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diff --git a/old/66003-0.txt b/old/66003-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9c694e5..0000000 --- a/old/66003-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,21052 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Elizabethan Stage (Vol 1 of 4), by E. K. -Chambers - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Elizabethan Stage (Vol 1 of 4) - -Author: E. K. Chambers - -Release Date: August 7, 2021 [eBook #66003] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, Jane Robins and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE (VOL 1 OF -4) *** - - +---------------------------------------------------------+ - | NOTE: | - | | - | Text that surrounds _word_ indicates italics. | - | Text that surrounds =word= indicates bold. | - | Transcriber notes are found at the end of this text. | - | The Contents and List of Illustrations apply to | - | this volume only | - +---------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - - -THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE - -VOL. I - - - - -Oxford University Press - - _London_ _Edinburgh_ _Glasgow_ _Copenhagen_ - _New York_ _Toronto_ _Melbourne_ _Cape Town_ - _Bombay_ _Calcutta_ _Madras_ _Shanghai_ - -Humphrey Milford Publisher to the UNIVERSITY - -[Illustration: - - _Emery Walker ph. sc._ - -_Wedding Mask of Sir Henry Unton_ - -_National Portrait Gallery_] - - - - - THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE - BY E. K. CHAMBERS. VOL. I - - OXFORD: AT THE CLARENDON PRESS - M.CMXXIII - - - - -Printed in England - - - - -PREFACE - - -In 1903 I explained the origin of _The Mediaeval Stage_ out of -preliminary investigations for a little book on Shakespeare. That little -book is still unwritten, and perhaps it was only a mirage, since working -days have their term, and all that I can now offer, after an interval of -twenty years, is another instalment of _prolegomena_. It has been in -hand, more or less, throughout that period, which now ends felicitously -with the tercentenary of the First Folio. But it has often been laid -aside for other literary diversions, and still more often through the -preoccupations of a life mainly concerned with activities remote from -letters. As a result, I have constantly had to take account of new -material furnished by the research or the speculations of others; and I -only hope that in the process of revision I have succeeded in achieving -a reasonable completeness of statement and a reasonable consistency in -the conclusions of chapters drafted at very different dates. - -Much in these volumes is of course mere archaeology, but the historian -may find some interest in the development of the stage as an -institution, and in the social and economic conditions which made such a -development possible. My First Book is devoted to a description, perhaps -disproportionate, of the Elizabethan Court, and of the ramifications in -pageant and progress, tilt and mask, of that instinct for spectacular -_mimesis_, which the Renaissance inherited from the Middle Ages, and of -which the drama is itself the most important manifestation. The Second -Book gives an account of the settlement of the players in London, of -their conflict, backed by the Court, with the tendencies of Puritanism, -and of the place which they ultimately found in the monarchical polity. -To the Third and Fourth belong the more pedestrian task of following in -detail the fortunes of the individual playing companies and the -individual theatres, with such fullness as the available records permit. -The Fifth deals with the surviving plays, not in their literary aspect, -which lies outside my plan, but as documents helping to throw light upon -the history of the institution which produced them. I have not for the -most part carried my investigations beyond the death of Shakespeare, and -although I have sometimes regretted that I did not push on to the -closing of the theatres, the decision not to do so has long been -irretrievable. - -Obviously I am treading a region far more carefully charted by -predecessors than that of _The Mediaeval Stage_; but the progress of -Elizabethan scholarship during recent years has been so great as to -render a fresh attempt at a synthesis justifiable. I am conscious of a -deeper debt than I can express to many fellow-workers, notably to my -friends Dr. W. W. Greg and Mr. A. W. Pollard and Professor Feuillerat of -Rennes, and to a growing band of American students, of whom I may name -Professor C. W. Wallace and Mr. J. T. Murray as examples. - - E. K. C. - - _January, 1923._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - - -VOLUME I - - - PAGE - - PREFACE vii - - LIST OF AUTHORITIES xv - - -BOOK I. THE COURT - - I. ELIZABETH AND JAMES 1 - - II. THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD 27 - - III. THE REVELS OFFICE 71 - - IV. PAGEANTRY 106 - - V. THE MASK 149 - - VI. THE MASK (_continued_) 175 - - VII. THE COURT PLAY 213 - - -BOOK II. THE CONTROL OF THE STAGE - - VIII. HUMANISM AND PURITANISM 236 - - IX. THE STRUGGLE OF COURT AND CITY 269 - - X. THE ACTOR'S QUALITY 308 - - XI. THE ACTOR'S ECONOMICS 348 - - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Wedding Mask of Sir Henry Unton. From - picture in National Portrait Gallery Vol. i, _frontispiece_ - - - - -NOTE ON SYMBOLS - - -I HAVE found it convenient, especially in Appendix A, to use the symbol -<, following a date, to indicate an uncertain date not earlier than that -named, and the symbol >, followed by a date, to indicate an uncertain -date not later than that named. Thus 1903 <> 23 would indicate the -composition date of any part of this book. I have sometimes placed the -date of a play in italics, where it was desirable to indicate the date -of production rather than publication. - - - - -LIST OF AUTHORITIES - - -[_General Bibliographical Note._ The few books here named are mainly -those whose range is sufficiently wide to cover the greater part of my -own ground. Others, more limited in their scope, are reserved for -mention in the preliminary notes to the chapters upon whose -subject-matter they directly bear; and in particular the bibliography of -the drama, as distinct from the stage, receives full treatment in Book -V. The scanty Restoration notices of the pre-Restoration stage are to be -found in R. Flecknoe, _A Short Discourse of the English Stage_ (1664), -the anonymous _Historia Histrionica_ (1699) ascribed to James Wright, -and J. Downes, _Roscius Anglicanus_ (1708). W. R. Chetwood's _General -History of the Stage_ (1749) is of no value, and its honesty is suspect. -The first scholar to attempt a systematic history was E. Malone, in his -_Account of our Ancient Theatres_ (1790) and _Historical Account of the -Rise and Progress of the English Stage_ (1790), of which a revised -version, with much fresh matter, was included by J. Boswell in the -_Third Variorum Shakespeare_ (1821). Something was added by G. Chalmers -in the _Account of the Rise and Progress of the English Stage_ which -forms part of his _Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers_ -(1797), and in an enlarged shape of his _Supplemental Apology_ (1799). -The first edition of J. P. Collier's _History of English Dramatic Poetry -and Annals of the Stage_ appeared in 1831. Thereafter Collier made many -further contributions to the subject, in the publications of the -_Shakespeare Society_, and in his _New Facts regarding the Life of -Shakespeare_ (1835), _New Particulars regarding the Works of -Shakespeare_ (1836), and _Farther Particulars regarding Shakespeare and -his Works_ (1839). These abound in forgeries, of which some are analysed -in C. M. Ingleby, _A Complete View of the Shakspere Controversy_ (1861), -and which have not all been excluded from the current edition of the -_History_ (1879). Some new ground was broken by F. G. Fleay, who gave -real stimulus to investigation by the series of hasty generalizations -and unstable hypotheses contained in his _On the Actor Lists, 1578-1642_ -(_R. H. Soc. Trans._ ix. 44), _On the History of Theatres in London, -1576-1642_ (_R. H. Soc. Trans._ x. 114), _Shakespeare Manual_ (1876, -1878), _Introduction to Shakespearian Study_ (1877), _Life and Work of -Shakespeare_ (1886), _Chronicle History of the London Stage_ (1890), and -_Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama_ (1891). Little is added -to or corrected in Fleay by H. Maas, _Äussere Geschichte der englischen -Theatertruppen_ (1907). Some useful documents were brought together by -W. C. Hazlitt, _The English Drama and Stage under the Tudor and Stuart -Princes_ (1869). An interesting account from the French point of view is -given of the earlier part of the period by J. J. Jusserand, _Le Théâtre -en Angleterre depuis la Conquête jusqu'aux prédécesseurs immédiats de -Shakespeare_ (1878, 1881). R. A. Small, _The Stage-quarrel between Ben -Jonson and the So-called Poetasters_ (1899), and G. P. Baker, _The -Development of Shakespeare as a Dramatist_ (1907), are also valuable -studies. Light is thrown upon stage-history by other specialist books -about Shakespeare, particularly J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines of -the Life of Shakespeare_ (1881, 1890), and S. Lee, _Life of William -Shakespeare_ (1898, 1915, 1922). In recent years fresh material has been -brought together by various researchers, notably by J. T. Murray in -_English Dramatic Companies_ (1910) and by C. W. Wallace in _The -Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars_ (1908), _The Evolution of the -English Drama up to Shakespeare_ (1912), and in a number of papers in -the _Nebraska University Studies_ and elsewhere. The Dulwich documents -originally published by J. P. Collier in _Memoirs of Edward Alleyn_ -(1841), _Alleyn Papers_ (1843), and _Henslowe's Diary_ (1845) have been -more scientifically edited by W. W. Greg in _Henslowe's Diary_ (1904-8) -and _Henslowe Papers_ (1907), and the _Extracts from Accounts of Revels -at Court_ (1842) by P. Cunningham have been superseded and supplemented -by A. Feuillerat, _Documents relating to the Office of the Revels in the -Time of Queen Elizabeth_ (1908) and _Documents relating to the Revels at -Court in the Time of King Edward VI and Queen Mary_ (1914). The work of -gathering together miscellaneous documents and studies passed from _The -Shakespeare Society's Papers_ (1844-9) to the _Transactions of the New -Shakspere Society_ (1874-92), and is now carried on by the _Collections_ -(1907-13) of the _Malone Society_. A summary of both the older and the -recent learning will be found in A. H. Thorndike, _Shakespeare's -Theater_ (1916), and a full account of the theatres in J. Q. Adams, -_Shakespearean Playhouses_ (1917). Little importance need be attached to -H. B. Baker, _The London Stage_ (1889, 1904), or to C. Hastings, _The -Theatre: its Development in France and England_ (1901), or to R. F. -Sharp, _A Short History of the English Stage_ (1909), or to M. Jonas, -_Shakespeare and the Stage_ (1918). But J. Genest, _Some Account of the -English Stage_ (1832), is still valuable on the Restoration period, of -which a modern account is given in R. W. Lowe, _Thomas Betterton_ -(1891), while W. J. Lawrence, _The Elizabethan Playhouse_ (1912, 1913), -and A. Thaler, _Shakspere to Sheridan_ (1922), help to trace the -connexion with Elizabethan days.--The chief histories of the Elizabethan -drama are A. W. Ward, _History of English Dramatic Literature to the -Death of Queen Anne_ (1875, 1899), J. A. Symonds, _Shakspere's -Predecessors in the English Drama_ (1884, 1900), F. E. Schelling, -_Elizabethan Drama_ (1908), C. F. T. Brooke, _The Tudor Drama_ (1912). A -special aspect is dealt with in F. S. Boas, _University Drama in the -Tudor Age_ (1914), and a daughter period in G. H. Nettleton, _English -Drama of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century_ (1914). The drama of -modern Europe generally is treated in J. Klein, _Geschichte des Dramas_ -(1865-75), and R. Prölss, _Geschichte des neueren Dramas_ (1881-3), both -of which are now of less value than the comprehensive _Geschichte des -neueren Dramas_ (1893-1916) of W. Creizenach, from which part of the -English section has been translated as _The English Drama in the Age of -Shakespeare_ (1916). Treatises on contemporary foreign stages are A. -d'Ancona, _Origini del Teatro italiano_ (1891), E. Rigal, _Le Théâtre -français avant la période classique_ (1901), and H. A. Rennert, _The -Spanish Stage in the Time of Lope de Vega_ (1909).--Of general histories -of English literature the most important are Hazlitt-Warton, _History of -English Poetry, from the Twelfth to the close of the Sixteenth Century_ -(1871), H. A. Taine, _History of English Literature_ (1890), H. Morley, -_English Writers_ (1887-95), J. J. Jusserand, _Histoire littéraire du -peuple anglais_ (1894-1904), G. Körting, _Grundriss der Geschichte der -englischen Literatur_ (1910, mainly of bibliographical value), W. J. -Courthope, _History of English Poetry_ (1895-1910), and _The Cambridge -History of English Literature_ (1907-16), of which vols, v and vi are -wholly devoted to the pre-Restoration drama. The social conditions of -the period may be best studied in _Shakespeare's England_ (1916). The -most valuable bibliographical data are in W. W. Greg, _A List of English -Plays_ (1900) and _A List of Masques, Pageants, &c._ (1902), and in the -_Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers_, edited by E. -Arber (1875-94), for 1554-1640, and by G. E. B. Eyre (1913-14) for -1640-1708. The _Dictionary of National Biography_ is a standard work of -reference. Of the periodicals in which dissertations on the stage and -drama have been published, the most important are, in England, _The -Modern Language Quarterly_ (1896-1902) and its successor _The Modern -Language Review_ (1905-22), _Notes and Queries_ (1850-1922), and _The -Library_ (1889-1922); in America, _Modern Philology_ (1903-22), _Modern -Language Notes_ (1886-1922), _The Publications of the Modern Language -Association of America_ (1886-1922), _The Journal of English and -Germanic Philology_ (1897-1921), and _Studies in Philology_ (1915-22); -and in Germany, the _Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft_ -(1865-1921), _Englische Studien_ (1877-1922), _Anglia_ (1878-1922), and -_Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen_ -(1848-1922). - -The following list of books is mainly intended to elucidate the -references in the foot-notes, and has no claim to bibliographical -completeness or accuracy.] - - _Abstract._ Truth Brought to Light and Discovered by Time. - 1651. [With Abstract of revenue and expenditure for 1617.] - - ADAMS. A Dictionary of the Drama. By W. D. Adams. Vol. i, A-G, - 1904 [all issued]. - - ADAMS. Shakespearean Playhouses. By J. Q. Adams. 1917. - - AIKIN, _Eliz._ Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth. By L. - Aikin. 2 vols., 1818. - - AIKIN, _James_. Memoirs of the Court of James I. By L. Aikin. 2 - vols., 1822. - - ALBRECHT. Das englische Kindertheater. Von A. Albrecht. 1883. - [Halle dissertation.] - - ALBRIGHT. The Shakespearian Stage. By V. E. Albright. 1909. - - ANCONA. Origini del Teatro italiano. Per A. d'Ancona. 2nd ed., - 2 vols., 1891. - - _Anglia._ Zeitschrift für englische Philologie. Vols. i-xlvi. - 1878-1922. Beiblatt zu _Anglia_. Mitteilungen über englische - Sprache und Literatur. Vols. i-xxxiii. 1891-1922. - - ANKENBRAND. Die Figur des Geistes im Drama der englischen - Renaissance. Von H. Ankenbrand. 1906. - - ANSON. The Law and Custom of the Constitution. By W. R. Anson. - 4th ed., 2 vols., 1909, 1911. - - ARBER. Transcript of the Registers of the Company of - Stationers, 1554-1640. Edited by E. Arber. 5 vols., 1875-94. - - _Archiv._ Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und - Literaturen. Vols. i-cxliii., 1848-1922. [Known as _Herrig's - Archiv_. In progress.] - - ASHMOLE. The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the Garter. By - E. Ashmole. 1672. - - AUBREY. 'Brief Lives', Chiefly of Contemporaries, set down by - John Aubrey. Edited by A. Clark. 2 vols., 1898. - - AYDELOTTE. Elizabethan Rogues and Vagabonds. By Frank - Aydelotte. 1913. [_Oxford Historical and Literary Studies._] - - BAKER. The Development of Shakespeare as a Dramatist. By G. P. - Baker. 1907. - - BAKER. The London Stage: Its History, 1576-1888. By H. B. - Baker. 2 vols., 1889; 2nd ed. 1 vol., 1904. - - BALDWIN. The King's Council in England during the Middle Ages. - By J. F. Baldwin. 1913. - - BALLWEG. Das klassizistische Drama zur Zeit Shakespeares. Von - O. Ballweg. 1910. - - BAPST. Essai sur l'Histoire du Théâtre. Par E. Bapst. 1893. - - BATES-GODFREY. English Drama. A Working Basis. By K. L. Bates - and L. B. Godfrey. 1896. [_Wellesley College._] - - BATIFFOL. The Century of the Renaissance. By L. Batiffol. - Translated by E. F. Buckley. 1916. - - BAYFIELD. A Study of Shakespeare's Versification. By M. A. - Bayfield. 1920. - - BEARD. The Office of Justice of the Peace in England in its - Origin and Development. By C. A. Beard. 1904. [_Columbia Univ. - Studies._] - - BEAUMONT. L'Ambassade de France en Angleterre sous Henri IV. - Mission de Christophe de Harley, Comte de Beaumont (1602-5). - Par P. P. Laffleur de Kermaingant. 2 vols., 1895. - - BEESLY. Queen Elizabeth. By E. S. Beesly. 1892. - - _Berkeley MSS._ Catalogue of the Muniments at Berkeley Castle. - By I. H. Jeayes. 1892. - - BESANT. London in the Time of the Stuarts. By W. Besant. 1903. - - BESANT. London in the Time of the Tudors. By W. Besant. 1904. - - BESANT. London South of the Thames. By W. Besant. 1912. - - _Bibliographica._ Bibliographica. 3 vols., 1895-7. - - _Bibl. Soc._ The Bibliographical Society. - - _Bibl. Trans._ Transactions of the Bibliographical Society. 15 - vols., 1893-1919. Index to vols. i-x, 1910; to vols. xi-xv, - 1919. [Amalgamated from 1920 with _The Library_ (q.v.).] - - _Biog. Dram._ Biographia Dramatica: Memoirs of Dramatic Writers - and Actors. To 1764 by D. E. Baker, continued to 1782 by I. - Reed, and to 1811 by S. Jones. 3 vols. in 4, 1812. - - BIRCH, _Eliz._ Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth from the - Year 1581 till her Death. By T. Birch. 2 vols., 1754. - - BIRCH, _Henry_. The Life of Henry Prince of Wales, Eldest Son - of King James I. By T. Birch. 1760. - - BIRCH, _James_. The Court and Times of James the First. Edited - [from collections of T. Birch] by the Author of 'Memoirs of - Sophia Dorothea'. 2 vols., 1848. - - _B. L._ The Belles-Lettres Series. - - BOAS. Shakspere and his Predecessors. By F. S. Boas. 1896. - - BOAS. University Drama in the Tudor Age. By F. S. Boas. 1914. - - BOHUN. A Full Account of the Character of Queen Elizabeth. By - E. Bohun. 1693. - - BOISSISE. L'Ambassade de France en Angleterre sous Henri IV. - Mission de Jean de Thumery, Sieur de Boissise (1596-1602). Par - P. P. Laffleur de Kermaingant. 2 vols., 1886. - - BOLTE. Die Singspiele der englischen Komödianten und ihrer - Nachfolger in Deutschland, Holland, und Scandinavien. Von J. - Bolte. 1893. - - BOND, _Lyly_. The Complete Works of John Lyly. Edited by R. W. - Bond. 3 vols., 1902. - - BRADLEY. Shakespearean Tragedy. By A. C. Bradley. 1904. - - BRADLEY. Life of the Lady Arabella Stuart. By E. T. Bradley. 2 - vols., 1889. - - BRAINES. Holywell Priory and the Site of the Theatre, - Shoreditch. By W. W. Braines. 1915. - - BRAINES. The Site of the Globe Playhouse. By W. W. Braines. - 1921. - - BRANDL. Quellen des weltlichen Dramas in England vor - Shakespeare. Von A. Brandl. 1898. - - BREWER. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign - of Henry VIII. Arranged and catalogued by J. S. Brewer [and - afterwards J. Gairdner and R. H. Brodie]. 21 vols., 1862-1910. - [_Calendars of State Papers._] - - BRODMEIER. Die Shakespeare-Bühne nach den alten - Bühnen-Anweisungen. Von C. Brodmeier. 1904. - - BROOKE. The Shakespeare Apocrypha. Edited by C. F. T. Brooke. - 1908. - - BROOKE. The Tudor Drama; a History of English National Drama to - the Retirement of Shakespeare. By C. F. T. Brooke. 1912. - - BROTANEK. Die englischen Maskenspiele. Von R. Brotanek. 1902. - - BRUCE. Letters of Elizabeth and James VI. By J. Bruce. 1849. - [_C. S._ xlvi.] - - BULLEN, _O. E. P._ A Collection of Old English Plays. Edited by - A. H. Bullen. 4 vols., 1882-5. - - BURGON. Life and Times of Sir T. Gresham. By J. W. Burgon. 2 - vols., 1839. - - BURN. The High Commission. By J. S. Burn. 1865. - - BURN. The Star Chamber. By J. S. Burn. 1870. - - _Cabala._ Cabala, sive Scrinia Sacra: Mysteries of State and - Government in Letters of Illustrious Persons and Great - Ministers of State. 1654. 3rd ed., 2 Parts, 1691. - - CAMDEN. G. Camdeni Annales Rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum - Regnante Elizabetha. 1615-25. Edidit T. Hearnius. 3 vols., - 1717. Transl. 3rd ed. 1635. - - CAMDEN, _James_. Gulielmi Camdeni Annales ab Anno 1603 ad Annum - 1623 [appended to _Camdeni et Illustrium Virorum Epistolae_, - 1691]. - - CAPELL. Notitia Dramatica; or, Tables of Ancient Playes (from - their Beginning to the Restoration of Charles the Second) so - many as have been printed, with their Several Editions: - faithfully compiled and digested in quite new method, by - E[dward] C[apell] [1783]. [Part of _The School of - Shakespeare_.] - - CARLISLE. An Inquiry into the Place and Quality of the - Gentlemen of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Chamber. By N. - Carlisle. 1829. - - CAREY. Memoirs of Robert Cary Earl of Monmouth. Edited by G. H. - Powell. 1905. - - CASTELAIN. Ben Jonson: l'homme et l'œuvre. Par M. Castelain. - 1907. - - _C. D. I._ Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de - España. Por M. Fernandez de Navarrete. 112 vols., 1842-95. - - CECIL. Life of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury. By A. - Cecil. 1915. - - _C. H._ The Cambridge History of English Literature. Edited by - A. W. Ward and A. R. Waller. 14 vols., 1907-16. - - CHALMERS. An Apology for the Believers in the - Shakspeare-Papers. [By G. Chalmers.] 1797. [Includes an - _Account of the Rise and Progress of the English Stage_, - reprinted in _Variorum_ iii. 410.] - - CHALMERS, _S. A._ A Supplemental Apology for the Believers in - the Shakspeare-Papers. [By G. Chalmers.] 1799. [Contains an - enlarged _Account of the English Stage_.] - - CHAMBERLAIN. Letters written by John Chamberlain during the - Reign of Queen Elizabeth. Edited by S. Williams. 1861. [_C. S._ - lxxix.] - - CHAMBERLAYNE. Angliae Notitiae, or The Present State of - England. By J. Chamberlayne. 1669, &c. - - CHAMBERLIN. The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth. By F. - Chamberlin. 1921. - - CHAMBERS. Cyclopaedia of English Literature. New edition by D. - Patrick. 3 vols., 1901-3. W. and R. Chambers. - - CHAMBERS. A Fifteenth-Century Courtesy Book. Edited by R. W. - Chambers. 1914. [_E. E. T. S._ o. s. cxlviii.] - - CHAMBERS. The Mediaeval Stage. By E. K. Chambers. 2 vols., - 1903. - - CHAMBERS. Notes on the History of the Revels Office under the - Tudors. By E. K. Chambers. 1906. - - CHAPMAN. Ancient Royal Palaces in and near London. Drawn in - Lithography by T. R. Way. With Notes compiled by F. Chapman. - 1902. - - CHARVET. Sébastien Serlio. Par L. Charvet. 1897. - - CHASE. The English Heroic Play. By L. N. Chase. 1903. - - _Chaucer Records._ Life Records of Chaucer. By F. J. Furnivall - and R. E. G. Kirk. 4 Parts, 1875-1900. [_Chaucer Soc._ ii. 12, - 14, 21, 32.] - - CHETWOOD. The British Theatre. Containing the Lives of the - English Dramatic Poets; with an Account of all their Plays. By - W. R. Chetwood. 1750, 1752. - - CHETWOOD. A General History of the Stage, from its Origin in - Greece down to the Present Time, with Memoirs of the Principal - Performers. By W. R. Chetwood. 1749. - - CHEYNEY. A History of England, from the Defeat of the Armada to - the Death of Elizabeth. By E. P. Cheyney. Vol. i, 1914. [In - progress.] - - CHURCHILL. Richard the Third up to Shakespeare. By G. B. - Churchill. 1900. - - CLAPHAM-GODFREY. Some Famous Buildings and their Story. By A. - W. Clapham and W. H. Godfrey. [1913.] - - CLEPHAN. The Tournament. Its Periods and Phases. By R. C. - Clephan. 1919. - - CLODE. The Early History of the Guild of Merchant Taylors. By - C. M. Clode. 2 vols., 1888. - - CLODE. Memorials of the Guild of Merchant Taylors. By C. M. - Clode. 1875. - - COHN. Shakespeare in Germany in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth - Centuries. By A. Cohn. 1865. - - COKAYNE. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great - Britain, and the United Kingdom. By G. E. C[okayne], 8 vols., - 1887-98; 2nd ed. by V. Gibbs, 1910-21. [In progress.] - - COLLIER. The History of English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of - Shakespeare: and Annals of the Stage to the Restoration. By J. - P. Collier. 3 vols., 1831; new ed. [cited], 3 vols., 1879. - - COLLIER, _M. A._ Memoirs of Edward Alleyn. By J. P. Collier. - 1841. [_Shakespeare Society._] - - COLLIER, _A. P._ Alleyn Papers: Original Documents illustrative - of the Life of Edward Alleyn, and of the Early Stage. By J. P. - Collier. 1843. [_Shakespeare Society._] - - COLLIER, _N. F._ New Facts regarding the Life of Shakespeare. - By J. P. Collier. 1835. - - COLLIER, _N. P._ New Particulars regarding the Works of - Shakespeare. By J. P. Collier. 1836. - - COLLIER, _F. P._ Farther Particulars regarding Shakespeare and - his Works. By J. P. Collier. 1839. - - COLLIER, _Illustr._ Illustrations of Old English Literature. 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By F. von Raumer. 2 vols., - 1835. - - _V. P._ Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts relating to - English Affairs, existing in the Archives and Collections of - Venice and in other Libraries of North Italy. Edited by R. - Brown [and later], G. C. Bentinck, H. F. Brown, and A. B. - Hinds. 23 vols., 1864-1921. [In progress.] - - WALLACE. The Evolution of the English Drama up to Shakespeare, - with a History of the First Blackfriars Theatre. 1912. [Cited - as Wallace, i.] - - WALLACE. The Children of the Chapel at Blackfriars. By C. W - Wallace. 1908. [Cited as Wallace, ii.] - - WALLACE. Advance Sheets from Shakespeare, the Globe, and - Blackfriars. By C. W. Wallace. 1909. [Privately printed.] - - WALLACE. Globe Theatre Apparel. By C. W. Wallace. 1909. - [Privately printed.] - - WALSINGHAM. The Journal of Sir Francis Walsingham, 1570-83. By - C. T. Martin. 1870. [_Camden Miscellany_, vi.] - - WARD. History of English Dramatic Literature to the Death of - Queen Anne. By A. W. Ward. 2 vols., 1875; 2nd ed., 3 vols., - 1899. - - WARNER-BICKLEY. Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Muniments at - Dulwich. [Vol. i.] By G. F. Warner. 1881. Vol. ii. By F. B. - Bickley. 1903. - - WEGENER. Die Bühneneinrichtung des Shakespeareschen Theaters. - Von R. Wegener. 1907. - - WHEATLEY-CUNNINGHAM. London Past and Present. Based upon the - Handbook by P. Cunningham. By H. B. Wheatley. 3 vols., 1891. - - WHEELER. Six Plays by Contemporaries of Shakespeare. By C. B. - Wheeler. 1915. [_World's Classics._] - - WIFFEN. Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell. By J. H. - Wiffen. 2 vols., 1833. - - WILBRAHAM. Journal of Sir Roger Wilbraham, 1593-1616. By H. S. - Scott. 1902. [_Camden Miscellany_, x.] - - WILLIAMS. Annals of the Company of Founders. By W. M. Williams. - [1867.] - - WILSON. The History of Great Britain, being the Life and Reign - of King James I. By A. Wilson. 1653 [reprinted in _Compleat - History of England_ (1706), ii]. - - WILSON. Life in Shakespeare's England. A Book of Elizabethan - Prose. By J. D. Wilson. 1911. - - WILSON. The Copy for Hamlet, 1603, and the Hamlet Transcript, - 1593. By J. D. Wilson. 1918. - - WILSON. Queen Elizabeth's Maids of Honour and Ladies of the - Privy Chamber. By V. A. Wilson. 1922. - - WINSTANLEY. Lives of the most Famous English Poets, or the - Honour of Parnassus. By William Winstanley. 1687. - - WINWOOD. Memorials of Affairs of State in the Reigns of Queen - Elizabeth and King James I. Collected (chiefly) from the - Original Papers of the Right Honourable Sir Ralph Winwood. By - E. Sawyer. 3 vols., 1725. - - _Wisconsin Sh. Studies._ Shakespeare Studies by Members of the - Department of English of the University of Wisconsin. 1916. - - WITHINGTON. English Pageantry. By R. Withington. 2 vols., 1918, - 1920. - - WORP. Geschiedenis van het Drama en van het Tooneel in - Nederland. Van J. A. Worp. 2 vols., 1904-8. - - WOTTON. The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton. By L. - Pearsall Smith. 2 vols., 1907. - - WRIGHT. Queen Elizabeth and her Times. A Series of Original - Letters. Edited by T. Wright. 2 vols., 1838. - - WRIGHT, JAMES. See _Hist. Hist._ - - WYNNE. The Growth of English Drama. By A. Wynne. 1914. - - YOUNG. Annals of the Barber-Surgeons. By S. Young. 1890. - - YOUNG. The History of Dulwich College, with a Life of the - Founder, Edward Alleyn, and an Accurate Transcript of his - Diary, 1617-22. By W. Young. 2 vols., 1889. - - _Zurich Letters._ The Zurich Letters: Correspondence of English - Bishops with Helvetian Reformers during the Reign of Elizabeth. - By H. Robinson. 2 vols., 1842-5. [_Parker Soc._ vii, xviii.] - - - - - -BOOK I - - -THE COURT - - See where she comes, lo! where, - In gaudy green arraying, - A prince of beauty rich and rare - Pretends to go a-Maying. - - _Triumphs of Oriana._ - - - - - -I - -ELIZABETH AND JAMES - - [_Bibliographical Note._--The formal history of the period is - covered, with the exception of the years 1588-1603, by J. A. - Froude, _History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the - Defeat of the Armada_ (1856-70), and S. R. Gardiner, _History - of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the - Civil War_ (1863-84). A beginning towards filling the gap has - been made in vol. i of E. P. Cheyney, _History of England from - the Defeat of the Armada to the Death of Elizabeth_ (1914), in - which the organization of the court and administration is very - fully treated. For specifically social history may be added J. - R. Green, _History of the English People_ (1877-80), an - expansion of the same writer's _Short History of the English - People_ (1874), and H. D. Traill, _Social England_ (1893-7). - Shorter surveys are A. D. Innes, _England under the Tudors_ - (1905), A. F. Pollard, _History of England, 1547-1603_ (1910), - G. M. Trevelyan, _England under the Stuarts_ (1904), F. C. - Montague, _History of England, 1603-60_ (1907), all with - detailed bibliographies, of which Professor Pollard's is - notably full and good. The chief contemporary chronicles are - those of Holinshed (1577), Stowe (1580, &c.), and Camden - (1615-25), while personalia and Court details are preserved in - R. Naunton, _Fragmenta Regalia_ (1641), J. Finett, _Philoxenis_ - (1656), E. Bohnn, _Character of Queen Elizabeth_ (1693), and - the malicious pamphlets collected by Sir W. Scott in his - _Secret History of the Court of James the First_ (1811). Court - life is the main theme of L. Aikin, _Memoirs of the Court of - Queen Elizabeth_ (1818) and _Memoirs of the Court of James I_ - (1822), and of A. Strickland, _The Life of Queen Elizabeth_ - (1840), while the best biographical studies of the sovereigns - are E. S. Beesly, _Queen Elizabeth_ (1892), M. Creighton, - _Queen Elizabeth_ (1896), and T. F. Henderson, _James I_ and - _VI_ (1904). Court ceremonies are treated in J. Nichols, - _Progresses of Elizabeth_ (2nd ed., 1823). Contemporary England - is pictured in W. Harrison, _Description of Britain_ (1577), - and W. B. Rye, _England as Seen by Foreigners_ (1865), and the - extracts in J. D. Wilson, _Life in Shakespeare's England_ - (1911). The studies of social details in N. Drake, _Shakespeare - and his Times_ (1817), and G. W. Thornbury, _Shakspere's - England_ (1856), are now superseded by the combined work of - many collaborators in _Shakespeare's England_ (1916), where - special bibliographies on numerous subjects will be found. - Shorter books of interest are H. Hall, _Society in the - Elizabethan Age_ (1886), H. T. Stephenson, _The Elizabethan - People_ (1910), and P. H. Ditchfield, _The England of - Shakespeare_ (1917). London may be specially studied in C. L. - Kingsford's edition (1908) of J. Stowe's _Survey of London_ - (1598) and in W. J. Loftie, _History of London_ (1883), H. B. - Wheatley, _London Past and Present_ (1891), T. F. Ordish, - _Shakespeare's London_ (1904), W. Besant, _London in the Time - of the Stuarts_ (1903), _London in the Time of the Tudors_ - (1904), _London South of the Thames_ (1912), H. T. Stephenson, - _Shakespeare's London_ (1905), J. A. de Rothschild, - _Shakespeare and his Day_ (1906), H. A. Harben, _A Dictionary - of London_ (1918), and the publications of the _London - Topographical Society_; Westminster in J. T. Smith, - _Antiquities of Westminster_ (1807), and E. Sheppard, _The Old - Royal Palace of Whitehall_ (1902); and the royal houses - generally in F. Chapman, _Ancient Royal Palaces in and near - London_ (1902), R. S. Rait, _Royal Palaces of England_ (1911), - A. W. Clapham and W. H. Godfrey, _Some Famous Buildings and - their Story_ (1913), and the numerous monographs cited in the - notes to the present chapter. Perhaps the most useful books of - general reference are _The Dictionary of National Biography_, - G. E. C[okayne]'s _Complete Peerage_, W. A. Shaw's _The Knights - of England_, and _The Victoria History of the Counties of - England_. - - Behind and beyond these treatises, much social and personal - material is available in prints or abstracts of official and - private letters and analogous documents. The following is not - an exhaustive list of sources. There are the _Calendars of - State Papers_, of which the _Domestic_, _Foreign_, _Scottish_, - _Spanish_, and _Venetian Papers_ are the most valuable. There - are the Privy Council minutes in J. R. Dasent, _Acts of the - Privy Council_ (1890-1907), and those of the Welsh Council in - R. Flenley's _Calendar_ (1916). There is, unfortunately, no - collection of the letters missive of Elizabeth. There are full - texts, by no means only of treaties, in T. Rymer's _Foedera_ - (1704-35). Proclamations are calendared in R. Steele, - _Bibliography of Royal Proclamations_ (1910-11), and London - civic correspondence in _Analytical Index to the Remembrancia_ - (1878). There are the _Reports of the Historical Manuscripts - Commission_, covering private collections, of which the - _Hatfield MSS._ (papers of Lord Burghley and Sir R. Cecil) are - by far the most important, while the _Rutland MSS._, _Loseley - MSS._ (Sir T. Cawarden and Sir W. More), _Pepys MSS._ (Earl of - Leicester), _Finch MSS._ (Sir T. Heneage), and _Middleton MSS._ - are also useful. With these may be classed J. E. Jackson, - _Longleat Papers_ (_Wilts. Archaeological Magazine_, xiv, - xviii, xix), I. H. Jeayes, _Catalogue of the Muniments at - Berkeley Castle_ (1892, George Lord Hunsdon), and H. W. - Saunders, _Stiffkey MSS._ (1915, Sir Nathaniel Bacon). There is - a long series of collections of letters from the seventeenth - century onwards, in some of which the interest is mainly - diplomatic, in others ecclesiastical, in others again personal; - _Cabala_ (1654, Lord Burghley), D. Digges, _The Compleat - Ambassador_ (1655, Sir F. Walsingham), E. Sawyer, _Winwood - Memorials_ (1725), F. Peck, _Desiderata Curiosa_ (1732), A. - Collins, _Sydney Papers_ (1746), T. Birch, _Memoirs of Queen - Elizabeth_ (1754, Anthony Bacon), S. Haynes and W. Murdin, _A - Collection of State Papers_ (1740-59, Lord Burghley), L. - Howard, _A Collection of Letters_ (1753), H. Harington, _Nugae - Antiquae_ (1769, 1804, Sir J. Harington), Earl of Hardwicke, - _Miscellaneous State Papers_ (1778), E. Lodge, _Illustrations - of British History and Manners_ (1791, 1838), A. Clifford, - _Sadleir Papers_ (1809), H. Ellis, _Original Letters - Illustrative of English History_ (1825-46), A. J. Kempe, - _Loseley MSS._ (1835), T. Wright, _Queen Elizabeth and her - Times_ (1838), G. Goodman, _Court of King James I_ (1839), J. - P. Collier, _Egerton Papers_ (1840, Sir T. Egerton), H. - Robinson, _Zurich Letters_ (1842-5), T. Birch, _Court and Times - of James I_ (1848), J. Bruce, _Letters of Elizabeth and James - I_ (1849), J. Bruce and T. T. Perowne, _Correspondence of M. - Parker_ (1853), S. Williams, _Letters of John Chamberlain_ - (1861), I. H. Jeayes, _Letters of Philip Gawdy_ (1906). There - are biographies, in which also collections of letters are often - included; J. Smyth, _Lives of the Berkeleys_ (_c._ 1618), - _Memoirs of Robert Carey_ (1577-1627), J. Strype, _Sir T. - Smith_ (1698), T. Birch, _Henry Prince of Wales_ (1760), N. H. - Nicolas, _William Davison_ (1823), E. Nares, _William Cecil - Lord Burghley_ (1828-31), J. H. Wiffen, _The House of Russell_ - (1833), J. W. Burgon, _Sir T. Gresham_ (1839), N. H. Nicolas, - _Sir C. Hatton_ (1847), W. B. Devereux, _The Devereux, Earls of - Essex_ (1853), J. Spedding, _Francis Bacon_ (1861-74), E. - Edwards, _Sir W. Raleigh_ (1868), E. T. Bradley, _Arabella - Stuart_ (1889), B. C. Hardy, _Arbella Stuart_ (1913), E. Gosse, - _John Donne_ (1899), L. P. Smith, _Sir H. Wotton_ (1907), Mrs. - A. Richardson, _The Lover of Queen Elizabeth_ (1907), A. H. - Mathew and A. Calthrop, _Sir T. Matthew_ (1907), C. Stählin, - _Sir F. Walsingham und seine Zeit_ (1908), M. A. E. Green, - _Elizabeth Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia_ (1909), A. - Cecil, _Sir R. Cecil, Earl of Salisbury_ (1915). The Camden - Society has published the diaries of John Dee (1842), Henry - Machyn (1848), John Manningham (1868), Sir Francis Walsingham - (1870), and Sir Roger Wilbraham (1902). Finally the - ambassadorial dispatches analysed in the calendars are - supplemented, for Scotland by Sir James Melville's _Memoirs_ - (1827), for the Netherlands by J. Kervyn de Lettenhove, - _Relations politiques des Pays-Bas et de l'Angleterre_ - (1882-1900), for Spain by the _Correspondencia de Felipe II con - sus embajadores en Inglaterra_ (_C. D. I._ lxxxvii, - lxxxix-xcii) and the _Viaje de Juan Fernandez de Velasco á - Inglaterra_ (_C. D. I._ lxxi), and for France by many - publications, of which C. P. Cooper, _Correspondance - diplomatique de La Mothe Fénelon_ (1838-75), the _Mémoires_ - (1850) of the Duc de Sully, and _Ambassades de M. de la Boderie - en Angleterre_ (1750) are the richest in court detail.] - - -AT the close of the Middle Ages, the mimetic instinct, deep-rooted in -the psychology of the folk, had reached the third term of its social -evolution. After colouring the liturgy of the Church and the festival -celebrations of the municipal guilds, it had attached itself, in an -outgrowth of minstrelsy, to the household of the sovereign, which had -now definitely become, with the advent of the Tudors, the centre of the -intellectual and artistic life of the country. It will be manifest, in -the course of the present treatise, that the palace was the point of -vantage from which the stage won its way, against the linked opposition -of an alienated pulpit and an alienated municipality, to an ultimate -entrenchment of economic independence. On the literary side the _milieu_ -of the Court had its profound effect in helping to determine the -character of the Elizabethan play as a psychological hybrid, in which -the romance and the erudition, dear to the bower and the library, -interact at every turn with the robust popular elements of farce and -melodrama. It is worth while, therefore, to attempt to recover something -of the atmosphere of the Tudor Court, and to define the conditions under -which the presentation of plays formed a recurring interest in its -bustling many-coloured life. - -In every court the personality of the sovereign is naturally a dominant -factor. Who shall say with what bitter discretion learnt in the hard -school of adversity, or with what burden of secret policy for the -shaping of the nation's destiny in critical hours, Elizabeth mounted the -steps of her throne when her summons came in 1558. Our concern, at -least, is with externalities. Elizabeth, at twenty-five, was a young and -attractive queen, with her full share of the sensuous Tudor blood, and -of her father's early gust for colour and for amusement, for jewels and -for pageantry. 'Regina tota amoribus dedita est venationibusque, -aucupiis, choreis et rebus ludicris insumens dies noctesque,' wrote one -of her own subjects in 1563; and the dispatches of the Spanish and -Venetian diplomatists strike the same note.[1] Although these things had -their appeal for her to the end, she was perhaps not so utterly absorbed -in them, even at the beginning, as the observers thought. Yet it was -assuredly the love of excitement and spectacle, no less than the desire -to win the heart of London, that led her to encourage by her presence -the revived folk-festivals of the citizens and the lawyers, the morris -dances and May-games by land and water, and the Midsummer watch, which -she hurried from Richmond to behold _incognita_ from the Earl of -Pembroke's house at Baynard's Castle. There was much talk of marriage -for her in these early years. Philip of Spain himself, incredible as it -now sounds, the Kings of Denmark and Sweden, the Archdukes Charles and -Ferdinand of Austria, the Duke of Nemours, the Earl of Arran, and of her -own subjects, the Earl of Arundel, Lord Robert Dudley, Sir William -Pickering, were some of the possible consorts whose names passed from -mouth to mouth. The gaiety of Whitehall was enhanced by the outward show -of courtship, the embassies and their trains, the gifts and compliments, -the receptions and banquets. But it soon became apparent that, from -policy or from temperament, the Queen had no serious intention of -trusting herself in marriage. Gradually the troops of suitors faded -away. Dudley alone was left, and with Dudley the Tudor lack of -reticence, which had already brought Elizabeth into trouble as a girl, -permitted familiarities wherein hostile and interested critics soon -found material for a scandal. Whether her heart or her senses, now or at -any time, were touched cannot be said. After all, Dudley had, as time -went on, to share her favours, such as they were, with Hatton and with -Oxford, with Heneage and with Raleigh and with Blount. But it is to our -purpose that, when the embassies were gone, and Elizabeth became more -and more involved in the web of political intrigues, and began to lose -her looks and her health, the court which had started so brilliantly -might well have sunk into the commonplace of middle age, had it not been -for the presence of a band of high-spirited youths, bound in the -interests of their careers to maintain the traditions of official -gallantry, and above all to incur no small expense in leading the revels -for the recreation of an imperious and critical mistress. For although -Elizabeth loved magnificence, she loved economy more. The repair of a -ruined exchequer was one of the primary objects and triumphs of her -statecraft. Her household, although stately, was by no means on her -father's, or even her sister's, scale of expenditure. The splendours of -her jewel-house and even of her wardrobe largely owed their origin to -the _strenae_ of successive New Years. A similar policy governed the -ordering of her amusements. Her Christmas annals afford no parallels to -the costly masks, with their marvels of architectural decoration, which -had glorified the court of Henry and were to glorify that of James. Her -masks, at least those she paid for, were dances, not pageants. The great -spectacles of the reign were liturgies, undertaken by her gallants, or -by the nobles whose country houses she visited in the course of her -annual progresses. The most famous of all, the 'Princely Pleasures of -Kenilworth' in 1575, was at the expense of Dudley, to whom the ancient -royal castle had long been alienated. Gradually, no doubt, the financial -stringency was relaxed. Camden notes a growing tendency to luxury about -1574; others trace the change to the coming of the Duke of Alençon in -1581.[2] Elizabeth had found the way to evoke a national spirit, and at -the same time to fill her coffers, by the encouragement of piratical -enterprise, and the sumptuous entertainments prepared for the welcome of -Monsieur were paid for out of the spoils brought back by Drake in the -_Golden Hind_.[3] The Alençon negotiations, whether seriously intended -or not, represent Elizabeth's last dalliance with the idea of matrimony. -They gave way to that historic pose of unapproachable virginity, whereby -an elderly Cynthia, without complete loss of dignity, was enabled to the -end to maintain a sentimental claim upon the attentions, and the purses, -of her youthful servants. The strenuous years, which led up to the final -triumph over the Armada in 1588, spared but little room for revels and -for progresses. They left Elizabeth an old woman. But with the removal -of the strain the spirit of gaiety awoke. The entertainments during the -progresses of 1591 and 1592 hardly yield to those of 1575 in the cost -and ingenuity of their symbolical devices. Essex, the darling of these -later years, perhaps found it easier to keep the court alive with tilts -and masks, than to play his required part in the sentimental comedy. The -love of the dance endured with Elizabeth to the verge of the grave. Her -share in the Twelfth Night revels of 1599 was reported to Spain with the -sarcastic comment that 'the head of the Church of England and Ireland -was to be seen in her old age dancing three or four gaillards'. A year -or so later, she was still dancing 'gayement et de belle disposition' at -the wedding of Anne Russell, and in April 1602 she trod two gaillards -with the Duke of Nevers.[4] It was near the end of her life, too, when -her desire to see Falstaff in love inspired Shakespeare, to the regret -of those who sentimentalize over Falstaff, with the racy English farce -of _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. During these last years of all, there -was a touch of fever in her restless activity. She needed much -entertainment both within doors and without in the course of 1600, and -her wearied statesmen resented the arduousness of the progress upon -which she resolved on the verge of sixty-seven. She went a-Maying at -Highgate in 1601 and at Lewisham in 1602. During the next winter her -councillors provided a special series of festivities, with the object of -inducing her to spend Christmas in London, instead of at Richmond; and -we learn that the Court 'flourisht more then ordinarie' with plays, only -a month before the indomitable lady took to her bed, and died of no very -clearly ascertained disease, but in 'a settled and unremoveable -melancholy'. - -When James came to London he adopted the traditional splendours of the -English Court, in place of the simpler style of living to which he had -been accustomed in Edinburgh. His scale of expenditure, indeed, was from -the beginning far in excess of Elizabeth's, and landed him before long -in considerable embarrassment of the purse. For this there were various -reasons: the necessity of keeping up supplementary establishments for a -queen consort and an heir apparent, the personal inclination of Anne of -Denmark for ostentatious prodigality, the crowd of hungry Scots -demanding provision for their needs; above all, no doubt, the absence of -any statesmanlike instinct for financial control. There is plenty of -evidence that the dignity and sobriety which, on the whole, had -characterized Elizabeth's Court soon vanished under the lax rule of her -successors. But extravagance and wantonness, although deplorable in -themselves, are not necessarily unfriendly to the arts. The transference -of the leading companies of players to the direct service of the royal -households made it clear that the drama would occupy no less important -a place in the new order of things than it had done in the old. And in -fact the yearly tale of performances at court soon doubled and trebled -that which had sufficed for the Christmas 'solace' of Elizabeth. -Doubtless the King had some personal taste for the drama, though perhaps -less than other members of his family.[5] He had long entertained the -English actor, Laurence Fletcher, into his service and shown him high -favour, and Jonson is our authority for the statement that Shakespeare's -plays did 'take', not only 'Eliza' but 'our James'. But his great -preoccupation was the hunt, to which he hurried on every opportunity, -regardless of the discontent of London and even of the claims of -business. Anne, on the other hand, brought up in a court which had been -one of the first to come under the influence of the English players -abroad, and wedded into a court from which the Kirk had never succeeded -in expelling the French habits of amusement domiciled by Mary Queen of -Scots, found her chief pleasure in the spectacular arts; and to her -influence is mainly due that great development of the Jacobean mask, -which gave such scope to the exercise of courtly pens, and to the -remarkable decorative genius of Inigo Jones.[6] Anne's interest in all -forms of the drama, which even led her to the innovation of visiting a -theatre, was fully shared by the royal children, and combined in Henry -Frederick, Prince of Wales, with a passion for the knightly exercise of -the tilt to prolong into the seventeenth century the Renaissance -tradition of spectacular feats of arms. The death of this beloved -prince, to whom the thoughts of England, disillusioned of his father, -turned as the hope of the future, fell near the end of our period. The -splendour of the Court festivities reached a climax with the wedding of -the Princess Elizabeth in 1613, and faded even before the death of Anne -herself in 1619. It had its revival under Henrietta Maria. - -The Court was a movable institution, constituted by the actual presence -of the sovereign. Abundant choice both of 'standing houses' or 'houses -of abode' and of country manors was available.[7] The most important -palaces, under Elizabeth, were five in number, Whitehall, Hampton Court, -Greenwich, Richmond, and Windsor. All of these stood upon the river, and -all except Windsor and in part Greenwich dated structurally from the -reign of Henry VII or that of Henry VIII. The ancient palace of -Westminster, with its royal chapel of St. Stephen and its great hall -built by William Rufus and rebuilt by Richard II, served for coronations -and for the housing of Parliament and the courts of justice. But it was -no longer used as a royal residence, and the name of one of its -principal chambers, the 'white hall', had been transferred to the -neighbouring structure of York Place, originally begun by Wolsey, and -surrendered to Henry VIII, a fruitless sacrifice, at the moment of the -great Cardinal's downfall in 1530.[8] This was the metropolitan palace. -It was an extensive and irregular pile, covering many acres. Through its -centre ran the highway from London to Westminster, piercing two arched -gateways, of which the northern one was the work of Holbein. The hall -and chapel, with the royal lodgings, galleries, and privy garden, stood -on the east, and were connected with the river by a flight of privy -stairs. On the west, reached by galleries over the gateways, were many -additional lodgings, grouped round a cockpit, a tennis-court, and a -tilt-yard. At the back of these lay St. James's Park.[9] Richmond and -Hampton Court, a few miles up the river, and Greenwich, a few miles -down, were all accessible by river as well as by road, and the royal -barge lay ready in its bargehouse opposite Whitehall, off Paris Garden -on the Surrey side. Both for Court and city the Thames was a frequented -water-way. Richmond had been built by Henry VII to replace the older -palace of Sheen, destroyed by fire in 1497.[10] Hampton Court, also upon -the site of an earlier royal manor-house, was like Whitehall a monument -of the architectural taste of Wolsey, and like Whitehall became part of -the spoil of Henry VIII, by whom it was completed.[11] Greenwich owed -its origin to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who gave it the name of -'Placentia' or 'Pleasaunce'. It had been enlarged by Henry VII and was -the birthplace and the favourite habitation of Henry VIII.[12] Windsor, -on the other hand, which stood in a wide hunting domain some score or -more of miles up the river, was an ancient fortress of the English -kings. William the Conqueror had built it; William of Wykeham had added -to it for Edward III, who established the college of St. George within -its walls upon an older foundation of Henry I, and made it the -habitation of his chivalric Order of the Garter. Elizabeth modified the -mediaeval aspect of the castle, by adding a library and a garden -terrace.[13] - -Some older royal residences in London had long been converted to other -purposes. The Tower served as a wardrobe or storehouse and a prison, but -was only occupied by the sovereign on the eve of a coronation.[14] The -Wardrobe on St. Andrew's Hill was assigned to the Master of the Wardrobe -as an office and personal lodging.[15] The Savoy held a hospital, -together with various sets of lodgings.[16] Baynard's Castle had been -granted to the Herberts, nominally as keepers, in 1546.[17] - -Crosby Hall was the abode of wealthy merchants.[18] Somerset House, the -unfinished palace of the Protector on the Strand, had been made over to -Elizabeth as princess by Edward VI in 1552. She sometimes occupied it, -in order to be near the city, but more usually kept it available for -foreign visitors or favoured courtiers.[19] For the latter purpose it -was supplemented by Durham House, farther westwards on the Strand, which -Henry VIII had acquired by exchange from the see of Durham in 1536.[20] -Most of the ecclesiastical buildings, which had reverted to the Crown on -the dissolution of the religious orders, such as the Blackfriars, the -Whitefriars, and the Charterhouse, had been alienated.[21] Elizabeth -retained the priory of St. John in Clerkenwell, and placed there some -of the minor Household offices, including that of the Revels.[22] -Somewhat retired from the press of city life lay St. James in the -Fields, built on the site of an old leper hospital by Henry VIII in -1532. It ranked almost as a country house. A park, enclosed in 1537 and -adorned with the artificial water known as Rosamund's Pool, separated it -from Whitehall, and on the other side of it stretched the enclosures of -Hyde and Marylebone Parks.[23] There were many country houses still -farther afield. Oatlands, on the Surrey border of Windsor Forest, served -for hunting.[24] To this, and to Nonsuch in Surrey, the Queen often made -resort.[25] Eltham, in Kent, was another hunting ground, convenient of -access from Greenwich. Visits were paid from time to time to Havering -Bower in Essex, Enfield in Middlesex, Hatfield, where Elizabeth had -lived as a princess, in Hertfordshire, the monastic spoil of Reading -Abbey in Berkshire, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, and the ancient capital of -Winchester in Hampshire.[26] But for the most part these, and yet other -royal castles and manors in more distant counties, slept peacefully -under the privileged sway of their constables and keepers.[27] There -were some changes at the succession of James. Somerset House was -assigned to Queen Anne, and a not very successful attempt was made to -re-name it Queen's Court. This appellation was revived when the creation -of an Earl of Somerset in 1613 seemed suggestive of confusion, and then -abandoned in favour of Denmark House.[28] Nonsuch, Havering, and -Hatfield, with many other manors, were also assigned to Anne as part of -her dowry. Hatfield was exchanged in 1607 with Lord Salisbury for -Theobalds, to which James rather than Anne appears to have taken a -fancy, and the transfer gave occasion for a characteristic entertainment -by Ben Jonson. Oatlands was given to Anne in 1611 and Greenwich in -1613.[29] At the beginning of the reign Oatlands had been the royal -nursery for Henry and Elizabeth, and it continued to be Henry's country -home for some years.[30] Elizabeth, however, was soon placed in the -charge of Lord Harington, first at Exton in Rutlandshire and then at -Combe Abbey in Warwickshire. When she came to Court in 1608, a house was -found for her at Kew. Both she and Henry sometimes resided at Hampton -Court and at Whitehall, where they were lodged in that part of the -palace known as the Cockpit, on the border of St. James's Park.[31] But -St. James's Palace itself was reserved for the ultimate use of Henry, -and here he set up his establishment as Prince of Wales in 1610 and died -in 1612. Richmond and Woodstock were given him for country houses, and -at his death he was also buying up interests in Sheen House and -Kenilworth.[32] For Charles Holdenby or Holmby House in Northamptonshire -was bought in 1605, and on his brother's death he succeeded to St. -James's.[33] The King was thus left with Whitehall, Hampton Court, and -Windsor as his principal palaces. Naturally those of his wife and son -remained available for occasional visits, and the hunting facilities of -Theobalds and Woodstock were an agreeable addition to those of Hampton -Court and Windsor themselves.[34] But they did not suffice for James, -who set about providing himself with hunting quarters in various -localities. The most important of these was Royston Priory, on the -borders of Cambridgeshire and Herts., which he bought after a year's -trial in 1604 and enlarged into a house of some pretensions.[35] Others -were at Newmarket, Thetford, Hinchinbrook, Ware, and Woking, while -stables were kept up at St. Albans and Reading.[36] Theobalds, Royston, -and Newmarket were all reached by a private road, maintained, like the -King's Road to Hampton Court and another to Greenwich, by James -himself.[37] - -The arrangement of the principal rooms of a Tudor palace can be well -studied on the plan of Hampton Court.[38] There is a great Hall, and at -the back of it the entrance to a Great Chamber. At Hampton Court and -Richmond this appears to have served also as a Guard or Watching -Chamber, but at Whitehall the Guard Chamber and the Great Chamber were -distinct.[39] Out of the Great Chamber opens the Presence Chamber, and -out of this again the Privy Chamber, which gives admittance to the -private apartments of the sovereign. These included one or more Parlours -or Withdrawing Chambers, as well as the Bed Chamber.[40] From the -opposite end of the Great Chamber runs a gallery, which passes round two -sides of a court and leads to the royal Closet, overlooking and forming -part of the Chapel. Into this gallery also opens the Council Chamber. -The Presence Chamber and the Privy Chamber were the essential elements -of the scheme, and had to be contrived, no matter how humbly the Court -was lodged.[41] The Presence Chamber seems to have been open to any one -who was entitled to appear at Court at all. Access to the Privy Chamber, -on the other hand, where Elizabeth dined and supped and sat with her -ladies, was jealously reserved for privy councillors and other favoured -persons.[42] At Whitehall there were also a Privy Gallery and a Privy -Garden, which counted as parts of the Privy Chamber.[43] Occasionally -ambassadors or distinguished foreign visitors might have audience there, -or even in a Withdrawing Chamber.[44] But ordinarily presentations were -made in the Presence Chamber, and here the crowd of courtiers waited on -Sundays for the ceremony of the Queen's going to chapel. Paul Hentzner -has described the scene as he saw it at Greenwich in 1598.[45] - -In the Presence Chamber, too, Hentzner saw the royal table laid and the -ceremony of tasting performed, before the royal dishes were carried to a -more private apartment. An ancient custom by which the sovereign -occasionally dined in state in the Presence Chamber, and was served by -great nobles of the realm upon the knee, from cupboards of massy plate, -had fallen into disuse, but was revived by James.[46] In the Hall, or if -more convenient in the Great Chamber, plays were given.[47] For this -purpose the dimensions, in the larger palaces, were fully adequate. The -hall of Hampton Court is 115 ft. × 40 ft., that of Windsor 108 ft. × 33 -ft., that of Eltham, locally known as King John's Barn, 100 ft. × 36 ft. -These alone survive, but the hall of Richmond is known to have been 100 -ft. × 40 ft., and that of Whitehall 100 ft. × 45 ft.[48] But for an -exceptional entertainment, such as a great banquet or mask, more space -was desirable, and temporary structures, known as banqueting-houses, -were erected as required. The device had already been employed by Henry -VIII. A banqueting-house had been one of the splendours at the Field of -the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and two others, one of which was called the -'long house', or 'disguising house', were decorated by Holbein for the -reception of a French embassy at Greenwich in 1527.[49] Edward VI also -had had a banqueting-house in Hyde Park for the reception of another -French embassy in 1551.[50] In the first year of Elizabeth's reign she -used four banqueting-houses, one for the French ambassadors at -Westminster in May, two others at Greenwich and Cobham Hall in July,[51] -and a fourth at Horsley in August. A later one, prepared at Whitehall in -June 1572 for the reception of the Duke of Montmorency, required 116 -workmen to decorate it at a cost of £224. It was hung with birch and -ivy, and garnished with bushels of roses and honeysuckles from the royal -gardens.[52] Finally, one even more elaborate was erected, also at -Whitehall, for the coming of Alençon's ambassadors in 1581.[53] This, -although only constructed of fir and deal, was strong enough to stand -until 1606. James then had it pulled down and replaced by a new one of -brick and stone, which was ready in time for the Christmas festivities -of 1607.[54] This in its turn stood until 12 January 1619, when it was -destroyed by fire, and in its place arose the stately edifice of Inigo -Jones, which still glorifies Whitehall.[55] A supplementary room of more -temporary character was put up for the Princess Elizabeth's wedding in -1613.[56] - -The mediaeval court had been largely an ambulatory one. The principal -feasts, at which the King wore his crown, were generally kept in one of -the great cities--Westminster, Winchester, Gloucester; and for the rest -of the year the household passed by short 'removes' from castle to -castle and manor to manor throughout the realm. For this there were -economic as well as political reasons. Many mouths had to be fed, and it -was easier and less onerous upon the country to devour one local -storehouse after another, than to organize an effective transport from -the various sources of supply to a single capital. But with the new -political stability and the enhanced royal wealth, which followed the -coming of the Tudors, a more settled order of things prevailed. -Henceforward the greater part of the year was spent at one or other of -the 'standing houses' within reach of the administrative head-quarters -on the Thames, and the wanderings were confined to a 'progress' of one -or two summer months, during which the sovereign took the air, and -hunted, and made his presence familiar to his outlying subjects. Under -Elizabeth the year may be said to have begun in the middle of November, -when she returned to London, generally by road from one of the Surrey -palaces through Chelsea. The event, at any rate during the later years -of the reign, almost took rank as a ceremony of state. The Queen came by -night, with the Master of the Horse leading her palfrey by the bridle -and a great noble carrying the sword. Ambassadors were invited to be -present, and the Lord Mayor and citizens were called upon to don their -rich gowns and chains and give a torchlight welcome.[57] The date was no -doubt determined, partly by the approach of winter, partly by that of -Accession Day or, as it was often but incorrectly called, Coronation -Day, on 17 November. This anniversary, from 1570 onwards, was kept with -a solemn celebration, which appears to have originated spontaneously in -or near Oxford, to have been adopted throughout the country, to have -been revived during the next reign as an indication of popular -discontent with James, and to have been still traceable in the form of a -holiday at the Exchequer and at the schools of Westminster and Merchant -Taylors in 1827.[58] It was on this day that the tilt-yard of -Westminster blazed with the pageantry and rang with the spears of the -manhood of England, gathered under the leadership of Sir Henry Lee to do -honour to the virgin Queen. The Earl of Essex gave the final touch of -flattery to the occasion in 1592 by appearing in his collar of SS, 'a -thing unwonted', except on days of the most solemn ceremony.[59] In -1588, after the Armada, Elizabeth ordered a renewal of the tilting upon -19 November, which happened to be St. Elizabeth's day, but this second -triumph seems to have been only occasional.[60] - -Christmas was ordinarily kept at Whitehall; the occasional substitution -of Richmond, Greenwich, Hampton Court, or even Windsor is sometimes to -be explained by the prevalence of the plague in London, sometimes -perhaps by nothing more than a royal whim. But during the years of -strain which preceded the Armada Elizabeth appears to have shunned -Whitehall as much as possible, not merely at Christmas but at all times, -probably from a sense that her personal security could be better -provided for in some more compact and less accessible abode.[61] Whether -in Whitehall or elsewhere, the twelve days of Christmas, from the -Nativity to the Epiphany, were a season of high revels. I do not find -that Elizabeth, like her father and brother, ever appointed a Lord of -Misrule, although there is some trace of an election of a King of the -Bean on the last and greatest day of all, Twelfth Night.[62] But Twelfth -Night itself, with St. Stephen's, St. John's, Innocents', and New Year's -Day, were regularly appointed for plays and masks, which often -overflowed on to other nights during the period. Sometimes, too, there -was another tilt, or a barriers in the hall or banqueting-room. And on -New Year's Day it was etiquette for the lords and ladies at Court and -many of the officers of the household to present the Queen with the New -Year gifts or _strenae_ which had been immemorial in European courts -since the days of the Roman Empire, while she in turn rewarded the -donors with gilt plate from the royal jewel house and distributed -largess amongst her personal attendants and other customary -recipients.[63] - -The revels were renewed for Candlemas (2 Feb.) and for Shrovetide, -either at the Christmas head-quarters or at some other palace to which -the Court had meanwhile removed. Some part of the early spring was -nearly always spent away from Westminster, and during her later years -Elizabeth not infrequently left part of the household behind her and -made a short 'by progress' to the house of Lord Burghley at Theobalds or -that of Sir Thomas Gresham at Osterley or some other favoured courtier. -The rest of the spring and summer was divided between Westminster and -the river palaces, to and from which the Queen went by land or water, -dining on the way, often at Chelsea or at the house of one John Lacy at -Putney, and breaking the long journey from Greenwich to Richmond or -Hampton Court by a night's rest, generally at the archiepiscopal abode -of Lambeth. It was customary to ring the church bells as she entered or -left a parish, and the entries of payments to ringers in the accounts of -churchwardens serve as a convenient clue to her comings and goings. -Easter, with the distribution of alms and washing of feet on Maundy -Thursday, and Whitsuntide were kept as ecclesiastical, rather than -secular, feasts. On 23 April, St. George's Day, the Queen went in -procession about the Court with the Knights of the Garter and the Chapel -in their copes. This was the occasion for the choosing of new knights, -but their subsequent installation at a Garter feast took place without -the Queen at Windsor, whither they rode in great and costly -splendour.[64] During the summer there might be another tilt, and the -Queen is recorded to have kept 'Mayings' on 1 May and to have taken part -from time to time in other survivals of the ancient folk festivals.[65] -About July she started for her 'progress', which might occupy from one -to two months, according to her fancy, or if there was to be no regular -progress, departed for one of the more sequestered houses, Windsor or -Reading, Oatlands or Nonsuch, where she delighted to spend the autumn. -During this period fell her birthday, on 7 September.[66] - -The Jacobean calendar underwent certain modifications, largely -determined by the King's sporting instincts. James kept his Court for -the most part at Whitehall, Hampton Court, and Windsor. After the winter -of 1603, when plague held him at Hampton Court, his Christmasses and -Shrovetides were invariably at Whitehall, and hither he always proceeded -at the end of October, in time for the celebration of All Saints' Day on -1 November.[67] On 5 November was kept, after 1605, the anniversary of -Gunpowder Plot, and to this day, in course of time, the winter bonfires -of folk custom transferred themselves.[68] The Twelve Nights, with -Candlemas and Shrovetide, remained the chief seasons for plays and -masks, but the plays were greatly increased in number. One was often -given on All Saints' Day (1 Nov.) to usher in the winter, and others -were called for at intervals during the winter months. James was also -regularly at Whitehall on his Accession Day, 24 March, which, like his -predecessor, he honoured with a tilt.[69] He maintained the tradition of -the progress, generally choosing the direction of such hunting grounds -as Sherwood, Wychwood, the New Forest, or Salisbury Plain; and during -the course of his progress, on 5 August, he celebrated another -anniversary, that of his delivery from the Gowry conspiracy in 1600. On -this day ambassadors were expected to pursue him from London and offer -their congratulations.[70] The progress generally ended at Havering -early in September.[71] Thereafter the household was established at -Windsor or Hampton Court until winter began again. But James's personal -life was a far less settled one than that of Elizabeth. He disliked -London, and at all times of the year, and wherever the Court might be, -he was constantly leaving the greater part of it behind, referring the -transaction of business to the Privy Council, and betaking himself with -the Master of the Horse and Sir Thomas Lake, a clerk of the signet who -acted as his private secretary, to Theobalds or Royston, or some other -hunting box, at which his favourite pursuit might be conveniently -enjoyed. From thence he would hurry back, often for a day or two only, -when some office of state or Court ceremony urgently demanded his -attendance. There is abundant evidence that this abnormal passion for -the chase had much to do with the early unpopularity of James. It led to -neglect of business, the grave inconvenience of ministers, excessive -purveyance, and the trampling of crops; and the popular discontent soon -found vent in libels on the stage and elsewhere. But James said that he -could not lead a sedentary life and must study his health above all -things.[72] - -During both reigns the normal tenor of Court life was naturally -disturbed from time to time by some exceptional event. Parliaments -required to be opened in state, although neither Sovereign was fond of -summoning Parliaments.[73] The thanksgiving for the Armada on 24 -November 1588 was a notable day of triumph for Elizabeth. James did not -win battles, but he created his son Prince of Wales in 1610 and married -his daughter in 1613 with considerable pomp. In 1607, being in need of a -loan, he fluttered city life by dining with the Lord Mayor on 12 June -and the Merchant Taylors on 16 July.[74] The arrival of extraordinary -ambassadors or other foreign visitors of importance necessitated -frequent provision for their entertainment. The constant relations which -Elizabeth maintained with France led to a number of special missions, -for one purpose or another, diplomatic or complimentary, throughout the -reign. The most interesting of these, from the point of view of an -annalist of Court revels, were concerned with the negotiations, already -referred to, for a marriage with the Duke of Alençon, afterwards Duke of -Anjou and 'Monsieur' of France, the brother of Henri III. These began in -1578 and came to a head in 1581, when a visit by Francis de Bourbon, -Dauphin de Montpensier, and other commissioners in the spring was -followed by another by Anjou himself in November, which lasted over -Christmas to the following February. Both occasions were honoured with -sumptuous tilts and other entertainments. Before and after Monsieur -came in 1572 Francis Duke of Montmorency and Marshal of France, in 1601 -Marshal Biron, and in 1602 the Duke of Nevers. Biron appears to have -been a substitute for his master, Henri IV, whom Elizabeth would have -welcomed, but who apparently could not bring himself to face the perils -of the Channel crossing. Chapman puts the comment in the Queen's mouth: - - We had not thought that he whose virtues fly - So beyond wonder and the reach of thought, - Should check at eight hours' sail, and his high spirit, - That stoops to fear less than the poles of heaven, - Should doubt an under-billow of the sea, - And, being a sea, be sparing of his streams.[75] - -Of visitors from other lands than France may be noted Cecilia, -Margravine of Baden and sister of the King of Sweden, in 1565, Feother -Pissenopscoia, an ambassador in search of a bride for Ivan I, Tsar of -Muscovy, in 1583, and Ludovic Verreyken, ambassador from the archiducal -court of Flanders in 1600. Visits were expected from Mary of Scots in -1562 and from James in 1590, but in fact Mary never came until she was a -fugitive or James until he was King.[76] Elizabeth, however, on her -side, sent complimentary embassies for the intended wedding of James in -1589, and the baptism of his son Henry in 1594. The most important -visitor to James himself was the Queen's brother, Christian, King of -Denmark, who came twice. His elaborate state visit in July and August -1606 left several unpleasant memories behind it. The Kings fell out over -James's indifference to Christian's sister. Hunting bored Christian and -James disliked being outshone by his brother-in-law in running at the -ring. Nor did the subjects more readily mix, for the Danes thought the -English haughty, and the English thought the Danes gross; and in -particular the heavy drinking habits of the north, although by no means -uncongenial to James personally, led to scenes which were scandalous in -the eyes of all who remembered the austerer fashions of Elizabeth.[77] -It was a general relief when Christian decided to abridge the period -originally set down for his stay. He came again, briefly and informally, -in 1614. Other Jacobean visitors were the Duke of Holstein, another -brother of the Queen, in 1604, the Prince de Joinville in 1607, the -Prince of Brunswick, a nephew of the Queen, in 1610, the Duc de Bouillon -in 1612, and the Elector Palatine, for his wedding with the Princess -Elizabeth, in the same year. James received congratulations on his -accession from ambassadors extraordinary sent by the Emperor and the -Kings of France and Spain, as well as from other representatives of -minor powers. Subsequently Juan de Velasco, Constable of Castile, came -as ambassador extraordinary from Spain, with other Spanish and Flemish -commissioners, for the signing of a treaty of peace in 1604, and had the -honour of being waited upon by Shakespeare as groom of the chamber.[78] - -In addition to extraordinary ambassadors there were generally also -permanent or 'lieger' ambassadors in residence. These varied in number -with the shifting diplomacies of the time. France was the foreign -country most constantly represented at Elizabeth's Court.[79] There was -generally also a Scottish ambassador. Diplomatic relations with Spain -were broken off in 1584;[80] and there were no Italian ambassadors, in -spite of overtures to Venice, until the last few months of the reign, -when the Doge and Senate sent over the Secretary Scaramelli.[81] The -accession of James and the peace with Spain brought about a considerable -change in international relations, and henceforward there were regularly -'lieger' ambassadors from France, Spain, Venice, and Flanders, as well -as ambassadors or agents from the Dutch states, Savoy and Florence. For -the entertainment of these an occasional dinner or supper with the King -sufficed, together with invitations to such ceremonies of state, revels, -and tilts as were held in ordinary course. But the revels were perturbed -and an infinity of trouble given to the officials who organized them by -the persistent jealousies and disputes for precedence which prevailed -amongst the diplomatic representatives themselves. The records of these -intrigues, which especially centred round the great Court masks, and -often determined the dates on which they were held, occupy much space in -the dispatches sent home to Paris and to Venice, and furnished Sir John -Finet in 1656 with material for the curious pages of his _Philoxenis_. -The rival claims of the 'Catholic' King of France and the 'most -Christian' King of Spain to be regarded as the first Sovereign in -Christendom had already caused trouble as far back as 1564.[82] The -question had naturally been in abeyance during the rupture with Spain. -Under James it broke out again, and each ambassador had the strictest -order from his government not to abate a jot or tittle of his full -claims to precedence. James, being _rex pacificus_, had no desire to -commit himself to a decision on so knotty a point, and did his best to -evade it, by not inviting both ambassadors to the same festivity. But -even then one festivity differed from another in glory, and the attempt -to keep an even balance gave rise to endless _tracasseries_. During the -earlier years it seems clear that a variety of causes, amongst which -must be counted his own superior astuteness, a liberal distribution of -bribes, the Spanish proclivities of Anne, and probably also the -deliberate trend of James's foreign policy, enabled Juan de Taxis to -snatch more than one advantage from his French rivals. He secured an -invitation to the Queen's mask both in 1604 and 1605. This double rebuff -led to a change in the French embassy, and a similar success of De Taxis -in 1608 so infuriated Henri IV that he threatened to withdraw his -ambassador altogether, until James judged it discreet to call his -attention to the still unpaid financial obligations which he had -incurred to the English Crown in the previous reign. After the death of -Henri in 1610 and the consequent _rapprochement_ between France and -Spain, the balance of political forces shifted, and, for a time at -least, the English Court laid itself out to gratify rather than -humiliate the French. Minor bones of precedence were worried between -Venice and Flanders, and between Florence and Savoy, while the Spanish -ambassador took offence if he was asked to appear in public with the -representative of the revolted Spanish provinces of the Netherlands.[83] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 1: Francis to Sir Thomas Chaloner (Dec. 1563) in Froude, vii. -92; cf. _Sp. P._ i. 10, 127; _V. P._ vii. 80, 101.] - -[Footnote 2: Camden (tr.), 179; Bohun, 345, from R. Johnston, _Hist. -rerum Brit._ (1655), 353; Carey, 2.] - -[Footnote 3: _Sp. P._ iii. 91.] - -[Footnote 4: _Sp. P._ iv. 650; Chamberlain, 99, 126; _Hatfield MSS._ -xii. 253; Boissise, i. 415; Beaumont, 21; Goodman, i. 17.] - -[Footnote 5: Carleton to Chamberlain, Jan. 15, 1604 (_S. P. D., Jac. I_, -vi. 21): 'The first holy dayes we had every night a publicke play in the -great hale, at which the king was ever present, and liked or disliked as -he saw cause; but it seems he takes no extraordinary pleasure in them. -The Queen and Prince were more the players frends, for on other nights -they had them privately, and hath since taken them to theyr -protection.'] - -[Footnote 6: J. A. Lester, _Some Franco-Scottish Influences on the Early -English Drama in Haverford Essays_ (1909).] - -[Footnote 7: Scaramelli wrote to the Signory in July 1603 (_V. P._ x. -71) that James had eight palaces on the Thames, of which Hampton Court -was the biggest. Each had its own furniture, which was never taken to -furnish another. I suppose the eight must be Whitehall, St. James's, -Somerset House, the Tower, Greenwich, Richmond, Hampton Court, and -Windsor. Letters of 1602, when Elizabeth was at Oatlands, contemplate -her return to 'Richmond or some other of her houses of abode' and to 'a -standing house' (_Hatfield MSS._ xii. 385, 448). I suppose that these -were the permanently furnished houses.] - -[Footnote 8: Cheyney, i. 143, says that the Exchequer court near -Westminster Hall, the gallery of which was built or repaired in 1570, -'served the queen and court not infrequently as a ball-room'; but this -is only an old tradition, for which Smith, _Westminster_, 54, could find -no confirmation in 1807, and for which the records of Court -entertainments certainly furnish none.] - -[Footnote 9: The accounts of Smith and Sheppard (cf. _Bibl. Note_) may -be supplemented from W. R. Lethaby in _Archaeologia_, lx. 131; _London -Topographical Record_, i. 38; ii. 23; vi. 23, 35; vii. _passim_. Von -Wedel (_2 R. Hist. Soc. Trans._ ix. 234) describes the palace in 1584.] - -[Footnote 10: E. B. Chancellor, _Historical Richmond_ (1885); R. -Garnett, _Richmond on the Thames_ (1896); Chapman, 123; _Survey_ of 1503 -in Grose and Astle, _Antiquarian Repertory_; _Survey_ of 1649 in -Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 412.] - -[Footnote 11: E. Law, _History of Hampton Court Palace_ (1885-91); W. H. -Hutton, _Hampton Court_ (1897). De Silva reports to Philip on 13 Oct. -1567 (_Sp. P._ i. 679) that Elizabeth was then at Hampton Court for the -first time since her attack of small-pox there in 1562, after which she -took a dislike to it. It was the largest of all the palaces, 'with 1800 -inhabitable rooms or at least with doors that lock' (_V. P._ x. 71).] - -[Footnote 12: A. G. K. L'Estrange, _The Palace and the Hospital: -Chronicles of Greenwich_ (1886); Chapman, 9. The building is shown in -Wyngaerde's drawing of _c._ 1543 (Mitton, I). Hentzner was told in 1598 -that it was Elizabeth's preferred abode.] - -[Footnote 13: W. H. St. J. Hope, _Windsor Castle_ (1913); R. R. Tighe -and J. E. Davis, _Annals of Windsor_ (1858); E. Ashmole, _The -Institution, Lawes and Ceremonies of the Garter_ (1672); J. Pote, -_History and Antiquities of Windsor Castle_ (1749); G. M. Hughes, -_Windsor Forest_ (1890).] - -[Footnote 14: R. Gower, _The Tower of London_ (1901-2); Clapham and -Godfrey, 29. Elizabeth was there in 1559, 1561, and 1565.] - -[Footnote 15: For its mediaeval use as an occasional royal lodging, cf. -N. H. Nicolas, _Wardrobe Accounts of Edw. IV_, 121, 127.] - -[Footnote 16: W. J. Loftie, _Memorials of the Savoy_ (1878); Chapman, -42.] - -[Footnote 17: Elizabeth paid visits there in 1559, 1562, 1564, 1566, and -1575.] - -[Footnote 18: Chapman, 36; Clapham and Godfrey, 119.] - -[Footnote 19: S. Pegge, _Curialia_ (1806); R. Needham and A. Webster, -_Somerset House, Past and Present_ (1905). Elizabeth was there in 1558, -1562, 1571, 1573, 1582, 1583, 1585, 1587, 1588, 1589, 1590, 1593, 1594, -and 1599. She gave lodgings there to Somerset's son, the Earl of -Hertford, and amongst other guests were the Duke of Holstein (1560), -Cornelius de la Noye, an alchemist (1567), the Duke of Montmorency -(1572), and the Duke of Mayenne (1600). Conferences were held there with -Alençon's commissioners in 1581. In 1574 (_Berkeley MSS._ 223) the -keepership was given to Henry Lord Hunsdon, the Lord Chamberlain, who -took up his residence there, and after his death to Lady Hunsdon. In -early documents of the reign, the name Strand House (_P. C. Acts_, Jan. -1563; _Procl._ 496) or Strand Place (_Procl._ 497) occurs; in the patent -of Hunsdon's predecessor John West in 1559 (_Berkeley MSS._ 218) it is -'Somersett Place _al._ Strande House _al._ Somersett House'.] - -[Footnote 20: M. A. S. Hume, _A Palace in the Strand_ in _The Year after -the Armada_ (1896), 263; Nichols, _James_, i. 75; Clapham and Godfrey, -151; T. N. Brushfield, _The History of Durham House, London_, in _Trans. -of Devon. Assoc._ xxxv. 539. Elizabeth was there in 1565 or 1566. -Lodgings were assigned to Alvaro de la Quadra, the Spanish ambassador -(1559-63), Cecilia of Sweden, Margravine of Baden (1565), Walter, Earl -of Essex (1572), Sir Walter Raleigh (1584-1603), Sir Edward Darcy (_c._ -1600-3). In 1603 James turned Raleigh and Darcy out and restored the -freehold to Toby Mathew, Bishop of Durham, who retained the river front, -and leased the Gatehouse on the Strand. The lease passed to Lord -Salisbury, who built there the New Exchange or Britain's Burse in 1609.] - -[Footnote 21: L. Hendriks, _The London Charterhouse_ (1889); W. F. -Taylor, _The Charterhouse of London_ (1912). The Charterhouse, after -temporary use as a storehouse for the Tents (cf. _Tudor Revels_, 13), -was granted to Sir Edward North, afterwards Lord North of Kirtling, in -1545 and the grant was confirmed by Mary in 1554. Elizabeth visited him -there in Nov. 1558 and July 1561. After his death in 1564 the second -lord kept a house in Charterhouse Square, which passed to the Earls of -Rutland and as Rutland House became the scene of Davenant's _First Day's -Entertainment_ in 1656. The main building was bought in 1565 by Thomas, -fourth Duke of Norfolk, and called Howard Place. Elizabeth visited him -there in 1568. On his attainder in 1572, she lodged the Portuguese -ambassador in the house, but afterwards granted it to Norfolk's son -Thomas, Lord Howard of Walden, whom she visited there in Jan. 1603. In -1611 Thomas Sutton bought the Charterhouse from Howard for a hospital. -On the Blackfriars and Whitefriars, cf. ch. xvii.] - -[Footnote 22: Clapham and Godfrey, 165; cf. ch. iii.] - -[Footnote 23: E. Sheppard, _Memorials of St. James's Palace_ (1894). -Elizabeth was there in 1561, 1564, 1566, 1571, 1572, 1575, 1576, 1581, -1583, 1584, 1588, and 1593.] - -[Footnote 24: _V. H. Surrey_, iii. 478. Elizabeth was there in 1560, -1562, 1564, 1567, 1569, 1570, 1574, 1577, 1580, 1582, 1583, 1584, 1585, -1587, 1589, 1590, 1591, 1593, 1600, and 1602.] - -[Footnote 25: _V. H. Surrey_, iii. 266; _Gent. Mag._ viii. (1837) 139; -Clapham and Godfrey, 3. Elizabeth was there in 1559, 1563, 1565, 1567, -1574, 1580-5 (yearly), 1587, 1589, 1591, 1592, 1593, 1594, 1595, 1596, -1598, 1599, 1600. The house was begun by Henry VIII and finished by Lord -Lumley, son-in-law of the Earl of Arundel, to whom the property was -alienated in 1556. Elizabeth bought the house about 1590-2. 'Nonsuch, -which of all other places she likes best,' wrote Rowland White in 1599 -(_Sydney Papers_, ii. 120).] - -[Footnote 26: For Eltham (visits in 1559, 1560, 1576, 1581, 1596, 1597, -1598, 1599, 1601, 1602), once an important palace, cf. J. C. Buckler, -_Account of Eltham_ (1828), Chapman, 1, Clapham and Godfrey, 47; for -Havering (visits in 1561, 1568, 1572, 1576, 1578, 1579, 1591, 1597), -Nichols, _Eliz._ iii. 70, Clapham and Godfrey, 145; for Hatfield (visits -in 1558, 1566, 1568, 1571, 1572, 1575, 1576), _V. H. Herts._ iii. 92; -for Reading (visits in 1568, 1570, 1572, 1574, 1576, 1592, 1601), J. B. -Hurry, _Reading Abbey_ (1901), T. J. Pettigrew in _Journal of Brit. -Arch. Ass._ xvi. 192; for Woodstock (visits in 1566, 1572, 1574, 1575, -1592), E. Marshall, _Early Hist. of Woodstock Manor_ (1873), and ch. -xxiii, s.v. Lee. Elizabeth was at Enfield in 1561, 1564, 1568, 1572, -1587, 1591, 1594, 1597, and at Winchester in 1560, 1574, 1591.] - -[Footnote 27: Schedules of royal houses and other possessions to which -places of profit were attached form part of the Fee Lists described in -the _Bibl. Note_ to ch. ii. That of 1598 (_H. O._ 262) includes 37 -castles under constables, keepers, or porters, 17 other houses, 11 -forests, and 8 parks, together with the Fleet prison under a warden -keeper, the Baths (at Bath) under a keeper, the Haven of the Duchy of -Cornwall under a havenor, the Honour of Tutbury under a steward, and -Paris Garden under the keepers of Bears and Mastiffs (cf. ch. xvi, s.v. -Hope); in all 78.] - -[Footnote 28: Occasionally it was still used as a guesthouse. The -Constable of Castile was lodged here in 1604, the Danish ambassador in -1605, Christian of Denmark in 1606 and 1614. Fuller, _Church History_, -vii. 46, says that the name Denmark House was adopted by proclamation in -honour of King Christian, but I can find no such proclamation. Arthur -Wilson (_Compleat Hist._ ii. 685) dates the change _c._ 1610, and says -that the new name 'continued her time among her people; but it was -afterwards left out of the common calendar, like the dead Emperor's -new-named month'. On the other hand I find Cecil dating from 'Queens -Court' on 6 March 1605 (_S. P. D._ xiii. 15), Chamberlain writing in -Feb. 1614 of the performance of Daniel's _Hymen's Triumph_ that it was -in a 'little square paved court' at 'Somerset House or Queens Court, as -it must now be called' (W. W. Greg in _M. L. Q._ vi. 59, from _Addl. -MS._ 4173, ff. 368, 371), and plays acted by Anne's men 'at Queenes -Court' in 1615 (cf. App. B). The reason suggested in the text for the -second attempt to change the name seems to me a plausible conjecture. -Perhaps 'Denmark House' was tried at Christian's second visit in 1614. -In any case, neither novelty permanently established itself. The first -use of 'Denmark House' I have noticed is in 1615; that of 'Somerset -House' was resumed under Charles I.] - -[Footnote 29: Lodge, iii. 62; Birch, i. 279; Devon, 63, 176; _V. P._ x. -87; xiii. 81; _S. P. D., Jac. I_, xxvii. 31; lxv. 79, 80; _V. H. -Surrey_, iii. 478; _V. H. Herts._ iii. 447; Goodman, i. 174; J. E. -Cussans, _Hist. of Herts._, pts. ix, x. 209; Nichols, _James_ ii. 127. -Theobalds, in Cheshunt, had been often visited by Elizabeth; cf. App. A. -James had already been there yearly in 1603-1606, and found it -convenient for Waltham Forest.] - -[Footnote 30: Green, 7; _V. P._ x. 71.] - -[Footnote 31: Green, 8, 17; _V. P._ xii. 194; Pory to Sir Thomas -Puckering (3 Jan. 1633) in _Court and Time of Charles I_, ii. 213: 'In -case the Queen [of Bohemia] do come for England, I hear that her lodging -appointed in court is the Cockpit, at Whitehall, where she lay when she -was a maid.' On the Cockpit, cf. ch. vii.] - -[Footnote 32: Birch, _Life of Henry_, 330; Cunningham, viii; _V. P._ -xii. 194, 207; Devon 153, 164, 179; _S. P. D., Jac. I_, viii. 104; -Marshall, _Woodstock_, 174.] - -[Footnote 33: Devon, 37, 80; _V. P._ xiii. 81; Birch, i. 41.] - -[Footnote 34: James was at Richmond in 1605, 1606, 1607, and 1611, at -Oatlands in 1604, 1606, 1607, 1608, 1610, 1611, 1613, and 1615, and at -Woodstock in 1603, 1604, 1605, 1610, 1612, and 1614. Some of his hunting -trophies are still preserved at Ditchley Park; cf. ch. xxiii, s.v. Lee. -Theobalds, like Royston, he visited several times a year. Evidently it -was more his than Anne's. In 1607 and 1615 his departure from London is -spoken of as going 'home' (Birch, i. 68, 298).] - -[Footnote 35: _V. H. Herts._ iii. 253.] - -[Footnote 36: _Abstract_, 52.] - -[Footnote 37: T. F. Ordish in _L. T. R._ viii. 6. The road crossed -Holborn at Kingsgate.] - -[Footnote 38: Law, _Hampton Court_, i. 1.] - -[Footnote 39: At the wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1613 (Rimbault, -163) James went 'from his Privie Chamber, throughe the presence and -garde chamber, and throughe a new bankettinge house erected of purpose -for to solemnenize this feast in, and so doune a paire of stayers at the -upper end therof hard by the Courte gate, wente alonge uppon a stately -scaffold to the great chamber stayers, and throughe the greate chamber -and lobby to the clossett, doune the staiers to the Chappell'; cf. -Pegge, i. 68. Traces of the Great Chamber at Whitehall possibly still -exist, over the building known as Cardinal Wolsey's cellar (_L. T. R._ -vii. 40).] - -[Footnote 40: Davison to Leicester (1586, _Hardwicke Papers_, i. 302): -'I found her majesty alone, retired into her withdrawing chamber'; Lord -Talbot to Anon. (1587, _Rutland MSS._ i. 213): 'She had my wife called -in to the withdrawing chamber, where no one but the Queen, my Lord, and -Secretary Walsingham were'; Sussex to Burghley (1573, 2 Ellis, iii. 27): -'The Queen sate in the grete Closette or Parler [at Greenwich]'; R. -Cecil to Essex (1596, Devereux, i. 347), reporting that Sir A. Shirley -was 'used with great favour, both in the privy and drawing chambers'. -The 'Withdrawing Chamber' of Law's Hampton Court plan appears to be the -Privy Chamber. They were certainly distinct at Richmond in 1600, for -Vereiken was taken through the Privy Chamber for an audience in the -Withdrawing Chamber (_Sydney Papers_, ii. 170).] - -[Footnote 41: Cf. ch. iv.] - -[Footnote 42: _H. O._ 154 (1526); _Procl._ 962 (1603).] - -[Footnote 43: Pegge, i. 68.] - -[Footnote 44: _V. P._ vii. 91 (1559, Montmorency); ix. 531 (1603, -Scaramelli).] - -[Footnote 45: Cf. App. F. Von Wedel (_2 R. Hist. Soc. Trans._ ix. 250) -describes the ceremony at Hampton Court in 1584.] - -[Footnote 46: _V. P._ x. 46, 121; xi. 430; xii. 273, 547; Gawdy, 132; -Birch, i. 69; Sully, _Mémoires_, 469. Von Wedel, however, saw Elizabeth -dine in state at Greenwich in 1584 (loc. cit., 262).] - -[Footnote 47: Cf. ch. vii.] - -[Footnote 48: The position of the Hall at Whitehall can be fairly well -identified as extending across Horse Guards Avenue; cf. _L. T. R._ vii. -41.] - -[Footnote 49: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 189; Reyher, 336.] - -[Footnote 50: _Tudor Revels_, 17; _Hatfield MSS._ i. 92, from which it -appears that there was one house only, with a kitchen, and also stands -in Hyde and Marylebone Parks.] - -[Footnote 51: _V. P._ vii. 91; Holinshed, iii. 1510; Machyn, 203: 'The x -day of July was set up in Greenwich park a goodly banketting-house made -with fir powlles, and deckyd with byrche and all manner of flowers of -the feld and gardennes, as roses, gelevors, lavender, marygolds, and all -maner of strowhyng erbes and flowrs'; Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 81: 'Robert -Trunckewell ... woorking ... vppon toe modells of the Masters device for -a rowfe and a cobboorde of a bancketinge howse', 97, 106.] - -[Footnote 52: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 163: 'The Banketting House made at -Whitehall for thentertaynement of the seide duke did drawe the charges -ensving for the covering therof with canvasse: the decking therof with -birche & ivie: and the ffretting, and garnishing therof, with fflowers, -and compartementes, with pendentes & armes paynted & gilded for the -purpose. The ffloore therof being all strewed with rose leaves pickt & -sweetned with sweete waters &c.' The details include £9 14_s._ 4_d._ -'for flowers broughte into the Cockpitt at White hall with other -necessaries, viz. fflowers of all sortes taken vp by comyssion & -gathered in the feeldes', while William Hunnis, who was keeper of the -gardens at Greenwich, as well as Master of the Chapel, provided 79 -bushels of roses, with pinks, honeysuckles, and privet flowers.] - -[Footnote 53: Holinshed, iii. 1315, from _Harleian MS._ 293, f. 217: 'A -banketting house was begun at Westminster, on the south west side of hir -maiesties palace of White hall, made in maner and forme of a long -square, three hundred thirtie and two foot in measure about; thirtie -principals made of great masts, being fortie foot in length a peece, -standing vpright; betweene euerie one of these masts ten foot asunder -and more. The walles of this house were closed with canuas, and painted -all the outsides of the same most artificiallie with a worke called -rustike, much like to stone. This house had two hundred ninetie and two -lights of glasse. 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 cunninglie upon canuas, works of iuie and hollie, -with pendents made of wicker rods, and garnished with baie, rue, and all -maner of strange flowers garnished with spangles of gold, as also -beautified with hanging toseans made of hollie and iuie, with all maner -of strange fruits, as pomegranats, orenges, pompions, cucumbers, grapes, -carrets, with such other like, spangled with gold, and most richlie -hanged. Betwixt these works of baies and iuie, were great spaces of -canuas, which was most cunninglie painted, the clouds with starres, the -sunne and sunne beames, with diuerse other cotes of sundrie sortes -belonging to the queenes maiestie, most richlie garnished with gold. -There were of all manner of persons working on this house, to the number -of three hundred seuentie and fiue: two men had mischances, the one -brake his leg, and so did the other. This house was made in three weekes -and three daies, and was ended the eighteenth daie of Aprill; and cost -one thousand seuen hundred fortie and foure pounds, nineteene shillings -and od monie; as I was crediblie informed by the worshipfull maister -Thomas Graue surueior vnto hir maiesties workes, who serued and gaue -order for the same, as appeareth by record.' Stowe, _Annales_, 688, -copies Holinshed; cf. _Sp. P._ iii. 91. Von Wedel (_2 R. Hist. Soc. -Trans._ ix. 236) saw the house in 1584, and was told that birds sang in -the bushes overhead, while entertainments were in progress. A Record -Office was constructed below the banqueting house in 1597 (_Hatfield -MSS._ vii. 431).] - -[Footnote 54: Camden, _Annalium Apparatus_, 6 (c. 12 Oct. 1607), 'Camera -convivialis de novo construitur apud Whitehall'; Stowe, _Annales_, 688, -892, 910, 'the beautiful room at Whitehall'; Devon, 44, 302, 'James -Acheson ... hath, by our direction, formed a model for the roof of our -Banqueting-house at Whitehall'; _V. P._ xi. 86, 'At the close of the -ceremony [mask of Jan. 1608] he said to me that he intended this -function to consecrate the birth of the Great Hall which his -predecessors had left him built merely in wood, but which he had -converted into stone'. But James had been displeased with the building -when he first saw it about 16 Sept. 1607 (_S. P. D._ xxviii. 51). -Goodman, ii. 176, says that the City had to bear the cost in return for -the transfer to them of Blackfriars, Whitefriars, and other liberties -(cf. ch. xvii, s.v. Blackfriars).] - -[Footnote 55: Chamberlain to Carleton (Birch, ii. 124): 'One of the -greatest losses spoken of is the burning of all or most of the writings -and papers belonging to the offices of the Signet, Privy Seal, and -Council Chamber, which were under it'; cf. Reyher, 342; Goodman, ii. -175, 187.] - -[Footnote 56: _V. P._ xii. 533; Stowe, 916; Birch, i. 229; Finett, 11; -cf. p. 14.] - -[Footnote 57: Stowe, 787, 789, 791; Von Wedel in _2 R. Hist. Soc. -Trans._ ix. 256; P. P. Laffleur de Kermaingant, _Mission de Jean de -Thumery_, i. 368, both describing the procession at length; _Mission de -Christophe de Harlay_, 252, 'la coustume a tousjours esté, et mesmes du -temps de la feue Royne de trés heureuse memoire, que les ambassadeurs -residens en Angleterre sont priez d'accompagner les roys, lorsqu'ilz -retournent en leur ville de Londres, après leur progrès'; Goodman, i. -164, 'The Queen's constant custom was a little before her coronation-day -to come from Richmond to London, and to dine with my lord Admiral at -Chelsea, and to set out from Chelsea at dark night, where the Lord Mayor -and the Aldermen were to meet her'. Precepts by the Lord Mayor and other -records of civic expenditure on the receptions are in Arber, i. 510; v. -lxxvii; Kitto, 538; Young, _Barber Surgeons_, 108; Welch, _Pewterers_, -ii. 33.] - -[Footnote 58: Camden, 191, 'Anno iam regni Elizabethae duodecimo -feliciter exacto, in quo aureum ut vocarunt diem creduli Pontificii sibi -ex ariolorum predictione expectabant, boni omnes per Angliam laetanter -triumphabant et xvii Novembris Anniversarium regni inchoati diem, -gratiarum actionibus, concionibus per Ecclesias, votis multiplicatis, -laetisona campanarum pulsatione, hastiludiis, et festiva quadam laetitia -celebrare coeperunt, et in obsequiosi amoris testimonium, dum illa -viveret, non destiterunt'; La Mothe, v. 204; Arber, i. 561, 566, 578; -_Sydney Papers_, i. 371, 'the Triumphes of her Coronation'; Ellis, II. -iii. 160, citing _Pauls Cross Sermon_ of T. Holland on 17 Nov. 1599, -published 1601, with a _Defence of the Church of England for keeping -Queen's Day_, for the origin at Oxford under Vice-Chancellor Cooper, -which is perhaps confirmed by the records of the tilt (cf. ch. iv). But -the City churches rang their bells on the day before 1570; cf. -_Westminster_, 18 (1568), 'ringing for the prosperous reign of the -eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth'; Kitto, 248, 'ringing for the quene -the xvij of November 1569', 269 (1572), 'ringing at the quenes -maᵗᶦᵉˢ chaunginge of her raign', &c. _The Chamber Accounts_ for 1595-6 -use the term 'Raigne day'. Goodman, i. 98, notes the Jacobean revival.] - -[Footnote 59: Birch, _Eliz._ i. 92.] - -[Footnote 60: _Sp. P._ iv. 494; cf. Kitto, 407: 'Pᵈ ye iijᵈ of November -to yᵉ Parritoʳ for a warrant to kepe holy yᵉ xixᵗʰ -day At wᶜʰ tyme heʳ maᵗᶦᵉ should a gone to Powles'. The -ceremony, however, was deferred to 24 Nov. There was also a tilt on 19 -Nov. in 1590. Von Wedel (_2 R. Hist. Soc. Trans._ ix. 236, 256) says in -1584 that this was a regular day for tilting; but he also says it was the -royal birthday, which was 7 Sept.] - -[Footnote 61: I find no prolonged stay at Whitehall between May 1584 and -Jan. 1589. If her presence in London was necessary during this period -Elizabeth seems to have preferred St. James or Somerset House. She -opened Parliament in Feb. 1586 from Lambeth; there were other visits to -Lambeth and the Lord Admiral's house (Hance's) in Westminster.] - -[Footnote 62: _V. P._ vii. 374 (6 Jan. 1566). Machyn, 273, records a -visit to the court of a lord of misrule from the city in 1561.] - -[Footnote 63: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 238. Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 108; -ii. 65, 249; iii. 1, 445, prints rolls of gifts to and from the Queen -for 1562, 1578, 1579, 1589, and 1600 from manuscripts in the British -Museum and in private hands. A roll for 1585 is noticed in _Arch._ i. -11. Those for 1563, 1577, 1598, and 1603 appear to be among the -_Miscellaneous Rolls of Chancery_ in the R. O. (Scargill-Bird², 363), -but are unprinted. Nichols also prints shorter lists of jewels given to -the Queen for a number of years.] - -[Footnote 64: Machyn, 195, 232, 257, 280, 305; _V. P._ vii. 74; Hawarde, -74, 109; _Sydney Papers_, ii. 44; cf. E. Ashmole, _The Institution of -the Order of the Garter_ (1672); N. H. Nicolas, _Orders of Knighthood_ -(1841); G. F. Beltz, _Memorials of the Order of the Garter_ (1841). -Henri IV was installed by proxy in Apr. 1600, and the attendance of the -Admiral's men perhaps implies a play (_Hatfield MSS._ x. 118, 269; -Henslowe, i. 120). There are Garter allusions in _Merry Wives of -Windsor_.] - -[Footnote 65: Cf. Appendix A. The Chamber Accounts show an annual -payment for a bonfire on Midsummer Day.] - -[Footnote 66: _Westminster_, 19 (1579), &c., and Kitto, 364 (1584), &c., -record the ringing of London bells. It can hardly have been a day for -tilting (cf. p. 19) as the Court was usually in progress.] - -[Footnote 67: _V. P._ xi. 57, 59, refers to an 'old custom' of keeping -All Saints' Day in the city (i.e. Westminster) with the Knights of the -Garter and the court; cf. Nichols, _James_, ii. 155. It can only have -been a Jacobean custom, for Elizabeth did not as a rule reach -Westminster by 1 Nov.] - -[Footnote 68: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 124, 248. _V. P._ xii. 237, -notes ringing on 5 Nov. 1611. Williams, _Founders_, 86, prints a guild -order of 1611 for sermons at Paul's Cross and dinners on 'Coronation' -day, 5 Aug. and 5 Nov., as days 'of meeting for the kings majesties -sarves'.] - -[Footnote 69: Cf. ch. iv.] - -[Footnote 70: Camden, _Annalium Apparatus_, 2 (Aug. 1603), 'Indicitur ut -hic dies festus celebretur ob Regem à Gowriorum conjuratione liberatum'; -cf. Goodman, i. 3; Boderie, i. 283; _V. P._ xii. 26, 196, 409. The -question as to the bona fides of the plot commemorated is discussed by -A. Lang, _James VI and the Gowrie Mystery_ (1902).] - -[Footnote 71: Goodman, i. 247.] - -[Footnote 72: _S. P. D._ xii. 13; _V. P._ x. 81, 90, 95, 195, 218; xi. -276; xii. 41, 381; Lodge, iii. 41, 108, 110, 141; Sully, 455, 458; -Boderie, i. 310; Winwood, iii. 182.] - -[Footnote 73: _V. P._ vii. 23, describes the ceremony in 1559, and Von -Wedel, _2 R. Hist. Soc. Trans._ ix. 260, in 1584.] - -[Footnote 74: Cf. ch. iv and App. A. In 1612 the Elector Palatine -attended the banquet on Lord Mayor's Day; Henry's illness kept him -away.] - -[Footnote 75: _Conspiracy of Byron_, iv. 25. An undated letter from -Elizabeth to Henri regrets that in spite of 'nostre sejour en deux lieux -si proches l'un de l'autre ... nous sommes tous deux empeschez de passer -la mer'; she adds, 'je me resoudray dans peu de jours de m'en retourner -à Londres' (Sully, 364; Berger de Xivrey, _Lettres missives de Henri -IV_, v. 464). This was doubtless written early in Sept. 1601 when -Elizabeth was at Basing and Henri at Calais. Sully, followed by -Strickland, 678, has an elaborate account of the business, including an -interview between himself and Elizabeth at Dover, but the itinerary (cf. -App. A) makes it impossible that she can have gone to Dover.] - -[Footnote 76: _V. P._ viii. 496; cf. ch. v.] - -[Footnote 77: Cf. ch. v for Harington's description of a drunken mask at -Theobalds; there is confirmatory evidence in _V. P._ x. 386; Boderie, i. -241, 283, 297.] - -[Footnote 78: Cf. ch. xiii, s.v. King's.] - -[Footnote 79: Gilles de Noailles, Abbé de Lisle (1559), Michel de Seurre -(1560-2), Paul de Foix (1562-6), Jacques Bochetel, Sieur de la Forest -(1566-8), Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1568-75), Michel de -Castelnau, Sieur de Mauvissière (1575-85), Guillaume de L'Aubespine, -Baron de Chasteauneuf (1585-9), Le Sieur de Beauvoir (de La Nocte) -(1589-98?), Le Sieur Thumery de Boissise (1598-1601), Christophe de -Harlay, Comte de Beaumont (1601-5), Antoine Le Fèvre, Sieur de la -Boderie (1606-11), Samuel Spifame, Sieur des Bisseaux (1611-15), Gaspard -Dauvet, Sieur des Marets (1615-18). Complete lists of lieger and -extraordinary ambassadors, with notes of the manuscripts containing -their dispatches, are given by A. Baschet in _Reports of Deputy Keeper -of the Records_, xxxvii, App. 1, 188; xxxix, App. 573; and C. H. Firth -and S. C. Lomax, _Notes on the Diplomatic Relations of England and -France_, 1603-88 (1906); cf. _General Bibl. Note_, s.v. Beaumont, -Boissise, La Boderie, La Mothe.] - -[Footnote 80: The Spanish ambassadors during 1558-84 were Don Gomez -Suarez de Figueroa, Count of Féria (Jan. 1558-May 1559), Don Alvaro de -la Quadra, Bishop of Aquila (May 1559-Aug. 1563), Don Diego Guzman de -Silva (Jan. 1564-Sept. 1568), Don Guerau de Spes (Sept. 1568-Dec. 1571), -Don Bernardino de Mendoza (March 1578-Jan. 1584); their dispatches are -in _Colección de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España_, -lxxxvii, lxxxix-xcii, and are calendared, with those of Antonio de -Guaras, a merchant who acted as agent 1573-7, in M. A. S. Hume, -_Calendar of Letters and State Papers relating to English Affairs, -preserved principally in the Archives of Simancas_ (1892-9, cited as -_Sp. P._). The ambassadors 1603-16 were Don Juan de Taxis, Count of -Villa Mediana (Aug. 1603-July 1605), Don Juan Fernandez de Velasco, Duke -of Frias and Constable of Castile, and Alessandro Rovida, Senator of -Milan (extraordinary as commissioners, with John de Ligne, Prince of -Brabançon and Count of Aremberg, Juan Richardot, Councillor of State, -and Ludovic Verreyken, Audiencier, representing the Archduke Albert and -Archduchess Isabella of Flanders, for the treaty of Aug. 1604), Don -Pedro de Zuniga (July 1605-May 1610), Don Fernando de Giron -(extraordinary, 1608-9), Don Alonzo de Velasco (May 1610-Aug. 1613), Don -Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, afterwards Conde de Gondomar (Aug. 1613). -Their dispatches are not in print, but a _Relacion de la Jornada del -Excᵐᵒ Condestable de Castilla_ is in the _Colección de Documentos -Inéditos_, lxxi. 467.] - -[Footnote 81: The Venetian ambassadors were Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli -(Secretary, Feb.-Nov. 1603), Pietro Duodo (extraordinary, 1603), Nicolò -Molin (Nov. 1603-Dec. 1605), Giorgio Giustinian (Dec. 1605-Oct. 1608), -Marc' Antonio Correr (Oct. 1608-Apr. 1611), Francesco Contarini -(extraordinary, 1610), Antonio Foscarini (Apr. 1611-Dec. 1615), Gregorio -Barbarigo (Sept. 1615-May 1616). Reports of the state of England by -Molin, Contarini, and Correr are in N. Barozzi e Guglielmo Berchet, _Le -Relazioni degli Stati Europei ... nel secolo decimosettimo_, iv (1863). -The current dispatches are calendared in _Calendar of State Papers and -Manuscripts relating to English Affairs ... in Venice and ... Northern -Italy_ (cited as _V. P._). A report to the Senate by Zuanne Falier and -others who visited England privately in 1575 states that they were -advised by a Bolognese groom of the privy chamber, favoured by Elizabeth -as an excellent musician [? Alfonso Ferrabosco], to suggest the -desirability of an embassy (_V. P._ vii. 524). Retiring Venetian -ambassadors were sometimes knighted and given a lion of England to -quarter on their shields (_V. P._ xii. 163; xiv. 85).] - -[Footnote 82: _Sp. P._ i. 382, 385, 403, 451, 545.] - -[Footnote 83: _S. P. D., Jac. I_, vi. 21; xii. 16; Winwood, iii. 155; P. -L. de Kermaingant, _Mission de Christophe de Harlay_, 173, 252; De la -Boderie, _Ambassades_, i. 240, 262, 271, 277, 291, 353; iii. 1-192 -_passim_; _V. P._ x. 139, 149, 212, 234, 388, 408; xi. 83, 86, 212. I -have given some details in relation to the masks in ch. xxiii; cf. also -ch. vi. There is a connected narrative of the Franco-Spanish disputes in -M. Sullivan, _Court Masques of James I_, which perhaps lays insufficient -stress on incidents occurring at state ceremonies and tilts as distinct -from masks.] - - - - -II - -THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD - - [_Bibliographical Note._--There is no systematic history of the - household, but the growing tendency, notable in such recent - works as those of Professor Baldwin and Professor Tout, to - dwell on the administrative, as distinct from the - 'constitutional', aspect of politics suggests that the gap may - some day be filled. A useful short study is R. H. Gretton, _The - King's Government_ (1913). Of the numerous books bearing more - or less directly on the subject, I give here mainly those which - I have found of practical value in writing this chapter. - Professor Tout's _Chapters in the Administrative History of - Mediaeval England_, of which the first two volumes have - subsequently (1920) appeared, is of course of fundamental - importance. The best worked section is that of mediaeval - origins. The general surveys of W. Stubbs, _The Constitutional - History of England in its Origin and Development_ (1880), and - W. R. Anson, _The Law and Custom of the Constitution_ - (1886-92), may be supplemented for the earliest period by L. M. - Larson, _The King's Household in England before the Norman - Conquest_ (1904); for the eleventh to thirteenth centuries by - H. W. C. Davis, _Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum_, i (1913), T. - Madox, _History and Antiquities of the Exchequer_ (1769), R. L. - Poole, _The Exchequer in the Twelfth Century_ (1912), J. H. - Round, _The King's Serjeants and Officers of State_ (1911), and - L. W. Vernon Harcourt, _His Grace the Steward and the Trial of - Peers_ (1907); for the fourteenth century by T. F. Tout, _The - Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History_ (1914), J. - C. Davies, _The Baronial Opposition to Edward II_ (1918), F. J. - Furnivall and R. E. G. Kirk, _Life Records of Chaucer_ - (1875-1900), and J. R. Hulbert, _Chaucer's Official Life_ - (1912); for the fifteenth century by C. Plummer, _Sir John - Fortescue's Governance of England_ (1885), and by the 'courtesy - books' or treatises on domestic service and etiquette in F. J. - Furnivall, _The Babees Book_, &c. (1868, _E. E. T. S._), _Queen - Elizabeth's Achademy_, &c. (1869, _E. E. T. S._), and R. W. - Chambers, _A Fifteenth-Century Courtesy Book_ (1914, _E. E. T. - S._); for the Privy Council by N. H. Nicolas, _Proceedings and - Ordinances of the Privy Council_ (1834-7), J. R. Dasent, _Acts - of the Privy Council_ (1890-1907), A. V. Dicey, _The Privy - Council_ (1887), J. F. Baldwin, _The King's Council in England - during the Middle Ages_ (1913), T. F. T. Plucknett, _The Place - of the Council in the Fifteenth Century_ (1918, _4 R. Hist. - Soc. Trans._ i. 157), E. Percy, _The Privy Council under the - Tudors_ (1907), and C. Hornemann, _Das Privy Council von - England zur Zeit der Königin Elisabeth_ (1912); and for the - Star Chamber, W. P. Baildon's edition of John Hawarde's - _Reportes del Cases in Camera Stellata_ (1894), and C. - Scofield, _The Court of Star Chamber_ (1900). Some of the above - extend to the sixteenth century; but in the main the - Tudor-Stuart period has received less attention than it - deserves. Even the lists of the great officers, as given in the - ordinary books of reference, are generally incorrect. The most - valuable summary is the quite recent one of E. P. Cheyney, - _History of England from the Defeat of the Armada to the Death - of Elizabeth_, i (1914). Samuel Pegge set out to write an - account of the Hospitium Regis and published four sections, on - the Esquires of the Body, the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, - the Gentlemen Pensioners, and the Yeomen of the Guard as a - first volume of _Curialia; or an Historical Account of the - Royal Household_ (1791). From the material left at his death, - J. Nichols published two more, on Somerset House and the - Serjeants at Arms, in a second volume of _Curialia_ (1806), and - some fragments in _Curialia Miscellanea_ (1818). Other special - studies are F. S. Thomas, _Notes of Materials for the History - of Public Departments_ (1846), and _The Ancient Exchequer of - England_ (1848), N. Carlisle, _An Inquiry into the Place and - Quality of the Gentlemen of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy - Chamber_ (1829), E. K. Chambers, _The Elizabethan Lords - Chamberlain_ (1907, _Malone Soc. Collections_, i. 31), W. - Nagel, _Annalen der Englischen Hofmusik_ (1894, _Beilage zu den - Monatsheften für Musikgeschichte_, 26), H. C. De Lafontaine, - _The King's Musick_ (1909), _Lists of the King's Musicians_ - (_Musical Antiquary_, i-iv, _passim_). A. P. Newton's valuable - paper on _The King's Chamber under the Early Tudors_ (1917, _E. - H. R._ xxxii. 348) appeared after my paragraphs on the - Treasurer of the Chamber were written, but has helped me to - revise them. An account of the post-Restoration household is - given in J. Chamberlayne, _Angliae Notitiae, or The Present - State of England_ (1669), which became an annual; and this, - with the works of Pegge and Carlisle, were drawn upon for the - historical part of W. J. Thoms, _The Book of Court_ (1838). The - modern household is the subject of W. A. Lindsay, _The Royal - Household_ (1898). A summary, useful for comparison, of the - sixteenth-century French household, is in L. Batiffol, _The - Century of the Renaissance_ (1916, tr.), 92. - - There is, of course, ample material for the historian of the - Tudor-Stuart Household when he presents himself. The personal - references of annalists, diplomatists, and letter-writers (cf. - _Bibl. Note_ to ch. i) help out the more formal documents - preserved in large numbers in the Record Office (cf. S. R. - Scargill-Bird, _Guide to Various Classes of Documents in the - Public Record Office_³, 1908) and the British Museum (cf. - sections on _Public Revenue and State Establishments in - Classified Catalogue of Manuscripts_), of which a few have been - printed in _A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the - Government of the Royal Household_ (_Society of Antiquaries_, - 1790, cited as _H. O._), in J. Nichols, _Progresses and Public - Processions of Queen Elizabeth_² (1823), and _Progresses, - Processions, and Festivities of James I_ (1828), and elsewhere. - The Record Office, in addition to many records, such as those - of the Auditors of Prests (cf. App. B), which relate to the - Household, contains the special archives of the Lord - Chamberlain's Department and the Lord Steward's Department - themselves; both, however, are very fragmentary. The earlier - documents of the Lord Chamberlain's Department mainly relate to - the Wardrobe. The Warrant books only begin about the reign of - Charles I; a selection of entries bearing upon the stage is - given by C. C. Stopes in _Jahrbuch_, xlvi. 92. The papers in - the British Museum are partly official records which have - strayed from their proper custody, partly the collections of - antiquaries, and partly the administrative memoranda of - ministers such as Lord Burghley, Lord Salisbury, and Sir Julius - Caesar. Similar collections in private hands are calendared in - the reports of the _Historical Manuscripts Commission_, and in - particular in the _Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquis - of Salisbury_ (1883-1915, cited as _Cecil MSS._ or _Hatfield - MSS._). The most important documents for tracing the history of - the household consist (_a_) of account-books, (_b_) of royal - ordinances and of ceremonials either for the household as a - whole or for some branch of it, to the more comprehensive of - which are sometimes attached schedules of offices with the fees - and other allowances belonging to them, and (_c_) lists of the - actual occupants of offices drawn up from time to time for - various administrative purposes. The most complete lists seem - to be those of officers receiving liveries at coronations and - funerals. These are appended to the special _Accounts_ of the - Masters of the Wardrobe for such ceremonies, and copies, - covering _inter alia_ the coronation (1559) and funeral (1603) - of Elizabeth, the coronation (1604) and funeral (1625) of - James, the funeral (1612) of Henry, and the funeral (1619) of - Anne, are preserved as precedents in _Lord Chamberlain's - Records_, ii. 4-6. On the other hand, it is necessary to - exercise caution in using the very numerous lists which bear - some such title as 'A Generall Collection of all the Offices in - England with their Fees in her Maiesties Gift'. Of these I have - noted the following: _Stowe MS._ 571, f. 6 (1552); _Harl. MS._ - 240 (1545-53); _Stowe MS._ 571, f. 133 (1575-80); _Stowe MS._ - 571, f. 159 (1587-90); _Lansd. MS._ 171, f. 246ᵛ (1587-91); - _Cotton MS._, _Titus_ B iii, f. 163ᵛ (1585-93); _S. P. D._, - _Eliz._ ccxxi (1588-93); _Lord Chamberlain's Records_, v. 33 - (1593); _Hargrave MS._ 215 (1592-5); _Stowe MS._ 572, f. 26 - (1592-6); _Harl. MS._ 2078, f. 6 (1592-6); _H. O._ 241 - (misdated 1578) from Peck, i. 51 (1598); _Addl. MS._ 35848 - (1605-7); _Addl. MS._ 38008 (1605-7); _Archaeologia_, xv. 72 - (1606); _Stowe MS._ 574 (_temp._ Jac. I); _Stowe MS._ 575 - (1616). The dates are mostly approximate, rendered possible by - the fact that the occupants of a few of the chief posts are - usually named. The list of 1552 alone has all the names and is - in the full sense an Establishment List. The rest should - probably be regarded not as official lists but as convenient - handbooks prepared for courtiers seeking patronage. Errors of - transcription are frequent, and often recur in several - manuscripts. _Stowe MS._ 574 is interesting, because a second - hand has corrected several errors. It seems pretty clear that - the names of offices were sometimes retained on these lists - after the offices were in fact obsolete. They are not limited - to Household Offices, but are usually arranged in four - sections, Courts of Justice, Household (1, Household proper, 2, - Standing offices; cf. p. 49), Military Posts, Keeperships (cf. - p. 11). They include fees payable in the household, as well as - at the Exchequer; and have prototypes, in less fixed form, in - lists _temp._ Hen. VIII (Brewer, ii. 873; iii. 364; iv. 868). A - more careful list, of somewhat similar type, with names - appended, but limited to fees payable at the Exchequer, is to - be found in the abstract of revenue and expenditure in 1617 - printed with the pamphlet _Truth Brought to Light and - Discovered by Time_ (1651, cited as _Abstract_). - - But there are no comprehensive ordinances for the Tudor-Stuart - Household, which must largely be studied from its origins. The - best text of the _Constitutio Domus Regis_ of Henry I (_c._ - 1135) is in T. Hearne, _Liber Niger Scaccarii_² (1774), i. 341; - a less good one in H. Hall, _The Red Book of the Exchequer_ - (1896, Rolls Series), iii. 807. For Edward I we have unprinted - ordinances of 1279 (_Addl. MS._ 4565 H; _Lord Steward's Misc._ - 298), and the description of the palace jurisdictions by a - contemporary lawyer (_c._ 1290) in John Selden's edition of - _Fleta, seu Commentarius Juris Anglicani_ (1685); for Edward II - ordinances of 1318 and 1323 edited from the French original in - Tout, 267, and from a translation by Francis Tate (1601) in - _Life Records of Chaucer_, ii. 1, together with related - Exchequer ordinances in Hall, iii. 908, 930. Ordinances of - Edward III, not known to be extant, are referred to by the - compiler of the _Liber Niger Domus Regis Angliae_ in the reign - of Edward IV. Of the _Liber Niger_ a large number of - manuscripts exist (_Lord Steward's Misc._ 299; _Exchequer T. of - R. Misc._ 230; _Harl. MSS._ 293, f. 19; 298, f. 41; 369, f. - 56ᵛ; 610, f. 1; 642, f. 196ᵛ; _Soc. Antiq. MS._). It is not - certain from which of these the bad text in _H. O._ 13 is - printed; probably it used the last two. The _Liber Niger_ is - less an ordinance than an unfinished literary treatise by a - household clerk, probably motived by the actual ordinances of - 1478, of which an unprinted copy is in _Exchequer T. of R. - Misc._ 206. An ordinance of Henry VII (1493) and a ceremonial - of the same reign are in _H. O._ 107. The documents of Henry - VIII's time are complicated. There appear to be three sets of - ordinances: (_a_) the Eltham Articles drawn up by Wolsey - (Halle, ii. 56) in Jan. 1526 (_Lord Steward's Misc._ 299, ff. - 158, 163; _Exchequer T. of R. Misc._ 231; _H. O._ 137-61, from - _Harl. MS._ 642); (_b_) ordinances related to a 'new book of - household', _c._ 1540 (_H. O._ 228-40); (_c_) scattered - ordinances, _c._ 1532-44 (_H. O._ 208-27). Subsidiary lists and - documents of about the period of (_a_) are in _Lord Steward's - Misc._ 299, and, perhaps with some of other dates, in Brewer, - IV. i. 860. Those printed from a _Dunch MS._ in _Genealogist_, - xxix, xxx, appear to belong to the 'new book' of (_b_). A third - set, of _c._ 1544-6, are in _H. O._ 165-207. Much other - material is scattered through the twenty-one volumes of the - _Calendar of Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the - Reign of Henry VIII_ (1862-1910, cited as Brewer), including - some of earlier date than the Eltham Articles.--I need hardly - add that for the purposes of this chapter I have rarely been - able to go beyond printed sources.] - - -The ordering of court life and ceremonial was in the hands of a group of -departments which made up the somewhat complicated establishment of the -royal Household. But the Household, at a time when the personal capacity -of the Crown was as yet imperfectly differentiated from its national -capacity, was not merely a domestic organization; it was still to a -large extent an instrument of central executive government. It must in -fact be regarded as the direct descendant of the eleventh-century _curia -regis_, through which all the important functions, deliberative, -judicial, financial, and administrative, had been carried out. The -_curia_ had consisted partly of the territorial magnates, earls, and -barons, who had been, or whose fathers had been, the King's _comitatus_ -in battle; partly of knights still in attendance upon the King's person, -and hoping some day, in reward for their services, to become territorial -magnates in turn; partly, and to an increasing extent as government -became more complicated and difficult, of clerks whose trained skill -with the pen and with figures made them more practically useful than the -lay knights in all those branches of affairs which entailed book-keeping -and correspondence. All the members of the _curia_, in smaller or -greater numbers, according to the magnitude of the business to be -transacted and the willingness of the lords to leave their estates, sat -with the King from time to time, and advised him as his _consilium_; but -except on great occasions of state it was left to the knights to wait at -his table and order his servants about, and to the clerks to write and -send his letters, and to act as his assessors or his deputies in the -exercise of justice or the collection and spending of his revenue. In -course of time some of the functions of the original _curia_ had become -specialized in distinct departments, which acquired a permanent -habitation at Westminster, ceased to follow the King's wanderings, and -were no longer regarded as part of the personal Household. Thus the -_curia_ as a judicial body became the Courts of Law; the _curia_ as a -financial body became the Exchequer; while at a somewhat later date the -Chancery undertook the double function of issuing royal grants and other -formal correspondence of the Crown, and of supplementing the Courts of -Law by exercising an equitable jurisdiction in cases which ordinary law -was inadequate to cover. To the central _curia_ or Household, still -composed of lay and clerical officers lodged in the King's palace and -eating in his hall, wherever that might happen to be, three things were -left. It ministered to the material well-being and splendour of the -Sovereign himself; it exercised under his personal direction such -functions of administration, for example the control of foreign policy -and war, as had not passed to the specialized departments; and, perhaps -most important of all, it remained potentially able to resume at his -will the exercise of functions precisely analogous to those which had so -passed. This paradox of the duplicate exercise of royal functions, -through the specialized departments and through the Household, lies at -the bottom of an understanding of mediaeval government. - -The differentiation of the Courts of Law, the Exchequer, and the -Chancery from the Household was complete by the thirteenth century; but -the same tendency towards the budding off of quasi-independent -departments of state from the administrative nucleus continued to -manifest itself in a minor degree up to and even, for all their -centralizing instinct, within the period of the Tudors. Moreover, as the -scale of the Household became larger and its individual ministers began -to require assistance, there grew up a corresponding tendency towards -the formation of separate offices within the nucleus itself. The -staffing of these offices with servants of various grades, their -responsibilities and interrelations, and the control of them through the -chief officers of the Household, were determined by royal ordinances, -which go into minute detail, and reveal a complex organization, based -upon long-standing tradition, and at the same time flexible in its -capacity of adaptation to shifting circumstances. The main structure of -the Household, as we find it under Elizabeth, appears to have been -already fixed in the time of Edward IV and even in that of Edward II, -although minor changes had been introduced, largely through Tudor -imitation of the French _hôtel du roi_, just as there had been minor -changes under Richard II and his Lancastrian successors, some of which -are noted to our advantage by a clerk of literary tastes, who about 1478 -bethought him to compile in the so-called _Liber Niger_ a systematic -account or _rationale_ of the establishment in which doubtless he played -a part. And the beginnings of the same structure can be traced back -farther still, through ordinances of Edward I in 1279 to the -_Constitutio Domus Regis_ as it stood at the end of Henry I's reign in -1135, and even perhaps, so far as the principal officers are concerned, -to the Normanized Anglo-Saxon Court of pre-Conquest days. And after -Elizabeth's reign the structure lasted, again with modifications of -detail, for nearly two centuries more, until it was somewhat severely -overhauled, in a moment of reforming zeal, by what is known as Burke's -Act of 1782.[84] This conservatism of structure may perhaps justify us -in finding an explanation of the tripartite character which the -organization of the Household at every stage displays, as arising -naturally out of the local arrangement of a primitive royal habitation. -The palace stood in a court-yard, and it consisted essentially of a hall -where the King feasted and took counsel with his _comitatus_, and of a -chamber where he retired to sleep and to be private, and where he -probably kept his treasure-chest. The duties of his personal servants -fell either in the court-yard or in the hall or in the chamber. In the -court-yard the _constabularii_ drilled the royal body-guard and the -_marescalli_ looked after the horses; in the hall the _dapiferi_ and the -_pincernae_ ministered food and drink; in the chamber the _camerarii_ or -_cubicularii_, aided as time went on by the _clerici_, watched the -King's treasure and his bed, and stood ready to receive and transmit his -personal mandates. Originally, it would seem, there were several -officers of each class. Afterwards they were reduced to one, or one was -chosen as _magister_ over the rest; whatever the process, a single chief -officer, with a group of subordinates beneath him, emerges as -representative of each of the three departments. Perhaps the change was -assisted by the demand of the barons, jealous of the rise in their -absence of new men at Court, to have Household posts conferred upon them -as part of their hereditaments. By the middle of the twelfth century -there were already a hereditary Great Chamberlain, a High Steward, a -High Constable, a Chief Butler, and an Earl Marshal.[85] But, -obviously, if the King was in the habit of appointing two chamberlains -or two stewards, he could make one of each pair hereditary, and still -have another at his own appointment. And he could call on the hereditary -officer to officiate on state occasions and the appointed officer to -officiate in daily life. The hereditary man would have the greater -dignity and the appointed man the greater power. This, rather than -deputation by the hereditary officers, seems to be the explanation of -the existence of a Chamberlain of the Household side by side with the -Lord Great Chamberlain and of a Steward of the Household side by side -with the Lord High Steward. It is really only another example of the -duplication of functions, through officers of state on the one hand, and -Household officers on the other, to which attention has already been -called; with the added feature that in this case the officers of state -seem to have had sinecures from the beginning. - -The tripartite organization is traceable clearly enough in the Household -of Elizabeth, as in that of her predecessors. There was, of course, a -close co-operation at many points between the different departments; -and, indeed, the simplicity of the original scheme had inevitably been -interfered with, as the sovereigns began more and more to retire from -their hall and to subdivide their chamber in order to adapt it to the -complicated needs of an increasingly luxurious private life. The -department of the court-yard, moreover, would appear, long before -Elizabeth's time, to have shed many of what must be supposed to have -been its original functions. The hereditary Lord High Constable had left -no _constabularius_ behind him at court, and although the Earl Marshal, -also hereditary, continued to exercise certain functions, such as an -oversight over the heralds, he was in no sense the head of a Household -department. The Knight Marshal, who exercised a jurisdiction over -breaches of peace within the verge (_virgata_) of twelve leagues round -the court, was nominally at least his deputy, but the only other -marshals in the Household were officers of the Hall. Similarly the -oversight of the guard seems to have passed to the Chamberlain. Nor had -the Marshal any longer the responsibility for the stable which the -etymology of his name suggests.[86] The Stable was, indeed, still a -distinct department, but its head was the Master of the Horse, who, -although he ranked as one of the three chief officers of the Household, -was of comparatively recent origin.[87] - -By a somewhat troublesome variation in the use of terms, the Lord -Steward's department is sometimes called the 'Household' in a very -narrow sense, which excludes the Chamber and the Stable. The author of -the _Liber Niger_ distinguishes it as the _domus providentiae_ from the -Chamber as the _domus magnificentiae_.[88] Roughly speaking, it -concerned itself with the material necessities, the food and drink, the -lighting and the fuel, of the Sovereign and his court, while all else -that ministered to his personal life and the dignity of his state, his -lodging and his apparel, his entertainments, his study and his -recreations, fell within the sphere of the Chamber. Its original nucleus -was still represented under Elizabeth by the officers of the Hall, -Marshals, Sewers, and Surveyors; but the Hall had shrunk in importance -since the Sovereign had ceased to dine in it, and some of these posts -had long been duplicated within the Chamber itself, and even there were -tending to become honorific rather than effective.[89] The real -functions of the department were now exercised in the subsidiary -offices of provision, which had grown up round the Hall. Of these there -were twenty, each under a Serjeant or other head with an appropriate -staff of clerks, yeomen, grooms, pages, and children. They were the -Kitchen, the Bake-house, the Pantry, the Cellar, the Buttery, the -Pitcher-house, the Spicery, the Chandlery, the Wafery, the -Confectionery, the Ewery, the Laundry, the Larder, the Boiling-house, -the Accatry, the Poultry, the Scalding-house, the Pastry, the Scullery, -and the Woodyard. The department also included the Almonry under a Lord -High Almoner, who was an ecclesiastic, and the Porters. Administrative -control was exercised by the Board of Green Cloth, consisting of the -Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household, and the Cofferer or -household cashier.[90] These had the assistance of a staff of clerks and -clerk comptrollers, known as the Counting House. Above all was the chief -officer of the department, the Lord Steward of the Household. The -Steward, whose name seems to be an exact equivalent for both the Latin -terms _dapifer_ and _Senescallus_, is not likely to have had in the -beginning any priority over the _camerarius_; but historical reasons had -brought him to the forefront towards the end of the thirteenth century, -and thereafter he continued to rank as first officer of the Household. -Henry VIII, following a French analogy, had renamed him Grand Master of -the Household, but the new term had not permanently succeeded in -establishing itself. Under Elizabeth the post was sometimes left vacant. -But it was always filled during the session of a Parliament, for it was -the ancient custom for the lords of Parliament to dine at the Lord -Steward's table in the court.[91] In the absence of a Lord Steward, the -department was managed, under some general supervision from the Lord -Chamberlain, who then became first officer, by the Treasurer and -Comptroller, who were important personages with seats on the Privy -Council. The original _dapiferi_ had had as colleagues the _pincernae_, -but the Chief Butlership was now an hereditary sinecure, and the duties -were divided between the subordinate office of the Cellar and the -Cupbearer, who was an officer of the Chamber. - -We come now to the Lord Chamberlain, incomparably the most important -figure at court in all matters concerned with entertainments. The -_camerarii_ and _cubicularii_ are discernible before the Conquest, and -the corresponding Anglo-Saxon terms appear to be _burþegn_, _bedþegn_, -and _hræglþegn_. Perhaps the _hrægl_ or wardrobe was already becoming -separated from the _bur_ or bed-chamber.[92] In the days of William -Rufus one Herbert was _regis cubicularius et thesaurarius_.[93] This was -before the Exchequer under its Lord High Treasurer had branched off as a -separate department of state, but the post of Chamberlain of the -Exchequer continued for many centuries to testify to the original -location of the treasure chest in the _camera_. About 1135 there was a -_magister camerarius_, the equal in salary and allowances of the -_cancellarius_, the _dapiferi_, the _magister pincerna_, the -_thesaurarius_, and the _constabularii_. There were also other -_camerarii_ of lower degrees taking turns of duty, and a special -_camerarius candelae_, ranking lower still.[94] Presumably the _magister -camerarius_ became the hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain, whose -coronation services, which are connected with the charge of the King's -bed-chamber, the handing of a basin and towel at the banquet, and the -preparation of the royal oblations, afford a sufficient indication of -the duties of the court office.[95] And on the retirement of the -hereditary officer from court, it seems probable that one of the other -_camerarii_ advanced to the position of acting _magister_. At any rate, -when the treatise known as _Fleta_ was compiled about 1290, there was a -single _camerarius_ with a _sub-minister_ and other officers beneath -him. Perhaps he was by this time barely the equal of the _senescallus_, -to whom he sat as assessor in the court _de placitis_ _Aulae Regis_, -although he had also an independent jurisdiction over his own officers -and those of the Wardrobe, who were exempt from the Steward's court.[96] -On the other hand he was, as Robert of Westminster calls him, 'custos -capitis regis', and the author of _Fleta_ tells us in another connexion -that 'in hospitio pro regula habetur, quod quanto propinquior sit quis -Regi, tanto dignior'.[97] On the whole it seems probable that, whatever -his traditional status may have been, the practical tendency of the -extensive political use made by Edward I of the Steward and the clerical -officers of the Wardrobe was to throw the Chamberlain into the -background.[98] We also learn from _Fleta_ that it was the business of -the Chamberlain to look after the King's bed and chamber, and that as -fees he had his keep in court, fines from ecclesiastic and lay homagers, -the disused plenishings of the _camera_, and a share of all gifts and -offerings of food made to the King.[99] - -After the break-up of the power of the Wardrobe in the earlier part of -the fourteenth century, the propinquity of the Chamberlain to the King -gave him an increasing political importance, and attempts were made by -the barons to secure his appointment in Parliament. Both in that -assembly and in the Privy Council he frequently served as the royal -mouthpiece, and he became the regular channel through which petitions -for the exercise of the royal prerogative of pardon reached the -King.[100] But he continued to discharge his domestic responsibilities, -which are detailed both in the _Liber Niger_ about 1478 and in early -Tudor documents.[101] The Tudor change in the relation between the Crown -and the nobility is well indicated by the fact that, while in the -fourteenth century the Chamberlain had been a banneret or even a simple -knight, in Elizabeth's time the office was an object of ambition for -earls and barons. But the dual functions, political and domestic, -remained unaltered. The 'Lord' Chamberlain, as he was now generally -called, was in regular attendance at court, where his power and -responsibility were alike considerable.[102] He gave personal attention -to the distribution of lodgings in the palace.[103] He made the -arrangements for the progress.[104] He received the ambassadors and -others entitled to a royal audience and conducted them into the -presence.[105] He was liable to be rated by the Queen if there was not -enough plate on the cupboard.[106] He not merely planned the revels but -himself kept order in the banqueting-hall. And for this purpose the -white staff, which was the symbol of his office, was a practical -instrument ready to his hand.[107] The delivery of this white staff to -him by the Sovereign constituted his appointment, which was during -pleasure; and at its determination he delivered it up again. The Lord -Steward and the Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household were -similarly appointed, and it is a picturesque touch that at the funeral -of the Sovereign the Household officers broke their white staves over -the bier.[108] Elizabeth's Chamberlains had a fee of £133 6_s._ 8_d._ -and a table and other allowances at court; also a livery from the Great -Wardrobe of fourteen yards of tawny velvet, which had been converted by -1606 into an additional fee of £16.[109] - -Elizabeth's first Lord Chamberlain was her great-uncle, Lord William -Howard, a younger son of the second Duke of Norfolk, who had been -created Lord Howard of Effingham in 1554.[110] He was appointed by 20 -November 1558, and resigned on becoming Lord Privy Seal in July 1572. -His successor was Thomas Radcliffe, third Earl of Sussex, who appears to -have held office continuously, in spite of occasional absence from his -duties, until his death on 9 June 1583. Then came Charles, second Lord -Howard of Effingham, for a short period from Christmas 1583 or earlier -until his appointment as Lord Admiral about June 1585; and then on 4 -July 1585 Elizabeth's first cousin, Henry Carey, first Lord Hunsdon, who -established and handed down to his son the famous company of players -which included William Shakespeare. Hunsdon was himself a soldier rather -than a courtier.[111] He died on 22 July 1596, and the Chamberlainship -passed to William Brooke, seventh Lord Cobham. But on 5 March 1597 -Cobham himself died, and the office reverted to the house of Hunsdon in -the person of George Carey, second lord, who retained it to the end of -the reign. By this time he was in ill health, and although he was at -first formally continued in his post with the rest of the household, he -was replaced on 4 May 1603 by Thomas, Lord Howard of Walden, who on the -following 21 July was created Earl of Suffolk. He died on 9 September -1603. Suffolk remained Lord Chamberlain during the palmy days of the -Jacobean revels. But in 1614 he became Lord Treasurer, and on 10 July -the Chamberlainship was conferred upon the then reigning royal -favourite, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, much to the disappointment of -Shakespeare's patron, William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, who had -to content himself with a promise of the reversion.[112] This, however, -fell in sooner than might have been hoped for. Somerset came to disaster -for his share in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury in 1615, and on 2 -November, shortly before he was sent to the Tower, Lord Wotton, the -Comptroller of the Household, came from the King to demand his seals and -the white staff. He handed over the seals, says our informant, the -Venetian ambassador, 'and as for the staff, which he pointed out to him -in a corner of the room, he might take it'. Lord Wotton replied that the -King did not order him to take it, but Somerset to give it, 'which he -did'.[113] Pembroke was appointed on 23 December 1615 and remained Lord -Chamberlain until 3 August 1626, when he was succeeded by his brother -Philip Earl of Montgomery.[114] - -The illness, or employment elsewhere, of a Lord Chamberlain sometimes -rendered necessary the appointment of a deputy. Both Howard of Effingham -and Hunsdon appear to have acted in this capacity during Sussex's tenure -of office; Howard in 1574-5 and Hunsdon in 1582. Similarly Howard de -Walden acted without having the white staff during the second Lord -Hunsdon's illness in 1602, and again for a month before his own -appointment in 1603.[115] There was indeed provision for the regular -assistance of the Lord Chamberlain by a Vice-Chamberlain, an officer who -had existed at least as far back as the fourteenth century, and is -probably indeed the 'subminister' of the thirteenth.[116] Elizabeth's -fee lists provide for a Vice-Chamberlain at a fee of £66 13_s._ 4_d._ -and a table at court. But the post was not always filled up. Sir Edward -Rogers held it from 1558 to 1559, Sir Francis Knollys from 1559 to -1570, Sir Christopher Hatton from 1577 to 1587, and Sir Thomas Heneage -from 1589 to 1595. There seem to have been vacancies from 1570 to 1577 -and from 1595 to 1601, although Sir William Pickering's appointment was -under consideration in 1572 and Sir Henry Lee's in 1597. During -Hunsdon's illness there was much speculation as to the probability of a -Vice-Chamberlain being appointed. Sir Walter Raleigh hoped for the post, -but in February 1601 it was given to Sir John Stanhope, afterwards Lord -Stanhope of Harrington, who kept it until 1616.[117] - -The Chamber was less divided up into semi-independent working sections -than the Lord Steward's department, although three of these, the Jewel -House under a Master, and the Wardrobe of Robes and the Removing -Wardrobe of Beds, each under a Yeoman, looked after the Queen's plate -and jewels, her clothes, and the furniture of the Chamber -respectively.[118] But there was an elaborate hierarchy of individual -officers and groups of officers, each with definite and recognized -functions to perform under the general superintendence of the Lord -Chamberlain. The main basis of grading goes back to the social -organization of the Middle Ages. In the fourteenth century every lay -household officer fell within one or other of five well-defined grades. -He was a knight banneret, a knight bachelor, an esquire (_scutifer_, -_armiger_) or serjeant (_serviens_), a yeoman (_valettus_), or a groom -(_garcio_). Pages and boys were later additions.[119] Each grade had its -uniform rates of salary and allowances, and there was regular promotion -from one to another. And while some officers of each grade were -definitely assigned to special duties (_mestiers_), others were more -loosely attached either to the Household as a whole or to the _camera_ -in particular. The clerical officers were similarly arranged in grades -distinct from, but parallel to, those of the laymen. But between the -fourteenth century and the sixteenth a good many changes had come about. -The most important of these were due to the early Tudors, who had not -merely made a distinction within the Chamber itself between the Privy -Chamber and the Outer or Presence Chamber and their respective staffs, -but had also, perhaps following a French model, brought into existence -two hybrid grades in the Gentlemen and Grooms of the Privy Chamber.[120] -'Gentleman' has the same significance as 'Esquire', but this particular -group, whose members were intended to be the personal companions of the -Sovereign, seems to have been an amalgamation of two groups belonging to -the earlier establishment, one squirely, the Esquires of the Household, -the other knightly, the Knights of the Body. And if the Gentlemen of the -Privy Chamber were more nearly knights than esquires, the Grooms of the -Privy Chamber were in like manner more nearly esquires than grooms or -even yeomen.[121] Probably, however, they replaced an earlier group of -Yeomen of the Chamber. The duties of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, -in addition to those of companionship, seem to have consisted chiefly in -dressing and undressing the Sovereign. The Grooms attended to the -orderliness of the rooms, and were supervised, under the Chamberlain, by -officers holding a very ancient post, the _hostiarii camerae_ or -Gentlemen Ushers.[122] Obviously the normal staffing of the Privy -Chamber required some modification in the case of a virgin queen. -Elizabeth appears usually to have had no more than two or three -Gentlemen and from five to ten Grooms, in place of the eighteen -Gentlemen and fourteen Grooms provided for in the fee lists, and to have -supplemented these by making feminine appointments in corresponding -grades. There were Ladies or Gentlewomen, some of the Bedchamber and -some of the Privy Chamber, and beneath these Chamberers, who appear also -to have been known as 'the Queen's Women'.[123] The First Lady of the -Privy Chamber acted as Mistress of the Robes, and she or another of the -Ladies took charge of the jewels actually in use by the Queen and -accounted for them to the Jewel-house.[124] In addition there were the -six Maids of Honour, who were not salaried officers, but girls of good -birth, for whom the court served as a finishing school of manners, and -who attended the Queen in public, sat and walked with her in the Privy -Chamber and Privy Garden, and kept her entertained with the dancing -which she delighted to witness. They were generally dressed in white, -and were lodged in the Coffer Chamber under the care of a lady called -the Mother of the Maids.[125] And they learnt other things at the court -besides manners. Gossip is full of the troubles which Elizabeth -underwent in the attempt to establish the cult of Cynthia amongst the -maids of honour and the younger ladies of the Privy Chamber.[126] A few -older ladies of rank, some of them relatives of the Queen, were also -assigned lodgings in court, and were apparently known as Ladies of the -Presence Chamber.[127] - -The Outer Chamber was also supervised by Gentlemen Ushers, some in -daily, others in quarterly waiting, with Grooms of the Chamber, headed -by a Groom Porter, and Pages of the Chamber under them to maintain the -apartments in order, Yeomen Ushers to keep the doors, and a body of -Messengers of the Chamber, ranking with the Yeomen, who besides their -domestic uses were at the disposal of the Privy Council and the -Secretaries for political purposes, and become very numerous by the end -of the reign.[128] The Gentlemen Ushers also took part in the -arrangements for lodging the court during progresses, in co-operation -with a Knight Harbinger and four subordinate Harbingers who went in -advance as billeting officers.[129] To the Outer Chamber, moreover, -belonged the Esquires of the Body, who slept in the Presence Chamber, -and took charge of the whole Chamber after the ceremony known as the All -Night at nine o'clock, and a group of officers 'for the mouth', -including Carvers, Cupbearers, Sewers for the Queen, and Surveyors of -the Dresser.[130] These had anciently been of importance, all ranking as -esquires, and the Carvers and Cupbearers from the fifteenth century as -knights.[131] But their functions had dwindled, like those of the Hall -officers at an earlier date, when the Tudor sovereigns ceased as a rule -to dine even in the Presence Chamber, and by the end of the reign the -posts of Carver and Cupbearer were claimed by great nobles as dignified -sinecures.[132] The actual service of Elizabeth's meals was done by her -ladies.[133] Similarly the Sewers for the Chamber, who apparently -represent those of the Esquires of the Household who did not become -Gentlemen of the Chamber, had probably neither duties nor salaries under -Elizabeth.[134] It had long proved convenient to the Crown to entertain -a number of nominal servants, who without giving actual attendance in -the household upon ordinary occasions, could be called upon for the -great ceremonies of state or for the household array in times of battle, -and at other times helped to increase the royal prestige and to -strengthen the royal hold upon the localities in which they lived.[135] -And naturally there were many aspirants to the _status_ and the -protection which even a nominal membership of the royal household -afforded. Survivals, such as the Sewerships for the Chamber, were well -adapted to this purpose, but it was also possible to meet it by -appointing supernumerary members to effective groups.[136] Elizabeth -certainly made many 'extraordinary' as well as 'ordinary' appointments, -especially of Esquires of the Body and Grooms of the Chamber, and a -status midway between the ordinary and extraordinary Grooms seems to -have been assigned to the players belonging to companies under the royal -patronage.[137] It may be that the 'extraordinary' appointments were -sometimes of the nature of grants in reversion, and that the holders -looked forward to passing on to 'ordinary' posts in due course.[138] - -Duties in the Outer Chamber were also fulfilled by the various bodies of -royal guards. Of these there were three. The oldest was constituted by -the Serjeants-at-Arms, who held the rank of Esquires, and were appointed -by investment with the collar of SS at the hands of the Sovereign on the -way to chapel.[139] They are little heard of under Elizabeth, and their -posts were probably to a large extent honorific. The Yeomen of the Guard -were a foot-guard established by Henry VII in 1485. The Yeomen Ushers of -the Chamber were selected from amongst them, and on their establishment -an older body of Yeomen of the Crown, itself in origin a guard of -archers, seems to have been allowed to lapse.[140] The Yeomen were the -working palace guard, and were under a Captain, a Standard Bearer, and a -Clerk of the Cheque.[141] The Gentlemen Pensioners or 'Spears' were a -horse-guard established by Henry VIII in 1509.[142] Both these Tudor -guards seem to have been modelled on analogous French establishments. -The Pensioners had a Captain, a Lieutenant, a Standard Bearer, and a -Clerk of the Cheque. They were gentlemen of good birth, and to them the -Court looked for its supply of accomplished tilters. They attended the -Queen, bearing gilded battle-axes, on her way to chapel, and in public -processions.[143] By the sixteenth century the control of the guards -clearly fell within the sphere of the Lord Chamberlain. Both the -Hunsdons themselves acted as Captains of the Pensioners, and the -Captaincy of the Yeomen was sometimes, although not always, attached to -the Vice-Chamberlainship. - -The Secretaries, with the Clerks of the Signet and Privy Council, the -Master of the Posts, and the Masters of Requests, although they had -grown out of the Chamber, and were still, like the Lords Treasurer, -Chancellor, Admiral, and Privy Seal, lodged in the Household, cannot at -this period be regarded as under the Lord Chamberlain.[144] But he had -some responsibility for the royal Chaplains, the Chapel, the Vestry, and -the Clerks of the Closet, whence the Queen heard prayers, especially -after Elizabeth suppressed the Deanship of the Chapel.[145] And he -controlled the physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, the astronomer, -the serjeant-painter, the surveyor of ways, the various hunting -equipages, the rat-taker and mole-taker, and a number of artificers -ministering to the diverse needs of the Queen and the palace. Probably -he controlled the royal fools and other survivals of that characteristic -mediaeval interest in mental and physical abnormality.[146] And, what is -more to our purpose, he certainly controlled the players, and the -extensive establishment of musicians. Amongst these the old royal -_ministralli_ or _histriones_ of the Middle Ages, with their -_marescallus_, were still represented by a body of trumpeters under a -serjeant.[147] But the personal taste of Henry VIII for music had -brought a stream of new performers to court, and this had continued -under Elizabeth. Many of them were of foreign extraction, and certain -families, such as the Laniers, the Ferrabosci, the Bassani of Venice, or -rather, as their name denotes, of Bassano in the Veneto, the Lupi of -Milan, formed little dynasties of their own at court, father, son, and -grandson succeeding each other, in the royal service through the best -part of a century. At the end of her reign Elizabeth was entertaining at -least seven distinct bodies of musicians, whose members numbered in all -between sixty and seventy. For wind instruments there were, besides the -trumpeters, the recorders, the flutes, and the hautboys and sackbuts; -for string instruments the viols or violins and the lutes. There were -also an organist attached to the chapel and possibly players on the -virginals.[148] The most important of these were the lutenists, who sang -as well as played, and often composed their own songs, and appear to -have been of higher standing than the mere instrumentalists. One of them -was specially designated as the Lute of the Privy Chamber.[149] It seems -probable that some of the superfluous Sewerships for the Chamber were -conferred on them, and Alfonso Ferrabosco may have been about 1575 a -Groom of the Chamber.[150] - -Finally, there were a number of offices, called in Elizabethan parlance -'standing offices', each under a Master or other head of its own, which -can only be regarded as on the borderline of the Household. These were -the Great Wardrobe, the Revels, the Tents, the Toils, the Works, the -Armoury, the Ordnance, and the Mint. They were financed separately from -the Household, and had their various head-quarters in London away from -the palace. But their officers were regarded as members of the -Household, and although largely independent, they were in many or all -cases subject to some kind of supervision by the Lord Chamberlain.[151] -Probably the explanation of their origin is given by a phrase used about -1478 by the writer of the _Liber Niger_. Here the Wardrobe is spoken of -as 'an office of chaumbre outward'.[152] In these standing offices, and -also in the Secretariat, we seem to have examples of that budding off -from the main administrative organization by which those great -departments of state, the Exchequer and the Chancery, had already come -into existence. Doubtless the process was facilitated, when -considerations of practical convenience and a desire to reduce the -number of mouths to be provided for in the palace led to the location of -particular branches of work in permanent and independent premises. The -history of the Revels Office, which will form the subject of another -chapter, well serves to illustrate the kind of development -involved.[153] - -Members of the standing offices were generally appointed for life, those -of the regular Household during the royal pleasure. The former received -letters patent; the latter were only sworn in before one or other of the -chief officers, and as most of the early records of the Lord -Chamberlain's department have perished, no complete list of them is upon -record. The uniform rates of pay and allowances for each grade of -officer which prevailed in the fourteenth century had undergone many -complications by the middle of the sixteenth. Each officer had, of -course, his fee or wages, payable either at the Exchequer or by the -Treasurer of the Chamber, whose functions will shortly be described, or, -as in the case of most of the regular officers of Household and Chamber, -by the Cofferer of the Household. The rates had gradually increased, -perhaps with a decrease in the purchasing power of money. Those for the -recently established Tudor posts were reckoned in pounds; the older ones -in marks. Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber and Pensioners got £50, -Esquires of the Body £33 6_s._ 8_d._ (fifty marks), Gentlemen Ushers of -the Privy Chamber £30, Grooms of the Privy Chamber £20, Grooms of the -Chamber £2 13_s._ 4_d._ (four marks). These may serve for examples. -Obsolete mediaeval rates of so many pence a day still survived here and -there.[154] The Grooms and Pages of the Chamber had also a traditional -'great reward' of £100 among them at Christmas, while the fees payable -to the officers of the Chamber by lay and ecclesiastic homagers were -not--and are not yet--extinct.[155] Exceptional 'rewards', from foreign -visitors of rank and so forth, were naturally forthcoming from time to -time, and, as naturally, largesse often became indistinguishable from -bribe. The allowances, other than salary, were of several kinds. -Firstly, there was diet, that is to say, dinner and supper at the -appointed tables in hall or chamber. Most of the officers of the regular -Household enjoyed this; a few, whose attendance was not required daily -or at all times in the day, received instead a money allowance from the -Cofferer known as 'board wages'.[156] Secondly, there was, 'bouche of -court', a commons of bread and ale, candles and fuel, served only to -those of sufficient rank to be lodged in the palace itself.[157] It is -probably an evidence, not of economy, but of change of social habits, -that in the sixteenth century ale had replaced the wine of the -fourteenth. Originally the 'bouche of court' had to suffice for -breakfast, but under Elizabeth the Maids of Honour and a few other -favoured groups were allowed to share the queen's breakfast of -beef.[158] Thirdly, there was 'livery' in the narrow sense, clothes or -the material for clothes from the Great Wardrobe, or a money payment in -lieu thereof. Even in the fourteenth century there was already much -commutation of livery, which in the case of yeomen and grooms also -included an allowance for shoes, known as _calciatura_. By the end of -the fifteenth century it was definitely thought derogatory for men of -rank to wear even the sovereign's livery, except in some quite -symbolical form.[159] Under Elizabeth some of the salaries seem to have -had livery allowances added on to them. The process of commutation can -still be traced. But liveries were issued in kind to the yeomen, -messengers, grooms, pages, and stable footmen. These seem to have been -of two kinds; 'watching' liveries issued from the Wardrobe in the -winter, and 'summer' liveries, for which payment was made direct from -the Exchequer.[160] The latter were gorgeous and costly, of scarlet -cloth, with spangles and embroidery of Venice gold, taking the shape of -a rose and crown and the letters 'E. R.', with some distinction between -yeomen and grooms. The present costume of the Yeomen of the Guard, or -'beef-eaters', is a later modification of this livery.[161] In their -capacity as Grooms of the Chamber the royal players were entitled to -wear the Queen's 'coat'.[162] The officers of the standing offices had -livery or livery allowance, if it was appropriate to their rank. They -did not have diet or 'bouche of court'. But they were in some cases -entitled to supplement their fees by charging 'wages' for actual days of -service in the accounts which their Masters annually rendered to the -Exchequer.[163] 'Extraordinary' officers probably got no salaries or -allowances of any kind, unless they were called up for special duty. But -it must be added that all royal servants, whatever their office, and -whether 'ordinary' or 'extraordinary', received a customary allowance of -red cloth at the coronation and of black cloth at a royal funeral, and -that the schedules of recipients on these occasions form the most -complete establishment lists available. - -The accession of James did not materially alter the general structure of -the Household. The chief changes were in the Privy Chamber. The Wardrobe -of Robes was placed under a Gentleman, afterwards called a Master. The -Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were increased in number, reduced to -quarterly terms of waiting, and deprived of salary.[164] The salaries of -the Lord Chamberlain, Gentlemen Ushers, and Grooms were raised. And -what was practically a new department was brought into existence in the -Bedchamber, which had a staff of Gentlemen, Grooms, and Pages, -independent of the Lord Chamberlain and controlled by their own First -Gentleman, who was also known as Groom of the Stole.[165] The Bed -Chamber, chiefly composed of Scots, furnished James with his most -confidential servants.[166] As might be expected, James enlarged his -hunting establishment, and one of his new appointments was a -Cockmaster.[167] He had a conspicuous Fool in Archie Armstrong.[168] And -he instituted in the Lord Chamberlain's department an officer known as -the Master of the Ceremonies, whose function was to look after the -lodgings and the general well-being of ambassadors, and to grapple with -the knotty problems entailed by their inveterate stickling for -precedence and etiquette.[169] A separate household was formed for the -Queen, to which the various grades of ladies found at Elizabeth's court -were transferred.[170] There were minor households for the royal -children. That of Henry was much enlarged when he was created Prince of -Wales in 1610, and in many respects, especially on the literary and -artistic side, came to rival his father's. - -One other officer, whose name has already been mentioned, must now, in -virtue of his special relation to the playing companies, be fully -considered. This is the Treasurer of the Chamber. His history affords an -admirable example of that capacity of duplicating the functions of the -departments of state, which was inherent in the Household as the -successor in a direct line of the undifferentiated _curia regis_. After -the development of the Exchequer was completed in the course of the -twelfth century, the great bulk of the royal revenue was dealt with by -that organization, and payments into and out of the royal account were -made through the clerks of the branch known as the Receipt of the -Exchequer. The posts of _camerarius_ and _thesaurarius_ were now -distinct. But the change was never quite exhaustively carried out. -Presumably the sovereign found it convenient to retain a certain residue -of his funds under his personal control. Side by side with the Exchequer -and its great officer it is still possible to trace into the thirteenth -century a _thesaurus camerae regis_ and a _thesaurarius camerae_; and -the Pipe Rolls continue to refer to payments made _in camera curiae_, or -_ipsi regi in camera curiae_, and to receipts taken by debtors _de -camera curiae_, both of which were certified to the Exchequer _per breve -regis_ and put on final record there.[171] There were also _clerici -camerae_, who probably wrote these _brevia_, and it is conjectured that -the privy seal, as distinct from the great seal of Chancery, came into -existence as a means of authenticating the _brevia_ as impressed with -royal authority. Thus the _camera_ was able to duplicate the functions -of the Chancery as well as those of the Exchequer.[172] About the middle -of the thirteenth century the Pipe Rolls take to referring to the -exceptional financial transactions as taking place not in the _camera_ -but in the _garderoba_. There are _clerici garderobae_ and a chief -officer called indifferently the _custos_ and the _thesaurarius -garderobae_.[173] Presumably the _garderoba_ or 'wardrobe' was at first -merely that apartment of the _camera_ in which the financial work was -done, and there are still indications of some such early relationship in -the position of the Wardrobe when we first get a clear view of the -operations at the very end of the century.[174] But by this time its -scope had greatly increased, owing to the policy of Henry III and Edward -I, who found in it a financial and administrative instrument, both more -ready to hand and less subject to baronial control and criticism than -either the Exchequer or the Chancery. Much of the revenue had come to -pass through its hands, under a system of tallies, which were issued to -it in block by the Exchequer on the authority of a royal warrant -dormant, exchanged for incomings with accountants, and ultimately -presented as vouchers at the Exchequer of Account. As part of the same -process, the clerical head of the Wardrobe had acquired an importance -almost equal to that of the Chamberlain. Indeed, so far as he was -controlled by any lay officer, it was less the Chamberlain than the -Steward, under whom he sat at the daily review of household expenditure -which formed a feature of the Wardrobe system, and was continued into -Tudor times by the Board of Green Cloth. Here also sat a _consocius_ of -the Treasurer, the _contrarotulator_, who kept duplicates of his -accounts as a check upon him, and had the charge of the privy seal. The -Wardrobe held not only the money and jewels of the King, but also his -'secrets'. Its officers were his _secretarii_ in the earlier -unspecialized sense, his confidential agents, both in finance and in -diplomacy and other affairs of state. The extant account-books show that -it not merely defrayed the expenses of his household, his alms, and his -amusements, but also those entailed by the fortification and -victualling of his castles, and the wages and equipment of his army and -navy and his ambassadors and other _nuntii_. - -During the reign of Edward II the power of the Wardrobe was broken up, -partly by the direct action of baronial hostility, partly by a discreet -process of reorganization within the household, in the face of baronial -criticism. The responsibilities of the Treasurer and Comptroller were -limited to the purely domestic expenditure of the Steward's department, -much as we find them in Tudor times. The charge of the privy seal was -dissociated from the Comptrollership; its use, like that of the great -seal before it, was subjected to regulation in the baronial interest; -and it soon became superfluous. Offices, such as the Great Wardrobe for -the purveyance of cloth, furs, and other bulky commodities, which had -recently come into existence as branches of the Wardrobe, were now -placed on an independent footing, and began to account direct to the -Exchequer. And now once more, after remaining in obscurity for the best -part of a century, emerges into renewed activity the financial -organization of the Chamber. To it appears to have been assigned, as -part of the scheme of reform, such expenditure as could not with -propriety be withdrawn from the personal supervision of the -sovereign.[175] With this as a nucleus, it was not particularly -difficult to convert the Chamber into just such a financial and -administrative organ as the Wardrobe had been before it. The funds at -its disposal were gradually increased, as opportunities offered -themselves of adding to them the revenues of one escheated manor after -another. Its clerks in turn became the _secretarii_, out of whom the -royal Secretaries in the Tudor sense were in course of time developed. -Even the lost privy seal proved capable of replacement by a series of -other small seals, the 'secret' seal under Edward II, the 'griffin' seal -under Edward III, and finally the 'signet', which remained to the end in -the hands of the Secretaries. It was only up to a point that the trained -bureaucrats, with the power of knowledge behind them, proved amenable to -baronial control. It is probably only up to a point that they will prove -amenable to democratic control. - -The actual use made of the Chamber varied considerably in different -reigns. It flourished at the end of the reign of Edward II, and again -during the first half of that of Edward III. Soon after the middle of -the fourteenth century, it lost much of its political status, owing to -the separation from it of the Secretaries, who now had their own clerks -in the Signet Office, and on the financial side it was for long little -more than a privy purse in strict subordination to the Exchequer. It was -still, however, capable at need of serving as a medium of war -expenditure, and with the appointment of Thomas Vaughan by Edward IV in -1465 its financial importance began to revive.[176] Up to the end of the -fourteenth century, its financial officers are generally called -Receivers of the Chamber; during the next the double title of Treasurer -of the Chamber and Keeper of the King's Jewels establishes itself.[177] -They are sometimes, although perhaps not always, appointed by patent, -and at any rate from the time of Henry IV are only accountable to the -King in person.[178] On the execution of Vaughan in 1583 the posts of -Treasurer of the Chamber and Keeper of the Jewels were divided; and it -may serve as an illustration of the conservatism of courts that this was -still a subject of grievance in the Jewel House two hundred years -later.[179] - -At the beginning of Henry VII's reign the functions of Treasurer of the -Chamber were discharged by Thomas, afterwards Sir Thomas, Lovell.[180] -On his appointment as Treasurer of the Household in August 1592, he was -succeeded by John, afterwards Sir John, Heron, who had in fact acted as -his assistant and kept his books from 1487.[181] Under the Tudors, with -their general tendency to elaborate the personal control of government -by the sovereign, the post remained one of first-class importance. It -was regulated in 1511 by a statute, the recital of which sets out that -it had been the practice for certain Receivers of royal lands to account -before persons appointed by Henry VII 'for the more speedy payment of -his revenues and the accounts of the same to be more speedily taken than -could have been after the course of the Exchequer', and after accounting -to pay sums to the use of the King in his chamber.[182] The record of -these transactions, signed by the King or 'his trusty servant John -Heron' had been no legal discharge to the accountants in the Exchequer. -Henry VIII had set up by patent a body of General Surveyors and -Approvers of the King's Lands to take the accounts, and the statute -confirms this proceeding and appoints John Heron to be Treasurer of the -Chamber, and to be answerable, with his successors, direct to the King, -and not to the Exchequer.[183] John Heron continued in office until -1521.[184] His successor was John Miklowe, who had been Comptroller of -the Household.[185] But Miklowe's tenure of office must have been short, -for in 1523 a statute, passed in renewal of that of 1511, names as -Treasurer Sir Henry Wyatt, who was the father of the poet, Sir Thomas -Wyatt.[186] In 1526 Wyatt was placed on the Privy Council[187]; and on -13 April 1528 he was succeeded as Treasurer by Sir Brian Tuke, who held -office until 1545.[188] In 1541 a new statute was passed which erected -the Surveyors of the King's Lands into a court of record, appointed the -Treasurer of the Chamber as Treasurer of the Court, and required him to -account before the Court or such other persons as the King might -appoint, both in this capacity and also for 'all and every the receytes -issues profyttes dettes and thinges concernyng his office of -Treasurership of the Kinges Chamber'.[189] Tuke was succeeded on 25 -November 1545 by Sir Anthony Rous, to whom one John Dawes acted as -deputy[190]; and Rous on 19 February 1546, by Sir William Cavendish, to -the disappointment of Stephen Vaughan, Henry's financial agent at -Antwerp, who had hoped for the post. Cavendish also had the assistance -of a deputy, Robert Oliver.[191] During Cavendish's tenure of office, -two further changes in the position of the Treasurership took place. A -patent of 1547, subsequently confirmed by statute under Edward VI in -1553, dissolved alike the Court of Surveyors and the analogous Court of -Augmentations, created to deal with the revenues of surrendered -religious houses in 1535, and established in place of these a combined -Court of Augmentation and Revenues of the King's Crown, of which the -Treasurer of the Chamber was to continue to act as Treasurer.[192] -Hardly, however, had this readjustment received legislative sanction, -when it was upset again. A patent of 1554, under the authority of an Act -of Mary's first Parliament, suppressed the Court of Augmentation, by -annexing its business to the Exchequer, and directed the revenues to be -paid into the Exchequer and accounts to be audited there, as before the -Court was set up.[193] Cavendish did not find the Treasurership a bed of -roses. On Tuke's death it was anticipated that his successor would -receive a legacy of official debts.[194] A book containing copies of -'certificates' or reports made by Cavendish to the Privy Council show -that he soon had occasion to be perturbed.[195] About Lady Day 1546 he -represented that his receipts had been dislocated to the extent of about -£14,000, and that in view of his liabilities, which he detailed, there -was urgent need to consider the state of the office. In another paper he -called attention to the enormous number of securities for old debts to -the Crown, some of them dating from the time of Henry VII, with which he -found from Tuke's books that he was charged; and, as 'a yonge officer -not long exercised in the same', prayed that these might be reviewed, -and a decision arrived at as to how much of the total nominal amount of -£322,980 covered by them stood for 'sperat' and how much for 'desperat' -debts. The book also contains summaries of his liabilities during 1547, -at the end of 1548, when he declared that he had debts of £14,000 and no -ready money in the office, and finally at Lady Day 1554. This last item -does not disclose how far his revenue had in the interval been made -sufficient for his needs. It is possible that it had been made more than -sufficient, for on 17 August 1556 the Privy Council called upon him to -appear before them with 'Cade his clerc', and on 9 October 1557 they -returned his book of account, stating that he owed £5,237 5_s._ -0¾_d._ and must appear and answer particularities, either in person -or, if ill, by his clerks.[196] It seems clear that the Tudor period had -seen a very considerable increase in the scope of the financial -transactions with which the Treasurer of the Chamber had to deal. In -addition to privy purse expenditure in the narrower sense, such as the -royal pocket-money, alms and oblations, largesse and rewards, and the -like, he became responsible for many wages and annuities, some of which, -including those of the royal players, had formerly been charged direct -upon the Exchequer.[197] He purchased the jewels and costly stuffs in -which much of the Tudor wealth was invested. He financed or helped to -finance the Surveyor of Works, the Great Wardrobe, and even for a time -the Cofferer of the Household. And beyond the limits of anything which -could be called domestic expenditure, he undertook much that was -concerned with 'the King's outward causes', the maintenance of posts and -ambassadors, royal loans, secret service; even, it would appear, -although perhaps out of a special account, the service of war. His -income, originally derived from the Exchequer, was put on to an -independent basis, by the direct assignment to him of numerous revenues, -both ordinary and extraordinary, including most of the new sources of -wealth on which the financial policy of Henry VII had firmly based the -power of the Crown. Some of his payments were made in accordance with -old established custom or under household ordinances or other standing -instructions.[198] But the great majority depended upon the personal -authority of the sovereign, communicated either by word of mouth or by -warrant under the sign manual or the signet, or in course of time -through the medium of a minister such as Wolsey or the Privy Council. -Similarly he rendered his accounts at first to the King in person, and -the early books bear the signatures of Henry VII and Henry VIII in token -of audit on many pages.[199] The responsibility grew to be a very heavy -one, with a turnover of some £100,000 in the course of a year, and we -find Brian Tuke in 1534 writing of it as 'a charge that far surmounteth -any in England', and pressing 'that for things ordinary I may have for -payments an ordinary warrant, and that for things extraordinary I may -always have special warrant or else some such way as I, dealing truly, -may be truly discharged', lest if there were any misunderstanding, 'I -might be undone in a day, lacking any warrant when I sue for it'. It -would appear to have been the special difficulty of the Treasurer's -position which led to the system of audit by means of a 'Declared -Account', as a substitute at once for the cumbrous method of the earlier -Exchequer, and the more recent practice of personal verification by the -sovereign. When Sir Henry Wyatt left office he was directed to declare -his account before a General Surveyor of the King's Lands, and this -method was adopted when the Surveyors became a statutory court in 1541 -and ultimately passed after the dissolution of the special courts into -ordinary Exchequer practice.[200] - -Sir William Cavendish, who was ill when the Privy Council asked for -details of his account on 9 October, died on 25 October 1557. An account -for 1 April to 31 December 1557 is in the name of Edmund Felton, perhaps -only an _interim_ administrator.[201] The Treasurership of the Chamber, -together with the Mastership of the Posts, was granted by patent on 29 -October 1558 to Sir John Mason, with a fee of £240 and 1_s._ a day.[202] -Mason was continued in office by Elizabeth, and on 23 December 1558 the -Lord Chamberlain, the Comptroller of the Household, the Secretary, and -the Chancellor of the Exchequer were appointed as a committee of the -Privy Council 'to survey the office of the Treasurer of the Chamber and -to assigne order of paymente'.[203] As a result, considerable changes -seem to have been made, which reversed the policy of the last -half-century and much reduced the Treasurer's responsibilities. On the -one hand, the funds assigned to the Cofferer of the Household, the -Surveyor of Works, the Master of Posts, and the Ambassadors no longer -passed through his account; on the other, a separate account was -established for the more personal expenditure of the Queen, which was -put into the charge of a Groom of the Privy Chamber, acting as keeper of -the Privy Purse. Both accounts seem to have become subject to audit and -declaration at the Exchequer; but while that of the Treasurer of the -Chamber was declared annually, the only extant Privy Purse account of -the reign is one for the ten years 1559-69 declared after the death of -the first keeper, John Tamworth.[204] This was a small account, mainly -fed by New Year and other gifts to the Queen. The expenditure out of it -only averaged about £2,500 a year. Most of it was upon gifts and -rewards, which were detailed in a book of particulars under the sign -manual, unfortunately not preserved. A payment of £5,000 to the Earl of -Moray suggests that it proved a convenient channel for secret service -funds. It also includes items for the keep of the royal fool, for the -purchase of jewels, and for certain annuities, wages, riding charges, -and expenses of the stable and hunt. The Treasurer of the Chamber, under -the new arrangement, spent about £12,000 a year.[205] Out of this he -defrayed the royal alms, certain rewards, wages, annuities, and riding -charges, the maintenance of prisoners, and the expenses of 'apparelling' -the Queen's houses and keeping her gardens. Obviously the two accounts -come very near overlapping at several points. One may suppose that in -the main the Treasurer of the Chamber was responsible for customary -payments and such as could be made on the authority of officers of state -or household; the Keeper of the Privy Purse with those which depended on -the personal pleasure of the sovereign. The officers borne on the -Treasurer of the Chamber's wage list were those who belonged neither to -the household proper nor to the 'standing' offices; the Yeomen of the -Guard, the Watermen, the Apothecaries, the Musicians and Players, the -Hunt, the Footmen and Boys of the Stable, the Artificers, the Rat and -Mole Takers, the Keepers of Paris Garden, the Surveyor of Gates and -Bridges, the Chester Post. That they should also have included the -officers of the Jewel House is explicable from the original connexion -between these and the Treasurer. The Treasurer's own salary and his -office expenses also appear in his account. - -The distinction now drawn between the Treasury of the Chamber and the -Privy Purse must have had the effect of putting the Treasurer in a -position analogous to that of the Secretaries. He was on the way to -becoming an officer of state rather than an officer of the household. - -The order of payment determined upon by the Privy Council appears to -have been that salaries chargeable to the Treasurer of the Chamber -should be payable upon 'warrants dormant', 'riding charges' for -messengers upon warrants from the Secretary, and miscellaneous payments, -such as rewards for plays at court, upon warrants from the Privy Council -itself.[206] Sir Francis Knollys became Treasurer of the Chamber when -Mason died upon 21 April 1566[207]; and Thomas, afterwards Sir Thomas, -Heneage, when Knollys was appointed Treasurer of the Household, on 15 -February 1570.[208] Knollys, throughout his period of office, and -Heneage, from 1589, combined the Treasurership with the duties of -Vice-Chamberlain of the Household. Heneage died in October 1595, and -there was some delay before a successor was appointed.[209] A trial of -strength seems to have taken place between Essex and Burghley, who -regarded the filling of the vacancy, together with the much more -important vacancy in the Secretaryship, as critical to his chances of -prolonging his dynasty. Burghley's candidate was John Stanhope; Essex's -Sir Henry Unton, to whom he wrote about his prospects on 24 October -1595, telling him that Robert Cecil was troubled at the competition, and -thought that neither would carry it.[210] I am not sure that Cecil had -been quite straightforward with Essex. Another aspirant was Sir Edward -Wotton.[211] There is gossip about the matter in Rowland Whyte's letters -to Sir Robert Sidney.[212] On 29 October he wrote, 'Probi is comanded to -wayt at court; hath spoken with her Majestie, and is sayd he shall haue -the Disbursing of the Treasory of the Chamber, till her Majestie be -pleased to bestow yt. Sir H. Umpton and Mr. John Stanhope, stands for -yt.' On 5 November, 'Peter Proby paies the money till a Treasorer of the -Chamber be chosen, which will not be in hast'. Peter Proby was a useful -hanger-on of Burghley's, and had been his barber. On 20 November 'Sir -Thomas Heneges Funerals were solemnised, his Offices all vnbestowed'. By -7 December Whyte ventures a prophecy: - - 'I heare that Mr. Killigrew shall receve and pay the Treasure - of the Chamber, till the Queen find one fitt for it; but if - this continew true, Mr. Killigrew will haue it in the End - himself.' - -Whyte was wrong, however. William Killigrew was a mere stop-gap.[213] On -20 December, Whyte has an inkling of what is going on, and commits his -new information to cipher. - - 'The Queen hath promised him [Sir H. Unton] the Thresureship of - the Chamber, and stands constant in it, and at his return to - haue it. But if 900 [Burghley] and 200 [Cecil], that would 40 - [Stanhope] had it, can hinder it, the other shall goe without - it.' - -It was not until 5 July that, according to an amused letter from Anthony -Bacon, 'Elephas peperit' with the swearing in of Sir Robert Cecil as -Secretary and John Stanhope as Treasurer of the Chamber, 'so that now -the old man may say with the rich man in the gospel _requiescat anima -mea_'. - -Burghley himself notes the appointment without comment in his -diary.[214] John Stanhope, who was knighted on his appointment and -created Lord Stanhope of Harrington on 4 May 1605, did not get the -Vice-Chamberlainship until 1601. He remained Treasurer until his death -in 1617. There was some characteristic Stuart traffic in the reversion. -Sir Thomas Overbury held it at his death in 1613. Lord Rochester then -bought it from Stanhope for £2,000, and offered it to Sir Henry Neville, -who declined to take it from a subject. Finally it passed to Sir William -Uvedale, who in fact became Treasurer in succession to Stanhope.[215] - -During Stanhope's tenure of office, some changes in the 'order of -payment' took place. The account for 1607-8 recites a privy seal of 27 -January 1608 as authority for the transfer from the Privy Purse to the -Treasurer of the Chamber of certain payments made on warrants from the -Lord Chamberlain. Similar payments thereafter form a regular section of -the account from year to year. By a later privy seal of 11 October 1614, -still extant, an additional sum of £1,500 a year is put at the disposal -of the Treasurer to enable him to meet them.[216] His total assignment -was thus increased to about £20,000 or rather more than half as much -again as the office had cost under Elizabeth. That of the Privy Purse -was now about £6,000.[217] We have seen that there had been -possibilities of overlapping between the two accounts, but it is rather -odd that amongst the items transferred should be specified allowances -for plays, bear-baitings and other sports, since such allowances had -regularly been paid by the Treasurer of the Chamber for something more -than a century past. It is, however, the case that from 1614-15 onwards, -the payments were made on warrants from the Lord Chamberlain instead of -the Privy Council. - -It is rather surprising that the Privy Council, whose members were -carrying out duties roughly analogous to those of a modern Cabinet, -should at any time have concerned itself with such trifling matters of -domestic routine as the signature of certificates authorizing the -payment of rewards at recognized rates to companies of actors and other -entertainers. The explanation, however, is that the Privy Council, like -the Household and the Departments of State themselves, was a direct -representative of the Norman _curia regis_, and that the _curia regis_ -had been the organization through which the King's subjects and servants -gave him assistance in all his affairs, small and great, domestic as -well as political.[218] For all practical purposes, indeed, the -Elizabethan Privy Council consisted of little more than the chief -officers of the State departments and Household, sitting together, and -acting collectively. The great territorial magnates, who at certain -periods of its history had turned it into an instrument for the control -rather than the exercise of the royal prerogative, were now, unless -they happened to hold official positions, rarely sworn amongst its -members; but upon it, side by side with the Chancellor and the -Treasurer, the Admiral and the Privy Seal, sat not only the Secretaries, -but also the Steward and the Chamberlain, the Master of the Horse, the -Treasurer and Comptroller of the Household, and often the -Vice-Chamberlain or the Treasurer of the Chamber. It was therefore -natural enough, to Tudor no less than to mediaeval ways of thinking, -that among its numerous and imperfectly defined activities should be -included some which give it the aspect of a Household board of control. -It was in fact by means of a Household ordinance that Henry VIII -regulated the composition of the Privy Council and directed the constant -attendance of the members upon his own person[219]; and throughout -Elizabeth's reign we find the Council in the closest possible -association with the Court, following it from palace to palace, and even -from stage to stage of the progress, so that the record of its meetings -serves practically as a royal itinerary, and sitting under the most -direct Household influences in some convenient apartment of the Privy -Chamber. There was even no longer, as in the time of Henry VIII, a -'council at London' as well as a 'council with the King', with the -exceptions that, if the Court was very far from head-quarters, a few of -the lords sometimes stayed behind to look after current affairs, and -that the council as a whole seems occasionally to have met at -Westminster when the Court was not there, either in connexion with the -sittings of the Star Chamber, or for special business in the lodgings of -one or other of its members.[220] This tradition of propinquity between -the Sovereign and his council was, however, broken through by James, who -at an early date in his reign took to leaving the lords to transact -business at court, while he went hither and thither on his endless -hunting journeys. - -In the absence of any contemporary _ordinale_ for the Privy Council, -some idea of its methods can be gathered from the register of -transactions kept by its clerks and from other sources.[221] It is -probable that the Queen sometimes sat with the lords, although her -attendance is never recorded in the register.[222] The usual president -was the Lord Chancellor; the earlier Tudor post of President of the -Council was rarely, if ever, filled up by Elizabeth.[223] But the -general supervision of the clerks and the preparation of business for -consideration, other than that which lay directly within the department -of some particular officer, seems to have fallen to the Secretary. The -number of councillors was gradually reduced from twenty-four at the -beginning to thirteen at the end of the reign. Of these not more than -half were generally present at any one sitting. But there appears to -have been no fixed quorum; occasionally only two members or even one -transacted business. At first three meetings a week sufficed; later they -were often held daily, both by morning and afternoon, and even on -Sundays. Wednesday and Friday were generally set aside for petitions and -other private business, and the remaining days devoted to public -affairs. Drafts of proclamations were passed by the Council before they -received the royal sign manual, and thus became of the nature of Orders -in Council.[224] Where a proclamation was not in question, the -conclusions arrived at by the Council were embodied in a minute, and -submitted through the Secretary for royal approval. When this had been -obtained, any executive action was then taken in the form of warrants or -letters to administrative officers, central or local, or to individuals, -according to the nature of the business. These required the signature of -not less than six councillors, who were not necessarily those present -when the business was discussed. Before they were put forward for -signature they were subscribed by the Secretary or one of the clerks. -Warrants to the Treasurer of the Chamber or other paymasters were also -impressed by the clerk with the special seal of the council. The minutes -were ultimately placed in the council chest, which is unfortunately -lost. But copies or abstracts of those which related to public affairs, -or in some cases copies of the letters finally issued, were made by the -clerks and from time to time bound up in volumes, of which a series, far -from continuous, is preserved.[225] Even at their fullest, however, -these 'Acts of the Council' cannot be supposed to form a complete record -of its proceedings. Council letters are to be found in many local -archives of which no note exists in the register. There were four or -five Clerks of the Council who took duty, two at a time, according to a -monthly rota, and it is clear that some of them were more business-like -than others. But it is also probable that much business of a -confidential character was deliberately left without record. In addition -to the clerks, there was a Keeper of the Council Chamber door, probably -one of the Ushers of the Chamber, and the Messengers of the Chamber were -available to carry such letters as could not conveniently be entrusted -to the regular staff of the Master of Posts.[226] - -The ordinary sittings of the Privy Council were of course held in -private, and each member took a special oath of secrecy upon -appointment. But on each Wednesday and Friday during term time they -resolved themselves into the Court of Star Chamber, and held a public -sitting to inquire into cases of riot, libel, disregard of -proclamations, and the like. Herein they were exercising the old power -of the _curia regis_ to duplicate the functions of the law courts.[227] -For Star Chamber purposes they associated with themselves judges, who -ranked as 'ordinary' but not 'privy' councillors.[228] 'Ordinary' -councillors also were the Queen's 'counsel learned in the law', who -included the Attorney- and Solicitor-Generals and the Queen's Serjeants, -and the Masters of Requests who, by another exercise of curial -jurisdiction, sat in the old 'white hall' at Westminster to deal, under -the general direction of the Privy Council, with civil cases arising out -of the suits of poor men or of royal servants.[229] The political -functions of the Privy Council lie beyond the scope of this study, but -their concern with all matters affecting breach of the peace, sedition, -heresy, and public health entailed, under more than one of these heads, -a general supervision of the stage, which will be the subject for -discussion in a later chapter.[230] Similarly, the players, or those of -them who were royal servants, came as such under the jurisdiction of the -Court of Requests, and some interesting information as to their -contracts and disputes is derived from the records of that -tribunal.[231] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 84: _22 George III_, c. 82.] - -[Footnote 85: Stubbs, i. 382; Round, 68, 76, 82, 112, 140; Tout, 67. By -Elizabeth's accession the High Stewardship and High Constableship had -reverted to the Crown, and the offices were only temporarily conferred -for occasions of state. The Great Chamberlainship was _de iure_ in the -same position, but was accepted under a misunderstanding as hereditary -in the house of De Vere, Earls of Oxford. The Chief Butlership was -hereditary in the house of Fitzalan, Earls of Arundel, and the Earl -Marshalship in that of Howard, Dukes of Norfolk. It reverted on the -attainder of Thomas 4th Duke in 1572. On 28 Dec. 1597 it was conferred -on Robert Earl of Essex, and after his execution on 25 Feb. 1601 was -placed in commission. These great offices, granted as hereditaments, are -to be distinguished from serjeanties, or grants of land _per -servientiam_ to the holders of minor household posts, which thus became -hereditary. Grants of serjeanties ceased early in the thirteenth -century, and the only household duties exercised by their holders in the -sixteenth century were formal ones on special occasions.] - -[Footnote 86: The derivation is through the French from O. H. G. -_marascalh_ (_marah_, horse; _scalh_, servant). Round, 84, traces an -early connexion of the marshal with the stable.] - -[Footnote 87: A Squire of the Body held the office of Master of the -Horse in 1480 (Nicolas, _Wardrobe Accts. of Ed. IV_). The term 'Master', -generally applied to heads of offices in the outer ring of the -Household, does not seem to be of very early origin. It probably -replaces the fourteenth-century 'Serjeant'. Sir Thomas Cawarden got a -'Mastership' of the Revels in 1544, as he 'did mislyke to be tearmed a -Seriaunt because of his better countenaunce of roome and place beinge of -the kinges maiesties privye Chamber' (_Tudor Revels_, 2). The Mastership -of the Horse was held by Lord Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of -Leicester (11 Jan. 1559-87), Robert Earl of Essex (23 Dec. 1587-25 Feb. -1601), Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester (deputy Dec. 1597; Master -21 Apr. 1601-2 Jan. 1616), Sir George Villiers, afterwards Duke of -Buckingham (3 Jan. 1616). The appointment, like that of other 'Masters', -but unlike that of the Chamberlain and Steward, was by patent and -carried a fee of 1,000 marks (£666 13_s._ 4_d._). Amongst the lesser -Stable officers were the royal Footmen, whom we might expect to find in -the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 88: _H. O._ 19, 55.] - -[Footnote 89: For the functions of Hall officers, as understood in the -fifteenth century, cf. the 'courtesy' books, especially J. Russell's -_Boke of Nurture_, the anonymous _Boke of Kervynge_ and _Boke of -Curtesye_ (Furnivall, _Babee's Book_), and R. W. Chambers, _A -Fifteenth-Century Courtesy Book_.] - -[Footnote 90: The Treasurers of the Household were Sir Thomas Cheyne -(1558-9), Sir Thomas Parry (1559-70), Sir Francis Knollys (1570-96), -Roger Lord North (1596-1600), Sir William Knollys, afterwards Lord -Knollys (1602-16); the Comptrollers, Sir Thomas Parry (1558-9), Sir -Edward Rogers (1559-67), Sir James Croft (1570-90), Sir William Knollys -(1596-1602), Sir Edward Wotton, afterwards Lord Wotton (1602-16); cf. -_D. N. B._, _passim_ (with some errors); Dasent, vii. 3, 43; _V. P._ -vii. 1; _Sp. P._ ii. 227; Wright, i. 355; _Sadleir Papers_, ii. 368; -_Carew Correspondence_ (C.S.), 152.] - -[Footnote 91: The Lords Steward were Henry Earl of Arundel (1558-64), -William Earl of Pembroke (1567-70), Edward Earl of Lincoln (1581-4), -Robert Earl of Leicester (1585-8), Henry Earl of Derby (1588-93), -Charles Earl of Nottingham (1597-1615), Ludovick Duke of Lennox and -afterwards Richmond (1615-24); cf. Dasent, xxviii. 60, 107; _S. P. D. -Eliz._ clxxiii. 94; Stowe, 664; _Sc. P._ ix. 611; _Sp. P._ i. 18, 368, -631; ii. 239, 455; iv. 122; _V. P._ vii. 3; _Hatfield MSS._ i. 452; xi. -478; _Sydney Papers_, ii. 75, 77; Hawarde, 84; Camden (trans.), 124, -226, 373, and _James_, 14; La Mothe Fénelon, ii. 332; iv. 437; v. 60; -Goodman, i. 178, 191; Cheyney, 28; _Lords Journals_, i. 543, 581; ii. -21, 62, 64, 116, 146, 169, 192, 227, &c.; Wright, _Arthur Hall_, 194-7.] - -[Footnote 92: Larson, 132; J. H. Round, _The Officers of Edward the -Confessor_ in _E. H. R._ xix. 90.] - -[Footnote 93: _Hist. Mon. Abingdon_, ii. 43.] - -[Footnote 94: _Constitutio Domus Regis_ in H. Hall, _Red Book of -Exchequer_, iii. 807; Hearne, _Liber Niger Scaccarii_, i. 352: 'Magister -Camerarius par est Dapifero in lib[er]acione ... Camerarius qui vice sua -servit, ii solid. in die ... Camerarius Candelae, viiiᵈ in die ... -Camerarii sine liberacione in domo comedent, si voluerint'; cf. Stubbs, -i. 391; Poole, 96; Round, 62.] - -[Footnote 95: Round, 112.] - -[Footnote 96: _Fleta_, ii. 2: 'Auditis querimoniis iniuriarum in aula -regia audire et terminare [Senescallum], assumptis sibi Camerario, -hostiario, vel marescallo aulae militibus, vel aliquo illorum, si omnes -interesse non possint'; ii. 6: 'Camerarius autem et subminister -Camerarii a jurisdictione Senescalli et Marescalli exempti sunt, veluti -omnes garderobarii ut in quibusdam; non enim extendit se iurisdictio -Senescalli ad modica delicta Camerariorum vel garderobariorum audienda -vel terminanda, eo quod ex consuetudine hospitii sunt exempti, dum tamen -illi de quibus exigi contigerit curiae coram Senescallo Cameris Regis et -Reginae, et garderobae assidue sunt intendentes; sed coram ipsis -Thesaurario et Camerario audiantur querimoniae de huiusmodi ministris et -subditis suis, et terminabuntur, praesente tamen clerico Regis ad -placita aulae deputato; ita quod de finibus et amerciamentis ex -huiusmodi placitis provenientibus nihil Regi depereat.'] - -[Footnote 97: _Flores Historiarum_, iii. 194; cf. _Fleta_, ii. 16.] - -[Footnote 98: Tout, 12, 68, 169. The 'Seneschal' and 'chambirleyne' are -on the same footing as regards fees and allowances in the ordinances of -1318 (Tout, 270). They are knights, and may be bannerets.] - -[Footnote 99: _Fleta_, ii. 6: 'Debet enim Camerarius decenter disponere -pro lecto Regis, et ut Camerae tapetis et banqueriis ornentur, et quod -ignes sufficienter fiant in caminis, et providere ne ullus defectus -inveniatur quatenus officium suum contigerit'; ii. 7: 'Foeda autem -Camerarii sunt haec, parata sibi debent esse quaecunque pro corpore suo -sint necessaria; videlicet, cibus, potus, busca, et candela; et de -caeteris foedis sic statuitur. Camerarii Domini Regis habeant de caetero -ab Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, Abbatibus, Prioribus, et aliis personis -Ecclesiasticis, Comitibus, Baronibus, et aliis integram Baroniam -tenentibus, rationabilem finem, cum pro Baroniis suis homagium fecerint -aut fidelitatem; et si partem teneant Baroniae, tunc rationabilem finem -capiant secundum portionem ipsos contingentem.... Permissum est etiam -quod Camerarius ex antiqua consuetudine habeat omnia vetera banqueria et -tapetos, curtinas et lecta Regis, nec non et omnia ornamenta Camerae -usitata et derelicta, et de omnibus exeniis Regi factis Cameram -ingredientibus, dum tamen de victualibus aliquam portionem.'] - -[Footnote 100: Nicolas, _P. C._ vi. ccxix.] - -[Footnote 101: _H. O._ 31 (1478): 'A chamberlayn for the King in -household, the grete officer sitting in the Kinges chambre.... He -presenteth, chargeth, and dischargeth all suche persounes as be of the -Kinges chaumbre, except all suche officers of household, as ministre for -any vytayle for the Kinges mouthe, or for his chambre; for all those -take theire charge at the grene cloth in the countynghouse. This is the -chief hed of rulers in the Kinges chambre.... Item, he hath the punition -of all them that are longing to the chaumber for any offence or -outrage.... The Chaumberlayne taketh his othe and staffe of the King or -of his counsayle; he shall at no tyme within this courte be covered in -his service.... Within the Kinges gates, no man shall harborow or -assigne but this chambyrlayn or ussher, or suche under hym of the King's -chambre havyng theyr power. This chamberlayn besyly to serche and -oversee the King's chambres, and the astate made therein, to be -according, first for all the array longing to his proper royall person, -for his proper beddes, for his proper boarde at meale tymes, for the -diligent doyng in servyng thereof to his honour and pleasure; to assigne -kervers, cupbearers, assewers, phisitians, almoners, knyghts, or other -wurshypfull astate for the towell, and for the basyn squires of the body -to be attendaunt'; 116 (1493): 'In the absence of the chamberlaine, the -usher shall have the same power to command in like manner; alsoe, it is -right necessarie for the chamberlaine and ushers to have ever in -remembrance all the highe festival dayes in the yeare, and all other -tymes, what is longing to their office, that they bee not to seeke when -neede is; for they shall have many lookers-on. And such thinges as the -ushers know not, lett them resort unto the chamberlaine, and aske his -advice at all tymes therein; and soe the ushers bee excused, and the -chamberlaine to see that hee reveale himselfe at all tymes, that hee may -bee beloved and feared of all such as belong to the chamber.'] - -[Footnote 102: Goodman, i. 178, speaking of Hunsdon's time: 'The lord -chamberlain, there being at that time no lord steward, is the greatest -governor in the King's house; he disposeth of all things above stairs, -he hath a greater command of the King's guard than the captains hath, he -makes all the chaplains, chooseth most of the King's servants, and all -the pursuivants; there being then no dean of the King's chapel, he -disposeth of all in the chapel.'] - -[Footnote 103: Young, _Mary Sidney_, 16, gives from _Sydney Papers_, i. -271, and manuscripts several letters of 1574-8 from Lady Sidney to Lord -Chamberlain Sussex about her accommodation at court. Heneage reported to -Hatton on 2 Apr. 1585 (Nicolas, _Hatton_, 415) the Queen's anger with -the Lord Chamberlain for allowing Raleigh to be put in Hatton's lodging. -Lord Hunsdon apologizes to Sir Robert Cecil for his ill lodging in 1594 -(_Hatfield MSS._ iv. 504).] - -[Footnote 104: Cf. ch. iv.] - -[Footnote 105: Cf. App. F. Secretary Walsingham in 1590 refers an -applicant for an audience to the Lord Chamberlain, 'who otherwise will -conceave, as he doth alreadie, that I seke to drawe those matters from -him' (_Hatfield MSS._ iv. 3).] - -[Footnote 106: _Sp. P._ ii. 606. The default was at the reception of -Alençon's envoys in Aug. 1578. The Calendar makes Sussex 'Lord Steward', -but the original (_Documentos Inéditos_, xci. 270) has 'gran Camarero'. -In 1582, at the reception of a lord mayor, 'some young gentilman, being -more bold than well mannered, did stand upon the carpett of the clothe -of estate, and did allmost leane upon the queshions. Her Highnes found -fault with my Lord Chamberlayn and Mʳ Vice-Chamberlayn, and with the -Gentlemen Ushers, for suffering such disorders' (Fleetwood to Burghley -in Wright, ii. 174).] - -[Footnote 107: Cf. ch. vi, p. 205, on the misadventure of Jonson and Sir -John Roe in 1603; also Jonson's _Irish Mask_ (1613), 12, 'Ish it te -fashion to beate te imbasheters here, and knoke 'hem o' te heads phit te -phoit stick?', and Beaumont and Fletcher, _Maid's Tragedy_ (_c._ 1611), -1. ii. 44, 'I cannot blame my lord Calianax for going away: would he -were here! he would run raging amongst them, and break a dozen wiser -heads than his own in the twinkling of an eye'. John Chamberlain says of -Comptroller Sir Thomas Edmondes in 1617 (Birch, i. 385), 'They say he -doth somewhat too much flourish and fence with his staves, whereof he -hath broken two already, not at tilt, but stickling at the plays this -Christmas', and Osborne, _James_, 75, of Philip, Earl of Pembroke, that -'he was intolerable choleric and offensive, and did not refrain, whilst -he was Chamberlain, to break many wiser heads than his own [_vide -supra_]: Mʳ. May that translated Lucan having felt the weight of his -staff: which had not his office and the place, being the -Banqueting-house, protected, I question whether he would ever have -struck again'. This was in Feb. 1634 (_Strafford Papers_, i. 207).] - -[Footnote 108: Machyn, 183, of Mary's funeral, 'All the offesers whent -to the grayffe, and after brake ther stayffes, and cast them into the -grayffe'; Gawdy, _Letters_, 128, of Elizabeth's, 'I saw all the whit -staves broken uppon ther heades'.] - -[Footnote 109: _Lord Chamberlains Books_, 811, ff. 178, 206, 236, -contains warrants to the Wardrobe for the liveries of Lord Sussex, Lord -Howard, and George Lord Hunsdon. The fee of £16 appears in a memorandum -of 1606-7 (Nichols, _James_, ii. 125).] - -[Footnote 110: The ordinary books of reference give a very inaccurate -list of Elizabethan Chamberlains. I have collected the evidence in _M. -S. C._ i. 31.] - -[Footnote 111: Goodman, i. 178, says that Hunsdon was 'ever reputed a -very honest man, but a very passionate man, a great swearer, and of -little eminency'. Naunton (ed. Arber, 46) gives a similar account.] - -[Footnote 112: Stowe, _Annals_, 936; Birch, _James_, i. 336; Wotton, -_Letters_, ii. 40, 41.] - -[Footnote 113: _V. P._ xiv. 65; Camden, _James_, 14.] - -[Footnote 114: Birch, _James_, i. 382; Camden, _James_, 15; _V. P._ xiv. -100. Philip Herbert himself became Earl of Pembroke at his brother's -death on 10 Apr. 1630. He took the parliamentary side in politics, and -surrendered his staff on 23 July 1641. Robert Devereux, third Earl of -Essex, although also a parliamentarian, succeeded him from 24 July 1641 -to 12 Apr. 1642 (_L. Ch. Records_, v. 96).] - -[Footnote 115: _M. S. C._ i. 34, 40. Howard of Effingham is described in -the _Revels Accounts_ (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 238) as 'my L. Chamberlayne -the L. Haward' on 5 Dec. 1574, and more precisely in the Chamber Order -Book of Worcester as 'Lord Chamberlayn in the absence of the E. of -Sussex' in Aug. 1575 (Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 533).] - -[Footnote 116: Nicolas, _P. C._ vi. ccxxi; cf. p. 37.] - -[Footnote 117: Dasent, vii. 3, 43; Wright, i. 355; La Mothe, v. 60; -_Sadleir Papers_, ii. 368, 410; _Sydney Papers_, ii. 89, 198, 216; -Chamberlain, 100; _D. N. B._] - -[Footnote 118: Hearne, _Liber Niger Scaccarii_, i. 352, 'Portator lecti -Regis in domo comedet, & homini suo iii ob. & i summarium cum -liberacione sua'; cf. _H. O._ 39, 42, 251. These Wardrobes were -distinct, alike from the Great Wardrobe and from the standing Wardrobes, -to which the furniture of the permanently equipped palaces was committed -(_H. O._ 262).] - -[Footnote 119: _H. O._ 39.] - -[Footnote 120: Carlisle, 11, assigns the institution of the Gentlemen to -Henry VII, but this is inconsistent with the official document of 1638 -printed by him (112), which definitely refers it to Henry VIII. He also -gives from _Addl. MS._ 5758, ff. 263ᵛ, 269ᵛ, a list described by him as -of Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber at the time of the King's 'French -expedition, in 1513'. But in the manuscript the list is simply headed -'The Kinges prevy chamber'; it is part of an enumeration of 'the King's -Trayne to Bulloyne', is not dated 1513, and probably belongs to 1544. -Similarly a list of Gentlemen, printed by Brewer, ii. 871, from _Royal -MS._ 7, F. xiv. 100, and dated by him 1516, proves on scrutiny to be -certainly later than 1520, and may therefore be later still, while a -number of alleged grants to Gentlemen and Grooms of the Privy Chamber -between 1510 and 1514 (Brewer, i. 148, 195, 205, 280, 364, 748) may be -seen by comparison with other entries for some of the same personages -(i. 11, 18, 91, 96, 113, 243, 410, 425, 448, 493, 600, 612) to be merely -due to bad abstracting. Evidently Brewer, when working upon his first -volume, had not distinguished between a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber -and a Gentleman Usher of the Chamber, or between a Groom of the Privy -Chamber and a Groom of the Chamber. The first clear example of Grooms -and Pages of the Privy Chamber which I have come across is in a military -list of June 1513 (Brewer, i. 634). Here there are no Gentlemen, but in -Sept. 1518 a parallel list of French and English names (Brewer, ii. -1357) has a section of Gentlemen of the Chamber, in which occur, besides -French names, those of Sir E. Nevell, Arthur Poole, Nicolas Carewe, -Francis Brian, Henry Norris, William Coffyn. I believe the categories of -this list to be French rather than English. In 1520 (Brewer, iii. 244) a -Chamber list gives the names of four squires for the body followed by -'William Cary in the Privy Chamber', and in the same year a list of -quarterly wages due from the Treasurer of the Chamber (Brewer, iii. 408) -has, besides four Grooms of the Privy Chamber at 50_s._ each, 'Henry -Norris and William Caree of the privy chamber' at £8 6_s._ 8_d._ each. -On the other hand, a list of Chamber officers of 1526, probably just -before the Eltham Articles (_Lord Steward's Misc._ 299, f. 153), has -still no Gentlemen, though it has Grooms of the Privy (here called -'King's') Chamber. As I read these facts, the distinction between the -Outer and the Privy Chamber was made in Henry VII's reign or early in -Henry VIII's. The Grooms were then divided into two classes. But the -institution of the Gentlemen was later and apparently upon a French -model. At first, about 1520, one or two Squires were personally assigned -to attendance in the Privy Chamber. Then the arrangement was regulated, -and a definite class of Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber established, by -the Eltham Articles in 1526. As to _status_, the duties of the Gentlemen -seem to have been in practice much those of the Squires of Household in -the _Liber Niger_ (1478), which were probably already exercised by -Chaucer in the same capacity a century before. 'These Esquiers of -houshold of old be accustumed, wynter and somer, in aftyrnoones and in -eveninges, to drawe to lordes chambres within courte, there to kepe -honest company aftyr theyre cunnynge, in talkyng of cronycles of kings -and of other polycyes, or in pypeyng, or harpyng, syngyng, or other -actes martialles, to help occupy the courte, and accompany straungers, -tyll the tyme require of departing' (_H. O._ 46). Stowe (_Annales_, -565), describing the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533, calls the -Gentlemen 'Esquires of Honour'. Their precedence under Elizabeth was -after that of the Esquires of the Body (Carlisle, 86). On the other -hand, some of the Gentlemen appointed in 1526 had been Knights of the -Body, and the office of Knight of the Body appears shortly after to have -become obsolete. Knights are included as chamber officers in the -Elizabethan fee lists, but I can find no evidence that any were in fact -appointed.] - -[Footnote 121: The Grooms were distinguished from the Gentlemen in the -post-Restoration court (Chamberlayne, 247) by not wearing sword, cloak, -or hat in the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 122: _Constitutio Domus Regis_ (_c._ 1135) in Hearne, _Liber -Niger Scaccarii_, i. 356, 'Hostiarius Camerae unaquaque die, quo Rex -iter agit, iiijᵈ ad lectum Regis'; cf. _H. O._ 37, and p. 37, _supra_. -On the etiquette of Bedchamber service, as inherited from the fifteenth -century, cf. Furnivall, _Babee's Book_, 175, 313.] - -[Footnote 123: The feminine posts do not appear in the fee lists. -_Lansd. MS._ lix, f. 43, gives (_c._ 1588) two ladies at 50 marks (£33 -6_s._ 8_d._) and one at £20 as 'The Bed chamber', five at 50 marks as -'Gentlewomen of yᵉ privey Chamber', and four at £20 as 'Chamberers'. The -term 'The Queen's Women' appears in the list of liveries for Elizabeth's -funeral. Beyond these there were probably only a few women, e. g. a -'lawndrys', employed at court; cf. Cheyney, i. 18. In the New Year Gift -lists the official women are mixed up with wives of men officers and -others in attendance at court.] - -[Footnote 124: Katharine Astley seems to have been First Lady in 1562 -(Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 116), Katharine Howard, afterwards Lady Howard of -Effingham, from 1572-87 (_Sloane MS._ 814; Nichols, i. 294; ii. 65, 251; -_Sp. P._ ii. 661), and Dorothy Lady Stafford in 1587 (_Sp. P._ iv. 14). -But Mary Ratcliffe had charge of the jewels from July 1587 to the end of -Elizabeth's reign (Nichols, iii. 1, 445; _Egerton Papers_, 313; _S. P. -D. Jac. I_, i. 79; _Addl. MS._ 5751, f. 222; _Royal MS. Appendix_, 68), -apparently in succession to Blanche Parry.] - -[Footnote 125: For the white dresses, cf. App. F; _Sydney Papers_, ii. -170; _S. P. D. Eliz._ cclxxxii. 48 (vol. iv, p. 114); L. Cust in _Trans. -Walpole Soc._ iii. 12; for the lodging in the Coffer Chamber, doubtless -where the 'sweet coffers' were kept, _Sydney Papers_, ii. 38. -Elizabeth's predecessors, at least from the reign of Edward II (Tout, -280; cf. _H. O._ 44), had maintained some of the young lads who were -royal wards at court under the name of Henchmen, but on 11 Dec. 1565 -Francis Alen wrote to Lord Shrewsbury (Lodge, i. 438), 'Her Highness -hath of late, whereat some do much marvel, dissolved the ancient office -of the Henchmen'.] - -[Footnote 126: This may be exemplified from the histories of Robert -Dudley and Mrs. Cavendish, of Walter Raleigh and Elizabeth Throgmorton, -of Robert Tyrwhitt and Bridget Manners, of Southampton and Elizabeth -Vernon, of Essex and Elizabeth Brydges, Mary Howard, Elizabeth Russell -and Elizabeth Southwell, and of Pembroke and Mary Fitton.] - -[Footnote 127: Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 24; _Sp. P._ i. 45; ii. 675.] - -[Footnote 128: Philip Henslowe (ch. xi), George Bryan (ch. xv), and John -Singer (ch. xv) were Grooms, and Anthony Munday (ch. xxii) and possibly -Lawrence Dutton (ch. xv) Messengers of the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 129: Cf. ch. iv. I doubt whether the Harbingers were -originally Chamber officers, but they seem to be so classed under Henry -VIII (_H. O._ 169) and in the Elizabethan fee lists.] - -[Footnote 130: An order of 1493 'for all night' is in _H. O._ 109; -Pegge, ii. 16, has a long account of the same usage in the -post-Restoration Household. John Lyly (ch. xxiii) and Sir George Buck -(ch. iii) were Esquires of the Body. A brawl in 1598 between the Earl of -Southampton and Ambrose Willoughby, who was in charge of the Presence -Chamber as Esquire of the Body after the Queen had gone to bed, is -recorded in _Sydney Papers_, ii. 83.] - -[Footnote 131: _H. O._ 33 (_c._ 1478), 'In the noble Edwardes [Ed. III] -dayes worshipfull esquires did this servyce, but now thus for the more -worthy'.] - -[Footnote 132: At Elizabeth's funeral the Earl of Shrewsbury had a -livery as Cupbearer and the Earl of Sussex as Carver.] - -[Footnote 133: Cf. App. F.] - -[Footnote 134: Philip Henslowe (ch. xi) became a Sewer of the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 135: Brewer, ii. 871 (assigned to 1516, but probably later -than 1526). The livery list for Elizabeth's coronation includes 7 Ladies -of the Privy Chamber 'without wages' and 11 others 'extraordinary', 4 -'ordinary' Esquires of the Body, and 6 Gentlemen Waiters (i. e. of the -Privy Chamber) 'unplaced'; that for her funeral 16 Grooms of the Chamber -'in ordinarie' and 23 'extraordinary, but daily attendant', 5 Pages of -the Chamber 'in ordinary' and 3 'extraordinary', and a number of -Esquires of the Body and Sewers of the Chamber far in excess of anything -contemplated by the fee lists.] - -[Footnote 136: Batiffol, 93, describes a similar practice in the French -household.] - -[Footnote 137: Cf. ch. xiii (Queen's, King's).] - -[Footnote 138: Philip Henslowe (ch. xi) seems to have passed from the -'extraordinary' to the 'ordinary' status as Groom of the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 139: Pegge, v. 49. There were 'xx servientes, unusquisque jᵈ -in die' in the _Domus_ of Henry I (Hearne, _Liber Niger Scaccarii_, i. -356).] - -[Footnote 140: Pegge, iii; Tout, 304 (1318): 'Item xxiiij archers a pee, -garde corps le roi, qirrount deuaunt le roi en cheminant par pays'; _H. -O._ 38 (1478).] - -[Footnote 141: Sir Christopher Hatton was Captain of the Guard 1572-87, -Sir Walter Raleigh 1587-1603, Sir Thomas Erskine, afterwards Viscount -Fenton (1605) and Earl of Kelly (1619), 1603-32.] - -[Footnote 142: Halle, i. 14; ii. 294; Pegge, ii. An Elizabethan book of -orders for the Pensioners (1601) is in _H. O._ 276.] - -[Footnote 143: Cf. App. F.] - -[Footnote 144: On the development of the Secretaries, cf. Tout, 175; -Davies, 228; Nicolas, _P. C._ vi, xcvii; Cheyney, i. 43; R. H. Gretton, -_The King's Government_, 25; L. H. Dibben, _Secretaries in the -Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries_ (_E. H. R._ xxv. 430).] - -[Footnote 145: On the Chapel, cf. ch. xii, s.v.] - -[Footnote 146: Payments on account of Robert Grene, a court fool, appear -in the _Privy Purse Accounts_ for 1559-69 (Nichols, i. 264). Apparently -the post was hereditary; a warrant of 1567 for the clothes of 'Jack -Grene our foole' is in _Addl. MS._ 35328. C. C. Stopes, _Elizabeth's -Fools and Dwarfs_ (_Shakespeare's Environment_, 269), adds from a -Wardrobe book of 1577-1600 (_Lord Chamb. Books_, v. 36) 'Thomasina', a -dwarf or _muliercula_, and from another (_Lord Chamb. Books_, v. 34) -'The Foole', 'William Shenton our Foole', 'Ipolyta the Tartarian', 'an -Italian named Monarcho', 'a lytle Blackamore'. References to Monarcho, -including _L. L. L._ IV. i. 101, are collected in _Var._ iv. 345, and -McKerrow, _Nashe_, iv. 339. Dee, 7, records a visit from the Queen's -dwarf 'Mʳˢ Thomasin' on 7 June 1580.] - -[Footnote 147: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 50.] - -[Footnote 148: Lafontaine, 45. Numerous records of the musical -establishment are collected by Lafontaine from the _Lord Chamberlain's -Records_, and by W. Nagel, _Annalen der englischen Hofmusik_ (_Beilage -zu den Monatsheften für Musikgeschichte_, Bd. 26), and more completely -in the _Musical Antiquary_ (Oct. 1909-Apr. 1913) from the _T. C. -Accounts_. The fee lists are not to be relied upon.] - -[Footnote 149: This was Mathias Mason. The lutenists also include Robert -Hales (1586-1603), Henry Porter (1603), also described in the same year -as a sackbut, and Philip Rosseter (1604-23), on whom cf. ch. xv.] - -[Footnote 150: John Heywood was certainly a Sewer of the chamber to -Henry VIII (cf. ch. xii, s.v. Paul's), and Edward VI had a group of -singers holding these posts (Lafontaine, 9), but there is no definite -evidence of a similar arrangement under Elizabeth. On Alfonso -Ferrabosco, cf. ch. xiv (Italians).] - -[Footnote 151: On the relation of the Lord Chamberlain to the Revels in -particular, cf. ch. iii. The issues from the Great Wardrobe were mainly -upon his warrants.] - -[Footnote 152: _H. O._ 37. The post of Clerk of Works is also called an -'office outward' (_H. O._ 54).] - -[Footnote 153: Cf. ch. iii, especially Tilney's list of 'standing -offices' _c._ 1607. The 'maisters of the standing offices' also appear -in the description of James's coronation (Nichols, _James_, i. 325).] - -[Footnote 154: Thus the curious fee of £11 8_s._ 1½_d._ a year -represents 7½_d._ a day, the regular wages of esquires, serjeants, -and many clerks under Edward II (Tout, 270).] - -[Footnote 155: The £100 was 'from the King's privy coffers' _c._ 1478 -(_H. O._ 41), but by 1508 it was from the Exchequer (Henry, _Hist. of -Great Britain_, xii. 454), and here it was still paid in the seventeenth -century (Sullivan, 252, from _Pells Order Books_).] - -[Footnote 156: Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 47, from return of Board of Green -Cloth (1576).] - -[Footnote 157: Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 45, 51. 'Bouche' or 'bouge' of court -is clearly from _busca_, bush, firewood. The allowance was as old as -1290, for _Fleta_, ii. 7, notes _cibus_, _potus_, _busca_, and _candela_ -amongst the Chamberlain's fees (cf. p. 37). It is set out for each -officer in 1318 (Tout, 270) and _c._ 1478 (_H. O._ 15).] - -[Footnote 158: Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 44.] - -[Footnote 159: _H. O._ 34, 'because ray clothinge is not according for -the king's knightes, therefore it was left'. But an order of June 1478 -(_T. R. Misc._ 206, f. 11) required Lords, Knights, Squires of the Body, -and others within the household to wear 'a colour of the kings livery -about their nekkes'.] - -[Footnote 160: Cheyney, i. 32; Devon, 24, 43, 67, 83; _Abstract_, 8; -Pegge, iii. 27; Nichols, _James_, ii. 125; _V. P._ vii. 12; Hentzner, -_Itinerarium_ (quoted App. F); _Addl. MS._ 5750, f. 114; _Lord -Chamberlain's Records_, v. 90, 91. The 'watchyng clothing' is as old as -Edward IV (_H. O._ 38, 41). It seems to have been 4 yards of medley -colour at 5_s._ a yard (Sullivan, 253). The sovereigns seem to have made -some use of personal colours as distinct from the royal scarlet. Those -of Edward VI were green and white (Von Raumer, ii. 71); those of -Elizabeth black and white; cf. pp. 142, 161 (1559, 1560, 1564).] - -[Footnote 161: Pegge, iii. 92.] - -[Footnote 162: Cf. ch. xiii (Queen's).] - -[Footnote 163: Cf. ch. iii.] - -[Footnote 164: Carlisle, 90, with a list of many of James's Gentlemen.] - -[Footnote 165: The order of 1526 for the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber -prescribes that one of them, Henry Norris, 'shall be in the roome of Sir -William Compton, not only giveing his attendance as groome of the Kings -stoole, but also in his bed-chamber, and other privy places, as shall -stand with his pleasure' (_H. O._ 156). Naturally the post had lapsed -during female reigns, although a hope of Sir Robert Sidney for a -'Bedchamber lordship' in 1597 suggests that a renewal may have been -contemplated (_Hatfield MSS._ vii. 225). James had had Gentlemen of the -Bed Chamber in Scotland. Later court usage, represented already by -Chamberlayne, 262, in 1669, interpreted 'stole' as 'vestment', but I -suspect that in origin it was the close stool, which was kept _c._ 1478 -by the Wardrobe of Beds (_H. O._ 40); cf. Marston, _Fawn_, 1. ii. 46, -'Thou art private with the duke; thou belongest to his close-stool'.] - -[Footnote 166: Goodman, i. 389, says that the prime gentleman of the bed -chamber and groom of the stole was 'a man of special trust' and had a -table for guests 'employed in the king's most private occasions'. -Viscount Fenton combined the post with that of Captain of the Guard -under James. According to Newcastle, 213, the Earls of Arundel and -Pembroke laboured in vain to be of the Bed Chamber throughout the reign. -Carey, _Memoirs_, 79, 91, describes the heart-burnings to which the -office gave rise. Robert Carr, afterwards Earl of Somerset, began his -career as a Page of the Bed Chamber (Nichols, _James_, i. 600).] - -[Footnote 167: _S. P. D. Jac. I_ (8 Nov. 1604). The French ambassador -wrote in 1606 (Boderie, i. 56) that the king 'vit combattre les cocqs, -qui est un plaisir qu'il prend deux fois la semaine'.] - -[Footnote 168: Cf. _D. N. B._. Anne also had a 'jester', Thomas Derry, -in 1612 (Cunningham, xliii).] - -[Footnote 169: _Abstract_, 46; Devon, 17, 72 and _passim_; _Cott. MS. -Vesp._ C. xiv, f. 108; _Addl. MS._ 33378, f. 34ᵛ; _V. P._ x. 102; Sully, -443; Boderie, i. 39, 272, 362. Sir Lewis Lewknor received a formal -appointment as Master of Ceremonies by patent, with a salary of £200, on -7 Nov. 1605, but had in fact been exercising the functions since 1603. -Amongst his assistants were Sir William Button, who was employed by 1607 -and obtained a reversion of the post on 10 Sept. 1612, and John Finett, -who ultimately himself became Master, and published a record of his -service from 1612 in his _Philoxenis_ (1656).] - -[Footnote 170: Worcester to Shrewsbury, 2 Feb. 1604 (Lodge, iii. 88); -'Now, having done with matters of state, I must a little touch the -feminine commonwealth, that against your coming you be not altogether -like an ignorant country fellow. First, you must know we have ladies of -divers degrees of favour; some for the private chamber, some for the -drawing chamber, some for the bed-chamber, and some for neither certain, -and of this number is only my Lady Arabella and my wife. My Lady Bedford -holdeth fast to the bed-chamber; my Lady Harford would fain, but her -husband hath called her home. My Lady Derby the younger, the Lady -Suffolk, Ritche, Nottingham, Susan, Walsingham, and, of late, the Lady -Sothwell, for the drawing-chamber; all the rest for the private-chamber, -when they are not shut out, for many times the doors are locked; but the -plotting and malice amongst them is such, that I think envy hath tied an -invisible snake about most of their necks to sting one another to death. -For the present there are now five maids; Cary, Myddelmore, Woodhouse, -Gargrave, Roper; the sixth is determined, but not come; God send them -good fortune, for as yet they have no mother.'] - -[Footnote 171: Madox, i. 262; Thomas, 24; Tout in _E. H. R._ xxiv. 496.] - -[Footnote 172: Tout, 63.] - -[Footnote 173: Madox, i. 267; _P. R. O. Lists and Indexes_, xi. 102; -Tout in _E. H. R._ xxiv. 496. The following summary of the history of -the wardrobe and chamber in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth -centuries is largely based on Tout, _The Place of Edward II in English -History_ (1914). Additional material has since been published in J. C. -Davies, _The Baronial Opposition to Edward II_ (1918).] - -[Footnote 174: _Fleta_, ii. 6, quoted on p. 37.] - -[Footnote 175: J. C. Davies, _The First Journal of Edward II's Chamber_ -(1915, _E. H. R._ xxx. 662), gives extracts from a Chamber account of -1322-3, including a payment of 7 Jan. 1323 'a iiij clers de Sneyth -iuantz entreludies en la sale de Couwyk deuant le Roi et monsire Hugh -[le Despenser] de doun le Roi par les mayns Harsik liuerant a eux les -deniers xlˢ', which adds an interesting early use of the term -'interlude' to those given in _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 181, 256.] - -[Footnote 176: Newton, 351; Ramsay, _Lancaster and York_, i. 317; ii. -466. Henry VIII's Treasurers of the Chamber sometimes kept separate war -accounts (Brewer, iv. 1. 82), and there is a similar example as late as -1599 (_R. O. Audit Office_, _Various_, 3, 108).] - -[Footnote 177: _P. R. O. Lists and Indexes_, xxxv. 220, and _Cal. Patent -Rolls_, both passim.] - -[Footnote 178: _C. P. R._, _1 Hen. VI_, p. 3, m. 5 (3 May 1423), _5 Edw. -IV_, p. 2, m. 28 (29 June 1465), _1 Rich. III_, p. 5, m. 21 (26 Apr. -1484). I think Newton is wrong in regarding Vaughan's appointment by -patent as exceptional. The _Liber Niger_, _c._ 1478 (_H. O._ 42), fully -describes the Jewel House, with its 'architectour, called clerk of the -King's, or keeper of the King's jewelles, or tresorer of the chambyr', -and says 'all thinges of this office inward or outward, commyth and -goyth by the knowledge of the Kyng, and his chamberlaynes recorde'.] - -[Footnote 179: Sir Gilbert Talbot, Master of the Jewel House in 1680, -represented (_Archaeologia_, xxii. 118) that anciently the Master was -Treasurer of the Chamber, 'till that branch was taken out and made an -office apart; and is now five times more beneficiall than the -Jewell-House; all the regulation of expence being apply'd to the -remaining parts of the perquisites of the Jewell-House, the fees of the -Treasurer of the Chamber and Master of the Ceremonys being left -entire'.] - -[Footnote 180: Campbell, i. 228, 316; ii. 105, 296, 320, 445. Newton, -351, 353, thinks the exact dates of Edmund Chaderton's and Lovell's -appointments uncertain, and supposes the keepership of the jewels to -have been detached on the latter occasion. But it was clearly on the -former, the date of which is given in _C. P. R._, _1 Rich. III_, p. 5, -m. 21, as 26 Apr. 1484. Lovell is described as Treasurer of the King's -Chamber on 26 Feb. 1486 and of the Queen's Chamber about the following -Easter (Campbell, i. 228, 316). There is no patent for him, and my -impression is that both posts had been annexed to the Chancellorship of -the Exchequer, granted him on 12 Oct. 1485 (_C. P. R._, _1 Hen. VII_, p. -1, m. 18).] - -[Footnote 181: Newton, 354, with a full account of Heron's career.] - -[Footnote 182: This arrangement had already been legalized by _1 Hen. -VIII_, c. 3 (_Statutes_, iii. 2), which authorizes the payment of -certain revenues to Heron as General Receiver, 'and to other persons ... -hereafter in like office to be deputed and assigned as in the time of -the late ... King Henry the vijᵗʰ hath been used', but does not refer to -him as Treasurer of the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 183: _3 Hen. VIII_, c. 23 (_Statutes_, iii. 45). It is -provided by § 6 'that the Kinges forenamed trusty servant John Heron be -from hensfurth Tresourer of the Kinges Chamber, and that he by the name -of Tresourer of the Kinges Chambre be named accepted and called; and -that he and every other persone whom the King hereaftur shall name and -appoint to the said roome or office of Tresourer of his Chamber be not -Charged ne chargeable for any suche his or their Receipt of any parte or -parcell of the premisses as before ys expressed or therefor to accompte -answere or make repayment to any persone or persones other then to the -King or his heires in his or their Chamber, and not in the said -Eschequier'. The Act only had force to 30 Nov. 1512, but it was -continued by _4 Hen. VIII_, c. 18, _6 Hen. VIII_, c. 24, _7 Hen. VIII_, -c. 7, _14-15 Hen. VIII_, c. 15, and made permanent by _27 Hen. VIII_, c. -62 in 1535 (_Statutes_, iii. 68, 145, 182, 219, 631). The account of -this legislation in Newton, 361, treats the Act of _6 Hen. VIII_ as its -starting-point.] - -[Footnote 184: His salary was at first £10, afterwards £25 a quarter -(Brewer, iii. 407). He died on 10 June 1522 (Newton, 358).] - -[Footnote 185: A letter in Brewer, iii. 781 (N.D. but dated by Brewer 2 -Dec. 1521), speaks of 'Master Myclo the new treasurer in Master Heron is -room'. Certain payments were made by John Myklowe, 'late treasurer of -the King's chamber', from 1 June 1521 to 1 May 1522, and thereafter by -Edmund Peckham (Brewer, iii. 1156), until 1 Jan. 1523. Conceivably -Peckham, who had been a clerk in the counting-house, and was cofferer by -1524 (Brewer, iv. 422), may have been Treasurer for a short period -between Miklowe and Wyatt, unless indeed these payments belong to a -special war loan or subsidy account, such as Wyatt himself rendered in -1524 (Brewer, iv. 82), probably not strictly in his capacity as -Treasurer of the Chamber. Miklowe is described as Treasurer on 10 Apr. -1522 and was dead by 28 June 1522 (Brewer, iii. 924, 998). For his -earlier history, cf. Brewer, ii. 436; iii. 332; xxi. 2. 426; Ellis, iii. -3, 271.] - -[Footnote 186: Wyatt is described as Treasurer in an indenture of 18 -Feb. 1523 (Brewer, iii. 1190). In one of Cavendish's memoranda as -printed in _Trevelyan Papers_, ii. 12, the name of Sir Thomas has been -substituted for that of Sir Henry as a predecessor of Cavendish. This is -an error, or more probably a forgery, as Collier edited the volume, and -called special attention to the entry. Sir Thomas Wyatt was riding in -1524 on war loan business, payment for which is in his father's account -(Brewer, iv. 85). On 21 Oct. 1524 he became clerk of the jewels. It is -just possible that the old connexion of the Treasurer with the Jewel -House suggested the confusion, on which cf. Simonds, _Sir Thomas Wyatt_, -19.] - -[Footnote 187: _H. O._ 159.] - -[Footnote 188: Brewer, iv. 1843.] - -[Footnote 189: _33 Hen. VIII_, c. 39 (_Statutes_, iii. 879).] - -[Footnote 190: Brewer, xx. 2. 452; Dasent, i. 323, 470.] - -[Footnote 191: Brewer, xxi. 1. 125, 147; _Trevelyan Papers_, i. 197.] - -[Footnote 192: _7 Edw. VI_, c. 2 (_Statutes_, iv. 1, 164).] - -[Footnote 193: _1 Mary_, Sess. 2, c. 10 (_Statutes_, iv. 1, 208); -Thomas, 15.] - -[Footnote 194: Wriothesley to Paget in Brewer, xx. 2. 338 (5 Nov. 1545). -A later letter of 11 Nov. (Brewer, xx. 2. 365) refers to debts of the -Surveyors' Court 'which is the Chamber'. In 1552 Charles Tuke was called -on by the Privy Council to bring his father's accounts to the Lord -Chamberlain for view and consideration (Dasent, iv. 164).] - -[Footnote 195: _Trevelyan Papers_, ii. 1. The book is now in the R. O. -It is in the statement of 1548 that Sir T. Wyatt's name has been -inserted.] - -[Footnote 196: Dasent, v. 329; vi. 182; _Hatfield MSS._ i. 256.] - -[Footnote 197: Cf. ch. xiii (Interluders).] - -[Footnote 198: Examples are in _H. O._ 120, 139, 147.] - -[Footnote 199: Cf. App. B.] - -[Footnote 200: A fuller account of the Tudor Chamber finance is given by -Newton, 360; cf. M. D. George, _The Origin of the Declared Account_ (_E. -H. R._ xxxi. 41).] - -[Footnote 201: Felton was cofferer in 1553 (_Archaeologia_, xii. 372).] - -[Footnote 202: _S. P. D. Mary_, xiv. The fee of £240 represents the old -fee of £100 attached to the Treasurership, together with allowances of -£100 for board wages, £20 for clerks, £10 for boat-hire, and £10 for -office necessaries, which Cavendish's accounts show that he enjoyed. The -1_s._ a day was presumably the fee for the Posts.] - -[Footnote 203: Dasent, vii. 15, 27; _S. P. D. Eliz. Addl._ ix. 3.] - -[Footnote 204: Nicholas, _Eliz._ i. 264, printed the accounts of Edmund -Downing as executor to John Tamworth for 1559-69 from the audited copy -in _Harleian Rolls_, A. A. 23. Copies are also in the _Pipe Office -Declared Accounts_, 2791, and the _Audit Office Declared Accounts_, -2021, 1. No later Elizabethan Privy Purse Accounts are known, but it -appears from the lists of New Year gifts for 1561, 1578, 1579, 1589, and -1600 (Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 108; ii. 65, 249; iii. 1, 445) that Henry -Sackford succeeded John Tamworth as custodian of gifts given in cash, -and he is described as Keeper at Elizabeth's death (_S. P. D. Jac. I_, -vi. 2). His successor was Sir George Home, afterwards (1605) Earl of -Dunbar (_S. P. D. Docquet_ of 17 May 1603). Jacobean accounts for 1603-5 -are in _Pipe Office Declared Accounts_, 2792, and in _Audit Office -Declared Accounts_, 2021. Some extracts are in Cunningham, xviii. In -1617 (_Abstract_, 6) the Privy Purse disposed of £5,000 and an -additional £1,100 from New Year gifts.] - -[Footnote 205: This estimate is based on the account for 1594-5; -doubtless there was some variation from year to year. A memorandum of -_c._ 1596 (_Hatfield MSS._ vi. 571) gives the annual assignment to the -office by warrant dormant as £13,800.] - -[Footnote 206: On 23 July 1581 Heneage wrote to Hatton (Hatton, 181) -that he could only grant allowances to couriers sent to Mr. Secretary in -France if signed for by the Lord Treasurer, Lord Chamberlain, or -Vice-Chamberlain. On 26 May 1590 (_Cecil Papers_, iv. 35) a royal -warrant directed Heneage to pay on warrants subscribed by Burghley, as -formerly by Walsingham. Both documents refer to temporary arrangements -in the absence of a Secretary. When Herbert became Second Secretary in -1600, it was 'doubted that his warrants for money matters will be of no -force to the Treasurer of the Chamber, which office depends upon the -principal Secretary's warrants' (_Sydney Papers_, ii. 194).] - -[Footnote 207: Camden (tr.), 130; Haynes-Murdin, ii. 761; _S. P. D. -Eliz._ xl. 20.] - -[Footnote 208: Wright, _Eliz._ i. 355; Hatton, 39; Heneage's accounts -begin on 15 Feb. 1570.] - -[Footnote 209: Camden (tr.), 450; Dasent, xxv. 4.] - -[Footnote 210: _Cecil Papers_, iv. 68.] - -[Footnote 211: _D. N. B._ from _Lansd. MS._ lxxix, No. 19.] - -[Footnote 212: _Sydney Papers_, i. 356, 357, 363, 373, 382.] - -[Footnote 213: _Cecil Papers_, v. 500; Haynes-Murdin, ii. 808. Killigrew -rendered an account from 16 Dec. 1595 to 3 July 1596.] - -[Footnote 214: Birch, _Eliz._ ii. 61; Haynes-Murdin, ii. 809.] - -[Footnote 215: Birch, _James_, i. 277; _S. P. D. Jac. I_, lxxxi. 15.] - -[Footnote 216: _Lord Chamberlain's Records_, v. 81-3. The recital runs: -'Whereas we have thought fitt to disburden our privy purse of certaine -paymentes used of late to be made out of it, And to assigne the said -paymentes to be henceforth made by you our Tr_easur_er of our Chamber -... for allowances to players, for playes made before vs., for -bullbayting, beare-bayting, and anie other sport shewed vnto vs.' The -Treasurer is to pay 'vpon billes rated allowed and subscribed by our -Chamberlaine'. Warrants for rewards for plays were still signed by the -Privy Council during 1608-14, but by the Chamberlain from 1614.] - -[Footnote 217: _Abstract_, 7, 12. During 1603-17 the Treasurer of the -Chamber had also had £21,362 for 'extraordinary disbursements'.] - -[Footnote 218: The development has been fully worked out by Professor -Baldwin.] - -[Footnote 219: _H. O._ 159 (1526).] - -[Footnote 220: Cheyney, i. 67, 106; Hornemann, 52; Dasent, _passim_. -Certain regulations called Orders in Star Chamber (cf. App. D, No. cxx) -appear to proceed from the Council sitting in the Star Chamber, but in -an administrative, not a judicial, capacity.] - -[Footnote 221: Cf. generally for this paragraph Cheyney, i. 65; -Hornemann, 19, 49; E. R. Adair, _The Privy Council Registers_ (_E. H. -R._ xxx. 698); and prefaces to Dasent, _passim_.] - -[Footnote 222: La Mothe, iv. 29 (22 March 1571): 'J'y suys arrivé sur le -poinct que ceux de son conseil venoient de débattre, devant elle, les -poinctz du tretté.'] - -[Footnote 223: Hornemann, 54, cites _S. P. D. Eliz._ cclxxviii. 55 as -evidence that Essex was President of the Council; but surely it was the -Council in Ireland. Scaramelli (_V. P._ ix. 567) reports an interview -with the Council on 24 Apr. 1603, at which he says the Archbishop of -Canterbury, President of the Council, was not present. This suggests -that James had appointed a President. 'These Lords of the Council', adds -Scaramelli, 'behave like so many kings.'] - -[Footnote 224: Steele, xiv.] - -[Footnote 225: Cf. App. D, _Bibl. Note_.] - -[Footnote 226: Robert Laneham was Keeper and describes his functions -(Laneham, 59): 'Noow, syr, if the Councell sit, I am at hand, wait at an -inch, I warrant yoo. If any make babling, "peas!" (say I) "woot ye whear -ye ar?" if I take a lystenar, or a priar in at the chinks or at the -lokhole, I am by & by in the bones of him; but now they keep good order; -they kno me well inough: If a be a freend, or such one az I lyke, I make -him sit dooun by me on a foorm, or a cheast: let the rest walk, a God's -name!'] - -[Footnote 227: Baldwin, 439; Cheyney, i. 81; Dicey, 68, 94.] - -[Footnote 228: Baldwin, 450; Percy, 17.] - -[Footnote 229: Cheyney, i. 109; Percy, 48.] - -[Footnote 230: Cf. ch. ix.] - -[Footnote 231: Cf. chh. xiii (Pembroke's, Worcester's), xvi (Theatre, -Globe), xvii (Blackfriars).] - - - - -III - -THE REVELS OFFICE - - [Sixteenth-century material is collected by A. Feuillerat, - _Documents relating to the Office of the Revels in the Time of - Queen Elizabeth_ (1908, _Materialien_, xxi), and _Documents - relating to the Office of Revels in the Time of Edward VI and - Mary_ (1914, _Materialien_, xliv), which replace the extracts - from Sir Thomas Cawarden's papers in A. J. Kempe, _The Loseley - Manuscripts_ (1835), and the report by J. C. Jeaffreson in - _Hist. MSS._ vii. 596 (1879), the Audit Office records in P. - Cunningham, _Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court_ - (1842), and Sir Henry Herbert's copies of official papers in J. - O. Halliwell-Phillipps, _A Collection of Ancient Documents - respecting the Office of Master of the Revels_ (1870, cited - from its running title as _Dramatic Records_). A study of the - documents is contained in A. Feuillerat, _Le Bureau des - Menus-Plaisirs et la Mise en Scène à la Cour d'Elizabeth_ - (1910). Much of my own _Notes on the History of the Revels - Office under the Tudors_ (1906) is incorporated in the present - chapter. Cunningham's book is still useful for the seventeenth - century; the authenticity of some of his documents is discussed - in Appendix B. Of earlier historians of the stage, George - Chalmers, _Apology for the Believers in the Shakespeare-Papers_ - (1797), deals most fully with the Revels Office; it is matter - for regret that Sir George Buck's 'particular commentary' of - the 'Art of Revels' has disappeared. In his _Supplementary - Apology_ (1799) Chalmers made many extracts from the office - books, now apparently lost, of Sir Henry Herbert (1623-73). - Others had already been published by Malone (_Variorum_, iii). - These have now been collected with other material, including - the later documents from _Dramatic Records_, in J. Q. Adams, - _The Dramatic Records of Sir Henry Herbert_ (1917, cited as - Herbert).] - - -One of the 'standing' offices which, from the general oversight -exercised over them by the Lord Chamberlain, may also be regarded as -'offices outward of the Chamber' was the Revels Office. This, in its -fullest establishment, consisted of a Master, a Clerk Comptroller, and a -Clerk, whose services it shared with the analogous Office of Tents, a -Yeoman, and a Groom. It was of Tudor origin. The first mention of a -Master of Revels is in a Household order of 31 December 1494.[232] But -the post appears to have been at this period a purely temporary one, -conferred upon some existing officer of the Household, who had been -selected to supervise and defray the expenses of the revels for a -particular feast. Several of these _ad hoc_ Masters are recorded at the -court of Henry VIII; the most prominent was Sir Henry Guildford, who -held various offices, including that of Comptroller of the Household. -The Masters appear to be distinct from the Lords of Misrule, who were -also appointed _pro hac vice_ during the Christmas season, but whose -duties were ceremonial and quasi-dramatic, rather than -administrative.[233] In dealing with the details of Revels organization, -the transitory and fluctuating Masters had, from the beginning of the -reign, the assistance of a permanent official, who belonged originally -to the establishment of the Wardrobe. It was his business to carry into -effect the general directions of the Master; to obtain stuffs from -mercers or from the Wardrobe itself, and ornaments from the Jewel House -and the Mint; to engage architects, carpenters, painters, tailors and -embroiderers; to superintend the actual performances in the -banqueting-hall or the tilt-yard, and attempt to preserve the costly and -elaborate pageants from the rifling of the guests; to have the custody -of dresses, visors, and properties; and finally, to render accounts and -obtain payment for expenses from the Exchequer. These duties, with -others of like character, were long performed by one Richard Gibson, -whose careful accounts, compiled in an execrable orthography, preserve -many curious details of forgotten pageantries, including the employment -of none other than Hans Holbein in the decoration of a banqueting-hall -at Greenwich. Gibson had a double qualification for his functions. In -addition to his office as Porter and Yeoman Tailor of the Wardrobe, he -had been, as far back as 1494, one of the King's players.[234] He had -apparently the art of making himself indispensable, for he gradually -accumulated both posts and pensions. He held the ancient office of -Pavilionary or Serjeant of Tents, and in this capacity made the -arrangements for the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. By 1526 he was -one of the royal Serjeants-at-Arms.[235] Machyn, who records the burning -of his son for heresy at Smithfield in 1557, describes him as 'sergantt -Gybsun, sergantt of armes, and of the reywelles, and of the kynges -tenstes'.[236] It is not, however, clear that he held a distinct post as -Serjeant of Revels, and when a patent was issued to his successor, John -Farlyon, in 1534, it was not as Serjeant, but only as Yeoman.[237] -Farlyon also became in course of time Serjeant of Tents, and the -traditional connexion between Tents and Revels was never wholly broken. - -Whether John Travers, who became Serjeant of Tents on Farlyon's death -in 1539, had any supervision over John Bridges, who became Yeoman of -Revels, is rather doubtful.[238] But the position becomes quite clear in -1545, when the Serjeantship of Tents was converted into a Mastership, -and its holder, Sir Thomas Cawarden, was also appointed, under a -separate patent of 11 March 1545, to an entirely new post as a permanent -Master of the Revels, to whom the Yeoman naturally became -subordinate.[239] This continued to be John Bridges until 1550, when he -was succeeded by John Holt, who had acted as his deputy since 1547.[240] -Cawarden enlarged the establishment by securing the appointment of a -Clerk Comptroller to check and of a Clerk to keep the books, thus -leaving the Yeoman free to devote himself to the practical side of the -business.[241] Both these officers served, and continued throughout our -period to serve, alike for the Tents and the Revels. John Barnard was -Clerk Comptroller from 1545 to 1550, when he was succeeded by Richard -Lees.[242] The first Clerk was Thomas Philipps, who was appointed in -1546, and held his post until 1560.[243] But from 1551 most of the -duties were performed by a deputy, Thomas Blagrave, who succeeded to the -Clerkship on 25 March 1560.[244] Blagrave was a personal 'servant' of -Cawarden, who probably saw to it that all the subordinate officers -appointed after the retirement of Bridges were his own nominees. Each, -however, held his post under a patent direct from the Crown, and this -arrangement bore the promise of administrative complications when the -personal relation with the Master had terminated. The following document -illustrates the organization of the office as settled by Cawarden about -1546:[245] - - _Constituc_i_ons howe the King's Revells ought to be usyd_: - - Fyrst, an Invyntory to be made by the Clarke controwler and - Clarke, by the Survey and apowentinge of the mastyr of the - Revells, Aswell of all and singular masking garments w_i_th all - thear furnyture, as allso of all bards for horsis, coveryng of - bards and bassis of all kynds, w_i_th all and singular the - appurtenances, which Invytory, subscribyd by the yoman and - clarke, ought to remayne in the custody of the Master of the - Offyces and the goodes for the saeffe kepyng. - - It_e_m, that no kynd of stuff be bowght, but at the - apowyentment of the Master or his depute Clarke controwler, - being counsell therin, and that he make menc_i_on therof, in - his booke of recept w_hi_ch ought to be subscribyd as afforseyd - by the Master. - - It_e_m, that the Cla_r_ke be privey to the cutting of all kynds - of garments, and that he make menc_i_on in his booke of - thyssuing owt howe moche it takyth of all kynds to ev_er_y - maske, revelle, or tryumph, w_hi_ch boke ought to be subscrybyd - as afforseyd by the Master. - - It_e_m, that the Clarke kepe check of all daye men working on - the p_re_misses, and to make two lyger boks of all wags and - provisions of all kynd whate so ev_er_, th_e_ one for the paye - master and th_e_ other for the Master. - - It_e_m, that no garments forseyd, bards, cov_er_ying of bards, - bassis, or suche lyck, be lent to no man w_i_thout a specyall - comaundment, warrant, or tokyn, from the Kyng's Ma_ies_tie, but - that all be leyd up in feyr stonderds or pressis, and every - presse or stonderd to have two locks a pece, w_i_th sev_er_all - wards, w_i_th two keys, th_e_ one for the Master or Clarke, and - th_e_ other for the yoman, so that non of them cum to the stuff - without th_e_ other. - -In Farlyon's time the Revels stuff had been housed at the royal mansion -of Warwick Inn in the City.[246] Cawarden moved it in 1547 to the -Blackfriars, where various parts of the old Priory buildings served at -different times as store-rooms and work-rooms or as residences for the -officers.[247] Much material bearing upon the activities of the Revels -during 1544-59 is preserved at Loseley Hall, amongst the papers of -Cawarden's executor, Sir William More, who also acquired his interest in -the Blackfriars. Cawarden lived just long enough to superintend the -festivities at Elizabeth's coronation. After his death on 29 August -1559, his offices were distributed.[248] The Mastership of the Tents was -given to Henry Sackford of the Privy Chamber. Banqueting houses, -however, which had originally been the concern of the Tents, seem now to -have been put in charge of the Revels. The Mastership of the Revels was -given, by a patent dated 18 January 1560, to Sir Thomas Benger.[249] The -Clerk Comptroller and Clerk continued as in former years to be joint -officers for the Tents and the Revels. Benger is a somewhat shadowy -personage. It is upon record that he gave Elizabeth a ring as a New -Year's gift in 1562; that the Westminster boys rehearsed the -_Heautontimoroumenos_ and _Miles Gloriosus_ before him in 1564 and spent -6_d._ on 'pinnes and sugar candee'; that he got a licence to export 300 -tons of beer in 1566; that he had players of his own at Canterbury in -1569-70; and that the corporation of Saffron Walden spent 3_s._ 6_d._ -upon a 'podd' of oysters for him at Elizabeth's visit to Audley End in -1571.[250] Apparently he began his administration with good intentions. -The following note is affixed to his first Revels' estimate, that for -the Christmas of 1559-60: - - 'Memorandum, that the chargies for making of maskes cam never - to so little a somme [£227 11_s._ 2_d._] as they do this yere, - for the same did ever amount, as well in the Quenes Highnes - tyme that nowe is, as at all other tymes hertofore, to the - somme of £400 alwaies when it was leaste. - - 'Mᵐ. also, that it may please the Quenes Maᵗᶦᵉ to appoint some - of her highnes prevy Counsaile, immediatly after Shroftyde - yerely, to survey the state of the saide office, to thintent it - may be knowne in what case I fownd it, and how it hathe byn - since used. - - 'Mᵐ. also, that the saide Counsailors may have aucthoritie to - appoint suche fees of cast garments as they shall think - resonable, and not the Mʳ. to appoint any, as hertofore he - hathe done; for I think it most for the Mʳˢ. savegarde so to be - used.'[251] - -The cast garments were a perquisite of the officers, and were sold by -them, doubtless to actors. The change in the Mastership led also to a -change in the local habitation of the Revels. It is to be supposed that -the buildings with which Cawarden had supplemented the official -storehouse were no longer available after they had passed to his -executors. In any case, it is clear from the survey of 1586-7 described -below that upon Cawarden's death the Office of the Revels was removed -to the 'late Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem' in Clerkenwell. Probably -the transfer had taken place by 10 June 1560, as an inventory was drawn -up on that date of 'certeyne stuff remaynynge in the Black Fryers in -London'.[252] The Tents, as well as the Revels, seem to have been moved -to St. John's.[253] - -In accordance with Benger's request, a survey of the Revels was -undertaken, under a warrant from the Privy Council of 27 April 1560, by -Sir Richard Sackville and Sir Walter Mildmay, the Under Treasurer and -the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and a draft of a document submitted to -them is preserved at Loseley.[254] This contains a detailed account of -the transactions of the Office since the last audit in 1555, as a result -of which Cawarden's executors established a claim for a balance or -'surplusage' of £740 13_s._ 10½_d._ against the Exchequer. The total -expenditure of the Office for the period covering Elizabeth's coronation -and first Christmas had been £602 11_s._ 10_d._ To the account are -appended inventories showing the sets of masking garments which existed -in 1555, the materials since issued from the Wardrobe, the use made of -both of these in the fashioning of new garments and the 'translation' of -old ones, and the sets found in the Office at the time of the survey. -These are marked as either 'serviceable' or 'not serviceable' or -'chargeable', but 'fees', and the warrant from the Council instructs the -commissioners that cast garments 'being fees incydente to the saide -office may be taken by yᵉ Master of yᵉ Revelles & dystributed in soche -sorte as haue bene accostomed'. Probably the officers sold them to -players.[255] No further detailed accounts are available until the last -year of Benger's Mastership, but there are summaries which show an -average annual expenditure of about £570.[256] For some reason, there -was a great increase of cost in 1571-2, which is the first of a series -of years for which elaborate accounts exist in the Record Office. These -are of a detailed nature, much like that of Cawarden's accounts at -Loseley, and arranged more or less under heads. Schedules of the plays -and masks given during the periods to which they relate are in some -cases attached. A brief analysis of the account for 1571-2 will show the -general character of the entries. I can only dwell here upon those which -relate to the organization of the Revels Office, and not upon those of -merely dramatic or scenic interest. The main account runs from the end -of Shrovetide, 1571, to the end of Shrovetide, 1572, and covers, -firstly, a period of nine months from March to November, during which -the occupation of the Office was limited to the airing and safeguard of -'stuff' and attendance upon the Master during the progress, and, -secondly, an active three months of revels and preparation for revels, -from December to February. This expenditure is accounted for under two -main heads, _Wages and Allowances_ and _Emptions and Provisions_. It may -be abstracted as follows: - -A. WAGES AND ALLOWANCES. - -(i.) _March to November._ - - £ _s._ _d._ £ _s._ _d._ - - Tailors and Attendants 26 0 0 - Attendants (9) on Progress 13 19 0 - Porter (60 days) 3 0 0 - Diet of Officers (60 days) 30 0 0 - Necessaries bought by Yeoman 3 13 0 76 12 0 - -(ii.) _December to February._ - - Tailors and Attendants 113 8 8 - Property-makers, Embroiderers, - Haberdashers 39 1 2 - Painters 35 18 2 - Porter (80 days, 15 nights) 4 15 0 - Diet of Officers (80 days, 15 nights) 47 10 0 240 13 0 - -B. EMPTIONS AND PROVISIONS. - -(i.) _March to November._ Nil. - -(ii.) _December to February._ - - Mercers (4) 938 8 7 - Draper 52 15 3 - Upholster 32 5 8 - Silkwomen (Joan Bowll and another) 74 14 4½ - Petty Cash (Comptroller) 1 0 0 - Petty Cash (Yeoman) 80 11 2 - Implements for Properties 14 11 1 - Furrier 2 2 6 - Colours 13 16 1 - Wiredrawer 6 16 0 - Vizards (Thomas Giles) 4 5 0 - Necessaries for Hunters 1 1 8 - Device for Thunder and Lightning 1 2 0 - Chandler 5 15 5 - Hire of Armour 3 9 8 - Buskin-maker 0 11 4 - Brian Dodmer (travelling expenses, - &c.) 3 0 0 - Boat-hire, &c., for Comptroller 1 0 0 - " " Clerk (_per_ - John Drawater) 1 0 0 - Green cloth, &c., for Clerk 3 6 8 1,241 12 5½ - -_Summa Totalis._ - - £ _s._ _d._ - Wages and Allowances 317 5 0 - Emptions and Provisions 1,241 12 5½ - ------------------ - £1,558 17 5½ - ================== - -In many cases reference is made to the bills of the tradesmen for -further details. At the end of the account is appended a supplementary -account, amounting to £26 3_s._ 2_d._, for the three months from March -to May, 1572, during which a further airing took place. The airings -involved an elaborate process of what would now be called the -'spring-cleaning' of all the stuff in the office. There is also a list -of six plays and six masks performed during Christmas and Shrovetide. -The plays were acted by companies of men or children who were -'apparelled and ffurnished', and provided with 'apt howses, made of -canvasse, fframed, ffashioned and paynted accordingly' by the Revels -Office. It is noted that the six plays were 'chosen owte of many and -ffownde to be the best that then were to be had; the same also being -often perused and necessarely corrected and amended by all the -afforeseide officers'. Four of the masks were new; the other two 'were -but translated and otherwise garnished being of the former number by -meanes wherof the chardge of workmanshipp and attendaunce is cheefely to -be respected'. It will be observed that the Account does not include any -items for the fees of the officers or for the hire of lodgings or -storehouses. The former were payable under their patents at the -Exchequer, the latter provided in the royal house of St. John's. The -officers get an allowance for diet when on active duty, either in the -time of airings or in that of revels; and this is fixed, for each day or -night, at 4_s._ for the Master, 2_s._ for the Clerk Comptroller, 2_s._ -for the Clerk, and 2_s._ for the Yeoman. There is a similar allowance of -1_s._ for a Porter, described more fully in a later account as the -Porter of St. John's Gate. His name was John Dauncy.[257] The Account -discloses some changes in the establishment since 1559. Thomas Blagrave -is still Clerk. Richard Lees had been succeeded as Clerk Comptroller on -30 December 1570 by Edward Buggin.[258] During the earlier part of the -period John Holt is still Yeoman, but exercises his functions through a -deputy, William Bowll, a Yeoman of the Chamber; he was replaced by John -Arnold on 11 December 1571.[259] There is a letter to Cecil from William -Bowll, written at some date after March 1571, in which he recites that -he has recently delivered to Cecil letters from the Lord Treasurer (the -Marquis of Winchester), Sir Thomas Benger, and John Holt, for a joint -grant of the Yeomanship to himself and John Holt; that he has long -served as Holt's deputy and paid him money on a composition as well as -meeting some of the debts of the Office; that Holt is now dead and that -he and his family will be undone unless Cecil procures him the -post.[260] His suit, however, was obviously unsuccessful. Holt's tenure -of the Yeomanship had thus extended from 1547 to 1571. He may himself -have been an actor, if, as seems likely, he is the 'John Holt, momer', -who received rewards for attendance on the Westminster boys at a pageant -in 1561. - -If Arnold was appointed in the winter of 1571, it was against him, -rather than against Holt or his deputy Bowll, that a complaint was -lodged with Burghley about a year later by one Thomas Giles. Giles was -one of the tradesmen of the Revels. He is described in the Accounts as a -haberdasher, and purchases of vizards were made from him. The burden of -his complaint was that the officers of the Revels, and particularly the -Yeoman, who had the custody of the masking garments, were in the habit -of letting these out on hire, to their manifest deterioration, and, one -fears, also to the injury of Giles's business. He enumerates twenty-one -occasions upon which masks, including the new cloth of gold, black and -white, and murrey satin ones, made for the Queen's delectation during -the previous Christmas, had been so let out to lords, lawyers, and -citizens, in town and country, between January and November 1572.[261] - -It is probable that Burghley, who became Lord Treasurer in July 1572, -took early steps to look into the administration of the Revels Office, -for which the death of Sir Thomas Benger about June of the same year -afforded an opportunity.[262] Certainly there was no possibility of -bringing about any immediate economy, for the embassy of the Duc de -Montmorency from France had already caused a great increase of cost. The -Revels bill for 1572-3 amounted to £1,427 12_s._ 6½_d._ or very -little less than that for 1571-2. Of this about £1,000 was directly due -to Montmorency's visit. Moreover, the greater part of the expenditure -upon revels was not directly defrayed through the Office. They bought -some stuff in the open market, and employed some workmen. But they had -also large supplies from the Great Wardrobe, while the structure of -banqueting-houses and the like was undertaken by the Office of Works. -The total cost, therefore, for any one year would have to be pieced -together from the accounts of all three offices. This task has never -been essayed, but on Montmorency's coming an imprest of £200 was made to -Lewis Stocket, Surveyor of the Works, and another of £300 to John -Fortescue, Master of the Great Wardrobe, while a memorandum in -Burghley's papers cites a warrant of 12 July 1572 which authorizes the -delivery by Fortescue to Benger of stuffs to no less value than £1,757 -8_s._ 1½_d._[263] - -Pending Burghley's investigation no patent was issued for a successor to -Benger. During the Christmas of 1573, the oversight of the Office was -committed jointly to Fortescue and to Henry Sackford, the Master of the -Tents, and the whole of the account for the period from 1 June 1572 to -31 October 1573 is signed by them, together with the inferior officers -of the Revels. There are signs of an ambition towards economy in entries -showing that on several occasions during the year claims upon the Office -were reduced after examination by the Comptroller and other -officers.[264] The auditors in their turn had an eye upon the Office. A -sum of £50 was originally included in the account with the explanation: - - 'Item more for new presses to be made thorowowte the whole - storehowse for that the olde were so rotten that they coulde by - no meanes be repayred or made any waye to serve agayne. The - Queenes Maiesties store lyeng now on the ffloore in the store - howse which of necessitie must preasently be provyded for - before other workes can well beginne. Whiche presses being made - as is desyred by the Officers wilbe a greate safegarde to the - store preasently remayning and lyke-wise of the store to coome - whereby many things may be preserved that otherwyse wilbe - vtterly lost and spoyled contynually encreasing her Maiesties - charge.' - -To this is appended a note: - - 'Not allowid for so moche as the said presseis ar not - begonn.'[265] - -It may be admitted that the cost of the Revels would have been less if -the officers had been in a position to pay for the goods supplied to -them in ready money. They probably got small 'imprests' or advances at -the beginning of the year when they could, but for the most part they -had to obtain credit and satisfy their tradesmen with debentures, -redeemable when the accounts had been audited and a warrant under the -privy seal for the payment of the certified expenses issued. Elizabeth -succeeded to an exchequer already burdened with the debt of past reigns, -and the issue of these warrants was often delayed. William Bowll had -made it part of his claim to be appointed Yeoman in succession to John -Holt that he had made advances for 'payment to the workemen and other -poore creditors for mony due unto them in the said office, accordinge to -thear necessities before any warant graunted, only for to mayntayn the -credit of the said office'. An undated letter is preserved amongst -Burghley's papers in which he makes an attempt to recover a sum of £236 -due to him for goods supplied over a period of two years and nine -months.[266] A similar letter, written on behalf of the creditors and -artificers serving the office, and signed by 'Poore Bryan Dodmer a -creditour, to saue the labour of a great number whose exclamacion is -lamentable', refers specifically to the unpaid balance of the office -account on 28 February 1574, which stood at £1,550 5_s._ 8_d._[267] -Bryan Dodmer had received a legacy from Sir Thomas Cawarden in 1559, -and is shown by the account of 1571-2 to have been at that time occupied -in the affairs of the Revels Office, although not on the establishment. -To 1573 and 1574 may be ascribed three memoranda, which were evidently -prepared for Burghley's assistance in considering schemes of reform. Two -of these, although longer than can be printed here, are singularly -illuminating to students of departmental history. One, in particular, -gives a very capable summary of the situation, and is informed by a good -deal of sound administrative sense.[268] It begins with a short -historical notice of the origin and foundation of the Revels and a -suggestion for a fresh amalgamation of the Mastership with those of the -Tents and Toils. The writer then considers the possibility of either -farming out the office, or fixing a definite allowance for all ordinary -charges, and rejects both proposals as impracticable. Nor does he see -much room for economy in the 'airings', or in a reduction in the number -of officers; on the contrary, he is in favour of supplementing the -Master, who must give attendance at Court, by a working head of the -Office with the rank of Serjeant. He lays stress on the importance of -co-operation amongst the officers, and while not prepared to abrogate -the quasi-independence of the Master which the appointment of the -inferior officers by patent gave them, submits an elaborate draft of new -ordinances provisionally dated in the regnal year 1572-3, and intended -to replace those which he understands to have been delivered 'before my -time' to some of the Queen's Privy Council.[269] This deals, not only -with the functions of each officer, but also with the time-table of the -year's work, the control of the artificers, the economical employment of -wardrobe stuff, the books to be kept, and the avoidance of debt by a -liberal imprest. An historian of the stage can wish that the suggestion -had been adopted for order to be annually given 'to a connynge paynter -to enter into a fayer large ligeard booke in the manner of limnynge the -maskes and shewes sett fourthe in that last seruice, to thende varyetye -may be vsed from tyme to tyme'. I think that the author of this document -was probably Buggin, the Clerk Comptroller, since the two other -memoranda are clearly on internal evidence the work of Blagrave, the -Clerk, and one of the Yeomen, and Burghley is likely to have given each -officer a chance of expressing his views. It might, however, have been -Henry Sackford, in view of the suggestion for amalgamation with the -Tents, and in any case Buggin probably had Sackford's interests in mind, -not to speak of his own chances of obtaining the contemplated Serjeanty. -Blagrave's proposals are in matters of detail not unlike Buggin's, but -he does not endorse the suggestion of a Serjeant, and is less skilful in -keeping his personal ambitions in the background.[270] - - If it please her highnes to bestowe the M_aste_rship of the - office vpon me (as I trust myne experience by acquayntaunce - w_i_t_h_ those thaffaires and contynuall dealing therein by the - space of xxvij or xxviij yeres deserveth, being also the - auncient of the office by at the leaste xxiiij of those yeres; - otherwise I wolde be lothe hereafter to deale nor medle - w_i_t_h_ it nor in it further then apperteyneth to the clerke, - whose allowaunce is so small as I gyve it holy to be discharged - of the toyle and attendaunce). I haue hetherto w_i_t_h_oute - recompence to my greate chardge and hynderaunce borne the - burden of the M_aste_r, and taken the care and paynes of that, - others haue had the thankes and rewarde for, w_hi_ch I trust - her Ma_ies_tie will not put me to w_i_t_h_oute the fee, - alowaunce, and estimac_i_on longing to it, nor if her highnes - vouchesafe not to bestowe it vpon me to let me passe - w_i_t_h_oute recompence for that is done and paste. - - If the Fee and allowaunce be thought to muche, then let what - her Ma_ies_tie and Honerable counsaile shall thinke mete for - any man that shall supplie that burden and place to haue - toward_es_ his chardg_es_ be appointed of certeyntie, and I - will take that, and serve for as litle as any man that meanes - to Deale truly, so I be not to greate a loser by it. - -The Yeoman's _Memorandum_ is short enough to be given in full.[271] - - A note of sarten thing_es_ which are very nedefull to be - Redressed in the offys of the Revelles. - - 1. Fyrste the Romes or Loging_es_, where the garments and other - thing_es_, as hedpeces and suche lyke, dothe lye, Is in suche - decaye for want of rep_a_racions, that it hath by that meanes - perished A very greate longe wall, which parte thereof is falne - doune and hath broke undoune A greate presse, which stoode all - Alongest the same, by w_hi_ch meanes I ame fayne to laye the - garment_es_ vppon the grounde, to the greate hurt of the same, - so as if youre honoure ded se the same it woolde petye you to - see suche stoffe so yll bestowed. - - 2. Next there is no convenyent Romes for the Artifycers to - wourke in, but that Taylours, Paynters, Proparatiue makers, - and Carpenders are all fayne to wourke in one rome, which is A - very greate hinderaunce one to Another, w_hi_ch thinge nedes - not for theye are slacke anowe of them selves. - - 3. More, there ys two whole yeares charg_es_ be hinde vn payde, - to the greate hinderaunce of the poore Artyfycers that wourke - there. In so mvche that there be A greate parte of them that - haue byn dryven to sell there billes or debentars for halfe - that is dewe vnto them by the same. - - 4. More, yt hath broughte the offyce in suche dyscredet with - those that dyd delyver wares into the offyce, that theye will - delyuer yt in for A thirde parte more then it is woorthe, or - ellce we can get no credet of them for the same, which thinge - is A very greate hinderaunce to the Queenes ma_ies_tie and A - greate discredet to those that be offecers in that place, which - thinge for my parte I Ame very sory to see. - -This is endorsed, - - 'For the Reuels. Matters to be redressed there.' - -The documents are proposals for reform rather than statements of -existing practice; but proposals for reform made by permanent officials -are not generally very sweeping, and I think it may be taken that we get -a pretty fair notion of the actual working of a Government department in -the sixteenth century, not without certain hints of jealousies and -disputes between the various officers as to their respective functions -and privileges, which in those days as in these occasionally tended to -interfere with the smooth working of the machine. The determination of -these functions and privileges by regulation; the keeping of regular -books, inventories, journals, and ledgers; the institution of a system -of finance which would avoid the necessity of employing credit; the -prohibition of the hiring-out of Revels stuff; these are amongst the -improvements in organization which suggested themselves to practical men -who were not in the least likely to suggest the transference of the -duties of their own rather superfluous Office to the Office of Works or -the Wardrobe. Both Buggin and Blagrave ask that the hands of the -officers might be strengthened by a commission; that is, apparently, a -warrant entitling them to enforce service on behalf of the Crown, such -as the Master of the Children of the Chapel had to 'take up' -singing-boys, and other departments of the Household, including probably -the Tents, had for the purveyance of provisions and cartage. Probably -the Revels had already enjoyed this authority upon special occasions. -The _Account_ for the banqueting house of 1572 includes an item for -'flowers of all sortes taken up by comyssion and gathered in the -feeldes'.[272] At the bottom of the documents there is a feeling that -the weak point in the organization is the Mastership. The Master had to -be a courtier, dancing attendance on the Queen and the Lord Chamberlain, -and was likely to have the qualities and failings of a courtier; and -then he came to the office, and gave instructions to people who knew -their own business much better than he did. - -Blagrave's ambitions to become Master of the Office were not wholly -gratified. He was allowed to act as Master for some years, but he never -received a patent, and after Benger's death he had the mortification of -seeing the post given to another, while he was left to content himself -with his much despised Clerkship. His regency lasted from November 1573 -until Christmas 1579, and his signature stands alone or heads those of -the other officers upon the Accounts relating to that period, with the -exception of the last, on which the name of the incoming Master -appears.[273] His appointment was presumably from year to year. It is -stated in the Account for 1573-4 to have been made by 'her Majestie's -pleasure signefyed by the right honorable L. Chamberlaine', and in that -for 1574-5 to appear from 'sundry letters from the Lorde Chamberlayne'. -And the vacancy emphasized the dependence of the Revels upon that great -branch of the tripartite Household, the Chamber, over which the Lord -Chamberlain presided. All Blagrave's activities were subject to control -by his superior officer. He and his subordinates were constantly going -by boat or horse to Richmond, or wherever the Court might be, to take -instructions from the Lord Chamberlain, to submit patterns of masks and -alterations of plays, and to obtain payment of expenses.[274] Blagrave -himself had a house at Bedwyn in Wiltshire, and couriers were sometimes -sent after him when his presence in London was urgently needed.[275] -Upon his entrance into office the officers were called together 'for -colleccion and showe of eche thinge prepared for her Maiesties regall -disporte and recreacion as also the store wherewith to ffurnish, garnish -and sett forth the same; wherof, as also of the whole state of the -office the L. Chamberlayne according to his honours appointment was -throughly advertised'.[276] The store was also carefully perused and the -inventories checked upon the death of John Arnold the Yeoman, and the -appointment on 29 January 1574 of Walter Fish in his room.[277] The -Accounts continue to include allowances for the diet of the Clerk as -well as that of the Master. I have no doubt that Blagrave was quite -capable of drawing them both; but it is also likely enough that some -unestablished person undertook the duties of 'Acting' Clerk. If so, this -was most probably Bryan Dodmer, who was very useful on financial -business during 1573-4 and 1574-5. After this year he disappears from -the Accounts and his place is apparently taken by John Drawater. William -Bowll, the ex-Deputy-Yeoman and silkweaver, and Thomas Giles, the -haberdasher, in spite of their complaints against the Office, continue -to supply it with goods.[278] - -The general character of the Accounts, both under Fortescue and -Sackford, and under Blagrave, is much the same as that of the one, -already analysed, for 1571-2. Periods of activity, mainly at Christmas -and Shrovetide, still alternate with periods of quiescence, -stock-taking, and 'airing'. Occasionally the Office has to bestir itself -to accompany a progress.[279] Some unusually detailed entries in 1576-7 -give interesting information as to the rates of wages ordinarily paid to -workmen. The head tailor got 20_d._ for each day or night, and other -tailors 12_d._ Carpenters got 16_d._; the Porter and other attendants -12_d._ Painters, haberdashers, property-makers, joiners, carvers, and -wire-drawers were paid 'at sundrie rates'. In a later year, 1579-80, the -first and second painter got 2_s._ and 20_d._ respectively, and the rest -18_d._ The first wire-drawer got 20_d._, and the rest 16_d._[280] The -payments for night-work really represent double wages for overtime, -since we learn from Buggin and Blagrave that the length of a night was -reckoned at about half that of a day. The workmen who waited on the mask -before Montmorency in 1572 got extra rewards, because they 'had no tyme -to eat theyer supper'; and while the banqueting-house was building Bryan -Dodmer had to buy bread and cheese 'to serve the plasterers that -wroughte all the nighte and mighte not be spared nor trusted to go -abrode to supper'.[281] An important function of the Office consisted in -'calling together of sundry players and pervsing, fitting and reformyng -theier matters (otherwise not convenient to be showen before her -Maiestie)'.[282] Dodmer paid 40_s._ in 1574-5 for 'paynes in pervsing -and reformyng of playes sundry tymes as neede required for her -Maiestie's lyking', and it is a pity that the name of the payee is left -blank in the Account.[283] When the plays had been chosen and knocked -into shape, they had to be rehearsed. Now and then they were taken -before the Lord Chamberlain for this purpose; but as a rule the -rehearsals went on in the presence of the officers at St. John's. Here -were a 'greate chambere where the workes were doone and the playes -rezited', a storehouse, and the mansions of the officers. The Clerk had -an office with a nether room next the yard.[284] Fish complains of the -inconvenience of having only one room for every kind of artificer to -work in. Items for yellow cotton to line 'the Monarkes gowne' and for -his jerkin and hose perhaps point to the use of a lay figure.[285] One -Nicholas Newdigate was extremely useful in hearing and training the -children who frequently performed.[286] Naturally these gave a good deal -of trouble. At Shrovetide 1574 nine of them were employed for a mask at -Hampton Court. They had diet and lodging at St. John's, 'whiles thay -learned theier partes and jestures meete for the mask'. They were taken -from Paul's Wharf to Hampton Court in a barge with six oars and two -'tylt whirreys'. They arrived on Monday, but the Queen would not see -them until the Tuesday, and they were lodged for the two nights at -Mother Sparo's at Kingston. An Italian woman and her daughter were -employed to dress their heads. When they got back to London on -Ash-Wednesday, 'sum of them being sick and colde and hungry', fire and -victuals were provided at Blackfriars. Each child received a reward of -1_s._[287] Trouble was caused also sometimes by the behaviour of the -courtiers who took part in festivities. Six horns garnished with silver -were provided at a cost of 18_s._, for a mask of hunters on 1 January -1574, and there is a note in the Account that these horns 'the maskers -detayned and yet dooth kepe them against the will of all the officers'. -This sort of difficulty was traditional. It was already perplexing the -worthy Gibson more than half a century before.[288] That the practice of -lending out the Revels stuff was not wholly abandoned is shown by an -application from Magdalen College, Oxford, to Tilney in 1592 for -furniture for a play.[289] Finance was also a cause of trouble. On his -appointment in 1573 Blagrave succeeded in obtaining a 'prest' of £200 to -begin the year upon. In 1574 he did the same, but not until Dodmer had -applied in vain to the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Treasurer, and Mr. -Secretary Walsingham, and was finally 'after long attendaunce (and that -none of the afore-named coulde get the Queenes Maiestie to resolve -therin) dryven to trouble her Maiestie himselfe and by special peticion -obtayned as well the grawnt for ccˡᶦ in prest as the dettes to be paid'. -At the end of each year there were formalities and delays to be gone -through before the bills could be paid. The accounts had to be made up, -to be passed by the auditors, and to be declared before the Lord -Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Then a royal warrant had -to be obtained for a privy seal, then the privy seal itself, and finally -actual payment at the Exchequer. All these processes necessitated -constant fees and gratuities. In 1579 the estimated charges for audit -and payment amounted to £8. For his considerable financial services in -1574-5 Bryan Dodmer demanded £13 6_s._ 8_d._, but this was ruthlessly -cut down by the officers to £6 13_s._ 4_d._ They in their turn found the -auditor disallowing a small payment because it had been entered in the -books after the sum had been cast, and was not properly certified. -Dodmer had advanced the money, but he could not be repaid until the -following year.[290] - -A letter of 8 April 1577 from Leicester to Burghley reminds him that a -certain suit of Sir Jerome Bowes and others 'touching plays' had been -referred to them, together with the Lord Chamberlain, by the Queen for -consideration. They had 'myslyked of the perpetuytie they sutors -desierd', but a report still had to be made.[291] There is nothing to -show the nature of this 'suit', but it is not unnatural to conjecture -that it arose in some way out of the vacancy in the Mastership. No more, -however, is heard of Sir Jerome Bowes in this connexion. It was not -until seven years after Benger's death that Blagrave met with the rebuff -of finding himself passed over in favour of an outsider, and reduced to -his former position of Clerk, with its subordinate duties and its -miserable allowances for the 'ordynary grene cloth, paper, incke, -counters, deskes, standishes', and so forth. The new Master was Edmund -Tilney, who had dedicated to Elizabeth, in 1568, a dialogue on matrimony -under the title of _The Flower of Friendship_. Tilney was a connexion of -Lord Howard of Effingham, to whose influence at Court he probably owed -his appointment. His patent is dated on 24 July 1579, but the fee was to -run from the previous Christmas, and he may therefore have formally -assumed his duties at that period. His signature is attached with those -of Blagrave and the other officers to the Account for the whole of the -period from 14 February 1578 to 31 October 1579, but the details do not -afford any evidence that he took a personal share in the work of the -Office.[292] In 1581 he was spoken of as a possible ambassador to Spain, -but this does not appear to have led to anything.[293] - -Only a few detailed Accounts belonging to Tilney's Mastership are in -existence. These are made up regularly from each 1 November to the -following 31 October. They do not disclose any noteworthy change in the -previous routine of the Office. On 8 August 1580 Thomas Sackford, a -Master of the Requests, and Sir Owen Hopton, the Lieutenant of the -Tower, were instructed by the Council to take a view of the Revels stuff -upon the appointment of the new Master, and to deliver inventories of -the same to Tilney. Accordingly, a charge of 40_s._ 'for the ingrossinge -of three paire of indentid inventories' appears in the Account.[294] -Blagrave appears to have sulked at first, for in 1581 the employment of -a professional scribe to make up the accounts was explained by the -absence of a clerk. The auditors, very properly, made a marginal note of -surprise, and Blagrave resumed his duties.[295] In 1582-3 considerable -repairs were required at the Revels Office, owing to the fact that a -chamber which formed part of Blagrave's lodging had fallen down. An -office and a chamber for the Master seem for a time to have been -provided at Court during the attendance of the Master, and warmed with -billets and coals at the expense of the Revels, but by 1587-8 they had -been crowded out, and an allowance of 10_s._ was made for the hire of -rooms.[296] Another entry for 1582-3 marks an epoch of some importance -in the history of the Elizabethan stage. On 10 March 1583 Tilney was -summoned to Court by a letter from Mr. Secretary [Walsingham] 'to choose -out a companie of players for her Ma_ies_tie'. Horse hire and charges on -the journey cost him 20_s._[297] Outside the Accounts there is one -document of considerable interest belonging to the early years of -Tilney's rule. This is a patent, dated 24 December 1581, and giving to -the Master of the Revels such a 'commission' or grant of exceptional -powers over the subjects of the realm, as had been stated in the -_Memoranda_ of 1573 to be eminently desirable in the interests of the -office.[298] The Master is authorized to take and retain such workmen -'at competent wages', and take such 'stuff, ware, or merchandise', 'at -price reasonable', together with such 'carriages', by land and by water, -as he may consider to be necessary or expedient for the service of the -Revels. He or his deputy may commit recalcitrant persons to ward. He may -protect his workmen from arrest, and they are not to be liable to -forfeit if their service in the Revels obliges them to break outside -contracts for piece-work. The licensing powers also conferred upon the -Master by this patent are considered elsewhere.[299] - -Tilney's accession to office coincided with the beginning of the period -of heightened splendour in Court entertainments, due to the negotiations -for Elizabeth's marriage with the Duke of Anjou.[300] A magnificent -banqueting-house was built at Whitehall, and Sidney, Fulke Greville, and -others, equipped as the Foster Children of Desire, besieged the Fortress -of Perfect Beauty in the tilt-yard. One might have expected to find a -considerably larger expenditure accounted for by the officers of the -Revels. But this was not so, except for the one winter of Anjou's visit. -The cost of the Office, which in 1571-3 had grown to about £1,500 a -year, rapidly fell again. In 1573-4 it was about £670; in 1574-5 about -£580; and thereafter it generally stood at not more than from £250 to -£350. In 1581-2, however, it reached £630.[301] It is probable that the -figures do not point to any real reduction of expenditure, but only mean -that, after the experience of John Fortescue, the Master of the -Wardrobe, as Acting Master of the Revels in 1572-3, it was found -economical to supply the needs of the Office, to a greater extent even -than in the past, through the organization of the Wardrobe and the -Office of Works, instead of by the direct purchase of goods or -employment of labour in the open market. Stowe records, for example, -that the banqueting-house of 1581 cost £1,744 19_s._, but no part of -this appears in the Revels Account, although the banqueting-house of -1572 had cost the Office £224 6_s._ 10_d._[302] Probably it was all met -by the Office of Works. About 1596 a further reform in the interests of -economy was attempted, by the establishment of a fixed annual allowance -for expenses, including the 'wages' or 'diet' hitherto allowed to the -officers for each day or night of actual attendance at 'airings' or at -the rehearsals or performances of plays. The last payment under the old -system was made on 30 May 1594 by a warrant to Tilney for a sum of £311 -2_s._ 2_d._ in respect of works and wares and officers' wages for -1589-92, together with an imprest of £100 for 1592-3.[303] The next -warrant was made out on 25 January 1597, and directed the payment of -£200 for 1593-6, together with an annual payment of £66 6_s._ 8_d._, 'as -composition for defraying the charges of the office for plays only, -according to a rate of a late reformation and composition for ordinary -charges there'.[304] The amount of £311 2_s._ 2_d._ paid for the three -years 1589-92 is so small as to suggest that the distinction between -'ordinary' and 'extraordinary' charges may have already existed during -the period, and may thus have preceded the reduction of 'ordinary' -charges to a 'composition'. The warrant of 25 January 1597, however, -never became operative. There is an entry of it in the Docquet Book of -the Signet Office, and in the margin are the notes 'Remanet: neuer -passed the Seales' and 'Staid by the L_ord_ Thre_a_s_ore_r: vacat'. -Fortunately we are able to trace the causes which led to this -interposition by Burghley. It will perhaps be remembered that Edward -Buggin, in his _Memorandum_ of 1573, had considered a possible reform of -the administration of the Revels Office on lines very similar to those -now adopted, and had decided that it was impracticable.[305] Doubtless -the same view was held by the officers of 1597, and after the manner of -permanent officials they took steps to ensure that it should be -impracticable. Disputes arose between the Master and the inferior -officers as to the distribution of the sum allowed for ordinary charges, -and, pending a settlement of these, all payments out of the Office were -suspended. The result was a memorial to Burghley from the 'creditors and -servitors' of the Revels, which called attention to the fact that five -years' arrears due to them were withheld 'only throughe the discention -amoungest the officers'.[306] - -This was in the first instance referred to Tilney for his observations, -and he writes: - - All _tha_t I can saye Is, _tha_t _th_er Is a Composition layd - vppo_n_ me by Quens ma_ies_te and signed by her self, rated - verbatimly by certayn orders sett down by my L_ord_ Treasorer - vnder his L_ordshippes_ Hand, whervnto I haue appealed, because - _th_e other officers will nott be satisficed w_ith_ ayni - reason, whert_o_ I am now teyd & nott vnto there friuilus - demandes. Wherefore lett _th_em sett down In writtinge _th_e - speciall Causes why they shuld reiect _th_e forsayd orders and - _th_e Compositio_n_ gronded theron, Then am I to reply vnto - _th_e same as I can, for tell then _th_es petitioners can nott - be satisfied. - - Ed. Tyllney. - -The document was then referred to Burghley, with the following summary -of its contents: - - 5 November 1597. - - They shewe _tha_t theie are vnpaid theise five yeares last past - for wares deliuered and service done in _th_e office of _th_e - Revells, throughe _th_e dissencion amongest _th_e officers to - _the_ir greate hinderance theise deare yeares beeinge poore - men. - - Vppon _thei_r_e_ mocion to _th_e m_aste_r of _th_e office, his - answere is, _tha_t _th_e faulte is not in him, but he is redy - to satisfie _th_em all such allowances as are dew vnto _the_m, - either by yo_u_r L_ordshippes_ former order, or in righte theie - can challeng, vppon _whi_ch order _th_e m_aste_r doth wholly - relie but _th_e other reiect _th_e same. - - for _tha_t _the_re is no licklyhood of _thei_re agreem_en_t, - whereby _th_e petecioners may be satisfied, Theie Humbly pray - yo_u_r L_ordshippe_ to Command som order for _th_e releving - _thei_re poore estates. - - -Burghley then gave this direction: - - One of the Awdito_u_rs of the prest w_i_th one of the Barons of - _th_e Eschecqr to heare the officers of the Revels, and thes - petitioners, and either to ende the questions betwene them, or - to certefie theyre opinions. - - W. Burghley. - -The document is then further endorsed with the report of Burghley's -referees: - - quinto Januarii 1597 [1597/8]. - - Pleaseth it yo_u_r good Lordeship to be advertized that, after - longe travaile and paines taken betwene the M_aste_r of the - Revells and the Officers thereof, It is agreed by o_u_r - entreaty that, out of the xlˡᶦ by yeare allowed for Fees or - wage for their attendaunces, the M_aste_r of the Revell_es_ - shall yearely allowe and paye the severall Somes of mony - vnd_e_r written, viz. - - To the Clarke Comptroller of that office viijˡᶦ - To the Yeoman of the Revell_es_ viijˡᶦ - To the Groome of the Office xlˢ - To the Porter of St. Johns xxˢ - - whereof xxˢ, p_ar_cell of the saide viijˡᶦ allowed to the - yeoman, is to be aunswered by the same yeoman after this yeare - to the said Groome. - - Which yf it may stande w_i_th yo_u_r good Lordshippes lyking, - wee truste will bring contynuall quietnes and dutifull service - to her ma_ies_tie. - - John Sotherton. - Jo. Conyers. - - -Hereon Burghley comments: - - My desire is to be better satisfied howe the Credito_u_rs shall - be payd. - - W. Burghley. - -Here the minutes stop, but Burghley must have been satisfied and must -have allowed the arrangement to go forward, for on 10 January 1598 a new -warrant was issued, in the place of that previously stayed, for the £200 -due on account of 1593-6, and for the annual £66 6_s._ 8_d._, 'by way of -composition for defraying the ordinary services of plays only'. -Apparently the fixed rate was made retrospective for 1593-6.[307] Two or -three points of interest arise from the document just printed. It seems -curious that no share in the composition is awarded to the Clerk. -Possibly Blagrave, old and disappointed, was in practical retirement at -Bedwyn; but in that case he would naturally have appointed and claimed -allowance for a deputy. On the other hand, a new post, of Groom of the -Revels, corresponding to that of Groom of the Tents which had existed -since 1544, seems to have been created, probably for the benefit of -Thomas Clatterbocke, who, unless two generations are involved, had -served the Office continuously as a foreman tailor since 1548;[308] and -it is to be gathered that some redistribution of duties and emoluments -between the Yeoman and the Groom was in progress. The Porter of St. -John's Gate, also, now seems to be classed as an officer, or perhaps -rather a 'servitor', of the Revels; and in this post John Dauncy has -been succeeded since 1588-9 by John Griffeth.[309] The sum of £66 6_s._ -8_d._ allowed for ordinary charges was evidently made up of £40 for -officers' 'wages' and £26 6_s._ 8_d._ for tradesmen's bills and -miscellaneous expenses. This last sum is so small as to suggest that the -Office had been relieved both of the emption of stuffs and of the -payment of tailors and property-makers. After paying £19 to the inferior -officers, Tilney had £21 left for his own 'wages'. This amount is out of -proportion to the double rate, of 4_s._ as against the 2_s._ paid to -each inferior officer, which the Master had been accustomed to receive -for each day's or night's attendance. But the accounts for 1582-3, -1584-5, and 1587-8 show that the attendances made by Tilney, who -possibly exercised a much more detailed supervision of his Office than -either Benger or Cawarden had attempted, were far in excess, during -those years, of those of his subordinates. Every officer attended for -the twenty annual days of 'airing' and for the actual nights, which -were sixteen in 1582-3, and fourteen in 1584-5 and 1587-8, of the -performances. In addition, Tilney attended for 106, 117, and 116 days -respectively, and the other officers for only 60, 51, and 28 (in the -case of the Yeoman, 38) days respectively, in these three years.[310] -Probably he liked to be at Court, whether there was much to do or not. -The average allowances for wages had therefore been about £29 10_s._ a -year for the Master and £7 10_s._ a year for each inferior officer, so -that the composition was by no means unduly in Tilney's favour. -Moreover, he had introduced a practice of taking to Court a doorkeeper -and three other attendants, and charging 1_s._ a day as diet for each. -Probably these were his personal servants, and he got no further -allowance for them under the composition. The precedence of the Master -of the Revels at Court was fixed by a certificate of the Heralds in -1588, which directed that in the procession to St. Paul's for a -thanksgiving after the Armada he should walk with the Knights -Bachelor.[311] - -Of course, the 'wages' dealt with by the composition and charged to the -Revels Account were quite distinct from the 'fees' payable to the -officers out of the Exchequer in virtue of their patents. These had been -settled in Cawarden's time, and, so far as the inferior officers were -concerned, do not appear to have been varied since. The Clerk -Comptroller was entitled to 8_d._ a day, together with four yards of -woollen cloth, worth 6_s._ 8_d._ each, from the Wardrobe. In practice, -however, the livery had been replaced by a money allowance of 26_s._ -8_d._ charged half on the Revels and half on the Tents.[312] The Clerk -had 8_d._ a day, and a money payment from the Treasury of 24_s._ a year -in lieu of livery; the Yeoman 6_d._ a day, and a livery 'such as Yeomen -of the household have' at the Wardrobe. The Master's fee, alike in the -patents of Cawarden, Benger, and Tilney, is given as £10. But Tilney, -according to a statement made by his successor about 1611, received £100 -'for a better recompence'.[313] In addition to fee and wages, each of -the officers was entitled under his patent to an official residence. The -Master held his place 'cum omnibus domibus mansionibus regardis -proficuis iuribus libertatibus et advantagiis eidem officio quovismodo -pertinentibus sive spectantibus vel tali officio pertinere sive spectare -debentibus'. The Clerk Comptroller could claim a house, 'ubi paviliones -... positi sunt aut erunt' to be assigned by the Master of the Tents; -the Clerk, one at the _staura_ of the Revels or the Tents, to be -assigned by the Master of one or other Office; the Yeoman 'one -sufficient house or mancion such as hereafter shall be assigned to him' -for the keeping of the vestures. Cawarden had provided these houses at -the Blackfriars and had taken allowances in his accounts of £10 for his -own and £5 each for those of his three subordinates, as well as one of -£6 13_s._ 4_d._ for the work and store rooms of the Office.[314] After -his death suitable lodgings were available at St. John's. During the -interregnum the Master's lodging was utilized as a supplementary -storehouse. It was consequently not ready for Tilney on his appointment, -and he was allowed £13 6_s._ 8_d._ a year for lodgings elsewhere.[315] -An undated letter from him at the Revels Office to Sir William More, -complaining of the conduct of a neighbour, suggests that he found these -at the Blackfriars, and here he seems to have remained, at any rate -until 1582.[316] But by 1586-7 he had moved to St. John's, where he -occupied not his proper lodging but that of the Comptroller, for which -he paid £16 a year. This we learn from a careful survey made at that -date by Thomas Graves, Surveyor of the Office of Works.[317] He was -comfortably housed enough, for he had thirteen chambers, with a parlour, -hall, kitchen, stable and other appurtenances, and a 'convenient -garden'. The Clerk had eleven rooms and a stable, and the Yeoman seven -and a barn. The addition of the Master's lodging to the space available -for official purposes had presumably removed the difficulties of -accommodation of which Fish had complained in 1574. In addition to the -'Great Hall' and a 'great chamber', there were a cutting house and three -'woorking housez' below the hall. It may be added that there had been -some changes during Tilney's Mastership, both of Clerk Comptroller and -of Yeoman. On 15 October 1584 William Honing was appointed Comptroller -in place of Edward Buggin.[318] On 25 June 1596, Honing having resigned, -Edmund Pakenham was appointed as from 29 September 1595.[319] The last -Yeoman of the reign was Edward Kirkham. His patent, in succession to -Walter Fish, then dead, is dated on 28 April 1586.[320] But it refers to -his 'service done in the Revels', and it is clear from the account for -1582-3 that he was already employed during that year, probably as deputy -to Fish, in whose place he signed the book.[321] Fish signed that for -1580-1, and that for 1581-2 is missing. Kirkham's activities as a member -of the syndicate formed to finance the Chapel plays in 1601 are a matter -for discussion elsewhere.[322] - -Tilney remained Master of the Revels until his death on 20 August 1610. -But with the new reign he appears to have exercised most of his -functions through his nephew, Sir George Buck, as his deputy and -prospective successor. Buck had been in the Cadiz expedition of 1596, -and was not improbably the Mr. Buck who carried dispatches for Cecil to -Middelburgh in the Low Countries and afterwards in England during the -autumn of 1601.[323] At the funeral of Elizabeth he received livery as -an Esquire of the Body, probably extraordinary.[324] Hopes of the -Mastership seem to have been held out to him as early as 1597, to the -despair of another Esquire of the Body, John Lyly, the dramatist, who -considered that he had claims upon the reversion to the Mastership, and -pretty clearly regarded the bestowal of it upon another as a distinct -breach of faith on the part of the Queen. Several letters of his -referring to the matter are preserved at Hatfield and elsewhere. The -earliest and most important of these is dated 22 December 1597 and -addressed to Sir Robert Cecil. Herein Lyly says: - - 'I haue not byn importunat, that thes 12 yeres w_it_h vnwearied - pacienc have entertayned the p_ro_rogui_n_g of her ma_ies_ties - promises, w_hi_ch if in the 13 may conclud w_it_h the - Parlement, I will think the greves of tymes past but pastymes - ... Offices in Reuersion are forestalld, in possession ingrost, - & that of _th_e Reuells countenanced upon Buck, wherein the - Justic of an oyre shewes his affection to _th_e keper & - partialty to _th_e sheppard, a french fauor.' - -To the Queen herself Lyly wrote: - - 'I was entertayned yo_u_r Mai_es_ties servant by yo_u_r owne - gratious ffavo_u_r, stranghthened w_i_th condic_i_ons, that I - should ayme all my courses att the Revells (I dare not saye, - w_i_th a promise, butt a hopeffull Item, of the Reversion); - ffor the w_hi_ch, theis tenn yeares, I haue attended, w_i_th an - vnwearyed patience, and I knowe not whatt crabb tooke mee ffor - an oyster, that, in the middest of the svnnshine of yo_u_r - gratious aspect, hath thrust a stone betwene the shelles, to - eate mee alyve, that onely lyve on dead hopes.' - -The date of this petition is probably 1598, since a second letter to -Cecil, dated 9 September 1598, specifies the same period of 'ten yeres', -during which Lyly had had 'nothing applied to my wantes but promises'. -On 27 February 1601, a third letter to Cecil, asking for his aid in -obtaining a grant out of property forfeited after the Essex conspiracy, -suggests that 'after 13 yeres servic and suit for _th_e Revells, I may -turne all my forces & frends to feed on _th_e Rebells'. This was written -in connexion with a second petition to the Queen, in which occurs the -following passage: - - 'It pleased yo_u_r Mai_es_tie to except against Tentes and - Toyles. I wishe, that ffor Tentes I might putt in Tenem_en_tes: - soe should I bee eased with some Toyles; some landes, some - goodes, ffynes, or fforffeytures, that should ffall, by the - just ffall of these most ffalce Trayto_u_rs, that seeinge - nothinge will come by the Revells, I may praye vppon Rebells. - Thirteen yeares, yo_u_r Highnes Servant, butt yett - nothinge....'[325] - -The general drift of these documents is fairly clear. It would seem that -Lyly received promises of advancement from Elizabeth about 1585, -probably as a result of the success of his plays; that in 1588 he was -'entertained the queen's servant', with a more or less authorized -expectation of place in the Revels; that in 1597 his claims were set -aside in favour of Buck; and that, after unavailing protests, he made -the best of the situation and attempted to obtain what compensation he -could for his disappointment. I find some confirmation of the view that -about 1588 Lyly came to be regarded, possibly on account of the aid -rendered by his pen to the bishops against Martin Marprelate, as having -some right of succession to a place at Court, in an allusion of Gabriel -Harvey, who in his _Advertisement for Papp-Hatchett_, dated 5 November -1589, but not published until it was included in his _Pierce's_ -_Supererogation_ of 1593, says of Papp-Hatchett, who is almost certainly -Lyly, 'He might as truly forge any lewd or villanous report of any one -in England; and for his labour challenge to be preferred to the -Clerkship of the whetstone'; and again, 'His knavish and foolish malice -palpably bewrayeth itself in most odious actions; meet to garnish the -foresayd famous office of the whetstone'.[326] The actual phrasing of -Lyly's letters is, of course, characteristically obscure. It is possible -that the 'keper' referred to in the first of them is the Lord Keeper, -Sir Thomas Egerton, to whom, if Collier may be trusted, Buck sent, in -1605, a copy of a poem called [Greek: DAPHNIS POLYSTEPHANOS], with some -lines referring to an obligation of long standing towards his -patron.[327] The allusion to 'Tentes and Toyles' may mean that, after -giving up hope of the Mastership of the Revels, Lyly had turned his -thoughts to the Mastership of the Tents and Toils, the actual holder of -which, in 1601, Henry Sackford, had been appointed to the Tents as far -back as 1559, and must therefore have been an oldish man; or possibly -that, if he could not have the higher place, Lyly would have been -content with the reversion of one of the two subordinate appointments, -the Clerkship or the Clerk Comptrollership, which the Revels shared with -the Tents.[328] - -I may complete the story by pointing out that Buck, no less than Lyly, -was making interest with Cecil. As a connexion of the Howards, he had of -course a powerful influence behind him, and after the death of Nicasius -Yetswiert, French Secretary and Clerk of the Signet, Lord Howard of -Effingham had written to Cecil on 28 April 1595[329]: - - 'In favour of Mʳ. Buck, whom Her Majesty, talking with Mʳ. John - Stanhope, herself named, showing a gracious disposition to do - him good, and think him fit, as sure he is, for one of the two - offices of Mʳ. Necasius, that is called unto God's mercy. For - the French tongue he can do it very well to serve her Majesty.' - -Four years later, on 1 June 1599, Buck himself wrote to the -Secretary[330]: - - 'I understood by a friend of mine, not many months since, that - you were very well affected to mine old long suit, and of your - own disposition offered to move the Queen in my behalf. Ever - since I reckoned myself in your good favour till yesterday that - I heard you had given your goodwill to another, and besides - had persuaded one of my chiefest friends to be solicitor for - him. My interest therein accrued out of frank almoin, and - therefore I can claim no estate but during pleasure, yet I - hoped, as other poor true tenants do, not to be turned out so - long as I performed my honest duties.' - -This may reasonably be taken as referring to the Mastership of the -Revels, and makes it clear that, whatever Elizabeth had said or done in -1597, she had not given Buck any irrecoverable promise. Very likely she -never did. But early in the new reign, on 23 June 1603, Buck received a -formal grant by patent of the reversion to Tilney.[331] On the same day -was issued a new commission for the office, similar to that of 1581, but -in Buck's name instead of Tilney's, from which it is to be inferred that -he had become the acting Master.[332] On 23 July 1603 he was -knighted.[333] Tilney, however, continued to render the accounts, which, -with two exceptions, only exist for the whole of the reign of James in a -summary form. The account for 1609-10 is by Tilney's executor, Thomas -Tilney; and from 1610-11 onwards Buck is accounting officer, and in full -enjoyment of the Mastership.[334] One of the two detailed accounts is -Tilney's for 1604-5, the other Buck's for 1611-12. These are made -interesting by their schedules of Court performances, the authenticity -of which may now be regarded as fairly vindicated.[335] They show that -the establishment remained precisely upon its sixteenth-century lines. -The close of Elizabeth's reign witnessed the termination by death of -Blagrave's fifty-seven years' service in the Revels.[336] William -Honing, the former Comptroller, returned to the Office as Clerk in his -room, under a patent made retrospective to 25 March 1603.[337] He was -still there, as was Edward Kirkham, the Yeoman, in 1617.[338] On the -other hand there was a rather rapid succession of Clerk Comptrollers: -Edmund Pakenham to 1605-6, Edmund Fowler from 1606-7 to 1608-9, William -Page in 1609-10, and Alexander Stafford from 24 April 1611 to 1617 or -later.[339] The Groom or Purveyor, like the Porter of St. John's, -appears to have been a servitor and not an officer by patent. During -1603-15 he was Stephen Baile, who had succeeded Thomas Clatterbocke. The -Porter of St. John's, during the same period, was Richard Prescot.[340] - -The change of reign brought with it another change in the financial -arrangements for the office. The 'composition' introduced by Burghley in -1597 was abandoned, and henceforth the Master regularly received an -imprest of £100 at the beginning of each financial year, together with -the balance due on an account rendered by him for all charges since the -time of the last imprest. The total amount passing through his hands was -not large. During the earlier years of the reign it varied from £150 to -£300, and during 1611-15 from £300 to £500.[341] In 1617 the 'ordinary' -issues for the Revels were still estimated at £300.[342] Nor was there -any special need for 'extraordinary' issues, since the organization of -the masks, in which Jacobean Court extravagance centred, was not -entrusted to the Revels at all, but to some nominated officer, under the -direct supervision of the Lord Chamberlain and the Master of the Horse, -who received funds direct from the Treasury for any expenditure which -did not fall within the provinces of the Wardrobe or the Office of -Works.[343] The Revels Officers continued indeed to give their personal -attendance on mask nights, and to charge for their diet accordingly. But -their actual responsibility for the entertainments appears to have been -limited to the supervision of the fittings, such as the 'music house' in -the hall or banqueting-house, and in particular of the elaborate -arrangements for lighting. The wire-drawer's bill is the chief outgoing -represented in the annual accounts. There is very little else except the -personal allowances for the officers and the Master's four servants, -their office expenses and boat-hire, the audit and exchequer costs, and -occasional repairs to the 'tiring-house' used for rehearsals and other -parts of the premises which they occupied. The Master charges diet for -himself and his men for every day between All Hallows and Ash Wednesday, -together with an extra amount for each actual night of play or mask, and -for a varying number of days of tilting and running at the ring and -twenty days of 'airing' in the summer. The Comptroller, Clerk, and -Yeoman get £13 6_s._ 8_d._ each and the Groom £6 13_s._ 4_d._ for the -whole of their required attendance. Beyond a stray property or garment -here and there, there is nothing spent on emptions of stuff or on -tailors and the like. I think it is clear that the result of the policy -initiated by Burghley had been to reduce the Revels, regarded as a -branch of the Household organization, to comparative insignificance. -Henceforward its domestic duties sink into the background of the -quasi-political functions given to the Master as stage censor by the -commissions of 1581 and 1603. But these functions were peculiar to the -Master, who carried them out with the aid of his personal servants.[344] -The other Revels officers had no claim to share in them, and though -Tilney and Buck built up a considerable income out of licensing fees, -which probably accounts for the discontinuance in Buck's case of the -'better recompense' of £100 granted by Elizabeth to Tilney, no penny of -these fees ever passed through the Revels Accounts. - -The slight increase of cost observable in course of time is mainly due -to charges for lodgings. The want of accommodation at Hampton Court in -the winter of 1603-4 obliged the officers to rent rooms at Kingston for -a month at a cost of £4.[345] In 1607 a far more serious problem was -presented by the impending loss of St. John's. This had remained in -Crown hands throughout Elizabeth's time, although on 31 October 1601 we -find John Chamberlain writing to Dudley Carleton, 'The Quene sells land -still and the house of St. Johns is at sale'.[346] James, however, after -leasing the Gatehouse for life to Sir Roger Wilbraham in 1604, carried -out his predecessor's intention by selling the greater part of the -Priory to Ralph Freeman on 9 May 1607.[347] Presumably the premises -which had been assigned to the Revels were not covered by this sale, for -of these the King made a gift in the same year to his cousin Esmé -Stuart, eighth Lord Aubigny.[348] The Revels therefore had to be -dispossessed. But the Office had to be housed somewhere; and the -officers were all entitled to official residences under the terms of -their patents. It was doubtless in connexion with this transaction that -the following memorandum, which is preserved amongst Sir Julius Caesar's -papers and endorsed 'Mr. Tilney's writinge touching his Office', was -drawn up.[349] - - The Office of _th_e Revells Is noted to be one of _th_e Kinges - Ma_ie_st_e_s standinge Offices, as are the Jewellhowsse, _th_e - wardropp, _th_e Ordinance, the Armorye, and the Tentes with - _th_e like Allowances everie wayes _th_at any of _th_em haue. - - W_hi_ch Office of _th_e Revells Consistethe of a wardropp and - other severall Roomes for Artifficers to worke in (viz. - Taylors, Imbrotherers, Properti makers, Paynters, wyerdrawers - and Carpenters), togeather with a Convenient place for _th_e - Rehearshalls and settinge forthe of Playes and other Shewes for - those Services. - - In w_hi_ch Office _th_e Master of _th_e Office hath ever hadd a - dwellinge Howsse for him self and his Famelie, and _th_e other - Officers ar to haue eyther dwellinge Howsses Assigned unto - _th_em by _th_e M_aste_r (for so goeth the wordes of _th_er - Pattent_es_) or else a Rente for _th_e same as _th_ei had - before they Came unto St. Johnes. - - For by ther Pattents, w_hi_ch be all eyther new graunted or - Confirmed by the King_es_ Ma_ies_tie, They ar Allowed as the - Master Is to haue eache of them a dwellinge Howsse w_i_th - garden and Stable for Terme of _th_er lyues, as ther - Predicessors hadd (viz. w_i_thin St. Johnes), w_hi_ch Cannot - well be taken from vs w_i_thout good Consideration for the - same: or _th_e lyke Allowance for Howssroome. - - Elye Howsse Is possessed agayne by _th_e Byshopp as I doe - heare. - - But S_i_r Thomas Knevitt hath vnder neathe his keepershipp of - Whitehaull, dyvers howsses, as Hawnces and Baptistas with ij or - iij howsses more Appertayninge ther vnto, near vnto _th_e olde - Pallas In westminster w_hi_ch I doe doubte be all rented out by - him for Terme of his lyeffe. - -The difficulty was met by a plan which had served before in the history -of the Revels. The officers were allowed to provide their own lodgings, -and to charge £15 each for the purpose in the Office account. A similar -allowance (£20) was made to the Master for the provision of an -office.[350] The actual removal, so far as the office was concerned, -took place in the spring of 1608. The accounts show expenses 'in -providing a place for th'office of the Revells' between 10 February and -the middle of April, and there is independent evidence that on the 10th -of March, it was located next door to the Whitefriars theatre.[351] -Tilney's personal allowance first appears in the account for 1608-9, and -is made retrospective to Michaelmas 1607. Perhaps the Clerk and Yeoman -were not disturbed quite so soon. Their allowances first appear in -1610-11, and are retrospective to Hallowmas 1608.[352] It may be assumed -that the Comptroller's lodging was treated as a charge on the Tents. On -Tilney's death, Buck was allowed £30 to cover both the Office and his -own lodging, and the payment antedated to Michaelmas 1608. He protested -that he had in fact to pay a rent of £50, and although Salisbury -probably turned a deaf ear, his appeal was allowed when his Howard -connexions, Suffolk and Northampton, became Treasury Commissioners in -1612, and the allowance was finally fixed at £50.[353] It should be -added that Buck also secured in 1612-13, and very likely in other years, -a quite distinct allowance of £16, under a warrant from the Lord -Chamberlain to the Treasurer of the Chamber, as compensation for the -absence of a lodging for him at a crowded Court during the winter revels -season.[354] The Office cannot have stayed long in the Whitefriars, for -on 24 August 1612 Buck dedicated a treatise on _The Third University in -England_ to Sir Edward Coke 'from his Majesties office of the Revels, -upon St. Peter's Hill'.[355] This is an account of the seats of learning -in London, and was printed by Howes as an appendix to the 1615 edition -of Stowe's _Annales_. Chapter 47 is _Of the Art of Revels_, and is worth -quoting: - - 'I might add herunto for a corollary of this discourse the Art - of Revels which requireth knowledge in Grammar, Rhetoric, - Logic, Philosophy, History, Music, Mathematics, and in other - Arts (and all more than I understand I confess) and hath a - settled place within this City. But because I have described it - and discoursed thereof at large in a particular commentary, - according to my talent, I will surcease to speak any more - thereof: blazing only the Arms belonging to it; which are - Gules, a cross argent, and in the first corner of the - scutcheon, a Mercury's petasus argent, and a lion gules in - chief or.'[356] - -It is matter for deep regret that Buck's 'particular commentary' is -lost. He made other contributions to letters, writing commendatory -verses to Thomas Watson's [Greek: EKATOMPATHIA] (_c._ 1582) and to -Camden's _Britannia_ (1607), and a poem called [Greek: DAPHNIS -POLYSTEPHANOS] (1605).[357] His _History of the Life and Reigne of -Richard III_ was published posthumously in 1607.[358] - -Reversions of the Mastership were granted during Buck's lifetime to -Edward Glasscock in 1603, to John, afterwards Sir John, Astley or Ashley -on 3 April 1612, to Benjamin Jonson on 5 October 1621, and to William -Painter on 29 July 1622.[359] His actual successor was Sir John Astley. -On 30 March 1622 John Chamberlain wrote to Dudley Carleton, 'Old Sir -George Buck, master of the revels, has gone mad'.[360] On 29 March 1622 -a warrant was issued by the Lord Chamberlain to swear Astley in as -Master, followed on 16 May by a letter requiring Buck to deliver up the -books and other property of the Office.[361] His death took place on 20 -September 1623.[362] Astley almost immediately sold his office to Sir -Henry Herbert, whose tenure of it belongs to the history of the Caroline -stage. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 232: _Order for Sitting in the King's Great Chamber_ (_H. O._ -113): 'If the master of revells be there, he may sitt with the chapleyns -or with the esquires or gentlemen ushers.'] - -[Footnote 233: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 404.] - -[Footnote 234: Cf. ch. xiii.] - -[Footnote 235: Brewer, i. 24, 283, 690, 828; ii. 875, 1044, 1479; iii. -129; iv. 868; cf. _Tudor Revels_, 6.] - -[Footnote 236: Machyn, 157.] - -[Footnote 237: Brewer, vii. 560; Feuillerat, _M. P._ 22; cf. _Tudor -Revels_, 7.] - -[Footnote 238: Brewer, xiv. 1. 574; 2. 102, 159.] - -[Footnote 239: Patent in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 53. The appointment was -retrospective from 16 March 1544. Cawarden had taken an inventory of -Revels stuff for the King as far back as 10 Dec. 1542 (Feuillerat, _M. -P._ 27). The historical memorandum of 1573 (cf. p. 82) printed in _Tudor -Revels_, 2, says, 'After the deathe of Travers Seriaunt of the said -office. Sir Thomas Carden knight, beinge of the kinges maiesties pryvie -Chamber, beinge skilfull and delightinge in matters of devise, preferred -to that office, did mislyke to be tearmed a Seriaunt because of his -better countenaunce of roome and place beinge of the kinges maiesties -privye Chamber. And so became he by patent the first master of the -Revelles.'] - -[Footnote 240: Patent in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 70; cf. Feuillerat, _Edw. -and M._ 4, 9.] - -[Footnote 241: _Tudor Revels_, 2, from memorandum of 1573.] - -[Footnote 242: Brewer, xx. I. 213; Feuillerat, _M. P._ 28; _Edw. and M._ -49; Patent to Lees in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 56.] - -[Footnote 243: Patent in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 66.] - -[Footnote 244: Patent in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 68; cf. _Edw. and M._ 74, -180, 272. Blagrave is described as Cawarden's 'servant' in 1546-7, and -again in Cawarden's will of 1559. He was aged about 50 on 27 June 1572 -(_M. S. C._ ii. 52).] - -[Footnote 245: Kempe, 93.] - -[Footnote 246: Brewer, i. 636, 757; ii. 179; xvi. 603.] - -[Footnote 247: Feuillerat, _Edw. and M._ 3; cf. ch. xvii (Blackfriars).] - -[Footnote 248: _Tudor Revels_, 3, from memorandum of 1573. An account of -Cawarden's life by T. Craib is in _Surrey Arch. Colls._ xxviii. 7 -(1915). There is a doubt as to the exact date of his death. The i.p.m. -gives 29 Aug.; his epitaph 25 Aug. Similarly the Blechingley register -gives 29 Aug. for his funeral; Machyn, 208, gives 5 Sept.] - -[Footnote 249: Patent in Rymer, xv. 565; Collier, i. 170, from privy -seal; Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 54.] - -[Footnote 250: Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 115, 280; _Athenaeum_ (1903), i. 220; -_3 Library_, ix. 252; Collier, i. 185. A reference to the Master of -'Revels' in _Hatfield MSS._ i. 551 is a mistake for 'Rolls'. Benger was -son of Robert Benger or Berenger of Marlborough (_Harl. Soc. -Visitations_, lviii. 10), was knighted 2 Oct. 1553 (Machyn, 335), and -was auditor to Elizabeth as princess (Hearne, _John of Glastonbury_, -519). Further personal notes are in Stopes, _Hunnis_, 104, 311.] - -[Footnote 251: Collier, i. 171 (assigned in error to Cawarden); -Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 110, from _S. P. D. Eliz._ vii. 50.] - -[Footnote 252: _Hist. MSS._ vii. 615.] - -[Footnote 253: Lady Derby writes to Sir Christopher Hatton in 1580 that -she had been with her cousin Sackford (Master of the Tents) in 'his -house at St. John's' (Nicolas, _Hatton_, 148).] - -[Footnote 254: Printed by Feuillerat, _Edw. and M._ 180; _Eliz._ 18, -77.] - -[Footnote 255: Sometimes garments no longer useful for masks, but not -yet cast as fees, had been altered for players, and either kept in the -office and 'often used by players', or given to the players or musicians -'by composicion' or 'for their fee'. Some were missing because 'the -lordes that masked toke awey parte', or they had been 'gyven awaye by -the maskers in the queenes presence'. Some were treated as fees, because -'to moche knowen'; in an earlier inventory of 1555 we find 'ffees -because the King hath worin hit' (Feuillerat, _Edw. and M._ 299; _Eliz._ -24, 25, 27, 40.)] - -[Footnote 256: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 109, 119, 124, 125, 126. Possibly the -amounts of imprests are in some years to be added.] - -[Footnote 257: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 130, 135.] - -[Footnote 258: Patent in Feuillerat, 58.] - -[Footnote 259: Patent in Feuillerat, 72.] - -[Footnote 260: Feuillerat, 408, from _S. P. D. Eliz. Add._ xx. 101; -Collier, i. 230, who thinks that the application was for the Mastership -of the Revels.] - -[Footnote 261: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 409; Collier, i. 191; from _Lansd. -MS._ 13; cf. ch. v.] - -[Footnote 262: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 429. He died in debt, and his will -was not proved until 1577 (Chalmers, 482). This led me into thinking -(_Tudor Revels_, 26) that during 1572-7 he was alive, but not actively -exercising his functions, and possibly into some injustice in suggesting -that he had 'in the end proved an extravagant and unbusinesslike -Master'. Yet Blagrave's memorandum of 1573 (_vide infra_) seems to lay a -special stress on the importance of appointing a Master who shall be -'neither gallant, prodigall, nedye, nor gredye'.] - -[Footnote 263: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 187, 456, correcting Collier, i. 198 -and _Tudor Revels_, 26.] - -[Footnote 264: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 157, 160, 172, 178.] - -[Footnote 265: Ibid. 186.] - -[Footnote 266: _Tudor Revels_, 28; Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 416; from _Lansd. -MS._ 83, f. 145, misdated in pencil 'July 1597'.] - -[Footnote 267: _Tudor Revels_, 29; Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 412; from _Lansd. -MS._ 83, f. 147. Dodmer was still pursuing a claim in the Court of -Requests in May 1576 (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 413).] - -[Footnote 268: Text in full in _Tudor Revels_, 1, 31, and Feuillerat, -_Eliz._ 5, from _Lansd. MS._ 83, f. 158.] - -[Footnote 269: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 432, points out that, as Elizabeth's -Privy Council is referred to, these ordinances can hardly have been -those of Cawarden (cf. p. 74) as I suggested in _Tudor Revels_, 34.] - -[Footnote 270: Text in full in _Tudor Revels_, 42, and Feuillerat, -_Eliz._ 17, from _Lansd. MS._ 83, f. 154. The time-references agree with -1573 or 1574, if Blagrave's unestablished service in the Revels began as -early as 1546.] - -[Footnote 271: _Lansd. MS._ 83, f. 149. The reference to two years' -debts suggests a date, when compared with Dodmer's, in the summer of -1574; if so, the writer will be Fish, rather than Arnold.] - -[Footnote 272: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 164.] - -[Footnote 273: A _Declared Account_ for 14 Feb. 1578 to 14 Feb. 1579 is -in Blagrave's name.] - -[Footnote 274: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 212, 218, 238, 247, 267, 277, 295, -296, 297, 298, 299, 300.] - -[Footnote 275: Ibid. 192, 266, 277, 297, 301.] - -[Footnote 276: Ibid. 191.] - -[Footnote 277: Patent in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 73; cf. 191, Collier, i. -227, and _Variorum_, iii. 499.] - -[Footnote 278: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 197, 204, 212, 228, 247, 268, 277, -291, 300.] - -[Footnote 279: Ibid. 182, 225.] - -[Footnote 280: Ibid. 256, 321.] - -[Footnote 281: Ibid. 162, 165.] - -[Footnote 282: Ibid. 191.] - -[Footnote 283: Ibid. 242.] - -[Footnote 284: Ibid. 179, 186, 277, Table III.] - -[Footnote 285: Ibid. 185.] - -[Footnote 286: Ibid. 204, 219, 268.] - -[Footnote 287: Ibid. 218.] - -[Footnote 288: Ibid. 202; cf. _Tudor Revels_, 5.] - -[Footnote 289: _Hist. MSS._ iv. 300.] - -[Footnote 290: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 227, 247, 277, 300, 310, 457.] - -[Footnote 291: App. D, No. xxxiii.] - -[Footnote 292: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 55 (text of patent), 285, 302, 310, -312; _Variorum_, iii. 57; Chalmers, 482; Collier, i. 230, 235; _Dramatic -Records_, 2.] - -[Footnote 293: Digges, 359.] - -[Footnote 294: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 330.] - -[Footnote 295: Ibid. 434.] - -[Footnote 296: Ibid. 354, 358, 370, 381, 391.] - -[Footnote 297: Ibid. 359.] - -[Footnote 298: See text in App. D, No. lvi.] - -[Footnote 299: Cf. ch. x.] - -[Footnote 300: Cf. ch. i.] - -[Footnote 301: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ Table II.] - -[Footnote 302: Stowe, _Annales_, 689; Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 168; cf. ch. -i.] - -[Footnote 303: _S. P. D. Eliz._ ccxlviii, p. 512.] - -[Footnote 304: Ibid, cclxii, p. 351. The calendar does not, however, -note the _marginalia_ to the docquet referred to below.] - -[Footnote 305: Cf. p. 82.] - -[Footnote 306: _Tudor Revels_, 64, and Feuillerat, 417, from _Lansd. -MS._ 83, f. 170.] - -[Footnote 307: _S. P. D. Eliz._ cclxvi, p. 5.] - -[Footnote 308: Feuillerat, _Edw. and M._ 29; cf. p. 100.] - -[Footnote 309: Feuillerat, 394, 417.] - -[Footnote 310: Feuillerat, 352, 360, 367, 372, 379, 382.] - -[Footnote 311: _S. P. D._ cclxxix. 86.] - -[Footnote 312: Feuillerat, 108.] - -[Footnote 313: Chalmers, 486, 490; _S. P. D. Jac. I_, lxv. 2. The fee -lists (cf. p. 29) confirm this, sometimes adding 'diet in court'.] - -[Footnote 314: Feuillerat, 108.] - -[Footnote 315: Ibid. 310, 463.] - -[Footnote 316: _Hist. MSS._ vii. 661; Feuillerat, 467.] - -[Footnote 317: Feuillerat, 47. Owing to the omission of Burghley's title -in the address of the report, I misdated it in _Tudor Revels_, 20. The -history of St. John's is given by W. P. Griffith, _An Architectural -Notice of St. John's Priory, Clerkenwell_ (_1 London and Middlesex Arch. -Soc. Trans._ iii. 157); A. W. Clapham, _St. John of Jerusalem, -Clerkenwell_ (_St. Paul's Ecclesiological Soc. Trans._ vii. 37). It was -a Priory of the Knights Hospitallers, founded _c._ 1100, and enlarged in -the fifteenth century. The Gatehouse, which still stands, was rebuilt by -Prior Thomas Docwra in 1504. After the dissolution in 1540, the stones -of the church were used for Somerset House, and the rest granted to -Dudley. Mary resumed it and refounded the Priory. After the second -dissolution by Elizabeth, the property remained in the hands of the -Crown.] - -[Footnote 318: Patent in Feuillerat, 60.] - -[Footnote 319: Patent in Feuillerat, 63.] - -[Footnote 320: Ibid. 74.] - -[Footnote 321: Ibid. 360.] - -[Footnote 322: Cf. ch. xii.] - -[Footnote 323: _Hatfield MSS._ xi. 359, 379, 380. The 'Mr. Buck' -implicated in the Essex rebellion of 1601 (_Hist. MSS._ xi. 4. 10) was -Francis Buck (_Hatfield MSS._ xi. 214).] - -[Footnote 324: _Lord Chamberlain's Records_, 554. Can he also have been -a Gentleman of the Chapel? A Gentleman was sworn in 'in Mr. Buckes -roome' on 2 July 1603, just after he became acting Master (Rimbault, -6).] - -[Footnote 325: The letters are printed in full in Bond, _Lyly_, i. 64, -68, 70, 378, 392, 395. A contemporary note by Sir Stephen Powle to a -copy of the 1601 appeal says, 'He was a suter to be Mr. of the Reuelles -and tentes and Toyles, but eauer crossed'.] - -[Footnote 326: Grosart, _Harvey_, ii. 211.] - -[Footnote 327: Collier, i. 361.] - -[Footnote 328: The conjecture of R. W. Bond (_Lyly_, i. 41) that Lyly -was actually Clerk Comptroller is rendered untenable by our complete -knowledge of the succession to that post; cf. _Tudor Revels_, 60, and -Feuillerat, _Lyly_, 194, who shows that Lyly was the Queen's 'servant' -as Esquire of the Body.] - -[Footnote 329: _Hatfield MSS._ v. 189.] - -[Footnote 330: Ibid. ix. 190.] - -[Footnote 331: _Patent Roll, 1 Jac. I_, p. 24, m. 25; Text from -seventeenth-century copy in _Dramatic Records_, 14; docquet, dated 21 -June, in _S. P. D. Jac. I_, ii. p. 16. The terms, which follow those of -earlier patents, are recited in the Declared Accounts of the Office from -1610-11 onwards.] - -[Footnote 332: _Patent Roll, 1 Jac. I_, p. 24, m. 31. The date 1613 -given by Chalmers, 491, is an error. An imperfect copy is in _Dulwich -MS._ xviii. 5, f. 51 (Warner, 338). The docquet in _S. P. D. Jac. I_, -ii. p. 16, is dated 21 June.] - -[Footnote 333: Nichols, _James_, i. 215.] - -[Footnote 334: He did not, however, get Tilney's fee of £100 (cf. p. -103) but only the original £10 (_Abstract_ of 1617) or, according to -some of the manuscript fee lists (_Stowe MSS._ 574, f. 16; 575, f. 22ᵛ), -£20. Tilney's monument is in Streatham church (Lysons, _Environs_, i. -365) but does not give the exact date of his death.] - -[Footnote 335: Cf. App. B.] - -[Footnote 336: The pedigree in _Middlesex Pedigrees_ (_Harl. Soc._ lxv), -83, dates his death in error 18 Jan. 1590, but it is interesting to note -that his daughter Mary married William, brother of Thomas Lodge. He was -buried at Clerkenwell.] - -[Footnote 337: Patent in _Dramatic Records_, 9, dated 5 (? 15) June; -docquet of 10 June in _S. P. D. Jac. I_, ii. p. 14; draft of 30 May in -_S. P. D. Eliz. Addl._ ix. 58.] - -[Footnote 338: _Abstract_, 60.] - -[Footnote 339: _Dramatic Records_, 63; _Accounts_, _passim_.] - -[Footnote 340: _Accounts_, _passim_. Feuillerat, 475, names Thomas -Cornwallis as Groom Porter in 1603. But there was no such post at the -Revels. Cornwallis was Groom Porter of the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 341: Cunningham, 209, 217; _Declared Accounts_, _passim_; _S. -P. D. Jac. I_, x. p. 178; xxxi. p. 410; lviii. p. 652; lxii. p. 17; -lxviii. p. 110; Collier, i. 347, 363; Devon, 118.] - -[Footnote 342: _Abstract_, 8.] - -[Footnote 343: Cf. ch. vi.] - -[Footnote 344: Henslowe took receipts for licensing fees from Michael -Bloomson, John Carnab, Robert Hassard, William Hatto, Robert Johnson, -William Playstowe, Thomas and William Stonnard, Richard Veale, and -Thomas Whittle, 'men' of the Master of the Revels, between 1595 and -1602. Johnson was of Leatherhead, where Tilney had a house. I regret to -say that on one occasion Henslowe thought fit to make a loan to William -Stonnard (Greg, _Henslowe_, i. 3, 5, 12, 28, 39, 40, 46, 54, 72, 83, 85, -103, 109, 116, 117, 121, 129, 132, 148, 160, 161; _Dulwich MSS._ i. -37).] - -[Footnote 345: _Declared Account._] - -[Footnote 346: Chamberlain, 120. A proposal (_c._ 1589) for the -establishment of an 'Accademye for the studye of Antiquitye and -Historye' (_Anglia_, xxxii. 261) contains a suggestion that its library -might be housed in St. John's.] - -[Footnote 347: _S. P. D._ (22. xi. 04); _1 London and Middlesex Arch. -Soc. Trans._ iii. 157.] - -[Footnote 348: The gift to Aubigny is recited in the Treasury warrants -of 10 Nov. 1610 and 31 March 1611 for lodging allowances cited below.] - -[Footnote 349: _Lansd. MS._ 156, f. 368.] - -[Footnote 350: _S. P. D. Jac. I_, xxviii, p. 391. The authority was -given by a privy seal.] - -[Footnote 351: Cf. ch. xvii.] - -[Footnote 352: Cunningham, xxi, from _Audit Office Enrolments_, ii. 108. -The authority is a Treasury warrant to auditors of 10 Nov. 1910.] - -[Footnote 353: _S. P. D. Jac. I_, lxv. 2, contains (i) a letter of 1 -July 1611 from Buck to Salisbury's secretary, Dudley Norton, asking for -authority to be given by privy seal and not a mere letter to the -auditors, and enclosing (ii) a letter to Salisbury, putting his case and -pleading that Tilney had £35, 'besides £100 for a better recompense -which had not been continued to Buck, (iii) a copy of a Treasury warrant -to the auditors for the £30, dated 31 March 1611, and (iv) a draft of -the privy seal asked for. Chalmers, 490, printed (ii) and (iii), and -Cunningham printed a draft for (ii) from _Harl. MS. 6850_ in _Sh. Soc. -Papers_, iv. 143. On 19 Dec. 1612 the Treasury sent a warrant to the -auditors to allow the £50 (Cunningham, xxii). But Buck's preference for -a privy seal was sound, for at a later date Auditor Beale complained -that authority for the lodging allowances was wanting (_Dramatic -Records_, 84; Herbert, 129).] - -[Footnote 354: _Chamber Accounts._ Similar expenses for earlier years -were charged in the _Revels Accounts_; cf. p. 89.] - -[Footnote 355: There was yet another change later. Herbert said after -the Restoration (_Dramatic Records_, 39; Herbert, 108) that the Office -had been 'time out of minde' in the parish of St. Mary Bowe, in the ward -of Cheap. St. Peter's Hill is divided between Queen Hithe and Castle -Baynard wards.] - -[Footnote 356: Chalmers, _Apology_, 531, 628, has an engraving from a -block of the Revels Office seal or stamp, as used by Thomas Killigrew -under Charles II. It has Killigrew's arms with the legend 'Sigill: -Offic: Iocor: Mascar: Et Revell: Dni: Reg.'] - -[Footnote 357: Cf. p. 98. The verses to the _Britannia_ are headed -'Georgij Buc Equitis aurati Reg[iorum] Sp[ectaculorum] C[uratoris] -Heptastichon'.] - -[Footnote 358: This is sometimes ascribed to a younger Buck, but the -manuscript copy in _Cott. MS. Tiberius_, E. x, is dated from the Revels -Office on St. Peter's Hill in 1619.] - -[Footnote 359: Feuillerat, _Lyly_, 237; _Dramatic Records_, 11, 39; -Herbert, 7, 102; _S. P. D. Jac. I_ (cxxxii, p. 432). Chalmers, 492, -says, 'Yet, this was not old Ben, as it seemeth, who died in 1637, but -young Ben, who died in 1635'. This seems rather improbable. Was Jonson -already a suitor for the post in 1601, when Dekker wrote _Satiromastix_, -iv. i. 244, 'Master Horace ... I have some cossens Garman at Court, -shall beget you the reuersion of the Master of the Kings Reuels, or else -be his Lord of Misrule now at Christmas'?] - -[Footnote 360: _S. P. D. Jac. I_, cxxviii. 96.] - -[Footnote 361: Murray, ii. 193, from _Inner Temple MS._ 515; cf. -Collier, i. 402; Gildersleeve, 64.] - -[Footnote 362: Herbert, 67, 109.] - - - - -IV - -PAGEANTRY - - [_Bibliographical Note._ A mass of material on the progresses - is collected in J. Nichols, _Progresses of Elizabeth_ (ed. 2, - 1823) and _Progresses of James I_ (1828), which may be - supplemented by W. Kelly, _Royal Progresses and Visits to - Leicester_ (1884), and F. S. Boas, _University Drama in the - Tudor Age_ (1914). Most of the contemporary descriptions of - entertainments reprinted by Nichols will be found noticed in - chh. xxiii, xxiv, and a more complete itinerary than his is - attempted in Appendix A with the help of the dates of Privy - Council meetings and the accounts of the Treasurer of the - Chamber, which he did not utilize. Most of the hosts of royalty - can be identified with the aid of the _Victoria County - Histories_, and of other local histories, to which some guide - is afforded by J. P. Anderson, _Book of British Topography_ - (1881), of which a new edition is looked for, C. Gross, - _Bibliography of Municipal History_ (1897), and A. L. - Humphreys, _Handbook to County Bibliography_ (1917). Three of - the most important home counties are described in J. Norden's - _Middlesex_ (1593), _Herts_ (1598), and _Essex_ (1840), and the - main roads are surveyed at a date rather after the period in J. - Ogilby, _Britannia_ (1675), the progenitor of a long line of - road-books. - - On the Lord Mayor's show, J. G. Nichols, _London Pageants_ - (1837), and F. W. Fairholt, _Lord Mayor's Pageants_ (1843-4) - and _The Civic Garland_ (1845), may be consulted; and further - details can be gleaned from C. M. Clode, _Memorials of the - Guild of Merchant Taylors_ (1875) and _Early History of the - Guild of Merchant Taylors_ (1888), and other publications of - individual guilds. - - Elizabethan hunting is dealt with by D. H. Madden, _The Diary - of Master William Silence_ (1897). There is no adequate history - of the dance; the chapter by A. F. Sieveking in _Shakespeare's - England_, ii. 437, and the sources there cited may be - consulted. The tilt has been recently dealt with by F. H. - Cripps-Day, _The History of the Tournament_ (1918), and R. C. - Clephan, _The Tournament, Its Periods and Phases_ (1919), which - appeared after this chapter was written. Contemporary records - are collected by W. Segar, _Honor Military and Civill_ (1602), - and armature is learnedly treated in J. Hewitt, _Ancient Armour - and Weapons in Europe_ (1855-60), and C. Ffoulkes, _Armour and - Weapons_ (1909). - - R. Withington, _English Pageantry_ (vol. i, 1918), also - published since this chapter was written, deals more fully with - the origins and mediaeval history of pageantry than with its - Elizabethan examples.] - - -The tradition of pageantry had its roots deep in the Middle Ages. But it -made its appeal also to the Renaissance, of which nothing was more -characteristic than the passion for colour and all the splendid external -vesture of things; while the ranging curiosity of the Renaissance was -able to stimulate into fresh life the fading imaginative energies of the -past, weaving its new fancies from classical mythology, from epic and -pastoral, from the explorations of history and folk-lore, no less -delightfully than incongruously, into the old mediaeval warp of -scripture and hagiology and allegory. So that the Tudor kings and queens -came and went about their public affairs in a constant atmosphere of -make-believe, with a sibyl lurking in every court-yard and gateway, and -a satyr in the boscage of every park, to turn the ceremonies of welcome -and farewell, without which sovereigns must not move, by the arts of -song and dance and mimetic dialogue, to favour and to prettiness. - -The fullest scope for such entertainments was afforded by the custom of -the progress, which led the Court, summer by summer, to remove from -London and the great palaces on the Thames and renew the migratory life -of earlier dynasties, wandering for a month or more over the fair face -of the land, and housing itself in the outlying castles and royal -manors, or claiming the ready hospitality of the territorial gentry and -the provincial cities. This was a holiday, in which the sovereign sought -change of air and the recreation of hunting and such other pastimes as -the country yields.[363] But it cannot be doubted that it had also a -political object, in the strengthening, by the give and take of gracious -courtesies, of the bonds of personal affection and loyalty upon which -much of the wisdom of Elizabeth's domestic statecraft so securely -rested. And accordingly the procedure retained much of the solemnity of -a state function. The Queen went on horseback or in a coach or litter, -attended by her bodyguards and the great officers of state, with the -Master of the Horse leading her bridle and a great noble carrying the -sword before her.[364] The sheriff met her at the boundary of each -county, and as she entered a castle or a city the constables offered up -their keys and the corporations their maces, and received them again at -her hands. And with the Queen came the Household in a body, Hall and -Chamber and Stable, followed by a long train of carts bearing the royal -'stuff' which was destined to supply the needs of the household offices, -and to furnish the often empty walls of temporary lodgings, where were -reproduced, if only on a miniature scale, the conventional ordering of -presence chamber, privy chamber, and the like, which were the essentials -of a royal dwelling.[365] Careful arrangements had, of course, to be -made in advance; on the one hand for the maintenance of communications -with London and the transaction or postponement of business during the -absence of Queen and Council, and on the other for the housing and -provisioning of so great a multitude in the country districts.[366] The -latter had of old been the care of a special group of Hall officers -known as the Harbingers.[367] These still exercised functions of detail. -But the general control, like so much else, had passed into the hands of -the Lord Chamberlain. Early in the summer, as soon as the royal decision -as to the direction and duration of the progress could be obtained, a -document was drawn up, known as the 'gestes' or 'jestes', by which must -be understood, I think, not a chronicle of _res gestae_, but a table of -the 'gysts' or _gîtes_ appointed for each night's lodging, which is what -in fact it contained.[368] Copies of the 'gestes' were signed by the -Lord Chamberlain and given with warrants from himself to Gentlemen -Ushers of the Chamber, who took them as instructions to the mayors of -towns, and doubtless also to the lord-lieutenants of counties, through -which the progress would pass. The Ushers were directed to view and -report upon the lodgings available.[369] The royal Waymaker studied the -roads, and the Guard the security of the neighbourhood.[370] The local -officials were required to see that a sufficient provision of food, -drink, and fuel was secured, and to furnish that important safeguard, a -certificate that their districts were free from the dangerous infection -of the plague.[371] The 'gestes' were also published in the household, -and individual courtiers hastened to send them to their friends, and to -give advice to those scheduled as royal hosts about the kind of -entertainment which the sovereign would expect. There is plenty of -evidence in the private correspondence of the period that the honour of -a royal visit was not anticipated without some anxieties. That of Sir -William More at Loseley contains several references to the subject. -There is a letter from Sir Anthony Wingfield, who tells More that he has -reported to the Lord Chamberlain 'what fewe smal romes and howe unmete -your howes was for the Quenes majesty'. She had decided to go to a -manor-house of her own, but had again changed her mind. Wingfield had -spoken to Lord Admiral Clinton, 'for that ytt shalbe a grete trouboul -and a henderanes to you', and advises More to try his influence with -Leicester. This must have been written before the present fine house at -Loseley, built during 1562-8, was sufficiently completed to house the -Queen. More, however, had a visit in 1567, and another in 1576, after -which his neighbour, Henry Goringe of Burton, who expected one in 1577, -wrote to ask him 'what order was taken by her Maiesties offycers at that -tyme that her grace was with youe, and whether your howse were furnyshed -with her highnes stufe, wyne, beer, and other provycion, or that you -purveyd for the same or any parte thereof'. He had a third in 1583, of -which he was warned by Sir Christopher Hatton in a letter of 4 August, -directing him to see everything well ordered, and the house 'sweete and -cleane'. There had been a 'brute' of infection, but this was now -reported as 'a misinformation'. On 24 August, Hatton wrote again. More -should 'avoyd' his family, and make everything ready 'as to your owne -discretion shall seeme most needefull for her maiesties good -contentation'. The sheriff was not to attend her on this occasion, but -More and some other gentlemen had better meet her in Guildford. Finally, -he had one in 1591, and one Mr. Constable came with a letter from Lord -Hunsdon, asking for More's help in selecting suitable lodgings on the -way to Petworth or Cowdray.[372] To these letters can be added others -from various sources. In 1572 Sir Nicholas Bacon wrote to Burghley from -Gorhambury that he understood 'by comen speche' that the Queen was -coming, and being uncertain of the date and desirous to 'take that cours -that myght best pleas her maiestie', begged for advice 'what you thinke -to be the best waye for me to deale in this matter: ffor, in very deede, -no man is more rawe in suche a matter then my selfe'.[373] Only a few -days later Burghley also had a letter from the Earl of Bedford, then on -his way to Woburn Abbey to make preparations. He wishes his rooms and -lodgings were better, and says, 'I trust your Lordship will have in -remembraunce to provide and helpe that her Maiesties tarieng be not -above two nights and a daye; for, for so long tyme do I prepare'.[374] -In the following year, 1573, it was the turn of Archbishop Parker to be -both flattered and perturbed by the intimation of a visit to Canterbury. -He can lodge the Queen, he tells Burghley, and also, at any rate 'for a -progresse-tyme', the Treasurer himself, the Chamberlain, Leicester, and -Hatton, 'thinking that your Lordships will furnisshe the places with -your owne stuffe'. The house, indeed, was 'of an evill ayer, hanging -upon the churche and having no prospect to loke on the people: but yet, -I trust, the convenience of the building would serve'. Possibly the -Queen would prefer 'her owne pallace at St. Austens', and the lords -could go to the dean and prebendaries, several of whom have offered to -take Burghley. In any case he would wish to dine the Queen, and the -nobles and her train in 'my bigger hall'. Meanwhile he will write to the -Lord Chamberlain on some things that concern his office.[375] In 1577 it -was the Lord Chamberlain himself, the Earl of Sussex, who received a -touching appeal from Lord Buckhurst for 'some certenty of the progres, -yf it may possibly be'. Will the Queen come to Lewes, and if so, for how -long? All the provision in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex is already taken up -by the Earl of Arundel, Viscount Montagu and others, and he will have to -send over to Flanders. Unless the Queen will 'presently determin', he -does not see how he can perform that 'which is du and convenient.' And -may it please God 'that the hous do not mislike her; that is my cheif -care'. Apparently Buckhurst, like More a decade earlier, was building, -for he adds, 'But yf her Highness had taried but on yere longer, we had -ben to to happy; but Gods will and hers be doon'.[376] Sussex, though -called upon to advise others, had his own subjects for reflection. He -had offered the Queen hospitality at New Hall, apparently at short -notice on some change of programme, and she replied that 'it were no -good reason and less good manners' to trouble him. In forwarding her -message Leicester had added, perhaps maliciously, for there was no love -lost between him and Sussex, 'Nevertheless, my lord, for mine own -opinion, I believe she wil hunt, and visit your house, coming so neer. -Herein you may use the matter accordingly, since she would have you not -to look for her.' Attempts were being made to dissuade her from having a -progress at all, 'But it much misliketh her not to go some wher to have -change of air', and the progress was 'most like to go forward, since she -fancieth it so greatly herself'.[377] However, there was a good deal of -plague about, and in the end the progress was abandoned, doubtless to -the relief of both Sussex and Buckhurst. Perhaps the most amusing letter -of all, in its delicate attempt to balance deprecation with loyalty, is -one written by Sir William Cornwallis to Walsingham in 1583, on behalf -of the Earl of Northumberland at Petworth. The earl wished to learn 'as -much certeinty as he can' of the expected visit, and after mentioning -'the shortness of the tyme' for provision and the illness of Lady -Northumberland, Cornwallis continues, 'Notwithstanding, Sir, this is -very trew, yet it may not be advertysed, lest it might be thought to -give impediment to her Majesties coming, wherof I perceyve my lord very -glade and desirous'. Finally he ventures a discreet hint on his own -account, fearing that 'her Majestie will never thank him that hath -perswaded this progreyse, nor those lords that shall receive her, how -great entertaynment soever they give her, considering the wayes by which -she must come to them, up the hill and down the hill, so as she shall -not be able to use ether coche or litter with ease, and those ways also -so full of louse stones, as it is carefull and painfull riding for -anybody, nether can ther be in this cuntrey any wayes devysed to avoyd -those ould wayes. In truth, Sir, thus I find it, and I wyshe some others -knew it, so I wear not the author; who though I write it for care of the -Queen, yet might it be interpreted otherwise.'[378] Northumberland had -at this time good reason to be diplomatic. Probably he was already under -Walsingham's suspicion, and before the end of the year he was in the -Tower, for his participation in the Throgmorton plot. Against all this -uneasiness may be set the genuine spirit of welcome and personal -affection for the Queen which appears to have prevailed in the much -visited household of Lord Norris of Rycote. Leicester reports to Hatton -in 1582 his own 'piece of cold entertainment' at the hands of Lady -Norris, because he and Hatton 'were the chief hinderers of her Majesty's -coming hither, which they took more unkindly than there was cause -indeed'. Inverting Cornwallis's plea, he had alleged 'the foul and -ragged way' as an excuse, and adds as his comment, 'A hearty noble -couple are they as ever I saw towards her Highness'.[379] - -Much additional inconvenience was evidently caused to voluntary and -involuntary hosts alike by the characteristic indecision which led -Elizabeth, in small things as well as great, to be constantly chopping -and changing her plans. The 'gestes' might be set down, but they were -never final, to the last minute. The good city of Leicester was warned -four times to make preparation, in 1562, 1575, 1576, and 1585, and never -had the felicity of beholding its sovereign at all.[380] The point comes -out clearly enough in the letters already quoted; perhaps even more -clearly in a final group written in August 1597 by one of Burghley's -secretaries, Henry Maynard, from London to another, Michael Hicks, who -was in fluttered anticipation of a visit at Ruckholt in Essex. Maynard -wrote three times in the course of five days. On the 10th he warned -Hicks to expect the Queen in the following week, 'if the iestes hold, -which after manie alterations is so sett downe this daie'. He will let -him know if there is any further change, 'for wee are greatlie aferd of -Theobalds'. On the 12th there had been no change as yet and Hicks had -better come to court for advice. There was still danger of Theobalds, -'but as yett it is not sett downe'. With a sigh, Maynard adds, 'This -progresse much trowbleth mee, for that we knowe not what corse the Queen -will take'. On the 15th he can at last announce that no change was now -expected. He had told the Lord Chamberlain that Hicks was troubled at -the insufficient accommodation he could provide for the royal train. -'His awnsweare was that you weare unwise to be at anie such charge: but -onelie to leave the howse to the Quene: and wished that theare might be -presented to hir Majestie from your wief sum fine wastcoate, or fine -ruffe, or like thinge, which he said would be acceptablie taken as if it -weare of greate price.' Maynard was still anticipating a descent on -Theobalds, although nothing had been said about it.[381] As a matter of -fact, his anticipation was justified, and Theobalds was visited in the -course of September. In 1599 there was a scare lest the short progress -planned should be extended, 'by reason of an intercepted letter, wherein -the giving over of long voyages was noted to be sign of age'.[382] - -Contact with the great is not ordinarily, for the plain man, a bed of -roses; and there is no reason to suppose that it was otherwise in the -spacious times of Elizabeth. You probably got knighted, if you were not -a knight already, which cost you some fees, and you received some -sugared royal compliments on the excellence of your entertainment and -the appropriateness of your 'devices'. But you had wrestled for a month -with poulterers and with poets. You had 'avoided' your house, and made -yourself uncomfortable in a neighbouring lodge. You had seen your trim -gardens and terraces encamped upon by a locust-swarm of all the tag-rag -and bobtail that follows a court. And with your knowledge of that queer -streak in the Tudor blood, you had been on tenterhooks all the time lest -at some real or fancied dislike the royal countenance might become -clouded, and the compliments give way to a bitter jest or to open -railing. 'I have had hitherto a troublesome progress,' writes Cecil to -Parker in 1561, 'to stay the Queen's majesty from daily offence -conceived against the clergy, by reason of the undiscreet behaviour of -the readers and ministers in these countries of Suffolk and -Essex.'[383] Parker himself was something of a favourite with Elizabeth, -yet John Harington can record an incredible insult to his wife on the -doorstep of Lambeth.[384] And Richard Topcliffe, hunter of recusants, -describes with indecent glee how the hospitality of Edward Rookwood in -1578 was rewarded with a committal to prison and a public obloquy on his -religion.[385] The arrogance of the royal train had always to be -reckoned with. As far back as 1526 Henry VIII had issued a formal -household order against the spoliation of houses in progress.[386] In -1574 Leicester instigated a surprise visit to Berkeley Castle, which -was not in the 'gestes', and so ruined the head of deer by killing -twenty-seven in one day that Lord Berkeley in a passion disparked the -estate. This appears to have been a deliberate scheme by Leicester to -bring Berkeley into disfavour and secure the castle himself.[387] The -Stuart households were probably just as bad. After Anne's visit in 1603, -the Leicester corporation had to pursue the court 'aboute lynnyns and -pewter that was myssinge'.[388] - -It is not quite clear how far these annoyances were aggravated by the -financial burden of the royal entertainment. There is some evidence -that, so far as the essentials of food and drink and fuel were -concerned, the household was prepared to pay its way, and that, although -the hosts had to make provision of these necessaries, they were entitled -to recoupment for the cost by the Cofferer.[389] Certainly the progress, -once an economy for the Crown, had become an expense.[390] Burghley's -papers contain an estimate, based on the accounts of 1573, showing an -'increase of chardgies in the time of progresse' to the extent of -£1,034, 'which should not be if her Majestie remeynid at her Standing -Howses within XX myles of London'.[391] This is not wholly conclusive, -because in any case part of the time was usually spent, not in private -houses, but at royal manors or even in inns.[392] But its indication is -confirmed, so far as civic visits are concerned, by entries in -corporation accounts, which appear to be limited to expenditure upon the -hire or purchase of plenishing, the repair of streets and pavements and -painting of gates and public buildings, the provision of a fairly costly -gift in the form of a gold cup with money in it, and the payment of fees -to the queen's waymaker for inspecting the roads, and to various -officers of the chamber, hall, and stable. The visit of 1575 cost the -city of Worcester £173, raised partly out of corporation funds, partly -by a special levy. The city of Leicester met that of 1612 with a levy of -£74 1_s._ 9_d._, while that of 1614 cost them £102 12_s._ 6½_d._[393] -Anything in the way of a mimetic entertainment would probably fall by -civic custom on the guilds.[394] And the establishment of the Revels, -which followed the progress, was ready to help at need, with a mask or -banqueting house.[395] There are definite statements as to the -recoupment of the cost of light, rushes, and fuel at Oxford in 1566, and -of beer when Prince Charles passed through Leicester in 1604.[396] Of -course, the Crown used its feudal right of purveyance; that is to say, -of purchase within the verge at rates fixed by itself; and for this -purchase a local jury was empanelled to assist the Clerk of the Market -in drawing up a tariff and supervising weights and measures.[397] - -But the abuses of purveyance, which included the impressment of -vehicles by the royal cart-takers, cannot have borne very heavily upon -districts rarely visited, although the home counties, which were more -often traversed and contained standing houses, had no doubt their -grievances.[398] - -The Hicks correspondence suggests that, even in 1597, the household was -still prepared to provision itself, at any rate in the smaller private -houses. But there is a good deal of evidence to show that, where persons -of wealth were concerned, a different practice grew up. A visit to -Gorhambury in 1577 cost Sir Nicolas Bacon £577.[399] Parker's son -recorded that his father's entertainment of the Queen at Canterbury and -other houses, with his gifts to her and the lords and ladies, cost him -above £2,000, and that in addition he spent £170 at Canterbury in -rewards to the officers of the household.[400] Burghley's domestic -biographer tells us that the twelve visits to Theobalds cost him 'two or -three thousand pounds every tyme', which sufficiently explains why his -adherents were not particularly anxious for a visit in 1597.[401] Parker -had to find many nights' lodging, as the Queen passed up and down -stream, and at Canterbury Elizabeth is known to have occupied a house of -her own. But Burghley's heavy expenditure must surely have covered more -than the mere gifts and the spectacular side of his entertainments. A -visit to the Marquis of Winchester in 1601 was 'with more charge than -the constitution of Basing may well bear'.[402] For that to Harefield in -1602 the bills are preserved, and amount to £2,013 18_s._ 4_d._, of -which £1,255 12_s._ 0_d._ was apparently for provisions, £199 9_s._ -11_d._ for temporary buildings, and the balance presumably for gifts, -spectacles, and the like. There is no indication of any repayments by -the royal Cofferer, although Sir Thomas Egerton's friends came nobly to -his assistance, and sent in innumerable presents, including no less than -eighty-six stags and bucks, eleven oxen, sixty-five sheep, and forty-one -sugar-loaves, as well as birds, fish, oysters, Selsea cockles, -cheese-cakes, sweetmeats, wine, wheat, and salt.[403] Finally we have -the definite statement of the French ambassador La Mothe Fénelon in -1575, that at Kenilworth Leicester 'a deffrayé toute la court a cent -soixante platz d'assiette, l'espace de douze jours'.[404] And we have -that of the Venetian ambassador Foscarini in 1612, that 'his Majesty's -charges are borne by the owners of the houses where he lodges'. -Foscarini had accompanied the progress to Belvoir, and was much struck -with the large numbers, more than a thousand, who were housed there, and -with the costly style in which things were done, 'far exceeding that of -the court when in London or a neighbouring palace'. He found personally, -as others have found since his day, that visiting was much more -expensive than staying at home, on account of the largesse -expected.[405] I am inclined to think that we have come here upon a -point of honour, and that, while it was not in theory incumbent upon a -poor man to feed as well as lodge his mistress, it gradually became -customary for rich men to give a special proof of their devotion by -omitting to claim the recoupment to which they were strictly entitled. -And if this was so, of course in the long run the poor men had to follow -suit. Sir William Clarke in 1602 was counted a churl, for he 'neither -gives meat nor money to any of the progressors. The house Her Majesty -has at commandment, and his grass the guard's horses eat, and this is -all.'[406] The right to occupy the house of a subject was indeed a -matter of feudal tradition. All manors were ultimately held of the -Crown. We find Elizabeth dating from 'our manor of Cheneys' in 1570, -although Chenies had long been in the hands of the Russells; and it was -an _obiter dictum_ of Lord Northampton in a Star Chamber case of 1606 -that 'the kinge by his prerogative may take vp any howse in his -progres'.[407] - -Those who accompanied the progress had their own woes to bear. There was -a good deal of 'roughing it'. The rate of advance, at ten or twelve -miles a day, broken by a dinner at some wayside mansion or in a -temporarily constructed 'dining house', was inevitably slow. The weather -and the roads were often unkind; nor was the advance guard of two -hundred and twenty carts carrying baggage likely to have mended the -condition of the latter.[408] The numbers were great, and if -accommodation was scant, some had to make shift with tents and booths. -The commissariat was not always perfect. Even the Queen might come off -badly. On one occasion Leicester reported to Burghley that the beer had -been unsatisfactory. 'Hit did put her very farr out of temper, and -almost all the company beside.' Happily, a better brew had been -discovered. 'God be thanked she is now perfectly well and merry.'[409] -Burghley himself was apparently timed to join the progress at Dudley, -and he received a discreet hint from Walsingham that a change of -programme would bring the Queen there earlier than had been expected, -'whereuppon your Lordship may take some just cause to excuse you not -coming thither'.[410] No doubt Burghley's duties as Lord Treasurer often -kept him at Westminster. But the fact is that the sixteenth-century -growth of luxury was making a migratory court something of an -anachronism.[411] The progress was by no means always on the same scale -of elaboration. In some years it was limited to a month or so in the -counties nearest to London; in others it extended over three or four -months, and the Queen went fairly far afield. During the earlier years -the most important progresses were those of 1564 and 1566, which -included visits to Cambridge and to Oxford respectively. In 1562, 1563, -and 1565 there were no progresses at all, owing to plague or other -reasons. The period of the great progresses was the second decade of the -reign; and it culminated in the 'Princely Pleasures' of Kenilworth of -1575. During 1572, 1574, and 1575 Elizabeth covered a large part of the -Midlands; during 1573 Kent and Sussex; during 1578 East Anglia. She -reached Southampton in 1560 and 1569, Dover in 1573, Bristol in 1574, -Stafford and Chartley in 1575. Farther north or west I do not find her; -visits were planned to the chief towns of the Presidencies of Wales and -of the North, to Shrewsbury in 1575 and to York in 1584, but these never -came off. Progresses were practically suspended during the troublous -decade before the Armada, when the Queen's life was hardly ever safe -from plots, and she generally spent the autumn quietly at Oatlands or -Nonsuch. In 1591 and 1592 the old custom was revived; Southampton was -revisited in the former year, Oxford and the Cotswolds in the latter. -There was another revival towards the end of the reign, and there were -short progresses in 1597, 1600, 1601, and 1602. Two unsuccessful plans -were made to get as far as Wiltshire. Elizabeth's strength was failing, -but the restlessness of her latter years was upon her, and she would not -have it said that she was too old to travel. She had to reckon, however, -with courtiers who had learnt to love their ease. 'The Lords are sorry -for it,' wrote Rowland White to Sir Robert Sidney, when she determined -to set out from Nonsuch in 1600, 'butt her majestie bids the old stay -behind, and the young and able to goe with her. She had just cause to be -offended, that at her remove to this place she was soe poorely attended; -for I never saw so small a train.'[412] At all times, and particularly -during the later years, the formal progresses were supplemented by short -visits of a few days, or even a few hours, to favoured courtiers, -sometimes by way of a 'by-progress' in spring or autumn, sometimes in -the course of a remove from one standing house to another, sometimes -merely to relieve a continuous residence at the same palace.[413] -Several of the twelve visits to Theobalds, for which Elizabeth had -evidently a liking, and which had been rebuilt to accommodate her, were -by progresses. The household did not always accompany her on these -occasions. Within London itself, she also occasionally paid a visit. In -the last winter of her life, several entertainments were carefully -arranged for her, in the hope of keeping her at Whitehall.[414] In 1601 -and 1602 she went a-Maying at Highgate and Lewisham. Another day's -visit, probably of 1600, is elaborately described by Sir Robert Sidney -to Sir John Harington.[415] - -With the arrival of James and his horde of hungry Scots, and the -setting-up of supernumerary establishments for Anne and the royal -children, the progress became a more unwieldy institution than ever. -During the greater part of 1603 the court was abroad. The triumphal -descent of the King in April and May was practically a progress. So was -that of Anne in June. There was a regular progress in August and -September, and the prevalence of plague compelled the prolongation of -this throughout the autumn, until the weary court sank into its winter -quarters at Christmas. A groan went up to Lord Shrewsbury from Robert -Lord Cecil at Woodstock, which he found an 'unwholesome' and 'uneaseful' -house, not able to lodge more than the King and Queen, the privy chamber -ladies, and some three or four of the Scottish Council. 'Neither -Chamberlain, nor one English counsellor have a room, which will be a -sour sauce to some of your old friends that have been merry with you in -a winter's night, from whence they have not removed to their bed in a -snowy storm.' The plague was driving the court up and down. 'God bless -the king, for once a week one or other dies in our tents.'[416] In the -same strain wrote Levinus Muncke a little later to Winwood from Wilton -of 'these arrant removes', in which 'we endure misserie apace and want -of all things, which I never thought the country so unable to supply -us'.[417] Nevertheless, James maintained the tradition, and devoted a -month or two in each year to a progress, which, but for the occasional -presence of the queen or prince, and the attendance, not quite -invariable, of the council and household, did not differ much in -character from his far more frequent hunting journeys. His direction was -generally determined by the existence of hunting facilities, and such -districts as the New Forest, Wychwood and Sherwood Forests, and -Salisbury Plain figure again and again in the 'gestes'. He had reached -Southampton and even the Isle of Wight in 1603, and probably repeated -his visit in 1607 and 1611. He also touched the sea at Lulworth in 1615. -He visited Oxford from Woodstock in 1605 and Cambridge twice during -hunting journeys in 1615. Anne made an independent progress to the west, -for the sake of the Bath waters, in 1613, and got as far as Bristol. - -We have had sufficient peeps behind the court arras to give a pleasantly -sub-acid flavour of irony to the effusive accounts of royal receptions -contained in official chronicles, or in the semi-official narratives of -poets who were anxious to preserve the memory of the verses and devices -contributed by themselves.[418] These in their turn enable us to -recapture something of whatever rapture the rather artless forms of -_mimesis_ employed may have awakened in Renaissance breasts; although of -course the few devices of which details have reached us are but a tithe -of those on whose fantasy and grace the dust of oblivion has for -centuries lain thick. It was naturally at the visits to private houses -that the spirit of sheer entertainment had fullest scope, and a glance -at the diaries for Kenilworth in 1575 or for Elvetham in 1591 will show -the variety of pastime which ministered spectacle to the eyes and -flattery to the self-esteem of Oriana on her holidays. The visit to -Kenilworth extended over three weeks. The Queen arrived on 9 July and -was greeted with speeches by Sibylla, by a porter as Hercules, and by -the Lady of the Lake, and that she might not forget that she was a -scholar, with a Latin speech by a Poet. July 10 was a Sunday, and after -divine service there was a display of fireworks. On 11 July the Queen -hunted, and on her return listened to an out-of-door dialogue between a -Savage Man--the mediaeval folk-personage known as the 'wodwose'--and the -classical Echo. July 12 was a day of rest, and 13 July was again devoted -to hunting. On 14 July came a bear-baiting, another display of -fireworks, and acrobatic feats by an Italian. After two days' interval, -the sports began again on 17 July, with country shows of a bride-ale, a -quintain, and the Coventry Hock-Tuesday play.[419] This was followed in -the evening by a play and banquet. A mask was held in readiness, but not -used. On 18 July, after a hunt, came the principal show, an aquatic one -of the Delivery of the Lady of the Lake, with the classical Arion riding -on a dolphin; and the Queen held an investiture, and 'touched' poor folk -for the 'evil'. On 19 July the Coventry show was repeated, and by this -time the weather had broken up, and the royal zest for spectacles was -perhaps exhausted. A projected show of Zabeta and a device of an ancient -minstrel were laid aside, and the final week was uneventful, until the -departure on 27 July after a show in farewell by Silvanus. All this was -described, for the benefit of such of the Queen's lieges as had not the -fortune to be present, in a printed narrative by George Gascoigne, who -shared with William Hunnis of the Chapel Royal the main responsibility -for the mimetic devices, and in another, racy and full of vivid detail, -by one Robert Laneham, keeper of the council chamber door, who was in -attendance as an officer of the household.[420] The entertainment at the -much shorter visit to the Earl of Hertford at Elvetham in Hampshire, -sixteen years later, was on very similar lines. The house was small, and -a temporary 'room of estate' and other buildings had been constructed in -the park, near an artificial pond, containing a Ship Isle, a Fort, and a -Snail Mount. The Queen was greeted on arrival with a Latin speech by a -Poet, and a ditty by the Graces and the Hours. A salute was fired from -the pond. After supper there was a concert with a pavane by Thomas -Morley. On the second day, after the Countess had made her offering in -the morning, there was a great water-show on the pond, with Silvanus and -the sea-gods Neptune, Oceanus, Nereus, and Neaera, which served to -introduce further gifts. On the third day Elizabeth was awakened with a -pastoral song of Phyllida and Corydon. After dinner there was an -exhibition game of 'board and cord', which must have been a very close -anticipation of lawn-tennis, and in the evening a banquet in the garden -and a display of fireworks. On the fourth morning came Aureola, the -fairy queen, with a round of dancing fairies, and as the Queen departed -there were Nereus and Sylvanus and their companies at the pond, the -Hours and Graces weeping, a speech from the Poet dressed in black, and a -farewell ditty at the park gate.[421] I have set the Kenilworth and -Elvetham entertainments side by side, partly to illustrate the -permanence of type, and partly because, if any actual sea-maid and -fireworks gave Shakespeare a hint for Oberon's famous speech in _A -Midsummer-Night's Dream_, it must surely have been those which were -comparatively fresh in the memories of his hearers.[422] - -The medley of Kenilworth and Elvetham repeats itself elsewhere; nor is -the imaginative range a very wide one. Classical, romantic, pastoral, -and folk-lore elements blend in quite sufficient congruity. The pagan -divinities called upon are the out-of-door ones, Pan and Ceres at -Bisham, Apollo and Daphne at Sudeley; and these, with the Nymphs -(Orpington, Cowdray, Harefield) and Satyrs (Harefield, Althorp), may -make easy acknowledgement of fundamental kinship with Aureola or Queen -Mab and the native fairies (Woodstock, Norwich, Hengrave, Althorp) and -woodwoses (Cowdray, Bisham). So, too, the rustic revelry of morris or -country dance (Warwick, Cowdray, Althorp, Wells) or the choosing of the -Cotswold Queen (Sudeley) passes readily enough into the manner of the -formal pastoral, as we find it in Sidney's _Lady of the May_ (Wanstead) -or his sister's later dialogue of _Thenot and Piers_; which in turn have -their affinities to the mediaeval _débat_, surviving in the dialogue of -Constancy and Inconstancy (Woodstock), and in the 'contentions' of Sir -John Davies between a Gentleman Usher and a Poet, and a Maid, a Wife, -and a Widow.[423] To a modern taste, perhaps the most attractive -entertainments are the simple ones in which the Gardener and the -Mole-catcher or the Bailiff and the Dairymaid offer the naïve welcome of -the rustic folk, or those to which the circumstances of place and time -give something of a personal touch; as at Theobalds, where the hermit's -cell typifies the temporary retirement of Burghley from public life, or -at Rycote, where messengers bring in letters and jewels from sons and -daughters of the house in Ireland, Flanders, France, and Jersey. Only -fragments are preserved of the Harefield entertainment in 1602, but here -a delicate fancy must have governed the devices, suggesting, for -example, the presentation of a robe of rainbows on behalf of St. -Swithin, and the personification of Harefield itself as Place 'in a -partie-colored robe, like the brick house', accompanied by Time 'with -yeollow haire, and in a green roabe, with an hower glasse, stopped, not -runninge'. Here, too, was repeated the pretty notion of Elvetham, and at -the royal departure there was Place again 'attyred in black mourning -aparell', to bid farewell. In many instances the _mimesis_ is so -contrived as to lead to the introduction of the gift, which we may -gather from the Hicks correspondence to have been looked upon as an -obligatory rite of hospitality. The frugal and ostentatious soul of -Elizabeth loved gifts; but James is said, at any rate on his first -coming, to have thought it the more kingly part to decline them.[424] -The mimetic entertainment itself, indeed, seems to have lost something -of its vogue with the change of reign; possibly the King was less -tolerant than his predecessor of pedantries other than his own. There -are, of course, the three Sibyls at Oxford in 1605, which are said to -have given a hint for _Macbeth_, and the amazing Queen of Sheba show in -1606, which has been preserved for us by the wicked wit of Sir John -Harington.[425] And there are three examples from the pen of Ben Jonson, -to whose ingenuity and learning the _genre_ made a natural appeal, and -who had the art to give dramatic life and point even to such trifles. -These are the _Satyr_, with which Lord Spencer welcomed Anne and Henry -at Althorp in 1603, the _Penates_, written when James, like Elizabeth -before him, went a-Maying with Sir William Cornwallis at Highgate in -1604, and the graceful Theobalds entertainment, in which the Genius of -the house, first weeping for the loss of his master, and then consoled -by Mercury, Good Event, and the Parcae, made symbolical delivery of it -to the Queen on its exchange by Lord Salisbury with James for Hatfield -in 1607. - -The civic entertainments naturally followed more formal lines than those -in private houses. The citizens rode in their official gowns of black or -scarlet. There was a learned oration by the recorder, and very likely -also by the schoolmaster or a promising scholar of the grammar school. -In a cathedral town there was divine service to be attended in state. -The gift was no fantastic trifle, but a solid cup with angels in it. The -_mimesis_, too, was of a more old-fashioned type. Mercury or a nymph -might be there, but there were also the traditional pageants of the -guilds, bearing their scenes from the miracle plays, or more modern -allegories, or representations of local history and industry. At -Coventry, in 1566, stood the Corpus Christi cars of the Tanners, -Drapers, Smiths, and Weavers.[426] The variegated Norwich entertainment -of 1578 included a speech by King Gurgunt, a pageant of the -Commonwealth, with local craftsmen working at their looms, and a pageant -of the City of Norwich, with Deborah, Esther, Judith, and Queen -Martia.[427] Even as late as 1613, it was with scriptural pageants, -curiously contaminated with intrusive classical themes, that the -citizens of Wells greeted Queen Anne when she visited them from the -Bath. The Hammermen furnished the Building of the Ark, Vulcan, Venus, -and Cupid, and part of St. George; the Tanners, Chandlers, and Bakers, -St. Clément and his Friar, part of Actaeon and Diana, and 'a carte of -old virgines' in hides; the Cordwainers Saints Crispin and Crispinian; -the Tailors Herodias and John Baptist; and the Mercers the remaining -parts of St. George and of Actaeon and Diana. Three morrises also -accompanied the pageants.[428] George Ferebe's shepherd's song, as the -Queen had crossed the Wansdyke at Bishop's Cannings, two months before, -had struck a more up-to-date note. - -In the university cities, municipal eloquence was redoubled by that of -public orators and professors. The sovereign was expected to attend -sermons and the academic exercise of disputations, and perhaps to wind -up the latter with a Latin speech. The spectacles generally took the -form of regular plays in Latin and occasionally in English. As the -academic drama lies rather aside from the main purpose of this book, I -confine myself to a brief chronicle. Elizabeth's first and only visit to -Cambridge was from 5 to 10 August 1564.[429] The plays took place in the -chapel of King's College, since the hall had been found unsuitable, and -the two provided by the University were directed by Dr. Roger Kelke, the -Master of Magdalene, with the aid of five others, one of whom was Thomas -Legge of Trinity, himself a dramatist. On Sunday, 6 August, the -_Aulularia_ of Plautus was given by actors selected from colleges other -than King's. Courtiers ignorant of Latin were wearied, but Elizabeth sat -through the three hours' performance without sign of fatigue. On 7 -August came _Dido_, a Latin tragedy by Edward Halliwell, formerly Fellow -of King's, and on 8 August _Ezechias_, an English comedy by Nicholas -Udall, who was an Oxford man. Both these plays were performed by King's -men and both are lost. Elizabeth's patience was now exhausted, and she -gave some disappointment by declining to hear a Latin translation of the -_Ajax Flagellifer_ of Sophocles, which men of various colleges had been -appointed to give on 9 August. A contemporary letter from the Spanish -ambassador gives an account of a singular epilogue to the royal visit. -On 10 August Elizabeth had made her farewells, picking out Thomas -Preston of King's for special favour on account of his performances both -in the disputation and as an actor in _Dido_, and had reached the next -stage in her progress, Sir Henry Cromwell's at Hinchinbrook. - -Hither she was pursued by some of the scholars with what appears to -have been a mask, originally intended to serve as an afterpiece to the -_Ajax Flagellifer_. They were allowed to present it, but it proved to -have been conceived in a spirit unsuited to the colour of the Queen's -Protestantism, and gave considerable offence. It was, in fact, a -burlesque of the Mass.[430] Two years later, from 31 August to 6 -September 1566, it was the turn of Oxford.[431] The plays were in Christ -Church Hall, and in them the University had the assistance of Richard -Edwardes, formerly Student of Christ Church, and now Master of the -Children of the Chapel Royal. At the first, a Latin prose comedy called -_Marcus Geminus_, on 1 September, the Queen was not present. But she -attended Edwardes's _Palamon and Arcite_, an English play in two parts, -given on 2 and 4 September, and expressed high appreciation of the play -and the acting. The fact that three persons were killed by the fall of a -wall near the entrance door was not allowed to interfere with the -representation.[432] She also attended James Calfhill's Latin tragedy -_Progne_ on 5 September. The plays were all written by Christ Church -men, but the actors appear to have been drawn in part from other -colleges. John Rainolds of Corpus, afterwards a bitter opponent of the -academic stage, played Hippolyta in _Palamon and Arcite_.[433] All the -plays are unfortunately lost. The Spanish ambassador reported that there -had been nothing about religion in them, and delivered himself of the -compliment, 'Memorabilia profecto sunt Oxoniensium spectacula'.[434] -More deserving, more felicitous, or less audacious than Cambridge, -Oxford received the honour of a second royal visit in 1592.[435] It -lasted from 22 to 28 September.[436] The plays, given on 24 and 26 -September, were Leonard Hutten's _Bellum Grammaticale_ and Gager's -_Rivales_. Both performances were at Christ Church, but probably actors -from other colleges took part. A jaundiced Cambridge visitor described -them as 'but meanely performed'. Elizabeth, however, was gracious, and -before departing 'schooled' John Rainolds, who had recently been -fulminating against Gager, for 'his obstinate preciseness'. It was, -perhaps, as a result of the mirth shown at Oxford, that both -Universities were invited to produce English plays at Court during the -following Christmas. This, however, Cambridge at any rate declined to -do, giving as their excuse the shortness of time, but more particularly -the customary limitation of their academic plays to the Latin -tongue.[437] There is no evidence, and little probability, that Oxford -were any more amenable. - -James passed through the outskirts of Oxford in 1604, but plague -deferred his formal visit until 1605, when he came with the Queen and -Henry, and stayed from 27 to 31 August.[438] As he came down St. Giles', -he was greeted from St. John's with Matthew Gwynne's device of the _Tres -Sibyllae_. The plays were in Christ Church hall, and apparel was hired -from the King's Revels company in London. Inigo Jones, 'a great -traveller', was employed to furnish special machinery for changing the -scenes, but opinions differed as to his success, and also as to the -extent to which the King kept awake during the performances. Of these -there were four. On 27 August a piece, variously named _Alba_ and -_Vertumnus_, and written in part by Robert Burton, was acted by Thomas -Goodwin and other Christ Church men.[439] On 28 August actors from -various colleges gave an _Ajax Flagellifer_, not apparently a -translation from Sophocles, but an independent play. On 29 August St. -John's men gave a play by Gwynne, also called _Vertumnus, sive Annus -Recurrens_. These three, of which only the last survives, were in Latin. -On 30 August, for the sake of the ladies, the fourth play, again by men -of various colleges, was in English. It was Daniel's _Arcadia -Reformed_, afterwards published as _The Queen's Arcadia_. The King was -not present on this occasion. It is a little surprising that he did not -visit Cambridge until 1615. He had been preceded by Henry, who was there -with the Elector Palatine in 1613, and saw performances by Trinity men -in their college hall of Samuel Brooke's _Adelphe_ and _Scyros_ on 2 and -3 March respectively.[440] James went from Royston, and stayed from 7 to -11 March 1615.[441] The plays, given in Trinity College hall, were -successively Edward Cecil's Latin _Aemilia_, by St. John's men, which is -lost, Ruggle's _Ignoramus_, by men from Clare Hall and other minor -colleges, and Tomkis's _Albumazar_ and Brooke's _Melanthe_, both by -Trinity men. King's had prepared Phineas Fletcher's _Sicelides_, but the -King did not stay long enough to hear it. The visit evoked an outburst -of satirical verses, both from Oxford and from the lawyers, who were -stung by the wit of _Ignoramus_, with which the King was so pleased -that, after a vain attempt to get the actors to Whitehall, he paid -another visit to Cambridge, and saw it again on 13 May.[442] In March -1616 Cambridge men played before him at Royston; the name of the play is -not known.[443] Oxford did not get its chance again until 1618, which -falls outside the scope of this record. - -The opportunities for spectacular display, which provincial towns -enjoyed during a progress, fell to London chiefly at the time of a -coronation, when on the day before the actual ceremony the sovereign -passed in state from the Tower to Westminster, through the principal -streets of the city which claimed to be, in a special sense, the royal -'Chamber'.[444] The outstanding architectural features of these -streets, St. Paul's, the gates at Ludgate and Temple Bar, the conduits -in Cornhill and Fleet Street, the great and little conduits, the -Standard, and the Cross in Cheapside, were recognized stations for -music, speechifying, and pageantry. At some of them temporary arches, -adorned with symbolical devices and hung with verses, spanned the -highway. When Elizabeth started, in a slight snow-storm, on 14 January -1558, the City companies, in their black and red hoods, lined both sides -of the way from Fenchurch to the Cross. The Queen, a coronetted and -golden figure, rode in a litter, surrounded by her train of pensioners -bearing their axes, and yeomen of the guard in their scarlet liveries -with the Tudor rose and crown upon their backs. Behind came the Master -of the Horse, leading a white hackney, and the Lords of the -Council.[445] There were seven pageants, each with its verses in English -or Latin and a child for interpreter. At the first, on a scaffold near -Fenchurch, the child delivered a speech of welcome. At the upper end of -Gracechurch Street was an arch bearing 'The Uniting of the two Houses of -Lancaster and York'; at the Cornhill conduit another, with 'The Seat of -Worthy Governance'; at the great conduit a third, with 'The Eight -Beatitudes'. The first bore representations of Henry VII, Henry VIII, -and Elizabeth herself; the other two allegorical figures of the morality -type. At the Cross stood the Mayor and Aldermen, with a speech by the -Recorder, and a thousand marks in a purse. At the little conduit was the -fourth and principal arch, with sterile and green mounts symbolizing 'A -Ruinous and a Flourishing Commonweal'; and Time and Truth presented the -Queen as she went by with an English Bible. At the door of the school in -St. Paul's Churchyard, a boy of Colet's foundation delivered a Latin -speech. At the Fleet Street conduit was 'Deborah, with her Estates, -consulting for the good Government of Israel'. At St. Dunstan's church -was another speech by a child of the hospital. And, finally, at Temple -Bar stood those ancient folk-figures and palladia of the City, without -whose beneficent presence no holiday could be complete, the giants -Gotmagot and Corineus.[446] When James was crowned on 25 July 1603, a -state entry on the traditional lines was planned, but when the arches -were already up it was decided that the risk of plague was too great, -and the ceremony was put off, first to the opening of a parliament -contemplated in October, and ultimately to the following spring.[447] It -took place on 15 March 1604. Jonson, Dekker, and Middleton were employed -to furnish verses and devices, and the structure of the five pageants -provided by the City was entrusted to Stephen Harrison, a joiner.[448] -There were three additional ones, of which two were contributed by the -Italian and Dutch traders in London, and the third, erected outside the -City boundary, by the City of Westminster and the Savoy Liberty. The -Venetian ambassador was perhaps prejudiced in reporting that the Italian -pageant excelled the others in design and workmanship. But all the -pageants, although they were enlivened by speeches and songs, for which -the services of trained actors were enlisted, appear to have relied more -upon architectural embellishment and less upon allegorical symbolism -than those of 1559.[449] The order was as follows: At Fenchurch were the -Genius of London and Thamesis, impersonated by Edward Alleyn of the -Prince's men and a boy from the Queen's Revels; at the Exchange the -Dutch and Italian arches, in neither of which a definite theme is -traceable; at Soper Lane end 'Arabia Britannica', with a speech by a -Paul's choir-boy and the song 'Troynovant is now no more a city'. In -Cheapside stood once more the civic dignitaries, with a speech by the -Recorder and three cups of gold for the King, Queen, and Prince. At the -Cross were Sylvanus and Vertumnus, with the 'Garden of Eirene and -Euporia'. In Paul's Churchyard the choristers sang, and a boy from the -grammar school was ready with his Latin. The pageant at Fleet conduit, -where William Borne of the Prince's had a speech as Zeal, represented -the 'Globe of the World'; that at Temple Bar the 'Temple of Janus'; that -of Westminster and the Savoy in the Strand the Rainbow, Sun, Moon, and -Pleiades. Jonson seems to have been responsible for the devices at -Fenchurch, Temple Bar, and the Strand; Dekker for those at Soper Lane -and the Cross; Middleton for at any rate a part of that in Fleet Street. -A few London entertainments of less importance are upon record. When -Elizabeth first came to the Tower on 28 November 1558, there were 'in -serten plasses chylderyn with speches, and odur places, syngyng and -playing with regalles'.[450] When James first came to London on 7 May -1603, Dekker had prepared a show of the Genius Loci and Saints George -and Andrew for performance at the Bars beyond Bishopsgate, which he -afterwards printed; but he was disappointed, for James entered by -another route, direct from Stamford Hill to the Charterhouse.[451] On 31 -July 1606 he brought the King of Denmark to see the City, and there was -an arch with Neptune, Mulciber, Concord, and the Genius of London, and a -Summer Bower with a shepherd and shepherdess on the Fleet Street -conduit.[452] On 16 July 1607 he dined with Henry at the hall of the -Merchant Taylors, who spent £1,000 on the festivity. Ben Jonson wrote -verses to be spoken by John Rice, then a boy actor at the Globe, as an -angel of gladness, with a taper of frankincense in his hand, and the -hall was filled with music. There were lutenists in the windows, -wind-instruments on the screen, and three singers in a ship hanging -aloft. The court musicians, Thomas Lupo and Mr. Lanier, and Nathaniel -Giles and the Chapel were amongst those who made melody.[453] London was -to the fore again in welcome to Prince Henry on his creation as Prince -of Wales, sending the barges of the Lord Mayor and the companies to meet -him, as he came up by river from Richmond on 31 May 1610, with Corinea -on a whale to offer salutation on behalf of Cornwall at Chelsea, and -Amphion on a dolphin to do the same for Wales at Whitehall. The speeches -were written by Anthony Munday and delivered by Richard Burbage and John -Rice.[454] A month earlier, on 23 April, another show in Henry's honour -had been held at Chester. It was devised by Robert Amerie, an -ex-sheriff of the town, and consisted of a horse-race on the Roodeye, -after a procession in which the bearers of the bells that served as -prizes were accompanied by St. George and his dragon pursuing a Green -man or 'wodwose', while speeches were uttered by Fame, Mercury, Chester, -Britain, Cambria, Rumour and Peace, and Joy composed a _débat_ between -Love and Envy.[455] - -Even in the absence of the sovereign, London had pageantry for its own -delight; folk-pageantry in the May-games, morrises and lords of misrule, -which sometimes made their way to Court;[456] municipalized -folk-pageantry in the Midsummer and St. Peter's Eve 'watches', which -barely survived into Elizabeth's reign;[457] municipal pageantry fully -established in the ceremony which has come down to our own day of the -Lord Mayor's show. The Mayor was installed on St. Simon and St. Jude's -Day, 28 October, and on 29 October he went by water to Westminster Hall -to be admitted before the barons of the Exchequer in the Exchequer -chamber. On his return he was met by his guildsmen and other citizens at -the waterside, and escorted to dinner in the Guildhall, and after dinner -to service in St. Paul's and back to his own house. There had been -pageants on this occasion in the fifteenth century, but these were -suppressed in 1481, and during the earlier part of the sixteenth century -the spectacular element was limited to a 'foyst or wafter' upon the -river, such as that with a device of a crowned falcon on a mount -environed with white and red roses, which the City provided by royal -command for the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533.[458] But shortly -after, and perhaps as a result of, the discontinuance of the 'watches' -in 1538, the installation pageant makes its appearance again. It can be -traced in 1540, and then, with the accompaniment of speeches, fireworks, -devils, and wodwoses', in the pages of Machyn's diary during most years -from 1553 to 1562.[459] Many details are preserved of the Merchant -Taylors' pageant of 1561 for Sir William Harper, and of the Ironmongers' -pageant of 1566 for Sir James Draper, in the device of which James -Peele, clerk of Christ's Hospital, and father of George Peele, had a -hand. On both occasions the speeches and songs were entrusted to boys -from Westminster, under the 'Mʳ of the quirysters', John Taylor.[460] -Some speeches are preserved from the Merchant Taylors' pageant of St. -John Baptist for Sir Thomas Roe in 1568, while James Peele was again -engaged by the Ironmongers to prepare a device, which, however, came to -nothing, for Sir Alexander Avenon in 1569.[461] It must be doubtful -whether there was a pageant in every year, but when William Smythe -described the installation ceremonies in 1575, he included as regular -features the 'deveils and wyldmen' which met the returning mayor at -Paul's Wharf, and 'the pageant of Tryumphe rychly decked, whervppon by -certayne fygures and wrytinges (partly towchinge the name of the sayd -mayor) some matter towchinge justice and the office of a magestrate is -represented'.[462] Von Wedel saw the Drapers' pageant for Sir Thomas -Pullison in 1584.[463] Custom seems to have assigned the provision of -the pageant to the 'bachelors' of the Lord Mayor's company, that is to -say, those freemen who were not yet advanced to be members of the -'livery' or governing body. The Ironmongers paid for the printing of -their pageant in 1566, but the first printed description now extant is -that of the Skinners' pageant for Woolstan Dixie in 1585, which was -written by George Peele. Peele seems to have inherited his father's -connexion, for he had, according to the _Merry Jests_, 'all the -oversight of the pageants', and certainly he devised the Drapers' -pageant for Martin Calthorpe in 1588, which is now lost, and the -_Descensus Astraeae_ of the Salters for William Webbe in 1591. The -Fishmongers' pageant for John Allot in 1590 was, however, by one T. -Nelson, a stationer. The absence of Elizabethan prints later than these -does not necessarily mean that pageants fell out of use. There was one -in 1600;[464] the Merchant Taylors had one for Sir Robert Lee in 1602; -there would have been one in 1603 but for the plague; and there was -probably one in 1604.[465] On the other hand, it can hardly be inferred -from the chaff of Munday as a 'peeking pageanter' in _Histriomastix_ and -as 'pageant-poet to the city of Milan' in _The Case is Altered_ that he -stepped regularly into Peele's shoes about 1591. Jonson's reference, at -least, is subsequent to Munday's first 'book' of a pageant, which was, -so far as we know, the Merchant Taylors' _Triumphs of Reunited -Britannia_ for Sir Leonard Holliday in 1605. I do not know on what -evidence _Campbell, or the Ironmongers' Fair Field_, for Thomas Campbell -in 1609, the only known copy of which has lost its title-page, is -sometimes ascribed to him. But he was responsible for the Goldsmiths' -_Chryso-Thriambos_ for Sir James Pemberton in 1611, the Drapers' -_Himatia Poleos_ for Sir Thomas Hayes in 1614 and their _Metropolis -Coronata_ for Sir John Jolles in 1615, and the Fishmongers' -_Chrysanaleia_ for John Leman in 1616. His chief competitors in civic -favour were Dekker and Middleton, the former of whom prepared the -Merchant Taylors' _Troja Nova Triumphans_ for Sir John Swinnerton in -1612, and the latter the _Triumphs of Truth_ for Sir Thomas Middleton in -1613, to the 'book' of which he annexed an account of a quite -exceptional entertainment on occasion of the opening of Hugh Middleton's -New River on 29 September 1613. - -Middleton's title-page refers scornfully to the 'common writer' of -mayoral pageants, which may perhaps indicate Munday. A full analysis of -all this municipal imagery would be extremely tedious. The original -single pageant with its devils and 'wodwoses' underwent much elaboration -in the seventeenth century. 'By this light', says a character in -_Greenes Tu Quoque_ (1611-12), 'I do not think but to be Lord Mayor of -London before I die, and have three pageants carried before me, besides -a ship and an unicorn.' Dekker's _Troja Nova Triumphans_ has three -movable 'land-triumphs', a chariot of Neptune, a chariot of Virtue, and -a House of Fame, which met the Mayor successively at Paul's Chain, -Paul's Churchyard, and the Cross in Cheapside, while the little conduit -was transformed into a Castle of Envy, and met an assault with -fireworks. Sometimes the old 'foist' was revived, and part of the -spectacle took place on the water. Or one of the land pageants was -designed in the form of a ship. There were personages mounted on strange -beasts. Speeches and dialogues afforded opportunities for laudation of -the Lord Mayor and his brethren. There was generally some theme bearing -upon the history of the company or the industry to which it was related. -The Fishmongers made play, both in 1590 and 1616, with Sir William -Walworth; the Drapers, both in 1614 and 1615, with Sir Henry Fitz -Alwine, and with the Ram with the Golden Fleece. The Merchant Taylors, -on whose roll Prince Henry had been inscribed at the dinner of 1607, -proudly displayed an impersonation of him in 1611. Often the _mimesis_ -was renewed on the way to St. Paul's in the afternoon, or at the Lord -Mayor's house in the evening. The Ironmongers have preserved an -interesting series of coloured designs for _Chrysanaleia_, the notes on -which indicate that the pageants were preserved as permanent decorations -for the company's hall. The ship, which held musicians at the Merchant -Taylors' dinner of 1607, was probably a relic of their pageant of 1602. - -The growing maritime power of England during the sixteenth century and -the significance of the river as a highway between London and the -palaces up and down stream led naturally to a development of pageantry -by water. There was a water triumph, with an assault of a castle, on -Midsummer Day, 1561, and another, arranged by Captain Stukeley, when -Elizabeth went down to Greenwich in June 1563.[466] Christian of Denmark -gave James a show of the Burning of the Seven Deadly Sins' in 'wildfire' -near his flag-ship at Gravesend on 11 August 1606.[467] The creation of -Henry was celebrated by a mock sea-fight between merchantmen and -Turkish pirates on 6 June 1610, and the effect of this spectacle was -also enhanced by a display of fireworks. On the previous 31 May Henry -had been given the welcome of the City, as he came up the river, with a -device by Anthony Munday, in which Burbage and Rice of the King's men -rode upon two great fishes to deliver the speeches. Burbage, as Amphion, -represented Wales, and Rice, as Corinea, Cornwall.[468] Similarly the -festivities at the Princess Elizabeth's wedding in 1613 included a fight -between Venetian and Turkish galleys on 11 February and a firework -representation of St. George delivering the Amazonian Queen Lucida from -Mango the Necromancer.[469] The City had to find a pension for a man who -was maimed in this triumph.[470] Bristol, the second seaport of the -realm, also favoured water shows, welcoming Elizabeth in 1574 with an -assault on the forts of Peace and Feeble Policy, and Anne in 1613 with a -version of the more modern theme of merchantman and pirate.[471] We do -not know the nature of the _Devises of Warre_ prepared by Thomas -Churchyard for one of Sir Thomas Gresham's entertainments of Elizabeth -at Osterley; but an example of the conversion of military training into -_mimesis_ is afforded by the archery show of Prince Arthur with his -Knights of the Round Table, which was displayed by Hugh Offley before -the Queen between Merchant Taylors and Mile End in 1587.[472] - -More than two centuries before this, when Edward III associated this -same Round Table with the foundation of his chivalric order of the -Garter, pageantry had already begun to cast its mantle over the -mediaeval exercises of knightly feats of arms. As the actual practice of -warfare dissociated itself more and more from the domination of the -mail-clad horseman, the spectacular tendency had naturally grown. Not -that, even at Whitehall, the tournament had ever become a mere pageant -and nothing more. It had still its value, both as part of the courtly -training of a gentleman and as a test of physical endurance; and it was -chiefly about the preliminaries, the challenge and the entrance of the -knights into the lists, that the decorative fancy of the Renaissance -gave itself free play. The double appeal of vigorous exercise and -sumptuous spectacle was irresistible to the youthful temperament of -Henry VIII, and the pages of Halle gleam with his tiltings as Cœur Loyal -in 1511, of which a fine heraldic record is preserved, and with the -international splendours of the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.[473] -It was largely to a desire to maintain the tradition of the spear that -the existence of the Pensioners as an element in the royal household -must be ascribed. Elizabeth had much of her father's blood in her, and -to the end took delight in the strength of a man and a horse, so that it -was still possible for an aspiring youth, such as Sir Henry Lee or Sir -Robert Carey, to win his way to Court favour by the accuracy of his seat -or the appropriateness of his trappings, no less than by his proficiency -in the gentler antics of the mask. The rules for courtly combat had been -laid down by John Tiptoft, Earl of Warwick and Constable of England in -1466, and revised for Elizabeth in 1562.[474] The generic term 'jousts -of peace' covered three distinct varieties of exercise. The most -important was the tilt, in which horsemen met in the shock of blunted -spears across the 'tilt' or _toile_, a barrier covered with cloths, -which ran longitudinally down the centre of the 'lists' or space staked -out for the encounter. A record was kept of the courses run, in which -marks were credited to the competitors for spears fairly broken or for -'attaints' on the head or body, and corresponding deductions made for -spears ill broken. The tourney was also on horseback, with swords -instead of spears; while in the foot-tourney or 'barriers' the -assailants were dismounted and fought alternately with push of pike and -stroke of sword across a wooden obstacle.[475] - -The tilt and tourney took place by daylight. Henry VIII constructed a -tiltyard in Whitehall, which was improved and closed in by Elizabeth in -1561.[476] It ran between the highway and St. James's Park, from the -stables on the site of the present Admiralty to the tennis court and -cockpit on the site of the present Treasury buildings, and at the south -end was a gallery for spectators, communicating by another across the -highway with the privy apartments. The sentries in the courtyard of the -Horse Guards have been officially known to recent times as the Tiltyard -guards. There were permanent tiltyards also at Greenwich and at Hampton -Court; at the latter spectators were accommodated in five small towers, -of which one still survives.[477] The less serious exercise of the -barriers was sometimes conducted by torchlight, and even within doors, -on the floor of a banqueting house.[478] Thus it could be introduced, in -a purely mimetic form, as an episode in a mask, or even a play.[479] -Tilts took place in almost every year of Elizabeth's reign.[480] The -custom was for a few picked champions to issue a challenge for a given -day, on which they would be prepared to meet the onset of all who chose -to offer themselves as 'answerers' or defendants. Sussex, Leicester, -Hunsdon, and of the next generation Oxford and Arundel, are prominent -amongst the challengers. I do not find that any particular season was at -first especially appropriated to tilts. There was often one early in the -new year, but just as often one in the spring or summer. But at some -date, possibly as early as 1570, and almost certainly as early as 1581, -Sir Henry Lee was forward in establishing an annual tilt on Queen's Day, -the anniversary of the accession on 17 November. He may have enrolled -some kind of guild of tilters; certainly he undertook to appear -personally as challenger year by year, and for this purpose received or -assumed the designation of Knight of the Crown. In his devices he -appears under the personal name of Loricus.[481] - -Only occasional examples of the pageantry used at tilts are upon -record. An account of the proceedings on the occasion of the wedding of -Ambrose Earl of Warwick and Anne Russell, daughter of the Earl of -Bedford, on 11 November 1565 will show how it was introduced. The -challenge took place in August, at the churching of the Princess Cecilia -of Baden. York Herald introduced Richard Edwardes of the Chapel, who -assumed the character of a post sent from four strange knights, and -announced their challenge to be defended before the Queen and Cecilia in -November. On 11 November the Queen was in the gallery at the end of the -tiltyard. Edwardes entered with a trumpeter, and delivered another -speech. Then the challengers rode in from the mews, each accompanied by -a patron and by an Amazon with his spare horse. They circled round the -tilt and took up their position at the Queen's end, to await the -defendants, hanging their shields on posts beneath her window. Then the -actual tilting began. The programme, although departed from, was one -which seems to have been conventional, of one day for tilt, one for -tourney, and one for barriers.[482] The women leading the horses by -their bridles perhaps appear more frequently in earlier _hastiludia_ -than in those of the sixteenth century.[483] They represent, I think, -the 'damsels' of the ladies in whose names the knights fought, and whose -colours they were accustomed to wear. Elizabeth's personal colours for -this purpose were black and white.[484] It was a function of the ladies -to award to the most successful of the defendants a jewel provided by -the challengers. The principal opportunities for mimetic speechifying -were afforded by the challenge, which was sometimes delivered in person, -sometimes, as in the 1565 example, by deputy, and was probably also -hung up on the court gates, and by the shields which bore _imprese_ or -mottoed emblems, and called for interpretation by the squires or pages -who bore them.[485] Often, moreover, the tilters themselves entered in -elaborately mimetic caparisons, incongruous enough to a modern taste -with the vigorous manly exercise to which they were a preliminary, but -no doubt attractive to that of the Renaissance, which for all its -literary talk about 'decorum' cared at heart but little for congruity. -The speechifying might be resumed when the tilting was over, or at the -banquet which closed the day's festivity.[486] I gather together the few -details of this tilt pageantry which have escaped a perhaps merited -oblivion. There were speeches, and a chariot with a damsel and an old -knight made their appearance at the torchlight tourney for the Duc de -Montmorency in 1572.[487] In 1579 Oxford and his fellow challengers -prepared a device, 'prettier than it happened to be performed', the -nature of which is not specified.[488] In 1581 Arundel issued a -challenge on 6 January, under the name of Callophisus, for a tilt which -took place on 22 January, and there were 'devices in the mean season', -to which some documents in a romantic vein amongst the _Lansdowne MSS._ -probably belong.[489] The coming of the French commissioners in 1581 was -the occasion of spectacular entertainments on an elaborate scale. There -appear to have been two distinct jousts. One, at Hampton Court, probably -on 6 and 7 May, is described in a French report. An antique tower with a -triangular lantern at the top was rolled forward. Out of this issued a -snake, which endeavoured to climb fruit-laden trees. Then followed six -eagles, concealing musicians, and two Irish youths dressed in floating -robes of silver tiffany, with long gilded hair and mounted on gilded -horses. Finally came a triumphal car moving backwards, on which were the -Fates, holding prisoner in a golden chain a knight in brown velvet and -golden armour. The next day furnished new devices, including little -coaches drawn by asses sewn up in white satin.[490] The second, at -Whitehall on 15 and 16 May, is the famous triumph in which Sir Philip -Sidney tilted before 'that sweet enemy, France'. The royal gallery was -transformed into a Fortress of Perfect Beauty, and the four challengers, -Arundel, Windsor, Sidney, and Fulke Greville, besieged it before each -day's tilting as the Four Foster Children of Desire, finally making -their submission, through a boy clad in ash-colour and bearing an -olive-branch, to the unconquerable occupant. Each of the twenty-one -defendants also had his 'invention' and speech, including Sir Thomas -Perrot and Anthony Cooke, 'both in like armour, beset with apples and -fruit, the one signifying Adam, the other Eve, who had hair hung all -down her helmet'. In the midst of the first day's tilting came in Sir -Henry Lee as an unknown knight, broke his spears, and departed in true -romantic fashion without revealing his identity.[491] In 1587, when the -tilting on Queen's Day was 'not so full of devises and so riche as I -have seene', is a mention of books given 'for a token' to the -spectators[492]; and to 1590 belongs such a book in the extant -_Polyhymnia_ of George Peele.[493] This was a notable occasion, for upon -it Sir Henry Lee, now past his youth, resigned the post of challenger to -the Earl of Cumberland. Peele describes the _imprese_ of the tilters. -But the principal device took place after the courses had been run. A -Temple of Vesta rose out of the earth, and at its door Lee's emblem of -the crowned pillar. An appropriate song was sung, the well-known - - 'My golden locks time hath to silver turned,' - -and the Vestal Virgins presented the Queen with a veil and cloak and -safeguard; after which Lee doffed his armour, put it on Cumberland as -his successor, and himself assumed, as a sign of his retirement, a side -coat of black velvet and a buttoned cap of the country fashion. He -continued, however, by the royal direction, to attend the annual Queen's -day, as a kind of Master of the Ceremonies. Cumberland, who took the -name of the Knight of Pendragon Castle, probably remained knight of the -crown until the end of the reign, but may have been rather overshadowed -by the reputation, both as a courtier and a tilter, of the popular and -magnificent Earl of Essex.[494] Robert Carey also claims to have played -a considerable figure in the jousts, and tells us how in 1593 he -appeared and made the Queen a present as 'the forsaken knight that had -vowed solitarinesse' at a cost of £400.[495] To 1595 belongs the device -of Eros and Philautia, in which Essex is believed to have had the -assistance of no less a hand than that of Francis Bacon.[496] In 1598 it -is noted that Queen's day passed 'without any extraordinarie matter -more than running and ringing'. In 1600 Essex, then under a cloud, was, -contrary to expectation, 'no actor in our triumphs', but Cumberland -delivered a speech in the capacity of a Melancholy Knight. In 1602 one -Garret came disguised, like Carey in 1593, and gave the Queen his -scutcheon and _impresa_.[497] In 1601 there seems to have been a -barriers, for which Sir John Davies was invited by Sir Robert Cecil -through Cumberland to write an introductory speech.[498] - -James transferred the annual tilting to his own accession day, and it -continued to be regularly observed on 24 March. Shows 'costly and -somewhat extraordinary' are recorded on this day in 1605.[499] In 1607 -the French ambassador comments that there were 'plus de beaux habits que -de bons gendarmes'.[500] In 1609 Sir Richard Preston made a sensation -'in a pageant which was an elephant with a castle on his back'.[501] -James himself was no tilter; his horsemanship was considerable, but he -employed it in the chase rather than in the onset. It is noteworthy that -running at the ring, which was quite a subsidiary sport at the court of -Elizabeth, tends under her successor to replace the more hazardous -jousts. And even at the ring the marked inferiority of James to his -brother-in-law Christian of Denmark during the latter's visit in 1606 -became the subject of popular comment, and did not tend to improve the -relations between the sovereigns. The 'incomparable pair of brethren', -William Earl of Pembroke, and Philip Earl of Montgomery, shone in the -tilt-yard[502]; and it was a fall from his horse at a joust that first -attracted the King's attention to Robert Carr, afterwards Earl of -Somerset.[503] But the most prominent man-at-arms, during the earlier -years of the reign, was James's cousin, Ludovic Stuart, Duke of Lennox. -He led on one side for Truth, against the Earl of Sussex for Opinion on -the other, at a barriers given to celebrate the wedding of the Earl of -Essex on 6 January 1606, and the invaluable Jonson wrote a dialogue of -Truth and Opinion as a setting for the combat.[504] Later in the same -year Lennox was at the head of a plan to honour the visit of King -Christian by a challenge to be issued by certain knights of the -Fortunate Island, who fabled themselves to be inspired by the adventure -of the Lucent Pillar, foretold by Merlin, and declared their intention -to joust on behalf of certain amorous propositions in the valley of -Mirefleur. The original idea was to publish the challenge in the courts -of Europe, but this feature was dropped, somewhat to the relief of the -French ambassador, who had received instructions from Paris to -discourage it, as a coming royal baptism there would make sufficient -demands on shrunken French pockets, and feats of arms had, moreover, -fallen into disuse in France since the days of Henri II. A challenge was -in fact proclaimed, for England only, in the royal presence and the -public places of Greenwich, on 1 June. Then the death of the -child-princess Mary supervened, and although there was a tilt, in which -Christian took part, on 5 August, it does not appear that the romantic -setting was used.[505] Merlin, however, was utilized by Jonson, some -years later, when Prince Henry, to whom knightly exercises were as -congenial as they were repugnant to his father, made his first public -appearance in the barriers of 6 January 1610.[506] He issued his -challenge under the name of Meliadus, Lord of the Isles, and Jonson's -device, in which Merlin and the Lady of the Lake hail him as the -awakener of Chivalry from her cave, reflects something of the enthusiasm -with which Englishmen were beginning to look forward to the future of -the high-spirited prince.[507] There was a joust on 6 June 1610, after -Henry's creation as Prince of Wales, although Henry did not himself take -part in it.[508] He was tilting daily in January 1612, and a challenge -by Lennox, Southampton, Pembroke, and Montgomery is dated in this -year.[509] But the chivalric revival was fated to be dashed for ever by -the untimely death of its princely patron on the following 6 November. -The Accession tilt of 1613 is made memorable by the fact that the Earl -of Rutland had the signal honour of being furnished with an _impresa_ by -the united genius of Shakespeare and Burbage, whom we must presume to -have been the poet and the painter respectively.[510] At Elizabeth's -wedding in 1613 there was ringing only.[511] One more device by Jonson, -with Cupids and Hymen, introduced a tilt on 1 January 1614, after the -wedding of the Earl of Somerset, and my chronicle must end with the -Accession tilt of 1616, for which again Burbage furnished the Earl of -Rutland with a shield, although the name of Shakespeare, then probably -on his death-bed, does not appear.[512] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 363: Thomas Herbert to Robert Cecil, 26 Aug. 1601 (_Hatfield -MSS._ xi. 362): 'Her Majesty, God be praised, liketh her journey, the -air of this soil, and the pleasures and pastimes showed her in the way, -marvellous well'; cf. p. 111 (1577). In March 1581, Thomas Scot reported -to Leicester (_S. P. D._ cxlviii. 34) the scurrilous statement of one -Henry Hawkins, 'that my Lord Robert hath had fyve children by the -Queene, and she never goethe in progress but to be delivered'.] - -[Footnote 364: Machyn, 262, 267, describes the start from and return to -London in 1561. Puttenham, iii. 22 (ed. Arber, 266), has a story of -Elizabeth's mirth at one Serjeant Bendlowes, 'when in a progresse time -comming to salute the Queene in Huntingtonshire he said to her Cochman, -stay thy cart good fellow, stay thy cart, that I may speake to the -Queene'.] - -[Footnote 365: Hunsdon to Cecil, 31 Aug. 1599 (_S. P. D._ cclxxii. 94): -'She ... will go more privately than is fitting for the time, or -beseeming her estate; yet she will ride through Kingston in state, -proportioning very unsuitably her lodging at Hampton Court unto it, -making the Lady Scudamores lodging her presence chamber, Mrs. Ratcliffes -her privy chamber.' James said of certain law courts, 'They be like -houses in progress, where I have not, nor can have, such distinct rooms -of state as I have here at Whitehall or at Hampton Court' (Bacon, -_Apophthegms_, in _Works_, vii. 166). The distribution of rooms at -Theobalds for a visit of 1572 is given in _Hatfield MSS._ xiii. 110.] - -[Footnote 366: Dasent, vii. 238; viii. 401; x. 284, 286, 305.] - -[Footnote 367: The Duchess of Suffolk wrote to Cecil in 1570 (_Hatfield -MSS._ i. 481) to 'speak but one good word for me to the harbingers, in -case my man shall not be able to entreat them to help me to some lodging -near the court'. The harbingers, as in origin Hall officers, would -provide for the Court generally; the Gentlemen Ushers of the Chamber for -the Queen in person. A P. C. warrant of 29 June 1575 (Dasent, viii. 402) -is for post-horses for Simon Boier, Gentleman Usher, 'being this -progresse tyme appointed to prepare her Majesties lodginges' (cf. App. -A, _Bibl. Note_).] - -[Footnote 368: For references to the 'gestes', cf. 1 Ellis, ii. 274; -Wright, ii. 16; Kempe, 266; Birch, _Eliz._ i. 87; Hunter, _Hallamshire_, -123. Copies of those for 1603 and 1605 are at the Heralds' College -(Lodge, _App._ 97, 99, 108, 109). Those for 1605 are printed (from -_Harl. MS._ 7044?) by Leland, _Coll._ ii. 626, and those for 1614, with -the corporation's endorsement of receipt, from the Leicester archives by -Nichols, _James_, iii. 10.] - -[Footnote 369: A survey of houses for a progress in Herts is in _S. P. -D._ CXXV. 46.] - -[Footnote 370: _Hatfield MSS._ v. 19, 309; vii. 378.] - -[Footnote 371: Kelly, _Progresses_, 302, 319, 345, 360; Nichols, -_James_, iii. 11; Wright, ii. 16; Howard, 211. A 'Remembrance for the -Progress' of 1575 (_Pepys MS._ 179) contains elaborate notes for routes -(not those ultimately followed) and mileage, for the provision of -vehicles, for instructions to sheriffs about corn and hay, and justices -about flesh, fish, and fowl, for the carriage of wine from London, and -the brewing of beer locally. If the country ale doesn't please the -Queen, a London supply must be provided, or a brewer taken down.] - -[Footnote 372: Kempe, 265. Wingfield's letter is only dated 2 Aug.; Lord -Clinton, who is named, became Earl of Lincoln in May 1572. More -preserved a letter of 5 Aug. 1567 from William Lord Howard to the Mayor -of Guildford, asking for a close to graze his horses in during the -Queen's visit to the town. On 24 Aug. 1576 a Mr. Horsman wrote to More -(Nichols, ii. 7), 'Tis thought the Queen will not come to your house -this summer'.] - -[Footnote 373: 1 Ellis, ii. 265.] - -[Footnote 374: Ibid. 266. In 1570 Bedford had written to urge on Cecil -the unsuitability of Chenies for the Queen (_Hatfield MSS._ i. 477).] - -[Footnote 375: 1 Ellis, ii. 267.] - -[Footnote 376: Ibid. 271.] - -[Footnote 377: Ibid. 272.] - -[Footnote 378: _Sussex Arch. Collections_, v. 194.] - -[Footnote 379: Nicolas, _Hatton_, 269. Lady Norris, to whom Elizabeth -wrote affectionately as her 'crow', was the daughter of Lord Williams of -Thame, who had befriended her as a prisoner at Woodstock; on the Rycote -entertainment of 1592, cf. p. 125.] - -[Footnote 380: Kelly, _Progresses_, 296. On 6 July 1576 Gilbert Talbot -wrote to Lord Shrewsbury (Lodge, ii. 75): 'There hath been sundry -determinations of her Majesty's progress this summer.... These two or -three days it hath changed every five hours.'] - -[Footnote 381: 1 Ellis, ii. 274.] - -[Footnote 382: Sir Charles Danvers to the Earl of Southampton (_Hatfield -MSS._ ix. 246). For other letters of courtly deprecation, which I have -no room to quote, cf. Hatton, 223; _Hatfield MSS._ v. 19, 299, 309.] - -[Footnote 383: _Parker Correspondence_, 148.] - -[Footnote 384: Harington, ii. 16, 'She gave him very speciall thanks, -with gratious and honorable tearms, and then looking on his wife; "and -you (saith she) _Madam_ I may not call you, and _Mistris_ I am ashamed -to call you, so I know not what to call you, but yet I do thanke you".'] - -[Footnote 385: Lodge, ii. 119: 'This Rookwood is a Papist of kind newly -crept out of his late wardship. Her majesty, by some means I know not, -was lodged at his house, Ewston, far unmeet for her Highness, but fitter -for the blackguard; nevertheless (the gentleman brought into her -Majesty's presence by like device) her excellent Majesty gave to -Rookwood ordinary thanks for his bad house, and her fair hand to kiss; -after which it was braved at. But my Lord Chamberlain, nobly and gravely -understanding that Rookwood was excommunicated for Papistry, called him -before him; demanded of him how he durst presume to attempt her real -presence, he, unfit to accompany any Christian person; forthwith said he -was fitter for a pair of stocks; commanded him out of the Court, and yet -to attend her Council's pleasure; and at Norwich he was committed. And, -to decipher the gentleman to the full; a piece of plate being missed in -the Court, and searched for in his hay house, in the hay rick such an -image of our Lady was there found, as for greatness, for gayness, and -workmanship, I did never see such a match; and, after a sort of country -dances ended, in her Majesty's sight the idol was set behind the people, -who avoided. She rather seemed a beast raised up on a sudden from hell -by conjuring, than the picture for whom it had been so often and long -abused. Her Majesty commanded it to the fire, which in her sight by the -country folks was quickly done, to her content, and unspeakable joy of -every one but some one or two who had sucked of the idol's poisoned -milk.' Rookwood's committal and release are recorded in the P. C. Acts -(Dasent, x. 310, 312, 342). He suffered at a later date as a recusant -and died in gaol. His cousin, Ambrose Rookwood of Stanningfield, was a -Guy Fawkes conspirator (_D. N. B._; Dasent, xxv. 118, 203, 252, 371, -419; Copinger, _Manors of Suffolk_, i. 292).] - -[Footnote 386: _H. O._ 145: 'It is often and in manner dayly seene, that -as well in the kings owne houses, as in the places of other noblemen and -gentlemen, where the kings Grace doth fortune to lye or come unto, not -onely lockes of doores, tables, formes, cupboards, tressells, and other -ymplements of household, be carryed, purloyned, and taken away, by such -servants and others as be lodged in the same houses and places; but also -such pleasures and commodities as they have about their houses, that is -to say, deer, fish, orchards, hay, corne, grasse, pasture, and other -store belonging to the same noblemen and gentlemen, or to others -dwelling neere abouts, is by ravine taken, dispoiled, wasted and spent, -without lycence or consent of the owner, or any money paid for the same, -to the kings great dishonour, and the no little damage and displeasure -of those to whose houses the Kings Highnesse doth fortune to -repaire....'] - -[Footnote 387: 1 Ellis, ii. 277, evidently misdated 'ann. 15' for 'ann. -16'.] - -[Footnote 388: Kelly, _Progresses_, 325.] - -[Footnote 389: The Cofferer's Account for the progress of 1561, printed -in Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 92, from _Cott. Vesp._ C. xiv, shows expenditure -while the court lay or dined at several private houses. On 24 July 1560 -Sir N. Bacon wrote to Parker, 'The Queen's majesty meaneth on Monday -next to dine at Lambeth; and although it shall be altogether of her -provision, yet I thought it meet to make you privy thereto, lest, other -men forgetting it, the thing should be too sudden' (Parker, 120). This -was a dinner on a remove from Greenwich to Richmond, not during a -progress; but the principle was probably the same. The older practice -was certainly for the crown to pay. Puttenham, iii. 24 (ed. Arber, 301), -records that Henry VII, 'if his chaunce had bene to lye at any of his -subiects houses, or to passe moe meales then one, he that would take -vpon him to defray the charge of his dyet, or of his officers and -houshold, he would be maruelously offended with it, saying what priuate -subiect dare vndertake a Princes charge, or looke into the secret of his -expence?' And the discreet courtier adds, 'Her Maiestie hath bene knowne -oftentimes to mislike the superfluous expence of her subiects bestowed -vpon her in times of her progresses'.] - -[Footnote 390: Cf. p. 17.] - -[Footnote 391: 1 Ellis, ii. 265, from _Lansd. MS._ 16, f. 107.] - -[Footnote 392: In 1576 the Board of Green Cloth paid £3 6_s._ 8_d._ by -way of 'rewards given to inns in progress time where her majesty hath -been' (Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 48).] - -[Footnote 393: Kelly, _Progresses_, 298, 320, 345, 359; Nichols, _Eliz._ -i. 551.] - -[Footnote 394: At Coventry in 1566 'The tanners pageant stood at St. -Johns Church, the drapers pageant at the Cross, the smiths pageant at -Little Park Street End, and the weavers pageant at Much Park Street' (H. -Craig, _Coventry Corpus Christi Plays_, xxi, misdated 1567; cf. ibid. -106).] - -[Footnote 395: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 105, 109, 118, 130, 182, 225, shows -that the Revels followed the progresses of 1559, when they furnished a -banqueting house and mask at Horsley; of 1566, when their expenses came -to £187 8_s._ 11½_d._; of 1571, when the Master took nine men, three -horses and a wagon; of 1573, when they spent £21 10_s._ 8_d._ on -carriage and apparently the mask at Canterbury; and of 1574, when they -furnished the Italian players at Windsor and Reading. A Green Cloth -document of 1576 (Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 50) also records the expenditure -of £109 1_s._ 11_d._ by the Woodyard on 'necessaries, as plancks, -boards, quarters, tressets, forms, and carpenters, hired in time of -progresses'. Another of 1604 (Nichols, _James_, i. xi) is a record of -wood felled to furnish the king's house with fuel during the recent -progress.] - -[Footnote 396: _Ch. Ch. Accts._ 1566 (Boas, 107), 'to the clerkes of the -greene clothe for unburdeninge at our requeste the universitie & us of -the lightes & rushes iij payre of gloves ... xviijˢ ... to the yeoman of -the woodyarde for helpinge us to a recompence of our woode & cole spent -... xˢ'. Kelly, _Progresses_, 328, 'for the which you shall have -satisfaction'.] - -[Footnote 397: Kelly, _Progresses_, 361, prints the precept for the jury -at Leicester in 1614. Jacobean proclamations (_Procl._ 950, 994, 1096, -1098, 1135), regulating the functions of the Clerk of the Market, claim -that local prices, especially on progress, are often extortionate. -Nichols, _Eliz._ iii. 252, prints a memorandum of Puckering's for -Elizabeth's intended visit in 1594, which contemplates 'purveyed diet'.] - -[Footnote 398: On the history of purveyance in general, the protests of -Jacobean parliaments, and the attempts to persuade the shires to accept -'compositions', cf. Gardiner, i. 170, 299; ii. 113; Cheyney, i. 29; Bray -in _Archaeologia_, viii. 329; Nichols, _James_, i. x; Kempe, 272; -_Procl._ 1033. Nichols prints a table of c. 1604 showing the proportion -of carts, 220 in all, charged on each of eight counties at removes from -Richmond, Windsor, Hampton Court, Nonsuch, or Oatlands. The king paid -2_d._ a mile and required not more than twelve miles a day. A Green -Cloth order of 1609 limits the charge on the bailiwick of Surrey (in -Windsor Forest) to eight carts on a remove from Windsor or other houses -in the bailiwick, or from Easthampstead, to Hampton Court, Oatlands, -Richmond, or Farnham. The household officers were accused of -blackmailing owners of carts to avoid impressment, and of requisitioning -superfluous provisions and reselling them at a profit. In 1605 the -Venetian ambassador reported (_V. P._ x. 267, 285) that James's servants -were under less good control than Elizabeth's, and that the longer time -now spent in the country and more frequent removes aggravated the burden -of purveyance. The carts were wanted for harvest. Moreover, hunting -destroyed the crops.] - -[Footnote 399: Birch, _Eliz._ i. 12.] - -[Footnote 400: Parker, xii.] - -[Footnote 401: Peck, _Desiderata Curiosa_, 25.] - -[Footnote 402: Thomas Tooke to John Hubbard (Goodman, ii. 20).] - -[Footnote 403: _Egerton Papers_, 340. The second of the documents there -printed is one of Collier's forgeries. On 27 April 1603 Sir Robert Cecil -wrote to Egerton (_Egerton Papers_, 369) to borrow some plate, 'because -of my self I am not able to furnish my house at Theobalds of all such -necessarys as are convenient for his Maiestys reception without the -helpe of my frends'.] - -[Footnote 404: La Mothe, vi. 478. Gossip said that Leicester's -magnificence was in return for an 'octroy de quelques vaquanz' worth -200,000 crowns.] - -[Footnote 405: _V. P._ xii. 409.] - -[Footnote 406: Northumberland to Cobham (_S. P. D._ cclxxxiv. 97).] - -[Footnote 407: Wright, i. 370; Hawarde, 311.] - -[Footnote 408: Nichols, i. 601, prints from _Lansd. MS._ 16, 'The Q. -Prayer after a Progress, Aug. 15 [1574] being then at Bristow'. It -contains a thanksgiving for 'preseruinge me in this longe and dangerus -jorneye'.] - -[Footnote 409: Kelly, _Progresses_, 301, from _Harl. MS._ 6996. The -letter is undated, but as the court was going to Kenilworth, it may -belong to 1575.] - -[Footnote 410: Wright, ii. 16.] - -[Footnote 411: 'I am old, and come now evil away with the inconveniences -of progress. I followed her Majesty until my man returned and told me he -could get neither fit lodging for me nor room for my horse,' writes Sir -Henry Lee in 1591 (_Hatfield MSS._ iv. 136).] - -[Footnote 412: _Sydney Papers_, ii. 210.] - -[Footnote 413: Walsingham wrote to Shrewsbury from Oatlands on 2 Sept. -1584 (Lodge, ii. 245), that the Privy Council was divided 'by reason of -a little by progress her Majesty hath made for her recreation'.] - -[Footnote 414: Chamberlain, 166, 169, 'All is to entertain the time, and -win her to stay here if may be'.... 'These feastings have had their -effect to stay the Court here this Christmas, though most of the -cariages were well onward on theire waye to Richmond.'] - -[Footnote 415: Harington, i. 314: 'Her Highness hath done honour to my -poor house by visiting me, and seemed much pleased at what we did to -please her. My son made her a fair speech, to which she did give most -gracious reply. The women did dance before her, whilst the cornets did -salute from the gallery; and she did vouchsafe to eat two morsels of -rich comfit cake, and drank a small cordial from a gold cup. She had a -marvelous suit of velvet borne by four of her first women attendants in -rich apparel; two ushers did go before, and at going up stairs she -called for a staff, and was much wearied in walking about the house, and -said she wished to come another day. Six drums and six trumpets waited -in the court, and sounded at her approach and departure. My wife did -bear herself in wondrous good liking, and was attired in a purple -kyrtle, fringed with gold; and my self, in a rich band and collar of -needle-work, and did wear a goodly stuff of the bravest cut and fashion, -with an under body of silver and loops. The Queen was much in -commendation of our appearances, and smiled at the ladies, who in their -dances often came up to the stepp on which the seat was fixed to make -their obeysance, and so fell back into their order again. The younger -Markham did several gallant feats on a horse before the gate, leaping -down and kissing his sword, then mounting swiftly on the saddle, and -passed a lance with much skill. The day well nigh spent, the Queen went -and tasted a small beverage that was set out in divers rooms where she -might pass; and then in much order was attended to her palace, the -cornets and trumpets sounding through the streets.'] - -[Footnote 416: Lodge, iii. 38.] - -[Footnote 417: Winwood, ii. 155.] - -[Footnote 418: Many of the numbers in the song-books of the madrigalists -and lutenists probably had their origin in entertainments. _The Triumphs -of Oriana_ (1601), for example, may have been written as a whole for a -royal birthday or maying; cf. also examples in Fellowes, 121, 328, 434, -464, 485.] - -[Footnote 419: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 154.] - -[Footnote 420: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 421: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 422: _M. N. D._ 11. i. 148: - - 'Thou rememb'rest - Since once I sat upon a promontory. - And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back - Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, - That the rude sea grew civil at her song, - And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, - To hear the sea-maid's music.' - -On the chronology, cf. _Sh. Homage_, 154.] - -[Footnote 423: On the _débat_, cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 79, 187; ii. -153, 201.] - -[Footnote 424: _V. P._ x. 25. Leicester left the Queen by will in 1588 -(_Sydney Papers_, i. 71) a 'Jewel with three great Emrodes with a fair -large Table Diamond in the middest, without a foyle, and set about with -many Diamonds without foyle, and a Roape of fayre white Pearl, to the -number six Hundred, to hang the said Jewel at; which Pearl and Jewel was -once purposed for her Majesty, against a Coming to Wansted'. Rowland -Whyte says of the visit to Lord Keeper Puckering at Kew in 1595 (_Sydney -Papers_, i. 376), 'Her Intertainment for that Meale was great and -exceeding costly. At her first Lighting, she had a fine Fanne, with a -Handle garnisht with Diamonds. When she was in the Midle Way, between -the Garden Gate and the Howse, there came Running towards her, one with -a Nosegay in his Hand, deliuered yt vnto her, with a short well pened -speach; it had in yt a very rich Iewell, with many Pendants of vnfirld -Diamonds, valewed at 400_l_ at least. After Dinner, in her Privy -Chamber, he gaue her a faire Paire of Virginals. In her Bed Chamber, -presented her with a fine Gown and a Juppin, which Things were pleasing -to her Highnes; and, to grace his Lordship the more, she, of her self, -tooke from him a Salt, a Spoone, and a Forcke, of faire Agate'. Of the -visit to the Earl of Nottingham in 1602, Chamberlain, 169, writes, 'The -Lord Admiralls feasting the Quene had nothing extraordinarie, neither -were his presents so precious as was expected; being only a whole suit -of apparell, whereas it was thought he wold have bestowed his rich -hangings of all the fights with the Spanish Armada in eightie-eight'. -These hangings were bought by James at the Princess Elizabeth's wedding -in 1613 (_Abstract_, 15; _V. P._ xii. 499) for £1,628, and were long -preserved in the House of Lords.] - -[Footnote 425: Cf. ch. vi, p. 172.] - -[Footnote 426: Cf. p. 116.] - -[Footnote 427: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 428: Nichols, ii. 673; _V. P._ xiii. 36; _Hist. MSS._ i. 107.] - -[Footnote 429: There are four narratives: (_a_) MS. by Matthew Stokys, -the University Registrary, printed by Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 151, and from -a transcript in _Harl. MS._ 7037 (_Baker MS._ 10) and with a wrong -ascription to N. Robinson, by Peck, _Desiderata Curiosa_, ii. 259; (_b_) -Anon. in _Camb. Univ. Library MS._, Ff. v. 14, f. 87, printed by -Nichols, i. 183; (_c_) Abraham Hartwell (of King's), _Regina Literata_ -(1565), reprinted by Nichols, _Eliz._¹ (1788), i; (_d_) Nicholas -Robinson (of Queen's), _Commentarii Hexaemeri Rerum Cantabrigiae -actarum_, printed by Nichols, _Eliz._¹ iii. 27. The ascription of _Dido_ -to Halliwell is due to Hatcher's biographies of King's men in _Bodl. -Rawl. MS._ B. 274. Hartwell gives some analysis both of _Dido_ and of -_Ezechias_.] - -[Footnote 430: I borrow from Boas, 383, De Silva's description to the -Duchess of Parma as given in Froude's transcript (_Addl. MS._ 26056 A, -f. 237) of the original in the Simanças archives. There is a translation -in _Sp. Papers_, i. 375. Froude, vii. 205, paraphrases the story. After -premising that during the Queen's visit 'they wished to give her another -representation, which she refused in order to be no longer delayed', and -that, 'those who were so anxious for her to hear it followed her to her -first stopping-place, and so importuned her that at last she consented', -De Silva continues, 'Entráron los representantes en habitos de algunos -de los Obispos que estan presos; fué el primo el de Londres [Bonner] -llevando en las manos un cordero como que le iba comiendo, y otros con -otras devisas, y uno en figura de perro con una hostia en la boca. La -Reyna se enojó tanto segun escriben que se entró á priesa en su camara -diciendo malas palabras, y los que tenian las hachas, que era de noche, -los dexáron á escuras, y assí cesó la inconsiderada y desvergonçada -representaçion.' Of course, there is nothing about this in the academic -narratives. It was an indecent proceeding, but in view of the character -of the _farsa_ or mummery which enlivened Elizabeth's first Christmas -(cf. ch. v), the misunderstanding of her taste is perhaps explicable.] - -[Footnote 431: There are five narratives: (_a_) _Twyne MS._ xvii, f. -160, in the University archives, by Thomas Neale, Professor of Hebrew, -used by A. Wood, _Hist. of Oxford_, ii. 154, and Boas, 98; (_b_) Richard -Stephens, _A Brief Rehearsall_, a summary of (_a_), printed by Nichols, -_Eliz._¹ i. 95, and C. Plummer, _Elizabethan Oxford_, 193; (_c_) _Twyne -MS._ xxi. 792, by Miles Windsor of Corpus; (_d_) Nicholas Robinson (of -Queens', Cambridge), _Of the Actes done at Oxford_, printed from _Harl. -MS._ 7033, f. 142, by Nichols, i. 229, and Plummer, 173; (_e_) John -Bereblock (of Exeter), _Commentarii de Rebus Gestis Oxoniae_, printed by -T. Hearne (1729) and Nichols, _Eliz._¹ i. 35, and from _Bodl. Addl. MS._ -A. 63, by Plummer, 113, and translated by W. Y. Durand in _M. L. A._ xx. -502. Bereblock gives full analyses of the plays. Boas, 106, adds -extracts from a Christ Church account of the expenditure.] - -[Footnote 432: Bereblock (Plummer, 128) says, 'Hoc malum quamvis potuit -communem laetitiam contaminare, nihilominus tamen eandem commaculare non -potuit. Ad spectacula itaque omnes, alieno iam periculo cautiores, -revertuntur'.] - -[Footnote 433: Cf. Boas, 106, 390.] - -[Footnote 434: _Sp. Papers_, i. 578; cf. Boas, 385.] - -[Footnote 435: Sometimes the Chancellor brought distinguished foreign -visitors, who were entertained with plays. In May 1569 Thomas Cooper, -Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Christ Church, wrote to Leicester (_Pepys -MSS._ 155), proposing 'a playe or shew of the destruction of Thebes, and -the contention between Eteocles and Polynices for the governement -therof', for a projected visit on 15 May by Odet de Coligny, Cardinal de -Châtillon, and asking help 'for provision for some apparaile' (not -'apparaiti', as the _Hist. MSS._ report on the _Pepys MSS._ has it). It -is not certain that the visit actually took place (Boas, 158). But in -1583 Leicester brought Albertus Alasco, Prince Palatine of Siradia in -Poland, who saw the _Rivales_ and _Dido_ of William Gager (q.v.) on 11 -and 12 June. The plays were given at Christ Church by men of that and -other colleges, with the assistance of George Peele (Boas, 179, from -Holinshed and academic archives). In Jan. 1585 Leicester came again, -with Pembroke and Philip Sidney, and saw Gager's _Meleager_ at Christ -Church, and possibly also a comedy at Magdalen. Apparel was borrowed -from John Lyly, who was then connected with the Blackfriars theatre -(Boas, 192, from academic archives).] - -[Footnote 436: There is only one narrative, by Philip Stringer (of St. -John's, Cambridge), printed by Nichols, _Eliz._¹, and Plummer, 245. -Wood, _Hist. of Oxford_, ii. 248, follows an independent source. Boas, -252, makes some additions from academic archives, and cites from _Twyne -MS._ xvii, f. 174, an order that 'the schollers which cannot be admitted -to see the playes, doo not make any outcries or undecent noyses about -the hall stayres or within the quadrangle of Christchurch, as usually -they were wont to doo'. This was repeated at the visit of 1605. John -Sanford's _Apollinis et Musarum Eidyllia_, reprinted by Plummer, 275, -contains verses laudatory of the various guests.] - -[Footnote 437: _M. S. C._ i. 198, from _Lansd. MS._ 71, f. 204.] - -[Footnote 438: There are four narratives: (_a_) Anthony Nixon, _The -Oxford Triumph_ (1605, S. R. 19 Sept. 1605); (_b_) Isaac Wake, _Rex -Platonicus, sive Musae Regnantes_ (1607); (_c_) a Cambridge report, -probably by Philip Stringer, printed from _Harl. MS._ 7044, by Leland, -_Coll._ ii. 626, and Nichols, i. 530; (_d_) a letter from John -Chamberlain in Winwood, ii. 140. F. S. Boas and W. W. Greg (_M. S. C._ -i. 247) print schedules of the apparel and necessaries obtained from -Kirkham and Kendall of the Queen's Revels, and from one Matthew Fox. -They were partly for _The Queen's Arcadia_, partly, I think, for _Ajax -Flagellifer_, and partly for _Alba_. Provision was made for a magician, -and 'those scenes of the Magus', for which Robert Burton tells his -brother (Nichols, iv. 1067) that he was thanked by Dr. King, Dean of -Christ Church, were presumably in _Alba_. This is Stringer's name for -the first play. Wake calls it _Vertumnus_, but it is clear from his -analyses that it is distinct from Gwynne's, which he calls _Annus -Recurrens_. Stringer's rather critical narrative contrasts with the -self-complacency of the Oxford writers. He tells us how bored the King -was and how the Queen and the ladies disliked the almost naked man in -_Alba_.] - -[Footnote 439: Goodwin's performance was made an excuse for securing the -King's recommendation for his election as a Student of Christ Church -(_S. P. D. Addl. Jac. I_, xxxvii. 66, 67, 70).] - -[Footnote 440: Birch, i. 214; Winwood, iii. 441; Nichols, iv. 1087, from -Hacket's _Life of Williams_.] - -[Footnote 441: Birch, i. 303; Stowe, _Annales_ (1631), 1023; _Hardwicke -Papers_, i. 394; _Truth Brought to Light_, 64; Nichols, iii. 43. The -names of the plays are given in a MS. _penes_ Sir Edward Dering, printed -by S. Pegge in _Gent. Mag._ (May 1756) and Hawkins, _Ignoramus_, xxx. I -adopt the dates of this MS., which fit better into James's movements -than the 12-15 March suggested by Chamberlain's letter in Birch, i. 303. -The Vice-Chancellor ordered 'that noe Graduate of the Universitie under -the degree of Master of Arts, or fellow-commoner, presume to come into -the streets neare Trinity Colledge in the tymes the Comedyes are -actinge; or after the Stage-Keepers be come forth; nor that any Schollar -or Student, but those onely before excepted, by any meanes presume or -attempte to come within the said Colledge or Hall to heare any of the -said Comedyes'.] - -[Footnote 442: Birch, i. 360, 361; Hawkins, _Ignoramus_, cxix, from a -narrative by James Tabor, Registrary.] - -[Footnote 443: Birch, i. 395, 397. Can the play have been _Susenbrotus_, -for which there seems no room in the visit of 1615, although the MS. -claims a performance before James and Charles at Trinity in '1615'?] - -[Footnote 444: The term recalls the old use of the _Camera_ as a -treasury; cf. ch. ii. Similarly Bristol claimed to be the 'chamber' of a -queen consort; cf. the patent to the Children of Bristol (ch. xii).] - -[Footnote 445: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 446: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 172.] - -[Footnote 447: _V. P._ x. 64, 67, 74; Birch, i. 8, 9. Chamberlain wrote -to Carleton (10 July 1603), 'Our pageants are pretty forward, but most -of them are such small timbered gentlemen that they cannot last long, -and I doubt, if the plague cease not the sooner, they will rot and sink -where they stand.' The double preparation must have cost the City -something. There was a levy, amounting to £12 10_s._ on some of the -guilds, in 1603, and in February 1604 another £400 had to be raised 'for -the full performance and finishing of the pageants'. Towards this the -Carpenters paid £2, but in all they had to pay an additional £8 3_s._ -4_d._ in 1604. There must have been protests, for the wardens of the -Brewers were imprisoned for refusing to pay a levy of £50 (Jupp, _The -Carpenters_, 68, 294; Young, _The Barber-Surgeons_, 110; Williams, _The -Founders_, 222).] - -[Footnote 448: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 449: Dekker sadly records that a great part of the speeches -was left unspoken, lest they should be tedious to James.] - -[Footnote 450: Machyn, 180.] - -[Footnote 451: See ch. xxiv, s.v. Dekker, _Coronation Entertainment_. On -15 April 1605 the Spanish ambassador provoked a riot by 'joys and shews' -to celebrate the birth of a Spanish prince (Lodge, iii. 147; Stowe, -_Annales_, 862).] - -[Footnote 452: _V. P._ x. 384; Nichols, iv. 1074.] - -[Footnote 453: Clode, _Early History of the Merchant Taylors_, i. 276, -gives many details from records of the company, including the item, 'To -Mʳ. Hemmyngs for his direccion of his boy that made the speech to his -Majesty 40_s._, and 5_s._ given to John Rise the speaker'.] - -[Footnote 454: Cf. ch. xxiii. The entry of payments to Burbage and Rice, -trumpeted as a discovery by C. W. Wallace in _The Times_ for 28 March -1913, was in fact published by Halliwell-Phillipps in the _Athenaeum_ -for 19 May 1888; it is also in Stopes, _Burbage_, 108.] - -[Footnote 455: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 456: Machyn, 191, 196, 201, 261, 273; cf. App. A (1559-1561).] - -[Footnote 457: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 165, 382. Machyn, 287, records -a watch with a 'castylle' at the Tower on 28 June 1562. There was -another on 28 June 1564, which Elizabeth saw privately from Baynard's -Castle (_Sp. P._ i. 366; cf. App. A). Puttenham, 165, speaks of 'these -midsommer pageants in London, where to make the people wonder are set -forth great and vglie Gyants marching as if they were aliue, and armed -at all points, but within they are stuffed full of browne paper and tow, -which the shrewd boys vnderpeering, do guilefully discouer and turne to -a great derision'.] - -[Footnote 458: Sharpe, _Letter Book_, L. 187, prints an order of 23 Oct. -1481 forbidding from thenceforth any 'disguysyng nor pageoun', when the -Mayor went from his house to the water or the water to his house, 'as it -hath been used nowe of late afore this time'. Halle, ii. 232, describes -the reception of Anne Boleyn.] - -[Footnote 459: Machyn, 47, 72, 96, 117, 155, 270, 294. In 1553 were a -'duyllyll' and 'ii grett wodyn, with ii grett clubes all in grene, and -with skwybes bornyng'. For 1540, cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 166. A -fragment of a Salters' pageant, printed by E. D. Adams in _M. L. N._ -xxxii. 285, from _T. C. C. MS._ B. 15, 39, may belong to 1530 or 1542, -when they had Mayors.] - -[Footnote 460: Clode, ii. 262; Nicholl, _Ironmongers_, 84; cf. ch. xii -(Westminster). The subject in 1566 is not recorded. Richard Baker, -painter-stainer, had £18 for the pageant and everything except the -children and their apparel; John Tailor 40_s._ to find six children 'as -well for the speeches as songs'; James Pele 30_s._ 'for his devise and -paynes in the paggent'; and Thomas Giles of Lombard Street (cf. chh. -iii, v) £5 10_s._ for apparel. The company paid 5_s._ 'to the prynter -for printing of poses speches and songs, that were spoken and songe by -the children in the pagent'.] - -[Footnote 461: Clode, _Memorials_, 115; Nicholl, _Ironmongers_, 97, -'Paid unto James Pele and Peter Baker, for the devise of a pageant, -which tok none effecte, xxvjˢ. viijᵈ.'] - -[Footnote 462: W. Smythe, _A breffe description of London_ (1575); cf. -_Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 165. Dramatic allusions are 2 _Promos and -Cassandra_, i. 6, '[_Enter_] Two men, apparrelled lyke greene men at the -Mayor feast, with clubbes of fyreworke'; _Cobbler's Prophecy_, 469, -'comes there a Pageant by, Ile stand out of the green mens way for -burning my vestment'; _Dutch Courtesan_, iii. 1, 117, 'all will scarce -make me so high as one of the giants' stilts that stalks before my Lord -Mayor's pageant'; _Northward Hoe_, ii. 1, p. 195, 'Simon and Jude's -gentlemen ushers'.] - -[Footnote 463: _2 R. Hist. Soc. Trans._ ix. 252, 'a representation in -the shape of a house with a pointed roof painted in blue and golden -colours and ornamented with garlands, on which sat some young girls in -fine apparel, one holding a book, another a pair of scales, the third a -sceptre. What the others had I forget.' He gives full details of all the -installation ceremonies.] - -[Footnote 464: Chamberlain, 93.] - -[Footnote 465: Clode, _Early History_, i. 264, 390, cites payments for a -ship, a pageant, a lion, and a camel, and to Mr. Haines, schoolmaster of -the Merchant Taylors school, for a wagon and the apparel of ten -scholars, who represented Apollo and the Muses before the Mayor in -Cheapside. Young, _Barber-Surgeons_, 111, prints the Lord Mayor's letter -of 22 Oct. 1603 directing that there should be no show that year. Felix -Kingston entered 'a thing touching the pagent' in S. R. on 29 Oct. 1604 -(Arber, iii. 273).] - -[Footnote 466: Machyn, 261, 309.] - -[Footnote 467: Stowe, _Annales_ (1615), 887.] - -[Footnote 468: Cf. ch. xxiii.] - -[Footnote 469: John Taylor, _Heaven's Blessing and Earth's Joy_ -(Nichols, ii. 527). The use of fireworks at Kenilworth in 1575 and -Elvetham in 1591, with a miniature sea-fight at the latter, has already -been noted. An undated device for three days' fireworks by an Italian -before the Queen, 'in the meadow', 'in the courtyard of the Palace', 'in -the river' (_Pepys MSS._ 178) may belong to 1575, or possibly to the -Warwick visit of 1572, at which a firework assault upon a fort in the -meadow below the castle is recorded by La Mothe, v. 96.] - -[Footnote 470: _M. S. C._ i. 89.] - -[Footnote 471: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 472: Nichols, _Eliz._ ii. 529, from a MS. in private hands.] - -[Footnote 473: Halle, i. 22, 189; Cripps-Day, 118 (misdated 1510). The -illuminated roll of 1511 is engraved in _Vetusta Monumenta_, i, pll. -xxi-xxvi. Some interesting documents on early Tudor tilting are given in -Cripps-Day, xliii, from _Harl. MS._ 69 (_The Book of Certaine -Triumphes_).] - -[Footnote 474: The rules are extant in _Heralds' College MSS._ I. 26, M. -6; _Harl. MSS._ 69, 1354, 1776, 2358, 2413, 6064; _Bodl. Ashm. MS._ 763; -versions are printed in _Vetusta Monumenta_, i; Grose and Astle, -_Antiquarian Repertory_, i. 144; Meyrick, _Antient Armor_, ii. 179; -Harington, i. 1; Cripps-Day, xxvii. Viscount Dillon prints (_Arch._ -lvii. 29) an illuminated fifteenth-century collection of ordinances of -chivalry which belonged to Prince Henry.] - -[Footnote 475: Dillon, _An Elizabethan Armourer's Album_ (_Arch. -Journal_, lii. 113), _Tilting in Tudor Times_ (_A. J._ lv. 296), -_Barriers and Foot-Combats_ (_A. J._ lxi. 276), _Armour and Arms in -Shakespeare_ (_A. J._ lxv. 270); C. ffoulkes. _Jousting Cheques of the -Sixteenth Century_ (_Archaeologia_, lxiii. 31), W. Segar, _Honor, -Military and Ciuill_ (1602), iii. 54, records a number of Elizabethan -jousts, or, as he calls them, 'triumphs'. Dillon (_A. J._ lv. 303) -reproduces drawings of a tilt, tourney, and barriers by William Smith -(_c._ 1597).] - -[Footnote 476: W. L. Spiers in _L. T. R._ vii. 62; Machyn, 269.] - -[Footnote 477: E. Law, _Hampton Court_, i. 135, 206.] - -[Footnote 478: Segar (Nichols, ii. 335) describes a tourney, presumably -a foot-tourney, at Whitehall by night before the French ambassador, -François de Montmorency, in June 1572, with the yeomen of the guard -holding 'an infinite number of torches on the terrace and in the -preaching place'.] - -[Footnote 479: The play of _Paris and Vienna_ on 19 Feb. 1572 included a -triumph with hobby-horses 'where Paris wan the christall sheelde for -Vienna at the turneye and barryers' (Feuillerat, 141). A barriers was -also fought by Amazons and Knights in a mask of 11 Jan. 1579 -(Feuillerat, 287).] - -[Footnote 480: Cf. App. A.] - -[Footnote 481: Cf. ch. xxiv. The date at which the annual tilt began is -not clear. It cannot be earlier than the institution of Queen's Day -itself (1570? cf. p. 18), but as that is said to have originated at -Oxford, hard by Woodstock, the two may have come into existence -together. Segar, who compares Lee's enterprise to 'the Knighthood della -Banda in Spaine' assigns it to the beginning of the reign. On the other -hand, I have not found any actual evidence for a tilt on 17 Nov. before -1581, although there is plenty afterwards. The references to the matter -on Lee's tombstone and in the fragments of the _Ferrers MS._ do not -help, unless fragment (iv) belongs to the Woodstock entertainment of -1575, in which case the vow 'not far from hence' must be before that -date. Is it possible that the tilting at first took place at Oxford or -Woodstock itself and was transferred to Whitehall about 1581? In 1593, -perhaps owing to the plague, it was held at Windsor.] - -[Footnote 482: Leland, _Collectanea_, ii. 666.] - -[Footnote 483: Thus at a joust of 1494 (Kingsford, _Chronicle_, 201), -'iiij fayre ladyes ... ladde their Bridellis with iiij silkyn laces of -white and blewe'. After a joust in May 1571, ladies led the armed -victors to receive their prizes in the presence chamber (Nichols, ii. -334, from Segar).] - -[Footnote 484: Cf. p. 52. Hunsdon and Dudley, as challengers, wore black -and white in 1559; in 1560 the heralds were in black and white (Machyn, -216, 231).] - -[Footnote 485: A galley on the waterside at Whitehall is described as -hung with these shields by Von Wedel (_2 R. Hist. Soc. Trans._ ix. 236) -in 1584 and by Hentzner in 1598, 'emblemata varia papyracea, clypei -formam habentia, quibus, adiectis symbolis, nobiles in exercitiis -equestribus & gladiatoriis uti sunt soliti, hic memoriae caussa -suspensa', and Manningham, 3, describes 'certayne devises and empresaes -taken by the scucheons in the Gallery at Whitehall' in 1602. The Shield -Gallery was still extant in the time of Pepys. Aubrey, _Wilts._ 88, says -that a similar collection of shields at Wilton were 'of pastboard -painted with their devices and emblems, which was very pretty and -ingenious'. Of course, these were not used in the actual encounter. On -_imprese_, cf. F. Brie, _Shakespeare und die Impresa-Kunst seiner Zeit_ -(1914, _Sh.-Jahrbuch_, l. 9); G. F. Barwick, _Impresas_ (_2 Library_, -vii. 140); Lee, _Shakespeare_, 455. A contemporary treatise is Paolo -Giovio, _Dialogo dell' Imprese Militari et Amorose_ (1555). Good -examples are afforded by _Pericles_, II. ii.] - -[Footnote 486: Von Wedel (loc. cit. 258) describes the accession tilt of -1584: 'About twelve o'clock the queen with her ladies placed themselves -at the windows in a long room of Whitehall palace, near Westminster, -opposite the barrier where the tournament was to be held. From this room -a broad staircase led downwards, and round the barrier stands were -arranged by boards above the ground, so that everybody by paying 12_d._ -could get a stand and see the play.... During the whole time of the -tournament all who wished to fight entered the lists by pairs, the -trumpets being blown at the time and other musical instruments. The -combatants had their servants clad in different colours; they, however, -did not enter the barrier, but arranged themselves on both sides. Some -of the servants were disguised like savages, or like Irishmen, with the -hair hanging down to the girdle like women, others had horse manes on -their heads, some came driving in a carriage, the horses being equipped -like elephants, some carriages were drawn by men, others appeared to -move by themselves; altogether the carriages were of very odd -appearance. Some gentlemen had their horses with them and mounted in -full armour directly from the carriage.... When a gentleman with his -servant approached the barrier, on horseback or in a carriage, he -stopped at the foot of the staircase leading to the queen's room, while -one of his servants in pompous attire of a special pattern mounted the -steps and addressed the queen in well-composed verses or with a -ludicrous speech, making her and her ladies laugh. When the speech was -ended he in the name of his lord offered to the queen a costly present, -which was accepted and permission given to take part in the -tournament.'] - -[Footnote 487: Nichols, ii. 335, from Segar.] - -[Footnote 488: Lodge, ii. 146.] - -[Footnote 489: Nichols, ii. 334, from Segar; _M. S. C._ i. 181, from -_Lansd. MS._ 99, f. 259.] - -[Footnote 490: Von Raumer, ii. 431, from a letter of M. Nellot of the -French Embassy in _Dupuy MS._ xxxiii. I do not feel sure that the writer -is really describing a distinct joust from that of Whitehall, although -he certainly locates it at Hampton Court, and the French commissioners -certainly visited Hampton Court, with Leicester and Pembroke, on 6 May -(Walsingham's _Journal_). He gives Arundel and Windsor as challengers, -and the two 'Irish youths' might be Perrot and Cooke. Tilney only -charged in the Revels Account (Feuillerat, 341) for one challenge and -two days' triumph.] - -[Footnote 491: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 492: Gawdy, 25, sent his father 'ij small bookes for a token, -the one of them was gyven me that day that they rann at tilt, divers of -them being gyven to most of the lordes, and gentlemen about the court, -and one especially to the Quene'. On 18 Nov. 1595, John Danter entered -in _S. R._ (Arber, iii. 53) 'a new ballad of the honorable order of the -Runnynge at Tilt at Whitehall the 17 of November in the 38 year of her -Maiesties reign', but it does not appear to be extant.] - -[Footnote 493: Cf. ch. xxiii (s.v. Lee).] - -[Footnote 494: Gawdy, 67 (n.d. but ascribed by ed. to 1592), 'Uppon the -coronation day at nyght ther cam two knightes armed vpp into the pryvy -chamber videlicet my L. of Essex and my L. of Cumberland and ther made a -challenge that vppon the xxvjth of ffebruary next that they will runn -with all commers to mayntayn that ther M. is most worthiest and most -fayrest Amadis de Gaule'.] - -[Footnote 495: R. Carey, _Memoirs_, 32.] - -[Footnote 496: Cf. ch. xxiii (s.v. Bacon).] - -[Footnote 497: Chamberlain, 29, 163; Winwood, i. 271, 274.] - -[Footnote 498: _Hatfield MSS._ xi. 462, 540, 544.] - -[Footnote 499: Winwood, ii. 54.] - -[Footnote 500: Boderie, ii. 144.] - -[Footnote 501: Birch, i. 92.] - -[Footnote 502: Rowland Whyte (Lodge, iii. 162) writing of a 'great tilt' -in which Montgomery was to take part on 20 May 1605, adds the lines-- - - The Herberts every cockpit day. - Do carry away - The gold and glory of the day. - -The Westminster tilt-yard was, of course, close to the Cockpit.] - -[Footnote 503: A. Wilson (_Compleat Hist._ ii. 686).] - -[Footnote 504: Cf. ch. xxiii (s.v. Jonson, _Hymenaei_).] - -[Footnote 505: W. Drummond of Hawthornden, _Works_ (1711), 231; Boderie, -i. 58, 105, 136, 173, 185, 260. The challenge of the Knights Errants, -who were the Earls of Lennox, Arundel, Pembroke, and Montgomery, is sent -by Drummond to a correspondent, with a reply in the same vein, but there -is nothing to suggest that he was the author. Ford's (q.v.) _Honour -Triumphant_ (1606) is addressed to the four Earls.] - -[Footnote 506: There are several extant portraits of Henry in tilting -armour; one is engraved in Drayton's _Polyolbion_ (1613). Dillon (_A. -J._ lii. 125; lx. 132) notes that he had five suits of tilting-armour. -One, given him by Lee, cost £200. Another, given by Prince de Joinville, -is in the Tower. A third, at Windsor, was made by William Pickering at -Greenwich, apparently on one of the designs by Jacobe now at South -Kensington. As early as 18 Aug. 1604, when he was ten years old, the -Constable of Castile saw Henry at pike and horse exercise, and gave him -a pony (_V. P._ x. 178).] - -[Footnote 507: Cf. ch. xxiii (s.v. Jonson, _Prince Henry's Barriers_).] - -[Footnote 508: Nichols, ii. 361.] - -[Footnote 509: Clephan, 133, 176, from _Harl. MSS._ 4888, art. 20; cf. -App. A.] - -[Footnote 510: _Rutland MSS._ iv. 494, 'Item 31 Martii to Mʳ. Shakspeare -in gold about my Lords impreso xliiijˢ. To Richard Burbadge for paynting -and making yᵗ in gold xliiijˢ'. Wotton, ii. 17, mentions the 'bare -_imprese_, whereof some were so dark that their meaning is not yet -understood, unless perchance that were their meaning, not to be -understood'.] - -[Footnote 511: Nichols, ii. 549.] - -[Footnote 512: _Rutland MSS._ iv. 508, 'Paid given Richard Burbidg for -my lordes shield and for the embleance, 4ˡ. 18ˢ'.] - - - - -V - -THE MASK - - [_Bibliographical Note._ The origins of the mask are treated in - my book on _The Mediaeval Stage_ (1903), ch. xvii, and, with - its Tudor and Stuart developments, in R. Brotanek, _Die - englischen Maskenspiele_ (1902), and P. Reyher, _Les Masques - anglais_ (1909). An earlier study of merit is A. Soergel, _Die - englischen Maskenspiele_ (1882). R. Bayne contributes a chapter - on _Masque and Pastoral_ (_C. H._ vi.), and P. Simpson one on - _The Masques_ (_Sh. England_, ii. 311). I have not seen W. - Scherm, _Englische Hofmaskeraden_. Useful material, handled - with imperfect scholarship, is in M. Sullivan, _Court Masques - of James I_ (1913), and there are dissertations by A. H. - Thorndike, _The Influence of the Court-Masque on the Drama_, - 1608-15 (_M. L. A._ xv. 114), J. W. Cunliffe, _Italian - Prototypes of the Masque and Dumb Show_ (_M. L. A._ xxii. 140), - W. Y. Durand, _A Comedy on Marriage and some Early - Anti-masques_ (_J. G. P._ vi. 412), and J. A. Lester, _Some - Franco-Scottish Influences on the Early English Drama_ (1909, - _Haverford Essays_). Most of the scanty Elizabethan material is - in A. Feuillerat, _Documents relating to the Office of the - Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth_ (1908, _Materialien_, - xxi, cited as Feuillerat, _Eliz._), and the relation of the - Revels Office to masks is studied in his _Le Bureau des - Menus-Plaisirs et la Mise en Scène à la Cour d'Elizabeth_ - (1910, cited as Feuillerat, _M. P._); cf. also ch. iii. Many of - the contemporary descriptions of masks are edited amongst the - works of the poets, and are also to be found, with the few that - are anonymous, in J. Nichols, _Progresses of Elizabeth_ (1823), - and _Progresses of James I_ (1828); P. Cunningham and J. P. - Collier, _Inigo Jones, a Life; and Five Court Masques_ (_Sh. - Soc._ 1848); and H. A. Evans, _English Masques_ (1897). A - valuable bibliography is W. W. Greg, _A List of Masques, - Pageants, &c._ (_Bibl. Soc._ 1902). Analogous French texts are - in P. Lacroix, _Ballets et Mascarades de Cour_ (1868-70), and - are studied in V. Fournel, _Les Contemporains de Molière_ - (1863), ii. 173, G. Bapst, _Essai sur l'Histoire du Théâtre_ - (1893), 193, and H. Prunières, _Le Ballet de Cour en France_ - (1914).] - - -The mask is not primarily a drama; it is an episode in an indoor revel -of dancing. Masked and otherwise disguised persons come, by convention -unexpectedly, into the hall, as a compliment to the hosts or the -principal guests. Often they bring them gifts; always they dance before -them, and then invite them to join the dance. They bring torch-bearers -and musicians, who light and accompany the choric evolutions. Their -intention lends itself to elaboration by spokesmen or presenters, and to -such spectacular decoration as a pageant or scene affords; thus it -readily assumes a mimetic setting. It is necessary to lay stress on the -fact that the guests mingle with the maskers in the dance. This intimacy -between performers and spectators differentiates the mask from the -drama to the end; its goal is the masked ball, not the opera. And as a -corollary to this intimacy, the performers are of the same social -standing as the audience; the mask is an amateur and not a professional -performance. - -I have attempted elsewhere to indicate a possible folk origin for the -mask in the visits of excited worshippers, with fragments of a divine -and immolated animal, from house to house of a village, in order that -all may share the direct contact of the beneficent and potent thing. -Those persistent vizards and torches may perhaps recall, the one the -head and skin of the sacrificed victim, the other the brand snatched -from the sacrificial fire, itself perhaps the survival of a sunshine -charm even older than the sacrifice.[513] Obviously in the humanist and -even sceptical court of Elizabeth any consciousness of the 'luck' of the -mask must have been quite subliminal. It was a custom, like the rest, -belonging of right to the twelve days of the Christmas rejoicing, but -adaptable readily enough to a wedding or any other occasion of mundane -festivity. As a medium of courtly compliment to a sovereign it is -already well established in the fourteenth century. When Prince Richard, -afterwards Richard II, was keeping Candlemas at Kennington in 1377, -citizens of London, to the number of 130, rode to visit him with -musicians and torch-bearers. They wore vizards and were dressed to -represent the members of an imperial and a papal court. Entering the -hall, they diced with the prince and his company for jewels, using -loaded dice so as to be sure of losing. After the dicing the music -sounded, and 'the prince and the lordes danced on the one syde and the -mummers on the other a great while and then they dronck and tooke their -leaue'. The whole proceeding is called 'mumming'.[514] It is to be noted -that the 'lucky' character of the gifts is emphasized by the show of -dicing, and that the fraternization of maskers and spectators in the -dance is clearly marked. This is important, because during the changes -of the fifteenth century this particular and primitive element was -apparently forgotten. It was a period of literary and spectacular -elaboration. The dance in disguise attracted to itself other forms of -courtly entertainment that were then in vogue; the speech and dialogue -of allegorical or mythological personages, the architectural pageant, -the mimic tournament, even the interlude.[515] Splendid devices were -shown in Westminster Hall before the sovereigns under their cloths of -estate at the wedding of Prince Arthur and Katharine of Aragon in -1501.[516] On the first night three great pageants were successively -wheeled in. The first was a castle drawn by four beasts and bearing -eight disguised ladies. The second was a ship with mariners, whose -'counteynaunces speaches and demeanor' doubtless furnished an element of -comedy. They brought Hope and Love, who were ambassadors from the third -pageant, a Mount of Love, which bore eight knights. These descended and -assaulted the castle, and finally the ladies yielded and knights and -ladies danced together. On the second night the pageants represented an -arbour and a lanthorn; on the third two mountains; on the fourth, at -Richmond, a chapel. Very similar to these revels of Henry VII's reign -are those described by the chronicler Halle during the early years of -that of Henry VIII.[517] Many variations are possible. There is not -always a pageant. The comic element may take the form of a 'morris'. The -whole thing may form a setting or afterpiece to an interlude. -Occasionally a dicing is introduced, and to this variety the term -'mumming' or 'mummery' appears by the sixteenth century to have been -specialized.[518] The more generic term is 'disguising'. For all its -elaboration, the early sixteenth-century disguising retained many of its -original features. Vizards and torches are employed. The disguisers come -in suddenly, as a surprise to the guests. But unlike the visitors of -Richard II in 1377, they do not, so far as the records show, call upon -the guests to take a part in the dancing. This characteristic feature of -the primitive ceremony seems, under these particular conditions, to have -dropped out. Generally, though not always, there are two sets of -disguised persons, lords and ladies, corresponding to the 'double mask' -of later days, and these dance together. When they go out, the guests -very likely dance amongst themselves, before the 'void', or refreshment -of wine and spices, comes in. But of direct contact between disguisers -and guests, except in the old-fashioned 'mummery' with its dice-play, -there is nothing. - -This same divorce between performers and spectators seems to rule in the -_momeries_ and _entremets_, which correspond to the English disguisings -in fifteenth-century France and Burgundy, and in many of the -_intermedii_ and _trionfi_ of fifteenth-century Italy.[519] But -somewhere in Italy, possibly in the carnival masks of Florence, the -primitive practice must have survived; and from Italy it made its way -back again to France, and also to England, under the rather -unjustifiable colour of a novelty.[520] It was on the Twelfth Night of -1512, according to Halle, that 'the Kyng with xi other wer disguised, -after the maner of Italie, called a maske, a thyng not seen afore in -Englande, thei were appareled in garmentes long and brode, wrought all -with gold, with visers and cappes of gold, and after the banket doen, -these maskers came in, with sixe gentlemen disguised in silke bearyng -staffe torches, and desired the ladies to daunce, some were content, and -some that knew the fashion of it refused, because it was not a thyng -commonly seen. And after thei daunced and commoned together, as the -fashion of the maskes is, thei toke their leave and departed, and so did -the Quene, and all the ladies.'[521] There has been much dispute as to -what the precise nature of the innovation of 1512 was. I formerly -thought that it lay in the introduction of some Italian detail of -costume, probably the 'long gowns and hoods with hats' of which the -contemporary _Revels Account_ speaks.[522] But after a careful review of -the earlier descriptions of disguisings, I now feel little doubt that -those are right who find the point precisely in that 'commoning' between -maskers and spectators which remained a characteristic feature of the -mask throughout the days of its most sumptuous development, and which -the good Halle could hardly be expected to recognize as merely a -reversion to a fourteenth-century English usage.[523] Nor is there any -reason to doubt that the impulse to the new-old mode, and perhaps also -the name which, although in an English form, accompanied it, had an -immediate origin in Italy.[524] Ronsard makes a similar acknowledgement -for France:[525] - - Mascarade et Cartels ont prins leur nourriture, - L'un des Italiens, l'autre des vieux François, ... - ... L'accord Italien quand il ne veut bastir - Un Théâtre pompeux, un cousteux repentir, - La longue Tragedie en Mascarade change. - Il en est l'inuenteur; nous suyuons ses leçons, - Comme ses vestemens, ses mœurs et ses façons, - Tant l'ardeur des François aime la chose estrange. - -And in fact it is an Italian festivity of 1492 that furnishes the only -clear account of a revel in which disguised persons took the ordinary -guests out to dance that I have yet come across between 1377 and -1512.[526] - -For some time the mask and the old-fashioned disguising are traceable -side by side at the court of Henry VIII. Ultimately they amalgamated. By -the end of the reign, 'mask' has become the official name, and -'disguising' is obsolete.[527] The 'commoning' between maskers and -guests is firmly established. And the mask has taken to itself the -elaborations of the disguisings, the introductory speeches, the pageant, -the mimic fight, the double sets of dancers, the close association with -the interlude.[528] Or, more strictly speaking, it can be either simple -or elaborate, a mere masked dance, or a far-fetched and costly device, -as occasion and economy may demand. As far as I can see, the whole -evolution of the form, as we find it in the seventeenth century, was -already complete under Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn, in 1532, led the first -recorded mask in which women took lords out to dance.[529] Even the -fixed scene had made its appearance, as an alternative to the movable -pageant, before the end of the reign.[530] - -The mask retained its vogue under Edward VI and Mary, and Elizabeth, -with her special love of dancing, was not likely to neglect it.[531] The -annals of her court, indeed, have left us few such detailed descriptions -of masks as Halle affords for that of Henry VIII and the mask-writers -themselves for that of James I. This may be an accident, or it may be -that either economy or taste led Elizabeth to a preference for the mask -simple over the mask spectacular, which most invites description. The -story of the Elizabethan mask has to be pieced together from the -account-books of the Revels Office, or, where these fail, from scattered -sources. But though we would gladly have more detail, especially on the -literary and dramatic side, the result of such a survey is sufficient to -show that this particular type of _mimesis_ contributed at least as much -to the Christmas entertainment of Gloriana as to that of either her -father or her successor. - -The first mask of the reign was on Twelfth Night, 1559. Some of its -details recall, across a space of two centuries, those of the Kennington -'mumming' of 1377. In both cases the performers represented -ecclesiastical personages, and in both there was the somewhat -exceptional feature of a parade in the streets. Naturally the -Elizabethan show, with its crows, asses, and wolves dressed as -cardinals, bishops, and abbots, made a characteristic sixteenth-century -appeal to the sympathies of a reviving Protestantism.[532] But even in -1377 the satirical element had not been lacking, for after emperor and -pope came riding at the end of the procession '8 or 10 arayed and with -black vizerdes like deuils, nothing amiable, seeming like legates'. The -1559 mask appears to have been on a much larger scale than was -customary. There were at least four cardinals and six priests. There -were popes, monks, summoners, and vergers. And there were friars, in -black, white, yellow, russet, and green, apparently a pair of each -colour. The russet friars wore velvet garments, with sleeves of yellow -velvet and purple satin 'partie paned'; the popes and cardinals rochets -of white sarcenet; the monks kirtles and cowls of black taffeta with -sleeves of purple satin. The Revels Office was careful to provide hats -for the cardinals and 'croger-staves' for the bishops. Four other masks -followed during the same winter. Two formed part of the festivities -accompanying the coronation, which took place on 15 January. These were -a mask, probably of Conquerors in white cloth of silver, on 16 January, -and a mask, probably of six Moors, on 22 January. The Moors had apparel -of cloth of gold and blue velvet, with sleeves of silver sarcenet and -'bases' of red satin. On their heads was curled hair made of black lawn -and wreathed with red gold sarcenet and silver lawn. Their limbs and -faces were of black velvet, and of these it is recorded that 'the lords -that masked toke awey parte'. They carried darts of 'tree and paste -paper gilded', and as the Revels Office also prepared bells and staves, -it is probable that a morris was introduced. The torch-bearers to this -mask were eight Moorish friars, with head-pieces of crimson satin. The -remaining two masks were at Shrovetide. On the Sunday was a double mask, -with an assault in it. The Queen's maids were rifled and rescued -again.[533] One party consisted of eight Swart Rutters, in black and -white jerkins and long breeches, with laced hats, dags, and silvered and -gilded partisans; the other probably of six Hungarians in blue and -purple cloth of gold. The torch-bearers were six Almayns, and the music -a drum and fife. On the Tuesday was another double mask, but of women, -being six Fisher Wives and eight Market Wives, dressed in bodies and -kirtles of various cloths of gold and silver, with elaborate trimmings, -and wearing wicker head-pieces painted with red and silver, and hats -covered with gold lawn. They seem to have had Fishermen for -torch-bearers, and six minstrels in yellow damask, as well as a drum and -fife. - -Four masks were given during the summer of 1559. One was on 24 May in a -banqueting house built at Westminster, for the entertainment of the Duke -of Montmorency, Constable of France, who came to ratify a treaty. This -was of Astronomers, in long robes of Turkey red cloth of gold, with -torch-bearers in green damask. The second was in a banqueting house at -Greenwich on 11 July, after a tilt by the Queen's pensioners. The other -two were in August during the progress. One was given by the Earl of -Arundel at Nonsuch on 6 August.[534] The other was in a specially built -banqueting house at Lord Admiral Clinton's place of West Horsley. This -last was a double mask of Shipmen, appropriate to an Admiral, in blue -cloth of gold, and Country Maids. Two 'grasyers or gentillmen of the -cuntrye', whose black damask gowns appear in a Revels inventory, may -have acted as presenters. - -The winter masks of 1559-60 were five in number. On New Year's day was a -mask of six Barbarians, in red cloth of gold, with Venetian commoners in -white damask for torch-bearers. On Twelfth Night was a double mask, of -six Venetian Patriarchs in green, with purple head-pieces, and six -Italian Women in white and crimson. They were accompanied by -torch-bearers and a drum and fife. On Shrove Tuesday was another double -mask, of an elaborate mythological character, for which a device of 'a -rocke of founteyne' was employed. The women represented Diana in purple -and three pairs of Huntress Nymphs, in carnation, purple, and blue -respectively; the men Actaeon and his six fellows, in purple, with -orange buskins and gilt boar-spears. They had a drum and fife and, as -torch-bearers, eight Maidens in purple with variously coloured kirtles, -and eight Hunters in yellow with murrey buskins. And they were -accompanied by twelve hounds. It is noted in the Revels inventory that -Actaeon's garments were 'all to cutt in small panes and steyned with -blood'. There were also a mask on New Year's Eve and a second mask at -Shrovetide.[535] One of these was of six Nusquams, allegorical -personages in white, crimson, and yellow, having the breasts of their -scapulars 'steyned with the posy of poco a poco'. Their torch-bearers -were six Turkish commoners in murrey and white. The other was of eight -Clowns in red and green, with flails and spades of gilt wood, black -high-laced shoes made out of the limbs of the previous year's Moors, -hedging mittens, and white gold sarcenet aprons, which were 'gyven awaye -by the maskers in the queenes presence'. They had eight Hinds for -torch-bearers, and a shepherd for a minstrel.[536] - -The absence of _Revels Accounts_ renders it impossible to construct a -full catalogue of masks between the Shrovetide of 1560 and the Christmas -of 1571; but there is every reason to suppose that they were given -yearly, and a number of scattered notices have survived. Brantôme, who -came to court during October 1561, in the train of the Grand Prior -Francis of Lorraine, describes a mask of Wise and Foolish Virgins, -performed by Elizabeth's maids of honour, who did the Frenchmen the -courtesy of taking them out to dance.[537] There was a mask at Baynard's -Castle when Elizabeth visited the Earl of Pembroke on 15 January 1562, a -'grett maske' at Whitehall on 18 January after the performance of -_Gorboduc_ by the Inner Temple, and on 1 February 'the goodlyest masket -that ever was seen', which came in procession from the city to the -court.[538] During May 1562 elaborate masks were in preparation for a -projected meeting between Elizabeth and Mary of Scots at Nottingham -Castle.[539] The meeting never came off, but a scheme for the masks is -preserved, and is sufficiently detailed to show the point which had been -reached in the evolution of the form. It covers the entertainment of -three successive nights. On the first a prison of Extreme Oblivion, -under the keepership of Argus or Circumspection, is to be made in the -hall. A mask of six or eight ladies is to enter, leading Discord and -False Report captive, and preceded by Pallas riding on a unicorn and -Prudentia and Temperantia on two lions. Pallas is to declare the -intention to the queen in verse; Discord and False Report are to be -committed to the prison; and 'then the trompettes to blowe, and -thinglishe ladies to take the nobilite of the straunger and daunce'. On -the second night the structure in the hall is to be a castle called the -Court of Plenty, whereof Ardent Desire and Perpetuity, serving -respectively Prudentia and Temperantia, are to be porters. The mask -proper is again to consist of six or eight ladies, accompanied by -Friendship on an elephant, drawing Peace in a chariot to dwell in the -castle. Friendship is to speak explanatory verses. 'Then shall springe -out of the cowrte of plentie condittes of all sortes of wynes, duringe -which tyme thinglishe lordes shall maske with the Scottishe ladyes.' The -third night's mask is to be a double one. Disdain and Prepensed Malice -are to draw in six or eight lady maskers, sitting in an orchard of -golden apples, and to demand on behalf of Pluto the surrender either of -Discord and False Report, or of Peace. These are to be followed by six -or eight lords, with Discretion and Valiant Courage or Hercules. -Discretion is to offer the services of Valiant Courage as champion. -Prudentia and Temperantia are to let down tokens of peace from their -castle, a grandgarde and a girdle and sword, which are to be laid at the -feet of the queens. There is to be an assault between Valiant Courage -and Disdain and Prepensed Malice. 'After this shall come out of the -garden, the vj, or viij, ladies maskers, with a song, that shalbe made -herevppon, as full of armony, as maye be devised.' One may note the -allegorical theme, the use both of fixed and of movable pageants, the -persistent episode of the assault at arms, the gifts to the principal -spectators, and the somewhat formal speeches of the presenters, eked out -on the last night with a song, but not yet broken up into dramatic -dialogue. The draft makes it clear that English and Scots are to mingle -in the dance, but not quite so clear that the invitation is to come from -the maskers, although that was probably the intention.[540] - -There were 'gret mummeres and masks' again at Baynard's Castle on each -of the four days, 17-20 February 1563, devoted to celebrating the double -wedding of Lord Herbert of Cardiff to Lady Catherine Talbot and of Lord -Talbot to Lady Anne Herbert. But we are not told that Elizabeth was -present, although it is not improbable.[541] On 9 June 1564 there was a -device for the entertainment of Artus de Cossé, Seigneur de Gonnor, who -came as ambassador from France to confirm the treaty of Troyes. It was -of a martial character and entailed the preparation of a castle and an -arbour and three masks, and a total cost of £87 9_s._ 6_d._[542] A month -later, on 5 July, Elizabeth was entertained at the house of Sir Richard -Sackville by maskers in her colours of black and white, who presented a -sonnet in her honour. The host was the father of Thomas Sackville, -afterwards Earl of Dorset, one of the authors of _Gorboduc_ and of _The -Mirror for Magistrates_.[543] During the winter of 1564-5 there were -several masks, apparently given in close relation to the plays of the -same season. One was at Christmas and another, of Hunters and Muses, on -18 February, while at Shrovetide no less than four were made ready, -although only two, of Tilters and of Satyrs, were actually seen.[544] On -16 July 1565 Elizabeth attended the marriage at Durham Place of Henry, -son of Sir Francis Knollys, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Ambrose Cave; -and the entertainment included two masks.[545] Similarly, at Shrovetide -1566, she was present at the marriage of Henry Earl of Southampton, to -Mary Browne, daughter of Anthony Lord Montague, and on 1 July 1566 at -that of Thomas Mildmay to Frances, sister of Thomas Earl of Sussex, and -on each occasion there was a mask with an oration 'spoken and -pronounced' by Mr. Pound of Lincoln's Inn. The July mask introduced -Venus, Diana, Pallas, and Juno.[546] We know that there were four masks -during the winter of 1567-8, and that there were masks during those of -1568-9, 1569-70, and 1570-1, but practically we know no more.[547] For -1571-2, however, fuller information is available, since with this winter -begins the series of detailed Revels Accounts, which extends, with -occasional interruptions, to 1589. There were six masks, on unspecified -dates. For two of these the costumes were 'translated' from old sets. -Four were new made; one of yellow cloth of gold, with torch-bearers in -red and yellow changeable taffeta; one of crimson, purple, and green -cloth of gold, with torch-bearers in red damask; one of white and black -branched loom-work, with torch-bearers in blue and yellow changeable -taffeta; and one in murrey satin, with torch-bearers in changeable -taffeta of an unspecified colour. The maskers were six or eight in -number in each case, and wore vizards, gloves, at 6_d._ a pair, and -strange heads. Devices of canvas were made for some or all of them. One -set carried flowers of silk and gold, and before them went a child -dressed as Mercury, with two special torch-bearers, who made a speech, -and offered the Queen three similar flowers, signifying victory, peace, -and plenty.[548] On 15 June 1572 an elaborate mask was given in honour -of another French embassy under the Duc de Montmorency. The theme -evidently bore some resemblance to the abandoned devices of 1562.[549] A -vizard was made for Argus and a collar and shackles and curls of black -silk for Discord. There were two pageants, a castle upon which Lady -Peace was brought in, and a chariot measuring 14 ft. by 8 ft. with a -rock and fountain for Apollo and the nine Muses. These were probably the -dancers. The performance is called both a 'mask' and a 'triumph'. The -total cost was £409 3_s._ 2_d._, exclusive of the value of stuffs -supplied by the Wardrobe, and it is recorded that the chariot was broken -and spoiled. Payments were made to a Mistress Swego, apparently for -head-dressing, and to a 'muzisian that towghte the ladies'; also to -Haunce Eottes for 'patternes', and to Petrucio, for his 'travell and -paynes' taken in the preparations.[550] This is doubtless Petrucio -Ubaldini, and it may also be assumed that the 'Mʳ. Alphonse', who -apparently had the general direction or 'apoyntment' of the proceedings, -and wore a pair of cloth-of-gold buskins, was Alfonso Ferrabosco, the -musician. - -This example attests the continuance of the spectacular element in the -mask. Its literary aspect also finds illustration during 1572. The scene -was again a house of Lord Montague, who was celebrating the double -wedding of his son and daughter to those of Sir William Dormer. The -dancers were eight kinsmen of the host, dressed as Venetians. There was -a long introductory narrative, spoken by a boy-actor. The motive of this -was suggested by the supposed community of blood between the Montagues -of England and the Montagues of Venice. The actor represented a boy of -the English house, who had been taken prisoner by the Turks, together -with four English soldiers, who were the torch-bearers. He had been -rescued by Italian Montagues, who were returning with him to Italy, when -a storm drove them on the shores of Kent, and they took the opportunity -to visit their kinsmen in London. After the mask there was a shorter -speech by Master Thomas Browne, whom the actor drew from the company, -and presented to the maskers to replace him as their 'trounchman', and -the maskers then took their leaves. The author of the verses was George -Gascoigne. They contain no indication that Elizabeth was present, and -therefore she probably was not. But they furnish a very good example of -the way in which introductory speeches, still stiff and undramatic, were -used to give topical point and meaning to the disguises assumed by -maskers.[551] With this Montague mask may be compared that at the -wedding of Henry Unton, represented in one of the scenes from his life -and death by which his portrait, now in the National Portrait Gallery, -is surrounded. The wedding party is shown at table in a great chamber, -overlooking a hall below, in which sit six minstrels. At each end of the -hall are steps, and up and down these and over the floor of the chamber -passes the mask procession, a drummer, a 'trounchman' with a paper in -his hand, Mercury, Diana, six Nymphs, and ten Cupids, five white and -five black, as torch-bearers.[552] - -Finally, a curious document of this same year, 1572, indicates the -widespread popularity which the mask had acquired, as a form of social -entertainment. It is preserved amongst Lord Burghley's papers, and is a -complaint by one Thomas Giles against the Yeoman of the Revels, who had -the custody of the Queen's masks, and made a practice of letting them -out on hire to persons of all degrees, noble and mean, both in the city -and in the country.[553] Thomas Giles was a haberdasher, and from time -to time supplied goods to the Revels. He bases his complaint mainly on -the damage done to the royal property, but at the end he allows it to -appear that he himself made a business of letting out masking apparel -for hire, and found his prices undercut by those of the Yeoman. He -appends a list of a score of occasions during the past year on which -loans had taken place. The garments lent appear to have been mostly -those made for the Court festivities of the previous winter. One set is -described as 'the coper clothe of golde gownes which was last made'. -This must have been the mask of Muses given on 15 June. It was lent with -another mask, 'into the contre to the maryage of the dowter of my lorde -Montague', at some date between 15 September and 6 October. This was the -occasion of Gascoigne's verses just described, although it must have -been the other mask, a mask of men, which those verses presented. - -It may be collected from scattered items of expenditure that the Court -masks of 1572-3 were two in number.[554] There was a mask of Janus on 1 -January, with a snow-storm of comfits and a presentation of snowballs, -made out of sponges covered with fine lamb's-wool, to the Queen. And on -some later date there was a double mask of men and women, representing -Fishermen and probably Fruit-women. Haunce Eottes is again said to have -painted 'patternes' for the masks. There are some traces of a mask, with -women, as well as Mariners and Turks, in it, when Elizabeth received the -French ambassador Mareschal de Retz at Canterbury during the progress of -1573; and there was one at Greenwich, probably not at the royal expense, -for the marriage of William Drury in the following November or -December.[555] For the winter of 1573-4 a complete list is -preserved.[556] There was a mask of Lance Knights in blue satin, with -torch-bearers in black and yellow taffeta, on 27 December; a mask of -Foresters in green satin and cloaks of crimson sarcenet, with Wild Men -in moss and ivy as torch-bearers, on New Year's Day; and a mask of Sages -in 'counterfeit' cloth of gold, with torch-bearers in red damask, on -Twelfth Night. There were six maskers in each case. The Foresters were -equipped with a hollow tree and with comfits made to resemble wild -fruits; also with horns garnished with silver, 'which hornes', says the -Revels account, 'the maskers detayned and yet doeth kepe them against -the will of all the officers'. At Candlemas Haunce Eottes made designs -for a mask of six ladies in green satin and gold sarcenet, representing -Virtues, and carrying lights and 'properties', including a silk tree, in -specially made candlesticks. Perfumes were prepared to burn at the end -of matches, and speeches for delivery to Her Majesty written in fair -text. But after all the mask was not shown 'for the tediusnesse of the -playe that night'. Finally there were two masks on Shrove Tuesday. One -was of seven Warriors, with a shipmaster to utter a speech, and six -torch-bearers; the other of seven ladies, also with a 'tronchwoman', and -torch-bearers. Probably this was a double mask, and in some way there -came into it nine children, who had been drilled and taught their -speeches by one Nicholas Newdigate, and in various ways gave a good deal -of trouble.[557] During the winter of 1574-5 I can only trace with -confidence one mask, on an uncertain date. It was a mask of six Pedlars, -who had little hampers, and looking-glasses with posies written on them -in fine yellow paint.[558] There were not improbably others, the details -of which cannot now be disentangled in the Revels Accounts from those -relating to plays. A mask, 'for riches of aray, of an incredibl cost', -was planned as part of the Kenilworth festivities of July 1575; but was -not in the end performed.[559] Nothing is known of the masks during the -winter of 1575-6, for the Revels Accounts are missing. For Twelfth Night -1577 a 'longe' mask was prepared, of six dancers in murrey satin, with -torch-bearers in crimson damask. There were to have been seven speeches -'framed correspondent to the daie', and Nicholas Newdigate again trained -boys to deliver these. But for some reason the mask was put off, and -given on Shrove Tuesday without any speeches at all.[560] The Revels -Accounts of 1577-8 are missing. A mask by Henry Goldingham was given at -Norwich on 21 August 1578 during the progress. It was of Gods and -Goddesses, who entered the privy chamber with a presenter, -torch-bearers, and musicians, marched about the room and gave -characteristic gifts, but apparently did not dance.[561] On 11 January -1579 there was a double mask for the entertainment of the French -ambassador, M. de Simier, who had come about the Alençon marriage. -Patterns of the mask were submitted for approval to the Lord -Chamberlain. One party consisted of six Amazons, the other of six -Knights.[562] Each party had its torch-bearers and a 'troocheman', who -made a speech to the Queen and delivered her a table with the speech -written upon it. These speeches had been translated into Italian and -inscribed upon the tables by Petruchio Ubaldini. The Amazons and Knights -danced together and afterwards fought at barriers. Some of the plumes -which had been hired for the Knights were 'dropt with torches', and the -Revels Office had to pay damages for them. Patterns were also shown to -the Lord Chamberlain of a 'Mores' mask intended for Shrove Tuesday, but -this seems to have fallen through.[563] I do not know whether the -invention of the Court poets had failed, or whether for some other -reason Elizabeth had become discontent with masks; but, although there -are full Revels Accounts for the winters of 1579-80 and 1580-1, and -although plays were numerous, no single performance of a mask is -recorded. But the spirit of revelry awoke in 1581, at the coming of -French commissioners to complete negotiations for the Anjou marriage in -the spring, followed by that of Anjou himself in the autumn. Patterns of -masks were prepared and the construction of a mount begun in March.[564] -These were not proceeded with at the time, and the famous tilt before -the Fortress of Perfect Beauty was substituted as an entertainment for -the commissioners. But in the winter there were two masks, and amongst -the devices employed were a mount with a castle on the top of it, a -dragon, an artificial tree, an artificial lion, and a horse made of -wood.[565] These details suggest a revival of the scheme abandoned in -the previous spring, for the personal delectation of Anjou. - -Court masks are but little in evidence during the next few years. There -was one of ladies, with torch-bearers and eight boys, on 5 January 1583, -and during the same winter one of Seamen was prepared, but not brought -into use.[566] There was a mask in 1583-4, of which no details are -given; while for 1585-6 and 1586-7 no information, in the absence of the -Revels Accounts, is forthcoming.[567] The accounts for 1584-5 and 1587-8 -have a general reference to masks in their headings, which may be no -more than common form.[568] In September 1589, however, a mask was -prepared to be sent into Scotland, as a compliment to James VI on the -occasion of his wedding to Anne of Denmark.[569] It does not appear to -have been a very sumptuous affair, and only cost the Revels Office £17 -10_s._ 10_d._ We are not told what the maskers represented. - -There were six of them, with vizards and falchions, in purple coats, -crimson bases, and orange and purple and white mantles. They had -torch-bearers in red and yellow damask, and four persons garlanded with -flowers 'to vtter speches'. The description of the torch-bearers reads -uncommonly like that of the torch-bearers to the abandoned mask of -Seamen, and if they wore 'translated' garments of 1583, there cannot -have been much masking in the interval. - -After 1589 the Revels Accounts altogether fail us, and although it is -probable that the mask shared in the general renewal of festivity which -followed the passing of the Spanish peril, we have only side-lights upon -it during the last decade of the reign. Certainly it was still -flourishing in the winter of 1594-5, when one Arthur Throgmorton planned -to use it, with a rather skilful introduction of some personal abasement -and the gift of a jewel, as a means of recovering the forfeited favour -of the Queen. The occasion seems to have been the wedding of William -Earl of Derby, and Lady Elizabeth Vere, granddaughter of Burghley, on 26 -January 1595.[570] It was in this same winter, too, that a very -magnificent Shrovetide mask was brought to Court by the men of Gray's -Inn, as a wind-up to their notable Christmas revels under the Prince of -Purpoole. Of this a detailed account is preserved in the _Gesta -Grayorum_, with songs and speeches which can be assigned respectively to -Thomas Campion and Francis Davison. These had for theme a controversy -between certain adventurous knights and the sea-god Proteus, and for -object the flattery of Elizabeth, the virtue of whose presence obliges -Proteus to release the knights from their durance in an Adamantine -Rock.[571] Of the place of this mask in the history of the literary form -something will be said at a later point. - -The gallantry of Gray's Inn was emulated a few years later by the Middle -Temple, who, after presenting several masks in their own hall during the -Christmas revels of their Prince d'Amour, did their devoir at Court on -Twelfth Night with a mask in which the nine Passions issued from a -Heart. The mask was followed by a barriers, and preceded by a cavalcade -through the streets of a type of which examples have already been noted -in 1377 and 1559.[572] In the summer of 1600 one of Elizabeth's maids of -honour, Anne, daughter of Elizabeth Lady Russell, left the Court to be -married to Henry Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of Worcester. The Queen -was present at the wedding on 16 June. She dined at Lady Russell's house -in Blackfriars, and supped and lodged for the night in that of Lord -Cobham hard by. After supper a mask came in. Eight Muses, represented by -maids of honour and others, were come to seek their lost companion. -After they had done their performance, they wooed the Queen to dance. -She was not proof against the ready tongue of Mary Fitton, and complied. -'Elle dansa gayement et de belle disposition,' says the French -ambassador, M. de Boississe, who was present.[573] - -Finally, in the spring of 1602, negotiations were passing between Sir -Robert Cecil and Sir John Popham on behalf of the Middle Temple, for -some entertainment to gratify the Queen, for which the benchers were -prepared to contribute 200 marks.[574] Probably this was a mask, but -whether and when it actually came off is not known. It may have been -designed to celebrate the coming of the Duke of Nevers and other -Frenchmen in the following April, and it may have been the mask a song -from which was copied by John Manningham, a member of the Middle Temple, -on a fly-leaf of his diary with the date 'Nov. 2'.[575] - -Under James I the material for tracing the history of the mask becomes -remarkably abundant, owing to the regular practice, of which the _Gesta -Grayorum_ is the only Elizabethan example, of issuing elaborate -descriptions, with copies of the songs and speeches used, for the -information of those unable to be present, and the incidental -glorification of performers, poets, and producers.[576] In view of the -full details compiled from these descriptions and other sources in the -bibliographical appendix, a brief chronicle will suffice for a -conclusion of this chapter. The main factors to be borne in mind are, -firstly, the personal participation of Queen Anne, who took a special -delight in all kinds of spectacle and revelry;[577] secondly, the -employment of such poets as Jonson, Campion, Daniel, Beaumont, and -Chapman, to give the masks their literary setting;[578] and thirdly, the -great development of the scenic element through the mechanical and -decorative genius of Inigo Jones. Anne gave her first mask, of which no -details are preserved, as a welcome to Prince Henry, when he came to -join the Court at Winchester during the plague-stricken wanderings which -filled the autumn of 1603. An English official describes it as 'a -gallant mask', and the French ambassador, more critically, as less a -'_ballet_' than a '_masquarade champêtre_'. At any rate it whetted the -appetite of the Court for more to come, and there was soon talk of the -splendours foreshadowed for the following Christmas.[579] This, still -owing to the plague, was held at Hampton Court. The principal mask was -danced by the Queen, with Lady Bedford and other ladies of the court, on -8 January. Through the influence of Lady Bedford, Samuel Daniel was -employed as poet, and produced his _Vision of the Twelve Goddesses_. -Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe was ransacked to provide material for the -costumes. The lords of the Court, led by the Duke of Lennox, danced a -mask of Indian and Chinese knights on 1 January, and certain Scotchmen -one resembling a sword dance on Twelfth Night; but of neither of these -has a full description been preserved. The masks of subsequent -Christmases took place at Whitehall, where in 1607 the old timber -banqueting house of 1581 gave way to a permanent structure designed to -house them with magnificence. The Queen's mask of 1604-5 was the _Mask -of Blackness_, and began the long and fruitful co-operation of Ben -Jonson and Inigo Jones. It was on Twelfth Night, and did honour to the -creation of Prince Charles as Duke of York. A mask of Juno and Hymenaeus -given on 27 December by friends of Sir Philip Herbert, in celebration -of his marriage to Lady Susan Vere, has not been preserved. The only -Christmas masks of the next two winters were of similar origin. Jonson's -_Hymenaei_ was given at the wedding of Robert Earl of Essex and Lady -Frances Howard on 5 January 1606, and a mask of the Knights of Apollo by -Thomas Campion, who had had a share in the verses for the Gray's Inn -mask of 1595, at that of James Lord Hay and Honora Denny on 7 January -1607. As a mask must be accounted, I suppose, the extraordinary -exhibition of _Solomon and the Queen of Sheba_ before James and -Christian of Denmark at Theobalds in July 1606, of which a description -is forthcoming from the satirical pen of Sir John Harington.[580] By the -winter of 1607-8 the new banqueting house was ready, and the series of -Queen's masks was resumed with Jonson's _Mask of Beauty_ on 10 January. -In a second mask, sometimes called, although not by its author, _The Hue -and Cry after Cupid_, for the wedding of John Viscount Haddington and -Lady Elizabeth Radcliffe on 9 February, Jonson appears to have -considered that he took a definite step forward in the evolution of the -mask-form, by the introduction of an antimask or group of grotesque -dancers as a foil to the mask proper. The Queen's mask for 1608-9 was -Jonson's _Mask of Queens_ at Candlemas, and there was no other. During -the winter of 1609-10, which was devoted to Prince Henry's mimetic -barriers, there was no mask at all, unless indeed the anonymous and -undated _Mask of the Twelve Months_ belongs to this year. But on the -following 5 June came Daniel's _Tethys' Festival_, which was the Queen's -contribution to the festivities attending the creation of Henry as -Prince of Wales. In 1610-11 there was a Queen's mask, Jonson's _Love -Freed from Ignorance and Folly_, on 3 February, and also a Prince's -mask, Jonson's _Oberon_, on 1 January. Jonson's _Love Restored_ was a -Prince's mask of 6 January 1612. The masks of 1612-13 were all given in -celebration of the wedding of the Princess Elizabeth to the Elector -Palatine of the Rhine, Frederick V, at Shrovetide. There were three of -them. Campion's _Lords' Mask_ was danced by lords and ladies of the -Court on the actual day of the wedding, 14 February. The other two were -contributed by the Inns of Court, and each was preluded by a public -procession or triumph, such as had been found natural in earlier years -when a mask came from London to the palace. The Middle Temple and -Lincoln's Inn came by road on 15 February with a mask of Virginians by -George Chapman; the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn by water on 16 February, -with a mask of Olympian Knights by Francis Beaumont. This, however, they -were not able to dance until 20 February. Jonson took no part in these -hymeneal festivities, and may have been abroad. The masks for the -wedding of Robert Earl of Somerset and Lady Frances Howard on 26 -December 1613 almost vied in magnificence, and more than vied in number, -with those given for the princess. The bride had passed through stormy -days since Jonson's _Hymenaei_ hailed her first marriage in 1606, and -was to pass through stormier still. Campion was again selected as the -poet for the actual wedding day. In his mask, sometimes called the _Mask -of Squires_, and danced by lords and gentlemen of the Court, he had the -assistance, not of Jones, but of Constantine de' Servi, who does not -appear to have been very successful. Jonson's _Irish Mask_, which was -given on 29 December and repeated on 3 January, was a comparatively -slight performance, danced by five Englishmen and five Scots. Thomas -Middleton's _Mask of Cupid_, unfortunately lost, was an exceptional -performance given not at Court, but by the City in the Merchant Taylors' -hall on 4 January, after a request from the King that they should do -honour to the earl. Finally the _Mask of Flowers_, the authors of which -are only known by the initials I. G., W. D., and T. B., was given by -Gray's Inn on 6 January, at the charges of Sir Francis Bacon, who had -already taken an active part in promoting the joint Inner Temple and -Gray's Inn mask of the previous year. When Anne married her favourite -maid of honour, Jane Drummond, to Lord Roxborough on 2 February, she -perhaps thought that another mask would be something of an anti-climax, -and the performance in a little paved court at Somerset House took the -shape of a pastoral, Daniel's _Hymen's Triumph_. - -After the wedding carnivals of two successive years, the masks of -1614-15 and 1615-16 were comparatively insignificant, and even their -chronology is not quite certain. To one of these winters belongs -Jonson's _Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists_, but it is not certain -to which, and to the other his _Golden Age Restored_. In each year there -were duplicate performances, on 6 and 8 January 1615 and on 1 and 6 -January 1616. Both masks were danced by lords and gentlemen of the -Court. That of 1615 was contrived to serve the interests of George -Villiers, who was soon to replace the already tottering Somerset in the -esteem of his royal master. A mask, of which no details are known, seems -also to have been given by the Spanish ambassador in February 1615. Of -masks elsewhere than at Court during 1603-16 there are few to record. -The Princess Elizabeth seems, on at least one occasion, to have had a -mask for her private delectation.[581] One by John Marston formed part -of the entertainment given by the Earl of Huntingdon to Alice Countess -of Derby, at Ashby in August 1607, and one by Campion part of that given -by Lord Knollys to Anne at Caversham on 27 April 1613. William Browne's -_Ulysses and Circe_ glorified the Inner Temple feast on 13 January 1615. -The palmy days of the Jacobean mask close with our period. Henry was -dead; Elizabeth was gone. Anne, ailing and retired during her later -years, died in 1619. She had danced her last mask in 1611. Charles made -his début as an adult masker in 1618, and most of the Court masks to the -end of the reign are Prince's masks. But it takes a Queen to make a -Court, and the English mask had to wait for its _renouveau_ until the -coming of Henrietta Maria. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 513: _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 390.] - -[Footnote 514: Ibid. 394; Reyher, 499; from _Harl. MS._ 247, f. 172ᵛ] - -[Footnote 515: _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 396.] - -[Footnote 516: Leland, _Collectanea_, v. 359; Reyher, 500; from Ralph -Starkey, _Booke of Certain Triumphes_ (_Harl. MS._ 69, f. 29v); Grose -and Astle, _The Antiquarian Repertory_, ii. 249.] - -[Footnote 517: Halle, i. 15, 21, 22, 25, 40; Brewer, ii. 2, 1490 _sqq._, -from _Revels Accounts_ (_Misc. Bks. Exch., T. of R._ 217).] - -[Footnote 518: Brotanek, 118; Reyher, 14, citing, _inter alia_, _A -Manifest Detection of ... Diceplay_ (_Percy Soc._ lxxxvii), 37, 'If it -be winter season when masking is most in use ... they hire ... a suit of -right masking apparel, and after, invite divers guests to a supper, all -such as be then of estimation, to give them credit by their -acquaintance, or such as ... will be liberal to hazard some thing in a -mumchance; by which means they assure themselves, at the least, to have -supper scot free; perchance to win xxˡᶦ about. And howsoever the common -people esteem the thing I am clear out of doubt, that the more half of -your gay masks in London are grounded upon such cheating crafts, and -tend only the pouling and robbing of the King's subjects'. The dice were -loaded otherwise for Richard II. A 'mummery', with 'foure visards, foure -gownes, a boxe and a drumme', is dramatized in _Soliman and Perseda_ -(Boas, _Kyd_, 189), ii. 1, 187, where for 'Charleman is come' (l. 228), -_lege_ 'Christemas is come'. It is in dumb show, which confirms the -supposed etymological connexion with 'mum' (cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. -396). 'Mumchance' is a common term for dice-play. But the French -_momon_, _momerie_, and Italian _mumia_ do not appear to have been -specialized in the English sense. 'Some goodly mummery at supper' was -planned for the meeting of Henry VIII and Charles V at Gravelines in -July 1520 (_Rutland Papers, C. S._ 54). Jonson introduces Mumming as a -dancer in his _Masque of Christmas_ (1616).] - -[Footnote 519: For France, cf. the examples of 1377, 1389, 1393, 1457, -&c., cited by Brotanek, 287, Prunières, 3; the verses of Charles -d'Orléans (> 1415) for a _mommerie_ of women (ed. d'Héricault, i. 148); -the 'danse en barboire, en laquelle fut dancé à la mode de France, de -l'Allemaigne, d'Espaigne et Lombardye, et à la fin en la manière de -Poitou' at the betrothal of Claude of France and Charles of Austria in -1501 (Jean d'Auton, _Chron. de Louis XII_, ii. 99); and the revels -during the Italian campaigns of Louis at Pavia and Milan in 1507 (Jean -d'Auton, iv. 289, 311). At Milan lords danced 'en masque' and ladies -danced 'a relays les unes après les autres', but it is not definitely -said that ladies and maskers danced together. The 'danse en barboire' -possibly illustrates the enigmatical _barbaturiae_ of which the nuns of -St. Radegund in Poitou were guilty in the eighth century (_Mediaeval -Stage_, i. 362). For Burgundy, cf. Prunières, 10, citing accounts of the -crusaders' Feast of the Pheasant (1454), and the wedding of Duke Charles -and Margaret of York (1468). In 1454 there were dumb shows of the Golden -Fleece, followed by the entry of Grâce-Dieu and her train of Virtues, -who delivered a speech and then 'commencèrent à danser en guise de -mommeries'. In 1468 there were 'entremectz mouvans' of the Labours of -Hercules (Olivier de la Marche, ed. _Soc. H. F._ iii. 134, 143). These -shows were given while the guests were still at table. When they were -over, the tables were cleared away, and the guests danced.] - -[Footnote 520: To the _entremetz_ of France correspond the _intermedii_ -of Italy. These, as described by Creizenach, ii. 419; D'Ancona, ii. 168, -420; Symonds, _Shakspeare's Predecessors_, 321; _Renaissance in Italy_, -v. 122; Prunières, 28; Cunliffe, _Early English Classical Tragedies_, -xxxix, and in _M. L. A._ xxii. 150 and _M. P._ iv. 597, were -_entr'actes_ to late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century plays, but -very similar shows were given independently at banquets; e. g. the -mimetic _chori_ with Silenus for _risus_ devised by Bergonzio Botta for -the wedding of Giangaleazzo Sforza and Isabella of Aragon at Tortona in -1489 (Calchi, _Nuptiae Mediolaniorum Ducum_ in Graevius, _Thesaurus_, -ii. 1, 509). _Trionfi_ are primarily out-of-door processions with cars.] - -[Footnote 521: Halle, i. 40; Brewer, ii. 1497, from _Revels Accounts_.] - -[Footnote 522: _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 401; cf. Brotanek, 67.] - -[Footnote 523: Evans, xxi; Reyher, 491; Cunliffe in _M. L. A._ xxii. -140.] - -[Footnote 524: Cf. Marlowe, _Edward II_, 55 'He haue Italian maskes by -night'. 'Mask' seems to be derived from a Teutonic root related to Lat. -_macula_, and means a 'net' or 'stain'. Both 'maske' and 'maskel' are -M.E. forms; but I do not find the word used in connexion with -disguisings, either for the performance or for the vizard, before 1512. -Halle's book was unfinished at his death in 1547, and for him 'maske' -and its derivative 'masker' are regular for the performance and the -performer. He also uses a 'masker' (i. 215), a 'maskery' (i. 209), 'in -maskeler' (i. 209), 'apparel of maskery' (i. 217), and 'maskyng apparel' -(i. 171, 217; ii. 220). For the face-mask he retains 'viser'. The -_Revels Accounts_ for 1512-22 use 'maskeller' or 'meskeller' as noun -abstract and adjective, and 'maskelyng' or 'meskellyng' as adjective or -participle. 'Masking garments', and 'a maske' for the performance first -appear in a Revels document of 1539. In those of Cawarden's time 'maske' -and its derivatives are established. Jonson (cf. p. 176) seems -responsible for stereotyping the spelling 'masque', which, however, Lyly -(cf. _Works_, ii. 103) had used before him.] - -[Footnote 525: Ronsard (ed. Marty-Leveaux), vi. 310.] - -[Footnote 526: This is at the end of a _farsa_ by Jacopo Sannazaro given -before Alfonso Duke of Calabria in 1492 (D'Ancona, ii. 98, from _Opere_ -of 1723). 'Subito uscirono li trombetti sonando, tutti vestiti -riccamente d'una maniera, l'illustrissimo signore Principe di Capua con -gli altri in mumia, delicatamente vestiti ad una maniera del Signore di -Castiglia ... con torcie in mano ballando. Da poi, ciascuno prese una -Signora per la mano, e ballò la sua alta e bassa; e con le torchie in -mano se ne tornorono: e per quella sera così ebbe fine la festa.' In a -revel at Ferrara in 1473 (Muratori, _Rer. Ital. Script._ xxiv. 244), -Duke Hercules and his fellows danced with the ladies, and then came in -'grande multitudini di mascare', and danced; but it is not clear that -the Duke was a masker, or that the masked persons danced with the -ladies. I should add that I have not been able to make any complete or -first-hand investigation of foreign analogies to the mask. Doubtless the -street masks of the Florentine carnival had a folk origin like that -which I assign to the English mumming; for their elaboration by Lorenzo -de' Medici (1448-92) cf. Symonds, _Renaissance in Italy_, iv. 338; -D'Ancona, i. 253; Prunières, 20. M. Prunières appears to regard the -'taking out' to dance as no part of the original custom, but an -adaptation due to the courts of Ferrara and Modena at the end of the -fifteenth century.] - -[Footnote 527: It is significant that John Farlyon in 1534 was appointed -Yeoman of masks, revels, and disguisings; Cawarden in 1544 Master of -revels and masks (_Tudor Revels_, 7, 9; cf. p. 72). In Jonson's _Masque -of Augurs_ (1623) Notch says to the Groom of the Revels, 'Disguise was -the old English word for a masque, Sir, before you were an implement -belonging to the Revels'.] - -[Footnote 528: Halle, i. 57, 117, 143, 149, 153, 171, 176, 179, 208, -215, 220, 234, 238, 247, 249, 256; ii. 24, 79, 87, 108, 149, 183, 220, -303, 360; Brewer, ii. 2, 1490; iii. 1548; iv. 418, 1390, 1415, 1603, -from _Revels Accounts_.] - -[Footnote 529: Halle, ii. 220.] - -[Footnote 530: The descriptions of the devices employed in the 'great -chamber of disguisings' at Greenwich in 1527 (Halle, ii. 86, 108) -suggest that they were fixed. The setting for one of the masks was -certainly revealed 'by lettyng doune of a courtaine', not by wheeling in -a pageant.] - -[Footnote 531: The available material for 1547-58 is collected, mainly -from the Revels documents in the _Loseley MSS._, by A. Feuillerat in -_Materialien_, xliv.] - -[Footnote 532: Il Schifanoya to Castellan of Mantua (_V. P._ vii. 11), -'As I suppose your Lordship will have heard of the _farsa_ performed in -the presence of her Majesty on the day of the Epiphany, and I not having -sufficient intellect to interpret it, nor yet the mummery performed -after supper on the same day, of crows in the habits of Cardinals, of -asses habited as Bishops, and of wolves representing Abbots, I will -consign it to silence.... Nor will I record the levities and unusual -licentiousness practised at the Court in dances and banquets, nor the -masquerade of friars in the streets of London.'] - -[Footnote 533: Il Schifanoya to Mantuan Ambassador at Brussels (_V. P._ -vii. 27), 'Last evening at the Court a double mummery was played: one -set of mummers rifled the Queen's ladies, and the other set, with wooden -swords and bucklers, recovered the spoil. Then at the dance the Queen -performed her part, the Duke of Norfolk being her partner, in superb -array.'] - -[Footnote 534: Machyn, 204, 206.] - -[Footnote 535: On 31 Jan. (Machyn, 221) 'ther was a play a-for her -grace, the wyche the plaers plad shuche matter that they wher commondyd -to leyff off, and contenent the maske cam in dansyng'.] - -[Footnote 536: The succession of masks for 1558-60 is traceable with the -aid of Il Schifanoya from an analysis of the following Revels documents, -(_a_) an inventory of 26 March 1555 (Feuillerat, _Ed. and M._ 180), -(_b_) the accounts from 26 March 1555 to 29 Sept. 1559 (Feuillerat, _Ed. -and M._ 195-242; _Eliz._ 79-108), (_c_) an estimate of the cost of the -1559-60 masks (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 110), (_d_) a 'rere-account' of the -uses to which the masks inventoried in (_a_) and certain stuffs -subsequently issued to the Masters of the Revels had been put during -1555-60 (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 18), and (_e_) an inventory of _c._ May -1560 (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 37). There were fifteen sets of masking -garments in store in 1555, Mariners, Venetian Senators, Turkish -Magistrates, Greek Worthies, Albanian Warriors, Turkish Archers, Irish -Kerns, Galley-Slaves (torch-bearers), Falconers (torch-bearers), Palmers -(torch-bearers), Turkish Commoners (torch-bearers), Huntresses, Venuses, -Nymphs, and Turkish Women. Some of these were no longer serviceable and -became fees; the rest were gradually pulled to pieces during 1555-60 and -used with fresh material in constructing new sets. As a result the -inventory of 1560 contains none of the sets of 1555, but seventeen of -later origin, Patriarchs, Actaeons, Hunters (torch-bearers to Actaeons), -Nusquams, Turkish Commoners (torch-bearers to Nusquams, not the set of -1555), Barbarians, Venetian Commoners (torch-bearers to Barbarians), -Clowns, Hinds (torch-bearers to Clowns), Swart Rutters, Almayns -(torch-bearers to Swart Rutters, although not so described), Moors, -Diana and her Nymphs, Maidens (torch-bearers to Diana), Italian Women, -Fishwives, and Marketwives. The rere-account shows that in the interim -between 1555 and 1560 eleven other sets had come into existence and been -picked to pieces again. There were Almayns (not the 1560 set), Palmers -(not the 1555 set), Irishmen (not the 1555 set), Hungarians, Conquerors, -Mariners, or Shipmen (not the 1555 set), Moorish friars (torch-bearers), -Fishermen (torch-bearers), Astronomers, and unnamed torch-bearers to -Astronomers and to Patriarchs. A number of ecclesiastical costumes had -also been made, of which a few were still in store in 1560, and which -evidently belong to the mask described by Il Schifanoya. It seems clear -from the _Revels Accounts_ that the only new mask between 1555 and the -end of Mary's reign was one of Almayns, Pilgrims, and Irishmen on 25 -April 1557 (Feuillerat, _Edw and M._ 225). This accounts for three of -the twelve interim sets. The other nine and the seventeen in the 1560 -inventory must all be Elizabethan. The documents give or indicate dates -for most of them. A process of exclusions obliges us to place the -Conquerors, Moors, and Hungarians in the early part of 1559. Here are -three vacant dates. Il Schifanoya tells us that there was a second -company of maskers on Shrove Sunday, besides the Swart Rutters, whom the -accounts assign to that day. The Hungarians would be appropriate -antagonists to the Swart Rutters. There were also two unspecified masks -at the time of the Coronation, one on the next day, 16 Jan., the other -'on the Sondaye seven nighte after the Coronacion', which as 15 Jan. was -itself a Sunday, probably means 22 rather than 29 Jan. As part of the -garments of the Moors had previously been used for the Conquerors -(Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 20), the Moors must have been the later of the two. -The masks of 11 July and 6 August 1559 were probably not given at the -royal cost, as the Revels documents are quite silent about them. My list -agrees in the main with that in Wallace, i. 199, which however has some -errors. There is no evidence for masks on 2 Feb. and 6 Feb. 1559. The -list in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ xiii, is incomplete.] - -[Footnote 537: Brantôme, _Hommes illustres et Capitaines françois_ (ed. -Buchon, i. 312), 'La reyne ... donna un soir à soupper, où après se fit -un ballet de ses filles, qu'elle avoit ordonné et dressé, représentant -les vierges de l'Évangile, desquelles les unes avoient leurs lampes -allumées, et les autres n'avoient ny huille ny feu, et en demandoient. -Ces lampes estoient d'argent, fort gentiment faictes et elabourées; et -les dames estoient très-belles, bien honnestes et bien apprises, qui -prindrent nous autres François pour dancer.'] - -[Footnote 538: Machyn, 275, 276, 'The furst day of Feybruary at nyght -was the goodlyest masket cam owt of London that ever was seen, of a C. -and d' [? 150] gorgyously be-sene, and a C. cheynes of gold, and as for -trumpettes and drumes, and as for torchelyghte a ij hundered, and so to -the cowrt, and dyvers goodly men of armes in gylt harnes, and Julyus -Sesar played.' The last word is in a later hand, and according to -Wallace, i. 200, is a nineteenth-century forgery.] - -[Footnote 539: _M. S. C._ i. 144; Collier, i. 178; from _Lansd. MS._ v, -f. 126, endorsed 'Maij 1562'. A warrant of 10 May 1562 for the delivery -of silks for masks and revels to the Master of the Revels is in -Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 114.] - -[Footnote 540: I strongly suspect that the second night's mask was -really intended to be one of lords, not ladies.] - -[Footnote 541: Machyn, 300. Machyn, 215, 222, 248, 288, 300, records -several masks in the City during 1559-63. The diary ends in August -1563.] - -[Footnote 542: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 116, 'the ixᵗʰ of Iune repayringe and -new makinge of thre maskes with thare hole furniture and diuers devisses -and a castle ffor ladies and a harboure ffor lords and thre harrolds and -iiij trompetours too bringe in the devise with the men of armes and -showen at the courtte of Richmond before the Quenes Maiestie and the -ffrench embassitours, &c.'] - -[Footnote 543: Froude, vii. 199; De Silva to Philip (_Sp. P._ i. 367, -385), 'after supper ... the Queen came out to the hall, which was lit -with many torches, where the comedy was represented. I should not have -understood much of it, if the Queen had not interpreted, as she told me -she would do. They generally deal with marriage in the comedies.... The -comedy ended, and then there was a mask of certain gentlemen who entered -dressed in black and white, which the Queen told me were her colours, -and after dancing a while one of them approached and handed the Queen a -sonnet in English, praising her.' A banquet followed, ending at 2 a.m.] - -[Footnote 544: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 116, 'Cristmas ... canvas to couer -diuers townes and howsses and other devisses and clowds for a maske and -a showe and a play by the childerne of the chaple.... The xviijᵗʰ of -Fabruarie ... provicions for a play maid by Sir Percivall Hartts sones -with a mask of huntars and diuers devisses and a rocke, or hill for the -ix musses to singe vppone with a vayne of sarsnett dravven vpp and downe -before them.... Shroftid ... foure maskes too of them nott occupied nor -sene with thare hole furniture which be verie fayr and riche of old stuf -butt new garnished with frenge and tassells to seme new'; cf. De Silva -to Philip of the revel after a tilt on 5 March (_Sp. P._ i. 404). It -began after supper with 'a comedy in English of which I understood just -as much as the Queen told me. The plot was founded on the question of -marriage, discussed between Juno and Diana, Juno advocating marriage and -Diana chastity. Jupiter gave a verdict in favour of matrimony, after -many things had passed on both sides in defence of the respective -arguments. The Queen turned to me and said, "This is all against me". -After the comedy there was a masquerade of Satyrs, or wild gods, who -danced with the ladies, and when this was finished there entered 10 -parties of 12 gentlemen each, the same who fought in the foot tourney, -and these, all armed as they were, danced with the ladies; a very novel -ball, surely.'] - -[Footnote 545: Hume, _Year after Armada_, 283; De Silva to Philip (_Sp. -P._ i. 452), 'a ball, a tourney, and two masks'. These were after supper -and ended at 1.30 a.m.] - -[Footnote 546: Pound's speeches are in _Rawl. Poet. MS._ 108 (_Bodl. -MS._ 14601), f. 24; De Silva to Philip (July 1566, _Sp. P._ i. 565), 'a -masquerade and a long ball, after which they entered in new disguises -for a foot tournament'. The chief challenger was Ormond. On Pound's -career as a masker and its strange end, cf. ch. xxiii.] - -[Footnote 547: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 119, 'the altering and newe makinge -of sixe maskes out of ould stuff with torche bearers thervnto wherof -iiijᵒʳ hathe byne shewene before vs, and two remayne vnshewen', 124, -125, 126.] - -[Footnote 548: Ibid. 129, 134, 139, 146.] - -[Footnote 549: Fleay, 19; Brotanek, 25. But the resemblances are only -partial, cf. _M. S. C._ i. 144.] - -[Footnote 550: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 153.] - -[Footnote 551: G. Gascoigne, _A devise of a Maske for the right -honorable Viscount Mountacute_ (_Works_, i. 75, from _The Posies_ of -1575). The date is fixed by Thomas Giles's letter.] - -[Footnote 552: The reproductions in Strutt, _Manners and Customs_, iii, -pl. xi, and Withington, i. 208, omit the wedding table. The pictures -must be later than Sir H. Unton's death in 1596. Ashmole, _Berks_, iii. -313, dates his wedding with Dorothy, daughter of Sir Thomas Wroughton of -Broad Hinton, Wilts, in 1580.] - -[Footnote 553: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 409.] - -[Footnote 554: Ibid., _Eliz._ 171-81, 'gloves for maskers', 'the lordes -gloves', 'the torcheberers gloves', 'ladye maskers', 'women maskers', -'Haunce Eottes for painting of patternes for maskes', 'the masks on New -Yeres daye', 'the dubble mask', 'a keye for Janus', 'ffyn white lam to -make snoballs', 'spunges for snoballs', 'musk kumfettes ... corianders -... clove cumfettes ... synamon kumfettes ... rose water ... spike water -... gynger cumfettes ... all whiche served for fflakes of yse and hayle -stones in the maske of Ianvs the roze water sweetened the balls made for -snow-balles presented to her Maiestie by Ianvs', 'a nett for the -ffishers maskers', 'berdes for fyshers vj', curled heare for fyshers -capps', 'roches counterfet ... whitings ... thornebackes ... smeltes ... -mackerells ... fflownders', 'wooll to stuf the fishes', 'banketting -frutes', 'basketes of ffrute', 'mowldes to cast the frutes and ffishes -in'.] - -[Footnote 555: Ibid. 183, 191.] - -[Footnote 556: Ibid. 193-221.] - -[Footnote 557: Cf. p. 87.] - -[Footnote 558: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 234-46, 'vj bandes for hattes for -maskers', 'gloves for ... maskers', '23ᵒ Decembris ... Mirors or -looking-glasses for the pedlers mask xij small at ijˢ the peece and vj -greater at iiijˢ the peece', '29ᵒ Decembris ... ffayer wryting of pozies -for the mask', '6ᵒ Ianuarii ... ix little hampers at xxᵈ the peece for -the pedlers mask', 'ffyne yolow to wryte vpon the mirrors'.] - -[Footnote 559: Laneham, 33; cf. chh. iv, p. 123, and xxiv.] - -[Footnote 560: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 264-70.] - -[Footnote 561: Cf. ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 562: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 286, 294; _Sp. P._ ii. 627, 630, 'an -entertainment in imitation of a tournament, between six ladies and a -like number of gentlemen who surrendered to them'. Mr. Tresham and Mr. -Knowles were Knights.] - -[Footnote 563: Ibid. 308.] - -[Footnote 564: Ibid. 340, 345, '1ᵒ Aprilis 1581, what monnie is to be -allowed in prest for certayne shewes to be had at Whitehal ... The -Mounte, Dragon with the fyer workes, Castell with the fallyng sydes, -Tree with shyldes, Hermytage and hermytt, Savages, Enchaunter, -Charryott, and incydentes to theis cc markes'.] - -[Footnote 565: Ibid. 344 (table), 346.] - -[Footnote 566: Ibid. 349.] - -[Footnote 567: Ibid. 360 (table). The _Jervoise MSS._ (_H. M. C. Various -MSS._ iv. 163) contain verses dated 1586 for a mask from Basingstoke to -Richard Pawlett, doubtless a kinsman of the Marquis of Winchester at -Basing.] - -[Footnote 568: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 365, 378. A mask followed the play of -_Catiline_, with which Lord Burghley was entertained at Gray's Inn on 16 -Jan. 1588 (_M. S. C._ i. 179).] - -[Footnote 569: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 392.] - -[Footnote 570: Arthur Throgmorton to Robert Cecil (_Hatfield MSS._ v. -99; cf. _Sh. Homage_, 158), 'Matter of mirth from a good mind can -minister no matter of malice, both being, as I believe, far from such -sourness (and for myself I will answer for soundness). I am bold to -write my determination, grounded upon grief and true duty to the Queen, -thankfulness to my lord of Derby (whose honourable brother honoured my -marriage), and to assure you I bear no spleen to yourself. If I may I -mind to come in a masque, brought in by the nine muses, whose music, I -hope, shall so modify the easy softened mind of her Majesty as both I -and mine may find mercy. The song, the substance I have herewith sent -you, myself, whilst the singing, to lie prostrate at her Majesty's feet -till she says she will save me. Upon my resurrection the song shall be -delivered by one of the muses, with a ring made for a wedding ring set -round with diamonds, and with a ruby like a heart placed in a coronet, -with this inscription _Elizabetha potest_. I durst not do this before I -had acquainted you here with, understanding her Majesty had appointed -the masquers, which resolution hath made me the unreadier: yet, if this -night I may know her Majesty's leave and your liking, I hope not to come -too late, though the time be short for such a show and my preparations -posted for such a presence. I desire to come in before the other masque, -for I am sorrowful and solemn, and my stay shall not be long. I rest -upon your resolution, which must be for this business to-night or not at -all.'] - -[Footnote 571: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 417, and ch. xxiv.] - -[Footnote 572: Cf. J. A. Manning, _Memoirs of Sir Benjamin Rudyerd_, 9, -and _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 416, where, however, the date suggested is the -Christmas of 1599-1600. But the Court was not in London that winter, and -the indications of days of the week agree with 1597-8. The manuscript -description written by Rudyerd is dated 'anno ab aula condita 27'. The -Middle Temple hall was built in 1572. The masks in this hall were on 31 -Dec. and 7 and 21 Jan. The maskers were accompanied to Court on 6 Jan. -by nine torch-bearers carrying devices, eleven knights, eleven squires, -and a hundred other torches, as well as trumpeters and heralds. 'Sur -Martino', no doubt Richard Martin, the Prince d'Amour, was their leader. -Doubtless they took out ladies, as Mrs. Nevill, afterwards a maid of -honour, is said to have 'borne the bell away' in the revels.] - -[Footnote 573: Boississe, i. 415. He says that some gentlemen masked -with the _filles_, of which there is no trace in the other accounts. -Letters from Lady Russell about the wedding are in _Cecil Papers_, x. -121, 175, and it is also referred to by Chamberlain, 79, 83. 'I doubt -not but you have heard of the great mariage at the Lady Russell's ... -and of the maske of eight maides of honour and other gentlewomen in name -of the muses that came to seeke one of theire fellowes', and by Rowland -Whyte (_Sydney Papers_, ii. 195, 197, 201, 203),'Mʳˢ Fitton led, and -after they had done all their own ceremonies, these eight Ladies Maskers -chose eight Ladies more to dance the measures. Mʳˢ Fitton went to the -Queen, and wooed her to dance; her Majesty asked what she was. -"Affection," she said. "Affection!" said the Queen, "Affection is -false." Yet her Majesty rose and danced.' A picture of the Marcus -Gheeraerts school (cf. L. Cust in _Trans. Walpole Soc._ iii. 22) -probably representing Elizabeth's passage through Blackfriars on this -occasion is extant in two versions at Melbury and Sherborne, and has -often been reproduced; e. g. in _Shakespeare's England_, i. _f.p._] - -[Footnote 574: Popham to Cecil, 8 Feb. 1602 (_Hatfield MSS._ xii. 47), -'I have so dealt with some of the Benchers of the Middle Temple as I -have brought that the House will be willing to bear 200 marks towards -the charge of what is wished to be done, to her Majesty's good liking, -and if the young gentlemen will be drawn in to perform what is of their -part, I hope it will be effected. Some of the young men have their -humors, but I hope that will be over-ruled, for I send for them as soon -as other business of her Majesty is dispatched. But the Ancients of the -House, who wish all to be done to her Majesty's best content, depend -upon your favour if anything through young men's error should not have -that carriage in the course of it, as they would wish it might not yet -be imputed unto them.' There is no reference to any mask in the records -of the Middle Temple, which in 1601-2 kept a 'solemn' but not a 'grand' -Christmas.] - -[Footnote 575: Manningham, 1, 'Song to the Queene at the Maske at Court, -Nov. 2'. The Song begins, 'Mighty Princes of a fruitfull land'. The -November of 1602 is the only one covered by the period of the diary; but -Elizabeth was then at Richmond, rather out of reach of a lawyers' mask.] - -[Footnote 576: An Italian model for such printed descriptions may be -found in that of G. Cecchi's Florentine _Esaltazione della Croce_ -(1589); cf. A. D'Ancona, _Sacre Rappresentazioni_, iii. 1, 235; Symonds, -_Renaissance in Italy_, iv. 282.] - -[Footnote 577: J. A. Lester, _Some Franco-Scottish Influences on the -Early English Drama_ (_Haverford Essays_, 1909), 145, notes the vogue of -the mask at Holyrood under Mary Stuart and the _pompae_ written for such -occasions by Buchanan. He asserts that Anne acquired the taste for masks -during her thirteen years' residence in Scotland, but in fact he cites -no example of a mask proper during 1590-1603, and only one, in 1581, -during the reign of James. There were other forms of mimetic revelry. -The pageants introduced by Bastien Pagez into a banquet at the baptism -of James in 1566 and accompanied with verses by Buchanan are analogous -to those at the baptism of Henry Frederick in 1594 (_Somers Tracts_, ii. -179).] - -[Footnote 578: Jonson told Drummond in 1619 (_Conversations_, 4), 'That -next himself, only Fletcher and Chapman could make a mask'. No -independent mask by Fletcher is known, and that in _The Maid's Tragedy_ -is probably Beaumont's. Fletcher may have written the Triumph of Time in -_Four Plays or Morall Representations_, which is practically a mask.] - -[Footnote 579: Lodge, iii. 58; Beaumont to Villeroy (27 Oct. 1603) in -_King's MS._ 124, f. 175, 'Elle fit jl y' a quelques jourz vn ballet ou -pour mieux dire vne masquarade champêtre. Car il n'y avoit ni ordre ni -depense. Mais Elle se propose d'en faire d'autres plus beaux cet hiver -en recompense et semble que le Roy et ses Principaux Ministres, qui sont -toujourz en Jalousie de son Esprit, soient bien aises de le voir occupé -en cet exercice.'] - -[Footnote 580: Harington, i. 349, 'One day, a great feast was held, and, -after dinner, the representation of Solomon his Temple and the coming of -the Queen of Sheba was made, or (as I may better say) was meant to have -been made, before their Majesties, by device of the Earl of Salisbury -and others. But alass! as all earthly thinges do fail to poor mortals in -enjoyment, so did prove our presentment hereof. The Lady who did play -the Queens part, did carry most precious gifts to both their Majesties; -but, forgetting the steppes arising to the canopy, overset her caskets -into his Danish Majesties lap, and fell at his feet, tho I rather think -it was in his face. Much was the hurry and confusion; cloths and napkins -were at hand, to make all clean. His Majesty then got up and would dance -with the Queen of Sheba; but he fell down and humbled himself before -her, and was carried to an inner chamber, and laid on a bed of state; -which was not a little defiled with the presents of the Queen which had -been bestowed on his garments; such as wine, cream, jelly, beverage, -cakes, spices, and other good matters. The entertainment and show went -forward, and most of the presenters went backward, or fell down; wine -did so occupy their upper chambers. Now did appear, in rich dress, Hope, -Faith, and Charity: Hope did assay to speak, but wine rendered her -endeavours so feeble that she withdrew, and hoped the King would excuse -her brevity: Faith was then all alone, for I am certain she was not -joyned with good works, and left the court in a staggering condition: -Charity came to the King's feet, and seemed to cover the multitude of -sins her sisters had committed; in some sorte she made obeysance and -brought giftes, but said she would return home again, as there was no -gift which heaven had not already given his Majesty. She then returned -to Hope and Faith, who were both sick and spewing in the lower hall. -Next came Victory, in bright armour, and presented a rich sword to the -King, who did not accept it, but put it by with his hand; and, by a -strange medley of versification, did endeavour to make suit to the King. -But Victory did not tryumph long; for, after much lamentable utterance, -she was led away like a silly captive, and laid to sleep in the outer -steps of the anti-chamber. Now did Peace make entry, and strive to get -foremoste to the King; but I grieve to tell how great wrath she did -discover unto those of her attendants; and, much contrary to her -semblance, most rudely made war with her olive branch, and laid on the -pates of those who did oppose her coming.'] - -[Footnote 581: _Chamber Accounts_ (1610-11, Apparellings), 'for making -ready the La: Eliz: Lodginges for a maske'.] - - - - -VI - -THE MASK (_continued_) - - -The historical sketch given in the last chapter needs to be supplemented -by some analysis of the stage of development which the mask had reached, -in relation to its origins, by the Jacobean period. And first of all, on -the side of scenic effect. Looking back over the reign of Henry VIII, in -the light of what followed, we may discover two fairly distinct types of -masks. There is the mask simple, in which the dancers, with their richly -hued and sparkling costumes, their torch-bearers and their musicians, -may be regarded as furnishing their own decoration. There is the mask -spectacular, to which added éclat is given by the pageant, mobile, or -towards the end of the reign stationary, with its additional lights, its -carvings and mouldings, its gilt and colours, and the elements of -illusion and surprise afforded by its facilities for the concealed entry -of personages. Elizabeth, perhaps as has been hinted upon grounds of -economy, perhaps from the more legitimate and attractive motive of a -special interest in the dancer's art, used mainly the mask simple. But -the pageant was not altogether forgotten, and recurs from time to time -amongst the preparations for festivities on some exceptionally elaborate -scale. The most notable example is perhaps to be found in the devices -for the contemplated meeting with Mary of Scots in 1562, which involved -the construction of a prison, a castle, and an orchard, and of which -even Henry VIII would have had no reason to be ashamed. We hear also of -a rock of fountain for the mask of Diana and Actaeon in 1560, of a -castle and arbour at the visit of Artus de Cossé in 1564, of a rock with -a veil of sarcenet for the mask of hunters in 1565, of a chariot and -castle for the visit of the Duc de Montmorency in 1572, and of a mount, -a castle, an orange tree, and a house for that of the Duc d'Anjou in -1581. The Gray's Inn maskers of 1595 had their Rock Adamantine, and -those of the Middle Temple about 1598 sallied forth from a Heart. - -I do not know that any special inferences need be drawn from the fact -that on most of these occasions the English Court was putting its best -foot foremost to entertain a visitor from France, for in fact during the -greater part of Elizabeth's reign France was the only continental -country of the first importance with which she maintained constant -diplomatic relations.[582] Nor is enough known of the development of the -French mask in the middle of the sixteenth century to make it possible -to say how far, if at all, that country then gave the lead to -England.[583] Brantôme reports how Catherine de Médicis would amuse -herself by inventing 'quelques nouvelles danses ou quelques beaux -ballets, quand il faisoit mauvais temps', and the writings of Clément -Marot and Mellin de Saint-Gelais and of the Pléiade contain several sets -of verses composed for the purposes of 'mommeries' and -'mascarades'.[584] I should suppose that the distinction drawn by M. de -Beaumont in 1603 between a 'mascarade' and a 'ballet' corresponds pretty -closely with that made above between the mask simple and the mask -spectacular. The history of the 'ballet' proper in France seems to begin -under Italian influences during the last quarter of the century. Its -pioneer was one Baldassarino da Belgiojoso, a groom of the chamber to -Catherine de Médicis and to her son Henri III, who came to France about -1555 and gallicized his name as Baltasar de Beaujoyeulx. When Henri, not -yet King of France, left Paris to receive the crown of Poland in 1573, -Baldassarino arranged the spectacle for his farewell. Sixteen nymphs -issued from a movable rock, offered gifts, and danced in the hall. A -printed description by Jean Dorat contains engravings of the rock and -the dances, and verses in Latin and French, to which Ronsard and Amadis -de Jamyn contributed.[585] This appears to have been a mask on lines -already familiar in both France and England. But eight years later -Baldassarino got an opportunity for a far more elaborate undertaking. -His _Balet Comique de la Royne_ was devised for the wedding of the -Queen's sister, Mlle de Vaudemont, to the Duc de Joyeuse on 15 October -1581.[586] His own share seems to have lain in the invention of the -general scheme of the entertainment and in the dances; he had the -assistance of M. de la Chesnaye for the verses, Lambert de Beaulieu for -the music, and Jacques Patin for the painting. The Queen herself led the -dancers. There was an intricate combination of choregraphy and -mythological setting. The maskers proper were twelve Naiads in white and -four Dryads in green; the presenters Circe, a Fugitive from her garden, -Glaucus, Thetis, Mercury, Pan, Minerva, Jupiter; the musicians mermaids, -tritons, satyrs, virtues, and others; the torch-bearers twelve pages. At -the top of the hall was a daïs for the royal seats, and to the right and -left in front places for ambassadors. Behind, and also lower down the -hall, were tiers of seats, and above them two galleries; in all 9,000 or -10,000 spectators were present. On the left of the hall was a Gilded -Vault for musicians, on the right the Grove of Pan, and at the foot the -Garden of Circe, both veiled by curtains. In the roof, between the Vault -and the Grove, hung a cloud. On each side of the Garden, trellises -covered the entrance. After a preliminary episode between Circe and the -Fugitive, the Naiads appeared on a movable fountain, and danced twelve -geometrical figures as the 'première entrée du ballet'. They were then -enchanted by Circe, and taken to her garden, with Mercury, who dropped -from the cloud in a vain attempt at rescue. After two 'intermèdes' of -music and song, during which the Dryads entered and the Grove of Pan was -disclosed, came Minerva on a chariot, and called Jupiter from the cloud -and Pan from the Grove for an assault on the Garden. Circe was captured, -and her wand presented to the King. Then the Naiads and Dryads danced -fifteen 'passages' as the 'entrée du grand ballet', and forty more of a -geometrical character for the 'grand ballet' itself. Finally, they -presented the King and gentlemen with 'choses de mer' and appropriate -'devises' or mottoes, and took them out for 'le grand bal' followed by -'bransles' and other dances. - -So far as published documents go, the _Balet Comique_ is closely the -prototype of the fully developed 'ballet' or court mask, as we find it -both in France and in England.[587] The Gray's Inn mask of 1595, with -its printed description and its theme of enchantment, confesses an -influence; and there were only two directions in which the devisers of -Henri IV and of James I were able to make any notable advance upon -Baldassarino's model. One of these was the introduction of the antimask, -to which it will be necessary to return; the other was the concentration -of the scenic setting. The setting of the _Balet Comique_ is not -concentrated but dispersed. It is not even all stationary. The interest -of the spectators is not merely divided amongst the Garden of Circe at -the foot of the hall, the Grove of Pan on the right, the musicians' -vault on the left, and the cloud overhead. It is claimed at certain -points by the movable fountain upon which the maskers enter and the -chariot of Minerva. This dispersed setting recurs in the first of Queen -Anne's great masks, Daniel's _Vision of the Twelve Goddesses_, in 1604. -A mountain stood at the lower end of the hall in Hampton Court, and at -the upper end a Cave of Sleep on one side and a Temple of Peace on the -other. A contemporary observer notes an inconvenience of this -arrangement. 'The Halle was so much lessened by the workes that were in -it', writes Dudley Carleton, 'so as none could be admitted but men of -apparance.' This difficulty proved fatal to the dispersed setting, and -in all later Jacobean masks the setting was concentrated in a scene -erected at the lower end of the hall, and ample space was thus left both -for the evolutions of the dancers and for the seating of the -spectators.[588] - -This change at least synchronizes with the emergence of Inigo Jones and -the beginning of the architectural domination which for nearly half a -century he was destined to exercise over the mask. His is the first -outstanding name which we can associate with the history of English -scenic decoration. Under Elizabeth and her predecessors the apparel and -pageantry of a mask were the care of the Revels officers, and they -naturally called in such painters and other men of taste about the court -as were likely to prove useful. These were often foreigners. Alfonso -Ferrabosco, the musician, seems to have had the general oversight of an -important mask in 1572, and amongst his collaborators was another -Italian, Petruccio Ubaldini, while Hans Eottes drew the patterns. Eottes -was similarly employed in 1573 and 1574, and Ubaldini was called upon -again in 1579 to write out the speeches of a mask in his native -Italian.[589] The responsibilities of Inigo Jones were much wider than -those of any of these predecessors. His singular name has an Italian -ring, but he was born of London parentage in 1573 and is said to have -been apprenticed to a joiner.[590] Through the generosity of the third -Earl of Pembroke he had opportunities of travel, and spent much of his -early life in Italy and in the service of Christian IV of Denmark. He -seems to have been back in England by 28 June 1603, when the accounts of -the Earl of Rutland record a payment of £10 to 'Henygo Jones, a picture -maker'. He is not known to have taken part in the masks of the following -winter, but Jonson acknowledges that 'the bodily part' of the _Mask of -Blackness_ on 6 January 1605 was his 'design and act', and in August of -the same year he took charge of the plays given before James in the hall -of Christ Church, Oxford, and contrived their changes of scene with the -aid of revolving triangular screens of Italian design. His place as an -architect of court masks was now assured, and even the poets, to whom -the descriptions of the performances naturally fell, found it impossible -to conceal the fact that his functions were at least as important as -their own. Jonson in his earlier descriptions is punctilious in -rendering due credit to his colleague.[591] So too are Daniel and -Campion.[592] - -It was not until Caroline days that the smouldering antagonism between -Jonson and Jones broke out into open warfare, and stung Jonson to -various indiscretions, amongst them the ironical outburst of the famous -_Expostulation_-- - - Painting and carpentry are the soul of masque![593] - -Of thirteen spectacular masks given at court from 1605 to 1613 nine were -certainly contrived by Jones, and there is no positive evidence that the -other four were not his.[594] He had also a share in the preparations -for Prince Henry's barriers of 1610. When the prince set up his -household in the following December Jones was appointed surveyor of his -works. After Henry's death he obtained a reversion of a similar -appointment in the royal Office of Works, but this reversion did not -fall in until the death of Simon Basil on 1 October 1615, and after the -marriage of the Princess Elizabeth in 1613 Jones paid a visit of some -duration to Italy. He therefore took no part in the masks for the -Somerset wedding during the following winter. For one at least of these, -Campion's _Mask of Squires_, his substitute was Constantine de' Servi, a -Florentine who had also been in the service of Henry as his architect; -but Campion was not pleased with his coadjutor, and wrote that 'he being -too much of himself, and no way to be drawn to impart his intentions, -failed so far in the assurance he gave that the main invention, even at -the last cast, was of force drawn into a far narrower compass than was -from the beginning intended'. Jones was back in England by 29 January -1615, and was to plan many more masks before his death in 1652. But none -can be definitely ascribed to him before Jonson's _Mask of Christmas_ in -1617. During the latter part of his career he was busy as an architect, -and the present banqueting-house in Whitehall, built during 1619-22, -represents a fragment of one of his grandiose schemes for the complete -reconstruction of the old palace. - -The concentrated setting, as it took shape in the first period of Inigo -Jones, appears to have been regularly designed on the principle of what -is sometimes called the 'picture-stage'.[595] It was framed by a -proscenium arch, from side to side of which stretched, at first view, a -curtain. This arch was of a familiar Renaissance type. On either side -were pilasters, or statuesquely modelled figures, or a combination of -the two, which bore up a frieze. The decorations were in harmony with -the theme of the mask and the frieze might contain a scroll or panel -setting forth its title.[596] It cannot perhaps be demonstrated that -Jones invariably used a proscenium from the beginning, but at any rate -by 1608 (_Haddington Mask_) 'the arch' appears to have been a recognized -element of a setting. The most elaborate description of a proscenium is -that written by Jones himself for _Tethys' Festival_ in 1610. On this -occasion the proscenium was itself covered by a curtain until the -audience were seated. It is possible, however, that it sometimes framed -a front curtain. The use of curtains was, of course, no innovation. They -had served, when concealment and revelation were required, both in the -mobile and in the fixed settings of earlier days. Thus for an -Elizabethan mask of 1565, of which the pageant was 'a rock or hill for -the ix musses to singe vppone', the Revels Office had provided 'a vayne -of sarsnett drawen vpp and downe before them'.[597] The Jacobean curtain -itself might form part of the setting. It was painted to represent a -wooded 'landtschap' (_Blackness_), clouds (_Hay Mask_, _Tethys' -Festival_), night (_Beauty_), a red cliff (_Haddington Mask_), a city -wall and gate (_Flowers_). But at an early moment it was removed, to -'discover' a more solidly constructed scene within. Often it is called a -'traverse', and when it is 'drawne' it may either 'slide away', or 'sink -down' (_Marston's Mask_).[598] I have not come across a certain case in -which it was drawn up, either directly by a roller, or diagonally by -cords towards the corners of the proscenium; but these methods may also -have been employed. In some masks the drawing of the curtain -'discovered' the maskers on the scene; in others their entry was -deferred and variously contrived. The maskers, and sometimes the -presenters, had, before the actual dances began, to come forward -through the proscenium arch to the dancing place, which was on the floor -of the hall, or on a stage only slightly raised above it, and was -regularly laid with green cloth by the official 'mattleyer' of the -court.[599] This advance was managed in divers ways. The old device of a -movable pageant might be revived, as an element subsidiary to the fixed -scene, and the maskers brought in on a chariot (_Queens_, _Oberon_), or -enthroned on a floating isle (_Beauty_). They might be let down by a -cloud from the upper part of the scene (_Hymenaei_, _Lords' Mask_). For -the _Mask of Blackness_ Jones made an artificial sea on a wheeled stage, -which lifted them forwards in a concave shell. It was quite effective as -a spectacle, if they stepped in their bravery down a slope (_Hay Mask_) -or a double stairway (_Chapman's Mask_, _Squires_) leading from the -scene to the lower level of the dancing place. - -The adoption of the concentrated setting was a matter of convenience; it -did not mean that the mask could dispense with the variety of interest -which the multiplied scenes of the dispersed setting had afforded. -Jones's chief problem as a producer was that of securing this variety of -interest under new conditions, and if possible with some added sensation -of curiosity or surprise. One device was to retain the multiplied -scenes, and to juxtapose them, or to superimpose one upon another within -the frame of the proscenium. It was easy enough to divide the curtain -either vertically or horizontally and to 'draw' the sections separately. -Thus in the _Hymenaei_, which was a double mask, the altar of Hymen and -the globe containing the men maskers were first discovered below. -Subsequently the 'upper part of the scene' opened, and the women maskers -floated out on _nimbi_. In _Lord Hay's Mask_ there was a 'double veil' -of which the lesser part covered a Bower of Flora on the right of the -stage, and the greater part covered a House of Night on the left, and a -grove and hill crowned by a Tree of Diana in the centre. This method -paid homage to the tradition of the dispersed setting; another, which -could be used in combination with the first, was capable of more -intricate development. The manœuvre of the front curtain might be -repeated. The whole, or a fragment, of the inner scene might be shifted, -so as to discover a new vision which had at first been concealed. Often -this was only a local and particular transformation. Thus it was in the -two masks just cited, when the globe behind the altar of Hymen revolved -and showed the maskers seated in a cave, or the trees in the grove of -Diana were drawn into the ground, and the maskers appeared out of their -cloven tops. Similarly the splitting of a rock, to let out personages -concealed therein, is an incident which recurs in more than one mask -(_Haddington Mask_, _Oberon_, _Chapman's Mask_). The development of the -antimask, with the emphatic contrast between the grotesque and the -magnificent which this implied, seems to have been the motive which led -to the introduction of more wholesale changes of scene. In the _Mask of -Queens_ the background for the antimask was a Hell, and when it was over -'the whole face of the scene altered, scarce suffering the memory of -such a thing', and in place of the Hell appeared a House of Fame. In -_Mercury Vindicated_, again, the Laboratory of the antimasks gave way to -a Bower of Nature for the mask proper. In _Oberon_ the antimask was -before a cliff with a rising moon, and thereafter the scene twice -opened, to disclose, first the 'frontispiece' and then the interior of a -palace of Fays. The art of transformation was perhaps carried to its -greatest extent during this period in the _Lords' Mask_ for the Princess -Elizabeth's wedding, of which the Venetian ambassador in his report to -the Signory especially noted the three changes of scene as an -outstanding feature. This elaborate spectacle affords examples of nearly -all the devices of juxtaposition, superimposition, partial and complete -transformation, by which a variety of scenic interest is reconciled with -a concentrated setting. The original scene was horizontally divided. The -lower half, which was first discovered, contained side by side a wood, a -thicket of Orpheus, and a cave of Mania. Before this danced the -antimask. Then a curtain fell from the upper part of the scene, and -discovered amongst clouds Prometheus and eight Stars. The Stars were -individually transformed to men maskers, and the clouds to the House of -Prometheus. Beneath torch-bearers emerged and danced, still in front of -the wood. The whole face of the scene was then overspread with a cloud -on which the men maskers descended. The lower part of the scene was then -changed from a wood to a façade of niches containing statues, which were -individually transformed into women maskers. The mask proper followed, -and when the dancing was over, there was a final change of the whole -scene to a porticoed perspective, leading up to the obelisk of Sibylla. -Even by 1613 the art of Jones had handsomely accomplished its task of -ministering to the pride of the eyes. In his later or Caroline period he -advanced to even greater triumphs, and did not shrink from the -decorative and mechanical difficulties entailed by as many as five -changes of scene.[600] The actual mechanism employed by Jones to obtain -his effects is perhaps better known to us for this later period, in view -of the numerous plans and designs preserved at Chatsworth and elsewhere, -than for the earlier one. The action of a mask was in all cases -'continuous', and therefore he was happily debarred from the awkward -modern convention of a drop-curtain. Jones ultimately worked out a -system of back-cloths and shutters or flats, arranged and painted so as -to produce a perspective and an illusion of solid scenery. These ran in -horizontal grooves, so that those belonging to one scene could be placed -close behind those belonging to another, and each set could be -successively removed by lateral withdrawal. It was, in fact, a -multiplied use of the primitive 'traverse' or sliding curtain. This -system may have already been at his disposal in the Jacobean period; it -was well adapted, in particular, for the splitting of a rock. But it is -clear that he also used a device based upon a different principle, a -_machina versatilis_, which by means of a circular motion was capable of -displaying successively the different faces of a comparatively solid -decorative structure placed upon it. Jonson applies the term _machina -versatilis_ to the House of Fame in the _Mask of Queens_. Presumably the -rotating globe in _Hymenaei_ and the rotating throne of Beauty in the -_Mask of Beauty_ are other examples; and yet another is furnished by -_Tethys' Festival_, where however the _truc_ was used, not to carry -scenery, but to cover a change of scene by directing the attention of -the spectators to three whirling circles of lights and glasses. It is -hardly necessary to dwell upon such subsidiary devices as the trapdoors -in the floor of the stage, or the pulleys by which floating clouds were -let down from the heavens, for such obvious and primitive machinery had -been familiar, long before the advent of Jones, as an element in the -rudimentary technique of the popular theatre.[601] - -The approximation of mask to drama entailed by the adoption of the -concentrated setting was not the only point of interaction between these -parallel forms of _mimesis_. In the first instance it was perhaps the -drama, rather than the mask, which underwent an influence. The various -forms of spectacular entertainment with which the mask became entangled -during the fifteenth century might be introduced at more than one moment -in the long story of a Renaissance festival. They were equally well -adapted to enliven the intervals between the courses of a meal, and the -intervals between the parts of an organized dramatic performance. The -detached character of the Senecan chorus, and the Roman practice of -dividing up tragedies and comedies into acts, which was itself a -departure from the Greek principle of continuous action, facilitated -this intrusive development; and in the history of the Italian stage, as -it shaped itself at Ferrara and elsewhere from 1486 until the middle of -the next century, nothing is more remarkable than the tendency to bury -the actual play, tragedy or comedy, classical or modern, in a wilderness -of decorative _intermedii_, ordinarily consisting of dances and song, -framed in some ingenuity of allegorical, mythological, or other -device.[602] It is, I think, a true affiliation which traces to the -_intermedii_ the analogous dumb-shows of English usage.[603] These -belong primarily to the learned court drama, with its admitted classical -and Italian inspiration. To some extent they found their way also on to -the popular stage, which had, moreover, its own simpler devices for the -avoidance of monotony in the way of 'jigs' and 'themes'.[604] But the -influence of the dumb-show upon the drama is not wholly to be measured -by the extent to which it was adopted as a formal element in the -structure of plays. It introduced a spectacular tendency, which -continued to prevail long after the position of the dumb-show as an -interact had been surrendered. Indeed, the extreme Italian development -of the _intermedii_ constituted a danger against which the lovers of a -purer dramatic art were soon in protest.[605] If tragedy and comedy had -not succeeded in absorbing spectacle, they would have been overwhelmed -by it. The first battle was won when it was admitted that the subjects -of the _intermedii_ ought to be related to the theme of the drama, which -was by no means always the case at Ferrara; the second when the -spectacle was taken out of the intervals between the acts and treated as -an integral part of the action. This is the normal, although not of -course the invariable, Elizabethan practice. Elizabethan drama is -abundantly spectacular, and often enough the spectacle is irrelevant or -excessive, but as a rule it is, formally at least, within the plot. -There are the drums and tramplings of battles and trials and funerals. -There are the divine epiphanies in mythological pieces. There are the -endless opportunities afforded for song and dance by banquets, -weddings, and rustic merry-makings. And if all else fails, what more -easy than to introduce a dumb-show in a dream or as a specimen of the -magician's art?[606] A somewhat paradoxical type of incorporated -spectacle is the play within the play, as we find it, for example, in -_Hamlet_, where indeed the inner play has the further elaboration of its -accompanying dumb-show.[607] And with the play within the play comes the -mask within the play. In the _intermedii_ the mask, as already -suggested, tended to lose its individuality. There were dancers, no -doubt, and the dancers were disguised, and might be masked; and there -are signs of an extended use of the term 'mask' to cover such an -entertainment.[608] But the characteristic feature of the mask proper, -the taking out of spectators to dances, did not lend itself to the -conditions of performances given while the spectators sat at meat, or of -performances on the raised and isolated stage of an interlude. When a -mask proper was closely associated with an early Tudor play, it was as -an afterpiece rather than as an inter-act. The dancers of the -_intermedii_ kept to themselves, and if the sexes intermingled it was in -a 'double' choir. But when the spectacles became episodes, instead of -_intermedii_, the central incident of the mask could be restored. -Dancers who were personages of a play could obviously 'take out' -spectators who were also personages of the same play; and the -introduction of a mask, generally as a revel in a royal feast or wedding -banquet, becomes a regular dramatic device at least from the last decade -of the sixteenth century onwards. Perhaps the first example is in an -academic play, Gager's _Ulysses Redux_ of 1592, where at the beginning -of Act II 'Proci larvati alicunde prodeunt, saltantque in scena', and as -we learn from the criticism of Rainolds, some of Penelope's handmaids, -seated amongst the audience, were 'entreated by the wooers to rise and -danse upon the stage'.[609] Shakespeare has a mask in _Love's Labour's -Lost_, and another in _Romeo and Juliet_, to which the episode is handed -down from the ultimate source in Italian narrative.[610] Another early -example is in _1 Richard II_ (iv. 2). Munday has a mask in his _Death of -Robert Earl of Huntingdon_ (_1598_; ii. 2), Dekker (ii. 204) in his -_Whore of Babylon_ (_c. 1607_) and his _Satiromastix_ (_1601_; l. 2302), -and Tourneur, if it was Tourneur, in his _Revenger's Tragedy_ (_c. -1607_; v. 3). These are examples from the public theatres. When the -boys' companies came into existence at the end of the century, dance and -song proved well within their means; and their principal writers, -Marston, Chapman, Middleton, Field, Jonson, all make use of the -mask.[611] So do Beaumont and Fletcher, both in plays for boys and in -plays for men.[612] But the enumeration of earlier names is of itself -enough to dispose of the theory that to Beaumont and Fletcher is due, in -some special way, the transference of the court mask to the popular -stage, and in particular the introduction of Shakespeare to the supposed -new idea. Doubtless the mask in _A Maid's Tragedy_ is set out with -somewhat greater elaboration of presentment than was usual in earlier -plays, and doubtless the antimask of Beaumont's contribution to the -Princess Elizabeth's wedding was furbished up again for the delight of a -popular audience in _The Two Noble Kinsmen_. But it hardly follows that -Shakespeare, after using the mask in _Love's Labour's Lost_ and _Romeo -and Juliet_, had anything to learn from his younger rivals before he -used it in _The Tempest_, and a writer who can assert that Ben Jonson -'did not mix his masques and plays' must have simply forgotten -_Cynthia's Revels_.[613] The mask in this play is of special interest, -because it is Elizabethan and antedates by some four years the first of -the long series of Jonson's Jacobean masks. It occupies, in the quarto -version, the greater part of the last seven scenes of the play. In iv. 5 -Arete, a principal lady at court, desires revels for Cynthia, and -Amorphus proposes a 'masque'. Arete undertakes to send for Criticus, and -get his advice.[614] In iv. 6 Criticus hesitates to write for such -revellers as Amorphus and his crew. Arete encourages him. The presence -will restrain them when they are masked, and Cynthia needs the -opportunity to reform them. Criticus then invokes Apollo and Mercury. In -v. 1 Cynthia, awaiting the mask, holds flattering discourse with Arete -on its author. In v. 2 enters 'the first masque'. Cupid 'disguised like -Anteros', presents four virgins from the palace of Perfection, Storge, -Aglaia, Euphantaste, and Apheleia. He interprets their devices, and -presents on their behalf a crystal, in which Cynthia sees her own image. -In v. 3 Cynthia discusses the mask with Criticus and Arete. In v. 4 -enters 'the second masque'. Mercury presents and interprets the four -sons of Eutaxia, who are Eucosmos, Eupathes, Eutolmos, and Eucolos. In -iv. 5 'the masques joyne'. They dance the first, second, and third -'straine', while Cupid and Mercury converse, outside the _cadre_ of the -mask. The dancers do not proceed to 'take out' spectators, but that is -presumably because they are interrupted by Cynthia, who bids them unmask -and administers her reproof. - -The masks inserted in plays are rarely described with anything like the -fullness of _Cynthia's Revels_, although there is a fair amount of -detail in _The Maid's Tragedy_ and a somewhat less amount in _Your Five -Gallants_ and in _No Wit, no Help, like a Woman's_. It must be borne in -mind that the main action of a mask was mute, and that the stage -directions of the printed texts are not intended to be descriptive. -Moreover, the structural place of the mask in a plot often leads, as in -_Cynthia's Revels_, to its abrupt termination. The disguises cover an -intrigue of murder (_2 Antonio and Mellida_, _Revenger's Tragedy_) or of -robbery (_A Mad World, my Masters_), or of elopement (_A Woman is a -Weathercock_). Or a quarrel breaks out (_Dutch Courtesan_), or a masker -is discovered to be dead (_Satiromastix_). As a rule, too, the -presenters' speeches are omitted or cut short, since it is spectacle, -and not mere dialogue, that is required.[615] Nevertheless, in its main -features, the dramatized mask confirms what we know of the mask from -other sources. It has its dancers, its presenters, its torch-bearers, -and its music.[616] _Your Five Gallants_ adds 'shield boys' to carry the -'devices'. When the performers have finished their measures, they -generally take out the ladies. At the end they unmask, 'honour' the -guests (_A Women is a Weathercock_), and depart, or proceed to a -banquet. And in some interesting points the dramatized mask supplements -other information. To begin with, it is a simpler type of mask than is -represented by the full Jacobean descriptions. For obvious reasons -architectural pageantry could hardly be introduced. In _The Maid's -Tragedy_ there is a rock, in _Satiromastix_ a chair; in _May Day_ Cupid -'descends', a feat, as already noted, well within the compass of an -ordinary theatre. And that is about all. You get the mask as it was -practised at Elizabeth's court, rather than at that of James. Then there -are sometimes subsidiary scenes, which throw light upon aspects of the -mask, not much dwelt on in the Jacobean descriptions. Often there is a -scene of preparation, when the 'maskery' is planned, and a 'device', -'imprezza', or 'mott' ordered of the painter, or 'a few tinsel coats' of -the vizard-maker (_1 Antonio and Mellida_, _Insatiate Countess_, _A Mad -World, my Masters_, _Your Five Gallants_, _A Woman is a Weathercock_). -Or there is a scene of bustle, when a 'state' and canopy are set up in -the 'presence' (_Satiromastix_) and room is made for the dancers, either -by the cry of 'A hall, a hall!' (_Romeo and Juliet_, _May Day_) or by -the more violent ministrations of the torch-bearers (_A Woman is a -Weathercock_) or of court officials. Thus in _The Maid's Tragedy_ the -mask is preluded by the activities of Calianax, the lord chamberlain, -who 'would run raging among them, and break a dozen wiser heads than his -own in the twinkling of an eye', and of Diagoras the gentleman usher, -who is keeping the doors against the impatient crowd without, and -placing the ladies, all except those who come in 'the king's troop', in -a gallery 'above'. There is a similar scene in Beaumont and Fletcher's -_Four Plays in One_, a piece which consists of three short playlets, -divided by 'triumphs' or _intermedii_, and concluded by a mask. This may -be regarded as an experiment, in which the influence of the -mask-tradition has exceptionally modified the typical structure of the -drama. Nor does it stand quite alone. Peele's _Arraignment of Paris_ is -of course spectacular throughout, and the last scene, in which the -golden apple is handed to Elizabeth, is clearly, in its recognition of -the audience, a divergence from the normal detachment of the drama.[617] -Perhaps the same may be said of the epithalamic end of _A -Midsummer-Night's Dream_, but as a rule the element of mask remains an -episode, and does not dominate the play which admits it. - -The debt of the mask to the play may be traced in the increased skill in -which the later masks are arranged around a 'device' or dramatic idea. -The mask had had its presenters as far back as Lydgate. Even in a -learned court, the more recondite forms of allegory or mythology -sometimes require explanation. The maskers proper seem to have been -traditionally mum and therefore unable to explain themselves. Let us -remember that they were not professional actors, but English men and -women of good birth and breeding, and that therefore their limbs could -more easily be trained than their wits and voices. If explanation was -required, it must be given in an introductory speech by a subsidiary -performer. Such a spokesman seems to have been known to the Elizabethan -Revels as a 'truchman' or interpreter.[618] In addition to his function -of elucidation he became the natural vehicle of whatever compliment was -to be paid by the mask, and when Arthur Throgmorton wished to turn the -heart of Elizabeth in 1595, we find him undertaking the part himself. -The Elizabethan truchmen do not seem to have got much beyond formal -speeches, and the child dressed as Mercury or Cupid became rather -_banal_ through much repetition. If anything more dramatic was -attempted, either through the presenters, or by dividing the dancers -into a double mask, it was apt to be based upon the mediaeval idea of an -assault. In the device for the abortive masks of 1562 the presenters -were to do most of the fighting. In 1559, on the other hand, it was -successive bands of maskers that rifled and rescued the Queen's maids. -How far the mask of Diana and Actaeon in the following winter took a -dramatic form we do not know. The development of the mask on dramatic -lines seems to have been a slow business. Even Jonson, in _Cynthia's -Revels_, has not got beyond Cupid and Mercury and the formal speeches. -On the other hand, the Gray's Inn mask, which preceded _Cynthia's -Revels_ by some years, and nearly all the Jacobean masks, especially -Jonson's, show a marked progress in this respect. A dramatic idea is -nearly always dominant, and there is ingenuity in grouping the fixed -elements of the mask about it. A comparison between Gascoigne's -treatment of a wedding mask in 1572 and Jonson's in 1608 may serve to -illustrate this. Gascoigne's maskers are Montagues of Italy, who have -been driven by a storm to the shores of England, and take the -opportunity to visit their English kinsmen, in whose house the wedding -happens to be taking place. The idea is not without point, but it is all -expounded in a single and inevitably tedious speech by the truchman, -during which the dancers must remain motionless. When Jonson has to -celebrate the wedding of James Ramsay and Elizabeth Radcliffe in 1608 he -proceeds very differently. Even the curtain introduces the hymeneal -theme with its graceful symbolism of a red cliff. From the top of this -Venus descends with her Graces. She is in search of her son, and bids -the Graces ask whether he is concealed in the eyes or between the -swelling breasts of the ladies in the audience. The Graces sing their -appeal for the discovery of 'Venus' runaway'. Cupid now emerges, with a -train of Joci and Risus, each bearing two torches, who dance a dance of -triumph. Venus captures Cupid, and demands the cause of his jubilation. -He slips away, but the explanation is given by Hymen, in a speech of -flattery to the King on the 'state', to the bridegroom who saved the -King's life, and to the maid of the Red Cliff, who is the bride. Hymen -is followed by Vulcan, who splits the cliff, and discloses a concave -fashioned by his art, in which sit the maskers. They are the twelve -Signs of the Zodiac, to each of whom is assigned some influence upon -marriage. They advance and dance their measures, while Vulcan's -attendants, the Cyclopes, Brontes and Steropes, beat time with their -sledges, and in the pauses of the dancing the musicians, dressed as -priests of Hymen, sing the verses of an epithalamion. How neatly it is -all done! The maskers, the presenters, the torch-bearers, the musicians, -all have their place in the scheme, and contribute towards the -complimenting of the bridal pair. - -It would perhaps be difficult to say how far the approximation to drama -in the Jacobean masks was due to the subconscious mental processes of -mask poets who were themselves playwrights, and how far to a deliberate -intention to combine two arts.[619] As a rule it is safe to credit -Jonson, at least, with fully conscious artistry. And here too the model -set by Baldassarino's _Balet Comique_ must not be neglected. The printed -description of this contains a preface, in which Baldassarino justifies -his use of the term 'comique' on the ground that he has arranged his -'balet' in acts and scenes like a comedy, and claims to be an innovator -in this interweaving of poetry with the dance, to which 'le premier -tiltre et honneur' are still left. The Jacobean poets did not essay a -treatment by acts and scenes, which indeed has no great significance -even in the _Balet Comique_. But Baldassarino's main idea, of the -inhibition of the dance by the magic of Circe until the gods come to the -rescue, may fairly be regarded as responsible for the several episodes -of disenchantment or transformation which recur in the work of his -successors.[620] - -Jonson's mask for the Ramsay-Radcliffe wedding in 1608 represents a -stage of importance in the evolution of the dramatic form. The entry of -the maskers is preluded by a dance of the torch-bearing Joci and Risus. -In describing his _Mask of Queens_ of the following year, Jonson says, -'And because her majesty (best knowing that a principal part of life in -these spectacles lay in their variety) had commanded me to think on some -dance, or shew, that might precede hers, and have the place of a foil, -or false masque, I was careful to decline, not only from others, but -mine own steps in that kind, since the last year, I had an antimasque of -boys; and therefore now devised that twelve women, in the habit of hags -or witches, sustaining the persons of Ignorance, Suspicion, Credulity, -&c., the opposites to good Fame, should fill that part, not as a masque, -but a spectacle of strangeness, producing multiplicity of gesture, and -not unaptly sorting with the current and whole fall of the device'. I am -not quite sure what Jonson intends by the distinction here drawn between -a 'masque' and a 'spectacle', for in fact the Hags dance 'a magical -dance full of preposterous change and gesticulation', which is -interrupted by a burst of loud music and an alteration in the face of -the scene, heralding the introduction of the Queens in the House of -Fame. However this may be, Jonson's innovation, with its obvious -advantages of added variety, must have been immediately successful, for -in practically all subsequent examples of the period the antimask -appears as a fixed element in the scheme, preceding and setting off what -Beaumont calls the 'maine' mask, and usually divided from it by a change -of scene.[621] There are some slight further elaborations to record. In -_Oberon_, in the _Lords' Mask_, and in _Chapman's Mask_, the antimask is -followed by a dance of torch-bearers, to which also Chapman gives the -name of 'antimask'. _Beaumont's Mask_, the _Mask of Squires_, _Mercury -Vindicated_, and _Browne's Mask_ have each two regular antimasks, and -in the _Mask of Squires_ the second antimask is interpolated in the -middle of the dances of the main mask. There is only one antimask in -_The Twelve Months_, but two dances are assigned to it. The _Mask of -Flowers_ has, besides the antimask 'of dances', a preliminary antimask -'of song'. The name 'antimask' has given some trouble. Jonson's -references to 'a foil, or false masque' and to 'opposites' suggest -clearly enough that he used the prefix 'anti' to indicate an antithesis -or contrast. But in _Tethys' Festival_ Daniel uses the form -'antemasque', and this spelling, probably due to a misunderstanding by -the worthy Daniel of the point of the innovation, recurs in _Chapman's -Mask_ and in _The Twelve Months_.[622] The _Mask of Flowers_, again, -affords a third variation, in 'anticke-maske', and this also, I think, -_pace_ Dr. Brotanek, must have its origin in a misunderstanding.[623] An -'antic' dance is a grotesque dance, and this epithet is often applied to -the personages of the antimasks and their evolutions, from the -_Haddington Mask_ onwards, since the characteristic antithesis which the -antimask renders possible is precisely the antithesis between the -grotesque prelude and the splendour of the main mask that follows.[624] -I want to emphasize the point that this element of contrast introduced -by the juxtaposition of mask and antimask is analogous to what critics -have always regarded as a special feature of the Elizabethan, and -particularly the Shakespearian drama, the juxtaposition of comedy and -tragedy, either in the form of what is called tragicomedy, or by the -inclusion of scenes of 'comic relief' in tragedy proper. It is perhaps -worth noting that in the French masks of 1610 and 1612 printed by -Lacroix we find side by side with the 'grand ballet' elements variously -described as the 'première et plaisante entrée' (1610) and 'la -bouffonnerie' (1612), which appear to serve just the same purpose as the -English antimask.[625] But, of course, I do not mean to suggest that -either in France or in England the grotesque made its way into the mask -for the first time during the seventeenth century. The clowns, mariners, -'wodwoses' and so forth of the earlier Elizabethan revels must have lent -themselves to humorous treatment, and indeed mirth has at all times been -of the essence of revels. There is some reason to think that a -traditional form of grotesque mask at court was the morris. This is of -course a familiar type of folk-dance, and may owe its Tudor name to the -_moresche_, which were dances introduced as _intermedii_ into Italian -plays.[626] - -The spectacular and literary elaboration of the Jacobean mask must not -be allowed to blind our eyes to the fact that after all it was not a -dramatic illusion but a choregraphic compliment which remained the -central purpose of the entertainment. Scenery and speech and song occupy -perhaps a disproportionate share of the attention of the poets who, to -their own glorification and that of the architects, wrote the -descriptions; but the greater part of the considerable number of hours -during which the mask lasted was devoted to the actual dancing. And the -dancing involved an intimacy, and not a detachment, in the relation -between performers and spectators. It is true that some of the -traditional features which accompanied the mask, when court ceremonial -first took it up from folk custom, tended under the new conditions to -pass into the state of survivals. Thus the torch-bearers, whether or not -their burning brands represent some original element of ritual in the -folk festival, were certainly _de rigueur_ as a concomitant of the mask -during the sixteenth century. They had two clear functions. They -provided, in dim halls, the abundance of light which was so necessary to -give full value to the bright stuffs and metallic spangles worn by the -dancers. And their own costumes, harmonized or contrasting with those of -the dancers, afforded the variety of interest which otherwise, while the -presenters were still limited to one or two 'truchmen', might have been -lacking. They were always kept in strict subordination to the maskers -proper. They were their attendants; Hinds in a mask of Clowns, Almains -in a mask of Swart Rutters, Moorish friars in a mask of Moors. Their -garments were inferior, taffeta, as against satin or cloth of gold. When -George Ferrers, as Lord of Misrule in 1552, had occasion to complain of -the apparel furnished by the Master of the Revels for his councillors, -he wrote that the gentlemen who were to take the parts 'wolde not be -seen in London so torchebererlyke disgysed for asmoche as they ar worthe -or hope to be worthe'.[627] And when the measures began, they had little -to do, but to stand and look on.[628] In the seventeenth century they -were not so indispensable, either for illumination, which could be -better supplied by fixed lights upon the scene, or for variety.[629] And -with the multiplication of other purposes the room which they took up -could ill be spared. In _Tethys' Festival_, given exceptionally during -the heat of summer, there were no torch-bearers, on the ground that -'they would have pestered the roome, which the season would not well -permit'. And therewith begins a tendency either, as already indicated, -to merge them in the antimask, or to omit them altogether.[630] The -vizard again and the ceremonial unvizarding at the end of the -performance, although usual, and of course essential parts of the -tradition, do not appear to have been quite invariable under James -I.[631] As early as the _Mask of Blackness_ in 1605, blackened faces and -arms were substituted, which, says a contemporary writer, were 'disguise -sufficient' and an 'ugly sight', and the experiment was not repeated. I -do not know that for any historic period there is evidence that the -maskers regularly brought gifts with them, although they sometimes did, -and one may suspect that such gifts represented the 'luck' of the -primitive custom. A jewel was all very well when Arthur Throgmorton -wanted to use a mask as a medium for recovering the lost favour of -Elizabeth.[632] But it may be assumed that Elizabeth would think it a -useless expense, when a mask was only conventionally a surprise visit, -and was really designed on her own instructions in her own Office of the -Revels. And although James did on one occasion pay no less than £40,000 -for the jewel used in the mask of Indian and Chinese Knights, this was -in the first year of his reign, when his predecessor's hoarded wealth -was still there for the lavishing, and the special purpose was to be -served of impressing Henri IV through his diplomatic -representative.[633] When there were gifts, they were as a rule -trifling, and incidental to the 'device' of the mask. The abortive -scheme of 1562 provides for a grandguard and a sword and girdle. -Elizabeth got on one occasion flowers of silk and gold, signifying -victory, peace, and plenty; on another snowballs of lamb's wool -sweetened with rose-water in a mask of Janus; on a third looking-glasses -with posies inscribed on them in a mask of Pedlars. In _The Twelve -Goddesses_ the maskers presented their emblems, and Sibylla laid them in -the temple. In the _Mask of Blackness_ the Daughters of Niger presented -their fans. In _Tethys' Festival_ there were a trident for James and a -sword, worth 20,000 crowns, and a scarf for Henry. In the _Mask of -Squires_ Anne plucked a bough from a golden tree, wherewith to -disenchant the Knights. Often the gifts were represented by the merely -conventional offering of a copy of verses, or of shields bearing -_imprese_ or painted allegorical devices, such as were also brought by -the runners in tilts.[634] These sometimes required interpretation and -led to some preliminary 'commoning' with the guests of honour. -Interchanges of wit at this stage between Elizabeth and Mary Fitton in -1600 and James and Philip Herbert in 1604 are upon record. But of course -the chief 'commoning' was when the maskers 'took out' the principal -spectators of the opposite sex to dance. Whether the Jacobean maskers -kissed the ladies whom they took out I do not know, but this was the -earlier custom.[635] At any rate the 'taking out' is the critical moment -of intimacy between performers and spectators in the mask, and serves, -even more than the gifts and even more than the personal compliments in -theme and speech, to distinguish it from the drama.[636] The period of -'intermixed' dancing (_Hymenaei_), which it introduced, served as a -sequel to the greater part of the mask proper, and is sometimes -described as 'the revels' (_Love Freed_; _Twelve Months_). More -precisely, the order of the dancing, subject to minor variations, was as -follows. After the dialogue of presentation and the antimask, the -maskers entered and began a series of 'masque dances' (_Oberon_; _Love -Freed_), 'changes' (_Malecontent_; _Insatiate Countess_), or 'strains' -(_Hymenaei_; _Cynthia's Revels_; _A Woman is a Weathercock_). These are -also called the 'single' dances, to distinguish them from the -'intermixed' dances (_Blackness_) or more usually and simply, the -maskers 'own' dances or the 'new' dances. Sometimes the 'first' dance is -distinguished from the 'main' dance (_Twelve Months_; _Lords' Mask_; -_Mercury Vindicated_; _Golden Age_). After one, two, or three 'new' -dances, the maskers 'dissolved' (_Hymenaei_) and 'took out' for the -'revels'. Finally they gathered again for their 'going off' (_Twelve -Months_), the 'last', 'parting', 'departing' or 'retiring' dance, which -sometimes took them 'into the work' (_Oberon_). If they did not dance -back 'into the work', they probably unmasked at this stage, after a -ceremonial reverence to the company, known as the 'honour' (_Hay Mask_; -_Your Five Gallants_; _A Woman is a Weathercock_).[637] The revels -consisted partly of the solemn figured dances known as 'measures', -partly of 'lighter' dances (_Hay Mask_). Those most often mentioned are -the galliard, coranto, and lavolta; others were the brawl (_Browne's -Mask_), duretto (_Beaumont's Mask_; _Mask of Flowers_), and morasco -(_Mask of Flowers_).[638] Of course, only 'ordinary' measures (_Indian -and Chinese Knights_) and familiar court dances were available for the -revels. The mask dances proper, on the other hand, as the epithet 'new' -indicates, were specially designed and carefully learnt for each -occasion. They appear to have always been 'measures'. Baldassarino -regards 'meslanges geometriques' as being of the essence of the mask. -The dances were a technical matter, with which the poets were not much -concerned, and they do not as a rule attempt any notation, or even -detailed description of the figures. An occasional literary touch was, -however, to their fancy. In _Hymenaei_ some of the figures were 'formed -into letters very signifying to the name of the bridegroom', and again -in the _Mask of Queens_ one of the dances was 'graphically disposed into -letters, and honouring the name of the most sweet and ingenious Prince, -Charles, Duke of York'. These graphic dances, which Bacon deprecates, -were also used in the French _Ballet de Monseigneur le Duc de Vandosme_ -of 1610.[639] - -It is of a piece with the intimacy between maskers and spectators that -the former appear always to have been volunteers, and that to dance in a -mask, at any rate at court, was not derogatory even to persons of the -highest rank. I have no proof that Queen Elizabeth ever masked in -person, as her father and brother certainly did, but in view of her -notorious fondness for the exercise of the dance it is extremely -probable. Unfortunately we know very little of the personnel of the -Elizabethan masks. The _Revels Accounts_, a source of generous -information on many points, never name the maskers. Scattered notices -elsewhere suggest that they may not infrequently have been the maids of -honour. It was so when Brantôme was present in 1561, and at Anne -Russell's wedding in 1600, when Elizabeth, contrary to the ordinary rule -of sex-exchange, was 'taken' out by Mary Fitton. Among the stray names -of revellers that have floated to us down the stream of time are those -of George Brooke, who came to the scaffold in 1603, and Sir Robert -Carey, who boasts of his share in all court triumphs in 1586.[640] -Naunton is the authority for the statement that Sir Christopher Hatton -first appeared before Elizabeth in one of the masks which were sent from -time to time as the contributions of the Inns of Court to the royal -gaiety.[641] Lists of the dancers in most of the Jacobean masks are -preserved. That of James himself is not among them; he was ungainly and -indolent except on horseback. But Anne danced in her own 'Queen's' masks -of 1604, 1605, 1608, 1609, 1610, and probably 1611, and allowed herself -to be 'taken out' as a compliment to her hosts at Caversham as late as -the summer of 1613. With her in 1610 was the Princess Elizabeth, and in -1608 and 1610 the Lady Arabella Stuart. Henry was 'taken out' as a boy -and 'tost from hand to hand like a tennis bal' by the ladies in the -_Twelve Goddesses_ of 1604. - -He masked himself in _Oberon_ (1611) and in the undatable _Twelve -Months_. The only appearance of Charles before 1618 was as Zephyrus -amongst the presenters of _Tethys' Festival_ (1610). Next to Anne -herself, the most conspicuous performer in the Queen's masks was perhaps -Lucy Countess of Bedford, who had already won her reputation as a 'fine -dancing dame' at the end of the previous reign, and whose costume in one -at least of her extant portraits is conjectured to represent masking -attire.[642] Other names which recur frequently in the lists are those -of Elizabeth Countess of Derby and her sister Susan Countess of -Montgomery, Alethea Countess of Arundel, Anne Countess of Dorset, and -Audrey Lady Walsingham; while amongst the men shone the two brothers -Herbert, William Earl of Pembroke and Philip Earl of Montgomery, and -that most splendid and extravagant of all the Jacobean courtiers, James -Lord Hay. The Earl of Somerset does not appear to have been a dancer, -but when the star of George Villiers was rising in 1615 his friends were -careful to give him his opportunity of shining in a mask. It is not -surprising to find that the numerous sons and daughters of the Earl of -Suffolk, Lord Chamberlain, and the Earl of Worcester, Master of the -Horse, who shared the official oversight of the masks, were not seldom -called upon to display their skill. One fears that there must often have -been heart-burnings. Lady Hatton's pique at being left out in 1605 -contributed something to the strained relations with her husband, Lord -Coke, which long made mirth for London.[643] - -The masks could not dispense altogether with professional assistance. In -the _Mask of Beauty_ the torch-bearing Cupids were 'chosen out of the -best and ingenious youth of the kingdom'. In _Tethys' Festival_ the -presenters included, in addition to the Duke of York, two gentlemen 'of -good worth and respect', who played the Tritons, and the antimask -included eight 'little ladies, all of them the daughters of Earls or -Barons'. But this mask was for the exceptional occasion of the creation -of Henry as Prince of Wales, and Daniel expressly boasts that 'there -were none of inferior sort mixed among these great personages of state -and honour (as usually there have been); but all was performed by -themselves with a due reservation of their dignity'. The normal practice -seems to have been to hire players and their boys for the antimask and -for the speaking parts, which of course required a trained -elocution.[644] Sometimes, however, a part might be taken by one of the -numerous persons employed as devisers or trainers. I do not know that -the statement that 'Ben Jonson turned the globe of the earth standing -behind the altar' in _Hymenaei_ necessarily implies Jonson's personal -presence on the stage, actor though he had been, for in fact the globe -seems to have been moved by unseen machinery, without even the apparent -assistance of a presenter. But the dance-masters Thomas Giles and Jerome -Heron certainly played the Cyclopes in the _Haddington Mask_, and Giles -also played Thamesis in the _Mask of Beauty_. The musicians again, some -or all of whom were generally disguised, were a professional body, of -which the nucleus was probably formed by members of the various bands of -the royal households. Thus John Allen, who sang in the _Mask of Queens_ -and the _Mask of Squires_, was 'her majesty's servant', and Nicholas -Lanier, who also sang in the _Mask of Squires_, was one of the King's -flutes. Both musicians and dancing-masters had other important functions -in connexion with the masks, outside the actual performances. The former -had to compose the airs and set them for the musical instruments and the -dances; the latter had to arrange the dances and to drill the -dancers.[645] Campion, being a composer as well as a poet, was naturally -responsible for his own music, and the musical element in his masks -tended to be predominant. Jonson seems generally to have obtained the -co-operation of Alfonso Ferrabosco, probably a son of the Ferrabosco who -was devising masks for Elizabeth about 1572.[646] He was originally a -lutenist, but at the time of his death in 1627 'enjoyed four places, -viz. a musician's place in general, a composer's place, a violl's place, -and an instructor's place to the prince in the art of musique'.[647] -Amongst the musicians who gave minor assistance, either as composers or -as executants, were Thomas Ford (_Chapman's Mask_), John Cooper -(_Lords_; _Squires_), the lutenists Robert Johnson (_Oberon_; _Love -Freed_; _Lords_; _Chapman's Mask_), John and Robert Dowland (_Chapman's -Mask_), and Philip Rossiter (_Chapman's Mask_), and the violinists -Thomas Lupo the elder (_Hay Mask_; _Oberon_; _Love Freed_; _Lords_), -Rowland Rubidge (_Oberon_), and Alexander Chisan (_Oberon_).[648] As -dancing-masters we hear of Thomas Cardell under Elizabeth in 1582;[649] -and under James of Jerome Heron (_Haddington Mask_; _Queens_; _Oberon_; -_Lords_), Confess (_Oberon_; _Love Freed_), Bochan (_Love Freed_; -_Lords_), and Thomas Giles (_Hymenaei_; _Beauty_; _Haddington Mask_; -_Queens_; _Oberon_; _Lords_), who was musician and teacher of the dance -to Henry, and may be identical with the Thomas Giles who became Master -of the Paul's boys in 1584.[650] - -The court masks ordinarily took place in what was called the -banqueting-house, but might with more appropriateness have been called -the masking-house, at Whitehall.[651] The occasional exceptions readily -explain themselves. Whitehall was under the ban of plague in the winter -of 1604, and the masks were in the great hall of Hampton Court. During -the winter of 1606, when the Elizabethan banqueting-house had been -pulled down and the Jacobean one was not yet ready, the great hall of -Whitehall itself was used. Here also was given _Chapman's Mask_, on the -second night of the Princess Elizabeth's wedding, doubtless because the -banqueting-house was still encumbered with the scenery belonging to the -_Lords' Mask_ of the previous night. The hall had also been assigned to -_Beaumont's Mask_ on the third night, but when this was put off for a -few days, the greater dignity of the banqueting-house was granted as a -compensation for the disappointment of the dancers. The aspect of the -room and its arrangements are well described in 1618, only a year before -the first Jacobean banqueting-house was burnt down, by Orazio Busino, -almoner to the Venetian ambassador, Piero Contarini.[652] This may be -supplemented by Campion's description of the great hall at Whitehall as -arranged for the mask at Lord Hay's wedding, and by the careful note of -John Finett, then an assistant to the Master of the Ceremonies, upon the -seating of the ambassadors in 1616.[653] At the lower or screen end was -the scene; at the upper end, and divided from the scene by the -dancing-place, was the royal 'state', on a raised daïs and under a -canopy. Behind the state, along the sides of the room to right and left -of the dancing-place, and in galleries above, were tiers of seats, some -of which were divided into boxes. James himself seems always to have -been present, returning if necessary from his hunting journeys for mask -nights, and sometimes starting off again the next morning at daybreak. -Busino's account suggests that he liked to see vigorous and sustained -dancing; but his patience failed him when he was asked to sit through -three masks on successive nights in 1613, and he insisted on putting off -the third, although the maskers had already come, telling Sir Francis -Bacon, who protested that this was to bury them quick, that the -alternative was to bury him quick, for he could last no longer. On the -other hand, he was sufficiently gratified by the _Irish Mask_ in 1613 -and _Mercury Vindicated_ in 1615 to be willing to call for a second -performance in each case. With the King sat members of the royal family -and sometimes ambassadors or other specially honoured guests. Finett -records that in 1616 the French, Venetian, and Savoyard ambassadors were -all on the King's right hand, but in places of nicely graded dignity, -'not right out, but byas forward'. The ambassadorial suites appear to -have been accommodated in boxes raised above the level of the state, to -the right and left. Guests of honour, but of lesser honour, might be -placed on special benches assigned to lords and privy councillors. -Evidently the masks were solemn occasions, and the laws of precedence -strictly followed. An allusion in _The Maid's Tragedy_ suggests that -ladies, other than those ladies of the court and ambassadors' wives who -formed the king's 'troop', were ordinarily seated in the galleries.[654] -One of the principal objects of the masks was the entertainment of -ambassadors, and the jealousies amongst them were constantly involving -James and his Council in awkward diplomatic questions.[655] These have -recently been the subject of a special study, and need not here be -described in detail.[656] By far the most important was the standing -conflict for precedence between the representatives of France and Spain. -James consistently refused to commit himself to either claim, and was -careful not to invite both ambassadors to the same function.[657] But -some occasions were more honourable than others, and it seems clear that -in the minds of the ambassadors themselves the bestowal or withholding -of an invitation often counted for a diplomatic triumph or rebuff. -Matters were complicated during the earlier years of the reign by Anne's -far from discreet advocacy of the Spanish cause, and the dispatches of -M. de Beaumont in 1605 and M. de la Boderie in 1608 are largely occupied -with the embarrassment caused to James and the humiliation inflicted -upon those ambassadors themselves by the Queen's determination that her -masks should be graced by the presence of the astute and courtly -Spaniard, Juan de Taxis. In the latter year James had to stave off an -open rupture with Henri IV by an opportune demand for the repayment of a -long-standing debt. The relations between France and Spain were -paralleled by similar feuds for precedence between Venice and Flanders -and between Florence and Savoy, while the King of Spain was naturally -unwilling that his representative should be received on terms of -equality with the representative of Holland and thus appear to -acknowledge the claims of rebellious provinces to rank as a sovereign -state. Occasional visitors of rank had their own points of etiquette to -raise. Thus in 1604 the Duke of Holstein stood for three hours rather -than sit below the Venetian ambassador. Generally speaking, indeed, the -newly established office of Master of the Ceremonies must have been -anything but a bed of roses. The chief mask of the year, which every -ambassador intrigued to attend, was traditionally danced on Twelfth -Night; but often it was put off to a later date, in order to meet -diplomatic exigencies.[658] - -The banqueting-house, with the 'state' in it, was probably regarded as -technically part of the Presence Chamber. At any rate, it was under the -supervision of the Lord Chamberlain and the officers of the Chamber, -headed by the Gentleman Usher. They seated the audience, kept the doors -against the turbulent crowds knocking for admission, cleared the -dancing-place when the King was seated, and supplied the principal -guests with programmes or abstracts of the device prepared by the -poet.[659] The Chamberlain's white staff was no mere symbol when there -was whiffling to be done, and even Ben Jonson, 'ushered by my Lord -Suffolk from a mask' on 6 January 1604, the year before his own -sovereignty over masks began, required to be consoled by his fellow in -misfortune, Sir John Roe, with the reminder,-- - - Forget we were thrust out; it is but thus, - God threatens Kings, Kings Lords, as Lords do us.[660] - -Obviously, as John Chamberlain suggests in a letter to Dudley Carleton, -to be befriended at court was to secure the easier admission. But -subject to the limitations of space and the discretion of the -door-keepers, the performances seem to have been open to all comers, -although the wicked wit of the dramatists is apt to suggest that -citizens' wives sometimes found access more readily than the citizens -themselves.[661] It is difficult to say how many the room would hold. -One of De la Boderie's dispatches speaks of 10,000, which was probably a -considerable over-estimate.[662] Many of those who besieged the doors -must of course have been disappointed, and perhaps many of those who got -in experienced more satisfaction than comfort.[663] In order to save -space, it was decreed in 1613 that no ladies should be admitted in -farthingales, and the repetition of the _Irish Mask_ of 1613 and the -_Mercury Vindicated_ of 1615 may have been due in part to an unsatisfied -demand for seats as well as to the intrinsic merit of the performances. - -The mask, beginning after supper, was prolonged far into the night. That -at Sir Philip Herbert's wedding lasted three hours; _Tethys' Festival_ -was not over until hard upon sunrise. The pent-up audience dissolved in -some confusion. Apparently the Tudor custom of finishing the proceedings -by rifling the pageant and the dresses of their decorations had not been -wholly abandoned.[664] A hardly less riotous scene followed. A banquet -was spread in another room, the great chamber in 1605, the presence -chamber in 1616, the specially built 'marriage' room in 1613. It was -not etiquette for the King to partake of this with his guests, but he -usually conducted the maskers to the tables, and took a survey of them -before he retired. Then the fray began. The banquet was 'dispatched with -the accustomed confusion', says a chronicler in 1604. In 1605 it 'was so -furiously assaulted that down went tables and tressels before one bit -was touched'. _Tethys' Festival_ in 1610 closed with 'views and -scrambling'. At Beaumont's mask in 1613, 'after the King had made the -tour of the tables, everything was in a moment rapaciously swept -away'.[665] Tired and unfed, the ladies made their way out into the -courtyards of the palace, perhaps to find, as in 1604, that chains and -jewels were gone, and that they were even 'made shorter by the -skirts'.[666] - -Next day the poets sat down to turn the programmes into books, which the -stationers could print and sell at sixpence each, and so save them from -being pestered for copies of the verses.[667] And the Lord Chamberlain's -Secretary sat down to compare his expenses with his imprests, and to -draw up his accounts for endorsement by his lord and the Master of the -Horse, and presentation at the Exchequer. Any estimate of the cost of -masking that we can now form must be approximate in character. Under -Elizabeth, so long as masks were the care of the Revels, their expenses -naturally appear in the accounts of that office; but in part only, since -requisitions appear to have been made upon the Wardrobe and the Office -of Works, and the services rendered by these departments not charged to -the Revels. Moreover, the methods of bookkeeping employed by the -officers of the Revels did not provide for distinguishing expenditure -upon masks and upon plays when, as was usually the case, both types of -entertainment were in concurrent preparation.[668] It is therefore -rarely that the cost of an Elizabethan mask can be isolated, and still -more rarely that it can be assumed to be complete. Four masks in the -winter of 1559 only cost the Revels £127 11_s._ 2_d._, and it was -estimated that two more at Shrovetide would cost another £100. The -spectacular mask in June 1572 cost £506 11_s._ 8_d._, but it is noted -that the 'Warderobe stuf' was 'excepted' from the reckoning. An -estimate for another spectacular mask in April 1581 amounts to about -£380, and again it is clear that the materials for garments are not -included. It is rather surprising to find that a mask intended to -accompany the embassy to Scotland at the time of James VI's wedding cost -no more than £17 10_s._ 10_d._, but this was a simple mask without a -pageant, and garments already in store were 'translated' for the -purpose.[669] Nor did Elizabeth desire to do any excessive honour to her -cousin. On the other hand, the accounts, and particularly the -inventories attached to those for the earliest years of the reign, show -that the richest materials were used without stint to deck out the -maskers. Clothes of gold and silver, shot with innumerable hues and -often further enriched with embroidered 'works', velvets and sarcenets, -satins, taffetas, and damasks; all recur in a truly royal profusion, and -at a cost of anything up to a guinea or so a yard. The cheaper stuffs -were no doubt used for torch-bearers, and there was room for economy in -the Cologne and Venice gold and silver and other forms of tinsel that -served for fringes and trimmings.[670] Copper lace, as the Duke of -Newcastle gravely informed Charles II at the Restoration, looked as well -as gold for the two or three nights before it tarnished: 'All Queen -Elizabethes dayes shee had itt, & Kinge James.'[671] Burghley's -reorganization of the Revels in 1597 apparently left the office without -any responsibility for the preparation of masks, and it is not clear -what arrangements were made for these during the last few years of the -reign. Under James the Revels claimed fees for the personal attendance -of the officers at masks, for the lighting of the banqueting-house, for -small repairs to its fittings, and for no more.[672] Small sums also -appear in the accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber for services of -the mat-layer in making ready the dancing-floor, and of Grooms of the -Chamber in attendance on the maskers, and in those of the Office of -Works for the erection of stages and scaffolds. The incidence of the -main expenditure of course depended upon whether the mask was ordered -by James himself, or contributed out of the loyalty of others. James -appears to have paid, in whole or in part, for at least fourteen of the -twenty-five court masks traceable during the years 1603-16. These -include the six Queen's masks (_Twelve Goddesses_, _Blackness_, -_Beauty_, _Queens_, _Tethys' Festival_, _Love Freed_), two Prince's -masks (_Oberon_, _Love Restored_), and five other masks by lords and -gentlemen, one at the first Christmas of the reign (_Indian and Chinese -Knights_), one at his daughter's wedding (_Lords_), one at Somerset's -(_Squires_), and two of later date (_Mercury Vindicated_, _Golden Age -Restored_). He may also have paid for the _Mask of Scots_ in 1604 and -the _Irish Mask_ in 1613, but these were probably non-spectacular and -cheap. As to the finance of the Winchester mask of 1603 and of the -_Twelve Months_ nothing is known, or whether the latter, evidently -planned for a Prince's mask, was ever in fact performed. To _Oberon_ and -_Love Restored_ James contributed amounts of at least £387 and at least -£280 respectively, but so far as _Oberon_ is concerned this was by no -means the whole cost, for a sum of £1,076 6_s._ 10_d._ was charged to -Henry's personal account, and it is probable that the burden of _Love -Restored_ was similarly divided. I have no evidence that Anne's personal -account was ever charged with any part of the cost of the Queen's masks. -Certainly it was not so with _Love Freed_ in 1611, for of this mask, and -of this alone, a full balance-sheet happens to be available. It was a -comparatively cheap mask, deliberately so, because _Tethys' Festival_ in -the summer before had been 'excessively costly'. It was intended that it -should cost no more than £600. In fact the total expenditure came to -£719 1_s._ 3_d._ Of this £238 16_s._ 10_d._ went to Inigo Jones on 'his -byll', doubtless for the scenery; £69 17_s._ 5_d._ in minor items of -costume; £292 in 'rewards', making a total of £600 14_s._ 3_d._, of -which £400 had already been received from the Exchequer. This agrees -closely with the original estimate, but there was a further amount of -£118 7_s._ due to the Master of the Wardrobe for materials which he had -supplied for costumes, and the document concludes with a memorandum -signed by the Earls of Suffolk and Worcester to the effect that this -amount, over and above the £600 14_s._ 3_d._, is payable. These lords, -one as Lord Chamberlain, the other as Master of the Horse, seem -regularly to have had the supervision of 'emptions and provisions for -masks given at the royal expense'.[673] The financial procedure was as -follows. At an early date, the King directed a warrant under the privy -seal to the Exchequer, in which the names of the supervising officers -were set out, and the Treasurer was authorized to make payments upon -certificates by them.[674] A letter of 1608 suggests that up to that -date it had been usual to name a maximum cost in the warrant, but -thenceforward the supervising officers seem normally to have had a free -hand.[675] Their own methods varied. Sometimes they asked the Exchequer, -as occasion arose, to pay small sums direct to Inigo Jones and others; -sometimes they wrote acknowledgements on the bills of furnishers, and -sent these forward for Exchequer payment; sometimes they authorized a -subordinate officer to draw one or two large sums and meet the -expenditure out of these. For 'rewards' no doubt the last was the more -convenient way. We find one Bethell, a gentleman usher of the chamber, -thus designated as payee in 1608, Henry Reynolds in 1609, Meredith -Morgan in 1612, 1613, 1614, and 1616, Walter James in 1615, and Edmund -Sadler in 1616.[676] The balance-sheet for _Love Freed_, although it -contains items for the dresses of the presenters, antimaskers, and -musicians, contains none which can be assigned to those of the main -maskers, and there is other evidence for thinking that, even in a royal -mask, the lords or ladies who danced were expected to dress themselves. -Thus John Chamberlain tells us of the _Mask of Squires_ that the King -was to bear the charge, 'all saving the apparel'. The practice, however, -was probably not invariable, for the Exchequer documents relating to -_Tethys' Festival_ contain a silkman's bill for lace used for the -dresses of fourteen ladies. For the _Twelve Goddesses_ warrants were -issued to Lady Suffolk and Lady Walsingham to take Queen Elizabeth's -robes from the wardrobe in the Tower. The list of 'rewards' for _Love -Freed_ can be supplemented from similar lists for _Oberon_ and the -_Lords' Mask_ and a few scattered records. The largest amounts went to -the poets and the architect. Jones had £50 for the _Lords' Mask_ and £40 -each for _Love Freed_ and _Oberon_, Jonson £40 for _Love Freed_, Daniel -£20 for _Tethys' Festival_, Campion, being both poet and musician, £66 -13_s._ 4_d._ for the _Lords' Mask_. Dancers and composers got from £10 -to £40; lutenists and violinists £1 or £2; players £1 each. For the -total cost we are mainly reduced to guess-work, although contemporary -gossip, sometimes a little disturbed at the extravagance, may help us, -if it was not itself based on guess-work.[677] We hear of £2,000 to -£3,000 for the _Twelve Goddesses_ and the two other masks of the first -winter, £3,000 and 25,000 _scudi_ for _Blackness_, 6,000 or 7,000 and -later 30,000 _scudi_ for _Beauty_, £1,500 for _Mercury Vindicated_, -£2,000 for _Queens_, which, however, M. Reyher estimates from Exchequer -documents which he does not print, at more than £4,000.[678] These -figures probably include the contributions of the Wardrobe, as these -were to be repaid out of the special allowances in 1611. There is yet -one other source of information. A return of extraordinary disbursements -of the Exchequer for 1603-9, during which period there were six or seven -royal masks, gives £4,215 under this head, and a similar return for -1603-17, during which there were from fourteen to sixteen, including the -_Vision of Delight_ in 1617, gives £7,500.[679] But this last figure is -specifically stated not to include 'the provisions had out of the -Warderobe and materials and workmen from the Office of the Works'. At a -venture, I should say that a royal mask cost about £2,000 on the -average. Something may also be gleaned about the finance of those masks -that were not wholly charged on the Exchequer. _Oberon_, to which both -James and Henry contributed, was supervised by the chamberlain of -Henry's household, Sir Thomas Chaloner. The Inns of Court masks brought -to the Princess Elizabeth's wedding were paid for out of admission fees -to chambers and levies raised upon the members of the Inns, according to -their status. Chamberlain estimated the cost of the two masks as 'better -than £4,000', and the accounts that have been preserved show that in -fact Chapman's mask cost Lincoln's Inn and the Middle Temple £1,086 -8_s._ 11_d._ each, and Beaumont's cost Gray's Inn and the Inner Temple -over £1,200 each. On the other hand, the whole cost of the _Mask of -Flowers_, given by Gray's Inn at the Earl of Somerset's wedding, being -over £2,000, was met by Sir Francis Bacon, who refused an offered -contribution of £500 from Sir Henry Yelverton. The masks at the weddings -of Sir Philip Herbert, Lord Essex, Lord Hay, and Lord Haddington were -all, certainly or probably, complimentary offerings of friends of the -hymeneal couples. Lady Rutland, who danced in _Hymenaei_, paid £80 to -Bethell, and £26 11_s._ more for her own apparel. The _Haddington Mask_ -cost each of the twelve dancers £300, and must therefore have been one -of the most expensive masks of the period. Obviously the highest -estimates for the masks do not include the value of the jewels with -which the dancers bedizened themselves. In the _Twelve Goddesses_ Anne -is said to have worn £100,000 worth and the other ladies £20,000 worth. -Of _Hymenaei_ John Pory says, 'I think they hired and borrowed all the -principall jewels and ropes of perle both in court and citty. The -Spanish ambassador seemed but poore to the meanest of them.' Even this -Chamberlain could cap for _Beauty_. 'One lady, and that under a -baroness, is said to be furnished for better than a hundred thousand -pounds. And the Lady Arabella goes beyond her; and the queen must not -come behind.' Thus they revelled it. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 582: Perhaps Jonson's persistent use of 'masque' for the older -'mask' confesses a sense of derivation in his mind.] - -[Footnote 583: The data are collected by Prunières, 34.] - -[Footnote 584: Brantôme (ed. Soc. H. F.), vii. 346; Prunières, 48 sqq.; -Brotanek, 291.] - -[Footnote 585: _Magnificentissimi spectaculi ... in Henrici Regis -Poloniae ... gratulationem Descriptio Io Aurato Poeta Regio Autore_ -(1573); cf. Lacroix, i. xxi, and the engraving reproduced by Prunières -as pl. 2. Prunières, 70, thinks that Baltasar had already taken part in -the 'mascarade', half-tilt, half-dance, at the wedding of Henri of -Navarre in 1572.] - -[Footnote 586: _Balet comique de la Royne faict aux Nopces de Monsieur -le Duc de Joyeuse et de Mademoyselle de Vaudemont, sa Sœur, par Baltasar -de Beaujoyeulx, Valet de Chambre du Roy et de la Royne, sa Mere_ (1582). -This is reprinted, but without the engravings, by Lacroix, i. 1; cf. -Prunières, 75, who gives one of the engravings as his pl. 3.] - -[Footnote 587: Prunières, 94 _sqq._ Lacroix, i. 89, 109, 237, 271, 305, -prints four French masks which allow of a useful comparison with those -of England, viz. _Ballet des Chevaliers François et Béarnois_ (1592), -_Balletz representez devant le Roy_ (1593), _Ballet de Monseigneur le -Duc de Vandosme_ (1610); _Ballet du Courtisan et des Matrones_ (1612); -also a description of _Le Grand Bal de la Reine Marguerite_ (1612), -which shows the relation of the mask to the contemporary non-mimetic -state ball. On French masks of 1605, 1609, 1612, and 1615, cf. Sullivan, -29, 52, 67, 99.] - -[Footnote 588: Exceptionally, the main scene was supplemented by a -throne 'in midst of the hall' in the _Mask of Beauty_ and by a mount and -tree at the upper end of the hall in _Tethys' Festival_.] - -[Footnote 589: On Hans Eottes, or Eworth, first traceable as Jon -Eeuwowts of Antwerp in 1540, and the considerable body of portrait work -now ascribed to him, cf. L. Cust, _The Painter E_ (_Annual of Walpole -Soc._ ii. 1; iii. 113). On Ferrabosco and Ubaldini, ch. xiv (Italians).] - -[Footnote 590: For the career of Jones, cf. _D. N. B._, Reyher, 75; R. -Blomfield in _Portfolio_ (1889), 88, 113, 126; and _Renaissance -Architecture in England_, i. 97; H. P. Horne, _An Essay on the Life of -Inigo Jones, Architect_ in _The Hobby Horse_ (1893), 22, 64; Cunningham, -_Inigo Jones_ (1848). Designs by Jones for the scenery, stage-machinery, -and dresses of masks and other court entertainments are in _Lansdowne -MS._ 1171, and in the collections of the Duke of Devonshire at -Chatsworth and of the Royal Institute of British Architects. They are -mostly of the Caroline rather than the Jacobean period. A few have been -reproduced by Cunningham, Reyher, and Lawrence, ii. 97. P. Simpson (_Sh. -England_, ii. 311) gives eight figures for the _Mask of Queens_.] - -[Footnote 591: 'The design and act of all which, together with the -device of their habits, belong properly to the merit and reputation of -Master Inigo Jones, whom I take modest occasion in this fit place to -remember, lest his own worth might accuse me of an ignorant neglect from -my silence' (_Hymenaei_); 'The structure and ornament ... was entirely -Master Jones's invention and design.... All which I willingly -acknowledge for him; since it is a virtue planted in good natures, that -what respects they wish to obtain fruitfully from others they will give -ingenuously themselves' (_Queens_).] - -[Footnote 592: 'The artificiall part onely speakes Master Inago Jones' -(_Tethys' Festival_); 'I suppose few have ever seen more neat artifice -than Master Inigo Jones shewed in contriving their motion, who in all -the rest of the workmanship which belonged to the whole invention shewed -extraordinary industry and skill, which if it be not as lively exprest -in writing as it appeared in view, rob not him of his due, but lay the -blame on my want of right apprehending his instructions for the adorning -his art' (_Lords_).] - -[Footnote 593: Cunningham, _Jonson_, iii. 211.] - -[Footnote 594: _Mask of Blackness_ (1605); _Hymenaei_ (1606); -_Haddington Mask_ (1608); _Mask of Queens_ (1609); _Tethys' Festival_ -(1610); _Oberon_ (1611); _Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly_ (1611); -_Lords' Mask_ (1613); _Chapman's Mask_ (1613). The designers of the _Hay -Mask_ (1607), _Beaumont's Mask_ (1613), and the _Mask of the Twelve -Months_ are not named. Jonson says that the scene of the _Mask of -Beauty_ (1608) was 'put in act' by the King's Master Carpenter. This was -an officer of the Works, one William Portington (Jupp, _Carpenters' -Company_, 165). He was not necessarily the designer, but Jonson does -not, as one would expect, mention Jones. _Love Restored_ (1612) had a -chariot, but perhaps no scene. The _Irish Mask_ (1613) seems to be a -Jacobean example of the simple mask. The _Caversham Mask_ (1613) is -another, but this was not at court.] - -[Footnote 595: A far more thorough treatment than is possible for me -will be found in the chapter on _La Mise en Scène_, in Reyher, 332.] - -[Footnote 596: Designs by Jones for _proscenia_ (of Caroline date) are -reproduced by Lawrence (i. 97), _The Mounting of the Carolan Masques_; -on proscenium titles, cf. Lawrence, i. 46.] - -[Footnote 597: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 117; cf. Halle, ii. 87.] - -[Footnote 598: An ingenious paper on _The Story of a Peculiar Stage -Curtain_ in Lawrence, i. 109, suggests an affiliation between this -sinking curtain and the Roman _aulaeum_.] - -[Footnote 599: _Chamber Accounts_; cf. Reyher, 358.] - -[Footnote 600: Reyher, 367.] - -[Footnote 601: Cf. ch. xx.] - -[Footnote 602: Cf. ch. xix.] - -[Footnote 603: Cunliffe, _The Influence of Italian on Early Elizabethan -Drama_ (_M. P._ iv. 597), and _Early English Classical Tragedies_, xl.] - -[Footnote 604: F. A. Foster, _Dumb Show in Elizabethan Drama before -1620_ (_E. S._ xliv. 8); cf. ch. xviii.] - -[Footnote 605: Cunliffe, xxxi, xxxix.] - -[Footnote 606: For the spectacle as dream, cf. _Henry VIII_, iv. 2; -_Cymbeline_, v. 4, which, like the epiphany in _A. Y. L._ v. 4, perhaps -illustrates the point all the better in that it is probably an -interpolation; for the spectacle as magic show, Marlowe, _Dr. Faustus_, -515, 721, 1263; _Macbeth_, iv. 1; _Tempest_, iii. 3, and the mock magic -of _Merry Wives_, v. 5. The mask of _Tempest_, iv. 1, is of course both -mask and magic.] - -[Footnote 607: _Hamlet_, iii. 2. 146. On the play within a play, cf. H. -Schwab, _Das Schauspiel im Schauspiel zur Zeit Shaksperes_ (1896).] - -[Footnote 608: In _Spanish Tragedy_, i. 5, Hieronimo brings in a -'pompous jest' in which three knights hang up their scutcheons and -capture three kings. This is called a 'mask' (l. 23), but there is no -dance, only a dumb-show interpreted by Hieronimo. Similarly the 'Maske -of Cupid' in Spenser, _F. Q._ III. xii, is merely an allegorical -procession, without a dance. Later, Dekker and Ford's play of _The Sun's -Darling_ (1656) is described on the title-page as 'a moral masque'.] - -[Footnote 609: Cf. Boas, 206.] - -[Footnote 610: _L. L. L._ v. 2; _R. J._ i. 4, 5. Similarly the mask in -_Hen. VIII_, i. 4, is suggested by the historic source. In _M. V._ ii. -5, 28, Shylock warns Jessica against masks in the street, with their -drum and 'wry-necked fife', but none is shown.] - -[Footnote 611: Marston, _1 Antonio and Mellida_ (_1599_; v. 1), _2 -Antonio and Mellida_ (_1599_; v. 1, 2), _Dutch Courtesan_ (_1603_; iv. -1), _Malcontent_ (_1604_; v. 2, 3), _Insatiate Countess_ (_c. 1610_; ii. -1); Chapman, _May Day_ (_1602_; v. 1), _Widow's Tears_ (_1605_; iii. 2), -_Byron's Tragedy_ (_1608_; ii. 1); Middleton, _The Old Law_ (a mask in a -tavern, _1599_; iv. 1), _Blurt Master Constable_ (_c. 1600_; ii. 2), _A -Mad World, my Masters_ (_c. 1604-6_; ii. 2, 4, 5), _Your Five Gallants_ -(_1607_; iv. 8; v. 1, 2), _No Wit, no Help, like a Woman's_ (_c. 1613_; -iv. 2); Field, _A Woman is a Weathercock_ (_c. 1609_; v. 1, 2); Jonson, -_Cynthia's Revels_ (_1601_; iv. 5, 6; v. 1-5).] - -[Footnote 612: _The Coxcomb_ (_1610_; i. 1), _Maid's Tragedy_ (_1611_; -i. 1, 2), _Four Plays in One_ (_1612_; i. v), _Two Noble Kinsmen_ (not -strictly a mask, _1613_; iii. 5), _Henry VIII_ (_1613_; i. 4), _Wit at -Several Weapons_ (_1614_; v. 1).] - -[Footnote 613: A. H. Thorndike, _The Influence of the Court-Masques on -the Drama_ (_M. L. A._ xv. 114); _The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher -on Shakspere_, 130, 148.] - -[Footnote 614: I think Criticus must here be taken to be Jonson's -self-portrait. He told Drummond in 1619 that 'by Criticus is understood -Done' (_Conversations_, 6); but the reference there appears to be to the -lost 'preface of his _Arte of Poesie_'. In the folio text of the play -Criticus becomes Crites.] - -[Footnote 615: The maskers in _Wit at Several Weapons_, v. i, are -'something like the abstract of a masque'; cf. _R. J._ i. 4. 3-- - - The date is out of such prolixity. - We'll have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf, - Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath, - Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper; - Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke - After the prompter, for our entrance. -] - -[Footnote 616: _Satiromastix_, 2325, 'The watch-word in a maske is the -bolde drum'.] - -[Footnote 617: I do not wish to exaggerate this detachment. Peele builds -upon the customary prayer for the queen or lord at the end of an -interlude (cf. chh. x, xviii, xxii), and there are the plays with -inductions, such as _The Taming of the Shrew_ and _The Knight of the -Burning Pestle_, in which the personages of the induction mediate -between the action and the audience.] - -[Footnote 618: I find 'tronchwoman' (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 217), -'troocheman' (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 287), 'trounchman' (Gascoigne, i. 85), -and as interpreters of mimetic tilts 'crocheman' (Halle, i. 13), -'trounchman' (Peele, _Polyhymnia_, 47); also 'an interpreter or a -truchman' accompanying the 'orator speaking a straunge language' in the -train of the Lord of Misrule in 1552-3 (Feuillerat, _Edw. and M._ 89, -123). W. D. Macray has the following note to 'truckman' which appears in -the text of Clarendon, _History_, i. 75, 'i. e. _truchman_ = _dragoman_. -In the old editions the word "interpreter" was substituted as an -explanation; in the last editions "trustman" was given as the reading of -the MS.'. _N. E. D._ gives the earliest use of the word as 1485 and -derives through Med. Lat. _turchemannus_ from Arab. _turjam[=a]n_, -interpreter, whence also _dragoman_.] - -[Footnote 619: Generally speaking, the themes of the Jacobean masks are -more literary than those of their Elizabethan precursors. The following -analysis is based upon the disguises of the maskers, which may be -classed under four main heads: _National Types_--(Elizabethan), Moors, -Swart Rutters, Lance-Knights, Hungarians, Barbarians, Venetian -Patriarchs, Italian Women, Venetians, Turks; (Jacobean), Indian and -Chinese Knights, Virginians, Irishmen. _Occupations_--(Elizabethan), -Ecclesiastics, Fisherwives, Marketwives, Astronomers, Shipmen, Country -Maids, Clowns, Hunters, Tilters, Fishermen and Fruitwives, Mariners, -Foresters, Warriors, Pedlars, Seamen; (Jacobean), none. _Inanimate -Objects_--(Elizabethan), none; (Jacobean), Signs of Zodiac, Stars and -Statues, Flowers. _Abstractions_--(Elizabethan), Nusquams, Virtues, -Passions; (Jacobean), Humours and Affections, Ornaments of Court, -Months. _Historical and Mythical Personages_--(Elizabethan), Conquerors, -Huntsmen of Actaeon and Nymphs of Diana, Wise and Foolish Virgins, -Satyrs, Greek Goddesses, Janus, Sages, Wild Men, Amazons and Knights, -Knights of Purpulia, Muses; (Jacobean), Goddesses, Daughters of Niger -(_bis_), Powers of Juno, Knights of Apollo, Sons of Mercury, Nymphs of -English Rivers, Knights of Oberon, Daughters of Morn, Knights of -Olympia, Disenchanted Knights, Sons of Nature, Circe's Lovers, Sons of -Phoebus. It is possible that the mediaeval _barbatoriae_ (_Mediaeval -Stage_, i. 362) were dances representing national types. Jean d'Auton -(_Chroniques_, ii. 99) describes, amongst other _mommeries_ at the court -of Louis XII in 1501, 'une danse en barboire, en laquelle fut dancé à la -mode de France, d'Allemaigne, d'Espaigne et Lombardye, et à la fin en la -manière de Poictou ... lesquelz estoyent tous habillez à la sorte du -pays dont ils dancerent à la mode'.] - -[Footnote 620: _Gesta Grayorum_; _Hay Mask_; _Lords' Mask_; _Mask of -Squires_; _Mask of Flowers_; _Browne's Mask_ (introducing Circe). As -late as 1632 Aurelian Townshend and Inigo Jones borrow the episode of -Circe and the Fugitive in _Tempe Restored_.] - -[Footnote 621: An exception is _Love Restored_, where the place of an -antimask is taken by the long comic induction by Masquerado, Plutus, and -Robin Goodfellow.] - -[Footnote 622: Chapman also uses the phrase 'mocke-maske', which is -analogous to Jonson's 'antimasque'.] - -[Footnote 623: Brotanek, 141. I find 'antick Maske' also in an Exchequer -record (Reyher, 509) relating to the _Lords' Mask_ of 1613.] - -[Footnote 624: Cf. the opening stage-direction to _James IV_ (1598), -'Enter after Oberon, King of Fayries, an Antique, who dance about a -Tombe'.] - -[Footnote 625: Lacroix, i. 241, 262, 291, 296.] - -[Footnote 626: The relation of the morris-dance to the folk is described -in _The Mediaeval Stage_, i. 195, but I think that the history of the -name requires further examination. There are traces of morris-dances at -court in 1559 and 1579, and there was a sword-dance on 6 Jan. 1604.] - -[Footnote 627: Feuillerat, _Edw. and Mary_, 59.] - -[Footnote 628: _Romeo and Juliet_, i. 4. 38, 'I'll be a candle-holder -and look on'; cf. Reyher, 90, citing W. Rankins, _Mirrour of Monsters_ -(1587), 'There were certain petty fellows ready, as the custom is in -maskes, to carry torches'; _Westward Hoe_, i. 2, 'He is just like a -torch-bearer to maskers; he wears good clothes, and is ranked in good -company, but he doth nothing'; Overbury, _Characters_ (1614, ed. -Rimbault, 55, _An Ignorant Glory Hunter_), 'In any shew he will be one, -though he be but a whiffler or a torch-bearer'.] - -[Footnote 629: A disguising of 1501 had already 'a goodly pageant made -round after the fashion of a lanthorne cast out with many proper and -goodly windows fenestred with fine lawne wher in were more than an -hundred great lightes' (Reyher, 503).] - -[Footnote 630: Before 1610 torch-bearers may have been omitted from -_Hymenaei_ and the _Haddington Mask_; after 1610, they are only noticed -in _Oberon_, the _Lords' Mask_, and _Chapman's Mask_.] - -[Footnote 631: The descriptions often say nothing of vizards, but -probably they take them for granted, for as late as 1618 Chamberlain -writes of the Gray's Inn _Mask of Mountebanks_ (Birch, ii. 66), 'I -cannot call it a masque, seeing they were not disguised, nor had -vizards'. Similarly the unmasking is rarely described (_Indian and -Chinese Knights_; _Twelve Goddesses_; _Hay Mask_), and may have been -omitted as a formal stage, especially when the maskers danced off into -the pageant.] - -[Footnote 632: Cf. p. 168.] - -[Footnote 633: Cf. ch. xxiii (Daniel, _Twelve Goddesses_).] - -[Footnote 634: Cf. ch. iv.] - -[Footnote 635: _R. J._ i. 5. 95; _Hen. VIII_, i. 4. 95, - - I were unmannerly to take you out. - And not to kiss you. - -The amorous tradition of the 'commoning' which apparently frightened -some of the ladies at Henry's court, survived under Elizabeth. In Lyly's -_Euphues and his England_ (_Works_, ii. 103), Philautus takes Camilla by -the hand in a mask and begins 'to boord hir' in this manner, 'It hath -ben a custome faire Lady, how commendable I wil not dispute, how common -you know, that Masquers do therfore couer their faces that they may open -their affections, & vnder yᵉ colour of a dance, discouer their whole -desires'; cf. Reyher, 23.] - -[Footnote 636: _Maid's Tragedy_, i. 1. 9, 'They must commend their King, -and speak in praise Of the assembly, bless the Bride and Bridegroom, In -person of some God; th'are tyed To rules of flattery'.] - -[Footnote 637: This old phrase, known to Sir T. Elyot, _The Governour_, -i. 22, is still traditional in folk dances.] - -[Footnote 638: On these dances, cf. Reyher, 441.] - -[Footnote 639: Lacroix, i. 256, 262.] - -[Footnote 640: Goodman, i. 70, 'George Brooks ... brother to Cobham ... -was a great reveller at court in the masques where the queen and -greatest ladies were'; Carey, 6, 'In all triumphs I was one; either at -tilt, tourney, or barriers, in masque or balls'.] - -[Footnote 641: Naunton, 44, 'Sir Christopher Hatton came into the court -... as a private gentleman of the inns of court in a mask, and for his -activity and person, which was tall and proportionable, taken into -favour'.] - -[Footnote 642: C. C. Stopes, _A Lampoon on the Opponents of Essex, 1601_ -(_Sh.-Jahrbuch_, xlvi. 21); Reyher, 98, apparently referring to the -full-length portrait by Marc Geeraerts at Woburn Abbey, reproduced in -Henderson, _James I_, 232. It is a fantastic costume, but not obviously -that of a mask.] - -[Footnote 643: Winwood, ii. 40.] - -[Footnote 644: _Dekker His Dream_ (1620, _Works_, iii. 7), 'I herein -imitate the most courtly revellings; for if Lords be in the grand -masque, in the antimasque are players'; Jonson, _Love Restored_ -(_Works_, iii. 83). 'The rogue play-boy, that acts Cupid, is got so -hoarse, your majesty cannot hear him half the breadth of your chair'. -The accounts for _Oberon_ include £10 to 'xiijⁿ Holt boyes' and £15 to -'players imployed in the maske'; those for _Love Freed_ £10 to '5 boyes, -that is 3 Graces Sphynx and Cupid', and £12 to 'the 12 fooles that -danced', and those for the _Lords' Mask_ £1 each to '12 madfolkes' and -'5 speakers' (Reyher, 508).] - -[Footnote 645: The rehearsals were a serious business, lasting in 1616 -no less than fifty days; cf. Reyher, 35. There were dress rehearsals; -cf. Osborne in note to p. 206, _infra_.] - -[Footnote 646: Cf. p. 163, and _D. N. B._, s.v. Ferrabosco.] - -[Footnote 647: Lafontaine, 63.] - -[Footnote 648: Reyher, 79.] - -[Footnote 649: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 356.] - -[Footnote 650: Reyher, 78.] - -[Footnote 651: _Blackness_ certainly and _Hymenaei_ probably were in the -Elizabethan room. The Jacobean room was first used for _Beauty_ (10 Jan. -1608). It was also used for _Queens_, _Oberon_, _Lords_, _Beaumont's_, -_Squires_, and _Flowers_, and probably for all others from 1608 to 1616 -except _Chapman's_.] - -[Footnote 652: Busino, _Anglopotrida_ (_V. P._ xv. 110), describing -Jonson's _Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue_ on 6 Jan. 1618, 'A large hall -is fitted up like a theatre, with well secured boxes all round. The -stage is at one end and his Majesty's chair in front under an ample -canopy. Near him are stools for the foreign ambassadors.... Whilst -waiting for the king we amused ourselves admiring the decorations and -beauty of the house with its two orders of columns, one above the other, -their distance from the wall equalling the breadth of the passage, that -of the second row being upheld by Doric pillars, while above these rise -Ionic columns supporting the roof. The whole is of wood, including even -the shafts, which are carved and gilt with much skill. From the roof of -these hang festoons and angels in relief with two rows of lights. Then -such a concourse as there was, for although they profess only to admit -the favoured ones who are invited, yet every box was filled notably with -most noble and richly arrayed ladies, in number some 600 and more -according to the general estimate;... On entering the house, the cornets -and trumpets to the number of fifteen or twenty began to play very well -a sort of recitative, and then after his Majesty had seated himself -under the canopy alone, the queen not being present on account of a -slight indisposition, he caused the ambassadors to sit below him on two -stools, while the great officers of the crown and courts of law sat upon -benches. The Lord Chamberlain then had the way cleared and in the middle -of the theatre there appeared a fine and spacious area carpeted all over -with green cloth. In an instant a large curtain dropped, painted to -represent a tent of gold cloth with a broad fringe; the background was -of canvas painted blue, powdered all over with golden stars. This became -the front arch of the stage.'] - -[Footnote 653: Finett, 32. The plan from _Lansd._ 1171 in Reyher, 346, -dates from 1635 and represents the great Hall arranged not for a mask -but for a pastoral; but the general scheme was probably much the same.] - -[Footnote 654: _Maid's Tragedy_, i. 2. 32.] - -[Footnote 655: Birch, i. 24 (27 Nov. 1603), 'many plays and shows are -bespoken, to give entertainment to our ambassadors'.] - -[Footnote 656: Sullivan, _Court Masques of James I_; cf. my notes on the -individual masks in ch. xxiii.] - -[Footnote 657: De Silva's dispatches of 1564-6 (cf. p. 26) show that a -precisely similar situation had established itself at Elizabeth's -court.] - -[Footnote 658: Beaumont in _B. M. Kings MS._ cxxiv, f. 328, 'le ... -ballet ... de la Reine qui se devoit danser au vendredy dernier jour des -festes de Noël selon la façon d'Angleterre et le plus honnorable pour la -ceremonie qui s'y obserue de tout temps publiquement'; Finett, 6, 'il se -pourroit soustenir que le dernier jour seroit a prendre pour le plus -gran jour comm'il s'entend en plusiours autres cas, et nommement aux -festes de Noël, que le Jour des Roys qui est le dernier se prend pour le -plus gran jour'. The chief masks of 1606-7, 1611-12, 1613-14, and -1614-16, were on 6 Jan. In 1603-4, 1607-8, and 1608-9, the Queen's masks -were planned for that day, but put off. In 1605-6 and 1609-10 the day -was given to barriers.] - -[Footnote 659: Cf. p. 39. The accounts for the _Lords' Mask_ include -fees of £1 each to three Grooms of the Chamber; those of _Chapman's -Mask_, given exceptionally in the great Hall, £1 to the Ushers of the -Hall. The manuscript of the _Mask of Blackness_ appears to be an -abstract for use at the performance. In 1613 a Groom of the Chamber was -also paid £7 for 42 nights watching in the banqueting-house while -workmen were there (_Chamber Accounts_).] - -[Footnote 660: Donne, _Poems_ (ed. Grierson), i. 414; cf. Jonson, -_Conversations_, 10.] - -[Footnote 661: _Four Plays in One_, 2, 'Down with those City-Gentlemen, -&c. Out with those ---- I say, and in with their wives at the back -door'; _Love Restored_, 'By this time I saw a fine citizen's wife or two -let in; and that figure provoked me exceedingly to take it'. Here Robin -Goodfellow is recounting his various attempts to secure admission, as an -engineer, a tirewoman, a musician, a feather-maker of Blackfriars and -the like. Carleton wrote of the mask on 27 Dec. 1604 (_S. P. Dom. Jac. -I_, xii. 6), 'One woeman among the rest lost her honesty for which she -was caried to the porters lodge being surprised at her bassnes on the -top of the taras'.] - -[Footnote 662: _Ambassades_, iii. 13.] - -[Footnote 663: Osborne, _James_, 75, 'So disobliging were the most -grateful pleasures of the Court; whose masks and other spectacles, -though they wholly intended them for show, and would not have been -pleased without great store of company, yet did not spare to affront -such as come to see them; which accuseth the King no less of folly, in -being at so vast an expense for that which signified nothing but in -relation to pride and lust, than the spectators (I mean such as were not -invited) of madness, who did not only give themselves the discomposure -of body attending such irregular hours, but to others an opportunity to -abuse them. Nor could I, that had none of their share who passed through -the most incommodious access, count myself any great gainer (who did -ever find some time before the grand night to view the scene) after I -had reckoned my attendance and sleep; there appearing little observable -besides the company, and what Imagination might conjecture from the -placing of the Ladies and the immense charge and universal vanity in -clothes, &c.'] - -[Footnote 664: Jonson, _Mask of Blackness_, 7, 'Little had been done to -the study of magnificence in these, if presently with the rage of the -people, who (as a part of greatness) are privileged by custom to deface -their carcases, the spirits had also perished'; cf. Halle, i. 27, 117. -At _Tethys' Festival_ the Duke of York and six young noblemen led off -the maskers 'to avoid the confusion which usually attendeth the desolve -of these shewes'.] - -[Footnote 665: Cf. ch. xxiii; also Busino in _V. P._ xv. 114.] - -[Footnote 666: Winwood. ii. 43.] - -[Footnote 667: On 2 Feb. 1604, the Earl of Worcester wrote to the Earl -of Shrewsbury of _The Twelve Goddeses_ (Lodge, iii. 87), 'I have been at -sixpence charge with you to send you the book'. He adds that the books -of another _ballet_ were 'all called in'. After the _Mask of Beauty_ -Lord Lisle wrote to Shrewsbury (Lodge, App. 102) that he could not get -the verses, because Jonson was busy writing more for the Haddington -wedding.] - -[Footnote 668: Cf. ch. iii.] - -[Footnote 669: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 110, 153, 168, 345, 392.] - -[Footnote 670: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 18, 112, _et passim_.] - -[Footnote 671: Newcastle, _On Government_ (S. A. Strong, _Cat. of -Documents at Welbeck_, 223). The direct reference is to tilts, but an -earlier passage runs, 'Well Sʳ Then your Maᵗᶦᵉ is well returned to -White-Halle & ther prepare a maske for twelve-tyde,--Etaliens makes the -Seanes beste,--& all butt your Maᵗᶦᵉ maye have their Glorius Atier -off Coper which will doe as well for two or three nightes as Silver or -Golde & much less charge, which otherwise will bee much founde falte -withall by those thatt attendes your Maᵗᶦᵉ in the maske'.] - -[Footnote 672: Cunningham, 203-17; cf. ch. iii.] - -[Footnote 673: They certainly supervised _Queens_, _Tethys' Festival_, -_Love Freed_, _Lords' Mask_.] - -[Footnote 674: The privy seal of 1 Dec. 1608 for _Queens_ is in _S. P. -D. Jac. I_, xxxviii. 1, and that of 7 Jan. 1613 for the _Lords' Mask_ in -Collier, i. 364; a certificate of 25 May 1610 for _Tethys' Festival_ is -printed by Sullivan, 219, from _S. P. D. Jac. I_, liv. 74.] - -[Footnote 675: Sullivan, 201, misdated 27 Nov. 1607 for 1608, from _S. -P. D. Jac. I_, xxxvii. 96. The mask was _Queens_.] - -[Footnote 676: Reyher, 508, 520; cf. ch. xxiii.] - -[Footnote 677: W. ffarington writes on 7 Feb. 1609 (_Chetham Soc._ -xxxix. 151), 'The Comonalty do somewhat murmur at such vaine expenses -and thinke that that money worth bestowed other waies might have been -conferred upon better use, but _quod supra nos, nihil ad nos_'.] - -[Footnote 678: Reyher, 72.] - -[Footnote 679: Collier, i. 349; _Abstract_, 13. The _Lords' Mask_ is -separately reckoned at £400. This was just about the amount of the -'rewards'.] - - - - -VII - -THE COURT PLAY - - [_Bibliographical Note._--The books cited at the head of ch. - iii, with F. S. Boas, _University Drama in the Tudor Age_ - (1914), provide material for this chapter; cf. A. Thaler, _The - Players at Court_ (1920, _J. G. P._ xix. 19).] - - -The foregoing chapters have illustrated the overflow of the Renaissance -passion for drama, taking shape in the spectacular enrichment of -elements in court life which were not originally mimetic in their -intention; the welcome, the exercise of arms, the dance. They are -subordinate in their interest to us, as they were in fact subordinate by -reason of their occasional character to the play itself, which formed, -both in Elizabeth's reign and in that of James, the staple amusement of -the court winter. The ordinary season for plays was a comparatively -restricted one. Traditionally it began with All Saints, but Elizabeth at -least rarely reached her winter quarters by the beginning of November, -and her revels began with the Christmas festival itself, the twelve days -of ancient licence in Calends and Saturnalia that extended from Nativity -to Epiphany.[680] Within this period the three feasts of St. Stephen, -St. John, and the Innocents, with New Year's Day and Twelfth Night, were -nearly always gladdened by play or mask. Sometimes one of them was -omitted, and sometimes, in substitution or addition, another day, often -the Sunday in Christmas week, was selected. I know no record of a play -on Christmas Day itself. Chamberlain writes in January 1608, 'The king -was very earnest to have one on Christmas night, though, as I take it, -he and the prince received that day, but the Lords told him it was not -the fashion. Which answer pleased him not a whit, but said, "What do you -tell me of the fashion? I will make it a fashion."'[681] But the Chamber -accounts show that he dropped the point. After Twelfth Night there was a -lull, broken perhaps by an occasional play, notably on February 2 at -Candlemas, until a group of two or three at Shrovetide brought revelling -to a conclusion before the rigours of Lent. This was the close of the -official season, and the Revels office had now little to think of but -the annual airing of the wardrobe stuff, at any rate until the progress -came round. - -The longest number of plays given before Elizabeth in any one winter -was probably in 1600-1, when there were eleven. During the greater part -of the reign the number ranged from six to ten. For some of the earliest -years only two or three are on record. It is possible that a few may -have escaped notice owing to the absence of a 'reward', or conceivably -the charge of a reward to funds other than those covered by the very -complete accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber.[682] Naturally, if an -Inn of Court or gentlemen such as the sons of Sir Percival Hart played, -they did not take a money payment. The schoolboys of Eton and -Westminster did, but the latter perhaps not from the very beginning. The -only winter for which the Treasurer of the Chamber records no rewards is -that of the plague year 1563-4. But the Revels Office provided for three -plays at Windsor, and if it was thought dangerous to bring companies -from London or elsewhere to court, Eton or the Windsor choir would have -been the natural substitutes. In 1574 again the Revels Office were -furnishing plays at Windsor and Reading by Italians, no payments to whom -can be traced. Elizabeth occasionally ordered a mask outside the winter -season, for some such purpose as the entertainment of an ambassador. I -do not find clear evidence that she ever ordered a play. But, both in -winter and in summer, she was from time to time present at a play given -by some one else, in progress or at a wedding or banquet in London.[683] - -James gave the impression, when he first came to England, of taking, -unlike Queen Anne and Prince Henry, 'no extraordinary pleasure' in -plays.[684] But he had a great many more than his predecessor, and -reverted in some years to the early practice of opening the play season -at the beginning of November. Nor, on the other hand, was he strict in -his observance of Lent, and in some years the performances continued at -intervals until after Easter. During his first winter he saw eleven -plays and gradually increased this number, reaching a maximum of -twenty-three in 1609-10. Up to 1615 he never saw less than eleven, -except during 1612-13, the winter of Henry's death, when the number fell -to seven. Moreover, even when he himself escaped to a hunting-box, he -was liberal in ordering additional plays for the prince and court, and -yet others seem to have been charged to the private funds of Anne and -the royal children.[685] The records do not in all years give the dates -of individual performances; but in 1611-12, to take one example, the -programme was as follows. The King himself was present at plays on -October 31, November 1, and November 5, on the four nights after -Christmas, on January 5, on Candlemas, and on Shrove Sunday and Tuesday. -On January 6 was the mask. Most of the intervening days he spent in -visits to his various hunting quarters. Meanwhile there were at least -twenty-six other plays before one or more of the royal children, at -which Anne was probably also present. Two of these were in November, one -in the middle of December, one in Christmas week, eight in January after -Twelfth night, and nine in February, both before and after Lent had -begun. Two plays at the end of March and three in April, none of these -in the King's presence, exhausted the official supply, but not the -enthusiasm of Prince Henry. He spent a fortnight with Anne at Greenwich -during January, and there was 'every night a play', some of which the -Queen probably paid for; and in March he was entertained by the Marquis -of Winchester at supper, again with plays.[686] Occasionally James -ordered a play during the summer; there were four for the entertainment -of the King of Denmark in 1606, of which one, by the Paul's boys, is -not traceable in the Chamber accounts, and one for the Duke of Savoy's -ambassador in 1613. All plays at the Jacobean court was given by -professional companies; if the lawyers came to court, it was not in a -play, but a mask. - -Whether the revels were kept at Westminster, Hampton Court, Greenwich, -Richmond, or Windsor, sufficient accommodation could be afforded for a -play in the great hall, which thus for a brief space resumed its ancient -glories as the state apartment of the sovereign. At the first three of -those palaces, there is definite evidence of the use of the hall. But -Whitehall, at least, was spacious enough to offer other alternatives. -The banqueting-house might be available, if it was not occupied by the -preparations for a mask. And performances were sometimes given in the -'great chamber', which at Whitehall was distinct from both the presence -chamber and the 'guard' or 'watching' chamber which served as an -ante-room to the presence.[687] It seems also that provision could be -made, perhaps only on the less public and crowded occasions when the -King was not present, for a stage in the octagonal cockpit, which stood -on the edge of St. James's Park, in the western extension of the -palace.[688] As a courtesy to a royal visitor, a play was given in 1565 -at the Savoy, where the Lady Cecilia of Sweden was housed, and in 1614 -Anne's pastoral of _Hymen's Triumph_ took place in 'a little square -paved court' at Somerset House. - -It is a curious illustration of the functions of the Privy Council as a -household board that, during the whole of Elizabeth's time and the -greater part of that of James, the actors could not get their fee or -'reward', except through the medium of a formal warrant addressed by -that body to the Treasurer of the Chamber. These warrants are not in -existence, but their issue is noted, rather irregularly and -inaccurately, in the collection of minutes known as the Council -register, and they are recited, with their dates and places of -signature, and the names of the actors or managers to whom they -appointed payment to be made on behalf of the companies, in the annual -accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber as audited and declared before -the Exchequer.[689] The amount of the reward was, subject to certain -historical developments, a uniform one. It had been fixed, early in the -reign of Henry VIII, at ten marks (£6 13_s._ 4_d._) a play, and this -rate continued to rule, when Elizabeth came to the throne, and for some -years thereafter. But in 1572 a tendency to an increase shows itself, -and up to 1575 the amounts are irregular. Sometimes the normal fee is -paid, sometimes a double fee of £13 6_s._ 8_d._, sometimes an -intermediate one of £10. The Treasurer of the Chamber records various -explanations of the extra sums. They are 'a more rewarde by her -maiesties owne comaundement', or they are paid in respect of special -charges incurred by the companies, as for example when Farrant had to -bring his boys from Windsor to Whitehall. And after 1575 things had -evidently settled down on the basis of a normal £10, which was -conventionally regarded as made up of £6 13_s._ 4_d._ 'for presentinge' -the play, and £3 6_s._ 8_d._ 'by way of speciall reward'. The formulas -in the accounts are not invariably the same, but they all come to this; -and the shadowy distinction between the two amounts is preserved in the -practice by which, if a play was ordered and then counter-ordered, the -£6 13_s._ 4_d._ was paid, but not the £3 6_s._ 8_d._ The £10 rate was -maintained, with insignificant exceptions, during the rest of -Elizabeth's reign, and was taken over as 'the usuall allowaunce' or 'the -ordinary rates formerly allowed' by James.[690] If, however, a play was -ordered for the Prince only and not the King, the 'speciall rewarde' was -omitted, so far as the Treasurer of the Chamber was concerned, although -it is quite possible that the Prince may have supplied it out of his -privy purse.[691] A quite exceptional amount of £30 was paid to the -King's men for a play at Wilton in December 1603, to cover their 'paynes -and expences' in coming from Mortlake to give the performance. Plague -was raging, and they were probably practicing at Mortlake for the court -entertainments of the following Christmas. It may be added that the -King's company, and that alone, received a subsidy of £30 from the -Treasurer of the Chamber, in aid of its maintenance during this -plague-winter. Similar payments, of £40 and £30 respectively, were made -after the plague-winters of 1608-9 and 1609-10.[692] - -In 1614 there was an innovation in the procedure, by which the -responsibility for signing warrants for allowances to players was -transferred from the Privy Council to the Lord Chamberlain; and -thenceforward the payments are recorded in a special section of the -Treasurer's accounts, devoted to expenditure which the Chamberlain had -power to authorize, and most of which had been at one time charged to -the Privy Purse.[693] An example from a later date of a Lord -Chamberlain's warrant for payment is preserved, together with a schedule -of the plays covered by the amount paid. The warrant refers to the -'acquittance for the receipt' of the money, which the Treasurer would -take from the players, and is in fact endorsed with receipts by one of -them for the successive instalments paid, and with a final one for the -whole sum due.[694] References in the _Chamber Accounts_ for 1605-6 and -1609-10 to similar schedules in or annexed to the warrants show that, at -an earlier date, the Privy Council had evidence before them, perhaps -from the Lord Chamberlain, perhaps from the Master of the Revels, as to -the number of plays which a company had given.[695] It is a pity that -the Treasurer of the Chamber only on rare occasions thought it worth -while to record the name of the play for which he was paying. A chance -memorandum of Henslowe's tells us that, as perhaps we might have -guessed, some of the money stuck to the hands of officials in the form -of fees. To get the £10 due to Worcester's men for a play in 1601-2, -Henslowe had had to give the Clerk of the Council 7_s._ for 'geatynge -the cownselles handes to' the warrant, and 10_s._ 6_d._ 'for fese' to -one Mr. Moysse 'at the receuinge of the mony owt of the payhowsse'.[696] -On the other hand, the players got their money pretty quickly; the -warrants were generally signed within a month or so, sometimes within a -day or so, of the performances to which they relate. Considerable delays -during the years 1596-9 possibly reflect the disorganization of the -Revels Office by the disputes of the officers; just as similar delays -about 1615-17 probably reflect the general disorganization of Jacobean -finance. - -Plays were given in private houses, as well as at court, and not only -when there was a royal guest to be entertained. As the public theatres -were open by daylight, the companies were easily available for private -engagements after supper. Naturally the record of such occasions has in -most cases perished with the domestic account-books in which it was -entered. But Sir Edward Hoby invited Sir Robert Cecil to a performance -of _Richard II_--at least, I think so--in 1595.[697] The gossip of -Rowland Whyte informs us of the banquets and plays given in honour of -Sir Robert Cecil by Sir Walter Raleigh and other friends on the eve of -his mission to France in 1598, of the two plays at a supper about the -same date by Sir Gilly Meyrick at the rival political head-quarters of -Essex House, and of the performances of _Henry IV_ under its original -title of _Sir John Oldcastle_, when Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon feasted the -Flemish ambassador Louis Verreyken in 1600.[698] Similarly, in 1606 John -Chamberlain went to a play at Sir Walter Cope's, now Holland House, and -'had to squire his daughter about, till he was weary', and in 1613 Sir -Robert Rich had a play for the delectation of the Savoyard ambassador -after a supper in Holborn.[699] An amusing side-light on the improvised -stage-arrangements necessary in private houses is given by a -stage-direction in Percy's _Aphrodysial_, 'Here went furth the whole -Chorus in a shuffle as after a Play in a Lord's howse'.[700] Wealthy -citizens, if they were not too puritanically disposed, could well afford -to follow the lead of the nobles and gentry of the court. And in the -years before the controversy between the corporation and the actors -became acute, a play was thought no inappropriate accompaniment to the -annual feast of a guild, or the welcome or valediction of a civic -dignitary.[701] The domestic plays of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges -had their origin in the Renaissance theories of education, and dispensed -with the professional mimes. A detailed study of them lies outside the -scope of these volumes.[702] The Inns of Court men, too, could hold -their own upon the boards at will. But for their ordinary solace they -were accustomed to take the easier course of calling in professional -aid. At the Inner Temple, Beaumont mentions a Christmas show of Lady -Amity, probably not long after his admission in 1600, and the -Treasurer's accounts of the Inner Temple, which are extant from 1605, -show that from that year to 1611 there was always a play, at a cost of -£5, either upon Candlemas or upon All Saints' Day, and in some years on -both dates. At Candlemas 1611, something must have gone wrong, for on -February 10 the Benchers passed a decree: - - 'For that great disorder and scurrility is brought into this - House by lewd and lascivious plays, it is likewise ordered in - this parliament that from henceforth there shall be no more - plays in this House, either upon the feast of All Saints or - Candlemas day, but the same from henceforth to be utterly taken - away and abolished.' - -At the following feast of All Saints the only expenditure entered by the -Treasurer is of £2 10_s._ for a 'consort' of music and £2 for antics and -puppets. These must have proved but inadequate substitutes, for on -November 24 the period of austerity was brought to an end by the -withdrawal of the interdict. - - 'Whereas of late years upon the two festival days of All Saints - and Candlemas, plays have been used after dinner for recreation - which have lately been laid down by order in parliament, it is - now ordered that the same order shall henceforth stand - repealed.' - -The payments are now resumed, and continue twice a year, generally at -the increased rate of £6 13_s._ 4_d._ At Candlemas 1613 some -misunderstanding seems to have led to a supplementary payment to -'another company of players which were appointed to play the same day'. -On All Saints 1614 and both Candlemas and All Saints 1615, the players -are specified to have been the King's men.[703] From the other Inns the -story is more fragmentary. The devices for the famous Gray's Inn -Christmas of 1594-5, reported in the _Gesta Grayorum_, were mainly due -to the fertile imagination of the lawyers themselves. In addition to the -continuous burlesque of state ceremonies in the court of Purpoole and -the mask sent to Whitehall at Shrovetide, they included a special show -of Amity for the reception of the ambassador of Templaria on January 3. -But this had its origin in the disorders of an earlier revel on -Innocents' Day, when the confusion was so great that the Inner Temple -men left in dudgeon, and the show then intended was not given. To supply -its place, 'a Comedy of Errors (like to _Plautus_ his _Menechmus_) was -played by the players. So that night was begun, and continued to the -end, in nothing but Confusion and Errors; whereupon, it was ever -afterwards called, _The Night of Errors_.' On the following day there -was a trial, and a supposed sorcerer or conjurer was arraigned on the -charge amongst others 'that he had foisted a Company of base and common -Fellows, to make up our Disorders with a Play of Errors and -Confusions'.[704] Similarly the Middle Temple in 1597-8 varied their own -fooling with plays on 28 December and 2 January, which from the absence -of details in the narrative were probably supplied by professional -actors.[705] And this house, too, must have been accustomed to keep -Candlemas with a play, for a note of February 1602 in John Manningham's -diary makes mention of _Twelfth Night_ as given 'at our feast'.[706] The -same practice, known as the Post Revels, prevailed at Lincoln's Inn. -Here the notices are of an earlier date, and preserve the memory of -performances by the Chapel boys in 1565, 1566, and 1580, and by Lord -Roche's, or more probably Lord Rich's, men in 1570.[707] - -I have digressed somewhat from the ways of the court. The arrangements -for performances were in the hands of the Revels, and are therefore only -traceable in detail before 1589, after which year the extant accounts of -that office are very summary. As Christmas drew near, symptoms of bustle -began to show themselves in the work-rooms. A good deal of time was -spent in the discovery and preparation of suitable pieces. It would seem -that the available companies were invited to submit the various plays in -which they had exercised themselves by public performance, that these -were then recited, and a selection made from them to the number which -her majesty intended to hear.[708] Both in 1574-5 and in 1576-7 the -accounts record the trying over of plays that were not ultimately given. -These 'rehearsals' or 'proofs' took place in the hall or the 'great -chamber' of St. John's, or the Master's lodgings, and were of an -elaborate character, for it was thought worth while to bring in cumbrous -properties for them and to employ musicians. When the selection had -been made, further rehearsals were required, especially as the texts had -to undergo a process of 'reforming' or editing, in order that they might -be 'convenient' for her majesty's hearing. There had been a bad blunder -at the second Christmas of the reign when 'the plaers plad shuche matter -that they wher commondyd to leyff off'.[709] Sometimes the office called -in special aid to make such alterations; sometimes, as we learn from -Henslowe's diary, the companies employed their own poets to carry them -out, or to write special prologues or epilogues.[710] At first the -perusal of plays appears to have been a common responsibility of the -officers.[711] While Blagrave was in charge, it was supervised by the -Lord Chamberlain, for whose satisfaction rehearsals sometimes took place -at court. Tilney was encouraged by his commission of 1581 to treat it as -his personal function, and charged wages for attendance at the office, -with a porter and three other servitors, but as a rule without his -colleagues, on nearly every day between All Saints and Christmas for the -purpose of carrying it out.[712] All the officers, on the other hand, -were concerned with the provision of the fittings of the stage and the -properties and apparel necessary to furnish a sumptuous appearance for -the players. The details of this provision are so mixed up in the -accounts with those for the masks that they can only occasionally be -assigned to individual plays. The wording of certain entries suggests -that, while some plays required a complete outfit, for others the Revels -was only called upon to supplement what the companies already -possessed.[713] Probably the stuffs employed were less expensive than -those lavished on the masks. Certain articles, such as armour, were -generally hired. Elaborate properties, which might entail the designing -of special 'patterns', had often to be constructed. The fixed -'composition' of £66 6_s._ 8_d._ for all the ordinary charges of plays -imposed upon the office in 1598 cannot have left much margin for apparel -and properties.[714] But probably by this date the companies were -themselves better equipped. - -When the actual night of performance arrived, all the officers gave -personal attendance at Court. Here they had, in Tilney's time, until -they were crowded out and driven to hire for themselves, an office and a -chamber for the Master, both of which they kept supplied with fuel and -rushes.[715] They had also to superintend the conveyance of the 'stuff', -either by wagon or by barge and tiltboat, to fit the players with the -gloves which seem to have been _de rigueur_ at a Court performance, and -to furnish such amenities of the tiring-house as 'an iron cradle to make -fire in' and a close-stool.[716] With the officers came a doorkeeper and -three servitors, who probably acted as dressers.[717] As the court -performances were always at night, beginning about 10 p.m. and ending -about 1 a.m., the arrangements for lighting were a constant -preoccupation.[718] From the wire-drawers' bills incorporated in the -accounts we can gather that use was made of candlesticks of various -kinds and sizes, of lanterns, and of branches large and small. -Candelabra were formed of as many as twenty-four branches, each bearing -four lights, and hung upon wires strained across the hall.[719] But here -again the precise provision made for plays cannot be disentangled from -that made for masks. There is no special reference to footlights. - -Except for the lighting and the maintenance of a 'music-house', the -situation of which is unknown, the functions of the Revels do not appear -to have extended beyond the tiring-house and the decorative enrichment -of the stage.[720] The fabric, both of the stage and of the seating for -spectators, was a matter for the Works.[721] The 'apparelling' of the -room was under the supervision of the Gentleman Usher of the Chamber, -and in the marshalling of the audience the Lord Chamberlain could count -on the assistance of the 'white staves' of the Household, and of the few -officers who still survived from the once important office of the -Hall.[722] No picture or detailed description of the auditorium -survives.[723] A brief notice of 1594 shows us Elizabeth conspicuous 'in -a high throne, richly adorned', and next to her chair the Earl of Essex, -'with whom she often devised in sweet and favourable manner'.[724] This -high throne was no doubt the 'state', which was brought into the action -of _The Arraignment of Paris_. Something more may be gleaned from the -narratives of royal visits to the universities. That to Cambridge in -1564, indeed, affords no very close analogy, for the structure of the -stage was of quite an abnormal type.[725] It was not in a hall, but in -the chapel of King's College, and was built five feet high right across -the nave from wall to wall. The 'state' for the Queen was placed on the -stage itself, against the south wall. She reached it by a bridge from -the choir door. At the other end of the stage, under the north wall, -stood the actors, with two side chapels to serve for their entrances and -exits. Cecil and Dudley, as Chancellor and High Steward of the -University, 'vouchsafed to hold both books on the scaffold themselves, -and to provide that sylence might be kept with quietness'. I am not -quite clear whether these books were prompt-books, or copies of the -texts, provided in order that the Queen or her train, if they thought -fit, might help out their Latinity. When the Westminster boys brought -the _Miles Gloriosus_ to Court in 1565, they spent 11_s._ on 'one -Plautus geuen to the Queenes maiestie and fowre other unto the -nobilitie', and the _Sapientia Salomonis_ which they gave Elizabeth in -1565-6 is still extant.[726] Only a few other privileged spectators were -allowed on the King's College stage, at the north end. Seats were -provided for ladies and gentlemen in the rood loft, and for the chief -officers of the Court at 'the twoe loer Tables' below the rood loft. The -only lighting was provided by the torches of the guard, who were aligned -along the sides of the stage. At Oxford, on the other hand, where the -plays were given in Christ Church hall, it is reasonable to assume that -the arrangements were directly modelled upon those prevalent in the -palaces.[727] There was, however, one exceptional feature, due to the -desire to enable the Queen to reach the hall, without being incommoded -by the press of spectators. A temporary door was cut in the side of the -hall and a 'proscenium' or 'porch' built in front of it, which was -approached by a wooden 'bridge' or stairway, adorned with a painted roof -and hung with greenery.[728] It was a wise precaution, for -undergraduates were not excluded, as they had been at Cambridge, and the -press on the main staircase of the hall was so great that one of the low -bounding walls was broken down and killed a college cook and two other -persons.[729] The interior appearance of the hall is fully described by -Bereblock. The stage was at the upper or western end, raised high above -a flight of steps. The Queen had a high seat beneath a gilded state, the -exact location of which is not specified. The lords and ladies were -accommodated on scaffolds round the walls, and the lesser personages in -galleries above them. Every kind of lighting device seems to have been -utilized, including 'ramuli' and 'orbes', in which we may see the -'branches' and 'plates' of the Revels Accounts. The Christ Church hall, -with a stage at its upper end, was used again when James came in 1605, -and we hear of a dispute between the academic functionaries and those of -the Household as to the placing of the King's chair. The latter -complained that it was fixed so low that only His Majesty's cheek would -be visible to the auditory; the latter attempted to explain that, by the -laws of perspective, the King would have a much better view than if he -sat higher. There was a solemn debate in the council chamber, resulting -in the decision that a King must not merely see, but be seen, and the -state was moved to the middle of the hall, twenty-eight feet from the -stage, which in fact proved too far, as he could not well hear or -understand the long speeches. The Queen and Prince shared the state with -the King; in front, but on a lower level, were seats for ladies; the -state itself was ringed with lights; on either side were placed nobles; -and the populace thronged around the walls.[730] - -I think it may be taken that this seating, with the sovereign in the -middle of the floor and directly opposite the stage, was that ordinarily -employed. It may be illustrated by a French engraving of Louis XIII in -Richelieu's Palais Royal theatre of the mid-seventeenth century, which -also shows very clearly the seating round the walls and the lighting by -means of suspended chandeliers.[731] I notice that Mr. Ernest Law, in -tracing the outlines of the vanished hall of Whitehall, places the stage -at the lower or screen end of the building, and suggests that the pantry -was utilized as a tiring-room.[732] He may have evidence as to this in -reserve; but the Christ Church analogy, for what it is worth, points to -a stage at the upper or daïs end. The Revels Accounts contain many items -bearing upon the scenic decoration of the plays; but, as they were -compiled, unfortunately, to satisfy the financial appetite of -contemporary auditors, rather than to elucidate the archaeological -problems of posterity, they not unnaturally take for granted a -familiarity with the general system of that decoration which we do not -happen to possess. The discussion of the problems, which cannot be -dissociated from those presented by the public theatres, must be left -for treatment, with the aid of the evidences furnished by plays -themselves, in a later chapter.[733] But the actual information -furnished by the accounts may conveniently be summarized at this point. -The outstanding features were evidently certain 'houses', appropriate to -the action of the plays, and specially prepared, with considerable -trouble and expense, for each production, although no doubt the Revels -officers, as in the case of masking garments, exercised their economical -ingenuity where possible in the 'translation' of old material.[734] -These houses appear to have been structures in relief, presumably -practicable for entrances and exits, and perhaps also on occasion for -interior action. Wooden frame-works, fitted with hooped tops, were -covered with painted cloths of canvas, which was strained on with nails -or pins, and was sometimes fringed.[735] From the amount of canvas -used, it may be judged that they were of considerable size.[736] The -painting of the cloths was a matter of skilled workmanship. William -Lyzarde, with thirty assistants, was employed upon it in 1571.[737] In -1572-3 'patternes' were prepared for the play of _Fortune_.[738] In most -of the earlier accounts the houses are only mentioned incidentally and -generically. But in 1567-8 they are stated to have consisted of -'Stratoes howse, Gobbyns howse, Orestioes howse, Rome, the Pallace of -Prosperitie, Scotland and a gret Castell one thothere side'.[739] And -when Edmund Tilney became Master of the Revels in 1579, he introduced, -perhaps under pressure from the auditors, a practice, which lasted for -some years, of including in the preliminary schedule of plays, with -which his accounts began, a note of the specific houses constructed for -each. Thus in 1579-80, there were a country house and a city for _The -Duke of Milan and the Marquis of Mantua_, a city and a battlement for -_Alucius_, a city and a mount for _The Four Sons of Fabius_, a city and -a battlement for _Scipio Africanus_, a city and a country house for an -unnamed play, a city and a town for _Portio and Demorantes_, a city for -a play on the Soldan and a duke, and a great city, a wood, and a castle -for _Serpedon_.[740] In 1580-1 there were a city and a battlement for -_Delight_, a great city and a senate house for _Pompey_, a city and a -battlement for each of two unnamed plays, a house and a battlement for a -third, a city and a palace for a fourth, and a great city for a -fifth.[741] In 1582-3 there were four pavilions for _A Game of the -Cards_, a cloth and a battlement of canvas for _Beauty and Housewifery_, -and a city and a battlement of canvas for each of four other plays.[742] -In 1584-5 there were a great curtain, a mountain, and a great cloth of -canvas for _Phillida and Corin_, a battlement and a house of canvas for -_Felix and Philiomena_, a great cloth and a battlement, well, and mount -of canvas for _Five Plays in One_, a house and a battlement for _Three -Plays in One_, and a house for an unnamed play.[743] It is evident that -decorative variety was sought after. Even when several successive plays -could be fitted into the normal scheme of a city and a battlement, the -stage architects had to prepare a separate device for each. - -I think that when the Elizabethans spoke of 'houses' on the stage, they -were perhaps regarding them primarily as the habitations of the actors -rather than of the personages whom these represented. They were the -tiring-houses, in which the actors remained when they were not in action -and to and from which they made their exits and their entrances. At any -rate, the term in its technical use seems wide enough to cover, not -merely the palaces and the more humble domestic edifices which made -appropriate backgrounds to the comings and goings of individual kings -and citizens--of an Orestes, a Dobbyn--but also more elaborate and -composite structures of 'battlements' and 'cities', of which the former -doubtless represented the external view of the walls and gates of a town -or castle, and the latter some internal town scene, a street or -market-place, perhaps before the doors of more than one house in the -narrower sense. We hear of such specialized forms of 'house' as -'pavilions' or tents, the 'Senat howse' used for _Quintus Fabius_ in -1573-4 and the 'prison' which must have formed part of the 'cittie' for -_The Four Sons of Fabius_ in 1579-80. These, and probably other houses, -were no doubt sufficiently practicable for personages to be seen, and in -some cases also heard, inside them; and the senate house was veiled by -curtains, which doubtless remained closed until the proper moment for -interior action to take place. There are other references to curtains, -the mechanism by which they were drawn, and the sarcenet of which they -were made.[744] It has been suggested that some of these were front -curtains, but there is no reason, so far as the evidence in the Revels -Accounts is concerned, why they should not all, like the senate house -curtain, have been veils for individual 'houses', such as were used in -masks, and had been used in the corresponding _domus_ of miracle-plays. -It is possible, although not certain, that some of the 'great cloths' -provided may have been for hangings to the back and side walls of the -stage, rather than for covering houses. There is no reason why these -should not have been painted in perspective, but the extent to which, if -at all, perspective was employed is one of the points on which we are -most in the dark.[745] Subsidiary structures, hollow trees, arbours, -gibbets, altars, wells, gave variety to the action, and helped out the -decorative effect of the houses.[746] For these also timber frames and -canvas served. The hollow tree was doubtless a feature of the wood -scenes, in which the painter's art, whether in relief or in perspective, -was supplemented by the natural foliage of holly and ivy.[747] Elaborate -rocks, such as are familiar in the masks, were also constructed. That -for _The Knight in the Burning Rock_ in 1578-9 required much timber, -carried a chair, and was reached by a scaling ladder. The effect of -burning was produced by lighted _aqua vitae_.[748] I am not quite sure -whether a cloud drawn up and down by a cord and pulleys in the same year -belonged to this play or to a mask, but obviously there was much give -and take between the methods of plays and masks.[749] Spectacular -elements were freely introduced into plays. A 'monster' of hoops and -canvas, with a man moving inside it, was as easy for the managers of a -_Perseus and Andromeda_ in 1572-3 as for those of a _Peter Pan_ in our -own day; and doubtless the character was equally popular.[750] Hounds' -heads were 'mowlded' for the cynocephali in _The History of the -Cenofalles_ of 1576-7.[751] The mediaeval 'devices for hell, and hell -mowthe' were still in vogue in 1571-2, and in the same year _Narcissus_ -was enlivened by thunder and lightning and by the sounds of a hunt which -rang through the palace court-yard, and _Paris and Vienna_ by a tourney -and barriers, in which players mounted on hobby-horses contended for a -'christall sheelde'.[752] So far as minor properties and apparel are -concerned, it is often difficult to distinguish the respective needs of -masks and plays in the long lists of provisions which the Revels -officers detail.[753] - -Something may be gleaned, to eke out the rather tantalizing indications -of the account-books, from the more descriptive accounts of performances -at the universities. The process is legitimate, because the organization -of such productions was largely in the hands of Revels and Works experts -brought from London by the Lord Chamberlain, who would naturally employ -or adapt the methods already found successful at the Court itself. But -even the university writers take a good deal of contemporary knowledge -for granted. Of the Cambridge visit in 1564 we learn no more than that -two chapels before which the stage was set served for 'houses'; of the -Oxford visit in 1566 that 'palatia' and 'aedes' were built up 'ex -utroque scenae latere', and that a temple in a wood was staged for an -out-of-doors episode; of the Oxford visit of 1592 nothing.[754] Greater -detail is forthcoming in 1605. The chroniclers were interested by the -experiments of 'one Mʳ. Jones, a great Traveller', the result of which -was stupendous in the eyes of the Oxford Public Orator, although an -envious spy from Cambridge declared that he 'performed very little to -that which was expected'. The stage on this occasion was slightly raked, -so that the actors as they entered appeared to be coming down hill. At -the back was a false wall, with a space of five or six paces behind it, -'for their howses and receipt of the actors'. In this wall Jones had set -revolving pillars or peripetasmata, obviously based on the triangular -[Greek: periaktoi] of Vitruvius, whereby 'with the help of other painted -clothes', he was able to change the face of the scene twice in the -course of each play. Thus in _Ajax Flagellifer_ the scene successively -represented first 'Troia et littus Sigaeum', then 'Sylvae et solitudines -horrenda antra et furiarum domicilia', and finally 'Tentoriorum -naviumque facies'. The machines which worked these changes were painted -'motantibus quasi nubibus, ut eas, Sole Britannico statim ingressuro, -aufugientes putares'.[755] - -The changing stage of 1605 was obviously an advance from the Elizabethan -methods of twenty years before. But it can hardly be assumed that the -new principles were regularly adopted in the Jacobean Court. In 1614-15 -the Revels office was still buying 'canvas for the boothes and other -necessaries for a play called Bartholmewe Faire', and the entry seems to -suggest 'houses' of the old type.[756] Possibly Inigo Jones was not -sufficiently successful with his Oxford mechanism to inspire confidence. -It is not until much later, in Caroline days, that we can clearly -discern him beginning to apply to the presentation of Court plays the -proscenium arch and the other perfected results of his studies in the -mask.[757] There is no obvious trace of the new methods even in his -interesting design for the new Cockpit at Court, which may date from -about 1632. This shows a building 58 feet square without and octagonal -within. Five sides of the octagon are occupied by the auditorium, which -contains a pit with balconies above, and apparently a royal box at the -back; the other three by a stage 35 feet wide and 16 deep, which stands 4½ -feet above the pit level, and has a 5-foot apron and a semicircular back -wall of a 15-foot radius. This does not appear to be adapted either for -hangings or for shifting scenes, but is a Palladian façade of two stories -in solid architecture adorned with niches and busts and a tablet inscribed -'Prodesse et delectare'. It is pierced below by a large archway and four -other doors, and above the archway is a single window.[758] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 680: On the earlier custom cf. S. Cox (App. C, No. xliv). -Buggin's memorandum on the Revels in 1573 (_Tudor Revels_, 36) -contemplates the possibility of service at 'Hollantide'.] - -[Footnote 681: Birch, i. 69.] - -[Footnote 682: Cf. App. B. The _Revels Accounts_ record plays which the -Treasurer of the Chamber did not reward, by the Chapel (1559-60); by -unnamed companies (3 plays) at Windsor (1563-4); by Westminster (_Miles -Gloriosus_; cf. Murray, ii. 168), the Chapel, Sir Percival Hart's sons, -and 'showes' by Gray's Inn (1564-5); by an unnamed company (1567-8); by -an unnamed company (1581-2); and by Gray's Inn (_Misfortunes of Arthur_, -1587-8). For years not covered by these accounts must be added the Inner -Temple _Gorboduc_ (1562), probably their _Gismond of Salerne_ (1566?), -and not impossibly others by Gray's Inn, who, according to Elizabeth in -1595 (_Gesta Grayorum_, 68), 'did always study for Sports to present -unto her'. I cannot understand Collier's unreferenced notice of a -payment to men of George Evelyn (cf. ch. xiii) for a play in 1588. A -letter of 4 Dec. 1592 from the University of Cambridge (_M. S. C._ i. -198, from _Lansd. MS._ 71), deprecating an invitation to play an English -comedy at court, shows that a similar suggestion had been made to -Oxford; there is no evidence that either University actually played. It -is conceivable that plays may sometimes have been rewarded out of the -Privy Purse (cf. ch. ii) instead of by the Treasurer of the Chamber.] - -[Footnote 683: Cf. Calendar, _s.a._ 1559 (7 Aug., Paul's at Nonsuch), -1564 (5 July, play at Mr. Sackville's), 1567 (April 13, play before -Elizabeth and Spanish ambassador), 1575 (plays on progress at Lichfield -by Warwick's, at Kenilworth, and at Woodstock), 1578 (Aug., Ipswich play -at Stowmarket), 1579 (play at Osterley), 1595 (Jan., probable -performance of _M. N. D._ at Derby's wedding), 1601 (Aug., -'playing-wenches' at Caversham), 1601 (29 Dec., play at Hunsdon's in -Blackfriars). There are also, of course, the plays at Oxford and -Cambridge (cf. ch. iv). For these no money reward was paid, but the -Works and Revels met some of the expenses, and the actors got a warrant -for venison out of Woodstock to make a feast.] - -[Footnote 684: Cf. p. 7.] - -[Footnote 685: Cf. App. B, _s.a._ 1612-13, 1615-16.] - -[Footnote 686: For other entertainments of the court with plays by -private hosts, cf. Calendar _s.a._ 1605 (3 Jan., play by Spanish -ambassador for Duke of Holst; 9 < > 14 Jan., _Love's Labour's Lost_ by -Southampton or Cranborne for Anne), 1607 (May 25, _Aeneas and Dido_ by -Arundel for Prince de Joinville).] - -[Footnote 687: Cf. also _M. N. D._ iii. 1. 57; _Isle of Gulls_, iii (ed. -Bullen, p. 67), 'in the great Chamber at the Reuels'. The Elizabethan -_Chamber Accounts_ rarely show the room; in 1597-8 the hall at Hampton -Court, in 1600-1 the hall and in 1601-2 the great chamber at Whitehall. -I have examined only a few Jacobean ones on this point; the hall, great -chamber, and banqueting-house, at Whitehall, were all used in 1604-5; -the hall, banqueting-house, and cockpit in 1610-11; the banqueting-house -twice in April 1612-13.] - -[Footnote 688: Cf. App. B, _s.a._ 1608-12. On the Cockpit cf. Stowe, -_Survey_, ii. 102, 374; Sheppard, _Whitehall_, 66; W. J. Lawrence in _E. -S._ xxxv. 279; _L. T. R._ i. 38; ii. 23; vii. 49, 61; Adams, 384. I am -not quite clear where the original pit stood. Stowe puts on the right -hand as you go down Whitehall 'diuers fayre Tennis courtes, bowling -allies, and a Cocke-pit, al built by King Henry the eight'. Wyngaerde -and Agas show various buildings here, of which one in Agas is of pit -shape. Faithorne's map of Westminster (1658), which is said to represent -the locality at a much earlier date, shows, just south of the tilt-yard, -a quadrangle divided off from the road by a low boundary wall, with -buildings all round it and an angled building in the midst. This must I -think be the Cockpit, and some of the buildings round it the lodgings -which also bore that name and were occupied by the Princess Elizabeth -before her marriage (Birch, _Charles I_, ii. 213) and by Lady Somerset -in 1615 (_Rutland MSS._ i. 448). Here presumably provision for Cockpit -was made for James in 1604 (cf. p. 53), and Henry and Elizabeth saw -plays in 1608-13 (App. B). But I doubt whether this is the Cockpit shown -in Fisher's Restoration plan of Whitehall and in an engraving, probably -from a seventeenth-century drawing, reproduced in _L. T. R._ ii. 23, and -Adams, 407. This was square externally, and apparently stood farther -west than Faithorne's from the line of the tilt-yard, at the extreme -north-west angle of the palace buildings where they jutted into St. -James's Park. I think Adams is clearly right in identifying this -building with the little theatre a plan of which by Inigo Jones was -published from a Worcester College MS. by H. Bell in _Architectural -Record_ (1913), 262 (cf. p. 234). Adams further identifies it with a -'new theatre at Whitehall' opened about 1632, no doubt to replace the -old Cockpit. If so, Faithorne is clearly out of date. This later Cockpit -was on the site of the present Treasury buildings, and the locality long -continued to bear its name. Treasury letters were dated from the -Cockpit, and the King's speech is said to have been rehearsed there as -late as 1806. The passage leading from Whitehall to the Treasury is -still called the Cockpit passage. A quite distinct cockpit near Birdcage -Walk is marked by the extant Cockpit Steps. It existed by 1720 and was -destroyed in 1816. Whether the angled building shown in this direction -by Wyngaerde can represent it, or a predecessor, I do not know.] - -[Footnote 689: Cf. App. B.] - -[Footnote 690: There may have been special reasons why the Chapel only -got £15 for two plays in 1583-4, Oxford's £6 13_s._ 4_d._ for a play in -1584-5, the Queen's £20 for three plays in 1587-8, and the Chapel £5 for -a 'showe' in 1600-1. The accounts for 1605-6 seem to point to an -unsuccessful attempt to establish a flat rate of £5 for a 'rewarde' and -£3 6_s._ 8_d._ for a 'more rewarde', for plays before James and Henry -alike. The payments of 17 May 1615 of £43 6_s._ 8_d._ for six plays -before 'his highnes' (which in these accounts generally means the -Prince) perhaps really represent one play before James and five before -Charles.] - -[Footnote 691: Henry's accounts for 1610-12 (Cunningham, xiii) include -payments for making ready the Cockpit for plays, and rewards to -musicians and a juggler, but none for players; but Elizabeth lost a play -in a wager in 1612, and Anne paid for two plays at Somerset House in -1615. The only play recorded by the Treasurer of the Chamber as -specially before Anne (10 Dec. 1604) was paid for at £10. Naturally she -was present at plays entered as before the King or Prince, and in 1612 -plays paid for at the King's rate seem in fact to have been shown before -Anne and Henry in his absence (cf. App. B).] - -[Footnote 692: The £10 fee continued to be paid under Charles I, but by -1630-1 the players had established a claim to an additional £10 if their -service at court lost them a day at the theatre, owing to a journey to -Hampton Court or Richmond or an occasional performance or rehearsal at -Whitehall in the day-time. During 1636-7, however, the theatres were -closed for plague (_M. S. C._ i. 391), and the King's men had an -allowance of £20 a week to maintain them near the court (_S. P. D. Car. -I_, cccxxxvii. 33), and did not get the extra £10 a play; cf. E. Law, -_More about Shakespeare Forgeries_, 37, and the extracts from the _Lord -Chamberlain's Records_ in C. C. Stopes, _Shakespeare's Fellows and -Followers_ (_Jahrbuch_, xlvi. 92).] - -[Footnote 693: Cf. ch. ii, p. 66.] - -[Footnote 694: The documents are printed by Cunningham, xxiv, and by -Law, _More_, 39, 71, who gives the warrant more fully. They were removed -by Cunningham from the Audit Office, and when returned to the Record -Office were classed in error as papers subsidiary to the Revels -Accounts, instead of to those of the Treasurer of the Chamber. But Law, -_More_, 61, successfully vindicates their authenticity, and I may add -that the dockets of Chamberlain's warrants for other years (_Jahrbuch_, -xlvi. 94) refer to schedules now lost, and that a schedule of the plays -of the King's men for 1638-9 was facsimiled from a private manuscript by -G. R. Wright in _Brit. Arch. Ass. Journal_, xvi. 275, 344 (1860), and in -his _Archaeologic and Historic Fragments_ (1887). In this the claims for -'our day lost' are clearly specified.] - -[Footnote 695: The schedule attached to a warrant of 1633 (_Jahrbuch_, -xlvi. 97) appears to have been a bill signed by the Master of the -Revels.] - -[Footnote 696: Greg, _Henslowe Papers_, 109; but his note is a slip.] - -[Footnote 697: Cf. ch. xiii (Chamberlain's).] - -[Footnote 698: _Sydney Papers_, ii. 86 (30 Jan. 1598), 'My Lord Compton, -my Lord Cobham, Sir Walter Rawley, my Lord Southampton, doe severally -feast Mr. Secretary before he depart, and have plaies and banquets. My -Lady Darby, my Lady Walsingham, Mrs. Anne Russell, are of the company, -and my Lady Rawley'; ii. 90 (15 Feb. 1598), 'Sir Gilley Meiricke made at -Essex House yesternight a very great supper. There were at yt, my Ladys -Lester, Northumberland, Bedford, Essex, Rich; and my Lordes of Essex, -Rutland, Monjoy, and others. They had 2 plaies, which kept them up till -1 a clocke after midnight'; ii. 175 (8 March 1600), 'All this Weeke the -Lords haue bene in London, and past away the Tyme in Feasting and -Plaies; for Vereiken dined vpon Wednesday, with my Lord Treasurer, who -made hym a Roiall Dinner; vpon Thursday my Lord Chamberlain feasted hym, -and made hym very great, and a delicate Dinner, and there in the After -Noone his Plaiers acted, before Vereiken, Sir John Old Castell, to his -Great Contentment'. It seems that, for their patron, the Chamberlain's -men would give up an afternoon.] - -[Footnote 699: _S. P. D. Jac. I_, xix. 12 (1606); Birch, i. 243; -Winwood, iii. 461. A gallant might also have his private play at night -in a tavern; cf. Nashe, _Lenten Stuffe_ (1599, _Works_, iii. 148), 'To -London againe he will, to reuell it, and haue two playes in one night, -inuite all the Poets and Musitions to his chamber the next morning'; _A -Mad World, my Masters_, v. i. 78, 'a right Mitre supper;--a play and -all'.] - -[Footnote 700: _Aphrodysial_, v. 5, cited by Reynolds, _Percy_, 258.] - -[Footnote 701: Machyn, 222, 290, notes a play, either in the Guildhall -or in that of the Lord Mayor's company, on 6 Jan. 1560, and a play at -the Barber Surgeons' feast on 10 Aug. 1562. The Pewterers collected -'playe pence' at their 'yemandrie feast' about 1563 (C. Welch, -_Pewterers_, i. 233). Recorder Fleetwood saw a play at a dinner with the -outgoing sheriffs on 29 Sept. 1575 (_Hatfield MSS._ ii. 116; dated 1573 -in error in Murdin, ii. 259, and Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 357).] - -[Footnote 702: They are fully treated for the sixteenth century by F. S. -Boas, _University Drama in the Tudor Age_ (1914), and more briefly for -the whole period, with a valuable bibliography, by the same writer, in -_C. H._ vi. 293. I have recorded the extant plays, English and Latin, in -App. K.] - -[Footnote 703: Ch. xxiii, s.v. Beaumont; Inderwick, _Inner Temple -Records_, i. lxv, 219; ii. xlix, 23 _sqq._, 56, 64. A payment of 20_s._ -'to the players' at the Christmas of 1615 was probably, in view of the -amount, for musicians. The earlier account-books are not preserved. On -the plays, not necessarily professional, of the 1561-2 Christmas, cf. -ch. xxiii, s.v. Brooke.] - -[Footnote 704: _Gesta Grayorum_ (M. S. R.), 22, 23. R. J. Fletcher, _The -Pension Book of Gray's Inn_ (1901), prints entries of payments for 'the -play at Shrove-tyde' 1581, of which nothing more is known, and 'the play -in Michaelmas terme' and 'the Tragedie' in 1587-8, in which year the Inn -gave _Catiline_ at home before Lord Burghley on 16 Jan. (_M. S. C._ i. -179) and _The Misfortunes of Arthur_ at court on 28 Feb. Gascoigne's -_Supposes_ and _Jocasta_ were both produced at Gray's Inn in 1566-7. The -Inn was to have entertained the Duke of Bracciano with 'shewes' at -Christmas 1600-1, but he left too soon (Chamberlain, 99; Camden (tr.), -535).] - -[Footnote 705: B. Rudyerd, _Memoirs_, 12, 13. The ascription of these -revels to 'the Christmas of 1599' in _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 416, is an -error; cf. p. 169.] - -[Footnote 706: Manningham, 18.] - -[Footnote 707: J. D. Walker, _Black Books of Lincoln's Inn_, i. xxxiii, -344, 348, 352, 362, 374, 418; ii. 55. It was ordered on 2 Feb. 1565 that -'Mʳ Edwards shall have in reward liijˢ, iiijᵈ for his plee, and his -hussher xˢ, and xˢ more to the children that pleed' (in margin, -'Children of the Quenes Chappell'). The accounts of 1564-5, however, -show £1 18_s._ 2_d._ for a supper and for staff torches, clubs, and -other necessaries for the play, and £1 as reward for the boys; those of -1565-6 £2 to the boys of the Queen's chapel and their master for a play -at the Purification; those of 1569-70 £1 'lusoribus' of 'Lord Roche' at -the Purification; those of 1579-80 £3 6_s._ 8_d._ on 9 Feb. 'to Mʳ -Ferrand [Farrant] one of the Queen's chaplains _pro commedia_'. On 12 -May 1598, a levy was made for the expenses of 'the gentlemen that were -actors in the matter of the shew the last Christmas'. No more is known -of this show. On the Inns of Court Christmases generally cf. _Mediaeval -Stage_, i. 413.] - -[Footnote 708: The Westminster accounts of 1564-5 (Murray, ii. 168) -include 'at yᵉ rehersing before Sir Thomas Benger for pinnes and sugar -candee viᵈ' and 'the second tyme att the playing of Heautonti, for -pinnes halfe a thousand viᵈ', but there is nothing to suggest that any -play but _Miles Gloriosus_ was given before the Queen. The _Revels -Accounts_ (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 145, 176, 179, 238, 277, 325, &c.) have -(1571-2), 'playes ... chosen owte of many and ffownde to be the best -that then were to be had, the same also being often pervsed, & -necessarely corrected & amended (by all thafforesaide officers)'; -(1572-3), 'muzitians that plaide at the proof of Duttons play' ... -'rushes in the hall & in the greate chambere where the workes were doone -& the playes rezited'; (1574-5) 'at Wynsor ... for peruzing and -reformyng of Farrantes playe' ... 'wheare my Lord of Leicesters menne -showed theier matter of Panecia' ... 'where my Lord Clyntons players -rehearsed a matter called Pretestus', &c.; (1576-7), 'To Whitehall and -back againe to recyte before my Lord Chamberleyn' ... 'to Sᵗ Johns ... -for the play of Cutwell'; (1579-80) 'Thinges ... brought into the -Masters Lodginge for the rehearsall of sondrie playes to make choise of -dyvers of them for her maiestie', &c., &c.] - -[Footnote 709: Machyn, 221.] - -[Footnote 710: Cf. chh. xxiii, xxiv, s.vv. Chettle (1602); Dekker, -_Fortunatus, Phaethon_; the anonymous _Histriomastix_. The prints of -several plays contain special court prologues or epilogues, e.g. Lyly's -_Campaspe_ and _Sapho and Phaon_.] - -[Footnote 711: Buggin's Revels memorandum of 1573 (_Tudor Revels_, 33) -indicates that his proposed Serjeant 'is with the master and the reast -of the officers to be at the rehersall of playes'.] - -[Footnote 712: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 326 (1579-80, 50 days), 337 (1580-1, -70 days), table ii (1581-2, 44 days), 352 (1582-3, 62 days), table iii -(1583-4, 56 days), 368 (1584-5, 66 days), 389 (1587-8, 64 days; 1588-9, -57 days). The commission (App. D, No. lvi) authorized the Master to -command players 'to appear before him with all suche plaies tragedies -comedies or showes as they shall haue in readines or meane to sett forth -and them to presente and recite before our said servant or his -sufficient deputie'.] - -[Footnote 713: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 145, 193, 286, 320. In 1571-2 all the -plays were 'throwghly apparelled and ffurnished'; in 1573-4 all were -'fytted and ffurnyshed with the store of thoffice and with the -woorkmanshipp and provisions herein expressed'; in 1578-9 the clerk -seems to distinguish between plays furnished with 'sondrey', 'some', -'manie', and 'verie manie' things; in 1579-80 seven out of nine plays -were 'wholie furnyshed in this offyce', and of the others one had -'sondrie' and one 'many' things; cf. Graves, 83.] - -[Footnote 714: Cf. ch. iii, p. 93.] - -[Footnote 715: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 354, 370, 381, 391; cf. ch. iii, p. -89.] - -[Footnote 716: Ibid. 140, 174, 236, 320, 336, 349 (gloves); 338 -(cradle); 205 (close-stool). The Westminster boys in 1565 found their -own 'sugar candee', 'comfetts', and 'butterd beere for yᵉ children being -horse' (Murray, ii. 168).] - -[Footnote 717: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 337.] - -[Footnote 718: Tarlton, 10, records a jest, 'Tarlton having plaied -before the queen till one a clock at midnight'. De Silva describes -entertainments of Elizabeth in private houses early in the reign which -ended at 1.30 and 2 a.m. (ch. v, pp. 161, 162). Under James, a play on 7 -Jan. 1610, began at 10 p.m. (_Arch._ xii. 268).] - -[Footnote 719: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 159, 202, 216, 300, 353, 368, &c. We -hear of 'high', 'vice', 'stock', 'pricke', 'plate', and 'hand' -candlesticks.] - -[Footnote 720: Cunningham, 214 (1611-12), 'For a musik house dore in the -hall and a doore for the musik house in the Bancketing house with -lockes'; possibly that in the hall was used for plays rather than -masks.] - -[Footnote 721: Cf. App. B and the Works Account of 'Chardges done for -the revells in the hall' at Shrovetide 1568 in Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 120. -But the Revels themselves had 'to enlardge the scaffolde in the hall' in -1579-80 (327).] - -[Footnote 722: Cf. ch. ii, p. 34.] - -[Footnote 723: On the woodcut in _Three Lords and Three Ladies of -London_ (1590), cf. _Bibl. Note_ to ch. xviii.] - -[Footnote 724: Cf. App. A.] - -[Footnote 725: Peck, _Desiderata Curiosa_, ii. 267 (from account of -Matthew Stokys in _Harl. MS._ 7037 (_Baker MS._ 10)); 'For the hearing -and playing whereof was made, by her highness surveyor and at her own -cost, in the body of the church, a great stage containing the breadth of -the church from the one side to the other, that the chapels might serve -for houses. In the length it ran two of the lower chapels full, with the -pillars on a side. Upon the south wall was hanged a cloth of state, with -the appurtenances and half path, for her majesty. In the rood loft, -another stage for ladies and gentlewomen to stand on. And the two lower -tables, under the said rood loft, were greatly enlarged and railed for -the choice officers of the court. There was, before her majesty's -coming, made in the King's College hall, a great stage. But, because it -was judged by divers to be too little, and too close for her highness -and her company, and also far from her lodging, it was taken down. When -all things were ready for the plays, the Lord Chamberlain with Mr. -Secretary came in, bringing a multitude of the guard with them, having -every man in his hand a torch-staff for the lights of the play (for no -other lights were occupied) and would not suffer any to stand upon the -stage, save a very few upon the north side. And the guard stood upon the -ground by the stage side, holding their lights. From the quire door unto -the stage was made as 'twere a bridge, railed on both sides, for the -queen's grace to go to the stage; which was straitly kept.' This account -is also in Nichols, _Eliz._ i. 151. In his first edition Nichols (iii. -27) also gave an account by Nicholas Robinson, which adds the detail -that the stage was 'structura quaedam ex crassioribus asseribus -altitudine pedum quinque'; cf. also Boas, 91.] - -[Footnote 726: Cf. ch. xii and App. K.] - -[Footnote 727: Plummer, 123 (from Bereblock's account): 'Primo ibi ab -ingenti solido pariete patefacto aditu proscenium insigne fuit, ponsque -ab eo ligneus pensilis, sublicis impositus, parvo et perpolito tractu -per transversos gradus ad magnam Collegii aulam protrahitur; festa -fronde coelato pictoque umbraculo exornatur, ut per eum, sine motu et -perturbatione prementis vulgi, regina posset, quasi aequabili gressu, ad -praeparata spectacula contendere. Erat aula laqueari aurato, et picto -arcuatoque introrsus tecto, granditate ac superbia sua veteris Romani -palatii amplitudinem, et magnificentia imaginem antiquitatis diceres -imitari. Parte illius superiori, qua occidentem respicit, theatrum -excitatur magnum et erectum, gradibusque multis excelsum. Iuxta omnes -parietes podia et pegmata extructa sunt, subsellia eisdem superiora -fuerunt multorum fastigiorum, unde viri illustres ac matronae -suspicerentur, et populus circumcirca ludos prospicere potuit. Lucernae, -lichni, candelaeque ardentes clarissimam ibi lucem fecerunt. Tot -luminaribus, ramulis ac orbibus divisis, totque passim funalibus, -inaequali splendore, incertam praebentibus lucem, splendebat locus, ut -et instar diei micare, et spectaculorum claritatem adiuvare candore -summo visa sint. Ex utroque scenae latere comoedis ac personatis -magnifica palatia, aedesque apparatissimae extruuntur. Sublime fixa -sella fuit, pulvinaribus ac tapetiis ornata, aureoque umbraculo operta, -Reginae destinatus locus erat'; cf. Boas, 99.] - -[Footnote 728: I think Feuillerat, _M. P._ 73, must be misled by the -Cambridge analogy and the use of the term 'proscenium' in supposing the -'pons' to have been within the auditorium and the state on the stage. -The 'proscenium' was doubtless the 'porch' taken down after the visit -(Boas, 106). The exterior of the hall has been refaced since 1566, but -Dr. Boas tells me that during some recent alterations an unexplained -aperture was traceable from within.] - -[Footnote 729: Cf. ch. iv.] - -[Footnote 730: Cf. p. 234.] - -[Footnote 731: Jusserand, _Shakespeare in France_ (tr.), 93, pl. xi.] - -[Footnote 732: _L. T. R._ vii. 41. In _The Times_ for 3 Dec. 1917 Mr. -Law has a similar reconstruction of the arrangements at Hampton Court, -wherein he assigns the stage to a point before the screens, with the -gallery over the screens for 'upper chamber scenes', rooms behind the -screens for tiring-houses, and a players' supper room, and the Watching -Chamber for rehearsals. But again he produces no evidence.] - -[Footnote 733: Cf. ch. xix.] - -[Footnote 734: The expenses of 1578-9 (_vide infra_) included the -'mending' of houses. But I agree, broadly, with the argument of Graves, -53, that scenery for a Court performance had to be either new or -renewed.] - -[Footnote 735: In 1563-5, 'canvas to couer diuers townes and howsses and -other devisses and clowds' (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 116); in 1571-2, 'sundry -Tragedies Playes Maskes and sportes with their apte howses of paynted -canvas' (129); in 1572-3, 'sparres to make frames for the players -howses' (175); in 1573-4, 'hoopes for tharbour and topp of an howse' ... -'pynnes styf and great for paynted clothes' ... 'nayles to strayne the -canvas' ... 'canvas to paynte for howses for the players and for other -properties as monsters, greate hollow trees and suche other' ... -'cariage for the fframes for the howses that served in the playes' ... -'iij elme boordes and vij ledges for the frames for the players' ... -'cariage of fframes and painted clothes for the players howses' (197, -201, 203, 204, 218); in 1574-5, 'canvas to make frenge for the players -howse' (244); in 1576-7, 'cariadge ... of a paynted cloth and two -frames' (266); in 1587-9, 'timber bordes and workmanshipp in mending and -setting vp of the houses by greate' (390); in 1587-8 'paynters for ... -clothe for howses' (381); in 1579-80, 'ffurre poles to make rayles for -the battlementes and to make the prison for my Lord of Warwickes men' -(327).] - -[Footnote 736: Feuillerat, _M. P._ 69, calculates that enough cloth was -painted in 1580-1, 1582-3, and 1584-5 to allow of about 16 square yards -for every house or other _décor_ used.] - -[Footnote 737: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 134.] - -[Footnote 738: Ibid. 176.] - -[Footnote 739: Ibid. 119.] - -[Footnote 740: Ibid. 320.] - -[Footnote 741: Ibid. 336.] - -[Footnote 742: Ibid. 349.] - -[Footnote 743: Ibid. 365.] - -[Footnote 744: In 1571-2, 'curtyn ringes' (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 140); in -1573-4, 'poles and shivers for draft of the curtins before the senat -howse ... curtyn ringes ... edging the curtins with ffrenge ... tape and -corde for the same' (200); in 1576-7, 'a lyne to draw a curteyne' (275); -in 1580-1, a purchase of 8 ells of orange taffeta double sarcenet at 10s -an ell for a curtain for a play (338); in 1584-5 'one greate curteyne' -of sarcenet for _Phillyda and Corin_ (365).] - -[Footnote 745: Cf. ch. xix.] - -[Footnote 746: In 1572-3, 'an awlter for Theagines' (Feuillerat, _Eliz._ -175); in 1573-4, 'lathes for the hollo tree' ... 'one baskett with iiij -eares to hang Dylligence in the play of Perobia ... a iebbett to hang vp -Diligence' ... 'hoopes for tharbour' (199, 200, 203); in 1578-9 'a rope, -a pulley, a basket' (296); in 1584-5, a well for _Five Plays in One_ -(365). For Cutwell, rehearsed but not performed in 1576-7 (277), 'the -partes of yᵉ well counterfeit' were brought from the Bell to St. -John's.] - -[Footnote 747: In 1572-3, 'a tree of holly for the Duttons playe ... -holly for the forest ... tymber for the forest ... provizion and cariage -of trees and other things to the Coorte for a wildernesse in a playe' -(Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 175, 180); in 1573-4, 'holly and ivye for the play -of Predor' (203); in 1574-5, 'moss and styckes' and holly and ivy (239, -244).] - -[Footnote 748: Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 306. There were rocks or mountains -also in 1574-5, 1579-80, and 1584-5 (244, 320, 365).] - -[Footnote 749: Ibid. 240. It was an old device. Graves, 27, quotes -Palsgrave, _Acolastus_ (1540), 'in stage-playes, when some god or some -saynt made to appeare forth of a cloude; and succoureth the parties -which seemed to be towardes some great danger, through the Soudans -crueltie'.] - -[Footnote 750: 'Andramedas picture' ... 'Benbow for playing in the -monster' ... 'canvas for a monster' ... 'hoopes for the monster' (ibid. -175, 176, 181).] - -[Footnote 751: Ibid. 265.] - -[Footnote 752: Ibid. 140, 141. The 'hunters that made the crye after the -fox (let loose in the Coorte) with their howndes, hornes, and hallowing' -had already been a feature of Edwardes' _Palaemon and Arcite_ at Oxford -in 1566.] - -[Footnote 753: Feuillerat, _M. P._ 57, gives an excellent summary of the -data in the Accounts, but his schedule of properties does not attempt to -disentangle masks and plays. The latter were liberally supplied. The -Italians at Reading and Windsor during the progress of 1574, for -example, were furnished with 'golde lether for cronetes', 'shepherdes -hookes', 'lam-skynnes for shepperds', 'arrowes for nymphes', 'a syth for -Saturne', 'iij deveils cotes and heades and one olde mannes fries cote' -(Feuillerat, _Eliz._ 227). Probably the apparel used on the stage was of -less costly materials than that worn by lords and ladies in masks, but -it was doubtless calculated to present the same glittering effect.] - -[Footnote 754: Cf. p. 226, and Plummer (from Bereblock), 138, 'Fiunt -igitur in silvis septa marmorea' with three altars.] - -[Footnote 755: I. Wake, _Rex Platonicus sive Musae Regnantes_ (1607), -46, 79, 112, 134; Nichols, i. 530 (from account, probably by Philip -Stringer, in _Harl. MS._ 7044, f. 201). Wake thus describes the hall: -'Partem Aulae superiorem occupavit Scena, cuius Proscenium molliter -declive (quod actorum egressui, quasi e monte descendentium, multum -attulit dignitatis) in planitiem desinebat. Peripetasmata scenicaque -habitacula, machinis ita artificiose ad omnium locorum rerumque -varietatem apparata, ut non modo pro singulorum indies spectaculorum, -sed etiam pro Scenarum una eademque fabula diversitate subito (ad -stuporem omnium) compareret nova totius theatralis fabricae facies.... -Media cavea thronus Augustalis cancellis cinctus Principibus erigitur, -quem utrinque optimatum stationes communiunt: reliquum inter thronum et -theatrum interstitium Heroinarum Gynaeceum est paulo depressius.' In -_Annus Recurrens_ the scene was a zodiac with a sun moving by artifice, -and the play lasted from the Ram to the Fishes. Stringer adds the -details about the turning pillars, the false wall, and the participation -of Jones.] - -[Footnote 756: _Pipe Office, Declared Accounts_ (_Revels_), 2805.] - -[Footnote 757: Thorndike, 191.] - -[Footnote 758: Cf. p. 217.] - - - - -BOOK II - - -THE CONTROL OF THE STAGE - -[Greek: Alla ma Di', ephê, ouk epi toutô mega phronô. All' epi tô mên; -Epi nê Dia tois aphrosin. houtoi gar ta ema neuropasta theômenoi -trephousi me.]--Xenophon, _Symposium_. - - - - -VIII - -HUMANISM AND PURITANISM - - [_Bibliographical Note._--Most of the material for the present - chapter, including extracts from a few pre-Elizabethan writers, - is collected in Appendix C; the more official documents in - Appendix D are occasionally drawn upon. The Puritan controversy - has been studied by C. H. Herford, _A Sketch of the History of - the English Drama in its Social Aspects_ (1881), and E. N. S. - Thompson, _The Controversy between the Puritans and the Stage_ - (1903), from the academic point of view in F. S. Boas, - _University Drama in the Tudor Age_ (1914), and in relation to - the theory of dramatic criticism by H. S. Symmes, _Les Débuts - de la Critique dramatique en Angleterre jusqu'à la Mort de - Shakespeare_ (1903), and Renaissance criticism in general by J. - E. Spingarn, _History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance_ - (1899), and G. Saintsbury, _History of Criticism_, vol. ii - (1902). Useful collections of contemporary treatises are G. - Gregory Smith, _Elizabethan Critical Essays_ (1904), and J. E. - Spingarn, _Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century_ (1908).] - - -The investigations of my opening book have shown clearly enough that in -the Tudor, as in the mediaeval, scheme of things there was ample room -for the stage and its players. The revelling instinct survived, and the -old native love of _mimesis_ and _spectacle_ had been reinforced by a -literary delight in the revival of classical drama and in every form of -the give and take of dialogue. Nor was the appreciation of the folk for -the ruder forms of sensational and farcical entertainment less keen; and -a period of general acceptance of the stage as an element in social life -might have been anticipated, in which it stood greatly to gain by the -more settled and less migratory habits of the royal household and the -possibilities of building up a permanent head-quarters for itself in -London which resulted from the change. Unfortunately, however, events -moved otherwise. A new factor emerged, which militated against anything -like general acceptance; and the period of the greatest literary -vitality in the development of the English drama proved to be also a -period of embittered conflict with widespread ethical and religious -tendencies, which in fact ranged over the whole of social life and was -ultimately destined to shatter, not only the stage, but the Tudor scheme -of things itself. In its main outlines the issue was that which had been -set ever since the decadent theatre of Greece and Rome came face to face -with Semitic asceticism and barbarian indifference. The traditional -dislike and contempt of the moralist for the mime had still to find -their last expression. But it is a noteworthy aspect of this new revival -of the secular struggle, that the attack came less from official -churchmanship than from those extreme champions of reformation -principles, whose zeal against abuses, and in particular against abuses -countenanced by official churchmanship, won them the name of Puritans. -The rise of Puritanism was coincident with the beginnings of the -agitation against the stage, and the growth of Puritanism in London was -the chief feature in a process which stirred the local magistracy, as -represented by the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City, to try its -strength, with the stage as a bone of contention, against the central -authority of the Privy Council. The controversy is so important a one, -from the point of view of the history of the stage and of civilization, -that even at the risk of retraversing ground already trod, it is -desirable to consider at some length the forces that were at work.[759] - -The general relation of Reformation sentiment to the drama is a matter -of rather complicated cross-currents. In the first place, there was the -humanist rediscovery of the classics, fanning into flame the enthusiasm -for Terence which had smouldered throughout the Middle Ages themselves, -and making full use in its theory of education of the school-play as a -means of inculcating pure Latinity, sound moral precepts, and -gentlemanly self-possession in the conduct of affairs. In some at least -of its manifestations this tendency is comprehensive enough to include -the professional, as well as the academic, player. An example may be -found in the treatise _De recta reipublicae administratione_ of the -German jurist, John Ferrarius. This was written in 1556 and translated -into English by William Bavande of the Middle Temple in 1559. It was -probably not without its influence upon the line of apologetic adopted -by those gentlemen of the Inns of Court to whom the London stage came to -look as its warmest supporters. For Ferrarius players are no longer the -proscribed folk of the Middle Ages. They have become one of the seven -handicrafts of the commonweal; and, provided that care is taken that -their performances shall stand with honesty, they have a function, not -merely to delight in times of recreation, but also to further morals by -ministering ensamples of virtue and goodness to be embraced, and of vice -and filthy living to be eschewed. In his short chapter, Ferrarius makes -use of two notions, which became commonplaces of Elizabethan dramatic -criticism. Both are derived from classical sources. One is Horace's -statement in the _De Arte Poetica_ of the double object of comedy in the -mingling of delight with profit;[760] the other the Plutarchan image of -the bee sucking its honey even from noxious herbs, the honey of ethical -precept from the herbs of wanton or foolish writings.[761] Even more -famous, from its glorification in _Hamlet_, is a third passage which -Ferrarius does not cite, and that is the definition of comedy, -attributed by the fourth-century grammarian Donatus to Cicero but not -discoverable in his extant works, as _imitatio vitae, speculum -consuetudinis, imago veritatis_.[762] - -There were, however, other humanists who may have shared the abstract -ideal of Ferrarius, but who at any rate were sufficiently conscious of -the extent to which the popular stage of their own day fell short of -that ideal, and were in consequence led to condemn, or perhaps more -often to ignore, it. Of such was Ludovicus Vives, who devoted to -dramatic poetry a section of his work on the corruption of the arts, in -which, while accepting the Horatian account of the end of comedy, he -points out that, with the notable exception of the author of -_Celestina_, the playwrights, having been driven by the resentment of -the great against satire to find their material in love-intrigues and -similar themes, had lamentably failed to justify themselves by a proper -determination of their plots to the ends of salutary morals. Even for -Vives, Plautus and Terence are necessary to education; but he would use -his blue pencil, and is by no means so warm a champion of the Latin -drama on its ethical side as his older and more famous contemporary -Erasmus. In his formal writings on education Erasmus gives Terence the -first place amongst Latin writers, adding Plautus with more hesitation -and with a stipulation for carefully selected plays. And in a letter -written about 1489 to an anonymous friend he tilts with vehemence -against the doctrine of certain _homunciones imperituli, imo lividuli_, -who maintain that Terence is no fit reading for Christians, and explains -to their ignorance that the end of dramatic writing lies precisely in -the refutation of vice. Erasmus is closely followed by his English -disciple, Sir Thomas Elyot, whose defence of comedies in _The Governour_ -(1531), as no 'doctrinall of rybaudrie' but 'a mirrour of man's life, -wherin iuell is not taught but discouered', served as a standard -authority to be quoted in support of much later apologetic. Nor is the -point of view confined to what may be called the secular wing of -humanism. The Terentian school-play is an essential feature in the -pedagogy of such convinced reformers as Philip Melanchthon at Wittenberg -and John Sturm at Strasburg,[763] and from Sturm the tradition passes -direct to one of the most scholarly and by no means one of the least -austere of early English Protestants, Roger Ascham. It is to be -observed, however, that Ascham's concern for Terence is wholly on the -side of letters and Latinity. Both Vives and Erasmus had had their -moments of uneasiness as to how far, after all, the ethics of pagan Rome -were quite meet to be assimilated by Christian youth. Vives would -expurgate both Plautus and Terence, and Erasmus Plautus at least. -Ascham, very much impressed with the demoralizing influence of Italian -books and Italian manners on English civilization, has no doubt at all -that, necessary as both Plautus and Terence are to the schoolmaster, -their matter is but 'base stuff' for the contemplation of the budding -divine or civil servant. Views similar to Ascham's had already -established themselves amongst both Catholic and Protestant teachers, -and the attempt to combine Roman impeccability of phrase with Christian -impeccability of theme and incident had produced the remarkable dramatic -type known as the 'Christian Terence'.[764] This had had its vernacular, -as well as its Latin, developments in many lands. Its acceptability in -the eyes of the earlier reformers in England may be illustrated from the -chapter _De honestis ludis_, which forms part of the treatise _De regno -Christi_ written by Martin Bucer as a New Year's gift for Edward VI in -1551.[765] Bucer allows of plays, both for the exercise of youth, and -for the honest and not unprofitable delectation of the public. They must -be written by learned and pious men, and may be either comedies or -tragedies, which deal respectively with mean and exalted actions. For -comic themes he instances the dissension between the shepherds of -Abraham and Lot, the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob's service -amongst the flocks of Laban; and he expounds no less than six moral -lessons which the first of these plots may serviceably inculcate. As for -tragedy, the histories of patriarchs, kings, prophets, and apostles, -from Adam onwards, are full of those [Greek: peripeteiai] upon which -Aristotle lays such stress. It is from such sources that Christians -should draw their poetry, rather than from the impious fables and -histories of the Gentiles. And care must be taken to let vice awaken a -horror of sin and well-doing a sense of the divine grace; for -edification is to be the end of the action, even if, in order to attain -it, some sacrifice of literary decorum is necessitated. Bucer holds that -plays conceived in this spirit may with advantage be performed by youth -in the vernacular, as well as in Greek and Latin; and declares that some -have already been written which, although men of secular learning may -miss in them the literary graces to be found in the comedies of -Aristophanes, Plautus, and Terence and the tragedies of Sophocles, -Euripides, and Seneca, are yet to be preferred for their religious -character to pieces whose effect upon morality can only be deplorable. -It is to be noticed that Bucer proposes to submit all plays before -production to the judgement of persons at once expert in the dramatic -art and of sound divinity, one of whose functions it shall be to let -nothing which is _leve aut histrionicum_ be shown. This is interesting -not only because it anticipates the actual Tudor experiments in a -dramatic censorship, but also because it indicates that the idea of a -censorship arose out of ethical, as well as out of merely political, -considerations. It is possible that Bucer may have been familiar with -the actual working of the system at Geneva, to which further reference -will presently be made. - -In actual practice the Protestant religious drama, whether it was -imitating Latin comedy or advancing on the lines of the popular -morality, used the Scriptures with some discrimination. It drew freely -upon the historical books and upon the parables. The parable of the -prodigal son, in particular, perhaps because it was so obviously -cognate to beloved Terentian themes, became the parent of a copious -dramatic literature, both in Christian Latin and in all the vernaculars. -The central topics, the mysteries of the faith in creation, fall, and -incarnation, and the life of Christ himself, were much more charily -touched. This may have been due to a reprobation of the methods of the -miracle-plays, which is itself traceable to more than one cause. -Protestant reverence could hardly fail to reinforce the criticism of the -_leve aut histrionicum_ in the popular representations, which often made -itself heard even amongst orthodox Churchmen. Luther is at one with -Ludovicus Vives on the point.[766] And Protestantism had its own -particular ground of quarrel with the miracle-plays, in that they were -hardly dissociable from the Catholic doctrines of transubstantiation and -the like, which their great feast-day of Corpus Christi had been -specially invented to glorify. Certainly the decadence of the Corpus -Christi play sets in pretty quickly after the middle of the sixteenth -century, and in more than one instance the hand of the Protestant -reformer is to be traced in the process.[767] It is of the Corpus -Christi plays, as well as of the Hock-play at Coventry, that Robert -Laneham is thinking when he regrets 'the zeal of certain theyr -Preacherz: men very commendabl for their behauiour and learning, & sweet -in their sermons, but sumwhat too sour in preaching awey theyr -pastime'.[768] An exception to the normal temper of Protestantism in -this respect is to be found in that fiery protagonist of the earlier -English reformation, John Bale, amongst whose few extant plays are a -_Prophetae_, a _John Baptist_, and a _Temptation_, while a list of his -various dramatic experiments, which he has himself left upon record, -indicates that they included a continuous New Testament cycle from the -_Presentation in the Temple_ to the _Resurrection_.[769] - -It is, of course, in form only and not in spirit that Bale touched the -ecclesiastical compilers of the Corpus Christi plays. The author of -_Kinge Johan_ and the translator of _Pammachius_ is the typical English -figure of that characteristic sixteenth-century movement whereby the -drama, like every other form of literary expression, bound itself for a -time to the service of heretical controversy. Both the Christian -Terence and the vernacular morality contained elements which could be -readily adapted to the purposes of polemic, no less than to those of -edification; and Bale appears to have been the principal agent of -Cromwell's statecraft in what was probably a deliberate attempt to -capture so powerful an engine as the stage in the interests of -Protestantism. And it is to be observed that this movement was not -confined to those academic branches of the drama in which it may be -supposed to have had its origin. For once the theologian and the -_histrio_ laid aside their ancient antagonism, and not in school and -college refectories only, but in every inn-yard and on every village -green, the praises of the pure Gospel were sung, and Pope and priests -were derided in play, at the bidding of the wily Privy Seal. Of this -there is sufficient evidence in the passionate protest of Bale after -Cromwell had fallen, and the players' mouths had been shut by the _Act_ -for the _Advancement of true Religion_ in 1543.[770] - - None leave ye unvexed and untrobled, no, not so much as the - poore minstrels, and players of enterludes, but ye are doing - with them. So long as they played lyes, and sange baudy songes, - blasphemed God, and corrupted men's consciences, ye never - blamed them, but were verye well contented. But sens they - persuaded the people to worship theyr Lorde God aryght, - accordyng to hys holie lawes and not yours, and to acknoledge - Jesus Chryst for their onely redeemer and Saviour without your - lowsie legerdemains, ye never were pleased with them. - -No doubt many things were changed in English Protestantism after the -days of the Marian exile; and a ready explanation of the active Puritan -hostility to the stage is afforded by the substitution of a Calvinist -for a Lutheran bias in the conduct of the Reformation. But the -antithesis must not be pressed too far. Assuredly the returning -preachers brought with them a new seriousness in their view of life and -a haunting mistrust of the moral evils lurking even in innocent modes of -recreation. The 'merry England' of tradition formed no part of their -ideal. Moreover, they were less in bondage than their predecessors of -Henry's reign to the prestige of secular learning, and less likely to be -impressed, therefore, by the literary and educational significance of -the drama. But so far as the popular stage is concerned, there is no -reason to suppose that they would have failed to see eye to eye with -John Bale himself, for it is pretty clear from the passage quoted above -that Bale's tolerance of the interlude-players was entirely conditioned -by the polemical use he had been enabled to make of them, and that, -apart from what he chose to regard as their conversion, they would have -had short shrift at his hands. Now by the time of the Puritans this -break in the normal relations of the stage to the pulpit had come to an -end. The drama of Protestant controversy survived its original -manipulator, Cromwell. It flourished greatly under Edward VI. It won the -imitation of the Catholics under Mary. And when Elizabeth came, its -exponents made haste to re-enter a field which was probably by now -capable of yielding profit in a worldly as well as a spiritual sense. It -is clear that at the beginning of the reign Elizabeth and her ministers -deliberately continued Cromwell's policy of encouraging stage-polemic. -During the Christmas of 1558 the court and the streets were full of -masks, in which cardinals, bishops, and abbots were held up to derision -as crows, asses, and wolves.[771] During the debates on the Act of -Uniformity in the following spring, Abbot Feckenham protested against -the way in which 'by the onely preachers and scaffold players of this -newe religion, all thinges are turned up-side downe'.[772] Almost -simultaneously the dispatches of Venetian agents mention the prevalence -of anti-Catholic plays in hostels and taverns, and dwell particularly -upon one performance in which Philip and Mary and Cardinal Pole were -represented in exposition of their religious views.[773] The inwardness -of the movement is made clear by a letter of the Duke of Féria to Philip -himself, in which he reports Elizabeth's diplomatic repudiation of the -insolent pieces, and adds that he knew for a fact that the arguments -were given to the players by none other than Sir William Cecil.[774] The -Elizabethan methods of government were tortuous, and it is a little -difficult to say how long the licence of the stage to deal with matters -of religion lasted. Ostensibly the proclamation of 16 May 1559, -presumably issued in deference to De Feria's complaints, brought it to a -very definite stop. But it was one thing to issue a proclamation and -another to see that it was enforced; and as late as the June of 1562 we -find De Feria's successor, the Bishop of Aquila, still protesting -against Elizabeth's failure to carry out her perpetual promises, by -suppressing the books, farces, and songs which were written in dishonour -of his royal master.[775] The burden of these, however, may have been -political rather than strictly religious. Certainly, when Elizabeth -considered that she had 'settled' the affairs of the Church, it in no -way remained part of her intention that they should continue to be -matter for public debate. Nor is it likely that the extreme vulgarities -of Protestant controversy were altogether to her private taste. Already -during the Christmas of 1559 a play at court had been broken off for -some unknown offence, and when some Cambridge students pursued the queen -to Hinchinbrook in the autumn of 1564 with a scandalous dramatic parody -of Catholic ritual, the royal displeasure was unmistakable.[776] -Meanwhile the pulpit attacks upon the 'fleshly and filthy' sayings and -doings of players begin with Bishop Alley's St. Paul's sermon delivered -in 1561, and it is natural to suppose that the temporary alliance -between Church and Stage was already dissolved and the normal hostility -restored, before Bishop Grindal came to pen his vehement outburst to -Cecil on 23 February 1564 in favour of the permanent inhibition of the -'_histriones_, common playours', that 'idle sorte off people, which have -ben infamouse in all goode common weales'. The theory that the first -controversial phase of the Elizabethan popular drama was but of short -duration need not be regarded as invalidated by the fact that plays of -distinctly Protestant type continued to be published until at least the -third decade of the reign. There is no very obvious proof that these -plays were performed at all, and certainly none that they belonged to -the popular rather than the academic stage. Moreover, there is no reason -to suppose that the dates of composition fell anywhere near the dates of -publication, and in some cases such evidence as is available points to a -period very shortly after Elizabeth's accession. Several Protestant -plays of Edwardian or earlier origin were apparently revived by -publishers at about the same time.[777] In some of these the closing -prayers have been altered so as to apply to Elizabeth, and a similar -revision has taken place in the text, extant only in manuscript, of -Bale's _Kinge Johan_. This seems to be evidence, perhaps more certainly -as regards the manuscript than as regards the prints, of actual -performance during the new reign. - -If, then, what might have been the natural attitude of the earlier -English Protestantism to the popular stage was deflected by something of -an accident, it is also not quite true to suppose that Calvinism was -always and everywhere uncompromisingly opposed to the drama in its more -respectable forms. Calvin himself was not unaffected by humanist -influences, and more than one of his near associates, notably Theodore -Beza, his successor at Geneva, are to be reckoned amongst academic -playwrights. The annals of stage-history at Geneva throw a valuable -light upon the order of ideas from which the Puritans started. During -the later Middle Ages the city had taken its full delight in -_spectacula_ of many kinds. The abuses connected with these had formed -the subject of constant ecclesiastical prohibitions, the tradition of -which had only been continued by the reformers.[778] Calvin's principal -forerunner, William Farel, had published _theses_ at Bâle in 1524, in -which he laid down abstinence from disguisings as a counsel of -perfection.[779] But he did not succeed in making his principles wholly -operative at Geneva, and even when, after an abortive attempt in 1537, -the so-called 'theocracy' was finally established by Calvin's -constitutions of 1541, there was no absolute condemnation, except for -the clergy, of plays.[780] Dances were prohibited and such heathen -ceremonies as the _Roi-boit_ at Twelfth Night and the _Mardigras_[781]; -but it seems to have been thought sufficient to leave plays under the -close inspection and control of the body of ministers, whose functions -included the maintenance of Church discipline with the aid of a -consistory of elders, and the advising of the secular town council on -all matters appertaining to faith and morals. It was not long, however, -before more radical views began to commend themselves to a certain -section of the ministers, and the question came to a serious issue in -some stormy episodes of the year 1546. On 2 May, being Quasimodo Sunday, -the council had permitted the performance of a morality by one Roux -Monet and others. They had before them a certificate from the ministers -that it was of an edifying character, although some grumbling persons -declared that its object was to ridicule and satirize the -tradesmen.[782] About a month later, two fresh applications came before -them. One was apparently from a troupe of travelling players and -acrobats, and this was summarily refused as likely to cause -scandal.[783] The other was more plausible. Some local _joueurs des -ystoires_ desired to represent for the edification of the people a -dramatization of _The Acts of the Apostles_. The council ordered the -book of the piece to be submitted to Calvin, and agreed that it might -be performed, should his report be favourable. Calvin and the other -ministers did not much like the proposal, more particularly as the -players declined to give alms to the poor out of the profits of the -enterprise. It so happened, however, that one of the ministers, Abel -Poupin, was himself the author of the play, and partly because of this, -and partly because he was not sure that an attempt to prevent the -performance would be successful, Calvin seems to have persuaded his -colleagues to offer no objection. The formal sanction of the council was -therefore given, and Abel Poupin was ordered to make himself responsible -for the conduct of the play. Reading between the lines, we may perhaps -discern some resentment amongst the ministers, not only at the -performance itself, which they considered a waste of money that might -have gone in charity, but also at the domineering attitude adopted by -Calvin and Poupin. Even while the matter was still under discussion, one -of them, Philibert de Beauxlieux, was haled before the consistory for -saying that Calvin was taking the part of the Pope and Poupin that of -the cardinal. And when the decision was arrived at there was an -outbreak. A preacher of fiery temper, Michel Cop, got into the pulpit -and denounced the play, accusing the women performers of a shameless -desire to display themselves in public and thereby ensnare the eyes of -men. For this he was summoned before the council; but Calvin took his -part, and although they had differed as to the toleration of the play, -claimed that Cop had only exercised the preacher's proper liberty in -saying freely what he thought on a question of morals.[784] The -documents concerning this incident include, in addition to numerous -entries in official registers, two private letters from Calvin to -Farel,[785] in which he describes what had taken place, and makes it -clear that his own willingness to allow the play arose from motives of -expediency and from a feeling that there were limits to the pressure -which could be put upon the public to abstain from recreation. In reply -the aged reformer anticipated the probable future destiny of the -frequenters of plays in terms which recall the worst ferocities of -Tertullian on this subject.[786] Something more may be gathered as to -Calvin's personal attitude towards plays from a sermon preached in 1556, -in which he expounds the prohibition of the change of sex-costume in -_Deuteronomy_ xxii. 5 as an absolute one, and as applying particularly -to the wearing of men's dresses by women and of women's dresses by men -in masks and mummeries.[787] This is an exegesis which counted for a -good deal in the Puritan criticism of a stage in which boys habitually -took the female parts. - -Abel Poupin's much-discussed _Acts of the Apostles_ was duly given, and -the council ordered themselves _loges_ at the public expense to see the -show, and decreed a four days' suspension of arrest for debt in honour -of the occasion. Shortly afterwards the ministers approached the council -as a body in order to urge that the money devoted to plays might be -better bestowed on the poor, and it was thereupon resolved that no more -_ystoyres_ should be given '_jusque lon voye le temps plus -propre_'.[788] This determination must, I think, have been motived by -some temporary conditions of special economic distress, for it was far -from being the end of plays in Geneva. In the following year, 1547, -Richard Chaultemps and his wife and children were refused permission for -a _jeu de passe-temps_, which was thought contrary to Christianity, and -were given a _teston_ to go on their way. On the other hand, the council -attended officially in the same year at a performance of a Latin -dialogue '_du livre de Joseph_' by the scholars of the college. In 1548 -a wandering _tragechieur_ was allowed to perform on condition of -avoiding any '_chose contre Dieu_'. In 1549 the scholars played a comedy -of Terence in a meadow, and received a gift of two crowns for a banquet. -In 1551 the council forbade the recitation of a _ballade_ by Abel Poupin -at a banquet, but sanctioned a '_petite farce de joyeuseté_' for -recreation's sake. In 1558 the seigneurs of Berne paid a visit to Geneva -and one Maître Enoch proposed a play on a subject taken from the Berne -_armoiries_ of Jupiter and Europa, and another on the execution of five -Berne scholars at Lyons. This application was referred to Calvin for a -report. In 1560 the reprinting of Beza's tragedy of _Abraham's -Sacrifice_ was approved by the consistory. In 1561 Conrad Badius's -comedy of _Le Pape Malade_ was performed in the college hall and -afterwards printed, and permission was also given for a comedy by Jerome -Wyart, '_si M. Calvin est de cet avis_'. An interval of some years -without plays followed, until in 1568 the series was resumed with -Jacques Bienvenu's comedy of _Le Monde Malade et Mal Pansé_.[789] It is -hardly necessary to carry the record further, since the proof is -sufficient that, whatever the private opinions of some of the ministers -may have been, the actual working of the theocracy was not inconsistent -with the production, under a careful censorship, of academic or -bourgeois plays, or even, although more rarely, of entertainments of the -type afforded by a professional _tragechieur_. It was not until 1572 -that the Synod of Nîmes passed a constitution for the whole of the -French reformed churches, by which all plays, other than those of a -strictly educational character, were forbidden.[790] - -It must be doubtful whether even this decree would have fully met the -views of Michel Cop and his supporters. At any rate, it is possible to -trace the growth of a sentiment amongst English theologians of the -Calvinistic persuasion, which was not prepared to exclude the academic -play from the general condemnation of things theatrical. Naturally this -tendency shows itself mainly at the Universities, where tragedies and -comedies, both in Latin and in English, continued to be part of the -ordinary exercise of youth, especially when Christmas was kept or -entertainment had to be found for a royal visit, and where men of high -ecclesiastical standing, such as James Calfhill, Penitentiary of St. -Paul's and Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, did not disdain to -furnish dramas for the use of their scholars.[791] So far as Cambridge -is concerned, we find Vice-Chancellor Beaumont reporting to Archbishop -Parker in 1565 that 'two or three in Trinity College think it very -unseeming that Christians should play or be present at any profane -comedies or tragedies'.[792] We find Sir John Harington, who was an -undergraduate from 1576 to 1578, noting his recollection about 1597 that -'in Cambridge, howsoever the presyser sort have banisht them, the wyser -sort did, and still doe mayntayn them'. And we find John Smith of -Christ's haled before the University for an unguarded attack upon the -less strict practice of his fellows in a Lenten sermon of 1586.[793] It -was at Oxford, however, that the divergence of opinion became most -articulate. The protagonist was John Rainolds, afterwards President of -Corpus Christi College, and a man of great influence in the Puritan -party, whom he represented at the Hampton Court Conference of 1604. -Rainolds first touched the question, to which his attention was probably -called by the dispute then raging in London, with a passing allusion to -the '_pestes scenicorum, theatralia spectacula_' as one of the great -interruptions to Oxford studies, in his preface to some disputations -published in 1581. There is no reason to suppose that he voiced the -general view of the University, and in particular of those of its -members who were still under the influence of the humanist spirit. -Probably these were better represented by the commentaries on the -_Ethics_ and _Politics_ of Aristotle published by John Case, Fellow of -St. John's College, in his _Speculum moralium quaestionum_ (1585) and -_Sphaera civitatis_ (1588). Case commends plays, provided that they are -an expression of _comitas_, the Aristotelian [Greek: eutrapelia], and -not of its excess _scurrilitas_. They are sanctioned by the use of -antiquity, and they give a lively picture of antiquity itself. They -teach experience of things and of the human heart, and afford -training--it is the _scenae trigemina corona_--in the management of the -voice, the features, the gestures. All this is, of course, in the -traditional humanist vein. Some of the current criticisms of the drama -are quoted, only to be refuted. It is not necessarily _indecorum_ for a -man to wear the dress of a harlot on the stage, if his object is to -expose the vices of harlotry, '_non est enim monstrum vestes sed mores -meretricis induere_'. It is true that the Fathers condemned plays, but -they had in mind the abuses of plays and in particular the devotion of -plays to the service of idols. It is ridiculous to hold that the dignity -of kingship is offended if it is impersonated by an actor. The offence -is no more than when the outlines of a king are represented in a -picture. No doubt Case has the academic drama almost wholly in his mind, -and would have been inclined to dismiss the professional stage -contemptuously enough as _scurrilitas_.[794] He is certainly careful to -make it clear that the plays of which he approves are not '_inanes et -histrionicae fabulae, Veneris illecebrae_', but witty comedies and -magnificent tragedies '_in quibus expressa imago vitae morumque -cernitur_'. He did not convince John Rainolds; it is just possible that -the ninepin arguments, which in true scholastic fashion he set up and -knocked down again, were hardly to be accepted as an adequate statement -of the Puritan position. Rainolds evidently acquired a reputation in the -University for 'preciseness' as regards the drama; and the time came -when the academic playwrights thought it well to challenge him in -public. Their champion was Dr. William Gager of Christ Church, two of -whose plays, _Ulysses Redux_ and _Rivales_, were down for performance by -the Christ Church students during the Christmas of 1591-2. Rainolds was -invited by one Thomas Thornton to see the _Ulysses Redux_. He refused -and being pressed gave his reasons. It was not therefore unnatural that -when Gager appended to the _Hippolytus_, which was also given, a new -apologetical epilogue in which arguments against the stage, very similar -to those of Rainolds, were put into the mouth of one Momus, our -theologian should infer that by Momus none other was intended than -himself. He must have cried '_Touché_', and thereby gave Gager an -opportunity of sending him a printed copy of _Ulysses_, with an -enlarged epilogue and a repudiation of any personal intention in the -character of Momus. This led to a letter from Rainolds, in which he set -out his views upon the stage at great length and with considerable -learning, to a reply from Gager, who was or professed to be stung by -some of the reflections cast by Rainolds upon the Christ Church men, and -to a rejoinder from Rainolds, in which he reiterated his original -arguments with even greater elaboration. His main contentions were four -in number. Firstly, he laid stress upon the _infamia_ with which the -Roman praetors had 'noted' _histriones_, and refused to accept Gager's -pleas that this only applied to those who played for gain, or that -gentlemen who only appeared upon the stage rarely and at long intervals -could not properly be called _histriones_ at all. Secondly, he adopted -Calvin's interpretation of the Deuteronomic prohibition of the change of -sex-costume as an absolute one, belonging to the moral and not merely -the ceremonial law. Gager had taken the view, which later on had the -support of the learned Selden, and which to a folklorist hardly needs -demonstration, that what Moses had in mind was a change of costume -forming part of an idolatrous ritual; and had also committed himself to -the weaker argument that a man might justifiably, as Achilles did, put -on a woman's clothing to save his life. The latter Rainolds denied, and -pointed out that, even if it held good, it would hardly cover a change -designed for a purely histrionic purpose. His third argument was based -on the moral deterioration entailed by counterfeiting wanton behaviour -in a play; and his fourth on the waste both of time and money involved. -He does not wish to be thought an enemy either of poetry or of -reasonable recreation, but he expresses a doubt whether some hours were -not spent over Gager's plays that ought to have been spent at sermons. -The theory of humanistic educators that acting teaches lads -self-confidence he is not prepared to admit as a sufficient -justification of their practice. The debate is, of course, a good deal -complicated by topics of mere erudition and by disputes as to whether -Momus was really meant as a caricature of Rainolds, or as to whether -Rainolds's abstract argument about _infamia_ bore the concrete -implication that such honest youths as the Christ Church students or so -well-voiced a musician as the Master of the Choristers, who had played -with them, were in fact _infames_, or as to the extent of approval -implied by the presence of University dignitaries and of the queen -herself at performances of Gager's pieces. Anyway, said Rainolds, the -queen's laws set down players as vagabonds. Given their common -premises, it must be acknowledged that both in learning and in logic -the Puritan had the advantage over his opponent, although common sense -was on the side of the latter, and it is with some scepticism that one -reads the statement of the printer who gave Rainolds's share of the -controversy to the world in 1599, that ultimately Gager 'let goe his -hold, and in a Christian modestie and humilitie yeelded to the truth, -and quite altered his judgement'. My own conviction is that Gager would -have subscribed to anything, in order to have done with receiving -argumentative letters from Rainolds. But when Rainolds had disposed of -Gager, he had to meet a fresh adversary in Alberico Gentili, an Italian -who held the professorship of civil law at Oxford and had committed -himself to a different view as to the force of the praetorian _infamia_. -Between these two pundits the discussion continued for some time without -contributing much to the elucidation of the main issue. Rainolds's book, -the first line of the title of which was _Th' overthrow of -Stage-Playes_, furnished many weapons later on for the armoury of -Prynne, and material for ridicule in the play of _Fucus, sive -Histriomastix_, produced at Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1623. - -The problem with which, long before the University disputants handled -the matter at all, the London Puritans had to deal, was not one of nice -differentiation between the position of the amateur and that of the -professional player. Their concern with the academic drama was -comparatively small; some at least of them were prepared to subscribe to -all the allowances for it that were made by the Synod of Nîmes.[795] -What they were face to face with was the rapid growth in London of -professional playing as a recognized occupation, using an increasing -number of playing-places, almost entirely free from control on its -ethical side, and tending more and more to become a permanent element in -the life of the community. And the attitude of condemnation which they -adopted was in the main one in which Lutheran, Calvinist, and humanist, -Case and Gager no less than Rainolds, would in theory at least have -concurred. The writings against the stage, especially those of the -critical period from 1576 to 1583, are of a very heterogeneous -character. The most important are, on the one hand, long passages in two -treatises by ministers devoted to the flagellation of social evils -generally, the _Dicing, Dauncing, Vaine Playes, or Enterludes_ (1577) of -John Northbrooke, and the _Anatomie of Abuses_ (1583) of Phillip -Stubbes; and on the other, three special pamphlets by sometime -playwrights who had embraced conversion, and had the advantage of -speaking from inner knowledge of the profession they were attacking. Of -these two, _The Schoole of Abuse_ (1579) and _Playes Confuted in Five -Actions_ (1582) were by Stephen Gosson, who became the vicar of St. -Botolph's in the City, and the third was by Anthony Munday, who, as -Gosson put it, returned to his own vomit again, and resumed -play-writing. Munday's contribution was the _Third Blast_ of a composite -publication issued under the title of _A Second and Third Blast of -Retrait from Plaies and Theaters_ (1580). The _Second Blast_ was a -translation of the chapter against _spectacula_ from Salvian's -fifth-century _De Gubernatione Dei_.[796] These five books form the main -indictment of the stage, as it developed itself at Puritan hands or -under Puritan influences. In addition there were many minor onslaughts, -in sermons by Thomas White (1577), John Stockwood (1578), and others at -the famous City pulpit of Paul's Cross, in works of devotional theology, -such as Gervase Babington's _Exposition of the Commandements_ (1583), -and in many examples of the miscellaneous literature that stood for -modern journalism. The arguments used in support of the attack are -naturally various. Some of them coincide with those used later by -Rainolds at Oxford. Calvin's objection, based on Deuteronomy, to the -wearing of women's clothes by boys makes its appearance.[797] The -condemnations of _histriones_ by the Fathers and by the austerer pagans -are applied without discrimination to their Elizabethan successors, and -there is a deliberate attempt to brand these alike with the Roman note -of _infamia_ and with the more recent stigma of vagabondage. The -historical disquisitions lay much stress on the origin of pagan plays in -idolatry. Gosson, who in his second book affects a methodical treatment -of the subject, and draws upon his recollection of Aristotle for -analysis of the efficient, material, formal, final causes and effects of -plays, justifies himself from Tertullian in finding the efficient cause -of plays in none other than the incarnate Devil.[798] He also derives -from Aristotle, although he knew less of Aristotle than did John Case, a -theory that acting, being essentially the simulation of what is not, is -by its very nature 'with in the compasse of a lye, which by Aristotle's -judgment is naught of it selfe and to be fledde'.[799] A similar -doctrine is readily applied to the imaginations of poets which give -actors their opportunity.[800] As Touchstone puts it, poetry is not -'honest in deed and word' nor 'a true thing', for 'the truest poetry is -the most feigning'.[801] - -Whatever weight such abstract reasonings may have carried, they were -after all but the fringes and trimmings of the controversy. The main -burden of the complaints raised by the Puritans rested neither on -theology nor on history, but on the character of the London plays as -they knew them, and on the actual conditions under which representations -were given. In a stage from which Protestant polemic was now banned, -they found nothing but _scurrilitas_. They resented the impurity of -speech and gesture. They resented the scoffs at virtue and religion, -especially when these were interlaced with themes taken, as dramatic -themes were still often taken, from the Scriptures.[802] And their -disapproval was hardly less when the plays were wholly secular, for in -tragedies they could discern nothing but examples to honest citizens of -murders, treacheries, and rebellions, and in comedies nothing but -demoralizing pictures of intrigues and wantonness. Plays, they declared, -are the snares of the devil set to catch souls. By plays the imagination -of youth is corrupted, and matronly chastity first turned to thoughts of -sin. With their ready touch upon vituperative rhetoric, they found for -the theatre a string of nicknames of which Gosson's 'the school of -abuse' was the model, and 'the school of bawdery', 'the nest of the -devil', 'the consultorie of Satan', may serve as further samples. And -what the plays began, they held that the surroundings of the playhouses -were only too well adapted to finish. In them was focused all the sin of -the city. Here men came, not merely to waste their time and their money, -but to meet wantons, and to whisper dishonourable proposals in the ears -of any respectable women with whom they found themselves in company. The -constant presence of harlots amongst the audience, the dallying with -them in the front of the galleries, the manning of them home afterwards, -even if the buildings adjacent to the stage did not themselves afford a -convenient shelter for ill-doing, are dwelt upon with a vigour of -description which perhaps testifies to the horror wherewith this -connexion of the stage with sexual immorality had affected the Puritan -mind.[803] - -Above all, there was Sabbatarianism to be taken into account. During the -earlier part of Elizabeth's reign, Sunday was the usual day for plays. -The trumpets blew for the performances just as the bells were tolling -for afternoon prayer; and writer after writer bears testimony to the -fact that too often the yards and galleries were filled with an -appreciative crowd, while the preacher's sermon was unfrequented.[804] -Thus a touch of professional _amour propre_ gave its sting to the -conflict, and there is no one point that is more insisted upon in sermon -after sermon and pamphlet after pamphlet than the desecration of the -Lord's Day which the attendance at theatres directly entailed. The -preachers did not disdain an appeal to popular superstitions which they -probably themselves shared, and the visitations of plague from which -Elizabethan London regularly suffered,[805] no less than such events as -earthquakes[806] or the fall of ruinous buildings,[807] were interpreted -as tokens of divine wrath at the wickedness of plays and in particular -at the breach of the Fourth Commandment. A curious legend was whispered -abroad in various forms, to the effect that the devil himself had been -known on occasion to take an unrehearsed part in this or that godless -piece.[808] - -The playwright, no less than the theologian, has a ready pen, and the -Puritan attacks naturally provoked a counter-literature of apology. This -first took shape in critical prefaces attached to such contemporary -plays, mainly of literary rather than stage origin, as reached the -honours of print.[809] Gosson's _Schoole of Abuse_, a treacherous -performance from the point of view of his former colleagues, called for -a more elaborate reply. More than one pamphlet was written, of which the -_Honest Excuses_ (_c._ 1579) Thomas Lodge has alone come down to us. The -serious argument of this, as well as of the prefaces which preceded it, -continues the main humanist tradition. Against the denunciations of the -Fathers and of certain pagan moralists, the apologists set the antiquity -of plays and the honour in which after all they were held in the palmy -days of Greece and Rome. The examples of violence and wantonness in -tragedy and comedy they justify by the moral end of drama. Decorum--the -literary sense of what is psychologically appropriate to a given -character--requires that, as George Whetstone puts it, 'grave old men -should instruct, yonge men should show the imperfections of youth, -strumpets should be lascivious, boyes unhappy, and clownes should be -disorderly'. But whether the action be merry or mournful, grave or -lascivious, the ultimate object is edification, even as the bee sucks -honey from flowers and weeds alike. 'By the rewarde of the good, the -good are encowraged in well doinge; and with the scowrge of the lewde, -the lewde are feared from evil attempts.' Comedy, no doubt, aims at -delight, but it is a delight which, on the Horatian principle, is -mingled with the useful. This appears to have been the especial theme of -the _Play of Plays and Pastimes_, in which the actors essayed their own -defence on the boards of the Theatre. Unfortunately this piece is only -known by Gosson's unfriendly account of its plot in _Playes -Confuted_.[810] It was in the form of an allegorical morality, in which -was shown the dependence of Life on Delight and Recreation as a -protection from Glut and Tediousness, and how Zeal, in order to govern -Life aright, must be reduced to Moderate Zeal and work hand in hand with -Delight, using comedies for which it is prescribed 'that the matter be -purged, deformities blazed, sinne rebuked, honest mirth intermingled, -and fitte time for the hearing of the same appointed'. It is the note of -humanism, again, which is prominent in the group of critical writings of -which the first and most important is Sir Philip Sidney's _Defence of -Poetry_ (_c._ 1583). It is reasonable to suppose that this treatise had -its origin in the train of ideas awakened by the Puritan outcries. -Gosson had dedicated _The Schoole of Abuse_ to Sidney, and as Gabriel -Harvey told Spenser, was 'for hys labor scorned; if at leaste it be in -the goodnesse of that nature to scorne'. Certainly the _Defence_ can -hardly be regarded as a direct contribution to the controversy. Sidney -was not particularly concerned to uphold the contemporary stage, and -occupied himself rather with answering a general attack upon poetry -contained in _The Schoole of Abuse_, which had been merely incidental to -Gosson's principal argument. But in the course of his discussion he -comes to examine tragedy and comedy as branches of imaginative -literature, and the definitions which he frames are conceived once more -in the full spirit of humanism. He speaks of 'high and excellent -tragedy, that openeth the greatest wounds, and showeth forth the ulcers -that are covered with tissue; that maketh kings fear to be tyrants and -tyrants manifest their tyrannical humors; that with stirring the -effects of admiration and commiseration teacheth the uncertainty of this -world, and upon how weak foundations gilden roofs are builded'. So, too, -the work of the comic poet is 'an imitation of the common errors of our -life which he representeth in the most ridiculous and scornful sort that -may be, so as it is impossible that any beholder can be content to be -such a one'. The _Defence_ was not published until 1595, but it must -have been well known in private before that, since, itself founded on -such Italian writers as Scaliger, Minturno, and Castelvetro, it in turn -furnished inspiration for William Webbe's _Discourse of English Poesie_ -(1586), Puttenham's _Arte of English Poesie_ (1589), and Sir John -Harington's _Apologie of Poetrie_ (1591). All these three writers -emphasize the moral lessons of tragedy and comedy on the familiar -humanist lines. - -It must be admitted that the humanist theory was not altogether -conclusive as an answer to the Puritans. These were not prepared to -accept the authority of Horace as making delight, even in conjunction -with the useful, a legitimate end, when, as they pointed out, the -delight was a carnal and not a spiritual one.[811] Nor could the -arguments in favour of decorum, which were wholly of a literary and not -an ethical nature, be expected to appeal to them. And as to the moral -lessons to be learned by witnessing plays, whether tragedies or -comedies, they were entirely sceptical. They return again and again, -with obvious irritation, to the probably mythical story of a good woman -who swore by her troth that she had been as much edified at a play as at -any sermon.[812] - - If, says Northbrooke, you will learne howe to bee false and - deceyue your husbandes, or husbandes their wyues, howe to playe - the harlottes, to obtayne ones loue, howe to rauishe, howe to - beguyle, howe to betraye, to flatter, lye, sweare, forsweare, - howe to allure to whoredome, howe to murther, howe to poyson, - howe to disobey and rebell against princes, to consume - treasures prodigally, to mooue to lustes, to ransacke and - spoyle cities and townes, to bee ydle, to blaspheme, to sing - filthie songes of loue, to speake filthily, to be prowde, howe - to mocke, scoffe and deryde any nation ... shall not you - learne, then, at such enterludes howe to practise them.[813] - -And if sometimes notorious evil-doers are held up to reprobation on the -stage, it seems to the preachers that such rebuke might more suitably -come from the pulpit, since in a theatre the appeal must needs be made -to an audience hardly fit to be judges in any man's cause.[814] Gosson -and Munday, having been playwrights, and having presumably suffered at -the hands of their masters, pay off old scores with another argument. If -plays had really a moral influence, would not this be apparent in the -lives of those who are most conversant with them, the players -themselves. Yet the players are not only extremely insolent and -swaggering persons, but notoriously practise in real life the very vices -which they represent on the stage. Moreover, they take young boys and -bring them up in shamelessness. How can it be expected that good shall -be done, where there is no will in the agent to do good?[815] The -inconclusiveness of the discussion was of course largely due to the fact -that the Puritan and the humanist disputants were not talking about -quite the same thing. Obviously the influence of a play, if any, upon -conduct must depend on the manner of handling and on the dramatic idea -involved; and it may be taken for granted that the ideal comedy and -tragedy, which the humanists praised and which some of them tried to -realize, were often very imperfectly represented by the actual pieces -put before a London audience. This is to some extent admitted on both -sides. Sidney is frankly contemptuous of the popular stage. Whetstone -speaks of his 'commendable exercise' as 'discredited with the tryfels of -yonge, unadvised, and rashe witted wryters'. Lodge and the author of -_The Play of Plays_ are fully conscious of abuses, which must be -remedied if the drama is to take the place assigned to it in the -humanist scheme of things. On the other hand, Gosson is fair-minded -enough to admit that certain plays, principally his own, are beyond -reproach; and even that, as compared with an earlier period than that of -which he wrote, there had been some purging of the language used on the -boards.[816] Yet, when all allowance has been made on this score, it -would seem that there must still remain some fundamental incompatibility -between the views of the Puritans and those of the humanists as regards -the psychological effects of the drama upon conduct. Perhaps this is -hardly to be wondered at. After all, the psychological effect of a -drama, or of any other work of art, is not a simple thing, but depends -upon an incalculable relation between what the artist puts into his work -and what the spectator brings to the contemplation of it. And it may -fairly be assumed that what a Sidney brought and what a limb of -Limehouse brought were sufficiently different things. Were this a -philosophic work on the drama and not merely a history of the stage, it -might be appropriate to dwell upon the fact that, however much the -Puritans and the humanists might disagree, they were at one in -referring their judgement of the drama to purely ethical standards of -value, and that the conception of aesthetic value, which means so much -for modern thought, was in the main beyond the scope of Elizabethan -criticism. - -So far as the character of the particular plays put on the stage was -material, the case for the defence grew stronger as these approached -more nearly to literature. Thus Thomas Nashe, whose _Pierce Penilesse -His Supplication_ (1592) contains by far the most effective of the -apologies for the drama from a popular point of view, is in a position, -not only to vaunt the respectability of English actors as compared with -the 'squirting baudie comedians' of beyond the seas, to repudiate the -idea that rowdy apprentices were wanted in the theatres at all, and to -claim a distinct superiority for play-going over gaming, whoreing and -drinking as a pastime for courtiers and other idle men; but also to give -point to his glorification of the moral purpose of tragedy and comedy by -a special reference to the chronicle plays then at the height of their -success, 'wherein our forefathers valiant acts, that haue line long -buried in rustie brasse and worme-eaten bookes, are reuiued, and they -themselues raised from the graue of obliuion, and brought to pleade -their aged honours in open presence; than which, what can be a sharper -reproofe to these degenerate, effeminate dayes of ours?' Nashe can even -illustrate his contention from the Talbot scenes of Shakespeare's _1 -Henry VI_; and it is indeed the ultimate paradox of the Puritan -controversy that a movement, which was undoubtedly designed in the -interests of honest and clean living, would have had the result, if it -had been successful, of shutting out the world from the possibilities of -a Shakespeare. - -After the publication of the _Anatomie of Abuses_ in 1583 there was some -slackening in the literary warfare carried on by the Puritans. The duty -of abstinence from plays becomes a commonplace of treatises on morals -and devotion, and the preachers continue to complain, but the only -specialist pamphlet during the next quarter of a century is the -comparatively unimportant _Mirrour of Monsters_ (1587) by another cast -playwright, William Rankins. It must be doubtful whether this was due to -any decrease in the strength of the sentiment against the stage. But the -trial of forces was over, and for a time there was little further -advance to be made. Something, as will be seen in the next chapter, had -been won, so far as the observance of Sunday was concerned; on the other -hand, the main issue had been pretty definitely lost. Moreover, there -were other things to be thought of; firstly the Martin Marprelate -controversy, which for a while absorbed much ink and paper, and -secondly, the persecution which recusants had to undergo at the hands of -the dominant party in Church and State. Aggressive at the beginning of -Elizabeth's reign, by its close Puritanism had to stand on its defence. -A corresponding change in its relations with the stage was inevitable. -From an assailant, it became an object of assault. The players had never -been disposed to endure criticism without hitting back. Lewis Wager, as -early as 1566, has his word against the hypocrites, who slander plays -from fear lest their own wickedness should be revealed in public; and -one may be sure that the actor's side of the question was as -remorselessly pressed from the scaffold as that of the Puritan from the -pulpit. This tendency can only have gathered impetus from the official -encouragement given for a time to the players to intervene against -Martin Marprelate.[817] The tone of the later apologists for the stage -has become insolent rather than deprecatory. Nashe, always ready to -carry any war into the enemy's quarter, boldly ascribes the attacks upon -plays to the envy felt by vintners, alewives, and victuallers for more -respectable places of entertainment than their own, and to the -indifference to greatness of avaricious citizens, who 'know when they -are dead they shall not be brought upon the stage for any goodness, but -in a merriment of the Usurer and the Diuel, or buying Armes of the -Herald'. So, too, Henry Chettle, in his _Kind-Harts Dreame_ (1592), puts -into the mouth of the ghost of Tarleton, not only the usual serious -defence of the moral value of plays and an appeal to the youth of the -city not to disturb the peace of the theatres, but also a mock protest -from the keepers of bowling-alleys, dicing-houses, and brothels against -the competition of actors with their trades, and the discovery in jig -and jest of 'our crosse-biting, our conny-catching, our traines, our -traps, our gins, our snares, our subtilties'. Nashe and Chettle are -perhaps tilting rather at some of the civic allies of the Puritans, than -at the Puritans themselves. But the latter had to bear their full share -of the stage's revengeful triumph. The printer of _Th' Overthrow of -Stage Playes_ in 1599 notes in his preface how some 'haue not bene -afraied of late dayes to bring vpon the stage the very sober -countenances, graue attire, modest and matronelike gestures & speaches -of men & women to be laughed at as a scorne and reproch to the world'. A -detailed analysis of the satire of Puritanism in later Elizabethan and -in Jacobean comedy would pass beyond the limits of this study. For a -sample may be taken the figure of Rabbi Zeal-of-the-Land Busy in -Jonson's _Bartholomew Fair_ (1614). Busy has a scruple against eating -pig at the fair, 'for the very calling it a _Bartholmew_-pigge, and to -eat it so, is a spice of _Idolatry_, and you make the _Fayre_, no better -than one of the high _Places_'. But the lust of the flesh overcomes him, -and he eats 'two and a half to his share' and drinks 'a pailefull'. -This, however, does not dispose him to be lenient to the pride of the -eyes at the fair. He condemns a doll with 'See you not Goldylocks, the -purple strumpet, there? in her yellow gowne, and greene sleeues?' and -pulls down a pile of gingerbread cakes as 'this idolatrous groue of -images, this flasket of idols'. Naturally, his extreme wrath is against -the puppet, which he calls Dagon, and 'a beame in the eye of the -brethren; a very great beame, an exceeding great beame; such as are your -_Stage-players_, _Rimers_, and _Morrise-dancers_, who have walked hand -in hand, in contempt of the _Brethren_, and the _Cause_'. He disputes -with the puppet, and produces the 'old stale argument' of the male -putting on the apparel of the female and the female of the male, and is -finally refuted when the puppet 'takes up his garment', and reveals that -it has no sex.[818] - -When Puritanism gathered head again under James, it was the sting of -caricature which directly led to the renewal of the old controversy. Two -hypocrites in _The Puritan_ (_c._ 1606) had been christened after the -churches of St. Antholin and St. Mary Overies, which were known to be -the principal centres in London of Puritan faith and practice. William -Crashaw, the father of the poet, protested in a sermon at Paul's Cross. -Two years later, he again rebuked the players for their opposition to -the Virginian expedition, which he declared to be due to pique at the -godly determination of the adventurers to take no company to their -plantation. There were other 'seditious sectists' at work, and a leading -actor of the Queen's men, who was also a prolific dramatist, Thomas -Heywood, took up the cudgels for his 'quality' against these -'over-curious heads' in an elaborate _Apology for Actors_, which must -have been written about 1608, but was not published until 1612. This -resumes, effectively enough, most of the arguments both of the humanists -and of popular disputants such as Nashe, but does not contribute -anything very novel upon a subject as to which, indeed, little novel -remained to be said, with the exception of a reminder to the preachers -that, whatever the Fathers may have thought about the Roman _ludi_, -nothing had been said against them by either Christ or his -Apostles.[819] Heywood dwells, of course, upon the established position -to which by his time actors had attained in the favour both of English -and of foreign sovereigns. But he is not blind to the abuses of his -profession, and while lauding many of his fellows as men 'of substance, -of government, of sober lives and temperate carriages, house-keepers, -and contributory to all duties enjoyned them', regrets the -licentiousness of others, as well as a growing tendency to inveigh upon -the stage both against 'the state, the court, the law, the citty', and -against 'private men's humors'.[820] Heywood was answered by one I. G. -in _A Refutation of the Apologie for Actors_ (1615), which in its turn -covered much ground already trod; and a year later another actor, Nathan -Field, was moved to a _Remonstrance_ by some personal attacks levelled -at himself and the rest of the King's men by Thomas Sutton, minister of -St. Mary Overies. This brings us to the limit of the Shakespearian -period, and in the distance still lie the final and portentous -presentation of the whole Puritan case in Prynne's _Histriomastix_ -(1633), the closing of the theatres by the Long Parliament, and the -reaction of the Restoration under which men looked back to the stage of -James and Charles as a model of decency and order.[821] - -There is one clear heritage of English Puritanism from the Genevan -theocracy, and that is the claim of the ministers, not only to direct -the consciences of their flocks, but also to call upon the municipal -authorities to put down with the might of the secular arm whatever in -the life of the community did not conform to the religious and ethical -standards which they preached. Most of the sermons and pamphlets of -1576-83 are quite deliberately addressed to the 'magistrate', with a -view to the exercise of the regulative powers conferred by the -proclamation of 1559 and the statute of 1572 for the remedy of the -abuses of playhouses, and if possible to the complete suppression of -playing. The City fathers, although Gosson railed against their -'sleepiness', were by no means deaf to these appeals.[822] Many of them -had themselves adopted Puritanic principles. And apart from strictly -religious considerations, they had their own reasons for looking with -disfavour upon plays. They were husbands and employers, and their wives -and apprentices wasted both time and money in gadding abroad to -theatres, at a risk to their virtue and even their honesty. They were -dignitaries, and were not invariably treated with respect upon the -boards. They were the health authority, and even if plays did not stir -the divine wrath to send a plague or an earthquake, the crowded -assemblies certainly helped to spread infection, and the rickety -structures brought hazard to life and limb.[823] They were responsible -for the maintenance of law and order, and plays were not only the -occasions for frays and riots, but also brought bad characters together, -and were suspected of affording secret opportunities for the hatching of -sedition. It must be borne in mind that, so far as the external abuses -of theatres go, the complaints of their bitterest enemies are fairly -well supported by independent evidence. The presence of improper persons -in the theatres is amply testified to by the satirists, and by -references in the plays themselves.[824] Intrigues and other nefarious -transactions were carried on there[825]; and careful mothers, such as -Lady Bacon, anxiously entreated their sons to choose more salutary -neighbourhoods for their lodgings.[826] Some serious disturbances of the -peace of which theatres were the centres will require attention in the -next chapter, while law-court and other records preserve the memory of -both grave crimes and minor misdemeanours of which they were the -scenes.[827] Like the bawdy-houses, they appear to have been at the -mercy of the traditional rowdiness of the prentices on Shrove -Tuesday.[828] - -On divers grounds therefore the Corporation of London seem to have -reached the conclusion, about 1582 if not before, that the only way to -reform the theatres was to end them. Probably they were influenced by -the views of some of their permanent officials, of whom Thomas Norton, -Remembrancer from 1571 to 1584, although himself a part-author of the -tragedy of _Gorboduc_, and William Fleetwood, Recorder from 1571 to -1594, are known to have been determined opponents of the stage. The -voluminous reports on city affairs, which Fleetwood was in the habit of -sending to Lord Burghley, add much to our knowledge of a critical -period.[829] Had the matter rested wholly with the Corporation, the -policy of prohibition would doubtless have been brought into effective -operation. But it did not rest wholly with them. Not only were the most -important theatres, from 1576, outside the limits of their jurisdiction, -but also account had to be taken of an authority greater even than that -of the City of London, the authority, ill-defined but imperative, of the -Privy Council. And the Privy Council was, as a rule, swayed by -principles and personalities by no means enamoured of prohibition. Of -this the anti-stage pamphleteers show themselves fully conscious. -Gosson, addressing his _Schoole of Abuse_ to the Lord Mayor for the time -being, acknowledges the difficulties which the 'letters of -commendations' held by the companies put in the way of reform, and -laments that players share the natures of the cuttle-fish and the -torpedo, so that 'how many nets so euer ther be layde to take them, or -hookes to choke them, they haue ynke in their bowels to darken the -water, and sleights in their budgets, to dry up the arme of euery -magistrate'. In _Playes Confuted_, he prayed for 'some noble Scipio in -the courte' to drive the 'daunsing chaplines of Bacchus' out of England, -and in a prefatory epistle to Sir Francis Walsingham he declared that -the cleansing of the Augean stable was only possible for 'some Hercules -in the court, whom the roare of the enimy can never daunt'. No doubt he -hoped that the combined functions of a Scipio and of a Hercules would be -undertaken by Walsingham himself.[830] Anthony Munday is even more -explicit. He urges the city not to be daunted by 'particular men of -auctoritie', and inveighs against the nobility who 'restraine the -magistrates from executing their office', in order to pleasure servants -whom they are unwilling to maintain themselves, and therefore license to -roam throughout the country, publishing their 'mametree' in every temple -of God, and begging alms in their masters' names from house to -house.[831] The Council, however, were by no means disposed to give the -City a free hand, and with themselves the policy of prohibition made -little headway. They had, indeed, to reconcile conflicting -considerations. They too, like the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, feared the -opportunities for riots and seditions which the theatres afforded;[832] -and the danger of the spread of plague was their constant preoccupation. -Moreover, they were especially concerned to see that the players did not -touch upon matters of state or religion, and to visit with sharp -chastisement any offences in these directions. They frequently, -therefore, thought it well to intervene with temporary inhibitions of -plays, particularly during hot summers when the anticipations of plague -were at their greatest. But they were never prepared to assent to the -chronic request of the City that these inhibitions should be made -permanent. After all, the people must have their recreation, and, what -was more, the Queen must have hers.[833] And if her majesty's 'solace' -at Christmas was to be provided upon economical terms, it was necessary -that the players should be allowed facilities for 'exercise', and -incidentally for earning their living, through public performances.[834] -In a sense, therefore, it was really the Court play which saved the -popular stage, and enabled the companies to establish themselves in a -position which neither preachers nor aldermen could shake. One may -suppose that the members of the Privy Council did not all quite see eye -to eye on the theatrical question; and there were occasional -fluctuations of policy which caused alarm in the tiring-rooms. Even in -the high quarters where the natural attitude to the drama was that of -humanism, Puritan sympathies were sometimes to be found. Leicester, -indeed, who frequently curried favour with the Puritans, failed them in -this respect, as may be seen from a letter written in 1581 by John -Field, minister of the word of God, and author of an _Exhortation_ on -the fall of Paris Garden, in which he rebukes Leicester for his -patronage of plays 'to the great greife of all the godly'.[835] Burghley -may have been personally inclined to the views of his friend and -correspondent William Fleetwood, although even at the end of his long -life he had not forgotten the services of the stage to his earlier -statecraft.[836] It was to Walsingham that Gosson looked as a Scipio -and a Hercules in the dedication of his _Playes Confuted_ in 1583, but -Gosson was unlucky in his dedications, and in the following year -Walsingham was officially concerned in the formation of the company of -Queen's players. One would gladly know who was the 'notable wise -counseller' dead in 1591, who, according to Sir John Harington, stood up -for the play of _The Cards_, against those who thought that it was -'somewhat too plaine'. I should not be surprised if this were -Walsingham.[837] By virtue of their offices, the Lord Chamberlain and -Vice-Chamberlain, who were responsible for Court entertainments, were -almost bound to take the players' part. But there was a moment of -trepidation when Lord Cobham, who was known to be touched with -Puritanism, succeeded for a few months in 1596 the 'old lord', Henry -Lord Hunsdon, on whom the companies had learnt to rely. There is nothing -to show that Elizabeth, beyond holding out for her 'solace', took any -personal interest in the controversy. That very irritating document, the -_Acts of the Privy Council_, which is little more than a letter-book, -does not record whether she was present or not at the Council meetings -at which theatrical affairs were discussed. But it must be assumed that -the general attitude of the Council had her concurrence. Certainly she -had no Puritan tendencies, and on the rare occasions on which her -interference can be traced she was acting in the interests of one or -other favoured company.[838] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 759: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 206.] - -[Footnote 760: Horace, _De Arte Poetica_, 343: - - Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, - lectorem delectando pariterque monendo. - -Horace's treatise was first translated into English by Thomas Drant in -1567; cf. O. L. Jiriczek, _Der Elisabethanische Horaz_ (1911, -_Sh.-Jahrbuch_, xlvii. 42).] - -[Footnote 761: Plutarch, _Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debet_, c. -xii.] - -[Footnote 762: Donatus (ed. Wessner, i. 22), _Excerpta de Comoedia_; cf. -_Hamlet_, III. ii. 23, also Gosson's criticism of Lodge's scholarship on -this point in App. C, No. xxx.] - -[Footnote 763: W. H. Woodward, _Studies in Education during the Age of -the Renaissance_, 218; C. H. Herford, _Studies in the Literary Relations -of England and Germany in the Sixteenth Century_, 101.] - -[Footnote 764: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 216.] - -[Footnote 765: Extract in App. C, No. v. Symmes, 31, cites Peter Martyr -Vermigli as representing the same point of view, but the passage on -plays in his _In librum Iudicum Commentarii_ (1563), c. 14, reproduced -in his _Loci Communes_ (1563), Classis ii, c. 12, is not very lucid.] - -[Footnote 766: J. E. Gillet (_M. L. A._ xxxiv. 465), citing e.g. an -utterance of 1530, 'Et ego non illibenter viderem gesta Christi in -scholis puerorum ludis seu comoediis latine et germanice rite ac pure -compositis repraesentari propter rei memoriam et affectum iunioribus -augendum'.] - -[Footnote 767: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 111.] - -[Footnote 768: _Robert Laneham's Letter_ (ed. Furnivall), 27.] - -[Footnote 769: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 224, 446.] - -[Footnote 770: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 222. The passage quoted is from -the _Epistel Exhortatorye of an Inglyshe Christian_ (1544), written -under the pseudonym of Henry Stalbridge. Foxe, _Book of Martyrs_, vi. -57, says of Bishop Gardiner, 'He thwarteth and wrangleth much against -players, printers, preachers. And no marvel why: for he seeth these -three things to be set up of God, as a triple bulwark against the triple -crown of the Pope to bring him down; as, God be praised, they have done -meetly well already.'] - -[Footnote 771: Cf. ch. v.] - -[Footnote 772: Strype, _Annals_, 1. ii. 436, 'Sithence the comynge and -reigne of our most soveraigne and dear lady quene Elizabeth, by the -onely preachers and scaffold players of this newe religion, all thinges -are turned up-side downe, and notwithstandinge the quenes majesties -proclamations most godly made to the contrarye, and her vertuous example -of lyvinge, sufficyent to move the hearts of all obedyent subjects to -the due service and honour of God.' If a proclamation as to plays is -meant, it must be the earlier one of 8 April 1559, as the speech was -probably delivered in the debate on the second reading of the Act of -Uniformity on 26 April. Strype, 1. i. 109, points out that it is -definitely assigned by _Cotton MS. Vesp._ D. 18, to Feckenham, and that -Burnet's ascription to Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, which has -been followed by Collier, i. 168, and others, rests on a mistaken note -by a later hand on a copy in a _C. C. C. C. Synodalia MS._] - -[Footnote 773: _V. P._ vii. 65, 71, 80.] - -[Footnote 774: _Sp. P._ i. 62 (29 April 1559), 'She was very emphatic in -saying that she wished to punish severely certain persons who had -represented some comedies in which your Majesty was taken off. I passed -it by, and said that these were matter of less importance than the -others, although both in jest and earnest more respect ought to be paid -to so great a prince as your Majesty, and I knew that a member of her -Council had given the arguments to construct these comedies, which is -true, for Cecil gave them, as indeed she partly admitted to me.'] - -[Footnote 775: _Sp. P._ i. 247. England and Protestantism got as good as -they gave. Bohun, 99, records how, about 1560-2, Sir Nicholas -Throgmorton was made the butt of French court jesters and comedians. -Mary of Scotland was hardly persuaded, in 1565, to punish some Catholics -who had made a play against the ministers, with a mock baptism of a cat -in it (Randolph to Cecil, in Wright, _Eliz._ i. 190).] - -[Footnote 776: Cf. ch. v.] - -[Footnote 777: Cf. ch. xxii.] - -[Footnote 778: Calvin, _Opera_, xxi. 207 (_Annales Calviniani_), gives -prohibitions made under Farel's influence in 1537; for earlier records, -cf. E. Doumergue, _Jean Calvin_, iii. 579; H. D. Foster, _Geneva before -Calvin_ in _American Hist. Review_, viii. 231.] - -[Footnote 779: A. L. Herminjard, _Correspondance des Réformateurs dans -les pays de langue française_, i. 195, 'Christianum alienum oportet a -bachanalibus quae gentium more celebrantur, et ab hypocrisi Iudaica in -ieiuniis et aliis quae non directore spiritu fiunt: ac cavere oportet a -simulachris quam maxime.' Possibly, however, 'simulachra' means 'images' -rather than 'disguisings'.] - -[Footnote 780: Calvin, _Opera_, xᵃ. 5, 16.] - -[Footnote 781: The proceedings against Mme Françoise Perrin for allowing -a dance in her house are described in A. Roget, _Hist. du Peuple de -Genève_, ii. 225. In 1550 the council resolved (Calvin, _Opera_, xxi. -460), 'Item des ordonnances des dances qu'elles ne soyent point -admoindries mais que l'on ne soufre pas cela. Surquoy est arreste que -soyent faictes cries a voix de trompe que nulz naye a danser ny chanter -chansons deshonnestes ny dancer en façon que soit: sur poienne de estre -mis troys iours en prison en pain et eaue et de soixante sols pour une -chescune foy la moytie applique a l'hospital et laultre moytie a la -court'. In 1557 (_Opera_, xxi. 662) persons were brought before the -consistory on an accusation of 'insolences faictes a un royaulme'. They -had a cake, and in one girl's slice 'y mirent ung grain de genievre et -pour ce lappellerent Royne et crierent a aulte voix la Royne boit'.] - -[Footnote 782: Calvin, _Opera_, xxi. 379; cf. Roget, ii. 235.] - -[Footnote 783: Calvin, _Opera_, xxi. 382; cf. Roget, ii. 238, 'Aulcungs -joueurs des antiques et puissance de Hercules ont prié que plaise a MM. -de les laisser jouer de bonne grâce la bataille des Mores et puissance -de Harodes et aultres antiques héros. Arresté pour obvier scandalle que -ne doibgent point jouer, mes que demain se doibgent retirer.' Cf. the -notices of the Hercules performances at Paris in 1572 and at Utrecht in -1586 (ch. xiii, s.v. Leicester's), and p. 152, n. 1, for an early -Italian parallel.] - -[Footnote 784: Calvin, _Opera_, xxi. 381-4; cf. Roget, ii. 236; -Doumergue, iii. 579; W. Walker, _John Calvin_, 298.] - -[Footnote 785: Calvin, _Ep._ 800 (_Opera_, xii. 347), '... Nihil hic -habemus novi, nisi quod secunda comedia iam cuditur. Cuius actionem -testati sumus nobis minime probari. Pugnare tamen ad extremum noluimus, -quia periculum erat ne elevaremus nostram autoritatem, si pertinaciter -repugnando tandem vinceremur. Video non posse negari omnia oblectamenta. -Itaque mihi satis est si hoc, quod non est adeo vitiosum, indulgeri sibi -intelligant, sed nobis invitis....' This was on 3 June. _Ep._ 807 -(_Opera_, xii. 355), of 4 July, describes the dissensions amongst the -ministers, and adds, 'Auditis fratribus, respondi multas ob causas nobis -non videri expedire ut agerentur, et simul causas exposui; nos tamen -nolle contendere, si senatus contenderet ... nunc ludi aguntur'.] - -[Footnote 786: Calvin, _Ep._ 802 (_Opera_, xii. 351) 'Farellus Calvino -... Isti qui tam delectantur ludis, utinam non serio dolore torqueantur. -Timendum est, ne qui alienis personis oblectantur quum propriam in -Christo debeant sustinere in omni genere officiorum, ne ferre cogantur -non personatos, qui fingunt nocere, sed qui nimis vere afflictent et -angant. Sed quis tandem perfectam ... habebit plebem? Utinam in malis -personati tandem essent, nec aliquid ipsi facerent, tantum aliorum -peccata repraesentarent ... omnes ea vitarent, in bonis veri essent -actores, imo factores.... 16 Iunii, 1546.'] - -[Footnote 787: Calvin, _Sermo_, cxxvi (_Opera_, xxviii. 18), 'Ainsi donc -ce n'est point sans cause que ceste loy a esté mise; et ceux qui -prennent plaisir à se desguiser, despittent Dieu: comme en ces masques, -et en ces momons, quand les femmes s'accoustrent en hommes, et les -hommes en femmes, ainsi qu'on en fait: et qu'adviendra-t-il? Encores -qu'il n'y eust point nulle mauvaise queue, la chose en soy est -desplaisante à Dieu: nous oyons ce qui en est ici prononcé: _Quiconques -le fait, est en abomination_.' Other sermons, e.g. _Sermo_ lvii, condemn -dances and _jeux_ generally, without any special stress on plays; cf. P. -Lobstein, _Die Ethik Calvins_, 113.] - -[Footnote 788: Calvin, _Opera_, xxi. 385.] - -[Footnote 789: Calvin, _Opera_, xxi. 406, 450, 684, 734; Roget, ii. 238, -243; iii. 139; vi. 192; Doumergue, iii. 579, sqq.] - -[Footnote 790: _Discipline des Églises Réformées_, ch. xiv, art. 28 -(_Bulletin de la Soc. de l'Hist, du Protestantisme_, xxxv. 211), 'Il ne -sera aussi permis aux fidèles d'assister aux comédies, tragédies, -farces, moralités et autres jeux, joués en public ou en particulier, vu -que de tout temps cela a été défendu entre chrétiens, comme apportant -corruption de bonnes mœurs, mais surtout quand l'Écriture sainte est -profanée; néanmoins, quand, dans un collège, il sera trouvé utile à la -jeunesse de représenter quelque histoire, on la pourra tolérer pourvu -qu'elle ne soit comprise en l'Écriture sainte, qui n'est pas donnée pour -être jouée, mais purement prêchée, et aussi que cela se fasse rarement -et par l'avis du Colloque qui en verra la composition.' The original -decree of the Synod of Poitiers in 1560, to which this was an addition, -only laid down that 'les momeries et batelleries ne seront point -souffertes, ni faire le Roi boit, ni le Mardi gras'.] - -[Footnote 791: Cf. ch. xxiii, s.v. Calfhill, for Walter Haddon's -somewhat slighting reference to his _theatri celebritas_.] - -[Footnote 792: _Parker Correspondence_ (Parker Soc.), 226.] - -[Footnote 793: Strype, _Annals_ (1824), III. i. 496. Smith had said, 'Si -illud verum sit quod auditione accepi, istius modi certe ludos diris -devoveo et actores et spectatores'.] - -[Footnote 794: I am not writing the history of the Oxford stage, but it -is pertinent to note that a statute of 1584, just as Case was writing, -had excluded common stage-plays from the University, both on grounds of -health and economy, and that 'the younger sort ... may not be -spectatours of so many lewde and evill sports as in them are practised' -(Boas, 225).] - -[Footnote 795: Northbrooke, 103. Stubbes took the same line in the -_Preface_ to his first edition, but afterwards cancelled the passage.] - -[Footnote 796: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, i. 18.] - -[Footnote 797: Gosson, _P. C._ 195.] - -[Footnote 798: Gosson, _P. C._ 169.] - -[Footnote 799: Gosson, _P. C._ 197.] - -[Footnote 800: Gosson, _P. C._ 188; Munday, 145.] - -[Footnote 801: _A. Y. L._ III. iii. 17.] - -[Footnote 802: Northbrooke, 92; Munday, 144; Stubbes, 140.] - -[Footnote 803: Gosson, _S. A._ 35; _P. C._ 215; Munday, 139.] - -[Footnote 804: Northbrooke, 92; Stockwood, 23; Munday, 128; Field, -_Epistle_.] - -[Footnote 805: White, 46; Gosson, _P. C._ 215.] - -[Footnote 806: Stubbes, 180, speaks of serious accidents at theatres due -to panic at an earthquake, which must be that of 6 April 1580; but the -account published at the time (cf. App. C, No. xxv) makes no reference -to theatres, although it does, oddly enough, record that the only deaths -were those of two children who were listening to a sermon in Christ -Church, Newgate.] - -[Footnote 807: The fall of the Paris Garden bear-baiting house on 13 -January 1583 led John Field, in his _A Godly Exhortation_ (1583) on that -event, which is closely related to the anti-stage literature, to -anticipate a similar fate for the theatres. The Puritans should have -taken to heart the wise comment of Sir Thomas More on a similar occasion -(cf. ch. xvi, s.v. Hope).] - -[Footnote 808: Cf. ch. xxiii, s.v. Marlowe, _Dr. Faustus_.] - -[Footnote 809: Cf. App. C, Nos. iv, ix, x, xiv, xix. Something might be -added from the prefaces of the Senecan translators (cf. ch. xxiii).] - -[Footnote 810: Gosson, _P. C._ 201.] - -[Footnote 811: Gosson, _P. C._ 203.] - -[Footnote 812: Northbrooke, 92; Munday, 139; Stubbes, 143.] - -[Footnote 813: Northbrooke, 92; cf. Stubbes, 144.] - -[Footnote 814: Munday, 150.] - -[Footnote 815: Gosson, _P. C._ 182; Munday, 147.] - -[Footnote 816: Gosson, _S. A._ 37.] - -[Footnote 817: Cf. ch. ix and App. C, No. xl.] - -[Footnote 818: _B. Fair_, i. 2, 3, 6; iii. 2, 6; iv. 1, 6; v. 5; cf. -Jonson's _Epigr._ lxxv. _On Lippe the Teacher_. I suppose that the -treatise on the question of sex-apparel which Selden sent to Jonson in -1616 (App. C, No. lxii) was meant to furnish annotations for _B. Fair_.] - -[Footnote 819: Heywood, 24.] - -[Footnote 820: Heywood, 43, 61.] - -[Footnote 821: Cf. App. J.] - -[Footnote 822: Gosson, _P. C._ 211.] - -[Footnote 823: Henslowe, i. 136, records a payment of 10_s._ by the -Admiral's in May 1601, 'to geatte the boye into the ospetalle which was -hurt at the Fortewne'. At St. James, Clerkenwell, was buried on 26 May -1613 (_Harl. Soc._ xvii. 123) 'John Brittine yᵗ was killed with a fall -in the Pley howse'. There was a shooting accident also in an Admiral's -play of 1587; cf. ch. xiii.] - -[Footnote 824: Cf. ch. xviii.] - -[Footnote 825: One of the charges brought against the Venetian -ambassador Foscarini on his return to Venice in 1616 was that he had -tried to seduce the penitent of an English religious attached to the -embassy, 'sometimes attending the public comedies and standing among the -people on the chance of seeing her' (_Venetian Papers_, xiv. 593). About -1594 a diamond stolen from the loot of a Spanish carrack was bought by -some goldsmiths from a mariner whom they met by chance 'at a play in the -theatre at Shoreditch', and who afterwards showed them the diamond in -Finsbury Fields (_Cecil Papers_, vii. 504).] - -[Footnote 826: Cf. ch. xvi, s.v. Bull.] - -[Footnote 827: In _Stukeley_, 610, the hero owes the bailiff of -Finsbury, 'for frays and bloodshed in the Theatre fields, five marks'. -The Middlesex justices had to deal with cases of stealing a purse at the -Curtain in 1600, of a 'notable outrage' at the Red Bull in 1610, of -abusing gentlemen at the Fortune in 1611, of stealing a purse at the Red -Bull in 1613, and of stabbing at the Fortune in 1613 (_Middlesex County -Records_, i. 205, 217, 259; ii. xlvii, 64, 71, 86, 88). On 7 July 1602 -James wrote from Scotland to one James Hudson to intercede with the -Council for John Henslay or Henchelawe of Grimsby, who was assaulted by -Nicholas Blinstoun or Blunston at a play about the previous Whitsunday -(23 May), and slew him (_Scottish Papers_, ii. 815; _Hatfield MSS._ xii. -363). Dekker (ii. 326), in _Jests to Make you Merrie_ (1607), gives the -private playhouse as the habitat of the 'foist' or pickpocket, and says, -'The times when his skirmishes are hottest, or yᵉ time when they run -attilt, is ... a new play'. Again (iii. 158), in _The Belman of London_ -(1608), he tells us that rogues haunt playhouses, and (iii. 212) in -_Lanthorne and Candlelight_ (1609), 'A foyst nor a nip shall not walke -into a fayre or a Play-house, but euerie cracke will cry looke to your -purses'.] - -[Footnote 828: Divers persons were slain and others hurt and wounded in -an attempt to pull down the Cockpit in Drury Lane on Shrove Tuesday 1617 -(_M. S. C._ i. 374); cf. Camden, _Annales_ (4 March 1617), 'Theatrum -ludionum nuper erectum in Drury-Lane a furente multitudine diruitur, et -apparatus dilaceratur'; John Taylor, _Jack a Lent_ (1620, ed. Hindley), -'Put play houses to the sack and bawdy houses to the spoil'; _The Owles -Almanack_ (1618), 9, 'Shroue-tuesday falls on that day, on which the -prentices plucked downe the cocke-pit, and on which they did alwayes vse -to rifle Madam _Leakes_ house, at the vpper end of _Shorditch_'. This -was not Puritanism, but a traditional Saturnalia of apprentices at -Shrovetide; cf. Earle, _Microcosmography_, char. 64 (A Player), -'Shrove-tuesday he feares as much as the bawdes'; Busino, _Anglopotrida_ -(1618, _V. P._ xv. 246), describing the bands of prentices, 3,000 or -4,000 strong, who on Shrove Tuesday and 1 May do outrages in all -directions, especially the suburbs, where they destroy houses of -correction; E. Gayton, _Festivous Notes upon Don Quixote_ (1654), 271, -'I have known upon one of these festivals, but especially at -Shrove-tide, where the players have been appointed, notwithstanding -their bills to the contrary, to act what the major part of the company -had a mind to. Sometimes _Tamerlane_, sometimes _Jugurtha_, sometimes -_The Jew of Malta_, and sometimes parts of all these; and at last, none -of the three taking, they were forced to undress and put off their -tragick habits, and conclude the day with _The Merry Milkmaides_. And -unless this were done, and the popular humour satisfied (as sometimes it -so fortun'd that the players were refractory), the benches, the tiles, -the laths, the stones, oranges, apples, nuts, flew about most liberally; -and as there were mechanicks of all professions, who fell every one to -his trade, and dissolved a house in an instant, and made a ruin of a -stately fabric'.] - -[Footnote 829: Most of these letters are printed in Wright, _Eliz._; a -few are still unprinted among the _Lansdowne_ and _Hatfield MSS._; cf. -App. D, Nos. xxxv, xxxvii, lxxiv.] - -[Footnote 830: Gosson, _S. A._ 56; _P. C._ Epistle, 178.] - -[Footnote 831: Munday, 128.] - -[Footnote 832: Occasionally players were of use as spies. On 30 March -1603 four players gave information of an alleged proclamation of Lord -Beauchamp as king by Lord Southampton (_Hist. MSS._ xiii. 4. 126).] - -[Footnote 833: Cf. App. D, Nos. xl, liii, lviii, lxxi, lxxiii, lxxv, -lxxxiv, lxxxv, ci, cxiv. The notion of the need of the public, as -distinct from that of the Queen, for dramatic recreation gradually makes -its appearance (cf. especially App. D, No. cii); but imperial Rome might -have taught its lesson of _panem et circenses_.] - -[Footnote 834: Taylor, _Wit and Mirth_ (1629, Hazlitt, _Jest Books_, -iii. 62), burlesques the point of view in a story of the visit of the -Queen's ape to Looe in Cornwall. The showman approached the mayor, who -did visit and 'put off his hat and made a leg', and there was a -proclamation, 'These are to will and require you, and every of you, with -your wives and families, that upon the sight hereof, you make your -personall appearance before the Queenes Ape, for it is an Ape of ranke -and quality, who is to bee practised through her Majesties dominions, -that by his long experience amongst her loving subjects, hee may bee the -better enabled to doe her majesty service hereafter; and hereof faile -you not, as you will answer the contrary'.] - -[Footnote 835: App. D, No. liv.] - -[Footnote 836: Hawarde, 48, records that in a Star Chamber case of -cozening on 18 June 1596 'The Lord Treasurer would haue those yᵗ make -the playes to make a comedie hereof, & to acte it with these names'; cf. -p. 244. In _Hatfield MSS._ vii. 270 is a 'lewd saucy letter' of 25 June -1597 from Sir John Hollis to Burghley, who on the last Star Chamber day -had pronounced Hollis's great-grandfather 'an abominable usurer, a -merchant of broken paper, so hateful and contemptible a creature that -the players acted him before the King [Henry VII or VIII] with great -applause'. It is printed in H. Walpole, _Royal and Noble Authors_ (ed. -Park, ii. 283).] - -[Footnote 837: App. C, No. xlv. Was this the Chapel _Game of the Cards_ -on 26 Dec. 1582, or was it the play in which Tarlton (cf. ch. xv) -glanced at Raleigh as the knave commanding the queen?] - -[Footnote 838: These interventions were the Admiral's men in 1600 and -for Oxford's and Worcester's men in 1602 (cf. App. D, Nos. cxvii, -cxxx).] - - - - -IX - -THE STRUGGLE OF COURT AND CITY - - [_Bibliographical Note._--Most of the material for the present - chapter is collected in Appendix D. An outline of the subject - was given in _Tudor Revels_ (1906), and it is well and fully - treated in V. C. Gildersleeve, _Government Regulation of the - Elizabethan Drama_ (1908). G. M. G., _The Stage Censor_ (1908), - and F. Fowell and F. Palmer, _Censorship in England_ (1913), - are perhaps more valuable on later periods. Vagabond life and - legislation may be studied in G. Nicholls, _History of the - English Poor Law_² (1898), C. J. Ribton-Turner, _History of - Vagrants and Vagrancy_ (1887), E. M. Leonard, _Early History of - English Poor Relief_ (1900), and F. Aydelotte, _Elizabethan - Rogues and Vagabonds_ (1913), and the working of local - government in C. A. Beard, _The Office of Justice of the Peace - in England_ (1904), and E. Trotter, _Seventeenth Century Life - in the Country Parish_ (1919).] - - -The foregoing chapter has endeavoured to define the practical and -spiritual forces which underlay the controversy between Puritanism and -the stage; it remains to study the working of the constitutional forms -through which, as a resultant of those forces, the 'quality' of the -player ultimately established itself as a recognized constituent of the -polity. And first, for the social status of the players. The wittier -Puritans were fond of twitting them, on the ground that, if all men had -their rights, they would count as no better than vagabonds. There is -little more than a verbal truth in the taunt. No doubt, in certain -circumstances, players, like minstrels before them, might fall within -the danger of a series of statutes which, in the course of formulating -the provisions of a nascent poor-law, attempted also to regulate the -wandering elements of society. It was part of the mediaeval conception -of things to assign to every individual a definite function in the -social organism and to expect from him the regular fulfilment of that -function. To such a theory the migratory beggar and the masterless man -were naturally repugnant. But it was primarily a shortage of labour -towards the end of the fourteenth century which brought about the first -serious endeavour to check vagabondage by legislation, and to compel the -able-bodied vagrant, through the machinery of local government, to -return to the village of his domicile and there take up again the -service which he had abandoned. This policy was continued and developed -by the Tudors. The principal act which was operative, when Elizabeth -came to the throne, had been passed under Henry VIII in 1531. It -provided that any able-bodied beggar or idle vagrant, having no land or -master, and using no lawful merchandise, craft, or mystery for his -living, should be brought before a justice of the peace, or in a -corporate town the mayor, who should see him whipped at the cart-tail, -and then, if a beggar, returned to his place of birth or residence, -there to work as a true man ought to do, or if an idle person but no -beggar, either put to labour or set in the stocks until he found surety -to go to service. This statute was replaced by one of greater severity -in 1547, under which vagabonds were to be branded and put to forced -labour as slaves. But it was revived in 1550 and kept in force by -frequent renewals, of which the last was under Elizabeth herself in -1563. In these Acts there is no mention by name either of players or of -minstrels.[839] It may, however, be assumed that the quality of a player -would no more be regarded than that of a tinker or a pedlar as a -merchandise, craft or mystery, and the fact that some of the early -companies were composed of men for whom playing had originally been -subsidiary to a regular craft would hardly serve them, after they had -obviously deserted that craft and were travelling abroad to make a -living by the arts of migratory entertainment.[840] Their actual -safeguard was quite a different one. By definition the vagabond was a -masterless man, and with the exception of a few bodies of town players, -who probably did not wander far from their settled habitations, the -Tudor companies were not masterless. They were all under the protection -of some nobleman or gentleman of position, as whose 'servants' they -passed, bearing with them, no doubt, at any rate after this was required -by a proclamation of 1554, a 'certificate' or letter of recommendation -as proof of identity.[841] No doubt the relation in the larger companies -of lord and servants was little more than a nominal one. The strict -regulations of Henry VII against retainers who were not household -servants had become relaxed with the disappearance of the conditions -which necessitated them.[842] The players would wear a livery or badge, -and would do some courtesy of attendance on festival occasions. The lord -might intervene to help them if they got into an undeserved difficulty, -and would see to it that they did not bring his name into bad repute. -There was no economic dependence; the players lived by their earnings, -not by wages. But they were not reckoned as masterless men. - -A secure status, however, did not mean complete absence of control. The -players had no free hand to play just when and where and what they -liked. They were subject to certain conveniences as to times and seasons -and localities, to precautions against breaches of the peace and dangers -to public health and safety. Above all, in a time of political and -ecclesiastical ferment, the sentiments of their plays had to be such as -would stand the scrutiny of a government by no means tolerant of -criticism. On these matters it was not, except in so far as heresy was -constituted by Acts of Uniformity and the like, with statutes that they -had to deal, but with the administrative regulations of the local and -central executives. All over the country there were bodies charged with -a general responsibility for public order, public safety, and public -decency, as the Elizabethans conceived it. In the rural districts there -were the justices of the peace, with powers more considerable than -clearly defined; in the towns there were mayors and corporations, also -acting as justices, but armed with a further authority derived both from -custom and from charters, and with a very clear intention to use this -authority to the full in the government of their communities. The -regulation of amusements had always been regarded as falling within the -scope of municipal activity, and in the end it proved a fortunate thing -for the players, in London at any rate, that the central authority found -itself driven by the pressure of circumstances to take over a large -measure of the responsibility for stage control from the hands of the -corporations. - -For it need hardly be said that in the Tudor scheme of things the power -of the local authorities was an immediate rather than an ultimate one. -Both the justices of the peace and, for all their charters, the -corporations had to reckon with a considerable and growing measure of -central control, resting upon the royal prerogative, and claiming not -merely to further define, but also in some respects to replace, dispense -with, or override legislative enactments. This development of regulation -from the centre is, of course, an established feature of -sixteenth-century history. It arose out of many convergent causes, the -strength of the monarchy in face of the great houses weakened by civil -contention, the personal qualities of the Tudor sovereigns, the urgent -need of fresh machinery to deal with problems created by ecclesiastical -changes, by the growth of the press, by the growth of the stage itself, -for which the legal and administrative traditions of the Middle Ages -provided no solution. And if it was largely unconstitutional and -destined ultimately to bring the prerogative to perdition, this did not -in the meantime affect the position of the actor, who would certainly be -fined and imprisoned if he did not obey, or to any great extent that of -the justices or corporations, who might prove recalcitrant or at least -argumentative, but in the long run found it profitable to obey also. -There were three main avenues through which the royal prerogative found -exercise. The first of these was the ancient procedure of Chancery. The -will of the sovereign might be expressed in a writ or mandate, directed -to the subject, and stamped for greater solemnity with the impression of -the Great Seal of England. Such a writ was generally used in granting -licences, in conferring offices, or in issuing commissions to execute -functions on behalf of the Crown. It took the form of letters patent, so -called because they were intended as open communications to all whom -they might concern. These were handed to the recipient after an -elaborate diplomatic process during which they passed successively under -the royal Sign Manual, the Signet, the Privy Seal, and the Great Seal -itself, while a copy was enrolled in the Court of Chancery, and thus -became matter of public record.[843] Secondly, there was the -proclamation. This was in theory the formal announcement either of an -executive act, or of the royal intention as to the enforcement or -interpretation of a statute. In practice it tended more and more, during -the Tudor period, itself to take the place of a statutory enactment. -Proclamations were made by direction of the sovereign in council, and -were enrolled, like the patents, in Chancery. Both proclamations and, at -a comparatively late stage, patents were made use of in the process of -regulating players. But they were largely supplemented by the third -method through which the royal prerogative expressed itself, namely that -day-by-day activity of the Privy Council in the general co-ordination -and supervision of affairs, which has already been described.[844] The -Council Register itself and the local archives, especially those of -London, are full of letters from head-quarters to justices and -corporations, directing them as to the allowance or inhibition of plays -in general, or calling for special action in cases in which a company of -players had provoked a breach of the peace or had brought themselves -under suspicion of heresy or sedition. No doubt the corporations, in -particular, would often have preferred to act upon their own discretion. -Sometimes they argued or protested or deferred compliance. But the -Council had the powers of the Star Chamber behind them; and if in the -end they resorted to more direct ways of control, this was probably -rather for the sake of avoiding administrative friction than because -they found any ultimate difficulty in imposing their will by means of -correspondence upon reluctant magistrates. - -It was, of course, until plague and Puritanism became serious -preoccupations, with the subject-matter of plays, rather than the -details of times and places, that the central government mainly -concerned itself; and it was apparently the disturbed ecclesiastical -position of the later years of Henry VIII that directed attention to the -drama as a subject of state instead of merely local concern. I have -dealt elsewhere with the encouragement given to controversial interludes -by Cromwell and Cranmer, with the swing of the pendulum when the -controversialists began to apply themselves, not merely to points of -church government which Henry desired to alter, but with heresies which -he was not prepared to adopt, and with the proclamations and -counter-proclamations and the interventions by the Privy Council to -which the problem gave rise under Edward VI and Mary.[845] Some -additional material which has more recently been published throws light -upon the regulative functions of the City of London in particular during -1549 and 1550.[846] More than once the prevalence of 'lewd' and -'naughty' plays on this side or that led to the complete inhibition of -all performances for a season. There is also some trace of a system of -licences for particular companies. It is not clear why Lord Dorset -should have thought it necessary to obtain a special authorization from -the Council for his men to play in his presence only in 1551.[847] A -forged licence taken from some players and sent to Sir William Cecil in -1552 may perhaps have purported to have been nothing more than such a -certificate from a lord as was required by the proclamation of -1554.[848] Two general conclusions may be drawn from these early -records. One is that, although the local authorities were certainly -responsible for the regulation of plays as a matter of public order, -they were not always in a position to make their control effective -without an appeal to head-quarters. The performances were popular and -the players had inherited from the minstrels a prescriptive right to -municipal encouragement and reward, rather than interference. And if -they bore the badge of some great personage, himself perhaps a privy -councillor, one may be sure that Dogberry and Verges would think twice -before they ventured on a rebuff. Even in London the Lord Mayor had to -appeal to the Privy Council in 1543 to get certain joiners imprisoned -and reprimanded for playing on a Sunday.[849] And if this was so in -London, where the Lord Mayor had certainly a firm seat in his saddle, it -was naturally still more so in the county areas, whose looser methods of -government ultimately proved to have a very marked significance for the -history of the London theatres. The weak position of the Surrey -justices, for example, is illustrated by a letter from Stephen Gardiner, -Bishop of Winchester, to Sir William Paget, Secretary of State, written -on 5 February 1547, shortly after the death of Henry VIII. He asks that -Paget or the Protector will intervene to prevent Lord Oxford's men, who -have threatened 'to try who shall have most resort, they in game or I in -earnest', from giving a play in Southwark at the moment when he sings -his _Dirige_ for the dead king; and he reports that one Master Acton, a -justice of the peace, has attempted to stop the assembly, but the -players 'smally regard' him, and 'press him to a peremptory answer, -whether he dare lett them play or not; whereunto he answereth neither -yea nor nay as to the playing'.[850] - -The second point is that, although the Privy Council might intervene to -help the magistrates, their own primary interest at this time was in the -exclusion of heresy and sedition from plays. This shows itself in two -ways. Individual plays are brought before the Council itself, and lead -to disciplinary measures. But there is also the germ of a censorship. At -first it is exercised through the local authorities. The London aldermen -in 1549 appoint two of the Corporation officers, known as the -Secondaries of the Compters, who are bound under recognizances to -'peruse' plays and report upon them to the Lord Mayor. But in the -following year the London players themselves are bound only to perform -plays licensed by the King himself or the Privy Council, and this too is -the basis of Edward's proclamation of 1551 and Mary's of 1553.[851] The -former requires a licence 'in writing vnder his maiesties signe, or -signed by vj of his highnes priuie counsail'; the latter 'her graces -speciall licence in writynge for the same'. By 1557, however, another -change has taken place, and the duty of licensing is apparently -delegated to the ecclesiastical authorities, that is to say the -Commissioners for Religion.[852] These licences are of course for -individual plays, and distinct from any general licences needed by a -company in order to enable it to play at all. - -When Elizabeth came to the throne she was perhaps more able than her -predecessor to rely upon the municipalities in carrying out her -ecclesiastical policy. It is true that the _Act of Uniformity_, like -Edward's before her, forbade any words in the derogation, depraving or -despising of the Book of Common Prayer, and committed the enforcement of -this prohibition to the ecclesiastical ordinary as well as to the -justices of assize and the civic mayors. It is true also that the -general powers of jurisdiction in cases of sedition given to the High -Commission by the patent of 19 July 1559 are wide enough to cover 'words -or showings' as well as 'books'. But the elaborate provisions for a -literary censorship under the Commission contained in the ecclesiastical -_Injunctions_ of the same year extend to printed matter only, and for -the detailed supervision of plays the Government was at first content to -look to the magistrates.[853] There seem to have been two proclamations. -The first, which is not extant, is said to have been made on 7 April -1559 and to have restrained plays for a stated period. The second, of -the following 16 May, was intended as a permanent regulation. After -noting that the usual season for interludes was now over until 1 -November, and the inconvenience of some recently given, it goes on to -forbid any, whether in public or private, which have not been licensed -by the Mayor in a town, or in a shire by the Lord Lieutenant or two -justices for the immediate locality. The licensing authorities are -enjoined to allow no handling of matters of religion or state in plays, -and the nobility and gentry are warned to take order that 'their -seruantes being players' shall respect the proclamation. It will be -observed that only the licensing of plays and not the status of players -was covered. Status was left as the Act of 1531, which was still in -force and was explicitly confirmed in 1563, had left it. The position -was then as follows. Players, at any rate when they performed away from -home, must have a licence either from their lord or possibly from the -local magistrates. Whether at home or abroad, they were subject to the -regulation of the magistrates as to times and places, and the -precautions needed to secure public health and order. In addition, the -magistrates had a special responsibility under the proclamation for -allowing their individual plays, but this, in rural areas where there -were many Justice Shallows, might alternatively be exercised by the Lord -Lieutenant for the county as a whole. It is, I suppose, a licence for -their repertory rather than for their travelling that Lord Robert Dudley -asked for his men from the Earl of Shrewsbury, who as President of the -North stood in the place of a Lord Lieutenant for Yorkshire, about a -month after the issue of the proclamation. He calls it, indeed, a -licence to play, but he dwells on the 'tollerable and convenient' -character of their pieces, and it is easy to see how one conception of -the purpose for which a licence was required would slip into another. - -The history of play-licensing in London, which must now be followed in -detail, really turns upon an attempt of the Corporation, goaded by the -preachers, to convert their power of regulating plays into a power of -suppressing plays, as the ultimate result of which even the power of -regulation was lost to them, and the central government, acting through -the Privy Council and the system of patents, with the Master of the -Revels as a licenser, took the supervision of the stage into its own -hands. The issue does not define itself very clearly until the -'seventies, perhaps partly because the Puritan sentiment took some time -to grow, and partly because the earlier years are much less fully -documented than the later ones. - -As with all narratives pieced together out of fragmentary records, care -must be taken not to lay too much stress on merely negative evidence -with regard to any particular point. The two chief sources of -information are the _Register_ of the Privy Council, which contains -minutes of letters written to the City Corporation or the Justices of -Middlesex and Surrey and of other action taken by the Council with -regard to plays, and the City _Remembrancia_, a book containing copies -of letters passing between the Corporation and the Council or other -persons of importance. But neither record is continuous during the whole -controversy, and although the two frequently help each other out, some -of the gaps unfortunately synchronize. In particular there is a -comparative absence of information upon the first part of the reign, -since the _Register_ only begins to help in 1573 and the _Remembrancia_ -in 1580. It is possible, therefore, that the Court and the City may have -come to grips on the vexed question of stage-control in London somewhat -earlier than is now apparent. - -It is certain, indeed, that some negotiations had taken place between -the two authorities before the period to which the documents mainly -relate. These are appealed to in a City letter of 1574, and it is -claimed that, in view of the objections of the Corporation, the Council -had 'long since' refrained from pressing a proposal that some private -person should be nominated to license playing-places within the City. -This is the first mention of a new type of 'licence', distinct from -those of companies as such, or of plays as such, and presumably owing -its origin to the general local regulative powers of the magistrates. -The date of the proposal is not given, and as regards the years 1558-71, -there is only occasional evidence of any serious interference, other -than such as was necessitated by plague, with the activities of the -players, although it is clear that the rulers of the City were -exercising the powers of supervision with which the proclamation of 1559 -invested them. There is an indication that plays were suspended by a -precept from the Lord Mayor in the September of the first and greatest -of the Elizabethan plague-years, 1563; and in the following February -Edmund Grindal, the Bishop of London, wrote to Sir William Cecil, -pointing out that the players set up their bills daily, and especially -on holidays, and that the excessive resort of young people to their -performances could only be a cause of infection. Both on religious and -on hygienic grounds, he urged the desirability of inhibiting plays by -proclamation, either permanently or at least for a complete year, and -not only within the City, but for a circuit of three miles outside its -boundaries. Penalties should, he thought, be imposed for disobedience, -not only upon the players, but also upon the owners of the houses where -they played. The cessation of the plague probably made it unnecessary -for Cecil to entertain the suggestion seriously; but it is interesting -to observe that the policy of the Puritans, with whom Grindal was in -sympathy, was already in 1564 one of complete suppression, and also that -the comparative inefficacy of measures limited to the City, in view of -the populous suburbs outside the London jurisdiction and subject only to -the Middlesex or Surrey Justices and to the Privy Council, had been -already realized. - -During the next few years there is little to record, although if _The -Children of the Chapel Stript and Whipt_, alleged to have been printed -in 1569, were ever recovered, it might throw more light upon the growing -flood of Puritan sentiment than is afforded by Warton's scanty -quotations. There was some plague in each of the three years 1568, 1569, -and 1570, and in the summer of 1569 the City suspended plays, as a -precautionary measure, from the last day of May to the last day of -September. There was another suspension on 27 November 1571, for which -plague is not alleged as a reason, but a few days later the Corporation -appear to have changed their minds and licences were issued during this -winter for performances by Leicester's and Abergavenny's men. - -The year 1572 is marked by two measures of government, each of which had -its reaction on the _status_ of players throughout the country. The -first entailed some regularization of the position of noblemen's -companies. The fifteenth-century struggle between the power of the Crown -and that of the great feudal houses had led to enactments forbidding -subjects to attach to themselves, by the giving and taking of a livery -or badge, retainers who were not in some bona-fide sense their own -household servants or officers. The Acts against retainers had been -continued up to the reign of Henry VII, who had confirmed them in 1487; -and had then, upon the firm establishment of the royal supremacy by the -Tudors, largely fallen into desuetude, in spite of a proclamation of -1545, already noticed, which was intended to call renewed attention to -them. They were, however, still technically operative, and a -proclamation of 3 January 1572 announced an intention to enforce them -from the following 20 February. Their relation to the players is shown -by the fact that the company which had been performing under the Earl of -Leicester's name immediately wrote to their lord, and, while making it -clear that they did not expect any wages beyond the livery to which they -had been accustomed, begged for a definite appointment as his household -servants and for a licence to certify the same as a security against -interference under the revived statutes during their annual travels in -the provinces. A second proclamation of the same character was issued on -19 April 1583. More important than the proclamation, but probably -representing the same policy, was the repeal by Parliament of the -Vagabond Act of 1531 and the substitution of a new statute, which came -into force upon 24 August. This included in a definition of vagabonds, -not only 'juglers, pedlars, tynkers and petye chapmen', but also -'fencers, bearewardes, comon players in enterludes, and minstrels, not -belonging to any baron of this realme, or towardes any other honorable -personage of greater degree'. Specific power was, however, given for the -issue of local travelling licences by mayors and county justices. So far -as noblemen's players were concerned, the Act was presumably no more -than declaratory of their existing position. But the knight or plain -gentleman lost his privilege of protection altogether; and in future, if -his servants wished to travel as players, they had to get their licence -from the magistrates. As a matter of fact, with the exception of those -forming part of the royal household itself, practically all the -companies of professional players which appeared in London during -Elizabeth's reign were noblemen's servants. A few performances were -given at Court in early years by Sir Robert Lane's men, but these -disappeared or transferred their services to a more honourable personage -upon the legislation of 1572.[854] The most important of the provincial -companies which did not come to London also bore the names of noblemen, -and although many others were entertained by mere knights and gentlemen, -it is probable that, at any rate after 1572, these did not range very -widely from their head-quarters.[855] The necessity of procuring a fresh -licence for every shire would doubtless, as was its intention, afford an -obstacle to free circulation.[856] Apart from its defining clause, the -main object of the Act of 1572 was to try once more the experiment, -which had failed under Edward VI, of treating vagabondage with an -increased severity. The summary whipping by individual magistrates was -abolished except for children. An adult offender was to be committed to -gaol until the next quarter sessions, and then, unless he could find a -master to take him for a year's service, to be whipped and branded as a -rogue by boring through the ear. On a second offence he was to be -adjudged a felon, unless he could secure service for two years, and a -third offence was to be treated as felony without benefit of clergy. The -classification of unlicensed minstrels as rogues led to the insertion of -a clause confirming the ancient privilege of the house of Dutton to -issue licences within the county of Chester;[857] and another qualifying -provision, the importance of which in connexion with players has been -overlooked, safeguarded the validity, as overriding the statute, of -licences passed under the Great Seal of England. It is in 1572 also that -symptoms of a conflict of judgement between the City and the Privy -Council first declare themselves. The annalist Harrison records that in -this year plays were 'banished' out of London for fear of infection, and -on 20 May a minute of the Court of Aldermen records that letters had -been received from the Council for renewed allowance under reasonable -conditions, and that, in place of immediate compliance, a letter of -protest, based on the peril of assemblies during a hot summer, was to be -sent to Lord Burghley. A somewhat similar situation seems to have -developed in 1573, which made it necessary in July for the Council to -write two letters to the Corporation, of which the second had a -peremptory note about it, in order to obtain permission for some Italian -players to exhibit an 'instrument of strange motions', or puppet-show. -The following year was evidently one of considerable friction. On 2 -March the Corporation wrote to the Lord Chamberlain with reference to a -suggestion that the licensing of playing-places within the City should -be put in the hands of one Holmes. They maintained their earlier -refusal, already mentioned, to commit such a matter to any private -person, and added that they had other offers for the licensing rights on -terms that would be profitable 'to the relefe of the poore in the -hospitalles'. The terms of the letter make it clear that they regarded -the plan as one which, besides being practically inconvenient, would -entail a precedent 'farre extending to the hart of our liberties'. In -the meantime plays were apparently inhibited, for on 22 March the -Council wrote to inquire the causes of the restraint, 'to thintent their -Lordships may the better aunswer suche as desyre to have libertye for -the same'. It may be conjectured that the reply was unsatisfactory, for -in May a remedy for which provision had been made by anticipation in the -Vagabond Act of 1572 was resorted to, and a patent under the Great Seal -was issued to the Earl of Leicester's men, which over-ruled the -proclamation of 1559 and ignored the position of the Corporation -altogether. By this the company received permission to play during the -royal pleasure either within London itself or within or without any -other town throughout the country. The licence was only subject to two -provisions. One was that there should be no performance during common -prayer or during plague times in London; the other that all plays should -be seen and allowed by the Master of the Revels. As the Master of the -Revels was an officer of the royal household, subordinate to the Lord -Chamberlain, the action taken practically amounted to a transference of -control, so far as this particular company was concerned, from the -Corporation to the Court itself. Nothing specific was said in the patent -about the allowing of playing-places as distinct from the allowing of -plays, and it may have left the Corporation with some reasonable -discretion on this point. It is not known that a similar licence was -issued to any other Elizabethan company besides Leicester's men, -although this could hardly be definitely asserted without a complete -examination of the Patent Rolls for the reign. My own impression is that -the issue of the patent served its purpose by bringing the Corporation -to a more reasonable frame of mind, and that it was not found necessary -to repeat the experiment, at any rate exactly in the same form. On 22 -July the Council issued a passport to 'the comedie plaiers' to go to -London, and also wrote to the Corporation requiring their admission and -favourable usage. I feel little doubt that the company in question were -the Italians who had been at Windsor and Reading during the progress. In -any case it may be taken for granted from the events of the following -winter that the Corporation were now beaten, and yielded. But it can -only have been with reluctance. The enforced toleration of the Italian -players, who seem to have brought with them some female acrobats, had -added strength to the Puritan criticisms. Thomas Norton, the City -Remembrancer, writing a preface to a summary of City customs for the use -of the new Lord Mayor, James Hawes, and dwelling on the need for better -regulations against the contagion of the plague, lays special stress on -the danger of 'the unnecessarie and scarslie honeste resorts to plaies' -and of such assemblies as those attracted by 'the unchaste, shamelesse -and unnaturall tomblinge of the Italion weomen'. With a characteristic -touch of Puritan logic he adds, 'To offend God and honestie, is not to -cease a plague'. In fact, the increase of plague gave London a respite -from plays during the winter. On 15 November the Privy Council wrote to -the Justices of Middlesex, Essex, and Surrey to inhibit assemblies -within ten miles of London until Easter; and the City hardly needed the -stimulus of an 'admonition' from their lordships to persuade them to -adopt a similar course. They used the interval to enact an elaborate -code for the regulation of plays, whose continuance in their midst, -whether they liked it or not, they now saw to be inevitable. This took -the form of an Act of Common Council, which is dated on 6 December 1574. -The preamble sets out the various 'disorders and inconvenyences' which -from the civic point of view had arisen from plays in the past, the -unchaste and seditious speeches, the waste of money and interference -with divine service, the accidents due to the fall of wooden structures -and to the use of firearms upon the stage, the opportunities afforded by -the performances for frays and quarrels, for purse-cutting, for the -corruption of youth by 'previe and unmete contractes', for incontinency -in the inner chambers of the 'greate innes' to which the stages were -adjacent. It then proceeds to recite the recent inhibition for plague, -and the need to provide against the renewal of such 'enormyties' upon -the expected withdrawal of God's hand of sickness by securing that 'the -laweful, honest and comelye use of plaies, pastymes and recreacions' -should alone be permitted. The actual regulations are six in number. No -unchaste, seditious, or otherwise improper plays were to be performed, -upon a penalty of fourteen days' imprisonment and a fine of £5 for each -offence. No play was to be shown which had not first been perused and -allowed by such persons as the Lord Mayor and Aldermen might appoint. -All playing-places and the persons in control of them were to be -licensed by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. All licensees were to be bound -to the City Chamberlain for the keeping of good order. No licence was to -be operative during a restraint for sickness or other good reason, nor -were plays to be given or spectators received during the usual times for -divine service on Sundays and holidays. Every licensee was to make such -contributions to the poor and sick of the City as might be agreed upon -with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. Machinery was provided for the -recovery of penalties, which were also to be for the benefit of the poor -and sick, and an exception was made for plays in private houses for -which no money was taken. The only regulation to which these were to be -subject was that against the introduction of unchaste and seditious -matters. - -It is often stated that the regulations of 1574 were followed in 1575 by -a decree of the Corporation banishing players totally and finally from -the confines of the City. This is, however, a mistake due to an -erroneous endorsement of date upon some documents which belong in -reality to about 1584. The regulations remained operative for a -considerable number of years. It is true that, reasonable and moderate -as they were, they were not accepted as satisfactory either by the -players or by their critics. After all, they left a good deal in working -to the discretion of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen for the time being; and -the players seem to have come to the conclusion that it would be better -to be independent, as far as possible, of the risks attaching to this -discretion. They turned to the easier conditions afforded by the lax -county government of the suburbs. Within two or three years after the -issue of the regulations two houses had been built expressly for playing -in the liberty of Halliwell, which was within the jurisdiction of -Middlesex; the Theatre in 1576 and the Curtain either in the same year -or early in 1577. A third house, at Newington Butts on the Surrey side, -was already obsolete about 1592, and seems to have been in existence by -1580. Exactly upon what considerations the private house in the -Blackfriars was established, also in 1576, is less certain. But at any -rate, as a result of the action of the Corporation in 1574, the main -locality of the popular drama was shifted from the courtyards of the -London inns to the specialized suburban theatres. It must not, of -course, be supposed that the inns fell altogether into disuse. The new -arrangement was not without its inconveniences for the players. During -the summer months it was no hardship for pleasure-seekers to cross the -river or the fields in search of a spectacle. But the short evenings and -dirty lanes of winter left an advantage to the inns in the heart of the -City, which was not lightly to be forgone. It was still, therefore, a -matter of importance for the companies to maintain their footing in the -City, even if this meant compliance with harassing restrictions, and -they were ready to use all their influence with the masters whose -liveries they wore, with the Lord Chamberlain, and with the Privy -Council, in opposition to any further limitation of their privileges. So -far as the summer was concerned, the building of the suburban theatres -was a serious check to the policy of the Corporation. It was still the -young folk of the City who crowded the audiences; nor could the greater -distance diminish the danger of infection, the neglect of divine -service, the waste of time and money, or the likelihood of falling into -bad company by the way. In future it was not sufficient to make salutary -regulations for London; it was necessary to secure, by invoking the -goodwill of the county justices, or in default of that even the aid of -the Privy Council itself, that similar order should be taken outside -the liberties. In this direction the City never met with more than very -partial success. The county government was naturally not as closely -organized as their own, and it was in the hands of officials and local -gentlemen to whom the business considerations and the growing Puritan -instincts of the City tradesmen did not appeal. Richard Young, in -particular, who was a prominent member of the Middlesex bench for many -years, earned an evil reputation as a persecutor of Puritans.[858] On -the other hand, the Corporation might look for the co-operation of his -colleague William Fleetwood, who was their own Recorder,[859] and -machinery had been established between the two areas in the form of a -joint committee or court of assistants for dealing with the control of -plays and other matters of 'good order'.[860] - -And if the players needed a refuge from the regulations of 1574, these -must have been far from satisfactory to the Puritans. They fell very far -short of the wholesome Genevan model. There was still toleration for the -infamous _histriones_. Plays were not even wholly forbidden on Sundays -and holy days, and the crowd flocked to the inn-yard gates, already open -in spite of the regulation, while the bells were still ringing for -divine service in the empty churches. And although the Corporation -certainly did not mean to commit the licensing of plays to the Master of -the Revels or to any court nominee, there is nothing to show that they -had any intention of leaving it to the ministers. The rise of the -'sumptuous' theatres, monuments of triumphant wickedness, in the fields, -could only add fuel to the wrath of the moralists. With Thomas White's -Paul's Cross sermon and John Northbrooke's _Treatise_ of 1577 begins a -period of active diatribe in pulpit and pamphlet, the deliberate -intention of which was to stir the 'magistrate' to a stronger sense of -the moral responsibilities of government, so that in London at least -the letters of commendation furnished by godlessly-minded nobles for -their servants might be disregarded and the accursed thing driven from -the gates. And if only, through a Sidney or a Walsingham or a Leicester -or a Burghley, the heart of the Council could be touched, it might -perhaps even be driven from the suburbs also. - -For some time after 1574 the relations between Whitehall and Guildhall -were comparatively peaceful. Such plague as prevailed in 1575 and 1576 -seems to have affected Westminster rather than the City. In 1577, -however, an outbreak led the Corporation to suspend plays, and the -Council ordered the Middlesex Justices to do the same from August to -Michaelmas. The Theatre may have been open again by 5 October, although -plague seems to have been still prevalent in November. It was over by -January, and on the 13th of that month the Council instructed the Lord -Mayor to let the famous Italian actor Drusiano Martinelli and his -company perform in the City until the beginning of Lent. The autumn of -1578 again proved plaguesome, and on 10 November the Council ordered the -Surrey Justices to inhibit plays in Southwark. On 23 December, however, -a further order was issued to London, Middlesex, and Surrey, permitting -the exercise of plays, subject to certain orders appointed against -infection. This was followed on the next day by another letter to the -Lord Mayor, specifying six companies who were summoned to Court and to -whom therefore the privilege of exercising in public was to be limited. -In the spring of the following year the Council appear to have been -disturbed at the neglect of Lent, and on 13 March they wrote both to the -Lord Mayor and to the Middlesex Justices, to direct that no plays should -be allowed during the penitential season, either in that or in any -subsequent year. By 1580 the battery of 'the preachers dayly cryeng -against the Lord Maior and his bretheren' seems to have had its effect -upon the civic conscience. Naturally most of the sermons against the -stage were never printed, but an example, in addition to that of Thomas -White, is to be found in the Paul's Cross sermon of John Stockwood on 24 -August 1578. Gosson's _Schoole of Abuse_ had followed Northbrooke's -_Treatise_ in 1579, and in 1580 itself appeared the _Second and Third -Blast of Retrait_, the conspicuous civic arms upon which are perhaps -significant of the attitude now adopted by the Corporation. On 6 April -there was an earthquake, which was seized upon by the controversialists -as a sign of God's wrath against plays. The series of civic letters -contained in the _Remembrancia_ begins in this year, and shows a spirit -of hostility towards the stage far more pronounced than was indicated -by the regulations of 1574. Under the stimulus of further pamphlets, -Gosson's _Playes Confuted_ in 1582 and Stubbes's _Anatomy of Abuses_ in -1583, this tendency continued to grow, and finally landed the -Corporation in a state of acute conflict with the Council. The earliest -letter preserved is from the Lord Mayor to the Lord Chancellor, Sir -Thomas Bromley, on 12 April 1580. In this he took occasion, on the -strength of a recent disturbance at the Theatre, of the admonition of -the hand of God in the earthquake, and of a charge from the Council to -avoid uncleanness and pestering of the city, to point out that players -were 'a very superfluous sort of men and of such facultie as the lawes -have disalowed', and to suggest the desirability of an order by which -they should be 'wholy stayed and forbidden', both within and without the -liberties. The disturbance at the Theatre was probably a fray between -the Inns of Court and Oxford's men, which led to the imprisonment of -some of the latter by the Council. Some months before John Brayne and -James Burbage had been indicted for bringing about a breach of the peace -by causing unlawful assemblies. There was not in fact much plague this -summer, but the Council assented to a temporary inhibition until -Michaelmas and called upon the Middlesex and Surrey Justices to extend -it to Newington Butts and other places in their jurisdictions. Perhaps -emboldened by his success, the Lord Mayor wrote a second letter on 17 -June to Lord Burghley, in which he expressed the opinion that the -haunting of unchaste plays in the suburbs was a serious danger to the -City, and again proposed their restraint as part of a series of measures -in the interests of the public health. Burghley's answer is not upon -record. Presumably plays went on as usual during the winter of 1580. An -incident of the following year makes it apparent that, at some uncertain -but probably recent date, the Corporation had attempted to render the -code of 1574 more stringent by forbidding performances upon Sundays. -Lord Berkeley's men, who claimed to be ignorant of this, performed upon -Sunday, 9 July 1581, and became involved in a fray with some Inns of -Court men, which led to the committal of both parties to the Counter. On -the very next day the Privy Council wrote to London and to Middlesex, -and directed an inhibition of plays on the ground of plague until -Michaelmas. The City responded by a suspension for an indefinite period -on 13 July. They seem to have taken advantage of this to press their -point about Sundays. On 14 November the Mayor issued a precept against -the setting up of bills for plays within the ward jurisdictions of the -aldermen. On 18 November a letter was received from the Council pointing -out that the infection had ceased, and that 'theis poore men the -players' should now be permitted to exercise within the City for their -'releife' and 'redinesse with convenient matters for her highnes solace -this next Christmas'. Nothing is here said about Sundays, but the -Council Register contains a minute for a letter of 3 December to the -Mayor, distinct, unless there is some confusion of date, from that of 18 -November, of which there is no entry in the Register, and referring to a -petition from the players, and a stipulation made with them that Sundays -should be excluded, and performances limited to holy days and other -week-days. This looks as if the Corporation had questioned the first -mandate and had secured a concession as the price of submission. It must -count as a victory for the Puritans, but they were not content, and one -of the London ministers, John Field, took occasion to address a letter -of reproach to the Earl of Leicester for yielding to the players, 'to -the great greife of all the godly'. - -It is difficult to resist the belief that a measure taken during this -same December arose from a desire of the Council to counteract the -growing recalcitrancy of the Corporation by a device similar to that -which had been successful in 1574. The precedent set in the issue of a -patent to Leicester's men was not, however, exactly followed. The -position was now dealt with in a more comprehensive fashion, by the -issue of a commission under a patent to the Master of the Revels -himself. The object of this commission was in part to invest the Master -with authority to press workmen and wares for the service of the Revels. -But it also empowered him to call upon players and playmakers to appear -before him and recite their pieces, presumably with a view to their -consideration for performance at Court. And, as it were incidentally to -the exercise of such a power, the patent went on to declare in the most -general terms that the Master of the Revels was thereby appointed 'of -all suche showes plaies plaiers and playmakers together with their -playing places to order and reforme auctorise and put downe as shalbe -thought meete or unmeete unto himselfe or his said deputie in that -behalfe'. Like the licence of 1574, the commission of 1581 is expressed -as being 'any acte statute ordynance or provision' to the contrary -notwithstanding. - -The functions thus assigned to the Master of the Revels came to be of -the first importance in the history of the stage. But for the moment the -result of their stroke can hardly have satisfied the expectations of the -Council. The Corporation were not so ready to retreat from an untenable -position as they had been seven years before. Either in ignorance of the -Master's commission, or with the deliberate intention of asserting the -privileges ignored therein, they seem to have definitely committed -themselves, in the course of 1582, to the policy, long advocated by -their spiritual advisers, of a complete suppression of the stage. The -method of attack adopted was, so far as any records yet published -disclose, a new one. Instead of relying upon their licensing powers, now -very doubtful and in any case of no validity in the suburbs, they issued -on 3 April a precept to the City guilds, enjoining them to charge all -freemen with the responsibility of keeping their servants and other -dependants from repairing to any play, whether in city or in suburbs, -upon penalty of punishment both for the offending servant and for his -master. This is presumably the 'late inhibition' against playing after -evening prayer on holidays, which the Privy Council asked the Lord Mayor -to revoke by a letter of 11 April, in which they expressed the opinion -that in the absence of infection such playing might be used 'without -impeachment of the service of God whereof we have a speciall care', -provided always that Sundays should be excepted, and that fit persons -should be appointed by the Corporation to 'consider and allowe of such -playes onely as be fitt to yeld honest recreacion and no example of -euell'. It is to be observed that the Council do not suggest that the -allowance shall be done by the Master of the Revels or make any allusion -to the powers conferred by his patent. Perhaps this indicates some -willingness to come to a compromise. The Lord Mayor's reply, written two -days later, is in its turn not otherwise than conciliatory. He suggests -that the Council may perhaps not be fully aware of the difficulties -entailed by plays on holidays. He has found that either he has to -tolerate the admission of the audience during the times of prayer, or -else the plays must continue until a very inconvenient time of night for -servants and children to be abroad. He also calls attention to the -growth of the plague, which seems to him to justify the continuance of -the restraint for the present, and finally hints that later on he will -fall in with the views of the Council and duly appoint suitable -licensers. Plague was in fact rife during 1582, and perhaps left the -Council no choice but to drop the question for a time. In July the Lord -Mayor apologized on the ground of infection for refusing a request from -the Earl of Warwick that a servant of his might be allowed to give a -public display of fencing at the Bull in Bishopsgate. All that he could -promise was to let the man pass through the City with his company and -drum on the way to the Theatre or some other place in the suburbs. -Possibly the correspondence of April was only a cloak for the real -intentions of the Corporation; or possibly they miscalculated the -Council's reasons for not carrying it further. At any rate, still -profiting by the continuance of the plague, they determined in the -course of the autumn to risk another step in advance. The plan for -working through the guilds was ill-conceived, and had probably failed; -obviously masters could not effectively prevent their apprentices from -slipping off to Finsbury or Southwark on holiday afternoons. At any rate -nothing more is heard of it. To this date probably belongs an Act of -Common Council, which after dealing with other matters of civic -government, briefly enacted that public plays should 'wholly be -prohibited as ungodly', and that suit should be made to the Council for -a like prohibition 'in places near unto the city'. - -It was not long before an opportunity for opening the projected campaign -against the outside houses presented itself. On Sunday, 13 January 1583, -eight persons were killed by the fall of a scaffold during a -bear-baiting at Paris Garden in Surrey. John Field, Leicester's -correspondent of 1581, was quick to point the Puritan moral in _A Godly -Exhortation_ dedicated to the Corporation. But already, on the day after -the accident, the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Blank, had written to Lord -Burghley to urge that this interposition of the hand of God called for -redress of the abuse of the Sabbath day, and to beg for Burghley's good -offices with the Surrey Justices, some of whom were willing to take -action but alleged that they lacked commission. Burghley promised that -the Council would consider the matter, and suggested that it was within -the scope of the Corporation's authority to make a general order against -the attendance of Londoners at Sunday entertainments. The previous -year's experience, however, had probably impressed the Corporation with -the difficulty of securing that such an order should not be a dead -letter outside their own jurisdiction; and although the Council -_Register_ is deficient at this point, it is certain that the event at -Paris Garden did in fact result in the extension by the Council itself -of the prohibition against Sunday performances from the City to the -counties. But this was not until after the Lord Mayor had again pressed -the question in a letter to the Council of 3 July, in which he alleged -the attractions of unlawful spectacles as a reason for the decay of -archery, of which the Council had complained, and declared that Paris -Garden was rebuilt and the Sunday bear-baitings in full swing, and that -blame was thrown upon the City authorities in Paul's Cross sermons and -elsewhere, 'to our shame and greif, when we cannot remedie it'. If the -Council yielded on this point, they remained quite firm on the general -question of the toleration of plays, on all days other than Sundays, -within the City as well as without. We do not know what steps, if any, -they took to enforce the licensing powers of the Master of the Revels. -But it is likely that the formation from the existing companies of the -Queen's men in the March of 1583 was a deliberate and to some extent a -successful attempt to overawe the City by the use of the royal name. It -may be inferred from letters of the Lord Mayor to Richard Young of -Middlesex and to Sir Francis Walsingham in April and May that plague -prevented plays during the greater part of the year. But on 26 November -the Council wrote that there was now no infection, and that Her -Majesty's players were to be suffered to play as usual until the -following Shrovetide. The Corporation, for all their Act of Common -Council, made no open resistance, but they qualified the permission by -limiting it to holy days, and it took a further letter from Sir Francis -Walsingham on 1 December to get it extended to ordinary working days. - -The struggle, however, was only deferred, and the real crisis came in -1584. During Whit-week there were frays amongst the knots of serving-men -and prentices who hung about the doors of the Theatre and Curtain. The -Corporation approached the Council and, although there seems to have -been no plague, obtained sanction, in spite of the opposition of the -Lord Chamberlain and Vice-Chamberlain, to the suppression of both -houses. When the winter came round the Queen's men brought their case -before the Council, and pointed out that the time of their service was -at hand, that for the sake thereof as well as of their living they -needed to exercise, and that the season of the year was past to play at -any of the theatres outside the City. They petitioned for letters to the -Lord Mayor to admit them to London, and also for an order to the -Middlesex Justices, doubtless to revoke the suppression of the previous -summer. Their case was set out more fully in a body of annexed articles. -Unfortunately these are lost, but their tenor can be gathered from the -City rejoinder. This took the form partly of an historical summary and -partly of a detailed reply to the contentions of the players. The -Corporation recited the reluctant toleration granted in 1574, the -disregard of the rule against receiving spectators during divine -service, the continued prevalence of abuses and the agitation of the -preachers, the Act of Common Council conjecturally assigned to 1582, -and finally the ruin of Paris Garden and the abolition of Sunday plays -to which it led. The analysis of the arguments of the Queen's men is in -a mercilessly critical vein, very different to the reasonable -regulations of 1574, and may perhaps be ascribed to the malicious wit of -Recorder Fleetwood. The writer deals first with the alleged need for -exercise before playing at Court, and suggests that exercise in private -houses might suffice, as it was unsuitable, let alone the danger of -bringing infection into the royal presence, to offer to Her Majesty -pieces already produced before the basest assemblies of London and -Middlesex. As to the stay of the players' living, the view, which must -surely have gone back some decades for its justification, is put forward -that in times past it had not been thought meet that players should look -to playing for a living, 'but men for their lyvings using other honest -and lawfull artes, or reteyned in honest services, have by companies -learned some enterludes for some encreasce to their profit by other mens -pleasures in vacant time of recreation'. The players had claimed in -their first article that the Lord Mayor's order of toleration on holy -days should continue; but the Act of Common Council had cancelled this, -and moreover the provision against the reception of audiences before the -end of common prayer had been disregarded. Nor was it comely for youth -to run 'streight from prayer to playes, from Gods service to the -Deuells'. The second article had dwelt on the difficulty in a dark and -foul season of either going into the fields for plays, or deferring them -until after evening prayer; but the true remedy was 'to leave of that -unnecessarie expense of time, wherunto God himself geveth so many -impediments'. The third article had proposed to make plays permissible, -so long as the deaths from plague were below fifty a week. The reply is -that 'to play in plagetime is to encrease the plage by infection: to -play out of plagetime is to draw the plage by offendinges of God upon -occasion of such playes'. But if the number of deaths from plague were -to be taken as the basis of toleration, it must be remembered that this -number was an inadequate measure of the danger of infection amongst the -living, and to wait until it rose to fifty would be to run too great a -risk for the sake of a few 'whoe if they were not her Maiesties servants -shold by their profession be rogues'. The normal weekly number of deaths -out of plague-time was between forty and fifty, and commonly under -forty; surely it would be enough to allow plays when the rate from all -causes had been for two or three weeks together under fifty. Toleration -was only claimed for the Queen's players. But this had been so in the -previous winter, and all the playing-places had been filled with players -calling themselves the Queen's men. Any letters or warrants for -toleration should set out the number and names of the company. Much of -this dialectic could hardly be taken seriously; it was accompanied by -some suggested remedies of a practical character. The City still thought -the limitation to private houses the better course. Failing that, the -regulations of 1574 should be revived, subject to the conditions that -playing should only be allowed when the total deaths had been under -fifty a week for twenty days together, that no plays should be given on -the Sabbath or before the close of evening prayer on holy days, that the -audience should not be received during prayer-time, that the -performances should be short enough to let the audience get home before -dark, and that the Queen's men alone should be tolerated and should not -be allowed to divide themselves into several companies. It was -apparently contemplated that these conditions should apply to city and -county alike. - -I have described these arguments in some detail, because of the -clearness with which they set out the divergent views. Unfortunately the -documents from which they are drawn do not record any decision upon -them. But whether the remedies were accepted, wholly or in part, or not, -there can be no doubt whatever that the attempt to enforce an absolute -prohibition had utterly failed, and that for several years afterwards -the companies continued to find their winter quarters within London -itself. Henceforward it became the settled policy of the Corporation to -defer to the authority of the Privy Council, and to content themselves -with doing their best to influence that body in the direction of their -own ideals. There came a day when they were destined to reach some -measure of success along these lines. For the time, however, events -followed a quiet course. During two or three years there is a blank in -the correspondence. Plays were suspended in London and Surrey during the -summer of 1586, at the Lord Mayor's request, on the ground that the -growing heat might breed a plague, and a similar measure in 1587 had an -additional provocation in disturbances which had taken place at the -play-houses. In both years the inhibition was declared early in May, and -in 1587 it was fixed to terminate at the end of August. On 29 October -the Council had to call the attention of both the Surrey and the -Middlesex Justices to the imperfect observance of the order against -Sunday plays. There was, of course, an undercurrent of Puritan -discontent during these years at the lame issue of the anti-stage -agitation. This is well shown by a grumbling letter from a correspondent -of Walsingham's in January 1587, in which 'the daily abuse of -stage-plays' is represented as still 'an offence to the godly'. The -redress of Sabbath-breaking is acknowledged, but still 'two hundred -proud players jet in their silks' under the protection of various lords, -as well as of Her Majesty. The writer proposes that every stage shall be -required to pay a weekly subsidy in aid of the poor. The flood of -pamphlets had, however, subsided. The _Mirror of Monsters_, published by -William Rankins in 1587, is of markedly less importance than its -predecessors. In November 1587 the City sent a deputation to the Privy -Council in the hope of securing the suppression of plays within their -boundaries; so far as is known, they were unsuccessful. A year or two -later new combative relations were established between the players and -the Puritans as an outcome of the Martin Marprelate controversy, which -began with a series of anonymous pamphlets attacking the principles of -episcopacy, and continued throughout 1589 and 1590. The players were not -at first particularly concerned against their hereditary enemies. -Tarlton, who died on 3 September 1588, is said himself to have satirized -the existing ecclesiastical order in a mock discovery of Simony 'in Don -John of Londons cellar'. And indeed the ribald style in which Martin -Marprelate canvassed the bishops was held to be modelled on the manners -of the theatre. 'The stage is brought into the church; and vices make -play of church matters', said one episcopalian writer, and described -Martin as declaring on his death-bed, 'All my foolery I bequeath to my -good friend Lanam and his consort, from whom I had it'. Bacon also -condemned 'this immodest and deformed manner of writing lately -entertained, whereby matters of religion are handled in the style of the -stage'.[861] But before long the vigour of the attack drove the bishops -to seek on their side for an equally effective literary retort. They -hired writers, including John Lyly and Thomas Nashe; and these not only -answered Martin in his own vein, but also made use of the theatres for -what must have been the congenial task of producing scurrilous plays -against him. To this campaign there are many allusions in the pamphlets -belonging to the controversy. The Puritans hit back with all their old -contempt of the rogues and vagabonds dressed in the Queen's liveries; -but the laugh was on the other side when Martin was brought dressed like -a monstrous ape on the stage, and wormed and lanced to let the blood and -evil humours out of him, or when Divinity appeared with a scratched -face, complaining of the assaults received in the hideous creature's -attacks upon her honour. _Vetus Comoedia_, the savage Aristophanic -invective, was assuredly in full swing upon the English boards. Nashe -professed to have another device ready, in which Martin was to figure in -a grotesque pageant called the _May-Game of Martinism_; but the scandal -was now getting too great, and the Government was obliged to disavow its -own instruments. According to Nashe, it was by 'sly practice' that the -comedies which had been penned were not allowed to be played. However -this may have been, we find the Lord Mayor writing to Lord Burghley on 6 -November 1589 that, in accordance with what he understood from a letter -of his lordship to Mr. Young of Middlesex to be his desire, he had -stayed plays in the City, in that the Master of the Revels 'did utterly -mislike the same'. Almost immediately afterwards, on 12 November, the -Privy Council issued three letters from 'the Starre Chamber' to the -Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Mayor, and the Master of the Revels, -directing the Master to join with a divine and with a person 'learned -and of judgement' nominated by the other two, and form a commission for -allowing the books of plays and striking out or reforming 'suche partes -and matters as they shall fynde unfytt and undecent to be handled in -playes, both for Divinitie and State'. Perpetual disabilities are -threatened to players who produce any pieces not so allowed. - -There are indications that in the next year or two a considerable -increase took place in the number of plays given during each week. Other -kinds of amusement, no less than more serious occupations, suffered, and -in a letter of 25 July 1591 to London, Middlesex, and Surrey, the Privy -Council had not merely to insist once more upon the due observance of -Sunday, but also to forbid plays on Thursdays, on the ground that on -this day bear-baiting and other like pastimes, maintained for the royal -pleasure if occasion should require, had 'ben allwayes accustomed and -practized'. In the following year the Corporation were moved to approach -Archbishop Whitgift with a view to obtaining some redress of their -grievances through his influence. By a letter of 25 February they set -out the evils of plays in the familiar terms, expressing themselves as -moved by the 'earnest continuall complaint' of the preachers and -declaring that by no one thing was the government of the City 'so -greatly annoyed and disquieted'. They explained the difficulty in which -they were put by the authority conferred upon the Master of the Revels, -who had licensed the playing-houses, 'which before that time lay open -to all the statutes for the punishing of these and such lyke disorders', -and begged the Archbishop to confer with the Master as to the -possibility of providing for the Queen's recreation without the -necessity of public performances. A second letter of 6 March thanks the -Archbishop for his advice, which apparently was, quite frankly, to bribe -the Master. A committee of the Corporation was appointed on 18 March to -treat with Tilney, but the scheme fell through for financial reasons. On -22 March the Court of the Merchant Taylors Company discussed a -'precepte' from the Lord Mayor, which called attention to the evils of -plays and suggested 'the payment of one anuytie to one Mr. Tylney, -mayster of the revelles of the Queenes house, in whose hands the -redresse of this inconveniency doeth rest, and that those playes might -be abandoned out of this citie'. The Court sympathized, but 'wayinge the -damage of the president and enovacion of raysinge of anuyties upon the -Companies of London', declined to unloose their purse-strings. On 12 -June the Lord Mayor reported to Lord Burghley a disturbance in -Southwark, the pretence for which had been furnished by a gathering at a -play, held in defiance of orders on a Sunday. Anticipation of a renewal -of disorder on Midsummer Day led the Council on 23 June to impose an -inhibition on plays until the following Michaelmas. Three undated papers -in the Henslowe-Alleyn collection at Dulwich may perhaps suggest that -later in the summer they became willing to relax their severity. The -first of these is a petition to the Council from Lord Strange's men, -begging to be allowed to use their play-house on the Bankside, both for -their own sake, as otherwise they would have to travel at considerable -charge, and for that of the watermen who 'nowe in this long vacation' -look for relief through ferrying spectators to and from the plays. The -second is a petition from the watermen themselves to the same effect. -The third is a copy of a warrant from the Council, setting out that not -long since they had restrained Lord Strange's men from playing at the -Rose and enjoined them to play at Newington Butts, and removing the -injunction, 'by reason of the tediousness of the waie and that of longe -tyme plaies have not there bene used on working daies'. If these -documents really belong to 1592, which must remain doubtful, the -permission to resume playing was almost certainly rendered nugatory by a -plague more serious than any that had devastated London since 1563. In -fact Henslowe's _Diary_ shows no performances at the Rose between 22 -June and 29 December, and the short winter season that followed was -abruptly broken off by a renewed outbreak and an order from the Privy -Council on 28 January for the suppression of all assemblies for purposes -of amusement within seven miles of London. This was probably renewed in -April, and the companies, who had waited for some months in hopes of -relaxation, had perforce to travel. On 29 April and 6 May the Council -itself issued warrants of authorization to Lord Sussex's and Lord -Strange's men respectively to assist them in taking this course. -Probably the theatres remained closed during the greater part of the -next eighteen months. Henslowe's _Diary_ only indicates performances -from 27 December 1593 to 6 February 1594, evidently interrupted by -another restraint within five miles of London under a Council order of 3 -February, and then a few more in April and in May. The Countess of -Warwick's men seem to have been negotiating with the City for toleration -on 10 May. Regular playing, however, was not resumed on Bankside until 3 -June. The plague was now fairly over, and the shattered companies began -to reconstruct themselves. In October Lord Hunsdon wrote to the Lord -Mayor begging permission for his men to use the Cross Keys in -Gracechurch Street. In November Francis Langley, one of the alnagers for -London, was planning a new theatre, the Swan, on the Bankside, and the -Lord Mayor once more detailed the objections to plays in a letter of -protest to Lord Burghley. This was followed up on 13 September 1595 by a -formal petition from the Corporation for 'the present stay and finall -suppressing' of plays in Middlesex and Surrey. Herein the origin of yet -another prentice riot was traced to the obnoxious performances. -Obviously the request was not acceded to. Henslowe's _Diary_ shows no -break in the sequence of plays, except for Lent, until the July of 1596, -when plague once more called for an inhibition. At about the same time -the balance of parties on the Privy Council was seriously disturbed by -the death of Henry Lord Hunsdon, who had been Lord Chamberlain since -1585. His successor, Lord Cobham, was less favourable to the players. In -the course of the long vacation Thomas Nashe wrote of them as 'piteously -persecuted by the Lord Maior and the Aldermen: and however in their old -Lord's tyme they thought there state setled it is now so uncertayne they -cannot build upon it'. In November there was a petition from inhabitants -of the Blackfriars against the erection of a theatre in the precinct, -which recited how 'all players being banished by the Lord Mayor from -playing within the city by reason of the great inconveniences and ill -rule that followeth them, they now think to plant themselves in -liberties.' At last the City had gained the point denied them in 1574 -and again in 1584. Their importunity, in season and out of season, had -moved the hearts of the autocratic body at Whitehall. Hence-forward, -although play-houses might stand thick enough within the rapidly growing -suburbs beyond the gates, there were to be none, or at any rate none but -'private' houses, within the closely guarded circuit of the liberties. A -fuller account of the transaction, without any clear indication of its -date, is given many years later by Richard Rawlidge in _A Monster Lately -Found Out, or The Scourging of Tipplers_ (1628), and five play-houses -are enumerated as pulled down and suppressed under authority from the -Queen and Council by the 'religious senators'.[862] - -The events of the next year must have given the Corporation high hopes -of making an equally clean sweep in the suburbs. They had by now learnt -that, although there were many abuses of the stage to which the Council -would turn a blind eye, any interference in politics or encouragement, -direct or indirect, to civil commotion, was not one of them. On 28 July -1597 they were able, in renewing their appeal for a 'present staie and -fynall suppressinge' of the Middlesex and Surrey theatres, to add to -their summary of 'inconveniences' a definite statement of a recent -confession by some unruly apprentices that plays had served as the -'randevous' of their 'mutinus attemptes'. On the same day the Council -wrote to the Middlesex and Surrey Justices, ordering not merely that -there should be a restraint of plays within three miles of the City -until Allhallowtide, but also that the owners of the theatres should be -required 'to pluck downe quite the stages, gallories and roomes that are -made for people to stand in, and so to deface the same as they maie not -be ymploied agayne to suche use'. As their reason they cited the -disorders, due partly to the 'confluence of bad people' at the -play-houses, and partly to the handling of 'lewd matters' on the stage. -There is reason to suppose that their action was not altogether -determined by the representations of the City. A 'seditious' play called -_The Isle of Dogs_ had been shown on one of the Bankside stages.[863] -This had been brought to their notice by the famous heretic-hunter and -informer, Richard Topcliffe, and was, according to Henslowe's _Diary_, -the cause of the restraint. The players and one of the makers of the -play had been committed to prison; the other, Thomas Nashe, had fled to -Yarmouth, leaving incriminating papers in his lodgings. On 15 August a -commission was issued to Topcliffe and others to examine further into -the matter and ascertain how far the 'lewd' play had been spread abroad. -The second writer has recently been found to be Benjamin Jonson, who -thus makes his stormy entry into a field of activity which he was -destined, more than any other save one, to illustrate and adorn. It is -natural to suppose that, in ordering the complete gutting of the -theatres, the Council contemplated the continuance of the restraint even -beyond Allhallowtide. But if so, they again changed their minds, and the -City were disappointed. On 3 October a warrant was sent to the Keeper of -the Marshalsea for the release of Jonson and of the offending players, -and Henslowe's _Diary_ notes the resumption of playing a week later. -Evidently the Council had satisfied themselves, perhaps under the -influence of another new Lord Chamberlain, George Lord Hunsdon, who had -succeeded Lord Cobham in the course of the year, that it was after all -impossible, in view of the amenities of the royal Christmas, wholly to -dispense with plays. - -This winter of 1597-8 is really an important turning-point in the -history of stage-control. The events of the past two years, following -upon a long period of vexatious conflict, seem to have brought the -Government to the conclusion that the method of regulation through the -magistrates had now broken down, and that the time had come for the -resettlement of the matter upon the more centralized basis already -foreshadowed by the commission to the Master of the Revels in 1581. Of -this there are two indications. And first, for the county as a whole, a -new Vagabond Act, replacing that of 1572, had been called for by the -progressive development of the Elizabethan poor-law policy on the humane -lines of a local rate, and the consequent possibility of discriminating -more closely between the deserving poor and the idle vagrants. The -latter class were again to be treated with greater severity. Summary -whipping was reinstated and might be inflicted in future by local -constables as well as justices. The more dangerous rogues were to be -transported, and treated as felons if they returned. These were the main -objects of the statute, but incidentally the status of players and -minstrels was affected. The power of justices to license travelling was -taken away. Before long even John Dutton had to prove his claim to his -Cheshire privilege. The right of noblemen to protect their servants was -not interfered with, and indeed must now have become even more -important, as they acquired a monopoly; but it must be exercised under -hand and seal and, although this point is not dealt with in the statute, -must presumably be endorsed by the Master of the Revels. As regards -London and its suburbs in particular, the Privy Council, with the Master -of the Revels as an adviser and agent, took the control into its own -hands, and decided that the companies to be licensed should be limited -to two. It seems likely that this policy took shape in a solemn order in -Star Chamber, although the document itself has not reached us.[864] At -any rate the rule is set out and confirmed in a letter written by the -Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Admiral to the Justices and the Master of -the Revels on 19 February 1598, in which complaint is made of the -intrusion of a third company, not included in the Council's sanction and -not bound to the Master of the Revels for observance of the conditions -imposed. In principle it continued to prevail until the end of the -reign, although in practice it was not found very easy to restrict the -number of companies, and still less that of theatres. On the Surrey -side, indeed, an element of local feeling adverse to the stage began to -show itself, which perhaps owed its origin to little more than a dispute -about the liability of the players to contribute to local assessments. -It took shape in a petition from the vestry of St. Saviour's, Southwark, -to the Council on 19 July 1598 for the closing of the play-houses in the -parish, on account of the enormities that came thereby. But on 28 March -1600 the vestry were content that the churchwardens should 'talk with -the players for tithes for their playhouses and for money for the poor, -according to the order taken before my lords of Canterbury and London -and the Master of the Revels'. In Middlesex, on the other hand, the -growth of the western suburbs and their convenience for theatrical -purposes led to divers new enterprises. The most important of these was -the erection of the Fortune in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, by Edward -Alleyn during 1600. The Council seem to have been in two minds about the -desirability of the scheme. In January the project had been encouraged -by a personal letter from the Lord Admiral to the Middlesex Justices. -Some of the inhabitants, however, raised a protest, and in March the -Council ordered the Justices in nowise to permit the building, as that -would be inconsistent with the order for the plucking down of theatres -given them 'not longe sithence'. If this means the order of 28 July -1597, the Council seem to have forgotten that their own action later in -the same year had rendered it nugatory; nor were they very consistent -when, on 15 May 1600, they allowed the use of the Swan, which certainly -should have been plucked down in 1597, for feats of activity by Peter -Bromvill, an acrobat specially recommended to Elizabeth by the French -king. Ultimately the question of the Fortune received a final -reconsideration. The inhabitants, just as in Southwark, were squared by -the promise of liberal contributions towards poor relief. Possibly, -also, the Queen herself intervened in Alleyn's favour, and on 8 April -the consent of the Council was signified by a further letter to the -justices. On 22 June the allowance was explained and the principle -adopted in 1597 reaffirmed by an Order in Council, which was not, -however, passed without some 'question and debate'. There were to be two -houses and no more, the Fortune in Middlesex for the Admiral's men and -the Globe in Surrey for the Chamberlain's. In addition to the old -prohibitions of plays on Sunday, in Lent or during infection, two new -restrictions make their appearance. No plays were in future to be given -in any 'common inn', and neither of the privileged companies was to play -more than twice a week. A few months before, on 1 April 1600, the -Middlesex Justices had stopped a contemplated play-house in East -Smithfield on the strength of the Star Chamber order. But the -twice-repeated limitation of the Privy Council, for all the formality of -its expression, seems to have had the shortest of lives. By October 1600 -it had already been broken by Pembroke's men, who began to play in that -month as a third company at the Rose. During the same year the Chapel -boys and those of St. Paul's were also performing, although no doubt -these were technically located in 'private' houses. Blackfriars, where -the Chapel plays were given, was not yet in the full sense part of the -City; it was, however, to the Lord Mayor that the Council gave -instructions on 11 March 1601 to stop plays in the Blackfriars, as well -as at St. Paul's, during Lent. In May the Curtain was open, and although -the Council suppressed a particular play there, they did not suppress -the house. By the end of 1601 the order of the previous year had fallen -into complete disregard. There were a 'multitude of play-howses' and a -daily concourse of people to the plays. The Corporation complained and -were informed by the Council on 31 December that the fault lay largely -with themselves and their predecessors, as they had failed to see to the -execution of their lordships' directions. These were renewed, and a -reminder was also sent to the county Justices. It has been suggested -that the attitudes of the Corporation and the Council had now been -reversed, and that the former had become favourably disposed towards the -players.[865] I find no evidence of this. Probably the City policy was -to show that the Council's attempt at regulation had broken down, and -that complete prohibition had become the only remedy. On 31 March 1602 -the Council wrote again to the Lord Mayor, who had reported some -amendment of the abuses, and announced that, 'upon noteice of her -Maiesties pleasure at the suit of the Earle of Oxford', a third company, -made up of the Earl's servants and of those of the Earl of Worcester, -were to be tolerated, and were to have the Boar's Head as their sole -playing-place. - -Plays were suspended by the Council on 19 March 1603 during the illness -of the Queen, which terminated fatally on 24 March. Their resumption was -anticipated on the coming of James, one of whose first acts was to issue -on 7 May a proclamation against plays or bear-baiting on Sundays. But -plague intervened, a plague more deadly even than that of 1592-4; and it -was not until after the Lent of 1604 that on 9 April the Council -authorized the three companies of players to the King, Queen, and Prince -to perform at the Globe, Curtain, and Fortune, so long as the weekly -plague-deaths should not exceed thirty. These were the former companies -of the Chamberlain's, Worcester's, and the Admiral's men, now taken -directly into the royal service. By a piece of generosity not paralleled -during the late reign, the King's men had received a payment of £30 from -the Treasurer of the Chamber in February for their 'maintenance and -relief', in view of the prohibition of performances during the plague. -The attachment of the three companies to the royal households is to be -regarded as something a little more than a mere honour bestowed upon -them. It signified a further advance on the lines already laid down in -1597 and 1600 of direct royal control in affairs theatrical. In favour -of the King's men, the precedent set for Leicester's men in 1574 was -revived, and their privileges, formerly dependent upon orders of the -Privy Council, were conferred upon them by a licence under letters -patent. A similar patent was drafted for Queen Anne's men, but was not -at the time executed. In 1606 a provincial detachment of these men was -using a letter of recommendation from the Queen herself as a warrant; -they did not receive a licence under letters patent until 1609. -Gradually, however, the issue of a patent became the normal Jacobean -method of licensing the privileged London players. The Children of the -Queen's Revels received theirs in 1604 and a new one in 1610, the -Prince's men in 1606, the Duke of York's in 1610, the Lady Elizabeth's -in 1611, and the Elector Palatine's in 1613. In 1615 a patent of an -exceptional type was issued to Philip Rosseter and his partners for a -new theatre at Porter's Hall in the Blackfriars. In the patents for -companies the model of the 1574 patent is in the main followed, but as a -rule the 'usual howse' in which the company will play is named. This, -however, does not seem to be meant to fetter their discretion to use -some other convenient house, and a general authority to play in the -provinces is, except in the case of the Revels Children, always added. -There is no such limitation on playing to two days a week as was imposed -on the companies by the Council order of 1600. Most of the patents -contain a clause reserving 'all auctoritie power priuiledges and -profittes' appertaining to the Master of the Revels under his patent or -commission. This is omitted in the licence for the King's men and in -both of those for the Revels Children, whose 1604 patent contains a -special clause requiring their plays to have the 'approbacion and -allowaunce' of Samuel Daniel, whom Queen Anne had appointed for that -purpose.[866] It became the duty of the Master to scrutinize the -phraseology of plays in the light of an _Act to Restrain Abuses of -Players_, passed in May 1606, which imposed a penalty of £10 for any -profane or jesting use of the names of God, Christ Jesus, the Holy -Ghost, or the Trinity, in any stage-play, interlude, show, May-game, or -pageant. This statute, even if not always literally observed, entailed -much revision of existing dramatic texts. - -If the system of patents did not render the London players independent -of the Master of the Revels, still less did it abrogate from the -ultimate authority of the King in Council. There is evidence that the -theatres were closed in the autumn of 1605, during which plague was -prevalent, and in this matter the responsibility for action still rested -with the Council.[867] Unfortunately the full Register for the period -1603-13 is missing. A letter of 12 April 1607 from the City asking for a -restraint is addressed to the Lord Chamberlain, whose function it would -no doubt be to move the Council. In this or some later year the -Whitefriars vestry seem also to have made a protest against the dumping -of a play-house in their precinct.[868] That plague interfered with -plays in 1608-9, and 1609-10 also, is indicated by payments made to the -King's men 'for their private practice' during these years. After 1610 -London was no more troubled by the plague until 1625. Other reasons for -inhibiting plays sometimes presented themselves. Some bad political -indiscretions of 1608, which will require consideration in the next -chapter, led to a temporary suspension of performances and a royal -threat of permanent suppression. The untimely death of Prince Henry on 7 -November 1612 threw a shadow upon all mirth, and the Council declared -that 'these tymes doe not suite with such playes and idle shewes, as are -daily to be seene in and neere the cittie of London, to the scandall of -order and good governement at all occasions when they are most -tollerable'. On 29 March 1615 the Council summoned representatives of -all the London companies before them, to answer for playing in Lent, -contrary to the express direction of the Lord Chamberlain given through -the Master of the Revels. The records of suburban administration show -the Middlesex Justices trying William Claiton, an East Smithfield -victualler, on 20 December 1608, for suffering plays to be performed in -his house during the night season, and on 1 October 1612 making an Order -for Suppressing Jigs at the End of Plays, on the ground that the lewd -jigs, songs, and dances so used at the Fortune led to the resort of -cutpurses and other ill-disposed persons and to consequent breaches of -the peace. Generally speaking, the problem of metropolitan stage-control -may be said, during the reign of James I, to have reached a condition of -comparative stability. - -As regards the provinces there has been some misapprehension. The royal -patents of course ran there, and there is one example of a patent issued -to a company which actually had its head-quarters in a provincial town, -that to the Children of the Queen's Chamber of Bristol, granted through -the influence of Queen Anne, who had visited Bristol on her progress in -1613. But in the provinces the patented companies had no monopoly; side -by side with them still wandered both unlicensed vagrants and the -protected servants of noblemen. It is true that a Vagabond Act of 1604, -which in the main and with certain exceptions, such as dropping the -experiment of transportation, continued the policy of that of 1597, has -been supposed to have withdrawn the privilege of protection.[869] But -the provincial records show that in fact the noblemen's companies were -still afoot, and the provision of the statute itself, when carefully -read, bears quite another interpretation.[870] It professes to be -declaratory of that of Elizabeth on which 'divers doubtes and questions' -had arisen, and after reciting the catalogue of persons who were to be -classed as vagrants, which includes not only players of interludes, but -also fencers, bearwards, minstrels, begging scholars and sailors, -palmists, fortune-tellers, proctors, and others, it lays down that no -authority shall be given by noblemen to 'any other person or persons'; -that is surely, to any of the persons named in the catalogue, other than -the players of interludes belonging to the noblemen and authorized under -their hands and seals, for whom exception is specifically made -therein.[871] The system of patents lent itself to certain abuses by -travelling companies. Exemplifications were taken out in duplicate, and -while the regular company remained in London, a quite distinct one would -go on tour with one of the duplicates and, if necessary, an instrument -of deputation from the man named in the patent of which it was a -copy.[872] This practice was condemned in 1616 by a warrant of the Lord -Chamberlain, to whose department the supervision of the issue of playing -patents, as well as the general supervision of the Master of the Revels, -appears to have been entrusted. The same document also condemns a -company which had been travelling under a 'warrant,' by which is -apparently meant a licence under the royal sign manual or signet, used -instead of an elaborate and doubtless expensive patent.[873] The signet -licences were, however, such an obvious convenience that it was not long -before they came to be regularly issued to players under the -administration of the Lord Chamberlain himself.[874] This is a topic -which lies rather beyond my purview. Nor can I dwell at any length on -the evidence which shows that the licences given to players, like other -assumptions of the royal prerogative, did not pass altogether without -criticism from contemporary constitutionalists. I do not know whether it -was a weak point that the statutory sanction taken for the patents in -1572 was not re-enacted in 1597. Their wording purported clearly enough -to give the holders an authority to play both within and without the -liberties and freedoms of any cities, towns, and boroughs. But Chief -Justice Sir Edward Coke, charging a Norwich jury on 4 August 1606, -appears to have told the justices that the remedy of the abuses due to -players was entirely in their hands--'they hauing no commission to play -in any place without leaue: and therefore, if by your willingnesse they -be not entertained, you may soone be rid of them'.[875] Too much stress -must not be laid upon this, for Coke vigorously repudiated the accuracy -of the printed edition of his charge from which the passage is -taken.[876] But Prynne seems to insinuate a very similar argument in his -_Histriomastix_ of 1633,[877] and in any event the validity of the -patents was terminated by the final ordinance for the suppression of -plays passed by the Long Parliament on 9 February 1648, which enacted -that 'all stage-players, and players of interludes, and common playes, -are hereby declared to be, and are, and shall be taken to be, rogues, -... whether they be wanderers or no, and notwithstanding any license -whatsoever from the King or any person or persons to that purpose'.[878] -We, however, are now concerned, not with the decadence of the stage, but -with its palmy days under Elizabeth and James. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 839: Aydelotte, 58, misrepresents the Act of 1531 on this -point. The clearest proof that the unprotected player was a vagabond is -in a Privy Council letter of 30 April 1556 to Lord Shrewsbury (Lodge, i. -260), which, after directing that Sir Francis Leek shall not let his -servants travel as players, adds, 'And in case any person shall attempt -to set forth these sort of games or pastimes at any time hereafter, -contrary to this order; and do wander, for that purpose, abroad in the -country; your Lordship shall do well to give the Justices of the Peace -in charge to see them apprehended out of hand, and punished as -vagabonds, by virtue of the statute made against loitering and idle -persons'.] - -[Footnote 840: Cf. App. C, s.vv. Gosson (1582), 215; Cox (1591); App. D, -No. lxxv (2) (_b_). An Act of 1552 (_5 & 6 Edw. VI_, c. 21) required -every travelling 'Pedler, Tynker, or Pety Chapman' to have a licence -from two justices of the shire in which he resided (_Statutes_, iv. -155). This was merged in the Act of 1572 (App. D, No. xxiv), but not -formally repealed until _1 Jac. I_, c. 25, in 1604 (_Statutes_, iv. -1052).] - -[Footnote 841: _Procl._ 455; cf. Dasent, v. 73; Machyn, 69.] - -[Footnote 842: Cf. _M. S. C._ i. 350; Aydelotte, 14. _Procl._ 273 laid -down (1545) 'that noe person of what estate, degree or condicion soever -he be, doe in any wise hereafter name or avowe any man to be his -servant, unles he be his houshold servant, or his bailiffe or keeper, or -such other as he may keepe and retayne by the lawes and statutes of this -realme, or be retayned by the kings maiestys licence' (Hazlitt, _E. D. -S._ 7). But the laws against retainers had fallen into desuetude again -by 1572; cf. App. D, No. xix.] - -[Footnote 843: Scargill-Bird³, 80; W. R. Anson, _Law and Custom of the -Constitution_, ii. 1. 55; H. Hall, _Studies in English Official -Historical Documents_, 263; _M. S. C._ i. 260. The stages of a patent, -as settled by _27 Hen. VIII_, c. 11 (1535), were (_a_) a Petition -setting out the grant desired, and (_b_) a direction by the Sovereign -for the preparation of (_c_) a King's Bill. In this the wording of the -intended patent was settled, and this wording was followed, with varying -initial and final _formulae_, in the subsequent instruments. The King's -Bill received the royal Sign Manual and became the authority for the -issue by a Clerk to the Signet of (_d_) a Signet Bill. This was sent to -the Lord Privy Seal, who based upon it (_e_) a Writ of Privy Seal, which -was addressed to the Lord Chancellor, and became in its turn the -authority for the issue of (_f_) the actual Letters Patent under the -Great Seal. These were handed to the recipient, while the Writ of Privy -Seal passed on to the Six Clerks in Chancery, for (_g_) an Enrolment of -its contents upon the Patent Roll.] - -[Footnote 844: Cf. ch. ii.] - -[Footnote 845: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 216.] - -[Footnote 846: Cf. App. D, Nos. ii-v.] - -[Footnote 847: Dasent, iii. 307.] - -[Footnote 848: _S. P. D. Edw. VI_, xv. 33. By _5 & 6 Edw. VI_ of 1552 -(_Statutes_, iv. 155) travelling tinkers and pedlars could hold a -licence from two justices of the peace. This arrangement is continued by -the Act of 1572 (_vide infra_), and tinkers and pedlars are there -grouped with players. Possibly therefore such local licences had also -been issued to players who were not 'servants', even before 1572.] - -[Footnote 849: Dasent, i. 104, 109, 110, 122. The nature of the joiners' -offence is clear; three of those imprisoned were named Hawtrell, Lucke, -and Lucas. They had played 'wythowt respect ether off the day or the -ordre whiche was knowen openlye the Kinges Highnes intended to take for -repressinge off playes'. At the same time the Lord Warden's men were -committed 'for playing contrary to an ordre taken by the Mayour'.] - -[Footnote 850: P. F. Tytler, _England under the Reigns of Edward VI and -Mary_, i. 21, from _S. P. D. Edw. VI_, i. 5.] - -[Footnote 851: Gildersleeve, 5, points out that I was misled by Collier, -i. 119, into citing the Marian proclamation in _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. -220, under 1533 as well as 1553. I regret the error.] - -[Footnote 852: Dasent, vi. 102. The Lord Mayor is to send offending -players 'to the Commissioners for Religion to be by them further -ordered, and also to take ordre that no playe be made hencefourthe -within the Citie except the same be first seen and allowed and the -players aucthorised'.] - -[Footnote 853: Cf. ch. xxii and App. D, Nos. ix, xii, xiii. The -Commission had also an authority over vagrants in or near London, which -apparently disappeared after the legislation of 1572 (_vide infra_).] - -[Footnote 854: There is a doubtful notice of a Court play by the -servants of George Evelyn of Wotton in 1588. Sir Percival Hart's sons -played in 1565.] - -[Footnote 855: The list of small travelling companies in Murray, ii. 77, -113, includes 14 belonging to knights and 3 to gentlemen in 1558-72, and -8 belonging to knights and 2 to gentlemen in 1573-97; also 7 companies -under the names of their towns only in 1558-72 and 11 in 1573-97. -Alexander Houghton of Lea in Lancashire wrote on 3 Aug. 1581 (G. J. -Piccope, _Lancashire and Cheshire Wills_, ii. 238), 'Yt ys my wyll that -Thomas Houghton of Brynescoules my brother shall have all my -instrumentes belonginge to mewsyckes and all maner of playe clothes yf -he be mynded to keppe and doe keppe players. And yf he wyll not keppe -and maynteyne playeres then yt ys my wyll that Sir Thomas Heskethe -Knyghte shall haue the same instrumentes and playe clothes. And I moste -hertelye requyre the said Syr Thomas to be ffrendlye unto Foke Gyllome -and William Shakshafte now dwellynge with me and ether to take theym -unto his servyce or els to helpe theym to some good master'. Was then -William Shakshafte a player in 1581?] - -[Footnote 856: _S. P. D. Eliz._ clx. 48; clxiii. 44, record a dispute in -1583 between Sir Walter Waller and Mr. Potter, a J.P. of Kent. Waller, -summoned before the Council, denies that his servants played an -interlude at Brasted, and is confirmed by the constable and -parishioners, who assert that Mr. Potter factiously sent the men to gaol -as rogues. Lord Cobham made a vain attempt to reconcile the parties.] - -[Footnote 857: Cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 259, on the history of this -privilege. The reservation was continued by _39 Eliz._ c. 4, § 10 -(1598). By _43 Eliz._ c. 9, § 2 (1601), it was made dependent on a -certificate by the Lords Justices to the validity of Dutton's claim. -Presumably this was obtained as the privilege was reserved -unconditionally by _1 Jac. I_, c. 7, § 8 (1604). There were several -Elizabethan actors of the name of Dutton (cf. ch. xv), but it is not -known whether they belonged to the Cheshire house.] - -[Footnote 858: For documents addressed to Richard Young or mentions of -him, cf. App. D, Nos. lxviii, lxxiv, xc. He is often referred to in the -_Hatfield MSS._, in connexion with a monopoly of starch which he held, -and otherwise. In 1593 (iv. 393) he writes 'from my house, Stratford the -Bowe'. On 30 Nov. 1594 (v. 25) he wrote to the Queen, 'in these my aged -and extreme or last days' with notes of many examinations, chiefly of -papists, taken by him. On the other hand, Carter, _Shakespeare Puritan -and Recusant_, 145, quotes an inscription on the coffin of Roger Rippon, -who died in Newgate in 1592, 'his blood crieth for speedy vengeance -against ... Mʳ. Richard Young, a justice of the peace in London, who in -this and many like points hath abused his power for the upholding of the -Romish Antichrist, Prelacy and Priesthood'.] - -[Footnote 859: Cf. p. 265. Collier, i. 254, quotes an epigram calling -Fleetwood 'the enemy of all poor players'. John Field dedicates his -_Godly Exhortation_ (1583) to him as a Middlesex and Surrey Justice.] - -[Footnote 860: Cf. App. D, Nos. xxxvii, lxviii.] - -[Footnote 861: Bacon, _On the Controversies of the Church_ (Spedding, -viii. 76).] - -[Footnote 862: Cf. ch. xvi, introduction.] - -[Footnote 863: Cf. ch. xxiii, s.vv. Jonson, Nashe.] - -[Footnote 864: Cf. App. D, No. cxx.] - -[Footnote 865: Wallace, ii. 162.] - -[Footnote 866: There is no reference to licensing in the later Queen's -Revels patent of 1610. That for the Queen's men in 1609 has the usual -provision for licensing by the Master of the Revels. This was, however, -not inconsistent with 'a kind of gouernment and suruey ouer the said -players' by the Chamberlain of the Queen's Household (cf. ch. xiii).] - -[Footnote 867: Philip Gawdy (_Letters_, 160) writes on 28 Oct. 1605 of -his nephew in London, 'Playes he was never at any, for they are all put -downe'; cf. App. D, Nos. cxxxix, cxl.] - -[Footnote 868: Cf. ch. xvii.] - -[Footnote 869: Some interesting light is thrown on the workings of the -Vagabond Acts in the North Riding of Yorkshire by the presentations in -_Quarter Sessions Records_ (_North Riding Record Soc._), i. 204, 260; -ii. 110, 119, 197. At Topcliffe on 2 Oct. 1610 Thomas Pant, apprentice -to Christopher Simpson of Egton, shoemaker and recusant, was released -from his indentures on complaining that he had been 'trayned up for -these three yeres in wandering in the country and playing of -interludes'. At Helmesley on 8 July 1612 Christopher Simpson, late of -Egton, was presented and fined as a player, and Richard Dawson, tanner -and constable of Stokesley, for allowing Christopher and also Robert -Simpson of Staythes, shoemaker, Richard Hudson of Hutton Bushell, -weaver, and Edward Lister of Allerston, weaver, to wander as common -players of interludes. A similar charge was made against William -Blackborne, labourer and constable of Marton, as regards Robert Simpson, -Richard Knagges of Moorsham, William Fetherston of Danby, and James -Pickering of Bowlby, mason. At Helmesley on 9 Jan. 1616 a number of -gentlemen and yeomen were presented for receiving players in their -houses and giving them bread and drink. John, Richard, and Cuthbert -Simpson, recusants, of Egton, Robert Simpson, of Staythes, and four -other players were fined 10_s._ each. There were similar cases at Hutton -Bushell on 4 April 1616, at Thirsk on 10 April 1616 and 7 April 1619, -and at Helmesley on 9 July 1616. Presumably the Simpsons were the same -men who brought Sir John Yorke into trouble with the Star Chamber in -1614 (cf. p. 328).] - -[Footnote 870: Gildersleeve, 28, 35, 38. The origin of the error is -probably in the shoulder-note 'No Licence by any Noblemen shall exempt -Players' to _1 Jac. I_, c. 7, § 1, in the R. O. edition of the -_Statutes_.] - -[Footnote 871: The players of Lords Berkeley, Chandos, Dudley, Evers, -Huntingdon, and Mounteagle (Murray, ii. 28, 32, 43, 45, 49, 57), as well -as those of the Duke of Lennox (cf. ch. xiii), are still traceable after -1604.] - -[Footnote 872: Cf. App. D, No. clviii, and ch. xiii, s.v. Anne's.] - -[Footnote 873: Cf. ch. xii, s.v. King's Revels. A later warrant of 20 -Nov. 1622 deals with the same abuse of players and others who 'without -the knowledge and approbacon of his maiesties office of the Revels' -travel 'by reason of certaine grants comissions and lycences which they -haue by secret meanes procured both from the Kings Maiestie and also -from diuerse noblemen' (Murray, ii. 351).] - -[Footnote 874: _M. S. C._ i. 284; Murray, ii. 192.] - -[Footnote 875: _The Lord Coke his Speech and Charge. With a Discouerie -of the Abuses and Corruption of Officers_ (1607) H₂. There is an -epistle to the Earl of Exeter signed R. P., said (_D. N. B._) to be -Robert Pricket.] - -[Footnote 876: Coke, _Preface to 7th Report_, 'libellum quendam ... -rudem et inconcinnum ... quem sane contestor non solum me omnino -insciente fuisse divulgatum, sed ... ne unam quidem sententiolam eo -sensu et significatione, prout dicta erat, fuisse enarratam'; cf. -Gildersleeve, 40; J. Haslewood in _Gentleman's Magazine_, lxxxvi. 1. -205; _1 N. Q._ vii. 376, 433.] - -[Footnote 877: Prynne, 492, 497.] - -[Footnote 878: Hazlitt, _E. D. S._ 67.] - - - - -X - -THE ACTOR'S QUALITY - - [_Bibliographical Note._--This chapter mainly rests upon the - official documents in Appendix D, the plague-data in Appendix - E, and the detailed accounts of individual companies in Book - III. To the books and dissertations cited for those sections - and for chapter viii may be added, as studies of the stage in - its political aspect, R. Simpson, _The Political Use of the - Stage in Shakespeare's Time_ and _The Politics of Shakespere's - Historical Plays_ (1874, _N. S. S. Trans._ 371, 396), S. R. - Gardiner, _The Political Element in Massinger_ (1875-6, _N. S. - S. Trans._ 314), S. Lee, _The Topical Side of the Elizabethan - Drama_ and _Elizabethan England and the Jews_ (1887-92, _N. S. - S._ 1, 143), J. A. de Rothschild, _Shakespeare and his Day_ - (1906), T. S. Graves, _Some Allusions to Religious and - Political Plays_ (1912, _M. P._ ix. 545), and _The Political - Use of the Stage during the Reign of James I_ (1914, _Anglia_, - xxxviii. 137). The fragments of Sir Henry Herbert's - office-book, showing the working of the censorship from 1623 to - 1642, usually cited from the _Shakespeare Variorum_ (1821), and - G. Chalmers, _Supplemental Apology_ (1799), are now - conveniently collected in J. Q. Adams, _The Dramatic Records of - Sir Henry Herbert_ (1917). A useful study has recently appeared - in A. Thaler, _The Travelling Players in Shakespeare's England_ - (1920, _M. P._ xvii. 489).] - - -The history detailed in the foregoing chapter represents, from the point -of view of the playing companies, a vexed progress towards that state of -regulative security which, in the case of any industry dependent upon a -permanent habitation and the outlay of capital, is the first condition -of economic stability. More than once in the course of the struggle was -an approach made to a settlement before it was actually reached. The -rather obscure period of the first attempts of the companies to -establish themselves in London was closed by the experimental patent to -Leicester's men and the fairly reasonable City regulations of 1574. But -the building of the suburban theatres on the one hand and the -aggressiveness of the preachers on the other broke down the equilibrium; -and there followed a period of acute conflict, of which the commission -to the Master of the Revels in 1581, the City prohibition of 1582, the -appointment of the Queen's men in 1583, and the controversy before the -Privy Council in 1584 formed the final stages. The players were -victorious, and the result of their victory was an assured position -under the Council and the Master of the Revels, which was not indeed -wholly accepted by the City, and was seriously threatened in 1596 and -1597, but only to be the more firmly established in the latter year -when the central government assumed direct responsibility for the -regulation of the stage throughout the London area. I think that 1597 -must be regarded as the critical moment at which complete stability was -attained; the substitution under James I of letters patent for Star -Chamber orders as the licensing machinery was of comparatively slight -importance. From 1597 onwards it was definitely the Crown and not the -local authorities which determined the companies to whom, subject to the -detailed administrative control of the Privy Council, the Lord -Chamberlain, and his subordinate the Master of the Revels, the privilege -of playing within the neighbourhood of London should be conceded. And -the policy of the Crown, alike under Elizabeth and under the Stuarts, -was consistently in favour of such solace and recreation for the -Sovereign and the subjects as the players ministered. - -And so, tentatively up to 1584, and thereafter with a security which -received final confirmation in 1597, the actor's occupation began to -take its place as a regular profession, in which money might with -reasonable safety be invested, to which a man might look for the career -of a lifetime, and in which he might venture to bring up his children. -As early as 1574 the patent to Leicester's men refers to playing as an -'arte and facultye'. In 1581 the Privy Council call it a 'trade'; in -1582 a 'profession'; in 1593 a 'qualitie'. The order of 1600 explicitly -recognizes that it 'may with a good order and moderacion be suffered in -a well gouerned estate'. So that when Fleetwood takes occasion in 1584 -to recall that originally interludes were merely the by-work of 'men for -their lyvings using other honest and lawfull artes, or reteyned in -honest services', his argument has already become anachronistic, not -wholly justified even as an antiquarian quibble, and still less as a -serious appreciation of the administrative facts with which the writer -had to deal. The player of the seventeenth century is in fact as -necessary a member of the polity as the minstrel of the twelfth or the -fourteenth; with this distinction that, in London at least, he is a -householder and not a vagrant, and is therefore able to perform his -function on a larger scale and with a fuller use of the methods and -advantages of co-operation. - -Obviously the player's status, like any other status in a civilized -community, depended upon the observance on his side of certain -obligations. He had to get his formal authority or licence for the -exercise of his art. He had to respect certain prescribed limitations of -times and seasons. He had to shoulder certain responsibilities imposed -upon him as a subject and a citizen. To each of these aspects of his -calling some measure of detailed consideration is due. - -A company of players was not in form, like a company of merchants, a -guild or association of independent men. Its constitution had a -mediaeval element, by which the derivation of playing from minstrelsy is -strongly recalled. The nature of the licence which it must hold, at any -rate if it desired to secure itself from the arbitrary discretion of -local justices, was determined by statute. And this licence, whether it -took the form of a warrant from a nobleman with the confirmation of the -Master of the Revels, or of a royal licence by patent, was always such -as to set up a relation of service between the company and a 'lord'. Nor -is this relation to be dismissed as a mere empty formality. Probably the -players of many country nobles and gentlemen continued to the end to -consist of their ordinary household servants, who played only at -Christmas and other times of recreation, and mainly at their lord's -expense.[879] With the regular travelling companies, and particularly -with the London companies, it was different. Financially, at least, they -were independent. But even of these the 'service', though largely a -legal fiction, was not wholly so. The Statutes of Retainers, kept alive -by the proclamations of 1572 and 1583, forbade the maintenance of -retainers who were not in some real sense household servants. The -consequent application made by his players to the Earl of Leicester in -1572 does not suggest that the distinction was a very vital one. -Certainly they guard themselves against being supposed to be asking -their lord for a fee. But I think it is clear that the lord was expected -to take some responsibility for the conduct of those who used his name, -and to exercise some discipline in cases of misdemeanour. It was so in -1559, when the proclamation against unlicensed plays expressly called -upon noblemen and gentlemen having players to see that it received -attention from their servants. And it must still have been so in 1583, -when the ill behaviour of Worcester's men at Norwich was effectively -checked by a threat to certify their lord of their contempt. On the -other hand there is abundant evidence that the lord might be looked to, -in time of need, to intervene for the active furtherance of the -interests of his players, over and above the general recommendation to -favour for his sake, which is common form in the warrants of protection -and even in the royal patents. Thus Leicester is found writing to the -President of the North on behalf of his men in 1559, Berkeley and -Hunsdon to the City in 1581 and 1594 respectively, Nottingham to -Middlesex in 1600, Lennox for his men in 1604; while the toleration of -Oxford's and Worcester's men as a third London company in 1602 is -expressly stated by the Privy Council to be due to the suit of the Earl -of Oxford to the Queen. On their side the players no doubt had -reciprocal courtesies, if no more, to pay. They wore the lord's livery -and bore his badge.[880] Leicester's men refer to their livery in their -letter of 1572, and in 1588 they had occasion to make their complaint to -the Norwich Corporation of a local cobbler 'for lewd woords uttered -ageynst the ragged staff'. A practice of offering up a prayer for the -lord's well-being at the end of a performance was probably of ancient -derivation, although whether it survived in the public theatres may -perhaps be doubted.[881] There are instances, moreover, which suggest -that, if the lord had need of players for the celebration of a wedding -or other festivity, it was to his own servants that he would naturally -turn. Thus Leicester had his company with him on his expedition to the -Netherlands in 1585, and it was the Chamberlain's men who were called -upon to play _Henry IV_ at Hunsdon's house in the Blackfriars when he -entertained the Flemish ambassador Verreyken in 1600. Similarly the -royal companies, under both Elizabeth and James, formed integral parts -of the royal household. They were attached to the Lord Chamberlain's -department, and ranked as Grooms of the Chamber. And on one occasion at -least, the visit of the Constable of Castile in 1604, the King's and -Queen's men were actually assigned, in their capacity as Grooms, to the -service of the distinguished strangers. Their exact status is, however, -a matter of some difficulty. The old interlude players had held an -independent position as such, with fees charged originally on the -Exchequer and afterwards on the Chamber, at higher rates than those of -Grooms of the Chamber, and the liveries not of Grooms but of Yeomen. -When they died out, they were replaced by the Queen's men of 1583. Howes -tells us that these 'were sworn the queen's servants and were allowed -wages and liveries as grooms of the chamber'. Howes is not quite a -contemporary authority, and makes at least a technical mistake when he -adds that until 1583 'the queene had no players'. If by 'wages' he means -such annual fees as the interlude players had received, his statement is -not confirmed by the Chamber Accounts, and it is not very likely that -such payments were put back upon the Exchequer. It is true that -fee-lists, not only Elizabethan but Jacobean, continue to include eight -players of interludes at £3 6_s._ 8_d._ each, but I doubt whether this -can be safely taken as evidence that the vacancies were filled.[882] No -doubt, however, Howes was accurate on the main point, for Tarlton is -described in a document of 1587 as an 'ordenary grome off her majestes -chamber', and both Tarlton and Johnson as 'groomes of her majesties -chamber' in another of 1588. I may add that in a list of the sixteen -ordinary grooms who received allowances at Elizabeth's funeral are to be -found the names of George Brian and John Singer.[883] These had been -respectively a Chamberlain's and an Admiral's man, but both seem to have -left playing before the date of the list, and I suspect that they -retired on taking up these active Household appointments. For the King's -players there is fuller testimony, although most of it is Caroline -rather than Jacobean. The players are not called Grooms of the Chamber -in their patents of appointment; but this proves nothing, as most of the -Household posts were conferred, not by patent, but by swearing-in before -the Lord Chamberlain or other high officer. But they received payment as -'his Maiesties Groomes of the Chamber and Players', when they waited -upon the Spanish ambassador in 1604, and are entered in the Chamber -Accounts for this payment as a distinct group, apart from the seven -ordinary and four extraordinary grooms who were also assigned to the -ambassador's service. The Queen's men, who waited upon the Flemish -commissioners, are similarly described as being 'Groomes of the Chamber -and the Queenes Players'. A few months before the King's, Queen's, and -Prince's players had all received 4½ yards of red cloth each as a -livery at the time of James's coronation procession.[884] Nearly a -quarter of a century later we find very similar liveries furnished for -both the King's and the Queen's men by a series of Lord Chamberlain's -warrants to his Wardrobe, which begin in 1622.[885] These liveries were -renewed every two years and consisted at first of three, and afterwards -of four, yards of bastard scarlet for a cloak, and a quarter of a yard -of crimson velvet for a cap. These were of course state liveries, not -the 'watching' liveries of medley-coloured cloth, at 5_s._ a yard as -against the 26_s._ 8_d._ paid for the scarlet.[886] The Chamberlain's -books of the same period also contain warrants for the swearing-in of -new members of the King's and other companies, and in these the players -are directed to be sworn as 'grooms of the chamber in ordinary without -fee'.[887] These are, as I say, Caroline records, but if we may assume -that the procedure which they disclose was no novelty, and that the -royal players from 1583 onwards held this intermediate position as -'grooms in ordinary without fee' between the ordinary and the -extraordinary Grooms of the Chamber, we get an explanation of their -status which, on the assumption that Howes was not quite well informed, -is at least consistent with all the few known facts. - -The times and seasons at which plays might be given formed, of course, -one of the chief battle-grounds in the controversy with the preachers; -and it was here that the Puritans, routed on the main issue of the -campaign, were able to secure their principal victory. From the -beginning it was an understood thing that plays must not be given during -the hours of divine service, either on Sundays, or on the Saints' days, -which continued long after the Reformation to be observed as public -holidays. This, however, did not prevent the audiences from gathering, -so that the play-houses were already full, while the bells were still -ringing in the empty services.[888] The City regulations of 1574 -attempted to remedy this scandal by extending the prohibition to the -opening of the doors. The same point is made in the 'Remedies' put -forward by the City advocates in 1584. But there was a practical -difficulty, which increased when the theatres in the distant fields or -over the water came into use. Afternoon prayer did not begin until 2 -p.m., and if the theatres waited until 4 p.m., the performances were not -over, except in the height of summer, before dark, and the audiences -must make their way home as best they could. The City 'Remedy' for this -was a shortening of the plays; but in 1594 Lord Hunsdon suggested that -to begin at 2 instead of 4 p.m. might after all be the least of two -evils, and this seems to have been the solution ultimately adopted.[889] -The proviso against playing in time of common prayer, which finds a -place in the licence to Leicester's men of 1574, is not repeated in any -of the Jacobean licences, with the exception of Queen Anne's personal -warrant to her provincial company in 1606. - -Obviously the clash with divine service became of minor importance when -the Puritans had made good their protest against plays on Sundays, and -when, on the other hand, the theatres came to be open on every week-day, -instead of principally on holidays. Both of these processes were -complete before the final settlement of the status of players was -arrived at.[890] It was the failure to exclude Sundays that above all -things made the City regulations of 1574 inadequate in the eyes of the -preachers, and formed the leading topic of their railings against the -lukewarmness of the 'magistrates'. In the City itself they had gained -this point at least by 1581, with the assent of the Privy Council, who, -while pressing for the toleration of plays both on ordinary week-days -and on holidays, was quite prepared to concede the sanctity of the -Sabbath. With the potent aid afforded by the ruin of Paris Garden at a -Sunday baiting, the City were able about 1583 to get the principle -extended to the suburbs, although both in 1587 and in 1591 the Privy -Council had to call the attention of the county justices to the neglect -of the regulation.[891] In Southwark there is mention of a disturbance -at a play on Sunday as late as 11 June 1592, but as the Lord Mayor -intervened, this can hardly have been at a regular theatre, for there -was only the Rose, which was outside his jurisdiction. On the other -hand, the evidence of Henslowe's _Diary_, as interpreted by Dr. Greg, -shows that the prohibition was strictly observed at the theatres under -his control between 1592 and 1597, and also that the Sunday abstinence -was fully compensated for by continuous playing on every other day of -the week.[892] It is probable that the proclamation against Sunday -plays, issued by James I as one of the first acts of his reign, did no -more, so far as London was concerned, than reaffirm an already accepted -practice. More puzzling is the provision in the Council order of 1600, -whereby each of the two privileged companies was limited to performances -on two days in each week. It must be exceedingly doubtful whether this -limitation was ever in fact observed. There is no evidence in Henslowe's -_Diary_ of any slackening in the output of new plays by the Admiral's -men after 1600. And there is no corresponding limitation in the Jacobean -patents. Moreover, an agreement entered into by Queen Anne's men in June -1615 specifically contemplates performances upon six days a week. - -The companies were also expected not to play during Lent. This -limitation may have been traditional. It first becomes explicit in the -Privy Council's permit of 1578 to the Italian company of Martinelli -Drusiano, which is expressed as lasting to the first week in Lent. In -the following year a general inhibition for the coming and all -subsequent Lents was decreed by the Council. The entries in Henslowe's -_Diary_ show some observance of the rule during the last decade of the -sixteenth century. Strange's men in 1592 played right through Lent, with -the exception of Good Friday. The Admiral's men, on the other hand, -during 1595 to 1600, seem regularly to have broken off for some weeks -during Lent. In 1595 and 1596 the interval covered all but the first few -days; in 1597 it was less than three weeks, and thereafter the company -played three days a week up to Easter. A reservation was made for Lent -by the Council order of 1600, and in 1601 the Council sent a special -instruction to the Lord Mayor to stop plays at St. Paul's and the -Blackfriars during the penitential season. Presumably the same practice -prevailed under James I, for the permission to resume playing in April -1604 is expressed as motived by 'the time of Lent being now passt', -while on 29 March 1615 representatives of the London companies were -summoned before the Privy Council, to answer for playing in Lent -contrary to an express direction given them by the Lord Chamberlain -through the Master of the Revels.[893] Some light is thrown on this -proceeding by the fact that two years later each of the companies -undertook to pay the Master of the Revels 44_s._ 'for a Lenten -dispensation'.[894] - -A Privy Council letter of 1591 imposes one other curious limitation, -with which the Puritans at any rate can have had nothing to do, upon the -players. They are to lie idle upon Thursdays and leave that day free for -bear-baitings and similar pastimes, which were 'allwayes accustomed and -practized upon it'. I am not sure whether the claim of the bearwards to -Thursday really went back beyond 1583, when it seems to have become -desirable, owing to the impulse to Puritan sentiment given by the Paris -Garden accident, to substitute some other day for the Sunday upon which -baitings had formerly been usual. Nor does it seem that the attempt to -give a special protection to the royal 'game' permanently maintained -itself. The Admiral's men, in spite of Edward Alleyn's interest in the -Bear Garden, certainly did not yield the Thursdays from 1594 to 1597, -and when about 1614 Henslowe and Jacob Meade had occasion to combine -playing and baiting in the Hope, they had to insert special stipulations -in their agreements with the actors, in order to secure one day a -fortnight for the bears.[895] - -Obviously the privileges given to players were not intended to exempt -them from the ordinary duties and responsibilities of citizenship. In -the first place, they were called upon to make their contributions to -local burdens in the districts in which they set up their play-houses. -To this they had probably no objection; on the contrary, they more than -once found that a readiness to pay their tithes for the use of the poor -was an effective method of smoothing away difficulties with local -officials.[896] Nor had they less to gain than others from a reasonable -expenditure of money on the repair of the highways.[897] - -And secondly, they had to exercise a constant watchfulness against the -danger of allowing their play-houses to become the centres of riot and -sedition, and the cognate danger of allowing matter to creep into their -plays which was contrary to public morals as conceived by those who were -not Puritans, or displeasing to persons of importance, or inconsistent -with the views of Tudor and Stuart governments upon religious and -political questions. The disturbances which form a count in the -sixteenth-century indictments of theatres are not particularly -conspicuous in the seventeenth. There were bad characters enough, both -male and female, amongst the audience. Pockets might be picked and even -modesty endangered; and occasionally brawls and bloodshed were the -result.[898] But in the more important theatres, such as the Globe and -the Fortune, which made their appeal to the well-to-do and the -fashionable, no less than to the groundlings, the maintenance of order -was at least as much in the interests of the players themselves as in -that of any other section of the community. In avoiding subject-matter -of offence, so far as the texts of their plays were concerned, the -companies had of course the assistance of the Master of the Revels, upon -whom, in view of the unwillingness of the City either to appoint -licensing officers themselves or to accept a nominee of the Privy -Council, the functions of a stage censor had, as an alternative policy, -been conferred.[899] The employment of a royal official for this purpose -was in effect a resumption by the central government of a responsibility -which it had already attempted to discharge during the earlier Tudor -reigns, and had then delegated to the local justices by the proclamation -of 1559. The selection of the Master of the Revels explains itself -naturally enough as an extension of the duties which already fell to him -of scrutinizing and, if need be, 'reforming' the plays proposed for -presentation at Court.[900] The actual establishment of his authority -appears to have been a gradual process. It is tentative and limited to -the plays of one company in the patent for Leicester's men of 1574. It -is as wide as possible in the commission issued to the Master in 1581, -overriding the proclamation of 1559, and giving him a complete control, -not only over individual plays, but over players, playmakers, and -playing-places generally. Shortly afterwards, in 1584, the Leicester -archives record that the credentials of Worcester's men at that date -included, in addition to the warrant from their lord, a licence from the -Master of the Revels, from the terms of which it appears that the -company were 'bound to the orders prescribed' by him, and in particular -that all their plays were to be 'allowed' by him, and to have 'his hand -at the latter end of the said booke they doe play'.[901] In London, on -the other hand, the correspondence of 1582-4 between the Privy Council -and the City makes no mention of the Master, and the Council are still -pressing for the appointment of fit persons to consider and allow of -plays by the City itself. In 1589, however, the Lord Mayor cited the -Master's 'mislike' of the Martin Marprelate plays as a reason for -suppressing them, and a step forward was probably taken by the -appointment in the same year of a commission to 'allow' plays, -consisting of the Master himself and of two assessors nominated by the -Lord Mayor and the Archbishop of Canterbury. I find no later reference -to these assessors and it may be that before long the Master succeeded -in divesting himself of their assistance.[902] In any case, their -functions did not go beyond the 'allowing' of the actual plays. The -general licensing of companies and of play-houses remained with the -Master, and by 1592 we find the City acknowledging their powerlessness -to redress the 'inconvenience' of the stage without him and debating the -advisability of approaching him with a bribe. Henslowe's _Diary_ -discloses the Master between 1592 and 1597 as regularly licensing both -theatres and plays, and taking fees, which appear to have amounted to -7_s._ for each new play produced, and 5_s._, 6_s._ 8_d._, and ultimately -10_s._ for each week during which a theatre was open.[903] To some -extent the assumption of a more direct control by the Privy Council in -1597 must have limited his responsibility. But he continued to act as -the agent of the Privy Council or the Lord Chamberlain in transmitting -inhibitions and other orders to the companies.[904] Bonds had still to -be given to him for the due observance of the regulations.[905] And he -still drew fees from the theatres which were in fact again advanced in -1599 from 10_s._ to 15_s._ a week. Due reservation is regularly made for -his 'aucthoritie power priuiledges and profittes' in the majority of the -Jacobean patents issued to the London companies.[906] He continued to -license those travelling companies which held no direct royal authority; -and in the course of the seventeenth century he succeeded in -establishing his jurisdiction over many travelling entertainers who were -not strictly players.[907] Above all, it still rested with him to -'allow' the production, even by the patented companies, of individual -plays, and about 1607 he undertook also the allowance of plays for the -press, which had previously been in the hands of licensers appointed -under the High Commission for London.[908] A few manuscripts of plays -are extant which have been submitted to the Master of the Revels for -purposes of censorship, notably those of _Sir Thomas More_ (_c._ 1600) -and _The Second Maiden's Tragedy_ (1611), and give interesting -indications of the manner in which he apprehended his duties.[909] -Tilney, in dealing with _Sir Thomas More_, was perturbed by two -features. The play, as submitted to him, began with a dispute between -Londoners and certain Lombard aliens, leading up to the riots of 'ill -May day' and the reputation won by Sir Thomas More as the restorer of -peace. This was still a ticklish subject at the end of the sixteenth -century, for there had been comparatively recent disturbances on the -alien question, directed against Frenchmen rather than Lombards, and -Tilney therefore went carefully through the earlier pages, altering here -and there 'Frenchman' or 'straunger' into 'Lombard', and marking for -omission or alteration certain passages which might be read as -suggestions to the citizens to take matters into their own hands. In the -margin of one passage he wrote 'Mend this'. Presumably the effect of -these 'reformations' did not satisfy him, for at the beginning of the -first scene he has inserted what Dr. Greg calls 'a very conditional -licence', but what is in fact a direction for the complete recast of the -first part of the play by the omission of the dangerous episodes.[910] -Similarly he was pulled up by a later scene in which More's refusal to -sign articles sent him by the King seemed to be of bad precedent for -subjects, and here he drew a line through a substantial section of the -dialogue, and added a note that all must be altered. _The Second -Maiden's Tragedy_ is a Jacobean, not an Elizabethan, play, and the -censor was Sir George Buck. He, too, is on the look-out for political -criticism, and political criticism in 1611 was likely to be criticism of -King and Court. The passages, therefore, amended by Buck or at his -instigation are a few which speak lightly of courtiers and knights and -ladies of high position, and one in particular which seemed to him to -dwell with too much point and detail upon the delicate theme of -tyrannicide. But this was merely verbal caution. He did not attempt to -eliminate tyrannicide from the plot, in which it formed an essential -element, and returned the copy duly endorsed with a licence over his -signature that it 'may with the reformations bee acted publikely'. One -more point shows some development of censorial practice as between -Tilney and Buck. The latter, presumably with the _Act to Restrain Abuses -of Players_ in his mind, concerns himself not only with politics but -with propriety. It is a perfunctory business enough. In half a dozen -places such expletives as 'life' and 'heart' are excised; in many more -these and others, such as 'mass' and 'faith', which one would have -supposed to be as much or as little objectionable, remain -unquestioned.[911] - -It has been the experience of many governments that the most rigid -censorship of the 'books' of plays does not afford a complete guarantee -of the inoffensiveness of the performances actually given upon the -stage. A few lines of 'gag' are easily inserted; an emphasis, a gesture, -a 'make-up' may fill with malicious intention a scene which read -harmlessly enough in the privacy of the censor's study. And as nothing -draws like topical allusions, it sometimes happened that the activities -of the Master of the Revels did not prevent the players from -overstepping the boundaries of what the somewhat arbitrary -susceptibilities of the government would tolerate. It must not be -supposed that the Elizabethan injunction against any intermeddling with -politics or religion on the stage was to be taken with absolute -literalness. Up to a point the players had a fairly free hand even with -contemporary events. They might represent, if they would, such feats of -English arms as the siege of Turnhout with all realism.[912] They might -mock at foreign potentates, if they did not, as was sometimes the case, -embarrass Elizabeth's diplomacy in so doing.[913] It has already been -made clear that at the beginning of the reign Cecil made use of -interludes, after the manner of his master Cromwell, as a political -weapon against Philip of Spain and the Catholics; and many years after -both Philip and James of Scotland had their grievances against the -freedom with which their names were bandied by the London -comedians.[914] Similarly, when it was desired that Puritanism should be -unpopular, the players were not debarred from satirizing Puritans.[915] -But if the public discussion of religious controversies became a -scandal, as in the case of the Marprelate plays, and still more if -freedom of speech turned to criticism of the government itself, as -probably happened in _The Isle of Dogs_, it very soon became apparent -that the time for toleration was over, and the punishment which fell -upon the companies was swift and sharp and undiscriminating. Sometimes -it even happened, in spite of the special pains of the Master of Revels, -that a play was brought to Court which gave offence. Such a play had to -be stopped incontinently during the Christmas of 1559, and another is -recorded at a much later date, which drew some displeasing political -morals from the suits of a pack of cards, and would have brought the -performers into serious disgrace but for the friendly intervention of a -councillor with a sense of humour.[916] In addition to the -susceptibilities of the government itself, there were also those of -powerful individuals to be considered. Cecilia of Sweden, who had -outstayed her welcome, complained that her husband was mocked by the -players in her presence.[917] Tarlton, although a _persona grata_ at -Court, got into trouble for his hits at Leicester and Raleigh, possibly -in the very play on the pack of cards already mentioned.[918] A protest -from a descendant of Sir John Oldcastle obliged Shakespeare to change -the original name of his Falstaff. And on 10 May 1601 the Privy Council -sent an order to the Middlesex justices to examine and, if need be, -suppress a play at the Curtain, in which were presented 'the persons of -some gentlemen 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 of the persons that are meant thereby'. A rather -inexplicable part was taken by players in the wild scenes that closed -the career of Robert Earl of Essex in 1601. Essex was a popular hero, -and as the prologue to _Henry V_ shows, a name to conjure with in the -theatre. Bacon records how in August 1599, after his return from -Ireland, 'did fly about in London streets and theatres seditious -libels'.[919] That he should become an object of ridicule rather than of -honour on the boards was one of the bitterest stings in his disgrace. -'Shortly', he wailed to Elizabeth on 12 May 1600, 'they will play me in -what forms they list upon the stage.'[920] And when the last mad step of -rebellion was taken in February 1601 it was a play, none other than -Shakespeare's _Richard II_, to which the plotters looked to stir the -temper of London in their favour.[921] The curious thing is that in this -case, although Essex and more than one of his followers lost life or -liberty, no very serious results seem to have followed to the company -involved. The incident has been thought to have inspired the references -to an 'innovation' and the consequent travelling of the players in -_Hamlet_. But in fact the Chamberlain's men cannot be traced in the -provinces during 1601, and they were admitted to give their full share -of Court performances during the following Christmas.[922] - -For some years after the coming of James, the freedom of speech adopted -by the stage, in a London much inclined to be critical of the alien King -and his retinue of hungry Scots, was far beyond anything which could -have been tolerated by Elizabeth. The uncouth speech of the Sovereign, -his intemperance, his gusts of passion, his inordinate devotion to the -chase, were caricatured with what appears incredible audacity, before -audiences of his new subjects. 'Consider for pity's sake,' writes -Beaumont, the French ambassador, on 14 June 1604, 'what must be the -state and condition of a prince, whom the preachers publicly from the -pulpit assail, whom the comedians of the metropolis bring upon the -stage, whose wife attends these representations in order to enjoy the -laugh against her husband.'[923] Beaumont's evidence is confirmed by a -letter of 28 March 1605 from Samuel Calvert to Ralph Winwood, in which -he writes that 'the play[er]s do not forbear to represent upon their -stage the whole course of this present time, not sparing either King, -state, or religion, in so great absurdity, and with such liberty, that -any would be afraid to hear them'.[924] That in spite of all the -companies continued to enjoy a substantial measure of royal favour, -while speaking well for the good sense of the government, may perhaps -also justify the inference that by the seventeenth century the theatre -had so far established itself as an integral part of London life that a -vindictive measure of suppression had become impracticable. From time to -time, however, the blow fell upon some unusually indiscreet company, or -playwright, and at one moment, owing to diplomatic complications, the -prospect of suppression became, as will be seen, an imminent danger. -Possibly the countenance given by Queen Anne to the comedians may have -been in part responsible for the long-suffering with which their -insolence was met. It could have been no object for James to underline -by any public action the strained relations between King and Consort -which already embarrassed the conduct of Court life. One of the -companies, indeed, which was most frequently in trouble, was that which -had been taken in 1604 under the direct protection of the Queen, with -the title of 'Children of the Queen's Revels'. This was a company of -boys, in a sense attached to the Court itself and formerly known as the -Children of the Chapel, which played at the 'private' house of the -Blackfriars under conditions not quite the same as those of the public -theatres. The patent under which this company was reconstructed in 1604 -had exempted its plays from the jurisdiction of the Master of the -Revels, possibly because the Master was an officer of the King's -Household from which that of the Queen was distinct, and had committed -the licensing of them to the poet Samuel Daniel, who had been nominated -by Anne for the purpose. Daniel was extremely unfortunate in the -exercise of his functions. Before a year was out, offence had already -been given by the play of _Philotas_, of which he was himself the -author. In 1605 followed _Eastward Ho!_ with some audacious satire upon -the Scottish nation, which brought Jonson and Chapman into prison, -although they maintained that the offending 'clawses' were due not to -their pens, but to those of their collaborator Marston, who had -apparently made his escape. As a result of the misdemeanour of _Eastward -Ho!_ Anne appears to have been induced to withdraw her direct patronage -of the company, which for a time was known, not as the Children of the -Queen's Revels, but as the Children of the Revels pure and simple. But -it was allowed to go on playing at the Blackfriars, and here in February -1606 was produced Day's _Isle of Gulls_, another satire on the relations -of English and Scots, which landed some of those responsible in -Bridewell. Further irregularities took place in 1608, of which a lively -account is given in a dispatch of the French ambassador, M. de la -Boderie. The company produced two offending plays in rapid succession. -Of one, now lost, which satirized James in person, the author was -probably John Marston. The other, which provoked the ambassador to -protest by its allusions to the domestic arrangements of the French -king, was Chapman's _Byron_.[925] A general inhibition of plays was now -ordered, but De La Boderie correctly anticipated that James's anger -would soon be mollified, especially as the four other London companies -had offered an indemnity which he estimates at what seems the incredibly -high figure of 100,000 francs. He thought that similar episodes would be -prevented in future by refusing allowance to plays whose subjects were -taken from contemporary history. This may, in fact, have been the -solution adopted, as a standing order against the representation of any -'modern Christian King' on the stage is quoted in 1624.[926] Clearly, -however, it left the even more dangerous resources of allegory and of -historical parallel still open to the 'seditious' playwright.[927] The -Revels boys seem again to have been in trouble in 1610 owing to an -offence taken by Lady Arabella Stuart at a passage of Ben Jonson's -_Epicoene_, which she seems to have misunderstood. - -The Paul's boys vaunt their abstention from libels in the prologue to -their _Woman Hater_ of 1606. But it must not be supposed that the -dramatic indiscretions were limited to a single company. Even the King's -men themselves, though probably without any intention to offend, -sometimes misjudged the limits of what was permissible. The Earl of -Northampton haled Ben Jonson before the Privy Council for his _Sejanus_ -of 1603. On 18 December 1604 a Court gossip writes of a play of -_Gowry_, no longer extant, that 'whether the matter or the manner be not -well handled, or that it be thought unfit that Princes should be played -on the stage in their lifetime, I hear that some great councellors are -much displeased with it, and so 'tis thought shall be forbidden'.[928] A -somewhat vague allusion to an 'unwilling error' of players and a -consequent restraint, contained in the epilogue for a revival of -_Mucedorus_, first published in 1610, may possibly relate to some later -episode not otherwise recorded, but possibly only to the _Byron_ -episode, with which the King's men had nothing directly to do. Nor do we -know who were the 'much-suffering actors' of Daborne's 'oppressed and -much-martird Tragedy', _A Christian Turned Turk_, of about the same -date. Conceivably this is itself the play for which _Mucedorus_ -apologizes. Even provincial plays sometimes brought their promoters -before the Star Chamber. Sir Edward Dymock was imprisoned and fined -£1,000 in May 1610 for a scurrilous play against the Earl of Lincoln on -a Maypole green.[929] And what seems a curiously belated incident is -recorded in 1614, when Sir John Yorke suffered a similar fate for -encouraging some vagrant players to perform an interlude in favour of -the Popish religion.[930] - -And when players had got their warrants and their licences, and signed -their recognizances to the Master of the Revels, and paid their tithes, -and made up their minds to observe the taboos of Sunday and of Lent, and -to purge their plays of all perilous stuff, they had still to encounter -the ordinary changes and chances incident to all mortality. The profits -swelled in term time and dwindled in vacation.[931] Easter, Whitsuntide, -Bartholomew Fair, were recurring seasons of prosperity.[932] Were the -streets full for such an occasion as the entry of an ambassador, the -theatres reaped their harvest.[933] A period of public mourning, on the -other hand, as at the deaths of Elizabeth and of Prince Henry, meant the -cessation of business.[934] Political changes--although, like the other -elements of Stuart society, the players probably paid little attention -to the forces that were gathering for their ultimate overthrow--might -prove more disastrous still. But the dreaded enemy, in whose mysterious -workings the Puritans recognized a direct expression of the wrath of -God, was undeniably the plague. The menace, and too often the actual -reality, of plague, in a city whose growth had far outstripped the -advance of sanitary knowledge, was one of the principal domestic -preoccupations of Elizabethan administrators. And the precaution, which -was always resorted to, of forbidding public assemblies as probable -centres of infection, reacted terribly upon theatrical enterprise. A -study of the plague calendar which forms an appendix to the present -volumes will show that there were three grave visitations of plague -during the years which it covers, in 1563, in 1592-4, and in 1603; that -in the long period 1564 to 1587 following the first visitation, and in -the shorter period 1604 to 1609 following the third visitation, plague -had become endemic, generally showing itself from July to November and -reaching its maximum in September or October; that during these periods -certain years, such as 1579 and 1580 in the one and 1604 in the other -were comparatively free; and that probably during 1588-91, and certainly -during 1595-1602 and 1610-16, plague was so far absent as to be -practically negligible. In fact, after 1609 plague did not again become -a serious factor in London life until 1625. The greatest developments -of the Elizabethan drama thus coincide with the longest periods of -exemption, and perhaps this simple physical fact has something to do -with the break-down of the Puritan opposition and the settlement of -theatrical conditions in 1597. Certainly the plaguesome years 1564-87 -are marked by a series of inhibitions of plays on account of plague, -some of which seem to be hardly justified by the actual state of things -prevailing, and suggest that the Privy Council occasionally found it -convenient to avoid controversy with the City by acquiescing in an -inhibition for which the dread of infection was little more than the -ostensible reason. This tendency seems to have come very near to -bringing about a regular autumnal close season for plays. Ultimately, -however, a different principle of regulation was adopted. This was based -upon the showings of the plague-bill, a weekly summary of deaths from -plague and from other causes respectively, prepared from returns -rendered on behalf of each of the 109 parishes within the City area and -a few of those in the suburbs.[935] The first indication of an appeal to -this criterion is to be found in the documents belonging to the inquiry -of 1584, to which the players appear to have contributed the proposal -that their activities should continue to be tolerated so long as the -deaths from plague in any one week did not exceed fifty. The City -questioned the security afforded by this figure, and as an alternative -offered toleration whenever the deaths from all causes should have -remained below fifty for three weeks together. It is difficult to say -whether this reply was intended to be taken seriously. Probably not, in -view of the general attitude adopted in the argument of which it forms -part. If it had been applied to the years 1578-82, for which -plague-bills are extant, there would have been only fifteen weeks of -playing during the five years, six weeks in 1580, and nine weeks in -1581.[936] The precise issue of the discussion of 1584 is unknown; but -the principle then mooted is found in effective operation during the -seventeenth century. Most of the patents do not make any specific -reservation for times of plague, but that for the King's men, issued -during the plague of 1603, and the unexecuted draft for the Queen's men -are expressed as coming into operation 'when the infection of the plague -shall decrease', and more precisely in the case of the Queen's men 'when -the infeccion of the plague shall decrease to the nomber of thirtie -weekly within our Citie of London and the liberties therof'. Similarly -the Privy Council letter of 9 April 1604 in allowance of the resumption -of plays is guarded by the proviso 'except there shall happen weeklie to -die of the plague aboue the number of thirtie within the Cittie of -London and the liberties therof; att which time we think it fitt they -shall cease and forbeare any further publicklie to playe untill the -sicknes be again decreaced to the saide number'. This criterion of -thirty deaths was much less favourable to the players than that of fifty -which they had themselves suggested in 1584. It appears to have ruled -until about 1607 and then to have been replaced by the more liberal -allowance of forty, which is the number specified in the later patents -of 1619 and 1625 to the King's men.[937] - -It is clear that a plague, if at all prolonged, hit the players very -hard, partly because it was customary to divide up the profits weekly or -even daily, and the companies, as distinct from prudent individuals, -seem to have kept no reserve funds. In particular the plague of 1592-4 -forms a regular watershed in the history of the companies. Some went -under altogether; others, such as the famous Queen's men, failed for -ever after to recover a foothold in the metropolis. The reconstructed -organizations of 1594 have practically no continuity with those in -existence up to 1592. The obvious resource in a time of inhibition was -to travel, since a London plague did not necessarily extend far into the -provinces.[938] It was a regrettable necessity. In favourable economic -conditions, the London companies tended to grow, to effect -amalgamations, to occupy more than one theatre.[939] Travelling, for -more than a few summer weeks, meant the reduction of establishments to -the level of provincial profits, the breaking up of partnerships, the -division of books and apparel, the dismissal of hired men.[940] But -plague was inexorable. Reluctantly the drums and trumpets were bought, -the last stoup was quaffed at the Cardinal's Hat, and the rufflers of -London streets resigned themselves to the hard life of country -'strowlers'.[941] On the road, with his wagon, the actor necessarily -laid aside the conditions of a householder, and reverted to those of his -grandfather, the minstrel.[942] And it is fair to say that, as a rule, -although there were Puritans in the provinces as well as in London, he -received a minstrel's welcome. His advent, about 1574, to a western -borough is thus described by one R. Willis, in a half-autobiographical, -half-religious, treatise entitled _Mount Tabor_, published in 1639:[943] - - 'In the City of _Gloucester_, the manner is (as I think it is - in other like corporations) that when Players of Enterludes - come to towne, they first attend the Mayor, to enforme him what - noble-mans servants they are, and so to get licence for their - publike playing; and if the Mayor like the Actors, or would - shew respect to their Lord and Master, he appoints them to play - their first play before himselfe, and the Aldermen and common - Counsell of the City; and that is called the Mayors play, where - every one that will comes in without money, the Mayor giving - the players a reward as hee thinks fit, to shew respect unto - them. At such a play my father tooke me with him, and made me - stand betweene his leggs, as he sate upon one of the benches, - where wee saw and heard very well.' - -The account given by Willis receives general confirmation from the -numerous entries with regard to players exhumed from the municipal -archives not only of Gloucester itself, but of many other towns, and -notably Canterbury, Dover, Southampton, Winchester, Exeter, Plymouth, -Barnstaple, Oxford, Abingdon, Marlborough, Bath, Bristol, Shrewsbury, -Chester, York, Newcastle, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, -Stratford-on-Avon, Maldon, Ipswich, Cambridge, and Norwich.[944] As a -rule the information consists of a record in the annual accounts -rendered by the Chamberlains or other borough treasurers of the -'rewards' paid to the companies for performing the 'Mayor's play'. These -are often stated to have been paid at the 'appointment' of the Mayor, or -of the Mayor and the Aldermen or other body who were his 'brethren'. The -name of the company is generally given; sometimes the date of the -performances, and more rarely the name of the play or some other detail -which struck the fancy of the Chamberlains, is added. Sometimes, -moreover, there is subsidiary expenditure to record; a stage has to be -put up and lit;[945] damage done has to be repaired;[946] the players -are entertained with the municipal courtesy of 'wine and sugar', or -with a 'drinkinge', 'banket', or 'breakfast' at their inn.[947] At -Gloucester the entertainment, of 'wine and chirries', took place in the -house of 'Mr. Swordbearer', an official of the corporation. In the main -the customs of the different towns seem to have been singularly uniform, -but here and there variations of detail present themselves. Thus the -mayor's play was not everywhere, as at Gloucester, open to all comers. A -'free' play is noted at Newcastle; at Bath and Canterbury on the other -hand there was a 'gathering', supplemented by the town's reward.[948] At -Leicester the same arrangement prevailed up to the end of the sixteenth -century. The 'gathering' was levied upon the members of the two councils -known as the 'Twenty-four' and the 'Forty-eight'; and orders are upon -record limiting this liability to performances by the royal companies or -the servants of privy councillors.[949] In 1590-1 collections were also -taken 'at the hall dore'. - -A Bridgnorth order of 1570 that no charge should be put upon the town -fund appears to be exceptional at this date, and did not prove -permanent.[950] The 'rewards' entered in the accounts are generally -round sums; where they are broken, they probably went to make up the -results of the 'gatherings' to round sums. At the beginning of -Elizabeth's reign the amounts often do not exceed a few shillings, but a -general tendency to increase is apparent throughout the next -half-century, and by 1616 rewards of £2 and even £3 are not uncommon. -The establishment of the Queen's men in 1583 led to a rise in the rate -of reward for that company, which in course of time brought about -increased generosity to others.[951] The highest sums I have noted were -£4 to the Queen's men at Ipswich in 1599, and to various companies at -Coventry from 1612 onwards. Nottingham distinguished itself by economy, -and did not go beyond 20_s._ at the best. In most places the rates -fluctuate considerably to the end; being determined partly by the -importance of the 'lord' and his relations to the town, partly in all -probability by the opinion of the stage held by the mayor or the town, -partly, one may hope, by the merits of individual plays and their -interpreters. Commonly enough, the mayor's play took place in the -guild-hall, in spite of the criticisms of those who, whatever their real -motives, alleged the damage done and the interruption to municipal -business.[952] For subsequent performances other quarters had often to -be found. These were ordinarily in an inn;[953] occasionally in the -church itself or the churchyard.[954] Great Yarmouth had its specially -provided 'game house'; a theatre contemplated at York in 1608-9 was to -have its own company, as 'a means to restrayne the frequent comminge of -other stage players', but the scheme was never actually carried -out.[955] - -To some extent the evidence of the accounts can be eked out by that of -other records throwing a more direct light upon the responsibilities -assumed by the civic authorities in regard to plays. Singularly -interesting is the register of the Mayor's Court at Norwich, in which -are recorded the attendances of players on their arrival in the town to -submit their credentials and obtain leave for their performances.[956] -The patent companies produced their letters patent in original or in -exemplification, in addition to which the Court seems to have expected -some instrument of deputation, if none of the men actually named in the -document were present.[957] The nature of the evidence forthcoming from -other companies is not so clearly specified, but no doubt it consisted -of the warrant of appointment by their lord, and after 1581 of the -confirmatory licence from the Master of the Revels. Worcester's men were -in a difficulty at Leicester in 1583 because, although they could -produce the warrant from their lord, their licence from the Master had -been purloined by another company.[958] It was probably as a quite -special privilege that, when Strange's and Sussex's men travelled in -1593, they carried with them letters of assistance from the Privy -Council itself. It may be gathered from the terms of the Norwich entries -that the Court regarded its own permission or 'licence' as essential -before players were entitled to set up their 'bills' or give their -performances within its jurisdiction. The lord's warrant might protect -his servants from the penalties of vagabondage; but it was not -necessarily accepted, in the provinces any more than in London, as -overriding the traditional right of the municipal governments to control -the entertainments which might have serious results both upon the -morality and the order of their areas. On the other hand, even if the -plays had been less popular than they were, the livery of the Queen or -of a powerful noble was not a thing to be lightly flouted. Perhaps the -difficulty was solved by taking the warrant at its face value as a -courteous letter of recommendation, and letting the licence to play and -the 'reward' stand as return courtesies from the corporation to their -very good lord. This fiction, however, can hardly have been applicable -to the terms in which the Master of the Revels may be supposed to have -worded his licence, and still less to those of the royal patents, which -claimed to give direct authority to play 'within anie town halls or -moute halls or other conveniente places within the liberties and -freedoms of any cittie, vniversitie, towne or boroughe whatsoever within -our realmes and domynions'. The corporations were not very likely to act -upon the advice attributed to the Lord Coke in 1606 that such licences -from the Crown were _ultra vires_.[959] No doubt they remained the -arbiters as to what places were 'conveniente'. They also prescribed -times and seasons, forbidding plays at their discretion on Sunday[960] -or at night,[961] or in Lent,[962] or during divine service,[963] and -laying down for each company the number of days during which it was at -liberty to perform, or the interval which must elapse between one visit -and the next. At Norwich the number of days ranged from one to eight, -sometimes one performance and sometimes two being allowed on each day. -The royal signet warrants which came into use about 1616 authorized the -companies holding them to stay fourteen days in any one town. Sometimes -Dogberry and Verges found good reason for refusing leave to play. It was -a season of plague or of social disturbance in the town.[964] In 1603 -when the Admiral's men visited Canterbury, 'it was thought fit they -should not play at all in regard that our late Queen was then ether very -sick or dead as they supposed'. Or even if the public playing was -allowed, the corporation might be too busy for a Mayor's play to be -appropriate. In either event the players generally got their fee all the -same, and the Chamberlain, if punctilious, entered it not as a 'reward' -but as a 'gratuity', and noted in his book that the company 'did not -playe'.[965] Certain indications show themselves here and there that the -Puritan controversy had spread to the provinces, and even that the -desire to have done with plays altogether was not wholly confined to -London. As early as 1590 there was a dispute in the corporation of -Maldon between an ex-bailiff of the town and certain colleagues whom he -abused as 'a sort of precisians and Brownists' because they forbade a -performance on a Sunday evening.[966] In 1596 the Chester corporation -made an order for the suppression of plays, and fixed a 'gratuity' of -20_s._ for the Queen's men, and 6_s._ 8_d._ for those of any noble. But -it does not seem that the resolution was persisted in, and in 1615 the -city was still suffering from 'the common brute and scandal' of 'obscene -and unlawfull plaies or tragedies', and did no more than bar them out -from the Common Hall and confine them to the day-time.[967] At Hull too -fines were enacted against citizens resorting to plays and landlords -harbouring them in 1598.[968] The players did not always prove -conformable to municipal discipline. Several cases are recorded at -Norwich, in which companies played contrary to orders, and were punished -by committal to prison, or by threats that their lord should be -certified of their contempt, and that they should never more have -reward of the city.[969] One of the mutinous companies in 1583 was -Worcester's, who in the following year repeated their offence at -Leicester, going 'with their drum and trumppytts thorowe the towne in -contempt of Mr. Mayor' and using 'evyll and contemptyous words' of that -dignitary, who had given them an angel (3_s._ 4_d._) towards their -dinner. The threat of reporting them to their lord reduced them to -submission, and after all they were allowed to play, and made a public -apology to Mr. Mayor as a prologue. - -The worst of travelling was that, after all the tramping of bad roads, -and all the wrangling with jacks-in-office, there was but a scanty -living to be made out of it, even with the aid of the few shillings to -be picked up in the larger villages, from such a windfall as is -described in _Ratseis Ghost_,[970] or from the generous hospitality of a -friendly manor.[971] The competition was considerable, for in the -provinces the London companies found rivals in the shape of other -companies which rarely or never came to London at all, but were none the -less substantial and permanent organizations. Thus Queen Elizabeth's men -travelled for years between their last London appearance in 1594 and the -end of the reign, and continued all the time to secure the exceptionally -high rates of 'reward' which were due to the royal name. Other famous -provincial companies, each of which can be traced through a period of -years, were those of the Duchess of Suffolk (1548-63), and the Lords -Mountjoy (1564-78), Stafford (1574-1604), Sheffield (1577-86), Berkeley -(1578-1610), Chandos (1578-1610), Morley (1581-1602), Darcy (1591-1603), -Mounteagle (1593-1616), Huntingdon (1597-1606), Evers (1600-13), and -Dudley (1600-36). Some of these had a comparatively limited range; -others covered the whole country. Their presence in the field, and that -of many minor companies, must have made it difficult for the -Londoners.[972] The charge of travelling, again, as Strange's men -complained to the Privy Council about 1592, was intolerable, and the -necessity for dividing the larger companies, so as to cover more ground, -led to disorganization. Pembroke's men, when they travelled in 1593, -could not save their charges, and had to pawn their apparel and return -home. The years of plague and travellings were the lean years which sent -the books of plays into the hands of the publishers.[973] And for a -company to part with the books and garments that formed its stock in -trade was a confession of failure. - -The wanderings of English actors were by no means confined to England -itself. They crossed the border to Scotland, where towards the end of -the sixteenth century they incurred the hostility of the Kirk Sessions, -which did not prevent James I from appointing one or more of them as -Court comedians, and bringing them back with him in 1603 to figure in -the lists of the patented royal companies.[974] Somewhat later they -braved the Irish Channel, and are found at Youghal.[975] And on the -Continent they ranged far and wide.[976] Notices of them in France, -indeed, are rarer than might be expected, perhaps because of the barrier -of religion, perhaps because the Italians had already occupied the -ground, perhaps only because the archives have not been thoroughly -searched. To Italy and to Spain they just penetrated. In northern -Europe, on the other hand, in the Netherlands, in Germany, even in -Denmark, Sweden, and Poland, they found a constant welcome, until their -movements were checked by the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1620. -A pioneer company, which made its way from Leicester's head-quarters at -Utrecht to the Courts of Copenhagen and Dresden in 1586, included -members who afterwards became fellows of Shakespeare as Lord -Chamberlain's men. The shifting relations of the numerous bands which -followed them are beyond research, but the initiative in organizing the -raids seems to have been largely taken by two men. One of these was -Robert Browne, who paid not less than five visits abroad between 1590 -and 1620, and appears to have had many associates, of whom the most -important was John Green. The other was John Spencer, who first appears -in 1604, and whose operations were probably quite independent of -Browne's. The industry of German scholars has made it possible to trace -in outline the stories of Spencer and of a group of companies owing -their origin more or less directly to Browne. Their adventures were -clearly much facilitated by the existence of numerous petty German -courts, under cultivated rulers who were glad to take a troop of actors -into their service for a year or two at a time, and then let them go for -a while on their travels from one to another of the great towns. -Conspicuous amongst such patrons were the Electors Joachim Frederick -(1598-1608) and John Sigismund (1608-91) of Brandenburg, the Electors -Christian I (1586-91), Christian II (1591-1611), and John George (1611-56) -of Saxony, Henry Julius (1589-1613) Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and -Maurice (1592-1627) Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. Naturally, also, the actors -made their way to Heidelberg, whither the Elector Palatine Frederick V -brought his English bride in 1613. These were Protestant princes, but -Catholic Germany, although less often visited, was not closed to the -English, who found particular favour with the house of the Archduke -Ferdinand of Styria, afterwards the Emperor Ferdinand II. Of the great -cities of Germany the most hospitable to actors, so far as our knowledge -goes, were Cologne, Strassburg, Ulm, Augsburg, Nuremberg, and above all -Frankfort, where the two great marts or fairs held annually at Easter and -in the autumn served as a rallying-point for travellers and entertainers -of every species. The early successes of the English in Germany are -reported by Fynes Moryson, who was at Frankfort for the autumn fair of -1592: - - 'Germany hath some fewe wandring Comeydians, more deseruing - pitty then prayse, for the serious parts are dully penned, and - worse acted, and the mirth they make is ridiculous, and nothing - lesse then witty (as I formerly haue shewed). So as I remember - that when some of our cast dispised stage players came out of - England into Germany, and played at Franckford in the tyme of - the Mart, hauing nether a complete number of Actours, nor any - good Appareil, nor any ornament of the Stage, yet the Germans, - not vnderstanding a worde they sayde, both men and women, - flocked wonderfully to see theire gesture and Action, rather - then heare them, speaking English which they vnderstoode not, - and pronowncing peeces and patches of English playes, which my - selfe and some English men there present could not heare - without great wearysomenes. Yea my selfe comming from - Franckford in the company of some cheefe marchants Dutch and - Flemish, heard them often bragg of the good markett they had - made, only condoling that they had not the leasure to heare the - English players.' - -In the Netherlands the English players, according to Moryson, brought -themselves into a singular difficulty. Here, too, was no native stage: - - 'For Commedians, they litle practise that Arte, and are the - poorest Actours that can be imagined, as my selfe did see when - the Citty of Getrudenberg being taken by them from the - Spanyards, they made bonsfyers and publikely at Leyden - represented that action in a play, so rudely as the poore - Artizans of England would haue both penned and acted it much - better. So as at the same tyme when some cast players of - England came into those partes, the people not vnderstanding - what they sayd, only for theere action followed them with - wonderfull concourse, yea many young virgines fell in loue with - some of the players, and followed them from citty to citty, - till the magistrates were forced to forbid them to play any - more.'[977] - -Moryson's account finds confirmation in the praise lavished upon English -acting by German writers, such as Erhard Cellius in 1605, Joannes -Rhenanus about 1610, and Daniel von Wensin in 1613.[978] Undoubtedly the -German stage, which had been slow to develop on professional lines, -owed a great impetus to the invasions. Germans attached themselves to -the English companies, and in course of time imitated the English -methods in companies of their own. The English plays served as models -for German dramatists, of whom Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick and Jacob -Ayrer of Nuremberg were the best known.[979] On the other hand, the -invaders themselves became denizened, at any rate to the extent of -learning to give their performances in the German tongue. Moryson found -Browne's company handicapped by their use of English at Frankfort in -1592. A Münster chronicler tells us that an anonymous company which -visited his town in 1601 still played 'in ihrer engelschen Sprache', but -that between the acts the clown amused the audience with 'bôtze und -geckerie' in German.[980] In 1605 actors who petition for leave to -appear at the Frankfort fair advertise their intention to give their -comedies and tragedies 'in hochteutscher sprache', and there can be -little doubt that, whatever may have been the case in Anglomaniac -courts, theirs was the practice which ultimately prevailed in the -cities.[981] Such portions of the repertories of the English actors as -have been preserved are without exception in German. They are of -singularly little literary value, fully bearing out Moryson's -description of them as no more than 'peeces and patches' of English -plays. But occasionally one of them possesses a critical interest as -representing a play now lost or some earlier version of its model than -that extant in an English text. In addition to actual plays, enough -lists of performances are upon record to give a fair notion of the range -of the travelling repertories. Both recent productions of the London -stage and more old-fashioned pieces were drawn upon for adaptation. The -choice was doubtless determined by the availability of prompter's copies -or printed texts, as the case might be, when a company was collecting a -stock-in-trade for its adventure. Sometimes variety was obtained by -using the experiments of a German dramatist, or one of those scriptural -comedies, _Susanna and the Elders_, _The Prodigal Son_, _Dives and -Lazarus_, which had been the delight of the German, even more than the -English, Renaissance. - -The most obvious thing about the life of the English actor on the road -in Germany is that it was uncommonly like his life on the road in -England. Perhaps this is hardly surprising when it is borne in mind -that, as already pointed out, the player away from his permanent theatre -reverted to the status of the minstrel, and that throughout the ages the -minstrel had been cosmopolitan. That in a land of alien speech, even -more than at home, the strict arts of comedy and tragedy had to be eked -out with music and buffoonery and acrobatics goes without saying. Even -as late as 1614 and at the court of Berlin the terms on which actors -were engaged bound them to render service 'mit Springen, Spielen und -anderer Kurzweil', as their lord might require.[982] Away from court, in -Germany as in England, they were mainly dependent upon the goodwill of -the civic magistrates, to whom on approaching each town they addressed -elaborate petitions, of which many are preserved, in which they recited -their own merits, and made play with the names of any princes whose -servants they were entitled to call themselves, or whose recommendation -some successful display had enabled them to gain. There was always the -chance that, on the strength of plague or some other pretext, they might -be refused admission altogether. At the best, they must expect to have -the length of their stay, the days and hours of their performances, the -sums they might charge for standing-room and seats, most thoughtfully -and minutely regulated for them. And when all the preliminaries were -gone through, and the Rathaus or an inn-yard put at their disposal, and -the creaking boards set up, and the tattered frippery extracted from the -hamper, it might perhaps after all, as at Brunswick in 1614, be a case -of 'kein Volk' and the Council might give them a thaler out of charity -and send them on their way.[983] In Germany too, as in England, they had -to make their account with the wise, to whom their performances were -folly, and the 'unco' guid', to whom they were an offence.[984] -Evidently they were not always discreet in their choice of themes. At -Elbing in 1605 a company received a gratification of twenty thalers for -a performance before the Council; and the record continues, '... daneben -aber auch ihnen zu untersagen, dass sie nunmehr zu agiren aufhören -sollen in Anmerkung, dass sie gestern in der Comödie schandbare Sachen -fürgebracht'.[985] Even princes sometimes got into trouble by -encouraging these foreigners of doubtful respectability. There was glee -in Cassel when Landgrave Maurice decided to disband the 'verfluchten' -English in 1602. Possibly in this case it was the taxpayer rather than -the Puritan who felt relief; but when the Duke of Pommern-Wolgast and -his mother allowed the Schlosskirche at Lötz to be used for a -performance in 1606 they brought upon themselves a shower of letters -from Hofprediger Gregorius Hagius, which precisely re-echo the familiar -English diatribes of Stephen Gosson and John Rainolds.[986] Presumably -the whole business paid its way, or Browne would not have gone over four -or five times or Spencer spent fifteen years in the country. A recent -investigator, who has made a far more elaborate analysis of all the -financial material than I have room for, calculates that, what with -court salaries, and what with admission fees to public performances at -the rate of about three kreuzers or less than a penny a head, an actor -might hope to make on the average about £60 a year.[987] This was enough -to live upon, even if, as was sometimes the case, wife and children -accompanied the expedition. It seemed attractive enough to poor Richard -Jones, who was making at home 'some tymes a shillinge a day and some -tymes nothinge'. But it hardly bears out the statement of Erhard Cellius -that the English returned home 'auro et argento onusti'. And in fact -those who essayed a career in Germany were the failures of London. 'Some -of our cast dispised stage players', Moryson calls them, and many years -later, in 1625, the same tale is told by the words put into the mouths -of actors in _The Run-away's Answer_: 'We can be bankrupts on this side -and gentlemen of a company beyond the sea: we burst at London, and are -pieced up at Rotterdam.'[988] There were, indeed, those who made their -fortunes abroad, but they were those who, like Thomas Sackville, forsook -the stage and devoted their energies to an honest trade. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 879: Murray, ii. 77, gives records of seventy-nine 'Lesser -Men's Companies', many of which appear at one town only, while all have -a narrow range. Naturally the names of the great nobles carried weight -over a wider area. The players in _Ratseis Ghost_ (Halliwell-Phillipps, -i. 326) 'denied their owne Lord and Maister, and used another Noblemans -name'.] - -[Footnote 880: The showman of the royal ape in Taylor's _Wit and Mirth_ -(cf. p. 267) wears 'a brooch in his hat, like a tooth drawer, with a -Rose and Crowne, and two letters'.] - -[Footnote 881: Harington, _Metamorphosis of Ajax_ (1596), 135, 'I will -neither end with sermon nor with prayer, lest some wags liken me to my -L. (____) players, who when they have ended a bawdy comedy, as though -that were a preparative to devotion, kneel down solemnly, and pray all -the company to pray with them for their good Lord and master'; _A Mad -World, my Masters_, v. ii. 200, 'This shows like kneeling after the -play; I praying for my good lord Owemuch and his good countess, our -honourable lady and mistress'. This prayer might be combined with one -for the Sovereign and estates; cf. chh. xviii, xxii.] - -[Footnote 882: Cf. ch. xiii (Interluders).] - -[Footnote 883: _R. O. Lord Chamberlain's Records_, ii. 4 (4).] - -[Footnote 884: _N. S. S. Trans._ (1877-9), 15*, from _Lord Chamberlain's -Records_, vol. 58_a_, now ii. 4 (5).] - -[Footnote 885: Sullivan, 250; C. C. Stopes in _Sh.-Jahrbuch_, xlvi. 92; -from _Lord Chamberlain's Records_, ii. 48; v. 92, 93. I am not sure -whether the velvet was for a 'cap' or a 'cape'.] - -[Footnote 886: Sullivan, 253; cf. vol. i, p. 52.] - -[Footnote 887: Stopes (_supra_). I find a confirmatory note to a -Household list of 1641 in _Lord Chamberlain's Records_, iii. 1, 'Note -that _th_e Companyes of Players under the Titles of the Kings, Queenes, -Qu_eene_ of Bohemia, Prince & Duke of Yorke are all of them sworne -Groomes of the Chamber in ord_inary_ w_i_thout fee'. I cannot accept -Miss Sullivan's theory that 'without fee' means that the players did not -have to buy their places.] - -[Footnote 888: Cf. App. C, Nos. xvii, xxxi.] - -[Footnote 889: Platter in 1599 (cf. ch. xvi, introd.) says that plays -were given 'alle tag vmb 2 vhren nach mittag'. T. S. Graves, in _E. S._ -xlvii. 66, argues in favour of occasional night performances, and is -answered by W. J. Lawrence in _E. S._ xlviii. 213. Whatever may have -been done before 1574 or thereabouts, I find no later evidence which is -not to be explained either by private performances or by a loose use of -'night' for the evening hour at which plays terminated in winter. Nor -can I go with Lawrence in supposing an exception for Sunday. The -Southwark play at 8 p.m. on Sunday, 12 June 1592, cannot have been at a -regular theatre, for there was none within the Lord Mayor's -jurisdiction. The allusion in Crosse's _Vertue's Commonwealth_ (1603) -can quite well be to private plays (cf. App. C), and Henslowe's entry -(i. 83) of a loan of 30_s._ 'when they fyrst played Dido at nyght', on -Sunday, 8 Jan. 1598, only suggests to me the payment by Henslowe of the -shot for a supper after the first performance. Or it may have been a -private performance, for Henslowe does not appear (_vide infra_) to have -opened the Rose on Sundays.] - -[Footnote 890: Cf. App. D, No. xv (1564), 'now daylye, but speciallye on -holydayes'; No. xvi (1569), 'on the Saboth dayes and other solempne -feastes commaunded by the church to be kept holy'; No. xvii (1571), -'vpon sondaies, holly daies, or other daie of the weke, or ells at -night'; No. xxxii (1574), 'on sonndaies and holly dayes, at which tymes -such playes weare chefelye vsed'; App. C, No. xxii (1579), 'These -because they are allowed to play euery Sunday, make iiii or v Sundayes -at least euery weeke'.] - -[Footnote 891: There was a disorder at the Theatre on Sunday, 10 April -1580, but by July 1581 the Lord Mayor had made an order against Sunday -plays, which Berkeley's men disregarded. The Privy Council letter of 3 -Dec. 1581 to the City accepts the exclusion of Sunday. Gosson, _Playes -Confuted_ (1582), 167, and Field (Jan. 1583), C. iii, acknowledge the -change of day. When therefore Stubbes (1 March 1583), 137, criticizes -Sunday plays, he must have the suburbs in mind. Paris Garden fell on -Sunday, 13 Jan. 1583. On 3 July 1583 the Lord Mayor told the Privy -Council that Sunday baitings were resumed. The documents of the 1584 -controversy, however, state that as a result of the accident, letters -were obtained to banish plays (and doubtless also baiting) 'in the -places nere London' on the Sabbath days. Whetstone (1584) also alludes -to a 'reforme' by the 'magistrate' in this matter.] - -[Footnote 892: Henslowe, ii. 324.] - -[Footnote 893: Cf. Middleton, _A Mad World, my Masters_ (1608), I. i. -38, 'Tis Lent in your cheeks; the flag's down'; T. Earle, -_Microcosmography_, char. 64, of a player, 'Shrove-tuesday hee feares as -much as the bawdes, and Lent is more damage to him then the butcher'.] - -[Footnote 894: _Variorum_, iii. 65, from Sir Henry Herbert's papers, -which also record a similar payment in 1618 'for toleration in the -holydays'. Herbert himself sold similar indulgences and in a list of -customary Revels fees drawn up in 1662 includes £3 'for Lent fee', -together with £3 'for Christmasse fee' (_Variorum_, iii. 266). Prynne, -_Histriomastix_ (1633), 784, notes the custom of suppressing plays 'in -Lent, till now of late'.] - -[Footnote 895: Cf. ch. xiii (Lady Elizabeth's). About 1617 Prince -Charles's men were complaining to Alleyn that 'intemperate Mr. Meade' -had taken 'the day from vs which by course was ours'.] - -[Footnote 896: By 1574 the City had offers to farm their licensing -rights 'to the relefe of the poore in the hospitalles'; but their -regulations of Dec. 1574 provide for direct contributions to the poor -and sick by holders of licences for playing-places. A weekly subsidy to -the poor from every stage is suggested by Walsingham's correspondent of -1587. Hunsdon, in asking for the use of the Cross Keys in 1594, promised -that his men would 'be contributories to the poore of the parishe where -they plaie accordinge to their habilities'. In 1600 the Southwark Vestry -were negotiating with the players for tithes and contributions for the -poor on the basis of an 'order taken before my lords of Canterbury and -London and the Master of the Revels'. In the same year the inhabitants -of Finsbury recite the 'very liberall porcion' of money promised weekly -for the relief of the poor as one of their grounds for assenting to the -building of the Fortune. The accounts of the overseers of Paris Garden -between 1611 and 1621 show varying sums, amounting to about £4 or £5 a -year, as received during several years from the players at the Swan.] - -[Footnote 897: The Middlesex records for 1616 show the Queen's men at -the Red Bull as in arrear for their contribution, 'being taxed by the -bench 40_s._ the yeare by theire own consentes'.] - -[Footnote 898: Cf. ch. viii.] - -[Footnote 899: As far back as 1549 the City had appointed two -Secondaries of the Compters to license plays; but this arrangement -doubtless terminated when the King and Council assumed the function; cf. -ch. ix. In 1572 the Council were pressing the City to appoint 'discreet -persons' for the purpose, and in 1574 suggested the suitability of one -Mr. Holmes. But the City, who claimed to have had profitable offers to -farm the licensing, repeated a former refusal to commit it to any -private person. The regulations of 1574 provide for the appointment by -the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of persons to peruse and allow plays. But -the Council are still urging, and the City promising, the appointment of -licensers in 1582.] - -[Footnote 900: Cf. ch. iii.] - -[Footnote 901: The unauthorized company which stole this licence (cf. -ch. xiii, s.v. Worcester's) is probably that which appeared as the -Master of the Revels' players at Ludlow on 7 Dec. 1583 and at Bath and -Gloucester in 1583-4 (Murray, ii. 201, 282, 325). I do not think that -Tilney himself had a company. His predecessor had. Plomer (_3 Library_, -ix. 252) notes a Canterbury payment, omitted by Murray, in 1569-70, to -'Syr Thomas Bernars [? Benger's] players, Master of the Quenes Majesties -Revells'. But this was before the Act of 1572.] - -[Footnote 902: Possibly the Southwark order for tithes from players, -taken before 'my lords of Canterbury and London and the Master of the -Revels' about 1600, implies some continuance of the commission. The -issue of licences, both for the performance and after 1607 for the -printing of plays, 'under the hand of' the Master (cf. ch. xxii), does -not exclude the possibility of his acting on the report of an expert -assessor, and one is tempted to conjecture that this may have been the -position of Segar, who sometimes licensed for the press as deputy to -Buck. But it is clear from passages in Sir Henry Herbert's office-book -(_Variorum_, iii. 229-42) that he at least personally read the 'books' -of plays.] - -[Footnote 903: Henslowe, ii. 113, where Dr. Greg _inter alia_ disposes -of Mr. Fleay's theory that some of the fees entered in the _Diary_ are -for licences authorizing the publication, not the performance, of -plays.] - -[Footnote 904: Cf. App. D, No. cliv.] - -[Footnote 905: The intruding company of 1598 had not been 'bound' to the -Master. The Master's licence to Worcester's men in 1583 is described as -an 'indenture of lycense', and the players were 'bound to the orders -prescribed by the said Edmund Tyllneye'. On 2 Jan. 1595 Henslowe paid -the Master £10 'in full payment of a bonde of one hundreth powndes' -(Henslowe, i. 39). This looks as if he had forfeited a recognizance.] - -[Footnote 906: The licence to the Queen's Revels (1604) is an exception. -Here there is no reference to the Master and the allowance of plays is -committed to Samuel Daniel 'whome her pleasure is to appoynt for that -purpose'. Nor is the Master mentioned in the unexecuted draft (_c._ -1604) for the Queen's men. Probably the reason is to be found in the -existence of a separate Chamberlain for the Queen's Household. The -Master of the Revels was of course an officer of the King's Lord -Chamberlain. The Master's rights are reserved in the patent actually -issued to the Queen's men in 1609. Daniel's licensing had been far from -a success; cf. p. 326. Oddly enough, whatever Daniel's legal rights, it -appears from his exculpation of his _Philotas_ (q.v.) that the Master -did in fact 'peruse' that play.] - -[Footnote 907: A Chamberlain's warrant of 20 Nov. 1622 requires a -licence from the Master for any travellers who 'shall shewe or present -any play shew motion feats of actiuity and sights whatsoeuer' (Murray, -ii. 352). This was motived by certain irregular licences procured 'both -from the Kings Maiestie and also from diuerse noblemen'. The commission -of 1581 is wide enough to cover all 'shewes'; possibly the actual -practice was extended when the Act of 1604 restricted the protection of -noblemen to players of interludes proper--a restriction evidently still -imperfectly observed in 1622. The earliest licence for a non-dramatic -show on record is one of date earlier than 5 Oct. 1605 to John Watson, -ironmonger, 'to shewe two beasts called Babonnes' (Murray, ii. 338; cf. -ch. xxiv, s.v. _Sir G. Goosecap_), and this was a royal warrant, perhaps -under the signet. But on 6 Sept. 1610 Buck issued a licence to 'shew a -strange lion, brought to do strange things, as turning an ox to be -roasted, &c.' (_S. P. D. Jac. I_, lvii. 45), and the keeper of a -'motion' in _Bartholomew Fair_ (1614), V. 5, 18, says, 'I have the -Master of the _Reuell's_ hand for it'. Later examples of signet warrants -for shows are in Murray, ii. 342, and of licences from the Master in -Murray, ii. 351 sqq., and Herbert, 46; cf. Gildersleeve, 64, 72.] - -[Footnote 908: Cf. ch. xxii. Herbert noted at the Restoration (_Dramatic -Records_, 96), 'Severall playes allowed by Mister Tilney in 1598. As Sir -William Longsword allowed to be acted in 1598, The Fair Maid of London. -Richard Cor de Lyon. See the Bookes.'] - -[Footnote 909: The manuscript of _The Honest Man's Fortune_ (1613) has -some censorial notes and an allowance at the end of the book by Herbert -on the occasion of a revival in 1625. Of later manuscripts, that of _Sir -John Van Olden Barnevelt_ (Bullen, _O. E. P._ ii. 101) has corrections -by Herbert, but no allowance, and that of Massinger's _Believe As You -List_ (facs. in _T. F. T._) is a second draft, prepared to meet -criticisms by Herbert, and allowed by him; cf. Gildersleeve, 114, 123.] - -[Footnote 910: The extent to which Tilney's handiwork is apparent in the -text is a matter of great palaeographical difficulty fully studied by -Dr. Greg, who takes the view that the insertions and many of the -corrections in the manuscript were made before it was submitted to -Tilney, and are not an attempt to carry out the revision directed by -him. If so, he was very easy-going as regards willingness to peruse a -most disorderly text.] - -[Footnote 911: Herbert (_Variorum_, iii. 235) records a conversation -between Charles I and himself about the language of Davenant's _Wits_, -at the end of which he noted in his office-book, 'The Kinge is pleased -to take faith, death, slight, for asseverations and no oaths, to which I -doe humbly submit as my masters judgment; but under favour conceive them -to be oaths, and enter them here, to declare my opinion and submission'. -I also find Herbert occasionally expurgating 'obsceanes' and 'ribaldry' -from plays (_Variorum_, iii. 208, 232, 241). But it is obvious from -extant texts that neither he nor his predecessors made any attempt to -enforce a high standard of decency.] - -[Footnote 912: R. Whyte to Sir R. Sidney on 26 Oct. 1599 (_Sydney -Papers_, ii. 136), 'Two daies agoe, the ouerthrow of _Turnholt_, was -acted vpon a Stage, and all your Names vsed that were at yt; especially -_Sir Fra. Veres_, and he that plaid that Part gott a Beard resembling -his, and a Watchet Sattin Doublett, with Hose trimd with Siluer Lace. -You was also introduced, Killing, Slaying, and Overthrowing the -_Spaniards_, and honorable Mention made of your Service, in seconding -_Sir Francis Vere_, being engaged'. Turnhout was taken from the Spanish -by Count Maurice of Nassau, with the help of an English contingent, on -24 Jan. 1598.] - -[Footnote 913: Winwood to Cecil from Paris on 7 July 1602 (Winwood, i. -425), 'Upon Thursday last, certain Italian comedians did set up upon the -corners of the passages in this towne that that afternoone they would -play _l'Histoire Angloise contre la Roine d'Angleterre_'. Winwood -protested and secured an inhibition, but 'It was objected to me before -the Counsaile by some Standers by, that the Death of the Duke of Guise -hath ben plaied at London; which I answered was never done in the life -of the last King; and sence, by some others, that the Massacre of St. -Bartholomews hath ben publickly acted, and this King represented upon -the stage'. The play introducing Henri IV was probably a revival by the -Admiral's men of Marlowe's _Massacre at Paris_, for which Henslowe was -making advances in Nov. 1601 and Jan. 1602; cf. Bk. III. Evidently -Elizabeth got as good as she gave on the stage. On 2 June 1598 Dr. -Fletcher describes to Sir R. Cecil (_Hatfield MSS._ viii. 190) a recent -dumb show at Brussels in which she was mocked at. On 7 June 1598 one Mr. -Hungerford describes to Essex (_Hatfield MSS._ viii. 197) another, or -perhaps the same, show at Antwerp, in which also she appeared. In Oct. -1607 Walter Yonge records in his _Diary_ (Camden Soc.), 15, a play at -the Jesuit College of Lyons. It lasted two days, and employed 100 -actors. An abbess played the Virgin. Calvin, Luther, and others 'with -our late good Queen Elizabeth, condemned', were represented. The -episodes included 'the meritorious deed intended of gunpowder; the -conspiracy of Babington, and others, against Queen Elizabeth; all which -were rewarded with the joys of Paradise'. Yonge adds that a storm broke, -and 'the three resembling the Trinity, and the abbess were stricken with -the hand of the Lord, and it was never known what became of them'. He -says that books were printed about the incident; there are in fact no -less than five recorded in Arber, iii. 361-4 (cf. App. M).] - -[Footnote 914: Cf. ch. viii. On 20 July 1586 the Venetian ambassador in -Spain reported (_V. P._ viii. 182) Philip's resentment at 'the -masquerades and comedies which the Queen of England orders to be acted -at his expense. His Majesty has received a summary of one of these which -was lately represented, in which all sorts of evil is spoken of the -Pope, the Catholic religion, and the King, who is accused of spending -all his time in the Escurial with the monks of St. Jerome, attending -only to his buildings, and a hundred other insolences which I refrain -from sending to your Serenity'. This is confirmed by Collier, i. 279, -from a manuscript _Declaration of the True Causes of the Great Troubles -supposed to be Intended against the Realm of England_ (1592). On 15 -April 1598 George Nicolson wrote from Edinburgh to Burghley (_Sc. P._ -ii. 749), 'It is regretted that the comedians of London should scorn the -king and the people of this land in their play; and it is wished that -the matter should be speedily amended lest the king and the country be -stirred to anger'.] - -[Footnote 915: Cf. ch. viii.] - -[Footnote 916: Cf. App. C, No. xlv.] - -[Footnote 917: _S. P. F._ xi. 567. Cecilia complained to her brother, -King John of Sweden, 'Another time she being bidden to see a comedy -played, there was a black man brought in, and as he was of an evil -favoured countenance, so was he in like manner full of lewd, spiteful -and scornful words, which she said represented the marquis, her -husband'.] - -[Footnote 918: Burn, 153, notes from _Lansd. MS._ 232, that the Star -Chamber inflicted a severe punishment for the impersonation of Leicester -in a play.] - -[Footnote 919: Bacon (Spedding, ix. 177), _The Proceedings of the Earl -of Essex_.] - -[Footnote 920: _S. P. D. Eliz._ cclxxiv. 138.] - -[Footnote 921: Cf. ch. xiii (Chamberlain's).] - -[Footnote 922: It is probably unnecessary to take literally Arabella -Stuart's letter of 16 Feb. 1603 to Edward Talbot (Bradley, _Arabella -Stuart_, i. 128; ii. 119), 'I am as unjustly accused of contriving a -comedy, as you (on my conscience) a tragedy'.] - -[Footnote 923: Von Raumer, ii. 206.] - -[Footnote 924: Winwood, ii. 54. Furnivall, _Stubbes_, 79*, tried in vain -to identify a manuscript tract on the abusive attacks of players stated -by Haslewood in _Gentleman's Magazine_ (1816), lxxxvi. 1. 205, to be in -the British Museum. Possibly it was _Sloane MS._ 3543, ff. 19ᵛ, 49, a -_Treatise Apologeticall for Huntinge_, which refers to the 'taxation' of -James on the stage for his love of sport; cf. R. Simpson in _N. S. S. -Trans._ (1874), 375, and E. J. L. Scott in _Athenaeum_ (1896), i. 756.] - -[Footnote 925: Cf. ch. xii (Chapel).] - -[Footnote 926: Sir Edward Conway to the Privy Council, 12 Aug. 1624 -(Chalmers, _Apology_, 500, from _S. P. D. Charles I_, clxxi. 39), 'His -Majesty remembers well there was a commandment and restraint given -against the representing of any modern Christian Kings in those -stage-plays'. This was written about the performance of Middleton's _A -Game of Chess_, reflecting on the Spanish policy of James I, by the -King's men; cf. _M. S. C._ i. 379. Other post-Shakespearian -indiscretions were a performance of a play on the Marquis D'Ancre by an -unnamed company in 1617 (_M. S. C._ i. 376), and one of _Sir John Van -Olden Barnavelt_ by the King's men in 1619 (Bullen, _O. E. P._ iv. 381, -from _S. P. D. James_ cx. 37); cf. Gildersleeve, 113.] - -[Footnote 927: This work is not directly concerned with the literary -content of stage-plays. But I may be allowed to express the opinion that -the search for the 'topical' in Elizabethan drama has been pushed beyond -the limits of good sense. Thus I agree with P. W. Long, _The Purport of -Lyly's Endimion_ (_M. L. A._ xxiv. 164), that there is little ground for -the elaborate theories of a dramatization of Elizabeth's personal amours -propounded successively by N. J. Halpin, _Oberon's Vision_ (_Sh. Soc._ -1843), G. P. Baker, _Lyly's Endymion_ (1894), xli, and R. W. Bond, -_Works of Lyly_ (1902), iii. 81. Similarly the conjectures of R. Simpson -in his _School of Shakespeare_ (1878) and elsewhere, and of Fleay, and -of most of the writers, other than Small, on the 'war of the theatres' -require handling with the utmost caution.] - -[Footnote 928: Winwood, ii. 41.] - -[Footnote 929: Gildersleeve, 108, from _Hist. MSS._ iii. 57.] - -[Footnote 930: _7 N. Q._ iii. 126; _Hist. MSS._ iii. 62; _S. P. D. Jac. -I_, lxxvii. 58 (John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton); Burn, 78, from -_Harl. MS._ 1227. Yorke was fined and imprisoned with his wife and -brothers, 'pur admittinge de certeigne comon players (vizᵗ) les Simpsons -de player en son meason un enterlude in q. la fuit disputation perenter -Popish preist et English minister et le preist est de convince le -minister in argument et le weapon de le minister esteant le bible et le -preist le crosse et le Diabole fuit counterfeit la de prender le English -minister et son Angle prist le preist per q. enterlude le religion ore -profeste fuit grandment scandall et pluss del audience fueront -recusants.... Le cheife Justice [Coke?] dit q. players de enterludes -sont Rogues per le statute ... et le very bringing de religion sur le -stage est libell.' On the career of the Simpsons, cf. ch. ix. The actual -offence may have been some years earlier than the Star Chamber sitting -of 1614, for Devon, 261, records a payment to the Keeper of the -Gatehouse at Westminster for the diet of Lady Julian, wife of Sir John -Yorke, as a prisoner from 5 Nov. 1611 to 13 Oct. 1613. The Yorkes were -not of those who learn by experience, for in 1628 the Star Chamber -sentenced Christopher Malloy for playing the devil in a performance at -Sir John Yorke's house in Yorkshire, in which part he carried King James -on his back to hell, and alleged that all Protestants were damned (Burn, -119).] - -[Footnote 931: Dekker, _Work for Armourers_ (1609, _Works_, iv. 96), -'Tearme times, when the Twopeny Clients and Peny Stinkards swarme -together to heere the Stagerites'.] - -[Footnote 932: Dekker, _The Dead Tearme_ (1608, _Works_, iv. 22), of -Bartholomewtide, 'when thou (O thou beautifull, but bewitching Citty) -... allurest people from all the corners of the land, to throng in -heapes, at thy Fayres and thy Theators'.] - -[Footnote 933: Dekker, _Seven Deadly Sins of London_ (1606, _Works_, ii. -52), 'The players prayd for his [Sloth's] comming: they lost nothing by -it, the comming in of tenne Embassadors was never so sweete to them, as -this our sinne was: their houses smoakt every after noone with Stinkards -who were so glewed together in crowdes with the steames of strong -breath, that when they came foorth, their faces lookt as if they had -beene per-boyld'.] - -[Footnote 934: Cf. App. D, Nos. cxxxi, cli.] - -[Footnote 935: Cf. App. E.] - -[Footnote 936: The full tables are in Murray, ii. 181.] - -[Footnote 937: _Your Five Gallants_ (1607), iv. 2. 30, 'If the bill down -rise to above thirty, here's no place for players' (cf. App. E, s. a. -1605); _Ram Alley_ (1607-8), iv. 1, 'I dwindle as a new player does at a -plague bill certefied forty'. Thorndike, _Influence of Beaumont and -Fletcher upon Shakespeare_, 16, doubts whether the theatres can in fact -have been wholly closed from Aug. 1608 to Dec. 1609, when the bill was -almost continuously over 40. I think that Murray, ii. 175, sufficiently -answers some of his points, but in _Shakespeare's Theater_, 241, he -cites _Keysar v. Burbage_ (cf. ch. xii, s.v. Chapel) as evidence that -the King's played at Blackfriars during the plague season of 1609. Both -disputants seem to have overlooked the special payments to the King's -men (App. B) for private practice before the Christmases of 1608-9 and -1609-10. It is possible that they were allowed, in spite of a general -restraint, to use the Blackfriars for this purpose, and even admit a -select audience. If a similar relaxation was given to the Revels at -Whitefriars, the dating of _Epicoene_ in' 1609' would be explained. I do -not agree with Murray that it is likely to have been produced in the -provinces. After all, the plague bill was well under 40 by 7 Dec. 1609, -although it went up to 39 again on 28 Dec.] - -[Footnote 938: In 1574, a restraint covers 10 miles from the city; in -1581 (a civic precept), 2 miles; in 1593, 7 miles; in 1594, 5 miles; in -1597, 3 miles.] - -[Footnote 939: Cf. App. D, Nos. lxxii, lxxv, and the use of the Curtain -as an 'easer' to the Theatre (ch. xvi); also the relations of the -Admiral's and Strange's during 1589-94.] - -[Footnote 940: Strange's men petitioned _c._ 1592 (App. D, No. xcii), -'oure Companie is greate, and thearbie our chardge intollerable, in -travellinge the Countrie, and the contynuance thereof wilbe a meane to -bringe vs to division and seperacion'. My impression is that, when they -did have to travel in 1592 or 1593, Pembroke's (cf. ch. xiii) budded off -from them. Their own travelling warrant was for 6 men, but this does not -exclude hirelings. The provincial records do not give much evidence as -to the actual size of travelling companies. The strength of seven -companies which visited Southampton in 1576-7 (Murray, ii. 396) ranged -from 6 to 12. I incline to agree with Murray and W. J. Lawrence (_T. L. -S._, 21 Aug. 1919) that the average may be put at about 10 for the -latter part of the sixteenth century and that it grew in the -seventeenth. A Lord Chamberlain's licence of 1621 (Murray, ii. 192) sets -a limit of 18. Probably 10 men, duplicating parts, could play many of -the London plays without alteration, but obviously not the more -spectacular ones.] - -[Footnote 941: Dekker, _The Wonderfull Yeare_ (1603, _Works_, i. 100), -'The worst players Boy stood vpon his good parts, swearing tragicall and -busking oathes, that how vilainously soeuer he randed, or what bad and -vnlawfull action soeuer he entred into, he would in despite of his -honest audience be halfe a sharer (at leaste) at home, or else strowle -(thats to say trauell) with some notorious wicked floundring company -abroad'; _News from Hell_ (1606, _Works_, ii. 146), 'a companie of -country players, ... that with strowling were brought to deaths door'; -_Belman of London_ (1608, _Works_, iii. 81), 'Nor Players they bee, who -out of an ambition to weare the best Ierkin (in a Strowling company) or -to Act great Parts, forsake the stately and our more than Romaine Cittie -Stages, to trauel vpon the hard hoofe from village to village for chees -& butter-milke'; _Lanthorne and Candlelight_ (1608, _Works_, iii. 255), -'Strowlers; a proper name given to country players that (without socks) -trotte from towne to towne vpon the hard hoofe'; _The Raven's Almanac_ -(1609, _Works_, iv. 196), 'Players, by reason they shal have a hard -winter, and must travell on the hoofe, will lye sucking there for pence -and twopences, like young pigges at a sow newly farrowed'.] - -[Footnote 942: 'Paid to the plaiers with the waggon' (Exeter, 1576-7); -'Misdemeanoure done in the towne vppon misusage of a wagon or coache of -the Lo. Bartlettes [Berkeley's] players' (Faversham, 1596-7); Dekker, -_Satiromastix_, 1522, of Horace-Jonson, 'Thou hast forgot how thou -amblest (in leather pilch) by a play-wagon, in the high way'; cf. ch. -xi.] - -[Footnote 943: R. W., _Mount Tabor_, 110 (repr. Harrison, iv. 355), -_Upon a Stage-play which I saw when I was a child_. The play was the -morality of _The Castle of Security_; cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 189.] - -[Footnote 944: Cf. _Bibl. Note_ to ch. xii.] - -[Footnote 945: 'For lynks to give light in the euenyng' (Bristol, 1577); -'for candells and torches then spent' (Canterbury, 1574); 'for the -skafowld' (Exeter, 1604-5); 'to make a scaffolde in the Bothall' -(Gloucester, 1559-60, with similar entries in other years up to 1568); -'a pounde of candelles' (Gloucester, 1561-2); 'for nayles ... for -layeing the tymber off ye stage together' (Maidstone, 1568-9); 'bordes -that was borowed for to make a skaffold to the Halle' (Nottingham, -1572); 'for bearinge of bordes and other furniture' (Plymouth, 1580-1); -'for setting up stoopes for players' (Stafford, _c._ 1616).] - -[Footnote 946: 'For amendynge the seelynge in the Guildhall that the -Enterlude players had broken downe there this yeare' (Barnstaple, -1593-4); 'for mending the bord in the Yeld hall and the doers there, -after my L. of Leycesters players who had leave to play there' (Bristol, -1577-8); 'for mending of ii forormes which were taken out of Sᵗ George -Chapple and set in the Yeld hall at the play, and by the disordre of the -people were broken' (Bristol, 1581); 'for mendinge the cheyre in the -parlor at the Hall ... which was broken by the playars' (Leicester, -1605); 'for mendinge the glasse wyndowes att the towne hall more then -was given by the playors whoe broake the same' (Leicester, 1608); &c.] - -[Footnote 947: Murray, ii. 205, 229, 247, 261-3, 277-81, 284-5, 377-8, -&c.] - -[Footnote 948: Ibid. 202, 224, 'Given to the Queens plaiers xixˢ iiijᵈ, -and was to make it up xxvjˢ viijᵈ that was gathered at the benche' (Bath, -1587); 'xvˢ beside the gatheringe' (Bath, 1588); 'xvˢ vjᵈ besides that -which was given by the companie' (Bath, 1592); 'iijˢ viijᵈ on and besyde -the benevolens of the people' (Canterbury, 1549); G. B. Richardson, -_Extracts from the Municipal Accounts of Newcastle_, 'the Erle of Sussessx -plaiers in full payment of £3 for playing a free play, commanded by Mʳ -Maiore' (1594).] - -[Footnote 949: Kelly, 197, 209, 247. On 22 Nov. 1566 a Corporation 'Act -agaynst Waystynge of the Towne Stock' laid down that at plays there -should be no 'greate alowance' out of the stock for rewards to players, -but that 'euery one of the Maiores Brethren & of the xlviij beinge -requyred, or havinge sommons by the comaundement of Mʳ. Maior for the -tyme beinge to be there shall beare euery one of theym his & theire -porcion'. This was confirmed on 4 Jan. 1570. On 16 Nov. 1582, 'It is -agreed that frome henceforthe there shall not bee anye ffees or rewards -gevon by the Chamber of this Towne, nor anye of the xxiiijᵗᶦ or -xlviijᵗᶦ to be charged with anye payments ffor or towards anye Bearewards, -Beearbaytings, Players, Playes, Enterludes or Games, or anye of theym -except the Quenes Maiesties or the Lords of the Privye Counsall, nor -that anye Players bee suffred to playe att the Towne Hall (except before -except) & then butt onlye before the Mayor & his bretherne, vppon peyne -of xlˢ to be lost by the Mayor that shall suffer or doe to the contrarye, -to be levyed by his successour, vpon peyne of vˡᶦ if he make default -therein'. On 30 Jan. 1607, 'It is agreed that non of either of the Twoe -Companies shalbee compelled at anie tyme hereafter to paye towards anie -playes, but such of them as shalbee then present at the said playes: the -Kings Maiesties playors, the Queenes Maiesties playors, and the young -Prince his playors excepted; and alsoe all such playors as doe belonge to -anie of the Lords of his Maiesties most honorable Privie Counsell alsoe -excepted; to theise they are to paye accordinge to the auncyent custome, -havinge warnynge by the Mace bearer to bee att euerye such play'.] - -[Footnote 950: Murray, ii. 206, 'Order by the bailiffes and 24 aldermen, -as also by the comburgesses, that no playars or berwardes shalbe receved -upon the Townes chardges, but if any will see the same plaies or bere -baytinges, the same must be upon there owne costes and chardges'.] - -[Footnote 951: When performances were prohibited at Chester in 1596 the -city fixed the scale of 'gratuity' at 20_s._ for the Queen's players and -6_s._ 8_d._ for noblemen's players (Morris, 333). The Queen's men were -'much discontented' with 6_s._ at Dunwich in 1596-7 (_Hist. MSS._, -_Various Collections_, vii. 82).] - -[Footnote 952: 'Forasmuch as the grauntinge of leave to stage players or -players of interludes and the like, to act and represent theire -interludes playes and shewes in the towne-hall is very hurtfull -troublesome and inconvenyent for that the table, benches and fourmes -theire sett and placed for holdinge the Kinges Courtes are by those -meanes broken and spoyled, or at least wise soe disordered that the -Mayor and bayliffes and other officers of the saide courts comminge -thither for the administracion of justice, especially in the Pipowder -Courts of the said Towne, which are there to bee holden twice a day yf -occasion soe require, cannot sit there in such decent and convenient -order as becometh, and dyvers other inconvenyences do thereupon ensue, -It is therefore ordered by generall consent that from henceforth no -leaue shall bee graunted to any Stage players or interlude players or to -any other person or persons resortinge to this towne to act shewe or -represent any manner of interludes or playes or any other sportes or -pastymes whatsoeuer in the said hall' (Southampton, 1623); 'Forasmuch as -we finde the glass windows in the Council Chamber to be much broken, and -the city thereby suffereth much damage, ordered that no plaies nor -players be suffered to have any use thereof' (Worcester, 1627). An -earlier Worcester order had limited players to 'the lower end onlie' of -the guildhall. At Chester in 1615 the exclusion of players from the hall -was openly based on 'the common brute & scandall' due to 'convertinge -the same beinge appointed & ordained for the judicial hearinge & -determininge of criminall offences, & for the solempne meetinge & -concourse of this howse into a stage for plaiers & a receptacle for idle -persons'.] - -[Footnote 953: 'At the New Ynn' (Abingdon, 1559); 'Certen playars, -playinge uppon ropes at the Crosse Keys' (Leicester, 1590). Worcester's -men played at Norwich in 1583 'in their hoste his hows', and the Queen's -men in the same year at the Red Lion. A Norwich order of 1601 forbade -plays at the White Horse in Tombland. A Salisbury order of 1624 laid -down that all plays should in future be at the George in High Street. -Where the house of a named citizen is given as the play-place, one may -perhaps generally infer an inn; but in 1573 Leicester's men seem to have -played at Bristol 'in the Mayors house', and at Plymouth in 1559-60 -'players of London' performed 'in the vycarage'.] - -[Footnote 954: 'In the churche' (Doncaster, 1574); 'in the colledge -churche yarde' (Gloucester, 1589-90); 'in the churche lofte' (Marlow, -1608-9); 'in the churche' (Plymouth, 1559-60, 1565-6, 1573-4); 'in XXe -churche' (Norwich, 1589-90); 'the Chappell nere the Newhall' (Norwich, -1616); 'because they should not play in the church' (Syston, 1602). On -the religious opposition to this practice, cf. _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. -191.] - -[Footnote 955: M. Sellers, in _E. H. R._ xii. 446, from _Corporation -Minute Book_, xxxiii, f. 187.] - -[Footnote 956: Murray, ii. 335.] - -[Footnote 957: Cf. ch. xii (Chapel).] - -[Footnote 958: So, too, the Norwich accounts record in 1590 a reward to -'the lorde Shandos players' and 'Item more in rewarde to another company -of his men that cam with lycens presently after saying that thos that -cam before were counterfete and not the L. Shandos men'.] - -[Footnote 959: Cf. ch. ix.] - -[Footnote 960: 'There shall not any playes ... be played ... on any -Sabaothe dayes nor aboue twoe daies together at any tyme. And no players -... to be suffered to playe againe ... within twentie and eighte daies -nexte after such tyme as they shall haue laste played.... And they shall -not exceede the hower of nyne of the clocke in the nighte' (Canterbury, -_Burghmote Book_, 1595); 'This day lycens ys graunted to the L. of -Huntington his players to playe one daye & not vppon the Saboath daye' -(Norwich, 1597); 'The Quenes players had leave guiven them to play for -one weeke so that they play neither on the Saboth day nor in the night -nor more then one play a day' (Norwich, 1611).] - -[Footnote 961: 'Not ... after nyne of the clocke' (Norwich, 1599); cf. -Canterbury, above. A Chester order of 1615 fixed 6 p.m. and a Salisbury -order of 1623 7 p.m. as the limit; an Exeter order of 1609 (_H. M. C. -Exeter MSS._ 321) allowed 6 p.m. between Annunciation and Michaelmas and -5 p.m. between Michaelmas and Annunciation.] - -[Footnote 962: Lord Coke, as Recorder of Coventry, wrote to the -Corporation on 28 March 1615 (Murray, ii. 254): 'Forasmuch as this time -is by his Maiesties lawes and iniunctions consecrated to the service of -Almighty God, and publique notice was given on the last Sabaoth for -preparacion to the receyving of the holy communion. Theis are to will -and require you to suffer no common players whatsoever to play within -your Citie for that it would tend to the hinderance of devotion, and -drawing of the artificers and common people from their labour. And this -being signified vnto any such they will rest therewith (as becometh -them) satisfied, otherwise suffer you them not and this shall be your -sufficient warrant.' The letter is endorsed 'The Lord Coke his lettre -concerning the La: Eliza: Players'. The Earl of Cumberland would not let -Lord Vaux's men play in 1609 'because it was Lent & therefor not -fitting' (Murray, ii. 255).] - -[Footnote 963: Murray, ii. 234 (Chester, 1595). The Privy Council -warrant for the provincial tour of Strange's men in 1593 expressly -excludes plays in service time.] - -[Footnote 964: 'The tyme was busy, they dyd not play' (Bristol, 1541); -'for that they should not playe here by reason that the sicknes was then -in this Cytye' (Canterbury, 1608); 'for that the tyme was not -conveynyent' (Leicester, 1584); 'to avoyd the meetynge of people this -whote whether for fear of any infeccon as also for that they came fro an -infected place' (Norwich, 1583). On 6 May 1597 the Privy Council wrote -to the Suffolk justices to prohibit stage plays during the Whitsun -holidays at Hadleigh (App. D, No. cviii), 'doubting what inconveniences -may follow thereon, especially at this tyme of scarcety, when disordred -people of the comon sort wilbe apt to misdemeane themselves'. There had -been tumults in Norfolk during April, owing to the scarcity of grain -(Dasent, xxvii. 88). The Privy Council did not, however, often interfere -directly with provincial plays; another example is the letter of 23 June -1592 to the Earl of Derby (cf. App. D, No. xci), forbidding plays on -Sundays and holidays in his lieutenancy.] - -[Footnote 965: I think there is a clear distinction in municipal -accounts between a 'reward' for playing and a 'gratuity' for not -playing; cf. the Norwich orders in Murray, ii. 339, 341, 'beinge -demaunded wherefore their comeing was, sayd they came not to ask leaue -to play but to aske the gratuetie of the Cytty' (1614), 'he was desired -to desist from playing & offered a benevolence in money which he refused -to accept' (1616), 'this house offered him a gratuitie to desist' -(1616).] - -[Footnote 966: A. Clark, _Shirburn Ballads_, 48. He complained that -'Before tyme noble-mens menn hadd such entertaynement when they came to -the towne that the towne hadd the favour of noble-men, but now -noble-mens menn hadd such entertaynement that the towne was brought into -contempt with noble-menn'. The players were probably Essex's men, as -their performance on Sunday was contrary to his 'lettre'. He was, -however, also High Steward of Maldon.] - -[Footnote 967: Cf. p. 336.] - -[Footnote 968: T. Gent, _Hist. of Hull_, 128.] - -[Footnote 969: Murray, ii. 337, 'This day John Mufford one of the Lᵈ -Beauchamps players being forbidden by Mʳ Maiour to playe within the -liberties of this Citie and in respect thereof gave them among them xxˢ -and yett notwithstanding they did sett up bills to provoke men to come -to their playe and did playe in XXe churche. Therefore the seid John -Mufford is comytted to prison' (1590); cf. ch. xiii (Worcester's, 1583; -Essex's, 1585; Derby's, 1602). So, too, at Coventry in 1600 'the lo: -Shandoes [Chandos's] players were comitted to prison for their contempt -agaynst Mʳ Maior & ther remayned untill they made their submisshon under -their hands as appeareth in the fyle of Record and their hands to be -seene'. At Nottingham in 1603 a penalty on the host is recorded in the -entry 'Richard Jackson commytted for sufferinge players to sound thyere -trumpetts and playinge in his howse without lycence, and for suffering -his guests to be out all night'.] - -[Footnote 970: Halliwell-Phillipps, i. 326, reprints from this tract (S. -R. 31 May 1605) the chapter 'a pretty Prancke passed by Ratsey upon -certain Players that he met by chance in an Inne, who denied their Lord -and Maister, and used another Noblemans name'. Gamaliel Ratsey, -highwayman, harangued the players, like Hamlet, on 'striving to -over-doe, and go beyond yourselves ... yet your poets take great paines -to make your parts fit for your mouthes, though you gape never so wide', -and on the ups and downs of the profession, for some 'goe home at night -with fifteene pence share apeece', while others become wealthy. Later he -met them again passing 'like camelions' under the name of another lord. -They gave a 'private play' before Ratsey, who rewarded them with 40_s._, -'with which they held themselves very richly satisfied, for they scarce -had twentie shillings audience at any time for a play in the countrey'. -Next day he met them with their wagon in the highway, robbed them, bade -them pawn their apparel, 'for as good actors and stalkers as you are -have done it, though now they scorne it', gave them leave to play under -his protection and share with him, and advised their leader to get to -London.] - -[Footnote 971: Payments to travelling companies appear in the household -accounts of the Earl of Rutland at Belvoir (_Rutland MSS._ iv. 260), the -Earl of Cumberland at Skipton Castle (Murray, ii. 255), the Duchess of -Suffolk at Grimsthorpe (_Ancaster MSS._ 459), Sir George Vernon at -Haddon Hall (G. Le B. Smith, _Haddon_, 121), Lord North at Kirtling -(Murray, ii. 295), the Earl of Derby at Lathom House, New Park, and -Knowsley Hall (Murray, ii. 296), the Shuttleworths at Smithills and -Gawthorpe Hall (Murray, ii. 393), and Francis Willoughby at Wollaton -(_Middleton MSS._ 421). In _A Mad World, my Masters_, v. 1, 2, -characters shamming to be Lord Owemuch's players come to Sir Bounteous -Progress's, and perform _The Slip_, until they are interrupted by a -constable.] - -[Footnote 972: Murray, ii. 19-98, records, in addition to the above, the -names of from fifty to sixty patrons between 1559 and 1616, under whose -names companies are not traceable in London.] - -[Footnote 973: Cf. ch. xxii.] - -[Footnote 974: Cf. ch. xiii (King's, Anne's).] - -[Footnote 975: Grosart, _Lismore Papers_, 1. xix; W. J. Lawrence, _Was -Shakespeare ever in Ireland?_ (_Sh.-Jahrbuch_, xlii. 65). The earliest -notice is of Prince Charles's men in Feb. 1616.] - -[Footnote 976: Cf. ch. xiv.] - -[Footnote 977: C. Hughes, _Shakespeare's Europe_, 304, 373. Moryson -again refers to the vogue abroad of 'stragling broken companyes' from -England in his account of the London theatre; cf. ch. xvi, -introduction.] - -[Footnote 978: E. Cellius, _Eques Auratus Anglo-Wirtembergicus_ (1605), -229 'Profert enim multos et praestantes Anglia musicos, comoedos, -tragoedos, histrionicae peritissimos, e quibus interdum aliquot -consociati sedibus suis ad tempus relictis ad exteras nationes -excurrere, artemque suam illis praesertim Principum aulis demonstrare -ostentareque consueverunt. Paucis ab hinc annis in Germaniam nostram -Anglicani musici dictum ob finem expaciati, et in magnorum Principum -aulis aliquandiu versati, tantum ex arte musica, histrionicaque sibi -favorem conciliarunt, ut largiter remunerati domum inde auro et argento -onusti sunt reversi'; Johannes Rhenanus, in dedication of _Streit der -Sinne_ (a translation of the English play of _Lingua_) to Maurice of -Hesse-Cassel, '... die Engländischen Comoedianten (ich rede von geübten) -anderen vorgehn und den Vorzug haben'; Daniel von Wensin, _Oratio contra -Britanniam_, in Fr. Achillis Ducis Würtemberg, _Consultatio de -principatu inter provincias Europae habita Tubingae in illustri -collegio_ (1613), 'Nec diu est cum plerique artifices in Anglia -peregrini et exteri et aurifabri Londini pene omnes fuerunt Germani: -Anglis interea gulae voluptatibus ... et rebus nihili, atque adeo -histrioniae iugiter operam dantibus; in qua sic profecerunt, ut iam apud -nos Angli histriones omnium maxime delectent'.] - -[Footnote 979: Another example is Ioannes Valentinus Andreae, who writes -in his _Vita_ (ed. 1849), 10 'Iam a secundo et tertio post millesimum -sexcentesimum coeperam aliquid exercendi ingenii ergo pangere, cuius -facile prima fuere Esther et Hyacinthus comoediae ad aemulationem -Anglicorum histrionum iuvenili ausu factae'.] - -[Footnote 980: M. Röchell, _Chronik_, in _Die Geschichtsquellen des -Bisthums Münster_, iii. 174.] - -[Footnote 981: E. Mentzel, _Geschichte der Schauspielkunst in -Frankfurt_, 52.] - -[Footnote 982: Cohn, lxxxviii.] - -[Footnote 983: A. Glaser, _Geschichte des Theaters in Braunschweig_, -13.] - -[Footnote 984: _Archiv für Litteratur-Geschichte_, xv. 212, from diary -of Martin Crusius at Tübingen in 1597: 'Es sind wol x Comoedianten hie -gewesen: qui 5 aut 6 dies comoedias egerunt in domo frumentaria. -Dicuntur Angli esse et miri artifices. Sunt illi quibus Dux noster 300 -fl. donasse dicitur. Ego non spectaui. Quid ad hominem ista -septuagenario maiorem? fuerunt illa dramata amatoria. Hodie Susannam -egerunt. Ego sum scriptoribus Homericis occupatus.'] - -[Footnote 985: Cohn, lxxx.] - -[Footnote 986: C. F. Meyer in _Sh.-Jahrbuch_, xxxviii. 200.] - -[Footnote 987: C. Harris in _M. L. A._ xxii. 446.] - -[Footnote 988: Cohn, xcvi.] - - - - -XI - -THE ACTOR'S ECONOMICS - - [_Bibliographical Note._--The material for this chapter is - mainly to be found in Book III (Companies) and Book IV - (Theatres) and the works there cited. My account of Henslowe is - practically all based on W. W. Greg, _Henslowe's Diary_ - (1904-8) and _Henslowe Papers_ (1907). W. Rendle made a useful - contribution in _Philip Henslowe_ (_Genealogist_, n. s. iv). - Since I completed this chapter, useful studies in theatrical - finance have been contributed by A. Thaler, _Shakespeare's - Income_ (1918, _S. P._ xv. 82), _Playwright's Benefits and - Interior Gathering in the Elizabethan Theatre_ (1919, _S. P._ - xvi. 187), _The Elizabethan Dramatic Companies_ (1920, _M. L. - R._ xxxv. 123).] - - -Withal the actors, or the more discreet of them, prospered. This fact -peeps out from the diatribes of their critics, and is indeed part of the -case against them. The theatres are thronged, while the churches are -empty. The drones suck the honey stored up by London's laborious -citizens. Already, in 1578, John Stockwood estimates the aggregate gain -of eight play-houses, open but once in the week, at £2,000 by the year. -The players began to ruffle it, in garments fit only for their betters. -'The very hyrelings', says Gosson in 1579, 'which stand at reuersion of -viˢ by the weeke, iet under gentlemen's noses in sutes of silke, -exercising themselues too prating on the stage, and common scoffing when -they come abrode, where they looke askance ouer the shoulder at euery -man, of whom the Sunday before they begged an almes'; and in like vein -Walsingham's correspondent of 1587 bewails to him the 'wofull sight to -see two hundred proude players jett in their silkes, wheare five hundred -pore people sterve in the streets'. It is, however, possible to lay -undue stress upon the public finery as an evidence of prosperity, for -this was apt to be borrowed from the tiring-house wardrobe, and in time -it was found that the advertisement earned hardly justified the -detriment to the common stock of apparel. The articles signed by those -joining the Lady Elizabeth's men about 1614 bound them amongst other -things not to go out of the theatre with any of the apparel on their -bodies. The surest economic sign of a growing industry is the capacity -to spend money on building, and it was a true instinct that led -Stockwood to discommend the gorgeous playing-places erected at 'great -charges' in the fields, and William Harrison to note it as 'an evident -token of a wicked time when plaiers wexe so riche that they can build -suche houses'. And when Robert Greene wanted to paint a picture of a -typical successful actor in 1592, he made him describe himself as one -who had once travelled on foot and carried his properties on his back, -but now his very share in playing apparel would not be sold for £200, -and he was reputed by his neighbours able 'at his proper cost to build a -windmill'.[989] James Burbadge was 'the first builder of playhowses', -and thereby laid the foundations of the prosperity of his family. He had -been a joiner, before he became a player, and perhaps this suggested the -enterprise of the Theatre, which he put up in 1576 upon borrowed -capital. When his son Richard died in 1619 he was reckoned worth £300 a -year in land. Even more fortunate was Edward Alleyn, who was in a -position to retire from the stage before he was forty, to purchase the -manor of Dulwich for £10,000, to build the College of God's Gift, and -thereafter to spend upon the maintenance of his household and his -foundation at the rate of some £1,700 a year. Other actors, mainly of -the King's company, can be shown to have made their more modest piles. -Thomas Pope, Augustine Phillips, Henry Condell, all appear from their -wills to have been substantial men when they died. John Heminge is -described in 1614 as 'of greate lyveinge wealth and power'. The -Restoration story that Shakespeare spent £1,000 a year at Stratford is -probably apocryphal, in view of the fact that his known investments only -amount to a little over £1,000; but at least he returned as a moneyed -man to the scene of his father's bankruptcy, and enjoyed consideration -as the owner of the best house in his native town. Aubrey's statement -that he left property worth about £200 or £300 a year, which gives him a -fortune about equal to Richard Burbadge's, seems not unreasonable.[990] -Like true Englishmen, the successful players sought after less material -proof of their worth than was afforded by their lands and houses. -Alleyn, having long been lord of a manor, and having connected himself -by marriage with the Dean of St. Paul's, was desirous in 1624 of 'sum -further dignetie', probably a knighthood. Others were content with -acquiring or assuming a claim to armorial bearings, which would entitle -them to rank as 'gentlemen'. Shakespeare in 1596 obtained a confirmation -of a grant of arms made to his father as bailiff of Stratford nearly -thirty years before; and in 1599 sought additional authority to impale -the coat of his mother's family, the Ardens.[991] Heminges obtained a -confirmation of arms in 1629. Such grants did not go altogether -unstrictured by heraldic purists, and the cases of Shakespeare and of -his fellow Richard Cowley formed part of the material for a charge of -making grants to 'base and ignoble persons' brought by a rival against -the responsible king-of-arms. Augustine Phillips and Thomas Pope did not -trouble the heralds, but went to an heraldic painter, and bought, the -one the arms of Sir William Phillips, Lord Bardolph, and the other those -of Sir Thomas Pope, Chancellor of the Augmentations.[992] These -ambitions of the players, no less than their investments, yielded stuff -both for moralizing and for satire. Henry Crosse, in his _Vertues -Common-wealth_ (1603), rebukes the pride of the 'copper-lace gentlemen' -who 'purchase lands by adulterous playes'.[993] And in the tract of -_Ratseis Ghost_ (1605), already cited, Gamaliel Ratsey speaks of those -'whom Fortune hath so well favored that, what by penny-sparing and long -practise of playing, are growne so wealthy that they have expected to be -knighted, or at least to be conjunct in authority and to sit with men of -great worship on the bench of justice'; and he advises the country -player, with whom he has fallen in, to get him to London, 'and when thou -feelest thy purse well lined, buy thee some place or lordship in the -country, that, growing weary of playing, thy mony may there bring thee -to dignitie and reputation'. The player too heard 'of some that have -gone to London very meanly, and have come in time to be exceeding -wealthy'. Ratsey then knights him 'Sir Simon Two Shares and a Halfe', -and tells him he is 'the first knight that ever was player in -England'.[994] - -Certainly all players did not grow rich, even in London. Some of them -to the end, perhaps the majority, remained threadbare companions enough; -in and out of debt, spongers upon their fellows, frequenters of -pawnshops, acquainted with prison. Partly it was a matter of character. -Those who had to do with the stage were not all such riff-raff as a -hasty reading of the Puritan literature might suggest. Gosson, indeed, -admits as much, allowing that some among those professing 'the qualitie' -are 'sober, discreete, properly learned honest housholders and citizens -well thought on amonge their neighbours at home'; while on his side -Thomas Heywood is quick to maintain the harm wrought by the licentious -to a calling in which many are 'of substance, of government, of sober -lives and temperate carriages, house-keepers and contributory to all -duties enjoyned them', and to plead that if there be a few of degenerate -demeanour, his readers will not 'censure hardly of all for the misdeeds -of some'.[995] Doubtless there is a certain instability of temperament, -which the life of the theatre, with its ups and downs of fortune, its -unreal sentiments and its artificially stimulated emotions, is well -calculated to encourage; and we may perhaps find the victims of such a -temperament in certain actors who, although clearly of standing in their -profession, seem to have been constantly shifting from company to -company, without attaining any secure position or, as one may -conjecture, reaping any substantial harvest from their labour and their -skill. One of these was Richard Jones, originally a fellow of Alleyn -with Lord Worcester's men, presently selling to Alleyn his share of -clothes and books, at one time reduced to 1_s._ a day or nothing, at -another setting out to tour the Continent with Robert Browne, then back -again with Alleyn amongst the Admiral's men, then transferring himself -to the Swan and returning a few months later to the Rose, and finally -allowing himself to be bought out for £50 and passing into obscurity. -Another was Martin Slater, also at one time one of the Admiral's men, -whom he left and went to law with, then a wanderer with Laurence -Fletcher in Scotland, and afterwards successively traceable with Lord -Hertford's men, with Queen Anne's, as a member of the King's Revels -syndicate, and with Queen Anne's again as manager of one of the -provincial companies travelling under the Queen's warrant. Perhaps it is -merely another way of stating the same issue to say that the financial -success of a player depended on his obtaining an interest, not merely in -the day-to-day profits of a company, but also in the permanent -investment represented by a theatre. This becomes readily apparent upon -an analysis of the business methods employed in the organization of the -dramatic industry. The basis of this organization was the banding -together of players into associations or partnerships, the members of -which acted together, held a common stock of garments and play-books, -incurred joint expenditure, and daily or at other convenient periods -divided up the profits of their enterprise. In a legal document an -associate of such a company is described as 'a full adventurer, storer -and sharer among them';[996] the term in ordinary use was 'sharer'. No -doubt the sharing arrangement was in origin traditional; it is described -in 1614 as 'accordinge to the custome of players'.[997] But it became -convenient to formulate it in a legal agreement or 'composition', which -provided for the co-operation of the sharers and defined their relations -to each other. Thus the composition of the Duke of York's men in 1610 -bound them to play together for three years, and deprived a member who -left without the consent of his fellows of any interest in the common -stock. Under that of Queen Anne's men about 1612 a retiring sharer was -entitled to a payment at the rate of £80 for a full share. Such -provisions, which were intended to obviate the breaking up of a stock, -and of themselves indicate a substantial investment of capital, seem to -have been usual. Alleyn had £50 on leaving the Admiral's men in 1597, -Jones and Shaw £50 in 1602; under the composition of the same company, -then the Prince's men, in 1613, a sharer retiring with consent was -entitled to £70. Both the Queen's and the Prince's men made a similar -allowance to the widow of a sharer. Each of the sharers signed a bond -for the observance of the composition, which also covered certain -disciplinary regulations imposed by the company on its members. Thus the -articles signed by Robert Dawes, on joining the Lady Elizabeth's men in -1614, not only made him a partaker in the contractual and financial -liabilities of the company, but also exposed him to penalties if he -missed plays or rehearsals, or came late or in a state of intoxication, -or took apparel or other common property away from the theatre. As the -compositions grew more detailed and the enterprises more important, it -proved convenient that one of the sharers should be appointed, formally -or informally, to act as trustee and manager for the rest, to receive -and make payments, to hold the composition, bonds, licences, and other -legal papers, and generally to look after the business interests of his -fellows. Thus it is pleaded in a lawsuit concerning Queen Anne's men -that Thomas Greene was 'one of the principall and cheif persons of the -said companie', and did 'laie out or disburse' moneys on their behalf; -and that, after his death in 1612, the company 'did put the managing of -thier whole businesses and affaires belonging vnto them ioyntly as they -were players in trust' unto Christopher Beeston, by whom they were -'altogether ruled'. John Heminge seems to have acted in a similar -capacity for the King's men, and to have had the custody of their deeds. -He regularly appears as their payee at Court, and it is probable that he -gave up acting in order to devote himself to business management. The -members of a company did not invariably share and share alike. It is -possible that in some cases the manager or a leading actor had a -preponderant interest.[998] Tucca, in _The Poetaster_, at the end of his -interview with Histrio, bids him commend him to 'Seven Shares and a -Half'. So, too, Gamaliel Ratsey knights his player as 'Sir Simon Two -Shares and a Halfe'. Perhaps this is only the chaff of the satirists. In -any case one hopes that there is no foundation for the further -suggestion of Tucca, when he offers to take the players into his -service, and 'ha' two shares for my countenance'.[999] We know what -Ratsey's corresponding threat to 'share with thee againe for playing -under my warrant' means, for Ratsey was a highwayman, and levied his -share not by 'composition', but at the end of a pistol. An actual -example of a privileged share is that held by Alleyn in the Admiral's -company about 1600, which seems to have been free of any liability to -contribute towards the upkeep of the stock or other current -expenses.[1000] The shares were often subdivided, so that some members -of the company were full sharers, others half sharers or three-quarter -sharers.[1001] The number of shares varied; an ordinary London company -may be taken to have consisted of about ten or twelve sharers.[1002] For -travelling purposes it is probable that separate compositions were -entered into, except perhaps for short summer tours, and that the -numbers were smaller.[1003] It should be made clear that the companies -of players, although based upon the bodies of royal or noble servants -constituted under patents or other warrants of appointment, were not -precisely identical with these. Each company had to get the authority of -such a warrant, before it was licensed to act at all, but the legal bond -of association between its members was not the warrant, but the -composition. As a rule the terms of the patents give or imply a power to -those named in them to associate themselves with others. New members -could doubtless be sworn into the service of the lord without any need -for a fresh patent. But it cannot be held that every fellow sharer was -necessarily a servant of the same lord, and still less that every -servant named in a warrant was necessarily a sharer of any particular -company acting under that warrant. Thus there is no proof that Laurence -Fletcher, who is named first amongst the King's servants of 1603, ever -acted with the King's men. Similarly Martin Slater and certain other -Queen's servants and Gilbert Reason, a Prince's servant, did not, during -long periods, act with the corresponding London companies, but toured -the provinces with companies of their own, taking out for this purpose -duplicates or exemplifications of the patents, a practice which came to -be regarded by the authorities as an abuse.[1004] On the other hand, the -servants of two lords sometimes played as a single company.[1005] Thus -Lord Oxford's men and Lord Worcester's were 'ioyned by agrement -togeather in on companie' at the Boar's Head during 1602. Similarly Lord -Hunsdon's men and Lord Howard's came as a single company to Court in -1586; the Queen's men and Lord Sussex's were 'togeather' at the Rose in -1594, while Rosseter's patent for the Porter's Hall theatre in 1615 -contemplates its use by no less than three companies, the Lady -Elizabeth's, the Prince's, and the Queen's Revels, probably as a united -body. Or the servant of one lord might attach himself as an individual -to the company passing under the name of another. Thus Alleyn was still -an Admiral's man when he toured with Lord Strange's men in 1593, -possibly as the last representative of a more complete combination -between two companies. Similarly Robert Pallant remained a Queen's man -while playing successively with the Lady Elizabeth's and the Duke of -York's in 1614-16, and William Rowley appeared in the Prince's livery at -King James's funeral in 1625, although he had probably joined the King's -men some two years before.[1006] - -The sharers did not, however, take the whole risk of a theatrical -enterprise; the owner or owners of the play-house stood in with them. -This arrangement certainly goes back to the days of the elder Burbadge, -'the first builder of play-houses'. I do not know whether it had also -prevailed in the London inn-yards. Instead of paying a fixed rent for -the building placed at their disposal, the sharers assigned to the owner -a fixed part of the takings at each performance. Originally Burbadge had -the whole of the payments made at the entrances to the galleries; his -successors contented themselves with half these payments, together with, -at the Globe, half those made at the tiring-house door. The other half, -and the full payments at all other outer doors went to the sharers. The -owner was apparently allowed to safeguard his interests by appointing -the 'gatherers' or money-takers for the galleries.[1007] When the Globe -was opened in 1599 the Burbadges of the second generation hit upon the -device of binding the interests of some of the leading actors more -closely to their own by giving them a share in these profits of the -'house'. To this end the site was conveyed by lease in two distinct -moieties. One the Burbadges held; the other was divided amongst five of -the actors. Subsequently it was several times redivided into a varying -number of fractions, according as one man dropped out, or it was desired -to admit another to participate in the benefits. The tenures of the -fractions, while such as to secure joint control, did not prevent the -alienation of the profits attached to them. This gave rise to some -trouble, owing to the remarriage of widows with persons who were not -members of the company at all. Incidentally it enabled John Heminge and -Henry Condell, who had business capacity, to buy up by degrees the whole -moiety. There was a rent payable to the ground landlord, and to this -each holder of a fraction made a proportionate contribution. A levy was -also called when the Globe had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1613. The -Burbadges claimed to have been at the cost of the original building and -to have raised a loan for the purpose. We know that they pulled down the -Theatre and carried the materials across the water. The lease of the -Globe formed a precedent for a somewhat similar transaction when the -King's men took over responsibility for the Blackfriars in 1608. In this -case the freehold belonged to Richard Burbadge, who leased out the -play-house in sevenths, keeping one fraction himself, and allotting the -rest to his brother, to the representative of a former tenant, and to -four of the players. At some later date the interest was divided into -eighths instead of sevenths. It is to be noted that it was only certain -selected men who thus acquired rights in the profits of the houses, and -one of the effects of the policy adopted was to set up a distinction -amongst the members of the association itself, of whom some were both -'housekeepers', as they came to be called, and ordinary sharers, while -others were ordinary sharers alone. At the Blackfriars from the -beginning, and at the Globe as rights under the leases were alienated, -there were also housekeepers who were not sharers at all, and might even -be members of rival companies. A dispute arising from these anomalies -throws light upon the responsibilities undertaken and the advantages -enjoyed by housekeepers and sharers respectively. It is of late date, -but there is no reason to think that the conditions revealed were -substantially different from those of earlier years. About 1630 all the -rights in both houses were held, mainly through deaths and alienations, -by persons who were not actors. Shortly afterwards two or three of the -leading members of the company were allowed to acquire interests, and in -1635 three other sharers brought the state of things before the notice -of the Lord Chamberlain, who exercised some equitable control over the -affairs of the company as a part of the royal Household, and petitioned -that they too might be admitted to the same privilege of purchasing -fractions of the leases 'at the usuall and accustomed rates'. The -pleadings and the orders of the Lord Chamberlain form the record known -as the _Sharers Papers_.[1008] From them it emerges that the -housekeepers were entitled to receive a full moiety, 'without any -defalcation or abatement at all' of all takings from the galleries and -boxes in both houses and from the tiring-house door of the Globe. The -sharers had the other moiety, together with the takings at the outer -doors. If a man was a sharer as well as a housekeeper, he claimed under -both heads. The outgoings were also apportioned, and in the view of the -sharers, most unfairly. The housekeepers only had to pay the rent and -the cost of repairs. The sharers had to find hired men and boys, and to -meet all charges for apparel, poets, music, lights, and so forth. The -Lord Chamberlain was apparently impressed by the justice of the -representation, and made an order for a transfer of interests in both -houses. - -The method of organization adopted by the Burbadges was subject to -abuses, both from alienation and from the agglutinative tendencies of -Heminge and Condell. But, at any rate during the earlier years of its -working, it seems to have served its purpose of attaching the individual -King's men, by means of a capital investment, to the welfare and -stability of their company. It was adopted by their principal rivals, by -the Queen's men at the Red Bull from the beginning of the reign, by -Alleyn and the Prince's men at the Fortune from a somewhat later date. -Certainly these companies rested upon a firmer foundation than those -which had to look for their theatre to an outside capitalist, especially -when that outside capitalist was Philip Henslowe. I have more than once -had occasion to mention Henslowe, whose personality stands out, more -clearly perhaps than any other, from the stage history of our whole -period. It is to the labours of my friend Dr. Greg that we owe an -adequate presentment of that personality. He appears to have been a -younger son of a good family, originally of Devonshire, but settled in -Sussex, where his father was Master of the Game in Ashdown Forest and -Brill Park. He had evidently had little formal education, and was a poor -man when, probably at some date in the 'seventies, he married Agnes -Woodward, a wealthy widow, to whose former husband he had been -'servant'. Agnes had a daughter Joan, who in 1592 married Edward Alleyn, -between whom and Henslowe, ever after if not before this event, the -closest business and personal relations existed. The occupation which -Henslowe thus, in the traditional manner of apprentices, acquired may -have been that of a dyer; he is described in documents of about 1584-7 -as 'citizen and dyer of London'. But he had a shrewd business capacity, -which he turned to many other ways of making money. He was at one time -engaged in the manufacture of starch. From at least 1587 onwards he was -interested in theatrical property. Between 1593 and 1596 he was carrying -on, through agents, a pawnbroking establishment. By 1592 at latest he -had obtained an appointment as Groom of the Chamber at Court.[1009] In -1603 he was promoted to be Gentleman Sewer of the Chamber to King -James. About 1594 he began to finance the Southwark bear-baiting, under -a licence from the Master of the Royal Game of Paris Garden, and by -arrangement with Alleyn who held the Bear Garden, and Jacob Meade who -was Keeper of the Bears. After more than one unsuccessful attempt, -Henslowe and Alleyn secured a transfer to themselves of the joint -Mastership of Paris Garden in 1604. Meanwhile Henslowe was steadily -amassing house property, most of it in Southwark, and some of it, at -least by origin, of a rather questionable character.[1010] His own -residence is given in 1577 as in the Liberty of the Clink, more -precisely in 1593 as 'on the bank sid right over against the clink', -whereby is doubtless meant the prison which gave its name to the -Liberty; and in the Clink he continued to dwell to the end. For -subsidies he was regularly assessed at £10. He filled parochial offices, -becoming vestryman of St. Saviour's, Southwark, in 1607, churchwarden -in 1608, and governor of the free grammar school in 1612. His death on 6 -January 1616 was followed almost immediately by that of his widow in -April 1617, and most of his property passed into the hands of the -Alleyns, together with a mass of papers, which are now amalgamated with -Alleyn's own at Dulwich. The collection is of the first importance both -for dramatic and for social history. It contains title-deeds of -theatres, agreements, and bonds entered into by companies of players, -private correspondence between the members of Henslowe's family and with -the poets and actors dependent upon him, inventories of stage costumes, -book-holder's 'plots' or outlines of plays, and many other documents -touching in innumerable ways upon the finance and control of the stage. -It also contains Henslowe's famous 'Diary'. This is not in fact a diary -at all, but a folio memorandum book, which Henslowe used principally -during 1592-1603, and in which he entered in picturesque confusion -particulars of accounts between himself and the companies occupying his -theatres, together with jottings on many personal and business matters, -and records of loans, which are often written, signed, or witnessed in -the autographs of players and poets. - -From the diary and the related documents it is possible to reconstruct -in its main outlines the history of Henslowe's theatrical enterprises, -and to contrast his policy as a capitalist with that of his rivals, the -Burbadges. During the earlier years covered by our information, the -theatre with which he was mainly concerned was the Rose, which he had -himself built on the Bankside, although he appears also to have had an -interest in the distant and practically disused house at Newington -Butts. At one or other of these he entertained a succession of companies -for the short periods during which playing was possible in the -plague-stricken period of 1592-4. In the autumn of 1594 he settled down -with Alleyn and the Admiral's men at the Rose, and this combination -lasted, with some reorganization of the company in 1597, until 1600, -when the Admiral's men moved to the newly built Fortune, and were -succeeded a couple of years later at the Rose by Lord Worcester's men. -It seems clear from an analysis of the accounts which he kept during -1592-7, that Henslowe, like the housekeepers at the Globe, was in the -practice of taking his profits as landlord in the form, not of a fixed -rent, but of a share of the daily takings at the theatre, and in his -case also the sum allotted seems to have been half the proceeds of the -galleries as distinct from the outer doors of the play-house. He was -responsible for keeping the building in repair, and for the fees to the -Master of the Revels for licensing its use; all other outgoings had -presumably to be met by the company. If, as sometimes happened, the -theatre was put at the disposal of some fencer or other performer not -belonging to the company, the profits of the subletting were apportioned -between Henslowe and the actors.[1011] It should be added that, under an -agreement entered into when the building of the Rose was being planned -in 1587, Henslowe had assigned half his profits for a term of eight -years and a quarter to one John Cholmley in return for fixed quarterly -payments. The covenants of the agreement entitled the parties jointly to -appoint actors to perform in the play-house, and gatherers to collect -the entrance fees, and reserved to each of them the right 'to suffer -theire frendes to go in for nothinge'. They were to share the cost of -repairs and Cholmley, who was a grocer, was to have the monopoly of -selling drink on the premises. The agreement was probably terminated by -Cholmley's death; if not, it would have served Henslowe for an insurance -over the lean years of the long plague.[1012] - -The character of Henslowe's entries in the diary changes towards the end -of 1597, but the indications do not suggest any alteration in the -conditions upon which the Admiral's men remained his tenants. On the -other hand, the new series of accounts reveals certain relations between -himself and the company for which there is no known analogy in the -organization of the King's men. Quite apart from payments for the use of -the theatres, the players had to meet divers costs of maintenance, -including the purchase of play-books from dramatists and the provision -of properties and garments for new productions. These charges were heavy -and fluctuating, and proved a difficulty for men who lived from hand to -mouth, and had acquired the thriftless habit of sharing their takings -weekly or even daily, and keeping no reserve fund. Henslowe, as a -capitalist, came to the rescue. Perhaps tentatively at first, but -certainly from 1597 as a regular system, he met the claims of poets and -tradesmen as they fell due, and debited the sums advanced to a running -account with the company, which forms the main subject-matter of the -diary. Of course he had to recoup himself from time to time; and Dr. -Greg has made it pretty clear that, when the system was in full working, -he did this by claiming a lien upon the residue of the gallery takings -which, although collected by his own 'gatherers', would otherwise, under -the tenancy agreement, have been handed over to the sharers. For a time -he seems to have satisfied himself with reserving half of this residue -towards his account. In July 1598, however, he notes in the diary 'Here -I begyne to receue the wholle gallereys'. Even so the repayments did not -keep pace with the expenditure, and from time to time he struck a -balance and took an acknowledgement from the company of the amount of -their outstanding debt. Most of Henslowe's advances were either for -properties and apparel or for the writing of plays, and I see no reason -to doubt that substantially the whole expenditure of the company under -these two heads passed through his hands. Sometimes, but not always, he -paid the fee demanded by the Master of the Revels for the licensing of a -new play; and occasionally he put his hand in his pocket for travelling -or legal expenses, or for the shot of a corporate jollification at a -tavern. On the other hand, there were certain regular outgoings with -which he had nothing to do, and for which the company must have had to -make provision in other ways; for lighting and cleaning and the rushes -which obviated the need for cleaning, for music, for the wages of stage -attendants and those actors who were not sharers, the 'hirelings', as -they were called from an early date.[1013] Probably the boys who took -the female parts were apprenticed to individual sharers; in one case a -boy was apprenticed to Henslowe, who charged the company or one of its -members a weekly sum for his services.[1014] It is, however, -interesting to observe that in the case of the Admiral's men, the legal -instruments which secured the continuity of the services of individual -actors sometimes at least took the form, for sharers no less than for -hirelings, not of bonds given to their fellows, but of contracts of -service entered into, under penalties for breach, with Henslowe himself. -As it was open to Henslowe to terminate these contracts, the -constitution of the company was to a certain extent dependent upon his -good will, and in fact he more than once refers to them as 'my -company'.[1015] He was not, however, in any strict sense the 'director' -or even the 'manager' of the company. Dr. Greg more aptly describes him -as their 'banker'.[1016] The entries of his advances on their behalf are -so worded as to imply that they were made on specific authorities given -by one or more leading members of the company; and some of these -authorities in fact exist in the shape of letters asking Henslowe to -make payments to poets in respect of plays which the company have heard -and approved. That in practice the banker had a considerable say in -influencing the policy of the company is probable enough; and also that -to the poor devils of poets he, rather than the actors, must have often -appeared in the welcome guise of paymaster. Both poets and actors were -under frequent personal obligations to him for small loans;[1017] and he -sometimes found the capital sum necessary to enable an actor to become a -sharer, and took it back by instalments.[1018] - -Henslowe's method of financing the Admiral's men endured for some time -after their transference to the Fortune. Here, however, they prospered, -and he notes himself in the diary as 'begininge to receue of thes meane -ther privet deates which they owe vnto me'. The diary is practically -closed in 1603. An exceptional entry in 1604 records that he 'caste vp -all the acowntes from the begininge of the world vntell this daye' with -the Prince's men, as they had then become, and found 'all reconynges -consernynge the company in stocke generall descarged & my sealfe -descarged to them of al deates'. It is possible that henceforward the -relations of the company were less with Henslowe than with Alleyn, with -whom they had entered into some kind of 'composicion' in 1600. Certainly -the few remaining documents with regard to the Prince's men now at -Dulwich seem to be of Alleyn rather than Henslowe _provenance_. Henslowe -had, however, by agreement with Alleyn, a half interest in the 'house' -of the Fortune, an arrangement which may have been modified if, as seems -probable, some of the sharers were taken into partnership as -housekeepers in 1608. Henslowe had a running account with the Earl of -Worcester's men at the Rose from 1602; and these relations had probably -also terminated when, as the Queen's men, they set up on an independent -basis at the Red Bull in 1604. About 1611-15, however, we again become -able to study Henslowe's finances, shortly before his death, in a group -of related documents which illustrate and are illustrated by the diary -in an extremely interesting way.[1019], The first of these is a bond in -£500 given to Henslowe by the Lady Elizabeth's men in 1611 for the -observance of certain articles. Unfortunately the articles are not -annexed, but it may perhaps be taken for granted that they constituted -an agreement under which the company were to play at a house provided by -Henslowe. This may in the first instance have been the Swan, but in the -spring of 1613 Henslowe probably acquired an interest in the -Whitefriars, and in the following autumn he and his partner Jacob Meade -entered into a contract with a builder to convert the old Bear Garden -into a house capable of being used for plays, as well as for baiting. At -this, which was renamed the Hope, the Lady Elizabeth's men certainly -performed. The second document, in fact, consists of articles between -Henslowe and Meade on the one side and Nathan Field on behalf of the -company on the other, whereby the former undertake during a term of -three years to house the company, to give them the use of an existing -stock of apparel, including a suitable supply for travelling purposes if -necessary, and to disburse such sums upon the furnishing of new plays -with apparel as four or five sharers, whom Henslowe and Meade are to -name for the purpose, may require. They also undertake to make similar -disbursements for plays, receiving repayment after the second or third -day's performance, to remove non-conforming players at the request of a -majority of the company, and to hand over all forfeits for failures to -attend rehearsal and the like. The close of the document is mutilated, -but it is pretty clear that it provided for a nightly account of gallery -takings, out of which Henslowe and Meade were to retain half for rent, -and the other half towards the repayment of disbursements on apparel and -of an outstanding debt of £124 until this should be extinguished. It is -to be noted that, since the days of the Admiral's men, Henslowe had -differentiated between the procedure for recovering his advances on -account of apparel and of play-books respectively. The articles -contemplate that individual players will be under contracts with -Henslowe and Meade, and the third document is such a contract, dated 7 -April 1614, with one Robert Dawes, who then joined the company. Certain -covenants therein with regard to the personal conduct of the actor have -already been described. In addition he bound himself to play for three -years as a sharer in such company as Henslowe and Meade might appoint, -and to consent to the retention by them of a moiety of the gallery and -tiring-house takings for the use of the house, and of the other moiety -towards the cost of apparel and the debt of £124. Henslowe and Meade -also reserve the right to use the house for baiting on one day in each -fortnight. The fourth document is the most illuminating of all. It is -divided into two sections, one headed _Articles of Grieuance against Mr. -Hinchlowe_, the other _Articles of Oppression against Mr. Hinchlowe_; -and although unsigned was evidently drawn up by the company in the -spring of 1615, for reference to some arbitrator, or perhaps to the Lord -Chamberlain. The charges against Henslowe are partly of definite acts of -dishonesty in the manipulation of his accounts with the company, partly -of an oppressive use of his legal position to his own advantage and -their detriment. If the allegations are well founded, he had cheated -them by failing to bring to account sums due to them and to make a -heavy payment with which they were debited, by charging the common stock -with loans made to individuals, by putting an inflated value upon -apparel taken over from himself, by saddling them with the cost of an -excessive number of gatherers and with bonuses which he had promised out -of his own pocket, in order to induce particular actors to join the -company. Under these heads they claim a heavy rebate against the debt of -£600 which he was maintaining to be due from them. They assert that, to -gain his ends, he had bribed their own representative Field; that while -bonds had been taken from them to an amount far in excess of their real -obligations, the articles binding Henslowe and Meade had never been -signed; that Henslowe had taken advantage of this to repudiate his -liability to hand over the apparel and play-books, for the greater part -of which the company had already paid; and that he had similarly taken -advantage of the fact that the agreements with the hired men were in his -name to withdraw these men, and thus force a reconstruction of the -company, whenever it suited his convenience. Thus, they say, 'within -three yeares hee hath broken and dissmembred five companies'. It is a -little difficult to make up the number of five companies, even if the -Children of the Revels, who during the years covered by the statement -were absorbed for a time in the Lady Elizabeth's men, are included. But -the transactions described serve well to illustrate the distinction -between the status of a company as a body of household servants and its -status as a legal association, since there is no reason to doubt that, -throughout all the shifting phases of its relations to Henslowe, a -continuous body of players performed in public and at Court under the -title of the Lady Elizabeth's men, and by authority of the patent issued -to these men in 1611. One other point, in which Henslowe's earlier -practice appears to have undergone modification by the period of his -connexion with the Lady Elizabeth's men, emerges from his correspondence -with the playwright Robert Daborne. Instead of merely paying for -Daborne's plays as agent for the company, as had been his practice for -the Admiral's and Lord Worcester's men, he appears to have bought the -plays himself, and resold them, probably at a profit, to the -company.[1020] - -The protesting players represent Henslowe's dealings with them as -governed by a desire to be what the modern capitalist calls 'master in -his own house'. They declare that he gave the reason of his often -breaking with them in his own words, 'Should these fellowes come out of -my debt, I should have noe rule with them'. The principle is plausible -enough, and is familiar to tradesmen in all poor neighbourhoods. The man -burdened with debt must lose the fruits of his labour, because he is not -free to revise his contracts on terms more beneficial to himself. Once -the players got out of debt and accumulated a reserve fund, they would -acquire their own theatre, and Henslowe's might stand empty. If the -charges were justified--and as Dr. Greg points out, we have not -Henslowe's answer--he certainly resorted to oppressive devices to -prevent the Lady Elizabeth's men from achieving independence. It must -not be too hastily assumed that he followed a similar policy in his -earlier dealings with the Admiral's men. So far as we know, they brought -no accusation against him, and the connexion seems to have been -advantageous to both parties. The Admiral's men held together, and -maintained a standing hardly inferior to that of their principal rivals, -the Chamberlain's men. They had Alleyn for a fellow; and it may be that -Alleyn, whose 'industrie and care', according to the deposition of a -common acquaintance, 'were a great meanes of the bettering of the estate -of the said Philip Henslowe', was able to give his partner advice, more -equitable and perhaps in the long run not less profitable, even from the -capitalist point of view, than was afterwards forthcoming from -'intemperate Mʳ. Meade'.[1021] At any rate there is an agreement which -shows that a compromise was arrived at after Henslowe's death with -Alleyn and Meade upon the question of the disputed debt.[1022] I am not -Henslowe's biographer, and am therefore not concerned either to -whitewash or to vilify his character. But it is fair to say that, -outside the _Articles of Grievance and Oppression_, there is not much, -in the mass of papers which have descended to us, that necessarily bears -an unfavourable interpretation. Henslowe's private loans to players and -poets were innumerable. They were generally, but not always, repaid, and -it would be difficult to prove that he even exacted interest in such -cases, although it is possible that the full sums entered in his -accounts did not really change hands. On the other hand, too much stress -must not be laid on the expressions of esteem with which his debtors -approached him. Thus Daborne dwells on 'your tried curtesy' and 'the -great love I have felt from you', and Field, addresses him as 'Father -Hinchlow' and signs himself 'your loving son', as if he were Ben -Jonson.[1023] An application for money is, however, not even an -affidavit. In his will he appears to have stated that he had not used -his wife very well and would make amends;[1024] but his private -correspondence reveals family affection and a turn for pious sentiment, -probably sincere. Neither quality is necessarily inconsistent with -unscrupulous methods of business. Whether Henslowe was a good or a bad -man seems to me a matter of indifference. He was a capitalist. And my -object is to indicate the disadvantages under which a company in the -hands of a capitalist lay, in respect of independence and economic -stability, as compared with one conducted upon the lines originally laid -down by the Burbages for the tenants of the Globe. Not being owners of -their own theatre, such a company were liable to eviction, and were -drained to a large extent of the profits of their prosperous years. -Relying upon their financier to meet in the first instance all -extraordinary expenditure, they had no occasion to build up a reserve -fund, and constantly tended to drift into debt. Organized upon a legal -basis which made an act of association between the members of less -importance than individual contracts entered into by sharers and -hirelings alike with the capitalist, they were at his mercy if, for -purposes of his own, he chose to use his powers under those contracts to -bring about their dissolution.[1025] - -A few figures bearing on the actual profits of playing can be brought -together. And first for the 'house'. Henslowe's takings at the Rose, as -disclosed by the diary, seem to have averaged about 30_s._ a day during -1592-7. A short season at Newington Butts brought him in no more than -9_s._ a day. As the Rose was normally open for about 240 days in the -year, his total annual receipts may be estimated at £360. No doubt the -cost of upkeep was substantial. The landlord had to find a site, build a -house, maintain it in repair, and take out a licence. The ground-rent of -the Rose was £7, of the Globe £14 10_s._, of the Fortune £16. The total -rent of the site and building of the Blackfriars was £40. The building -of the Fortune in 1600 cost £520, and its rebuilding in 1622 £1,000; the -rebuilding of the Globe in 1613 about £1,400; the conversion of the -Bear Garden into the Hope in 1613, £360. There was probably some set-off -in all these cases for the profits from taphouses and other tenements -attached to the theatres; this was estimated at from £20 to £30 for the -Globe and Blackfriars together in 1635. There were also occasional -lettings to outsiders.[1026] The housekeepers in 1635 complained of the -'chargeable reparacions'; in earlier years, when theatres were built -largely of wood, they must have been more chargeable still. The Rose was -not built earlier than 1587, but Henslowe had to spend £108 on it in -1592. The fee charged by the Master of the Revels for licensing a -theatre rose during 1592-9 from £1 to £3 a month. The only estimates of -net profits are for the King's men and of rather late date. The -pleadings in _Ostler v. Heminges_ (1615) give a single housekeeper's -profits as £20 from one-fourteenth of the Globe and £20 from one-seventh -of the Blackfriars, thus indicating £280 and £140 as the total annual -value of the 'houses' at the Globe and Blackfriars respectively; those -in _Witter v. Heminges and Condell_ (1619), coming from a less -trustworthy witness, allege that the Globe was worth £420 to £560 before -the fire and more after the rebuilding.[1027] The bearing of the figures -is complicated by our ignorance of the proportions in which the King's -men made use of their two theatres. By 1635 the importance of the -Blackfriars had outstripped that of the Globe. Its 'house' then yielded -£700-£800 a year; that of the Globe about 54_s._ a day, nearly twice as -much as the Rose half a century earlier. - -As to the earnings of a sharer we have even less information. One of the -disputants in 1635 put them at no more than 3_s._ a day at the Globe; -another at £180 a year from all sources. If both were accurate, the -Blackfriars must by that date have been doing far better business than -the Globe, even after allowing for the inclusion in the £180 of a share -of the fees for private performances at Court and elsewhere. The -customary Court fee was £10, or £6 13_s._ 4_d._ if the King was not -present. Private performances were ordinarily at night, and did not -interfere with public performances in the afternoon. If the Court was -out of London, however, the theatre had to be closed. No special -allowance seems to have been made for this until about 1631, when the -fee was doubled for a performance in the daytime or away from -London.[1028] The King's men got the principal share of the Court work, -being called on in 1611-12 for as many as twenty-two plays. Their Court -fees during 1603-16 amounted on an average to £125 a year.[1029] The -exact number of sharers is not known; it was probably not more than -twelve. All things considered, it is not unreasonable to put the -earnings of a sharer in the King's men during the first decade of the -seventeenth century at about £100 to £150 a year, to which, if he were a -'housekeeper' with an interest in both houses, he might be able to add -another £40 or £50. This estimate agrees with Sir Henry Herbert's -valuation of the shares which he held before the war in the companies -other than the King's at £100 each on an average.[1030] Sir Sidney Lee's -figure of £700 for Shakespeare's total professional income, which -includes £40 for the books of his plays, seems to me vastly -overestimated.[1031] Even the more modest £200 or so was a handsome -income for the time, since the purchasing power of money in the -seventeenth century is variously reckoned at from five to eight times as -much as at present. Of course, in times of inhibition from plague or -other cause the income vanished altogether, and was very inadequately -replaced by the meagre gains of travelling, together with the allowance -made by King James to his men for private practice during the infection. - -The gross takings of the sharers were naturally much greater. But they -were subject to heavy outgoings. The King's men reckoned these in 1635 -at £3 a day or from £900 to £1,000 a year for hired 'journeymen' and -boys, music, lights, and so forth, in addition to 'extraordinary' -charges for apparel and poets.[1032] The wages of a hireling are given -by Gosson in 1579 as 6_s._ a week; some of Henslowe's agreements of -1597 provide for wages of 5_s._, 6_s._ 8_d._, and 8_s._[1033] There was -some economy to be secured by doubling small parts.[1034] How far this -was facilitated by any use of masks is open to doubt.[1035] Boys were -regularly employed to take female parts, and although it would be going -rather too far to say that a woman never appeared upon an Elizabethan -stage, women were not included in the ordinary companies.[1036] The boys -were apprenticed to individuals, and their masters had to pay rather -than receive premiums. In return they charged wages to the company. -Henslowe gave £8 for a boy in 1597 and got 3_s._ a week from the -Admiral's for his wages. John Shank in 1635 claimed that he had had to -give £40 for a single boy, and £200 in all.[1037] Contributions to local -rates came to about £5 a year.[1038] The cost of apparel and properties -is difficult to estimate. A company bought or accumulated a stock, and -might also have at its disposal a stock belonging to the owner of its -theatre. Individual actors may have had their private wardrobes.[1039] -Fresh purchases were only necessitated by new productions, but these -were frequent. The special mounting of Court performances was helped out -by the Revels Office.[1040] The actor in Greene's _Groatsworth of Wit_ -(1592) boasted that his share of apparel would not be sold for £200, -but he was fictitious. Richard Jones, in fact, sold his share in a stock -of apparel, play-books, instruments, and other commodities for £37 -10_s._ in 1589. The cost of such things has a tendency to grow. If the -sums of from £50 to £80 received by retiring sharers early in the -seventeenth century may be taken as representing their interests in the -stocks, the total value of the contents of a tiring-house might be -anything from £500 to £1,000. Henslowe sold the stock of the Lady -Elizabeth's men for £400 in 1615; apparently this did not include their -play-books, which they valued at £200. I reckon that in 1597-1603 -Henslowe spent in all £1,317 for the Admiral's men, or about £1 for each -day of playing; of this play-books accounted for £652, apparel and -properties for £561, and miscellaneous expenses for £103. The garments, -by Henslowe's time at least, had become costly enough, as much as £19 -being given for a single cloak, while a tailor was employed to make up -satin at 12_s._ 6_d._ and velvet at £1 a yard.[1041] Second-hand finery -was sometimes to be obtained from a serving-man or a needy -courtier.[1042] It was probably the lavish use of apparel, more than -anything else, which led both friends and foes to dwell upon the stately -furnishing of the English theatres.[1043] Strictly scenic effects were -limited by the structural conditions of the stage, and Henslowe's -inventories do not suggest that any vast stock of movable properties was -kept.[1044] Animals and monsters were freely introduced.[1045] Living -dogs and even horses may have been trained; but your lion or bear or -dragon was a creature of skin and brown paper.[1046] - -An old 'book' could be bought for £2, but the value to the company might -be much more. A good stock piece was a perpetual 'get-penny' and could, -of course, be furbished up from time to time.[1047] In _Downton v. -Slater_ (1598) the Admiral's men valued a misappropriated book at £13 -6_s._ 8_d._ and claimed £30 damages for withholding it. The court -awarded £10 10_s._ New plays cost more, and entailed fees of 7_s._ each -to the Master of the Revels for licensing.[1048] A play by Greene would -fetch £6 13_s._ 4_d._ about 1592. The prices paid by the Admiral's and -Lord Worcester's men between 1597 and 1603 ranged from £4 to £10 10_s._; -a fee of £6 may be taken as about normal. 'An they'll give me twenty -pounds a play, I'll not raise my vein', says Antonio Balladino, who is -Anthony Munday, in _The Case is Altered_, a play of about 1598.[1049] In -1613 Robert Daborne was bargaining for plays with Henslowe at rates of -from £10 to £20, and boasting that he could get £25 elsewhere. It seems -likely that Henslowe charged a commission on these prices to the -company. There are some traces of the system, used at a later date, by -which the author was entitled to a 'benefit' night shortly after the -production of a new play.[1050] He was also entitled to free admission -to the house.[1051] The poets received their fees from Henslowe in -instalments, drawing £1 or so in 'earnest' when the commission was -given, and as each batch of sheets was handed in, and the balance when -the play was finished. This plan proved disastrous to them. The -instalments often found them in a debtor's prison, and some of them -became mere bond-slaves.[1052] Thus both Henry Porter and Henry Chettle -were reduced to making agreements which pledged them to write for no -other company than the Admiral's. The device is familiar to the modern -publisher. Robert Daborne's correspondence with Henslowe is eloquent of -the straits to which a hack playwright might be brought. Daborne was a -man of good family, and had lawsuits about his 'estate', which added to -his embarrassments. He had been interested in the management of the -Queen's Revels, and it may have been the absorption of this company by -the Lady Elizabeth's men that brought him into contact with Henslowe. -His letters preserved at Dulwich run from April 1613 to July 1614.[1053] -During this period he was engaged upon at least four plays. The history -of one of them, the tragedy of _Machiavel and the Devil_, may be taken -as typical. On 17 April 1613 he signed an agreement to complete it by -the end of May for an 'earnest' of £6 down, £4 on completion of three -acts, and £10 'vpon delivery in of yᵉ last scean perfited'; and for the -observance of the agreement he gave a bond of £20. On 25 April he wrote -to borrow £1 from Henslowe, explaining that he was 'vpon yᵉ sodeyn put -to a great extremity in bayling my man committed to Newgate vpon taking -a possession for me', and had unfortunately taken 'less money of my -kinsman a lawier that was with me then servd my turn'. On 3 May he got -another £1, although the three acts were not yet finished; another on 8 -May; and another on 16 May, making £11 in all. 'Sir,' he wrote, 'my -occations of expenc have bin soe great & soe many I am ashamed to think -how much I am forct to press you.' On 19 May he had probably handed in -his three acts, as he then signed an acquittance for £16 received up to -date, noting at the foot 'This play to be delivered in to Mr. Hinchlaw -with all speed'. It was not, however, ready by 31 May, and on 5 June -came a piteous appeal for an advance of £2 'which stands me vpon to send -over to my counsell in a matter concerns my whole estate'. Henslowe -shall not be the loser by his kindness: 'wher I deale otherways then to -your content may I & myne want ffryndship in distress'. By 10 June, 'yᵉ -necessity of term busines exacts me beyond my custom to be trublesome -vnto you', to the tune of yet another £1. By this time Henslowe was -evidently calling out for the play; and Daborne protests, 'I perceav you -misdoubt my readynes. Sir, I would not be hyred to break my ffayth with -you; before God they shall not stay one hour for me.' He was still -protesting on 25 June; but soon after must have brought _Machiavel and -the Devil_ to an end and drawn the £1 still due to him on balance, since -on 18 June he was already beginning to negotiate for his next play, _The -Arraignment of London_. And so the correspondence goes on; the -instalments always anticipated, the applications always larded with -declarations of his own honesty and with mingled flattery and complaint -of a patron who, generous as he was, showed an inexplicable tendency to -'meat' Daborne 'by yᵉ common measuer of poets'. The result was -inevitable. Daborne's terms came down from £20 to £12 and even £10 a -play; and in addition to reselling to the company at a profit, Henslowe -seems on one occasion at least to have squeezed out of Daborne 'half my -earnings in the play', by which, I take it, the proceeds of his benefit -are meant. By the end of 1613 Daborne was in considerable distress; 'if -you doe not help me to tenn shillings by this bearer, by the living God -I am vtterly disgract'. There is not much more of the correspondence. It -is clear from another source that Daborne did not for some time get -free, for when Henslowe lay on his death-bed, Mrs. Daborne called for -some papers belonging to her husband, and Henslowe gave her a bond for -£20 of which she was ignorant, possibly the very bond signed for -_Machiavel and the Devil_, saying, 'I knowe you and with all my hart doe -freely forgive you all that you owe me'.[1054] By 1618 Daborne had taken -orders. He became Chancellor of Waterford and Prebendary and Dean of -Lismore, and thus, as a contemporary poem has it, 'died amphibious by -the ministry'. - -The wrongs of authors are not inarticulate, and they have an appeal to -posterity from the injustice of their age. The exploitation of poets by -the playing companies brought about some cross-currents in the tone of -the allusions to the theatre, which are so frequent in occasional -literature. On the one hand, the pamphleteers, and in a less degree the -satirists, are with the players as against their enemies the Puritans; -on the other hand, they have their own grievances to publish and avenge. -A note of hostility makes its appearance not long after the first -invasion of the province of stage-writing by the university wits; and by -the embittered close of Robert Greene's reckless life the relations were -acute. Thomas Lodge in 1589 swore to abandon dramas and 'pennie-knaves -delight.'[1055] Thomas Nashe canvassed the players in his prefatory -epistle to Greene's _Menaphon_ (1589), and Greene himself, with humour -in his _Quip for an Upstart Courtier_ (1592), and in his -autobiographical romances of _Never Too Late_ (1590) and _Greene's -Groatsworth of Wit_ (1592), and with unsparing invective in the warning -_To those Gentlemen his Quondam Acquaintance, that spend their Wits in -making Plaies_, which he appended to the latter. In these pamphlets the -'vaine glorious tragedians' are twitted with their mouthings on the -stage, with their chameleon-like shifting from the service of one lord -to that of another,[1056] with the contrast between their rapid rise to -wealth and their obscurity when they carried their fardles afootback -upon the roads, with the romances and morals--_Delphrigus_ and _The King -of the Fairies_, _Man's Wit_, and the _Dialogue of Dives_--that formed -their stock-in-trade before the masters of arts came to their rescue. -But the real gravamen is that they live on the wits of scholars. They -are 'apes', 'buckram gentlemen', 'a company of taffaty fooles' tricked -up with poets' feathers, 'puppits that speake from our mouths', 'anticks -garnisht in our colours'. They cleave like burrs to their victims. An -alleged comparison by Cicero of the Roman actor Roscius to the crow in -Aesop is called in aid, and the taunt of 'vpstart crow, beautified with -our feathers' is not spared to an actor before whose dramatic genius -that of Greene and his fellows was to fade as a rush-light before the -sun.[1057] The actors had something on their side to complain of, with -Greene no less than with Daborne. In a remorseful moment he tells us of -the 'arch-plaimaking poet' Roberto, how 'what euer he fingered aforehand -was the certaine meanes to vnbinde a bargaine'; and a detractor accuses -him of selling the same play to two companies, and defending himself by -maintaining that no faith was to be kept with players.[1058] During the -seventeenth century, it is mainly Dekker, as critic of the players, no -less than in other ways, who carries on the tradition of Greene and -Nashe.[1059] Himself an active playwright, it is with black looks that -he stands by, in thronged term-time or at the coming of ambassadors, and -watches the companies battening upon the fruits of divine poetry, like -swine on acorns; and when plague arrives, although his own occupation be -gone, it is with savage glee that he sees the flag hauled down and the -doors closed, and his gloomy paymasters setting out once more on the -hard life of 'strowlers'. - -One interesting result of the feud between poets and players was that -some of the former were led to encourage and even acquire financial -interests in a rival type of theatrical organization which for a time at -least entered into successful competition with the professional -companies. This organization rested upon the use of boy actors. I have -elsewhere expounded the important share taken by school plays in the -earlier development of the Renaissance drama.[1060] The grammar schools -of Eton, Westminster, and Merchant Taylors and the song schools of the -Chapel Royal, Windsor, St. Paul's and the private chapel of the Earl of -Oxford continued, far into Elizabeth's reign, to give their performances -at Court side by side with the growing companies of noble and royal -servants. It was not until the professionals called upon the university -wits and began to mingle literary with popular elements in their -productions that the destinies of the drama passed definitely into their -hands. The earlier boy companies died out soon after 1590. A decade -later the Paul's and Chapel companies were revived, the latter at least -under somewhat new economic conditions. Formerly the plays had been -managed by schoolmasters and song-masters, as by-activities of -institutions primarily established for other objects. For the revived -Paul's plays, so far as we know, Edward Pearce, the choirmaster, was -similarly responsible. The Chapel children, on the other hand, were -placed upon a more regular business footing. The official Master of the -Children, Nathaniel Giles, took part in the undertaking; and the royal -commission to impress singing boys, which he held, was unscrupulously -used to compel the services of boys who could not sing, and were only -needed as recruits for the stage. But long before James had come to the -decision that on religious grounds the connexion between the Chapel and -the plays must be broken, the actual control of the organization had -passed from the Master to a financial syndicate, associated much on the -principle adopted by the ordinary playing companies, whose members hired -a theatre, charged themselves with the maintenance of the boys and of -the performances, and divided up the profits as their reward. During the -history of the Chapel boys and of the group of Revels companies which -succeeded them, several of these syndicates came into existence, and -shares in one or other of them were held by Marston, Drayton, Barry, -Mason, Daborne, and very possibly also by other dramatists. The articles -of association of the King's Revels company in 1608 may perhaps be taken -as typical. One of the sharers, Martin Slater the actor, who was -evidently a kind of manager, is to have lodgings in the theatre, which -was the Whitefriars, and the right to sell refreshments, and is to -travel with the children if necessary, in which event he is to enjoy a -share and a half in the profits. The children are to be apprenticed to -him for three years each, and he is to bind himself in £40 not to -transfer the indentures. The 'whole chardges of the howse, the -gatherers, the wages, the childrens bourd, musique, booke keeper, -tyreman, tyrewoman, lights, the Maister of the revells duties, and all -other things needefull and necessary' are to be deducted in due -proportions from each day's takings, so that the company may not run -into debt. No sharer is to take away any apparel or other common -property, or print any play-book, on pain of losing his interest. - -The boys played in what were called 'private' houses, and it is not -quite clear how far they were amenable to the usual principles of stage -regulation; an order by the Privy Council to the Lord Mayor to suppress -plays during the Lent of 1601 was obviously intended to be enforced -against them. Their performances, especially while they were novel, -proved a serious menace to the prosperity of the adult companies. The -classical allusions on the subject are that of Jonson in _The Poetaster_ -to the winter of 1600-1, which made the players poorer than so many -starved snakes,[1061] and the elaborate apology for the travelling of -the company in _Hamlet_, which is so germane to the matter now under -discussion that it must, however familiar, be given in full:[1062] - - _Hamlet._ ... What players are they? - - _Rosin._ Euen those you were wont to take delight in the - Tragedians of the City. - - _Ham._ How chances it they trauaile? their residence both in - reputation and profit was better both wayes. - - _Rosin._ I thinke their Inhibition comes by the meanes of the - late Innouation? - - _Ham._ Doe they hold the same estimation they did when I was in - the City? Are they so follow'd? - - _Rosin._ No indeed, they are not. - - _Ham._ How comes it? doe they grow rusty? - - _Rosin._ Nay, their indeauour keepes in the wonted pace; But - there is Sir an ayrie of Children, little Yases, that crye out - on the top of question; and are most tyrannically clap't for't: - these are now the fashion, and so be-ratled the common Stages - (so they call them) that many wearing Rapiers, are affraide of - Goose-quils, and dare scarse come thither. - - _Ham._ What are they Children? Who maintains 'em? How are they - escoted? Will they pursue the Quality no longer then they can - sing? Will they not say afterwards if they should grow - themselues to common Players (as it is like most if their - meanes are no better) their Writers do them wrong, to make them - exclaim against their owne Succession. - - _Rosin._ Faith there ha's bene much to do on both sides: and - the Nation holds it no sinne, to tarre them to Controuersie. - There was for a while, no mony bid for argument, vnlesse the - Poet and the Player went to Cuffes in the Question. - - _Ham._ Is't possible? - - _Guild._ Oh there ha's beene much throwing about of Braines. - - _Ham._ Do the Boyes carry it away? - - _Rosin._ I that they do my Lord, _Hercules_ & his load too. - -The be-rattling of the common stages and their spirited replies, thought -by some to include a 'purge' in _Troilus and Cressida_, with which -Shakespeare 'put down' Ben Jonson, form an element in the literary -conflict known as 'the war of the theatres', in which, however, this -issue is much complicated with others arising from the personalities -of the dramatists engaged, and notably from that of Ben Jonson -himself.[1063] Thus is explained the apparent paradox by which plays -as well as pamphlets become the vehicle of attacks upon players. Three -such plays, _Histriomastix_, _The Poetaster_, and the second part of _The -Return from Parnassus_, call for special attention. The player-scenes -in _Histriomastix_ seem to belong mainly, though not wholly, to the -original form of the play, which I regard as an outcome of the campaign -of Robert Greene and his fellows about 1590, although the extant text, -not printed until 1610, represents a later recension, probably undertaken -by Marston, as one of the 'musty fopperies of antiquity' produced by the -Paul's boys about 1600.[1064] The piece is of the nature of a political -morality, and the scenes in question serve as one illustration of its -general theme, which is that of the cyclical rotation of society through -the successive stages of Peace, Plenty, Pride, Envy, War, Poverty, and so -to Peace again. Many side-lights are thrown upon the methods of company -organization which have already been described in these pages. In Act I -some idle and drunken artisans, Gulch, Clout, Belch the beard-maker, Gut -the fiddle-string-maker, Incle the pedlar, combine to form a company. -Their poet is Master Posthaste, whom they call a gentleman scholar, but -who is evidently a caricature of Anthony Munday, dramatist and Messenger -of the Chamber. A scrivener is called in to 'tye a knott of knaves -togither', and Bougie the mercer will furnish them with 'rich stuff' at -a price. They call themselves Sir Oliver Owlet's men, and take his badge -of an owl in an ivy-bush. In Act II they appear on the steps of a market -cross and 'cry' a play to be given in the town-house at three o'clock. -Their repertory includes _The Lascivious Knight_, _Lady Nature_, _Mother -Gurton's Needle_ (a tragedy), _The Devil and Dives_ (a comedy), _A Russet -Coat and a Knight's Cap_ (an infernal), _A Proud Heart and a Beggar's -Purse_ (a pastoral), _The Widow's Apron Strings_ (a nocturnal).[1065] -Posthaste is also working on 'the new plot of the _Prodigall Childe_', -with a prologue 'for lords' and an epilogue. They are invited to play -before Lord Mavortius, and thereupon throw over 'the town play', and -attend him, singing: - - Some up and some down, there's players in the town: - You wot well who they bee. - The sum doth arise to three companies: - One, two, three, foure, make we. - Besides we that travel, with pumps full of gravell, - Made all of such running leather, - That once in a week, new masters we seeke, - And never can hold together. - -The actual performance, perhaps owing to a Marstonian interpolation, -consists of a fragment of _The Prodigal Child_, together with a fragment -of a piece on _Troilus and Cressida_. At the end Posthaste extemporizes -on a 'theame' and the company are rewarded with 3_s._ 4_d._ In Act III a -Marstonian passage introduces them to a new poet Chrisoganus, who asks -ten pounds a play. But 'our companie's hard of hearing of that side', -and they will be content with their goose-quillian Posthast'. -Chrisoganus rates their pride and the 'windy froth of bottle-ale' which -passes muster for poetry on the stage. The 'proud statute rogues' also -refuse an offer from Mavortius of 13_s_. 4_d._ or even £1 6_s._ 8_d._ -for another performance, and in view of their 'expense in sumptuous -clothes' they must have 'ten pound a play, or no point comedy'. Their -insolence is condemned: - - How soone can they remember to forget - Their undeserved fortunes and esteeme. - Blush not the peasants at their pedigree, - Suckt pale with lust? What bladders swolne with pride, - To strout in shreds of nitty brogetie! - -In Act IV they are rehearsing, and fine Posthaste 1_s._ for coming late. -And they quarrel amongst themselves. Clout is discontented with his -half-share, and will have 'a whole share, or turn camelion'. Acts V and -VI bring Nemesis. As they set up their bills, they are pressed for the -wars. There is no remedy. They have alienated the town officers by -refusing the town's reward. The 'master-sharers' must even provide their -equipment out of their own purses. The soldiers loot their apparel. They -will be the sharers now, and the players the hired men. They bid one who -'would rend and tear a cat upon a stage' not to 'march like a drowned -rat', but 'look up and play the Tamburlaine'. The hostess claims her -shot, 'The sharers dinners sixpence a piece. The hirelings ---- pence'; -and the hamper has to be searched for a cloak to pawn. The constable -demands his dues for tax-money to relieve the poor, and the excuse that -but fifteen pence was shared last week is not accepted in face of the -idle and immoral lives that the rascals have led. In the end they are -shipped off remorselessly to serve beyond the seas. It will be obvious -that, while most of the points of criticism taken by the dramatist are -those familiar to the literary pamphleteers, he is also not -unsympathetic to the Puritan view of players as a canker in the state. - -Jonson wrote his _Poetaster_ in the spring of 1601. He had already heard -of the intention of the Chamberlain's men against him, which afterwards -took shape in Dekker and Marston's _Satiromastix_, and got in the first -blows by depicting his assailants as 'a sort of copper-lac't scoundrels' -in ancient Rome and their poets as Demetrius 'a dresser of plaies about -the town here' and Crispinus 'poetaster and plagiary'. Some of his -matter has its reminiscences of _Histriomastix_; some probably rests on -details with regard to individual Chamberlain's men which are now -irrecoverable.[1066] His allusions to their poor winter season of 1600-1 -and to the accumulation of shares by leading actors have already been -quoted. The chief scene devoted to the players is that in which Histrio -is bullied by Tucca, the huffing captain, who calls him 'stalker', -'gulch', 'stiffe toe', 'twopenny teare-mouth', and 'penny-biter', bids -him turn fiddler again, get a bass violin at his back and march in a -tawny coat with one sleeve to Goose Fair, and accuses his company of -being usurers and brokers, who prey upon younger sons and citizens, and -furnish facilities at their house for immoral practices. Tucca would -bring his 'cockatrice' to see a bawdy play, but the players have nothing -but humours, revels, and satires; to which Histrio replies that he is -confusing them with 'the other side of Tyber', for 'we haue as much -ribaldries in our plaies, as can bee, as you would wish, Captaine: all -the sinners, i' the suburbs, come, and applaud our action, daily'. -Crispinus is introduced as one who will teach the actors to tear and -rant. Tucca bids Histrio give him forty shillings in earnest, since 'if -hee pen for thee once, thou shalt not need to trauell, with thy pumps -full of grauell, any more, after a blinde iade and a hamper: and stalke -vpon boords, and barrell heads, to an old crackt trumpet'. Yet inasmuch -as some of the players are 'honest gent'men-like scoundrels, and -suspected to ha' some wit', Histrio may make Tucca a supper, and bring -Frisker 'my zany' and Mango 'your fat fool', so long as he does not -laugh too much or beg rapiers or scarfs; but by no means 'your eating -plaier' Polyphagus, nor 'the villanous-out-of-tune fiddler' Aenobarbus, -nor Aesop, 'your politician'. Later in the play Histrio and Aesop inform -against Ovid and Horace, who is Jonson, to the government, and although -Tucca promises Aesop 'a monopoly of playing, confirm'd to thee and thy -couey, vnder the Empirours broad Seale, for this seruice', his actual -reward is to be whipped.[1067] In the _Apologetical Dialogue_ printed -with the play Jonson admits his hostility to the players: - - Now for the Players, it is true, I tax'd 'hem, - And yet, but some; and those so sparingly, - As all the rest might haue sate still, vnquestion'd, - Had they but had the wit, or conscience, - To thinke well of themselues. But, impotent they - Thought each man's vice belong'd to their whole tribe: - And much good doo't 'hem. What th' haue done 'gainst me, - I am not mou'd with. If it gaue 'hem meat, - Or got 'hem clothes, 'tis well. That was their end. - Onely amongst them, I am sorry for - Some better natures, by the rest so drawne, - To run in that vile line. - -_The Return from Parnassus_ is of less significance, as being a -Cambridge, not a London, play, and merely an echo of the main -controversy. It was acted during the Christmas of 1601-2, and is a -satire of things in general from the university point of view. Amongst -other topics the relations of scholarship to the stage are touched upon. -Burbadge and Kempe come in, boasting of their victory over Ben Jonson, -and trying to recruit poets into their service.[1068] The scholars -resent such thraldom: - - And must the basest trade yeeld vs reliefe? - Must we be practis'd to those leaden spouts, - That nought doe vent but what they do receiue. - -And in the end they decide rather to take the road as fiddlers: - - Better it is mongst fidlers to be chiefe, - Then at a plaiers trencher beg reliefe. - But ist not strange these mimick apes should prize - Vnhappy schollers at a hireling rate. - Vile world, that lifts them vp to hye degree, - And treades vs downe in groueling misery. - England affordes those glorious vagabonds, - That carried earst their fardels on their backes, - Coursers to ride on through the gazing streetes, - Sooping it in their glaring satten sutes, - And pages to attend their maisterships: - With mouthing words that better wits haue framed, - They purchase lands, and now esquiers are namde. - -It is the old burden of Robert Greene and Thomas Nashe once more.[1069] - -The disturbance of theatrical conditions due to the revival of the boy -companies became in time less acute. No doubt, the novelty of their -performances wore off. Moreover, the companies were not very successful -in holding together, partly because of the indiscretions of their -managers and the inadequacy of their finance to stand the strain of -plague years, but more because the boys, as might perhaps have been -expected, grew up and ceased to be boys. Already about 1608 the -Blackfriars boys 'were masters themselves' of their own company, and -when this arrangement broke down, they began to be drafted into the -adult associations. Other boy companies followed, but these were subject -to the same difficulties, and the vogue of the original 'little eyases' -was never quite recaptured.[1070] But, after all, the competition had -not disappeared, but had merely taken another form. The younger -generation was knocking at the gates; Field and Taylor waiting in eager -rivalry for Burbadge's shoes, and meanwhile forming new combinations of -their own which, however unstable, at least cut at the profits of their -more firmly established rivals. The 'monopoly' offered by Jonson in jest -would no doubt have been welcomed by the principal companies in earnest. -The policy of the Privy Council from 1597 to 1600 pointed in this -direction, but for whatever reason was not brought into effective -operation. There are several indications of the pressure of competition -during the earlier part of the seventeenth century. In 1609 it was worth -the while of the Queen's Revels and the King's men to unite in buying -off the Paul's boys at the cost of £20 a year. Dekker in the same year -prophesies that the contention of the two houses of York and Lancaster -will be as nothing to that of the three houses, by which he means the -Globe, the Fortune, and the Red Bull.[1071] Finally, in 1610, the -preacher William Crashaw, commenting upon the hostility shown by the -players to the plantation of Virginia, declares explicitly that it was -motived by the fact that they were so multiplied in England that one -could not live by another, and by the refusal of the promoters of the -colony to give any of them a chance of trying their fortunes in the new -world.[1072] - -The palmy days of playing lasted beyond the formal limits set to this -investigation. But they did not last for ever. The coming of the end can -here only be adumbrated. It perhaps shows itself first in an increasing -unwillingness amongst the provincial corporations to hear the players. -It was in 1623, the year of the publication of the First Folio, that the -City of Norwich took the step of making a representation to the Privy -Council and obtaining leave not to suffer any players within their -liberties. It is true that the inhibition was not strictly carried out -and that the authority was renewed in 1640. Nevertheless it is a sign of -the times. Other cities, Chester in 1615, Southampton in 1623, Worcester -in 1627, closed their public buildings to performances.[1073] From this -time onwards the entries of payments to players in municipal accounts -tend more and more to take the form of 'gratuities' given them 'because -they should not play' or 'to dismiss them', or 'to put them off', or in -more emphatic terms still 'to rid the town of them'.[1074] Meanwhile the -Puritan controversy breaks out again, winding up to that alarming -compilation of learning and argument in Prynne's _Histriomastix_ of -1633, which indeed cost its author his ears, but must none the less have -hung like a shadow of fate upon the doomed stage for ever after. And in -1642 the shadow moved, and on the outbreak of war came that dignified -ordinance of 2 September, which waved frivolity aside, what time the -nation girded itself for matters of moment:[1075] - - _An Order of the Lords and Commons concerning Stage-playes._ - - Whereas the distressed Estate of Ireland, steeped in her own - Blood, and the distracted Estate of England, threatned with a - Cloud of Blood, by a Civill Warre, call for all possible meanes - to appease and avert the Wrath of God appearing in these - Judgements; amongst which, Fasting and Prayer having bin often - tryed to be very effectuall; have bin lately, and are still - enjoyned; and whereas publike Sports doe not well agree with - publike Calamities, nor publike Stage-playes with the Seasons - of Humiliation, this being an Exercise of sad and pious - solemnity, and the other being Spectacles of pleasure, too - commonly expressing laciuious Mirth and Levitie: It is - therefore thought fit, and Ordeined by the Lords and Commons in - this Parliament Assembled, that while these sad Causes and set - times of Humiliation doe continue, publike Stage-Playes shall - cease, and bee forborne. Instead of which, are recommended to - the people of this Land, the profitable and seasonable - Considerations of Repentance, Reconciliation, and peace with - God, which probably may produce outward peace and prosperity, - and bring againe Times of Joy and Gladnesse to these Nations. - - Die Veneris Septemb. 2. 1642. - -I need not here attempt to trace the faint flutterings of the mimetic -instinct which survived this ordinance and even that, final and more -detailed, of 9 February 1648, 'for the utter suppression and abolishing -of all stage-playes and interludes', whereby players were made amenable -to the statutes against vagabonds 'notwithstanding any license -whatsoever from the King or any person or persons to that purpose', and -the justices were ordered to demolish the houses, and to subject the -players, if found, to a whipping.[1076] It is sufficient that from 1642 -to 1660 there was substantially no public stage in London. Some of the -King's men, we are told, went into the army, 'and, like good men and -true, served the King their master, though in a different, yet more -honourable capacity'. Under the Commonwealth they were 'reduced to a -necessitous condition', and we have one glimpse of the last of -Shakespeare's fellows, John Lowin, keeping an inn, the Three Pigeons, at -Brentford, where he died very old, 'and his poverty was as great as his -age'.[1077] - - Printed in England at the Oxford University Press - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 989: App. C, No. xlviii.] - -[Footnote 990: C. Severn, _Diary of John Ward_ (_c._ 1661-3), 183, 'I -have heard that Mʳ. Shakespeare ... in his elder days lived at -Stratford: and supplied the stage with 2 plays every year, and for itt -had an allowance so large, that hee spent att the rate of a 1,000_l_ a -year, as I have heard'; Aubrey, ii. 226, 'I thinke I have been told that -he left 2 or 300 _li_ per annum there and thereabout [i.e. at Stratford] -to a sister'.] - -[Footnote 991: Lee, 281; G. R. French, _Shakespeareana Genealogica_, -514; _Herald and Genealogist_, i. 492.] - -[Footnote 992: Lee, 285, citing (_a_) manuscript notes by Ralph Brooke -on William Dethick's grants of arms, in which both Shakespeare and -Cowley appear in a list of persons given arms on false pretences, and -(_b_) a manuscript _Discourse of the Causes of Discord amongst the -Officers of Arms_ by William Smith, Rougedragon, 'Phillipps the player -had graven in a gold ring the armes of Sʳ Wᵐ Phillipp, Lord Bardolph, -with the said L. Bardolphs cote quartred, which I shewed to Mʳ York -[Brooke, York Herald] at a small gravers shopp in Foster Lane.... Pope -the player would have no other armes but the armes of Sʳ Tho. Pope, -Chancelor of yᵉ Augmentations'.] - -[Footnote 993: App. C, No. liv.] - -[Footnote 994: Halliwell-Phillipps, i. 325; cf. ch. x.] - -[Footnote 995: App. C, Nos. xxii, lvii; cf. Wright (App. I, ii) on the -'grave and sober behaviour' of the later King's men.] - -[Footnote 996: Cf. ch. xiii (Anne's).] - -[Footnote 997: Cf. ch. xiii (Lady Elizabeth's).] - -[Footnote 998: Dekker and Webster, _Northward Ho!_ IV. i. 1: - - '_Bellamont._ Sirrah, I'll speak with none. - - _Servant._ What? Not a player? - - _Bellamont._ No; though a sharer bawl. - I'll speak with none, although it be the mouth - Of the big company.' - -Cf. Dekker, _News from Hell_ (1606, _Works_, ii. 99), 'Marrie players -swarme there as they do here, whose occupation being smelt out, by the -Caco-daemon, or head officer of the Countrie, to bee lucrative, he -purposes to make vp a company, and to be chiefe sharer himselfe'; also -_A Mad World, my Masters_, V. i. 42, where one of the sham Lord -Owemuch's players is a 'politician', who 'works out restraints, makes -best legs at court, and has a suit made of purpose for the company's -business' and 'has greatest share and may live of himselfe'.] - -[Footnote 999: Jonson, _Poetaster_, III. iv. 373, 'Commend me to -seuen-shares and a halfe, and remember to morrow--if you lacke a -seruice, you shall play in my name, rascalls, but you shall buy your -owne cloth, and I'le ha' two shares for my countenance'. It appears from -a list of Sir Henry Herbert's profits as Master of the Revels, drawn up -in 1662, that he had secured a share, which he valued at £100 a year, -from each of the London companies, other than the King's men -(_Variorum_, iii. 266).] - -[Footnote 1000: It is impossible to say what arrangement underlies the -statement in an undated letter from Richard Jones to Alleyn about a -German tour (_Henslowe Papers_, 33) that Robert Browne was 'put to half -a shaer, and to stay hear, for they ar all against his goinge'.] - -[Footnote 1001: _Hamlet_, III. ii. 286: - - '_Hamlet._ Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers--if - the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me--with two Provincial - roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of - players. - - _Horatio._ Half a share. - - _Hamlet._ A whole one, I.' - -For half-sharers, cf. ch. xiii (Queen's, Admiral's). Three-quarter -sharers existed in the Lady Elizabeth's men about 1614; cf. T. M., -_Father Hubburd's Tales_ (Bullen, _Middleton_, viii. 64), 'The ant began -to stalk like a three-quarter sharer'.] - -[Footnote 1002: The number of players named in the Jacobean patents -varies from 7 to 14, but this gives little direct guidance as to the -number of sharers. It is, however, consistent with my estimate, which is -based mainly upon the number of Admiral's men shown at various times in -contractual relations with Henslowe. There were 12 sharers in the Lady -Elizabeth's company in 1611 and 12 in Queen Anne's company in 1617. -Probably the Elizabethan companies ran rather smaller.] - -[Footnote 1003: Dekker, _News from Hell_ (1606), 'a companie of country -players, being nine in number, one sharer and the rest jornymen'; cf. p. -362.] - -[Footnote 1004: Cf. ch. ix.] - -[Footnote 1005: Amalgamated companies also toured the provinces, and -even entered into partnership with companies, such as Lord Morley's, -which were purely provincial. Thus we find Hunsdon's and Morley's at -Bristol in 1583, and Hunsdon's and Howard's at Leicester in 1585; the -Queen's and Sussex's at Southampton, Gloucester, and Coventry in 1590-1; -the Queen's and Morley's at Aldeburgh on 11 Oct. 1592 (Stopes, _Hunnis_, -314); the Admiral's, Strange's (or Derby's), and Morley's variously -combined at Ipswich, Southampton, Bath, Shrewsbury, York, and Newcastle -in 1592-4. Sometimes players worked with musicians, tumblers or -rope-dancers; of course this was so in London itself, but naturally the -old methods of the mimes tended to reassert themselves more markedly in -the provinces.] - -[Footnote 1006: Murray, i. 172 (table), 237.] - -[Footnote 1007: Henslowe's agreement with John Cholmley, probably for -the Rose, in 1587, provides for joint appointment by the parties as -landlords. The same arrangement is implied, so far as the galleries are -concerned, by the Lady Elizabeth's agreement of 1614. In 1612 Robert -Browne wrote to Alleyn to procure 'a gathering place' for the wife of -one Rose, a hireling of Prince Henry's men. Apparently the sharers had -to pay the gatherers' wages. An undated letter from William Bird, also -of Prince Henry's men, to Alleyn tells him of the dishonesty of John -Russell, 'that by yowr apoyntment was made a gatherer with us'. The -company will not let him 'take the box', but will pay his wages as 'a -nessessary atendaunt on the stage', and if he likes, employ him also as -a tailor. Henslowe made the Lady Elizabeth's pay for nine gatherers more -than he was entitled to. In _Frederick and Basilea_, the gatherers came -on as supers (_Henslowe Papers_, 3, 24, 63, 85, 89, 137). The 'place or -priviledge' in the Globe and Blackfriars left by Henry Condell to -Elizabeth Wheaton in 1627 was presumably that of a gatherer. A satirist -wrote in _The Actors Remonstrance_ of 1643 (Hazlitt, _E. D. S._ 263), -'Our very doore-keepers men and women most grievously complaine that by -this cessation they are robbed of the privilege of stealing from us with -licence: they cannot now, as in King Agamemnon's dayes, seeme to scratch -their heads where they itch not, and drop shillings and half -croune-pieces in at their collars'. The money taken at the door or in -the gallery was traditionally put in a box and kept for division; cf. -Rankins, _Mirrour of Monsters_ (1587), f. 6, 'door-keepers and -box-holders at plays'.] - -[Footnote 1008: Cf. ch. xvi (Globe) and ch. xvii (Blackfriars); the -document is printed in Halliwell-Phillipps, i. 312.] - -[Footnote 1009: This is the only point on which I have anything to add -to Dr. Greg's personal information as to Henslowe; it is important as -bearing on the history of Lord Strange's men (q.v.). He is described as -Groom of the Chamber in an undated document (_Henslowe Papers_, 42) -belonging to a series dealing with the opening of the Rose for Strange's -men in a long vacation. This cannot be put later than 1592, as there was -plague throughout the long vacation of 1593 and Lord Strange became Earl -of Derby in Sept. 1593. On the other hand, Dr. Greg (Henslowe, ii. 9; -_Henslowe Papers_, 36), following Warner, 8, argues that Henslowe must -have become Groom of the Chamber later than 7 April 1592, since he is -not named in a list of Grooms appended to a warrant of that date and is -named in a similar list of 26 Jan. 1599. These warrants are in _Addl. -MS._ 5750, ff. 114, 116. They are original warrants for the 'watching -liveries' which were issued annually, but on irregular dates, to the -Yeomen of the Guard and to the Groom Porter and fourteen Grooms of the -Chamber. A complete series of copies of these warrants is preserved in -_Lord Chamberlain's Records_, v. 90, 91, and shows that Henslowe only -received a watching livery during three consecutive years, on 14 Nov. -1597, 26 Jan. 1599, and 27 Oct. 1599. Yet we know that he was a Groom in -Aug. 1593 from the address on one of Alleyn's letters (_Henslowe -Papers_, 36), and about 1595-6 from a petition to the first Lord -Hunsdon, who died in June 1596 (_Henslowe Papers_, 44). Therefore the -absence of his name from the livery list of 7 April 1592 is no proof -that he was not then already a Groom. Probably Henslowe was only an -Extraordinary Groom, and only some of the Extraordinary Grooms were -needed to supplement the twelve Ordinary ones for watching purposes.] - -[Footnote 1010: Dr. Greg (Henslowe, ii. 22, 25) shows that Henslowe -almost certainly held a lease of the Barge, the Bell, and the Cock -'vppon the banke called Stewes', describes these houses as 'licensed -brothels', and infers that Henslowe was 'the intermediate landlord -between the stew-keepers and the Reverend Father in God, the Lord Bishop -of Winchester'. It is possible that the tradition, as well as the name, -of the district endured into Elizabeth's reign, but Dr. Greg forgets, in -his Voltairean mood, that the system of episcopal licences terminated in -the reign of Henry VIII (Rendle, _Bankside_, xi). Ultimately Alleyn -secured on the property the settlement of his wife Constance, daughter -of John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, which must surely have established -its respectability.] - -[Footnote 1011: Henslowe, i. 98, 'Jemes Cranwigge the 4 of November 1598 -playd his callenge in my howsse & I sholde haue hade for my parte xxxxˢ -which the company hath receuyd & oweth yᵗ to me'.] - -[Footnote 1012: Cf. vol. ii, p. 408.] - -[Footnote 1013: Cf. Gosson, _S.A._ 39 (App. C, No. xxii), 'the very -hyrelings of some of our players, which stand at reuersion of vi s by -the weeke'; Dekker, _News from Hell_ (_Works_, ii. 146), 'a companie of -country players, being nine in number, one sharer, & the rest iornymen'; -_The Raven's Almanac_ (iv. 193), 'a number of you (especially the -hirelings) shall be with emptie purses at least twice a week'; _Jests to -Make you Merrie_ (ii. 353), 'Nay, you mercenary soldiers, or you that -are as the Switzers to players (I meane the hired men) by all the -prognostications that I haue seene this yeare, you make but a hard and a -hungry liuing of it by strowting [? 'strowling'] up and downe after the -waggon. Leaue therefore, O leaue the company of such as lick the fat -from your beards (if you haue any) and come hether, for here I know you -shall be sharers'.] - -[Footnote 1014: Cf. Chapman, _May Day_, III. iii. 228, 'Afore heaven, -'tis a sweet fac'd child: methinks he would show well in woman's -attire.... I'll help thee to three crownes a week for him, and she can -act well'. The will of Augustine Phillips in 1605 mentions his -apprentice James Sands, and his late apprentice, Samuel Gilburne. The -'boys' of various Admiral's men appear in Henslowe's diary and in the -Dulwich 'plots' of plays; cf. Henslowe, i. 71, 73, 'Thomas Dowtones -biger boy'; _Henslowe Papers_, 137, 138, 142, 147, 'E. Dutton his boye', -'Mʳ. Allens boy', 'Mʳ. Townes boy', 'Mʳ. Jones his boy', 'Mʳ. Denygtens -little boy'.] - -[Footnote 1015: Henslowe, i. 201; _Henslowe Papers_, 48. There is also a -contract by which Thomas Downton of the Admiral's men hires an unnamed -player (Henslowe, i. 40). Augustine Phillips (1605) calls Christopher -Beeston his 'servant', and Nicholas Tooley (1623) calls Richard -Burbadge, then deceased, his 'late master'. But Beeston and Tooley were -King's men by patent before the dates in question, and it is a little -difficult, though not impossible, to suppose that a hireling would -appear in a patent. Probably the terms only retain the memory of former -apprenticeships.] - -[Footnote 1016: Henslowe, ii. 120.] - -[Footnote 1017: The diary records loans to Jonson, Chapman, Porter, -Chettle, Day, Haughton, Munday, Dekker, Anthony Wadeson, and Robert -Wilson, and to the actors Martin Slater, John Singer, Thomas Towne, -Edward Dutton, Robert Shaw, Thomas Downton, William Borne, John Helle, -Gabriel Spencer, Richard Alleyn, John Tomson, Humphrey Jeffes, Anthony -Jeffes, Richard Jones, Charles Massey, John Duke, Richard Bradshaw, -Thomas Heywood, William Kempe, Thomas Blackwood, John Lowin, Abraham -Savery, Richard Perkins; as well as to Henslowe's nephew, Francis -Henslowe. Except Francis Henslowe and Abraham Savery, of the Queen's -men, and John Tomson, of whom nothing is known, all these men are -traceable in connexion with either the Admiral's or Worcester's men. A -few of the loans to poets, e.g. to Chettle, seem to have been on behalf -of the Admiral's men, rather than of Henslowe himself.] - -[Footnote 1018: Henslowe, i. 47, 63, 67, 'Rᵈ. of Bengemenes Johnsones -share as ffoloweth'; 'Rᵈ. of Gabrell Spencer at severall tymes of his -share in the gallereyes as foloweth'; 'A juste acownte of the money -which I haue receued of Humfreye Jeaffes hallffe sheare ... as -foloweth.... This some was payd backe agayne vnto the companey of my -lord admeralles players ... & they shared yt amonste them'. In such -cases Henslowe may merely have acted as agent of the company in securing -the payment out of gallery money of sums due from incoming sharers.] - -[Footnote 1019: _Henslowe Papers_, 18, 23, 86, 111, 123; cf. ch. xiii -(Lady Elizabeth's).] - -[Footnote 1020: Cf. p. 375.] - -[Footnote 1021: Henslowe, ii. 19.] - -[Footnote 1022: _Henslowe Papers_, 90, 93; cf. ch. xiii (Prince -Charles's).] - -[Footnote 1023: _Henslowe Papers_, 67, 70.] - -[Footnote 1024: Henslowe, ii. 19.] - -[Footnote 1025: Similar methods were employed by Henslowe's rival, -Francis Langley, at the Swan (q.v.) in 1597. He provided apparel for a -company, and was allowed for it out of their 'moytie of the gains for -the seuerall standinges in the galleries of the said howse which -belonged to them'. Having quarrelled with the company before he was -completely reimbursed, he kept the apparel. He took individual bonds to -play with him for three years, released some of the company from their -bonds, and sued the rest, who could not play without their fellows, for -breach of contract.] - -[Footnote 1026: J. Hall, _Virgedemiarum_ (1597), i. 3, appears to -satirize performances by amateurs 'upon a hired stage'; cf. p. 361.] - -[Footnote 1027: Similarly in _Keysar v. Burbadge_ (1610) the pleadings -of Robert Keysar grossly exaggerated the profits of the Blackfriars.] - -[Footnote 1028: Cf. ch. vii.] - -[Footnote 1029: Cf. App. B.] - -[Footnote 1030: _Variorum_, iii. 266.] - -[Footnote 1031: Lee, 315; cf. A. Thaler, _Shakespeare's Income_ (_S. P._ -xv. 82), who halves Lee's estimate.] - -[Footnote 1032: In 1628 Sir Henry Herbert notes in his office-book -(_Variorum_, iii. 176), 'The Kinges company with a general consent and -alacritye [poor devils! E. K. C.] have given mee the benefitt of too -dayes in the yeare, the one in summer, thother in winter, to bee taken -out of the second daye of a revived playe, att my owne choyse. The -housekeepers have likewyse given their shares, their dayly charge only -deducted, which comes to some 2ˡ 5ˢ. this 25 May, 1628.' Herbert words -it oddly, but the 'dayly charge' must be that of the sharers, not the -housekeepers, who had none, and the estimate agrees fairly with that of -1635. Herbert took during 1628-33 sums of from £1 5_s._ to £6 7_s._, -averaging £4 8_s._ 6_d._, out of five performances at the Globe, and £9 -16_s._ to £17 10_s._, averaging £13 10_s._, from five performances at -the Blackfriars. The gross takings averaged therefore £6 13_s._ 6_d._ at -the Globe and £15 15_s._ at the Blackfriars. In 1633 Herbert compounded -for a payment of £10 at Christmas and £10 at Midsummer. But in 1662 -(_Variorum_, iii. 266) he included amongst the incomings of his office -the profits of a summer's day and a winter's day at the Blackfriars, -which he valued at £50 each.] - -[Footnote 1033: Cf. p. 363 and ch. xiii (Admiral's).] - -[Footnote 1034: Cf. W. W. Greg in _T. L. S._ (12 Feb. 1920) and his -analysis of the Dulwich 'plots' (_H. P._ 152). Here also we find the -tireman, gatherers, and attendants used as 'supers'.] - -[Footnote 1035: Puttenham, i. 14, says that Roscius 'brought vp these -vizards, which we see at this day vsed'. In _The Longer Thou Livest_, -1748, 1796, God's Judgement has 'a terrible visure' and Confusion 'an -ill fauowred visure', and in _All For Money_, 389, 1440, 1462, -Damnation, Judas, and Dives have vizards. But this is early evidence, -and perhaps drawn from the private stage. Harington, _Metamorphosis of -Ajax_ (1596, _An Anatomy_, 5), speaks of 'an ill-favoured vizor, such as -I have seen in stage plays, when they dance Machachinas', but this -rather tells against the use by ordinary actors at that date.] - -[Footnote 1036: Women only began to act regularly at the Restoration; -cf. Ward, iii. 253. There had been occasional earlier examples; even in -1611 Coryat, _Crudities_, i. 386, says that at Venice 'I saw women acte, -a thing that I never saw before, though I have heard that it hathe beene -sometimes used in London'. The exceptions are, I think, such as prove -the rule; private plays such as _Hymen's Triumph_, Venner's gulling show -of _England's Joy_, the Italian tumblers of 1574, the virago Moll Frith -at the Fortune (cf. ch. xxiii, s.v. Dekker, _Roaring Girl_). On 22 Feb. -1583 Richard Madox 'went to the theater to see a scurvie play set out al -by one virgin, which there proved a fyemarten without voice, so that we -stayed not the matter' (_Cotton MSS. App._ xlvii, f. 6ᵛ; cf. _S. P. -Colonial, E. Indies_, 221). As to the skill of the boys, cf. Ben Jonson -on Richard Robinson in _The Devil is an Ass_, II. viii. 64.] - -[Footnote 1037: Halliwell-Phillipps, i. 316.] - -[Footnote 1038: Cf. ch. xvi (Swan).] - -[Footnote 1039: Cf. ch. xiii (Admiral's).] - -[Footnote 1040: Cf. ch. vii.] - -[Footnote 1041: Cf. ch. xiii (Admiral's).] - -[Footnote 1042: Cf. the account of Platter in 1599 (ch. xvi, -introduction); also Donne, _Satire_, iv. 180 (ed. _Muses' Library_, ii. -196): - - As fresh and sweet their apparels be, as be - The fields they sold to buy them. 'For a king - Those hose are,' cry the flatterers; and bring - Them next week to the theatre to sell; - -and Jonson, _Underwoods_, xxxii: - - Is it for these that Fine-man meets the street - Coached, or on foot-cloth, thrice changed every day, - To teach each suit he has the ready way - From Hyde Park to the stage, where at the last - His dear and borrowed bravery he must cast. -] - -[Footnote 1043: Cf. App. C, Nos. xxx, xlvi; _Case Is Altered_, ii. 4, -'Theatres! ay, and plays too, both tragedy and comedy, and set forth -with as much state as can be imagined'; cf. Graves, 68.] - -[Footnote 1044: Cf. chh. xx, xxi _passim_, and _Henslowe Papers_, 113.] - -[Footnote 1045: Wegener, 135.] - -[Footnote 1046: _Henslowe Papers_, 117, 'j lyone skin; j beares skyne -... j dragon in fostes [_Faustus_] j lyone; ij lyone heades; j great -horse with his leages; j black dogge'. For brown paper monsters, cf. -App. C, Nos. xxii, xxx, and for a controversy as to the use of live -animals, ch. xx.] - -[Footnote 1047: _E. Hoe_, IV. ii. 92, 'thy name shall be written upon -conduits, and thy deeds plaid i' thy lifetime by the best companies of -actors, and be call'd their get-peny'; _Barth. Fair_, V. i. 13 (of a -'motion'), 'the _Gunpowder-plot_, there was a get-peny! I haue presented -that to an eighteene, or twenty pence audience, nine times in an -afternoone'. Dekker, _News from Hell_ (1606, _Works_, ii. 146), speaks -of 'a Cobler of Poetrie called a play-patcher'.] - -[Footnote 1048: Henslowe, ii. 115; cf. ch. x. By the end of Sir Henry -Herbert's time the fee had been raised to £2; even for an old play he -exacted £1 (_Variorum_, iii. 266).] - -[Footnote 1049: C. IS A. I. i.] - -[Footnote 1050: _Henslowe_, i. 113, 136 (Admiral's, 1599, 1601), 181 -(Worcester's, 1602), 'for Mʳ. Mundaye & the reste of the poets at the -playnge of Sʳ John Oldcastell the ferste tyme' [_in margin_, 'as a -gefte']; 'John Daye ... after the playinge of the 2 part of Strowde'; -'Thomas Deckers ... over & above his price of his boocke called A -Medysen for a Cvrste Wiffe'. These are exceptional disbursements. The -Daborne-Henslowe correspondence of 1613-14 (_Henslowe Papers_, 71, 75, -76, 82) suggests a more regular practice: 'I pay you half my earnings in -the play'; 'We will hav but twelv pownds and the overplus of the second -day'; 'You shall hav the whole companies bonds to pay you the first day -of my play being playd'; 'I desyr you should disburse but 12ˡ a play -till they be playd'. Probably the actual day selected for the poet's -benefit varied; thus the third day is suggested by Dekker's prologue to -_If It be not Good, the Devil is in It_ (1612), a Red Bull play: - - not caring, so he gains - A cram'd third day, what filth drops from his brains. - -Malone (_Variorum_, iii. 157) quotes later evidence for a variation of -days, together with Davenant, _The Play-house to be Let_: - - There is an old tradition, - That in the times of mighty Tamberlane, - Of conjuring Faustus and the Beauchamps bold, - You poets used to have the second day. - This shall be ours, sir, and tomorrow yours. - -The actual term 'benefit' appears first in connexion with the interest -of the Master of the Revels (cf. p. 370), not that of the poet. Nor do -we know what exactly the 'overplus' assigned to the poet was calculated -upon.] - -[Footnote 1051: _B. Fair_, V. iii. 30, 'What, doe you not know the -_Author_, fellow _Filcher_? you must take no money of him; he must come -in _gratis_: Mʳ. _Littlewit_ is a voluntary; he is the _Author_'.] - -[Footnote 1052: Henslowe, i. 83, 100, 101, 107, 119 (Admiral's, -1598-1600), 'to disecharge Mʳ. Dicker owt of the cownter in the -Powltrey'; 'Harey Chettell to paye his charges in the Marshallsey'; 'to -descarge Thomas Dickers frome the areaste of my lord chamberlens men'; -'to descarge Harey Chettell of his areste from Ingrome'; 'Wᵐ Harton to -releace hime owt of the Clyncke'; also Henslowe, i. 103, 165 (Admiral's, -1599, 1602), 'Harey Porter ... gaue me his faythfulle promysse that I -shold haue alle the boockes which he writte ether him sellfe or with any -other'; 'at the sealleynge of H. Chettells band to writte for them'.] - -[Footnote 1053: _Henslowe Papers_, 67; cf. ch. xiii (Lady Elizabeth's).] - -[Footnote 1054: Henslowe, ii. 20.] - -[Footnote 1055: Lodge, _Scillaes Metamorphosis_ (1589): - - by oath he bound me - To write no more of that whence shame doth grow, - Or tie my pen to Pennie-knaves delight. -] - -[Footnote 1056: The pun on 'comoedians' and 'camoelions' had been made -by 'certayne gentlemen' against the Duttons as early as 1580; cf. ch. -xiii (Warwick's). It is still in use in _Ratseis Ghost_ (1605); cf. p. -340, n. 2.] - -[Footnote 1057: The Aesopic allusion is complicated by another to the -story in Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, ii. 4, 30, perhaps based on Martial, -xiv. 73, of the cobbler who tried to teach a crow to say 'Ave Caesar' in -flattery of Augustus after the battle of Actium; cf. Mr. McKerrow's note -to Nashe's _Pierce Penilesse_ (_Works_, iv. 105). Both ideas are -suggested in Nashe's _Menaphon_ preface, and Greene, in _Francescos -Fortunes_ (App. C, No. xliii), combines them with a third story, also -due, perhaps through Cornelius Agrippa (App. C, No. xii), to Macrobius -(_Sat._ III. xiv. 12), of a debate on the respective powers of orator -and actor between Cicero and Roscius, into an obviously apocryphal jest: -'_Cicero._ Why _Roscius_, art thou proud with _Esops_ Crow, being pranct -with the glory of others feathers? Of thy selfe thou canst say nothing, -and if the Cobler hath taught thee to say _Aue Caesar_, disdain not thy -tutor, because thou pratest in a kings chamber.' Fleay, i. 258, chooses -to identify the cobbler with Marlowe and Roscius with Robert Wilson, and -(being ignorant of Macrobius) cites the use of the phrase 'Ave Caesar' -in _Edward III_, I. i. 164, which he ascribes to Marlowe, as evidence. -Such equations are always hazardous. The point of the passage is in the -indebtedness of the players as a body to the poets as a body. If any -individual actor were designated as Roscius about 1590, it would be more -likely to be Alleyn than another; the compliment to him is not unusual -later (cf. ch. xv). But he had hardly a monopoly of the name; and in the -present case there is really no reason to suppose that Greene had any -individual in mind, other than the historical Roscius. The name is given -to Ostler (q.v.) in 1611, and was in common generic use for a player; -cf. e.g. Marston, _Satires_ (1598), ii. 42: - - That fair-framed piece of sweetest poesy, - Which Muto put between his mistress' paps ... - Was penned by Roscio the tragedian; - -and _Scourge of Villainy_ (1598), xi. 40: - - Say who acts best? Drusus or Roscio? - -Similarly Fleay, ii. 279, has no real ground for supposing that the -player in the _Groatsworth of Wit_ is Wilson in particular. If, again, -any individual is meant, it might just as well be James Burbage. -Throughout Fleay is inclined to exaggerate the extent of the theatrical -references in the pamphlets of Greene and Nashe. But R. Simpson is much -worse in his hopelessly uncritical Introduction to _Faire Em_ in _The -School of Shakspere_, ii. 339, which is an attempt to trace a _vendetta_ -against the actors and especially Shakespeare as a main motive in -Greene's writing from 1584 onwards. As far as I can see, Greene's -attacks on the stage are limited to the three pamphlets named in the -text, and Nashe's to the _Menaphon_ preface. It is doubtful whether -Greene was writing for the stage at all before about 1590; in any case -it may be assumed that neither writer was normally engaged in tilting -against his paymasters.] - -[Footnote 1058: Cuthbert Conny-Catcher, _The Defence of Conny-Catching_ -(1592, Greene, _Works_, xi. 75), 'What if I should prove you a -Conny-Catcher, Maister _R. G._ would it not make you blush at the -matter?... Aske the Queens Players, if you sold them not _Orlando -Furioso_ for twenty Nobles, and when they were in the country sold the -same Play to the Lord Admirals men for as much more. Was not this plaine -_Conny-Catching_, Maister _R. G._?... But I hear, when this was -objected, you made this excuse; that there was no more faith to be held -with players than with them that valued faith at the price of a feather; -for as they were comedians to act, so the actions of their lives were -Camelion-like; that they were uncertain, variable, time-pleasers, men -that measured honesty by profit, and that regarded their authors not by -desert, but by necessity of time.'] - -[Footnote 1059: Dekker, _Jests to Make you Merrie_ (1607, _Works_, ii. -303, 352), 'As proud as a player that feedes on the fruité of diuine -poetry (as swine on acorns).... O you that are the Poets of these -sinfull times, ouer whome the Players haue now got the vpper hand, by -making fooles of the poore country people, in driuing them like flockes -of geese to sit cackling in an old barne: and to swallow downe those -playes for new which here euery punck and her squire (like the -interpreter and his poppet) can rand out by heart they are so stale, and -therefore so stincking; I know the Lady Pecunia and you come very hardly -together, & therefore trouble not you'; cf. his references to -'strowlers' in note to p. 332. Another seventeenth-century critic is -H[enry] P[arrot], _Laquei Ridiculosi or Springes for Woodcocks_ (1613), -_Epig._ 131, _Theatrum Licentia_: - - Cotta's become a player most men know, - And will no longer take such toyling paines; - For here's the spring (saith he) whence pleasures flow - And brings them damnable excessive gaines: - That now are cedars growne from shrubs and sprigs, - Since Greene's _Tu Quoque_ and those Garlicke Jigs. -] - -[Footnote 1060: _Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 194, 214. For Elizabethan -school-plays at Shrewsbury, cf. ch. xxiii, s.v. Ashton. Murray, ii. 204, -216, 243, 324, 364, 382, records plays by schoolboys or other children -at Bath (1602), Bristol (1594), Coventry (1601-2), Ludlow (1562, -1575-6), Norwich (1564-5), Plymouth (Totnes boys, 1564-74).] - -[Footnote 1061: _Poetaster_, III. iv. 344, 'O, it will get vs a huge -deale of money, Captaine, and wee haue need on't; for this winter ha's -made vs all poorer, then so many staru'd snakes: No bodie comes at vs; -not a gentleman, nor a ----.'] - -[Footnote 1062: _Hamlet_, II. ii. 339. This is the Folio text. The -Second Quarto omits all but the first ten lines, but that there was some -reference to the children in the original version of the play, the date -of which may be 1601, is shown by the First Quarto text: - - _Hamlet._ How comes it that they trauell? Do they grow restie? - - _Gilderstone._ No my lord, their reputation holds as it was - wont. - - _Hamlet._ How then? - - _Gilderstone._ Yfaith my Lord, noueltie carries it away, - For the principali publike audience that - Came to them, are turned to private playes, - And to the humour of children. -] - -[Footnote 1063: The main interest of the 'war of the theatres', or -'Poetomachia' as Dekker, _Satiromastix_, Epist. 10, calls it, is for -literature and biography, rather than for stage-history. I refer to it -under the plays concerned in chh. xxiii, xxiv, and can only add a brief -summary here. The treatment of R. A. Small, _The Stage Quarrel_ (1899), -is excellent, and may be supplemented by H. C. Hart's papers, _Gabriel -Harvey_, _Marston and Ben Jonson_ (_9 N. Q._ xi. 201, 281, 343, 501; -xii. 161, 263, 342, 403, 482) and _On Carlo Buffone_ (_10 N. Q._ i. -381), while the less critical view, partly derived from Fleay, of J. H. -Penniman, _The War of the Theatres_ (1897), is revised in his edition of -_Poetaster_ and _Satiromastix_. The protagonists are Jonson and Marston, -with whom became allied Dekker. Daniel and many others, whose names have -been brought under discussion, do not seem to have been really -concerned. Jonson himself tells us, in the _Apologetical Dialogue_, -probably written late in 1601, to _Poetaster_ that 'three yeeres, They -did provoke me with their petulant stiles On every stage'. This takes us -to 1599, up to which year there is no just ground for suggesting any -conflict between Jonson and Marston. Jonson may then have taken offence -at Marston's portrait of him, intended to be complimentary, as -Chrisoganus in _Histriomastix_. In the same year he criticized Marston's -style in _E. M. O._ In 1600 Marston satirized Jonson as Brabant Senior -in _Jack Drum's Entertainment_, and in 1601 as Lampatho Doria in _What -You Will_. Jonson in turn brought Marston into _Poetaster_ (1601) as -Crispinus, and added Dekker as Demetrius. Dekker retorted a month or two -later with his caricature of Jonson as Horace in _Satiromastix_. Some -unascertained part in the 'purge' given to Jonson is ascribed in _3 -Parnassus_ (1601) to Shakespeare. Jonson and Marston seem to have been -reconciled by 1603; but the dispute had not been merely a paper one, for -Jonson, _Conversations_, 11, 20, claims that he 'beat Marston, and took -his pistol from him'.] - -[Footnote 1064: Small, 67, has an excellent analysis of _Histriomastix_. -He dates it in 1596, but not convincingly. It might just as well be -1588-90. The text is in R. Simpson, _The School of Shakespeare_, ii. 1, -and needs re-editing. Moreover, Simpson thought that Posthaste was -Shakespeare. The actor-scenes are i. 112-62; ii. 70-147, 188-344; iii. -179-243, 265-78; iv. 159-201; v. 61-102, 238-43; vi. 187-240. Of these I -think that ii. 247-80; iii. 179-217, 265-78 may belong to the Marstonian -revision.] - -[Footnote 1065: Cf. _Hamlet_, II. ii. 415, 'The best actors -in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, -pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, -tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem -unlimited'.] - -[Footnote 1066: _Poetaster_, III. iv; IV. iv; V. iii. 108-38.] - -[Footnote 1067: Can the Aesop episode be a reminiscence of the part -played by Augustine Phillips in the Essex innovation? Cf. vol. ii, p. -205.] - -[Footnote 1068: _2 Return from Parnassus_, iv. 3; v. 1.] - -[Footnote 1069: In certain other plays which have actors amongst their -dramatis personae (e.g. _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ and Middleton's _Mayor -of Queenborough_) the point is reversed, and it is the regular companies -who satirize provincial companies or amateurs.] - -[Footnote 1070: Thus in 1618 the Mayor of Exeter complained of a company -travelling under Daniel's patent for the Children of Bristol (q.v.) -that, though the patent was for children, the company consisted of men, -with only five youths amongst them.] - -[Footnote 1071: Cf. ch. xii, introduction.] - -[Footnote 1072: Cf. App. C, No. lviii.] - -[Footnote 1073: Murray, ii. 235, 400, 410.] - -[Footnote 1074: Ibid. 199, 231, 264, 312, 341, 384, &c.] - -[Footnote 1075: The Order was appended to _A Declaration of the Lords -and Commons Assembled in Parliament, For the appeasing and quietting of -all unlawfull Tumults and Insurrections in the severall Counties of -England, and Dominion of Wales_ (1642). The whole pamphlet is facsimiled -in J. Knight's edition of J. Downes, _Roscius Anglicanus_ (1886).] - -[Footnote 1076: Hazlitt, _E. D. S._ 65.] - -[Footnote 1077: Wright, _Historia Histrionica_, 409, 411.] - - * * * * * - - +---------------------------------------------------------------+ - | TRANSCRIBER NOTES. | - | | - | P. xvii 'Litteratur' changed to 'Literatur'. | - | P. xxxiii 'Antient' changed to 'Ancient'. | - | P. xxxiv 'O. S.' changed to 'C. S.'. | - | P. xxxviii. 'Smith' changed to 'Strype'; moved alphabetically.| - | P. xxxix 'Stow' changed to 'Stowe'. | - | Footnote numbers that were left off are added on pages 95-97. | - | P. 315. Added missing footnote number. | - | P. 330. Added missing footnote number. | - | P. 363. Added missing footnote number. | - | Corrected various punctuation. | - +---------------------------------------------------------------+ - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE (VOL 1 OF -4) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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