himself than it did to any one else, for it adjoined his home, and the +audience made use of the private passage which led from Water Lane to +his mansion. Unquestionably he suffered worse than any one else both +from the noise and the crowds.] + +In the autumn of 1580 he saw an opportunity to break the lease and +close the playhouse. Farrant made the mistake of letting "two parcels +thereof to two severall persons" without first gaining the written +consent of More, and at once More "charged him with forfeiture of his +lease." But before More could "take remedy against him" Farrant died, +November 30, 1580. More, however, "entered upon the house, and refused +to receive any rent but conditionally." + +By his will, proved March 1, 1581, Farrant left the lease of the +Blackfriars to his widow, Anne Farrant. But she had no authority over +the royal choristers, nor was she qualified to manage a company of +actors, even if she had had the time to do so after caring for her +"ten little ones." What use, if any, was made of the playhouse during +the succeeding winter we do not know. The widow writes that she, +"being a sole woman, unable of herself to use the said rooms to such +purpose as her said husband late used them, nor having any need or +occasion to occupy them to such commodity as would discharge the rents +due for the said rooms in the bill alledged, nor being able to +sustain, repair, and amend the said rooms," etc.;[157] the natural +inference from which is that for a time the playhouse stood unused. +The widow, of course, was anxious to sublet the building to some one +who could make use of it as a playhouse; and on December 25, 1580, she +addressed a letter to Sir William More asking his written permission +to make such a disposal of the lease. The letter has a pathetic +interest that justifies its insertion here: + + _To the right worshipful Sir William More, Knight, at his + house near Guilford, give these with speed._ + + _Right worshipful Sir:_ + + After my humble commendations, and my duty also + remembered--where it hath pleased your worship to grant unto + my husband in his life time one lease of your house within + the Blackfriars, for the term of twenty-one years, with a + proviso in the end thereof that he cannot neither let nor + set the same without your worship's consent under your hand + in writing. And now for that it hath pleased God to call my + said husband unto His mercy, having left behind him the + charge of ten small children upon my hand, and my husband + besides greatly indebted, not having the revenue of one + groat any way coming in, but by making the best I may of + such things as he hath left behind him, to relieve my little + ones. May it therefore please your worship, of your abundant + clemency and accustomed goodness, to consider a poor widow's + distressed estate, and for God's cause to comfort her with + your worship's warrant under your hand to let and set the + same to my best comodity during the term of years in the + said lease contained, not doing any waste. In all which + doing, I shall evermore most abundantly pray unto God for + the preservation of your worship's long continuance. From + Grenwich, the twenty-fifth of December, + + By a poor and sorrowful widow, + + ANNE FARRANT.[158] + +[Footnote 157: Wallace, _The Evolution of the English Drama_, p. 163.] + +[Footnote 158: Wallace, _The Evolution of the English Drama_, p. +153.] + +Whether she secured in writing the permission she requested we do not +know. Four years later More said that she did not. Possibly, however, +she was orally given to understand that she might transfer the lease +to her husband's former partner in the enterprise, William +Hunnis.[159] Hunnis naturally was eager to make use of the building in +preparation for the Christmas plays at Court. At some date before +September 19, he secured the use of the playhouse on a temporary +agreement with the widow; but in order to avoid any difficulty with +More, he interviewed the latter, and presented a letter of +recommendation from the Earl of Leicester. This letter has been +preserved among Sir William's papers: + + _Sir William More:_ + + Whereas my friend, Mr. Hunnis, this bearer, informeth me + that he hath of late bought of Farrant's widow her lease of + that house in Blackfriars which you made to her husband, + deceased, and means there to practice the Queen's Children + of the Chapel, being now in his charge, in like sort as his + predecessor did, for the better training them to do Her + Majesty's service; he is now a suitor to me to recommend him + to your good favour--which I do very heartily, as one that I + wish right well unto, and will give you thanks for any + continuance or friendship you shall show him for the + furtherance of this his honest request. And thus, with my + hearty commendations, I wish you right heartily well to + fare. From the Court, this nineteenth of September, 1581. + + Your very friend, + + R. LEICESTER.[160] + +[Footnote 159: More had "refused to accept any rent but +conditionally." Probably he refused written consent to the sublease +for the same reason.] + +[Footnote 160: Wallace, _The Evolution of the English Drama_, p. 154.] + +The result of this interview we do not know. But on December 20 +following, the widow made a formal lease of the property to William +Hunnis and John Newman, at a rental of £20 13_s._ 4_d._ a year, an +increase of £6 13_s._ 4_d._ over the rental she had to pay More. She +required of them a bond of £100 to guarantee their performance of all +the covenants of the lease. Thereupon the theatre under Hunnis and +Newman resumed its career--if, indeed, this had ever been seriously +interrupted. + +In the course of time, More's anxiety to recover possession of the +hall seems to have increased. The quarterly payments were not promptly +met by the widow, and the repairs on the building were not made to his +satisfaction. Probably through fear of the increasing dissatisfaction +on the part of More, Hunnis and Newman transferred their lease, in +1583, to a young Welsh scrivener, Henry Evans, who had become +interested in dramatic affairs. This transfer of the lease without +More's written consent was a second clear breach of the original +contract, and it gave More exactly the opportunity he sought. +Accordingly, he declared the original lease to Farrant void, and made +a new lease of the house "unto his own man, Thomas Smallpiece, to try +the said Evans his right." But Evans, being a lawyer, knew how to take +care of himself. He "demurred in law," and "kept the same in his hands +with long delays." + +The widow, alarmed at the prospect of losing her lease, brought suit, +in December, 1583, against Hunnis and Newman separately for the +forfeiture of their several bonds of £100, contending that they had +not paid promptly according to their agreement, and had not kept the +building in proper repair. Hunnis and Newman separately brought suit +in the Court of Requests for relief against the widow's suits. +Meanwhile More was demanding judgment against Evans. Hunnis, it seems, +carried his troubles to the Court and there sought help. Queen +Elizabeth could take no direct action, because Sir William More was a +good friend of hers, who had entertained her in his home. But she +might enlist the aid of one of her noblemen who were interested in the +drama. However this was, the young Earl of Oxford, himself a +playwright and the patron of a troupe of boy-actors, came to the +rescue of the theatre. He bought the lease of the building from Evans, +and undertook to reorganize its affairs. To Hunnis's twelve Children +of the Chapel he added the Children of St. Paul's Cathedral, making +thus a company of adequate size. He retained Hunnis, no doubt, as one +of the trainers of the Boys, and he kept Evans as manager of the +troupe. Moreover, shortly after the purchase, probably in June, 1583, +he made a free gift of the lease to his private secretary, John Lyly, +a young man who had recently won fame with the first English novel, +_Euphues_. The object of this, like the preceding transfers of title, +it seems, was to put as many legal blocks in the path of Sir William +More as possible. More realized this, and complained specifically that +"the title was posted from one to another"; yet he had firmly made up +his mind to recover the property, and in spite of Oxford's +interference, he instructed his "learned council" to "demand +judgment." + +Meanwhile the dramatic organization at Blackfriars continued under the +direction of Hunnis, Evans, and Lyly, with the Earl of Oxford as +patron. Not only was Lyly the proprietor of the theatre, but he +attempted to supply it with the necessary plays. He had already shown +his power to tell in effective prose a pleasing love romance. That +power he now turned to the production of his first play, written in +haste for the Christmas festivities. The play, _Alexander and +Campaspe_, was presented before Her Majesty on January 1, 1584, and at +Blackfriars, with great applause. Lyly's second play, _Sapho and +Phao_, was produced at Court on March 3, following, and also at +Blackfriars before the general public. + +But at the Easter term, 1584, Sir William More got judgment in his +favor. The widow begged Sir Francis Walsingham to intercede in her +behalf, declaring that the loss of the lease "might be her utter +undoing."[161] Walsingham sent the letter to More, and apparently +urged a consideration of her case. More, however, refused to yield. He +banished Lyly, Hunnis, Evans, and the Children from the "great upper +hall," and reconverted the building into tenements. + +[Footnote 161: The letter is printed in full by Mr. Wallace in _The +Evolution of the English Drama_, p. 158. Mr. Wallace, however, +misdates it. It was not written until after More had "recovered it +[the lease] against Evans."] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ST. PAUL'S + + +As shown in the preceding chapter, not only were the Children of the +Chapel Royal and of Windsor called upon to entertain the Queen with +dramatic performances, but the Children of St. Paul's were also +expected to amuse their sovereign on occasion. And following the +example of the Children of the Chapel and of Windsor in giving +performances before the public in Blackfriars, the Paul's Boys soon +began to give such performances in a building near the Cathedral.[162] +The building so employed was doubtless one of the structures owned by +the Church. Burbage and Heminges refer to it as "the said house near +St. Paul's Church."[163] Richard Flecknoe, in _A Discourse of the +English Stage_ (1664), places it "behind the Convocation-house in +Paul's";[164] and Howes, in his continuation of Stow's _Annals_ +(1631), says that it was the "singing-school" of the Cathedral.[165] +That the auditorium was small we may well believe. So was the stage. +Certain speakers in the Induction to _What You Will_, acted at Paul's +in 1600, say: "Let's place ourselves within the curtains, for, good +faith, the stage is so very little, we shall wrong the general eye +else very much." Both Fleay and Lawrence[166] contend that the +building was "round, like the Globe," and as evidence they cite the +Prologue to Marston's _Antonio's Revenge_, acted at Paul's in 1600, in +which the phrases "within this round" and "within this ring" are +applied to the theatre. The phrases, however, may have reference +merely to the circular disposition of the benches about the stage. +That high prices of admission to the little theatre were charged we +learn from a marginal note in _Pappe with an Hatchet_ (1589), which +states that if a tragedy "be showed at Paul's, it will cost you four +pence; at the Theatre two pence."[167] The Children, indeed, catered +to a very select public. Persons who went thither were gentle by birth +and by behavior as well; and playwrights, we are told, could always +feel sure there of the "calm attention of a choice audience."[168] +Lyly, in the Prologue to _Midas_, acted at Paul's in 1589, says: "Only +this doth encourage us, that presenting our studies before +_Gentlemen_, though they receive an inward dislike, we shall not be +hissed with an open disgrace." Things were quite otherwise in the +public theatres of Shoreditch and the Bankside. + +[Footnote 162: Murray, _English Dramatic Companies_, I, 325, +erroneously says: "Their public place was, probably, from the first, +the courtyard of St. Paul's Cathedral."] + +[Footnote 163: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +95.] + +[Footnote 164: That is, in or near Pater Noster Row.] + +[Footnote 165: _Annales, or A Generall Chronicle of England_, 1631, +signature liii 1, verso.] + +[Footnote 166: F.G. Fleay, _A Biographical Chronicle of the English +Drama_, II, 76; W.J. Lawrence, _The Elizabethan Playhouse_, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 167: R.W. Bond, _The Complete Works of John Lyly_, III, 408. +Higher prices of admission were charged to all the private +playhouses.] + +[Footnote 168: John Marston, _Antonio's Revenge_, acted at Paul's in +1600.] + +Under the direction of their master, Sebastian Westcott, the Boys +acted before the public at least as early as 1578,[169] for in +December of that year the Privy Council ordered the Lord Mayor to +permit them to "exercise plays" within the city;[170] and Stephen +Gosson, in his _Plays Confuted_, written soon afterwards, mentions +_Cupid and Psyche_ as having been recently "plaid at Paules." + +[Footnote 169: There is a record of a play by the Paul's Boys in 1527 +before ambassadors from France, dealing with the heretic Luther; but +exactly when they began to give public performances for money we do +not know.] + +[Footnote 170: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 432.] + +Westcott died in 1582, and was succeeded by Thomas Gyles. Shortly +after this we find the Children of Paul's acting publicly with the +Children of the Chapel Royal at the little theatre in Blackfriars. For +them John Lyly wrote his two earliest plays, _Campaspe_ and _Sapho and +Phao_, as the title-pages clearly state. But their stay at Blackfriars +was short. When in 1584 Sir William More closed up the theatre there, +they fell back upon their singing-school as the place for their public +performances. + +At the same time the Queen became greatly interested in promoting +their dramatic activities. To their master, Thomas Gyles, she issued, +in April, 1585, a special commission "to take up apt and meet +children" wherever he could find them. It was customary for the Queen +to issue such a commission to the masters of her two private chapels, +but never before, or afterwards, had this power to impress children +been conferred upon a person not directly connected with the royal +choristers. Its issuance to Gyles in 1585 clearly indicates the +Queen's interest in the Paul's Boys as actors, and her expectation of +being frequently entertained by them. And to promote her plans still +further, she appointed the successful playwright John Lyly as their +vice-master, with the understanding, no doubt, that he was to keep +them--and her--supplied with plays. This he did, for all his comedies, +except the two just mentioned, were written for the Cathedral +Children, and were acted by them at Court, and in their little theatre +"behind the Convocation House." + +Unfortunately under Lyly's leadership the Boys became involved in the +bitter Martin Marprelate controversy, for which they were suppressed +near the end of 1590. The printer of Lyly's _Endimion_, in 1591, says +to the reader: "Since the plays in Paul's were dissolved, there are +certain comedies come to my hands by chance, which were presented +before Her Majesty at several times by the Children of Paul's." + +Exactly how long the Children were restrained it is hard to determine. +In 1596 Thomas Nash, in _Have With You to Saffron Walden_, expressed +a desire to see "the plays at Paul's up again." Mr. Wallace thinks +they may have been allowed "up again" in 1598;[171] Fleay, in 1599 or +1600;[172] the evidence, however, points, I think, to the spring or +early summer of 1600. The Children began, naturally, with old plays, +"musty fopperies of antiquity"; the first, or one of the first, new +plays they presented was Marston's _Jack Drum's Entertainment_, the +date of which can be determined within narrow limits. References to +Kempe's Morris, which was danced in February, 1600, as being still a +common topic of conversation, and the entry of the play in the +Stationers' Registers on September 8, 1600, point to the spring or +early summer of 1600 as the date of composition. This makes very +significant the following passage in the play referring to the Paul's +Boys as just beginning to act again after their long inhibition: + + _Sir Ed._ I saw the Children of Paul's last night, + And troth they pleas'd me pretty, pretty well. + The Apes in time will do it handsomely. + + _Plan._ S'faith, I like the audience that frequenteth there + With much applause. A man shall not be choak't + With the stench of garlic, nor be pasted + To the barmy jacket of a beer-brewer. + + _Bra. Ju._ 'Tis a good, gentle audience; and I hope the Boys + Will come one day into the Court of Requests. + +[Footnote 171: _The Children of the Chapel_, p. 153.] + +[Footnote 172: _A Chronicle History of the London Stage_, p. 152.] + +Shortly after this the Boys were indeed called "into the Court of +Requests," for on New Year's Day, 1601, they were summoned to present +a play before Her Majesty. + +Their master now was Edward Pierce, who had succeeded Thomas Gyles. In +1605 the experienced Edward Kirkham, driven from the management of the +Blackfriars Theatre, became an assistant to Pierce in the management +of Paul's. In this capacity we find him in 1606 receiving the payment +for the two performances of the Boys at Court that year.[173] + +[Footnote 173: Cunningham, _Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels_, +p. XXXVIII.] + +Among the playwrights engaged by Pierce to write for Paul's were +Marston, Middleton, Chapman, Dekker, Webster, and Beaumont; and, as a +result, some of the most interesting dramas of the period were first +acted on the small stage of the singing-school. Details in the history +of the Children, however, are few. We find an occasional notice of +their appearance at Court, but our record of them is mainly secured +from the title-pages of their plays. + +The last notice of a performance by them is as follows: "On the 30th +of July, 1606, the youths of Paul's, commonly called the Children of +Paul's, played before the two Kings [of England and of Denmark] a play +called _Abuses_, containing both a comedy and a tragedy, at which the +Kings seemed to take great delight and be much pleased."[174] + +[Footnote 174: Nichols, _The Progresses of James_, IV, 1073.] + +The reason why the Children ceased to act is made clear in the lawsuit +of Keysar _v._ Burbage _et al._, recently discovered and printed by +Mr. Wallace.[175] From this we learn that when Rosseter became manager +of the Children of the Queen's Revels at the private playhouse of +Whitefriars in 1609, he undertook to increase his profits by securing +a monopoly both of child-acting and of private theatres. Blackfriars +had been deserted, and the only other private theatre then in +existence was Paul's. So Rosseter agreed to pay Pierce a dead rent of +£20 a year to keep the Paul's playhouse closed: + + One Mr. Rosseter, a partner of the said complainant, dealt + for and compounded with the said Mr. Pierce to the only + benefit of him, the said Mr. Rosseter, the now complainant, + the rest of their partners and Company [at the Whitefriars] + ... that thereby they might ... advance their gains and + profit to be had and made in their said house in the + Whitefriars, that there might be a cessation of playing and + plays to be acted in the said house near St. Paul's Church + aforesaid, for which the said Rosseter compounded with the + said Pierce to give him the said Pierce twenty pounds per + annum.[176] + +[Footnote 175: _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. 80.] + +[Footnote 176: _Ibid._, p. 95.] + +In this attempt to secure a monopoly in private playhouses Rosseter +was foiled by the coming of Shakespeare's troupe to the Blackfriars; +but the King's Men readily agreed to join in the payment of the dead +rent to Pierce, for it was to their advantage also to eliminate +competition. + +The agreement which Rosseter secured from Pierce was binding "for one +whole year"; whether it was renewed we do not know, but the Children +never again acted in "their house near St. Paul's Church." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BANKSIDE AND THE BEAR GARDEN + + +From time out of mind the suburb of London known as "the +Bankside"--the term was loosely applied to all the region south of the +river and west of the bridge--had been identified with sports and +pastimes. On Sundays, holidays, and other festive occasions, the +citizens, their wives, and their apprentices were accustomed to seek +outdoor entertainment across the river, going thither in boats (of +which there was an incredible number, converting "the silver sliding +Thames" almost into a Venetian Grand Canal), or strolling on foot over +old London Bridge. On the Bankside the visitors could find maypoles +for dancing, butts for the practice of archery, and broad fields for +athletic games; or, if so disposed, they could visit bull-baitings, +bear-baitings, fairs, stage-plays, shows, motions, and other +amusements of a similar sort. + +Not all the attractions of the Bankside, however, were so innocent. +For here, in a long row bordering the river's edge, were situated the +famous stews of the city, licensed by authority of the Bishop of +Winchester; and along with the stews, of course, such places as thrive +in a district devoted to vice--houses for gambling, for +coney-catching, and for evil practices of various sorts. The less said +of this feature of the Bankside the better. + +More needs to be said of the bull- and bear-baiting, which probably +constituted the chief amusement of the crowds from the city, and which +was later closely associated with the drama and with playhouses. This +sport, now surviving in the bull-fights of Spain and of certain +Spanish-American countries, was in former times one of the most +popular species of entertainment cultivated by the English. Even so +early as 1174, William Fitz-Stephen, in his _Descriptio Nobilissimæ +Ciuitatis Londoniæ_, under the heading _De Ludis_, records that the +London citizens diverted themselves on holiday occasions with the +baiting of beasts, when "strong horn-goring bulls, or immense bears, +contend fiercely with dogs that are pitted against them."[177] In some +towns the law required that bulls intended for the butcher-shop should +first be baited for the amusement of the public before being led to +the slaughter-house. Erasmus speaks of the "many herds of bears" which +he saw in England "maintained for the purpose of baiting." The baiting +was accomplished by tying the bulls or bears to stakes, or when +possible releasing them in an amphitheatre, and pitting against them +bull-dogs, bred through centuries for strength and ferocity. +Occasionally other animals, as ponies and apes, were brought into the +fight, and the sport was varied in miscellaneous ways. Some of the +animals, by unusual courage or success, endeared themselves to the +heart of the sporting public. Harry Hunks, George Stone, and Sacarson +were famous bears in Shakespeare's time; and the names of many of the +"game bulls" and "mastiff dogs" became household words throughout +London. + +[Footnote 177: "Pingues tauri cornupetæ, seu vrsi immanes, cum +obiectis depugnant canibus."] + +[Illustration: THE BANKSIDE + +Showing the Bear- and Bull-baiting Rings. (From the _Map of London_ by +Braun and Hogenbergius, representing the city in 1554-1558.)] + +[Illustration: THE BANKSIDE + +This was the second district of London used for public playhouses. +Notice the amphitheatres for animal-baiting. (From William Smith's MS. +of the Description of England, _c._ 1580.)] + +The home of this popular sport was the Bankside. The earliest extant +map of Southwark,[178] drawn about 1542, shows in the very centre of +High Street, just opposite London Bridge, a circular amphitheatre +marked "The Bull Ring"; and doubtless there were other places along +the river devoted to the same purpose. The baiting of bears was more +closely identified with the Manor of Paris Garden,[179] that section +of the Bank lying to the west of the Clink, over towards the marshes +of Lambeth. The association of bear-baiting with this particular +section was probably due to the fact that in early days the butchers +of London used a part of the Manor of Paris Garden for the disposal +of their offal,[180] and the entrails and other refuse from the +slaughtered beasts furnished cheap and abundant food for the bears and +dogs. The Earl of Manchester wrote to the Lord Mayor and the Common +Council, in 1664, that he had been informed by the master of His +Majesty's Game of Bears and Bulls, and others, that "the Butcher's +Company had formerly caused all their offal in Eastcheap and Newgate +Market to be conveyed by the beadle of the Company unto two barrow +houses, conveniently placed on the river side, for the provision and +feeding of the King's Game of Bears." + +[Footnote 178: The map is reproduced in facsimile by Rendle as a +frontispiece to _Old Southwark and its People_.] + +[Footnote 179: Or Parish Garden, possibly the more correct form. For +the early history of the Manor see William Bray, _The History and +Antiquities of the County of Surrey_, III, 530; Wallace, in _Englische +Studien_ (1911), XLIII, 341, note 3; Ordish, _Early London Theatres_, +p. 125.] + +[Footnote 180: Blount, in his _Glossographia_ (1681), p. 473, says of +Paris Garden: "So called from Robert de Paris, who had a house and +garden there in Richard II.'s time; who by proclamation, ordained that +the butchers of London should buy that garden for receipt of their +garbage and entrails of beasts, to the end the city might not be +annoyed thereby."] + +[Illustration: THE BEAR- AND BULL-BAITING RINGS + +These "rings" later gave place to the Bear Garden. (From Agas's _Map +of London_, representing the city as it was about 1560.)] + +At first, apparently, the baiting of bears was held in open +places,[181] with the bear tied to a stake and the spectators crowding +around, or at best standing on temporary scaffolds. But later, +permanent amphitheatres were provided. In Braun and Hogenberg's _Map +of London_, drawn between 1554 and 1558, and printed in 1572, we find +two well-appointed amphitheatres, with stables and kennels attached, +labeled respectively "The Bear Baiting" and "The Bull Baiting." When +these amphitheatres were erected we do not know, but probably they do +not antedate by much the middle of the century.[182] + +[Footnote 181: See Gilpin's _Life of Cranmer_ for a description of a +bear-baiting before the King held on or near the river's edge. See +also the proclamation of Henry VIII in 1546 against the stews, which +implies the non-existence of regular amphitheatres.] + +[Footnote 182: Sir Sidney Lee (_Shakespeare's England_, II, 428) says +that one of the amphitheatres was erected in 1526. I do not know his +authority; he was apparently misled by one of Rendle's statements. +Neither of the amphitheatres is shown in Wyngaerde's careful _Map of +London_ made about 1530-1540; possibly they are referred to in the +_Diary_ of Henry Machyn under the date of May 26, 1554. The old "Bull +Ring" in High Street had then disappeared, and the baiting of bulls +was henceforth more or less closely associated, as was natural, with +the baiting of bears.] + +It is to be noted that at this time neither "The Bull Baiting" nor +"The Bear Baiting" is in the Manor of Paris Garden, but close by in +the Liberty of the Clink. Yet the name "Paris Garden" continued to be +used of the animal-baiting place for a century and more. Possibly the +identification of bear-baiting with Paris Garden was of such long +standing that Londoners could not readily adjust themselves to the +change; they at first confused the terms "Bear Garden" and "Paris +Garden," and later extended the term "Paris Garden" to include that +section of the Clink devoted to the baiting of animals. + +The two amphitheatres, it seems, were used until 1583, when a serious +catastrophe put an end to one if not both of them. Stow, in his +_Annals_, gives the following account of the accident: + + The same thirteenth day of January, being Sunday, about four + of the clock in the afternoon, the old and underpropped + scaffolds round about the Bear Garden, commonly called Paris + Garden, on the south side of the river of Thamis over + against the city of London, overcharged with people, fell + suddenly down, whereby to the number of eight persons, men + and women, were slain, and many others sore hurt and bruised + to the shortening of their lives.[183] + +[Footnote 183: Stow, _Annals_ (ed. 1631), p. 696.] + +Stubbes, the Puritan, writes in his more heightened style: + + Upon the 13 day of January last, being the Saboth day, + _Anno_ 1583, the people, men, women, and children, both + young and old, an infinite number, flocking to those + infamous places where these wicked exercises are usually + practised (for they have their courts, gardens, and yards + for the same purpose), when they were all come together and + mounted aloft upon their scaffolds and galleries, and in the + midst of all their jolity and pastime, all the whole + building (not one stick standing) fell down with a most + wonderful and fearful confusion. So that either two or three + hundred men, women, and children (by estimation), whereof + seven were killed dead, some were wounded, some lamed, and + otherwise bruised and crushed almost to death. Some had + their brains dashed out, some their heads all to-squashed, + some their legs broken, some their arms, some their backs, + some their shoulders, some one hurt, some another.[184] + +[Footnote 184: Philip Stubbes, _The Anatomie of Abuses_ (ed. +Furnivall), p. 179.] + +The building, which the Reverend John Field described as "old and +rotten,"[185] was a complete ruin; "not a stick was left so high as +the bear was fastened to." The Puritan preachers loudly denounced the +unholy spectacles, pointing to the catastrophe as a clear warning from +the Almighty; and the city authorities earnestly besought the Privy +Council to put an end to such performances. Yet the owners of the +building set to work at once, and soon had erected a new house, +stronger and larger and more pretentious than before. The Lord Mayor, +in some indignation, wrote to the Privy Council on July 3, 1583, that +"the scaffolds are new builded, and the multitudes on the Saboth day +called together in most excessive number."[186] + +[Footnote 185: _A Godly Exhortation by Occasion of the Late Judgement +of God, Shewed at Paris-Garden_ (London, 1583). Another account of the +disaster may be found in Vaughan's _Golden Grove_ (1600).] + +[Footnote 186: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 65.] + +The New Bear Garden, octagonal in form, was probably modeled after the +playhouses in Shoreditch, and made in all respects superior to the old +amphitheatre which it supplanted.[187] We find that it was reckoned +among the sights of the city, and was exhibited to distinguished +foreign visitors. For example, when Sir Walter Raleigh undertook to +entertain the French Ambassador, he carried him to view the monuments +in Westminster Abbey and to see the new Bear Garden. + +[Footnote 187: What became of the other amphitheatre labeled "The Bull +Baiting" I do not know. Stow, in his _Survey_, 1598, says: "Now to +return to the west bank, there be two bear gardens, the old and new +places, wherein be kept bears, bulls, and other beasts to be baited."] + +[Illustration: THE BEAR GARDEN + +From Visscher's _Map of London_, published in 1616, but representing +the city as it was several years earlier.] + +A picture of the building is to be seen in the Hondius _View of +London_, 1610 (see page 149), and in the small inset views from the +title-pages of Holland's _Her[Greek: ô]ologia_, 1620, and Baker's +_Chronicle_, 1643 (see page 147), all three of which probably go back +to a view of London made between 1587 and 1597, and now lost. Another +representation of the structure is to be seen in the Delaram portrait +of King James, along with the Rose and the Globe (see opposite page +246). The best representation of the building, however, is in +Visscher's _View of London_ (see page 127), printed in 1616, but drawn +several years earlier.[188] + +[Footnote 188: For a fuller discussion of these various maps and views +see pages 146, 248, and 328. Norden's map of 1594 (see page 147) +merely indicates the site of the building.] + +Although we are not directly concerned with the history of the Bear +Garden,[189] a few descriptions of "the royal game of bears, bulls, +and dogs" drawn from contemporary sources will be of interest and of +specific value for the discussion of the Hope Playhouse--itself both a +bear garden and a theatre. + +[Footnote 189: For such a history the reader is referred to Ordish, +_Early London Theatres_; Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, II, and _Henslowe +Papers_; Young, _The History of Dulwich College_; Rendle, _The +Bankside_, and _The Playhouses at Bankside_.] + +Robert Laneham, in his _Description of the Entertainment at +Kenilworth_ (1575), writes thus of a baiting of bears before the +Queen: + + Well, syr, the Bearz wear brought foorth intoo the Coourt, + the dogs set too them.... It was a Sport very pleazaunt of + theez beastz; to see the bear with his pink nyez leering + after hiz enemiez approoch, the nimbleness & wayt of ye dog + to take his auauntage, and the fors & experiens of the bear + agayn to auoyd the assauts: if he war bitten in one place, + how he woold pynch in an oother to get free: that if he wear + taken onez, then what shyft, with byting, with clawing, with + rooring, tossing, & tumbling he woold woork to wynd hym self + from them: and when he waz lose, to shake his earz tywse or + thryse, wyth the blud and the slauer aboout his fiznomy, waz + a matter of a goodly releef. + +John Houghton, in his _Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and +Trade_,[190] gives a vivid account of the baiting of the bull. He +says: + + The bull takes great care to watch his enemy, which is a + mastiff dog (commonly used to the sport) with a short nose + that his teeth may take the better hold; this dog, if right, + will creep upon his belly that he may, if possible, get the + bull by the nose; which the bull as carefully strives to + defend by laying it close to the ground, where his horns are + also ready to do what in them lies to toss the dog; and this + is the true sport. But if more dogs than one come at once, + or they are cowardly and come under his legs, he will, if he + can, stamp their guts out. I believe I have seen a dog + tossed by a bull thirty, if not forty foot high; and when + they are tossed, either higher or lower, the men above + strive to catch them on their shoulders, lest the fall might + mischief the dogs. They commonly lay sand about that if they + fall upon the ground it may be the easier. Notwithstanding + this care a great many dogs are killed, more have their + limbs broke, and some hold so fast that, by the bull's + swinging them, their teeth are often broken out.... The true + courage and art is to hold the bull by the nose 'till he + roars, which a courageous bull scorns to do.... This is a + sport the English much delight in; and not only the baser + sort, but the greatest lords and ladies. + +[Footnote 190: No. 108, August, 1694. Quoted by J.P. Malcolm, +_Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London from the Roman +Invasion to the Year 1700_ (London, 1811), p. 433.] + +An attendant upon the Duke of Nexara, who visited England in 1544, +wrote the following account of a bear-baiting witnessed in London: + + In another part of the city we saw seven bears, some of them + of great size. They were led out every day to an enclosure, + where being tied with a long rope, large and intrepid dogs + are thrown to them, in order that they may bite and make + them furious. It is no bad sport to see them fight, and the + assaults they give each other. To each of the large bears + are matched three or four dogs, which sometimes get the + better and sometimes are worsted, for besides the fierceness + and great strength of the bears to defend themselves with + their teeth, they hug the dogs with their paws so tightly, + that, unless the masters came to assist them, they would be + strangled by such soft embraces. Into the same place they + brought a pony with an ape fastened on its back, and to see + the animal kicking amongst the dogs, with the screams of the + ape, beholding the curs hanging from the ears and neck of + the pony, is very laughable.[191] + +[Footnote 191: The original manuscript of this narrative, in Spanish, +is preserved in the British Museum. I quote the translation by +Frederick Madden, in _Archæologia_, XIII, 354-55.] + +Orazio Busino, the chaplain of the Venetian Embassy in London, writes +in his _Anglipotrida_ (1618): + + The dogs are detached from the bear by inserting between the + teeth ... certain iron spattles with a wooden handle; whilst + they take them off the bull (keeping at a greater distance) + with certain flat iron hooks which they apply to the thighs + or even to the neck of the dog, whose tail is simultaneously + dexterously seized by another of these rufflers. The bull + can hardly get at anybody, as he wears a collar round his + neck with only fifteen feet of rope, which is fastened to a + stake deeply planted in the middle of the theatre. Other + rufflers are at hand with long poles to put under the dog so + as to break his fall after he has been tossed by the bull; + the tips of these [poles] are covered with thick leather to + prevent them from disembowelling the dogs. The most spirited + stroke is considered to be that of the dog who seizes the + bull's lip, clinging to it and pinning the animal for some + time; the second best hit is to seize the eyebrows; the + third, but far inferior, consists in seizing the bull's + ear.[192] + +[Footnote 192: _The Calendar of State Papers_, Venetian, XV, 258.] + +Paul Hentzner, the German traveler who visited London in 1598, wrote +thus of the Bear Garden: + + There is still another place, built in the form of a + theatre, which serves for the baiting of bulls and bears; + they are fastened behind, and then worried by great English + bull-dogs, but not without great risk to the dogs, from the + horns of the one, and the teeth of the other; and it + sometimes happens they are killed upon the spot; fresh ones + are immediately supplied in the places of those that are + wounded or tired. To this entertainment there often follows + that of whipping a blinded bear, which is performed by five + or six men standing circularly with whips, which they + exercise upon him without any mercy, as he cannot escape + from them because of his chain; he defends himself with all + his force and skill, throwing down all who come within his + reach, and are not active enough to get out of it, and + tearing the whips out of their hands and breaking them. + +The following passage is taken from the diary of the Duke of +Wirtemberg (who visited London in 1592), "noted down daily in the most +concise manner possible, at his Highness's gracious command, by his +private secretary":[193] + + On the 1st of September his Highness was shown in London the + English dogs, of which there were about 120, all kept in the + same enclosure, but each in separate kennel. In order to + gratify his Highness, and at his desire, two bears and a + bull were baited; at such times you can perceive the breed + and mettle of the dogs, for although they receive serious + injuries from the bears, and are caught by the horns of the + bull and tossed into the air so as frequently to fall down + again upon the horns, they do not give in, [but fasten on + the bull so firmly] that one is obliged to pull them back by + the tails and force open their jaws. Four dogs at once were + set on the bull; they however could not gain any advantage + over him, for he so artfully contrived to ward off their + attacks that they could not well get at him; on the + contrary, the bull served them very scurvily by striking and + beating at them. + +[Footnote 193: The secretary was named Jacob Rathgeb, and the diary +was published at Tübingen in 1602 with a long title beginning: _A True +and Faithful Narrative of the Bathing Excursion which His Serene +Highness_, etc. A translation will be found in Rye, _England as Seen +by Foreigners_, pp. 3-53.] + +The following is a letter from one William Faunte to Edward Alleyn, +then proprietor of the Bear Garden, regarding the sale of some game +bulls: + + I understood by a man which came with two bears from the + garden, that you have a desire to buy one of my bulls. I + have three western bulls at this time, but I have had very + ill luck with them, for one of them hath lost his horn to + the quick, that I think he will never be able to fight + again; that is my old Star of the West: he was a very easy + bull. And my bull Bevis, he hath lost one of his eyes, but I + think if you had him he would do you more hurt than good, + for I protest I think he would either throw up your dogs + into the lofts, or else ding out their brains against the + grates.[194] + +[Footnote 194: Collier, _The Alleyn Papers_, p. 31.] + +Finally, among the Alleyn papers of Dulwich College is an interesting +bill, or advertisement, of an afternoon's performance at the Bear +Garden: + + To-morrow being Thursday shall be seen at the Bear Garden on + the Bankside a great match played by the gamesters of Essex, + who hath challenged all comers whatsoever to play five dogs + at the single bear for five pounds, and also to weary a bull + dead at the stake; and for your better content [you] shall + have pleasant sport with the horse and ape and whipping of + the blind bear. _Vivat Rex!_ + +In 1613 the Bear Garden was torn down, and a new and handsomer +structure erected in its place. For the history of this building the +reader is referred to the chapter on "The Hope." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +NEWINGTON BUTTS + + +The Bankside, as the preceding chapter indicates, offered unusual +attractions to the actors. It had, indeed, long been associated with +the drama: in 1545 King Henry VIII, in a proclamation against +vagabonds, players,[195] etc., noted their "fashions commonly used at +the Bank, and such like naughty places, where they much haunt"; and in +1547 the Bishop of Winchester made complaint that at a time when he +intended to have a dirge and mass for the late King, the actors in +Southwark planned to exhibit "a solemn play, to try who shall have the +most resort, they in game or I in earnest."[196] The players, +therefore, were no strangers to "the Bank." And when later in the +century the hostility of the Common Council drove them to seek homes +in localities not under the jurisdiction of the city, the suburb +across the river offered them a suitable refuge. For, although a large +portion of Southwark was under the jurisdiction of London, certain +parts were not, notably the Liberty of the Clink and the Manor of +Paris Garden, two sections bordering the river's edge, and the +district of Newington lying farther back to the southwest. In these +places the actors could erect their houses and entertain the public +without fear of the ordinances of the Corporation, and without danger +of interruption by puritanical Lord Mayors. + +[Footnote 195: It is just possible--but, I think, improbable--that the +term "common players" as used in this proclamation referred to +gamblers. The term is regularly used in law to designate actors.] + +[Footnote 196: _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1547_, +February 5, p. 1; cf. Tytler's _Edward VI and Mary_, I, 20.] + +Yet, as we have seen, the first public playhouses were erected not on +the Bankside--a "naughty" place,--but near Finsbury Field to the north +of the city; and the reasons which led to the selection of such a +quiet and respectable district have been pointed out.[197] It was +inevitable, however, that sooner or later a playhouse should make its +appearance in the region to the south of the city. And at an early +date--how early it is impossible to say, but probably not long after +the erection of the Theatre and the Curtain--there appeared in +Southwark a building specially devoted to the use of players. Whether +it was a new structure modeled after the theatres of Shoreditch, or +merely an old building converted into a playhouse, we cannot say. It +seems to have been something more than an inn-yard fitted up for +dramatic purposes, and yet something less than the "sumptuous theatre +houses" erected "on purpose" for plays to the north of the city. + +[Footnote 197: See page 29.] + +Whatever the building was, it was situated at Newington Butts (a +place so called from the butts for archery anciently erected there), +and, unfortunately, at a considerable distance from the river. Exactly +how far playgoers from London had to walk to reach the theatre after +crossing over the river we do not know; but the Privy Council speaks +of "the tediousness of the way" thither,[198] and Stow notes that the +parish church of Newington was "distant one mile from London Bridge." +Further information about the building--its exact situation, its size, +its exterior shape, its interior arrangement, and such-like +details--is wholly lacking. + +[Footnote 198: The Council again refers to the building in the phrase +"in any of these remote places." (Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, +XII, 15.)] + +Nor are we much better off in regard to its ownership, management, and +general history. This seems to be due to the fact that it was not +intimately associated with any of the more important London troupes; +and to the fact that after a few unsuccessful years it ceased to +exist. Below I have recorded the few and scattered references which +constitute our meagre knowledge of its history. + +The first passage cited may refer to the playhouse at Newington Butts. +It is an order of the Privy Council, May 13, 1580, thus summarized by +the clerk: + + A letter to the Justices of Peace of the County of Surrey, + that whereas their Lordships do understand that + notwithstanding their late order given to the Lord Mayor to + forbid all plays within and about the city until Michaelmas + next for avoiding of infection, nevertheless certain players + do play sundry days every week at Newington Butts in that + part of Surrey without the jurisdiction of the said Lord + Mayor, contrary to their Lordship's order; their Lordships + require the Justices not only to inquire who they be that + disobey their commandment in that behalf, and not only to + forbid them expressly for playing in any of these remote + places near unto the city until Michaelmas, but to have + regard that within the precinct of Surrey none be permitted + to play; if any do, to commit them and to advertise them, + &c.[199] + +[Footnote 199: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XII, 15.] + +The next passage clearly refers to "the theatre" at Newington Butts. +On May 11, 1586, the Privy Council dispatched a letter to the Lord +Mayor, which the clerk thus summarized: + + A letter to the Lord Mayor: his Lordship is desired, + according to his request made to their Lordships by his + letters of the vii th of this present, to give order for the + restraining of plays and interludes within and about the + city of London, for the avoiding of infection feared to grow + and increase this time of summer by the common assemblies of + people at those places; and that their Lordships have taken + the like order for the prohibiting of the use of plays at + the theatre, and the other places about Newington, out of + his charge.[200] + +[Footnote 200: _Ibid._, XIV, 102.] + +Chalmers[201] thought the word "theatre" was used of the Newington +Playhouse, and for this he was taken to task by Collier,[202] who +says: "He confounds it with the playhouse emphatically called 'the +Theatre' in Shoreditch; and on consulting the Register, we find that +no such playhouse as the Newington Theatre is there spoken of." But +Chalmers was right; for if we consult the "Registers" we find the +following letter, dispatched to the Justices of Surrey on the very +same day that the letter just quoted was sent to the Lord Mayor: + + A letter to the Justices of Surrey, that according to such + direction as hath been given by their Lordships to the Lord + Mayor to restrain and inhibit the use of plays and + interludes in public places in and about the City of London, + in respect of the heat of the year now drawing on, for the + avoiding of the infection like to grow and increase by the + ordinary assemblies of the people to those places, they are + also required in like sort to take order that the plays and + assemblies of the people at the theatre or any other places + about Newington be forthwith restrained and forborn as + aforesaid, &c.[203] + +[Footnote 201: _Apology_, p. 403.] + +[Footnote 202: _History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), III, 131.] + +[Footnote 203: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XIV, 99.] + +The phrase, "the theatre or any other places about Newington," when +addressed to the "Justices of the Peace of Surrey" could refer only to +the Newington Butts Playhouse. + +On June 23, 1592, because of a riot in Southwark, the Privy Council +closed all the playhouses in and about London.[204] Shortly after this +the Lord Strange's Men, who were then occupying the Rose, petitioned +the Council to be allowed to resume acting in their playhouse. The +Council granted them instead permission to act three times a week at +Newington Butts; but the players, not relishing this proposal, chose +rather to travel in the provinces. Soon finding that they could not +make their expenses in the country, they returned to London, and again +appealed to the Privy Council to be allowed to perform at the +Rose.[205] The warrant issued by the Council in reply to this second +petition tells us for the first time something definite about the +Newington Butts Theatre: + + To the Justices, Bailiffs, Constables, and Others to Whom it + Shall Appertain: + + Whereas not long since, upon some considerations, we did + restrain the Lord Strange his servants from playing at the + Rose on the Bankside, and enjoyned them to play three days + [a week] at Newington Butts; now forasmuch as we are + satisfied that by reason of the tediousness of the way, and + that of long time plays have not there been used on working + days, and for that a number of poor watermen are thereby + relieved, you shall permit and suffer them, or any other, + there [at the Rose] to exercise themselves in such sort as + they have done heretofore, and that the Rose may be at + liberty without any restraint so long as it shall be free + from infection, any commandment from us heretofore to the + contrary notwithstanding.[206] + +[Footnote 204: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, II, 50, 73.] + +[Footnote 205: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 42.] + +[Footnote 206: _Ibid._, pp. 43-44.] + +From this warrant we learn that so early as 1592 the Newington house +was almost deserted, and that "of long time" plays had been given +there only occasionally. + +Two years later, on June 3, 1594, Henslowe sent the Admiral's and the +Chamberlain's Men to play temporarily at the half-deserted old +playhouse, probably in order to give opportunity for needed repairs at +the Rose.[207] The section of his _Diary_, under the heading, "In the +name of god Amen begininge at newington my Lord Admeralle men & my +Lord Chamberlen men As followethe 1594," constitutes the fullest and +clearest--and, one may add, the most illustrious--chapter in the +history of this obscure building; for although it extends over only +ten days, it tells us that Edward Alleyn, Richard Burbage, and William +Shakespeare then trod the Newington stage, and it records the +performance there of such plays as _The Jew of Malta_, _Andronicus_, +_The Taming of a Shrew_, and _Hamlet_. + +[Footnote 207: There is no evidence that Henslowe owned the house at +Newington; he might very well have rented it for this particular +occasion.] + +We next hear of the building near the end of the century: in 1599, +says Mr. Wallace, it was "only a memory, as shown by a contemporary +record to be published later."[208] + +[Footnote 208: Wallace, _The First London Theatre_, p. 2.] + +Two other references close the history. In _A Woman is a Weathercock_, +III, iii, printed in 1612, but written earlier, one of the actors +exclaims of an insufferable pun: "O Newington Conceit!" The fact that +this sneer is the only reference to the Newington Playhouse found in +contemporary literature is a commentary on the low esteem in which the +building was held by the Elizabethans, and its relative unimportance +for the history of the drama. + +The last notice is in Howe's continuation of Stow's _Annals_ +(1631).[209] After enumerating all the theatres built in London and +the suburbs "within the space of three-score years," he adds vaguely, +"besides one in former time at Newington Butts." + +[Footnote 209: Page 1004.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ROSE + + +Doubtless one reason for the obscure rôle which the theatre at +Newington played in the history of the drama was "the tediousness of +the way" thither. The Rose, the second theatre to make its appearance +in Surrey, was much more conveniently situated with respect to the +city, for it was erected in the Liberty of the Clink and very near the +river's edge. As a result, it quickly attained popularity with London +playgoers, and before the end of the century had caused the centre of +dramatic activity to be shifted from Finsbury Field to the Bank. + +The builder of the Rose was one Philip Henslowe, then, so far as our +evidence goes, unknown to the dramatic world, but destined soon to +become the greatest theatrical proprietor and manager of the +Tudor-Stuart age. We find him living on the Bankside and in the +Liberty of the Clink at least as early as 1577. At first, so we are +told, he was "but a poor man," described as "servant ... unto one Mr. +Woodward." Upon the death of his employer, Woodward, he married the +widow, Agnes Woodward, and thus came into the possession of +considerable property. "All his wealth came by her," swore the +charwoman Joan Horton. This, however, simply means that Henslowe +obtained his original capital by his marriage; for, although very +illiterate, he was shrewd in handling money, and he quickly amassed +"his wealth" through innumerable business ventures. + +As one of these ventures, no doubt, he leased from the Parish of St. +Mildred, on March 24, 1585, a small piece of property on the Bankside +known as "The Little Rose." "Among the early surveys, 1 Edward VI," +says Rendle, "we see that this was not merely a name--the place was a +veritable Rose Garden."[210] At the time of the lease the property is +described as consisting of a dwelling-house called "The Rose," "two +gardens adjoining the same" consisting of "void ground," and at least +one other small building. The dwelling-house Henslowe probably leased +as a brothel--for this was the district of the stews; and the small +building mentioned above, situated at the south end of one of the +gardens, he let to a London grocer named John Cholmley, who used it +"to keep victualing in."[211] + +[Footnote 210: W. Rendle, in _The Antiquarian Magazine and +Bibliographer_, VIII, 60.] + +[Footnote 211: For the earlier history of the Rose estate see Rendle, +_The Bankside_, p. xv, and Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, II, 43. "The plan +of the Rose estate in the vestry of St. Mildred's Church in London +marks the estate exactly, but not the precise site of the Rose +Playhouse. The estate consisted of three rods, and was east of Rose +Alley." (Rendle, _The Bankside_, p. xxx.)] + +Not satisfied, however, with the income from these two buildings, +Henslowe a year and a half later was planning to utilize a part of the +"void ground" for the erection of a theatre. What interested him in +the drama we do not know, but we may suppose that the same reason +which led Burbage, Brayne, Lanman, and others to build playhouses +influenced him, namely, the prospect of "great gains to ensue +therefrom."[212] + +[Footnote 212: Possibly the fact that Burbage had just secured control +of the Curtain, and hence had a monopoly of playhouses, was one of the +reasons for a new playhouse.] + +For the site of his proposed playhouse he allotted a small parcel of +ground ninety-four feet square and lying in the corner formed by Rose +Alley and Maiden Lane (see page 245). Then he interested in the +enterprise his tenant Cholmley, for, it seems, he did not wish to +undertake so expensive and precarious a venture without sharing the +risk with another. On January 10, 1587, he and Cholmley signed a +formal deed of partnership, according to which the playhouse was to be +erected at once and at the sole cost of Henslowe; Cholmley, however, +was to have from the beginning a half-interest in the building, paying +for his share by installments of £25 10_s._ a quarter for a period of +eight years and three months.[213] The total sum to be paid by +Cholmley, £816, possibly represents the estimated cost of the +building and its full equipment, plus rental on the land. + +[Footnote 213: The deed of partnership is preserved among the Henslowe +papers at Dulwich College. For an abstract of the deed see Greg, +_Henslowe Papers_, p. 2. Henslowe seems to have driven a good bargain +with Cholmley.] + +The building is referred to in the deed of January 10 as "a playhouse +now in framing and shortly to be erected and set up." Doubtless it was +ready for occupancy early in the summer. That performances were given +there before the close of the year is at least indicated by an order +of the Privy Council dated October 29, 1587: + + A letter to the Justices of Surrey, that whereas the + inhabitants of Southwark had complained unto their Lordships + declaring that the order by their Lordships set down for the + restraining of plays and interludes within that county on + the Sabbath Days is not observed, and especially within the + Liberty of the Clink, and in the Parish of St. + Saviours....[214] + +[Footnote 214: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XV, 271.] + +The Rose was in "the Liberty of the Clink and in the Parish of St. +Saviours," and so far as we have any evidence it was the only place +there devoted to plays. Moreover, a distinct reference to it by name +appears in the Sewer Records in April, 1588, at which date the +building is described as "new."[215] + +[Footnote 215: Discovered by Mr. Wallace and printed in the London +_Times_, April 30, 1914.] + +In Norden's _Map of London_ (1593), the Rose and the adjacent Bear +Garden are correctly placed with respect to each other, but are +crudely drawn (see page 147). The representation of both as +circular--the Bear Garden, we know, was polygonal--was due merely to +this crudeness; yet the Rose seems to have been indeed circular in +shape, "the Bankside's round-house" referred to in _Tom Tell Troth's +Message_. The building is so pictured in the Hondius map of 1610 (see +page 149), and in the inset maps on the title-pages of Holland's +_Her[Greek: ô]ologia_, 1620, and Baker's _Chronicle_, 1643 (see page +147), all three of which apparently go back to an early map of London +now lost. The building is again pictured as circular, with the Bear +Garden at the left and the Globe at the right, in the Delaram portrait +of King James (opposite page 246).[216] + +[Footnote 216: The circular building pictured in these maps has been +widely heralded as the First Globe, but without reason; all the +evidence shows that it was the Rose. For further discussion see the +chapters dealing with the Bear Garden, the Globe, and the Hope. In the +Merian _View_, issued in Frankfort in 1638, the Bear Garden and the +Globe, each named, are shown conspicuously in the foreground; in the +background is vaguely represented an unnamed playhouse polygonal in +shape. This could not possibly be the Rose. Merian's _View_ was a +compilation from Visscher's _View_ of 1616 and some other view of +London not yet identified; it has no independent authority, and no +value whatever so far as the Rose is concerned.] + +From Henslowe's _Diary_ we learn that the playhouse was of timber, the +exterior of lath and plaster, the roof of thatch; and that it had a +yard, galleries, a stage, a tiring-house, heavens, and a flagpole. +Thus it differed in no essential way from the playhouses already +erected in Shoreditch or subsequently erected on the Bank.[217] + +[Footnote 217: If we may believe Johannes de Witt, the Rose was "more +magnificent" than the theatres in Shoreditch. See page 167.] + +[Illustration: THE BEAR GARDEN AND THE ROSE + +The upper view, from Norden's _Map of London_, 1593, shows the +relative position of the Bear Garden and Rose. The lower view, an +inset from the title-page of Baker's _Chronicle_, 1643, also shows the +relative position, and gives a more detailed picture of the two +structures. The Bear Garden is represented as polygonal, the Rose as +circular.] + +What troupes of actors used the Rose during the first five years of +its existence we do not know; indeed, until 1592 we hear nothing +further of the playhouse. As a result, some scholars have wrongly +inferred that the building was not erected until the spring of +1592.[218] It seems likely, as Mr. Greg suggests, that Henslowe and +Cholmley let the house to some company of players at a stipulated +annual rent, and so had nothing to do with the management of its +finances. This would explain the complete absence of references to the +playhouse in Henslowe's accounts. + +[Footnote 218: Ordish, _Early London Theatres_, p. 155; Mantzius, _A +History of Theatrical Art_, p. 58. Mr. Wallace's discovery of a +reference to the Rose in the Sewer Records for April, 1588, quite +overthrows this hypothesis.] + +During this obscure period of five years Cholmley disappears from the +history of the Rose. It may be that he withdrew from the undertaking +at the outset;[219] it may be that he failed to meet his payments, and +so forfeited his moiety; or it may be that, becoming dissatisfied with +his bargain, he sold out to Henslowe. Whatever the cause, his interest +in the playhouse passed over to Henslowe, who appears henceforth as +the sole proprietor. + +[Footnote 219: This seems unlikely. At the beginning of Henslowe's +_Diary_ we find the scrawl "Chomley when" (Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_ I, +217); this was written not earlier than 1592, and it shows that +Cholmley was at that time in Henslowe's mind.] + +[Illustration: THE BEAR GARDEN AND THE ROSE + +A small inset view of London, from the map entitled "The Kingdome of +Great Britaine and Ireland," printed in Speed's _Atlas_ (1611). The +map is dated 1610, but the inset view of London was copied, like the +inset views to Baker's _Chronicle_ (1643) and to Holland's _Her[Greek: +ô]ologia_ (1620), from a lost map of London drawn about 1589-1599.] + +In the spring of 1592 the building was in need of repairs, and +Henslowe spent a large sum of money in thoroughly overhauling it.[220] +The lathing and plastering of the exterior were done over, the roof +was re-thatched, new rafters were put in, and much heavy timber was +used, indicating important structural alterations. In addition, the +stage was painted, the lord's room and the tiring-house were provided +with ceilings, a new flagpole was erected, and other improvements were +introduced. Clearly an attempt was made to render the building not +only stronger, but also more attractive in appearance and more modern +in equipment. + +[Footnote 220: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 7.] + +The immediate occasion for these extensive alterations and repairs was +the engagement of Lord Strange's Men to occupy the playhouse under +Henslowe's management. This excellent troupe, with Edward Alleyn at +its head, was perhaps the best company of actors then in London. It +later became the Lord Chamberlain's Company, with which Shakespeare +was identified; even at this early date, although documentary proof is +lacking, he may have been numbered among its obscure members. The +troupe opened the Rose on February 19, 1592, with a performance of +Robert Greene's _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_, and followed this with +many famous plays, such as _The Spanish Tragedy_, _The Jew of Malta_, +_Orlando Furioso_, and _Henry VI_.[221] + +[Footnote 221: For a list of their plays see Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, +I, 13 ff.] + +The coming of Lord Strange's Men to the Rose led to a close friendship +between Henslowe and Edward Alleyn, then twenty-six years of age, and +at the height of his fame as an actor, a friendship which was cemented +in the autumn by Alleyn's marriage to Henslowe's stepdaughter (and +only child) Joan Woodward. The two men, it seems, were thoroughly +congenial, and their common interests led to the formation of a +business partnership which soon became the most important single force +in the theatrical life of the time. + +Lord Strange's Men continued to act at the Rose from February 19 until +June 23, 1592, when the Privy Council, because of a serious riot in +Southwark, ordered the closing of all playhouses in and about London +until Michaelmas following. Strange's Men very soon petitioned the +Council to be allowed to reopen their playhouse; the Council, in +reply, compromised by granting them permission to act three days a +week at Newington Butts. This, however, did not please the actors, and +they started on a tour of the provinces. In a short time, discovering +that they could not pay their expenses on the road, they again +petitioned for permission to open the Rose, complaining that "our +company is great, and thereby our charge intolerable in traveling the +country," and calling attention to the fact that "the use of our +playhouse on the Bankside, by reason of the passage to and from the +same by water, is a great relief to the poor watermen there."[222] The +petition was accompanied by a supporting petition from the watermen +asking the Council "for God's sake and in the way of charity to +respect us your poor watermen." As a result of these petitions the +Council gave permission, probably late in August, 1592, for the +reopening of the playhouse.[223] But before Strange's Men could take +advantage of this permission, a severe outbreak of the plague caused a +general inhibition of acting, and not until December 29, 1592, were +they able to resume their performances at the Rose. A month later the +plague broke out again with unusual severity, and on February 1, 1593, +playing was again inhibited. The year rapidly developed into one of +the worst plague-years in the history of the city; between ten and +fifteen thousand persons died of the epidemic, and most of the London +companies, including Strange's Men, went on an extended tour of the +country. + +[Footnote 222: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 42.] + +[Footnote 223: See Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 43. For a general +discussion of various problems involved, see Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, +II, 51-2.] + +Near the close of the year, and while Strange's Men were still +traveling, the plague temporarily subsided, and Sussex's Men, who were +then in London, secured the use of the Rose. They began to act there +on December 27, 1593; but on February 6, 1594, the plague having again +become threatening, acting was once more inhibited. This brief +occupation of the Rose by Sussex's Men was notable only for the first +performance of _Titus Andronicus_.[224] + +[Footnote 224: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 16.] + +[Illustration: JOAN WOODWARD ALLEYN + +The stepdaughter and only child of Philip Henslowe, whose marriage to +the great actor Edward Alleyn led to the Henslowe-Alleyn theatrical +enterprises. The portrait is here reproduced for the first time. (From +the Dulwich Picture Gallery, by permission.)] + +At Easter, April 1, Strange's Men being still absent, Henslowe allowed +the Rose to be used for eight days by "the Queen's Men and my Lord of +Sussex's together." This second brief chapter in the long and varied +history of the playhouse is interesting only for two performances of +the old _King Leir_.[225] + +[Footnote 225: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 17.] + +As a result of the severe plague and the long continued inhibition of +acting, there was a general confusion and subsequent reorganization of +the various London troupes. The Admiral's Men, who had been dispersed +in 1591, some joining Strange's Men, some going to travel in Germany, +were brought together again; and Edward Alleyn, who had formerly been +their leader, and who even after he became one of Strange's Men +continued to describe himself as "servant to the right honorable the +Lord Admiral,"[226] was induced to rejoin them. Alleyn thereupon +brought them to the Rose, where they began to perform on May 14, 1594. +After three days, however, they ceased, probably to allow Henslowe to +make repairs or improvements on the building. + +[Footnote 226: He is so described, for example, in the warrant issued +by the Privy Council on May 6, 1593, to Strange's Men.] + +Strange's Men also had undergone reorganization. On April 16, 1594, +they lost by death their patron, the Earl of Derby. Shortly afterwards +they secured the patronage of the Lord Chamberlain, and before June +3, 1594, they had arrived in London and reported to their former +manager, Henslowe. + +At this time, apparently, the Rose was still undergoing repairs; so +Henslowe sent both the Admiral's and the Chamberlain's Men to act at +Newington Butts, where they remained from June 3 to June 13, 1594. On +June 15 the Admiral's Men moved back to the Rose, which henceforth +they occupied alone; and the Chamberlain's Men, thus robbed of their +playhouse, went to the Theatre in Shoreditch. + +During the period of Lent, 1595, Henslowe took occasion to make +further repairs on his playhouse, putting in new pales, patching the +exterior with new lath and plaster, repainting the woodwork, and +otherwise furbishing up the building. The total cost of this work was +£108 10_s._ And shortly after, as a part of these improvements, no +doubt, he paid £7 2_s._ for "making the throne in the heavens."[227] + +[Footnote 227: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 4.] + +Near the close of July, 1597, Pembroke's Men at the Swan acted Nashe's +satirical play, _The Isle of Dogs_, containing, it seems, a burlesque +on certain persons high in authority. As a result the Privy Council on +July 28 ordered all acting in and about London to cease until November +1, and all public playhouses to be plucked down and ruined.[228] + +[Footnote 228: For the details of this episode see the chapter on the +Swan.] + +The latter part of the order, happily, was not put into effect, and on +October 11 the Rose was allowed to open again. The Privy Council, +however, punished the Swan and Pembroke's Company by ordering that +only the Admiral's Men at the Rose and the Chamberlain's Men at the +Curtain should henceforth be "allowed." As a consequence of this +trouble with the authorities the best actors of Pembroke's Company +joined the Admiral's Men under Henslowe. This explains the entry in +the _Diary_: "In the name of God, amen. The xi of October began my +Lord Admiral's and my Lord Pembroke's Men to play at my house, +1597."[229] The two companies were very soon amalgamated, and the +strong troupe thus formed continued to act at the Rose under the name +of the Admiral's Men. + +[Footnote 229: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 54.] + +The Chamberlain's Men, who in 1594 had been forced to surrender the +Rose to the Admiral's Men and move to the Theatre, and who in 1597 had +been driven from the Theatre to the Curtain, at last, in 1599, built +for themselves a permanent home, the Globe, situated on the Bankside +and close to the Rose. Henslowe's ancient structure[230] was eclipsed +by this new and handsome building, "the glory of the Bank"; and the +Admiral's Men, no doubt, felt themselves placed at a serious +disadvantage. As a result, in the spring of 1600, Henslowe and Alleyn +began the erection of a splendid new playhouse, the Fortune, designed +to surpass the Globe in magnificence, and to furnish a suitable and +permanent home for the Admiral's Men. The building was situated in the +suburb to the north of the city, far away from the Bankside and the +Globe. + +[Footnote 230: In January, 1600, the Earl of Nottingham refers to "the +dangerous decay" of the Rose. See Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 45; cf. +p. 52.] + +The erection of this handsome new playhouse led to violent outbursts +from the Puritans, and vigorous protests from the city fathers. +Accordingly the Privy Council on June 22, 1600, issued the following +order:[231] + + Whereas divers complaints have heretofore been made unto the + Lords and other of Her Majesty's Privy Council of the + manifold abuses and disorders that have grown and do + continue by occasion of many houses erected and employed in + and about London for common stage-plays; and now very lately + by reason of some complaint exhibited by sundry persons + against the building of the like house [the Fortune] in or + near Golding Lane ... the Lords and the rest of Her + Majesty's Privy Council with one and full consent have + ordered in manner and form as follows. First, that there + shall be about the city two houses, and no more, allowed to + serve for the use of the common stage-plays; of the which + houses, one [the Globe] shall be in Surrey, in that place + which is commonly called the Bankside, or thereabouts; and + the other [the Fortune], in Middlesex. + +[Footnote 231: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXX, 395.] + +This sealed the fate of the Rose. + +In July the Admiral's Men had a reckoning with Henslowe, and prepared +to abandon the Bankside. After they had gone, but before they had +opened the Fortune, Henslowe, on October 28, 1600, let the Rose to +Pembroke's Men for two days.[232] Possibly the troupe had secured +special permission to use the playhouse for this limited time; +possibly Henslowe thought that since the Fortune was not yet open to +the public, no objection would be made. Of course, after the Admiral's +Men opened the Fortune--in November or early in December, 1600--the +Rose, according to the order of the Privy Council just quoted, had to +stand empty. + +[Footnote 232: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 131.] + +Its career, however, was not absolutely run. In the spring of 1602 +Worcester's Men and Oxford's Men were "joined by agreement together in +one company," and the Queen, "at the suit of the Earl of Oxford," +ordered that this company be "allowed." Accordingly the Privy Council +wrote to the Lord Mayor on March 31, 1602, informing him of the fact, +and adding: "And as the other companies that are allowed, namely of me +the Lord Admiral and the Lord Chamberlain, be appointed their certain +houses, and one and no more to each company, so we do straightly +require that this company be likewise [appointed] to one place. And +because we are informed the house called the Boar's Head is the place +they have especially used and do best like of, we do pray and require +you that that said house, namely the Boar's Head, may be assigned unto +them."[233] But the Lord Mayor seems to have opposed the use of the +Boar's Head, and the upshot was that the Council gave permission for +this "third company" to open the Rose. In Henslowe's _Diary_, we read: +"Lent unto my Lord of Worcester's Players as followeth, beginning the +17 day of August, 1602." + +[Footnote 233: _The Remembrancia_, II, 189; The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 85.] + +This excellent company, destined to become the Queen's Company after +the accession of King James, included such important actors as William +Kempe, John Lowin, Christopher Beeston, John Duke, Robert Pallant, and +Richard Perkins; and it employed such well-known playwrights as Thomas +Heywood (the "prose Shakespeare," who was also one of the troupe), +Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, John Day, Wentworth Smith, Richard +Hathway, and John Webster. The company continued to act at the Rose +until March 16, 1603, when it had a reckoning with Henslowe and left +the playhouse.[234] In May, however, after the coming of King James, +it returned to the Rose, and we find Henslowe opening a new account: +"In the name of God, amen. Beginning to play again by the King's +license, and laid out since for my Lord of Worcester's Men, as +followeth, 1603, 9 of May."[235] Since only one entry follows, it is +probable that the company did not remain long at the Rose. No doubt, +the outbreak of the plague quickly drove them into the country; and on +their return to London in the spring of 1604 they occupied the Boar's +Head and the Curtain. + +[Footnote 234: On March 19 the Privy Council formally ordered the +suppression of all plays. This was five days before the death of Queen +Elizabeth.] + +[Footnote 235: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 190.] + +After this there is no evidence to connect the playhouse with dramatic +performances. + +Henslowe's lease of the Little Rose property, on which his playhouse +stood, expired in 1605, and the Parish of St. Mildred's demanded an +increase in rental. The following note in the _Diary_ refers to a +renewal of the lease: + + _Memorandum_, that the 25 of June, 1603, I talked with Mr. + Pope at the scrivener's shop where he lies,[236] concerning + the taking of the lease anew of the little Rose, and he + shewed me a writing betwixt the parish and himself which + was to pay twenty pound a year rent,[237] and to bestow a + hundred marks upon building, which I said I would rather + pull down the playhouse than I would do so, and he bad me + do, and said he gave me leave, and would bear me out, for it + was in him to do it.[238] + +[Footnote 236: Some scholars have supposed that this was Morgan Pope, +a part owner of the Bear Garden; but he is last heard of in 1585, and +by 1605 was probably dead. Mr. Greg is of the opinion that Thomas +Pope, the well-known member of the King's Men at the Globe, is +referred to. From this has been developed the theory that Pope, acting +for the Globe players, had rented the Rose and closed it in order to +prevent competition with the Globe on the Bankside. I believe, +however, that the "Mr. Pope" here referred to was neither of these +men, but merely the agent of the Parish of St. Mildred. It is said +that he lived at a scrivener's shop. This could not apply to the actor +Thomas Pope, for we learn from his will, made less than a month later, +that he lived in a house of his own, furnished with plate and +household goods, and cared for by a housekeeper; and with him lived +Susan Gasquine, whom he had "brought up ever since she was born."] + +[Footnote 237: The old rental was £7 a year.] + +[Footnote 238: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 178.] + +Henslowe did not renew his lease of the property. On October 4, 1605, +the Commissioners of the Sewers amerced him for the Rose, but return +was made that it was then "out of his hands."[239] From a later entry +in the Sewer Records, February 14, 1606, we learn that the new owner +of the Rose was one Edward Box, of Bread Street, London. Box, it +seems, either tore down the building, or converted it into tenements. +The last reference to it in the Sewer Records is on April 25, 1606, +when it is referred to as "the late playhouse."[240] + +[Footnote 239: Wallace in the London _Times_, April 30, 1914, p. 10. +In view of these records it seems unnecessary to refute those persons +who assert that the Rose was standing so late as 1622. I may add, +however, that before Mr. Wallace published the Sewer Records I had +successfully disposed of all the evidence which has been collected to +show the existence of the Rose after 1605. The chief source of this +error is a footnote by Malone in _Variorum_, III, 56; the source of +Malone's error is probably to be seen in his footnote, _ibid._, p. +66.] + +[Footnote 240: For the tourist the memory of the old playhouse to-day +lingers about Rose Alley on the Bank.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SWAN + + +The Manor of Paris Garden,[241] situated on the Bankside just to the +west of the Liberty of the Clink and to the east of the Lambeth +marshes, had once been in the possession of the Monastery of +Bermondsey. At the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the +property passed into the possession of the Crown; hence it was free +from the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, and +was on this account suitable for the erection of a playhouse. From the +Crown the property passed through several hands, until finally, in +1589, the entire "lordship and manor of Paris Garden" was sold for +£850 to Francis Langley, goldsmith and citizen of London.[242] + +[Footnote 241: Or "Parish Garden." See the note on page 121.] + +[Footnote 242: The sale took the form of a lease for one thousand +years.] + +Langley had purchased the Manor as an investment, and was ready to +make thereon such improvements as seemed to offer profitable returns. +Burbage and Henslowe were reputed to be growing wealthy from their +playhouses, and Langley was tempted to erect a similar building on his +newly acquired property. Accordingly at some date before November, +1594, he secured a license to erect a theatre in Paris Garden. The +license was promptly opposed by the Lord Mayor of London, who +addressed to the Lord High Treasurer on November 3, 1594, the +following letter: + + I understand that one Francis Langley ... intendeth to erect + a new stage or theatre (as they call it) for the exercising + of plays upon the Bankside. And forasmuch as we find by + daily experience the great inconvenience that groweth to + this city and the government thereof by the said plays, I + have emboldened myself to be an humble suitor to your good + Lordship to be a means for us rather to suppress all such + places built for that kind of exercise, than to erect any + more of the same sort.[243] + +[Footnote 243: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 74-76.] + +The protest of the Lord Mayor, however, went unheeded, and Langley +proceeded with the erection of his building. Presumably it was +finished and ready for the actors in the earlier half of 1595. + +[Illustration: THE MANOR OF PARIS GARDEN AND THE SWAN + +A survey executed in 1627 by royal command. + +(Printed from Rendle's _The Bankside_.)] + +The name given to the new playhouse was "The Swan." What caused +Langley to adopt this name we do not know;[244] but we may suppose +that it was suggested to him by the large number of swans which +beautified the Thames. Foreigners on their first visit to London were +usually very much impressed by the number and the beauty of these +birds. Hentzner, in 1598, stated that the river "abounds in swans, +swimming in flocks; the sight of them and their noise is vastly +agreeable to the boats that meet them in their course"; and the +Italian Francesco Ferretti observed that the "broad river of Thames" +was "most charming, and quite full of swans white as the very +snow."[245] + +[Footnote 244: The swan was not uncommon as a sign, especially along +the river; for example, it was the sign of one of the famous brothels +on the Bankside, as Stow informs us.] + +[Footnote 245: Quoted in Rye, _England as Seen by Foreigners_, p. +183.] + +From a map of the Manor of Paris Garden carefully surveyed by order of +the King in 1627[246] (see page 163), we learn the exact situation of +the building. It was set twenty-six poles, or four hundred and +twenty-six feet, from the bank of the river, in that corner of the +estate nearest London Bridge. Most of the playgoers from London, +however, came not over the Bridge, but by water, landing at the Paris +Garden Stairs, or at the near-by Falcon Stairs, and then walking the +short distance to the theatre. + +[Footnote 246: Reproduced by Rendle, _The Bankside, Southwark, and the +Globe Playhouse_.] + +[Illustration: THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE + +(From Visscher's _View of London_, 1616).] + +An excellent picture of the exterior of the Swan is furnished by +Visscher's _View of London_, 1616, (see page 165). From this, as well +as from the survey of 1627 just mentioned, we discover that the +building was duodecahedral--at least on the outside, for the interior +probably was circular. At the time of its erection it was, so we are +told, "the largest and the most magnificent playhouse" in London. It +contained three galleries surrounding an open pit, with a stage +projecting into the pit; and probably it differed in no essential +respect from the playhouses already built. In one point, however, it +may have differed--although of this I cannot feel sure: it may have +been provided with a stage that could be removed so as to allow the +building to be used on occasions for animal-baiting. The De Witt +drawing shows such a stage; and possibly Stow in his _Survey_ (1598) +gives evidence that the Swan was in early times employed for +bear-baiting: + + And to begin at the west bank as afore, thus it followeth. + On this bank is the bear gardens, in number twain; to wit, + the old bear garden [i.e., the one built in 1583?] and the + new [i.e., the Swan?], places wherein be kept bears, bulls, + and other beasts, to be baited at stakes for pleasure; also + mastiffs to bait them in several kennels are there + nourished.[247] + +[Footnote 247: Stow's original manuscript (Harl. MSS., 544), quoted by +Collier, _History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), III, 96, note 3. +The text of the edition of 1598 differs very slightly.] + +Moreover, in 1613 Henslowe used the Swan as the model for the Hope, a +building designed for both acting and animal-baiting. It should be +noted, however, that in all documents the Swan is invariably referred +to as a _playhouse_, and there is no evidence--beyond that cited +above--to indicate that the building was ever employed for the baiting +of bears and bulls. + +In the summer of 1596 a Dutch traveler named Johannes de Witt, a +priest of St. Mary's in Utrecht, visited London, and saw, as one of +the most interesting sights of the city, a dramatic performance at the +Swan. Later he communicated a description of the building to his +friend Arend van Buchell,[248] who recorded the description in his +commonplace-book, along with a crude and inexact drawing of the +interior (see page 169), showing the stage, the three galleries, and +the pit.[249] The description is headed: "Ex Observationibus +Londinensibus Johannis de Witt." After a brief notice of St. Paul's, +and a briefer reference to Westminster Cathedral, the traveler begins +to describe what obviously interested him far more. I give below a +translation of that portion relating to the playhouses: + + There are four amphitheatres in London [the Theatre, + Curtain, Rose, and Swan] of notable beauty, which from their + diverse signs bear diverse names. In each of them a + different play is daily exhibited to the populace. The two + more magnificent of these are situated to the southward + beyond the Thames, and from the signs suspended before them + are called the Rose and the Swan. The two others are outside + the city towards the north on the highway which issues + through the Episcopal Gate, called in the vernacular + Bishopgate.[250] There is also a fifth [the Bear Garden], + but of dissimilar structure, devoted to the baiting of + beasts, where are maintained in separate cages and + enclosures many bears and dogs of stupendous size, which are + kept for fighting, furnishing thereby a most delightful + spectacle to men. Of all the theatres,[251] however, the + largest and the most magnificent is that one of which the + sign is a swan, called in the vernacular the Swan + Theatre;[252] for it accommodates in its seats three + thousand persons, and is built of a mass of flint stones (of + which there is a prodigious supply in Britain),[253] and + supported by wooden columns painted in such excellent + imitation of marble that it is able to deceive even the most + cunning. Since its form resembles that of a Roman work, I + have made a sketch of it above. + +[Footnote 248: Apparently he allowed Van Buchell to transcribe the +description and the rough pen-sketch from his notebook or traveler's +diary.] + +[Footnote 249: This interesting document was discovered by Dr. Karl T. +Gaedertz, and published in full in _Zur Kenntnis der altenglischen +Bühne_ (Bremen, 1888).] + +[Footnote 250: "Viâ quâ itur per Episcopalem portam vulgariter +Biscopgate nuncupatam."] + +[Footnote 251: "Theatrorum."] + +[Footnote 252: "Id cuius intersignium est cygnus (vulgo te theatre off +te cijn)." Mr. Wallace proposes to emend the last clause to read: "te +theatre off te cijn off te Swan," thus making "cijn" mean "sign"; but +is not this Flemish, and does not "cijn" mean "Swan"?] + +[Footnote 253: It is commonly thought that De Witt was wrong in +stating that the Swan was built of flint stones. Possibly the plaster +exterior deceived him; or possibly in his memory he confused this +detail of the building with the exterior of the church of St. Mary +Overies, which was indeed built of "a mass of flint stones." On the +other hand, the long life of the building after it had ceased to be of +use might indicate that it was built of stones.] + +Exactly when the Swan was opened to the public, or what troupes of +actors first made use of it, we do not know. The visit of Johannes de +Witt, however, shows that the playhouse was occupied in 1596; and this +fact is confirmed by a statement in the lawsuit of Shaw _v._ +Langley.[254] We may reasonably suppose that not only in 1596, but +also in 1595 the building was used by the players. + +[Footnote 254: Discovered by Mr. Wallace and printed in _Englische +Studien_ (1911), XLIII, 340-95. These documents have done much to +clear up the history of the Swan and the Rose in the year 1597.] + +[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THE SWAN PLAYHOUSE + +Sketched by Johannes de Witt in 1596.] + +Our definite history of the Swan, however, begins with 1597. In +February of that year eight distinguished actors, among whom were +Robert Shaw, Richard Jones, Gabriel Spencer, William Bird, and +Thomas Downton, "servants to the right honorable the Earl of +Pembroke," entered into negotiations with Langley, or, as the legal +document puts it, "fell into conference with the said Langley for and +about the hireing and taking a playhouse of the said Langley, situate +in the old Paris Garden, in the Parish of St. Saviours, in the County +of Surrey, commonly called and known by the name of the sign of the +Swan." The result of this conference was that the members of +Pembroke's Company[255] became each severally bound for the sum of +£100 to play at the Swan for one year, beginning on February 21, 1597. + +[Footnote 255: I cannot agree with Mr. Wallace that Langley induced +these players to desert Henslowe, secured for them the patronage of +Pembroke, and thus was himself responsible for the organization of the +Pembroke Company.] + +This troupe contained some of the best actors in London; and Langley, +in anticipation of a successful year, "disbursed and laid out for +making of the said house ready, and providing of apparel fit and +necessary for their playing, the sum of £300 and upwards." Since he +was at very little cost in making the Swan ready, "for the said house +was then lately afore used to have plays in it," most of this sum went +for the purchase of "sundry sort of rich attire and apparel for them +to play withall." + +Everything seems to have gone well until near the end of July, when +the company presented _The Isle of Dogs_, a satirical play written in +part by the "young Juvenal" of the age, Thomas Nashe, and in part by +certain "inferior players," chief of whom seems to have been Ben +Jonson.[256] The play apparently attacked under a thin disguise some +persons high in authority. The exact nature of the offense cannot now +be determined, but Nashe himself informs us that "the troublesome stir +which happened about it is a general rumour that hath filled all +England,"[257] and the Queen herself seems to have been greatly +angered. On July 28, 1597, the Privy Council sent a letter to the +Justices of Middlesex and of Surrey informing them that Her Majesty +"hath given direction that not only no plays shall be used within +London or about the city or in any public place during this time of +summer, but that also those playhouses that are erected and built only +for such purposes shall be plucked down." Accordingly the Council +ordered the Justices to see to it that "there be no more plays used in +any public place within three miles of the city until Allhallows +[i.e., November 1] next"; and, furthermore, to send for the owners of +the various playhouses "and enjoin them by vertue hereof forthwith to +pluck down quite the stages, galleries, and rooms that are made for +people to stand in, and so to deface the same as they may not be +employed again to such use."[258] + +[Footnote 256: For an account of _The Isle of Dogs_ see E.K. Chambers, +_Modern Language Review_ (1909), IV, 407, 511; R.B. McKerrow, _The +Works of Thomas Nashe_, V, 29; and especially the important article by +Mr. Wallace in _Englische Studien_ already referred to.] + +[Footnote 257: _Nashes Lenten Stuffe_ (1599), ed. McKerrow, III, 153.] + +[Footnote 258: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXVII, 313. +Possibly the other public playhouses were suppressed along with the +Swan in response to the petition presented to the Council on July 28, +(i.e. on the same day) by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen requesting the +"final suppressing of the said stage plays, as well at the Theatre, +Curtain, and Bankside as in all other places in and about the city." +See The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 78.] + +The Council, however, did not stop with this. It ordered the arrest of +the authors of the play and also of the chief actors who took part in +its performance. Nashe saved himself by precipitate flight, but his +lodgings were searched and his private papers were turned over to the +authorities. Robert Shaw and Gabriel Spencer, as leaders of the +troupe, and Ben Jonson, as one of the "inferior players" who had a +part in writing the play,[259] were thrown into prison. The rest of +the company hurried into the country, their speed being indicated by +the fact that we find them acting in Bristol before the end of July. + +[Footnote 259: In a marginal gloss to _Nashes Lenten Stuffe_ (1599), +ed. McKerrow, III, 154, Nashe says: "I having begun but the induction +and first act of it, the other four acts without my consent or the +best guess of my drift or scope, by the players were supplied, which +bred both their trouble and mine too."] + +Some of these events are referred to in the following letter, +addressed by the Privy Council "to Richard Topclyfe, Thomas Fowler, +and Richard Skevington, esquires, Doctor Fletcher, and Mr. +Wilbraham": + + Upon information given us of a lewd play that was played in + one of the playhouses on the Bankside, containing very + seditious and slanderous matter, we caused some of the + players [Robert Shaw, Gabriel Spencer, and Ben Jonson[260]] + to be apprehended and committed to prison, whereof one of + them [Ben Jonson] was not only an actor but a maker of part + of the said play. Forasmuch as it is thought meet that the + rest of the players or actors in that matter shall be + apprehended to receive such punishment as their lewd and + mutinous behaviour doth deserve, these shall be therefore to + require you to examine those of the players that are + committed (whose names are known to you, Mr. Topclyfe), what + is become of the rest of their fellows that either had their + parts in the devising of that seditious matter, or that were + actors or players in the same, what copies they have given + forth[261] of the said play, and to whom, and such other + points as you shall think meet to be demanded of them, + wherein you shall require them to deal truly, as they will + look to receive any favour. We pray you also to peruse such + papers as were found in Nashe his lodgings, which Ferrys, a + messenger of the Chamber, shall deliver unto you, and to + certify us the examinations you take.[262] + +[Footnote 260: The identity of the three players is revealed in an +order of the Privy Council dated October 8, 1597: "A warrant to the +Keeper of the Marshalsea to release Gabriel Spencer and Robert Shaw, +stage-players, out of prison, who were of late committed to his +custody. The like warrant for the releasing of Benjamin Jonson." +(Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXVIII, 33.)] + +[Footnote 261: Such a copy was formerly preserved in a volume of +miscellaneous manuscripts at Alnwick Castle, but has not come down to +modern times. See F.J. Burgoyne, _Northumberland Manuscripts_ (London, +1904).] + +[Footnote 262: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXVII, 338.] + +This unfortunate occurrence destroyed Langley's dream of a successful +year. It also destroyed the splendid Pembroke organization, for +several of its chief members, even before the inhibition was raised, +joined the Admiral's Men. On August 6 Richard Jones went to Henslowe +and bound himself to play for two years at the Rose, and at the same +time he bound his friend Robert Shaw, who was still in prison; on +August 10 William Bird came and made a similar agreement; on October 6 +Thomas Downton did likewise. Their leader, Gabriel Spencer, also +probably had an understanding with Henslowe, although he signed no +bond; and upon his release from the Marshalsea he joined his friends +at the Rose.[263] + +[Footnote 263: Langley sued these actors on their bond to him of £100 +to play only at the Swan; see the documents printed by Mr. Wallace. +Ben Jonson also joined Henslowe's forces at the Rose, as did Anthony +and Humphrey Jeffes, who were doubtless members of the Pembroke +Company.] + +In the meantime the Queen's anger was abating, and the trouble was +blowing over. The order to pluck down all the public playhouses was +not taken seriously by the officers of the law, and Henslowe actually +secured permission to reopen the Rose on October 11. The inhibition +itself expired on November 1, but the Swan was singled out for further +punishment. The Privy Council ordered that henceforth license should +be granted to two companies only: namely, the Admiral's at the Rose, +and the Chamberlain's at the Curtain. This meant, of course, the +closing of the Swan. + +In spite of this order, however, the members of Pembroke's Company +remaining after the chief actors had joined Henslowe, taking on +recruits and organizing themselves into a company, began to act at the +Swan without a license. For some time they continued unmolested, but +at last the two licensed companies called the attention of the Privy +Council to the fact, and on February 19, 1598, the Council issued the +following order to the Master of the Revels and the Justices of both +Middlesex and Surrey: + + Whereas license hath been granted unto two companies of + stage players retayned unto us, the Lord Admiral and Lord + Chamberlain ... and whereas there is also a third company + who of late (as we are informed) have by way of intrusion + used likewise to play ... we have therefore thought good to + require you upon receipt hereof to take order that the + aforesaid third company may be suppressed, and none suffered + hereafter to play but those two formerly named, belonging to + us, the Lord Admiral and Lord Chamberlain.[264] + +[Footnote 264: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXVIII, 327.] + +Thus, after February 19, 1598, the Swan stood empty, so far as plays +were concerned, and we hear very little of it during the next few +years. Indeed, it never again assumed an important part in the history +of the drama. + +In the summer of 1598[265] it was used by Robert Wilson for a contest +in extempore versification. Francis Meres, in his _Palladis Tamia_, +writes: "And so is now our witty Wilson, who for learning and +extemporall wit in this faculty is without compare or compeere, as, to +his great and eternal commendations, he manifested in his challenge at +the Swan on the Bankside." + +[Footnote 265: After the order of February 19, when the "intruding +company" was driven out, and before September 7 when Meres's _Palladis +Tamia_ was entered in the Stationers' Registers.] + +On May 15, 1600, Peter Bromvill was licensed to use the Swan "to show +his feats of activity at convenient times in that place without let or +interruption."[266] The Privy Council in issuing the license observed +that Bromvill "hath been recommended unto Her Majesty from her good +brother the French King, and hath shewed some feats of great activity +before Her Highness." + +[Footnote 266: Dasent, _Acts of the Privy Council_, XXX, 327.] + +On June 22, 1600, the Privy Council "with one and full consent" +ordered "that there shall be about the city two houses, and no more, +allowed to serve for the use of the common stage plays; of the which +houses, one [the Globe] shall be in Surrey ... and the other [the +Fortune] in Middlesex."[267] This order in effect merely confirmed the +order of 1598 which limited the companies to two, the Admiral's and +the Chamberlain's. + +[Footnote 267: _Ibid._, 395.] + +Early in 1601 Langley died; and in January, 1602, his widow, as +administratrix, sold the Manor of Paris Garden, including the Swan +Playhouse, to Hugh Browker, a prothonotary of the Court of Common +Pleas. The property remained in the possession of the Browker family +until 1655.[268] + +[Footnote 268: For this and other details as to the subsequent history +of the property see Wallace, _Englische Studien_, XLIII, 342; Rendle, +_The Antiquarian Magazine_, VII, 207; and cf. the map on page 163.] + +On November 6, 1602, the building was the scene of the famous hoax +known as _England's Joy_, perpetrated upon the patriotic citizens of +London by one Richard Vennar.[269] Vennar scattered hand-bills over +the city announcing that at the Swan Playhouse, on Saturday, November +6, a company of "gentlemen and gentlewomen of account" would present +with unusual magnificence a play entitled _England's Joy_, celebrating +Queen Elizabeth. It was proposed to show the coronation of Elizabeth, +the victory of the Armada, and various other events in the life of +"England's Joy," with the following conclusion: "And so with music, +both with voice and instruments, she is taken up into heaven; when +presently appears a throne of blessed souls; and beneath, under the +stage, set forth with strange fire-works, diverse black and damned +souls, wonderfully described in their several torments."[270] The +price of admission to the performance was to be "two shillings, or +eighteen pence at least." In spite of this unusually high price, an +enormous audience, including a "great store of good company and many +noblemen," passed into the building. Whereupon Vennar seized the money +paid for admission, and showed his victims "a fair pair of heels." The +members of the audience, when they found themselves thus duped, +"revenged themselves upon the hangings, curtains, chairs, stools, +walls, and whatsoever came in their way, very outrageously, and made +great spoil."[271] + +[Footnote 269: Many writers, including Mr. Wallace, have confused this +Richard Vennar with William Fennor, who later challenged Kendall to a +contest of wit at the Fortune. For a correct account, see T.S. Graves, +"Tricks of Elizabethan Showmen" (in _The South Atlantic Quarterly_, +April, 1915, XIV) and "A Note on the Swan Theatre" (in _Modern +Philology_, January, 1912, IX, 431).] + +[Footnote 270: From the broadside printed in _The Harleian +Miscellany_, X, 198. For a photographic facsimile, see Lawrence, _The +Elizabethan Playhouse_ (Second Series), p. 68.] + +[Footnote 271: _Letters Written by John Chamberlain_, Camden Society +(1861), p. 163; _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1601-1603_, +p. 264. See also Manningham's _Diary_, pp. 82, 93.] + +On February 8, 1603, John Manningham recorded in his _Diary_: "Turner +and Dun, two famous fencers, playd their prizes this day at the +Bankside, but Turner at last run Dun so far in the brain at the eye, +that he fell down presently stone dead; a goodly sport in a Christian +state, to see one man kill another!" The place where the contest was +held is not specifically mentioned, but in all probability it was the +Swan.[272] + +[Footnote 272: This seems to be the source of the statement by Mr. +Wallace (_Englische Studien_, XLIII, 388), quoting Rendle (_The +Antiquarian Magazine_, VII, 210): "In 1604, a man named Turner, in a +contest for a prize at the Swan, was killed by a thrust in the eye." +Rendle cites no authority for his statement.] + +For the next eight years all is silence, but we may suppose that the +building was occasionally let for special entertainments such as those +just enumerated. + +In 1611 Henslowe undertook to manage the Lady Elizabeth's Men, +promising among other things to furnish them with a suitable +playhouse. Having disposed of the Rose in 1605, he rented the Swan and +established his company there. In 1613, however, he built the Hope, +and transferred the Lady Elizabeth's Men thither. + +The Swan seems thereafter to have been occupied for a time by Prince +Charles's Men. But the history of this company and its intimate +connection with the Lady Elizabeth's Company is too vague to admit of +definite conclusions. So far as we can judge, the Prince's Men +continued at the Swan until 1615, when Henslowe transferred them to +the Hope.[273] + +[Footnote 273: These dates are in a measure verified by the records of +the Overseers of the Poor for the Liberty of Paris Garden, printed by +Mr. Wallace (_Englische Studien_, XLIII, 390, note 1). Mr. Wallace +seems to labor under the impression that this chapter in the history +of the Swan (1611-1615) was unknown before, but it was adequately +treated by Fleay and later by Mr. Greg.] + +After 1615 the Swan was deserted for five years so far as any records +show. But in 1621 the old playhouse seems to have been again used by +the actors. The Overseers of the Poor in the Liberty of Paris Garden +record in their Account Book: "Monday, April the 9th, 1621, received +of the players £5 3_s._ 6_d._"[274] From this it is evident that in +the spring of 1621 some company of players, the name of which has not +yet been discovered, was occupying the Swan. Apparently, however, the +company did not remain there long, for the Account Book records no +payment the following year; nor, although it extends to the year 1671, +does it again record any payments from actors at the Swan. There is, +indeed, no evidence to connect the playhouse with dramatic +performances after 1621.[275] In the map of 1627 it is represented as +still standing, but is labeled "the _old_ playhouse," and is not even +named. + +[Footnote 274: Wallace, _op. cit._, p. 390, note 1.] + +[Footnote 275: Rendle quotes a license of 1623 for "T.B. and three +assistants to make shows of Italian motions at the Princes Arms or the +Swan." (_The Antiquarian Magazine_, 1885, VII, 211.) But this may be a +reference to an inn rather than to the large playhouse.] + +Five years later it is referred to in Nicolas Goodman's _Holland's +Leaguer_ (1632), a pamphlet celebrating one of the most notorious +houses of ill fame on the Bankside.[276] Dona Britannica Hollandia, +the proprietress of this house, is represented as having been much +pleased with its situation: + + Especially, and above all the rest, she was most taken with + the report of three famous amphitheatres, which stood so + near situated that her eye might take view of them from the + lowest turret. One was the _Continent of the World_ [i.e., + the Globe], because half the year a world of beauties and + brave spirits resorted unto it; the other was a building of + excellent _Hope_, and though wild beasts and gladiators did + most possess it, yet the gallants that came to behold those + combats, though they were of a mixt society, yet were many + noble worthies amongst them; the last which stood, and, as + it were, shak'd hands with this fortress, being in times + past as famous as any of the other, was now fallen to decay, + and like a dying _Swanne_, hanging down her head, seemed to + sing her own dirge. + +[Footnote 276: What seems to be a picture of this famous house may be +seen in Merian's _View of London_, 1638 (see opposite page 256), with +a turret, and standing just to the right of the Swan.] + +This is the last that we hear of the playhouse, that was "in times +past as famous as any of the other." What finally became of the +building we do not know. It is not shown in Hollar's _View of London_, +in 1647, and probably it had ceased to exist before the outbreak of +the Civil War. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SECOND BLACKFRIARS + + +In 1596 Burbage's lease of the plot of ground on which he had erected +the Theatre was drawing to a close, and all his efforts at a renewal +had failed. The owner of the land, Gyles Alleyn, having, in spite of +the terms of the original contract, refused to extend the lease until +1606, was craftily plotting for a substantial increase in the rental; +moreover, having become puritanical in his attitude towards the drama, +he was insisting that if the lease were renewed, the Theatre should be +used as a playhouse for five years only, and then should either be +torn down, or be converted into tenements. Burbage tentatively agreed +to pay the increased rental, but, of course, he could not possibly +agree to the second demand; and when all negotiations on this point +proved futile, he realized that he must do something at once to meet +the awkward situation. + +In the twenty years that had elapsed since the erection of the Theatre +and the Curtain in Holywell, the Bankside had been developed as a +theatrical district, and the Rose and the Swan, not to mention the +Bear Garden, had made the south side of the river the popular place +for entertainments. Naturally, therefore, any one contemplating the +erection of a playhouse would immediately think of this locality. +Burbage, however, was a man of ideas. He believed that he could +improve on the Bankside as a site for his theatre. He remembered how, +at the outset of his career as a theatrical manager, he had had to +face competition with Richard Farrant who had opened a small "private" +playhouse in Blackfriars. Although that building had not been used as +a "public" playhouse, and had been closed up after a few years of sore +tribulation, it had revealed to Burbage the possibilities of the +Blackfriars precinct for theatrical purposes. In the first place, the +precinct was not under the jurisdiction of the city, so that actors +would not there be subject to the interference of the Lord Mayor and +his Aldermen. As Stevens writes in his _History of Ancient Abbeys, +Monasteries, etc._: "All the inhabitants within it were subject to +none but the King ... neither the Mayor, nor the sheriffs, nor any +other officers of the City of London had the least jurisdiction or +authority therein." Blackfriars, therefore, in this fundamental +respect, was just as desirable a location for theatres as was Holywell +to the north of the city, or the Bankside to the south. In the second +place, Blackfriars had a decided advantage over those two suburban +localities in that it was "scituated in the bosome of the +Cittie,"[277] near St. Paul's Cathedral, the centre of London life, +and hence was readily accessible to playgoers, even during the +disagreeable winter season. In the third place, the locality was +distinctly fashionable. To give some notion of the character of its +inhabitants, I record below the names of a few of those who lived in +or near the conventual buildings at various times after the +dissolution: George Brooke, Lord Cobham; William Brooke, Lord Cobham, +Lord Chamberlain of the Queen's Household; Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, +Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; Sir Thomas Cheney, Treasurer of the +Queen's Household, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; Henry Carey, +Lord Hunsdon, Lord Chamberlain of the Queen's Household; George Carey, +Lord Hunsdon, who as Lord Chamberlain was the patron of Shakespeare's +troupe; Sir Thomas Cawarden, Master of the Revels; Sir Henry +Jerningham, Fee Chamberlain to the Queen's Highness; Sir Willam More, +Chamberlain of the Exchequer; Lord Zanche; Sir John Portynary; Sir +William Kingston; Sir Francis Bryan; Sir John Cheeke; Sir George +Harper; Sir Philip Hoby, Lady Anne Gray; Sir Robert Kyrkham; Lady +Perrin; Sir Christopher More; Sir Henry Neville; Sir Thomas Saunders; +Sir Jerome Bowes; and Lady Jane Guildford.[278] Obviously the +locality was free from the odium which the public always associated +with Shoreditch and the Bankside, the recognized homes of the London +stews.[279] + +[Footnote 277: The Petition of 1619, in The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 93.] + +[Footnote 278: It is true that poor people also, feather-dealers and +such-like, lived in certain parts of Blackfriars, but this, of course, +did not affect the reputation of the precinct as the residence of +noblemen.] + +[Footnote 279: In Samuel Rowlands's _Humors Looking Glass_ (1608), a +rich country gull is represented as filling his pockets with money and +coming to London. Here a servant "of the Newgate variety" shows him +the sights of the city: + + Brought him to the Bankside where bears do dwell, + And unto Shoreditch where the whores keep hell.] + +Thus, a playhouse erected in the precinct of Blackfriars would escape +all the grave disadvantages of situation which attached to the +existing playhouses in the suburbs, and, on the other hand, would gain +several very important advantages. + +Burbage's originality, however, did not stop with the choice of +Blackfriars as the site of his new theatre; he determined to improve +on the form of building as well. The open-air structure which he had +designed in 1576, and which had since been copied in all public +theatres, had serious disadvantages in that it offered no protection +from the weather. Burbage now resolved to provide a large "public" +playhouse, fully roofed in, with the entire audience and the actors +protected against the inclemency of the sky and the cold of winter. In +short, his dream was of a theatre centrally located, comfortably +heated, and, for its age, luxuriously appointed. + +With characteristic energy and courage he at once set about the task +of realizing this dream. He found in the Blackfriars precinct a large +building which, he thought, would admirably serve his purpose. This +building was none other than the old Frater of the Monastery, a +structure one hundred and ten feet long and fifty-two feet wide, with +stone walls three feet thick, and a flat roof covered with lead. From +the Loseley documents, which M. Feuillerat has placed at the disposal +of scholars,[280] we are now able to reconstruct the old Frater +building, and to point out exactly that portion which was made into a +playhouse.[281] + +[Footnote 280: _Blackfriars Records_, in The Malone Society's +_Collections_, (1913).] + +[Footnote 281: For a reconstruction of the Priory buildings and +grounds, and for specific evidence of statements made in the following +paragraphs, the reader is referred to J.Q. Adams, _The Conventual +Buildings of Blackfriars, London_, in the University of North Carolina +_Studies in Philology_, XIV, 64.] + +At the time of the dissolution, the top story consisted of a single +large room known as the "Upper Frater," and also as the "Parliament +Chamber" from the fact that the English Parliament met here on several +occasions; here, also, was held the trial before Cardinals Campeggio +and Wolsey for the divorce of the unhappy Queen Catherine and Henry +VIII--a scene destined to be reënacted in the same building by +Shakespeare and his fellows many years later. In 1550 the room was +granted, with various other properties in Blackfriars, to Sir Thomas +Cawarden.[282] + +[Footnote 282: Feuillerat, _Blackfriars Records_, pp. 7, 12.] + +[Illustration: PLAN ILLUSTRATING THE SECOND BLACKFRIARS PLAYHOUSE + +The Playhouse was made by combining the Hall and the Parlor.] + +The space below the Parliament Chamber was divided into three units. +At the northern end was a "Hall" extending the width of the building. +It is mentioned in the Survey[283] of 1548 as "a Hall ... under the +said Frater"; and again in the side-note: "Memorandum, my Lorde Warden +claimeth the said Hall." Just to the south of the Hall was a "Parlor," +or dining-chamber, "where commonly the friars did use to break their +fast." It is described in the Survey as being "under the said Frater, +of the same length and breadth." The room could not have been of the +"same length and breadth" as the great Parliament Chamber, for not +only would such dimensions be absurd for an informal dining-room, but, +as we are clearly told, the "Infirmary" was also under the Parliament +Chamber, and was approximately one-third the size of the latter.[284] +Accordingly I have interpreted the phrase, "of the same length and +breadth," to mean that the Parlor was square. When the room was sold +to Burbage it was said to be fifty-two feet in length from north to +south, which is exactly the breadth of the building from east to west. +The Parlor, as well as the Hall, was claimed by the Lord Warden; and +both were granted to Sir Thomas Cawarden in 1550. + +[Footnote 283: Feuillerat, _Blackfriars Records_, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 284: Feuillerat, _Blackfriars Records_, pp. 105-06.] + +South of the Parlor was the Infirmary, described as being "at the +western corner of the Inner Cloister" (of which the Frater building +constituted the western side), as being under the Parliament Chamber, +and as being approximately one-third the size of the Parliament +Chamber. The Infirmary seems to have been structurally distinct from +the Hall and Parlor.[285] It was three stories high, consisting of a +"room beneath the Fermary," the Infirmary itself, a "room above the +same";[286] while the Parliament Chamber, extending itself "over the +room above the Fermary," constituted a fourth story. Furthermore, not +only was the Infirmary a structural unit distinct from the Hall and +the Parlor at the north, but it never belonged to Cawarden or More, +and hence was not included in the sale to Burbage. It was granted in +1545 to Lady Mary Kingston,[287] from whom it passed to her son, Sir +Henry Jerningham, then to Anthony Kempe, who later sold it to Lord +Hunsdon;[288] and at the time the playhouse was built, the Infirmary +was still in the occupation of Hunsdon. + +[Footnote 285: In all probability it was separated from the Hall and +Parlor by a passage leading through the Infirmary into the Inner +Cloister yard.] + +[Footnote 286: One reason for the greater height may have been the +slope of the ground towards the river; a second reason was the unusual +height of the Parlor.] + +[Footnote 287: Feuillerat, _Blackfriars Records_, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 288: _Ibid._, p. 124.] + +At the northern end of the Frater building, and extending westward, +was a narrow structure fifty feet in length, sixteen feet in breadth, +and three stories in height, regarded as a "part of the frater +parcel." The middle story, which was on the same level with the +Parliament Chamber, was known as the "Duchy Chamber," possibly because +of its use in connection with the sittings of Parliament, or with the +meetings of the Privy Council there. The building was granted to +Cawarden in 1550.[289] + +[Footnote 289: Feuillerat, _Blackfriars Records_, p. 8.] + +Upon the death of Cawarden all his Blackfriars holdings passed into +the possession of Sir William More. From More, in 1596, James Burbage +purchased those sections of the Frater building which had originally +been granted to Cawarden[290]--that is, all the Frater building except +the Infirmary--for the sum of £600, in modern valuation about +$25,000.[291] Evidently he had profited by Farrant's experience with +More and by his own experience with Gyles Alleyn, and had determined +to risk no more leases, but in the future to be his own landlord, cost +what it might. + +[Footnote 290: For the deed of sale see _ibid._, p. 60.] + +[Footnote 291: It should be observed, however, that Burbage paid only +£100 down, and that he immediately mortgaged the property for more +than £200. The playhouse was not free from debt until 1605. See +Wallace, _The First London Theatre_, p. 23.] + +The properties which he thus secured were: + +(1) The Parliament Chamber, extending over the Hall, Parlor, and +Infirmary. This great chamber, it will be recalled, had previously +been divided by Cawarden into the Frith and Cheeke Lodgings;[292] but +now it was arranged as a single tenement of seven rooms, and was +occupied by the eminent physician William de Lawne:[293] "All those +seven great upper rooms as they are now divided, being all upon one +floor, and sometime being one great and entire room, with the roof +over the same, covered with lead." Up into this tenement led a special +pair of stairs which made it wholly independent of the rest of the +building. + +[Footnote 292: The northern section of the Cheeke Lodging (a portion +of the old Buttery) which had constituted Farrant's private theatre, +and which was no real part of the Frater building, had been converted +by More into the Pipe Office.] + +[Footnote 293: A prosperous physician. His son was one of the +illustrious founders of the Society of Apothecaries, and one of its +chief benefactors. His portrait may be seen to-day in Apothecaries' +Hall. See C.R.B. Barrett, _The History of the Society of Apothecaries +of London_.] + +(2) The friar's "Parlor," now made into a tenement occupied by Thomas +Bruskett, and called "the Middle Rooms, or Middle Stories"--possibly +from the fact that it was the middle of three tenements, possibly from +the fact that having two cellars under its northern end it was the +middle of three stories. It is described as being fifty-two feet in +length north and south, and thirty-seven feet in width. Why a strip of +nine feet should have been detached on the eastern side is not clear; +but that this strip was also included in the sale to Burbage is shown +by later documents. + +(3) The ancient "Hall" adjoining the "Parlor" on the north, and now +made into two rooms. These rooms were combined with the ground floor +of the Duchy Chamber building to constitute a tenement occupied by +Peter Johnson: "All those two lower rooms now in the occupation of the +said Peter Johnson, lying directly under part of the said seven great +upper rooms." The dimensions are not given, but doubtless the two +rooms together extended the entire width of the building and were +approximately as broad as the Duchy Chamber building, with which they +were united. + +(4) The Duchy Chamber building "at the north end of the said seven +great upper rooms, and at the west side thereof." At the time of the +sale the ground floor of this building was occupied by Peter Johnson, +who had also the Hall adjoining it on the west; the middle story was +occupied by Charles Bradshaw; and the top story by Edward Merry.[294] + +[Footnote 294: Mr. Wallace's description of the building and the way +in which it was converted into a playhouse (_The Children of the +Chapel at Blackfriars_, pp. 37-41) is incorrect. For the various +details cited above see the deed of sale to Burbage.] + +Out of this heterogeneous property Burbage was confronted with the +problem of making a playhouse. Apparently he regarded the Parliament +Chamber as too low, or too inaccessible for the purposes of a theatre; +this part of his property, therefore, he kept as a lodging, and for +many years it served as a dormitory for the child-actors. The Duchy +Chamber building, being small and detached from the Frater building, +he reserved also as a lodging.[295] In the Hall and the Parlor, +however, he saw the possibility of a satisfactory auditorium. Let us +therefore examine this section of the Frater building more in detail, +and trace its history up to the time of the purchase. + +[Footnote 295: This may have contained the two rooms in which Evans +lived, and "the schoolhouse and the chamber over the same," which are +described (see the documents in Fleay's _A Chronicle History of the +London Stage_, p. 210 ff.) as being "severed from the said great +hall." In another document this schoolhouse is described as "schola, +anglice _schoolhouse_, ad borealem finem Aulæ prædictæ." (Wallace, +_The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, p. 40.)] + +The Parlor was described as "a great room, paved," and was said to +have been "used and occupied by the friars themselves to their own +proper use as a parlor to dine and sup in."[296] Sir John Portynary, +whose house adjoined the Duchy Chamber, tells us that in 1550, when +King Edward granted the Blackfriars property to Cawarden, "Sir Thomas +Cawarden, knight, entered into the same house in the name of all that +which the King had given him within the said friars, and made his +lodging there; and about that time did invite this examinant and his +wife to supper there, together with diverse other gentlemen; and they +all supped together with the said Sir Thomas Cawarden, in the same +room [the Parlor] where the said school of fence is now kept, and did +there see a play."[297] + +[Footnote 296: Feuillerat, _Blackfriars Records_, pp. 43, 47, 48.] + +[Footnote 297: _Ibid._, p. 52.] + +Later Cawarden leased the Parlor to a keeper of an ordinary: "One +Woodman did hold the said house where the said school of fence is +kept, and another house thereby of Sir Thomas Cawarden, and in the +other room kept an ordinary table, and had his way to the same through +the said house where the said school of fence is kept."[298] + +[Footnote 298: _Ibid._, p. 51.] + +In 1563 William Joyner established in the rooms the school of fence +mentioned above, which was still flourishing in 1576.[299] + +[Footnote 299: Feuillerat, _Blackfriars Records_, p. 121.] + +When in 1583 John Lyly became interested in the First Blackfriars +Playhouse, he obtained a lease of the rooms, but it is not clear for +what purpose. Later he sold the lease to Rocho Bonetti, the Italian +fencing-master, who established there his famous school of fence.[300] +In George Silver's _Paradoxes of Defence_, 1599, is a description of +Bonetti's school, which will, I think, help us to reconstruct in our +imagination the "great room, paved" which was destined to become +Shakespeare's playhouse: + + He caused to be fairely drawne and set round about the + schoole all the Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Armes that were + his schollers, and, hanging right under their Armes, their + Rapiers, Daggers, Gloves of Male, and Gantlets. Also he had + benches and stooles, the roome being verie large, for + Gentlemen to sit about his schoole to behold his teaching. + + He taught none commonly under twentie, fortie, fifty, or an + hundred pounds. And because all things should be verie + necessary for the Noblemen and Gentlemen, he had in his + schoole a large square table, with a green carpet, done + round with a verie brode rich fringe of gold; alwaies + standing upon it a verie faire standish covered with crimson + velvet, with inke, pens, pen-dust, and sealing-waxe, and + quiers of verie excellent fine paper, gilded, readie for the + Noblemen and Gentlemen (upon occasion) to write their + letters, being then desirous to follow their fight, to send + their men to dispatch their businesse. + + And to know how the time passed, he had in one corner of his + Schoole, a Clocke, with a verie faire large diall; he had + within that Schoole a roome the which he called his privie + schoole, with manie weapons therein, where he did teach his + schollers his secret fight, after he had perfectly taught + them their rules. He was verie much loved in the Court. + +[Footnote 300: _Ibid._, p. 122.] + +We are further told by Silver that Bonetti took it upon himself "to +hit anie Englishman with a thrust upon anie button." It is no wonder +that Shakespeare ridiculed him in _Romeo and Juliet_ as "the very +butcher of a silk button," and laughed at his school and his fantastic +fencing-terms: + + _Mercutio._ Ah! the immortal "passado"! the "punto reverso"! + the "hay"! + + _Benvolio._ The what? + + _Mercutio._ The pox of such antick, lisping, affecting + fantasticoes! These new tuners of accents!--"By Jesu, a very + good blade!" + +At the date of the sale to Burbage, February 4, 1596, the fencing +school of Bonetti, had become "those rooms and lodgings, with the +kitchen thereunto adjoining, called the Middle Rooms or Middle +Stories, late being in the tenure or occupation of Rocco Bonetti, and +now being in the tenure or occupation of Thomas Bruskett, gentleman." + +To make his playhouse Burbage removed all the partitions in the Middle +Rooms, and restored the Parlor to its original form--a great room +covering the entire breadth of the building, and extending fifty-two +feet in length from north to south. To this he added the Hall at the +north, which then existed as two rooms in the occupation of Peter +Johnson. The Hall and Parlor when combined made an auditorium +described as "per estimacionem in longitudine ab australe ad borealem +partem eiusdem sexaginta et sex pedes assissæ sit plus sive minus, et +in latitudine ab occidentale ad orientalem partem eiusdem quadraginto +et sex pedes assissæ sit plus sive minus."[301] The forty-six feet of +width corresponds to the interior width of the Frater building, for +although it was fifty-two feet wide in outside measurement, the stone +walls were three feet thick. The sixty-six feet of length probably +represents the fifty-two feet of the Parlor plus the breadth of the +Hall. + +[Footnote 301: Wallace, _The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, +p. 39, note 1.] + +The ceiling of these two rooms must have been of unusual height. The +Infirmary, which was below the Parliament Chamber at the south, was +three stories high; and the windows of the Parlor, if we may believe +Pierce the Ploughman, were "wrought as a chirche": + + An halle for an heygh kinge · an household to holden, + With brode bordes abouten · y-benched well clene, + With windowes of glas · wrought as a chirche. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF BLACKFRIARS + +This remnant of the old monastery was discovered in 1872 on the +rebuilding of the offices of _The Times_. It illustrates the +substantial character of the Blackfriars buildings, and may even be a +part of the old Frater, for _The Times_ occupies that portion of the +monastery. The windows of the Frater, according to Pierce the +Ploughman, were "wrought as a chirche." (From a painting in the +Guildhall Museum.)] + +As a result Burbage was able to construct within the auditorium at +least two galleries,[302] after the manner of the public theatres. +The Parliament Chamber above was kept, as I have stated, for +residential purposes. This is why the various legal documents almost +invariably refer to the playhouse as "that great hall or room, with +the rooms over the same."[303] + +[Footnote 302: Mr. Wallace, _The Children of the Chapel at +Blackfriars_, p. 42, quotes from the Epilogue to Marston's _The Dutch +Courtesan_, acted at Blackfriars, "And now, my fine Heliconian +gallants, and you, my worshipful friends in the middle region," and +adds that the "reference to 'the middle region' makes it clear there +were three" galleries. Does it not, however, indicate that there were +only two galleries?] + +[Footnote 303: See the documents printed in Fleay's _A Chronicle +History of the London Stage_, pp. 211, 215, 240, etc. Mr. Wallace, +however (_The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, p. 40 ff.), +would have us believe that an additional story was added: "the roof +was changed, and rooms, probably of the usual dormer sort, were built +above." I am quite sure he is mistaken.] + +The main entrance to the playhouse was at the north, over the "great +yard" which extended from the Pipe Office to Water Lane.[304] The +stage was opposite this entrance, or at the southern end of the hall, +as is shown by one of the documents printed by Mr. Wallace.[305] Since +the building was not, like the other playhouses of London, open to the +sky, the illumination was supplied by candles, hung in branches over +the stage; as Gerschow noted, after visiting Blackfriars, "alle bey +Lichte agiret, welches ein gross Ansehen macht."[306] The obvious +advantage of artificial light for producing beautiful stage effects +must have added not a little to the popularity of the Blackfriars +Playhouse. + +[Footnote 304: Cf. Playhouse Yard in the London of to-day.] + +[Footnote 305: _The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, p. 43, +note 3.] + +[Footnote 306: _The Diary of the Duke of Stettin-Pomerania_, in +_Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ (1892), VI, 26.] + +The cost of all the alterations and the equipment could hardly have +been less than £300, so that the total cost of the property was at +least £900, or in modern valuation approximately $35,000. Burbage's +sons, in referring to the building years later, declared that their +father had "made it into a playhouse with great charge." + +"And," they added significantly, "with great trouble." The +aristocratic inhabitants of the Blackfriars precinct did not welcome +the appearance in their midst of a "public," or, as some more +scornfully designated it, a "common," playhouse; and when they +discovered the intentions of Burbage, they wrote a strong petition to +the Privy Council against the undertaking. This petition, presented to +the Council in November, 1596, I quote below in part: + + To the right honorable the Lords and others of Her Majesty's + most honorable Privy Council.--Humbly shewing and beseeching + your honors, the inhabitants of the precinct of the + Blackfriars, London, that whereas one Burbage hath lately + bought certain rooms in the same precinct near adjoining + unto the dwelling houses of the right honorable the Lord + Chamberlaine [Lord Cobham] and the Lord of Hunsdon, which + rooms the said Burbage is now altering, and meaneth very + shortly to convert and turn the same into a common + playhouse, which will grow to be a very great annoyance and + trouble, not only to all the noblemen and gentlemen + thereabout inhabiting, but also a general inconvenience to + all the inhabitants of the same precinct, both by reason of + the great resort and gathering together of all manner of + vagrant and lewd persons ... as also for that there hath not + at any time heretofore been used any common playhouse within + the same precinct, but that now all players being banished + by the Lord Mayor from playing within the city ... they now + think to plant themselves in liberties, etc.[307] + +[Footnote 307: For the full document see Halliwell-Phillipps, +_Outlines_, I, 304. For the date, see The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 91.] + +The first person to sign the petition was the Dowager Lady Elizabeth +Russell; the second was none other than George Cary, Lord Hunsdon, at +the time the patron of Burbage's company of actors.[308] It is not +surprising, therefore, that as a result of this petition the Lords of +the Privy Council (of which Lord Cobham was a conspicuous member) +issued an order in which they "forbad the use of the said house for +plays."[309] This order wrecked the plans of Burbage quite as +effectively as did the stubbornness of Gyles Alleyn. + +[Footnote 308: Shortly after this he was appointed Lord Chamberlain, +under which name his troupe was subsequently known.] + +[Footnote 309: Petition of 1619, The Malone Society's _Collections_, +I, 91.] + +Possibly the mental distress Burbage suffered at the hands of the +Privy Council and of Gyles Alleyn affected his health; at least he did +not long survive this last sling of fortune. In February, 1597, just +before the expiration of the Alleyn lease, he died, leaving the +Theatre to his son Cuthbert, the bookseller, Blackfriars to his +actor-son, Richard, the star of Shakespeare's troupe, and his troubles +to both. With good reason Cuthbert declared many years later that the +ultimate success of London theatres had "been purchased by the +infinite cost and pains of the family of Burbages." + +When later in 1597 the Lord Chamberlain's Players were forced to leave +Cuthbert's Theatre, Richard Burbage was not able to establish them in +his comfortable Blackfriars house; instead, they first went to the old +Curtain in Shoreditch, and then, under the leadership of the Burbage +sons, erected for themselves a brand-new home on the Bankside, called +"The Globe." + +The order of the Privy Council had summarily forbidden the use of +Blackfriars as a "public" playhouse. Its proprietor, however, Richard +Burbage, might take advantage of the precedent established in the days +of Farrant, and let the building for use as a "private" theatre.[310] +Exactly when he was first able to lease the building as a "private" +house we do not know, for the history of the building between 1597 +(when it was completed) and 1600 (when it was certainly occupied by +the Children of the Chapel) is very indistinct. We have no definite +evidence to connect the Chapel Children, or, indeed, any specific +troupe, with Blackfriars during these years. Yet prior to 1600 the +building seems to have been used for acting. Richard Burbage himself +seems to say so. In leasing the building to Evans, in 1600, he says +that he considered "with himself that" Evans could not pay the rent +"except the said Evans could erect and keep a company of playing-boys +or others to play plays and interludes in the said playhouse in such +sort _as before time had been there used_."[311] Now, unless this +refers to Farrant's management of the Chapel Boys in Blackfriars--nearly +a quarter of a century earlier--it means that before 1600 some actors, +presumably "playing-boys," had used Burbage's theatre. Moreover, there +seems to be evidence to show that the troupe thus vaguely referred to +was under the management of Evans; for, in referring to his lease of +Blackfriars in 1600, Evans describes the playhouse as "then or late in +the tenure or occupation of your said oratour."[312] What these vague +references mean we cannot now with our limited knowledge determine. +But there is not sufficient evidence to warrant the usual assumption +that Evans and Giles had opened the Blackfriars with the Children of +the Chapel in 1597.[313] + +[Footnote 310: The constables and other officers in the Petition of +1619 say: "The owner of the said playhouse, doth under the name of a +private house ... convert the said house to a public playhouse." (The +Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 91.)] + +[Footnote 311: Fleay, _A Chronicle History of the London Stage_, p. +234.] + +[Footnote 312: _Ibid._, p. 211.] + +[Footnote 313: This theory has been urged by Fleay, by Mr. Wallace in +_The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, and by others.] + +The known history of Blackfriars as a regular theatre may be said to +begin in the autumn of 1600. On September 2 of that year, Henry Evans +signed a lease of the playhouse for a period of twenty-one years, at +an annual rental of £40. This interesting step on the part of Evans +calls for a word of explanation as to his plans. + +The Children of the Chapel Royal, who had attained such glory at +Blackfriars during the Farrant-Hunnis-Evans-Oxford-Lyly régime, had +thereafter sunk into dramatic insignificance. Since 1584, when Lyly +was forced to give up his playhouse, they had not presented a play at +Court. Probably they did not entirely cease to act, for they can be +vaguely traced in the provinces during a part of this period; but +their dramatic glory was almost wholly eclipsed. Evans, who had +managed the Boys under Hunnis, Oxford, and Lyly, hoped now to +reëstablish the Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars as they had been +in his younger days. Like James Burbage, he was a man of ideas. His +plan was to interest in his undertaking the Master of the Chapel, +Nathaniel Giles, who had succeeded to the office at the death of +Hunnis in 1597, and then to make practical use of the patent granted +to the Masters of the Children to take up boys for Her Majesty's +service. Such a patent, in the normal course of events, had been +granted to Giles, as it had been to his predecessors. It read in part +as follows: + + Elizabeth, by the grace of God, &c., to all mayors, + sheriffs, bailiffs, constables, and all other our officers, + greeting. For that it is meet that our Chapel Royal should + be furnished with well-singing children from time to time, + we have, and by these presents do authorize our + well-beloved servant, Nathaniel Giles, Master of our + Children of our said Chapel, or his deputy, being by his + bill subscribed and sealed, so authorized, and having this + our present commission with him, to take such and so many + children as he, or his sufficient deputy, shall think meet, + in all cathedral, collegiate, parish churches, chapels, or + any other place or places, as well within liberty as + without, within this our realm of England, whatsoever they + be.[314] + +[Footnote 314: The full commission is printed in Wallace, _The +Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, p. 61.] + +In such a commission Evans saw wonderful possibilities. He reasoned +that since the Queen had forced upon the Chapel Children the twofold +service of singing at royal worship and of acting plays for royal +entertainment, this twofold service should be met by a twofold +organization, the one part designed mainly to furnish sacred music, +the other designed mainly to furnish plays. Such a dual organization, +it seemed to him, was now more or less necessary, since the number of +boy choristers in the Chapel Royal was limited to twelve, whereas the +acting of plays demanded at least twice as many. Once the principle +that the Chapel Royal should supply the Queen with plays was granted, +the commission could be used to furnish the necessary actors; and the +old fiction, established by Farrant and Hunnis, of using a "private" +playhouse as a means of exercising or training the boys for Court +service, would enable the promoters to give public performances and +thus handsomely reimburse themselves for their trouble. + +Such was Evans's scheme, based upon his former experience with the +Children at Farrant's Blackfriars, and suggested, perhaps, by the +existence of Burbage's Blackfriars now forbidden to the "common" +players. He presented his scheme to Giles, the Master of the Children; +and Giles, no doubt, presented it at Court; for he would hardly dare +thus abuse the Queen's commission, or thus make a public spectacle of +the royal choristers, without in some way first consulting Her +Majesty, and securing at least her tacit consent. That Giles and Evans +did secure royal permission to put their scheme into operation is +certain, although the exact nature of this permission is not clear. +Later, for misdemeanors on the part of the management, the Star +Chamber ordered "that all assurances made to the said Evans concerning +the said house, or plays, or interludes, should be utterly void, and +to be delivered up to be cancelled."[315] + +[Footnote 315: Fleay, _A Chronicle History of the London Stage_, p. +248.] + +Armed with these written "assurances," and with the royal commission +to take up children, Evans and Giles began to form their company. This +explains the language used by Heminges and Burbage: "let the said +playhouse unto Henry Evans ... who intended then presently to erect or +set up a company of boys."[316] Their method of recruiting players +may best be told by Henry Clifton, in his complaint to the Queen: + + But so it is, most excellent Sovereign, that the said + Nathaniel Giles, confederating himself with one James + Robinson, Henry Evans, and others,[317] yet unto Your + Majesty's said subject unknown how [many], by color of Your + Majesty's said letters patents, and the trust by Your + Highness thereby to him, the said Nathaniel Giles, + committed, endeavoring, conspiring, and complotting how to + oppress diverse of Your Majesty's humble and faithful + subjects, and thereby to make unto themselves an unlawful + gain and benefit, they, the said confederates, devised, + conspired, and concluded, for their own corrupt gain and + lucre, to erect, set up, furnish, and maintain a playhouse, + or place in the Blackfriars, within Your Majesty's city of + London; and to the end they might the better furnish their + said plays and interludes with children, whom they thought + most fittest to act and furnish the said plays, they, the + said confederates, abusing the authority and trust by Your + Highness to him, the said Nathaniel Giles, and his deputy or + deputies, by Your Highness's said letters patents given and + reposed, hath, sithence Your Majesty's last free and general + pardon, most wrongfully, unduly, and unjustly taken diverse + and several children from diverse and sundry schools of + learning and other places, and apprentices to men of trade + from their masters, no way fitting for Your Majesty's + service in or for your Chapel Royal, but the children have + so taken and employed in acting and furnishing of the said + plays and interludes, so by them complotted and agreed to + be erected, furnished, and maintained, against the wills of + the said children, their parents, tutors, masters, and + governors, and to the no small grief and oppressions [of] + Your Majesty's true and faithful subjects. Amongst which + numbers, so by the persons aforesaid and their agents so + unjustly taken, used and employed, they have unduly taken + and so employed one John Chappell, a grammar school scholar + of one Mr. Spykes School near Cripplegate, London; John + Motteram, a grammar scholar in the free school at + Westminster; Nathaniel Field, a scholar of a grammar school + in London kept by one Mr. Monkaster;[318] Alvery Trussell, + an apprentice to one Thomas Gyles; one Phillipp Pykman and + [one] Thomas Grymes, apprentices to Richard and George + Chambers; Salmon Pavy,[319] apprentice to one Peerce; being + children no way able or fit for singing, nor by any the said + confederates endeavoured to be taught to sing, but by them, + the said confederates, abusively employed, as aforesaid, + only in plays and interludes.[320] + +[Footnote 316: _Ibid._, p. 234. Note that Evans is not to "continue" a +troupe there, as Fleay and Wallace believe, but to "erect" one.] + +[Footnote 317: Possibly Robinson and the "others" were merely +deputies.] + +[Footnote 318: Field became later famous both as an actor and +playwright. His portrait is preserved at Dulwich College.] + +[Footnote 319: Salathiel Pavy, whose excellent acting is celebrated in +Jonson's tender elegy, quoted in part below.] + +[Footnote 320: Star Chamber Proceedings, printed in full by Fleay, +_op. cit._, p. 127.] + +In spite of the obvious animosity inspiring Clifton's words, we get +from his complaint a clear notion of how Evans and Giles supplemented +the Children of the Chapel proper with actors. In a short time they +brought together at Blackfriars a remarkable troupe of boy-players, +who, with Jonson and Chapman as their poets, began to astonish London. +For, in spite of certain limitations, "the children" could act with a +charm and a grace that often made them more attractive than their +grown-up rivals. Middleton advises the London gallant "to call in at +the Blackfriars, where he should see a nest of boys able to ravish a +man."[321] Jonson gives eloquent testimony to the power of little +Salathiel Pavy to portray the character of old age: + + Years he numbered scarce thirteen + When Fates turned cruel, + Yet three filled zodiacs had he been + The stage's jewel; + And did act, what now we moan, + Old men so duly, + As, sooth, the Parcae thought him one, + He played so truly.[322] + +[Footnote 321: _Father Hubbard's Tales_ (ed. Bullen, VIII, 77).] + +[Footnote 322: Jonson, _Epigrams_, CXX, _An Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy, +a Child of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel_.] + +And Samuel Pepys records the effectiveness of a child-actor in the +rôle of women: "One Kinaston, a boy, acted the Duke's sister, but made +the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my life."[323] + +[Footnote 323: _Diary_, August 18, 1660.] + +Moreover, to expert acting these Boys of the Chapel Royal added the +charms of vocal and instrumental music, for which many of them had +been specially trained. The Duke of Stettin-Pomerania, who upon his +grand tour of the European countries in 1602 attended a play at +Blackfriars, bears eloquent testimony to the musical powers of the +children: "For a whole hour before the play begins, one listens to +charming [_köstliche_] instrumental music played on organs, lutes, +pandorins, mandolins, violins, and flutes; as, indeed, on this +occasion, a boy sang _cum voce tremula_ to the accompaniment of a +bass-viol, so delightfully [_lieblich_] that, if the Nuns at Milan did +not excel him, we had not heard his equal in our travels."[324] In +addition, the Children were provided with splendid apparel--though not +at the cost of the Queen, as Mr. Wallace contends.[325] Naturally they +became popular. On January 6, 1601, they were summoned to Court to +entertain Her Majesty--the first recorded performance of the Children +of the Chapel at Court since the year 1584, when Sir William More +closed the first Blackfriars. + +[Footnote 324: _The Diary of the Duke of Stettin-Pomerania_, printed +in _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ (1890). The diary +was written by the Duke's tutor, Gerschow, at the express command of +the Duke.] + +[Footnote 325: It is hard to believe Mr. Wallace's novel theory that +the Children of the Chapel were subsidized by Elizabeth, as presented +in his otherwise valuable _The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_. +Burbage and Heminges knew nothing of such a royal patronage at +Blackfriars (see Fleay, _op. cit._, p. 236), nor did Kirkham, the +Yeoman of the Revels (_ibid._, p. 248). Kirkham and his partners spent +£600 on apparel, etc., according to Kirkham's statement.] + +Perhaps the most interesting testimony to the success of the Chapel +Children in their new playhouse is that uttered by Shakespeare in +_Hamlet_ (1601), in which he speaks of the performances by the "little +eyases" as a "late innovation." The success of the "innovation" had +driven Shakespeare and his troupe of grown-up actors to close the +Globe and travel in the country, even though they had _Hamlet_ as an +attraction. The good-natured way in which Shakespeare treats the +situation is worthy of special observation: + + _Ham._ What players are they? + + _Ros._ Even those you were wont to take delight in, the + tragedians of the city.[326] + + _Ham._ How chances it they travel? their residence, both in + reputation and profit, was better both ways.[327] + + _Ros._ I think their inhibition comes by means of the late + innovation. + + _Ham._ Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was + in the city? are they so followed? + + _Ros._ No, indeed, they are not! + + _Ham._ How comes it? do they grow rusty? + + _Ros._ Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace; but + there is, sir, an aerie of children,[328] little eyases, + that cry out on the top of question, and are most + tyrannically clapped for 't. These are now the fashion, and + so berattle the "common stages"--so they call them--that + many wearing rapiers [i.e., gallants] are afraid of + goose-quills, and dare scarce come thither. + + _Ham._ What! are they children? who maintains 'em? how are + they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no longer than + they can sing? + +[Footnote 326: The Children were acting light comedies such as +_Cynthia's Revels_; the Lord Chamberlain's Men were acting _Hamlet_.] + +[Footnote 327: Shakespeare's troupe is known to have been traveling in +the spring of 1601.] + +[Footnote 328: Cf. Middleton's _Father Hubbard's Tales_, already +quoted, "a nest of boys." Possibly the idea was suggested by the fact +that the children were lodged and fed in the building.] + +The passage ends with the question from Hamlet: "Do the boys carry it +away?" which gives Rosencrantz an opportunity to pun on the sign of +the Globe Playhouse: "Ay, that they do, my lord; Hercules and his +load, too." + +Shortly after the great dramatist had penned these words, the +management of Blackfriars met with disaster. The cause, however, went +back to December 13, 1600, when Giles and Evans were gathering their +players. In their overweening confidence they made a stupid blunder in +"taking up" for their troupe the only son and heir of Henry Clifton, a +well-to-do gentleman of Norfolk, who had come to London for the +purpose of educating the boy. Clifton says in his complaint that +Giles, Evans, and their confederates, "well knowing that your +subject's said son had no manner of sight in song, nor skill in +music," on the 13th day of December, 1600, did "waylay the said Thomas +Clifton" as he was "walking quietly from your subject's said house +towards the said school," and "with great force and violence did seize +and surprise, and him with like force and violence did, to the great +terror and hurt of him, the said Thomas Clifton, haul, pull, drag, and +carry away to the said playhouse." As soon as the father learned of +this, he hurried to the playhouse and "made request to have his said +son released." But Giles and Evans "utterly and scornfully refused to +do" this. Whereupon Clifton threatened to complain to the Privy +Council. But Evans and Giles "in very scornful manner willed your said +subject to complain to whom he would." Clifton suggested that "it was +not fit that a gentleman of his sort should have his son and heir +(and that his only son) to be so basely used." Giles and Evans "most +arrogantly then and there answered that they had authority sufficient +so to take any nobleman's son in this land"; and further to irritate +the father, they immediately put into young Thomas's hand "a scroll of +paper, containing part of one of their said plays or interludes, and +him, the said Thomas Clifton, commanded to learn the same by heart," +with the admonition that "if he did not obey the said Evans, he should +be surely whipped."[329] + +[Footnote 329: The full complaint is printed by Fleay, _op. cit._, p. +127.] + +Clifton at once appealed to his friend, Sir John Fortescue, a member +of the Privy Council, at whose order young Thomas was released and +sent back to his studies. Apparently this ended the episode. But +Clifton, nourishing his animosity, began to investigate the management +of Blackfriars, and to collect evidence of similar abuses of the +Queen's commission, with the object of making complaint to the Star +Chamber. In October, 1601, Evans, it seems, learned of Clifton's +purpose, for on the 21st of that month he deeded all his property to +his son-in-law, Alexander Hawkins.[330] Clifton finally presented his +complaint to the Star Chamber on December 15, 1601,[331] but his +complaint was probably not acted on until early in 1602, for during +the Christmas holidays the Children were summoned as usual to present +their play before the Queen.[332] + +[Footnote 330: _Ibid._, pp. 244-45.] + +[Footnote 331: Wallace, _The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, +p. 84, note 4.] + +[Footnote 332: On December 29, 1601, Sir Dudley Carleton wrote to his +friend John Chamberlain: "The Queen dined this day privately at My +Lord Chamberlain's. I came even now from the Blackfriars, where I saw +her at the play with all her _candidæ auditrices_." From this it has +been generally assumed that Elizabeth visited the playhouse in +Blackfriars to see the Children act there; and Mr. Wallace, in his +_The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, pp. 26, 87, 95-97, lays +great emphasis upon it to show that the Queen was directly responsible +for establishing and managing the Children at Blackfriars. But the +assumption that the Queen attended a performance at the Blackfriars +Playhouse is, I think, unwarranted. The Lord Chamberlain at this time +was Lord Hunsdon, who lived "in the Blackfriars." No doubt on this +Christmas occasion he entertained the Queen with a great dinner, and +after the dinner with a play given, not in a playhouse, but in his +mansion. (Lord Cobham, who was formerly Lord Chamberlain, and who also +lived in Blackfriars, had similarly entertained the Queen with plays +"in Blackfriars"; cf. also The Malone Society's _Collections_, II, +52.) Furthermore, the actors on this occasion were probably not the +Children of the Chapel, as Mr. Wallace thinks, but Lord Hunsdon's own +troupe. Possibly one of Shakespeare's new plays (_Hamlet_?) was then +presented before the Queen for the first time.] + +Shortly after this, however, the Star Chamber passed on Clifton's +complaint. The decree itself is lost, but the following reference to +it is made in a subsequent lawsuit: "The said Evans ... was censured +by the right honorable Court of Star Chamber for his unorderly +carriage and behaviour in taking up of gentlemen's children against +their wills and to employ them for players, and for other misdemeanors +in the said Decree contained; and further that all assurances made to +the said Evans concerning the said house or plays or interludes +should be utterly void, and to be delivered up to be canceled."[333] +Doubtless the decree fell with equal force upon Giles and the others +connected with the enterprise, for after the Star Chamber decree Giles +and Robinson disappear from the management of the playhouse. Evans was +forbidden to have any connection with plays there; and for a time, no +doubt, the building was closed. + +[Footnote 333: Fleay, _op. cit._, p. 248.] + +Evans, however, still held the lease, and was under the necessity of +paying the rent as before. Then came forward Edward Kirkham, who, in +his official capacity as Yeoman of the Revels, had become acquainted +with the dramatic activities of the Children of the Chapel. He saw an +opportunity to take over the Blackfriars venture now that Evans and +probably Giles had been forbidden by the Star Chamber to have any +connection with plays in that building. Having associated with him +William Rastell, a merchant, and Thomas Kendall,[334] a haberdasher, +he made overtures to Evans, the owner of the lease. Evans, however, +was determined to retain a half-interest in the playhouse, and to +evade the order of the Star Chamber by using his son-in-law, Alexander +Hawkins, as his agent. Accordingly, on April 20, 1602, "Articles of +Agreement" were signed between Evans and Hawkins on the one part, and +Kirkham, Rastell, and Kendall on the other part, whereby the latter +were admitted to a half-interest in the playhouse and in the troupe of +child-actors. Kirkham, Rastell, and Kendall agreed to pay one-half of +the annual rent of £40,[335] to pay one-half of the repairs on the +building, and in addition to spend £400 on apparel and furnishings for +the troupe. Under this reorganization--with Evans as a secret +partner--the Children continued to act with their customary success. + +[Footnote 334: We find in Henslowe's _Diary_ a player named William +Kendall, but we do not know that he was related to Thomas.] + +[Footnote 335: The agreements remind one of the organization of the +Globe. It seems clear that Kirkham, Rastell, and Kendall held their +moiety in joint tenancy.] + +About a month later, however, Lord Hunsdon, the Lord Chamberlain, +whose house adjoined Blackfriars, seems to have inquired into the +affairs of the new organization.[336] What Kirkham told him led him to +order Evans off the premises. Evans informs us that he was "commanded +by his Lordship to avoid and leave the same; for fear of whose +displeasure, the complainant [Evans] was forced to leave the +country."[337] He felt it prudent to remain away from London "for a +long space and time"; yet he "lost nothing," for "he left the said +Alexander Hawkins to deal for him and to take such benefit of the said +house as should belong unto him in his absence."[338] + +[Footnote 336: Fleay, _op. cit._, pp. 211-13; 216; 220.] + +[Footnote 337: _Ibid._, p. 220.] + +[Footnote 338: _Ibid._, p. 217.] + +If we may judge from the enthusiastic account given by the Duke of +Stettin-Pomerania, who visited Blackfriars in the September +following, the Children were just as effective under Kirkham's +management as they had been under the management of Giles and Evans. +It is to be noted, however, that Elizabeth did not again invite the +Blackfriars troupe to the Court. + +The death of the Queen in 1603 led to the closing of all playhouses. +This was followed by a long attack of the plague, so that for many +months Blackfriars was closed, and "by reason thereof no such profit +and commodity was raised and made of and by the said playhouse as was +hoped for."[339] Evans actually "treated" with Richard Burbage "about +the surrendering and giving up the said lease," but Burbage declined +to consider the matter. + +[Footnote 339: Fleay, _op. cit._, p. 235.] + +Shortly after this the plague ceased, and acting, stimulated by King +James's patronage, was resumed with fervor. The Blackfriars Company +was reorganized under Edward Kirkham, Alexander Hawkins (acting for +Evans), Thomas Kendall, and Robert Payne: and on February 4, 1604, it +secured a royal patent to play under the title "The Children of the +Queen's Revels."[340] According to this patent, the poet Samuel +Daniel was specially appointed to license their plays: "Provided +always that no such plays or shows shall be presented before the said +Queen our wife by the said Children, or by them anywhere publicly +acted, but by the approbation and allowance of Samuel Daniel, whom her +pleasure is to appoint for that purpose." At this time, too, or not +long after, John Marston was allowed a share in the organization, and +thus was retained as one of its regular playwrights. + +[Footnote 340: For the patent, commonly misdated January 30, see The +Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 267. Mr. Wallace, in _The Century +Magazine_ (September, 1910, p. 747), says that the company secured its +patent "through the intercessions of the poet Samuel Daniel." It is +true that the Children of Her Majesty's Royal Chamber of Bristol +secured their patent in 1615 at the intercession of Daniel, but I know +of no evidence that he intervened in behalf of the Blackfriars +troupe.] + +The success of the new company is indicated by the fact that it was +summoned to present a play at Court in February, 1604, and again two +plays in January, 1605. Evans's activity in the management of the +troupe in spite of the order of the Star Chamber is evident from the +fact that the payment for the last two court performances was made +directly to him. + +In the spring of 1604 the company gave serious offense by acting +Samuel Daniel's _Philotas_, which was supposed to relate to the +unfortunate Earl of Essex; but the blame must have fallen largely on +Daniel, who not only wrote the play, but also licensed its +performance. He was summoned before the Privy Council to explain, and +seems to have fully proved his innocence. Shortly after this he +published the play with an apology affixed.[341] + +[Footnote 341: A letter from Daniel to the Earl of Devonshire +vindicating the play is printed in Grosart's _Daniel_, I, xxii.] + +The following year the Children gave much more serious offense by +acting _Eastward Hoe_, a comedy in which Marston, Chapman, and Jonson +collaborated. Not only did the play ridicule the Scots in general, and +King James's creation of innumerable knights in particular, but one of +the little actors was actually made, it seems, to mimic the royal +brogue: "I ken the man weel; he is one of my thirty pound Knights." +Marston escaped by timely flight, but Jonson and Chapman were arrested +and lodged in jail, and were for a time in some danger of having their +nostrils slit and their ears cropped. Both Chapman and Jonson asserted +that they were wholly innocent, and Chapman openly put the blame of +the offensive passages on Marston.[342] Marston, however, was beyond +the reach of the King's wrath, so His Majesty punished instead the men +in control of Blackfriars. It was discovered that the manager, +Kirkham, had presented the play without securing the Lord +Chamberlain's allowance. As a result, he and the others in charge of +the Children were prohibited from any further connection with the +playhouse. This doubtless explains the fact that Kirkham shortly after +appears as one of the managers of Paul's Boys.[343] It explains, also, +the following statement made by Evans in the course of one of the +later legal documents: "After the King's most excellent Majesty, upon +some misdemeanors committed in or about the plays there, _and +specially upon the defendant's_ [Kirkham's] _acts and doings there_, +had prohibited that no plays should be more used there," etc.[344] Not +only was Kirkham driven from the management of the troupe and the +playhouse closed for a time, but the Children were denied the Queen's +patronage. No longer were they allowed to use the high-sounding title +"The Children of the Queen's Majesty's Revels"; instead, we find them +described merely as "The Children of the Revels," or as "The Children +of Blackfriars."[345] + +[Footnote 342: See Dobell, "Newly Discovered Documents," in _The +Athenæum_, March 30, 1901.] + +[Footnote 343: Cunningham, _Revels_, p. xxxviii.] + +[Footnote 344: Fleay, _op. cit._, p. 221.] + +[Footnote 345: Except carelessly, as when sometimes called "The +Children of the Chapel."] + +For a time, no doubt, affairs at the playhouse were at a standstill. +Evans again sought to surrender his lease to Burbage, but without +success.[346] Marston, having escaped the wrath of the King by flight, +decided to end his career as a playwright and turn country parson. It +was shortly after this, in all probability, that he sold his share in +the Blackfriars organization to one Robert Keysar, a goldsmith of +London, for the sum of £100.[347] + +[Footnote 346: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +82.] + +[Footnote 347: _Ibid._, pp. 81, 86, 89, 93.] + +Keysar, it seems, undertook to reopen the playhouse, and to continue +the Children there at his own expense.[348] From the proprietors he +rented the playhouse, the stock of apparel, the furnishings, and +playbooks. This, I take it, explains the puzzling statement made by +Kirkham some years later: + + This repliant [Kirkham] and his said partners [Rastell and + Kendall] have had and received the sum of one hundred pounds + per annum for their part and moiety in the premises without + any manner of charges whatsoever [i.e., during Kirkham's + management of the troupe prior to 1605].[349] And after that + this replyant and his said partners had received the + foresaid profits [i.e., after Kirkham and his partners had + to give up the management of the Children in 1605], the said + Children, which the said Evans in his answer affirmeth to be + the Queen's Children [i.e., they are no longer the Queen's + Children, for after 1605 they had been deprived of the + Queen's patronage; but Kirkham was in error, for Evans with + legal precision had referred to the company as 'The Queen's + Majesty's Children of the Revels (for so it was often + called)'] were masters themselves [i.e., their own + managers], and this complainant and his said partners + received of them, and of one Keysar who was interest with + them, above the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds per + annum only for the use of the said great hall, without all + manner of charges, as this replyant will make it manifest to + this honorable court.[350] + +[Footnote 348: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. 80 +ff.] + +[Footnote 349: That is, £33, more or less, a share. We have +documentary evidence to show that a share in the Red Bull produced +£30, and a share in the Globe £30 to £40 per annum.] + +[Footnote 350: Fleay, _op. cit._, p. 249. The yearly rental must have +included not only the playhouse and its equipment, but the playbooks, +apparel, properties, etc., belonging to the Children. These were on +July 26, 1608, divided up among the sharers, Kirkham, Rastell, +Kendall, and Evans.] + +Under Keysar's management the Blackfriars troupe continued to act as +the Children of the Revels. But, unfortunately, they had not learned +wisdom from their recent experience, and in the very following year we +find them again in serious trouble. John Day's _Isle of Guls_, acted +in February, 1606, gave great offense to the Court. Sir Edward Hoby, +in a letter to Sir Thomas Edwards,[351] writes: "At this time was much +speech of a play in the Blackfriars, where, in the _Isle of Guls_, +from the highest to the lowest, all men's parts were acted of two +diverse nations. As I understand, sundry were committed to +Bridewell."[352] + +[Footnote 351: Birch, _Court and Times of James the First_, I, 60; +quoted by E.K. Chambers, in _Modern Language Review_, IV, 158.] + +[Footnote 352: Possibly an aftermath of the King's displeasure is to +be found in the cancellation of Giles's long-standing commission to +take up boys for the Chapel, and the issuance of a new commission to +him, November 7, 1606, with the distinct proviso that "none of the +said choristers or children of the Chapel so to be taken by force of +this commission shall be used or employed as commedians or stage +players." (The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 357.)] + +The Children, however, were soon allowed to resume playing, and they +continued for a time without mishap. But in the early spring of 1608 +they committed the most serious offense of all by acting Chapman's +_Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron_. The French +Ambassador took umbrage at the uncomplimentary representation of the +contemporary French Court, and had an order made forbidding them to +act the play. But the Children, "voyant toute la Cour dehors, ne +laisserent de la faire, et non seulement cela, mais y introduiserent +la Reine et Madame de Verneuil, traitant celle-ci fort mal de +paroles, et lui donnant un soufflet." Whereupon the French Ambassador +made special complaint to Salisbury, who ordered the arrest of the +author and the actors. "Toutefois il ne s'en trouva que trois, qui +aussi-tôt furent menés à la prison où ils sont encore; mais le +principal, qui est le compositeur, échapa."[353] The Ambassador +observes also that a few days before the Children of the Revels had +given offense by a play on King James: "Un jour ou deux avant, ils +avoient dépêché leur Roi, sa mine d'Ecosse, et tous ses Favoris d'une +étrange sorte; car aprés lui avoir fait dépiter le Ciel sur le vol +d'un oisseau, et fait battre un Gentilhomme pour avoir rompu ses +chiens, ils le dépeignoient ivre pour le moins une fois le jour."[354] +As a result of these two offenses, coming as a climax to a long series +of such offenses, the King was "extrêmement irrité contre ces +marauds-là," and gave order for their immediate suppression. This +marked the end of the child-actors at Blackfriars. + +[Footnote 353: From the report of the French Ambassador, M. de la +Boderie, to M. de Puisieux at Paris, _Ambassades de Monsieur de la +Boderie en Angleterre_, 1750, III, 196; quoted by E.K. Chambers in +_Modern Language Review_, IV, 158.] + +[Footnote 354: The name of this play is not known; probably the King +was satirized in a comic scene foisted upon an otherwise innocent +piece. Mr. Wallace, in _The Century Magazine_ (September, 1910, p. +747), says: "From a document I have found in France the Blackfriars +boys now satirized the King's efforts to raise money, made local jokes +on the recent discovery of his silver mine in Scotland, brought him on +the stage as drunk, and showed such to be his condition at least three +times a day, caricatured him in his favorite pastime of hawking, and +represented him as swearing and cursing at a gentleman for losing a +bird." I do not know what document Mr. Wallace has found; the French +document quoted above has been known for a long time.] + +Naturally Kirkham, Rastell, and Kendall, since there was "no profit +made of the said house, but a continual rent of forty pounds to be +paid for the same," became sick of their bargain with Evans. An +additional reason for their wishing to withdraw finally from the +enterprise was the rapid increase of the plague, which about July 25 +closed all playhouses. So Kirkham, "at or about the 26 of July, 1608, +caused the apparrels, properties, and goods belonging to the +copartners, sharers, and masters" to be divided. Kirkham and his +associates took away their portions, and "quit the place," the +one-time manager using to Evans some unkind words: "said he would deal +no more with it, 'for,' quod he, 'it is a base thing,' or used words +to such or very like effect."[355] Evans, thus deserted by Kirkham, +Rastell, and Kendall, regarded the organization of the Blackfriars as +dissolved; he "delivered up their commission which he had under the +Great Seal authorizing them to play, and discharged diverse of the +partners and poets." + +[Footnote 355: Fleay, _op. cit._, pp. 221-22.] + +Robert Keysar, however, the old manager, laid plans to keep the +Children together, and continue them as a troupe after the cessation +of the plague. For a while, we are told, he maintained them at his own +expense, "in hope to have enjoyed his said bargain ... upon the +ceasing of the general sickness."[356] And he expected, by virtue of +the share he had purchased from John Marston, to be able to use the +Blackfriars Playhouse for his purpose. + +[Footnote 356: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, pp. +83, 97.] + +In the meanwhile Evans began negotiations with Burbage for the +surrender of the lease: "By reason the said premises lay then and had +long lyen void and without use for plays, whereby the same became not +only burthensome and unprofitable unto the said Evans, but also ran +far into decay for want of reparations ... the said Evans began to +treat with the said Richard Burbage about a surrender of the said +Evans his said lease."[357] This time Burbage listened to the +proposal, for he and his fellow-actors at the Globe "considered that +the house would be fit for themselves." So in August, 1608, he agreed +to take over the building for the use of the King's Men. + +[Footnote 357: _Ibid._, p. 87.] + +Even after Evans's surrender of the lease, Keysar, it seems, made an +effort to keep the Children together. On the following Christmas, +1608-09, we find a record of payment to him for performances at Court, +by "The Children of Blackfriars." But soon after this the troupe must +have been disbanded. Keysar says that they were "enforced to be +dispersed and turned away to the abundant hurt of the said young +men";[358] and the Burbages and Heminges declare that the children +"were dispersed and driven each of them to provide for himself by +reason that the plays ceasing in the City of London, either through +sickness, or for some other cause, he, the said complainant [Keysar], +was no longer able to maintain them together."[359] In the autumn of +1609, however, Keysar assembled the Children again, reorganized them +with the assistance of Philip Rosseter, and placed them in Whitefriars +Playhouse, recently left vacant by the disruption of the Children of +His Majesty's Revels. Their subsequent history will be found related +in the chapter dealing with that theatre. + +[Footnote 358: _Ibid._, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 359: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +97.] + +When in August, 1608, Richard Burbage secured from Evans the surrender +of the Blackfriars lease, he at once proceeded to organize from the +Globe Company a syndicate to operate the building as a playhouse. He +admitted to partnership in the new enterprise all of the then sharers +in the Globe except Witter and Nichols, outsiders who had secured +their interest through marriage with the heirs of Pope and Phillips, +and who, therefore, were not entitled to any consideration. In +addition, he admitted Henry Evans, doubtless in fulfillment of a +condition in the surrender of the lease. The syndicate thus formed was +made up of seven equal sharers, as follows: Richard Burbage, Cuthbert +Burbage, Henry Evans, William Shakespeare, John Heminges, Henry +Condell, and William Slye. These sharers leased the building from +Richard Burbage for a period of twenty-one years,[360] at the old +rental of £40 per annum, each binding himself to pay annually the sum +of £5 14_s._ 4_d._[361] The method of distributing the profits between +the sharers (known as "housekeepers") and the actors (known as the +"company") was to be the same as that practiced at the Globe.[362] + +[Footnote 360: Twenty-one years was a very common term for a lease to +run; but in this case, no doubt, it was intended that the lease of +Blackfriars should last as long as the lease of the Globe, which then +had exactly twenty-one years to run.] + +[Footnote 361: Shortly after this agreement had been made William Slye +died, and his executrix delivered up his share to Richard Burbage "to +be cancelled and made void." See the Heminges-Osteler documents +printed by Mr. Wallace in the London _Times_, October 4, 1909. In 1611 +Burbage let William Osteler have this share.] + +[Footnote 362: The method is clearly explained in the documents of +1635 printed by Halliwell-Phillipps, in _Outlines_, I, 312.] + +Soon after this organization was completed, the King's Men moved from +the Globe to the Blackfriars. They did not, of course, intend to +abandon the Globe. Their plan was to use the Blackfriars as a "winter +home," and the Globe as a "summer house."[363] Malone observed from +the Herbert Manuscript that "the King's Company usually began to play +at the Globe in the month of May";[364] although he failed to state at +what time in the autumn they usually moved to the Blackfriars, the +evidence points to the first of November. + +[Footnote 363: See Wright, _Historia Histrionica_, Hazlitt's Dodsley, +XV, 406.] + +[Footnote 364: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 71.] + +Such a plan had many advantages. For one thing, it would prevent the +pecuniary losses often caused by a severe winter. In the _Poetaster_ +(1601), Jonson makes Histrio, representing the Globe Players, say: "O, +it will get us a huge deal of money, and we have need on't, for this +winter has made us all poorer than so many starved snakes; nobody +comes at us."[365] This could not be said of the King's Men after they +moved to the Blackfriars. Edward Kirkham, a man experienced in +theatrical finances, offered to prove to the court in 1612 that the +King's Men "got, and as yet doth, more in one winter in the said great +hall by a thousand pounds than they were used to get on the +Bankside."[366] + +[Footnote 365: Act III, scene iv. Cf. also Webster's Preface to _The +White Devil_, acted at the Red Bull about 1610.] + +[Footnote 366: Fleay, _A Chronicle History of the London Stage_, p. +248.] + +Kirkham's testimony as to the popularity of the King's Men in their +winter home is borne out by a petition to the city authorities made by +"the constables and other officers and inhabitants of Blackfriars" in +January, 1619. They declared that to the playhouse "there is daily +such resort of people, and such multitudes of coaches (whereof many +are hackney-coaches, bringing people of all sorts), that sometimes all +our streets cannot contain them, but that they clog up Ludgate also, +in such sort that both they endanger the one the other, break down +stalls, throw down men's goods from their shops, and the inhabitants +there cannot come to their houses, nor bring in their necessary +provisions of beer, wood, coal, or hay, nor the tradesmen or +shopkeepers utter their wares, nor the passenger go to the common +water stairs without danger of their lives and limbs." "These +inconveniences" were said to last "every day in the winter time from +one or two of the clock till six at night."[367] + +[Footnote 367: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 91.] + +As a result of this petition the London Common Council ordered, +January 21, 1619, that "the said playhouses be suppressed, and that +the players shall from thenceforth forbear and desist from playing in +that house."[368] But the players had at Court many influential +friends, and these apparently came to their rescue. The order of the +Common Council was not put into effect; and so far as we know the only +result of this agitation was that King James on March 27 issued to his +actors a new patent specifically giving them--described as his +"well-beloved servants"--the right henceforth to play unmolested in +Blackfriars. The new clause in the patent runs: "as well within their +two their now usual houses called the Globe, within our County of +Surrey, and their private house situate in the precinct of the +Blackfriars, within our city of London."[369] At the accession of King +Charles I, the patent was renewed, June 24, 1625, with the same clause +regarding the use of Blackfriars.[370] + +[Footnote 368: Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 311.] + +[Footnote 369: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 281.] + +[Footnote 370: _Ibid._, I, 282.] + +In 1631, however, the agitation was renewed, this time in the form of +a petition from the churchwardens and constables of the precinct of +Blackfriars to William Laud, then Bishop of London. The document gives +such eloquent testimony to the popularity of the playhouse that I have +inserted it below in full: + + To the Right Honorable and Right Reverend Father in God, + William, Lord Bishop of London, one of His Majesty's + Honorable Privy Council. The humble petition of the + churchwardens and constables of Blackfriars, on the behalf + of the whole Parish, showing that by reason of a playhouse, + exceedingly frequented, in the precinct of the said + Blackfriars, the inhabitants there suffer many grievances + upon the inconveniences hereunto annexed, and many other. + + May it therefore please your Lordship to take the said + grievances into your honorable consideration for the + redressing thereof. And for the reviving the order, which + hath been heretofore made by the Lords of the Council, and + the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen, for the removal of + them. And they shall, according to their duties, ever pray + for your Lordship. + + Reasons and Inconveniences Inducing the Inhabitants of + Blackfriars, London, to Become Humble Suitors to Your + Lordship for Removing the Playhouse in the Said Blackfriars: + + 1. The shopkeepers in divers places suffer much, being + hindered by the great recourse to the plays (especially of + coaches) from selling their commodities, and having their + wares many times broken and beaten off their stalls. + + 2. The recourse of coaches is many times so great that the + inhabitants cannot in an afternoon take in any provision of + beer, coals, wood, or hay, the streets being known to be so + exceeding straight and narrow. + + 3. The passage through Ludgate to the water [i.e., Water + Lane] is many times stopped up, people in their ordinary + going much endangered, quarrels and bloodshed many times + occasioned, and many disorderly people towards night + gathered thither, under pretense of attending and waiting + for those at the plays. + + 4. If there should happen any misfortune of fire, there is + not likely any present order could possibly be taken, for + the disorder and number of the coaches, since there could be + no speedy passage made for quenching the fire, to the + endangering of the parish and city. + + 5. Christenings and burials, which usually are in the + afternoon, are many times disturbed, and persons endangered + in that part, which is the greatest part of the parish. + + 6. Persons of honor and quality that dwell in the parish are + restrained by the number of coaches from going out, or + coming home in seasonable time, to the prejudice of their + occasions. And some persons of honor have left, and others + have refused houses for this very inconvenience, to the + prejudice and loss of the parish. + + 7. The Lords of the Council in former times have by order + directed that there shall be but two playhouses tolerated, + and those _without the city_, the one at the Bankside, the + other near Golding Lane (which these players still have and + use all summer), which the Lords did signify by their + letters to the Lord Mayor; and in performance thereof the + Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen did give order that + they should forbear to play any longer there, which the + players promised to the Lord Chief Justice of the Common + Pleas (while he was Recorder of London) to observe, + entreating only a little time to provide themselves + elsewhere.[371] + +[Footnote 371: Collier, _History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), +I, 455.] + +Bishop Laud endorsed the petition with his own hand "To the Coun. +Table," and in all probability he submitted it to the consideration of +the Privy Council. If so, the Council took no action. + +But in 1633, as a result of further complaints about the crowding of +coaches, the Privy Council appointed a committee to estimate the value +of the Blackfriars Theatre and "the buildings thereunto belonging," +with the idea of removing the playhouse and paying the owners +therefor. The committee reported that "the players demanded £21,000. +The commissioners [Sir Henry Spiller, Sir William Beecher, and +Laurence Whitaker] valued it at near £3000. The Parishioners offered +towards the removing of them £100."[372] Obviously the plan of removal +was not feasible, if indeed the Privy Council seriously contemplated +such action. The only result of this second agitation was the +issuance on November 20 of special instructions to coachmen: "If any +persons, men or women, of what condition soever, repair to the +aforesaid playhouse in coach, as soon as they are gone out of their +coaches, the coachmen shall depart thence and not return till the end +of the play."[373] Garrard, in a letter to the Lord Deputy dated +January 9, 1633, says: "Here hath been an order of the Lords of the +Council hung up in a table near Paul's and the Blackfriars to command +all that resort to the playhouse there to send away their coaches, and +to disperse abroad in Paul's Churchyard, Carter Lane, the Conduit in +Fleet Street, and other places, and not to return to fetch their +company, but they must trot afoot to find their coaches. 'Twas kept +very strictly for two or three weeks, but now I think it is disordered +again."[374] The truth is that certain distinguished patrons of the +theatre did not care "to trot afoot to find their coaches," and so +made complaint at Court. As a result it was ordered, at a sitting of +the Council, December 29, 1633 (the King being present): "Upon +information this day given to the Board of the discommodity that +diverse persons of great quality, especially Ladies and Gentlewomen, +did receive in going to the playhouse of Blackfriars by reason that no +coaches may stand ... the Board ... think fit to explain the said +order in such manner that as many coaches as may stand within the +Blackfriars Gate may enter and stay there."[375] + +[Footnote 372: The _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1633_, p. 293. +The report of the commissioners in full, as printed by Collier in _New +Facts_ (1835), p. 27, and again in _History of English Dramatic +Poetry_ (1879), I, 477, is not above suspicion, although Mr. E.K. +Chambers is inclined to think it genuine. According to this document +the actors estimated the property to be worth £21,990, but the +committee thought that the actors might be persuaded to accept £2900 +13_s._ 4_d._] + +[Footnote 373: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 99; 387.] + +[Footnote 374: _The Earl of Strafforde's Letters_ (Dublin, 1740), I, +175.] + +[Footnote 375: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 388.] + +All this agitation about coaches implies a fashionable and wealthy +patronage of the Blackfriars. An interesting glimpse of high society +at the theatre is given in a letter written by Garrard, January 25, +1636: "A little pique happened betwixt the Duke of Lenox and the Lord +Chamberlain about a box at a new play in the Blackfriars, of which the +Duke had got the key, which, if it had come to be debated betwixt +them, as it was once intended, some heat or perhaps other +inconvenience might have happened."[376] The Queen herself also +sometimes went thither. Herbert records, without any comment, her +presence there on the 13 of May, 1634.[377] It has been generally +assumed that she attended a regular afternoon performance; but this, I +am sure, was not the case. The Queen engaged the entire building for +the private entertainment of herself and her specially invited guests, +and the performance was at night. In a bill presented by the King's +Men for plays acted before the members of the royal family during the +year 1636 occurs the entry: "The 5th of May, at the Blackfryers, for +the Queene and the Prince Elector ... _Alfonso_." Again, in a similar +bill for the year 1638 (see the bill on page 404) is the entry: "At +the Blackfryers, the 23 of Aprill, for the Queene ... _The +Unfortunate Lovers_." The fact that the actors did not record the loss +of their "day" at their house, and made their charge accordingly, +shows that the plays were given at night and did not interfere with +the usual afternoon performances before the public. + +[Footnote 376: _The Earl of Strafforde's Letters_ (Dublin, 1740), I, +511.] + +[Footnote 377: The Herbert MS., Malone, _Variorum_, III, 167.] + +The King's Men continued to occupy the Blackfriars as their winter +home until the closing of the theatres in 1642. Thereafter the +building must have stood empty for a number of years. In 1653 Sir +Aston Cokaine, in a poem prefixed to Richard Brome's _Plays_, looked +forward prophetically to the happy day when + + Black, and White Friars too, shall flourish again. + +But the prophecy was not to be fulfilled; for although Whitefriars +(i.e., Salisbury Court) did flourish as a Restoration playhouse, the +more famous Blackfriars had ceased to exist before acting was allowed +again. The manuscript note in the Phillipps copy of Stow's _Annals_ +(1631) informs us that "the Blackfriars players' playhouse in +Blackfriars, London, which had stood many years, was pulled down to +the ground on Monday the 6 day of August, 1655, and tenements built in +the room."[378] + +[Footnote 378: See _The Academy_, 1882, XXII, 314. Exactly the same +fate had overtaken the Globe ten years earlier.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE GLOBE + + +As related more fully in the chapter on "The Theatre," when Cuthbert +and Richard Burbage discovered that Gyles Alleyn not only refused to +renew the lease for the land on which their playhouse stood, but was +actually planning to seize the building and devote it to his private +uses, they took immediate steps to thwart him. And in doing so they +evolved a new and admirable scheme of theatrical management. They +planned to bring together into a syndicate or stock-company some of +the best actors of the day, and allow these actors to share in the +ownership of the building. Hitherto playhouses had been erected merely +as pecuniary investments by profit-seeking business men,--Burbage,[379] +Brayne, Lanman, Henslowe, Cholmley, Langley,--and had been conducted +in the interests of the proprietors rather than of the actors.[380] As +a result, these proprietors had long reaped an unduly rich harvest +from the efforts of the players, taking all or a large share of the +income from the galleries. The new scheme was designed to remedy these +faults. + +[Footnote 379: That even James Burbage is to be put in this class +cannot be disputed.] + +[Footnote 380: Cuthbert Burbage in 1635 says: "The players that lived +in those first times had only the profits arising from the doors, but +now the players receive all the comings-in at the doors to themselves +and half the galleries from the housekeepers." (Halliwell-Phillipps, +_Outlines_, I, 317.)] + +[Illustration: RICHARD BURBAGE + +(Reproduced by permission from a painting in the Dulwich Picture +Gallery; photograph by Emery Walker, Ltd.)] + +For participation in this scheme the Burbages selected the following +men: William Shakespeare, not only a successful actor, but a poet who +had already made his reputation as a writer of plays, and who gave +promise of greater attainments; John Heminges, a good actor and an +exceptionally shrewd man of business, who until his death managed the +pecuniary affairs of the company with distinguished success; Augustine +Phillips and Thomas Pope, both ranked with the best actors of the +day;[381] and William Kempe, the greatest comedian since Tarleton, +described in 1600 as "a player in interludes, and partly the Queen's +Majesty's jester." When to this group we add Richard Burbage himself, +the Roscius of his age, we have an organization of business, +histrionic, and poetic ability that could not be surpassed. It was +carefully planned, and it deserved the remarkable success which it +attained. The superiority of the Globe Company over all others was +acknowledged in the days of James and Charles, and to-day stands out +as one of the most impressive facts in the history of the early drama. + +[Footnote 381: See, for example, Thomas Heywood's _Apology for Actors_ +(1612). In enumerating the greatest actors of England he says: +"Gabriel, Singer, Pope, Phillips, Sly--all the right I can do them is +but this, that though they be dead, their deserts yet live in the +remembrance of many."] + +According to the original plan there were to be ten shares in the new +enterprise, the Burbage brothers holding between them one-half the +stock, or two and a half shares each, and the five actors holding the +other half, or one share each. All the expenses of leasing a site, +erecting a building, and subsequently operating the building as a +playhouse, and likewise all the profits to accrue therefrom, were to +be divided among the sharers according to their several holdings. + +This organization, it should be understood, merely concerned the +ownership of the building. Its members stood in the relation of +landlords to the players, and were known by the technical name of +"housekeepers." Wholly distinct was the organization of the players, +known as the "company." The company, too, was divided into shares for +the purpose of distributing its profits. The "housekeepers," in return +for providing the building, received one-half of the income from the +galleries; the company, for entertaining the public, received the +other half of the income from the galleries, plus the takings at the +doors. Those actors who were also "housekeepers" shared twice in the +profits of the playhouse; and it was a part of the plan of the +"housekeepers" to admit actors to be sharers in the building as soon +as they attained eminence, or otherwise made their permanent +connection with the playhouse desirable. Thus the two organizations, +though entirely distinct, were interlocking. + +Such a scheme had many advantages. In the first place, it prevented +the company from shifting from one playhouse to another, as was +frequently the case with other troupes. In the second place, it +guaranteed both the excellence and the permanency of the company. Too +often good companies were dissolved by the desertion of a few +important members; as every student of the drama knows, the constant +reorganization of troupes is one of the most exasperating features of +Elizabethan theatrical history. In the third place, the plan, like all +profit-sharing schemes, tended to elicit from each member of the +organization his best powers. The opportunity offered to a young actor +ultimately to be admitted as a sharer in the ownership of the building +was a constant source of inspiration,[382] and the power to admit at +any time a new sharer enabled the company to recruit from other +troupes brilliant actors when such appeared; as, for example, William +Osteler and Nathaniel Field, who had attained fame with the Children +at Blackfriars and elsewhere. Finally, the plan brought the actors +together in a close bond of friendship that lasted for life. Heminges +was loved and trusted by them all. Shakespeare was admired and +revered; three members of the troupe seem to have named their sons +for him. Indeed, there is nothing more inspiring in a close study of +all the documents relating to the Globe than the mutual loyalty and +devotion of the original sharers. The publication of Shakespeare's +plays by Heminges and Condell is merely one out of many expressions of +this splendid comradeship. + +[Footnote 382: "The petitioners have a long time with much patience +expected to be admitted sharers in the playhouses of the Globe and the +Blackfriars, whereby they might reap some better fruit of their labour +than hitherto they have done, and be encouraged to proceed therein +with cheerfulness." (The Young Players' Petition, 1635, printed by +Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 312.)] + +The plan of organization having been evolved, and the original members +having been selected, the first question presenting itself was, Where +should the new playhouse be erected? Burbage, Heminges, and the +rest--including Shakespeare--probably gave the question much thought. +Their experience in Holywell had not been pleasant; the precinct of +Blackfriars, they now well realized, was out of the question; so they +turned their eyes to the Bankside. That section had recently become +the theatrical centre of London. There were situated the Rose, the +Swan, and the Bear Garden, and thither each day thousands of persons +flocked in search of entertainment. Clearly the Bankside was best +suited to their purpose. Near the fine old church of St. Mary Overies, +and not far from the Rose and the Bear Garden, they found a plot of +land that met their approval. Its owner, Sir Nicholas Brend, was +willing to lease it for a long term of years, and at a very reasonable +rate. They made a verbal contract with Brend, according to which the +lease was to begin on December 25, 1598. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE + +Shakespeare seems to have been equally with Burbage a leader in erecting +the Globe. In 1599 the building is officially described as "vna domo de +novo edificata ... in occupacione Willielmi Shakespeare et aliorum."] + +Three days later, on December 28, Richard and Cuthbert Burbage, having +secured the services of the carpenter, Peter Street, and his workmen, +tore down the old Theatre and transported the timber and other +materials to this new site across the river; and shortly after the +Globe began to lift itself above the houses of the Bankside--a +handsome theatre surpassing anything then known to London playgoers. + +In the meantime the lawyers had drawn up the lease, and this was +formally signed on February 21, 1599. The company had arranged a +"tripartite lease," the three parties being Sir Nicholas Brend, the +Burbage brothers, and the five actors.[383] To the Burbages Sir +Nicholas leased one-half of the property at a yearly rental of £7 +5_s._; and to the five actors, he leased the other half, at the same +rate. Thus the total rent paid for the land was £14 10_s._ The lease +was to run for a period of thirty-one years. + +[Footnote 383: Exact information about the lease and the organization +of the company is derived from the Heminges-Osteler and the +Witter-Heminges documents, both discovered and printed by Mr. Wallace. +And with these one should compare the article by the same author in +the London _Times_, April 30, May 1, 1914.] + +The five actors, not satisfied with tying up the property in the +"tripartite lease," proceeded at once to arrange their holdings in the +form of a "joint tenancy." This they accomplished by the following +device: + + William Shakespeare, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope, John + Heminges, and William Kempe did shortly after grant and + assign all the said moiety of and in the said gardens and + grounds unto William Levison and Thomas Savage, who + regranted and reassigned to every one of them severally a + fifth part of the said moiety of the said gardens and + grounds.[384] + +[Footnote 384: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +53. Shakespeare's leadership in the erection of the Globe is indicated +in several documents; for example, the post-mortem inquisition of the +estate of Sir Thomas Brend, May 16, 1599.] + +The object of the "joint tenancy" was to prevent any member of the +organization from disposing of his share to an outsider. Legally at +the death of a member his share passed into the possession of the +other members, so that the last survivor would receive the whole. In +reality, however, the members used the "joint tenancy" merely to +control the disposition of the shares, and they always allowed the +heirs-at-law to receive the share of a deceased member. + +The wisdom of this arrangement was quickly shown, for "about the time +of the building of said playhouse and galleries, or shortly after," +William Kempe decided to withdraw from the enterprise. He had to +dispose of his share to the other parties in the "joint tenancy," +Shakespeare, Heminges, Phillips, and Pope, who at once divided it +equally among themselves, and again went through the process necessary +to place that share in "joint tenancy." After the retirement of Kempe, +the organization, it will be observed, consisted of six men, and the +shares were eight in number, owned as follows: Richard Burbage and +Cuthbert Burbage, each two shares, Shakespeare, Heminges, Phillips, +and Pope, each one share. + +[Illustration: A PLAN OF THE GLOBE PROPERTY + +Based on the lease and on other documents and references to the +property.] + +The tract of land on which the new playhouse was to be erected is +minutely described in the lease[385] as follows: + + All that parcel of ground just recently before enclosed and + made into four separate garden plots, recently in the tenure + and occupation of Thomas Burt and Isbrand Morris, diers, and + Lactantius Roper, salter, citizen of London, containing in + length from east to west two hundred and twenty feet in + assize or thereabouts, lying and adjoining upon a way or + lane there on one [the south] side, and abutting upon a + piece of land called The Park[386] upon the north, and upon + a garden then or recently in the tenure or occupation of one + John Cornishe toward the west, and upon another garden plot + then or recently in the tenure or occupation of one John + Knowles toward the east, with all the houses, buildings, + structures, ways, easements, commodities, and appurtenances + thereunto belonging.... And also all that parcel of land + just recently before enclosed and made into three separate + garden plots, whereof two of the same [were] recently in the + tenure or occupation of John Roberts, carpenter, and another + recently in the occupation of one Thomas Ditcher, citizen + and merchant tailor of London ... containing in length from + east to west by estimation one hundred fifty and six feet of + assize or thereabouts, and in breadth from the north to the + south one hundred feet of assize by estimation or + thereabouts, lying and adjoining upon the other side of the + way or lane aforesaid, and abutting upon a garden plot there + then or recently just before in the occupation of William + Sellers toward the east, and upon one other garden plot + there, then or recently just before, in the tenure of John + Burgram, sadler, toward the west, and upon a lane there + called Maiden Lane towards the south, with all the + houses.... + +[Footnote 385: The lease is incorporated in the Heminges-Osteler +documents, which Mr. Wallace has translated from the Anglicized Latin. +The original Latin text may be found in Martin, _The Site of the Globe +Playhouse of Shakespeare_, pp. 161-62. Since, however, that text is +faultily reproduced, I quote Mr. Wallace's translation.] + +[Footnote 386: What is meant by "The Park" is a matter of dispute. +Some contend that the Park of the Bishop of Winchester is meant; it +may be, however, that some small estate is referred to. In support of +the latter contention, one might cite Collier's _Memoirs of Edward +Alleyn_, p. 91. Part of the document printed by Collier may have been +tampered with, but there is no reason to suspect the two references to +"The Parke."] + +This document clearly states that the Globe property was situated to +the north of Maiden Lane, and consequently near the river. Virtually +all the contemporary maps of London show the Globe as so situated. Mr. +Wallace has produced some very specific evidence to support the +document cited above, and he claims to have additional evidence as yet +unpublished. On the other hand, there is at least some evidence to +indicate that the Globe was situated to the south of Maiden Lane.[387] + +[Footnote 387: For the discussions of the subject, see the +Bibliography.] + +For the purposes of this book it is sufficient to know that the Globe +was "situate in Maiden Lane"; whether on the north side or the south +side is of less importance. More important is the nature of the site. +Strype, in his edition of Stow's _Survey_, gives this description: +"Maiden Lane, a long straggling place, with ditches on each side, the +passage to the houses being over little bridges, with little garden +plots before them, especially on the north side, which is best both +for houses and inhabitants." In Maiden Lane, near one of these ditches +or "sewers," the Globe was erected; and like the other houses there +situated, it was approached over a bridge.[388] In February, 1606, +the Sewer Commission ordered that "the owners of the playhouse called +the Globe, in Maid Lane, shall before the 20 day of April next pull up +and take clean out of the sewer the props or posts which stand under +their bridge on the north side of Maid Lane."[389] The ground on which +the building was erected was marshy, and the foundations were made by +driving piles deep into the soil. Ben Jonson tersely writes:[390] + + The Globe, the glory of the Bank.... Flanked with a ditch, + and forced out of a marish. + +[Footnote 388: This was probably not the only means of approach.] + +[Footnote 389: Wallace, in the London _Times_, April 30, 1914, p. 10; +_Notes and Queries_ (XI series), XI, 448.] + +[Footnote 390: _An Execration upon Vulcan._] + +Into the construction of the new playhouse went the timber and other +materials secured from the old Theatre; but much new material, of +course, had to be added. It is a mistake to believe that the Globe was +merely the old "Theatre" newly set up on the Bankside, and perhaps +strengthened here and there. When it was completed, it was regarded as +the last word in theatrical architecture. Dekker seems to have had the +Globe in mind in the following passage: "How wonderfully is the world +altered! and no marvel, for it has lyein sick almost five thousand +years: so that it is no more like the old _Theater du munde_, than old +Paris Garden is like the King's garden at Paris. What an excellent +workman therefore were he, that could cast the _Globe_ of it into a +new mould."[391] In 1600 Henslowe and Alleyn used the Globe as +the model of their new and splendid Fortune. They sought, indeed, to +show some originality by making their playhouse square instead of +round; but this, the one instance in which they departed from the +Globe, was a mistake; and when the Fortune was rebuilt in 1623 it was +made circular in shape. + +[Footnote 391: _The Guls Hornbook_, published in 1609, but written +earlier.] + +[Illustration: THE SITES OF THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE GLOBE + +Marked by the author on a plan of the Bankside printed in Strype's +_Survey of London_, 1720.] + +[Illustration: THE BEAR GARDEN, THE ROSE, AND THE FIRST GLOBE + +Compare this view of the Bankside with the preceding map. (From an +equestrian portrait of King James I, by Delaram. The city is +represented as it was when James came to the throne in 1603.)] + +A few quotations from the Fortune contract will throw some light upon +the Globe: + + With such-like stairs, conveyances, and divisions [to the + galleries], without and within, as are made and contrived in + and to the late-erected playhouse ... called the Globe. + + And the said stage to be in all other proportions contrived + and fashioned like unto the stage of the said playhouse + called the Globe. + + And the said house, and other things before mentioned to be + made and done, to be in all other contrivations, + conveyances, fashions, thing, and things, effected, finished + and done according to the manner and fashion of the said + house called the Globe, saving only that all the principal + and main posts ... shall be square and wrought pilasterwise, + with carved proportions called satyrs to be placed and set + on the top of every of the said posts. + +What kind of columns were used in the Globe and how they were +ornamented, we do not know, but presumably they were round. Jonson, in +_Every Man Out of His Humour_, presented on the occasion of, or +shortly after, the opening of the Globe in 1599, says of one of his +characters: "A well-timbered fellow! he would have made a good column +an he had been thought on when the house was abuilding."[392] That +Jonson thought well of the new playhouse is revealed in several +places; he speaks with some enthusiasm of "this fair-fitted +Globe,"[393] and in the passage already quoted he calls it "the glory +of the Bank." + +[Footnote 392: _Jonson's Works_, ed. Cunningham, I, 71.] + +[Footnote 393: In the first quarto edition of _Every Man Out of His +Humour_.] + +In shape the building was unquestionably polygonal or circular, most +probably polygonal on the outside and circular within. Mr. E.K. +Chambers thinks it possible that it was square;[394] but there is +abundant evidence to show that it was not. The very name, Globe, would +hardly be suitable to a square building; Jonson describes the interior +as a "round";[395] the ballad on the burning of the house refers to +the roof as being "round as a tailor's clew"; and the New Globe, which +certainly was not square, was erected on the old foundation.[396] The +frame, we know, was of timber, and the roof of thatch. In front of +the main door was suspended a sign of Hercules bearing the globe upon +his shoulders,[397] under which was written, says Malone, the old +motto, _Totus mundus agit histrionem_.[398] + +[Footnote 394: _The Stage of the Globe_, p. 356.] + +[Footnote 395: Induction to _Every Man Out of His Humour_ (ed. +Cunningham, I, 66).] + +[Footnote 396: I have not space to discuss the question further. The +foreign traveler who visited a Bankside theatre, probably the Globe, +on July 3, 1600, described it as "Theatrum ad morem antiquorum +Romanorum constructum ex lignis" (London _Times_, April 11, 1914). +Thomas Heywood, in his _Apology for Actors_ (1612), describing the +Roman playhouses, says: "After these they composed others, but +differing in form from the theatre or amphitheatre, and every such was +called _Circus_, the frame _globe_-like and merely round." The +evidence is cumulative, and almost inexhaustible.] + +[Footnote 397: See _Hamlet_, II, ii, 378.] + +[Footnote 398: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 67.] + +The earliest representation of the building is probably to be found in +the Delaram _View of London_ (opposite page 246), set in the +background of an engraving of King James on horseback. This view, +which presents the city as it was in 1603 when James came to the +throne, shows the Bear Garden at the left, polygonal in shape, the +Rose in the centre, circular in shape, and the Globe at the right, +polygonal in shape. It is again represented in Visscher's magnificent +_View of London_, which, though printed in 1616, presents the city as +it was several years earlier (see page 253). The Merian _View_ of 1638 +(opposite page 256) is copied from Visscher, and the _View_ in +Howell's _Londinopolis_ (1657) is merely a slavish copy of Merian; +these two views, therefore, so far as the Globe is concerned, have no +special value.[399] + +[Footnote 399: The circular playhouse in Delaram's _View_ is commonly +accepted as a representation of the First Globe, but without reason. +The evidence which establishes the identity of the several playhouses +pictured in the various maps of the Bankside comes from a careful +study of the Bear Garden, the Hope, the Rose, the First Globe, the +Second Globe, and their sites, together with a study of all the maps +and views of London, considered separately and in relation to one +another. Such evidence is too complicated to be given here in full, +but it is quite conclusive.] + +[Illustration: THE FIRST GLOBE + +From an old drawing in an extra-illustrated copy of Pennant's _London_ +now in the British Museum. Apparently the drawing is based on Visscher's +_View_.] + +The cost of the finished building is not exactly known. Mr. Wallace +observes that it was erected "at an original cost, according to a +later statement, of £600, but upon better evidence approximately +£400."[400] I am not aware of the "better evidence" to which Mr. +Wallace refers,[401] nor do I know whether the estimate of £400 +includes the timber and materials of the old Theatre furnished by the +Burbages. If the Theatre of 1576 cost nearly £700, and the second +Globe cost £1400, the sum of £400 seems too small. + +[Footnote 400: The London _Times_, October 2, 1909.] + +[Footnote 401: Possibly he gives this evidence in his _The Children of +the Chapel at Blackfriars_, p. 29, note 4.] + +Nor do we know exactly when the Globe was finished and opened to the +public. On May 16, 1599, a post-mortem inquisition of the estate of +Sir Thomas Brend, father of Sir Nicholas, was taken. Among his other +properties in Southwark was listed the Globe playhouse, described as +"vna domo de novo edificata ... in occupacione Willielmi Shakespeare +et aliorum."[402] From this statement Mr. Wallace infers that the +Globe was finished and opened before May 16, 1599. Though this is +possible, the words used seem hardly to warrant the conclusion. +However, we may feel sure that the actors, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, +had moved into the building before the end of the summer. + +[Footnote 402: Wallace, in the London _Times_, May 1, 1914.] + +Almost at once they rose to the position of leadership in the drama, +for both Shakespeare and Burbage were now at the height of their +powers. It is true that in 1601 the popularity of the Children at +Blackfriars, and the subsequent "War of the Theatres" interfered +somewhat with their success; but the interference was temporary, and +from this time on until the closing of the playhouses in 1642, the +supremacy of the Globe players was never really challenged. When James +came to the throne, he recognized this supremacy by taking them under +his royal patronage. On May 19, 1603, he issued to them a patent to +play as the King's Men[403]--an honor that was as well deserved as it +was signal. + +[Footnote 403: Printed in The Malone Society _Collections_, I, 264.] + +In the autumn of 1608 the proprietors of the Globe acquired the +Blackfriars Theatre for the use of their company during the severe +winter months. This splendid building, situated in the very heart of +the city, was entirely roofed in, and could be comfortably heated in +cold weather. Henceforth the open-air Globe was used only during the +pleasant season of the year; that is, according to the evidence of the +Herbert Manuscript, from about the first of May until the first of +November. + +On June 29, 1613, the Globe caught fire during the performance of a +play, and was burned to the ground--the first disaster of the sort +recorded in English theatrical history. The event aroused great +interest in London, and as a result we have numerous accounts of the +catastrophe supplying us with full details. We learn that on a warm +"sunne-shine" afternoon the large building was "filled with +people"--among whom were Ben Jonson, John Taylor (the Water-Poet), and +Sir Henry Wotton--to witness a new play by William Shakespeare and +John Fletcher, called _All is True_, or, as we now know it, _Henry +VIII_, produced with unusual magnificence. Upon the entrance of the +King in the fourth scene of the first act, two cannon were discharged +in a royal salute. One of the cannon hurled a bit of its wadding upon +the roof and set fire to the thatch; but persons in the audience were +so interested in the play that for a time they paid no attention to +the fire overhead. As a result they were soon fleeing for their lives; +and within "one short hour" nothing was left of the "stately" Globe. + +I quote below some of the more interesting contemporary accounts of +this notable event. Howes, the chronicler, thus records the fact in +his continuation of Stow's _Annals_: + + Upon St. Peter's Day last, the playhouse or theatre called + the Globe, upon the Bankside, near London, by negligent + discharge of a peal of ordnance, close to the south side + thereof, the thatch took fire, and the wind suddenly + dispersed the flames round about, and in a very short space + the whole building was quite consumed; and no man hurt: the + house being filled with people to behold the play, _viz._ of + Henry the Eight.[404] + +[Footnote 404: Howes's continuation of Stow's _Annals_ (1631), p. +1003.] + +Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter to a friend, gives the following gossipy +account: + + Now to let matters of state sleep. I will entertain you at + the present with what happened this week at the Bankside. + The King's Players had a new play, called _All is True_, + representing some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the + Eighth, which was set forth with many extraordinary + circumstances of pomp and majesty, even to the matting of + the stage; the Knights of the Order with their Georges and + Garter, the guards with their embroidered coats, and the + like--sufficient in truth within awhile to make greatness + very familiar, if not ridiculous. Now King Henry, making a + masque at the Cardinal Wolsey's house, and certain cannons + being shot off at his entry, some of the paper or other + stuff wherewith one of them was stopped, did light on the + thatch, where being thought at first but an idle smoke, and + their eyes more attentive to the show, it kindled inwardly, + and ran round like a train, consuming within less than an + hour the whole house to the very ground. This was the fatal + period of that virtuous fabrick; wherein yet nothing did + perish but wood and straw, and a few forsaken cloaks; only + one man had his breeches set on fire, that would perhaps + have broiled him, if he had not, by the benefit of a + provident wit, put it out with bottle ale.[405] + +[Footnote 405: _Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_ (ed. 1672), p. 425.] + +John Chamberlain, writing to Sir Ralph Winwood, July 8, 1613, refers +to the accident thus: + + The burning of the Globe or playhouse on the Bankside on St. + Peter's Day cannot escape you; which fell out by a peal of + chambers (that I know not upon what occasion were to be used + in the play), the tampin or stopple of one of them lighting + in the thatch that cover'd the house, burn'd it down to the + ground in less than two hours, with a dwelling house + adjoining; and it was a great marvel and fair grace of God + that the people had so little harm, having but two narrow + doors to get out.[406] + +[Footnote 406: Ralph Winwood, _Memorials of Affairs of State_ (ed. +1725), III, 469.] + +[Illustration: THE FIRST GLOBE + +From Visscher's _View of London_, published in 1616, but representing +the city as it was several years earlier.] + +The Reverend Thomas Lorkin writes from London to Sir Thomas Puckering +under the date of June 30, 1613: + + No longer since than yesterday, while Burbage's company were + acting at the Globe the play of _Henry VIII_, and there + shooting off certain chambers in way of triumph, the fire + catched and fastened upon the thatch of the house, and there + burned so furiously, as it consumed the whole house, all in + less than two hours, the people having enough to do to save + themselves.[407] + +[Footnote 407: Printed in Birch, _The Court and Times of James the +First_ (1849), I, 251.] + +A contemporary ballad[408] gives a vivid and amusing account of the +disaster: + + _A Sonnet upon the Pitiful Burning of the Globe + Playhouse in London_ + + Now sit thee down, Melpomene, + Wrapt in a sea-coal robe, + And tell the dolefull tragedy + That late was played at Globe; + For no man that can sing and say + Was scared on St. Peter's day. + _Oh sorrow, pitiful sorrow, and yet all this is true._[409] + + All you that please to understand, + Come listen to my story; + To see Death with his raking brand + Mongst such an auditory; + Regarding neither Cardinall's might, + Nor yet the rugged face of Henry the eight. + _Oh sorrow_, etc. + + This fearful fire began above, + A wonder strange and _true_, + And to the stage-house did remove, + As round as taylor's clew, + And burnt down both beam and snagg, + And did not spare the silken flagg. + _Oh sorrow_, etc. + + Out run the Knights, out run the lords, + And there was great ado; + Some lost their hats, and some their swords; + Then out run Burbage, too. + The reprobates, though drunk on Monday, + Prayd for the fool and Henry Condy. + _Oh sorrow_, etc. + + The periwigs and drum-heads fry + Like to a butter firkin; + A woeful burning did betide + To many a good buff jerkin. + Then with swolen eyes, like drunken Flemminges + Distressed stood old stuttering Heminges. + _Oh sorrow_, etc. + +[Footnote 408: Printed by Haslewood in _The Gentleman's Magazine_ +(1816), from an old manuscript volume of poems. Printed also by +Halliwell-Phillipps (_Outlines_, I, 310) "from a manuscript of the +early part of the seventeenth century of unquestionable authenticity." +Perhaps it is the same as the "Doleful Ballad" entered in the +Stationers' Register, 1613. I follow Halliwell-Phillipps's text, but +omit the last three stanzas.] + +[Footnote 409: Punning on the title _All is True_.] + +Ben Jonson, who saw the disaster, left us the following brief account: + + The Globe, the glory of the Bank, + Which, though it were the fort of the whole parish, + Flanked with a ditch, and forced out of a marish, + I saw with two poor chambers taken in, + And razed ere thought could urge this might have been! + See the world's ruins! nothing but the piles + Left--and wit since to cover it with tiles.[410] + +[Footnote 410: _An Execration upon Vulcan._] + +The players were not seriously inconvenienced, for they could shift to +their other house, the Blackfriars, in the city. The owners of the +building, however, suffered a not inconsiderable pecuniary loss. For a +time they hesitated about rebuilding, one cause of their hesitation +being the short term that their lease of the ground had to run. +Possibly a second cause was a doubt as to the ownership of the ground, +arising from certain transactions recorded below. In October, 1600, +Sir Nicholas Brend had been forced to transfer the Globe estate, with +other adjacent property, to Sir Matthew Brown and John Collett as +security for a debt of £2500; and a few days after he died. Since the +son and heir, Matthew Brend, was a child less than two years old, an +uncle, Sir John Bodley, was appointed trustee. In 1608 Bodley, by +unfair means, it seems, purchased from Collett the Globe property, and +thus became the landlord of the actors. But young Matthew Brend was +still under age, and Bodley's title to the property was not regarded +as above suspicion.[411] + +[Footnote 411: These interesting facts were revealed by Mr. Wallace in +the London _Times_, April 30 and May 1, 1914.] + +[Illustration: MERIAN'S VIEW OF LONDON + +A section from Merian's _View_, showing the Bankside playhouses. This +_View_, printed in Ludvig Gottfried's _Neuwe Archontologia Cosmica_ +(Frankfurt am Mayn, 1638), represents London as it was about the year +1612, and was mainly based on Visscher's _View_, with some additions +from other sources.] + +Four months after the burning of the Globe, on October 26, 1613, Sir +John Bodley granted the proprietors of the building a renewal of the +lease with an extension of the term until December 25, 1635.[412] But +a lease from Bodley alone, in view of the facts just indicated, was +not deemed sufficient; so on February 14, 1614, Heminges, the two +Burbages, and Condell visited the country-seat of the Brends, and +secured the signature of the young Matthew Brend, and of his mother as +guardian, to a lease of the Globe site with a term ending on December +25, 1644. + +[Footnote 412: Did he increase the amount of the rental to £25 per +annum? The rent paid for the Blackfriars was £40 per annum; in 1635 +the young actors state that the housekeepers paid for both playhouses +"not above £65."] + +Protected by these two leases, the Globe sharers felt secure; and they +went forward apace with the erection of their new playhouse. They made +an assessment of "£50 or £60" upon each share.[413] Since at this time +there were fourteen shares, the amount thus raised was £700 or £840. +This would probably be enough to erect a building as large and as well +equipped as the old Globe. But the proprietors determined upon a +larger and a very much handsomer building. As Howes, the continuer of +Stow's _Annals_, writes, "it was new builded in far fairer manner than +before"; or as John Taylor, the Water-Poet, puts it: + + As gold is better that's in fire tried, + So is the Bankside _Globe_ that late was burn'd.[414] + +[Footnote 413: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +60.] + +[Footnote 414: _Works_ (1630), p. 31; The Spenser Society reprint, p. +515.] + +Naturally the cost of rebuilding exceeded the original estimate. +Heminges tells us that on one share, or one-fourteenth, he was +required to pay for "the re-edifying about the sum of £120."[415] +This would indicate a total cost of "about" £1680. Heminges should +know, for he was the business manager of the organization; and his +truthfulness cannot be questioned. Since, however, the adjective +"about," especially when multiplied by fourteen, leaves a generous +margin of uncertainty, it is gratifying to have a specific statement +from one of the sharers in 1635 that the owners had "been at the +charge of £1400 in building of the said house upon the burning down of +the former."[416] Heminges tells us that "he found that the +re-edifying of the said playhouse would be a very great charge," and +that he so "doubted what benefit would arise thereby" that he actually +gave away half of one share "to Henry Condell, _gratis_."[417] But his +fears were unfounded. We learn from Witter that after the rebuilding +of the Globe the "yearly value" of a share was greater "by much" than +it had been before.[418] + +[Footnote 415: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +61.] + +[Footnote 416: Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 316. This evidence +seems to me unimpeachable. I should add, however, that Mr. Wallace +considers the estimate "excessive," and says that he has "other +contemporary documents showing the cost was far less than £1400." (The +London _Times_, October 2, 1909.)] + +[Footnote 417: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +61. There is, I think, no truth in the statement made by the +inaccurate annotator of the Phillipps copy of Stow's _Annals_, that +the Globe was built "at the great charge of King James and many +noblemen and others." (See _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314.) +The Witter-Heminges documents sufficiently disprove that. We may well +believe, however, that the King and his noblemen were interested in +the new building, and encouraged the actors in many ways.] + +[Footnote 418: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +70.] + +The New Globe, like its predecessor, was built of timber,[419] and on +the same site--indeed the carpenters made use of the old foundation, +which seems not to have been seriously injured. In a "return" of 1634, +preserved at St. Saviour's, we read: "The Globe playhouse, near Maid +Lane, built by the company of players, with a dwelling house thereto +adjoining, built with timber, about 20 years past, upon an old +foundation."[420] In spite of the use made of the old foundation, the +new structure was unquestionably larger than the First Globe; Marmion, +in the Prologue to _Holland's Leaguer_, acted at Salisbury Court in +1634, speaks of "the vastness of the Globe," and Shirley, in the +Prologue to _Rosania_, applies the adjective "vast" to the building. +Moreover, the builders had "the wit," as Jonson tells us, "to cover it +with tiles." John Taylor, the Water-Poet, writes: + + For where before it had a thatched hide, + Now to a stately theatre is turn'd. + +[Footnote 419: I see no reason to accept Mr. Wallace's suggestion +(_The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, p. 34, note 7) that "it +seems questionable, but not unlikely, that the timber framework was +brick-veneered and plastered over." Mr. Wallace mistakenly accepts +Wilkinson's view of the second Fortune as genuine.] + +[Footnote 420: Rendle, _Bankside_, p. xvii.] + +The Second Globe is represented, but unsatisfactorily, in Hollar's +_View of London_, dated 1647 (opposite page 260). It should be noted +that the artist was in banishment from 1643 (at which time the Globe +was still standing) until 1652, and hence, in drawing certain +buildings, especially those not reproduced in earlier views of London, +he may have had to rely upon his memory. This would explain the +general vagueness of his representation of the Globe. + +The construction was not hurried, for the players had Blackfriars as a +home. Under normal conditions they did not move from the city to the +Bankside until some time in May; and shortly after that date, in the +early summer of 1614, the New Globe was ready for them. John +Chamberlain writes to Mrs. Alice Carleton on June 30, 1614: + + I have not seen your sister Williams since I came to town, + though I have been there twice. The first time she was at a + neighbor's house at cards, and the next she was gone to the + New Globe to a play. Indeed, I hear much speech of this new + playhouse, which is said to be the fairest that ever was in + England.[421] + +[Footnote 421: Birch, _The Court and Times of James the First_, I, +329; quoted by Wallace, _The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_, +p. 35.] + +[Illustration: THE SECOND GLOBE + +From Hollar's _View of London_ (1647).] + +With this New Globe Shakespeare had little to do, for his career as a +playwright had been run, and probably he had already retired from +acting. Time, indeed, was beginning to thin out the little band of +friends who had initiated and made famous the Globe organization. +Thomas Pope had died in 1603, Augustine Phillips in 1605, William Slye +in 1608, and, just a few months after the opening of the new +playhouse, William Osteler, who had been admitted to the +partnership in 1611. He had begun his career as a child-actor at +Blackfriars, had later joined the King's Men, and had married +Heminges's daughter Thomasine. + +A more serious blow to the company, however, fell in April, 1616, when +Shakespeare himself died. To the world he had been "the applause, +delight, the wonder" of the stage; but to the members of the Globe +Company he had been for many years a "friend and fellow." Only Burbage +and Heminges (described in 1614 as "old Heminges"), now remained of +the original venturers. And Burbage passed away on March 13, 1619: + + He's gone! and with him what a world are dead + Which he reviv'd--to be revived so + No more. Young Hamlet, old Hieronimo, + Kind Lear, the grieved Moor, and more beside + That lived in him have now for ever died![422] + +[Footnote 422: From a folio MS. in the Huth Library, printed by J.P. +Collier in _The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), I, 411, +and by various others.] + +Many elegies in a similar vein were written celebrating his wonderful +powers as an actor; yet the tribute that perhaps affects us most deals +with him merely as a man. The Earl of Pembroke, writing to the +Ambassador to Germany, gives the court news about the mighty ones of +the kingdom: "My Lord of Lenox made a great supper to the French +Ambassador this night here, and even now all the company are at a +play; which I, being tender-hearted, could not endure to see so soon +after the loss of my old acquaintance Burbage."[423] + +[Footnote 423: Printed by Mrs. Stopes, _Burbage and Shakespeare's +Stage_, p. 117, with many other interesting references to the great +actor.] + +[Illustration: THE TRADITIONAL SITE OF THE GLOBE + +From Wilkinson's _Theatrum Illustrata_ (1825). This site is still +advocated by some scholars. Compare page 245.] + +In 1623 Heminges and Condell, with great "care and paine," collected +and published the plays of Shakespeare, "onely to keep the memory of +so worthy a Friend and Fellow alive"; and shortly after, they too +died, Condell in 1627 and Heminges in 1630. + +After the passing of this group of men, whose names are so familiar to +us, the history of the playhouse seems less important, and may be +chronicled briefly. + +When young Matthew Brend came of age he recovered possession of the +Globe property by a decree of the Court of Wards. Apparently he +accepted the lease executed by his uncle and guardian, Bodley, by +which the actors were to remain in possession of the Globe until +December 25, 1635; but in 1633 he sought to cancel the lease he +himself had executed as a minor, by which the actors were to remain in +possession until 1644. His purpose in thus seeking to gain possession +of the Globe was to lease it to other actors at a material increase in +his profits.[424] Naturally the owners of the Globe were alarmed, and +they brought suit in the Court of Requests. In 1635, one of the +sharers, John Shanks, declares that he "is without any hope to renew" +the lease; and he refers thus to the suit against Brend: "When your +suppliant purchased his parts [in 1634] he had no certainty thereof +more than for one year in the Globe, and there was a chargeable suit +then pending in the Court of Requests between Sir Mathew Brend, +Knight, and the lessees of the Globe and their assigns, for the adding +of nine years to their lease in consideration that their predecessors +had formerly been at the charge of £1400 in building of the said +house."[425] The lessees ultimately won their contention, and thus +secured the right to occupy the Globe until December 25, 1644--a term +which, as it happened, was quite long enough, for the Puritans closed +all playhouses in 1642. + +[Footnote 424: Wallace, "Shakespeare and the Globe," in the London +_Times_, April 30 and May 1, 1914.] + +[Footnote 425: The Petition of the Young Actors, printed by +Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines_, I, 312. Mrs. Stopes, in _Burbage and +Shakespeare's Stage_, p. 129, refers to a record of the suit mentioned +by Shanks, dated February 6, 1634.] + +What disposition, if any, the sharers made of the Globe between 1642 +and 1644 we do not know. But before the lease expired, it seems, Brend +demolished the playhouse and erected tenements on its site. In the +manuscript notes to the Phillipps copy of Stow's _Annals_, we find the +statement that the Globe was "pulled down to the ground by Sir Mathew +Brend, on Monday the 15 of April, 1644, to make tenements in the room +of it";[426] and the statement is verified by a mortgage, executed in +1706, between Elizabeth, the surviving daughter and heir of Thomas +Brend, and one William James, citizen of London. The mortgage concerns +"all those messuages or tenements ... most of which ... were erected +and built where the late playhouse called the Globe stood, and upon +the ground thereunto belonging."[427] + +[Footnote 426: Printed in _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314. +Should we read the date as 1644/5?] + +[Footnote 427: William Martin, _The Site of the Globe_, p. 171.] + +After this the history of the property becomes obscure. Mrs. Thrale +(later Mrs. Piozzi), the friend of Samuel Johnson, whose residence was +near by in Deadman's Place, thought that she saw certain "remains of +the Globe" discovered by workmen in the employ of her husband:[428] +"For a long time, then,--or I thought it such,--my fate was bound up +with the old Globe Theatre, upon the Bankside, Southwark; the alley it +had occupied having been purchased and [the tenements] thrown down by +Mr. Thrale to make an opening before the windows of our +dwelling-house. When it lay desolate in a black heap of rubbish, my +mother one day in a joke called it the Ruins of Palmyra; and after +that they had laid it down in a grass-plot Palmyra was the name it +went by.... But there were really curious remains of the old Globe +Playhouse, which though hexagonal in form without, was round within." +In spite of serious difficulties in this narrative it is possible that +the workmen, in digging the ground preparatory to laying out the +garden, uncovered the foundation of the Globe, which, it will be +recalled, was formed of piles driven deep into the soil, and so well +made that it resisted the fire of 1613.[429] + +[Footnote 428: Printed in _The Builder_, March 26, 1910, from the +Conway MSS. in Mrs. Thrale's handwriting.] + +[Footnote 429: For later discoveries of supposed Globe relics, all +very doubtful, see the London _Times_, October 8, 1909; George +Hubbard, _The Site of the Globe Theatre_; and William Martin, _The +Site of the Globe_, p. 201.] + +At the present time the site of the Globe is covered by the extensive +brewery of Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Company. Upon one of the +walls of the brewery, on the south side of Park Street, which was +formerly Maiden Lane, has been placed a bronze memorial tablet[430] +showing in relief the Bankside, with what is intended to be the Globe +Playhouse conspicuously displayed in the foreground. This is a +circular building designed after the circular playhouse in the +Speed-Hondius _View of London_, and represents, as I have tried to +show, not the Globe, but the Rose. At the left side of the tablet is +a bust of the poet modeled after the Droeshout portrait. At the right +is the simple inscription: + + HERE STOOD THE GLOBE PLAYHOUSE OF SHAKESPEARE + +[Footnote 430: The tablet was designed by Dr. William Martin and +executed by Professor Lanteri. For photographs of it and of the place +in which it is erected, see _The London Illustrated News_, October 9, +1909, CXXXV, 500.] + +Yet it is very doubtful whether the Globe really stood there. Mr. +Wallace has produced good evidence to show that the building was on +the north side of Park Street near the river; and in the course of the +present study I have found that site generally confirmed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FORTUNE + + +The erection of the Globe on the Bankside within a few hundred yards +of the Rose was hardly gratifying to the Admiral's Men. Not only did +it put them in close competition with the excellent Burbage-Shakespeare +organization, but it caused their playhouse (now nearly a quarter of a +century old, and said to be in a state of "dangerous decay") to suffer +in comparison with the new and far handsomer Globe, "the glory of the +Bank." Accordingly, before the Globe had been in operation much more +than half a year, Henslowe and Alleyn decided to move to another +section of London, and to erect there a playhouse that should surpass +the Globe both in size and in magnificence. To the authorities, +however, they gave as reasons for abandoning the Rose, first, "the +dangerous decay" of the building, and secondly, "for that the same +standeth very noisome for resort of people in the winter time." + +The new playhouse was undertaken by Henslowe and Alleyn jointly, +although the exact arrangement between them is not now clear. Alleyn +seems to have advanced the money and to have held the titles of +ownership; but on April 4, 1601, he leased to Henslowe a moiety (or +one-half interest) in the playhouse and other properties connected +with it for a period of twenty-four years at an annual rental of £8--a +sum far below the real value of the moiety.[431] + +[Footnote 431: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 25; Wallace, _Three London +Theatres_, p. 53. Later, Alleyn rented to the actors the playhouse +alone for £200 per annum. In the document, Alleyn _v._ William +Henslowe, published by Mr. Wallace in _Three London Theatres_, p. 52, +it is revealed that this annual rental of £8 was canceled by Alleyn's +rental of a house from Henslowe on the Bankside; hence no actual +payments by Henslowe appear in the Henslowe-Alleyn papers.] + +Whatever the details of the arrangement between the two partners, the +main outlines of their procedure are clear. On December 22, 1599, +Alleyn purchased for £240 a thirty-three-year lease[432] of a plot of +ground situated to the north of the city, in the Parish of St. Giles +without Cripplegate. This plot of ground, we are told, stood "very +tolerable, near unto the Fields, and so far distant and remote from +any person or place of account as that none can be annoyed +thereby";[433] and yet, as the Earl of Nottingham wrote, it was "very +convenient for the ease of people."[434] + +[Footnote 432: Later, by a series of negotiations ending in 1610, +Alleyn secured the freehold of the property. The total cost to him was +£800. See Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, pp. 14, 17, 108.] + +[Footnote 433: _Ibid._, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 434: _Ibid._, p. 49; cf. p. 51.] + +The property thus acquired lay between Golding Lane and Whitecross +Street, two parallel thoroughfares running north and south. There were +tenements on the edge of the property facing Whitecross Street, +tenements on the edge facing Golding Lane, and an open space between. +Alleyn and Henslowe planned to erect their new playhouse in this open +space "between Whitecross Street and Golding Lane," and to make "a way +leading to it" from Golding Lane. The ground set aside for the +playhouse is described as "containing in length from east to west one +hundred twenty and seven feet and a half, a little more or less, and +in breadth, from north to south, one hundred twenty and nine feet, a +little more or less."[435] + +[Footnote 435: Collier, _The Alleyn Papers_, p. 98. For a slightly +different measurement of the plot see Collier, _Memoirs of Edward +Alleyn_, p. 167.] + +The lease of this property having been consummated on December 22, +1599, on January 8, 1600, Henslowe and Alleyn signed a contract with +the carpenter, Peter Street (who had recently gained valuable +experience in building the Globe), to erect the new playhouse. The +contract called for the completion of the building by July 25, 1600, +provided, however, the workmen were "not by any authority restrained." + +The latter clause may indicate that Peter Street anticipated +difficulties. If so, he was not mistaken, for when early in January +his workmen began to assemble material for the erection of the +building, the authorities, especially those of the Parish of St. +Giles, promptly interfered. Alleyn thereupon appealed to the patron of +the troupe, the Earl of Nottingham, the Lord Admiral. On January 12, +1600, Nottingham issued a warrant to the officers of the county "to +permit and suffer my said servant [Edward Alleyn] to proceed in the +effecting and furnishing of the said new house, without any your let +or molestation toward him or any of his workmen."[436] This warrant, +however, seems not to have prevented the authorities of St. Giles from +continuing their restraint. Alleyn was then forced to play his trump +card--through his great patron to secure from the Privy Council itself +a warrant for the construction of the building. First, however, by +offering "to give a very liberal portion of money weekly" towards the +relief of "the poor in the parish of St. Giles," he persuaded many of +the inhabitants to sign a document addressed to the Privy Council, in +which they not only gave their full consent to the erection of the +playhouse, but actually urged "that the same might proceed."[437] This +document he placed in the hands of Nottingham to use in influencing +the Council. The effort was successful. On April 8 the Council issued +a warrant "to the Justices of the Peace of the County of Middlesex, +especially of St. Giles without Cripplegate, and to all others whom it +shall concern," that they should permit Henslowe and Alleyn "to +proceed in the effecting and finishing of the same new house."[438] + +[Footnote 436: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 437: _Ibid._, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 438: _Ibid._, p. 51.] + +[Illustration: THE SITE OF THE FORTUNE PLAYHOUSE + +The site of the Fortune is marked by Playhouse Yard, connecting Golden +Lane and Whitecross Street. (From Ogilby and Morgan's _Map of London_, +1677.)] + +This warrant, of course, put an end to all interference by local +authorities. But as the playhouse reared itself high above the walls +of the city to the north, the Puritans were aroused to action. They +made this the occasion for a most violent attack on actors and +theatres in general, and on the Fortune in particular. With this +attack the city authorities, for reasons of their own, heartily +sympathized, but they had no jurisdiction over the Parish of St. +Giles, or over the other localities in which playhouses were situated. +Since the Privy Council had specially authorized the erection of the +Fortune, the Lord Mayor shifted the attack to that body, and himself +dispatched an urgent request to the Lords for reformation. In response +to all this agitation the Lords of the Privy Council on June 22, 1600, +issued the following order: + + Whereas divers complaints have heretofore been made unto the + Lords and other of Her Majesty's Privy Council of the + manifold abuses and disorders that have grown and do + continue by occasion of many houses erected and employed in + and about London for common stage-plays; and now very lately + by reason of some complaint exhibited by sundry persons + against the building of the like house in or near Golding + Lane ... the Lords and the rest of Her Majesty's Privy + Council with one and full consent have ordered in manner and + form as follows. First, that there shall be about the city + two houses, and no more, allowed to serve for the use of the + common stage-plays; of the which houses, one [the Globe] + shall be in Surrey, in that place which is commonly called + the Bankside or thereabouts, and the other [the Fortune] in + Middlesex. Secondly, ... it is likewise ordered that the two + several companies of players assigned unto the two houses + allowed may play each of them in their several houses twice + a week and no oftener; and especially that they shall + refrain to play on the Sabbath day ... and that they shall + forbear altogether in the time of Lent. + +The first part of this order, limiting the playhouses and companies to +two, was merely a repetition of the order of 1598.[439] It meant that +the Lords of the Privy Council formally licensed the Admiral's and the +Lord Chamberlain's Companies to play in London (of course the Lords +might, when they saw fit, license other companies for specific +periods). The second part of the order, limiting the number of +performances, was more serious, for no troupe could afford to act only +twice a week. The order if carried out would mean the ruin of the +Fortune and the Globe Companies. But it was not carried out. The +actors, as we learn from Henslowe's _Diary_, did not restrict +themselves to two plays a week. Why, then, did the Lords issue this +order, and why was it not put into effect? A study of the clever way +in which Alleyn, Nottingham, and the Privy Council overcame the +opposition of the puritanical officers of St. Giles who were +interfering with the erection of the Fortune will suggest the +explanation. The Lords were making a shrewd move to quiet the noisy +enemies of the drama. They did not intend that the Admiral's and the +Chamberlain's Men should be driven out of existence; they were merely +meeting fanaticism with craft. + +[Footnote 439: See page 174.] + +Alleyn and Henslowe must have understood this,--possibly they learned +it directly from their patron Nottingham,--for they proceeded with the +erection of their expensive building. The work, however, had been so +seriously delayed by the restraints of the local authorities that the +foundations were not completed until May 8.[440] On that day +carpenters were brought from Windsor, and set to the task of erecting +the frame. Since the materials had been accumulating on the site since +January 17, the work of erection must have proceeded rapidly. The +daily progress of this work is marked in Henslowe's _Diary_ by the +dinners of Henslowe with the contractor, Peter Street. On August 8, +these dinners ceased, so that on that date, or shortly after, we may +assume, the building proper was finished.[441] + +[Footnote 440: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 10.] + +[Footnote 441: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 158-59.] + +For erecting the building Street received £440. But this did not +include the painting of the woodwork (which, if we may judge from De +Witt's description of the Swan, must have been costly), or the +equipment of the stage. We learn from Alleyn's memoranda that the +final cost of the playhouse was £520.[442] Hence, after Street's work +of erection was finished in August, the entire building had to be +painted, and the stage properly equipped with curtains, hangings, +machines, etc. This must have occupied at least two months. From +Henslowe's _Diary_ it appears that the playhouse was first used about +the end of November or the early part of December, 1600.[443] + +[Footnote 442: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 108.] + +[Footnote 443: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 124.] + +The original contract of Henslowe and Alleyn with Peter Street for the +erection of the Fortune, preserved among the papers at Dulwich +College, supplies us with some very exact details of the size and +shape of the building. Although the document is long, and is couched +in the legal verbiage of the day, it will repay careful study. For the +convenience of the reader I quote below its main specifications:[444] + + _Foundation._ A good, sure, and strong foundation, of piles, + brick, lime, and sand, both without and within, to be + wrought one foot of assize at the least above the ground. + + _Frame._ The frame of the said house to be set square, and + to contain fourscore foot of lawful assize every way square + without, and fifty-five foot of like assize square every way + within. + + _Materials._ And shall also make all the said frame in every + point for scantlings larger and bigger in assize than the + scantlings of the said new-erected house called the Globe. + + _Exterior._ To be sufficiently enclosed without with lath, + lime, and hair. + + _Stairs._ With such like stairs, conveyances, and divisions, + without and within, as are made and contrived in and to the + late erected playhouse ... called the Globe.... And the + staircases thereof to be sufficiently enclosed without with + lath, lime, and hair. + + _Height of galleries._ And the said frame to contain three + stories in height; the first, or lower story to contain + twelve foot of lawful assize in height; the second story + eleven foot of lawful assize in height; and the third, or + upper story, to contain nine foot of lawful assize in + height. + + _Breadth of galleries._ All which stories shall contain + twelve foot of lawful assize in breadth throughout. Besides + a jutty forward in either of the said two upper stories of + ten inches of lawful assize. + + _Protection of lowest gallery._ The lower story of the said + frame withinside ... [to be] paled in below with good, + strong, and sufficient new oaken boards.... And the said + lower story to be also laid over and fenced with strong iron + pikes. + + _Divisions of galleries._ With four convenient divisions for + gentlemen's rooms, and other sufficient and convenient + divisions for two-penny rooms.... And the gentlemen's rooms + and two-penny rooms to be ceiled with lath, lime, and hair. + + _Seats._ With necessary seats to be placed and set, as well + in those rooms as throughout all the rest of the galleries. + + _Stage._ With a stage and tiring-house to be made, erected, + and set up within the said frame; with a shadow or cover + over the said stage. Which stage shall be placed and set (as + also the staircases of the said frame) in such sort as is + prefigured in a plot thereof drawn. [The plot has been + lost.] And which stage shall contain in length forty and + three foot of lawful assize, and in breadth to extend to + the middle of the yard of the said house. The same stage to + be paled in below with good, strong, and sufficient new + oaken boards.... And the said stage to be in all other + proportions contrived and fashioned like unto the stage of + the said playhouse called the Globe.... And the said ... + stage ... to be covered with tile, and to have a sufficient + gutter of lead to carry and convey the water from the + covering of the said stage to fall backwards. + + _Tiring-house._ With convenient windows and lights, glazed, + to the said tiring-house. + + _Flooring._ And all the floors of the said galleries, + stories, and stage to be boarded with good and sufficient + new deal boards, of the whole thickness where need shall be. + + _Columns._ All the principal and main posts of the said + frame and stage forward shall be square, and wrought + pilaster-wise, with carved proportions called satyrs to be + placed and set on the top of every of the said posts. + + _Roof._ And the said frame, stage, and staircases to be + covered with tile. + + _Miscellaneous._ To be in all other contrivations, + conveyances, fashions, thing and things, effected, finished, + and done, according to the manner and fashion of the said + house called the Globe. + +[Footnote 444: For the full document see Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. +4.] + +It is rather unfortunate for us that the building was to be in so many +respects a copy of the Globe, for that deprives us of further detailed +specifications; and it is unfortunate, too, that the plan or drawing +showing the arrangement of the stage was not preserved with the rest +of the document. Yet we are able to derive much exact information +from the contract; and with this information, at least two modern +architects have made reconstructions of the building.[445] + +[Footnote 445: See the Bibliography. A model of the Fortune by Mr. +W.H. Godfrey is preserved in the Dramatic Museum of Columbia +University in New York City, and a duplicate is in the Museum of +European Culture at the University of Illinois. For a description of +the model see the _Architect and Builders' Journal_ (London), August +16, 1911.] + +No representation of the exterior of the Fortune has come down to us. +In the so-called Ryther _Map of London_, there is, to be sure, what +seems to be a crude representation of the playhouse (see page 278); +but if this is really intended for the Fortune, it does little more +than mark the location. Yet one can readily picture in his imagination +the playhouse--a plastered structure, eighty feet square and +approximately forty feet high,[446] with small windows marking the +galleries, a turret and flagpole surmounting the red-tiled roof, and +over the main entrance a sign representing Dame Fortune: + + I'le rather stand here, + Like a statue in the fore-front of your house, + For ever, like the picture of Dame Fortune + Before the Fortune Playhouse.[447] + +[Footnote 446: The three galleries (twelve, eleven, and nine feet, +respectively) were thirty-two feet in height; but to this must be +added the elevation of the first gallery above the yard, the space +occupied by the ceiling and flooring of the several galleries, and, +finally, the roof.] + +[Footnote 447: Thomas Heywood, _The English Traveller_ (1633), ed. +Pearson, IV, 84. We do not know when the play was written, but the +reference is probably to the New Fortune, built in 1623. Heywood +generally uses "picture" in the sense of "statue."] + +[Illustration: THE FORTUNE PLAYHOUSE (?) + +The curious structure with the flag may be intended to mark the site +of the Fortune. (From the so-called Ryther _Map of London_, drawn +about 1630-40.)] + +Nor is there any pictorial representation of the interior of the +playhouse. In the absence of such, I offer the reader a verbal picture +of the interior as seen from the stage during the performance of a +play. In Middleton and Dekker's _The Roaring Girl_, acted at the +Fortune, Sir Alexander shows to his friends his magnificent house. +Advancing to the middle of the stage, and pointing out over the +building, he asks them how they like it: + + _Goshawk._ I like the prospect best. + + _Laxton._ See how 't is furnished! + + _Sir Davy._ A very fair sweet room. + + _Sir Alex._ Sir Davy Dapper, + The furniture that doth adorn this room + Cost many a fair grey groat ere it came here; + But good things are most cheap when they're most dear. + Nay, when you look into my galleries, + How bravely they're trimm'd up, you all shall swear + You're highly pleas'd to see what's set down there: + Stories of men and women, mix'd together, + Fair ones with foul, like sunshine in wet weather; + Within one square a thousand heads are laid, + So close that all of heads the room seems made; + As many faces there, fill'd with blithe looks + Shew like the promising titles of new books + Writ merrily, the readers being their own eyes, + Which seem to move and to give plaudities; + And here and there, whilst with obsequious ears + Throng'd heaps do listen, a cut-purse thrusts and leers + With hawk's eyes for his prey; I need not shew him; + By a hanging, villainous look yourselves may know him, + The face is drawn so rarely: then, sir, below, + The very floor, as 't were, waves to and fro, + And, like a floating island, seems to move + Upon a sea bound in with shores above. + + _All._ These sights are excellent![448] + +[Footnote 448: _The Roaring Girl_, I, i. Pointed out by M.W. Sampson, +_Modern Language Notes_, June, 1915.] + +A closer view of this audience--"men and women, mix'd together, fair +ones with foul"--is furnished by one of the letters of Orazio +Busino,[449] the chaplain of the Venetian Embassy, who visited the +Fortune playhouse shortly after his arrival in London in 1617: + + The other day, therefore, they determined on taking me to + one of the many theatres where plays are performed, and we + saw a tragedy, which diverted me very little, especially as + I cannot understand a word of English, though some little + amusement may be derived from gazing at the very costly + dresses of the actors, and from the various interludes of + instrumental music and dancing and singing; but the best + treat was to see such a crowd of nobility so very well + arrayed that they looked like so many princes, listening as + silently and soberly as possible. These theatres are + frequented by a number of respectable and handsome ladies, + who come freely and seat themselves among the men without + the slightest hesitation. On the evening in question his + Excellency [the Venetian Ambassador] and the Secretary were + pleased to play me a trick by placing me amongst a bevy of + young women. Scarcely was I seated ere a very elegant dame, + but in a mask, came and placed herself beside me.... She + asked me for my address, both in French and English; and on + my turning a deaf ear, she determined to honour me by + showing me some fine diamonds on her fingers, repeatedly + taking off no fewer than three gloves, which were worn one + over the other.... This lady's bodice was of yellow satin + richly embroidered, her petticoat of gold tissue with + stripes, her robe of red velvet with a raised pile, lined + with yellow muslin, with broad stripes of pure gold. She + wore an apron of point lace of various patterns; her + head-tire was highly perfumed, and the collar of white satin + beneath the delicately-wrought ruff struck me as extremely + pretty. + +[Footnote 449: "Diaries and Despatches of the Venetian Embassy at the +Court of King James I, in the Years 1617, 1618. Translated by Rawdon +Brown." (_The Quarterly Review_, CII, 416.) It is true that the notice +of this letter in _The Calendar of State Papers, Venetian_, XV, 67, +makes no mention of the Fortune; but the writer in _The Quarterly +Review_, who had before him the entire manuscript, states positively +that the Fortune was the playhouse visited. I have not been able to +examine the manuscript itself, which is preserved in Venice.] + +That the players were prepared to entertain distinguished visitors +both during the performance and after is shown by a letter from John +Chamberlain, July 21, 1621, to Sir Dudley Carleton. "The Spanish +Ambassador," he writes, "is grown so affable and familiar, that on +Monday, with his whole train, he went to a common play at the Fortune +in Golding Lane; and the players (not to be overcome with courtesy) +made him a banquet, when the play was done, in the garden +adjoining."[450] + +[Footnote 450: Nichols, _The Progresses of King James_, IV, 67.] + +Upon its completion the new building was occupied by the Admiral's +Men, for whom it had been erected. This troupe of players, long famous +under the leadership of Edward Alleyn, was now one of the two +companies authorized by the Privy Council, and the chief rival of the +Chamberlain's Men at the Globe. Henslowe was managing their affairs, +and numerous poets were writing plays for them. They continued to act +at the Fortune under the name, "The Admiral's Men," until May 5, 1603, +when, as Henslowe put it, they "left off play now at the King's +coming."[451] + +[Footnote 451: Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, I, 174.] + +After a short interruption on account of the plague, during a part of +which time they traveled in the provinces, the Admiral's Men were +taken under the patronage of the youthful Henry, Prince of Wales, and +in the early spring of 1604 they resumed playing at the Fortune under +their new name, "The Prince's Servants." + +[Illustration: EDWARD ALLEYN + +(Reproduced by permission from a painting in the Dulwich Picture +Gallery; photograph by Emery Walker, Ltd.)] + +For a time all went well. But from July, 1607, until December, 1609, +the plague was severe in London, and acting was seriously interrupted. +During this long period of hardship for the players, Henslowe and +Alleyn seem to have made an attempt to hold the troupe together by +admitting its chief members to a partnership in the building, just as +the Burbages had formerly admitted their chief players to a +partnership in the Globe. At this time there were in the troupe eight +sharers, or chief actors.[452] Henslowe and Alleyn, it seems, proposed +to allot to these eight actors one-fourth of the Fortune property. In +other words, according to this scheme, there were to be thirty-two +sharers in the new Fortune organization, Alleyn and Henslowe together +holding three-fourths of the stock, or twelve shares each, and the +eight actors together holding one-fourth of the stock, or one share +each. A document was actually drawn up by Henslowe and Alleyn, with +the name of the leader of the Fortune troupe, Thomas Downton, +inserted;[453] but since the document was not executed, the scheme, +it is to be presumed, was unsuccessful--at least, we hear nothing +further about it.[454] + +[Footnote 452: See the Company's Patent of 1606, in The Malone +Society's _Collections_, I, 268.] + +[Footnote 453: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 13.] + +[Footnote 454: For an ordinance concerning "lewd jiggs" at the Fortune +in 1612, see _Middlesex County Records_, II, 83.] + +On November 6, 1612, the death of the young Prince of Wales left the +company without a "service." On January 4, 1613, however, a new patent +was issued to the players, placing them under the protection of the +Palsgrave, or Elector Palatine, after which date they are known as +"The Palsgrave's Men." + +On January 9, 1616, Henslowe, so long associated with the company and +the Fortune, died; and a year later his widow, Agnes, followed him. As +a result the entire Fortune property passed into the hands of Alleyn. +But Alleyn, apparently, did not care to be worried with the management +of the playhouse; so on October 31, 1618, he leased it to the +Palsgrave's Men for a period of thirty-one years, at an annual rental +of £200 and two rundlets of wine at Christmas.[455] + +[Footnote 455: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 27; Young, _The History of +Dulwich College_, II, 260.] + +On April 24, 1620, Alleyn executed a deed of grant of lands by which +he transferred the Fortune, along with various other properties, to +Dulwich College.[456] But he retained during his lifetime the whole of +the revenues therefrom, and he specifically reserved to himself the +right to grant leases for any length of years. The transference of +the title, therefore, in no way affected the playhouse, and Alleyn +continued to manage the property as he had been accustomed to do in +the past. + +[Footnote 456: The deed is printed by Young, _op. cit._, I, 50. The +Fortune property, I believe, is still a part of the endowment of the +college.] + +His services in this capacity were soon needed, for on December 9, +1621, the Fortune was burned to the ground. Alleyn records the event +in his _Diary_ thus: "_Memorandum._ This night at 12 of the clock the +Fortune was burnt." In a less laconic fashion John Chamberlain writes +to Sir Dudley Carleton: "On Sunday night here was a great fire at the +Fortune in Golding-Lane, the fairest playhouse in this town. It was +quite burnt down in two hours, and all their apparel and playbooks +lost, whereby those poor companions are quite undone."[457] + +[Footnote 457: Birch, _The Court and Times of James the First_, II, +280. Howes, in his continuation of Stow's _Annals_ (1631), p. 1004, +attributes the fire to "negligence of a candle," but gives no +details.] + +The "poor companions" thus referred to were, of course, the players, +who lost not only their stock of apparel, playbooks, and stage +furniture, but also their lease, which assured them of a home. Alleyn, +however, was quite able and ready to reconstruct the building for +them; and we find him on May 20, 1621, already organizing a syndicate +to finance "a new playhouse" which "there is intended to be erected +and set up." The stock of the new enterprise he divided into twelve +equal shares, which he disposed of, as the custom was, in the form of +whole and half shares, reserving for himself only one share.[458] The +plot of ground on which the old playhouse stood he leased to the +several sharers for a period of fifty-one years at an annual rental of +£10 13_s._ 10_d._ a share, with the express condition that the +building to be erected thereon should never be used for any purpose +other than the acting of stage-plays. The sharers then proceeded to +the task of constructing their playhouse. It was proposed to make the +new building larger[459] and handsomer than the old one, and to build +it of brick[460] with a tiled roof--possibly an attempt at fireproof +construction. It was decided, also, to abandon the square shape in +favor of the older and more logical circular shape. Wright, in his +_Historia Histrionica_, describes the New Fortune as "a large, round, +brick building,"[461] and Howes assures us that it was "farre fairer" +than the old playhouse.[462] We do not know how much the building +cost. At the outset each sharer was assessed £83 6_s._ 8_d._ towards +the cost of construction,[463] which would produce exactly £1000; but +the first assessment was not necessarily all that the sharers were +called upon to pay. For example, when the Globe was rebuilt each +sharer was at first assessed "£50 or £60," but before the building was +finished each had paid more than £100. So the Fortune may well have +cost more than the original estimate of £1000. In 1656 two expert +assessors appointed by the authorities of Dulwich College to examine +the playhouse declared that "the said building did in our opinions +cost building about two thousand pound."[464] This estimate is +probably not far wrong. The playhouse was completed in June or July of +1623, and was again occupied by the Palsgrave's Men.[465] + +[Footnote 458: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, pp. 28-30; 112. The names of +the sharers are not inspiring: Thomas Sparks, merchant tailor; William +Gwalter, innholder; John Fisher, barber-surgeon; Thomas Wigpitt, +bricklayer; etc.] + +[Footnote 459: Prynne, _Histriomastix_, Epistle Dedicatory.] + +[Footnote 460: The writer of the manuscript notes in the Phillipps +copy of Stow's _Annals_ (see _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314), +who is not trustworthy, says that the Fortune was burned down in 1618, +and "built again with brick work on the outside," from which Mr. +Wallace assumed that he meant that the building was merely +brick-veneered. If the writer meant this he was in error. See the +report of the commission appointed by Dulwich College to examine the +building (Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 95).] + +[Footnote 461: Hazlitt's Dodsley, XV, 408.] + +[Footnote 462: Stow, _Annals_, 1631.] + +[Footnote 463: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 29. Half-shares were £41 +13_s._ 4_d._, which Murray (_English Dramatic Companies_) confuses +with whole shares.] + +[Footnote 464: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 95. This estimate was made +after the interior of the building had been "pulled down," and hence +refers merely to the cost of erection.] + +[Footnote 465: For an account of "a dangerous and great riot committed +in Whitecross Street at the Fortune Playhouse" in May, 1626, see +Jeaffreson, _Middlesex County Records_, III, 161-63.] + +On November 25, 1626, Edward Alleyn died, and the Fortune property +came into the full possession of Dulwich College. This, however, did +not in any way affect the syndicate of the Fortune housekeepers, who +held from Alleyn a lease of the property until 1672. According to the +terms of this lease each of the twelve sharers had to pay a yearly +rental of £10 13_s._ 10_d._; this rental now merely went to the +College instead of to Alleyn. + +In 1631 the Palsgrave's Men seem to have fallen on hard times; at any +rate, they had to give up the Fortune, and the playhouse was taken +over, about December, by the King's Revels, who had been playing at +the small private playhouse of Salisbury Court.[466] The Palsgrave's +Men were reorganized, taken under the patronage of the infant Prince +Charles, and placed in the Salisbury Court Playhouse just vacated by +the King's Revels. + +[Footnote 466: For details of this move see the chapter on the +Salisbury Court Playhouse.] + +In 1635 there was a general shifting of houses on the part of the +London companies. The King's Revels left the Fortune and returned to +their old quarters at Salisbury Court; the Prince Charles's Men, who +had been at Salisbury Court, moved to the Red Bull; and the Red Bull +Company transferred itself to the Fortune. + +The stay of the Red Bull Company at the Fortune was not happy. Towards +the end of 1635 the plague was seriously interfering with their +performance of plays;[467] and on May 10, 1636, the Privy Council +closed all theatres, and kept them closed, except for a few days, +until October 2, 1637.[468] This long inhibition not only impoverished +the actors and drove them into the country, but came near ruining the +lessees of the Fortune, who, having no revenue from the playhouse, +could not make their quarterly payments to the College. On September +4, 1637, the Court of Assistants at Dulwich noted that the lessees +were behind in their rent to the extent of £132 12_s._ 11_d._; "and," +the court adds, "there will be a quarter's rent more at Michaelmas +next [i.e., in twenty-five days], which is doubted will be also +unpaid, amounting to £33 1_s._ 4_d._"[469] The excuse of the lessees +for their failure to pay was the "restraint from playing."[470] + +[Footnote 467: Young, _The History of Dulwich College_, I, 114.] + +[Footnote 468: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 391, 392; +Malone, _Variorum_, III, 239.] + +[Footnote 469: Young, _The History of Dulwich College_, I, 114.] + +[Footnote 470: The College appealed to the Lord Keeper, who on January +26 ordered the payment of the sum. But two years later, February, +1640, we find the College again petitioning the Lord Keeper to order +the lessees of the Fortune property to pay an arrearage of £104 14_s._ +5_d._ See Collier, _The Alleyn Papers_, pp. 95-98.] + +This "restraint" was removed on October 2, 1637, and the players +resumed their performances at the Fortune. But in the early summer of +1639 they fell victims to another bit of ill luck even more serious +than their long inhibition. In a letter of Edmond Rossingham, dated +May 8, 1639, we read: "Thursday last the players of the Fortune were +fined £1000 for setting up an altar, a bason, and two candlesticks, +and bowing down before it upon the stage; and although they allege it +was an old play revived, and an altar to the heathen gods, yet it was +apparent that this play was revived on purpose in contempt of the +ceremonies of the Church."[471] + +[Footnote 471: Printed in _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, +1639_, p. 140.] + +During the Easter period, 1640, the players returned to their old +quarters at the Red Bull. After their unhappy experiences at the +Fortune they were apparently glad to occupy again their former home. +The event is celebrated in a Prologue entitled _Upon the Removing of +the Late Fortune Players to the Bull_, written by John Tatham, and +printed in _Fancies Theatre_ (1640):[472] + + Here, gentlemen, our anchor's fixt; and we + Disdaining _Fortune's_ mutability, + Expect your kind acceptance. + +[Footnote 472: The Prologue is printed in full by Malone, _Variorum_, +III, 79.] + +The writer then hurls some uncomplimentary remarks at the Fortune, +observing complacently: "We have ne'er an actor here has mouth enough +to tear language by the ears." It is true that during these later +years the Fortune had fallen into ill repute with persons of good +taste. But so had the Red Bull, and the actors there had no right to +throw stones. Apparently the large numbers that could be accommodated +in the great public theatres, and the quality of the audience +attracted by the low price of admission, made noise and rant +inevitable.[473] As chief sinners in this respect the Fortune and the +Red Bull are usually mentioned together. + +[Footnote 473: Not even the Globe was entirely free from this; see the +Prologue to _The Doubtful Heir_.] + +Upon the departure of the Red Bull Company, the Prince Charles's Men +(originally the Admiral's, and later the Palsgrave's Men), who had +been occupying the Red Bull, came to the Fortune.[474] Thus after an +absence of nearly nine years, the old company (though sadly altered in +personnel), for which the Fortune had been built, returned to its home +to remain there until the end. + +[Footnote 474: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 79.] + +On September 2, 1642, the Long Parliament passed an ordinance +suppressing all stage-plays; but for a time the actors at the Fortune +seem to have continued their performances. In the fifth number of _The +Weekly Account_, September 27-October 4, 1643, we find among other +entries: "The players' misfortune at the Fortune in Golding Lane, +their players' clothes being seized upon in the time of a play by +authority from the Parliament."[475] This, doubtless, led to the +closing of the playhouse. + +[Footnote 475: _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1643_, p. +564.] + +After the Fortune was thus closed, the lessees were in a predicament. +By a specific clause in their lease they were prevented from using the +building for any purpose other than the acting of stage-plays, and now +Parliament by a specific ordinance had forbidden the acting of +stage-plays. Hence the lessees, some of whom were poor persons, being +unable to make any profit from the building, refused to pay any rent. +The College entered suit against them, and exhausted all legal means +to make them pay, but without success.[476] + +[Footnote 476: For an interesting comment on the situation, especially +in the year 1649, see _Notes and Queries_ (series X), I, 85.] + +When the ordinance prohibiting plays expired in January, 1648, the +actors promptly reopened the Fortune, and we learn from _The Kingdom's +Weekly Intelligencer_ that on January 27 no fewer than one hundred and +twenty coaches were crowded about the building. But on February 9 +Parliament passed a new and even more stringent ordinance against +dramatic performances, placing penalties not only upon the players, +but also upon the spectators. This for ever put an end to acting at +the Fortune. + +In 1649 the arrears of the lessees having reached the sum of £974 +5_s._ 8_d._, the authorities of the College took formal possession of +the playhouse. + +From certain manuscript notes[477] entered in the Phillipps copy of +Stow's _Annals_ (1631), we learn that "a company of soldiers, set on +by the sectaries of these sad times, on Saturday, the 24 day of March, +1649," sacked the Salisbury Court Playhouse, the Phoenix, and the +Fortune. The note states that the Fortune was "pulled down on the +inside by the soldiers"; that is, the stage and the seats were +dismantled[478] so as to render the building unusable for dramatic +purposes. + +[Footnote 477: Printed in _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314.] + +[Footnote 478: See _The Journals of the House of Commons_, July 26, +1648.] + +In the following year, 1650, the inhabitants of the Parish of St. +Giles "represent that they are poor, and unable to build a place of +worship for themselves, but think it would be convenient if that large +building commonly known by the name of the Fortune Playhouse might be +allotted and set apart for that purpose." The request was not +granted.[479] + +[Footnote 479: Warner, _Catalogue_, XXXI; Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, +II, 65.] + +By July, 1656, the condition of the old playhouse was such that the +Masters and Wardens of the College appointed two experts to view the +building and make recommendations. They reported "that by reason the +lead hath been taken from the said building, the tiling not secured, +and the foundation of the said playhouse not kept in good repair, +great part of the said playhouse is fallen to the ground, the timber +thereof much decayed and rotten, and the brick walls so rent and torn +that the whole structure is in no condition capable of repair, but in +great danger of falling, to the hazard of passengers' lives"; and they +add: "The charge for demolishing the same will be chargeable and +dangerous. Upon these considerations our opinion is that the said +materials may not be more worth than eighty pound."[480] + +[Footnote 480: The entire report is printed in Greg, _Henslowe +Papers_, p. 95.] + +The authorities of Dulwich took no action on this report. However, on +March 5, 1660, they ordered that the property be leased, making a +casual reference to the playhouse as "at present so ruinous that part +thereof is already fallen down, and the rest will suddenly follow." +Accordingly, they inserted in the _Mercurius Politicus_ of February +14-21, 1661, the following advertisement: "The Fortune Playhouse, +situate between Whitecross Street and Golding Lane, in the parish of +St. Giles, Cripplegate, with the ground thereto belonging, is to be +let to be built upon."[481] + +[Footnote 481: Discovered by Stevens, and printed in Malone, +_Variorum_, III, 55, note 5. Mr. W.J. Lawrence, _Archiv für das +Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen_ (1914), p. 314, says +that the date of this advertisement is 1660. But the same +advertisement is reprinted by H.R. Plomer in _Notes and Queries_ +(series X), VI, 107, from _The Kingdom's Intelligencer_ of March 18, +1661.] + +No one seems to have cared to lease the property; so on March 16, +following, the materials of the building were sold to one William +Beaven for the sum of £75;[482] and in the records of the College, +March 4, 1662, we read that "the said playhouse ... is since totally +demolished."[483] + +[Footnote 482: Young, _The History of Dulwich College_, II, 265.] + +[Footnote 483: Collier, _The Alleyn Papers_, p. 101. I am aware of the +fact that there are references to later incidents at the Fortune (for +example, the statement that it was visited by officers in November, +1682, in an attempt to suppress secret conventicles that had long been +held there), but in view of the unimpeachable documentary evidence +cited above (in 1662 the College authorities again refer to it as "the +late ruinous and now demolished Fortune playhouse"), we must regard +these later references either as inaccurate, or as referring to +another building later erected in the same neighborhood. The so-called +picture of the Fortune, printed in Wilkinson's _Londina Illustrata_, +and often reproduced by modern scholars, cannot possibly be that of +the playhouse erected by Alleyn. For an interesting surmise as to the +history of this later building see W.J. Lawrence, _Restoration Stage +Nurseries_, in _Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und +Literaturen_ (1914), p. 301.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RED BULL + + +The builder of the Red Bull Playhouse[484] was "one Aaron Holland, +yeoman," of whom we know little more than that he "was utterly +unlearned and illiterate, not being able to read."[485] He had leased +"for many years" from Anne Beddingfield, "wife and administratrix of +the goods and chattles of Christopher Beddingfield, deceased," a small +plot of land, known by the name of "The Red Bull." This plot of land, +which contained one house, was situated "at the upper end of St. +John's Street" in the Parish of St. James, Clerkenwell, the exact +location being marked by "Red Bull Yard" in Ogilby and Morgan's _Map +of London_, printed in 1677. The property was not much more distant +from the heart of the city than the Fortune property, and since it +could be easily reached through St. John's Gate, it was quite as well +situated for dramatic purposes as was the Fortune. + +[Footnote 484: This playhouse is not to be confused with the famous +Bull Tavern in Bishopsgate Street, for many years used as a theatre.] + +[Footnote 485: These statements are based upon the Woodford _v._ +Holland documents, first discovered by Collier, later by Greenstreet, +and finally printed in full by Wallace, _Three London Theatres_.] + +[Illustration: THE SITE OF THE RED BULL PLAYHOUSE + +The site is indicated by Red Bull Yard. (From Ogilby and Morgan's _Map +of London_, 1677.)] + +In or before 1605[486] Holland erected on this plot of ground "a +playhouse for acting and setting forth plays, comedies, and +tragedies." We may suspect that he did this at the instigation of the +Earl of Worcester's Men, who had just been taken under the patronage +of the Queen, and had been selected by the Privy Council as one of +three companies to be "allowed." The warrant of the Privy Council, +April 9, 1604, orders the Lord Mayor to "permit and suffer the three +companies of players to the King, Queen, and Prince publickly to +exercise their plays in their several and usual houses for that +purpose, and no other, viz. the Globe, situate in Maiden Lane on the +Bankside in the county of Surrey, the Fortune in Golding Lane, and the +Curtain, in Holywell."[487] Among these three companies, as Dekker +tells us, there was much rivalry.[488] No doubt the Queen's Men, +forced to occupy the old Curtain Playhouse, suffered by comparison +with the King's Men at the handsome Globe, and the Prince's Men at the +new and magnificent Fortune; and this, I suspect, furnished the +immediate cause for the erection of the Red Bull. In a draft of a +license to the Queen's Men, made late in 1603 or early in 1604, the +fact is disclosed that the actors, of whom Thomas Greene was the +leader, were contemplating a new playhouse. The company was licensed +to use any "playhouse not used by others, by the said Thomas Greene +elected, _or by him hereafter to be built_."[489] Whether or no Greene +and his fellows had some understanding with Holland, we cannot say. +But in 1605 we find Holland disposing of one share in the new +playhouse to Thomas Swynnerton, a member of Queen Anne's Troupe; and +he may at the same time have disposed of other shares to other +members, for his transaction with Swynnerton comes to our notice only +through a subsequent lawsuit. The words used in the documents +connected with the suit clearly suggest that the playhouse was +completed at the time of the purchase. From the fact that Holland +granted "a seventh part of the said playhouse and galleries, with a +gatherer's place thereto belonging or appertaining, unto the said +Thomas Swynnerton for diverse years,"[490] it appears that the +ownership of the playhouse had been divided into seven shares, some of +which, according to custom, may have been subdivided into half-shares. + +[Footnote 486: Sir Sidney Lee (_A Life of William Shakespeare_, p. 60) +says that the Red Bull was "built about 1600." He gives no evidence, +and the statement seems to be merely a repetition from earlier and +unauthoritative writers.] + +[Footnote 487: The original warrant is preserved at Dulwich, and +printed by Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 61. Cf. also Dasent, _Acts of +the Privy Council_, XXXII, 511.] + +[Footnote 488: _Raven's Almanack_ (1609); Dekker's _Works_ (ed. +Grosart), IV, 210.] + +[Footnote 489: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 265.] + +[Footnote 490: Wallace, _Three London Theatres_, p. 18.] + +The name of the playhouse, as in the case of the Rose and the Curtain, +was taken from the name of the estate on which it was erected. Of the +building we have no pictorial representation; the picture in Kirkman's +_The Wits_ (1672), so often reproduced by scholars as "The Interior +of the Red Bull," has nothing whatever to do with that building. The +Kirkman picture shows a small enclosed room, with a narrow stage +illuminated by chandeliers and footlights; the Red Bull, on the +contrary, was a large, open-air building, with its stage illuminated +by the sun. It is thus described in Wright's _Historia Histrionica_ +(1699): "The Globe, Fortune, and Bull were large houses, and lay +partly open to the weather."[491] Before its door was displayed a sign +on which was painted a red bull; hence the playhouse is sometimes +referred to simply as "at the sign of the Red Bull." + +[Footnote 491: Hazlitt's Dodsley, XV, 408. If the Kirkham picture +represents the interior of any playhouse, it more likely represents +the Cockpit, which was standing at the time of the Restoration.] + +The building, as I have indicated, seems to have been completed in or +before 1605; but exactly when the Queen's Men moved thither from the +Curtain is not clear. The patent issued to the company on April 15, +1609, gives them license to play "within their now usual houses, +called the Red Bull in Clerkenwell, and the Curtain in Holywell."[492] +Since they would hardly make use of two big public playhouses at the +same time, we might suspect that they were then arranging for the +transfer. Moreover, Heath, in his _Epigrams_, printed in 1610 but +probably written a year or two earlier, refers to the three important +public playhouses of the day as the Globe, the Fortune, and the +Curtain. Yet, that the Queen's Men were playing regularly at the Red +Bull in 1609 is clear from Dekker's _Raven's Almanack_,[493] and they +may have been playing there at intervals after 1605. + +[Footnote 492: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 270.] + +[Footnote 493: Dekker's _Works_ (ed. Grosart), IV, 210-11. I cannot +understand why Murray (_English Dramatic Companies_, I, 152-53) and +others say that Dekker refers to the Fortune, the Globe, and the +Curtain. His puns are clear: "_Fortune_ must favour some ... the +_whole world_ must stick to others ... and a third faction must fight +like _Bulls_."] + +Dekker, in the pamphlet just mentioned, predicted "a deadly war" +between the Globe, the Fortune, and the Red Bull. And he had good +reasons for believing that the Queen's Men could successfully compete +with the two other companies, for it numbered among its players some +of the best actors of the day. The leader of the troupe was Thomas +Greene, now chiefly known for the amusing comedy named, after him, +_Greene's Tu Quoque_, but then known to all Londoners as the cleverest +comedian since Tarleton and Kempe: + + _Scat._ Yes, faith, brother, if it please you; let's go see + a play at the Globe. + + _But._ I care not; any whither, so the clown have a part; + for, i' faith, I am nobody without a fool. + + _Gera._ Why, then, we'll go to the Red Bull; they say + Green's a good clown.[494] + +[Footnote 494: _Greene's Tu Quoque_, Hazlitt's Dodsley, XI, 240. In +May, 1610, there was "a notable outrage at the Playhouse called the +Red Bull"; see _Middlesex County Records_, II, 64-65.] + +The chief playwright for the troupe was the learned and industrious +Thomas Heywood, who, like Shakespeare, was also an actor and full +sharer in his company. Charles Lamb, who was an ardent admirer of +Heywood's plays, enthusiastically styled him "a prose Shakespeare"; +and Wordsworth, with hardly less enthusiasm, declared him to have been +"a great man." + +In 1612 Thomas Greene died, and the leadership of the troupe was taken +over by Christopher Beeston, a man well known in the theatrical life +of the time. Late in February, 1617, Beeston transferred the Queen's +Men to his new playhouse in Drury Lane, the Cockpit; in little more +than a week the sacking of the Cockpit drove them back to their old +quarters, where they remained until the following June. But even after +this they seem not to have abandoned the Red Bull entirely. + +Edward Alleyn, in his _Account Book_, writes: "Oct. 1, 1617, I came to +London in the coach and went to the Red Bull"; and again under the +date of October 3: "I went to the Red Bull, and received for _The +Younger Brother_ but £3 6_s._ 4_d._"[495] What these two passages mean +it is hard to say, for they constitute the only references to the Red +Bull in all the Alleyn papers; but they do not necessarily imply, as +some have thought, that Alleyn was part owner of the playhouse; +possibly he was merely selling to the Red Bull Company the manuscript +of an old play.[496] + +[Footnote 495: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 223; Young, _The History of +Dulwich College_, II, 51; Warner, _Catalogue_, p. 165; Collier, +_Memoirs of Edward Alleyn_, p. 107.] + +[Footnote 496: The play is not otherwise known; a play with this +title, however, was entered on the Stationers' Register in 1653.] + +At the death of Queen Anne, March 2, 1619, the company was deprived of +its "service," and after attending her funeral on May 13, was +dissolved. Christopher Beeston joined Prince Charles's Men, and +established that troupe at the Cockpit;[497] the other leading members +of Queen Anne's Men seem to have continued at the Red Bull under the +simple title "The Red Bull Company." + +[Footnote 497: For details of this change, and of the quarrels that +followed, see the chapter on the Cockpit.] + +In April, 1622, a feltmaker's apprentice named John Gill,[498] while +seated on the Red Bull stage, was accidentally injured by a sword in +the hands of one of the actors, Richard Baxter. A few days later Gill +called upon his fellow-apprentices to help him secure damages. In the +forenoon he sent the following letter, now somewhat defaced by time, +to Baxter: + + Mr. Blackster [_sic_]. So it is that upon Monday last it ... + to be upon your stage, intending no hurt to any one, where I + was grievously wounded in the head, as may appear; and in + the surgeon's hands, who is to have x_s._ for the cure; and + in the meantime my Master to give me maintenance ... [to my] + great loss and hindrance; and therefore in kindness I desire + you to give me satisfaction, seeing I was wounded by your + own hand ... weapon. If you refuse, then look to yourself + and avoid the danger which shall this day ensue upon your + company and house. For ... as you can, for I am a + feltmaker's prentice, and have made it known to at least one + hundred and forty of our ... who are all here present, ready + to take revenge upon you unless willingly you will give + present satisfaction. Consider there ... think fitting. And + as you have a care for your own safeties, so let me have + answer forthwith.[499] + +[Footnote 498: The name is also given, incorrectly, as Richard Gill.] + +[Footnote 499: Jeaffreson, _Middlesex County Records_, II, 165-66; +175-76.] + +Baxter turned the letter over to the authorities of Middlesex (hence +its preservation), who took steps to guard the playhouse and actors. +The only result was that prentices "to the number of one hundred +persons on the said day riotously assembled at Clerkenwell, to the +terror and disquiet of persons dwelling there." + +On July 8, 1622, the Red Bull Company secured a license "to bring up +children in the quality and exercise of playing comedies, histories, +interludes, morals, pastorals, stage-plays and such like ... to be +called by the name of the Children of the Revels."[500] The Children +of the Revels occupied the Red Bull until the summer of the following +year, 1623, when they were dissolved. The last reference to them is in +the Herbert Manuscript under the date of May 10, 1623.[501] + +[Footnote 500: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 62; The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 284.] + +[Footnote 501: Chalmers, _Supplemental Apology_, p. 213.] + +In August, 1623, we find the Red Bull occupied by Prince Charles's +Men,[502] who, after the dissolution of the Revels Company, had moved +thither from the less desirable Curtain. + +[Footnote 502: _Ibid._, pp. 213-14.] + +Two years later, in 1625, Prince Charles became King, and took under +his patronage his father's troupe, the King's Men. Some of the +members of the Prince Charles Troupe were transferred to the King's +Men, and the rest constituted a nucleus about which a new company was +organized, known simply as "The Red Bull Company." + +About this time, it seems, the playhouse was rebuilt and enlarged. The +Fortune had been destroyed by fire in 1621, and had just been rebuilt +in a larger and handsomer form. In 1625 one W.C., in _London's +Lamentation for her Sins_, writes: "Yet even then, Oh Lord, were the +theatres magnified and enlarged."[503] This doubtless refers to the +rebuilding of the Fortune and the Red Bull. Prynne specifically states +in his _Histriomastix_ (1633) that the Fortune and Red Bull had been +"lately reedified [and] enlarged." But nothing further is known of the +"re-edification and enlargement" of the Red Bull. + +[Footnote 503: Quoted by Collier, _The History of English Dramatic +Poetry_ (1879), III, 121.] + +After its enlargement the playhouse seems to have acquired a +reputation for noise and vulgarity. Carew, in 1630, speaks of it as a +place where "noise prevails" and a "drowth of wit," and yet as always +crowded with people while the better playhouses stood empty. In _The +Careless Shepherdess_, acted at Salisbury Court, we read: + + And I will hasten to the money-box, + And take my shilling out again; + I'll go to the Bull, or Fortune, and there see + A play for two-pence, and a jig to boot.[504] + +[Footnote 504: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 70.] + +In 1638, a writer of verses prefixed to Randolph's _Poems_ speaks of +the "base plots" acted with great applause at the Red Bull.[505] James +Wright informs us, in his _Historia Histrionica_, that the Red Bull +and the Fortune were "mostly frequented by citizens and the meaner +sort of people."[506] And Edmund Gayton, in his _Pleasant Notes_, +wittily remarks: "I have heard that the poets of the Fortune and Red +Bull had always a mouth-measure for their actors (who were terrible +tear-throats) and made their lines proportionable to their compass, +which were sesquipedales, a foot and a half."[507] Probably the ill +repute of the large public playhouses at this time was chiefly due to +the rise of private playhouses in the city. + +[Footnote 505: Randolph's _Works_ (ed. Hazlitt), p. 504.] + +[Footnote 506: Hazlitt's Dodsley, XV, 407.] + +[Footnote 507: _Pleasant Notes on Don Quixote_, p. 24.] + +In 1635 the Red Bull Company moved to the Fortune, and Prince +Charles's Men occupied the Red Bull. + +Five years later, at Easter, 1640, Prince Charles's Men moved back to +the Fortune, and the Red Bull Company returned to its old home. In a +prologue written to celebrate the event,[508] the members of the +company declared: + + Here, gentlemen, our anchor's fix't. + +[Footnote 508: J. Tatham, _Fancies Theatre_. For a fuller discussion +of the shifting of companies in 1635 and 1640 see the chapter on "The +Fortune."] + +This proved true, for the company remained at the Red Bull until +Parliament passed the ordinance of 1642 closing the playhouses and +forbidding all dramatic performances. The ordinance, which was to hold +good during the continuance of the civil war, was renewed in 1647, +with January 1, 1648, set as the date of its expiration. Through some +oversight a new ordinance was not immediately passed, and the actors +were prompt to take advantage of the fact. They threw open the +playhouses, and the Londoners flocked in great crowds to hear plays +again. At the Red Bull, so we learn from the newspaper called _Perfect +Occurrences_, was given a performance of Beaumont and Fletcher's _Wit +Without Money_. + +But on February 9, 1648, Parliament made up for its oversight by +passing an exceptionally severe ordinance against dramatic +exhibitions, directing that actors be publicly flogged, and that each +spectator be fined the sum of five shillings. + +During the dark years that followed, the Red Bull, in spite of this +ordinance, was occasionally used by venturous actors. James Wright, in +his _Historia Histrionica_, tells us that upon the outbreak of the war +the various London actors had gone "into the King's army, and, like +good men and true, served their old master, though in a different, yet +more honourable capacity. Robinson was killed at the taking of a place +(I think Basing House) by Harrison.... Mohun was a captain.... Hart +was cornet of the same troop, and Shatterel quartermaster. Allen, of +the Cockpit, was a major.... The rest either lost or exposed their +lives for their king."[509] He concludes the narrative by saying that +when the wars were over, those actors who were left alive gathered to +London, "and for a subsistence endeavoured to revive their old trade +privately." They organized themselves into a company in 1648 and +attempted "to act some plays with as much caution and privacy as could +be at the Cockpit"; but after three or four days they were stopped by +soldiers. Thereafter, on special occasions "they used to bribe the +officer who commanded the guard at Whitehall, and were thereupon +connived at to act for a few days at the Red Bull, but were sometimes, +notwithstanding, disturbed by soldiers."[510] To such clandestine +performances Kirkman refers in his Preface to _The Wits, or Sport upon +Sport_ (1672): "I have seen the Red Bull Playhouse, which was a large +one, so full that as many went back for want of room as had entered; +and as meanly as you may now think of these drolls, they were then +acted by the best comedians then and now in being." Not, however, +without occasional trouble. In Whitelocke's _Memorials_, p. 435, we +read: "20 Dec., 1649. Some stage-players in St. John's Street were +apprehended by troopers, their clothes taken away, and themselves +carried to prison"; again, in _The Perfect Account_, December +27-January 3, 1654-1655: "Dec. 30, 1654.--This day the players at the +Red Bull, being gotten into all their borrowed gallantry and ready to +act, were by some of the soldiery despoiled of all their bravery; but +the soldiery carried themselves very civilly towards the +audience."[511] In the _Weekly Intelligencer_, September 11-18, 1655, +we find recorded still another sad experience for the actors: "Friday, +September 11, 1655.--This day proved tragicall to the players at the +Red Bull; their acting being against the Act of Parliament, the +soldiers secured the persons of some of them who were upon the stage, +and in the tiring-house they seized also upon their clothes in which +they acted, a great part whereof was very rich."[512] + +[Footnote 509: Hazlitt's Dodsley, XV, 409.] + +[Footnote 510: _Ibid._, 409-10.] + +[Footnote 511: Cited by C.H. Firth, in _Notes and Queries_, August 18, +1888, series VII, vol. VI, p. 122.] + +[Footnote 512: _Ibid._] + +On this occasion, however, the soldiers, instead of carrying +themselves "very civilly" towards the audience, undertook to exact +from each of the spectators the fine of five shillings. The ordinance +of Parliament, passed February 9, 1648, read: "And it is hereby +further ordered and ordained, that every person or persons which shall +be present and a spectator at such stage-play or interlude, hereby +prohibited, shall for every time he shall be present, forfeit and pay +the sum of five shillings to the use of the poor of the parish."[513] +But the spectators did not submit to this fine without a struggle. +Jeremiah Banks wrote to Williamson on September 16, 1655: "At the +playhouse this week many were put to rout by the soldiers and had +broken crowns; the corporal would have been entrapped had he not been +vigilant."[514] And in the _Weekly Intelligencer_, September 11-18, we +read: "It never fared worse with the spectators than at this present, +for those who had monies paid their five shillings apiece; those who +had none, to satisfy their forfeits, did leave their cloaks behind +them. The Tragedy of the spectators was the Comedy of the soldiers. +There was abundance of the female sex, who, not able to pay five +shillings, did leave some gage or other behind them, insomuch that +although the next day after the Fair was expected to be a new fair of +hoods, of aprons, and of scarfs; all which, their poverty being made +known, and after some check for their trespass, were civilly again +restored to the owners."[515] + +[Footnote 513: Hazlitt, _The English Drama and Stage_, p. 69.] + +[Footnote 514: _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1655_, p. +336.] + +[Footnote 515: For a further account of this episode see _Mercurius +Fumigosus_, No. 69.] + +At the period of the Restoration the Red Bull was among the first +playhouses to reopen. John Downes, in his _Roscius Anglicanus_, +writes: "The scattered remnant of several of these houses, upon King +Charles' Restoration, framed a company, who acted again at the +Bull."[516] Apparently the company was brought together by the famous +old Elizabethan actor, Anthony Turner. From the _Middlesex County +Records_ (III, 279) we learn that at first the players were +interrupted by the authorities: + + 12 May, 1659.--Recognizances, taken before Ra: Hall, esq. + J.P., of William Wintershall and Henry Eaton, both of + Clerkenwell, gentlemen, in the sum of fifty pounds each; + "Upon condition that Antony Turner shall personally appear + at the next Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be holden at + Hicks Hall for the said County of Middlesex; for the + unlawful maintaining of stage-plays and interludes at the + Red Bull in St. John's Street, which house he affirms that + they hire of the parishioners of Clerkenwell at the rate of + twenty shillings a day over and above what they have agreed + to pay towards the relief of their poor and repairing their + highways, and in the meantime to be of good behaviour and + not to depart the Court without license.--Ra: Hall." Also + similar Recognizances, taken on the same day, before the + same J.P., of the same William Wintershall and Henry Eaton, + gentlemen, in the same sum of fifty pounds each; for the + appearance of Edward Shatterall at the next. Q.S.P. for + Middlesex at Hicks Hall, "to answer for the unlawful + maintaining of stage-plays and interludes at the Red Bull in + St. John's Street &c." S.P.R., 17, May, 1659. + +[Footnote 516: Cf. Wright, _Historia Histrionica_, p. 412; and for the +general history of the actors at the Red Bull during this period see +the Herbert records in Halliwell-Phillipps, _A Collection of Ancient +Documents_.] + +Later, it seems, they secured a license from the authorities, and +thenceforth acted without interruption. Samuel Pepys made plans "to go +to the Red Bull Playhouse" with Mrs. Pierce and her husband on August +3, 1660, but was prevented by business. An account of his visit there +on March 23, 1661, is thus given in his _Diary_: + + All the morning at home putting papers in order; dined at + home, and then out to the Red Bull (where I had not been + since plays came up again), but coming too soon I went out + again and walked up and down the Charterhouse Yard and + Aldersgate Street. At last came back again and went in, + where I was led by a seaman that knew me, but is here as a + servant, up to the tiring-room, where strange the confusion + and disorder that there is among them in fitting themselves, + especially here, where the clothes are very poor and the + actors but common fellows. At last into the pit, where I + think there was not above ten more than myself, and not one + hundred in the whole house. And the play, which is called + _All's Lost by Lust_, poorly done; and with so much + disorder, among others, that in the musique-room, the boy + that was to sing a song not singing it right, his master + fell about his ears and beat him so, that it put the whole + house in an uproar. + +The actors, however, did not remain long at the Red Bull. They built +for themselves a new theatre in Drury Lane, whither they moved on +April 8, 1663;[517] and after this the old playhouse was deserted. In +Davenant's _The Play-House to Be Let_ (1663), I, i, we read: + + Tell 'em the Red Bull stands empty for fencers:[518] + There are no tenants in it but old spiders. + +[Footnote 517: After November 8, 1660, they acted also in Gibbon's +Tennis Court in Clare Market, which they had fitted up as a theatre; +see Halliwell-Phillipps, _A Collection of Ancient Documents_, p. 34.] + +[Footnote 518: See Pepys' _Diary_, April 25, 1664.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WHITEFRIARS + + +The district of Whitefriars, lying just outside the city wall to the +west, and extending from Fleet Street to the Thames, was once in the +possession of the order of White Friars, and the site of an important +monastery; but in Elizabeth's time the church had disappeared, most of +the ancient buildings had been dismantled, and in their place, as Stow +tells us, were "many fair houses builded, lodgings for noblemen and +others." Since at the dissolution of the monasteries the property had +come into the possession of the Crown, it was not under the +jurisdiction of the London Common Council--a fact which made +Whitefriars, like Blackfriars, a desirable refuge for players seeking +to escape the hostility of the city authorities.[519] One might +naturally expect the appearance of playing here at an early date, but +the evidence is slight.[520] + +[Footnote 519: Whitefriars passed under city control in 1608 by grant +of King James I, but certain rights remained, notably that of +sanctuary. This has been celebrated in Shadwell's play, _The Squire of +Alsatia_, and in Scott's romance, _The Fortunes of Nigel_.] + +[Footnote 520: Prynne, in _Histriomastix_ (1633), p. 491, quotes a +passage from Richard Reulidge's _Monster Lately Found Out and +Discovered_ (1628), in which there is a reference to a playhouse as +existing in Whitefriars "not long after" 1580. By "playhouse" Reulidge +possibly meant an inn used for acting; but the whole passage, written +by a Puritan after the lapse of nearly half a century, is open to +grave suspicion, especially in its details. Again Richard Flecknoe, in +_A Short Discourse of the English Stage_ (1664), states that the +Children of the Chapel Royal acted in Whitefriars. But that he +confused the word "Whitefriars" with "Blackfriars" is shown by the +rest of his statement.] + +The first appearance of a regular playhouse in Whitefriars dates from +the early years of King James's reign. With our present knowledge we +cannot fix the date exactly, yet we can feel reasonably certain that +it was not long before 1607--probably about 1605. + +The chief spirit in the organization of the new playhouse seems to +have been the poet Michael Drayton, who had secured a patent from King +James to "erect" a company of child actors, to be known as "The +Children of His Majesty's Revels."[521] Obviously his hope was to make +the Children of His Majesty's Revels at Whitefriars rival the +successful Children of Her Majesty's Revels at Blackfriars. In this +ambitious enterprise he associated with himself a wealthy London +merchant, Thomas Woodford, whom we know as having been interested in +various theatrical investments.[522] These two men leased from Lord +Buckhurst for a short period of time a building described as a +"mansion house" formerly a part of the Whitefriars monastery: "the +rooms of which are thirteen in number, three below, and ten above; +that is to say, the great hall, the kitchen by the yard, and a cellar, +with all the rooms from the Master of the Revells' office as the same +are now severed and divided."[523] The "great hall" here mentioned, +once the refectory of the monks, was made into the playhouse. Its +"great" size may be inferred from the fact that there were ten rooms +"above"; and its general excellence may be inferred from the fact that +it was leased at £50 per annum, whereas Blackfriars, in a more +desirable location and fully equipped as a theatre, was rented for +only £40. + +[Footnote 521: Fleay, Murray, and others are wrong in assuming that +this troupe was merely a continuation of the Paul's Boys. So far as I +can discover, there is no official record of the patent issued to +Drayton; but that such a patent was issued is clear from the lawsuits +of 1609, printed by Greenstreet in _The New Shakspere Society's +Transactions_ (1887-90), p. 269.] + +[Footnote 522: He was part proprietor of the Red Bull. In the case of +Witter _v._ Heminges and Condell he was examined as a witness (see +Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. 74), but what +connection, if any, he had with the Globe does not appear.] + +[Footnote 523: Greenstreet, _The New Shakspere Society's Transactions_ +(1887-90), p. 275.] + +From an early seventeenth-century survey of the Whitefriars property +(see the opposite page), we are able to place the building very +exactly. The part of the monastery used as a playhouse--the +Frater--was the southern cloister, marked in the plan, "My Lords +Cloyster." The "kitchen by the yard" mentioned in the document just +quoted is clearly represented in the survey by the "Scullere." The +size of the playhouse is hard to ascertain, but it was approximately +thirty-five feet in width and eighty-five feet in length.[524] In the +London of to-day it extended roughly from Bouverie Street to +Ashen-tree Court, and lay just north of George Yard. + +[Footnote 524: The stipple walls, in the original survey colored gray, +were of stone; the thinner walls of the adjoining "tenements," in the +original colored red, were of brick.] + +[Illustration: A PLAN OF WHITEFRIARS + +A portion of an early seventeenth-century survey of the Whitefriars +property. The playhouse adjoined the "Scullere" on the south. (This +survey was discovered in the Print Room of the British Museum by Mr. +A.W. Clapham, and reproduced in _The Journal of the British +Archæological Association_, 1910.)] + +Of the career of the Children under the joint management of Drayton +and Woodford we know almost nothing. But in March, 1608, a new +management assumed charge of the troupe, and from this point on the +history of the playhouse is reasonably clear. + +The original lease of the building, it seems, expired on March 5, +1608. But before the expiration--in the latter part of 1607 or in the +early part of 1608--Drayton and Woodford secured a new lease on the +property for six years, eight months, and twenty days, or until +December 25 (one of the four regular feasts of the year), 1614. In +February, 1608, after having secured this renewal of the lease, Thomas +Woodford suddenly determined to retire from the enterprise; and he +sold his moiety to one David Lording Barry,[525] author of the play +_Ram Alley_. Barry and Drayton at once made plans to divide the +property into six shares, so as to distribute the expenses and the +risks as well as the hoped-for profits. Barry induced his friend, +George Androwes, to purchase one share, and hence the lawsuit from +which we derive most of our knowledge of the playhouse. From this suit +I quote below the more significant part relating to the new +organization: + + Humbly complaining, sheweth unto your honorable lordship, + your daily orator, George Androwes, of London, silkweaver, + that whereas one Lordinge Barry, about February which was in + the year of our Lord 1607 [i.e., 1608], pretending himself + to be lawfully possessed of one moiety of a messuage or + mansion house, parcel of the late dissolved monastery called + the Whitefriars, in Fleet Street, in the suburbs of London, + by and under a lease made thereof, about March then next + following, from the right honorable Robert, Lord Buckhurst, + unto one Michael Drayton and Thomas Woodford, for the term + of six years, eight months, and twenty days then following, + for and under the yearly rent of fifty pounds reserved + thereupon; the moiety of which said lease and premisses, by + mean assignment from the said Thomas Woodford, was lawfully + settled in the said Lordinge Barry, as he did pretend, + together with the moiety of diverse play-books, apparel, and + other furnitures and necessaries used and employed in and + about the said messuage and the Children of the Revels,[526] + there being, in making and setting forth plays, shows, and + interludes, and such like. And the said Lordinge Barry ... + being desirous to join others with him in the interest of + the same, who might be contributory to such future charges + as should arise in setting forth of plays and shows there, + did thereupon ... solicit and persuade your orator to + take from the said Barry an assignment of a sixth part of + the messuage, premisses, and profits aforesaid. + +[Footnote 525: By a stupid error often called Lodowick Barry. For an +explanation of the error see an article by the present writer in +_Modern Philology_, April, 1912, IX, 567. Mr. W.J. Lawrence has +recently shown (_Studies in Philology_, University of North Carolina, +April, 1917) that David Barry was the eldest son of the ninth Viscount +Buttevant, and was called "Lording" by courtesy. At the time he became +interested in the Whitefriars Playhouse he was twenty-two years old. +He died in 1610.] + +[Footnote 526: At this time the Children of Blackfriars had lost their +patent, so that the Children at Whitefriars were the only Revels +troupe.] + +[Illustration: MICHAEL DRAYTON + +(From a painting in the National Portrait Gallery, London: photograph +copyrighted by Emery Walker, Ltd.)] + +This passage gives us an interesting glimpse of Drayton and Barry in +their efforts to organize a syndicate for exploiting the Children of +His Majesty's Revels. They induced several other persons to buy +half-shares; and then they engaged, as manager of the Children, Martin +Slaiter,[527] a well-known and thoroughly experienced actor. For his +services as manager, Slaiter was to receive one whole share in the +organization, and lodgings for himself and his family of ten in the +building. The syndicate thus formed was made up of four whole-sharers, +Michael Drayton, Lordinge Barry, George Androwes, and Martin Slaiter, +and four half-sharers, William Trevell, William Cooke, Edward +Sibthorpe, and John Mason.[528] + +[Footnote 527: Also spelled Slater, Slaughter, Slather, Slawghter. +Henslowe often refers to him as "Martin."] + +[Footnote 528: Mr. Wallace (_The Century Magazine_, 1910, LXXX, 511) +incorrectly says that Whitefriars was held by "six equal sharers."] + +The "great hall" had, of course, already been fitted up for the acting +of plays, and the new lessees did not at first contemplate any +expenditure on the building. Later, however,--if we can believe +Androwes,--they spent a not inconsiderable sum for improvements. The +Children already had certain plays, and to these were added some new +ones. Among the plays in their repertoire were Day's _Humour Out of +Breath_, Middleton's _Family of Love_, Armin's _The Two Maids of +Moreclacke_, Sharpham's _Cupid's Whirligig_, Markham and Machin's _The +Dumb Knight_, Barry's _Ram Alley_, and Mason's _The Turk_. The last +two writers were sharers, and it seems likely that Drayton, also a +sharer and experienced as a dramatist, contributed some plays towards +the stock of the company. + +The new organization, with bright prospects for success, was launched +in March, 1608. Almost at once, however, it began to suffer from ill +luck. In April the Children at Blackfriars, by their performance of +_Byron_, caused King James to close all playhouses in London. How long +he kept them closed we do not know, but we find the lessees of +Whitefriars joining with the three other London companies in seeking +to have the inhibition raised. As the French Ambassador informed his +Government: "Pour lever cette défense, quatres autres compagnies, qui +y sont encore, offrent déjà cent mille francs, lesquels pourront bien +leur en ordonner la permission."[529] + +[Footnote 529: Letter of M. De La Boderie, the French Ambassador to +England; quoted by E.K. Chambers, _Modern Language Review_, IV, 159.] + +Even if this inhibition was shortly raised, the Whitefriars +organization was not much better off, for in July the plague set in +with unusual violence, and acting was seriously if not wholly +interrupted for the next twelve months and more. As a result, the +profits from the theatre did not come up to the "fair and false +flattering speeches" which at the outset Barry had made to prospective +investors, and this led to bad feeling among the sharers. + +The company at Blackfriars, of course, was suffering in a similar way. +On August 8, 1608, their playhouse was surrendered to the owner, +Richard Burbage, and the Children being thus left without a home were +dispersed. Early in 1609, probably in February, Robert Keysar (the +manager of the Blackfriars troupe), Philip Rosseter, and others +secured the lease of the Whitefriars Playhouse from Drayton and the +rest of the discontented sharers, and reassembled there the Children +of Blackfriars. What became of the Whitefriars troupe we do not know; +but it is highly likely that the new organization took over the better +actors from Drayton's company. At any rate, we do not hear again of +the Children of His Majesty's Revels. + +When Keysar and this new troupe of child-actors moved into +Whitefriars, Slaiter and his family of ten were expelled from the +building. This led to a lawsuit, and explains much in the legal +documents printed by Greenstreet. Slaiter complained with no little +feeling that he had been "riotously, willfully, violently, and +unlawfully, contrary to the said articles and pretended agreement [by +which he had been not only engaged as a manager, but also guaranteed a +home for the period of "all the term of years in the lease"], put and +kept out of his said rooms of habitation for him, this defendant, and +his family, and all other his means of livelihood, thereby leaving +this defendant and his whole family, being ten in number, to the world +to seek for bread and other means to live by."[530] + +[Footnote 530: Greenstreet, _The New Shakspere Society's Transactions_ +(1887-90), p. 283.] + +The new Whitefriars troupe acted five plays at Court during the winter +of 1609-10. Payments therefor were made to Robert Keysar, and the +company was referred to merely as "The Children of the Whitefriars." +But on January 4, 1610, the company secured a royal patent authorizing +the use of the title "The Children of the Queen's Revels."[531] The +patent was granted to Robert Daborne, Philip Rosseter, John Tarbock, +Richard Jones, and Robert Browne; but Keysar, though not named in the +grant, was still one of the important sharers.[532] + +[Footnote 531: Printed in The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 271.] + +[Footnote 532: See Keysar _v._ Burbage _et al._, printed by Mr. +Wallace, in his _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, pp. 80 ff.] + +The troupe well deserved the patronage of the Queen. Keysar described +the Blackfriars Children whom he had reorganized as "a company of the +most expert and skillful actors within the realm of England, to the +number of eighteen or twenty persons, all or most of them, trained up +in that service in the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth for ten years +together."[533] And to these, as I have pointed out, it seems likely +that the best members of the bankrupt Children of His Majesty's Revels +had been added. The chief actor of the new organization was +Nathaniel Field, whose histrionic ability placed him beside Edward +Alleyn and Richard Burbage. One of the first plays he was called upon +to act in his new theatre was Jonson's brilliant comedy, _Epicoene_, +in which he took the leading rôle. + +[Footnote 533: _Ibid._, p. 90.] + +[Illustration: THE SITES OF THE WHITEFRIARS AND THE SALISBURY COURT +PLAYHOUSES + +The Whitefriars Playhouse was just north of "K. 46"; the Salisbury +Court Playhouse was just south of the court of that name. (From Ogilby +and Morgan's _Map of London_, 1677.)] + +The idea then occurred to Rosseter to secure a monopoly on +child-acting and on private playhouses. The Children of His Majesty's +Revels had ceased to exist. The Blackfriars Playhouse had been closed +by royal command, and its lease had been surrendered to its owner, +Richard Burbage. The only rival to the Children at Whitefriars was the +troupe of Paul's Boys acting in their singing-school behind the +Cathedral. How Rosseter attempted to buy them off is thus recorded by +Richard Burbage and John Heminges: + + There being, as these defendants verily think, but only + three private playhouses in the city of London, the one of + which being in the Blackfriars and in the hands of these + defendants or of their assigns, one other being in the + Whitefriars in the hands or occupation of the said + complainant himself [Keysar], his partners [Rosseter, _et + al._], or assigns, and the third near St. Paul's Church, + then being in the hands of one Mr. Pierce, but then unused + for a playhouse. One Mr. Rosseter, a partner of the said + complainant [Keysar] dealt for and compounded with the said + Mr. Pierce [Master of the Paul's Boys] to the only benefit + of him, the said Rosseter, the now complainant [Keysar], the + rest of their partners and company, and without the privity, + knowledge, or consent of these defendants [the King's + Company], or any of them, and that thereby they, the said + complainant [Keysar] and the said Rosseter and their + partners and company might advance their gains and profit to + be had and made in their said house in Whitefriars, that + there might be a cessation of playing and plays to be acted + in the said house near St. Paul's Church aforesaid, for + which the said Rosseter compounded with the said Pierce to + give him, the said Pierce, twenty pounds per annum.[534] + +[Footnote 534: Wallace, _Shakespeare and his London Associates_, p. +95.] + +By this means Rosseter disposed of the competition of the Paul's Boys. +But, although he secured a monopoly on child-acting, he failed to +secure a monopoly on private playhouses, for shortly after he had +sealed this bargain with Pierce, the powerful King's Men opened up at +Blackfriars. Rosseter promptly requested them to pay half the "dead +rent" to Pierce, which they good-naturedly agreed to do. + +In 1613 Whitefriars was rented by certain London apprentices for the +performance "at night" of Robert Taylor's _The Hog Hath Lost His +Pearl_. The episode is narrated by Sir Henry Wotton in a letter to Sir +Edmund Bacon: + + On Sunday last, at night, and no longer, some sixteen + apprentices (of what sort you shall guess by the rest of the + story) having secretly learnt a new play without book,[535] + entitled _The Hog Hath Lost His Pearl_, took up the + Whitefriars for their theatre, and having invited thither + (as it should seem) rather their mistresses than their + masters, who were all to enter _per buletini_ for a note of + distinction from ordinary comedians. Towards the end of the + play the sheriffs (who by chance had heard of it) came in + (as they say) and carried some six or seven of them to + perform the last act at Bridewell. The rest are fled. Now it + is strange to hear how sharp-witted the city is, for they + will needs have Sir John Swinerton, the Lord Mayor, be meant + by the Hog, and the late Lord Treasurer by the Pearl.[536] + +[Footnote 535: Miss Gildersleeve, in her valuable _Government +Regulation of the Elizabethan Drama_, p. 112, says: "Just what is the +meaning of 'a new Play without Book' no one seems to have +conjectured." And she develops the theory that "it refers to the +absence of a licensed play-book," etc. The phrase "to learn without +book" meant simply "to memorize."] + +[Footnote 536: _Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_ (ed. 1672), p. 402. The letter is +dated merely 1612-13. In connection with the play one should study +_The Hector of Germany_, 1615.] + +Apparently the Children of the Queen's Revels continued successfully +at Whitefriars until March, 1613. On that date Rosseter agreed with +Henslowe to join the Revels with the Lady Elizabeth's Men then acting +at the Swan. The new organization, following the example of the King's +Men, used Whitefriars as a winter, and the Swan as a summer, house. +Thus for a time at least Whitefriars came under the management of +Henslowe. + +Rosseter's lease of the building was to expire in the following year. +He seems to have made plans--possibly with the assistance of +Henslowe--to erect in Whitefriars a more suitable playhouse for the +newly organized company; at least that is a plausible interpretation +of the following curious entry in Sir George Buc's Office Book: "July +13, 1613, for a license to erect a new playhouse in Whitefriars, &c. +£20."[537] But the new playhouse thus projected never was built, +doubtless because of strong local opposition. Instead, Henslowe +erected for the company a public playhouse on the Bankside, known as +"The Hope." + +[Footnote 537: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 52.] + +In March, 1614, at the expiration of one year, Rosseter withdrew from +his partnership with Henslowe. On December 25, 1614, his lease of the +Whitefriars expired, and he was apparently unable to renew it. +Thereupon he attempted to fit up a private playhouse in the district +of Blackfriars, and on June 3, 1615, he actually secured a royal +license to do so. But in this effort, too, he was foiled.[538] + +[Footnote 538: See the chapter on "Rosseter's Blackfriars." The +documents concerned in this venture are printed in The Malone +Society's _Collections_, I, 277.] + +After this we hear little or nothing of the Whitefriars Playhouse. Yet +the building may occasionally have been used for dramatic purposes. +Cunningham says: "The case of Trevill _v._ Woodford, in the Court of +Requests, informs us that plays were performed at the Whitefriars +Theatre as late as 1621; Sir Anthony Ashley, the then landlord of the +house, entering the theatre in that year, and turning the players out +of doors, on pretense that half a year's rent was yet unpaid to +him."[539] I have not been able to examine this document. Neither +Fleay nor Murray has found any trace of a company at Whitefriars after +Rosseter's departure; hence for all practical purposes we may regard +the Whitefriars Playhouse as having come to the end of its career in +1614. + +[Footnote 539: _The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, 90. The +document printed by Collier in _New Facts Regarding the Life of +Shakespeare_ (1835), p. 44, as from a manuscript in his possession, +is, I think, an obvious forgery.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE HOPE + + +On August 29, 1611, Henslowe became manager of the Lady Elizabeth's +Men. Having agreed among other things to furnish them with a +playhouse,[540] and no longer being in possession of the Rose, he +rented the old Swan and maintained them there throughout the year +1612. + +[Footnote 540: The agreement has been lost, but for a probably similar +agreement, made with the actor Nathaniel Field, see Greg, _Henslowe +Papers_, p. 23.] + +In March of the following year, 1613, he entered into a partnership +with Philip Rosseter (the manager of the private playhouse of +Whitefriars), and "joined" the Lady Elizabeth's Men with Rosseter's +excellent troupe of the Queen's Revels. Apparently the intention of +Henslowe and Rosseter was to form a company strong enough to compete +on equal terms with the King's Men. In imitation of the King's Men, +who used the Globe as a summer and the Blackfriars as a winter home, +the newly amalgamated company was to use the Swan and the +Whitefriars.[541] And the chief actor of the troupe, corresponding to +Richard Burbage of the King's Men, was to be Nathaniel Field, then at +the height of his powers: + + _Cokes._ Which is your Burbage now? + + _Leatherhead._ What mean you by that, sir? + + _Cokes._ Your best actor, your Field. + + _Littlewit._ Good, i' faith! you are even with me, sir.[542] + +[Footnote 541: Daborne writes to Henslowe on June 5, 1613: "The +company told me you were expected there yesterday to conclude about +their coming over ... my own play which shall be ready before they +come over." This, I suspect, refers to the moving of the company to +the Swan for the summer. (See Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 72.) That +Henslowe was manager of a "private" house in 1613 is revealed by +another letter from Daborne, dated December 9, 1613. (See Greg, +_ibid._, p. 79.)] + +[Footnote 542: _Bartholomew Fair_, V, iii. The part of Littlewit was +presumably taken by Field himself.] + +Among their playwrights were Ben Jonson, Philip Massinger, John +Fletcher, and Robert Daborne, not to mention Field, who in addition to +acting wrote excellent plays. + +If it was the purpose of Henslowe and Rosseter to compete with the +Globe Company in a winter as well as in a summer house, that purpose +was endangered by the fact that Rosseter's lease of his private +theatre expired within a year and a half, and could not be renewed. +Rosseter and Henslowe, as pointed out in the preceding chapter, seem +to have attempted to erect in Whitefriars a winter home for their +troupe; so, at least, I have interpreted the curious entry in Sir +George Buc's Office Book: "July 13, 1613, for a license to erect a new +playhouse in the Whitefriars, &c. £20."[543] The attempt, however, was +foiled, probably by the strong opposition of the inhabitants of the +district. + +[Footnote 543: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 52.] + +Shortly after this, Henslowe made plans to provide the company with a +new and better public playhouse on the Bankside, more conveniently +situated than the Swan. The old Bear Garden was beginning to show +signs of decay, and, doubtless, would soon have to be rebuilt. This +suggested to Henslowe the idea of tearing down that ancient structure +and erecting in its place a larger and handsomer building to serve +both for the performance of plays and for the baiting of animals. To +this plan Jacob Meade, Henslowe's partner in the ownership of the Bear +Garden, agreed. + +[Illustration: THE HOPE PLAYHOUSE, OR SECOND BEAR GARDEN + +From Hollar's _View of London_ (1647).] + +Accordingly, on August 29, 1613, Henslowe and Meade signed a contract +with a carpenter named Katherens to pull down the Bear Garden and +erect in its place a new structure. The original contract, preserved +among the Henslowe Papers, is one of the most valuable documents we +have relating to the early theatres. It is too long and verbose for +insertion here, but I give below a summary of its contents.[544] +Katherens agreed: + + 1. To "pull down" the Bear Garden and "the stable wherein + the bulls and horses" had been kept; and "near or upon the + said place where the said game-place did heretofore stand," + to "newly erect, build, and set up" a "playhouse, fit and + convenient in all things both for players to play in, and + for the game of bears and bulls to be baited in." + + 2. "To build the same of such large compass, form, wideness, + and height as the playhouse called the Swan." + + 3. To provide for the building "a good sure, and sufficient + foundation of bricks ... thirteen inches at the least above + the ground." + + 4. To make three galleries: "the inner principal posts of + the first story to be twelve feet in height, and ten inches + square; in the middle story ... eight inches square; in the + upper story ... seven inches square."[545] + + 5. To "make two boxes in the lowermost story, fit and decent + for gentlemen to sit in," and in the rest of the galleries + "partitions between the rooms as they are in the said + playhouse called the Swan." + + 6. To construct "a stage, to be carried and taken away, and + to stand upon tressels, good, substantial, and sufficient + for the carrying and bearing of such a stage." + + 7. To "build the heavens all over the said stage, to be + borne or carried without any posts or supporters to be fixed + or set upon the said stage." + + 8. To equip the stage with "a fit and convenient + tyre-house." + + 9. To "build two staircases without and adjoining to the + said playhouse ... of such largeness and height as the + staircases of the said playhouse called the Swan." + + 10. "To new build, erect, and set up the said bull-house and + stable ... of that largeness and fitness as shall be + sufficient to keep and hold six bulls and three horses." + + 11. "To new tyle with English tyles all the upper roof of + the said playhouse ... and stable." + + 12. To have the playhouse finished "upon or before the last + day of November," 1613. + +[Footnote 544: The contract is printed in full in Greg, _Henslowe +Papers_, p. 19.] + +[Footnote 545: The height is given for the first story only. We may +assume that the middle and uppermost stories were of diminishing +heights, as in the case of the Fortune Playhouse, in which the +galleries were respectively twelve, eleven, and nine feet in height.] + +For all this Katherens was to receive the sum of £360; but since +Henslowe and Meade supplied a large share of the lumber and other +materials, the total cost of the building may be estimated as not less +than £600. + +When completed, the new playhouse was appropriately christened "The +Hope." + +It has been generally assumed that a picture of the Hope is given in +Visscher's _View of London_, published in 1616; but this, I think, is +exceedingly doubtful. In drawing the Bankside, Visscher rather +slavishly copied the Agas map of 1560, inserting a few new +buildings,--notably the playhouses,--and it is virtually certain that +he represented the "Bear Garden" (so he distinctly calls it) and the +Globe as they were before their reconstruction.[546] The first +representation of the Hope is to be found in Hollar's splendid _View +of London_ published in 1647 (see page 326). At this time the +building, which had for many years been devoted wholly to the royal +sports of bull- and bear-baiting, was still standing. It is hard to +believe that an artist who so carefully represented the famous +edifices of the city should have greatly erred in drawing the "Bear +Baiting House,"--a structure more curious than they, and quite as +famous. + +[Footnote 546: The Merian _View of London_, published in 1638 at +Frankfort-am-Main, is merely a copy of the Visscher view with the +addition of certain details from another and earlier view not yet +identified. It has no independent value. The _View of London_ printed +in Howell's _Londinopolis_ (1657), is merely a slavish copy of the +Merian view. Visscher's representation of the Bear Garden does not +differ in any essential way from the representation in Hondius's +_View_ of 1610. For a fuller discussion see pages 126, 146, 248.] + +Hollar represents the Hope as circular. According to the contract +Katherens was "to build the same of such large compass, form, +wideness, and height as the playhouse called the Swan." Whether the +word "form" was intended to apply to the exterior of the building we +do not know. The Swan was decahedral; Visscher represents the "Bear +Garden" as octagonal (which is correct for the Bear Garden that +preceded the Hope). But since the exterior was of lime and plaster, +and a decahedral form had no advantage, Katherens may well have +constructed a circular building as Hollar indicates. Perhaps it is +significant in this connection that John Taylor, the Water-Poet, in +his _Bull, Bear, and Horse_, refers to the Hope as a "sweet, +_rotuntious_ college." Significant also, perhaps, is the clause in +the contract by which Katherens was required to "build the heavens all +over the stage," for this exactly describes the heavens as drawn by +Hollar. I see no reason to doubt that in the _View_ of 1647 we have a +reasonably faithful representation of the Hope. + +[Illustration: THE HOPE PLAYHOUSE, OR SECOND BEAR GARDEN + +The upper view is from Hollar's Post-conflagration map in the Crace +Collection of the British Museum; the lower view is from Faithorne's +Map of London (1658).] + +The Hope was probably opened shortly after November 30, 1613, the date +at which Katherens had bound himself to have the building "fully +finished," and it was occupied, of course, by the Henslowe and +Rosseter troupe of actors. The arrangement of the movable stage +enabled Henslowe and Meade to use the building also for +animal-baiting. According to the contract with the actors, the latter +were to "lie still one day in fourteen" for the baiting.[547] This may +not have been a serious interruption for the players; but the presence +of the stable, the bear dens, and the kennels for the dogs must have +rendered the playhouse far from pleasant to the audiences. Ben Jonson, +in the Induction to his _Bartholomew Fair_, acted at the Hope in +October, 1614, remarks: "And though the Fair be not kept in the same +region that some here perhaps would have it, yet think that therein +the author hath observed a special decorum, the place being as dirty +as Smithfield, and as stinking every whit."[548] + +[Footnote 547: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 88; cf. p. 125, where +animal-baiting is said to be used "one day of every four days"--a +possible error for "fourteen days." In the manuscript notes to the +Phillipps copy of Stow's _Survey_ (1631), we are told that baiting was +used at the Hope on Tuesdays and Thursdays; but the anonymous +commentator is very inaccurate.] + +[Footnote 548: The Rose Playhouse was likewise affected. Dekker, in +_Satiromastix_, III, iv, says: "Th'ast a breath as sweet as the Rose +that grows by the Bear Garden."] + +In March, 1614,--that is, at the completion of one full year under the +joint management of Henslowe and Rosseter,--the amalgamated company +was "broken," and Rosseter withdrew, selling his interest in the +company's apparel to Henslowe and Meade for £63. The latter at once +reorganized the actors under the patent of the Lady Elizabeth's Men, +and continued them at the Hope.[549] The general excellence of the +troupe thus formed is referred to by John Taylor, the Water-Poet, in +the lines: + + And such a company (I'll boldly say) + That better (nor the like) e'er play'd a play.[550] + +[Footnote 549: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 87. The articles of +agreement between Henslowe and Meade and the company, are printed by +Greg on page 23.] + +[Footnote 550: _Works_, Folio of 1630; The Spenser Society's reprint, +p. 307.] + +But this encomium may have been in large measure due to gratitude, for +the company had just saved the Water-Poet from a very embarrassing +situation. The amusing episode which gave occasion to this deserves to +be chronicled in some detail. + +With "a thousand bills posted over the city" Taylor had advertised to +the public that at the Hope Playhouse on October 7, 1614, he would +engage in a contest of wit with one William Fennor, who proudly styled +himself "The King's Majesty's Riming Poet."[551] On the appointed day +the house was "fill'd with a great audience" that had paid extra money +to hear the contest between two such well-known extemporal wits. But +Fennor did not appear. The result may best be told by Taylor himself: + + I then stept out, their angers to appease; + But they all raging, like tempestuous seas, + Cry'd out, their expectations were defeated, + And how they all were cony-catch'd and cheated. + Some laught, some swore, some star'd and stamp'd and curst, + And in confusèd humors all out burst. + I (as I could) did stand the desp'rate shock, + And bid the brunt of many dang'rous knock. + For now the stinkards, in their ireful wraths, + Bepelted me with lome, with stones, with laths. + One madly sits like bottle-ale and hisses; + Another throws a stone, and 'cause he misses, + He yawnes and bawles, ... + Some run to th' door to get again their coin ... + One valiantly stepped upon the stage, + And would tear down the hangings in his rage ... + What I endur'd upon that earthly hell + My tongue or pen cannot describe it well.[552] + +[Footnote 551: Fennor is not to be confused (as is commonly done) with +Vennar (see p. 177). Such wit-contests were popular; Fennor had +recently challenged Kendall, on the Fortune Stage.] + +[Footnote 552: John Taylor's _Works_, Folio of 1630, p. 142; The +Spenser Society's reprint, p. 304.] + +At this point the actors came to his rescue and presented a play that +mollified the audience. Taylor had to content himself with a printed +justification. The bitter invective of Taylor against Fennor, +Fennor's reply, and Taylor's several answers are to be found in the +folio edition of the Water-Poet's works. The episode doubtless +furnished much amusement to the city. + +Some three weeks after this event, on October 31, 1614, the Lady +Elizabeth's Men produced with great success Jonson's _Bartholomew +Fair_; and on November 1 they were called upon to give the play at +Court. But the career of the company was in the main unhappy. Henslowe +managed their affairs on the theory that "should these fellows come +out of my debt, I should have no rule with them."[553] Accordingly in +three years he "broke" and again reorganized them no fewer than five +times. + +[Footnote 553: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 89.] + +At last, in February, 1615, he not only "broke" the company, but +severed his connection with them for ever. He turned the hired men +over to other troupes, and sold the stock of apparel "to strangers" +for £400. The indignant actors, in June, 1615, drew up "Articles of +Grievance" in which they charged Henslowe with having extorted from +the company by unjust means the sum of £567; and also "Articles of +Oppression" in which they accused him of various dishonorable +practices in his dealings with them.[554] + +[Footnote 554: _Ibid._, pp. 86, 89.] + +Shortly after severing his connection with the Lady Elizabeth's Men, +Henslowe, in March, 1615, seems to have taken over Prince Charles's +Men, who, it appears, had been acting at the Swan. To this new +company--the "strangers" referred to, I think--he had already +transferred some of the hirelings, and had sold the Hope stock of +apparel for £400. + +Henslowe died early in January of the following year, 1616, and his +interest in the theatre passed to Edward Alleyn. On March 20, 1616, +Alleyn and Meade engaged Prince Charles's Men to continue at the Hope +"according to the former articles of agreement had and made with the +said Philip [Henslowe] and Jacob [Meade]."[555] The actors +acknowledged themselves indebted to Henslowe "for a stock of apparel +used for playing apparel, to the value of £400, heretofore delivered +unto them by the said Philip,"[556]--the stock formerly used by the +Lady Elizabeth's Men; and Alleyn and Meade agreed to accept £200 in +full discharge of that debt.[557] + +[Footnote 555: Collier, _Memoirs of Edward Alleyn_, p. 127; Greg, +_Henslowe Papers_, p. 91.] + +[Footnote 556: Collier, _Memoirs of Edward Alleyn_, p. 127.] + +[Footnote 557: My interpretation of the relation of Henslowe to Prince +Charles's Men differs from the interpretation given by Fleay and +adopted by Greg and others. For the evidence bearing on the case see +Fleay, _Stage_, pp. 188, 262; Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_, II, 138; Greg, +_Henslowe Papers_, p. 90, note; Chambers, _Modern Language Review_, +IV, 165; Cunningham, _Revels_, p. xliv; Wallace, _Englische Studien_, +XLIII, 390; Murray, _English Dramatic Companies_.] + +In the winter of 1616-17, Prince Charles's Men quarreled with Meade, +who had appropriated an extra day for his bear-baiting. Rosseter had +just completed a new private theatre in Porter's Hall, Blackfriars, +and that stood invitingly open. So about February they abandoned the +Hope, and wrote a letter of explanation to Edward Alleyn: "I hope you +mistake not our removal from the Bankside. We stood the intemperate +weather, 'till more intemperate Mr. Meade thrust us over, taking the +day from us which by course was ours."[558] + +[Footnote 558: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, p. 93. Cf. also the chapter on +"Rosseter's Blackfriars."] + +After the company quarreled with Meade and deserted the Hope, there is +no evidence that the building was again used for plays. It became +associated almost entirely with animal-baiting, fencing, feats of +activity, and such-like performances; and gradually the very name +"Hope," which was identified with acting, gave way to the earlier +designation "Bear Garden." In 1632 the author of _Holland's Leaguer_ +remarks that "wild beasts and gladiators did most possess it"; and +such must have been the chief use of the building down to 1642, when +animal-baiting was prohibited by Parliament.[559] + +[Footnote 559: Collier, _The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ +(1879), III, 102; Ordish, _Early London Theatres_, p. 237.] + +On January 14, 1647, at the disposition of the Church lands, the Hope +was sold for £1783 15_s._[560] + +[Footnote 560: Arthur Tiler, _St. Saviour's_, p. 51; Reed's Dodsley, +IX, 175.] + +In certain manuscript notes entered in the Phillipps copy of Stow's +_Annals_ (1631), we read: + + The Hope, on the Bankside, in Southwarke, commonly called + the Bear Garden, a playhouse for stage-plays on Mondays, + Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and for the baiting of + Bears on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the stage being made to + take up and down when they please. It was built in the year + 1610, and now pulled down to make tenements, by Thomas + Walker, a petticoat-maker in Cannon Street, on Tuesday, the + 25 day of March, 1656. Seven of Mr. Godfrey's bears, by the + command of Thomas Pride, then high sheriff of Surrey, were + then shot to death on Saturday the 9 day of February, 1655 + [i.e. 1656], by a company of soldiers.[561] + +[Footnote 561: Printed in _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314. As +to "Mr. Godfrey" see Collier, _The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ +(1879), III, 102.] + +The mistakes in the earlier part of this note are obvious, yet the +latter part is so circumstantial that we cannot well doubt its general +accuracy. The building, however, was not pulled down "to the ground," +though its interior may have been converted into tenements. + +At the Restoration, when the royal sport of bear-baiting was revived, +the Hope was again fitted up as an amphitheatre and opened to the +public. The Earl of Manchester, on September 29, 1664, wrote to the +city authorities, requesting that the butchers be required, as of old, +to provide food for the dogs and bears: + + He had been informed by the Master of His Majesty's Game of + Bears and Bulls, and others, that the Butchers' Company had + formerly caused all their offal in Eastcheap and Newgate + Market to be conveyed by the beadle of that Company unto + two barrow houses, conveniently placed on the river side, + for the provision and feeding of the King's Game of Bears, + which custom had been interrupted in the late troubles when + the bears were killed. His Majesty's game being now removed + to the usual place on the Bankside, by Order of the Council, + he recommended the Court of Aldermen to direct the Master + and Wardens of the Butchers' Company to have their offal + conveyed as formerly for the feeding of the bears, &c.[562] + +[Footnote 562: _The Remembrancia_, p. 478. Quoted by Ordish, _Early +London Theatres_, p. 241.] + +For some years the Bear Garden flourished as it had in the days of +Elizabeth and James. It was frequently visited by Samuel Pepys, who +has left vivid accounts of several performances there. In his _Diary_, +August 14, 1666, he writes: + + After dinner with my wife and Mercer to the Bear-garden; + where I have not been, I think, of many years, and saw some + good sport of the bull's tossing of the dogs: one into the + very boxes. But it is a very rude and nasty pleasure. We had + a great many hectors in the same box with us (and one, very + fine, went into the pit, and played his dog for a wager, + which was a strange sport for a gentleman), where they drank + wine, and drank Mercer's health first; which I pledged with + my hat off. + +John Evelyn, likewise, in his _Diary_, June 16, 1670, records a visit +to the Bear Garden: + + I went with some friends to the Bear Garden, where was + cock-fighting, dog-fighting, bear- and bull-baiting, it + being a famous day for all these butcherly sports, or rather + barbarous cruelties. The bulls did exceeding well; but the + Irish wolf-dog exceeded, which was a tall greyhound, a + stately creature indeed, who beat a cruel mastiff. One of + the bulls tossed a dog full into a lady's lap as she sat in + one of the boxes at a considerable height from the arena. + Two poor dogs were killed; and so all ended with the ape on + horseback, and I most heartily weary of the rude and dirty + pastime, which I had not seen, I think, in twenty years + before. + +On January 7, 1676, the Spanish Ambassador was entertained at the Bear +Garden, as we learn from a warrant, dated March 28, 1676, for the +payment of £10 "to James Davies, Esq., Master of His Majesty's Bears, +Bulls, and Dogs, for making ready the rooms at the Bear Garden, and +baiting of the bears before the Spanish Ambassador, the 7 January +last, 1675 {6}."[563] + +[Footnote 563: British Museum Additional MSS. 5750; quoted by +Cunningham, _Handbook of London_ (1849), I, 67.] + +Rendle[564] quotes from _The Loyal Protestant_ an advertisement of an +entertainment to be given so late as 1682 "at the Hope on the +Bankside, being His Majesty's Bear Garden." And Malcolm writes the +following account of the baiting of a horse there in April of the same +year: + + Notice was given in the papers that on the twelfth of April + a horse, of uncommon strength, and between 18 and 19 hands + high, would be _baited to death at his Majesty's + Bear-Garden_ at the Hope on the Bankside, for the amusement + of the Morocco ambassador, many of the nobility who knew the + horse, and any others who would pay the price of admission. + It seems this animal originally belonged to the Earl of + Rochester, and being of a ferocious disposition, had killed + several of his brethren; for which misdeed he was sold to + the Earl of Dorchester; in whose service, committing several + similar offenses, he was transferred to the worse than + savages who kept the Bear-Garden. On the day appointed + several dogs were set upon the vindictive steed, which he + destroyed or drove from the arena; at this instant his + owners determined to preserve him for a future day's sport, + and directed a person to lead him away; but before the horse + had reached London Bridge the spectators demanded the + fulfilment of the promise of baiting him to death, and began + to destroy the building: to conclude, the poor beast was + brought back, and other dogs set upon him, without effect, + when he was stabbed to death with a sword.[565] + +[Footnote 564: _The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer_, VIII, +59.] + +[Footnote 565: James Peller Malcolm, _Anecdotes of the Manners and +Customs of London from the Roman Invasion to the Year 1700_ (London, +1811), p. 425.] + +This is the last reference to the Hope that I have been able to +discover. Soon after this date the "royal sport of bulls, bears, and +dogs" was moved to Hockley-in-the-hole, Clerkenwell, where, as the +advertisements inform us, at "His Majesty's Bear Garden" the baiting +of animals was to be frequently seen.[566] Strype, in his _Survey of +London_, thus describes Bear Garden Alley on the Bankside: + + Bear Alley runs into Maiden Lane. Here is a Glass House; and + about the middle is a new-built Court, well inhabited, + called Bear Garden Square, so called as built in the place + where the _Bear Garden_ formerly stood, until removed to the + other side of the water: which is more convenient for the + butchers, and such like who are taken with such rustic + sports as the baiting of bears and bulls.[567] + +[Footnote 566: The earliest advertisement of the Bear Garden at +Hockley-in-the-hole that I have come upon is dated 1700. For a +discussion of the sports there see J.P. Malcolm, _Anecdotes of the +Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century_ (1808), +p. 321; Cunningham, _Handbook of London_, under "Hockley"; W.B. +Boulton, _Amusements of Old London_, vol. I, chap. I.] + +[Footnote 567: Ordish (_Early London Theatres_, p. 242) is mistaken in +thinking that the old building was converted into a glass house. He +says: "The last reference to the Hope shows that it had declined to +the point of extinction," and he quotes an advertisement from the +_Gazette_, June 18, 1681, as follows: "There is now made at the Bear +Garden glass-house, on the Bankside, crown window-glass, much +exceeding French glass in all its qualifications, which may be squared +into all sizes of sashes for windows, and other uses, and may be had +at most glaziers in London." From Strype's _Survey_ it is evident that +the glass house was in Bear Garden Alley, but not on the site of the +old Bear Garden.] + +In the map which he gives of this region (reproduced on page 245) the +position of the Hope is clearly marked by the square near the middle +of Bear Alley. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ROSSETER'S BLACKFRIARS, OR PORTER'S HALL + + +Philip Rosseter, the poet and musician, first appears as a theatrical +manager in 1610, when he secured a royal patent for the Children of +the Queen's Revels to act at Whitefriars. This company performed there +successfully under his management until March, 1613, when, for some +unknown reason, he formed a partnership with Philip Henslowe, who was +managing the Lady Elizabeth's Men at the Swan. The two companies were +combined, and the new organization, under the name of "The Lady +Elizabeth's Men," made use of both playhouses, the Swan as a summer +and the Whitefriars as a winter home. + +As already explained in the preceding chapters, Rosseter's lease on +the Whitefriars Playhouse was to expire in 1614, and apparently he was +unable to renew the lease.[568] Naturally he and his partner Henslowe +were anxious to secure a private playhouse in the city to serve as a +winter home for their troupe, especially since the Swan was poorly +situated for winter patronage. This may explain the following entry in +Sir George Buc's Office-Book: "July 13, 1613, for a license to erect a +new playhouse in Whitefriars &c. £20."[569] The new playhouse, +however, was not built. Probably the opposition of the inhabitants of +the district led to its prohibition. + +[Footnote 568: Nathaniel Field, the leading actor at Whitefriars, +published _A Woman is a Weathercock_ in 1612, with the statement to +the reader: "If thou hast anything to say to me, thou know'st where to +hear of me for a year or two, and no more, I assure thee." Possibly +this reflects the failure of the managers to renew the lease; after +1614 Field did not know where he would be acting. But editors have +generally regarded it as meaning that Field intended to withdraw from +acting.] + +[Footnote 569: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 52.] + +At the expiration of one year, in March, 1614, Rosseter withdrew from +his partnership with Henslowe, and on the old patent of the Children +of the Queen's Revels (which he had retained) organized a new company +to travel in the country. + +In the following year, 1615, he and certain others, Philip Kingman, +Robert Jones, and Ralph Reeve, secured a lease of "diverse buildings, +cellars, sollars, chambers, and yards for the building of a playhouse +thereupon for the better practising and exercise of the said Children +of the Revels; all which premises are situate and being within the +precinct of the Blackfriars, near Puddlewharf, in the suburbs of +London, called by the name of the Lady Saunders's House, or otherwise +Porter's Hall."[570] It was their purpose to convert this hall into a +playhouse to rival the near-by Blackfriars; and in accordance with +this purpose, on June 3, 1615, Rosseter secured a royal license under +the Great Seal of England "to erect, build, and set up in and upon the +said premises before mentioned one convenient playhouse for the said +Children of the Revels, the same playhouse to be used by the Children +of the Revels for the time being of the Queene's Majesty, and for the +Prince's Players, and for the Lady Elizabeth's Players."[571] + +[Footnote 570: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 277. For the +location of Puddlewharf see the map of the Blackfriars precinct on +page 94.] + +[Footnote 571: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 277.] + +The work of converting Porter's Hall into a playhouse seems to have +begun at once. On September 26, 1615, the Privy Council records "that +one Rosseter, and others, having obtained license under the Great Seal +of England for the building of a playhouse, have pulled down [i.e., +stripped the interior of] a great messuage in Puddlewharf, which was +sometimes the house of the Lady Saunders, within the precinct of the +Blackfriars, and are now erecting a new playhouse in that place."[572] + +[Footnote 572: _Ibid._, p. 373.] + +The city authorities, always hostile to the actors and jealous of any +new theatres, made so vigorous a complaint to the Privy Council that +the Lords of the Council "thought fit to send for Rosseter." He came, +bringing his royal license. This document was carefully "perused by +the Lord Chief Justice of England," who succeeded in discovering in +the wording of one of its clauses a trivial flaw that would enable the +Privy Council, on a technicality, to prohibit the building: "The Lord +Chief Justice did deliver to their Lordships that the license granted +to the said Rosseter did extend to the building of a playhouse without +the liberties of London, and not within the city."[573] Now, in 1608 +the liberty of Blackfriars had by a special royal grant been placed +within the jurisdiction of the city. Rosseter's license unluckily had +described the Lady Saunders's house as being "in the suburbs," though, +of course, the description was otherwise specific enough: "all which +premises are situate and being within the precinct of the Blackfriars, +near Puddlewharf, in the suburbs of London, called by the name of the +Lady Saunders's House, or otherwise Porter's Hall." + +[Footnote 573: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 373.] + +Since "the inconveniences urged by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen were +many," the Lords of the Privy Council decided to take advantage of the +flaw discovered by the Lord Chief Justice, and prohibit the erection +of the playhouse. Their order, issued September 26, 1615, reads as +follows: + + It was this day ordered by their Lordships that there shall + be no playhouse erected in that place, and that the Lord + Mayor of London shall straightly prohibit the said Rosseter + and the rest of the patentees, and their workmen to proceed + in the making and converting the said building into a + playhouse. And if any of the patentees or their workmen + shall proceed in their intended building contrary to this + their Lordships' inhibition, that then the Lord Mayor shall + commit him or them so offending unto prison and certify + their Lordships of their contempt in that behalf.[574] + +[Footnote 574: _Ibid._] + +This order, for the time being, halted work on the new playhouse. The +Children of the Revels were forced to spend the next year traveling in +the provinces; and the Lady Elizabeth's Men and Prince Charles's Men +had to remain on the Bankside and endure the oppressions of Henslowe +and later of Meade. Possibly their sufferings at the hands of Meade +led them to urge Rosseter to complete at once the much desired house +in the city. At any rate, in the winter of 1616, Rosseter, believing +himself strongly enough entrenched behind his royal patent, resumed +work on converting Porter's Hall into a theatre. The city authorities +issued "diverse commandments and prohibitions," but he paid no +attention to these, and pushed the work to completion. The building +seems to have been ready for the actors about the first of January, +1617. Thereupon the company which had been occupying the Hope deserted +that playhouse and "came over" to Rosseter's Blackfriars.[575] In the +new playhouse they presented Nathaniel Field's comedy, _Amends for +Ladies_, which was printed the following year "as it was acted at the +Blackfriars both by the Prince's Servants and the Lady Elizabeth's." + +[Footnote 575: See the chapter on "The Hope."] + +The actors, however, were not allowed to enjoy their new home very +long. On January 27, 1617, the Privy Council dispatched the following +letter to the Lord Mayor: + + Whereas His Majesty is informed that notwithstanding diverse + commandments and prohibitions to the contrary, there be + certain persons that go about to set up a playhouse in the + Blackfriars near unto His Majesty's Wardrobe, and for that + purpose have lately erected and made fit a building, which + is almost if not fully finished. You shall understand that + His Majesty hath this day expressly signified his pleasure + that the same shall be pulled down, so as it be made unfit + for any such use; whereof we require your Lordship to take + notice and to cause it to be performed accordingly, with all + speed, and thereupon to certify us of your proceeding. + +There can be no doubt that an order so peremptory, carrying the +authority both of the Privy Council and of the King, and requiring an +immediate report, was performed "with all speed." After this we hear +nothing more of the playhouse in Puddlewharf.[576] + +[Footnote 576: I can find no further reference to the Puddlewharf +Theatre either in the _Records_ of the Privy Council or in the +_Remembrancia_ of the City. Collier, however, in his _History of +English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), I, 384, says: "The city authorities +proceeded immediately to the work, and before three days had elapsed, +the Privy Council was duly and formally made acquainted with the fact +that Rosseter's theatre had been 'made unfit for any such use' as that +for which it had been constructed." Collier fails to cite his +authority for the statement; the passage he quotes may be found in the +order of the Privy Council printed above.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PHOENIX, OR COCKPIT IN DRURY LANE + + +The private playhouse opened in Drury Lane[577] in 1617 seems to have +been officially named "The Phoenix"; but to the players and the +public alike it was more commonly known as "The Cockpit." This implies +some earlier connection of the site or of the building with +cock-fighting, from time out of mind a favorite sport in England. +Stowe writes in his _Survey_: "Cocks of the game are yet cherished by +diverse men for their pleasures, much money being laid on their heads, +when they fight in pits, whereof some be costly made for that +purpose." These pits, it seems, were circular in shape, and if large +enough might well be used for dramatic purposes. Shakespeare, in +_Henry V_ (1599), likens his playhouse to a cockpit: + + Can this cockpit hold + The vasty fields of France? or may we cram + Within this wooden O the very casques + That did affright the air at Agincourt? + +[Footnote 577: Its exact position in Drury Lane is indicated by an +order of the Privy Council, June 8, 1623, concerning the paving of a +street at the rear of the theatre: "Whereas the highway leading along +the backside of the Cockpit Playhouse near Lincolns Inn Fields, and +the street called Queens Street adjoining to the same, are become very +foul," etc. (See The Malone Society _Collections_, I, 383. Queens +Street may be readily found in Faithorne's _Map of London_.) Malone +(_Variorum_, III, 53) states that "it was situated opposite the Castle +Tavern." The site is said to be marked by Pit Court.] + +It is possible, then, that the building was an old cockpit made into a +playhouse. Howes,[578] in enumerating the London theatres, says: "Five +inns or common hostelries turned into playhouses, one cockpit, St. +Paul's singing-school," etc. And Thomas Randolph, in verses prefixed +to James Shirley's _Grateful Servant_ (printed in 1630 as it was acted +"in the private house in Drury Lane"), suggests the same +metamorphosis: + + When thy intelligence on the Cockpit stage + Gives it a soul from her immortal rage, + I hear the Muse's birds with full delight + Sing where the birds of Mars were wont to fight. + +[Footnote 578: Stow's _Annals_ (1631), p. 1004.] + +But in this fantastic conceit Randolph may have been thinking simply +of the name of the theatre; possibly he knew nothing of its early +history. On the whole it seems more likely that the playhouse was +newly erected in 1617 upon the site of an old cockpit. The name +"Phoenix" suggests that possibly the old cockpit had been destroyed +by fire, and that from its ashes had arisen a new building.[579] +Howes describes the Phoenix as being in 1617 "a new playhouse,"[580] +and Camden, who is usually accurate in such matters, refers to it in +the same year as "nuper erectum."[581] + +[Footnote 579: Some scholars have supposed that the playhouse, when +attacked by the apprentices in 1617, was burned, and that the name +"Phoenix" was given to the building after its reconstruction. But +the building was not burned; it was merely wrecked on the inside by +apprentices.] + +[Footnote 580: Continuation of Stow's _Annals_ (1631), p. 1026.] + +[Footnote 581: William Camden, _Annals_, under the date of March 4, +1617. Yet Sir Sidney Lee (_A Life of William Shakespeare_, p. 60) +says, "built about 1610."] + +Of its size and shape all our information comes from James Wright, who +in his _Historia Histrionica_[582] tells us that the Cockpit differed +in no essential feature from Blackfriars and Salisbury Court, "for +they were all three built almost exactly alike for form and bigness." +Since we know that Blackfriars and Salisbury Court were small +rectangular theatres, the former constructed in a hall forty-six feet +broad and sixty-six feet long, the latter erected on a plot of ground +forty-two feet broad and one hundred and forty feet long, we are not +left entirely ignorant of the shape and the approximate size of the +Cockpit.[583] And from Middleton's _Inner Temple Masque_ (1618) we +learn that it was constructed of brick. Its sign, presumably, was that +of a phoenix rising out of flames. + +[Footnote 582: Hazlitt's Dodsley, XV, 408.] + +[Footnote 583: Fleay and Lawrence are wrong in supposing that the +Cockpit was circular.] + +[Illustration: THE SITE OF THE COCKPIT IN DRURY LANE + +The site is marked by Cockpit Court. (From Rocque's _Map of London_, +1746.)] + +The playhouse was erected and managed by Christopher Beeston,[584] one +of the most important actors and theatrical managers of the +Elizabethan period. We first hear of him as a member of Shakespeare's +troupe. In 1602 he joined Worcester's Company. In 1612 he became the +manager of Queen Anne's Company at the Red Bull. He is described at +that time as "a thriving man, and one that was of ability and +means."[585] He continued as manager of the Queen Anne's Men at the +Red Bull until 1617, when he transferred them to his new playhouse in +Drury Lane. + +[Footnote 584: _Alias_ Christopher Hutchinson. Several actors of the +day employed _aliases_: Nicholas Wilkinson, _alias_ Tooley; Theophilus +Bourne, _alias_ Bird; James Dunstan, _alias_ Tunstall, etc. Whether +Beeston admitted other persons to a share in the building I cannot +learn. In a passage quoted by Malone (_Variorum_, III, 121) from the +Herbert Manuscript, dated February 20, 1635, there is a reference to +"housekeepers," indicating that Beeston had then admitted "sharers" in +the proprietorship of the building. And in an order of the Privy +Council, May 12, 1637 (The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 392), we +read: "Command the keepers of the playhouse called the Cockpit in +Drury Lane, who either live in it or have relation to it, not to +permit plays to be acted there till further order."] + +[Footnote 585: Wallace, _Three London Theatres_, p. 35.] + +The playhouse seems to have been ready to receive the players about +the end of February, 1617. We know that they were still performing at +the Red Bull as late as February 23;[586] but by March 4 they had +certainly moved to the Cockpit. + +[Footnote 586: Wallace, _ibid._, pp. 32, 46. John Smith was delivering +silk and other clothes to the Queen Anne's Men at the Red Bull from +1612 until February 23, 1617.] + +On the latter date, during the performance of a play, the Cockpit was +entered by a mob of disorderly persons, who proceeded to demolish the +interior. The occasion for the wrecking of the new playhouse was the +Shrove Tuesday saturnalia of the London apprentices, who from time +immemorial had employed this holiday to pull down houses of ill-fame +in the suburbs. That the Cockpit was situated in the neighborhood of +such houses cannot be doubted. We may suppose that the mob, fresh from +sacking buildings, had crowded into the playhouse in the afternoon, +and before the play was over had wrecked that building too. + +The event created a great stir at the time. William Camden, in his +_Annals_, wrote under the date of March 4, 1617: + + Theatrum ludiorum, nuper erectum in Drury Lane, a furente + multitudine diruitur, et apparatus dilaceratur. + +Howes, in his continuation of Stow's _Annals_, writes: + + Shrove-Tuesday, the fourth of March, many disordered persons + of sundry kinds, amongst whom were very many young boys and + lads, that assembled themselves in Lincolnes Inn Field, + Finsbury Field, in Ratcliffe, and Stepney Field, where in + riotous manner they did beat down the walls and windows of + many victualing houses and of all other houses which they + suspected to be bawdy houses. And that afternoon they + spoiled a new playhouse, and did likewise more hurt in + diverse other places.[587] + +[Footnote 587: _Annals_ (1631), p. 1026.] + +That several persons were killed, and many injured, is disclosed by a +letter from the Privy Council to the Lord Mayor, dated March 5, 1617: + + It is not unknown unto you what tumultuous outrages were + yesterday committed near unto the city of London in diverse + places by a rowt of lewd and loose persons, apprentices and + others, especially in Lincolns Inn Fields and Drury Lane, + where in attempting to pull down a playhouse belonging to + the Queen's Majesty's Servants, there were diverse persons + slain, and others hurt and wounded, the multitude there + assembled being to the number of many thousands, as we are + credibly informed.[588] + +[Footnote 588: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 374. Collier, in +_The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), I, 386, prints a long +ballad on the event; but he does not give its source, and its +genuineness has been questioned. The following year threats to pull +down the Fortune, the Red Bull, and the Cockpit led to the setting of +special watches. See The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 377.] + +The Queen's Men returned to the Red Bull and acted there until their +ruined playhouse could be repaired. Three months later, on June 3, +they again occupied the Cockpit,[589] and continued there until the +death of Queen Anne on March 2, 1619.[590] + +[Footnote 589: Greenstreet, Documents, _The New Shakspere Society's +Transactions_ (1880-86), p. 504.] + +[Footnote 590: Mr. Wallace (_Three London Theatres_, p. 29) says that +the documents he prints make it "as certain as circumstances +unsupported by contemporary declaration can make it, that Queen Anne's +company occupied the Red Bull continuously from the time of its +erection ... till their dissolution, 1619." His documents make it +certain only that Queen Anne's Men occupied the Red Bull until +February 23, 1617. Other documents prove that they occupied the +Cockpit from 1617 until 1619. (Note the letter of the Privy Council +quoted above.) The documents printed by Greenstreet show that Queen +Anne's Men moved to the Cockpit on June 3, 1617, and continued there.] + +This event led to the dissolution of the company. For a year or more +its members had been "falling at variance and strife amongst +themselves," and when the death of the Queen deprived them of a +"service," they "separated and divided themselves into other +companies."[591] As a result of the quarrels certain members of the +company made charges against their former manager, Beeston: "The said +Beeston having from the beginning a greater care for his own private +gain, and not respecting the good of these defendants and the rest of +his fellows and companions, hath in the place and trust aforesaid much +enriched himself, and hath of late given over his coat and +condition,[592] and separated and divided himself from these +defendants, carrying away not only all the furniture and apparel," +etc.[593] The charges against Beeston's honesty may be dismissed; but +it seems clear that he had withdrawn from his former companions, and +was preparing to entertain a new troupe of actors at his playhouse. +And Beeston himself tells us, on November 23, 1619, that "after Her +Majesty's decease, he entered into the service of the most noble +Prince Charles."[594] Thus Prince Charles's Men, after their +unfortunate experiences at the Hope and at Rosseter's Blackfriars, +came to Beeston's playhouse, where they remained until 1622. In the +spring of that year, however, they moved to the Curtain, and the +Princess Elizabeth's Men occupied the Cockpit.[595] Under their +tenancy, the playhouse seems to have attained an enviable reputation. +Heminges and Condell, in the epistle to the readers, prefixed to the +Folio of Shakespeare (1623), bear testimony to this in the following +terms: "And though you be a Magistrate of Wit, and sit on the stage at +Blackfriars, or the Cockpit, to arraign plays daily." A further +indication of their prosperity is to be found in the records of St. +Giles's Church; for when in 1623 the parish undertook the erection of +a new church building, "the players of the Cockpit," we are informed, +contributed the large sum of £20, and the proprietors, represented by +Christopher Beeston, gave £19 1_s._ 5_d._[596] + +[Footnote 591: Wallace, _Three London Theatres_, p. 33.] + +[Footnote 592: He had joined Prince Charles's Men.] + +[Footnote 593: Wallace, _Three London Theatres_, p. 38.] + +[Footnote 594: _Ibid._, p. 40. Fleay, Murray, and others have +contended that the Princess Elizabeth's Men came to the Cockpit in +1619, and have denied the accuracy of the title-page of _The Witch of +Edmonton_ (1658), which declares that play to have been "acted by the +Prince's Servants at the Cockpit often." (See Fleay, _A Chronicle +History of the London Stage_, p. 299.)] + +[Footnote 595: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 59.] + +[Footnote 596: John Parton, _Some Account of the Hospital and Parish +of St. Giles in the Fields_, p. 235. From a parish entry in 1660 we +learn that the players had to contribute 2_d._ to the parish poor for +each day that there was acting at the Cockpit. (See _ibid._, p. 236.)] + +The Princess Elizabeth's Men continued to act at the Cockpit until +May, 1625, when all theatres were closed on account of the plague. +Beeston made this the occasion to organize a new company called "Queen +Henrietta's Men"; and when the theatres were allowed to reopen, about +December, 1625,[597] this new company was in possession of the +Cockpit. But the reputation of the playhouse seems not to have been +enhanced by the performances of this troupe. In 1629, Lenton, in _The +Young Gallant's Whirligig_, writes sneeringly: + + The Cockpit heretofore would serve his wit, + But now upon the Friars' Stage he'll sit. + +[Footnote 597: In the _Middlesex County Records_, III, 6, we find that +on December 6, 1625, because "the drawing of people together to places +was a great means of spreading and continuing the infection ... this +Court doth prohibit the players of the house at the Cockpit, being +next to His Majesty's Court at Whitehall, commanding them to surcease +all such their proceedings until His Majesty's pleasure be further +signified." Apparently the playhouses in general had been allowed to +resume performances; and since by December 24 there had been no deaths +from the plague for a week, the special inhibition of the Cockpit +Playhouse was soon lifted.] + +And in the following year, 1630, Thomas Carew in verses prefixed to +Davenport's _Just Italian_, attacks the Red Bull and the Cockpit as +"adulterate" stages where "noise prevails," and "not a tongue of th' +untun'd kennel can a line repeat of serious sense." Queen Henrietta's +Men probably continued to occupy the building until May 12, 1636, when +the theatres were again closed on account of a serious outbreak of the +plague. The plague continued for nearly a year and a half, and during +this time the company was dissolved.[598] + +[Footnote 598: "When Her Majesty's Servants were at the Cockpit, being +all at liberty, they dispersed themselves to several companies." +(Heton's Patent, 1639, _The Shakespeare Society Papers_, IV, 96.)] + +Before the plague had ceased, early in 1637, "Mr. Beeston was +commanded to make a company of boys."[599] In the Office-Book of the +Lord Chamberlain we find, under the date of February 21, 1637: +"Warrant to swear Mr. Christopher Beeston His Majesty's Servant in the +place of Governor of the new company of The King's and Queen's +Boys."[600] The first recorded performance by this new company was at +Court on February 7, 1637.[601] On February 23, the number of deaths +from the plague having diminished, acting was again permitted; but at +the expiration of one week, on March 2, the number of deaths having +increased, all playhouses were again closed. During this single week +the King's and Queen's Boys, we may suppose, acted at the +Cockpit.[602] + +[Footnote 599: Herbert Manuscript, Malone, _Variorum_, III, 240.] + +[Footnote 600: Stopes, "Shakespeare's Fellows and Followers," +Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVI, 99. In 1639 Heton applied for a patent +as "Governor" of the company at Salisbury Court.] + +[Footnote 601: On May 10 Beeston was paid for "two plays acted by the +New Company." See Stopes, "Shakespeare's Fellows and Followers," in +the Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVI, 99.] + +[Footnote 602: Herbert Manuscript, Malone, _Variorum_, III, 240.] + +On May 12, Beeston was arrested and brought before the Privy Council +for having allowed his Boys to act a play at the Cockpit during the +inhibition.[603] In his apology he explains this as follows: +"Petitioner being commanded to erect and prepare a company of young +actors for Their Majesties's service, and being desirous to know how +they profited by his instructions, invited some noblemen and +gentlemen to see them act at his house, the Cockpit. For which, since +he perceives it is imputed as a fault, he is very sorry, and craves +pardon."[604] + +[Footnote 603: The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 392.] + +[Footnote 604: _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1636-1637_, p. +254.] + +On September 17, 1637, "Christopher Beeston, His Majesty's servant, by +petition to the Board, showed that he hath many young actors lying +unpractised by reason of the restraint occasioned by infection of the +plague, whereby they are much disabled to perform their service, and +besought that they might have leave to practise. It was ordered that +Beeston should be at liberty to practise his actors at Michaelmas next +[September 29], if there be no considerable increase of the sickness, +nor that there die more than died last week."[605] + +[Footnote 605: _Ibid._, _1637_, p. 420.] + +On October 2, 1637, the plague having abated, all playhouses were +opened, and the King's and Queen's Boys, Herbert tells us, began to +play at the Cockpit "the same day."[606] Here, under the popular name +of "Beeston's Boys," they enjoyed a long and successful career, which +ended only with the prohibition of acting in 1642. + +[Footnote 606: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 240.] + +In 1639 Christopher Beeston died, and the position of Governor of the +Boys was conferred upon his son, William Beeston, who had long been +associated in the management of the company,[607] and who, if we may +believe Francis Kirkman, was admirably qualified for the position. In +dedicating to him _The Loves and Adventures of Clerico and Lozia_, +Kirkman says: + + Divers times in my hearing, to the admiration of the whole + company, you have most judiciously discoursed of Poesie: + which is the cause I presume to choose you for my patron and + protector, who are the happiest interpreter and judge of our + English stage-plays this nation ever produced; which the + poets and actors of these times cannot (without ingratitude) + deny; for I have heard the chief and most ingenious + acknowledge their fames and profits essentially sprung from + your instruction, judgment, and fancy. + +[Footnote 607: He is referred to as their Governor on August 10, 1639; +see Malone, _Variorum_, III, 159.] + +But in spite of all this, William Beeston's career as Governor was of +short duration. About the first of May, 1640, he allowed the Boys to +act without license a play that gave great offense to the King. +Herbert, the Master of the Revels, writes of this play that it "had +relation to the passages of the King's journey into the north, and was +complained of by His Majesty to me, with command to punish the +offenders."[608] In the Office-Book of the Lord Chamberlain, under the +date of May 3, 1640, we read: + + Whereas William Beeston and the company of the players of + the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, have lately acted a new play + without any license from the Master of His Majesty's Revels, + and being commanded to forbear playing or acting of the same + play by the said Master of the Revels, and commanded + likewise to forbear all manner of playing, have + notwithstanding, in contempt of the authority of the said + Master of the Revels, and the power granted unto him under + the Great Seal of England, acted the said play, and others, + to the prejudice of His Majesty's service, and in contempt + of the Office of the Revels, [whereby] he and they and all + other companies ever have been and ought to be governed and + regulated: These are therefore in His Majesty's name, and + signification of his royal pleasure, to command the said + William Beeston and the rest of that company of the Cockpit + players from henceforth and upon sight hereof, to forbear to + act any plays whatsoever until they shall be restored by the + said Master of the Revels unto their former liberty. Whereof + all parties concernable are to take notice, and conform + accordingly, as they and every one of them will answer it at + their peril.[609] + +[Footnote 608: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 241.] + +[Footnote 609: Collier, _The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ +(1879), II, 32; Stopes, _op. cit._, p. 102.] + +Herbert records in his Office-Book: + + On Monday the 4 May, 1640, William Beeston was taken by a + messenger and committed to the Marshalsea by my Lord + Chamberlain's warrant, for playing a play without license. + The same day the company at the Cockpit was commanded by my + Lord Chamberlain's warrant to forbear playing, for playing + when they were forbidden by me, and for other disobedience, + and lay still Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday, + at my Lord Chamberlain's entreaty, I gave them their + liberty, and upon their petition of submission subscribed by + the players, I restored them to their liberty on + Thursday.[610] + +[Footnote 610: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 241. Herbert did not forget +Beeston's insubordination, and in 1660, in issuing to Beeston a +license to use the Salisbury Court Playhouse, he inserted clauses to +prevent further difficulty of this kind (see _Variorum_, III, 243).] + +To this period of Beeston's imprisonment I should refer the puzzling +Epilogue of Brome's _The Court Beggar_: + + There's wit in that now. But this small Poet vents none but + his own, and his by whose care and directions this Stage is + govern'd, who has for many years, both in his father's days, + and since, directed Poets to write and Players to speak, + till he trained up these youths here to what they are now. + Aye, some of 'em from before they were able to say a grace + of two lines long to have more parts in their pates than + would fill so many Dry-vats. And to be serious with you, if + after all this, by the venomous practice of some, who study + nothing more than his destruction, he should fail us, both + Poets and Players would be at loss in reputation. + +His "destruction" was wrought, nevertheless, for as a result of his +indiscretion he was deposed from his position as Governor of the +King's and Queen's Company, and William Davenant was appointed in his +place. In the Office-Book of the Lord Chamberlain under the date of +June 27, 1640,[611] appears the following entry with the heading, "Mr. +Davenant Governor of the Cockpit Players": + + Whereas in the playhouse or theatre commonly called the + Cockpit, in Drury Lane, there are a company of players + authorized by me (as Lord Chamberlain to His Majesty) to + play or act under the title of The King's and Queen's + Servants, and that by reason of some disorders lately + amongst them committed they are disabled in their service + and quality: These are therefore to signify that by the same + authority I do authorize and appoint William Davenant, + Gent., one of Her Majesty's servants, for me and in my name + to take into his government and care the said company of + players, to govern, order, and dispose of them for action + and presentments, and all their affairs in the said house, + as in his discretion shall seem best to conduce to His + Majesty's service in that quality. And I do hereby enjoin + and command them, all and every of them, that are so + authorized to play in the said house under the privilege of + His or Her Majesty's Servants, and every one belonging as + prentices or servants to those actors to play under the same + privilege, that they obey the said Mr. Davenant and follow + his orders and directions, as they will answer the contrary; + which power and privilege he is to continue and enjoy during + that lease which Mrs. Elizabeth Beeston, _alias_ Hucheson, + hath or doth hold in the said playhouse, provided he be + still accountable to me for his care and well ordering the + said company.[612] + +[Footnote 611: Stopes (_op. cit._) dates this June 5, but Collier, +Malone, and Chalmers all give June 27, and Mrs. Stopes is not always +quite accurate in such matters.] + +[Footnote 612: Collier, _The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ +(1879), II, 32, note 1.] + +Under the direction of Davenant the company acted at the Cockpit until +the closing of the theatres two years later. + +The history of the playhouse during the troubled years that followed +is varied. In the churchwarden's account of St. Giles's Parish is +found the entry: "1646. Paid and given to the teacher at the Cockpit +of the children, 6_d._"[613] Apparently the old playhouse was then +being temporarily used as a school. + +[Footnote 613: John Parton, _Some Account of the Hospital and Parish +of St. Giles in the Fields_, p. 235.] + +Wright, in his _Historia Histrionica_, tells us that at the outbreak +of the civil war most of the actors had joined the royal army and +served His Majesty, "though in a different, yet more honorable +capacity." Some were killed, many won distinction; and "when the wars +were over, and the royalists totally subdued, most of 'em who were +left alive gathered to London, and for a subsistence endeavored to +revive their old trade privately. They made up one company out of all +the scattered members of several, and in the winter before the King's +murder, 1648, they ventured to act some plays, with as much caution +and privacy as could be, at the Cockpit." John Evelyn records in his +_Diary_, under the date of February 5, 1648: "Saw a tragicomedy acted +in the Cockpit after there had been none of these diversions for many +years during the war." Trouble, however, was brewing for these daring +actors. As Wright records: "They continued undisturbed for three or +four days, but at last, as they were presenting the tragedy of _The +Bloody Brother_ (in which Lowin acted Aubery; Taylor, Rollo; Pollard, +the Cook; Burt, Latorch; and, I think, Hart, Otto), a party of +foot-soldiers beset the house, surprised 'em about the middle of the +play, and carried 'em away in their habits, not admitting them to +shift, to Hatton House, then a prison, where, having detained them +some time, they plundered them of their clothes, and let 'em loose +again."[614] + +[Footnote 614: Hazlitt's Dodsley, XV, 409.] + +In 1649 the interior of the building was sacked, if we may trust the +manuscript note entered in the Phillipps copy of Stow's _Annals_ +(1631): "The playhouse in Salisbury Court, in Fleet Street, was pulled +down by a company of soldiers set on by the sectaries of these sad +times, on Saturday the 24 day of March, 1649. The Phoenix, in Drury +Lane, was pulled down also this day, being Saturday the 24 day of +March, 1649, by the same soldiers."[615] In the passage quoted, +"pulled-down" merely means that the stage and its equipment, and +possibly a part of the galleries and the seats, were wrecked, not that +the walls of the building itself were thrown down. + +[Footnote 615: See _The Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314. The +soldiers here mentioned also "pulled down on the inside" the Fortune +playhouse.] + +In 1656 Sir William Davenant undertook to create a form of dramatic +entertainment which would be tolerated by the authorities. The Lord +Protector was known to be a lover of music. Sir William, therefore, +applied for permission to give operatic entertainments, "after the +manner of the antients," the "story sung in recitative music," and the +representation made "by the art of perspective in scenes." To such +entertainments, he thought, no one could object. He was wise enough to +give his first performances at Rutland House; but in 1658 he moved to +the Cockpit, where, says Aubrey, "were acted very well, _stylo +recitativo_, _Sir Francis Drake_ and _The Siege of Rhodes_ (1st and 2d +parts). It did affect the eye and ear extremely. This first brought +scenes in fashion in England; before at plays was only a hanging." +Thus the Cockpit had the distinction of being the first English +playhouse in which scenery was employed, and, one should add, the +first English home of the opera.[616] + +[Footnote 616: For a discussion of Davenant's attempts to introduce +the opera into England, see W.J. Lawrence, _The Elizabethan Playhouse_ +(Second Series), pp. 129 ff.] + +Later in the same year, 1658, Davenant exhibited at the Cockpit _The +Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru_; but this performance excited the +suspicion of the authorities, who on December 23 sent for "the poet +and the actors" to explain "by what authority the same is exposed to +public view."[617] + +[Footnote 617: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 93; Collier, _The History of +English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), II, 48.] + +"In the year 1659," writes John Downes in his _Roscius Anglicanus_, +"General Monk marching then his army out of Scotland to London, Mr. +Rhodes, a bookseller, being wardrobe-keeper formerly (as I am +informed) to King Charles the First's company of commedians in +Blackfriars, getting a license from the then governing state,[618] +fitted up a house then for acting, called the _Cockpit_, in Drury +Lane, and in a short time completed his company." If this statement is +correct, the time must have been early in the year 1659-60, and the +company must have attempted at first to play without a proper license. +From the _Middlesex County Records_ (III, 282), we learn that one of +their important actors, Thomas Lilleston, was held under bond for +having performed "a public stage-play this present 4th of February +[1659-60] in the Cockpit in Drury Lane in the parish of St. +Giles-in-the-Fields, contrary to the law in that case made"; and in +the Parish Book[619] of St. Giles we find the entry: "1659. Received +of Isack Smith, which he received at the Cockpit playhouse of several +offenders, by order of the justices, £3 8_s._ 6_d._" Shortly after +this, it is to be presumed, the company under Rhodes's management +secured the "license of the then governing state" mentioned by Downes, +and continued thereafter without interruption. The star of this +company was Betterton, whose splendid acting at once captivated +London. Pepys went often to the theatre, and has left us some +interesting notes of his experiences there. On August 18, 1660, he +writes: + + Captain Ferrers, my Lord's Cornet, comes to us, who after + dinner took me and Creed to the Cockpit play, the first that + I have had time to see since my coming from sea, _The Loyall + Subject_, where one Kinaston, a boy, acted the Duke's + sister, but made the loveliest lady that ever I saw in my + life, only her voice not very good. + +[Footnote 618: For his troubles with the Master of the Revels see +Halliwell-Phillipps, _A Collection of Ancient Documents_, p. 26.] + +[Footnote 619: Parton, _op. cit._, p. 236.] + +Again on October 11, 1660, he writes: + + Here in the Park we met with Mr. Salisbury, who took Mr. + Creed and me to the Cockpit to see _The Moor of Venice_, + which was well done. Burt acted the Moor, by the same token + a very pretty lady that sat by me called out to see + Desdemona smothered. + +The subsequent history of the Cockpit falls outside the scope of the +present treatise. The reader who desires to trace the part the +building played in the Restoration would do well to consult the +numerous documents printed by Malone from the Herbert Manuscript.[620] + +[Footnote 620: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 244 ff.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SALISBURY COURT + + +The Salisbury Court Playhouse[621] was projected and built by two men +whose very names are unfamiliar to most students of the drama--Richard +Gunnell and William Blagrove. Yet Gunnell was a distinguished actor, +and was associated with the ownership and management of at least two +theatres. Even so early as 1613 his reputation as a player was +sufficient to warrant his inclusion as a full sharer in the +Palsgrave's Company, then acting at the Fortune. When the Fortune was +rebuilt after its destruction by fire in 1621, he purchased one of the +twelve shares in the new building, and rose to be manager of the +company.[622] In addition to managing the company he also, as we learn +from the Herbert Manuscript, supplied the actors with plays. In 1623 +he composed _The Hungarian Lion_, obviously a comedy, and in the +following year _The Way to Content all Women, or How a Man May Please +his Wife_.[623] Of William Blagrove I can learn little more than that +he was Deputy to the Master of the Revels. In this capacity he signed +the license for Glapthorne's _Lady Mother_, October 15, 1635; and his +name appears several times in the Herbert Manuscript in connection +with the payments of various companies.[624] Possibly he was related +to Thomas Blagrove who during the reign of Elizabeth was an important +member of the Revels Office, and who for a time served as Master of +the Revels. + +[Footnote 621: The playhouse discussed in this chapter was officially +known as "The Salisbury Court Playhouse," and it should always be +referred to by that name. Unfortunately, owing to its situation near +the district of Whitefriars, it was sometimes loosely, though +incorrectly, called "Whitefriars." Since it had no relation whatever +to the theatre formerly in the Manor-House of Whitefriars, a +perpetuation of this false nomenclature is highly undesirable.] + +[Footnote 622: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 66.] + +[Footnote 623: Chalmers's _Supplemental Apology_, pp. 216-17. He may +also have been the author of a play called _The Masque_, which Herbert +in 1624 licensed: "For the Palsgrave's Company, a new play called _The +Masque_." In the list of manuscript plays collected by Warburton we +find the title _A Mask_, and the authorship ascribed to R. Govell. +Since "R. Govell" is not otherwise heard of, we may reasonably suppose +that this was Warburton's reading of "R. Gunell." Gunnell also +prefixed a poem to the Works of Captain John Smith, 1626.] + +[Footnote 624: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 66, 122, 176, 177.] + +What threw these two men together in a theatrical partnership we do +not know. But in the summer of 1629 they decided to build a private +playhouse to compete with the successful Blackfriars and Cockpit; and +for this purpose they leased from the Earl of Dorset a plot of ground +situated to the east of the precinct of Whitefriars. The ground thus +leased opened on Salisbury Court; hence the name, "The Salisbury Court +Playhouse." In the words of the legal document, the Earl of Dorset "in +consideration that Richard Gunnell and William Blagrove should at +their costs and charges erect a playhouse and other buildings at the +lower end of Salisbury Court, in the parish of St. Bridges, in the +ward of Farringdon Without, did demise to the said Gunnell and +Blagrove a piece of ground at the same lower end of Salisbury Court, +containing one hundred and forty foot in length and forty-two in +breadth ... for forty-one years and a half." The lease was signed on +July 6, 1629. Nine days later, on July 15, the Earl of Dorset, "in +consideration of nine hundred and fifty pounds paid to the said late +Earl by John Herne, of Lincoln's Inn, Esquire, did demise to hire the +said piece of ground and [the] building [i.e., the playhouse] +thereupon to be erected, and the rent reserved upon the said lease +made to Gunnell and Blagrove." Herne's lease was for a term of +sixty-one years. The effect of this second lease was merely to make +Herne, instead of the Earl of Dorset, the landlord of the players. + +[Illustration: A PLAN OF THE SALISBURY COURT PROPERTY + +To illustrate the lease. (Drawn by the author.)] + +The plot of ground selected for the playhouse is described with +exactness in the lease printed below. The letters inserted in brackets +refer to the accompanying diagram (see page 371): + + All that soil and ground whereupon the Barn {A}, at the + lower end of the great back court, or yard of Salisbury + Court, now stands; and so much of the soil whereupon the + whole south end of the great stable in the said court or + yard stands, or contains, from that end of that stable + towards the north end thereof sixteen foot of assize, and + the whole breadth of the said stable {B}; and all the ground + and soil on the east and west side of that stable lying + directly against the said sixteen foot of ground at the + south end thereof between the wall of the great garden + belonging to the mansion called Dorset House and the wall + that severs the said Court from the lane called Water Lane + {C and D}; and all the ground and soil being between the + said walls on the east and west part thereof, and the said + barn, stable, and ground on both side the same on the south + and north parts thereof {E}. Which said several parcells of + soil and ground ... contain, in the whole length ... one + hundred and forty foot of assize, and in breadth ... forty + and two foot of assize, and lies together at the lower end + of the said Court. + +This plot, one hundred and forty feet in length by forty-two in +breadth, was small for its purpose, and the playhouse must have +covered all the breadth and most of the length of the leased +ground;[625] there was no actual need of leaving any part of the plot +vacant, for the theatre adjoined the Court, and "free ingress, egress, +and regress" to the building were stipulated in the lease "by, +through, and on any part of the Court called Salisbury Court." + +[Footnote 625: The Blackfriars auditorium was sixty-six feet in length +and forty-six feet in breadth.] + +At once Gunnell and Blagrove set about the erection of their +playhouse. They may have utilized in some way the "great barn" which +occupied most of their property; one of the legal documents printed by +Cunningham contains the phrase: "and the great barn, which was +afterwards the playhouse."[626] If this be true--I think it very +doubtful--the reconstruction must have been thorough, for Howes, in +his continuation of Stow's _Annals_ (1631), speaks of Salisbury Court +as "a new, fair playhouse";[627] and in all respects it seems to have +ranked with the best. + +[Footnote 626: Cunningham, _The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, +104. In his _Handbook for London_ Cunningham says that the Salisbury +Court Playhouse "was originally the 'barn.'"] + +[Footnote 627: _Annals_ (1631), p. 1004. In 1633 Prynne +(_Histriomastix_) refers to it as a "new theatre erected."] + +We know very little of the building. But Wright, in his _Historia +Histrionica_, informs us that it was "almost exactly like" the two +other private houses, the Blackfriars and the Cockpit: + + _True._ The Blackfriars, Cockpit, and Salisbury Court were + called private houses, and were very small to what we see + now. The Cockpit was standing since the Restoration, and + Rhodes' company acted there for some time. + + _Love._ I have seen that. + + _True._ Then you have seen the other two in effect, for they + were all three built almost exactly alike for form and + bigness.[628] + +[Footnote 628: Collier, _The History of English Dramatic Literature_ +(1879), III, 106, thought that Salisbury Court was a round playhouse, +basing his opinion on a line in Sharpe's _Noble Stranger_ acted at +"the private house in Salisbury Court": "Thy Stranger to the +Globe-like theatre."] + +In spite of what Wright says, however, there is some reason for +believing that Salisbury Court was smaller than the other two private +houses. The Epilogue to _Totenham Court_ refers to it as "my little +house"; and the Epistle affixed to the second edition of _Sir Giles +Goosecappe_ is said to convey the same impression of smallness.[629] + +[Footnote 629: I have not been able to examine this. In the only copy +of the second edition accessible to me the Epistle is missing.] + +According to Malone, Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, was +"one of the proprietors" of the house, and held a "ninth share" in the +profits.[630] This, however, is not strictly accurate. Sir Henry, by +virtue of his power to license playhouses, demanded from each +organization of players an annual fee. The King's Men gave him two +benefit performances a year; Christopher Beeston, on behalf of the +Cockpit in Drury Lane, paid him £60 a year; as for the rest, Herbert +tells us that he had "a share paid by the Fortune Players, and a share +by the Bull Players, and a share by the Salisbury Court Players."[631] +It seems, therefore, that the Salisbury Court organization was divided +into eight shares, and that of the profits an extra, or ninth, share +was set aside as a fee for the Master of the Revels. + +[Footnote 630: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 178.] + +[Footnote 631: Halliwell-Phillipps, _A Collection of Ancient +Documents_, p. 27.] + +The playhouse was ready for use in all probability in the autumn of +1629; and to occupy it a new company of actors was organized, known as +"The King's Revels." The chief members of this company were George +Stutville, John Young, William Cartwright, William Wilbraham, and +Christopher Goad; Gunnell and Blagrove probably acted as managers. In +the books of the Lord Chamberlain we find a warrant for the payment of +£30 to William Blagrove "and the rest of his company" for three plays +acted by the Children of the Revels, at Whitehall, 1631.[632] The +Children continued at Salisbury Court until about December, 1631, when +they abandoned the playhouse in favor of the much larger Fortune, +surrendered by the Palsgrave's Men. + +[Footnote 632: See Mrs. Stopes's extracts from the Lord Chamberlain's +books, in the Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_ (1910), XLVI, 97. This entry +probably led Cunningham to say (_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, +IV, 92) that Blagrove was "Master of the Children of the Revels in the +reign of Charles I."] + +The Palsgrave's Men, who for many years had occupied the Fortune, seem +to have fallen on bad times and to have disbanded. They were +reorganized, however, possibly by their old manager, Richard Gunnell, +and established in Salisbury Court. The Earl of Dorset, who took a +special interest in Salisbury Court, obtained for the troupe a patent +to play under the name of the infant Prince Charles, then little more +than a year old.[633] The patent bears the date of December 7, 1631; +and "The Servants of the High and Mighty Prince Charles" opened at +Salisbury Court very soon after[634] with a play by Marmion entitled +_Holland's Leaguer_. The Prologue refers to the going of the King's +Revels to the Fortune, and the coming of the new troupe to Salisbury +Court: + + Gentle spectators, that with graceful eye + Come to behold the Muses' colony + New planted in this soil, forsook of late + By the inhabitants, since made _Fortunate_. + +[Footnote 633: For Dorset's interest in the matter see Cunningham, +_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, 96.] + +[Footnote 634: In December, 1631; see Malone, _Variorum_, III, 178.] + +The Prologue closes thus: + + That on our branches now new poets sing; + And when with joy he shall see this resort + Phoebus shall not disdain to styl't his _Court_. + +But the audiences at Salisbury Court were not large. For six +performances of the play, says Malone, Sir Henry Herbert received +"but one pound nineteen shillings, in virtue of the ninth share which +he possessed as one of the proprietors of the house."[635] + +[Footnote 635: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 178.] + +Of the "new poets" referred to by the Prologue, one, of course, was +Marmion himself. Another, I venture to say, was James Shirley, who, as +I think, had been engaged to write the company's second play. This was +_The Changes_, brought out at Salisbury Court on January 10. The +Prologue is full of allusions to the company, its recent misfortunes, +and its present attempt to establish itself in its new quarters: + + That Muse, whose song within another sphere[636] + Hath pleased some, and of the best, whose ear + Is able to distinguish strains that are + Clear and Phoebean from the popular + And sinful dregs of the adulterate brain, + By me salutes your candour once again; + And begs this noble favour, that this place, + And weak performances, may not disgrace + His fresh Thalia.[637] 'Las, our poet knows + We have no name; a torrent overflows + Our little island;[638] miserable we + Do every day play our own Tragedy. + But 't is more noble to create than kill, + He says; and if but with his flame, your will + Would join, we may obtain some warmth, and prove + Next them that now do surfeit with your love. + Encourage our beginning. Nothing grew + Famous at first. And, gentlemen, if you + Smile on this barren mountain, soon it will + Become both fruitful and the Muses hill. + +[Footnote 636: The Cockpit, for which Shirley had been writing.] + +[Footnote 637: Cf. "new poets" of Marmion's Prologue.] + +[Footnote 638: An allusion to the smallness of the Salisbury Court +Playhouse?] + +The similarity of this to the Prologue of _Holland's Leaguer_ is +striking; and the Epilogue is written in the same vein: + + Opinion + Comes hither but on crutches yet; the sun + Hath lent no beam to warm us. If this play + Proceed more fortunate, we shall bless the day + And love that brought you hither. 'T is in you + To make a little sprig of laurel grow, + And spread into a grove. + +All scholars who have written on the subject--Collier, Fleay, Greg, +Murray, etc.--have contended that the King's Revels Company did not +leave Salisbury Court until after January 10, 1632, because Herbert +licensed Shirley's _The Changes_ on that date,[639] and the title-page +of the only edition of _The Changes_ states that it was acted at +Salisbury Court by His Majesty's Revels. But Herbert records payments +for six representations of Marmion's _Leaguer_ by Prince Charles's Men +at Salisbury Court "in December, 1631."[640] This latter date must be +correct, for on January 26 _Holland's Leaguer_ was entered on the +Stationers' Register "as it hath been lately and often acted with +great applause ... at the private house in Salisbury Court." +According to the generally accepted theory, however, the King's Men +were still at Salisbury Court, and actually bringing out a new play +there so late as January 10. This error has led to much confusion, and +to no little difficulty for historians of the stage; for example, Mr. +Murray is forced to suppose that two royal patents were granted to +Prince Charles's Company.[641] It seems to me likely that the +title-page of _The Changes_ is incorrect in stating that the play was +acted by the King's Revels. The play must have been acted by the new +and as yet unpopular Prince Charles's Men, who had occupied Salisbury +Court as early as December, and, as Herbert tells us, with poor +success. The various dates cited clearly indicate this; and the +Prologue and the Epilogue are both wholly unsuited for utterance by +the successful Revels Company which had just been "made Fortunate," +but are quite in keeping with the condition of the newly organized and +struggling Prince Charles's Men, who might naturally ask the public to +"encourage our beginning." + +[Footnote 639: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 232. But Malone was a careless +transcriber, and Herbert himself sometimes made errors. Possibly the +correct date is January 10, 1631.] + +[Footnote 640: _Ibid._, III, 178.] + +[Footnote 641: _English Dramatic Companies_, I, 221.] + +Whether Prince Charles's Men ultimately succeeded in winning the favor +of the public we do not know. Presumably they did, for at some date +before 1635 they moved to the large Red Bull Playhouse. Richard Heton +wrote: "And whereas my Lord of Dorset had gotten for a former company +at Salisbury Court the Prince's service, they, being left at liberty, +took their opportunity of another house, and left the house in +Salisbury Court destitute both of a service and company."[642] + +[Footnote 642: Richard Heton, "Instructions for my Pattent," _The +Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, 96.] + +This person, Richard Heton, who describes himself as "one of the +Sewers of Her Majesty's Chamber Extraordinary," had now obtained +control of Salisbury Court, and had become manager of its +affairs.[643] He apparently induced the Company of His Majesty's +Revels to leave the Fortune and return to Salisbury Court, for in 1635 +they acted there Richard Brome's _The Sparagus Garden_. But their +career at Salisbury Court was short; on May 12 of the following year +all playhouses were closed by the plague, and acting was not allowed +again for nearly a year and a half. During this long period of +inactivity, the Company of His Majesty's Revels was largely dispersed. + +[Footnote 643: We find a payment to Richard Heton, "for himself and +the rest of the company of the players at Salisbury Court," for +performing a play before his Majesty at Court, October, 1635. +(Chalmers's _Apology_, p. 509.) Exactly when he took charge of +Salisbury Court I am unable to learn.] + +When at last, on October 2, 1637, the playhouses were allowed to open, +Heton found himself with a crippled troupe of actors. Again the Earl +of Dorset interested himself in the theatre. Queen Henrietta's +Company, which had been at the Cockpit since 1625, having "disperst +themselves," Dorset took "care to make up a new company for the +Queen";[644] and he placed this new company under Heton at Salisbury +Court. Heton writes: "How much I have done for the upbuilding of this +Company, I gave you some particulars of in a petition to my Lord of +Dorset." This reorganization of the Queen's Men explains, perhaps, the +puzzling entry in Herbert's Office-Book, October 2, 1637: "I disposed +of Perkins, Sumner, Sherlock, and Turner, to Salisbury Court, and +joyned them with the best of that company."[645] Doubtless Herbert, +like Dorset, was anxious for the Queen to have a good troupe of +players. This new organization of the Queen's Men continued at +Salisbury Court without interruption, it seems, until the closing of +the playhouses in 1642.[646] + +[Footnote 644: Cunningham, _The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, +96.] + +[Footnote 645: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 240.] + +[Footnote 646: For certain troubles at Salisbury Court in 1644 and +1648, see Collier, _The History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), +II, 37, 40, 47.] + +In 1649 John Herne, son of the John Herne who in 1629 had secured a +lease on the property for sixty-one years, made out a deed of sale of +the playhouse to William Beeston,[647] for the sum of £600. But the +document was not signed. The reason for this is probably revealed in +the following passage: "The playhouse in Salisbury Court, in Fleet +Street, was pulled down[648] by a company of soldiers set on by the +sectaries of these sad times, on Saturday, the 24 day of March, +1649."[649] + +[Footnote 647: William Beeston was the son of the famous actor +Christopher Beeston, who was once a member of the Lord Chamberlain's +Men, later manager of the Fortune, and finally proprietor of the +Cockpit. In 1639 William had been appointed manager of the Cockpit +Company. (See pages 358 ff.)] + +[Footnote 648: That is, stripped of its benches, stage-hangings, and +other appliances for dramatic performances.] + +[Footnote 649: The manuscript entry in Stow's _Annals_. See _The +Academy_, October 28, 1882, p. 314. On the same date the soldiers +"pulled down on the inside" also the Phoenix and the Fortune.] + +Three years later, however, Beeston, through his agent Theophilus +Bird, secured the property from Herne at the reduced price of £408: +"John Herne, by indenture dated the five and twentieth day of May, +1652, for £408, to him paid by Theophilus Bird, did assign the +premises and all his estate therein in trust for the said William +Beeston."[650] + +[Footnote 650: Cunningham, _The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, +103.] + +Early in 1660 Beeston, anticipating the return of King Charles, and +the reëstablishment of the drama, decided to put his building back +into condition to serve as a playhouse; and he secured from Herbert, +the Master of the Revels, a license to do so.[651] On April 5, 1660, +he contracted with two carpenters, Fisher and Silver, "for the +rebuilding the premises"; and to secure them he mortgaged the +property. The carpenters later swore that they "expended in the same +work £329 9_s._ 4_d._"[652] + +[Footnote 651: Printed in Malone, _Variorum_, III, 243, and +Halliwell-Phillipps, _A Collection of Ancient Documents_, p. 85. The +language clearly indicates that Beeston was to _reconvert_ the +building into a theatre.] + +[Footnote 652: Cunningham, _The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, +103.] + +The reconstructed playhouse was opened in 1660, probably as early as +June, with a performance of _The Rump_, by Tatham. It was engaged by +Sir William Davenant for his company of actors until his "new theatre +with scenes" could be erected in Lincoln's Inn Fields.[653] The +ubiquitous Pepys often went thither, and in his _Diary_ gives us some +interesting accounts of the performances he saw there. On March 2, +1661, he witnessed a revival of Thomas Heywood's _Love's Mistress, or +The Queen's Masque_ before a large audience: + + After dinner I went to the Theatre [i.e., Killigrew's + playhouse] where I found so few people (which is strange, + and the reason I did not know) that I went out again; and so + to Salisbury Court, where the house as full as could be; and + it seems it was a new play, _The Queen's Masque_, wherein + are some good humours: among others a good jeer to the old + story of the Siege of Troy, making it to be a common country + tale. But above all it was strange to see so little a boy as + that was to act Cupid, which is one of the greatest parts in + it. + +[Footnote 653: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 257; Halliwell-Phillipps, _A +Collection of Ancient Documents_, p. 27.] + +Again, on March 26, he found Salisbury Court crowded: + + After dinner Mrs. Pierce and her husband, and I and my wife, + to Salisbury Court, where coming late, he and she light of + Col. Boone, that made room for them; and I and my wife sat + in the pit, and there met with Mr. Lewes and Tom Whitton, + and saw _The_ _Bondman_[654] done to admiration. + +[Footnote 654: By Philip Massinger.] + +The history of the playhouse during these years falls outside the +scope of this volume. Suffice it to say that before Beeston finished +paying the carpenters for their work of reconstruction, the great fire +of 1666 swept the building out of existence; as Fisher and Silver +declared: "The mortgaged premises by the late dreadful fire in London +were totally burned down and consumed."[655] + +[Footnote 655: The subsequent history of Salisbury Court is traced in +the legal documents printed by Cunningham. Beeston lost the property, +and Fisher and Silver erected nearer the river a handsome new +playhouse, known as "The Duke's Theatre," at an estimated cost of +£1000.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT, OR THEATRE ROYAL AT WHITEHALL + + +On birthdays, holidays, and festive occasions in general the +sovereigns of England and the members of the royal family were wont to +summon the professional actors to present plays at Court. For the +accommodation of the players and of the audience, the larger halls at +Hampton, Windsor, Greenwich, St. James, Whitehall, or wherever the +sovereign happened to be at the time, were specially fitted up, often +at great expense. At one end of the hall was erected a temporary stage +equipped with a "music-room," "players' houses of canvas," painted +properties, and such other things as were necessary to the actors. In +the centre of the hall, on an elevated dais, were provided seats for +the royal family, and around and behind the dais, stools for the more +distinguished guests; a large part of the audience was allowed to +stand on platforms raised in tiers at the rear of the room. Since the +plays were almost invariably given at night, the stage was illuminated +by special "branches" hung on wires overhead, and carrying many +lights. In the accounts of the Office of the Revels one may find +interesting records of plays presented in this manner, with the +miscellaneous items of expense for making the halls ready. + +Usually the Court performances, like the masques, were important, +almost official occasions, and many guests, including the members of +the diplomatic corps, were invited. To provide accommodation for so +numerous an audience, a large room was needed. Hampton Court possessed +a splendid room for the purpose in the Great Banqueting Hall, one +hundred and six feet in length and forty feet in breadth. But the +palace at Whitehall for many years had no room of a similar character. +For the performance of a masque there in 1559 the Queen erected a +temporary "Banqueting House." Again, in 1572, to entertain the Duke of +Montmorency, Ambassador from France, she had a large "Banketting House +made at Whitehall," covered with canvas and decorated with ivy and +flowers gathered fresh from the fields. An account of the structure +may be found in the records of the Office of the Revels. Perhaps, +however, the most elaborate and substantial of these "banqueting +houses" was that erected in 1581, to entertain the ambassadors from +France who came to treat of a marriage between Elizabeth and the Duc +d'Anjou. The structure is thus described by Holinshed in his +_Chronicle_:[656] + + This year (against the coming of certain commissioners out + of France into England), by Her Majesty's appointment, on + the sixth and twentieth day of March, in the morning (being + Easter Day), a Banqueting House was begun at Westminster, on + the south-west side of Her Majesty's palace of Whitehall, + made in manner and form of a long square, three hundred + thirty and two foot in measure about; thirty principals made + of great masts, being forty foot in length apiece, standing + upright; between every one of these masts ten foot asunder + and more. The walls of this house were closed with canvas, + and painted all the outsides of the same most artificially, + with a work called rustic, much like stone. This house had + two hundred ninety and two lights of glass. The sides within + the same house was made with ten heights of degrees for + people to stand upon; and in the top of this house was + wrought most cunningly upon canvas works of ivy and holly, + with pendants made of wicker rods, garnished with bay, rue, + and all manner of strange flowers garnished with spangles of + gold; as also beautified with hanging toseans made of holly + and ivy, with all manner of strange fruits, as pomegranates, + oranges, pompions, cucumbers, grapes, carrots, with such + other like, spangled with gold, and most richly hanged. + Betwixt these works of bays and ivy were great spaces of + canvas, which was most cunningly painted, the clouds with + stars, the sun and sun-beams, with diverse other coats of + sundry sorts belonging to the Queen's Majesty, most richly + garnished with gold. There were of all manner of persons + working on this house to the number of three hundred seventy + and five: two men had mischances, the one broke his leg, and + so did the other. This house was made in three weeks and + three days, and was ended the eighteenth day of April, and + cost one thousand seven hundred forty and four pounds, + nineteen shillings, and od mony, as I was credibly informed + by the worshipful master Thomas Grave, surveyor unto Her + Majesty's works, who served and gave order for the same. + +[Footnote 656: Edition of 1808, IV, 434. See also Stow's _Chronicle_, +under the year 1581.] + +Although built in such a short time, and of such flimsy material, this +expensive Banqueting House seems to have been allowed to stand, and to +have been used thereafter for masques and plays. Thus, when King James +came to the throne, he ordered plays to be given there in November, +1604. We find the following entry in the Treasurer's accounts: + + For making ready the Banqueting House at Whitehall for the + King's Majesty against the plays, by the space of four days + ... 78_s._ 7_d._ + +And the accounts of the Revels' Office inform us: + + Hallomas Day, being the first of November, a play in the + Banqueting House at Whitehall, called _The Moor of Venice_. + +Apparently, however, the King was not pleased with the Banqueting +House as a place for dramatic performances, for he promptly ordered +the Great Hall of the palace--a room approximately ninety feet in +length and forty feet in breadth[657]--to be made ready for the next +play: + + For making ready the Great Chamber at Whitehall for the + King's Majesty to see the play, by the space of two days ... + 39_s._ 4_d._ + +[Footnote 657: This had once already, on Shrove Tuesday, 1604, been +used for a play. The situation and ground-plan of the "Great Hall" are +clearly shown in Fisher's _Survey_ of the palace, made about 1670, and +engraved by Vertue, 1747.] + +The work was completed with dispatch, for on the Sunday following the +performance of _Othello_ in the Banqueting House, _The Merry Wives of +Windsor_ was acted in the Great Hall. The next play to be given at +Court was also presented in the same room: + + On St. Stephen's Night, in the Hall, a play called _Measure + for Measure_. + +And from this time on the Great Hall was the usual place for Court +performances. The abandonment of the Banqueting House was probably due +to the facts that the Hall was smaller in size, could be more easily +heated in the winter, and was in general better adapted to dramatic +performances. Possibly the change was due also to the decayed +condition of the old structure and to preparations for its removal. +Stow, in his _Annals_ under the date of 1607, writes: + + The last year the King pulled down the old, rotten, + slight-builded Banqueting House at Whitehall, and + new-builded the same this year very strong and stately, + being every way larger than the first.[658] + +[Footnote 658: Stow's _Annals_, continued by Edmund Howes (1631), p. +891.] + +This new Banqueting House was completed in the early part of 1608. +John Chamberlain writes to Sir Dudley Carleton on January 5, 1608: +"The masque goes forward at Court for Twelfth Day, tho' I doubt the +New Room will be scant ready."[659] Thereafter the Banqueting House, +"every way larger than the first," was regularly used for the +presentation of masques. But it was rarely if ever used for plays. +Throughout the reign of James, the ordinary place for dramatic +performances, as has been observed, was the Great Hall. + +[Footnote 659: John Nichols, _The Progresses of James_, II, 162.] + +On January 12, 1619, as a result of negligence during the preparations +for a masque, the Banqueting House caught fire and was burned to the +ground. The Reverend Thomas Lorkin writes to Sir Thomas Puckering on +January 19, 1619: + + The unhappy accident that chanced at Whitehall last week by + fire you cannot but have heard of; but haply not the manner + how, which was this. A joiner was appointed to mend some + things that were out of order in the device of the masque, + which the King meant to have repeated at Shrovetide, who, + having kindled a fire upon a false hearth to heat his + glue-pot, the force thereof pierced soon, it seems, the + single brick, and in a short time that he absented himself + upon some occasion, fastened upon the basis, which was of + dry deal board, underneath; which suddenly conceiving flame, + gave fire to the device of the masque, all of oiled paper, + and dry fir, etc. And so, in a moment, disposed itself among + the rest of that combustible matter that it was past any + man's approach before it was almost discovered. Two hours + begun and ended that woful sight. + +[Illustration: THE COCKPIT + +Probably as built by Henry VIII. (From Faithorne's _Map of London_, +1658. The Whitehall district is represented as it was many years +earlier, compare Agas's _Map_, 1560).] + +Inigo Jones, who had dreamed of a magnificent palace at Whitehall, and +who had drawn elaborate plans for a royal residence which should +surpass anything in Europe, now took charge of building a new +Banqueting House as a first step in the realization of his scheme. +The noble structure which he erected is to-day one of his chief +monuments, and the sole relic of the once famous royal palace. It was +completed in the spring of 1622; but, as in the case of its +predecessor, it was not commonly used for dramatic entertainments. +Though masques might be given there, the regular place for plays +continued to be the Great Hall. + +In the meanwhile, however, there had been developed at Court the +custom of having small private performances in the Cockpit, in +addition to the more elaborate performances in the Great Hall. Since +this ultimately led to the establishment of a theatre royal, known as +"The Cockpit-in-Court," it will be necessary to trace in some detail +the history of that structure. + +The palace of Whitehall, anciently called York House, and the home of +thirty successive Archbishops of York, was seized by King Henry VIII +at the fall of Wolsey and converted into a royal residence.[660] The +new proprietor at once made improvements after his own taste, among +which were tennis-courts, bowling-alleys, and an amphitheatre for the +"royal sport" of cock-fighting. In Stow's description of the palace we +read: + + On the right hand be diverse fair tennis courts, bowling + alleys, and a Cockpit, all built by King Henry the Eight. + +[Footnote 660: Shakespeare writes (_Henry VIII_, IV, i, 94-97): + + Sir you + Must no more call it York-place, that is past; + For since the Cardinal fell, that title's lost: + 'Tis now the King's, and called Whitehall.] + +Strype, in his edition of Stow's _Survey_ (1720), adds the information +that the Cockpit was made "out of certain old tenements."[661] It is +pictured in Agas's _Map of London_ (1570), and more clearly in +Faithorne's _Map_ (see page 390), printed in 1658, but apparently +representing the city at an earlier date. + +[Footnote 661: Book VI, page 6.] + +During the reign of Elizabeth the Cockpit, so far as I can ascertain, +was never used for plays. In the voluminous documents relating to the +Office of the Revels there is only one reference to the building: in +1572 flowers were temporarily stored there that were to be used for +decking the "Banketting House." + +It was during the reign of King James that the Cockpit began to be +used for dramatic representations. John Chamberlain writes from London +to Sir Ralph Winwood, December 18, 1604: "Here is great provision for +Cockpit to entertain him [the King] at home, and of masques and revels +against the marriage of Sir Herbert and Lady Susan Vere."[662] Since, +however, King James was very fond of cock-fighting, it may be that +Chamberlain was referring to that royal entertainment rather than to +plays. The small Cockpit was certainly a very unusual place for the +formal presentation of plays before His Majesty and the Court. + +[Footnote 662: _Winwood State Papers_ (1725), II, 41.] + +But the young Prince Henry, whose official residence was in St. +James's Palace, often had private or semi-private performances of +plays in the Cockpit. In the rolls of the expenses of the Prince we +find the following records:[663] + + For making ready the Cockpit four several times for plays, + by the space of four days, in the month of December, 1610, + £2 10_s._ 8_d._ + + For making ready the Cockpit for plays two several times, by + the space of four days, in the months of January and + February, 1611, 70_s._ 8_d._ + + For making ready the Cockpit for a play, by the space of two + days, in the month of December, 1611, 30_s._ 4_d._ + +[Footnote 663: See Cunningham, _Extracts from the Accounts of the +Revels_, pp. xiii-xiv.] + +The building obviously, was devoted for the most part to other +purposes, and had to be "made ready" for plays at a considerable +expense. Nor was the Prince the only one who took advantage of its +small amphitheatre. John Chamberlain, in a letter to Sir Dudley +Carleton on September 22, 1612, describing the reception accorded to +the Count Palatine by the Lady Elizabeth, writes: "On Tuesday she sent +to invite him as he sat at supper to a play of her own servants in the +Cockpit."[664] + +[Footnote 664: John Nichols, _The Progresses of James_, II, 466.] + +It is clear, then, that at times throughout the reign of James +dramatic performances were given in the Cockpit; but the auditorium +was small, and the performances must have been of a semi-private +nature. The important Court performances, to which many guests were +invited, were held in the Great Hall. + +In the reign of the next sovereign, however, a change came about. In +the year 1632 or 1633, as well as I am able to judge with the evidence +at command, King Charles reconstructed the old Cockpit into a "new +theatre at Whitehall," which from henceforth was almost exclusively +used for Court performances. The opening of this "new theatre royal" +is celebrated by a _Speech_ from the pen of Thomas Heywood: + + _A Speech Spoken to Their Two Excellent Majesties at the + First Play Play'd by the Queen's Servants in the New Theatre + at Whitehall._ + + When Greece, the chief priority might claim + For arts and arms, and held the eminent name + Of Monarchy, they erected divers places, + Some to the Muses, others to the Graces, + Where actors strove, and poets did devise, + With tongue and pen to please the ears and eyes + Of Princely auditors. The time was, when + To hear the rapture of one poet's pen + A Theatre hath been built. + + By the Fates' doom, + When th' Empire was removed from thence to Rome, + The Potent Cæsars had their _circi_, and + Large amphitheatres, in which might stand + And sit full fourscore thousand, all in view + And touch of voice. This great Augustus knew, + Nay Rome its wealth and potency enjoyed, + Till by the barbarous Goths these were destroy'd. + + But may this structure last, and you be seen + Here a spectator, with your princely Queen, + In your old age, as in your flourishing prime, + To outstrip Augustus both in fame and time. + +The exact date of this _Speech_ is not given, but it was printed[665] +in 1637 along with "The Prologue to the Famous Tragedy of _The Rich +Jew of Malta_, as it Was Played Before the King and Queen in His +Majesty's Theatre at Whitehall"; and this Prologue Heywood had already +published with the play itself in 1633. He dedicated the play to Mr. +Thomas Hammon, saying, "I had no better a New-Year's gift to present +you with." Apparently, then, the play had been acted at Court shortly +before New Year's, 1633; and this sets a forward date to Heywood's +_Speech_. Other evidence combines with this to show that "His +Majesty's Theatre at Whitehall" was "new" at the Christmas season of +1632-33. + +[Footnote 665: See _The Dramatic Works of Thomas Heywood_ (1874), VI, +339.] + +In erecting this, the first "theatre royal," King Charles would +naturally call for the aid of the great Court architect Inigo +Jones,[666] and by good luck we have preserved for us Jones's original +sketches for the little playhouse (see page 396). These were +discovered a few years ago by Mr. Hamilton Bell in the Library of +Worcester College (where many valuable relics of the great architect +are stored), and printed in _The Architectural Record_ of New York, +March, 1913. Mr. Bell accompanied the plans with a valuable +discussion, but he was unable to discover their purpose. He writes: + + We have still no clue as to what purpose this curiously + anomalous and most interesting structure was to + serve--whether the plan was ever carried out, or whether it + remained part of a lordly pleasure-house which its prolific + designer planned for the delectation of his own soul. + +[Footnote 666: Whether he merely made over the old Cockpit which Henry +VIII had constructed "out of certain old tenements," or erected an +entirely new building, I have not been able to ascertain. Heywood's +_Speech_ indicates a "new" and "lasting" structure.] + +That the plan actually was carried out, at least in part, is shown by +a sketch of the Whitehall buildings made by John Fisher at some date +before 1670, and engraved by Vertue in 1747, (see page 398).[667] +Here, in the northeast corner of the palace, we find a little theatre, +labeled "The Cockpit." Its identity with the building sketched by +Inigo Jones is obvious at a glance; even the exterior measurements, +which are ascertainable from the scales of feet given on the two +plans, are the same. + +[Footnote 667: Vertue conservatively dates the survey "about 1680"; +but the names of the occupants of the various parts of the palace show +that it was drawn before 1670, and nearer 1660 than 1680.] + +[Illustration: INIGO JONES'S PLANS FOR THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT + +Now preserved in the Worcester College Library at Oxford; discovered +by Mr. Hamilton Bell, and reproduced in _The Architectural Record_, of +New York, 1913.] + +[Illustration: FISHER'S SURVEY OF WHITEHALL SHOWING THE +COCKPIT-IN-COURT + +A section from Vertue's engraving, 1747, of a survey of Whitehall made +by John Fisher, 1660-1670. Compare "The Cockpit" with Inigo Jones's +plans.] + +[Illustration: THE THEATRO OLYMPICO AT VICENZA + +Which probably inspired Inigo Jones's plans for the Cockpit-in-Court.] + +Mr. Bell describes the plan he discovered as follows:[668] + + It represents within a square building, windowed on three + sides and on one seemingly attached to another building, an + auditorium occupying five sides of an octagon, on the floor + of which are shown the benches of a pit, or the steps, five + in number, on which they could be set. These are curiously + arranged at an angle of forty-five degrees on either side of + a central aisle, so that the spectators occupying them + could never have directly faced the stage. Surrounding this + pit on five sides is a balcony ten feet deep, with, it would + seem, two rows of benches on four of its sides; the fifth + side in the centre, directly opposite the stage, being + partitioned off into a room or box, in the middle of which + is indicated a platform about five feet by seven, presumably + for the Royal State. Three steps descend from this box to + the centre aisle of the pit. To the left of and behind this + royal box appears another enclosure or box, partitioned off + from the rest of the balcony. + + The staircases of access to this auditorium are clearly + indicated; one small door at the rear of the _salle_ with + its own private stairway, communicating with the adjoining + building, opens directly into the royal box; as in the Royal + Opera House in Berlin to-day. + + There is another door, with a triangular lobby, into the + rear of the left-hand balcony. Two windows are shown on each + side of the house, opening directly into the theatre from + the outer air. + + The stage runs clear across the width of the pit, about + thirty-five feet, projecting in an "apron" or _avant scène_ + five feet beyond the proscenium wall, and is surrounded on + the three outward sides by a low railing of classic design + about eighteen inches in height, just as in many Elizabethan + playhouses. + + If one may trust an elevation of the stage, drawn on the + same sheet to twice the scale of the general plan, the stage + was four feet six inches above the floor of the pit. This + elevation exhibits the surprising feature of a classic + façade, Palladian in treatment, on the stage of what so far + we have regarded as a late modification of a playhouse of + Shakespeare's day. Evidently Inigo Jones contemplated the + erection of a permanent architectural _proscenium_, as the + ancients called it, of the type, though far more modest, + both in scale and ornamentation, of Palladio's Theatro + Olimpico at Vicenza, which we know he visited in about 1600, + some twenty years after its erection. This _proscenium_, + given in plan and elevation, shows a semi-circular structure + with a radius of fifteen feet, two stories in height, of the + Corinthian or Composite order. In the lower story are five + doorways, the centre of which is a large archway flanked by + pedestals, on which are inscribed in Greek characters, + Melpomene--Thalia; over these and over the smaller doors are + tablets. + + The second story contains between its lighter engaged + columns, over the four side doors, niches with corbels + below, destined to carry statues as their inscribed bases + indicate. So far as these inscriptions are legible,--the + clearest reading "phocles," probably Sophocles,--these were + to represent Greek dramatists, most likely Æschylus, + Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes. + + The curved pediment of the central archway runs up into this + story and is broken in the middle by a tablet bearing the + inscription "Prodesse et Delectare," which is flanked by two + reclining genii holding garlands. + + Above these are two busts on brackets, Thespis and Epicurus, + or possibly Epicharmus. The space directly above this + pediment is occupied by a window-like opening five by four + feet, the traditional Elizabethan music-room, in all + probability, which, Mr. W.J. Lawrence has shown us, occupied + this position both in Shakespeare's day and for some time + after the Restoration; an arrangement which was revived by + Mr. Steele Mackaye in the Madison Square Theatre, and + originally in the first little Lyceum, New York, both now + pulled down. The pyramidal pediment above this opening + projects above the upper cornice into a coved ceiling, which + would appear from the rendering of the drawing to form an + apse above the semi-circular stage. Behind the _proscenium_ + is a large space with staircases of approach, two windows at + the rear, and apparently a fireplace for the comfort of the + waiting players. Communication with the front of the house + is provided by a door in the proscenium wall opening into + the stage door lobby, whence the outside of the building may + be reached. + + There is no indication of galleries, unless some marks on + the angles of the front wall of the balcony may be + interpreted without too much license into the footings of + piers or posts to carry one; the total interior height shown + in the elevation from what I have assumed to be the floor of + the pit to the ceiling being only twenty-eight feet, there + would hardly have been room for more than one. The only + staircases which could have served it are at the rear of the + building in the corners behind the stage wall.... + + The general dimensions would appear to be: + + Total width of the auditorium 58 ft. + Total width of the pit 36 ft. + Total width of the front stage or "apron" 35 ft. + Total depth of the stage from the railing to + the centre of the _proscenium_ 16 ft. + The entire building is 58 feet square inside, cut to + an octagon of 28 feet each side. + Height from floor to ceiling 28 ft. + Height from stage to ceiling about 23 ft. 6 in. + The lower order of the _proscenium_ 10 ft. 6 in. + The upper order of the _proscenium_ 9 ft. 6 in. + + The scale on the drawing may not be absolutely correct, as + measured by it the side doors of the _proscenium_ are only + five feet high and two feet nine inches wide: this, however, + may be an error in the drawing, since we have it on very + good authority that Inigo Jones designed without the use of + a scale, proportioning his various members by his + exquisitely critical eye alone, subsequently adding the + dimensions in writing. + +[Footnote 668: Reprinted here by the kind permission of Mr. Bell and +the editors of _The Architectural Record_.] + +I record below some of the references to the Cockpit which I have +gathered from the Herbert Manuscript and the Office-Books of the Lord +Chamberlain. The earliest payment for plays there, it will be +observed, is dated March 16, 1633. Abundant evidence shows that the +actors gave their performance in the Cockpit at night without +interfering with their regular afternoon performance at their +playhouses, and for their pains received the sum of £10. If, however, +for any reason they "lost their day" at their house they were paid +£20. + + 1633. March 16. Warrant to pay £270 to John Lowen, Joseph + Taylor, and Eilliard Swanston, His Majesty's Comedians, for + plays by them acted before His Majesty, viz.--£20 for the + rehearsal of one at the Cockpit, by which means they lost + their afternoon at their house....[669] + + 1634. _Bussy d'Amboise_ was played by the King's Players on + Easter-Monday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[670] + + 1634. The _Pastorall_ was played by the King's Players on + Easter-Tuesday night, at the Cockpit-in-Court.[671] + + 1635. 10 May. A warrant for £30 unto Mons. Josias Floridor, + for himself and the rest of the French players for three + plays acted by them at the Cockpit.[672] + + 1635. 10 Decemr.--A warrant for £100 to the Prince's + Comedians,--viz. £60 for three plays acted at Hampton Court, + at £20 for each play, in September and October, 1634. And + £40 for four plays at Whitehall and [_query_ "at"] the + Cockpit in January, February, and May following, at £10 for + each play.[673] + + 1636. The first and second part of _Arviragus and Philicia_ + were acted at the Cockpit before the King and Queen, the + Prince, and Prince Elector, the 18 and 19 April, 1636, being + Monday and Tuesday in Easter week.[674] + +[Footnote 669: Lord Chamberlain's Office-Book, C.C. Stopes, +"Shakespeare's Fellows and Followers," Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVI, +96.] + +[Footnote 670: Herbert MS., Malone, _Variorum_, III, 237.] + +[Footnote 671: Herbert MS., Malone, _Variorum_, III, 237.] + +[Footnote 672: Lord Chamberlain's Office-Book, Chalmers's _Apology_, +p. 508.] + +[Footnote 673: _Ibid._, p. 509.] + +[Footnote 674: The Herbert MS., Malone, _Variorum_, III, 238.] + +Other similar allusions to performance in the Cockpit might be cited +from the Court records. One more will suffice--the most interesting of +all, since it shows how frequently the little theatre was employed for +the entertainment of the royal family. It is a bill presented by the +Blackfriars Company, the King's Men, for Court performances during the +year 1637. This bill was discovered and reproduced in facsimile by +George R. Wright, F.S.A., in _The Journal of the British +Archæological Association_ for 1860; but it was wholly misunderstood +by its discoverer, who regarded it as drawn up by the company of +players that "performed at the Cockpit in Drury Lane." He was indeed +somewhat puzzled by the reference to the Blackfriars Playhouse, but +met the difficulty by saying: "There can be little doubt that the +last-named theatre was lent for the occasion to the Cockpit Company," +although he suggests no reason for this strange borrowing of a theatre +by a troupe that possessed a house of its own, and much nearer the +Court, too. It did not even occur to him, it seems, to inquire how the +Cockpit Company secured the plays which we know belonged to +Shakespeare's old company. Because of these obvious difficulties +scholars have looked upon the document with suspicion, and apparently +have treated it as a forgery.[675] But that it is genuine is indicated +by the history of "The Cockpit-in-Court" as sketched above, and is +proved beyond any question by the fact that the Office-Book of the +Lord Chamberlain shows that the bill was paid: + + 12th March 1638 {9}.--Forasmuch as His Majesty's Servants, + the company at the Blackfriars, have by special command, at + divers times within the space of this present year 1638, + acted 24 plays before His Majesty, six whereof have been + performed at Hampton-court and Richmond, by means whereof + they were not only at the loss of their day at home, but at + extraordinary charges by traveling and carriage of their + goods, in consideration whereof they are to have £20 apiece + for those plays, and £10 apiece for the other 18 acted at + Whitehall, which in the whole amounted to the sum of + £300.--These are therefore to pray and require you out of + His Majesty's treasure in your charge to pay....[676] + +[Footnote 675: Fleay in his elaborate studies of performances at Court +ignores it entirely, as do subsequent scholars.] + +[Footnote 676: Chalmers, _Apology_, p. 510.] + +A photographic facsimile of this interesting document may be seen in +_The Journal of the British Archæological Association_, already +referred to; but for the convenience of those who do not read +Elizabethan script with ease, I have reproduced it in type facsimile +on page 404. + +[Illustration: [Transcriber's Note: The dashes below represent +handwritten check-marks in the facsimile.] + +before the king & queene this +yeare of our lord 1638 + +At the Cocpit the 26th of march The lost ladie + +At the Cocpit the 27th of march Damboyes + +At the Cocpit the 3d of Aprill Aglaura + +At the blackfryers the 23 of Aprill +for the queene the vnfortunate lou[ers] + +At the Cocpit the 29th of may +the princes berthnight ould Castel + +At the Cocpit the last of may agayne the vnfortunate louers + +At Sumerset-house the 10th of July & our day + +-- lost at our house mr Carlels play the first part of the pasionate louers + +-- At Hamton Court the 30th of September The vnfortunate louer[s] + +-- At Richmount the 6th of november for the ladie } The mery divell + maries berthnight & the day lost at our house } of Edmonto[n] + +At the Cocpit the 8th of november The fox + +At the Cocpit the 13th of november Ceaser + +At the Cocpit the 15th of november The mery wifes of winser + +At the Cocpit the 20th of november The fayre favorett + +At the Cocpit the 22th of november Chances + +At the Cocpit the 27th of november The Costome of the C[ountry] + +At the Cocpit the 29th of november The northen las + +At the Cocpit the 6th of desember The spanish Curatt + +At the Cocpit the 11th of desember agayne The fayre favorett + +At the Cocpit the 18th of desember m Carlels +play agayne the first part of The pasionate louers + +At the Cocpit the 20th of desember +the 2d part of The pasionate louers + +At the Cocpit the 27 of desember the 2d part agayne of the pasionate louers + +-- At Richmount the 28 of desember the ladie } + Elsabeths berthnight & our day lost at our house } The northen las + +-- At Richmount on newyeares day } + and our day lost at our house } beggers bush + +-- At Richmount the 7th of Janeuarye } + and our day lost at our house } The spanish Cura[tt]] + +The check-marks at the left were probably made by the clerk in the +Chamberlain's office to ascertain how many times the players "lost +their day" at their house, and hence were entitled to £20 in payment. +For the play given "at the blackfriars the 23 of Aprill for the +queene" (presumably the general public was excluded) only the usual +£10 was allowed. + +With the approach of the civil war, the Cockpit, like the public +theatres, suffered an eclipse. Sir Henry Herbert writes: "On Twelfth +Night, 1642, the Prince had a play called _The Scornful Lady_ at the +Cockpit; but the King and Queen were not there, and it was the only +play acted at court in the whole Christmas."[677] During the dark days +that followed we hear nothing of plays in the Cockpit. Later +Cromwell himself occupied this section of the palace, and naturally +saw to it that no dramatic exhibitions were held there. But at the +Restoration "the Prince," now become the King, could have his plays +again; and he did not wait long. On November 20, 1660, Edward Gower +wrote to Sir Richard Leveson: "Yesternight the King, Queen, Princess, +etc., supped at the Duke d'Albemarle's, where they had _The Silent +Woman_ acted in the Cockpit."[678] From this time on the theatre royal +was in constant use for the entertainment of the Court. + +[Footnote 677: Herbert MS., Malone, _Variorum_, III, 241.] + +[Footnote 678: Historical Manuscripts Commission, Fifth Report, p. +200. Pepys, under the date November 20, 1660, gives an anecdote about +the King's behavior on this occasion.] + +Samuel Pepys, as he rose in the world, became a frequent visitor +there.[679] In the absence of other descriptions of the building, I +subjoin a few of the entries from his _Diary_. Under the date of +October 2, 1662, he writes: + + At night by coach towards Whitehall, took up Mr. Moore and + set him at my Lord's, and myself, hearing that there was a + play at the Cockpit (and my Lord Sandwich, who came to town + last night, at it), I do go thither, and by very great + fortune did follow four or five gentlemen who were carried + to a little private door in a wall, and so crept through a + narrow place and come into one of the boxes next the King's, + but so as I could not see the King or Queen, but many of the + fine ladies, who yet are really not so handsome generally + as I used to take them to be, but that they are finely + dressed. Here we saw _The Cardinal_,[680] a tragedy I had + never seen before, nor is there any great matter in it. The + company that came in with me into the box were all Frenchmen + that could speak no English, but Lord! what sport they made + to ask a pretty lady that they got among them that + understood both French and English to make her tell them + what the actors said. + +[Footnote 679: He first "got in" on April 20, 1661, "by the favour of +one Mr. Bowman." John Evelyn also visited the Cockpit; see his +_Diary_, January 16 and February 11, 1662.] + +[Footnote 680: By James Shirley, licensed 1641.] + +The next time he went to the Cockpit, on November 17, 1662, he did not +have to creep in by stealth. He writes: + + At Whitehall by appointment, Mr. Crew carried my wife and I + to the Cockpit, and we had excellent places, and saw the + King, Queen, Duke of Monmouth, his son, and my Lady + Castlemaine, and all the fine ladies; and _The Scornful + Lady_, well performed. They had done by eleven o'clock. + +The fine ladies, as usual, made a deep impression on him, as did the +"greatness and gallantry" of the audience. On December 1, 1662, he +writes: + + This done we broke up, and I to the Cockpit, with much + crowding and waiting, where I saw _The Valiant Cid_[681] + acted, a play I have read with great delight, but is a most + dull thing acted, which I never understood before, there + being no pleasure in it, though done by Betterton and by + Ianthe,[682] and another fine wench that is come in the room + of Roxalana; nor did the King or Queen once smile all the + whole play, nor any of the company seem to take any pleasure + but what was in the greatness and gallantry of the company. + Thence ... home, and got thither by 12 o'clock, knocked up + my boy, and put myself to bed. + +[Footnote 681: By Corneille.] + +[Footnote 682: Mrs. Betterton.] + +[Illustration: THE COCKPIT-IN-COURT + +From an engraving by Mazell in Pennant's _London_. Mr. W.L. Spiers, +who reproduces this engraving in the _London Topographical Record_ +(1903), says that it is "undated, but probably copied from a +contemporary drawing of the seventeenth century."] + +Two entries, from an entirely different source, must suffice for this +history of the Cockpit. In the Paper-Office Chalmers discovered a +record of the following payments, made in 1667: + + To the Keeper of the theatre at Whitehall, £30. To the same + for Keeping clean that place, _p. ann._ £6.[683] + +[Footnote 683: Chalmers, _Apology_, p. 530. Cunningham says, in his +_Handbook of London_: "I find in the records of the Audit Office a +payment of £30 per annum 'to the Keeper of our Playhouse called the +Cockpit in St. James Park'"; but he does not state the year in which +the payment was made.] + +And in the Lord Chamberlain's Accounts is preserved the following +warrant: + + 1674, March 27. Warrant to deliver to Monsieur Grabu, or to + such as he shall appoint, such of the scenes remaining in + the theatre at Whitehall as shall be useful for the French + Opera at the theatre in Bridges Street, and the said + Monsieur to return them again safely after 14 days' time to + the theatre at Whitehall.[684] + +[Footnote 684: I quote from W.J. Lawrence, _The Elizabethan Playhouse_ +(First Series), p. 144.] + +What became of the theatre at Whitehall I have not been able to +ascertain.[685] Presumably, after the fire of January, 1698, which +destroyed the greater part of the palace and drove the royal family to +seek quarters elsewhere, the building along with the rest of the +Cockpit section was made over into the Privy Council offices. + +[Footnote 685: The reasons why the Cockpit at Whitehall has remained +so long in obscurity (its history is here attempted for the first +time) are obvious. Some scholars have confused it with the public +playhouse of the same name, a confusion which persons in the days of +Charles avoided by invariably saying "The Cockpit in Drury Lane." +Other scholars have confused it with the residential section of +Whitehall which bore the same name. During the reign of James several +large buildings which had been erected either on the site of the old +cockpit of Henry VIII, or around it, were converted into lodgings for +members of the royal family or favorites of the King, and were +commonly referred to as "the Cockpit." Other scholars have assumed +that all plays during the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles were +given either in the Banqueting House or in the Great Hall. Finally, +still other scholars (e.g., Sir Sidney Lee, in _Shakespeare's +England_, 1916) have confused the Cockpit at Whitehall with the Royal +Cockpit in St. James's Park. Exactly when the latter was built I have +not been able to discover, but it was probably erected near the close +of the seventeenth century. It stood at the end of Dartmouth Street, +adjacent to Birdcage Walk, but not in the Park itself. John Strype, in +his edition of Stow's _Survey_ (1720), bk. VI, p. 64, says of +Dartmouth Street: "And here is a very fine Cockpit, called the King's +Cockpit, well resorted unto." A picture of the building is given by +Strype on page 62, and a still better picture may be found in J.T. +Smith's _The Antiquities of Westminster_. The Royal Cockpit in +Dartmouth Street survived until 1816, when it was torn down. Hogarth, +in his famous representation of a cock-fight, shows its interior as +circular, and as embellished with the royal coat of arms. Another +interesting picture of the interior will be found in Ackermann's _The +Microcosm of London_ (1808). It is needless to add that this building +had nothing whatever to do with the theatre royal of the days of King +Charles.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MISCELLANEOUS + + +I + +WOLF'S THEATRE IN NIGHTINGALE LANE, NEAR EAST SMITHFIELD + +In Jeaffreson's _Middlesex County Records_ (I, 260), we find the +following entry, dated April 1, 1600: + + 1 April, 42 Elizabeth.--Recognizance, taken before Sir John + Peyton knt., Lieutenant of the Tower of London, and Thomas + Fowler, Tobias Woode, Edward Vaghan and Henry Thoresby + esqs., Justices of the Peace, of John Wolf, of + Eastsmithfield, co. Midd., stationer, in the sum of forty + pounds; The condition of the recognizance being "that, + whereas the above-bounden John Wolf hath begun to erect and + build a playhouse in Nightingale Lane near East Smithfield + aforesaid, contrary to Her Majesty's proclamation and orders + set down in Her Highness's Court of Starchamber. If + therefore the said John Wolf do not proceed any further in + building or erecting of the same playhouse, unless he shall + procure sufficient warrant from the Rt. Honourable the Lords + of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council for further + ... then this recognizance to be void, or else to remain in + full force." + +The only stationer in London named John Wolf was the printer and +publisher who at this time had his shop in Pope's Head Alley, Lombard +Street. For several reasons he is well known to bibliographers; and +his strong personality and tireless energy might easily have led him +into the field of the theatre. For many years he was a member of the +Fishmongers' Company, to which also, in all probability, his father +had belonged. After a ten years' apprenticeship with the eminent +printer, John Day, he spent several years abroad "gadding from country +to country," but learning the printing trade from the best +establishments on the Continent. His longest stay was in Italy, where +he was connected with the printing-office of the Giunti, and also, it +seems, of Gabriel Giolito. In 1576 he printed two _Rappresentazioni_, +"ad instanzia di Giovanni Vuolfio, Inglese." About the year 1579 he +established himself in London (where he was dubbed by his fellows +"Machiavel"), and began an energetic warfare on the monopolies secured +by certain favored printers. The fact that he was for a time +"committed to the Clink" failed to deter him. We are told that he +"affirmed openly in the Stationers' Hall that it was lawful for all +men to print all lawful books, what commandment soever Her Majesty +gave to the contrary." And being "admonished that he, being but one, +so mean a man, should not presume to contrary Her Highness' +government: 'Tush,' said he, 'Luther was but one man, and reformed all +the world for religion, and I am _that one man_ that must and will +reform the government in this trade.'" The courage and energy here +revealed characterized his entire life. In 1583 he was admitted a +freeman of the Company of Stationers. In 1593 he was elected Printer +to the City. In the spring of 1600 he was in serious difficulties with +the authorities over the printing of John Hayward's _Life and Raigne +of King Henrie IV_, and was forced to spend two weeks in jail. He died +in 1601.[686] + +[Footnote 686: For the life of John Wolf see the following: Edward +Arber, _A Transcript of the Stationers' Registers_, especially II, +779-93; _The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1598-1601_, pp. 405, +449, 450; A. Gerber, _All of the Five Fictitious Italian Editions_, +etc. (in _Modern Language Notes_, XXII (1907), 2, 129, 201); H.R. +Plomer, _An Examination of Some Existing Copies of Hayward's "Life and +Raigne of King Henrie IV_" (in _The Library_, N.S., III (1902), 13); +R.B. McKerrow, _A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers ... +1557-1640_; S. Bongi, _Annali di Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari_.] + +If this "John Wolf, stationer," be the man who started to erect a +playhouse in East Smithfield, it is to be regretted that we do not +know more about the causes which led him into the undertaking. + + +II + +THE PROJECTED "AMPHITHEATRE" + +In 1620 John Cotton, John Williams, and Thomas Dixon[687] secured from +King James a license to build an amphitheatre[688] "intended +principally for martiall exercises, and extraordinary shows and +solemnities for ambassadors, and persons of honor and quality," with +the power granted to the owners to order "a cessation from other shows +and sports, for one day in a month only, upon fourteen days' warning." + +[Footnote 687: Of these men nothing is known; something, however, may +be inferred from the following entries in Sir Henry Herbert's +Office-Book: "On the 20th August, 1623, a license _gratis_, to John +Williams and four others, to make _show_ of _an Elephant_, for a year; +on the 5th of September to make show of a _live Beaver_; on the 9th of +June, 1638, to make show of an outlandish creature, called a +_Possum_." (George Chalmers, _Supplemental Apology_, p. 208.)] + +[Footnote 688: The place is not indicated, but it was probably outside +the city.] + +But for some reason the King suddenly changed his mind, and on +September 29, 1620, he addressed a letter to the Privy Council +directing them to cancel the license:[689] + + Right trusty and right well-beloved Cousins and Councellors, + and right trusty and well-beloved Councellors, we greet you + well. Whereas at the humble suit of our servants John + Cotton, John Williams, and Thomas Dixon, and in recompence + of their services, we have been pleased to license them to + build an Amphitheatre, which hath passed our Signet and is + stayed at our Privy Seal; and finding therein contained some + such words and clauses, as may, in some constructions, seem + to give them greater liberty both in point of building and + using of exercises than is any way to be permitted, or was + ever by us intended, we have thought fit to command and give + authority unto you, or any four of you, to cause that + already passed to be cancelled, and to give order unto our + Solicitor General for the drawing up of a new warrant for + our signature to the same parties, according to such + directions and reservations as herewith we send you. Wherein + we are more particular, both in the affirmative and the + negative, to the end that, as on one side we would have + nothing pass us to remain upon record which either for the + form might not become us or for the substance might cross + our many proclamations (pursued with good success) for + buildings, or, on the other side, might give them cause to + importune us after they had been at charges; to which end we + wish that you call them before you and let them know our + pleasure and resolution therein. + +[Footnote 689: See _State Papers, Domestic, 1619-1623_, p. 181. I have +quoted the letter from Collier, _The History of English Dramatic +Poetry_ (1879), I, 408.] + +Accordingly the license was canceled, and no new license was issued. + +In 1626, however, John Williams and Thomas Dixon (what had become of +John Cotton we do not know) made an attempt to secure a license from +King Charles, then newly come to the throne, to erect an amphitheatre +in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Apparently they so worded the proposed grant +as to authorize them to present in their amphitheatre not only +spectacles, but dramatic performances and animal-baitings as well, +with the power to restrain all other places of amusement for one day +in each week, on giving two days' warning. + +A "bill" to this effect was drawn up and submitted to Thomas Coventry, +the Lord Keeper, who examined it hastily, and dispatched it to Lord +Conway with the following letter:[690] + + _My very good Lord_,--I have perused this Bill, and do call + to mind that about three or four years past when I was + Attorney General, a patent for an Amphitheatre was in hand + to have passed; but upon this sudden, without search of my + papers, I cannot give your lordship any account of the true + cause wherefore it did not pass, nor whether that and this + do vary in substance: neither am I apt upon a sudden to take + impertinent exceptions to anything that is to pass, much + less to a thing that is recommended by so good a friend. But + if upon perusal of my papers which I had while I was + Attorney, or upon more serious thoughts, I shall observe + anything worthy to be represented to His Majesty, or to the + Council, I shall then acquaint your lordship; and in the + meantime I would be loath to be the author of a motion to + His Majesty to stay it: but if you find His Majesty at + fitting leisure, to move him that he will give leave to + think of it in this sort as I have written, it may do well; + and I assure your lordship, unless I find matter of more + consequence than I observe on this sudden, it is not like to + be stayed. And so I rest your lordship's very assured to do + you service, + + THO. COVENTRYE, CH. + + CANBURY, 12 _August_, 1626. + +[Footnote 690: Collier, _op. cit._, I, 443.] + +Apparently some very influential person was urging the passage of the +bill. But the scheme soon evoked the bitter opposition of the various +troupes of players, and of the owners of the various theatres and +other places of amusement. An echo of the quarrel is found in +Marmion's _Holland's Leaguer_, II, iii: + + Twill dead all my device in making matches, + My plots of architecture, and erecting + New amphitheatres to draw custom + From playhouses once a week, and so pull + A curse upon my head from the poor scoundrels.[691] + +[Footnote 691: _The Dramatic Works of Shackerley Marmion_, in +_Dramatists of the Restoration_, p. 37. Fleay (_A Biographical +Chronicle of the English Drama_, II, 66) suggests that the impostors +Agurtes and Autolichus are meant to satirize Williams and Dixon +respectively.] + +The "poor scoundrels"--i.e., the players--seem to have caused the +authorities to examine the bill more closely; and on September 28, +1626, the Lord Keeper sent to Lord Conway a second letter in which he +condemned the measure in strong terms:[692] + + _My Lord_,--According to His Majesty's good pleasure, which + I received from your lordship, I have considered of the + grant desired by John Williams and Thomas Dixon for building + an Amphitheatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields; and comparing it + with that which was propounded in King James his time, do + find much difference between them: for that former was + intended principally for martiall exercises, and + extraordinary shows, and solemnities for ambassadors and + persons of honor and quality, with a cessation from other + shows and sports for one day in a month only, upon 14 days' + warning: whereas by this new grant I see little probability + of anything to be used but common plays, or ordinary sports + now used or showed at the Bear Garden or the common + playhouses about London, for all sorts of beholders, with a + restraint to all other plays and shows for one day in the + week upon two days' warning: with liberty to erect their + buildings in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where there are too many + buildings already; and which place in the late King's time + upon a petition exhibited by the Prince's comedians for + setting up a playhouse there, was certified by eleven + Justices of Peace under their hands to be very inconvenient. + And therefore, not holding this new grant fit to pass, as + being no other in effect but to translate the playhouses and + Bear Garden from the Bankside to a place much more unfit, I + thought fit to give your lordship these reasons for it; + wherewithal you may please to acquaint His Majesty, if there + shall be cause. And so remain your lordship's very assured + friend to do you service, + + THO. COVENTRYE. + + CANBURY, 28 _Sept._, 1626. + LO. CONWAY. + +[Footnote 692: I quote the letter from Collier, _The History of +English Dramatic Poetry_ (1879), I, 444.] + +On the letter Lord Conway has written the indorsement: "That it is +unfit the grant for the Amphitheatre should passe." And such, no +doubt, was the ultimate decision of the Privy Council, for we hear +nothing more of the project. + + +III + +OGILBY'S DUBLIN THEATRE + +In 1635 a playhouse was opened in Dublin by John +Ogilby,--dancing-master, theatrical manager, playwright, scholar, +translator, poet,--now best known, perhaps, for the ridicule he +inspired in Dryden's _MacFlecknoe_ and Pope's _Dunciad_. At the +beginning of his versatile career he was a successful London +dancing-master, popular with "the nobility and gentry." When Thomas +Earl of Strafford was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he took +Ogilby with him to Dublin, to teach his wife and children the art of +dancing, and also to help with the secretarial duties. Under +Strafford's patronage, Ogilby was appointed to the post of Master of +the Revels for Ireland; and in this capacity he built a small +playhouse in Dublin and began to cultivate dramatic representations +after the manner of London. Anthony à Wood in _Athenæ Oxonienses_, +says: + + He built a little theatre to act plays in, in St. Warburg's + street in Dublin, and was then and there valued by all + ingenious men for his great industry in promoting morality + and ingenuity.[693] + +[Footnote 693: Bliss's edition, III, 741.] + +Aubrey writes: + + He had a warrant from the Lord Lieutenant to be Master of + the Ceremonies for that kingdom; and built a pretty[694] + little theatre in St. Warburgh Street in Dublin. + +[Footnote 694: "Pretty little theatre" is the reading of _MS. Aubr. +7_, folio 20; _MS. Aubr. 8_ omits the adjective "pretty." For Aubrey's +full account of Ogilby see Andrew Clark's _Brief Lives_ (1898), 2 +vols.] + +The history of this "little theatre" is not known in detail. For its +actors Ogilby himself wrote at least one play, entitled _The Merchant +of Dublin_,[695] and Henry Burnell a tragi-comedy entitled +_Landgartha_, printed in 1641 "as it was presented in the new theatre +in Dublin with good applause." But its chief playwright was James +Shirley, who came to Dublin in 1636 under the patronage of the Earl of +Kildare. For the Irish stage he wrote _The Royal Master_, published in +1638 as "acted in the new theatre in Dublin"; _Rosania, or Love's +Victory_, now known as _The Doubtful Heir_, under which title it was +later printed; _St. Patrick for Ireland_;[696] and in all probability +_The Constant Maid_.[697] The actors, however, had little need to buy +original plays, for they were free, no doubt, to take any of the +numerous London successes. From Shirley's _Poems_ we learn that they +were presenting Jonson's _Alchemist_, Middleton's _No Wit_, two of +Fletcher's plays, unnamed, and two anonymous plays entitled _The Toy_ +and _The General_; and we may fairly assume that they honored several +of Shirley's early plays in the same way. + +[Footnote 695: Aubrey mentions this as having been "written in Dublin, +and never printed."] + +[Footnote 696: Published in 1640 as "the first part," and both the +Prologue and the Epilogue speak of a second part; but no second part +was printed, and in all probability it never was written.] + +[Footnote 697: Never licensed for England; reprinted in 1657 with _St. +Patrick for Ireland_.] + +The theatre came to a sudden end with the outbreak of the rebellion in +1641. In October the Lords Justices prohibited playing there; and +shortly after, we are told, the building was "ruined and spoiled, and +a cow-house made of the stage."[698] + +[Footnote 698: _MS. Aubr. 7_, folio 20 v. Ogilby's second theatre in +Dublin, built after the Restoration, does not fall within the scope of +the present work.] + + +IV + +THE FRENCH PLAYERS' TEMPORARY THEATRE IN DRURY LANE + +In February, 1635, a company of French players, under the leadership +of the eminent actor, Josias de Soulas, better known by his stage-name +of Floridor,[699] appeared in London, and won such favor at Court that +they were ultimately allowed to fit up a house in Drury Lane for a +temporary theatre. The history of these players is mainly found in the +records of the Master of the Revels and of the Lord Chamberlain. From +the former, Malone has preserved the following entries by Herbert: + + On Tuesday night the 17 of February, 1634 [i.e., 1635], a + French company of players, being approved of by the Queen at + her house two nights before, and commended by Her Majesty to + the King, were admitted to the Cockpitt in Whitehall, and + there presented the King and Queen with a French comedy + called _Melise_,[700] with good approbation: for which play + the King gave them ten pounds. + + This day being Friday, and the 20 of the same month, the + King told me his pleasure, and commanded me to give order + that this French company should play the two sermon days in + the week during their time of playing in Lent [i.e., + Wednesdays and Fridays, on which days during Lent the + English companies were not allowed to play], and in the + house of Drury Lane [i.e., the Cockpit Playhouse], where the + Queen's Players usually play. The King's pleasure I + signified to Mr. Beeston [the manager of the Cockpit] the + same day, who obeyed readily. The housekeepers are to give + them by promise the benefit of their interest[701] for the + two days of the first week. They had the benefit of playing + on the sermon days, and got two hundred pounds at least; + besides many rich clothes were given them. They had freely + to themselves the whole week before the week before + Easter,[702] which I obtained of the King for them. + +[Footnote 699: See Frederick Hawkins, _Annals of the French Stage_ +(1884), I, 148 ff., for the career of this player on the French stage. +"Every gift required by the actor," says Hawkins, "was possessed by +Floridor."] + +[Footnote 700: _La Melise, ou Les Princes Reconnus_, by Du Rocher, +first acted in Paris in 1633; see _The Athenæum_, July 11, 1891, p. +73; and cf. _ibid._, p. 139.] + +[Footnote 701: "Housekeepers" were owners, who always demanded of the +players as rental for the building a certain part of each day's +takings. The passage quoted means that the housekeepers allowed the +French players to receive _all_ money taken on the two sermon days of +the _first_ week, and after that exacted their usual share as rental +for the building.] + +[Footnote 702: That is, Passion Week, during which time the English +companies were never allowed to give performances.] + +The use of the Cockpit in Drury Lane came to an end at Easter, for the +Queen's own troupe, under Beeston's management, regularly occupied +that building. But the King summoned the French players to act at +Court on several occasions. Thus Herbert records: + + The 4 April, on Easter Monday,[703] they played the + _Trompeur Puny_[704] with better approbation than the + other. + + On Wednesday night, the 16 April,[705] 1635, the French + played _Alcimedor_[706] with good approbation.[707] + +[Footnote 703: This must be an error, for Easter Monday fell on March +30.] + +[Footnote 704: _Le Trompeur Puni, ou Histoire Septentrionale_, by +Scuderi.] + +[Footnote 705: Wednesday was the 15th.] + +[Footnote 706: _Alcimedon_, by Duryer.] + +[Footnote 707: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 121, note.] + +Clearly these actors were in high favor at Court. Sir Henry, who did +not as a rule show any hesitancy in accepting fees, notes in the +margin of his book: "The French offered me a present of £10; but I +refused it, and did them many other courtesies gratis to render the +Queen my mistress an acceptable service." In view of this royal favor, +it is not surprising to find that, after they were driven from the +Cockpit, they received permission to fit up a temporary playhouse in +the manage, or riding-school, of one M. Le Febure, in Drury Lane. The +Lord Chamberlain's Office-Book contains the following entry on the +subject: + + 18 April, 1635: His Majesty hath commanded me to signify his + royal pleasure that the French comedians (having agreed with + Mons. le Febure) may erect a stage, scaffolds, and seats, + and all other accommodations which shall be convenient, and + act and present interludes and stage plays at his house [and + manage[708]] in Drury Lane, during His Majesty's pleasure, + without any disturbance, hindrance, or interruption. And + this shall be to them, and Mr. le Febure, and to all others, + a sufficient discharge, &c.[709] + +[Footnote 708: This clause I insert from Mrs. Stopes's notes on the +Lord Chamberlain's records, in the Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVI, 97.] + +[Footnote 709: I have chosen to reproduce the record from Chalmers's +_Apology_, p. 506, note _s_, rather than from Mrs. Stopes's apparently +less accurate notes in the Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVI, 97.] + +Apparently the players lost little time in fitting up the building, +for we read in Herbert's Office-Book: + + A warrant granted to Josias D'Aunay,[710] Hurfries de Lau, + and others, for to act plays at a new house in Drury Lane, + during pleasure, the 5 May, 1635. + + The King was pleased to command my Lord Chamberlain to + direct his warrant to Monsieur Le Fevure, to give him a + power to contract with the Frenchmen for to build a + playhouse in the manage-house, which was done accordingly by + my advice and allowance.[711] + +[Footnote 710: Should we place a comma after "Josias"? That "Josias +Floridor" was the leader of the troupe we know from two separate +entries; cf. Chalmers, _Apology_, pp. 508, 509.] + +[Footnote 711: Malone, _Variorum_, III, 122, note.] + +In Glapthorne's _The Ladies' Priviledge_ is a good-natured allusion to +the French Company and their vivacious style of acting:[712] + + _La._ But, Adorni, + What think you of the French? + + _Ador._ Very airy people, who participate + More fire than earth; yet generally good, + And nobly disposition'd, something inclining + To over-weening fancy. This lady + Tells my remembrance of a comic scene + I once saw in their Theatre. + + _Bon._ Add it to + Your former courtesies, and express it. + +[Footnote 712: Act II, Scene i. This passage is pointed out by +Lawrence, _The Elizabethan Playhouse_, p. 137.] + +Whereupon, according to the stage direction, Adorni "acts furiously." + +In the margin of his Office-Book Sir Henry Herbert writes +complacently: "These Frenchmen were commended unto me by the Queen, +and have passed through my hands gratis." This was indeed a rare favor +from Herbert; but they did not so easily escape his deputy, William +Blagrove, who accepted from them the sum of "three pounds for his +pains." + +How long the French actors occupied their temporary playhouse in Drury +Lane is not clear. In the Lord Chamberlain's book we find an entry +showing that they presented a play at Court in December, 1635: +"Warrant to pay £10 to Josias Floridor for himself and the rest of the +French players for a tragedy by them played before His Majesty Dec. +last."[713] The entry is dated January 8, 1636, and, so far as I can +discover, this is the last reference to the French players in London. +We may suppose that shortly after this they returned to Paris. + +[Footnote 713: Stopes, _op. cit._, p. 98, Chalmers, _Apology_, p. +509.] + + +V + +DAVENANT'S PROJECTED THEATRE IN FLEET STREET + +On March 26, 1639, William Davenant, who had succeeded Ben Jonson as +Poet Laureate, secured from King Charles a royal patent under the +Great Seal of England to erect a playhouse in Fleet Street, to be used +not only for regular plays, but also for "musical entertainments" and +"scenic representations." Davenant, as we know, was especially +interested in "the art of perspective in scenes," and also in the +Italian _opera musicale_. The royal patent--unusually verbose even for +a patent--is printed in full in Rymer's _Foedera_, XX, 377; I cite +below all the essential passages: + + [_The Building._] Know ye, that we, of our especial grace, + certain knowledge, and meere motion, and upon the humble + petition of our servant William Davenant, gentleman, have + given and granted, and by these presents, for us, our heirs, + and successors, do give and grant unto the said William + Davenant, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, + full power, license, and authority ... to frame, new-build, + and set up ... a Theatre or Playhouse, with necessary tiring + and retiring rooms, and other places convenient, containing + in the whole forty yards square at the most,[714] wherein + plays, musical entertainments, scenes, or other like + presentments may be presented ... so as the outwalls of the + said Theatre or Playhouse, tiring or retiring rooms, be made + or built of brick or stone, according to the tenor of our + proclamations in that behalf. + + [_Its Location._] Upon a parcel of ground lying near unto or + behind the Three Kings Ordinary in Fleet Street, in the + parishes of Saint Dunstan's in the West, London, or in Saint + Bride's, London, or in either of them; or in any other + ground in or about that place, or in the whole street + aforesaid, already allotted to him for that use, or in any + other place that is or hereafter shall be assigned or + allotted out to the said William Davenant by our right + trusty and right well-beloved cousin and counsellor Thomas, + Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Earl Marshall of England, or any + other of our commissioners for building for that time being + in that behalf. + + [_Its Uses._] And we do hereby, for us, our heirs, and + successors, grant to the said William Davenant, his heirs, + executors, administrators, and assigns, that it shall and + may be lawful to and for him, the said William Davenant, his + heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, from time to + time to gather together, entertain, govern, privilege, and + keep, such and so many players and persons, to exercise + action, musical presentments, scenes, dancing, and the like, + as he, the said William Davenant, his heirs, executors, + administrators, and assigns shall think fit and approve for + the said house; and such persons to permit and continue at + and during the pleasure of the said William Davenant, his + heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, from time to + time to act plays in such house so to be by him or them + erected; and exercise music, musical presentments, scenes, + dancing, or other the like, at the same, or other, hours, or + times, or after plays are ended,[715] peaceably and quietly, + without the impeachment or impediment of any person or + persons whatsoever, for the honest recreation of such as + shall desire to see the same. And that it shall and may be + lawful to and for the said William Davenant, his heirs, + executors, administrators, and assigns, to take and receive + of such our subjects as shall resort to see or hear any such + plays, scenes, and entertainments whatsoever, such sum or + sums of money as is, are, or hereafter from time to time + shall be accustomed to be given or taken in other playhouses + and places for the like plays, scenes, presentments, and + entertainments. + +[Footnote 714: The Fortune was only eighty feet square, but the stage +projected to the middle of the yard. Davenant probably wished to +provide for an alcove stage of sufficient depth to accommodate his +"scenes."] + +[Footnote 715: That is, he may give his "musical presentments," etc., +either at the hours when he was accustomed to give plays, or after his +plays are ended. This does not necessarily imply evening +entertainments.] + +The novelty of the scheme and the great size of the proposed building +must have alarmed the owners of playhouses. That the established +theatrical proprietors were hostile is clearly indicated by the +attitude of Richard Heton, one of the Sewers of the Chamber to Queen +Henrietta, and at the time manager of the Salisbury Court Playhouse. +In September, 1639, he wrote out a document entitled "Instructions for +my Patent," in which he advanced reasons why he should receive the +sole power to elect the members of the Queen's Company of Players. He +observes that under the existing arrangement the company was free to +leave the Salisbury Court Playhouse at their pleasure, "as in one year +and a half of their being here they have many times threatened"; and +he concludes by adding: "and one now of the chief fellows [i.e., +sharers of the company], an agent for one [William Davenant] that hath +got a grant from the King for the building of a new playhouse which +was intended to be in Fleet Street, which no man can judge that a +fellow of our Company, and a well-wisher to those that own the house, +would ever be an actor in."[716] Doubtless the owners of other houses +had the same sentiments, and exercised what influence they possessed +against the scheme. But the most serious opposition in all probability +came from the citizens and merchants living in the neighborhood. We +know how bitterly they complained about the coaches that brought +playgoers to the small Blackfriars Theatre, and how strenuously from +year to year they sought the expulsion of the King's Men from the +precinct.[717] They certainly would not have regarded with complacency +the erection in their midst of a still larger theatre. + +[Footnote 716: Cunningham, _The Whitefriars Theatre_, in _The +Shakespeare Society's Papers_, IV, 96.] + +[Footnote 717: See the chapter on the Second Blackfriars.] + +Whatever the opposition, it was so powerful that on October 2 Davenant +was compelled to make an indenture by which he virtually +renounced[718] for himself and his heirs for ever the right to build a +theatre in Fleet Street, or in any other place "in or near the cities, +or suburbs of the cities, of London or Westminster," without further +and special permission granted. This document, first printed by +Chalmers in his _Supplemental Apology_, is as follows: + + This indenture made the second day of October, in the + fifteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles, + by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and + Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c. _Anno Domini_ 1639. + Between the said King's most excellent Majesty of the first + part, and William Davenant of London, Gent., of the other + part. Whereas the said King's most excellent Majesty, by His + Highness's letters patents under the Great Seal of England + bearing date the six and twentieth day of March last past + before the date of these presents, did give and grant unto + the said William Davenant, his heirs, executors, + administrators, and assigns full power, license, and + authority that he, they, and every of them, by him and + themselves and by all and every such person or persons as he + or they shall depute or appoint, and his and their laborers, + servants, and workmen, shall and may lawfully, quietly, and + peaceably frame, erect, new build, and set up upon a parcel + of ground lying near unto or behind the Three Kings Ordinary + in Fleet Street in the Parish of St. Dunstan's in the West, + London, or in St. Bride's London, or in either of them, or + in any other ground in or about that place, or in the whole + street aforesaid, already allotted to him for that use, or + in any other place that is or hereafter shall be assigned + and allotted out to the said William Davenant by the Right + Honorable Thomas, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Earl Marshall + of England, or any other His Majesty's Commissioners for + Building, for the time being in that behalf, a theatre or + playhouse with necessary tiring and retiring rooms and other + places convenient, containing in the whole forty yards + square at the most, wherein plays, musical entertainments, + scenes, or other the like presentments may be presented by + and under certain provisors or conditions in the same + contained, as in and by the said letters patents, whereunto + relation being had more fully and at large, it doth and may + appear. + + Now this indenture witnesseth, and the said William Davenant + doth by these presents declare, His Majesty's intent, + meaning at and upon the granting of the said license was and + is that he, the said William Davenant, his heirs, + executors, administrators nor assigns should not frame, + build, or set up the said theatre or playhouse in any place + inconvenient, and that the said parcel of ground lying near + unto or behind the Three Kings Ordinary in Fleet Street in + the said Parish of St. Dunstan's in the West, London, or in + St. Bride's, London, or in either of them, or in any other + ground in or about that place, or in the whole street + aforesaid, and is sithence found inconvenient and unfit for + that purpose, therefore the said William Davenant doth for + himself his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, + and every of them, covenant, promise, and agree to and with + our said Sovereign Lord the King, his heirs and successors, + that he, the said William Davenant, his heirs, executors, + administrators, nor assigns shall not, nor will not, by + virtue of the said license and authority to him granted as + aforesaid, frame, erect, new build, or set up upon the said + parcel of ground in Fleet Street aforesaid, or in any other + part of Fleet Street, a theatre or playhouse, nor will not + frame, erect, new build, or set up upon any other parcel of + ground lying in or near the cities, or suburbs of the + cities, of London or Westminster any theatre or playhouse, + unless the said place shall be first approved and allowed by + warrant under His Majesty's sign manual, or by writing under + the hand and seal of the said Right Honorable Thomas, Earl + of Arundel and Surrey. In witness whereof to the one part of + this indenture the said William Davenant hath set his hand + and seal the day and year first above written. + + WILLIAM DAVENANT. L.S. + + Signed sealed and delivered + in the presence of + Edw. Penruddoks. + Michael Baker. + +[Footnote 718: That he did not actually surrender the patent is shown +by the fact that he claimed privileges by virtue of it after the +Restoration; see Halliwell-Phillipps, _A Collection of Ancient +Documents_, p. 48.] + +Possibly as a recompense for this surrender of his rights, Davenant +was made Governor of the King's and Queen's Servants at the Cockpit in +June of the following year; and from this time until the suppression +of acting in 1642, he expended his energies in managing the affairs of +this important playhouse. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +[In the following list are included the books and articles +constituting the main authorities upon which the present study is +based. The list is not intended to be an exhaustive bibliography, +though from the nature of the case it is fairly complete. For the +guidance of scholars the more important titles are marked with +asterisks. It will be seen that not all the works are included which +are cited in the text, or referred to in footnotes; the list, in fact, +is strictly confined to works bearing upon the history of the +pre-Restoration playhouses. Considerations of space have led to the +omission of a large number of books dealing with the topography of +London, and of the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, although a +knowledge of these is essential to any thorough study of the +playhouses. Furthermore, titles of contemporary plays, pamphlets, and +treatises are excluded, except a few of unusual and general value. +Finally, discussions of the structure of the early stage, of the +manner of dramatic performances in the time of Shakespeare, and of the +travels of English actors on the Continent are omitted, except when +these contain also material important for the study of the theatres. +At the close is appended a select list of early maps and views of +London.] + +[Transcriber's Note: In the original book, the numbers of the entries +below are at the end of the entry at the right margin, preceded by a +single square bracket. For the sake of clarity, in this e-book the +entries below are numbered at the left margin without the bracket.] + + +*1. _Actors Remonstrance, or Complaint for the Silencing of their +Profession._ London, 1643. (Reprinted in W.C. Hazlitt's _The English +Drama and Stage_, and in E.W. Ashbee's _Facsimile Reprints_.) + +*2. ADAMS, J.Q. The Conventual Buildings of Blackfriars, London, and +the Playhouses Constructed Therein. (The University of North Carolina +_Studies in Philology_, XIV, 64.) + +3. ---- The Four Pictorial Representations of the Elizabethan Stage. +_(The Journal of English and Germanic Philology_, X, 329.) + +*4. ---- _The Dramatic Records of Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the +Revels 1623-1673._ New Haven, 1917. + +5. ---- Lordinge (_alias_ "Lodowick") Barry. (_Modern Philology_, IX, +567. See No. 189.) + +6. ALBRECHT, H.A. _Das englische Kindertheater._ Halle, 1883. + +7. ARCHER, T. _The Highway of Letters._ London, 1893. (Chap. XV, +"Whitefriars and the Playhouses.") + +8. ARCHER, W. The Fortune Theatre. (The London _Tribune_, October 12, +1907; reprinted in _New Shakespeariana_, October, 1908, and in the +Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLIV, 159. See also Nos. 8, 38, 61, 129.) + +9. ---- A Sixteenth Century Playhouse. (_The Universal Review_, June, +1888, p. 281. Deals with the De Witt drawing of the Swan.) + +10. ARONSTEIN, P. Die Organisation des englischen Schauspiels im +Zeitalter Shakespeares. (_Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift_, II, +165, 216.) + +11. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM. Cunningham's Extracts from the Revels' Books. +(_The Athenæum_, 1911, II, 101, 130, 421; 1912, I, 469, 654; II, 143. +See Nos. 80, 179, 180, 183.) + +12. BAKER, G.P. The Children of Powles. (_The Harvard Monthly_, May, +1891.) + +13. ---- _The Development of Shakespeare as a Dramatist._ New York, +1907. + +14. BAKER, H.B. _History of the London Stage and its Famous Players._ +London and New York, 1904. (A new and rewritten edition of _The London +Stage_. 2 vols. London, 1889.) + +15. ---- _Our Old Actors._ 2 vols. London, 1881. (There was an earlier +edition, London, 1878, printed in New York, 1879, with the title, +_English Actors from Shakespeare to Macready_.) + +16. BAPST, C.G. _Essai sur l'Histoire du Théâtre._ Paris, 1893. + +17. BARRETT, C.R.B. _The History of the Society of Apothecaries of +London._ London, 1905. + +BEAR GARDEN AND HOPE. See Nos. 27, 72, 99, 119, 143, 144, 147, 152, +157, 198, 221, 222, 223, 228, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 274, 281, 303, +304, 316. + +*18. BELL, H. Contributions to the History of the English Playhouse. +(_The Architectural Record_, March and April, 1913.) + +19. BELL, W.G. _Fleet Street in Seven Centuries._ London, 1912. (Chap. +XIV, "The Whitefriars Playhouses.") + +20. BESANT, SIR W. _Mediæval London._ _London in the Time of the +Tudors._ _London in the Time of the Stuarts._ 4 vols. London, 1903-06. + +21. BINZ, G. Deutsche Besucher im Shakespeare'schen London. (_Beilage +zur Allgemeinen Zeitung._ München, August, 1902.) + +22. ---- Londoner Theater und Schauspiele im Jahre 1599. (_Anglia_, +XXII, 456.) + +*23. BIRCH, T. AND R.F. WILLIAMS. _The Court and Times of James the +First._ 2 vols. London, 1849. + +BLACKFRIARS, FIRST AND SECOND. See Nos. 2, 6, 17, 20, 26, 34, 41, 42, +43, 59, 61, 72, 90, 97, 100, 101, 105, 106, 108, 119, 136, 137, 146, +150, 163, 178, 179, 191, 196, 201, 214, 218, 223, 244, 248, 287, 288, +289, 293, 296, 297, 298. + +24. BLANCH, W.H. _Dulwich College and Edward Alleyn._ London, 1877. + +25. BOLINGBROKE, L.G. Pre-Elizabethan Plays and Players in Norfolk. +(_Norfolk Archæology_, XI, 336.) + +26. BOND, R.W. _The Complete Works of John Lyly._ 3 vols. Oxford, +1902. + +27. BOULTON, W.B. _The Amusements of Old London._ 2 vols. London, +1901. + +*28. BRAINES, W.W. _Holywell Priory and the Site of the Theatre, +Shoreditch._ London, 1915. (Part XLIII of _Indications of Houses of +Historical Interest in London_, issued by the London County Council.) + +BRAND, J. See No. 157. + +29. BRANDES, G. _William Shakespeare._ Translated by William Archer. 2 +vols. London, 1898. + +30. BRAYLEY, E.W. _Historical and Descriptive Accounts of the Theatres +of London._ London, 1826. (Brief notice of the Cockpit in Drury Lane; +relates chiefly to Restoration theatres.) + +31. BRERETON, J. LE G. De Witt at the Swan. (_A Book of Homage to +Shakespeare._ Oxford, 1916, p. 204.) + +32. BRUCE, J. Who was "Will, my lord of Leycester's jesting player"? +(_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, I, 88.) + +33. BULLEN, G. The Cockpit or Phoenix Theatre in 1660. (_The +Athenæum_, May 21, 1881, p. 699.) + +*34. BÜLOW, G. VON AND W. POWELL. _Diary of the Journey of Philip +Julius, Duke of Stettin-Pomerania, through England in the year 1602._ +(_Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_, New Series, VI. See +No. 146.) + +*35. _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1547-1660._ London, +1856-. (See also No. 192.) + +36. _Calendar of the Patent Rolls._ London, 1891-1908. + +37. CALMOUR, A.C. _Fact and Fiction about Shakespeare, with Some +Account of the Playhouses, Players, and Playwrights of His Period._ +Stratford-on-Avon, 1894. + +38. _A Catalogue of Models and of Stage-Sets in the Dramatic Museum of +Columbia University._ New York, 1916. (See also Nos. 129, 211.) + +*39. CHALMERS, GEORGE. _An Apology for the Believers in the +Shakspeare-Papers._ London, 1797. + +*40. ---- _A Supplemental Apology._ London, 1799. + +*41. CHAMBERS, E.K. Commissions for the Chapel. (The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 357.) + +*42. ---- Court Performances Before Queen Elizabeth. (_The Modern +Language Review_, II, 1.) + +*43. ---- Court Performances Under James the First. (_Ibid._, IV, +153.) + +*44. ---- Dramatic Records from the Lansdowne Manuscripts. (The Malone +Society's _Collections_, I, 143.) + +45. ---- The Elizabethan Lords Chamberlain. (_Ibid._, I, 31.) + +46. ---- [Review of] _Henslowe's Diary_, Edited by Walter W. Greg. +(_The Modern Language Review_, IV, 407, 511.) + +*47. ---- A Jotting by John Aubrey. (The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 341. Concerns Beeston and the Cockpit in Drury +Lane.) + +*48. ---- _The Mediæval Stage._ Oxford, 1903. + +49. ---- Nathaniel Field and Joseph Taylor. (_The Modern Language +Review_, IV, 395.) + +50. ---- _Notes on the History of the Revels Office under the Tudors._ +London, 1906. + +51. ---- The Stage of the Globe. (_The Works of William Shakespeare._ +Stratford-Town Edition. Stratford-on-Avon, 1904-07, X, 351.) + +52. ---- Two Early Player-Lists. (The Malone Society's _Collections_, +I, 348.) + +53. ---- William Kempe. (_The Modern Language Review_, IV, 88.) + +*54. CHAMBERS, E.K. AND W.W. GREG. Dramatic Records from the Privy +Council Register, 1603-1642. (The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, +370. For the records prior to 1603 see No. 87. Cf. also No. 260.) + +*55. ---- Dramatic Records of the City of London. The Remembrancia. +(The Malone Society's _Collections_, I, 43. See also No. 224.) + +*56. ---- Royal Patents for Players. (The Malone Society's +_Collections_, I, 260.) + +57. CHARLANNE, L. _L'Influence Française en Angleterre au xviie +Siecle, Le Théâtre et la Critique._ Paris, 1906. + +*58. CHILD, H. The Elizabethan Theatre. (_The Cambridge History of +English Literature_, vol. VI, chap. X.) + +59. CLAPHAM, A.W. On the Topography of the Dominican Priory of London. +(_Archæologia_, LXIII, 57. See also Nos. 2, 61.) + +*60. ---- The Topography of the Carmelite Priory of London. (_The +Journal of the British Archæological Association_, New Series, XVI, +15. See also No. 61.) + +61. CLAPHAM, A.W. AND W.H. GODFREY. _Some Famous Buildings and their +Story._ Westminster, [1913]. (Contains Godfrey's study of the Fortune +contract, and, in abbreviated form, the two articles by Clapham noted +above, Nos. 59, 60. See also Nos. 8, 38, 116, 129.) + +62. CLARK, A. Players or Companies on Tour 1548-1630. (_Notes and +Queries_, X Series, XII, 41.) + +COCKPIT-IN-COURT. See Nos. 18, 80, 81, 82, 83, 89, 99, 180, 181, 182, +183, 184, 197, 228, 250, 253, 305, 313. + +COCKPIT-IN-DRURY LANE. See Nos. 4, 30, 33, 47, 72, 88, 91, 99, 119, +138, 139, 142, 147, 159, 197, 223, 227, 228, 303. + +*63. COLLIER, J.P. _The Alleyn Papers._ London. Printed for The +Shakespeare Society, 1843. (See No. 161.) + +64. ---- _The Diary of Philip Henslowe._ London. Printed for The +Shakespeare Society, 1845. (See No. 143.) + +*65. ---- _The History of English Dramatic Poetry._ 3 vols. 1831. +Second edition, London, 1879. + +66. ---- _Lives of the Original Actors._ (See No. 68.) + +*67. ---- _Memoirs of Edward Alleyn._ London. Printed for The +Shakespeare Society, 1841. (See No. 316.) + +68. ---- _Memoirs of the Principal Actors in the Plays of +Shakespeare._ London. Printed for The Shakespeare Society, 1846. +(Reprinted with some corrections in No. 65.) + +69. ---- On Players and Dramatic Performances in the Reign of Edward +IV. (_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, II, 87.) + +*70. ---- Original History of "The Theatre" in Shoreditch, and +Connexion of the Burbadge Family with it. (_Ibid._, IV, 63.) + +71. ---- Richard Field, Nathaniel Field, Anthony Munday, and Henry +Chettle. (_Ibid._, IV, 36.) + +*72. ---- _The Works of Shakespeare_, London, 1844. (Vol. I, p. ccxli, +reprints a record of the end of certain early playhouses from "some +manuscript notes to a copy of Stowe's _Annales_, by Howes, folio, +1631, in the possession of Mr. Pickering." See No. 119.) + +73. CONRAD, H. Robert Greene als Dramatiker. (The Shakespeare +_Jahrbuch_, XXIX-XXX, 210.) + +74. CORBIN, J. Shakspere his own Stage-Manager. (_The Century +Magazine_, LXXXIII, 260.) + +75. CREIGHTON, C. _A History of Epidemics in Britain._ 2 vols. +Cambridge, 1891-94. + +76. CREIZENACH, W. _Geschichte des neueren Dramas._ Vol. IV, Part I, +Book viii. Halle, 1909. (English translation by Cécile Hugon, London, +1916.) + +77. ---- Die Schauspiele der englischen Komödianten. (_Deutsche +National-Litteratur_, XXIII.) + +78. CULLEN, C. Puritanism and the Stage. (_Proceedings of the Royal +Philosophical Society of Glasgow_, XLIII, 153.) + +79. CUNNINGHAM. P. Did General Harrison Kill "Dick Robinson" the +Player? (_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, II, 11.) + +*80. ---- _Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at the Court in +the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I._ London. Printed for +The Shakespeare Society, 1842. (See Nos. 11, 180, 181, 184.) + +81. ---- _A Handbook of London._ 2 vols. London, 1849. (A new edition, +"corrected and enlarged," London, 1850. See also No. 305.) + +82. ---- _Inigo Jones. A Life of the Architect._ London. Printed for +The Shakespeare Society, 1848. + +83. ---- Inigo Jones, and his Office under the Crown. (_The +Shakespeare Society's Papers_, I, 103.) + +84. ---- Plays at Court, Anno 1613. (_Ibid._, II, 123.) + +85. ---- Sir George Buc and the Office of the Revels. (_Ibid._, IV, +143.) + +*86. ---- The Whitefriars Theatre, the Salisbury Court Theatre, and +the Duke's Theatre in Dorset Gardens. (_Ibid._, IV, 89.) + +CURTAIN. See Nos. 96, 150, 151, 222, 223, 284. + +*87. DASENT, J.R. _Acts of the Privy Council of England._ New Series. +London, 1890-. (This contains the Acts to the end of Elizabeth's +reign; for those Acts relating to the drama from 1603 to 1642, see No. +54. Cf. No. 260.) + +88. _Description of the Great Machines of the Descent of Orpheus into +Hell. Presented by the French Comedians at the Cockpit in Drury Lane._ +London, 1661. + +89. Diaries and Despatches of the Venetian Embassy at the Court of +King James I., in the Years 1617, 1618. Translated by Rawdon Brown. +(_The Quarterly Review_, CII, 398.) + +_Diary_, of the Duke of Stettin-Pomerania. (See Nos. 34, 146.) + +90. DOBELL, B. Newly Discovered Documents. (_The Athenæum_, March 30, +1901, p. 403. Of value for Blackfriars.) + +*91. DOWNES, J. _Roscius Anglicanus._ London, 1708. + +92. DRAMATICUS. On the Profits of Old Actors. (_The Shakespeare +Society's Papers_, I, 21.) + +93. ---- The Players Who Acted in _The Shoemaker's Holiday_, 1600. +(_Ibid._, IV, 110.) + +94. DURAND, W.Y. Notes on Richard Edwards. (_The Journal of Germanic +Philology_, IV, 348.) + +95. ---- _Palæmon and Arcyte_, _Progne_, _Marcus Geminus_, and the +Theatre in Which They Were Acted, 1566. (_Publications of the Modern +Language Association of America_, XX, 502.) + +96. ELLIS, H. _The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Saint +Leonard, Shoreditch._ London, 1798. + +97. ELTON, C.I. _William Shakespeare, His Family and Friends._ London, +1904. (Chap. IV deals with Blackfriars and the Globe.) + +98. EVANS, M.B. An Early Type of Stage. (_Modern Philology_, IX, 421.) + +99. EVELYN, J. _Diary and Correspondence._ Edited by William Bray and +H.B. Wheatley. 4 vols. London, 1906. + +*100. FEUILLERAT, A. Blackfriars Records. (The Malone Society's +_Collections_, II, 1.) + +101. ---- _John Lyly._ Cambridge, 1910. + +102. ---- _Le Bureau des Menus-Plaisirs (Office of the Revels) et la +Mise en Scène a la Cour D'Élizabeth._ Louvain, 1910. + +*103. ---- _Documents Relating to the Office of the Revels in the Time +of Queen Elizabeth._ Louvain, 1908. + +104. ---- _Documents Relating to the Revels at Court in the Time of +King Edward VI and Queen Mary._ (_The Loseley Manuscripts._) Louvain, +1914. + +*105. ---- The Origin of Shakespeare's Blackfriars Theatre. (The +Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVIII, 81.) + +106. ---- Shakespeare's Blackfriars. (The London _Daily Chronicle_, +December 22, 1911.) + +*107. FIRTH, C.H. The Suppression of the Drama during the Protectorate +and Commonwealth. (_Notes and Queries_, VII Series, VI, 122.) + +108. FITZJEFFREY, H. _Notes from Black-fryers._ London, 1620. + +*109. FLEAY, F.G. _A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, +1559-1642._ 2 vols. London, 1891. + +110. ---- _A Chronicle History of the Life and Work of William +Shakespeare._ London, 1886. + +*111. ---- _A Chronicle History of the London Stage, 1559-1642._ +London, 1890. + +112. ---- History of the Theatres in London from their First Opening +in 1576 to their Closing in 1642. (_Transactions of the Royal +Historical Society_, X, 114. Also privately issued.) + +113. ---- On the Actor Lists, 1578-1642. (_Ibid._, IX, 44.) + +114. ---- _A Shakespeare Manual._ London, 1878. + +115. FLECKNOE, R. A Short Discourse of the English Stage. (Attached to +_Love's Kingdom_, 1664; reprinted in No. 158.) + +116. FORESTIER, A. The Fortune Theatre Reconstructed. (_The +Illustrated London News_, August 12, 1911, p. 276.) + +117. ---- Origins of the English Stage (_Ibid._, CXXXV, 934; CXXXVI, +57, 169, 225, 344, 423.) + +FORTUNE. See Nos. 8, 24, 38, 46, 61, 63, 64, 67, 72, 89, 116, 119, +120, 126, 129, 143, 144, 161, 190, 211, 223, 231, 234, 235, 239, 303, +304, 316. + +118. FOWELL, F. AND F. PALMER. _Censorship in England._ London, +[1913]. + +*119. FURNIVALL, F.J. The End of Shakespeare's Theatres. (_The +Academy_, XXII, 314. Manuscript notes from the Phillipps copy of +Stow's _Annals_, 1631. Previously printed by Collier. See No. 72.) + +120. ---- The Fortune Theatre in 1649. (_Notes and Queries_, X Series, +I, 85.) + +*121. ---- _Harrison's Description of England._ The New Shakspere +Society. London, 1877-78. (See No. 154.) + +122. G., G.M. _The Stage Censor, an Historical Sketch: 1544-1907._ +London, 1908. + +*123. GAEDERTZ, K.T. _Zur Kenntnis der altenglischen Bühne._ Bremen, +1888. (On the De Witt drawing of the Swan. See Nos. 31, 193, 306.) + +124. GAEHDE, C. _Das Theater; Schauspielhaus und Schauspielkunst vom +griechischen Altertum bis auf die Gegenwart._ Leipzig, 1908. + +125. GARDNER, A.E. The Site of the Globe Playhouse of Shakespeare. +(_The Athenæum_, December 5, 1914.) + +126. GAYTON, E. _Pleasant Notes on Don Quixot._ London, 1654. (The +second edition, 1768, is of no value.) + +127. GENEST, J. _Some Account of the English Stage from the +Restoration in 1660 to 1830._ 10 vols. Bath, 1832. + +*128. GILDERSLEEVE, V.C. _Government Regulation of the Elizabethan +Drama._ New York, 1908. + +GLOBE. See Nos. 38, 49, 51, 72, 97, 117, 119, 125, 150, 152, 165, 166, +167, 171, 176, 191, 205, 206, 207, 208, 211, 212, 213, 223, 233, 236, +237, 240, 241, 251, 257, 266, 292, 297, 299, 300, 301. + +129. GODFREY, W.H. An Elizabethan Playhouse. (_The Architectural +Review_, London, April, 1908; reprinted in No. 61. See also the +_Architect and Builder's Journal_, London, August 16, 1911, and _The +Architectural Review_, London, January, 1912, for descriptions of Mr. +Godfrey's model of the Fortune. This model is now in the Dramatic +Museum at Columbia University, and a duplicate is in the Museum of +European Culture at the University of Illinois. See also Nos. 8, 38, +61, 116, 211.) + +130. GOODWIN, A.T. Court Revels in the Reign of Henry VII. (_The +Shakespeare Society's Papers_, I, 47.) + +131. GRABO, C.H. Theatres of Elizabeth's London. (_Chautauquan_, +November, 1906.) + +*132. GRAVES, T.S. _The Court and the London Theatres During the Reign +of Elizabeth._ Menasha, Wis., 1913. + +*133. ---- A Note on the Swan Theatre. (_Modern Philology_, IX, 431. +See No. 135.) + +134. ---- The Shape of the First London Theatre. (_The South Atlantic +Quarterly_, July, 1914.) + +135. ---- Tricks of Elizabethan Showmen. (_Ibid._, April, 1915. Deals +with The Swan. See No. 133.) + +*136. GREENSTREET, J. The Blackfriars Playhouse: Its Antecedents. +(_The Athenæum_, July 17, 1886, p. 91, January 7, 1888, p. 25.) + +*137. ---- Blackfriars Theatre in the Time of Shakespeare. (_Ibid._, +April 7, 1888, p. 445; April 21, 1888, p. 509; August 10, 1889, p. +203. These documents are reprinted by Fleay, No. 111.) + +*138. ---- Documents Relating to the Players at the Red Bull, +Clerkenwell, and the Cockpit in Drury Lane, in the Time of James I. +(_The New Shakspere Society Transactions_, 1880-86, p. 489. Also in +_The Athenæum_, February 21, 1885. Reprinted by Fleay, No. 111.) + +*139. ---- Drury Lane Theatre in the Reign of James I. (_The +Athenæum_, 1885, February 21, p. 258; August 29, p. 282. Reprinted by +Fleay, No. 111.) + +*140. ---- The Red Bull Playhouse in the Reign of James I. (_The +Athenæum_, November 28, 1885, p. 709. Reprinted by Fleay, No. 111; and +by Wallace, in completer form, No. 303.) + +*141. ---- The Whitefriars Theatre in the Time of Shakespeare. (_The +New Shakspere Society Transactions_, 1887-90, p. 269.) + +*142. ---- The Will of Thomas Greene, with Particulars as to the Red +Bull. (_The Athenæum_, August 29, 1885. Reprinted by Fleay, No. 111.) + +*143. GREG, W.W. _Henslowe's Diary._ 2 vols. London, 1904-1908. (See +No. 46.) + +*144. ---- _Henslowe Papers._ London, 1907. + +---- See also under CHAMBERS, E.K. AND W.W. GREG. + +145. GROTE, W. Das London zur Zeit der Königin Elisabeth in deutscher +Beleuchtung. (_Neueren Sprachen_, XIV, 633.) + +*146. HAGER, H. Diary of the Journey of Philip Julius, Duke of +Stettin-Pomerania, through England in the Year 1602. (_Englische +Studien_, XVIII, 315. See No. 34.) + +*147. HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS, J.O. _A Collection of Ancient Documents +Respecting the Office of the Master of the Revels, and Other Papers +Relating to the Early Theatre._ London, 1870. (Only eleven copies +printed. The documents, with others, have been reprinted by Adams in +No. 4.) + +148. ---- Dispute between the Earl of Worcester's Players and the +Corporation of Leicester in 1586. (_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, +IV, 145.) + +149. ---- _Illustrations of the Life of Shakespeare._ London, 1874. +(The material of this book has been embodied in No. 150.) + +*150. ---- _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare._ 2 vols. The eleventh +edition. London, 1907. (The page numbers have not been changed since +the seventh edition, 1887.) + +151. ---- _Tarlton's Jests, and News out of Purgatory._ London. +Printed for The Shakespeare Society, 1844. + +152. ---- _Two Old Theatres. Views of the Globe and Bear Garden._ +Privately printed. Brighton, 1884. + +153. ---- _The Visits of Shakespeare's Company of Actors to the +Provincial Cities and Towns of England, Illustrated by Extracts +Gathered from Corporate Records._ Privately printed. Brighton, 1887. + +*154. HARRISON, WILLIAM. _Harrison's Description of England._ Edited +by F.J. Furnivall. The New Shakspere Society, London, 1877-78. +(Additions by Mrs. C.C. Stopes, _The Shakespeare Library_, 1908. +Edited also by L. Withington, London, 1902.) + +155. HASLEWOOD, JOSEPH. _Account of the Old London Theatres._ +(_Roxburghe Revels_, Edinburgh, 1837, p. 85. Fifty copies only +printed.) + +156. HATCHER, O.L. _A Book for Shakespeare Plays and Pageants._ New +York, 1916. ("Theatres," p. 133.) + +157. HAZLITT, W.C. _Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. +Faiths and Folklore._ 2 vols. London, 1905. + +*158. ---- _The English Drama and Stage under the Tudor and Stuart +Princes, 1543-1664._ Printed for the Roxburghe Library, 1869. + +159. HECKETHORN, C.W. _Lincoln's Inn Fields, and the Localities +Adjacent._ London, 1896. + +160. HENTZNER, P. _Itinerarium Germaniæ; Galliæ; Angliæ; Italiæ._ +Nüremberg, 1612. + +161. HERBERT, J.F. Additions to "The Alleyn Papers." (_The Shakespeare +Society's Papers_, I, 16. See No. 63.) + +162. HEYWOOD, T. _An Apology for Actors._ London, 1612. (London: +Reprinted for The Shakespeare Society, 1841.) + +*163. HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION. _Calendars_ and _Reports_. +London, 1870-. + +164. HITCHCOCK, R. _An Historical View of the Irish Stage._ 2 vols. +Dublin, 1788. + +HOPE. See Bear Garden and Hope. + +*165. HUBBARD, G. On the Exact Site of the Globe Playhouse of +Shakespeare. (_Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archæological +Society_, New Series, vol. II, part iii, 1912.) + +*166. ---- The Site of the Globe Theatre of Shakespeare on Bankside as +Shown by Maps of the Period. (_Journal of the Royal Institute of +British Architects_, London, 1909, Third Series, XVII, 26.) + +167. ---- The Site of the Globe. (_Notes and Queries_, XII Series, +XII, 11, 50, 70, 201, 224.) + +168. HUGHSON, D. _An Epitome of the Privileges of London, Including +Southwark, as Granted by Royal Charters._ London, 1812. + +169. ---- _Multum in Parvo. The Privileges of Southwark._ London, [c. +1818]. + +170. INGLEBY, C.M. _A Complete View of the Shakespeare Controversy._ +London, 1861. (A discussion of the inaccuracies and forgeries of J.P. +Collier.) + +171. JACKSON, R.C. _The Site of Shakespeare's Globe Playhouse._ (_The +Athenæum_, October 30, 1909, p. 525.) + +*172. JEAFFRESON, J.C. _Middlesex County Records._ 4 vols. London, +1886-92. + +173. JENKINSON, W. The Early Playhouses and the Drama as Referred to +in Tudor and Stuart Literature. (_The Contemporary Review_, CV, 847.) + +174. JUSSERAND, J.J. Les Théâtres de Londres au Temps de Shakespeare. +(_La Revue de Paris_, VI, 713.) + +175. ---- _A Literary History of the English People From the +Renaissance to the Civil War._ 2 vols. London, 1906-09. (Vol. II, bk. +V, chap. V.) + +176. K., L.L. Site of the Globe Theatre (_Notes and Queries_, XI +Series, X, 290, 335.) + +*177. KELLY, W. _Notices Illustrative of the Drama and Other Popular +Amusements._ London, 1865. + +*178. KEMPE, A.J. _The Loseley Manuscripts._ London, 1836. + +*179. LA FÈVRE DE LA BODERIE, ANTOINE. _Ambassades de Monsieur de La +Boderie en Angleterre ... depuis les années 1606 jusq' en 1611._ 5 +vols. [Paris], 1750. + +180. LAW, E. Cunningham's Extracts from the Revels' Books, 1842. (_The +Athenæum_, 1911, vol. II, pp. 297, 324, 388; 1912, vol. I, pp. 390, +469. See Nos. 11, 80, 181, 184.) + +181. ---- _More About Shakespeare "Forgeries."_ London, 1913. (See +Nos. 11, 80, 180, 184.) + +182. ---- Shakespeare at Whitehall. (The London _Times_, October 31, +1910, p. 10.) + +183. ---- Shakespeare's Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, 1604. (_Ibid._, +December 26, 1910, p. 10.) + +184. ---- _Some Supposed Shakespeare Forgeries._ London, 1911. (See +Nos. 11, 80, 180, 181.) + +*185. LAWRENCE, W.J. _The Elizabethan Playhouse and Other Studies._ +Stratford-upon-Avon, 1912. Second Series, 1913. (I do not record +separately the numerous articles by Mr. Lawrence which appeared first +in periodicals, and which are reprinted in these two volumes.) + +*186. ---- The Evolution and Influence of the Elizabethan Playhouse. +(The Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVII, 18.) + +*187. ---- A Forgotten Restoration Playhouse. (_Englische Studien_, +XXXV, 279.) + +188. ---- Ireland's First Theatrical Manager. (_The Weekly Freeman_, +St. Patrick's Day Number, March 11, 1916.) + +*189. ---- The Mystery of Lodowick Barry. (The University of North +Carolina _Studies in Philology_, XIV, 52.) + +*190. ---- Restoration Stage Nurseries. (_Archiv für das Studium der +Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen_, 1914, p. 301.) + +191. LEE, SIR S. _A Life of William Shakespeare._ New York, 1916. +(Chap. VI.) + +*192. _Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry +VIII._ London, 1862-1905. (_Calendar of State Papers_; see No. 35.) + +193. LOGEMAN, H. Johannes de Witt's Visit to the Swan Theatre. +(_Anglia_, XIX, 117. Cf. _The Academy_, December 26, 1896. See No. 31, +123, 306.) + +194. LONDON TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. _London Topographical Record._ +London, 1901-. + +195. MAAS, H. _Äussere Geschichte der Englischen Theatertruppen in dem +Zeitraum von 1559 bis 1642._ Louvain, 1907. + +196. ---- _Die Kindertruppen._ Göttingen, 1901. + +*197. MCAFEE, H. _Pepys on the Restoration Stage._ New Haven, 1916. + +198. MALCOLM, J.P. _Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London +during the Eighteenth Century._ London, 1808. + +199. ---- _Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London from the +Roman Invasion to the Year 1700._ London, 1811. + +*200. MALONE, E. _The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare._ 21 +vols. London, 1821. (The Variorum edition, edited by Boswell.) + +201. MANLY, J.M. The Children of the Chapel Royal and their Masters. +(_The Cambridge History of English Literature_, vol. VI, chap. xi.) + +202. MANNING, O. AND W. BRAY. _The History and Antiquities of the +County of Surrey._ 3 vols. London, 1804-14. + +203. MANTZIUS, K. _Engelske Theaterforhold i Shakespeare-tiden._ +Khvn., 1901. (See No. 204.) + +204. ---- _A History of Theatrical Art in Ancient and Modern Times._ +Authorised Translation by Louise von Cossel. Vol. III, "The +Shakespearean Period in England." London, 1904. + +205. MARTIN, W. _Shakespeare in London._ (The London _Times_, October +8, 1909, p. 10.) + +206. ---- The Site of Shakespeare's Globe Playhouse. (_The Athenæum_, +October 9, 1909, p. 425.) + +207. ---- The Site of the Globe. (_Notes and Queries_, XI Series, X, +209, XII, 10, 121, 143, 161.) + +*208. ---- The Site of the Globe Playhouse of Shakespeare. (_Surrey +Archæological Collections_, London, 1910, XXIII, 149. Also separately +printed.) + +209. MEMBER FROM THE BEGINNING. Accounts of Performances and Revels at +Court in the Reign of Henry VIII. (_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, +III, 87.) + +210. MEYMOTT, W.J. _The Manor of Old Paris Garden; an Historical +Account of Christ Church, Surrey._ London, 1881. (Printed for private +circulation. Inaccurate. See _Notes and Queries_, VII Series, III, +241.) + +211. MILES, D.H. The Dramatic Museum at Columbia University. (_The +American Review of Reviews_, XLVI, 67. Illustrations of models of +early playhouses. See No. 38, 129.) + +212. MILLS, C.A. Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre. (The London +_Times_, April 11, 1914.) + +213. Model of the Globe Playhouse. (_The Graphic_, London, LXXXII, +579; _Illustrated London News_, CXXXVI, 423.) + +214. MORGAN, A. The Children's Companies. (_Shakesperiana_, IX, 131.) + +215. MURRAY, J.T. English Dramatic Companies in the Towns Outside of +London, 1550-1600. (_Modern Philology_, II, 539.) + +*216. ---- _English Dramatic Companies._ 2 vols. London, 1910. + +217. N., T.C. The Old Bridge at Newington. (_Notes and Queries_, II +Series, XII, 323.) + +218. NAIRN, J.A. Boy-Actors under the Tudors and Stuarts. +(_Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature_, II Series, XXXII, +11.) + +*219. NICHOLS, J. _The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen +Elizabeth._ 4 vols. London, 1823. + +*220. ---- _The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities +of King James the First._ 4 vols. London, 1828. + +221. ONIONS, C.T. _Shakespeare's England._ 2 vols. Oxford, 1916. +(Chap. XXIV, "Actors and Acting," by Percy Simpson; chap. XXV, "The +Playhouse," by William Archer and W.J. Lawrence; chap. XXVII, section +7, "Bearbaiting, Bull Baiting, and Cockfighting," by Sir Sidney Lee. A +popular treatise.) + +*222. ORDISH, T.F. _Early London Theatres._ London, 1894. (For an +important review, see E.K. Chambers in _The Academy_, August 24, 1895, +p. 139.) + +*223. ---- London Theatres. (_The Antiquary_, XI-XVI. "Theatre and +Curtain," XI, 89; "Rose," XI, 212; "Bear Garden," XI, 243; "Globe," +XII, 41; "Elizabethan Stage," XII, 193; "Swan," XII, 245; +"Blackfriars," XIV, 22, 55, 108; "Fortune," XIV, 205; "Red Bull," XIV, +236, "Cockpit," XV, 93; "Whitefriars," XV, 262; "Salisbury Court," +XVI, 244.) + +*224. OVERALL, W.H. AND H.C. _Analytical Index to the Series of +Records Known as the Remembrancia. Preserved among the Archives of the +City of London. 1579-1664._ London, 1878. (See No. 55.) + +225. OVEREND, G.H. On the Dispute between George Maller, Glazier and +Trainer of Players to Henry VIII, and Thomas Arthur, his Pupil. (_The +New Shakspere Society's Transactions_, 1877-79, p. 425.) + +226. PAGET, A.H. _The Elizabethan Playhouses._ London, 1891. +(Privately printed, 8vo, 14 pp.) + +*227. PARTON, J. _Some Account of the Hospital and Parish of St. Giles +in the Fields, Middlesex._ London, 1822. (Contains parish records +relating to the Cockpit in Drury Lane.) + +PAUL'S. See Nos. 6, 12, 26, 101, 196, 201, 214, 218, 297. + +*228. PEPYS, S. _The Diary of Samuel Pepys._ Edited by Henry B. +Wheatley. 9 vols. London, 1893. + +PHOENIX. See Cockpit in Drury Lane. + +229. PINKS, W.J. _The History of Clerkenwell._ Second edition. London, +1880. (The Red Bull Playhouse, p. 190.) + +230. Pleadings in Rastell _v._ Walton, a Theatrical Lawsuit, temp. +Henry VIII. (Arber, _An English Garner, Fifteenth Century Prose and +Verse_, 1903, p. 305.) + +231. PLOMER, H.R. Fortune Playhouse (_Notes and Queries_, X Series, +VI, 107.) + +232. POLLOCK, A. The Evolution of the Actor. (_The Drama_, August and +November, 1915, and November, 1916.) + +233. PORTER, C. Playing Hamlet as Shakespeare Staged It in 1601. +(_Ibid._, August and November, 1915.) + +234. PRYNNE, W. _Histriomastix._ London, 1633. + +235. RANKIN, G. Early London Theatres. (_Notes and Queries_, IV +Series, VI, 306; cf. p. 423.) + +RED BULL. See Nos. 4, 91, 107, 126, 138, 139, 140, 142, 147, 197, 223, +228, 229, 234, 303. + +_Remembrancia._ See Nos. 55, 224. + +*236. RENDLE, W. The Bankside, Southwark, and the Globe Playhouse. (In +Furnivall's edition of Harrison's _Description of England_, Part II, +Book iii. See No. 121. Deals with the Swan, Bear Garden, Hope, Rose, +and Globe.) + +*237. ---- The Globe Playhouse. (_Walford's Antiquarian_, VIII, 209.) + +238. ---- Paris Garden and Christ Church, Blackfriars. (_Notes and +Queries_, VII Series, III, 241, 343, 442.) + +239. ---- Philip Henslowe. (_The Genealogist_, IV, 149.) + +*240. ---- The Playhouses at Bankside in the Time of Shakespeare. +(_The Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer_, VII, 207, 274; VIII, +55.) + +241. ---- _Old Southwark and its People._ London, 1878. + +242. ---- The Swan Playhouse, Bankside, _circa_ 1596. (_Notes and +Queries_, VII Series, VI, 221.) + +*243. RENDLE, W. AND P. NORMAN. _The Inns of Old Southwark and Their +Associations._ London, 1888. + +*244. _Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts._ +London, 1870-. (See No. 163.) + +245. RIMBAULT, E.F. _The Old Cheque-Book, or Book of Remembrance, of +the Chapel Royal from 1561 to 1744._ (_The Camden Society_, 1872.) + +246. ---- _Who was "Jack Wilson" the Singer of Shakespeare's Stage?_ +London, 1846. (Cf. _The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, II, 33.) + +ROSE. See Nos. 24, 46, 63, 64, 67, 143, 144, 161, 222, 223, 236, 239, +240, 241, 257, 263, 300, 302, 304, 316. + +*247. RYE, W.B. _England as Seen by Foreigners in the Days of +Elizabeth and James I._ London, 1865. + +SALISBURY COURT. See Nos. 4, 7, 19, 72, 86, 91, 99, 119, 147, 197, +223, 228. + +248. SCHELLING, F.E. "An Aery of Children, Little Eyases." (_The +Queen's Progress and Other Elizabethan Sketches_, Boston and New York, +1904, chap. V.) + +249. ---- The Elizabethan Theatre. (_Lippincott's Monthly Magazine_, +LXIX, 309.) + +_Shakespeare's England._ See No. 221. + +250. SHEPPARD, E. _The Old Royal Palace of Whitehall._ London and New +York, 1902. + +251. The Site of the Globe Theatre, Bankside. (_The Builder_, March +26, 1910, p. 353.) + +252. SMITH, W.H. _Bacon and Shakespeare. An Inquiry Touching Players, +Playhouses, and Play-Writers in the Days of Elizabeth._ London, 1857. + +253. SPIERS, W.L. An Autograph Plan by Wren. (_The London +Topographical Record_, 1903. Concerns Whitehall Palace and the +Cockpit.) + +_State Papers._ See Nos. 35, 192. + +254. _Statutes of the Realm._ Record Commission. 9 vols. London, +1810-28. + +255. STEPHENSON, H.T. _Shakespeare's London._ New York, 1905. (Chap. +XIV, "The Theatres.") + +256. ---- _The Study of Shakespeare._ New York, 1915. (Chap. III, "The +Playhouses.") + +*257. STOPES, C.C. _Burbage and Shakespeare's Stage._ London, 1913. + +258. ---- The Burbages and the Transportation of "The Theatre." (_The +Athenæum_, October 16, 1909, p. 470.) + +259. ---- Burbage's "Theatre." (_The Fortnightly Review_, XCII, 149.) + +260. ---- Dramatic Records from the Privy Council Register, James I +and Charles I. (The Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVIII, 103. See No. 54.) + +261. ---- Giles and Christopher Alleyn of Holywell. (_Notes and +Queries_, X Series, XII, 341.) + +262. ---- "The Queen's Players" in 1536. (_The Athenæum_, July 24, +1914.) + +263. ---- The Rose and the Swan, 1597. (_The Stage_, January 6, 1910. +The documents here summarized are printed in full in No. 257 and again +in No. 302.) + +264. ---- _Shakespeare's Environment._ London, 1914. (Chapters on +William Hunnis, Burbage's "Theatre," and The Transportation of +Burbage's "Theatre.") + +*265. ---- Shakespeare's Fellows and Followers. (The Shakespeare +_Jahrbuch_, XLVI, 92.) + +266. ---- The Site of the Globe. (_Notes and Queries_, XI Series, XI, +447.) + +267. ---- "The Theatre." (_Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen +und Literaturen_, CXXIV, 129.) + +268. ---- William Hunnis. (The Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XXVII, 200.) + +269. ---- William Hunnis. (_The Athenæum_, March 31, 1900.) + +270. ---- _William Hunnis and the Revels of the Chapel Royal._ +Louvain, 1910. + +*271. STOW, J. _A Survey of London._ Edited by C.L. Kingsford. 2 vols. +Oxford, 1908. + +*272. ---- _A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster ... +Corrected, Improved, and Very Much Enlarged ... by John Strype._ 2 +vols. London, 1720. + +*273. ---- _Annales, or A Generall Chronicle of England, Continued by +Edmund Howes._ London, 1631. + +274. STRUTT, J. _Sports and Pastimes of the People of England._ +London, 1801. + +STRYPE, J. See No. 272. + +275. ---- _The Anatomy of Abuses._ Edited by F.J. Furnivall, for The +New Shakspere Society. London, 1877-79. (There is an earlier edition +by J.P. Collier, 1870.) + +SWAN. See Nos. 9, 31, 46, 123, 133, 135, 144, 193, 210, 214, 222, 223, +236, 238, 240, 241, 242, 257, 263, 302, 306. + +276. SYMONDS, J.A. _Shakespeare's Predecessors._ London, 1883. (Chap. +VIII, "Theatres, Playwrights, Actors, and Playgoers.") + +THEATRE, BURBAGE'S. See Nos. 28, 70, 96, 134, 150, 151, 222, 223, 257, +258, 259, 261, 264, 267, 277, 290. + +277. The Theater; a Middlesex Sessions Record Touching James Burbage's +"Theater." (_The Athenæum_, February 12, 1887, p. 233.) + +*278. THOMPSON, E.N.S. _The Controversy between the Puritans and the +Stage._ New York, 1903. + +279. THORNBURY, G.W. Shakespeare's England. 2 vols. London, 1856. +(Vol. II, chap. X, "The Theatre.") + +*280. THORNDIKE, A.H. _Shakespeare's Theatre._ New York, 1916. (Chap. +III, "The Playhouses.") + +281. TILER, A. _The History and Antiquities of St. Saviours._ London, +1765. + +282. TOMLINS, T.E. A New Document Regarding the Authority of the +Master of the Revels. (_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, III, 1. The +document is reprinted in No. 103.) + +283. ---- The Original Patent for the Nursery of Actors and Actresses +in the Reign of Charles II. (_Ibid._, III, 162.) + +*284. ---- Origin of the Curtain Theatre, and Mistakes Regarding It. +(_The Shakespeare Society's Papers_, I, 29.) + +285. ---- Three New Privy Seals for Players in the Time of +Shakespeare. (_Ibid._, IV, 41.) + +286. TYSON, W. Heming's Players at Bristol in the Reign of Henry VIII. +(_Ibid._, III, 13.) + +287. _Victoria History of London._ London, 1909. + +*288. WALLACE, C.W. _The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars +1597-1603._ Lincoln [Nebraska], 1908. (Originally printed in +_University Studies_, University of Nebraska, 1908.) + +*289. ---- _The Evolution of the English Drama up to Shakespeare, with +a History of the First Blackfriars Theatre._ (_Schriften der Deutschen +Shakespeare-Gesellschaft_, Band IV. Berlin, 1912.) + +*290. ---- _The First London Theatre, Materials for a History._ +(_University Studies_, University of Nebraska, vol. XII. Lincoln, +Nebraska, 1913.) + +291. ---- Gervase Markham, Dramatist. (The Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, +XLVI, 345. Cf. J.Q. Adams, in _Modern Philology_, X, 426.) + +*292. ---- _Globe Theatre Apparel._ [London.] Privately printed, +August, 1909. (For the nature of the contents see the London _Times_, +November 30, 1909, p. 12; and the Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVI, 239.) + +293. ---- _Keysar_ v. _Burbage and Others._ Privately printed, 1910. +(These documents are included in the author's _Shakespeare and his +London Associates_, No. 297.) + +294. ---- A London Pageant of Shakespeare's Time. (The London _Times_, +March 28, 1913.) + +295. ---- New Shakespeare Discoveries. (_Harper's Monthly Magazine_, +CXX, 489. See No. 297.) + +296. ---- Old Blackfriars Theatre. (The London _Times_, September 12, +1906; the New York _Evening Post_, September 24, 1906.) + +*297. ---- Shakespeare and His London Associates as Revealed in +Recently Discovered Documents. (_University Studies_, University of +Nebraska, X, 261.) + +298. ---- Shakespeare and the Blackfriars Theatre. (_The Century +Magazine_, September, 1910. The documents on which this popular +article is based may be found in Nos. 289 and 297.) + +*299. ---- Shakespeare and the Globe. (The London _Times_, October 2 +and 4, 1909. Deals with the Osteler-Heminges documents, and the site +of the Globe. These documents Mr. Wallace has privately printed in +_Advance Sheets from Shakespeare, The Globe, and Blackfriars_, The +Shakespeare Head Press, 1909, whence they were printed in the +Shakespeare _Jahrbuch_, XLVI, 235.) + +*300. ---- Shakespeare and the Globe. (The London _Times_, April 30 +and May 1, 1914.) + +301. ---- Shakspere's Money Interest in the Globe Theatre. (_The +Century Magazine_, August, 1910. The documents on which this popular +article is based may be found in No. 297.) + +*302. ---- The Swan Theatre and the Earl of Pembroke's Servants. +(_Englische Studien_, XLIII, 340. See Nos. 257, 263.) + +*303. ---- Three London Theatres of Shakespeare's Time. (_University +Studies_, University of Nebraska, IX, 287.) + +*304. WARNER, G.F. _Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Muniments of +Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich._ [London], 1881. + +305. WHEATLEY, H.B. _London, Past and Present.... Based upon the +Handbook of London by the late Peter Cunningham._ London and New York, +1891. (See No. 81.) + +*306. ---- On a Contemporary Drawing of the Interior of the Swan +Theatre, 1596. (_The New Shakspere Society's Transactions_, 1887-90, +p. 213.) + +WHITEFRIARS. See Nos. 5, 6, 7, 19, 43, 60, 61, 86, 141, 144, 189, 196, +201, 214, 218, 223, 239, 287, 293, 297. + +*307. WILKINSON, R. _Londina Illustrata._ 2 vols. London, 1819-25. +(The second volume is entitled _Theatrum Illustrata_.) + +308. WILSON, J.D. _Life in Shakespeare's England._ Cambridge, 1911. +(Chap. VII, "The Theatre.") + +*309. ---- The Puritan Attack upon the Stage. (_The Cambridge History +of English Literature_, vol. VI.) + +*310. WINWOOD, R. _Memorials of Affairs of State._ 3 vols. London, +1725. + +311. WOOLF, A.H. _Shakespeare and the Old Southwark Playhouses: a +Lecture._ London, 1903. (20 pp., 8vo, privately printed.) + +312. WOTTON, SIR H. _Reliquiæ Wottonianæ._ London, 1651. + +313. WRIGHT, G.R. The English Stage in the Year 1638. (_The Journal of +the British Archæological Association_, XVI, 275; reprinted in the +author's _Archæologic and Historic Fragments_, London, 1887.) + +*314. WRIGHT, J. _Historia Histrionica_, London, 1699. (Reprinted in +Hazlitt's Dodsley, vol. XV.) + +315. WRIGHT, T. _Queen Elizabeth and Her Times._ 2 vols. London, 1838. + +*316. YOUNG, W. _The History of Dulwich College, with a Life of the +Founder, Edward Alleyn, and an Accurate Transcript of his Diary, +1617-1622._ 2 vols. London, 1889. (Edition limited to 250 copies, +privately printed for the author.) + + + + +MAPS AND VIEWS OF LONDON + + +I + +CRACE, J.G. _A Catalogue of Maps, Plans, and Views of London, +Westminster, and Southwark, Collected and Arranged by Frederick +Crace._ London, 1878. (This collection of maps is now in the British +Museum. The Catalogue is not always trustworthy.) + +GOMME, L. The Story of London Maps. (_The Geographical Journal_, +London, 1908, XXXI, 489, 616.) + +MARTIN, W. A Study of Early Map-Views of London. (_The Antiquary_, +London, 1909, XLV, 337, 406. See also _Home Counties Magazine_, IX.) + + +II + +VAN DEN WYNGAERDE, A. View of London, Westminster, and Southwark. (The +original drawing, made about 1530, is now preserved in the Sutherland +Collection in the Bodleian Library. A reproduction in three sections +will be found in Besant's _London in the Time of the Tudors_.) + +BRAUN, G., AND F. HOGENBERGIUS. _Londinum Feracissimi Angliæ Regni +Metropolis._ (In _Civitates Orbis Terrarum_, Cologne, 1572. The map is +based on an original, now lost, drawn between 1554 and 1558; see +Alfred Marks, _The Athenæum_, March 31, 1906.) + +AGAS, R. _Civitas Londinum._ (This map, executed about 1570, is based +on the same original map, 1554-58, made use of by Braun and +Hogenbergius, although Agas has introduced a few changes. The two +earliest copies are in Guildhall, London, and in the Pepysian Library +at Cambridge. The student should be warned against Vertue's +reproduction, often met with. The best reproduction is that by The +London Topographical Society, 1905.) + +NORDEN, J. _London._ (In _Speculum Britanniæ, an Historical and +Chorographical Description of Middlesex. By the Travaile and View of +John Norden_. London, 1593. The map was engraved by Pieter Vanden +Keere.) + +DELARAM, F. View of London. (In the background of an engraving, made +about 1603, representing King James on horseback.) + +HONDIUS, J. _London._ (A small view of the city set in the large map +of "The Kingdome of Great Britaine and Ireland" printed in John +Speed's _Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine_, London, 1611. The +plate is dated 1610, but the inset view of London seems to have been +based on an earlier view, now lost, representing the city as it was in +or before 1605. Apparently the views, in the Delaram portrait of King +James, and on the title-pages of Henry Holland's _Her[Greek: +ô]ologia_, 1620, and Sir Richard Baker's _Chronicle_, 1643, were based +also on this lost view.) + +VISSCHER, C.J. _London._ (This splendid view was printed in 1616; but +it was drawn several years earlier, and represents the city as it was +in or before 1613.) + +MERIAN, M. _London._ (In J.L. Gottfried's _Neuwe Archontologia +Cosmica_, Frankfurt am Mayn, 1638. Based mainly on Visscher's View, +but with additions from some other earlier view not yet identified.) + +[RYTHER, A.] _The Cittie of London._ (This map, erroneously attributed +to Ryther in the Catalogue of the Crace Collection, is often misdated +1604. It was made between 1630 and 1640; see _Notes and Queries_, IV +Series, IX, 95; VI Series, XII, 361, 393; VII Series, III, 110, 297, +498.) + +HOLLAR, W. View of London. (The View is dated 1647; Hollar was in +banishment from England between the years 1643 and 1652. Excellently +reproduced by The London Topographical Society, 1907.) + +[? HOLLAR, W.] _London._ (In James Howell's _Londinopolis_, London, +1657. This view is a poor copy of Merian's splendid view, 1638. Though +generally attributed to Hollar, it is unsigned.) + +FAITHORNE, W., AND R. NEWCOURT. _An Exact Delineation of the Cities of +London and Westminster, and the Suburbs Thereof._ London, 1658. +(Reproduced by The London Topographical Society, 1905.) + +PORTER, T. Map of London and Westminster. (About 1660. Probably based +on the earlier map, 1630-40, mistakenly ascribed to Ryther. Reproduced +by The London Topographical Society, 1898.) + +MOORE, J. Map of London, Westminster, and Southwark. (Drawn in 1662. +Reproduced by The London Topographical Society, 1912.) + +OGILBY, J., AND W. MORGAN. _A Large and Accurate Map of the City of +London, 1677._ (Reproduced by The London and Middlesex Archæological +Society, 1895, with Ogilby's description of the map, entitled _London +Surveyed_.) + +MORDEN, R., AND P. LEA. _London &c. Actually Survey'd, 1682._ +(Reproduced by The London Topographical Society, 1904.) + +ROCQUE, J. _An Exact Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, +the Borough of Southwark.... Begun in 1741, Finished in 1745, and +published in 1746._ London, 1746. (An excellent reproduction of this +large map is now being issued in parts by The London Topographical +Society, 1913-.) + + + + +INDEX + + +_Abuses_, 116. + +Admiral--Prince Henry--1 Palsgrave--3 Prince Charles's Company: + Admiral's Company, 14, 16, 61 _n._, 72-73, 153-57, 174-75, 176, 267, + 269, 272, 281-82, 289-90. + Prince Henry's Company, 88, 282-83, 295. + Palsgrave's Company, 283-87, 290, 368, 369 _n._, 375. + Prince Charles II's Company, 287, 289-90, 303, 375-79, 401. + +Æschylus, 398. + +Agas, Ralph, 328, 392. + +_Aglaura_, 404. + +Albemarle, George Monck, I Duke of, 365, 405. + +Albright, V.E., vii. + +_Alchemist, The_, 419. + +_Alcimedon_, 422. + +Aldgate, 7, 10. + +_Alexander and Campaspe_, 109, 113. + +_Alfonso_, 232. + +Allen, William, 305. + +Alleyn, Edward, 57, 72, 85, 86, 133, 140, 150-51, 153, 156, 246, 267-74, + 281-87, 299, 319, 335-36. + +Alleyn, Gyles, 30-38, 43, 47, 52, 53, 58-65, 84, 182, 190, 199, 234. + +Alleyn, Joan Woodward, ix, 151. + +Alleyn, John, 57-58, 72, 73. + +Alleyn, Sara. _See_ Gyles Alleyn. + +_All is True_, 251-55. _See Henry VIII._ + +_All's Lost by Lust_, 309. + +Allyn, Sir William, 81. + +Alnwick Castle, 173 _n._ + +_Amends for Ladies_, 346. + +Amphitheatre, the projected, 411-17. + +_Andronicus_, 140, 152. + +Androwes, George, 313, 314, 315. + +Anjou, Duke of, 385. + +Anne of Denmark, Queen of England, 300, 353. + Her players, _see under_ Worcester, Children of the Chapel, and + Children of Her Majesty's Royal Chamber. + +_Antonio's Revenge_, 112. + +Apothecaries, Society of, 191 _n._ + +_Architectural Record, The_, ix, 395. + +Aristophanes, 398. + +Armin, Robert, 316. + +Arundel and Surrey, Thomas Howard, 2 Earl of, 426, 429, 430. + +Arundel's Company, 70, 83. + +_Arviragus and Philicia_, 401. + +Ashen-tree Court, 313. + +Ashley, Sir Anthony, 322. + +Aubrey, John, 78, 364. + +Aunay, Josias d', 423. + + +Bacon, Anthony, 15. + +Bacon, Sir Edmund, 320. + +Bacon, Francis, 15, 65. + +Baker, Michael, 430. + +Baker, Sir Richard, 127, 146. + +Banks, Jeremiah, 306. + +Banks's horse, 13. + +Bankside, 28-29, 63, 64, 119 f., 134 f., 142 f., 161 f., 182-83, 185, + 238 f., 267, 326 f. + +Banqueting-House at Whitehall, 385-89. + +Barclay, Perkins, and Company, 265. + +Barry, David Lording, 313, 314-15, 316, 317. + +Barry, Lodowick. _See_ David Barry. + +_Bartholomew Fair_, 325 _n._, 330, 334. + +Bath, 71. + +Baxter, Richard, 300-01. + +Bear Alley, 340, 341. + +Bear Garden (First), 15, 119-33, 145, 146, 146 _n._, 159 _n._, 167, 182, + 238, 244, 248, 326, 328, 329, 332 _n._, 336, 416. + +Bear Garden (Second). _See_ Hope Playhouse. + +Bear Garden Alley, 340, 341. + +Bear Garden Glass House, 341 _n._ + +Bear Garden Square, 341. + +Beaumont, Francis, 116, 304, 404. + +Beaven, William, 293. + +Beddingfield, Anne, 294. + +Beddingfield, Christopher, 294. + +Beecher, Sir William, 230. + +Beeston, Christopher, 158, 299-300, 350-58, 374, 421. + +Beeston, Mrs. Elizabeth, 362. + +Beeston, William, 358-61, 380-83. + +Beeston's Boys. _See_ King's and Queen's Company. + +_Beggar's Bush_, 404. + +Bell, Hamilton, ix, 395-400. + +Bell Inn, 1-17, 67. + +Bell Savage Inn, 1-17. + +Bermondsey, Monastery of, 161. + +Bethelem, 69. + +Betterton, Thomas, 366, 406. + +Betterton, Mrs. Thomas, 406 _n._ + +Bevis, 133. + +Bird, Theophilus, 350 _n._, 381. + +Bird, William, 170, 174. + +Bishop, Nicholas, 57. + +Bishopsgate Street, 7 f., 67. + +_Black Book, The_, 73 _n._ + +Blackfriars Playhouse (First), 8, 91-110, 113, 183, 194, 201, 202, 204, + 208, 311 _n._ + +Blackfriars Playhouse (Second), 59, 74, 86, 93, 98 _n._, 116, 117, 118, + 182-233, 250, 256, 260, 261, 311, 312, 317, 319, 320, 324, 343, 350, + 355, 356, 365, 369, 372 _n._, 373, 402, 403, 404, 428. + +Blackfriars Playhouse (Rosseter's). _See_ Rosseter's Blackfriars. + +Blagrove, Thomas, 369. + +Blagrove, William, 368-72, 374, 424. + +_Bloody Brother, The_, 363. + +Blount, Thomas, 122. + +Boar's Head Inn, Eastcheap, 7 _n._ + +Boar's Head Inn, Whitechapel, 1-17, 87, 157-58, 159. + +Boar's Head Yard, 17. + +Bodley, Sir John, 256-57, 262. + +_Bondman, The_, 382. + +Bonetti, Rocho, 194-95. + +Boone, Colonel, 382. + +Bourne, Theophilus, 350 _n._ + +Bouverie Street, 313. + +Bowes, Sir Jerome, 184. + +Bowman (the actor), 405 _n._ + +Box, Edward, 160. + +Bradshaw, Charles, 192. + +Braun, G., and F. Hogenbergius, 122. + +Brayne, John, 39-58, 72, 78, 83, 144, 234. + +Brayne, Mrs. Margaret, 43, 44 _n._, 54-58. + +Brend, Elizabeth, 264. + +Brend, Matthew, 257, 262-63. + +Brend, Sir Nicholas, 238-39, 249, 256. + +Brend, Sir Thomas, 240 _n._, 249. + +Brend, Thomas (the younger), 264. + +Bridges Street, 408. + +Bristol, 172. + +Brockenbury, Richard, 35. + +Brome, Richard, 233, 361, 379. + +Bromvill, Peter, 176. + +Brooke. _See_ Cobham. + +Browker, Hugh, 176-77. + +Brown, Sir Matthew, 256. + +Brown, Rawdon, 279 _n._ + +Browne, Robert, 318. + +Bruskett, Thomas, 191, 195. + +Bryan, Sir Francis, 184. + +Bryan, George, 73. + +Buc, Sir George, 321, 325, 343. + +Buchell, Arend van, 166. + +Buckhurst, Robert, Lord, 311-12, 314. + +Bull Inn, 1-17, 67, 294 _n._ + +Burbage, Cuthbert, 39 _n._, 40, 45 _n._, 49, 52, 54-65, 74, 84, 198, + 199-200, 223, 224, 234-41, 249, 257, 282. + +Burbage, James, 11, 27-59, 65, 66, 67, 70-74, 75, 78, 83, 91, 98 _n._, + 144, 161, 182-99, 202, 234. + +Burbage, Mrs. James, 56, 57, 63. + +Burbage, Richard, 40, 57, 61, 62, 63, 73, 74, 84, 111, 117, 140, 198, + 199, 200-01, 204, 208 _n._, 215, 218, 223-25, 234-41, 249, 255, 257, + 261, 282, 317, 319, 325. + +Burghley, William Cecil, Lord, 14, 20, 69. + +Burgram, John, 242-43. + +Burnell, Henry, 418. + +Burt, Nicholas, 363, 367. + +Burt, Thomas, 241-42. + +Busino, Orazio, 130, 279. + +_Bussy D'Ambois_, 400, 404. + +Buttevant, Viscount, 313 _n._ + +_Byron_, 220, 316. + + +C., W., 302. + +Cambridge, 67. + +Camden, William, 350, 352. + +_Campaspe_, 109, 113. + +Campeggio, Cardinal Lorenzo, 186. + +Cape, Walter, 55. + +_Cardinal, The_, 406. + +_Careless Shepherdess, The_, 302. + +Carew, Thomas, 302, 356. + +Carey. _See_ Hunsdon. + +Carlell, Lodowick, 404. + +Carleton, Mrs. Alice, 260. + +Carleton, Sir Dudley, 212 _n._, 281, 284, 388, 393. + +Carter, Lane, 231. + +Cartwright, William, 374. + +Castle, Tavern, 348 _n._ + +Castlemaine, Lady, 406. + +Catherine of Aragon, Queen, 186. + +Cawarden, Sir Thomas, 96, 184, 186-90, 193. + +Challes, 69-70, 83. + +Chalmers, George, 137-38, 428. + +Chamberlain, John, 212 _n._, 252, 260, 281, 284, 388, 392, 393. + +Chamberlain's Company. _See_ Strange-Derby, etc., company. + +Chambers, E.K., ix, 44 _n._, 230 _n._, 247. + +Chambers, George, 206. + +Chambers, Richard, 206. + +_Chances, The_, 404. + +_Changes, The_, 376-78. + +Chapel Royal, 91 f. _See also_ Children of the Chapel. + +Chapman, George, 116, 206, 217, 220. + +Chappell, John, 206. + +Charles I, 227, 231, 301-02, 359, 394, 395, 414, 424. + His players, _see_ King's and Queen's Company, King's Revels Company, + Prince Charles's Company, Strange-Derby, etc., Company. + +Charles II, 287, 405. + His players, _see under_ Admiral. + +Chasserau, Peter, 75 _n._, 79. + +Cheeke, Sir John, 96, 184, 190. + +Chettle, Henry, 158. + +Cheyney, Sir Thomas, the Lord Warden, 184, 188. + +Children of Blackfriars. _See_ Children of the Chapel, etc. + +Children of Her Majesty's (Queen Anne's) Royal Chamber of Bristol, 215 _n._ + +Children of His Majesty's (James I's) Revels (at Whitefriars), 224. + +Children of St. Paul's, 91, 108-10, 111-18, 217, 311 _n._, 319. + +Children of the Chapel--1 Queen's Revels--Revels--Whitefriars--2 Queen's + Revels Company: + Children of the Chapel (at First Blackfriars), 91-110, 111, 113. + Children of the Chapel (at Second Blackfriars), 200-15, 237, 249-50. + 1 Children of the Queen's (Anne's) Revels, 215-18, 219, 311. + Children of the Revels (or of Blackfriars), 218-24, 314 _n._, 316-17. + Children of Whitefriars, 318. + 2 Children of the Queen's (Anne's) Revels, 117, 318-21, 324, 342-46. + +Children of the Queen's Revels. _See under_ Children of the Chapel, etc., + _and under_ Worcester-Queen, etc. + +Children of Whitefriars. _See under_ Children of the Chapel, etc. + +Children of Windsor Chapel, 91-108, 111, 201. + +Cholmley, John, 143-44, 148, 148 _n._, 234. + +Clerkenwell, 78, 88, 301, 294 f. + +Clifton, Henry, 205-13. + +Clifton, Thomas, 210-13. + +Clink, the Liberty of the, 124 f., 135, 142, 145, 161. + +Clough, George, 53-54. + +Cobham, George Brooke, Lord, 96, 184. + +Cobham, Henry Brooke, Lord, 184. + +Cobham, William Brooke, Lord, 98, 99, 184, 198, 199, 212 _n._ + +Cockpit-in-Court, 384-409, 420. + +Cockpit in Dartmouth Street, 408 _n._ + +Cockpit Playhouse in Drury Lane, 291, 297 _n._, 299, 300, 305, 348-67, + 369, 373, 376 _n._, 381 _n._, 408 _n._, 421-22, 431. + +Cokaine, Sir Aston, 233. + +Colefox, Edwin, 34-35. + +Collett, John, 256. + +Collier, J.P., vii, 76, 138, 230 _n._, 322 _n._, 337, 347 _n._, 353 _n._, + 373 _n._ + +Columbia University, 277. + +Condell, Henry, 224, 238, 255, 257, 258, 262, 355. + +_Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, The_, 220, 316. + +_Constant Maid, The_, 419. + +Conway, Edward, Lord, 414-17. + +Cooke, William, 315. + +Cooper, Lane, ix. + +Corneille, Pierre, 406 _n._ + +Cornishe, John, 241-42. + +Cotton, John, 412-14. + +_Court Beggar, The_, 361. + +Coventry, Thomas, 414-17. + +Cranydge, James, 13. + +Creed, John, 366. + +Crew, John, 406. + +Cromwell, Oliver, 364, 405. + +Cross Keys Inn, 1-17, 68. + +_Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, The_, 365. + +Cunningham, Peter, 322, 372, 374 _n._, 407 _n._ + +_Cupid and Psyche_, 113. + +_Cupid's Whirligig_, 316. + +Curtain Court, 79, 90. + +Curtain Playhouse, 8, 10, 16, 26, 32 _n._, 46, 47, 61, 62, 69, 70, 72, + 75-90, 135, 144 _n._, 155, 159, 167, 172 _n._, 174, 182, 200, 295, + 296, 297, 298 _n._, 301, 355. + +Curtain Road, 34, 90. + +_Custom of the Country, The_, 404. + +_Cutwell_, 11. + +_Cynthia's Revels_, 209 _n._ + + +Daborne, Robert, 318, 324 _n._, 325. + +Dancaster, Thomas, 35. + +Daniel, Samuel, 215 _n._, 216. + +Davenant, William, 309, 361-65, 382, 424-31. + +Davenant's Projected Theatre, 424-31. + +Davenport, Robert, 356. + +David, John, 12. + +Davies, James, 339. + +Day, John (playwright), 158, 220, 315. + +Day, John (printer), 411. + +Deadman's Place, 264. + +Dekker, Thomas, 116, 158, 244, 278, 298, 332 _n._ + +Delaram, F., 128, 146, 248, 248 _n._ + +De Lawne, William, 190. + +Derby, Ferdinando Stanley, Earl of, 73, 153. + +Derby's Company. _See under_ Strange-Derby, etc. + +Devonshire, Charles Blount, Earl of, 216 _n._ + +De Witt, Johannes, 46, 77 _n._, 146 _n._, 165-68, 273. + +Ditcher, Thomas, 242. + +Dixon, Thomas, 412-17. + +_Doctor Faustus_, 73. + +Dorchester, Evelyn Pierrepont, Marquis of, 340. + +Dorset, Edward Sackville, Earl of, 369-70, 375, 378-80. + +Dorset House, 371. + +Dotridge, Alice, 35. + +_Doubtful Heir, The_, 289, 419. + +Downes, John, 307, 365, 366. + +Downton, Thomas, 170, 174, 282. + +Dragon, John, 34-35. + +Drayton, Michael, 311-17. + +Droeshout, Martin, 266. + +Drury Lane, 309, 348 f., 420 f. + +Dryden, John, 417. + +Dublin Theatre, 417-19. + +Duchy Chamber, 189 f. + +Dudley, Robert, _See_ Leicester. + +Duke, John, 158. + +Duke's Theatre, 383 _n._ + +Dulwich College, ix, 133, 144 _n._, 274, 283, 285 _n._, 286-93. + +_Dumb Knight, The_, 316. + +Dun, 178. + +Dunstan, James, 350 _n._ + +Du Rocher, R.M., 420 _n._ + +Duryer, Pierre, 422 _n._ + +_Dutch Courtesan, The_, 196 _n._ + + +Earthquake, 82-83. + +Eastcheap, 7 _n._, 122. + +East Smithfield, 410 f. + +_Eastward Hoe_, 217. + +Eaton, Henry, 308. + +Elizabeth, Princess (daughter of James I), 393. + Her players, _see_ Princess Elizabeth's Company. + +Elizabeth, Queen of England, 91, 108, 113-14, 158 _n._, 171, 212 _n._, + 215, 385. + Her players, _see_ Queen's Company. + +_Endimion_, 114. + +_England's Joy_, 177-78. + +_English Traveller, The_, 277. + +Epicharmus, 398. + +_Epicoene_, 319, 405. + +Epicurus, 398. + +Erasmus, Desiderius, 120. + +Essex, 44 _n._ + +Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of, 13, 216. + +Euripides, 398. + +Evans, Henry, 107, 110, 192-225. + +Evelyn, John, 338, 363, 405 _n._ + +_Every Man in His Humour_, 85. + +_Every Man out of his Humour_, 246, 247 _n._ + + +_Fair Favourite, The_, 404. + +Faithorne, W., 348 _n._, 392. + +Falcon Stairs, 164. + +_Family of Love, The_, 315. + +Farrant, Anne, 104-10. + +Farrant, Richard, 91-110, 183, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204. + +Faunte, William, 133. + +Fennor, William, 177 _n._, 332-34. + +Ferrers, Captain, 366. + +Ferretti, Francesco, 164. + +Ferrys, 173. + +Feuillerat, A., 101 _n._, 186. + +Field, John, 125. + +Field, Nathaniel, 206, 237, 319, 324 _n._, 325, 342 _n._, 346. + +Finsbury Field, 28-38, 75, 81, 135, 142, 268, 352. + +Fisher, Edward, 381, 383. + +Fisher, John, 285 _n._, 387 _n._, 396. + +Fitz-Stephen, William, 120. + +Fleay, F.G., 112, 115, 179 _n._, 201 _n._, 311 _n._, 323, 335 _n._, + 350 _n._, 354 _n._, 377, 402 _n._, 416 _n._ + +Flecknoe, Richard, 6, 7, 17, 111, 311 _n._ + +Fleet Street, 231, 314, 424 f. + +Fleetwood, William, 20, 46, 69-70, 71. + +Fletcher, Dr., 172. + +Fletcher, John, 251, 304, 325, 419. + +Floridor, Josias, 401, 420-24. + +Fortescue, Sir John, 211. + +Fortune Playhouse, 45, 85, 88, 156-57, 176, 177 _n._, 229, 246, 259 _n._, + 267-93, 295, 297, 298, 302, 303, 327 _n._, 333 _n._, 353 _n._, 364 _n._, + 368, 374, 375, 379, 381 _n._, 425 _n._ + +_Fortunes of Nigel, The_, 310 _n._ + +Fowler, Thomas, 172, 410. + +_Fox, The_, 404. + +Frederick V, Elector Palatine of Palsgrave, 393. + +French Ambassador, 113 _n._, 220-21, 261, 316. + +French players, 401, 420-24. + +French Players' Theatre, 420-24. + +_Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_, 150. + +Frith, Sir Richard, 96, 190. + + +Gabriel. _See_ Spencer. + +Gaedertz, Karl T., 167. + +Gardiner, William, 34. + +Garrard, G., 231, 232. + +Gasquine, Susan, 159 _n._ + +Gayton, Edmund, 303. + +_Gazette, The_, 341 _n._ + +_General, The_, 419. + +George Yard, 313. + +Gerschow, Frederic, 197, 208. + +Gibbon's Tennis-Court Playhouse, 309 _n._ + +Gildersleeve, Virginia C., 320 _n._ + +Giles, Nathaniel, 201-13, 220 _n._ + +Gill, John, 300. + +Gill, Richard, 300 _n._ + +Giolito, Gabriel, 411. + +Giunti, 411. + +Glapthorne, Henry, 369, 423. + +Globe Playhouse, 65, 74, 85, 86, 86 _n._, 88, 112, 128, 146, 146 _n._, + 155, 156, 159 _n._, 176, 180, 200, 209, 210, 214 _n._, 219 _n._, 223, + 224, 227, 229, 233 _n._, 234-66, 267, 274-76, 282, 286, 289 _n._, 295, + 297, 298, 311 _n._, 324, 328. + +Goad, Christopher, 374. + +Godfrey (Master of the Bear Garden), 337. + +Godfrey, W.H., 277 _n._ + +Golding Lane, 88, 268 f. + +Goodman, Nicholas, 180-81, 336. + +Gosson, Stephen, 11, 47, 113. + +Goulston Street, 17. + +Govell, R., 369 _n._ + +Gower, Edward, 405. + +Grabu, M., 408. + +Grace Church Street, 7 f., 67, 68. + +_Grateful Servant, The_, 349. + +Grave, Thomas, 387. + +Graves, T.S., vii, 47 _n._, 177 _n._ + +Gray, Lady Anne, 184. + +Greene, Robert, 150. + +Greene, Thomas, 296, 298-99. + +_Greene's Tu Quoque_, 298. + +Greenstreet, J., 317. + +Greenwich, 384. + +Greg, W.W., ix, 73, 148, 159 _n._, 179 _n._, 335 _n._, 377. + +Grigges, John, 48. + +Grymes, Thomas, 206. + +Guildford, Lady Jane, 184. + +Gunnell, Richard, 368-72, 374, 375. + +Gwalter, William, 285 _n._ + +Gyles, Thomas, 113-15, 206. + + +Hall, Ralph, 308. + +_Hamlet_ (Pre-Shakespearean), 74, 140. + +_Hamlet_ (Shakespeare), 208-10, 212 _n._, 248 _n._, 261. + +Hammon, Thomas, 395. + +Hampton Court, 384, 385, 401, 402, 404. + +Harberte, Thomas, 81. + +Harington, Sir John, 69. + +Harper, Sir George, 184. + +Harrison, Joan, 34-35. + +Harrison, Thomas (Colonel), 304. + +Hart, William, 304, 363. + +Harvey, Gabriel, 48. + +Hathaway, Richard, 158. + +Hatton, Sir Christopher (Vice-Chamberlain), 70. + +Hatton House, 363. + +Haukins, William, 85. + +Hawkins, Alexander, 211, 213, 214, 215. + +Hayward, John, 411. + +Heath, John, 297. + +_Hector of Germany, The_, 89, 321 _n._ + +Heminges, John, 62, 73, 84, 204, 208 _n._, 223, 224, 235-41, 255, 257, + 258, 261-62, 319, 355. + +Heminges, Thomasine, 261. + +Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, 232-33, 420-22. + Her players, _see_ Queen's Company, King's and Queen's Company. + +_Henry IV_, 7 _n._, 404. + +_Henry V_ (not Shakespeare's), 13. + +_Henry V_ (Shakespeare), 77 _n._, 348. + +_Henry VI_, 150. + +_Henry VIII_, 251-55, 391 _n._ + +Henry VIII, 29, 186, 391. + +Henry, Prince of Wales, 282-83, 392-93. + His players, _see under_ Admiral. + +Henslowe, Agnes, 283. + +Henslowe, Philip, 73, 85, 140, 140 _n._, 142-60, 161, 166, 174-75, 179, + 213 _n._, 234, 244-46, 267-74, 281-83, 321-22, 324-35, 342-43, 346. + +Henslowe, William, 268 _n._ + +Hentzner, Paul, 131, 162. + +Herbert, Sir Henry, 89, 225, 232, 250, 301, 307 _n._, 351 _n._, 357 _n._, + 358, 359, 360, 360 _n._, 367, 368, 369, 373, 374, 376, 377, 377 _n._, + 378, 380, 381, 400, 401 _n._, 403, 412 _n._, 420-24. + +Herbert, Sir Philip, 392. + +Herbert, Thomas, 81. + +Herne, John, 370, 380. + +Herne, John (the younger), 380-81. + +Heton, Richard, 356 _n._, 357 _n._, 378-80, 427. + +Heywood, Thomas, 158, 235 _n._, 247 _n._, 277 _n._, 298-99, 382, 394-95. + +Hide, John, 51, 53-55, 70 _n._ + +High Street, Southwark, 121. + +Hill, John, 50. + +Hoby, Sir Edward, 220. + +Hoby, Sir Philip, 184. + +Hockley-in-the-hole, Clerkenwell, 340. + +Hogarth, William, 409 _n._ + +_Hog Hath Lost His Pearl, The_, 320. + +Holinshed, Raphael, 385. + +Holland, Aaron, 294-96. + +Holland, Henry, 127, 146. + +Hollandia, Dona Britannica, 180. + +_Holland's Leaguer_ (Goodman), 180, 336. + +_Holland's Leaguer_ (Marmion), 259, 375, 377, 415. + +Hollar, W., 181, 259, 329-30. + +Hollywell Lane, 81. + +Holywell Priory, 30 f., 75 f., 88, 182, 183. + +Honduis, J., 127, 146, 265, 329 _n._ + +Hope Playhouse, 46, 128, 133, 146 _n._, 166, 179, 180, 248 _n._, 322, + 324-41, 346, 355. + +Horton, Joan, 143. + +Houghton, John, 129. + +Housekeepers, 225, 234 _n._, 236, 237 _n._, 351 _n._, 421 _n._ + +Howard, Charles, the Lord Admiral. _See_ Nottingham. + +Howell, James, 248, 329 _n._ + +Howes, Edmund, 7, 45 _n._, 111, 141, 251, 257, 285, 349, 350, 352, 372. + _See also_ Phillipps. + +_Humour Out of Breath_, 315. + +_Hungarian Lion, The_, 368. + +Hunks, Harry, 121. + +Hunnis, William, 102-10, 202, 203. + +Hunsdon, George Carey, Lord, 184, 189, 198, 199, 212 _n._, 214. + +Hunsdon, Henry Carey, Lord, 14, 68 _n._, 71, 184. + +Hunsdon's Company (not the Strange-Derby, etc. Company), 69-71. + +Hunsdon's Company. _See under_ Strange-Derby, etc. Company. + +Hutchinson, Christopher, 350 _n._, 362. + +Hynde, John, 11. + + +Ianthe, 406. + +Ibotson, Richard, 11. + +_Inner Temple Masque, The_, 350. + +_Isle of Dogs, The_, 84, 154, 170-75. + +_Isle of Guls, The_, 220. + +Italian players, 21. + + +_Jack Drum's Entertainment_, 115. + +James I, 215, 217, 218, 221, 227, 250, 258, 281, 310 _n._, 316, 387, + 392, 413, 416. + His players, _see_ Children of His Majesty's Revels, King's Revels + Company, Strange-Derby, etc. Company. + +James, William, 264. + +Jeaffreson, J.C., 85, 410. + +Jeffes, Anthony, 174 _n._ + +Jeffes, Humphrey, 174 _n._ + +Jerningham, Sir Henry, 184, 189. + +_Jew, The_, 11. + +_Jew of Malta, The_, 140, 150, 395. + +Johnson, Henry, 60. + +Johnson, Peter, 191-92, 196. + +Johnson, Samuel, 264. + +Jones, Inigo, 389, 395-400. + +Jones, Richard, 168, 174, 318. + +Jones, Robert, 343. + +Jonson, Ben, 78, 84, 85, 171-73, 174 _n._, 206, 207, 217, 226, 244, 246, + 247, 251, 255, 259, 319, 325, 330, 334, 419, 424. + +Joyner, William, 194. + +_Julius Cæsar_, 404. + +_Just Italian, The_, 356. + + +Katherens, Gilbert, 326-30. + +Kempe, Anthony, 189. + +Kempe, William, 62, 73, 84, 115, 158, 235-40, 298. + +Kelly, William, 17. + +Kendall, Richard, 177 _n._, 333 _n._ + +Kendall, Thomas, 213-22. + +Kendall, William, 213 _n._ + +Kenningham, Robert, 41. + +Keysar, Robert, 117, 218-19, 222-24, 317-20. + +Kiechel, Samuel, 47, 77. + +Kildare, Earl of, 419. + +Killigrew's playhouse, 382. + +Kinaston, Edward, 207, 366. + +_Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer, The_, 291, 293 _n._ + +_King Lear_, 261. + +_King Leir_, 153. + +Kingman, Philip, 343. + +King's and Queen's Company (or Beeston's Boys), 357-62. + +King's Company. _See under_ Strange-Derby, etc. + +King's (James I's) Revels Company, 311-18. + +King's (Charles I's) Revels Company, 287, 374, 377-79. + +Kingsland Spittle, 89. + +Kingston, Lady Mary, 189. + +Kingston, Sir William, 184. + +Kirkham, Edward, 116, 208 _n._, 213-22, 226. + +Kirkman, Francis, 296-97, 305, 358-59. + +Knowles, John, 241-42. + +Kymbre, 41. + +Kynaston, Edward, 207, 366. + +Kyrkham, Sir Robert, 184. + + +_Ladies' Priviledge, The_, 423. + +Lady Elizabeth's Company. _See_ Princess Elizabeth's Company. + +_Lady Mother, The_, 369. + +La Fèvre de la Boderie, Antoine, 220-22, 316 _n._ + +Lamb, Charles, 299. + +Lambarde, William, 15. + +Lambeth, 121, 161. + +_Landgartha_, 418. + +Laneham, Robert, 128. + +Langley, Francis, 161, 170-76, 234. + +Lanham, John, 67, 69, 80 _n._ + +Lanman, Henry, 78-82, 83, 86, 87, 144, 234. + +Lanteri, Edward, 265 _n._ + +Lau, Hurfries de, 423. + +Laud, William, 228-30. + +Lawrence, W.J., vii, 48 _n._, 112, 177 _n._, 293 _n._, 313 _n._, 350 _n._, + 365 _n._, 398, 408, 423 _n._ + +Leaden Hall, 12. + +Lee, Sir Sidney, 124 _n._, 294 _n._, 350 _n._, 408 _n._ + +Le Febure (or Fevure), 422-23. + +Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 106-07. + +Leicester's Company, 22, 66, 67, 71, 80 _n._ + +Lennox, James Stuart, 4 Duke of, 232. + +Lennox, Ludovick Stuart, 2 Duke of, 261. + +Lenton, Francis, 356. + +Leveson, Sir Richard, 405. + +Levison, William, 240. + +Lewes, Thomas, 382. + +Lilleston, Thomas, 366. + +Lincoln's Inn Fields, 348 _n._, 352, 382, 414 f. + +Lodge, Thomas, 74. + +_London's Lamentation for her Sins_, 302. + +Long, Maurice, 81. + +Lorkin, Thomas, 254, 389. + +_Lost Lady, The_, 404. + +_Loves and Adventures of Clerico and Lozia, The_, 359. + +_Love's Mistress, or the Queen's Masque_, 382. + +Lowin, John, 158, 363, 400. + +_Loyal Protestant, The_, 339. + +_Loyal Subject, The_, 366. + +Ludgate, 7 f., 226. + +Ludlow, 71. + +Luther, Martin, 113 _n._, 411. + +Lyly, John, 109-10, 112, 113-14, 194, 202. + + +Machiavel, 411. + +Machin, Lewis, 316. + +Machyn, Henry, 124 _n._ + +Mackaye, Steele, 398. + +Madden, Sir Frederick, 130. + +Madison Square Theatre, 398. + +Maiden Lane, 88, 144, 243 f., 341. + +Malcolm, J.P., 339. + +Malone, Edmund, vii, 77, 89, 160 _n._, 225, 248, 367, 373, 375-76, 420. + +Manchester, Edward Montagu, Earl of, 122, 337. + +_Mankind_, 2-4. + +Manningham, John, 178. + +Mantzius, Karl, 48 _n._ + +Markham, Gervais, 316. + +Marlowe, Christopher, 73. + +Marmion, Shackerley, 259, 375, 376, 377, 415. + +Marston, John, 85 _n._, 112, 115, 116, 196 _n._, 216, 217-18, 223. + +Martin, William, 265 _n._ + +Martin Marprelate Controversy, 114. + +_Martin's Month's Mind_, 10, 69. + +Mason, John, 315, 316. + +_Masque, The_, 369 _n._ + +Massinger, Philip, 325, 382 _n._ + +Mathews, John, 14. + +Meade, Jacob, 326-36, 346. + +_Measure for Measure_, 388. + +_Melise, ou Les Princes Reconnus, La_, 420. + +Mercer, Will, 338. + +_Merchant of Dublin, The_, 418. + +_Mercurius Fumigosus_, 307 _n._ + +_Mercurius Politicus_, 292. + +Meres, Francis, 175 _n._, 176. + +Merian, M., 146 _n._, 180 _n._, 248, 328 _n._ + +Merry, Edward, 192. + +_Merry Devil of Edmonton, The_, 404. + +_Merry Wives of Windsor, The_, 388, 404. + +_Midas_, 112. + +Middlesex Street, 17. + +Middleton, Thomas, 116, 207, 209 _n._, 278, 315, 350, 419. + +Mohun, Michael, 304. + +Monk, General. _See_ Albemarle. + +Monkaster. _See_ Mulcaster. + +Montmorency, Duke of, 385. + +Moore, Mr. (of Pepy's _Diary_), 405. + +Moor Field, 81. + +_Moor of Venice, The_, 367, 387. + +More, Sir Christopher, 184. + +More, Sir William, 96-110, 113, 184, 189-90, 208. + +Morocco Ambassador, 339. + +Morris, Isbrand, 241-42. + +Motteram, John, 206. + +Mountjoy, Lord, 81. + +Mulcaster, Richard, 206. + +Munday, Anthony, 82. + +Murray, J.T., 71, 88, 89 _n._, 111 _n._, 286 _n._, 298 _n._, 311 _n._, + 323, 354 _n._, 377, 378. + +Myles, Ralph, 57. + +Myles, Robert, 28 _n._, 42, 43, 54-58. + + +Nash, Thomas, 10 _n._, 69, 84, 114-15, 154, 171-73. + +Neuendorf, B., vii. + +Neville, Sir Henry, 95-100, 102 _n._, 184. + +Newgate Market, 122. + +Newington Butts Playhouse, 73, 134-41, 151, 154. + +New Inn Yard, 34, 79. + +Newman, John, 107-08. + +Nexara, Duke of, 130. + +Nicholas, Basilius, 224. + +Nightingale Lane, 410-12. + +_Noble Stranger, The_, 373 _n._ + +Norden, John, 128 _n._, 145. + +Northbrooke, John, 76. + +_Northern Lass, The_, 404. + +Northup, Clark S., ix. + +Nottingham, Charles Howard, Earl of, 155 _n._, 268-70, 272-73. + His players, _see_ Admiral. + +_No Wit, No Help like a Woman's_, 419. + + +Ogilby, John, 294, 417-19. + +Ogilby, John, and William Morgan, 294. + +Ogilby's Dublin Theatre, 417-19. + +_Oldcastle_, 404. + +Opera, 365, 425. + +Ordish, T.F., vii, 48 _n._, 341 _n._ + +_Orlando Furioso_, 150. + +Osteler, William, 225 _n._, 237, 260. + +_Othello_, 367, 387, 388. + +Oxford, Edward de Vere, Earl of, 16, 108-10, 157, 202. + +Oxford's Company, 16, 87 _n._, 157-59. + + +Palatine. _See_ Frederick V. + +Palladio, Andrea, 398. + +Pallant, Robert, 158. + +Palmyra, 265. + +Palsgrave. _See_ Frederick V. + +Palsgrave's Company. _See under_ Admiral. + +_Pappe with an Hatchet_, 112. + +Paris, Robert de, 122. + +Paris Garden. _See_ Bear Garden. + +Paris Garden, Manor of, 121 f., 135, 161 f. + +Park, The, 241. + +Park Street, 265. + +Parliament Chamber, 186 f. + +_Passionate Lovers, The_, 404. + +_Pastorall, The_, 401. + +Pavy, Salmon (or Salathiel), 206, 207. + +Payne, Robert, 215. + +Peckam, Edmund, 51-52, 66. + +Pembroke, William Herbert, Earl of, 261. + +Pembroke and Montgomery, Philip Herbert, Earl of, 232. + +Pembroke's Company, 84, 154-55, 157, 170-75. + +Penruddoks, Edward, 430. + +Pepys, Samuel, 17, 207, 308, 338, 366, 382, 405. + +_Perfect Account, The_, 305. + +_Perfect Occurrences_, 304. + +Perkins, Richard, 158, 380. + +Perrin, Lady, 184. + +Peyton, Sir John, 410. + +Phillips, Augustine, 62, 73, 84, 224, 235-41, 260. + +Phillipps, Sir Thomas (his copy of Stow's _Annals_), 233, 258 _n._, 264, + 285 _n._, 291, 330 _n._, 336, 364, 381 _n._ + +_Philotas_, 216. + +Phoenix Playhouse. _See_ Cockpit Playhouse in Drury Lane. + +Pierce, Edward, 116, 117, 319-20. + +Pierce, James, 382. + +Pierce, Mrs. James, 308, 382. + +_Pierce the Ploughman's Creed_, 196. + +Piozzi, Hester Lynch, 264. + +Pipe Office, 190 _n._, 197. + +Pit Court, 348 _n._ + +Plague, 12, 15, 20, 23, 24, 67 _n._, 74 _n._, 152-53, 159, 215, 222, 223, + 224, 281, 282, 287-88, 316, 355, 356, 357, 358, 379. + +_Playhouse to be Let_, 309. + +Playhouse Yard, 197. + +Plomer, H.R., 293 _n._ + +_Poetaster_, 1 _n._, 226. + +Pollard, Thomas, 363. + +Pope (a scrivener?), 159. + +Pope, Alexander, 417. + +Pope, Morgan, 159 _n._ + +Pope, Thomas, 62, 73, 84, 86, 159 _n._, 224, 235-41, 260. + +Porter's Hall. _See_ Rosseter's Blackfriars Playhouse. + +Portynary, Sir John, 184, 193. + +Pride, Thomas, 337. + +Prince Charles--2 Red Bull Company: + Prince Charles I's Company, 17, 88, 89, 179, 300, 301-02, 334-35, 344, + 346, 354-55, 417. + 2 Red Bull Company, 301-04. + +Prince Charles's (Charles II's) Company. _See under_ Admiral, etc. + +Prince Henry's Company. _See under_ Admiral, etc. + +Prince's Arms Inn, 180 _n._ + +Princess Elizabeth's Company, 179, 321, 324, 332-35, 342, 344, 346, + 354 _n._, 355. + +Prynne, William, 302, 310 _n._, 372 _n._ + +_Ptolome_, 11. + +Puckering, Sir Thomas, 254, 389. + +Puddlewharf, 343 f. + +Puiseux, M. de, 221 _n._ + +Puritans, 6, 18-19, 29, 85, 126, 156. + +Pykman, Phillipp, 206. + + +Queen Anne's Company. _See under_ Worcester, etc. + +Queen's (Elizabeth's) Company, 12, 13, 66-72, 80 _n._, 84, 153. + +Queen's (Henrietta's) Company, 355-56, 379-80, 394, 421, 427. + +Queen's Revels. _See under_ Children of the Chapel, etc. + +Queen's Street, 348 _n._ + + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, 126. + +_Ram Alley_, 313, 316. + +Randolph, Thomas, 303, 349. + +Rastell, William, 213-22. + +Ratcliffe, 352. + +Rathgeb, Jacob, 132. + +1 Red Bull Company. _See under_ Worcester, etc. + +2 Red Bull Company. _See under_ Prince Charles, etc. + +Red Bull Playhouse, 75 _n._, 88, 89, 219 _n._, 226 _n._, 287, 294-309, + 311 _n._, 351, 353, 353 _n._, 356, 374, 378. + +Red Bull Yard, 294. + +Redwood, C.W., ix. + +Reeve, Ralph, 343. + +Rendle, William, 12, 124 _n._, 143, 178 _n._, 180 _n._, 339. + +Reulidge, Richard, 8, 310 _n._ + +Revels Office, 94, 96. + +Reynolds, G.F., vii. + +Rhodes, John, 365, 366. + +Richards, Hugh, 36. + +Richmond, 402, 404. + +_Roaring Girl, The_, 278. + +Roberts, John, 242. + +Robinson, James, 205, 213. + +Robinson, Richard, 304. + +Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of, 340. + +_Romeo and Juliet_, 85. + +Roper, Lactantius, 241-42. + +_Rosania_, 259, 419. + +Rose Alley, 144, 160 _n._ + +Rose Playhouse, 16, 16 _n._, 61 _n._, 63, 73 _n._, 75 _n._, 77 _n._, 128, + 139, 140, 142-60, 167, 168 _n._, 174, 179, 182, 238, 248, 265, 267, + 296, 324, 332 _n._ + +Rosseter, Philip, 117, 118, 224, 317-23, 324-25, 330-32, 335, 342-47. + +Rosseter's Blackfriars Playhouse, 322, 336, 342-47, 355. + +Rossingham, Edmond, 288. + +Rowlands, Samuel, 185 _n._ + +Roxalana, 406. + +_Royal Master, The_, 419. + +_Rump, The_, 382. + +Russell, Dowager Lady Elizabeth, 199. + +Rutland, Edward Manners, Earl of, 36, 36 _n._, 37. + +Rutland House, 364. + +Ryther, Augustine, 277. + + +Sacarson, 121. + +_Sackful of News, A._, 10. + +St. Bride's, Parish of, 425 f. + +St. Dunstan's, Parish of, 425 f. + +St. Giles, Cripplegate, 268 f. + +St. Giles in the Fields, 355, 362. + +St. James, Palace of, 384, 392. + +St. James, Parish of, 294 f. + +St. John's Gate, 294. + +St. John's Street, 11, 96, 294 f., 305. + +St. Mary Overies, 64-65, 168 _n._, 238. + +St. Mildred, Parish of, 143, 159. + +_St. Patrick for Ireland_, 419. + +St. Paul's Boys. _See_ Children of St. Paul's. + +St. Paul's Cathedral, 29 _n._, 167. + +St. Paul's Playhouse, 8, 111-18, 349. + +St. Saviours, Parish of, 145, 170, 259. + +St. Warburg's Street, Dublin, 418. + +Salisbury, Mr. (portrait painter), 366. + +Salisbury, Robert Cecil, Earl of, 221. + +Salisbury Court Playhouse, 233, 259, 287, 291, 302, 350, 357 _n._, + 360 _n._, 364, 368-83, 427. + +Sampson, M.W., 279 _n._ + +Sandwich, Edward Montagu, Earl of, 405. + +_Sapho and Phao_, 109, 113. + +_Satiromastix_, 332. + +Saunders, Lady, 343 f. + +Saunders, Sir Thomas, 184. + +Savage, Thomas, 240. + +_Scornful Lady, The_, 403, 406. + +Scott, Sir Walter, 310 _n._ + +Scuderi, Georges de, 421 _n._ + +Sellers, William, 242. + +Shadwell, Thomas, 310 _n._ + +Shakespeare, William, 62, 63, 65, 73, 84, 85, 140, 150, 186, 208-10, + 212 _n._, 224, 235-41, 249, 251, 261-62, 298, 348, 391 _n._ + +Shanks, John, 263. + +Sharp, Lewis, 373 _n._ + +Sharpham, Edward, 316. + +Shatterel, Edward, 304-05, 308. + +Shaw, Robert, 168, 172-74. + +Sherlock, William, 380. + +Shirley, James, 259, 349, 376, 377, 406 _n._, 419. + +Shoreditch, 30, 78, 185. + +Sibthorpe, Edward, 315. + +_Siege of Rhodes, The_, 364. + +_Silent Woman, The_, 319, 405. + +Silver, George, 13 _n._, 194-95. + +Silver, Thomas, 381, 383. + +Singer, John, 235 _n._ + +_Sir Francis Drake_, 364. + +_Sir Giles Goosecappe_, 373. + +Skevington, Richard, 172. + +_Skialetheia_, 46, 61. + +Slaiter, Martin, 315, 317-18. + +Slye, William, 224, 225 _n._, 235 _n._, 260. + +Smallpiece, Thomas, 108. + +Smith, Isack, 366. + +Smith, John, 351 _n._ + +Smith, Captain John, 369 _n._ + +Smith, Wentworth, 158. + +Smith, William, 63. + +Smithfield, 332. + +Somerset House, 404. + +Sophocles, 398. + +Soulas, Josias de, 420-24. + +Spanish Ambassador, 281, 339. + +_Spanish Curate, The_, 404. + +_Spanish Tragedy, The_, 150, 261. + +_Sparagus Garden, The_, 379. + +Sparks, Thomas, 285 _n._ + +Speed, John, 265. + +Spencer, Gabriel, 168, 172-74, 235 _n._ + +Spiller, Sir Henry, 230. + +Spykes School, 206. + +_Squire of Alsatia, The_, 310 _n._ + +Stanley, Ferdinando, Lord Strange. _See_ Derby. + +Star of the West, 133. + +Steevens, George, 77-78. + +Stepney Field, 352. + +Stettin-Pomerania, Philip Julius, Duke of, 207, 214-15. + +Stevens, John, 183. + +Stockwood, John, 8, 26, 46, 48. + +Stone, George, 121. + +Stopes, Charlotte C., 361 _n._ + +Stoughton, Robert, 36. + +Stow, John, 124, 136, 166, 348, 388, 391. + _See also_ Howes, Phillipps, and Strype. + +Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of, 417-18. + +Strange, Lord. _See_ Derby. + +Strange--Derby--1 Chamberlain--Hunsdon--2 Chamberlain--King James I--King + Charles I's Company: + Strange's Company, 14, 139, 150-54. + Derby's Company, 73, 87 _n._, 153. + 1 Chamberlain's Company, 14-15, 150, 153-54. + Hunsdon's Company, 199, 199 _n._ + 2 Chamberlain's Company, 16, 61, 61 _n._, 62, 68 _n._, 73-74, 84, 85, + 150, 154-55, 159 _n._, 174-75, 176, 200, 209 _n._, 212 _n._, 235-38, + 249, 267, 272-73, 351. + King James I's Company, 88, 118, 223-27, 250-62, 295, 320-21, 324, + 325, 374. + King Charles I's Company, 227-33, 262-63, 302, 365, 374, 378, 400, + 401, 402. + +Street, Peter, 63, 64, 239, 269, 273-74. + +Strype, John, 243, 340, 391, 408 _n._ + +Stubbes, Philip, 83, 125. + +Stutville, George, 374. + +Summer playhouse, 67-68, 225, 250, 321, 324, 325, 342. + +Sumner, John, 380. + +Sussex's Company, 152. + +Swan Inn, 180 _n._ + +Swan Playhouse, 77 _n._, 84, 154-55, 161-81, 182, 238, 273, 321, 324, + 326, 327, 329, 334, 342-43. + +Swanston, Eilliard, 400. + +Swinerton, Sir John, 321. + +Swynnerton, Thomas, 296. + + +_Taming of a Shrew, The_, 140. + +Tarbock, John, 318. + +Tarleton, Richard, 12, 13, 14 _n._, 67, 69, 72, 72 _n._, 235, 298. + +_Tarlton's Jests_, 13. + +_Tarlton's News out of Purgatory_, 69, 75. + +Tatham, John, 289, 303 _n._, 382. + +Taylor, John (the Water Poet), 251, 257, 259, 329, 332-34. + +Taylor, Joseph, 363, 400. + +Taylor, Robert, 320. + +Theatre Playhouse, 8, 10, 11 _n._, 15, 26, 27-74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 83, + 84, 91, 112, 135, 138, 154, 155, 167, 172 _n._, 182, 199, 200, 234-35, + 239, 244, 249. + +Thespis, 398. + +Thoresby, Henry, 410. + +Thorndike, A.H., vii. + +Thrale, Mrs. Henry, 264. + +Three Kings Ordinary, 425, 429, 430. + +Tilney, Edmund, 66, 85. + +_Titus Andronicus_, 140, 152. + +Tomlins, T.E., 76. + +_Tom Tell Troth's Message_, 146. + +Tooley, Nicholas, 350 _n._ + +Topclyfe, Richard, 172-73. + +_Totenham Court_, 373. + +_Toy, The_, 419. + +Trevell, William, 315. + +_Trompeur Puni, Le_, 421. + +Trussell, Alvery, 206. + +Tunstall, James, 350 _n._ + +_Turk, The_, 316. + +Turner, 178. + +Turner, Anthony, 308, 380. + +Turnor, Richard, 50. + +_Two Maids of Moreclacke, The_, 316. + + +Underwood, John, 86. + +_Unfortunate Lovers, The_, 233, 404. + +University of Illinois, 277 _n._ + + +Vaghan, Edward, 410. + +_Valient Cid, The_, 406. + +Vaughan, Sir William, 125. + +Venetian Ambassador, 280. + +Vennar, Richard, 177-78, 333 _n._ + +Vere, Lady Susan, 392. + +Verneuil, Madame de, 220-21. + +Vertue, George, 387 _n._, 396. + +Virgin, performance by a, 74 _n._ + +Visscher, C.J., 127, 128, 146 _n._, 164-65, 248, 253, 328, 328 _n._, 329. + +_Volpone_, 404. + +_Vox Graculi_, 89. + +Vuolfio, Giovanni. _See_ John Wolf. + + +Walker, Thomas, 337. + +Wallace, C.W., ix, 67, 71, 110 _n._, 115, 117, 140, 148 _n._, 160 _n._, + 168 _n._, 170 _n._, 177 _n._, 178 _n._, 179 _n._, 192 _n._, 196 _n._, + 197, 197 _n._, 201 _n._, 204 _n._, 208, 212 _n._, 215 _n._, 221 _n._, + 243, 248-49, 258 _n._, 259 _n._, 266, 285 _n._, 353 _n._ + +Walsingham, Sir Francis, 110. + +Warburton, John, 369 _n._ + +War of the Theatres, 250. + +Warwick, Ambrose Dudley, Earl of, 12. + +Water Lane, Blackfriars, 98, 102. + +Water Lane, Whitefriars, 371. + +_Way to Content all Women, or How a Man May Please his Wife_, 368-69. + +Webster, John, 116, 158, 226 _n._ + +_Weekly Account, The_, 290. + +_Weekly Intelligencer, The_, 306, 307. + +Westcott, Sebastian, 113. + +Westminster Cathedral, 126, 167. + +Westminster School, 206. + +_What You Will_, 112. + +Whitaker, Laurence, 230. + +White, Thomas, 48, 76. + +Whitechapel, 8 _n._, 17. + +Whitechapel Street, 7. + +Whitecross Street, 268 f. + +_White Devil, The_, 226 _n._ + +Whitefriars Playhouse, 8, 117, 224, 310-23, 324, 342-43, 368 _n._ + +Whitehall, 356 _n._, 374, 384 f., 387-91, 403. + +White Hart Inn, 1. + +Whitelock, Bulstrode, 305. + +Whitton, Tom, 382. + +Wigpitt, Thomas, 285 _n._ + +Wilbraham, 172. + +Wilbraham, William, 374. + +Wilkinson, Nicholas, 350 _n._ + +Wilkinson, R., 259 _n._, 293 _n._ + +Williams, John, 412-17. + +Williamson, Joseph, 306. + +Wilson, J.D., 76 _n._ + +Wilson, Robert, 12, 176. + +Winchester, Bishop of, 119, 134, 241 _n._ + +Windsor, 384. + _See also_ Children of Windsor Chapel. + +Winter playhouse, 67-68, 225, 233, 250, 321, 324, 325, 342. + +Wintershall, William, 308. + +Winwood, Sir Ralph, 252, 392. + +Wirtemberg, Duke of, 132. + +_Witch of Edmonton, The_, 354 _n._ + +Witt, Johannes de, 77 _n._, 146 _n._, 165-68, 273. + +Witter, John, 224, 258. + +_Wit Without Money_, 304. + +Wolf, John, 410-12. + +Wolf's Theatre, 410-12. + +Wolsey, Cardinal, 186, 252, 391. + +_Woman is a Weathercock, A_, 140, 342 _n._ + +Wood, Anthony à, 418. + +Woode, Tobias, 410. + +Woodford, Thomas, 311, 313, 314, 322. + +Woodman, 193. + +Woodward, 142. + +Woodward, Agnes, 142-43, 283. + +Woodward Joan, ix, 151. + +Worcester College, 395. + +Worcester--Queen--1 Red Bull--Children of the Revels Company: + Worcester's Company, 16, 72, 87, 157-59, 295, 351. + Queen Anne's Company, 16, 87, 88, 158, 295-300, 351, 353. + 1 Red Bull Company, 300-01. + Children of the Revels, 301. + +Wordsworth, William, 299. + +Wotton, Sir Henry, 251, 320. + +Wright, George R., 401. + +Wright, James, 285, 297, 303, 304, 350, 363, 373. + +Wyngaerde, A. van den, 124. + + +Yarmouth, 45 _n._ + +York House, 391. + +Young, John, 374. + +_Younger Brother, The_, 299. + +_Young Gallant's Whirligig, The_, 356. + + +Zanche, Lord, 184. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYHOUSES*** + + +******* This file should be named 22397-8.txt or 22397-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/3/9/22397 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from 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