court was followed by the courtiers, and the companies of theatrical retainers, in the pay, or acting in various parts of the kingdom under the names of particular noblemen, became extremely numerous. Religious houses gave them encouragement, and even assisted in the getting up and representation of the performances, especially shortly before the dissolution of the monasteries: in the account-book of the Prior of Dunmow, between March 1532 and July 1536, we find entries of payments to Lords of Misrule there appointed, as well as to the players of the King, and of the Earls of Derby, Exeter, and Sussex3.

In 1543 was passed a statute, rendered necessary by the polemical character of some of the dramas publicly represented, although, not many years before, the king had himself encouraged such performances at court, by being present at a play in which Luther and his wife were ridiculed . The act prohibits "ballads,

3 For this information we are indebted to Sir N. H. Nicolas, who has the original document in his library. Similar facts might be established from other authorities, both of an earlier and somewhat later date.

See Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, Vol. i. p. 107. The official account, made out by Richard Gibson, who had the preparation of the dresses, &c., is so curious and characteristic, that we quote it in the words, though not in the uncouth orthography, of the original document: the date is the 10th Nov. 1528, not long before the king saw reason to change the whole course of his policy as regarded the Reformation.

"The king's pleasure was that at the said revels, by clerks in the Latin tongue, should be played in his presence a play, whereof ensueth the names. First an Orator in apparel of gold; a Poet in apparel of cloth of gold; Religion, Ecclesia, Veritas, like three Novices, in garments of silk, and veils of lawn and cypress; Heresy, False-interpretation, Corruptio-scriptoris, like ladies of Bohemia, appareled in garments of silk of divers colours; the heretic Luther, like a party friar, in russet damask and black taffeta; Luther's wife, like a frow of Spiers in Almain, in red silk; Peter, Paul, and James, in three habits of white sarsenet and three red mantles, and hairs of silver of damask and pelerines of scarlet, and a Cardinal in his apparel; two Sergeants in rich apparel; the Dauphin and his brother in coats of velvet embroidered with gold, and caps of satin bound with velvet; a Messenger in tinsel-satin; six men in gowns of green sarsenet; six women in gowns of crimson sarsenet; War in rich cloth of gold and feathers, and armed; three Almains in apparel all cut and slit of silk; Lady Peace, in lady's apparel, all white and rich; and Lady Quietness, and Dame Tranquillity, richly beseen in ladies' apparel."

The drama represented by these personages appears to have been the composition of John Rightwise, then master of the children of St. Paul's.

plays, rhymes, songs, and other fantasies" of a religious or doctrinal tendency, but at the same time carefully provides, that the clauses shall not extend to "songs, plays, and interludes" which had 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 interpretations of Scripture."

The permanent office of Master of the Revels, for the superintendance of all dramatic performances, was created in 1546, and Sir Thomas Cawarden was appointed to it with an annual salary of 10%. A person of the name of John Bernard was made Clerk of the Revels, with an allowance of 8d. per day and livery 5.

It is a remarkable point, established by Mr. Tytler, that Henry VIII. was not yet buried, and Bishop Gardiner and his parishioners were about to sing a dirge for his soul, when the actors of the Earl of Oxford posted bills for the performance of a play in Southwark. This was long before the construction of any regular theatre on the Bankside; but it shows at how early a date that part of the town was selected for such exhibitions. When Mr. Tytler adds, that the players of the Earl of Oxford were "the first that were kept by any nobleman," he falls into an error, because Richard III., and others of the nobility, as already remarked, had companies of players attached to their households. We have the evidence of Puttenham, in his "Art of English Poesie," 1589, for stating that the Earl of Oxford, under whose name the players in 1547 were about to perform, was himself a dramatist.

The original appointment of John Bernard is preserved in the library of Sir Thomas Phillippes, Bart., to whom we owe the additional information, that this Clerk of the Revels had a house assigned to him, strangely called, in the instrument," Egypt, and Flesh-hall," with a garden which had belonged to the dissolved monastery of the Charter-house: the words of the original are, omnia illa domum et edificia nuper vocata Egipte et Fleshall, et illam domum adjacentem nuper vocatam le garneter. The theatrical wardrobe of the court was at this period kept at St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell.

In his "Edward VI. and Mary," 1839, vol. i. p 20.

Very soon after Edward VI. came to the throne, severe measures were taken to restrain not only dramatic performances, but the publication of dramas. Playing and printing plays were first entirely suspended ; then, the companies of noblemen were allowed to perform, but not without special authority; and finally, the sign manual, or the names of six of the Privy Council were required to their licences. The objection stated was, that the plays had a political, not a polemical, purpose. One of the first acts of Mary's government, was to issue a proclamation to put a stop to the performance of interludes calculated to advance the principles of the Reformation; and we may be sure that the play ordered at the coronation of the queen was of a contrary description'. It appears on other authorities, that for two years there was an entire cessation of public dramatic performances; but in this reign the representation of the old Roman Catholic miracle-plays was partially and authoritatively revived.

It is not necessary to detail the proceedings in connexion with theatrical representations at the opening of the reign of Elizabeth. At first plays were discountenanced, but by degrees they were permitted; and the queen seems at all times to have derived much pleasure from the services of her own players, those of her nobility, and of the different companies of children belonging to Westminster, St. Paul's, Windsor, and the Chapel Royal. The members of the inns of court also performed "Gorboduc" on 18th January, 1562; and on February 1st, an historical play, under the name of

7 See Kempe's" Loseley Manuscripts," 1835, p. 61. The warrant for the purpose was under the sign manual, and it was directed to Sir T. Cawarden, as Master of the Revels " We will and command you, upon the sight hereof, forthwith to make and deliver out of our Revels, unto the Gentlemen of our Chapel, for a play to be played before us at the feast of our Coronation, as in times past hath been accustomed to be done by the Gentlemen of the Chapel of our progenitors, all such necessary garments, and other things for the furniture thereof, as shall be thought meet," &c. The play, although ordered for this occasion, viz. 1st Oct. 1553, was for some unexplained reason deferred until Christmas.

"Julius Cæsar," was represented, but by what company is no where mentioned.

In 1572 the act was passed (which was renewed with additional force in 1597) to restrain the number of itinerant performers. Two years afterwards, the Earl of Leicester obtained from Elizabeth a patent under the great seal, to enable his players, James Burbage, John Perkyn, John Lanham, William Johnson, and Robert Wilson, to perform "comedies, tragedies, interludes, and stage-plays," in any part of the kingdom, with the exception of the metropolis.

The Lord Mayor and Aldermen succeeded in excluding the players from the strict boundaries of the city, but they were not able to shut them out of the liberties; and it is not to be forgotten that James Burbage and his associates were supported by court favour generally, and by the powerful patronage of the Earl of Leicester in particular. Accordingly, in the year after they had obtained their patent, James Burbage and his fellows took a large house in the precinct of the dissolved monastery of the Black Friars, and converted it into a theatre. This was accomplished in 1576, and it is the first time we hear of any building set apart for theatrical representations. Until then the various companies of actors had been obliged to content themselves with churches, halls, with temporary erections in the streets, or with inn yards, in which they raised a stage, the spectators standing below, or occupying the galleries that surrounded the open space. Just about

There is a material difference between the warrant under the privy seal, and the patent under the great seal, granted upon this occasion: the former gives the players a right to perform "as well within the city of London and liberties of the same" as elsewhere; but the latter (dated three days afterwards, viz. 10 May, 1574) omits this paragraph; and we need entertain little doubt that it was excluded at the instance of the Corporation of London, always opposed to theatrical performances.

In 1557 the Boar's Head, Aldgate, had been used for the performance of a drama called "The Sack full of News;" and Stephen Gosson in his "School of Abuse," 1579, (reprinted by the Shakespeare Society) mentions the Belle Savage

the same period two other edifices were built for the exhibition of plays in Shoreditch, one of which was called "The Curtain"," and the other "The Theatre." Both these are mentioned as in existence and operation in 1577'. Thus we see that two buildings close to the walls of the city, and a third within a privileged district in the city, all expressly applied to the purpose of stage-plays, were in use almost immediately after the date of the Patent to the players of the Earl of Leicester. It is extremely likely, though we have no distinct evidence of the fact, that one or more play-houses were opened about the same time in Southwark; and we know that the Rose theatre was standing there not many years afterwards2. John Stockwood, a puritanical preacher, published a sermon in 1578, in which he asserted that there were "eight ordinary places" in and near London for dramatic exhibitions, and that the united profits were not less than £2000 a year, at least £12,000 of our present money. Another divine, of the name of White, equally opposed to such performances, preaching in 1576, called the play-houses at that time erected "sumptuous theatres." No doubt, the puritanical zeal of these divines had

and the Bull as inns at which particular plays had been represented. R. Flecknae, in his "Short Discourse of the English Stage," appended to his "Love's Kingdom," 1664, says that "at this day is to be seen " that "the inn yards of the Cross-Keys, and Bull, in Grace and Bishopsgate Streets" had been used as theatres. There is reason to believe that the Boar's Head, Aldgate, had belonged to the father of Edward Alleyn.

10 It has been supposed by some, that the Curtain theatre owed its name to the curtain employed to separate the actors from the audience. We have before us documents (which on account of their length we cannot insert) showing that such was probably not the fact, and that the ground on which the building stood was called the Curtain (perhaps as part of the fortifications of London) before any play-house was built there. For this information we have to offer our thanks to Mr. T. E. Tomlins of Islington.

1 In John Northbrooke's "Treatise," &c. against "vain plays or interludes," licensed for the press in 1577, the work being then ready and in the printer's hands. It has been reprinted by the Shakespeare Society.

2 See the "Memoirs of Edward Alleyn," (published by the Shakespeare Society) p. 189. It seems that the Rose had been the sign of a house of public entertainment before it was converted into a theatre. Such was also the case with the Swan, and the Hope, in the same neighbourhood.