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VI

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v I
THE HISTORY

OF
Cngfliat 3Iramatic 4oetrl
TO THE TIME OF SHAKESPEARE:
AND
ANNALS OF THE STAGE

L
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TO THE RESTORATION.

BY
J. PAYNE- COLLIER,

ESQ., F.S.A.

A NEW EDITION.

VOLUME THE FIRST.
LONDON:
GEORGE BELL &amp; SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.

1879.

T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET, W.C.

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

IT is not far from fifty years since the original edition of this
work was published; and it was then dedicated to a man in
an exalted station, who was never tired of bestowing favours
upon me, yet who niever would allow me to consider him my
patron, or to use any other term, as regarded my relative
position towards him, than that of friend and pupil. By his
annual bounty I was often enabled to avoid unwelcome
knocks on my study door; and I should be most ungrateful if I did not add, that his noble successor, without the
slightest claim upon him, and almost without personal knowledge of me, has continued the same uncalled-for liberality.
I am too proud of the incident to omit the acknowledgment
of it at the outset of the present edition of my early and
laborious undertaking.
I may, perhaps, be allowed to add that the late Duke of
Devonshire, notwithstanding his known partiality for letters,
often and often told me that he would willingly relinquish
half his fortune to see a representative of his family again
a leading member of the Liberal party in national politics:
had he fortunately lived as long as the object of his unceasing
A 2

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

kindness, he would have witnessed the accomplishment of his
noble aspiration.
As to the volumes in the hands of the reader, I have
to state that, since their original appearance, I have
constantly kept a copy at my elbow in my study; and
that, my eager pursuits continuing generally of a kindred
character, I always added, in its appropriate division, any
new discovery in connection with our early Stage and
its Literature. The reader will therefore find in their places,
not only the information originally supplied by me in i83I,
but much that I -have since been able to find; some
of it more recently than the date when I was correcting
my proofs. I may, perhaps, be allowed, even here, to give an
instance in point, more especially as the intelligence relates to
the greatest actor in the time of Shakespeare, who filled all
the loftiest characters in his tragedies, and of whom, and of
whose family, we have hitherto known nothing: I, of course,
allude to Richard Burbage. Who shall say how much the
genius of our great dramatist himself may not have been, I
do not say inspired, but fostered and animated, by the knowledge that he had such a supreme representative at his service?
Nobody has hitherto been able to affirm from whence, or from
what family, Richard Burbage, the actor of Hamlet, Macbeth,
Richard, or Othello came; but the general, if not universal,
opinion has been that Burbage and his relations were of
Warwickshire, if not indeed of Stratford-upon-Avon; and,
possibly, that his father had been an actor. Nowl what is
the fact? and we have it on unquestionable evidence âthe

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. V
original Registers of the Stationers' Company. The name
Burbage, in the licence of those times, was indifferently
spelt Burbage or Burby: it was so during the whole period
that Richard Burbage was upon the stage and afterwards;
and Cuthbert Burby, as a stationer, was actually the publisher of perhaps the earliest historical play Shakespeare ever
wrote, and in which Richard Burbage had performed-we
refer to Edward t/ie Third; and it must have been represented
in 1594 or 1595, and was printed and reprinted in 1596 and
I599. Cuthbert Burby also put forth the most correct text of
other dramas by Shakespeare; and we may be confident that
Cuthbert, the stationer, derived the better manuscripts from
his brother Richard the actor.
How, then, do we establish that the father of Cuthbert and
Richard was not himself an actor in Warwickshire, but an
agriculturist in Bedfordshire? We take up the Register of
the Company of Stationers for the year 1584, and there we
read as follows:-' Cuthbert Burbie, son of Edmond Burbie,
late of Erlsey, in the County of Bedford, husbandman, hath
put himselfe apprentis to William Wright, Stationer, for the
term of eight yeres from Christmas last;' with the addition
that Cuthbert Burbie had paid the usual fee of two shillings
and sixpence. There can be no question that Cuthbert, the
stationer, and Richard, the actor, were brothers, that Burby
and Burbage were the same name, and that their father,
Edmond, had never been an actor, but a farmer, not in Warwickshire, but in Bedfordshire.
With this indisputable proof I was not acquainted until

VI PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

recently; indeed, so very lately, that I was not able to insert
it when Vol. iii, pp. 257, 258, passed through my hands, and
contains such an account of the Burbage family as I could
then furnish. I only mention the matter to establish to how
late a date my information is brought down: why, of
the two sons of Edmond the husbandman, one became a
bookseller in London and the other an actor in Warwickshire and afterwards in London, must remain matter of speculation and future enquiry: there might then be good reason
for keeping up the distinction between the publisher and the
actor, especially as they lived in the same street; but there
can now be no doubt as to the facts, and I refer to them here
chiefly to enforce the fitness of examining ancient records, and
to encourage those who may follow me (now in my ninety-first
year) in searching closely and industriously, not only the most
likely, but the most unlikely places. I have done my best to
make my work complete; but in that very endeavour I prove
how much yet remains to be accomplished.
As I began, so I end, with my heart-felt thanks to the noble
House of Cavendish, the last-deceased member of which would
never permit me to employ the only really appropriate word
in reference to his generous aid, and my own insufficiency.
J. PAYNE COLLIER.

Rizerside, Maidenlicad, May I879.

CONTENTS OF THE WORK.
THE FIRST VOLUME.
ANNALS OF THE STAGE.
Preface to First Edition, Page i.
From the Earliest Time to Henry VIII, Page I.
Fitzstephen and Matthew Paris Minstrels of Henry VI in 1445
Miracle-play of St. Katherine, 1II9 Players of interludes in 3 and 4 Edw. IV
Annales Burtonenses, 1258 Players, etc., of Richard III, and of the Duke
Manuel de Peche of Norfolk, 1482
Feast of Corpus Christi, 1264 Children of the Chapel, 1467 and I482
Piers Ploughman and Chaucer Players of interludes, etc., of Henry VII
Minstrels and their rewards, 1333 Players of the Prince and the Queen
Ludi of Edward III in 1348 The King's and Queen's minstrels, 1494
Miracle-plays in London, 1378 Disguisings and revels temp. Henry VII
Miracle-plays of St. George in 1416 Polldore Virgil regarding plats
Lidgate and John Rykell Players of the nobility, 1509
Moral-plays tenmpore Henry VI The clergy actors as well as authors
During the Reign of Henry VIII, Page 65.
Royal revels at Court, 1510 William Crane, Master of the Chapel
Sir Henry Guildford, temporary Master of the The Duke of Richmond's rewards, 1526
Revels Revels under Sir Henry Guildford and Sir
R. Gibson, J. English, H. Medwall, and W. Thomas Wyat, 1527
Cornyshe, 1515 Play at Gray's Inn before Wolsey, 1528
The King's old and new players Luther brought upon the stage
Children of the Chapel, 15I5 Robert of Cicily played at Chester, 1529
John Heywood, the singer John Heywood's interludes. 1530
The King's books of payments to 1521 The King's Household Books
Garments for players, 1516 Proclamation against interludes, 1533
The King's minstrels and their wages Sir David Lindsay's Three Estaitis, 1539
William Peeres, interlude-maker to the Earl of Players committed to the Counter, 1543
Northumberland Stat. 34 and 35 Henry VIII, c. i
Comedy of Plautus before Henry VIII Thomas Wylley's letter to Cromwell
Revels before Princess Mary, 1522 Sir Thomas Cawarden, Master of the Revels,
Plays performed at marriages, etc. 1546
Household of Henry VIII in 1526

VIII CONTENTS.
During the Reigns of Edward VI and Mary, Page 136.
The King's musicians and players, 1547 Proclamation by Queen Mary against interWarwick Inn and Blackfriars ludes, I553
Will Somers, jester to Henry VIII and Ed- Plays suppressed for two years
ward VI Stage-play at Hatfield-Bradock, 1556
Proclamation against plays, etc., 1549 Orders by the Star Chamber against theatrical
Proclamation against Players and Printers, I552 performances, 1556
George Ferrers, Master of the King's Pastimes, A Sack full of News
1552 - Plays and players in London, I557
The play of Esop's Crow, by G. Ferrers The Queen's musicians and players, from her
Plays, etc., before the Princess Elizabeth household-book
William Baldwin and his play, 1553 Mask and feats of activity, before the Queen
Miracle-plays in London in 1557
From the Accession of Elizabeth to the year 1575, Page i66.
Proclamation against plays, 1558 Palamon and Arcyte, by Richard Edwards,
Sir R. Dudley's servants, 1559 1566
Players at Court interrupted Gray's-Inn Plays and Court revels
Sir Thomas Benger, Master of the Revels, I56o Apparel of the revels, in 1571
Children of the Chapel of Windsor Musical and Dramatic establishments of the
The Queen's musicians and players, x562 Queen, 1571
Ferrex and Porrex and Julius Cesar Stat. x4 Eliz. c. 5, against the players of the
Masks, etc., for the meeting of Elizabeth and nobility
Mary Queen of Scots, 1562 Pla) s before the French Ambassadors, 1572
Grindall's hostility to plays and players, 1563 Thomas Blagrave, chief officer of the revels, 1574
Edwards's tragedy, etc., before the Queen Patent to James Burbage and others, Lord
Ezechias, by Nicholas Udall 1564 Leicester's players, 1574
From the year 1575 to the year 1585, Page 206.
Lord Mayor and Corporation of London op- Shows, etc., at Kenilworth Castle
posed to theatrical performances William Hunnis's interludes
Act of Common Council, I575 Edmund Tylney, Master of the Revels, 1579
Petition of the Queen's players John Lyly's petition for the office
Remedies for the evil of plays, I576 John Smith, an interlude player, 1581
Players expelled from the City Renewed hostility of the City to plays
Building of Blackfriars playhouse by James Ob ervation of the Sabbath, 1582
Burbage and others, 1576 Accident at Paris Garden, 2583
The Theatre and Curtain in Moorfields John Field's letter to Lord Leicester
Robert Wilson and John Lane or Laneham The Queen's company of players, 1583
Sir Jerome Bowes and his theafrical project, The Queen's musicians and players in 1585
1577 Recorder Fleetwood's reports to Lord Burghlcy
From the year I585 to the year I599, Page 255.
Sir Francis Walsingham's Intelligencer's Letter, George Peele's verses to the Queen at Theoi586 bald's, i591
Warrant to Thomas Gyles, master of the child- Theatrical perf;rmances near Cambridge and
ren of Paul's in the University, 1593
Plays by the gentlemen of Gray's Inn Repair of Blackfriars Theatre in i596
Lord Bacon's letter to Lord Burghley, 1588 Petition by William Shakespeare, Richard
M ask given by Elizabeth to James VI of Scot- Burbage, and others to the Privy Council,
land, x589 1596
Players silenced for bringing Martin Marpre- Debts of the Queen's office of the revels
late on the stage, i589 Letter frcm Thomas Nash to Sir R. Cotton,
Commissioners to inspect plays and his Isle of Dogs, 1597
The Children of Paul s silenced, I590 Limitation of the right of playing to two
theatres, 1598
~ I*A
ii=:.-...

CONTENTS.

From the year I599 to the death of Elizabeth, Page 301.
Building of the Fortune Theatre, 1599 The Queen entertained at Sir R. Cecill's and
The Fortune and Globe Theatres only allowed, the Lord Keeper's, 1602
600o Performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
Personalities in plays at the Curtain, i60o in 1601-2
Disputes between the Court and City Anecdote of Shakespeare and Richard Burbage
The Queen's players dissolved Anecdotes of Ben Jonson, John Marston, EdThe Lord Chamberlain's, Lord Pembroke's, mund Spenser, bir W. Rawley, and Sir J.
Lord Derby's, and Lord Admiral's players Davies
at Court, x60o Death of Queen Elizabeth, 1603
Diary of a Barrister in i60T, i602, and 1603 The Earl of Essex and the Queen's ring
Song in a mask before Elizabeth, 1602 List of theatres in London
From the Accession of James I to the year I617, Page 331.
English players at Edinburgh, 1599 Shakespeare's retirement as an actor
Plays suspended on the accession of James I ~ Sir George Buc Master of the Revels, 610o
License of 1603 to L. Fletcher, W. Shake- Death of Prince Henry, 1612
speare, and others Patent of 1612 to the Prince Palatine's players
Queen's and Prince's servants Players sent to Bridewell, I613
Children of the Queen's Revels under Samuel Phoenix, or Cockpit '1 heatre, in Drury Lane,
Daniel, i604 constructed
Eastward, Ho! and the Tragedy of Gowry The Globe Theatre burnt, i613
The King's musicians and players Paris Garden rebuilt, 1614
Stat. I Jac. I, c. 78, regarding the players of Shakespeare's removal from London
the nobility New theatre in Blackfriars projected, i616
Ben Jonson's MS. masks, 1605 and i6o6 Attack upon the Cockpit Playhouse, x617
Stat. 3 Jac. I, c. 2I, against oaths in plays
From the year 1617 to the death of James I, Page 390.
Play concerning the Marquis d'Ancre, 1617 The Fortune Theatre burnt, i621
Plays during the King's progress, ix68 Death of Richard Burbage, and notice of some
The Queen's Servants of her royal chamber of of his chief parts, i62o
Bristol, 1618 Sir Henry Herbert, Deputy Master of the
The King's Declaration regarding sports and Revels, i622
pastimes, i6i8 Plays licensed by Sir George Buc
Attempts by the City to suppress the Black- J. Fletcher's plays distinguished from those of
friars Theatre, I619 F. Beaumont
Patent in 1619 to the King's players at the Fatal accident at the"Blackfriars, i623
Globe and Blackfriars Plays licensed by Sir Henry Herbert prior to
Sir John Astley, Master of the Revels i625
Projected amphitheatre in Linco!n's-inn-fields, Middleton's Game of Chess, and the offence
I620 given by it, i624
King's letter to cancel the patent
From the Accession of Charles I to the year I635, Page 434.
Stat. I Car I, c. i, against plays, bear-baiting, Midsummer Night's Dream played on Sunday
etc., on Sunday in the house of John Williams, Bishop of
Patent by Charles I to Hemmings, Condell, as Lincoln, x631
his players, etc., i625 Sir Humphrey Mildmay's Diary
Gift to them of one hundred marks Prynne's Histriomastix, and consequences of
Musicians of Charles I in i625 its publication in 1633
The project for an amphitheatre revived John Shakespeare, a bit and spur maker in
Shakespeare's plays acted at the Red Bull London, 1633
Theatre, i627 Arrest of strolling players at Banbury
Salisbury Court Theatre built in i629 Regulations regarding coaches at Blackfnars,
Experiment of French actresses, i620 1633
Petition to Laud against the Blackfriars The King's opinion respecting oaths in plays,
Theatre, x631 under 3 Jac. I, c. 21
Gift by the King of iool. to his playeis Mask of the Four Inns of Court, i634
w y^~~~~~-:~~. -:^3^: *.\-, *,,.. ^ ~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~.. ' '*. i'.:-}.

CONTENTS.

THE SECOND VOLUME.
From the year 1635 to the closing of the Theatres, Page i.

Establishment of a French company in London,
i635
The King's debts for plays, etc.
Five English companies in London
Restraint of players in consequence of the
plague, 1636
Twenty pounds a week allowed to the King's
players
Juvenile Company under Christopher Beeston,
1637
Players at the Cockpit arrested
Order against printing plays
The King's objection to a passage in a play by
Massinger, 1638
Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels in his
own right
Davenant's projected theatre near Fleet Street,
i639
Order regarding the exclusive right of acting
plays

Personalities in plays at the Red Bull Theatre,
I639
Daveliant's resignation of his patent for a
theatre, 1639
Insubordination of William Beeston's company, 1640
Ordinance of I642 concerning the temporary
suppression of stage plays
Infraction of the Ordinance, 1644
Ordinance for the punishment of players, 1647
Proceedings in Parliament regarding p:ays and
theatres
Act of 1647, for the permanent suppression of
stage-plays, etc.
Disobedience to the Act, in 1649
Accident at Wltney, on the performance of
Mucedorus, 1654
Davenant's Siege of Rhodes, 1646

HISTORY OF DRAMATIC POETRY.
Introduction to Miracle-plays, Page 53.
The subjects of Miracle-plays and misapplica- The Chester Miracle-plays
tion of the word ' Mystery' Cornish Guary Miracle
Their origin and antiquity The clergy authors and actors of Miracle-plays
Chester plays at Whitsuntide, 1268 Register of Thetford Priory from 1461 to 1540
Proofs that they were translated from the Guild of Corpus Christi at York, 1408
French by Ralph Higden Churches the earliest theatres
Mistere du Viel Testament par personnages Trading companies the performers of Miracle
joue a Paris, pr. 1490 plays
Oldest English Miracle-play The object of Miracle-plays
The Widklrk Miracle-plays Mechanical contrivances for acting MiracleLudus Coventrim plays

CONTENTS. XI
The Widkirk, Chester, and Coventry Miracle-plays, Page 81.
The Proclamation of the plays Slaughter of the Innocents
The Creation Christ's Baptism and Temptation
Rebellion of Lucifer Woman taken in Adultery, etc.
Death of Abel Treachery of Judas
Noah's Flood The Crucifixion
Abraham and Isaac Casting the Dice
Jacob and Esau The Harrowing of Hell
Prophecies of the Messiah, etc. The Resurrection
Balak and Balaam, etc. The Ascension
Salutation of the Virgin Antichrist
Conception and birth of Christ The Last Judgment
Adoration of the Shepherds MS. of the Chester plays written by Edward
Oblation of the Three Kings Gregorie, I591
Review of the Digby Miracle-plays, Page 152.
Three plays on the Conversion of St. Paul Childermas Day: or, the Slaughter of the InOreginale de Sancta Maria MIagdalena | nocents, attributed to John Parfre
Review of Printed Religious Plays, Page 158.
Christ's Temptation, by John Bale History of Jacob and Esau
Mary Magdalen, by Lewis Wager Tragedy of Abraham's Sacrifice
Interlude of King Darius Interlude of Godly Queen Hester
Introduction to Morals, or Moral-plays, Page I83.
Definition of a Moral, or Moral-play Representation of Moral-plays
Origin and antiquity of Moral-plays Interludes, and the time of their performance
Warton's opinion on the origin of Moral-plays The Cradle of Security
Allegorical personages The Play of Plays in Gosson's Plays Confuted
The Devil and the Vice in Five Actions
Mistakes regarding the Vice Defence of Plays, by Thomas Lodge
Manuscript Moral-plays of the reign of Henry VI, Page 200.
The Castle of Perseverance Mankind
Mind, Will, and Understanding
Printed Moral-plays, relating to Mankind at large, Page 217.
Nature, by Henry Medwall Every-man
The World and the Child The Interlude of Youth
Hick Scorner Lusty Juventus.....~:?:5;h
t '*-.'^^
'. - ' *:- * ^ '^f- l

XII

CONTENTS.

Moral-plays of a general character, Page 236.
Nature of the Four Elements Marriage of Wit and Science
Magnificence, by John Skelton John Redford's MS. Moral plays
The Trial of Treasure All for Money, by Thomas Lupton
The longer thou livest, the more Fool thou art, Three Ladies of London
by W. Wager Three Lords and 'Three Ladies of London
Like will to Like, by Ulpian Fulwell Liberality and Prodigality
Moral-plays, resembling Tragedy and Comedy, Page 269.
Tom Tiler and his Wife Appius and Virginia, by R. B.
'he Conflict of Conscience, by N. Woodes Albion, a political interlude
The Disobedient Child, by T. Ingelend Common Conditions
Jack Juggler Interlude of Nice Wanton
Canimyses, by Thomas Preston
Interludes, Page 299.
Pardoner, Friar, Curate, and Neighbour Pratt Gentleness and Nobility
The four P's Thersytes
John, Tib and Sir John Robin Conscience
Play of the Weather Beauty and Good Properties of Wonien
Wit and Folly
Introduction to the Rise and Progress of Tragedy and Comedy,
Page 324.
The terms explained The style of our earliest dramatic productions
Early Tragedies and Comedies Spenser's Tears of the Muses
Romeo and Juliet prior to 1562 Shakespeare's first dramatic efforts, and the
Stephen Gosson's three dramatic pieces date when he began to write
Sources of dramatic compositions Tragedy, History, and Comedy
G. Whetstone and Sir Philip Sidney on plays Dramatic authors usually actors
prior to 1583
Tragedy and Comedy, their Rise and Progress, Page 35.
Ralph Roister Doister, by Nicholas Udall Ferrex and Porrex, by T. Sackville and 1.
Gammer Gurton's Needle, by Johu Still Norton
Misogonus, by Thomas Richards
The same subject continued, Page 389.
Damon and Pythias, by Richard Edwards Tancred and Gismund, by R. Wilmot and
The Supposes and Jocasta, by George Gas- others
coigne and others Translations of Seneca's tragedies
Plays at Court between i568 and 158o

CONTENTS.

XIII

The same subject continued, Page 418.
A Knack to know a Knave Arden of Feversham and the Yorkshire Tragedy
Wil iam Kemp's Merriments attributed to Shakespeare
Sir Clyomon and Clamydes A Warning for Fair Women
The Misfortunes of Arthur, by Thomas Hughes Two Tragedies in one
and others The Tragedy of Page of Plymouth
The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune The Fair Maid of Bristol, etc.
The domestic tragedy described
Review of the Six Old Plays to which Shakespeare is supposed to
have been indebted, Page 448.
The History of Promos and Cassandra, by The Taming of a Shrew
George Whetstone Chronicle History of Leir, King of England
Troublesome Reign of King John Manarchmi, from Plautus, by W. W.
Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth
Introduction to the immediate Predecessors of Shakespeare, Page 467.
The number of companies of players in London Henry Porter's productions
prior to 1590 Thomas Dekker, William Haughton, and John
Philip Henslowe and his Diary or Account-book Day
beginning in 1591 Henslowe's connection with Shakespeare's
Edward Alleyn and Henslowe company
Henry Chettle and his plays mentioned by Wentworth Smith
Henslowe Richard Hatheway
Anthony Munday and his plays John Webster
Michael Drayton's William Longsword Thomas Middleton
George Chapman, one of Henslowe's drama- Prolific talents of our old dramatists
tists

Marlow, and the first employment of blank-verse on the public
Stage, Page 487.
R. Greene's Menaphon, 1587, and Perimedes, Examination of the Life and Death of Doctor
1588, quoted regarding dramatic blank verse Faustus
Proofs that Marlow wrote the two parts of Examination of the Massacre at Paris
Tamburlaine the Great - the Jew of Malta
The first blank verse play acted on the public - Edward the Second
stage Inquiry into Marlow's Versification
Examination of the two parts of Tamburlaine The true Tragedy of Richard, Duke ot York
the Great
Review of Robert Greene's Dramatic Works, Page 522.
Personal particulars regarding Greene Friar Bacon and Friar Bongay
Greene's blank-verse for the stage James the Fourth
Pandosto Groat's-worth of Wit, and other George-a-Green, the Pinner of Wakefield
tracts, by Greene Alphonsus, King of Arragon
History of Orlando Furioso.1 ~.:: ~,Y.;..,-~~j.i. iG
~..

XIV

CONTENTS.

THE THIRD VOLUME.
HISTORY OF DRAMATIC POETRY-(Continued).
Review of John Lyly's Dramatic Works, Page i.

His rank as a dramatic poet
Letters to Lord Burghley
Alexander and Campaspe
Sapho and Phao
Galathea

Midas
Mother Bombie
Maid's Metamorphosis
Woman in the Moon
Love's Metamorphosis

Review of George Peele's Dramatic Works, Page 17.
Praise of Peele by Thomas Nash Old Wives' Tale
Arraignment of Paris Edward the First
Battle of Alcazar David and Bethsabe
Review of Thomas Kyd's Dramatic Works, Page 29.
Kyd's rank next to Marlow The Spanish Tragedy
The First Part of Jeronimo Cornelia
Review of Thomas Lodge's Dramatic Works, Page 36.
Lodge, Greene, and Kyd compared Wounds of Civil War
Lodge's novel of Rosalynde, the foundation of Lodge's and Greene's Looking-Glassfor London
As You Like It and England
Review of Thomas Nash's Dramatic Works, Page 43.
His satirical and vituperative talents Summer's Last Will and Testament
Play called the Isle of Dogs Nash's and Marlow's Tragedy of Dido, Queen
Contest with Gabriel Harvey. of Carthage

CONTENTS.

Works by H. Chettle, A.
Chettle originally a compositor
Tragedy of Hoffman
Patient Grissell
Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green
Death of Robert, Earl of Huntington

Munday, and R. Wilson, Page 50.
Two Italian Gentlemen
Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington
Life of Sir John Oldcastle
The Cobbler's Prophecy

Works by S. Daniel, Lady Pembroke, and S. Brandon, Page 67.
The Classic Drama as opposed to the Romantic Tragedy of Philotas, by Daniel
Drama Lady Pembroke's Antony
Tragedy of Cleopatra, by Daniel Samuel Brandon's Virtuous Octavia
THE OLD THEATRES, THEIR APPURTENANCES, ETC.

Account of the Old Theatres of London, Page 8.
The Theatre The Fortune Theatre
The Curtain The Rose, Hope, Swan, and Newington
Blackfriars Theatre Theatres
Paris Garden The Red Bull Theatre
Whitefriars and Salisbury Court Theatres The Cockpit or Phoenix Theatre
The Globe Theatre

Details connected with the performance of Plays, Page x40.
Public and private theatres Pamphlets
Price of admission to theatres Dedications
Properties, apparel, and furniture Extemporal plays and plots
Scenery Audiences
Hour and duration of performance On the payment of authors
Jigs On the payment of actors
Play-bills Prologues and Epilogues
Rehearsals Prompter
First performances Music
Printing plays

~~::
i..-,
~_,: S:,;

XVI

CONTENTS.

Memoirs of the Principal Actors in Shakespeare's Plays, Page 257.
Richard Burbage Robert Armin
John Heminge William Ostler
Augustine Phillips Nathaniel Field
William Kemp John Underwood
Thomas Pope Nicholas Tooley
George Bryan William Ecclestone
Henry Condell Joseph Taylor
William Sly Robert Benfield
Richard Cowley Robert Goughe
John Lowin Richard Robinson
Samuel Crosse John Shancke
Alexander Cooke J.ohn Rice
Samuel Gilburne
ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Globe Theatre
Paris Garden Theatre
The Fortune Theatre

Title to Vol. I.,,,, II.,,,,III.

PREFACE TO THE FORMER EDITION.
ENGLISH Dramatic Poetry stands 'alone in the history of
letters'; but while in Germany it has been enthusiastically
admired and diligently studied, in this country, as if satisfied
with our acknowledged pre-eminence, it has attracted comparatively little attention. Excepting only so far as was necessary for the illustration of the text of Shakespeare, the origin
and progress of that art, in which he had many precursors and
rivals, seem to have been thought scarcely worth inquiry.
We are therefore without any history of English dramatic
poetry; for although Warton, in his progress through other
departments, has touched upon that subject cursorily and incidentally, he has not attempted to trace its development and
improvement to the period to which his work extends. The
field of English poetry was too wide for him to dwell even
upon its most remarkable productions.
This deficiency I have attempted to supply; and, as far as
i If there be any just exception to this remark, it can apply only to the
dramatic poetry of Spain. Even France might have possessed a 'romantic drama', had the unaided and popular exertions of Hardie been&gt;
followed up by other poets. That author, who for so many years, and
while our Shakespeare and Spain's Lope de Vega were yet living, was
the sole support of the French stage, could never have been so prolific,.
had he checked the luxuriance of his fancy by the observance of the
unities. He is said to have produced not less than eight hundred pieces 1;
of different descriptions.
VOL. I. B $
(jo.,-^
~I:~~~~~~:::~~~~~~::;::;1:- - ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~??1
~,~~~~~~~~....::....

PREFACE TO THE

zeal and industry merit success, I claim to have deserved it.
Thus far every man has a right to speak of his own qualifications, though I am well aware how many others are necessary
for the completion of such an undertaking. To a large mass
of facts that are quite new, I have been careful to add the
valuable, but scattered information furnished by Warton; but
it seemed to me that the dramatic poetry of this country
formed of itself a department so important and interesting, as
to demand to be separately and systematically examined.
For England to possess the greatest dramatic poets of the
world, and to be without a history of her dramatic poetry,
seemed an extraordinary solecism in letters.
The present work consists of three divisions:I. Annals of the Stage.
II. A History of Dramatic Poetry.
III. An Account of Theatres and their Appurtenances.
In point of novelty and interest, I ought first to have
treated the second of these branches; but I thought that an
inquiry into the progress of dramatic poetry ought to be preceded by such details as I could furnish regarding the public
or private encouragement it from time to time received, and
the state of society at particular periods when the stage either
flourished or declined. The Annals of the Stage commence
at the earliest period to which any records of the kind extend;
and they supply facts connected with the establishment, promotion, limitation, or suppression of the theatre, as a national
institution, down to the Restoration. It is admitted, that
after this event our drama assumed an entirely new character.
1By the discovery of some valuable manuscripts, I have been
able to carry back this portion of my inquiry to a more remote
period than any precursor; and I have added many new and
curious particulars, of a later date, to the scanty stock of
knowledge before acquired.

FORMER EDITION.

iii

When I commenced my researches, nearly twenty years
ago, I was discouraged on all hands by those who imagined
that Malone, Steevens, Reed, and Chalmers had exhausted
the subject, and that, in the harvest they had reaped, they
had not left even gleanings behind them. Nevertheless,
seeing how many deficiencies remained to be supplied, I
persevered in the collection of materials. I obtained admission into the State Paper Department, the Privy Council
Office, and into the Chapter House, Westminster, and I soon
discovered in these depositories many valuable original documents, throwing a fresh, clear, and strong light upon some of
the most obscure parts of the history of our stage and drama.
Among these were unopened patents to different companies
of players, and original accounts of the royal revels from the
early part of the reign of Henry VIII; while the unexamined
books of the domestic expenses of our Kings and nobility,
from the reign of Edward IV downwards, provided me with
a great variety of novel and interesting details.
These sources of information had not been open to general
search, and I was therefore not much surprised to find that a
great deal had escaped discovery; but when I came to examine the manuscripts in that great national receptacle, the
British Museum, to which everybody could easily obtain
access, I was astonished at the quantity of substantial materials which had remained there undetected. From the
Burghley Papers scarcely a single fact had been procured,
although nearly every volume contained matters of importance; and the Harleian, Cottonian, and Royal MSS. had
been only cursorily and hastily inspected.1 In these I met
To show how little attention they had attracted, I need only mention,
that among the Royal MSS. I found two of Ben Jonson's Masks, in his
own hand-writing, nowhere noticed but in the Catalogue, itself very imperfect.
B 2
- /; *:.

PREFACE TO THE

with letters from, and concerning, our most notorious poets,
the predecessors and contemporaries of Shakespeare; and in
a Diary, kept by an intelligent Barrister, who lived while our
great dramatist was in the zenith of his popularity, I found
original and authentic notices and anecdotes of him, Spenser,
Jonson, Marston, and other distinguished authors of the time.
It occupied me some years to go through the voluminous col- lections in the Museum, but I never had occasion to regret
the misspending of a single hour so employed.
In the second division of my work, the History of Dramatic
Poetry, I begin with Miracle-plays (hitherto mistakenly
termed 'Mysteries'), as the source and foundation of our
national drama; and I have; for the first time, adduced some
-proofs that we were indebted to France. The account I have
given of them contains much that was before unknown; and
the whole subject, while it is curious to the antiquary, will not
be found without interest to the general reader. I am not
aware of the existence of any performance of the kind in our
language, whatever may be its date, that I have not carefully
examined. I have thence traced the connection between
Miracle-plays, consisting in the outset of Scripture characters,
and Moral-plays (or 'Moralities' as they have been of late
years usually denominated), 'represented by allegorical personages; and I have shown how the first, almost imperceptibly,
deviated into the last, by the gradual intermixture of allegory
with sacred history, until Miracle-plays were finally superseded.
This view of the subject, which does not seem to have occurred to any who have gone before me, is succeeded by a
similar investigation of the structure and design of Moralplays. I have endeavoured to point out the manner in which
they, in turn, gave way to Tragedy and Comedy, by the introduction, from time to time, of characters in actual life, or
supposed to be drawn from it. With this purpose, I have

FORMER EDITION.

inspected, I believe, all, and in the course of my work reviewed
most of the principal Moral-plays in our language, whether
printed or manuscript, commencing with those most nearly
allied to the Miracle-plays they excluded, and proceeding by
gradations to those which, in their form, characters, and
dialogue, more or less distantly resemble Tragedy and
Comedy. It will be seen, in the course of this inquiry, that
in process of time their separate natures became mixed and
confounded, and that ultimately, as might be expected, the
real was entirely substituted for the fictitious.
The growth of Tragedy and Comedy, from their infancy
until they reached maturity in the hands of Shakespeare, has
next been considered. I am not aware that I have neglected
to notice any production that could illustrate the inquiry, and
the extraordinary facilities I have enjoyed have enabled me
to examine some dramatic performances, in this and other
views of great value, which have either remained unknown,
have been misunderstood, or have been passed over in silence.
This part of the subject has necessarily embraced an examination of the predecessors and earlier contemporaries of Shakespeare. I have been anxious to arrive at a just estimate of
them and their works, in order to ascertain how far our great
dramatist was indebted to any previous models, and to what
extent he deserved the praise, which Dryden was the first to
bestow, that he 'created the stage among us'.l It was, in
truth, created by no one man, and in no one age; and whatever improvements Shakespeare -introduced, it will be seen
that when he began to write for the theatre, our romantic
drama was completely formed and firmly established.
The romantic drama and the classic drama, as far as relates
to the disregard or observance of the unities, perhaps had
their origin in the same cause, operating upon a different
' In the dedication to his translation of 7uvenal, I692.

PREFACE TO THE

state of society, viz., the imperfectness and incompetence of
mechanical and scenic art. While in Greece and Rome the
effect was to limit the action to one place and time, so as not
to offend the understandings of more refined spectators, in
England appeal was made only to the imagination of a ruder
auditory, which willingly believed that the same boards in the
same play represented perhaps two different quarters of the
globe.
I have not brought down the History of Dramatic Poetry
lower than the era of Shakespeare, because nearly all the
principal dramatists who followed him are well known. The
works of Ben Jonson, of Beaumont and Fletcher, of Ford,
Massinger, and Webster, have been separately published, and
those of Marston and Shirley are in progress through the
press; upon these I could pretend to offer little that was
new. I might, indeed, have enlarged upon Chapman, Dekker, Heywood, Brome, and some others; but specimens of
their plays have been presented in various shapes, and
they possess few characteristics to distinguish them from
more notorious contemporaries. Shirley was the last of the
School of Shakespeare, and he continued to write until the
closing of the theatres by the Puritans, and died after the
Restoration..The third division of my subject relates to the Origin and
History of our old Theatres, with as complete a view of their
appurtenances, properties, and other matters connected with
them, with authors, actors, and audiences, as I could procure
from printed books or manuscript authorities. Here I am
bound to admit that Malone did much; but he left much
undone, and, in the details he furnished, committed important
errors, which subsequent inquiries have enabled me to correct. I have pointed out the site and foundation of theatres
of which he confessedly knew nothing, and I have filled up.. \S

FORMER EDITION.;

vii

various lacunce, some of which he would doubtless have himself supplied, had he lived to enlarge and remodel the prolegomena to his Shakespeare. Adopting, with due acknowledgment, such materials as he and others furnished, and
adding to them my own acquisitions, I have arranged the
whole under distinct heads, so that the existing information
upon any particular point may be referred to and examined
at once. I have carefully collated all the extracts, but amid
so many quotations and references, I can hardly hope that
some unimportant errors do not remain.
Such is the general outline of my undertaking; and my
obligations to those who have aided me in the progress of it
are great and numerous.
My debt of gratitude to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire
precludes the possibility of adequate acknowledgment; but
I would rather be thought wanting in the due expression of my obligation, than risk the imputation that I have
overstated my sense of such flattering encouragement and
liberal assistance. Among other singular advantages, I
have enjoyed unrestricted access to that most valuable
collection of plays commenced by the late John Philip
Kemble, and continued by his Grace, until it now forms a
complete English Dramatic Library, from the earliest to the
latest date.
Lord Francis Leveson Gower is himself a poet; and with
the liberality which belongs to his rank in life and in letters,
he afforded me every facility in the inspection of many
volumes of the utmost rarity at Bridgewater House.
Through my friend Mr. Amyot, Sir Robert Peel, then
principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, gave
me admission into the State Paper Office. I found that he
had anticipated my purpose by ordering a collection to be
made of such documents as related to the stage; that colleca~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

viii
X X
* rrll

PREFACE TO THE

tion, however, was not completed, and my object was zealously seconded by Mr. Lemon.
By Mr. Hudson Gurney, M.P., I was favoured with the
unlimited use of three manuscript Moral plays, the earliest,
and, without dispute, the most valuable specimens of the
kind in our language.
To Mr. Davies Gilbert, M.P., I have to return my thanks
for the gift of two curious works, printed under his direction,
illustrative of the Cornish Guary Miracle; and for the opportunity of searching the manuscripts of the Royal Society, of
which he was then President.
Mr. Peregrine Townley, at the friendly instance of Mr.
Gage, with alacrity placed in my hands a series of Miracleplays, long preserved in his family, older than any other
manuscript of the same description in English.
The Privy Council Registers, from the earliest date to which
they extend, were opened to me by order of Mr. Greville;
and he most obligingly lent me his assistance in searching
the volumes of early proclamations belonging to that office.
My hearty acknowledgments are also due to Sir Thomas
Phillipps, whose collection of manuscripts is well known; to
Mr. Douce, whose learning is as curious as it is extensive; to
Mr. Markland, the learned editor of two of the Chester
Miracle-plays; to Mr. Ellis, Mr. Madden, and Mr. Carlisle, of
the British Museum; to Mr. Dyce, so well read in our old
poetry; to Mr. Bright, who lent me an unprinted play of the
-utmost singularity; to Mr. Caley, keeper of the records inthe Augmentation Office and Chapter-House; and to Messrs.
C. and F. Devon of the latter establishment; to Mr. Phelps,
Mr. Field, and Mr. Haslewood. Of the extraordinary resources of the latter I could not extensively avail myself, as
they chiefly relate to a period of our dramatic history to
which I have not brought down.my present work.

FORMER EDITION.

Last in the list, but unquestionably among the very first in
obligation, I have to name my friend Mr. Amyot, Treasurer
of the Society of Antiquaries. To him I am indebted, not
only for much valuable knowledge, but for the means of information, by most serviceable introductions, and for the
kindest aid throughout my undertaking. To all who are
acquainted with him this tribute will appear unnecessary.
I* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~,... -.";
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ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
No country in Europe, since the revival of letters, has been
able to produce any notice of theatrical performances of so
early a date as England.1 That notice was first published by
Stow in his Survey of London, 1599, who discovered it in the
Vita Sancti Thomre Archiepiscopi et Martyris, by William
Fitzstephen. In that work the author inserts a description
nobilissimc civitatis Lundonie, which contains the following
passage: Lundonia pro spectaculis theatralibus, pro ludis scenicis, ludos habet sanctiores, representationes miraculorum quce
sancti confessores operati sunt, seu representationes passionum
quibus claruit constantia martyrum.2
The plays of Roswitha, a nun of Gandersheim, in Lower Saxony, who
wrote at the close of the tenth century, and which are mentioned in a
note by the Editor of the last edition of Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., ii, 68,
were not represented.
2 There is a slight difference in the mode in which these words have
been translated into English. Stow gives them thus: ' London, for the
shews upon theaters, and comical pastimes, hath holy playes, representations of miracles, which holy confessors have wrought; or representations of tormentes, wherein the constancie of martirs appeared.' (Survey,
1599, p. 68.) Warton renders them compendiously as follows, omitting
to notice the words pro ludis scenicis: 'London, for its theatrical exhibitions, has holy plays, or the representation of miracles wrought by
confessors, and of the sufferings of martyrs.' He adds in a note, that he
~.'.,:..'

I2 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I I82.
It is probable that Fitzstephen wrote before the year 1 82;
and as Thomas a Becket was not killed until I 70, the author
of his Life is speaking of theatrical performances in London
during the twelve years between those dates; which is bringing
it to as near a point as we can expect to arrive at. Warton
thought, from the mention of Henry III in it, that Fitzstephen
did not write his Life of Thomas a Becket until after 1216,
when that King came to the throne; but Ritson has shewn
that the Henry III there spoken of was ' Henry the younger,
son of Henry II, and grandson of the Empress Matilda, who
was crowned king in the life-time of his father',' and who died
in I I82.2 If Fitzstephen, in his Description of London, allude
to Henry III as still living, it would establish that he produced that part of his work prior to A.D. 1182.
It is to be inferred that these spectacula theatralia were then
has 'construed sanctiores in a positive sense', without stating his reason
for so doing. (Hist. Eng. Poet., ii, 69, 8vo.) Malone elsewhere follows
Warton, but calls the representations 'religious plays'. (Shakespeare by
Boswell, iii, 9.) The Rev. S. Pegge, who published the Description of
London by Fitzstephen, in 1772, translates sanctiores in a comparative
sense: 'London, in lieu of the ancient shews of the theatre, and the entertainments of the scene, has exhibitions of a more devout kind; either.
representations of those miracles which were wrought by the holy confessors, or those passions and sufferings in which the martyrs so signally
displayed their fortitude.' Fitzstephen has just before referred to the
state of Rome in this respect, and seems to be drawing a comparison
between the public amusements there and in London.
Ritson's note in Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., ii, 69, edit. 8vo.
2 This point is rendered still clearer by the circumstance, that Fitzstephen states that the Henry III whom he mentions was born in
London: Prince Henry, the son of Henry II, was born in London, but
Henry III, who succeeded in I216, was born at Winchester. The double
reign of Henry II and his son is noticed in the old comedy called Looke.
about You, 16o0, where we meet with the following stage direction: 'Sound
trumpets, enter with a herald on one side, Henry the Second, crowned,
&amp;c. On the other part, K. Henry, the son, crowned,' &amp;c.
*..j
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I I I9.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 13
established performances; and it is known that, prior to I I 9,
the Miracle-playof St. Katherine had been represented at
Dunstaple. This fact is proved by Matthew Paris and
Bulaeus: the former wrote his Vitc A bbatum, etc., as early
as 1240; where we are told, that while Geoffrey, afterwards
Abbot of St. Albans, was yet a secular person, he was invited
from Normandy by Richard, the then Abbot of St. Albans,
to teach the school established there; that, in consequence of
some delay, when Geoffrey arrived the vacant office had been
filled, and that he, therefore, took up his residence at Dunstaple, and brought out the Miracle-play of St. Katherine:
Legit igitur apud Dunestapliam, expectans scholam S. Albani
sibi repromissam; ubi quendam ludum de S. Katerina (quem
Miraeula vulgariter appellanmus) fecit; ad quce decoranda
petiit a Sacrista S. Albani, ut sibi cape chorales accommodarentur, et obtinuit.1 Matthew Paris proceeds to relate, that
on the following night Geoffrey's house was burnt, together
with the cape chorales; and, considering it a judgment of
heaven, 'he made himself a holocaust', assumed the habitum
religionis, and subsequently became Abbot of St. Albans.
'The testimony of Bulaus, in his Historia Universitatis
Parisiensis, is important in fixing the date of the representation of the play of St. Katherine. He informs us, that Geoffrey was a member of the University of Paris, and that he
died in 1146, having been raised to the dignity of A.D.
Abbot of St. Albans iii 9III.2 It is undoubted, that III9.
he brought out the play while he was yet at Dunstaple, and
before he had assumed the religious habit, so that I II9, when
he became Abbot, is the nearest date which can be fixed
with certainty. Warton conjectured, that the Miracle-play
of St. Katherine was represented by the scholars of Geoffrey
1 Vit. Abb. ad calc. Histor. Major. Edit. I640, tom. i, p. 56.
2 Vol. ii, p. 226. Edit. Paris, 1665.
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ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1258.

'about the year I I o';1 but, perhaps, it was performed even
earlier, as that date would leave only nine years between his
taking orders (in consequence of the fire the day after the
exhibition, according to Matthew Paris) and his attainment
of the highest dignity in the monastery of St. Albans.
According to Bulaeus, this play of St. Katherine was not
then by any means a novelty-non novo quidem instituto, sed
de consuetudine magistrorum et scholarum, and from a passage in the Annales Burtonenses we may conclude, that in the
time of Matthew Paris, or very shortly afterwards, itinerant
actors were well known. Among the regulations, under date
A. D. of A.D. 1258, we there meet with the following remark1258. able expressions: Histrionibus potest dari cibus, quia
pauperes sunt, non quia histriones; et eorum ludi non videantur,
vel audiantur, vet permittantur fieri coram Abbate vel monachis.2 Here the words histriones and ludi would seem distinctly to point out the nature of the performances.3 One
objection to these ludi might possibly be, that the hiatriones,gave them in the popular language of the country; and it
will be seen hereafter, that there is some ground for supposing
that the Miracle-play of St. Katherine, and other dramatic
Hist. Eng. Poet., ii, 68, edit. 8vo. Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell,
iii, 9), professing to follow Warton, asserts without qualification, that the
play was performed 'in the year Io', and he refers to Dr. Percy in confirmation, whose words on the contrary are,'this was probably within
the eleventh century.' Reliques, i, 138, edit. I812. The words are not
in the earliest impression of I765.
2 Gale, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptor. Vet. i, 437.
3 Warton (H. E. P., iii, 4I, edit. 8vo) is of opinion, that the word histrio
had a very wide application in the barbarous ages, including mimics,
jugglers, dancers, tumblers, musicians, and minstrels; but in a note to the
preceding page, he refers to this very passage from the Annales Burtonenses, in order to shew, that in this instance it excluded minstrels, harpers,
and jugglers, and that it meant players.
~; ('?:/ -.,.

I303.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

representations, founded upon the lives of saints,
the events of the Old and New Testaments, at the
referred to, were in French.
The clergy do not seem to have been at all unanin
the propriety and policy of public dramatic perform;
we find a violent attack upon them in the Manuel de
Anglo-French poem, written about the middle of the
century.1 Robert de Brunne's English version oj
date in 1303, and both that and his original (b
especially the latter) gave a minute and distin
account of the authors of Miracle plays, their suE
the circumstances under which they were usually I
The following extract is from that division of the p(
relates to 'the fourthe dedly synne', where the
speaking of'a clerk of order', and of the amusen
which he may, or may not, be allowed to enter.
Hyt ys forbode2 hym yn the decre
Myracles for to make or se;
For myracles, 3yf3 you bygynne,
Hyt ys a gaderynt, a syght of synne.4
He may yn the cherche, thurgh thys resun,
Pley the resurreccyun;
X It is not at all clear to whom the authorship of the Man;
is to be assigned. At the commencement of the translation ii
Robert Grossetete, who became Bishop of Lincoln in 1235
end of several of the French MSS. it is claimed by William
ton, or Wadigton; and the body of the poem contains a
Grossetete himself, which he would hardly have inserted h
the writer. It is possible, that the Bishop produced the wo
assumed name. The Editor of Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet.,
inclined to doubt the pretensions of Grossetete.-See vol. i, [
2 Forbidden. ' If.
4 Robert de Brunne often abridges and paraphrases his c
these four lines are an instance in point. The French copy

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I6 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1303.
That ys to seye, how god rose,
God and man yn myght and los,1
To make men be yn beleve gode,
That he ros with flesshe and blode;
And he may pleye wythoutyn plyght2
Howe god was bore yn thole nyght,
To make men to beleve stedfastly
That he lyght yn the vyrgyne Mary.
3yf thou do hyt in weyys or grenys3
A syght of synne truly hyt semys.4
clergy with being the contrivers or inventors of Miracle-plays, and mentions how they disguised and painted their faces in them;'Un autre folie molt apert
-Unt les fous clers controve,
Ky sunt miracles apele.
Lur faces unt tut deguisez,
Par viseres li farcenez,
Ky est defendu en decr6;
Tant est greignur le pche.'
We quote from the Royal MS. 20, B. xiv, which is more full and correct
than any of the four copies among the Harleian MSS.
Strength and weakness. 2 Forsan, Condition.
3 In the introductory matter to The Castle of Perseverance, a MS. Moral
in the collection of the late Hudson Gurney, Esq., M.P., of which more
will be said hereafter, the audience is expressly told that the performance
will take place 'on the green'.
'These percell in propyrtes we 'spose us to playe,
This day sevenenyt be fore you in syth,
At N- - on the grene in ryal a ray.'
Here N is put for the Nomen of the place, which was to be inserted by
the person proclaiming the performances.
In I5 I, the miracle-play of St. George was acted in a croft, or field at
Basingborne, and one shilling was paid for the hire of the ground on the
occasion. See Warton, H. E. P., iv, I52, edit. 8vo.
The argument seems to be, that it is a sight of sin to witness the performance of Miracle-plays of the resurrection or birth of Christ, 'on
highways or greens', but that they may be permitted in churches devoted

1303.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

He then quotes Seynt Ysodre, to show that those who
indulge themselves in these exhibitions forsake
'God and here cyystendaml
That make swyche2 pleyys to any man,
As myracles: * * *
Agens god thou brekest cunnaunt
And servyst youre syre Termagaunt.
Seynt ysodre seyth yn hys wrytyng,
Alle tho that delyte to se swyche thyng,
to the service of God. Robert de Brunne here slurs over one of the points
of his original, which runs thus:
Cum Jhu Crist, le fiz d6,
Esteit en sepulcre posd,
Et la resurrycciun
Pur plus aver devociun;
Mes fere foles assemblez
En le rues de citez,
Ou en cemiters apres manger,
Quant venunt les fous plus voluntier
Tuz dient ky le funt pur ben,
Mes crere ne plus pur ren.
th reference to the performances in cemeteries, here reprobated, the
ing is from Warton (H. E. P., ii, 73): 'As to the religious dramas,;customary to perform this species of play on holy festivals in or
churches. In the register of William of Wykeham, Bishop of
iester, under the year 1384, an episcopal injunction is recited
t the exhibition of spectacula in the cemetery of his cathedral.' In a
Narton cites several other instances of the same kind at other places;.e expresses a doubt as to the nature of these spectacula: had he
seen the passage in the Manuel de Pdch, where Miracles are expressly
called spectacles, his doubt would have been removed. The author of the
French original is very particular in stating precisely to what performances he refers:
Et il dist ky tel ky funt spectacles,
Cum hem fet a miracles,
Ou gus ky nous namamez ens, &amp;c.
Baptism. 2 Such.
VOL. I. C

i
i
i

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I268.

Or hors, or harneys lenythl partyl,
Yyt have they gylt of here peryl.
3yf prest or clerk lene2 vestment,
That halwed ys thurgh sacrament,
More than outher they are to blame;
Of sacrylege they have the fame.'
This proves the practice which prevailed of lending horses,
harness, and even hallowed vestments from the monasteries,
in order to get up Miracle-plays; which, it has been seen,
was precisely the case with the performance under the care
of Geoffrey at Dunstaple. The author proceeds to attack
'daunces, karols, somour games', and concludes this part of
the subject with some abuse of minstrels, 'that yn swyche
thyngs delyte hem alle', love 'nother god ne goddys hous',
and get their 'cloth, drink, and meat', by folly.3
The writer of the French Manuel de Peche particularly
reprobates the performance of Miracle-plays en les rues de
citez, which seems to point at the performance of plays o
A. D. pageants during the festival of Corpus Christi. It
1268. supposed that these were first introduced into
country in the year 1268, very shortly after the festrv
Lendeth. 2 Lend.
3 In an allegorical poem, written early in the fourteenth century,
senting life as a pilgrimage, and man as a pilgrim, the hero, in the
of his journey, encounters Satan, and the deadly sins. Gladnesse
world' is represented as a minstrel, who invites the pilgrim to parta
pleasures: /
'Telle on to me, and say not nay,
What maner solace, or what maner play
Loveste thou beste? tell on, late se,
And I shall playen to fore the.'
The hero is cast into a sea of trouble in consequence of listening too
patiently to the harper, but is rescued by a character called 'God'sgrace', and the cardinal virtues: he narrowly escapes 'the tower of.,,,,, I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1268.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

Corpus Christi had been established by Pope Urban IV:1
that event occurred in 1264; so that only four years elapsed
before the annual representation of Miracle-plays, at Chester
during Whitsuntide, appears to have been established. Exhibitions of a similar kind took place at Coventry, York, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Preston, Kendall, Bristol, Witney, Cambridge, Manningtree, and various
other places; and it may be conjectured, that they were
originally introduced into large towns nearly contemporaflame' of Satan; but finally triumphs, exclaiming, 'swyche playes I
defye.' Cotton MSS. Tiberius, A. vii.
The quotations from Robert de Brunne are in Harl. MS. No. 170I.
In Bower's Lives of the Popes, vi, 268, the following account of the
origin of the feast is given on the authority of St. Antonius, Archbishop
of Florence:
'A priest, having spilt at mass some of the consecrated wine, it appeared upon the corporate (that is, upon the piece of linen on which the
chalice and host are placed by the officiating priest) like so many drops
of blood. But Diestemius, Prior of the Benedictines at Liege, tells us
that the priest being staggered in his belief of the real presence, blood
flowed from tht liost into the chalice, and upon the cotporale. The corporale being br ught, bloody as it was, from Bolsena, where the miracle
was supposed to have happened, to Orvieto, the Pope, after examining
the priest anlt all who were present, was convinced of the miracle, and
thereupon appointed the solemnity of Corpus Christi to be annually
celebrated.'
On this occasion, Urban IV granted a pardon of a certain number of
days to all who attended different parts of divine service at this festival.
It is extant in Harl. MS. No. 955, under the following title:-'Here
foloweth the pardon of corpus Christi fest, which is graunted bi pope
Urban the fourth, and bi pope Martin the fift, and bi pope Eugeny the
fourthe, and is witnessed bi the generall counsell of Basill.'It contains nothing about the representation of Miracle-plays; and,
consequently, must be different from the pardon mentioned in the Proclamation of the Whilsone Playes, at Chester, dated 24 Henry VIII, as
granted by Clement [VI] for the encouragement of those performances.
C 2.m!

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I268.

neously, for the purpose of disseminating among the people a
certain amount' of knowledge of Scripture history; and, as
Robert de Brunne iemarks (for the observation is not found
in any copy of the original I have had an opportunity of
examining), in order to extend a belief in the miraculous
conception of the Saviour, as well as in the resurrection.
In Piers Ploughman's Crede, two lines are put into the
mouth of a friar minor, which advert to the performance of
Miracle-plays in market towns:
'We haunten no tavernes, ne hobelen abouten;
At marketes and Miracles we meddley us never."
Chaucer has many allusions to exhibitions of this description, and he represents his Wife of Bath amusing herself
with them during Lent, and while her husband was absent:
'Therfore made I my visitations,
To vigilies and to processions,
To prechings, and to thise pilgrimages,
To playes of myracles, and to mariageA
And wered upon my gay skarlet gites.'2
It may be doubted, whether by the word Jslnestrallus,
found in accounts of household expenses, about this period, and
a little earlier, something more might not be meant than a mere
'Yet in I420, not long after this poem was written, we find a friar
minor interfering at York, to procure the annual representation of the
Corpus Christi plays, and he was then called 'a professor of holy
pageantry'.-See the Appendix to Drake's History of York.
2 It is a coincidence perhaps worth notice, that in the year in which
Chaucer is supposed to have been born, 1328, 'Playes of Myracles', as he
calls them, were, perhaps, first performed in English; the conjecture,
hereafter attempted to be supported, being that until then they were only
allowed in French.

1308.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

player upon an instrument.' In the MS. series of pageants
at Chester and Coventry, 'minstrels' are not unfrequently
spoken of; and there, unquestionably, their business was
only to fill up intervals, or to accompany certain parts of the
performance, with music. As early as A.D. I308, the A. D.
Duke of Lancaster had a company menestrallorum, 1308.
with an Armniger Menestrallorum, forming part of his domestic
establishment.2 The author of the Manued de P&amp;ced, and the
translator of it, Robert de Brunne, in a manner couple minstrels and Miracle-plays; but there is, we apprehend, no evidence to prove that minstrels at any time acted, although
they certainly aided in such representations.
Robert Baston, a Carmelite friar of Scarborough, who
flourished in the reign of Edward II, and accompanied that
king in his expedition into Scotland, is mentioned by Bale
(quoted by Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet., ii, 65, edit. 8vo.) as the
author not only of Poems and Rhymes, but of Tragcedie et
Comcadice vulgares. None of these are extant, but no reasonable doubt can be entertained that they were Miracle-plays.
Some of Baston's dramatic productions might be in existence
'Bishop Percy was of opinion that minstrels were authors and composers of songs and ballads, as well as performers of them on the harp.
(Reliques, i, xxi, edit. 1812.) Ritson, on the other hand, denies the position, and probably degrades the character of a minstrel below the level it
actually held in society among our ancestors. (Ancient Songs and
Ballads, i, xvii, edit. 1829.) In his answer to Percy, he has displayed a
vast deal more learning than candour, and the discovery of truth is sacrificed to the love of triumph. The result seems to be that neither
disputant was strictly in the right; for although minstrels (most anciently
called Gleemen), in the first instance 'united the arts of poetry and
music', yet they subsequently seem to have lost this distinction, and to
have degenerated into 'mere musicians', and performers upon instruments.
2 Vide Lansdown MSS. No. i. The cost of this establishment cannot
be ascertained, as it is mixed up in the MS. with miscellaneous items.
* */.: - 5:5
*_ _', x, i f x, **^ * 'i~zz ** - -; 1 ':^ -: ^:
t; ' S n f00 t St~ie n k 04nED a; do aimf s

22 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1348.
at the time when Bale wrote, about the middle of the sixteenth century.
In the year 1333, Eleanora, the sister of our Edward III,
was married to Reignold, Earl of Guelderland, and in a MS.
of the receipts and payments on that occasion, and during her
journey, mention is made of a lusum in camera sua, but in
what sense we are here to take the word lusum is questionable. It is clear that it was not a performance of music.;
and in the same accounts we find frequent entries of payments to minstrels for their minstrelsies, both in the house of
the Princess and elsewhere.' It is very possible that this
lusum was some game of chance, at which the Princess lost
her money; but nevertheless she paid a 'bag-piper' twelve
shillings with her own hand.
In this reign, and not long after the event just noticed,
A. D. Dludi domini Regis are mentioned: In 1348, Edward
I348. III kept his Christmas in the castle of Guildford, and
there these ludi were exhibited: from the nature of the mate

' The following items, with a view to our present purpose, are curious.
The MS. from which they are taken was in Mr. Craven Ord's collection,
now dispersed:
'Duobus Menestrallis facientibus menestralcias suas - - 20
'Cuidam Menestrallo facienti Menestralciam suam coram Dna
Eleonora in tenemento suo - - - - 12
'Lusum in Camera. Eccelmo Dalmaund, servienti Regis ad arma,
per denarias per ipsum solutas diversis locis, per diversas vices,
diversis servientibus libantibus Dnae E. pro luso in camera sua- 17
Diversis vidulatoribus facientibus menestralcias suas coram cruce ad
porticum borealem in ecclesia Sti. Pauli London, de dono Dnae E. 12
'Cuidam Menestrallo, vocato Bag-piper, facienti menestralciam
suam coram Dna Eleonora, per manus proprias - -12
Her liberality to musicians was extraordinary; and one of them,
William Cardinall, is mentioned by name. She bestowed upon them

1348.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

rials and properties furnished, it is sufficiently evident that
they were of a dramatic character. Warton gives the subsequent enumeration of them:1 'eighty tunics of buckram of
various colours, forty-two visours of various similitudes; that
is, fourteen of the faces of women, fourteen of the faces of
men with beards, fourteen of the heads of angels made with
silver; 14 crestes curm tibiis reversatis et calceatis, 14 crestes
cum montibus et cuniculis (terms which Warton professes himself unable to understand), fourteen mantles embroidered with
heads of dragons, fourteen white tunics wrought with heads
and wings of peacocks, fourteen heads of swans with wings,
fourteen tunics painted with eyes of peacocks, fourteen tunics
of English linen painted, and as many tunics embroidered
with stars of gold and silver'. In all probability, as Warton
suggests, these ludi were what were some time afterwards
called in English 'disguisings'.2
many other smaller sums, and on the day she was desjonsata she gave a
largess of ~20 to the minstrels. She had also gentlemen and singing
men belonging to her chapel, who were allowed servants and horses.
' Hist. Eng. Poet., ii, 72, edit. 8vo. He quotes as his authority Comp.
7. Cooke Provisoris Magnce Gardarobae, ab ann. 21 Edw. III (misprinted
Edw. I), ad ann. 23, Membr. IX.
2 According to Ritson (Bibl. Poet., 79), Lidgate wrote 'A Disguising or
Mumming before the King at Eltham'; and he refers to Harl. MS.,
No. 2255, which however now contains no such production. In a 'disguising' perhaps speech was allowed. Strutt (Sports and Pastimes, 223)
seems to make no distinction between mummings and disguisings, but
speaks of the abuses that crept into them, which, in the reign of Henry
VIII, led to the passing of an Act' that no persons should appear abroad
like mummers, covering their faces with vizors, in disguised apparel
under pain of imprisonment'. 3 Hen. VIII, c. 9. It will be seen hereafter that, while Henry VIII was on the throne, 'disguisings' were extremely common at court, as indeed they had been in the reign of his
predecessor. In the interlude of The Nature of the Four Elemcnts,
printed early in the reign of Henry VIII, after a list of the characters,

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I389.

In 1389, the I2th Richard II, a similar entertainment was
A. D. got up for the amusement of the king and his court;
1389. the entry in the wardrobe accounts being-' pro 2I
coifs de tela linea pro hominibus de lege contrafactis, pro ludo
regis temnpore natalis Domini, anno xii.l
In what respects a 'disguising' differed from a 'mumming'
is a point which it is now impossible to settle with precision;
but the following minute and curious account of the mode in
which a 'disguising', both by men and women, was to be
brought in and regulated, is copied from one of the Fairfax
MSS., entitled The Booke of all manner of Orders concerning
an Earle's house, etc., some part of which is dated i6 Henry
VII, although the handwriting appears to be that of the
latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. It provides first
that the 'disguising' shall not come into the hall until the
'interlude, comedy, or tragedy' is ended; it then proceeds
thus:'The Disguisers to come in aftir this manour following,
with iij torcheis to be borne before theim at their riding into
the Hall, with iij yomen waiters, suche as shalbe appointed by
the Marshallis to do it.
'Furst iij yoman waiters to beir iij torchies to light them
into the hall, and when the saide Disguisars ar comyn into
the hall, than the saide parsonnes that berith the saide lightes
to make their obeysaunce and departe, or ellis to stand on
we find these words added, 'Also yf ye lyst ye may brynge in a dysgysynge,' but where, and for what purpose, is not explained. It was,
probably, a mere dumb show of persons dressed in fantastic habits to
relieve the dulness of the performance.
'Warton states, that this entertainment was given in I39I, but the
entry expressly states that it was at Christmas, in the 12th Rich. II. The
Conmp. Magn. Garderob. Rich. II appears to be dated in 1391, which led
to the error.
\.#^ ^^^-^^i '***..*"' * -
et \~~

1389.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

side, and the iiij minstrallis, suche as the Lord haith at that
tyme, there to stonde in the hall before the saide disguisars
corn, and assoon as they be comyn into the hall, the minstrallis to stand aside and play. And than the disguisars to
make their obeysaunce altogeder and daunce suche daunces as
they be appointed. And when'the saide disguisars hath doon
their saide daunces, than halfe of them to stand uppon the
oon side and halfe uppon the outher side, if there be no
women. Provided alwaies that if there be women disguised,
then they to com in first. And if there be women disguised,
then half of the minstrallis afforesaid to fet in the outhir
disguisars with the lightes after they have browght in the
women, and they have daunced and their obeysaunce made,
ande stande a side. And they to do as the outhir did before,
ande than they to stande uppon the outher side. Alwaies
the men gevinge to the women the prehemynence of their
standnge. Alwaies provided that the minstrallis shall bring
theym in, playing before thaym such daunces as they shall
daunce. Ande when they have doon, in like case the Morris
to come in incontinent as is apointed, yf any be ordeynid.
And when the saide Morris arrives in the midist of the hall,
than the said minstrallis to play the daunces that is appointid
for theim. And when they here the said minstrallis play,
than to come out oon aftir an outhir, as they be appointid.
And when they have doon to go forth in like case as they
came into the said towre, or thing devised for theim. Always
reservid to the maister of the disguisinges to order it as he
shall think best and convenient; and when the said Moris is
doone, than the gentillmen to cor unto the women and make
their obeisaunce, and every of them to taike oon by thand,
and daunce suche base daunces as is apointed- theym; and
that doon than to daunce such rounds as shall be appointed
them to daunce togeder by the maister of the revills; and

1~: 4.`d
I o:.?.; ~-...,.I.~
-il -J~-~'(:1:
i!
r:
I: j.;
'i~'~~::~-- ~-~,,i i ~;,:~~EI
~: -~t âi~~;~-=..

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I40I.

that doon, to bring the women to their places agayne and
make their obeysances, and then departe to their owne places
where they stood before.'
In a MS. 'Chronicle of English affairs, especially those
A. D. relating to the city of London, from ist Rich. I, to
1401. 2Ist Henry VI', under date of I401, is inserted the
following paragraph: 'In this yere was here the Emperor of
Constantinople and the Kyng helde his Christemasse at
Eltham, and men of London made a gret mummyng to
him of xii Aldermen &amp; here sones, for whiche they had
gret thanke.' There is little or no doubt that a mumming
was a dumb shew,2 and we hear of mummings at a considerably earlier date than that last quoted. Stow mentions
instances in 1236 and 1298, and gives a very detailed account
of an exhibition of the kind in the streets of London in 1377,
'for the disport of the yong prince Richard, son to the
blacke prince'.3 It is also noticed, though with greater
brevity, in a MS. Chronicle in the Harleian collection, printed
by the Society of Antiquaries.4
The performance of Miracle-plays at Chester probably
commenced, as has been observed, in the year 1268; but it is
not until more than a century afterwards that we find any
' MSS. arl. No. 565.
2 The late Mr. Phelps, whose name as a literary antiquary is well
known, communicated for our use the particulars of the Mumming still,
continued in Gloucestershire at Christmas. This exhibition certainly
partakes of the nature of a Miracle-play, with the characters of Herod,
Belzebub, and others; but we apprehend that they were comparatively
modem insertions, perhaps after Miracle-plays ceased to be represented,
and while the people still relished the sight of the tyrant King' and the
fiery Devil.
3 Stow's Survey, I599, p. 71.
4Archcrologia, vol. xxii. Under the care of the late Thomas Amyot,
Esq., then treasurer of that Society. It is Hiarl. IMS. No. 6217..- l,,^^.*
ti t,. M:, r

1378.] ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. 27
trace of similar representations in London. In I378, the
scholars, or choristers, of St. Paul's Cathedral presented A. D.
a petition to Richard II, praying him to prohibit some 1378.
ignorant and inexperienced persons from acting the history of
the Old Testament, to the great prejudice of the clergy of the
church, who had expended considerable sums for a public representation of plays founded upon that portion of Scripture
at the ensuing Christmas.l These ignorant and inexperienced
persons were, perhaps, tradesmen and artificers, who in country
places, at a very early period, so occupied themselves at Whitsuntide; and as we have no trace that in London such shows
were ever undertaken by persons of this class, the interference
of the public authorities may have prevented the experiment
both then and subsequently.
This restraint, if it were imposed, obviously did not apply
to the parish clerks of London, who had been incorporated by
Henry III, and who, as Warton remarks, were at that day
justly to be considered 'a literary society', if they did not
come precisely under the denomination of a religious fraternity. Stow2 informs us that in I39I, the parish clerks A. D.
of London performed a play at Skinner's Well, near I391.
Smithfield, in the presence of the king, queen, and the nobles
of the realm, which lasted for three days.3
Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 24.
2 Szrvey of London, I599, p. 69.
3 The following items from Rolls in the possession of the Rt. Hon.
Lord Stafford, at Stafford Castle, refer to revels in London, in 15
Richard II:
Solut. Johanni Allot de rewardo pro servicio suo in hospitio dni
[Comes Stafford] London tempore magni Revell. post festum d.
Sci Michaelis 6 8
Et solut. Dno Roberto Mauvesyn pro costag. suis in servicio Dni
London tempore supradicto dci Revell. - - - 20 o
Three other persons obtained I3s. 4d. each for their services (whatever
they may have been) on the same occasion.
-''* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -: - -.. *lt:;;J-,.
0: X0:ff I.: t.,,:;..&gt;,0: -.-:L' r

~~.''

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I409.

The entries in the records of the Pell Office are precisely
these; and they supply the name of the play, which is omitted
by Stow; the date is 14 Ric. II, anno I39I: 'To the Clerks
of the parish Churches and to divers other Clerks in the City
of London-In money paid to them in discharge of ~Io which
the Lord the King commanded to be paid them of his gift on
account of the play of the Passion of our Lord and the Creation
of the World, by them performed at Skinnerwell after the feast
of Saint Bartholomew last past, ~Io.'
The MS. Chronicle, before cited.with regard to the mumming
in the presence of HenryIVand the Emperor of Constantinople,
9^ ~ A. D. contains also the following passage under date 1409:
1409. 'This yere was a pley at Skynners Welle, which endured
Wednesday, Thorsday, Fryday, and on Soneday it was ended.
Thanne beganne the fetees of werre in Smythfield for diverses
chalanges.' Stow in his Chronicle is more particular, and
asserts that the performance occupied eight days:-'This yeere
(1409) was a great play at the Skinners Well, neere unto
Clearkenwell, besides London, which lasted eight daies and
was of matter from the creation of the world: there were to
see the same the most part of the nobles and gentles in
England; and forthwith after began a royall justing in Smithfield betweene the Earle of Somerset and the Seneshall of
Henalt, Sir John Cornwal, Sir Richard of Arundel, and the
son of Sir John Cheyney, against other Frenchmen.' The
expression used by Stow, that the great play was 'of matter
from the creation of the world,' indicates sufficiently clearly,
Stow's Chronicle, p. 549, edit. I615. He does not state his authority;
and in Cotton MS. Vitell. A I (containing 'the names of the Maires, and
Shrevis in the City of London' in the reigns of Edw. III, Rich. II, Hen.
IV, V, and VI), 'the great pley at Skynners Welle' is noted as the chief
event of the year 1408: the performance was unquestionably most attractive during the whole period to which it extended..,

I4i6.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

that the performances were a series of dramatic representations
founded upon Scripture.
In I416, the Emperor Sigismund was in England, having
arrived for the purpose of endeavouring to make peace A. D.
between this kingdom and France. He was magnifi- 146.
cently received and entertained at Windsor; and a chronicle
in the Cottonian Collection1 gives a description of a performance before him and Henry V, on the incidents of the life of
St. George. The representation seems to have been divided
into three parts, and to have been accomplished by certain artificial contrivances, exhibiting, first, 'the armyng of Seint
George, and an Angel doyng on his spores [spurs];' secondly,
'Seint George ridyng and fightyng with the dragon, with his
spere in his hand;' and, thirdly, 'a castel, and Seint George
and the Kynges daughter ledyng the lambe in at the castel
gates.' Here we have clearly the outline of the history of St.
George of Cappadocia, which often formed the subject of a
miracle-play; but whether, in this instance, it was accompanied with dialogue, or was (as is most probable) merely a
splendid dumb shew, assisted by temporary erections of castles,
etc., we are not informed. The wardrobe accounts of Henry V
do not supply us with any information regarding this or other
similar representations;2 but, in the seventh year of that reign,
a warrant was issued for taking up children for the musical
service of the Chapel Royal.
It is perhaps worth remark, that John Lydgate, who, in his
poem called The Daunce of Macabre, introduces members of

Cotton. MS., Calig. B. II.
2 They were in Mr. Craven Ord's collection. In the 9th year of Henry
V, as we learn from them, Will. Egleston, Thomas Pykbone, Will.
Heinge, John Laurence, Will. Newman, and Thomas Hanton, were
'boys of the Queen's Chapel'; and'they were paid 4os. for wages for half
a year, and los. by way of reward. They were most likely only singers.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1416.

all classes of society, as summoned by Death and making a
X,/r. ~ reply to his summons, while he brings forward minstrels
/ and tragitours (or jugglers), says nothing of players: he
mentions John Rykell, tragitour of Henry V, by name,1 which
may be thought to fix the period at which The Daunce of
Macabre was written. Yet Lydgate was himself the author
of a series of pageants or Miracle-plays;2 and, in a work
written at a subsequent date, which is generally known by the
title of 7he Interpretacyon of the names of Goddys and Goddesses,3 but is in fact an elaborate allegory upon human life, as' Harl. MS., No. 116. There is another imperfect copy of this poem
in the British Museum; and in the catalogue it is erroneously stated to
be a dramatic performance. It is, in fact, only a series of inscriptions for
a succession of pictures representing the Dance of Death. Death says
to the Minstrel,'! thou mynstrall, that canst so note and pipe
Unto folkes for to do pleasaunce,'
which may serve to shew that, in the time of Lydgate, minstrels were
composers of music, as well as performers upon instruments; and so far
support Bishop Percy. To John Rykell, who is introduced as the representative of the class to which he belonged, Death says,' Maister John Rykell, sometyme tregitoure
Of noble Henry kynge of Englonde,
And of Fraunce the myghty conqueroure,
For all the sleightes and turnyngs of thyne honde,
Thou must come nere this daunce to understonde,' &amp;c.
A tragitour was a performer of tricks of sleight of hand; and Rykell, in
his answer to Death, laments that 'Lygarde de mayne [legerdemain] now
helpeth me right nought'.
2 Ritson, Bibl. Poet., 79; the reference he gives to Harl. MS. No. 2255
does not however bear him out.
3Dr. Dibdin (Typ. Ant., ii, 322) assigns the printing of this poem to
-"v~., ~ Wynkyn de Worde, on the authority of Herbert; but it came certainly
-\ 'also from the press of Pynson; and this edition was sold among Kemble's
books. In the manner in which the story is conducted, it is very dra\- matic; and from its variety it is far less dull than most pieces of the
- \.. &amp; i:.. '

I416.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 31

sailed by vices and defended by virtues, he does mention the
profession of 'a player'; it is where Virtue says, that Sensuality must change his character, like an actor:Is he so? qd Vertue.-Well shall he be taught,
As a player sholde.'
kind: that it is picturesquely written may be judged from the following
description of the seven principal leaders on the side of Virtue, in her
contest with Vice:'Next to the chare seven capteyns there roode,
Echone after other in ordre by and by.
Humylyte was the fyrst, a lambe he bestroode,
With contenance demure he rood full soberly;
A fawcon gentyll stood on his helme on hy:
And next after hym came there Charyte,
Rydyng on a tigre as fyll to his degre.
'Roody as a roose ay he kept his chere;
On his helme on hyghe a pellycan he bare:
Next whom cam Pacyence, that no where hath no pere;
On a camell rydyng as voyde of all care;
A fenix on his helm stood, so forth gan he fare.
Who next hym folowed but Lyberalyte,
Syttyng on a dromedary that was both good and fre.
'On his helme, for his crest he bare an ospray:
And next after hym folowed Abstynence,
Rydyng on an herte was trapure and gay;
He semed a lorde of ryght grete excellence:
A popynjay was his crest, he was of gret dyffence.
Next hym folowed Chastyte on an unicorne,
Armed at all poyntes behynde and beforne.
'A tortyldove he bare on hyghe for his crest.
* Than came Good Besynesse, last of tho seven,
Rydyng on a panter, a sondry coloured best,
Gloryously beseen, as he had come from heven:
A crane on his hede stood, his crest for to steven.
All these vii capteyns had standardis of pryce,
Eche of hem accordyng after his devyse.':,; -: j. -.,-..::;:::.:-::_=; - S:,_ -:i::;iC::-:' - S X d'"

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I431.

The reign of Henry VI may be fixed upon as the epoch of
the adoption of a new species of dramatic representation,
which was afterwards known by the name of a Moral; its
nature and construction is examined in that part of the present
work which relates to the Origin and Progress of Dramatic
Poetry in this country. Malone was of opinion that the first
Moral (or Morality, as he, after the French, miscalls it) did not
appear until the reign of Edward IV;1 but three pieces of this
description are extant, which are at least as old as the period
when Henry VI was on the throne, and perhaps belong to the
earlier part of his reign.2
The profession of an actor about the period now referred to
was probably common, and itinerant companies of players
seem to have been well known. One of the manuscript Morals
just mentioned (The Castle of Perseverance), was represented
by persons who made it their business to travel round the
country for the purpose of acting. Whenever they arrived in
a populous district, they despatched their standard-bearers
and trumpeters to announce on what day, and at what hour,
the performance would take place. The annual accompt-roll
of the Augustine Priory of Bicester, in Oxfordshire, cited by
A. D. Warton, shews that, in the year 1431, the minstrels of
143I. different nobility, Lord Talbot, Lord Strange, Lord
Lovel, the. Duke of Gloucester,3 etc., visited the priory; but
1 Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 30.
2 They were formerly in the collection of Dr. Cox Macro, and afterwards in the possession of Mr. Hudson Gurney. It will be seen that
in the proper place I have examined the construction of'these very
singular early performances with the attention and minuteness they unquestionably deserve.
3 The Duke of Gloucester had an Italian poet in his pay in I437, named
Titus Livius de Frulovisiis de Ferraria: he was naturalized in that year.
Rymer's Fed., iv, Part I, p. 37.

.143I.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

ministralli is the word there invariably used; in the accounts,
however, of the Augustine Canons of Maxtoke in Warwickshire, anterior to the year I46I, the terms mimi and lusores
constantly occur. Warton has not inserted the particular
dates of his extracts, but he states that none of them are later
than the reign of Henry VI.1 Citharistce and joculatores are
also words employed in the same accounts; but they probably
mean nothing more than harp-players and jugglers; jocatores,
which is likewise found there, may point at something more
dramatic; but, possibly, it is only an abridgment of joculatores-jugglers.
A short poem, in the Harleian Collection, 'partly English
and partly Latin, on the dissoluteness of manners temp.
I-Henry VI' (as it is entitled in the catalogue), may be adduced
to shew that the performance of' plays', especially on 'God's
holidays', was then so frequent as to be considered by the
writer a crying evil. The author says:
'Inglond goith to noughte, plus fecit homo viciosus,
To lust man is brought, nimis est homo deliciosus;
Goddis halidays non observantur honeste,
For unthryfty pleyis in eis regnant manifes.'2

The following are.among the entries, mentioning eight different companies, or performers.-Warton, H. E. P., i, 94, edit. 8vo.:'Mimis de Solihul - - - - 6d
Mimo Domini Ferrers - - 6d
Lusoribus de Eton - - 8d
Lusoribus de Coventry - - - 8d
Mimis Domini ie Astley - - - I2d
Mimis Domini de Warwyck - - od
Sex mimis Domini de Clynton - [no sum]
Lusoribus de Coleshille - - 8d'
2 There are two copies of this satire in the Harleian Collection, viz.,
Nos. 536 and 94I. As it is a curious and early specimen of this mingled
VOL. I. D
i f;,i?
\ ^ * * ** ' *'*~^',-'- *^***'^ &lt;"-..^ ' X i

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I43-.

We do not find from any record that players of interludes
were in the pay of Henry VI; but, in 1445, the minstrels belonging to the household were twelve in number, and they
were permanently engaged for the amusement of the court.1
They are mentioned under the name of 'the Kyng's Menstralys' in the accounts of John Lord Howard, from the
second to the ninth year of Edward IV.2 There also we hear
species of composition, and bears internal evidence of its date, a few
lines, ridiculing the preposterous dress of men of the time, may be worth
extracting:
'Thei bere a new faccion, humeris in fectore tergo,
Goddes placinacion non illis comfplacent ergo:
Wyde colers &amp; hygh, gladio sunt colla rArata,
Ware the prophesy contra tales recitata:
Longe spores on here heles, et rostrafovent ocrearum,
Thei thinke it doith welle, non sit regula Sarum.
A streite bende hath the hose, anguent a corore crura,
Thei may not, I suppose, curvare genu sine cura.
Whan other kneelis, pro Christo votaferentes,
Thei stonde on here helis, sed non curvare volentes,
For hurtyng of here hose non inclinare laborant,
I trow for here longe toes, dum stantferialiter orant.'
'This fact appears in Lansd. MS., No. I, among 'the Provisions made
for the King's Household', 23 Henry VI. The terms of the entry are
these: 'xii menistrealx, one Le Gaite',-Le Gaite (gaiet6?), probably,
being at the head of them. Ten years afterwards the 'ordinances and
appointments' for the royal household were concluded at the great Council
at Westminster; and at that date Thomas Ratclyffe, William Wickes,
John Clyffe and Robart More belonged to the Company of royal
minstrels. Vide Cotton. -MS., Cleop. F. v.
2 A very curious MS., lately in the collection of Mr. Craven Ord. The
entry is as follows; and it is to be observed that, both here and elsewhere, we have ordinarily substituted Arabic for Roman numerals, as
more convenient.
'Item, my Lord of Clarence owyth hym 20s., the which he lent hym
to geve to the Kyng's menstralys att the Meyry's house. 2os.'
That is to say, the Duke of Clarence borrowed 20s. of John Lord
^:-^.;*:-. 1'

I443.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

of 'the Players of Stoke'; and a reward of two shillings was
given 'to the players at Moleyne's wedding'; this is the earliest
notice of the kind that we have met with.
Before we quit the reign of Henry VI, it is necessary to
mention, that it may be collected from the chartulary of the
Guild of the Holy Trinity of St. Botolph without Aldgate,
that that Society, between the years 1443 and I448, A. D.
was, or had been engaged in the performance of I443.
Miracle-plays in London:1 at least, at that period it had in
its possession a 'rolle of velom', containing what is called The
Pagent of the Holy Trinity; and as it is added, that it was
'paynted and lemenyd with gold', we may conclude that it was
an illuminated MS. Pageant and play were then constantly
used synonymously, and this 'rolle' was, no doubt, some dramatic piece in the nature of a Miracle-play on the subject of
the Trinity.2
Howard, in order to present it to the King's minstrels, at an entertainment given at the house of the Mayor. From a vast variety of singular
entries, in the same volume. we select the following, connected with the
amusements of the court and people at this date:'Itm, gaff to a chyld that sang beffore my lorde, 4d.
Itm, my mastyr toke, to my lords bydding, the nexte morow after
new yers day, to my ladys graundamys harpere, that dwellyth in Chester,
3s. 4d.
Itm, geven to a Pryste, that said a song afore my mastyr that nyte at
Lincolne, 4d.
Itm, geven to a harper there, Id.
Itm, for 2 bokys, a Frensch boke and a Ynglysh boke, calyd Dives et
Pauper, 13s. 4d.
Itm, my mastyr paid for his costes, and for his mennes, in tyme of the
Justes at Westminster, I4s.
Itm, the 2i day of Apryll my mastyr gaff to the waytes at Colchester,
IS. 4d.'
1 See Hone's Ancient Mysteries Described, pp. 84 and 85.
2 This fraternity was incorporated as early as 1375, 48 Edward III, and
in the first instance it does not appear to have been engaged at all in
D 2

36 ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1481.

Early in the succeeding reign we meet with the first legisA. D. lative enactment which mentions 'players of inter1464. ludes': it is the 3 and 4 Edward IV, which regulates
the apparel to be worn by different classes of society, and
contains a special exception in favour of henchmen, pursuivants,
sword-bearers to mayors, messengers, minstrels, and 'players
in their enterludes'. In the rolls of Winchester College for
I466, persons of this profession are called interludentes, in an
entry of the payment of 4s. to 'iiij interlidentibus; et _.. Meke,
citharistc', who doubtless accompanied them as their minstrel.'
The Antiquarian Society of London possesses two MSS. of
the reigns of Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, and Henry
VII, which furnish some very valuable information connected
with this inquiry. The first of these is the Household-book of
A. D. John Lord Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, from
1481. the year 1481 to 1483: it is thus headed-'The Boke
off dayly percellis begonne the xxti yere off kyng Edward the
iiijth and the xxiij day off Feverer: wyche lastyth unto the
xiiijth day off Octobre in the xxijti yere off the Rayng off the
sayde kyng Edward: and also Reckenynges for the goying
into Skotlande.' In this curious volume we have met with no
notice of 'players' under that denomination, nor indeed under
any other that can be considered at all distinctive of the profession of an actor; but the items regarding' minstrels' are not
unfrequent. Lord Howard had, indeed, four 'children of the
chapel' attached to his own domestic establishment, and they
might very possibly be employed both in performing interludes and in singing.' The second of these relics, extending
from 1483 to 1501, is thus entitled on the outer cover:-'An
dramatic representations. It is possible that The Pageant of the Holy
Trinity had devolved into its possession, and that the fraternity never
assisted in the performance of it.
The subsequent entries of various dates, in the years 1481 and 1482,

1481.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 37

account of the disbursements of John Lord Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, about his private affairs in the reigns
of King E. 4, E. 5, R. 3, H. 7'; and within, in a handwriting
of the time, we read the following introduction to the various
items:-' This Booke of the dayly parcells paid by the handis
of my Lord Howard, bygonne the ij day of August in the xxij
yere of kyng Edward the Fourthe.' Not a few of the particulars are interesting in an historical point of view, and among
them may be reckoned a statement of the.force of IOOO men,
which the Duke of Norfolk 'graunted to the Kyng', i.e., Richard
III, in the first year of his reign. Here also is found much
that is curious in relation to the stage, for we meet among
others with an entry of money paid to the 'players' of the
Duke of Gloucester, before he ascended the throne as Richard
III. The 'Players of Cocksale', the 'Players of Chelmsford',
and the 'Players of Lanam', or Lavenham, are also mentioned;
and not among the least singular items is the entry of a covenant between the Duke of Norfolk and William Wastell of
London, Harper, in which the latter undertakes to teach a boy
(no doubt intended for the Duke's chapel) to sing and to play
relate to musicians, minstrels, and the children of the chapel. Others to
the same purport might be extracted.
'Payd the waytes of London I 2d.
Itm that I toke to the trompetes of my Lord of Glocester, 5s.
Itm that I toke my lady wiffs minstrels, 3s. 4d.
Itm I toke to Thomas the harpere,. that my lord gaff hym, 2od.
Itm to Necolas, the synger, for wages, 6s. 8d.
Itm the same day my lord gaff to James the mynstrell, 2od.
Itm be my ladys handes to my Lord Mares mynstrells, 3s. 4d.
Itm to the menstrellis for mendyng of a lewte, 2s. 4d.
The Children of the Chappel. Itm paid to Steven Mortimer for
making of their doblets, 3s.
Itm for 4 peere of hosen for the children of the Chappel, 6s.
Itm my Lord payd for 4 bonetts for the same chyldryn of the chappell,
2s. 8d.'::. iil
- -. 1 -:. A a; 5 ri g

38 ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[148I.

upon the harp. Disguisings, and rewards for minstrels are
also noticed in this account-book, which seems to have
been carefully inspected by 'Jocky of Norfolk' himself, whose
handwriting is in several places to be found in it.1
Malone makes no mention of'players' (excepting in the case of the
'City Actors' in the reign of Edw. IV spoken of by Stow) as a distinct
and recognized occupation prior to the time of Henry VII, who, he
justly remarks, had a royal company (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 43).
Richard III, when Duke of Gloucester, had, as we see above, a company
of players', and in all probability, he kept up the establishment when he
usurped the throne. The names of the Duke of Norfolk's 'players' were
these: John Hobbis, Thomas Pout, - Burges, and Richard Newman,
and there are also entries for the cost of making doublets for them. The
same MS. gives the following as the nomnina puerorum Caiellce of Lord
Oxford, who, we shall hereafter observe, very early in the reign of Henry
VII, had a company of 'players', and perhaps the boys of the chapel
sometimes acted with them:-John Herbet, William Holcott, John Holme,
Thomas Alderson, Roger Beston, James Hoggys, Jorge Cornere, John
Feney, Ric. Robkyn, John Bendysh, Thomas Crowde, and Thomas
Ordell. The ensuing quotations from John Lord Howard's Householdbook, from 22 Edw. IV to 6 Henry VII, will be read with interest.
'Itm on Crystemas day' [22 Edw. IV] 'my lord gaff to 4 pleyeres of
my lord of Gloucestres, Ios.
Itm the same day my lord gaff to 4 pleyers of Cocksale, 3s. 4d.
Itm the fyrst day of Jenever, &amp; the 22 yere of the Kyng, my Lord gave
to them of the Chapell, be the hands of Bawdwyn, I3s. 4d.
Itm to the mynstrells the same day, 2s.
Itm the same daye my Lord made covenaunt with William Wastell
of London, Harper: he shall have the sone of John Colet of Colchester,
Harper, for a yere to teache hym how to harpe &amp; to synge, for the which
techynge my lord shall geve hym I3s. 4d. and a gown, wherof my lord to
hym in ernest, 6s. 8d. and at the ende of the yere he shall have the remnaunt &amp; his gown, and he is bound be endenture to my lord to performe
the covenaunts before wreten.
Itm to an Arper that playde befor my lords grace, 20d.
Itm payd to my lord of Arundels mynstrellys, the 20 day of Septembre
Anno 6 R. H. VII, Ios.::;. 4

1481.]

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. 39

The following minute regulations regarding the minstrels
and children of the chapel of Edward IV, are from a MS. in
the British Museum.'
'Mynstrells 14; whereof one is verger, that directeth them
all in festivall daies to their stations, to blowings, pipings, to
such officers as must be warned to prepare for the King and
his household att meate and supper; to be the more readie
on all services, and all thus sytting in the hall togeather;
wherof some use trumpetts, some shalmes, some small pipes:
some are stringemen, coming to the court at five feastes of the
yeere &amp;c. and clothyng with the household, wynter and sommer, at 20s. a peece and lyverie at Court. They are to blowe
to supper and other revells used at chaundry, and allwaie two
of theis persons to continue in Court in wages, being put to
warne at the King's rideing, when he goeth to horseback, as
it shall require: And likewise the King will not for his worshipp that his minstrells be too presumptious, nor too familiar
to aske any reward of the lord of the land. Children of the
Chappell 8, founden by the King's Jewell Howse for all things
that' belong to their apparell, by the oversight of the Deane, or
the Mr. of the songe, assynde to teache them &amp;c.; &amp; he to
Itm payd for settyng of a pese on the organs the sayd day, 8d.
Itm stuff for dysgysars on saynt Stevens day, Anno 6 Henry VII, I6d.
Itm payd for I8 yards of lynen cloth that M. Wynthorpe had for dysgysyng, at 4d. the yard, the 20 day of December, 6s. 8d.
Itm payd the second day of Januar, Ao. 6 H. VII, to John Long, when
he went to London for the dysgysing stuff, for his costs, 20d.
Itm payd to the players at Chemsford the 20 day of December, 6s. 8d.
Wages to the chyldren of the Chapell. Itm the same day my lord
paied to Agnes Banyerd that she leid owt for 3 chyldren of the chapell to
howsell them with all, that is to say gret Dyke, Edward Cherry, 6d.
Item to Holt, 4d. &amp;c. I8d.
Itm in reward to the players of Lanam 40s.'
1MSS. Harl. No. 61o.: 6::
s I ~; ~I;
~~-*"
~' -:,c
I: (: ~:::I;I-..-1"X
~: ~~-: ~~ ~;
l-::q~- r:4 -F~;M-!

40 ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I481

drawe theis children as well in schoole'of facet, as in songe,
organies or such other vertues &amp;c. Allso when they be growen
to the age of i8 yeres, and then theire voyces be chaunged,
they cannot be preferred in this chappell, nor within this
Court, the nomber being full; then yf they will absent, the
King signeth onelie such child to a colledge of Oxford or
Cambridge of the King's foundacion, there to be in findeinge
and study sufficientlie, till the King otherwise list to advance
him.'
The 'Master of the Song assigned to teach' the children of
the Chapel in 1467, was Henry Abyndon; and in 1482,
Gilbert Banastre,2 who each had an annual salary of 40
marks. These facts appear by the Acts of Resumption of
those years, from which the above musical instructors are
excepted.
We learn also from Harl. MS. No. 61o, that the charge of
the King's Garfons du Capell was ~80 per annum. In the
reign of Edward IV (the precise year is not mentioned),
Robert Grene, minstrel, and John Hawkyns, minstrel, each
1 On the 4th of April, 1469, Edward IV constituted the following minstrels attending the Court unum corpus et una communitas perpetua:
Walter Haliday (Marescallus), John Cliff, Robert Marshall, Thomas
Grene, Thomas Calthorn, William Cliff, William Christean, William
Eynesham; and the instrument recites the injury done to them by pretenders who travelled about the kingdom receiving rewards as the King's
Minstrels. Rymer's Faed., v, Part II, p. 169 Harl. MS. No, 642, a copy
of the household regulations of Edw. IV, states that the wages of the
minstrels was 4id. per day, and that they were allowed two servants to
carry their instruments. Of the Children of the Chapel, it is said, that
when journeying with the King on progress, they were to be allowed fourpence per day for horse-hire: six of them, with the master, were to accompany the'King.
2 Gilbert Banastre, or Banister, was a poet of some note in his day, and
among other things wrote The Miracle of St. Thomas. Warton, History
of English Poetry, ii, 449, edit. 8vo.

1483.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 41
obtained grants of ten marks a year out of the Crown lands;1
and we shall see that they continued in the same capacity in
the early part of the reign of Henry VII.
Hitherto, there is no reason for supposing that the musicians
and singers employed by the court were foreigners, but in the
reign of Richard III a number of Austrian and Bavarian
minstrels were in this country. In October 1483, A.D.
Henryke Hes, Hans Hes, and Mykell Yonger, 'min- I483.
strels', had a letter of passage to return to the Duke of Austria,
their master; and in March of the same year, a permission of
the like kind was given for Conrad Snyth and Peter Skeydell,
minstrels', to return to the Duke of Bavaria.2
Thus we see that Richard III, when Duke of Gloucester,
entertained a company of players as his servants, and probably gave great encouragement to the science of music.
There exists a remarkable proof of his partiality to it; for, on
the i6th of September, in the second year of his reign, he
issued a most arbitrary order for impressing singing men and
children, even from cathedrals, colleges, chapels, and houses of
religion, for the purpose of affording amusement.3
1 Harl. MSS., No. 433. 2 Harl. MSS., No. 433.
3 Subsequent monarchs were not reluctant to follow the precedent thus,
perhaps, for the'first time set. But vide Rym. Fad., v, Pt. II, 66. The
instrument itself, a warrant to John Melyonek, one of the Gentlemen of
the Chapel, is extant in Harl. MS., No 433. It is as follows:'Ric. &amp;c. To all and every our subjects, as well spirituell as temporell,
thise letters hering or seeing, greeting. We let you wite, that for the confidence and trust we have in our trusty and welbeloved servaunt, John
Melyonek, one of the gentilmen of our chapell, and knowing also his
expert habilitie and connyng in the science of musique, have licenced him,
and by thise presents licence and give him auctoritie, that within all
places in this our reame, as well cathedral churches, coliges, chappells,
houses of relegion, and all other franchised and exempt places, as elliswhere, our colege roial at Wyndesor reserved and exept, may take and
a ' * i
* v W W X 00~~ i f And fA\.

42 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1483.
Richard III seems also to have been the first of our kings
who appointed a royal Bear-ward, to diversify the court entertainments; and the warrant appointing John Brown to this
office especially recites the 'diligent service' he had done the
King, as the ground for granting him the privilege of wandering about the country with his bears and apes, and receiving
the 'loving benevolences and favours' of the people.1
We learn from Fitzstephen that, as early as the reign of
Henry II, the baiting of bears by dogs was a popular game in
London; but, if a keeper of the King's bears and apes, even in
the Tower of London, were known before the reign of Edward I,
we are aware of no earlier record of his existence as a licensed
sease, for us and in our name, al such singing men and children, being
expart in the said science of musique, as he can finde, and think sufficient and able to do us service. Wherfore, &amp;c. Yeven,-&amp;c., at Notingham, the xvj day of September. A~ secundo.'
1 Harl. MSS., No. 433. We make no apology for quoting this document, connected as it is with the rude amusements of the time:'Ric. &amp;c., &amp;c. To all Maires, Shireffs, Bailliefs, Constables, and other
oure true liegemen and subgects, to whom these oure present letters shall
come greting. Knowe ye that for the good, true and diligent service
which our trusty servant and Bare Ward, John Broune, this berer, hath
doone unto us, Wee have made, ordeyned and constituted, and by these
presents make, ordeyne, and constitute, the said John Broune, Maister,
Guyder, and Ruler of all our Beres and Apes to us apperteyning or in
any wise belonging within this our realme of England and Wales. Wherfore we streitly chardge and commaund you, that ye in no wise unquiete,
moleste, vexe, or trouble him, nor his servaunts, kepers of our said Beres
and Apes, but to him, and the keper of our said game for our pleasure, ye
shew your lovyng benyvolences and favors, and them curtesly ressarve
and entreate for your reasonable money payements, not suffering any
manner persone, in that ye goodly may, otherwise to vexe, moleste or
greve, than shall appertene and be thought convenyent and resonable in
that parte; as ye entende to please us and to eschewe the contrarie.
Yoven, &amp;c., the v} day of January, A~ primo.'
I:t^ s. 0

1485.] ANNALS OF THIE STAGE. 43
court officer. At subsequent periods he is constantly mentioned in that capacity.
It perhaps deserves remark, that in a proclamation issued
on the 7th of May, 1485, for the encouragement of shooting
with the long bow, enumerating various 'inhibited disports',
theatrical amusements are not referred to: the games forbidden by name are, 'carding, dising, boling, playeng at tenys,
coyting, and pikking'. A similar proclamation had been
issued by Edward III, in I349, and by Richard II, in I389:
but, at that early date, any notice of regular dramatic performances could not be expected.1
In the reign of Henry VII, dramatic performances must
have been frequent in all parts of England. The A. D.
King had two distinct sets of players; his 'players of I485.
interludes', and the Gentlemen of the Chapel, who appear to
have performed always during the festivities of Christmas, and
perhaps at other seasons. In the Chapter-house, Westminster,
was an unbound MS. book of payments out of the Exchequer,
beginning at Michaelmas, 9 Henry VII, in the hand-writing
of a person of the name of Stokes, who was one of the Tellers
under Lord Dynham, the Lord Treasurer: it contains an entry
of the precise sum paid half-yearly to John English, Edward
Maye, Richard Gibson, and John Hammond, who are styled
the 'players of the King's interludes'; and they signed with
their own hands the receipt for the money. This remarkable
Henry VIII, on 5th of May, 1526, and December 4th, 1528, issued
orders of the same tenor. The games forbidden by him were 'bowling,
closshe, coyting, loggetting, playing at tenys, dice, cards, and tables'. On
the I8th of June, 34 Henry VIII, William Griffith obtained a licence
under the privy seal to keep 'a tennys play' for the amusement of
foreigners; but the King's natural born subjects are expressly forbidden,
in the instrument, to frequent this tennis-court. The original document
was in the Chapter-house, Westminster.
*+:~~~ * * ~~~: 1 1-~~~~~~ ** *....:
*, i,: 0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:~;~It:

44 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1485.
and novel record (the earliest we have met with) is in the following form, under the date of Easter Term, I494
'xvij Die Maij. John Englissh, Edwardo Maye, Rico Gibbeson,
&amp; John Hammond, Lusoribus Regis, alias, in lingua Anglicana, les
pleyars of the kyngs enterluds, de feodis suis V mrc p Ann: le home,
per Ire Regis de privato Sigillo dormant de termino Michaelis alt:
pte rec: denar: separatim p manus proprias x mrc.
These four persons (we give their signatures in fac-simile)
were, in fact, 'the King's players', of whom Malone thought
himself fortunate to discover a mere notice, under that appellation, in a book in the Remembrancer's office:' by what is
given above, we not only learn their names, but the precise
amount of their salary and the mode in which it was paid;
and in order that the matter should be clearly understood, the
1 Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 43. Mr. Ouvry, late President of the
Society of Antiquaries, is in possession of an original receipt on behalf of
Gibson, English, May, and Hammond for their salaries, but it is only
signed by May and English for themselves and their fellows: original
documents of this kind are of course extremely rare; and the four men are
there called ' lusores regis, players of the King's enterludes'.

1485.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

words Lusoribus Regis being liable to mis-interpretation, it is
added, that they were called in English the 'players of the
King's interludes'. Entries to the same persons are found in
the same book every half year: each man [homme] was allowed
five marks or 31. 6s. 8d. per annum; and at Michaelmas and
and Easter, the four players received half the sum of twenty
marks, to which they were entitled for the whole year. Richard
Gibson, whose name will hereafter frequently occur, was probably at the head of the company; and although he is not introduced first in the entry, his name stands first among the
signatures. In the Lansdown Collection of MSS.1 is one with
the following title, A Declaration of monies paid into and disburscd out of the Exchequer, from Easter the 20 Henry VII to
Easter 21 Henry VII, which contains the following entry,
where Gibson (perhaps as leader) only is named: -'To
Richard Gibson, and other the Kings plaiers, for their annuity
for one year, I3/. 6s. 8d.'
John English, however, was doubtless a performer of eminence; and when Margaret, the eldest daughter of Henry VII,
was sent into Scotland on her marriage with James IV, he
was the principal member of a company of players forming
part of the retinue of the Princess.2 He continued to receive
his salary of.five marks, or 31. 6s. 8d., after Henry VIII came
to the crown, and in documents of that reign he is individually mentioned. Some time after the birth of Prince Arthur,
in 1486, there was a company of performers under the name
of 'the Prince's Players', who were required in their turn to
contribute to the amusement of the Court.
Before we leave the book of Exchequer payments deposited
in the Chapter-house, it may be fit to state that it also contains
items of half-yearly payments to the King's and Queen's minstrels. A musician of the name of Alexander Mason, under
No. 156. 2 Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet., iii, 9o.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1485.

the title of Marescallus Ministrallorum, was at the head of
the King's minstrels at Easter 1494; but at Easter 1495, he
seems to have been superseded by Henry Glasebury, who received ~9 is. Iod. in part payment of ~I7 IIs. 6d. allowed
him and three musical associates for the whole year. The
entry regarding the Queen's minstrels specifies their names,
viz., John Fawkes, Marcus Lorydon, and Jenyn Markassen:
they were allowed ~Io a year for their salaries. In the same
book is a charge of ~2 to a person called 'Hugo Standish,
Notary', for assisting the preparations ad certos revelliones, at
Whitehall, on the 30th June, I496. Disbursements at various
dates are also entered for silks, velvets, cloth of gold, etc.,
which were probably used for the ' disguisings' at Court; but
the items are not sufficiently explicit to enable us to decide
that they were actually employed for such a purpose: they
never amount in any one sum to more than ~25.
This valuable account-book is deficient in information regarding the officers and ministers of the Royal Chapel,
although it mentions nearly all the other persons of the
household. It is ascertained, however, from other sources,
that, during the twelve days of Christmas, some of the Gentlemen of the Chapel played before the King and his Court, and
received rewards under the name of ' the players of the Chapel',
as distinguished from the King's and Prince's companies of
'players of interludes'. The master of the children of the
Chapel was a distinguished musician, of the name of William
1 The names of the other minstrels are found in another volume of
payments from the Exchequer, in the Ist, 2nd, 7th, and 8th years of
Henry VII, also preserved in the Chapter-house: they were Robert
Greene, John Hawkyns, Thomas May, William Greene, Henry Swayn,
Thomas Spence, and William Davy. Two other minstrels, named Marcus
Jaket and William Elder, were separately paid, and do not seem to have
belonged to the company under the Marescallus Ministrallorum.

I494-]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 4
47

Cornyshe, who, if not a poet, wrote some rhymes, which he
called A Treatise between Trowth and Enformation,l and who
signed several of the receipts for payments from the Exchequer, as evidenced by the records formerly in the Chapterhouse, Westminster.
One principal source of our knowledge of the progress of
theatrical amusements at this period is the Household-books
of Henry VII, yet preserved, which extend from the year
I492 to I509. An account of the disbursements by and for
his Queen has also been discovered, which throws some additional light upon the subject. Hence we find, that besides
the three royal establishments of actors already mentioned, the
players of the Duke of Buckingham and of the Earls of Oxford
and Northumberland performed at court, and received various
rewards. It appears, likewise, on the same authority, that
separate companies of players were attached to the following
places: London, Coventry, Wycombe, Mile-end, Wymborn
1 In 1504, in consequence, as he asserts, of false information given by
an enemy, Cornyshe was confined in the Fleet Prison; and he there
wrote the 'Treatise' noticed in the text, in order to restore himself to
favour with 'King Harry', as he familiarly calls the sovereign. It was, no
doubt, attended by the desired result, for, not very long afterwards, his
name occurs again among the Gentlemen of the Chapel who played before the King. In 1530, was published a Collection of twenty partsongs, with the Score, by Cornyshe and seven others.-See Ritson's
Ancient Songs, i, 73, new edit. We shall have occasion to say more
about Cornyshe hereafter: he was a person of considerable note in his day,
and Stow, in the commencement of the reign of Henry VIII, thus speaks
of him: Chron., p. 816:'In the which time many opprobrious rimes in despite of them (Empson
and Dudley) were made, whereof I have seene some, especiallie one against
Sir Richard Empson, made by Cornish of the kinge's chappell at the request of the earle of Kent, forsomuch as the saide Empson had deceived
him of a parte of his lande, and in sinister waies had informed the king
of him, that he was long holden under, and put to great hinderance.'
X - '* -! ' * _~.: L:.'.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1494 -

Minster, and Kingston.' The players of Essex were twice
paid, and French players appeared the same number of times
before the King: perhaps (as Malone2 has remarked) the
French players had been brought into England by Henry
VII, who resided abroad from 1471 to 1485. The 'Minstrels
of France' are also mentioned; 'disguisings', 'revells', and
'plays' in the hall and before the King, are often entered;
Walter Alwyn, -- Peche (who filled the office of courtfool), John Atkinson, Jaques Haute, - Wentworth, and
Lewis Adam, being successively employed to prepare and
superintend court entertainments. In the seventh and
tenth years of Henry VII, a person of the name of Ringley filled the office of Abbot of Misrule: it is afterwards
1 Mile-end Green seems to have been long afterwards a favourite place
for theatrical and other exhibitions. In the play of 'the Three Lordes and
Three Ladies of London', printed in 1590, Policy thus addresses Pomp:Lord Pomp, let nothing that's magnificall,
Or that may tend to London's graceful state,
Be unperfourmed-as showes and solemne feastes,
Watches in- armour, triumphes, cresset-lightes,
Bonefiers, belles, and peales of ordinance.
And, Pleasure, see that plaies be published,
Maie-games &amp; maskes with mirth and minstrelsie,
Pageants and school-feastes, beares and puppit-plaies:
My selfe will muster upon Mile-end-greene,
As though we saw, &amp; feard not to be seene.'
This passage is a singular enumeration of the popular out-door amusements of the time. The drama itself was considerably older than the
date of publication.
2 Malone seems to have seen no more of this curious register than is
quoted by Dr. Henry in the appendix to Book vi of his History of Britain:
the extracts there given apply only to the ninth and thirteenth years of
the reign of Henry VII. He therefore speaks only of 'the French players',
'the players of London',' the king's players', and 'the players that begged
by the way'.

I502.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

usually designated as the Lordship of Misrule,' and then the
duties were discharged by William Wynnesbury.
There are evidently some differences in the accounts of the
domestic expenses of the King and royal family at this period.
The volumes preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster,
appear to be fair and official copies of books kept by individuals belonging to separate departments; and the entries in
the latter are sometimes more circumstantial than in the
former. I have met with a small one, kept by Robert A. D.
Fouler, including only one year, viz., from October, I502.
17 Henry VII, to October, I8 Henry VII, which contains the
following items: it will be observed presently, that they do
not precisely accord with the larger books, where it was meant
that the details should be entered in a more regular and
permanent shape.
'Oct. 26.-Itm, paid to John Atkynson for the disguysyngs,
531 3s. Ioad.
'Itm, to Cornysshe for 3 pagents, 201.
'Itm, to John Englishe for his pagent, 61. I3S. 4d.
'Jany. i.-Itm, to the Kinges players, over 40s. paid by Thomas
Trollop, 2 os.'
Each pageant was, no doubt, a distinct play, and 61. 13s. 4d.
was the sum allowed on the performance of every piece.
What office Fouler filled is not stated, but the same players
were paid from two different sources, of one of which he had
the control, and Thomas Trollop of the other.
Another valuable document, of a similar description, was
preserved at the Chapter-house, Westminster, viz., the book of
the expenses of Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII, kept by a
1 The terms Abbot and Lord of Misrule seem to have been used indifferently towards the close of the reign of Henry VII; and at Christmas
1509, Wynnesbury is again called 'abbot of Misrule'.
VOL. I. E
*~~~~ ~~.*. a-. - - ' * * ' ': -. - * ^ i

50 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1502.
person of the name of Richard Decons, for one year, beginning the 24th March I502; and it is authenticated by the
Queen's rare signature, of which the following is a fac-simile,
upon every page in the earlier part of the time. She seems
to have given separate rewards to players, when they afforded
her unusual satisfaction; and to have paid for the coats of
various minstrels and trumpeters at a 'disguising', whether
they were attached to herself, to the King, or to some of the
nobility. The details of the information procured from the
various sources above enumerated is thrown into a note;
and we apprehend that it will not be found too long, although
it wander a little from the immediate subject of inquiry, since
it affords a clear insight into the manners and amusements
of the times.1
1 The following quotations are selected from many more in the Household Book of Henry VII, from the seventh to the twentieth years of his
reign, both inclusive, formerly in the Chapter-house, Westminster:7 H. VII.-Jan. i. To my Lorde of Oxon pleyers, in rewarde, 1.
Feb. I5. To Wat Alyn [Walter Alwyn] in full payment for
the disguysing made at Xmas, 14/. 13s. 4d.
Oct. 24. To Ringley Abbot of Misrule, 5/.
Jan. I. To Newark for making of a song, If., 7. To my Lorde of Northumberlande Pleyers in rewarde, i/.
8 H. VII.-Sep. 24. To hym that had his Bull baytid, in rewarde, los.
Nov. 16. To Walter Alwyn for the Revelles at Cristmas,
13/. 6s. 8d., l
*,*"

1502.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 5 I

Warton has expressed an opinion that 'plays on general
subjects were no uncommon mode of entertainment in the
8 H. VII.-Jan. I. To four Pleyers of Essex in rewarde, I/.
To the Pleyers of Wymborne Minster, I/., 6. To the Frenche Pleyers for a rewarde, Il.
To the King's Pleyers for a rewarde, 21. I3s. 4d.,, 5. To my Lord of Bedfordes Tumbler in rewarde,
13s. 4d.
Feb. I5. To Walt. Alwyn in full payment for the disguysing
made at Xmas, I4/. I3s. 4d.
June I. To Peche for the disguysing in rewarde, 261. I4s.
9 H. VII.-Dec. 31. To 3 Pleyers of Wycombe in rewarde, I3S. 4d.
Jan. 4. To the Frenshe Pleyers in rewarde, 2z.
Feb. 13. To Jaks Haute in full payment of his bill for his
disguysings, I3/. los. 6d., 20. To a Walsheman for making of a ryme, Ios.
To the tumbler upon the rope in rewarde, 3s. 4d.
Io H. VII.-Nov. 27. To Hampton of Woucestre for making of balades,
in rewarde, It.
Delivered to Jakes Haute in partye payment for.
the disguysing, Io/.
Dec. 23. To Jakes Haute for the disguysing, Io/.
To two Pleyes in the Hall, I/. 6s. 8d.
Jan. io. To Ringley, Abbot of Misrule, in rewarde, 2/., 24. To Jakes Haute in full payment for the disguysing
to Estermes, 61. I7s. 6d.
Feb. 7. To my Lord Suff, my Lord Essex, my Lord Willm
and other for the disguysing, 40/.
May 9. To an Italian, a poete, i/.
ii H. VII.-Oct. 13. To Master Peter, the Poete, for a Currer of
Florence in rewarde, I.
Jan. 7. To a litel mayden that daunceth, 121.
12 H. VII.-Dec. 3. To my lady the King's moder poete, 31. 6s. 8d.
Feb. 4. To my Lord Prince poete in rewarde, 31. 6s. 8d.
Aug. I. To my Lord of Oxon Bereward, 4s.
To my Lord of Oxon Joculer, 6s. 8d.
13 H. VII.-Aug. I. For three stryng mynstrells wagis, 5/.
July 20. To the pleyers of London in rewarde, ios.
E 2
r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I502.

royal palaces of England, at least in the commencement of
the fifteenth century'; and he lays particular stress upon the
13 H. VII.-July 20. To a tumbler at my Lord of Bathes, I.
14 H. VII.-June 14. To the Maygame at Grenewiche, 4s.
To the pleyers with Marvells, 4/.
To the Printers at Westminster, I/.

15 H. VII.-I

16 H. VII.-J
j
I7 H. VII.-]
18 H. VII.-]

Dec. 3I. To a Spanyard that tumbled before the King in
rewarde, IOs.
July 23. To John Atkinson in full payment of his reckennings for the disguysings, 37/. I7s. 4id.
Aug. 6. To the Pleyers at Myles End, 3s. 4d.
Dec. 4. To the Rymer of Scotland in rewarde, 6/. I3s. 4d.
[an. 7. To John Englishe the Pleyer, Ios.
fune I8. To Anthony Verard [printer] for 2 bokes called the
gardyn of helth, 6/.
[an. 2. To the Abbot of Mysrule in rewarde, 61. I3s. 4d.
To the Pleyers of Essex in rewarde, I/., 20. To Lawrence, Master of the Tumblers, 5/.

April 12. To Lewes Adam that made disguysings, io/.
Nov. I. To Richard Pynson the Prynter in rewarde, I/.
19 H. VII.-Jan. II. To litell mayden the tumbler, It.
To Vonecorps the tumbler in rewarde, I/.
Oct. 4. To Wat the luter, that played the fole, I3s. 4d.
20 H. VII.-Jan. 12. To the Abbot of Mysrule in rewarde, 61. I3s. 4d.
May 20. To the Players of Kingeston toward the bilding of
the churche steple, in almasse, 3s. 4d.
July 25. To the Gentylmen of the King's chapell to drynke
with a bucke, 2/.
It is not always easy to fix the precise dates of these payments, nor is
it of much consequence that they should be given, as they cannot add to
the facts. Among the entries without date may be mentioned 6s. 8d. paid
'to a preste that wrestled', and io/. paid 'to the Quenes grace for the disguysing'.
The subsequent quotations are from a folio in the Chapter-house, Westminster, with the following title, The Kyngs boke ofpaymentis, begynnyng
primo die Oct1 Ao 21 Regis Henrici VImi.
2I H. VII.-Jan. I. To the Styll Mynstrells, 4/.
To the Quenes Mynstrells in rewarde, 2/.

1502.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE. 53

word 'plays' used in 'an old memoir of shews and ceremonies'
at Court in I489. It must be remarked, however, that the

21 H. VII.-Jan. I. To Master Barnard the blynde Poyett, 5/.
To the players that played afore the Lord Stewarde
in the Hall opon Sonday nyght, 6s. 8d.
To my lorde Princes players that played in hall on
new-yeres even, Ios.
To Stephen Hawse for a ballet that he gave to the
kings grace in rewarde, Ios.
To the four players of the kings chapell, 61. I3s. 4d.
To the Lorde of mysrule in rewarde, 61. I3s. 4d.
Feb. 20. To the strange Mynstrells that played afore the
king in rewarde, 61. 13s. 4d.
To Guyllam the prenter of bokes in rewarde, I/.
May 22. For settyng uppe of the May-pole at Westm., 6s. 8d.

22 H. V
23 H. V

To 5 straunge Mynstrells that played afore the
King in rewarde, 2/.
For prentyng of Iooo Orisons, at Id. ob the pece, for
masse bokes, 6/. 5s.
I I.-Dec. 25. To the Players that played affore the Lord Stewarde
in the Hall opon Tewesday nyght, Ios.
To Pynson that gave the king a boke, 6s. 8d.
Jan. I6. To 4 players of the Chapell that played affore the
king opon I2th day at nyght, 21.,, 23. To the Lorde of mysrule for his besynes in Cristenmes in rewarde, 6. I 3s. 4d.
May I. To the Bereward in rewarde, 6s. 8d.
II.-Oct. 4. To 6 Mynstrells of Fraunce that played affore the
kings grace at Habyngdon, 2/.
Dec. 31. To master Wentworth towards the making of a
disguysing for a moryce, 6/. I3s. 4d.
Jan. 2. To master Empson for the men of London, 2/.,, 7. To the 5 gentelmen of the King's Chapell that
played in the Hall opon 12th nyght affore the
kings grace in rewarde, 6. I3s. 4d.
To the Lorde of mysrule in rewarde for his besynes
in Crestenmes holydays, 61. I3S. 4ct.....
"* ": ** ---;- ';.'^ "-* -^^ ^

I:
i
i
E
i
i

54 ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I502.

same appellation of' plays' was often given to the old pageants
founded upon the stories of the Bible, in the reign of Henry

24 H. VII.-Dec. I9. To Wynnesbury towards the payment of his lordship of mysrule, 2/. 6s. 8d.
To Mr. Kyte Cornisshe and other of the chapell
that played affore the king at Richmounte,
6/. 13s. 4d.
Jan. 2. To my lord of Buckingham's pleyers that playd in
the Hall at Grenewich, 6s. 8d.
Jan. 7. To diverse of the King's chapell that played affore
the King opon I2th nyght, 2/. I3s. 4d.
To the King's players in rewarde, 2/.
To the Abbot of Mysrule, in full payment for his
besynes in the Cristemes tyde, 3/. 6s. 8d.
The book of expenses of Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII, is thus headed:
'Thies are the paymentes made by Ricard Decons from 24th day of
Marche Anno xvij no unto - '; the date to which the account was
carried, March xviijmo Henry VII, not having been inserted. It contains
the items which follow:March 24. Delivered to John Goose my lord of York's fole, in rewarde
for bringing a carppe to the Quene, is.
April 6. To William Worthy, otherwise called Phip, for the bourde of
William the quenes fole for the moneth of March, 2s.
Aug. 28. To the Quenes mynstrells in rewarde, 2/.
Oct. I6. To my lady Bray for money by hur geven in rewarde to a
Disare that played the Sheppert before the quene, 3s. 4d.
Dec. 7. To Robert Matheue, taillor, for making of 4 coots of white
and grene sarcenet for 4 of the Kinges Mynstrells against
the dysguysing in the last yere last passed, at 2s. the cote,
8s. Itm for making of 4 cots of white and green sarcenet
for 4 of the Kinges trumpetts, at 2s. the cote, 8s. And for
making of 3 cots of sarcenet for 3 mynstrells, oon my lord
princes, another of my lord of Yorkes, and the third of the
Duke of Bukkingham, at 2s. the cote, 6s. Sma, I/. 2s.
Dec. 25. To Cornisshe for setting of carrall upon Cristmas day in
rewarde, I3s. 4d.
To the Quene of Scotts Mynstrells, ios.

ii~
I I
lj
ti~
I/~
i;
..
I
ij
i;,
:n1

1502.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

VI, if not earlier; so that no argument can be drawn from
the employment of that term in the time of Henry VII.1 The
Ludus -Coventrice, the MS. of which was written in the reign of
Henry VI, is called a 'play' in the speech of the Vexillator;
and the Morals in the Macro MS., the transcript of which is
of about the same date, are also there called 'plays'. In fact,
according to all the testimony that has yet been procured,
'plays on general subjects' were a later invention-unknown,
even in Latin, until the reign of Henry VIII. Polidore Virgil
(who published the three first books of.his work De Rerum
Inventoribus, in I449) uses the word comwdias, as applied to
the vernacular dramatic representations in his time; but he
explains it by stating distinctly that he refers to the vitas divorum ac martyria, which were recited in templis.2 The exJan. 20. To a mayde that came out of Spayne and daunced before the
Quene in rewarde, 2/. I3S. 4d.
Geven on New yere's dayTo the Quenes Mynstrells, II. 6s. 8d.
To the Lorde of Mysrule, i/.
To the Mynysters of the Kinges chapell, 2/.
To my Lord prive sealls foole, 3s. 4d.
1 It is found in the folio account book of the expenses of Thetford
Priory, from the reign of Edward IV to the 3Ist of Henry VIII. The
mention of 'plays' and 'players' does not begin until the I3th of Henry
VII; but' Minstrels' and 'Waytes' are often spoken of there as receiving
rewards from the convent. The following entries, regarding 'plays' and
'players', occur between the I3th and 23rd of Henry VII:13 Henry VII.-Itm sol. in regard 12 capital plays, 4s.
Itm sol. to menstrell and pleyers in festo Epiphie, 2s.
19 Henry VII.-Itm sol. to the play of Mydenale, 12d.
21 Henry VII.-Itm sol. in regard lusoribus et menstrall, I7d.
23 Henry VII.-Itm sol. in regard lusoribus div. vices, 3s. 4d.
Itm sol. in regard to Ixworth play, i6d.
Itm sol. in regard to Schelfanger play, 4d.
2 Lib. v, c. 2.:*::,*:::'.':

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[ I502.

tracts from the books of payments of Henry VII show, that
he saw the 'Marvells' or Miracle-plays at Coventry, and that
the players of' Wymborne Minster' acted before him a piece,
doubtless of the same description: the most minute of the
entries in the Household-books of that reign speak of
'pageants' exhibited at Court in I502. At that date a 'pageant' was only another name for a play; and the greatest
improvement at which the dramatic art had yet arrived was
the performance of Morals. Warton has himself noticed the
representation of the Miracle-play called Christi Decensus ad
Inferos, before Henry VII, in 1487, by the Pueri Eleemosynarii of Hyde Abbey and St. Swithin's Priory.' When we
read in the statement of the expenses of the Queen in this
reign, that she gave a reward to 'a Dysare', for playing' the
Sheppert', the meaning may be that this Disour, or jest-teller,
performed the part of one of the shepherds, when the Miracleplay of the appearance of the star in the east was acted at
Court in October 1502. It was, perhaps, one of the four 'pageants' then exhibited by Cornyshe and English, mentioned
in the quotations from the Household-book of Henry VII, from
October I 502, to October I 503.2

~~;
-~ '::

" Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 24) has pointed out the error
Warton committed in supposing that this was the only instance of choirboys performing Miracle-plays.
2 A Moral by Skelton, called The Nigramansir, was played before
Henry VII'at Woodstock, prior to I504, when it was printed. This
piece seems now unfortunately lost; but Warton saw it in the collection of
Collins, the poet, and he has left the following account of it in his Hist.
Engl. Poet., iii, 185, edit. 8vo: â
'I cannot quit Skelton, of whom I yet fear too much has been already
said, without restoring to the public notice a play, or Morality, written by
him, not recited in any catalogue of his works, or annals of English typography; and, I believe, at present totally unknown to the antiquarians
in this sort of literature. It is, The Nigramansir, a morall Enterlude and

1502.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

In Hearne's edition of Leland's Collectanea, I770,1 Warton
found an old memoir of shews and ceremonies at court, in
1489. -The manuscript itself is in the Cottonian Library, but
Hearne omitted the particular reference. Malone, was therefore obliged to content himself with Hearne's account of it;
but we were fortunate enough to meet with it in the British
a pithie, written by Maister Skelton laureate, and plaid before the king and
other estatys at Woodstoke on Palme Sunday. In was printed by Wynkyn
de Worde, in a thin quarto, in the year I504. It must have been presented
before King Henry VII at the royal manor or palace at Woodstock, in
Oxfordshire, now destroyed. The characters are a Necromancer or
Conjuror, the Devil, a Notary Public, Simonie, and Philargyria or
Avarice. It is partly a satire on some abuses in the church; yet not
without a due regard to decency and an apparent respect for the dignity
of the audience. The story or plot is the trial of Simony and Avarice:
the Devil is the judge, and the Notary Public acts as an assessor of
scribe. The prisoners, as we may suppose, are found guilty, and are
ordered into hell immediately. There is no sort of propriety in calling
this play The Necromancer; for the only business and use of this character is to open the subject in a long prologue, to evoke the Devil, and
summon the court. The Devil kicks the Necromancer for waking him so
soon in the morning: a proof that this drama was performed in the
morning, perhaps in the chapel of the palace. A variety of measures,
with shreds of Latin and French, are used; but the Devil speaks in the
octave stanza. One of the stage-directions is Enter Balsebub with a
berde. To make him both frightful and ridiculous, the Devil was most
commonly introduced on the stage wearing a vizard with an immense
beard. Phylargyria quotes Seneca and St. Austin; and Simony offers
the Devil a bribe. The Devil rejects her offer with much indignation;
and swears by thefoule Eumenides, and the hoary beard of Charon, that
she shall be well fried and roasted in the unfathomable sulphur of
Cocytus, together with Mahomet, Pontius Pilate, the traitor Judas, and
King Herod. The last scene is closed with a view of Hell, and a dance
between the Devil and the Necromancer. The dance ended, the Devil
trips up the Necromancer's heels, and disappears in fire and smoke.'
' Vol. iii, Appendix, p. 256.
'.:,.i'"f.4
-:ad:..:

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1502.

Museum,l though after the minute details of the charge for
Court entertainments at this period, already supplied from
domestic accounts of the royal family, the information it contains sinks into comparative insignificance. As, however, it
refers to a date not included in the Household-books, it deserves extracting. The author may be concluded to have
been a herald, from the manner in which, on every occasion,
he specifies the amount of the largesses given by the King,
Queen, and nobility, to the officers at arms, either praising
their liberality or blaming their parsimony. 'On the xiith day'
(he says, speaking of the year 1489) 'the ambassatours of
Spayne dyned at the Kyngs borde, and the officers of armez
had ther largess as they were accustomed. This cristmas I
saw no disgysyngs, &amp; but right few plays; but there was an
Abbot of misrule, that made much sport &amp; did right well his
office; and on the morn the King rode to Waltham forest a
hunting.' Further on he tells us that on Candlemas-day 1490,
' at nyght the kyng, the qwene, and my ladye the kyngs moder
came in to the Whit hall, &amp; ther had a pley'; and during the
festivities of Christmas he observes, 'on neweres day at nyght,
there was a goodly disgysyng, and also this cristmas there
were many &amp; dyvers pleyes'.2
It is Cotton. MS. yulius B. xii.
2 We cannot refrain from giving in a note the following original, very
particular, and curious account of this remarkable piece of royal pageantry, headed, 'the banquets and disguisings used at the entertaynment in Westminster Hall of Katherine, wife to Prince Arthur, eldest
sonne of King Henry VII': it is from the original MS. Harl., 69, and we
know of no similar description of that period half so minute and picturesque, though a little confused:'The Queene, my Ladye the King's Mother, the Lady Princesse, with
a goodly company of fresh ladyes and gentlewomen of the Court and
realme awaiting on her, had made to the said Hall their repairall. And
in this foresaid place when the K. and Q. had taken their noble seates
r,

1502.1 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 59
It has been seen, that while the King and Prince had three
companies of actors, the custom among the nobility of keeping
under their clothes of estate, and every other Nobles were ordered in their
roomes worshipfull and convenient, then began and entered this most
goodly and pleasant disguising, convayed and showed in pageants proper
and subtile; of whom the first was a Castle right cunningly devised, sett
upon certaine wheeles, and drawne into the said great hall of fower great
beasts with chaines of gold. Two of the first beasts were lyons, one of
them of gold and thother of silver: one of the other was a hart with guilt
hornes, and the second of the same was an Ibeke, with every each of
the which foure beasts were two men, one in the fore part, and another
in the hinder part, secretly hid and apparelled, nothing seene but their
leggs, and yet those were disguised after the proportion and kinde of the
beasts that they were in. And thus this Castle was by the foure beasts
properly conveyed from the nether part of the hall before the K. and Q.,
being in the upper part of the same hall. There were within the same
Castle disguised viij goodly &amp; fresh ladyes looking out of the windowes of
the same, and in the foure corners of this Castle were iiii turretts, that is
to say in every square one sett and appearing above height of it, in the
which of every of these turretts was a little child apparelled like a
maiden. And so all the foure children singing most sweetly and harmoniously in all the comming the length of the hall, till they came before
the K. Matie, who, when it had come, conveyed &amp; set himself somewhat
out of the waye, towards the one side of the hall.
'The second Pageant was a shippe in like wise sett upon wheeles
without any leaders in sight, in right goodly apparell, having her mast
toppes, sayles,.and her tackling and all other apperteynances necessary
unto a seemely vessell, as though it had been sayling in the sea, and so
passed through the hall by the whole length till they came before the
King somewhat besides the Castle. At the which time the Maskers of
the shippe and their company, in their countenance, speaches, and demeanor, used and behaved themselves after the manner and guise of
mariners, &amp; there cast their anchors, somewhat besides the said Castle:
in the which shippe there was a goodly and a faire ladye in her, apparelled like unto the Princesse of Spaine, out and from the said ship descended downe by a ladder two well beseene and goodly persons calling
themselves Hope and Desire, passing towards the rehearsed Castle with
their banners, in manner and forme as Ambassadors from Knights of
8,. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 4.`
I -.;.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ANNALS OF THIE STAGE.

[I 502.

retainers of the same description had become very general.
The players of Lord Ferrers, Lord Clifton, the Duke of Glothe Mount of Love unto the ladyes within the Castle, making a great
instance in the behalfe of the said Knights for the intent to attaine the
favour of the said Ladyes present; making their meanes and entreates as
wooers &amp; breakers of the maters of love betweene the Knights and the
Ladyes: the said Ladyes gave their small answeare of utterly refuse, and
knowledge of any such company, or that they were ever minded to the
accomplishment of any such request, and plainely denyed their purpose
and desire. The said two Embassadors, therwith taking great displeasure,
shewed the said Ladyes that the Knights would for this unkind refusall
make battayle and assault, so and in such wise to them &amp; their Castle,
that it should be grievous to abyde their power and malice.
'Incontinent came in the third Pageant in likeness of a great hill or
mountaine, in whom there was inclosed viij goodly Knights with their
banners spredd and displayed, naming themselves the Knights of the
Mount of Love; the which passed through the said hall towards the
King's grace and there they took their standing upon the other side of
the shippe. And then these two Ambassadors departed to the Knights,
being'within the Mount. their Mrs, shewing the disdaine and refusall
with the whole circumstance of the same. So as they therwith not being
content, with much malice and courageous minde, went a little from the
said Mount with their banners displayed, and hastely sped them to the
rehearsed Castle, which they forthwith assaulted so and in such wise
that the Ladyes, yielding themselves, descended from the Castle and submitted themselves to the power, grace, and will of those noble Knights,
being right freshly disguised, and the Ladyes also, fower of them after
the English fashion, and the other foure after the manner of Spaine,
daunced together divers and many goodly daunces, and in the tyme of
their dauncing, the three Pageants, the Castle, the Shippe, and the
Mountaine removed and departed the same wise: the disguisers rehersed,
as well the Knights as the Ladyes, after certaine leasure of their solace &amp;
disport avoyded, and vanished out of their sight and presence. And then
came downe the L. Prince and the Lady Cecill &amp; daunced two baas
daunces and departed up againe, the L. Prince to the King and the Lady
Cecill to the Queene. Eftsoones the Lady Princesse, and one of her
ladyes with her, in apparell after the Spanish guise, came downe, there
dauncing other two baas daunces, and departed againe bothe up to the.i F:-e,:...*. â1-;:-i.' 1;. - **. *,. *

I 509.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

cester (afterwards Richard III),and of the first Duke of Norfolk,
have been before noticed, and to these are now to be added
(besides the companies of performers attached to particular
towns and cities) the players of Lords Oxford, Northumberland
and Buckingham. Acting, in fact, had become an ordinary
occupation in 1509; but notwithstanding the patronage A. D.
extended to players by the nobility, it seems not to 1509.
have been considered by any means a respectable vocation.
Wynkyn de Worde printed a tract (without date, but in all
probability before the death of Henry VII) called Cocke Lorels
Bote,l which mentions both minstrels and players, and places
them in company, which may serve to show the light in which
they were then viewed. Cocke Lorell summons persons of all
classes to go on board his ship of fools; among them,
'Fruyters, chese mongers &amp; mynstrelles,
Talowe chaundlers, hostelers, &amp; glovers,'
Queene. Third and last came downe the Duke of Yorke, having with him
the Ladye Margret his sister in his hand, and daunced two bass daunces,
and afterwards he, perceiving himself to be accombred with his clothes, sodainly cast of his gowne and daunced in his Jacket with the said Ladye
Margarett in so goodly &amp; pleasant maner that it was to the King and Q.
right great and singular pleasure; &amp; so departed againe, the Duke to the
Kinge and the- Ladye to the Queene. This disguising royall thus ended,
beganne the Voydee to enter in this manner of a bankett,' &amp;c.
'In S. Rowland's Marti Mararkall, his Defence and Answer to the
Bellman of London, I6Io, Cock Lorell is enumerated second in a list of
rogues by profession, and he is thus described:'After him succeeded, by the general council, one Cock Lorrell, the
most notorious knave that ever lived. By trade he was a Tinker, often
carrying a pan &amp; a hammer for shew, but when he came to a good
booty, he would cast his profession in a ditch, and play the padder.'
Three or four tinkers of this description open the very old play called
Common Conditions, and do in fact cast their profession in a ditch', to
act the part of foot-pads.
* * * - * *** ~ ~~-'" -.-..* -ti:-,...- *, ".i,.W s M-!S9

62 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I509.
which proves, if proof were necessary, that minstrelsy was stiff
looked upon as a regular occupation, while the companions of
players in this tract are even less reputable:'Chymney swepers &amp; costerde mongers,
Lode men and bere brewers,
Fyshers of the see and muskel takers,
Schovyl chepers, gardeners &amp; rake fetters,
Ir t ~ ' Players, purse-cutters, money batterers,
Golde washers, tomblers &amp; jogelers,
Pardoners, kynges bench gatherers,' etc.l
It is not, however, quite clear, that by the term 'players',
the author is to be understood to mean players in interludes;
for the same word occurs in the title of a work printed by
'This satire is in the Garrick collection, and it is supposed to be
unique; the greater misfortune, because it is imperfect at the commencement. Dr. Dibdin (Typogr. Antiq., ii, 352) does not attempt to assign a
date to it. It is mentioned in a MS. poem in the Bodleian, called
Doctour Double Ale:
I holde you a grota,
Ye wyll rede by rota,
That ye may wete a cota,
In cocke lorels bota.'
Hartshorne's Ancient Metrical Tales, p. 243. Another mention of Cock
Lorels bote is in John Heywood's Epzigrams upon three hundredProverbs,
where he thus describes a busy body:
'He will have an ore in every man's barge,
Even in cocke lorels barge he berth that charge.'
I quote from an edition of 566, not mentioned by Ritson, and with only
'Londini, 1566', on the title page, without the name of any printer. Ritson
says, that the 'sixth hundred of Epigrams' was first added to the copy of
1576, but it was, in fact, subjoined to this edition, ten years older, with
the following notice:-' Whereunto are now newly added a sixte hundred
of Epigrams, by the sayde John Heywood.' The Cock-lorrel whom Ben
Jonson has celebrated, and who invited the devil to a feast, may have
been the same personage....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&lt;

I 509.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

Pynson, very shortly afterwards, called The churche of yvell
men and women, whereof L ucyfere is heed, and the membres is
allthe players dissolute and synners reproved. Here 'the players'
might seem to point at the particular class of persons then
engaged in the performance of theatrical representations; but
the tract is an invective against the use of cards and dice, 'the
players' meaning only gamesters. It represents the Devil
establishing a Church of his own in opposition to the Church
of Christ, and the author makes a parallel between the offices,
habits, books and furniture of the two: the Devil's cardinals
are 'the great lordes, the officers and all the prelates', who do
not suppress unlawful games: his bishops are gentlemen burgesses and merchants who encourage them; and his canons
and curates are 'hostelers and taverners', who keep 'bordelles,
taverns, sellers, and hote houses dissolute'.1
This tract is of extreme rarity, and it is clear that neither Herbert nor
Dr. Dibdin (Typogr. Ant., ii, 446) ever saw it: the latter quotes the catalogue of the Bodleian Library, where indeed it is to be found, and where we
had the good fortune to meet with it. It has been hastily but erroneously
taken for granted that it was an attack upon stage-players. It has no date,
and the colophon is in these words-' Thus endeth this lytell treatyse of
the church of yvell men and women. Imprinted at London, in Fletestrete,
by Richard Pynson, printer to the kynges noble grace'. It is a translation
from St. Bernardyne, and not St. Augustine, as Dr. Dibdin erroneously
states; and in an address to the reader at the back of the title, we are told
'the which treatise was drawen out of his booke in laten, intytuled Christen
relygyon. And translated out of Frenche in to Englishe, at the instaunce
of Charles, erle of Worcester and chamberlayne to our soverayne lorde
the kyng'. At the end of the book (which is small 8vo or 12mo) is
Pynson's device. As no notice of this production has ever been published,
a short extract may be acceptable, in which the writer describes a pack
of cards, and their suits, in his time:'And ryght so as in the portuous of our adversary ther is dyvers
hy'stories: as the hystory of the nativyte, of the resurrectyon, of kynges
and dyvers other. In lykewyse wyll I that there be pompous hystories
'~~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0, ",.;t.,, '- -.$1;**'............-d &lt;,t'i*-,'43,a0-S~'&gt;&gt;: A.........

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE,

[I509.

In the year 151, Dean Colet was called upon to deliver an
Oratio at Clerum before the Convocation at St. Paul's, and
his testimony may be adduced in proof, that the clergy not
only frequented, but acted plays: although this Oratio was
not delivered until two years after Henry VIII had ascended
the throne, it refers to a period anterior to the demise of his
predecessor. Dean Colet complains that the clergy 'Conviviis
et epulationibus se dedunt, in vanas confabulationes se effundunt, se ludis et jocis tradunt, se aucupiis et venationibus
accommodant'. Farther on we meet with this passage-' Recitentur leges et sanctae regulae tradite a patribus de vita et
honestate clericorum; que prohibent ne clericus sit mercator,
ne sit fcenerator, ne sit venator, ne sit publicus lusor, ne sit
arma gerens', etc. A translation of this 'Sermon' was published (without date, but very soon after it was delivered) by
Berthelet, and there we find the word ludis in the first quotation rendered 'playes'; and the words publicus lusor in the
second quotation is rendered 'common player'. If the clergy
had not at that period sometimes exhibited as 'common
players', it would have been needless for Dean Colet to have
told them to repeat the 'laws and holy rules' of the fathers.
in ours: as kynges, quenes and varlettes. I wyll moreover that my
stories have great significacons, al so well as they of Christe. They that
are paynted within, signifyeth the avaryce and cupidite of the cursed
players. And those of the kynges signifyeth pride, inobedyence, and
arrogance. They of the quenes, lechery and lubricyte. Those of the
foles, the great follye of ye players that weneth to wynne a thyng transytorie, and leseth the rychesse eternalles. And those of the varlettes
signifyeth that the players are servauntes of me Lucifer * * * The cardes
with paynted hertes, signifyeth that they which play hath gyven their
hertes unto the play, and unto the devyll. And those there as is the
trayfles, signifyeth the folisshe ioye yt. they take in servynge Lucyfer.
They of pykes sygnifyeth the noyses &amp; debates that procedeth, &amp; those
of dyamondes signifyeth that the churche infernall shalbe paved with
their soules.' Sign B.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
DURING THE REIGN OF IENRY VIII.
HENRY VIII had no sooner ascended the throne than the
court amusements were placed on a much more costly and
extensive footing; and perhaps the extravagance of this king
in the pursuit of his pleasures has led, in some degree, to an
unjust accusation of parsimony against his predecessor, who
seems to have given liberal encouragement to the art of
printing, as well as to poetry, music and the stage. During
the reign of Henry VII we meet with comparatively small
charges for revels, but the disguisings, in the first A. D.
Christmas after his son came to the crown, cost no I510
less than ~584 19s. 7d. for gold plate, silks, and apparel, alone.2
'The Act of A5ifarel, 3 and 4 Edw. IV, exempting 'pleyers in their
enterludes', has been already referred to, and in similar legislative regulations in the 6th and 7th Henry VIII, fixing the particular dress to be worn
by different classes, it is provided expressly, that none of the clauses
shall extend to 'minstrells and players of interludes': when these laws
were revived in 24 Henry VII I, the exception was enlarged to 'minstrells,
players in interludes, sights, and revells'.
2 According to Hall (Chron. An. 2 Henry VIII), the King was a proficient in arms and arts: he shot with the bow, wrestled, played on
instruments, sang and composed music, besides writing ballads. Kings,
Princes, and nobles often possess wonderful versatility:'From thence the whole Courte removed to Wyndesore, then begynning
VOL. I. F

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

[I 5 Io.

In the next year no similar items occur among the King's
expenses, and perhaps the money was paid out of some other
fund, and carried to a different account; for we learn from
Hali's Chronicle, that the exhibitions at Richmond, where the
King kept his Christmas, were of a magnificent description:
his words are these:'Against the I 2 daye or the daie of the Epiphane at nyghte, before
the banket in the hall at Rychemound, was a pageaunt devised like a
mountayne, glisteryng by nyght, as though it had bene all of golde
and set with stones; on the top of the whiche mountayne was a tree
of golde, the braunches and bowes frysed with gold, spreding on
every side over the mountayne with roses and pomegranetts: the
which mountayn was with vices brought up towards the kyng, and
out of the same came a ladye appareiled in clothe of golde, and the
children of honour, called the Henchemen, which were freshly disguysed and daunced a Morice before the kyng;1 and that done reentred the mountayne, and then it was drawen backe, and then was
the Wassail or banket brought in, and so brake up Christmas.'
On the 13th of February solemn jousts were held; and after
describing the tournament at length, Hall adds what is more
to our purpose:-'After supper his grace, with the Quene,
Lordes and Ladies, came into the White Hall within the said
Pallays, which was hanged rychely: the Hall was scaffolded
and rayled on al partes. There was an Interlude of the Gentelhis progresse, exercising hym selfe daily in shotyng, singing, daunsyng,
wrastelyng, casting of the barre, plaiyng at the recorders, flute, virginals,
and in settyng of songes, makyng of ballettes; and did set ii goodly masses,
every of them fyve partes, whiche were song oftentimes in hys chapel,
and afterwardes in diverse other places.'
Then more usually called 'a Morisco' or Moorish Dance; and two
persons, apparently foreigners, named Jacques Hault and William Pawne,
were appointed to assist in the preparation of 'disguisings and some
Moriscos' for the Court, 'whereof they shall have warning by the Lord
Chamberlain'.

5 I 3]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

men 6f his chappell before his grace, and divers fresh songes:
that done, his grace called to hym a greate man, or a Lord of
Ireland called Odonell, whom in the presence of the Ambassadours he made knyght: then mynstrells beganne to play,
the Lordes and Ladies beganne to daunce'.1
During the festivities of Christmas I512-I3, the King's
players, and other performers who came out of Suffolk, A. D.
acted at Court; but in this year we find no notice of 1513.
extraordinary expenses. Nevertheless it is evident from the
account the old Chronicler, just quoted, gives of the nature of
the performances, that some charge of the kind must have
been incurred. He tells us that in this year 'a mask, a thing 1
not seen afore in England', was introduced; so that there
must have been some difference, not now distinctly to be explained, between 'a mask' and 'a disguising'. Hall says:'On the daie of the Epiphanie at night the king with xi other
were disguised after the manner of Italie, called a maske, a
thing not sene afore in England: thei were appareled in garmentes long and brode, wrought all with golde, with visers and
cappes of gold; and after the banket doen these Maskers
came in with the sixe gentlemen disguised in silke, beryng
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 thing commonly seen. And after thei daunced
'The minstrels also on this occasion danced in disguises. A most extraordinary scene followed. The King and Lords entered the hall in a
pageant on wheels, and they were to have retired into it again after the
interlude, but the 'rude people' (as Hall terms them), in their rapacity
for the finery of which the car was composed, pulled it to pieces. After
dancing, the King desired his nobles to tear the gold letters from their
dresses and to fling them among the crowd; but the rabble could not be
restrained: they broke in, stripped the king 'to his hosen and doublet,
and all his companions in likewyse'. The guard interfered to put the people
back, 'or els, as it was supposed, more inconvenience had ensued'.
F 2
* an~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I515.

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.'
The name of Richard Gibson has been inserted among the
players of Henry VII, and early in the reign of Henry VIII
he was appointed 'Yeoman Tailor' to the King, and subsequently Sergeant-at-Arms and of the Tents and Revels.' In
this capacity it was his business to superintend the preparations
for the royal entertainments, and to keep accounts of the expenditure. Among some miscellaneous papers of this reign,
in the Chapter-house, is a roll of the items of the Revels in
A. D. the 5th Henry VIII, including charges for masks and
15I5. minstrelsy at Calais, while the King was at the siege
of Terouenne, and after the taking of Tournay. The most
curious part of this document relates to the Revels at Richmond, during the festivities of Christmas, 1514-15, which thus
commences:'For to do pleser [to] the Kyngs grace, and for to pas the tyme of
Chrestemas, by Sir Harry Gyllfurth [Guildford], Master of the Revells,
was devysed an Interluit, in the wheche conteyned a moresk of vj
persons and ij ladys: wherfor by commandement of our soveraine
lord the Kyng, and at apoyntment of Sir Harry Gylforth, was preparyd, had and wrought dyvers and sundry garments.'
This is followed by a detail of the materials purchased for
the making of the dresses, etc.; but before we mention a few
This fact appears by the following extract from MS. Cotton. Vitellius,
F. V., giving an account of the burning of Gibson's son in the reign of
Mary: âSee also Strype, Eccl. Mem., iii, 4I3.
'The 13 day of November was Sant Erkenwold evyn, the 4 and 5 of
K. and Quen, whent owt of Nugatt unto Smyth feld to be bernyd 3 men:
on [one] was Gybsun, the sun of Serjant Gybsun, Serjant of armes, and
of the reyvells, and of the Kyngs tents, and 2 more, the whyche here be
ther names-Gybsun, Hald, and Sparow, thes 3 men.'

I I55.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

of the particulars, it will render them more intelligible, if we
quote a singular contemporaneous paper, folded up in the roll
and in a different handwriting, giving an account of the nature
of the exhibitions before the King on this occasion. Two
interludes were performed, one by Cornyshe and the Children
of the Chapel, and the other by English and the King's players,
and the account of them is as follows:'The Interlud was callyd the tryumpe of Love and Bewte, and yt
was wryten and presentyd by Mayster. Cornyshe and oothers of the
Chappell of our soverayne lorde the Kyng, and the chyldern of the
sayd Chapell. In the same Venus and Bewte dyd tryumpe over al
ther enemys, and tamyd a salvadge man and a lyon, that was made
very rare and naturall, so as the kyng was.gretly plesyd therwyth, and
gracyously gaf Mayster Cornysshe a ryche rewarde owt of his owne
hand, to be dyvydyd with the rest of his felows. Venus dyd synge a
songe with Beawte, which was lykyd of al that harde yt, every staffe
endyng after this sortte:
'" Bowe you downe, and doo your dutye
To Venus and the goddes Bewty:
We' tryumpe hye over all,
Kyngs attend when we doo call."
'Inglyshe, and the oothers of the Kynges pleyers, after pleyed an
Interluyt, whiche was wryten by Mayster Midwell,' but yt was so long
yt was not lykyd: yt was of the fyndyng of Troth, who was caryed
away by ygnoraunce &amp; ypocresy. The foolys part was the best, but
the kyng departyd befor the end to hys chambre.'
This portion of the document appears to be in the handMost probably Henry Medwell, who was chaplain to Cardinal Morton
in the reign of Henry VII, and who has left behind him an interlude in
two parts, called Nature, which is one of the earliest printed Morals in
our language. See Orkz. and Prog. of Dram. Poet.
( * ^ ' **. ^. * *; * *.... ' ' - - * * ' * ** *" ^ '.. ^ '-:' ^ *:,^ *^ ^,~

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I5 5.

writing of Cornyshe himself, who appended his very rare signature in the following form.
The statement of the cost of the various materials is in the
hand-writing of Gibson; and it appears that, besides the Interludes, and the Morisco or Morris-dance, there was a disguising,
and that a Fool was introduced into the entertainment, for
whose coat a charge is made. The following are a few of the
numerous items in this singular relic.
' Itm bowght by me Rychard Gybson of satten of Bregs [Bruges],
whyte &amp; gree, xlviij yards, the yard 2s. 6d. whereof spent in 6 jakytts
for gentylmen, to every jakytt 6 yards. These jakytts had wyd
slevys pendent.
'Itm bought by me Rychard Gybson, of yewlow sarsenet xxxviij
yards, the yard 4s. whereof spent and imployd for a foolys kote
4 yards.
'Itm spent for iij mynstrells cotts, half yellow; to every cote
3 yards. Itm whyte sarsenett for the iij mynstrells cottes, half
whyte; to every cote, 3 yards.
'Itm bowght by me Rychard Gybson, one pece of sypers, [cypress]
4s. spent &amp; implyed for the tyer of the lady callyd Bewte, and the
oother half for the lady callyd Venus: so spent of sypers i pece.
'Itm bowght by me Rychard Gybson, xxiiij dozyn of bells, the
dozyn 2d., spent for the sayd morysks, as well as 5 dozyn of the
Kings store that were allso spent.
'Itm payd to Rychard Rownanger, paynter, for werkyng &amp; pletyng
of a surkytt &amp; a mantyll of yellow sarssenet, with hartts and wyngs
of sylver, for the lady that playd Venus, Ios.
'Itm bowght by me Rychard Gybson, xxiiij thowsand spangs

I5 6.]

ANNALS OF THIE STAGE.

[spangles] of Flanders makyng, callyd setters, of dyvers sorttys, pr.
the thowsand, 4d.-8s.
'Itm bowght by me Rychard Gybson, i8 thowsand spangs, called
hyngers, of latten or coper, the thowsand, 6d.-Ios.
'Itm for a long gyrdyl for the lady, I yard.
'Itm bowght by me Rychard Gybson, 38 yards of blake sarssenet,
the yard 3s., whereof spent in vj gownys for the sayd gentylmen to
kever ther garmentts; to every gowne v yards, 30 yards.
'Itm spent for the kevyring of bonytts; to every bonyt, j yarde.
'Itm spent for vj payer of slop hosyn for kevyring of ther bells,
4 yards.'
From these particulars we may gather, that the gentlemen
first entered disguised in black, and stripping off their external
habits, appeared afterwards as Morris-dancers.
The two ladies, playing Venus and Beauty, doubtless acted
in Cornyshe's Interlude.'
The velvets and silks, exclusive of other articles, for the
'disguising' in 15 6, cost ~247 I2s. 7d., and the ap- A. D.
parel, etc., furnished from other quarters, are charged 15I6.
at 1~37 I4s. old. The revels at New Hall, otherwise called
Beaulieu, in Essex, at Christmas I519-20, occasioned a disThese two parts were probably sustained by Ladies of the Court; and
somewhat later in France, it was not unusual for the Princess and the
female nobility to appear in what were termed 'farces'. This word is
used 'in a letter from Sir W. Paget, resident Ambassador at the French
Court, to Henry VIII, dated 26 Feb. 1541-2, giving an account of such a
performance. The original is in the State Paper Office, and in it Sir
W. Paget uses these expressions.
'The Cardinall of Turnon is restored again to the Kinges favour by the
meanes of Madame d'Estampes and the Queen of Navarre, who lately
went to visite him two myle from hence at his lodging, and played a
farce before him: the players wherin were the Kinges doughter, Madame
d'Estampes, Madame de Nevers, Madame Montpensier, and Madame
Bellay.'
" 0 ' X *,j' ", (;Xld X'* c;'&lt;X\AX

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1516.

f bursement of ~207 5s. Ild., and no doubt this was not the
whole of the charge: in the preceding year, according to Stow,
there was a 'pestilence almost over all England'; and the
King, therefore, 'kept himself with small company about him'.'
In the summer of I520, Henry VIII and Francis I met in
Flanders, and enormous expenses were incurred by the
former; of which, the sum of 3007/. I6s. 6d. for apparel for
the King, challengers and maskers, appears in the account of
the royal payments.
During the first four years of his reign, Henry VIII kept up
the theatrical establishment of his father, but in 1514, having
added a new company of actors to his domestic retinue, from
thenceforward payments were made to 'the King's players',
and to 'the King's old players'.2 The gentlemen of the Chapel
also continued their performances, and he raised their emoluments, on such occasions, at once from 61. I3s. 4d., which was
the highest reward given by his father, to Io/. The children
of the Chapel were also converted, at particular seasons, into
a company of comedians, and when they played received a
1 This circumstance is referred to in a letter from the Duke of Norfolk
to the Lord Privy Seal (preserved in his correspondence formerly in the
Chapter-house, Westminster), dated Overton, 6th October, at I o'clock
at night [1519].
'I have thought convenient to send my servant this berer unto you, to
knowe the certaintie, with your good advise, whether I were better to come
uppe with such nombre as I was wont to have abowts me when I wayted
in the Court, which was abouts xl horses, or els to come with a smaller
nombre: And also whether I shall bring with me my Sone of Surrey or
not, whom I have caused to put hymself in redynes to mete me at Ware.'
2 In Lansd. MS., No. 17I, it is said, that Henry VIII increased his
theatrical servants from 4 to 8, giving each of them an annual fee of
31. 6s. 8d.: the fact is, as it is stated above, that four of them were called
'the King's players', and the four others 'the King's old players'. In the
same document, the following is given as the establishment of the King's
Chapel, with the charge for it:

I 5 i 6.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

gratuity of 61. I3s. 4d., which passed through the hands of
Cornyshe, their master and instructor. He seems to have
been in high favour with Henry VIII, and on one occasion
received as a reward the sum of 200/. John English, as has
been before- remarked, was also retained in the service of this
King, with a stipend of 31. 6s. 8d. John Heywood, who is
called 'the singer', had a quarterly allowance of 5/., at that
date a very considerable salary, and six times as much as the
fixed payment of any of the interlude players.l
~ s. d.
Master of the Chapel, fee 40 o o
Largess to the Children at high feasts - 9 13 4
Allowance for their breakfast - - - 10 o o
Thirty-two Gentlemen of the Chapel, fee to every of
them 7id. per diem, i.e. - - 365 o o
Making the total expense of the Royal Chapel - 424 I3 4
This charge is independent of the cost of apparel, which must have
been very considerable. In the Wardrobe Accounts, in the 3rd and 4th
Henry VIII, formerly in the possession of Mr. Craven Ord, is a warrant
for furnishing Thomas Sexton, one of the Gentlemen of the Chapel, with
a gown which was to cost II 1. I8s. Another warrant directs that William
Crane shall be furnished with a gown costing 91. I2s. The gowns of
three others were to cost 261. I3S. 3d. By a warrant in the same volume,
dated 26th April, 4 Henry VIII, green dresses are ordered for 80 Trumpeters. 'Blynd. Dike the King's Harper', who is often mentioned in
accounts at the commencement of this reign, was provided with a gown
costing 31. 8s. The gowns of the gentlemen Capellac Regis, were composed of tawny camlet, and black satin, furred with ' black bogy' [forsan
black budge].
1 The earliest notice of Heywood, afterwards so distinguished a dramatic author and actor, in connection with the household of Henry VIII,
is in the year I514, when his name only is inserted: in I5I9 he is called
a 'singer', and not included among the persons forming the establishment
of the Chapel. He was probably then a boy, separately retained for the
excellence of his voice: later in the reign of Henry VIII, it will be found
that he is spoken of as 'a player on the virginals', but as he probably held
~:. *:. '. zg L:S.,f''._'-.08.:0:..,^tt~f:KS â,;.:'1&gt;"00;:00 D.-0''.'.',,',&lt;.'o'.','

74 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1516.
Under Henry VII the sum annually presented to the lord
of misrule, for his services at Christmas, was never more thlan
61. I3s. 4d.; but Henry VIII raised it in the first year of his
reign to 8/. 6s. 8d., and subsequently to I31. 6s. 8d. William
another appointment, master of a company of children who played before
the Court, his salary was reduced to 2/. Ios. per quarter. He subsequently became a dramatic author, besides being the writer of many
poems. One of these, directly connected with the amusements of the
Court, and well meriting preservation, has hitherto escaped notice: it is
contained in Cotton. MS., Vespasian A., xxv; and as it relates to the
situation Heywood occupied at the particular period to which we are now
referring, we quote it in a note.
'Longe have I bene a singinge man,
And sondrie partes ofte I have songe,
Yet one parte since I first began
I cold nor can sing, olde or yonge;
The meane, I meane, which parte showthe well
Above all partes most to excell.
The base and treble are extremes,
The tenor standethe sturdelie,
The counter reignethe then me semes;
The meane must make our melodie.
This is the meane, who meanthe it well,
The parte of partes that doth excell.
Of all our partes, if any jarre,
Blame not the meane being songe trewe;
The meane must make, it maye not marre;
Lackinge the meane our mirthe adewe:
Thus showthe the meane not meanlie well,
Yet doth the meane in this excell.
'Marke well the mannour of the meane,
And therbie tyme and tune your songe;
Unto the meane where all partes leane,
All partes are kepte from singinge wronge.
Though singinge men take this not well,
Yet doth the meane in this excell.

I 5 i 6]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

Wynnesbury, who most frequently held that post, was also in
the receipt of wages at the rate of is. per day, though it is not
stated -in what capacity. In the 8th Henry VIII, Richard
Pole was lord of misrule, and two years afterwards Edmund
Trevore discharged the same duties; but in the next year,
Wynnesbury was restored to his office, and he was succeeded
'The meane in compasse is so large
That everye parte must joyne therto;
It hath an ooer in everie barge,
To saye, to singe, to thinke, to do:
Of all these partes no parte doth well
Without the meane, which doth excell.
'To highe, to lowe, to loude, to softe,
To fewe, to manie, as a parte alone,
The meane is more melodious [ofte]
Then other partes lackinge that one:
Wherbie the meane comparethe well
Among all partes most to excell.
'The meane in losse, the meane in gaine,
In welthe or in adversitie;
The meane in healthe, the meane in paine,
The meane meanethe alwaies equitie.
The meane thus ment may meane full well,
Of all other partes most to excell.
'To me and myne with all the reste,
Good Lorde, graunte grace, with heartie voice
To singe the meane that meanethe best,
All partes in the beste for to rejoyce:
Which meane in meaninge meanethe well,
The meane of meanes that doth excell.
'Finis. Mr. Haywood.'
A MS. volumeformerly belonging to Mr. B. Heywood Bright, contained
this song, with some variations of little importance. It was there attributed to John Redford, but probably by mistake.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[ 5 6.

by William Tolly, whose name does not, we think, occur
again in the accounts of the department.1
I Many of the preceding particulars, which are quite new, are collected
from two folios in the Chapter-house, Westminster, each entitled, The
Kynges boke of payments, and they extend from the first to the twelfth year
of his reign, both inclusive. It is not necessary to apologise for the length
of the following quotations from them: in point of date they anticipate
other particulars to be inserted hereafter, but it would have been inconvenient and less intelligible to separate them by placing them under
their respective years..i H. VII

2 H. VI]

[I.-Dec. 25. To them that played in the hall opon thursday
nyght, and opon Sonday nyght, Il.
Jan. 6. To my Lorde of mysrule, in full payment for his
busynes in Cristmes, 5/.
To the gentlemen of the Kings Chapell that playd
in thall opon I2th nyght, io/.
Feb. io. To Wynnesberry, Lorde of mysrule, in full payment
for his besynes at Cristmes, 3/. 6s. 8d.,, 24. To Rob Amadas opon his bill for certen plate of
gold stuf bought of him for the disguysings,
451/. I2s. 2d.
To Willm Buttry opon his bill for certen sylks
bought of hym for the disguysings, 133/. 7s. 5d.
[I.-Dec. 15. To the Lorde of mysrule, towards his busynes
ageyn Cristemas, 6. 13s. 4d.
Jan. I. To the Lorde of mysrule in rewarde, 2/.
To Master Cornisshe, 2/.,, 6. To the Lorde of mysrule for his besynes in Cristemes, 61. 13s. 4d.
To the gentylmen of the Kings chapell for their
play in rewarde, io/.
To the Kings players in rewarde, 3/. 6s. 8d.
[I.-Dec. 21. To the Lorde of mysrule, towards his costs at
Cristemes, 61. I3s. 4d.
Jan. I. To the Lorde of mysrule in rewarde, 2/.,, 6. To the Lorde of mysrule at Cristemas, for his besynes the same tyme in full cont., 61. 13s. 4d.
To the Kings players in rewarde, 3/. 6s. 8d.

3 H. VII

I5 i6.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

It will be remarked, that in the entries in 'the Kings books
of Payments', the terms 'maskelyn' and 'masculers' are used:
3 H. VI II.-Jan. 6. To the Players that cam out of Suffolke, that playd
affore the Lorde Stewarde in the Kings Hall
opon Monday nyght, I3s. 4d.
4 H. VIII.-Dec. 19. To Willm Wynnesbury opon a warant for parte of
his costs, being Lorde of mysrule this Cristemes, IO/.
Jan. I. To the Lorde of mysrule servt., 2/., 6. To Wynnesbury in full cont. for his Revells and
besynes this Cristemes; 3/. 6s. 8d.
To the Kings players in rewarde, 3/. 6s. 8d.
5 H. VIII.-Dec. 4. To Willm Wynnesbury, Lorde of mysrule, for his
besynes this Cristemes, I3/. 6s. 8d.
Jan. I. To the Lorde of mysrule servt., 2/.
To the Kings olde Players in rewarde, 4/.
6 H. VIII.-Dec. 17. To Willm Wynnesbury opon a warraunt for to kepe
Revelles as Lord of Mysrule in Cristenmasse,
13/. 6s. 8d.
Jan. i. To Wynnesbury Lorde of mysrule in rew., 2/.
To the Erle of Wiltyshires playres, that shulde
have played in the Kings Hall oppon Thursday
at nyght, in rewarde, I3s. 4d.
To tfe Kings olde Players in rewarde, 4/., 6. To the Kings Players in rewarde, 3/. 6s. 8d.
To John Haywood wages 8d. per day.
To John Mason wages 8d. per day., 21. To Leonard Friscobald for diverse velwets, and
other sylks for the disguysing, 247/. I2s. 7d.
To Richard Gibson for making of diverse garments
and other stuf, 28/. 4s. 4d.
Feb. 2. To Wynnesbury opon his wages avaunced aforehand, for 2 moneths at I2d. the day, 2/. 19s.
To Richard Gybson for certen apparell, &amp;c., for
the di6guysing at the fest of Cristemes last,
1371. i4s. old.
7 H. VIII.-Dec. I9. To Willm Wynnesbury, to be Lorde of mysrule in
the kings howse this Cristemes, 13/. 6s. 8d.
~~~~~~~~~~~~..,' * - ' '.,&gt; -;. - -.'.;-...:'.. -*-.;,::*'..,.'.-..*..'.*, ^ ^.:.... - ~ S

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I5r6.

they mean nothing more than ' maskings' and ' maskers', now
sometimes employed, as far as we can judge, in common with

7 H. VIII.8 H. VIII.9 H. VIII.

-Jan. I. To Wynnesbury Lorde of mysrule, 2/.
To the Erle of Wilshires players, 13s. 4d.
To the kings olde players in rewarde, 4/.,, 6. To the kings players in rewarde, 3/. 6s. 8d.
-Nov. 6. To master Cornisshe, gentylman of the kings
chapell, opon a warraunt in rewarde, 2001.
Dec. 7. To Ric. Pole, opon a warrant for his charges for
to be Lorde of mysrule at Cristemas next,
I3/. 6s. 8d.
Jan. I. To the Lorde of mysrule, 2/.,, 4. To the kings players in rewarde, 3/. 6s. 8d.
To the kings olde players in rewarde, 4/.
To Mr. Cornisshe and the children of the chapell,
that played affore the king, 6/. 13s. 4d.,, 24. To Richard Gybson, for diverse things by hym
bought for the kings disguysings opon 12th
nyght last past, I30/. I9s. o0d.
-Dec. 25. To one Sigemonde Skeyf, an Almayn, for an instrument called a Regalle, 22/.
To the kings players in rewarde,
[No Lord of Misrule is mentioned this Christmas,
and, perhaps, the players did not perform on
account of the pestilence then prevailing.]
-Dec. 9. To Edmonde Trevore, whom the kyng hath appointed to be Lorde of mysrule this Cristmes,
I 3. 6s. 8d.
Jan. i. To the Lorde of Mysrule, 2/.,, 2. To the kings olde players in rewarde, 4/.
To Mr. Cornishe, for playing affore the king opon
newyeres day at nyght with the children of the
kings chapell, 61. 13s. 4d.
To the gentylmen of the kings chapell for their
good attendance in Xtemas, I3/. 6s. 8d.
-Dec. 4. To Willm Wynnesbury Lorde of mysrule this
Cristemes, I3/. 6s. 8d.

lo H. VIII.

II H. VIII.

I 5 i6.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

the older word 'disguisings'. A remarkable document upon
this subject, of the early part of the reign of Henry VIII, was
preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster, under the following title, A Booke of the Kings Revell stuff, being in the
charge of Yohn Farlyont, lately deceased, 'whiche is now comTo Richard Gybson opon a warraunt for the
revells, called a maskelyn, at New-hall in
Essex, 207/. 5S. I id.
II H. VIII.-Jan. I. To Wynnesbury Lorde of mysrule, 2/., 6. To Mr. Cornisshe, for playing afore the king this
Cristemas with his children, 61. I3S. 4d.
To the gentelmen of the kings chapell, I3/. 6s. 8d.
To the kings players, 3/. 6s. 8d.
To the kings olde players, 4/.
12 H. VIII. -Jan. 6. To John Haywoode, synger, wages, 5/.
Dec. i. To Willm Tolly, to be Lorde of mysrule, for his
expenses and charges for executing the same
rowme, I3/. 6s. 8d.
Jan. I. To my Lorde of mysrule, 2/., 6. To master Cornisshe for his play, 6/. I3. 4d.
To the kings players in rewarde, 3/. 6s. 8d.
To the kings old players in rewarde, 4/.
To William Mortemer, brawderer, Richard Gibson, and diverse other, opon a warraunt for
clothes of golde, silks, velvetts and other diverse
apparelles, as well for the kings owne person,
as for other by his commaundement had and
made, as well for the Justs and Tourneys royal
lately holden at Guysnes; as also for masculers
and other diverse things, as more playnely apperith by the same warraunt, 3007/. I6s. 6d.
March Half yere wages: for John Englishe fee, 3/. 6s. 8d.
In the Liber Numerator Scaccarii of Henry VIII, in the Chapterhouse, under date of Easter, 6 Henry VIII, the following entry, regarding
the office held by this person, is met with:'Johi Farlyon Custod. Vestuarum, sive apparatum omnium singulorum
jocorum, larvatorum, vocat. Maskes, Revelles and Disguysings; ac etiam
1 *;~a~ 'fE *F, * '' ***_**-***^.** ^tR

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 5 6.

mytted unto one Brigges, being appointed unto the same
rowme; whiche said stuff is remaynyng in certain cofers, or
standerds, at Warwicke Inne, London'. It commences with
an inventory of 'stuff concernyng a Triumph and Justs',l and
it then proceeds to a list of' Masking garments, or for disguisings', including parts of the apparel for nine separate
masks: the dresses for 'the Palmers Mask', which seem
complete, are the following:
'Itm 8 shorte cloks for Palmers of skarlet, with Keys embrouderd
upon their shulders.
'Itm 8 hatts to the same of crymson satten, with scalop shells
embrodered before.
'Itm 8 scrippes of crymson satten, with their girdells.
'Itm 8 pair of crymson satten boots.
'Itm 8 Palmers staves, clapdishes, and beeds.'
Every mask consisted of eight persons; and among the articles
in coffers are twenty-four visors. There is also an enumeration
of' hats of Tartary fashion', and of mantles 'according to the
Irish fashion', which, doubtless, belonged to masks of Tartars
and Irishmen, then about equally strange.
The masks given early in the reign of Henry VIII, both
by the King and Wolsey, were most splendid and expensive;
and Cavendish, in his Life of the Cardinal, inserts an elaborate
and picturesque description of one of them, in which the King
and several of his nobility masked as shepherds, and took
Wolsey by surprise when he was giving a banquet to his
apparatus et trappers omnium et singulorum equorum nostrorum ordinat.
et appunctuat. pro hastiludiis, de feod. suo ad vjd per diem sibi debit. a
28 die Novembr anno vjto salt. pro cxx diebus ad ratam predictam attingat
ad summam 4os.'
1 One of the articles enumerated is 'a pavillion of cloth of gold embroidered with H. K. and lined with green sarcenet'. Others are '24
barbs for great horses, cordings for barbs, bases,' etc.
-:.. ~~:.~o ~.

I 5 6.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

friends and adherents. It is unnecessary to quote the passage,
as the work in which it is found is deservedly in the hands of
everybody.l Stow, in his Chronicle, places this occurrence ii
the year I5 6, and is indebted to Cavendish for the detailed
particulars he supplies.
By an original account, in his own hand-writing, in the
Chapter-house, Westminster, it appears, that Richard Gibson
in 1514 was employed upon a very important task, viz., the
repair of all the tents, halls and pavilions at Calais, probably
in anticipation of the arrival there of the King's sister Mary,
on her way to Paris for her marriage with Louis XII of France.2
The.apparel for the court revels was kept at Warwick Inn,
and probably the dresses of the King's players were deposited
in the usual 'coffers and standards'. Of these dresses we have
1 See the edition of Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, produced under the
care of Mr. Singer, London, 1827, p. 112.
2 The document is entitled thus:-' Here enseweth a Declarycion of
Rychard Gibson, yeman tayllor to owr Sovrayne lord the king, for all reparacyons done upon the Kings Tentts, hallys, and pavyllyons, beyng at
Callys, as in the 6th yere of his rayngne, &amp; for stuff by the sayd Rychard
provyded and bought, and wagys to workmen peyd for the sayd reparacyons.'
The account is extremely long and minute, including every particular
of expenditure for materials and workmen. The 'tents, pavilions, and
halls', were no less than forty-two in number, and the covering of all of
them appears to have been canvas. In addition to these, 'four new pavilions', each requiring one hundred and fifteen ells of canvas, were prepared by Gibson, besides 'two halls made new', in each of which one
hundred and forty yards of canvas were consumed. The difference
between a tent, a pavilion, and a hall, is not pointed out. They all went
by different names, as 'fhe Flowerdelyce', 'the Harpe', 'the Gold Cross',
'the Red Rose', 'the Rose Whyte &amp; Red', etc. No doubt the greater
part of these suffered in the calamity which befel them in 1520, when, as
Stow informs us, the canvas banquetting-houses, etc., were blown away
in a hurricane.
VOL. I. G
' "'&gt; I- * - f f i ':,; ': 2 4Au'S' -... ".' sX i s':s*fi. 0 &gt;$

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I516.

an enumeration, as early as the year 1516, under the title of
' Garments for Players', which, perhaps, is only part of a longer
inventory of the same kind. It is, however, in the form in
which it exists, of considerable value, as it serves to throw
light on the nature of the theatrical amusements of the time:
whether it belonged to any independent company of performers, or to one of the theatrical establishments of the
court, it is impossible to decide; but from the costliness of
some of the materials, we may be inclined to conclude in
favour of the latter. It probably once formed the fly-leaf of
a book, and is in the following terms:'GARMENTS FOR PLAYERS.
'A~. VII. Henr. VIII.
'A long garment of cloth of golde and tynsell, for the Prophete
upon Palme Sonday.
'Itm a capp of grene tynsell to the same.
'Itm a long garment of crymson satten with ciphers enbroudered.
'Itm another shorter garment of the same satten.
'Itm a long garment enbrodered with wrethes of gold, and cutt.
'Itm a shortter garment of the same sort.
'Itm a long garment of peces and tyed with reband of blew satten,
cutt.
'Itm a long garment of frenged sarcenet yellowe.
'Itm ii garments &amp; an halfe of grene tinsell.,
'Itm xii peces of garments of olde tinsell.
'Itm ii coots crimsen vellwett and tinsell paned.
'Itm v garments of olde blewe satten with scriptures of Romane
lettres.
'Itm a pece of a garment of bawdekyn.
'Itm a littill gowne for a woman, the virgin,' of cloth of silver.
'The words 'the virgin' are interlined in the original copy with a different ink, if not by a different hand, to that by which the rest of the in

I5 6.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

'Itm a littill coote for a childe of cloth of silver.
'Itm a coot of crimson velwet &amp; tilson [tinsel?] satten.
'Itm iii garments of damask &amp; satten for women, olde.
'Itm xv pleyers garments of silke, olde, wherof vi long and ix short
'Itm cappes of divers fassions for players and of divers colors:
xviii of satten &amp; sarcenet.
'Olde peces. Itm certain peces of garments in a coofer with
borders of enbroudery, being loose, to serve to alter garments from
tyme to tyme as shalbe thought convenient.'
In this list, the gown for the Prophet.on Palm Sunday, the
little gown for the Virgin, and the little coat for a child, tend
to show that the performances for which they were used were
Miracle-plays, or at least pieces in which certain Scripture
characters were mixed up with the allegorical impersonations
of Morals. It may be conjectured, that the 'long garment
of pieces tied with ribbon of blue' might be a motley dress for
the Vice.
The Books of Payments of Henry VIII, already so amply
quoted, in an entry dated June 29, I509, which we have not
thought it necessary in terms to extract, and which is very
often repeated, establishes that the wages of 'a luter', of the
name of Giles, were 21. per month, or I6d. per day. Whether
all the minstrels of the King were paid at the same rate is
doubtful: by a MS. in the British Museum,l we learn (the
particular date is not inserted) that those who were called
'the King's minstrels' in the reign of Henry VIII were no
fewer than eighteen in number,2 and from their names it may
ventory was made out. It is now carefully preserved in the library of
Mr. Ouvry, and placed in a most valuable volume of ancient theatrical
documents, from the reign of Henry VI downwards.
1 MSS. Lansdowne, No. 2.
Among Mr. Ouvry's ancient documents, is a very curious one respecting the ceremonial to be used in the City on the passage of the Queen
G 2
I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,;. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ " * * *"- * * ^ * - ^ ^ ^

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[ 5 6.

be inferred that they were all Italians, Germans, or Frenchmen. The document is called, The charge of the diet of the
Kings Hyghnes, and his side in the grosse; and it contains the
subsequent item:'The bourdwagis of Ihon de Bassani, Antony de Bassani, Jasper
de Bassani, John Baptiste de Bassani, Marcus Antonius, Nicholas de
Forrewell, Pellegrine Symon, Antony Symon, Nicholas Andria, Antony Maria, John de Savernake, Guyllam Guillam, John de Bovall,
Nicholas Puvall, Hanse Hansvest, Haunce Hichhorne, Peter de
Welder, 18 mynstrells every of them 4d. the day, Iog9. los. od.'
The accounts of the expenses of the royal household do not
indicate that Henry VIII, as his father had done, extended
his countenance to the dramatic art beyond the limits of his
Court. Several companies of players, from different parts 9f
the kingdom, experienced the bounty (for so it may be fairly
termed) of Henry VII, and the actors of not a few of the
nobility performed at Court. Certain players of Suffolk, and
others attached to the Earl of Wiltshire, are the only companies, as far as we can learn, which exhibited at Court during,
at least, the twelve first years of the reign of Henry VIII. It
is unquestionable, however, that the nobility still continued to
give their patronage to plays, and in imitation of the King
most of them kept theatrical retainers of their own.l The
through it; and requesting that the royal minstrels may be allowed to
assist in 'furnishing the Pageants' on the occasion. It is addressed to
the Duke of Norfolk.
The King's players, as well as the players of the nobility, seem to
have travelled round the country representing plays wherever they could
obtain adequate reward. From the Ist to the 3ist Henry VIII, the
King's players, the King's jugglers, the King's minstrels, and the King's
bearwards were visitors of Thetford, and were paid various sums, from
4d. to 6s. 8d., by the Prior of the convent there, as appears by the entries
in the account-book during that period. On one occasion, I6 Henry

1516.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

most distinct information we possess on this point relates to
the Northumberland family, and the chief source of our knowledge is the Book of Regulations, drawn up in I512 by the
then Earl, for the government of his family.1 Every Christmas
a Master of the Revels was appointed to superintend the
festivities, with a fee of 20s.; and if the Earl's Almoner were
a maker of interludes, it was provided that he should be
allowed a servant to write out the parts for the performers.
The rewards given to players attached to the nobility seem
to have varied in proportion to the rank of the individual
under the protection of whose name they travelled round the
country: to the players of an Earl were given 2os., while the
players of a Baron were only rewarded for their exertions
with half that sum. What are called in the same book 'players
strangers' (who were either attached to some peer not the
'special friend or kinsman' of the Earl of Northumberland,
or, perhaps, not countenanced by any protection of the kind),
were only allowed 20d. for each play; but as they represented
a series (probably of Miracle-plays founded upon Scripture),
VIII, Cornyshe, 'the master of the King's chapel', was paid 3s. 4d. by
the prior; but he was then, probably, attendant upon the King, who is
not unfrequently spoken of as having arrived, and being lodged at the
Priory. Mr. Brandon and Mr. Smith are more than once rewarded as
'Jugglers of the King'. The Queen's players, the Prince's players, and
the players of the Queen of France, also experienced the liberality of the
Prior, as well as those of the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Suffolk, the
Earl and Countess of Derby, Lord and Lady Fitzwater, the Lord Privy
Seal, the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Challoner, and two gentlemen
who are called Marks and Barney.-MS. of. the Expienses of the Priory
of Thetford, from I461 to I540, lately in the collection of Mr. Craven
Orde, and now of the Duke of Newcastle.
It was printed in I770, under the care of Bishop Percy, from the
original MS. All the orders that relate to players and theatrical amusements are quoted by Bishop Percy in his Essay on the Stage (Reliques,
i, 139, edit. 1812).
-:1. ~ ' ~. _;:1...
- 00 ' *"i* t * 0A Ap' i,,:** l,. s s "-,rs*:,'i, ~ ri;*'.9t i &lt;

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 516.

the calculation was that the sum they would receive would
amount in the whole to 33s. 4d.
These Regulations may be illustrated, in some degree, by
exhibiting the mode in which they were carried into execution
in the family of the same nobleman a few years afterwards.
At the Chapter-house, Westminster, was preserved, though
in a state of melancholy mutilation from the damp to which
it has been for some centuries exposed, a volume of the
receipts and expenditure of the Earl of Northumberland in
the I7th and i8th years of the reign of Henry VIII.1 In
point of date these particulars ought to be postponed, but it
will perhaps be more convenient and intelligible to insert them
here, in connexion with the notice of household affairs.
17 H. VIII. - Feb. 7. For eggs, brede, drynke and oranges for my
Lorde, into my lorde of Burgaynes
chamber, when theye were there a maskyng before the king, is.
March 30. Payed unto my lorde [the MS. is here illegible] at Mr. Carewes place for men playing a play, 6s. 8d.
July 7. Payd to Jasper Horsey for money layde owt
by hym upon Corpus Christi evyn for
my lords bothyr [boat-hire] from Polls
wharfe to Parys gardyn, and from Parys
gardyn to my lorde Cardinallys, and from
lorde Cardinallys to Paris gardyn, is. 8d.
In one part of it the following title is still legible, ' A maner of payments of money maid by me Willm Worme betwixt Michaelmas, Anno
17 R. Henrici VIII and Michaelmas next Anno I8, by the spaice of an
holle yere, as herafter followith'. Other headings of a similar kind occur
elsewhere, but, in general, they are more than half illegible. In many
places the damp has entirely obliterated the ink, and in others the paper
is so frail, that it falls to pieces with the gentlest touch.
^,^*;f^ ^;* &gt; ^ v':,;4, K.J - ' '! *;. * * *.2* -... '* -

I5 6.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

Oct. 31. Payd more the same day unto Willm Peres,
my lordes Chaplen, for makyng of an
Enterlued to be playd this next Cristenmas, 135. 4d.
Dec. 26. Payd to my lorde of Soffolkes players for
two plays bifore my lorde, 21.'
The 'chaplain' above mentioned was probably also the
Earl of Northumberland's Almoner, and a maker of interThe following further quotations from this MS. are worth preserving,
and it seems impossible that the book, in its present decayed state, should
exist long:17 H. VIII.-Feb. I9. Payd for Bonetts mete and his drynke at London
the same tyme, when he went unto the goldsmythe for my lord's Valentyne, 41.
March 5. For Yerds drynke and the 2 horskepe at Eltham
the same tyme my lorde dyd rune with Parker
at the Tylte, 4d.
Payd at Eltham the same day for my lordes
breakfast, Is. 4d.
Payd the same day for my lords drynking after
Tylte, 2d.
April 26. Paid to Mr. More, chauncellor of the Dewchey,
for his qrt fee dew at our Lady Day in Lent
A~ xvii after 201. by yere dewringe my lords
pleasure, 51.
I8 H. VIII.-Oct. 7. Payd to my Lords 5 Trompetts, for there hole
yere fee ended at Mic last A~ xvii after, 40s. a
pece, iol.
Item to my lords 6 Trompetts by thands of J.
Scotte, under bayliff of Yslam in Cambrygeshere, for there hole yere, 121.
Feb. I8. Geven in rewarde to a frear [friar] of Blakefrears for saying of a masse Requem for my
lordes Father, 4d.
March 30. Geven unto a preste for saying masse bifore my
lorde at Powles, 4d.,.....
~~ -1.. -;~~
~i' 1 ~:?i, " ' ~.. ~.._,i.,I_;..i P 1~.-__ ~I i -Ii:i i:
-i~La-h
"' '

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I5 6.

ludes; a contingency, as we have seen, contemplated in the
household regulations of 1512: he consequently was allowed
a servant to write out the parts; and as the interlude was
finished on the 3Ist of October, and was to be played at
Christmas, sufficient time was allowed for preparation. William Peeres, 'Clerke and Preste Secretory' to Henry Percy,
the 5th Earl of Northumberland, the person whose name is
inserted as the maker of the interlude, wrote a poem, On the
Descent of the Lord Percies, which is among the Royal MSS.
in the British Museum.' In the Prologue he states, that he
presented it to his lord as a new year's gift.
It will be observed, that the officer called in the household
of the Earl of Northumberland, 'Master of the Revels', was
yet only known at Court either by the title of 'Abbot of
Misrule', or sometimes of' Lord of Misrule'.2 It was not until
some years afterwards that Henry VIII erected the Mastership of the Revels into a permanent office, nor did it then
supersede the temporary nomination of an individual, to provide and regulate the pastimes of the Court. Of the origin of
the office of Master of the Revels, we shall have occasion to
speak hereafter.
At about this date, or perhaps a little earlier, we first hear
of 'the young Minstrels' in the royal household: they are
8, D. ii. It ends with the following stanza:'In this pamphilet, ye that shall rede,
Beholde and consyder the honorable discente
Of this 5th Erle, marke it well in dede;
His progenytoures in youre mynde yf that ye enprente,
It shall appere clere also and evident,
That descended he is of the noble blode of Inglande,
Lancasters, Marches, Arundel, &amp; Westmoreland.'
It is to be hoped that Peeres' interludes were better than his heroics.
2 Excepting, perhaps, in the instance of Sir Henry Guildford, who, in
the 5th Henry VIII, is styled by Gibson, 'Master of the Revels'.

1520.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

mentioned in a MS. thus headed: â'The names of such
persons as be assigned to have lodging within the Kinges
house when they repayre to the same.' At the head of
the list, and separated from the rest, stands 'The Lord Cardinal': below, at some little distance come 'the Duke of
Norfolk and his Wife' and the Duke of Suffolk, 'when the
French Queen is of the Court': the Bishop of Bath is interlined: Sir Thomas More and Sir Henry Wyatt occupy places
in the first column, which closes with 'the King's poticarry'
and 'the young mynstrells': nothing is here said regarding
any senior company of minstrells.
One of the earliest indications of the existence of anything
like a classical taste, in matters connected with the A. D.
stage in England, is to be noticed under the date of 1520.
I 520, when four French hostages had been left in this country,
for the execution of the treaty relating to the surrender of
Tournay. For their entertainment the King 'prepared a disguising, and caused his great chamber at Greenwich to be
staged', for the purpose: according to Holinshed, among the
performances on this occasion, 'there was a goodly comedy of
Plautus played'.2 As it was for the amusement of foreigners,
the representation may have been in Latin, for we have no
trace of an English version of any of the plays of Plautus of
so early a date.3
In the very curious library of Mr. Ouvry.
2 Vol. iii, p. 850, edit. I587.
3 The interlude of 7ack 7ugler is our first extant dramatic production
derived from Plautus; but as far as we can judge from internal evidence, it was not performed until the reign of Edward VI. The
Andria of Terence was printed under the title of Terens in Englysh, as
may be concluded prior to 1530, and probably with the types of John
Rastall, but no printer's name, nor date, are appended. In the translation it was adapted to the manners of'the time, as if intended for representation. It is examined in some detail in another division of this

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1522.

Princess Mary was born on Iith Feb. 1516-17, and as examples of the hand-writing of her mother are extremely rare
we will here add a specimen of it, derived from one of the
Cottonian MSS.: of course it was considerably posterior to
the date of which we are speaking, but it is characteristic, and
interesting as a memorial of the much injured Queen.
7. "
Before the little Princess had completed her sixth year,
revels, including disguisings and dramatic representations, were
held in her presence and for her entertainment. Some singular
and minute particulars of these exhibitions are contained in
an account appended to an original book, of the expenses of
the household of the Princess, closing with the end of the
A.D. year 1522, and formerly preserved in the Chapter1522. house, Westminster. That account is here presented
in its original form:'Thyse bene the costes &amp; charges leyde owte &amp; payde by John
Thurgoode, lord of Mysrule with the Princesse grace, in Crystmas
tyme, the xiij yere of the Reigne of Kynge Henry the viii.
'Imprimis pd to ij Taberetts all the tyme of Xstemas, 4s.
'Itm to a paynter of Wyndesore for makyng vysors, paynting of
fases [fasces], Coote armors, hatts for dysgysyng, and for paynting xiij
Quayers of paper in dyvers colors, 5s. 4d.
'Itm pd. to Butteller for hyre of garments herys, &amp; hattys at
work. A ' play' called 7ulius Cesar was represented at Court; but that
was as late as 156I, as appears by Machyn's Diary, printed by the
Camden Society in 1848.

1522.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

London, with caryage of the same fro London to Dytton, &amp; to
London ageyne, 3s. 8d.
'Itm pd. for xiij Quayers of paper bought at Wyndesore after
ijd ob. the Queyer, 2S. 81d.
'Itm pd. for xij shetes of golde foyle, 8d.
'Itm pd. for whyght threde, blak threde &amp; pakthrede, iod.
'Itm pd. to a Taylor &amp; his iij servants, for warkyng on dyverse
garmentes, for my chaunge at sondre tymes, as well for there laburs
as for mete, drynke and logyngs, 7s. 8d.
'Itm pd. for Frayler at Wyndesore to make garmentes, and other
dysgysyng, i6d.
'Itm pd. for Tonny Skynner &amp; Tonny Tayler, 5d.
'Itm pd. to a man at Wyndesore, for kylling of a calffe before my
ladys grace behynde a clothe, 8d.
'Itm pd. to a man of Dachet for pleying of the Fryer afore the
Pryncesse, 8d.
' Itm for makyng of a payre of sloppys for Jakes, when he pleyed
the shypman, and a blewe garment, made lyke harnes, for the same
Jakys, and a nother garment for mayster Pennyngton, I 2d.
'Itm pd. for iiijdds Clateryng Stavez and ijdds Morys pykes, I6d.
'Itm pd. for xij Bowez made by vyces with Shafts, 2od.
'Itm pd. for Strawe, that xij men were covered with in a dysgysyng,
&amp; for strawe at other tymes, 6d.
'Itm pd. for hyryng of a horse, when I rode for garmentes to
Wyndsore, 4d.
'Itm pd. for gonne powder, &amp; in rewarde for iiij men that war
gonners, 4s.
' Itm pd. for Frankynsence, Id.
' Itm pd. for horsebrede instede of mancbett, id.
'Itm pd. to Thomas Sowthe for ryding for the ij Tabretts, &amp; for
hyering of a horse to fetche harnes fro Wyndesore to Dytton, and
cariage of the same home ageyne, iod.
'Itm pd. for mendyng of Adams garments that war brokyn, 4d.
'Itm pd. for hyeryng of x dds bells, and ix Morres cots, &amp; for the
losse of xxij bells percell of the same x dd, 2s. 4d.

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

[I 522.

' Itm pd. for hyeryng of a horse all the halydayes, &amp; for trymmyng
the same horse in dyverse fachyons at sondre tymes, i6d.
'Sm. bill. 4os. altor per Jane Calthorp, Philip Cailthorp,
Ric Sydnor.'
Hence it appears, that a Lord of Misrule, named John
Thurgoode, was appointed at Christmas 1522-3, to superintend the revels, and that part of those revels consisted of a
disguising, for which hats and garments were hired in London.
Morris-dancers were also introduced, for the coats, staves and
bells for whom charges are inserted. Some kind of play
was likewise represented, and the mention of Adam's garments would lead to the conclusion that it was a Miracle-play
of the Creation. Adam might, however, be the name of one
of the performers, as was certainly the case with Jaques
(possibly Jaques Hawte, whose name has already frequently
occurred), who played the part of a shipman. Another person,
not named, supported the character of a friar: the singular
item for the payment of a man of Windsor, for killing a calf
in the presence of the Princess 'behind a cloth', may mean
out of the sight of the little Princess. Fire-arms were discharged on the occasion, and gunners were hired for the
purpose, but whether the twelve bows made by [de]vices,
and the straw to conceal twelve men, belonged to the disguising or to the play, it is impossible to decide. This document is one of the most remarkable, as well as one of the
earliest, connected with our stage.'
1 About three years afterwards, viz., on the I7th November 1525, the
Bishop of Exeter, and others of the council of the Princess, wrote to the
court from Tewkesbury, in order to ascertain the pleasure of the King
'whether (as the letter is worded) we shall appoynte any Lord of Mysrule
for the said honorable householde, to provide for interluds, dysgysyngs, or
pleyes in the said fest [of Christmas] or for a banket on twelf nyght?' The
reply is not extant, and we find no trace of any revels upon the occasion:

1522.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

So much were players in request about this period, and so
fashionable an amusement had theatrical exhibitions become,
that it was usual, on the celebration of any joyous event in a
family of distinction, either to have a play represented by the
performers attached to the household, or to hire them for the
purpose. In Croft's Excerpta Antiquaz is a detailed account
of a banquet, play, and mask at the house of Sir John Nevill,
of Chevet, on the marriage of his daughter, in January, the
I7 Henry VIII, to Roger Rockbey. If a person of rank gave
a banquet, it was often preceded by an interlude; or (as the
name implies) a dramatic performance represented in the
intervals of the entertainment. We have seen the words interiudentes and 'players in interludes' used in the reign of
Edward IV; and the mention of 'players of interludes' in
English, occurs again in the reign of Henry VII, when, in the
book of Exchequer payments, already quoted, the actors he
retained are termed 'the King's players of interludes': we
may, perhaps, hence infer, that the plays and pageants of old
the letter of the Bishop of Exeter, etc., is preserved in Cotton; MS., Vesp.;
F., xiii, and it has been printed in the first series of Ellis's Letters,
etc., i, 27I. Among the Royal MSS. (17 B. xxviii) is a very curious one,
which throws farther light upon this subject, but of a later date. We allude
to the book of the daily expense of the household of the Princess Mary,
from the twenty-eighth to the thirty-sixth year of the reign 6f Henry
VIII, which contains entries of money paid for dramatic entertainments,
etc., at various periods. John Heywood had then become master of a
company of children, who, perhaps, acted his own dramatic productions;
and on one occasion (unless there be some mistake, which seems probable), the princess paid him iol. 'for playing an enterlude with his
children' before her. 'She was also accustomed, at Christmas and on
New Year's-day, to give rewards to the ' King's players', to 'the children
of the chapel', and to 'the King's children' (perhaps under Heywood);
but the sum never exceeded Ios. on these occasions, and sometimes it
was only 7s. 6d.
Published at York in 1797. 8vo.
i.;.!.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1526.

represented at Court, and elsewhere, were usually performed in
I the pauses of banquets. For this express purpose some of them
appear to have been written, and were contrived to occupy
more or less time, according to the period that was to be so
employed.'
We have a detailed and accurate account of the whole
A. D. domestic establishment of Henry VIII, in the seven1526. teenth year of his reign, in a contemporary MS.,
endorsed A Booke of wages paide monethly, quarterly &amp; half
yerly by the Kyng, 17 Hen. VIII. Here we find the names
and salaries of every person connected with the household,
from the highest to the lowest; but on what occasion it was
made out does not anywhere appear. Only a comparatively
small part of this long catalogue is connected with our inquiry:
the following received monthly wages:-
i2 Trumpettes, wages in i6d. a daye, 241.
3 other Trumpettes, wages in 8d. a day, 40s.
Giles, lewter with the Princess, 40s.
Arthur Dewes, lewter, Ios. 4d.
On the title-page of the interlude of The Nature of the Four Elements,
printed very soon after the reign of Henry VIII commenced, it is expressly pointed out what omissions might be made to bring the piece, if
necessary, within the compass of three-quarters of an hour. The author
of the MS. historical play of Sir Thomas More, in the Harleian Collection (No. 7368), which was probably written before the year 159o, may
be supposed to have been in some degree acquainted with what had
been the habit in this respect about half a century anterior to the time
when he wrote: he represents that the interlude, or moral of The
Marriage of Wit and Wisdom was played by the actors of Cardinal
Wolsey previous to a banquet supposed to be given by Sir Thomas More
to the Lord Mayor and citizens of London. According to Hall (when
speaking of the events of 14 Henry VIII), and other authorities, Cardinal Wolsey had a company of players belonging to his household
establishment: there can be little doubt about it.
-.-:: m~li:I'x.
~v. 0 f- A -., 0 -.,.. b

I526.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

Peter Welder, lewter, 3Is.
John Severnake, a rebike, 40s.
Thomas Evans, a rebike, 6s. 8d.
John Pyrot, a rebek, 40s.
Balthazar, a taberet, 3Is.
Nowell de Lasaile, a taberet, 33s. 4d.
Claude Burgens, taberet with the Princes, 3IS.
William More, harper, Ios. 4d.
Andrew Newman, the Waite, Ios. 4d.
Hanse Hoffenet, viall, 33s. 4d.
Hanse Heighborne, a viall, 33s. 4d.
4 Drumslades, each, 3Is.
Jaques, a phipher, 3Is.
John van Wincle, a sagbut, 55s. 6d.
Nicholas Fortywall, a sagbut, 55s. 6d.
John Van Arlen, a sagbut, 55s. 6d.
Lewes van Wincle, a sagbut, 4os.
John de Antonia, a sagbut, 40s.
Aloisy de Blasia, a sagbut, 40s.
Mark Antonio, a sagbut, 40s.
Pelegryne, a sagbut, 40s.
Ypolet de Salvator, a sagbut, 40s.
Fraunces de Salvator, a sagbut, 40s.
Lewke Horneband, pictor maker, 55s. 6d.
For borde wages of the children of the chapel to maister
Crane,' 26s. 8d.
'Crane himself, who was at this date Master of the Children of the
Chapel, was paid out of a different fund to that which seems to have
been devoted to the wages of the household. The following extract from
a Book of Receipts and Payments of the Exchequer in the i8th of Henry
VIII, shews that his annuity, as usual, was 401.:'Willo Crane, Magistro Puerorum Capellae Dom. Regis, de annuitate

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I526.

William Tooley, yoman lord of mysrule, 30s.
Among the persons whose wages were paid quarterly are
these -
John Heywood, player of the virginals, 6. I 3s. 4d.
William Lewes, instrument maker, 50s.
John de John, prest organmaker, 5os.
Richard ap Guillam, the kings foolle, 5s. 2d.
Richard James, a lymner of bookes,' 30s. 5d.
Thomas Hall, writer of the kyngs bookes, Ioos.
John Swayves, grayver of pictors, Ioos.
Philip Welder, mynstrell,2 50s.
Vincent Vulpt, paynter, Ioos.
The list of those who received half-yearly wages includes
the following:Sir Henry Guldeford, annuitie, 6/. I3s. 4d.
The same Sir Henry for his fee, i61. 3s. 4d.
Sir Francis Bryan for the Toilles, 33/. 6s. 8d.
John Englissh, player,3 66s. 8d.
sua ad xl li. per ann. sibi debit: pro termino Michaelis Anno xviiimo Regis
nunc Henrici VIII rec: den: Willo Gonson-Io/.'
The same sum was paid to Crane at Christmas. The book from which
we quote was in the Chapter-house.
The Exchequer payments in Easter term, 24 Henry VIII, establish
that Thomas Berthelet, or, as he is there named, Bartelot, the printer,
had an annuity of 41. a year:'Thomae Bartelot, Impressori Regis, de annuitate sua ad iiij li per
ann. per Ira de hoc termino. Rec. den: per fest. Paschae ulto per manus
R. Gonson, 40s.'
This seems to have been the first payment of the kind made to him.
2 In 17 Henry VIII, as appears from the account of Exchequer payments preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster, John Gylmyn was
Marescallus Ministrallorum, and had seven other minstrels under him.
He was succeeded in I529 by Hugh Woodhouse.
3 It is not, of course, to be supposed that at this time English was the
only player in the pay of the King; but, after having served Henry VI I,

1526.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

William Dawbeney of the Chapell, 7os.
Olde Maynard wewoke paynter, ioos.
Robert Wakefield, Greke reder, 66s. 8d.
Mr. Croke, greke reder at Cambridge, ioos.
The whole household of the King, included in the catalogue
from which the above are extracted, considerably exceeded
three hundred persons.
By an account preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster,
of the household expenses of the natural son of Henry VIII,
who had been created Duke of Richmond and Somerset in
June 1525, it appears that between I2th June 1526, and 3Ist
March 1526-7, he had been several times entertained by the
performances of players, and that the Council appointed for
his care and custody had paid, in that interval, 31. I8s. 8d. as
rewards to actors and minstrels. No particulars regarding
either the companies who acted, or the pieces they represented, are furnished.l
it is probable that at this time English had ceased to perform, but was
still allowed half his wages and board. The following entry in a Book
of Receipts and Payments of the Exchequer in 17 Henry VIII, the year
when the enumeration of the King's household in the text was made out,
shows that persons of the names of Richard Hole and George Mayler
were then at the head of the King's Interlude Players:'Rico Hole et Georgio Mayler, et aliis Lusoribus Dom. Regis, de foedis
suis inter se ad x marcos per Ann. sibi debit: pro festo Michaelis, Anno
xvij Regis nunc Henrici VIII recept. denar. per manus proprias, per litt.
curr. 66s. 8d.'
Each player, therefore, received quarterly precisely the sum that was
paid to John English half yearly.
1 The account includes some other curious items of expenditure, under
the head of' Certain extraordinarye and foren charges'. The title of the
whole runs thus:-' Here ensueth the Charges, as well of the Garde of
Robes and Beddes, as the Stable of the right high and prepotent Prince
Henry, Duke of Richemond and Somerset, and Earle of Nottingham',
from the I2th of June, 17th of Henry VIII, to 31st March ensuing:VOL. I. H

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I527.

Richard Gibson's account of Revelles at Richmond and
Grenewich in the time of Cristemas (without the date of the
year, but most probably 1526) is extant in the Chapterhouse, Westminster; but it furnishes no information of the
nature of the entertainments, whether plays, disguisings, or
merely tournaments. The wages of each of the workmen,
and the cost of canvass, paint, size, oil, tinsel, gold, silver, etc.,
are set out with the utmost minuteness. From another
account, appended to the first, it appears that jousts were
held at Greenwich, at Easter of the same year, and the
charges for preparations, under the care of Gibson, extend
from the 29th of February to the 7th of March. Stow informs
us, that at this date, 'was holden solemn jousts at Greenwich',
in which the King and eleven others were on one side, and
the Marquis of Exeter with eleven others of the opposite
party.'
The 'pastimes' of the King and his court, in the Spring of
A. D. the next year, were upon a scale of unusual magni1527. ficence. In the Chapter-house, Westminster, was a
volume in folio with the following title:- ' A booke of pay'Item paied for certayne newe yeres giftes, 6/. gs. 5d.
Item rewardes yeven to diverse parsons, for newe-yeres giftes presented
unto the saied Duke upon newe-yeres daye last, 9/. 6s. 8d.
Item paied for charges of Greyhoundes and other houndes, 4/. los.
Item payed to players and mynstrelleis for rewardes, as appereith by a
lyke bylle therof made, and signed by the saied Counsayll, 3/. i8s. 8d.
Item delyvered to the lorde Ogle, by waye of preste for the kepinge of
Tyndalle, 20/.
Item delyvered to the Almer for certayne almes distributed to poore
peepull within the saied tyme, I l. 17s. Iod.'
1 The original bill for the cost of the King's dress, or one of his dresses,
on the occasion, was formerly preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster, and it may be curious to print it, precisely in the form in which
it was sent in by Robert Spenlay, the gold-drawer, and corrected by the

1527.] ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. 99 "
ments of money disbursed by Sir Henry Guildforde, knight,
and Sir Thomas Wyat, knight, in the building of a Banketinghouse at the king his manor of Grenewiche.' It was a temporary erection of wood and canvass; and why, in this
instance, Sir H. Guildford, the comptroller of the King's
household, and Sir Thomas Wyat, the poet, were called upon
to interfere with their superintendence, may, perhaps, be explained by the extraordinary amount of the expenditure, and
the splendour of the exhibitions: the banqueting-house alone
cost 7601. 4s. 7d., and it was entered by'two arcks triomphant
of antique works.' Charges for 'lions, dragons,' etc., might
be looked for in the ordinary course of such amusements;
but an item for 'dyvers necessaries bought for the trymmyng
of the Father of Heaven', would hardly, be expected: it
seems, however, to establish the curious fact, that as late as
Council, who reduced the claim, as appears in the margin, from 9/. 3s. 9d.
to 8/., besides the payment to the gold drawer of I2/., so that the whole
cost was something over 2o0. in money of that day.
'To thuse of the Kings grace for his honorable tryumph
holdyn at his manour of Grenewich the vjth daye of
May the xixth yere of his Reigne.
First, for the brawthering of ij halfe barbes and ij halfe
basses of purple velvett rychely powdred wt knyghts rydyng
upon mountaynes armed and ladys castyng darts at them,
and powdryd with clowdes, and the grownde betwix the ii iijs ixd
powdrings fflorisshed thycke wt Brownne wt floures and v
Goddes all Rychely wroght and fformyd wt golde and silvr of
venis and golde of damaske ennewed silks pe' of evy' halfe by Y
kounsel/.
barbe wt his half base, that is to say for voyding sering
dressing fformyng fflorisshing venys golde and silv', silk
threde canvas seiring candill past wt such other necessaries
thereuto belonging, iiijli. xjS. xd. ob...
Itm, To Robt. Spenlay golde drawer for xlviij onc' of golde of'
damaske, the which was wroght upon the said barbes and xijli
basses pe' le onc' vs'...... J
H 2,)'l ~l ) ),j ) ) ' ' ' ' * * * * *

I00

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1527.

1527, in a pageant performed at Court, the Creator was introduced as a character, in the same manner as he had been in
the old Miracle-plays. St. George likewise figured in the
spectacle, and 4s. were paid for the work of two tailors for
two days upon his coat. The wages of the Italian painters
(whose names are given, viz., Vincent Vulpe, Ellys Carmyan,
Nicholas Florentyne, and Domingo) amounted to 43/. Ios. 8d.;
and connected with this part of the expense we must not
omit to mention a representation of Terouenne, called 'a plat
of Tirwan', for the execution of which 'Maister Hans' (Holbein?) received 4/. lbs. This scene (if it may so be called)
was painted upon canvass, and placed at the back of one of
the triumphal. arches. The workmen were employed night
and day from the 27th of February to the 26th of March,
although the revels did not in fact take place until the 4th
of May; and so pressed do the superintendents appear to
have been for time, that a letter was sent to the Lord Mayor
'for his command for workemen to help the tornors makyng
pillers.' Two of the most curious items of charge are the
following, which add another name to the list of our dramatic
authors, and, if understood literally, prove that at that date,
when undertaken even for the Court, play-writing \yas not a
very profitable employment.
'Itm to John Redemen for wrytyng of the [a word not legible]
4 daies and more, 3s. 8d.
Itm for the writyng of the diagloge, and makyng in ryme, bothe in
inglishe and Latin, 3s. 4d.'
It is possible that John Redeman.was only employed as a
scribe, to write out the parts, the piece being in dialogue,
which may account for the smallness of the sum he obtained;
but then the additional phrase of 'making in rhyme' would
hardly have been used. The document is signed by the hand
of Sir Henry Guildford, in the following manner, to attest its

1527.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

IOI

correctness; and the accountant acknowledges the receipt,
during the progress of the work, of 66o1., so that there remained due ioil. 4s. 7d., less 431: 3s. 41d., allowed for materials obtained out of the King's own store.
Hall usually enters into more minute particulars of the
Court revels than other chroniclers, and the following is his
description of the preparations and performances on this
occasion. Chron. 1550, ii. fo, clvi.
'Sonday the fyft daye of Maye was a solempne Masse songe at
Grenewich, the Cardinall and the Archebyshop of Canterbury, with x
prelates mitered, beyng present; and there the Frenche Ambassadours,
in the name of the Frenche kyng, there master, sware to observe the
peace * * ~ For the more enterteining of the Frenche Ambassadours, the kyng caused a solempne Justes to be done * * *
The kyng against that night had caused a banket-house to be
made, on one syde of the tylte yarde at Grenewyche, of an
hundreth foote of length, and xxx foote bredth; the roofe was
purple clothe full of roses and pomgarnettes: the windowes were all
clere stories with currious monneles strangely wrought; the jawe
peces and crestes were carved with vinettes and trailes of-savage
worke, and rychely gilted with gold and byse: this worke carbolying
bare the candelstyckes of antyke woorke, which bare little torchettes
of white waxe: these candelstickes were polished like aumbre. At
the one syde was a haute place for herawldes and minstrelles. This
house was richely hanged, and therin was raised a cupbord, of seven
stages high and xiii foote long, set with standyng cuppes, bolles, flaggons and greate pottes, all of fyne g6lde, some garnyshed with one
stone, and some with other stones and perles: on the other syde was

I02

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1527.

a nother cupbord of ix stages high, set full of high pottes, flagons and
bolles; all was massy plate of sylver and gilte, so high and so brode
that it was marvaile to beholde. At the nether ende were two broade
arches upon three antike pillers of gold burnished, swaged and graven
full of cargills and serpentes, supportyng the edifices. The arches
were vawted with armorie all of byce and golde, and above the arches
were made many sondri antikes and devises. * * * The hole
supper was served in vessel of gold; to reherse the fare, the straungenes of the dishes, with the devises of beastes and fowles, it were to
long, wherefore I will let passe over the supper with songes and minstrelsie. When supper was done, the kyng, the quene, and the ambassadors washed, and after talked at their pleasure; and then thei
rose and went out of the banket chambre bi the forsaid arches; and
when they were betwene the uttermoste dore and the arches, the
kyng caused them to turne backe and loke on that syde of the
arches, and there they saw how Tyrwin was beseged, and the very
maner of every mans camp very connyngly wrought, whiche woorke
more pleased them then the remembryng of the thyng in dede. From
thens they passed by a long galerie richely hanged into a chambre
faire and large * * * the rofe of thys chambre was conningly
made by the kynges astronimer; for on the grounde of the rofe was
made the hole earth environed with the sea, like a very mappe or
carte; and by a conning makyng of a nother cloth, the zodiacke with
the xii signes, and the five circles or girdelles, and the two poles
apered on the earth, and water compassyng the same. * * * After
a solempne oracion in the Latin tongue * -' * then entred eight
of the kinges chappel with a song, and brought with theim one
richely appareled: and in likewyse at the other side entred eight
other of the saied chappel bringyng with theim a nother persone likewise appareled: these two persones plaied a dialog, theffect wherof was
whether riches were better then love, and when they could not agre
upon a conclusion, eche called in thre knightes all armed. Thre of
theim would have entred the gate of the arche in the middel of the
chambre, and the other iii resisted; and sodenly betwene the six
knightes out of the arche fell downe a -bar all gilte, at the which
*ic,,. -

I527.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 103
barre the six knightes fought a faire battail, and then thei were departed,
and so went out of the place. Then came in an olde man with a
silver berd, and he concluded that love and riches both be necessarie
for princes (that is to saie) by love to be obeied and served, and with
riches to rewarde his lovers and frendes; and with this conclusion the
dialogue ended.'
At Christmas 1527-8, a play was performed at Gray's Inn;
and although this is the first time we have met with any
notice of theatrical exhibitions there, as the piece then acted
had been written many years prior by a member of that
Society, there is reason to suppose that it had been represented soon after it was completed.' Cardinal Wolsey was
present in 1527-8, and Warton conjectures that, as the author,
John Roo, was 'degraded and imprisoned', the piece contained
some free reflections on the clergy.'2 Holinshed was Warton's
authority on the point; but Hall3 is very explicit, and inserts
the plot of the Moral, or Morality, and shows precisely the
ground of offence to the cardinal; who, although the play
had been written twenty years before, applied it personally to
himself. Hall tells us: 'This Christmas was a goodly disguysing plaied at Greis Inne, whiche was compyled for the
moste part by Ihon Roo, Sarjant at the law, 20 yere past, and
long before the Cardinall had any authoritie: the effecte of
the plaie vas, that Lord Governaunce was ruled by Dissipation and Negligence, by whose misgovernaunce, and evil
order, Lady Publike-wele was put from Governaunce; which
' Dugdale (Orzgin. 7urid., 285) informs us, that 'at a pension held
here [Gray's Inn] in Michaelmas Term, 2I H. VIII, there was an order
made, that all the fellows of this House, who should be present on any
Saturday at supper betwixt the feasts of All Saints and the Purification
of our Lady, or upon any other day at dinner or supper, when there are
Revells, should not depart out of the Hall until the said Revells were
ended, upon penalty of I2d.'
2 Hist. Engl. Poet., iii, 223. 3 Caon., 1550, ii, fo. cliv b.
* * X - *";.,: 0- -:. ':.D. * - 0 '*.*...I..

I04

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1527.

caused Rumor-populi, Inward-grudge, and Disdaine of wanton
Sovereegntie to rise with a great multitude to expell Negligence and Dissipation, and to restore Publike-welth again
to her estate; which was so done. This plaie was so set foorth,
with ryche and costly apparell, with straunge devises of masks
and morishes, that it was highly praised of all 'menne, saving
the Cardinall, whiche imagined the play had been devised of
hym.' Hall further informs us, that in consequence Wolsey
sent Roo, the author, and Thomas Moyle, of Kent, one of the
young gentlemen that played', to the Fleet; but, upon subsequent representation that the performance had been misapprehended, they were released.
We now come to a remarkable event, which, independent
of its connection with the progress of the drama, is important
as a piece of history. It is, we believe, new as regards both.
In Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, we read a long and interesting narrative of the splendid manner in which the
Mardchal Montmorency, the Bishop of Bayonne, the President of Rouen, and Monsieur d'Humieres, Ambassadors from
France, who arrived on the 20th of October, I9th of Henry
VIII, were received and entertained, first by the Cardinal at
Hampton Court, and afterwards by the King at Greenwich.2
1 Singer's edition, p. I88, et seq. It is a mistake by Warton (H.
E. P., iii, 263, edit. 8vo.) when he states that the interlude, spoken of by
Cavendish, was represented before the French Ambassadors who came
to England to ratify peace in 1514: it was performed, as has been shown,
in 1528, on a similar occasion; and Stow, with reference to it, nearly
quotes the words of Cavendish. Warton cited the edition of Cavendish's
Lzfe of Wolsey of I708, where it is said expressly that the interlude was
'made in Latin': the MS. from which Singer printed his edition
varies from the others, and states that it was 'made in Latin and French'.
That any part of the performance was in French is not confirmed by
other authorities.
2 In a contemporary MS. we have a very minute account of the costly
presents of plate then made to the Ambassadors: it is the original bill of
i;};.*.?.),,,; ' '; - '. '

1527.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I05

Among other things the old biographer relates, that 'in the
midst of the banquet [at Greenwich] there was tourneying at
the barriers (even in the chamber) with lusty gentlemen in
gorgeous complete harness: then, there was the like on horseRobert Amadas, the King's goldsmith; and it is unfortunately considerably mutilated by damp and carelessness. It is thus entitled:-'Md that
I Robt Amadas have deliv'd, by the Kings graces commaundement, to the
Ambassators of Fraunce these percells of plate as here after foloweth,
the 19th day of May, Anno xixno.' This date was the time, probably,
when Amadas sent in his bill: according to it, the Bishop of Bayonne
received,' Furst a payer of greatte potts, waying 202 oz.
Itm vj Bollis with a cover gilt, waying 261 oz.
Itm ij Flagons gilt, chassed with water flowers, waying 207 oz.
Itm a Basson &amp; Ewer gilt, waying 96 oz.
Itm a Cuppe with a cover gilt, waying 274 oz.'
To Viscount Montmorency were given,'A payer of greatt gilt potts, waying 147 oz.
Itm iij Bollis with a cover gilt, waying 185 oz.
Itm iij Bollys with a cover gilt, waying I35 oz.
Itm a goodly gilt laver chassyd, waying 34 oz.
Itm a Basson &amp; Ewer gilt, waying 128 oz.
Itm a Payer of Flagons gilt, waying 173 oz.
Itm a standing gilt cuppe with a cover, waying 31 oz.'
The President obtained plate to the weight of 444 oz.; and two other
persons to the weight of more than 700 oz., making in the whole nearly
3000 oz. of plate given to these ambassadors. The same account
includes the following articles, delivered by the King's order to Sir
Anthony Brown, knight:'ij greatt lowe square salts with a cover, waying 58 oz.
vj Bolles with a cover, percellis gilt, waying 172 oz.
iij silver Candilstiks, waying 44 oz.
xij Sponys with slyppis, waying 22 oz.
xij Trenchers, waying I29 oz.
xiv Platters of silver, waying 386 oz.'
together with other items to the amount, in the whole, of I598 oz., most
likely given to persons in the train of the ambassadors.

o106 ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[r527.

back; and after all this, there was the most goodliest disguising, or interlude, made in Latin and French, whose apparel
was of such exceeding riches, that it passeth my capacity to
expound.' Stow, who in this part of his Chronicle generally
copies Cavendish, acknowledging his authority ill the margin,
here deviates slightly from his original, and states as follows:
'And after all this was the most goodliest disguising, or interlude, made in Latine, the plaiers being so rich, and of so
strange devises, that it passeth my capacity to expound.' He
omits, therefore, the assertion, that part of the interlude was
in French, and lays particular stress on the 'strange devises'
of the players. The fact is, that this 'most goodliest disguising, or interlude', acted before Henry VIII, Wolsey, and the
French Ambassadors, was a Latin Moral, in which Luther and
his wife were brought upon the stage, and in which ridicule
was attempted to be thrown upon them, and the Reformers.
It was acted by the children of St. Paul's School under the
regulation of their master, John Rightwise, who was most
likely the author of the piece represented.
The original account by Richard Gibson, in his own writing,
giving a variety of details regarding this extraordinary exhibition, is extant; and although he was evidently an illiterate
man, and wrote a bad hand, and although the paper is considerably worm-eaten, nearly the whole is legible and intelligible. It consists of fifty-three pages closely written, and
on the last leaf is a drawing with pen and ink of the groundplot and elevation of a building, which may possibly represent the form and appearance of the banqueting-house in
which the play was exhibited. It is entitled in the following
manner:1 The official copy of it, made out from Gibson's rough draught, and
signed by Sir Henry Guildford (as Comptroller of the Household) and by
Gibson, was in the Chapter-house, Westminster.
c

1527.] ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. 107
'Jhu.
'The revells holldyn the xth day of Novembyr, the xixth yer of
our sovrayn lord kyng harry ye viijth.'
Without entering into the minor details of wages to workmen, and the expense of a quantity of materials of all kinds,
it may be mentioned, that part of the apparel employed on
this occasion had been used in the revels of the preceding
month of May; but a vast deal of it was quite new and
costly, including '8 beards of gold and 6 of silver set on
vizors' and the 'hire of hairs for the ladies.' We afterwards
arrive at the following enumeration, and description of the
singular characters in this remarkable interlude:1 -'The kyngs plessyer was that at the sayd revells by clerks in the
latyn tong schoulld be playd in hys hy presens a play, where of insewethe the naames. First an Orratur in apparell of golld: a Poyed
[poet] in apparell of cloothe of golld: Relygyun, Ecclessia, Verritas,
lyke iij nowessys [novices] in garments of syllke, and vayells of laun
and sypers [cypress]: Errysy [Heresy] Falls-interprytacyun, Corupcyoscryptorris, like ladys of Boem [Bohemia?] inperelld in garments of
syllke of dyvers kolours: the errytyke Lewter [Luther] lyke a party
freer [friar] in russet damaske, and blake taffata: Lewter's wyef [wife]
like a frow of Spyers in Allmayn, in red syllke: Peter, Poull and
Jhames in iij abyghts [habits] of whyght sarsenet, and iij red mantells, and hers [hairs] of syllver of damaske, and pelyuns [pelerines?]
of skarlet, and a Kardynall in hys apparell: ij Sargents in ryche
apparell: the Dollfyn [Dauphin] and hys brother in koots [coats] of
vellwett inbrowdyrd with golld, and kaps of saten bound with veilwet: a Messenger in tynsell saten: vj men in gouns of gren sarsenet:
vj wemen in gouns of crymsyn sarsenet: War in ryche cloothe of golld
From a passage in Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Hist. Henry VIII, we
gather that, in or about 1533, a comedy of a very different character, viz.,
in ridicule of the Pope and Cardinals, was represented at Court. ' News
came to Rome (he says) that there was a comedy represented at Court
to the no little defamation of certain Cardinals.'-See Kennett, ii, 173.

Io8

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1527.

and fethers and armd: iij Allmayns in apparell all kut and sclyt of
syllke: Lady Pees [Peace] in layds [lady's] apparell all whyght and
ryche, and Lady Quyetnes and Daam Tranquylyte rychely besyen
[beseen] in ladyes apparell.'1
The document then sets out the different kinds of silks,
velvets, etc., bought for 'these 48 personages', and those materials which had been procured from the king's stores, of which
William Locke then had the charge: they consisted of 361
yards of white sarsnet, 22F yards of yellow sarsnet, 131 yards of
black sarsnet, 5 yards of black velvet, 351 yards of red sarsnet,
I9 yards of black satin, 221 yards of green sarsnet, I8 pieces
of cypress, 12 plight of lawn, 7 pieces of black buckram, besides hose, cauls of Venice gold, 3 gross of points, 8 pieces of
ribbon, 4 pelleuns [pelerines?] and 'the hire of a circlet, And
a rich paste with the attire thereto.' The making of the apWe are thus enabled to contradict satisfactorily the representation
given by Hall, in his Chronicle, of this performance. He was clearly
misinformed, as is evident not only from this original paper, but from the
official statement made by Sir H. Guildford, in the Chapter-house, upon
which the money was paid to Gibson. Hall's account of the play is, however, worth subjoining:'Then when the Kyng and Quene were set, there was played before
them by the children, in the Latin tongue in maner of a Tragedie, the
effect whereof was that the pope was in captivitie, and the church brought
under the foote, wherefore St. Peter appeared and put the Cardinall in
authoritie to bryng the Pope to his libertie, and to set up the church
agayn; and so the Cardinall made intercession to the kinges of England
and of Fraunce, that they toke part together, and by their meanes the
Pope was delyvered. Then in came the French Kynges chyldren, and complaynd to the Cardinal, how the Emperour kept them as hostages, and
would not come to no reasonable point with their father: wherfore thei
desyred the Cardinal to helpe for their deliveraunce, which wrought so
wyth the kynge, his mayster, and the French kyng, that he brought the
Emperour to a peace and caused the two yong princes to be delyvered.
At this play wise men smiled; and thought that it sounded more glorious
to the Cardinall, then true to the matter in deede.'

1527.]

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

Io9

parel is then charged; after which we arrive at the following
entries, which merit extracting entire.
'Item payd by me Rychard Gybson, for byer [beer], and aell and
bred for xxxviij chylldyrn, the Master, the Ussher and the Masstres,
that et and dranke, 3s. 2d.
'It. Mast. Ryghtwos [Rightwise], Master of Powlls Skooll, axethe
to be alowed for dobelets, hossys [hose] and schoos for the chylldern
that were poore mens sons; and for fyer in tyem of lernyng of the
play, as by hys byll apperythe 45s. 6d.: so for kosts by the sayd
Mast. Ryghtwos doon, sma. 45s. 6d.
'It. payd by me Rychard Gybson, for vj boots [boats] to karry the
Master of Powlls Skooll and the chyldyrn, as well hoom as to the
Kourt, to every boot I 2d.: so payd for frayght for the chyldyrn, 6s.'
Thus we see, that however luxurious might be the banquet
given to the ambassadors, the master, ushers and children of
St. Paul's school were only allowed beer, ale and bread, and
3s. 2d. provided it for all. To these items are added, in Gibson's own MS., and not included in the fair copy in the Chapter-house, a charge for 'the pagent', which was doubtless the
stage or scaffold on which the performance took place. The
result of the whole is that 70o. 5s. 6-d. remained due to Gibson, as he acknowledged to have previously received 20/.
The account of the expense of erecting the banqueting
house, oh the occasion when this play was performed, was in the
Chapter-house, Westminster. The superintendence of the
works was entrusted to George Lovekyn, clerk of the royal
stable, who, earlier in the reign, as we find by the books of
payments, had been sent to Oxford for education, and there
maintained at the expense of the king. The works were
commenced on the ' i th October, and the performance took
place on the Ioth November. In Lovekyn's account, we find
mention of a great variety of materials, for a fountain (for
which seventeen gallons of perfumed waters were bought
~ ~ *; e-

110 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [[527.
at an expense of io/. Ios.) for two arches and a portal, for
'dancing lights', etc. The following extract from Hall's
Chronicle shows, in picturesque detail, the precise manner
in which the materials purchased were applied by the artisans: he is speaking of Sunday, Nov. Ioth, 19 Henry VIII:
'After supper was done, the king led the ambassadors into the
great chamber of disguysings, and in the ende of the same chamber
was a fountayne; and on the one syde was a hawthorne tre, al of silke
wyth white flowers, and on the other syde of the fountayne was a
mulbery tre, ful of fayre beryes, all silke: on the top of the hawthorne was the armes of England compassed with the collar of the
garter of St. Michel, and on the toppe of the moulberie tree stode the
armes of France wythin a garter. This fountayn was al of whyte
marble graven &amp; chased; the bases of the same were balles of golde,
supported by rampyng beastes, wounde in leaves of golde. In the
first worcke were gargilles of gold, fiersly faced, with spoutes running.
The second receyt of this fountain was environed with wynged serpentes, all of golde, which gryped the second receit of the fountain;
and on the sommit, or toppe of the same was a fayre lady, out of
whose brestes ran aboundantly water of merveilous delicious saver.
About this fountayn were benches of rosemary, fretted in braydes
layd on gold, all the sides set with roses in braunches, as they were
growyng about this fountayne. On the benches sat viij fair ladies in
straung attier, and so rychely apparelled in cloth of gold, embrodered
and cut over silver, that I cannot expresse the conning workmanship
thereof.'
The expense of this banqueting-house, etc., was less than
usual, only 1384. 8s. 41d.; but as Gibson used some of the
dresses which had been employed in the revels in the preceding May, it is not unlikely that Lovekyn also turned to
account on this occasion part of the materials of the temporary erections then constructed.
It is rendered more probable, that Rightwise was the author
of the play thus represented, by the fact, that he had written a

1529.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

III

Latin tragedy on the story of Dido and /Eneas, the performance of which by the scholars of St. Paul's Wolsey himself
witnessed.1 Rightwise became master of that school in 1522,
and died 1532.2
It is very possible that, in consequence of the unsettled
state of the public mind on the subject of religion at A. D.
this period, what were subsequently called 'the Popish I529.
Miracle-plays' were not performed as usual at Chester in 1529,
although they were certainly revived afterwards. In King's
Vale Royal, I656,3 we have an account, under this date, of
the representation of a play of a very different kind at the
Market-cross of Chester, the title of which was Robert Cicil,
or Robert of Cicily. King drew his information from the
then existing records of the city, and after giving the names
of the Mayor and Sheriffs for the year, he adds the following
note:-1' I529. The play of Robert Cicill was played at the
High Crosse; and the same was new gilt with gold.'
This is all the knowledge hitherto obtained upon the subject; but among the unarranged papers of Cromwell in the
Chapter-house, Westminster, we found a very valuable letter
(not indeed addressed to Cromwell, because he was not even
knighted until 1531) from the Mayor and Corporation of
1 Warton, H. E. P., iii, 259, edit. 8vo.
2 He seems to have been a man much looked up to by his contemporaries, as a scholar: in the volumes of letters preserved at the Chapterhouse, Westminster, was one to Sir Thomas More, from the tutor of the
Duke of Richmond (the natural son of Henry VIII), in which he states,
that he has consulted Rightwise as to the course that ought to be pursued
in the education of that young nobleman. In the same letter (which is
not signed, and may be only a rough copy of the one actually sent), the
writer expresses his regret that it had not been his good fortune to be
present when the daughter of Sir Thomas More 'disputed of philosophy
before the king'.
3 P. 194.

112

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

[EI529.

Chester, stating the nature and object of the play, and asking
permission to have it represented. This document has in part
been destroyed by damp, so that it has no name nor date, but
nearly all the rest has been preserved, and there cannot be
the slightest doubt that it refers to this very transaction. The
back of the letter having been torn off, it cannot be ascertained
to what nobleman in the Court of Henry VIII it was addressed, but it ran as follows:' Our moste humble duetye to your right honorable Lordshypp
premysed, we holde it convenyent and proppre to infourme your
good Lordshyppe of a play, which som of the companyes of this
Cittye of Chester, at theyr costes and charges, are makynge redy, for
that your good Lordshyppe maye see wether the same be in any wyse
unfyttynge for them, as honest menne and duetyfull subjectes of his
Majestye. The sayde playe is not newe at thys time, but hath bin
bifore shewen, evyn as longe agoe as the reygne of his highnes most
gratious father of blyssyd memorye, and yt was penned by a godly
clerke, merely for delectacion, and the teachynge of the people to
love &amp; feare God and his Majestye, and all those that bee in auctoryte. It is callyd Kynge Robart of Cicylye, the whiche was
warned by an Aungell whiche went to Rome, and shewyd Kyng
Robart all the powre of God, and what thynge yt was to be a pore
man; and thanne, after sondrye wanderynges, ledde hym backe
agayne to his kingdome of Cicylye, where he lyved and raygned
many yeres.1
1 The play seems unquestionably to have been founded upon the old
romance thus headed;
'Here is of Kynge Robert of Cicyle,
Hou pride dude him beguile;'
from which some extracts, from MS. Vernon Bibl. Bodl., f. 299, are given
by Warton, H. E. P., ii. 17, edit. 8vo. King Robert of Cicily denies that
the power of God is greater than his own, and while he is asleep an Angel
takes his shape, usurps his throne, and clothes the king like 'the fool of
the hall'. In this state of degradation he endures many privations, and
envies even the condition of the dogs kept about the Court. The angel

1529.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE. 113

'Thys muche we thought it mete to shewe to your right honorable
Lordshyppe, for that your good Lordshyppe myght knowe the holle of
theyr entent that goe aboute to playe this playe on Saynt Peter's day
nexte ensewing; and yf your good Lordshyppe shold holde the same
unfytte or unwyse at thys tyme, thanne theis pore artifycers will, of our
knowlege, staye the same and' * * *
It is evident that only the formal conclusion, the date, and
the signatures to this communication, have perished. The
piece, it seems, was not new, but a revival of a play first acted
in the reign of Henry VII; still, however, it was thought
necessary to procure the sanction of the Court for it.1
afterwards repairs to Rome, still personating the king, and Robert accompanies him as his fool:'The fole Robert with him went,
Clothed in a folis garnement,
With foxes taylys hongyng al abowght.'
In Rome Robert endures still further sufferings and degradations, but at
the close of the poem he is restored to his kingdom; w.hich exactly
accords with what is said in the text of the story of the play. Both
Warton and his late editor speak of the connection between the romances
of Robert of Cicily and Robert the Devil, but they have, in fact, no resemblance either in characters or incidents: Robert the Devil was Robert
Duke of Normandy, regarding whose adventures a romance was printed. by Wynkyn de Worde: ' Here endeth the lyfe of the most feerfullest and
unmercyfullest and myschevous Robert the Devyll, whiche was afterwarde
called servaunt of our Lorde Jhesu Cryste.'
The King and Princess (probably Mary) had companies of Players
who performed at Court at Christmas 1530-I, as we find from the following entries in the Royal Household Book of that date, among the
MSS. once belonging to the Trevelyans at Nettlecomb; these are among
the entries of rewards on New Year's Day:'Item, to the Kinges plaiers for plaing before his Grace, vjli. xiijs. iiijd.
Item, to the Princesse plaiers for plaing before his Grace, iiijli.'
At this date John English was no doubt at the head of the King's
Players, and there is a separate entry for 'John Inglishe the plaiers
wages', amounting to 31. 6s. 8d.
VOL. I. I

114

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

[I 530o.

It was about this period that John Heywood, 'the singer',
A. D. and 'player on the Virginals', began to write his
1530. interludes: these productions form an epoch in the
history of our drama, as they are neither Miracle-plays nor
Morals, but entirely different from both: several of them
come properly within the definition of 'interludes', pieces
played in the intervals of entertainments, and have frequently
both clever humour and strong character to recommend them.
They were, as far as we can now judge, an entire novelty, and
gained the author an extraordinary reputation. He is not
supposed to have begun to write them until I529 or 1530;
but there is nothing to fix the date beyond the publication of
several of his pieces in I533.1
The Royal Society is possessed of a very valuable MS., a
It appears, on the same authority, that the Players of Coventry (probably with their miracle-plays) performed at Court in 1530: the following
is the entry:
'Item paid to certain Players of Coventrye, as in the way of the Kinge's
rewarde, for playinge in the Corte this last Cristmas, Anno xxjo, xxs.'
The late Sir Harris Nicolas was in possession of an account-book of
the Prior of Dunmow, applicable to the years 153I and I532, by which it
was seen that rewards of 3s. 4d., 2s. 4d., and smaller sums, had been given
to the Players of Lord Derby, the Marquis of Ulster, the Earl of Sussex,
as well as to 'the King's Players' (so named). The Priory had also been
visited on numerous occasions by Minstrels, Lords of Misrule, and
Jugglers, to whom rewards as low as a groat had been presented.
1 The following quotation from Warton (H. E. P., iii, 2I3, 8vo.), shews
that Ralph Radcliffe, towards the close of the reign of Henry VIII, was
the author of several plays, religious and profane, none of which have
survived. In the year 1538, Ralph Radcliffe, a polite scholar and a
lover of graceful elocution, opening a school at Hitchin in Hertfordshire,
obtained a grant of the dissolved friery of the Carmelites in that town;
and, converting the refectory into a theatre, wrote several plays, both in
Latin and English, which were exhibited by his pupils. Among his
comedies were Dives and Lazarus, Boccaccio's Patient Griselda, Titus
and Gesifius, and Chaucer's AMelibeus: his tragedies were The Delivery,.. t: ':? ': - 1:.,..-.,

I530.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I I 5

continuation of those 'King's Books of Payments', which
have already furnished so much information in the beginning
of the reign of Henry VIII. It seems to have been kept in
the same handwriting as the rest, and was, in all probability,
a fair transcript of other accounts: it is for the years I538,
1539, I540, 1541, and 1542, being from February in the 29th,
to June in the 33d year of Henry VIII. We learn from it
(as we have already seen in earlier authorities) that between
those dates the King, the Queen, and the Prince had separate
companies of players, who acted before the Court at Christmas: the wages of the former, Robert Hinstocke, George
Birche, and George Nayler (or Mayler), were I/. 13s. 4d. per
quarter, or 6/. I3s. 4d. per annum; and when they performed
at Christmas, an additional sum of 61. I3s. 4d. was paid to
them. Another player, named John Slee (or Slye), was
paid half-yearly the sum of It. I3s. 4d.; and in March,
31 Henry VIII, to Richard Parrowe, whose name does
not previously occur, 'one of the kingis interlude players', was
granted an annuity of 21. 4s. 6d. during life: he is afterwards
mentioned as Richard Plowe, or Parlowe, and was included
of Susannah, The Burning of yohn Huss, 7ob's Suferings, The Burning of
Sodom, yonas, and The Fortitude of Judith. These pieces were seen by
the biographer, Bale, in the author's library.' Henry Parker, Lord
Morley, whose bonly extant work is a translation, of the Triumphs of
Petrarch, was also the author of 'tragedies and comedies', as Bale terms
them, in this reign. At about this period the profession of a player seems
not to have been at all unusual, though not always creditable; and actors
wandered about the country, exhibiting wherever they could obtain encouragement: in the Exchequer accounts of 1530 we meet with a record
of a royal company which was paid an annual salary of 31. 6s. 8d., and
John Roll, Richard Hole, and Thomas Sudbury are spoken of as members
of it. We certainly do not hear of them elsewhere, but the information
regarding them was furnished by the late Mr. F. Devon, who at various
periods discovered curious particulars connected with our subject, and
favoured us with them.
I 2

II6

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i530.

in the three who received monthly wages on the disappearance of George Nayler (or Mayler) from the household establishment. The Queen's and Prince's players had each a
reward from the King of 4/. when they acted; but their
salary, whatever it might be, would not be registered among
the King's payments. When any of the players of the nobility performed at Court, they received only 20s. in reward.
At this period, we hear nothing of Cornyshe, who was most
likely dead; and we know that, in 1526, William Crane was
the master of the children of the Chapel,1 whose performances
at Court are also registered in the volume before us. John
Heywood, in these accounts, is still spoken of only as a
'player on the virginals', and his quarterly allowance then
was 21. Ios.2
"'The persons employed about the Court in the reign of Henry VIII
frequently obtained patents for the sole import, export, etc., of various
commodities; and among the privy seals in the Chapter-house, Westminster, was one, dated ISt of March, 33 Henry VIII, to William Crane,
' Master of the Children of our Chapell', to buy and export for his advantage 400 tons of double beer. On the Ioth of April, 32 Henry VIII,
'our wellbeloved servant and painter', Anthony Toto, had a patent to
buy and export 600 tons of beer.
2 The entries which relate to the stage are in the following form in this
volume, where the wages are divided into monthly, quarterly, and halfyearly payments, besides annual rewards:29 H. VIII.-Quarterly payments at Lady Day.
Itm for John Haywood pleyer on the virginals, 21. IOS.
Jtm to Robert Hinstocke, George Birche, and George Nayler,
pleyours, I/. 13s. 4d.
30 H. VIII.-Half-yearly payments at Lady Day.
Itm to John Slee [elsewhere called Slye] pleyor, wages, It. 13s. 4d.
Dec. 30. Itm to the children of the chapell by way of the King's rewarde,
6/. 13s. 4d.
Jan. i. Itm to the King's pleyers, for pleying before the King this
Xtemas, 6/. 13s. 4d.

I530.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I I-7

It is a circumstance deserving notice that in the book of
the King's payments for the 35th and 36th Henry VIII, for30 Henry VIII.
Jan. I. Itm to 4 minstrells, 4/.
Itm to Mathewe de Johanna, Tumbler, IOS.
Itmn to the Quenes pleyers, for pleying before the- King this
Xtemas, 4/.
Itm to the Princes pleyers, for pleying before the King this
Xtemas by the Kings commaundement, 4/.
31 Henry VIII.
Jan. I. Itm to Mr. Crane, for playing before the King with the children,
6/. 3s. 4d.
[The King's and Prince's players received rewards as usual, but
the Queen's players are not mentioned.]
March. Itm to Richard Parrowe, one of the Kingis enterlude pleyers,
by the Kingis warraunte dated 14 Feby Anno 30 Dom. Regis,
for the yerely paymente to him of 44s. 6d. during his life, quarterly by even portions, from the feast of the Nativitie of our
Lord God, dicto A~ 30, the some of fifty-five shillings peny
ferthinge, for one yere and one quarter, due to hym at the
Annunciation of our Lady, Anno 3I, 2/. I5s. iid.
32 Henry VIII.-Quarterly payments at Christmas.
Itm for Rob. Hynstoc, George Birch; and Ric: Parlowe, pleyers,
I/. 13s. 4d.
Jan. i. Itm to Lewes de Basson [Bassano?], Anthony de Basson,
Baptist de Basson, Jasper de Basson, John de Basson, the
King's Minstrells, by the King's commaundement certified by
Maister Charles Hawarde, 4/.
Itm to Vincent de Venitia, Alex. da Venitia, Ambrosio de
Milano, Albertus de Venetia, Joam Maria de Cramona, and
Antony de Romano, the Kings vialls, by like commaundement certified by M. Cha: Hawarde, 4/.
[The Kings, Queens, and Princes players received rewardes as
usual.]
Itm to the Ducke of Suffolkes pleyers, for pleyinge in the
* Kingis hawle on twelf-even, the somme of i/
z ' ~~~~~~~~~.,..,' 'i -R3'0'0*

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I530.

merly in the collection of Mr. Craven Ord, there is no entry
of payments to adult players of the King, the Queen, or the
Prince, although Crane obtained the customary reward of
6/. I3s. 4d. for the performances of children. It is possible
that 'the gentlemen of the King's chapel' superseded the
regular 'interlude players', and an entry is made of I3/. 6s. 8d.
' for their paines taking this Cristmas.' The trumpeters, musicians, and minstrels were paid as usual. The four minstrels,
named Bassan, or more properly Bassano, obtained three rewards at this season, amounting to 5/., and 'four other mynstrells' 4/. John Haywood received his 5os. quarterly, and
Richard Dorryngton, as 'keeper of the King's mastiffs',
5/. 6s. 5d.
The contents of this last volume of the expenses of Henry
VIII have been inserted a little out of order in point of date,
that they might stand in connection with the previous volume,
belonging to the Royal Society, from 1538 to 1541. Perhaps
the non-insertion of any payments to professed players at
Court in the years I 544 and 1545, may have arisen from the
circumstances of the times. Warton tells us that as early as
the year 1533 a proclamation was promulged, prohibiting evil32 Henry VIII.
Jan. I. Itm Payed to Thomas Speryn and John Sperin, his sonne, serjeants of the King's beares, by the Kings warrant for the
yerely payment to them the wages of 7d. by the day,
8/. 12S.
In 32 Henry VIII (vide Archcaologia, xviii, p. 333), 'the King's pleyers'
received 'a rewarde' for the loan of their garments for the masks on
Shrove Monday and Tuesday in that year. We might infer from this
circumstance that the apparel was their own; but, perhaps, it was only a
gratuity, in consideration of the clothes being borrowed for the use of
others, although they might be the property of the King.

1 540.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

II9

disposed persons to preach, either in public or private, ' after
their owne braine, and by playing of enterludes, and printing
of false fonde bookes, ballades, rhymes and other lewd trea-'
tyses in the English tongue, concerning doctrines in matters
now in question and controversie.'s
What effect was produced by this proclamation, and how
long that effect continued, are points we are not in a condition
to decide upon any existing evidence; but within a A. D.
few years afterwards, viz., in 1539-40, we find Sir I540.
William Eure (Lord Warden of the.Marches toward Scotland)
writing to Lord Cromwell, giving him an account of the performance of the Satyre of the three Estaitis, by Sir
before King, Queen, Court and Prelacy of Scotland at Linlithgow, and congratulating his lordship that it indicated a
determined disposition on the part of James V to reform the
abuses of the Church in Scotland. On the 2ISt of January
1539-40, a meeting took place at Coldstream between Sir W.
Eure and Thomas Bellendyn, 'one of the Counsellors of
Scotland', in which they discussed, among other matters, the
' Hist. Engl. Poet., iii, 428, edit. 8vo. He furnishes no more particular
date than that of the year, and refers as his authority to Fox, Martyrolog.
f. I339, edit. 1576. We may mention, by the way, that Fox was not, as
some have asserted, Vicar of Cripplegate, for the registration on the
2oth April I587 is merely, 'Buried, John Fox, house-holder, preacher':
whenever a Vicar was buried, he was so called in the Register.

I20

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 540,

inclination of the King of Scotland 'concerning the Bishop
of Rome, and for the reformation of the misusing of the
spiritualtie in Scotlond.' The letter giving an account of the
interview is without date, but it must have been sent to London very soon after the meeting: regarding the performance
of Lyndsay's Satire, it contains the following information:Bellendyn told Sir William Eure 'that the kyng of Scotts
hym selfe, with all his temporall counsaile, was gretely gyven
to the reformation of the mysdemeanors of busshops, religious
persones, and priests within the realme; and so muche, that by
the kyngs pleasure, he being prevey therunto, they have hade
ane enterluyde played, in the feaste of the Epiphane of our
Lorde laste paste, before the Kyng and the Quene at Lighqwoe,
and the hoole counsaile spirituall and temporall, the hoole
matier whereof concluded upon the declaracion of the noughtines in religion, the presumption of the busshops, the collucion of the spirituall Corts, called the Concistory Courts in
Scotland, and mysusing of priests. I have obteyned (adds
Sir W. Eure) a noote from a Scotts man of our soorte, being
present at the playing of the saide enterluyde, of the effecte
thereof, which I doe sende unto your lordshipe by this berer.
My lorde, the same Mr. Bellendyn shewed me, that after the
saide enterluyde fynished, the King of Scotts dide call upon
the busshop of Glascoe, being Chauncellor, and diverse other
busshops, exorting thaym to reforme their facions and maners
of lyving.'
The account of the interlude, supplied by 'a Scots man of
our sort', who was present, is curious and minute, and it is in
these terms:
'The copie of the nootes of the enterluyde.
'In the first entres come in Solaice (whose parte was but to make
mery, sing ballets with his fellowes, and drynke at the enterluyds of
X &lt; ^,':s;... -.................., '
C A D~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~..j.,X,_ S-0. L: -.': ',;',' *:i /! -''

1540.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

121

the play) whoe showede firste to all the audiance the play to be
played, whiche was a generall thing, meanying nothing in speciall to
displeas noe man, praying therfor no man to be angre with the same.
Nexte come in a King, whoe passed to his throne, having noe speche
to thende of the playe, and then to raitefie and approve, as in plaine
parliament, all things doon by the reste of the players, which represented the three estates. Withe hym come his courtiers Placebo,
Pikthanke, and Flaterye, and such a like garde; one swering he was
the lustieste, starkeste, best proportioned and most valiaunte man
that ever was. An other swear he was the beste with longe bowe,
crosebowe and culverein in the world. An other swear he was the
beste juster and man of armes in the world, and soe furthe during
thair partes. Therafter came a man armed in harnes withe a sword
drawen in his hande, a Busshope, a Burges man, and Experience,
clade like a doctor, whoe sate thaym all down on the deis, under the
King. After thayme come a poor man, whoe did goe upe and downe
the scaffald, making a hevie complaynte that he was heryed through
the Courtiours taking his fence in one place, and alsoe his tacks in an
other place, where throughe he had stayled his house, his wif and
childeren beggyng thair brede, and soe of many thousand in Scotlande; which wolde make the kyngs grace lose of men if his grace
stod neide, saying thair was no remedye to be gotten; for though he
wolde suyte to the kings grace, he was naither acquaynted with controuller nor treasourer, and without thaym myght noe man gete noe
goodnes of the king. And after he spered for the king, and whene
he was shewed to the man that was king in the playe, he aunsuered
and said he was noe king, for there is but one king, whiche made all,
and governethe all, whoe is eternall, to whome he and all erthely
kings ar but officers, of the whiche thay must make recknyng,
and soe furthe much more to that effecte. And thene he loked
to the king, and saide he was not the king of Scotland, for there was
an other king in Scotlande, that hanged John Armestrong with his
fellowes, and Sym the larde and many other moe, which had pacified
the countrey and stanched thifte; but he had lefte one thing undon,
which perteyned aswell to his charge as thother. And whene he was..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

122 ANNALS OF THE STAGE.. [540.
asked what that was, he made a longe narracion of the oppression of
the poor by the taking of the corse pesaunte beists, and of the
herying of poor men, by concistorye lawe, and of many other abussions of the spiritualtie and churche, with' many longe stories &amp; auctorities. Thene the Busshope roise, and rebuked hym, saying it
offered not to hym to speake suche matiers, commaunding hym
scilence, or ells to suffer dethe for it by thayr lawe. Therafter roise
the man of armes, alledginge the contrarie, and commaunded the
poor men to speake, saying thayr abusion had been over longe suffered without any lawe. Thene the poore man shewed the great
abusion of Busshopes, Preletts, Abbotts, reving menes wifes &amp;
doughters, and holding thaym; and of the maynteynyng of thair
childer, and of thair over bying of lords and barrons eldeste sones to
their doughters, wher thoroughe the nobilitie of the blode of the
realme was degenerate. And of the greate superfluous rents that
perteyned to the churche by reason of over muche temporall lands
geven to thaym, whiche thaye proved that the kinge might take
boothe by the canon lawe and civile lawe. And of the greate abomynable vices that reagne in clostures, and of the common bordells that
was keped in Clostures of nunnes. All this was provit by Experience; and alsoe was shewed thoffice of a Bussliope, and producit
the New Testament with the auctorities to that effecte. And thene
roise the man of armes, and the burges, and did saye that all was
producit by the poor man, and Experience was reasonable, of veritie
and of great effecte, and very expedient to be reaformede with the
consent of the parliament. And the Busshope saide he wolde not
consent therunto. The man of armes and Burges saide thay were
twoe and he bot one, wherfor thair voice shuld have mooste effecte.
Theraftre the King in the playe ratefied, approved, and confermed
all that was rehersed.'
A comparison of this description with the production of Sir
David Lyndsay, as republished by Mr. G. Chalmers,' will at
once establish the identity. The biographer was not aware
1 In 8o6, among the Works of Sir D. Lyndsay, 3 vols., 8vo.

I 540.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I23

of the existence of these remarkable documents in the British
Museum,' and he observes, 'what Lyndsay's intentions were,
beyond the gratification of his present humour, it is not easy
to discover.' The preceding extracts fully explain his intentions, and throw a new and strong light on the progress of
the Reformation in Scotland. Chalmers notices the performance of Lyndsay's Satire, at Linlithgow in 1539 [1540], and
he adds that it had previously been played at Coupar in 1535,
but he quotes no authority. It was again played in 1554, and
occupied no less than nine hours.
A very curious and in some respects a very interesting
document has been preserved in the State-paper Office, which
shews how far religious animosities had been carried at the
very close of the reign of Henry VIII: it is dated the Ioth
January 1539, when, in fact, the old monarch was dying, and
his son, it may be said, was on the steps of the throne. It may,
possibly, be valuable on another account, for it might show that
a very notorious play (hereafter examined) by John Bale, the
protestant reformer, subsequently Bishop of Ossory, was
actually in existence before Henry expired. We insert the
document entire, exactly as it stands in the original, and
with all its official formalities, which are characteristic of the
time at which it was drawn up:'Witnes examined the Ioth daye of January in the 3oth
yere of the reigne of our Soveraign Lorde King Henry
the 8th, of certen wourdes which one Henry Totehill, of
the parishe of Saincte Kateryns besides the Tower Hill,
shipman, should speake in the house of one Thomas
Brown of Shawlteclyff within the countie of Kente, concernyng the Bishop of Rome, and Thomas Becket some
tyme Archebyshop of Canterbury.
'John Alforde of thage of 18 yeres examined saith, that by reason
' Royal MSS. 7, C. xvi.,i/ /

124

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1540.

that he had ben in Christmas tyme at my Lorde of Canterburys, and
ther had harde an enterlude concernyng King John, about 8 or 9 of
the clocke at nyght on Thursdaye the seconde daye of January
last past spake theis wourdes folowing in the house of the said
Thomas Brown, "That it ys petie that the Bisshop of Rome should
reigne any lenger, for if he should, the said Bisshop wold do with
our King as he did with King John." Wherunto (this deponent saith)
that Henry Totehill answered and said, "That it was petie and
nawghtely don to put down the Pope and Saincte Thomas, for the
Pope was a good man, and Saincte Thomas savid many suche as
this deponent was frome hangyng", whiche wourdes were spoken in
the presence of Thomas Browne and one William- servaunte
unto the said Totehill.
'Thomas Brown of the age of 50 yeres examined saith, that about
8 of the clocke on Fridaye the 3 daye of Januarye laste paste, as he
remembereth, one Henry Totehill beyng in this deponentes house at
Shawlteclyff, this deponent tolde, " That he hadde ben at my Lorde
of Canterburys and there hadd harde one of the beste matiers that
ever he sawe towching King John", and than sayd, "That he had
harde dyvers times preistes and clerkes say that King John did loke
like one that hadd rune from brynning of a house; butt this deponent knewe now that yt was nothing treu, for as far as he perceyved
King John was as noble a prince as ever was in England, and therby
we myght perceyve that he was the begynner of the puttyng down of
the Bysshop of Rome, and thereof we myght be all glad." Than
answered the said Totehill, " That the Busshope of Rome was made
Pope by the clergie and by the consent of all the kinges Christen."
Than said this deponent, " Hold your peace, for this communication
ys nawght." Than said Totehill, " I am sorye if I have said amisse,
for I thought no harme to no man." This communication was in the
presence of John Alforde and a laborer of the said Totehill, and this
deponente. And this deponente saithe that the said Totehill was
drunken.
'This deponent examyned wherefore he thought the wourdes of

1540o] ANNALS OF THE ST'AGE. 125
Totehill so nawght, saith, by cause he thought that he spake theym
in the mayntenaunce of the Bysshop of Rome.
'Also, concerning the wourdes spoken of Thomas Beckette, this
deponente aggreeth with the firste witnes.
'Anthony Marten, examyned whot he harde spoken of Henry
Totehill syns he was in his custodie, or at any tyme before, saith,
That he harde John Halforde reporte that Henry Totehill should
saye, "That it was petie that Saincte Thomas was put down", and,
" That the old lawe was as good as the newe"; and farther sayth
that the sayd John Halforde reported, that Totehill said, "That the
Bisshop of Rome was a good man", and this he harde the saide Halforde reporte bifore he toke him. And farther the forsaid Anthony
Marten saith, that he demaunded one Thomas Brown (in whose
house the said Totehill spake theis wourdes above rehersed), "What
said Totehill? " and he saithe that the said Brown said, that the said
Totehill hath spoken very evill, and whan he shoulde be examined,
he would tell the truth.'
Hence we must infer one of two things, either that Bishop
Bale's Play of Kynge yohan was considerably older than it
was supposed to be, viz., of the reign of Edward VI, or that
there were two distinct old dramas upon the same subject,
which, considering the circumstances of the time, is hardly
probable. We therefore take it that the above document
of 1539, may apply to a play into which Bale subsequently
introduced such novelties as better enforced his protestant views at the date when he inserted them: then, of
course, it was that he mentioned the death of Henry VIII,
whom he calls-' That Duke Joshua, our late King Henry',
and various other matters rendered necessary by the altered
circumstances of the times. It is clear that this historicoreligious drama afterwards became popular, and in the manuscript that has come down to our time, it is amended, altered,
and added to in hundreds of places.l
It was printed in extenso by the Camden Society in 1838, but it is of
i *, - \, '... S,,. '\; ~......... i. *,,"w n-l '0 *...... - 't -;

126 ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE. [1543.
The Corporation of London, from a very early date, appears to have been inimical to stage-plays; and no doubt
A. D. they were sometimes the occasion of disturbances,
I543. if not of corruption of manners. Prior to April I543,
they had adopted regulations for the suppression of them
within the boundary of the city; but some players, acting
under the protection of the then Lord Warden (whether of
the Marches, or of the Cinque Ports does not appear), broke
through these orders, and upon complaint to the Lords of the
Council, the offenders were committed to the Counter. This
fact is recorded in the Registers of the Privy Council in the
following manner, and it is, we believe, the earliest entry upon
the subject of theatrical amusements in those volumes.
'St. James, Ioth April I543.
'Certayn Players belonging to the Lord Warden, for playing contrarye to an order taken by the Mayor on that behalf, were commited to the Counter.'l
In the same year, the first Act of Parliament was passed
so remarkable a character that we have elsewhere examined it in some
detail. Bale employed an amanuensis, but the MS. was corrected by
him, and in his own hand-writing.
1 In connection with this entry, perhaps, ought to be noticed the
draught of an address to the King from the House of Commons, among
other things, complaining of the non-observance of holidays, and of the exhibition of stage-plays upon them. It was among the papers of Cromwell,
in the Chapter-house, Westminster, and as it is without date, it is not
possible to assign it to any particular year. The paragraph which relates
to the stage is in these terms:
'And also where a great nomber of holye dayes, which now at this
present tyme with very small devocion is solemnised and kept throughout
this your realme, uppon the which many grete abhomynable &amp; execrable
vices, ydle and wanton sportes, and plaies of the staige ben used and
exercised, which holye dayes, if it may stonde with your gracious
pleasure, and specially suche as fall in the harvest, might by your

1543.]

ANNALS OF THEE STAGE.

127

for the control and regulation of the stage and dramatic representations'-the 34 and 35 Henry VIII, c. I; it was the
earliest statute of the Session, and it affords proof of the
vacillations of the King on the subject of religion: it has for
title, 'An act for the advancement of true religion and the
punishment of the contrary.' The preamble2 states, that
divers persons, 'of their perverse, forward &amp; malicious minds,
wills &amp; intents, intending to subvert the very true and perfect
exposition, doctrine and declaration of the Scripture, after
their perverse fantasies, have taken.upon them not only to
preach, teach, declare and set forth the same by words, sermons, disputations, &amp; arguments; but also by printed books,
printed ballads, plays, rhymes, songs and other fantasies: 3
the body of the statute therefore enacts, that no such works
Majestie, by the advice of your most honorable Counsell, Prelats, and
Ordynaries, be made fewer in nombre; and those that shall be hereafter
ordyned to stonde and continew might and may be more devoutly, religiously, and reverently observyd, to the lawde of almighty god, and to
the encrease of your high honor and fame.'
'The statutes of the 4 Henry IV, c. 27, against Westours, Rymours,
Ministralx et autres vacabondes, and of the 3 Henry VIII, c. 9, against
Mummers who went about in disguise, had, we apprehend, no direct
view to theatrical performances or players.
2 Malone, not referring to the act itself, but apparently taking some
puritanical writer's false representation of its contents, tells us that the
preamble sets forth that the statute was passed 'with a view that the
kingdom should be purged and cleansed of all religious plays, interludes,
rhymes, ballads, and songs, which are equally pestiferous and noisome to
the commonweal'. (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 32.) It may be enough
to say that the act in question has no such preamble, and that 'religzious
plays' are not mentioned in any part of it. It is singular that so accurate
a man as Ritson should adopt Malone's mistaken representation on this
point. See Ancient Songs, new edit., i, lxxx.
3 In his speech on dismissing his Parliament, in December 1545, when
he unexpectedly took the duty out of the hands of the Lord Chancellor,

128 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1543.
shall be printed or published, and -that no person shall 'play
in interludes, sing, or rhyme any matter' contrary to the
doctrines of the Church of Rome: the penalty in either case
is a fine of Iol., and imprisonment for three months for the
first offence, and forfeiture of all goods and commitment to
' perpetual prison' for the second offence. To show, however,
that this law was not directed against all theatrical performances, a proviso is added in favour of 'songs, plays and
interludes', which have for object, the rebuking and reproaching of vices, and the setting forth of virtue; so always the
said songs, plays, or interludes meddle not with the interpretation of Scripture.'
How far this statute was rendered necessary by the theatrical productions of the time it is hardly possible for us to
judge,' since few of the interludes, intended at so early
a date to advance the interests of religion, have descended
to us. That many had been written there can be no
doubt; and a novel piece of evidence regarding them has
fallen into our hands, which was found among the correspondence in the Chapter-house, Westminster. It is a
letter from Thomas Wylley, who styles himself Vicar of Yoxford in Suffolk, in which he complains to the Lord Privy
Seal, that the priests of that county would not allow him to
preach in their churches, because he had made a play against
Henry thus alludes to the ballads, rhymes, etc., by which the Scriptures
were still deformed:-' I am very sorry to know, and hear how unreverently that most precious jewel, the word of God, is disputed, rimed, sung,
and jangeled, in everie alehouse and tavern, contrary to the true meaning
and doctrine of the same.' Hall's Chronicle, Anno 1545.
'In -I542 was printed, by Robert Wyer for Richard Bankes, The
Maydens Dreme, by Christopher Goodwyn. He had been an author in
I520, when Wynkyn de Worde printed his Chaunce of a Dolorous Louer,
and, probably, The Maydens Dreme had been published before it came

1543.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I29

the Pope's councillors: he also mentions in it several other
dramatic performances of a religious character, of which he
was the author, or which he was then composing. It is without date, but it was evidently written soon after I535, when
Cromwell was appointed visitor-general of the monasteries:
it is in these singular terms:'The Lorde make you the instrument of my helpe,
Lorde Cromwell, that I may have fre lyberty to preche
the trewthe.
'I dedycat and offer to your Lordeshype A Reverent Receyvyng
of the Sacrament, as a Lenton matter, declaryd by vj chyldren, representyng Chryst, the worde of God, Paule, Austyn, a Chylde, a
Nonne called Ignorancy; as a secret thyng that shall have hys ende
ons [once] rehersyd afore your eye by the sayd chyldren.
'The most part of the prystes of Suff. wyll not reseyve me ynto ther
chyrchys to preche, but have dysdaynyd me ever synns I made a
play agaynst the popys Counselerrs, Error, Colle Clogger of Conscyens, and Incredulyte.' That, and the Act of Parlyament had not
folowyd after, I had be countyd a gret lyar.
'I have made a playe caulyd A Rude Commynawlte. I am a
makyng of a nother caulyd The Woman on the Rokke, yn the fyer
of faythe a fynyng, and a purgyng in the trewe purgatory; never to
be seen but of your Lordshyp's eye.
from the. press of Wyer. In it a young lady is advised to resort to
banquets and plays daily, as if they were of constant occurrence.
'At bankettes and playes be present dayly,
At great feastes and tornays, where moste people resorte:
To moche to be fearefull doth greatly dyscomforte.'
'We have no farther intelligence regarding this piece, or any of the
others of which Willey states himself to have been the author: the
' Lenten matter declared by six children', was evidently dramatic, and
his other productions 'against the Pope's counsellors', and 'A rude commonalty', he himself terms 'plays'. The name of Thomas Wylley is new
in dramatic history.
VOL. I. K.~ E A. h 0; s \ 0D; t

130

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1543.

' Ayde me for Chrystys sake that I may preche chryst.'
Ji-ye&amp;^e ad fed
Cromwell had been beheaded some years when the statute
34 and 35 Henry VIII was passed, but it was aimed at
dramatic productions similar to those written by Wylley, and
regarding which he seems to have taken the visitor-general
into his confidence. The act produced considerable alarm
among the favourers of the new religion, and excited fresh
animosity against the Roman Catholics. It is hardly to be
expected, that these consequences should appear in contemporary publications in England; but in the very year when
the statute was passed, a writer of the name of Henry Stalbridge printed abroad, and dated from Basle, 'The Epistle
Exhortatory of an English Christian to his dearly beloved
Country', which contains the following vituperation, addressed
to the Roman Catholics, and referring in terms to the 34 and
35 Henry VIII, c. i' None leave ye unvexed and untrobled-no, not so much as the
poore minstrels, and players of enterludes, but ye are doingwith
them. So long as they played lyes, and sange baudy songes, blasphemed God, and corrupted mens consciences, ye never blamed

I544.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I3I

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 onelye
redeemer and saviour, without your lowsie legerdemains, ye never
were pleased with them.'
Two of Bales's religious plays, in which the principles of
the Reformation are strenuously advocated, and various
popish doctrines confuted, as from the mouth of the Saviour
himself, were printed abroad about six years before the passing of the act in question. It is in the years I544 and A. D.
1545 that, in the accounts of the expenses of the I544.
crown, we meet with no entries of salaries or gifts to the
King's, Queen's, or Prince's players of interludes. Whether,
as has been already suggested, this silence be attributable to
the unsettled state of the public mind on points of religion
must be matter of speculation.
In 1546, it has been generally supposed, Henry VIII
created a new office for the management and control of the
pastimes of his Court, under the title of Magister jocorum,
revellorumn, et mascorum ': a patent for this purpose was then
granted to Sir Thomas Cawarden, who had long been one of
the gentlemen of the privy chamber. There is some doubt,
we apprehend, whether he was, in fact, the first master of the
revels, as, in the Lansdown collection of MSS.,2 we find a trace
of the appointment having been given to another individual,
though it was certainly not long retained by him: it is in
a paper headed:-Feod: pro offic: conces: per Dom Henricum, nup.: regem Angl: viij; pro terme vita,; and the particular entry to which I refer runs thus: 'Edrn. Tho. M~.
Yocorumn et revellorzum, lo. The Mo. may be, and no doubt
it is to be, taken as the abbreviation of Magistro; and, hence
it would seem, that a person, for whose names 'Edm. Tho.'
Chalmers' Apologyfor the Believers, 475. 2 No. 156.
K 2

132

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1546.

stands in the account, had an annuity of Iol. granted to him
by Henry VIII, for term of life, as 'master of the games and
revels'. The document from which this information is derived
seems to have been made out just after the decease of Henry
VIII; and we can only reconcile the difficulty by supposing,
that there was a Master of the Revels, appointed for life, anterior to the patent to Sir Thomas Cawarden.1 Perhaps he was
superseded, and the annuity of io/. allowed him as a compensation for the loss. In the same MS. a distinguished player,
not before mentioned, of the name of John Yonge, is allowed
an annuity of 3/. 6s. 8d. as agitator comediarum, a more precise designation of an actor of plays than is usually given.
To Alex~ yohanni et al. 1M/usicm were allowed I831. i6s. 8d.;
I8/. 5s. to a 'drum-player', and 38/. to two 'players upon
instruments.'
It is not to be forgotten that the creation of the office of
Master of the Revels did not at all render needless, according
to the practice of those times, the temporary appointment of
a Lord of Misrule, or, as he was afterwards sometimes called,
Lord of the Pastimes, whose business it was not so much to
regulate, as to provide entertainment at Christmas.
The patent of Sir Thomas Cawarden bears date i th of
A. D. March 1545 (according to our present mode of
1546. reckoning, 1546), and in it the place is termed, ' Officiunm Magistri yocorum, Revellorunm, et Mascorum omniun et
singuloruZm nostrorzum, vlgariter nuncupatoruZm Revells et
'This may have been John Bernard, who, in 36 Henry VIII, had a
patent as keeper omnium et singulorumz pavillionum et tentorum nostrorum, vulgariter nuncufpaorum, 'tents, halls, and pavillions', and ' of all
vestments for revells, maskes, and maskings', but how long he continued
to hold the office is not stated. His pay was eight pence a day, and, possibly it was only a temporary office, created for some particular occasion;
but the appointment was made out in due form, and in Latin.

1546.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

133

Masks', and the salary is called ' vadium et feodum decem
librarum sterlingarum'n,' not so much as was usually paid to
the Lord of Misrule for his services during the twelve days of
Christmas. Sir Thomas Cawarden, however, derived other
emoluments from his situation as one of the gentlemen of the
privy chamber.2 The Yeoman of the Revels had a salary of
91. 2s. 6d., and we may suppose that he discharged the more
laborious duties of the office. After March 1545-6, the following, as we find from a document in the State Paper Office,
was the dramatic and musical establishment of the King.
~ s. d.
Master of the Revels... Io 0 0

Yeoman of the Revels
Eight players of interludes, at 3/. 6s. 8d. each
per annum3
Three singers, at 61. 73s. 4d. each
Two singers, at 9/. 2s. 6d. each
rpers, one at
Two harpers, 'ct the other at
A bag-piper.
(one at.
Two flute players, the other at
A sergeant trumpeter, and 15 other trumpeters, at 24/. 6s. 8d. each

926
26 13 4
20 0 0
i8 5 o
i8 5 o
20 0 0
12 3 4
30 o o
i8 5 0
413 3 4
~596 7 6

The instrument is printed at length in Rymer's Fowdera, xv, 62.
2 On the 23rd of March, 33 Henry VIII, Sir Thomas Cawarden, and
Elizabeth his wife, obtained, under the privy seal, a grant of the manors
of Ullicote and Loxley, in the county of Warwick. By a privy seal,
dated the 2oth of April of the same year, Marcus Antonio de Petala,
'unus tymph/anistrorum nostrorumn vocal. sagbuts', acquired the manor
of Fiddington in Gloucestershire.
3 In a contemporary list of the household of Henry VIII, sold among the

134

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[ 546.

This total expense is of course independent of gifts to
players, etc., on New Year's day, as well as of occasional rewards, and exclusive also of the establishment of the King's
Chapel, both gentlemen and children.
When an inventory' was taken after the death of Henry
VIII of all the tapestry, pictures, plate, jewels, and other
goods of which he died possessed, it was found that he had
no less than 99 vizors, or 'masks of sondry sorts', besides
many sets of 'maskings beads', at Greenwich, which he and
his courtiers were in the habit of wearing. None of his other
property, excepting perhaps musical instruments, was even
remotely connected with the subject of the present investigation. His books are always numbered, and not named, by
the parties making out the account, with the following four
exceptions, two of which are curious.
'Item, a square coffer with tilles, &amp;c., with a boke conteyning the
ymage of both churches.2
'Item, a case of lether, conteyninge patentes concernynge Quene
Jane.
'Item, a booke of Kynge Henry VII, his foundation of the Chappell at Westminster..
'Item, a boke wrytten in parchement of the Processe betwene
King Henry theight and the' Ladye Katheryne Dowager.'
It does not appear that there was any production of a
Fairfax MSS., was the following entry of a then new name in the royal
dramatic establishment:
'Maker of Interludes, Comedies, and Playes -John Young, pro Henry
VIII:' and his wages are stated to have been 3/. 6s. 8d. per ann. He is
mentioned with great distinction in the very singular tract Beware the
Cat, printed in 156I and again in I584. See Bibliograihical Catalogue,
1865, vol. i, p. 44.
Harl. MSS., No. I4I9.
2 By John Bale? We are not aware of any printed edition of this work
prior to 1550.

I I -,...

1546.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I35

dramatic kind in the King's private library, unless it were
included among 'sundry bookes', the titles and contents of
which are not given.
By the date at which we have now arrived, the Bankside,
Southwark, had become notorious as the resort of vagabonds
and ruffians of all descriptions, and in 37 Henry VIII, it was
found necessary, by public authority, to clear the neighbourhood of all disreputable characters, and to employ the able
bodied in the King's service, either in gallies or as soldiers:
on the 26th May therefore a royal Proclamation was issued
on the subject, which specially mentions ' ruffians, vagabonds,
masterless men and common players', as obnoxious persons,
fit to be expelled and punished: the terms employed are
these, and they include a very miscellaneous collection of
lawless personages; we quote them from the original printed
document:'For reformation whereof like as his most royall Matie hath
thought convenient and doth determyne to vse and ymploie all such
ruffyns, Vagabondes, Masteries men, common players, and evill disposed
persons to serve his Matie &amp; his Realme in theis his warres in certaine Gallies and other like vesselles, whiche his highnes entendeth
to arme forth against his enemyes before the first of June next
comyng.'
By a passage in Tytler's Edward VI and Mary, vol. i,
p. 20, it appears that the Earl of Oxford's Players were performing a comedy in Southwark, while a solemn Dirge for the
soul of Henry VIII was being sung in the Church of St.
Saviour.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
DURING THE REIGNS OF EDWARD VI AND MARY.
IMMEDIATELY after the demise of Henry VIII, the Duke of
A. D. Somerset introduced various economical reforms into
1547. the royal household: many of the officers were dismissed, and a considerable reduction took place in the establishment of Musicians and Players.l A MS. in the Royal
1The following is an entry in an account by Sir William Cavendish,
Treasurer of the King's Chamber, headed'Ult~. Septembris Anno Regis Ed. VJ, sexto.'
'Players of Enterludes:'George Birche, lxvjs. viijd.; Richard Cooke, lxvjs. viijd.; Richarde
Skynner, lxvjs. viijd.; Henry Harryot, lxvjs. viijd.; John Birche, lxvjs.
viijd.; Thomas Sowthey, lxvjs. viijd.'
Here we have a George Birche and Thomas Sowthey, not in the official
list as printed, and no John Smith. This account was in one of the MSS.
of the Trevelyan family, now in the British Museum.
In the account of Sir William Cavendish for I Edw. VI, we meet with
this entry at Midsummer and repeatedly afterwards:'Item to Robert Hinstocke and George Birch, plaires of enterludes,
xxxiijs. iiijd.'
The 'minstrels' are thus named in the same account for July:-Hugh
Pallarde, Edward Laeke, Thomas Lye, Thomas Curson, Robert Maye,
Alayn Robenson, and Thomas Pagington (no doubt the composer of
the famous old tune, Pagington's Pound).
Besides these, Edw. VI had a set of six Italian minstrels, separately

I547.]

ANNALS OF; TH-E STAGE.

I37

Collection in the British Museum,1 makes this point quite
clear: one division of it is headed, 'The names of such
officers in ordynary of the chamber of the late Kynges
Majestie now discharged'; but it is much decayed, and
although the word 'Players' yet remains, the names of those
who were dismissed, originally subjoined, are wanting. The
other division of the MS., entitled, 'The names-of such of the
Kynges Majesties servaunts as are nuely in ordinary of the
chamber', is in a perfect state, and exhibits not only the
numbers, but the names of the ',Musicians' and 'Players'
retained by the Protector: they are the following.
MUSICIANS,
Hugh Pollard, Allwyn Robson,
Edward Lak, Robert Mey,
Thomas Lee, Thomas Pagington,
Thomas Curzon,
paid at a higher rate than others who were allowed only 12d. a day,
whereas the Italian minstrels, viz.,
Albert de Venitia Ambrosio de Lapi de Millan
Mark Antonio Galiardello di Francisco Bellino de Venetia
Bressa Vincento de Venetia
Georgio de Cremonia
were paid 20o. a day. These men seem to have been selected from the
'players on the vials' ordinarily employed, and were not fresh importations.
There was another set of foreign minstrels rewarded at New Year's Day,
I Edw. VI, whose names were all Bassian or Bassiam, for it is spelt both
ways, viz.,
Lewes de Bassian John de Bassiam
Anthony de Bassiam Baptist Bassiam
Jasper de Bassiam
Names that have before occurred. The entertainment of all these performers does not look like economy, and, perhaps, the date was prior to
the reform introduced by the Protector, and led to it, by renderihg it
necessary.
1 Royal MSS., 7 C. xvi.

138

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1547.

'PLAYERS,
Richard Cok, Henry Heryet,
John Birch,l John Smyth.'
Here we observe several names, for the first time included
in the list of royal performers of interludes; and we may
infer that, among those who were discharged, were Hinstocke,
Slye, Parlowe, and Young, the mention of whom occurs late in
the reign of Henry VIII. If, therefore, what is supposed to
have been the Household-book of Edward VI, among the
Harleian MSS., without a date, apply, in fact, to the reign of
that King, it probably belongs to a period after the death
of the Duke' of Somerset; for there we find an entry of eight
'Players of Interludes', each of whom received a fee of
3/. 6s. 8d. annually.2
It is not at all unlikely, that on the accesion of Edward VI
the Protector, who assumed all the authority of King, took
into his pay at least some of the discharged players of Henry
VIII; and it is an undisputable fact, that the Duke of
If this, as is probable, be the same player who is mentioned in the
account books of the reign of Henry VIII, his Christian name has been
mistaken-it was George; but there was a John Birch.
2 The following is the form in the department of' The Revells.-The
Mr. fee, xli.; the Yoman -- fee, ix/. ijs. vjd. Musissians and
Players.-Players of Enterluds, in nomber viij, fee to every of them,
lxvjs. viijd. by the yeare, xxvj/. viijs. iiijd.' The names of the King's
minstrels are extant in the register of the Privy Council, as quoted by
Chalmers (APology, p. 348), viz., Hugh Woudehous, Marshal, John Abbes,
Robert Stouchey, Hugh Grene, and Robert Norman. Their salaries were
50 marks a year (Harl. MSS., No. 240). Hugh Woudehous, or Woodhouse, received his appointment of Marshal of the Minstrells as early as
7th May 1529, when Henry VIII gave him wages of 4jd. per day, and an
annual salary of Io marks, as Marescallus Ministrallorum nostrorum.
Vide Rymer's Fcd., vi, pt. 2. It is stated in the instrument, that he succeeded John Gylmyn in that office.

1547.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGCE.

I39

Somerset entertained a company of theatrical servants: the
name of one of his performers has survived, Myles;1 and
although it does not occur among those of Henry VIII, at
any former period, some of his fellows might have been
selected from the older theatrical retainers of the crown.
The young Prince succeeded his father on the 28th of
January 1547; and, according to the Register of the Council,
on the 12th of January, a warrant had been given to Sir
Thomas Darcy for 6o/. 8s. Iod. for pikes, lances, and other
necessaries, for jousts and triumph. at Shrovetide, when, as
was not unusual on such occasions, the performance of plays
might form part of the revels: they would not come within
the province of Sir Thomas Darcy, and are, therefore, perhaps, not mentioned in the warrant he obtained.
During the reign of Henry VIII, the apparel and furniture
for the revels and masks at Court were kept at Warwick Inn;
but, when Edward VI came to the throne, they were removed
to the Blackfriars.2 That dissolved monastery was valued at
I041. I5s. 5d.; and, on the I2th of November, 30 Henry VIII,
it was surrendered to the Crown. Four years after it had
been made the depository of the dresses, etc., for Court entertainments, viz., on the I2th of May 1551, Edward VI granted
1 It occurs in a work with the following title, A Booke of the nature and
properties, aswell of the bathes in England, as of other bathes in Germanye:
the writer says: 'for they [the waters of Bath] drye up wounderfully, and
heale the goute excellentlye (and that in a short tyme), as with diverse
other, one Myles, one of my Lord of Summersettes players, can beare
witnesse.' It was printed in folio, at 'Collen, by Arnold Birckman', in
1568; but the preface is dated in 1557. The Duke of Somerset was
beheaded on the 22nd January 1551-2.
2 See a paper by Mr. Bray, in vol. xviii of the Archcaologia, which
contains some valuable information regarding the Lord of Misrule and
Court entertainments. The cost of removing may be seen in Kempe's
Losely SASS., p. 73.
__.

I40

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1547.

to Sir Thomas Cawarden, Master of the Revels, the 'whole
house, scite, or circuit, compass, and precinct of the Blackfriars.'1 At this date, a person of the name of John Holte
was Yeoman of the Revels, and had the custody'omnium
apparell: trappers, maskes et revells.' The Clerk of the
Revels was Richard Lees, and his salary was I21. 3s. 4d.,2 a
larger sum than was allowed either to the Master or to the
Yeoman; but they, perhaps, had other allowances, the nature
and amount of which are not distinctly pointed out.3
The accounts of the Revels at Shrovetide, i Edward VI,
present some curious particulars.4 They were held at Westminster, and a mount (similar to, or perhaps, the same as that
mentioned in the reign of Henry VIII) was removed from
Blackfriars to Westminster, and back again. The Lord of
Misrule, whoever he might be, was provided with a gilt
vizard, and 5631 yards of cloth were consumed in liveries for
his attendants. One of these attendants was his fool, a part,
no doubt, filled by William Somers, the celebrated jester of
1 Stow's Survey by Strype, b. iii, p. 177, etc. Both Black and White
Friars were out of the jurisdiction of the City; and in I586, a contest
arose between the Corporation and the inhabitants, as to the right of the
former to enter and arrest malefactors who took shelter in the precincts.
The privileges were confirmed, and the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen defeated of their claim.
2 Lansdown MSS., No. 156. The paper is entitled ' Feod: pro offic:
concess: per Dom. Edwardum nup. regem Angl. vj, pro termo vitae.' It
does not specify the salaries of any players; but it appears there that
Augustino Bassano, a musician, received 361. Ios. per annum.
3Richard Bower was master of the children of the chapel in the reign
of Edward VI; and, according to Strype (Eccl. Memn., ii, 839), in June
1552, he had a warrant authorising him to take up children from time to
time to supply vacancies, as they might occur among the choristers.
We are indebted here to the information supplied by Mr. Bray, in
vol. xviii of the Archceologia. The documents to which he referred were
preserved at Losely, near Guildford.

1549.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I4I

Henry VIII, who is mentioned by name. The plays were,
probably, Morals, as a dagger for the Vice was provided
among the properties, and a ladle,.with a bawble pendent,
was delivered to the fool of the Lord of Misrule. An actor
was especially rewarded for playing 'the Italian', but we have
no further information as to the nature of his part. The
preparations for these entertainments occupied from the Ist
to the 28th of February.
According to Stow,1 on Shrove Sunday, Monday, and
Tuesday in the next year, ' great jousts and warlike A. D.
feats were done in the park at Greenwich', for the 1548 -amusement of the young King; but we have no record of the
performance of plays.
The internal commotions in various parts of the kingdom,
perhaps, interfered in some degree with the Court A. D.
amusements; and in I549 it seems to have been I549.
thought by the advisers of the King, that it was expedient,
for a time at least, to put an end to the performance of interludes and plays for the entertainment of the people. We can
now only form conjectures as to the motives which led to the
publication of the proclamation of the 6th of August in that
year, but from its terms we may gather that theatrical representations had been at this date applied to political purposes.
The statute of 34 and 35 Henry VIII, c. I,' for the advancement of true religion and the punishment of the contrary',
had been repealed by the act of I Edward VI, c. I2; and the
proclamation of 6th of August I549, in its terms at least,
does not imply that it was directed against dramatic representations, because they touched upon matters of religion or
points of doctrine. It is not, we believe, extant in the separate
form of a proclamation, as it was doubtless originally issued,
upon a broad sheet, but it is in a collection in 8vo, printed
1 Chronicle, i16 5, p. 1002.

142 ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE. [1549.
by Richard Grafton, in 1550, 'of suche proclamacions as have
been sette furthe by the Kynge's Majestie.' It prohibited
the representation of interludes and plays throughout the
realm from the 6th of August 1549 (two days after it was
promulgated), till'the feast of All Saints following, on the
ground that they contained matter tending to sedition, and to
the contempt of sundry good orders and laws. We have
subjoined it in a note, but it is necessary to observe that the
period of its publication has hitherto been misstated: Chalmersl gives it as 6th August, 1547: the only date it bears is
' the vj day of August', without the year; but Grafton printed
it among the proclamations issued in the 3d of Edward VI,
and to that year it belongs.2
1 Apology for the Believers, etc., p. 344. Malone fell into the same'
error. Shakesp5eare by Boswell, iii, 44.
2 'The vj daie of August.
'A Proclamation for the inhibition of Plaiers.
'For asmuche as a greate nomber of those that be cojnmon Plaiers of
Enterludes and Plaies, as well within the citie of London, as els where
within the realme, do for the moste part plaie suche Interludes as contain
matter tendyng to sedicion and contempnyng of sundery good orders and
lawes, where upon are growen, and daily are like to growe and ensue,
muche disquiet, division, tumultes, and uproares in this realme; the
Kynges majestie, by the advise andconsent of his derest Uncle Edward
Duke of Somerset, Governour of his persone, and Protector of his
realmes, dominions, and subjectes, and the rest of his highnes privie
Counsall straightly chargeth and commaundeth al and every his Majesties subjectes, of whatsoever state order or degree thei bee, that from the
ix daie of this present moneth of August untill the feast of all Sainctes
nexte commyng, thei, ne any of them, openly or secretly plaie in the
Englishe tongue any kynde of Interlude, Plaie, Dialogue or other matter
set furthe in forme of Plaie, in any place publique or private within this
realme, upon pain that whosoever shall plaie in Englishe any such Play,
Interlude, Dialogue or other matter, shall suffre inprisonment, and further
punishment at the pleasure of his Majestie.'
'For the better execution wherof his Majestie, by the said advise and,.,'.. **^ *1.. '..,*. - * *D - ~.. a. r. ' S

I55X.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

I43

Although this inhibition was only to be in force for less
than two months, as it would expire on the Ist of November
1550, we have evidence of an authentic kind, that it was continued in operation some time afterwards. In June A. D.
I55I, the players attached to the households of noble- I55'.
men were not allowed to perform, even in the presence of
their patrons, without special leave from the Privy Council.'
The following is extracted from the Registers of that body,
as preserved in the British Museum.2
'At Grenwiche the 2i day of June anno I55.
'A letter to the lord Marques Dorset signifying Licence to be
graunted for to have his plaieres to playe onlye in his lordshipes
presence.'3
consent, straightly chargeth and commaundeth all and singuler maiors,
sherifes, bailifes, constables, hedborowes, tithyng men, justices of peace,
and all other his Majesties hed officers in all the partes throughout the
realme, to geve order and speciall heede, that this Proclamacion be in all
behalfes well and truely kept and observed, as thei and every of them
tender his highnes pleasure, and will avoyde his indignacion.'
The subsequent quotation from Dugdale's Origin. Jurid., p. 285,
proves that the authorities of Gray's Inn at this date endeavoured to
check the representation of interludes by members of that society:'In 4 Edw. 6 (17 Nov.) it was also ordered that thenceforth there
should be no Comedies, called Interludes, in this House out of termtime, but when the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord is solemnly observed. And that when there shall be any such Comedies, then all the
Society at that time in Commons to bear the charge of the apparel.'
2 Har. MSS. No. 352.
3 Cotton MSS., Vitellius F. v, contains the following paragraph regarding a play called Jube the Sane, performed at the marriage of Lord
Strange to the daughter of the Earl of Cumberland: this event occurred
in the reign of Edward VI, but the date of the year is not given. We
have no other record of any such play: probably it was scriptural, on
the story of Job:'The 7 day of February was my lord Strange mared to the lade of
Comberland, the erle of Comberlands doytur, and after a grett dener and

144 ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. [I552.
This inhibition, to whatever period it might have been
extended subsequent to its first publication, had certainly
ceased prior to April 1552; and there is every reason to
believe, that the consequence was a still greater degree of
license on the part of printers and players than they had
before exercised. To such an excess does it seem to have
A. D. been carried, that on the I8th of April 1552, it was
1552. found necessary to issue a very strong proclamation.. against both, forbidding the one to print and the other to
play without special license under the sign manual, or under
the hands of six of the Privy Council, on pain of imprisonment without bail or mainprise, and with fine at the king's
pleasure. This document, however important, has hitherto
escaped notice; but we found it among the volumes of proclamations belonging to the Society of Antiquaries. It is
entitled:'A Proclamation set furth by the kynges Majestie, with the advise
of his highnes most honorable Counsail, for the reformation of
vagabondes, tellers of newes, sowers of sedicious rumours, players
and printers without licence, and divers other diisordred persons, the'
i8th April in the 5 yere of his highnes most prosperous reigne.'
It is a long document, and only the following paragraph at
the close relates to the subject before us:'And forbicause divers Printers, Bokeselers and Plaiers of Enterludes, without consideration or regarde to the quiet of the realme, do
print sel and play whatsoever any light and phantastical hed listeth
to invent and devise, whereby many inconveniences hath, and dayly
justs, and after tornay on horsbake with swords, and after soper 7ube the
Sane, a playe, with torch lyghts and cresset lyghts, lx cressets and c of
torches and a maske and a bankett.'
In the same MS. is another notice of a 'stage-play' at some feast,
which is also termed 'a goodly matter', which lasted till twelve at night.
The MS. is so injured by fire that nothing more regarding it can be
made out: it was in part restored by the late Sir F. Madden.

1552.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

145

doth, arise and follow, amonge the Kinges majesties lovyng and
faithful subjectes: His highnes therfore straightly chargeth and commaundeth, that from hencefurth no printer, or other person, do print
nor sel within this realme, or any other his majesties dominions,
any matter in thenglish tong, nor they nor any other person do sel,
or otherwise dispose abrode, any matter printed in any forreyn
dominion in thenglishe tongue, onles the same be firste allowed by
his majestie, or his privie counsayl, upon payne of imprisonment,
without bayle or mayneprice, and further fine at his majesties
pleasor. Nor that any common players, or other persons, upon like
paines, do play in thenglish tong any maner Enterlude, Play, or
matter, without they have special licence to shew for the same, in
writing under his majesties signe, or signed by vj of his highnes privie
counsaill: willing and straightly charging and commaunding all Justices, Mayors, Shirifes, Bailifes, Constables, and other officers and
ministers, diligently to enquire for, and serche out al maner offenders
within the limites and compasse of their commissions,' etc.
There is nothing in these Proclamations to lead to the supposition, that the objection of the Court was to dramatic
performances, in which the doctrines either of the Roman
Catholics, or of the Reformers, were attacked: the complaint
seems to have been, that they touched upon political topics;
and on the ioth of June following the last Proclamation, a
poet who had made plays contrary to its provisions, and who
had therefore been sent to the Tower, was ordered to be
liberated.1
The entertainments at Court, consisting of Tournaments,
Chalmers (Apol. for the Believers, p. 346) first brought forward this
circumstance from the Council Registers, where it is entered in the following manner:'At Greenwich, Ioth June I552. It was this day ordered that the
Lord Treasurer should send for the poet, which is in the Tower for
making plays, and to deliver him.'
VOL. I. L

I46

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 5 552.

Masks and Plays, were revived with unusual splendour at
Christmas 1551-2. At this date the Duke of Somerset, the
King's Uncle, was awaiting execution in the Tower, the sentence against him being carried into effect by his decapitation
on the 22nd January. Holinshed thus speaks of the festivities at Greenwich during the Christmas which preceded that
remarkable event.
'Wherefore, as well to remoove fond talk out of mens mouths, as
also to recreat and refresh the troubled spirits of the yoong king, who
(as saith Grafton) seemed to take the trouble of his Uncle somewhat
heavilie, it was devised that the feast of Christs nativitie, commonlie
called Christmasse, then at hand, should be solemnlie kept at Greenwich, with open houshold and franke resort to Court (which is
called keeping of the hall) what time, of old ordinarie course, there
is alwaies one appointed to make sporte in the Court, called commonly Lord of Misrule: whose office is not unknowne to such as have
been brought up in noble mens houses, &amp; among great housekeepers
which use liberall feasting in that season. There was, therefore, by
order of the Councill, a wise gentleman and learned, named George
Ferrers,l appointed to that office for this yeare; who being of better
credit &amp; estimation than commonlie his predecessors had been before,
received all his commissions and warrants by the name of the maister
of the kings pastimes. Which gentleman so well supplied his office,
both in shew of sundrie sights, and devises of rare inventions, and in
act of diverse interludes, and matters of pastime, plaied by persons,
as not onelie satisfied the common sort, but also were very well liked
and allowed by the Councill, and other of skill in the like pastimes;
but best of all by the yoong king himselfe, as appered by his princelie
liberalitie in rewarding that service.'2
1 Kemp's Losely MSS., p. 23, mentions this circumstance, but does not
add anything material: Ferrers was one of the authors of The Mirror
for Magistrates, first published in 1559.
2 Holinshed, Chron., p. 1o67, edit. 1587. Cotton MS., Vitellius, F. v,
is a very curious chronicle of events, public and private, in the reigns of

I552.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 147
George Ferrers, who was thus chosen 'Master of the King's
Pastimes' (discharging in fact the functions of Lord of Misrule under a new title), was, as Warton states, 'a lawyer, poet,
Edw. VI, Mary, and the first three years of Elizabeth. The writer of it
was an ignorant man, but he had relations at Court, and he speaks of his
'gossip Harper, servand unto the Queens grace'. The MS. has been
greatly damaged by fire, and it is not possible always to ascertain the
precise dates referred to, as the leaves are not paged, and they have been
here and there confused. To the occasion referred to in the text, we may
assign the following minute description of the entrance of the King's
Lord of Misrule into London, where he was received by the Lord of
Misrule of one of the Sheriffs. The asterisks denote places where the
MS. is incomplete in consequence of fire.
'The 4 day of January, affor non, landyd at the Tower warff the Kyngs
Lord of Mysrull &amp; ther met hym the Sheryffs Lord of Misrule with ys
[his] men, and every on havyng a rebyn * * and whytt abowt ther
nekes, &amp; then ye trumpets, mores dansse and tabrett; &amp; he toke a swaerd
and bare yt afore the Kyngs Lord of Mysrull, for the lord was gorgyously
arrayed in purpull welvet, furyd with armyn, &amp; ys robe brodered with
spangulls of selver full, and abowt ym syngers, and a for hym on grett
horsses and in cotts &amp; clokes of * * inbrodered with gold and with
balderyks * * whytt and blue sarsenett * * of his servands in
blew, gardyd with whytt; &amp; next after ys consell in blew taffata, and
ther capes of whytt, &amp; ys trumpeters taburs drummers &amp; fluts, &amp; ys
mores dansse, guns, mores pykes, bagpypes and ys masks * * &amp; his
gaylleys with pelere stokes, &amp; ys axe, gyffes, &amp; bolts, * * sum fast by
the legs &amp; sum by the nekes, &amp; so rod thrughe Marke lane &amp; so thrugh
Grasyus strett and Cornhill * * trumpets blohyng makyng a proclamacion * * and so the Kyngs lord was caried from * * skaffold;
&amp; after the Sheryffs lord and the Kyngs * * the Sheryffs lord a gowne
with gold &amp; sylver &amp; * * after he knelyd downe, &amp; he toke a sword
and gayff * * strokes &amp; mad ym knyght; &amp; after they draw * *
upon a skaffold &amp; ys cofferers cast * * gold &amp; sylver in every plase
as they rod * * after ys carege with his cloth saykes on horse back
* * abowt chepe with ys gayllers and ys presonars * * &amp; the two
lords toke ther horsys &amp; rod unto * * Mare to dener; &amp; after he cam
bake thrugh * * to the crosse &amp; so done Wod-strett unto the Sheryffs
* * more alf a nore, &amp; so forthe the old Jury &amp; * * unto my lord
L 2

I48

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I552.

and historian',1 and well qualified to give new spirit and importance to the royal revels over which he was appointed to
preside. He had been selected for this purpose in November
preceding, and on the 3oth of that month, a warrant was
issued for the advance of iool. to him 'towards the necessary
charges of his appointment.'2 What was the total expense
upon this occasion, we have no means of knowing; but, a
document in the British Museum, containing a statement of
the debts of Edward VI, 'externe aid within the realme',
represents, that in 1551 he owed Ioool. to the office of the
Revells under Sir Thomas Cawarden.3
A book, entitled Beware the Cat, bearing the initials
G. B. as its author, and first printed (according to Ritson,
Bibl. Poet., p. 1 8) in 1561, and (according to Herbert, Amoes,
p. 1238) again, in 1570 and 1584, contains some singular an'd
hitherto unpublished particulars regarding the drama in the
reign of Edward VI, when George Ferrers was 'Master of
the King's Pastimes.' It is inserted in what is termed the
introduction, or 'argument', of the work; and it not only
affords a curious picture of the manners of the time, but
mentions a play called JEsop's Crow, performed by the King's
tresorers plasse, &amp; ther they had * * banket the spasse of alf a nore;
&amp; so don to byshopgatt, &amp; to ledenhall, &amp; thrugh fanchyrche strett, &amp; so
to the towre warffe; and the sheryffs lord gohyn with hym with torche
lyght; &amp; ther the Kyngs lord toke ys pynnes with a grett shott of gonnes,
&amp; so the sheryffs lord toke ys leyff of ym, &amp; cam home merele with his
mores danse daunsyng, &amp; so forth.'
1 ist. Eng. Poet., iii, 208, edit. 8vo.
2 This fact appears by the register of the Privy Council, as cited by
Chalmers in his Apology for the Believers, p. 347.
3 In 4 and 5 Edward VI, the King's players exhibited at Court, and
received the customary reward. Garments were provided for them, as
well as for the young lords; and 12d. is charged in the account for painting
the coat of Will. Somers, the King's fool. Archacologia, vol. xviii.

I552.] ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. 149
players at Court, in which most of the actors were dressed as
birds. It seems that the author of Beware t/he Cat, whoever
he might be, had contributed to the 'devising' of certain
interludes for the King's recreation. The following is all
that relates to our immediate purpose.'
It is a work of such extreme rarity and singularity, that we ought not
to omit to describe it minutely in a note, and to make more than ordinary.
extracts from it. The title-page is unfortunately wanting in the only
known copy; but it has the following colophon:'Imprinted at London at the long shop adjoining vnto Saint Mildred's
Church in the Pultrie, by Edward Allde, 1584.'
That it was originally printed considerably earlier there can be no
doubt. It is a very strange work, and some verses preceding the edition
of 1584 and entitled, 'T. K. to the Reader', explain why, when first published (probably in I56I), it was suppressed.
'This little book Beware the Cat,
moste pleasantly compil'd,
In time obscured was, and so
since that hath been exilde.
Exilde, because perchaunce at first
it shewed the toyes and drifts
Of such as then, by wiles &amp; willes,
maintained Popish shifts.'
There are nine other such stanzas of much the same import, and they are
followid by the dedication, 'To the right worshipful Esquire John Yung,
grace and helth'; who was, no doubt, the John Young, 'maker of interludes, comedies, and playes' to Henry VIII. This is signed G. B., probably meaning Gulielmus Baldwin, and it begins'I have penned for your mastership's pleasure, one of the stories which
M. Streamer tolde the last Christmas, and which you so faine would have
had reported by M. Ferrers him selfe; and although I be unable to pen
or speake the same so pleasantly as he coulde, yet have I so neerly used
both the order and woords of him that spake them, which is not the least
vertue of a reporter, that I dout not but that he and M. Willot shall, in
the reading, think they hear M. Streamer speak, and he him self in the
like action shal dout whether he speaketh or readeth.', -. â....

I50 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1552.
' It chaunced that at Christemas last I was at Court with Maister
Ferrers, then Maister of the Kings Majesties Pastimes, aboot setting
foorth of sertain Interludes, which for the King's recreation we had
And so it proceeds in a bantering strain, mentioning a translation by
Streamer from the Arabic, called The Cure of the Great Plague: he is
made the supposed narrator of the whole body of the tract, and he
is represented as having been at the University of Oxford, and
'skilled in the tunges, chiefly the Calde, Arabic, and Egyptian'.
It seems probable that Streamer was Court Jester, with a lively invention, and in the habit of giving such narrations as Beware the
Cat. The scene is laid at the house of John Day, the printer, over
Aldersgate; and it is represented that a convocation of Cats was nightly
held, drawn together by the savour of the quarters of traitors and
malefactors there hung up. Willot is spoken of as the Lord's Astronomer, but it was only a humorous appointment, made at Christmas when
the Lord of Misrule was in authority. Ferrers is spoken of by Streamer
as the Lord of Misrule.
No doubt there is a great deal of satire and temporary allusion in the
~book, which is now lost. The attacks upon the Papists are not unfrequent, and may fully account for the suppression of Beware the Cat in
I56I and its re-publication in 157o and 1584.
The main object is to make out that Cats have reason and speech, and
that they even hold communication with each other in foreign countries
by means of messengers. Streamer is supposed to tell the story-how
that he was lodging at Day's while the 'Greeke Alphabets were in
printing'-how he was nightly disturbed by caterwauling-. how he saw
the cats in conclave-how, in order to understand them, with the assistance of the work of Albertus Magnus, he made himself magical meat and
drink, which so refined his faculties and senses, that he was able to understand the conversation of cats-how he nightly listened to what they
said, etc., and how finally, by returning to common food again, he at
once lost his power, and the caterwauling again became inarticulate.
The tract is divided into three parts, and in the first part occurs the
following:'There is also in Ireland one nacion, whereof some one man and
woman are at every seven yeeres end turned into Wulves, and so continue in the woods the space of seven yeers; and if they happen to live
out the time, they return to their own forme again, and other twain are

1552.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. I 5
devised, and were in learning. In which time, among many other
exercises among our selves, we used nightly at our lodging to talke of
sundry things for the furtherance of such offices, wherein eche man
turned for the like time into the same shape, which is a penance (as they
say) enjoyned that stock by St. Patrick for some wickednes of their ancestors: and that this is true witnesed a man whom I left alive in Ireland,
who had performed this seven yeeres penance, whose wife was slain while
she was a Wulf in her last yeer. This man told to many men whose'
cattel he had worried and whose bodyes he had assailed, while he was a
wulf, so plain and evident tokens, and shewed such scarrs of wounds which
other men had given him, bothe in his mannes shape before he was a
wulf, and in his wulfs shape since, which all appered upon his skin, that
it was evident to all men, yea and to the Bishop too (vpon whose grant it
was recorded and registred), that the matter was undoutedly past peradventure.'
The author gives in verse (though printed as prose) the following humorous enumeration of the confused sounds he heard when, by means of
broths and anointings with magical ingredients, he had sharpened his
sense of hearing:
'Barking of doggs,
Grunting of hoggs,
Wauling of cats,
Rumbling of rats,
Gagling of geese,
Humming of bees,
Rousing of bucks,
Gagling of ducks,'
and many more. This is in the second part of the volume. The third
part reminds us, here and there, strongly of the old History of Reynard
the Fox. It consists chiefly of the narratives by cats of their adventures,
which are not very humorous: one of the best is an account of a religious
old woman, who eniployed herself in seducing the honest and virtuous
wife of a citizen, which she did partly by persuading her that her daughter
had been converted by witchcraft into a cat. One of the cats is called
Isegrim, which is a name in Reynard the Fox: parts read like translation, and one of the cats goes by the name of Poylnoer, which, no doubt,
is a corruption of the French for black skin.
The tract is ended by sixteen ten-syllable couplets, supposed to have

152

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I552.

as then served; for which purpose it pleased Maister Ferrers to make
me his bedfellowe, and upon a pallet cast upon the rushes in his
owne Chamber, to lodge Maister Willott and Maister Stremer, the
one his Astronomer, the other his Divine. And among many other
things, too long to rehearce, it hapned on a night (which I think was
the 28 of December) after that M. Ferrers was come from the Court,
and in bed, there fell a controversie between Maister Streamer (who
*with Maister Willot had already slept their first sleep) and mee, that
was newly come unto bed; the effect wherof was, whether Birds and
Beasts had reason? the occasion therof was this. I had heard,
that the King's Players were learning a play of Esop's Crowe,' wherin
the moste part of the actors were birds, the devise wherof I discommended, saying it was not comicall to make either speechlesse
things to speake, or brutish things to commun reasonably. And
although in a tale it be sufferable to immagin and tel of some thing
by them spoken, or reasonably doon (which kinde Esope lawdably
used), yet it was uncomely (said I), and without example of any
authour, to bring them in lively parsonages, to speake, do, reason,
and allege authorites out of authours. M. Stremer, my Lorde's
Divine, beeing more divine in this point then I was ware of, held the
contrary parte, afferming, that beasts and foules have reason, and
that asmuch as men, yea, and in some points more. M. Ferrers
himself, and his Astronomer, waked with our talk, and harkned to us,
but would take parte on neither side.'
This extract serves to shew the character of the pieces then
ordinarily represented at Court, and got up, and performed by
the company called 'the King's Players'.
been written by Streamer, which are of no worth: from four of these,
we may, perhaps, infer that Streamer was a clergyman. If further knowledge of this book be required, it may be found in the Editor's Bibliographical Account of Rare Books, I865, i, p. 43.
The whole, as may be inferred, has a strong Protestant tendency.
T. Nash, in one of his tracts dated in 1592, mentions a moral-play,
then well known, called Esop's Glow-worm.

1552.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

153

The triumphs, jousts, and masks at Christmas 1552-3,. cost
7171. Ios. 91d., as we learn from the accounts furnished from
the Office of the Revels.l It is not stated who was Lord of
Misrule (for by that title he is again called) on this occasion;
but he undertook the part of the God of War in the Triumph
of Mars and Venus, his dress costing 5I/. I7.. 4d.: on new
year's-day he had a different suit, valued at 341. I4S. He was
attended by Counsellors, Pages, Ushers, Heralds, an Orator,
an Interpreter, an Irishman, an Irishwoman, Jugglers, etc.,
besides his six sons (three of them base born), the eldest of
whom was apparelled in 'a long fool's coat of yellow cloth of
gold, all over figured with velvet, white, red, and green, a
hood, buskins, and girdle.' Coats were also provided for seven
other fools, and the whole cost of dresses was 2621. IS. 4d. i
Among the Harleian MSS.1 is a detailed account of the
expense of a tournament and banquet given by the King in
1552, in Hyde Park; for which purpose no fewer than ninetyfour 'houses or tents' were carried from Blackfriars, where
they were kept. The total charge was 9331. 6s., of which
62/. I9s. 4d. was for 'Masks and garments', but no dramatic
performances are specifically noticed.2
During the reign of Edward VI the Princess Elizabeth had
plays performed before her, and charges of II. Ios. to Heywood, and of 4/. 19s. to Sebastian [Westcott?] for a play by
'the children', are found in the account of the expenses of
her household, kept by Thomas Parry, her cofferer. She also
gave Ios. to a person of the name of Beamonde, for a play
No. 284.
2 Chalmers (Apology, 477) expresses an opinion, that the annual
charge for revels, during the reign of Edward VI, was about 3251.; but
he judges only from the sum paid every Christmas to Sir T. Cawarden,
which included only the expense of the court amusements at that particular season, not during the year.

I54

ANNALS OF THE STAG~E.

[I553.

represented by certain boys under his management. The
dates of these payments, or indeed of the account itself, of
which they form a part, have not been precisely ascertained.'
The last piece of documentary evidence, connected with
the stage and belonging to this reign, is a letter from the
Privy Council to Sir T. Cawarden, dated 28th of January
1552-3, directing him, as Master of the Revels, to furnish
William Baldwin (one of the original projectors of The
Mirror for Magistrates) with all necessaries for setting forth
a play before the King to be performed on Candlemas night.2
We are without any particulars of the entertainments on that
occasion; but, in the Council Registers it is stated, that 326/.
were paid to Sir Thomas Cawarden for the charges of the
Lord of Misrule at Christmas.
Mary ascended the throne in July 1553, and 'a play' was
A. D. ordered on the occasion, which we may presume was
I553. performed by the Gentlemen of the Chapel; but
little more than a month elapsed before she issued a proclamation, the object of which was, among other things, to
prevent the performance of plays and interludes calculated to
advance the principles and doctrines of the reformation.3
This document is among the proclamations preserved by the
Society of Antiquaries, and our attention was first directed to
it, by finding in the registers of the Privy Council the following entry of its having been prepared:Nichols, Progr. Eliz. I, viii, edit. 1823. From Kempe's Losely MSS.,
p. 87, it appears that in 5 Edw. VI there was represented at Court 'a
Masque of Cats'. Nothing- seems to have been thought too absurd or
extravagant, whether in design or expenditure.
2 Chalmers' Apology for the Believers, etc., p. 348.
3 The manner in which the Roman Catholics and their doctrines had been
turned into ridicule in plays is adverted to, with some spleen, in an anonymous poem called Pore Helf, printed without date, but in the reign of

I553.]

ANNALS OF THIE STAGE.

i55

' 6th August 5 5 3.
'A Proclamation for reformation of busy medlers in matters of
Religion, and for redresse of Prechars, Pryntars, and players.'
Having thus been adopted by the advisers of the Queen on
the I6th of August, it was published, and bears date two
days afterwards: the following is the only part which relates
to theatrical performances. -
'And furthermore, forasmuch also, as it is well knowen, that sedition and false rumours have bene nouryshed, and maynteyned within
this realme by the subteltye and malyce of some evell disposed persons, whiche take upon them, withoute sufficient auctoritie, to preache,
and to interprete the worde of God after theyr owne brayne, in
churches and other places, both publique and pryvate: and also by
playinge of Interludes, and pryntyinge of false fonde bookes, ballettes,
rymes, and other lewde treatises in the englyshe tonge, concernynge
doctryne in matters now in question and controversye, touchynge the
hyghe poyntes and misteries of christen religion; whiche bookes,
ballettes, rymes, and treatises are, chiefly by the Prynters and
Stacioners, sette out to sale to her graces subjectes, of an evyll zeale,
for lucre and covetous of vyle gayne. Her highnes therefore
Mary, and re-published by Strype in his Eccl. Memorials, Re.p of Orig.,
ii, 34. The author thus apostrophizes the Sacrament:' Blessed Sacrament, for thy Passion,
Hear and se our exclamation
Agaynst these men of new fashion:
That stryve agaynst the holy nacion,
And jest of them in Playes,
In Taverns and highways,
And theyr good acts disprayse;
And martyrs would them make
That brent were at the stake,
And sing Pit5e meri annot,
And play of Wilnot Cannot,
And as for Cannot and Wilnot,
Though they speke not of it, it skil not.'

I~~~~~~~~~

I56

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I553 -

strayghtly chargeth and commaundeth all and every her sayde subjectes, of whatsoever state, condition, or degree they be, that none
of them presume from henceforth to preache, or by way of readynge
in Churches, or other publique or pryvate places (excepte in the
scholes of the universities) to interprete or teache any scriptures, or
any maner poyntes of doctryne concernynge religion. Neyther also
to prynte any bookes, matter, ballet, ryme, interlude, processe, or
treatyse; nor to playe any interlude, except they have her graces
speciall licence in writynge for the same, upon payne to incurre her
highnesse indignation, and displeasure.'
We have already mentioned Bale's protestant historical
moral-play on the reign of King John, or King Yohan as he
himself entitled it; but to the reign of Queen Mary belongs a
production of the very contrary character: it does not appear
that it was ever printed, but it has come down to us in a
manuscript obviously of that period, and quite entire: it was
entitled Respublica and we also find in the words of the
author that it was 'made in the year of our Lord 1553 and
the first year of the most prosperous reign of our most gracious Sovereign Queen Mary the first.' When it was performed at Court the prologue was spoken by the author
himself, whoever he may have been, in the character of 'the
Poet'; while in the course of the performance he was allowed
to introduce the Queen in the character of Nemesis 'the
goddess of redress and correction', while her kingdom of
England is called 'Respublica' and its inhabitants allegorically impersonated as 'People': the reformation of the Church
is called 'Oppression', and Policy, Authority and Honesty, are
designated as Avarice, Insolence and Adulation: he also
introduces the impersonations of Misericordia, Justitia and
Pax, as the friends and servants of Nemesis. Respublica is
represented as a widow greatly injured and abused by Avarice, Insolence and Oppression, while People (using through

I 553]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

I57

out a rustic dialect), complain bitterly of their sufferings,
especially.since what had been called the 'Reformation in
matters of Faith.' The end is that Nemesis (the Queen) is
introduced by Justitia, and restores the old condition of relir
gious affairs. The whole is very curious in reference to our
present enquiry, and proves how the Stage was employed,
immediately after the death of Edward VI, in order to reconvert the people and restore the Roman Catholic religion.
It is known that the Proclamation, already quoted, was very
effectual and that it had been very vigorously enforced; and
in one of the Cottonian MSS. (Vitellius, F., v), we find a
I record which states that on the 30th May, 1554, a Player was
set in the pillory for an offence against it, and had his ear
nailed to the post. While the Princess Elizabeth resided
with Sir Thomas Pope, at Hatfield, two dramas appear to
have been performed: one of them was entitled The Hangingof Antioch, and the other Holop/hernes, and we may be sure
that they were not of a protestant tendency.
For more than two years the Proclamation appears to have
been effectual for its purpose; after which date the renewal of
the representation of plays was attempted, not indeed in
London, but in the country. On the I4th of February
1555-6, Lord Rich was required by the Privy Council to put
a stop to the performance of 'a stage-play appointed to be
played this Shrovetide at Hatfield-Bradock in Essex', and 'to
examine who should be the players, what the effect of the
play is, with such other circumstances as he shall think meet.'
By the letter of thanks to Lord Rich, on the Igth of the
same month, it seems that he found 'the players to be honest
householders and quiet persons'; and he was therefore ordered
to set them at liberty, but 'to have special care to stop the
like occasions of assembling the people hereafter.'
Some proceedings in the north of England caused the

I58

ANNALS OF THCE STAGE.

[t557.

I interference of the Star-chamber, in the spring of the year I 5 56,
for the total suppression of dramatic amusements, both protestant and catholic. At this date the Earl of Shrewsbury
was President of the North, and on the 30th of April I556,
the Privy Council addressed a letter to him, complaining that
'certain lewd persons, to the number of six or seven in a
company, naming themselves to be servants unto Sir Francis
Leek, and wearing his livery and badge on their sleeves, had
wandered about those north parts, and represented certain
plays and interludes, containing very naughty and seditious
matter touching the King's and Queen's Majesties, and the
state of the realme, and to the slander of Christ's true and
catholic religion.' The Earl of Shrewsbury was, therefore,
required without delay to search for the players, and on a
_ repetition of their offence to punish them as vagabonds.
It is clear from hence that the performances of the servants
of Sir F. Leek were designed to favour the protestant religion, and on this account they were particularly offensive to
the Court. As it was, perhaps, found impossible to prevent
repetition without putting a stop to the representation of
dramatic productions of all kinds, the Star-chamber issued
orders for that purpose, in Easter Term, 1556, and they were
sent to the justices of the peace of every county in the kingdom, with directions that they should be rigorously enforced.
And end was thus at once put to any ambiguity which might
have belonged to the Proclamation of the I8th August I553
Nevertheless, in June 1557, an attempt was made to act,
A. D. even in London, 'certain naughty plays', as they were
557. termed: one was represented on the 3rd June, and
on the next day the Lord Mayor was called upon by the
Queen's advisers to discover and arrest the players, and to
1 This letter is reprinted at large in Lodge's Illustrations of British
History, i, 212.

557.]

ANN\ALS OF THE~I STAGE.

I59

send them before the Commissioners of Religion, 'and also to
take order that no play be made henceforth within the city,
except the same be first seen, and the players authorised.'
Later in the same month, John Fuller, the Mayor of Canterbury, arrested some players within his jurisdiction; and on
the 27th June 1557, he was thanked by the Privy Council, as
we find by the Register, for his diligence, and directed to detain his prisoners until farther orders. In the mean time
'their lewd play-book' was submitted to the crown lawyers;
and after it had remained under consideration until I Ith
August, another letter was written to the Mayor of Canterbury, ordering him 'to proceed against the players forthwith',
and to punish them 'according to the qualities of their
offences.'
On the IIth July 1557, the Lord Rich received the thanks
of the Privy Council, for his exertions in carrying into effect
the orders issued from the Star-chamber in Easter Term preceding; but the magistrates of Essex seem to have exhibited
a degree of slackness in this respect, which called for the
censure of the public authorities. At the date when Lord
Rich was written to, they had not accomplished the object of
the advisers of the crown, by the suppression of all plays, and
the arrest of all players who attempted to perform, and they
were accordingly admonished to carry into immediate execution the directions sent to them from the Star-chamber.
The general prohibition of all dramatic representations,
transmitted to the magistrates of the different counties in
Easter Term, 1557, had either expired before September of
that year, or, as is more likely, it had never been applied to
the City of London, which might be with tolerable safety left
under the superintendence of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen,
who had always discountenanced theatrical exhibitions within
their jurisdiction. On one occasion, however, the vigilance of

i6o

ANNALS OF TIIHE STAGE.

[I 5 57.

the civic authorities seems to have been in danger of being
defeated; and the Privy Council having received information,
that on the 5th September, I557, 'a lewd play, called a Sackfull of News,' was to be performed at the Boar's Head, without Aldgate (Shakespeare's famous old hostelry), they instantly sent a letter to the Lord Mayor, commanding him to
apprehend and commit the actors, and to send their playbook to the Privy Council. It turned out, however, that the
representation was perfectly harmless, and on the 6th September the Lord Mayor was desired to set the players, whom
he had arrested on the preceding day, at liberty. It is to be
inferred, either that the Star-chamber orders had expired, or
that they did not extend to the city, from the conclusion of
this communication, where the Lord Mayor is told to give
'the players throughout the city in commandment and,
charge, not to play any plays, but between the feasts of All
Saints and Shrovetide, and then only such as are seen and
allowed by the Ordinary.' This allowance by the Ordinary
may have been substituted for the 'special license' of the
Queen, mentioned in the Proclamation issued in the first year
of her reign: it agrees also with the contents of the letter to
the Lord Mayor of June 3rd, I557, before noticed, and
renders it more probable, that the city of London was
in some way exempted from regulations which applied to
other parts of the kingdom.2
1 The Sakfull of Nuez is one of the pieces mentioned in Laneham's
letter from Kenilworth, 1575, but from the company in which it is placed,
it should seem not to have been a piece of a dramatic kind, but the old
jest-book with the same attractive title. It is very possible that the
Sackfull of News, attempted to be performed, had been founded upon the
ballad in the possession of Captain Cox. Laneham afterwards enumerates certain 'ancient plays', which also formed part of the library of the
Coventry leader.
2 May-games seem to have been still allowed. 'On the 30th day of

****..w '::*- -,- -'. * V; $.. - - - /.

I 557.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

The domestic establishment of Queen Mary for Court
revels and entertainments, seems, nevertheless, to have been
kept up on the same footing as during the reign of her
father. In the library of the Society of Antiquaries is deposited a detailed contemporary account of all the officers
composing the royal household; and among them are to be
observed eight 'Players of Enterludes', each of whom received
3/. 6s. 8d. per annum. Although the names of the various
musicians are furnished, with the salaries they were allowed annexed, those of the players are not given. The
authorities as to the number of players entertained by Queen
Mary differ; for a MS. in the Cottonian Library,' entitled 'A
Declaration of the ordinarie paymentes, and other expencys
wherewith the sayde offyce [Treasurer of the Queen's
chamber] standes-charged yerelye, communibus annis', mentions only four ' Interlude players' in the following manner:
'Item, to the 4 Enterlude Playors, every of them at 3/. 6s. 8d.
p Annm. for their wages, and I/. 2s. 6d. for their liveries: in
all I8/.'
The charge for liveries for the players, at II. 2s. 6d. each, is
new in the Cottonian MS., where, besides i85/. I7s. 6d. for
musicians, I2/. lOS. 7~d. are given to Mathew Becke, serjeant
May [I557?], was a joly may gam in Fanch-church strett, with drumes
&amp; gunes afd pykes, and the 9 wordes [worthies] dyd ryd &amp; thay had
speches evereman, and the Mores-danse &amp; the Souden &amp; the Olevant
with the castyel; &amp; the Souden with yonge Morens with Targetts &amp;
dartts, &amp; the Lord and Lady of the May.' Cotton. MSS. Vitellius, F. v.
On the same authority we learn, that on the ' 31 day of January my lord
Tresorers lord of Mysrule cam to my lord Mare, and had my lord to
dener; &amp; ther cam a grett cumpane of my lord Tresorers men with partesans, &amp; a grett mene of musysyoners &amp; dyssguyssys, and with trumpets
&amp; drumes, with ys consellors &amp; dyvers odur offesurs; &amp; ther was a dulvyll
[devil] shutyng of fyre, &amp; won was lyke deth with a dart in hand.'
Vespasian, C. xiv.
VOL. I. M.~~ ~ ~~~~..

i62 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1557.
of the Queen's bears; I41. I6s. 3d. to Simon Poulter, yeoman
of the bears; and 21/. 5s. Iod. to Richard Darryngton, as
master and keeper of the royal bandogs and mastives. It is
probable that the statement in the possession of the Society
of Antiquaries is the more accurate.'
The only instance, with which we are now acquainted, when
1 It is as follows, and it shows that the musical and dramatic establishment of the Queen, anno 5irimo Regince Mariea, cost, in salaries only,
2233/. I7s. 6d.:'THE REVELLES.
The Master, Sir Thomas Cawarden, fee, io/.
Yeoman, John Holte, fee, 9/. 2s. 6-..'
'MUSITIONS AND PLAYERS.
Serjeant. Benedict Browne, fee, 24/. 6s. 8d.
Tromtetors, in number I6, every of them having by the yeare 24/. 6s. 8d.
-389/. 6s. 8d.
Lutars. Philip van Welder, Petre van Welder, I38/. 5s.
Harpers. William More, fee, i8/. 5s., Bernard Dupont, fee, 201.-38/. 5s.
Singers. Thomas Kent, fee, 9/. 2S. 6d., Thomas Bowde, fee, 9/. 2s. 6d.
-I8/. 5s.
Rebeck. John Severnake, fee, 24/. 6s. 8d.
Sagbults. In nombre 6, whereof 5 have i8/. 6s. 8d. by the yere, and one
36/ 5s.- 58/. 3s. 4d.
Vialles. In nombre 8, whereof six at 30/. 8s. 4d., one at 20/., another at
i8/. 5S.-220/. I5s.
BaggpiZber. Richard Woodward, fee, i6/. 3s. 4d.
Mynstrelles. In nombre 9, I551. 8s. 4d.
Drumslades. In nombre 3, 54/. 15s.
Players on the fluyt. Oliver Rampons, fee, i8/. 5/., Pier Guye, fee,
30/. 8s. 4d.-48/. I3s. 4d.
Players on the Virginalles. John Heywood, fee, 5o/., Antony Chounter,
fee, 30/. 8s. 4d., Robert Bowman, I2/. 3s. 4d.-92/. Is. 8d.
Musitions Straungers. Fees, 296/. 6s. 8d.
Players of Enterludes. In nombre 8. Everie of them at 66s. 8d. by the
yere-261. 13s. 4d.
Makers of Instruments. Wm. Baton, Organmaker, 20/., Wm. Tresorer,
Regallmaker, Io/.-3o/.

I558.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

i63

Queen Mary called on the Master of the Revels to provide
for entertainments at Court during her reign, was in I557.
On St. Mark's day she commanded for her 'regal disport,
recreation and comfort' a 'notorious maske of Almaynes,
Pilgrymes, and Irishemen, with their insidents and accomplishes accordingly.' A warrant for furnishing Sir Thomas
Cawarden with silks, velvets, cloths of silver, etc., for this
purpose, was addressed to Sir Edward Waldegrave, Master of
the Great Wardrobe, on the 30th of April I557.1 For these
articles Sir Thomas Cawarden gave a receipt at the foot of
the warrant. The revels, no doubt, were ordered for the
reception of King Philip out of Flanders, and for the amusement of the Russian Ambassador, who had reached England
a short time before.
Feats of activity were also exhibited before the Queen at
Christmas 1557-8, as appears by the following passage A. D.
in a MS. several times before cited:2 I558.
' The 20 day of January, at Grenwyche, the quen grace pensyonars
dyd mustur, &amp;c.; and ther cam a tumbeler &amp; playd mony prate fetts
afor the quen and my lord cardenall, that her grace dyd lyke hartely
and so her grace dyd thanke them.'3
The accounts in previous reigns of the representation of
miracle-plays in London have been comparatively few, but
they seem to have been revived, and frequently repeated,
The Chapell. Thomas Bird, Thomas Tallis, George Edwards, William
Hynnus, Tho. Palfreman, Richard Farrant, John Singer, and thirty
others, 469/. 3s. 4d.
Singers. Richard Atkinson, 61. 13s. 4d., John Temple, 6. I3s. 4d.-.
131. 6s. 8d.
Chalmers's Apologyfor the Believers, p. 478.
2 Cotton. MSS., Vitellius, F. v.
3 Among the Trevelyan MSS. at Nettlecomb is a book of the accounts
of Sir William Cavendish, while he was Treasurer of the Royal Chamber,
M 2. -, ' ]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i558.

while Mary was on the throne: they were calculated to extend
and enforce the tenets of the Roman Catholic religion, and
on this account they were now encouraged by the public
authorities. In I556 'a goodly stage-play of the passion of
and in it, under the date of 24th October, 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, we
meet with the following enumeration of the musical and dramatic establishment at Court, exclusive of Trumpeters:'Lewters and syngynge Children. Peter van Welder, lewter, by the
yere xviij/i. vs., in the rowme of Phelip van Welder, luter, decessed,
by the yere xlli. And iiij/i. to hym more for fyndynge of six synginge
children belongynge to the pryvy chamber-cxxxviijli. vs.
Harpers. Wyllm More, harper, by the yere xviij/i. vs. And Barnerde
de Pounce, harper, by the yere xxli.-xxxviij/i. vs.
Syngers. Thomas Kente, synger, by the yere ix/i. ijs. vjd., - in
the rowme of Thomas Bowde, synger, decessed, by the yere ixli. ijs.'vjd.
-xviijli. vs.
Rebecks. John Savernake, rebeck, by yere xxiiij/i. vjs. viijd.; Robart
Woodwarde, by yere xijli. iijs. iiijd.-xxxvjli. xs.
Sagbuts. Anthony Mary, sagbut, by yere xxiiij/i. vjs. viijd.; Niclas
Androe, by yere xxiiijli. vjs. viijd.; Richarde Welshe, xxxvjli. xs.; Niclas
Colman, xxiiij/i. vjs. viijd.; Edward Devys, xxiiijli. vjs. viijd.; John
Pecock, xxiiij/i. vjs. viij.-clviij/i. iijs. iiijd.
Vialls. Albert de Venyce, vyall, by the yeere xxx/i. viijs. iiijd.; Ambrose de Myllano, xxxIi. viijs. iiijd.; Pawle Galiardele, in the rowme of
Vyncent de Venyce, xxx/i. viijs. iiijd.; Fraunces de Venyce, xxx/i.
viijs. iiijd.; Mark Anthony, xxx/i. viijs. iiijd.; George de Combre, xxx/i.
viijs. iiijd.; Innocent Conny, xviij/i. vs; Thomas Browne, in the rowme
of Hance Hosin, decessed, by the yere xx/i.-ccxx/i. xvs.
Bagpipe. Richarde Woodwarde, player on the bagpipe, by yere, xijli.
iijs. iiijd.
Mynstrells. Edward Lake, mynstrell, by the yere xxiijli. vs.; Thomas
Ales, the lyke; Thomas Cursson, xviij/i. vs.; Robarte May, xviij/i. vs.;
Allayne Robson, xviij/i. vs.; Thomas Pagyngton, xviij/i. vs.; Pero Guye,
xviij/i. vs.; Robart Reynolles, Welsh mynstrell, lxvjs. viijd.; Richarde
Pike, xviij/i. vs.; and in the rowme of Nichas Puvall, decessed,
xxiiijli. vjs. viijd.-clxxiiji. xiijs. iiijd.
Dromslade. Alexander Pennax, Dromslade, by the yere, xviij/i. vs.
*..* -

15581 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 165
Christ' was presented at the Grey-friars in London, on Corpus
Christi day, before the Lord Mayor, the Privy Council and
many great estates of the realm.' In 1557 the exhibition
was repeated at the same place, on the proclamation of war
against France; and in the same year, on St. Olave's day at
night, the miraculous life of that saint was performed as a
stage-play in the church dedicated to him in Silver-street.2
'Fluytes. Piro Guy, player on the fluyte, by yere xxx/i. viijs. iiijd.;
Guyllym Trothes, by yere xxjli. vs. xd.; and Guyllym Duvet, by yere
xxjli. vs. xd.-lxxiijli.
'Players on Instruments. John Heywood, player on the Virginalles, by
yere IlL.; Anthony de Countye, xxxli. viijs. iiijd.; Robarte Beamonde,
xijli. iijs. iiijd. â iiijx. âxijli. xjs. viijd.
'Instrument Makers. Willm. Beaton, organmaker, by yere xxli.; Willm.
Thresorer, xli.-xxxxi.
'Players of Enterludes. George Birche, player, by yere lxvjs. viijd.;
Richarde Cooke, lxvjs. viijd.; Richarde Skynner, lxvjs. viijd.; John
Birche, lxvjs. viijd.; Thomas Sowthey, lxvjs. viijd.; John Browne, with
his lyvery cote, iiijli. xs.'
'The entry of this circumstance is made in the following terms in
Cotton. MSS. Vitellius, F. v.:-' The same day begane a stage-play at
the [Grey] freres of the passyon of Cryst.' The word 'Grey' has been
obliterated by the fire which so unfortunately damaged this very curious
manuscript.
a Strype's Eccl. Mem., iii, 379.
0. . ';.. -,:,:. i

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
FROM THE YEAR 1558 TO THE YEAR 1575.
THE first act of Queen Elizabeth connected with the stage
was similar to that of her brother, in the third year of his
A.D. reign. According to Holinshed, proclamation was
1559. made on the 7th of April, 1559, 'under the Queen's
( hand in writing, inhibiting, that from thenceforth no plaies
nor interludes should be exercised till Allhallowes tide next
insuing.' This document has not survived; but it was followed on the I6th of May by another proclamation, which is
extant, and which forbade the performance of plays and
rf interludes, unless they were first licensed by the Mayors of
cities or towns corporate, by the Lords Lieutenant of counties, or by two Justices of the Peace of the place where they
were to be represented: the same instrument also declared, that
no dramatic production should be so licensed, which touched
matters of religion, or governance of the estate of the comt monweal.1
1 The only collection, we believe, in which this proclamation exists, is in
the Bodleian Library. It is not to be found in the Privy Council Office,
nor in the volumes of the Society of Antiquaries. Malone and Chalmers
knew nothing of it. It is in the following form:BY THE QUEEN.
Forasmuche as the tyme wherein common Interludes in the Englishe. ' * '. " &gt;-:.., '. *
*^ '" "' ' d ' ' ' " * ' * ' ' ' * * ' '*^?'^ ^. '* t -

I559.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 167
At this period, Sir Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of
Leicester, had a company of theatrical servants; and in June
1559 (the day of the month is not stated), he wrote a letter
in their behalf to the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord President of
tongue are wont usually to be played is now past untyll All Hallontyde,
and that also some that have been of late used, are not convenient in any
good ordred Christian Common Weale to be suffred. The Queenes
Majestie doth straightly forbyd al maner Interludes to be playde, eyther
openly or privately, except the same be notified before hande, and
licenced within any citie or towne corporate by the Maior or other chiefe
officers of the same, and within any shyre, by such as shalbe Lieutenaunts for the Queenes Majestie in the same shyre, or by two of the
Justices of the peax inhabyting within that part of the shire where any
shalbe played.
'And for instruction to every of the sayde officers, her Majestie doth
likewise charge every of them as they will aunswere: that they permyt
none to be played, wherein either matters of religion or of the governaunce of the estate of the common weale shalbe handled, or treated;
beyng no meete matters to be wrytten or treated upon, but by menne of
aucthoritie, learning, and wisedome, nor to be handled before any
audience but of grave and discreete persons. All which partes of this
proclamation her Majestie chargeth to be inviolably kepte. And if any
shal attempte to the contrary, her Majestie giveth all maner of officers,
that have aucthoritie to see common peax kept, in commandement to
arrest and enprison the parties so offending for the space of fourteene
dayes or more, as cause shall nede: And further also untill good
assuraunce may be founde and gyven, that they shalbe of good behaviour, and no more offende in the like.
'And further her Majestie gyveth speciall charge to her nobilitie and
gintilmen, as they professe to obey and regarde her Majestie, to take
good order in thys behalfe wyth their servauntes being players, that this
her Majesties commaundement may be dulye kepte and obeyed. J
'Yeven at our Palayce at Westminster, the xvj daye of Maye, the first
yeare of our Raygne.
'Imprinted at London in Powles Churchyarde by Richard Jugge and
John Cawood, Printers to the Quenes Majestie. CurN f5rivilegio Regice
Majestatis.'
'' '. '_. â.~.:;^?~~::.~:~~i,_.~~: /,..*** '..-~l;(- *. *~ *.: *"*.-*.^*";'\f

168 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1559.
the North, which will serve as a sort of commentary on the
Queen's proclamation.1 It ran thus:- 'My good Lorde,
'Where my servauntes, bringers hereof unto you, be suche
as ar plaiers of interludes; and for the same have the Licence of
diverse of my Lords here, under ther seales and handis, to plaie in
diverse shieres within the realme under there aucthorities, as maie
amplie appere unto your L. by the same licence. I have thought
emong the rest by my Lettres to beseche your good L. conformitie
to them likewise, that they maie have your hand and seale to ther
licence for the like libertye in Yorke shiere; being honest men, and
suche as shall plaie none other matters (I trust); but tollerable and
convenient; whereof some of them have bene herde here alredie
before diverse of my Lordis: for whome I shall have good cause to
thank your L. and to remaine your L. to the best that shall lie in'my
litle power. And thus I take my leave of your good L. From
Westm., the of June, 1559.
v^-^~~ ' ~'Your good L. assured,
R. DUDDLEY.'
T' o the right Honourable &amp;d my verie good
Lorde, the Erle of Shrewsburie.'
Such severe measures were deemed necessary, in consequence of the prevalence of those theatrical representations
which tended to oppose the progress of the reformation; and
which, therefore, had been encouraged by the Court of Mary,
while the provisions of her proclamations were rigorously
enforced against performances of an opposite character.2
The original is preserved in the Heralds' College, with which the
erroneous copy in Lodge's IMi. Brit. Hist., 1. 307, has been collated.
2 In his reprint of the works of Sir David Lyndsay, i, 365, Chalmers,
without citing his authority, states that 'Heath, the Archbishop of York,
in opposing the Act of Uniformity, in I559, complained in Parliament
of the stage plays which had been made in mockery of the Catholic
religion.',.0: 0' 0:-, 3-:.;.; -.::''::.-~-:;': ~": \., '

I559.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 169
That revels were held at Court in the first year of the reign
of Elizabeth, we know from the fact, which appears in a MS. in
the Lansdown collection,l that John Fortesque, the Keeper of
the Great Wardrobe, issued from thence in that year, for the
purpose of 'setting forth the revels', velvets, silks, cloth of
gold, etc., to the amount of io6/. I3s. 4d. There is also an
unprecedented circumstance connected with the amusements
prepared for the Queen on this occasion: it is mentioned in
the Chronicle, to which we have often before been indebted,
of events in the reigns of Edward VI and Mary (Cotton
MSS., Vitellius F. v.); viz., that the players were stopped, in
the middle of their performances, in consequence of the objectionable nature of the matter they represented. The words
in which this curious fact is related are these:-'The same
day at nyght [i.e., Christmas night, I558-9] at the Quens
Court ther was a play afor her grace, the whych the plaers
plaid shuche matter, that they wher commandyd to leyff off,
and continently [incontinently] the maske cam in dansyng.'
Nevertheless, on the same authority, we find that on twelfth
night following, 'a skaffold for the play' was 'set up in the
hall', and 'after the play was done ther was a goodly maske,
and after, a grett bankett that last tyll mydnyght.' These
entertainments seem to have been the very latest superintended by Sir Thomas Cawarden: he died in August
I560,3 and was succeeded in his appointment by Sir Thomas
1 Lansdowne MSS., No. 5.
2 The Queen was at Eltham in the summer of 1559, and, on the 5th of
August, a play was represented before her by the children of Paul's, of
whom Sebastian was then master. It was, probably, in English; but
this point is not stated. * Nichols's Progr. Eliz., i, 74, edit. 1823. See
also Strype's Annals, i, 194, edit. I735.
a Chalmers (Apology, 479), fixes the date of the death of Sir T.
Cawarden, in December, 1559, but this is a mistake: he lived until the
August following. In Cotton. MSS., Vitellius F. v, his decease at the
~ r D

I70

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1560.

Benger, the privy seal for whose patent bears date on the I2th
A. D. of January, I559-60. This instrument was preserved
1560. in the Chapter-house, Westminster, among the privy
seals of the reign of Elizabeth.' The place is called, as
in the patent of Sir Thomas Cawarden, 'officium Magistri
_7ocorum, Revellortum et Mascorum, commuiniter vocata Revells
et Maskes', and the fee of Iol. per annum is continued.2
Malone discovered no accounts furnished from the Office
of the Revels, relative to the expenses of entertainments at
Court, prior to the year I57I; but the State Paper Office
contains the last detail of the kind delivered in by Sir
Thomas Cawarden, in all probability shortly before his decease: it was not an account of charges incurred, but an
estimate of expenses for four masks, etc., which were intende4
royal palace of Nonesuch is thus registered:-'The 20 day of August,
ded at Nonshyche, Sir Thomas Carden, knyght, devyser of all bankets
and bankett-howsses, and the Mr of Reyvells and Serjeant of Tentts.'
The same chronicle informs us that Lady Carden, or Cawarden, on the
23d of February following, was carried from the Blackfriars to Bletchingly, in Surrey, and there buried.
1 Malone mistakes a year, and gives as the date of Sir T. Benger's
patent the i8th January, I560-I.
2 In March I559-60, the following privy seal was issued for the purpose
of keeping up the establishment of the children of Windsor, from whom,
it should seem, drafts had been made for the purpose of filling up vacancies in other juvenile companies, or choirs:Elizabeth R.
'Whereas our castle of Windsor hath of old been well furnished
with singing men and children. We, willing it should not be of less
reputation in our days, but rather augmented and increased, declare, that
no singing men or boys be taken out of the said chapel by virtue of any
commission, not even for our household chapel: and we give power to
the bearer of this to take any singing men and boys from any chapel,
our own household and St. Paul's only excepted. Given at Westminster,
this 8th of March in the 2d year of our reign.' Ashm;. MSS., III3,
Nichols's Progr. Eliz., i, 8I, edit. 1823.; 11:.. I I 1

I56o.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

171

to be represented in the Queen's presence. It is not signed
by Sir Thomas Cawarden, but it bears internal evidence that
it came from him; and the reason the estimate was made out
before the exhibition took place was, that complaints had
been raised of the costliness of this department. The whole
charge was calculated at 227/. IIS. 2d., which, according to
the assertion of the Master of the Revels, was nearly 200/.
less than it had been in any preceding year. This document
is subjoined in a note.1
1 The only difference between the following, and the original in the
State Paper Office, is that the Roman numerals have been changed to
Arabic figures.
'The Revells att (An Estymate of the Charges of the Maskes, and other
Christmas and j preparations for pastymes to be showen in the presShroftide,Anno- ence of the Queenes Matie at Christmas and Shrofscdo rei Eliz- tyde in the seconde yeare of her highnes reigne,
abth. [Anno Dmi. 1559.
'Foure Maskes with there torche berers, sett forth and shewen before
the queenes Matie at Whytehawle on newe yeres even, new yeres daye,
and Twelf daye att night, the charges in'Wages of Taylors, karvars, propertie makers, wemen and other,
woorking and attendinge theron, as by the collection of there dewes
apereth at this presente, 37/. los.
'Sylke for here of weemens heddes and byllyments, lace, frenche
buttons, tarsells, and other parcells bowghte of the Sylkewoman, as by
her billes aperethe, 32/. I is. 8d.
Feltes and pasteborde for hatts, Buckeram for lynings and patternes,
threed, fuell, lyghtes, Rysshes and other necessaryes, as by the parcells
aperethe at this presente, I2/. 2S.
' Spangells, counterfett Stones, with the gylding, partie golde, colors,
mowlded woorke, heres and other things for the furnyture and garnyture of the premysses, to gether amountynge, as aperethe at this presente,
to 13/. 15s.
'A remnaunte of greene clothe of golde, &amp; a remnaunte of crymson
vellatt sarsenatt for performaunce of the laste maskes, with gloves, laces
&amp; other habberdasheries parcells, as by the merser &amp; habberdashers
parcells apereth, 211. I2s. 6d.

172

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I56I.

It is more than probable that this estimate fell short of the
sum actually expended upon the occasion, and there can be
no doubt that in the following year, I560, the charge for the
Revels in the presence of the Queen was much more considerable. In an account of 'the revenues of the Crown, declared in the Pipe of 'the court of Exchequer',l for 1560, is
an item of 7oo00. for the office of the Revels, the whole of
A. D. which was then due and unpaid. What is termed 'the
I56I. Revels Book' for I56I,2 including payments, in that
department only, from April to September, presents a strange
contrast to the economy attempted to be introduced only two
years before. Within that period, while the Queen was on
progress, and revels were held at Westminster, Somerset Place,
the Tower of London, Greenwich, Hampton Court, Windsor
'Thother charges of theis maskes, wherof none of the parties have yet
browght in there parcells billes &amp; demaunds, but ar uncollected, will
amounte by estimacion to eighte or ten poundes, io/.
Toe maskes of men and one maske of wemen with there torche berers
and a Rocke, a founteyne &amp; other furnyture thereto apertenente, prepared to be sett forthe &amp; shewen in the queenes presence at Whighte
Hall durynge the tyme of Shroftyde, wherof the whole charges will
amounte by estimacion to iool. at the leaste.
Sma. tolis., 227. 1 IS. 2d.
Memorandum, that the chargeis for making of maskes cam never to so
little a some as they do this yere, for the same did ever amount, aswell
in the Queenes Highnes tyme that now is, as at all other tymes hertofore, to the some of 400/. alwaies when it was leaste.
Mm. also, that it may please the Queenes Matie to appoint some of her
highnes prevy Counsaile, immediately after Shroftyde yerely, to survey
the state of the saide office, to thintent it may be knowne in what case I
found it, and how it hathe byn since used.
' Mm. also, that the saide Counsailors may have aucthoritie to appoint
such fees of cast garments as they shall think resonable, and not the
Mr. to appoint any, as hertofore he hath done; for I think it most for the
Mrs. savegarde so to be used.'
1 Lansd. MSS., No. 4. 2 Lansd. MSS., No. 5.
^. 1 -: ' *... 0,..- ' - ' '~, *

I56I.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

173

Castle, New Hall (alias Beaulieu), the Mewes, Havering,
Hartford Castle, Hatfield, and Enfield: the document consists of only a single sheet, but it includes items for Court
amusements at all the places above enumerated, amounting
in the whole to no less a sum than 32091. IOS. 8d.1
It has been said that 'the persecutions of preceding governments had left Elizabeth without a theatre, without dramas,
and without players.'2 If by the word 'theatre' be meant a
building set apart for dramatic performances, it is to be
observed, that her predecessors bad none, nor did any exist
in the kingdom until some years after she came to the
throne: as to dramas, it is true that none are extant which,
as far as can be ascertained, were printed during the reign of
Mary; but we have already seen, with regard to players, that
that queen kept up the theatrical and musical establishment of her father at an expense of between two and three
thousand pounds a year, in salaries only, independently of
board, liveries and incidental charges. The same establishment under Elizabeth, in the fourth year of her reign (for we
have found no earlier record upon the subject) was upon a much
more economical scale, but the eight interlude players-were
not. omitted. The Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museums
furnish us with 'the. yerely charge of th'offyce of the Treasaurer of the Chamber at the present day, 29th September,
A~ 4to regni', out of which fund the expense was borne, and
it contains the following items:'Trompettors wages, 4oo/. los.; Vyolons, 230/. 6s. 8d.; Fluytes,
2131. 6s. 8d.; Sagbutts, I30/. 17s.; Musicyons, 176/. i8s. 9d.; Entre1 Among the 'Extracts of memorable circumstances from the account
book of the Chamberlain of Feversham', is the following entry:I56I.-Given in rewardes to the Queens Majestys players, 6s. 8d.'
See Nichols's PtRor. Eliz., s. a. I56I.
2 Chalmers's Apology, p. 353. 3 No. 5.
'&gt;,..

174

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I56I.

lude playors, 30o.; Kepere of Beares and Mastyvs, 48/. Ios.Total, I230/. 9S. id.'
The item of ' Musicyons', perhaps, embraced performers
upon other instruments besides those enumerated, as well as
singers. Eight interlude players, at 3/. 6s. 8d. each, would
cost 261. I3s. 4d.; so that the remaining sum, to raise it to
30/., was probably an allowance for liveries. The apparel of a
musician was provided out of the royal wardrobe, and cost
I51. os. 8d.2 The expense of the Queen's Chapel at the
commencement of her reign may be here added; for both the
gentlemen and children contributed their shares to the dramatic entertainments at Court: it is copied from a MS. in
the Cottonian Collection:3
1 arl. MS., No. 2078, purports to be 'a general account of all the
offices of England with their fees in her Majesties guifte'; but at what'
particular date in the reign of Elizabeth it was made out is uncertain.
According to this document the salary of the Master of the Revels was
not io/. but Iool. a year, which is clearly'a mistake: the salary of the
Yeoman is correctly given at 9/. 2s. 6d. The expense of the 'Musitioners and Players' is there stated as follows:'Serjeant Trompeter, fee 24/. 6s. 8d.; Trompeters I6, fee amongst
them 389/. 6s. 8d.
' Sagbutts 6, fee to five of them 24/. 6s. 8d., to one 20o.
'Violls 8, fee to 6 of them 30/. 8s. 4d., to one 20/., to another Io/. 5s.
Drumslades 3, fee to every of them I8/. 5s. -
'Players on the flute 2, fee to either of them i8/. 5s.
'Players on the virginalls 3, fee to each of them 5/.
'Musitions straungers 7. To the foure Brethren Venetions, amongst
them I83/. 6s. 8d.
'Players of Enterludes, to every of them 3/. 6s. 8d.
' Makers of instruments, fee to one 20/., to the other Io/.
2 Lansd. MS., No. 86, contains the subsequent 'Allowance of Apparell
for a Musicion owt of the Garderobe', temp. Elizabeth:-' Chamlet,
i4 yards at 3s. 4d. the yarde, 2/. 6s. 8d.; Velvet, 6 yardes at 15s. the
yarde, amounteth to 4/. Ios.; Damaske, 8 yards at 8s. the yarde, 31. 4s;
one furre of Budge, pryce 4/.; Lynen and making, i/.-Summa, 5/. 8d.'
3 Titus, B. iii.
&gt;.-1;./. R.. -** -/ - - * E j.. ]: j

I562.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

I75

'Master of the children,' fee, 401.; Largesse to the children at
high feasts, 9/. 13s. 4d.; Allowance for their breakfasts, Io/.; Gentlemen of the Chapell, fee I9d. a day apiece.'
These fees were of course independent of board and
clothing. In 1575 the twelve children were allowed boardwages at the rate of sixpence per day, amounting in the year
to I 09. I os.2
Christmas I56I-2, was kept with great splendour at the
Inner Temple. Acco'rding to the Czronicle, MSS. A. D.
Cotton, Viteilizs F. v., many of the Queen's Council 1562.
were present,3 and the Lord of Misrule rode through London
'in complete harness, gilt, with a hundred horse, and gentlemen riding gorgeously with chains of gold, and their horses
goodly trapped.' On the i8th of January, the same MS.
states, there was 'a play in the quens hall at Westmynster
by the gentyll.men of the Tempull, after a grett maske;
for ther was a grett skaffold in the hall, with grett tryhumpe
as has bene sene, and the morow after the skaffold was taken
doune.'
This play was no other than Ferrex and Porrex, written by
Sackville and Norton, the title-page of the old printed copies
stating, that it was 'shewed before the Queenes most excel1 This was Richard Bower, who was continued in his office by Queen
Elizabeth on the 30th of April, I559: Rymer's Federa, xv, 517, shows
that his salary was 40/. a year.
2 Harl. MSS. No. 589: an account entitled: The names of all suche
persones as do receaue boardwages dayly throughoute the yeare,' etc.
The names of the children are, however, not inserted. In the same
paper it is said that 'Robert Maye and two of his fellowes, musitions',
received board-wages at the rate of 4d. per day. No others are there
specified.
8 See Dugdale's Origines 7uridiciales, 50 et seq., where a long account
of the solemnities is inserted, which is also extracted in Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i, p. I31.

I76

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I562.

lent Majestie, in her Highnes court of Whitehall, the i8th
Jany 1561 [2], by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple.' On
the Ist of February following, another historical play was
acted at Court, called yulius Cesar, the-name of which is
furnished by the old Chronicle above quoted, and it affords, I
think, the earliest instance of a subject from the Roman
history being brought upon the stage. The notice is in the
following terms:'The furst day of Feybruary at nyght, was the goodlyst maske
cam owt of London that ever was sene, and a hundred &amp; od gorgyously be sene, &amp; a hundred cheynes of gold; and as for trumpetts
&amp; drumes, &amp; as for torche lyght a hundered, &amp; so to the cowrt, &amp;
dyvers goodly men of armes in gylt harnes, &amp; 'yusyus Sesar played.'
The following particulars are in themselves interesting, and
will throw new light upon a rather obscure part of the history
of the transactions, at this date, between Elizabeth and Mary
Queen of Scots.
On the loth May I562, a warrant was issued to John Fortescue, esquire, to deliver out of the Great Wardrobe a large
quantity of silks, and other articles of the same kind, to Sir
Thomas Benger, Master of the Revels, 'for the better furnyshinge &amp; settinge forthe of suche maskes and revells, as shall
be shewed by him.' These 'masks and revels' were not to be
held in London, but at Nottingham, as appears by a very
curious document in the same volume of MSS., which contains the preceding warrant i it is entitled' Devices to be
shewed before the Queenes Majestie, by waye of maskinge,
at Nottingham castell, after the metinge of the Quene of
Scotts.' To explain this document it is necessary to mention,
It is to be remarked that Julyus Sesar seems to have been written
by a different hand: perhaps the name of the drama had not been ascertained till afterwards, when it was added.
2 Lansdowne MSS., No. 5.
'y~i^ ^ ^ ~"*^ ''/^ ^';^v ^"*'^''''1'1' ~ '-.. *. -*...

I562.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I77

that Mary Queen of Scots having retarned from France in
156I, a project was set on foot in the spring of I562 to
procure an interview between her and Elizabeth. It was
intended that this meeting should take place in May; but
Mary being very beautiful, and Elizabeth having no pretensions of the kind, the vanity of the latter seems to have
prevented the execution of this design altogether, after it had
first been postponed to June,l and subsequently to August.
'Articles' drawn up in June for the interview, are printed by
Haynes, among the State papers of Elizabeth to the year
I570.2 So certain did Sir W. Cecill consider the meeting of
On June I6th, I562, Elizabeth wrote to the Earl of Huntingdon,
ordering him to attend at the projected meeting between her and the
Queen of Scots, which was to take place 'either at our city of York, or
at some other convenient place on this side near unto Trent.' This is
all that Nichols inserts regarding the event. Progr. Eliz. i, I42.
2 Fod. London, I749. Chalmers (not always impartial) thus speaks of
the intended interview.
'Amidst these disquieting scenes Mary returned [from her progress to
the North] to Edinburgh early in May. Owing to some intimations of
Randolph, before her journey to Fife, she had allowed her mind to dwell
upon a personal interview with Elizabeth in England. Whether Cecil or
Maitland suggested this idle purpose cannot now be told: Mary certainly laid the matter before her Privy Council on the I9th May, and her
counsellors left the decision of the matter to herself, " if she should think
her own person to be in any way in surety upon any promise to be made
by the English Queen." Mary was so little apprehensive of her personal
safety, that she sent Secretary Maitland to London to agree upon the
detail of such an interview. The Queen wrote to Leicester upon the
subject, and her chief Minister, the Earl of Mar, addressed a letter to
Cecil upon the same business. For carrying it into effect a provisional
treaty was actually agreed upon, so sincere seemed Elizabeth for the
moment: but she soon began to vacillate between the two opinions,
whether to meet or not to meet the Scottish Queen at Nottingham. At
/ length, in July, she sent that truly respectable statesman Sir Henry
Sidney to Edinburgh, in order to explain to the Scottish Queen, how
VOL. I. N.. ~:r: ' I-~-~ âit.

178

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1562.

the two Queens in May, that he employed a poet of the day
(it is not stated whom) to draw up a scheme of the entertainment, in the nature of emblematical masks and pageants, to
be exhibited before them: this scheme is the 'Devices' above
mentioned, preserved among the papers of Sir W. Cecill,-a
curious historical document, not mentioned by any who have
written upon the incidents of the lives of Elizabeth or Mary.
It is as follows:'THE FIRSTE NIGHT.
'Firste a pryson to be made in the haule, the name whereof is
Extreme Oblyvion, and the Kepers name thereof, Argus, otherwise
called Circumspection: then a maske of Ladyes to come in after
this sorte.
'Firste Pallas, rydinge vppon an unycorne, havinge in her hande
a Standarde, in wch is to be paynted ij Ladyes hands, knitt one faste
wthin thother, and over th'ands written in letters of golde, Fides.
'Then ij Ladyes rydinge together th'one uppon a golden Lyon,
wth a crowne of gold on his heade: th'other uppon a redd Lyon,
wth the like crowne of Gold; signifyinge ij Vertues, that is to saye,
the Lady on the golden Lyon is to be called Prudentia, and the
Ladye on the redd Lyon Temperantia.
'After this to followe vj, or viij Ladyes maskers, bringinge in, captive, Discorde, and False Reporte, with ropes of gold about there
necks. When theis have marched about the haule, then Pallas to
declare before the Quenes Matie in verse, that the goddes, understandinge the noble meteinge of those ij quenes, hathe willed her to
declare unto them, that those ij vertues, Prudentia and Temperantia,
have made greate and longe sute unto Jupiter, that it wold please
hym to gyve unto them False Reporte and Discorde, to be punished
inconvenient it would be to meet her personally, while the troubles continued in France. Mary seems to have been disappointed; and with
her usual amenity wrote her good sister, whose ruling passion was dissimulation, her grief in not seeing the person in this world whom she
would be gladdest to see.'-Life of Mary Queen of Scots, vol. i, p. 62.

1562.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 179
as they thinke good; and that those Ladyes have nowe in there
presence determyned to committ them faste bounde unto th'afforesayde pryson of Extreme Oblyvion, there to be kepte by th'afforesayde gaylor Argus, otherwise Circumspection, for ever; unto whome
Prudentia shall delyver a locke whereuppon shalbe wrytten In Eternum. Then Temperantia shall likewise delyver vnto Argus a key
whose name shalbe Nunquam, signifyinge, that when False Report
and Discorde are committed to the pryson of Extreme Oblyvion, and
locked there everlastinglie, he should put in the key to lett them out
Nunquam.: and when he hathe so done, then the trompetts to blowe,
and th'inglishe Ladies to take the n6bilite of the straungers, and
daunce.
'THE SECONDE NIGHT.
'First a Castell to be made in the haule, called the Courte of
Plentye; then the maske after this sorte.
' Firste Peace, rydinge uppon a chariott drawen wth an Oliphant,
uppon whome shall ryde Fryndeshippe, and after them vj or viij
Ladyes maskers; and when they have marched rounde aboute the
haule, Fryndshippe shall declare before the quenes highnes in verse,
that the goddes Pallas hath latelie made a declaracion before all the
godds, howe worthilie the night precedent theis ij vertues, Prudentia and Temperantia, behaved them selves in judginge, and condempninge False Reporte and Discord to the prison of Extreme
Oblyvion: and understandinge that those ij vertues do remaine in
that Cowrte of Plentye, they have, by there mightie power, sent this
vertu, Peace, there to dwell with those ij Ladyes, for ever. To this
Castell perteyneth ij porters, th'one to Prudentia, called Ardent
Desyer, and th'other porter to Temperantia, named Perpetuitie; signifyinge that, by Ardent Desyer and Perpetuitie, perpetuall peace and
tranquillitie maye be hadd and kept throughe the hole worlde. Then
shall springe out of the Cowrt of Plentie conditts of all sorts of wynes,
duringe w'ch tyme th'inglishe Lords shall maske wth the Scottishe
Ladyes.
'THE THYRDE NIGHT.
'Firste shall come in Disdaine rydinge vppon a wilde bore; wth
N2

80o ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1562.
hym Prepencyd Malyce, in the similitude of a greate serpent. These
ij shall drawe an orcharde havinge golden apples, in w'ch orchard
shall sitt vj, or viij, Ladyes maskers. Then Dysdaine shall declare
before the quenes matie in verse, that his Mr. Pluto, the greate god of
hell, takith no little displeasure wth Jupiter, the god of heaven, for
that he, in the ij other nyghts precedent, hath firste by Pallas sent
Discord and False Reporte, being ij of his chefe servants, unto Prudentia and Tenperantia, to be punisshed at there pleasure; and not
content wth this, but hathe the laste night, sent unto those ij Ladyes
his most mortall enymye, Peace, to be onlie betwene them ij imbraced: wherefore Jupiter shall well understande, that in dispite of
his doings, he hath sent his chefeste Capitayne, Prepencyd Mallyce,
and wyllithe ether Argus, otherwyse Circumspection, to delyver unto
hym Discorde, and False Reporte, his saide Masters servants, or ells
th'afforesaid ij porters, Ardent Dessyer, and Perpetuitie, to delyver
hym there masters enymie, Peace, chuse them whether.
'Then shall come in Discretion; after hym Valyant Courage,
otherwise Hercules, rydinge vppon a horse, whose name is Boldnes,
Discretyon leadynge hym by the raynes of the brydell: after hym vj
or viij Lords maskers. Then Discretion shall declare before the
quenes highnes in verse, that Jupiter dothe well foresee the mischevous intent of Pluto, and therefore, to confounde his pollyces, hathe
sente from heaven this vertu Valyant Courage, wch shalbe suffycient
to confounde all Plutos devices: neverthbelesse thos ij dyvells,
Dysdaine, and Prepencyd Malyce, are mervailous warryours; yea,
suche as unlesse theis vertues, Prudentia and Temperantia, will of
themselves by some signe or token conclude to imbrace Peace, in
such sorte as Jupiter hathe sent hym unto them, it wilbe to harde for
Valyant Courage to overcome those vyces; but if they once speake
but one worde, the battaill is overcome as a trifle. And therefore
Jupiter hathe willed Discretion, in the presence of those ij quenes, to
repaier unto the Cowrte of Plentie, and there firste to demande of
Prudentia, how longe her pleasure is, of her honor, that Peace shall
dwell between her and Temperantia? Then Prudentia shall let downe
unto Discretion, wth a bande of golde, a grandgarde of assure, where

1563.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. I8I
uppon shalbe wrytten, in letters of gold, Ever. Then Discretion
shall humblie demande of Temperantia uppon her honor, when Peace
shall departe from Prudentia, and her grace? Then Temperantia shall
lett downe unto Discretyon a girdell of assure, studded wth gold, and
a sworde of stele, whereuppon shalbe written, Never; w'ch grandgarde, and sworde, Discretion shall bringe, and laye at the fete of the
ij quenes. Then Discretion (after a fewe words spoken) shall, before
the quenes highnes, arme Valyant Courage, otherwise Hercules, wth
the grandgard of Ever, and gyrte hym wth the sworde of Never; signifying that those ij Ladies have professed that Peace shall ever
dwell wth them, and never departe from them; and signifyinge also
that there Valyant Courage shalbe ever at defyance wth Disdaine
and Prepencyd Mallice, and never leave untill he have overcome
them. And then shall valyant courage alone go and fight wth those
ij; in the myddeste of w'ch fight, Disdaine shall rune his wayes, and
escape wth life, but the monster Prepencyd Mallyce shalbe slaine for
ever: signifyinge that some vngodlie men maye still disdaine the
perpetuall peace made betweene those ij vertues, but as for there
prepencyd mallice, it is easye troden under theis Ladyes fete. After
this shall come out of the garden, the vj or viij Ladies maskers wth a
songe, that shalbe made hereuppon, as full of armony as maye be
devised.'
This valuable paper is endorsed 'May I562', in the handwriting of Sir W. Cecill; and in shorthand or cypher he seems
to have added something respecting the interview, and the
despatch of Sir Henry Sidney to Scotland in July 1562, to
excuse its postponement.
The plague, or, more properly, an infectious and fatal fever,
brought by the English troops from Holland, raged A. D.
most destructively in the year 1563; and it is recorded 1563.
by Camden, that no less than 21,530 persons perished in
London. Archbishop Grindall took this opportunity of using
his exertions for the inhibition of all popular dramatic amusements for a year, if not entirely and for ever. 'The players

182 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1564.
(says Strypel) he called an ' idle sort of people, which had been
infamous in all good commonwealths. These men did then
daily, but especially on holidays, set up their bills inviting to
plays, and the youth resorted excessively to them, and there
took infection'. He complained to the Secretary that God's
word was profaned by their impure mouths, and turned into
scoffs: and by search, he perceived there was no one thing
of late more like to have renewed the infection, there being
such vast resort thither. And therefore he advised, for the
remedy hereof, that Cecil would be the means of a proclamation to inhibit all plays for one whole year; and if it were for
ever,' added he, 'it were not amiss: that is, within the City or
three miles compass, upon pains, as well to the players, as to
the owners of the houses where they played their lewd interludes.'
We are without any record to show that his advice was followed upon this occasion, although it is most probable that
it was adopted as regarded the temporary prevention of the
performance of plays-a course afterwards not unusual in times
of great sickness.
In the State Paper Office is deposited an account, headed,
'a breif Estimat of all the charges agaynst Christmas and
Candellmas [1563] for iij plays at Wyndsor,' including also
the ' repayringe and new makinge of thre Maskes, with thare
hole furniture and divers devisses, and a castle for Ladies, and
a harboure for Lords,' etc., shewn before the Queen and the
French Ambassadors at Richmond in the summer of 1564;
and, finally, for 'the repayringe and translatinge of sunderie
garments for playes at Cristmas, and Shroftid' [1564-5]. The
cost of the whole was 444. I Is. 5jd.; and it only embraced
a small part of the expenses incurred on these occasions for
the wages and diets of the tailors, mercers, painters, etc.,
' Lfe of Grindall, p. 122, edit. 182I.::

1564.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I83

without any charge for materials, which seem to have been
varied and costly. Castles, towns, etc., were represented,
covered with painted canvas, 'a rocke or hill for the Muses to
singe upon', and chariots for Diana and Pallas. This document is furnished with dates and marginal notes in the handwriting of Sir W. Cecill, from which we gain the interesting
fact, not elsewhere recorded, that Richard Edwards (whose
name will again occur presently) was the author of a 'tragedy'
(possibly his Damon and Pythias) acted before the Queen, at
Christmas 564-5, by the children of the Chapel, of whom
he was then master.1 In January, during the festivities of
Twelfthtide, the boys of 'the grammar skolle of Westminster',
and the children of Paul's, performed at Court; and on the
I8th of February, the Queen was entertained by the sons of
Sir Perceval Hart, for whose play, among other things, 'divers
cities, townes, and the Emperoure's pallace' were necessary.
At Shrovetide the gentlemen of Gray's Inn presented her
Majesty with 'divers showes', probably masks, in which Diana
and Pallas were introduced, no play, as in the other instances,
being specifically mentioned.
During her progress in the summer of 1564 the Queen
visited the University of Cambridge, and was entertained at
King's College with a play 'called Ezechias in English'.2 It
was made by Nicholas Udall (the author of an older comedy,
named Ralph Roister Doister, several times of late years
Chalmers (Apology, p. 354) inserts this document, but with various
mistakes; and he made such sad work in decyphering the handwriting
of Cecill, that he did not find out that the play by the children of the
Chapel at Christmas I564-5, was a tragedy by Edwards: what Cecill
writes Edwd's tragedy, Chalmers printed merely as the name of an individual, Edwd. Hayedy!
2 Nichols's Progr. Eliz., i, 186, edit. 1823. See also Kempe's Losely
MSS., pp. 62 and 90, respecting Udall's authorship, and dramatic entertainments by him as early as the reign of Queen Mary.:~:-:

I84 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1565.
reprinted), which may shew that he did not die in 1557, as
has been generally supposed. Ezechias was, doubtless, a
sacred drama, founded upon the Second Book of Kings.
The sum expended upon the Court revels in 1565 does not
A. D. appear from any document yet discovered; but an
1565. account of the debts and payments of the Queen in
that year1 (prepared as it should seem by the special direction
of Sir W. Cecill) shows, that on the last day of October 1565,
50o. remained due and unpaid to the Office of the Revels.
Sir W. Cecill, in his own hand, has registered the payment of
that sum to Sir Thomas Benger.
On the 3rd of September 1566, Queen Elizabeth witnessed
A. D. the performance of Edwards's Palamon and Arcyte in
I566. the hall of Christ Church, Oxford,2 when she presented no less than eight guineas to one of the young performers who gave her peculiar satisfaction. We have no
'Cotton MSS., Titus B. iii.
a Stow, in his Chronicle, mentions the name of the play, and adds that
'it had such tragical success as was very lamentable; for at that time,
by the fall of a wall and a paire of staires and great prease of the multitude, three men were slain': p. III8, edit. I615. This accident seems
to have happened on the first evening when the piece was performed,
and when the Queen was not present. Peshall's Hist. of Univ. Oxford,
p. 227. The following is Anthony Wood's account of the catastrophe,
given from his MS., as corrected by Gough, and quoted in Nichols's
Progr. Eliz., i, 210:-'At night (Sept. 2nd) the Queen heard the first
part of an English play, named Palcemon or Palamon and Arcyte, made
by Mr. Richard Edwards, a gentleman of her Chapel, acted with very
great applause in Christ Church Hall: at the beginning of which play
there was, by part of the stage which fell, three persons slain,.. besides
five that were hurt. Afterwards the actors performed their parts so well,
that the Queen laughed heartily thereat, and gave the author of the play
great thanks for his pains.'
On the 5th of September, as we learn on the same authority, a Latin
play, called Progne, by Dr. James Calfhill, was acted; 'but it did not

I566.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 185
record of any revels at Court in this year;1 but the old
records of Leicester, as far as they can be relied upon, give
us intelligence regarding an officer of the Court who exhibited
there in this year, but of whom, and of whose employments,
we hear nowhere else: the old books of the borough inform
us that a person of the name of Lockwood had been rewarded
by three shillings and four-pence as 'the Queen's Jester': he
was, probably, some impudent pretender, who thus levied
contributions from the ignorant for his gross absurdities.
This is the first instance of the kind of which we have any information, but it deserves notice because, many years afterwards, we know that favourite comic performers from the
London theatres sometimes adopted a similar mode of recruiting their finances.2
Revels were held at Gray's Inn, where George Gascoigne's3
prose comedy, The Supposes, translated from Ariosto, and his
blank-verse, tragedy? _ocasta, from Euripides (in adapting
take half so well as the much admired play of Palamon and Arcyte',
which has not survived; but Edwards's Damon and Pythias is reprinted
in Dodsley's Old Plays: the author was dead in 1567.
1 On the I8th of April I566, a warrant under the Privy Seal was
granted to Sir T. Benger, 'Mr of our Revells', to purchase in England,
and to export for his own advantage, 300 tons of beer.
2 See Kelly's excellent Notices illustrative of the Drama and Popular
Amusements in Leicester, 1865, p. 197.
3 George Gascoigne, the son of Sir John Gascoigne, after a life of much
diversity, died at Stamford on the 7th of October I577, as is supposed,
at about the age of forty; so that when he produced these two plays he
was twenty-nine years old. He afterwards served as a soldier in Holland;
and wrote an account of the 'Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth', in I575,
at which he was present. He was subsequently in great pecuniary
distress, was confined in the Counter (according to Nash's Strange
News, 1592), and after his release presented Queen Elizabeth with The
Tale of Hermetes the Heremyte, in English, Latin, and Italian; which
tale had been 'pronounced before the Queens Majesty at Woodstock'.

I86 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1567.
which he was assisted by Francis Kinwelmersh and Christopher Yelverton), were represented.
The total expense of the wages of plumbers, painters,
bricklayers, etc., employed in making preparations for 'the
revels in the hall' at Shrovetide 1567, was only 291. i6s. 4d.,
as appears by the Paye-booke in the Lansdowne Collection,1
where the sum is inserted under the following head:This story is preserved in the British Museum (Royal MSS., i8 4. xlviii),
in the hand-writing of the author, who subscribes the address thus:Whether the drawing by which it is preceded (representing him on his
knee before the Queen, one side of his person being in armour and the
other in the dress of a civilian, with a pen in his ear) was executed by
himself may be doubted, as it seems finished by a better hand. The
following lines accompany it:' Beholde (good Quene) a poett with a speare,
(Straunge sightes well markt 'are understood the better)
A soldyer armde with pensyle in his eare;
With penne to fighte, and sworde to wryte a letter:
His gowne haulffe of, his blade not fully bownde,
In dowbtfull doompes which waye were best to take;
With humble harte, and knees that kysse the grownde,
Presentes hymselfe to you for dewtyes sake:
And thus he saithe: no daunger (I protest)
Shall ever lett this loyall harte I beare
To serve you so as may become me beste,
In feilde in towne in cowrte or any where.
Then, peereles prince, employe this willinge man
In your affayres to do the beste he cann.
Tam Marti quam Mercurio.'
Lansdowne MS., No. 9.

I568.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I87

'Charges done for the Revells in the Hall uppon Shrove
Sondaye, and Shrove Tuisdaye at nyghte.' The workmen
had been employed for fourteen days.
How usual it was for the lower orders, at this date, to
frequent public dramatic performances, may be gathered from
the following brief extract of.a small pamphlet published in
1567 by a person of the name of Edward Hake, and entitled,
Dialogues of the Merry Maidens of London: he there asks
'For what be the cause wherefore would he have us restrained
of our liberties? Forsooth, because.he would not have us
resort to Playes for privie contract;' adding, 'he finds fault
with our great expenses in banquetting;' for this reason.
Among the Harleian MSS. is a very minute account of the
entertainments before the Queen and her Court in A. D.
I568.1 It is contained in a warrant for the payment 1568.
of 634/. 9s. 5d. to Sir Thomas Benger, for materials and work
'within the Office of the Revels', between the 14th of July
1567, and the 3rd of March 1568. During this interval' seven
plays' and one 'tragedy' had been represented before the
Queen, the titles of which are all given with unusual particularity: it is the earliest record in which so much minuteness
is observed, and the mere enumeration of the names pf the
plays furnishes us with some notion of the nature of the
performances. The plays were the following:2-. As plain
as can be; 2. The Painful Pilgrimage; 3. Jack and Jill;
4. Six Fools, 5. Wit and Will; 6. Prodigality; 7. Orestes.
Harl. MS. No. 146. It consists of warrants dated in the Ioth, I Ith,
and 12th years of Elizabeth.
2 At least under these titles: Prodigality may possibly have been the
original of The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality, I602,
obviously much older than the date when it was printed. We shall
hereafter have occasion to speak of a tragedy called Horestes, printed in
1567, only very recently discovered.

I88

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1568.

We might have concluded that Orestes was a tragedy,
as well as The King of Scots (which forms the eighth
piece performed), had it not been distinguished as not belonging to that class. The scenery (if it may so be called),
and other mechanical contrivances, are also enumerated, viz.,
Strato's house, Dobbin's house, Orestes' house, Rome, the
Palace of Prosperity, Scotland, and 'a great castle'. We
subjoin this important document in a note.'
The same MS. furnishes the expense of the Revels in the
' REVELS. SIR THOMAS BENGER.
'Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Qwene of Englande, France, and
Irelande, Defender of the faithe, &amp;c. To the T'rer and Chamberlaynes
of our Exchequer gretinge. Whereas it apperethe by a Legiere Booke,
subscribed under the handes of the officers of oure Revells, and remayninge with the Auditors of our preste, that ther is growne due to ceartayne
Credditors, Artificeares, and Woorkmen, for stuffe deliv'de and woorke
donne within thoffice of our Revells, from the xiiij day of Julye in the
ixth yeare of our Raigne, untill the third daye of Marche in the tenthe
yeare of our saide Raigne, the some of six hunderede fowre and thirtie
poundes nyne shillings and five-pence, ymployed uppon theis Playes, Tragidies, and Maskes following, viz., Imprimis for seven playes: the firste
namede, asplayne as canne be; the seconde, the paynfull iillgrimage; the
thirde, 7acke and J7yll the forthe, Sixefooles; the fivethe callede witte and
will; the sixte callede Prodigallitie; the seventhe of Oreste; and a Tragedie of the kinge of Scotts: to ye whiche belonged divers howses for the
settinge forthe of the same, as Stratoes howse, Dobbyns howse, Orestes
howse, Rome, the Pallace of prosperitie, Scotlande, and a gret Castell one
thothere side. Likewise for the altering and newe makinge of sixe
masks out of ould stuffe, with torchbearers therunto, wherof iiij hathe
byne shewene before us, and two remayne unshewen. Wherfore our will
and pleasure is yt of suche our tresure as rem [remaineth] presentlie in
the Receipte of our Exchequer, or that hereafter shall come into the same,
you contente and paye, or cause to be contentede and payde, unto our
trustie and wellbelovede searvaunte, Sir Thomas Benger, knight, or his
Assigne, the sayde some of vj c xxxiv/l. ixs. vd., to be payed oute unto
the sayed Credditors, and suche otheres as the same is owinge unto.

I570.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I89

next year, 1569; the warrant for the payment of which bears
date Ioth of May 1570, for the sum of 453/. 5s. 6d.] A. D.
It states, only in general terms, that 'playes, trage- I569 -dies, and masks' had been performed at Christmas and
Shrovetide; but it gives the names of none of them. The
same remark will apply to a third warrant for the Revels of
I570; it is dated 29th of July 1571, and is for 499. A. D.
17s. 6d., and speaks merely of' playes, tragedies, and 1570.
masks' then performed.
In the office of the Auditors of the I-mprest Malone found
various accounts of the Revels, the oldest, as has been before
remarked, dated in the early part of I571, and en- A. D.
titled,' Revels in one year, ending on Shrovetewsdaye, I571.
in the I4th yeare of our Soveraigne Lady Queene Elizabeth'.2
It goes into a vast variety of uninteresting details, but mixed
up with them are some curious and important matters. The
total expense of the Revels for.the year preceding Shrove
Tuesday 1571, was I5581. I7s. 5 d., and the following are
given as the names of the six plays upon which that unusually
large sum had been expended:'Lady Barbara, showen on Sainte John's day at nighte, by Sir
Robert Lane's men.
And theis our Ires. shalbe your sufficient warraunte and dischardge in r
this behalfe. Geven under our privie Seale, at our manor of Grenwich,
the xi daye of June, in the tenth yeare of our Raigne. ' KERRY.'
'Sir Thomas Benger, Knight, Mr of the Revelles.'
(Hart. MSS., No. 146.)
The tragedy of Tancred and Gismunda, by R. Wilmot and other
students of the Inner Temple, was also this year played before Queen
Elizabeth. See Dodsley's Old Plays, ii, p. 157, edit. I825.
tHarl. MS., No. 589, is 'a brief of monies paid by warrant of Privy
Seal, A~ 1o Eliz., 1569', and contains an entry of '453/. 5s. 6d. for the
cost of revels'.
2 Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 364.

I90o

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[t57I.

'Effigenia, a tragedye, showen on the Innocents daie at nighte, by
the children of Powles.
'Ajax and Ulisses, showen on new years daie at nighte, by the
children of Wynsor.
'Narcissus, showen on Twelfe daye at nighte, by the children of
the Chappell.
' Cloridon and Radiamanta, showen on Shrove Sunday at nighte, by
Sir Robert Lane's men.
'Paris and Vienna, showen -on Shrove Tewsdaie at nighte, by the
children of Westminster.'
Malone has correctly remarked, that it seems to have been
part of the duty of the Master of the Revels to have the
plays rehearsed to him before they were presented at Court;
and this account adds, that the preceding six plays 'were
chosen owte of many, and founde to be the best that were
then to be had.' Besides the plays, six masks were introduced, and among the properties for both are horse-tails,
hobby-horses, 'branches of silk, and other garniture for
pageants', sceptres, wheat-sheaves, bodies of men in timber,
dishes for devils eyes, devices for hell and hell-mouth, bows,
bills, dags, swords, spears and fireworks. In the play of
Narcissus, a fox was let loose in the Court and pursued by
dogs, for providing which (with other necessaries), a charge is
made of 28s. 8d.: counterfeit thunder and lightning in the
same play were procured at an expense of 22s.: twenty-one
vizards, with long beards, and six Turks' vizards, were furnished by a person of the name of Thomas Gyles, whom
Malone supposes to have been the same person who was afterwards master of the children of St. Paul's.
This supposition is, however, probably, mistaken. Thomas
Gyles (or, as he spells his own name, Gylles), was a man
whose trade it was to let out apparel for public and private
entertainments; and in the very year of which we are now

I571.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 191
speaking, 157I, he made a complaint in writing to Sir William Cecill (among whose papers it is found1) that the
Yeoman of the Queen's Revels injured his business and the
Queen's dresses, by improperly, and for hire, allowing them
to be taken out of the office, in order to be worn at marriages,
banquets, etc., in town and country.2
Lansd. MSS., No. 13.
2 The following is the opening of Gyles's representation to Lord
Burghley:Wheras the yeman of the quenes Magestyes revells dothe usuallye
lett to hyer her said hyghnes masks, to the grett hurt, spoyle and dysordyr of the same, to all sort of persons that wyll hyer the same: by
reson of wyche comen usage the gloss and bewtye of the same garments
ys lost, and cannot so well serve to be often alteryd, and to be shewyde
before hyr hyghnes, as otherwyes yt myght and hath byn usyde; for yt
takythe more harme by once werynge into the cytye or contre, where yt
ys often usyd, then by many tymes werynge in the court, by the grett
presse of people, and fowlnes bothe of the weye and soyll of the werers;
who for the most part be of the meanest sort of mene, to the grett dysoredyr of the same aparrell, which afterwarde ys to be shewyd before
her heyghnes, and to be worne by theme of grett callynge: and ytt is also
to the doble charges of hyr grace.'
He prays, therefore, that some remedy may be afforded, by taking the
garments to pieces after they have been worn at Court, or otherwise;
and subjoins a list of twenty-one instances in which he can prove that
the apparel of the Revels had been thus let out to hire: they are curious,
as they shew the extreme frequency of entertainments at which such
dresses could be employed. The list is entitled,
'A noett off certeyne maskes of the quenes magestyes, which hathe
been lent by the offycers of the revells, syns the fyrst of Janvarye last
past, 1571. I
(i. In primis the gownes of red clothe of golde, wyche was alteryd for
lyncolnes in, Janvarye last.
2. Item the yello clothe of golde gownes, lent to greyes in in Janarye.
' 3. Lent the new mask of blak and whytt, which was shewyd before
the quene in the crystmas holydays: the same mask was lent to the
Temple in the crystmas tyme.,, ', e.

192 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I571.
In the year 1571, the Queen was at Saffron Walden, where
she was probably attended by the Earl of Leicester's players,
as in the Town Treasurer's accounts of that year is an entry
of a small reward of 2s. 6d. paid 'Lord Leicesters Men',
while Elizabeth was there.'
'4. Lent the same mask of blak and whytt to my lord mayor, on twelff
nyght last.
' 5. Lent the yello clothe of golde gownes to the horshed tavern in
chepsyde, the 21 of Janvary.
'6. Lent the yello clothe of [gold] gownes from the bullhed in chep
to Mr. Blanks, the 28 of Janvarye.
'7. Lent the new mask of blak and whytt gounes to edward hynds
maryage into Kent, o0 of february.
'8. Lent the changable taffyte gownes, new the 14 of febrarye, from
the Seynt Jhn~ hede to Mr. ryves into flett strett.
'10, I. Lent on shrove sondaye ij masks of gownes into the char-
terhowse yarde.
'12. Lent the mask of blak and whytt gownes on maye yeve, which
cam throw chepsyde.
1 3. Lent the new morre satten gounes, the 6 of maye, to my lady
champyons.
I4. Lent the red clothe of gold gownes into Kent, the 7 of Septembre,
beyng worn ij nyghts.
'I5. Lent the red clothe of golde gownes to a taylor maryag in the
blak fryers, the 15 of Septembre.
i6. Lent the coper clothe of golde gownes, which was last made, and
on other mask into the contre, to the maryage of the dowter of my lorde
montague.
'17. Lent the red clothe of golde gownes into the bedgrowe [Budgerowe?], the 6 of octobre.
'I8. Lent the new maske of coper clothe of gold gounes to Denmans
marag, the 14 of octobre.
'19. Lent the red clothe of gold gownes the 14 of Octobre to Denmans maryage.
'20. Lent the 2 of novembre the yello clothe of golde maske into flett
street by the churche.
'21. Lent the I of novembre the blak and whytt gownes into soper
laen, to Mr. Martyns marayge.
Nichols's Progr. Eiz., i, 281, edit. 1823.

I571.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 193
Warton1 mentions the grant, in I571, of a licence to a
person of the name of Swinton, 'to have and use some plays
and games at or uppon nine severall sondaies', and he expresses a doubt, whether something dramatic may not have
been included. The 'plays and games' specified are shooting
with the broad arrow, leaping, pitching the bar, 'and the
like': the general clause at the end, 'with all such other
games as have at anye time heretofore, or now be, licensed,
used, or played', does not seem at all to embrace theatrical
representations: it alludes rather to tennis, bowling, etc.,
which had been often forbidden, and were now allowed only
under particular permission. For this purpose, on the IIth
of March I560, a warrant, under the Privy Seal, had been
issued in favour of Edward Roberts, gentleman, who was
thereby authorised to 'use and occupy the pastyme of
bowling', in or at his dwvelling house, 'for the recreation of
all manner our true subjects', etc., 'prentises and other lewd
persons only except.'
Among the Cottonian MSS. there is a very particular
account of the whole expense of the musical and dramatic
establishment of Elizabeth in 157I, under the head:'Th'office of the Treasorer of the Quenys Majesties chamber',
including 'the ordinary payments and other expenses' of that
office. Hence we find that she had I8 trumpeters, 7 violins,
6 flutes, 6 sackbuts, 10 persons called musicians, who were
probably singers (or, 'musicians for the voice' as they were.sometimes called) and 4 interlude players; besides 3 keepers
of bears and mastives; who were not unfrequently required
to contribute to the amusement of her Majesty.2 The total
1 History of English Poetry, iii, p. 153, edit. 8vo.
2 The account is made out in the following manner; and it is contained
in Cotton MS. Vespasian C, xiv:'Wages of Trompetors xviij.-Itm to Benedick Browne, Sergeaunte
VOL. I. 0
'- '. i,' *.! - l =.;.' / ** -.,,,, *,..l '* *.'*'' *';,-,,

194 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [157I.
annual charge was I2891: I2s. 8~d. It should seem also from
a MS. in the Lansdowne Collection', that in the following year
some inquiry was instituted into the increased expense of this
department; when it appeared that the salaries of the seven
performers on the violin had been increased by the addition
of I55/. 9S. 2d.-of the six flute players by the addition of
Trompetor, and xiij other trompetors, at I6d. per diem, and to iij other,
at 8d. per diem; for all their wages per annum, 401/. IOs.
'Vyolens, vij.-Itm to the vyolons, being vij of them, every one at 2od.
per diem for their wages, and I6/. 2S. 6d. for their lyveries. In all per
Ann., 325/. 15s.
'Fluytes, vj.-Itm to the Fluytes, being vj in nombre, viz., Guyllam
Duvet at 14d. per diem; Pyro Guye at 2s. 8d. per diem; Thomas Pagyngton at I2d. per diem; Allen Robson at i2d. per diem; James
Furyarte at 2od. per diem; and Nicholas Lanyer at 2od. per diem for
his wages-for his bowrde wages 7. I Is. 8d., and for his liveryes yerely
I3/. 6s. 8d. In all per Ann., I88/. 4s. 2d.
'Sagbutts, vj.-Itm'to Antony Maria and John Lanyer, Sagbuts, every
of them at I6d. per day for their wages; Raulf Grene at i6d. per diem
for his wages; Robarte May, Edwarde Petala, and Robart Howlet for
their wages, every of them at 8d. per diem; and to the sayde John
Lanyer and Raulf Grien for their bourde wages, every of them at 4d. per
diem. In all per Ann., 121. I3s. 4d.
'Musicions, x. -Itm to the Musycions, viz., to Rychard Woodwarde
and Robarte Woodwarde for their wages, every of them at 8d. per diem;
Rycharde Pike at 12d. per diem; and to the vj bretherne Bassanyes and
Antony Maria, every of them at i6/. 2s. 6d. yerely for their liveryes. In
all per Ann., I85/. 17s. 6d.
'Interlude playors, iiij. ---Itm to the iiij Enterlude playors, every of
them at 3/. 6s. 8d. per Ann. for their wages, and I/. 2s. 6d. for their
liveryes. In all, i8/.
'Keapars of Beares and Mastives, iij.-Itm to Mathew Becke, Sergeaunte of the beares, for his wages per Ann., I21. lOS. 7id. Item to
Symon Powlter, yoman, per Ann., 14/. 6s. 3d. Itm to Richard Darryngton, Mr and Kepar of the bantlogges and mastives, per Ann., 2/. 5s. Iod.
Lansdowne MS., No. 12; being 'an account, showing the increase of
payments by the Treasurer of the Queen's Chamber', in 1572.

1572.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

I95

15Z. 7s. Id.-of six players on sackbuts by the addition of
691. 17s. 6d.-and of' 5 musycions with More, the harp', by
the addition of 361. I9s. 2d. Whether reductions were then
made to this, or to any other extent we are not informed.
In 1572 we have a legislative proof, if any were wanting,
of the extreme commonness of the profession of an A. D.
actor over the whole kingdom. We have seen that 1572.
companies of players, acting as the servants of the nobility,
travelled round the country as early as the reign of Edward
IV; and from that date until 1572,. itinerant performers,
calling themselves the retainers of the nobility, had become
so numerous, that it was found necessary to pass a statute for
L their regulation and control. The I4th Eliz., c. 5, was
devised for this purpose; and in section 5 it provides, that
'all fencers, bearwards, common-players in interludes, and
minstrels, not belonging to any Baron of this realm, or
to any other honorable personage of greater degree; all
jugglers, pedlars, tinkers and petty chapmen, which said
fencers, bearwards, common-players in interludes, minstrels,
&amp;c., shall wander abroad, and not have licence of two
justices of the peace at the least', shall be deemed, and dealt
with as rogues and vagabonds.' The evil was, that many
companies strolled about the kingdom without any authority
or protection, although pretending to have it; and all such by
1 Malone does not seem to have been aware of the existence of this
statute (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 48), and refers to the 39th of Eliz.,
c. 4, as the first act which, by implication, authorized noblemen to license
players. The 39th of Elizabeth was passed to revive the I4th of Elizabeth, the terms of which it nearly follows, requiring in addition, that the
players of the nobility, wandering abroad, should be 'authorized to play'
under 'the hand and seal of arms' of the Baron or personage of greater
degree. The evil had, doubtless, increased in 1595, and a question had
perhaps arisen how strolling companies were to prove their protection.
02
r* -. C,; 02; AL,' ' t '*,. *.,. *.*.;. -., a &gt;. ' '',

I96

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I572.

the statute of 1572 are declared rogues and vagabonds, and
liable to the treatment and punishment inflicted upon such
persons.
At the period at which we have now arrived, we
hear of the exhibitions by the 'players of the nobility, in
nearly all the large towns of England, where they were
generally received and aided by the corporations: their
names are not often given, but the practice was usually, if
they could not obtain the use of any large hall or other
public building, to perform in the open air, and by daylight:
to pay themselves they usually collected money among the
crowd, and if (as of course was usually the case), the money
thus taken did not satisfy the wishes of the performers, additions were made by the Corporation from its funds. In I571
Lockwood, 'the Quene's Majesty's Jester' was paid 2s. 6d., and
in the next year he was paid the same sum, though his
name is not given. In I572, in the same accounts, we
find that the players of Lord Worcester, of Coventry, the
Queen's Players, the Earl of Leycester's Players, the
Players of the Earl of Sussex, the Lord Derby, and various
others, were paid 8s., 7s. 4d., 5s., and 6s. 8d.; while the Bearward of the Earl of Essex obtained no less than I9s. 8d. out
of the corporate funds. In most of these cases a gathering
from the crowd had also been made, but not to the desired
extent.1 The names of the Earl of Worcester's Players are
given, one of them being Edward Allen, who may have been
the founder of Dulwich College: the others were Robert Browne,
Jas.Tunstall, William Harrison, Thomas Cooke, Richard Jones,
Edward Brown, and Richard Andrews; and at about the date
we have now reached they had a very angry dispute with
the Corporation of Leicester, which we find thus related in
the original town-records. We copy it for its singularity:See Kelly's Leicester Accounts, etc., p. 204.

I572.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

197

' Mm that Mr. Mayor did geve the aforesaid playors an angell 1
towards their dinner, &amp; willed them not to playe at the present,
being Fryday the vjth of Marche, for that the time was not convenient. The foresaid playors mett Mr. Mayor in the strete near
Mr. Newcomes house, after the angell was given about two houres,
who then craved lycence agayne to play at their inn, and he told
them they should not: then they went away, and sayd they wold
play whether he wold or not, and in despite of him, with divers other
evyll and contemptuous words. Witness hereof Mr. Newcom, Mr.
Wycam and Willm. Dethicke.
'More. These men, contrary to Mr. Mayor's commandment, went
with their drum and trumpets thorowe the Towne in contempt of
Mr. Mayor, neither wold come at his commandment by his Officer,
viz.:-Wm. Pateson my lord Harbards man, Tho. Powlton my lord
of Worcester's man; where they did so much abuse Mr. Mayor in
the aforesayd words.
'Nota. These sayd Playors have submitted themselves &amp; are
sorrye for there words past and craved pardon, desyeringe his Worshyp not to write to there Master agayne; and so upon there submyssyn
they are lycensed to play this night at there inn: and also they have
promysed that upp6n the Stage, in the begynying of there play, to
shoe to the hearers that they are licensed to playe by Mr. Mayor and
his good will, and that they are sory for the words past.'
The probability is that such a scene, as is here described
with so much particularity, was not unfrequently enacted in
populous places; and that the self-importance of the public
authorities was often thus outraged by the insolence of travelling companies of players; who wished to act even in spite of
the authority, or of the religious. opinions of some of the
inhabitants. What we have quoted may, therefore, be takenJ
as a specimen.
The royal revels between Shrovetide 1571, and May 31,
1572, were more than usually costly. 'A brief declaration'
of the charges for ' new making, setting forthe, &amp; furnishing

I98

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I572.

divers maskes and playes shewen before her Majestie',' proves
the expense to have been 3905/. os. 7d. No particulars are
given to enable us to judge of the nature of the performances,
beyond an item for 'the hire of armour for settinge forthe of
divers playes.' In the Chapter-house, Westminster; was a
Privy Seal by the Queen, dated 4th May 1572, for the payment of 501. to 'Lewes Stocket, Esquire, Surveyor of the
Works', for what he had done towards the representation of
'Playes and Tragedies at Christmas, and Shrovetyde last.'
Stow and Holinshed agree in stating, that after the conclusion of the league with France, the Duke de Montmorency, Paule de Foix, and Bertrand de Saligners arrived
in this country as ambassadors 'about the ninth of June
1572.' Magnificent preparations were made for their entertainment; and a Privy Seal was issued, dated the I8th June
I572,2 for the payment of 300/. to John Fortescue, Esq.,
Master of the Great Wardroble, and of 200/. to Lewes
Stocket, Surveyor of the Works, for the revels and triumphs
on this occasion. In the British Museum, is an account dated
I2th July 1572, in the French language, of all the cloth of
gold, silks, velvets, etc., furnished by John Fortescue, Esq., to
Sir Thomas Benger, Maitre de les Maskes, Revelles et
Triumphes, the value of which was no less than 37571. 8s.3
By a statement in the Office of Auditors of the Imprest it
appears, that a temporary banqueting-house was erected at
Whitehall for the reception of the Duke and his train, which
cost 224/. 6s. iod.; but it is impossible to separate from the
general account of the Revels all the items which relate to
the ceremonies at this date. The total amount there stated,
is I427Z. I2s. 6id.; but it includes certain preparations for
1 Lansdowne MS., No. 9.
2 It was in the Chapter-house, Westminster; among the Privy Seals
of the reign of Elizabeth. 3 Lansdowne MS., No. 9.

1572.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

199

plays at Christmas and Shrovetide, performed by a company
of boys under Richard Mulcaster, then Master of the Merchant Tailors' School; by the children of Windsor; by
Dutton's company, by Lord Leicester's men, and by Elderton's players.' One of the pieces acted was upon the story
of Theagines and Chariclea, and another was called The play
of Fortune. The Mask of Yanus is mentioned; and in
another Apollo and the Nine Muses sat upon an artificial
mcunt drawn in a chariot fourteen feet long, and eight feet
wide. Discord, in a collar and shackles, seems to have been
prominent in that part of the entertainments.
It is a fact, not noticed by Malone nor Chalmers, that the
preceding was the last occasion on which Sir Thomas Benger
acted as Master of the Revels. At his death, in March 1577,
he was greatly in debt, and possibly his embarrassments
might interfere with the discharge of his official duties.2 His
secession is established by several documents. He received
from the Master of the Great Wardrobe the cloth of gold,
silks, velvets, etc., spoken of in the preceding paragraph, in
his capacity of Master of the Revels; but when the account
was sent in to the Lord Treasurer (among whose papers it is
preserved)3 it was indorsed in the following manner:1 According to Kempe's Losely MSS., p. 47, it appears that as early
as 1552 Elderton had played the fourth son of the Lord of Misrule: he
was then young, but he terminated his-career as a popular ballad-writer,
and was famous for his red nose. He was dead before i606, and his
latest known publication was A new merey NVews, printed in that year.
2 Chalmers found his will proved in the Prerogative Office on the
27th March I577, by Thomas Fugal, his Chaplain and Executor. The
testator admits, that he left 'many debts with very few goods to pay
them'. (Apolofgy, p. 482.) Sir T. Benger had also a grant of fines on
alienations, but he complained that it did not add much either to his
consequence or to his wealth.
3 Lansdowne MS., No. 9.

200

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1573-4.

'Touching Sir Thom. Benger, K. late Mr. of the Masks,
Revells, &amp; Tryumphs, of certen stuffe receaved owte of the
greate Wardrobe.' In the 'booke of all the charges growen
within thoffice of her Majesties Revells from the last of
A. D. October I573, until the Ist March I573[4]', it is
1573. stated, that during that period of four months
'Thomas Blagrave, Esquier, servid therein as Master, according to her Majestys pleasure to him signifyed by the Right
honourable Lord Chamberlaine', the Earl of Sussex. He had
no regular appointment as Master of the Revels until after
the death of Sir Thomas Benger; and we may therefore conclude, that although Sir Thomas Benger ceased to act, he
retained his situation, Blagrave, by the Queen's order, discharging the duties as deputy.
The cost of the Revels at Christmas, New-year-tide,
Twelfth-tide and Shrovetide (all falling within the four
A. D. months from the end of October I573, to the be1573-4. ginning of March 1573-4), was 6721. I4s. 2d.: it
included the expenses of preparations, etc., for plays and
masks (each mask having its torch-bearers), a list of which,
as performed at Christmas, New-year-tide and Twelfth-tide,
is given as follows, in the account in the Office [of the Auditors of the Imprest.1
'Pedor &amp;' Lucia, played by therle of Leicesters Servaunts upon
St Steevens daye at nighte at Whitehall.
'4Alkmeon, played by the Children of Powles on St. Johns daye at
nighte there.
* 'Mamillia, playde by therle of Leicesters Servaunts on Innocents
daye at nighte there.
'Truth, Faythfulnesse &amp;' Mercye, playde by the Children of Westminster for Elderton, upon New-yeares daye at night there.
'Heerpetulus, the blew Knighte, and Perobia, playde by my lord
Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 375.
_

I573-4.]

ANNALS OF THEE STAG;E.

201

Klintons servants the 3d of January, beinge the Sundaye after Newyeares day there.
'Quintus Fabius, playde by the Children of Wyndsor for Mr. Farrant on Twelfe daye at nighte; likewise at Whitehall.'
The three Masks at Whitehall were the following:'Lance Knights vi, in blew sattyn gaskon cotes and sloppes.Torche bearers vi, in black and yelo taffata, &amp;c. Showen on St.
Johns daye at nighte.
'Forresters, or Hunters vi, in green sattyn gaskon cotes and
sloppes.-Torche bearers attyred in mosse and ivye &amp;c. Shewen on
New-yeares daye at nighte.
'Sages vi, in long gownes of counterfet cloth of golde, &amp;c.
Torche bearers in long gownes of red damask. Showen on Twelfe
daye at nighte.'
Among the properties, etc., for these several performances,
were 'canvass to paynte for howses for the players', monsters,
great hollow trees; 'bays for the Prologgs'; 'a jebbett to
hang up Diligence';1 counterfeit fishes for the play of Pedor;
a dragon's head; a truncheon for the Dictator; deal boards
for the Senate-house; and 'pynnes, styf and greate, for paynted
clothes.'
On Candlemas night, it appears by the same authority,
only one play was performed by Mulcaster's children at
Hampton Court: it was called Timoclia at the siege of Thebes;
and in consequence of the 'tediousness of the play', a mask
of ladies representing the six Virtues could not be performed. Among the charges, is 7s. Iod. to 'the scrivener
for writing in fayre text the 8 Speeches dd (delivered) to her
Majestie.'
Probably in the Moral, Moral-play, or Morality of Truth, Faithfulness,
and Mercy: the other productions had, possibly, some resemblance to
dramas, historical or fabulous.!, * *_- ". ', *: *** \ ** **^ "''':

202

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I574.

Two plays and two masks were represented at Shrovetide:
the plays were:Philimon and Philecia, playde by the Erle of Leicesters
men on Shrovemundaye at nighte.
Perseus and Anthomeris,l playde by Munkester's [Mulcaster's] children on Shrovetewsdaye at nighte.
The maskes were 'Warriors VJI, with one shipp-master that
uttered speeche'; and 'Ladyes VII, with one that uttered a
speeche', each having torch-bearers as usual.
The charges on this occasion, among other articles, were
for 'fethers for the new maskers'; 'carriage of frames and
painted clothes for the players howses'; 'diets for children
while learning their parts and gestures'; and for an Italian
woman and her daughter, who lent and dressed the hairs of
the children.
It has been seen that the Earl of Leicester's players are
frequently mentioned in the accounts of the Office of the
Revels, and that they performed before the Queen three
times within the four months preceding March Ist, I573-4.
We now arrive at an important event in the history of our
stage-the grant of the first Royal Patent conceded in this
country to performers of plays. The Earl of Leicester,
through his influence with the Queen, procured it, as a special
privilege for his own servants, James Burbadge (no doubt the
father of Richard Burbadge, who afterwards obtained such
great distinction in his profession), John Perkyn, John Lanham,
_William Johnson, and Robert Wylson. The 'licence', as it
has been erroneously termed, for these five actors, has hitherto
'Malone conjectured that this was an ignorant blunder of the person
making out the accounts for Andromeda, and no doubt he was right. In
the Book of Charges of the preceding year, the following item is contained, ' John Arnolde, Yeoman of the office, for mony by him payd to
Arnolde the paynter, for the picture of Andromeda.'

1574.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 203
been printed from a MS. in the unpublished collections of
Rymer, in. the British Museum:1 we were fortunate
enough to discover the original Privy Seal in the Chapterhouse, Westminster, which fixes the date of the grant at
Greenwich, on the 7th, and not at Westminster on the Ioth
of May 1574,2 as it stands in Rymer's inaccurate A.D.
copy. On comparing the two, it will be found that I574.
there are other material variations, independent of the fact,
that it was not a mere 'licence' which was conceded, but a
Patent under the Great Seat the Privy Seal directing that
such an instrument should be prepared. We reprint it precisely as it stands in the original document formerly in the
Chapter-house, Westminster.
BY THE QUEENE.
'RIGHT TRUSTIE and welbeloved Counsellor we grete you well, and
will and commaunde yow, that under our Privie Seale for the tyme
being in yor keping, yow cause our lres to be directed to the keper of
our greate Seale of England, willing and comaunding him, that
under our said greate Seale he cause our Ires patents to be made
forth in forme following. ELIZABETH by the grace of god Quene of
England, France, and Ireland, defendor of the faith, &amp;c. To ALL
Justices, Mayors, Sheriefs, Bayliffs, head Constables, under Constables, and all other our officers and ministers greeting. Knowe ye
that we, of our especiall grace, certen knowledge and mere mocion,
have licenced and authorized, &amp; by these psents do license and
'Ayscough's Cat. of MSS., Sloane, No. 4625. It was first published
from this copy by Steevens in his Shakespeare, ii, 156.
2 The variation in the date may arise from the circumstance, that the
Privy Seal was issued on the 7th of May, and the Patent not made out
until the loth of May. It will be observed, likewise, that some of the
names are spelt differently in the Privy Seal, and in the MS. in the
Museum: the spelling of Burbadge supports Chalmers's conjecture, as to
the etymology, and true orthography of that name.

204

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1574.

aucthorize, our loving subjects James Burbadge, John Perkyn, John
Lanham, William Johnson, and Robert Wylson, servaunts to or
trustie and welbeloved cosyn and Counsellor, the Earle of Leicestre,
To use, exercise and occupie the art and faculty of playeing Comedies, Tragedies, Enterludes, Stage playes, and such other like, as they
have alredy used and studied, or hereafter shall use and studye, as
well for the recreacion of our loving subjects, as for our solace and
pleasure, when we shall thinke good to se them. As also to use and
occupye all such Instromts as they have alredy practised, or hereafter
shall practise, for &amp; during our plesr: And the said Comedies, Tragedies, Enterludes, and Stage playes, together wth there musick, to
shewe, publisshe, exercise and occupy to their best comoditie during
all the terme afforesaid, as well wthin our Cyty of London and Libties
of the same, as also wthin the liberties and fredoms of any our Cytyes,
townes, Boroughes, &amp;c. whatsoever, as wth out the same, throughout
our Realme of England: willing and commaunding yow and every of
yow, as ye tender our pleasure, to p'mit and suffer them herin wthout
any yor letts, hinderance, or molestacion during the terme afforesaid,
any act, statute, p'clamacion, or comaundmt hertofore made, or herafter to be made, to the contrary notwthstanding. Provided that the
saide Comedies, Tragadies, Enterludes, and Stage-playes be by the
Mr of our Revills (for the tyme being) before seen and allowed, and
that the same be not publisshed, or shewen in the tyme of commen
prayer, or in the tyme of great and common plague in our said Cyty
of London. In witnes whereof, &amp;c. And these our lres shalbe yor
sufficient warrt and discharge in this behalf.
'Geven under our signet, at or mannor of Greenewich, the vijth daye
of maye, the sixtenth yere of our reigne, 1574.
'Exd

1574.]

ANNALS OF TH-E STAGE..

205

'It is indorsed "Players", and addressed at the back,
'To or right trustie and welbeloved Counsellor, Sr Thomas Smyth,
knight, Keper of Or Privie Seale for the tyme being.'
This instrument empowers the five persons named in it,
during the Queen's pleasure, to use, exercise, and occupythe art
and faculty of playing comedies, tragedies, interludes, and stage
plays, as well for the recreation of the Queen's subjects, as for
her own solace and pleasure 'within the City of London' and
its liberties, land within any cities, towns, and boroughs
throughout England. It will be remarked that the privilege
thus given to the Earl of Leicester's players to perform within
the City of London and its liberties is an omission in the copy
of the 'license', as it existed among Rymer's unpublished
papers,1 and its importance will be evident from what followed
this great dramatic event.
It is quite evident that it was an error by Rymer's scribe, as the
words he gives at the close 'in our said city of London' have no reference to anything preceding.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
FROM THE YEAR 1575 TO TIE YEAR 1585.
THE special right conceded to the players of the Earl of Leicester was strenuously opposed by the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London:1 whether prior to the 22nd of July 1574, the
company had made any attempt to perform within the City,
Before the grant and the date of the Patent, it seems that formal application had been made by letter to the civic authorities, that a person
of the name of Holmes might be allowed to fix upon fit and convenient
places for the representation of 'plays and interludes' within the boundaries of the City. The alarm seems to have been instantly taken, and in
March 1573, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and other leading personages
wrote a very strong remonstrance on the subject, which they addressed
to the Lord Chamberlain of that day, declining respectfully to take the
course proposed to them: their representation, however, seems to have
been of no avail; it was in the following form, as we find in the Cotton.
MSS. (Roll xvi, No. 41):'To the right honorable our singuler good Lord, the Erle of Sussex,
Lord Chamberlan of the Quenes Maties most honorable household.
'Our dutie to yor good L. humbly done. Where yor L. hath made
request in favor of Mr. Holmes for our assent that he might have the
apointement of places for playes and enterludes within this citie. It may
please your L. to reteine vndouted assurance of our redinesse to gratifie,
in any thing that we reasonably may, any persone whom yor L. shal
favor and commend. Howbeit this case is such, and so nere touching
the governance of this citie in one of the greatest maters therof, namely

I575.1]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.E

207

and were not allowed to do so by the magistracy, does not
appear; but on that day, a licence was granted by the Privy
Council, 'to the players to go to London, and to be well used
on their voyage'; and a letter was then also written to the
Lord Mayor, requiring him 'to admit the comedy players
within the city of London, and to be otherwise favourably
used'.' Perhaps temporary obedience was paid to this mandate; but, in the next year, 1575, the Common Council
adopted orders for the regulation of plays, which, if carried
into execution, would have had the effect of entirely preventing their exhibition within the city.
This 'Act of Common Council', as it is termed, refers, in
what may be considered its preamble, to the 'disorders and
the assemblies of multitudes of the Quene's people, and regard to be had
to sondry inconveniences wherof the peril is continually vpon euerie occasion to-be foreseen by the rulers of this citie, that we can not with our
duties, byside the president farre extending to the hurt of our liberties,
well assent that the sayd apointement of places be committed to any
priuate persone. For which and other resonable considerations it hath
long since pleased yor good L., among the rest of her maties most honorable counsell, to rest satisfied with our not graunting the like to such
persons as by their most honorable lettres was heretofore in like case
commended vnto us. Byside that if it might with resonable convenience
be graunted, great offres haue ben and be made for the same to the
relefe of the poore in the hospitalles; which we hold, or assured, that yor
L. will well allow that we preferre before the benefit of any private
persone. And so we commit yor L. to the tuition of Almighty God. At
London this second of march 1573.-Yor L. humble,
tI ~ ~ John Ryvers, Maior; Row. Haywarde, Alder.; William Allyn,
Aldarman; Leonell Duckett, alder.; Jarvys Haloys, Aldarman; Ambrose Nichas, Ald.; John Langley, Ald.; Thomas
Ramsey, Wyllyam Bond, John Olyffe, Richard Pype, Wm. Box,
Thomas Blanke, Nicholas Woodrof, John Branch, Anthony
Gamage, Wyllm Kympton, Wolstan Dixe.'
'Both these facts are stated in the registers of the Privy Council for
the month of July 1574.
I.*,,,, ' *;,,,,. f! s.. 0 ^. is;. X ' 0 l ':mtv. ^

208

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I575.

inconveniences' resulting from the performance of plays, interludes, and shews; and then it enacts, under pain of fine
and imprisonment, that no play shall be performed in the
f City which has not first been 'perused and allowed' by
persons to be appointed by the Lord Mayor and Court of
Aldermen; that.the licence of the Lord Mayor shall be necessary before every public exhibition; and that half the money
taken shall be applied to charitable purposes. This document
has been printed by Strype in his edition of Stow's Survey
(i, 292), but the errors there are numerous, and as it throws
new light on the state of the drama at the period of which
we are now speaking, we insert it in a note from the original
MS. in the British Museum.1
We have no distinct evidence as to the result of this contest
between the Court and City, but it is to be doubted, whether
Lansdowne MSS., No. 20.
'Orders of the Common Council, made Dec. 6, I7th Eliz., James
Hawes, Mayor, and William Fleetwood, Recorder.
'Wheareas heartofore sondrye greate disorders and inconvenyences
have benne found to ensewe to this Cittie by the inordynate hauntynge
of greate multitudes of people, speciallye youthe, to playes, enterludes
and shewes; namelye occasyon of frayes and quarrelles,Teavell practizes
of incontinencye in greate Innes, havinge chambers and secrete places
adjoyninge to their open stagies and gallyries, inveyglynge and allewrynge of maides, speciallye orphanes, and good cityzens children under
age, to previe and unmete contractes, the publishinge of unchaste, uncomelye, and unshamefaste speeches and doyngesgwithdrawinge of the
Quenes Majesties subjectes from dyvyne service on Soundaies &amp; holydaies, at which tymes such playes weare chefelye used, unthriftye waste
of the moneye of the poore &amp; fond persons, sondrye robberies by
pyckinge and cuttinge of purses, utteringe of popular, busye and sedycious matters, and manie other corruptions of youthe, and other enormyties; besydes that allso soundrye slaughters and mayeminges of the
Quenes Subjectes have happened by ruines of Skaffoldes, ffragnes and
Stages, and by engyfes, weapons and powder used in plaies. And whear

1575.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

209

players at any period obtained a positive, and an unresisted
settlement within the bounds of the authority of the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen; and shortly after Dec. 1575, we meet
in tyme of Goddes visitacion by the plaigue suche assemblies of the
people, in thronge and presse, have beene verye daungerous for spreadinge
of Infection; and for the same, and other greate cawses, by the authoritie
of the honorable Id. maiors of this Cyttie and thaldermen their brethern,
and speciallye vppon the severe and earneste admonition of the Ls. of the
moste honorable Councell, wth signifyenge of her Maties expresse pleasure
and comaundemente in that behalfe, suche vse of playes, interludes, and
shewes hathe beene duringe this tyme of syckenes forbydden and restrayned. And for that the lorde Maior and his bretheren thaldermen,
together wth the grave and discrete Citizens in the Comen Councell assemblyd, doo doughte and feare leaste vppon Goddes mercyfull wthdrawinge his hand of syckenes from vs (wch God graunte) the people,
speciallye the meaner and moste vnrewlye sorte, should, wth sodayne
forgettinge of his visytacion, wthowte feare of goddes wrathe, and wthowte
deowe respecte of the good and politique meanes, that he hathe ordeyned
for the preservacon of comen weales and peoples in healthe and good
order, retourne to the vndewe vse of suche enormyties, to the greate
offence of God, the Queenes maties comaundements and good governance.
Nowe therefore to the intent that sudhe perilles maie be avoyded, and
the lawfull, honest and comelye vse of plaies, pastymes, and recreacons
in good sorte onelye pmitted, and good pvision hadd for the saiftie and
well orderynge of the people thear assemblydd: Be yt enactedc by the
Authoritie of this Comen Counsell, that from henceforthe no playe,
comodye, tragidie, enterlude, nor publycke shewe shalbe openlye played
or shewed wthin the liberties of the Cittie, whearin shalbe vttered anie
wourdes, examples, or doynges of anie vnchastitie, sedicion, nor suche
lyke vnfytt, and vncomelye matter, vppon paine of imprisonment by the
space of xiiijten daies of all psons offendinge in anie suche open playinge,
or shewinges, and v1i. for evrie suche offence. And that no Inkeper,
Tavernkeper, nor other pson whatsoevr, wthin the liberties of thys Cittie,
shall openlye shewe, or playe, nor cawse or suffer to be openlye shewed
or played wthin the hous yarde or anie other place wthin the liberties of
this Cyttie, anie playe, enterlude, comodye, tragidie, matter, or shewe
wch shall not be firste perused, and allowed in suche order and fourme,
and by suche psons as by the Lorde Maior and courte of Aldermen for
VOL. I. P

210

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I575.

with a set of printed 'Orders, appointed to be executed in the
Cittie of London', one of which refers directly to the matter
at issue, and looks as if the perseverance of the authorities
the tyme being shalbe appoynted, nor shalle suffer to be enterlaced,
added, mynglydd, or vttered in anie suche playe, enterlude, comodye,
tragidie or shewe, anie other matter then suche as shalbe firste perused
and allowed, as ys abovesaid. And that no pson shall suffer anie plays,
enterludes, comodyes, tragidies, or shewes to be played or shewed in his
hous, yarde, or other place, wheareof he then shall have rule or power,
but onelye suche psons, and in suche places, as upon good and reasonable consideracions shewed, shalbe thearvnto permitted and allowed by
the lord maior and Aldermen for the tyme being: neither shall take or
vse anie benifitt, or advantage of suche permission or allowaunces, before
or vntill suche pson be bound to the Chamberlaine of London for the
tyme beinge wth suche suerties, and in suche Sume, and suche fourme for
the keepinge of good order, and avoydinge of the discordes and inconvenyences abovesaid, as by the Lorde Maior and Courte of Aldermen for
the tyme beinge shall seeme convenyent; neither shall vse or execute
anie suche lycence, or permission at or in anie tymes in wch the same for
anie reasonable consideracon of sycknes or otherwise, shalbe by the lorde
Maior and aldermen, by publique pclamacion or by pcept to suche psons,
restrayned or comaunded to staye and cease; nor in anie vsuall tyme of
Dyvyne Service in the soundaie or hollydaie; nor receyve anie to that
purpose in tyme of Service to se the same, apon payne to forfecte for
evrie offence vli. And be yt enacted, that evrie pson so to be lycensed
or pmitted shall during the tyme of suche contynuaunce of suche lycens
or pmission, paye or cawse to be paid, to the vse of the poore in hospitalles of the Cyttie, or of the poore of the Cyttie visyted wth sycknes, by
the dyscretion of the said lorde Maior and Aldermen, suche somes and
paymentes, and in suche forme as between the lord Maior and Aldermen
for the tyme beinge, on th'onne partie, and suche pson so to be lycensed
or pmitted, on thother partie, shalbe agreed, upon payne that in waunte
of everie suche paymente, or if suche pson shall not firste be bound with
good suerties to the Chamberlayne of London for the tyme beinge for the
trewe payment of such Somes to the poore, that then.everye suche lycence
or pmission shalbe vtterlye voide, and everie doinge by force or cullor of
suche lycence or pmission, shalbe adjudged an offence againste this
acte in suche manner as if no suche lycence or pmission hadd benne

I575.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 211
there, in their violent hostility to plays and players, had, for
a time at least, been successful. One of them is in the
following terms:'For as much as the playing of enterludes, and the resort to the
same, are very daungerous for the infection of the plague, wherby
infinite burdens and losses to the Citty may increase, and are very
hurtfull in corruption of youth with incontinence and lewdnes; and
also great wasting both of the time and thrift of many poore people,
and great provoking of the wrath of God, the ground of all plagues,
great withdrawing of the people from publique prayer, and from the
service of God, and daily cried out against by the preachers of the
Word of God; therefore it is ordered, that all such enterludes in
hadd, nor made, aine suche lycence or pmission to the contrarye notwthstandinge. And be yt lykewise enacted, that all somes and forfeytures
to be incurrydd for anie offence against this Acte, and all forfeytures of
bondes to be taken by force, meane, or occasyon of this Acte, shalbe ymployed to the reliefe of the poore in the hospitalles of this Cittie, or the
poore infected or diseased in this Cittie of London, as the Lorde Maior
and Courte of Aldermen for the tyme beinFe shall adjudge meete to be
distributed: and that the Chamberlayne of London shall have and recover the same to the purpozies aforesaid by Bill, Plainte, Acion of debt,
or ynformacon to be comenced and pursewed in his owne name in the
Courte of the vtter Chamber of the Guildhall of London, called the
Maiors Courte: in wch sute no essoine nor wager of law for the Defendaunte shalbe admittyd or allowed. Provydid allwaie that this Acte
(otherwise then touchinge the publishing of unchaste, sedycious, and
vnmete matters) shall not extend to anie plaies, Enterludes, Comodies,
Tragidies, or shewes to be played or shewed in the pryvate hous, dwellinge, or lodginge of anie nobleman, citizen, or gentleman, wch shall or
will then have the same thear so played or shewed in his presence, for
the festyvitie of anie marriage, assemblye of ffrendes, or otherlyke cawse,
wthowte publique or comen collection of money of the auditorie, or behoulders theareof; referringe alwaie to the Lorde Maior and Aldermen
for the time beinge the Judgement, and construction accordinge to
equitie, what shalbe counted such a playenge or shewing in a pryvate
place, anie thinge in this Acte to the contrarie notwthstanding.'
P2

212 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I575.
publique places, and the resort to the same, shall wholy be prohibited
as ungodly; and humble sute made to the Lords, that lyke prohibition be in places neere unto the Cittie."
This order is in the very spirit of the 'Act of Common
Council', and almost follows it in some of its terms: it treats
the matter as if the Lords of the Privy Council had no power
to interfere with the regulations of the City, and as if the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen had a right to call upon their Lordships
to second their views by abolishing plays in the suburbs.
The same volume of MSS. which gives the 'Act of Common
Council' of I575,2 also contains a petition from the Queen's
Players to the Privy Council, indorsed with the date of the
same year: it was, doubtless, presented in that year, and has
immediate reference to the refusal of the Lord Mayor to allow
actors to perform within the City. It appears, on the same
authority, that the Justices of Middlesex had also interposed
with a similar view, as respected places within their jurisdiction. The petition, which we subjoin, and an extract only
from which is given by Strype, makes mention of certain
'articles' which accompanied it, which are now unfortunately
wanting:'To THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LORDES OF HER MATIES
r5 ~ PRIVIE COUNSELL.
'In most humble manner beseche yor Lls yor dutifull and daylie
Orators the Queenes Maties poore Players. Whereas the tyme of our
service draweth verie neere, so that of necessitie wee must needes
have exercise to enable us the better for the same, and also for our
better helpe and relief in our poore lyvinge, the ceason of the yere
'From 'Orders appointed to be executed in the Cittie of London for
setting rogues and idle persons to worke, and for the releefe of the poore.'
At London, printed by Hugh Singleton, dwelling in Smith fielde at the
signe of the Golden Tunne.' n. d.
2 Lansdowne MSS., No. 20.
- - ',
M&gt;.. - **. -..-..,. * r

1575.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 213
beynge past to playe att anye of the houses wthout the Cittye of
London', as in our articles annexed to this our Supplicacion maye
more att large appeere unto yor Lls. Our most humble peticion ys,
thatt yt maye please yor Lls. to vouchsaffe the readinge of these few
Articles, and in tender consideracion of the matters therein mentioned, contayninge the verie staye and good state of our lyvinge, to
graunt unto us the confirmacion of the same, or of as many, or as much
of them as shalbe to yor honors good lykinge. And therwthall yor Lls.
favorable letters unto the L. Mayor of London to p'mitt us to exercise
wthin the Cittye, accordinge to the Articles; and also thatt the said
l'res maye containe some order to the Justices of Midd'x, as in the
same ys mentioned, wherbie, as wee shall cease the continewall
troublinge of yor Lls. for yor often l'res in the premisses, so shall wee
daylie be bownden to praye for the prosperous preservation of yor Lls.
in honor, helth, and happines long to continew.
' or LIs humblie bownden and daylie Orators,
'HER MATIES POOR PLAYERS.'2 J
It is to be concluded that the Privy Council, out of respect,
perhaps, to the city authorities, sent them a copy of this petition, and of its accompanyingArticles; and to the former is
subjoined, in the Lansdowne MS., a paper in which each point
advanced is treated and answered seriatim: it is only a matter
of inference, founded upon internal evidence, that this reply
1 Hence we may decide that this petition, which is without date, was
sent to the Privy Council on the approach of winter; the Queen's players
having contented themselves, during the summer and autumn, with performing in the neighbourhood of London, or in the provinces.
2 No signatures are appended, and it is not easy to determine who were
meant in I575 by 'her Majesties poore Players': perhaps the Earl of
Leicester's servants might so call themselves after the grant of the patent
in May I574. There was no company known as 'the Queen's Players'
until afterwards. It is possible, that the persons who signed this petition
were the Queen's ' Players of Interludes', a company, as we haye seen,
retained at Court from the reign of Henry VII, and augmented by his successor from four to eight performers.
I -'
):,

214

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I575.

emanated from the Lord Mayor and Aldermen; and, if so, it
is not unlikely that it was drawn up by Recorder Fleetwood:
it very well merits insertion, especially as it has not been
before printed.
' NOW TOUCHING THEIR PETITION AND ARTICLES.
Where they pretend, that they must have exercise to enable
them in their service before her Majestie.
'It is to be noted, that it is not convenient, that they present
before her Matie such playes as have ben before commonly played in
open stages before all the basest assemblies in London and Midd'x;
and therefore sufficient for their exercise, and more comely for the
place, that (as it is permitted by the sayd lawes of common counsell)!
they make their exercise of playeng only in private houses.
'Also, it lyeth within the dutiefull care for her Majestie's royal -
persone, that they be not suffred, from playeng in the throng of a B
multitude, and of some infected, to presse so nere to the presence of
her Matie.
'Where they pretend the matter of stay of their lyving.
' It hath not ben used, nor thought meete heretofore, that players
have, or should make their lyving on the art of playeng; but men
for their lyvings using other honest and lawfull artes, or reteyned in
honest services, have by companies learned some interludes, for some
encrease to their profit by other mens pleasures in vacant time of
recreation.
i_ (L'Where, in the first article, they require the Lord Maior's order
to continue for the times of playeng on hollydaies,
'They misreport the order, for all those former orders of toleration
are expired by the last printed act of Common Counsell.
'Also, if the toleration were not expired, they do cautelously omitt
the prohibition to receive any auditories before common prayer be
ended. And it may be noted, how vncomely it is for youth to runne
streight from prayer to playes, from Gods service to the devells.
'To their second article.
' If in winter the dark do cary inconvenience, and the short time of

I575.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 215
/ day after evening prayer do leave them no leysure, and fowleness of
season do hinder the passage into the feldes to playes, the remedie is
ill conceyved to bring them into London: but the true remedie is to
leave of that unnecessarie expense of time, wherunto God himself
geveth so many impediments.
'To the third. -7
'To play in plagetime is to increase the plage by infection: to play
out of plagetime is to draw the plage by offendinge of God vpon occasion of such playes.
' But touching the permission of playes vpon the fewnesse of those
that dye in any weke, it may please you to remember one special
thing. In the report of the plage we report only those that dye, and
we make no report of those that recover, and cary infection about
them, either in their sores running, or in their garments, which sort
are the most dangerous. Now, my lord, when the number of those
that dye groweth fewest, the number of those that goe abrode with
sores is greatest, the violence of the disease to kill being abated. And
therfore while any plage is, though the number reported of them that
dye be small, the number infectious is so great, that playes are not to
be permitted.
'Also, in our report none are noted as dyeng of the plage except
~) ~ they have tokens; but many dye of the plage that have no tokens;
and sometime fraude of the searchers mav deceive,. Therefore it is,\ "x not reason to reduce their toleration to any number reported to dye
x i -of the plage; but it is an uncharitable demaund against the safetie of
~~(;the Quenes subjects, and per consequens of her person, for the gaine
of a few, whoe if they were not her Maties servaunts should by their
profession be rogues, to esteme fifty a weke so small a number as to
be cause of tolerating the adventure of infection.
'If your Lordships shal think resonable to permit them in respect
of the fewnesse of such as dye, this were a better way. The ordinarie
deaths in London when there is no plage, is betwene xl. and 1. and
commonly under xl., as our bokes do shew: the residue, or more in
plage time, is to be thought to be the plage: now, it may be enough
if it be permitted, that when the whole death of all diseases in,'.: 0!,, ';E'' ',',. **.: ' '. 0.; '. t*. 0 0 0 0' t'' ''1^'

216

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1576.

London shal, by ii or iij wekes together, be under 1. a weke, they may
play (observatis alioqui observandis) during such time of death vnder
1. a weke.
'Where they require, that only her Maties servants be permitted
to play.
'It is lesse evell than to graunt moe. But herin, if your Lordships
will so allow them, it may please yow to know, that the last yere, when
such toleration was of the Quenes players only, all the places of
playeng were filled with men calling themselves the Queenes players.
Your Lordships may do well, in your lettres or warrants for their
toleration, to expresse the number of the Quenes players, and particularly all their names.'
These observations upon the articles of the Players were
A. D. succeeded, perhaps in the next year, by the proposal
1576. of certain 'Remedies', founded upon the observations,
and upon the 'Act of Common Council.' Strype, in his
edition of Stow's Survey, inserts them, as if they had been
the regulations established by the Privy Council, in consequence of the remonstrances of the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London; but this is a mistake: they were proposed
by the Lord Mayor and Corporation to the Privy Council,
and probably without success.'
1 The remedies were certainly not sanctioned by the Privy Council,
although they might for some time acquiesce in the wishes\of the Corporation so strongly expressed. What occurred in the interval we are
without the means of knowing; but on the 24th Dec. 1578, we find by
the Council Register (as quoted by Chalmers, Apology, p. 373), their
Lordships, in a letter to the Lord Mayor, requiring him 'to suffer the
Children of her Majesty's Chapel, the servants of the Lord Chamberlain,
of the Earl of Warwick, of the Earl of Leicester, of the Earl of Essex,
and the Children of Pauls, and no company else, to exercise plays within
the city'; and it is added that those companies are so to be allowed, 'by
reason that they are appointed to play this Christmas before her Majesty.'
No mention is made of the Queen's players, which may confirm the supposition before hazarded, that the servants of Lord Leicester might be
sometimes so called.:&gt; C e i e

'I?,7

1576.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

217

'THE REMEDIES. 1
'That they hold them content with playeng in private houses at
weddings, &amp;c., without publike assemblies.
'If more be thought good to be tolerated, that then they be restrained to the orders in the act of common Counsel, tempore Hawes.
'That they play not openly till the whole death in London haue
ben by xx daies vnder 50 a weke, nor longer than it shal so continue.
'That no playes be on the Sabbat.'
'That no playeng be on holydaies, but after evening prayer,' nor
any received into the auditorie till after evening prayer.
'That no playeng be in the dark, nor continue any such time but
as any of the auditorie may returne to their dwellings in London
before sonne set, or at least before it be dark.
'That the Quenes players only be tolerated, and of them their
number, and certaine names to be notified in your Llps lettres to the
L. Maior and to the Justices of Midd'x and Surrey. And those her
players not to divide themselves into several companies.
'That for breaking any of these orders their toleration cease.'.
These proceedings in the years 1575 and 1576 led to an
important result, not foresedn by the sagacity of the city
authorities-the construction of at least three places set apart for
dramatic representations. One of these was a theatre in the
1 That plays were constantly performed on the Sabbath in 1578 is
evident from the following passage in Stockwood's sermon of that date,
where he says'If you resorte to the Theatre, the Curtayne and other places of
Playes in the Citye, you shall on the Lordes day haue these places so full
as possibly they can throng.'
-He goes on afterwards to mention a singular circumstance.
Insomuche that in some places they shame not, in the tyme of divine
Service, to come and dance about the Churche, and without to have
naked men dauncing in nettes, which is most filthie; for the heathen
that neuer had further knowledge then the light of nature, haue counted
it shameful for a Player to come on the stage without a slop.'

2I8

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 576.

Liberty of the Blackfriars, which Malone truly calls 'one of
the most ancient English play-houses', although he was without
the means of ascertaining the date at which it was originally
built, or of supplying any particulars regarding it.1 A document in the State Paper Office enables us to give the period
of its construction, the cause which immediately led to it, and
the name of the chief person by whom it was undertaken.
The orders of the Common Council of 1575 drove the
players, at least for a time, from places within the jurisdiction
of the city authorities, and without delay they sought a situation beyond that jurisdiction, but at the same time as near as
possible to its boundaries. For this purpose they fixed upon
the Precinct of the dissolved monastery of the Blackfriars,
and here James Burbage (the father of Richard Burbage, the
great tragedian in Shakespeare's Plays, who, with others,
obtained the licence of I574, already inserted) bought certain
rooms near the houses, at that time, occupied by the Earl of
A. D. Sussex, Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Hunsdon, who
1576. succeeded him in that office: these rooms Burbage
converted into a play-house; and while he was in the act of
making the alterations, a petition to the Privy Council was
prepared by certain of the inhabitants, praying that he
might not be allowed to proceed in his enterprise.2 It was
signed by the dowager Lady Elizabeth Russel, by Lord
1 Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 52.
3 It appears that James Burbadge, the father of the famous Richard,
had obtained 4oo0. from his father-in-law, a person of the name of
Brayne, for the purpose of buying the freehold which, in fact, he had obtained in I574, and of which he could not be dispossessed. James Burbadge was himself an actor of some eminence, and had come from
Warwickshire: he was also father of Cuthbert Burbadge, who ultimately
took up the business of a bookseller, though his name is sometimes misspelt Burby, as it stands on the title-page of King Edward the Third,
1596, perhaps Shakespeare's earliest play, but published anonymously..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

I 576.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

219

Hunsdon, and by twenty-eight other inhabitants of the
Liberty of Blackfriars, and it set out the particulars above
given in the following form.
'To THE RIGHT HONBLE THE LORDS AND OTHERS OF
HER MATIES MOST HONBLE PRIVY COUNCELL.
'Humbly shewing and beseeching your Honours, the Inhabitants
of the Precinct of the Blackfryers London.. That whereas one Burbage hath lately bought certain roomes in the same Precinct, neere
adjoining unto the dwelling houses of the right honble the Lord
Chamberlaine, and the Lord of Hunsdon; which Roomes the said
Burbage is now altering, and meaneth very shortly to convert, and
'\ ~ turn the same into a common Playhouse: which will grow to the
very great annoyance and trouble, not onely to all the Noblemen
and Gentlemen thereabout inhabiting, but also a general inconvenience to all the inhabitants of the same Precinct, both by reason of the
~/ ~ great resort, and gathering together of all manner of vagrant and lewde
persons, that under cullor of resorting to the Playes, will come thither
and worke all manner of mischiefe, and also to the great pestring and
filling up of the same Precinct, if it should please God to send any
visitation of sicknesse, as heretofore hath beene; for that the same
1 \ ~Precinct is already grown very populous. And besides that the same
Playhouse is so neere the Church, that the noyse of the drummes &amp;
\0 ~ trumpetts will greatly disturbe and hinder both the Minister and the
~) ~ Parishioners in tyme of divine service &amp; sermons. In tender con{ (&gt; sideration whereof, as also for there hath not, at any tyme heretofore,
f I~ been used any Common Playhouse within the same Precinct; but
that now all. Players being banished by the Lord Maior from playing
within the Cittie, by reason of the great inconvenience and ill rule
that followeth them, they now thinke to plant themselves in the
Liberties. That therefore it would please your Honours to take
order, that the same roomes may be converted to some other use,
and that no Playhouse may be used or kept there. And your suppliants, as most bounden, shall and will dayly pray for your Lordships
in all honor and happiness long to live.'
' * X D ', * D V. D *..:,. X;- -- D- Ct.;, 1 f -S....0, F, *

220

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1576.

The name of the Lord Chamberlain for the time being was
not subscribed to the petition; and from this circumstance
we are perhaps warranted in inferring, that he did not approve
of its prayer, and did not object to the near vicinity of Burbage's new playhouse to his dwelling. Certain it is, that the
representation was of no avail for the purpose for which it was
made, because the Blackfriars Theatre was constructed, and
many important points of stage history, and the drama, at subsequent periods are connected with it.
In this year also, we apprehend, 'the Theatre', another
place appropriated to dramatic exhibitions, was opened
in Shoreditch: the Curtain, a similar building, was also
erected in the immediate vicinity of the 'Theatre' about the
same period.1 They were both, like the Blackfriars playhouse,
1 It is mentioned in 1577 as then open to the public: the particulars
that have been collected regarding these edifices will be found in a subsequent part of this work. Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell,.iii, 53)
quotes a sermon by John Stockwood, dated 1578, respecting the Theatre
and Curtain; and we have before us a singular production of the same
class:-'A Sermon preached at Pawles Crosse on Sunday the ninth of
December 1576' (two years earlier than Malone's authority, and at the
close of the very year in which the Blackfriars Playhouse, the Theatre,
and the Curtain, had been erected), which, though it does not specify
any of them by name, speaks of the 'sumptuous theatre houses', then
open for the reception and entertainment of the public. The author of
the sermon only puts his initials, T. W., upon the title-page: it is in 12mo,
and was printed by Francis Coldock, two years after it was delivered.
The preacher is attacking with great violence the vices reigning in the
City of London; and the whole passage is curious, not merely because
it proves the commonness of dramatic exhibitions in 1576:-
'Assuredly we come nothing neere the Jewes in this pointe, for on oure
Sabbothes all manner of games and playes, banketings and surfettings,
are very rife. If anye manne have any businesse in the world, Sonday
is counted an idle daye; if he have none, then it is bestowed in other
pleasure. Trahit sua quenque voluptas-every man followeth his owne \
fansie. And the wealthiest citizens have houses for the nonce: they that

I576.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 221
beyond the limits of the authority of the city magistrates; and
no doubt owed their origin to the measures taken by the Lord
Mayor and Corporation against players in 1574 and 1575.
have none make shift with Alehouses, Tavernes and Innes, some rowing
on the water, some roving in the field, some idle at home, some worse
occupied: thus what you get evilly all the weeke is worst spente on the
Sabboth day, according to the proverbe-ill gotten ill spent. Blame not
your servantes if they follow your example, for your prodigalitie makes
them unthriftie. But what accompt? how answer you? is this the Lorde's
daye or no? if it be, how intollerable, nay, flow accursed and most. condemnable are these outragious Bacchanalia, Lupanaria-I cannot tell
what to call them-such as heathen men were ever ashamed of (I am
sure) and therefore practised better maters, although prophane exercises:
but ours savors so of Venus court and Bacchus kitchin, that it may
rightly be intituled an abhominable and filthie Citie: and without doubte
London shall justifie her elder sister Hierusalem, if in time she turne not
to the Lorde. I say nothing of divers other abuses, whych do carie away
thousands, &amp; drowne them in the pernicious vanities of the worlde.
Looke but ufion the common playes in London, and see the multitude that
flocketh to them and followeth them: behoide the sumptuous Theatre
houses, a continuall monument of London's prodigalitie andfolly. But I
understande they are now furbidden bycause of the plague: I like the
pollicye well, if it holde still, for a disease is but bodged, or patched up,
that is not cured in the cause; and the cause of plagues is sinne, if you
looke to it well; and the cause of sinne are playes: therefore the cause (
of plagues are playes. Quicquid est causa cause est causa causati. Shall
I reckon up the monstrous birds that brede in this nest? without doubt
I am ashamed, and I should surely offende your chaste ears: but the olde
worlde is matched, and Sodome overcome; for more horrible enormities,
and swelling sins, are set out by those Stages than every man thinks for,
or some would believe, if I shold paint them out in their colours * *
Wherefore if thou be a father, thou losest thy child; if thou be a maister
thou losest thy servaunt; and thou. be what thou canst be, thou losest
thy selfe that hauntest those scholes of vice, dennes of theeves, and
Theatres of all leudnesse: and if it be not suppressed in time, it will
make such a Tragedie, that all London may well mourne whyle it is
London.'..;. -.,

r _.. -

----. - 1. --- ------- â. I â

222 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. LI570.
These transactions are referred to, not without humour, in
an old satirical epigram, which has been preserved in MS.,
and which it would, of course, have been perilous then to
have printed. It was copied on the fly-leaf of a book, published a few years before the expulsion of the actors from
the City into the Liberties. It is entitled,
'THE FOOLES OF THE CITTIE.
'List unto my dittye,
Alas! the more the pittye,
From Troynovaunts olde cittie
The Aldermen and Maier
Have drivn eche poore plaier:
The cause I will declaer.
They wiselye doe complaine
Of Wilson and Jacke Lane,
And them who doe maintaine;
And stablishe as a rule
Not one shall play the foole
But they-a worthye scoole.
Without a pipe and taber,
They onely meane to laber
To teche eche oxe-hed neyber.
This is the cause and reason,
At every tyme and season,
That Playes are worse then treason.'
Robert Wilson is mentioned in the licence to Lord Leicester's
players, I574; and Jack Lane may either be a different performer, or John Laneham or Langham, with his name abridged
for the sake of the rhyme.'
1 We may here mention that in 1576, according to the Bristol Records,
the Players of the Lord Chamberlain were performing there a drama of
which we hear on no other authority it was called The Red Knight, and
'the press of people was so great on the occasion, that two iron rings in
X'ss ^: a;-. *.........:-.:,,. * -......

1576.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

223

Although the Queen's government was not disposed at this
period to check the performance of plays in London and its
neighbourhood, it seems to have looked with a jealous eye
at the intrusion of such representations into the Universities
and their vicinity. On the 30th of October, I575, the Privy
Council wrote to the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, mentioning that they had received information 'of some attempts of
light and decayed persons, who for filthy lucre are mynded,
and do seeke now a daies to devise, and to set up in open
places, shews of unlawfull, hurtfull, pernicious and unhonest
games', near to Cambridge; and therefore requiring the ViceChancellor, and all justices of the peace, whether by commission or charter, not to suffer any such exhibitions, either in
the town of Cambridge or within five miles round it. As
reasons for putting a stop to them, it is urged that the youth
of the University will 'thereby be entyced from their ordinary
places of learning', and that the then prevalent infection of
the plague may be carried into the University, as it had been
on a former occasion. It is not stated that these 'shews' and
'games' were plays; and probably had they been so, some
more definite term would have been employed in the letter.l
the.Guildhall were broken'. The Red Knight was performed a second
time on the 29th July, but no accident occurred, though the crowd was
greater. Under the date of I578, we find mention at Bristol of the performance of other diamas the titles of which do not occur elsewhere:
they were Myngo, What Mischief worketh in the Mind of Man, The
Queene of Ethiopia, and The Court of Comfort.
'It is in the Lansdowne Collection of MSS., No. 71. On the 2oth of
January 1579, the Mayor and Aldermen of Cambridge wrote to Lord
Burghley, stating that John Blenkinsop, 'Master of Defence, and
servant to the Right Hon. Lord Wharton', had challenged, at six several
weapons, John Goodwyn, 'likewise Master of Defence and servant to the
Right Hon. Lord Northe, high steward of this town of Cambridge'. The
letter proceeds to state? that Goodwyn was 'no common fencer', but one

224

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I577.

In all the proceedings regarding plays and players about
this date, there is every reason to believe the Earl of Leicester
interested himself, and took an active part for the encourageA. D. ment of theatrical amusements. In 1577, Sir Jerome
I577. Bowes seems to have had some project on foot regarding dramatic performances, the nature of which is not
explained in any extant document: to accomplish what he
wished, he made suit to the Queen, who referred the matter
to the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Leicester, and Lord Burghley;
and among the papers of the latter, in the British Museum, is
a very hastily scribbled letter from Lord Leicester on this
subject, putting Lord Burghley in mind of the reference, but
discountenancing the scheme of Sir Jerome Bowes.1
In July, 1575, the Queen had paid her celebrated visit fo
the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth Castle, where she was
entertained by a Mask, and a variety of shews, and represenof the Common Council of the town, ' of good credit, and a man of good
welthe, quyet, and honest conversation'. The Corporation were afraid
that the public peace might be disturbed, and therefore prayed, that the
trial might take place in presence of the Queen or some of her Council,
that all disorder might be avoided, which commonly followed such
exercises. (Lansdowne MSS., No. 29.)
1 The following is a copy of the letter from the Lansdowne MSS.; but
we have accidentally omitted to note the particular reference:'My good L[ord], -
'I am required to put you in remembrance, for that Sir Jerom Bowes
saies that 'your L[ordship] hath partely forgotten that it was her
Majesty's pleasure, that your L[ordship] my L[ord] Chamberleyn and I
should conferr and consider of the sute touching playes, to be granted
to him and certeyn others, whom with her Majesty's pleasure I brought
to your L[ordship] and my L[ord] Chamberleyn, being together' in the
Prevey Chamber at Hampton Court: and I remember at that time we,
talking of it, myslyked of the permission they sutors desierd; and this
also my L[ord] Chamberleyn himself will well remember. Thus much I
thought good at his request to remember to your L[ordship], that yt is

1577.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 225
tations emblematical and allegorical. Among other amusements, the play of Hock Tuesday, commemorating the victory
over the Danes, A.D. I002, was exhibited by Captain Cox and
many others from Coventry; but it seems to have been merely
a dumb shew. Two accounts of the proceedings upon this
occasion are extant-one by George Gascoigne, who was the
author of the Mask and of various speeches; and the other
by Robert Laneham, or Langham, a retainer of the Earl of
Leicester, and who, probably, was in some way related to
the player of the same surname, who was one of that nobleman's theatrical servants in 1574.
It is necessary now to revert to the Revels, and to the progress
of theatrical amusements at court, under the superintendence
of Blagrave, as deputy to Sir Thomas Benger, the Master of
the Revels.
The total charge of the Revels, as far as that department
was concerned, in the year from 28th of February I573-4, to
28th of February 1574-5, was 582/. Is. 2d. No regular list
is furnished, in the account in the office of the Auditors of the
Imprest, of the plays performed in the course of this year,
but the names of several are to be gathered from the different
very trew that her Majesty did referr the consideration of the sute to us,
and to make report thereof accordingly. So I will take leave, and wish
your L[ordship] perfect health. This viij of April [I577].
'Your Lo[rdships] assured friend,
VOL. I. Q

226 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [ 577.
items. At Christmas the Lord Chamberlain's servants performed two pieces, called The History of Phaedrastus and
Phigon and Lucia,l while Lord Leicester's players 'shewed
their matter of Panecea', and Lord Clinton's players 'a matter
called Pretestus'. A company of 'Italian Players', one of
whom was evidently a tumbler or vaulter, attended the Queen
in her progress, and performed at Windsor. We are also told
of the sister of King Xerxes, in Farrant's play, Farrant being
then Master of the children of Windsor; of Vanity in ' Sebastians Play', Sebastian Westcott being Master of the Children
of Paul's; of 'Duttons Play', Dutton being at the head of
Lord Warwick's servants; and of' Lord Leicester's boys', as
distinguished from Lord Leicester's men, for he had then
a junior, as'well as a senior company. The children of the
chapel, under William Hunnis,2 were in attendance on New1 This is most likely the same piece that, in the account of the Revels
of the preceding year, we have seen named Pedor and Lucia: perhaps
neither was the correct title of the play.
2 Hunnis was concerned in the entertainment of the Queen at Kenilworth, and was the author of interludes, which were, no doubt, acted by
the boys under his government: he has hitherto been known only as the
author of various poems, and translations of the Psalms; but that he wrote
dramatic pieces is evident from the following lines in his praise, prefixed
by Thomas Newton to Hunnis's Hive Full of Honey, 1578:'In pryme of youth thy pleasaunt penne depaincted sonets sweete,
Delyghtful to the greedy eare, for youthfull humour meete:
Therein appeerde thy pregnaunt wit, &amp; store of fyled phrase,
Enough t'astonne the doltish drone, &amp; lumpish loute amaze.
Thy Enterludes, thy gallaunt layes, thy rondletts &amp; thy songes,
Thy Nosegay &amp; thy Widowes Myte, with that therto belonges,
With other fancies of thy forge,' etc.
The earliest known edition of The foore Widowes Mite is dated 1585,
but it was, doubtless, printed before 1578, or Newton would not have
mentioned it. 'The Nosegay was, most probably, the Handfull of Honisuckles, which was licensed to Thomas Dawson in 1578, and long continued
highly popular.

I577.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 227
year's-day, but nothing is said of the nature of their performances: they might be only musical.
Several masks were also exhibited âof Shepherds, of
Pedlars, and of Pilgrims-for which various properties were
furnished; Walter Fyshel supplying 'woolverings for pedlars'
caps', bottles for Pilgrims, and procuring by hire a mariner's? \ whistle. The 'scythe for Saturn', also mentioned, would seem
part of the furniture of a mask.
Among the other properties, we meet with the subsequent
articles: 'three divells cotes and heads'-'dishes for divells
eyes; heaven, hell, and the devell and all, I should sale, but
not all';2-' long poles and brushes for chymney sweepers in
my L. of Leicester's men's play',-' a cote a hatt and buskins
all covered with fethers of cullers for Vanytie in Sebastian's
play',-'a perriwigg of heare for King Xerxces syster', and the
usual item of houses for players.
The account of the Revels in I576-7 (also in the office of
the Auditors of the Imprest, to which Malone had access)
furnishes the following list of nine plays acted before Elizabeth:
} ' The Paynters Daughter, showen at Hampton Court on S. Stevens
daie at night; enacted by th'erle of Warwick's servants.
' Toolie, showen at Hampton Court on St. John's daie at night;
enacted by the L. Howard's servants.
' The Historie of the Collyer, showen at Hampton Court on the
Sundaie following; enacted by th'erle of Leicester's men.
On the i9th of January 1574, Walter Fyshe was appointed, by Privy
Seal extant in the Chapter-house, Westminster, 'Yoman or keeper of
our vestures, or apparell, of all and singular our Maskes, Revells, and
Disguysings; and also of the apparell and trappers of all &amp; singular our
horses ordeyned and appointed &amp;c. for our Justs and Turnies.'
2This seems to be a touch of humour on the part of Blagrave (who,
probably, superintended the preparation of the account) in ridicule of
the diablerie in these entertainments. We never hear of him out of his
department.
Q 2,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-f

228

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

[I578.

' The Historie of Error, showen at Hampton Court on Newyere's:
daie at night; enacted by the children of Powles.
' The Historie of iutius Scevola, showen at Hampton Court on
Twelf daie at night; enacted by the Children of Wyndsor, and the
Chappell.
'The Historie of the Cenofals, showen at Hampton Court on
Candlemas daie at night; enacted by the L. Chamberleyn his men.
'The Historie of the Solitarie Knight, showen at Whitehall on
Shrove Sundaie at night; enacted by the L. Howarde's servaunts.
'The Irishe Knighte, showen at Whitehall on Shrove Mundaie at
night; enacted by the Earle of Warwick his servaunts.
The Historie of Titus and Gisizppus, showen at Whitehall on
Shrove Tuysdaie at night; enacted by the children of Powles.'
A tenth play, called Cutwell, for which a counterfeit well
was carried from 'the Bell in Gracious streete', where, perhlaps,
the piece had been originally publicly acted, is also mentioned;
but it was not represented. Only one mask was performed
on Twelfth night, 'with a device of 7 speeches framed correspondent to the daie'.
The properties contain nothing very remarkable beyond
'six feltes for a Cenofalles heade', and 'a houndes heade
mowlded for a Cenofall'.1 We also read of'a painted cloth
and two frames', and of' two- formes for the Senators in the
Historie of Titus and Gisuppus'.
In 1578, the Queen made a progress into Norfolk and
Suffolk; and at Norwich, besides various pageants and
1 Boswell has added a note, in which he observes, that 'the Cynocephali were a nation of India, having the head of a dog'; and he aptly
quotes Holland's Pliny, and Bulwer's Artificial ChangelinXg, p. 17.
2 The most wonderful and pleasaunt History of Titus and Gisij5pus had
been told in verse by Edward Lewicke as early as 1562, the author
founding h:mself upon the narrative of Sir Thomas Eliot, in his Governor,
1534. The play acted by the Children of Paul's was, doubtless, constructed
out of these materials.
~...

I578.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

229

shews, she was presented with a Mask written by Henry
Goldingham:1 Thomas Churchyard also contributed A. D.
to the entertainments by ' sundry devices', in which,. 1578.
however, there was nothing dramatic. A Latin oration was
delivered by Stephen Limbert, who calls himself Ludimagister
publicus, and who, at that date, was Master of the grammar
school at Norwich.2
A change took place in the office of the Revels between
December 1578, and July 1579. On the I3th of December
/ 578, a Privy Seal had been granted to Thomas Blagrave,
Esq., appointing him 'chief officer' (not Master) of the Revels'.
X } Although we have not been able to discover it among the
Privy Seals at the Chapter-house, Westminster, there is no
doubt of the fact, as it is stated in 'A brief Declaration' from
the office of the Revels, including the expenses of that department from I4th of February 1578, to the 3Ist of October
I579.3 Sir Thomas Benger, for whom Blagrave acted from
1573 to 1577, died in March of the latter year, and the place
of the Master of the Revels was not filled up until Blagrave
was appointed 'chief officer' in December I578. The same
r! 1 He was a noted poet of the day, and had inscribed to the Queen
various productions. In Wits, Fits, and Fancies, 4to, 1595 and I614,
the following anecdote is told of him:-One, Henry Goldingham, that
had long sued to her Majestie for her signet to his graunted suite, and
her Majestie still saying that she had no pen and inke at hand to doe it,
at last he humbled his bill to her highness' foote and said, ' May it then
please your Majestie but to step your royall foote hereupon, and my selfe
will then warrant it for good. Her Majestie so well liked of such a
merrie conceipt, that presently, calling for pen and inke, did deign to
signe it,' p. 50. Goldingham is, of course, not to be confounded with
Golding, who wrote voluminously at about the same period.
2 Nichols's Prog. Eliz., ii, 133, etc.
a It is in the British Museum; but we have mislaid the reference to the
particular MS. The fact of Blagrave having been Master of the Revels
was unknown to Malone and Chalmers.
0 - 0 0 X 7. h F= *;'

230 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1578.
'brief Declaration' recites, that Edmund Tylney, Esq., had
been then recently named Master of the Revels:1 and an
account of the charges of the Revels, from Christmas I578,
to November 1579 mentions, that from July in the latter
year, Tylney, by virtue of the Queen's letter patent, had taken
upon himself the Mastership of the Revels: the precise day
of his appointment was the 24th of July 1579, and it is
'From the subsequent undated letter from a person named William
Bowll to Lord Burghley, it appears that he was a candidate for the
Mastership of the Revels: we hear of him nowhere else.
'To the right honorable &amp; my singuler good Lorde, the Lorde of
Burley.
' May it please your honor to be advertised, that whear as of late I did
delyver to your honor certen letters subscrybed with the handes ofthe
right honorable the lord treasorer, the worshipfull Sr Thomas Benger,
Knight, and John Holte, late yoman of the queenes Maties Revells for
your Lordships lawfull favor and furtherance for the obteyninge of the
said office in the names of the saide John Holte and of me your humble
suppliant. Sithens the delyvery whear of, yt hath pleased God to call
the said Holte to his mercy, without haveinge done any further acte
therin to the great losse, or rather utter undoeinge of your said supplyant,
his wyff&amp; children, onles your Lordships favourable ayd bee to me in
this behalf extended. May it thearfor please your honor, accordinge to
theffect of the said letters, to shew me your lawfull favor and ayd, and to
stand my good Lorde for the obtayninge of the sayd office, whearin I
have longe tyme served as Deputie for the saide John Holte, and have
also been forssed to sell my lyvinge to make payment of mony which I
payd Holte upon the composition wherof your honor is advertysed, and
also to make 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, as is very well known. All which I beseech your honor tenderly to
consider, and accordinge to my duty I will contynually pray unto God for
the preservation of your honor as the only key of my well doinge.
'Your humble Suppliant,
'WILLM. BOWLL.'

I578-9.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

231

contained in a book of patents in the office of the Pells.1 Why
the vacancy was not supplied sooner after the death of Benger
nowhere appears. John Lyly (author of Euphues, and afterwards a celebrated dramatic poet) had been a petitioner
to the Queen for the reversion of the place on the demise of
Benger, and his claim might possibly have some connection
with the delay.2
The 'brief Declaration', before referred to, after stating that
the expense of the Revels from the I4th of February 1578,
to the 3Ist of October 1579, was 4441. 9s. id., makes A. D.
a claim on behalf of Tylney, for an allowance for the 1578-9.
(~i ~ rent of a house, the apartments occupied by former Masters
- \ ~of the Revels in the precinct of St. John of Jerusalem, being
\.| then applied to the reception of some part of the apparel and
i\ ) furniture of the office. At the close of the account of the
|. charges of the Revels from Christmas 1578, to November
| iJI 579 (in the office of the Auditors of the Imprest), that allow2 f ~anc is stated at I3/. 6s. 8d. per annum, which may, perhaps,
~ 1~ ~Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 57.; ~ 2 Lyly's two petitions to the Queen are set forth in MSS. Hart.,
No. i877, and are reprinted in the edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, 1825,
vol. ii, p. 87. Among the Lansdowne MISS. (Nos. i9 and-36) are two
original letters from Lyly to Lord Burghley, which have never been
1\ ~ noticed. The one is without date, but indorsed ' i6th May 1574, John
l~ ~ ' Lilie, a scholar of Oxford': it is in Latin, and it prays the Queen's letter,
- ) X in order that he might be admitted a fellow of Magdalen College. The
j l ~other letter is also without date, and in English: it is not very intelli|!, ~gible; but it seems as if the writer had given some offence to Lady! (s!Burghley. It is thus subscribed, and we know of no other specimen of
this highly popular author's hand-writing:1 1 Aff H

232

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

[1578-9.
f

be taken as the rent of the house occupied by the Master
of the Revels.'
This last document furnishes a list of ten plays and two
masks presented at court in the period to which it relates. In
this respect it corresponds with the 'brief Declaration' in the
Museum; but the sum inserted, as the total expense, is
smaller by nearly Ioo1., viz., 3481. 5s. 8d. We can only account
for the difference by supposing, that the 'brief Declaration'
included items of charge not embraced by the account in the
office of the Auditors of the Imprest. The names of two of the
ten plays, one shown at Richmond on St. John's day at night,
enacted by the children of the Chapel, and the other, 'provided
to have been shown at Whitehall on Candlemas daie at night
by the Earl of Warwick's servants', are left blank: the titles,
of the other eight are these:'An inventyon or playe of the Systers of Mantua, showen at Richmond on St. Stevens daie at night; enacted by the Earl of Warwick his servants.'- An Historie of the Creweltie of a Stepmpnther,
shewen at Richmond on Innocents daie at night; enacted by the
Lord Chamberlaynes servants.'-' A Morall of the Afariage of Mynde
and Measure, shewen at Richmond on the sonday next after Newyeares daie; enacted by the Children of Pawles.'-' A Pastorall or
Historie of a Greeke Maide, shewen at Richmonde on the sondai next
after New-yeares daie; enacted by the Earle of Leicester his serLansdowne MSS., No. 86, art. 60, is a survey of the buildings appropriated to the Revels, by William Norton, surveyor of the works: it
is without date, but seems to have been made before Sir William Cecill
was raised to the peerage in February 1571. In it, it is stated that
Henry VIII and Edward VI allowed Sir T. Cawarden and Sir T. Benger
a sum yearly for providing a dwelling-house. When the Blackfriars was
granted to Sir T. Cawarden, he kept the Office of the Revels there, and,
after his death, it was removed to' the late hospital of St. John of Jerusalem' near Smithfield. At the time of this survey all the premises were
stated to be in good repair.

I579.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 233
vants.'-' The Historie of the Rape of the second Helene, shewen at
Richmond on Twelfdaie at night.'-' The Historie of the Knight in
the burnyng rock, shewen at Whitehall on Shrove Sondaie at night;
enacted by the Earle of Warwicks servaunts.'-'The History of
Loyalty and Bewtie, shewen at Whitehall on Shrovemonday at nyght;
enacted by the Children of the Quenes Majesties Chappel.' ' The
History of Murderous Aychaell, shewen at Whitehall on Shrove
Tuesdaie at night; enacted by the L. Chamberleynes servaunts.'
The two masks were a Mask of Amazons, and a Mask of
Knights on Twelfth-night: in both speeches were made,
which were translated into Italian by Patrichius Ubaldinas at
( l\ a cost of 31. 2s. 2d. A Mask of Moors was also to have been
presented on Shrove Tuesday, but for some reason it was
omitted. The list of properties comprises nothing worthy
of particular notice.
The account for the Revels at Christmas, Twelfth-tide,
Candlemas, and Shrovetide, I579-80, includes the A. D.
expense of getting up and performing nine plays, I579-80.
without any masks: the names of two are omitted by the
person making out the account: these two were performed
at Whitehall, the first on St. John's night by the Children of
the Chapel, and the second on Twelfth-night by the Earl of
Leicester's servants. The following names are given to the
remaining seven:' A History of the Duke of Millayn and the Marques of Mantua,
shewed at Whitehall on St. Stephens daie at nighte; enacted by the
Lord Chamberlaynes servants.'-' A History of Alucius, shewed at
Whitehall on St. John's daie at nighte; enacted by the Children of
her Majesties Chappell.'-' A History of the Foure Sonnes of Fabyous,
shewed at Whitehall on New yeares daie at nighte; enacted by the
Earle of Warwicks servants.'-' The History of Ctpio Africanus,
shewen at Whitehall the sondaie night after New-yeares daie; enacted
by the Children of Pawles.'-' The Hist6ry of Portio and Demorantes,
r

234

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[t580.

shewen at Whitehall on Candlemas daie at nighte; enacted by the
Lord Chamberleyns servants.'-' The History of the Soldan and the
Duke of -, shewen at Whitehall on Shrovesondaie at nighte;
enacted by the Earle of Derby his servants.'-' The History of
Serpedon, shewen at Whitehall on Shrovetuesdaie at nighte; enacted
by the Lord Chamberleyns servants.'
A country house, a great city, a battlement, a wood, and a
castle, are enumerated among the properties employed. In
this account it is again distinctly stated, that the plays were
rehearsed before the Master of the Revels, in order that he
might make choice of the best to be performed at court. The
painting of seven cities, and of a village, is mentioned among
the work done.
Seven plays were exhibited in the next year, I580-I, but the
names of only two are preserved; viz.:'A Comodie called Delighte, shewed at Whitehall on St. Stephens
daie at night.' It was performed by 'the Earl of Leicester's men.'A Storie of Pompey, enacted in the Hall on Twelf night,' by 'the
Children of Pawles.'
Of the other unnamed five, two were played by the Earl of
Sussex's servants; one by the Earl of Leicester's servants;
one by the Earl of Derby's servants, and one by the Children
of the Chapel.
The properties, with the addition of 'a senate-house', were
nearly the same as in the preceding year. Two ' challenges'
are also registered, as well 'as certain masks for the receiving
of the French Commissioners'. According to Stow, jousting
took place on the i6th of January, and on Whit-Monday and
Tuesday. A banqueting-house, constructed for the entertainment of 'the Dolphin of Auvergne', the Marshal of France,
etc., who arrived in England on the I6th of April, cost
I744. I9s.1 The principal Challengers on Whit-Monday and
' Stow's Chronicle, 1615, pp. I 66 and II67.

i58I.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

235

Tuesday were the Earl of Arundel, Frederick Lord Windsor,
Sir Philip Sidney, and Fulke Greville.
'A briefe note of the provisions emptions and wages A. D.
for her Majesties Revells this yeare, 1581', among the 1581.
Lansdowne MSS.1 and subscribed by
as Master,2 by Edward Buggin, as Yeoman, and by Edward
Kirkham, as Clerk of the Revels, makes the expense for the
whole year amount to 5771. Ios. The minute items of this
account are inserted below.3
No. 31.
2 Tylney was the author of a little volume which he called The Flower
of Friendship, and it was printed in 1568. It is a discourse on, and in
praise of matrimony, written in imitation of the Italian discussions
between different persons on set topics, such as in Castiglione's Courter,
etc. Among the interlocutors vere Pedro de Luxan, a Spaniard, Erasmus
and Ludovicus Vives, who are supposed, with the author and some
others, to be collected at the house, or in the grounds, of Lady Julia in
the summer. Pedro de Luxan and Lady Julia are the principal speakers.
It was dedicated by Edmunde Tilney to Queen Elizabeth; and he claims
it as an original work, and not a translation.
3 cJohn Boles, for a mount with a Castle uppon it, a dragon, artificial
tree, &amp;c., Ioo/.; unto diverse persons for 46 Sheildes, the tymber worke,
iron worke, and leathering of them, with the painting and gilding of the
impresses at xvs. a peece, 34/. los.; Serjeant painters bill for painting
mowlding and gilding, 381.; Willm. Boles bill for cop. frindge, lace,
tassells, buttons and such like, 36/. 3s.; twoe mercers billes for cloth of
golde, counterfeit cloth of silver, tincell, taffeta, taffeta sarcenets, and
single sarcenets, Io5/. 3s.; the Carpenters bill, &amp;c., 5/. I4s. Iod.; the
Buskenmaker, &amp;c., 51. i2s.; the Fethermaker, 9/.; the wierdrawer for
0;:: j 0 t ' 0.. 0 0 *' }

236

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I58I.

Before we quit the year I581, it is necessary to notice
another document in the Lansdowne Collection, which makes
mention of an old 'interlude player', attached to the Queen's
domestic establishment, called John Smith: he is entered in
an account furnished to Lord Burghley by Sir Thomas
Henneage, Treasurer of the Queen's Chamber, of his disbursements in the twenty-second year of the reign of Elizabeth. Smith's wages are stated to be as usual, 31. 6s. 8d.,
with an allowance of II. 4s. 'for his livery'. He was one of
the 'players of interludes' belonging to the royal household in the reign of Edward VI, and his name is inserted in
the same account with the expenses of trumpeters and musicians.1 In the four-and-thirty years which elapsed between
the settlement of the royal household by the Duke of Somerset
in 1547, and the date to which we are now adverting, it is
most probable that Smith's then fellows, Cock, Birch and
Heryet, had died, as their names are not given in the Lansdowne MS. which mentions the veteran Smith.
It seems that in 1580, the contest between the Court and
the City of London regarding the fitness or unfitness of
braunches, plats, and other garnishings for the Hall, 261.; John Digges
bills for threed, silke, &amp;c., and artificiall lyon and horse, 26I. Is.; John
Sherbornes billes for carrell [?], baies, candle, fuell, heares, beards, &amp;c.,
carriage of stuffe, botehier, 19l. Ios. 8d.; the yeoman's bill for gold
tincell, &amp;c., 3!. 9s. 5d.; the clerke comptrollers bill for silke floures, &amp;c.,
counterfeite perle, &amp;c., I41. 4s. Id.: laid out by the Mr of the Revells for
canvas vizards, fewell, rewards, and other his ordinary allowances, 22?. 4s.;
wages of artificers and attendants, 87l.; Officers wages, 491.; with the
airings for this year.'
1 The cost of these at this date, as appears upon the statement of Sir
T. Henneage, was as follows:
'To Trumpeters and Violins, 346!. 7s. 6d.; to Flutes, including Nich
Lanere and P. Guy, 236. 4d.; Sackbutts, lol. Ios. 6:.1 Musicians,
64/. gs.-Total, 748L. 7s. 4d.'

I58I.3

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

237

theatrical representations, especially on Sundays, had been
renewed, and the following summary of the correspondence
on the subject has been printed: it is important historically,
though it does not throw any new light upon the names and
nature of the pieces represented: it belongs to the years 1580,
1581, 1582, and 1583, and has been derived from the archives
of the Corporation; but we have not thpught it necessary to
Id\ * give the particular references as they stand in the official
records of the city:'From the Lord Mayor to the Lord Chancellor, respecting a
disorder at the Theatre on Sunday, and the wickedness and impiety
occasioned by Plays and Players.-i2th April 1580.
' From the Lord Mayor to the Lord Treasurer, respecting the
means of preventing infection in the City, and averting the wrath of
God, by putting down infamous Houses, Plays, &amp;c., and restraining
buildings.-I7th June 1580.
'Particulars of matters necessary to be redressed, but which the
Lord Mayor hath not the power to enforce (referred to in the
preceding letter).
' From the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor and Justices
of the Peace in the County of Middlesex and Liberties adjoining the
City, for the suppression of Plays and all great assemblages of people
until the end of September, for preventing the spread of-the Plague
and other contagious diseases.-Ioth July 158I.
X (' From Henry Berkley to the Lord Mayor, respecting some of his
men committed to prison for playing on the Sabbath-day, contrary to
the Lord Mayor's orders, which were unknown to them. From his
lodging in the Strand, this present Tuesday 1581.
'From the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor, Recorder, and
Aldermen, authorizing the exercise of Plays to be resumed, because of the Plague, on account of which they were forbidden,
1 We insert them precisely as we find them, very usefully and compendiously stated, in the Athenceum of 23rd January t869, on the authority
of Mr. Orridge of the city-library....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

238

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I582

having ceased, and that the Players may be in readiness with convenient mattersfor the Queen's solace at Christmas, which they cannot
be without their usual exercise therein.-i8th November 1581.
' From the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor, for permitting
Plays to be performed on Holidays after Evening Prayer, and for
appointing some fit person who may consider and allow of such Plays
only as be fit to yield honest recreation, and [contain] no example
of evil. â Ith April Ix52.
'From the Lord Mayor to the Lords of the Council, in reply to
their letter for allowing Plays to be performed on Holidays after
Evening Prayer, with sundry reasons against the same. â 2th April
1582.
'From the Earl of Warwick to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, or
Sheriffs, for licence to be given to his servant, John David, to play
his pieces, in his science and profession of defence, at the Bull, in
Bishopsgate Street.-ist July 1582.
'From the Earl of Warwick to the Lord Mayor, expressing his
surprise at the prohibition of playing prizes by his servant, and
requiring that more favour be shown him therein.-23 July 1582.
'From the Lord Mayor to the Lord High Treasurer, informing him
of the further steps taken with respect to forming a Catalogue of
Infected Houses; and also of an accident at Paris Garden, where
several persons were slain and maimed by the falling of a scaffold
on the Sabbath Day; and beseeching him to give order for redress of
such abuses of that day and contempt of God service.-i th January 4
I582.
'From the Lord Burghley to the Lord Mayor containing further
instruction for making public the Catalogue of Infected Houses,
and also respecting the accident at Paris Garden, and the prohibition for the future of the pastimes used there on the Sabbath
Day, and for prevention of the importation of Grain.-I5 January
I582.
'From the Lord Mayor to the Earl of Warwick, in reply, explaining
the reasons for the prohibition.-24th July 1582.
'From the Lord Mayor to Mr. Young, a Justice of the Peace for

I583.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

239

an adjoining district, respecting prohibiting Plays intended to be
performed on the ist May, on account of the danger of infection, &amp;c.
-27th April I583.
'From the Lord Mayor to the Lords of the Council respecting
the neglect of archery, and the increase of unlawful games and
pastimes, to the injury and dishonour of the City, and their resolution to reform such abuses.-3rd July 1583.
'From the Lord Mayor to Sir Francis Walsingham, informing him
of the care taken in the City for the stay of infection of the Plague,
and of the evils attending the assemblies at Plays, Bear Baitings, &amp;c.,
and requesting that like restraint -may be enforced in places adjoining
the City.-3rd May I583.
'From Sir Francis Walsingham to the Lord Mayor, explaining the
intentions of the Lords of the Council in granting a licence to the
Queen's Players.-ist December I583.
' From the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor, respecting
granting a licence to the Queen's Players.-26th November 1583.'
Thus the matter seems to have rested, according to this
excellent source of information, until the year 1591, when the
Corporation, perhaps despairing of redress from other quarters,
addressed the Archbishop of Canterbury; and we give the
i summary of their two letters on the same authority as
the preceding accounts: we place them here, a little out of
date, because being all in pari materid, they cannot well be
severed:'From the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to the Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the evils produced by the number of Players
and Playing Houses within the City, and requesting his favour and
help for the reforming and banishing the same.-25th February 1591.
' From the Lord Mayor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, thanking
him for the assistance, &amp;c., afforded byhim respecting the suppressing
of Plays, &amp;c., agreeably to the request made in a former Letter.
-6th March 5 9.'

I. i~~~~~~~~~~I I~~: I

240

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 582.

Still, no redress of the grievance could be procured; and in
May 1592, the Corporation transmitted a remonstrance on
the subject to the Lord Treasurer, who, in all probability,
was equally inflexible: â
' From the Lord Mayor to the Lord High Treasurer, informing
him of the tumult and disorder in Southwark, the occasion thereof,
and what had been done in consequence.-3oth May I592.'
We now return to the year I582, when the accounts preserved in the office of the Auditors of the Imprest show,
that the charge of the Revels for the amusements A.D.
at Christmas, Twelfth-tide, and Shrove-tide, was I582.
288/. 9s. 8id. The plays presented were six in number, viz.:'A Comodie, or Morall, devised on a Game of the Cards, shewed
on St. Stephens daie at night before her Majestie at Wyndesor;
enacted by the Children of her Majesties Chapple.
'A Comodie of Bewtie &amp; Huswyfery, showed before her Majestie
at Wyndesor on St John's daie at night; enacted by the Lord of
Hundesdons servaunts.
'A Historie of Love &amp; Fortune,' shewed before her Majestie at
Wyndesor on the sondaie at night next before new yeares daie;
enacted by the Earle of Derbies servaunts.
'A Historie of Ferrar,2 shewed before her Majestie at Wyndesor
on Twelf daie at night; enacted by the Lord Chamberleynes
servaunts.
'A Historie of Telomo, shewed before her Majestie at Richmond
Perhaps The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune, printed in I589.
A copy, believed to be unique, is in the possession of the Earl of Ellesmere. It is examined in the Hist. of Dram. Poet.
2 Probably the same piece as The History of Error, mentioned under
date of 1576-7. Boswell (Shakespeare, iii, p. 406) not very happily conjectured that this was a play written by the celebrated George Ferrers.,,
It is, no doubt, a mere mistake in the title by the clerk who made out the
account, and who wrote by his ear, and not by his copy.

1582.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

24t

on Shrove sondaie at night; enacted by the Earle of Leicesters
servaunts.
'A Historie of Ariodante and Geneuora,' shewed before her
Majestie on Shrovetuesdaie at night; tenacted by Mr. Mulcasters
children.'
'Sundry feats of tumbling' were also exhibited before the
Queen, on New-year's night, by the servants of Lord Strange,
and the shews of the year included also a mask of ladies.
Another mask of six seamen was to have been performed,
but 'it was not used'.
The properties on these occasions included little more than
a city, and a battlement, employed on former occasions, and
twenty-one yards of cotton for the Matachins.2
The dispute between the Privy Council, and the Lord Mayor
and Aldermen of London, regarding the performance of plays
within the limits of the city, had been revived on the 3rd of
December I581, when, as appears by the Council Registers,
a letter, not found in the city-records, was written to the Lord
Mayor in which he was 'ordered' to suffer certain companies of players (who had petitioned the Privy Council for
that purpose) 'to use and exercise their trade of playing in
and about the city, as they have heretofore accustomed, upon
'The episode of Ariodante and Geneura had been translated into
English, from the Italian of Ariosto, by Peter Beverley, shortly before
this play was acted: perhaps the author of the drama derived his plot
from Beverley's version, which was printed in small octavo, under the
following title, The History of Ariodanto and Jeneura, daughter to the
King of Scottes, in English verse. 'Printed by Thomas East for Frauncis
Coldocke.' It has no date, but the same author wrote commendatory
verses to Geoffrey Fenton's Tragical Discourses, published in 1579.
2 Misprinted Matachius in Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 407,
A matachine was a species of mask, in which the performers were armed.
The precise difference between the two may be ascertained by consulting
Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare, ii, 43}.
VOL. I. R

242

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 582.

the week days only, being holidays, or other days; so as they
do forbear wholly to play on the Sabbath day, either in the
forenoon or afternoon, which to do they are by their Lordships' order expressly Denied and forbidden.' Whatever
might, or might not, be the effect of this communication, on
the 25th of April 1582, the Lords of the Council assumed a
very different tone, for in a letter to the Lord Mayor, dated
on that day, they 'pray his Lordship to revoke his late inhibition against their playing on the holidays, but that he do
suffer them, as well within the city as without, to use their
exercise of playing on the said holydays after evening prayer,
only forbearing the Sabbath day, according to their Lordships' said order; and when he shall find that the continuance
of the same their exercise, by the increase of sickness arid
infection, shall be dangerous, to certify their Lordships, and
they will presently take order accordingly.'
In a preceding part of the letter, the Lords of the Privy
Council adverted to the reasonableness of allowing players to
perform 'for honest recreation sake', and in order that they
might 'attain to the more perfection and dexterity' when
they should be called upon to act before the Queen. At the
same time the Lords of the Privy Council admitted the
propriety of looking into the comedies, 'that those which do
contain matter that may breed corruption of manners and
conversation among the people be forbidden.' It is to be
collected from Lansdowne MS. No. 20, that the City
authorities (perhaps through their Recorder, Fleetwood, who
was in constant communication with Lord Burghley) had at
this date some farther correspondence with the Lord Treasurer on the impolicy of encouraging theatrical performances,
in which the 'Act of Common Council' of 1575, tempore
Hawes, Mayor, and the 'Orders for setting rogues and idle
persons to work' (printed by Hugh Singleton), were referred

1582.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

243

to. The same MS. also notices the catastrophe at one of
the places of public amusement and resort, to which we must
here again advert.
Paris Garden had been employed for the purpose of baiting
wild beasts at least as far back as the early part of the reign
of Henry VIII. How long before 1583, an amphitheatre for
that purpose had been built, it is not now possible distinctly
to ascertain; but it seems that the wooden galleries, in which
the spectators stood, were then much decayed; and on the
I3th of January 1582-3, one of them fell, from the A. D.
weight of people upon it, and many were hurt, and I583.
some killed.l On the day following this accident, Sir Thomas
Blanke, then Lord Mayor of London, wrote (as we have already
seen) to Lord Burghley, and his letter contains the following
paragraph:'It may please your Lordship to be further advertised (which I
thinke you have alredie hard) of a greate mysshappe at Parise gardenne, where, by ruyn of all the scaffolds at once yesterdaie, a greate
nombre of people are some presentlie slayne, and some maymed,
and greavouslye hurte. It giveth greate occasion to acknowledge the
hande of God for suche abuse of the Sabboth daie, and moveth me
in consciens to beseche your Lordshipp to give order for redresse of
suche contempt of God's service. I have to that ende treated with
some Justices of peace of that Countie, who signifie themselfes to
have very good zeale, but alledge want of commyssion, which we
humblie referre to the consideration of your honorable wisedome2.'
We quote the following stanzas from a long ballad of the
time, printed in order to suppress or check the evil: we
1 Stow (Chronicle, p. rr73, edition i615) says that 'eight persons, men
and women, were slaine, and many others sore hurt and bruised, to the
shortening of their lives.'
2 Lansdowne MSS., No. 73.
R2

244

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1582.

know that it produced little effect, but, perhaps, as much as
the pious author expected:'It was the Sabboth of the Lord,
That this sad chance befell,
A day that all with one accord
Should keepe and hallow well:
But witness now the wofull end,
Of such the Sabboth who misspend,
And do not make the Lord their friend,
As reverent preachers tell.
'No marvell if the wrath of God
Was kindled at the sight,
And that he made them feel the rod
Of his almighty might:
For why, at Church they ought have been,
The prayers reading then I weene,
And not with beares and mastives seene,
Which was their sole delight.
'Our godly preachers toyle in vaine
To put down hateful playes:
They cannot men from vice restraine,
Try they a thousand wayes.
The Theaters are alway full,
And baiting of the beare and bull
Still draw eche vagrant, rogue, and trull,
So to imploy their dayes.
But let this chance a lesson prove.
Amend your wicked lives:
Remember it was God above,
Who still by mercy strives
His loving people to embrace;
But all that meete in such a place
He knoweth are beyond all grace,
For them the Devill drives.'

I582.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

245

The production runs out to several other stanzas, but those
we have quoted are sufficient for our purpose.
Fleetwood, the Recorder, (who was in the habit of transmitting to Lord Burghley a sort of diary of proceedings
in the city), on this occasion wrote as follows: 'Upon the same
daie (Sunday, Jan. I3th, 1582-3) the violaters of the Sabothe
were punished by God's providence at Paris Garden; and as
I was wryting of these last words before, is a booke putt
downe upon the same matter.' The booke to which he
alludes is a small tract in 2mro. by'John Field, Minister
of the Word of God',l of which the following is the title, 'A
godly Exhortation, by occasion of the late judgement of God
shewed at Paris Garden, the thirteenth day of January;
1 John Field was a busy puritanical preacher, who, prior to the 25th
November 158I, seems to have been in confinement, from which he was
released by the instrumentality of Lord Leicester. This obligation he
acknowledges in a letter of the date above mentioned, addressed to the
Earl, which is also curious, inasmuch as it refers, in terms of censure, to
the manner in which Lord Leicester had recently interested himself in
favour of certain players. It is hardly possible that Field, in I583,
should refer back so far as to the year 1574, when the patent was
granted to James Burbadge and others; and we may take it, therefore,
that he alludes to some other interference, perhaps in behalf of actors
who wished to be allowed to perform within the City. After telling
Lord Leicester how much he, and the whole Church, are bound to him,
'as the instrument of his peace and libertie', Field proceeds:' The more Sathan rageth, the more valianter be you under the standert
of him who will not be foyled. And I humblie beseech your honor to
take heede howe you gyve your hande, either in evill causes, or in the
behalfe of evill men, as of late you did for lZayers to the great greife of
all the godly; but as you have shewed your forwardnes for the Ministery
of the Gospel, so followe that course still. Our Cyttie hath 'bene well
eased of the pester of those wickednesses, and abuses, that were wonte
to be nourished by those impure interludes and playes that were in usesurely the schooles of as greate wickednesses as can be. -I truste your
honor will herein joyne with them that have longe, owt of the word, cryed

246

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1582.

where were assembled by estimation above a thousand
persons, whereof some were slaine, and of that number at the
least, as is credibly reported, the third person maimed and
hurt. Given to all estates for their instruction concerning the
keeping of the Sabboth day.'
The order of the Privy Council against performances on
Sunday, mentioned in the letter to the Lord Mayor of 3d
December 158i, only applied to the City of London; but
after the accident at Paris Garden the regulation seems to
have been made general.'
Some months subsequent to this catastrophe, which, to a
certain extent, had the effect of accomplishing the wishes
of the enemies of dramatic representations by abolishing the
performance of plays on Sunday, the Queen, at the requestof
Sir F. Walsingham, and with the advice of the Master of the
out against them; and I am persuaded that if your honor knewe what
sincks of synne they are, you woulde never looke once towards them.
The lord Jesus blesse you. Nov. 25, i58i.'
f wo A e w4a
The words in italic are interlined in the original MS. (MSS. Cotton.,
Titus, B. vii, fol. 22.)
' Fleetwood, the Recorder of London, was a member of the House of
Commons, and sent to Lord Burghley an account of the proceedings
there from the 2nd to the 29th November 1584. He states that a bill
was brought in, read a first and second time, and committed, ' for the due
observation of Sundays'. In the Committee all the young members attended, and the Recorder complains that, 'as twenty talked at once,'
nothing could be done with the measure. No doubt the young members
attended to defeat the bill. See also Lansdowne MSS., No. 41.

1582.] ANNALST. OF THE STAGE. 247
Revels,l selected twelve performers out of some of the companies of her nobility which used to act before her, to be her own
'The following passage, in the Account of the Revels for i582-3, shews
Tylney's concern in this affair:'Edmond Tylney, Esquire, Mr of the Office, being sente for to the
courte by letter from Mr. Secretary, dated the loth of Marche 1582, to
choose out a companie of Players for her Majestie.'
To this is added his expenses for horse hire, etc., amounting to 2os.
Chalmers (Apology, p. 389) says that the Queen's company was formed
in I58I, but this is decidedly a mistake. Malone also errs, calling
Robert Wilson, Thomas. Wilson was not only an actor, but the author
of The Cobbler's Prophesy, a play printed in I594. All doubt upon the
point will now for the first time be set at rest by the publication of the
very terms of the Original Patent, derived from the official Roll of the
24th of Elizabeth. It is in these terms:' ELIZABETH BY THE GRACE OF GOD, &amp;C. To all manner our Justices,
Maiors, Sheriffes, Bayliffes, Constables, and all other our officers,
Ministers, true Liege Men, and Subjectes, and to every of them,
Greetinge.
'We lett you witt, that We have authorised, licensed and commaunded,
and bythese presentes do authorise, licence and commande ourwelbeloved
Edmunde Tylney, Esquire, Maister of our Revells, as well to take and
retaine for us and in our Name at all tymes from hensforth, and in all
places within this our Realme of England, as well within Francheses and
Liberties as without, at competent Wages, as well all suche apd as many
Painters, Imbroderers, Taylors, Cappers, Haberdashers, Joyners, Carvers,
Glasiers, Armorers, Basket makers, Skinners, Sadlers, Waggon Makers,
Plaisterers, Fether makers, as all other propertie makers and conninge
Artificers and Laborers whatsoever, as our said Servant or his Assigne,
bearers hereof, shall think necessarie and requisite for the speedie
workinge and fynisheinge of any exploite, workmanshippe, or peece of
service that shall at any tyme hereafter belonge to our saide Office of the
Revells; as also to take at price reasonable in all places within our said
Realme of England, as well within Francheses and Liberties as without,
any kinde or kindes of Stuffe, Ware or Marchandise, Woode or Coale or
other Fewell, Tymber, Wainscott Boarde, Lathe, Nailes, Bricke, Tile,
Leade, Iron Wier, and all other necessaries for our said Workes of the
said office of our Revells, as he the said Edmunde or his assigne shall

248 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1582.
dramatic servants, and to be called The Queen's Players. Of
these, Robert Wilson, of 'a quick, delicate, refined, extemthinke behoofefull and expedient from tyme to tyme for our said service
in the said office of the Revells. Together with all carriages for the
same, both by Land and by Water, as the case shall require.
'And furthermore we have by these presents authorised and commaunded the said Edinunde Tylney that in case any p'son or p'sons,
whatsoever they be, will obstinatelie disobey and refuse from hensforth
to accomplishe ard obey our com'aundement and pleasure in that behalfe,
or withdrawe themselves from any of our said Workes, upon warninge to
them or any of them given by the saide Edmunde Tylney, or by his sufficient Deputie in that behalfe to be named, appointed for their diligent
attendance and workmanship upon the said workes or devises, as to their
naturall dutie and alleigeance apperteineth; that then it shalbe lawfull
unto the same Edmund Tilney, or his Deputie for the tyme beinge, to
attache the partie or parties so offendinge, and him or them to commyt
to warde, there to remaine without baile or maineprise, untill suche tyme'
as the saide Edmunde, or his Deputie, shall thinke the tyme of his or
their Imprisonment to be punishement sufficient for his or their saide
offence in that behalfe, and that done to enlarge him or them, so beinge
imprisoned, at their full Libertie, without any Losse, Penaltie, Forfaiture,
or other damage in that behalfe to be susteined or borne by the saide
Edmunde Tilney or his said Deputie.
'And also, if any p'son or p'sons, beinge taken into our said workes of
the said office of our Revells, beinge arrested comminge or goinge to or
from our saide Workes of our said office of our Revells, at the sute of any
p'son or p'sons, then the said Edmunde Tilney, by vertue and authoritie
hereof, to enlarge him or them, as by our speciall p'tection duringe the
tyme of our said workes.
'And also, if any p'son or p'sons beinge reteyned in our said workes of
our said office of Revells have taken any manner of taske worke, beinge
bound to finishe the same by a certen day, shall not runne into any
manner of forfeiture or penaltie for breakinge of his day, so that he or
they ymmediatly after the fynishinge of our said workes, indevor him or
themselves to fynishe the saide taske worke.
' And furthermore also we have and doe by these presentes authorise
and com'aunde our said Servant Edmunde Tilney, Maister of our said
Revells, by himselfe or his sufficient Deputie or Deputies, to warne,

1582.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

249

poral wit', and Richard Tarlton, of 'a wondrous plentiful
pleasant extemporal wit', were two; and Howes (whose
comaunde and appointe in all places within this our Realme of England,
as well within Francheses and Liberties as without, all and ev'ry plaier.
or plaiers, with their playmakers, either belonginge to any Noble Man,
or otherwise bearinge the Name or Names or usinge the Facultie of Playmakers or Plaiers of Comedies, Trajedies, Enterludes, or what other
Showes soever, from tyme to tyme and at all tymes to appeare before
him, with all suche Plaies, Tragedies, Comedies, or Showes as they shall
have in readines, or meane to sett forth, and them to presente and recite
before our said Servant, or his sufficient Deputie, whom wee ordeyne,
appointe and authorise by these presentes of all suche Showes, Plaies,
Plaiers, and Playmakers, together with their playinge places, to order
and reforme, auctorise and put downe, as shalbe thought meete or unmeete unto himselfe or his said Deputie in that behalfe.
'And also likewise we have by these presentes authorised and com'aunded the said Edmunde Tylney, that in case if any of them, whatsoever they bee, will obstinatelie refuse, upon warninge unto them given
by the said Edmunde, or his sufficient Deputie, to accomplishe and obey
our comaundement in this behalfe, then it shalbe lawful to the saide
Edmunde, or his sufficient Deputie, to attache the partie or parties so
offendinge and him or them to com'ytt to Warde, to remaine without
hayle or mayneprise, untill suche tyme as the same Edmund Tylney, or
his sufficient Deputie, shall thinke the tyme of his or theire ymprisonment to be punishement sufficient for his or their said offence in that
behalfe;- and that done to inlarge him or them so beinge imprisoned at
their plaine libertie without any losse, penaltie, forfeiture or other
daunger in this behalfe to be susteyned or borne by the said Edmunde
Tylney or his Deputie; any Acte, Statute, Ordinance, or P'vision heretofore had or made to the contrarie hereof in any wise notwithstandinge.
'Wherefore we will and com'aunde you, and every of you, that unto the
said Edmunde Tylney, or his sufficient Deputie, bearer hereof, in the due
execuc'on of this our authoritie and comaundement ye be aydinge, supportinge and assistinge from tyme to tyme, as the case shall require, as
you and every of you tender our pleasure, and will answer to the contrarie at your uttermost perills. In Witnesse whereof do Witnes our
selfe at Westm'r the xxiiijth day of December in the xxiiijth yere of our
Raigne.'

250

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I583.

additions to Stow's Chronicle we are quoting) tells us, that
'they were all sworn the Queen's servants, and were allowed
wages and liveries, as grooms of the Chamber': he adds, that
'until this year, 1583, the Queen had no players'.
In a certain sense, this statement may be considered true;
but we have already seen that Elizabeth had 'Players of
Interludes' in her pay, as part of her household, from the
very commencement of her reign; and in the Book of the
domestic establishment of this Queen in the year 1585, preserved in the British Museum, they are still enumerated, each
receiving the old annual stipend of 31. 6s. 8d. If Howes be
correct, the twelve new players appointed in 1583 were paid
and liveried as grooms of the chamber. In the Book of 1585,
there is a separate item of' Players', distinct from 'Players'of
Interludes', with the sum of 38/. 4s. opposite to them, and
this was probably the amount paid to the performers who
were selected in I583.1 Malone, who only 'suspected' that
Queen Elizabeth had players on her establishment like
Edward VI and Mary, thought that the eight 'Players of
Interludes', mentioned in the Household Book of I585, must
The following is the statement of the expense of ' Musicions and
Players' in the Queen's Household Book of 1585, among the Sloane
MSS., No. 3194:'Sergiante of the Trompetors, fee 241. 6s. 8d.; Trumpetors I6, fee to
every of them 271. 6s. 8d.; Luters 3, fee 40o.; For six singing children,
fee I8l. 5s.; Harpers 2, to one 20z., to the other i8/. 5s.; Singers 2, fee
to each 9/. 2s. 6d.; Rebecke, fee 24/. 6s. 8d.; Sackbutts 6, fee to one of
them 361. ios., to the rest, a-piece 30l. 8s. 4d.; Vials 8, fee to one 20/., to
another I8Z. 5s., the rest 30/. 8s. 4d.; Bagpiper, fee 121. 3s. 4d.; Musicions 9, fee to one 24/. 6s. 8d., another 31. 6s. 8d., the rest, per diem, a-piece
Is.; Drummers 3, fee to each, per diem Is.; Fluters 2, fee 481. 8s. 4d.;
Virginalle, fee 5o.; Players, fee 38/. 4s.; - fee I2/. 13s. 4d.; Musicions strangers, fee to 4, I83/. I6s. 8d., to another 36/. Ios.; the rest,
a-piece 38.; Players of Enterluts 8, fee to every of them 31. 6s. 8d.;
Organ maker, fee 20/.; Rigall maker, fee Io/.'

1584.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 25
be eight out of the twelve performers selected in 1583: if so,
the remaining four must also have been remunerated, and
Howes expressly states that all twelve'were allowed wages
and liveries'.
Before we enter upon the theatrical transactions of the year
1584, it is proper to mention that Tylney, the Master of the
Revels, had exhibited his authority, and exercised his power
in some of the larger towns of the provinces in 1583: we may
mention Leicester in particular: an actor of the name of
Haysell, in February 1583, had there produced a license from
Tylney on behalf of himself and his fellows, who were to be
allowed to perform; but in no play that had not been previously
approved by the Master of the Revels. A similar course had
been pursued in other populous places.
In the account of the charges of the Revels at Court for
the year 1584-5, it appears, that 'Her Majesty's servants',
meaning her twelve new performers, played in her A. D.
presence five pieces, and would have played a sixth, 1584.
'an invention of three plays in one', at Somerset-place 'on
Shrovesondaie', but that 'the Quene came not abroad that
night'. The pieces in which they acted were the following:'A Pastorall of Phillyda and Choryn, on St. Stephens daie at
night, at Grenewiche.
'The History of Felix and Philiomena, on the sondaie next after
newe yeares-daie at night, at Grenewiche.
'An invention called Fyve Plays in One, on Twelfe daie at night,
in the hall at Grenewiche.
'An antick Play, and a Comody [not named], on Shrovetuesdaie
at night, at Somerset-place.'
The Earl of Oxford's boys, who played 'the history of
Agamemnon and Ulysses, on St. John's daie at night, at Grenewiche', and 'Symons and his fellows', who went through

252 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1584.
'dyvers feates of actyvytie', seem the only other actors who
appeared before the Queen in this year. Among the properties employed, we read of 'one great cloth of canvas', a
battlement, a mountain, and a house. No masks are mentioned, and the total cost.from October 1584, to October
1585, was only 279/. 13s. Id.
We have more than once mentioned, and quoted, Recorder
Fleetwood's reports, sent occasionally to Lord Burghley, and
preserved with his papers among the Lansdowne MSS. The
following curious extracts are from one of them, referring to
transactions in London relative to play-houses at Whitsuntide
1584, and to a renewed endeavour, on the part of the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen, to suppress the Theatre and Curtain,
the two play-houses so called, in Shoreditch:'Upon Whit sondaye there was a very good sermond preached at
the new churche yarde nere Bethlehem, wherat my Lo. Mayor was
with his bretheren; and, by reason no playes were the same daie, all
the citie was quiet. * * *
'That night (Monday) retorned to London, and found all the
wardes full of watches: the cause therof was, that very nere the
Theatre or Curten, at the tyme of the playes there, laye a prentice
sleping upon the grasse, and on [one] Challis at Brostock dyd turne
upon the too [toe] upon the belly of the same prentice; whereupon the apprentice start up, and after words they fell to playne
blowes. * * *
'Upon Weddensday one Browne, a serving man in a blew coat, a
slashing fellowe, having a perrelous witt of his owne, entending a
sport if he could have brought it to passe, did at the Theater doore
quarrell with certen poore boys, handicraft prenteses, and shooke
some of them; and lastely he with his sword wounded and maymed
one of the boyes upon the left hand; wherupon there assembled nere
a M [Iooo] people. * * *
'Upon Soundaye my Lord sent two Aldermen to the Court, for
the suppressing and pulling downe of the Theatre and Curten. All
^H~i^ &amp; K~:&amp; *:: '-^:-:*^*'.'.^-*^^ â. - -,-.'. *^./*.^.'".*^*^l~a^^^A-:^^-^.I

1584.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 253
the Lords were therunto, saving my Lord Chamberlen and Mr. Vyce;
but we obteyned a letter to suppresse theym. Upon the same nyght
I sent for the quenes players, and my Lo. of Arundel his players,
and they all willinglie obeyed the Lords letters. The cheefest of her
highnes players advysed me to send for the owner of the Theatre,
who was a stubborne fellow, and to bynd hym. I did so: he sent
me word, that he was my Lo. of Hunsdens man, and that he wold
not come at me, but he wold in the mornyng ride to my Lord. Then
I sent the under Sheriff for hym, and he brought hym to me; * * *
and in the end I shewed hym my Lo: his Masters hand, and then he
was more quiet; but to die for it he wold not be bound. And then
I mynding to send hym to prison, he.made sute that he might be
bounde to appere at the Oier &amp; Determiner, the which is to morowe,
where he said that he was sure the Court wold not bynd hym, being
a Counselors man. And so I have graunted his request, where he
shalbe sure to be bound, or else ys lyke to do worse. * * *
'An old mucision of the Quenes had this last night meretricem in
his lectulo. one Alen a constable, being homo barbatus, toke theym.
The Italian most violentlie tore of Alens berd, and said that he might
have a wenche in his chamber, because for that he was the Quenes
man. Alen now is become a Marques unto my Lo. Maior, hath
bound the Italian to aunswere at the next gaole delyveries."'
Independent of the rest of this minute and curious detail,
the last paragraph proves what a strict watch the Lord Mayor,
and his brethren, at this time kept over the morals of the city.
Anthony Wood says of Fleetwood, that he was not only a learned
lawyer and antiquary, but 'of a marvellous merry and pleasant conceit';
and some of his other letters to Lord Burghley, as well as the closing
paragraph of the above communication, afford evidence of his sprightly
turn of mind, even when writing to the grave Lord Treasurer. He was
himself a natural son, so that he might be disposed to treat the ' Queen's
old musician', caught with meretricem in his ectulo, with the less severity.
The date of Fleetwood's birth is uncertain, probably between I530 and
I540: he died February 28th, 1594.

254 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I 584.
It is signed by the legal adviser of the city, who subscribed
his name in the following form:Fleetwood was Recorder of London as early as I569, and
it has been supposed, probably without sufficient ground, that
he became so through the influence of the Earl of Leicester:
it seems more likely that he owed this appointment to Lord
Burghley, who made him one of the Queen's Serjeants eight
years after the date to which we are now referring. The following epigram was written upon his demise.
'When Fleetwood died, the Devil cried
Here comes one of our own!
Old Burgley's Sargeant, near allied
As flesh is to the bone:
The enemy of all poor players,
Albeit, he never said his prayers,
Save now and then,-that single bottle
Of a pint would prove a pottle.'
Besides drinking, he had many companionable qualities,
and was a trustworthy lawyer.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,

FROM THE YEAR 1585 TO THE YEAR 1599.
IN the year 1585, a licence of some kind (for the nature of it
is not mentioned, nor the parties by, nor to whom it A. D.
was given) had been granted for the exhibition of 1585.
certain games; and it is to be gathered from a long letter by
Fleetwood to Lord Burghley, that the latter had asked his
opinion, as a lawyer, upon the legality of the instrument.1
The Recorder's reply is dated I3th November 1585, and in it
he says, that the licence had 'a great shewe of lawfull and
reasonable games, that at the first face would seem to be
sufferable; but in the end of the restyall there is a clawsethe which, by generallitie of the words, doth geve lycence to
practyse all manner of playes and unlawfull games', and that,
too, as he proceeds to shew, by the party obtaining the licence
or by his deputy, on the Sabbath day. The kind of 'games
or playes' intended is not specified, but Fleetwood gives it as
his opinion that such a licence was illegal, and adds that no
licence can be granted for a malum naturaliter de se.
Secretary Walsingham2 had also intelligencers in London in
See Lansdowne MSS., No. 41.
2 After entertaining Queen Elizabeth at Barn Elms in 1589, Sir Francis
Walsingham died so poor, -in April 590, that his effects would not pay
the expense of a funeral suitable to his rank. Thomas Watson's elegant

256

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1586.

his pay, who despatched news to him from time to time: one of
these, who states himself to be a soldier, and who does not
A. D. sign his name, on the 25th January I586, sent him a
1586. communication, in which, with information and conjectures respecting the designs of France and Scotland, he
tribute to his memory on the occasion was, therefore, disinterested, at
least as far as regards any pecuniary consideration. It was written
originally in Latin, but the author himself translated it into English, and
printed it in the same year. This translation is a production of the
utmost rarity, and the only copy known is in the King's Library: it is
entitled An.Elogue upon the Death of the Rzight Honorable Sir Francis
Walsingham, late Principall Secretarie to her Majestie, etc., and it was
printed by Robert Robinson in 1590. It is dedicated to Lady Frances
Sydney, and in the course of the pastoral Watson takes occasion to
advert to the services and untimely death of Sir Philip Sydney. The
latter part of the poem is most interesting, particularly from the mention
it makes of Spenser, calling upon him to perform a task to which
Watson felt himself unequal. We have never seen it quoted, and we
cannot refrain from inserting this portion of the poem, as it stands in the
original. Watson speaks of Queen Elizabeth under the name of Diana,
and then proceeds:'Yet lest my homespun verse obscure hir worth,
Sweet Spencer, let me leave this task to thee,
Whose neverstooping quill can best set forth
such things of state, as passe my Muse and me.
Thou, Spencer, art the alderliefest swaine,
or haply if that word be all to base,
Thou art Apollo, whose sweet hunnie vaine
amongst the Muses hath a chiefest place.
Therefore, in fulnes of thy duties love,
calme thou the tempest of Diana's brest,
Whilst shee for Melibasus late remove
afflicts her mind with overlong unrest.
Tell hir forthwith (for well shee likes thy vaine)
that though great Melibaeus be awaie,
Yet like to him there manie still remaine,
which will uphold hir countrie from decaie.

586.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

257

mixes up the following interesting particulars regarding the
stage; shewing the great number of actors at that time performing in the city, and that they then played every day in
the week, Sunday excepted.
'The daylie abuse of Stage Playes is such an offence to the godly,
and so great a hinderance to the gospell, as the papists do exceedingly rejoyce at the bleamysh theareof, and not without cause; for
every day in the weake the players billes are sett up in sondry places
of the cittie, some in the name of her Majesties menne, some the
Earl of Leicr, some the E. of Oxford, the Lo. Admyralles, and
dyvers others; so that when the belles tole to the Lectorer, the
'First name Damcetas, flowre of Arcadie,
whose thoughts are prudent and speech vertuous,
Whose looks have mildness joind with majestie,
whose hand is liberal and valorous:
He is Damoetas, who is wont to blame
extreamest justice voide of equitie:
Diana terms him by an other name,
Hatton, unless I faile in memorie.
Then name old Damon, whom shee knows of old,
for such a Nestor was to Grsecians guide;
Worth ten of Ajax, worth all Croessus gold,
if his deserts in ballance could be tride.
Damon is he, that counsels all aright,
and heedfullie preserves Dianaes store;
And wakes when others rest themselvs by night:
we Arcads call him Cecill heretofore.
Then name brave AEgon, that with ships defence,
about our coast orespreds the Ocean plaines,
To keepe fell monsters of the sea from hence:
we cleape him Howard that are countrie swaines.
Name Mopsus, Daphnis, Faustus and the rest,
whose severall gifts thy singing can expresse.
When thou shalt tell how shee in them is blest,
their verie names will comfort her distresse.'

VOL. I.

258

ANNAIS OF TIIE STAGE.

[I586.

trumpetts sound to the Stages, whereat the wicked faction of Rome
lawgheth for joy, while the godly weepe for sorrowe. Woe is me!
the play howses are pestered, when churches are naked: at the one
it is not possible to gett a place, at the other voyde seates are plentie.
The profaning of the Sabaoth is redressed, but as badde a custome
entertayned, and yet still our long suffering God forbayreth to,
punishe. Yt is a wofull sight to see two hundred proude players jett
in their silkes, wheare five hundred pore people sterve in the streets.
But yf needes this mischief must be tollerated, whereat (no doubt)
the highest frownith, yet for God's sake (Sir) lett every Stage in
London pay a weekly pention to the pore, that ex hoc malo proveniat
aliquod bonurn. but it weare rather to be wisshed that players might
be used, as Apollo did his lawghing, semel in anno. * * * Nowe,
mee thinks, I see your honor smyle, and saye to your self, theise
things are fitter for the pullpit, then a souldiers penne; but God
(who searcheth the hart and reynes) knoweth that I -write not hipocritically, but from the veary sorrowe of my soule.'
In I586, Elizabeth, following the arbitrary precedent set as
long ago as the reign of Richard III, issued a warrant under
her sign manual, authorising Thomas Gyles, Master of the
Children of Paul's, to take up any boys in Cathedrals or Collegiate Churches, in order to be instructed for the entertainment of the Court. Nichols (Progr. Eliz., ii, 432) states, that
this document was issued in the 26th of Eliz.; but, had he
referred to the original, a copy of which is subjoined in a
note,2 he would have seen that it bears date in the 27th year
of Eliz.
1 Harleian MSS., No. 286.
2 ( BY THE QUEENE.
'Elizabeth R.
'Whereas we have authoryzed our servaunte Thomas Gyles, Mr of
the Children of the Cathedrall Churche of St. Paule, within our Cittie of
London, to take upp suche apte and meete children, as are most fitt to
be instructed and fiamed in the arte and science of musicke and singing,

1587.] ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE. 259
At this date (as appears by the Accounts of the University),
Players endeavoured to obtain a footing in Oxford, and the
authorities seem to have had, or at all events resorted to, no
means of preventing their performances but bribery: in 1587
the Players of the Earl of Leicester were paid 20s., on condition that they should not act: the memorandum is in these
terms:-Solutt. Histrionibus Comnitis Lecestric, ut curn suis
ludis sine mnajore Academice molestid discedant.Y Elsewhere,
the performances are called ludos inhonestos.
In Feb. 1587, the Earl of Warwick obtained a warrant for
X the payment of the claim of George Evelyn of Wotton, for
as they may be had and founde out within anie place of this our Realme
of England or Wales, to be by his education and bringing up made meete
and hable to serve us in that behalf, when our pleasure is to call for them.
We, therefore, by the tenor of these presents, will and require you, that
ye permitt and suffer from henceforthe our saide servaunte Thomas Gyles,
and his deputie or deputies, and every of them, to take upp in anye
Cathedrall or Collegiate Churche or Churches, and in everye other place
or places of this our Realme of England and Wales, such Childe or
Children, as he or they or anye of them shall finde and like of; and the
same Childe and Children, by vertue hereof, for. the use and service aforesaide, with them or anye of them to bringe awaye, without anye your
letts, contradictions, staye or interruption, to the contrarye. Charginge
and commaundinge you, and everie of you, to be aydinge, helpinge and
assistinge unto the above named Thomas Gyles, and his deputie and
deputies, in and about the due execution of the premisses, for the more
spedie effectuall and bettar accomplisshing thereof from tyme to tyme, as
you and everie of yoe do tendar our will and pleasure, and will aunswere
for doinge the contrarye at your perills. Yoven under our Signet at our
Manor of Grenewich, the 26th day of Aprill, in the 27th yere of our reign.
'To all and singuler Deanes, Provostes, Maisters and Wardens
of Collegies, and all ecclesiasticall persons and mynisters, and to
all other our officers, mynisters and subjects to whom in this case
it shall apperteyne, and to everye of them greetinge.'
On several future occasions, the Players of Lord Howard and two
other unnamed companies obtained similar payments.
S 2

260

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

[1587.

provisions supplied to the Tower, and for the reward of actors
on Shrove Tuesday for a Play, the title of which is not given
nor the name of the company by which it was performed:
the whole sum amounted to only I2s.
Gray's Inn was extremely busy in 1587-8 in theatrical preparations and exhibitions. On the i6th of January in that
year, a play, of which Catiline probably was the hero, and a
mask, were represented in the Hall before Lord Burghley and
other courtiers. The Lord Treasurer has registered the fact
of his presence on the occasion, as an endorsement on a list
of the characters, and of the performers of them, which he
left behind him among his papers.' On the 28th of February
following, 'the Gentlemen of Gray's Inn' presented before
the Queen, at Greenwich, the tragedy of The Misfortunes of
' Lansdowne MSS., No. 55. It is indorsed by Lord Burghley in the
following manner:-' xvj Janv. 1587. The names of the of Grays
In, that playd there a Comedy befor the Lo. Burghley, L. Tr.' They are
these:

' DOMINUS DE
'The Prologue
Hidaspes, the sonn
Manilius, madd
Pyso
Lucius
Mummius, old man
Byrria, parasite
Flamantia, curtizan
Sr Delicato
Catelyne
Clodius
Salust
Cato $
Crassus censors
Scilla, dictator
Cinna, I consul
2 consul

PURPOOLE, Hatclyff.
Ellis.
Campion.
A.nderton.
Farnley.. Ashley.
Topham.
Staverton.
Sandfort.
Sr Peter Shakerley.
-Rhodes.
Stanfort.
Crewe.. Hulton.
Williamson..Montfort.
Davenport.
Starkey.

1587.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 261
Arthur;1 of the body of which Thomas Hughes was the
author, Nicholas Trotte writing the induction, and 'Mr.
Francis Bacon' (afterwards Lord Bacon), with others, assisting in the preparation of the dumb-shews.2
To about this period may be assigned the subsequent letter
from Bacon (who, in 1588, discharged the office of Reader at
Gray's Inn), to Lord Burghley, on the subject of a mask,
which was to have been undertaken by the four Inns of Court,
but which, for some unexplained reason, was not exhibited.
Tribunus Plebis... Smyth.
Melancholy.... Campion.
Epilogue.... Ellis.
MASQUERS.
'Rhodes... Ross.
Luttrell. -. Peniston.
Champnes... Daye.'
Nichols, in his Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, does not seem to
have been aware of the nature of the representations before her Majesty
at Greenwich on this occasion: he merely states, that there were performances; but, in the Garrick collection, he might have found the very
tragedy that was exhibited. It is contained in the later editions of
Dedsley's Old Plays.
2 At this date Nicholas Trotte (who is not known to have written anythiilg but. the introduction to this tragedy) was probably on intimate
terms with the family of Lord Bacon. Lady Bacon, widow of Sir
Nicholas Bacon, in 1594 had given him a horse, which Trotte for some
cause sold; and in the Harl. MSS., No. 871, is a letter from him to
Lady Bacor, excusing himself for having done so, and giving the widow
some account of her sons. From Lansdowne MSS., No. 88, arts. 21, 22,
and 24, we learn that, in I60o, Lord Bacon was in debt to Nicholas
Trotte to the amount of i8oo/. His creditor had applied for the payment
of the mr ey, but could not obtain it: Lord Bacon (then Mr. Francis
Bacon, ant 'a Member of Parliament) in his letter enters into some explanations on the subject of his debt, and, on certain conditions, Trotte
consented tc allow him time.
\.......
\ f

262 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1587.
'Yt may please your good L. I am sory the joynt maske from
the fowr Innes of Court faileth: whearin I conceyve thear is no
other ground of that event, but impossibility. Neverthelesse,
bycause it falleth owt, that at this tyme Graies Inne is well furnyshed
of galant young gentlemen, yr Lp. may be pleased to know, that
rather then this occasion shall passe withowt some demonstration of
affection from the Innes of Court, thear are a dozen gentlemen of
Graies Inne, that owt of the honor which they bear to your L. and
my L. Chamberlayne, to whome at theyr last maske they were so
much bownden, will be ready to furnysh a maske, wyshing it were in
their powers to performe it according to theyr mynds. And so for
the present I humbly take my leave, resting
The charges of the Royal Revels, as they appear in the
account of the Master of that office, 'from the last of OctoA. D. ber 1587,1 in A~ 29m~ regni Elizabethe, until the last
i587. of October 1589, anno 3I1m Dmae Regine', including
therefore the space of two years, were only 50o6. 9s. 7 a
Between Christmas and Shrovetide 1587-8, seven plays werer
performed, one of which was that before mentioned by/ thq
gentlemen of Grayes Inne', and the rest were by 'the
Children of Poules' and 'her Majesty's own Servaunts', but
the titles of none of the pieces are inserted. 'Feats of
activity and other shews' are also spoken of in the account.
The neighbourhood of 'The Theatre', beyond Shoredit'? Church,
was at this period made a place of public execution, and S-owe in his
Chronicle, under date of the 28 August 1587, states that W. Gunten, was
hanged 'at the Theatre' as a papist, and for aiding and abetting the
Roman Catholics. On the 5 October another man was hanged there.

1588.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

263

The same number of plays were performed before the Queen
at the same season 1588-9, by the Queen's Players, the
Children of Pauls and the Lord Admiral's men, together
with 'feats of activity, tumbling and matachines', in which
Symmons, the tumbler before mentioned, exhibited. In
this instance, also, the names of all the pieces are wanting.
The items, with few exceptions, are made out in general
terms: one of the exceptions is 'for the faire writing of
all the devises in two copies for the Queen', for which Ios.
are charged by a scribe.
That there were revels at Greenwich in November 1588, is
established by the following entry, in the books of the Stationers' Company, of a tract intended for publication:-' The
Devyse before the Quenes Majestie at her Court at Greenwich, the 12th Nov: 1588.' If such a production were
printed, its existence is not at present known.
The statement of the Revels from 1587 to 1589 likewise
contains a singular and novel article belonging to the latter
year; viz., a splendid mask, with all its appurtenances, sent
by the Queen into Scotland on the marriage of King James.
The total expense of this present is not furnished, but the
account of the materials, etc., of which it consisted, is- headed
as follows:
'Betweene the of September I589, a~ regni Rn-e Eliz:, and
the of the same September, for the furnishing of a mask for
six maskers and six torchbearers, and of such persons as were to
utter speeches at the shewing of the same maske, sent into Scotland
to the King of Scotts mariage, by her Majestie's commaundement,
signified unto the Mr and other officers of this office by the Lord
Treasurer, the Lord Chamberleyn and Mr. Vicechamberleine: the
charges, as well for workmanshipp and attendance, as for wares delivered &amp; brought into this office for and about the same, hereafter
particulerly insueth.'

264

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

[ 589.

The particulars of the dresses and materials are inserted
below in a note.'
Strype, in his edition of Slow's Survey, speaking of the
number of companies of players retained as the servants of
the nobility, says that it was not unusual for them to be 'put
down', 'upon any gentleman's complaint of them for abuses,
or indecent reflections'; and, in proof, he refers to an instance
in the year 1589, when the Lord Admiral's and Lord Strange's
men were silenced, 'because one Mr. Tylney had utterly, for
sone reasons, disliked them'. Strype does not seem to have
adverted to the fact that this 'one Mr. Tylney' was the
Master of the Revels, whose duty it was to watch over the
conduct of the players, and who, it will be evident from what
follows, must have made representations to Lord Burghley
against the misconduct of actors in the city. The Lord Treasurer accordingly wrote to the Lord Mayor, requiring him
(most unprecedently) to put a stop to all theatrical exhibitions
' A maske of six coates of purple gold tinsell, garded with purple and
black clothe of silver striped. Bases of crimson clothe of gold, with
pendants of maled purple silver tinsell. Twoe paire of sleves to the
same of red cloth of gold, and four paire of sieves to the same of white
clothe of copper, silvered. Six partletts of purple clothe of silver knotted.
Six hed peces, whereof foure of clothe of gold, knotted, and twoe of
purple clothe of gold braunched. Six fethers to the same hed peces.
Six mantles, whereof four of oringe clothe of gold braunched. and twoe
of purple and white cloth of silver braunched. Six vizardes, and six
fawchins [falchions] guilded.
'Six cassocks for torche bearers of damaske; three of yellowe, and
three of red, garded with red and yellowe damaske counterchaunged.
Six paire of hose of damaske; three of yellowe, and three of red, garded
with red and yellowe damaske counterchaunged. Six hatts of crimson
clothe of gold, and six fethers to the same. Six vizardes.
' Foure heares of silke, and foure garlandes of flowers, for the attire of
them that are to utter certeine speeches at the shewing of the same
maske.' (Lansd. MSS. No. 59.)

I 5 89.]

ANNAIS OF THE STAGE.

265

within his jurisdiction. The city authorities, of course, proceeded with alacrity to execute these orders; but, although
the anonymous correspondent of Sir F. Walsingham, three
years before, had mentioned four companies by name, and had
asserted, that in the whole the number of players in the city
amounted to two hundred, the Lord Mayor, in Nov. I589
(strange to say), could then only 'hear of' two companies,
and one of those refused to obey his injunctions. The answer
of the Lord Mayor to Lord Burghley is extant in the following
form:
'My very ho: good lord. Where by a letter of your Lordships,
directed to Mr. Yonge, it appered unto me, that it was your ho:
pleasure I sholde geve order for the staie of all playes within the cittie,
in that Mr. Tilney did utterly mislike the same. According to which
your Lordships good pleasure, I presentlye sent for suche players as I
coulde heare of; so as there appered yesterday before me the Lord
Straunges players; to whome I speciallie gave in charge, and required
them in her Majesty's name, to forbere playinge untill further order
might be geven for theire allowance in that respect: Whereuppon
the Lord Admiralls players very dutifullie obeyed: but the others, in
very contemptuous manner departing from me, wente to the Crosse
Keys, and played that afternoone to the greate offence of the better
sorte, that knew they were prohibited by order from your Lordship.
Which as I might not suffer, so I sent for the said contemptuous
persons, who having no reason to alleadge for their contempte, I
could do no less but this evening committ tow of them to one of the
Compters, and do meane, according to your Lordships direction, to
prohibite all playing until your Lordships pleasure therein be further
knowen. And thus resting further to trouble your Lordship, I moste
humblie take my leave. At London the sixte of November I589.
'yr Lordships moste humble
'JOHN HARTE, maior.'1
1 Lallsownte MISS. No. 60.

266

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1589.

By other means we are enabled to arrive at the ground
of the objections of Tylney, Master of the Revels, to the
proceedings of the players. They had, in fact, introduced
matters of state and religion into their performances. At this
date the Marprelate contest was at its height, and Tylney's
complaint, and Lord Burghley's interference, may be accounted
for by reference to a tract by Thomas Nash, printed in the
year when the players in London were silenced by the Lord
Treasurer: hence it appears, notonlythat Martin Marprelate had
been brought upon the public stage, but an account is given
of the precise manner in which he was exhibited. In Nash's
Returne of the renowned Cavaliero Pasquill of England, 1589,
occurs the following sentence:-' Methought Vetus Comedia
began to pricke him at London in the right vaine, when shee
brought foorth Divinitie with a scratcht face, holding of her
hart, as if she were sicke, because Martin would have forced
her; but myssing of his purpose, he left the print of his
nayles upon her cheekes, and poysoned her with a vomit,
which he ministred unto her to make her cast uppe her
dignities and promotions.'
Nash calls it Vetus Comcedia who brought Martin Marprelate on the stage 'at London',' because the performance was
evidently in the nature of an old Moral, not partaking of the
improvements which, in 1589, had been introduced into our
dramatic poetry. It was this performance which occasioned
the temporary inhibition of plays in the City by the authority
of the Chief Magistrate; and Nash, in the same tract from
which we have just quoted, himself informs us of this conse1This incident is also alluded to in a tract called A Countercuffe given
to Martin, 7unior, printed in 1589, where it is said 'the Anatomie lately
taken of him, the blood and the humors that were taken from him by.
lancing and worming him at London upon the common stage', had discomfited him.

1589.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

267

quence. 'I have (he adds, some pages afterwards) a tale to
tell in her care of the slye practice that was used in restraining
of her', meaning Vetus Comenadia, who had ventured to represent upon the stage a matter of state and religion.
John Lyly also, the author of Pap with an Hatchet, a pamphlet
written, like that of Nash, against the Martinists, and printed
before I590,1 alludes, though not quite so distinctly, to the
same incident in theatrical history. Nash only notices the
production of one piece; but, according to Lyly, several
upon the same theme had been prepared, although they were
not allowed to be performed. 'Would (says he) those
comedies might be allowed to be plaid that are penned, and
then I am sure he [Martin Marprelate] would be decyphered,
and so, perhaps, discouraged: he shall not be brought in, as
whilom he was, and yet very well, with a cock's combe, an
ape's face, a wolfes bellie, cats clawes, &amp;c., but in a cap'de
cloake, and all the best apparel he ware the highest day in the
yeare. A stage-player, though he be but a cobler by occupation, yet his chaunce may bee to play the king's part: Martin,
of what calling soever he be, can play nothing but the knave's
part. Would it not be a fine tragedie, when Mardocheus shall
play a Bishoppe in a play, and Martin Hamman; arid that
he that seekes to pull downe those that are set in high
authoritie above him, should be hoisted upon a tree above all
other?'
The marginal note, opposite the last interrogation, is important: it is this-' If he be shewed at Paules it will cost
you four-pence: at the Theatre twopence: at Sainct Thomas
a Watrings, nothing.' Here we see named the very theatres
1 It has no date on the title-page, but it is ascertained to have been
published before I590, by the fact that it is mentioned with high praise
by Nash in his First part of Pasquill's Apology, which bears the date
of that year.

268

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1589.

at which dramatic productions upon the subject of the dispute
between Martinists and the Bishops had been representedviz., at St. Paul's by the dramatic children, and byactors at the
Theatre in Shoreditch. St. Thomas a Watrings was a place of
execution, and it is truly said, that any body could see Martin
'hoisted upon a tree' there for nothing, although at St. Paul's
(where the boys of the choir performed) it would cost fourpence, and at the Theatre two-pence to see him so exhibited.
Chalmers was aware of the consequence, though not of the
cause; for he speaks1 of the appointment of Commissioners in
1589, to assist Tylney in the reformation of tragedies and
comedies; and he quotes from the Registers of the Privy
Council three letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Lord Mayor of London, and the Master of the Revels, upon
the subject, requiring the first to name a person 'well learned
in divinity', the second to choose 'a sufficient person learned
and of judgment', and the last to act in conjunction with those
two commissioners in inspecting and licensing allplays to be
acted 'in and about the city of London'. It is to be remarked,
that these three letters were dated on the 12th November
I589, only six days after the Lord Mayor had written to
Lord Burghley, to inform him, that he had called before him
the servants of the Lord Admiral and Lord Strange. These
important communications are subjoined in a note.2
1 Apologyfor the Believers, p. 483.
2 Nov. 12, 1589. A letter to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.'That whereas there hathe growne some inconvenience by common playes
and enterludes in &amp; about the cyttie of London, in [that] the players
take upon [them] to handle in their plaies certen matters of Divinytie
and State, unfitt to be suffered: for redresse whereof their Lordships
have thought good to appointe some persons of judgment and understanding to viewe and examine their playes before they be permitted to
present them publickly. His Lordship is desired that some fytt person,
well learned in divinity, be appointed by him, to joyne with the Mr. of the

I 5 89.]

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

269

If these commissioners were appointed, and forthwith
proceeded in the discharge of their duties, we are without
information of the manner in which they executed them; and
we are also totally ignorant of the time when their services
were discontinued: subsequent to this date we never hear of
them. Perhaps, after they had performed the immediate
object for which they were appointed, their services were no
Revelles, and one other to be nominated by the L: Maior, and they
joyntly with some spede to viewe and consider of such Comedyes and
Tragedies as are and shall be publickly played by the companies of
players in and about the Cittie of London; and they to geve allowance
of such as they shall thinke meete to be played, and to forbyd the rest.'
To the Lord Mayor of London.-' That whereas their Lordships have
already signifyed unto him to appoint a sufficient person, learned and of
judgement, for the Cittie of London, to joyne with the Mr. of the Revelles,
and with a Divine to be nominated by the Lord Archb. of Cant: for the
reforminge of the plaies daylie exercysed and presented publickly in &amp;
about the Cittie of London, wherein the players take upon them, without
judgment or decorum, to handle matters of Divinitie and State. He is
required, if he have not as yet made choice of such a person, that he will
soe do forthwith, and thereof geve knowledge to the Lord Archb. and
the Mr. of the Revelles, that they may meet accordingly.'
To the Master of the Revels.-' Requiring him with two others, the
one to be appointed by the Lord Archb. of Canterbury, and the other
by the Lord Maior of London, to be men of learning and judgment, and
to call before'them the severall companies of players (whose servaunts
soever they be), and to require them by authorytie hereof to deliver
unto them their books, that they may consider of the matters of their
Comedyes and Tragedyes, and thereuppon to stryke out or reforme such
parte and matters, as they shall fynd unfytt and undecent to be handled
in plaies both for Divinitie and State: commanding the said Companies
of players in her Majesties name, that they forbear to present and play
publickly any Comedy or Tragedy, other than such as they three shall
have seene and allowed: which if they shall not observe, they shall lett
them know from their Lordships, that they shalbe not onely severely
punished, but made [in]capable of the exercise of their profession for
ever hereafter.'

270 ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE. [1589.
longer required, and the control of all matters relating to the
stage might be again left to the Master of the Revels, who
had shown such alacrity in calling the attention of the
government to the evil. The total prohibition of playing by
the Lord Mayor was only temporary, however much the corporation might wish it to be permanent.
In 1589, Lord Burghley seems to have been engaged in
introducing some new and economical regulations into the
Queen's household; and in an account of the ordinary and
extraordinary payments in that department, in the handwriting of the Lord Treasurer, it is stated that in that year
the Musicians retained by Elizabeth cost 6I6/. Iis. 8d. per
annum.1
The general order of the Privy Council in 1583, after the
accident at Paris Garden, that no plays should be acted on
Sunday in London and its vicinity, seems to have been
generally effectual for its purpose, until October I587, when
some of the inhabitants of Southwark complained that plays
and interludes were still represented on the Sabbath, 'especially within the liberty of the Clink, and within the parish
'Among the Cotton. MSS. there are several without date, relating to
the Musicians of Elizabeth, which are to be referred to about this period,
or a little earlier. Gioseffo Lupo, an instrumental performer, petitioned
the Queen for an increase of salary, alleging Vi ha fiaciuto romnettergli
qualche augmento di gagio. He subsequently repeated his claim for
higher wages, and preferment, asserting that he had served her Majesty
for fifteen years. (Cotton. MSS. Titus, B. ii.) About the same time Gli
Fratelii Bassani prayed the Queen that one year's salary due to their
brother Edward, and which for some cause had been withheld, might be
paid. Pietro Lupo, a performer upon the violin, Cotton. MSS. Titus, B,
viii, entreated the interposition of an unnamed person with Sir Thomas
Henneage, for the advance of a quarter's wages, 5erche io sono tornato di
Alamagna senza haver potuto frevalermi di alcuni miei crediti di quel
paese. In another letter he entreats to be allowed to return to his service
at Court, from whence he had withdrawn himself.

I590.]

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

27I

of St. Saviours.' On the 29th October, therefore (as appears
by the Registers), the Privy Council wrote to the Magistrates
of Surrey and Middlesex, requiring them to take strict
order for the prevention of such disobedience. Nevertheless on Sunday, IIth June I592, a riot took place in Southwark, headed by the servants of the Felt-makers' company and
others, for the purpose of rescuing a person who had been
committed to the Marshalsea; and the Lord Mayor (William
Webbe), in a letter to Lord Burghley,' dated on the following
day, asserts that 'the sayed companies assembled themselves
by occasion and pretence of their meeting at a play, which
besides the breach of the Sabboth day, giveth opportunitie of
committing these and such like disorders.' In 1592, therefore, plays were still performed sometimes on Sunday.2
Prior to the year 1591, but how much earlier cannot be ascertained, the performances by the Children of Paul's in their
singing school, were suppressed. Malone asserts, unqualifiedly, that this event occurred in 1583-4;3 but the earliest
authority on the point is dated I59I, viz., the address of the
printer before Lyly's play, Encdymion, published in that year.
'Since (he says) the plays in Pauls were dissolved, there are
certain comedies come to my hands', etc., speaking as if it
were a recent event. We know, likewise, that several of
1 Lansdowne MSS., No. 71.
2 In a letter from the Privy Council to the Lord Mayor, dated 25th July
1591 (See Chalmers's Apology, p. 379), the Lords notice the neglect of
the order against playing on the Sabbath day, and they go on to state
that the representation of interludes, etc., on other days of the week, was
'a great hurt and destruction of the game of bear-baiting and like pastimes, which are maintained for her Majesty's pleasure if occasion
require'. They therefore direct that no plays shall be shown either on
Sundays or on Thursdays, 'because on the Thursdays these other games
usually have been always accustomed and practised'.
3 See note on Hamlet, act ii, scene 2.

272 ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE. [1589.
Lyly's pieces were represented by the children of St. Paul's
subsequent to I584. Malone also quotes Heywood's Apology
for Actors, I6I2, to show that the performances by boys at
St. Paul's were forbidden on account of the personal abuse
and scurrility put into 'the mouths of children'; but this
piece of evidence would apply equally to the children of the
Revels.l The cause of the suppression must, therefore, re'The whole passage in Heywood's Apology for Actors runs thus, and
the reader will see that he points at no particular company of youthful
performers.
'Now to speak of some abuse lately crept into the quality, as an inveighing against the state, the court, the law, the city and their governments, with the particularising of private men's humours, yet alive,
noblemen and others, I know it distastes many; neither do I any way
approve it, nor dare by any means excuse it. The liberty which some
arrogate to themselves, committing their bitterness and liberal invectives
against all estates to the mouths of children, supposing their juniority to
be a privilege for any railing, be it never so violent, I could advise all
such to curb and limit this presumed liberty within the bands of discretion and government. But wise and judicial censurers, before whom
such complaints shall at any time hereafter come, will not, I hope, impute
these abuses to any transgression in us, who have ever been careful and
provident to shun the like.'
We are to recollect, that at the time when Hamlet was first produced
(perhaps late in I602, or early in I603), the children of the Revels performed, as an independent and rival body, at the Blackfriars Theatre, as
well as the full-grown company to which Shakespeare belonged; and we
entertain little doubt, that the poet meant his attack for the children of
the Revels, and not for the children of Paul's. Malone says, 'our author
cannot be supposed to direct any satire at 'those young men who played
occasionally- at his own theatre': why not? especially if they were
more 'the fashion', 'berattled the common stages', and attracted larger
audiences.
The 4to Hamlet of I693, in the Collection of the Duke of Devonshire,
and which, we think, was demonstrably published in haste from a shorthand copy, taken from the mouths of the players, was not discovered
when Malone fixed the date of the production of Hamlet in I6oo00.

1589.1

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

273

main in doubt, as we are not aware of the existence of any
testimony, direct or indirect, upon the point, unless it arose
out of the manner in which the children of Paul's had brought
Martin Marprelate on their stage in 1589, as already mentioned.
In his Have with you to Saffron Waldon, I596, Nash states
that the interdict had not even then been taken off, for he expresses a wish to see 'the plays at Pauls up again.' It had
been removed prior to I6oo, because a piece called The Maids
Metamorphosis, attributed to Lyly, was 'acted by the Children
of Powles' and printed in that year. In 7ack Drum's Entertainment, first published in i6oi, the following dialogue occurs
respecting their audiences and their plays.
' Sir Edw. Fortune. I saw the children of Powles last night,
And, troth, they pleas'd me pretty, pretty well:
The apes in time will do it handsomely.'
'Planet. I'faith, I like the audience that frequenteth there,
With much applause. A man shall not be choked
With the stench of garlick, nor be pasted
To the barmy jacket of a beer brewer.'
'Brabant, jun. 'Tis a good gentle audience, and I hope the
boys
Will come one day into the Court of Requests.
'Brabant, Sen. Aye; an they had good plays; but they produce
Such musty fopperies of antiquity,
And do not suit the humorous age's back
With clothes in fashion.'
Hence we may infer that the performance by the children
of Paul's had not long recommenced, because it is remarked
that they wanted practice-' the apes in time will do it handAt the conclusion of the reprint of Mzrucedorus in I6Io, and, perhaps, in
earlier editions, will be found a striking illustration of what is above said
by Heywood. The personality is there obvious and offensive, and, perhaps, applies to the Children of the Revels.
VOL. I. T

274 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1589.
somely:'-they, perhaps, acted before I6oI, chiefly 'musty fopperies of antiquity', because, during their long silence, they
had not been able to furnish themselves with pieces that
would 'suit the humorous age's back with clothes in fashion.'
Marston, Dekker, and others, soon provided them with more
modern and more attractive plays, and the Antonio and Mellida of the first, and the Satiromastix of the last, were acted
there in, or before, 1602. The conclusion, from all the existing
evidence, seems to be, that the interdict was imposed about
I589 or I590, and withdrawn about I6oo. When, in the
preceding quotation, Brabant junior expresses a hope that
the boys of Paul's 'will come one day into the Court of
Requests', he means, that they will again be in request for
performances at Court, as they formerly had been.
In 1591, Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to Lord Burghley at
Theobalds, where, it seems, she was received with much
solemnity, although the Lord Treasurer did not himself make
his appearance to welcome her. In March I587, he had lost
his mother at a very advanced age, and in April I589, his
wife, to whom he was deeply attached, died: in the interval,
also, his daughter, Lady Oxford, had expired; so that in 1591,
depressed by these misfortunes, he had resolved to retire from
public life, and the visit of the Queen was, perhaps, intended
to revive his spirits, and to recall him to her active service.1
Mr. Nichols, in his Progresses, under this date, relates all that
was known upon this point; and, without being able to explain
it, inserts from Strype a sort of mock writ or summons,
directed to Sir Christopher Hatton, the object of which was, by
a little official playfulness, to withdraw Lord Burghley from his
Thomas Lodge, in the Second Eiilogue between Philides and Eglon,
published in 1593, makes the latter endeavour to persuade the former,
(who is meant for Burghley) to quit his retirement and again to give his
country the benefit of his services. Eglon was Lodge himself.

1589.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 275
seclusion: in that document he is spoken of as a Hermit;
and it seems clear, that since the death of his wife, two years
and some months anterior, he had quitted his new and noble
mansion, and, making only occasional visits to Court, had
resided in the neighbourhood of Theobalds.
A MS. poem, in blank verse, has fallen into our hands,
which serves to explain the whole proceeding: it is a speech
supposed to be delivered by a Hermit to the Queen, on her
first arrival at Theobalds, the purpose of which was to excuse
the absence of Lord Burghley, by stating that he had taken
up his abode in the cell belonging to the Hermit, in consequence of his grief, and had enjoined the Hermit to do the
honours of his house in his stead. Robert Cecill, knighted
just afterwards, was the person who pronounced the speech,
and he referred to it when the Queen again came to Theobalds in 1594. It was written by a poet no less distinguished
than George Peele, who was employed by Lord Burghley's
son to aid the scheme; for the mock writ, before mentioned,
which puzzled Strype, and as, he says, defied commentary, is
besought by the individual in the disguise of a hermit. The
whole piece is in the poet's handwriting, and his initials, G. P.,
are subscribed at the end.' It refers to other points (among
them, to the defeat of the Spanish Armada), which will be
easily understood: however interesting, as it would occupy
too much space in the text, we have subjoined the whole of
1 The circumstance of his having been employed, and successfully, on
this occasion, may have emboldened Peele, in I596, to make a charitable
appeal to Lord Burghley, when, in extreme poverty, he sent to his lordship
the Tale of Troy. See a fac-simile of Peele's letter, from Lansdowne MSS.,
No. 99, in the second edition of Peeles Works, by the Rev. A. Dyce.
That letter is in the Italian hand, then most fashionable, but Peele also
wrote the small common English hand: thebody of this poem was in the
latter, and some corrections in the former.
T2

276 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I589.
this remarkable production in a note.l It was unknown to
Dyce when he published his edition of Peele's Works, and
it is now in the library of Frederic Ouvry, Esq., late President
of the Society of Antiquaries.
' It has no title nor introduction, but commences thus:'My soverayn Lady, &amp; most gratious Queene,
Be not displeased, that won [one] so meanly clad
Presumes to stand thus bowldly in the way
That leades into this howse, accownted yours:
But myld, and full of pytty as you ar,
Hear &amp; respect my lamentable tale.
I am a hermitt that this x yeares space
Have led a sollytarye &amp; retyred lyfe,
Here in my cell, not past a furlonge hence,
Tyll by my fownder, he that buylt this howse,
Forgettfull of his wryghttynge &amp; his woord,
Full sore agaynst my wyll, I was removed;
For he, oretaken with excessive greefe,
Betooke hym to my sylly hermytage,
And there hath lyued two yeeres &amp; som few monethes,
By reason of these most bitter accidents.
As, fyrst of all, his aged Mother's deathe,
Who lyved a fyfte, &amp; saw her fower discents
Of those that linneally have sproong from her:
His daughters deathe, a countess of this land,
Lost in the pryme &amp; mornynge of her yowthe;
And last of all his deare &amp; loveinge wyfe.
These broght him to this solitary aboade,
Wher now he keepes, &amp; hath injoyned me
To govern this his howse &amp; famely:
A place unfitt for on [one] of my professyne;
And therfore have I ofte desyred with teares,
That I myght be restored to my cell,
Becawse I vowed a lyfe contemplatyve:
But all in vayn; for though to serve your Matie
He often quyttes the place and coms to cowrte,
Yett thether he repayres, &amp; ther wyll lyve.

I592.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

277

In a tract, attributed (like 'Leicester's Common Wealth') to
Parsons the Jesuit, we believe, printed abroad, in 1592, A. D.
and of which various MS. copies were circulated in 1592.
England, we find the following paragraph, complaining that
Which I perceaving, sought by holly prayers
To chaynge his mind, &amp; eas my troubled cares;
Then, haveinge many dayes with sacred rytes
Prepard my selfe to entertayn good thoughts,
I went up to the lantern of this halle,
The better to behowld godds woorks above;
And, sooddenly, when my devotion gan
To perce the heavens, that [there] did appear to me
A lady clad in whyte, who closed my eyes,
And castyng me into a slumberyng traunce,
I am, sayd shee, that holly prophetes
Who sung the byrthe of Chryste ere he appeerd:
Sibilla is my name, and I have hard
The mone thou makst for thy unqwyet lyfe.
Take thou this table, note the verces well:
Every fyrst gowlden letter of thes lynes,
Beeinge put together, sygnyfye her name
That can &amp; wyll releve thy mysserye:
And therfore presently go serche her outA pryncely parragon, a mayden Queene,
For suche a won ther is and only won.
And therwithall shee vanysht was agen.
After this vyssyon, commyng down from thence,
The brute was that your Magestie would come;
But yet my fownder kept his hermytage,
And gave me warrant to provyde for all,
A taske unfyttyng one so base as I,
Whom neither sons nor servantts would obay;
The yoonger lyke to scorne my poor advyce,
Becawsse that he hearafter in this place
Was to becom the gardian of this howsse,
And so the same to settle in his blood,
By that yoong babe, whome I have hard of late
By your appoyntment beares my fownders name.

278 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I592.
players had been allowed in England to 'scoff and jest' at
the King of Spain, and at the Roman Catholic religion, with
impunity. The writer is speaking of the support received by
Therfore I wyshe, for my good fownders sake,
That he may lyve with this his fyrst born soon,
Long tyme to serve your sacred Matie,
As his grandfather faythefully hathe doon.
Now, synce you know my most distressed plyght,
My gardian's carelessnes, which cam by care,
I humblye crave thes versses may be red,
Whose capital letters make ELIZABETH,
By yow my noble Lo. hyghe Admirall;
The rather for this great prophetes
Seemed unto me as if shee had foretowld
Your famous victorye ore that Spannishe Navye,
Which by themselves was termed Invyncyble;
Seeinge in thes lynes your pryncely name is wrett,
The miracle of tyme, and nature's glorye.
As yow ar shee of whom Sibilla spake
Youtchsafe to pytty this your beadmans playnt,
And call my fownder home unto his howse,
That he may entertayn your Majestie,
And see thes walks, whearin he lyttle joyes,
Delyghtfull for your hyghnes &amp; your trayne;
Wherein lykewyse his ij soones that be present
Wilbe both dewtyfull and dyllygent;
And this young La. Veare, that helld so deer,
Of my best fownder, her good grandfather.
And lastly for my sellfe, most gratious Queene,
May it pleas yow to restore me to my cell,
And at your hyghnes absolute command
My L. hyghe Chanceler may award a wrytt
For peaceable possession of the same:
And that [your] Majesties L. Chamberlayn
May from your hyghnes have the lyke command,
To cawse my fownder, now the gardian
Of this howsse, increast for your delyght,
To take the charge thereof this present nyght.

I592.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

279

the Turks from England, at the time when the war was
pending between the Ottoman Power and Spain, and he
proceeds as follows:'And therefore as an introduction hereunto, to make him [the
King of Spain] odious unto the people, certaine players were suffered
to scoffe and jeast at him uppon their common stages; and the like
was used in the contempt of his Religion, first by making it no better
then Turkish, by annexing unto the Psalmes of David, as though
the prophet him selfe had bene the author thereof, this ensuinge
meeter:'Preserve us, Lord, by thy deare word,
From Turke and Pope defend us, Lord,
That both would thrust out of his throne
Our loid Jesus Christ thy deare sonne.'l
On the 20th Feb. 1591-2, Sir Tho. Heneage, Vice-Chamberlain and Treasurer to the Queen, was directed to pay the
servants of the Earl of Hertford 'for a plaie enacted before
her Matie on twelfe night last past the some of ten Pounds.
Which beeing doon, Ill to my hermytage,
And for your hyghnes pray contynewally,
That god may powre uppon yow all his blessyngs,
And that the hower glas of your happie raygne
May roon at full, and never be at wayne.
Thus haveinge nowght of vallew, or of worthe,
Fytt to present to suche a peerles Queene,
I offer to your hyghnes, here, this bell,
A bell which hermytts call St. Anthonie,
Gyven me by my noble Lord and fownder,
And Ill betake me to this brazen bell,
Which better me beseemes ten M foold,
Then any one of syllver or of goold.
FINIS. G. P.'
1From a MS. entitled 'A Declaration of the true causes of the greate
troubles supposed to be intended agt. the Realme of England, wherein
the indifferent Reader shall manifestly perceive by whomer and by what
meanes, the Realme is brought into pretended perills.'-1592.

280 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I593
'To the servants of the Lord Strange for severall plaies by
them enacted before her Matie at the Court at White Hall on
St. Johns daie, Inocents daie, Sonday next after twelfe daie,
Shrove Sondaie and Shrove Tuesdaie, the some of fortie
pounds; and by waie of her Maties reward twentie pounds.'
The servants of the Earl of Sussex were to receive 'for a
plaie enacted before her Matie on Sondaie next after New
Yeares daie, being the 2d of January last, the some of tenne
poundes'.
These facts we derive from separate entries in Registers of
the Privy Council.
The same Council Register, under date of 29th July 1593,
A. D. also contains the copy of a letter by the Lords to the
1593. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, in strict accordance
with that which, as long since as the 30th October 1575, they
had sent to the same authority. After stating at some length the
necessity of keeping pure the fountains from which learning
flowed to all parts of the kingdom, it forbids that 'plays, or
enterludes of common players, be used or set forth', either in the
University or within five miles round it, and especially in the
town of Chesterton. This renewed order was produced by
the following circumstances and correspondence.
From a letter preserved at Lambeth, dated 2I Nov. I592,
from a person named Edward Jones to Anthony Bacon, it
appears that Lord Burghley had been prevailed upon, for a
time at least, to return to Court: it says, 'My Lord
(Burghley), God be thanked, is in health, and newly come from
Hunsdon, where he hath been very honourably feasted and
entertained with musicke, playes, and other delights.'
On the ist September I592, the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and certain Justices of the Peace, had issued a warrant
to the Constable of Cambridge, opening thus: 'Whereas,
there be certaine persons, lately repayred unto the University
X*!,,:. Lr........,,f. -a:-ad1;....-..~SV.DX

1593.]

ANNALS OF TH1E -STAGE.

28i

and towne of Cambridge, having in purpose, either there, or
in some other place there nere unto, by the shewing of certeine Interludes, Plaies or Tragedies, to procure the assemblie
of her Majesty's subjects and people': it then goes on to
direct, that all the inhabitants shall be ordered not to further
the design, by allowing the players to occupy any 'roomes,
houses or yardes', and that they shall be warned to proceed at
their peril in their undertakings.
The players nevertheless did perform at Chesterton; and on
the 8th of September, Dr. Some, the Vice-Chancellor, wrote
to the Privy Council, reciting the letter of October I575, and
adding, that 'certaine light persons, pretending themselves to
be her Majesties Plaiers,l &amp;c., did take boldness, not onely
here to proclaime their Enterludes (by setting up of writings
about our college gates), but also actually at Chesterton to
play the same, which is a village within the compasse of the
jurisdiction graunted to us by her Majesties charter,2 and
situated hard by the plott where Sturbridge fair is kept'. The
Vice-Chancellor then complains, that the Constable, to whom
According to Camden's Annals, the plague raged in London in the
autumn of I592: the theatres were consequently closed, which may
account for the wandering of the Queen's Players into the country.
2 This Charter had been granted by Elizabeth, in the third year of her
reign, and it limits the bounds of the University to one mile round the
town of 'Cambridge. Henry III, in the 54th year of his reign, had
granted letters patent, that torneamenta aliqua, aventurae, justce seu
cujusmodi hastiludia nonfiant in villa trdiicta, seu fer quinque milliaria
circumquaque.
It appears by Lansdowne MSS., No. 33, that on the 22nd April I58I,
a disturbance had taken place at Chesterton, between the Proctors of the
University and a Bearward, who asserted his right to exhibit there as
'the Lord Vaux's man.' The offending parties afterwards made their
submission, but Dr. Andrew Perne, Vice-Chancellor, wrote to Lord
Burghley, claiming a jurisdiction five miles round Cambridge, under the
letters patent of Henry III.

282 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I593.
the warrant had been directed, had neglected his duty, and
requires the Privy Council to call before it the Players, the
Constable, and the 'party in whose house the interludes were
played', in order that they might be duly punished.
It is most likely that this communication did not produce
the desired effect, for ten days afterwards, we find Dr. Some,
backed by Dr. Legge, Dr. Goade, and five other heads of
colleges, repeating the complaint, with fresh particulars, against
Lord North, and Dutton the player, who had treated their
authority with contempt. After referring to the warrant of
the ist September, the Vice-Chancellor and his colleagues proceed in these terms:'How slightly that warrant was regarded, as well by the Constables
and thinhabitants of Chesterton, as by the Players themselves
(whereof one Dutton is a principal), appeared by their bills sett up
upon our colledge gates, and by their playeing in Chesterton, notwithstanding our said warrant to the contrary. One of the Constables
tould us, that he heard the Players saye, that they were licenced by
the Lord Northe to playe in Chesterton. We cannot chardge his
Lordship otherwise with that particuler; but wee are able to justify,
that the Lord Northe, upon like occasion heretofore, being made
acquainted with the said letters of the Lords of the Counsell, retorned
aunswere in writinge, that those letters were no perpetuity. And
likewise also in this very action, when the Players came to him for
his Lordships allowance for their playeinge in Chesterton, and some
of us did then tell his Lordship, that wee had the Lords of the
Counsells letters to the contrary, he openly uttered, in the hearinge
aswell of the Players as of diverse Knights and Gentlemen of the
Shier then present, that the date of those letters was almost expired.
And he said then further to the Players, that althoughe they should play
at Chesterton, yet the Vicechancellor durst not commit them therefore.'
They conclude (leaving 'the correction of the contempt' to
the wisdom of the Privy Council) by soliciting the renewal of;"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ c ):~
A _ _ _ 0 ~~~~~~~~ --- â-;-~

I593.]

ANNALS OF. THE STAGE.,

283

the letter of I575, in order that Lord North and the players
might be deprived of the plea, that the date of it had nearly
expired.1 Thus the matter seems to have rested until
the I7th of July (1593), when the Vice-Chancellor and
his colleagues2 reminded Lord Burghley of the general
complaint against 'public shews and common plays', A. D.
and prayed that the University might be freed from I593 -actors, 'that badd kinde of people who are (as wee thinke)
the most ordinary cariers and dispersers' of the infection of
the plague.3 The renewed letter was dispatched twelve days
afterwards; and it will be observed that it conceded all that
1 Lord North, who lived at Kirtling, a short distance from Cambridge,
was a great favourer of players. Extracts from a book containing his
household expenses were published by the Antiquarian Society: they
begin in January ist, 1575, and come down to January 1582. He had no
players of his own, but those of the nobility not unfrequently visited his
mansion, and were rewarded as usual, as the following extracts will
establish:
'July 1576. Lord Sussex Minstrells. 5s.
Dec. 3d, I577. To my Lo. Howards Plaiers. 5s.
Nov. 4, 1578. Lo: Lesters Plaiers.. 40s.
May, I550. To my L. of Lesters Plaiers. 25s.'
2 Vide Lansdowne MSS., No. 82, where this correspondence is to be
found at large.
3 The plague continued to rage in the summer and autumn-of I593,
and Michaelmas Term was held in consequence at St. Alban's. The
following- regulation (as is stated in the Register) was presented to the
Privy Council:'That for avoyding of great concourse of people, which causeth
increase of the infection, it were convenient that all Playes, Bearebaytings, Cockpitts, common Bowling alleyes, and such like unnecessarie
assemblies, should be suppressed during the time of infection, for that
infected people after their long keepinge in, and before they be cleered of
their disease and infection, being desirous of recreation, use to resort to
such assemblies, where through heate and thronge they infect many
sound personnes.'
_,,,....;..,. '
I / i;'75tk'MM

284

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I593.

was demanded, giving the Vice-Chancellor power, in the town
of Cambridge and for five miles round it, to put down 'interludes and plays, some of them being full of lewd examples,
and most of vanity'. On the same day (29th July I593), a
similar letter was despatched to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford,
though it does not seem to have been called for by any corresponding events there.
We must now look at the University of Cambridge, and
within three months interval, in a very different capacity,as the performers of plays, and with a Vice-Chancellor who
was the author of one of the very earliest comedies in our
language. In December I592, Dr. John Still, the author of
Gainmer Gurton's Needle, was at the head of the University of
Cambridge; and a command was received from London, that
a comedy in English should be got up there for the amusement of the Queen, as, in consequence of the prevalence of
the plague, her own actors could not play before her at
Christmas. It is somewhat singular, that such an order
should have been given after what had so recently transpired,
and it almost looks as if Elizabeth and her courtiers intended
it as a sort of reproof to the University: it is remarkable
also, that Dr. Still, the writer of a comedy in English, which
was acted before the Queen at Christ's College in 1566, should
be the chief instrument in making the request, that the play
should be in Latin, as 'more beseeming the students'. This
request is contained in a letter, signed by Dr. Still as ViceChancellor, and six others, of which the following is a copy:'Right Honorable.-Our most humble duties remembered. Upon
Saturday last, being the second of December, we receaved Ires from
Mr. Vicechamberlein, by a Messinger sent purposely, wherein, by
reason that her Majesties owne servants in this time of infection
may not disport her Highnes with their wonted and ordinary pastimes,
his Honor hath moved our University (as he writeth that he hath
* * # v~~~~~~~~~~., &gt;~~~~~~~4' 'h ~ -
are z~t at-W s.sX-. -f.. r-t by,,~ a 4 ins&gt;

I593.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 285
also done the other of Oxford), to prepare a Comedie in Englishe,
to be acted before her Highnes by some of our Students in this time
of Christmas. How ready wee are to do any thing that may tend to
her Majesties pleasure, wee are very desirous by all meanes to testify;
but how fitt we shall be for this is moved, having no practise. in this
Englishe vaine, and beinge (as wee think) nothing beseminge our
Students, specially oute of the University, wee much doubt: and do
find our principale actors (whome wee have of purpose called before
us) very unwilling to playe in Englishe. Wherefore wee thought it
not onely our duties to give intelligence hereof unto your Lordship,
as being our chiefe hedd and governor, but also very expedient for
us to crave your Lordships wisdome, either to dissuade the matter
withoute any displeasure unto us, yf wee shall not seeme meete in
your Lordships judgment for that purpose, or to advise us by your
honorable direction what maner of argument we should chuse, and
what course is best to followe. Englishe Comedies, for that wee never
used any, wee presentlie have none: to make or translate one in such
shortnes of time wee shall not be able: and therefore, if wee must
needes undertake the busines, and that with conveniencie it may be
graunted, these two things we would gladly desire: some further
limitation of time for due preparation, and liberty to play in Latyn.
How fitt these are to be requested or graunted, your Lordship, who
well knoweth her Majesties disposition and our maner, is best able to
judge: ourselves onely do move them, referring both them, and the
whole cause, unto your Lordships consideration. And so, with our
most harty prayers to Almightie God for your Lordships long continuance in healthe, and dayly increase in honor, wee humblie take
our leaves. From the University of Cambridge, this fourthe of
December i592.1
' Your Lordships most humble to be comaunded,
&lt;:p^re 4a/&gt;etre r
' Lansdownze 1SS., N(. 71.
/_:_ _ ^___ _,,......x f '^:

286 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I594-5.
This remonstrance was also subscribed by six other heads
of houses:-Roger Goade, R. Some, Umphrey Tyndall,
William Whitaker, Edmund Harwell, and John Jegon; and
there is reason to suppose that it was effectual. In the next
year, Dr. Thomas Legge (author of the Latin Tragedy of
Richard III, so highly praised by Sir John Harington in his
Apology of Poetry, 1591) was Vice-Chancellor; and in a communication to Lord Burghley he refers to some offence given to
the Queen, probably by the preceding letter, and mentions,
that the University of Cambridge had sent some of its body
to Oxford, to witness the entertainment there given to her
Majesty, in order to be better prepared hereafter to obey her
directions.'
The difference, as far as we can judge, was arranged by
A. D. the next year, when the University of Cambridge
1594-5. acted 'certaine comcedies and one tragcedie', and
through its then Vice-Chancellor, Thomas Nevile, requested
the loan of the royal robes in the Tower for this purpose.2
This favour had been granted before, and, perhaps, on this
occasion, it was not refused.
1 Lansdowne MSS., No. 75;
2 The subsequent is a copy of the letter containing this request: it is
among the Lansdowne MSS., No. 78.
'Our bounden dutie in most humble wise remembred. Whereas we
intend, for the exercise of young gentlemen &amp; scholers in our Colledge,
to set forth certaine Comcedies and one Tragoedie, there being in that
Tragcedie sondry personages of greatest astate to be represented in
auncient princely attire, which is nowhere to be had but within the office
of the Roabes at the Tower; it is our humble request, your most honorable Lordship would be pleased to graunt your Lordships warrant unto
the chiefe officers there, that upon sufficient securetie we might be furnished from thence with such meete necessaries as are required. Which
favor we have found heretofore on your good Lordships like honorable
warrant, that hath the rather embouldened us at this time. And so,
craving pardon for this presumption, with remembrance of our dayly
D"..:, \;.., \^

1596.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

287

The Blackfriars Theatre, built about 1574-6, seems, after the
lapse of some twenty years, to have required extensive repairs,
if, indeed, it were not, at the end of that period, entirely rebuilt
and enlarged.' This undertaking, in 1596, seems to have A. D.
alarmed some of the inhabitants of the Liberty; and 1596.
not a few of them, 'some of honour', petitioned the Privy Council, in order that the players might not be allowed to complete
it, and that their farther performances in that precinct might be
prevented. A copy of the document, containing this request,
is preserved in the State Paper Office, and to it is appended
a much more curious and important p5aper-a counter petition
by the Lord Chamberlain's players, entreating that they
might be permitted to continue their work upon -the theatre,
in order to render it more commodious, and that their performances there might not be interrupted. It is unfortunately, not the original, but a copy, without any signatures;
but it contains, at the commencement, an enumeration of the
principal actors who were parties to it. They occur in the
following order, and it will be instantly remarked, not only
that the name of Shakespeare is found among them, but that
he comes fifth in the enumeration:'Thomas Pope,
Richard Burbadge,
John Hemings,
Augustine Phillips,
prayers unto God for the preservation of your honorable health to his
owne great glory, we humbly take our leave. From Trinitie Colledge in
Cambridge, 280 January, I594-[5],
Your Lordships most bounden, ever to be commaunded,
THOMAS NEVILE.'
Among the Losely MSS., published by Mr. Kempe, is a letter, which
shews that a house belonging to Sir William More, or part of it, was required for the purposes of the company playing at Blackfriars: the
actors last enumerated were then (I596) in high reputation.

288 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I596.
William Shakespeare,
William Kempe,
William Slye,
Nicholas Tooley.'
This valuable paper has, perhaps, never seen the light from
the moment it was presented, until it was very recently discovered. It is seven years anterior to the date of any other
record containing the name of our great dramatist, and it
may warrant various conjectures as to the rank he held in the
company in 1596, as a poet and as a player.1 It is in these
terms:'To' THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS OF HER
MAJESTIES MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCELL.
'The humble petition of Thomas Pope, Richard Burbadge,
John Hemings, Augustine Phillips, William Shakespeare, William
Kempe, William Slye, Nicholas Tooley, and others, servaunts to the
Right Honorable the Lord Chamberlaine to her Majestie.
'Sheweth most humbly, that your Petitioners are owners and
players of the private house, or theatre, in the precinct and libertie
of the Blackfriers, which hath beene for many yeares used and
occupied for the playing of tragedies,. commedies, histories, enterludes, and playes. That the same, by reason of its having beene
so long built, hath fallen into great decay, and that besides the reparation thereof, it has beene found necessarie to make the same -
more convenient for the entertainement of auditories coming thereto.
That to this end your Petitioners have all and-eche of them put
'Malone had nothing upon which to found himself, but the list of
actors in some of Ben Jonson's plays, and the enumeration in the licence
of 1603. The name of Shakespeare is, in the latter, preceded only by
that of a person (Lawrence Fletcher) not mentioned in 1596, as having
anything to do with the company: Burbadge, Phillips, and Hemings,
who stand before Shakespeare in I596, were postponed to him in 1603,
to such importance does he seem to have risen in the interval. He
had belonged to the company at the Blackfriars as early as 1589.

I596.]

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

289

down sommes of money, according to their shares in the said theatre,
and which they have justly and honestly gained by the exercise of
their qualitie of stage-players; but that certaine persons (some of
them of honour), inhabitants of the said precinct and libertie of the
Blackfriers have, as your Petitioners are infourmed, besought your
honourable Lordshipps not to permitt the said private house any
longer to remaine open, but hereafter to be shut up and closed, to
the manifest and great injurie of your petitioners, who have no other
meanes whereby to maintain their wives and families, but by the
exercise of their qualitie as they have heretofore done. Furthermore, that in the summer season your Petitioners are able to playe at
their new built house on the Bankside calde the Globe, but that in
the winter they are compelled to come to the Blackfriers; and if
your honorable Lordshipps give consent unto that which is prayde
against your Petitioners, they will not onely, while the winter
endures, loose the meanes whereby they now support them selves
and their families, but be unable to practise them selves in anie
playes or enterludes, when calde upon to perform for the recreation
and solace of her Matie and her honorable Court, as they have beene
heretofore acustomed. The humble prayer of your Petitioners therefore is, that your honorable Lordshipps will grant permission to finish
the reparations and alterations they have begun; and as your Petitioners have hitherto been well ordred in their behaviour, and just in
their dealings, that your honorable Lordshipps will not inhibit them
from acting at their above namde private house in the precinct and
libertie of the Blackfriers, and your Petitioners, as in dutie most
bounden, will ever pray for the increasing honor and happinesse of
your honorable Lordshipps.'
There is no doubt that the Blackfriars Theatre was repaired
in 1596, whether it was enlarged is doubtful; but at Dulwich
College we discovered the following note, from the agent or
servant of the Master of the Revels, which, possibly, was
effectual. Henslowe, to whom it was addressed, as himself
proprietor of a theatre or theatres, would of course be opposed
VOL. I. U,~~~~~~~

290

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I597 -

to any improvement or enlargement of a rival house, although
distant from his own.
Mr. HINSLOWE,-This is to enfourme you that my Mr. the Maister
of the revelles hath rec. from the L1. of the counsell order, that the
L. Chamberlens servauntes shall not be distourbed at the Blackefryars according with their petition in that behalfe; but leave shall be
given unto theym to make good the decaye of the saide House, butt
not to make the same larger then in former tyme hath bene. From
thoffice of the Revelles this 3 of maie 1596.
RICH. VEALE.
We have had no money-accounts from the office of the Revels
since 1589: if they were made out by Tylney they have not
A. D. survived; and in I597, the department was in a state
I597. of great disorganization. In a document among the
papers of the Lord Treasurer,' it is stated, that in 1597, 'two
whole years' charge was behind unpaid, to the great hinderance of the poor artificers.' A person who signs himself
'poor Bryan Dodmer', who was put forward on behalf of
many others, presented a petition to the Queen, in which he
asserted, that in the last year and nine months I550/. 5s. Sd.,
had become due to various parties; and William Bowles,
yeoman of the chamber, for his own share, in a separate
petition, claimed I361. The Master and Yeoman of the
Revels are not mentioned, but the Clerk of the Revels submitted to Lord Burghley a plan for the reform of the office.
The principal feature in it was, that a new officer, to be called
Serjeant of the Revels, should be named to superintend the
whole, and to enforce economy. The building where the
dresses, armour, etc., were kept, had at this period fallen into
a state of great dilapidation, so that the properties had been
much injured by exposure to damp, etc.2 Whether anything
I Lansdowne MSS., No. 83.
2 In this document the subsequent account is given of the origin of the

I597.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

291

was done by the Lord Treasurer, in consequence of these
representations, we have now no means of knowing; but if
Tylney were ill, or temporarily in disgrace, he notwithstanding
retained his appointment.
It is not easy to fix the exact date of the literary curiosity
we have now, for the first time, to put in print. It is a letter
without date, and in the present state of the original without
signature; but it was the production of the celebrated Thomas
Nash, the satirist and dramatist; and it once, no doubt, had
his name at the bottom of it, though now (with the exception
of the top of the letter N which is still visible) worn away,
in consequence of the binding of the volume of MSS. in which
it is inserted, being too short for this, and the other communications it contains.1 It seems never to have had a date, but the
temporary allusions in it are numerous, and perhaps the latest
is the mention of the,publication of the Metamorphosis of
Ajax, by Sir John (then Mr.) Harington, which took place
Office of the Revels, and it is doubtless correct: it is said, that in the
first instance the King appointed a Master of the Revels, as he was
required for different festive occasions-then, that the offices of the
Revels, Tents and Toils were united, and that one Travers, as Serjeant,
had the management of them. After his death, Sir Thomas'Cawarden
succeeded to the appointment, and 'misliking to be called Serjeant', was
made, by patent from Henry VIII, the first JMaster of the Revels. A
Clerk, Comptroller, and other sub-officers, were afterwards added for his
assistance. The next step was, that Queen Elizabeth divided the office
again into three departments-the Revels, Tents, and Toils; giving the
first to Sir Thomas Benger, the second to Mr. Henry Sackford, and the
third to Mr. Tamworth. With regard to Travers, above mentioned, he
is perhaps the Edmund Travore whose name is to be found in the King's
Book of Payments, Dec. 9, IO Henry VIII. He may possibly be the
Edm. Tho. who is said to have been Magister yocorum et Revellorum,
and preceded Sir Thomas Cawarden.
Some person has written 'T. Nashe' at the corner of the letter,
perhaps to preserve the name before it became quite illegible.
U2

292

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I597.

after August I596. The writer of this letter, among other
things, speaks of his own productions 'for the stage and for
the press', and he addresses it in the following manner:-' To
his worshipfull good friend, Mr. William Cotton'. It is found
in one of the letters sent by an immense variety of correspondents to Sir Robert Cotton, and it may be taken to
establish a new fact connected with the history of Nash; viz.,
that he was in some way related to Sir Robert Cotton: he
has himself led us to suppose that his family was respectable.1
It is immediately connected with the subject before us, inasmuch as it mentions the persecution of the players at that
time, by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London. It is to
be regretted, that part of the letter is too gross to allow it to
be quoted entire: it must however be recollected, that in this
portion of his epistle, Nash is alluding to one of the coarsest
works that ever appeared in our language. The reader will
lose nothing in point of information by the omission of such
passages; and the rest of the letter runs thus: â
'SIR,-This tedious dead vacation is to me as unfortunate, as a
terme at Hertford or St. Albons2 to poore cuntry clients, or Jack
Cade's rebellion to the lawyers, wherein they hanged up the Chief
Justice. In towne I stayd (being earnestly invited elsewhere) upon
had-I-wist hopes of an after harvest I expected by writing for the
stage, and for the presse; when now the players, as if they had writt
another Christs Tears,3 are piteously persecuted by the L. Maior and
'In his Lenten Stuffe, I599; where he states that he was born at
Leostoff in Suffolk, but that his father was of the Nashes of Hertfordshire. Sir R. Cotton was of a Huntingdonshire family.
2 Nash's attention was directed to this circumstance, because in the
very autumn of the year when his Summers Last Will and Testament
was performed, I593, Michaelmas term was kept at St. Albans in consequence of the prevalence of the plague in London..
8 Nash's Christs Teares over 7erusalem, a prose tract, was not printed
until after September 1593, for on the i6th of that month Gabriel

597.]

ANNALS OF TH-E STAGE.

293

the Aldermen; and however in their old Lords tyme they thought their
state settled, it is now so uncertayne they cannot build upon it. and
for the printers, there is such gaping amongst them for the coppy of
my L. of Essexl voyage, and the ballet of threscore and foure
Knights, that though my Lord Marquesse wrote a second parte of his
fever lurden or idlenesse,2 or Churchyard enlarg'd his Chips,3 saying
they were the very same which Christ in Carpenters Hall is paynted
gathering up, as Joseph, his father, strewes hewing a piece of timber,
and Mary, his mother, sitts spinning by, yet would not they give for
them the price of a proclamation out'of date, or, which is the contemptiblest summe that may be (worse than a scute or a dandiprat),
the price of all Harvey's works bound up together.4 Only Mr.
Harrington of late hath set up such a filthy stinking jakes in Pouls
churchyard, that the stationers would give any money for a cover for
it:5 what shold move him to it I know not. * * * O, it is
Harvey refers to it as 'promised', in his New Letter of Notable Contents.
Nash here alludes to the persecution he seems to have experienced, in
consequence of having published that tract, which was treated as a piece
of pretended piety.
I The expedition to Cadiz, commanded by the Earls of Nottingham and
Essex, sailed in the beginning of June I596. See Stow's Chronicle,
p. 1283, edit. I615.
2 The words in italic are interlined in the original, and are exceedingly
difficult to be deciphered; but they refer to the old Marquis of Winchester's work called Idleness, printed in I586.
3 Churchyard's Chizfies contayning twelve severall labours, were once
very popular: they were printed in 1568, 1575, 1578, etc.
4He means the value by 'the price'. Nash was not likely to hold
Harvey's works in very high estimation after their late contest.
5 Three editions of Sir J. Harington's Metamorphosis of Ajax were
printed very soon after its first appearance, notwithstanding a licence for
it had been refused. Richard Field, who printed the two first editions,
probably had reason to repent it; and the third edition had no printer's,
nor bookseller's name attached to it. 'See the advertisement to the
Reprint in 1814.
*./ '' ",

294

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I597.

detestable and abhominable, far worse then [Mu]ndays ballet of
Untrusse,' or Gillian of Braynfords will2 * " * able to make any
man have a stinking breath that lookes in it, or the outside of it.
Sure, had I beene of his consayle, he shold have sett for the mott, or
word before it, Fah! and dedicated it to the house of the Shakerlie's3
~ * * He will be coffined &amp;c. in a jakes farmer tunne, no other
nose-wise Christian, for his horrible perfume, being able to come nere
him. Well, some men for sorrow sing, as it is in the ballet of John
Carelesse in the Booke of Martirs,4 and I am merry now, though I
have nere a penny in my purse. God may move you, though I say
nothing; in which hope, that that which wilbe shalbe, I take my
leave.
' Yours in acknowledgement of the deepest bond.'
Whether this appeal did, or did not, produce the effect for
which it was made, we find Nash in May 1597 writing for the
Lord Admiral's players, then under Philip Henslowe, and producing for them a play called The Isle of Dogs, which is conThe two first letters of Munday's name are worn away in the original.
He was a noted ballad writer, as well as dramatist.
2 Nash seems fond of allusions to Gillian of Brentford's Will. What he
here says of it tallies exactly with his account of her legacy in his
Summers Last Will and Testament, so that the omission here made may
be easily supplied by the curious. Nash also introduces her in his
Epistle before R. Greene's Menaphon, 1587. Bibl. Cot., i, 152.
3 One member of this family seems referred to by Gabriel Harvey, in
his Envoy to his sonnet called Gorgon, or the Wonderful Year, at the
end of his New Letter of Notable Contents, I593:'The hughest miracles remain behind,
The second Shakerley, rash-swash, to bind.'
4John Careless, a Coventry weaver, died in the King's Bench, on
July ISt, I556. In one of his letters preserved by Fox (Martyrs, iii,
1743 edit. 16io) he tells Philpot that he is 'singing psalms of praise and
thanksgiving'. On p. 1753 are some verses which he wrote to his sister:
but in the above passage Nash alludes to a 'ballad' then current on the
story of Careless.

I 597.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

295

nected with an important circumstance in the history of the
stage, viz., the temporary silencing of that company, in consequence of the very piece of which Nash was the author. The
following singular particulars are extracted from the Diary
kept by Henslowe, which is still, though in an imperfect and
and mutilated state, preserved at Dulwich College: Malone
published none of them:'Pd I4 of May I597, to Edw. Jube, upon a notte from Nashe,
twentye shellinges more for the lylle of Dogges, which he is wrytinge
for the companey.
'Pd this 23 of August 1597, to Henerey Porter to cary to T. Nashe,
nowe att this tyme in the flete for wrytinge of the Eylle of Dogges,
ten shellinges, to be payde agen to me wen he cann. I saye ten
shillinges.
'Pd to M. Blunsones, the Mr of the Revelles man, this 27 of
August 1597, ten shellinges, for newes of the restraynt beyng recaled
by the lordes of the Queenes Cownsell.'
Here we see, that in the spring of 1597, Nash was employed
upon the play; and, like his brother dramatists of that day,
who wrote for Henslowe's company, received money on
account. The Isle of Dogs was produced prior to the Ioth of
August I597, because, in another memorandum by Henslowe
(which Malone has quoted, though with some omissions and
mistakes),' he refers to the restraint at that date put upon the
Lord Admiral's players. On the 23rd of the same month,
Nash was confined in the Fleet prison in consequence of his
Shkakspeare by Boswell, iii, 322. Correctly it runs thus:'Mmdum. the Io of August 1597, Wm. Borne came, &amp; ofered hime
sealfe to come and play with my lord Admiralles men at my house, called
by the name of the Rosse, sitewate one the Banck, after this order
folowinge. He hath received of me iijd. upon an asumset to forfett unto
me a hundreth marckes, of lafull money of England, yf he do not performe
thes thinges folowing: that is, presentley after libertie beinge granted for
playinge, to come and to playe with my lorde Admiralles men at my

296

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I597.

play, when Henry Porter, also a poet, carried him ten shillings
from Henslowe, who took care to register that it was not a
gift; and on the 27th of August, 'the restraint was recalled'
by the Privy Council. We may conclude also, perhaps, that
Nash was about the same time discharged from custody.1
In reference to this important theatrical transaction, we
meet with the following memorandum in the Registers of the
Privy Council: it has never before been printed nor mentioned:
'A LETTER TO RICHARD TOPCLYFE, THOMAS FOWLER, AND RIC.
SKEVINGTON, ESQS., DOCTOUR FLETCHER, AND MR. WILBRAHAM.
'Uppon information given us of a lewd plaie that was plaied in
one of the plaie howses on the Bancke side, contayninge very seditious
and sclaunderous matter, wee caused some of the players to be apprehended and comytted to pryson; whereof one of them was not only
an actor, but a maker of parte of the said plaie. For as moche as yt
ys thought meete that the rest of the players or actours in that matter
shalbe apprehended to receave soche punyshment as theire lewde and
howsse aforsayd, and not in any other howsse publick abowt London,
for the space of three yeares, beginninge imediately after this restraynt
is recaled by the lordes of the Counsell, which restraynt is by the meanes
of playinge the Ieylle of Dooges. Yf he do not, then he forfetts this
asumpset afore, or els not. Wittnes to this,
'E. ALLEYN &amp; ROBSONE.'
'It is with this imprisonment that Gabriel Harvey taunts Nash, in
the tract called The Trimming of Thomas Nash, I597, written in the
name of Richard Litchfield, the barber. It contains a rude wood-cut of
a man in fetters, and, together with many allusions to dogs, a paragraph
beginning with these words: 'Since that thy Ile of Dogs hath made
thee thus miserable, I cannot but account thee a dog, and chide and
rate thee as a dog that hath done a fault', etc. The Isle of Dogs seems
at one time to have been a sort of refuge from creditors, and officers of
justice. Nash's play was probably satirical, and therefore offensive.

I598.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 297
mutynous behavior doth deserve; these shalbe, therefore, to require
yow to examine those of the plaiers that are comytted, whose names
are knowne to yow, Mr. Topclyfe; what 'ys become of the rest of
theire fellowes that either had their partes in the devysinge of that
sedytious matter, or that were actours or plaiers in the same, what
copies they have given forth of the said playe, and to whome, and
soch other pointes as you shall thincke meete to be demaunded of
them; wherein yow shall require them to deale trulie, as they will
looke to receave anie favour. Wee praie yow also to peruse soch
papers as were fownde in Nash his lodgings, which Ferrys, a messenger
of the Chamber, shall delyver unto yow, and to certifie us the examynations yow take. So, &amp;c.
'Greenwich, I5th Aug. 1597.'
There is also another entry at page 327, dated 28 July 1597,
addressed to the Justices of the Peace of Middlesex and
Surrey, directing that, in consequence of great disorders
committed in common playhouses, and lewd matters handled
on' the stages, the Curtain Theatre and the Theatre near
Shoreditch should be dismantled, and no more plays suffered
to be played therein; and a like order to be taken with the
playhouses on the Bankside, in Southwark, or elsewhere in
Surrey, within three miles of London.
In February I597-8, about six months before the death of
Lord Burghley, are to be observed the first obvious indications
of a disposition on the part of the government of Elizabeth
permanently to restrain theatrical representations. At that
date, licences had been granted to two companies of players
only-those of the Lord Admiral and of the Lord Chamberlain-' to use and practise stage playes' in order that they
might be the better qualified to appear before the Queen. A
third company, not named, had however played 'by way of
intrusion', and the Privy Council, on the I9th February 1597-8,
sent orders to the Master of the Revels, and to the Justices

298

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I598.

of the Peace of Middlesex and Surrey for its suppression.'
It is very doubtful, however, whether any decisive measures
were then adopted in the matter, because in July following, a
resolution was agreed to by the vestry of the parish of St.
Saviour's, Southwark, 'that a petition shall be made to the
bodye of the Councell, concerning the play-houses in this
parish; wherein the enormities shall be showed that come
thereby to the parish, and that in respect thereof they may be
dismissed, and put down from playing: and that four, or two,
of the Churchwardens, &amp;c., shall present the cause, with a
collector of the Boroughside, and another of the Bankside'.
Of course, had there been at this date only two companies of
players performing in Middlesex and Surrey, such a proceeding would not have been required. Neither did the
presentation of this petition produce the consequence desired;
because some time afterwards, the playhouses not having been
The following is a copy of the entry in the Registers of the Privy
Council, on the i9th February I597-8:'A letter to the Mr of the Revells and Justices of Peace of Middlesex
and Surrey.-Whereas Licence hath been graunted unto two companies
of Stage Players, retayned unto us, the Lord Admyrall and Lord Chamberlain, to use and practise Stage Playes, whereby they might be the
better enhabled, and prepared to shew such plaies before her Majestie
as they shalbe required at tymes meete and accustomed; to which ende
they have bin chieflie licenced and tollerated as aforesaid: And whereas
there is also a third Company, who of late (as we are informed) have by
waie of intrusion used likewise to play, having neither prepared any plaie
for her Majestie, nor are bound to you, the Master of the Revells, for
perfourming such orders as have bin prescribed, and are enjoined to be
observed by the other two Companies before mencioned: Wee have
therefore thought good to require you, upon receipt hereof, to take order,
that the aforesaid third Company may be suppressed, and none suffered
heereafter to plaie, but those two formerlie named belonging to us, the
Lord Admyral and Lord Chamberlaine, unles you shall receave other
directions from us. And so,' etc.

I599.J ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 299
'put down', the Churchwardens of St. Saviour's endeavoured
to obtain tithes, and poor-rates, from the owners and managers
of the theatres on the Bankside.1 As late as i th March
I6oo-I, plays were represented at St. Paul's, at Blackfriars,
and at other places 'within the city and the liberties'; for on
that day an order was sent by the Privy Council to the Lord
Mayor, that they might 'be utterly suppressed during this
time of Lent'.2
From Rowland White's Sidney Papers (ii, 203), as well as
from the following extract of a letter from Sir Dudley Carlton's news-correspondent John Chamberlain, we learn that the
Queen and Court were not without their quasi-dramatic amusements in the summer of the year I600; the precise date was
24 June, and Chamberlain's words are these:'I doubt not but you have heard of the great marriage at the Lady
Russells, where the Q. was present, being carried from the water side
in a curious chaire and lodged at the L. Cobhams; and of the
maske of eight maides of honour and other gentlewomen, in name of
the Muses, that came to seeke one of theyre fellowes' (probably
meaning the Queen).
At this date, if we are not mistaken, Sir Dudley Carlton
was in the Low Countries on some public employment.
Another 'letter of the same character and from the same
1 Chalmers's Apology, p. 404. On the 28th of March i6oo, it was
ordered 'that the Churchwardens shall talk with the players for tithes of
their play-houses, and for the rest of the new tanne houses near thereabouts within the libertie of the Clinke, and for money for the poore,
according to the order taken before my Lords of Canterbury and London
and Mr of the Revels'.-Parish Register of St. Saviour's.
2 As early as I3th of March 1578-9, the Privy Council required the
Lord Mayor to suffer no plays to be acted within his jurisdiction during
Lent, and until after Easter. Entries of the same kind are to be found
dispersed over the Registers at various dates.

300 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I1599.
correspondent contains the following particulars, although
only the later portion may be said to contribute at all to
our purpose: what is said regarding the rich hangings of
the Spanish Armada shews the origin of those ornaments
formerly in the House of Lords, and which were destroyed
in the great fire which consumed the Houses of Parliament;
the date of the letter to Sir Dudley Carlton is 23 December:
'You likt the L. Kepers devises so yll that I cared not to get Mr.
Secretaries, that were not much better, saving a pretty dialogue of
John Davies, twixt a maide a widow and a wife, which I do not
thinke but Mr. Saunders hath seen, and no doubt will come out one
of these dayes in print with the rest of his workes. The L. Admiralls
feasting the Q. 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 haue bestowed his rich hangings of all the
fights with the Spanish Armada in eightie eight. These feastings
haue had their effect to stay the Court here this Christmas, though
most of the carriages were well onward on theyre way to Richmond.'

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
FROM THE YEAR I 599 TO TIHE END OF TIHE REIGN
OF ELIZABETH.
THE 'insurrection', as it was called, of the Earl of Essex and
his adherents occurred in the middle of February i60oi, and
the Globe Theatre and its actors became in a manner involved
in the affair, because the conspirators had negociated with the
Managers for the performance of a play (probably by Shakespeare, but possibly by a different author) on the deposition
of King Richard the Second. Augustine Phillips, one of the
chief actors, was examined by Chief Justice Popham, in order
that the public authorities might ascertain how far the company was compromised by the affair: his Deposition on the
occasion has been preserved in the State-paper office; and as
it was clearly established that the actors were in no way to
blame, the whole matter, as far as the Globe Theatre was
concerned, came to an end.1
The building of the Fortune play-house in Golding-lane,
which was undertaken in 1599 by the celebrated Edward
Alleyn, in conjunction with Philip Henslowe, seems to have
' All the known particulars may be seen in the Introduction to
King Richard the Second, in the present Editor's edition of Shakespeare,
i 858, vol. iii, p. 211.
/ \,- J

302

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I599. '

given fresh alarm to the enemies of theatrical performances,
and fresh vigour to their representations against them. Complaints were exhibited upon the subject to the Privy Council;
and the result was an order, which, if it had been literally
carried into execution, would have operated as a most severe
restriction: it is one of the most important documents connected with the stage contained in the Council Registers, from
which so many curious particulars have been gleaned. We
have before seen, that the number of companies allowed by
authority to perform in Feb. I597-8, were only two, and
the order to which we are now referring limits the theatres to
two also, viz., the Globe, on the Bankside, Surrey, and the
Fortune, in Golding-lane, Middlesex, then in a course of rapid
construction. The Globe was to be occupied by the players
of the Lord Chamberlain, to which Shakespeare belonged, and
the Fortune by those of the Lord Admiral, at the head of
whom was Edward Alleyn: each was allowed to be opened
twice in the week, but not at all on Sundays, nor during Lent.
The document itself, the particular wording of which deserves
attention, is inserted in a note below.l
From the Council Register of 22nd of June I6oo:'THEATRES AND PLAYERS.
'Whereas divers complaints have been heretofore made, unto the Lords
and others of her Majesty's privy council, of the manifold abuses and
disorders, that have grown, and do continue, by occasion of many houses,
erected, and employed in, &amp; about, the city of London, for common stage
plays: and now very lately, by reason of some complaints exhibited by
sundry persons against the building of the like house in or near Goldinglane, by one Edward Allen, a servant to the right honble the Lord
Admiral, the matter as well in generalty touching all the said houses for
stage plays, and the use of playing, as in particular concerning the said
house now in hand to be built in or near Golding-lane, hath been brought
into question and consultation among their Lordships. Forasmuch as
it is manifestly known, and granted, that the multitude of the said houses,

I 6oo.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

303

In May I6oI, the Lord Admiral's servants had quitted the
Curtain theatre in Shoreditch for the new house, called 'the
Fortune', in the parish of Cripplegate; but we find, notwithand the misgovernment of them hath been, and is daily occasion of the
idle, riotous and dissolute living of great numbers of people, that leaving
all such honest and painful course of life as they should follow, do meet
and assemble there, and of many particular abuses and disorders that do
thereupon ensue. And yet nevertheless it is considered, that the use and
exercise of such plays (not being evil in itself) may, with a good order
and moderation, be suffered in a well-governed state; and that her
Majesty being pleased sometimes to take delight and recreation in the
sight &amp; hearing of them, some order is fit to be taken, for the allowance
and maintenance of such persons, as are thought meetest in that kind to
yield her Majesty recreation and delight, &amp; consequently of the houses
that must serve for public playing to keep them in exercise. To the end,
therefore, that both the great abuses of the plays and playing-houses
may be redressed, &amp; yet the aforesaid use &amp; moderation of them retained,
the Lords and the rest of her Majesty's privy council, with one &amp; full
consent, have ordered in manner &amp; form as followeth;'First: That there shall be about the city two houses, and no more,
allowed to serve for the use of the common stage plays; of the which
houses, one shall be in Surrey, in that place which is commonly called
The Bankside, or thereabouts, and the other in Middlesex. And for as
much as their Lordships have been informed by Edmund Tilney, Esq.,
her Majesty's servant &amp; Master of the Revels, that the house now in
hand to be built by the said Edward Allen, is not intended to increase
the number of the play-houses, but to be instead of another (namely the
Curtain) which is either to be ruined, and plucked down, or to be put to
some other good use, as also that the situation thereof is meet and convenient for that purpose; it is likewise ordered, that the said house of
Allen shall be allowed to be one of the two houses, and namely for the
house to be allowed in Middlesex for the company of players belonging
to the Lord Admiral, so as the house called the Curtain be (as it is
pretended) either ruinated or applied to some other good use. And for
the other house to be allowed on the Surrey side, whereas their Lordships
are pleased to permit, to the company of players, that shall play there,
to make their own choice, which they will have, of divers houses that are.I

304

ANNALS OF TI-IHE STAGE.

[i6oi.

standing, by a letter addressed from the Privy Council to
'certain Justices of the Peace of the county of Middlesex',
dated on the Ioth May i6oi, that the Curtain still continued open for the representation of plays, the Lords being
ignorant by what company of actors it was occupied. We
learn also from the same communication, that the actors had
even ventured to bring upon their stage living characters; in
consequence of which the Magistrates were directed to forbid
there, choosing one of them and no more. And the said company of
players, being the servants of the Lord Chamberlain that are to play
there, have made choice of the house called The Globe;y it is ordered
that the said house, and none other, shall be there allowed: and especially
it is forbidden, that any stage plays shall be played (as sometimes they
have been) in any common inn for public assembly, in or near about the
city.
' Secondly, Forasmuch as these stage plays, by the multitude of houses
&amp; company of players, have been so frequent, not serving for recreation,
but inviting &amp; calling the people daily from their trade &amp; work to
mispend their time; it is likewise ordered, that the two several companies of players assigned to the two houses allowed, may play each of
them in their several houses twice a week, &amp; no oftener: and especially
they shall refrain to play on the Sabbath day, upon pain of imprisonment
&amp; further penalty. And that they shall forbear altogether in the time of
Lent, and likewise at such time and times as any extraordinary sickness,
or infection of disease, shall appear to be in or about the city.
'Thirdly. Because the orders will be of little force and effect, unless
they be duly put in execution by those unto whom it appertaineth to see
them executed; it is ordered, that several copies of these orders shall be
sent to the Lord Mayor of London, and to the justices of the peace in
the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, and that letters shall be written
unto them from their Lordships, strictly charging them to see to the
execution of the same, as well by committing to prison any owners of
playhouses, and players, as shall disobey and resist these orders, as by
any other good and lawful means, that in their discretion they shall find
expedient, and to certify their Lordships from time to time, as they shall
see cause, of their proceedings herein.'
K

./*-I,___.,,,,,,,,,,.,,

IOOI.J ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE. 305
their playing the objectionable piece, and, if necessary, to take
bond of them to answer for their misconduct. Nothing is
said, however, regarding the suppression of the company,
though it belonged neither to the Lord Chamberlain, nor to
the Lord Admiral.l
Although the order of the Privy Council'of the 22d June
I60o, was enclosed to the Lord Mayor and to the Justices
of Middlesex and Surrey, with directions that it should be
enforced, it is singular, as far as we can now learn, that no step
whatever was taken to carry it into execution; as if, while the
Court was disposed to restrain the immoderate use of plays,
the Lord Mayor and his brethren, as well as the other magistrates, had entirely changed their sentiments, and now thought
it a hardship upon the players, that the Privy Council should
listen to the representations of the Puritans against them.
The letter is in the following form:'Io May I6oI.
'We do understand, that certain players, that used to recyte their
playes at the Curtaine in Moorefields, do represent upon the stage in
their interludes the persons of some gent. of good desert and quality,
that are yet alive, under obscure manner, but yet in such sorte as all
the hearers may take notice both of the matter, and the persons'that are
meant thereby. This being a thing very unfitte, offensive, &amp; contrary
to such directions as have bin heretofore taken, that no playes should be
openly shewed, but such as were first perused &amp; allowed, &amp; that might
minister no occasion of offence or scandall, wee do hereby require you,
that you do forthwith forbidd those players, to whomsoever they appertaine, that do play at the Courtaine in Moorefieldes, to represent any
such play; &amp; that you will examine them who made that play, &amp; to shew
the same unto you; and as you in your discretions shall thinke the same
unfitte to be publiquely shewed, to forbidd them from henceforth to play
the same, eyther privately or publiquely. And if, upon viewe of the said
play, you shall find the subject so odious and inconvenient as is informed, we require you to take bond of the cheafest of them to aunswere
their rashe &amp; indiscreete dealing before us, &amp;c.'
VOL. I. X
j

30o6.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I60I.

The evil, such as it was, accordingly increased, 'in the multitude of play-houses and stage-plays in and about the city of
London'. This fact is asserted in two letters, of the same
tenor, to the Justices of Middlesex and Surrey, dated 3Ist
December I6oi, in which severe blame is cast upon them for
their negligence; and in which they are called upon to summon
before them the owners of playhouses, excepting the two that
were licensed (the Globe and Fortune), and not to suffer them
to perform in future.1
1 The angry letter, as it appears in the Council Register of the 3Ist of
December I6oi, runs thus:'It is vaine for us to take knowledge of great abuses &amp; disorders complaind of, and to give order for redresse, if our directions find no better
execution &amp; observation then it seemeth they do: and we must needes
impute the fault &amp; blame thereof to you, or some of you, the Justices of
the Peace that are put in trust to see them executed &amp; performed:
whereof we may give you a plaine instance in the great abuse contynued,
or rather encreased, in the multitude of Plaie houses, and Stage Plaies
in &amp; about the Cittie of London. For whereas about a year &amp; a half
since (upon knowledge taken of the great enormities, and disorders by
the overmuch frequenting of Plaies) wee did carefullie set downe &amp; prescribe an order to be observed concerninge the number of Playe Howses,
&amp; the use &amp; exercise of Stage plaies, with lymytacions of tymes and
places for the same (namely that there should be but two howses allowed
for that use, one in Middlesex called the Fortune, and one in Surrey
called the Globe, and the same with observation of certaine daies and
times, as in the said order is particularly expressed) -in such sorte as a
moderate practise of them for honest recreation might be contynued, and
yet, the inordinate concourse of dissolute and idle people be restrayned.
Wee do now understande, that our said order hath bin so far from taking
dew effect, as in steede of restraint and redresse of the former disorders,
the multitude of play howses is much encreased, &amp; that no daie passeth
over without many Stage plaies in one place or other, within &amp; about the
Cittie publiquelie made. The default of perfourmance of which our said
order we must, in great parte, the rather impute to the justices of the
peace, because at the same tyme wee gave earnest directions unto you to!

I60I.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

307

The Lord Mayor was written to on the same occasion, and
he seems to have renewed his complaint against the number
of players 'within and about the City of London' at the very
moment when he ought to have been in possession of the
authority of the Privy Council to suppress them. That
authority had, however, been sent to his predecessor in office,
who, unwilling that it should be enforced, had perhaps not
handed it over.1
This endeavour on the part of the -authorities of the state,
not to suppress, but to limit and restrain the performance of
plays, was the last act of the government of Elizabeth on the
subject. We find nothing in the Privy Council Registers of
the company specifically called 'the Queen's players' after the
27th of February I592-3;2 and subsequent to that date, her
see it streightly executed, and to certifie us of the execution; and yet
wee have neither understoode of any redresse made by you, nor receaved
any certificate at all of your proceedings therein; which default or omission wee do now pray and require you forthwith to amende, &amp; to cause
our said former order to be put duly in execution; and especiallie to call
before you the owners of all the other Play howses (excepting the two
howses in Middlesex &amp; Surrey aforementioned,) &amp; to take good and
sufficient bonds of them not to exercise, use, or practise, nor to suffer
from hence forth to be exercised, used, or practised any Stage playinge
in their howses; and if they shall refuse to enter into such bonds, then
to commit them to prison untill they shall conforme themselves. And
so &amp;c.'
1 Chalmers (Apology, p. 410) found the letter of the Privy Council to
the Lord Mayor, and accordingly inserted it; but he did not meet with
that to the Justices of Middlesex and Surrey. They were of the same
date and tenor.
2 There can be little doubt that the company no longer existed as 'the
Queens players,' and that they had changed their name to 'the Lord
Chamberlain's servants;' but for what reason is nowhere mentioned.
Among the curious matter in Henslowe's Diary from I59I to I608, not
quoted nor referred to by Malone, is an entry, shewing that before May
X2

308

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i6oi.

Majesty had been entertained at Christmas and Shrovetide,
chiefly by the Lord Chamberlain's players (of whom we then
hear for the first time under that name), and the Lord
Admiral's servants; though the Earl of Pembroke's and the
Earl of Derby's players had been also called upon to assist
in the festivities of Christmas I592, Christmas 1593, and
Shrovetide I599. It appears from evidence contained in the
Moral-play of The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality (printed in I602), that it had been performed before
the Queen in 600o.1 It was possibly one of the 'three
1593, the Queen's players had 'broke, and went into the country,' when
they were joined by Francis Henslowe, a player, and some relation,
perhaps son. to old Philip Henslowe. The following is the memorandum
in the Diary relating to this fact:' Lent unto Francis Henslow, the 3 of May 1593, to laye downe for his
share to the Quenes Players, when they broke and went into the contrey
to playe, the some of fyfteen pownd, to be payd unto me at his retorne out
of the contrey-I saye lent. Wittnes, 'JOHN TOWNE,
'HEW DAVES,
'RICHARD ALLEYN.'
Two years afterwards Francis Henslowe joined a company not named,
when Philip Henslowe lent him 91. to pay for half a share. It is difficult
to explain in what way Francis Henslowe could have lent money to Lord
Burghley, as is asserted in the same entry, which runs thus (possibly,
lord Burle was only a cant name for some member of the company):
'Lent unto Francis Henslow, the i of June 1595, in redey mony to
laye downe for his halfe share with the company which he dothe playe
with all, to be payd unto me when he doth receive his money wch he
lent to my lord Burle, or when my asyenes [assigns] doth demand yt.
Wittnes, WM. SMYGHT, player,
'GEORGE ATTEWELL, player.
'ROBARD NYCOWLLES, player.'
It is stated on the title-page that it was 'played before her Majesty';
and in the body of the performance mention is made of the forty-third

I6oi.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

309

interludes' represented by the servants of the Lord Chamberlain at Christmas I600, for which John Hemings, who was at
the head of the company, received 30/. on the I Ith of March
I6oo-I. At Christmas, of the following year, she was entertained by the Lord Admiral's players,' for in Henslowe's
Diary occurs the subsequent entry, among others passed over
by Malone:'Rec. of M. E. Alleyn, the 4 of Maye i6oi, the somme of twenty
eight pounds &amp; ten shellings, which he received at the Corte for ther
Cort money for playinge ther at Cryssmas, which was dewe unto the
earlle of Notinghames players, 28/. os.'
By another item, it appears, that a person, called Nycke,
had 'tumbled before the Queen' on the same occasion, and
I4S. are charged for his silk hose. From other entries in the
same book, it is clear, that the services of the same company
were required at Christmas, in the ensuing year. On the
I4th of December I602, Henslowe paid 5s. to 'a poet', not
named, for writing a prologue and epilogue to 'the play
of Bacon' (no doubt Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bongay,
first printed in I594), 'for the court'; and on the 29th of
December, of the same year, Henry Chettle obtained the like
sum for a prologue and epilogue to another play 'at the
court', the title of which is not inserted: from the circumyear of her reign. It was, possibly, an older piece revived and altered;
perhaps by R. Greene, as is asserted in Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum,
I675. A play, called Prodigality, was, as has been shown, represented
before the Queen as early as 1568.
1 According to Henslowe, in his diary, under date of the year 1597, the
following were then the players forming the company acting under the
name of the Earl of Nottingham, Lord Admiral:-Borne (alias Bird),
Gabriel, Slater (or Slaughter), Jones, Downton (usually written Dowton),
Juby, Towne, Synger, and the two Jeffes.

310

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i6oi.

stance of a new prologue and epilogue being wanted, we may
conclude that, like 'Bacon', it was a revival.
A Mask was also exhibited at court in 1602, in all probability at Christmas, and it is noticed in a very valuable and
remarkable source of information applicable to the last two
years of the reign of Elizabeth. We were fortunate enough
to meet with it among the Harleian MSS. in the British
Museum, and it is in the shape of a Table-book, or Diary,
kept by an individual whose name was Manningham, and
who seems to have been a barrister, and consequently a
member of one of the Inns of Court.' The dates, which are
inserted with much particularity, extend from January I600-I,
to April I603; and when we state that it includes original and
unpublished anecdotes of Shakespeare, Spenser, Tarleton,
Ben Jonson, Marston, Sir John Davies, Sir W. Raleigh and
others, it will not be disputed that it is, what we have termed
it, a very valuable and remarkable source of information.
Some of the particulars it supplies, it is true, are in themselves
comparatively trifling, but, as has been often said, trifles
become important when connected with the lives of distinguished men. The size is small octavo, or duodecimo; and,
excepting by the maker of the Catalogue of the Harleian MSS.
(where it is numbered 5353), it seems to have remained in
1 He lived at one time in Chambers with Ed. Curie, whose call to the
bar he notices, and from whom he heard many of the anecdotes, etc., he
inserts in his diary. For others he cites the authority of Sir Thomas
Overbury, who, on leaving college after I598, became a student of the
Middle Temple, to which Society it is probable that the author of this
diary belonged. He had relations in Kent, whom he often went to visit,
a cousin named Cranmer at Canterbury, a cousin named Watts at Sandwich, and a third cousin named Chapman at Godmersham. Another of
his relations was named Norton. A surgeon at Maidstone, not named,
was also related to him.

I602.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

3I1

that collection entirely unexamined. It is written in a small,
fair, and tolerably legible hand.
A 'song to the Queene in a Maske at Court, I602', is the
first entry in this Diary, and it is inserted on the fly-leaf in
the following words:'Mighty Princes of a fruitfull land,
In whose riche bosome stored bee
Wisdome and care, treasures that free
Us from all feare: thus with a bounteous hand
You serve the world wch yett you doe commaund.
'Most gracious Queene, we tender back
Our lives as tributes due,
Since all whereof we all partake
We freely take from you.
Blessed Goddess of our hopes increase,
Att whose fayre right hand
Attend justice and grace,
Both which commend
True beauties face!
Thus doe you never cease
To make the death of war the life of peace.
Victorious Queene, soe shall you live
Till tyme it selfe must dye;
Since no tyme ever can deprive
You of such memory.'
No name is appended to this song, and it would be idle to
indulge in conjectures regarding its authorship; the Mask in
which it was inserted was exhibited at Christmas, for Queen
Elizabeth died on the last day but one of 1602, as the year
was then calculated, or the 24th of March I603, as it is now
reckoned. She continued to visit her nobility up to a very
late period. The Barrister's Diary furnishes us, not only with
the information, that the Queen was at Sir Robert Cecill's on

312

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I 602.

Monday, 6th of December, but with an account of her entertainment there on the'occasion; he does not give the day of
the month in the following quotation, but that we have
already ascertained from the letter of John Chamberlain:' DECEMBER I602.
'On munday last the Queen dyned at Sir Robert Cecils newe
house in the Strand:1 shee was very royally entertained, and richely
presented, and was marvelous well contented; but at hir departure
she strayned her foote. His hall was well furnished with choise
weapons, which her Mtie tooke especiall notice of. Sundry devises
at hir entrance: three women, a maid a widow and a wife eache
centending [for] their owne states, but the virgin preferred: an
other; on [one] attired in habit of a Turke, desyrous to see hir,
enterd; but as a stranger without hope of such grace, in regard of
the retired manner of hir cort-complained-answere made and sone
gracious, her Matie in admitting to presence, and sone able to discourse in anie language, which the Turke admired; and admitted,
presents hir with a riche mantle,' &amp;c.
The 'rich mantle' was one of the 'presents' prepared for
the Queen, according to Chamberlain's letter. The entry in
the Diary is not by any means clearly worded, and it was
probably hastily made: the meaning of it is, that the Turk
on entering feared that, as a stranger, he should not be
admitted to the Queen's presence: an answer to the contrary
being made, her Majesty was soon gracious, and soon able to
discourse in any language, a facility which the Turk admired,
A biting jest by Richard Tarlton, the player, relative to old Burghley
House in the Strand, as it was kept in the time of the old Lord Treasurer,
is told in this very MS. in these words:'Tarlton called Burley-house gate, in the Strand towards the Savoy,
the Lord Treasurers almes-gate, because it was seldom or never opened.'
Tarlton died in I588: the date appended to this jest is Jan. 26, I602,
being that, perhaps, when the writer of the journal heard it.

I602.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

313

and presented the Queen with the gift with which he had been
provided. The whole seems to have been a silly piece of
masquerading to gratify the vanity of Elizabeth. The first
part of the preceding quotation relates to a dramatic dialogue
or contest between a maid, a widow, and a wife,1 which ended,
out of compliment to the Queen, in the admission of the
superiority of the condition of a virgin.
We also learn from the same contemporaneous authority,
that in the summer of I60I the Queen was at an entertainment given by the Lord Keeper, and that before she arrived
I In some respects, perhaps, similar to the poetical tract, Tis merry
when Gossipis meet, attributed, no doubt correctly, to Samuel Rowlands:
this is a dialogue between a Maid, a Widow and a Wife, at a tavern;
but the conclusion does not accord with the result mentioned by the
writer of the Diary. It was printed in I602 and I609; and it is singular
that in another part of his Table-book the writer inserts various quotations from this very piece, most of which correspond with the printed
copy: there are, however, three extracts at the beginning, which are not
found in the printed copy, and which possibly belonged to some Introduction now lost: it appears in the Diary in this shape:'Oct. I602.
'Out of a poeme called, It is merry when Gossips meete.-S. R.
'Such a one is claret proofe; i.e. a good wine bibber.
Theres many deale upon the score for wyne,
When they should pay forgett the vintner's signe.
c Of Dido and,Eneas.
She plyd him with the wyne in golden cup,
Turning the liquor in, the bottom up.'
Nine other quotations are given, but they need not be extracted, as
they agree with the printed editions. It is material to observe, that they
have no initials to indicate authorship, whereas in the Diary the letters
S. R. would confirm the opinion, that the tract was written by Samuel
Rowlands. In Nichols's Progr. of Eliz., iii, 60I, it is said, on the
authority of John Chamberlain, that the Dialogue before the Queen, on
the 6th of December, was by Sir John Davies, who certainly wrote a production of the kind.

314

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I602.

at the mansion, she was entertained by a dialogue 'betweene
the Bayly and a Dary-mayd'. The following is the only
extract supplied, and it was supposed to be spoken by the
Bailiff of the Lord Keeper:-' The Mrs of this fayre companie,
though shee knowe the way to all mens hearts, yet shee
knowes the way to few mens houses, except she love them
verry well'. A part of the entertainments on the same
occasion was drawing lots, or what the writer of the Diary
calls ' Lotteries', each lady having some object with a motto
assigned to her, as it were by chance, but no doubt a little
contrivance was sometimes used, in order that the lot might
be appropriate. For instance, on this occasion, the Queen
drew * Fortunes wheels', the motto being this:'Fortune must nowe noe more in triumphe ride;
The wheeles are yours that did hir chariot guide.'
In the same way, to the Countess of Kildare, one of the
Queen's attendants, was given 'a girdle', with the following
lines:
'With Fortune's girdle happy may you bee;
But they that are lesse happy are more free.'
Many others are inserted in the Diary, to Lady Scroop,
Lady Scudamore, Lady Effingham, Lady Newton, etc.; but
the point the lines contain is now either blunted or lost. The
whole collection is thus entitled:-' Some of the Lotteries
which were the last summer at her Majestie being with
the L. Keeper.'
No theatre is named throughout the manuscript, but the
subsequent paragraph, under the date of Feb. 7th, 1602, relates to a tragical occurrence that had taken place at one of
' The Lotteries, with an introduction, are printed in Davidson's Poetical Rhapsody, and from thence quoted by Mr. Nichols in vol. iii, p. 57I,
of his Progr. of Eliz. The whole Dialogue between the Bailiff and the
Dairymaid may be found in the same work, iii, p. 586.

I602.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

315

them on the Bank-side; probably the Hope, Rose or Swan,
which were situated there, as well as the Globe, which last
does not seem to have been used for the exhibition of fencers:
at the others it was not uncommon for them to give their
challenges, and play their prizes.
'Turner' and Dun, two famous fencers, playd their prizes this
day at the Banke side: but Turner at last ran Dun so farre in the
brayne at the eye, that he fell downe presently stone deade. A
goodly sport in a Christian state to see one man kill another.'
We have reserved until last the matter in this curious
volume that is personal, although, in point of actual interest,
it claims a decided precedence.
First with regard to Shakespeare. The period when he
wrote his Twelfth Night, or What you Will, has been much
disputed among the commentators. Tyrwhitt was inclined to
fix it in 1614, and Malone for some years was of the same
opinion; but he afterwards changed the date he had adopted
to I607.2 Chalmers thought he found circumstances in the
play to justify him in naming 1613,3 but what we are about to
quote affords a striking, and at the same time a rarely occurring, and convincing proof, how little these conjectures merit
confidence. That comedy was indisputably written before
1602; for in February of that year it was an established play,
and so much liked, that it was chosen for performance at the
Reader's Feast on Candlemas day, at the Inn of Court to
which the author of this Diary belonged-most likely the
Middle Temple, which at that date was famous for its costly
entertainments. After reading the following quotation, it is
utterly impossible, although the name of the poet be not
I See Wilson's History of amnes I, under date I612, respecting the
murder of Turner by Lord Sanquair, who was hanged for it.
2 Shakespeare by Boswell, ii, 441.
3 Sufpplemental Apology, p. 441.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I602.

mentioned, to feel a moment's doubt as to the identity of the
play there described, and the production of Shakespeare.
'FEB. 2, 160o[-2].
'At our feast we had a play called Twelve night or what you will,
much like the commedy of errors, or Menechmi in Plautus, but most
like and neere to that in Italian called Inganni. A good practise in
it to make the steward believe his lady widdowe was in love with
him, by counterfayting a letter, as from his lady, in generall termes
telling him what shee liked best in him, &amp; prescribing his gesture
in smiling, his apparaile, &amp;c. and then when he came to practise,
making him beleeve they tooke him to be mad."
At this date, we may conclude with tolerable safety that
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night had been recently brought out
at the Blackfriars Theatre, and that its excellence and success had induced the managers of the Reader's Feast to select
it for performance, as part of the entertainments on that
occasion. There is no reason to suppose that any of Shakespeare's productions were represented for the first time anywhere but at a theatre. The Comedy of Errors noticed in the
preceding extract, was no doubt also Shakespeare's work
mentioned by Meres' in 1598, and not the old History of
Error performed at Hampton Court in 1576-7. The Menechmi,
likewise spoken of, was of course the play of Plautus, as
translated by W. W., and printed in 1595. Should the Italian
comedy, called Inganni, turn up, we shall probably find in it
the actual original of Twelfth Night, which, it has been
hitherto supposed, was founded upon the story of Apollonius
and Silla in Barnabe Rich's Farewell to Militarie Profession,
twice printed, viz. in I583 and I606. It is remarkable, that
this is the only notice of a play throughout the diary; and
although Manningham went much into company, he does not
Palladis Tamia. Wits' Treasury, 1598,.fol. 282.

I603.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

317 '

appear on any occasion to have visited a public theatre. He was
very regular in his attendance at Church, both at the Temple
and St. Paul's, and inserts long accounts of the preachers and
their sermons.
On looking back to the life of Shakespeare, the first observation that must be made is, that so few facts are extant regarding him: nearly everything interesting is derived from tradition, or depends upon conjecture; and Steevens, in a note
upon Shakespeare's 93rd sonnet, very truly remarks, 'All that
is known with any degree of certainty concerning Shakespeare is-that he was born at Stratford-upon-Avon-married
and had children there-went to London, where he commenced actor, and wrote poems and plays-returned to
Stratford, made his will, died, and was buried.' There is,
however, in the manuscript Diary under consideration a
personal anecdote regarding our great dramatist, which
possibly may serve to explain a good deal that has been
considered obscure in his Sonnets. Much has been said at
different tinmes on the moral character of Shakespeare, as if
in this respect he were far superior to the manners of the
time in which he lived; and Boswell, in the last edition of
his works,l expressly observes, 'We may lament that we
know so little of his history; but this, at least, may be
asserted with confidence, that at no time was the slightest
imputation cast upon his moral character.' This statement
has reference to such of Shakespeare's sonnets as, taken
literally, and, as we apprehend, not a few of them ought to
be taken, indicate that Shakespeare was not in this respect
more pure and perfect than many of his contemporaries. We
think it extremely probable that some of those sonnets were
composed for other people, who could not write them for
themselves, and who wished to make a favourable impression;
I Shakespeare by Boswell, xx, 220.

3I8

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I603.

but others, undoubtedly, have a personal allusion to himself,
and the difficulty is how to separate the one from the other.
If we may believe the plain import of his 69th sonnet, in particular, he was at one period in love with a female who was
not very chary of her reputation:
'But why thy odour matcheth not thy show
The solve is this-that thou dost common grow;'
and he over and over again laments the disgrace brought
upon himself by his misconduct: in his I 12th sonnet he says,
'Your love and pity doth the impression fill,
Which vulgar scandal stamped upon my brow.'
Again, in his 12Ist sonnet, beginning 'Tis better to be vile,
than vile esteemed,' he exclaims,
'No-I am that I am; and they that level
At my abuses reckon up their own;'
while, in his 13Ist sonnet, he tells the female, on account of
whom he had been attacked,
'In nothing art thou black, save in thy deeds;
And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds:'
so that although it may be very true, that no imputation
upon his moral character had been derived from extraneous
sources, when Steevens, or when Boswell wrote, yet, if we'are
to believe himself, although a married man, with a wife and
family at Stratford, he was not immaculate. The difficulty
of reconciling much that is contained in the sonnets has arisen
from an amiable desire to think Shakespeare's moral and
poetical character equally perfect.
Whether the anecdote in question be true, or untrue,
whether it were a mere joke, or the invention of 'vulgar
scandal,' it comes recommended to our notice upon tolerably
good authority. Nicholas Tooley was one of the actors in
Shakespeare's plays, and belonged to the company of the.,.. ---.:...D0.. A; | g,^e \.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'~

1603.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 319
Globe theatre in 1599; and it is very possible that the author
of this Diary had met with him at some ordinary in London,
and had heard from him the story in question, as we find the
words 'Mr. Tooley' subjoined at the end of it, as the person
from whom the writer had received it. It is inserted, without
any observation regarding its truth or falsehood, in the following manner:'MARCH 13, i6oi.
'Upon a tyme when Burbidge played Rich. 3, there was a citizen
grewe so farre in liking with 'him, that before shee went from the
play shee appointed him to come that night unto hir, by the name of
Rich. the 3. Shakespeare, overhearing their conclusion, went before,
was entertained, and at his game ere Burbidge came. Then, message being brought that Rich. the 3 was at the dore, Shakespeare
caused returne to be made, that William the Conqueror was before
Rich. the 3.-Shakespeares name Willm.-Mr. Tooly.'
This may have been (as we have said) a mere slanderous
invention, a harmless joke, or a plain truth; and it is not to
be forgotten, in reference to the value of Tooley's authority,
that he had been the apprentice of Richard Burbadge, and
might have had the story from that distinguished performer,
himself a party in it. In March I6oi, Shakespeare was just
So we read the name when we first discovered the anecdote: it is but
fair to admit that others have read it Touse; but in printing it they placed a
mark of interrogation after it, as if the point were doubtful. Under these
circumstances we adhere to our old orthography: we know nothing of
any person of the name of Touse, but Tooley was an actor, and intimate
both with Shakespeare and Burbadge. Still we own that it looks more
like Touse than Tooley, and Touse is certainly found in other parts of
the MS. It was not uncommon for ladies (probably light ones) to go
and sup with the players (see Field's Amends for Ladies, A. iii, sc. 4,
and Middleton's Mad World my Masters, (Dyce's edit., ii, 412), but not
so usual (as far as we know) for Players to go and sup with ladies: it
was probably mutual, or indifferent.
/

320

ANNALS OF THIE STAGE.

[I603.

commencing his 37th year, and how long before that date the
circumstance had occurred is not mentioned; but Burbadge
was the original Richard III, and that play was printed in
I597, and, perhaps, acted several years earlier.1
1 The year 1597 has been assigned as the date when Shakespeare made
his purchase of New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, but we cannot help
thinking that this event in his life is fixed too early. He certainly did
not buy the 107 acres of land, attached to the house called New Place,
until May I602, when he had become easy in his circumstances. In a
very rare tract, (the only copy of which is in the Collection of Earl
Spencer,) called 'Ratseis Ghost, or the Second Part of his Madde Prankes
and Robberies,' printed without date, but prior, as is supposed, to I606,
occurs a passage which mentions Shakespeare's Hamlet by name, and,
if we mistake not, refers covertly to the author, to his acquisition of
property, and, finally, to the purchase of the house and land in his native
town. Gamaliel Ratsey was a highwayman, who had presented certain
strolling players with 40s. for acting before him, and afterwards overtook
them on their road, and robbed them of it. He gives them advice, and
thus addresses himself to the principal performer:'And for you, sirrah, (says he to the chiefest of them,) thou hast a good
presence upon a stage, methinks thou darkenst thy merit by playing in
the country: get thee to London, for, if one man were dead, they will
have much need of such as thou art. There would be none, in my
opinion, fitter than thyself to play his parts: my conceit is such of thee,
that I durst all the money in my purse on thy head to play Hamlet with
him for a wager. There thou shalt learne to be frugal (for players were
never so thrifty as they are now about London), and to feed upon all
men; to let none feed upon thee; to make thy hand a stranger to thy
pocket, thy heart slow to perform thy tongue's promise; and when thou
feelest thy purse well lined, buy thee some place of lordship in the
country, that, growing weary of playing, thy money may there bring thee
to dignity and reputation: then thou needest care for no man; no, not
for them that before made thee proud with speaking their words on the
stage. Sir, I thank you (quoth the player) for this good council: I
promise you I will make use of it; for I have heard, indeed, of some that
have gone to London very meanly, and have come in time to be exceeding wealthy.'
It is not to be disputed that what is here said is even more applicable
to Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich College, than to Shakespeare.
A,,

I602.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

321

Ben Jonson1 is only once mentioned in the same Diary, but
the date and circumstances are both remarkable. It is known
that he wrote nothing between his Poetaster in I60I, and his
Sejanns in 1603; and in the interval, Dekker produced his
Satiromastix, in ridicule of Ben Jonson, and, as far as we can
now judge, it was popular. Ben Jonson, therefore, seems in
consequence to have withdrawn himself temporarily from the
theatre, between i60I, when his 'comic muse had proved so
ominous' to him, and 1603, when he tried-'if tragedy had a
more kind aspect.' The following short paragraph accounts
for him in the interval.
'February 12, 1602.
'Ben Johnson, the poet, nowe lives upon one Townesend, and
scornes the world. So Overbury.'
Townesend was, probably, some person who admired Jonscn's genius, and thought that justice was not done to him
by the public.2 The meaning of the addition, 'So Overbury,'
is evidently, that Sir Thomas Overbury, then a student of
the Middle Temple, was the narrator of the fact.
Jonn Marston was an author of Satires in I598; and his
1 It is a fact, not known to Malone and Gifford, that Ben Jonson was
at first a sharer in the theatrical speculation of Henslowe, for whom he
wrote his Every Man in his Humour, etc. The circumstance is thus
stated in an entry in Henslowe's Diary:'R. [Received] of Bengemenes Johnsones shayer as foloweth, I597.'
The only item entered under this head is 3s. 9d. received by Henslowe
on the 8th of July I597. After this date, Ben Jonson was usually in debt
to Henslowe for advances on plays, written and to be written, so that the
old manager does not seem to have followed up this account of receipts
for Ben Jonson.
2 A person of the name of Aurelian Townsend was author of two
masks, both performed at court, and printed in 1631: the one was called
Albion's Triumhh, and the other, Temnpe Restored. He was, possibly,
the individual mentioned in the text.
VOL. I. Y
U ~ - 0:R:: _: be*u~: ~:

322

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I602.

play of Antonio and Mellida was printed in the year in which
he is noticed in the Barrister's Diary. His Malecontent had,
however, been written more than two years earlier, and seems
to have attracted a good deal of attention.' The subsequent
paragraph is very characteristic of his coarseness.
'November 21, 1602.
'Jo. Marstone, the last Christmas, when he daunct with Alderman
Mores wives daughter, a Spaniard borne, fell into a strange commendation of hir witt and beauty. When he had done, she thought
to pay him home, &amp; told him, she thought he was a poet. 'Tis true,
said he-for poets feigne and lye; and soe did I, when I commended
your beauty, for you are exceeding foule.'
No other dramatic poets, or circumstances connected with
the drama, are mentioned in this very curious collection of
scraps: some matters that relate to other poets, we have subjoined in a note.2
The detail of facts and circumstances connected with the
'The Malecontent was acted by 'the King's Majesty's Servants', that
is, the company playing at the Globe and Blackfriars, to which Shak,:
speare belonged; but, from a singular item in Henslowe's Diary, not
noticed nor quoted by Malone, it is evident that Marston, when he first
commenced dramatist, had engaged to write for Henslowe's company,
for which Ben Jonson, Drayton, Dekker, Heywood, and many others
wrote. It is in these terms,
'Lent unto Wm. Borne, the 28 of September i599, to lend unto Mr.
Maxton, the new poete [Mr. Marstone] in earnest of a booke called
the some of 40s.'
The name Mr. Marstone, between brackets, was apparently interlined
afterwards, when the old manager was better informed, that the name
was not Maxton, as he had first written it. The title of the play was
left blank, but it was very possibly the Malecontent, which bears internal
evidence of having been composed prior to the year i6oo.
2 The following anecdote respecting Spenser has never before been
told on such good authority, although it has been long known by tradition:
it is disbelieved by Todd in his SfSenser, i, lxvij, edit. 1805.

I602.1

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

323

Stage is thus brought down to the close of the reign of Elizabeth;1 but in order to render the account of its actual con'May 4, 1602.
'When her Majestie had given order, that Spenser should have a reward for his poems, but Spenser could have nothing, he presented her
with these verses:'It pleased your Grace upon a tyme,
^*~t~; ~ To graunt me reason for my ryme;
But from that tyme until this season,
I heard of neither rhyme nor reason.'
The barrister's informant, in this instance, was a person of the name of
Touse, to whom he often refers as his voucher; but in Birch's Memoirs, i,
131, the epigram is assigned to Churchyard.
An epitaph upon Spenser is thus given:'In Spfenserwm.
'Famous alive, &amp; dead, here is the ods,
Then god of poets, nowe poet of the gods.'
The following does more credit to his adversary, than to Sir Walter
Raleigh, but not much to either:'Dec. 30, I602.
'Sir W. Rawly made this rime upon the name of a gallant, one Mr.
Noel:'Noe L.
'The word of deniall, &amp; the letter of fifty,
Makes the gent's name, that will never be thrifty.'
'And Noel's answere.
'Raw Ly.
'The foe to the stomacke, &amp; the word of disgrace,
Shews the gent's name with the bold face.'
(This jest, with a slight variation, is introduced into the Duke of Newcastle's Triumphant Widow, 1677, by a character called Justice Spoilwit.
See also Aubrey's Lives, iii, 512, edit. 1813.)
There are several very coarse anecdotes regarding Sir John Davies:
the following may be quoted:'April o1, I603.
'Jo Davis reporteth that he is sworne the king's man; that the K.
showed him great favours: inepte, he slaunders while he prayses.'
Regarding the death of Queen Elizabeth the subsequent particulars,
* 2
N N ~ â

324 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I602.
dition at that period more complete and clear, it may be
necessary briefly to notice the different theatres in use in
the metropolis at her decease: a statement of the origin
and progress of each is attempted in a subsequent part of
this work.
derived, as will be seen, from the most authentic sources, are contained
in the MS. Diary to which we have been already so much indebted. The
short concluding paragraph, regarding the ring and Lord Essex, is peculiarly worthy of notice:'March 23. I was at the Court at Richmond to heare Dr. Parry,
one of her Majesties Chaplens preache, and be assured whether the
Queene were living or dead. I heard him, and was assured shee was
then living. * * * These were present at his sermon. The Archbishop
of Cant. the L. Keep. the L. Treasuror, L. Admirall, L. of Shrewsbury,
E. of Worster, L. Cobham, L. Gray, Sir Willm, Knollys, Sir Ed. Wotton, &amp;c.
'I dyned with Dr. Parry in the privy chamber, and understood by him,
the Bishop of Chichester, the Deane of Canterbury, the Deane of Windsore, &amp;c. that hir Majestie hath bin by fits troubled with melancholy
some 3 or 4 moneths; but for this fortnight extreame oppressed with it,
in soe much that she refused to eate any thing, to receive any phisicke,
or admit any rest in bedd, till within these 2 or 3 dayes. Shee hath bin
in a manner speachlesse for 2 dayes: very pensive and silent since
shrovetides, sitting sometymes with her eye fixed upon one object many
houres togither; yet she alwayes had her perfect senses and memory, &amp;
yesterday signified by the lifting up of her hand &amp; eyes to heven, a signe
which Dr. Parry entreated of hir, that she beleeved that fayth which she
hath caused to be professed, and looked faythfully to be saved by Christs
merits and mercy onely, and no other meanes. She tooke great delight
in hearing prayers, would often at the name of Jesus lift up hir hands &amp;
eyes to heaven.' Shee would not heare the Archb. speake of hope of hir
longer lyfe, but when he prayed, or spake of heaven and those joyes, shee
would hug his hand, &amp;c. It seemes she might have lived yf shee would
have used meanes, but shee would not be persuaded, and princes must
not be forced. Hir physicians sayd she had a body of a firme &amp; perfect
constitution likely to have lived many yeares: a royal majesty is not
priviledge against death.
/'
l.[

i002.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

325

The earliest performances in London, after the disuse of
Miracle-plays and the decline of Morals, took place upon
'scaffolds, frames and stages,' erected in the yards of 'great
inns.' The Orders of the Corporation of 1575, from which
we quote, were directed against such exhibitions, mainly on
the ground, that chambers, adjoining the galleries that surrounded the inn-yards, were made the scenes of great immorality. Those Orders contain nothing regarding any buildings
appropriated to theatrical representations, because such as
then existed were not under the jurisdiction of the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen: the inn-yards, to which their objections are applied, were within the limits of the city. We
have seen that, in 1557, the Boar's Head, Aldgate, was
used for the purpose of representing a piece called A Sack
full of News; and Stephen Gosson,' in his School of Abuse,
'March 24. This morninge about 3 at clocke her Majestie departed
this lyfe, mildly like a lambe, easely like a ripe apple from the tree; curn
levi quadamfebre, absq. gemitu. Dr. Parry told me, that he was present,
&amp; sent his prayers before hir soule; and I doubt not but shee is amongst
the royall saints in heaven in eternall joyes.
'April 4. Dr. Parry told me the Countess Kildare assured him, that
the Queene caused the ring, wherewith shee was wedded to the crowne
to be cutt from her finger some six weeks before hir death; but wore a
ring, which the E. of Essex gave her, unto the day of hir death.'
The following lines from Webster's DeviPs Law Case, 1623, A. iii,
sc. 3, allude to the ring sent by the Earl to the Queen, but not delivered
by Lady Nottingham:' Let me die
In the distraction of that worthy princess,
Who loathed food and sleep, and ceremony,
For thought of losing that brave gentleman
She would fain have sav'd, had not a false conveyance
Express'd him stubborn-hearted."
1 After renouncing; and denouncing the Stage in 1579, Stephen Gosson
went into the Church, and died Rector of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, in
I1

326

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[6o02.

1579, mentions the Bell-savage on Ludgate-hill, and the Bull,
as inns at which dramatic performances took place.
Malone quotes the same author's Playes confuted in five
Actions, to shew that 'about the year I570 one or two regular
play-houses were erected;'1 but that tract was not printed
until ten years afterwards, and it serves to fix no date.
Although Malone was not aware of the existence of any
earlier authority on the point, he was probably right in his
conjecture. In 1575, at least, there must have been several
'regular playhouses,' not indeed in London, but in its immediate vicinity. In that year, it has been shown, that the
Queen's Players presented a petition to the Privy Council,
praying authority to perform within the city, 'the season of
the year being past to play at any of the houses without the
city.' The season for performing in the suburbs was the
summer, when people could walk out to the play, or go
thither in boats, and in the winter the actors were anxious to
be allowed to exhibit within the walls.
The Queen's players inform us, that there were 'houses' for
the purpose, but they mention none of them: we first learn
the names of two from John Northbrooke's Treatise, wh/erin
Dicing, Dauncing, Vaine Playes or Enterluds, &amp;c. are reproved,
1623. In 1598 he published 'The Trum5pet of Warre, a Sermon preached
on the 7th May 1598.' His earliest attack upon the stage bore the following title:'The Shoole of Abuse, conteining a pleasaunt invective against Poets,
Pipers, Plaiers, Jesters, and such like Caterpillers of - Com'onwealth,
setting up the Flagge of Defiance to their mischeivous exercise, and
overthrowing their Bulwarkes by Prophane Writers, Naturall reason and
common experience. A discourse as pleasaunt for gentlemen that favour
learning, as profitable for all that will follow vertue. By Stephan Gosson.
Stud. Oxon,' etc. Printed at London by Thomas Woodcocke, I579.
Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 46.
\ I.,..:;1. '......,..
w;S,,,,,. \, A; f X 0.,, * I J,/

/602.1

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

327

which was licensed, and therefore ready for the press in 1577.
They are there called 'the Theatre' and 'the Curtaine'; and
that they were both situated near each other in Shoreditch,
we know from the first edition of Stow's Survey, 1599, although
Malone, Chalmers and others, from consulting only later impressions, have confounded 'the Theatre' with the play-house
in Blackfriars. Recorder Fleetwood, fifteen years before
Stow's Survey was published, in a letter to Lord Burghley
(cited in the preceding Annals of the Stage, under the transactions of I584), also speaks of a circumstance that had
occurred 'very near the Theatre or Curtain,' as if they were
contiguous. 'The Theatre' was called so emphatically, as a
place devoted to the exhibition of dramatic representations;
and 'the Curtain' was so named, probably, on account of the
sign there hung out, indicative of the nature of the performances within.
The Blackfriars Theatre was erected about 1576, by James
Burbadge and others, who had obtained the patent for playing in 1574. They commenced this undertaking in the
liberties, in consequence of the Orders of the Lord Mayor
and Common Council of the city in 1575, excluding players
from all places within their jurisdiction. It is not mentioned
by John Northbrooke, either because it was not finished when
he wrote, or because it was a private house, and not so liable
to objection as the two theatres he names. Stephen Gosson
speaks of the Blackfriars in his Playes confuted in five Actions,
printed about 1581: it continued in its original state until
1596, when it was in the hands of Richard Burbadge, Shakespeare, and others, and when it was enlarged and repaired, if
not entirely rebuilt.
A theatre also existed at an early date in the liberty of the
Whitefriars; and perhaps it owed its origin to the same cause
as the Blackfriars, although we find no trace of it at that!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~',

328 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I6o01
period. Malone cites Richard Reulidge's Monster lately found
out and discovered, printed in i628, to show that the Whitefriars theatre was in being in 1580, but that author speaks
very loosely and uncertainly on the point. The probability
is, that it was built in or about 1576.1
Paris Garden was used for the baiting of bears, and other
animals, in the reign of Henry VIII, but we can only conjecture as to the date when it began to be employed also as a
building for the exhibition of plays. Thomas Nash in his
Strange Newes, etc., printed in 1592, mentions the performance of puppets there: and Dekker, in his Satiromastix, I602,
asserts that Ben Jonson had acted there.
As early as I586, there was a playhouse at Newington
Butts, for the amusement of the citizens who strolled thither
in the summer; and we find from Henslowe's Diary, etc., that
many popular plays were represented at that theatre in
1594, and afterwards.
The Rose theatre on the Bankside, not far west of the foot
of London Bridge, was probably constructed prior to I587.
It was repaired extensively by Philip Henslowe in I59I, and
was in the possession of the- Lord Admiral's company of
players in I593.
The Hope Theatre, near the same situation, was possibly
constructed about the same time, but the information regarding it is scanty and inconclusive..
The Globe on the Bankside, which also belonged to the
Blackfriars' Company (the first being used as their summer,
1 John Stockwood in his Sermon, 1578, tells us that at that date there
were eight play houses with a profit of 200ooo a-year.
'For reckcning with the leaste, the gaine that is reaped of eight ordinarie places in the Citie, which I know, by playing but once a weeke
(whereas many times they play twice and sometimes thrice) it amounteth
to two thousand poundes by the yeare.'.

I602.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 329
and the last as their winter house), was built in 1594: at least,
we may pretty safely infer that such was the date of its
origin, by the discovery of a bond, dated 22nd of December,
1593, given by Richard Burbadge, for the due performance of
covenants, on his part, connected with its construction. Here,
and at the Blackfriars Theatre, all Shakespeare's plays were,
we apprehend, first performed.
It seems most probable, that the Swan was not built until
after the Globe: theatrical representations took place there in
1598, if not earlier.
The last theatre erected while Elizabeth was upon the
throne was the Fortune in Golden-Lane, Whitecross-Street:
It was projected by Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn
in I599, and it was finished, although a large theatre, before
the close of the year I600.
The foundation of these theatres can be certainly traced
prior to the year I600; and we hear of others early in the
reign of James I, which, possibly, were erected before the
demise of Elizabeth, although we are without any conclusive
evidence upon the point. The children of St. Paul's also,
at an early date, acted plays in the room appropriated
to their education; but, independent of this, and some other
infant companies, (the rise of which is noticed under the
proper head hereafter,) it appears certain, that, between about
1570 and I600, no less than eleven places had been constructed for, or were applied to, the purpose of dramatic exhibitions. They were these:The Theatre, built about 1570; the Curtain, 1570; the
Blackfriars, 1576; the Whitefriars, I576; the Newington
Theatre, 1580; the Rose, 1585; the Hope, 1585; Paris
Garden Playhouse, 1588; the Globe, I594; the Swan, 1595;
the Fortune, I599.
Although an attempt was made by the Puritans, on the
~!..
^y~~ X

330

ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [

[i602.

building of the Fortune in I599, to limit theatres to only two,
it seems to have entirely failed; and at the death of Elizabeth, most, if 'not all the theatres above enumerated, were
open either permanently or occasionally. The employment
of inn-yards for the performance of plays was discontinued,
as regular houses of the kind were established; but we still
hear of several, such as the Red Bull in Smithfield, in full
employment, especially during the continuance of Bartholomew
Fair. It is not easy to ascertain when theatrical performances began there, probably at an earlier date than has been
generally supposed. In a MS. ballad of the time of James I
we read,
'The Red Bull
Is mostly full
Of drovers, carriers, carters;
But honest wenches
Will shun the benches,
And not there show their garters.'
It was a large house, and there were not usually benches in
what was called ' the yard', or open part of the building: it
had galleries round it, as in other old inns.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,

FROM THE YEAR I603 TO THE YEAR I6I7.
JAMES I evinced his strong disposition to favour theatrical
amusements some years before he succeeded to the English
throne: he was a poet himself, or at least had royal pretensions to that distinction; and, whatever posterity may have
thought of his productions, his contemporaries placed him in
the first rank, as a matter of course and courtesy.'
Towards the close of the3 year I599, a company of A. D.
English players arrived in Edinburgh;2 whether they I599.
had, or had not, come by invitation, is not apparent, but it is
undoubted that the King gave them every encouragement,
and immediately granted them his licence to perform within
the Burgh. This proceeding (according to Archbishop Spottiswood, in his History of the Church of Scotland, p. 457)
'occasioned new jars between the King and the ministers of
Edinburgh:' the latter exclaimed, 'in their sermons, against
1 See Henry Constable's, W. Fouler's, and Henry Lok's Sonnets, before
His Majesties Poeticall Exercises, printed by R. Waldegrave, about I59.
2 It has been supposed by some that Shakespeare was a member of
this company, and that he even took his description of Macbeth's castle
from local observation. No evidence can be produced either way,
beyond Malone's conjecture, that Shakespeare could not have left London
in 1599, in consequence of the production of his Henry V in that year.
Shakes5ieare by Boswell, ii, 416.
/...... (i

332 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1603.
stage-players, their unruliness and immodest behaviour; and
in their sessions made an act prohibiting people 'to resort
unto their plays, under pain of the church censures.' This act
the King considered 'a discharge of his licence' to the players;
and, from the same authority, we learn that he called the
'sessions before the Council, and ordered them to annul.their act, and not to restrain the people from going to these
comedies.' This spirited conduct at once produced its effect,
and on the very next day, 'all that pleased were permitted to
repair unto the same'; but the Archbishop adds, that it 'was
to the great offence of the ministers.'
This proceeding in favour of the 'English Comedians' was
the more bold on the part of the King, because in March
1574-5, (the same year in which so strong an effort was made
to suppress dramatic representations in London,) the General
Assembly had asserted its right to license all players, and had
expressly forbidden that 'na clerk playes, comedies, or tragedies be maid of the cannonicall Scriptures, as well new as
auld, on Sabboth-day nor wark day; and that all profaine
playes as are not maid upon authentick pairtes of Scripture'
should be considered before they were publicly exhibited, and
that they should not be allowed at all upon Sunday. In consequence of this Act, a company of-players did not act at
Perth, in 1589, without the licence of the consistory of the
church first obtained; and it was ten years afterwards, that
James exercised, and enforced his royal prerogative to permit
the performance of theatrical entertainments.
A. D. He arrived at the Charter-house on the 7th May
1603. I603, and it seems to have been thought a proper
mark of respect, that all the theatrical companies, then playing in London, should discontinue their performances, until
Chalmers's Apc logyy, p. 416...&gt;.

"ll. ----.-Y ---- ---- I-_ __I

I03.J ANNALS 01 THE STAGE. 333
they received the royal licence to renew them. This fact,
now for the first time noticed, we learn from Henslowe's
Diary, where he states, under date of 5th May, I603, that the
players with which he was connected 'left to play now at the
King's coming'; and a regulation that would apply to one set
of performers would, no doubt, apply to all.' By the same
MS. we find also, that the performances were only suspended
until the 9th May, when the Earl of Worcester's men began
to play again: the entry is in these words:'Beginninge to playe agayne by the Kynges licence, issewd owt
since for my Lord of Worsters men, as foloweth â603, 9 of Maye.'
Taking these expressions literally and strictly, we should
conclude that prior to the 9th May, within two days after his
arrival in London, James I granted his royal licence to the
Earl of Worcester's players; and that that document preceded,
by at least ten days, a similar licence given to 'Lawrence
Fletcher, William Shakespeare and others': such may have
been the fact; but as no document of the kind is extant,
perhaps all we ought to infer from Henslowe's expressions is,
that the players, having been silenced by the Lord Chamberlain on the 5th May, in anticipation of the arrival of the
King, were permitted, in consequence of directions from the
Crown, to continue their performances on the 9th May.
The licence 'pro Laurentio Fletcher et Willielmo Shake1 From the following entries in Henslowe's Diary, we may, perhaps
conclude, that during the illness of Queen Elizabeth, and in consequence
of the plague, some of the companies of players usually performing in
London went into the country.
' Lent, the 12 March I602, unto John Lowyn, when he went into the
contrey with his companye to playe, 5s.
'Lent, the 12 March I602, unto Thomas Blackwode, when he went
into the contrey with his company to play, Ios.'
Elizabeth died twelve days afterwards...)..* * "........;...

334 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1603.
speare et aliis,' bears date on the 9th May, 1603: Fletcher and
Shakespeare were at that time at the head of the Lord
Chamberlain's company, performing at the Globe in the
summer, and at the Blackfriars in the winter; for although
the former only is mentioned in the instrument, we have seen
that, as early as I596, Shakespeare, Burbage (so his name is
spelt in 1603), and others, were engaged in the repair and
enlargement of the Blackfriars theatre. The other actors,
besides Fletcher and Shakespeare, enumerated in the licence
of James I, were Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes,
John Hemmings, Henry Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn,
and Richard Cowlye, forming the principal members of what
had previously been the Lord Chamberlain's company; but
who, by virtue of this instrument in which they are termed
'our servants', became the King's players, and were so afterwards constantly distinguished. They, and 'their associates,
were licensed to perform 'comedies, tragedies, histories, interludes, morals, pastorals and stage plays,' in any part of the
kingdom. This document is subjoined in a note from the
Privy Seal, preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster, and
not from Rymer's Fadera, whence it has hitherto been inaccurately quoted.1
Other members of the royal family adopted companies of
1 The Privy Seal bears date two days earlier than the Patent under
the Great Seal. It runs literatim thus:BY THE KING.
'Right trusty and wellbeloved Counsellor, we greete you well, &amp; will
and commaund you, that under our privie Seale, in your custody for the
time being, you cause our letters to be derected to the keeper of our
greate seale of England, commaunding him, under our said greate Seale,
he cause our letters to be made patents in forme following. James, by
the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, Fraunce and Irland,
defendor of the faith, &amp;c. To all Justices, Maiors, Sheriffs, Constables,
Headboroughes, and other our officers and loving subjects greeting.
/?z
/ /
_wS.-,. *,,, ' '.: -' ft

I6o3.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

335

performers, until then (in pursuance of the provisions of the
14th and 39th of Elizabeth) acting under the protection of
particular noblemen. Thomas Heywood, in the dedication
to his rvvatdgeov, or General History of Women, 1624, mentions that he had been one of the servants of the Earl of
Worcester, who, upon the accession of James I, 'bestowed
him upon that excellent princess, Queen Anne.' The Queen's
Know ye, that we of our speciall grace, certaine knowledge, and meere
motion have licenced &amp; authorized, and by these presentes doe licence
&amp; authorize, these our servants, Lawrence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemmings, Henrie
Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowlye, and the rest of
their associats, freely to use and exercise the arte and faculty of playing
Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes, Moralls, Pastoralls, Stage
plaies, and such other like, as thei have already studied, or hereafter
shall use or studie, aswell for the recreation of our loving subjects, as for
our solace and pleasure, when we shall thinke good to see them, during
our pleasure. And the said Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes,
Moralls, Pastoralls, Stage plaies, and such like, to shew &amp; exercise publiquely to their best commoditie, when thejinfection of.the plague shall
decrease, as well within theire now usuall howse called the Globe, within
our county of Surrey, as also within anie towne halls, or mout halls, or
other convenient places within the liberties and freedome of any other
cities universitie, towne, or borough whatsoever within our said realmes
and dominions. Willing and commaunding you, and every of you, as
you tender.our pleasure, not only to permit and suffer them heerin, without any your letts, hinderances or molestations, during our said pleasure,
but also to be ayding or assisting to them, yf any wrong be to them
offered. And to allowe them such former courtesies, as hathe bene
given to men of their place and qualitie: and also what further favour
you shall shew to these our servants for our sake, we shall take kindly at
your hands. And these our letters shall be your sufficient warrant and
discharge in this behalfe. Given under our Signet at our mannor of
Greenewiche, the seavententh day of May in the first yeere of our raigne of
England, France &amp; Ireland, &amp; of Scotland the six &amp; thirtieth.
'Ex. per LAKE.'
The Patent, as given by Rymer, bears date at Westminster.. -----â "" _.i '.
) t; a,~~~~~~:.4 g' ' \,l~i; M; u,,4,;',4 ok 0.4ws,,4;.

336

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

[I603.

servants, as they were subsequently called, performed in the
first instance at the Red Bull, in Smithfield. No official
copy of the formal licence, or patent, to the theatrical servants
of Queen Anne has been discovered, but the following rough
draft of it was found by us in the Chapter-house, Westminster,
and we print it exactly as it stands, excepting that we have
placed the many interlineations between brackets. It has no
date, but in that respect it may be said to speak for itself;
and the list of ten actors, it will be seen, includes Thomas
Heywood: the whole list is as follows:-Thomas Greene,
Christopher Beeston, Thomas Hawood, Richard Pyrkins,
Robert Pallant, John Duke, Thomas Swynerton, James Hoult,
Robert Beeston, and Robert Lee.
The instrument itself, as we meet with it in the rough draft,
is in these terms: we may presume that it was ultimately
issued in a corrected form.
" James, by the grace of God, Kynge of England, Scotland, Fraunce,
and Irelande, Defender of the Faith, &amp;c. To all Justices [of peace],
Maiors, Sheryfes, Vice-Chauncellors [of our Universities, Bailiffs],
headboroirghes, Constables, and to all other our Officers, Mynisters,
and lovinge subjectes [to whome it may appertaine] Greeting. Knowe
yee that wee of our speciall grace, certaine knowledge and mere
motion have lycensed and authorised, and by these presents doe
lycense and authorise Thomas Greene, Christopher Beeston, Thomas
Hawood, Richard Pyrkins, Robert Pallant, John Duke, Thomas
Swynerton, James Hoult, Robert Beeston, and Robert Lee, servaunts
unto our deare[st] wyfe [ther] Queene Anna, with the rest of there
Associates, freely to use and exercise the art and faculty of playinge
Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes, Morralls, Pastoralls,
Stage Plaies, and such other lyke as they have already studied, or
hereafter shall use or study, as well for the recreacion of our lovinge
subjectes as for our solace and pleasure, when wee shall thinke good
to see them duringe our pleasure. And the said Comedies, Trage/ /. â
'. /......

I603.1

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

dies, Histories, Enterludes, Morralls, Pastoralls, Stage Playes, and
such like, to shew and exercise publikly, when the infection of the
plague shall decrease to the nomber of thirty weekly within [our
Cetie of] London, and the liberties [therof], aswell within there now
usuall howsen, called the Curtayne and the Bores head, within
our County of Middlesex, [as in] any other play-house not used by
others, by the said [Thomas] Greene erected, or by him hereafter to
be builte. And also within any Towne Halls or Mouthalls or other
conveinyent places within the liberties and freedomes of any Cittie,
Universitie, Towne, or Boroughe whatsoever within our said Realmes
and Domynyons. Willing and commaundinge you and every of you,
as you tender our pleasure, not only to permytt and suffer them
[to use and exercise the said art of playing] without any your lettes,
hinderaunces, or molestations, duringe our said pleasure, but also to
be aydinge and assistinge unto them, yf any wronge be to them
offered. And to allow them such former curtesies as hath [heretofore] bene gyven unto any men of their qualitie. Gyven, etc."
The above has no date nor place, but merely " Yeoven at
the daye of in the yere of our Raygne of
England"; while the following words, originally written before
the supposed date, are erased-" And also what further favour
any of our subjects shall shew to those our deare and lovynge
wyfes servauntes for our sake, we shall take kyndly at 'your
handes."
Prince Henry also had a company of players acting in his
name, who occupied the Fortune, in Golding-lane, Cripplegate,
and the Curtain, in Shoreditch: these last, prior to the death of
Elizabeth, had been the servants of the Earl of Nottingham,
and with them Henslowe was principally connected': in his
The following passage from Gilbert Dugdale's Time Triumlphant,
1604, is here in point:-'Nay, see the beauty of our all kinde soveraigne! not only to the indifferent of worth, and the worthy of honour,
did he freely deale about these causes, but to the meane gave grace;
as taking to him the late Lord Chamberlain's servants, now the King's
VOL. I. Z
i...

338

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I603.

Diary, under date of the I4th of March I604, he states that
Thomas Downton and Edward Juby were at the head of 'the
company of the Prince's men', without mentioning Edward
Alleyne, who unquestionably at that date acted with them:
Henslowe seems never to have included his step-son in the
list of performers; and in 1597, it appears by his accountbook, that the Earl of Nottingham's players consisted of the
following:-' William Borne, alias Bird; Gabriel Spenser;
Martin Slater, or Slaughter; Richard Jones; Thomas Downton, or Dowton; Edward Juby; Thomas Towne; Gabriel
Synger; and the two Jeffes.'
They were taken into the service of Prince Henry immediately after his father came to the Crown; and then the
company consisted of these players, as their names stand in
the Book of the Household Establishment of Prince Henryl:
-Thomas Towne, Thomas Downton, William Byrde, Samuel
Rowley, Edward Juby, Charles Massy, Humphrey Jeffes,
Edward Colbrande, William Parre, Richard Pryore, William
Stratford, Francis Grace, John Shanke.2
acters; the Queen taking to her the Earl of Worster's servants, that are
now her acters; and the Prince, their son, Henry, Prince of Wales, full
of hope, tooke to him the Earl of Nottingham his servants, who are now
his acters: so that of Lords servants they are now the servants of the
King, Queen, and Prince.' Sign. B.
Harl. MSS., No. 252. Dr. Birch, in the Appendix to his Life of
Prince Henry, p. 455, enumerates also Anthony Jeffes, but he does not
quote his authority: Anthony Jeffes was, of course, one of the 'two
Jeffes' mentioned by Henslowe in 1597. Chalmers only follows DrBirch, not having examined the original document quoted in the text
above.
2 How it happens that the name of Edward Alleyn is not included it is
not easy to explain, but we have the authority of Dekker for stating
that he was one of the Prince's servants in i603. In that rare tract by
Dekker, describing the Magnficent Entertainment on the l5th of March

I603.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

339

Another company, young aspirants, was also at this period
taken under the special protection of the Queen; viz., those
who had been the Children of the Chapel under Elizabeth,
and who, after James I came to the crown, were called the
Children of her Majesty's Revels. On the 30th of January
I603-4, a warrant was made out under the Privy Seal to
appoint Edward Kirkham, Alexander Hawkins, Thomas
Kendall, and Robert Payne, 'to provide, keep, and bring up
a convenient number of children,' for the purpose of exhibiting 'plays and shews' before the Queen; and they were
farther authorised to perform at the Blackfriars Theatre, or
any other convenient place.1 The instrument contains an
unusual provision at its close, referring to a poet of great
celebrity, and certainly trenching on the rights and powers of
the Master of the Revels:-no 'plays or shews' were to be
acted by the Children of the Queen's Revels, either before
her Majesty or in public, which had not received the approbation and allowance of Samuel Daniel. This document,
1603, and printed with the date of 1604, we meet with the following passage regarding Alleyn:'Of all which personages Genius and Thamesis were the only speakers:
Thamesis being represented by one of the Children of her Majesties
Revels; Genius by M. Allin (servant to the young Prince) his gratulatory
speech, which was delivered with excellent action, and a well tuned
audible voice.'
iS ~ Dekker also, in the same piece, mentions W. Bourne, or. Borne, 'one
of the servants of the young Prince', by which name William Birde was
sometimes known: he is included in the preceding list. It is a circumstance not elsewhere noticed, that Thomas Middleton was the writer of
a long speech in this Mlagnificent Entertainment, an obligation which
Dekker there duly acknowledges.
1This, no doubt, as has before been remarked, is that 'eyry of
children, little eyases that cry out on the top of question', mentioned in
Hamlet, Act ii, sc. 2, and of whose superior popularity Shakespeare
naturally complains.
Z 2
K A i_

340

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

[I603.

which is subjoined in a note', is entirely new in the history of
the Stage, and it shows how it happened that the Children of
the Revels 'occasionally performed' at Blackfriars, a point
which Malone was unable to explain.
On the 7th May, the day on which James I arrived at the
Charter-house, a Proclamation bears date, against Monopolies,
the extortions of Lawyers, etc., and which, very unexpectedly,
contains, at its close, an order in the following form, against
dramatic representations and certain games on Sunday: we
transcribe the following from the printed original.
'We found it in the Chapter-house, Westminster.
'James, by the grace of God, etc. To all Maiors, Sheriffs, Justices of
Peace, Bailiffs, Constables, and to all other our officers, mynisters and
loving subjects to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Whereas
the Queene, our deerest wife, hath for her pleasure &amp; recreation, when
she shall thinke it fitt to have any Playes or shewes, appointed her servants, Edward Kirkham, Alexander Hawkins, Thomas Kendall, and
Robert Payne to provide &amp; bring up a convenient nomber of children,
who shalbe called Children of her Revells. Know ye, that we have appointed and authorized, and by these presents doe authorize and appoint
the said Edward Kirkham, Alexander Hawkins, Thomas Kendall, and
Robert Payne from tyme to tyme to provide, keep, and bring up a convenient nomber of Children, and them to practise and exercise in the
quallitie of playing, by the name of Children of the Revells to the Queene
within the Blackfryers in our Cittie of London, or in any other convenient
place where they shall thinck fitt for that purpose. Wherefore we will
and commaund you, and every of you, to whom it shall apperteyne, to
permitt her said servants to keepe a convenient nomber of children by
the name of the Children of her Revells, and them to exercise in the
quallitie of playing according to her pleasure. Provided always, that no
such Playes or Shewes shall be presented before the said Queene our
wife by the said children, or by them any where publickly acted, but by
the approbation and allowance of Samuel Daniell, whom her pleasure is
to appoint for that purpose. And these our letters patents shalbe your
sufficient warrant in this behalf. In witness whereof, etc. Given under
our signet at our honor of Hampton Courte, the thirtieth day of January
in the first yere of our raigne, etc. Ex. per Lake.'
w rK ' ' _..
'*e:.~.l v. ~, ~ x r -,

I603.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

ir; 'And for that we are informed that there hath beene heretofore
great neglect in this kingdome of keeping the Sabbath-day: For
better observing of the same, and avoyding all impious prophanation,
we do straightly charge and commaund, that no Beare-bayting, Bulbayting, Enterludes, common Playes, or other like disordered or
unlawful Exercises, or Pastimes, be frequented, kept, or used at any
time hereafter upon the Sabbath-day.
'Given at our Court at Theobalds, the 7 day of May, in the first
yeare of our Reigne.'
The appointment of Daniel to be, as it were, Master of the
Queen's Revels, may serve, perhaps, to solve the doubt that
(. has hung over his nomination as Poet Laureate, a situation
) which Malone supposes him voluntarily to have filled. The
selection] of these four masters (of whom nothing further is
known) may also account for the new constitution of the
company of the Children of the Revels, upon which Gifford
observes, when speaking of Epicaene, which was acted by
them in I6o91. Of course, this comedy must have gone
through the hands of Daniel, for his allowance, before it was
represented; and at the date when it was brought out we
have the evidence of the author himself, in his folio of I6i6,
that the following were among the members of the company
'provided and kept' by Kirkham, Hawkins, Kendall and
Payne:-'Nat. Field, Gil. Carie, Hug. Attawel, Joh. Smith,
Will. Barksted, Will. Pen, Ric. Allin, and Joh. Blaney'.2
Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 6i) says, that several of Ben
Jonson's comedies were acted by the children of the Revels in the earlier
part of King James's reign; but this is an oversight, from his confounding the plays by Ben Jonson performed by the childrenr of the Chapel
in the reign of Elizabeth, with the only piece by him represented by the,
children of the Queen's Revels in the reign of James I, viz., Epiccne.
2 When the children of the Chapel performed Ben Jonson's Poetaster
in 60oi, 'the principal comedians were, Nat. Field, Sal. Pavy, Tho. Day,
Joh. Underwood, Will. Ostler, Tho. Marton.' Thus we see that Field
0; \;..,. ''I ~_:-~ --- â-~ ":e.,. -1

342

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1603.

How long the children of the Queen's Revels continued
occasionally to perform at Blackfriars, we have no distinct
evidence; but, on the title-page of Ben Jonson's Case is
Altered, printed in I6o09, they are called 'the children of
Blackfriars'; so that up to that year they still had the use of
that playhouse. The King's players certainly performed at
the Blackfriars in the winter, when the Globe was shut; and,
perhaps, the children of the Queen's Revels acted in it during
the summer, when it was unoccupied by the King's players.
The children of the Queen's Revels, not long afterwards,
seem to have played at the Whitefriars Theatre.2
was, probably, the only performer retained by the new masters, when
they remodelled the company as the children of the Queen's Revels.
Salathiel Pavy is supposed to have died before James came to the
throne; Gifford conjectures in I60o. Ben 7onson's Works, viii, 230. In
Davies's Scourge of Folly (i6I I) W. Ostler is called 'the King of Actors'.
I We may take this opportunity of correcting an error by Gifford, when
he states, that 'had chronology only been consulted, The Case is Altered
should have stood at the head of Jonson's works.' He has himself shewn
(Memoirs, xxv and xl) that Every Man in his Humour was written in
1596, and it was unquestionably acted in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's
servants. It is quite as clear, and Gifford adduces the evidence upon
the point, (Ben Jonson's Works, vi, 327) and relies upon it, that The
Case is Altered was not written until after Francis Meres in his Palladis
Tamia, printed in 1598, had called Anthony Munday 'the best plotter'.
Ben Jonson's ridicule of Munday depends upon this expression.
2 Nathaniel Field's Woman is a Weathercock, perhaps, his Amendsfor
Ladies, Marston's (or Barkstead's) Insatiate Countess, and several others,
might be mentioned as having been performed at the Whitefriars Theatre
prior to 1612. Woman is a Weathercock was printed in 1612; Amends
for Ladies, which is its sequel, not until 1618; but there is a piece of
evidence, never yet adduced, to show that both must have been written
and acted anterior to i6I I, an earlier date than has yet been assigned to
either of them. In the 'Admonition to a discontented Romanist', at the
end of Anthony Stafford's Niobe dissolved into a Nilus, i1611, occurs this
sentence, clearly referring to the title of Field's second play:-'No, no,
Sir: I will never write an Amendsfor Women 'till I see women amended.'
'iM ^ ^^ ^ ^^^^,^^ M ^ ^ ^ -:.::...

I603.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

343

Very soon after Daniel's appointment, probably before the
termination of I604, a play was produced and acted by the
children of the Revels, which occasioned some trouble to the
three authors of it-Marston, Jonson and Chapman-although
we do not discover any circumstance to show that Daniel
shared their suffering or disgrace:-We allude to Eastward Ho!
printed more than once in i605. Some passages in this piece,
as it was performed, reflected on the Scotch;' and Gifford
informs us that they 'gave offence to Sir James Murray, who
represented it in so strong a light to the King, that orders
were given to arrest the authors. It does not appear that
Jonson had any considerable share in the composition of this
piece; but as he was undoubtedly privy to the writing of it,
and "an accessory before the fact", he justly considered himself as equally implicated with the rest'.2 The same acute
biographer adds, that Jonson 'stood in such favour, that he
1Some of the copies of Eastward Ho! in I6o5 are without the following passage, and hence it has been supposed that it was one of those
which gave offence, and that it was omitted afterwards: what others
were repeated in the performance we have no means of knowing; but
nothing that was printed seems to warrant any severity of proceeding
against the authors. Seagul (act iii, scene I) thus speaks of Virginia.'And then you shall live freely there without serjeants, or courtiers, or
lawyers, or intelligencers; only a few industrious Scots, perhaps, who
indeed are dispersed over the face of the whole earth. But as for them,
there are no greater friends to Englishmen and England, when they are
out on't, in the world than they are: and for my part I would a hundred
thousand of them were there, for we are all one countrymen now, you
know, and we should find ten times more comfort of them there than we
do here.' The part of the dialogue in act iv, scene i, which relates to
' thirty pound knights', and to the manner in which knighthood was bestowed in the beginning of the reign of James I, would seem much more
objectionable, and likely to produce imprisonment, did we not know that
knighthood was often afterwards made a subject of ridicule by many
dramatists with impunity.
2 Memoirs of Ben 70onson: Works, i, lxxiv.

344

ANNIILALS OF THEli STAG-E.

[I603.

was not molested; but this did not satisfy him, and he, therefore, with a high sense of honour, voluntarily accompanied
his two friends to prison, determined to share their fate.'
The facts connected with this transaction, we have upon the
authority of Ben Jonson himself, who mentioned them in his
conversation with Drummond of Hawthornden: we there
find it noticed, that a report had prevailed that the three
poets would,be punished by cutting off their ears; but they
were released, and Ben Jonson's mother, (who, as Gifford
observes, must have been a high-spirited woman), at an entertainment given on their deliverance, at which Camden,
Selden and others were present, drank to her son, 'and shewed
him a paper which she designed, if the sentence had taken
effect, to have mixed with his drink, and it was strong and
lusty poison: to shew that she was no 'churl, she designed to
have, first drank of it herself'. It has been said, that Marston,
Jonson and Chapman were set at liberty at the intercession
of Camden and Selden: it may be so, but we are without
proof of the fact.
In the winter of 1604, the King's players, who must have
then been performing at Blackfriars, also appear to have at
least run the risk of exciting the displeasure of the Court,
by acting a play on the subject of the conspiracy of Earl
Gowry, an event then of recent occurrence. In-a letter of
John Chamberlain to Sir R. Winwood, dated i8th of December I604, the circumstance is noticed in these terms:'The tragedy of Gowry, with all action and actors, hath been
twice represented by the King's players, with exceeding concourse of all sorts of people; but whether the matter or
manner be not well handled, or that it be thought unfit that
Princes should be played on the stage in their life-time, I
hear that some great counsellors are much displeased with
it, and so it is thought it shall be forbidden.' Whether it was,
X-:Dat i:,, '! '.-. -:, -

1603.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 345
or was not, prohibited, is uncertain, and no such play has
survived to our day.
In the Library of the Society of Antiquaries is preserved
a manuscript, which shows precisely the extent and amount
of the musical and dramatic establishment of James I; and
although it is without any precise date, we may pretty safely
decide, that the account was made out soon after he ascended
the throne. We find from it, that the annual fee of the
Master of the Revels had been raised to Ioo/., besides diet
in Court; but each of the players was only allowed, as they
had been from the time of Henry VII downwards, 3/. 6s. 8d.
per annum.1
The number of companies of players, acting under the
name and protection of the nobility, very early in the reign
of James I, attracted attention; and it was evidently thought,
that the permission in this respect given by the I4 Eliz., c. 5,
and the 39 Eliz., c. 4, was productive of considerable inconvenience. Accordingly, the provisions of those statutes were
repealed by the I Jac. I, c. 7, which contains the following
clause:-' Be it declared and enacted, that from henceforth,
no authority to be given or made by any Baron of this realm,
or any other honourable personage of greater degree, unto
any other person or persons, shall be available to free or discharge the said persons, or aly of them, from the pains and
punishments in the said statute (39 Eliz., c. 4) mentioned.'
Henceforward, therefore, all actors travelling round the
'Antiq. Soc. MSS. No. 74. The account runs thus:' The Revells. Mr of the Revells, fee iool., and diett, in courte. Musitians. Sarjant's fee, 241. 6s. 8d.; The rest, fee, 381. 6s. 8d. a-piece;
Sagbutts, fee, 201. a-piece; Drumslades, fee, i8L. 5s. a-piece; Fyfe, fee,
i81. 5s.; Players on Virginals, fee, 30o. a-piece; Musitians strangers,
fee, I83/. 6s. 8d.; Plaiers of interluds, fee, 3/. 6s. 8d. a-piece; Maker of
Instruments, 20o.'

346

ANINALS OF THE STAGE.

[1603.

country, protected only by the licence of one of the nobility,
were to be liable to the pains and penalties enacted against
vagrants.
It is not easy to settle, with accuracy, how many theatres
remained open soon after the accession of James I. We are
certain that the Globe and Blackfriars theatres were in the
hands. of Shakespeare and the rest of the King's servants,
and that the children of the Queen's Revels also occasionally
performed at the Blackfriars: perhaps, while the Blackfriars
was used by the King's servants in the winter, the children
of the Queen's Revels retired to the Whitefriars theatre in
the immediate neighbourhood; and we know that they played
there in I611. The Fortune, in Golding-lane', and the Curtain, in Shoreditch, were engaged by the servants of Prince
Henry2: the Red Bull was in the hands of the company
playing under the name of the Queen; and, at a subsequent
date, we find them in possession of the Cockpit theatre in
Drury-lane. The Hope, Swan, and Rose on the Bankside,
had also theatrical tenants, at least occasionally, if not permanently: the last of these had been for many years in the possession of Philip Henslowe, and by a memorandum under his
hand, dated 25th June 1603, it is to be inferred, that at that
date his lease of the ground on which it stood was about to
expire, and that he was negotiating for a renewal.. He calls
it 'the little Rose'; and it seems, that the rent required for
'The Fortune was open at Christmas 1603, as is evident from Henslowe's Diary; and a piece called The Four Sons of Aymon was then
represented at it.
2 Malone, in his Inquiry into the authenticity of the Shakespeare forgeries, p. 215, quotes a letter, dated April 9th, 1604, to the Lord Mayor
of London, and to the Justices of the Peace of the Counties of Middlesex and Surrey, ordering them 'to permit and suffer the three companies
of Players to the King, Queen, and Prince, to exercise ther plaies in ther
severall and usuall howses, the Globe, the Fortune, and the Curtain.'
4- i' -- al 0 'g f f t- '- ' -, 0 7//

1604.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 347
the ground was 20/., and it was also stipulated, that he should
lay out Ioo marks on buildings connected with it. In the
same memorandum he registers his opinion, that the demand
was exorbitant, and he subjoins his determination (expressed
to the party negotiating for the ground-landlord), rather to
pull down the theatre, than to accept such terms. Prior to
this date, the Newington theatre (in which, also, Henslowe
had been concerned, mentioning it under the years 1594 and
1596) had no doubt been pulled down, or the use of it as a
play-house discontinued.
Samuel Daniel had the honour of being called upon to provide a Mask for the first Christmas after James came A. D.
to the throne: it was named The Vision of the I604.
Twelve Goddesses,l and it was presented by the Queen and her
ladies on the 8th January I603-4. There is no trace of any
other performance of the same kind; nor is it known whether
the King's servants, or any other players, were required to
act during the festivities. There is no distinct account of any
payments of the kind; but a MS. belonging to the Royal
Society, purporting to be a statement of Exchequer receipts
and payments from Michaelmas 1603 to Easter I603-4, includes the subsequent item, which shows that the services of
the officers of the Revels had been required in that interval.
'To Edmund Tillney, Esquire, Master of the Revells, for the fees
and wages of sondry officers and ministers attending in the said
office, as for sondry other necessaries delivered into that office, by
Privy Seale, iool.'
From an original MS. of this mask it appears that the characters were
thus supported:Juno, Lady Suffolk; Pallas, the Queen; Venus, Lady Rich; Vesta, Lady
Hertford; Diana, Lady Bedford; Proserpine, Lady Derby; Macaria,
Lady Hatton; Concordia, Lady Nottingham; Astrcea, Lady Walsingham;
Flora, Lady Susan Vere; Ceres, Lady Dorothy Hastings; Tethes (i.e.,
Thetis), Lady Elizabeth Howard.

348

ANNALS OF THE STAGF.

[I604.

In the Audit Office an account has been preserved, which
is headed 'The Declaration of the Accompte of Edmonde
Tylney, Esquier, Master of the Maskes, Showes and Revells,
etc., of one whole yeare begonne the last of Octobre, I603,
and ended the last of Octobre, I604.'
The charge he makes is for attendance, on one occasion, at
what is called 'the"Tryumphe', and on another, 'at the receaving of the Constable of Spayne'. An item is also inserted
for the 'hyir of lodging and certen roomes for thoffice at I
Kingston, for fower weeks, there being no roome in the Court,
iiij/i.' Another item is for making a new Musick House at
Hampton Court, lxs., and the sum total is clxvjl. ixs. xd.
The whole account is signed 'T. Dorset'.
We have been able to find no Privy Seal for any such
purpose; and the expenses of preparations for Masks were
not then, usually charged in the accounts of the Master of the
Revels. Many instances will hereafter be produced, of separate payments, by virtue of Privy Seals; for Masks which
were under the superintendence of a different individual. \
In' the commencement of this reign, Nathaniel Giles was ~
continued in his office of Master of the Children of the Chapel;
and, on the I7th Sept. I604, he obtained, in that capacity,
renewed letters patentl directed to 'all and singular Deans,
Archdeacons, Justices of the Peace, Mayors, Sheriffs, Bailiffs,
Constables, and all other our officers and ministers,' authorising him, or his deputy, 'to take such and so many children,
as he or his deputy shall think meet, in all Cathedral, Collegiate, Parish Churches, Chapels, and Schools, where public
teaching of Music is used, etc. 'of our princely care for the
advancement, helpe, and furtherance of such children;' and
it adds, that 'after serving three years, if they lose their
The Privy Seal was preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster.
~faIki^^ -x;-.

604.]

ANNALS OF THIE STAGE.

349

voices, they shall be sent to College to be taught there at the
King's charge.'
It appears by what is entitled 'a Briefe Collection of the
Extraordinarie Payments' of the Court of James I, from the
time when he came to the crown to the end of I609, that the
'charges for Masks' amounted to no less a sum than 42151.1
It included the expenses of Ben Jonson's Mask of Blackness,
on the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert and Lady Susan Vere in
I604-5,2 and it is a circumstance, we believe nowhere noticed,
that this piece exists, in the handwriting of the author, among
the Royal MSS. in the British Museum: it is there called
merely The Twelvth Night's Revells; and it is curious, as it
differs materially from the printed copies, and seems to have
'A very considerable part of this sum seems to have been expended
upon The Mask of Blackness, and the Revels of I604-5: according to
letters from John Chamberlain to Sir Ralph Winwood, quoted by Gifford
(Ben 7onson's Works, vii, 4) 3000o. were delivered from the Exchequer in
one sum for the entertainments at Court during Christmas I604-5.
2 Malone quoted the following particulars regarding the Court amusements at Christmas 1604-5 from Winwood's Memorials, ii, 43: they are
from a letter by Sir Dudley Carlton. 'At night (i. e., Christmas night)
we had the Queen's Mask in the Banqueting-house, or rather her-Pageant.
There was a great engine at the lower end of the room which 'had motion,
and in it were the images of sea-horses, with other terrible fishes, which
were ridden by the Moors. The indecorum was, that there was all fish
and no water. At the farther end was a great shell, in the form of a
skallop, wherein were four seats: on the lowest sat the Queen with my
Lady Bedford: on the rest were placed the Ladies Suffolk, Derby, etc.
On St. John's day we had the marriage of Sir Philip Herbert and Lady
Susan performed at Whitehall with all the honour could be done a great
favourite. The Court was great, and for that day put on the best bravery.
At night there was a mask in the hall, which for conceit and fashion was
suitable to the occasion. The presents of plate and other things, given
by the noblemen, were valued at 2500o.; but that which made it a good
marriage was a gift of the King's of 5oo01. land for the bride's jointure.'
Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 84.
*~-.. f. -. f / pi..,. --

350 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1605.
been intended by Ben Jonson mainly as a direction how the performance should be conducted. This remark applies chiefly to
the prose descriptions, for the songs, with the exception of a
few various readings,' are the same as in the old printed 4to.
At the end is the following very neat inscription.
Jdfo~ O~icu jft
The sum of 42I5/. seems likewise to have included some of
the charges for getting up and bringing out the same poet's
Hymencei on the marriage of the Earl of Essex, celebrated on
Twelfth Night, I6o5-6. Regarding this performance there is
a curious and minute account in a letter from John Pory to
Sir Robert Cotton, among the MSS. of the latter in the
British Museum.2 It has no date, but it bears internal evidence of the time when it was written.
'I have seen both the Maske on Sunday, and the Barriers on
Munday night. The Bridegroom carried himself as gravely and
gracefully, as if he were of his father's age. He had greater guiftes
1 They would all have been well worth noting had Mr. Gifford been A
aware of the existence of the MS. coming from no less an authority than
that of Ben Jonson himself. As a specimen, the following two lines from
the echo song, near the close, may be quoted: in the MS. they stand,
If not, impute it each to other matter,
They are but earth, and what you owed was water.'
Ben Jonson would hardly have written owed with his own minutely
accurate hand, if he had meant vowed, as it is given in Gifford's Ben
yonson, vii, 17.
'If not, impute it each to other matter,
They are but earth, and what you vowed was water.'
Cotton. MSS. Julius, c. iii. It has hitherto escaped all notice.

I 605 ]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

351

given him then my Lord of Mountgomery had, his plate being
valued at 3000ooi &amp; his jewels, mony and other guifts at Ioooli more.
But to returne to the Maske. Both Inigo, Ben and the actors men and
weomen did their partes with great commendation. The conceipt or
soule of the mask was Hymen bringing in a bride, and Juno pronuba's
priest a bridegroome, proclaiming that those two should be sacrificed to Nuptial Union: and here the poet made an apostrophe to
the union of kingdomes. But before the sacrifice could be performed, Ben Jonson burned the globe of the erth standing behind
the altar, and within the concave sate the 8 men-maskers, representing
the 4 humors and the fower affections, who leaped forth to disturb
the sacrifice to union; but amidst their fury, Reason, that sate above
them all, crowned with * * * and silence them.' These 8, together
with Reason their moderatresse, mounted above their heades, sate
somewhat like the Ladies in the scallop shell last year. Above the
globe of erth hovered a middle region of cloudes, in the centre
whereof stood a grand consort of musicians; and upon the Cantons,
or hornes, sate the ladies, 4 at one corner and 4 at another, who descended upon the stage, not after the stale, downright, perpendicular
fashion, like a bucket into a well, but came gently sloping down.
These eight, after the sacrifice was ended, represented the 8 nuptial
powers of Juno pronubas, who came downe to confirm the union.
The men were clad in crimson, the weomen in white. They had
every one a white plume of the richest herons fethers, and were so
rich in jewels upon their heades as was most glorious. 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. They daunced all variety of daunces, both
severally and promiscu~, and then the weomen tooke in the men, as
namely the prince (who danced with as great perfection, and as
settled a majesty as could be devised), the Spanish Ambassador, the
Duke, &amp;c. And the men gleaned out the Queen, the bride, and the
1 The MS. has here been worn away, from the binding not being long
enough for the manuscript.

352

ANNALS OF THlE STAGE.

[i6o5.

greatest of the ladies. The second night the Barriers were as well
performed, 15 against i5, the Duke of Lenox being chieftain on the
one side, and my Lord of Sussex on the other.'
The following paragraphs, extracted from the late Earl of
Ellesmere's translation of Von Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries', are very remarkable as regards theatrical performances in London in the spring of 16o6:
Beaumont, the French Ambassador in London, thus wrote,
clearly referring to George Chapman's Conspiracy and Tragcdy
of the Duke of Byron, both which were printed in i6o8, but
had been brought out two years earlier.
'April 5, i6o6. I caused certain Players to be forbid from acting
the History of the Duke of Biron; when, however, they saw that the
whole Court had left the town they persisted in acting it; nay, they
brought upon the stage the Queen of France and Mademoiselle de
Verneuil. The former having first accosted the latter with very hard
words, gave her a box on the ear. At my suit three of them were
arrested, but the principal person, the author, escaped. \
'One or two days before they had brought forward their own King
and his favourites in a very strange fashion. They made him curse
and swear because he had been robbed of a bird, and beat a gentleman because he had called off the hounds from the scent.
'He has made an order that no play shall be henceforth acted in
Londori; for the repeal of which order they have already offered
100,00o livres. Perhaps the permission will be again granted, but (
upon the condition that they represent no recent history, nor speak
of the present time.'
Of course we find nothing of the kind in the copies of the
Plays, as printed in London in 16o8, 4to; but there can be no
doubt, that as originally acted, in the Spring of 1606, such
scenes were exhibited before the audiences at Blackfriars
Theatre: the circumstance is very remarkable.
On Twelfth Night, 1606-7, a marriage was celebrated at
l~~~i~~~lK^&amp;^^&amp;^^Ilalla~ Wd.*- - - **;

"{I

I(05.J ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. 353
Whitehall, between Lord Hayes and the daughter of Lord
Denny; and Thomas Campion, who calls himself 'Doctor
of Physic', and who was also a poet, a critic, and a musical
composer of some eminence, prepared a Mask for the occasion,l ' The Description' of which, (without a name) with the
music, and with a plate of one of the maskers in the gorgeous
dress he wore, was published very soon afterwards with the
date of I607. It is long, but with considerable variety, and
evidently must have been got up at great cost.2
Dr. Campion, as is stated at the close where the music is appended,
composed two airs himself: two more were by Lupo, one of King James's
Lutanists, and a fifth by Thomas Giles, who was probably related to
Nathaniel Giles, the Master of the Children of the Chapel. The whole
invention of the Mask was the work of Campion, who, in I602, had published Observations in the Art of English Poesie. As his Mask is of
great rarity, it may be worth while to quote the address' To the Reader',
with which it unusually terminates.
'Neither buskin now, nor bayes,
Challenge I: a Ladies prayse
Shall content my proudest hope.
Their applause was all my scope,
And to their shrines properly
Revels dedicated be:
Whose soft eares none ought to pierce
But with smooth and gentle verse.
Let the tragicke Poeme swell,
Raysing raging feendes from hell,
And let Epicke Dactyls range
Swelling seas and Countries strange:
Little room small things containes,
Easy praise quites easy paines.
Suffer them, whose browes do sweat,
To gain honour by the great:
It's enough if men me name
A Retailer of such fame.'
2 According to the entries in the Stationers' Books, as quoted by

VOL. I.

A A

354

ANN~ALS OF TH-E STAGE.

[I6o6.

The King of Denmark arrived in England in July I6o6;
A. D. and Drummond of Hawthornden is very particular in
i6o6. his account of the proceedings of the Court on this
occasion: with reference to the subject before us he remarks,
-'There is nothing to be heard at Court, but sounding of
trumpets, hautboys, music, revelling and comedies': and
Malone was of opinion' that Shakespeare's Macbeth was produced at this date, and perhaps exhibited before the King:
Gifford, on the other hand, thought this conjecture groundless,2 and that Drummond only meant Court entertainments
by the word 'comedies': had he not spoken of 'revelling'
also, there might have been more ground for this position;
and 'comedies', in the generic sense of plays, may possibly
have included 2acbeth. Ben Jonson wrote a sort of pageant,
exhibited at Theobalds before the Kings of England and
Denmark on the 24th of July I6o6, but in the amusements
of the Christmas following he had no concern.
The old play of Mucedorus was revived, with additions
and alterations, in the beginning of the reign of James I, and
the title-page of the edition of I609 tells us that it was acted
'at Whitehall on Shrove-Sunday night'. This is obviously
a very mangled performance, but one of the most important
additions consists of two pages at the end, by way of Epilogue between Comedy and Envy, in which, among other
things, Comedy says, on her knees before the King,
Chalmers (Szfi5. Afiol. p. 201), Shakespeare's King Lear was one of the
plays acted by the King's Servants before James I at Christmas I606-7.
The Tragedy of Alexander the VI, 'as it was played before his Majesty,'
was perhaps another of the performances at the same period, although
no date is given beyond the year when it was printed.
' Shakespeare by Boswell, ii, 418.
2 Ben Jonson's Wor'ks, vii, I 5.

I6o6.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

355

'Vou.:'safe to pardon our unwilling error,
So late presented to your gracious view,
And we'll endeavour, with excess of pain,
To please your senses in a choicer strain.'
This refers, of course, to some recent offence given at Court,
probably by 'his Highness' servants usually playing at the
Globe', by whom Mucedorus was acted on the occasion in
question. From another passage we may gather, that some
juvenile company had got into disgrace, for when Envy
threatens what he will do to defeat the ends of Comedy, the
latter replies: â
'This is a trap for boys, not men; nor such
Especially desertful in their doings,
Whose staid discretion rules their purposes.'
Comedy then challenges Envy to do his worst, and the
latter says:'From my foul study will I hoist a wretch,
A lean and hungry, meagre canibal,
Whose jaws swell to his eyes with chawing malice;
And him I'll make a Poet.
Cort.-What's that to the purpose?
Enzy.-This scrambling raven, with his needy beard,
Will I whet on to write a comedy,
Wherein shall be compos'd dark sentences,
Pleasing to factious brains:
And every other where place me a jest,
Whose high abuse shall more torment than blowes:
Then I myself, quicker than lightning,
Will fly me to a puissant Magistrate,
And waiting with a trencher at his backe,
In midst of jollity rehearse those galls
(With some additions) so lately vented in your Theatre.
He upon this cannot but make complaint,
To your great danger, or at least restraint.'
AA 2

356

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I6o6.

The above must have had some personal and temporary
application, now unfortunately lost.
In the mean time the performances at the public
theatres seem to have met with much encouragement; and
the example of the King would, of course, be followed by
the nobility. The Puritans, who had renewed their attack
upon dramatic performances a few years before the demise
of Elizabeth, were silenced, and the passing of the 3d Jac. I,
c. 21, entitled 'An Act to restraine the abuses of Players',
deprived their enemies of one of their strongest arguments. It was passed 'for the preventing and.avoiding the
great abuse of the holy name of God in stage-plays, interludes, may-games, shewes and such like'; and it inflicted a
penalty of iol. on every person who should 'jestingly and
profanely' use the 'holy name of God, or of Jesus Christ, or
of the Holy Ghost, or of the Trinity', in any stage-play,
interlude, shew, may-game, or pageant.
H. Parrot, in the Epistle before his More the Merrier, I6o8,
speaks somewhat darkly, but notices that both poets and
players had suffered for their personal attacks and political
allusions: he was not a play-poet, but he well knew the
dramatists and the actors of his time: in fact, abuse of every
kind had been carried to an excess that seemed intolerable.
Shakespeare, who was one of the leaders of the Lord
r Chamberlain's company when they received the royal patent
of 9Ith May I603, retired, in all probability, soon afterwards
from the stage as an actor: the principal piece of evidence
upon this' point is the omission of his name, as one of the
players in Ben Jonson's Volpone, acted in I6o5, although it
is found among those who performed the same dramatist's
Sejanus in 1603; yet on the later occasion his assistance
might have been more required, because, in the interval
between I603 and 60o5, Augustine Phillipes, a most available

I6o6.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

357

performer both in tragedy and comedy, who had also taken a
part in Sejanus, had died. Shakespeare, however, continued
to write for the Globe and Blackfriars theatres; and if it were
true, that on the production of his Macbeth, James, with his
own hand, wrote a letter to its author, in return for the compliment paid to him in that tragedy, it would indeed indicate
a degree of royal condescension and encouragement, under
which the drama could not but luxuriantly flourish. This interesting point depends, according to Oldys, merely upon the
tradition of Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham; and it is not impossible, that a privy seal by James, granting to his players,
of whom Shakespeare was one of the principal, some extraordinary reward, on a particular occasion (such as was given
in more than one instance by Charles I), has been mistaken
for a letter in the King's own hand, addressed individually
to our great dramatist.'
Ben Jonson's Mask of Beauty was presented at Court on
the I4th of January I607-8; and his Hue and Cry after Cupid
on the celebration of the marriage of Lord Haddington with
1 Malone was disposed to believe this anecdote; and Boswell, in his
continuation of the Life of Shakespeare, thus speaks of it:-' We have
been told, on authority which there is no reason to doubt, that'he (King
James) wrote a letter to Shakespeare with his own hand: the story is
told in the advertisement to Lintot's edition of Shakespeare's Poems, no
date, but printed in I71o. The letter is there said to have been lost, but
formerly to have been in the possession of Sir William Davenant, "as.a
credible person now living can testify." The person thus described, we
learn from Mr. Oldys' MS. additions to Fuller's Worthies, was Sheffield,
Duke of Buckingham, who was told it by Davenant himself. This letter
is, with great probability, supposed by Dr. Farmer to have been written
in return for the compliment paid to him in Macbeth.' (Shakespeare by
Boswell, ii, 481.)
We cannot help thinking that, had the story been true, we should have
possessed better evidence of the fact, than a mere tradition of this kind,
especially if such a letter had been so recently in existence.

358

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I6o9.

Lady Elizabeth Ratcliffe, on Shrove Tuesday following. The
same poet's Mask of Queens was exhibited on the 2d of
February I608-9. We have no particulars of the expenses
of these performances, beyond the ' briefe collection of extraordinarie payments' to the close of 1609, before quoted, and
amounting in the whole to 42151.1 The Mask of Queens,
penned with laborious neatness and accuracy by the hand of
the author, is among the Royal MSS. in the British Museum,
although the biographers of Ben Jonson appear to have been
unaware of its existence. It includes the Dedication to Prince
Henry, found in the 4to. of 1609, and omitted by the author
in the folio of 1616 in consequence of the death of the Prince.
There are no material variations between the MS. and the
printed copy, beyond the conversion into notes, in the latter,
of what is part of the text in the former.2
The name of Inigo Jones is not mentioned in the accounts of expenses; but we know that he was employed upon these Masques from
the following letter by Lords Suffolk and Worcester, calling upon the
Lord Treasurer to pay him iool. for his expenses on the several occasions; we copy it from the original.
'Right Hoble and or verie good Lord. Whereas by vertu of his Mats
Warrant bearinge date the fowerth of Marche I609, your Lop is required
and authorized to issue so much of his Highnes treasure, at such tymes,
and by such portions, and to such persons as wee shall assigne: these
are therefore verie haretelie to pray your good LoP to be pleased to give
order that Mr. Inego Jones may have one hundreth pownds delivered
unto him towards the makinge of such necessarie provisions for the
Queens Mats Maske, as he is presentlie imployed aboute; and these our
Irs shall be unto your Lop a sufficient discharg in that behalf. In the
meane tyme we rest as ever.
'Yor Lorps most assured Lovinge friends to com'aund,
'20 Aprilis I6IO. T. SUFFOLKE. E. WORCESTER.'
2 As the title of the original MS. differs slightly from the printed
editions of I6o9, and I616, it may be worth while to quote it: â'The
Masque of Queenes, celebrated from the House of Fame by the most

I 609.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

359

UTniversity(
E~H~i^

There is an account in the Audit Office, sent in by Tylney,
applicable to the year from Nov. i608 to Oct. 1609, but it
only amounts to 252/. and is without a single item of interest:
he, however, puts in a claim for an allowance for house-rent,
as he had been deprived of his residence at St. John's, Clerkenwell, which he calculated at only I 51. a year. Matters, at this
date, seem to have been taken very much out of his hands.
In what manner Kirkham, Hawkins, Kendall, and Payne
proceeded with their undertaking, under the Privy Seal of
the 31st of January 1603-4, appointing them Masters of the
Children of the Queen's Revels, we are without any distinct
information; but they did not continue at the head of that
juvenile company more than six years. On the 4th of January
1609-i0, a new patent,1 of the same kind, was granted to
Philip Rosseter (a performer on the Lute) and others; and
the children of the Revels accordingly permanently established themselves at the Whitefriars Theatre, where they had
performed, at least occasionally, while they were still under
Kirkham and his three associates.
In a rare tract by Dekker, called The Rave's Almanack,
printed in 1609, three companies only are spoken of, A. D.
as then engaged in very active rivalry: although he i609.
names none of them, we can have little hesitation in deciding
that two of them were the King's and Queen's servants, and
possibly the third was the children of the Revels, under this
absolute in all state and Titles, Anne, Queene of Great Britayne, &amp;c.
with her honorable Ladyes. At white Hall FebY 2, 1609. Written by
B. Jonson. Et zmemzorei famamn, quc bene gessit, habet.'
1 Neither the Patent nor the Privy Seal are extant, but the date and
conditions of the former are recited in a subsequent grant to the same
person, of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. It does not
appear whether at this date Samuel Daniel had still the superintendence
and allowance of the pieces to be acted by the children of the Queen's
Revels: he did not die until 1619.

360

ANNALS OF TlHE STAGE.

[ I 609.

new patent to Rosseter. In the division of his pamphlet,
headed 'Autumn', Dekker thus prophesies: â
'Another civil war do I find will fall between players, which, albeit
at the beginning of this fatal year they salute one another like sworn
brothers, yet before the middle of it, shall they wish one another's
throat cut for two pence. The contention of the two houses (the
Gods be thanked) was appeased long ago, but a deadly war between
these three houses will, I fear, burst out like thunder and lightning.
For it is thought, that flag will be advanced, as it were in martial
defiance, against flag': numbers of people will also be mustered and
fall to one side or other: the drums and trumpets must be sounded;
parts will then, even by the chiefest players, be taken; words will
pass to and fro, speeches cannot be so put up, hands will walk, and
alarum be given: Fortune must favour them, else they are never able
to stand.'
Various changes in the companies of performers seem to
have occurred in the year I609: and in the Patent Office we
find what is called a.'special commission' to the following
actors, to 'exercise the faculty of playing comedies, etc.',
during pleasure; but no theatre is mentioned, and possibly
they were allowed to exhibit in any place where they could
make a profitable lodgment: âThomas Greene, Christopher
Beeston, Thomas Haywood, Richard Perkins, Richard Pallant, Thomas Swynerton, John Duke, Robert Lee, James
Hoult, Robert Beeston. Some of the names are those of
men apparently engaged about the same time in other companies: possibly, some of them acted twice-a-day, and at
different theatres.
Edmund Tylney, who had been appointed Master of the
Revels in I579 (on the demise of Sir T. Benger), after filling
the office for more than thirty years, died in October i6io,

' In reference, of course, to the hanging out of flags at the Theatres.

I609.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

36i

and was succeeded by Sir George Buc,1 who for some time
had discharged the duties of the situation, in consequence of
the illness of his predecessor. He subscribed his name thus:
JJI/6C/
Ile superintended the department in the June before the
death of Tylney,2 on the fifth of which month, the day
Sir George Buc, or Buck, was knighted in 1603; and, in i605, he
published a poem, called '^auvpis loAuvo-reapos. An eclog treating of
Crownes and of Garlandes,' etc., addressed to the King. In the library
at Bridgewater-house is a copy of this poem, which had been presented
by the author to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, and contains on the flyleaf, in the handwriting of the author, the following stanza, not elsewhere printed:'To the right honorable the greatest counsellour, Sir Tho. Egerton,
knight, baron of Ellesmere, Lord Chancellour of England, my very
good Lord.
Great and grave Lord, my mind hath longed long
In any thankfull maner to declare,
By act or woord, or were it in a song,
How great to you my obligations are;
It~ ~ Who did so nobly, and so timely pluck
From Griffins talons your distressed Buck.'
The nature of the obligation to Lord Ellesmere is not precisely kn own;
but, perhaps, it was increased by the recommendation of Sir George Buck
to be Master of the Revels, on the death of Tylney. A person of the name
of Paul Bucke wrote a play, called Three Lordes and Three Ladies of
London, printed in I 590: he was, perhaps, some relation to Sir George
Buck. Prior to i6i5, Sir George Buck wrote a distinct treatise on the
office of the Revels and its duties.
2 The Revels' account for this year was made out by Thomas Tylney,

362

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i6Ir.

after Henry had been created Prince of Wales, Daniel's
Tethys Festival was represented at Whitehall: Inigo Jones,
on the same occasion, devised the machinery. In Winwood's
State Papers, it is said, that the Mask was 'a most glorious
one', and there is no doubt that it gave complete satisfaction.'
Daniel speaks very modestly of his own share in the exhibition:-' But in these things (he says), wherein the only life
consists in shew, the art and invention of the architect gives
the greatest grace, and is of most importance: ours the least
part, and of least note': it is, however, the only part that is
valuable, or permanent.
Gifford was at a loss to decide at what date Ben Jonson's
Mask of Oberon, preceded by Prince Henry's Barriers, was.
performed.2 He at first assigned it to the 5th of June I6Io,
when Daniel's production was exhibited; but he afterwards
detected this error, though he still remained in doubt when
it was produced. Nicholls, in his Progresses of 7ames I,
states correctly, that it was represented on the Ist of January
i6Io-II; and he quotes a letter from John More to Sir R.
Winwood, dated i5th Dec. I61o, in which the following passage referring to it, and to two other performances of the
same kind, occurs:-'Yet doth the Prince make but one Mask,
and the Queen but two, which doth cost her Majesty but
Esq., 'Executor of the last will and Testament of Edmond Tylney, Esq.,
deceased.' It is from Nov. I, I609, to 31 Oct. 16io.'Painting of cloth for the musick howse, xijs; Lock key and hinjes for
the musickhowse, vs.'
The attendance, among other things, is for the 'triumphs used in
memory of his Majesty's most happie raigne.'-Sum total, cccxxxix/i.
xiiijs.
1 By Cotton MS. Titus, B. iv, we find that the cost of the production
of Daniel's Mask was no less than I636/. It is entered under the title
'Masks,' 'at the Prince, his creation, I6361.'
2 Ben Jonson's Works, viii, 279.

i612.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

363

600oo.; neither do I see any likelihood of any further extraordinary expense that this Christmas will bring.' The first
mask here noticed was Oberon, and the two others, Love freed
from Ignorance and Folly, and Love Restored,-all three by
Ben Jonson.
In confirmation of what is said by John More as to the
expense of these exhibitions, a MS. in the Cottonian Collection, headed, 'An Abstract of all his Majesty's expenses
for one half year, ending March 25th, I6I2',i may be cited:
it there appears, that the Court Revels, at Christmas and
Shrovetide I6I-I I, cost 280/. I4s. 9d.; this sum was independent of the charges of Sir George Buc for his departient,
amounting, during the half year, to the sum of 293/. I4s. 4d.;
so that, in the whole, less than 6oo0. appears to have been
expended.2
Prince Henry died at the age of nineteen, on the 6th Nov.
1612, but the gloom spread over the Court and king- A. D.
dom by this event was soon enlivened by the splendour 1612.
of royal entertainments. The Elector Palatine of the Rhine,
who had arrived in the middle of October, for the purpose of
being married to the Princess Elizabeth, was created a Knight
of the Garter on the 29th December. It does not seem
that any Masks were exhibited on New Year's Day, nor on
Twelfth Day; but at Shrovetide, when the union was celebrated, three were presented. The first only was at the
expense of the Court: it was called The Lord's Mask, was
written by Dr. Campion, and was exhibited on Shrove Sunday,
the I4th Feb. 1612-13. Two others were given at the expense
Titus, B. iv.
2 In 1612, the King gave 'the House of St. John's,' where the office of
the Revels had been held, to the Lord Aubignee, and allowed Alexander
Stafford, 'Clerk Comptroller of the Tents and Revels,' I5/. per annum
for house-rent in lieu of it.

364

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I612.

of the four principal Inns of Court, viz., George Chapman's
Memorable Mask, on the I5th February, by the Societies of
the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn; and Francis Beaumont's well-known production of the same description, on the
20th February,' by the Societies of the Inner Temple and
Gray's Inn. The machinery and contrivances for all three
were by Inigo Jones: in the Chapter-house is preserved the
original Privy Seal for the issue to Inigo Jones of any sums
of money that the Earl of Suffolk (Lord Chamberlain) and
the Earl of Worcester (Master of the Horse) might think
necessary for the occasion.2
1 Beaumont's mask was intended to have been performed on the I6th
Feb. (Shrove Tuesday), and all the maskers went in state to Whitehall,
by water, for the purpose: the following quotation from a letter from
John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carlton, shows the cause of its postponement until the 20th February.
'But by what ill planet it fell out I know not, they (the maskers) came
home as they went, without doing any thing': the reason whereof I cannot yet learn thoroughly, but only that the hall was so full, it was not
possible to avoid it to make room for them; besides that most of the
ladies were in the galleries to see them land, and could not get in.'
2As it is, we think, the earliest document, for such a purpose, yet discovered, it may be worth quoting.
'JAMES R.-Right trusty, and right welbeloved Cousin and Councellor, we greet you well; and will and commaund you, that under our Privy
Seale, you cause our Letters to be made forth in form following:-James,
by the grace of God, etc. To the Commissioners for the exercise of the
office of our High Treasurer of England, and to the Treasurer and
Undertreasurer of our Exchequer, for the time being, greeting. Whereas,
we have resolved, and given speciall order and direction for a Maske to
be provided against the solemnizing of the marriage betwene our dearest
daughter the Lady Elizabeth, and the Prince Elector Palatyne of the
Rhyne, and have referred the order and managing thereof unto the care
of our right trusty, and right well beloved Cousins and Councillors, the
Earle of Suffolk, our Chamberlen, and the Earle of Worcester, Master of
our Horse, to looke into the emptions and provisions of all things neces

1612.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

365

According to Dugdale's Origines 7uridiciales, the getting
up and presenting Chapman's Mask cost the Society of Lincoln's Inn alone io861. 8s. i d.; while the preparation of
Beaumont's Mask occasioned an assessment upon the readers
of Gray's Inn of 41.; upon the ancients, of 21. IOs.; upon
the barristers, of 21., and upon the students, of I7. each.1
In consequence of this marriage, the players, who, until the
death of Prince Henry, had acted under his name, transferred
sary for the same. Theis shalbe, therefore, to will and require you to cause
payment to be made from tyme to tyme, out of such our treasure as shall
remayn in the receipt of our Exchequer, unto Inigo Jones, or to any other
person or persons as shall either be employed in that service, or shall
provide and furnish us with emptions, and other necessary provisions for
the same, such somme and sommes of money as the said Lords shall, by
letters under their hands, require you to pay. And these, etc. Given at
Westminster, the 7 day of January, in the Ioth yeare of our raigne, etc.
'Ex. per LAKE.'
We may here add, on the authority of Harl. MS. No. 1857, the
annual allowance for the office of the Surveyor of the Works, the situation at this time held by Inigo Jones. It is given in the following form:
The Works.-Surveyor, Mr. Jones, fee 361. 2s.; one Clarke at 6d. per
day; expenses when he writeth, at 6d. per day, estimated at 53/. 6s. 8d.;
botehire, at 2od. per day, 131. 6s. 8d.
Dugdale's expressions are the following:'In the Ioth of King James the gentlemen of the House were (together
with those of the other Inns of Court) actors in that great Mask at Whitehall, at the marriage of the King's eldest daughter unto Frederick Count
Palatine of the Rhene: the charge in apparel for the actors in which
mask was supported by the Society, the Readers being each man assessed
at 4/.; the Ancients, and such as at that time were to be called Ancients,
at 2/. IOS. a-piece; the Barristers at 2/. a man; and the students at 20S.,
out of which so much was to be taken as the Inner Temple did then
allow.
'Which being performed, there was an order made, I8 May then next
following, that the gentlemen who were actors in that Mask should bring
in all their masking apparel so provided at the charge of the House.'
Dugdale's Origin. Yurid., 285.

366

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

[I612.

their services to the Prince Palatine; and it is a new feature
in theatrical history, that on this occasion they procured a
patent under the Great Seal, very similar to that which
James I had granted, about ten years before, to Laurence
Fletcher, William Shakespeare, and the other servants of the
Lord Chamberlain. The Privy Seal directing the patent to
be made out, was extant in the Chapter-house, Westminster,
and is inserted'below; the chief difference between that, and
the Licence of the I9th of May 1603, being the insertion of a
clause in the former, reserving to the Master of the Revels
for the time being all his rights and powers. In this respect
it more nearly resembles the precedent of the licence, originally granted to James Burbadge and others, in I574.1 The
It runs thus:'JAMES R.-Right trusty, and right welbeloved Cousin and Councellor,
we greet you well; and will and commaund you, that under our Privy
Seale you cause our letters to be addressed to our Chauncellor of England,
commaunding him that, under our great Seale of England, he cause our
letters to be made forth patents in forme following:-James by the grace
of God, etc. To all Justices, Mayors, Sherriffs, Bailiffs, Constables,
Hedboroughes, and all other our officers and loving subjects greeting.
Know ye that we of our especiall grace, certaine knowledge and meere
motion have licensed and authorised, and by theis presents do license and
authorise Thomas Downton, William Bird, Edward Juby, Samuell Rowle,
Charles Massey, Humphrey Jeffs, Franck Grace, William Cartwright,
Edward Colbrand, William Parr, William Stratford, Richard Gunnell,
John Shanck, and Richard Price, servants to our Sonne in lawe the
Elector Palatine, and the rest of their associates, to use and exercise the
art and facultie of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes,
Moralls, Pastoralls, Stage Plaies, and such other like as they have already
studied, or hereafter shall use or study; as well for the recreation of our
loving subjects, as for our solace and pleasure when we shall think good to
see them, during our pleasure. And the said Comedies, Tragedies, Histories,
Enterludes, Moralls, Pastoralls, Stage Plaies, and such like, to shew and
exercise publiquely to their best commoditie, as well within their now
usual howse called the Fortune, within our County of Middlesex, as also

1 6 2.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

367

actors thus forming the company of the Elector Palatine,
were the following:-Thomas Downton, William Bird, Edward Juby, Samuel Rowle, Charles Massey, Humphrey
Jeffes, Frank Grace, William Cartwright, Edward Colbrand,
William Parr, William Stratford, Richard Gunnell, John
Shank, and Richard Price, besides 'their associates', whose
names are not inserted in the instrument. Thomas Towne,
who, when they first became the servants of Prince Henry, was
at the head of the company, had by this date either died or retired: Richard Price, mentioned in the Patent, was probably
the Richard Pryore, who first joined the body in I603, the
within any Towne halls or Moute halls, or other convenient places within
the libertie and freedome of any Citie, Universitie, Towne or Borough
whatsoever within our realmes and dominions. Willing and commaunding you, and every of you, as you tender our pleasure, not onely to permit
and suffer them herein without any your letts, hinderances or molestations,
during our said pleasure, but also to be aiding and assisting unto them,
if any wrong be to them offered, and to allow them such former curtesies,
as hath ben given to men of their place and quality; and also what
further favour you shall shew unto them for our sake we shall take kindly
at your hands. Provided alwaies, and our will and pleasure is, that all
authoritie, power, priviledges and profitts whatsoever, belonging and properly appertaining to the Master of our Revells in respect of his office,
and every clause, article or graunt conteyned within the letters patent or
commission, which have heretofore ben graunted or directed to our
welbeloved servant Sir George Buck, knight, Master of our said Revells,
shall remaine and abide entire, and in full force and estate and virtue,
and in as ample sort as if this our commission had never ben made. In
witness whereof etc. And theis our letters shalbe your sufficient warrant
and discharge in this behalf. Given under our Signet at our Pallace of
Westminster, the fourth day of January, in the Tenth yeare of our Raigne
of England, France and Ireland, and of Scotland the six and fortith.
'Exd. ' Ex. per Lake.'
Addressed-'To our right trusty and right welbeloved Cousin and
Counsellor Henry Earle of Northampton, keeper of our privy Seale.'
Indorsed-' COUNT PALATINE, Plaiers Commission.'

368

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I613.

name having been mis-written. William Cartwright and
Richard Gunnell were new members, perhaps taken from
some other company. Till now, an association had usually
consisted of only ten members, but here it was increased
to fourteen.
We have information of four performances at Court in
Dec. 1613, and Jan. and Feb. I613-I4. The first was on
St. Stephen's night, 26th Dec., when Campion's Mask, on the
marriage of the Earl of Somerset with Frances, daughter of
the Earl of Suffolk, was presented. It was followed on the
29th Dec. by Ben Jonson's Irish Mask, and on Twelfthnight by the anonymous Mask of Flowers, exhibited by the
society of Gray's Inn. Daniel's 'Pastoral Comedy', called
Hymen's Triumph, on the marriage of Lord Roxburgh with
Mrs. Drummond, was played on the 3d Feb. I613-I4. Of
the last, John Chamberlain thus speaks in a letter to Sir
Dudley Carlton: 'The entertainment was great, and cost the
Queen, they say, above 30001.; the Pastoral, by Samuel
Daniel, was solemn and dull, but perhaps better to be read
than represented.'
Jn a note by Steevens upon Much Ado about Nothing, it is
A.D. said, that on the 2oth of May I613, Hemmings, the
1613. player, (then at the head of the King's servants) received the sum of 40/., and 20/. more as the King's gratuity,
for exhibiting that play and five others at Hampton Court.
The performances, -probably, took place at Christmas and
Shrovetide; but Steevens quotes no authority for his statement.
Malone1 says, that The Winter's Tale was another of the
plays performed at this season, and that 'it appears from the
MSS. of Mr. Vertue, that the Tempest was acted by John
Hemminge, and the rest of the King's company, before Prince

1 Shakespeare by Boswell, ii, 464.

I 61 3.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

369

Charles, the Lady Elizabeth, and the Prince Palatine Elector
in the beginning of the year I613."
Although Nathaniel Field's Woman is a Weathercock was
played by the Children of the Revels (i. e., of the Queen's
Revels) at Whitefriars prior to I6II, it seems, that shortly
afterwards they were not in the sole or continued possession
of that theatre. Taylor's Hog' hath lost his Pearl, which professes on the title-page to have been 'acted by certain London
Prentices', was performed there early in I613; and Sir Henry
Wotton, in a letter dated Tuesday, but without the day of the
month, and headed ' 612-13', gives the following account of
the performance, and of the manner in which it was interrupted.
'On Sunday last, at night, and no longer, some sixteen Apprentices
(of what sort you shall guess by the rest of the story) having secretly
learnt a new play, without book, entitled The Hog that hath lost his
Pearl,2 took up the Whitefriars for their Theatre; and having invited
1 The late Mr. Peter Cunningham, when a clerk in the Audit Office,
found a memorandum from which it appeared that the Tempfest was
played before the King and Court on I November I6I I: the difference is
material; and, perhaps, the representation of it in 1612, mentioned by
Vertue, was not the first performance of the play.
2 Steevens relies upon the last line of the prologue to this play to shew
that Pericles was not well received:'We'll say 'tis fortunate, like Pericles;'
adding, that a sneer was intended, and that 'to say a dramatic piece was
fortunate is not to say it was deserving. Malone, on the other hand,
says, ' by fortunate, I understand highly successful'; but surely the point
is settled at once by the following passage, not adverted to by either disputant, in Owen Feltham's 'Answer to an Ode of Come Leave the
Loathed Stage', printed in his Lusoria, at the end of his Resolves, I630:'They do throw a stain
Through all the unlikely plot, and do disjplease
As deep as Pericles.'

VOL. I.

370

ANNALS OF THE STAGE..

[I6I3.

thither (as it should seem) rather their Mistresses than their Masters,
who were all to enter per bulletini, for a note of distinction from
ordinary comedians, towards the end of the play the Sheriffs (who by
chance had heard of it) came in (as they say), and carried some six
or seven of them to perform the last act at Bridewell: the rest are
fled. Now, it is strange to hear how sharp-witted the City is, for
they will needs have Sir John Swinnerton, the Lord Mayor, be meant
by the Hog, and the late Lord Treasurer by the Pearl.'l
Hence we learn, that the Apprentices 'took up', or hired,
the Whitefriars Theatre for the occasion, and that the audience was admitted, not upon payment of money at the
doors, but by tickets. The interruption took place, probably,
because the play reflected on Sir J. Swinnerton and the late
Lord Treasurer, or, at least, such was the reason afterwards
assigned for it. Yet, W. Smith's aIector of Germany, I615,
which was got up and acted by a company of citizens who
'took up' the Curtain Theatre for the purpose, was dedicated
to Sir J. Swinnerton, 'some time Lord Mayor of London',
as 'the great favourer of the Muses'.
About this period, for we have no means of fixing the date
with precision, it seems that the Phoenix Theatre in Drury
Lane was constructed, or rather converted from a Cockpit
(a name which it also afterwards bore) into a play-house.
Howes, in his continuation of Stow's Chronicle, speaking of it
under date of March 1616-17, says, that it had then been
lately built; and Camden, in his Annals, calls it nziper erectum.
It was a private theatre, like those in Blackfriars and Whitefriars, and it was occupied, as has been already remarked, by
the Queen's players. Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 53)
expresses an opinion that they were subsequently named the
Lady Elizabeth's players; but he was certainly mistaken, the

1 Reliquice Wottoniance, p. 402, edit. 1672.

I613.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

37I

Lady Elizabeth's players being a distinct company, at one
time in connection with Henslowe.
This undertaking, like some others, possibly arose out of
the fire at the Globe on the Bankside, which occurred on the
29th of June I613, during the performance of a play called
All is True, on the story of Henry VIII. It might be either
Shakespeare's play, or Samuel Rowley's When you see me youz
know me, under a new name, or quite a different piece founded
upon history. The details of this calamity are given in the
separate history of that theatre, but it may be here worth
while to subjoin, in a note, a ballad which was written upon
the occasion, and which has been preserved in MS.' Howes,
1 Soon after the event, 'a doleful ballad on the general conflagration of
the famous Theatre on the Bankside, called the Globe', was entered on
the Stationers' books for publication, and it, perhaps, was the subjoined
production, which was printed in the Gent. SMag., vol. lxxxvi, p. I4. It
is a very lame effusion, but it mentions some names of interest in the
drama, viz., Richard Burbadge, Henry Condell, and John Hemmings, but
not Shakespeare; which may afford some confirmation of the opinion,
that he had retired from all concern with the theatre before the Globe
was consumed. The burden of the ballad seems to have reference to the
title of the play, which was in a course of performance at the time.
'A SONNETT UPON THE PI TIFULL BURNEING OF THE GLOBE
PLAY-HOUSE IN L6NDON.
Now sitt thee downe Melpomene,
Wrapt in a sea-cole robe,
And tell the dolefull tragedie,
That late was play'd at Globe:
For noe man that can singe or saye
Was scard upon St. Peter's daye.
Oh sorrow, pittifull sorrow, and yet all this is true!
'All yow that please to understand,
Come listen to my storye,
To see Death with his rakeing brande
'Mongst such an auditorye:
B B2

372

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I613.

in his additions to Stow's Chronicle, referring to the disaster,
mentions, that the Globe was rebuilt in the next spring, 'in
far fairer manner than before', and it was certainly open
through the summer of 1614.
Regarding neither Cardinall's might,
Nor yet the rugged face of Henry the eight.
Oh sorrow, etc.
'This fearfull fire beganne above,
A wonder strange and true,
And to the stage-howse did remove,
As round as Taylor's clewe;
And burnt downe both beam and snagge,
And did not spare the silken flagge.
Oh sorrow, etc.
'Out runne the Knights, out runne the Lords,
And there was great adoe,
Some lost their hatts, and some their swords;
Then out runne Burbidge too:
The reprobates, thoughe drunk on Munday,
Pray'd for the Foole, and Henry Condye.
Oh sorrow, etc.
'The perry wigs and drumme heads fryde,
Like to a butter firkin:
A wofull burneing did betide
To many a good buffe jerkin.
Then with swolne lipps, like drunken Flemmings,
Distressed stood old stuttering Heminges.
Oh sorrow, etc.
'Noe shower his raine did there downe force [q. sowse]
In all that sunn-shine weather,
To save that great renowned howse;
Nor thou, 0 ale-house! neither.
Had it begun belowe, sans doubte,
Their wives for feare had p- d it out.
Oh sorrow, etc.

I6I3.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

373

The burning of the Globe seems also to have been the
origin of another theatrical undertaking, which, perhaps, had
for object the removal of the performance of plays from the
theatres on the south side of the Thames. On the 13th of
July I613, Sir George Buc received 20/., as his fee for 'a
licence to erect a new playhouse in the Whitefriars.' The
old theatre there, which had been in existence prior to 1580,
was, perhaps, in bad repair, and too small for the audiences it
was hoped to attract after the burning of the Globe. If this
new theatre were then built, of which there is no farther evidence, it was some years afterwards rebuilt, and then called
the Salisbury Court playhouse; but most likely the rapid,
and perhaps unexpected, reconstruction of the Globe inter'Be warned, you stage strutters all,
Least yow againe be catched,
And such a burneing doe befall,
As to them whose howse was thatched:
Forbeare your whoreing, breeding biles,
And lay up that expense for tiles.
Oh sorrow, etc.
Goe drawe yow a petition,
And doe yow not abhorr itt,
And get, with low submission,
A licence to begg for itt;
In churches, sans churchwarden's checks,
In Surrey and in Middlesex.
Oh sorrow, pittifull sorrow, and yet all this is true!'
'The burning of the Globe theatre' in I613 is commemorated in
Decker's Owle's Almanac, 1617, p. 57.
1 Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels in 1623, was in possession
of the Register kept by Sir George Buc, and from it transcribed into his
own office-book the entry in question, apparently with a view of making
it a precedent in his own favour, should he be required to permit any
project of the same kind.
*. â

374

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I613.

fered with the execution of this enterprise in Whitefriars in
the summer.
It appears by documentary evidence in the Audit Office, that
in I Ith James I, the Red Bull, an inn-yard, already mentioned,
in Smithfield, was used as a playhouse, where the receipts were
very minutely divided; for John Woodward complained that
one Aaron Holland had not duly given him the eighteenth
part of every penny paid for admission to the performances.
The performances at the Red Bull seem at all times to have
been highly popular.
The negociation of Henslowe in June 1603, to renew the
lease of the ground on which the Rose Theatre on the Bankside stood, has been mentioned. Whether it was, or was not
renewed, it is certain, that before 1613 that playhouse, as well as
the Swan and the Hope, both near the Rose, had fallen into
disuse. Of this fact, John Taylor, the Water-poet, affords distinct evidence in his Watermans suit concerningPlayers, where
he states, that in I612, the King's men at the Globe (of course
before its destruction by fire) formed the only company that continued to play on the Bankside, those who occupied the other
playhouses having crossed over the water to perform in Middlesex. As Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair was acted at the
Hope on the 3Ist of October 1614, it is very likely that,
having been closed as a regular theatre, it was re-opened after
the Globe had been consumed, and that it continued open
some time after the Globe was rebuilt. It was at this period
in the possession of 'the Lady Elizabeth's servants', for so
Ben Jonson, on the title-page of his play, above named, calls
them; and they seem to have been a company distinct from
the Prince Palatine's servants, who, as we have seen, exhibited
at the Fortune.
The catastrophe at the Globe appears to have led to a third
theatrical project; for, about two months after it had happened, Philip Henslowe, and his then co-proprietor Jacob
*. *f... *;-....

I 6 1 4.]

ANNALS OF TI-IE STAGE.

375

Meade, entered into an agreement with one Katherens, a carpenter, for the pulling down and reconstructing Paris Garden, in
order that it might be more conveniently used, not merely as
a place for bull-baiting, bear-beating, etc., but for the performance of dramatic productions. There is reason to believe
that this work was executed according to the proposed design,
but we are without distinct evidence of the fact.
In I612 Henslowe was connected with the company called
the Lady Elizabeth's servants, and they conceived that they
had great reason to complain of him for oppression and malpractices. The 'articles of grievance' drawn up by Joseph'
Taylor, who was then at the head of the company,' show
that in March I6I2, the Lady Elizabeth's players had joined
the performers called 'The Children of the Revels to the
Queen', under Philip Rosseter, and separated again in March
I613. Henslowe then 'made up' a distinct company, which
continued to perform (most likely at Paris Garden) A.D.
until February I6I4, when he broke up the estab- 1614.
lishment by withdrawing some of the inferior performers,
known by the term 'hired men', who were paid weekly wages,
and had no proportionate share of the receipts. It appears
from this document, that the speculation had been a profitable one, and that Henslowe retired, because the company
was rapidly getting out of his debt, by repaying from their
receipts the sums he had advanced.
The very rapid multiplication of professional actors at
about this date forms the point of the subsequent epigram
by a celebrated author, Richard Nicholls, who published it in
I614 in a collection of epigrams, which he called The Furies:
as far as we know, he was neither actor nor play-poet.
1 They were found at Dulwich College by Malone; but they are not
preserved there now. See Shakespieare by Boswell, xxi, 416.

376

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1614.

'IN FUSCUM.
'Fuscus is turn'd a Player; for in rage
He lately left his function for the stage,
In hope to out-act Roscius in a Sceane;
In care of which the fellowe's growne so leane,
That all men pitie him; but, Fuscus, know,
Players doe now as plentifully grow
As spawne of Frogs in March; yet evermore
The great devoure the lesse: be wise, therefore;
Procure thou some commendatorie letter
For the Burthmothos: 'tis a course farre better.'
It would not be difficult to multiply authorities to the same
point. Burbadge was still the Roscius of the day.
In one of John Chamberlain's letters to Sir Dudley Carlton
(quoted by Nichols in his Progresses of 7ames I), dated
the 5th of January I614-15, occurs a remarkable paragraph
respecting the new plays acted at Court, probably by the
King's servants, which appear to have given little satisfaction:-' They have plays at Court (he says) every night, both
holidays and working days, wherein they show great patience;
being for the most part such poor stuff that, instead of delight, they send the auditory away with discontent.' He
adds:-' Indeed out poets' brains and inventions are grown
very dry, in so much, that of five new plays there is not one
that pleases; and therefore they are driven to furbish over
their old, which stand them in best stead, and bring them
most profit.'
It is to be recollected, that at this date_ Shakespeare had
retired from the stage about two years. Three of his plays
seem to have been performed at Christmas or Shrovetide
1613-I4, but we are entirely destitute of information what
were the names of the plays represented immediately prior to
the date of the letter of John Chamberlain. It is a remark
* 0 f s 0~~~~~~~~~~~

i615.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 377
by Nichols, that Chamberlain, in the whole of his correspondence, never mentions either the name of Shakespeare,
nor the title of any of his productions; but he rather
hastily concludes that this omission shows how little Shakespeare was thought of by his contemporaries.' Chamberlain only speaks of Court-poets; and Shakespeare was never
called upon to furnish any mask for the amusement of the
King or Queen. What Sir Dudley Carlton's correspondent
states regarding the tediousness of the new plays in 1614-15,
and of the necessity for reviving older pieces, may not unfairly
be taken as negative testimony of the superiority of Shakespeare to those who immediately succeeded him.
On Twelfth-night 1614-15, Ben Jonson's mask, called
Mercury Vindicated, was performe d.2
' Progr. of 7ames I, iii, 26.
2 Progr. of 7ames i, iii, 60. The scenery and contrivances for this
mask could not have been the invention of Inigo Jones, as in January
1614-15, he was in Rome. In the library of the Duke of Devonshire is
the original memorandum and sketch-book of Inigo Jones, while he was
in Italy, all in his own handwriting, and in the best possible preservation:
on the title-page is written,ROMA.
A Ifro diletto che imparar non trovo.
/ /4LS
It is full of spirited and characteristic drawings in pen and ink, from pictures
and statues, and it proves that the writer was a very accomplished artist.
It is a most remarkable and highly valuable relic. This was the second
visit of Inigo Jones to Italy: he left England in 1612, and did not return
until I615, which confirms Gifford in his total denial of any quarrel be

378

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i6i5.

King James was at Cambridge early in the spring, and on
the 9th of March 1614-15 (after the performance of two Latin
plays, -Emilia and Ignoramus, on the two previous days),
saw Tomkis's Albumazar: John Chamberlain, in a letter to
Sir Dudley Carlton, says, that it was 'of Trinity Colleges
action and invention; but there was no great matter in it
more than one good clown's part.'
In 1615 we again hear of a company called 'the Prince's
Players', meaning at that date the theatrical servants of Prince
tween Jones and Ben Jonson, on account of the supposed resemblance
to the former of the character of Lanthorn Leatherhead, in the Bartholomew Fair of the latter.
We may mention here that among a great quantity of architectural
drawings and designs by Inigo Jones and Webb, preserved at Chiswick,
we found what affords a curious illustration of the Court exhibitions
during the reigns of James I and Charles I, viz., the original drawings or
sketches by Inigo Jones for the scenery of a great number of Masques
written chiefly by Ben Jonson, but others were by Campion and Townshend. Some part was in relief and the rest in the flat, but painted
upon 'shutters', so that opening or closing them presented a different
view, changing a temple into a garden, etc. In the same chest
we discovered what is still more valuable, the original sketches
of the different characters and persons in the performances, together
with some more finished drawings of the dresses and costume of the
Lords and Ladies who supported the characters. The sketches are the
freest drawings in the world, indicating a great command of hand: they
are almost uniformly merely in pen and ink, and nothing can be more
interesting. We suspect that Webb, who was much inferior to Jones,
and who calls himself 'Servant to the Surveyor of Works', had a hand
in the more finished and elaborate drawings, which were sometimes
made by tracings from the original sketches of Inigo Jones, and which
are in a far poorer, harder, and more cramped style.
1 Among the expenses at Cambridge upon this occasion, in gifts, etc.,
to the followers and retainers of the Court, as registered by Nichols,
we read the following entry:-' To the Kings poett, Ios.' It is not easy
to settle to whom the bounty of the University was thus with such extravagant liberality extended.

6I 5.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

379

Charles. The company of Prince Henry, as has been noticed,
became the players of the Prince Palatine on his marriage
with the Lady Elizabeth, just after the death of Prince Henry.
Joseph Taylor, who had been one of the Lady Elizabeth's
servants early in 1614, was, in the first instance, at the head of
the Prince's players in I6i5, having, perhaps, joined after his
separation from Henslowe. John Daniel seems likewise to
have been an actor of some distinction in the same body; and
on the 17th of July I615, in his capacity of one of the servants
of Prince Charles, obtained letters patent enabling him to
bring up 'a company of children, and youths, in the quality
of playing interludes and stage-plays.'
Ben Jonson's Golden Age Restored was twice exhibited
during the festivities of Christmas I615-I6, viz. on New
Year's Day and Twelfth Day. Gifford says, that 'it must
have been a splendid and interesting performance.' By a
MS. in the Lansdowne Collection (the particular reference to
which has been lost), the charge of 528/. is made for the
revels in this year; but as the expense of masks was usually
entered among 'extraordinaries', it is very doubtful whether
it would include the cost of the first representation, and
repetition of this mask.
The Master of the Revels usually exercised the power of
granting to the players what were called 'Lenten Dispensations' (on the payment of a certain fee), in order to enable
them to act in Lent on any day of the week, excepting
Tuesdays and Fridays, which were called Sermon Days. In
March I615-I6, however, a special order was issued by the
Lord Chamberlain, and communicated to the different companies through the Master of the Revels, expressly prohibiting any dramatic performances during Lent. This order was
disobeyed, apparently, by all the companies; for on the 29th
of March a warrant was issued by the Privy Council, com*,; A! _ s~~~~~~~~~~~~~

380

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

manding the leaders of several of them to make their appearance before it to answer for their misconduct. The persons
summoned by name were John Hemmings, Richard Burbadge,
Christopher Beeston, Robert Lee, William Rowley, John
Newton, Thomas Downton, and Humphrey Jeffs; but as no
entry is made in the register of their appearance on the day
when they were required to attend, it is probable that their
punishment was remitted on due submission to the Master of
the Revels. All that appears upon the subject in the register
of the Privy Council is inserted in a note.l
In this year also, we learn, from documents formerly in the
Chapter House,Westminster, and from the Register of the Privy
Council, that a design was on foot for constructing a second
theatre in the liberty of the Blackfriars. A Privy Seal for a
Patent was granted to Philip Rosseter, Philip Kingman,
Robert Jones, and Ralph Reeve, who had bought ground and
buildings near Puddle-wharf, and particularly a dwelling
called Lady' Saunders' house, for the purpose.2 It was to be
occupied by the Children of the Revels to the Queen, by the
The entry bears date on the 29th of March I6I5.
'A WARRANT TO JOHN SENTIE, ONE OF THE MESSENGERS.
'Whereas John Hemmings, Richard Burbidge, Christopher Beeston,
Robert Lee, William Rowley, John Newton, Thomas Downton, Humphry
Jeffs, with others, stageplayers in and about the Citty of London, have
presumed, notwithstanding the commaundement of the Lo. Chamberlayne, signified unto them by the Master of the Revells, to play this prohibited time of Lent. These are therefore to will and commaund you to
make your repayre unto the persons abovenamed, and to charge them in
his Majesty's name to make their appearance heere before us, of his
Majesty's Privie Counsell, on Friday next at 8 of the clocke in the forenoon, without any excuse or delay. And in the meane time that neither
they, nor the rest of their company, presume to present any playes or
interludes, as they will answere the contrary at their perills.'
2 It is a coincidence, hardly worthy of a note, that this very freehold
of Puddlewharf and dock descended to the mother of the compiler of the

I6I5.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

38r

Prince's players, and by the Lady Elizabeth's players, to
which last company, after the retirement of Henslowe,
Rosseter had again joined himself.
'PRIVY SEAL FOR A ROYAL PATENT.1
'Right trusty and right welbeloved Cousin and Councellor, we
greet you well, and will and commaund you, that under our Privy
Seale, being in your custody for the time being, you cause our letters
to be addressed to our Chauncellor of England, commaunding him
that under our Great Seale of England he cause our letters to be
made forth patents in form following,-James, by the grace of God,
kinge of England, Scotland, Fraunce, and Ireland, Defendor of the
faith, etc. To all Mayors, Sherriffs, Justices of peace, Bailiffs, Constables, Headboroughs, and to all other our officers, Ministers, and
loving subjects, to whom theis presents shall come, greeting. Whereas
wee, by our letters pattents sealed with our great seale of England,
bearing date the fourth daie of January, in the seaventh yere of our
raigne of England, Fraunce, and Ireland, and of Scotland the three
and fortieth (for the consideration in the same letters patents expressed), did appoint and authorise Phillip Rossetter,.and certaine
others, from time to time to provide, keepe, and bring up a convenient number of children, and them to practise and exercise in the
quallitie of playing, by the name of Children of the Revells to the
Queene, within the Whitefryers, in the subburbes of our Cittie of
London, or in any other convenient place where they, the said Phillip
Rosseter and the rest of his partners, should thinke fitting for that
purpose, as in and by the said letters pattents more at large appeareth.
And whereas the said Phillip Rosseter, and the rest of his said partners have ever since trayned and practized a convenient nomber of
present volume. A dwelling house and sugar-refinery were built upon
the ground long after the players had abandoned it, and in the dwelling
house the mother of the present writer was born.
I This important original document escaped the researches of Chalmers, who, however, obtained from the Privy Council some extracts
relating to it, which showed that a patent under the Great Seal had been
duly made out in consequence of it.

382

ANNALS OF TIE STAGE.

[I6I5.

Children of the Revells for the purpose aforesaid in a messuage or
mansion house, being percell of the late dissolved Monastery called
the Whitefryers, neere Fleete Streete in London, which the said
Phillip Rosseter did lately hold for terme of certeine yeres expired:
and whereas the said Phillip Rosseter, together with Phillipp Kingman, Robert Jones and Raph Reeve to continue the said service for
the keeping and bringing up of children, to the solace and pleasure
of our said most deare wife, and the better to practize and exercise
them in the quallitie of playing by the name of the Children of the
Revells to the Queene, hath lately taken in lease and farme divers
buildings, cellers, sollars, chambers and yards, for the building of a
play-house thereupon for the better practizing and exercise of the
said Children of the Revells; all which premisses are sittuat and
being within the precinct of the Blackfryers neere Puddlewharfe, in
the subourbes of London, called by the name of the Ladie Saunders
house, or otherwise Porters Hall, and now in the occupation of the
said Robert Jones. Now know yee, that wee, of our especiall grace,
certeyne knowledge, and meere motion, have given and graunted, and
by theis presents, for us our heires and successors, doe give and
graunt licence and authoritie unto the said Phillip Rosseter, Phillipp
Kingman, Robert Jones and Raph Reeve, at their proper costs and
chardges, to erect build and sett up, in and upon the said premisses
before mentioned, one convenient Playhouse for the said Children of
the Revells, the same Playhouse to be used by the Children of the
Revells for the time being of the Queenes Majestie, and for the
Princes Players, and for the Ladie Elizabeth's Players, soe tollerated
or lawfully licenced to plaie exercise and practise them therein, any
Lawe, Statute, Act of Parliament, restraint, or other matter or thing
whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding. Willing and commanding you, and every of you, our said Maiors, Sherriffs, Justices of
peace, Bailiffs, Constables, Headborroughs, and all other our officers
and Ministers for the time being, as ye tender our pleasure, to permit
and suffer them therein without any your letts, hinderance, molestation, or disturbance whatsoever. In witness whereof etc. Given
under 'our Signet, at our Mannour of Greenewiche, the last day of
May in the thirteenth yeare of our raigne etc.' 'Ex. per LAKE'.

I616.]

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

383

The grant of this new patent occasioned not a little consternation in the profession; and there is ground for concluding,
that it had been conceded incautiously, the result of private
influence. It does not seem that Rosseter and his co-undertakers proceeded immediately to act upon it, for, although
dated in the spring, it was not attempted to carry it into effect
until the autumn. They then began to pull down the house
of Lady Saunders, and to commence building the new theatre
very close to the then Church of St. Anne. The Lord Mayor
and Aldermen took the alarm, and represented to the Privy
Council, among other things, that the near neighbourhood of
the playhouse would interfere with the performance of divine
worship in the Church. Rosseter was accordingly required
to return his letters-patent; and it was thought a matter of
sufficient moment to be referred to Lord Chief Justice Coke,
who reported that the grant extended 'to the building of a
playhouse without the liberties of London, and not within
the city'-a manifest injustice, inasmuch as the very spot to
be occupied was mentioned in the Privy Seal above quoted.
On the 26th of September I6i5, therefore, the Privy Council
issued an order, that no such theatre should be there constructed, and that the Lord Mayor should imprison any person
who offered to proceed with it. Nevertheless (perhaps on the
strength of the patronage which had, in the first instance,
procured the licence, or because a Lord Mayor peculiarly
hostile to the drama went out of office in the interval, and
was succeeded by a chief magistrate of a different opinion)
Rosseter persevered in his design, and by the 26th of January
Ix66-I7, the building, to use the words of the Privy Council,
was 'almost, if not fully, finished'. In order to give greater
effect to the command to prevent the erection of a new theatre,
the King's authority was now employed, and the Lord Mayor
was written to on the day abovenamed in these terms:

384

ANNALS OF THE~ STAGE.

[I6I6.

'You shall understand that his Majesty hath this day expressly
signified his pleasure, that the same [playhouse] shall be pulled down,
so as it be made unfit for any such use: whereof we require your
Lordship to take notice, and cause it to be performed with all speed,
and thereupon to certify us of your proceedings.'
Chalmers doubted whether the order had been enforced,
and the new playhouse demolished, because, although he consulted the registers of the Privy Council, he did not find any
entry stating that the Lord Mayor had certified the execution
of the King's command.' The city authorities proceeded
immediately to the work, and before three days had elapsed,
the Privy Council was duly and formally made acquainted
with the fact, that Rosseter's theatre had been 'made unfit
for any such use' as that for which it had been constructed.
On Twelfth-night 1616-17, the Mask of Christmas by Ben
Jonson was performed, and it was repeated on the g9th of
January. In the Lansdowne MSS., we find an entry of 'Mr.
Sadler for the Masque, 4001.', which no doubt was for these
two exhibitions. As to other expenses, we have some account of them from the Master of the Revels, whose bill for
the year amounted to 970/. 3s. Id. This sum paid for 'a curtain
of taffatea at Whitehall, and one at Greenwich, for Rushes at
rehearsal, Rosemary and Bayes, Coachire at the marriage of
Sir John Villiers at Hampton Court and for divers properties';
the performances (which are not named) were at Whitehall,
at Denmark House, at Greenwich, and at Hampton Court.
James I commenced his journey to Scotland on the I4th
A. D. of March I616-17; and very shortly previous to his
6I6-17. departure an event occurred in theatrical history,
which seems to have excited considerable alarm for the tranquillity of the metropolis during his absence. On Shrove
Tuesday, March 4th, some riots' occurred in Lincoln's Inn
I Afologyfor the Believers, p. 464.

I6I6.] ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE. 385
Fields (then an open space, unoccupied by houses) and in
Drury-lane, where the mob, among whom the apprentices
appear, as usual, to have been especially active, made an
attack upon the Cockpit theatre. Camden, in his Annals,
states that they pulled it down, and destroyed the wardrobe;
but, according to the account of the transaction in the Privy
Council Register, which was drawn up on the following day,
the mob only 'attempted to pull it down'. However, there is
no doubt that they did very considerable damage, and that
several lives were lost in the affray. The apprentices of
London from time immemorial had claimed, or at least exercised, the right of attacking and demolishing houses of illfame on Shrove Tuesday,2 and in this instance they carried
their zeal for morals and mischief a degree farther. The most
circumstantial account of this affair is contained in an old
ballad on the occasion, which we copy from a contemporary
print, and which is written with a good deal of spirit and
cleverness: hence it would seem, that the principal injury
done was to the doors and windows of the playhouse, and to
the dresses and playbooks belonging to the company. Two
of the leaders of the mob, Thomas Brent and John Cory,
1 His words are, under the date of March 4, I616-17: -' Theatrum
ludionumn, nuper erectum in Drury lane, a furente multitudine diruitur,
et appbaratus dilaceratur.'
2 The Bawd, in Eastward Hoe, act iv, scene 3, complains that 'the
prentices had made a riot upon her glass windows upon Shrove-tuesday';
and, in a note, the Rev. Mr. Dyce, in his edition of Webster's Works,
gives the following apposite quotation from Pasquil's Palinodia, I634;
'It was the day, of all days in the year,
That unto Bacchus hath his dedication,
When mad-brain'd 'prentices, that no men feare,
Overthrew the dens of bawdy recreation.'
Nothing could be easier than to multiply proofs to the same effect, were
it necessary.
V()I. I. C C

386

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I6I6.

are mentioned by name, and they were, no doubt,-among those
who were soon afterwards severely punished. The ballad is
entitled:'A BALLADE IN PRAISE OF LONDON PRENTICES, AND WHAT THEY DID
AT THE COCK-PITT PLAYROUSE IN DRURY LANE.
'The Prentices of London long
Have famous beene in story,
But now they are exceeding all
Their Chronicles of glory:
Looke back, some say, to other day,
But I say looke before ye,
And see the deed they have now done,
Tom Brent and Johnny Cory.
'Tom Brent said then to his merry men,
"Now whoop, my men, and hollow,
And to the Cockpitt let us goe,
I'll leade you like brave Rollo."'
Then Johnny Cory answerd straight,
In words much like Apollo:
"Lead, Tommy Brent, incontinent,
And we'll be sure to follow."
'Three score of these brave Prentices,
All fit for workes of wonder,
Rushd down the plaine of Drury Lane,
Like lightning and like thunder;
And there each dore, with hundreds more,
And windows burst asunder;
And to the tire-howse broke they in,
Which soon began to plunder.
If the hero thus mentioned be Rollo, Duke of Normandy, it would
prove, either that Fletcher's play was written considerably before the
date at which it is supposed to have been first produced, or that the
story on which it was founded was well known before he employed it for
his purpose.

I6I6.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

387

'" Now hold your hands, my merry men,"
Said Tom, "for I assure ye,
Who so begin to steale shall win
Mee both for judge and jury;
And eke for executioner
Within this lane of Drury:
But teare and rend, I'll stand your frend,
And well upholde your fury."
'King Priam's robes were soon in rags,
And broke his gilded scepter;
False Cressid's hood, that was so good
When loving Troylus kept her.l
Besse Brydges gowne, and Muli's crowne,
Who would ful faine have lept her:2
Had Thesus seene them use his queene
So ill, he had lbewept hers.3
'Books olde and young on heap they flung,
And burnt them in the blazes,
Tom Dekker, Haywood, Middleton
And other wandring crayzes:4
1 This might be Shakespeare's play, acted surreptitiously at the Cockpit, as it was the property of the King's servants: possibly, it was a
different play on the same subject.
2 Bess Bridges and Muli-sheg are characters in Heywood's Fair Maid
of the West, which was not printed until I631, though written, as can be
proved from internal evidence, before the death of Elizabeth. It was
acted, no doubt, at this date at the Cockpit.
3Probably alluding to Jceywood's SilverAge, printed in I613, in which
Theseus is introduced.
4This line may possibly allude to their strolling with companies round
the country, or to their 'wandering' with their plays from theatre to theatre,
sometimes writing for one company and sometimes for another, as they
could procure purchasers.
C C 2, C
X ' -D: V.

388 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I6I6.
Poor Daye that daye not scapte awaye;
And what still more amazes,
Immortall Crackel was burnt all blacke,
Which every bodie praises.
'Now sing we laude with one accord
To these most digni laude,
Who thus intend to bring to end
All that is vile and bawdie.
All playes and whores, thrust out a'dores,
Seductive bothe and gawdie;
And praise wee these bold Prentices
Cum voce et cum corde.'
The damage to the theatre was probably not very extensive, as we soon afterwards find the company called the
Queen's servants performing there.2
1 Regarding this person or play, whichever it might be, we can give no
information.
2 The following is an extract from a letter, sent by the Privy Council
to the Lord Mayor on the day following the disturbance: it was originally
quoted by Chalmers from the Registers. 'For as much as the example
of so foul and insolent a disorder may prove of dangerous consequence,
if this should escape without sharp punishment of the principal offenders,
we do, therefore, in his Majesty's name, expressly require your Lordship,
and the rest of the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer for the City of
London and County of Middlesex, to take it presently into your care to
have a strict enquiry made for such as were of the company, as well apprentices or others, and for which to hold a special Sessions of Oyer and
Terminer for that purpose, and there with severity to proceed against
such as shall be found offenders, as to law and justice appertaineth.' The
letter then proceeds to direct the City authorities to take measures for
the removal- and punishment of the 'great multitude of vagrant rogues'
who had assisted in this riot. The date of it is March 5th, 1616-17.
Decker thus refers to this event in his Owle's Almanack, 4t, I617:
'Shrove Tuesday falls on this day on which the Prentices plucked down
the Cock-pit, and on which they did alwaies use to rifle Madame Leake's
house at the upper end of Shoreditch'-no doubt then a notorious house
of ill-fame in a bad neighbourhood.

i I I V

i6i6.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 389
During the absence of the King in Scotland, the Queen was
entertained at Greenwich, on the 4th of May, by a mask called
Cuzpid's Banishmnent, written by a person of the name of Robert
White, and 'presented to the Queen by the young gentlewomen
of the Ladies Hall, in Deptford.' It was probably a performance by a girls' school; and the piece (from a MS. in the
possession of Upcott) is printed by Nichols in the Progresses
of 7ames L. It was, of course, very graciously received by
her Majesty.
We may add here, that the whole expense charged for the
Revels this year was 9081. 3s. id.: rushes and rosemary cost
eleven shillings and sixpence. We derive the information
from the Audit Office.

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
FROM THE YEAR I6I7 TO THE END OF THE REIGN
OF JAMES I.
THE fondness of James for theatrical performances can
scarcely be evidenced more strongly than by the fact that
he was attended, during his journey to the North, by a regular
company of players (probably those which were especially
called the King's servants'), and that the children of the
Chapel, and a number of musicians, also formed part of his
retinue.2 While he was still in Scotland, a warrant was issued
for the payment of the players, and is thus recorded in the
registers of the Privy Council:It will be seen hereafter, that 'his Majesty's comedians' were required
to attend Charles I in his progress in 1636; and, perhaps, the instance
before us was then taken as a precedent.
2 Arthur Wilson, in his Life and Reign of 7ames 1, thus speaks of the
King's progress to his northern dominions -' He begins his journey with
the spring, warming the country as he went with the glories of the Court:
taking such recreations by the Way as might best beguile the days and
cut them shorter, but lengthen the nights (contrary to the seasons), for
what with hawking, hunting, and horse-racing, the days ran quickly
away; and the nights with feasting, masking, and dancing, were the more
extended. And the King had fit instruments for these sports about his
person, as Sir George Goring, Sir Edward Zouch, Sir John Finnit, and
others, that could fit and obtemperate the King's humour; for he loved
such representations and disguises in their masqairadoes as were witty
and sudden: the more ridiculous the more pleasant.'

I6I7.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

39I

i Ith July, 1617.-A warrant to the L. Stanhope, Treasurer of his
Majesties Chamber, to cause payment to be made to certaine players
for three Stage Playes, that were acted before his Majestie in his
journey to Scotland, such summes of money as is usual in the like
kinde.'
The fact that James was also accompanied by the children
of the Chapel, and 'singing men', appears from a satirical
and abusive account of Scotland, written by some person
who attended the King in his journey, and preserved among
the Harleian MSS.1 It is there said,' that the Scotch had
prevailed upon some of the children of the Chapel 'to eat
oat-cakes for the maintenance of their voices', and that a
party of the royal 'singing men' had arrived by sea. It is
asserted of the Scotch generally, in reference to our subject,
that 'they hold their nose if you talk of bear-baiting, and stop
their ears if you talk of plays', and the production ends with
these words:-'To conclude, I am fully persuaded, that if
Christ and his Angels at the last day should come down in
their white garments, they (the Scotch) would run away and
cry, "The Children of the Chapel are come again to torment
us! Let us flee from the abomination of these boys, and hide
us in the mountains!"'
The Marquis d'Ancre was killed in Paris, in the middle of
April I617, and in June an attempt was made to bring that
event upon the stage in London. Of this circumstance the
Privy Council, during the absence of the King, obtained
information, and the following letter was written by that body
to Sir George Buc, Master of the Revels:'June 22nd, 61I7.-Wee are informed that there are certeyne
Players, or Comedians, we know not of what Company, that goe
about to play some enterlude concerning the late Marquesse d'Ancre,
1 ISS. HarL., No. 444.
A./

392

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I618.

which for many respects wee thinke not fitt to be suffered. Wee doe
therefore require you, upon your perill, to take order that the same
be not represented or played in any place about this Citty, or elsewhere where you have authoritie. And hereof have you a speciall
care.'
The King returned to London on the I5th of September;
and the brother of Lord Buckingham was married to the
daughter of Sir Edward Coke at Hampton Court in presence
of the King, with all solemnity, on the 29th of the same
month. We hear nothing of any theatrical performances or
masques on the occasion, and the deficiency might arise from
the want of time for preparation.'
In a letter from John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carlton,
A. D. dated January Ist, 1617-18, we read the following
i6i8. paragraph respecting the entertainments at Court at
that season:' The Muscovy Ambassadors shall be feasted at Court to-morrow,
and on Twelfth-night is the Prince's Mask. There was a Mask of
nine Ladies in hand at their own cost, whereof the principal was the
Lady Hay, as Queen of the Amazons, accompanied by her sister,
the Lady Dorothy, Sir Robert and Sir Henry Rich's ladies, Mistress
Isabella Rich, Mistress West, the Lord de la War's daughter,
'From the following passage in Dugdale's Origin. 7urid., p. 285, it
appears that in the autumn, soon after his return, the King was entertained with Barriers at the expense of the Society of Gray's Inn:'In 14 Jac. (I7th October), it was ordered that every Reader, ancient
Barrister, and other gentleman that should be in town between that time
and the end of Hilary Term then next following, or who then had any
chamber in the House, either of the House or by lease or otherwise,
should pay towards the Barriers, intended to be presented to his Majesty,
after these rates and proportions, viz., every Reader or Ancient of the
Bench, 4os.; every Ancient under the Bench, 30s.; every Barrester, 2os.;
and every other Gentleman, I3s. 4d.'

i6i8.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

393

Mistress Barbary Sidney, Sir Humphrey May's lady, and the
Lady Cave, daughter of Sir Herbert Croftes. They had taken
great pains in continual practising, and were almost perfect,
and all their implements provided: but whatsoever the cause was,
neither the King nor the Queen did like or allow of it, and so all is
dashed.'
Notwithstanding this disappointment, Ben Jonson's Vision
of Delight, which Chamberlain calls 'The Prince's Mask', was
performed on Twelfth-night with great applause, and repeated
on Shrove Tuesday, according to Chamberlain, 'with alterations and additions, but little bettered.' The printed copy
(which came from the press in I640, and not in I64I, as
Gifford states) bears no marks of these alterations and additions: it would not have been easy to 'better' this beautiful
production by any changes. The Prince, as we are also told
by Chamberlain, was a chief actor in it, and it was his 'first
exercise in that kind'. By the Lansdowne MS. before quoted
(to which we have mislaid the particular reference), it is seen
that 7501. were issued to a person of the name of Leach for
preparations for The Vision of Delight.
The disturbances at Shrovetide I616-I7 were not forgotten
at the return of that season in February I6I7-I8; and the
Privy Council appears to have been thrown into considerable
alarm by information transmitted to it, that the apprentices,
and others, were determined to revenge the fate of their last
year's companions, who had been punished according to law:
they concerted a plan, by 'casting libels into playhouses',
to collect a body, and to proceed first to the Fortune, then to
the Red Bull, and afterwards to the Cockpit, in order to raze
and destroy them. Letters were accordingly written, on the
i ith of February I617-18, to the Magistrates of Middlesex,
and to the Lord Mayor, requiring them to be upon their
guard, in order to quell any riotous disposition, and to pre- -

394

ANNALSS OF THE STAGE.

[I618.

serve the peace of the metropolis. This communication to
the magistrates is subjoined in a note.l
The patent to John Daniell in 1615, giving him authority
A. D. to bring up a company of youths as actors, has already
i6i8. been mentioned: it was followed in April i6i8, by
what is termed, in the indorsement of the original in the State
Paper Office, 'a letter of assistance', on the ground, that the
previous patent had been 'oppugned and resisted', but in fact
to authorise Daniell to assign his patent to others, if he
thought fit, and to give authority to Martin Slatier,2 John
''A letter to his Majesty's Lieutenants of the County of Middlesex:It is well knowne unto you what disorder and tumult was comitted the
last Shrove Tuesday, in divers partes about the Cittie, by the Apprentices
and other leude and ill affected persons, to the great disturbance of his
Majesty's peace, and the hurt of many poore men. And though divers of
the offenders were committed to Newgate, and proceeded withall at the
Session according to lawe; yet they are so farre from being warned by
that example, as they rather take occasion thereby, in regarde that some
of their fellowes were in danger and punished the last yeare, to cast seditious lybells into Playhouses, in the name of some London fellowes, apprentices, to summon others in the skirts and confynes to meete at the
Fortune; and after that to goe to the Playhouses, the Redd Bull and the
Cockpitt, which they have designed to rase and pull downe, besides what
further mischiefe may ensue thereupon, to the scandall of Government,
and the great contempt of his Majesty's lawes. For prevention whereof
wee thinke it very expedient, as wee have addressed our letters to the
Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the Cittie of London, soe to require you,
by virtue of his Majesty's Commission of Lieutenancy directed unto you,
to take the like order upon Shrove Tuesday next, as you did upon May
Day last, by setting good and substanciall watches in such places as
shall be meete, and by appointing some of the trayned Bandes to be
mustered and trayned that day, in such convenient places in the skirtes
and confynes of the Cittie, as may serve for the suppressing of any ryott
or tumulte, that may happen by the disorder of such leude people.
Whereof we require you to have especiall care, &amp;c.'
2 Martin Slatier was probably the same person whose name often

I6I8.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

395

Edmonds, Nathaniel Clay, and others, who are termed 'her
Majesty's servants', to proceed to different parts of the kingdom, under the designation of 'her Majesty's servants, of her
royal Chamber of Bristol', and to act in any play-houses,
school-houses and other convenient places, provided they did
not continue in any one place for more than fourteen days,
and refrained from playing on the Sabbath during divine
service. Chalmers printed this document,' but from an imperfect and incorrect copy, and it is subjoined literally in a
note.2 We do not in any subsequent instrument find mention
occurs in Henslowe's Diary, as Martin Slater, and Martin Slaughter.
He was an author as well as an actor, and the earliest entry regarding
him or his productions, bears date in May I595.
1 Apology, p. 365.
2 'April I618. Copie of a Ire in the behalf of John Daniell, to bringe
up youthes in qualitie of plaieinge of enterludes.
'After our harty comendations. Whereas it pleased his Matie by his
Lrs Patents under the Great Seale of England, bearing date the xvijth
daie of Julie in the xiii yeare of his Highnes Raine, to grant unto John
Daniell, gent. (the Prince his servant) aucthoritie to bring upp a companie
of Children and youthes in the quallitie of playing Enterludes and Stage
plaies. And wee are informed, that notwithstanding his Maties pleasure
therein, that there are some who oppugne and resist the said aucthoritie,
in contempt of his Maties Lrs Patents.
'In consideration whereof, and for the further effecting and performance of his Maties pleasure therein, We have thought good to grant unto
the said John Daniell these our Lrs of Assistance, thereby requiring you,
and in his Maties name straightly chardging and commaunding you and
every of you, not only quietly to permit and suffer Martin Slatier, John
Edmonds and Nathaniell Clay (her Maties servants) with their Associatts,
the bearers hereof, to play as aforesaid (as her Maties servants of her
Royall Chamber of Bristoll) in all Playhouses, Townehalls, Schoolehouses and other places convenient for the purpose, in all Citties, Universities, Townes, and Burroughes within his Maties Realmes and Dominions, freely and peaceably without any of your letts, trobles or
molestations. But as occasion shall be offered (they or any of them

396

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i6i8.

of a company of the same remarkable name, and it probably
had a very brief existence.
It merits notice that the Privy Council Register of i6i8
contains a letter from Ignatius Jurdain, Mayor of Exeter
(dated- in the indorsement, June i6i8) to 'Sir Thomas Lake,
Principal Secretary to his Majesty', complaining that John
Daniel and a company of players had come there, and shewing
the King's Patent, dated I7th July, I3th James I, had required leave to play. The Mayor had refused, because the
Patent was only for Children, whereas in the company there
were only 'five youths' and the rest men, some about 30, 40,
and 50 years. He had, however, given them four'angels, with
which they seemed content; but as he heard that they
threatened afterwards to write to the Privy Council, he had
determined to be beforehand with them. He annexes to his
letter a copy of the Patent to John Daniel which was in the
usual form.
On the 24th of May, in this year, the King put forth the
celebrated Declaration 'concerning lawful sports to be used
upon Sundays, after evening prayers ended, and upon holidays.'
It stated, that during his late progress through Lancashire,
he had found it necessary to 'rebuke some Puritans and precise people', who wished to prohibit 'lawful recreations, and
having to showe his Lrs Patents, and a Letter of Assignment from the
said John Daniell) to be lykewise aiding and assisting unto them, they
behaving of themselves civilly and orderly, lyke good and honest subjects,
and doing nothing therein contrary to the tenour of his Maties said Lrs
Patents, nor staying to play in any one place above fourteene daies
together, and the tymes of Divine Service on the Saboth days only
excepted.
' Whereof faile you not at your perilles. Given at the Court at Whitehall, &amp;c. To all Maiors, Sheriffes, Bayliffs, Constables, and other his
Maties Officers and Liege Subjects, to whome it may belong, or in any
wise appertaine.'

I619.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

397

honest exercises upon Sundays, and other holidays'; and it
proceeds to allow dancing by both sexes, archery, leaping,
vaulting, 'or any such harmless recreation': the only portion
immediately connected with our subject is the prohibition of
what are termed 'unlawful games' on Sundays, such as bull
and bear-baitings, interludes and bowling. 'Interludes' is, of
course, here used as a generic term for all theatrical representations.
Ben Jonson's Pleasure reconciled to Virtue, was the Mask
on Twelfth-day I618-I9: it was performed again on Shrove
Tuesday, with the addition of the antimask called A.D.
For the Honour of Wales. A Privy Seal, extant in I6I9.
the Chapter House, shows that on the 3rd of December, 400/.
were issued from the Exchequer to one Edward Leech to
enable him to make preparations.
Queen Anne died in Dec. I618, and at Bridgwater House
is preserved a list of her Players, who attended the funeral
and were allowed four yards each of black cloth on the
occasion: their seventeen names are given as follows:-Robt.
Lee, Richard Parkins, Christopher Beeston, Robt. Pallant,
Thomas Haywood, James Holt, Thomas Swinerton, Martin
Salter, Ellis Wroth, John Comber, Thomas Bass, John Blayey,
William Robinson, John Edmonds, Thomas Drew, Gregory
Sanderson, and John Garret.
The Corporation of London, having succeeded in I615 and
I616 in preventing the erection of a new theatre in Blackfriars by Rosseter, endeavoured, in 6 18-I9, to suppress the old
one, which had been in existence since about the year 1574. On
the 2Ist of January I6I8-I9, the Lord Mayor, Harvey, issued
an order reciting the representations made by the inhabitants
of the precinct in 1596, the directions of the Privy Council in
I60o (limiting the number of theatres in and near London to
only two), and proceeding to state, that notwithstanding the...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

398

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

[i6f9.

steps thus taken, 'the owner' of the Blackfriars theatre, 'under
the name of a private house, hath converted the same into a
public playhouse, into which there is daily so great a resort
of people, and so great multitudes of coaches, whereof many
are hackney coaches bringing people of all sorts, that sometimes all the streets cannot contain them.' The Lord Mayor,
therefore, of his own authority, took upon himself to command, 'that the said playhouse be suppressed, and that the
players shall from henceforth forbear and desist from playing
in that house, in respect of the manifold abuses and disorders
complained of.'
The theatre had been originally built in the liberty of the
A. D. Blackfriars, because it was out of the jurisdiction of
I619-20. the Lord Mayor; and that this new exercise of civic
authority was not attended with any effect, is obvious, not
merely from the fact that more than ten years afterwards the
inhabitants of Blackfriars found it necessary to petition the
Bishop of London on the subject, but from the discovery, in
the State Paper Office, of a Patent under the Great Seal,
dated 27th of March I619-20, in which the King licenses his
'well-beloved servants to act, not only at the Globe on the
Bankside, but at their private house situated in the precincts
of Blackfriars.' It would almost seem as if this new patent
(a revival of that granted to Fletcher, Shakespeare, and
others, on the Igth of May I603) had been conceded for the
express purpose of deciding the right of the King's players to
act at the Blackfriars theatre.1 It follows very much the
1 At Bridgwater House is a MS., shewing that in July I6o8 the City
made an attempt to establish its jurisdiction within the precinct of Blackfriars, and obtained Sir Henry Montague's opinion in their favour, which
was sent to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, who thus indorsed it '23 Julij I608.
Sir Henry Montague for the Blackfriars.' This opinion refers to the certificate of the two Lord Chief Justices Wray and Dyer,' a copy of which is, '...

I620.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

399

terms of the licence of the same kind granted to the Prince's
players at the Fortune in 1612-13, omitting, however, the
clause reserving the authority of the Master of the Revels,
and inserting a precautionary provision against performing
when the deaths by the plague exceeded forty in the week.
The names of the principal members of the company at this
date were these:'-John Hemmings, Richard Burbadge,2 Henry
appended dated I579, in favour of the claim of the Lord Mayor and
Aldermen; but this is accompanied by a third paper headed ' Prooffs by
Record that the Cytie of London hath not any jurisdiction within the
Blacke ffryers, but that it is a place exempted from it.' These 'proofs'
extended from 3 Edw. I to 14 Edw. II, but no later. The result, however,
shews that the City did not establish its authority.
'As Joseph Taylor, who was afterwards associated with Hemming, as
leader of the King's company, is not mentioned in the instrument, we
may infer that, at this date, he still continued at the head of the players
of Prince Charles.
2 This is the latest date at which the famous name of Richard Burbadge
can appear in any list, as he died on the I3th Mar. I618-I9, and was
buried at Shoreditch.
We are without further information on the subject than is contained in
the following paragraph, but we should not be surprised if the character
of Barnavelt had been the last sustained by Burbage: that the incidents
had been brought upon the London stage is certain, from the following
remarkable extract of a private letter to Sir Dudley Carlton, dated August
I619, preserved among the State Papers of the reign of James I.
'Our players have found the means to goe through with the play of
Barnavelt, and it hath had many spectators, and receaved applause, yet
some say that (according to the proverb) the Divell is not soe bad as he
is painted, and that Barnavelt should persuade Ledenberg to make away
with himself (when he comes to see him after he was prisoner), to prevent
the discoverie of the plott; and to tell him that when they were both
dead (as though he meant to do the like), they might sift it out of their
ashes, was thought to be a point strayned. When Barnavelt understood
of Ledenberg's death, he comforted himself, which before he refused to
do; but when he perceaveth himself to be arrested, then he hath no
remedie, but with all speede biddeth his wife send to the Fr Ambr, wch

400

ANNALS OF TH-E STAGE..

[62o0.

Condell, John Lowen, Nicholas Tooley, John Underwood,
Nathan[iel] Field, Robert Benfield, Robert Gough, William
Ecclestone, Richard Robinson, and John Shancks:
The existence of any such patent was hitherto unknown,
and it is added verbatim in a note.'
It is not known who was employed to write the Mask for
I619-20, when Ben Jonson was in Scotland; but, according
to an extract from a letter by Drummond of Hawthornden
she did, and he spake for him,' etc. Our attention has been directed to
the preceding by a note signed G. H. Kingsley in Notes and Queries
of 29 Dec. i86o. We are without any further information upon the
subject, and the death of Burbage may possibly have put a stop to the
performance of the play of Barnavelt.
' JAMES R. âJames, by the grace of God King of England, Scotland,
France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, etc. To all Justices, Maiors,
Sheriffs, Constables, Headborowes, and other our officers and loving
subjects, greeting. Know ye that Wee, of our speciall grace, certain
knowledge and meere motion, have lycensed and authorized, and by theis
presents do lycence and authorize, theis our welbeloved servants, John
Hemings, Richard Burbadge, Henry Condell, John Lowen, Nicholas
Tooley, John Underwood, Nathan Feild, Robert Benfield, Robert Gough,
William Ecclestone, Richard Robinson, and John Shancks, and the rest
of the Associates freely to use and exercise the art and facultie of playing
Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes, Moralls, Pastoralls, Stageplayes, and such other like, as they have already studied or shall hereafter use or studie, as well for the recreation of our loving subjects, as for
our solace and pleasure when wee shall think good to see them, during
our pleasure. And the said Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes,
Moralls, Pastoralls, Stage-plaies and such like, to show and exercise
publiquely or otherwise to their best comoditie, when the infection of the
plague shall not weekely exceed the nomber of fortie by the certificate of
the Lord Mayor of London for the time being, as well within theis two
their now usuall Houses called the Globe within our Countie of Surrey,
and their private House scituate in the precincts of the Blackfriers within
our Citty of London, as also within any Towne Halls, or Moute-halls, or
other convenient places within the liberties and freedom of any other

I 620.]

ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE.

401

(published by Gifford, Ben 7onson's Works, vii, 352), it did
not give satisfaction:-'I have heard from Court, that the
late Mask was not so approved of by the King, as in former
times, and that your absence was regretted. Such applause
hath true worth, even of those who are otherwise not for it.'
By a letter from John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carlton, it
also appears, that 'plays' were acted this year at Court, and
although no record of the fact may remain, there is little
doubt that the King's servants, and perhaps other performers,
were called upon to lend their aid in varying the royal amusements. Chamberlain says:-'The King came to town the
day before Christmas eve, and there hath little passed in
Court besides plays and revels.' He does not make any particular mention of the Mask, nor of its reception.
For the sake of convenience, and juxtaposition, it may
be mentioned here, although a little out of its place, that Ben
Jonson wrote the Mask for Christmas 1620-2I, and called it
News from the New World in the Moon. It was, as usual,
presented twice, at Twelfth-tide and Shrovetide. On the 8th
Cittie, Universitie, Towne, or Burrough whatsoever within our said
Realmes and Domynions. Willing and commaunding you and every of
you, and all our loving subjects, as you tender our pleasure, not only to
permit and suffer them herein without any your letts, hinderances, or
molestations during our said pleasure, but also to be ayding and assisting
to them, if any wrong be to them offred, and to allow them such former
curtesies as hath byn given to men of their place and qualitie. And also
what further favour you shall shew to theis our Servants and the rest of
their Associates for our sake, we shall take kindly at your hands. In
witness wherof, etc. 'PEMBROKE.
'By order from the Lord Chamberlin of yr Maties Houshold,
'Ext LEVYNUS MUNCK.'
It is indorsed-'Expedit apud Westmr vicessim septimo die Martij,
Anno D. Regis Jacobi decimo septimo.'
VOL I. DD

402

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i620.

of January, the King and suite were present at a Mask at
Lord Doncaster's.l
It is necessary now to revert briefly to the office of the
Revels. Sir George Buc became Master of the Revels in
I6Io; and in 1612, Sir John Ashley obtained a grant of the
reversion of the office, on the death of Sir George Buc: in
September I62I, Ben Jonson also obtained a grant of the
reversion, on the several demises of Sir George Buc and Sir
John Ashley. The Privy Seal for this purpose, in a very
mutilated condition and much injured by damp, was preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster; and, unlike most
other instruments of the same kind, as if in compliment to
the learning of the grantee, it is in Latin.2
In the spring of 1622 Sir George Buc appears to have been
so ill and infirm as to be unable to discharge the duties of his
situation; and on the 2nd of May of that year a patent was
made out, appointing Sir John Ashley Master of the Revels.
As this instrument gives more full and circumstantial information regarding the duties and arbitrary powers of the Master
of the Revels, than is to be collected from any other source,
it is printed at length below.3
'It may be worth notice that, at this date, the wages of Thomas Mell,
'one of the Musicians for the flutes' (who succeeded Peter Edney, who
had been a flute-player to Queen Elizabeth), were 441. per annum; with
an allowance of i6/. 2s. 6d. yearly for 'apparel and liveries'. This fact
appears from a Privy Seal dated 4th of April I620.
2 On the 29th of July I622, a patent was granted under the Great Seal
to William Payneter, Esq., for the reversion of the Mastership of the
Revels, after the deaths of Sir John Ashley and Benjamin Jonson, gent.
To this instrument, in the State Paper Office, is appended the opinion of
'the then Attorney-General, Thomas Coventry, that it was 'agreeable in
substance with the former patents'. That patent was in English.
3 The original of the following was in the Chapter-house, Westminster:
'James, by the grace of God, etc. To all and singular Justices, Maiors,

620.]

ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE.

403

On the 22nd May 1622, Sir George Buc was formally superseded in a Privy Seal, (also extant in the Chapter-house)
directed to the Exchequer, referring to orders that had been
Sheriffs, Bayliffs, Constables, and all other our officers, ministers, true
liege men, and subjects, and to every of them, greeting. Wee lett you
witt that wee have authorised, licenced, and commaunded, and by these
presents do authorise, licence, and commaund, our welbeloved servant
Sr John Ashley, Knight, Master of our Revells, as well to take and retaine
for us and in our name, at all times from hencefoorth, and in all places
within this our realme of England, as well within franchises and liberties
as without, at competent wages, as well all such and as many Painters,
Embroderers, Taylors, Cappers, Haberdashers, Joyners, Carters, Glasiers,
Armorers, Baskett-makers, Skinners, Sadlers, Waggon-makers, Plasterers, Feather-makers, as all propertie-makers and cunning artificers,
and labourers whatsoever, as our said servant, or his Assigne, bearer
hereof, shall thinke necessary and requisite, for the speedy making and
finishing of any exploit, workmanship, or peece of service that shall at
any time hereafter belong to our said office of the Revells; as also to
take, at price reasonable, in all places within our said realme of England,
as well within franchises and liberties as without, any kind or kinds of
stuffe, ware or merchandize, wood or coale or other fewell, timber, wainscott, boards, lath, nailes, brick, tyle, leads, iron, wyer, and all other necessaries for our said works of the said office of our Revells, as he the
said Sir John Ashley, or his Assignes, shall thinke behoofull and expedient, from time to time for our said service in the said office of the
Revells, together with all cariages for the same, both by land and water,
as the case shall require. And furthermore, we have, by these presents,
authorised and commaunded the said Sir John Ashley, that in case any
person or persons, whatsoever they be, will obstinately disobey, and from
henceforth refuse to accomplish and obey our commaundement and
pleasure in that behalf, or withdrawe themselves from any of our said
works upon warning to them or any of them given by the said Sir John
Ashley, or by his sufficient deputie in that behalf to be named or appointed for their diligent attendance and workmanship upon the said
works or devises, as to their natural dutie and allegeance appertaineth,
that then it shalbe lawfull unto the said Sir John Ashley, or his deputie
for the time being, to attache the partie or parties so offending, and him
or them to commit to ward, there to remaine without bayle or mainprise,
DD2

404

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I620.

given to him for the receipt of 6oii., due to the officers of the
Revels, upon accounts for two years, and of Iool. in advance
for the provision of necessaries for the Court amusements,
until the said Sir John Ashley shall thinke the time of his or their imprisonment to be punishment sufficient for his or their said offences in
that behalf; and that done to enlarge him or them, soe being imprisoned,
at their full libertie, without any losse, penaltie, forfaiture, or other
damage in that behalf to be sustained or borne by the said Sir John
Ashley or his deputie. And also if any person or persons, being taken
into our said works of the said office of our Revells, being arrested,
coming or going to or from our said works of our said office of our
Revells, at the suite of any person or persons,' then the said Sir John
Ashley, by virtue and authority hereof, to enlarge him or them as by our
special protection during the time of said works. And also if any person
or persons, being retained in our said works of our said office of Revells,
have taken any manner of taskeworke, being bound to finish the same by
a certaine day, shall not runne into any manner of forfeiture or penaltie
for breaking of his day; soe that he or they, immediately after the finishing
of our said works, endeavor him or themselves to finish the said taskeworke. And further also wee have and doe by these presents authorize
and commaund our said servant Sir John Ashley, Master of our Revells,
by himself or his sufficient deputie or deputies, to warne, commaund, and
appoint in all places within this our Realme of England, as well within
franchises and liberties as without, all and every player and players, with
the play-makers, either belonging to any nobleman, or otherwise, bearing.
the name or names of, using the facultie of play-makers or players of
Comedies, Tragedies, Interludes, or what other showes soever, from time
to time and at all times to appeare before him with all such plaies, tragedies, comedies, or showes as they shall have in readines or meane to sett
foorth, and them to present and recite before our said servant or his sufficient deputie; whome we ordaine, appoint, and authorize by these
presents of all such showes, plaies, players, and play-makers, together
with their playing places, to order and reforme, authorise and put downe,
as shalbe thought meete or unmeete unto himself or his said deputie in
that behalf. And'we have likewise by these presents authorised and
commaunded the said Sir John Ashley, that if any of them, whatsoever
they be, will obstinately refuse, upon warning unto them given by the
said Sir John Ashley or his sufficient deputie, to accomplish and obey
-A 6.: i,,.

1620.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

405

making together 70o/. Of this amount Sir George Buc had
obtained 400/., and the Privy Seal directed that the remaining 30I/. should be paid to Sir John Ashley, as Sir George
Buc, 'by reason of sickness and indisposition of body, wherewith it had pleased God to visit him, was become disabled,
and insufficient to undergo and perform' the duties of Master
of the Revels, 'which office had been conferred upon Sir John
Ashley, Knight.' Thus, from the 2nd May 1622, Sir John
Ashley was in full possession of the office of Master of the
Revels, with powers which never appear to have been given
to, nor exercised by his predecessors.
Some time before Sir George Buc was thus extruded from
his office, viz., in the autumn of 1620, a project was on foot
for constructing an Amphitheatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields;
and by the documents extant upon the subject it appears,
our commaundement in this behalf, then it shalbe lawfull to and for the
said Sir John Ashley, or his sufficient deputie, to attach the partie or
parties so offending, and him or them to commit to ward, there to remaine
without baile or mainprise, untill such time as the said Sir John Ashley
or his sufficient deputie shall thinke the time of his or their imprisonment
to be punishment sufficient for his or their said offences in that behalf;
and that done to enlarge him or them so being imprisoned at their plaine
libertie, without any losse, penaltie, forfeiture, or other danger in this
behalf to be sustained or borne by the said Sir John Ashley or his deputy,
any act, statute, ordinance, or provision heretofore had or made, to the
contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding. Wherefore wee will and
commaund you and every of you, that unto the said Sir John Ashley, or
his sufficient deputie, bearer hereof, in the due execution of this our
authority and commaund, yee be ayding, supporting, and assisting from
time to time as the case shall require, as you and every of you tender our
pleasure, and will answer the contrary at your uttermost perills. In
witness, etc. Given under our signet at our Pallace of Westminster, the
2nd day of May in the 20th yeare of our rayne, etc.
'Ex. R. KIRKHAM.'

406

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i620.

that the Prince's players1 had at one time (the precise date is
not given) presented a petition to King James, in order to be
allowed to erect a playhouse there: a negative was then put
In I62I, William Rowley, the author of several plays, was one of the
Prince's actors, and in that year published some lines on the death of a
fellow actor, who seems to have obtained celebrity, named Hugh Atwell.
They have never been reprinted nor mentioned, and are here given from
a copy, among a number of valuable broadsides on temporary subjects,
in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries.
'For a Funerall Elegie on the Death of Hugh Atwell, Servant to
Prince Charles, this fellow-feeling Farewell: who died the 25th of Sept.
1621.
'So, now Hee's downe, the other side may shout:
But did he not play faire? held he not out
With courage beyond his bone? full sixe yeares
To wrastle and tugge with Death! the strong'st feares
To meet at such a match. They that have seene
How doubtfull Victorie hath stood betweene,
Might wonder at it. Sometimes cunningly
Death gets advantage: by his cheeke and eye
We thought that ours had beene the weaker part,
And straight agen the little mans great heart
Would rouse fresh strength and shake him off awhile:
Death would retire, but never reconcile.
They too't agen, agen; they pull, they tugge,
At last Death gets within, and with a hugge
The faint soule crushes. This thou maist boast, Death,
Th' hast throwne him faire, but he was out of breath.
Refresh thee then (sweet Hugh); on the ground rest:
The worst is past, and now thou hast the best.
Rise with fresh breath, and be assur'd before,
That death shall never wrastle with thee more.
Oh, hadst thou Death (as warres and battels may
Present thee so) a field of noble clay
To entertaine into thy rhewmie cell,
And thou wouldst have it be presented well,
Speake thy oration by this man's toung:
'Mongst living Princes it hath sweetly sung,

I620.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

407

upon the undertaking, in consequence of the certificate of
eleven justices that it would be objectionable. Nevertheless,
it appears that in I62o the King had incautiously granted
permission to 'his servants John Cotton, John Williams and
Thomas Dixon,' (names that do not elsewhere occur) to build
an Amphitheatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields: whether attention
was called to the subject by remonstrances from other parties
is not stated, but on the 29th September 1620, James wrote
to his Privy Council, requiring them to cancel the licence
given, and to cause the Solicitor-General to draw up another
according to certain inclosed instructions. The original, from
which the following was copied, is in the State Paper Office.
'To our right trusty and right welbeloved Cousins and Councellors, William Earle of Pembroke, Chamberlaine of our Household,
and Thomas Earle of Arundell; to our trusty and right welbeloved
Councellor John Lo. Digby, Vice-chamberlen of our Howsehould;
and to our right trusty and welbeloved Councellors, Sir Robert
(While they have sung his praise) but if thy Court
Be silence-tyde and there dwells no report,
Lend it to Life to store another flesh:
We misse it here; wee'l entertain 't afresh.
EPITAPH.
(Here lyes the man (and let no lyars tell)
His heart a Saints, his toung a silver bell:
Friend to his friend he stood: by Death he fell:
He chang'd his Hugh, yet he remains At-well.
'WILL. ROWLEY.'
Hugh Atwell, or Attawel, it will be recollected, was one of' the Children
of her Majesty's Revels' in I609, and played in Ben Jonson's Epicane in
that year. George Attewel was a member of Henslowe's company, and,
perhaps, the father of Hugh Attawell, Attewell, or Atwell. A receipt by
Francis Henslowe of 91., to enable him to purchase a share of the company with which he was playing, is witnessed by William Smyght, George
Attewell, and Robart Nycowlles, Players.

4oS

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I620.

Naunton, Knight, one of our Principall Secretaries of State, Sir
George Calvert, Knight, one other of our Principall Secretaries of
State, and Sir Fulke Grivill, Knight, Chancellor and Under-treasurer
of our Exchequer, or to any fowre of them.
'JAMES R. âRight trusty and right welbeloved Cousins and
Councellors, and right trusty and welbeloved Councellors, wee
greete you well. Whereas at the humble suite of our servants John
Cotton, John Williams and Thomas Dixon, and in recompence of
their services, wee have been pleased to licence them to buyld an
Amphitheater, which hath passed our Signett and is stayed at our
Privy Seale; and finding therein conteyned some such wordes and
clauses, as may, in some constructions, seem to give them greater
liberty, both in the point of buylding and using of exercises, then is
any way to be permitted, or was ever by us intended, Wee have
thought fitt to commaund and give authority unto you, or any fower
of you, to cause that already passed to be cancelled, and to give
order unto our Sollicitor Generall for the drawing up of a new warrant
for our signature to the same parties, according to such directions
and reservations as herewith wee send you. Wherein we are more
particular, both in the affirmative and the negative, to the end that,
as on the one side we would have nothing pass us to remaine upon
record, which either for the forme might not become us, or for the
substance might cross our many Proclamations (pursued with good
successe) for buyldings, or, on the other side, might give them cause
to importune us after they had been at charges, to which end we
wishe that you call them before you, and lett them know our
pleasure and resolution therein. Given under our Signett at our
Honor of Hampton Court, the 29th of September in the eighteenth
yeare of our Raigne of greate Brittaigne, France and Ireland.'
It will be found afterwards, from certain letters which
passed upon this subject early in the reign of the successor of
King James, that no other patent was granted to the parties,
thus summarily deprived of what had been formally conceded.
The Mask of the Metamorphosed Gipsies, by Ben Jonson,

i62.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 409
was played while King James was on progress, twice in the
month of August, at Burleigh on the Hill and at Belvoir, and
a third time at Windsor, in September. The folio of I640
states incorrectly, that all three representations of this highly
approved production were in the month of August. Gifford
asserts, that this is the only MS. piece of Jonson's in existence,
and he had the use of a copy belonging to the late Mr. Heber:
we have already shown that there are two other Masks by the
same author, in his own handwriting, among the Royal MSS.
in the British Museum. On the 26th August I621, James
was at Woodstock, where he saw Barten Haliday's Marriage
of the Arts: it is not to be wondered that the King found
the performance wearisome, and that 'he offered three times
to leave the hall', when it was played there by the Students of
Christchurch.
On the Sunday night preceding the I 5th of December 162 1,
a catastrophe similar to that which had happened to the
Globe on the Bankside, visited the Fortune theatre in Cripplegate: it was burnt to the ground in two hours, and. the
dresses and plays were also consumed. Such particulars as
are known are given in our separate account of that theatre.
It was square and of wood, but it was rebuilt round and of
brick; and it was not completed until I623. At the date of
this misfortune the Elector Palatine's players, who had possession of it, were called the Palsgrave's servants, and they
consisted of the following persons: â'Richard Gunnell,
Francis Grace, Charles Massey, Richard Price or Pryore,
Richard Fowler, Andrew Cane, Curtis Greville,' and some
others. This information is derived from the Office-book of
Sir Henry Herbert, who, in August I623, was formally appointed by Sir John Ashley Deputy Master of the Revels.'
' He seems to have acted in that capacity as early as May I622, and
his Office-book extends back to that date; so that Sir John Ashley never
executed the duties of Master of the Revels in person.

410

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I622.

From that valuable record many of the particulars of the
Annals of the Stage, hereafter to be inserted, will be obtained:
it was long in the hands of Malone, who made ample, but not
full use of the materials.
Some of the actors performed at more than one theatre, as
Cane and Grevill, mentioned in the preceding list of players
at the Fortune, are also stated by Sir H. Herbert to have
been at the same date players at the Phoenix in Drury
Lane,' together with 'Christopher Beeston, Joseph More,
Eliart Swanston, William Shurlock, and Anthony Turner.'
It seems probable that these were younger performers,
and that they were members of the company originally
called the Children of the Queen's Revels. When Eliart
Swanston had attained the proper age, he (as Malone observes)2 joined the King's servants at the Globe and Blackfriars, and is sometimes mentioned as one of the leaders of
the company.
The 'players of the Revels', as they are called by Sir H.
A. D. Herbert (after they had, it seems, lost the name of the
1622. Children of the Revels), acted in 1622, among other
places, at the Red Bull, and consisted of the following performers:-Robert Lee, Richard Perkins, Ellis Worth, Thomas
Basse, John Blaney, John Cumber, and William Robins.3 Sir
1 'Soon after his (Shakespeare's) death, four of the principal companies
then subsisting made a union, and were afterwards called "the United
Companies", but I know not precisely in what this union consisted. I
suspect it arose from a penury of actors, and that the managers contracted to permit the performers in each house occasionally to assist their
brethren in the other theatres in the representation of plays.' Malone's
Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 224. This conjecture is in some degree supported by the fact mentioned above, but we do not know any other distinct
instance of the kind.
2 Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 60.
3These players, under the name of 'the late comedians of Queen Anne,

I622.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

4II

Henry Herbert only professes to give the names of' the chiefe
of them'. The part of the leaf containing the names of the
King's servants, and of those who performed at the Curtain,
who must have been the Prince's servants, had mouldered
away, so that Malone was not able to decypher them. The
deficiency may, however, as far as relates to the King's servants, be supplied from the list of characters prefixed to
Webster's Duchess of Malfi, first printed in 1623, to which
the names of the performers are attached, viz.:-J. Lowin,
J. Taylor, R. Robinson, R. Benfield, J. Underwood, N. Tooley,
J. Rice, T. Pollard, R. Sharpe, J. Thomson, and R. Pallant.
The names of R. Burbadge, H. Condell, and W. Ostler are also
found opposite the parts which were played in 1623 by Taylor,
Robinson, and Benfield, as having acted them when the play
was originally produced;1 but, in 1623, Burbadge, Condell, and
deceased', on the 8th of July 1622, obtained a warrant for a Privy Seal,
licensing them ' to bring up children in the quality and exercise of playing
comedies, histories, interludes, morals, pastorals, stage plays, and such
like, to be called by the name of the Children of the Revels'. This
fact appears from a MS., No. 515, in the Inner Temple Library, supposed to be a copy of part of a Lord Chamberlain of the Household's
Book-in whose time is not stated.
1 Probably about the year I616, but certainly before March I619-20, as
Richard Burbadge died in that month, though mentioned in the patent
of March 27, I619-20. In the Gentleman's Magazine for June 1825, the
late Mr. Haslewood printed an Elegy on the death of R. Burbadge, long
preserved in MS.: and he subsequently met with another copy of the
same production, with the important addition of some lines naming four
of the parts in which Burbadge especially excelled, viz., Hamlet, Hieronimo, Lear, and probably Othello. According to the anonymous author
of it, Burbadge's disorder, which killed him, first attacked his speech, and
he thus adverts to the loss the stage sustained by his decease:(Hee's gone, and with him what a world are dead,
Which he reviv'd, to be revived soe
No more-young Hamlett, old Hieronymoe,

4r2

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I622.

Ostler, the original actors, were either dead or had left the stage:
John Hemmings, who had been a leader of the company, had
also then ceased to perform. Malone states that Hemmings
King Lear, the creuel Moore, and more beside
That lived in him have now for ever dyde.
Oft have I seene him leape into a grave,
Suiting the person which he seem'd to have
Of a sadd lover, with soe true an eye,
That there I would have sworne hee meant to dye.
Oft have I seene him play this parte in jeast
So lively, that spectators, and the rest
Of his sad crew, whilst he but seem'd to bleed,
Amazed thought even then hee dyed indeed.
0, let not me be checkt, and I shall sweare
Even yet it is a false report I heare;
And thinke that he who did soe truly faine
Is still but dead in jeast, to live againe:
But now this part he acts, not playes, 'tis knowne;
Others he plaide but acted hath his owne.
England's great Roscius! for what Roscius
Was unto Rome, than Burbadge was to us?
How did his speech become him, and his pace
Suite with his speech, and every action grace!'
The author thus apostrophises the fellow actors of Burbadge, alluding
to the season when he died:'And you his sad companyons, to whome Lent
Becomes more lenten by this accident,
Henceforth your waving flagg no more hang out,
Play now no more at all: when rounde aboute
Wee looke, and miss the Atlas of your spheare,
What comfort have wee, think you, to be there,
And how can you delight in playing, when
Such mourning soe affecteth other men? '
It consists in the whole of eighty-six lines, and ends thus:'And thou, deare earth, that must enshrine that dust
By heaven now committed to thy trust,
Keepe it as pretious as the richest mine,
That lyes intomb'd in the rich wombe of thine,

_:!:~A

1622.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

413

'continued chief director of the King's company of comedians
to the time of his death.'1 Of the members of the company
called the Prince's servants, performing at the Curtain, we
have no precise information. These five companies, the King's
servants, the Prince's servants, the Palsgrave servants, the
Children of the Queen's Revels (afterwards called the Queen
of Bohemia's servants), and the players of the Revels, seem
to have been the principal bodies of actors in London, when
Sir H. Herbert first came into office as deputy to Sir John
Ashley. Sir H. Herbert mentions also, under date of September I623, 'a company of strangers' performing at the
Red Bull, who did not (he adds) form one of 'the four comThat after times may know that much lov'd mould
Fro others dust, and cherrish it as gold:
On it be laide some soft, but lasting stone,
With this short epitaph endorst theron,
That every one may reade, and reading weepe,
'Tis England's Roscius, Burbadg, that I keefe.'
Middleton, the dramatist (according to a MS. in the possession of the
late Mr. Heber), wrote an epigram on the death of Burbadge, which
shows that he was a proficient in painting as well as playing; and we
feel confident that some of the portraits at Dulwich, which had belonged
to Alleyn, were executed by Burbadge: a female head was very much in
the style of the portrait of Shakespeare formerly in the possession of
Mr. Nicholl of Pall Mall, but the eyes have been repainted and spoiled.
Middleton's lines on the death of Burbadge were these:'On the Death of that great Mr. in his art and quality (painting and
playing), R. Burbage'Astronomers and Stargazers this year
Write but of foure Eclipses-five appeare:
Death interposing Burbage, and their staying
Hath made a visible Eclipse of playing.'
THO. MIDDLETON.
'On the ioth of October I630. Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell,
iii, I90. He was buried on the i2th, having made his will on the 9th of
October.

4I4

ANNALS OF THlE STAGE.

[I622.

panies.' These four companies are elsewhere called 'the
united companies'; but Herbert has not pointed out which
of the five companies, above enumerated, was not included
in the union.
Thus, notwithstanding the patronage given to theatrical
performances by the King and Court, in the twenty years
between the death of Elizabeth and the entrance of Sir H.
Herbert into office, both the number of theatres, and the
number of performers had undergone a considerable reduction
-a circumstance for which it will not be very easy to account,
unless we take into consideration the growth of puritanical
opinions, which might materially diminish the visitors to
the playhouses, and, consequently, render the occupation
of an actor much less profitable. Regarding the want of
public encouragement to theatrical performances, at this date,
a passage in point may be quoted from a tract published
at the very commencement of the year I623,1 where the author
is speaking of plays and players. 'I should here (he says)
unlock the casket of my knowledge (having well nigh forgot),
and lay open some rarities concerning players; but, because
the commonwealth affords them not their due desert, and for
they are men of some parts, and live not like lazy drones, but
are still in action, I am content silently to refer them to three
sublunary felicities, which are these,-a fair day, a good play,
and a gallant audience; and so let them shift for their lives.'
Besides his dramatic performers, Prince Charles retained a
company of musicians in his pay, and one of them, Thomas
Lupo, was allowed a salary of 40/. a-year. Having 'by casual
means fallen into decay', he presented a petition to his royal
master to obtain an advance of 301/. 'to satisfy his creditors':
Vox Graculi, a pretended prognostication, published at the beginning
of i623, p. 48. It was probably by Dekker.

]622.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

415

the prayer was complied with,' and, thus encouraged, on 17th
of May 1622, he obtained a farther advance of 201.
The Mask on Twelfth-night I621-2, was, as usual, by Ben
Jonson: it was called The Mask of Auguzrs, and was only
once represented until the 6th of May 1622, when it was
repeated.
That Sir George Buc kept an account of plays licensed by
him, and of such as were represented at Court, is evident
from the office-book of Sir Henry Herbert, where it is quoted
and referred to: in all probability, Edmund Tylney had set
him the example in this respect, and the loss of these documents must be deeply deplored:2 had they been preserved,
1 See Harleian MSS. No. 781, consisting of petitions to the Prince of
Wales.
2 The entries in the Stationers' Books of plays for publication can
only form a very imperfect guide as to the number licensed by the
Master of the Revels, inasmuch as many may have been, and were, acted
which were not printed, and some perhaps were printed to which the
sanction of. the Master of the Revels had not been previously required.
The following list of plays, licensed by Sir Geo. Buc, was made out by
Chalmers from the Stationers' Company's registers; and though necessarily very incomplete, it may be worth subjoining, as it conveys some
information on the point. If Chalmers be correct, and we think he was,
Sir George Buc had acted as deputy to Tylney some years before the
death of the latter. Vide Supp. Apol., p. 200.
I606.
6 May. The Fleire, provided authority be got.
21 Nov. By assignment, a comedie called The Fleire.
1607.
io April. The Tragicall Life and Death of Claudius Tiberius Nero.
20 April. The Whore of Babylon.
22 April. The Faire Mayde of the Exchange.
9 May. The Phoenix.
15 May. A comedy called Mychaelnas Terme.
20 May. The Woman Hater, as it hath been lately acted by the Children of Powles.
3 June. The Tragedy of Busye Damboise, made by George Chapman.

4I6

ANNALS OF TIlE STAGE.

[I622.

they would have thrown the strongest and the clearest light
on the history of our stage; and, among other. matters, would
probably have fixed the dates and order of Shakespeare's
29 June. The Travelles of the Three English Brothers, as it was played
at the Curten.
31 July. A Tragedye, The Miserye of Enforced Marriage.
6 Aug. The Comedye of The Puritan Widow.
Northward Ho.
6 Aug. A Comedy called Whatyou Will.
7 Oct. Twoo plaies:-The Revengers Tragedie, a Trick to catch the
Old one.
12 Oct. A playe, called The Family of Love, as it hath beene lately
acted by the Children of his Majesty's Revels.
x6 Oct. The Tragedie of Alexander the Sixt, as it was played before
his Majesty.
22 Oct. A plai, The Merry Devil of Edmonton.
26 Nov. Mr. Willm Shakespeare his Historie of Kinge Leare, as it was
played before the King's Majestie at Whitehall, upon St.
Stephen's night at Xmas last, by his Majesty's servants,
playing usually at the Globe on the Bankside.
1607-8.
22 Mar. The Fyve Wittie Gallants, as it hath been acted by the children of the Chapell.
28 Mar. A most witty and merry conceited comedy called Who would
have thought it, or Lawtryks.
12 April. A. B. Humour out of Breathe.
21 April. The characters of twoo Royal Maskes, invented by Ben Jonson.
29 April. The 2d pte of The Convicted Courtesan, or Honest Whore.
20 May. The Booke of Pericles, Prynce of Tyre.
Anthony and Cleopatra.
3 June. A Romane Tragedie called The Rape of Lucrece.
5 June. The Conspiracy and Tragedie of Charles Duke of Byronn.
Written by George Chapman.
6 Oct. A playe of The Dumbe Knight.
I619.
Io July. The Temple Maske. Ann. I618.
I621.
6 Oct. The Tragedie of Othello.

I623.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 417
plays: the sums paid for licensing them, before they were
performed, would have decided the point without doubt or
controversy.' The poignancy of regret is not diminished by
Here we have a hiatus from the 6th of October I6o8, to July I619,
during which interval we find nothing of the plays licensed. With reference to Chapman's Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron,
although printed in I608, at least one part of the performance was written
in 1602; and in Henslowe's Diary, there are entries of materials bought
for making dresses for the hero: 51. were spent upon a suit of black
satin, most likely for the Tragedy, which may have been brought out
before the Conspiracy. It has been hitherto supposed, that the plays
were written about the date when they were printed.
1 The utility of Sir H. Herbert's office-book in this respect may be
illustrated with reference to the works of Beaumont and Fletcher: on
this authority Malone was able decisively to establish, that Beaumont
had no share in the production of the following pieces, some of which are
attributed, in the folio of their works in 1647, to their joint authorship.
The dates are'ascertained by the same document.
16i8. The Loyal Subject.
162I. The Island Princess.
The Wild Goose Chase.
The Pilgrim.
1622. The Beggar's Bush.
14 May. The Prophetess.
22 June. The Sea Voyage.
24 Oct. The Spanish Curate.
1623.
29 Aug. The Mlaid of the Mill (assisted by Rowley).
17 Oct. The Devil of Dowgate (this piece is lost).
6 Dec. The Wandering Lovers (also lost).
1624.
27 May. A Wifefor a Month.
19 Oct. Rule a Wife and Have a Wife.
1625-6.
22 Jan. Fair Maid of the Inn.
3 Feb. The Noble Gentleman.
Beaumont died in March 1615-16; and if Fletcher died in 1625, as is
commonly believed, his last two plays were not brought out until after
VOL. I. EE
&gt;.. * of - X 0 *;- X a-,., - h t. D, f,.:;t o &gt; * - &lt; _ s * r

418

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1623.

the full, though scattered, and sometimes incoherent nature of
the information in the MS. of Sir H. Herbert, which only
commences in the year 1622: it shows what Tylney's and
Buc's registers might have furnished, had they been preserved.
Sir John Ashley, as has been stated, came into office in May
1622, and Sir H. Herbert, his deputy, has left us the following
account of
' Revells and Playes, performed and acted at Christmas in the
Court at Whitehall, 1622-3.
'Upon St. Steeven's daye at night The Spanish Curate was acted
by the King's players.
'Upon St. John's daye at night was acted The Beggars Bush by the
King's players.
'Upon Childemas daye no playe.
'Upon the Sonday following The Pilgrim was acted by the King's
players.
'Upon New-yeare's day at night The Alchemist was acted by the
King's players.
'Upon Twelfe night, the Masque being put off, the play called A
Vowe and a Good One was acted by the Prince's servants.
'Upon Sonday, being the g9th of January, the Prince's Masque,
appointed for Twelfe-day, was performed; the speeches and songs
composed by Mr. Ben Jonson,1 and the scene made by Mr. Inigo
his demise. To this catalogue are to be added, The Tamer Tamed, and
The Mad Lover, the precise dates of which are not fixed. In the three
years I622, 1623, 1624, he wrote nine plays; and if he had proceeded at
the same rate since the death of Beaumont, the latter, as Malone observes, must have had a much less share in what are considered the
works of Beaumont and Fletcher, than is generally imagined.
1 The title of it was Time vindicated to himself and to his Honours.
Gifford, quoting this passage as he found it given by Malone, speaks of
it as taken from the Dulwici College MS. There is no such MS. in
Dulwich College, and it never was deposited there: unluckily, it does
not at all follow, that because a MS. is not found in Dulwich College

I'623.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

419

Jones, which was, three times changed during the tyme of the
Masque: where, in the first that was discovered, was a prospective of
Whitehall, with the banquetting-house: the second was the Masquers
in a cloud; and the third in a forest. The French Ambassador was
present: the Antemasques of tumblers and jugglers.
'The Prince did lead the measures with the ambassador's wife.
'The measures, braules, corrantos, and galliards being ended, the
Masquers with the ladies did daunce two countrey daunces, namely,
the Soldiers Marche and Huff Hanakin, where the French ambassador's wife, and Mademoysala St. Luke did daunce.
'At Candlemas Malvolio was acted at Court by the King's servants.
'At Shrovetide, the King being at Newmarket, and the Prince out
of England, there was neither Masque nor play, nor any other kind
of Revels held at Court.'
The Mask here spoken of, as having been 'put off', on
Twelfth-night, was Ben Jonson's Time Vindicated, which the
folio of 1640 (where it was first published) states to have been
presented on Twelfth-night. Why it was then, in fact, postponed is not explained.
A dreadful accident happened in a house adjoining the
Blackfriars Theatre, on the 26th of October 1623. A. D.
Camden, in his Annals, says, that the theatre itself I623.
fell down, and that eighty-one spectators were killed; but he
was misinformed upon this point: the catastrophe occurred
in a large upper room, of what was formerly the residence of
Lord Hunsdon, but then occupied by the French ambassador,
whose lady had danced at Court the preceding Christmas.
The fact was (as appears from Howes, the continuator of
Stowe, and other authorities) that on the occasion in question
about three hundred persons had assembled to hear a sermon
from a Roman Catholic preacher of the name of Drury, when
now, that it never was there. It is a great piece of good fortune that
Henslowe's Diary, mutilated as it has been, found its way back to its
original depository: it was printed by the Shakespeare Society in 1845.
E E 2,.. ', ' l- v '; *. 6, v

420 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I623.
the floor gave way, and about eighty persons were killed, and
as many more had their limbs broken, or were otherwise
injured. Among the Harleian MSS. is a particular 'description of that wonderful slaughter of people that was in the
Blackfryers 1623', which begins thus, giving the precise time
and locality: 'On Sunday (the 26th Octob. 1623, stilo vet:
the 5 of Novemb. stilo novo) in the afternoone about three of
the clocke, in a large garret, being the third and uppermost
storie of an highe edifice of stone and bricke, at the entring
into the French Ambassadors House, and within the precinct
of Black-fryers, London,' etc. A pamphlet, mentioned by
Malone, was published just afterwards, called 'A Word of
Comfort, or a Discourse concerning the late lamentable accident'; but he was not acquainted with a broad-side of fourteen seven-line stanzas, by Math. Rhodes, called ' The Dismal
Day at the Blackfryers', where a detail of the sad event is
given in what was meant for impressive verse.1
1 The full title of this performance,' Imprinted at London, by G. Eld.,
1623', is the following:'The dismall Day at the Black Fryers. Or a deploreable Elegie on
the death of almost an Hundred Persons, who were lamentably slaine by
the fall of a House in the Blacke Fryers, being all assembled there (after
the manner of their Devotions) to heare a Sermon on Sunday Night, the
26th of October last past, An. 1623.' It opens, thus:'From the vast chaos of distempred Mindes
My Muse doth flutter forth her moystned wings,
Upheld with gusts and gales of sighing windes
In this sad Swan-like Elegie she sings;
For inbred griefes her heart so nearly stings,
That from thee (gentle Reader) we must borrow
Some teares of pity in such theames of sorrow.
'Oh grave Melpomine, assist my pen,
Whilst I in dolefull manner doe recite
The heavy death of neere an hundred men,

I624.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

421

The following are the particulars supplied, by Sir H.
Herbert, concerning plays and masks performed at Court
in 1623 and I624:Whose tragicke ends my soule doth much affright,
With fearfull horror of that dismall night.
Ah fatall Vesper! whose like hath not beene
Since the Sicilian Vespers ever seene.'
It then relates that Drury, a Jesuit, was in the act of preaching when
the floor fell, and the disaster occurred, which is thus described:'And when the upper floore, that first did breake,
Fals on the second, where they hop't to stay,
Yet on the sudden, ere a man could speake,
They on the ground all bruizd and smothered lay;
Some stifled up with lome, stones, dust, and clay:
And some for help and succour loudly calling,
All broken, bruizd, and mangled in their falling.'
The last stanza runs thus piously:
'O Lord! defend thy church and common-weale,
Maintaine thy Gospell free in this our land,
And since to us thy Truth thou dost reveale,
In zeale unto it let us ever stand:
Protect our King still from his Enemies hand;
And when we must resign our vitall breath
Save us (O Lord) from strange and sudden death.'
'MATH. RHODES.'
The original is in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries. In
1625 was published a Latin poem on the same incident: it was by
Richard Horde of Cambridge, with a cut of the catastrophe, people
falling among beams and ruins.
The following two registrations of death are from the books of St.
Anne, Blackfriars: possibly, the only Protestants killed there.-' Dorothy,
wife to Matthew Sommers (she was slain at a Priest's Sermon), buried
28 Oct. I623. Mary Clement, waiting-woman to the said Dorothy, slain
with her mistress, buried 28 Oct. 1623.'

422

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I624.

'Note of such playes as were acted at Court in I623 and I624.
' Upon Michaelmas night at Hampton Court, The Mayd of the Mill
by the K[ing's] company.
'Upon Allhollows night at St. James, the Prince being there only,
The Mayd of the Mill againe, with reformations.
'Upon the 5th of November at Whitehall, the Prince being there
only, The Gipsye, by the Cockpit company.
'Upon St. Stevens daye, the King and Prince being there, The
Mayd of the Mill, by the K. company. At Whitehall.
' Upon St. Johns night, the Prince only being there, The Bondman,'
by the Queenes2 company. At Whitehall.
'Upon Innocents night, falling out upon a Sonday, The Buck is the
Thief, the King and Prince being there. By the Kings company.
At Whitehall.
'Upon New-yeares night, by the K. company, The Wandering
Lovers, the Prince only being there. At Whitehall.
'Upon the Sonday after, beinge the 4th of Jany I623, by the
Queene of Bohemias company, The Changelinge, the Prince only
being there. At Whitehall.
'Upon Twelfe night, the Maske being put off, More Dissemblers
Malone made out a list of the periods of licensing all Massinger's
plays, from The Bondman, on Dec. 3, I623, to The Fair Anchoress of
Pausilifp5o, on Jan. 26, I639-40-twenty-four in number; but as Gifford
availed himself of the materials thus furnished in his edition of Massinger's Works, 1821, it is unnecessary to repeat them here.
2 It was Malone's conjecture, that 'the Queenes Company' here mentioned was the Queen of Bohemia's company, as Queen Anne died in i6I9.
See Gifford's Massinger, ii, 122. According to the list prefixed to The Renegado, 'often acted by the Queens Majesty's servants at the private playhouse in Drury Lane,' and first produced on April 17, 1624, the following
were some of the performers at that date at the Cockpit:-'John Blanye,
John Sumner, Mich. Bowyer, Will Reignalds, Will. Allen, Will. Robins,
Ed. Shakerley, Ed. Rogers, Theo. Bourne.
Sir H. Herbert speaks of the Queen's company, which played at the
Cockpit, and of the Queen of Bohemia's company, at the same date and
as distinct associations of actors. We may reasonably doubt it.

I624.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

423

besides Women, by the Kings company, the Prince only being there.
At Whitehall.
'To the Duchess of Richmond, in the King's absence, was given
the Winters Tale, by the K. company, the i8th Jan. I623.1 At
Whitehall.
'Upon Allhollows night 1624, the King being at Royston, no play.
'The night after my Lord Chamberlain had Rule a Wife and Have
a Wife, for the ladys, by the Kings company.
'Upon St. Steevens night, the Prince only being there, Rule a
Wife and Have a Wzfe: by the Kings company. At Whitehall.
'Upon St. Johns night, and the Duke of Brunswick being
there, The Fox, by the. At Whitehall.
'Upon Innocents night, the and the Duke of Brunswyck
being there, Cupid's Revenge, by the Queene of Bohemias Servants.
At Whitehall. 624.
'Upon New-years night, the Prince only being there, the First part
of Sir john Falstaf, by the King's company. At Whitehall. 1624.
'Upon Twelve night, the Masque being put off and the Prince
only there, Tu Quoque, by the Queene of Bohemias servants. At
Whitehall. 1624.
'Upon Sonday night following, being the 9th of January, 1624, the
Masque was performed.
'On Candlemas night, the 2 of February, no play, the King being
at Newmarket.
The Mask noticed in the preceding extracts was Ben
Jonson's Neptune's Triumpk. The folio of 1640 is again in
error in stating that it was celebrated on Twelfth night, and
'The Winter's Tale had been revived in the August preceding, as
appears by the following entry in Sir H. Herbert's MS.:'For the Kings players. An olde playe called Winters Tale, formerly
allowed of by Sir George Bucke, and likewyse by mee on Mr. Heminges
his worde, that there was nothing profane added or reformed, though the
allowed booke was missinge; and therefore I returned it without a fee,
this 19 of August 1623.'

424 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [I624.
Gifford did not correct it. Sir H, Herbert enters twenty
plays, as licensed by him in the year I623; the names and
other particulars regarding which, as copied by Chalmers, are
added below.' Malone states, that on the Ioth April 1624,
Sufiplemental Apology, p. 213. It will be remarked, that Chalmers
omits to notice the revival of the Winter's Tale in August 1623, mentioned in a previous note.
1623.
Io May. A new Play called The Blacke Ladye was allowed to be acted
by the Lady Elizabeth's servants;
A new Play called The Witch Traveller was allowed to be
acted by the players of the Revels.
3 June. A new Play called The Valiant Scholler was allowed to be
acted by the Lady Elizabeth's servants.
io June. A new Play called The Duche Painter, and the French Branke
[q. Braule] was allowed to be acted by the Prince's servants
at the Curtayne.
27 July. For the Palsgraves Players, a French tragedy of Richard the
Third or the English Profit, with the Reformation, written
by Samuel Rowley.
30 July. For the Princes Players, a French tragedy of The Bellman of
Paris, written by Thomas Dekkirs and John Day for the
company of the Red Bull.
Aug. For the Company of the Curtain, a Tragedy of The Plantation
of Virginia-the profaneness to be left out, otherwise not
tolerated.
I9 Aug. For the Princes Servants of the Red Bull, an oulde Play called
The peaceable King, or the Lord Mendall, which was formerly allowed by Sir George Bucke, and likewise by me.
1623.
21 Aug. For the Lady Elizabeth's Servants of the Cockpit, an old Play
called Match me in London, which had been formerly
allowed by Sir George Bucke.
29 Aug. For the Kings Players, a new Comedy called The Maid of the
Mill, written by Fletcher and Rowley.
12 Sept. For the Lady Elizabeth's Players, a new Comedy called The
Cra...... Marchant, or Come to my Counrtrey House, written
by William Bonen. It was acted at the Red Bull, and

1624.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

425

Sir Henry Herbert licensed a play by Davenport, called The
History of Henry the First; but it does not appear among the
extracts made by Chalmers from the MS. Office-book of the
Deputy Master of the Revels, showing the number and names
of the plays allowed by him in the year 1624.1
licenced without my hand to it, because they were none of
the four Companys.
18 Sept. For a Company of Strangers, a new Comedy called Come see a
Wonder, written by John Daye.
2 Oct. For the Princes Companye, a new Comedye called A Fault in
Friendship, written by Young Johnson and Broome.
17 Oct. For the Kings Company, an old Play called More Dissemblers
besides Women, allowed by Sir George Bucke; and being
free from alterations was allowed- by me for a new Play
called The Devil of Dowgate or Usury fut to Use, written
by Fletcher.
29 Oct. For the Palsgraves Players, a new Comedy called Hardshift
for Husbands, or Bilboes the best Blade, written by Samuel
Rowley.
19 Nov. For the Palsgraves Players, a new Tragedy called Two Kings
in a Cottage, written by Bonen.
28 Nov. For a strange Company at the Red Bull, The Fayrefowle one,
or the Bayting of the iealous Knight, written by Smith.
1623.
3 Dec. For the Queen of Bohemias Company, The Noble Bondman,
written by Philip Messenger, gent.
4 Dec. For the Palsgraves Players, The Hungarian Lion, written by
Gunnell.
6 Dec. For the Kings Company, The Wandring Lovers, written by
Mr. Fletcher.
Suippl. Apol., p. 217. They are these:1624.
2 Jan. For the Palsgraves Company The History of the Dutchess of
Suffolk; which being full of dangerous matter was much
reformed by me: I had two pounds for my pains. Written
by Mr. Drew.
l; - * - - *;' * ' *'; - *.** ' * * ** * is

426

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I624.

There is another omission of importance in this list: it
relates to a play by Thomas Middleton, called A Game of
6 Jan. For the Prince's Company, The Four Sons of Amon; being an
old Play, and not of a legible hand.
26 Jan. For the Palsgraves Company: A Tragedy called The Whore
in Grain.
3 Mar. For the Cockpit Company, The Sun's Darling; in the nature
of a Masque, by Deker and Forde.
6 April. For the Fortune: a new Comedy called A Match or no Match.
Written by Mr. Rowleye.
17 April. For the Fortune: The Way to content all Women, or How a
Man may please his Wife. Written by Mr. Gunnell.
For the Cockpit: The Renegado, or the Gentleman of Venice.
Written by Messinger.
3 May. For the Princes Company: a new Play called The Madcap.
Written by Barnes.
An old Play called Jugurth, King of Numidia, formerly
allowed by Sir George Bucke.
I 5 May. The Tragedy of Nero was allowed to be printed.
21 May. For the Palsgraves Company: a Play called Humour in the
End.
27 May. For the King's Company: a Comedy called A Wife for a
Month. Written by Fletcher.
For the Princes Company: a Play called The Parracide.
I June. A new Play called The Fairy Knight. Written by Forde and
Dekker.
3 Sept. For the Cockpit Company: a new Play called The Captive, or
the Lost recovered. Written.by Hayward.
A new Tragedy called A late Murther of the Son upon the
Mother. Written by Forde and Webster.
15 Sept. For the Palsgraves Company: a Tragedy called The Fair Star
of Antwerp.
14 Oct. For the Cockpit Company: a new Play called The City Night
Cap. Written by Davenport.
15 Oct. For the Palsgraves Company: a new Play called The Angell
King.
22 Oct, For the Palsgraves Company: a new Play called The Bristowe
Merchant. Written by Forde and Decker.::...:...

1624.]1

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

427

Chess, which, prior to the i2th of August 1624 (having been
licenced by Sir H. Herbert) was performed at the Globe with
extraordinary success.l In a copy of the play (of which
there were at least two editions without date, and a third in
1625), in the possession of Major Pearson, was written, in an old
hand, the information that it was performed nine days in succession, and that the company took at the doors of the theatre
more than I500/.2 The amount must certainly have been
exaggerated, but the fact of the nine repetitions is very likely
correct: after this remarkable run, the performance was suddenly stopped by authority, and the conduct of Sir H.
Herbert in licensing the play called in question, which may
account for the non-insertion of any notice of it in his officebook. The most minute and accurate information upon this
topic is contained in the registers of the Privy Council,3
where the correspondence between that body and Secretary
Conway is inserted at length. Hence we learn that King
James, being at Rufford, received information from the
Spanish Ambassador, that a play was in course of performance at the Globe, which brought upon the stage the
3 Nov. For the Cockpit Company: a new Play called The Parliament
of Love. Written by Massinger.
For the Palsgraves Company: a new Play called The Masque.
The Masque book was allowed of for the press, and was
brought me by Mr. Jon [q. Jonson] the 29th December
I624.
' Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell, ii, 437) states that Middleton's
Game of Chess was first acted in 1625, by the King's servants, at the
Globe, but he was mistaken in the date.
2 Chalmers, Apology, p. 500.
8 The only inaccuracy in them seems to be calling Thomas Middleton,
Edward: there was no dramatic poet of that day of the name of Edward
Middleton. The printed copies all purport to have been written by Thomas
Middleton.

428

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[ 624.

King his master, Count Gondomar, the Bishop of Spalato
and others connected with the Court of Spain; and on the
I2th of August I624, Secretary Conway (after complaining
that the first intelligence upon the subject was not derived
from some of the English ministers, and after referring
to a former order, of which we have no other information, against bringing 'any modern Christian Kings' upon
the stage) directed the Privy Council to call before it the
author and players.' Immediate steps were no doubt
taken for the purpose, but it was not until the 2Ist August
that it was certified to the Secretary from the Privy Council,
'The whole of the letter on this important incident is set out in the
Register of the Privy Council in the following terms:' May it please your Lordships-His Majesty hath received information
from the Spanish Ambassador of a very scandalous comedy acted publicly by the King's players, wherein they take the boldness, and presumption, in a rude, and dishonorable fashion, to represent on the stage the
persons of his Majesty the King of Spain, the Conde de Gondomar, the
Bishop of Spalato, &amp;c. His Majesty remembers well, there was a commandment and restraint given against the representing of any modern
Christian Kings in those stage plays; and wonders much at the boldness
now taken by that company, and also that it hath been permitted to be
so acted, and that the first notice thereof should be brought to him by a
foreign Ambassador, while so many ministers of his own are there abouts,
and cannot but have heard of it. His Majesty's pleasure is, that your
Lordships presently call before you, as well the poet that made the
comedy, as the comedians that acted it; and, upon examination of them,
to commit them, or such of them as you shall find most faulty, unto
prison: if you find cause, or otherwise take security for their forthcoming,
and then certify his Majesty, what you find that comedy to be, in what
points it is most offensive, by whom it was made, by whom licenced, and
what course you think fittest to be held for the exemplary and severe
punishment of the present offenders, and to restrain such insolent and
licentious presumption for the future.
'This is the charge I have received from his Majesty, and with it I
make bold to offer to your Lordships the humble service of, &amp;c.
'From Rufford, Aug. 12th, 1624.'

1624.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

429

that the players had been summoned and reproved, and the
piece, which, however, bore the name of the Master of the
Revels to the licence, forbidden.'. Middleton, the author,
1 The following was the reply of the Privy Council:-'After our hearty
commendations, &amp;c.-According to His Majesty's pleasure, signified to
this board by your letter of the i2th August, touching the suppression of
a scandalous comedy acted by the King's players, we have called before
us some of the principal actors, and demanded of them by what license
and authority they have presumed to act the same; in answer whereto
they produced a book, being an original and perfect copy thereof (as they
affirmed) seen and allowed by Sir Henry Herbert Knt., Master of the
Revells, under his own hand, and subscribed in the last page of the said
book: We demanding further, whether there were not other parts or
passages represented on the stage, than those expressly contained in the
book, they confidently protested, they added, or varied from the same,
nothing at all. The poet, they tell us, is one Middleton, who shifting out
of the way, and not attending the board with the rest, as was expected,
we have given warrant to a messenger for the apprehending of him. To
those that were before us we gave a sound and sharp reproof; making
them sensible of his Majesty's high displeasure herein, giving them
straight charge and commands, that they presumed not to act the said
comedy any more, nor that they suffered any play or interlude whatsoever to be acted by them, or any of their company, until his Majesty's
pleasure be further known. We have caused them likewise to enter into
bond for their attendance upon the board whensoever they shall be
called. As for our certifying to his Majesty (as was intimated by your
letter) what passages in the said comedy we should find to be offensive
and scandalous, we have thought it our duties, for his Majesty's clearer
information, to send herewithal the book itself, subscribed as aforesaid
by the Master of the Revels, that so either yourself, or some other, whom
his Majesty shall appoint to peruse the same, may see the passages
themselves out of the original, and call Sir Henry Herbert before you, to
know a reason of his licensing thereof, who (as we are given to understand) is now attending at Court. So having done as much as we conceived agreeable to our duties, in conformity to his Majesty's royal commandments, and that which we hope shall give him- full satisfaction, we
shall continue our humble prayers to Almighty God for his health and
safety, and bid you very heartily farewell.
2 st August 1624.'

43o

ANNALS OF TH-FE STAGE.

[I624.

had 'shifted out of the way'; but a warrant having been
issued for his apprehension, on the 3oth August he tendered
his appearance, and his 'indemnity' was registered.' The
reason why no punishment was inflicted, either upon the
players or poet, was perhaps that they had acted the piece
under the authority of the Master of the Revels; and in a
letter from Woodstock, of the 27th August, Secretary Conway
stated the King's unwillingness, for the fault of one person,
'to make the innocent suffer, and ruin the company.2 This
was after the play itself, as licensed by Sir H. Herbert, had
been sent down to the King for perusal; but whether any
and what punishment was inflicted upon the Master of the
Revels does not appear: we only know, that he continued to
discharge the duties of his situation as usual.
The dates of Howel's Familiar Letters have frequently
been found incorrect, or we might conclude that the previous
1 In the following form:-' This day (3oth Aug. i624) Edward [Thomas]
Middleton, of London, gent., being formerly sent for by warrant from
this board, tendered his appearance, wherefore his indemnity is here
entered into the register of council causes: nevertheless he is enjoined to
attend the board, till he be discharged by order of their Lordships.'
2 This communication was as follows:-' Right Honorable,-His
Majesty having received satisfaction in your Lordships endeavors, and
in the signification thereof to him by your's of -the 2Ist of this present,
hath commanded me to signify the same to you. And to add further.
that his pleasure is, that your Lordships examine, by whose direction,
and application, the personating of Gondomar, and others was done; and
that being found out, the party or parties to be severely punished. His
Majesty being unwilling for one's sake, and only fault, to punish the
innocent, or utterly to ruin the company. The discovery on what party
his Majesty's justice is properly, and duly, to fall, and your execution of
it, and the account to be returned thereof, his Majesty leaves to your
Lordships wisdom and care. And this being that I have in charge, continuing the humble offer of my service and duty to the attendance of your
commandments, &amp;c. From Woodstock, the 27th August I624.'

i624.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

43I

order, referred to in Secretary Conway's first communication
to the Privy Council, against representing 'any modern Christian Kings' in plays, had arisen out of some earlier representation of the same kind, in which Gondomar also formed a
character. Howel writes thus from Madrid on the 15th of
August 1623:-'I am sorry to hear how other nations do
much tax the English of their incivility to public Ministers of
State, and what ballads and pasquils and fopperies and plays
were made against Gondomar for doing his Master's business.'
If the letter containing this paragraph be genuine, and refer
to Middleton's Game of Chess, it must have been written
subsequent to August 1624, in order to give time for the
tidings regarding the nature of the play to reach Spain. The
fact is, that Prince Charles returned from Spain, after breaking off the match with the Infanta, late in the autumn of
I623; and to take advantage of the popular feeling upon this
question, Middleton's play was probably written in the succeeding spring, and certainly acted at the Globe in the
summer.1
This was the last transaction of the reign of James I conThe following official letter, only recently discovered, may be said to
close up the whole affair, which occasioned no little stir in the theatrical
world of that day. The original is in the library of F. Ouvry, Esq.,
late President of the Society of Antiquaries.
Indorsed 27th August I624 âA letter to the Lords of the Counsell
from my Lord Chamberlain about the Players.'
Addressed-'To the right hon'ble my very good Lord, the Lord
Viscount Maundeville, Lord President of his Majestys most hon'ble
Privy Counsell, theis.
'MY VERY GOOD LORD-Complaynt being made unto his Majesty
against the Company of his comedians, for acting publiquely a Play
knowne by the name of a Game at Chesse, contayning some passages in it
reflecting in matter of scorne and ignominy upon the King of Spaine,
some of his Ministers, and others of good note and quality, his Majesty
out of the tender regard hee had of that King's honor and those of his

432 ANNALS OF TIHE STAGE. [1624.
nected with the drama, excepting the performance of Ben
Jonson's mask of Pan's Anniversary. The date of this piece
has not been precisely ascertained, but it is marked 1625, and
Ministers who were conceived to bee wounded thereby, caused his letters
to be addressed to my Lords and the rest of his most hon'ble Privy
Council, thereby requiring them to convent those his Comedians before
them, and to take such course with them for this offence as might give
best satisfaction to the Spanish Ambassador and to their owne Honnors.
After examination that hon'ble Board thought fitt not onely to interdict
them playing of that play, but of any other also, untill his Majesty should
give way unto them. And for their obedience hereunto they weare
bound in 3ooli. bondes. Which punishment when they had suffered (as
his Majesty conceives) a competent tyme, upon their petition delivered
heere unto him, it pleased his Majesty to comaund mee to lett your
Lordship understand (which I pray your Lordship to impart to the rest
of that hon'ble Board) that his Majesty now conceives the punishment, if
not satisfactory for that their insolency, yet such as, since it stopps the
current of their poore livelyhood and maintenance, without much prejudice they cannot longer undergoe. In consideration, therefore, of those
his poore servants, his Majesty would haue their Lordships connive at
any common play lycensed by authority, that they shall act as before.
As for this of The Game at Chesse, that it bee not onely antiquated and
sylenced, but the Players bound as formerly they weare, and in that
point onely never to act it agayne. Yet notwithstanding that my Lords
proceed in their disquisition to fynd out the originall roote of this offence,
whether it sprang from the Poet, Players, or both, and to certify his
Majesty accordingly. And so desiring your Lordship to take this into
your consideration, and them unto your care I rest.' (27th August 1624.)
gG~ // / /af /
ovie And By
Co^;^ ^ y t./..

I624.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

433

it was most likely represented at Christmas i624-5. The reign
of James, as regards dramatic performances, may be closed by
the subsequent extract of a letter, dated 8th of January 1624-5,
from Sir Dudley Carlton's constant, and usually accurate,
correspondent, John Chamberlain:' The King kept his chamber all this Christmas, not coming once
to the chapel, nor to any of the plays; only in fair weather he looked
abroad in his litter to see some flights at the brook. The Duke of
Brunswick went hence on New-year's day, after he had tarried just a
week, and performed many visits to almost all the great Lords and
Ladies, as to the Lord of Canterbury, the Lord Keeper and the rest,
not omitting Mrs. Bruce, nor the stage at Blackfriars.'
Sir Dudley Carlton was, at this date, in the Low Countries,
and relied upon Chamberlain, in the default of newspapers, to
keep him well informed regarding public and private transactions in England.

VOL. I.

F F

ANNALS OF THE STAGE,
FROM THE YEAR I625 TO THE YEAR I635.
CHARLES succeeded his father on the 27th of March I625:
Parliament was assembled on the I8th of June fol- A. D.
lowing, and the first statute passed was directed 1625.
against the performance of interludes and common plays on
Sunday. The clause of the Act is thus worded:-' That from
and after forty days, next after the end of this Session of
Parliament, there shall be no meetings, assemblies, or concourse of people out of their own parishes on the Lord's day
within this realm, or any of the dominions thereof, for any
sports or pastimes whatsoever, nor any bear-baiting, interludes, common plays, or other unlawful exercises or pastimes
used by any person or persons within their own parishes;
and that every person and persons offending in any of the
premises shall forfeit for every offence three shillings and
fourpence.' Thus bear-baiting, interludes, and common plays
were forbidden entirely on Sunday, but other lawful sports
and pastimes were permitted, provided the persons present
belonged to the parish in which they took place.'
Notwithstanding this inauspicious commencement, which,
in truth, was only enforcing the previous orders of the Privy
' It was followed by the 3 Car. I, c. 2, to prevent the profanation of the
Lord's-day by carriers, waggoners, carters, wainmen, butchers, and
drovers, who had hitherto travelled on Sunday without molestation.

i625.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

435

Council by the authority of an Act of Parliament, Charles
showed himself in the outset of his reign well disposed to
encourage plays and players. The plague made its appearance in London in June, with so much malignity, that on the
g9th of that month it was deemed expedient to adjourn
Trinity Term: nevertheless, on the 24th of June, Charles renewed to his company of comedians the royal licence which
had been conceded by his father, including the clause, first
introduced in March I619-20, providing that they should not
perform in the metropolis until the number of persons infected
should not exceed forty in the week. We add the names of the
players as they stand in the patent, to shew, by comparison,
those who had died, or retired, or had been added in the
interval between 1620 and 1625: they were, in the latter
year:-John Hemmings, Henry Condell, John Lowen, Joseph
Taylor, Richard Robinson, Robert Benfield, John Shancks,
William Rowley, John Rice, Elliard Swanston, George Birch,
Richard Sharpe, and Thomas Pollard.
The principal names wanting in this list are those of
Richard Burbadge, who was dead, and Nathaniel Field, who
had, probably, quitted the stage, as we find no later trace of
him. Hemmings and Condell, who had jointly published the
first folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623, had both ceased to
act in 1625, but they were still considered members of the
company, although Joseph Taylor, whose name comes fourth
in the list, was, in one instance at least, looked upon by
persons in authority as the head of the King's servants. The
patent of Charles, from the original in the Rolls, was in the
following terms:'DE CONCESSIONE SPECIALIS LICENTIE JOHANNI HEMINGS ET ALIIS.
' Charles by the grace of God, etc. To all Justices, Maiors, Sherriffes, Constables, Headboroughes, and other our officers and loving
subjects greeting. Know ye that Wee of our especiall grace, cerFF2

436

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.[

[I625.

tayne knowledge, and meere motion have licensed and authorized,
and by these presents do licence and authorize, our welbeloved servants John Hemings, Henry Condall, John Lowen, Joseph Taylor,
Richard Robinson, R6bert Benefeild, John Shanck, William-Rowley,
John Rice, Elliart Swanston, George Birch, Richard Sharpe, and
Thomas Pollard, and the rest of their associates, freely to use and
exercise the art and facultye of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes, Morralls, Pastoralls, Stage Playes, and such other
like as they have already studied, or hereafter shall use or study, as
well for the recreation of our loving subjects, as for our solace and
pleasure when we shall think good to see them, during our pleasure;
and the said Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes, Moralls,
Pastoralls, Stage Playes and such like to shew and exercise publiquely,
or otherwise, to the best comoditie when the infection of the Plague
shall not weekely exceede the nomber of forty, by the Certificate of
the Lord Mayor of London for the time being, as well within these
two theire most usuall houses, called the Globe within our County of
Surrey, and their private House scituate within the precinct of the
Black Fryers within our Citty of London, as also within any Townehalls, or Moutehalls, or other convenient places within the Liberties
and Freedome of any other Citty, university, town, or Borough whatsoever within our said Realmes and Dominions: willing and commanding you and every of you, and all other our loving subjects, as
you tender our pleasure, not onely to permit and suffre them herein
without any your letts, hinderances, or molestations, dureing our said
pleasure, but alsoe to be aydeing and assisting to them, if any wrong
be to them offered, and to allow them such former courtesies as have
been given to men of their place and quality: and also, what further
favour you shall shew to these our servants, and the rest of their
associates for our sakes, Wee shall take kindly at your hands. In
witness, etc. Witnes our selfe at Westmynster, the foure and twenteth
day of June.
'Per breve de privato sigillo.'1
'It may deserve a note to state that Henry Martin was at this time

I625.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

437

As it was out of the question that either the King's servants, or any other company, should play in London at this
date, in consequence of the extent and virulence of the infectious malady (which first made its appearance in Whitechapel,
and continued to rage with unabated fury during the summer
and autumn), most of the performers departed to exercise
their 'art and faculty' in the country, which, it will be perceived, the King's servants were permitted to do by their
patent: on the Ist of July they also procured the licence of
the Master of the Revels for the same purpose,1 a course that
would seem altogether unnecessary, excepting perhaps as it
was the occasion of the payment of a fee. Hemmings, no
doubt, did not accompany his brethren, and we know that
Condell then resided at Fulham, having completely relinquished the stage as a profession.2
Sargeant Trumpeter to the King; and that, by royal order, he was to be
allowed from the players the fee of twelve pence when he 'sounded at
any plays, dumb shows, or models'. What were then meant by 'models'
is not clear. The fee seems to have been an old one, but at what date it
had commenced is not stated in the MS. (Ashmole, s. 57, p. 348) containing the information, nor, we believe, elsewhere.
Chalmers (Supfi. Apol., p. I85), alluding to this circumstance, and
not recollecting the cause of the departure of the players from the metropolis, observes upon it, ' It is a curious fact, that at this epoch (1625),
the established companies of London strolled often into the country,' and
he attributes it to the then 'multiplicity of associated players and the
paucity of attractive plays'. The fact is, that the 'established companies of London', at all times were in the habit of going into the
country to perform, especially whenever there was such a degree of
sickness in the capital, as induced the public authorities to suspend
theatrical representations.
2 A printed tract, incidentally connected with the drama, was published
by him in 1825, which has hitherto been unnoticed. It is called The
Run-dways Answer to a book called A Rodfor Run-aways, justifying
those who had fled from the capital in consequence of the plague, and

438

ANNALS OF TILE STAGE.

[I625.

By the 2ist Dec. I625 the virulence of the plague had considerably diminished; but on that day the Lord Mayor and
Aldermen of London took occasion to make a formal representation to the Privy Council (while admitting the comparative freedom of the City from infection), imputing the late
visitation to the numerous playhouses near the City, but
beyond the jurisdiction of the Corporation: they therefore
prayed that such exhibitions should not only not be encouraged, but entirely suppressed. The Lord Mayor of that year
was Allin Cotton, and he subscribed the document on behalf
of the whole body: whether anything, and what, was done in
consequence does not appear.
The pestilence did not cease until the end of January
1625-6,1 and during the whole interval between that month
and the preceding June, the actors, who were accustomed to
exhibit in London, were driven to procure an uncertain subsistence in the provinces, where they were not unfrequently
ill received, because it was thought that they might be the
bearers of infection. As the King's Servants were usually
required to attend the Court at Christmas, it is probable that
they returned to London, or its vicinity, shortly before that
season, in order to be in readiness. It might be concluded
that the body would be in no very flourishing circumstances,
even if we had no evidence upon the point; but so ill were
among the rest all the players. He was not the author of it, but it was sent
to him with a letter, addressed by persons signing themselves by their
initials, B. V., S. O., T. O., A. L., and V. S., to ' our much-respected and
worthy friend, Mr. H. Condell, at his country-house in Fulham', in order
that he might procure it to be printed: the letter is dated 'from Oxford
and elsewhere, Sept. Io, i625', and the body of the tract alludes to the
Blackfriars and the Cock-pit playhouses, but it contains no distinct intelligence regarding the then condition of the stage.
On the 29th January, a general thanksgiving was offered up, because
at that date the number of deaths had considerably decreased.

I625.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

439

the players furnished to discharge their duties to their royal
master, that the King found it necessary (perhaps on the
representation of the Master of the Revels) to grant them a
Privy Seal with a gift of Ioo marks, in order that they might
provide themselveswith due apparel. This document (preserved
at the Chapter-house) is, we believe, the first of its kind extant,
and as a proof of the encouragement Charles was desirous of
extending to the stage, we may quote this instance of, as it
was called, 'princely bounty'.
'BY THE KING.-Right trusty and right well-beloved Cousin and
Councellor, we greet you well; and will and command you, that,
under our Privy Seal, you cause our letters to be addressed forth in
form following:-JCharles by the grace of God, etc. To the Treasurer and Undertreasurer of our Exchequer greeting. Whereas we
have been pleased to bestow upon the Company of our Players, who
are to attend us daily at our Court this Christmas, the sum of one
hundred marks for the better furnishing them with apparel: We do
hereby will and command you, of our treasure in the receipt of our
Exchequer, to cause present payment to be made unto Joseph Taylor,
gent., one of the said company, of the sum of one hundred marks,
to the use of himself and the rest of his company of players, as of
our free gift and princely bounty, for provision of apparel as aforesaid,
without accompt, imprest, or other charge to be set upon them, or
any of them, for the same or any part thereof. And these our letters,
etc. Given, etc. And these our letters shall be your sufficient
warrant and discharge in this behalf. Given under our Signet at our
honor of Hampton Court, the thirtieth day of December in the first
year of our reign. 'Fra. GALLE.'
Six months, therefore, after the date of the Royal licence
to the King's dramatic servants, (Hemmings and Condell
being still at the head of the list), the players are spoken of
expressly as the company of Joseph Taylor: the Ioo marks
were to be delivered to him 'to the use of himself and the

440

ANNALS OF TH-E STAGE.

I 626.

rest of his company', without any mention of Hemmings and
Condell. It is not unlikely, therefore, that those two had seceded from an active share in the management on the breaking
out of the plague, and the consequent closing of the Globe and
Blackfriars theatres: nevertheless, we afterwards find Hemmings entering into arrangements for them with the Master
of the Revels, with whom, perhaps, from his long connection,
he had more ready and influential communication than the
rest of his associates.'
The Privy Seal for the issue of oo marks bears date after
Christmas-day, and the performances of plays, if any, (of
which we have no information from Sir H. Herbert, who
notices no Court revels separately and distinctly after I624),
took place upon Twelfth-day and at Shrovetide. It was unquestionably intended that a Mask should be exhibited at
Christmas 1625-6, because on the 19th Dec. Michael A. D.
Oldsworth (a new name in these transactions) was 1626.
allowed a warrant for 300/., 'on account of a Mask the Queen
intends to have performed at Christmas.' No production of
the kind stated to have been exhibited on this occasion, is,
we apprehend, extant.
It will not be out of its place here, to annex some account
of the extensive musical establishment of Charles I, at the
opening of his reign. We are enabled to do so by a Privy
Seal, which exempts all the musicians belonging to the
1 The following quotations upon this point are from the Office Book of
Sir H. Herbert:(17 July i626.-From Mr. Hemmings, for a courtesie done him about
their Blackfriars hous, 31.' (the nature of it not stated).
'From Mr. Hemming, in their company's name, to forbid the playing
of Shakespeare's plays to the Red Bull Company, this I th April
i627, 5l.' (proving their continued popularity).
It will be observed also in I63I, that Hemming was still treated as the
leader of the Company, though he had ceased to perform.

I626.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

441

Court from the payment of subsidies: it bears date on the
20th December 1625, and hence we learn that the King then
had in his pay:-8 players on the Hautboys and Sackbuts;
6 players on the Flute; 6 players on Recorders; 1 players
on Violins, including Thomas Lupo, who is termed 'Composer'; 6 players on Lutes; 4 players on Viols; I player on
the Harp; I keeper of the Organs, and 15 musicians for the
Lutes and Voices.l In the whole, fifty-eight persons, exclusive of Serjeant Trumpeters, Trumpeters, Drummers and
Fifers. The 'Musicians for the Lutes and Voices', probably,
consisted of the Gentlemen and the Children of the Chapel.
With regard to their salaries, this instrument could not be
expected to furnish information; but by another Privy
Seal, dated 20th January 1625-6, it appears that Jerome
Lanier, and his son William Lanier, who are termed 'Players
on the Sackbuts', were allowed wages at the rate of 2od. per
day, besides I6/. 2s. yearly for livery. In the next year
1 Their names were the following, and some will have occurred
in previous lists: âMusicians for the Hautboys and Sackbuts. And.
Bassano, Sam. Garsh, Jno. Snowesman, Jerome Lanier, Tho. Mason,
Rich. Blagrave, Jacobi Troches, Edw. Harding.-Musicians for the
Flutes. James Harding, Peter Guy, Innocent Lanier, Andrea Lanier,
Nich. Guy, Will. Noak.-Musicians for Recorders. Jerome Bassano,
Rob. Baker, Clement Lanier, Jno. Hussey, Antonio Bassano, Rob.
Baker, jun.-Musicians for the Violins. Caesar Galiardetto, Tho. Lupo,
Ant. Coney, Alex. Chisham, Tho. Warren, Hor. Lupo, Jno. Harding,
Leonard Mell, Jno. Hopper, Adrian Valett, Tho. Lupo (composer).-Musiciansfor the Lutes. Nich. Lanier, Rob. Jonson, Timothy Collins, Maurice
Webster, John Dowland, Tho. Warwick.-Musiciansfor the Violls. Alph.
Ferabosco, Dan Ferrant, Roger Mayer, John Friend.-Musician for the
Harf. Philip Squier.-Keeper of the Organs. Edw. Norgate. -Musicians
for the Lutes and Voices. John Caprario, John Daniel, Tho. Ford, Rob.
Taylor, John Drew, John Lanier, Edw. Wormall, Jonas Wrench, John
Coggeshall, John Ballard, John Lawrence, Rich. Dering, Alphonso â,
Robert March, Angelo Notary.

442

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I626.

Anthony Robert was appointed 'a Musician', with a fixed
salary of 40/. per annum.
At this period we find Sir H. Herbert treated by the
Crown as Master of the Revels, and as if he discharged the
duties of the place in his own right, although he was still only
the deputy of Sir J. Ashley. He is called 'Master of our
Revels' in a Privy Seal, dated the 7th of November 1626, by
which it was ordered, that 2o00. be paid to him for expenses
of his department; and farther, that from thenceforward the
Treasurer and under-Treasurer of the Exchequer was to
deliver to him yearly such sums as should to them seem meet
for the provision of necessaries for the Revels.1 Here again,
it may be remarked, that Charles went beyond any example
of his predecessors, who never left it to the discretion of the
chief officers of the Exchequer to decide how much ought, or
ought not, to be expended upon Court amusements.
We have already seen, that in 1620 a patent had been in1 The instrument runs as follows; and we insert it as the earliest of the
kind issued by Charles I:' BY THE KING.-Right trustie and right welbeloved, etc. Whereas
we are informed by our trustie and welbeloved servant, Sir Henry
Herbert, Knight, Mr of our Revells, that there are divers things necessarily to be provided for that office for our use and service. These are
to will and commaund you, out of such our treasure as is nowe remayning
in the receipt of our Exchequer, upon receipt hereof, to imprest to the
said Mr of our Revells, or his assignes, the somme of two hundred pounds,
the same to be by him inlployed about provision of necessaries for the
same, whereof he is to yeeld an accompt. And further, we will and
commaund you, from time to time yeerely, to imprest unto the said Sir
Henry Herbert, now Mr of our Revells, such somme and sommes of
money to be by him expended about the provisions of necessaries for our
said Revells, as to you shall seeme meete and convenient for provisions
of the said office. And theis our letters, etc. Given, etc., at our Pallace
of Westminster, the 7th Nov. in the second yeare of our raigne.
'WINDEBANK.'

I626.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

443

cautiously granted to John Cotton, John Williams, and
Thomas Dixon, for the construction of an amphitheatre in
Lincoln's Inn Fields, which being recalled, the SolicitorGeneral was ordered to draw up a new warrant, in less
objectionable terms, and granting more limited privileges.
No such warrant was then prepared; and by documents in
the State Paper Office we learn, that in the summer of I626
Williams and Dixon (for Cotton does not then appear in the
transaction) renewed their application, apparently with the
hope of better success from a King who had shown himself
strongly attached to theatrical amusements. A 'Bill' was
prepared for the purpose, and it was sent for perusal to Lord
Keeper Coventry, for his opinion upon the fitness of complying with the request: he reported favourably in the
first instance, as is evident from the following letter, copied
from the original, which he addressed to Lord Conway: the
document is headed, 'The Lo. Keeper to the Lord Conway,
touching the Amphitheatre.'
'MY VERY GOOD LORD,-I have perused this Bill, and do call to
mynd that about three or four yeres past, when I was Atturney
Generall, a patent for an Amphitheater was in hand to have passed;
but upon this sodain, without serch of my papers, I cannot give your
lordship any account of the true cause wherefore it did not passe,
nor whether that and this do varie in substans: neither am I apt
upon a sodain to take impertinent exceptions to any thing that is to
passe, much less to a thing that is recommended by so good a friend.
But if upon perusall of my papers, which I had while I was Atturney,
or upon more serious thoughts, I shall observe any thing worthy to
be represented to his Matie, or to the Counsail, I shall then acquaint
your Lordship; and in the meane tyme I would be loth to be the
author of a motion to his Matie to stay it: but if you fynd his Matie
att fitting leasure to move him, that he will give leave to thinke of
it in this sort as I have written, it may do well, and I assure your

444

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1626.

lordship, unlesse I fynd matter of more consequens then I observe
on this sodain, it is not like to be stayed. And so I rest Yr lordship's
very assured to do you service,
' Canbury, 12 August, I626. 'THO. COVENTRYE, Ch.'
Whatever might be the cause of the change in the Lord
Keeper's opinion, whether it arose from a more deliberate
perusal of the bill, or from earnest remonstrances of other
companies of players,' which perhaps had been sent in, it is
certain, that about a month after the date of the above letter he
wrote another communication to Lord Conway, in which he
took strong exceptions to the proposed new patent, representing that it went much beyond the grant which had been
sought from King James, and which, after having been made,
was recalled. Lord Keeper Coventry's letter is indorsed
by Lord Conway in these words:-' that it is unfitt the graunt
for the Amphitheatre should passe'. It is as follows, the
original being likewise found in the State Paper Office.
'My LORD,-According to his Maties good pleasure, which I receaved from your lordship, I have considered of the graunt desired
by John Williams and Thomas Dixon, for building an Amphitheater
in Lincolns Inne fields; and comparing it with that which was propounded in king James his tyme, doe finde much difference betweene
them: for that former was intended principally for martiall exercises,
' Shakerley Marmion, in his comedy called HollandPs Leaguer, 1632,
refers to this very scheme, and to the injury that it threatened to the
several Companies of Players: he puts the following lines into the mouth
of Agurtes, 'an impostor' and a projector:"Twill dead all my device in making matches,
My plots of architecture, and erecting
New amphitheatres, to draw custom
From play-houses once a week, and so pull
A curse upon my head from the poor scoundrels.'
Act ii, scene 3.

1626.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

445

and extraordinary shewes and solemnyties for Ambassadors and
persons of honour and quality, with a cessation from other shews
and sports for one daie in a moneth onlie, upon 14 daies warning:
wheras by this new graunt I see little probability of anything to be
used but common plaies, or ordinary sports, now used or shewed at
the Beare-garden or the common Playhouses about London, for all
sorts of beholders, with a restraint to all other plaies and shewes, for
one day in the weeke upon two daies warning: with liberty to erect
their buildings in Lincolns Inne Fields, where there are too many
buildings already; and which place, in the late King's tyme, upon a
petition exhibited by the Princes comedians for setting up a playhouse there, was certified, by eleven Justices of peace, under their
hands, to be very inconvenyent. And therefore, not holding this
new graunt fitt to passe, as being no other in effect but to translate
the play-houses and Beare-garden from the Bankside to a place much
more unfitt, I thought fitt to give your Lordship these reasons for it;
wherewithall you may please to acquaint his Matie, if there shalbe
cause. And so remayne Yr lordship's very assured frende to doe you
service, 'THO. COVENTRYE.
'Canbury, 28 Sept. 1626.
'Lo. CONWAY.'
Hence, among other points, we learn, notwithstanding the
representation of Taylor the water-poet in I612 that 'all the
companies but the King's servants had left the Bank-side',
that in 1626 more than one theatre was open there, besides
Paris garden,l where plays were occasionally performed.
The Globe is mentioned by name in the following extract from the
Register of the Privy Council, dated 25th May 1626. It is 'a letter to
the Justices of the Peace of the county of Surrey':'Whereas we are informed that on Thursday next divers loose and
idle persons, some sailors and others, have appointed to meete at the
Play-house called the Globe, to see a play (as is pretended), but their
end is thereby to disguise some routous and riotous action, we have
therefore thought fit to give you notice of the information which we have
received concerning this their purpose. And do likewise hereby will and

446

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[1i626.

The players and others had doubtless, though it is not so
stated, petitioned the Court against the concession of a
licence that must have been very prejudicial to their interests.
On the 20th of August of this year, Nathaniel Giles, who
is styled 'Doctor of Music', and who was at the head of the
children of the Chapel, obtained a warrant under the Privy
Seal, for taking up singing boys 'in all or any cathedral,
collegiate church, etc., for the service of the Chapel Royal';
and it contains a remarkable clause, showing the growth of
puritanical opinions at this period, by which the boys, who
from a very early date, had been accustomed occasionally to
act plays for the amusement of the Court, were prevented
from doing so, in consequence of its being, for the first time,
thought inconsistent with their religious duties. It is in these
words:-' Provided always, and we straightly charge and
command, that none of the said Choristers or Children of the
Chappell, soe to be taken by force of this Commission, shalbe
used or employed as Comedians or Stage Players, or to exercise or acte any stage plaies, interludes, Comedies or Tragedies; for that it is not fitt or desent that such as should sing
the praises of God Almighty should be trained or imployed
in such lascivious and profane exercises.' This clause was
probably introduced by the strong influence of the clergy.
The Office-book of Sir Henry Herbert contains no entry of
any kind regarding the performance of Masks and A. D.
plays at Court, at Christmas and Twelfth-tide 1626-7; I626.
but 8oo00. were issued from the Exchequer to Edmund Tarequire you to take very careful and strict order, that no play be acted
on that day; and also to have that strength about you as you shall think
sufficient for the suppressing of any insolencies, or other mutinous intentions that you shall perceive, and to take with you the Under Sheriff
of that county for the further assisting you, if there be cause. And so
not doubting your care herein, we, etc.'

I628.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

447

verner, Esq., for preparations, in two warrants for 4001. each,
the one dated on the 24th of November, and the other on the
27th of December. Probably two Masks were represented, one
on Twelfth-night, and the other at Shrove-tide: the first
was Ben Jonson's Fortunate Isles, which, though composed
after the author had sustained a stroke of the palsy, seems to
have been highly approved: it was the first work he had produced for Charles: it was employed as an introduction to
a repetition of Neptune's Triumph, which had been represented
before James at Christmas 1623-4, and which, as Gifford has
observed,2 had much pleased the present King, when Prince
of Wales, just after his return from Spain, and the breaking
off the match with the Infanta. A copy of one of the original Privy Seals on this occasion is subjoined in a note, and
that subsequently issued for a like sum follows so nearly the
same form,3 that it is needless to insert it.
1 This was usually called the Queen's Mask, and part of the expense of
it remained unpaid for more than ten years. On the 8th of May I638, a
Privy Seal was granted to Charles Gentile, Embroiderer, for I630/., for
'embroidering done to the Queen's Mask in 1627'. Two other sums of
I63I/. and I674/. are included in the same instrument, for embroidering
two state beds, apparently unconnected with the Masks.
2 Ben Jonson's Works, viii, 64.
3 ' BY THE KING.-Right trustie and right well beloved Cousin and
Councellor, etc. Charles by the grace of God, etc. Wee will and
commaund you, out of treasure remaining in the receipt of our Exchequer,
forthwith to paie or cause to be paied unto our trustie and well beloved
Edmund Taverner, Esq., the some of foure hundred poundes, to bee disbursed by him for necessary provisions, to bee made and used in the
Maske of our deerest Consort Queene Marye, shortly to be performed:
the same to bee taken to him, or his assignes, without accompt, imprest,
or other chardge to bee sett upon him, his executors, or assignes for the
same, or for any parte thereof. And these our letters shall be, etc.
Given under our signet, at our pallace of Westminster, the 24th day df
November, in the second yeere of our raigne. ' WINDEBANK.'

.ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I628.

The only circumstance relating to the common playhouses
in I627 is a fact previously noticed, but which deserves especial remark, inasmuch as it proves the popularity of Shakespeare's plays at that date, although at Court, two or three
years earlier, the productions of Fletcher may have been
preferred. This preference may be partly accounted for on
the score of greater novelty; but, with the public, Shakespeare was so great a favourite, that in April 1627, the interference of the Master of the Revels was purchased by the
King's company, then playing at Blackfriars, at the expense
of 5/., to prevent the players of the large theatre, called the
Red Bull, in Smithfield, from performing the dramas of Shakespeare. The exhibitions at the Fortune and Rose (and
perhaps at some other theatre on the Bankside, besides the
Globe), as far as we can learn, were carried on without interruption, and with all success.
Prior to January 1627-8, the cost of the Revels, notwithstanding the regular issue of large sums from the Exchequer
under the authority of the Privy Seals, had been so great,
that in the four preceding years, a debt of 757/. I2s. Iod. had
been incurred to the Master, and other officers, for provisions
and necessaries, besides their salaries and wages. On the 2nd
of January, therefore, a warrant was issued by the King for the
payment of that sum, which, in the instrument, is divided
into the subsequent five items, without further specification:531. 6s. 8d., 1261. I3s. 4d., Id5l. I2s. 6d., 30/. 4s. Iod., and
4971. I5s. 6d. These amounts, it was directed, should forthwith be delivered to the Master of the Revels, who was to distribute them among the several claimants.
Three warrants were issued for Masks at Court at ChristA. D. mas and Shrovetide: one, dated 2nd of January
1628. I627-8, for I50/. to Edmund Taverner, Esq., for 'a
Mask to be presented on Twelfth-night next'; another, dated

I626.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

449

the 30th of the same month, to Lord Compton, Gentleman of
the Robes, for '5001. upon accompt for eight masking suits
for our service, in a Mask which shortly is to be presented;'
and the third, dated I Ith of February following, to Edmund
Taverner, Esq., for 6oo0. 'toward the expence of a Mask to
be presented shortly before us at Whitehall.' The second of
these Privy Seals (all preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster) was for an unusual charge, the dresses being generally included among the other provisions and it is most likely
that they were intended for the same exhibition as that to
which the 600o., issued to Taverner, was to be devoted. We
are without information what poet was employed on these
occasions.
Very unusual powers were in this year granted to a Company taken into the dramatic service of the Lady Elizabeth,
'our dear sister': Joseph Moore was at the head of the
association, but only two others are named in the Privy Seal,
Robert Guilman and Joseph Townsend; and they were
allowed, with the rest of their company, 'to practise the playing of comedies, histories, tragedies and interludes, in and
about the City of London, or in any other place they shall
think fitting.' We derive this novel information from the
Calendar of State Papers for 1628 and I629, so well prepared
by the late Mr. Bruce, p. 406.
Players, who, at a very early date, called themselves the
servants of any particular nobleman, usually wore his badge
or his livery, and thus secured the protection they needed.1 We
By the account of the expenses of the Duke of Norfolk, in the reign
of Henry VII, it appears that his players were provided by him with
doublets. When Tucca, in Ben Jonson's Poetaster, I602, offers to take
certain players into his 'service', he bargains with them that 'they
shall buy their own cloth', besides giving him 'two shares of the
receipts for his countenance'.
VOL. I. G G
s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~... *'. *. -:' *.- ha.'

450

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I629.

have clear evidence in I629, if it were required, that each of the
A. D. King's players was allowed, every second year, four
1629. yards of bastard scarlet for a cloak, and a quarter of a
yard of crimson velvet for a cape to it; and it is asserted, in
the document establishing this fact, that such had always been
the allowance.l
Malone states, that in the year I629 a new playhouse was
constructed in Whitefriars, which was afterwards called the
Salisbury-court Theatre, and he was of opinion that it was
not built upon the site of the old Whitefriars playhouse.2 We
have already seen that in i613 a project was on foot, and
possibly carried into execution, 'for erecting a new playhouse
' It was published by Malone (Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 6o), from a
MS. in the office of the Lord Chamberlain, to whom it was addressed.
Hemmings is still there found at the head of the King's Company (for
the names of all the players entitled to the allowance are inserted), then
consisting of thirteen members. The document is as follows:'These are to signify unto your Lordship his Majesty's pleasure that
you cause to be delivered unto his Majesty's players, whose names
follow-viz., John Hemmings, John Lowen, Joseph Taylor, Richard
RobinsonJohn Shank, Robert Benfield, Richard Sharp, Eliard Swanson,
Thomas Pollard, Anthony Smith, Thomas Hobbes, William,Pen, George
Vernon, and James Home, to each of them the several allowance of four
yards of bastard scarlet for a cloake, and a quarter of a yard of crimson
velvet for the capes; it being the usual allowance granted unto them by
his Majesty every second year, and due at Easter last past. For the
doing whereof these shall be your warrant. May 6th, I629.'
According to the list of 'the names of such as acted' in Forde's Lovers'
Melancholy, produced on the 24th of November 1628, Curteise Grivill,
Richard Baxter, John Tomson, John Honyman, William Trigg, and Alex.
Gough also belonged to the company of the King's players. Perhaps
they were' hired men', and were not entitled to liveries. Robinson and
Hobbes, mentioned above, did not act in that play. Honyman was dead
in 637, when T. Jordan published an epitaph upon him in his Poetical
Varieties of that year.
2 Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 52.

I629.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

451

in the Whitefriars.' If so, after 1629 there were two theatres
in Whitefriars; which does not seem likely, unless that supposed to have been built in I613 had not been constructed, or
was shut up, or unless the new theatre of I629 were raised in
its stead, upon a larger scale, and an extended foundation.
The information regarding the building of the new theatre in
I629 is very defective; but the fact is confirmed by Prynne,
who in the 'Epistle Dedicatory' to his Histriomastix, 1633,
mentions that 'a new theatre' had been then recently'erected'
in Whitefriars. It seems, in the first instance, to have been
occupied by the Children of the King's Revels, and very
shortly afterwards by the players of Prince Charles; who
acted Marmyon's Holland's Leaguer there prior to 1632, when
it was printed with the following list of actors belonging to
the company who were engaged in it:-'William Browne,
Ellis Worth, Andrew Keyne, or Cane, Matthew Smith, James
Sneller, Henry Gradwell, Thomas Bond, Richard Fowler,
Edward May, Robert Huyt, Robert Stafford, Richard Godwin, John Wright, Richard Fouch, Arthur Savill, and Samuel
Mannery.
Many of these names are new, and the six last performed
the female characters in Marmyon's comedy, which, without
doubling the parts, required a strong company.
The year 1629 is to be especially marked as the first date
at which any attempt was made in this country to introduce
female performers upon our public stage. In France and Italy
the practice had long prevailed,1 and the experiment was tried
here, though without success, by a company of French comedians at the Blackfriars Theatre. On the 4th of November
Coryat, when writing his Crudities in 6I I, tells us (p. 247), that he
had seen female performers at Venice, adding that he had heard that
females had exhibited in London-perhaps as members of a foreign
company.
GG 2

452

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I629.

I629, as appears by his office-book, Sir H. Herbert received
21. as his fee 'for the allowing of a French company to play a
farce at Blackfriars'; but it is not upon his authority we learn,
that at least part of the company consisted of women.
In Prynne's 'Histriomastix (I633, p. 414) is inserted a
marginal note in these words: â'Some French-women, or
monsters rather, in Michaelmas term I629 attempted to act a
French play at the playhouse in Blackfriars, an impudent,
shameful, unwomanish, graceless, if not more than whorish
attempt.' Malone seems to have doubted if this 'attempt'
were not successful; and he quotes a farther passage from
the same author, where he says1 'they had such Frenchwomen
actors in a play, not long since personated in Blackfriars
playhouse, to which there was a great resort.' It does not
follow, because there was great resort to the theatre on the
night when the French actresses first appeared, that therefore
the attempt succeeded. The contrary is certainly the fact, as
might be inferred from the evidence of Sir H. Herbert himself, which I shall notice presently, and as may be seen by
the following extract from a private letter, written by a
person of the name of Thomas Brande, which we discovered
among some miscellaneous papers in the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth. It does not appear to
whom it was addressed, but probably to Laud while Bishop
of London, and it bears date on the 8th November, fixing the
very day when the foreign female performers made their first
essay in England. After giving some other information,
Brande proceeds as follows.
'Furthermore you should know, that last daye certaine vagrant
French players, who had beene expelled from their owne contrey,
and those women, did attempt, thereby giving just offence to all vertuous and well-disposed persons in this town, to act a certain lasHistriomastix, 1633, p. 215.

629.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

453

civious and unchaste comedye, in the French tonge at the Blackfryers. Glad I am to saye they were hissed, hooted, and pippin-
pelted from the stage, so as I do not thinke they will soone be ready
to trie the same againe.-Whether they had licence for so doing I
know not; but I do know that, if they had licence, it were fit that the
Master [of the Revels] be called to account for the same.'Brande was mistaken in his supposition, that the ill-reception of the French ladies at Blackfriars would deter them from
renewing their attempt elsewhere; but they allowed a fortnight to elapse before they again appeared, and then at a
different theatre-the Red Bull. The following appears in
his office-book, in the handwriting of Sir H. Herbert.
'For allowinge of the Frenche at the Red Bull for a daye, 22nd of
Nov. 1629.'
The sum he received is not inserted, but it is observable,
that the permission required only extended to a single day,
in anticipation, perhaps, that the actresses would not be
allowed to appear again. More than three weeks elapsed
before they ventured once more to face an English audience,
when they chose the Fortune playhouse, having, no doubt,
failed at the Red Bull on the 22nd Nov., as they had done at
the Blackfriars on the 7th Nov. Of this third permission,
also only for one day, we meet with the subsequent entry by
the Master of the Revels.
' For allowinge of a French companie att the Fortune to play one
afternoone, this 14 day of December I629- JI.'
Sir H. Herbert bears positive testimony to the little success
they met with on this occasion, in a memorandum subjoined
to the preceding entry:-' I should have had another piece,
but in respect of their ill-fortune I was content to bestow a
piece back;' so that he returned half his fee on a representation of the unprofitableness of the speculation.'
Some stress has been recently laid upon a MS. in the British Museum,
0, ~~~~~~~~~':.,/:?,',' (%3

454 ANNALS OF TIIE STAGE. [1631.
It has been asserted, both by Malone and Chalmers, that
Sir H. Herbert, in conjunction with Simon Thelwall, Esq.,
obtained, in I629, the reversion of the office of Master of the
Revels on the deaths of Sir J. Ashley, and Ben Jonson: the
first says, that the grant was dated on the 22nd August, and
the last that it was dated on the I2th August. It is not a
point of any moment, but they are both mistaken, as the
Privy Seal (which we found among the records in the Chapter
House) bears date from Bagshot on the I3th August, 5
Charles I.
Notwithstanding his infirmities, Ben Jonson produced two
masks for Christmas 1630-1; one for the king, called Love's
A. D. Triumph throughi Callipolis; and the other for the
I631. Queen, under the title of Chloridia: the first was
presented by the Queen and the Ladies of her Court, and
the last by the King and certain Lords and Gentlemen. We
have not been able to discover any warrant showing the expense of these exhibitions.2
On the i Ith Jan. 1630-I, we find Sir H. Herbert refusing
to license a play by Massinger, the name of which he does
dated 1582, as shewing that, even then, an actress had appeared in
London; but it only means that a boy, 'without a voice', had unsuccessfully played the part of a 'virgin' at the theatre in that year.
It was in this year-viz., on the 6th March I629-30, after the ill
success of his New Inn, that Charles raised the pension of Ben Jonson
from ioo marks to ioo/., adding to it the annual gift of a tierce of Canary.
The King had previously sent him a gift of Iool.-See Gifford's Ben
7onson, i, clv. In Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, it appears that Ben
Jonson's salary had been 66/. I3s. 4d.; and that that sum was paid to him
on i6 July 1622.
2 On the 4th January I630-I, a warrant was issued under the Privy
Seal for reducing the 'board wages' of the establishment of the Chapel
Royal, in order that the whole might be placed upon a more economical
footing. By this document (in the Chapter-house, Westminster) io/. per
annum were allowed to thirty-three gentlemen of the Chapel, and to the

I63.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

455

not give, 'because (as he states in his Register) it did contain dangerous matter, as the deposing of Sebastian King of
Portugal, by Philip the [2nd], and there being a peace sworn
twixt the Kings of England and Spain.' This anecdote
serves to prove the extent to which caution was carried at
this date: Sir H. Herbert adds, by way of asserting his right
-'I had my fee notwithstanding, which belongs to me for
reading it over, and ought to be brought always with a book.'
This was establishing a new claim, as the fee had been heretofore paid for licensing, and not for refusing to license a
performance.
How popular the performances of 'the King's servants' continued at the Blackfriars theatre in I63I, may be judged from
the following petition presented to Laud, Bishop of London,
and thus indorsed with his own hand:-' I63 I. The Petition
of the inhabitants of the Blackfryars, about remove of the
Players: To the Coun. Table.' It ran in these terms:' To the right Honble and right Reverend father in God, William
Lord Bisp of London, one of his Mats honble privy Councell. The
humble petition of the Churchwardens and Constables of Blackfriers,
on the behalfe of the whole Parish. Shewing, That by reason of a
Playhouse, exceedingly frequented, in the Precinct of the said Blackfriers, the inhabitants there suffer many grievances upon the inconveniences hereunto annexed, and many other.
' May it therefore please your Lordship to take the said grievances
into your honble consideration for redressing thereof. And for the
reviving the order, which hath beene heretofore made by the Lords
Serjeant of the Vestuary: two yeomen were allowed 6d. per day, a third
yeoman and the groom 4d. per day; and 4d. per day to the twelve
children of the Chapel. The whole charge for board-wages was calculated at 4431. 8s. 4d. per annum, which seems small considering the
number of recipients.

456 ANNALS OF TI-E STAGE. [t631.
of the Councell, and the Lord Maior and the Court of Aldermen,
for the removal of them. And they shall, according to their duties,
ever pray for your Lordship.
'Reasons and Inconveniences induceing the inhabitants of Blackfriers London to become humble suitors to your Lordship for
removing the Playhouse in the said Blackfriers.
'I. The Shopkeepers in divers places suffer much, being hindered
by the great recourse to the Playes (especially of Coaches) from
selling their commodities, and having their wares many tymes broken
and beaten of[f] their stalles.
'2. The recourse of Coaches is many tymes so great, that the
inhabitants cannot in an afternoone take in any provision of Beere,
Coales, Wood or Hay, the streetes being knowne to be so exceeding
straite and narrowe.
'3. The passage through Ludgate to the water is many tymes
stoppd up, people in their ordinary going much endangered, quarrells,
and bloodshed many tymes occasioned; and many disorderly people
towards night gathered thither, under pretence of attending and
waiting for those at the playes.
'4. Yf there should happen any misfortune of fier, there is not
likely any present order could possibly be taken, for the disorder and
number of the coaches; since there could be no speedy passage
made for quenching the fyer, to the endangering both of the Parish
and Cittie.
'5. Christenings and Burialls, which usually are in the afternoone,
are many tymes disturbed, and persons endangered in that part,
which is the greatest parte of the Parish.
'6. Persons of honour and quality, that dwell in the Parish, are
restrained by the number of Coaches from going out, or coming
home, in seasonable tyme, to the prejudice of their occasions. And
some persons of honour have left, and others have refused houses
for this very inconvenience, to the prejudice and loss of the Parish.
'7. The Lords of the Councell in former tymes have by order
directed, that there shall be but two Playhouses tollerated, and
those without the Cittie,; the one at the Banke-side, the other neere

I631.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 457
Goulding Lane (which these Players still have and use all summer),
which the Lords did signifie by their letters to the Lord Maior: and
in performance thereof the Lord Maior and Court of Aldermen did
give order that they should forbeare to play any longer there, which
the Players promised to the Lord Chiefe Justice of the Common
Pleas (while he was Recorder of London) to observe, entreating only
a little tyme to provide themselves elsewhere.'
In the year at which we have now arrived, carriages and
hackney coaches had become such a nuisance near the Blackfriars Theatre, that the inhabitants petitioned not only Laud,
but the Privy Council itself, against them: several tracts and
ballads were also written, to make people more sensible of
the evil, one of which became very popular, and has been
several times reprinted: in a merry strain it calls upon the
public authorities to put down hackney coaches, and opens
thus:'As I pass'd by the other day,
Where sack and claret spring,
I heard a mad crier by the way,
That loud did cough and sing,
High down, derry derry down,
With the hackney coaches down,
They cried aloud, theni make such a crowd,
Men cannot pass the town.'
It proceeds to show in what way hackney coaches became
a nuisance, and an injury to every trade and profession; especially, as we may well suppose, when they blocked up the
narrow streets in the neighbourhood of the theatres; and, as
if with reference to the petition sent through Laud, the ballad
ends as follows:
'But to conclude, 'tis true, I hear
They'll soon be out of fashion:
'Tis thought they very likely are'
To have a long vacation:
x.:

458

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I63I.

High down, derry derry down,
With the hackney coaches down!
Their term's near done, and shall be begun
No more in London town.'
It would be easy to produce other authorities to the same
effect, but there can be no doubt that the shopkeepers and
humbler traders were much injured by the subject of their
complaint. Of quite an opposite character, however, is
another song, of the same period, which has come down to us,
and from which we copy a couple of amusing stanzas:'The City he approaches:
Carts, carriages, and coaches,
Still throng him by the way:
What shall he do, I wonder,
But make no further blunder,
And to the place of plunder,
The Theatre and Play.
'Here will he see a lady,
As handsome drest as may be,
And never note the players:
Then to a hcti.se of pleasure,
Where she will take his measure;
He hug his, nasty treasure,
In spite of all the Mayors.'
The petition to Laud was accompanied by several documents of an earlier date, beginning with the first construction of
the Blackfriars Theatre, and coming down to the year I6i8,
in order to show the unavailing steps, taken in former times,
to abate the nuisance. They have been noticed in their
proper places in the course of these Annals.
From the indorse'ment of this petition by Laud himself, we
might infer that he had laid it before the Privy Council; but

I63I.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

459

in the registers of that body, which we have carefully examined,
we find no trace of any proceedings upon it in 163 I. Yet, that
something was done might be gathered from the following
Privy Seal, in which Iool. is given, in one sum, to the King's
players 'in regard of their great hinderance'; unless that
'hinderance' were occasioned by the riotous state of London
in the summer, when a most lawless disturbance took place
in Fleet-street.
'Right trusty and right welbeloved, etc. Charles by the grace of
God, etc. To the Treasurer and Under-treasurer of our Exchequer
for the time being greeting. Whereas we have given order, that our
servant John Heming, and the rest of our Players, shall attend upon
us and our dearest Consort the Queene at our next coming to
Hampton Court. And forasmuch as we are graciously pleased, in
regard of their great hinderani'' of late received, whereby they are
disabled to attend this service, to bestow upon them the somme of
one hundred pounds, Wee do hereby will and command you, out of
our treasure remayning in the receipt of our said Exchequer, forthwith to pay or cause to be paid unto the said John Heming, for himself and the rest of our said servants, the said somme of one hundred
pounds, as of our free guift and bountie, without any accompt imprest or other charge to be set uponi him or them, or any of them,
for the same or any part thereof. And these, etc. Given under our
Signet -at our Pallace of Westminster, the 20 day of September, in
the sixt year of our raigne.
Exd. R. KIRKHAM.'
In the autumn of I63I, a very sirgular circumstance occurred, connected with the history of the stage. Unless the
whole story were a malicious invention by some of the many
enemies of John Williams, then Bishop of Lincoln (who previous to his disgrace had filled the office of Lord Keeper), he
had a play represented in his house in London, on Sunday,
September 27th. The piece chosen for this occasion, at least
\ -:..,. X,.:

460

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i63I.

did credit to his taste, for it appears to have been Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream,l and it was got up as a
private amusement. The animosity of Laud to Williams is
well known, and in the Library at Lambeth Palace is a mass
of documents referring to different charges against him, thus
indorsed in the hand-writing of Laud himself: 'These papers
concerning the Bp. of Lincoln wear delivered to me bye his
Majesty's command.' One of them is an admonitory letter
from a person of the name of John Spencer (who seems to
have been a puritanical preacher) which purports to have been
addressed to some lady, not named, who was present on the
occasion of the performance of the play, and upon which the
following indorsement was made:-'John Spencer presents
the Lord Byshop of Lincolne for having a play that night
[Sept. 27th, 1631] in his house, be.g the Lord's Day.' It is a
curious specimen of objurgation, and we cannot refuse to print
it entire.
'GOOD MADAME,-It is the rule of the Apostles of our Saviour
Christ to rebuke not an elder, but exhorte him as a father, and the
Elderwomen as mothers-i Thimo, 5, I, and in the 2oth verse: them
that synne reprove openly that the rest may alsoe feare. Oh, therefore it would please that blessed Lord, the God of wisedome, to give
unto me such grace and wisdome, that I might performe this duty to
your Ladyship with that due regard to your noble quality, and tender
cause of your precious soule as I ought. But howsoever I may faile in
pointe of discretion, yet I hope you will beare with me, since it proceedes from a harte that doth unfainedly desire your everlasting happines, and would expose my selfe to your pleasure to prevent that which
might let and hinder the same. I know it is a harde taske, and
many tymes a thanklesse office, to admonish men of meane quality
' One' of the actors exhibited himself in an Ass's head, no doubt in the
part of Bottom, and in the margin of the document relating to this event,
we read the words The playe, M. Nights Dr.'
/.

163I.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 46i
of their faults, and to bring them to acknowledge their errors; much
more those that are our superiors; but where grace and true nobility
is, it will teach men to suffer words of exhortation with mekenes, and
to say with the kingly Prophet, Lett the righteous smight mee, for
that shall be as precious balme unto mee; for the wisest and the
greatest in this wourld have their frailtyes and infirmityes: David, a
King, a prophet and a man after God's owne harte, yet erred in
numbring the people, and confessed he had done very folishly; and
Solomon his sonne, the wisest and the greatest statesman that ever
was upon the earth, yett erred greatly; and. although he provided
himselfe men singers and women singers, and the delights of the
sonnes of men, yet he doth acknowledge all was but vanity and
vexation of speritt. And soe, I trust, your noble harte will tell you;
though you were drawne with the Bishopps coach to his house to
heare such excellent musicke, such rare conceits, and to see such
curious actors, and such a number of people to behold the same,
yett all was but vanity and vexation of spiritt; and the more
vanity, the more vexation of speritt, because it was upon the
Lords-day, which should have been taken upp with better meditations, and contemplations of heaven and heavenly things. And
therefore, that this maye not prove a precedente unto others, I
beseeche you submitt your selfe to this censure that is passed against
you, that soe it may appeare to the wourld, that though you were
drawne into this errore, yett you will not stande out in it, but give
glory unto God, and yield obedience, unto all good lawes, that soe
you may stopp the mouthes of many people, which proclaime such
liberty, from this example to followe their pleasures uppon the Saboth
day. But, I trust, when they doe heare that such persons are
questioned and censured for beholding such vanity, it will bee a
great danting and discouragement unto them, and a meanes to
repaire the breache, wherein otherwise wholle troopes of people will
venture to violate the Lords sacred day. Even so, beseeching the
Lord God of Sabboth, that my councell may be as wholesome and
acceptable unto you as the councell of Abigail was unto David, that
you might say with that holy man, Blessed be the Lord God of... 1.:.:

462

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I63 I.

Israeli that hath sente thee to meete mee, and blessed be thy councell, and blessed bee thou, which hath kept mee from giving any
countenance or incoragement to any that presumes to profaine the
Saboth of the Great God of Heaven. Amen, Lord Jesus, Amen.
'November io, I63I. JOHN SPENCER.'
Towhat ladythis ebullition of puritanical piety was addressed,
as has been remarked, does not appear; but it was probably
sent, either to Lady Montagu, or to Lady Headsey, both of
whom are mentioned in the subsequent document, appended
to the preceding letter, which purports to be a copy of an
order, or decree, made by a self-constituted Court among the
Puritans, for the censure and punishment of offences of the
kind.
'A COPIE OF THE ORDER, OR DECREE (ex officio Comisaril generalis)
JOHN SPENCER.
'Forasmuch as this Courte hath beene informed, by Mr. Comisary
general, of a greate misdemenor committed in the house of the right
honorable Lo. Bishopp of Lincolne, by entertaining into his house
divers Knights and Ladyes, with many other householders servants,
uppon the 27th Septembris, being the Saboth day, to see a playe or
tragidie there acted; which began aboute tenn of the clocke at night,
and ended about two or three of the clocke in the morning:
'Wee doe therefore order, and, decree, that the Rt. honorable John,
Lord Bishopp of Lincolne, shall, for his offence, erect a free schoole
in Eaton, or else at Greate Staughton, and endowe the same with
20/. per ann. for the maintenance of the schoolmaster for ever.
' Likewise wee doe order, that Sr. Sydney Mountagu, Knight, for
his offence, shall give to the poore of Huntingdon 51.; and his lady,
for her offence, five blacke gownes to 5 poore widdowes, uppon
Newyeares day next.
'Likewise wee doe order, that Sr. Thomas Headsey, Knight, for
his offence, shall give unto the poore of Brampton 5/.; and his lady,
for her offence, black' cloath gownes to 5 poore [widdowes], uppon
Newyeares day nexte.

I63 1.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

463

'Likewise wee doe order, that Mr. Williams, Mr. Trye, Mr.
Harding, Mr. Hazarde, and Mr. Hulton shall eche one of them
give a blacke coate, and 5s. in money, unto 5 poore [men] in Bugden,
uppon newyeares day nexte.
'Likewise wee doe order, that Mr. Wilson, because hee was a
speciall plotter and contriver of this business, and did in such a
brutishe manner acte the same with an Asses head, and therefore hee
shall, uppon Tuisday next, from 6 of the clocke in the morning till
six of the clocke at night, sitt in the Porters Lodge at my Lords
Bishopps House, with his feete in the stocks, and attyred with his
asse head, and a bottle of hay sett before him, and this subscription
on his breast:
'Good people I have played the beast,
And brought ill things to passe:
I was a man, but thus have made
My selfe a silly Asse.'
Regarding this remarkable incident we are without further
information from any quarter.2
We have evidence that the Blackfriars theatre (and probably others) was open in Dec. I63I, but this was considerably posterior to the date of the Privy Seal last quoted. In
an account of the expenses of Sir Humphrey Mildmay of
Danbury3 (which affords some new and rather curious information regarding plays andi players at this period, and
subsequently), beginning Jan. I630-I, we find the following
items:21 Jan. I630-I. To a play with Sir Fra. Worteley, 2s. 6d.
26 April I631. To the Spanishe Bawde, 2s. 6d.
1 It is fit that we should express our acknowledgments to his Grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury, for an opportunity hf inspecting various MSS.
in his Library, which were readily placed in out hands by the kindness
of the late Rev. Dr. Maitland.
2 But see Notes and Queries of the I2th Nov. ahd Ioth Dec. I859, and
Philips's Life of Williams, p. 253.
3 Harl. MSS., 554.
\

464

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I632.

2 Nov. I631. To a play, is. 6d.
22 Dec. I631. To a play at the bl. fryers, is.
The Spanish Bawd was, probably, not a play which was
acted, but the translation from the Spanish, by Thomas Mabbe,
of a drama in twenty-one acts, which was printed in 1631,
and the price of which might be two shillings and six-pence.
If so, there is no entry in this account-book of any playhouse
having been visited by Sir H. Mildmay in I631, between
January and November. Possibly, during a considerable part
of this interval, the playhouses were closed.
Whether any, and what tragedies and comedies were
A. D. performed at Court at Christmas 1631-2, we have
632. no evidence, either from the office-book of Sir H.
Herbert, or from other sources. We learn from a letter of
John Pory to Sir Thomas Puckering, dated Jan. 12, I63I-2,1
that Aurelian Townshend, who had been steward to Lord
Salisbury, was the author of the King's Mask, presented on
the Sunday after Twelfth-night: it was called Albion's
Triumph. According to the same authority, Ben Jonson was
not employed, 'by reason of the predominant power of his
antagonist, Inigo Jones, who this time twelvemonth was
angry with Jonson, for putting his own name before his on
the title-page' of Chloridia. Pory also states that the Queen's
Mask (likewise by Townshend, and called Temnpe Restored)
was suspended in consequence of 'a soreness that fell into one
of her delicate eyes'. It was, however, performed at Shrovetide, and on the 7th Feb. a Privy Seal was issued to Edmund
Taverner, Esq., for 6o00 to be so applied; but this sum being
found insufficient for the purpose, 200/. more were ordered to
be paid to him under' a Privy Seal, dated 20th February.
The cost of the Masks in the next year, Christmas I632-3,
1 ide Gifford's Ben 7onson, i, I60.

I633.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 465
considerably exceeded 2000/., independent of that portion
of the charge which was borne by the office of the Revels,
and belonged to the accounts of that department. On the
23rd Dec. 1632, George Kirk, Esq., Gentleman of the Robes,
had a Privy Seal for 450/. for 'masking attire', as the instrument expresses it, 'not only for our own regal person, but
also for such other maskers on whom we are pleased to
bestow their said masking attire'. This sum was for the
King's Mask on Twelfth-day, for the preparation of which
Edmund Taverner, Esq., had a warrant for Ioool., dated 3Ist
Dec. I632. On the 2oth Jan. I632-3, to the same person was
granted a Privy Seal for 8oo/., 'towards the expense of a
Mask, to be presented by our dearest consort, the Queen, at
Shrovetide next.'
Besides these Masks, the Queen got up a Pastoral at
Somerset-House, for Christmas I632-3, and in that A.D.
piece it should seem that her Majesty herself took a I633 -part. About the same date' came out the most learned and
notorious work ever published against theatrical performances,
-Histriomastix, the Players Scourge, by William Prynne,
bearing the date of 1633, but published in 1632. Malone
contented himself with referring to Whitelocke's Memorials
1Whitelocke says, that Prynne's Histriomastix was published six
weeks before the Pastoral at Somerset-house, in which the Queen played,
was performed; and that. Laud and others, who had been 'angered by
some of Prynne's books against Arminianism, showed the passage in the
Index, "women actors, notorious whores", to the King, and informed him,
that the book was purposely written against the Queen and her pastoral'.
(Memorials, p. I8.) According to one Harl. JMS., Prynne's Histriomastix
was published on the day after the performance of the Queen's Pastoral;
and according to another, that work had appeared 'a little before the
Queen's acting of her play'. In either case, it would have been quite as
absurd and unjust for Laud to have taken it to the King, and represented
it as directed against that particular performance of the Queen.
VOL. I. H H.. ** * *: * \ -/. D *::.: - -, -::;: He. -

466

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i633.

on this interesting and important event,' but the Harleian
ASS. in the British Museum contain some curious and contemporary evidence on the subject, in private letters written
not long after the publication of Prynne's book, and the
consequent arrest of its author. The following extract is
from a familiar communication, containing a summary of
the current news, from Justinian Pagett, a barrister, dated
28th of January 1632-3: it is addressed 'To my much
honoured friend, James Harrington, Esq., at Walton upon
Trent:2 -'Mr. Prynne of Lincolnes Inne hath lately set forth a book,
intitled Histrio-mastix, or the Players Scourge, the sale of which is
prohibited, and he to appeare at the High Commission on Thursday
next, where, when I have heard what is charged against him, I will
(if you desier it) send you a more particular relation. His booke is
extraordinarily stuffed with quotations of old authors, which (they
say), are his only arguments. - He cites St. Austin, who sayth, Si
tantummodo boni et honesti viri in civitate essent, nec in rebus humanis
Ludi Scenici esse debuissent: but I do not conceive this to be the
cause why he is called in question, but rather some exorbitant passage concerning ecclesiastical government; for, I heare, he compares
the playing on the organs, twixt the first and second Lesson, to
Enterludes in Stage-playes. I1 is observable, that his booke was
published the next day after the Queenes Pastorall at Somersett
House.'3
1Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 120. 2 Har. MSS., No. 1026.
8 There is a curious account of this whole transaction, and the instrumentality of Noy and Laud, in the Postscript (often wanting in the copies)
to 'A Divine Tragedie lately acted; or a collection of sundry memorable
examples of God's judgments upon Sabbath-breakers', etc., dated 'Anno
1636', without place or printer, and containing a violent attack upon those
who had re-put forth the Declaration in favour of Lawful Sports, first published by James I in i618. The writer of this tract, referring to the
punishment of Prynne for his Histriomastix, asserts that 'it was written
'.. ' J
-: ";: '! * ^ /
j 7 ' I;~~~~~/

i633.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

467

The writer of the preceding account, on the 28th of
January, had not seen Prynne's book, and only spoke of its
contents from rumour; but a Mr. George Gresley, in a letter
dated from Essex House, 3Ist of January I632-3,1 to Sir T.
Puckering, quotes the author's words, and gives very exactly
the nature of the charge against Prynne. He says:'Mr. Prinne, an Utter Barrister of Lincolns Inne, is brought into
the High Commission Court and Star Chamber for publishing a
booke (a little before the Queen's acting of her Play) of the Unlawfulness of Plaies; wherein, in the Table of his Booke, and his brief
Additions thereunto, he hath these words "Women actors notorious
whores," and that St. Paul prohibits women to speake publiquely in
the Churche: "and dares then (sayth he) any Christian Woman be
so more then whoreshly impudent, as to act, to speake publiquely on
a Stage (perchaunce in man's apparell and cut haire) in presence of
sundrie men and women?" which wordes, it is thought by some, will
cost him his eares, or heavily punisht and deepely fined.'
four years, licensed almost three, printed off fully a quarter of a year, and
published six weeks before the Queen's Majesty's Pastoral, against which
it was falsely voiced to have been principally written'. In the margin is
this note:-' One of the actors whereof, and he who first shewed his book
to the King, within a few months after came to be his fellow prisoner in
the Tower for a real commentary on his misapplied text.' The author
makes out that the judgments of God fell upon nearly all who were concerned in the punishment of Prynne; but especially upon Noy, the
Attorney-General, who, after suffering the most acute torments, died
miserably, and was subsequently brought upon the stage in 'a merry
comedy stiled, A Projector.ately dead, wherein they bring him in his
lawyer's robes upon the stage, and, openly dissecting him, find Ioo Proclamations in his head, a bundle of old moth-eaten records in his maw,
half a barrel of new white soap in his belly, which made him to scour so
much; and yet, they say, he is still very black and foul within!' The
whole is very curious and amusing.
Harl. MSS., No. 7000.
H H 2:* f fi * f - -

468 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1633.
The expectations of the writer of this letter were soon
more than realised: he thought that Prynne would 'lose his
ears, or be heavily punished and deeply fined,' speaking in
the disjunctive, whereas he suffered beyond both these inflictions. Having been tried in the Star Chamber, he was
twice set in the pillory, lost parts of both ears,1 was fined
' The subsequent quotations on this subject fix the dates when Prynne
was set in the pillory: they are from the Diary of Sir Humphrey Mildmay, often before cited.
' May 7, I634.-Att the Hall, where I sawe Prynne in the pillory, and
lost a piece of an eare.
'May Io.-This fatall morning Prynne lost the other parte of an eare
in Cheap[side].'
We have already had occasion, and shall have occasion again, to quote
from this valuable MS., which, at one end of the volume, contains a
journal of events, and at the other an account of the expenses of the
writer in London and elsewhere. Mildmay does not seem to have been
on very good terms with his wife, to have led a very gay life, and, among
other things, to have given her just cause of complaint on the ground of
infidelity. He enters everything without reserve; and the following are
specimens of his daily expenses, not including the items of plays which
he saw at the different theatres, because they are separately adverted to
in our text:'21 Jan. I63I.-To the wanton Nurse at M. Langhornes, Is.; to
Mother Gill, a poor naughty woman, is.
1 4 July 1632. -To a pretty wenche at Paule's Wharfe, Is.
' IO Nov. I632. -To Thomas of the Stall of Cozeninge, is. 6d.
'27 Nov. I632. -At a Taverne with Ann Cressy, 8d.
1 2 April 1633. -To Mr. John Percy for Rhemishe Testament, 8s.
I May I633. -To Ducke Lane for popishe bookes, 3s.
'26 June I633. -To a purse for ballets, Is.
'22 July i633. -Expences at a Cherry Garden, 2s.
i Nov. I633. -To Hunnis, fiddler at Brentwood, 2s.
' 8 Jan. 1634. -To Nathl for making of.me merry, and to others at
' the same tyme at Much Hadam, 2s.
\je ls I9 Mar. I634. -To a bookseller for the Converted 7ew, 5s.
14 July 1634. -To a Taverne with a Bona, Is.'

I633.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 469
5000o., expelled Lincoln's Inn, disbarred, deprived of his
degree in the University of Oxford, and ordered to be imprisoned for life. It is to be observed, that this sentence
was not executed until May 1634, after the publication of
Histriomastix, and the denunciation of it by Laud; so that
the King and his advisers had not the excuse of tempoTwo items in this MS. are particularly curious, in connection with
the name of Shakespeare. They run thus:'31 May I633.-To Mr. Shakespere his man Jo, for one per of spurres
with bosses, etc., this laste of May, 9s.
'4 Dec. I633.-To Jo, att Mr. Shakespers, for one per of spurres,
2s. 6d.'
There are many notes in the margin of this account-book, and opposite
the first of these entries are placed these remarkable words, ' No player
now'; as if the Shakespeare here mentioned had once been a player, or at
least had had some connection with players. What relation, if any,
this Shakespere might be to William Shakespeare, our researches have
not enabled us to ascertain. We have been able to learn, however, that
he bore the Christian name of Shakespeare's father, John, and that he
was dead in 1637: by a Privy Seal, dated I6th of December, I3 Car. I,
orders were given to the Lord Treasurer to pay to Mary Shakespere,
'widow and executrix of John Shakespere, our late Bittmaker, deceased',
the sum of I6921. I Is. due to her late husband. He must have been a
man of considerable substance to allow so large a debt to accumulate:
the Privy Seal is in the Chapter-house, Westminster. The very name
of Shakespeare may reconcile us to the following particulars, derived
from the Registers of the parish of St. Clement Danes: they do not
include the death of John the Bit-maker, because they only apply to the
years between 1608 and I635. Where this John Shakespeare was married
does not appear.
Io July I6o8.-Bapt. Jane, daughter of John Shakspier.
'30 June I6i I.-Bapt. Thomas, son of John Shakspier.
5 May I614.-Bapt. Elleyn, daughter of John Shakspier.
'25 Aug. I6I6.-Bapt. Katherine, daughter of John Shakspeare.'
The father had been married in I605, as appears from the following
in the Marriage Register of the same parish:'3 Feb. I604-5.-Johne Shakspear to Mary Godtheredg.
- - An... a...: 0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

470 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1633.
rary excitement for its infliction. In the interval between
the judgment and its enforcement, it was believed by many
that the punishment, or part of it, would be remitted.'
Some quotations, applicable to the year 1632, made by
Malone from the Register of Sir H. Herbert, must be noticed
BURIALS.
' 8 Aug. I609.-Jane Shackespear, the daughter of William.
' I July 1612.-Thomas Shakspear, the sonne of John.
3 Sept. i612.-Susan Shakspere, the daughter of John.
' 17 May I632.-John Shackspere, son of John.
' IO July I633.-Mary Shackspeare, daughter of John.
'27 Feb. I633-4.-John Shackspeare, the King's Bittmaker.
' I May I635.-Mary Shakespeare.'
The following passage upon this subject is quoted from the MS.
journal of Sir Symonds d'Ewes, under date of 8th May 1634:'I departed from Stow-hall towards London, and the next day in the
afternoon came safe thither. As soon as I lighted I heard a particular
news which much ensadded my heart, touching William Prynne, Esq.,
that had been an Utter Barrister of Lincolns Inn and a graduate in the
University of Oxford, who had lost one ear already in the pillory, or a
part of it, and was to lose a part of the other to-morrow. He was a most
learned and religious gentleman, had written many acute, solid and elaborate treatises, not only against the blasphemous Anabaptists, in the defence
of God's grace and providence, but against the vices of the clergy, and
the abuses of the times. He had been censured in the Star-chamber a
few months before for some passages in a book he wrote against stageplays, called Histriomastix; as if he had in them let slip some words
tending to the Queen's dishonour, because he spoke against the unlawfulness of men wearing women's apparel, and women men's. Notwithstanding this censure, which most men were frighted at, to see that
neither his academical nor barrister's gown could free him from the
infamous loss of his ears, yet all good men generally conceived it would
have been remitted; and many reported it was, 'till the sad and fatal
execution of it this midsummer terme. I went to visit him a while after
in the Fleet and to comfort him, and found in him the rare effects of an
upright heart, and a good conscience, by his serenitie of spirit and
cheerful patience.'

I633.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

471

before we proceed with the theatrical events of 1633: one of
them relates to the licensing of Ben Jonson's Magnetic Lady,
or Humours reconciled (the Master of the Revels inverts the
title, making the second the first) on the I2th October 1632,
when Sir H. Herbert received 2/. as his fee. It would seem,
from a passage in a letter by James Howell, dated 27th Jan.
I629 (quoted by Gifford'), that this play was already written
and performed. It is clear, however, on the authority of Sir
Henry Herbert, that Howell's letter is ante-dated, and the
time of the completion of the Magnetic Lady is fixed by the
following sentence in a letterfrom John Pory to Sir Thomas
Puckering, dated Sept. 20, 1633-' Ben Jonson (who I thought
had been dead) hath written a play against next term called
*the Magnetick Lady.' It was licensed to the King's players;
and Sir H. Herbert notices that he had received his fee from
Knight, who was the prompter at the Blackfriars theatre.
Another quotation from the same authority, dated i8th
Nov. I632, refers to a comedy called The Ball, which Sir
Henry Herbert attributes to James Shirley, but which was
in fact the joint production of Shirley and Chapman: it had
been acted by the Queen's players, under Beeston, at the
Cockpit in Drury-lane, prior to the date of the entry of the
Master of the Revels,2 who found reason to complain of the
manner in which 'lords and others of the Court' were personated in it, under the apprehension that he might himself be
called to account for the offence of the poet.3
1 Ben Jonson's Works, vi, 2.
2 The date of the licence by Sir Henry Herbert seems to have been
i6th Nov. 1632: so that the information regarding objectionable passages soon reached him.
3 The play was printed in I639, without the objectionable passages, as
nothing of the kind is to be traced in it. The following is the precise
form of the entry of it by Sir H. Herbert:*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:1 ' 0 0

472

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i633.

In the spring of 1633 the King made a progress into ScotA. D. land, taking his departure from London on the I3th
I633. May. Whether any players attended him, as they
had done his father, for his entertainment on the journey, we
are without positive information.' Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess was performed by Joseph Taylor, and other actors,
before the Queen on Twelfth-night 1633-4, as appears by
Shakerley Marmyon's lines, prefixed to the edition of I634.
It was played afterwards before the King, when a new
Dialogue, by way of prologue, was spoken by a Priest and a
Nymph, to celebrate the occasion. When the King arrived
in the capital of Scotland in June, he found his Gentlemen of
the Chapel there, whither they had proceeded by sea. A
Privy Seal was issued on 3Ist April, placing in the hands of
Stephen Boughton, 'Sub-dean of the Chapel, 3001. to defray
the charges of the Gentlemen of the Chapel attending the
' 8 Novr. 1632. In the play of The Ball, written by Shirley, and acted
by the Queen's players, there were divers personated so naturally, both
of lords and others of the Court, that I took it ill and would have forbidden the play, but that Biston promised many things, which I found
fault withall, should'be left out, and that he would not suffer it to be
done by the poet any more, who deserves to be punished: and the first
that offends in this kind, of poet and players, shall be sure of public
punishment.'
Here the offence seems to have been wholly that of the poet or poets,
and not of the actors by their dresses or manners imitating people of
consequence.
'The affirmative is rendered very probable by the following entry in
the MS. Register of the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, still preserved in the Lord Chamberlain's office;'25 Augt. I634. A Council Warrant for Iool. for the Princes Players
for their attendance abroad, during the progress of the Court.'
The King made no progress in 1634, and the money paid in August
of that year had probably become due in the year preceding, when the
King went to Scotland, called 'abroad' in the warrant.

I633.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

473

King in Scotland. That they went by sea appears from
another document of the same kind, dated on the 6th May,
'for providing meals for 26 gentlemen of the chapel' during
their voyage. The King returned to Greenwich towards the
close of July.
The borough of Banbury had long been noted as the residence of Puritans, and early in May I633, just before the
King commenced his progress, that Corporation gave a striking
proof of their hostility to anything like plays and players.1
It seems that some unfortunate company, not named, but
duly authorized by a royal patent and by the commission of
the Master of the Revels, had found their way to Banbury,
where they attempted to perform: however, the vigilance of
the Mayor and other Justices was not to be eluded, and the
'wandering rogues', as they were called, were arrested, examined, and finally lodged in the town jail. These facts are
stated in a letter sent by the Mayor of Banbury and two other
Magistrates to the Privy Council, of which the following is a
copy from the original in the State Paper Office. It is indorsed 'From the Maior of Banbury, etc., about Players':'To the Right honble, the most honoured Lords, the Lords of his
Maties most honorble privy Counsell, present theis.
'RIGHT HONBLE.-Our humble service to your Lordships premised,
1 Ben Jonson calls Zeal-o'-the-land Busy in his Bartholomew Fair, 'a
Banbury Man,' and in his Gipsies Metamorphosed, he laughs at 'the loud
pure wives of Banbury'. Davenant's Wits was written in I633, and the
following ridicule of the Puritans of Banbury may have arisen out of the
proceeding about to be detailed.'She is more devout
Than a Weaver of Banbury, that hopes
To intice heaven by singing to make him lord.
Of twenty looms.'
It would be very easy to accumulate authorities upon this point from
other old dramatists.

474

ANiNALS OF THE: STAGE.

[I633.

etc. Wee make bold to send to your Lordships herewithall a
Pattent of licence, pretended by the bearers of it to be graunted by
his Matie, and a commission from the Mr. of the Revells. The
pattent we suspect, the commission wee find rased: howsoever, wee
find the parties (who have gone abroad into divers countyes with the
same) wandring Rogues, if not more dangerous persons, as may
appeare by their examinacions (which we have also sent to your
Lordships), in which is apparant howe they have chaunged their
names, etc. Their be six of them, all which we have committed to
the prison of our Burrough, where we shall kepe them safe, till your
Lordships pleasure be signifyed to us. And soe wee humbly take
our leaves, resting 'Your Lordships humble servaunts.
'WILLM. ALLEN, Maior.
'THOMAS WHATELY, Justis.
'May 6, I633. 'THOMAS HALLED, Justis.'
The examination of the players before the Corporation
was, no doubt, a singular and amusing appendix, but it is
not extant. The proceedings of the Privy Council upon the
subject are detailed in the Registers of that body; but the reply
to the Mayor and his brethren of the bench of Banbury was
not written until the 22d May, and in the mean time the
players, whose names appear from the Register to have been
Bartholomew Jones, Richard Whiting (or Johnson), Edward
Damport (or Davenport), Drew (or True) Turner, Robert
Haughton, and Richard Colwell, were kept in the Borough
Jail. The answer of the Privy Council was as follows: â
'May 22d. I633.
'We have seen your letters of the 6th. of this instant moneth, as
also a patent of Licence pretended to be graunted by his Majestie, a
Commission from the Master of the Revels, and the examinations of
those delinquents, being (as you say) wandering roages and daungerous persons; and [as] we concur with you in opinion, that there
may be forgerie and rasure, both in the said Patent and in the Commission, so we doe approve, and comend the discreete course you

i633.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

475

have taken in committing them to the common prison of your
Burrough. Now, to the end that this abuse may be farther searched
and examined, we doe hereby require and authorise.you, to cause
Jones and the rest of his complices (being five more) that are
detained under restraint, to be released, and forthwith delivered to
this bearer, Robert Cross, one of the Messengers of his Majesties
Chamber; who hath warrant from this Board to receive them at
your hands, and to bring them hether to answer before us for the
crymes and misdemeanours wherewith they stand charged, and
thereupon to be proceeded withall according to the quality of their
offences, and the common lawes and justice of this Kingdom. And
so, etc.-Signed Lord Keeper, Lord Privie Seale,' etc.
This was answering the Mayor and Corporation of Banbury
in the spirit of their own letter; but the subsequent steps
taken in the business seem to show, that the Privy Council
meant to relieve the unhappy players from their durance,
without offending the authorities of the Borough. A warrant
having been made out on the same day to Robert Cross, to
take into his custody the six persons above named, he brought
them to London by June 3rd; and on that day they 'tendered
their appearance', and it was directed that they should 'remain in the Messenger's custody till further order'. Perhaps
the players satisfied the Privy Council, that they had acted
at Banbury under sufficient authority; for, on the next day,
the following entry is made;n the Register:-' June 4th, I633,
This day the players, formerly sent for from Banbury, were
discharged out of the Messenger's custody, upon bond given
to be forthcoming whensoever they should be called for.'
In consequence of an order made on circuit, in Somersetshire, by Chief Justice Richardson and Baron Denham
(father of the poet), for the total suppression of Wakes,
Church-ales, etc., which was considered an infringement of
the.authority of the ecclesiastical power, the King (prin*;

476 ANNALS OF THE STAGE. [1633.
cipally, it is said, at the instigation of Laud) thought fit, on
the i8th of October 1633, to 'ratify and publish' the Declaration regarding Sports and Pastimes on the Sabbathday, which had been issued by James I, in I618. This proceeding gave great offence, not only to the Puritans, but to
many of the moderate party in the Kingdom.l The Chief
Justice was also called before the Privy Council, reproved,
and compelled at the next assizes to revoke his former order.
It has been already stated, that if Laud, in I63I, laid the
petition of certain inhabitants of Blackfriars, against the inconveniences arising from the theatre, before the Privy Council,
there is no trace that any effectual measures were taken upon
it. It is a matter of inference only, that the complaint was
renewed in the autumn of I633, for on the 9th of October,
in that year, we find the Privy Council entertaining the project
of removing the playhouse, and of making compensation to
the parties interested or injured. The Aldermen of the ward,
and two others, were appointed to examine into the subject,
and to make a report on the value of the property by the
26th of October.2 Their report does not appear to be extant,
'The Declaration was reprinted in a separate form, in 8vo., by Robert
Barker and the assigns of Robert Bill, with the date of I634.
2 The following is the order extracted from the Privy Council Iegister.
'Octr. 9, I633.
'Upon consideration this day had at the Board of the great inconvenience and annoyance occasioned by the resorte and confluence of
coaches to the Playhouse in Black-fryars, whereby the streetes, being
narrow thereabouts, are at those times beecome impassable, to the great
prejudice of his Majestys subjects passing that way upon their severall
occasions, and in particular to divers Noblemen and Counsellors of
State, whose houses are that way, whereby they are many times hindered
from their necessary attendance upon his Majesty's person and service:
Their Lordshipps calling to mynde, that formerly, upon complaint hereof
made, the Board was of opinion that the said Play-house was fitt to bee

I633.] ANNALS OF THE STAGE. 477
but we have discovered one dated nearly a month afterwards,
not from the city authorities, but from certain magistrates
apparently chosen for the purpose, and we subjoin it in the
terms of the original.
'MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIPS,-According to the order of
this honorable Board of the 9th of October last, we have had divers
meetings at the Black Fryers; and having first viewed the Playhouse
there, we have called unto us the chief of the Players, and such as
have interest in the said Playhouse and the buildings thereunto
belonging (which we also viewed): Who, pretending an exceeding
great loss, and almost undoing to many of them, and especially to
divers widows and orphans having interest therein, if they should be
removed from playing there, we required them to make a reasonable
demand of recompense for such interest as they or any of them had
therein. Whereupon their first demand being a gross sum, I6,ooo/.,
we required them to set down particularly in writing how and from
whence such a demand could rise, and gave them time for it. At
our next meeting they accordingly presented unto us a particular
note thereof, which amounted to 21,990o. But we, descending to an
examination of their interest in their houses and buildings they there
possess, and the indifferent valuation thereof, have with their own
consent valued the same as followeth.
removed from thence, and that an indifferent recompence and allowance
should be given them for their interests in the said house, and buildings
thereunto belonging, did therefore think fitt and order, that Sir Henry
Spiller and Sir William Becher Knts, the Aldermen of the Ward, Lawrence Whitaker, Esq. &amp; - Child, Citizen of London, or any three of
them, be hereby required to call such of the parties interested before
them as they shall thinke fitt, and, upon hearing their demaunds, and
view of the place, to make an indifferent estimate and value of the said
house and buildings and of their interests therein; and to agree upon
and set downe such recompence to be given for the same as shall be
reasonable, and thereupon to make report to the Board of their doings
and proceedings therein by the 26th of this present.'

478

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I633.

'. First for the Playhouse itself, whereof the Company hath
taken a lease for divers years yet to come, of Cutbert Burbidge and
William Burbidge (who have the inheritance thereof) at the rent of
50/. per Ann.: we value the same after the same rate, at 14 years'
purchase, as an indifferent recompense to the said Burbidges, which
cometh to 700/.
'2. For 4 tenements, near adjoining to the Playhouse, for the
which they receive 75/. per annum rent, and for a void piece of
ground there, to turn coaches in, which they value at 6/. per Ann.,
making together 8i/. per Ann.: the purchase thereof, at 14 years,
likewise cometh to II34/. They demand further, in respect of the
interest, that some of them have by lease in the said Playhouse, and
in respect of the Shares which others have in the benefit thereof, and
for the damage they all pretend they shall sustain by their remove,
not knowing where to settle themselves again (they being i6 in
number) the sum of 2400/., viz., to each of them I50/. -'But we
conceive they may be brought to accept of the sum of io661. 13s. 4d.,
which is to each of them Ioo markes.
' All which we humbly leave to your Lordships' grave consideration. Your Lordships' most humbly to be commanded.
'H. SPILLER. 'WILL. BAKER,
'HUMFREY SMITH, 'LAUR WHITAKER,
20 Nov. I633. 'WILLM. CHILDE.'
[Indorsed.]-'Certificate from the Justices of the Peace of the
County of Middlesex about the Blackfryers.'
The friends of the company of actors at the Blackfriars
were evidently so strong and numerous, that the report was
not acted upon; and instead of attempting to remove the
Blackfriars theatre, an endeavour was made to lessen the
evil by adopting regulations for the coaches. An order was
published, and directed to be posted at St. Paul's, at the
Conduit in Fleet-street, and at the gate of the Blackfriars,
which, after reciting the nature of the complaint, went on to
notice the 'easy passage by water to the playhouse', and the

I633.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

479

facility of approach to persons on foot: it then directed, that
no coaches should be allowed to come nearer the theatre
'than the farther side of St. Paul's Church-yard on the one
side, and Fleet Conduit on the other side', and that even
there coaches should not be allowed to remain.
In consequence, probably, of inattention to this exercise of
authority, on the 29th of November the Lord Mayor was
specially required by the Privy Council to see the regulations
duly and strictly enforced.
It is particularly noted at the head of the next proceeding
of the Privy Council on the subject, on the 29th of December,
that the King was himself present in Council; and we can
have little hesitation in deciding, that between the 20oth of
November and the 29th of December, some representations
had been made personally to his Majesty in favour of the
actors at the Blackfriars, whose interests would be seriously
injured by carrying into execution the proposed regulations
of the Council. On the 29th of December, an order was made
'to explain' the former decision, on account of 'the prejudice
to the players, his Majesty's servants'; and this explanation
was a permission, 'that as many coaches as may stand within
the Blackfriars gate may enter and stay there, or return
thither at the end of the play.' This, in fact, was a rescinding
of the regulations of the 20oth of November.'
1 Malone (who knew nothing of the proceedings of the Privy Council
on the subject) published, from the Stafford Lettets, i, I75, one from
Mr. Garrard, dated 9th of January i633-4, in which he refers to the
order of the Privy Council which had been hung up 'near Paul's and the
Blackfriars, to command all that resort to the playhouse there to send
away their coaches': Garrard states farther, that for two or three weeks
'it was kept very strictly', but that it was not enforced at the time when
he wrote (vide Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, I5 I). The reason for the
non-enforcement, which he does not mention, is that assigned above in
the text.

480

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[I633.

The earliest entry by Sir H. Herbert in the year 1633, is
dated 7th of May, when he received his customary fee of 2/.
on licensing Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub, with the omission of
that part which was intended to ridicule Inigo Jones.' Their
quarrel is supposed to have arisen out of the ill success of
Chloridia, in which they had been jointly concerned, at
Shrovetide 1630-I. There is also an entry of July 3rd, 1633,
regarding' the licensing of Shirley's play of The Young Admiral, which the Master of the Revels admired, because it was
free from oaths, profaneness, and obsceneness.2 It'was first
printed in I637.
The licensing of Ben Jonson's Magnetic Lady has been
already noticed; and prior to the 24th of October 1633, the
company of the King's servants, by whom it was acted, seem
to have been called to account by the High Commission
Court, for certain interpolations, to which neither the author
nor the Master of the Revels was privy. The nature of the
The terms of this singular entry are these:-R. for allowing of The
Tale of a Tub, Vitruvius Hoops part wholly struck out, and the motion
of the Tub, by command from my lord Chamberlain, exceptions being
taken against [them] by Inigo Jones, Surveyor of the King's Works, as
a personal injury unto him. May 7, i633, 2/. OS. od.'
2 'The comedy called The Younge Admiral, being free from oaths,
profaneness or obsceneness, hath given me much delight and satisfaction
in the readinge, and may serve for a pattern to other poets, not only for
the bettering of manners and language, but for the improvement of the
quality, which hath received some brushings of late.'-When Mr. Shirley
hath read this approbation, I know it will encourage him to pursue this
beneficial and cleanly way of poetry; and when other poets heare and
see his good success, I am confident they will imitate the original for
their own credit, and make such copies in this harmless way, as shall
speak them masters in their art at the first sight to all judicious spectators. It may be acted this 3rd of July I633.
'r have entered this allowance for direction to my successor, and for
example to all poets that shall write after the date hereof.'

I633.] ANNALS OF TIE STAGE. 481
interpolations cannot be ascertained, but the consequence
was, that the actors were silenced for a time by imprisonment, or by some less severe mode of prohibition.1 They
presented two petitions to the Star Chamber, in the first of
which they laid the blame on Ben Jonson and Sir H. Herbert,
but in the second acknowledged that they only were guilty,
and, as Sir Henry expresses it, 'did me right in my care to
purge their plays of all offence.' In an interview he had
with Archbishop Laud, on the 24th of October 1633, the
Master of the Revels was acquitted of negligence.2
1 Very nearly about the same period the company acting at the Salisbury Court theatre incurred the displeasure of the Master of the Revels,
in relation to a play called the second part of The City ShuGfer, as
appears from the following extract from the office-book of Sir Henry
Herbert:'Octob. I633. Exception was taken by Mr. Sewster to the second
part of the Citty Shuffler, which gave me occasion to stay the play, till
the company had given him satisfaction; which was done the next day,
and under his hande he did certefye mee that he was satisfyed.'
A play called The City Shuffler was among the MSS. said to have
been destroyed by Warburton's servant.
On the 9Ith of the same month the performance of Fletcher's Tamer
Tamed, or the Taming of the Tamer, which Sir H. Herbert then calls
'an old play', was forbidden on account of 'oaths, profaneness, and
ribaldry'. On the 2Ist October the King's players were allowed to represent it, after it had undergone the purgation thought necessary by the
Master of the Revels. With the entry referring to this comedy, Sir H.
Herbert inserts a 'submission upon a former disobedience', by the King's
players in December I624, when they acted The Spianish Viceroy without the proper sanction, and were punished for their misconduct. It
may be worth while here to subjoin the names of the actors who subscribed the written 'submission' on this occasion, viz.: âJoseph Taylor,
Richard Robinson, Elyard Swanston, Thomas Pollard, Robert Benfielde
George Burght, John Lowen, John Shancke, John Rice, Will. Rowley,
Richard Sharpe.
2 Sir Humphrey Mildmay not unfrequently visited the theatres when
VOL. 1. II
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~, -..:.-:

482

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i633.

Sir H. Herbert is this year more particular than usual in
his account of the plays performed at Court. On the I7th of
November Richard III was acted by the King's players, and
on the 19th of November The Young Admiral by the Queen's
players.1 The Taming of the Shrew was performed on the
26th of November, and The Tamer Tamed on the 28th of
November. Dramatic amusements were again required on
the Ioth and i6th of December, when The Loyal Subject and
Hymen's Holiday were severally represented.2
he was in London, and the following items in the account of his daily expenses, before quoted, are not without interest; they relate to the public
performance of plays and to other matters in I633:'13 May.-To a play, 2s.
' 6 May.-To a play that day, being Thursday, at the Globe, 2s.
31 May.-To Mr. Shakespere his man, for one pair of spurres with
bosses, 9s.
For a toye of Jos. Hall, Bp. of Exon, of Na. Butter, Is.
6 June.-For 4 bookes in Duck-lane, harde to be hadd, los.
To a pretty and merry comedy at the Cocke [pit], is.
' 8 June.-To a play at the Globe, with Dorcrutch, is. 6d.
'i8 June.-To a play at the Globe, is. Iod.
' 4 Nov.-To Jo at Mr. Shakesperes for one per of spurres, 2s. 6d.
' 14 Nov.-To Mr. - and myselfe at a play, 3s.'
1 The first of these pieces was, probably, Shakepeare's tragedy (although we have already seen that Samuel Rowley was also author of a
play upon this portion of English history), and the last Shirley's comedy.
Sir Henry Herbert's entries regarding both are thus worded:-'On Saturday, 17th of November, being the Queen's birth-day' [Malone states
correctly that the Queen's birthday was on the i6th] Richard the Third
was acted by the K. players at St. James, where the King and Queen
were present, it being the first play the Queen saw since her Majesty's
delivery of the Duke of York, I633.'
'On Tuesday, g9th of November, being the King's birthday, the Young
Admiralwas acted at St. James by the Queen's Players, and liked by
the K. and Queen.'
2 Sir H. Herbert's words are these:-' On Tuesday night at St. James',

634.1]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

483

We hear of no masks this Christmas, and no Privy Seals
are extant for the payment of money on account of them:
the King, Queen and Court seem to have been well satisfied
with dramatic amusements of a less costly description; and
the services of the King's company were called for on A. D.
the Ist and 6th of January I633-4. The play on the I634.
first night was Cymbeline, and on the second The Faithful
Shepherdess.l
The peril in which the Master of the Revels was temporarily placed in October 1633, in consequence of offensive
matter (probably oaths) introduced by the King's actors into
The Magnetic Lady, appears to have rendered him afterwards
extremely cautious on the point; and when, early in January
1633-4, Davenant's Wits was presented to him for licence, he
crossed out many exclamations, that struck him in the light
of oaths. Through Endymion Porter, Davenant complained
the 26th of Nov. x633, was acted before the King and Queen, The
Taming of the Shrew. Liked.
'On Thursday night at St. James', the 28th of November I633, was
acted before the King and Queen The Tamer Tamed, made by Fletcher.
Very well liked.
'On Tuesday night at Whitehall, the Ioth of December 1633, was
acted before the King and Queen The Loyal Subject, made by Fletcher,
and very well liked by the King.
'On Monday night, the i6th of December 1633, at Whitehall, was
acted before the King and Queen Hymen's Holiday or Cupid's Vagaries,
an old play of Rowley's. Liked.
These two performances are thus mentioned by Sir Henry Herbert:'On Wednesday night, the first of January 1633, Cymbeline was acted
at Court by the King's Players.-Well liked by the King.
'On Monday night, the 6th of January and the Twelfth Night, was
presented at Denmark House before the King and Queen Fletcher's
Pastoral called The Faithful Shepherdess, in the clothes the Queen had
given Taylor the year before of her own pastoral. The scenes were fitted
to the pastoral and made by Mr. Inigo Jones in the great chamber, I633.'
if_,

484

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i634.

to the King of this exercise of authority, and on the 9th of
January the King called the Master of the Revels before him,
and directed that he should allow such words as faith, death
and slight to stand, 'as asseverations only, and no oaths':
Davenant was in considerable favour at this date, which
might induce the King to take especial interest -about his
play. Notwithstanding this royal decision against him, Sir
Henry Herbert made the following memorandum in his
office-book, showing that he was 'convinced against his will'.
'The King is pleased to take faith, death, slight, for asseverations
and no oaths, to which I do humbly submit as my masters judgment;
but under favour conceive them to be oaths, and enter them here to
declare my opinion and submission.'
The play was therefore returned to Davenant, 'corrected
by the King,' on the Ioth of January, and on the 28th of
January it was acted before Charles and his Queen, and 'well
liked'; yet Sir H. Herbert qualifies this statement by adding,
-'It had a various fate on the stage and at Court, though
the King commended the language, but disliked the plot and
characters.'
Previous to this date, we learn from the same manuscript, that
Massinger's Guardian had been played by the King's company on the I2th of January, and Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub,
by the Queen's servants, on the I4th of January: the first
was 'well liked', and the last 'not liked'. It was followed, on
the I6th of January, by The Winter's Tale, by the King's
players, which was also 'liked'. Fletcher's Night- Walkers
was represented on the 30th of January, two days after the
performance of Davenant's Wits, and 'liked as a merry play'.'
'This was probably Fletcher's play with alterations by Shirley; for
on the IIth of May 1633, Sir Henry Herbert makes the following memorandum regarding the receipt of his fee of 2.:-'For a play of
Fletcher's, corrected by Shirley, called The Night-Walkers.'

I634.1]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

485

Thus, between the I6th of November and the 30th of January,
thirteen plays were acted before the King and Queen. Sir
H. Herbert's memoranda regarding these exhibitions contain
nothing requiring observation.
Nor did the Court Revels end here, for the Middle and
Inner Temples, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn, joined in the
presentation of a mask on the 3rd of February.1 It was
called The Triumph of Peace, written by Shirley, and the
scenes and machinery the invention of Inigo Jones. It was a
most expensive exhibition; and Whitelocke states that the
music only, under the superintendence of William Lawes and
Simon Ives, cost no less than Ioool., while the clothes of the
horsemen were valued at o,ooo00.2 The maskers and anti1 Malone states that this event took place on the 2nd of February, and
in this he follows Sir H. Herbert; but the printed copy on the title-page
states, that it was performed 'before the King and Queen in the Banqueting House at Whitehall, February the third, I633'.
2 Whitelocke himself composed an air for the occasion, which was afterwards extraordinarily popular under the name of 'Whitelocke's
Coranto'. He gives a minute account of the exhibition of this mask;
and Dr. Burney, in his History of Music (iii, 376), has quoted from a
MS. of Whitelocke's Memorials the following particulars, which are also
to be found in Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, iii, 13:'For the music, which was particularly committed to my charge, I
gave to Mr. Ives and to Mr. Lawes Iool. a-piece for their rewards: for
the four French gentlemen, the Quzen's servants, I thought that a handsome and liberal gratifying them would be made known to the Queen
their mistress, and well taken by her. I therefore invited them one
morning to a collation at St. Dunstan's Tavern, in the great room, the
Oracle of Apollo, where each of them had his plate laid him, covered
and the napkin by it; and when they had opened their plates they found
in each of them forty pieces of gold, of their masters coin, for the first
dish, and they had cause to be much pleased with this surprisal. The
rest of the musicians had rewards answerable to their parts and qualities.
The charges of all the rest of the Mask, which were borne by the Societies,
were accounted to be above 20,000o/.

486

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

CI[634.

maskers assembled at Ely and Hatton Houses, and proceeded
in procession through the streets to Whitehall. So popular
was the performance, that Shirley's description of the mask
with the songs, etc., went through three editions in the year
in which it was represented.'
The following extract of a letter, from Justinian Pagett to
his 'cousin Tremyll', without date, but clearly written only a
few days after the mask was presented, has never been published: it contains some points not mentioned elsewhere, and
among them the fact, that The Triumph of Peace, having
been performed at Whitehall on Monday, gave such satisfaction to the King, that he required it to be repeated, with the
whole ceremony of the procession, on the Tuesday following,
at Merchant Tailors' Hall.
' I have sent you a booke of our Masque, which was presented on
munday last with much applause and commendation from the K and
Queene and all the Spectators. The K and Q supt that night at
Salisbury House, and there saw us ride in the streetes, after which
they presently went by water to Whitehall, and there saw us from the
long gallery at the upper end of the tilting yard. When the masque
was ended, we all kissed the K and Queenes hand, and then were
conducted by my Lord Chamberlain and other Lords to a rich
banquet, whither the K and Q came, and took a taste, and then,
graciously smiling upon us, left us to the sole enjoying of that well
furnisht table, with strict command that not any should touch a bitt
but ourselves. The next day the K sent for our Marshall, Mr.
Thomas Dorrell of Lincolns Inn, and Knighted him. And being
much pleased and taken with the sight hath sent to us to ride againe
on Tuesday next to Merchant Taylers Hall, in the same manner as
' The third impression' has considerable variations from the others,
both in the description and in the performances of the anti-masks. It
was printed by John Norton, for William Cooke, I633.

I634.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

487

we rode to White-hall, and there to meete his MatY at supper, and to
present our Masque. Sir Henry Vayne, and other great Travellers
say they never such a sight in any part of the world.'"
Whitelocke informs us, that the Four Inns of Court wished,
by the exhibition of this mask, 'to manifest the difference of
their opinion from Mr. Prynne's new learning, and to confute
his Histriomastix against interludes'; and it is most probable,
that the extraordinary encouragement given by the Court
about this period to theatrical representations grew out of the
same disposition. We farther read in Sir H. Herbert's
Register that Shirley's Gamester, which he had licensed on
the IIth Nov. 1633, was acted at Court on the 6th Feb.
1633-4: he subjoins, that the King, through him, had furnished the poet with the plot, and that his Majesty said, that
'it was the best play he had seen for seven years'.
The splendour of the Mask of The Triumph of Peace, in the
opinion of the Master of the Revels, was exceeded by a similar performance on Shrove-Tuesday, I8th Feb. 1633-4, in
which the King danced with eleven Lords, attended by ten
pages. He adds, and it is the only known source of information upon the subject,-' it was the noblest mask of my time
to this day, the best poetry, best scenes, and the best habits.
The King and Queen were very well pleased with my service,
and. the Queen was pleased to tell me, before the King, "Pour
les habits, elle n'avoit rien vu de si brave."' He gives the
production no name.
As Sir H. Herbert furnishes very little intelligence respecting plays performed either at Court, or at the public theatres
Martin Parker wrote and printed a description in verse of the long
procession in this mask, and it was headed by a wood-cut of the procession: a copy of it is preserved among the ballads in the collection of
F. Ouvry, Esq., F.S.A. The versification has little merit, but the woodcut
is curious and elaborate.

,. 1.., -, I.""~~!~ ~~~ `~
I;,. - _ 1 '

488

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

[i 634.

in 1634,1 we must resort to such other, though scanty, sources
of information, as are within our power: the MS. of the diary
and account-book of Sir Humphrey Mildmay in a degree
supplies the deficiency. Here we find mention of Davenant's
Wits, and of his Love and Honour; a-,new play, which
Mildmay names Lasander and Calista,2 'being. a poem';
Lodowick Carlell's Spartan Ladies, and 'the play of Pa,-
torel'. The only theatres he mentions are the Blackfriars
and the Cockpit.-The items are subjoined in a note.3
The MS. Register of the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery proves incontestably, notwithstanding the silence of
Sir H. Herbert, that no less than twenty-two plays were
He mentions only that Chapman's Bussy daAmbois was performed on
Easter Monday, and The Pastorall on Easter Tuesday by the King's
players.
The last actor of note, in the part of Bussy d'Amboys, seems to have
been Elliard Swanston, whose name has often occurred among the King's
players. Edmund Gayton, in his Festivous Notes on Don Quixote, 1654,
thus speaks of him and Taylor:-' He was instantly metamorphosed
into the stateliest, gravest, and commanding soul that eye ever beheld:
Taylor acting Arbaces, or Swanston D'Amboys, were shadows to him.'
Swanston afterwards became a Puritan,bor, at least, was one of the very
few players who joined the, party opposed to the King. This fact appears
from a tract printed in 1648, entitled A Key to the Cabinet of the Parliament, by their Remembrancer: after alluding to the 'suppression of all
holidays', the writer asks, 'What need is there of any playes? Will not
these serve well enough, especially when they have gotten Hillyar
Swansted, the player to be one?' He mistakes the spelling of both
Elliard Swanston's names, but no doubt the same individual is intended.
It was performed on the 12th Dec. 1634; an earlier date than has
yet been assigned to it. The following is the memorandum in the Diary;
for neither that, nor Lasander and Calista, are named in the account of
expenses: I9 Dec. I634.-To a play of Love and Honour.'
3 They apply to a whole year, beginning with..
'21 Jan. 1633-4.-To a playe at Bla. fryers, is. 6d..
(22 Jan.,, To a play at the fryers, The Wilts, Is...''.. ' * '...^,* ' - *.~ '!,
-- VE,X ':i I: A _; '~~ ~_~ - ~~.-~ I.;;i:- ~.t~; iI.~~~:.~i~ -i -i*

I 634.]

ANNALS OF THE STAGE.

489

acted before the King by his own company, in the year preceding April I634, includihg of course those usually represented at Christmas and Shrovetide. For these 2201., or at
the rate of io/. per play, were paid to the then leaders of the
King's players,-John Lowen, Joseph Taylor, and Elliard
Swanston.1
The only extract made by Malone from Sir H. Herbert's
Register, relating to plays in 1634, is a notice, that on the
I3th May of that year, 'the Queen was at Blackfriars to see
Massinger's play.' Malone adds, that the piece she then saw
was the tragedy of Cleander, and that it had been 'produced on
the 7th of the same month', but in fact it was licensed on that
day: it does not at all follow that it was brought out on the
very day it was allowed by the Master of the Revels, although
it might sometimes so happen. Sir H. Herbert does not
mention this visit of the Queen to the Blackfriars playhouse
as an extraordinary or novel occurrence.
'27 Jan. i633-4.-To.a play with Com. Panheard, 3s.,,, For a booke, and the playe of Pastorell, 2s.
I9 Feb.,, For the Masque of his Ma., 6d.
'o Mar., To a base play at the Cockepitt, is. 6d.
I May,. 634.-To a new play called The Spartan Lady, is. 3d.
8 May, To a play with Dom. Ch. Abdy, is.
'21 May,, To a playe with company, 6s.
12 Dec.,, To a play with the 2 Southlandes, 4s. 6d.'
The item is quoted in the following form by Chalmers, Apol., p. 507:
'27 April I634.-A warrant for 2201. unto John Lowen, Joseph Taylor,
and Elliard Swanston, for themselves and the rest of their fellows, the
King's players, for 22 plays by them acted before his Majesty within a
whole year.
END OF VOL. I.
T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET, W.C.

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ft.